Wednesday, July 31, 2019

A Dirty Job Chapter 15

15 THE CALL OF BOOTY Fuck puppets,† Ray said out of nowhere. He was on the stair-climbing machine next to Charlie and they were both sweating and staring at a row of six, perfectly tuned female bottoms aimed at them from the machines in front of them. â€Å"What was that?† Charlie said. â€Å"Fuck puppets,† Ray said. â€Å"That's what they are.† Ray had talked Charlie into coming to his health club with him under the pretense of getting him into the flow of being single. Actually, because Ray was an ex-cop, watched people more closely than really was healthy, had too much time on his hands, and didn't get out much himself, the real reason he asked Charlie to come work out with him was so he could get to know him outside of the shop. He'd noticed a strange pattern that had developed since Rachel's death, of Charlie showing up with people's property shortly after their obituary appeared in the paper. Because Charlie kept to himself socially and was secretive about what he did when he was out of the shop, not to mention all the little animals that ended up dead in Charlie's apartment, Ray suspected that he might be a serial killer. Ray decided to try to get close to his boss and find out for sure. â€Å"Keep your voice down, Ray,† Charlie said. â€Å"Jeez.† Since Ray couldn't turn his head, he was talking right at the women's butts. â€Å"They can't hear me; look, every single one has on a headset.† He was right, every one of them was talking on a cell phone. â€Å"You and I are invisible to them.† Having actually been invisible to people, or nearly so, Charlie did a double take. It was midmorning and the gym was full of lean spandex-clad women in their twenties with disproportionately large breasts, perfect skin, and expensive hair, who seemed to have the ability to look right through him the way that everyone did when he was in pursuit of a soul vessel. In fact, when he and Ray had first come into the gym, Charlie had actually looked around for some object, pulsing red, thinking that he might have missed a name on his date book that morning. â€Å"After I was shot I dated a physical therapist that worked here for a while,† Ray said. â€Å"She called them that: fuck puppets. Every one of them has an apartment that some older executive guy is paying for – just like he paid for the health-club membership and the fake tits. They spend their days getting facials and manicures, and their nights under some suit out of his suit.† Charlie was wildly uncomfortable with Ray's litany, talking about these women who were only a couple of feet away. Like any Beta Male, he would have been wildly uncomfortable in the presence of so many beautiful women anyway, but this made it worse. â€Å"So like they're like trophy wives?† Charlie said. â€Å"Nuh-uh, like wannabe trophy wives. They don't get the guy, the house, whatever. They just exist to be his perfect piece of ass.† â€Å"Fuck puppets?† Charlie said. â€Å"Fuck puppets,† said Ray. â€Å"But forget them, they're not why you're here.† Ray was right, of course. They weren't why Charlie was there. Five years had passed since Rachel's death, and everyone had been telling him he needed to get back in the game, but that's not why he agreed to accompany the ex-cop to the gym. Because Charlie spent too much time on his own, especially since Sophie had started school, and because he'd been hiding a secret identity and avocation, he'd started to suspect that everyone might have one. And since Ray kept to himself, talked a lot about people in the neighborhood who had died, and because he really didn't seem to have a social life beyond the Filipino women he contacted online, Charlie suspected Ray might be a serial killer. Charlie thought he'd try to get closer to Ray and find out. â€Å"So they're like mistresses?† Charlie said. â€Å"Like in Europe?† â€Å"I suppose,† Ray said. â€Å"But did you ever get the impression that mistresses worked this hard to look good? I think fuck puppet is more accurate, because when they get too old to hold the attention of their guy, they've got nothing more going. They'll be done, like marionettes with no one at the strings.† â€Å"Jeez, Ray, that's harsh.† Maybe Ray is stalking one of these women, Charlie thought. Ray shrugged. Charlie looked up and down the line of perfect derrieres, then felt the weight of his years alone or in the company of a child and two giant dogs, and said, â€Å"I want a fuck puppet.† Aha! thought Ray. He's picking a victim. â€Å"Me, too,† he said. â€Å"But guys like us don't get fuck puppets, Charlie. We just get ignored by them.† Aha! Charlie thought. The bitter sociopath comes out. â€Å"So that's why you brought me here, so I could show I was out of shape in front of gorgeous women who wouldn't notice?† â€Å"No, the fuck puppets are fun to look at, but there's some normal women who come here, too.† Who won't talk to me either, Ray thought. â€Å"Who won't talk to you either,† Charlie said. Because they can tell that you are a psychokiller. â€Å"We'll see in the juice bar after our workout,† Ray said. Where I'll sit at an angle so I can watch you pick your victim. You sick fuck, they thought. Charlie awoke to find not one, but three new names in his date book, and the last one, a Madison McKerny, had only three days for him to retrieve her soul vessel. Charlie kept a stack of newspapers in the house and, typically, would go back for a month looking for an obituary of his new client. More often, if the hellhounds would give him some peace, he would simply wait for the name to appear in the obituary section, then go find the soul vessel when it was easy to get into the house, with mourners or posing as an estate buyer. But this time he had only three days, and Madison McKerny hadn't appeared in the obituaries, so that meant she was probably still alive, and he couldn't find her in the phone book either, so he was going to need to get moving quickly. Mrs. Ling and Mrs. Korjev liked to do their marketing on Saturdays, so he called his sister, Jane, and asked her to come watch Sophie. â€Å"I want a baby brother,† Sophie announced to her Auntie Jane. â€Å"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry, you can't have a baby brother, because that would mean that Daddy had sex, and that's never going to happen again.† â€Å"Jane, don't talk to her that way,† Charlie said. He was making sandwiches for them and wondering why he always got stuck making the sandwiches. To Sophie, he said, â€Å"Honey, why don't you go in your room and play with Alvin and Mohammed, Daddy needs to talk with Auntie Jane.† â€Å"Okay,† Sophie said, skipping off to her room. â€Å"And don't change clothes again, those are fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"That's the fourth outfit she's had on today,† he said to Jane. â€Å"She changes clothes like you change girlfriends.† â€Å"Ouch. Be gentle, Chuck, I'm sensitive and I can still kick your ass.† Charlie spanked some mayonnaise onto a whole wheat slice to show he was serious. â€Å"Jane, I'm not sure it's healthy for her to have all these different aunties around. She's already had a hard time losing her mother, and now you've moved away – I just don't think she should keep getting attached to these women only to have them yanked out of her life. She needs a consistent female influence.† â€Å"First, I have not moved away, I've moved across town, and I see her every bit as often as when I lived in the building. Second, it's not like I'm promiscuous, I'm just shitty at relationships. Third, Cassie and I have been together for three months, and we're doing fine so far, which is why I've moved out. And fourth, Sophie did not lose her mother, she never had her mother, she had you, and if you're going to be a decent human being, you need to get laid.† â€Å"That's what I mean, you can't talk like that in front of Sophie.† â€Å"Charlie, it's true! Even Sophie can see it. She doesn't even know what it is and she can tell that you're not getting any.† Charlie stopped constructing sandwiches and came over to the counter. â€Å"It's not sex, Jane. It's human contact. I was getting my hair cut the other day and the hairdresser's breast rubbed against my shoulder and I almost came. Then I almost cried.† â€Å"Sounds like sex to me, little brother. Have you been with anyone since Rachel died?† â€Å"You know I haven't.† â€Å"That's wrong. Rachel wouldn't want that for you. You have to know that. I mean she took pity on you and hooked up with you, and that couldn't have been easy for her, knowing she could do so much better.† â€Å"Took pity on me?† â€Å"That's what I'm saying. She was a sweet woman, and you're much more pitiful now than you were then. You had more hair then, and you didn't have a kid and two dogs the size of Volvos. Hell, there's probably some order of nuns that would do you now, just as a holy act of mercy. Or penance.† â€Å"Stop it, Jane.† â€Å"The Sisters of Perpetual Nookiless Suffering.† â€Å"I'm not that bad,† Charlie said. â€Å"The Holy Order of Saint Bonny of the BJ, patron saint of Web porn and incurable wankers.† â€Å"Okay, Jane, I'm sorry I said that about you changing girlfriends. I was out of line.† Jane leaned back on her bar stool and crossed her arms, looking satisfied but skeptical. â€Å"But the problem remains.† â€Å"I'm fine. I have Sophie and I have the business, I don't need a girlfriend.† â€Å"A girlfriend? A girlfriend is too ambitious for you. You just need someone to have sex with.† â€Å"I do not.† â€Å"Yes, you do.† â€Å"Yes, I do,† Charlie said, defeated. â€Å"But I have to go. Are you okay to watch Sophie?† â€Å"Sure, I'm going to take her to my place. I have an obnoxious neighbor up the street that I'd like to introduce to the puppies. Will they poop on command?† â€Å"They will if Sophie tells them.† â€Å"Perfect. We'll see you tonight. Promise me you'll ask someone out. Or at least look for someone to ask out.† â€Å"I promise.† â€Å"Good. Did you get that new blue pinstripe tailored yet?† â€Å"Stay out of my closet.† â€Å"Don't you need to get going?† Ray figured that it had probably started when Charlie murdered all those little animals he brought home for his daughter. Maybe buying the big black dogs was a cry for help – pets that someone would really notice being gone. According to the movies, they all started out that way – with the little animals, then before long they moved up to hitchhikers, hookers, and pretty soon they were mummifying a whole flock of counselors at some remote summer camp and posing the crusty remains around a card table in their mountain lair. The mountain lair didn't fit the profile for Charlie, since he had allergies, but that might just be an indication of his diabolical genius. (Ray had been a street cop, so it hadn't really been necessary for him to study criminal profiling, and his theories tended toward the colorful, a side effect of his Beta Male imagination and large DVD collection.) But Charlie had asked Ray to use his contacts on the force and at the DMV a half-dozen times to locate people, all of whom ended up dead a few weeks later. But not murders. And while a lot of items belonging to the recently deceased had turned up in the shop in the last few years (Ray had found antitheft numbers etched on a dozen items and called them in to a friend on the force who identified the owners), none of them had been murdered either. There were a few accidents, but mostly it was natural causes. Either Charlie was devious to an extraordinary degree, or Ray was out of his mind, a possibility that he didn't discount completely, if for no other reason than he had three ex-wives who would testify to it. Thus, he'd devised the workout ruse to draw Charlie out. Then again, Charlie had always treated him really well, and if it turned out he didn't have a mountain lair full of mummified camp counselors, Ray knew he'd feel bad about tricking him. What if there was nothing wrong with Charlie except that he needed to get laid? Ray was chatting with Eduardo, his new girlfriend at when Charlie came down the back steps. â€Å"Ray, I need you to find someone for me.