The Lessons of a Rose free essay sample

Since the time I was a young man my mom would take me to her nursery in the lawn and I would sit with her as she would keep up her nursery. I used to listen eagerly as she would show me developing plants. With a huge number of plants, my mothers garden was a desert garden of greenery in the solid wilderness of the city. My mother utilized the little earth in our patio to develop plants more than possible. The nursery had humble beginnings. During the initial barely any years in our new house, next to no was created from it. In any case, as the years advanced the nursery amassed biodiversity and thrived with sufficient measures of vegetation. The most noteworthy part of those encounters in my mothers garden among the grayness of the city, were the roses. Shades of profound reds and fluorescent yellows appeared to jump out and catch ones consideration. We will compose a custom article test on The Lessons of a Rose or on the other hand any comparable subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page They carefully influenced in the breeze as their petals delicately skimmed to the ground to lay very still, pointedly differentiating on the dark floor. They were shining vessels of excellence that were just too excellent to even think about ignoring. Like some other little child entertained by an article, I needed to have the option to snatch them. Sadly, they were decorated with thistles that were hardhearted to the touch, an exercise learned after a couple of bandages and hostile to septic applications. My moms blossoms presented me to agriculture and reared in me an affection for blossoms and vegetation till this day. My insight into blossoms was the subject of an intriguing and comical hypothesis in the football storage space, where machismo viewpoints ruled. The roses in my moms garden showed me more than plant information. They likewise showed me persistence. At the point when the plant developed in age, the thistles evaporated and tumbled off; this made it conceivable to appreciate the blossom with more noteworthy closeness. Till this day, the roses appear to pass on to me through redundancy the exercises I learned as a youngster. At the point when I help my mom cut her flower shrubberies, I become eager some of the time and attempt to speed things up and in result a rose thistle figures out how to catch me. I am exceptionally cheerful for my encounters in my moms garden and in reality pleased. I dont waver to impart my insight into blossoms to individuals when they are out of luck. Theyve enabled me more than to tell a twofold joy from a whiskey however theyve ingrained unto me the capacity to be attached to common excellence and a feeling of tolerance that has helped me over an amazing span by and by, expertly, and scholastically.

Origin of the Kingdom of Kush’s Religion Essay

Kushite religion was a mix of old Egyptian strict conventions and divine beings with customary Nubian customs and convictions. Archeological proof shows that slam cliques held a lot of significance for the Nubians preceding the Egyptian annihilation. So as to approve their case over Nubia, the Egyptians connected their god Amun with the Nubian smash religions. Hundreds of years after the fact, the Napatans turned around the jobs and utilized Amun to guarantee prevalence over Egypt. The slam headed Amun was venerated all over Nubia during the New Kingdom and Kushite periods. Amun, the god who allowed majesty was regarded the most significant in the Kushite pantheon, be that as it may, he was not by any means the only Egyptian god revered. During the Meroitic time frame, nearby Nubian divine beings assumed their exemplary position in the pantheon. Apedemak, the lion headed divine force of war was the most celebrated. Until the Meroitic language is deciphered, next to no can be comprehe nded of their religion and divine beings other than that they were loved in a way like those of Egypt, went to by ministers in unrestrained sanctuaries. Inception of the Kingdom of Kush’s Religion Kushite religion was a blend of antiquated Egyptian strict conventions and divine beings with customary Nubian customs and convictions. Archeological proof shows that slam cliques held a lot of significance for the Nubians before the Egyptian annihilation. So as to approve their case over Nubia, the Egyptians connected their god Amun with the Nubian smash religions. Hundreds of years after the fact, the Napatans turned around the jobs and utilized Amun to guarantee predominance over Egypt. The slam headed Amun was revered all over Nubia during the New Kingdom and Kushite periods. Amun, the god who conceded authority was esteemed the most significant in the Kushite pantheon, in any case, he was by all account not the only Egyptian god adored. During the Meroitic time frame, neighborhood Nubian divine beings assumed their noble position in the pantheon. Apedemak, the lion headed divine force of war was the most celebrated. Until the Meroitic language is deciphered, next to no can be comprehended of their religion and divine beings other than that they were revered in a way like those of Egypt, went to by ministers in excessive sanctuaries.

Tradition 5 as the Purpose of AA and Al-Anon Groups

Tradition 5 as the Purpose of AA and Al-Anon Groups Addiction Coping and Recovery Methods and Support Print Tradition 5 Is the Purpose of AA and Al-Anon Groups By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Updated on January 02, 2020 Tom Merton/Getty Images More in Addiction Coping and Recovery Methods and Support Overcoming Addiction Personal Stories Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Nicotine Use The primary purpose of any 12-step group is to carry its message and give comfort to others who are still suffering. This is spelled out in Tradition 5. Alcoholics Anonymous  Tradition 5: Each group has but one primary purpose: to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.Al-Anon  Tradition 5:  Each Al-Anon Family Group has but one purpose: to help families of alcoholics. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps of AA ourselves, by encouraging and understanding our alcoholic relatives, and by welcoming and giving comfort to families of alcoholics. The Purpose of 12-Step Groups Individual members bring their own needs into the 12-step rooms and each progresses through the journey of recovery at their own pace. Everyone is different. Each member has a personal reason for coming back week after week. But as a group they have but one purpose, to reach out to others who are still suffering. Their purpose is to share with others the experience, strength, and hope that they have found inside the rooms. An old-timer was once asked why he kept coming back after all these years. His answer was simple. Because there was someone there for me when I came through those doors. Love and Service AA groups are made up of a variety of people who, in many cases, are unlikely to mix if it werent for the common bond of alcoholism. They know that in order to stay sober they must help the next drunk through the door. Maryann notes, Nothing else matters more to  your sobrietyâ€"not your religion, your politics, or what you do for a living. The focus of the group cant waiver from its primary purpose of the group comes apart and becomes individuals and their agendas, then it is no longer there for the newcomer or the members. Old Timers Some old timers say that they dont need the meetings anymore. But even if they dont need the meetings, the group still needs them. One trustee notes that  If you want an old timer in your meeting, keep filling your own chair and someday there will be an oldtimer at your meeting. A Pathway for Personal Growth Lin, a member of  Al-Anon  notes these important elements of Tradition 5.  The first part of the tradition asks members to help families of alcoholics. This doesnt mean give them money. It means to be kind to them, listen to what they say, encourage them when theyre frustrated, and show them you genuinely care. Listening is very important. As you listen to what another member says, you realize others have had the same feelings and been through many of the same situations as you have. It can help you feel you are not alone. When others listen to you, it helps you know they understand what youre going through and where youve been. She notes that some people are very fragile and the smallest thing can interrupt their serenity. Sometimes by just telling them Its okay or I understand is all they need to regain their serenity. Share your strength with them. The fourth section of this tradition asks you to encourage and understand your  alcoholic relative. This may be easy to do when that person is in recovery, but more difficult during a relapse. You can, however, be understanding, realizing that alcoholism is a disease. Just as youd show compassion for a relative with cancer or diabetes, you can learn to show the same compassion for one who is an alcoholic. You can still love the person and hate the disease. When they say hurtful things, learn not to take it personally. Think: Its the disease, not him, thats saying this. The final part of the Fifth Tradition is welcoming and giving comfort to families of alcoholics. Welcoming newcomers at meetings is part of this tradition. The chair of the meeting can welcome the newcomers, but other members should do so as well. You may remember the despair and hopelessness that brought you through the doorsâ€"only to find unconditional love, support, peace, and hope inside. In giving comfort to families, you feel better yourself. You can give comfort to others by sharing at meetings, including ways that helped you deal with different situations. Let someone know that you understand. Sponsoring a newcomer will also help you welcome and comfort someone. Focusing on someone else instead of feeling sorry for yourself can help you get healthier. The Fifth Tradition is simple yet covers many aspects of ?your Al-Anon growth. It deals with love, understanding, comforting, and working the steps. It can easily apply to achieve harmony in other areas of your life.

Changes From My Grandmothers Generation to My Own

Life has been changing since the beginning of time. There is a big difference between life thousands of years ago and present days’ life. Every human generation beholds new changes in the pass through life, some of these changes continue to the next generation but the rest just remain in the memory of those who lived them. Sometimes we heard from the elders of the family how life used to be in their teenage and their parents teenage too. There have been a couple of times that when I go to my grandmother’s house I talk to her about her life when she was young and lived in Cuba. Things like family and teenagers, education, and technology used to be very different in that moment. The generation that I am living is quite different compare with my grandmother’s generation. My grandmother spent his teenage between the end of 1930 and the beginning of the 1940 living in Cuba. Back in that time family was something sacred, children used to respect adults, the couples respected themselves, and family used to be first thing always. Nowadays must of people forget the family concept and put less important matters before family. With all the new liberties of the new world the couples do not respect themselves because is all about who brings more to the house, men do not respect women and viceversa. There is no more respect from the children to adults; they do not care if it is a teacher, their grandparents or their parents. With this modern way of raise the children that the parents giveShow MoreRelatedCase Study : Family Systems Theory943 Words   |  4 Pagesparticular method of evaluation depends on the ideology of the therapist, as well as the state of the family that enters therapy. In family systems theory, the family is viewed as a homeostatic system, and a change in the functioning of one family member results in a compensatory change in the functioning of other family members. Symptoms in one family member, which can also be referred as an identified patient, indicate dysfunction in the family system as a whole. Bowen family systems theory wasRead MoreCulture And The 21st Century937 Words   |  4 PagesCulture is Changing What is culture in the 21st century? Culture is a term that has been around from the beginning of time. According to the Merriam- Webster dictionary, â€Å"Culture is a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, and art.† Culture is everything that an individual stands for and has lived through. Without culture, the world would not be very unique. The word â€Å"different â€Å"would not exist because the way people would live would all be the same. Cultures vary throughoutRead MoreReflection Paper On Storytelling1696 Words   |  7 Pagesstorytelling we are moved to change our positions, to love more, to hate more, we’re angry, we’re scared, we’re moved to care for better or worst. However, it’s the or in for better or worst that holds the power to cause us to feel great empathy or spite for each other. By understanding storytelling we can appreciate each other and be better than we were the day before. By engaging in storytelling whether it’s our ancestor’s stories past down from generation to generation, in a dog-eared book carriedRead MoreIntended Conversion to Christianity in Flannery OConners A Good Man is Hard to Find776 Words   |  4 Pagesthe necessary changes. Flannery OConnor showed deep concern towards the value system of the youth at the time. She firmly believed in helping to guide the youth in a positive direction. 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Despite knowing physicians do not have anything remotely resemblingRead MoreCrow lake Essay872 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Education The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.(Aristotle) The importance of education is effectively illustrated in the book Crow Lake by Mary Lawson and also in Alden Nowlans poem Warren Pryor. Both Kates family and Warrens family highly value the importance of education and both families expect their children to receive higher education. Both Kate and Warren used education as a tool to escape poverty. However, they differ in their feelingsRead MoreAs A Young Child, My Grandmother’S China Cabinet Was Enchanting.1396 Words   |  6 PagesAs a young child, my grandmother’s china cabinet was enchanting. When the sun streamed through the cabinet at the perfect angle, pink patterns created by glass dishes were splayed on the green shag carpet. Of course, I was not interested in the glassware that produced the light display, I was just intrigued by the display itself. As I grew, my grandmother explained these two pale pink glassware se ts were known as Depression Glass. Like many other women, my great grandmother collected the sets piece

