Troy Movie Notes

Troy= the movie(post classical depiction) * Troy is the most powerful alliance against the Greeks * Agamemnon wants ‘the world’ all the land * Achilles has disappeared from the army. A boy goes to find him, * Achilles mother is goddess as can’t be killed (Contemp) * Nester persueds Achilles to fight the big guy because of Time. He can’t stand to lose his pride * Achilles, son of Paris * Achilles kills the big guy with one stab * There is a huge feast , thrown by Agamemnon and Helen, to drink to peace, between troy and Sparta * Helen and Paris are lovers behind Menelaus’s back.Hektor goes to see what they are doing. * Helen is afraid to wear the necklace because she is afraid that she will be caught and Paris will be killed or shipped away. Before she met him, she was a ghost. * Agamemnon commands all the Greek forces to fight. * Hektor warns paris not to endanger Troy * Paris kidnapped Helen. Hektor is upset. He talks about his father’s love ( Paris and Helen were already in love with each other, the Gods didn’t give Helen to Paris) * Menelaus wants to kill Helen. â€Å"The Trojans spat in my eye† * He asks Agamemnon to go to war with him. He said yes. Menelaus is very angry and calls to sail after the Trojans * â€Å"If troy falls, I control everything†- Agamemnon. They need Achilles * Nestor said that â€Å"you don’t need to control him, you need to release him. † About Achilles * Achilles is like a secret weapon to the Trojans * Odysseus is in Greece. Agamemnon needs to ask him something. There is a difference to the PCD about how Odysseus is involved in the war * Achilles and Patrokolas are cousins * Achilles doesn’t want to fight for Agamemnon. Odysseus wants him to fight for Greece * Achilles talks to his mother. She thinks that he should fight.She wants his name to become TIME and KLEOS, if he fights â€Å"Your glory walks hand in hand with your doom† * He travels to Troy with the Greeks * Paris and Helen get married in Troy. Hektor and Paris are greeted by their father, Priam in Troy * Hektors wife is Andromache * Briseis is Paris and Hektors cousin * Hektor doesn’t want to see his country fall because of his brother’s selfishness. * Priam has worked 30 years for peace and he will still fight many wars if it means that Paris can be happy. * â€Å"Everything is in the will and hands of the Gods† Priam * Helen- â€Å"Sparta was never my home† * Priam prays to the Gods Hektor cares a lot about family. Everyone is preparing for war- the Trojans. Everyone gives offerings to the Gods * Hektor is incharge of the army * â€Å"honor the gods, love your woman and fight for your country† Hektor * . you know what is beyond that beach. Immortality, take its yours,† Achilles * Give him too many battles and the men will forget who is king. †- Agamemnon * They retreat back to the city and Achilles orders everyone to steal from the Trojans temple * He cuts off the head of the statue of Apollo at the Trojans temple. * Achilles sneaks inside the temple, and the Trojans follow him but they get ambushed.Their temple is destroyed * Achilles fights for him honor, hector fights for his country. â€Å"Why kill you now, prince of Troy when there is no one here to see you fall†- Achilles. He wants people to see it because killing a prince will give him great honor, fame and Time and Kleos * You speak of war as if it is a games, but how many wives for you think will be pained with the loss of their men†- hector * Agamemnon is worried that the thought of power will get to Achilles head and everyone will forget that he is their leader * They kidnap Brisis and give him to Achilles I want what all men want, i just want more† Achilles * Everyone is presenting gifts to Agamemnon even though he didn’t fight. * Young men dying and old men talking. You know to keep out of the politicsà ¢â‚¬ -Odysseus * You came here because you want your name to last the ages† Agamemnon * History remembers kings not soldiers† Agamemnon * Agamemnon takes Brisis for his own. Achilles gets very angry * They want a war, we will give them a war. * The Trojans are buring on the fire because of one youthful desire† * Paris and menlaus fight for Helen Helen tries to run away but hektor finds her. â€Å"Their husbands died because I’m here†-helen * This is about power not love†- hektor * Achilles smashes up his tent * I will stay until Agamemnon groans to have Achilles back†- Achilles * I blame you for nothing, everything is in the hands of the Gods. †- Priam * The Trojans seem very out numbered * The agreement between Agamemnon and Achilles didn’t happen on the second day like in the movie, it happened in the tenth year of the Iliad * The fight takes place in book three of the Iliad â€Å"I see 50,000 men bought here to fight for one man’s greed†- Hektor * I didn’t come here for your wife, I came here for troy† Agamemnon â€Å"I came here for my honour† –menelaus * In the Iliad, Paris was a man before Achilles was born because he got Helen at Theitis and Priams Wedding- Achilles parents. * There was a crow crowing before paris went to fight Menelaus * Because Paris didn’t fight, the Greeks attack the Trojans. Hektor kills MenelausHektor fights with Ajax. He takes a while to die because he is god-like. This happens in book 7 * Menelaus doesn’t die in the Iliad, neither does Ajax.Ajax committees suicide. Menelaus takes Helen back to Sparta in the Iliad * Odysseus and Achilles seem to have a better understanding about the practicalities of war unlike Agamemnon * Odysseus warms Agamemnon about retreating. * The first 8 books of the Iliad have been. * Agamemnon promises Menelaus that he will bring Troy to the ground * â€Å"Hetkor fights for his country, Achi lles fights for his pride† Agamemnon * The Greeks are about to burn Brisis, Achilles prize but Achilles rescues her. * Achilles develops a protective relationship with Brisis. â€Å"Gods envy us because we are mortal† Achilles * Brisis tries to kill Achilles but they end up sleeping with each other. If she wasn’t willing she would have had stabbed him. * It wasn’t until book ? that Achilles got Brisis back. Brisis is the cousin of Hekor in the movie and in the Iliad she isn’t royalty. * Achilles tells Odysseus to start loading the ship because they are going home. * â€Å"the world seems simple to you, but when you are king, there are very few choices which are simple† –Odysseus * â€Å"Sometimes you have to serve in order to lead†- Odysseus * Patricolus is very upset with Achilles. You betray all these men just to see Agamemnon lose†- Particolus * The gods favour our calls. Now it is time to destroy a weak army†- Pr iest * â€Å"Yesterday the Greeks underestimated us, we should not return the favour†- Hektor * Hektor thinks that attacking the Greeks is a mistake * The Greeks are packing up their ships and returning * Brisis and Achilles have developed a loving relationship. She wants him to stay but he is leaving. * The Trojans attack the Greeks with fire arrow s and they are caught of guard. Around book 15-16. The Greeks attack back.They send down balls of straw and stick with catch on fire from the fire arrows. They cause lots of destruction. They Greeks