Official Crime Statistics Essay

What are the main strengths and weaknesses of official crime statistics and victimization surveys? In this essay I will be discussing the main strengths and weaknesses of official crime statistics and victimization surveys. I have done tremendous research to back up my work, I have also used famous criminologists and other bodies who understand criminalization to help re-enforce my points. Most experts and successful authors, such as Tim Newburn, Brent E. Turvey and Clive Coleman have attempted, through their literature to show how crime has evolved and how surveys have influenced the public’s views about it. The first ever national crime statistics were published in France, 1827. Adolphe Quetelet, a scholar and previous astronomer was the first individual to take a serious approach and interest in criminal statistics. He then went on to become a leading body in criminology and social sciences for his work. Official crime statistics are placed under the ideology of crime rates in the UK and Wales. Numbers that the BCS, police and other law aboding bodies can gather together from the public, their research and other sources to help give the most accurate rate of crime they can. Victimisation surveys are generally random samples of the population asked whether they have been a victim to crime within a specific period of time. The reasons why these two different types of surveys must be taken are so that crime statistics can attempt to be more solid, although the argument is always made that there will never be an accurate percentage of crime and I will also be touching on why this statement has and always will be made. Crime statistics and Victimisation surveys are polls taken and received by victims of crime or the criminals and individuals who commit them. There has been much controversy amongst crime statistics of how accurate and precise they really are. I will be discussing these issues, but overall focusing my main points onto the strengths and weaknesses of official crimes statistics and victimisation surveys. Without crime statistics there would be no base grounds on the numbers of crimes averagely committed, by what sex and by what age group. Howeve r, without victimization surveys crimes may stay ‘hidden’ crimes such as domestic violence, burglary and intimidation. Why I mention these three in particular are because statistics show that most common repeat victims of crime are within these types of offences. Other offences also include other household theft and vandalism. One example of a top victimization survey is the British Crime Survey. The British Crime Survey or BCS for short is a nationally represented survey with a successful sample of approximately 47,000 adults living in private households in England and wales every year. The BCS started its survey’s in 1981 and it became a fluent survey database until 2001/2002. This survey is a face to face interview where the respondents or victims are asked about their experiences and feelings of crime that may have happened to them or people they know in the last 12 months, the BCS also ask them about their opinions of crime and crime related topics such as anti-social behaviour. These types of people would also be asked about the effectiveness of the police and how they deal with these is sues of crime. The British crime survey is a very important key piece of information and source of data on the background of respondents and the overall circumstances of victimization. A public, accurate crime statistic is most commonly the police, a more community based, less national and less accurate version as it’s range of scope does not cover the nation; however both sources limit themselves to a set of offences. Making it easier to gain a more accurate percentage. One main difference between the BCS and the police is that the BCS excludes victimless crimes, drug dealing and murder. The reason for this is the victims are no longer available to discuss the events that happened. Other crimes they exclude are sexual offences; this is generally due to the small number reported and the unwillingness of respondents to come forward. Another main difference between the two is that BCS thefts including personal property and other household items, because with the police they would involve everything included in the theft, jewellery, personal belongings, with the BCS it would all fall into a similar category making it a difficult task to achieve. A weakness of official crime statistics and victimisation surveys is that an argument could be bought up are they actually official? Just because they’re published doesn’t make them correct. What about the crimes that aren’t reported, Because of victims being afraid, intimidated or not having trust in the police. These events being called ‘Hidden Crimes’ or as they are often referred to ‘Dark Figures’. In addition to this, modern day statistics are now more enclosed, for example in Tim Newburn’s ‘Criminology’ he discusses how crimes such as violence against the person accounts to events such as murder, assa ult, however not reckless driving which could be considered to focus fully on physical damage. So as statistics are not as open to as many crimes as they wish, some will slip through and possibly go into a much minor category. Obviously a disadvantage being that individual may feel neglected and reluctant to detail the events. Due to the declining of main volume crimes in the recent years, beliefs about crime are still quite high. A third of the population from 2003 still believed that crime was a high rated problem. Advantages of Statistics such as these are that they tend to give the public a clear understanding of what crime rates are at. This table shows beliefs about crime, public fear that possibly the tabloids could have caused. This is discussed a weakness to crime statistics and the public, in a way the media are creating crimes, feeding on crime fear. As I mentioned earlier Crime statistics are never fully accurate and power is always an important factor when determining crime. Smaller crimes such as robbery are associated with the ‘Underclass’ Theory by Charles Murray. These types of offences are more down to the individual rather than a group. Dr Ziggy MacDonald of the University of Leicester wrote a piece in the Economic Journal about ‘Hidden Crimes’, one of the things his research showed was that ‘forecasts of crime trends fail to take proper account of what drives unreported crime. For example, someone who is currently unemployed is 7% less likely to report a burglary than someone who is currently in work, while someone on a relatively high income is 8% more likely to report a burglary than someone on less than average income’ He discussed how the decrease in employment could eventually lead to the higher rate of theft from people’s properties, and resulting in victims not reporti ng it, maybe thinking it won’t matter as their income isn’t high enough to replace the item anyway. Even though the difference between low income individuals and high income individuals is 1% which from my research closely is around 16% burglaries every year as a crime rate, 1% of those victims with a low income are subjected towards not reporting theft of their possessions. Certain individual’s economic status (as shown in from MacDonald’s work) can become a huge factor when determining ‘Hidden Crimes’. People could feel helpless as income is low, or they may live in a deprived area, with no way of being helped their behaviour could become ‘broken’ referring to the ‘broken glass theory’ a single building could have a shattered window for a period of time and the community around that area may feel unwanted, leaving a physical and emotional gap between this community and the open world. Because of this, other buildings may become trashed and broken, people would begin to avoid the area it ‘self, the idea of fear within these ‘Hidden Crimes’. This adds to the statistics the BCS and the police may not know about, smaller areas may not be expected to have high rates of crime and therefore focus is taken away from them. Bigger areas such as Birmingham would be a prime target for crime, the assumption is made. Another theory could that there could possibly be Marxist Criminology, Crime due to class divisions within a society or community, or pe rhaps crimes of the powerful, individuals or groups of people being treated differently in society, expelled from other physical and emotional contact, leaving them no choice but to turn to crime. Transference, to be precise. In August, 2011 the riots in the United Kingdom gave breach to a huge collaboration of crime sprees. Over 1000 people were arrested, yet possibly over 100,000 protested against this Marxist Criminology from politics, student fees and tax increases. Not every individual was caught, making statistics even scarcer. These significant changes within society set alight events that triggered this. This idea of Neo Marxism relating to ‘Dark Figures’ as not every individual in society has the same equal access as other fortunate people, be it financially, emotionally and they lash out because of it. Yet these ‘crimes’ aren’t recorded, they go unnoticed and became a damaging part of a society. In relation to this is the Left Realism theory, a social democratic approach to the analysis of crime and the development of effective policies of crime control. At the heart of all of this is a source of suffering for the poor and the vulnera ble, this links from the ideology of smaller much petty crimes. Bullying for example which as many of 44% of suicides by children from the ages of 10-14 are potentially linked. Data sources of the years have developed and grown onto this topic from the 1900’s as society and trends begin to evolve. Children picked on because of their backgrounds or income, yet data sources still have a less accurate number to this topic than any other. Official crime statistics do not generally show crimes committed by corporations, if any results are shown, they aren’t ever big corporations. An example of corporations is Citibank, high profile data breaches, and even the business Sony. These ‘White Collar Crimes’ are not easily detected, distinguishing them from victimization surveys. They could be breaches of health and safety laws, not identifiable to the easiest detail. Linking to this could be an idea of a corporations being known as ‘Mavericks’ people who are the exceptions rather than the rules, so society and governing bodies refuse to believe that they would commit corporate crimes, allowing them to get off easy. Or even reduc ing the expected costs. One of the biggest corporate crimes was an incident that occurred in 1984 Bhopal. Hundreds of people were killed in a chemical accident, by a company called Union Carbide. They owned a pesticide plant which was around 3 miles from Bhopal. The leading director of that company told the BBC that ‘methyl isocyanate gas (MIC) had escaped when a valve in the plant’s underground storage tank broke under pressure’ As laws are different from the USA and India, payments have still not been made to the families, who deserve compensation, an American firm that is above the law and have been forced into no legal action whatsoever. Could this have future affects to India, How people live, fear foreign businesses, Should they have to live in fear. In conclusion to my research and the theories I have mentioned. I believe that crime statistics can define the crime rate in the UK every year, both types of surveys have their weaknesses and strengths, society as a whole helps mould the body of crime, they can also be the reliable source to provide it, and stop it. My results and research from numerous sources have given an indication on the levels of crime in the UK. Bibliography http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/hosb1011/ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/627523/victim-survey http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/crime-justice/crime/victims-of-crime/index.html http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0809.html http://www.res.org.uk/society/mediabriefings/pdfs/2002/february/macdonald1.pdf http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2698000/2698709.stm http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/factsheet-YouthOffending.pdf