Loneliness in Steinbecks Of Mice and Men Essay - 1084 Words

How true is the statement Guys like us are the loneliest guys in the world Personally I believe that this statement is true in every aspect. Loneliness is a big part of the book Of mice and men. The book shows loneliness in every ones life in the book. The quote says Guys like us George is talking about the ranch workers by saying us we know they are all lonely because they all show signs of loneliness, they try to fight this by making friends I think that in the book Steinbeck tries to show us that loneliness can be resolved by friendship. George blames Lennie for him being lonely ?I could get a girl, shoot some pool and stay at the cat house? George seems to be in denial as even if Lennie wasn?t there he wouldn?t be able to†¦show more content†¦When Lennie comes in and does not have any intention of hurting him, he realizes it and he lets his guard down. It may seem that he doesnt desire friendships or affection, but he no longer knows how to deal with his loneliness. It has made him into another person. Curleys wifes loneliness has altered the w ay she is towards others, making her very flirtatious. The men on the ranch avoid her because of flirtatious personality to keep out of trouble. No one understands her situation and how loneliness affects her. Her insecurity is easily seen by the way she dresses and wears her make-up. She uses her appearance to receive attention like when Curleys Wife was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton housedress and red mules, on the steps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. Curleys Wife feels she must dress this way for people to notice her and give her attention. Her dressing-up is unnecessary because they live on a farm and this is not the typical or practical clothing. The way she dresses proves her insecurity and her lack of confidence. Curleys Wife dresses inappropriately along with acting in flirtatious ways. This is another attempt for the attention sheShow MoreRelatedLoneliness In John Steinbecks Of Mice And Men1358 Words   |  6 Pages The Depression of Loneliness â€Å"Guys like us...are the loneliest guys in the world†(Steinbeck 15). Loneliness as a common feeling by the millions of migrant workers all over the United States during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, set in this era, depicts a story of loneliness within an old man named Candy; a young woman known as Curley’s Wife; and a discriminated African American named Crooks, on a barely farm in California. The ranch is filled with migrant workers, butRead More Loneliness in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men Essay2202 Words   |  9 PagesLoneliness in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men       Mother Theresa once said, Loneliness is a mans worst poverty. Without friends and companions, people begin to suffer from loneliness and solitude (Dusenbury 38). Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life and cannot be avoided, as shown prevalent through each of the characters in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men. Each and every character in this novel exhibits loneliness. Lennie was isolated for being mentally handicapped, Candy was isolatedRead MoreFriendship And Loneliness In John Steinbecks Of Mice And Men779 Words   |  4 PagesThe characters make dreams that cannot be achieved in John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, where friendship and loneliness are shown by certain characters in this novella. Friendship is one of the key character traits in the novella. For instance, friendship would be Lennie and George, their friendship is what holds them together and although Lennie is not smart, George still accompanies him as a friend. Continuously as George play more tricks on Lennie he began to see how Lennie didnt care forRead MoreEssay on Loneliness in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men1162 Words   |  5 Pagesof loneliness in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. In the light of the American economical collapse, there were a significant number of itinerant workers, who lived in a nomadic lifestyle, migrating in search of jobs. This continuous migration deterred them from building substantial relationships. Due to the lack of companionship and depression of the era, it appears that the characters are bound to loneliness. Most of the characters in John Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ areRead MoreLoneliness In John Steinbecks Of Mice And Men1490 Words   |  6 Pages The Effect of Loneliness in Of Mice and Men â€Å"Loneliness centres on the act of being seen. When a person is lonely, [he/she] long to be witnessed, accepted, desired, at the same time as becoming intensely wary of exposure† (Laing). As this quote suggests, when people begin to feel lonely, they wish to be accepted. But along with the desire for attention, the lonesome person’s suspicion grows. They become wary of the people around them, fearing rejection or judgement. Believing thatRead MoreEssay on Theme of Loneliness in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men1136 Words   |  5 PagesThe Theme of Loneliness in Of Mice and Men      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel, Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck used George and Lennies relationship and the theme of hope to point out the loneliness in the novel. The novel starts off and is set in Soledad which means lonely. At the beginning they get a job working on a farm together. Lennie is a little retarded and has great physical strength that isnt too controllable. As they work from ranch to ranch, Lennie relies on George for guidance and help. RatherRead MoreThe Theme of Loneliness in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men Essay870 Words   |  4 PagesThe Theme of Loneliness in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is set in the farmlands of Salinas Valley in California during the 1930’s. At this time there was a world wide depression caused by the Wall Street crash in America. John Steinbeck was born and brought up in Salinas California, he had lived and experienced a life of a migrant worker and that is what inspired him to write this novel (novella?). This meant he could paint a lot Read MoreEssay on The Theme of Loneliness in Steinbecks Of Mice and Men691 Words   |  3 PagesThe idea of solitude is a strong theme held throughout the entire novel Of Mice and Men. Without it, many of the key events that occur in the book would not have happened, for example, the death of Curley’s wife, which eventually lead to the unfortunate death of Lennie. To begin with, the overall atmosphere created by the author implies a sense of loneliness. ‘Soledad’, the setting of the book, means loneliness in Spanish, and many hints, such as the numerous games of ‘solitaire’ played, alsoRead MoreThe Theme of Loneliness in Steinbecks Of Mice and Men Essay examples1765 Words   |  8 PagesThe Theme of Loneliness in Steinbecks Of Mice and Men The name of the author of this novel is John Steinbeck. He wrote this novel in 1936 and it was published in 1937. The novel is set in a ranch, which is near the town of Soledad, California. Steinbeck got the name for his novel from a poem by Robert Burns called To a mouse, on turning her up in her nest with the plough. At the time this novel was written America was in the period of the Great Depression. This meantRead MoreLoneliness in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men Essay1733 Words   |  7 Pages Loneliness nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;There is only one thing in life that is really needed and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-estee. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all show some form of loneliness. They are curious of George and Lennie’s friendship because they do not have that support in their life. Through his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck

Junior Cert Study Free Essays

cyclonerepertory@gmail. com www. cyclonerepertory. We will write a custom essay sample on Junior Cert Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now com Romeo and Juliet Session Themes Topics 1 – Shakespeare’s Main Source: Arthur Brooke’s 3020 line narrative poem â€Å"The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet† (first published in 1562). Brooke was reported to have translated it from an Italian novella â€Å"Giulietta e Romeo†, a novella by the Italian author Matteo Bandello, written in 1554. The poem’s ending differs significantly from Shakespeare’s play: the nurse is banished, the apothecary is hanged for his involvement in the deception while Friar Laurence leaves Verona to live in a hermitage until he dies. Another notable plot difference is that the story takes place over nine months while Shakespeare’s version takes place over 5 days. A key theme of Brooke’s epic poem which permeates Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is: 2 – Love as a Religious Experience (or Love as a Form of Religious Worship). This idea of love is based on medieval courtly love poetry and was a strong influence on Brooke’s version of Romeo and Juliet. Love in this sense is not just lust but is tempered by patience, romance, spirituality and heroism. The language used in this poetry was full of religious references. This idea of love was borrowed by Shakespeare in his version of the tale. Here are a few examples which reflect this theme: â€Å"If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine† Romeo, Act I Scene 5 â€Å"Call me but love and I’ll be new baptized. † Juliet, Act II Scene 2 â€Å"Swear by the gracious self, which is the god of my idolatry. † Juliet, Act II Scene 2 This theme of love as religious worship demonstrates the young couple’s passion and devotion to one another. This return of affection from Juliet inflames the young Romeo as opposed to his advances towards the â€Å"unfeeling† Rosaline which were not reciprocated. – Synopsis of the Play: The extract below is the synopsis as staged in â€Å"The Romeo and Juliet Session†: Day 1, Sunday: The star crossed lovers meet and fall in love. Day 2, Monday: They secretly marry in Friar Lawrence’s cell. Later, Romeo gets in a brawl with Tybalt and his best friend, Merc utio, is killed . Taking revenge, Romeo in turn kills Tybalt. For this murderous act The Prince banishes him. But before fleeing to Mantua Romeo has a passionate night with his new bride. Day 3, Tuesday: Mr. Mrs. Capulet brutally force the rebellious Juliet to marry Paris. A now desperate Juliet runs to Friar Lawrence begging for help. He gives her a potion that induces a death-like state. Later that day Capulet moves the day of the wedding from Thursday to Wednesday. Day 4, Wednesday: The nurse finds Juliet â€Å"dead†. The wedding preparations now become funeral preparations. Romeo hears of Juliet’s death and makes the journey to Verona. Day 5, Thursday: Romeo arrives in Capulet’s tomb and takes his own life just before Juliet awakes. Seeing her dead lover by her side, the young Juliet takes Romeo’s knife and ends it. – Benvolio, Romeo Mercutio: The function of Benvolio’s character is to provide a peaceful, passive personality in contrast to the lively and aggressive Mercutio. This is important as both characters have a significant influence on the young Romeo. Our hero demonstrates aspects of both characters at various points throughout the play. Benvolio’s character foretells an end to the feud. He is only member of Romeo’s generation to survive by the end of the play. We also know that Benvolio is trustworthy. After Mercutio has been slain, Benvolio recounts the events accurately and fairly to the Prince. Even though he belongs to one of the families in the feud, the Prince does not see it necessary to doubt his word, further proving his sincerity and earnestness. It might prove useful to think of the characters of Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio as three brothers: Mercutio is the aggressive, jaded and, sometimes, mean eldest, Romeo is the youngest and most spoilt as he’s allowed to indulge his feelings and cries a lot and Benvolio, the middle child, is a good mediator as he helps to dissolve tensions between the two (as middle children often do in real life). However, in our Romeo and Juliet Session, the actor’s confusion over how to play Benvolio is also a devised conflict point between the actor and Shakespeare which acts as a bridge to discuss: 5 – Elizabethan Attitudes to Homosexuality: Freedom of choice, in this sense, was not allowed in Shakespeare’s day. Acceptance of Homosexuality as has been happening in today’s Western society was non-existent, at least publicly. If such attitudes were expressed in public then it could have serious repercussions as it went against acceptable norms of society. Practice of homosexuality was often punishable by death. 6 – Lack of Female Performers: In Shakespeare’s day women were not allowed onstage, in fact it was illegal. Their place was in the home. Every female character in those days was performed by men. In this play for example, teenage boys would play the role of Juliet, and older (generally burly and heavy) men, would play the Nurse. It’s interesting to notice that the character of the pantomime Dame, can be traced back to this type of roles. Women we only allowed on stage after 1660 (many years after Shakespeare death). – Mercutio’s Queen Mab Speech: What’s the point of this monologue? Most productions of this play cut it out. Mercutio’s cynical take on love serves as a counterpoint to Romeo’s wistful one. Mercutio is warning Romeo that love is a trap that comes with many pitfalls and burdensome obligations. In addition to this Shakespeare seems to have been making a bit of a pun with the name Queen Mab. Traditionally, Queen Mab is known as the queen of the fairies. But in his time the words â€Å"quean† and â€Å"mab† were also references to whores. Ultimately, Mercutio is trying to deflate Romeo’s illusion of love. Ergo: life is not a lover’s fairytale. 8 – Medieval Tragedy: A common plot device in Medieval Tragedy is that of unseen, hostile forces determining the destiny of the lovers. Shakespeare uses this concept in the play. When Romeo says, â€Å"†¦expire the term of a despised life clos’d in my breast† (Act I Scene 4) he is foretelling his own death. This is not because he wants to die but more because he feels that it is in his fate. That’s the reason why Shakespeare call them â€Å"star crossed lovers† in the Prologue to the play: their fate’s written in the stars. But they’re ill-fated too: conspiring against them are events, coincidences and accidents. For example: 1. Romeo’s bad timing in arriving too early to Juliet’s tomb. 2. Romeo not getting Friar Laurence’s letter explaining his scheme of Juliet’s pretended death. 3. The dark shadow of the feud influences the secretive actions of the hasty lovers. This hastiness is a tragic flaw that both characters share and it plays its part in the tragedy. In Juliet’s own words: â€Å"Too rash, too unadvised, too sudden. † (Act II Scene 2) In fact, Romeo and Juliet are fated to die. This tragic device of impending doom was meant to make the audience pity the young and innocent lovers. In Romeo’s own words: â€Å"I am fortune’s fool†. (Act III Scene 1) 9 – Love vs. Lust: Is Romeo really in love with Juliet or is he just a boy with a strong libido? Wasn’t he hopelessly in love with Rosaline before? In his own words: â€Å"The all seeing sun ne’er saw her match since first the world begun. † (Act I Scene 2). Romeo was gutted after Rosaline rejected him. If Juliet rejected him, would he have just found someone new, pined longer for Juliet, returned to Rosaline or do something else? Would it be fair to say that Romeo is in love with the idea of being in love? If we take the side of the argument that Romeo is really in love this time, then this harks back to the theme of Love as a Religious Experience. Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is spiritual, heroic romantic but it also contains lust, as in any romantic relationship. The world of Romeo and Juliet’s love is so all-consuming that, to quote John Donne, â€Å"Nothing else is†. (The Sun Rising, Stanza 3). This disregard for the outside world is the beauty of their pure love and the reason for their downfall. This meeting of these two soul mates has awoken them to a new world of feeling and passion that goes beyond anything they’ve ever known before. 10 – Conflict: All the conflicts in the play are a result of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets which we are told in the play was â€Å"Bred of an airy word† (Prince, Act I Scene 1). No one seems to know what started it in the first place. All we know is that the family’s of the Capulets and Montagues have born a grudge for a long period of time, passing on the hatred from one generation to the next, and they’re not even sure why. However, the feud between the families has an historic basis. The period referred to in the play is between 1269 1387. This was a time when Verona was split between competing noble families. Italians at that time were divided. Some of them favoured a government ruled by the German emperor while others were part of a congress of city-states under the moral leadership of the Pope in Rome. So noble Families would often fight over the political high ground. But what’s most important in this play is how the feud affects the young lovers and other characters. The feud is responsible for the fiery Tybalt seeking out Romeo for daring to show his face at the Capulet’s ball, it’s responsible for the lovers secret marriage, Mercutio’s and Tybalt’s murders, Romeo’s banishment and the Friar’s scheme which eventually leads to Romeo and Juliet’s death. 11 – Realism vs. Telling the story: There are inconsistencies in the play: No one question why the young, 14 your old Juliet just suddenly dies. The vial of potion by her side is never found. Rosaline, was a Capulet too, a cousin of Juliet. But the feud between the families was never addressed in that case. Was Shakespeare unaware of these inconsistencies? Why were they not addressed? This has a lot to do with how writing has changed over the years. Realism as we know it was an invention of the novels of the XVIII XIX centuries. In Shakespeare’s day there wasn’t an interest in depicting everyday life. Therefore consistency wasn’t as important as telling a story. Famous and quotes from Romeo and Juliet: Below are some quotes that you may find useful to quote in your exams. â€Å"A pair of star-crossed lovers†. Prologue â€Å"One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun†, Romeo, Act I, scene 2 â€Å"O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright†, Romeo, Act I, scene 5 â€Å"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night†, Romeo, Act I, scene 5 â€Å"My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! † Juliet, Act 1, scene 5 â€Å"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? † Juliet, Act II, scene 2 â€Å"O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. Juliet, Act II, scene 2 â€Å"Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow. † Juliet, Act II, scene 2 â€Å"What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. † Juliet, Act II, scene 2 â€Å"Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast,† F riar Laurence, Act II, scene 3 â€Å"Men’s eyes were made to look, and let them gaze. † Mercutio, Act III, scene 1 â€Å"A plague o’ both your houses! † Mercutio, Act III, scene 1 â€Å"O, I am Fortune’s fool! † Romeo, Act III, scene 1 â€Å"Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun. † Juliet, Act III, scene 2 â€Å"Then I defy you, stars! † Romeo, Act V, scene 1 â€Å"For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. † Prince, Act 5, scene 3 Shakespeare’s Contribution to the English Language Shakespeare is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with the introduction of nearly 3,000 worlds into the language. It doesn’t mean that he created them all but that his works were the earliest citation. Below is small list of words and phrases from Shakespeare’s plays. Many widely used today: Words: †¢ Accommodation †¢ Amazement †¢ Apostrophe †¢ Assassination †¢ Auspicious †¢ Bloody †¢ Bump †¢ Courtship †¢ Critic †¢ Critical †¢ Dwindle †¢ Exposure †¢ Frugal †¢ Generous †¢ Gloomy †¢ Hurry †¢ Invulnerable †¢ Laughable †¢ Lonely †¢ Majestic †¢ Misplaced †¢ Monumental †¢ Multitudinous †¢ Obscene †¢ Pious †¢ Premeditated †¢ Radiance †¢ Road †¢ Sanctimonious †¢ Sportive †¢ Suspicious Phrases: †¢ all that glitters isn’t gold †¢ as dead as a doornail †¢ break the ice †¢ catch a cold †¢ clothes make the man †¢ disgraceful conduct eaten out of house and home †¢ elbowroom †¢ fair play †¢ foregone conclusion †¢ heart of gold †¢ heartsick †¢ hot-blooded †¢ housekeep ing †¢ in a pickle †¢ in stitches †¢ in the twinkling of an eye †¢ it’s Greek to me †¢ lackluster †¢ laughing stock †¢ leapfrog †¢ long-haired †¢ method in his madness †¢ mind’s eye †¢ mum’s the word †¢ naked truth †¢ neither a borrower nor a lender be †¢ neither here nor there †¢ send him packing †¢ set your teeth on edge †¢ sorry sight †¢ to be or not to be †¢ to thine own self be true †¢ too much of a good thing †¢ vanish into thin air †¢ wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve [pic] [pic] [pic] How to cite Junior Cert Study, Essay examples