are outnumbered and off guard. * Odysseus seems scared and worried. * Menelaus doesn’t die in the Iliad but dies in the movie. Due to the relationship with Menelaus, Helen (in the movie) is seen as a Romeo and Juliet relationship due to the fact that the audience will understand this because Menelaus is portrayed as evil and bad * Time is no longer heroic. Giving the gifts to Agamemnon because he won the war is wrong because he didn’t fight and win the war. Patroclus pretends to be Achilles and Hektor believes him. He kills patroclus and everyone is quiet. They all now that Achilles is going to be very angry at this. * Patroclus wore his armor. Achilles didn’t know that Patroclus fought for him. In the Iliad, Achilles told him to fight for him. * Hektor knows that Achilles is going to come after him and so he tells his wife to save people. * Agamemnon â€Å"This boy has just save this war for us† about Patroclus’s death * Achilles agrees to fight again * All of Troy is deserted Achilles travels to the gates of troy to find Hektor * Hektor says good bye to his family because he knows that he has angred Achiiles. * Achilles stabs Hektor twice and then drags his body around the castle walls which his family is distraught over. His father collapses. He drags his body back to the greek camp. Briseis is distraught and cries. * â€Å"You lost your cousin and I had mine taken away† –Briseis * Priam comes in the night, as a secret. He kisses the hands of Achilles * â€Å"I have done what no other person on earth has done before.I have kissed that hands of the man who killed my son. † –Priam * Book 24 * â€Å"You’ve taken everything from me, my eldest son, my heir to my throne† –Priam * He begs to have Hektor’s body returned, * â€Å"You are still my enemy in the morning. †- Achilles â€Å"you are still my enemy tonight but even enemies can show respect â€Å"- Priam * Achilles cried over Hektor’s body * Achilles wraps him up and returns him * â€Å"He is the best man I have ever fought†¦ We will not fight for 12 days for the funeral† Achilles * He also lets Briseis go with Priam. If I hurt you, I didn’t mean to â€Å" * Achilles to Priam â€Å"you are a far better king than the one leading this army† * The funeral process for Hektor begins. This is the end of the Ilia d. The director continues with the movie * Odysseus watches a man make a horse for his son back home and he thinks about attacking Troy by using a Giant horse. * The anger in the movie is definitely less. * The Trojans go down to the beach and see no ships, dead men and a Giant horse * The priests thinks that it is a gift to the Gods.They think that they should bring it back home. * Paris thinks they should burn it. * They bring it back home to Troy and bring it inside the gates. Everyone is happy and dancing * The dog is a reoccurring theme in the movie. * A Trojan rides around the coast and sees all the Greek ships. He is shot before he has a chance to tell the people of troy. * Inside the Trojan gates, the Greeks are escaping from the Horse and killing everyone in the city. They send a signal to let all of the other Greeks into fight. They urn down houses * Agamemnon yells to let troy burn * Priam is very upset * Hetkors wife takes people down the passage way Hektor showed her. P aris wants to stay and fight. * Achilles is looking for Briseis * Paris is the archer * Odysseus kills nester * The Greeks destroy the temple. * Agamemon kills Priam * Agamemon i s killed suddenly by Briseis. Achilles save her but paris shoots him in the Achilles and in the chest. He dies. Briseis loved him. He still managed to stay alive. Chaos is brought to a standstill. The Greeks, using Troy cremate Achilles. The Trojans who escape find a new home in the mountain. * If they ever tell my story, let them tell that I walked with Giants. Let them stay that I lived in a time of Hetkor, breaker of Horses. Let them stay that I lived in the time of Achilles * There are many differences in the ending. They want to give the viewers a happy ending. Paris is killed before the Trojan horse and Helen went back to Sparta with Menelaus * There is no ‘villain’ in the iliad * Patricolus is older than Achilles in the Iliad but in the movie it is the other way around. Troy Movie Notes Troy, directed by Wolfgang Petersen (2004) is an epic war film based on Homer’s Iliad. In ancient Greece, the passion of two of literature's most notorious lovers, Paris, Prince of Troy (Orlando Bloom) and Helen (Diane Kruger), Queen of Sparta, ignites a war that will devastate a civilization. When Paris spirits Helen away from her husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), it is an insult that cannot be suffered.Familial pride dictates that an affront to Menelaus is an affront to his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox), powerful King of the Mycenaeans, who soon unites all the massive tribes of Greece to steal Helen back from Troy in defense of his brother's honor. In truth, Agamemnon's pursuit of honor is corrupted by his overwhelming greed – he needs to conquer Troy to seize control of the Aegean, thus ensuring the supremacy of his already vast empire. The walled city, under the leadership of King Priamand (Peter O’Toole) defended by mighty Prince Hector (Eric Bana), is a citadel that no army has ever been able to breach.One man alone stands as the key to victory or defeat over Troy – Achilles (Brad Pitt), believed to be the greatest warrior alive. Arrogant, rebellious and seemingly invincible, Achilles has allegiance to nothing and no one, save his own glory. It is his insatiable hunger for eternal renown that leads him to attack the gates of Troy under Agamemnon's banner – but it will be love that ultimately decides his fate. Two worlds will go to war for honor and power. Thousands will fall in pursuit of glory. And for love, a nation will burn to the ground.This was an exciting action packed film, which had plenty of historical accuracies and inaccuracies and for the most part follows Homer’s Iliad. Many similar films in this time period portray the gods as more important and powerful than the humans. In fact, this movie almost completely ignores the gods and instead places the focus on the warriors themselves. I think th e film tries to portray the Trojan War in a manner in which it could have actually happened. Achilles acknowledges that he is not the son of a goddess and is not immortal or invulnerable. The movie basically shows us how a rumor can blossom into a legend unto itself.Achilles' legend becomes immortal. We see that the elders who continually refer to their so-called gods, and they come across as fools. When Hector refers to the fact that Apollo did not strike down Achilles for desecrating the statue. It is obvious that Hector seems to doubt the gods he has been taught to worship. Achilles disrespects the gods by decapitating the statue for the god Apollo, proving that both characters have little respect for the gods. Compared to the Iliad and historical facts the gods were always centered on everything. Throughout time, men have waged war. Some for power, some for glory, some for honor – and some for love.