Differences between Iroquois and Pueblo Indians Essay

Mercantilism: Economic practice common in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. British and other imperial power’s policy to regulate the economy of their colonies. The policy prohibited the colonies to trade with other nations, monopolizing markets and banning the export of gold and silver. Mercantilism demanded that a nation must export more than it imports. Mercantilism was a cause of many wars and also the expansion of colonization. William Penn: English real state entrepreneur, philosopher and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania. Penn was born on October 14th, 1644 and died in July 30th 1718. As a Quaker, he was a supporter of religious freedom and democracy. As a result of his different religious views in England, he was expelled from the church. In 1677, he became one of the founding fathers of the city of Philadelphia helping in its planning and development. Quakers (Society of Friends): the Quakers lived in the mid 17th century in England. Many who did not want to follow the Christian Church because they had different spiritual and religious beliefs formed the group. They believed in their â€Å"inner light†, which they believed to come directly from God. In order to follow their beliefs comfortably Quakers immigrated to America in the 1680’s. There they established in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania which tolerated Quakers. Metacom: also called Metacomet, King Philip, or Philip of Pokanoket, was an intertribal leader of the Wampanoag and Narraganset. He was born in 1639 and died on the 12th august, 1676. He assumed the position of leader of the clan after his father Massasoit died and his older brother the following year. He became the leader of the Wampanoag in King Philip’s War against English colonists in New England. Glorious Revolution: also called the Revolution of 1688, resulted in the overthrow of James II and the assent of his daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange. After the accession of James II in 1685, his acceptance to Roman Catholicism alienated the majority of the population. This led William III to successfully invade England with a Dutch fleet and army, which led him to the English throne. The revolution lastingly ended any chance of Catholicism becoming re-established in England. History of American People to 1877 Mr. Huggard Iroquois and Pueblo Indian Similarities and Differences in the Colonization Era The Pueblo Indians were the descendants of ancient villagers who had been settled in present day Arizona. After developing their settlements for over three thousand years a decline of these communities occurred probably because of drought. The survivors moved to the south and east and in these areas they progressed as they developed their communities and perfected their techniques of desert farming, irrigation systems to provide water for corn, beans, and cotton. They received the name of Pueblo Indians by the Spanish because when they arrived, these groups of Native Americans lived in small villages, or pueblos. The Pueblo Indians of the southwest were the first to be confronted by Europeans and their long lasting invasion. However, around 1680, the Pueblo Indians revolted against the Spanish and they expelled them for about 12 years. Five main peoples, the Choctaw, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Onondaga formed the Iroquois. These five groups consolidated the Great League of Peace, which was created to bring stability to the area. The Iroquois were constantly moving geographically, they were known as being strong in battle and that is why they were one of the few Native Indians who survived the colonial invasion. Beginning in 1609, the Iroquois’ were forced to engage in war against the French, their Huron allies and other tribes. These wars were mainly the consequence of the battle of controlling the fur trade and land. Pueblo Indian peoples were farmers in tradition, but as each of the Pueblo villages were in different demographic areas, the crops that were harvested  were different. These crops were mostly corn, beans, and squash and these were stored for two or three years depending on the seasons. The Pueblo people hunted deer and antelope in the mountains and in other villages that were closer to the plains they hunted bison. In all Pueblo Indian societies, rabbit was an abundant source of proteins. The Iroquois on the other hand, had some similarities and differences from the Pueblo Indians in the farming and hunting practices. Iroquois people were farmers, fishers, hunters but their main source of food was through farming. Just like the Pueblo Indians, the Iroquois’ most cultivated crops were corn, beans and squash and they were also stored for later consumption. Concerning hunting, the differences are more notable. The Iroquois hunted mostly deer but they also sought beavers and mus krats in the winter. As they were located close to the river, they also had improved their ability to catch various types of fish. The Pueblo Indian society was matrilineal in most cases, but differed in some, where in a few villages patrilineal clans existed, and males owned houses and land. Women did most of the farming, while men were in charge of the hunting. However, as hunting importance was reduced men also started to have a role in agriculture. Iroquois and Pueblo Indians’ role of women in their society, was similar in which they were both matrilineal, that they had the task to cultivate the land, and raise the children. However, in Iroquois society, women had more power, where they could choose to divorce their husband and order him to live the home with his belongings. Women also had the right to keep the children if a couple separated. The Iroquois established the Great Law of Deganawida, which gave equality to both sexes. In their society the women were the ones who elected the chief of their village and were also the ones who could remove him from his position. The Iroquois had their main prophet, Deganawida, who they thought brought peace to the people. Their beliefs about creation were that in a supernatural way, spirits were integrated into the natural world. Their myth said that a girl in the spirit world who became pregnant without having intercourse had a vision that she had to uproot a tree so she would be able to see the underworld. As she does that, she falls to the natural world. As a result of their belief that the spiritual world was up in the heavens, the  Iroquois first let their dead to be eaten by birds but after they begin to cremate the corpses so that their souls would go up to the pure, spirit world. In the other hand, according to the Pueblo Indians creation myth, they were guided by their God and climbed up through a hole in the earth into the sunlight. These people suffered many tragedies and misfortunes until God guided them to fertile land where they could finally settle down. Pueblo people made ceremonies that took place in underground chamber, where they would practice rituals to cure diseases or to ask their God for good weather. They were also devoted to nature; they had rituals where they request nature for fertility and successful hunts and seasons. Just like the Iroquois they both had the myth that God had sent his twin sons to the natural world to create a balance with dualism. The Iroquois people were one of the latest natives to have had encounters with the Europeans. This gave them way to develop more stable communities successfully. Since the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, the Iroquois had developed a trading system which helped them acquire goods which were totally new to them. For example: knives and other hunting objects which made them more efficient. They had advanced armory and tools compared to other tribes but when it came to fighting with the Europeans, their chances were slim. The French had cutting-edge weaponry like armor made of metal, firearms, while the Iroquois had wooden armor and fought with bows and arrow, and other more traditional weapons. Even though they were known to have been strong in battle, when they had to confront the Europeans and their other Indian tribes, there was another aspect which made their battle even harder, diseases. Europeans had already been fighting against diseases such as smallpox, influenza and others, for which they had developed an immunity to them and also had ways to cure them. When they finally had contact with each other, these diseases started to spread with the killing bacteria. On the other hand, the Iroquois, who had no knowledge of these diseases nor an immune system that could fight them, encountered themselves with an epidemic die-off of their people. The confrontations with the Europeans changed their ways of life because they had to find other ways to have stable communities. The Pueblo Indians, who had been in contact with the Spanish for a much longer period of time, were part of a society in which the Europeans had strong influence. The Spanish had subjugated the natives and forced them to adopt Christianity as their religion. The power of the Spanish was very recognizable when they started to imprison and torture Pueblo Indians if they did not follow their rules. Nevertheless, the Spanish introduced farming and hunting techniques which helped the Indian communities grow and develop more rapidly. For three generations, native were oppressed until a leader named Pope organized a revolt against the Spanish. This rebellion was called the Pueblo Revolt. When it happened thousands of Indians joined forces and battled and forced the Spanish out of their territory, which they accomplished. After the expulsion of the Europeans, they restored their religious institutions, beliefs and more importantly established independence of their villages and pueblos. While Iroquois and Pueblo Indian natives had many different views politically, religiously, socially and economically, they were both societies in which nature was devoted and revered. They lived of the land and this connected them to the Earth and its seasons greatly. They were spiritual people who believed that spirits had an important part in their lives and that they lived among them and saw their actions. As a consequence of these views, they intuitively knew how to differentiate the good from the bad, since they were being watched. They had no desire of economic power and their societies were mostly based on peace and equality, which differentiates significantly from the Europeans who were greedy and immoral. When they encountered with the Europeans their ways of life were altered forever and introduced a new era in which Christianity had a big influence and with it other more capitalistic aspects.

Ethical Issues with Research on Lack of Parental Involvement and Essay

Ethical Issues with Research on Lack of Parental Involvement and Childrens Education - Essay Example This essay stresses that teachers can decide to fail students who provide negative feedback, or the parents can punish their children, who are the most helpless of the three and need protection. The researchers must ensure the protection of privacy but at the same time inform subjects of the limits of confidentiality. There are risks involved that the researcher must realistically minimize, especially when using e-mail or keeping digital files, or when these channels are used to send or receive research data which could be compromised and affect the study’s objectivity. This paper makes a conclusion that ethical issues of accuracy affect the whole study, from establishing parameters for measuring parental involvement and school performance to the interpretation and publication of the research findings. How would parental involvement be measured? This would require both objective (such as attendance to school activities or parents’ meetings) and subjective (degree of attention or participation in these gatherings) measures, and direct (tutoring for so many hours each day) and indirect (cooking nutritious meals and taking them with the children) methods of involvement. To add to the complexity of the topic, can a full-time parent who can tutor his son for an hour or two a day be ethically and objectively compared to a working parent who may not have the time and whose involvement is limited to sending her child motivational mobile phone messages a few minutes each afternoon?

Interactive Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Interactive Marketing - Essay Example From this study it is clear that  the understanding of the needs of the customer is extremely important as this will only allow the company to deliver what the customer expects of the company. Only based on this understanding the company will be able to design its products such that the use of these products results in experiences which surpass initial expectations of the customers. The root of successful value proposition lies in the ability of the supplier company to constantly communicate about the value of its products to the customers and obtaining effective feedback from the customers. The value creation by a travel company is somewhat different and it cannot be compared to the other supplier based companies.This paper highlights that  the primary reason behind this is the fact that travel companies have very little control on the products they sell and they mainly act as intermediaries selling products of third party suppliers and producers like airlines and hotels. Moreov er the products of travel and tourism are considered to be services rather than tangible goods.  Product differentiation is a way of attracting consumers for travel agency. Product differentiation is a strategy in which travel agencies attempt to create and exploit differences between their products and those offered by competitors.  Based on this theoretical understanding the product and price proposition of Gap 360 will be interesting to formulate.

Should Marijuana be legalized in America Research Proposal

Should Marijuana be legalized in America - Research Proposal Example Marijuana should be legalized within America, mainly due to the fact that it has absolutely no rationale to ban it in the first place. Crude marijuana, as researchers have been able to extract, possesses more than 400 chemicals as a combination. This however occurs during smoking when all of these 400 chemicals split up into thousands of other chemicals themselves. Notwithstanding the nearly 12,000 studies done on the medical utility of marijuana, a staggering common consent does exist in the scientific community of late which suggests that the smoked form of marijuana cannot be termed as a medicine. One should thus make laws that go against putting the users or sellers of marijuana in jails as they have a right to exercise their lives in the best manner that they deem fit. (Hough, 2003) According to a number of public opinion polls that were conducted in America sometime back, Americans do not support the idea of liberalizing marijuana, just for the sake of it. They are simply not in the harmony with it and thus they do not allow their government to do anything of such nature. Thus this gives the drug pressure groups some food for thought whereby they abstain themselves from using the word "legalization" in their trading with the government and hence the people in particular, in this matter. This term has been substituted with preferred ones like harm reduction, decriminalization and even ‘medicalization’. However they (drug lobby groups) are hell bent upon achieving their goals, which are to approve the bill of medicinal marijuana as legal and free for all and sundry to research openly and extract benefits from.

Creativity and Innovation in the Development of a Product Assignment

Creativity and Innovation in the Development of a Product - Assignment Example The movement of consumers from chips consumption, to other products with minor fat content, saw a decrease in sales of McCain oven chips. People started associating chips and other non-fresh foods with cancer. This posed a formidable challenge to McCain’s company. They had to devise ways to increase their product front to consumers. At this instance, they needed creativity and innovations of the highest order, to facilitate improved their products. With the phenomenal pressure on the fast food industry, where the media keenly focused on obesity and other health scares that faced the world population, McCain oven chips had to come up with new ways of preparing their chips. Through innovation, McCain oven chips producers came up with a strategy to carry out an extensive campaign. The company linked up with design consultancy Elmwood and advertising agency Beattie, to access methods that it could choose to strengthen its brand value. As a result of this collaboration, the company was able to come up with unique designs for its products. They were successfully able to repackage their products, in a way that indicated their products had less fat content. They used more muted colors that clearly shown that their products were made of unprocessed organic potatoes (Barron, 2009, P.332). By doing this, they successfully eliminated the idea that their products contained high-fat content’s a result; consumers gained the trust on their products. This led to increased sales and product penetration in the UK. Through creativity and innovation, B and Q have been able to gain market dominance in the home improvement sector. It has successfully been able to provide value for money. Immediately B, Q Company identified that the older people were not getting adequate services. They engaged in a fruitful research with Hamlyn Research Centre. Together, they were able to come up with ways  of creating more comprehensive products (I, 2009, P.412).

