Etrade Baby Essay

A Talking Infant, Financial Systems, & Golf What do a talking baby, stock markets, and golf all have in common? Nothing, right? Wrong. E*Trade – a popular public online financial services group – uses all three of these entities to create a commercial that has had people talking for years. When the commercial is over, you are left in shock at what you just saw, a baby in a high-chair talking about the stock market. But will the ad’s weirdness produce sales of the company’s program for years to come as well? Or just make it a highly talked about YouTube video? To the contrary, E*Trade does a professional job in conveying its message of simplicity to â€Å"average Joes† who are looking to either become day traders, start a retirement fund, or even banking. E*Trade’s main audience is not a person with a net worth or five million dollars. E*Trade is looking to sell their product to â€Å"average joe† type clients. It can be assumed this because E*Trade uses the financial term â€Å"401k† in their commercial; this is the most popular tax investment form everyone has. The main character of the commercial is â€Å"The E*Trade Baby,† but there’s a catch, the baby speaks with a mature older man’s voice. This adds a sense of weirdness to the commercial right off the bat. One may question the validity of a company whose commercials star a talking baby, but this is a clever marketing approach because if people see a talking baby, something they don’t see every day, they will immediately become engaged in the commercial. E*Trade uses a baby as a symbol for inexperience, simplicity and an older man’s voice for knowledge. E*Trade wants to show the audience that if a baby can you use the program, so can the audience. They also want to show knowledge, that E*Trade is a reliable and trusted company, so they use the voice of an older man to portray legitimacy. E*Trade wants to declare that â€Å"Yes, this is a legit company and yes, we’re simple to use,† so a talking baby fits in perfectly to both categories. Just like the Old Spice commercials talked about in class, the E*Trade Baby ads have many spinoffs with numerous situations the baby is in. The commercial I am focusing on is set in a golf country club locker room. The ad starts off with the baby talking to a man named Frank. The baby says â€Å"Ah, this is weak, man. Frank’s trying to not pay me my winnings for the skins beat down I just issued him. † The baby has now caught the attention of the audience with this opening line because people are drawn into the weirdness of a talking baby in the commercial. Now when he starts to talk about finance and what the company actually does, viewers will be already engaged. Not only does the talking baby raise questions that attract us to this ad, but there are many other. For instance, why is a baby playing golf with old man? And why is there a computer in the locker room of a country golf club? All All these questions have no answers but it draws us into the commercial and makes us connected to it, hopefully throughout the commercial we will find answers to these questions, but in this case we do not. E*Trade’s goal is to get a lot of publicity and attention with their commercials while providing us with the smallest amount of information. This is because E*Trade wants people to inquire about the company and have them visit E*Trade’s website us. etrade. com. Once on the website, people will be impressed by the fancy website that proves it is a legitimate company, and lured into signing up for an account The baby says â€Å"His (Frank) 401k’s tankin. Ya gotta grab the reins man. Get E*Trade, do some analytics, do some research (into the stock market), and take charge so I don’t have to subsidize your lack of skills. † There’s actually a lot of information about the company and its message all in that little saying. The E*Trade baby uses a clever balance a financial terms and jokes to put the viewer in an informal setting while talking about a big decision a person must make. E*Trade is not an elite company for only the â€Å"one-percenters† to use. E*Trade’s goal is to get skilled and novice users with just a little amount of money to open an accountant. Using the term 401k is strategically brilliant because everyone who works for a company most likely has one. E*Trade could have used any tax form number, but chose the most popular one to relate to the most people and with the current economy, it’s probably on the minds of most people right now. When the baby says, â€Å"Do some analytics, do some research, and take charge,† he is describing the job of the novice investor. The baby is now describing that when using the E*Trade software, you are able to look at analytical charts and graphs, read news articles and research about potential stock purchases and basically to take charge of your life. E*Trade does not buy and sell stock for you; you have to do it yourself. You are in control of the future and E*Trade presents the question â€Å"What are you going to do to prepare yourself for it? † It’s hard to tell whom is the exact audience E*Trade is trying to promote itself to, but assumptions can be made. Since it is a golf setting in a country club, they are focusing on males anywhere from 20s to 60s (the general range of persons with a 401k). E*Trade did a good job picking a wide range of ages with this advertisement, which is what makes it such a good ad! Since the ad is set in a country club locker room, E*Trade is also advertising to a certain class of people I believe: well educated men who know a think about finance and who play golf. Golf is an expensive sport. I think if you have money to play golf you would be interested and would know the benefits of investing. But are they also advertising to a whole inclusive audience with a cute baby to grab the attentions of mothers and grandmothers? Only the directions and producers know that answer. You can have a good commercial, the best commercial ever known to man. But if you don’t have the right exposure no one will see it. E*Trade played this commercial before and after Superbowl XLII on February 1, 2009. Back to what was said before on the age of the audience, 20s to 60s. That basically sums up the audience of the Superbowl as well; perfect. E*Trade picked the most opportune time to run this commercial and not only reaches its projected audience, but all 90 some odd million people that tune in each year to watch the game, and the commercials. Another part of the commercial that is important to take into consideration is the point of view in which we view the commercial. Since the program E*Trade is used on a computer, the great minds behind this commercial put the camera where a usually webcam should be. This is to provide a visual of where the user of E*Trade’s product will be using the product. This is brilliant because now we see the baby sitting in a chair in front of the computer using a keyboard and a mouse, in the same spot where we would use the program was well. The E*Trade Baby Commercial is trying to sell to their audience a financial services program available to download on the computer. E*Trade does a good job in getting the attention of its viewer and making a hard subject of finance fun and entertaining. E*Trade describes everything that their company’s mission statement says that they are, â€Å"A financial services ompany that is simple to use. Designed with the user in mind. † There is no doubt in my mind that this commercial will go down as a classic and will have people talking about the â€Å"E*Trade baby† for years to come. To respond to the question previously stated in the beginning of this paper. Even though this commercial will be popular for years to come, will the ad produce sales of the company’s program for years to c ome as well? It turns out, no. When a person is looking to invest in money, they normally look for a company that is well-reputable and well-respected. Humor is no doubt, un-debatable, a marketing tool to grab the attention of a viewer, but humor in advertising is very hard to pull off because you simply never know what people will laugh out. Some think it funny, others think it’s not. In order for a commercial to use humor, the company should be trying to sell humor. Clearly E*Trade does not sell humor.. Instead of a talking baby to grab the audience’s attention and provide a laugh, E*Trade should create a well-informative commercial that captures the audience’s attention and show how one can benefit from using E*Trade.

Mesoamerican civilization

In the civilization of the North and South America people, farming started later than the Afroeurasian. But the American civilization started on its own as opposed to the dependence of lending and borrowing of ideas from one community as was witnessed in the Afroeurasian civilization.The argument about the Mesoamerican civilization has been as a result of single culture (known as ‘mother culture’), while others claim that it was through learning and copying from others that the civilization developed, i.e. ‘sister culture’. The civilization arguments has to a larger extend been linked to the Olmec influence.   This is because the Olmec has been considered as the earliest civilization groups in the Mesoamerica.Hence some of its earliest civilization practices can only be found within the heartland of Olmec while others are beyond the heartland of Olmec. Some of the artifacts that are only found in the heartland of Olmec include colosal heads, earthen platfo rm and monolith alters.   There have also been cases where other Olmec style artifacts have been found in other different areas.There are objects that have been considered to be of Olmec – traditions in areas that are out side the heartland of Olmec appearing together with the traditional objects of that place.   For instance, at Las Socas, objects created in local tradition contain Olmec iconography (Reilly, p 371).This indicates that the traditional of Olmec was flowing from the Olmec heartland towards other areas and not vice versa.   In this case the argument of Olmec to be of the â€Å"mother culture† arises.   Michael D Doe is one of the proponents who argue that the Olmecs had a mother culture. â€Å"There is now little doubt that all later civilization †¦ whether Mexican or Maya, ultimately rest on an Olmec base,† (Coe, 2002, pp 62).Those advocating for ‘sister culture’ feel that the Olmec civilization took place simultaneously with the other places.   The argument is based on the fact that Olmec was only among the earliest equal civilizers.   Flannery and Marcus have agued that it is only through competitive interactive that civilization can take place.   â€Å"It is adoptive autonomy and frequ3ent competitive interaction of such chiefdoms that speed up evolution and eventually make useful technologies and sociopolitical strategic available to all regions†, (Flannery & Marcus, 2000. pp. 33).Therefore, looking at both the arguments of the mother culture and sister culture, it is not right to agree that the Olmecs civilization was a mother culture.   For instance, according to Pool (N.d),The Olmecs of San Lorenzo were only a handful of societies in the Americas that had achieved comparable degree of social and political integration by the end of the second millennium B.C. On the other hand, sociopolitical complexity varied among Olmec societies within the Gulf coast region, the intensity and effects of interaction with the Olmecs varied across Mesoamerica, and other Formative societies made significant contribution to the developemtn of a distinctively Mesoamerica civilization tradition, (Pp 2).The use of the term formative (preclassic) was developed by Gordon Wiley and & Philip Philips (1955, 1958), â€Å"Where it indicated the village agricultural threshold and/or sedentary life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Pool, Pp.8).The formative period has various prehispanic historical changes taking place.   Before 200 B.C. most of the inhabitants lived in small bands that were characterized by several mobility and their main activity being hunting and gathering.   Then came the development of a lot of urban centers by 300 A.D.   These urban centers came about because with time, the mobility was reduced and the group settled into larger groups and thus staying at one place for longer period than before.The increased settlement was influenced by the fact that people have increased domes tication of crops and had also indicated the storage facilities.   â€Å"In the initial formative period (2000-2500 B.C.)†¦The processes of domestication and sedentarization combined to foster the spread of settled farming villages over much of the area that was becoming Mesoamerica,† (Pool, pp.8).The early societies of America shared the hunting and gathering activities with the other societies across the boarders.   These behaviors changed among the communities, as they become more settled and avoided movements.   This lead to the emergence of social hierarchies, centralized governments, and various religious concepts.   Their neighbours adopted the practices that emerged from one culture to another, including the OlmecsLike all other complex societies of the America, the Olmecs also depended on this hunting & gathering, domestication of food and animal as well as fishing for their daily needs.   These activities enabled them to build strong social and politi cal hierarchies that integrated many other small communities.Mesoamerican ReligionIn pre classical periods of the Mesoamerican people religion developed due to the influence of the seasonal cycles, â€Å"In their world –view, the development of the corn plant was one of the principle archetypes.   Another intrinsically tied to the former was the archetype of the alternating powers of fire and water, derived from the division of the year into two seasons, then dry and rainy seasons†, (Obafemi & Olupona, 2004, Pp 199).The Mayan community of the Mesoamerica developed their religion because of the belief that there was a relationship that existed between the human being and the supernatural power.   They nurtured and developed this belief to the extend of giving human sacrifices to the gods.   High priests of the Mayan religion performed the human sacrifices.   The key aspect of this religion was the great importance it gave to the agriculture and the time timeless of the harvests. â€Å"The Mayan religious calendar Ezolkin comprised of only 200 days and two cycles each comprises of weeks spanning 30 days and 20 days.   Another calendar called tun comprised of 360 days and five added unlucky days†The Mayan believed in the cycles of rails and to the harvest of the produce.   They considered the agriculture product to be a gift from God.   To the Mayans, human beings were supposed to be attuned to the cyclical changes so that they can obtain more benefits from them.The offering of sacrifices, of both human and animal was meant to appease the gods.   Songs and dances as well as competitions accompanied the sacrifices.   There was no separation of civil and religious life. Therefore, the kings acted as both rulers and principal intermediaries between human beings and gods. The other reason that was behind sacrifices was that, many gods needed human support which if was not forthcoming; they may weaken and eventually die.Life afte r death was determined by the position that a person held before the demise. Therefore if a person held a high status position on earth, that position will still be held even after death. While those with lower positions held again the same positions.About the universe, the Mayas believed that the universe would continue to be created and destroyed continuously.   The cycle for the destruction would be taking place after a period of about 5000 years.   The destruction and creation would be the exact duplicate of the previous one.   They perceived the earth to be the back of the giant caiman that was floating in the pool, with the exposed part being flat with four comers.   Above the earth, was the human with 13 levels (7 going up, and 6 going down), (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580499_2/Pre-Columbian_Religions.html). This was of the same oscillation as the rising setting of the sun.The Maya gods and goddesses formed a family (pantheon), each having four color aspe cts.   The religious followers believed in deities in heaven, but also having counterparts on earth and vice versa.   The deities also comprised of counterparts of the opposite sex.   â€Å"For example the supreme celestial god Itzama, the aged patron of culture and learning.   Kinich Ahau, the sun god, may have been a youthful aspect of Itzama in addition to being his son†, (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580499_2/Pre-Columbian_Religions.html).Like the Mayan, the Aztec believed in the destruction and creation of the universe, but that had multiple differences. They believed to be living in the fifth and final universe, which they considered to be the fifth sun. In this case, they believed that there would be no sixth universe after the fifth destruction, and that there was escape or avoiding of this destruction but it could only have been delayed. The sun was considered to be a warrior that fought a continuous unending war against darkness. Therefore, as long as the sun was still fighting, the fifth universe could not be destroyed. To make sure that the sun continued with the fights, they offered blood it through sacrifices. The sacrifices were especially of human who were war captives.Befitting their central role as allies of the sun, the Aztecs thought they lived at the center of the universe. Their earth was divided into four quadrants, each with typical Mesoamerica color-direction symbolism, though the specific pairings of colors and directions were different from those of the Mayas. The four quarters met at the main temple (Templo Mayor) of Tenochtitlan the Aztec capital. This temple was also the point where supernatural forces from the heavens and the underworld came together. The heavens were composed of 13 ascending levels. The sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars traveled through the lower levels. The upper levels were the homes of winds, storms, colors, and remote gods. The underworld contained 9 levels, all descending, u npleasant, and dangerous, (http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/nativeamericans/precolumbionrel4.htm).The pantheon of the gods and goddesses of the Aztec were more complex and performing different overlapping functions at different ceremonial functions. The gods were related to different practices. For instance, the Tlaloc was the rain god. There were also the gods that were related to the agricultural produce and deities related to fertility.BibliographyCoe, M.D (2002): Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs, London, Thames and Hudson.Flannery, K. & Marcus, J. (2000); A Formative Mexico Chiefdoms and the myth of theMother culture; a Journal of Anthropological Archeology, Vols. 19. Issues 1.History of Religion Manna Religion Retrieved on 2nd Nov. 2007 fromhttp://www.clearleadinc.com/site/religion.htmlObafemi J. & Olupona K. (2004):   Beyond Primitivism Indigenous Religious Traditions andModernity, Routledge, ISBN 041527 320X.Pool A. Christopher (N.d):   Olmec Archeology and Earl y Mesoamerica, Retrieved on 2nd Nov2007 from  http://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/88823/excerpt/9780521788823_excerpt.pdfReilly III, F. Kent, (N.d) â€Å"Art, Cultures and Relationship in the Olmec world in AmericansCivilization of Mesoamerican: A Recorder, Blackwell publishing Ltd..