Why Pakistani People Have Lost a Sense of Nationality

Identity may be defined as a distinctive characteristic of an individual or a particular group of individuals. For one’s survival in this world it is very crucial to maintain his identity. If we expand the criterion of ‘identity’ to national level it is of utmost importance because it is nation’s identity which distinguishes its people from the rest of the world. The importance of national Identity can be better analyzed by the fact that it is the base of all the policies, i. e. domestic and foreign policy and hence the social. economic cultural and ethical development of any country partly depends upon its national identity. In other words actions of a nation are determined by its identity. As far as Pakistan’s identity is concerned, it may be divided into three phases, i. e. pre-partition, post partition and present day. The term ‘identity crisis’ is used to denote a particular situation where by an individual, group of individuals or a nation faces conflicts regarding its identity. These conflicts occur when one’s ideological basis and prevailing circumstances contradict in such a way that the prevailing circumstances dominate the ideological basis. . With reference to Pakistan the history of ‘identity crisis’ have its roots in the late Mughal dynasty. The comfort-loving attitude of the rulers, bloodsheds for the throne, abandoned faith, mismanagement of domestic economic and political matters, absence of updated foreign developments and other moral, ethical and social weaknesses were the major forces which contributed in the identity crisis of the Muslims of South Asia. In pre partition era where by Muslims of south Asia have lost their regime and British rule tighten the span of their social , cultural and political life. Actually they lost their rule just because of the ‘lost identity’. After a half century of submissive life they began to find the ‘lost identity’ and they succeeded. The second phase of identity crisis began very after the inception of Pakistan. The Shia/Sunni crisis at the time of partition was the first of all. But luckily at that time, the crisis was pragmatically resolved by Quaid-e-Azam, so it was buried in a hatchet at that time but later on it burst up from different grounds. The second case of identity crisis in the chronology is the crisis of East and West Pakistan. At the time of inception, Pakistan inherited East and West Pakistan with one and four provinces respectively. Population of East Pakistan alone was more than that of the total population of the four provinces of West Pakistan. The seeds of identity crisis were sown with the ‘language controversy’, where by Urdu was declared as the national language of Pakistan while Urdu was the influencing language only in West Pakistan. This language controversy and some other strategies which lead to the deprived feelings among the natives of East Pakistan and the ultimate consequence was an identity crisis in the form of separation of East Pakistan in 1971. Not only the separation of East Pakistan but, a variety of identity crisis cases stood in the post partition era. The list contains delayed constitutional development, unstable political conditions (due to personal likes and dislikes and lust of power), Social injustice and negative image of Pakistan on international screen. Constitution is the base of any new born state but in case of Pakistan this base couldn’t be established even after about a decade of the inception of Pakistan. So when there was no base for people, the process of identity development started very late. Latterly the termination of 1956’s and 1962’s constitutions fulfilled the remaining part of delayed identity development. All these factors further participated in corruption, national disharmony, rigid attitudes, misconceptions about the religion (partly the role played by ‘mullas’), blind practices on unnecessary customs and a list of moral dilemmas. The identity crisis after the partition threw Pakistan in an ignominious status both at domestic and at international arena. Domestically we couldn’t achieve the social status which we’ve dreamt during the Pakistan movement. Economically we stood at the back end of the global economic stage. And above all we were entitled as a ‘terrorist state’ due to some mismanaged and scattered groups. Even some of them really didn’t have the basic knowledge of their ideological agenda. In present day Pakistan, the situation is more hazardous than that of one discussed in the previous phase. Today’s identity crisis is ‘giant’ in nature aiming to nip our ideology form the bud. Now with changing global environment and with the changing role of Pakistan at international level, the nature of identity crisis has become more complex. The present day crisis may be classified as political, social religious and economic identity crisis. The social and religious crisis work in collaboration. On the religious part, the extremist group has developed misconceptions about the religion. On the other hand the society is facing the ‘cultural war’ through different media. In such a situation the nation, preferably the youth has contradictions with religious implications which is making them unaware of their ideological basis. In the second step the attractive evil (the weapon of cultural war) is becoming dominant. So the nation’s ideological basis is being deployed by the prevailing circumstances, creating identity crisis. In this case we can’t blame the young mind (as he’s not getting the proper guideline and he has not been trained in such a way that he can find the roots the purpose of his existence, secondly the so called knowledge of religion he gets is not authentic). The second type of present day identity crisis in Pakistan is political in nature. In fact our political system has always been ruled by reigns in hands of few influencing groups. No such political platforms were built for the coming generations, to ensure their participation in national or international affairs. It is very necessary to train the youth for the participation in national affairs because they are the people who have to run the country in the future. Unluckily our youth didn’t get any such training at any stage of our 59 years history. The ultimate result was that, the administrators belonged to a specific group, making others so annoyed that others even don’t care to have a look at the mismanagement. This imbalance in the political infrastructure restricted the educated youth to participate in the national policies and ultimately the process of policy making enjoyed the influence of un-educated and narrow minded policy makers, who couldn’t devise the identity goals of the nation till yet. At international political arena we are still facing the vicious circle of ‘terrorism’. Even our government ensured Pakistan’s contribution in the ‘war against terrorism’, but being an Islamic state we become the suspect of any international terrorist act. Here the policy of state is ambiguous, which aims to satisfy the western world but the integration of Muslim world is not to be seen any where. In my opinion we don’t know that where we are standing right now, where we have to go and where we are going? On the part of economy, no doubt our economy grew with in last half decade but only at macro level. The poor is still standing on the place where he was a decade ago. Increasing Unemployment, inflation, and poverty etc are not only contributing in social imbalances but because of these factors, a common man is not able to find the basis of his identity. The identity of a nation is its image, and our image today is ‘a tree whose roots have been cut’. This situation is actually showing our lost identity. We have become much concerned about our outer look but we have forgotten the basis on which we have to develop our inner self. If this process keeps on going with the same velocity, the time is not far when the existence of our identity will vanish. It is very crucial to have a breach of the peace against identity crisis. In this regard the most important step is identity education. The identity education should be provided at educational institutions as well as in temporarily organized seminars (seminars should be accessible for general public). Identity education will not work till we present a difference between different cultures. Media censorship should also be there in order to lessen the possible damages of cultural war. Media should also spread the knowledge of values among the common men. And last but not least we all should play our part to improve our religious image at international level. In this connection we can spread the true essence of our religion which is peace.