Environmental Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Environmental Issues - Essay Example Rubenstein et al oppose this argument by pointing out that these animals would be introduced into a completely new environment from that of their predecessors, with unpredictable results. Dolan also argues for re-wilding as a means of restoring species’ evolutionary potential. Rubenstein et al rebuff this argument as impractical because both the species being reintroduced and those in the current habitat have evolved very differently from past species (Easton, 2011). According to Dolan, re-wilding boosts conservation efforts. Endangered species from Africa and Asia stand a better chance of survival if protected in North American reserves (Easton, 2011). Rubenstein et al however disagree with this on the basis that diversion of resources away from on-going conservation efforts further reduces these species’ chances of survival (Easton, 2011). Rubenstein et al therefore highlight serious concerns on the viability and practicality of re-wilding. Instead of diverting attent ion and funds towards experimental efforts, I believe it is more productive to focus on current conservation efforts. ISSUE 5: MILITARY TRAINING AND THE ENVIRONMENT The United States military is entrusted with 25 million acres of land for military training purposes (Easton, 2011). There are more than 300 species on these lands, and so far, the military has displayed a conservative approach towards these species, training and conducting its activities in a manner that preserves the integrity of these species, an approach termed ‘working around’ (Easton, 2011). Benedict Cohen argues that environmental concerns hinder the military from achieving its training objectives and renders them satisfactorily unprepared to defend the country. He therefore argues for exemption of the military from strict environmental protection policies on the basis that military activities do not greatly endangered species. Cohen provides assurance that the military will continue to conserve the l and under its stewardship (Easton, 2011). Clark strongly opposes the exemption of the military from environmental regulations, arguing that the military has so far trained satisfactorily while within the limits of environmental policies. She also gives examples of the military’s active environmental conservation by incorporating environmental concerns into its training routine, thus demonstrating that military objectives and environmental conservation are not mutually exclusive, but capable of being integrated. Clark also argues that if limitations are removed, there will be no guarantee that the military will clean up after itself, and irreparable damage may be inflicted on the ecosystem (Easton, 2011) . I believe that no institution should operate under a mandate of zero accountability. The military cannot be expected to adequately police itself as regards environmental conservation, and should therefore be held accountable by regulatory bodies on the impact of its activiti es on the environment. ISSUE 6: CARBON EMISSION RESTRICTIONS The growing realization of the devastating impact of green-house gases emitted by human activities and the subsequent climate change necessitated establishment of controls and regulation of emissions by these industries. The debate over carbon emissions is a result of climate change concerns and the need for human beings to regulate their

Coca cola Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Coca cola - Essay Example The waste reduction strategies do not reduce current production’s quality level. Initially, the lean production strategy was crafted to cater to the production line of one of Japan’s top selling car models, Toyota. Toyota’s lean production cropped up after World War II. Japan was just recovering from the war loss. Lean production is a continually innovative process. Daily, the production line and staff personnel as well as production management team continue to find ways to reduce production wastes. Lean production reduces the avoidable costs, expenses, and costs associated with typical production processes. The typical production process includes employees accidentally generating avoidable wastes, expenses, and costs to delay the production process and delaying (reducing) revenue generation. Further, the lean production strategy can cover all the business entities’ activities. The activities may include the design of the product as well as the production process. The activities include the production of the company’s saleable or finished products. The activities include the marketing department’s product delivery and selling processes (Jones, 2013). Coke implements several lean production strategies. The strategy significantly reduces production expenses. Initially, coke marketed its quality coke products as having the same taste around the world. To do this, coke used only one water source. The singular source came from only one place. The company exported the coke products to different countries around the world. However, the cost of shipping the coke products increased as the distance between the original home production facilities to the country of destination (Marcotte et al., 2012). Consequently, the higher shipping and production costs of products sold in very far away countries generated a lower net profit than coke products sold in places nearer the production facilities. As the distance between

Since the 1960s, a growing number of people have been moving away from Essay - 2

Since the 1960s, a growing number of people have been moving away from villages and small towns to big cities in both developed - Essay Example In â€Å"The Root Causes of Migration† published by Maryland Catholic Conference, it illustrates the different and various reasons or purposes for moving permanently to the bigger cities. The most common reason is usually based on economics and financial matters. In the area of social science, there is a certain law which describes the different causes or factors for the occurrence of migration. Called Lee’s laws, it separates and breaks up the different factors into two sections called the push and the pull factors. The push factors are the different causes that influence and make people want to move away and be pushed out of an area. The people from the rural areas suffer from the lack of job opportunities, bad and awful environmental conditions such as pollution and being prone to natural disasters like fire, drought, flood, landslides, social unfairness such as bullying, teasing, racism, discrimination and even religious persecution. Other pull factors include loss of wealth, poor housing and conflicts or wars around the area. The pull factors are the opposite. They are the various reasons that attract people and pull them into an area. The most common reason for people to move into an area from rural areas is for better job opportunities. In the third chapter of â€Å"People on the Move,† there are also other reasons and purposes why people are attracted to settle permanently in amore urbanized location rather than staying in the rural parts of the country. Some of these are better living conditions. This mostly talks about the environmental conditions such as being less prone to environmental problems and natural disasters. Education is also one of the common reasons. During these modern times, people now highly value the quality of education that one gets because this is the gateway not only for their financial success in life, but also for their family’s freedom from poverty and financial struggles. In both developing and dev eloped nations, migration is being done and the numbers are getting higher and higher every year. The Philippines, which is a developing country in Southeast Asia, is experiencing such an increase in the number of migrants who came from the rural areas that are flocking to the most urbanized region in the country, the capital, Metro Manila. People in this country are getting poorer and poorer everyday and it is clearly evident. That is the reason why most of the people grab the chance and go to Metro Manila, which gives them a hope of a better opportunity and chance in finding good jobs that will somehow and in some way improve the financial status of their families. The intelligent, the skilled and the talented leave the provinces where they live in order to get better chances at life. This great migration that is currently happening in the Philippines has impacted and greatly influenced the development of the country. There are numerous effects that this migration has caused. When all of the brilliant and bright move and gather at one urban area such as in Manila, the provinces and the small towns and rural areas are left undeveloped and from slow, they become slower and slower. It is seen that in certain towns and municipalities, whatever it looked like a decade ago, it still looks the same until now because development is very slow in these areas. Additionally, in developing countries, once people

A Comparative Analysis of Research Methodologies Essay

A Comparative Analysis of Research Methodologies - Essay Example Two papers delving into learning foreign languages require a closer evaluation of research methodologies employed by the authors, to wit:   Jonathan Culpeper, Robert Crawshaw and Julia Harrison   (2008) on Activity types and discourse types: mediating advice in interactions between foreign language assistants and their supervisors in schools in France and England published in Multilingua; and Pamela Rogerson-Revell’s (2007) Using English for International Business: A European Case Study, published in English for Specific Purposes.   The study conducted by Rogerson-Revell (2007) aimed to determine the nature and role of English for International Business (EIB) with the goal of furthering measures to improve communication in international events and to use the findings in the development of effective and appropriate training materials facilitating EIB (Rogerson-Revell, 2007, p. 109). On the other hand, Culpeper, et.al.’s research was designed to address four specific objectives focusing on developing ones â€Å"understanding of interactions between French/English Foreign Language Assistants (FLAs) and their school mentors (MEs), and, more specifically, of how ‘advice’ is sought, given and received† (Culpeper, et.al, 2008, p. 297). Thereby, the Rogerson-Revel research clearly identified a concise goal while Culpeper et.al. have four-fold objectives that need to be addressed. Rogerson-Revell (2007) used the questionnaire method specifically designed to solicit both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative information focused on the use of EIB, the first language used by participants, and other languages spoken. On the other hand, qualitative data were gathered using open-ended questions on the perceptions and views of participants regarding the use of English in various international and professional meetings. Culpeper, et.al.(2008) likewise solicited both qualitative and quantitative information through audio-recorded and transcribed  information in case studies which became the basis for gathering the quantitative data needed for the study.