† â€Å"Hang on a second, I have to sign off. Charlie, check out my new squeeze.† Ray pulled up a photo on the screen of a heavily made-up but attractive Asian woman. â€Å"She's pretty, Ray. I can't give you any time off right now to go to the Philippines, though. Not until we hire someone to take Lily's shifts.† Charlie leaned into the screen. â€Å"Dude, her name is Eduardo.† â€Å"I know. It's a Filipino thing, like Edwina.† â€Å"She has a five-o'clock shadow.† â€Å"You're just being a racist. Some races have more facial hair than others. I don't care about that, I just want someone who is honest and caring and attractive.† â€Å"She has an Adam's apple.† Ray squinted at the screen, then quickly clicked off the monitor and spun around on the stool. â€Å"So who do you need me to find?† â€Å"It's okay, Ray,† Charlie said. â€Å"An Adam's apple doesn't preclude someone from being honest, caring, and attractive, it just makes it less likely.† â€Å"Right. It was just bad lighting, I think. Anyway, who do you need to find?† â€Å"All I have is the name Madison McKerny. I know he or she lives in the city, but that's all I know.† â€Å"It's a she.† â€Å"Pardon me?† â€Å"Madison, it's a stripper's name.† Charlie shook his head. â€Å"You know this woman?† â€Å"I don't know her, although the name seems familiar. But Madison is a new-generation stripper name. Like Reagan and Morgan.† â€Å"Lost me, Ray.† â€Å"I've spent some time in strip joints, Charlie. I'm not proud of it, but it's sort of what you do when you're a cop. And you pick up on the pattern of stripper names.† â€Å"Didn't know that.† â€Å"Yeah, and there's sort of a progression going back to the fifties: Bubbles, Boom Boom, and Blaze begat Bambi, Candy, and Jewel, who begat Sunshine, Brandy, and Cinnamon, who begat Amber, Brittany, and Brie, who begat Reagan, Morgan, and Madison. Madison is a stripper name.† â€Å"Ray, you weren't even alive in the fifties.† â€Å"No, I wasn't alive during the forties either, but I know about World War Two and big-band music. I'm into history.† â€Å"Right. So, I need to look for a stripper? Doesn't help. I don't even know where to start.† â€Å"I'll go through the DMV and the tax records. If she's in town we'll have an address on her by this afternoon. Why do you need to find her?† There was a pause while Charlie pretended to find a smudge on the glass of the counter display case, wiped it away, then said, â€Å"Uh, it's an estate thing. One of the estates we got recently had some items that were left to her.† â€Å"Shouldn't the executor of the estate take care of that, or his lawyer?† â€Å"It's minutiae, not named in the will. The executor asked me to handle it. There's fifty bucks in it for you.† Ray grinned. â€Å"That's okay, I was going to help anyway, but if she turns out to be a stripper I get to go with you, okay?† â€Å"Deal,† Charlie said. Three hours later Ray gave the address to Charlie and watched as his boss bolted out of the shop and grabbed a cab. Why a cab? Why not take the van? Ray wanted to follow, needed to follow, but he had to find someone to cover the store. He should have anticipated this, but he'd been distracted. Ray had been distracted since talking to Charlie, not just by the search for Madison McKerny, but also because he was trying to figure out how to work â€Å"Do you have a penis?† casually into the conversation with his sweetheart, Eduardo. After a couple of teasing e-mails, he could stand it no longer and had just typed out, Eduardo, not that it makes any difference, but I'm thinking of sending you some sexy lingerie as a friendship present, and I wondered if I should make any special accommodations for the panties. Then he waited. And waited. And granted that it was five in the morning in Manila, he was second-guessing himself. Had he been too vague, or had he not been vague enough? And now he had to go. He knew where Charlie was going, but he had to get there before anything happened. He dialed Lily's cell phone, hoping that she wouldn't be working at her other job and would do him a favor. â€Å"Speak, ingrate,† Lily answered. â€Å"How did you know it was me?† Ray asked. â€Å"Ray?† â€Å"Yeah, how did you know it was me?† â€Å"I didn't,† Lily said. â€Å"What do you want?† â€Å"Can you come cover the store for me for a couple of hours?† Then, as he heard her take a deep breath that he was pretty sure would be propellant for verbal abuse, he added, â€Å"There's fifty bucks extra in it for you.† Ray heard her exhale. Yes! After graduating from the Culinary Institute, Lily had gotten a job as a sous chef at a bistro in North Beach, but she didn't make enough to move out of her mother's apartment yet, so she let Charlie talk her into keeping a couple of shifts at Asher's Secondhand, at least until he could find a replacement. â€Å"Okay, Ray, I'll come in for a couple of hours, but I have to be at the restaurant by five, so be back or I'm closing up early.† â€Å"Thanks, Lily.† Charlie sincerely hoped that Ray wasn't a serial killer, despite all the indications to the contrary. He would never have found this woman without Ray's police contacts, and what would he do in the future if he needed to find someone and Ray was in jail? Then again, Ray's experience as a cop could account for his never leaving any evidence. But why, then, would he continue to pursue the Filipino women over the Internet if he was just looking to kill people? Maybe that's what he did when he went to the Philippines to visit his paramours. Maybe he killed desperate Filipinas. Maybe Ray was a tourist serial killer. Deal with it later, Charlie thought. For now, there's a soul vessel to retrieve. Charlie got out of the cab outside of the Fontana, an apartment building just a block up from Ghirardelli Square, the waterfront chocolate factory turned tourist mall. The Fontana was a great, curved, concrete-and-glass building that commanded views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, and that had drawn the disdain of San Franciscans since it had been built in the 1960s. It wasn't that it was an ugly building, although no one would argue that it wasn't, but with the Victorian and Edwardian structures all around it, it looked very much like a giant air conditioner from outer space attacking a nineteenth-century neighborhood. However, the views from the apartments were exquisite, there was a doorman, underground parking, and a pool on the roof, so if you could handle the stigma of residing in an architectural pariah, it was a great place to live. The address Ray had given him for Madison was on the twenty-second floor, and so, presumably, was her soul vessel. Charlie wasn't sure of the exact range of his unnoticeability (he refused to think of it as invisibility, because it wasn't), but he hoped that it reached twenty-two floors. He was going to have to get past the doorman and into an elevator, and posing as an estate buyer wasn't going to work. Ah, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If he got caught, he'd just have to find another way in. He waited by the door until a young woman in business attire went in, then followed her into the lobby. The doorman didn't even look at him. Ray saw Charlie get out of the cab and told his own driver to stop a block away, where he hopped out, threw the driver a five and told him to keep the change, then dug in his pocket for the rest of the fare while the driver pounded on the wheel impatiently and cursed under his breath in Urdu. â€Å"Sorry, it's been a while since I took a cab,† Ray said. Ray had a car, a nice little Toyota, but the only parking place he could find was eight blocks away from his apartment in the parking lot of a hotel managed by a friend of his, and when you got a parking place in San Francisco, you kept it, so Ray mostly used public transportation and only drove the car on his days off to keep the battery charged. He'd jumped in a taxi outside Charlie's shop and shouted, â€Å"Follow that cab!† thus completely terrifying the Japanese family in the back. â€Å"Sorry,† Ray said. â€Å"Konichiwa. It's been a while since I took a cab.† Then he jumped back out and caught a cab that didn't have a fare. He sneaked quickly up the street, going from light post, to newspaper machine, to ad kiosk, ducking behind each, staying in his stealth-crouch, and achieving nothing whatsoever except to look like a complete loon to the kid standing at the bus stop across the street. He reached the underground parking entrance of the Fontana just as Charlie was making for the door. Ray crouched behind the key-card pillar. He wasn't sure what he was going to do if Charlie went for the building. Fortunately, he'd memorized Madison McKerny's phone number, and he could warn her that Charlie was coming. In the cab on the way down here he'd remembered where he'd seen her name: on the register at his health club. Madison McKerny was one of the midmorning fuck puppets from the gym, and as Ray suspected, Charlie was stalking her. He watched Charlie fall in behind a young woman in business dress who was heading up the walk into the Fontana, then Charlie was gone. Just gone. Ray came out onto the sidewalk to get a better angle. The woman was still there, she'd gone only a couple of steps, but he couldn't see Charlie. There were no bushes, no walls, the whole damn lobby was glass, where the hell had he gone? Ray was sure he hadn't looked away, he didn't even think he had blinked, and he would have seen any sudden move Charlie might have made. Reverting to the Beta Male's tendency to blame himself, Ray wondered if maybe he'd had some kind of petit mal seizure that had made him black out for a second. Whether he did or not, he had to warn Madison McKerny. He reached to his belt and felt the empty cell-phone clip, then remembered putting his phone under the register when he'd gotten to work that morning. Charlie found the right apartment and rang the bell. If he could get Madison McKerny to come out into the hallway, he could slip in behind her and look through her apartment for her soul vessel. Just down the hall there was a table with an artificial flower arrangement. He'd tipped it over, hoping she was compulsive or curious enough to come out of her apartment to get a closer look. If she wasn't home, well, he'd have to break in. Odds were that with a doorman downstairs, she didn't have an alarm system. But what if she could see him? Sometimes they could, the clients. Not often, but it happened, and – She opened the door. Charlie was stunned. She was stunning. Charlie stopped breathing and stared at her breasts. It wasn't that she was a young and gorgeous brunette, with perfect hair and perfect skin. Nor was it that she was wearing a thin, white silk robe that just barely concealed her swimsuit-model figure. Nor was it because she had disproportionately large but alert breasts that were straining against the robe and peeking out of the plunging neckline as she leaned out the door, although that would have been enough to render the hapless Beta breathless under any circumstances. It was that her breasts were glowing red, right through the silk robe, glowing right out of the dcolletage like twin rising suns, pulsating like the lightbulb boobies of a kitschy Hawaiian hula girl lamp. Madison McKerny's soul was residing in her breast implants. â€Å"I've got to get my hands on those,† Charlie said, forgetting that he wasn't exactly alone and he wasn't exactly thinking to himself. Then Madison McKerny noticed that Charlie was there and the screaming started.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Depreciation Methods

