The Return Shadow Souls Chapter 5 Free Essays

Benjamin Zephaniah Was Born In Birmingham English Literature Essay

Benjamin Zephaniah Was Born In Birmingham English Literature Essay All through his assortment Zephaniah associates with youngsters through his utilization of conversational language and further, presents a scope of subjects that can be effectively comprehended by the more youthful age. Subjects incorporate companions, family, saints and creatures; which apparently has the impact of making verse a good time for small kids. Normally, kids will in general appreciate what can be considered as play area jingles and rhymes however notwithstanding this can frequently be threatened at the possibility of verse. As Talking Turkeys is ostensibly fun and agreeable, this therefore assists with animating a childs creative mind and intrigue while simultaneously assembles their certainty inside verse. A somewhat extraordinary component of Zephaniahs verse is his utilization of informal language; a genuine case of this is the point at which he replaces the word there with dere. Further, made up words, for example, guzzards additionally add to the diversion of the ve rse. His sonnets will in general contain a somewhat endearing good toward the end; Heroes states I state were all legends on the off chance that we do our smidgen.. This positive message would ostensibly strongly affect the more youthful perusers and urge them to progress admirably. The structures of Zephaniahs verse are not perplexing yet they are fairly viable. In Friends the structure is basic, utilizing four lines to depict every creature thusly, and further utilizing notable qualities of that specific creature. When discussing a snake he composes I am known to slip and slide. This sonnet apparently gives visual incitement and makes the thoughts in the sonnet effortlessly comprehended for offspring of a youthful age. This is strengthened by the incorporation of a wide assortment of representations. Pictures, plans and photos are inventively implanted inside the sonnets. The format of the words in the sonnet frequently underpins the picture. Pictures comprise of collections, pen and ink and photographic examinations which include funniness and make the sonnets less overwhelming to peruse. In his sonnet entitled Drivosaurus Rex he utilizes a picture of a T-Rex driving a vehicle which would catch the eye of the youthful peruser. In different sonnets the represe ntations give the design of the sonnet in a fun and inventive manner taking into consideration the content to be separated. A portion of his sonnets inside this assortment don't fortify right language structure and accentuation in that Jamaican Patois is regularly utilized. This is fairly unpredictable, and can be befuddling. In any case, it is likewise very beguiling and sharp, and tends to make you need to turn the page and keep perusing. There are a scope of sonnets inside Talking Turkeys that strengthen this thought, for example, Little Sister, oneself titled Talking Turkeys and the counter syntactic According to my Mood in that I have an idyllic permit, I compose the manner in which I need, I drop my full stops where I like à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢ ¦ featuring this idea of off base sentence structure and accentuation. Talking Turkeys itself isn't composed nor acted in Standard English, the rhyming structure is fairly basic and for the most part will in general remain the equivalent all through. In taking a gander at Talking Turkeys being performed [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4AgPSjzXkw], Zephaniah gives a comic component to his sonnet in that in addition to the fact that he entertains the group with interesting little moves he changes his manner of speaking so as to be most appropriate for the sonnet. This fortifies the point made before concerning the utilization of Jamaican Patois in that Zephaniah needs to nearly make this character inside him so as to suit for the sonnet. It is obvious to see with respect to why small kids would be keen on the sonnet in that there is an enormous satire factor and at specific focuses all through his exhibition he appears to get fairly diverted from his presentation, however regardless this adds to the silliness, all things considered, Zephaniah associates with present day issues and acquaints new viewpoints with a youthful crowd. Talking Turkeys㠢â‚ ¬Ã¢ ¦ identifies with various religions and societies so every kid can feel they are a piece of society and not feel left out㠢â‚ ¬Ã¢ ¦ The book is for kids however the adults will be sneaking off with it. Dark Literature Project The viable symbolism and casual language function admirably together and open up a universe of opportunities for study hall exercises. Legislative issues, veganism and creatures are unmistakable subjects, addressed with changing weight and amusingness. Zephaniahs words incite and conjure; he provokes the peruser to address cultural beliefs yet in addition energizes sympathy and correspondence. Contemptuousness for the scholarly trappings of customary composed verse, a free foot, streetwise way to deal with structure and to content and a huge hearted mankind, penetrate his verse, and this ought to guarantee his prominence with younger students regular inconoclasts for a considerable length of time to come. Errol Lloyd, cited in Books For Keeps Talking Turkeys has been surveyed by numerous pundits [http://www.puffin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780140363302,00.html#reviews], it is said that Zephaniah is the dominant lord of childrens verse He has an unselfconscious relish for language and word-play that never wanders into the belittling dee-dum-dee-dum-dee-dum domain of such a large amount of childrens verse: his are sonnets that bob up from the page and request to be perused, rapped, sung and hip-bounced out loud. (Autonomous on Sunday) Further, He brings Jamaican rhythms, the patois of the boulevards, the observation that㠢â‚ ¬Ã¢ ¦ verse can be incredible, provocative, road wise㠢â‚ ¬Ã¢ ¦ He takes verse off the page and into urban mouths, transforms section into cheeky, beat-filled execution. (The Scotsman) Zephaniahs verse can anyway be censured in that some may contend his sonnets are excessively short, yet in any case that idea is put down to the perusers individual inclination. Some would likewise contend that the off base utilization of English could be viewed as a negative point in that it doesn't elevate to youthful perusers how they ought to be talking and spelling. However in spite of this, his utilization of inappropriate language all adds to the general impact of his verse. Most of Zephaniahs verse is delighted in by a wide scope of individuals and thus there isn't a lot of negative remarks with respect to what he composes, or rather, how he composes.

Splashtop Interview Understanding the business model

Splashtop Interview Understanding the business model INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in San Jose with Splashtop and Mark. Mark, who are you and what do you do?Mark: Im the co-founder and CEO of Splashtop and what we do is delivering cross device experience from any device to any device. You can share your screen from your iOS device to your computer and vice versa, or Android. Any devices people have, where nowadays people care a lot of devices and they want to be able to effectively share applications, content and screens across these devices. We enable that.Martin: Ok, great. What did you do before you started this company?Mark: This is actually my second startup. So, I started, after graduating from college, I worked for Intel for 7 years. And then in 2000, I left Intel and started my first company. I sold that company in 2004 and, it was a public company that bought us, I stayed on for two years, as part of the golden handcuff and in 2006 I started Splashtop. It was continuing the entrepreneur drive and I would, a bunch of col lege buddies. So, both startups I started with three other college friends.Martin: Founding team stayed the same?Mark: It has been the same, yes. Exactly the same. We have too much fun together.Martin: Thats great. How did you come up with the idea of Splashtop?Mark: Well, because of my Intel background, I started really focused on the PC world. And then, because of my background in Asia, we started about how do you marrying hardware, because Taiwan, China has been very strong in manufacturing hardware, but then very weak on software, so how do you marrying software and hardware together to create a solutions. So, my last startup, we did embedding for our servers. And HP, Dell, IBM were all customers. So, we embed our software into all these ODM in Taiwan, Quanta, FoxCom, building server motherboard, and then shipping them to IBM, HP, Dell, as a solutions. And then we exited it. Then we started thinking ok, server market is 10 million units a year, but PC market is 300 million units a year. So we wanted to create, embed a software for PC, and what we came up with, our company name, before Splashtop in 2006 was called DeviceVM, so our vision and goal was to embed our software inside 300 million PC. And what is that software? Well, VM model was really big in servers, but we thought actually you should have a hypervisor inside every PC, too, and you can dual-boot Windows plus Linux. So, but then, Linux is Linux, whats a killer app. We think its a five second boot-up browser OS. So, weve enabled every PC to boot up in 5 seconds, with a browser OS, with a super lightweight Linux open source Cournot, with a Firefox based browsers. And people dont have to wait for Windows to boot, take a minute, two minutes to boot up. Instantly, they can start browsing the web. And then we can enable switching between the browser OS Windows if you need Windows, for various applications as well. So that was the idea behind that business.And also if, looking at the whole internet, Goo gle is making so much money driving the eyeballs, search eyeball, advertising eyeballs. The hypothesis behind that venture, behind DeviceVM was if every time people hit the power key of a PC, youre controlling the eyeball, that company is going to be worth a lot. You can give away the browser OS for free, but make money through advertisement and search, because thats when people, they start experience the computer. So thats how we started.Martin: It changed, obviously.Mark: It changed, exactly. Everyone today have iPhones, iPads, Android devices, by 2009, 2010, we saw all these smartphones, tablet begin to emerge, we were thinking wow, were going to hit the wall. Despite we have HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Sony etc, all shipping our DeviceVM browser OS side by side to Windows. Over a hundred million of PC were shipping per year with our product. But we knew people dont need it anymore soon, if they want to get online very quickly they will use their smartphone or iPad, or tablet. So we knew we have to shift. So we pivoted in 2010 and introduced, renamed our company to Splashtop too and focused on mobile remote access.Martin: Then the next question would be how did you then come up with the now, current idea of Splashtop? Because its quite different from the old one.Mark: Sure. Startup process thinking is always trying to figure out if you can have certain core competitive advantage. And so, it could repeat itself through, I guess now Im 14 years into my entrepreneurship, I mean first startup, six years, and this startup over eight years. So, always thinking about what our teams core expertise, skill sets advantage that we can create. And when we thought about ok, well, we were really close to all these Asian manufacturing OEMs, we created a fast boot browser OS, were really good at firmware, we scaled up our engineering team in Asia to hundred and something people, building this whole platform. But then, as we moved to mobile, actually what will be leveragin g that foundation of strength, what can we do on the mobile side. So thats when we look at the market and say hey, a lot of these mobile device, these are iOS, these are Android, but how do you enable across device experience. Still, theres so many investments in application and content on the PC side, on the Windows side, so we want to breach that. And thats kind of how we started thinking this new pivot. And were launching on iPad in the first year, in 2010, June of 2010, our app was the number 1 best-selling app on iPad in the US for 28 days out of the 30 days, so it was beating Angry Birds. Its just showing that when you have a new platform, iPad, iOS, theres a lack of application. So, a lot of people say hey, use Splashtop, all your Windows apps and data instantly show on iPad. So, theres instantly we got feedback that theres a lot of demand and interest, and we grew from there.BUSINESS MODELMartin: Mark, lets talk about your business model and start with the product portfolio that you currently have.Mark: Ok, sure. In 2010, the remote desktop for the consumers on iPad, thats very quickly we grew millions of users through words of mouth. People never had thought remote