Rhetorical analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Rhetorical analysis - Essay Example The pizza lovers are found in mostly the high and middle-class, income-earning families. In all these classes it is mostly the children, boys and girls, aged between 12-19 years who love pizza. According to Derek Thompson, in the Atlantic Magazine, there are many Pizza eaters in this age group than any other group in America. Based on these findings it is clear that Peter piper website is creatively developed to appeal to this group. Thesis: While Peterpiperpizza.com website’s main aim is to target many Pizza lovers, it also uses strategies such as creative site designs, pictures, addresses and elements of persuasion such as ethos and logos to attract customers. Peter Piper Pizza website layout is quite easy to navigate. The homepage of the website is full of different, but relevant colors. The homepage has five main menu items. These menu items are: locations, menu, parties, coupons and community. When one navigates to the home page of the website, at the extreme left just, before the navigation menu, there is an organization logo. Other features that capture a viewer on navigating to the website’s homepage are the images of a pizza and a compass. At the right side of the page another more visible feature is a pane that has three links (PeterPiperPizza). These are links with names such as order online, plan a party and fundraiser. At the extreme right bottom of the page there is the image of mobile phone which might also attract a user to the page despite the text next to it being a little less visible (PeterPiperPizza). Peterpiperpizza.com as per the name suggests on the homepage, generally gives a first time visitor an idea of the services the organization offers. The designer of the website decision to use the orange color on the website is a good idea as it blends very well with the pizza images. Aristotle described the term â€Å"logos† as an element of persuasion which uses logic words or

Individualistic Countries Essay Example for Free

Individualistic Countries Essay The Rise of Collectivism â€Å"Harmony And The Dream† by David Brooks emphasizes that the ideal of collectivist societies like China become more appealing than individual societies. Brooks defines Americans as individuals and Asians as contexts by some experiments. There are obvious differences between individualistic countries and collective societies. The former emphasizes rights and privacy, but the later prefer harmony and duty. The author also lists the example of the opening ceremony in Beijing. The example shows that harmonious society contributed to the fast speed of China. Therefore, the influence of harmony is larger than the impact of American Dream. â€Å"If you show an American an image of a fish tank, the American will usually describe the biggest fish in the tank and what it is doing. If you ask a Chinese person to describe a fish tank, the Chinese will usually describe the context in which the fish swim.† Brooks uses comparison to explain the different views between American and Chinese. Americans pay more attention to the only one, but Chinese focus on the context. The example helps us to understand the divide between individualist mentality and collectivist mentality. Definition is also used in the article. â€Å"The individualistic countries tend to put rights and privacy first. People in collective societies tend to value harmony and duty.† This definition deepen the understanding of differences and shows the thesis of the article. The last one is transition. Before paragraph12, the author prefers Eastern collectivist societies. But Brooks also narrates the reasons why individualism can sweep the field. The author thinks subconscious influences and permeability of human’s brain are two essences. Western people are deeply influenced by individualism. In conclusion, Brooks tend to approve the ideal of collective collective. He also admits the success of western individualism.

Frankish Kingdom :: essays research papers

The Frankish Kingdom was seen as a great military power in the time of Clovis. Early medieval Europe was primarily under the control of the Roman Empire. Syagrius, the king of the Romans and his son Aegidius were living in the city of Soisson when Clovis decided to show off his military excellence. Clovis marched against Syagrius and eventually defeated him by disposing of his army and forcing him to flee the area.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Syagrius fled to the kingdom of Aralic. In another show of his power, Clovis scarred Aralic into giving Syagrius up or he would be marched on as well. Out of fear, Sygrius was given up to Clovis and secretly killed. This was the beginning of the power and respect that was to come for Clovis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Clovis did not believe in Jesus as being a true god. His mind would change in the near future. He married a woman who was a believer in the Christian religion. The way he would be converted to the Christian religion was very fitting for this military leader. Clovis’ wife would try to convince him that the Christian religion is the one for him. He would not change his mind until he was on the battlefield. He was in the middle of a conflict with a man named Alamanni and his army. Clovis’ troops were being annihilated, so he would ask Jesus for help in exchange for his faith. He looked to Jesus to help him survive this battle. If he would survive, he would hold the god of his wife as the same holy god for himself, and would be faithful to the lord. As Clovis asked for the aid of the lord, Alamanni retreated and soon after was killed. In this event, Alamanni’s troops surrendered and Clovis was then victorious. After this, Clovis kept his word and converted to the Christian faith. Along with himself, three thousand of Clovis’ followers were baptized on Christmas day. The conversion of Clovis in 496 was a decisive event in the political and religious future of continental Europe. By converting to the Christian religion, Clovis would gain the favor of Constantinople and among the people and clergy of the Roman population in Gaul   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Under the leadership of Clovis, the Franks acquisitioned the former Roman territories in Gaul and in Germany. Clovis would also gain the Burgundian people. They would abandon Arianism, along with many other peoples.

Niche Theory and the Human Consciousness :: Psychology Essays

Niche Theory and the Human Consciousness Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. -Lewis Carroll How do we create something new in this world? In an age where the issues of increasingly diminishing natural resources are available and the amount of consumption is growing, this question is becoming increasingly important. The niche theory gives us a partial answer. Mayr, in his book What Evolution Is tells us that a niche is a "constellation of properties of the environment that make it suitable for occupation by a species". Niches for organisms can not only be found on the topological surface of the earth (which in itself is a niche in the universe) but also inside already existing organisms, given the right conditions of adaptability. Examples of this would be to look at some viruses that inhabit living organisms and in some cases, are limited to specific species. The human consciousness seems to me to fit many of the characteristics of a niche, barring the obvious fact that it in itself is not an independent organism. Niches in my opinion can not only be limited to being filled by living organisms, but also by its bi-products. We define our consciousness as the fundamental characteristic that makes us human. Early philosophers defined out consciousness as "reason": our consciousness in fact gives reason and meaning for our existence and transcends the purely biological needs of the species. It is the motivation that propels us to seek knowledge and to "fill" ourselves. Our consciousness creates a second world – one in which humans are capable of examining and having a deep understanding of ourselves. We create a new place for ourselves to inhabit inside ourselves. The reason as to why or how it came about that humans developed a consciousness is still unknown. Why is it that humans (and potentially one or two other species) evolved to the point of being able to create this new inner world, new niche to inhabit while other species did not?

Acids and Alkalis Lab Report Essay

An acid is a group of chemicals. Acids are positively charged ions, they are liquid and are solutions of pure compounds in water. If you want to know if something is an acid, you can test it by using litmus paper. Acids will turn litmus paper red, whilst alkalis will turn it blue. Alkalis are negatively charged ions and are usually solid. Aim:To find out how much of different acids is needed to neutralize 25mls of sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH). Hypothesis:The strongest alkali will need the smallest amount of an acid to cancel out and the weakest will need more acid. Variables: Control| Independent| Dependent| The indicator, NaOH| H2SO4 HClHNO3| The chemical reaction between the acids and alkali. | Materials / Apparatus: * H2SO4 * HCL * HNO3 * Alkali (NaOH) * Stand * Burette * Beaker * Funnel * Bunsen Burner * Crucible * Phenolphyalein Method: 1. Pour the 25 ml of NaOH into a beaker. 2. Drop three drops of phenolphyalein into the beaker. 3. The solution will now turn pink. . Through a funnel, pour the acid into the burette. Start dripping a few drops one by one into the beaker. 6. The solution will start getting a lighter shade of pink. 7. Stir the beaker around. 8. Once the solution turns clear, stop adding more acid. 9. Calculate the amount of acid used. 10. Take the solution and pour a bit of it into a crucible. 11. Light the Bunsen burner. 12. The salt solution will turn into salt crystals when it is heated. NaOH + HCl = NaCl + H2O NaOH + HNO3 = NaNO3 NaOH + H2SO4 = Na2SO4 + 2H2O Observations: Alkali| Acid| Moles| Observation| NaOH| HCL| 1 Mole| Took 4 ml to neutralize. No further experiment was made. | NaOH| HCL| 0. 1 Mole| Took 31 ml to neutralize. 2. 30 minutes until pink salt crystals were formed. | NaOH| HNO3| 1 Mole| Took 19. 2 ml to neutralize. 2 minutes until good white salt crystals were formed. | NaOH| H2SO4| 2 Moles| Took 1. 1 ml to neutralize. 2. 15 minutes until rings of white salt were formed. | Analysis: The weakest acid (HCl 0. 1 Mole) needed the most alkali to be made into salt and the strongest (H2SO4 2 Moles) needed the least. Different experiments made different salts. Conclusion: The strongest acid will work faster and you will need less. This is because it is a lot more reactive than the weaker acids and it will want to react much faster with the alkali. Evaluation: In my group, Zuzanna and I were the ones doing the experiment while everyone else observed and took notes on what happened. The first time, we dropped one too many drops of H2SO4 in the alkali so the alkali quickly turned pink again. We had to try it six times before we could get it right because we kept putting too much in or we would forget how much we put in. But after a few tries we finally got it to work and we got the correct solution. Therefore we could finally go on to the next step and heat up the solution. It took our salt around 2 minutes and 15 seconds to heat up, evaporate and leave us with small rings of white salt crystals. Our salt crystals did not turn out as the best, but they were successful.