Depreciation Methods Depreciation is the accounting process of allocating the cost of tangible assets to expense in a systematic and rational manner to those periods expected to benefit from the use of the asset. Factors Involved in the Depreciation Process 1. What depreciable base is to be used for the asset? 2. What is the asset’s useful life? 3. What method of cost apportionment is best for the asset? Depreciable Base for the Asset The base established for depreciation is a function of two factors: the original cost, and the salvage or disposal value.Salvage value is the estimated amount that the company will receive when it sell the asset or removes it from service. It is the amount to which the company writes down or depreciates the asset during its useful life. Example: An asset is purchased for $10,000. The company believes that it has a salvage value of $1,000. Original cost $10,000 Less: Salvage value 1,000 Depreciation base$ 9,000 Methods of Depreciation The accounti ng profession requires that the depreciation method employed be â€Å"systematic and rational. † The following are examples of depreciation methods: 1. Activity method (units of use or production) . Straight-line method 3. Decreasing charge methods (accelerated): a. Sum-of-the-years’ digits b. Declining-balance method The following information will be used to illustrate each of the above methods: Stanley Coal Mines recently purchased an additional crane for digging purposes. Cost of crane$500,000 Estimated useful life5 years Estimated salvage value$50,000 Productive life in hours30,000 hours Activity Method The activity method (also called the variable-charge or units-of-production approach) assumes that depreciation is a function of use or productivity, instead of the passage of time.A company considers the life of the asset in terms of either the output if provides (units it produces), or an input measure such as number of hours it works. The crane Stanley purchased poses no particular depreciation problem. Stanley can measure the usage (hours) relatively easily. If Stanley uses the crane for 4,000 hours the first year, the depreciation charge is: (Cost less salvage value) X hours this year Total estimated hours ($500,000 – $50,000) X 4,000 30,000 = $60,000 Straight-Line MethodThe straight-line method considers depreciation a function of time rather than a function of usage. Companies widely use this method because of its simplicity. The straight-line procedure is often the most conceptually appropriate, too. Stanley computes the depreciation charge for the crane as follows: Cost less salvage Estimated service life $500,000-$50,000 5 =$90,000 Sum-of-the-Years’-Digits The sum-of-the-years’-digits method results in a decreasing depreciation charge based on a decreasing fraction of depreciable cost (original cost less salvage value).Each fraction uses the sum of the years as a denominator (5+4+3+2+1=15). The numerator is the n umber of years of estimated life remaining as of the beginning of the year. In this method, the numerator decreases year by year, and the denominator remains constant. At the end of the useful life, the balance remaining should equal the salvage value. YearDepreciation BaseRemaining life in yearsDepreciation FractionDepreciation ExpenseBook Value, End of Year 1$450,00055/15$150,000$350,000 2$450,00044/15$120,000$230,000 3$450,00033/15$90,000$140,000 4$450,00022/15$60,000$80,000 $450,00011/15$30,000$50,000 Totals:1515/15$450,000 For assets that have a long life span, the following formula can be used to determine the denominator: n(n+1) 2 For example, if an asset has a useful life of 51 years, you would calculate the denominator: 51(51+1) 2 =1,326 YearDepreciation BaseRemaining life in yearsDepreciation FractionDepreciation ExpenseBook Value, End of Year 1$450,0005151/1,326$17,308$482,692 2$450,0005050/1,326$16,968$465,724 3$450,0004949/1,326$16,629$449,095 4$450,0004848/1,326$16,290 $432,805 5$450,0004747/1,326$15,950$416,855 Etc†¦Declining-Balance Method The declining-balance method utilizes a depreciation rate (expressed as a percentage) that is some multiple of the straight-line method. For example, the double-declining rate for a 10-year asset is 20 percent (double the straight-line rate, which is 1/10 or 10 percent). Unlike other methods, the declining-balance method does not deduct the salvage value in computing the depreciation base. For example, if Stanley chose to use the double-declining-balance method, the crane would depreciate at twice the rate of the straight-line rate.See below: YearBook Value of Asset First YearRate on Declining Balance (a)Depreciation ExpenseBalance Accumulated DepreciationBook Value, End of Year 1$500,00040%$200,000$200,000$300,000 2$300,00040%$120,000$320,000$180,000 3$180,00040%$72,000$392,000$108,000 4$108,00040%$43,200$435,000$64,800 5$64,80040%$14,800 (b)$450,000$50,000 (a)Based on twice the straight-line rate of 20% ($90,000/$450,000 = 20%; 20% X 2 = 40%) (b)Limited to $14,800 because the book value should not be less than the salvage value.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Know Your Competitors

Know Your Competitor A healthy competition among fellow people is always good for improvement in every field. Especially, a businessman needs to be aware of his competitors and the steps they are taking to draw more and more clients. There are a lot of ways, got with the help of advanced technologies, which can be used for acquiring enough data related to the market: Track the Ad: To track the advertising websites and the keywords used there by the competitors you need monitoring tools like Adbeat, AdGooroo, MixRank, Moat,SocialAdNinJa, WhatRunsWhere – any one of these. With the help of Adbeat, you can know about the strategies of the advertisements the competitors are using, many unknown fellow competitors and their advertising agenda. Even there is a 30-day free trial available. While with AdGooroo, the page-ranks and page views are available on a giant Display board. It includes SEM Insight Tool that helps to know the keywords, competitive intelligence, PPC and SEO related information.In MixRank the mixture of ll types ads companies are using are available like display ads, text ads, demographics etc. If you put the speculative competitor's brand mane in the free search tool of Moat, the search bar will produce some results on your screen showing the top ads they are using recently. Tracing the Keywords: Tracing the keywords is equally necessary to know about the recent trend of the market, what are the keywords that are attracting more page views and what are keeping rage ranks in the static position.For discovering avourable keywords, KeywordSpy, KeywordCompetitor, iSpionage, SEMrush, SpyFu and The Search Monitor are always helpful. All of them are used more or less for the same purpose, but the difference lies in the use of advanced technology. Researching on Backlinks: You can even check the backlinks by pasting the URL links, know about the present and historical records, IPs, top pages, anchor texts etc from Ahrefs, Majestic Site Explorer, and O pen Site Explorer etc.Checking Web Ranking: Get a detailed graphic picture of the targeted audience and nteractive clients of your competitor from Alexa, Compete, SimilarWeb which is famous for tracking web traffic along with many other important data. Social Media: It is really tiring and time consuming to go to the same website regularly to know about the competitor's next step. Google Alert, Social Mention, Talkwater, Topsy and Twitter – there are many options for monitoring the social media spaces of the competitors. Social media is a space with optimized potentiality and from Fan Page Karma, Twitter,

Carbohydrate Loading Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Carbohydrate Loading - Assignment Example Under normal circumstances the energy requirement of the body is met by carbohydrate and fats however, for athletes undergoing strenuous training the main source of energy is carbohydrates which help in the working out of muscles. An athlete is at the peak of his performance as long as his body has enough carbohydrate to supply to his muscles in use. Once this storage of carbohydrates depletes and is completely exhausted, the body starts to use up the fats to provide energy. Therefore, it is crucial for athletes, especially those who are engaged in strenuous sports like marathon, to have enough carbohydrate storage during the entire run and this is where carbohydrate loading comes in. Glycogen Supercompensation is the scientific terminology for Carbohydrate Loading. It is the process through which the glycogen level in the muscles maybe increased by 60% through proper training and diet. Thus, the increased levels of glycogen reserves in the muscles mean that the athlete can now perform his best for a longer period of time without fatiguing his muscles and performing poorly. All carbohydrate loading methods have two stages- Carbohydrate depletion stage and Carbohydrate replenishment stage. I have selected the second method of carbohydrate loading and I shall provide a day-to-day guide. This method stretches over a week and must be started 1 week before the sports event. Like all other methods, this method also has two stages, i.e. the depletion of carbohydrates during which glycogen synthesizing enzymes are stimulated and the increasing of glycogen in particular muscles. It must be remembered that carbohydrate foods with low glycemic index must be taken because they stimulate the enzyme-glycogen synthetase, which is responsible for glycogen storage. Hydrating the body is important because for each gram of stored glycogen there must be 3-4grams of stored water. Two