desktop experience can be so fast and fluid, you can stream video, you can stream games, the whole experience is just night and days from what they had before from BNC or RDP and other solutions. So, but then it was a selling app on app store. It was generating good money, but then we felt we got to figure recurring model out of it. So, we started thinking around ok, what would people pay, and also justify it should be a subscription based. What we came up was ok well, we need to set up relay cloud around the world to support people to cross network. So, a lot of time people at Starbucks, on the 3G, 4G network, they want to remote access their home or office computers. And the most reliable way to deliver that is through a relay cloud. So, we set around the world leveraging AWS, thats one b eauty of all these cloud services available or infrastructure available. Very quickly use seven plus data center AWS and setup relay infrastructure, so you can seamlessly cross firewalls across internet. And that is a subscription service. So, today we have 18 million users now, and probably about almost 10% of them are subscriber to our cross network relay infrastructure, we call it bridging cloud, so bridge across any network.Then very quickly, so that became our subscription model for consumer market. Then we got a lot of user feedback from businesses, saying hey, our employee love your product, BYOD was a big trend, has been the big trend, our executives are using iPad using your product, but we need some level of auto-trails, we need to see who is accessing what at any given time. We have a pool of employees using a product, but we need more control way to add, delete users, if the employee left, we want to effectively delete that account. So, we introduced a Splashtop Business that has a management console in a cloud.Then, some enterprise says, what, management console in a cloud is great, but it doesnt fit our compliance needs, we need even more secure way, including we dont want people, everyone to create a Splashtop ID. We want to leverage our existing active directory, our existing user domain, user account and password policies. So, then they ask for integration with active directory. So, then we evolve our product and added active directory support and on premise options. So its kind of evolution of this product line.CORPORATE STRATEGYMartin: Lets start talking about corporate strategy market. You said that, or at least you touched on the point a little bit. What are the core competencies of your company?Mark: Sure. I see couple key core technology competencies of our team. One is we are very good at optimizing for device level of performance. So, what we in early I mentioned as we started DeviceVM, we have a lot of our embedded software engineer w ho optimize the Linux Cournot that boots up, actually, the Linux took 1 second to boot. The browser actually is bigger than the Cournot. The Firefox browser actually takes 2-3 seconds to launch. So, the whole experience is 5 seconds. And then we establish WiFi network and start surfing the web. We always have very good core technology expertise, and thats why our remote desktop solution, I will swing you to Splashtop, the performance is so good, people can do remote 3D gaming, because of the work with Intel, Nvidia, AMD, different chip player to leverage your hardware accelerations. We have a lot of good expertise around media compression technologies and adaptive to different 3G, 4G network technologies.So, those are different key core skill sets our team has built up, and also we have a lot of strong relationship with device makers, thats always been our core strength. So, today, our product is also bundle with Asus, Acer, Lenovo, HP and different OEMs. When they ship out PC, they have our streamer, I mean, shipping along their computers. So, people just need to download our app on the mobile device, instantly can access their computer. So, those are our key strengths we see.Martin: So, basically, you have three core competencies, one thing would be you have very narrow relationships with device manufacturers, then you have this kind of very interesting technology that have solved some problems, and then you have some partnerships with, on the seller side, as well.Mark: Yes. And also, through the years, weve actually become very good at managing AWS cloud services. So we know how to scale our backend infrastructure very quickly. For example, we drop our relay instances inside some part of a cloud very quickly. So were looking at ability to really bridge across devices in a very fast, seamlessly way, leveraging our cloud infrastructure everywhere. Theres a distributor architectures thats actually we have invented.So for our classroom product, for example, ins ide a classroom, you want to stream the screen to 40 students. If all the relay need to go through the Amazon cloud, you could actually come just the school upstream and downstream pipe, just one classroom, so we enable a very seamless local relay, every clients could become a relay of itself. So that actually, inside the classroom, theres amount of traffic meaning to go up is very limited, its all rounding inside the classroom. So, theres a lot of different intelligence and technology in play to deliver the right experience and best experience for the users.Martin: And minimizing AWS cost.Mark: Thats right as well.MARKET DEVELOPMENTMartin: Lets talk about the market development. You said that youre covered a lot of different devices. What trends do you see in terms of device usage and what is the implication for your development team?Mark: Well, I think that explosion of devices, and now were also talking about internet of things, and wearables and everything. Theres just, its intr oducing a lot of challenge for software company to, you need to address so many different possibilities. But then, they also introduce so much opportunity for entrepreneurs, because theres a lot of emergence of new usage model, new possibilities. And so, its actually more around a challenge for our executive team sitting down and brainstorming, Ok, we have all these core technology, were going to, what are some top usage model we can focus around to address on pain point and generate a lot of revenue to continue our growth. So, its actually creating a lot of great opportunity, thats kind of what we see with this explosion of devices.Martin: And the integration of new device, is it quite costly for you to do or is it just tweaking little bit?Mark: It varies in a sense that, if the device is running Android, obviously, we have people who are very knowledgeable of different, I mean, the latest Android platform, Google adds some new stuff, and also But the device, we had to really at it s screen size is target usage model. I mean, Amazon Fire TV is Android device, but its indented to connect to a big screen TV. So the user experience there, and then, on a tablet, Android tablet or phone, you have a touch experience. But then, on an Android TV, or connected TV, youre using the remote control. Fortunately, they have a joystick, too, so were enabling, for example, your computer game redirected through the Fire TV to show on your TV. So your computer becomes a console, almost, through your Fire TV. We can, were working on enabling that for Chromecast, so theres different but then whats input method. Our app was designed for touch, but now here, we had to remap it for different type of input devices, whether its a joystick or remote control. So, how do you optimize that overall user experience. Its a key efforts and that can be big.Martin: Are there any devices that youre not currently serving because the market for those devices is much too small, or too difficult to b uild an application to, or something like that?Mark: We talked about Google glass a bit, and we havent spent time on that. Its still a thousands of dollars device, so obviously the number of people who can afford it is still very limited. And the development platform there is quite different. Obviously, if it were just on Android, our app can be running on it very quickly.For example, Epson, Epson launched Android glass, the projector company of Japan, and our app runs on it. We can bring all your computer screens, or, actually, iOS screen, too. We can air play iOS device screen to the Epson Android device. So we can, a lot of our core technology is to enable any screen to any screen, so thats kind of what we invest around.Martin: Ok, great.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS In San Jose we talked with entrepreneur Mark Lee about the business model of Splashtop. Furthermore, Mark shares his learnings and advice for young entrepreneurs.The transcript of the interview is provided below.INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in San Jose with Splashtop and Mark. Mark, who are you and what do you do?Mark: Im the co-founder and CEO of Splashtop and what we do is delivering cross device experience from any device to any device. You can share your screen from your iOS device to your computer and vice versa, or Android. Any devices people have, where nowadays people care a lot of devices and they want to be able to effectively share applications, content and screens across these devices. We enable that.Martin: Ok, great. What did you do before you started this company?Mark: This is actually my second startup. So, I started, after graduating from college, I worked for Intel for 7 years. And then in 2000, I left Intel and started my first company. I sold that company in 2004 and, it was a public company that bought us, I stayed on for two years, as part of the golden handcuff and in 2006 I started Splashtop. It was continuing the entrepreneur drive and I would, a bunch of college buddies. So, both startups I started with three other college friends.Martin: Founding team stayed the same?Mark: It has been the same, yes. Exactly the same. We have too much fun together.Martin: Thats great. How did you come up with the idea of Splashtop?Mark: Well, because of my Intel background, I started really focused on the PC world. And then, because of my background in Asia, we started about how do you marrying hardware, because Taiwan, China has been very strong in manufacturing hardware, but then very weak on software, so how do you marrying software and hardware together to create a solutions. So, my last startup, we did embedding for our servers. And HP, Dell, IBM were all customers. So, we embed our software into all these ODM in Taiwan, Quanta, FoxCom, bu ilding server motherboard, and then shipping them to IBM, HP, Dell, as a solutions. And then we exited it. Then we started thinking ok, server market is 10 million units a year, but PC market is 300 million units a year. So we wanted to create, embed a software for PC, and what we came up with, our company name, before Splashtop in 2006 was called DeviceVM, so our vision and goal was to embed our software inside 300 million PC. And what is that software? Well, VM model was really big in servers, but we thought actually you should have a hypervisor inside every PC, too, and you can dual-boot Windows plus Linux. So, but then, Linux is Linux, whats a killer app. We think its a five second boot-up browser OS. So, weve enabled every PC to boot up in 5 seconds, with a browser OS, with a super lightweight Linux open source Cournot, with a Firefox based browsers. And people dont have to wait for Windows to boot, take a minute, two minutes to boot up. Instantly, they can start browsing the w eb. And then we can enable switching between the browser OS Windows if you need Windows, for various applications as well. So that was the idea behind that business.And also if, looking at the whole internet, Google is making so much money driving the eyeballs, search eyeball, advertising eyeballs. The hypothesis behind that venture, behind DeviceVM was if every time people hit the power key of a PC, youre controlling the eyeball, that company is going to be worth a lot. You can give away the browser OS for free, but make money through advertisement and search, because thats when people, they start experience the computer. So thats how we started.Martin: It changed, obviously.Mark: It changed, exactly. Everyone today have iPhones, iPads, Android devices, by 2009, 2010, we saw all these smartphones, tablet begin to emerge, we were thinking wow, were going to hit the wall. Despite we have HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Sony etc, all shipping our DeviceVM browser OS side by side to Wind ows. Over a hundred million of PC were shipping per year with our product. But we knew people dont need it anymore soon, if they want to get online very quickly they will use their smartphone or iPad, or tablet. So we knew we have to shift. So we pivoted in 2010 and introduced, renamed our company to Splashtop too and focused on mobile remote access.Martin: Then the next question would be how did you then come up with the now, current idea of Splashtop? Because its quite different from the old one.Mark: Sure. Startup process thinking is always trying to figure out if you can have certain core