Race and The Death Penalty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Race and The Death Penalty - Research Paper Example Now, in United States of America death penalty of color is a predominant phenomenon. In this country, the blacks in the death row are very high in number. the In the recent years the Supreme court of the United States also rejected the application of statistical studies that claim bias of race as the prime reason for the purpose of overturning the death sentence (The death penalty is applied unfairly and should not be used: Disagree). 1.2. Relevant statistics Color of defendant and the skin color of the defendant are crucial factors in the death penalty of the Americans. Since the year 1976, the people with variations in skin color accounts for around 43% of the total executions. Still 55 % of the executions are waiting. The jurisdictions in which there are highest percentages of death penalty are US military which is â€Å"86%, Colorado which is 80%, US government which is 77%, Louisiana which is 72% and in Pennsylvania which is 70%† (Race and the Death Penalty). It has been found that white victims have accounted for around one half of all the victims of murder where around 80% of all the capital cases included people of white skin. In October, 2002 â€Å"around 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the victim of murder was black† (Race and the Death Penalty, 2003). Around 178 defendants convicted for murder were black along with white victims. In the month of January 2003, researchers in the university of Maryland governor revealed that the defendants who killed white persons were prone to death sentences. In August 2001, the supreme court of New Jersey released that they were more likely for proceeding against the defendants killing the white victims. In the month of April 2001, a group of researchers from the University of North Carolina published a study of all the homicide cases in North Carolina in the time frame of 1993 to 1997 (Race and the Death Penalty). From the figures of US department of Justice the figures reveal that from the period of 2001 to 2006 around 48 percent of defendants in the cases where death penalty were sought were of the African American origin (Does a person's race affect the likelihood of him/her receiving the death penalty?). 2. Reasons for disproportionate death penalty 2.1 Domination of white in the criminal justice system The criminal justice system of America and its internal mechanics is vehemently controlled as well as dominated by the white people. The death penalty can be symbolized as a control of the white over the blacks. The black males who flaunt a threatening and defiant persona are viewed as subjects of death sentences provided by the middle aged white male prosecutors (Does a person's race affect the likelihood of him/her receiving the death penalty?). But we will highlight our focus to a different trajectory which will yield a bit surprising results. 2.2 Blacks commit more crime American civil rights activists and Baptist minister Sir Jesse Jackson states that in Alabama (a state of United States of America), the African Americans form 25% of the total population of America and of Alabama’s 117 death row inmates, around 43% of them are of black origin. Although it highlights that the African American are more prone towards death row but one of the reasons is also that the

Brand Identity Development and the Role of Social Media Essay

Brand Identity Development and the Role of Social Media - Essay Example The study "Brand Identity Development and the Role of Social Media" can be suitably used for understanding the contribution of social media platform for enhancing a brands image, in the UK fashion industry. The findings of the study can be suitably be used by a number of firms to enhance the efficiency with which they develop brand identity development strategies. Management students can also make use of the present study so that they can utilize the knowledge gained for better impacting consumer purchasing intentions. The current study aims to understand how consumers of the UK fashion industry are impacted by the social media to form perceptions regarding various brands. The study also suitably lays light upon how firms operating in the fashion industry utilizes the social media platform to create a positive brand image so as to increase purchasing intentions amongst consumers. Kim and Ko, (2012) described social media as websites that facilitates its users to share media, content and so on. Some common examples of social media website are renowned social networking websites such as facebook, twitter, you tube and to name a few. As indicated by Hines and Bruce, (2007), social media plays a great role in marketing. Social media marketing is the technique of gaining consumer traffic or attention by social media sites. Kim and Ko, (2012) discussed that social media marketing initiatives generally focuses on efforts to generate content that gains attention of the online communities.

Weiyi Zhang a Misshaped Block Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Weiyi Zhang a Misshaped Block - Article Example Trade occupation nominees must then be reflective of the labor needs in a long-term assessment of the market needs for GSM applicants. The current MODL will be canceled and reinstated with newer specifically skills-focused requirements as stipulated in the list. This exempts those who are skilled graduates under subclass 485 or with pending GSM visa applications. The new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) also spares those who at February 8 are diploma holders with the visa of Vocational Education and Training under subclass 572, Higher Education under subclass 573 and Postgraduate Research under subclass 574. But students s with visa will need to have already acquired an occupation to be qualified for a permanent visa under the GSM program. â€Å"I was hoping to be a journalist,† Zhang says. He will be gravely affected by these changes. Scheduled to graduate in July with a degree in accounting, this new development means that he gave up his dream for nothing. What is most likely to happen is that Zhang will go back to his country with nothing. No permanent Australian resident visa and a diploma for a course that was not exactly his immediate choosing. His hopes and dreams of a better future diminished after years of grueling academic pressures. Giving up his dream of a media-related career for nothing. The education industry of the country holds the third biggest foreign exchange source. These alterations to migration guidelines are seen as causing a major impact in the education sector. These students spent thousands for an Australian education in their belief of securing permanent residency status in a stable and progressive country. Not to mention the years that they have dedicated to finish their tertiary education. Living in a foreign land is not easy, even more so if you have to study in it.

Write a respond Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Write a respond - Essay Example rkplace violence, I think its better to be proactive and prepare for the worst.   There are some relatively easy and cheap solutions available on the market today if well look for them. Even as the efforts toward the family conflicts resolution are directed to the workplace, the two parties have a role to play to end their issues. It is a shame to find a couple fighting each other in the workplace. They do not even deserve to work there, but should be fired and demoted immediately. Workplace violence indicated that the two parties involved have failed to manage the simplest bit of their life patterns; hence, they should not be kept in the workplace. A person who cannot manage his or her life is not in a position to manage workplace activities. Workplace violence planning is done in large part at the local management level. The frequency and depth is generally outlined by corporate, but left to local managers to develop site specific training, especially considering the variation of laws from state to state. As the Safety Manager, I work closely with the Human Resources Manager to get the information presented to all of our employees. North Carolina is a State run OSHA program, and I rely a great deal on the information they have presented on their website for reference and guidance. NC DOL does a great job in providing training resources and outreach for industry. In this case, they have all relevant laws and information posted, as well as a series of PowerPoint presentations and even videos for employees to watch. We have added slightly to the slides and incorporated a small T/F test to demonstrate retention of the material. I would encourage everyone to look at the state run program websites for these resources. Federal OSHA has some posted on their website, but they are not usually as good. Oregon State has probably the best workplace violence training, even OSHA refers to their training platform on this topic, but again, it is State specific for many

A Short Insight Into The Life Of Some Of The Major Aztec Cities Essay - 2

A Short Insight Into The Life Of Some Of The Major Aztec Cities - Essay Example Texcoco was located east of the Lake Texcoco and was proud of its shared name with the lake. It had played a great part in history and the people were proud of their ancestry. Five provinces to the east of the river were under the rule of Texcoco by the start of 15th century and the lands it ruled over went as far as their enemies’ borders in the Highlands. It had flourishing markets, grand temples, and the people living there were educated. But upon attack from Tepanecs, Texcocan enemies, people of Tenochtitlan did not help them to defend them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tlacopan was joined with the Aztecs and Texcocans in to form the Triple Alliance in 1428. Founded originally by Tepanecs who arrived in the Valley of Mexico early in the 13th century, Tlacopan was not a very big city and only received one-fifth of the compliments received by the Triple Alliance. Tlacopan was seized over in 1521. When the Aztecs first arrived in the Valley of Mexico in 1300 A.D., it was nothing but a marshy island near Lake Texcoco. Out of that marshy island, the Aztecs gave rise to a magnificent city, which stood for centuries and whose temples and buildings were a sight to behold.