Martin Luther VS John Calvin essays

Martin Luther VS John Calvin essays Although Martin Luther and John Calvin did share some of the same beliefs, they had many factors that boldly differentiated them. The main difference in the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin was their outlooks on salvation. Martin Luther believed in salvation through good works, while John Calvin strongly believed in predestination. Martin Luther and John Calvins teachings were also different due to the fact that Martin Luther believed in the separation of the church and state, while John Calvin did not. Despite their differences, they did share the belief that the Catholic Church was at fault and committed obscenities that were unholy, and that should be reformed. Martin Luther believed that one can retrieve salvation through faith and good acts. He basically believed that what you did throughout your life on Earth would determine whether or not you would receive salvation. If you had faith in God, prayed, read the bible, and did good deeds; you would then receive salvation. Therefore, Martin Luther believed that people could make the decision of how they would live their lives, and then depending upon that, God would judge them. Through this, we can infer that Martin Luther was suggesting individualism in this belief because he is saying that men have a say in whether or not they will receive salvation. On the contrary, John Calvin strongly believed in predestination. Predestination was the belief that God had a plan for each and every person at the time of creation. Man had no input on his own salvation. This belief in predestination lead to another one of John Calvins beliefs, which was that men existed either as an elect or a reprobate. An elect was a person who would receive Gods grace, and a reprobate was a person who would not receive Gods grace. The people who were elect simply did not do things that would condemn them, since God had already predetermined that they would be elect and receiv...

NEED FOR EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TO ORGANISATIONAL GROWTH Essay Example