competitive advantage. And so, it could repeat itself through, I guess now Im 14 years into my entrepreneurship, I mean first startup, six years, and this startup over eight years. So, always thinking about what our teams core expertise, skill sets advantage that we can create. And when we thought about ok, well, we were really close to all these Asian manufacturing OEMs, we created a fast boot browser OS, were really good at firmware, we scaled up our engineering team in Asia to hundred and something people, building this whole platform. But then, as we moved to mobile, actually what will be leveraging that foundation of strength, what can we do on the mobile side. So thats when we look at the market and say hey, a lot of these mobile device, these are iOS, these are Android, but how do you enable across device experience. Still, theres so many investments in application and content on the PC side, on the Windows side, so we want to breach that. And thats kind of how we started thinking this new pivot. And were launching on iPad in the first year, in 2010, June of 2010, our app was the number 1 best-selling app on iPad in the US for 28 days out of the 30 days, so it was beating Angry Birds. Its just showing that when you have a new platform, iPad, iOS, theres a lack of application. So, a lot of people say hey, use Splashtop, all your Windows apps and data instantly show on iPad. So, theres instantly we got feedback that theres a lot of demand and interest, and we grew from there.BUSINESS MODELMartin: Mark, lets talk about your business model and start with the product portfolio that you currently have.Mark: Ok, sure. In 2010, the remote desktop for the consumers on iPad, thats very quickly we grew millions of users through words of mouth. People never had thought remote desktop experience can be so fast and fluid, you can stream video, you can stream games, the whole experience is just night and days from what they had before from BNC or RDP and other solutions. So, but then it was a selling app on app store. It was generating good money, but then we felt we got to figure recurring model out of it. So, we started thinking around ok, what would people pay, and also justify it should be a subscription based. What we came up was ok well, we need to set up relay cloud around the world to support people to cross network. So, a lot of time people at Star bucks, on the 3G, 4G network, they want to remote access their home or office computers. And the most reliable way to deliver that is through a relay cloud. So, we set around the world leveraging AWS, thats one beauty of all these cloud services available or infrastructure available. Very quickly use seven plus data center AWS and setup relay infrastructure, so you can seamlessly cross firewalls across internet. And that is a subscription service. So, today we have 18 million users now, and probably about almost 10% of them are subscriber to our cross network relay infrastructure, we call it bridging cloud, so bridge across any network.Then very quickly, so that became our subscription model for consumer market. Then we got a lot of user feedback from businesses, saying hey, our employee love your product, BYOD was a big trend, has been the big trend, our executives are using iPad using your product, but we need some level of auto-trails, we need to see who is accessing what at any given time. We have a pool of employees using a product, but we need more control way to add, delete users, if the employee left, we want to effectively delete that account. So, we introduced a Splashtop Business that has a management console in a cloud.Then, some enterprise says, what, management console in a cloud is great, but it doesnt fit our compliance needs, we need even more secure way, including we dont want people, everyone to create a Splashtop ID. We want to leverage our existing active directory, our existing user domain, user account and password policies. So, then they ask for integration with active directory. So, then we evolve our product and added active directory support and on premise options. So its kind of evolution of this product line.CORPORATE STRATEGYMartin: Lets start talking about corporate strategy market. You said that, or at least you touched on the point a little bit. What are the core competencies of your company?Mark: Sure. I see couple key core te chnology competencies of our team. One is we are very good at optimizing for device level of performance. So, what we in early I mentioned as we started DeviceVM, we have a lot of our embedded software engineer who optimize the Linux Cournot that boots up, actually, the Linux took 1 second to boot. The browser actually is bigger than the Cournot. The Firefox browser actually takes 2-3 seconds to launch. So, the whole experience is 5 seconds. And then we establish WiFi network and start surfing the web. We always have very good core technology expertise, and thats why our remote desktop solution, I will swing you to Splashtop, the performance is so good, people can do remote 3D gaming, because of the work with Intel, Nvidia, AMD, different chip player to leverage your hardware accelerations. We have a lot of good expertise around media compression technologies and adaptive to different 3G, 4G network technologies.So, those are different key core skill sets our team has built up, and also we have a lot of strong relationship with device makers, thats always been our core strength. So, today, our product is also bundle with Asus, Acer, Lenovo, HP and different OEMs. When they ship out PC, they have our streamer, I mean, shipping along their computers. So, people just need to download our app on the mobile device, instantly can access their computer. So, those are our key strengths we see.Martin: So, basically, you have three core competencies, one thing would be you have very narrow relationships with device manufacturers, then you have this kind of very interesting technology that have solved some problems, and then you have some partnerships with, on the seller side, as well.Mark: Yes. And also, through the years, weve actually become very good at managing AWS cloud services. So we know how to scale our backend infrastructure very quickly. For example, we drop our relay instances inside some part of a cloud very quickly. So were looking at ability to really bri dge across devices in a very fast, seamlessly way, leveraging our cloud infrastructure everywhere. Theres a distributor architectures thats actually we have invented.So for our classroom product, for example, inside a classroom, you want to stream the screen to 40 students. If all the relay need to go through the Amazon cloud, you could actually come just the school upstream and downstream pipe, just one classroom, so we enable a very seamless local relay, every clients could become a relay of itself. So that actually, inside the classroom, theres amount of traffic meaning to go up is very limited, its all rounding inside the classroom. So, theres a lot of different intelligence and technology in play to deliver the right experience and best experience for the users.Martin: And minimizing AWS cost.Mark: Thats right as well.MARKET DEVELOPMENTMartin: Lets talk about the market development. You said that youre covered a lot of different devices. What trends do you see in terms of devic e usage and what is the implication for your development team?Mark: Well, I think that explosion of devices, and now were also talking about internet of things, and wearables and everything. Theres just, its introducing a lot of challenge for software company to, you need to address so many different possibilities. But then, they also introduce so much opportunity for entrepreneurs, because theres a lot of emergence of new usage model, new possibilities. And so, its actually more around a challenge for our executive team sitting down and brainstorming, Ok, we have all these core technology, were going to, what are some top usage model we can focus around to address on pain point and generate a lot of revenue to continue our growth. So, its actually creating a lot of great opportunity, thats kind of what we see with this explosion of devices.Martin: And the integration of new device, is it quite costly for you to do or is it just tweaking little bit?Mark: It varies in a sense that, i f the device is running Android, obviously, we have people who are very knowledgeable of different, I mean, the latest Android platform, Google adds some new stuff, and also But the device, we had to really at its screen size is target usage model. I mean, Amazon Fire TV is Android device, but its indented to connect to a big screen TV. So the user experience there, and then, on a tablet, Android tablet or phone, you have a touch experience. But then, on an Android TV, or connected TV, youre using the remote control. Fortunately, they have a joystick, too, so were enabling, for example, your computer game redirected through the Fire TV to show on your TV. So your computer becomes a console, almost, through your Fire TV. We can, were working on enabling that for Chromecast, so theres different but then whats input method. Our app was designed for touch, but now here, we had to remap it for different type of input devices, whether its a joystick or remote control. So, how do you optim ize that overall user experience. Its a key efforts and that can be big.Martin: Are there any devices that youre not currently serving because the market for those devices is much too small, or too difficult to build an application to, or something like that?Mark: We talked about Google glass a bit, and we havent spent time on that. Its still a thousands of dollars device, so obviously the number of people who can afford it is still very limited. And the development platform there is quite different. Obviously, if it were just on Android, our app can be running on it very quickly.For example, Epson, Epson launched Android glass, the projector company of Japan, and our app runs on it. We can bring all your computer screens, or, actually, iOS screen, too. We can air play iOS device screen to the Epson Android device. So we can, a lot of our core technology is to enable any screen to any screen, so thats kind of what we invest around.Martin: Ok, great.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURSMartin: Mar k, we always try to share some knowledge with other first time entrepreneurs. What will be your advice to best or one of your good friends who was asking you for starting a company?Mark: One, I would say, its from my experience, build a team of good friends that you trust and work closely. Because, Ive been fortunate, these are my college buddies Ive known for a while, and we had a good exit in the first startup, and were working together. Because its like a marriage, youre seeing them day in and day out, and this has lasted a long time, from school days, too. So, because youll be spending so much time and you need so much support from each other, so I kind of view having a good core team that you can work well together is very fundamental. And make it fun, too. Because otherwise, theres going to be up and downs, and people together you can achieve something great.Then, the second one is, once you have a good team, I would, and assuming you guys are so passionate about solving speci fic problem together, then just jump in and do it, because from my 14+ years of experience, we had to pivot. My first startup, I pivoted two times before I sold in 2004. So, theres always that pivoting. Today, Splashtop has started as DeviceVM. We did the, a lot of people have known us as instant OS, browser OS solutions. Until 2010, that we had huge success. We created pressure on Microsoft that they started saying Win 7 is going to boot fast. Moving, so making Windows lighter, and because the OEMs are demanding it, or user are demanding it. Then, you have Chrome OS today, actually were pre date the Chrome OS by several years, too. So, we think, and then we pivoted to Splashtop. As we moved to consumer market, then we also pivoted our business model to subscription based model from that selling an app. Then we also begin to expend the business market and enterprise market, and building our channel partners. And for our most recent product, Splashtop Classroom, we see huge demands i n education for, because schools are buying a lot of iPads, Chromebooks, etc. They all, it puts education, student engagements, by every student, instead of looking at the projector, everyone has their own devices right in front of them. So, we see that technology is changing at every vertical, in a fast way, and theres so much opportunities. Once you dive in, you can navigate and begin to address different market needs and problems.Martin: Mark, thank you very much for your time. And if you want to start a company, first thing, check out the market, whether the market size is large, whether you can become profitable over there, and second thing is, is it really something that you are very passionate about? Because you need to learn fast and adapt your business model. Thank you very much.Mark: Great, thank you.