Legal Aspects of a Business Essay Example for Free

Legal Aspects of a Business Essay Introduction When starting up a new business it is very important to look at the legal aspects which will influence the company in the future. In this part of the information file there will be the most important legal aspects for running a student company. First there is the selection of business form, in which there will be a compairison between the different possible forms. Afterwards a description of how the student company will work with contracts and partners. And finally there is an explanation of the typical dutch legal aspects such as profit tax and dividend. Business form Most important before starting the actual business is to compare the different possible legal business forms to make sure that it suits the intentions of the entrepreneurs. First the expanation per legal form will be given and afterwards a choice will be made for the student company itself. There are three basic legal business forms which can be chosen when starting up a new company: sole proprietorship, partnership and corporation. Each will be described shortly and afterwards the form of the student company will be given. Sole proprietorship The sole proprietorship is the oldest, most common, and simplest form of business organization. A sole proprietorship is a business owned and managed by one person. The prevalent characteristic of a sole proprietorship is that the owner is inseparable from the business. Because they are the same entity, the owner of a sole proprietorship has complete control over the business, its operations, and is financially and legally responsible for all debts and legal actions against the business. Another aspect of the same  entity aspect is that taxes on a sole proprietorship are determined at the personal income tax rate of the owner. In other words, a sole proprietorship does not pay taxes separately from the owner. A sole proprietorship is a good business organization for an individual starting a business that will remain small, does not have great exposure to liability, and does not justify the expenses of incorporating and ongoing corporate formalitie. Corporation A corporation is a business entity which is owned by an individual or group of individuals and they run a business that legally exists. A corporate body is formed to regulate and manage business. People work as a unit in a corporation and produce the value that will generate income. A lot of employment is generated by corporations and they have now a big impact on economic growth and the social development of any country that operates in the free market system. A corporation has rights and responsibilities just like people have, and can also be liable to the processes of law just as an individual can. The characteristics of a corporation are the limited liability of shareholders, management being delegated to a board of directors, ownership by shareholders, transferable shares and that it has a separate legal personality. Relevance to Student company The fact that the student company will sell shares and therefore will be owned by the shareholders, the student company will be a corporation. Big advantage of this legal form is the spreading of the potential business risks because of the large amounts of shareholders. Disadvantages for the entrepreneurs is the limited power within the company because of the â€Å"voice† of the shareholders and sharing the possible profit with the shareholders. Within shareholder meetings important decisions or problems will subject and together with the entrepreneurs the business strategies are set. Contracts with other parties Because the student company will be a trading company it is very important to make clear arrangements with the suppliers, customers and the entrepreneurs  itself. This will split the the risks of the entrepreneurs as well as the business partners in the buying cyclus. Because it is still not clear what kind of product or service the student company wil sell, this will be researched later on in the market research. Laws and taxes When somebody wants to start up a company within the netherlands this person should notify the Inland Revenue as soon as they know when their company plans to start business. If this person starts as sole trader, a partnership, a limited partnership or a partnership under common firm, he or she can register the company for the Inland Revenue and the trade register at the same time. This can be done at the Chamber of Commerce. It is to your advantage to provide this information at an early stage: new companies which have made investments in their business often receive money back following their first value added tax return .This is because a new business often pays more value added tax in the beginning than it has actually charged. Value added tax It is almost always compulsory for businesses to charge clients value added tax. Businesses are nearly always liable to charge value added tax to their clients. The rate is 6% or 19% depending on the type of product or service. The value added tax which a company receive from the client must be paid to the Inland Revenue. The value added tax which the company has paid out itself to the suppliers can be offset against this. Value added tax is paid either monthly or quarterly, depending on the type of business and the level of turnover. Corporation tax If the company is a private company with limited liability, the owners will be liable to pay corporation tax. Corporation or corporate income tax is levied on companies established in the Netherlands and on certain companies not established in the Netherlands, which receive income from the Netherlands .In this context, the term company includes companies with a capital consisting of share, co-operatives, mutual insurance and credit companies, foundations and other legal persons incorporated under civil law, when they administer an enterprise, funds for common account, and most  publicly-controlled industrial and commercial undertakings. Basis of assessment Profits in the widest sense, with a number of additions or deductions. The determination of the taxable profits corresponds largely with the determination of profits taxable under personal income tax, including the deductibility of losses from other years. Exemptions Legal persons whose activities are of a social or charitable nature or otherwise in the public interest are exempted from corporation tax. Exempted categories of profit are those corresponding to the relevant exemptions under personal income tax. Furthermore the participation exemption applies to all dividends, gains and losses related to the holding of at least 5% of the shares in a subsidiary. This rule, preventing economic double taxation, is in general equally applicable to dividend deriving from domestic and foreign subsidiaries. The loss related to the winding-up of a subsidiary is, under certain conditions, deductible by the parent company. The deductibility of interest paid on non-functional loans and loans related to a reshuffle of participations within the group is restricted to certain circumstances. Another amendment permits companies to depreciate loss-making participations of 25% or more during the first five years after acquisition. Special features Fiscal unity: a company which holds 100% of the shares in a Dutch subsidiary may request to be qualified as a fiscal unity. However, certain conditions apply. It is possible for a fiscal unity to be consisted of more than two companies. The subsidiaries are considered to be absorbed by the parent. As a result, negative results of companies belonging to the unity can be compensated horizontally with positive results of the others. Interest paid to a group company in respect of the acquisition of shares in Dutch operating companies cannot be set off against the profit of these operating companies. Regime for investment funds: provided that all current income is distributed to shareholders and a number of other conditions are met, an  investment company or fund is entitled to add capital gains on securities and real property to a reinvestment reserve and to a rate of nil per cent on the remaining profit.

Write a brief humorous essay on the director Essay Example for Free

Write a brief humorous essay on the director Essay Write a brief humorous essay on the directors take of a modern production of a chosen scene in Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5 No, no, no and NO! I was beginning to get exasperated. The actors I had selected for my production of William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet were, how should I put it kindly? , dim and untalented. We were rehearsing one of the most important scenes of the play, the scene where Romeo and Juliet first meet. The scene where they fall in love, the whole play revolved around this scene, and this bunch of amateurs was ruining it. Look Megan, I said to my Juliet, you have to put some feeling into this, acting is about much more than just reciting the lines. You have to imagine that YOU are Juliet. You are a fourteen-year-old girl being approached by a handsome boy. You have to SHOW the audience that you arent sure how to react to his advances. Be coy, sweet and innocent. But you also have to be witty. Do you understand, darling? I felt as if I was talking to a toddler. I think so, said Megan. Okay, lets try it one more time. Places everyone! Act 1, scene 5, Action! I yelled. We tried it again, Megans tone had improved, but I suspected that she didnt have a clue what any of what she was saying meant, and her movements were awful. Whilst Mark, my Romeo, was actually doing okay. I guess miracles do happen. Yes that was much better, sweeties! I screamed But, Mark, darling, you arent confident enough, you have to be a smooth operator, youre a charmer, and you know that sooner or later this young lady will fall for your charm and wit. What charm and wit? This boy couldnt charm a teapot, let alone a young girl! I thought to myself. Once more! Action! My throat was getting sore from yelling so much. Being a director isnt easy, you know, its not all about doing lunch, and all that. But I love it, so I persisted. That was dreadful, simply dreadful! Juliet when you say I grabbed the nearest script Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hands too much, its meant to be witty. By this remark you show us that you are intelligent and that youve caught onto Romeos metaphor. But you still arent sure about him, you are flattered to be approached, but still wary of this guy you know nothing about. You are quite happy touching his hand, but dont want to go further, so you play hard to get! And Romeo, you have to be persistent, even a little aggressive. You touch her hand, but Megan, you pull away, but Mark you go for her hand again, and even try to kiss her after: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? so Megan, you dodge his kiss and quickly make up an excuse. Are we clear? Okay, again. Action! They were doing better, but still not good enough. I was beginning to get a headache. Juliet, when Romeo touches your hand you turn away, but Romeo as I said before, you persist. My headache was getting worse, it is pure torture seeing a Shakespeare masterpiece being acted as they were acting it. Last time. And get it right, please. Action! They were getting worse and worse, but Id had enough for the day. Oh well, maybe we still had time to recast.