Teens and Sex Essay Example For Students

Teens and Sex Essay Jay GradnerAn increasing problem on high school campuses and one of the mainconcerns of parents, school officials, and the government is teenage sex. It ison the rise, and they are worried that it may get out of control. Teenage sexcan be a problem because of the pregnancies and many diseases it can cause. Onesolution that has been proposed is to distribute condoms in public high schools. This is a topic that is controversial and has been hotly debated for years. There are people who think it would be a good idea and those who think it mayworsen the problem rather than solve it. The reason that people want to distribute condoms in high school is totry to prevent teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and (I separatethis from the category of STDs because it is so widespread, deadly, important,frightening, etc.) H.I.V infection. The theory is that if condoms were givenout or made available at high schools, then the students would be more inclinedto use them. They would have them or be able to get them if they need to usethem. This would cut down on unprotected sexual intercourse and prevent thepregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and H.I.V. infection. If a studentwas at a party and decided, on the spur of the moment, to engage in sexualintercourse, then it is more likely that they have a condom if schoolsdistributed them. This sounds good in theory, but will it really work? Ifschools distribute condoms, shouldnt they also teach the students how to usethem and teach them a little about sex (sex education in schools, anothercontroversial topic) ?The world certainly needs to try to decrease teenage pregnancies, STDs,and H.I.V. infection. In an article from the New York Times, the United Nationsreports that women, especially sexually active teenage girls, have a higher rateof H.I.V. infection than men in that age group. It cited the slow developmentof mucous membranes as the reason for the lower protection against infection andincreased risk of getting H.I.V. It mentions that in Rwanda, 25% of pregnantwomen are infected, and 17% of those who have teenage sex will be infected. Those numbers are staggering. In the United States, if even 5% of teenagers whohave had sex become infected with H.I.V., then that would translate to hundredsof thousands of teenagers. This shows that H.I.V. could be a bigger problemthan it already is if nothing is done about it, and some people think thatdistributing condoms would help keep the problem from getting worse. Condom distribution might work, but what if the students do not usethem? Also, distributing condoms might start a student to become sexually activethat otherwise would not be. Wouldnt condom distribution then increase teenagesex thus increasing the chance of getting pregnant and contracting H.I.V.? Oncethis student becomes sexually active he or she might not use a condom every timethey have sex. Even if they do, condoms are not 100% effective. I repeat-CONDOMS ARE NOT 100% EFFECTIVE. They are only 92-96% effective againstpregnancy and not at all effective for blocking H.I.V. transmission. Wouldnt abetter option then be to control teenage sex?Making love is not something to play around with. When people decide todo it, they make a life and death decision. If they contract an STD they risktheir life for death. And if a woman gets pregnant, the woman is not guaranteedto live through it (although chances are that she will), and the child is notguaranteed to live for many reasons includin g abortion. .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 , .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .postImageUrl , .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 , .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9:hover , .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9:visited , .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9:active { border:0!important; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9:active , .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9 .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud32f1de53376878a8c0eb889b7b53bd9:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Do Soaring Price and Mounting Demand in Indian Gold Market Speak of a Paradox? EssayShouldnt steps be taken to educate teenagers about what they aregetting into before schools start handing out condoms? This would be a betterway to prevent the spread of pregnancies and of STDs and H.I.V. If teenagers donot have sex to begin with the risk of infection goes down because, like I said,condoms are not 100% effective. If they know more about the risks, then theycan make an educated decision about sex, and then it will be very likely thatthey will use a condom if they decide to have sex. This is one alternative andmight be a better policy to implement than condom distribution. I think that starting in junior high school, students should learn aboutpregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and H.I.V. There would be a course ora section of a course dedicated to health where students learn about thesesubjects. Then in high school, students should do a more in-depth study of theconsequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This could be doneas a part of a biology course or as a research project in an English class. Finally, students should learn about H.I.V. and AIDS, how it affects the livesof those who have it, and what can be done about it. Again, this could be aseparate course that is required or a part of another required course. Then,pamphlets about all these things should be made available at the health (ornurses) office and suggested for the students to read before they receivecondoms. If this is done, then I believe that teenage sex should be less of aproblem than it is now. Category: Social Issues

buy custom The Limits of Acceptable Change essay

buy custom The Limits of Acceptable Change essay A central wilderness management goal is restoring or maintaining solitude and naturalness qualities. Sometimes human-induced changes usually threat the quality of solitude and naturalness qualities of the wilderness. It is possible to eliminate recreational changes if the management prohibits incorrect use of the wilderness by visitors. Because of this, wilderness management challenge is not preventing human induced change, but deciding on the extent of change allowable, where this changed is allowed and the control actions the management can use. This paper looks into the amount of allowable change, explicitly defined by quantitative standard means, procedural evaluation and monitoring of management as well as the apposite management actions. The processes of LAC oblige managers to characterize needed conditions of the wilderness and undertake appropriate measures to achieve and maintain these conditions. Certain pressures influence these conditions, including fire control, recreation, mining, and grazing. Despite having identified recreation as an important concern of LAC, it is important to emphasize that the management of the wilderness absorbs more than recreation. The following LAC processes provide a structure for managing the dilemma of accommodating human use, yet preserving the quality of the wilderness. These processes provide basic attention to the conditions of the wilderness that are present, and those that the management judge as acceptable. An important aspect of the LAC process is the explicit recognition of the value of presenting diverse wilderness circumstances. Putting in mind that any wilderness use usually results into some amount of effect, the processes oblige managers to identify locations of dama ge, the extent and the appropriate or acceptable degrees of change. The LAC process includes four fundamental components; the first component is specifying the achievable and satisfactory resource and social conditions, through measurable parameters. The second component is analyzing the relationship between the conditions that already exists and those that the management judges as acceptable. Thirdly, the management must identify the necessary actions for achieving the conditions and lastly, the management must establish a program for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the management. The four components are further divided into nine steps in order to facilitate their application. The first step is identifying an area of concern or issue, step two us defining and describing class opportunity, step three is selecting resource indicators and social conditions, step four, establishing an inventory resource, step five, specifying resource conditions and social indicators, s tep six identifying alternative allocations for opportunity class. Step seven includes identifying appropriate management actions for every alternative, followed by an evaluation and selection of an effective alternative, and finally, implementing actions and monitor conditions. Application of the LAC The application of LAC follows is a step by step process, focus on each of the nine steps. In the applicatio in Singapore zoo, it is necessary to define an issue area as well as concerns of the public and the management. Singapore Zoo is the earliest and most important zoo in Singapore. Because it attracts numerous visitors every year, a common issue that the management has identified is animal feeding and littering. In the application, the first step is identifying and describing opportunity classes. The opportunities that both the public and the management identify are littering, over crowding and animal feeding. After this, it is necessary to select resource and social conditions indicators. The possible indicators here include recreationist encounters, forage utilization and multiple trails. Recreation Opportunity Spectrum This is a behavioural approach, which helps land managers identify and provide diversified recreational opportunities for public land managers (Diamantis, 2004). It recognizes the human beings seek not just a recreational site, but a complex experience that comes from a mixture of related factors. This tool allows managers to zone, describe and provide varied experiences fro recreation to the public, while acknowledging that no one land piece can offer an entire spectrum of recreational activities. The spectrum that ROS identifies the range on a continuum of primitive to semi-primitive, natural to rural, motorized to reloaded, to urban. Every classification has different sorts of settings. Primitive classification may focus on the social setting that is most appropriate for encounters with less than six parties days on trial (Pigram , M.J 2006). on the other hand, reloaded natural may focus on necessary social setting, which allows moderate to the high road contacts. ROS seeks to ide ntify large land polygons, where specific recreational experiences would be most available to the public. It has tentative specifications, which are expressed in percentage range. ROS also understands that when people consider outdoor recreation opportunities, they make choices on activities, settings and recreational experiences. A recreation opportunity setting refers to a combination of social, biological, physical and managerial conditions, which adds value to a place. in this respect, an opportunity includes nature qualities (landscapes, vegetation and scenery), recreational use qualities (types and levels of use ) and conditions that the management provides (regulations, roads and developments). It is possible for the management to provide recreational opportunities when it combines these variations. The primary assumption under ROS is that management can assure outdoor recreation quality by providing diversified opportunities. There are numerous preferences and tastes for recreational activities, however, many visitors consider personalized quality as the most important quality. Recreation opportunities should provided different psychological outcomes, Application of the ROS Managers can use ROS to offer visitors with certain information about what the site is like, and not the experiences visitors should expect. The visitors opportunity choice will offer feedback on the degree to which opportunities accomplish the outcomes that visitors desired. ROS provides a framework that varies situational attributes explicitly, in order to yield several recreational opportunities. The recreationists will utilize these opportunities to derive satisfaction. The opportunity factor is defined using several factors including access, non recreational resource uses, onsite management, social interaction, visitor management acceptability and acceptable regimentation level. Types of access include trails, cross-country travel and roads. ROS helps management design and define access systems. Research indicates wide preference in the type of access that cuts across many conditions (Dawson Hendee, 2008). Non recreational resource factor considers the extent of use of non recr eational resources such as grazing and mining. For example, visitors to semi arid primitive locations with roads usually accept logging and grazing, though they may express concerns over large clear cuts. On site management feature includes modifications to the site such as vegetation of exotic species, landscaping, vegetation management and traffic barriers. Evaluating the appropriateness of site management is done by considering four elements; modification extent, modification extent, modification apparentness, and facilities. The fourth factor is social interaction. Recreationists tend to have low interaction levels in primitive settings while the opposite is observable in modern settings. Insufficient interaction levels in certain settings especially modern, is sometimes undesirable, as is excessive interaction levels in primitive settings (Jamal Robinson, 2009). Managers of sites must pay attention to the necessary type of use for every setting. For example, in primitive setti ngs, recreationists may travel by foot while cars and automobiles are most applicable in modern settings. The fifth factor in ROS is visitor impacts accessibility. These impacts may be felt by other people through noises or on resources through pollution and trampling. Any use on sites usually result into some impact, therefore, it is upon the management to decide on the appropriate levels of impacts. Managers must maintain equal opportunities for excellent recreation. They must also maintain and protect the values of other resources. To do this, they must identify the appropriate levels of impact, which is done through environmental analysis. The last factor is acceptable regimentation, which describes the extent, nature and control level of opportunities. Modern opportunities tend to be more organized and regulate, compared to primitive ones. To achieve efficiency, managers combine these factors in order to cove a comprehensive spectrum of recreational opportunities. This combinat ion determines the allowable range for recreational activities. The ROS offers a thinking strategy for managers, which helps them determine recreation opportunities appropriate for specific areas. However, ROS also has application in planning and allocating recreational resources, matching the recreationist experiences with their desired opportunities, and estimating the impacts of decisions made by management over recreational opportunities. Buy custom The Limits of Acceptable Change essay