NEED FOR EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TO ORGANISATIONAL GROWTH Essay Example NEED FOR EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TO ORGANISATIONAL GROWTH Essay NEED FOR EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TO ORGANISATIONAL GROWTH Essay Introduction Performance direction is one of the cardinal patterns of people direction in administrations. In their 1998 book Performance Management: The new worlds, Armstrong and Baron defined public presentation direction as: a procedure which contributes to the effectual direction of persons and squads in order to accomplish high degrees of organizational public presentation. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an attack to taking and developing people which will guarantee that it is achieved. aˆÂ ¦A scheme which relates to every activity of the administration set in the context of its human resource policies, civilization, and manner and communications systems. The nature of the scheme depends on the organizational context and can change from administration to administration. In other words, public presentation direction should be: aˆ? Effective it should guarantee people have the cognition and ability to execute. aˆ? Strategic it is about broader issues and longer-term ends. aˆ? Integrated it should associate assorted facets of the concern, people direction, and persons and squads. Performance direction has been around in the linguistic communication of HR and people direction since the 1980s and its development as a cardinal people direction tool can assist us understand its part and placement in relation to other cardinal HR activities. Through several manifestations from direction by aims to public presentation reappraisal, public presentation direction has been the chief vehicle by which directors communicate what is required from employees and give feedback on how good they are accomplishing occupation ends. Several researches and studies have tracked the development of public presentation direction since the early 1990s. The first study on public presentation direction in 1991 ( Bevan and Thompson 1991 ) found a great trade of confusion around what the term public presentation direction really meant, with many practicians replacing it for the tools of public presentation direction, such as public presentation assessment or performance-related wage. The subsequent study ( Armstrong and Baron 1997 ) found that there was by and large consensus that the term encompassed a scope of activities to pull off single public presentation. In 2005 another work by Armstrong and Baron provide grounds for public presentation direction as a vehicle to incorporate a figure of activities focused on single part, such as calling planning, talent direction and acquisition and development. Over the old ages the grounds has tended to propose that the procedure of public presentation direction is less of import than its placement, execution and aims. Therefore, in this study the focal point is less on the procedure which has tended to loosely digest over the old ages as a mixture of objective-setting, reappraisal and development and more on the strategic purpose of public presentation direction and its demand or function in driving sustainable administration public presentation which is a critical demand to organizational growing in a modern administration system. It first discusses the consequences adopted from an on-line study assemblage sentiments and information on the procedure and usage of public presentation direction. Subsequently the issues raised by the study responses were discussed with many practicians as found out in the information gathered ; these treatments are summarised below Purposes The chief purpose of the survey is to look into the importance of effectual employee public presentation direction to organizational growing. In stead with this, it is necessary to: Determine the integrating of effectual public presentation direction to organisational growing Determine the extent to which quality public presentation direction stands out for administration s growing. Aim The aims of the survey were to measure the extent to which the followers are deciding factors for quality public presentation direction ; Performance assessment Objective-setting Regular feedback Regular reappraisals and appraisals of development demands THE ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT This topic has attracted all administrations in the field of drama ; the involvement in this perennial subject has non dimmed over the old ages. The demand for up-to-date information has really intensified with the economic downswing, with HR practicians endeavoring to guarantee they are measuring public presentation against just and relevant steps and that they are concentrating attempt on the things that truly matter for the concern. Interest in the subject stems from practicians endeavoring to maintain their procedures up to day of the month and guaranting they are compatible with the demands of a altering strain of line director, every bit good as the demand to streamline paper-based systems or enable entree through on-line media. However, more senior HR strategians are besides concerned to guarantee that public presentation direction delivers in an environment where the development of capacity and impact on trade name and invention are the paths to concern success. Harmonizing to Philbeam and Corbridge ( 2002 ) , the direction of public presentation is a holistic procedure which encompasses a figure of activities as follows ; Specifying organizational purposes ; Development of single and team aims ; Using effectual measuring and assessment systems ; Using reward systems that provide inducements ; Supporting persons to develop and get the accomplishments needed to lend to the full to organizational success ; Pull offing single underperformance and absence. This statement justifies the degree of part and importance of public presentation direction in constructing a formidable work force that can impel administration growing. KEY FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY There is a surprising grade of understanding that public presentation assessment, objective-setting, regular feedback, regular reappraisals and appraisals of development demands are the basiss of public presentation direction. Respondents were asked what activities they understand to be included under the streamer of public presentation direction. Over 90 % say they think that regular reappraisal meetings should be included, 85 % objective-setting, 83 % regular feedback to persons, 80 % public presentation assessments and 75 % appraisal of development demands. The figures for respondents sentiments on what activities jointly depict public presentation direction are found in Figure 1. Figure 1: What do you understand by the term public presentation direction? There is besides strong grounds that practicians are utilizing public presentation direction to encompass a scope of activities: 60 % of respondents think that more than five activities should be included in public presentation direction and 18 % think it should include more than eight. However, when this is compared with what respondents really do under the pretense of public presentation direction, the image shifts a small. Merely 62 % really carry out regular reappraisal meetings to measure advancement against marks and 75 % set aims or marks. The figure for those really transporting out public presentation assessment at 80 % is really near to the 82 % who feel this should be included in activities to pull off public presentation. The full image of the activities that respondents are really engaged in under the streamer of public presentation direction can be found in Figure 2. Figure 2: What really happens under the header public presentation direction? Again, somewhat fewer activities are really used to pull off public presentation than the figure respondents think ought to be included: 62 % really use more than five activities to pull off public presentation and merely 23 % usage more than eight. Who benefits from public presentation direction? Respondents were asked who they think benefits the most from public presentation direction. A dislocation of their responses can be found in Figure 3. An overpowering 44 % of respondents think that persons are the primary donees of public presentation direction. However, merely 20 % think that public presentation direction has a positive impact on single public presentation, with the bulk ( 59 % ) staying impersonal on that topic and 21 % disagreeing that public presentation direction has a positive impact on single public presentation. However, 30 % agree that public presentation direction would assist persons understand what they should be making and how they ought to be making it. Merely 19 % of respondents think that line directors benefit most from public presentation direction. Yet 23 % agree that public presentation direction would assist line directors to pull off people better. Thirty-seven per cent disagrees that public presentation direction would assist line directors to develop the capableness to pull off people better. Figure 3: Who chiefly benefits from public presentation direction? What does public presentation direction achieve? The full extent to which respondents agree or disagree with a figure of common premises and statements made about public presentation direction can be found in Table 1. Table1: Performance direction premises Strongly agree Agree Neither agrees nor disagrees. Disagree Strongly differ Performance direction has a positive impact on single public presentation 2 % 18 % 59 % 15 % 6 % Performance direction has a positive impact on organizational public presentation. 4 % 17 % 56 % 16 % 7 % Performance direction enables persons to better understand what they should be making and how to make it 4 % 26 % 57 % 9 % 4 % Performance direction helps line directors to pull off people better 3 % 20 % 52 % 16 % 9 % Performance direction helps better line directors capablenesss to pull off people efficaciously 4 % 4 % 45 % 23 % 14 % Performance direction can assist persons develop their accomplishments and calling options 4 % 16 % 61 % 14 % 5 % Performance direction can impact on employee wellbeing. 4 % 13 % 55 % 21 % 7 % Performance direction can assist people understand the administration s strategic precedences. 4 % 17 % 54 % 17 % 8 % Performance direction can assist persons understand how their behavior and actions affect the accomplishment of the administration s strategic precedences. 4 % 18 % 52 % 18 % 8 % There is a surprising sum of dissension about what public presentation direction is capable of accomplishing. The highest degree of understanding seems to be around the averment that public presentation direction enables persons to understand what they ought to be making. Thirty per cent of respondents agree with this statement, but still a ample 13 % disagree and 57 % neither agree nor disagree. Merely 17 % agree that public presentation direction might hold an impact on wellbeing and 26 % disagree. Twenty-three per cent agree that public presentation direction helps line directors to pull off people better and 25 % disagree. Potentially even more controversial is that although 20 % agree that public presentation direction has a positive impact on single public presentation, 21 % disagree. What other HR procedures should associate to public presentation direction? Respondents were asked to depict what other HR procedures ought to associate to public presentation direction. The responses are detailed in Figure 4 ; acquisition and development tops the list, with 85 % of respondents stating this should be linked. Career development, coaching and mentoring and sequence planning follow rapidly behind, with talent direction cited by 65 % of respondents. Once once more the demand to aline public presentation direction with a scope of activities is recognised. The bulk, 69 % of respondents, advocate that it should be linked into at least four other HR procedures and 57 % suggest that it should associate to at least five. Figure 4: What other HR procedures should be linked to public presentation direction Evaluation OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Finally, respondents were asked how public presentation direction should be evaluated and what success standards are used. Not surprisingly, single public presentation and organizational public presentation comes top, with 89 % and 88 % severally mentioning this as the main step of the success of public presentation direction. However, a wide scope of steps is besides suggested, with occupation satisfaction advocated as a step by 76 % and direction behavior by 58 % . Merely 1 % think it is excessively difficult to measure it at all! The full dislocation of responses can be found in Figure 5. Figure 5: Evaluation of public presentation direction PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE Three things become instantly evident from the consequences of the study. The first is that the initial premise around the procedure of public presentation direction was right and the existent tools still remain changeless. Indeed, assessment, objective-setting and reappraisal and development still exceed the list of activities most normally carried out under the streamer of public presentation direction this brand public presentation direction a focal point to find the hereafter of the administration in footings of growing. The 2nd is that the tendency of incorporating public presentation direction more steadfastly with other HR processes to pull off endowment, develop possible, plan callings or support persons through coaching or mentoring has continued this excessively cultivates the general administration public presentation in footings of it public presentation hence its growing. This is a tendency that can be traced from the early 1990s, where several researches found public presentation direction to be a reasonably distinct activity mostly dwelling of an assessment procedure through its development into a tool closely incorporate with wage decision-making and development planning for turning administrations. This study clearly demonstrates the integrating of public presentation direction with a scope of other patterns associated with single wellbeing, battle and development of possible and how all these are linked with the public presentation of the administration in footings of growing. For illus tration, 34 % of respondents advocate associating public presentation direction to programmes to pull off well-being and 80 % advocator associating it to training or mentoring ( see Figure 5 ) . The 3rd and possibly most of import issue the research identified is the evident being of a important spread between what people think is the intent and capableness of public presentation direction and what they really believe it is presently accomplishing in footings of impeling the growing of administrations. This issue was hence explored farther with a scope of practicians through the telephone interviews. Past instance survey based research has besides and clearly demonstrated that it is the application instead than the procedure itself that makes the difference in footings of public presentation direction. The procedure may stay the same but the ethos and value system within which it is implemented can do a important difference and find whether public presentation direction is merely a mechanistic informations aggregation exercising to find development scheme for growing of administration or pay allotment. The interviews with practicians, hence, focused on the execution and place and function of public presentation direction instead than the procedures involved. All of the practicians interviewed are working in administrations with a comparatively mature experience of public presentation direction and all of them have made at least some alterations to their procedure over the last five old ages, with some shiping upon a complete redesign of the pattern in order to convey in dynamism for growing in administration. They confirm the premise that while the procedures associated with public presentation direction have remained comparatively stable, the placement, civilization in which it is implemented and purpose have changed significantly with focal point on how the procedure can convey in alteration in footings of growth.. More than one interviewee commented that while they had merely tinkered with the procedure over the old ages, they had wholly redefined the intent to reflect altering values, demands and attempts to drive a public presentation civilization for a better new face of the administration. For illustration, John McCann of the Nat ional Audit Office holds the position that: aˆÂ ¦we can amend facets of the procedure to do it easier for staff to useaˆÂ ¦but at the terminal of the twenty-four hours it s non about the procedure, it s about discoursing public presentation, keeping people to account and supplying feedback every bit good as giving congratulations for a occupation good done. When you look at this statement it depicts the whole thought buttocks is how we can better public presentation of single employee hence for the public presentation of the administration for growing. Alliance with the aims The general sentiment of most of the interviewees is that public presentation direction is most utile when it aligns single aims with concern ends and helps persons to understand the part they are doing and how their function fits into overall strategic concern aims and be cognizant of their administration devising advancement. So, for illustration, Angela Williams from Land Securities told the CIPD research: Ultimately there is no point making public presentation direction if it does non present the concern aims and its mission. It should enable you to take action at the single degree if people are drawing in the right directionaˆÂ ¦everyone whatever degree they are knows where their personal KPIs tantrum. However, this does non intend that public presentation direction is viewed merely as a vehicle for cascading aims. Most besides feel that it is about guaranting people know how and why aims need to be achieved every bit good as what they should be, their function as employees and the function of employee public presentation direction in administration growing. Steve Jones from Novartis told the CIPD research that: aˆÂ ¦look at values and behaviors, non merely what gets done but how we do it. But we put somewhat more of a weighting on aims than values and behaviors. These interviewees think that by acquiring greater lucidity of function and aims through public presentation direction, there is an chance to enable people to acquire a better apprehension of what truly good public presentation expressions like and so assist them understand their function in administration growing, and what actions they need to take to accomplish this. Tony Voller from IHG told CIPD research that: Performance direction ought to be about alining people s attempts to present what the company needs for growthaˆÂ ¦making certain people are clear about how they deliver the aims of their occupation. It should besides assist people execute of their best by assisting them understand what great public presentation expressions like and how far they are from it to assist their female parent administration growaˆÂ ¦a procedure which encourages people to travel and be successful! Decision The study respondents and interviewees who contributed confirm that public presentation direction is an digesting tool that has a polar function to play in the direction of people and general betterment in public presentation by an administration. There is strong understanding that its intent is mostly defined by its function in alining single attempt and aims of the administration with concern consequences and supplying a clear line of sight of precedences throughout the administration. It is besides a powerful tool for communicating, peculiarly to regulate the communicating between directors and employees which is besides one of the cardinal factors of the administration growing. The line director function is important in the bringing of public presentation direction and it is clear that successful public presentation direction will decidedly impact on the growing of the administration. There is besides a clear thrust towards better rating and apprehension of the impact of public presentation direction on both single and organizational public presentation and strong integrating with other schemes to pull off endowment, wage, battle and callings which are all ingredients for administration growing. The work demonstrates that public presentation direction does impact on public presentation at all degrees whereby where it is successfully implemented the consequences will greatly impact on the administration growing positively. And where it is non implemented good will besides impact on the administration negatively. Performance direction provides a critical foundation for organisations to pull off their concerns and empower persons to do the right determinations to maximise profitableness which can in-turn be converted into growing. Capturing cognition and information across the organisation can construct long term value for stakeholders therefore pulling more investing into the administration hence the growing of the administration. This is now possible by using public presentation direction rules to engineering investings. Now, as neer before, concerns have the ability to implement public presentation direction to transform full organisations with a focal point to accomplish ends, viing favorably in the market and retaining and edifice repute. And now, as neer before, the force per unit area is on concerns to guarantee they manage the public presentation of their employee if they are to stay in concern. WAY FORWARD/RECOMMENDATIONS Successful public presentation direction frequently involves interaction between several persons who must work as a squad. A critical characteristic of squads is that persons must organize their determinations and activities by sharing information and resources to achieve shared ends that will travel the administration frontward. Clearly, attempts to better squad public presentation for the growing of the administration must concentrate attending on the public presentation of persons and so the whole administration. However, persons are dependent on other squad members to supply information and for coordination of administration activities. Those behaviors of members that engender a sharing of information and a coordination of activities throughout the administration are jointly called teamwork. A conceptual model for developing teamwork, measures that can be used to guarantee effectual person and squad public presentation for the administration. Over the past several decennaries, mu ch research has been devoted to the probe of squad preparation and public presentation ( Guzzo A ; Salas 1995 ) . Despite the copiousness of squad research, few attempts have been devoted to look intoing the constituents of teamwork, and in peculiar, to developing steps of those constituents and how they can impact on administration in footings of their betterment. With few exclusions, the research has studied the influence of undertaking, single, and squad features on squad public presentation ( Guzzo A ; Salas 1995 ) . A Teamwork constituents and their steps are needed to explicate the mechanisms by which the input variables can find squad public presentation and administration growth.A Communication involves the active exchange of information between two or more members of the squad, every bit good as an single squad member supplying information to others in the appropriate mode in this manner there is a flow of coordination in the whole administration. In general, communicating is a mechanism that links the other constituents of teamwork, public presentation direction will be even more effectual where communicating is a cardinal constituent used in administration or any workplace.. For illustration, communicating is the of import nexus between supervising other members public presentation and supplying feedback about that public presentation ( Guzzo A ; Salas 1995 ) . A A 2nd critical constituent of teamwork is team orientation. This includes the nature of the attitudes that team members have t oward one another, the squad undertaking, and their squad leading and how they look at employee public presentation direction, whether they embrace it. It besides includes self-awareness as squad member, group and general administration coherence. Team leading is another critical constituent of teamwork, how the leading involve their subsidiaries. This includes the way and construction provided by formal leaders every bit good as by other members within the administration structures. Team leading implies that planning and forming activities have enabled members to react as a map of the behaviors of others ( Brannick, Prince, A ; Salas 1997 ) . Monitoring squad public presentation is a important constituent of teamwork hence general administration public presentation and to prove the administration s ability to germinate to another degree of growth.A This constituent refers to the observation and consciousness of activities and public presentation direction procedure of other squad members. Monitoring implies that team members are competent in their single undertakings and have a substantial apprehension of the undertakings of other members and are in place of taking the administration to another degree. In summary a successful employee public presentation direction requires an environment of teamwork with members who have positive attitudes toward the squad and its undertaking, have been provided equal way and support for carry throughing squad ends, and knows their ain undertakings and those of other members with whom they interact ( Brannick, Prince, A ; Salas 1997 ) . And therefore Forth know the ends and mission of the administration. In the execution of public presentation procedure the squad and single public presentation is needed so that it can be accessed together with the criterions of best performance.A In undergoing public presentation assessments single and group public presentation needs to be checked to find the things that caused hapless public presentation corrections will so be called for and the administration gets back to its normal progress root of growing.