The French Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

The French Revolution - Essay Example The primary roots of the French Revolution were the political and economic interests of various influential leaders, and the widespread social injustice in France and the colonies due to the monarchy’s and nobility’s abuse of the masses which led to economic hardships and the absence of civil rights and liberties for all. Scholars and other individuals underscored the political motivation behind the French Revolution. Thomas Ott underscored the political aspects of the revolution in St. Domingue. He noted that during the early eighteenth century, â€Å"tensions gathered in St. Domingue between bureaucrat and grand blanc, grand blanc and petit blanc, white and mulatto, mulatto and black, black and white† (188). He is saying that racial divisions promoted divided political interests where political leadership had become more and more important for each racial group. John P. McKay and other scholars agreed that political motivation affected the revolution in St. Domingue. Slaves wanted to be free, mulattoes wanted to be elevated to white status, while the white elite saw the French Revolution as a way of increasing control over their local affairs (596). At the same time, some of the members of the National Assembly were considered as wanting power for their own and riding on the movement as a wa y of gaining political power, which Toussaint LOuverture noted when he addressed the French Directory in 1797. He said that he wanted to enlighten the Directory â€Å"to prevent the enemies of the present system from spreading themselves on our unfortunate shores to sully it with new crimes† (534). He is saying that he wants to prevent the government from being invaded by people who want to apply slavery once more. It can be argued that he wanted to protect the interests of the people from those who wish to use the Revolution to advance their political and economic interests because St. Domingue is the

NRS409 - Psychosocial Interventions in Mental Coursework

NRS409 - Psychosocial Interventions in Mental - Coursework Example Such mood alterations are considered normal to life until they do not interfere or disrupt a person’s life or work. However, when they do then the person gets afflicted with prolonged agitation, sadness or sometimes even elation along with guilt, self doubt, and anger which affect life activities, particularly the ones that are related to occupation, self esteem and relationships which further transforms in to clinical depression. True clinical depressions are also referred as mood disorders. An episode of major depression can be held for at least 2 weeks during which the patient loses pleasure, feels distressed in almost all sorts of activities. Moreover, some of the following symptoms are also found: Dysthmia is recognized when at least 2 years of depressed mood is observed with some additional signs that are less severe than the major depression and also do not qualify for the criteria of major depression episode. Since, the consumer has been identified to carry symptoms of major depression, thus, the paper will discuss various therapeutic interventions available for depression that have been or will be exercised on the consumer in the case study. Such interventions may be in the form of pharmacologic and medical interventions. However, the case study will be critically analyzed as its scope of practical usage, limitations and strengths. The paper will also discuss the significance of screening depression under the process of collaborative care. The client, whose identity and personal information will remain undisclosed due to reasons of confidentiality is a 25-year-old software engineer, male, and belong to a family of four that includes his parents and a sister. The patient was admitted last to the hospital about 3 months ago due to acute suicidal ideation, following which, the patient was treated in the hospital with antipsychotic medications, and was discharged to home when the acute

The arrival of the cousins in Act one Essay Example for Free

The arrival of the cousins in Act one Essay Compare the way Miller presents the relationships between Beatrice, Eddie and Catherine, before and after the arrival of the cousins in Act one.  In 1915 America was seen as the land of freedom for many Italians and they fled from the poor, grimy streets of Italy. America was there only hope and they came in there thousands to earn money for there starving families and find a new life. The Carbone family as presented by Miller is one such family. The Carbone household conceals a web of mixed feelings and from the start you can feel the tension brewing under the false smiles and unspoken conflict. We are introduced to Eddie Carbone, Beatrice Carbone and Catherine at the start of the play yet we are not told of there relationships with each other until later. At first it seems that Eddie and Catherine are together and we have no idea that they are uncle and niece.  Beatrice knows of Eddies feelings yet says nothing. This all adds to the tension and we know its all going to explode, the only question is when.  The cousins arrival aggravates this or and even adds more conflict and tension. The first impression we get of the relationships in the house is that Eddie and Catherine are lovers. There actions towards each other are sexual and flirtatious yet they are trying to hide it. This is shown when Eddie refers to Catherines skirt as beautiful he could have been talking about the skirt or maybe Catherine as a whole. The relationship between Eddie and Beatrice on the other hand is one of duty rather than love. Beatrice is silent to what is going on around her. This shows the power Eddie holds over her. This is displayed throughout the play, by the lack of respect given to her and by how he speaks to her. For example you lived in a house all your life, what do you know about it? this shows he doesnt respect her and thinks she has an easy life. Catherine and Beatrices relationship is quite innocent at first and there doesnt seem to be much between them, it later appears that Beatrice holds a deep jealousy of the relationship she has with Eddie. This is shown by miller when Beatrice confronts Catherine about her behaviour around Eddie. Like when he comes home you throw yourself at him like when you was twelve years old Although it is apparent to us that the relationship between Eddie and Catherine one of a sexual or desiring nature. Catherine appears to be oblivious to it, for example she strikes a match and holds it to his cigar this is a very up-close and personal act and then she blows out the match, this seems a very sexual act, with them being so close and her blowing out the match so close to his face, yet Catherine does not make anything of it and carries on. Catherine sees Eddie as a Father figure and is always seeking to impress him. Her actions are often mistaken to be flirtatious when they can also be seen as innocent behaviour of a young girl looking for her fathers approval. One such instance is when Catherine starts running her hands over her skirt this can be seen as flirting or it can also be seen as though she is nervous because she does not know if Eddie approves.  This is also apparent when Eddie says you aint all the girls this shows that he considers her to be special either because he is in love with her or because he sees her as his daughter Beatrice Knows of Eddies feelings towards Catherine however she cannot say anything because she fears Eddie and she holds it in, taking the anger out in her actions. For example when she is mad she gets up, clearing the dishes this shows that she doesnt want to confront Eddie therefore she occupies herself with other tasks. Beatrice is also jealous of Catherine; she wants the same relationship that Catherine has with Eddie. Eddie holds the power in the house, with him being the only man. Both women look up to him and never contradict him. Miller clearly shows this throughout the start of Act 1. An example of Eddies power is when it says Eddie is standing facing the two seated woman this shows the women look up to him and it also forms a triangle with him being the top point, showing his power over them. This can also be seen as though both women are competing for Eddie.