NYU Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program

Ever since I was a young child, I have always been fascinated with the wonders of the medical field. As I grew older, questions continuously ran through my brain, as to how certain parts of the body function. Some of those questions were answerable by a simple â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no†, while others required complex answers unknown to many. For this, I decided that I would take up a course from the medical field when I go to college. After my completion of high school education in 2004, I attended college at the Kingsborough Community College, as a Liberal Arts Major. After a few semesters, I realized that I wanted to fulfill my dream of being part of the medical field.   Several reasons aroused as to why I choose this program. First, I wanted to hone my talents and strengthen my inclination towards the medical field. I have always been interested in the work done physicians who specialized in Ob/Gyne, especially how a living human being survives inside the female’s body. Being given the chance to experience life from the small detail up to the time the baby is born never fails to fascinate me. Another reason that made me go for this field is the fact that I wanted to help teenage girls who were having their own babies at such a young age. I want to give them a place that they can go to, without the hassle of worrying about people who will judge them. These include the 9-month preparation that the mothers will have to endure before their babies are born. When accepted, I plan to further enhance my craft, taking into heart the training that this university will offer. I will use the experiences and the knowledge to practice my chosen field, and at the same time, be of service to mankind. When given the chance, I also want to work for the New York City hospital. I believe that knowledge that I will acquire from this university will be beneficial in the fulfillment of my dreams and aspirations. This is something that I can hold on to for the rest of my life.   

Cyber bullying(Argumentative Paper) Research Paper

Cyber bullying(Argumentative ) - Research Paper Example Insecurity issues have in turn sparked far reaching implications to the users. In particularly, insecurity issues in information technology have been closely associated with internet usability. This comes when the usefulness of internet cannot be presently overemphasized. It is for this reason that information technology and security issues become critical. Important, though, have been the concerns on how to address these forms of insecurity. The aspect on information technology that is paramount to this discussion is cyber bullying. Cyberbullying has been known to affect mostly the youth especially of school going age and partly adults who often use internet and mobile phones for communication purposes. As research would have it, cyberbullying has been said to vary with age. However, one thing that remains unclear is whether gender affects cyberbullying. This paper seeks to find out if actually gender is a factor as far as cyberbulling is concerns. The paper approaches this topic si ng different points of views as pointed out by a number of researchers. It involves controversy and issues opposing viewpoints of different researchers to this topic. Background information Cyber bullying has emerged to be the newest platform on which the youths are increasingly abusing each other According to (Hopeline 73). The more concerning issue is that there are currently no appropriate techniques that intervene for cyber bullying despite large numbers of kids who access the information technologies. Internet and cell phone communications have been cited as tools for Cyber bullying. According to Hopline, what appalls even more is that Cyber bullying occurs during kids’ class time. Hopline cites that cyber bullying has far reaching implications on kids, so that the victims (kids) of cyber bullying only feel safe when in their bedrooms. According to Hopline, it does not under all circumstances hold that cyber bullying causes physical harm. However, cyber bullying is mostl y associated with causation of harmful emotional fallout which may cumulate to other gar reaching consequences. Hopeline cites an example of Megan Meier; the girl aged 13 who committed suicide after belittlement by a hacker (her mother’s friend) that posed on MySpace as a boy aged 16 years. Hopline acknowledges that peer to peer cyber bullying is the most rampant, but its implications are not so severe. Effective curbing of cyber bullying would entail instilling of ethical morals among the youth, which will help them suit to information technologies. Hopline argues that there can be no an over-reactive approach as parents barring their kids from accessing technology in attempt to curb cyber bullying. Hopline suggests that an appropriate ramification procedure would entail the parents convening to open meetings, where then the parents can share and appropriately advice their kids on cyber bullying. Parents should be tactical so to dispel rebellion from their kids. Parents shou ld not ignore the fact that all have under high risks of cyber bullying; terms such as ‘some kids are immune’ should not exist since all are sensitive to belittlement. Other intervention techniques should encompass teaching the kids on the importance of respect. In the case where kids are cyber-bullied, appropriate intervention procedures should be followed before the situation gets out of hand. It is factual that kids are major victims of cyber bullying. It is

William Wordsworth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

William Wordsworth - Essay Example It was his mother that taught him how to read. Unfortunately, his mother died in 1778, and William and his sister were sent to live with relatives in Yorkshire; it was during this time that William was introduced to real education, though he could thank his parents for the knowledge that he had gained up until that time. It was in 1787 when William made his debut as a writer, having had a sonnet published in The European Magazine (Johnston, 2001). Within that year, he also enrolled at St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he studied until he earned his B.A. After school, he spent much of his time on walking tours and various holidays. In 1791, William met and fell in love with Annette Vallon, who gave birth to their first child, Caroline, in 1792. It was in 1802 when William married a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. They had five children together - two girls and three boys. In 1793, William had his poetry published for the first time in the collections An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. He received money in 1795 from his friend, Raisley Calvert, to encourage him to keep writing poetry. In the same year, William met Samuel Taylor Coleridge, another poet, and they immediately became close. They admired each other’s work and decided to be influenced by one another. In 1797, William and his sister moved to Somerset, not too far from where Coleridge lived. With the help of William’s sister, William and Samuel wrote Lyrical Ballads, one of the most important pieces of work in the English Romantic movement. Even though William nor Samuel was listed as the book’s author, William published one of his most famous poems, â€Å"Tintern Abbey†, in the volume, as well as Samuel’s â€Å"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.† The second volume was published in 1800 and had William listed as the sole author. This volume focused on Romantic literary theory, and William discussed what he felt were the elements of new