Venus of Willendorf †Most Famous Women

Venus of Willendorf – Most Famous Women Free Online Research Papers The most famous early image of a human, a woman, is the so-called Venus of Willendorf, found in 1908 by the archaeologist Josef Szombathy in a terrace about 30 meters above the Danube river near the town of Willendorf, Austria. The statue, which measures about 11.1 centimeters in length, is now in a muse. It was carved from a fine porous limestone not found in the region and so must have been brought to the area from another location. It must have travelled a great distance before hibernating for centuries. When first discovered the Venus of Willendorf was thought to date to approximately 15,000 to 10,000 BCE. In the 1970s the date was revised back to 25,000-20,000 BCE, and then in the 1980s it was revised again to 30,000-25,000 BCE. In 1990 a study of the amount of layers of deposit on her indicates a date for the Venus of Willendorf of around 24,000-22,000 BCE. Being both female and nude, she fit perfectly into the patriarchal construction of the history of art. She became the first woman, acquiring an ironic Eve identity that focused suitably, from a patriarchal point of view, on the fascinating reality of the female body. She was originally nicknamed la poire the pear on account of her shape .Larger woman used to be identified with wealth, health and suitable for child bearing.Her size, at one point, probably was a point of envy with woman all over the world. In the 15th century, the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli revived this same pose in his painting The Birth of Venus and initiated a renewed interest in the Classical Venus. The female again is very curvy, however her hair is natural and free flowing. She seems to be looked upon with ease, by the gods; envied by the human. The inspired painting is printed below: She also exhibits, in ways that are at once appealing (to most women, perhaps) and threatening (to most men, perhaps), a physical and sexual self that seems unrestrained, unphased by cultural taboos and social convictions.She is an image of natural femaleness, of uninhibited female power, which civilization, in the figure of the Classical Venus, later sought to curtail and bring under control. The sculpture shows a woman with a large stomach that overhangs but does not hide her pubic area. A roll of fat extends around her middle, joining with large but rather flat buttocks. Her thighs are also large and pressed together down to the knees. Her forearms, however, are thin, and are shown draped over and holding, with cursorily indicated fingers, the upper part of her large breasts. Small markings on her wrists seem to indicate the presence of bracelets. Her breasts are full and appear soft, but they are not sagging and pendulous. The nipples are not indicated. Her genital area has been deliberately emphasized with the details made clearly visible. This, combined with her large breasts and the roundness of her stomach, suggests that the subject of the sculpture is female procreativity and nurture and the piece has long been identified as some sort of fertility idol. Treatment of hair is rare in Paleolithic figurines, and the attention paid to it must mean it had some significance. In later cultures, hair has been considered a source of strength, and as the seat of the soul. Another characteristic of the statue is she has no feet. Possibly the intention was to curtail the figurines power to leave wherever she had been placed. A more common explanation is that because the statue served as a fertility idol, the sculptor included only those parts of the female body needed for the conception and nurture of children. The most satisfying, position is being held in the palm of the hand. When seen under these conditions, she transformed as a piece of sculpture. As fingers are imagined gripping her round masses, she becomes a remarkably sensuous object, her flesh seemingly soft and yielding to the touch. A roll of fat extends around her middle, joining with large but rather flat buttocks. Piette had been the first to regard it as a racial feature that he related to the appearance of women in African tribes. Another factor contributing to this fact is her hair. Some have interpreted her head as wearing braids while others have said she may be wearing a sort of headdress. From the front, the place where her face should be seems to be largely concealed by what are generally described as rows of plaited hair wrapped around her head. A characteristic of all the Paleolithic Venus figurines is the lack of a face, which for some, arguing that the face is a key feature in human identity, means that she is to be regarded as an anonymous sexual object rather than a person; it is her physical body and what it represents that is important. When seen in profile, the impression is that the figure is looking down with her chin sunk to her chest, and her hair looks more like hair; longer at back and falling and gathering like real hair might on her upper back. Some find it significant that the number of full circles is seven; many thousands of years later seven was regarded as a magic number. What her identity and purpose may have been, why and for what reason she was carved, becomes an even more pressing question. If we dismiss all associations with goddesses and fertility figures, and assume an objective response to what we see, she might be identified as simply a Stone-Age doll. Venus of Willendorf c. 24,000-22,000 BCE Oolitic limestone 43/8 inches (11.1 cm) high (Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna) REFRENCES: http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfname.html www.google.com: Chrisopher L. C. E. Witcombe www.ask.com pxleyes.com/photoshop-picture/4b8f359d6880d/The-Venus-of-Willendorf-2010.html Research Papers on Venus of Willendorf - Most Famous WomenMind TravelAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionHip-Hop is ArtWhere Wild and West MeetInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropePersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyResearch Process Part OneMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

Cloud Computing - advantage and disadvantage for payroll companies Essay

Cloud Computing - advantage and disadvantage for payroll companies - Essay Example In this scenario, cloud computing is an emerging trend in the computing industry. This paper presents a brief overview of cloud computing technology with respect to its usage for payroll industry. The basic objective of this research is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing with respect to payroll industry. Cloud computing refers to the use of a cloud image to indicate the internet or a number of huge networked arrangements. Though, people are not concerned a great deal with what is in the cloud or what goes on there apart from that they actually rely on consistently transmitting data to as well as receiving information and data from it. Additionally, the cloud computing is at the present linked with a high level idea of the cloud. Instead of using routers, pipes and servers for transferring data and information, people use cloud services (Rouse; Hartig). In addition, the technology and architecture behind cloud computing lead to a group of unified storage systems, servers and control nodes that can facilitate distributed computing. Additionally, every cloud computing based arrangement normally has a client computer and front end and a back end that consists of software systems and servers, and a number of categories of control node and data storage. In this scenario, the network that puts together all the things is the most significant side that could be linked with cloud computing design. As well, the components of a cloud computing arrangement can be connected with each other by means of web/internet, and the client normally accesses them by means of internet (Hartig; Strickland; Laukkonen). PC revolution has provided many â€Å"off the shelf† solutions to business organizations. Payroll and HR software tools are the solution that is created for the HR professionals to meet the needs of the organizations. However, in the past decade with the technology of cloud based software, many solutions provided to organizations

Brazil and production of superstars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Brazil and production of superstars - Essay Example Many of these players including Ronaldoinho displayed their passion for soccer by playing on the streets of Brazil. Because of rough conditions and cramped places, they had to find different ways to improvise and in the process learned some of the best maneuvers. In the game of soccer as in any other sport, playing in restricted space means you need to improve your game by setting various targets. This is the only way one can develop his skills with limited resources. all Brazilians players display this kind of skill. You look at them and you know they have such close control of the ball. But there are some external factors as well. Soccer is the national sport of Brazil and thus young Brazilians take up soccer very early. Their concentration on promotion of soccer is almost natural since high percentage of youth goes for soccer than any other sport. Apart from that weather also plays an important role. Unlike Europeans, who may find weather a problem now and then, Brazilians can practice throughout the year because of their ideal climate and this gives them more chances to develop their skills. Brazil may be a poor country but it runs its sports business in highly professional manner. In early 1900s, soccer was an amateur game but it turned professional when passion for the game grew. Many clubs emerged that later formed their leagues.