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Cultural Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural - Essay Example However, when the culture of an organization collides with the national values of a country, this means that the business faces the threat of being rejected. This paper argues that national culture is significant in international business because it may provide opportunities for growth or threats that may lead to the demise of the organizations. Ethics refer to the set of behaviours that are acceptable in the society. Different nations have different ethical values that influence how organizations conduct their business. For example, in the United States, it is ethical to treat all stakeholders in a business equally (Hall, 2003). Employees are given equal chances as managers to participate in making decisions. This national culture is an opportunity for international businesses; because it enables them to get ideas for development from all sources of information. National culture may also present threats to organizations that invest in countries where there are no clear ethical rules. For example, in the Asian market, there are no strict rules that prohibit individuals from taking bribes from others. This may be harmful to a European or American company that invests in this market; because the companies originate from countries where taking bribe is against the law (Hall, 2003). The companies may incur losses when they employ workers who take bribe and they may not be able to recover. The utilitarian theory argues that the acceptable ethical behaviour is the one that is beneficial to a high percentage of individuals in the country (Hall, 2003). This means that international businesses have to analyze the effects of their actions before implementing them. If the actions are not beneficial to more than half of the society, the organizations should avoid implementing them. National language and communication style also influences the success of international businesses. Hall (2003) argues that there are two main

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Employee Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Employee Performance - Essay Example The situation has not been this way for a long time; until the last century, their existed an autocratic organizational system where the word of the top management was considered the last word. Their existed an environment where no emphasis was paid on the rights on employees and their needs. In order to properly defend the statement, one needs to look into the reasons for these developments that have been mentioned in the statement. Post-modernism is a concept that is deep rooted in history and is one of the fundamental reasons of the development of the recent organizational structures, bureaucratic environments and empowered employees. A discussion regarding how modernism started would first require understanding what existed in the pre-modernist era. The need for post modernism has been rooted deep in the history of mankind. It was first used in 1914 to describe the changing mindsets of people against the society prevailing at that time. Then came in modernism which gave people an escape from the normality and let people question their beliefs and creativity was fostered. However, it gave rise to modernity or bureaucracy. Bureaucracy usually uses rules and guided procedures in order to accomplish their tasks and depend on the predictability of events. They give no space to the unpredictably of life. In management terms, this would mean that there is task continuity prevalent in organization practicing bureaucracy and people would be subjected to strict rules and norms, repeated preprogrammed tasks and would be provided with stable and probable environments where homogeneity exists between the goods and services offered. Post modernism was a reaction to the modernistic ideas. Post-modernism largely is defined by the age in which there was intellectual growth, cultural enhancement, and development of an artistic state without the boundaries and restrictions of the hierarchies( Frederick, 1984). Post modernism stated that there are no clear cut and defined lines to a central successful organizational principle. It negated the aristocratic or the central hierarchy system and paved way for a more people oriented idea to organization development. Development of post-modernism was a result of the changing times and environment as well. It helped in almost all the disciplines of modern era. Post-modernistic ideas helped in the development of architecture, law, culture and literature. It heavily influenced the marketing and management fields of science as well. The management scenario changed completely with the advent of this idea in the society (Tim, 1999). The main focus would be kept over management and marketing practices because of the topic at hand. Post-modernism can be best explained as an era where nothing is certain and nothing is impossible. There are endless possibilities waiting to be grasped and countless situations in which a man can find himself. However, it has its share of criticism as being meaningless when it came to evaluating mathematical structures. Many people also argue that the era we are living right now is the post-postmodern condition. GLOBALIZATION Globalization is another important factor that gave rise to the post-modern conditions of today. Globalization by definition is turning personalized or localized phenomena's into

Friday, July 26, 2019

Internets Impact on Location of Global Firms Assignment

Internets Impact on Location of Global Firms - Assignment Example The problem touches on key issues - globalisation and the Internet - that confront managements of several firms, challenging them to discover how to make the Internet a part of global strategy. What is globalisation and global strategy Micklethwait and Wooldridge (2000, p. xvi) called globalisation "the most important economic, political, and cultural phenomenon of our time" characterised by the "integration of the world economy, reshaping business and reordering the lives of individuals, creating social classes, different jobs, unimaginable wealth and, occasionally, wretched poverty." Stiglitz (2002, p. 9) defined global strategy as "the way firms cope with integration of countries and peoples of the world brought about by the enormous reduction of transportation and communication costs, and the breaking down of artificial barriers to the flow of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and people across borders." In other words, a global strategy is a set of objectives that help a firm deal with globalisation, e.g., what goods to sell to world markets, how to sell these goods, and how to transport these goods from where they are produced to where they are consumed. Globalisation affects firms that sell products like autos and appliances, and service firms in banking and retailing. Porter's Diamond Porter's Diamond refers to a framework (Porter, 1990) that a nation or economy can use to analyse and develop its competitive advantage, a concept he explains (Porter, 1985) as the added benefit that a firm's product or service has over that of its competitors so that customers buy from the firm instead of from its competitors. Porter (1985, p. 3) enumerates three basic types of competitive advantage: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. A firm attains the first through economies of scale and cost minimisation; the second through brand image, technology, product features, service and support quality; and the third by supplying a particular market or niche very well. Applied to nations, the diamond-shaped framework is a map - of what Porter calls Competitive National Advantage - which consists of four determinants that we describe and show in Figure 1: factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry (1990, p. 72). [Insert Figure 1 here] These determinants are broad attributes existing in a country that shape the environment in which local firms compete and that promote or impede the creation of competitive advantage. They indicate why a nation is globally successful in a particular industry. He cites examples of how competitive national advantage promoted the success of industry clusters in printing equipment in Germany, pharmaceuticals in Switzerland, home appliances in Italy, and robotics in Japan. Porter's thesis is that each country has a unique set of conditions that enable local firms to compete successfully in the global marketplace. Porter states that the diamond is a system (1990, p. 144), with each determinant affecting the others in a dynamic way, either building up or destroying the competitiveness of firms and affecting their ability to compete globally. Yip's Drivers Firms need to develop global strategies and implement

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Customer Relationship and Sales Management Essay

Customer Relationship and Sales Management - Essay Example In line with this, the proponent tries to find out more about customer relationship in order to confirm or contradict the idea that ‘Relationship Marketing may still be regarded as an ‘umbrella philosophy’ with numerous relational variations rather than as a wholly unified concept with strongly developed objectives and strategies’ (Egan, 2004). The arguments are illustrated using examples from organisations and appropriate theory in line with relationship marketing and customer relationship. Relationship marketing and marketing activities As mentioned earlier, relationship marketing is a theory generally applied to majority of marketing activities. Relationship marketing is an integral part of every marketing activity because at present, classical marketing is slowly eliminated due to the fact that marketers are more concern on finding loyal customers than looking for new ones (Boone and Kurtz, 2006). This is due to some reasons that it is expensive to find for new customers than maintaining existing ones. In this reason, some organisations aggressively promote their product or service offerings in the hope that they will be able to acquire new potential customers. This in return incurs specific cost that eventually may be added up to the final price of product or service offerings. On the other hand, companies that are confident to cater loyal customers do not need to promote further their service or product offerings. As a result, customers are benefited because no further cost may be incurred for promotion that usually they have to pay as to be integrated in the final price of the offerings. Different types of relationship marketing There are three different and important marketing strategies used by marketers. These include creating customer satisfaction, building brand equity, and creating and maintaining relationships (Sorce, 2002). As can be observed, these three are interrelated. As a result, there is a great chance for a satis fied customer to become loyal to a certain brand he has tried so far. That customer can eventually attest to the performance of the brand which leads further to creating a significant relationship once there is an effort to create or maintain it on the part of marketers. There two major types of marketing: traditional marketing and relationship marketing which includes database marketing, interaction marketing, and network marketing (Brodie et al, 1997).These types of relationship marketing according to Egan (2001) are equivalent to direct marketing, consumer-relationship marketing and business-to-business relationship marketing. According to Brodie and his colleagues, these marketing types often do co-exist due to the fact that there are existing different situations between buyer and seller. However, in today’s modern approach in marketing, there is an added relationship marketing type which is also known as E-marketing which involves the use of internet and interactive tec hnologies to link the firms and their customers (Palmer and Pels, 2005). The database marketing or known as direct marketing is a relationship marketing which is about analysing data obtained from customers and implementing the corresponding results (Blattberg et al., 2008). Blattberg and his colleagues elaborated that database marketing is about the use of customer databases in order to come up with effective acquisition, retention and development of customers which are the main