Advantages of RTL, DTL and TTL Logic circuit

Advantages of RTL, DTL and TTL Logic circuit Introduction of Logic Gates A logic gate performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. The logic normally performed is Boolean logic and is most commonly found in digital circuits. Logic gates are primarily implemented electronically using diodes or transistors, but can also be constructed using electromagnetic relays, fluidics, optics, molecules, or even mechanical elements. In electronic logic, a logic level is represented by a voltage or current, (which depends on the type of electronic logic in use). Each logic gate requires power so that it can source and sink currents to achieve the correct output voltage. In logic circuit diagrams the power is not shown, but in a full electronic schematic, power connections are required. Resistor-Transistor Logic (RTL): Resistor-transistor logic gates use Transistors to combine multiple input signals, which also amplify and invert the resulting combined signal. Often an additional transistor is included to re-invert the output signal. This combination provides clean output signals and either inversion or non-inversion as needed. RTL gates are almost as simple as DL gates, and remain inexpensive. They also are handy because both normal and inverted signals are often available. However, they do draw a significant amount of current from the power supply for each gate. Another limitation is that RTL gates cannot switch at the high speeds used by todays computers, although they are still useful in slower applications. Although they are not designed for linear operation, RTL integrated circuits are sometimes used as inexpensive small-signal amplifiers, or as interface devices between linear and digital circuits. RTL Logic Circuit: Resistor-transistor logic (RTL) is a class of digital circuits built using resistors as the input network and bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) as switching devices. RTL is the earliest class of transistorized digital logic circuit used; other classes include diode-transistor logic (DTL) and transistor-transistor logic (TTL). Advantages of RTL Logic circuit: The primary advantage of RTL technology was that it involved a minimum number of transistors, which was an important consideration before integrated circuit technology (that is, in circuits using discrete components), as transistors were the most expensive component to produce. Early IC logic production (such as Fairchilds in 1961) used the same approach briefly, but quickly transitioned to higher-performance circuits such as diode-transistor logic and then transistor-transistor logic (starting 1963 at Sylvania), since diodes and transistors were no more expensive than resistors in the IC. Limitations: The obvious disadvantage of RTL is its high current dissipation when the transistor conducts to overdrive the output biasing resistor. This requires that more current be supplied to and heat be removed from RTL circuits. In contrast, TTL circuits minimize both of these requirements. Lancaster says that integrated circuit RTL NOR gates (which have one transistor per input) may be constructed with any reasonable number of logic inputs, and gives an example of an 8-input NOR gate. A standard integrated circuit RTL NOR gate can drive up to 3 other similar gates. Alternatively, it has enough output to drive up to 2 standard integrated circuit RTL buffers, each of which can drive up to 25 other standard RTL NOR gates. Diode-Transistor Logic (DTL): By letting diodes perform the logical AND or OR function and then amplifying the result with a transistor, we can avoid some of the limitations of RTL. DTL takes diode logic gates and adds a transistor to the output, in order to provide logic inversion and to restore the signal to full logic levels. Diode-transistor logic Diode-Transistor Logic (DTL) is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors (BJT), diodes and resistors; it is the direct ancestor of transistor-transistor logic. It is called diode-transistor logic because the logic gating function (e.g., AND) is performed by a diode network and the amplifying function is performed by a transistor (contrast this with RTL and TTL). Operation: With the simplified circuit shown in the picture the negative bias voltage at the base is required to prevent unstable or invalid operation. In an integrated circuit version of the gate, two diodes replace R3 to prevent any base current when one or more inputs are at low logic level. Alternatively to increase fan-out of the gate an additional transistor and diode may be used. The IBM 1401 used DTL circuits almost identical to this simplified circuit, but solved the base bias level problem mentioned above by alternating NPN and PNP based gates operating on different power supply voltages instead of adding extra diodes. Advantages of DTL: One advantage of digital circuits when compared to analog circuits is that signals represented digitally can be transmitted without degradation due to noise. For example, a continuous audio signal, transmitted as a sequence of 1s and 0s, can be reconstructed without error provided the noise picked up in transmission is not enough to prevent identification of the 1s and 0s. An hour of music can be stored on a compact disc as about 6 billion binary digits. In a digital system, a more precise representation of a signal can be obtained by using more binary digits to represent it. While this requires more digital circuits to process the signals, each digit is handled by the same kind of hardware. In an analog system, additional resolution requires fundamental improvements in the linearity and noise charactersitics of each step of the signal chain. Computer-controlled digital systems can be controlled by software, allowing new functions to be added without changing hardware. Often this can be done outside of the factory by updating the products software. So, the products design errors can be corrected after the product is in a customers hands. Information storage can be easier in digital systems than in analog ones. The noise-immunity of digital systems permits data to be stored and retrieved without degradation. In an analog system, noise from aging and wear degrade the information stored. In a digital system, as long as the total noise is below a certain level, the information can be recovered perfectly. Disadvantages: In some cases, digital circuits use more energy than analog circuits to accomplish the same tasks, thus producing more heat. In portable or battery-powered systems this can limit use of digital systems. For example, battery-powered cellular telephones often use a low-power analog front-end to amplify and tune in the radio signals from the base station. However, a base station has grid power and can use power-hungry, but very flexible software radios. Such base stations can be easily reprogrammed to process the signals used in new cellular standards. Digital circuits are sometimes more expensive, especially in small quantities. The sensed world is analog, and signals from this world are analog quantities. For example, light, temperature, sound, electrical conductivity, electric and magnetic fields are analog. Most useful digital systems must translate from continuous analog signals to discrete digital signals. This causes quantization errors. Quantization error can be reduced if the system stores enough digital data to represent the signal to the desired degree of fidelity. The Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem provides an important guideline as to how much digital data is needed to accurately portray a given analog signal. In some systems, if a single piece of digital data is lost or misinterpreted, the meaning of large blocks of related data can completely change. Because of the cliff effect, it can be difficult for users to tell if a particular system is right on the edge of failure, or if it can tolerate much more noise before failing. Digital fragility can be reduced by designing a digital system for robustness. For example, a parity bit or other error management method can be inserted into the signal path. These schemes help the system detect errors, and then either correct the errors, or at least ask for a new copy of the data. In a state-machine, the state transition logic can be designed to catch unused states and trigger a reset sequence or other error recovery routine. Embedded software designs that employ Immunity Aware Programming, such as the practice of filling unused program memory with interrupt instructions that point to an error recovery routine. This helps guard against failures that corrupt the microcontrollers instruction pointer which could otherwise cause random code to be executed. Digital memory and transmission systems can use techniques such as error detection and correction to use additional data to correct any errors in transmission and storage. On the other hand, some techniques used in digital systems make those systems more vulnerable to single-bit errors. These techniques are acceptable when the underlying bits are reliable enough that such errors are highly unlikely. TTL Logic Circuit: Transistor-transistor logic (TTL) is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors (BJT) and resistors. It is called transistor-transistor logic because both the logic gating function (e.g., AND) and the amplifying function are performed by transistors (contrast this with RTL and DTL). TTL is notable for being a widespread integrated circuit (IC) family used in many applications such as computers, industrial controls, test equipment and instrumentation, consumer electronics, synthesizers, etc. The designation TTL is sometimes used to mean TTL-compatible logic levels, even when not associated directly with TTL integrated circuits, for example as a label on the inputs and outputs of electronic instruments. *TTL contrasts with the preceding resistor-transistor logic (RTL) and diode-transistor logic (DTL) generations by using transistors not only to amplify the output but also to isolate the inputs. The p-n junction of a diode has considerable capacitance, so changing the logic level of an input connected to a diode, as in DTL, requires considerable time and energy. As shown in the top schematic at right, the fundamental concept of TTL is to isolate the inputs by using a common-base connection, and amplify the function using a common emitter connection. Note that the base of the output transistor is driven high only by the forward-biased base-collector junction of the input transistor. The second schematic adds to this a totem-pole output. When V2 is off (output equals 1), the resistors turn V3 on and V4 off, resulting in a stronger 1 output. When V2 is on, it activates V4, driving 0 to the output. The diode forces the emitter of V3 to ~0.7 V, while V4 base-emitter junction and V2 collector-emitter junction pull its base to a voltage ~0.7, turning it off. By removing pull-up and pull-down resistors from the output stage, this allows the strength of the gate to be increased without proportionally affecting power consumption. TTL is particularly well suited to integrated circuits because the inputs of a gate may all be integrated into a single base region to form a multiple-emitter transistor. Such a highly customized part might increase the cost of a circuit where each transistor is in a separate package, but, by combining several small on-chip components into one larger device, it conversely reduces the cost of implementation on an IC. As with all bipolar logic, a small current must be drawn from a TTL input to ensure proper logic levels. The total current drawn must be within the capacities of the preceding stage, which limits the number of nodes that can be connected (the fanout). All standardized common TTL circuits operate with a 5-volt power supply. A TTL input signal is defined as low when between 0V and 0.8V with respect to the ground terminal, and high when between 2.2V and 5V (precise logic levels vary slightly between sub-types). TTL outputs are typically restricted to narrower limits of between 0V and 0.4V for a low and between 2.6V and 5V for a high, providing 0.4V of noise immunity. Standardization of the TTL levels was so ubiquitous that complex circuit boards often contained TTL chips made by many different manufacturers selected for availability and cost, compatibility being assured; two circuit board units off the same assembly line on different successive days or weeks might have a different mix of brands of chips in the same positions on the board; repair was possible with chips manufactured years (sometimes over a decade) later than original components. Within usefully broad limits, logic gates could be treated as ideal Boolean devices withou t concern for electrical limitations. Advantages of TTL Logic circuit: Advantages of TTL logic family, one should have a basic idea about RTL, DTL etc. Diode logic (DL) uses diodes to implement logical functions like AND and OR. But the disadvantage is that it can not perform NOT operation. As AND and OR are not complete functions by themselves, they can not perform several logic functions without NOT. Hence, there was a need for some device which can perform a NOT function as diodes can not. That device is a transistor. Then came the DTL which uses a transistor along with diodes. As a transistor can act as an inverter, NAND (NOT-AND) NOR (NOT-OR) operations can be performed. But this logic uses several diodes which will slow down its operation. Due to the delay offered by them, the logic levels may sometimes change i. e. 0 t0 1 or 1 to 0. Then came TTL. This logic uses a multi emitter transistor, a transistor with many emitter terminals. As every emitter is nothing but a diode, this logic eliminates the use of all diodes. This is the major advantage. As transistor becomes ON and OFF much rapidly than a diode, switching time will be faster. TTL, or Transistor-transistor logic replaced resistor-transistor logic, and used much less power. The TTL family is very fast and reliable, and newer faster, less power-consuming, etc. types are always being developed. In TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic), think that the device using this technology is made from several transistors. Another advantage is that many more chips employ this REFRENCES: www.wikipidia.com www.google.com www.sparnotes.com

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2.2. Usage of Credit Cards versus Debit Cards Undoubtedly, if credit cards are compared to debit cards, then studies have shown that there are some perceived barriers that create hindrances in the adoption of credit cards far and wide. Rysman (2009) used the data from Survey of Consumer Finance, conducted by Federal Reserve Bank and applied Regression analysis technique to control all the related explanatory variables. Results confirmed that age and income are strong predictors in payment choice. However, Reward programs do not have a major influence on the overall usage of debit and credit cards. Additionally, payment size has U-shaped relationship with credit and debit card; credit cards are mainly used in low dollar amount and debit in high dollar amount transactions. Several studies have also kept their focus on the consumer choice of using debit cards as compared to other payment methods. A study found that credit card revolvers are more probably to use debit card and less probably to use credit cards, as compared with the customer who repay their balance each month. These both groups are different in their perception of payments, like revolvers have the perception that debit cards are not for the ease of use and acceptability but for the budgeting purpose and for control over money (Sprenger & Stavins, 2008). In addition, Zinman (2004) collected the data from approximate 4,000 US Households Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) 2001, to figure out the consumer choice among Debit and Credit card at the Point-of-Sale. Results indicated that debit-card users rationally choose to use debit rather than credit for minimizing transaction costs and for not facing a binding credit limit. King (2005) analyzed the reasons that why consumer... ...(2003) surveyed internet users in 2001 to analyze the choice of payment instrument at point of sale (POS) and for bill payments and found that consumers who easily adopt new technology are more prone to use electronic payment channels. Results also depicted that factors like transaction value, bill’s frequency and physical characteristics of POS (cashier presence and self-service) determine the choice of payment mode. On the other hand, Nnaemeka, Ernest and Onuoha (2011) examined the level of plastic money usage and found that despite the popularity of plastic money in payment methods, cash usage is still leading over the e-purse (electronic purse) usage in Nigeria. The reasons for the result found in study are, risk to security, privacy, customer inertia (psychology effect), illiteracy and lack of operational facilities (less number of â€Å"Point of Sales† terminals).

What drove Eliza to change? What does it mean to be high class? Essay

In George Bernard Shaw’s didactic, Victorian play Pygmalion, Linguistics Professor Henry Higgins’s perceptive ears are offended by the sound of Eliza’s lowly, Cockney accent, so he wishes to change it into a flawless, pleasant voice that would blend in among high society. Higgins is a sarcastic and rude character who treats Eliza badly throughout most of the play, sometimes not even acknowledging her presence. This brings up the question of why she tolerates his rudeness. What drove Eliza to change? Change is desired when we face conflicts that must be resolved. Another question this play presents is: What does it mean to be high class? Is it as Henry Higgins says it is, that it is just the proper way of speaking? Can the â€Å"right† sociolinguistics or money or heritage give someone high status? We can wish to change when wanting to improve ourselves, to satisfy others who we hold in esteem, to meet demands placed upon us, but most importantly, a successful change must come from self-motivated reasons. A change forced upon a person is like no change at all. After the pressure, the expectations, the possible threat of that comes with authority, have all been removed, a change can only last if the subject being changed had wanted to be changed in the first place. Initially, she wanted to improve her speaking voice so that she could find a better job, and with a better job, better prospects in every part of her life. She realizes that she can do this with Higgins’s help—she recognizes his expertise in this subject, but he is unwilling to help her until she pays him a high sum that she cannot afford. Higgins’s peer Colonel Pickering’s attention is brought to Eliza’s plight and he feels for her, so he strikes up a wager with Higgins and ... ...see any kind of challenge in Freddy, so he was not of so much interest to her. George Bernard Shaw’s message, though, is that affection for another person should not be disguised as distaste, for eventually, the person we love will move on to somebody else who treats him or her as he or she deserves to be treated. In a way, Eliza’s plan to marry Freddy is a type of poetic justice against Higgins, who, even though exhibits the proper grammar and speech of gentility, is not truly a gentleman. His behavior and attitude are just inexcusable for a heroine like Eliza. From this irony and dark humor in Pygmalion, we learn that we should be genuine and reveal our true feelings for a love interest eventually, even if it is slowly to keep ourselves from being hurt—we do not want to meet Higgins’s lonely fate. He could have had Eliza, but his caustic behavior kept them apart.