Culture Shock and Adaptation - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 616 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/08/07 Category Psychology Essay Level High school Tags: Culture Shock Essay Did you like this example? Abstract: This report is written on culture shock and adaptation of an international student in China during the period from September 01, 2018 to December 15, 2018. This is the self-case study research and my own experience in china. The findings and recommendations have positive implications to the international students those who are normally nervous and hesitated to enter into a new foreign culture to pursue higher studies for a long period of time. Keywords: Culture shock, China, international student Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Culture Shock and Adaptation" essay for you Create order Introduction Intercultural Shock Experienced by the International Students For the sake of answering the question, this study explains the unhappiness issues as the forms of intercultural shock by conducting survey from some of my friends and focus group discussion. This study concise the answers in this regard are specified below: Food culture shock: Chinese use chop stick to take food and cooking food mostly boiled and less spicy items. The big problem was finding halal food. Language shock: Newness with fresh symbolic environment and confusion while communicating with other classmates those who are multilingual and multicultural people with dissimilar accents of English. Educational shock: Difficult to purchase text books. Official documentation arrangement difficulties: More time to documentation and different office administration demanded different requirements. Accommodation arrangement difficulties: Expensive accommodation and dormitory with sharing room. Shopping hassles: Firstly at the very beginning of his new life in China I did not able find the required shopping malls. Difficulty of performing religious activities: I did not perform important religious activities, like, Jummah prayer (Friday prayer) etc. Culture shock in exchanging greetings: All people including the foreign students in China use both hands while greeting and exchanging things but the sojourner uses only right hand (using right hand means more honour to others). Difficulties with newness of places and unfamiliarity of transportation systems: Newness of places and unfamiliarity of transportation systems. Difficulties in thesis writing and other research works: Difficulties in thesis writing and other research works. Possible Intercultural Adaptation Strategies For the sake of answering the research/case question, this study identifies the possible intercultural adaptation strategies taken by the international students/research participants of this study through conducting questionnaire sample survey and focus group discussion. This study summarized the findings in this regard are stated below: Separation strategy for adapting food culture: Cooking own preferable and cultural food, bringing special cultural food items from own country and bringing lunch box while needed during office time. Integration strategy for adapting language shock: Using nonverbal components like gestures with hands, head, facial expression, and mobile apps like Baidu Translate, Pleco. Harmonious relationship strategy for adapting academic and research works, official documentation and accommodation: Global standard interactive class by showing more academic videos, analysing more world-wide cases, completing group assignments and group discussion in a class and hono urable professors extended their friendly and cooperative behaviours of encouragement, inspiration, supervision and guidance to write research papers while pursuing higher degrees. The university authority specifically the school of International Education and school of Software Engineering arranged a number of company visits, study tours, orientation programs for the international students. Chinese guide and friends helped more about official documentation and about searching accommodation at a cheaper price. Collaborative strategy for adapting shopping: Group of foreign students including me went to marketplaces and enjoyed a convenience shopping. Synergy strategy for adapting religious activities: Making friends with people from same country and same religion and bring religious cloths to perform prayer. Integration strategy for adapting greetings: Using own custom and learning new custom and believing in global culture. Assimilation strategy for adapting transportation services: University authority arranged company visits and study tours and using digital location map, Guangzhou metro map, MetroMan software and using smart card to pay fare.

Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s The Purloined Letter

Edgar Allan Poe was a famous writer from the 19th century whose works ranged drastically. Some of his stories were of love such as â€Å"Eleonora†, or detective cases like that of â€Å"The Purloined Letter†, but what really stood out the most was his tales of supernatural events, insanity, retribution, and death. Poe’s horror stories fascinated the people of the 19th century and readers today with their gruesome and grotesque scenes such as cats being hanged, humans being buried alive, and corpses being mutilated. His tales of psychological darkness and insanity will be analyzed to fully understand the fascination invoked by them, to understand Poe’s maniacal characters, and whether these characters were truly wicked or if society forced them to this point. The 19th century marked the age of Romanticism in American literature. Romantic Literature focused more on nature, individualism, and softer aspects rather than the harsh depictions of the angry Purita n God (â€Å"The Literature of†¦Ã¢â‚¬  377). The Romanticism Movement had carried over from Europe to America and with it came a change in American writing. Short stories, poems, and novels had become the new form of literature in America, replacing sermons and manifestos from 18th century literature (â€Å"The Literature of†¦Ã¢â‚¬  378). Gothic Literature was also dominant in the 19th century. Gothic writers focused on tales of horror to terrify their readers and make them more aware of the supernatural and isolated (â€Å"The Literature of†¦Ã¢â‚¬  379).Show MoreRelated An Analysis of Edgar Allan Poes Psychological Thriller Essay3707 Words   |  15 PagesAn Analysis of Edgar Allan Poes Psychological Thriller Outline I. Prelude II. Brief introduction to Adgar Allan Poe 1. 1. Allan Poes Life 2. 2. Allan Poes Works and Literary Achievement III. Adgar Allan Poe -- A Post-Gothic Writer 1. 1. Gothic Introduction 2. 2. Analysis of Two Horror 1) 1) The Fall of the House of Usher a) a) Setting b) b) Characters c) c) Point of View 2) 2) The Masque of the Red Death a) a) Setting b) b) Characters

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9 Free Essays

string(23) " it was just not done\." CHAPTER SEVEN Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Cried the Humpback When a visitor first drives into the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary – five baby blue shiplap buildings trimmed out in cobalt, crouching on the edge of the huge Maalaea Bay and overlooking the ruins of an ancient saltwater fish pond – his first reaction is usually â€Å"Hey, not much of a sanctuary. You could get maybe three whales in those buildings, tops.† Soon, however, he realizes that these buildings are simply the offices and visitor centers. We will write a custom essay sample on Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The sanctuary itself covers the channels that run from Molokai to the Big Island of Hawaii, between Maui, Lanai, and Kahoolawe, as well as the north shores of Oahu and Kauai, in which there is plenty of room for a whole bunch of whales, which is why they are kept there. There were about a hundred people milling around outside the lecture hall when Nate and Amy pulled into the parking lot in the pickup. â€Å"Looks like a good turnout?† Amy said. She’d attended only one of the sanctuary’s weekly lectures, and that one had been given by Gilbert Box, an ill-tempered biologist doing survey work under a grant for the International Whaling Commission, who droned through numbers and graphs until the ten people in attendance would have killed a whale themselves just to shut him up. â€Å"It’s about average for us. Behavior always draws more than survey. We’re the sexy ones,† Nate said with a grin. Amy snorted. â€Å"Oh, yeah, you guys are the Mae Wests of the nerd world.† â€Å"We’re action nerds,† Nate said. â€Å"Adventure nerds. Nerds of romance.† â€Å"Nerds,† Amy said. Nate could see the skeletal Gilbert Box standing off to the side of the crowd under a straw hat whose brim was so wide it could have afforded shade for three additional people and behind a pair of enormous wraparound sunglasses suitable for welding or as a shield from nuclear flash. His gaunt face was still smeared with residue of the white zinc oxide he used for sun protection when out on the water. He wore a long-sleeved khaki shirt and trousers and leaned on a white sun umbrella that he was never seen without. It was a half hour before sunset, a warm breeze was coming off Maalaea Bay, and Gilbert Box looked like Death out for his after-dinner stroll before a busy night of e-mailing heart attacks and tumors to a few million lucky winners. Nate had given Box the nickname â€Å"the Count,† after the Sesame Street vampire with the obsessive-compulsive need to count things. (Nate had been too old for Sesame Street as a preschooler, but he’d watched it through grade ten while baby-sitting his younger brother, Sam.) People agreed that the Count was the perfect name for a survey guy with an aversion to water and sunlight, and the name had caught on even outside Nate and Clay’s immediate sphere of influence. Panic rattled up Nate’s spine. â€Å"They’re going to know we’re faking it. The Count will call us on it the first time I say something that we don’t have the data to back up.† â€Å"How’s he going to know? You had the data a week ago. Besides, what’s this ‘we’? I’m just running the projector.† â€Å"Thanks.† â€Å"There’s Tarwater,† Amy said. â€Å"Who are those women he’s talking to?† â€Å"Probably just some whale huggers,† Nate said, pretending that all of his mental faculties were required for him to squeeze the pickup into the four adjacent empty parking spaces. The women Tarwater was talking to were Margaret Painborne, Ph.D., and Elizabeth  «Libby » Quinn, Ph.D. They worked together with a couple of very butch young women studying cow/calf behavior and social vocalizations. They were doing good work, Nate thought, even if it appeared to have a gender-based agenda. Margaret was in her late forties, short and round, with long gray hair that she kept perpetually tied back in a braid. Libby was almost a decade younger, long-legged and lean, blond hair going gray, cut short, and she had once, not too long ago, been Nathan Quinn’s third wife. A second and totally different wave of anxiety swept over Quinn. This was the first time he’d encountered Libby since Amy joined the team. â€Å"They don’t look like whale huggers,† Amy said. â€Å"They look like researchers.† â€Å"How is that?† â€Å"They look like action nerds.† Amy snorted again and crawled out of the truck. â€Å"That’s not very professional,† Nate said, â€Å"that snorting-laugh thing you do.† But Amy had already walked off toward the lecture hall, a carousel of slides under her arm. Nate counted more than thirty researchers in the crowd as he walked up. And those were just the ones he was acquainted with. New people would be coming back and forth from the mainland all season – grad students, film crews, reporters, National Fisheries people, patrons – all hitchhiking on the very few research permits that were issued for the sanctuary. For some reason Amy made a beeline for Cliff Hyland and his navy watchdog, Tarwater, who was out of uniform in Dockers and a Tommy Bahama shirt, but still out of place because his clothes were ironed to razor creases – his Topsiders had been spit-shined, and he stood as if there were a cold length of rebar wired to his spine. â€Å"Hey, Amy,† Cliff said. â€Å"Sorry to hear about the break-in. Bad?† â€Å"We’ll be all right,† Amy said. Nate strolled up behind Amy. â€Å"Hey, Cliff. Captain.