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

The L-World as A Good Character-driven Drama Essay

The L-World as A Good Character-driven Drama - Essay Example The L-Word fits extremely well into this genre as it focuses on a very organic unveiling of personality and conflict. It is a high quality drama within this genre, as it features a well-written script with complex characters and original content. The scripts of the L-Word are extremely well-written. It is vital for character-driven dramas to be well written as dialogue is a focus of character-driven drama. Dialogue must be natural, realistic and fit organically into the characters established personality for character-driven dramas to succeed. The script of the L-Word achieves this through the naturalism of its dialogue and the way in which each characters lines fit well into their personality. For example in season 5 episode 7 â€Å"Longing†, the character of Alice is angry with Jenny for stealing her idea for a screen play. In justifying this, Jenny likens herself to Monet by pretending to hear him speak. Alice replies â€Å"That’s so funny because I hear him as well ...so weird...what’s that? He says don’t ever compare yourself to him.† This is a very appropriate and believable response for the character of Alice as she is portrayed as very witty and quirky. In the character of Bette the viewer is presented with an extremely strong, intelligent and highly educated woman and her dialogue is a constant reflection of this throughout each series as she debates and engages in discussions in a very wordy, articulate and well-informed manner. Character complexity is another area which is of fundamental importance to character-driven dramas. As people are naturally quite complex creatures, this must be echoed in character-driven dramas as they aim to reflect the complexities of existence. To have one-dimensional, straightforward characters would be detrimental in this genre as it would lose its appeal and indeed its integrity. Complexity is portrayed through every character of the L-Word but none more so than the characters of Bette and Jenny. Bette is a highly educated and confident professional who is deeply in love with her partner and together they are in a committed long term relationship. Despite this, Bette is constantly tempted by adulterous behavior. When she is presented with opportunities to cheat on her partner, she is severely conflicted about doing so and goes to great lengths to avoid temptation. The fact that she is so happy with her partner and they have serious relationship problems, conveys the complexi ties of Bettes character as there is no motivation for her to be disloyal. Another complex character is that of Jenny, a highly introspective, creative and sensitive character who goes through several drastic psychological transformations throughout each season of the show. In season 1, Jenny is a painfully shy, awkward and very kind girl. By the end of the final season, she is portrayed as cruel, arrogant, self-indulgent and unpredictable. In this way, the complexities of her character are realised through her many personality evolutions. Originality is an important factor of any TV show. If a show does not present something new or different, then the same material is simply regurgitated again and again which leads to poor quality of writing and content. By offering something fresh, be it in content, treatment or

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 33

Case Study Example The virtual project teams at TRW are based on trust, fairness and respect among the members. The project teams also comprise members with different education, skills and experiences thus are also to collaborate in attaining the goals. However, due to lack of face to face meetings, the virtual teams may take long to resolve conflicts or build consensus. TRW teams may fail due to distractions and lack of engagement during the virtual meetings (Forsyth 56). The steps of TRW’s GRPI model corresponds to the two perspectives of group development described in this chapter. According to Tuckman’s stages model, group development starts with the forming stages whereby group members learn about each other and objectives of the group. The second stage is storming stage whereby group members engage with each other and build group cohesion. The third stage is norming stage whereby the members will lay the rules, the communication channels. The fourth stage is performing stage whereby group members implement the objectives of the group while the last stage is the adjournment stage whereby the project ends. TRW’s GRPI model corresponds to Tuckman’s stages perspective since the first stage is explaining the goals of project to all members and developing a common vision for the project which is similar to forming stage. The second step is outlining the goals of each member, the task and responsibilities which is similar to storming stage of Tuckman’s perspective. The third step of GRPI model is determining channels of communications, schedules and meeting times and agendas which are similar to norming stage whereby group members lay rules of the group including communication mechanisms. The last component of GRPI model is defining how to manage any interpersonal conflicts thus this is similar to performing stage of Tuckman’s group development perspective

Hurrican Katrina Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hurrican Katrina - Essay Example As the report declares Bush, Congress, the mayor - each of them are symptoms of a bigger problem, that we don't have accountability for disasters or challenges of this scale. That's all the public wants in trying times - accountability ... Lovin added that it's too convenient to blame one branch of government when they are all, at some level, failing people. This paper stresses that Lovin's sentiments seem liberal and noble on the surface. We do have a human need to assign blame in "trying times," real accountability does seem lacking at multiple levels of our government, and we shouldn't go on a witch hunt to appease public outrage by scapegoating one person or one department of government, when the culpability is much more diffuse. This is certainly a moral sentiment, and an appropriate stance to take in the absence of compelling facts to the contrary. However, facts to the contrary can be found. And the culpability in this matter is not equally shared. The United States government has known for decades that large scale natural disasters necessarily go beyond the response capabilities of state and local authorities. According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, it is likewise well-known, by our top disaster planning experts, that a quick mobilization of the United States active military is the only adequate response in such disasters.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Attitude change Essay Example for Free

Attitude change Essay Technology also brought about a change in attitude to many employees because of its personal approach where despite the fact that it allows teams to work together it is also an ideal partner for individual tasks to get done. Craiger JP (2006) claims that technology resulted to a generation of employees who are self starters and problem solvers. By using technology employees learned to work independently, even if they are also dealing with their work teams and welcoming team initiatives on the side. For instance, an employee who does not have a desktop computer or does not know how to use one will have to depend on an encoder or a secretary for files to be encoded, taking two people to finish one document. When errors occur, it will be an accountability of two people. Often, when the margin of error was crossed is impossible to determine. On the other hand, an employee who has a desktop computer and knows how to operate it can type documents himself and be accountable for the whole task. It will also take just one person for the task to be completed. Computer users and the technologically inclined employees are not the only ones who had an attitude change. Those who do not have access to technological innovations in their respective departments were also encouraged to learn how to operate the new gadgets to be able to contribute to the growth of the company and, of course, to avoid being left behind. For fear of being retrenched or laid off by the company for the benefit of accommodating people who can work with the innovations that the organization is adapting, employees are more open than ever to learn new skills specially those that are technological. The same attitude change affects job applicants, who are otherwise not yet members but intending to become members of an organization. Job applicants are now putting more effort in getting at least the simplest technological skills and know-how to get an edge in their job-hunting process, especially with the fact that the younger graduates are more competitive in this area of knowledge. Issues Most of the changes brought about by technology to businesses were positive. The claims cannot be far from the truth. Technology was created to bring in convenience and efficiency, which is what it delivered right from the very start. However, there are also notions as to how technology has largely affected the way in which employees and organizations function, albeit on a negative light. Communication? Contrary to above claims that technology helped the culture of teams to flourish, and that communication became easier through new innovations that companies were investing on, computers and other technological equipment is also blamed for the downgrade in organizational communication. Craiger JP (2006) stressed that computers did not allow employees to communicate until networks were created. There was a great divide between employees who are operating the new facilities, and those who are not. There is also a sub-divide between employees operating the new equipment. The great divide between employees occurs from the very start, when not all employees have access to technology. People who have the know-how are roomed in with the computers, and those who are still on manual work stay in regular cubicles where other employees are present, allowing for interpersonal communication. After much development, majority of employees in many organizations gained access to computers. The problem which turned out later on concerned the transferring, sharing, and merging of files and information within the organization. Born is the network, and things went well. Employees can drag and drop information from and to a colleague, and even share pleasantries with each other on the side. This is where the communication problem began. The problem with technology is that it allows people to be convenient. In fact, employees felt too much convenience that the simplest things are often put on the hands of technology. For instance, instead of dropping by to the nearby cubicle of a co-employee, one just has to click on some icons and send her message through the computer. The technologically-driven workplace also slowly transformed into an impersonal workplace where every bit of thing was coursed through technology. This posed miscommunication problems—messages and files which were not received, lost files, misinterpretation of messages, errors in routing messages, and so on. The list is boundless, but the solution is not far from reach as well. To aid this problem, companies must orient new employees and train existing employees on the art of effective communication, as well as the proper use of company technology. With proper information and education, it is possible for companies to be technologically inclined but still effective in their communication. Re-trainings and new hiring A necessity for many companies who are just starting their technological stance is the re-training of employees. Companies cannot expect all of their employees to be familiar with the jargons and processes of technology once it is initiated in the company. There is also the need for people to maintain the equipment and to troubleshoot them in case something wrong happens. Thus, even if majority of the existing employees know how to operate technological equipment, the company still needs to hire additional people or get an outsourced service for these. This, however, does not sacrifice the cost-effectiveness of business technology. Even if a company spends for additional people or service, the costs that it will incur will still be offset by the multiplicity of role that business technology can undertake. A good way to minimize the costs in this area is to train employees, including those knowledgeable, on the proper use and maintenance of the equipment and by developing guidelines for reporting any problem or damage so that proper and timely intervention can be made. Telecommuting woes A point of debate in the technological workplace is the telecommuting option for employees. This has long been a trend, which proved to be convenient for both telecommuters and their companies. With off-site jobs, telecommuters need not travel to their workplace and be stuck with an office routine. They can also perform personal tasks while working, and avoid the pressure of being confined in an office cubicle. For companies, it saves them the office space the employee needs, and the costs of electricity and other provisional expenses of keeping an employee on the job site. However, human resources managers have one problem with keeping and working with telecommuters and off-site employees in the organization: performance appraisal and monitoring. When an employee works off the job site, he holds his time and place. He may be calling a client for a presentation while waiting for the kids for a drive to the school, and meet the client for a lunch meeting just before going to the grocery for some things needed for dinner. While this requires incredible discipline for tasks to get done, there is no guarantee that all telecommuters have the required character it takes. This brings about the importance of monitoring and performance appraisal, which is an equally grueling task for human resource persons to do with telecommuters. But for many companies, the solution is easy. Monitoring and performance appraisal can be largely dependent on one thing: end product. Telecommuters should be given deadlines and work expectations, and they should in turn give back results. This can prove when an off-site employee has the discipline it takes to work away from work, of he needs to work with the boss around. Privacy issues The ease of organizing work teams is undoubtedly one of the better benefits of modern technology to organizations, but it is not also ideal at all. With the convenient dragging and dropping of information throughout the network of technologically driven companies, it is easy for information to leak and for privacy seals to be broken. On a smaller scale, it can be as simple as one employee stealing the proposal of another employee; or one team member taking full credits to the collaborative work of a work team. On a larger scale it can be the theft of significant company information, or the leak of personal information of employees. This is a possibility to which all companies are susceptible. The exposure of an organization to modern technology, especially that which binds the company to networking, also puts many of its information and exchanges out in the open. Companies, however, need not fret. As privacy has been an utmost concern for many developers of technology, many solutions are now available for companies to protect themselves and their systems. A wide range of products are available to suit many companies’ generic needs, and many developers have come up with security measures that can be customized according to the needs and preferences of an organization. It should be noted, though, that security software and technology does not erase the possibility of privacy issues from taking place. While it can secure much of a company’s information, proper care and understanding of privacy clauses and measures by employees are equally important. Too fast and too furious Another issue concerning companies is the fast turnover of technological trends. New computers and gadgets are introduced everyday, and what is trendy today can be obsolete in a matter of months. While there are companies who are true to their subscription of technology, and strive to invest in newer, better models to improve their standing and service, not all companies can keep up. It can be disheartening for an organization to invest thousands of dollars in innovations, only to find themselves looking for an upgrade months after. Technology’s game is simple: the newer, the better. However, this game should not work for companies as well as they have financial books to consider. For business technology, the key is that whichever fits the company best is the better alternative. Unless very necessary, companies should not feel pressured in constantly buying new equipment every so often to keep up with competition. Delivery of good products and service is what matters most.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