Analysis of Rights and Duties in Nepal

Women's Property Rights Movement in Nepal by Binda Pandey Nepal is still running under strong feudalistic social values and norms. There were no clear provisions regarding Nepalese women and property rights until 1975. Following the UN Declaration of 1975, which was International Women's Year, the Nepali government began to celebrate International Women's Day on the 8th of March. That same year, the Civil Code was amended and a clause on women's inheritance and property rights included.The clause states that if a woman remains unmarried up to 35 years of age, she would have a right to inherit property. However, the amendment limits itself as it continues â€Å"if she gets marriage after having property that should be returned back to the brothers by deducting the marriage cost. † With the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, the new constitution guaranteed that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of sex. Furthermore, in 1991, the government ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW-1979).The nation's Women's Movement demanded that all inequalities in Nepali law be eliminated and focused attention on the equal right of women to inherit property. All political parties have included this demand in their respective election manifestos. The opposition party in parliament, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist, has raised this issue repeatedly but the government has neither considered it seriously, nor taken any initiation to amend discriminatory laws. In 1993, a case was finally filed in the Supreme Court with a demand to amend the Civil Code to give women equal rights over property.After two years, in 1995, the Supreme Court issued a directive to the government to introduce a Bill in parliament that would guarantee a woman's rights to inherit property. Following the Supreme Court directive, the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare drafted a Bill, popularly known a s the â€Å"Women's Property Rights Bill† in order to amend the existing Civil Code. It was tabled for discussion in the 11th session of Parliament. It took almost six years more to be passed through parliament, despite a number of other Bills being adopted in this time parliament.During this period, different political parties and parliamentary committees have made a number of changes to the original Bill. On July 17, 2001, a parliamentary committee unanimously declared that women should have equal rights to inherit property. However, the ruling Nepali Congress party expressed some disagreement and proposed that inherited property â€Å"should be returned back to respective brother/s if she gets marriage†. The ruling party passed the Bill with a majority vote in the Lower House of Parliament in October 2001.But, the Upper House – National Assembly, which is dominated by the opposition party, failed the Bill and it was sent back to the Lower House for reconsider ation. In due process, the Bill came back to the Lower House. Here, the ruling party was pressing for the Bill to be adopted while the main opposition party, supported by almost all women organizations, was pressing hard to guarantee inherited property rights for women equivalent to that of their brother/s. In this situation, there was a risk that the Bill would not be passed again and it might take several more years to go through another round of discussion.At this point, the opposition party made the tricky decision to vote for a Bill with its reservation on the provision, which do not recognize the equal right of sons or daughters to inherited property after marriage. Major Achievements through 11th Amendment in Civil Code-2020 (1963) After all these turning points, the bill was finally passed in parliament on March 14, 2002. It was sent to the King for his seal of approval and came into effect from September 27, 2002. The major achievements of this amendment are as follows: â⠂¬ ¢ Women's Right to PropertyToday, women in Nepal can enjoy their right to inherit property from birth. But when they marry any property will be returned to the parent's family. The new law establishes a wife's equal right to her husband's property immediately after marriage, rather than after she reaches 35 years of age or has been married for 15 years as before. A widow's right to claim her share of property from the joint family after the death of her husband, and to use this property even if she gets re-married, is now also established in law. †¢ Women's Right to DivorceThe Bill gives women the right to seek divorce from her husband if he harasses her physically or psychologically; if he establishes sexual relationships with other women; if he is incapable of producing children; or if he is affected by and std, including hiv/aids. Previously, the law allowed a wife to claim only food stuff from her husband for the five years following their divorce. Today, a woman can als o claim property. †¢ Increase Penalty for Polygamy Polygamy is still rampant in Nepal, though it was declared illegal in 1975.Previously, those who violate the law in this regard face a punishment of 1 to 3 months in prison or a fine of 1000 to 2000 Rupees, or both. The new amendment increases these punishments, a man can now face 1 to 3 years in prison or a fine of 5000 – 25,000 Rupees, or both. †¢ Women's Right to Abortion Previously, abortion was illegal unless a doctor advised that a mother's life was endangered unless a foetus was aborted. Charged with this crime, more than five dozen women are imprisoned across Nepal. The new law legalizes abortion with some conditions.In normal cases a woman can make her own decision to go through with an abortion, though only within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. However, if the child's delivery endangers the mother's life, or if a women becomes pregnant through rape or incestuous sexual relations then abortions can take p lace within 18 weeks of pregnancy. Nepal is the first South Asian country to legalize abortion in this way. †¢ Stern Action against persons involved in Rape Rape is one of the major issues that has been raised by the women's movement in Nepal.In this regard, the amendments to the civil code make the law stronger and increase the punishment for rapists. According to the new provisions, a rapist can be imprisoned for 10-15 years, if their victim is below 10 years of age; 7-10 years of imprisonment, if their victim is between 10 and 16 years of age; and 5 – 7 years of imprisonment, if the victim's age is above 16 years. In each category, an additional five years of prison can be given if the victim is a pregnant or disabled woman. Lacunas still remain It is a big achievement that women have been granted more legal rights with this amendment. But, there remain issues to be addressed.One major issue is to establish equal rights of property inheritance regardless of a women's marital status. The struggle to achieve rights based on gender is ongoing. If gender equality has not been achieved even when important goals are met then the struggle should continue. Challenges ahead There is a bigger challenge ahead of the women's movement. Until and unless women and men in wider society are aware of these new legal instruments, they cannot bring any remarkable change to the real lives of Nepalese women. In this regard, it is the role and responsibility of the women's movement to make women and men aware of their legal rights.At the same time, social and bureaucratic structures including those in civil society and government must institutionalize these changes. Only in this way will feudal and traditional attitudes towards women's rights change. To ensure the impact of these legal rights, authority should be delegated in a practical way and the implementing apparatus should be correctly managed. The women's movement can lead the campaign to make people aware and to check that the law is implemented properly. We can prove that legal instruments are important tools and play a crucial role in creating gender equality in society. Updated version of the published article in Workers News 32, March 2002) Women's Movement Scenario in Nepal Nepal is one of the least developed countries in the world. Our socio-economic life and hence the national life is largely dependent on agriculture. 42 percent of the national income is being contributed by agriculture and almost 81 percent of the population is employed in this sector. However, agriculture itself is in a very miserable condition. It has become away of life to majority of the population, but its fruitfulness is decreasing every year.In the Nepalese context, the women struggle started against British imperialism. Patriotic struggle against British imperialism dates back to the battle of 1814 at Nalapani. Women marched shoulder to shoulder with men in the civil right movement of 1948. Women took act ive part in the democratic revolution of 1951 which overthrew the 104 year autocracy of the Rana family. Its goal was to overthrow the 104 years of Rana autocracy from Nepal. The first women organization the â€Å"Nepal Women Association† was established in 1948, it worked to inculcate political awareness among women.After the fall of the Rana regime and dawn of democracy in 1951, political parties became active. Women's organization began to be affiliated with various political parties. During the thirty year rule (1960-1990) of the party-less Panchayat system, all political parties and independent women 5 organizations were banned. However, the left democratic forces continued their struggle against the suppressive political system. The communist organized peasants and workers to fight against the exploitative regime. Women came out in large number during the struggle for democracy.The All Nepal Women Association (ANWA) functioning under the party, was very active in organi zing revolutionary women. It is during this period of struggle that ANWA established itself as a revolutionary wing of the party. Many members of ANWA were tortured by the rulers. The persistence in the struggle attracted women to join the movement. The movement was successfully expanded throughout the country. Also there were some sectoral women movements in existence against the feudal exploitation of landlord and Rana regime. But they were limited in coverage and could not take larger shape to include women from all over the nation.In order to understand the shaping of the movement, it is necessary to mention how the women's political and organized form of movement was connected with the political parties. The first underground mass meeting of All Nepal Women Association was held in 1980. The gathering discussed and analyzed situation of the country, set goals and strategies of women struggle to achieve the women's rights and liberation. It formulated the long term and short term national policy and programme for the women struggle. The period of eighties is the most active and important period for Nepalese women movement.The oppression from the then rulers was intolerable. Many women activists were jailed and tortured, more than 70 women activists were full-time underground and semi-underground activists. They developed thousands of activists who were over-ground, and they continued their underground activities. It played a crucial role in creating political awareness and played significant role in organizing women of different class, profession and strata. During its underground political training, the All Nepal Women Association equipped its cadre with true ideals in the struggles for political rights, social justice and economic equality.It also made best use of the 8th March International Women's Day (started since 1972, 8th march), and national festival such as Tij (exclusive women festival) and Tihar (festival of light) celebrated each year for five days culminating the worshipping of brothers by sisters on the last day. On this day women folk gather at their parental houses, hence an opportunity to make best use of gathering. ANWA organized its first National Conference in 1989 in underground way, second National Conference in 1992 and the third National Conference in 1995 with the theme â€Å"Social Security and Employment, Equal Rights in all Sectors†.All members of ANWA and other women organizations cultivated a dream-a dream of new progressive and democratic Nepal where women participation in all walks of national life is ensured. In spite of all these struggles, sacrifices and enthusiasm, women have been marginalized in politics as in any other sectors. The paternalistic structures of the family, society and the male-dominated political organizations gave little space to women. There exist a big gap between saying and doing, preaching and practicing about women's participation and leadership in Nepal.Constitutional ly, 5 percent seats of the total candidacy in the parliamentary election are reserved for women, in each political party. Recently the government has decided to provide 15 percent reservation in each VDC and Municipality. Altogether there are 4000 VDCs and 58 Municipalities and in each VDC there are 9 Wards (Unit). Each ward of the VDC will have 5 members including chairperson elected. Among four members one seat is reserved for women. There is a provision of Advisory Committee in VDC and municipality and participation of women is provisioned.Thus, at the local level altogether more than 120,000 women will be mobilized representing all parties. It is a welcome step forward to include women in politics at the local levels. The position of women in civil service is also very bleak. While the 1990 High Level Administration Reform Commission gave suggestions to improve the situation, only 5 percent of the civil servants at officer level were women in 1992. National and international eff orts have been made to bring multilateral and bilateral agencies for aid and assistance for women's cause.In spite of all these efforts, gender gap is still very wide. Inequalities are rampant in all fronts–cultural, social, economic, political and in education. Women have no separate identity of herself. They are identified in relation to her father, husband, son and grandson. Women in the society The Patriarchal system is the root cause of social injustice in Nepal. Sons are preferred over daughters. Sons are considered economic insurance in old age. They carry the family name, perform death rituals and rites.Girls are considered as other's property to be given away in marriage. They are unwanted, neglected ad overworked. They are seen as auxiliary contributors to the household. Thus, the women are caught in the corrupt circle of the family system of exploitation and deprivation. The socialization pattern of Nepalese society is very discriminative. From the childhood, boys are groomed towards productive work and decision making and girls are confined to an â€Å"inside world† conditioned to be home makers, dutiful wives, loving mothers and service providers.A woman is subjected to the protection of man and has no mobility. Women are controlled by men and are considered as a property of men. Hence they do not have their own property. Even religion, education and rituals are denied to women. A women's life is not for her self. Health status of Nepalese women is deplorable. Nepal is one of the three countries in the world where the life expectancy of women is lower than that of men. In Nepal 20 percent of pregnancies are said to be in the â€Å"high risk† category. Violence on girl-child and child prostitution is alarmingly increasing.Trafficking of girls into India are increasing and of those trafficked 20 percent are minors under 16 years of age. The overall health condition is alarmingly poor in Nepal. The average life expectancy is 55. 9 for males and 53. 5 for females. Only 10 percent of the pregnant women get maternal service. The maternal mortality rate is 850 per 100,000 live birth. Average child bearing age among 40 percent of women is 15 to 19 years. The fertility rate is as high as 5. 7. Women have been the focus of population policies and the main target for family planning and fertility control.The girl malnutrition rate is double than that of boy under 5 years. 78 percent of rural women suffer by anaemia in the delivery period. 85 percent of women depend upon the traditional birth attendants instead of health post and hospital services. Even in the urban areas, the maternal mortality rate is 8. 5 per 1000 but in rural and geographically distanced rural area the MMR is 15. 4 per 1000. Economic Status of Nepalese Women Nepal is an underdeveloped agricultural country with a per capita GDP of US $ 202 (1994). Almost half of its population is below the poverty line.It ranks second among the poorest countries of the world. Studies have shown that women's contribution in the economy is large and significant with 57 percent of agricultural activities being carried out by women. They contribute about half of household income and work 11 hours a day. Despite women's substantial contributions both as cultivators and managers in the production process, all their labour is unnoticed, undervalued and unaccounted in the economy. Women as the workers Women constitute a little over one-half of the Nepalese population. 