† He nodded to each. â€Å"Sorry to hear about the break-in, Nate,† Cliff said again. â€Å"Hope you guys didn’t lose anything important.† â€Å"We’re fucked,† Nate said. And Tarwater smiled – for the first time ever, Nate thought. â€Å"We’re fine.† Amy grinned and brandished her carousel of slides like a talisman of power. â€Å"I’m thinking about getting a job at Starbucks,† Nate said. â€Å"Hey, Cliff, what are you guys working on?† Amy asked, having somehow moved close enough into Cliff Hyland’s personal space to have to look up at him with big, girly-blue eyes and the aspect of a fascinated child. Nate cringed. It was†¦ well, it was just not done. You read "Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9" in category "Essay examples" You didn’t ask, not outright like that. â€Å"Just some stuff for the navy,† Cliff said, obviously wanting to back away from Amy, but knowing that if he did, somehow he’d lose face. Nate watched while Amy grated his friend’s middle-aged irrelevance against his male ego merely by stepping a foot closer. There, too, was a reaction from Tarwater, as the younger man seemed to be irritated by the fact that Amy was paying attention to Cliff. Or maybe he was just irritated with Amy because she was irritating. Sometimes Nate had to remind himself not to think like a biologist. â€Å"You know, Cliff,† Amy said, â€Å"I was looking at a map the other day – and I want you to brace yourself, because this may come as a shock – but there’s no coastline in Iowa. I mean, doesn’t that get in the way of studying marine mammals?† â€Å"Sure, now you bring that up,† Cliff said. â€Å"Where were you ten years ago when I accepted the position?† â€Å"Middle school,† Amy said. â€Å"What’s in the big case on your boat? Sonar array? You guys doing another LFA study?† Tarwater coughed. â€Å"Amy,† Nate interrupted, â€Å"we’d better get set up.† â€Å"Right,† Amy said. â€Å"Nice seeing you guys.† She moved on. Nate grinned, just for a second. â€Å"Sorry, you know how it is?† â€Å"Yeah.† Cliff Hyland smiled. â€Å"We’ve got two grad students working with us this season.† â€Å"But we left our grommets at home, to analyze data,† Tarwater added. Nate and Cliff looked at each other like two old broken-toothed lions long driven from the pride – tired, but secure in the knowledge that if they teamed up, they could eat the younger male alive. Cliff shrugged, almost imperceptibly, that small gesture communicating, Sorry, Nate, I know he’s an asshole, but what am I going to do? It’s funding. â€Å"I’d better go in,† Nate said, patting the notes in his shirt pocket. He passed a couple more acquaintances, saying hello as he went by, then inside the door ran right into a minor nightmare: Amy talking to his ex-wife, Libby, and her partner, Margaret. It had been like this: They’d met ten years ago, summer in Alaska, a remote lodge on Baranof Island on the Chatham Strait, where scientists were given access to a couple of rigid-hulled Zodiacs and all the canned beans, smoked salmon, and Russian vodka they could consume. Nate had come to observe the feeding behavior of his beloved humpbacks and record social sounds that might help him to interpret the song they sang when in Hawaii. Libby was doing biopsies on the population of resident (fish-eating) killer whales to prove that all the different pods were indeed part of one clan related by blood. He was two years divorced from his second wife. Libby, at thirty, was two months from finishing her doctoral dissertation in cetacean biology. Consequently, since high school she hadn’t had time for anything but research – seasonal affairs with boat skippers, senior researchers, grad students, fishermen, and the occasional photographer or documentary filmmaker. She was n’t particularly promiscuous, but there was a sea of men you were set adrift in if you were going to study whales, and if you didn’t want to spend your life alone, you pulled into a convenient, if scruffy, port from time to time. The transience of the work drove a lot of women out of the field. On the other hand, Nate tried to solve the male side of the equation by marrying other whale researchers, reasoning that only someone who was equally obsessed, distracted, and single-minded would be able to tolerate those qualities in a mate. That sort of reasoning, of course, was testament to the victory of romanticism over reason, irony over rationality, and pure foolishness over common sense. The only thing that being married to another scientist had gotten Nate was a reprieve from being asked what he was thinking about while lying in bed in a postcoital cuddle. They knew what he was thinking about, because they were thinking about the same thing: whales. They were both lean and blond and weather-beaten, and one evening, as they were portaging gear from their respective Zodiacs, Libby unzipped her survival suit and tied the sleeves around her waist so she could move more freely. Nate said, â€Å"You look good in that.† No one, absolutely no one, looks good in a survival suit (unless a Day-Glo orange marshmallow man is your idea of a hot date), but Libby didn’t even make the effort to roll her eyes. â€Å"I have vodka and a shower in my cabin,† she said. â€Å"I have a shower in my cabin, too,† Nate said. Libby just shook her head and trudged up the path to the lodge. Over her shoulder she called, â€Å"In five minutes there’s going to be a naked woman in my shower. You got one of those?† â€Å"Oh,† said Nate. They were both still lean, but no longer blond. Nate was completely gray, and Libby was getting there. She smiled when he approached. â€Å"We heard about the break-in, Nate. I meant to call you.† â€Å"That’s okay,† he said. â€Å"Not much you can do.† â€Å"That’s what you think,† Amy said. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet as if she were going to explode or Tigger off across the room any second. â€Å"I think these might mitigate the loss a little,† Libby said. She slung her day pack off her shoulder, reached in, and came out with a handful of CDs in paper sleeves. â€Å"You forgot about these, I’ll bet? You loaned them to us last season so we could pull off any social noises in the background.† â€Å"It’s all the singer recordings from the last ten years,† Amy said. â€Å"Isn’t that great!† Nate felt as if he might faint. To lose ten years’ work, then reconcile the loss, only to have it handed back to him. He put his hand on Libby’s shoulder to steady himself. â€Å"I don’t know what to say. I thought you gave those back.† â€Å"We made copies.† Margaret stepped over to Quinn and in doing so got a foot between him and his ex-wife. â€Å"You said it would be okay. We were only using them for comparison to our own samples.† â€Å"No, it’s okay,† Nate said. He almost patted her shoulder, but as he moved in that direction she flinched and he let his hand drop. â€Å"Thank you, Margaret.† Margaret had interposed herself completely between Nate and Libby, making a barrier of her own body (behavior she’d obviously picked up from her cow/calf studies – a humpback mother did the same thing when boats or amorous males approached her calf). Amy snatched the handful of CDs from Libby. â€Å"I’d better go through these. I can probably come up with a few relevant samples to play along with the slides if I hurry.† â€Å"I’ll go with you,† Margaret said, eyeing Amy. â€Å"My handwriting on the catalog numbers leaves something to be desired.† And off they went toward the projection station in the middle of the hall, leaving Nate standing with Libby, wondering exactly what had just transpired. â€Å"She really does have an extraordinary ass, Nate,† Libby said as she watched Amy walk away. â€Å"Yep,† Nate said, not wanting to have this conversation. â€Å"She’s very bright, too.† Sometime in the last week a tiny voice in his head had started asking, Could this get any weirder? In two minutes he’d gone from anxiety to embarrassment to anxiety to relief to gratitude to scoping chicks with his ex-wife. Oh, yes, little voice, it can always get weirder. â€Å"I think Margaret may be on a recruiting mission,† Libby said. â€Å"I hope she checked our budget before she left.† â€Å"Amy’s working for free,† Nate said. Libby leaned up on tiptoes and whispered, â€Å"I believe that a starting position on the all-girl team has just opened up.† Then she kissed his cheek. â€Å"You knock ’em dead tonight, Nate.† And she was off after Amy and Margaret. Clay and Kona arrived just as Libby walked away, and, irritatingly, Kona was checking out Libby from behind. â€Å"Irie, Boss Nate. Who’s the biscuit auntie suckin’ face with ya?† (Like many authentic Hawaiians, Kona called any woman a generation older â€Å"auntie,† even if he was horning after her.) â€Å"You brought him here,† Nate said to Clay without turning to face him. â€Å"He’s got to learn,† Clay said. â€Å"Libby seemed friendly.† â€Å"She’s chasing Amy.† â€Å"Oh, she a blackheart thief that would take a man’s Snowy Biscuit to have a punaani nosh. That Snowy Biscuit belong our tribe.† â€Å"Libby was Nate’s third wife,† Clay volunteered, as if that would somehow immediately illuminate why the blackheart Libby was trying to steal the Snowy Biscuit from their tribe. â€Å"Truth?† Kona said, shaking his great gorgonation of dreadlocks in rag-doll confusion. â€Å"You married a lesbian?† â€Å"Whale willies,† said Clay, adding neither insight nor illumination. â€Å"I should go over my notes,† Nate said. CHAPTER EIGHT A Rippin’ Talk â€Å"Biology,† said the pseudo Hawaiian, â€Å"dat bitch make sex puppets of everyone.† Clay had just told him the story. The story was this: Five years into her marriage to Nathan Quinn, Libby had gone for the summer to the Bering Sea to put satellite-tracking tags on female right whales. She had already begun working with Margaret Painborne, who was at the time trying to find out more about the mating and gestation behavior of right whales. The best way to do that was to keep constant tabs on the females. Now, sexing whales can be an incredibly difficult task, as their genitalia, for hydrodynamic reasons, are all internal. Without a biopsy or without being in the water with the animal (which means death in three minutes in the Bering Sea), about the only way to determine sex is to catch a female when she is with her calf or while the animals are mating. Libby and Margaret had decided to tag the animals while they were mating. Their base ship was an eighty-foot schooner loaned to the project by Scripps, but to do the actually tagging they used a nimble twelve-foot Zodiac with a forty-horse engine. They’d spotted a female trying to evade the advances of two giant males. The right whale is one of the few animals in the world that uses a washout strategy for mating. That is, the females mate with several males, but the one who can wash out the others’ seed most efficiently will pass his genes on to the next generation. Consequently, the guy with the largest tackle often wins, and male right whales have the biggest tackle in the world, with testes that weigh up to a ton and ten-foot penises that are not only long but prehensile, able to reach around a female from the side and introduce themselves on the sly. Libby took the front of the boat, where she braced herself with a fifteen-foot fiberglass pole tipped with a barbed stainless point attached to the satellite unit. Margaret steered the outboard, maneuvering over frigid seven-foot seas, into the position where Libby could set the tag. Right whales are not particularly fast (whalers caught them in rowboats, for Christ’s sake), but they are big and broad, and in the frenzy of a mating chase, a small Zodiac provides about as much protection from their thrashing, sixty-ton bodies as would wearing aluminum-foil armor to a joust. And noble Libby, action-girl nerd that she was, did look somewhat like a gallant knight in Day-Glo orange, her lance ready to strike as her trusty warhorse, Evinrude, powered her over the waves. And as they approached the big female, a male on either side of her, the two sandwiching her so she could not escape, she rolled over onto her back, presenting her genitals to the sky. At that she slowed, and Margaret steered between the two tails of the males so Libby could set the tag. The female stopped then and floated up under the Zodiac. Margaret powered down the motor so as not to rake the animal with the prop. â€Å"Shit!† Libby screamed. â€Å"Get us off! Get us off!