The Role Of The Born Global Firms In International Business Assignment

The Role Of The Born Global Firms In International Business - Assignment Example b) Globalization and born global businesses are highly related to each other. One is the cause of the emergence of the other. Both the emerging globalization and the born-global businesses share some common issues with each other. Here, the issues found in the article have been briefly discussed.ïÆ'Ëœ Trade barriers are totally removed from most of the European economies of western countries. There each of the companies from domestic to international all of them competes with each other according to their potentiality.ïÆ'Ëœ The emerging industrialization, as well as modernization, caused globalization in the eastern economies like India, China. This indirectly helps the born global firms of the European countries to get a global market for performing their business.ïÆ'Ëœ It has also been observed nowadays, that the regional integration like NAFTA and the European Union has massively increased, which made easy for a born global firm to expand its business internationally (Case 1).à ¯Æ'Ëœ The growing integration in the global financial market has made the born global businesses more effective in the emerging economies. When the European countries would suffer from the debt crisis, the born global firms of those countries were much concerned to expand their business initially in the developing economies so that they can give potential threat to their American rival in the global financial market.Q.2. The smuggling business is growing rapidly among the spiritual Syrian people

Little Red Riding Hood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Little Red Riding Hood - Essay Example Suddenly, the wolf stopped the girl and asked her, â€Å"Where are you going little girl?† she answered, â€Å"I’m going to my grandmother’s house.† The wolf smiled a maliciously and continued his way alone. When she left, the wolf went to Sara’s grandmother’s house very quickly, as he already know where her grandmother’s house was. While continuing with her journey, the little girl was silently wondering â€Å"If my mom finds out that I talked to a stranger, what would she do?† On the other side, the wolf kidnapped the grandmother and sat on her bed as the grandmother used to. After some time, the little girl arrived and went to her grandmother’s bed and saw the wolf posing as her. Without realizing that it was the wolf, the little girl enquired, â€Å"Why do you look so strange and tired?† Suddenly, the wolf woke up and jumped on the little girl. She managed to escape from him and ran while screaming so loudly as king for help from the neighbors. Fortunately, there was a farmer who heard her screaming while he was crossing the road and ran to her rescue. He killed the wolf and saved both the little girl’s and the grandmother’s lives. When Sara returned to her home, her mother told her, â€Å"If you had listened to my advice, that wouldn’t have happened.† After that experience, the little sweet girl learned that she should always listen to adults’ advices without arguing with them because they have more experience than the children

Theory that support obesity in Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Theory that support obesity in Children - Essay Example There are varying theories that support obesity, most of which have had empirical research and studies supporting their validity or otherwise. This paper is dedicated to critically analyzing one of these theories. The multidimensional theory of obesity proposed by Perryman, Nielsen and Booth (2008) is the selected theory that supports obesity that is going to be used. As the name of the theory implies, the multidimensional theory of obesity refuses to view obesity as a phenomenon with just one aspect. Rather, it sees obesity as â€Å"multidimensional and involves physical aspects, such as genetics and metabolism, as well as psychological schemas and environmental conditions (Wilkins, Kendrick, Stitt & Hammarlund, 1998). With reference to the present study, the selection of the multidimensional theory is in the fact that at the early ages, children are exposed to as many factors as possible that account for their obesity and its solutions. It is therefore necessary and important to get a theory that matches up with the multi-variant nature of the causes, effects and solutions available for children who may be facing obesity as a health problem. The proposed solution to combating obesity in children is rooted in the need for individualized interventional attention given to obese children. By individualized interventional attention, reference is being made to the need of ensuring that interventions that are suggested do not only address a restricted aspect of obesity in children such as diet but that it looks at a holistic and comprehensive approach to ensuring that the problem is really solved. This is because with such a holistic approach, there is not going to be anyway that the researcher is going to miss the cause of the problem in case the cause is not as singular as may be thought (Golan, Weitzman, Apter and

Little Red Riding Hood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Little Red Riding Hood - Essay Example Suddenly, the wolf stopped the girl and asked her, â€Å"Where are you going little girl?† she answered, â€Å"I’m going to my grandmother’s house.† The wolf smiled a maliciously and continued his way alone. When she left, the wolf went to Sara’s grandmother’s house very quickly, as he already know where her grandmother’s house was. While continuing with her journey, the little girl was silently wondering â€Å"If my mom finds out that I talked to a stranger, what would she do?† On the other side, the wolf kidnapped the grandmother and sat on her bed as the grandmother used to. After some time, the little girl arrived and went to her grandmother’s bed and saw the wolf posing as her. Without realizing that it was the wolf, the little girl enquired, â€Å"Why do you look so strange and tired?† Suddenly, the wolf woke up and jumped on the little girl. She managed to escape from him and ran while screaming so loudly as king for help from the neighbors. Fortunately, there was a farmer who heard her screaming while he was crossing the road and ran to her rescue. He killed the wolf and saved both the little girl’s and the grandmother’s lives. When Sara returned to her home, her mother told her, â€Å"If you had listened to my advice, that wouldn’t have happened.† After that experience, the little sweet girl learned that she should always listen to adults’ advices without arguing with them because they have more experience than the children

Manegment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Manegment - Essay Example My better communication skill and listening skill will help me in getting things done through the workforce in the organization. This will also create a sense of trust among the teams. â€Å"Charismatic Leaders, who are building a group, whether it is a political party, a cult or a business team, will often focus strongly on making the group very clear and distinct, separating it from other groups. They will then build the image of the group, in particular in the minds of their followers, as being far superior to all others. The Charismatic Leader will typically attach themselves firmly to the identity of the group, such that to join the group is to become one with the leader. In doing so, they create an unchallengeable position for themselves† (Charismatic Leadership). My percentage in faith in people is 54%. This means that I have low faith in people. This will help me to connect the reality of performance and trust with the people. This rate also indicates my capability to take financial challenges and to create integrity among the work group. My trustworthy score is 47. That means others may feel me as a trustworthy person. This will help me to create a trusting bond between me and the team. I feel that I can improve myself more by improving by presenting more consistency in the commitments and maintaining confidence among the team. My rating in disciplining others is 19. This means my shortcomings in discipline skill. I need to be more conscious in matters regarding taking timely actions, in modulating tones while speaking or discussing about infractions and to be particular about the problems within the organizations. Team building activities helps in developing organizational culture. My team building skill helps in lies in the second quartile with 79 points. I need to be more conscious in developing my skill to motivate and develop the team as a whole. Some more interpersonal skills have to be improved like communication and negotiation. My

To Watch the Faces of the Poor Essay Example for Free

To Watch the Faces of the Poor Essay Charles Cunningham, in â€Å"â€Å"To Watch the Faces of the Poor†: Life Magazine and the Mythology of Rural Poverty in the Great Depression (1999),† details how Life magazine describes the agrarian poverty in 1930’s due to Great depression, ridiculing the poor of whites by showing photographs without enough explanation of this poverty. Exclusion of explaining the cause of poverty in agriculture possibly leads to these â€Å"White poor† as â€Å"worthy† poor, who are not inherently inferior, but are victims of nature and geography. Tom Delph-Janiurek, in his article of â€Å"Sounding Gender(ed): Vocal Performances in English University Teaching Spaces,† states that gendered voices are performed through repeated stylization of bodies, having connection with gendered and sexualized identities. Also, he argues that voice have a geography shaped by how discourses change across different types of space. Both these authors discuss how pre-held notions construct the distorted bias of poverty in race and gendered voices respectively. According to Cunningham, by showing many pictures of poor white in U. S. rural regions such as Oklahoma, Montana, Arkansas, and Dakota, Life magazine effectively aroused sympathy from readers of Life magazine who subsequently thought their poor condition was mainly attributable to misfortune. This limited a reasonable explanation of poverty of â€Å"worthy poor. † The readers of this magazine only saw the pictures of untidiness, biological unfitness, and sloth of the poor white, so only consider that they were handicapped sufferer by geographical conditions. The direct factor of this economic crisis, capitalism itself, was never involved or even considered as the cause of the poor condition in Life magazine. Thus, the readers of Life did not expand themselves as unworthy to be poor, and think of becoming destitute as a result of economic crisis. In Delph-Janiurek’s discussion of voices, although gendered dualism of voices seems obvious having distinctive characteristics in a certain way, voices actually have geography with involving the production and interpretation of them in particular ways within different kinds of spaces. It means that voices have much more unique ways of interpretation than the vocal performance of roles and identities. Audiences themselves grasp the context of speaking according to specific interactional spaces and geography. The understanding of talk is not only related to binary gendered voices, but also to surroundings and desired narratives. For example, when performing in drama, students would be required to relinquish one kind of vocal and adopt another to alter unenthusiastic, unemotional voices of heterosexual masculinity to more emotional theatrical voices through a process called â€Å"drag. Along with dragged voices, lesbian and gay voices can be performed vocally in ways that mimic the gender dualism. Some gay men can use extreme versions of â€Å"women’s voices† to act â€Å"camp† identities, or vice versa. Taken together, mythology of poverty with hidden crucial factor of economical crisis and various forms of vocal performance would result in abs olutely different interpretation by readers or audiences.