5 percent of employed women are confined to agricultural work compared to 75 percent for men. Besides agriculture, women are again mostly confined to traditional jobs such as sewing and knitting. They are rarely engaged in professional and technical jobs. Very few are in community services, commerce, manufacture etc. Jobs are low-paid, requiring relatively simple skills. In the service sector, women are mostly engaged in teaching, health and financial institutions. Women lag far behin d in the legal field and media service. Only 6 percent are found at officer level positions in the civil services.Women in Nepal generally work for longer hours compared to men, and rural women devote much longer hours than urban women. His Majesty's Government of Nepal has fixed the minimum wage and salaries in the industrial and organized sectors without any gender discrimination but in practice such discrimination are noticed. Discrimination in organized sectors are more prominent. Effective and in built participation of women in the development process, both as a producer and consumer of development output, has been accepted as a necessary condition for balanced, equitable and sustainable growth.But Nepalese women are yet to obtain such participation. In terms of labour force participation, women are behind men, are predominantly confined to agriculture, account for the majority of unpaid family workers, number predominantly among the unemployed and are heavily concentrated in l ow-paid jobs, The constraints against women's employment in industry can be summarized as follows, †¢ Women are poorly qualified or not suitably trained †¢ Protective legislation has acted as a deterrent to women's employment †¢ Women are prepared to work for lower wage Both women and men look upon women's income as supplementary †¢ There is no solidarity and no unions among women Women lack the collateral to become entrepreneurs, therefore have no access to †¢ They lack entrepreneurial knowledge They have dual responsibilities and lack societal support credit loans or Ninety percent of the employed women are confined to agricultural activities where as it is less than seventy five percent in the case of men. Less than 6 percent of them are engaged in personal and community services, 2 percent are found in commerce and 1 percent in manufacturing.The employment of women in sectors like electricity, gas and water, construction, transport and communication fina nce and business services is extremely low or negligible (table No. 3). Economically Active Population (10 years and above) by Major Industry and sex 1991 (in percent) Table 1: Occupational Structure of Women and Men (1991) |Occupation |Male |Female Total |Female as % of |Total | |Professional technical Workers |2. 5 |0. 7 |1. 8 |15. | |Administrative Workers |0. 4 |0. 1 |0. 3 |9. 3 | |Clerical Workers |1. 6 |0. 3 |1. 1 |10. 0 | |Sales Workers |3. 9 |1. 7 |3. 0 |22. 6 | |Service Workers |7. 8 |3. 8 |6. 2 |25. 1 | |Farm/Fish Workers |74. |90. 4 |81. 0 |45. 1 | |Production Labour Workers |5. 8 |2. 0 |4. 2 |18. 8 | |Others |3. 0 |0. 8 |2. 1 |15. 8 | |Not Stated |0. 3 |0. 2 |0. 3 |35. 9 | |Total |100. 0 |100. 0 |100. 0 |40. | Source: Population Census 1991 Table 2: Women in the Labour force 1991 |Describe |Male |Female |Total | |I. Population(in ‘000) |9221 |9270 |18491 | |2. Labour force |6445 |6554 |12999 | |(Population aged 10 years and above in ‘000) | | | | |3.Labour f orces% of total people |69. 9 |70. 7 |70. 3 | |4. Economically active population |4428 |2982 |7410 | |(Aged 10 years & above in ‘000) | | | | |5. Labour force participation rate |68. 7 |45. 5 |57. 0 | |(4 as% of2) | | | | |6.Economically inactive population |2017 |3572 |5589 | |(aged 10 years and above'000) | | | | |7. 6as%of 2 |31. 3 |54. 5 |43 | Source : Population Census 1991 Table 3:Economically active population (10 years and above) by major industries and sex, 1991(in percent) Industry |Male |Female Total |Female as % of |Total | |Agriculture |74. 9 |90. 5 |81. 2 |45. 0 | |Manufacturing |2. 6 |1. 2 |2. 0 |11. 9 | |Construction |0. 7 |0. 1 |0. 5 |10. 9 | |Commerce |4. 5 |2. 0 |3. |23. 7 | |Transport and communication |1. 1 |0. 1 |0. 7 |3. 9 | |Finance and business services |0. 4 |0. 1 |0. 3 |13. 4 | |Personal & community services |13. 6 |5. 3 |10. 2 |21. 0 | |Others |0. 6 |0. 1 |0. 4. |6. 7 | |Industry not stated |1. |1. 6 |1. 0 |23. 2 | |Total |100. 0 |100. 0 |100. 0 |40. 4 | Source : Population Census 1991 Women are facing problems created by government new economic policy of privatization and liberalization. The policy of privatization and liberalization is yet to show its full impact in Nepalese economy. Even then we expect to encounter the following problems in the field of women workers and employment in the days to come. 1. The employer may prefer men to women or unmarried to married one 2.Difference in salary of men and women may persist 3. Government may not be responsible for capacity building program for women 4. The dignity of women workers might erode as they will be treated as commodity by their employers. 5. Prostitution, sex tourism and sexual harassment will grow together with success of privatization and liberalization 6. Women will have to be restricted to low skilled and low paid jobs. The new policy will reduce the opportunities for formal education and vocational training for upgrading the skills, with a result that women d o not qualify for promotions, job up gradation and higher wage.Education and Nepalese Women For a long time, education was a privilege for a few in Nepal. The first government school for girls opened in 1948 a year after the Civil Rights Movement. It was only in 1951 that education was gradually prompted throughout the country. The literacy rate in the country is 40 percent. Literacy rate among women is only 25 percent. In the schools the dropout and irregularity of girls are higher compared to that of boys. Progress in the promotion of girls education has been made as a result of international women's year and the international women's decade. Several measures have been taken to augment girls education.Female teachers were appointed in each school. Nevertheless, education is yet to be effective in empowering women in Nepal. Education in Nepal is not yet linked with the lives of the people. Equality and empowerment of women is simply a lip-service. Government Policy and Women's Adva ncement There has been some changes in the interests and attitudes of the policy planners after the change in the political system. However, the changes are not satisfactory and are still sectoral. A new ministry looking after women issues has been created. The ministry is to coordinate and further the policies and programs related to the women.Women constitute half of the population in Nepal. Unless they participate fully in the nation building task, economic development of the country will not be possible. Taking this reality into account sectoral strategy and working policy were outlined in the eighth plan (1992-97), the first plan of fully democratic. The strategies to be followed as outlined in the plan are; †¢ Encouraging women's participation in traditional as well as non traditional sectors †¢ Extending access to be formal and non-formal education to women †¢ Adopting affirmative action in training program Increasing women's access to health facilities especia lly FP/MCH facilities †¢ Increasing women's access to credit, technical knowledge, entrepreneurship development programs, marketing facilities and employment opportunities †¢ Extending to rural areas those kinds of technological changes which reduce the time spend in gathering an fetching fuel fodder, water and household work †¢ Revising laws discriminatory to women Though the government of Nepal started a policy on Women In Development (WID) since sixth five year plan (1980-85). The policy aimed to promote the status of women by recognizing women as development agent.The plans stressed on technical and non technical fields of training for women. The Women Training Centre was formed under the Ministry of Local Development (MOLD) for skill development of rural women. Of course there has been some changes in the interests and attitudes among politicians and policy makers. However the change is not overall satisfactory and still is sectoral. Women should be recognized as partner and not as subordinate to men. No doubt, the newly formed Ministry of Women and Social Welfare should take up a leading role in asserting this concept. Girls trafficking and prostitution as major Social Problems of Women in NepalIn Nepal girls trafficking and prostitution problem are becoming similar to that of problems in Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan. Over 200,000 Nepali girls/women are reported to be indulged into prostitution in India. It is said that between 5000 to 7000 young girls are trafficked to India annually; of which one-third are trafficked forcefully. According to the Indian Health Organization (IHO) 100,000 Nepali girls/women are working as prostitutes in Calcutta, Mumbai and New Delhi alone. IHO estimates that of the 15,000 prostitutes working in the state of Utter Pradesh, 12,000 are Nepali girls and women.The Girls, sold against their will, are subjected to severe mental and physical torture. Most of the girls and women engaged in prosti tution are usually from broken families while others come from poor families. Many innocent teenage girls are abducted or lured from their homes in the countryside and are forced into the job. They are either lured or deceived on fake promises and sold to the brothel houses in Indian cities by the middlemen. As such the Nepali girls/women are found serving as prostitutes in almost every city and towns of India and the practice is, unfortunately increasing.Intra-regional and Inter-regional trafficking has also increased rapidly as more and more people migrate to the cities. There are more than 5000 girls/women from surrounding countryside working as prostitutes in Kathmandu and it is said that there are more than 200 brothels in Kathmandu city alone. Similarly, major market centres work as transit centres for ultimate trafficking into India. The East-west Highway is a fertile ground for prostitution which is being called commonly as highway prostitution.Some reports and investigation s have revealed that large number of girls/women have been trafficked via carpet and garment factories. Many who fall victim are those destitute and helpless women who are neglected, abused and abandoned by their husbands and relatives. Many women belonging to lower castes are also made to be the victims. No doubt the trafficking of girls/women to the urban areas of Nepal and to the brothels of foreign countries tell us a story of fraud exploitation, domination as well as despair frustration and poverty.We need to look beyond the facade of economic problems and try to come with the possible reasons within a larger cultural, historical and socio-political framework. While the subjects of sex remains taboo in Nepalese society, prostitution has gained a big momentum. It is no longer limited to the traditional red light areas of Salyan, Pyuthan and Dang districts where the women of the â€Å"Badi† community adopt prostitution as profession. They adopt prostitution as a social pra ctice. Under the â€Å"Deuki† system the girls are surrendered to temples by people by the way of religious gift or â€Å"Bhakal†.The Deukies are not expected to marry and thus, they adopt prostitution as a means of livelihood when they grow up. The Deuki system has been operating under the guise of religious and cultural beliefs. The cultural practice of Deuki system and Badi community have given way to socially recognized prostitution in Nepal. In Nepal as banning of prostitution remains a matter of dispute, there can be no question on the urgent need to address the issue that force girls and women into the flesh trade.The immediate risk groups like the poor and ignorant girls in the countryside, girls children working in the carpet and garment factories and the children on the streets should be made the immediate target for protection activities. All the government and non government organizations and the conscious citizens need to act actively to abolish the practi ce of flesh trade. Everybody should realize the gravity of the problem which is posing a big threat to a very fabric of Nepalese society. Everyone should work to contribute for he prevention and control of prostitution and girls trafficking.Well coordinated efforts need to be made in creating the congenial environment to discourage the sexual exploitation of women. There should be an effective implementation of laws relating to trafficking of girls. Income and employment generating programs such as knitting, sewing, weaving, bamboo work, sericulture etc. are necessary so that economic status of women in the countryside, the fertile ground for the traffickers is bettered. The profession of flesh trade can not be checked with the legal measures alone.Alternative means for survival are necessary. Both income generating activities as well as programs generating awareness are equally important in this respect. Despite all the existing laws, the enforcement and the threat of AIDS, girls/w omen trafficking and prostitution still remain a growing problem in Nepal. Nevertheless, it is a matter of great satisfaction that since the last few years some of the NGO and INGOs have started taking keen interests on the issue of women trafficking and practice of forced prostitution in Nepal.Similarly, the international and United Nations agencies have also started creating an awareness against girls trafficking and immoral prostitution practices. In the western and far western part of Nepal there is residue of slavery system called Karnaiya. The bonded labourers do not receive their full labour cost. They have to work free of charge for 15-18 hours/day The system is spread in 5 district of Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke, Dang and Bardiya. In all these districts there is approximately 50 thousands Kamaiya. Generally women from Kamaiya family are required to work free for the landlord.Women under Kamaiya system are more exploited even than the Kamaiyas themselves. Physical and sexual abuse are common among Kamaiya women. Global context of and its effect to Nepali Women In the present context globalization has inflicted its worse effect all over the world. Globalization is generally used t0 designate an aggregate of policy measures which seek to expand market relations on world level and to enlarge the scope for the free movement of capital internationally. Some of the key components of globalizations are trade liberalization i. e. reakdown of tariff barriers, privatization of formerly public sector companies and the reduction of state intervention and the promotion of export oriented production for instance pf cash crops agriculture. In the countries of the south , such policies are generally imposed by WB. IMF , in the name of structural adjustment. while the ideology of globalization states that such polities serve to promote human welfare an increasingly large body of literature migration from rural areas and to a shift from secure to insecure forms of employ ment and production.Under structural adjustment programmes, government world wide have been compelled to sell of public sector companies to the private sector, and such transfers to the private sector have frequently been accompanied but massive dismissals and the flexibilization of labour relations under structural adjustment and liberalization, workers loose various forms of minimal security previously provided by the state or state owned companies. The declarations and programs of action adopted at the four global women's conferences held since 1975 have added important dimensions on the empowerment of women.The second global conference in Copenhagen in 1980 and the third one in Nairobi in 1985 contributed to the adoption of the advancement of women by the year 2000. Now the UN is working on the fourth phase of progress of women. All the four conferences have the message that no progress is possible without a full and equal participation of men and women. Although in many countri es women remain most deprived, discriminated and powerless in most societies.With this global context we should raise some pertinent points regarding Nepalese women's movement which will give the picture of Nepalese women, their social, cultural, economic and political status who are the threshold for the 21st century. Conclusion From the mid 1980s women's movement in Nepal can be characterized in three distinct features. Firstly, women's movement was all activism. The role of academia was insignificant. But now there has been forging links between these two in a variety of ways in different fora, conferences, conventions, and demonstrations.A strong belief among many groups has emerged that the struggle against gender inequalities can not be waged in isolation from struggle in many other fronts. Thirdly, the women's movement is not secluded within the country and is increasingly interconnected with the international women's movement. The four international conferences on women have been successful in bringing women's all over the world in common platform of action (Country Report on International Women's Conference, 1-5 August 1997, Malmo, Sweden; prepared by Sujita Shakya & Umesh Upadhyaya)