Abstract Nouns from Adjectives

Abstract Nouns from Adjectives Abstract Nouns from Adjectives Abstract Nouns from Adjectives By Maeve Maddox Abstract nouns may be formed from adjectives by adding the suffix -ness: happy/ happiness, sad/sadness, kind/kindness, cheerful/cheerfulness. However, a large group of adjectives have distinct nouns that do not require a formation with -ness or any other suffix. A common stylistic fault is to add the -ness ending to adjectives that already have corresponding noun forms. For example, the adjective humble has the corresponding noun humility, but many English speakers don’t seem to be aware of it and write â€Å"humbleness† instead. Here are a few examples from the web that illustrate the unnecessary use of –ness to form abstract nouns: I admire his courageousness on choosing a role that was really hard to portray She believed that pride and lack of humbleness was against the teaching of the Bible. Politicians Need More  Humbleness A real story made me to realize that i have hidden my braveness so many days inside me. This emphasis on responsibleness is reflected in the categorical imperative of logotherapy Developing Moral Responsibleness Through Professional Education (title of book written by a professor of educational psychology) Hey guys she said coyly, using the maximum of her sexiness and intelligentness. I wondered at my luckiness Here are several additional adjective/abstract noun pairs that seem to have escaped the notice of many journalists and bloggers: angry/anger anxious/anxiety beautiful/beauty brave/bravery chaotic/chaos compassionate/compassion courageous/ courage  Ã‚  Ã‚   curious/curiosity deceitful/deceit evil/evil generous/generosity humorous/humor imaginative/imagination intelligent/intelligence jealous/jealousy joyful/joy loyal/loyalty lucky/luck luxurious/luxury mature/maturity opinionated/opinion painful/pain peculiar/peculiarity responsible/responsibility romantic/romance sane/sanity sensitive/sensitivity sorrowful/sorrow strong/strength stupid/stupidity successful/success sympathetic/sympathy tolerant/tolerance warm/warmth wise/wisdom witty/wit Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply withIn Search of a 4-Dot EllipsisGrammatical Case in English

Chemistry of hazardous materials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Chemistry of hazardous materials - Essay Example Although oxygen by itself is not flammable, it enhances burning processes. When liquid oxygen comes into contact with organic materials, it can easily trigger fires and explosions; this is the reason why spillage of liquid oxygen on asphalt pavement is potentially hazardous (Beeson & Smith, 2007). Asphalt is an organic material and liquid oxygen is highly concentrated. Spilled liquid oxygen is absorbed by the asphalt material, making the pavement potentially prone to fire and/or explosion. The ongoing activities on the asphalt pavement at the time of liquid oxygen spillage can raise or reduce the underlying hazards. Fumes of concentrated oxygen could be absorbed by the clothes passersby are wearing and any kind of spark or glowing material (burning cigarette) could trigger fire. On the same note, vehicle impacts on asphalt soaked in liquid oxygen could result in massive explosions, thereby destroying lives and properties (Beeson & Smith, 2007). Area of spillage should be avoided until safety is

Selected Retailer in Tesco Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Selected Retailer in Tesco - Case Study Example Its customer data –base includes not only details about its client’s interests, and but also contains of an assorted variety of other food-associate services and non-food services and products and also the life-style and demographic details of its shoppers which include total dollars expended on food products in its stores and the customer response to its product promotion and allied programs. (Shajahan 2006:205). For the first time in the year 2005, Tesco achieved the thirty percent market share in the grocery market in UK.TESCO is the first retailer in UK to report revenues more than  £ 2 billion. This is really astonishing as this means that every  £8 spent by UK shoppers, about  £1 will be spent in Tesco stores. TESCO during 2008/09 recorded net sales of  £ 1.9 billion and its profit during the year touched a new height of  £ 109 million. TESCO online shopping website is the top five most visited retail websites on the global level, and it attracts about 3.3 million visitors on a weekly basis. TESCO is distributing about 12 million catalogues during a year and receives about 475,000 orders per week. It has the most effective distribution system and has about 2000 home delivery vans and offers employment for more than 20000 individuals. (Wade-Gery 2009). Tesco’s online retail sales are on the increase on an annual basis. Total online sales by adult population were just 17% in 2003, which jumped to a whooping figure of 62 percent in 2010. Though, Tesco’s online sale is only 7% of total retail sales of UK, but there is a still bright prospect for growth potential in this sector. (Wade-Gery 2009). TESCO’s online business is not only large but also rapidly developing. Online business adds more revenue to Tesco, and it has a competitive advantage as a multi-channel offers are being made. TESCO online business is of low capital intensity in nature but with high returns. Further, the  the online grocery market presents plenty of growth to Tesco as Tesco has penetrated about 3% of overall online grocery market in UK but only about 6.7% of Tesco’s grocery sales are made through online.

Apple Iphone Os Vs Google Android Os Computer Science Essay

Apple Iphone Os Vs Google Android Os Computer Science Essay This report is to provide the effect of smart phone operation system and also analyze which operation system will be lead in such a competitive market. Among of many operation systems in market, this report makes a comparison between Apples iPhone OS and Googles Android OS. The findings of this report are based on factors such as performance characteristics, market share growth, demands and future technology. First of all, we analyze the performance characteristics which are the most important part for consumers to consider before they buy. The performance characteristics are including resolution, voice control, battery standby time, applications, and open source platform. The second comparison is market share of each operation system. iPhone OS was leading in first quarter of 2010 than Android OS, the research show how quickly the rate has changed in second quarter of 2010. While iPhone OS leads in market in past few months, Android OS has been rising rapidly. Android devices are available on all four major carriers but the iPhone has not been willing to license its OS out to other carriers except ATT. Although iPhone has the high popularity since its launch in 2007, most people who want to buy an iPhone will not get the chance to buy one because iPhon e remains only on ATT.The third comparison taken into consideration is demands and customer satisfaction levels. The demands for the iPhone and customer satisfaction are relatively high. However, if Apple stays closed minded, it will not achieve the market share estimated. The last part is about their future perspective, both iPhone OS and Android OS will release their newest generation OS to their amazing phones in next year 2011.These four factors could give a conclusion that Googles Android OS will overtake Apples iPhone OS in very soon. Apples iPhone OS and Googles Android OS are both excellent operation systems. Based on the findings, Android OS will overtake iPhone OS in the market when considering each in terms of performance characteristics , market share growth, demand and future technology. Although iPhone has larger share in the market, more customers loyalty and higher customers satisfaction levels, we can assume that the difference between iPhone and Android will not last for much longer. This concludes that Android OS will surpass iPhone OS in the future because of the variety of devices it offers in the market and available in major wireless carriers. Based on the conclusion presented above the following actions are recommended for Apples iPhone operation system to compete in such a crowded market: Apples iPhone need to become business partner with major wireless carriers such as Verizon ,T-Mobile and Sprint and that is the exact strategy that Google has used with Android to grow so fast . Also provide the best overall experience at the lowest monthly cost, lower phone cost and carrier promotions, such as Verizons buy-one-get-one-free offer on Android OS de vices. APPLE (IPHONE) VS GOOGLE (ANDROID) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background As a 2009 study by Pogue, he states that new concepts for smart phone utilization nearly makes the newest smart phone obsolete on first day of issue, none the less the smart phone is not only a dont leave home without out, it is as essential as a home key. Companies all over world are building out the necessary hardware creating advanced performance capabilities which allow for smarter applications. In recalling the centuries old existing communication systems and relating this thought to smart phones can only result in the wonder of the future of todays communication systems. (Pogue) The purpose of this report is preparing market analysis of operating systems for smart phones. This communication device has nearly replaced all other types of communications. The smart phone and the smart phone operating system is an unbelievable partnership in artificial intelligence. The individual who adapts himself to learn how to master these systems should be ahead of his competitors. Statement of Purpose The purpose of this report is to provide