The Importance Of Water Treatment

The Importance Of Water Treatment Water is very important for human being and other living things. In human body, more than 70% are fluid such as blood and all these fluid are basically formed by water. Bone marrow needs water to generate blood then blood carries the oxygen from lung to whole body. Besides that, water can maintain humans body temperature and provide natural material with mineral. Water is not only essential for human body, it is also playing an important role in our daily life activities, examples like washing clothes and food, bathing for personal hygiene and acting as solvent for all cleaning reagent. Consequently, water industries refer to a problem solver in this situation. First of all, water industries are divided into three major types which are water purification, wastewater treatment and also the new type called desalination. For the water purification means purifying water to become the drinking water. Although natural water is drinkable for human but without any purification or method of killing gem, the natural water is harmful for human being nowadays. Purified water and natural water seems like no different when we look at it but sometimes we still smell the different, natural water might have some pungent smell. Natural water consists of a lot microorganism and bacteria inside it, just we cant observe it with our naked eyes. In addition, water pollution is getting serious thus purification is necessary to ensure the drinking water is clean and not harmful to our health. After that, another type of water industry which is very vital for the Mother of Nature is the wastewater treatment industry. Wastewater treatment refers to the processes of controlling the wastewater on Earth; this is the most important method to solve the water pollution. Wastewater is directing to the chemical wastewater from factories, wastewater from household and some water from polluted river or lake. The usage of wastewater treatment is to killing the gem/bacteria in the wastewater; remove solid impurities and odor smell. Irresponsible human behavior will make the wastewater treatment become more essential for the world. The new type of water industry is about the desalination. Desalination is a meaning of transforming the seawater or saltwater into pure water or drinking water. Due to the natural water on the land is getting lesser and the population of human is increasing, hence we found out a new method to produce normal water from seawater. Seawater source is so much on Earth, so this method is highly developing around the world. Seawater cannot consume by human because it consists of high salt component such as NaCl, this cause our body unaffordable to consume the seawater. Furthermore, we will discuss deeply about the process of water purification and desalination in this article. The importance of Desalination and water purification industry Water treatment process brings many importances to the society today. One of the importances of water treatment process is to ensure that water is more suitable to be used by industries and individuals. The purpose of water treatment process is to remove contaminations from water, so that it would be more suitable for it to be used. There are several processes that can be used to treat water such as filtration, disinfection that is majorly in use to clean water. Water is the key to a persons survival because without water survival is simply not an option. Hence, it is important to make sure water is purified in order to drink otherwise bacteria in the water can be harmful to your organs if drunk in normal consumption. According to a global research, a large number of people at their early ages die from water born diseases in most of the developing countries. Thus, it is very important to get the proper treatment of the water for a healthy living. Water treatment industry can be very helpful for the society today because they are saving the lives of many innocent human beings who die from fatal diseases such as cholera, typhoid which cause by consuming contaminated water. According to United Nations statistics, the worlds fresh water consumption since the 20th century increased by 6-7 times higher than the population growth rate of two times, around 1.4 billion people lack access to safe and clean drinking water, or an average of every 5 people who have a lack of water. So, the idea of desalination plays a major role to provide us the constant supply of water as the sea water is an unlimited resource. Sea water desalination process is actually done by converting salty sea water into fresh usable water. Further purification of the sea water after the desalination process can convert it into drinking water. These industries are important to ensure that there is enough water supply as the population is growing and growing rapidly. These are the major roles of the water treatment plants in. Water supply and demand Water is one of the most important resources in our life and it is the major Earths natural resources. However the freshwater supply in our earth is a control resource, which means the total amount of freshwater, is limited. Most of the worlds water supply is saltwater stored in the oceans. Converting saltwater to freshwater is generally too expensive to be used for domestic, industrial and other freshwater uses. About 97% of the water stored in the ocean is salt water. Only 3% of the worlds water supply is a freshwater where two-third out of the 3%, of that water is frozen, forming the polar ice caps, and icebergs. The remaining one-third of freshwater is available as either surface water or ground water; ground water accounts for two-thirds of this amount. Surface water is water that is visible above the ground surface, such as rivers, ponds and lakes. Ground water is water that either fills the spaces between soil particles or penetrates the cracks and spaces within rocks. The demand for water supply includes water consumption by the domestic, industrial, commercial and other sectors. In addition to this, the total amount of water that needs to be produced, and hence the total water demand includes provisions for water lost as a result of the leakages between the source (treatment plant) and the end users of consumers. Malaysia, like the rest of the world, is faced with a growing population. The population of Peninsular Malaysia will be more than double its size from 18.1 million in 2000 to 38 million in 2050 as reported in the National Water Resources Study (2000) thus the population growth and socio-economic development are currently driving a rapid increase in water demand. The government is now working on the creation of an industry structure to purified water that will ensure long-term sustainability of the water supply and sewerage services industry. Purified water is water from any source that is physically processed to remove impurities. Distilled water and deionised water have been the most common forms of purified water, but water can also be purified by other processes including reverse osmosis, carbon filtration, micro porous filtration. Prospect of water industry in Malaysia Nowadays, the water industry in Malaysia is filled of challenges. There is either too much, too little, polluted or inaccessible water to meet the needs of our nation. As the increasing of demand to the quality of life, peoples are pursuing for an abundance of safe, low cost and high quality water. Globally, more than 90% of water and sanitation systems are publicly owned and operated. However, a trend that industry experts acquired smaller utilities has been increasing. This phenomenon is called consolidation. There also was an increase in privatization-private companies that contract to operate or to purchase the public utilities. Moreover, many larger systems were investing in new testing and treatment methods. Under Malaysian conditions, erosion by water and the decay of nations of pipes that transport water into homes are the most significant. As pipes corrode, water pressure decreases and foreign materials such as bacteria and debris may enter the system. In order to reduce the negative health effects to humans, government officials flush out the water and add large doses of chlorine to eliminate contaminants. However, this is a short-term solution. Obviously, the countrys water-pipe system, much of which is over one hundred years old, needs a major overhaul. Increased privatization of the water system is being seriously considered to help alleviate the plight of countrys water as the government can receive funding for structural adjustment programs. This is because private water companies have a high potential of bringing efficiency, savings, and environmental responsibility to communities, cities and the country. Besides that, as we know that fresh water that is available for human use is just 1 percent of the total water supply, and that supply is dwindling as supply cannot keep pace with demand. Thus, the prospect of water industry may be focusing in the alternative to increase the freshwater. Since most of the earth water is seawater, desalination technology has arisen as a potential alternative to solve the problem of water shortage. Desalination has been present throughout the 125 countries and territories around the world, the worlds desalinated water to feed about 5% of the population. In fact, desalination is an excellent way to solve water shortage problems in many countries. This is indeed a strategic choice as its validity and reliability has been more widely recognized. Research indicates that the cost of producing water from desalination is often less than half that produced by the distillation method of processing water. Improvements in effienciency have led to reduce energy con sumption, cheaper processing costs and a superior product being produced. The Impact On the Environment As our world industrialised, water pollutions are getting serious. There are three main types of water pollutions caused by human activities, which are domestic sewage, industrial wastewater and agricultural wastewater. In these wastewaters, contain pathogens, detergents, toxic waste, chemical waste and heavy metals. These harmful chemicals not only poison aquatic organisms, also affect sources of drinking water, and pollute our environment. Toxic wastes, generally, are not easy to metabolise out of body of organisms. Wastes tend to bioaccumulate inside the organisms. The bioaccumulation of toxic wastes not only happen in single organism, but all members from food chains. The concentration of toxic wastes gets higher as the trophic level going up. Not only that, the agricultural wastewater contains fertilizer, pesticide and also the fungicide. These pollutants cause the eutrophication. It is caused by excessive nutrients in the wastewater, and it brings the algal blooms and red tide. These leads to fish kills as algaes consuming most of the oxygen in the water. In a nutshell, water pollution can lead to a lower biodiversity. The decrease of biodiversity means that the variation of life decreased, and it affects the balance of ecosystem. It is important to maintain the balance of ecosystem, species of organisms will decline if the ecosystem does not balance. It will be a bad circle. Water industry helps in collecting the wastewaters from different parts to the water treatment plants. Also, water industry helps in controlling the quality of water. Before discharging the wastewater back to our ecosystem, the water is treated so it reduces the effect toward the environment. It also improves the water quality which means that provides not only the better quality of life, and save the environment for the future. Furthermore, it maintains the balance of aquatic ecosystem. As the contaminated wastewater not flowing into river and the sea, the aquatic environment will be free of dangerous and toxic wastes. The world cannot stand without water industry. Water industry gives us a solution to the world, a hope to the future. Reverse Osmosis Reverse osmosis is one of the water purification method that is popular in water treatment industry. Just as its name implies, water goes on the osmosis process another way. Normally, the solvent, which is water will go through the semipermeable membrane that having many tiny pores, from low solute concentration side to the high solute concentration side. However, for the reverse osmosis, a pressure is applied on the high solute concentration part. The pressure can be drove by electricity or it may get from the pressure exchanger. Thus, water molecules are forced to pass through the membrane to the low solute concentration side. By this way, clean water can be collected on the other side. There are three common membrane materials, which are polyamide thin film composites (TFC), cellulose acetate (CA) and cellulose triacetate (CTA). In generally TFC membranes are stronger and more durable among these three membranes. CA and CTA give a better toleration to chlorine. For different purpose, specified membrane will be used. Reverse osmosis can be used in residential, commercial and industrial water filtration, also the seawater desalination. By this method, impurities in the water can be removed to clean water. These impurities include ions, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, and salts. This is because those impurities are larger than than the pores so they cannot pass through it. Water molecules are allowed to pass through the membrane as it is small enough. Impurities,yet will be left behind the membrane. The waste streams flow out and the pressure is high. Later, the streams go through the pressure exchanger to transfer the waste pressure to the low pressure fresh feed. Then, the low pressure fresh feed will be pressurised. The recycle of waste pressure can save the cost of running the reverse osmosis system. The water flowed out is now clean and ready for purpose of drinking or other uses. Coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation Natural and waste water include small particulates. Coagulation and flocculation processes are intended to form particles large enough to be separated. The small particulates are suspended in water forming a colloid. The particles with the same charge repel with each other and this prevents them from combining into larger particulates to settle. Thus, some chemical and physical techniques are applied to help them settle. The phenomenon is known as coagulation. To assist in the removal of colloidal particles from suspension, chemical flocculation is required. The process water will then enter a flocculation chamber, where further chemicals may be added depending upon the raw water characteristics and the level of treatment to be achieved. Gentle mixing during this stage allows particles to