Cadburys Business Functions

Cadburys Business Functions Within every company there are organisational functions. I am going to investigate the main functions of the famous chocolate company Cadbury. Cadbury is a very successful business and have over 70,000 employees working for them. For Cadbury to remain a successful business it has to maintain some structure and business functions to be able to meet their aims and objectives. Throughout my findings of Cadbury the main activities of the following areas are what help and maintain the objectives that have been set by the business and allow Cadbury to continue to have a success an reach their aims. The production department is the department that produce the products. The department has to be in control of the turnaround of the production. When producing a product, materials and labour values are added so that the products can meet customers needs. The production team need to have a high maintained system to be able to provide, produce and reduce the amount of food waste within Cadbury. You would find that the production team in Cadbury would be concerned with the following issues: Cost of production The condition of the means of production Keeping production going Health and safety Keeping employees motivated Keeping up to date with technology Satisfying the requirements of customers Maximising the use of plant Minimising the waste of materials Finance: The finance department is the department that controls and deals with the money. The finance department are responsible for keeping all financial records and documentations of money that comes in and out of the business. The finance team are responsible for submitting tax reports and company registration. Once HR have agreed the salaries and bonuses that the staff at Cadbury are entitled to they then would issue all wages and preform the relevant tax reductions or national insurance contributions. The finance department control all giving budgets to each department, this is set in place so each department can achieve their objectives and do not waste money. Managers see these budgets and compare the sales and targets that had been met and the finance department then make plans for the future that will help the business to achieve its objectives. Human Resources One of the key roles of this department is the ability to keep everyone happy; they are concerned with the welfare of the staff, people whom come in contact with the company and welfare of the business by following employment laws and ensuring health and safety. When you have happy staff you have motivated staff and this helps to achieve the objectives. HR is also responsible for all training that has to be taken to ensure the company are up to date with the way the company functions and that all health and safety is being met. HR department employ and deploy staff as they would be fully trained in ethical issues and again the employment laws and ensure the equal opportunity procedures are in place and being followed, this avoids any law suits and trade union issues. Administration and IT The administration department within Cadbury are the department that provide support to all other departments within the organisation, they create a working order, which provides routine and functions smoothly. This support could be invoicing, photocopying, letter writing, posting the mail, collecting the post and distributing it correctly throughout the departments, attending meetings and taking minutes and then typing them up, keeping records of relevant information on the business, maintaining the computer systems, software, the security of the systems and the building and security and cleaning. Marketing and sales Marketing is the department that identifies the customers needs by carrying out marketing research alongside the research and development department, they develop the right products and promotions that need to be focused on within the needs and requirements of products requested by the companys customers and this helps to increase profit and keep the sales teams achieving their targets and objectives. To achieve the companys objectives the marketing team must get 4 main areas right: Products they must identify what is suitable for the target market, what brings total satisfaction to the customers, what customers would like them to produce, what is selling the most or what could do with some extra support due to low sales. Price- They must investigate the going rates or other suppliers to assure they dont overprice or under-price a product. Place- To identify where and what areas are selling certain product this would benefit the production team as they could work a system out to avoid waste and additional losses. Promotion-To identify where and when to promote a product, for example if a Christmas limited addition product became available, it would be irrelevant to advertise or promote this product in February. The above 4 areas help Cadbury to achieve at least 2 of their objectives: to be the number one product in a given market maximising profit Research and development Within the research and development department is where the staff at Cadbury investigates new products and try and improve the sales of existing products, this would involve going out and using different research mythologies, the staff in this area would perform surveys, experimental research and even observational research. They would examining competitors and try and find a gap in the market for any new product. The research and development department have to work very closely to marketing and productions to be able to achieve the right results to turn the findings of the research into useful products that will help Cadbury to achieve their objectives. Customer services The customer services department is to assure the customers are 100% happy with the products and services that Cadbury provide; within in this department they deal with customers questions and concerns. This department will help to gain a customers trust back if an unfortunate error has occurred. Having un-happy customers can affect Cadbury objectives, and having well trained professional staff to assist in certain areas of customer services can help promote and regain customers trust, to be able to meet the objectives. The managers This would be the people who wants order, control they love structure and high performance they like everything to be out into its place, unlike the technician who strives off of detail and knowledge and how to perform the task, the manager loves the order and they want everything to be done in a manner that gives consistency. The Entrepreneur This would be the person inside of you that strives for the business, dreams and focuses on the business becoming bigger and more known to the world. Sometimes you would find that the technicians and the manager seem to take over and forget about the person striving to make the business more of a success, to provide them with more jobs that can resolved or more jobs to organise, going out there to market the business, to make a business a really great business, you have to allow the dreamer to dream, you have to be able to work on your business not just in your business. As you can see from my examples above the manager and the technician work in the business and the entrepreneur works for the business. Each person has relevant tasks so that the objectives can be solved so the aims can be achieved Business Objectives of Cadbury and how they relate to the stakeholders Cadbury aims and Objectives Cadbury aims are what they want to achieve in the long run, and objectives are used to high light how those aims are going to be achieved. Objectives can be in a form of targets and challenges for the business to achieve the aims. Cadbury aims are to: Maximise profit To be the number one product in a given market To maximise sales To grow To operate in a wide range of markets Have a good reputation To provide freedom for workers to express themselves and suggest ideas to help the business Achieve best possible financial return on capital Boost or maintain share market values Cadbury use aims and objectives as they are the foundation for decision making within the company. It provides long term thinking its measurable and controlling and it motivates and inspires workers and employees, its direct, it focuses on efforts and unifies the company and most importantly it communicates with shareholders and employers regarding the businesses future. Cadbury use the S.M.A.R.T objective method to set their short term objectives. These objectives have to be set for the business, products or services. Specific The objectives should specify what Cadbury want to achieve, for example they may want to achieve a 3% market share in 12 months. Measurable The objectives should specify how you are going to measure whether you are achieving the objective. For Example a 3% market share over 12 months means that each month market share targets can be measured. Achievable The Objective must be achievable and attainable. For example Is the 3% objective for the 12 months achievable? Does Cadbury have the resources, man power and finances to achieve it? Realistic Can the objectives realistically be achieved with the resources you have? For example: Is the 3% objective over a 12 month period realistic or does the company need longer? Does the company have the skills and resources to achieve this over the time period set. Timely When do you want to achieve the set objectives? Without a timescale it is difficult to set dates for the achievement of key tasks and milestones. For Example: In our company have set themselves a period of 12 moths to achieve the 3% market share. Stakeholders A stakeholder is a person or an organisation that takes interest into a business and are there for effected by the way that it may be run; this would be in the areas of success and failure. Stakeholders can be people within the business or outside of the business; the different types of stakeholders can hold different views and can affect the way the owner wants to conduct the business which can affect the aims and objectives. I am going to give some examples on stakeholders and how they can affect the aims and objectives of Cadbury. Workers/employees To be able to give the workers/employees a sense of ownership the company must keep them up to date with what is going on with the business; this helps to improve performances and motivates the employees. The workers/employees are main stakeholders in the business because their motivation and happiness keeps the performance of the business running smooth and relies on them for the business to survive. Employees at Cadbury are called internal stakeholders; Cadbury have meetings to inform colleges about any changes and hear their views on the running of the company. Cadbury use research skills to find out if the employees are 100% satisfied or to enquire how they feel within the company. They provide the employees with newsletters and access to forums and account information to keep them informed with what is going on. This helps Cadbury to achieve their aims and objectives as it keeps the staff motivated and satisfied that they know what is happening within the company, if this did no t happen then employees would feel confused and this would affect their skills to perform the tasks. For example: if Cadbury was to introduce a new machine to make the work more efficient and faster, then the employees will require training as soon as possible to ensure that the production will run smoothly and effectively. If this was not done you would find that the employees would be stresses from trying to learn the machine themselves, errors could lead to faulty equipment and the company could lose profit due to the fact the employee was either slow or made an error as he was never given training. This would also make the employee feel very disappointed and could lead them to feel they were not doing their job correctly. In a worse situation the employee could have an accident on that machine, which could lead to a law suit. An employee to a Cadbury would want to achieve the best possible results, to gain profit and ensure the Cadbury is a success so it could continue to provide an income, if Cadbury was to collapse then the employee would then be affected as they would have to seek further employment. Customers A customer who is interested or purchases a product that Cadbury provided, also become stakeholders. Customers are external stakeholders of Cadbury which does not directly link them with the company, but have a major part of helping Cadbury meet their aims and objectives, without customers none of the aims could be met and Cadbury SMART objective method could not possibly be met and the business would just collapse. Cadbury customers are mainly interested in the price of the product and the hygiene of the factories and the machinery. Managers Managers have a key part in Cadbury as a stakeholder as they are interested how the business is run and how the employees are being motivated, to achieve the targets set by the company; they are interested in the control of the company, salaries and bonuses that could help them to influence the staff to perform the relevant objectives. The managers have a fear of loss profit as they want job security as it would be hard for them to find another job especially if the company have to re-locate or stop producing. Owners Owners are also stakeholders and these are the people who can control what Cadbury achieve and how they run their business, an area of interest for the owners of Cadbury is to maintain a good relationship with the suppliers and keeping financiers happy as Cadbury are always marketing and researching new ideas for chocolate products that having a well-established and not in debt with suppliers or other financiers ie: banks, taxman or employees, with provide them with bigger opportunities and the flexibility to produce the products when and when they can, so owners of Cadbury must make sure they use their money wisely. Local Community The local community can play a major part in Cadbury business objectives as they are stakeholders, who live in or work in the area where the factories are producing the products, this could have interests in the pollution or the traffic that the factory is creating, leading to complaints. The owners could decide they want to work all night and this could affect the residents who wish to sleep but cannot due to the noise that the factory works are making. Yet on the other hand Cadbury could open up a new factory in a new area, and this could create jobs and provide them people with an income lower the employability statistics in the area of job seekers and improve their quality of life. Government The Government are also stakeholders and take interest in the laws and legislation of Cadbury, the governments decisions can have an impact on the aims and objectives as the laws they enforce can actually shut the company down, they have to ensure the factory is following the health and safety and that the hygiene levels are met as they are producing a food product. The government also have a interest to see Cadbury achieve there aims and objectives as if the company stops producing products, staff would then be made redundant and then the employment rates will drop and no contributions will be made to the gross national product. Another interest that the government would have is that the company achieve their aims and objectives as they employ a lot of staff and each staff member would have to pay tax that would then be used for healthcare and education. Suppliers Suppliers are stakeholder within Cadbury. Cadbury are currently buying products from over 40,000 suppliers around the world; Cadbury strive to work with their suppliers giving them the opportunity to give suggestions on how they would improve quality of efficiency, this gives the supplier the ability to be flexible and feel appreciated and allows room for a very solid business relationship. Cadbury undertakes an evaluation on all potential suppliers to ensure that they are a fair trade company, such as standards that have to be met by the environmental protection and ethical labour practices. Suppliers would take interest into Cadbury as they supply the materials to Cadbury to produce their products, they want to see the business succeed, so that their orders dont stop coming and they still receive a regular income.

The Reality of Ethan Brands Unpardonable Sin :: Ethan Brand Essays

The Reality of Ethan Brand's Unpardonable Sin The relentless obsession of one man becomes the theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne's haunting tale, "Ethan Brand." A lime-burner by trade in the hills of Western Massachusetts, Brand passes the lonely hours of the night staring into the intense flames of the kiln, contemplating the theological doctrine of the unpardonable sin. What sin could be so totally evil that even the great God of Heaven could not forgive? I remember as a child, listening to my father, as he stood in the pulpit and expounded to his congregation the very same subject that had so totally mesmerized Hawthorne's character, Ethan Brand. I remember the many questions I had about this horrible sin. What was it? Could I commit the unpardonable sin? Maybe I already had. That was the most disturbing of all. It seems that literary critic R. P. Blackmur has experienced something of the same when he writes: I do not know how it may be now, but when I was a boy the unpardonable sin, the unforgivable sin, or--as I was taught in church, the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost--was a major though intermittent attraction in the short times that seem so long just before sleep. It was a frightening possibility that I might find what it was and how to do it: the frightening thing was that I might then have to do it, as if discovery was actual commission of the sin. The verse in St. Mark (3:19) contained as much potential horror as anything I have ever read...so when I read "Ethan Brand" I knew where he was....(179). Since that time, I have taken my place in the pulpit of a church like my father before me. And on occasion, I too address the subject and receive the same questions that I, and others like me, pondered so long ago: the very same question that haunts, possesses, and ultimately ruins Ethan Brand. Driven by his insatiable desire to uncover the deep truth of this frightening possibility, Ethan Brand left his lonely lime kiln on a quest, a quest that would send him the world over in search of the unpardonable sin. For eighteen years he studied and researched the idea that slowly took him over. When his search began, Brand was a kind and gentle man concerned for the well-being of others. The narrator describes him as .

Genetic Engineering Essay -- Genetic Alteration Manipulation

Genetic Engineering of Humans Human genetic engineering in the world today has become an issue because of its many positive uses and its probable consequences. There is no denying that it could be incredibly useful for preventing diseases such as cancer and others before we are even born. But, with this also comes the ability to give children genes before their born that will give them talent to run faster, jump higher, use more of their brain that will severly distinguish them from the rest of society. Imagine growing up and you are the best athlete in your high school, you can out perform anyone you come against. You are commended on your work ethic but he question that comes up most often is â€Å"How do you do it?† You begin to think about this question. What do I do that’s different from everyone else? Is it a talent, or is there something that separates you from everyone else. Your parents have no athletic skill at all, so where is all this skill coming from? Then you bring this up wi th you parents and they let you in on startling news. When you were born you parents had your genes altered to make you more athletic. How would you feel? The idea of genetic alteration of humans for purposes such as increasing physical is a worrisome topic. It is a hard topic to address and dismiss as a bad idea because there are many good applications for this procedure. The idea of curing humans of diseases before birth is an amazing thing to think about. This poses a bright future for mankind but it also includes a distressing idea. The fact that humans can alter the fate that god intended us is scary. Humans were not meant to alter their future, but throughout history they have. Being able to cure imperfections in humans see... ...ld cause many problem in our society. Also morally is it right for us to be picking and choosing what talents a child will have before they are even born. It should be up to the child to build their skills in an area that they are genuinely interested in. They should not be pressured to be a runner because they ability to run faster and farther than your average man. It is wrong to predetermine a childs fate. What makes a child unique if he did not determine his uniqueness on his own. Genetic engineering is an issue that is rapidly approaching us as a problem we will have to deal with. Is it ok for me to choose what my child is good at? Is it ok for me to change the person that god intended my child to be? Many people are worried about the stage genetic engineering is at and all the problems it could cause but we still may have some time to think about it.

Managing Agressive Behavior Essay -- Health Care, Nursing

According to Penguin English dictionary (2002), research is aimed at making discoveries, establishing facts or enabling new conclusions. Nursing research is essential in health car e setting. It can defined as a systematic and rigorous collection of data and used not only to help nurses but to clients behaviour attitudes and other factors that influence the delivery of care (Parahoo, 1997) Polit and Hunger (1997), states that critique should reflect on the strength and weakness of research through objective and balanced consideration. It stands to reason that nurses need to understand the ethical implication of using different methodology theory in order to protect patients. Based on evidence, this can be done by understanding how research is done, the definition of data collection and how to interpret findings (Tschudin, 2002). However, one can argue that not all research findings are to be believed (Hunt, 1987). A good research should capture the problem and find ways to improve in the setting. The phenomenon of this assignment is to focus on patients who are undergoing treatment in a high secure forensic. This will highlight how violence toward healthcare workers is commonly encountered in mental health care setting in Australia. Therefore, two key areas that will be identified is firstly, factors leading to aggressive behaviour and secondly, strategies to reduce the risk of such behaviour. The selected article to critically examine is entitled ‘Aggressive behaviour in the high secure forensic setting: the perception of patients’. The work on this paper was taken from the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing in Australia. With relevant research and literature, it will support the work of Parahoo (1997) and P... ...believes it is important to perceive feelings of other persons and the ability to communicate with them listening is a basic skill in communication. A practical suggestion is to address the social and organisational factors that underpin aggressive behaviour. The researcher did not identify the triggers of aggression but interestingly, looked at patient’s views on the cause and management of aggression. When aggressive episodes are managed in therapeutic ways, patients gain a sense of trust and control over their situations. They feel balanced, calm, and secure (Skovdahl et al., 2003b). As for nurses, when patient aggression is managed in a therapeutic manner, nurses have a sense of balance and well-being. They tend to find their work stimulating, challenging, and fun (Skovdahl et al., 2003b). . . .