the effect of smart phone operating system. Among of many smart phones in markets, this report makes a comparison between Iphones OS and Googles Android OS technologies through factors such as features, demand, market growth, and future perspective in the determine which smart operating system will be lead in smart market. Scope The report only discusses Iphone operating systems and Googles OS used in smart phone in all, in common without any detailed discussion of the different other device in operating system. We also took a look consumer satisfaction levels based upon the type of OS they report having on their smart phone. Limitations If there are some limitations for this project they would be, the most is the timing. We feel that we are in a rush manner to find the most useful information in only a couple weeks to completed our report. In addition, we have some difficult personal individual situations to apply to our group meeting. While the scope is already being limited to two types of operating system, there are also a range of operating systems that are provied by Symbian OS, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and Linux. We have included related information from other smart phones while elimination phone identification. Methods of Research We are going to use secondary research method to complete this report. To avoid unreliable resources we only chose the most factual information from the databases of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at California State University, Los Angeles. We also narrow the articles from 2007 to 2010 no more than three years. The rest of information we are going to use from the google search engine. CHAPTER 2 FINDINGS The evolution of the smart phone has become an invaluable aid in our daily activities. Phones such as Iphone and Andriod have already caused life changing methods of communications and future innovations will definitely be welcomed. The finding of this report indicates the concept of the vast areas for improvement is overwhelming and difficult to identify relative to order of importance. These finding are shown through analysis of performance characteristics, demand, market growth, and future prospective. Performance Characteristics In analysis the performance characteristics between the Android and Iphone, the main difference is that the Android is built on an open source platform, so that the application developer can develop more and more applications for Android. Instead of open source, iPhone is built on a proprietary operating system, only Apple can make changes to the system, and only their engineers can develop applications for iPhone. Currently, Apple has approximately 20,000 applications to 70,000 applications more than Android. Nevertheless, as Android grows impressively in the market, as more developers develop applications for Android, the numbers will narrow down in the future. Despite iPhone having more applications at this moment, Android has free advanced GPS application over iPhone that allows you to voice control navigation. You dont have to input a specific address. You can simply say turn to the Staple center in Los Angeles and the application will find the correct route for you. The displays on both phones have big differences too. Android has big 3.7 inches screen with 854 x 480 pixels. This screen size is almost two times larger than the previous generation iPhone 3GS. Android supports multiple screen solutions from 480 x 320 to 854 x 480, which means it has flexible screen fits applications for better view. Compare to the Android big screen, iPhone has only 3.5 inches screen. Although the screen size is smaller than Android, iPhone has a huge 960 x 640 pixel resolution, that means everything displays on the screen is much more noticeable and detailed than Android. Android and iPhone are have a built in rechargeable lithium ion battery. The difference is you can remove and replace the battery from Android as needed. And for iPhone, the only way you can remove the battery is to send it back to the factory. In regarding the talk time and the idle time, iPhone has outperformed Android. iPhone has 7 hours talk time and 14 hours standby time for up to 300 hours. In comparison, Android has about 300 minutes of talk time and 146 hours standby time. Market Share Growth In Quantcasts online research report by Sarah Perez , both iPhone operation system and Android operation system are increasing their share of the US smart phone market .The iPhone OS seen to gain market share steadily .The iPhone OS market share accounted for moving large chunks of its competitors such as T-mobile , Sprint and Verizon. The iPhone OS has 58 percent of the overall OS market, which this seem small but it actually represents 75 million devices sold during the period of two and a half years. On the other hand, Googles operation system has been rising rapidly. Googles Android is an operating system available on variety of phones models made by different manufacturers, such as LG, HTC, Samsung and Motorola . Also major wireless carriers including ATT, T-mobile, Sprint and Verizon have now become business partners with Google. Meanwhile, Apples operating system is used only on iPhone. According to new data from The Nielsen Company states that Android only held 13% market share as of Q2 2010 representing significant growth from 9% as recently as Q1 2010. Maintaining second place with 28% market share, iPhone showed slight growth from Q2 2010 as shown below in Figure 1. Figure 1 Among recent smart phone subscribers , Androids Q2 2010 performance was impressive. Googles Android operating system edged out Apples iPhone operating system for the No. 2 spot in the U.S. consumer smart phone market in the first quarter. As shown in Figure 2 on next page, Android grew its market share from 17% in Q1 2010 to 27%, taking second place from iPhone, which quarterly market share slipped from 27% to 23% . Figure 2 Demands According to the data from Nielson Company by Don Kellogg, iPhone and Android different from the other smart phones is demand on operating system by users. 80% of iPhone users want their next device to be iPhone OS while 70% of Android users want another Android device. Among both users who would like to switch operating systems, the rate at which Android users would like to try iPhone is twice as high as that of iPhone users who would try Android. On next page, Figure 3 shows customer loyalty based on the operation systems. Figure 3 Customers Satisfaction Heres what we found the article written by Paul Carton and Jean Crumrine based on Change Wave Research. The Apple iPhone lead all other major cell phone manufacturers, with 74% of owners reporting theyre very satisfied with their iPhone. We also took a look at consumer satisfaction levels based upon the type of OS they report having on their smart phone as Figure 4 shown in next page. Figure 4 Future Perspective Technology is changing fast, the iPhone 4 has just released in the last summer, and the new generation iPhone 5 has already been announced that it will release in 2011. According to Hubpages news, the new iPhone5 change to 4G in the network which improvement new applications loaded such as video chat on 3G and 4G, and also include Face Recognition Security. Comprared to the iPhone 4 with 7 hours talk time and 14 hours standby time for up to 300 hours, the battery performance will be increased in iPhone 5 significantly. Standby time increased to 600 hours and talk time with 14 hours on 3G and a 7 hours on 4 G, twice times longer than iPhone 4. New iPhone5 will also support Flash, which a lot of future applications and webpage will require it. In the other side, Google will name Ice Cream for their next generation Android 4.0. According to Droidmarkets Website, the future of Android operating system, Android 3.5 Honeycomb and Android 4.0 will be released in 2011. Android 3.5 Honeycomb is following on from Android 3.0 Gingerbread platform, that improvements will focus on support for WebM video playback, improved user interface, and multimedia and support 3D gaming and resources that the way 3.1 followed 3.0. New Android will be more tablet-friendly and significantly faster. The new system will also support Flash as iPhone 5 do. One good news for Youtuber is the Ice Cream will support 1080p HDMI Output, which allowed you to connect your Ice Cream to your high destination TV. You can play BlueRay movie in HDTV with your Ice Cream standalone. CHAPTER 3 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions In conclusion, both Apples iPhone OS and Googles Android OS are excellent operation systems. Based on the findings, it is predictable that Android OS will overtake iPhone OS in the market when considering each in terms of performance characteristics, market share growth, demands and future perspective. Although iPhone has larger share in the market, more customers loyalty and higher customers satisfaction levels, we can assume that the difference between iPhone and Android will not last for much longer. This concludes that Android OS will surpass iPhone OS in the future because of the variety of devices it offers in the market and available in major wireless carriers. Recommendations Based on the conclusion presented above the following actions are recommended for Apples iPhone operation system to compete in such a crowded market: 1. Apples iPhone need to become business partner with major wireless carriers such as T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon and that is the exact strategy that Google has used with Android to grow so fast . 2. Provide the best overall experience at the lowest monthly cost, lower phone cost and carrier promotions, such as Verizons buy-one-get-one-free offer on Android OS devices.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 27