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 8~9

8 The Humiliation of the Pilot As a Passenger Once on the plane, Tucker unfolded the letter from the mysterious doctor and read it again. Dear Mr. Case: I have become aware of your recent difficulties and I believe I have a proposition that will be of great benefit to us both. My wife and I are missionaries on Alualu, a rather remote atoll at the north-western tip of the Micronesian crescent. Since we are out of the normal shipping lanes and we are the sole medical provider for the people of the island, we maintain our own aircraft for the transport of medical supplies. We have recently procured a Lear 45 for this purpose, but our former pilot has been called to the mainland on personal business for an indefinite time. In short, Mr. Case, given your experience flying small jets and our unique requirements, we feel that this would be a perfect opportunity for us both. We are not concerned with the status of your license, only that you can perform in the pilot's seat and fulfill a need that can only be described as dire. If you are willing to honor a long-term contract, we will provide you with room and board on the island, pay you $2,000 a week, as well as a generous bonus upon completion of the contract. As a gesture of our sincerity, I am enclosing an open airline ticket and a cashier's check for $3,000 for traveling expenses. Contact us by e-mail with your arrival time in Truk and my wife will meet you there to discuss the conditions of your employment and pro vide transportation to Alualu. You'll find a room reserved for you at the Paradise Inn. Sincerely, Sebastian Curtis, M.D. [email protected] Why me? Tuck wondered. He'd crashed a jet, lost his job and probably his sex life, was charged with multiple crimes, then a letter and a check arrived from nowhere to bail him out, but only if he was willing to abandon everything and move to a Pacific island. It could turn out to be a good job, but if it had been his decision, he'd still be lingering over it in a motel room with Dusty Lemon. It was as if some combination of ironic luck and Jake Skye had been sent along to make the decision for him. Not so strange, he thought. The same combination had put him in the pilot's seat in the first place. Tuck had grown up in Elsinore, California, northeast of San Diego, the only son of the owner of the Denmark Silverware Corporation. He had an unremarkable childhood, was a mediocre athlete, and spent most of his adolescence surfing in San Diego and chasing girls, one of whom he finally caught. Zoophilia Gold was the daughter of his father's lawyer, a lovely girl made shy by a cruel first name. Tuck and Zoo enjoyed a brief romance, which was put on hold when Tuck's father sent him off to college in Texas so he could learn to make decisions and someday take over the family business. His motivation excised by the job guarantee, Tuck made passing grades until his college career was cut short by an emergency call from his mother. â€Å"Come home. Your father's dead.† Tuck made the drive in two days, stopping only for gas, to use the bathroom, and to call Zoophilia, who informed him that his mother had married his father's brother and his uncle had taken over Denmark Silver-ware. Tuck screeched into Elsinore in a blind rage and ran over Zoophilia's father as he was leaving Tuck's mother's house. The death was declared an accident, but during the investigation a policeman informed Tuck that although he had no proof, he suspected that the riding accident that killed Tuck's father might not have been an accident, especially since Tuck's father had been allergic to horses. Tuck was sure that his uncle had set the whole thing up, but he couldn't bring himself to confront his mother or her new husband. In the meantime, Zoophilia, stricken with grief over her father's death, overdosed on Prozac and drowned in her hot tub, and her brother, who had been away at college also, returned promising to kill Tucker or at least sue him into oblivion for the deaths of his father and sister. While trying to come to a decision on a course of action, Tucker met a brace of Texas brunettes in a Pacific Beach bar who insisted he ride back with them to the Lone Star state. Disinherited, depressed, and clueless, Tucker took the ride as far as a small suburban airport outside of Houston, where the girls asked him if he'd ever been nude skydiving. At that point, not really caring if he lived or died, he crawled into the back of a Beechcraft with them. They left him scraped, bruised, and stranded on the tarmac in a jockstrap and a parachute harness, shivering with adrenaline. Jake Skye found him wandering around the hangars wearing the parachute canopy as a toga. It had been a tough year. â€Å"Let me guess,† Jake said. â€Å"Margie and Randy Sue?† â€Å"Yeah,† Tucker said. â€Å"How'd you know?† â€Å"They do it all the time. Daddies with money – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Petroleum. Hope you didn't cut up that canopy. You can get a grand for it used.† â€Å"They're gone, then?† â€Å"An hour ago. Said something about going to London. Where are your clothes?† â€Å"In their car.† â€Å"Come with me.† Jake gave Tucker a job washing airplanes, then taught him to fly a Cessna 172 and enrolled him in flight school. Tucker got his twin-engine hours in six months, helping Jake ferry Texas businessmen around the state in a leased Beech Duke. Jake turned the flying over to Tuck as soon as he passed his 135 commercial certification. â€Å"I can fly anything,† Jake said, â€Å"but unless it's helicopters, I'd rather wrench. Only steady gig in choppers is flying oil rigs in the Gulf. Had too many friends tip off into the drink. You fly, I'll do the maintenance, we split the cash.† Another six months and Jake was offered a job by the Mary Jean Cosmetics Corporation. Jake took the job on the condition that Tucker could copilot until he had his Lear hours (he described Tuck as a â€Å"little lost lamb† and the makeup magnate relented). Mary Jean did her own flying, but once Tucker was qualified, she turned the controls over to him full-time. â€Å"Some members of the board have pointed out that my time would be better spent taking care of business instead of flying. Besides, it's not ladylike. How'd you like a job?† Luck. The training he'd received would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he'd gotten most of it for free. He had become a new person, and it had all started with a bizarre streak of bad luck followed by an op-portunity and Jake Skye's intervention. Maybe it would work out for the better this time too. At least this time no one had been killed. 9 Cult of the Autopilot: A History Lesson The pilot said, â€Å"The local time is 9:00 A.M. The temperature is 90 degrees. Thank you for flying Continental and enjoy your stay in Truk.† Then he laughed menacingly. Tuck stepped out of the plane and felt the palpable weight of the air in his lungs. It smelled green, fecund, as if vegetation was growing, dying, rotting, and giving off a gas too thick to breathe. He followed a line of passengers to the terminal, a long, low, cinderblock building – nothing more really than a tin roof on pillars – teeming with brown people; short, stoutly built people, men in jeans or old dress slacks and T-shirts, women in long floral cotton dresses with puff shoulders, their hair held in buns atop their heads by tortoiseshell combs. Tuck waited, sweating, at one end of the terminal while young men shoved the baggage through a curtain onto a plywood ramp. Natives re-trieved their baggage, mainly coolers wrapped with packing tape, and walked by the customs officer's counter without pausing. He looked for a tourist, to see how they were treated, but there were none. The customs officer glared at him. Tucker hoped there was nothing illegal in his pack. The airport here looked like a weigh station for a death camp; he didn't want to see the jail. He fingered the roll of bills in his pocket, thinking, Bribe. The pack came sliding through the curtain. Tucker moved through the pall of islanders and pulled the pack onto his shoulders, then walked to the customs counter and plopped it down in front of the officer. â€Å"Passport,† the officer said. He was fat and wore a brass button uniform with dime store flip-flops on his feet. Tuck handed him his passport. â€Å"How long will you be staying?† â€Å"Not long. I'm not sure. A day maybe.† â€Å"No flights for three days.† The officer stamped the passport and handed it back to Tucker. â€Å"There's a ten-dollar departure fee.† â€Å"That's it?† Tucker was amazed. No inspection, no bribe. Luck again. â€Å"Take your bag.† â€Å"Right.† Tucker scooped up the pack and headed for an exit sign, hand-painted on plywood. He walked out of the airport and was blinded by the sun. â€Å"Hey, you dive?† A man's voice. Tuck squinted and a thin, leathery islander in a Bruins hockey jersey stood in front of him. He had six teeth, two of them gold. â€Å"No,† Tucker said. â€Å"Why you come if you no dive?† â€Å"I'm here on business.† Tucker dropped his pack and tried to breathe. He was soaked with sweat. Ten seconds in this sun and he wanted to dive into the shade like a roach under a stove. â€Å"Where you stay?† This guy looked criminal, just an eye patch short of a pirate. Tucker didn't want to tell him anything. â€Å"How do I get to the Paradise Inn?† The pirate called to a teenager who was sitting in the shade watching a score of beat-up Japanese cars with blackened windows jockeying for position in the dirt street. â€Å"Rindi! Paradise.† The younger man, dressed like a Compton rapper – oversized shorts, football jersey, baseball cap reversed over a blue bandanna – came over and grabbed Tucker's pack. Tuck kept one hand on an arm strap and fought the kid for control. â€Å"You go with him,† the pirate said. â€Å"He take you Paradise.† â€Å"Come on, Holmes,† the kid said. â€Å"My car air-conditioned. Tucker let go of the pack and the kid whisked it away through the jostle of cars to an old Honda Civic with a cellophane back window and bailing wire holding the passenger door shut. Tuck follow him, stepping quickly between the cars, each one lurching forward as if to hit him as he passed. He looked for the driver's expressions, but the windshields were all blacked out with plastic film. The kid threw Tuck's pack in the hatchback, then unwired the door and held it open. Tucker climbed in, feeling, once again, com pletely at the mercy of Lady Luck. Now I get to see the place where they rob and kill the white guys, he thought. As they drove, Tuck looked out on the lagoon. Even through the tinted window the blue of the lagoon shone as if illuminated from below. Island women in scuba masks waded shoulder deep; their floral dresses flowing around them made them look like multicolored jellyfish. Each carried a short steel spear slung from a piece of surgical tubing. Large plastic buckets floated on the surface in which the women were depositing their catch. â€Å"What are they hunting?† Tuck asked the driver. â€Å"Octopus, urchin, small fish. Mostly octopus. Hey, where you from in United States?† â€Å"I grew up in California.† The kid lit up. â€Å"California! You have Crips there, right?† â€Å"Yeah, there's gangs.† â€Å"I'm a Crip,† the kid said, pointing to his blue bandanna with pride. â€Å"Me and my homies find any Bloods here, we gonna pop a nine on 'em.† Tucker was amazed. On the side of the road a beautiful little girl in a flowered dress was drinking from a green coconut. Here in the car there was a gang war going on. He said, â€Å"Where are the Bloods?