Succubus Revealed Chapter 12

My brief conversation with Kayla tormented me for the rest of the evening as I corralled kids at the mall. I couldn't shake the image of her eyes as she told me about â€Å"the Darkness.† It was one of those times I both blessed and cursed her psychic abilities. If she hadn't had them at all, I never would've known anything was amiss in the Mortensen household. But with her imprecise understanding of her powers, I was left with too many questions about what she might have sensed. Erik would've known instantly. There was another thing for me to worry about. Erik. Murdered because of me. And if we were operating on the assumption that Hell had directly acted against him, then what was I supposed to think about Kayla? In the past, any unusual supernatural activity in the area had been the result of rogue forces outside of the Heaven and Hell system. After all, Heaven and Hell had certain rules they were supposed to follow. Milton was proof, however, that Hell wasn't above breaking those. So was it possible someone from my own side had been visiting Andrea Mortensen – coincidentally during the times her condition worsened? And if so, why? That, as Roman had pointed out, was a question with an answer that would crack all of this wide open. My only pause in ruminating on immortal affairs came when I tried to coax Walter into doing a house call to the Mortensens. Two mothers had gotten in a fight in line, so we were all on an impromptu break while mall security sorted matters out. â€Å"Santa doesn't do house calls,† Walter told me. â€Å"Last time I checked, that's exactly what Santa does,† I countered. â€Å"Every Christmas Eve.† â€Å"Santa can't just be hired out for entertainment. Children must either wait until Christmas morning or come visit the retail wonderland Santa's gazebo is in. Those are the rules.† â€Å"Of course you can be hired out,† I said. â€Å"It's why you're working here to begin with! Come on, I'll pay you. I'll buy you a drink. Both, if you want. These are little girls who need to see Santa. Their mother has cancer, for God's sake. How can you not be moved by that?† He peered at me through his spectacles. â€Å"I'm very sorry for their plight, but I can't do it. Taking on this role is a commitment for the holiday season, a vow to stay true to the spirit of Santa. If I'm outside this mall while playing this role, and Bob is here playing the same role, then what does that say to the children?† I stared at him incredulously. â€Å"Well, unless these children are capable of breaking the rules of time and space, none of them would know there's a Santa here, in Lake Forest Park, or in any of the other thousands of malls in this country.† â€Å"I would know. I can't be Santa while Bob is playing Santa. It would break our sacred pact.† † ‘Sacred pact?' It's just a job!† I was seriously considering breaking the drinking rule. If I got him tipsy enough, surely he'd agree to what I wanted. â€Å"Not to us, it isn't,† he told me solemnly. Security finished up their intervention, and the line began moving again, bringing the discussion to a halt before I could point out that last I'd checked, liters of whiskey weren't part of the â€Å"spirit of Santa† either. I might as well have been Grumpy for the rest of my shift. I appreciated Walter's dedication to the role, but honestly, it was kind of pushing absurdity. I stayed at Seth's place that night, in spite of my earlier plans to talk to Roman about what Kayla had told me. But when I called Seth on my way home, there was just something so sad and strained in his voice that I knew it was more important to be with him. Andrea's worsening condition had hit him hard. He and I spent the night chastely, but there was a desperation in the way he held me, a sense that I was all that was keeping him going in this madness. â€Å"Oh, Thetis,† he whispered, kissing my cheek as we snuggled in bed. â€Å"What am I going to do without you?† â€Å"Don't worry about it,† I said automatically. â€Å"I'm still here for a while.† â€Å"I know,† he said. â€Å"But then . . .† Silence. My heart lurched. â€Å"I know,† I said at last. â€Å"I know you can't leave them. It's okay.† â€Å"At least until she gets better. . . .† His words faltered for a moment. I could guess his emotions because I shared them. We were both worried about that looming, unspoken fear. That maybe Andrea wouldn't get better. And the really, really awful thing was that if she didn't, then eventually, Seth might be able to come to me in Las Vegas. But how could I live with myself knowing what the price of my happiness was? He finally managed to find his words again. â€Å"I understand why you get so frustrated with the universe,† he said. â€Å"I've never wanted anything so much as I've wanted to be with you. I finally got you . . . and now this happens. People talk about throwing everything away for love, but reality doesn't work out that way. And honestly, if I was the kind of guy who could ignore his family for his own selfish wants . . . well, then, I don't think I'd be worthy of you. So here we are.† â€Å"It's okay,† I repeated, forcing more bravery than I felt. â€Å"We'll be fine. They need you. Do what you have to do.† â€Å"Georgina.† â€Å"Seth.† I brushed my lips against his. â€Å"This is more important right now.† â€Å"Than us?† he asked. It took me a long time to answer. But I did. â€Å"Yes.† The next day I had an early shift at the mall, working with Bob. I attempted the same bargain I had with Walter, in the hopes of arranging a visit to the Mortensen girls, only to be met with the same response. I'd kind of hoped that since Bob wasn't a blatant alcoholic, he'd be more reasonable. No such luck. He was full of the same nonsense about the magic and integrity of the Santa role. Fortunately, things improved when I found Roman at home afterward. We had bowling practice that night, but I'd wanted to talk to him in private. My other immortal friends could be coaxed on board with a lot, but as Hell's hand became more obvious in all of this, I was hesitant to get them involved. Roman didn't face the same repercussions, and I didn't mind exposing myself to the wrath of my employers. I was less excited about subjecting my immortal friends to that same wrath on my behalf. â€Å"Did she say anything else about this ‘Darkness'?† Roman wanted to know, once I'd recapped everything for him. â€Å"Greater immortal, lesser immortal, outside deity?† â€Å"She doesn't understand what any of that is,† I said. â€Å"She's only four. Five now, I guess.† â€Å"She needs to understand it,† he said darkly. â€Å"You should train her up.† â€Å"With everything else going on in her life? I think that's the last thing she needs.† â€Å"Not if some supernatural creature is making her mom sick!† Roman perched on the edge of the couch, his sea green eyes both thoughtful and angry. â€Å"And let's face it, Georgina. If something is, I really can't imagine it's because the powers that be have singled out that family by random. If something's targeting Andrea Mortensen, it's because of her connection to you.† I felt ill. More consequences, laid at my feet. â€Å"So Andrea suffers because of me,† I said, sinking into a chair. â€Å"Wonderful.† â€Å"It's Hell,† said Roman. â€Å"What do you expect? If they want back at you for something, then they're going to find creative ways to do it.† â€Å"Seems like there are more direct ways to make me ‘pay,' † I noted. â€Å"Especially seeing as they own the contract on my soul. We're assuming a lot that this is Hell.† Roman shrugged. â€Å"Not really. We already know they're interfering with your life. And healing and injuring are specific powers given to angels and demons.† â€Å"Do you think Carter could tell what visited her?† I asked. â€Å"If he looked at Andrea?† â€Å"I think he could.† Roman considered for a few moments. â€Å"The question is if he would get involved with it at all. You know how he is. Heaven, at least, makes a pretense of playing by the rules.† I nodded slowly, remembering my last conversation and how reluctant Carter had been to intervene. â€Å"True,† I murmured. â€Å"Well,† said Roman, straightening. â€Å"You can ask him right now.† â€Å"Huh? How?† â€Å"He's coming to practice. I overheard him and Jerome talking about it yesterday.† Apparently, Seth wasn't the only one with a perverse interest in watching Jerome's misfits bowl for his honor. I stood up as well. â€Å"Then let's go. I'll drive.† As we headed downstairs, I gave Roman a sidelong look. â€Å"Have you ever wondered how you'd look in a white beard and Santa hat?† Roman returned my look warily. â€Å"No, I have not.† I quickly explained how the Mortensen girls hadn't seen Santa yet this year. He was already shaking his head before I finished the story. â€Å"Come on, Roman. They need to see Santa. And I know you don't have any of those hang-ups like Walter does about multiple Santas existing together.† â€Å"Nope,† agreed Roman. â€Å"My hang-up is about preserving my dignity, no matter how good the cause. Besides, I don't feel that guilty. If you really wanted them to see Santa, you could shape-shift and put us all to shame.† I scowled. It was annoying because it was true. Roman and I were the last to arrive at the bowling alley, much to my dismay. I'd hoped to speak with Carter privately, but he and Jerome were already deep in conversation (and in their cups). The rest of the Unholy Rollers were waiting anxiously for their leader and gave me no end of grief for not wearing my shirt. â€Å"I forgot,† I said. â€Å"It's no big deal. I'll wear it for the real game.† Peter sighed. â€Å"But it helps build team solidarity now. And that sense of bonding and closeness will make us better.† â€Å"Actually,† said Jerome, â€Å"hitting more pins would make you better.† â€Å"Look,† I told Peter. â€Å"If I have to use the bathroom at some point, I'll shape-shift the shirt on.† â€Å"It's not the same,† he grumbled. Fortunately, Jerome's impatience allowed little time for further debate on the matter. He hadn't seen how our last practice had ended and was anxious to know if we'd improved. We had, to be fair, but I think Jerome was expecting us to all be throwing strikes every time. When it was clear that wasn't the case, he grew impatient and angry. â€Å"How can you do that?† he demanded, after Cody made an impressive 9-1 spare. â€Å"Why can't you just hit them all the first time?† He glared at Roman. â€Å"Do something.† Roman eyed his father irritably, not liking his teaching skills questioned, especially since Cody was the best of us. â€Å"Why don't you? Why don't you give it a shot, Pop?† Jerome had been up pacing by the lane but wouldn't deign to actually touch a ball himself. â€Å"Because it's not my job,† Jerome retorted. Roman rolled his eyes. â€Å"Then let me do mine.† While they bickered, I leaned over to Carter. â€Å"I need to talk to you. In private. Can you stick around after this?† Carter had been watching the father?Cson exchange, but his eyes flicked briefly toward me when I spoke. He gave a small, barely perceptible nod. And when Jerome returned to his seat a few moments later, saying he wanted to leave and drink off his annoyance at the Cellar, Carter declined the offer. â€Å"Nah,† he said lazily, stretching. â€Å"I think I'll see how this pans out. There's no way Peter can keep throwing splits like that every time. It defies all the rules of physics.† Peter looked torn on whether he should be flattered or not by that. â€Å"Fine,† said Jerome. â€Å"If you've got any miracles you can work to help them, now's the time to cash them in.