† A swipe from the flukes of any of the animals would put them in the water, minutes from hypothermia and death. Libby had rolled her survival suit down so she could maneuver the harpoon. She’d be pulled under in seconds. Suddenly, out of the water on either side of them came two huge penises, the males searching for their mark, moving closer to the female, producing waves that knocked the two women into the floor of the boat. Above them the two pink towers curved around looking for their target, feeling the edges of the boat, running slime across the rubber, over the biologists, poking, beating about, and generally abusing the women. The female now had the Zodiac centered exactly over her genitals, using the rubber boat as an ad hoc diaphragm. Then the two giant whale willies encountered one another in the middle of the Zodiac, and each evidently thinking that the other had found his target and not wanting to be left out, they let loose with great gushing gouts of sticky whale semen, filling the boat, covering the equipment, the scientists, washing the gunwales, swamping the motor, generally leaving everything but the gal whale completely and disgustingly jizzed. Mission accomplished, off they swam t o strain a little postcoital krill out of the fray. Margaret suffered a concussion and a partially detached retina, Libby a dislocated shoulder and various scrapes and bruises, but the real trauma could not be assuaged with snaps, slings, and Betadine. Several weeks later Libby rejoined Nate, who was down at the Chatham Strait with Clay filming feeding behavior. She walked into his cabin, hugged him, then stepped back and said, â€Å"Nate, I don’t think I want to be married anymore.† But what she really meant was â€Å"I’m done with penises forever, Nate, and pleasant as you are, I know that you are still attached to one. I’ve had my fill, so to speak. I’m moving on.† â€Å"Okay,† Nate said. He told Clay later that for hours he had been feeling hungry and kept telling himself that he should stop working and go eat, but after Libby showed up, then left, he realized that he hadn’t been hungry at all. The emptiness inside was from feeling lonesome. And Nate had stayed relatively lonesome and mostly heartbroken since that day (although he didn’t whine about it, he just wore it). Clay didn’t tell Kona this part. Confessions made over whiskey and campfires were privileged communication. Loyalty. â€Å"So,† said Nate, â€Å"Since the song appears, in most cases, to actually draw the attention of other males, who often join up with the singer, it would seem that the song cannot be directly connected to mating activity, other than it happens in the mating season. And since no one has actually observed humpbacks mating, even this assumption could be in error. If, indeed, the song is the male attempting to define his territory, it would seem ineffective, since other males tend to join singers, even those escorting cow/calf pairs. The study recommends that more studies be done to find out if there is, as previously thought, any direct correlation between humpback song and mating activity. Thank you. I’ll take your questions.† Hands went up. Here it came: the crystal gazers, the whale buggers, the hippies, the hunters, the tourists, the developers, the wackos, the researchers (God help us, the researchers), and the idly curious. Nate didn’t mind the curious. They were the only ones without an agenda. Everyone else was looking for confirmations, not answers. Should he go to a researcher first? Get it out of the way? Might as well go right to the dark side. â€Å"Yes, Gilbert.† He pointed to the Count. The tall researcher had taken off his sunglasses but had pulled down the brim of his hat as if to conceal the glowing red coals of his eyes. Or maybe Nate was just imagining that. The Count said, â€Å"So with these small samplings – what was it, five instances of interactions among singers and others? – there’s no real conclusion that you can reach about the relation to breeding or the robustness of the population? Correct?† Nate sighed. Fuckwad, he thought. He spoke to the strange faces in the audience, the nonprofessionals. â€Å"As you know, Dr. Box, samples for whale-behavior studies are usually very small. It’s understood that we have to extrapolate more from the data with whales than with other animals who are more easily observed. Small samples are an accepted limitation of the field.† â€Å"So what you are saying,† Box continued, â€Å"is that you are trying to extrapolate the behavior of an animal that spends less than three percent of its time on the surface from observing its behavior on the surface. Isn’t that akin to trying to extrapolate all of human civilization from looking at people’s legs underwater at the beach? I mean, I don’t see how you could possibly do it.† Nate looked around the room, hoping that one of the other behavior researchers might jump in, help him out, throw a bone to the podium, but apparently they were all finding the displays on the bulletin boards, the ceiling fans, or the wooden floor planks irresistibly interesting. â€Å"Lately we’ve been spending more and more time observing the animals under the water. Clay Demodocus has over six hundred hours of videotape of humpback behavior underwater. But it’s only recently, with digital videotape and rebreather technology, that underwater observation has become practical to do to any extent. And we still have the problem of propulsion. No diver can swim fast enough to keep up with the humpbacks when they’re traveling. I think all the researchers in this room understand the value of observing the animals in the water, and it goes without saying that any research without consideration of underwater behavior is incomplete. You understand that, I’m sure, Dr. Box.† There were a few stifled snickers around the room. Nathan Quinn smiled. The Count would not go into the water, under any circumstances. He was either terrified of it or allergic to it, but it was obvious from watching him on his boat that he wanted no contact whatsoever with the water. Still, if he was going to get his funding from the International Whaling Commission, he had to get out there and count whales. On the water, never in it. Quinn believed that Box did bad science, and because of that he had gone into consulting, the â€Å"dark side.† He performed studies and provided data for the highest bidder, and Nate had no doubt that the data was skewed to the agenda of the funding. Some nations in the IWC wanted to lift the moratorium on hunting whales, but first they had to prove that the populations had recovered enough to sustain hunting. Gilbert Box was getting them their numbers. Nate was happy to have embarrassed Box. He waited for the gaunt scientist to nod before he took the next question. â€Å"Yes, Margaret.† â€Å"Your study seems to focus on the perspective of the male animals, without consideration for the female’s role in the behavior. Could you speak to that?† Jeez, what a surprise, thought Nate. â€Å"Well, I think there’s good work being done on the cow/calf behavior, as well as on surface-active groups, which we assume is mating-related activity, but since my work concerns singers and as far as we know, all singers are males, I tend to observe more male behavior.† There, that should do it. â€Å"So you can’t say definitively that the females are not the ones controlling the behavior?† â€Å"Margaret, as my research assistant has repeatedly pointed out to me, the only thing I can say definitively about humpbacks is that they are big and wet.† Everyone laughed. Quinn looked at Amy and she winked at him, then, when he looked back to Margaret, he saw Libby beside her, winking at him as well. But at least the tension among the researchers was broken, and Quinn noticed that Captain Tarwater and Jon Thomas Fuller and his entourage were no longer raising their hands to ask questions. Perhaps they realized that they weren’t going to learn anything, and they certainly didn’t want to try to pursue their own agendas in front of a crowd and be slapped down the way Gilbert Box had. Quinn took the questions from the nonscientists. â€Å"Could they just be saying hi?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"If they don’t eat here, and it’s not for mating, then why do they sing?† â€Å"That’s a good question.† â€Å"Do you think they know that we’ve been contacted by aliens and are trying to contact the mother ship?† Ah, always good to hear from the wacko fringe, Nate thought. â€Å"No, I don’t think that.† â€Å"Maybe they’re using their sonar to find other whales.† â€Å"As far as we know, baleen whales, toothless whales like the humpbacks who strain their food from the sea through sheets of baleen, don’t echolocate the way toothed whales do.† â€Å"Why do they jump all the time? Other whales don’t jump like that.† â€Å"Some think that they are sloughing skin or trying to knock off parasites, but after years of watching them, I think that they just like making a splash – the sensation of air on their skin. The way you might like to dangle your feet in a fountain. I think they’re just goofing off.† â€Å"I heard that someone broke into your office and destroyed all of your research. Who do you think would want to do that?† Nate paused. The woman who had asked the question was holding a reporter’s steno pad. Maui Times, he guessed. She had stood to ask her question, as if she were attending a press conference rather than a casual lecture. â€Å"What you have to ask yourself,† said Nate, â€Å"is who could possibly care about research on singers?† â€Å"And who would that be?† â€Å"Me, a few people in this room, and perhaps a dozen or so researchers around the world. At least for now. Perhaps as we find out more, more people will be interested.† â€Å"So you’re saying that someone in this room broke into your offices and destroyed all your research?† â€Å"No. As a biologist, one of the things you have to guard against is applying motives where there are none and reading more into a behavior than the data actually support. Sort of like the answer to the ‘why do they jump? question. You could say that it’s part of an incredibly complex system of communication, and you might be right, but the obvious answer, and probably the correct one, is that the whales are goofing off. I think the break-in was just a random act of vandalism that has the appearance of motive.† Bullshit, Quinn thought. â€Å"Thank you, Dr. Quinn,† said the reporter. She sat down. â€Å"Thank you all for coming,† said Nate. Applause. Nate arranged his notes as people gathered around the podium. â€Å"That was bullshit,† Amy said. â€Å"Complete bullshit,† said Libby Quinn. â€Å"What a load of crap,† said Cliff Hyland. â€Å"Rippin’ talk, Doc,† Kona said, â€Å"Marley’s ghost was in ye.† CHAPTER NINE Relativity Leathery bar girls worked the charter booths at the harbor, smoking Basic 100s and talking in voices that sounded like 151 rum poured into hot grease – a jigger of friendly to the liter of harsh. They were thirty-five or sixty-five, the color of mahogany, skinny and strong from living on boats, liquor, fish, and disappointment. They’d come here from a dozen coastal towns, some sailing from the mainland in small craft but forgetting to save enough courage for the trip home. Marooned. Man to man, boat to boat, year to year – salt and sun and drinking had left them dry enough to cough dust. If they lasted a hundred years – and some would – then one moonless night a great hooded wraith would swoop into the harbor and take them off to their own craggy island – uncharted and unseen more than once by any living man – and there they would keep the enchantment of the sea alive: lure lost sailors to the shore, suck out all of their f luids, and leave their desiccated husks crumbling on the rocks for the crabs and the black gulls. Thus were the sea hags born†¦ but that’s another story. Today they were just razzing Clay for leading two girls down the dock. â€Å"Just like outboards, Clay, you gotta have two to make sure one’s always running,† called Margie, who had once, after ten mai-tais, tried to go down on the wooden sea captain who guarded the doorway of the Pioneer Inn. Debbie, who had a secret source for little-boy pee that she put in the ears of the black-coral divers when they got ear infections, said, â€Å"You give that young one the first watch, Clay. Let her rest up a bit.