Chapter 27 The angel and I watched Star Wars for the second time on television last night, and I just had to ask. â€Å"You've been in God's presence, right, Raziel?† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"Do you think he sounds like James Earl Jones?† â€Å"Who's that?† â€Å"Darth Vader.† Raziel listened for a moment while Darth Vader threatened someone. â€Å"Sure, a little. He doesn't breathe that heavy though.† â€Å"And you've seen God's face.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Is he black?† â€Å"I'm not allowed to say.† â€Å"He is, isn't he? If he wasn't you'd just say he wasn't.† â€Å"I'm not allowed to say.† â€Å"He is.† â€Å"He doesn't wear a hat like that,† said Raziel. â€Å"Ah-ha!† â€Å"All I'm saying is no hat. That's all I'm saying.† â€Å"I knew it.† â€Å"I don't want to watch this anymore.† Raziel switched the channel. God (or someone who sounded like him) said, â€Å"This is CNN.† We came up to Jerusalem, in the gate at Bethsaida called the Eye of the Needle, where you had to duck down to pass through, out the Golden Gate, through the Kidron Valley, and over the Mount of Olives into Bethany. We had left the brothers and Matthew behind because they had jobs, and Bartholomew because he stank. His lack of cleanliness had started to draw attention lately from the local Pharisees in Capernaum and we didn't want to push the issue since we were walking into the lair of the enemy. Philip and Nathaniel joined us on our journey, but stayed behind on the Mount of Olives at a clearing called Gethsemane, where there was a small cave and an olive press. Joshua tried to convince me to stay with them, but I insisted. â€Å"I'll be fine,† Joshua said. â€Å"It's not my time. Jakan won't try anything, it's just dinner.† â€Å"I'm not worried about your safety, Josh, I just want to see Maggie.† I did want to see Maggie, but I was worried about Joshua's safety as well. Either way, I wasn't staying behind. Jakan met us at the gate wearing a new white tunic belted with a blue sash. He was stocky, but not as fat as I expected him to be, and almost exactly my height. His beard was black and long, but had been cut straight across about the level of his collarbone. He wore the pointed linen cap worn by many of the Pharisees, so I couldn't tell if he'd lost any of his hair. The fringe that hung down was dark brown, as were his eyes. The most frightening and perhaps the most surprising thing about him was that there was a spark of intelligence in his eyes. That hadn't been there when we were children. Perhaps seventeen years with Maggie had rubbed off on him. â€Å"Come in, fellow Nazarenes. Welcome to my home. There are some friends inside who wanted to meet you.† He led us through the door into a large great room, large enough in fact to fit any two of the houses we shared at Capernaum. The floor was paved in tile with turquoise and red mosaic spirals in the corners of the room (no pictures, of course). There was a long Roman-style table at which five other men, all dressed like Jakan, sat. (In Jewish households the tables were close to the ground and diners reclined on cushions or on the floor around them.) I didn't see Maggie anywhere, but a serving girl brought in large pitchers of water and bowls for us to wash our hands in. â€Å"Let this water stay water, will you, Joshua?† Jakan said, smiling. â€Å"We can't wash in wine.† Jakan introduced us to each of the men, adding some sort of elaborate title to each of their names that I didn't catch, but which indicated, I'm sure, that they were all members of the Sanhedrin as well as the Council of Pharisees. Ambush. They received us curtly, then made their way to the water bowls to wash their hands before dinner, all of them watching as Joshua and I washed and offered prayer. This, after all, was part of the test. We sat. The water pitchers and bowls were taken away by the serving girl, who then brought pitchers of wine. â€Å"So,† said the eldest of the Pharisees, â€Å"I hear you have been casting demons out of the afflicted in Galilee.† â€Å"Yes, we're having a lovely Passover week,† I said. â€Å"And you?† Joshua kicked me under the table. â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"By the power of my father I have relieved the suffering of some who were plagued by demons.† When Joshua said â€Å"my father† every one of them squirmed. I noticed movement in one of the doorways to Jakan's back. It was Maggie, making signals and signs like a madwoman, but then Jakan spoke. Attention turned to him and Maggie ducked out of sight. Jakan leaned forward. â€Å"Some have said that you banish these demons by the power of Beelzebub.† â€Å"And how could I do that?† Joshua said, getting a little angry. â€Å"How could I turn Beelzebub against himself? How can I battle Satan with Satan? A house divided can't stand.† â€Å"Boy, I'm starving,† I said. â€Å"Bring on the eats.† â€Å"With the spirit of God I cast out demons, that's how you know the kingdom has come.† They didn't want to hear that. Hell, I didn't want to hear that, not here. If Joshua claimed to bring the kingdom, then he was claiming to be the Messiah, which by their way of thinking could be blasphemy, a crime punishable by death. It was one thing for them to hear it secondhand, it was quite another to have Joshua say it to their faces. But he, as usual, was unafraid. â€Å"Some say John the Baptist is the Messiah,† said Jakan. â€Å"There's nobody better than John,† Joshua said. â€Å"But John doesn't baptize with the Holy Ghost. I do.† They all looked at each other. They had no idea what he was talking about. Joshua had been preaching the Divine Spark – the Holy Ghost – for two years, but it was a new way of looking at God and the kingdom: it was a change. These legalists had worked hard to find their place of power; they weren't interested in change. Food was put on the table and prayers offered again, then we ate in silence for a while. Maggie was in the doorway behind Jakan again, gesturing with one hand walking over the other, mouthing words that I was supposed to understand. I had something I wanted to give her, but I had to see her in private. It was obvious that Jakan had forbidden her to enter the room. â€Å"Your disciples do not wash their hands before they eat!† said one of the Pharisees, a fat man with a scar over his eye. Bart, I thought. â€Å"It's not what goes into a man that defiles him,† Joshua said, â€Å"it's what comes out.† He broke off some of the flatbread and dipped it into a bowl of oil. â€Å"He means lies,† I said. â€Å"I know,† said the old Pharisee. â€Å"You were thinking something disgusting, don't lie.† The Pharisees passed the â€Å"no, your turn, no, it's your turn† look around the room. Joshua chewed his bread slowly, then said, â€Å"Why wash the outside of the urn, if there's decay on the inside?† â€Å"Yeah, like you rotting hypocrites!† I added, with more enthusiasm than was probably called for. â€Å"Quit helping!† Josh said. â€Å"Sorry. Nice wine. Manischewitz?† My shouting evidently stirred them out of their malaise. The old Pharisee said, â€Å"You consort with demons, Joshua of Nazareth. This Levi was seen to cause blood to come from a Pharisee's nose and a knife to break of its own, and no one even saw him move.† Joshua looked at me, then at them, then at me again. â€Å"You forget to tell me something?† â€Å"He was being an emrod, so I popped him.† (â€Å"Emrod† is the biblical term for hemorrhoid.) I heard Maggie's giggling from the other room. Joshua turned back to the creeps. â€Å"Levi who is called Biff has studied the art of the soldier in the East,† Joshua said. â€Å"He can move swiftly, but he is not a demon.† I stood up. â€Å"The invitation was for dinner, not a trial.† â€Å"This is no trial,† said Jakan, calmly. â€Å"We have heard of Joshua's miracles, and we have heard that he breaks the Law. We simply want to ask him by whose authority he does these things. This is dinner, otherwise, why would you be here?† I was wondering that myself, but Joshua answered me by pushing me down in my seat and proceeding to answer their accusations for another two hours, crafting parables and throwing their own piety back in their faces. While Joshua spoke the word of God, I did sleight-of-hand tricks with the bread and the vegetables, just to mess with them. Maggie came to the doorway and signaled me, pointing frantically to the front door and making threatening, head-bashing gestures which I took to be the consequences for my not understanding her this time. â€Å"Well, I've got to go see a man about a camel, if you'll excuse me.† I stepped out the front door. As soon as I closed it behind me I was hit with the spraying girl-spit of a violently whispering woman. â€Å"YoustupidsonofabitchwhatthefuckdidyouthinkIwastryingtosaytoyou?† She punched me in the arm. Hard. â€Å"No kiss?† I whispered. â€Å"Where can I meet you, after?† â€Å"You can't. Here, take this.† I handed her a small leather pouch. â€Å"There's a parchment inside to tell you what to do.† â€Å"I want to see you two.† â€Å"You will. Do what the note says. I have to go back in.† â€Å"You bastard.† Punch in the arm. Hard. I forgot what I was doing and entered the house still rubbing my bruised shoulder. â€Å"Levi, have you injured yourself?† â€Å"No, Jakan, but sometimes I strain a shoulder muscle just shaking this monster off.† The Pharisees hated that one. I realized that they were waiting for me to request water so I could go through the whole hand-washing ritual before I sat down to the table again. I stood there, thinking about it, rubbing my shoulder, waiting. How long could it possibly take to read a note? It seemed like a long time, with them staring at me, but I'm sure it was only a few minutes. Then it came, the scream. Maggie let go from the next room, long and high and loud, a virtuoso scream of terror and panic and madness. I bent over and whispered into Joshua's ear, â€Å"Just follow my lead. No, just don't do anything. Nothing.† â€Å"But – â€Å" The Pharisees all looked like someone had dropped hot coals into their laps as the scream went on, and on. Maggie had great sustain. Before Jakan could get up to investigate, there came my girl – still shrieking, I might add – a lovely green foam running out of her mouth, her dress torn and hanging in shreds on her blood-streaked body and blood running from the corners of her eyes. She screamed in Jakan's face and rolled her eyes, then leapt onto the table and growled as she kicked every piece of crockery off onto the floor where it shattered. The servant girl ran through screaming, â€Å"Demons have taken her, demons have taken her!† then bolted out the front door. Maggie started screeching again, then ran up and down the length of the table, urinating as she went. (Nice touch, I would never have thought of that.) The Pharisees had backed up against the wall, including Jakan, as Maggie fell on her back on the table, thrashing and growling and screaming obscenities while splattering the front of their white cloaks with green foam, urine, and blood. â€Å"Devils! She's been possessed by devils. Lots of them,† I shouted. â€Å"Seven,† Maggie said between growls. â€Å"Looks like seven,† I said. â€Å"Doesn't it, Josh?† I grabbed the back of Joshua's hair and sort of made him nod in agreement. No one was really watching him anyway, as Maggie was now spouting impressive fountains of green foam both out of her mouth and from between her legs. (Again, a nice touch I wouldn't have thought of.) She settled into a vibrating fit rhythm, with barking and obscenities for counterpoint. â€Å"Well, Jakan,† I said politely, â€Å"thank you for dinner. It's been lovely but we have to be going.† I pulled Joshua to his feet by his collar. He was a little perplexed himself. Not terrified like our host, but perplexed. â€Å"Wait,† Jakan said. â€Å"Festering dog penis!† Maggie snarled to no one in particular, but I think everyone knew who she meant. â€Å"Oh, all right, we'll try to help her,† I said. â€Å"Joshua, grab an arm.† I pushed him forward and Maggie grabbed his wrist. I went around to the other side of the table and got hold of her other arm. â€Å"We have to get her out of this house of defilement.† Maggie's fingernails bit into my arm as I lifted her up and she pulled herself along on Josh's wrist, pretending to thrash and fight. I dragged her out the front door and into the courtyard. â€Å"Make an effort, Joshua, would you,† Maggie whispered. Jakan and the Pharisees bunched at the door. â€Å"We need to take her into the wilderness to safely cast out the devils,† I shouted. I dragged her, and Joshua for that matter, into the street and kicked the heavy gate closed. Maggie relaxed and stood up. A mound of green foam cascaded off of her chest. â€Å"Don't relax yet, Maggie. When we're farther away.† â€Å"Pork-eating goat fucker!† â€Å"That's the spirit.† â€Å"Hi, Maggie,† Joshua said, taking her arm and finally helping me drag. â€Å"I think it went really well for short notice,† I said. â€Å"You know, Pharisees make the best witnesses.† â€Å"Let's go to my brother's house,† she whispered. â€Å"We can send word that I'm incurable from there. â€Å"Rat molester!† â€Å"It's okay, Maggie, we're out of range now.† â€Å"I know. I was talking to you. Why'd you take seventeen years to get me out of there?† â€Å"You're beautiful in green, did I ever tell you that?† â€Å"I've got to think that that was unethical,† Joshua said. â€Å"Josh, faking demonic possession is like a mustard seed.† â€Å"How is it like a mustard seed?† â€Å"You don't know, do you? Doesn't seem at all like a mustard seed, does it? Now you see how we all feel when you liken things unto a mustard seed? Huh?† At Simon the Leper's house Joshua went to the door first by himself so Maggie's appearance didn't scare the humus out of her brother and sister. Martha answered the door. â€Å"Shalom, Martha. I'm Joshua bar Joseph, of Nazareth. Remember me from the wedding in Cana? I've brought your sister Maggie.