† â€Å"Noted,† said Carter, waving as Jerome left. My lesser immortal friends were agitated by our boss's disapproval, so I focused on the game and didn't bring anything up with Carter until we finished our practice. Jerome could criticize all he wanted, but Roman really was a good teacher. I think our greatest triumph was when Peter went four frames in a row without a split, thus returning the laws of physics back to their rightful state. True, he didn't get any strikes or spares either, but by that point, we were all so exhausted that we were willing to take what victories we could. Roman, Carter, and I let the others leave ahead of us – once I'd promised I would definitely wear my team shirt next time, of course. As soon as we had relative privacy, I explained my problem to Carter. His face grew graver and graver as he listened. â€Å"Daughter of Lilith,† he said when I was done, â€Å"you know I can't interfere.† â€Å"I'm not asking you to,† I said. â€Å"Not exactly. I just want to know if you could tell if someone – like a demon – had made Andrea Mortensen sick.† Carter's gray eyes were unreadable. â€Å"Yes. I can tell.† â€Å"Will you go see her with me and tell me what you sense? That's it. I'm not asking you to break any rules.† Well, I didn't think I was. Honestly, I didn't understand half of these â€Å"rules† he was always talking about. â€Å"I just need the information.† â€Å"Okay,† he said, after what felt like forever. â€Å"I'll go with you. Giving you that information doesn't violate anything.† â€Å"I don't suppose,† said Roman, â€Å"that telling us why Hell would do this wouldn't violate anything either?† I answered before Carter could. â€Å"We already know. To get to me. I've pissed somebody off, and they're going to make me suffer by making those I love suffer.† â€Å"Yeah, but why Andrea?† asked Roman. â€Å"I mean, no offense, but there are other ways to hurt you more. Why not make Seth suffer?† I couldn't help but scoff. â€Å"Well. With this transfer, I kind of feel like he already – † I came to a screeching halt, once I realized what I'd been about to say. Roman was sitting opposite me in one of the worn leather chairs, and from the rabid look in his eyes, I thought he was going to reach over and shake me. â€Å"What?† he demanded. â€Å"What did you just think of?† â€Å"Andrea's sickness is terrible,† I said slowly. â€Å"A horrible, unfair thing that could hurt her whole family. But there's something else. As long as she's sick, as long as the whole family needs help . . . Seth has to stay with them. He can't go to Las Vegas with me.† â€Å"And there it is,† said Roman, wonder lighting his eyes. â€Å"That's what this transfer is about. To get you out of Seattle, away from Seth, and to make sure he can't follow.† â€Å"Eventually . . .† My stomach was twisting again, just like it always did when I thought of people being affected because of me. â€Å"Eventually he'd be able to. Andrea will either get better, or . . . or she won't.† â€Å"Yes, but how long?† demanded Roman. â€Å"How long will that take? Long enough for you to fall even more in love with your picture-perfect scenario – the one that they handcrafted for you? Long enough for you to move on with some other artsy introverted mortal? By the time he's free, it won't matter.† I was staring off at Roman but not really seeing him. Jerome had always been annoyed at my relationship with Seth, chastising me for being too attached to a mortal and letting it affect my job. Carter himself had said I was doing something that Hell didn't like. Was it possible this was it? That all of these forces were moving to keep Seth and me apart? â€Å"If Hell wants me away from Seth, then why not just forbid it?† I asked. â€Å"Jerome's given me a hard time before. Or why not just drop me somewhere . . . anywhere . . . that isn't here? Why should they care that it's a place I'll fall in love with?† â€Å"So that you'll forget him,† said Roman. â€Å"So that you won't look back. If they ordered you apart, a teenage forbidden romance complex would kick in like that.† He snapped his fingers. â€Å"You'd never stop pining for him. But this . . . this is more subtle. And effective.† â€Å"It is,† I agreed, still reeling. â€Å"Even after all of Jerome's criticism, I never thought . . . I never thought Hell would be this upset over me being with a human.† Roman had no answer for me but lifted his eyes to Carter. â€Å"You're being awfully quiet.† Carter shrugged, face neutral. â€Å"You two have plenty to say. No need for me to chime in.† â€Å"Are we right?† I asked the angel. â€Å"Of course we are,† said Roman. â€Å"You've always known Hell thought you were too distracted by Seth. This explains everything.† â€Å"Doesn't explain Erik,† I said. â€Å"Are you sure you have nothing to add?† asked Roman, gaze still on Carter. â€Å"I think we should get to the Mortensens' before it gets much later,† said Carter mildly. â€Å"I'm sure those girls have respectable bedtimes.† I stood up, knowing we'd get nothing else from him. â€Å"I have to drop Roman off at home first. Then we can go over there.† â€Å"How are you going to get me in to see her?† asked Carter. â€Å"It'll be a little weird bringing in a stranger to a sick woman's bedroom. Do you want me to go invisibly?† I'd been about to suggest that very thing when a new idea struck me. I gave Carter a once-over. â€Å"Have you ever wanted to put on a Santa suit?† â€Å"I have always wanted to do that,† said Carter gravely. Roman groaned. Once I explained the situation to Carter, however, he was totally on board. In fact, he told me not to worry about the costume arrangements and promised to meet me at Terry's in an hour, once I'd had a chance to drop Roman off. As soon as we were in the privacy of the parking lot, Carter vanished into thin air. â€Å"I hope he doesn't get an outfit from wherever it is he normally does his shopping,† I mused to Roman as we drove. â€Å"We don't want a hobo Santa. Although, if Ian's there, he'd probably approve and say we were breaking out of the mainstream's iron grip.† â€Å"Goddamned hipsters,† said Roman. He leaned his head against the car's window. â€Å"You're rolling the dice a little with Carter, but something tells me he won't mess this up, not for a bunch of girls with a sick mother. He's an angel, after all. He's got to earn his keep somehow.† â€Å"And thank goodness he doesn't have any hang-ups about Santa being at more than one place at the same time,† I joked. â€Å"No space?Ctime contradictions there.† Roman jerked up so fast, I nearly slammed on the brakes, thinking I was about to hit something. Half a second later, I realized whatever had startled him was in his own head. â€Å"Oh God,† he said. â€Å"What?† I asked, acting like him earlier. â€Å"What did you just think of?† â€Å"I think . . . I think I've figured this out.† There was awe in his voice. â€Å"What? This mystery we've been beating our heads against? We already figured it out.† Roman shook his head, wide-eyed. â€Å"No . . . oh, Jesus. Georgina, if I'm right . . . how do I even prove if I am?† He leaned back in dismay. â€Å"How do I get proof?† â€Å"Tell me what you're thinking,† I demanded. â€Å"No. Not yet. Just drop me off, and we'll talk when you're done. I have to figure this out.† There wasn't much that was more infuriating than that. I hated having the lure of a secret being dangled before me. I hated the â€Å"I'll tell you later† stance. But no matter how much I badgered him, he refused to say any more. With Carter on his way to Terry's, I couldn't linger long over Roman. I had to get to Lake Forest Park first. With much grumbling, I left Roman to his machinations, after first warning him that he'd better be ready to spill when I got home later. When I arrived at the Mortensens' soon thereafter, I was relieved to see that Seth was around and that all the girls were still awake. Recalling Carter's joke, I'd worried on my drive over that it might be past the littler ones' bedtime. Most of them were in their pajamas, but it was clear from their excited reaction to me that sleep was the farthest thing from their mind. Returning their hugs, I couldn't help but imagine their response when the real act showed up. Only Brandy stayed on the couch when the others hugged me. She still smiled and nodded in greeting, but there was a haunted, hollow look that hadn't been there yesterday during our outing. My heart ached for her. After letting her have her night out, they must have told her the truth today about her mom. I sat down on the other end of the couch. â€Å"Did you have fun last night?† â€Å"Yeah,† she said. â€Å"It was okay.† â€Å"Do you want to see the pictures?† asked Kendall excitedly. She nudged Brandy. â€Å"Show her!† Smiling at her sister's enthusiasm, Brandy produced her cell phone and gave it to me to scroll through. It was filled with the kinds of pictures girls her age like to take, group shots of her and her friends crowded in, some with silly faces. I was pleased to see that it looked like any other school dance. I hadn't been sure what to expect from a church. The shots of her in particular were stunning. Margaret had done a good job with the French twist. One picture showed Brandy grinning next to a cute boy with sandy blond hair. He looked like a smart surfer. I glanced over at her and raised a questioning eyebrow. She nodded. â€Å"Nice,† I said. A knock at the door brought everyone's excited chatter to a halt. Terry looked up in surprise from where he'd been leafing through a picture book with McKenna. â€Å"Who on earth is that?† He glanced around the room, as though doing a head count to make sure anyone who might possibly stop by was already here. I suppose with that many daughters, there was always the risk of losing track of one. Ian, Margaret, Seth, and I were also accounted for. There weren't too many others who would drop in unannounced. â€Å"I don't know,† I said cheerfully. â€Å"Seth, why don't you answer the door and see?† Seth immediately picked up on the tone in my voice. He shot me a questioning look but walked over to the door anyway. He turned the knob and leaped back in astonishment when Carter burst in through the door. Well, I was taking it on faith that it was Carter, based on our earlier conversation. Because really, the man who entered the living room looked nothing like the disreputable angel I knew. In fact, he didn't look like any of the Santas I knew. He looked better. There was magic in the way he moved his round frame. His red suit seemed to shimmer, and his rosy cheeks looked like he'd just come in from the North Pole, not a dreary Seattle winter. He had out-Santa'ed Santa. â€Å"Ho ho ho!† he bellowed, in a voice that filled the entire house. â€Å"Merry Christmas!† Dead silence and wide eyes met him for a few moments. Then Kendall and the twins began squealing in delight as they ran over to him. â€Å"Santa! Santa!† â€Å"What are you doing here?† demanded Kendall. â€Å"You aren't contractually obligated to come here until Christmas Eve.† â€Å"True,† he said in a booming voice that I still couldn't believe was Carter's. â€Å"But I have to find out what you want for Christmas, don't I?† This was met with more oohs and ahhs, and the twins urged him to sit down on the couch. Brandy scrambled out of the way, and Kendall immediately took her turn first, claiming Santa's lap. Margaret and Terry looked like they were going to burst into tears. Ian looked dumbfounded. Seth caught my arm and pulled me to the side. â€Å"Is that one of the guys you work with?† he whispered. I grinned. â€Å"In a manner of speaking. It's Carter.† Seth did a double take, wearing the amazement I'd felt earlier. â€Å"Really? But how . . . I mean . . . even his body . . .