Insurance Company Case Study and Analysis

Insurance Company Case Study and Analysis This Life Insurance Company Ltd. is one of the famous insurance companies in India offering various effective life insurance policies. This Life Insurance Company Limited is often known as Tata AIG Life. This Life is a joint venture of the Tata Group and American International Group, Inc. (AIG). Offers many standard custom made life insurance policies. It is one of the oldest and leading business group of India. Tata group has a long association with Indias insurance sector being the largest insurance company in India prior to the nationalization. American International Group INC is leading US board International insurance financial service organization this Life Insurance Company Limited or this insurance company brings to you a wide choice of life insurance policies for individuals, small and large business industries and for ventures. Apart from these, the company also provides additional life insurance coverage to assure the clients an insurance policy designed for them. The Tata Group holds 74 % stake in the insurance venture with AIG holding the rest 26%. Tata AIG Life provides insurance solutions to individuals and corporate sectors. This Life Insurance Company received license for operating in India on February 12, 2001 and started its operations on April 1, 2001. CEO of TATA -AIG is Mr. Ian J. Watts Joydeep K. Roy, the alternative channels. The various life insurance policies and services offered by the Tata AIG Life include:- For individuals: Life Health First MahaLife Gold Life Invest Assure Plus Life Invest Assure II Life Health Protector Life Invest Assure Care Life Invest Assure Gold Life Health Investor Life Invest Assure Extra Life Plus Life Shubha Life Life Easy Retire Life Assure Security Growth Plan Life Assure Money Saver Life Raksa Life Assure Golden Plan For Children: Life Assure 21 years Money Sanchay Life Assure Career Builder Life Star kid Life Invest Assure Plus Life Assure Educated at 18 Retirement Plans: Life Nirvana Life Easy Retire Life Invest Assure Gold Corporate life insurance products offered by this Life Insurance Company Ltd:- The Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Limited also offers various corporate life insurance products that include Group Pension Employee Benefit Workplace Solution Credit Life THE CASE American Insurance group in USA will have a bearing on its business in India, particularly its insurance business which it is running in collaboration with Tata. However sources in the industry say that policy holders are not required to worry as the financial condition of insurance subsidiaries of AIG in India is quite stable, and they are able to meet all the liabilities emerging out of claims from their policy holders. Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) has also expressed its concern over the recent developments in the United States financial markets. AIG, which is one of the leading insurance group of US, has asked financial assistance from the Federal Reserves. AIG is operating in both the life and non-life insurance sectors. In a statement IRDA said that reports of life insurance and general insurance companies promoted by Tata and AIG as on March 29, 2008 indicated that both companies have satisfactory solvency position which suggests that they have enough assets which is capable of meeting their liabilities. IRDA further clarified that life and general insurance companies promoted by Tatas and AIG are companies registered under the Indian Companies Act and are restricted by the provisions of the Insurance Act . From the reliable sources we found that policy holders should wait for clarification before taking any decision. AIG in USA has a solvency issue but in India there is no liquidity issue due to the intervension of IRDA. So there may not be a problem in the Indian insurance market. Though in many countries, policy holders are in a hurry to cancel their policies, but in India there is no need to take such steps. Thus Industry experts said that there is no need to worry and policy holders should keep their insurance policies intact. This companys general insurance is among the top 5 general insurance companies of the world and has earned a net premium of RS.812 in 2008-09. This company is also one of the leading primary sectors and has earned a yearly premium of Rs.970 corer. Solution of the case One of the officials Tata said that if AIG is not able to survive in the USA is forced to file for insolvency, Tata will buy out the 26% share of AIG in both the companies and the customers interest will remain safe. Then find some other foreign company and sell that 26% to them. So IRDA took the decision that they will seek a new promoter incase Tatas buys out the share or not the policiers interest will remain unaffected. But later on the matter settled down and AIG somewhat regained its lost position and thus Tata decided not to buy off their shares and till date they are continuing their insurance company together. Conclusion In India the insurance market was suffering before but now it has regained its lost status. But still now Life Insurance Corporation of India acquires 64% share of the entire insurance holders followed by ICICI prudential which has only 9% approx. of the market. Tata AIG has almost a negligible Insurance market share which is less than 2%. So they need to work a lot in order to establish their hold in Indian market.

Sigmund Freud Essay -- Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in Freiberg (now Pribor, Czech Republic). Freud was educated at Vienna University. Then him and his family moved to Leipzig from the anti-Semitic riots. His ambition in his childhood had been a career in law but then he decided to be medical student before he entered to Vienna University in 1873. After this he desire to study natural science and to solve challenging problems that confronted contemporary scientist. In his three year at Vienna University Freud began his research in central nervous system in the physiological lab under the direction of German Physician Ernst Wilhelm Von Brucke. In 1881 after completing a year compulsory military service he receive his medical degree. After he received his degree he remained at the university as a demonstrator in the physiological laboratory. Freud spent three years at the General Hospital of Vienna devoting himself to psychiatry, dermatology, and nervous disease. In 1885 after appointed as lecturer in neuropathology at the university he decided to leave his post in the hospital. Later that same year Freud studies under Jean Charcot in which centered largely on hysteria, influenced Freud greatly in channeling his interest to psychopathology. Freud than established a private practice in Vienna specializing in nervous disease.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1891, Freud’s first published work, On Aphasia, it was the study of neurological disorder in which the ability to pronounce words or to name common objects is lost as a result of organic brain disease. His final work in neurology was an article, â€Å"Infantile Cerebral Paralysis†, was written in 1897 for an encyclopedia. His consecutive writing were devoted entirely to that field, which he had named psychoanalysis in 1896. Sigmund Freud developed the technique of psychoanalysis and much of the psychoanalytic theory based on its application. The first of Freud's innovations was his recognition of unconscious psychiatric processes that follow laws different from those that govern conscious experience. A basic assumption of Freudian theory is that the unconscious conflicts involve instinctual impulses, or drives, that originate in childhood. His work concerning the structure and the functioning of the human mind had far-reaching significance, both practically and scientifically, and it continues to influence... ...ally alone in what he termed â€Å"splendid isolation.† After the onset of World War I Freud devoted little time to clinical observation and concentrated on the application of his theories to the interpretation of religion, mythology, art, and literature. In 1923 he was stricken with cancer of the jaw, which necessitated constant, painful treatment in addition to many surgical operations. Despite his physical suffering he continued his literary activity for the next 16 years, writing mostly on cultural and philosophical problems. When the Germans occupied Austria in 1938, Freud, a Jew, was persuaded by friends to escape with his family to England. Then he died in London on September 23, 1939. Sigmund Freud created an entirely new approach to the understanding of human personality by his demonstration of the existence and force of the unconscious. In addition, he founded a new medical discipline and formulated basic therapeutic procedures that in modified form are applied widely in the present-day treatment of neuroses and psychoses. Although never accorded full recognition during his lifetime, Freud is generally acknowledged as one of the great creative minds of modern times.

Essay --

â€Å"Acting is not that far from mental disease: An actor works on splitting his character into others. It is like a kind of schizophrenia†. –Vittorio Gossman Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that changes the consistency of a person’s personality in arrears to emotional weakness and detachment from reality. Schizophrenia can be connected with the disorders of anxiety and depression. Those who have this disorder go through variations of abnormal activities. Schizophrenia is a disorder that damages the brain. People with schizophrenia sometimes hear voices that others may not hear. They are truly convinced that they hear these voices as well. Schizophrenias may also think that other people have control over them when it comes to knowing what thoughts run through the mind and they believe that those people will bring harm to their lives (NIMH-Schizophrenia). When trying to establish a conversation with schizophrenics it can be rather awkward at times. They sometimes can’t put their words together to have a conversation that makes sense. They won’t come off as talkative people. Schizophrenics can sit for a long period of time without making any movements or even saying a word. Along with upholding a conversation, they also may have difficulties trying to live a normal life. Maintaining a job, a marriage, a romantic relationship, taking care of themselves, eventually becomes hard and the help of others will be needed (NIMH-Schizophrenia). Schizophrenia is not a disorder that can be cured. Although there are treatments out there that will slowly alleviate some of the symptoms. Some of these symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, movement disorders, and inability to speak for long, lack of trying to enjoy their da... ...elusional. Due to that, Alicia brought Nash to a psychiatric hospital. At the psychiatric hospital, Nash was diagnosed with depression and paranoid schizophrenia (Howard, A Beautiful Mind). With schizophrenia, it is hard to maintain your daily life especially when it comes to relationships, hence why Nash and his wife Alicia had a divorce but they came back together years later. However the relationship was an unemotional one. (Howard, A Beautiful Mind). From what I can see, the lack of stability in Nash’s relationship and the non-emotional connection between the two shows how much his disorder has affected him and the marriage. For someone to not be able to create a new relationship after the divorce clearly shows that the status of the disorder has not changed. There is still a lack of emotional ability in Nash that disables him from having a normal relationship.