Identity Theft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Identity Theft - Essay Example It can start with lost or stolen wallets, stolen mail, a data breach, computer virus, ‘phishing’ scams etc† (ITRC, 2012). In the current scenario, internet is the extensively used medium for such crimes. Hackers globally are carrying out copious activities to steal the identity of persons for their personal goals or for the interests of some other stakeholders who pay them. Identity theft is also carried out by persons due to their personal rivalries and also by some countries against their rival countries. Many countries are engaged in stealing the personal information of the high level officials of other countries in order to maintain their check on the rivals. When it comes to internet and cyber technologies, tactics like computer viruses, hacking computer networks, obtaining the personal information about the victims from social networking sites and using them to figure out their secret codes, observing the victims typing their personal passwords on public syst ems, abducting their personal information from web browser logs using spywares, installing malwares on the victim’s computer, credit card cloning etc. are used for identity theft. The prime reason for why internet identity theft is widely practised by criminals is that they can carry out crimes on some others’ identity or rifle someone’s accounts in a safer way such that it will be not very easy to figure out the real culprits or the person whose identity they have used for conducting the crime. Internet has grown in such a way that people carry out many of their activities like banking, shopping, bill payments etc. through internet. Social networking sites like facebook, twitter, Google plus etc. have become widely societal that they have emanated as a part of the daily lives of the proletariat. Email has outraged the habit of sending written mails from people. Email is today a vital mode of sending messages among persons to organizations to governments. All th ese have set up a platform for the cyber criminals for their easy patrolling on the net and it has become an easy task for hackers to steal the personal information of others. The Internet Crime Complaint Centre of FBI has listed out the current and ongoing internet trends and schemes in carrying out cyber crimes. They are:-auction fraud, auction fraud-Romania, counterfeit cashier’s check, credit card fraud, debt elimination, parcel courier email scheme, employment or business opportunities, escrow services fraud, internet extortion, investment fraud, lotteries, Nigerian letter or ‘419’, phishing or spoofing, ponzi or pyramid, reshipping, spam, third party receiver of funds (Internet Crime Complaint Center, n. d). Kevin J. Connolly (2004, p. 348-49) in his book ‘Internet Security and Privacy’ describes the privacy rights of internet users and the ways to safeguard their private information. He says the primary worry of a person when he browses the in ternet is lack of privacy. Lack of privacy protection can help a stranger to collect information about the consumer’s activities. The user should be aware about the information provided to a website. User should also be aware of the privacy policies of the websites or online services concerned. Connolly (2004, p. 348-49) points out that users often do not care to go through the privacy notices and

Are people afraid of saying the truth against the government in public Essay

Are people afraid of saying the truth against the government in public - Essay Example However, governments often try to protect the interest of the public who voted in favor of them in the parliament elections. Thus lots of controversies will take place about the governmental policies among the public. Some people argue that people in a democratic country do not have the fear or concerns while opposing controversial governmental policies whereas some others argue that people are afraid of protesting against the controversial governmental policies. In this paper, I argue that in most of the times, general public are afraid of saying the truth against the government in public. Many people believe that, irrespective of rich or poor, people have the authority to protest against the governmental policies. However, in reality, poor people always stay away from protesting against the controversial governmental policies. Elite groups in the society always get lot of benefits from the government. Their influence on the government is comparatively more than that of the poor or disadvantaged people. Most of the politicians have the habit of approaching the poor people only when they were contesting elections. Thereafter, they will forget about the poor people. On the other hand, wealthy people or influential people always have a big say in the governmental policies. Therefore, their interests will be protected most of the times and the governmental policies affect only the poor people. As part of social security measures, governments give some benefits to the poor people. Governments can withdraw such benefits, if poor people protest against governmental policies. Such a fear prevents poor people from protesting against the government. The following report appeared on The guardian (Tuesday 22 January 2013) is relevant here. Campaigning charities are increasingly fearful of speaking out on behalf of vulnerable people because of the widespread

Labor relations 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Labor relations 3 - Essay Example Hence, a grievance can be denoted as a dispute that crops up in a work related environment in relation to the interpretation, appliance, management or alleged violation of the specific terms of the collective agreement (Holley et al 468). Basically, it is a complaint that is filed by an employee as per his/her interpretation of the collective agreement. A grievance that is not settled in the course of its own procedures could be referred within given timelines as indicated by the collective agreement to Arbitration. Never the less, if a grievance procedure has been followed without any resolute being attained, then a single arbitrator or arbitration board should hear and determine the dispute that is referred to it, as his/her or its decision is final and should, therefore, be binding upon all the parties that are involved. Hence, it is seen as an absolute stage of resolution. Moreover, every grievance procedure operates within a specific time limit, which is present in each collecti ve agreement. These limits are put in place to deal with grievances promptly. They should be taken into consideration by both the employer and the union to ensure that limits are adhered to unless under specific permission that must be agreed upon by one or the other party. In case, this is not done chances are that the whole grievance procedure becomes invalid especially if it is in reference to arbitration. Either party is in a position to raise the lack of adherence to timeliness as a preliminary objection of having the grievance dismissed. Benefits of Grievances The grievance procedure has benefits, which helps the process to be in place. First, the process is capable of generating stability in day-to day employees’ relations as it ensures that employees have a sense of assurance within the collective agreement life of a mechanism that resolves issues rather than allowing them to continue. In fact, the presence of a grievance process at any work place ensures that dispute s do not escalate but rather get resolved at the appropriate time. Second, the process plays an important role in creating a sense of democracy in the work place especially when it allows employees to air their grievances without the fear of intimidation by the employers. Third, the process gives employees a chance to hold open discussions on issues that are related to their work, and improve communication between the employer and the employee (Holley et al 469). Furthermore, interpretation of a collective agreement is allowed as it presents an option of submitting problems to neutral third party. This builds up strong labor relations, improves morale and increases overall productivity. The common sources of grievances include: discipline and discharge, working hour and overtime, postings of job and seniority. Steps in a Grievance Procedure Every collective agreement denotes the steps as per their respective grievance procedures A typical grievance procedure of an individual employe e includes the following: Informal discussion Prior to a formal grievance filing, an employee must discuss the issue with the supervisor. At times, the grievance may be