† â€Å"Morning, ladies,† Clay tossed over his shoulder. He was grinning and blushing, his ears showing red even where they weren’t sunburned. Fifty years old, he’d dived every sea, been attacked by sharks, survived malaria and Malaysian pirates, ridden in a titanium ball with a window five miles down into the Tonga Trench, and still he blushed. Clair, Clay’s girlfriend of four years, a forty-year-old Japanese-Hawaiian schoolteacher who moved like she was doing the hula to a Sousa march (strange mix of regal order and island breeze), backhanded a hang-loose shaka at the cronettes and said, grinning, â€Å"She just along to pour buckets on his reels girls, keep him from burning up.† â€Å"Oh, you guys are so friggin’ nautical,† said Amy, who was wrestling with a huge Pelican case that held the rebreather. The case slipped out of her grip and barked her shin before she caught it. â€Å"Ouch. Damn it. Oh yeah, everyone loves your salty friggin’ charm.† A chorus of cackles from the charter booths wheezed into coughing fits. Back to the cats, the cauldrons, the coconut oil, the sacred Jimmy Buffett songs sung at midnight into the ear of drunken, white-bearded Hemingway wannabes to make that rum-soaked member rise from the dead just this one last time. The leathery bar girls turned back to their business as Kona passed by. â€Å"Irie, Sistah Amy. Give up ye burden,† said Kona, bounding down the dock to sweep the heavy rebreather out of Amy’s grip and up onto his shoulder. Amy rubbed her arm. â€Å"Thanks. Where’s Nate?† â€Å"He go to the fuel dock to get coffee for the whole tribe. A lion, him.† â€Å"Yeah, he’s a good guy. You’ll be going out with him today. I have to go along with Clay and Clair as a safety diver.† â€Å"Slippers off in the boat,† Clay said to Clair for the hundredth time. She rolled her eyes and kicked off her flip-flops before stepping down into the Always Confused. She offered Clay a hand, and he steadied her as if escorting a lady from the king’s court to the ballroom floor. Kona handed the rebreather down to Clay. â€Å"I can safety-dive.† â€Å"You’ll never be able to clear your ears. You can’t pinch your nostrils shut with those nose rings in.† â€Å"They come out. Look, out they come.† He tossed the rings to Amy and she deftly sidestepped, letting them plop into the water. â€Å"Oops.† â€Å"Amy’s a certified diver, kid. Sorry. You’re with Nate today.† â€Å"He know that?† â€Å"Yeah, does he know that?† asked Clair. â€Å"He will soon. Get those lines, would you, Amy.† â€Å"I can drive the boat.† Kona was on the edge of pleading. â€Å"No one but me drives the boat,† said Clay. â€Å"I’m driving the boat,† corrected Clair. â€Å"You have to sleep with Clay to drive the boat,† said Amy. â€Å"You just do what Nate tells you,† Clay said. â€Å"You’ll be fine.† â€Å"If I sleep with Amy can I drive the boat?† â€Å"Nobody drives the boat,† Clay said. â€Å"I drive the boat,† Clair said. â€Å"Nobody sleeps with Amy,† Amy said. â€Å"I sleep with Amy,† Clair said. And everyone stopped and looked at Clair. â€Å"Who wants cream?† asked Nate, arriving at that moment with a paper tray of coffee cups. â€Å"You can do your own sugar.† â€Å"That’s what I’m saying,† said Clair. â€Å"Sisters are doing it for themselves.† And Nate hung there in space, holding a cup and a sugar packet, a wooden stir stick, a baffled expression. Clair grinned. â€Å"Kidding. Jeez, you guys.† Everyone breathed. Coffee was distributed, gear was loaded, Clay drove the Always Confused out of the harbor, pausing to wave to the Count and his crew, who were loading gear into a thirty-foot rigid-hull Zodiac normally used for parasailing. The Count pulled down the brim of his hat and stood in the bow of the Zodiac, his sun umbrella at port arms, looking like a skeletal statue of Washington crossing the Lethe. The crew waved, Gilbert Box scowled. â€Å"I like him,† Clay said. â€Å"He’s predictable.† But Amy and Clair missed the comment. They were applying sunscreen and indulging in girl talk in the bow. â€Å"You can talk like such a floozy sometimes,† said Amy. â€Å"I wish I could be floozish.† Clair poked her in the leg with a long, red-lacquered fingernail. â€Å"Don’t sell yourself short, pumpkin.† The ersatz Hawaiian stood on the bow rail like he was hanging ten off the twenty-two-foot Mako, waving to the Zodiac crew as they passed. â€Å"Irie, science dreadies! We be research jammin’ now!† But when the Count ignored his greeting, Kona gave the traditional island response: â€Å"What, I owe you money?† â€Å"Settle, Kona,† Nate said. â€Å"And get down off of there.† Kona made his way back to the console. â€Å"Old white jacket givin’ you the stink-eye. Why, he think you an agent of Babylon?† â€Å"He does bad science. People come to me to ask me about him, I tell them he does bad science.† â€Å"And we do the good science?† â€Å"We don’t change our numbers to please the people who fund us. The Japanese want numbers that show recovery of the humpback population to levels where the IWC will let them start hunting them again. Gilbert tries to give them those numbers.† â€Å"Kill these humpies? No.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"No. Why?† â€Å"To eat.† â€Å"No,† said the blond Rastaman, shaking his head as if to clear the evil from his ears – his dreads fanning out into nappy spokes. Quinn smiled to himself. The moratorium had been in effect since before Kona was born. As far as the kid knew, whales had been and always would be safe from hunters. Quinn knew better. â€Å"Eating whale is very traditional in Japan. It sort of has the ritual of our Thanksgiving. But it’s dying out.† â€Å"Then it’s all good.† â€Å"No. There are a lot of old men who want to bring back whale hunting as a tradition. The Japanese whaling industry is subsidized by the government. It’s not even a viable business. They serve whale meat in the school-lunch program so kids will develop a taste for it.† â€Å"No. No one eats the whale.† â€Å"The IWC allows them to kill five hundred minke whales a year, but they kill more. And biologists have found whale meat from half a dozen endangered whale species in Japanese markets. They try to pass it off as minke whale, but the DNA doesn’t lie.† â€Å"Minke? That devil in the white war paint killing our minke?† â€Å"We don’t have any minkes here in Hawaii.† â€Å"Course not, the Count killing them. We going to chant down this evil fuckery.† Kona dug into his red, gold, and green fanny pack. Out came an extraordinarily complex network of plastic, brass, and stainless-steel tubing, which in seconds Kona had assembled into what Quinn thought was either a very small and elegant linear particle accelerator or, more likely, the most complex bong ever constructed. â€Å"Slow de boat, brah. I got to spark up for freedom. Chant down Babylon, go into battle for Jah’s glory, mon. Slow de boat.† â€Å"Put that away.† Kona paused, his Bic lighter poised over the bowl. â€Å"Take de ship home to Zion, brah?† â€Å"No, we have work to do.† Nate slowed the boat and killed the motor. They were about a mile off Lahaina. â€Å"Chant down Babylon?† Kona raised the lighter. â€Å"No. Put that away. I’ll show you how to drop the hydrophone.† Quinn checked the tape in the recorder on the console. â€Å"Save our minkes?† Kona waved the lighter, unlit, in circles over the bowl. â€Å"Did Clay show you how to take an ID photo?† Nate pulled the hydrophone and the coil of cord out of its case. â€Å"Ride Jah’s herb into the mystic?† â€Å"No! Put that away and get the camera out of that cabinet in the bow.† Kona broke down the bong with a series of whirs and clicks and put it back in his fanny pack. â€Å"All right, brah, but when they have eated all your minkes, will not be Jah’s fault.† An hour later, after listening, and moving, and listening again, they had found their singer. Kona stood balanced on the gunwale of the boat staring down in wonder at the big male, who was parked under the boat making a sound approximating that of a kidnap victim trying to scream through duct tape. Kona would look from the whale to Nate, grin, then look back to the whale again, the whole time perched and balanced on the gunwale like a gargoyle on the parapet of a building. Nate guessed that he would be able to hold that position for about two minutes before his knees locked permanently and he’d be forced to finish life in a toadish squat. Still, he envied Kona the enthusiasm of discovery, the fascination and excitement of being around these great animals for the first time. He envied him his youth and his strength. And, listening to the song in the headphones, the song that seemed so clearly to be a statement of mating and yet refused to give up any direct evidence that it was, Nate felt a profound irrelevance. Sexually, socially, intellectually, fiscally, scientifically irrelevant – a sack of borrowed atoms lumpily arranged in a Nate shape. No effect, purpose, or stability. He tried to listen more closely to what the whale was doing, to lose himself in analyzing what exactly was going on below, but that merely seemed to underscore the suspicion that not only was he getting old, he might be going crazy. This was the first time he’d been out since the â€Å"bite me† incident, and since then he had convinced himself that it must have been some sort of hallucination. Still, he cringed a bit every time the whale humped its tail to dive, expecting to see a message scrawled across the flukes. â€Å"He’s making them up noises, boss.† Nate nodded. The kid was learning fast. â€Å"Get your camera ready, Kona. He’ll breathe three, maybe four times before he dives, so be ready.† Abruptly the singing in the headphones stopped. Nate pulled up the hydrophone and started the engine. They waited. â€Å"He went that way, boss,† Kona said, pointing off to the starboard side. Nate turned the boat slowly in place and waited. They were looking in the direction in which Kona had seen the whale moving underwater when he surfaced behind them, not ten feet away from the boat, the blow making both of them jump, the spray wafting across them in a rainbow cloud. â€Å"Ho! Dat buggah up, boss!† â€Å"Thank you, Captain Obvious,† Nate said under his breath. He pulled down the throttle and came in behind the whale. On its next breath the whale rolled and slapped a long pectoral fin on the surface, soaking Kona and throwing heavy spray over the console. At least the kid had had the sense to use his body to shield the camera from the splash. â€Å"I love this whale!† Kona said, his Rastaspeak melting, leaving behind a middle-class Jersey accent. â€Å"I want to take this whale home and put him in a box with grass and rocks. Buy him squeaky toys.† â€Å"Get ready for your ID shot,† Nate instructed. â€Å"When we’re done with him, can I keep him? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeze!† â€Å"Here he goes, Kona. Focus.† The whale humped, then fluked, and Kona fired off four quick frames with the motor drive. â€Å"You get it?† â€Å"Rippin’ pics. Rippin’!† Kona put the camera down on the seat in front of the console and covered it with a towel. Nate pointed the boat toward the last fluke print, a twenty-foot lens of smooth water formed on the surface by the turbulence of the whale’s tail. These lenses would hold on the surface sometimes for as long as two minutes, serving as windows through which the researchers could watch the whales. In the old whaling days the hunters believed that fluke prints had been caused by oil excreted by the whale. Nate cut the engine and let the boat coast over the fluke print. They could hear the whale song coming up from below and could feel the boat vibrating under their feet. Nate dropped the hydrophones, hit the ;record; button, and put on the headphones. Kona was recording the frame numbers and GPS coordinates in the notebook as Nate had taught him. A monkey can do my job, Nate thought. An hour’s experience and this stoner is already doing it. This kid is younger, stronger, and faster than I am, and I’m not even sure that I’m smarter, as if that matters. I’m totally irrelevant. But maybe it did matter. Maybe it wasn’t all about strength. Culture and language completely screwed up normal biological evolution. Why would we humans have developed such big brains if mating was always predicated on strength and size? Women must have chosen their mates based on intelligence as well. Perhaps early smart guys would say something like â€Å"There, right behind those rocks, there’s a tasty sloth ripe for the spearing. Go get him, guys.† Then, after he’d sent the stronger, dumber guys running off a cliff after the imaginary sloth, he’d settle down with the best of the Cro-Magnon cuties to mix some genes. â€Å"That’s right, bite my brow ridge. Bite it!† Nate smiled. Kona was looking over the side at the singer, whose tail was only twenty feet below the boat (although his head was forty feet deeper). He was only a couple of minutes into his song. He’d be down at least ten minutes more. â€Å"Kona, we need to get a DNA sample.† â€Å"How we do that?† Nate pulled a set of flippers out of the console and handed them and an empty coffee cup out to the surfer. â€Å"You’re going to need to go get a semen sample.† The surfer gulped. Looked at the whale, looked at the cup, looked over the side at the whale again. â€Å"No lid?† How to cite Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9, Essay examples