Bag of Bones EPILOGUE

It snowed for Christmas a polite six inches of powder that made the carollers working the streets of Sanford look like they belonged in It's a Wonderful Life. By the time I came back from checking Kyra for the third time, it was quarter past one on the morning of the twenty-sixth, and the snow had stopped. A late moon, plump but pale, was peeking through the unravelling fluff of clouds. I was Christmasing with Frank again, and we were the last two up. The kids, Ki included, were dead to the world, sleeping off the annual bacchanal of food and presents. Frank was on his third Scotch it had been a three-Scotch story if there ever was one, I guess but I'd barely drunk the top off my first one. I think I might have gotten into the bottle quite heavily if not for Ki. On the days when I have her I usually don't drink so much as a glass of beer. And to have her three days in a row . . . but shit, kemo sabe, if you can't spend Christmas with your kid, what the hell is Christmas for? ‘Are you all right?' Frank asked when I sat down again and took another little token sip from my glass. I grinned at that. Not is she all right but are you all right. Well, nobody ever said Frank was stupid. ‘You should've seen me when the Department of Human Services let me have her for a weekend in October. I must have checked on her a dozen times before I went to bed . . . and then I kept checking. Getting up and peeking in on her, listening to her breathe. I didn't sleep a wink Friday night, caught maybe three hours on Saturday. So this is a big improvement. But if you ever blab any of what I've told you, Frank -if they ever hear about me filling up that bathtub before the storm knocked the gennie out I can kiss my chances of adopting her goodbye. I'll probably have to fill out a form in triplicate before they even let me attend her high-school graduation.' I hadn't meant to tell Frank the bathtub part, but once I started talking, almost everything spilled out. I suppose it had to spill to someone if I was ever to get on with my life. I'd assumed that John Storrow would be the one on the other side of the confessional when the time came, but John didn't want to talk about any of those events except as they bore on our ongoing legal business, which nowadays is all about Kyra Elizabeth Devore. ‘I'll keep my mouth shut, don't worry. How goes the adoption battle?' ‘Slow. I've come to loathe the State of Maine court system, and DHS as well. You take the people who work in those bureaucracies one by one and they're mostly fine, but when you put them together . . . ‘ ‘Bad, huh?' ‘I sometimes feel like a character in Bleak House. That's the one where Dickens says that in court nobody wins but the lawyers. John tells me to be patient and count my blessings, that we're making amazing progress considering that I'm that most untrustworthy of creatures, an unmarried white male of middle age, but Ki's been in two foster-home situations since Mattie died, and ‘ ‘Doesn't she have kin in one of those neighboring towns?' ‘Mattie's aunt. She didn't want anything to do with Ki when Mattie was alive and has even less interest now. Especially since ‘ ‘ since Ki's not going to be rich.' ‘Yeah.' ‘The Whitmore woman was lying about Devore's will.' ‘Absolutely. He left everything to a foundation that's supposed to foster global computer literacy. With due respect to the numbercrunchers of the world, I can't imagine a colder charity.' ‘How is John?' ‘Pretty well mended, but he's never going to get the use of his right arm back entirely. He damned near died of blood-loss.' Frank had led me away from the entwined subjects of Ki and custody quite well for a man deep into his third Scotch, and I was willing enough to go. I could hardly bear to think of her long days and longer nights in those homes where the Department of Human Services stores away children like knickknacks nobody wants. Ki didn't live in those places but only existed in them, pale and listless, like a well-fed rabbit kept in a cage. Each time she saw my car turning in or pulling up she came alive, waving her arms and dancing like Snoopy on his doghouse. Our weekend in October had been wonderful (despite my obsessive need to check her every half hour or so after she was asleep), and the Christmas holiday had been even better. Her emphatic desire to be with me was helping in court more than anything else . . . yet the wheels still turned slowly. Maybe in the spring, Mike, John told me. He was a new John these days, pale and serious. The slightly arrogant eager beaver who had wanted nothing more than to go head to head with Mr. Maxwell ‘Big Bucks' Devore was no longer in evidence. John had learned something about mortality on the twenty-first of July, and something about the world's idiot cruelty, as well. The man who had taught himself to shake with his left hand instead of his right was no longer interested in partying 'til he puked. He was seeing a girl in Philly, the daughter of one of his mother's friends. I had no idea if it was serious or not, Ki's ‘Unca John' is closemouthed about that part of his life, but when a young man is of his own accord seeing the daughter of one of his mother's friends, it usually is. Maybe in the spring: it was his mantra that late fall and early winter. What am I doing wrong? I asked him once this was just after Thanksgiving and another setback. Nothing, he replied. Single-parent adoptions are always slow, and when the putative adopter is a man, it's worse. At that point in the conversation John made an ugly little gesture, poking the index finger of his left hand in and out of his loosely cupped right fist. That's blatant sex discrimination, John. Yeah, but usually it's justified. Blame it on every twisted asshole who ever decided he had a right to take off some little kid's pants, if you want,' blame it on the bureaucracy, if you want,' hell, blame it on cosmic rays if you want. It's a slow process, but you're going to win in the end. You've got a clean record, you've got Kyra saying ‘I want to be with Mike' to every judge and DHS worker she sees, you've got enough money to keep after them no matter how much they squirm and no matter how many forms they throw at you . . . and most of all, buddy, you've got me. I had something else, too what Ki had whispered in my ear as I paused to catch my breath on the steps. I'd never told John about that, and it was one of the few things I didn't tell Frank, either. Mattie says I'm your little guy now, she had whispered. Mattie says you'll take care of me. I was trying to as much as the fucking slowpokes at Human Services would let me but the waiting was hard. Frank picked up the Scotch and tilted it in my direction. I shook my head. Ki had her heart set on snowman-making, and I wanted to be able to face the glare of early sun on fresh snow without a headache. ‘Frank, how much of this do you actually believe?' He poured for himself, then just sat for a time, looking down at the table and thinking. When he raised his head again there was a smile on his face. It was so much like Jo's that it broke my heart. And when he spoke, he juiced his ordinarily faint Boston brogue. ‘Sure and I'm a half-drunk Irishman who just finished listenin to the granddaddy of all ghost stories on Christmas night,' he said. ‘I believe all of it, you silly git.' I laughed and so did he. We did it mostly through the nose, as men are apt to do when up late, maybe in their cups a little, and don't want to wake the house. ‘Come on how much really?' ‘All of it,' he repeated, dropping the brogue. ‘Because Jo believed it. And because of her.' He nodded his head in the direction of the stairs so I'd know which her he meant. ‘She's like no other little girl I've ever seen. She's sweet enough, but there's something in her eyes. At first I thought it was losing her mother the way she did, but that's not it. There's more, isn't there?' ‘Yes,' I said. ‘It's in you, too. It's touched you both.' I thought of the baying thing which Jo had managed to hold back while I poured the lye into that rotted roll of canvas. An Outsider, she had called it. I hadn't gotten a clear look at it, and probably that was good. Probably that was very good. ‘Mike?' Frank looked concerned. ‘You're shivering.' ‘I'm okay,' I said. ‘Really.' ‘What's it like in the house now?' he asked. I was still living in Sara Laughs. I procrastinated until early November, then put the Derry house up for sale. ‘Quiet.' ‘Totally quiet?' I nodded, but that wasn't completely true. On a couple of occasions I had awakened with a sensation Mattie had once mentioned that there was someone in bed with me. But not a dangerous presence. On a couple of occasions I have smelled (or thought I have) Red perfume. And sometimes, even when the air is perfectly still, Bunter's bell will shiver out a few notes. It's as if something lonely wants to say hello. Frank glanced at the clock, then back at me, almost apologetically. ‘I've got a few more questions okay?' ‘If you can't stay up until the wee hours on Boxing Day morning,' I said, ‘I guess you never can. Fire away.' ‘What did you tell the police?' ‘I didn't have to tell them much of anything. Footman talked enough to suit them too much to suit Norris Ridgewick. Footman said that he and Osgood it was Osgood driving the car, Devore's pet broker did the drive-by because Devore had made threats about what would happen to them if they didn't. The State cops also found a copy of a wire-transfer among Devore's effects at Warrington's. Two million dollars to an account in the Grand Caymans. The name scribbled on the copy is Randolph Footman. Randolph is George's middle name. Mr. Footman is now residing in Shawshank State Prison.' ‘What about Rogette?' ‘Well, Whitmore was her mother's maiden name, but I think it's safe to say that Rogette's heart belonged to Daddy. She had leukemia, was diagnosed in 1996. In people her age she was only fifty-seven when she died, by the way it's fatal in two cases out of every three, but she was doing the chemo. Hence the wig.' ‘Why did she try to kill Kyra? I don't understand that. If you broke Sara Tidwell's hold on this earthly plane of ours when you dissolved her bones, the curse should have . . . why are you looking at me that way?' ‘You'd understand if you'd ever met Devore,' I said. ‘This is the man who lit the whole fucking TR on fire as a way of saying goodbye when he headed west to sunny California. I thought of him the second I pulled the wig off, thought they'd swapped identities somehow. Then I thought Oh no, it's her all right, it's Rogette, she's just lost her hair somehow.' ‘And you were right. The chemo.' ‘I was also wrong. I know more about ghosts than I did, Frank. Maybe the most important thing is that what you see first, what you think first . . . that's what's usually true. It was him that day. Devore. He came back at the end. I'm sure of it. At the end it wasn't about Sara, not for him. At the end it wasn't even about Kyra. At the end it was about Scooter Larribee's sled.' Silence between us. For a few moments it was so deep that I could actually hear the house breathing. You can hear that, you know. If you really listen. That's something else I know now. ‘Christ,' he said at last. ‘I don't think Devore came east from California to kill her,' I said. ‘That wasn't the original plan.' ‘Then what was? Get to know his granddaughter? Mend his fences?' ‘God, no. You still don't understand what he was.' ‘Tell me, then.' ‘A human monster. He came back to buy her, but Mattie wouldn't sell. Then, when Sara got hold of him, he began to plan Ki's death. I suspect that Sara never found a more willing tool.' ‘How many did she kill in all?' Frank asked. ‘I don't know for sure. I don't think I want to. Based on Jo's notes and clippings, I'd say that there were perhaps four other . . . directed murders, shall we call them? . . . in the years between 1901 and 1998. All children, all K-names, all closely related to the men who killed her.' ‘My God.' ‘I don't think God had much to do with it . . . but she made them pay, all right.' ‘You're sorry for her, aren't you?' ‘Yes. I would have torn her apart before I let her put so much as a finger on Ki, but of course I am. She was raped and murdered. Her child was drowned while she herself lay dying. My God, aren't you sorry for her?' ‘I suppose