† Rindi shook his head sadly. â€Å"Nobody want to be Bloods. Only Crips on Truk. But if we see one, we gonna bust a cap on 'em.† He pulled back a towel on the seat to reveal a beat-up Daisy air pistol. Tuck made a mental note not to wear a red bandanna and accidentally fill the Blood shortage. He had no desire to be killed or wounded over a glorified game of cowboys and Indians. â€Å"How far to the hotel?† â€Å"This it,† Rindi said, wrenching the Honda across the road into a dusty parking lot. The Paradise Inn was a two-story, crumbling stucco building with a crown of rusting rebar beckoning skyward for a third floor that would never be built. Tuck let the boy, Rindi, carry his pack to an upstairs room: mint green cinder block over brown linoleum, a beat-up metal desk, smoke-stained floral curtains, a twin bed with a torn 1950s bedspread, the smell of mildew and insecticide. Rindi put the pack in the doorless closet and cranked the little window air conditioner to high. â€Å"Too late for shower. Water come on again four to six.† Tuck glanced into the bathroom. Mistake. An exotic-looking or ange thing was growing on the shower curtain. He said, â€Å"Where can I get a beer?† Rindi grinned. â€Å"We have lounge. Budweiser, ‘king of beers.' MTV on satellite.† He cocked his wrists and performed a gangsta rap move that looked as if he'd contracted a rhythmic cerebral palsy. â€Å"Yo, G, we chill with the phattest jams? Snoop, Ice, Public Enemy.† â€Å"Oh, good,† Tuck said. â€Å"We can do a drive-by later. How do I get to the lounge?† â€Å"Down steps, outside, go right.† He paused, looking concerned. â€Å"We have to shoot out driver's side. Other window not go down.† â€Å"We'll manage.† Tuck flipped the kid a dollar and left the room, proud to be an American. An unconscious island man marked the entrance to the lounge. Tuck stepped over him and pushed his way through the black glass door into a cool, dark, smoke-hazed room lit by a silent television tuned to nothing and a flickering neon BUDWEISER sign. A shadow stood behind the bar; two more sat in front of it. Tuck could see eyes in the dark – maybe people sitting at tables, maybe nocturnal vermin. A voice: â€Å"A fellow American here to buy a beer for his countryman.† The voice had come from one of the shadows at the bar. Tuck squinted into the dark and saw a large white man, about fifty, in a sweat-stained dress shirt. He was smiling, a jowly yellow smile under drink-dulled eyes. Tuck smiled back. Anyone that didn't speak broken English was, at this point, his friend. â€Å"What are you drinkin', pardner?† Tuck always went Texan when he was being friendly. â€Å"What you drink here.† He held up two fingers to the bartender, then held his hand out to shake. â€Å"Jefferson Pardee, editor in chief of the Truk Star.† â€Å"Tucker Case.† Tuck sat down on the stool next to the big man. The bartender placed two sweating Budweiser cans in front of them and waited. â€Å"Run a tab,† Pardee said. Then to Tuck: â€Å"I assume you're a diver?† â€Å"Why would you assume that?† â€Å"It's the only reason Americans come here, other than Peace Corps or Navy CAT team members. And if you don't mind my saying, you don't look idealistic enough to be Peace Corps or stupid enough to be Navy.† â€Å"I'm a pilot.† It felt good saying it. He'd always liked saying it. He didn't realize how terrified he'd been that he'd never be able to say it again. â€Å"I'm supposed to meet someone from another island about a job.† â€Å"Not a missionary air outfit, I hope.† â€Å"It's for a missionary doctor. Why?† â€Å"Son, those people do a great job, but you can only get so much out of those old planes they fly. Fifty-year-old Beech 18s and DC3s. Sooner or later you're going into the drink. But I suppose if you're flying for God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I'll be flying a new Learjet.† Pardee almost dropped his beer. â€Å"Bullshit.† Tuck was tempted to pull out the letter and slam it on the bar, but thought better of it. â€Å"That's what they said.† Pardee put a big hairy forearm on the bar and leaned into Tuck. He smelled like a hangover. â€Å"What island and what church?† â€Å"Alualu,† Tuck said. â€Å"A Dr. Curtis.† Pardee nodded and sat back on his stool. â€Å"No-man's Island.† â€Å"What's that mean?† â€Å"It doesn't belong to anyone. Do you know anything about Micronesia?† â€Å"Just that you have gangs but no regular indoor plumbing.† â€Å"Well, depending on how you look at it, Truk can be a hellhole. That's what happens when you give Coke cans to a coconut culture. But it's not all that way. There are two thousand islands in the Micronesian crescent, running almost all the way from Hawaii to New Guinea. Magellan landed here first, on his first voyage around the world. The Spanish claimed them, then the Germans, then the Japanese. We took them from the Japanese during the war. There are seventy sunken Japanese ships in Truk's lagoon alone. That's why the divers come.† â€Å"So what's this have to do with where I'm going?† â€Å"I'm getting to that. Until fifteen years ago, Micronesia was a U.S. protectorate, except for Alualu. Because it's at the westernmost tip of the crescent, we left it out of the surrender agreement with the Japanese. It kind of got lost in the shuffle. So Alualu was never an American territory, and when the Federated States of Micronesia declared independence, they didn't include Alualu.† â€Å"So what's that mean?† Tuck was getting impatient. This was the longest lecture he'd endured since flight school. â€Å"In short, no mother government, no foreign aid, no nothing. Alualu belongs to whoever lives on it. It's off the shipping lanes, and it's a raised atoll, only one small island, not a group of islands around a lagoon, so there's not enough copra to make it worth the trip for the collector boats. Since the war, when there was an airstrip there, no one goes there.† â€Å"Maybe that's why they need the jet?† â€Å"Son, I came here in '66 with the Peace Corps and I've never left. I've seen a lot of missionaries throw a lot of money at a lot of problems, but I've never seen a church that was willing to spring for a Learjet.† Tuck wanted to beat his head on the bar just to feel his tiny brain rattle. Of course it was too good to be true. He'd known that instinctively. He should have known that as soon as he'd seen the money they were offering him – him, Tucker Case, the biggest fuckup in the world. Tuck drained his beer and signaled for two more. â€Å"So what do you know about this Curtis?† â€Å"I've heard of him. There's not much news out here and he made some about twenty years back. He went batshit at the airport in Yap after he couldn't get anyone to evacuate a sick kid off the island. Frankly, I'm sur-prised he's still out there. I heard the church pulled out on him. Cargo cults give Christians the willies.† Tuck knew he was being lured in. He'd met guys like Pardee in airport hotel bars all over the U.S.: lonely businessmen, usually salesmen, who would talk to anyone about anything just for the company. They learned how to make you ask questions that required long windy answers. He'd felt sympathetic toward them ever since he'd played Willie Loman in Miss Patterson's third-grade class production of Death of a Salesman. Pardee just needed to talk. â€Å"What's a cargo cult?† Tuck asked. Pardee smiled. â€Å"They've been in the islands since the Spanish landed in the 1500s and traded steel tools and beads to the natives for food and water. They're still around.† Pardee took a long pull on his beer, set it down, and resumed. â€Å"These islands were all populated by people from somewhere else. The stories of the heroic ancestors coming across the sea in canoes are part of their reli-gions. The ancestors brought everything they need from across the sea. All of a sudden, guys show up with new cool stuff. Instant ancestors, instant gods from across the sea, bearing gifts. They incorporated the newcomers into their religions. Sometimes it might be fifty years before another ship showed up, but every time they used a machete, they thought about the return of the gods bearing cargo.† â€Å"So there are still people waiting for the Spanish to return with steel tools.† Pardee laughed. â€Å"No. Except for missionaries, these islands didn't get much attention from the modern world until World War II. All of a sudden, Allied forces are coming in and building airstrips and bribing the islanders with things so they would resist the Japanese. Manna from the heavens. American flyers brought in all sorts of good stuff. Then the war ended and the good stuff stopped coming. â€Å"Years later anthropologists and missionaries are finding little altars built to airplanes. The islanders are still waiting for the ships from the sky to return and save them. Myths get built around single pilots who are supposed to bring great armies to the islands to chase out the French, or the British, or whatever imperial government holds the island. The British outlawed the cargo cults on some Melanesian islands and jailed the leaders. Bad idea, of course. They were instant martyrs. The missionaries railed against the new religions, trying to use reason to kill faith, so some islanders started claiming their pilots were Jesus. Drove the missionaries nuts. Natives putting little propellers on their crucifixes, drawing pictures of Christ in a flight helmet. Bottom line is the cargo cults are still around, and I hear that one of the strongest is on Alualu.† â€Å"Are the natives dangerous?† Tuck asked. â€Å"Not because of their religion, no.† â€Å"What's that mean?† â€Å"These people are warriors, Mr. Case. They forget that most of the time, but sometimes when they're drinking, a thousand years of warrior tradition can rear its head, even on the more modernized islands like Truk. And there are people in these islands who still remember the taste of human flesh – if you get my meaning. Tastes like Spam, I hear. The natives love Spam.† â€Å"Spam? You're kidding.† â€Å"Nope. That's what Spam stands for: Shaped Protein Approximating Man.† Tucker smiled, realizing he'd been had. Pardee let loose an explosive laugh and slapped Tuck on the shoulder. â€Å"Look, my friend, I've got to get to the office. A paper to put out, you know. But watch yourself. And don't be surprised if your Learjet is actually a beat-up Cessna.† â€Å"Thanks,† Tucker said, shaking the big man's hand. â€Å"You going to be around for few days?† Pardee asked. â€Å"I'm not sure.† â€Å"Well, just a word of advice† – Pardee lowered his voice and leaned into Tucker conspiratorially – â€Å"don't go out at night by yourself. Nothing you're going to see is worth your life.† â€Å"I can take care of myself, but thanks.† â€Å"Just so,† Pardee said. He turned and lumbered out of the bar. Tuck paid the bartender and headed out into the heat and to his room, where he stripped naked and lay on the tattered bedspread, letting the air conditioner blow over him with a welcome chill. Maybe this won't be so bad, he thought. He was going to end up on an island where God was a pilot. What a great way to get babes! Then he looked down at his withered member, stitched and scarred as if it had been patched from the Frankenstein monster. A wave of anxiety passed through him, bringing sweat to his skin even in the electric chill. He realized that he had really never done anything in his adult life that had not – even at some subconscious level – been part of a strategy to im-press women. He would have never worked so hard to become a pilot if it hadn't been for Jake's insistence that â€Å"Chicks dig pilots.† Why fly? Why get out of bed in the morning? Why do anything? He rolled over to bury his face in the pillow and pinned a live cockroach to the spread with his cheek.