† â€Å"Let me see.† Martha tapped her fingernail on her chin while she searched her memory in the night sky. â€Å"Were you the one who changed the water into wine? Son of God, was it?† â€Å"There's no need to be that way,† Joshua said. I popped my head around Josh's shoulder. â€Å"I gave your sister a powder that sort of foamed her up all red and green. She's a bit nasty-looking right now.† â€Å"I'm sure that becomes her,† said Martha, with an exasperated sigh. â€Å"Come in.† She led us inside. I stood by the door while Joshua sat on the floor by the table. Martha took Maggie to the back of the house to help her clean up. It was a large house by our country standards, but not nearly as big as Jakan's. Still, Simon had done well for the son of a blacksmith. I didn't see Simon anywhere. â€Å"Come sit at the table,† Joshua said. â€Å"Nope, I'm fine by the door here.† â€Å"What's the matter?† â€Å"Do you know whose house this is?† â€Å"Of course, Maggie's brother Simon's.† I lowered my voice. â€Å"imon-Say the eper-Lay.† â€Å"Come sit down. I'll watch over you.† â€Å"Nope. I'm fine here.† Just then Simon came in from the other room carrying a pitcher of wine and a tray of cups in his rag-wrapped hands. White linen covered his face except for his eyes, which were as clear and blue as Maggie's. â€Å"Welcome, Joshua, Levi – it's been a long time.† We'd known Simon as boys, spending as much time as we did hanging around Maggie's father's shop, but he had been older, learning his father's craft then, and far too serious to be associating with boys. In my memory he was strong and tall, but now the leprosy had bent him over like an old woman. Simon set the cups down and poured for the three of us. I remained against the wall by the door. â€Å"Martha doesn't take well to serving,† Simon said, by way of apologizing for doing the serving himself. â€Å"She tells me that you turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana.† â€Å"Simon,† Joshua said, â€Å"I can heal your affliction, if you'll allow me.† â€Å"What affliction?† He lay down at the table across from Joshua. â€Å"Biff, come sit with us.† He patted a cushion next to him and I ducked in the event that fingers started flying. â€Å"I understand that Jakan used my sister as bait for a trap for you two.† â€Å"Not much of a trap,† Joshua said. â€Å"You expected that?† I asked. â€Å"I thought there would be more, the whole Pharisee council perhaps. I wanted to answer them directly, not have my words passed through a dozen spies and rumormongers. I also wanted to see if there would be any Sadducees there.† Just then I realized what Joshua had already figured out: the Sadducees, the priests, weren't involved in Jakan's little surprise inquisition. They had been born to their power, and were not as easily threatened as the working-class Pharisees. And the Sadducees were the more powerful half of the Sanhedrin, the ones who commanded the soldiers of the Temple guard. Without the priests, the Pharisees were vipers without fangs, for now anyway. â€Å"I hope we haven't brought the judgment of the Pharisees down on your head, Simon,† Joshua said. Simon waved a hand in dismissal. â€Å"Not to worry. There'll be no Pharisees coming here. Jakan is terrified of me, and if he really believes that Maggie is possessed, and if his friends believe it, well, I'd bet he's divorced her already.† â€Å"She can come back to Galilee with us,† I said, looking at Joshua, who looked at Simon, as if to ask permission. â€Å"She may do as she wishes.† â€Å"What I wish is to get out of Bethany before Jakan comes to his senses,† Maggie said, coming from the other room. She wore a simple woolen dress and her hair was still dripping. There was still green goo on her sandals. She came across the room, knelt down, and gave her brother a huge hug, then a kiss on the eyebrow. â€Å"If he comes by or sends word, you'll tell him I'm still here.† I sensed Simon was smiling under the veil. â€Å"You don't think he'll want to come in and look around?† â€Å"The coward,† Maggie spat. â€Å"Amen,† I said. â€Å"How did you stay with a creep like that all of these years?† â€Å"After the first year he didn't want to be anywhere near me. Unclean, don't you know? I told him I was bleeding.† â€Å"For all those years?† â€Å"Sure. Do you think he would embarrass himself among the members of the Pharisee council by asking them about their own wives?† Joshua said, â€Å"I can heal you of that affliction, if you'll allow me, Maggie.† â€Å"What affliction?† â€Å"You should go,† Simon said. â€Å"I'll send word about what Jakan has done as soon as I know. If he hasn't done it already, I have a friend who will plant the idea that if he doesn't divorce Maggie his place on the Sanhedrin might be questioned.† Simon and Martha waved to us from the doorway, Martha looking like a compact ghost of her older sister and Simon just looking like a ghost. And thus did we become eleven. There was a full moon and a sky full of stars thrown over us as we walked back to Gethsemane. From the top of the Mount of Olives we could see across the Kidron Valley to the Temple. Black smoke streamed into the sky from the sacrificial fires which the priests tended day and night. I held Maggie's hand as we walked through the grove of ancient olive trees and out into the clearing near the oil press where we camped. Philip and Nathaniel had built a fire and there were two strangers sitting by it with them. They all stood up as we approached. Philip glared at me, which baffled me until I remembered that he'd been with us at Cana, and seen Joshua and Maggie dancing at the wedding. He thought I was trying to steal Joshua's girl. I let her hand go. â€Å"Master,† said Nathaniel, tossing his yellow hair, â€Å"new disciples. These are Thaddeus and Thomas the Twins.† Thaddaeus stepped up to Joshua. He was about my height and age, and wore a tattered woolen tunic and looked especially gaunt, as if he might be starving. His hair was cut short like a Roman's, but it looked as if someone had cut it with a dull piece of flint. Somehow he looked familiar. â€Å"Rabbi, I heard you preach when you were with John. I have been with him for two years.† A follower of John, that's where I knew him from, although I didn't remember meeting him. That explained the hungry look as well. â€Å"Welcome, Thaddaeus,† Joshua said. â€Å"These are Biff and Mary Magdalene, disciples and friends.† â€Å"Call me Maggie,† Maggie said. Joshua stepped over to Thomas the Twins, who was only one guy, younger, perhaps twenty, his beard still like soft down in places, his clothes finer than any of ours. â€Å"And Thomas.† â€Å"Don't, you're standing on Thomas Two,† Thomas squealed. Nathaniel pushed Joshua aside and whispered in his ear a little too loudly. â€Å"He sees his twin but no one else can. You said to show mercy, so I haven't told him that he's mad.† â€Å"And so you shall be shown mercy, Nathaniel,† Joshua said. â€Å"So we won't tell you that you're a ninny,† I added. â€Å"Welcome, Thomas,† Joshua said, embracing the boy. â€Å"And Thomas Two,† Thomas said. â€Å"Forgive me. Welcome, Thomas Two, as well,† said Joshua to a perfectly empty spot in space. â€Å"Come to Galilee and help us spread the good news.† â€Å"He's over there,† said Thomas, pointing to a different spot, equally empty. And thus did we become thirteen. On the trip back to Capernaum Maggie told us about her life, about the dreams she had set aside, and about a child that had died in the first year of her marriage. I could see Joshua was shaken when he heard of the child, and I knew he was thinking that if we hadn't taken off to the East, he would have been there to save it. â€Å"After that,† Maggie said, â€Å"Jakan didn't come near me. There was bleeding right after the baby died, and as far as he knew it never stopped. He's always been afraid that someone might think that there's a curse on his house, so my duties as a wife were public only. It's a double-edged sword for him. In order to appear dutiful I had to go to the synagogue and to the women's court in the Temple, but if they thought I was going there while I was bleeding I would have been driven out, maybe stoned, and Jakan would have been shamed. Who knows what he'll do now.† â€Å"He'll divorce you,† I said. â€Å"He'll have to if he wants to save face with the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin.† Strangely enough, it was Joshua who I had trouble consoling about Maggie's lost child. She'd lived with the loss for years, cried over it, allowed it to heal as much as it would, but the wound was fresh for Joshua. He walked far behind us, shunning the new disciples who pranced around him like excited puppies. I could tell that he was talking to his father, and it didn't seem to be going well. â€Å"Go talk to him,† Maggie said. â€Å"It wasn't his fault. It was God's will.† â€Å"That's why he feels responsible,† I said. We hadn't explained to Maggie about the Holy Ghost, the kingdom, all the changes that Joshua wanted to bring to mankind, and how those were at odds, at times, with the Torah. â€Å"Go talk to him,† she said. I fell back in our column, past Philip and Thaddaeus, who were trying to explain to Nathaniel that it was his own voice he heard when he put his fingers in his ears and spoke, and not the voice of God, and past Thomas, who was having an animated discussion with empty air. I walked along beside Joshua for a while before I spoke, and then I tried to sound matter-of-fact. â€Å"You had to go to the East, Joshua. You know that now.† â€Å"I didn't have to go right then. That was cowardly. Would it have been so bad to watch her marry Jakan? To see her child born?† â€Å"Yes, it would have. You can't save everyone.† â€Å"Have you been asleep these last twenty years?† â€Å"Have you? Unless you can change the past, you're wasting the present on this guilt. If you don't use what you learned in the East then maybe we shouldn't have gone. Maybe leaving Israel was cowardly.† I felt my face go numb as if the blood had drained from it. Had I said that? So, we walked along for a while in silence, not looking at each other. I counted birds, listened to the murmur of the disciples' voices ahead, watched Maggie's ass move under her dress as she walked, not really enjoying the elegance of it. â€Å"Well, I, for one, feel better,† said Joshua finally. â€Å"Thanks for cheering me up.† â€Å"Glad to help,† I said. We arrived in Capernaum on the morning of the fifth day after leaving Bethany. Peter and the others had been preaching the good news to the people on the shore of Galilee and there was a crowd of perhaps five hundred people waiting for us. The tension had passed between Joshua and me and the rest of the journey had been pleasant, if for no other reason than we got to hear Maggie laugh and tease us. My jealousy of Joshua returned, but somehow it wasn't bitter. It was more like familiar grief for a distant loss, not the sword-in-the-heart, rending-of-flesh agony of a heartbreak. I could actually leave the two of them alone and talk to other people – think of other things. Maggie loved Joshua, that was assured, but she loved me as well, and there was no way to divine how that might manifest. By following Joshua we had already divorced ourselves of the expectations of normal existence. Marriage, home, family: they were not part of the life we had chosen, Joshua made that clear to all of his disciples. Yes, some of them were married, and some even preached with their wives at their sides, but what set them apart from the multitudes who would follow Joshua was that they had stepped off the path of their own lives to spread the Word. It was to the Word that I lost Maggie, not to Joshua. As exhausted as he was, as hungry, Joshua preached to them. They had been waiting for us and he wouldn't disappoint them. He climbed into one of Peter's boats, rowed out from the shore far enough for the crowd to be able to see him, and he preached to them about the kingdom for two hours. When he had finished, and had sent the crowd on their way, two newcomers waited among the disciples. They were both compact, strong-looking men in their mid-twenties. One was clean-shaven and wore his hair cut short, so that it formed a helmet of ringlets on his head; the other had long hair with his beard plaited and curled in the style I had seen on some Greeks. Although they wore no jewelry, and their clothes were no more fancy than my own, there was an air of wealth about them both. I thought it might have been power, but if it was, it wasn't the self-conscious power of the Pharisees. If nothing else, they were self-assured. The one with the long hair approached Joshua and kneeled before him. â€Å"Rabbi, we've heard you speak of the coming of the kingdom and we want to join you. We want to help spread the Word.† Joshua looked at the man for a long time, smiling to himself, before he spoke. He took the man by the shoulders and lifted him. â€Å"Stand up. You are welcome, friends.† The stranger seemed baffled. He looked back at his friend, then at me, as if I had some answer to his confusion. â€Å"This is Simon,† he said, nodding toward his friend. â€Å"My name is Judas Iscariot.† â€Å"I know who you are,† Joshua said. â€Å"I've been waiting for you.† And so we became fifteen: Joshua, Maggie, and me; Bartholomew, the Cynic; Peter and Andrew, John and James, the fishermen; Matthew, the tax collector; Nathaniel of Cana, the young nitwit; Philip and Thaddeus, who had been followers of John the Baptist; Thomas the twin, who was a loony; and the Zealots, Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot. Fifteen went out into Galilee to preach the Holy Ghost, the coming of the kingdom, and the good news that the Son of God had arrived.