† â€Å"Mysterious ways,† I replied. Kendall was rattling off a list of board games and economics books. Nearby, the twins stood quivering with excitement, eager for their turn but too well bred to show bad manners in front of Santa. After a few subscriptions to prominent business magazines and newspapers, Terry gently cut Kendall off and suggested she let her sisters take a turn. Kendall agreed eagerly, but not before throwing her arms around Carter and thanking him. â€Å"Okay,† said Seth, drawing me near. â€Å"This was kind of amazing. Not that I should be surprised by anything you do anymore.† He kissed my forehead. â€Å"We definitely have to make the most out of your last month. If we're going to be apart for a long time, then we have to find a way to work around my schedule here.† I started to protest and tell him not to change his plans with the family because of me but stayed silent instead. Some desperate part of me wondered, what did any of it matter? If Hell wanted us apart, then we couldn't stand against that. â€Å"A long time† would become â€Å"never.† Maybe I really should be trying harder to maximize these last precious days. And yet if I did . . . would that make Hell work harder against us? Glancing up, I saw Morgan had now replaced McKenna on Carter's lap. They were having a discussion on the virtues of two different kinds of pony action figures. Morgan wasn't sure what kind she wanted. â€Å"Princess Ponies come in more colors,† she told him seriously. â€Å"True,† he said. â€Å"But some of the Power Prism Ponies are unicorns. And you can do more stuff with their hair.† Across the room, I saw Kayla curled up in a chair, watching Carter raptly but making no moves to talk to him. Slipping away from Seth, I walked over and knelt beside her. â€Å"Are you going to tell Santa what you want?† I asked in a very soft voice. It took Kayla several moments to tear her gaze from him. â€Å"He's not Santa,† she said. I was grateful she spoke as quietly as me. No one else heard. â€Å"Of course he is,† I said. â€Å"Who else would he be?† â€Å"He's not Santa.† She smiled and studied him again. â€Å"He's beautiful. He's more beautiful than anything.† No human could see an angel in his or her true form, unless the angel revealed it. Even then, a human would be destroyed by it. No, Kayla wasn't seeing Carter's true form, not exactly, but she was seeing something. Some piece of his true nature. I felt a moment of envy, wondering what it was she saw, what her senses allowed her that mine didn't. Whatever it was, I'd never know, but the enchanted look on her face made it clear it was wonderful. â€Å"Beautiful,† she repeated. She looked back at me. â€Å"Can he stop the Darkness?† â€Å"He'll try,† I said. Not the entire truth, but it would have to suffice. â€Å"Can you pretend he's Santa? Tell him what you want for Christmas?† She nodded solemnly, just as Morgan finished and Carter beckoned toward us. I walked Kayla over. I helped her onto his lap, and he glanced up at me with twinkling gray eyes. Those, if nothing else, were definitely Carter's. I stepped back and let them talk. Kayla continued staring adoringly at him, but no one except me knew what truly captivated her. She looked like any other child starstruck by Santa as she related her list, making no mention of his beauty or supernatural creatures prowling through her home at night. Leaving them to it, I quietly went upstairs and peered in Andrea's room. She was awake, reading a book. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and her face looked gaunter than last time. She nonetheless gave me a cheery smile. â€Å"Georgina,† she said. â€Å"I should've known you were the source of all that commotion.† I laughed. â€Å"Not all of that. A friend of mine is here, playing Santa for the girls. He's taking their Christmas orders right now.† Her expression softened, resembling the near tears I'd seen on the others' faces. â€Å"That's very sweet of him. And of you.† â€Å"Would you like to meet him before he leaves?† I asked. Andrea grimaced and absentmindedly patted her hair. â€Å"Yes, in theory . . . but Lord. I look terrible.† â€Å"Believe me,† I said. â€Å"He doesn't care.† When I went back downstairs, Kayla had finished, and Carter was trying to get a list out of Brandy who told him point-blank there was no way she was getting on his lap. â€Å"I think you have plenty to work on with their orders,† she told him good-naturedly. â€Å"And there's nothing you want?† he asked in his best echoing Santa voice. â€Å"Nothing you can give, I'm afraid,† she said. Her smile faltered. â€Å"But thanks.† Carter peered at her with that piercing look he sometimes used on me, the one that seemed to look right inside me. â€Å"No,† he agreed. â€Å"You're right. But I can give you all my prayers. And my hopes for the best.† Brandy stared at him, caught up in that gaze, and simply nodded. I don't think she knew what a powerful thing it was, for an angel to offer all of his prayers, but she most certainly sensed the sincerity and intention in his words. â€Å"Thanks,† she repeated. I caught hold of Carter's arm. â€Å"Their mom wants to meet you, Santa.† He stood up and followed me to the stairs. We passed Ian along the way, who watched us condescendingly. â€Å"Aren't you going to ask what I want?† Carter paused and looked him over from head to toe. â€Å"Sorry. My workshop doesn't do shabby chic.† Carter continued following me, despite Ian's protest that his style was â€Å"vintage† and that â€Å"shabby chic is for wannabes.† If Andrea felt insecure at the thought of meeting a stranger, she did a good job of hiding it. Indeed, when Carter walked into her bedroom, a little awe passed over her face, reminding me of Kayla. Andrea couldn't see what her daughter had, but I think she sensed some of Carter's grace. He came to a halt at the foot of her bed and took of his red hat in a genteel style, revealing rows of white curls. â€Å"This is my friend Carter,† I said, after first making sure no one small had followed us. â€Å"Mrs. Mortensen,† he said, dropping the showmanship. â€Å"It's very nice to meet you.† She smiled, and the joy in it made her beautiful, despite her weary state. â€Å"Nice to meet you too. Thank you for coming over and seeing the girls.† Their exchange was brief. He said something nice or funny about each girl, making Andrea's smile grow and grow. She in turn couldn't stop thanking him. When the pleasantries were finally done, I bid her farewell and stepped outside the room with Carter. I closed the door and was about to head downstairs when he caught my hand. â€Å"Did you see what you needed to?† I asked quietly. He nodded, face grave, looking more like Carter than ever. â€Å"You were right. Her condition was made worse – by a demon.† â€Å"Can you tell which demon?† I asked. I knew Jerome didn't have my best interests at heart, but it was a hard thing to think of him purposely harming those I cared about. â€Å"No,† said Carter. â€Å"But it probably wasn't Jerome. It's the kind of dirty work a minor demon would do. I can also tell you that her illness, originally, was natural. Nothing gave this to her.† â€Å"They just made her relapse when she was starting to get better.† To get to me. To keep Seth busy. Carter nodded. â€Å"Okay. Thank you for coming here tonight. I appreciate it.† I started to turn, and he again stopped me. â€Å"Georgina . . .† There was an odd, troubled note in his voice, one I didn't usually associate with confident, laconic Carter. â€Å"Georgina, I've told you over and over that there are rules about what I can and can't do, how much I can be involved. As a general rule, I'm really not supposed to do too much active interference in mortal lives.† â€Å"I understand,† I said. â€Å"But what happened to her . . .† He frowned slightly. â€Å"That was another breaking of the rules, something that shouldn't have happened. And in this situation, two wrongs can make a right.† I stared up at him in amazement. â€Å"What are you saying?† â€Å"I'm saying that I can heal her. I can't completely eradicate the cancer, but I can take it back to the level it was at before she was harmed this week. I can undo what they did to her and clean the slate.† My jaw wanted to drop. â€Å"That . . . that would be amazing !† Carter still looked sad, and I couldn't figure out why. Did he feel like he was violating a rule, even if he was righting a wrong? â€Å"What's the matter?† He sighed. â€Å"What you and Roman said earlier . . . about Hell wanting to keep you and Seth apart? About how her condition keeps him here? Well . . . it's possible, this is exactly what they want. She got better, then they made her worse again. Then, if she gets better on her own – or because of me – then everyone gets hopeful again, until they come back and make her worse. I'm not saying they will come back. But that they could. A limbo state like this ensures Seth stays around. If I heal her now – and I will if you want – I might be perpetuating that.† There were two key things I pulled out of that. One was a very, very subtle acknowledgment that Roman and I were right. Oh, Carter wasn't saying for sure that Hell was after Seth and me, but he certainly wasn't denying it either. It was all part of that careful angel way of his. The other thing – the most startling one – was the implication that thwarting Hell meant keeping Andrea out of the limbo they wanted her in. Seth would always be tied to his family if she moved in and out of health. If she completely recovered, he would be free. And if she died . . . â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"It doesn't matter. Heal her. I don't care if he stays here forever, so long as it keeps her alive.† Carter nodded, and something shone in his eyes, something a little like pride . . . and sadness. â€Å"I thought you'd say that.† He knocked gently on Andrea's door before stepping back inside. â€Å"Sorry to bother you,† he said. â€Å"But I forgot to ask what you wanted for Christmas.† Andrea laughed, eventually degenerating into coughing. Reaching for a glass of water beside her bed, she finally recovered herself. â€Å"That's nice of you, but I'm too old.† â€Å"Never,† said Carter. â€Å"There must be something.† Andrea was still smiling, but it grew a little wistful. â€Å"There is something,† she said. I wondered if she'd ask to be cured, which was obviously what Brandy had wanted as well. â€Å"I want . . . I want my girls to be happy. No matter what happens to me, I want them looked after and cared for.† Carter-as-Santa studied her with that soul-searching gaze, and it was as though something passed between them, something I wasn't part of. At long last, he said, â€Å"I swear, it will be so.† He walked over to her bedside and extended his hand to her. A chill ran down my spine as he did. I swear. Those weren't words an angel could say lightly. I'd thought what he'd said earlier to Brandy was powerful, but it was nothing compared to this. Tentatively, Andrea took Carter's hand. I saw nothing blatant, no blinding flash of light or anything like that. I didn't even feel anything with my immortal senses. But Andrea's face transformed, growing radiant and dreamy, as though she were seeing and hearing the most beautiful things in the world. When Carter released her hand, she smiled at him and closed her eyes, drifting into sleep. â€Å"You healed her?† I asked, deciding not to mention the promise. â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"She won't remember much of my visit.† â€Å"Probably just as – â€Å" My cell phone rang, and I hurried out of the room to answer it before Andrea woke up. It was Roman. â€Å"Hey,† I said. â€Å"Hey, are you still with the Mortensens?† â€Å"Yeah, why?† â€Å"Because I think I've figured out how to prove my theory,† he said, voice stern and strained. â€Å"I still don't even know what your theory is,† I said. â€Å"You will soon enough. Ask Seth how he feels about hypnosis.†