agglomerate and form settleable flocs. Starch and multiply charged ions are often used. The dirty water is cleaned by treating with alum, Al2(SO4)3.12 H2O, and lime, Ca(OH)2. These electrolytes cause the pH of the water to change due to the following reactions: Al2(SO4)3.12 H2O, -> Al(aq)3+ + 3 SO4(aq)2- + 12 H2O SO4(aq)2- + H2O -> HSO4(aq)- + OH- (causing pH change) Ca(OH)2 -> Ca(aq)2+ + 2 OH- (causing pH change) The slightly basic water causes Al(OH)3, Fe(OH)3 and Fe(OH)2 to precipitate, bringing the small particulates called flocs with them and the water becomes clear. Flocculation usually follows by sedimentation, the heavy floc particles settle to the bottom of treatment tanks, allowing for their separation from the water. It works best with relatively dense particles (e.g. silt and minerals), while flotation works better for lighter particles (e.g. algae, color). A big settling tank is needed so that it takes a long time to get through. Inlets and outlets are designed so the water moves slowly in the tank. Long and narrow channels are installed to let the water to snake its way through the tank. The settled particles, sludge, must occasionally be removed from the tanks. The water is next ready to be filtered. Sedimentation is used in pre-treatment and wastewater treatment. Thermal Distillation and Electrodialysis In the process of desalination, after the reverse osmosis, it comes to the thermal distillation process. Heat is used in the thermal distillation for desalination. It boils the salt water to causes the water to vaporize, at the same time, the salt is left behind. Most of the salt is sodium chloride (NaCl). After that, the vapor will moves to a second container to condensed and collected. The boiling process of water uses up a lot of fuel to make the salt water to vaporize so many alternative processes can be considered. These processes are called multistage flash distillation (MSF), multiple effect distillation (MED), and mechanical vapor compression distillation (MVC). All these process can reduce the energy that used to boil the water with reducing the waters boiling point by decreasing the waters vapor pressure. The mechanical vapor compression distillation (MVC) is a process which evaporates the sea or saline water is derived by the heat application delivered by compressed vapor. This process able to increase generate additional amount of vapor by using the latent heat during the condensation when the vapors compression increases both of the temperature and pressure of the vapor. The multistage flash distillation is a thermal process with the low temperature of obtaining fresh water by recovering the vapor of boiling sea water in a sequence of vessels, (called effects) each maintained at a lower temperature than the last. Due to the boiling point of the water reduced as the pressure reduced, the heat energy of the vapor boiled off from one vessel is able to heat the another vessel thus only the first vessel require the heat energy from other source to heat up the sea water. Furthermore, another process of desalination process is electrodialysis that used to separate the other ions and water ions by relying on the salt ions electrical charge. In this process, the water is pre-treated by reverse osmosis thermal distillation hence then transfer to a membrane stack. Two electrodes, a positive electrode located on one side of the stack and a negative one on the other, an electrical current is conducted through the water. The ions are attracted to the oppositely charged electrodes and flow through membranes that are designed to trap either the negatively charged ions (anions) or positively charged ions (cations). Once the ions are trapped, fresh water will filtered out. Filtration Water filtration improves the overall taste of tap water, appearance and smell. Water filters are design to remove several harmful chemicals found in drinking water. At the moment, there is no better way to make sure that the water you are drinking is clean. Compare the differences between a glass of tap water and bottled water. You will realize that tap water is cloudy and it smells like bleach. There are four stages involved in water purification process: 1. Pre-Filtration -Prevents large debris from entering the System 2. Sediment Filtration 5.0 Micron Sediment Filtration 3. Carbon Block Filtration Chemical removal and 0.5 Micron Filtration 4. Ultraviolet Treatment 99.9999% Elimination of Bacteria / Virus Ultraviolet exposure of 16,000 mw/cm2 or greater Pre-filtration is the first process of water filtration, it screens the water source starting from the point of entry. These pre-filter screens are connected to the inlet hose. This is important in preventing the filtration system that turns out to be plugged with rocks, faeces, mud and other large debris. Sediment Filtration is the second stage. In this stage, the water will pass through a sediment filter. In the sediment filter it gives five micron filtration and it expands the life of the carbon filter by eliminating invisible sediments that will impulsively block the filter. Sediment filtration would include the removal of dirt, mud, sand, scale, silt and other suspended solids in the water. Carbon block filtration is the third stage of the filtration process. This process has two different processes. The first process is called mechanical straining, carbon is compressed into a solid block of material. Each molecule of water is pushed through the microscopic pores of carbon that strain out substances efficiently. The second is called chemical bonding, it uses an activated carbon which has a trivial electro positive charge added to it, making bonding agents to impurities and chemicals even more attractive. When the water is pushed through the solid carbon block, it is forced to slow down and the increased quantity of contact time with carbon allows the carbon bonding to take place. The final stage of the filtration process is the ultraviolet treatment. After the water is cleaned by the carbon filter, the next step is to expose it to an extreme dosage of UV light. The UV light it produced will destroy microorganisms by changing their DNA structure. Aeration and Disinfection Aeration is a water treatment process where water is brought into the contact with oxygen. This is to increase the oxygen content in the water, to reduce the carbon dioxide content in the water, and to remove organic compounds such as methane, hydrogen sulphide and other volatile which is responsible for taste and odour of water. These will result in good drinking pure water. High iron and manganese content in water will cause a bitter taste. Aeration is widely used for the treatment of high iron and manganese contaminants water to convert the dissolved ferrous and manganese compounds into insoluble ferric and manganese hydroxides. These can be removed by sedimentation or filtration process. There are many instruments and systems designed to aerate wastewater. These range from simple floating splashes and rotors to high-maintenance diffused air systems using membranes and complex man folding and piping layouts. These systems are designed to inject oxygen to every part of the water. The end result is better than water treatment with higher removal rates of microorganism contamination. Disinfection is an important step in ensuring that water is safe to drink, and limiting the effects of organic materials, suspended solids and other contaminants. It destroys microorganisms that can cause disease in humans. Primary methods of disinfection are chlorination, chloramines, ozone, and ultraviolet light. Other methods include chlorine dioxide, potassium permanganate, and nano filtration. Since certain forms of chlorine react with organic material naturally present in many water sources to form harmful chemical by-products. Common industrial method of disinfection is chlorination, where the chlorine gas is released to mix with water. The mixing and contact time must be provided after an injection to ensure complete disinfection of pathogens and other microorganism. Thus it kills microorganisms and it may be necessary to control the pH of the water. One chlorination had been done, the water will be finalized by some tests to make sure the water is neutral, clean and pure. Finally the water will be send to storage for the domestic, industrial, and commercial uses. Role of Chemical Engineer in the Water Treatment Industry Basically the role of a chemical engineer in a water treatment industry is mainly referring to the technical skills that the chemical engineers obtained because chemical engineers have to conduct the water treatment processes in the industry. Firstly, we talk about the role of chemical engineers before the process and industrial plant in the water treatment industry is formed. For a chemical engineer, the first mission has to do will be understood about the requirements of the water treatment industry to conduct a process with a specific industrial plant. For our case, the chemical engineer must know how to conduct a process of water purification to product drinking water. Chemical engineers must able to design an industrial plant which consists of different types of components to complete the process and get the desired product. The components that might involve in the plant are compressor, mixer, cooler, filter (separator). Furthermore, whether designing the plant, chemical engineer also may concerns about the chemical substances used within the process in the plant. The chemical substances added into the water along the process must not be harmful to consumers due to the water as output is the drinking water for human to consume. Some more, the costs for the substances and material used to build the plant and those components inside it must be save up to the lowest. Chemical engineers need to save the cost for the company and also form the product which is the drinking water with the highest efficiency. Besides that, chemical engineer has to evaluate the chemical process technology and equipment which suitable in the plant. The most important role of chemical engineer in this industry is determining the production specification. Once the plant completely designed, the most essential job that needs the chemical engineer to accomplish is establish and conduct quality control programs, operating procedures and control strategies to ensure consistency and adherence to standards for raw materials, products and waste products or emissions. When the process is running, there also something necessary for chemical engineer to provide checking for the plant and make a suitable maintenance on the processing units. Thus, chemical engineer is playing a very important character in the water treatment industry. Skills/Knowledge required by Engineer As an engineer, there are many skill and knowledge required to smoothen the task that have to conduct by engineer. The skill and knowledge required by engineer can be categories into six parts which are technical skill, computer literacy, communication skill, management/finance, international awareness and respect for diversity. Engineer requires the technical skill and knowledge to conduct and control the processing units in the plant. The technical skill is about the mathematics, chemistry, physics, mechanical and electrical knowledge. In the water industry, chemical engineers refer to separating dangerous materials from good water as a treatment train. At various stages in the multistage treatment process, unwanted constituents are separated using vacuum or pressure filtration, centrifugation, membrane-based separation, distillation, carbon-based and zeolite-based adsorption and advanced oxidation treatments Computers are used every day for communications, simulations, budgeting, monitoring controls and word processing hence the computer literacy is very important to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the simulations and assumption that did by chemical engineers. Before chemical engineers design a plant, they have to do some simulation by using some professional programs or software in the computer such as Aspen Technology Programs. Engineering involves working with others and communicating but not only deal with machines so that others able to understand and support the idea provided individually. Consequently, communication skill also must be trained by chemical engineers. When the time chemical engineers present their project or proposal, the others who listening and watching able to fully disgust what are the points and idea about. Management and finance are always the necessary knowledge for everyone in the society including engineers. Many decisions an engineer makes have business consequences. Understanding the business principle can help engineers become more effective. In finance aspect, chemical engineers require to know clearly how to manage a team because engineers can be leaders which work together with others. For the engineers, they are working in a global market requires an understanding of cultural, geographic, economics and environmental factors that influence the decision which made by engineers. International awareness means chemical engineers have to be caution with all the response and effect from the market around us. Lastly the respect for diversity, engineers regularly work in group setting so being able to interact effectively, professionally and respectfully with others will make you a more capable team player. A good engineer team leader must respect all the colleagues so that everyone can work together without any conflict. Conclusion In a conclusion Water treatment is an important processs in our modern life, due to the lack of natural fresh water and increase in population. Many new technology method has been introduce to water treatment industry nowdays. The raw sea water have to go through a certain number of processes strating with either reverse osmosis or thermal distillation to make it usable. Besides this two processes, an electrodialysis process method can also be used. A further water treament process need to be done to make it drinkable, the processes consist of coagulation method, followed by flocculation and sendimentation. A further filtration process is done and finally aeration and disinfection process will take palce before the water is kept in a storage. This processes can be used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses. The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing contaminant s in the water, or reduce the concentration of such contaminants so the water becomes fit for its desired end-use. One such use is returning water that has been used back into the natural environment without adverse ecological impact.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Albert Camus The Stranger Essay -- Stranger