I am. Mike, do you know who the other boy was? The crying boy? Was he the one who died of blood-poisoning?' ‘Most of Jo's notes concerned that part of it it's where she got started. Royce Merrill knew the story well. The crying boy was Reg Tidwell, Junior. You have to understand that by September of 1901, when the Red-Tops played their last show in Castle County, almost everyone on the TR knew that Sara and her boy had been murdered, and almost everyone had a good idea of who'd done it. ‘Reg Tidwell spent a lot of that August hounding the County Sheriff, Nehemiah Bannerman. At first it was to find them alive Tidwell wanted a search mounted and then it was to find their bodies, and then it was to find their killers . . . because once he accepted that they were dead, he never doubted that they'd been murdered. ‘Bannerman was sympathetic at first. Everyone seemed sympathetic at first. The Red-Top crowd had been treated wonderfully during their time on the TR that was what infuriated Jared the most and I think you can forgive Son Tidwell for making a crucial mistake.' ‘What mistake was that?' Why, he got the idea that Mars was heaven, I thought. The TR must have seemed like heaven to them, right up until Sara and Kito went for a stroll, the boy carrying his berry-bucket, and never came back. It must have seemed that they'd finally found a place where they could be black people and still be allowed to breathe. ‘Thinking they'd be treated like regular folks when things went wrong, just because they'd been treated that way when things were right. Instead, the TR clubbed together against them. No one who had an idea of what Jared and his prot? ¦g? ¦s had done condoned it, exactly, but when the chips were down . . . ‘ ‘You protect your own, you wash your dirty laundry with the door closed,' Frank murmured, and finished his drink. ‘Yeah. By the time the Red-Tops played the Castle County Fair, their little community down by the lake had begun to break up this is all according to Jo's notes, you understand; there's not a whisper of it in any of the town histories. ‘By Labor Day the active harassment had started so Royce told Jo. It got a little uglier every day a little scarier but Son Tidwell flat didn't want to go, not until he found out what had happened to his sister and nephew. He apparently kept the blood family there in the meadow even after the others had taken off for friendlier locations. ‘Then someone laid the trap. There was a clearing in the woods about a mile east of what's now called Tidwell's Meadow; it had a big birch cross in the middle of it. Jo had a picture of it in her studio. That was where the black community had their services after the doors of the local churches were closed to them. The boy Junior used to go up there a lot to pray or just to sit and meditate. There were plenty of folks in the township who knew his routine. Someone put a leghold trap on the little path through the woods that the boy used. Covered it with leaves and needles.' ‘Jesus,' Frank said. He sounded ill. ‘Probably it wasn't Jared Devore or his logger-boys who set it, either they didn't want any more to do with Sara and Son's people after the murders, they kept right clear of them. It might not even have been a friend of those boys. By then they didn't have that many friends. But that didn't change the fact that those folks down by the lake were getting out of their place, scratching at things better left alone, refusing to take no for an answer. So someone set the trap. I don't think there was any intent to actually kill the boy, but to maim him? Maybe see him with his foot off, condemned to a lifetime crutch? I think they may have gotten that far in their imagining. ‘In any case it worked. The boy stepped in the trap . . . and for quite awhile they didn't find him. The pain must have been excruciating. Then the blood-poisoning. He died. Son gave up. He had other kids to think about, not to mention the people who'd stuck with him. They packed up their clothes and their guitars and left. Jo traced some of them to North Carolina, where many of the descendants still live. And during the fires of 1933, the ones young Max Devore set, the cabins burned flat' ‘I don't understand why the bodies of Sara and her son weren't found,' Frank said. ‘I understand that what you smelled the putrescence wasn't there in any physical sense. But surely at the time . . . if this path you call The Street was so popular . . . ‘ ‘Devore and the others didn't bury them where I found them, not to begin with. They would have started by dragging the bodies deeper into the woods maybe up to where the north wing of Sara Laughs stands now. They covered them with brush and came back that night. Must have been that night; to leave them any longer would have drawn every carnivore in the woods. They took them someplace else and buried them in that roll of canvas. Jo didn't know where, but my guess is Bowie Ridge, where they'd spent most of the summer cutting. Hell, Bowie Ridge is still pretty isolated. They put the bodies somewhere; we might as well say there.' ‘Then how . . . why . . . ‘ ‘Draper Finney wasn't the only one haunted by what they did, Frank they all were. Literally haunted. With the possible exception of Jared Devore, I suppose. He lived another ten years and apparently never missed a meal. But the boys had bad dreams, they drank too much, they fought too much, they argued . . . bristled if anyone so much as mentioned the Red-Tops . . . ‘ ‘Might as well have gone around wearing signs reading KICK US, WE'RE GUILTY,' Frank commented. ‘Yes. It probably didn't help that most of the TR was giving them the silent treatment. Then Finney died in the quarry committed suicide in the quarry, I think and Jared's logger-boys got an idea. Came down with it like a cold. Only it was more like a compulsion. Their idea was that if they dug up the bodies and reburied them where it happened, things'd go back to normal for them.' ‘Did Jared go along with the idea?' ‘According to Jo's notes, by then they never went near him. They reburied the bag of bones without Jared Devore's help where I eventually dug it up. In the late fall or early winter of 1902, I think.' ‘She wanted to be back, didn't she? Sara. Back where she could really work on them.' ‘And on the whole township. Yes. Jo thought so, too. Enough so she didn't want to go back to Sara Laughs once she found some of this stuff out. Especially when she guessed she was pregnant. When we started trying to have a baby and I suggested the name Kia, how that must have scared her! And I never saw.' ‘Sara thought she could use you to kill Kyra if Devore played out before he could get the job done he was old and in bad health, after all. Jo gambled that you'd save her instead. That's what you think, isn't it?' ‘Yes.' ‘And she was right.' ‘I couldn't have done it alone. From the night I dreamed about Sara singing, Jo was with me every step of the way. Sara couldn't make her quit.' ‘No, she wasn't a quitter,' Frank agreed, and wiped at one eye. ‘What do you know about your twice-great-aunt? The one that married Auster?' ‘Bridget Noonan Auster,' I said. ‘Bridey, to her friends. I asked my mother and she swears up and down she knows nothing, that Jo never asked her about Bridey, but I think she might be lying. The young woman was definitely the black sheep of the family I can tell just by the sound of Mom's voice when the name comes up. I have no idea how she met Benton Auster. Let's say he was down in the Prout's Neck part of the world visiting friends and started flirting with her at a clambake. That's as likely as anything else. This was in 1884. She was eighteen, he was twenty-three. They got married, one of those hurry-up jobs. Harry, the one who actually drowned Kito Tidwell, came along six months later.' ‘So he was barely seventeen when it happened,' Frank said. ‘Great God.' ‘And by then his mother had gotten religion. His terror over what she'd think if she ever found out was part of the reason he did what he did. Any other questions, Frank? Because I'm really starting to fade.' For several moments he said nothing I had begun to think he was done when he said, ‘Two others. Do you mind?' ‘I guess it's too late to back out now. What are they?' ‘The Shape you spoke of. The Outsider. That troubles me.' I said nothing. It troubled me, too. ‘Do you think there's a chance it might come back?' ‘It always does,' I said. ‘At the risk of sounding pompous, the Outsider eventually comes back for all of us, doesn't it? Because we're all bags of bones. And the Outsider . . . Frank, the Outsider wants what's in the bag.' He mulled this over, then swallowed the rest of his Scotch at a gulp. ‘You had one other question?' ‘Yes,' he said. ‘Have you started writing again?' I went upstairs a few minutes later, checked Ki, brushed my teeth, checked Ki again, then climbed into bed. From where I lay I was able to look out the window at the pale moon shining on the snow. Have you started writing again? No. Other than a rather lengthy essay on how I spent my summer vacation which I may show to Kyra in some later year, there's been nothing. I know that Harold is nervous, and sooner or later I suppose I'll have to call him and tell him what he already guesses: the machine which ran so sweet for so long has stopped. It isn't broken this memoir came out with nary a gasp or missed heartbeat but the machine has stopped, just the same. There's gas in the tank, the sparkplugs spark and the battery bats, but the wordygurdy stands there quiet in the middle of my head. I've put a tarp over it. It's served me well, you see, and I don't like to think of it getting dusty. Some of it has to do with the way Mattie died. It occurred to me at some point this fall that I had written similar deaths in at least two of my books, and popular fiction is heaped with other examples of the same thing. Have you set up a moral dilemma you don't know how to solve? Is the protagonist sexually attracted to a woman who is much too young for him, shall we say? Need a quick fix? Easiest thing in the world. ‘When the story starts going sour, bring on the man with the gun.' Raymond Chandler said that, or something like it close enough for government work, kemo sabe. Murder is the worst kind of pornography, murder is let me do what I want taken to its final extreme. I believe that even make-believe murders should be taken seriously; maybe that's another idea I got last summer. Perhaps I got it while Mattie was struggling in my arms, gushing blood from her smashed head and dying blind, still crying out for her daughter as she left this earth. To think I might have written such a hellishly convenient death in a book, ever, sickens me. Or maybe I just wish there'd been a little more time. I remember telling Ki it's best not to leave love letters around; what I thought but didn't say was that they can come back to haunt you. I am haunted anyway . . . but I will not willingly haunt myself, and when I closed my book of dreams I did so of my own free will. I think I could have poured lye over those dreams as well, but from that I stayed my hand. I've seen things I never expected to see and felt things I never expected to feel not the least of them what I felt and still feel for the child sleeping down the hall from me. She's my little guy now, I'm her big guy, and that's the important thing. Nothing else seems to matter half so much. Thomas Hardy, who supposedly said that the most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones, stopped writing novels himself after finishing Jude the Obscure and while he was at the height of his narrative genius. He went on writing poetry for another twenty years, and when someone asked him why he'd quit fiction he said he couldn't understand why he had trucked with it so long in the first place. In retrospect it seemed silly to him, he said. Pointless. I know exactly what he meant. In the time between now and whenever the Outsider remembers me and decides to come back, there must be other things to do, things that mean more than those shadows. I think I could go back to clanking chains behind the Ghost House wall, but I have no interest in doing so. I've lost my taste for spooks. I like to imagine Mattie would think of Bartleby in Melville's story. I've put down my scrivener's pen. These days I prefer not to.