Poverty in The United States of America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Poverty in The United States of America - Essay Example The federal government of US has taken some major steps in order to address the problem of poverty. From its initial stages back in 2001, it has come up with many plans that include the progressive income tax, public assistance programmes and economic development programmes. (infoplease.com, 2007) The Progressive Income tax levies higher tax on people with higher income rates and vice versa. All citizens avail the same services. However the tax payable differs. The public assistance programmes extend medical facilities and services like food stamps and medical aid that allow the poor to meet their basic needs. Economic development programmes provide financial aid to help working women and unemployed to establish self employment schemes. These also assist small businesses that cannot face the financial deficit. Money is flooded into training programmes and steps have been taken to reduce the imbalance in income levels. The steps taken by the federal government to generate full employment are appreciable. In spite of all these measures by the government, the citizens are not happy about the way reforms are working and the steps taken by the government. ... The assistance by the government for families with income group below the dynamic threshold calculated. Every year is not doing any good. A better measure would be to keep it as low as 40000 US dollars. (Sawhill, 2006) Statistics show that about 1.7 million poor youth (futureofchildren.org, 2006) came out of school and work by 2005. The steps taken by the government to aid the youth by having self-employment programmes are weak. A major contribution to unemployment is the problem of the former prisoners. These do not find stable way to become a part of the society. The country with highest incarceration rate hardly took major decision to re-integrate the former prisoners as working labor. The concept of providing unemployment insurance is appreciable. However, this being forwarded to only 35% of unemployed is an unhealthy sign. (Sawhill, 2006) Fewer steps have been taken to reduce costs and improve the financial assistance. The budget proposal of 2007 also has been unjust. It demands the poor, children and elderly to pay for no returns. This approximately eliminates around 300000 people in poor working families from using food stamps and more than 35000 children would be losing the free meals and more than 40000 poor aged would be deprived on supplementary food distribution. (Kuroiwa, 2007) This also implies a reduction of around $600 million as grants for the poor and also pressing hard on the eligibility criteria for TANF scheme (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). (Kuroiwa, 2007) All this indicate that the welfare reforms of US failed to work efficiently. More than 60% of citizens are not happy about the

Chapter 21 Question 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Chapter 21 Question 3 - Essay Example Because of this reason the cost of capital starts first to decline to a point where it achieved an optimal mix of debt and equity. If a firm uses too much debt financing, its overall risk profile start to increase. With more debt, the cash flows of the firm started to get strained because of the high proportion of them going for debt servicing. This reduces the free cash flow available to the firm which is one of the essential indicators of the value. It is because of this reason that the required rate of return on equity capital of the firm starts to rise thus increasing the overall cost of capital of the firm. It is also important to note that with more financing availed; shareholders tend to view the company with more skepticism as high amounts of debts indicate high risk because it may be perceived that the company’s operations may not have the capability to generate cash. Due to this perception, investors, who may be willing to invest into stock of the firm, start demanding high rate of return on equity capital. This, therefore, increases the total cost of

Market Structures Essay Example for Free

Market Structures Essay Each market structure plays a significant role in the economy. Markets are categorized according to the structure of each industry serving the market. Three of the basic market structures include competitive markets, monopolies, and oligopolies. These differ due to the different number of strength of buyers and sellers and also the level of collusion between them. There are stages of competition and magnitude of the difference in products. When there are many buyers and sellers of a product then neither firms are able influence prices, therefore making it competitive. In competitive markets there are not restraints on firms going in and out of the market and buyers can purchase the same product or products from many sellers and get the same products. For example, potatoes are in the competitive market because consumers can find a potato farm that offers them at the lowest market price, and they can produce however much they want or as much as they can profit from at the going rate. There are many options for buyers because, with the knowledge, there is a lower price so they can always observe to find the best price. Lets say a good/product is $10 at the market price and a firm produces 10 units per day. The total revenue for the day would be $100 ($10 x 10 = $100), but the marginal revenue with producing the eleventh unit per day would increase from $100 to $ 110 ( 11 x $10). However marginal cost do vary depending on the amount of goods produced. For example, a firm may increase input so marginal cost is equal to the market price. As long as the market price covers the variable cost there is incentive to stay in business, and possibly in the long run maximize profits (Jeffery Ely, 2012). So basically with a numerous amount of buyers and sellers in the market it creates competition and very little bargaining power for buyers and sellers. There are usually not many barriers that exist within competitive markets because the exit and entry levels are low. For example, even though the market for making cars competitive the upfront capitol cost are high, which can create difficulty entering, or getting started. In some cases an exit barrier may exist if a large amounts of money is tied up in firm.