Paul Cronan Essays - Supervisor, , Term Papers

Paul Cronan Paul Cronan Case This case involves a corporate response to AIDS in the workplace. The return to work of Paul Cronan, a person with AIDS, after a much publicized law suit, led to a walkout of his coworkers. This case documents the circumstances which preceded the work stoppage. Analyzing this case from Paul Cronans supervisors point of view there are three main ethical issues to be considered: duty to protect the interests of the company, New England Telephone (NET); obligation to maintain the rights of the other employees; and duty to provide for the safety and privacy of Paul Cronan. There are ample examples throughout the reading to support identification of these three issues. It is evident that there is substantial interaction between Cronan and his supervisors in the early stages of his illness. Cronan contacted his first boss, Charlie OBrian, asking for permission to leave work for a doctors appointment on three occasions. Cronan disclosed his illness to OBrian on the third attempt to leave early from work. On his return to work he was instructed by his boss to see the company doctor. Later he contacted OBrian, asking to be put on medical leave. Months later when he was well enough to return to work he contacted his new supervisor, Richard Griffin, who informed him that he needed a medical release to return to his job. He also asked Griffin for a transfer to a less volatile environment. These examples prove that the two men were Paul Cronans supervisors and thus had to be concerned for the safety and well being of Cronan. There is evidence to support that there were other employees in Cronans department. When his illness was revealed co-workers purportedly threatened to lynch him if he returned. Later it was reported that damaging graffiti had been written on the bathroom stalls. On his return to work after the legal settlement he was treated like a leper by fellow employees. That same day, several co-workers filed a grievance with the local union protesting his re-instatement. The next day the workers walked off the job to reduce their contact with Cronan. Later several employees spoke of their fear of the disease and discomfort with Cronan. These examples prove that there were other employees in the department and thus the supervisors had to see that their rights were upheld, also. Next, it is evident that the supervisors were agents of the company. Since Paul Cronan worked for NET and they, based upon the reading, were his supervisors, it leads one to surmise that they also worked for NET. The supervisors were obligated by company practice to report matters involving employee attendance to upline supervisors who in turn would report incidences to the human resource department. Upon returning to work from an extended leave the employees contacted their immediate supervisor who then contact the company regarding such matters. When Cronan receive a re-instatement letter from NET it was mentioned that Griffin was his supervisor at that time. These examples prove that the supervisors were representatives of the company and acted as liaisons between the employees and the company and thus were responsible for promoting the interests of the company. A front line supervisor is always caught in the middle in disputes between the company and the employee and disputes between co-workers. When there are disagreements between a supervisor and an employee, the supervisor is often on his own with little support from upper management, even though he is an agent of the company. The very nature of the job puts the supervisors in a position where they have to be concerned about the rights and needs of all three parties in this case: the company, Paul Cronan, and the other employees. For this reason they are forced to weigh problems, some that have no clear right or wrong answers, and address them, hopefully, in ethical terms. It must be assumed that ethical values are important to the supervisors, and that they want to make decisions that compromise these values as little as reasonably possible. The process of evaluating and choosing among ethical values, personal goals and the likely consequences of actions is far from simple. To make a responsible decision, they should consider the choices

Detective story Essays

Detective story Essays Detective story Essay Detective story Essay Essay Topic: City Lights I needed a new case fast. Sitting in my dump of an office was not going to earn me money. It had been a while since I was in action, and my office looked like a huge tornado had walked through it. The wallpaper was beginning to peel off and turn yellow. My desk looked like it had seen better days and my floor didnt even exist due to the sea of papers. I was beginning to get a headache thinking about the state of the place. One glass of whisky should solve that problem.As I sunk into my leather chair, I turned and looked out of the window. That was the only positive aspect about being in this office. The view was magnificent, especially in the evening when the city lights were on. With darkness covering the city, all its flaws were hidden and for a few hours every night, London looked attractive.I was beginning to relax when a knock on the door ruined the peace. I muttered a curse and yelled Come in. The door slowly creaked open and my annoyance increased. For goodness sake, the door wasnt that hard to open and the area around it was actually paper free. But my complaints stopped short when I saw who stepped in. This one was a looker. Even just looking at her legs was enough to tell me that this was going to be an interesting client. My eyes travelled from her legs further upwards to find a tight-fitting black pencil skirt that wrapped itself snugly around her legs and hips and a pristine white shirt that clung to the top half of her body, outlining her wonderful figure.After staring at that for a while, I finally tore my eyes away to look at her face, I wasnt disappointed. Blessed with such a body, she even had the face to match. Golden blonde hair that was carefully styled framed a face that had a pair of big, crystal-blue eyes, a petite nose and round, full lips. I must have had my mouth hanging open as her luscious lips curved into a dangerous smile that told me she knew she had this affect on men.Her eyes scanned my shabby office, ta king in the peeling wallpaper and the avalanche of files. Youre needing a spring-cleaning here detective, she finally said, her voice soft but also with a playful edge to it. I grinned. Oh it needs much more than that, miss? Jeyman. But I prefer to be called Carla. Nice to make your acquaintance, Carla. Im terribly sorry, I would offer you a seat if there was Carla smiled. No its quite alright detective. This will only take a moment. Her eyes darted nervously around the room, as if she didnt want to meet my eye. Well she began hesitantly. For nearly a month now I have had someone stalking me her voice faded away and she glanced at me from under her long lashes. I nodded, signalling her to continue. But this person stalking me is nothing like the usual ones. You know, the ones who constantly call you, leave you gifts like flowers and chocolates. She seemed to turn pale as she told her story and she began to tremble slightly.You cant imagine, detective, the kind of sick and disgusting things this person leaves outside my door. She stopped and closed her eyes momentarily. When she opened them, tears were brimming at the edges. I was taken aback. My first impression of this woman was nothing like what it was before. She then reached into her handbag and pulled out a brown envelope. I hope you dont think strangely of me detective, but I took a picture of every gift he left me. I gave her a reassuring smile. Youve helped me immensely here Carla, by taking the pictures. I assure you that I will out who it is.I escorted Carla as far as the door then returned to my desk. I took a deep breath and poured out the contents of the envelope onto my desk. There were about thirteen Polaroids and another smaller envelope. I picked up the first one and nearly fell out of my chair. I was disgusted. The picture showed someones waste arranged to form the message Darling Love with several splatters of blood around it. This was something no lady should encounter. I was also curious a s to what the smaller envelope contained, and proceeded to open it. What slid out of it made me whistle. A cheque of five thousand pounds stared at me. Carla must have been extremely desperate, but what puzzled me was why she didnt go and report it earlier. I mentally kicked myself for forgetting to ask her.As I was about to look at the next picture, I heard a knock. Was it Carla again? Come in! I yelled. My facial expression must have been obvious as my old partner, Tom Hosp, smirked and said So glad to see you too. I pretended to not hear him and looked at the second picture instead. Oh Im hurt Matt, wheres the welcoming of an old friend? Have a seat, I said. If you can find one. I looked down at the next picture. This one was a horror. It looked like someone had butchered a whole generation of pigeons and chopped off their heads and this time the message was Love You. Suddenly the Polaroid disappeared from my hands and I looked up in annoyance to find Tom examining it, his mouth the shape of an o. I sighed. About half an hour ago, a pretty lady came to me about a nutcase who leaves her gifts. Not like ideal thing to give a lady huh. Oh man, Ive seen something like this before. I perked up. You have? Sure.About two months ago I had complaints from a few women and a man that they were had all sorts of rubbish arranged into a message. What? Men as well? Yeah. Seems like this one swings both ways. Oh Lord. Did you guys ever find out who did it? No. The harassments stopped after they were reported so were never pursued it. Now its back again. Was there any particular pattern? Hmm. They were all very good looking people and had money. I nodded. That matches. When they complained, how long had it been happening for? For nearly a month, they all said. They didnt report it straight away though, they thought it would stop after a week. That answered my question as to why Carla didnt do something about it as soon as she received her first gift. So thinking about it, t he gifts that Carla is getting should stop as shes reported it now, right? If her stalker is following her every move, then yes, it should stop. But that would mean that the perp would most likely find someone else to bother. I started massaging my temples. This case was turning out to be more complicated than I thought.Tom had finally managed to persuade me to come out for a drink. Come on! You being cooped up in here all day is degrading your looks, he joked. I ignored him and focused on my whisky, drinking it slowly and feeling the warmth spread through my body. I didnt want to drink too much. A clear mind was needed because I had misjudged how much work was needed for this case. I finished the drink and turned to Tom. Im heading back to the office. I need time to think about this case. Ill catch up with you later. Tom began to protest but I had reached the door, and the cold wind outside drowned out his voice. I quickened my walking pace, as the wind was beginning to get violent . Really, London weather was so unpredictable. One minute you have sunshine, the next a thunderstorm.From a distance, I noticed that something was not right. I clearly remembered switching off the porch light when I left with Tom. I slowed down my walking and made my steps silent. With Carla coming to me earlier about someone following her, I wasnt taking any chances. As I got closer, I felt a chill running through my spine. There on the landing in front of me, was blood everywhere and to me it looked like animal guts. I felt my blood run cold at the message: Youre Next.