Albert Camus' The Stranger What if the past has no meaning and the only point in time of our life that really matters is that point which is happening at present. To make matters worse, when life is over, the existence is also over; the hope of some sort of salvation from a God is pointless. Albert Camus illustrates this exact view in The Stranger. Camus feels that one exists only in the world physically and therefore the presence or absence of meaning in one's life is alone revealed through that event which he or she is experiencing at a particular moment. These thoughts are presented through Meursault, a man devoid of concern for social conventions found in the world in which he lives, and who finds his life deprived of physical pleasure--which he deems quite important--when unexpectedly put in prison.   The opening line of the novel sets the tone for Meursault's dispassion towards most things. The novel is introduced with the words: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know" (3). Although the uncertainty originates with an ambiguous telegram, it seems that the tone alone could justify changing the meaning of the words 'I don't know' to 'I don't care.' In a sense, in the days following, he only goes through the motions of the vigil and then the funeral; the only emotion he expresses is joy when his bus takes him home and he is able to sleep. At one point, he looks back at the events of the past few days, realizes that he has to go to work, and notes: "that, really, nothing had changed" (24). Despite these reactions, there is evidence that Meursault did indeed love his mother, observed both in his defensive argument at the 'old people's' home as to why she was put there in the first place and in his recollections... ...has no comprehension of the objects in its existence--as he is unconcerned with the objects in his own life and finds meaning only within himself. Meursault does not care for objects in his world. He does not see the importance of certain words whose definitions attempt to explain human relationships either amongst themselves or their emotions in general. He does not follow 'conventional' social beliefs nor does he believe in God, nor salvation. Meursault however loves his life. It is a pure love derived from enjoying his existence on a day-to-day basis, rarely looking back and never looking forward. His love is not dependent on doing what society or some religion has deemed correct, but on what he feels he wants to do despite what most would consider common. Work Cited Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Vintage International, 1989.

Noras Discovery of Self in Ibsens A Dolls House Essays -- Dolls Hou

Nora's Discovery of Self in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House         Ã‚  Ibsen's play, "A Doll House," involves a woman who begins the play as a common housewife and through a series of joyous occurrences and catastrophes becomes a self-liberating woman.   Nora Helmer is transformed and decides to abandon her family and home in search of her true self.   She arrives at this point because of several factors.   Her refusal to submit to her husband and her self-realization is brought on by the way she has been taught to act by her husband and her father, and the contradicting demands the situations that she has had to deal with gave her.   Her true devotion to herself is discovered because of the false devotion she felt towards her husband and her role in her family.   In "A Doll House," Henrik Ibsen uses the character of Nora to show that the way in which a woman is treated and her assumed role in society can actually lead to her discovery of her own true humanity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though it seems contradictory, it is actually Torvald Helmer, Nora's husband, who cause Nora to refuse to submit to him.   Torvald holds a very low opinion of Nora's ability to handle things for herself, and allows her almost no responsibility relating to the family outside of the trivial things in the home.   His incessant use of his pet names, "songbird" and "squirrel" for example, trivialize her place in their home.   However, when Torvald becomes ill, it becomes Nora's responsibility to provide for his recovery.   Of course, Torvald, mustn't know anything about Nora borrowing money for his sake, which the situation demands.   So Nora is thrown into a dilemma.   Here her first decision to disobey her husband's wishes, in point of fact for the sake of her love for hi... ...e would long ago have told him about her troubles."   (294)    Works Cited: Gray, Ronald. "Henrik Ibsen." European Writers:   The Romantic Century.   New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985. Vol. 7, pp.1428-1430 Hardwick, Elizabeth. "A Doll's House." Drama Criticism.   Detroit:   Gale Research Inc., 1992.   Vol. 2, pp. 294-295 Harris, Laurie Lanzen. "Henrik Ibsen." Characters in 20th Century Literature.   New York: Gale Research Inc., 1990.   p. 183 Huneker, James.   "Ibsen." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.   Detroit:   Gale Research Inc., 1979. Vol. 2, pp.222-223 Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." Perrine's Literature.   Forth Worth:   Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.   pp. 967-1023    Works Consulted Shaw, Bernard. "A Doll's House Again."   Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.   Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1979. Vol. 8, p. 143   

Friday, July 19, 2019

Odysseus :: essays research papers

Odysseus is a hero of all times thanks to Homer who wrote his story in The Odyssey. Odysseus is a hero in his on time because of all his adventures and characteristics. Homer wrote about the Trojan War, in which Odysseus took part in, in the Iliad, and about Odysseus’ long journey home in, The Odyssey. There have been theories that suggest that Homer was illiterate and could not have possibly recited poems of these lengths by memory, and that they were put together much later on and added to. However, there is evidence that a city, possible Troy, existed and was destroyed. Also there was a kingdom of Ithica which allows for a king Odysseus. Even if the King did not go to the war there was still a chance that he might have existed. In the Odyssey, Homer used a narrative structure to tell his stories. The original texts were wrote on papyrus scrolls and it is theorized that these scrolls each told a chapter in Homers plays. The modern version of The Odyssey is a combination of all these scrolls that could have existed as separate stories about Odysseus’ travels, his encounters, and how he obtained his status as a hero. Ancient Greece has always been an interest of mine. In 6th grade a teacher that I had know for my whole schooling showed a movie every week. One week we watched â€Å"Jason and the Argonaughts†. Ever since then I could never get enough Greek mythology. In freshman year of high school we read the annotated text book version of The Odyssey. Lucky for me, I transferred English classes at the semester and I was able to read The Odyssey twice. And since then Odysseus has been a hero to me. The story starts in book 9, Odysseus telling his story to the King of Phaeaica. They sacked a city then sailed away when faced with opposing force. Next, they landed on the island of the lotus-eaters. After Odysseus pried his crew away from the lotus-eaters, they landed on the island of the Cyclops. Here is where Odysseus displays all his heroic qualities. Odysseus picked twelve of the best warriors from his crew to accompany him on the visit to the Cyclops, Polyphemus, and son of the god that shakes the Earth, Poseidon. Polyphemus takes Odysseus captive and proceeds to eat his warriors for meals. Odysseus dreams up an ingenious plan.