Explanations for Inequality Essay Example for Free

Explanations for Inequality Essay There are many sociological explanations for female inequality in society. Inequality is where something/ someone is seen as not equal compared to something else. For example men have more opportunities than women in life, suggesting females suffer huge inequality in many factors of life. Firstly, Anne Oakley speaks about how women suffer inequalities in the work place. Oakley notes that after the industrial revolution in Britain acts were passed to limit women working; in 1851 one in four married women worked whereas in 1911 one in ten worked. During the Victorian era the ideology that a womans place was in the home became truly established and industrialisation led to the separation of men from the daily routine of domestic life. Now it is claimed that women suffer from four main inequalities in the workplace. Firstly, there is the much debated pay gap in which, even though legislation to stop unequal pay was introduced in the 1970s, the although narrowing pay gap is still visible between men and women. Secondly half of all females in employment are in part time employment; this form of employment is often less secure with fewer benefits. Thirdly, women suffer from vertical segregation; this is sometimes referred to as the glass ceiling effect. Women are seemingly unable to achieve the higher ranking positions and are stopped from achieving managerial positions by an invisible barrier. Lastly, women are said to suffer from horizontal segregation which is the idea of gendered jobs. Liberal feminist Oakley blames the dominant housewife mother role, suggesting that a wifes role is primarily domestic, thus inequality is inevitable. There are criticisms for this study however, suggesting that it sees inequality as simply just a matter of time. As well as biological factors, and time Victoria Beechey, from a marxist perspective has deleveloped a study which sees women as a reserve army of labour. She uses this in order to explain the position of women in the labour market. Marx argued that capitalism required a reserve army of labour, that is a spare pool of potential recruits to the labour force. Beechey identifies a number of ways in which women in modern Britain are particularly suited to form part of this reserve army. She suggests that womens jobs are least likely to be covered by redundancy legislation, so its cheaper to make them redundant rather than men, suggesting huge inequality as it shows women are superior to men. Furthermore she suggests that unemployed married women may not be elegible to receive state benefits if their husbands are working, and for this reason they might not appear in unemployment statistics. Beechey says that women who are made redundant are able to disappear virtually without a trace back into the family. She also suggests that women are more likely to accept part time work due to their domestic role, women tend to be happy in accepting less wages than their husbands as they can rely on their man. This makes you realise that still in society, women who don’t work, even though they want to is still frowned upon, and it would be easier for men to get jobs than women, showing inequality between women and men. Bruegel challenges this theory, she questions the assumption that the interests of capital must be served if women are to be used as a reserve army of labour. She points out that women can also benefit capitalism by producing domestic labour in the home, as this reduces the amount that needs to be paid to male workers. Linda Mcdowell like Beechey also talks about part time work, and why women are more likely to accept it. She applies post-Fordist theory to female employment. Post-Fordism suggests that there has been a move away from mass production to more flexible production of specialist products. Businesses keep a core of highly skilled workers, but most other workers are temporary, or part time, or work is contracted out to other firms. Women tend to be concentrated in the more flexible jobs, particularly part time work. This suggests that even today it is still hard to for women to have a good career like men, as due to other priorities part time work may be the only suitable explanation. Lovering found evidence to support this theory suggesting that post Fordism trends affect only some women. Furthermore, post-Feminists argue that the feminism of the 1970s and 80s is out dated because it sees all women as sharing the same interests and ignores the diverse interests of different groups of women. Natasha Walter believes that there is still much that feminists need to change. She believes that the post-feminist emphasis on political correctness and language neglects the continuing problems of inequality which affect all women. Women still tend to suffer from problems such a low pay, lack of childcare, the dual burden of paid employment and domestic labour, poverty and domestic sexual violence. Following up on this Germaine Greer suggests that women cannot be themselves as they still have to act in the ways men want them to be. This suggests that women suffer in the hands of men, due to them being more powerful etc. Women thus are brainwashed into being how men want them to be, for example, clothing and make up. Radical feminists also believe that mens power and control over men is the main reason for inequality. They believe that patriarchy is the most important concept when explaining gender inequalities. They tend to focus on the power relationships that are experienced in private, in particular the significance of sexuality and the use of violence. Kate Millet believes that oppressive and unequal relationships between men and women originate not in wider society, but in the intimacy of personal relationships, in sexual partnerships and in families and households or various kinds. She believes personal relationships are also political in that they are based on different and unequal amounts of power which are determined by sex and which are reinforced in every aspect of wider society. Culture, government, tradition, religion, law, education and the media all reflect patriarchal leadership and power. Critics of this theory suggest that this theory is ultimately biologically deterministic, since the biological facts of reproduction are at the heart of the position. Not all sociologists believe that inequality is still a major factor in society. Catherine Hakim (economist) suggests a Rational choice theory. She is critical of all feminist positions. She argues that feminist theories are both inaccurate and misleading, and that women are not victims of unfair employment practices. She identifies five myths; womens employment had not in fact been rising, women were less committed to work than men, that their childcare responsibilities were not the main reason for them working part time, that part time jobs were not necessarily worse and finally that women were less likely to be in stable employment. This goes against all feminist explanations and suggests that inequality is not as we see it, and a lot has changed. However, Crompton argues that Hakim underplays the structures within which women make choices. In particular she cites the development of the male bread winner. Other sociologist like Hakim who neglect mainstream feminist values are the black feminists. They are critical of mainstream feminism suggesting that they neglect the particular problems that black women face. Bourne argues that white feminists are luke-warm about tackling racism because they enjoy social, economic and political privileges which make them part of the system which oppresses black women. Further more Yuval-Davis develops this theme claiming that non-black minority ethnics such as Iranian, Cypriot, and Chinese women not only face racism, they also face cultural patriarchy which is particular to their communities. This is suggesting women are not really all in the same position and it affects people differently. White feminists tend to reject black feminists and ignore them from most of the studies and theories.

Types Of Database Management Systems

Types Of Database Management Systems As we know databases are being used more than ever before to store and to access information. Due to the ease of maintenance and outstanding performance of databases, the growth of database technologies has been increasing rapidly. Moreover DBMS had thrived over World Wide Web. Different web-applications are retrieving the stored data and the answers are displayed in a formatted form using web languages like XML. This essay talks about the different Data Models for databases, and discusses their relative strengths and weaknesses. I will present the most common approaches for data modelling that are used by DBMSs (RDBMS, OODBMS, ORDBMS and XML ) giving a quick introduction to each of them we will compares and contrasts the approach treating them comparatively. DATA MODELS Database Model can be categorized according to the data structures and operators they present to the user. (Bloor, 2003) (1) E-R Model (2) Hierarchical Data Model (3) Network Data Mode (4) Semi Structured Data Model (5) Relational Data Model (RDBMS) (6) Object Oriented Data Model (OODBMS) (7) Object Relational Data Model (ORDBMS) (8) Semi-structured data (XML) Among all data models mentioned below, relational model followed by object oriented and object relational models enjoyed most popularity, we are going to define one by one and at the same time we are going to show their advantages and disadvantages. RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (RDBMS) In RDBMS, all the data is in the form of simple columns and rows in a table. Each table is an individual and independent entity and we need not to use any physical pointers or physical links to connect the entities like what we used to have in network and hierarchical models. All data is maintained in the form of tables consisting of rows and columns. Data in two tables is related through common columns. Operators are provided for operating on rows in tables. Because of this, querying becomes very easy. This was one of the main reasons for the relational model to become more popular with programmers. The RDBMS structures data into relations (tables) which form a two-dimensional representation of the data into rows and columns. A relation contains tuples (rows) and each tuple represents a distinct record in the table. A tuple consists of a set of unorganized attributes (columns) providing detail for the record. Rows are assigned a unique identifier, also known as a primary key, by which the record can be accessed, manipulated, and referenced by other tables or applications. Columns store the attributes of a record, more commonly known as fields, and each attribute is assigned a data type. Structured Query Language (SQL) is identified and accepted as the standard query language and transaction mechanism for RDBMS. SQL queries can be used to access and return data from tables, define records and their attributes, and to view data from multiple tables through operations such as a join.(Dolk, 1998) Two of the most popular examples of RDBMS currently on the market are Oracle and Microsoft Access. Advantages of RDBMS In RDBMS system, the tables are simple, data is easier to understand and communicate with others. RDBMS is flexible, users do not have to use predefined keys to input information. Automatic optimization of searching is possible in RDBMS Structure Query language (SQL) is easier to learn and implement. It supports large and very large databases. RDBMS are more productive because SQL is easier to learn. This allows users to spend more time inputting instead of learning. Disadvantages RDBMS Not much efficient and effective integrated support. Do not have enough storage area to handle data such as images, digital and audio/video. Relational tables are flat and do not provide good support for nested structures, such as sets and arrays. And also certain kinds of relationships, such as sub-typing between database objects are hard to represent in this model. RDBMS technology did not take advantage of Object oriented programming concept, which is very popular because of its approach. All the data must be in the form of tables where relationships between entities are defined by values. 2.2 OBJECT ORIENTED DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (OODBMS) As you are aware, web and Internet usage is rapidly increasing nowadays. To meet the challenge of the web and to overcome the limitations of RDBMS, OODBMS was developed. OODBMS stands for Object oriented database management system, which we can define as; it is a combination of Object Oriented Programming and Relational Database Management System. (Fong, 1997) Inheritances, data encapsulation, object identity, and polymorphism are the main characteristics of object-oriented programming. By defining new objects, we can develop solutions to complex problems in inheritance. Objects are related and shared within a network and have an independent identity. The object identity (OID) works behind the scenes to ensure the uniqueness of the tuples, which is invisible to the users. Moreover, no limitations are required on the values. If we take the same thing in RDBMS, then we have to worry about uniquely identifying tuples by their values and making sure that no two tuples have the same primary key values. On the other hand, polymorphism and dynamic binding are useful to create objects to provide solutions to the complex ones and to avoid coding for every object. These objects may be transient or persistent. By persistent object we mean the permanent object stored inside the database to survive the execution of data process and in order to eventually reuse it in another process. OODB deals with these objects in a uniform manner. To create, update, delete or to retrieve the persistent data, data definition language and data manipulation languages are important in OODBMS. These languages are also useful to define a database, including creating, altering and dropping tables and to ensure the integrity constraints in tables. Object Query Language (OQL) is the standard query language for OODBMS. OQL uses syntax similar to SQL and is rarely used since the basic functionality of queries in intrinsic to object-oriented programming languages.(Chaterjee, 2005) Advantages of OODBMS More semantic information Support for complex objects Extensibility of data types May improve performance with efficient caching Versioning Reusability Inheritance speeds development and application Potential to integrate DBMSs into single environment Disadvantages OODBMS Strong opposition from the established RDBMSs Lack of theoretical foundation Throwback to old pointer systems Lack of standard ad hoc query language Lack of business data design and management tools Steep learning curve Low market presence Lack of compatibility between different OODBMSs 2.3 OBJECT RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ORDBMS) Object Relational Database Management System (ORDBMS) is an extended development of existing relational database system. To overcome the certain limitations and to increase the performance level, and to achieve the benefits of relational model and object model, ORDBMS technology evolved by combining the relational databases and object oriented concepts. We can incorporate our custom data types, functions, operators and methods with the database and we can store images, geographical information and multimedia objects such as audio and video, it allows us to raise the level of abstraction at which we want to view the problem domain. In ORDBMS limited support of object oriented features, mostly to new data types. Moreover, it supports abstract data types (ADTs) and complex relationships. ORDBMSs have the same query centric approach to data management as we have in RDBMS. Through declarative SQL statements, we can handle the data access and there is no procedural or object-at-a-time, navigational interface. ORDBMS allows us to continue using our existing systems, without having to make major changes. In simple words, we can say that ORDBMSs synthesize the features of RDBMSs with the best ideas of OODBMSs. (Cigler, 1999) Advantages of ORDBMS Ability to query complex applications and ability to handle large and complex applications Reduced Network Traffic queries and complex instructions can be executed on the server (as opposed to clients) Application and Query Performance Parallel server technology can be employed Software Maintenance data and methods are stored on the server and makes maintenance easier Integrated Data and Transaction Management. The database engine handles all transaction integrity, backup, etc., issues Disadvantages of ORDBMS Modeling and processing support of complex objects and their versions, large objects, semantic-rich relationships, etc. is only rudimentary or even missing in current ORDBMSs ORDBMSs have to be complemented by adequate client-side data management and long-running design transactions encapsulating the client processing model, in order to provide satisfactory support for technical applications Low performance in web applications 2.4 XML To understand XML is important to understand its roots as a markup language documents. The term trademark is any element in a document that it is not intended to be part of the printed output.. In an electronic document processing a markup language is a formal description of what is contained in the document, which part is brand and what the brand stands for. As well as database systems evolved from the physical processing of files to provide a logical isolation, the markup language specification developed from the instructions indicating how to print parts of the document for the contents.. Such functional brand allows the document to have different formats in different situations. It also helps different parts of a long document, or different pages in a large Web site, have a uniform format. The brand works also helps automatic extraction of key parts of the documents. For the family of markup languages in which includes XML makes the form of tags enclosed in angle brackets . Labels are used in pairs, and defining the beginning and end of the portion of document to which the label refers. Compared to storing data in a database, the XML representation may seem inefficient, since tag names are repeated throughout the document. However, despite this disadvantage, an XML representation has significant advantages when used for data exchange, for example, part of a message. First, the presence of tags makes the message is self documenting, Second, the document format is not rigid. The ability to recognize and ignore the unexpected labels allows the format of the data evolve over time without invalidating existing applications. Finally, since the XML format is widely accepted there are a variety of tools available to aid processing, including search software and database tools. As is the dominant language SQL to query relational data in XML is becoming the dominant format for data exchange. Where Object Databases have Object Query Language (OQL), XML Databases have XQuery which is a W3C standard. XQuery covers the major functionality from former language proposals like XML-QL, XQL, OQL and the SQL standard. (Dodds, 2010) Advantages of XML Heterogeneity: Where each record can contain different data fields. Extensibility: Where new types of data can be added at will and dont need to be determined in advance. Flexibility: Where data fields can vary in size and configuration from instance to instance. It often requires no or little work during XML Schema evolution. Disadvantages of XML Mapping your XML format to a relational schema leads to a large number of tables. Your XML Schema is highly variable or tends to change over time. Annotating an XML Schema can be complex, if the schema itself is complex. Using XML as your database will work fine as long as your datasets stay relatively small. Once your data grows to the point where it will not all fit in memory, you will probably start seeing serious performance degradation. RDBMS, OBJECT ORIENTED and XML DATA MODELS COMPARATION AND CONTRAST 3.1 COMPARING RDBMS and OODBMS Relational databases have as their objective to ensure data independence. Normalized data are separated from processing and the processing corresponding to satisfying informational requirements need not be totally pre-defined, thus accepting ad-hoc requirements too. Object oriented databases have as their main objective encapsulation, being stored together with the data and the methods. They are inseparable. It is said that we have to do with an independence of classes and not with an independence of data. An OODBMS and not an RDBMS is needed when in the reference applications we have to do with complex data. The object oriented database markets will continue to develop, but they will still (represent) only a fraction of the traditional databases. It is appreciated that RDMSs hold the largest part of the largest part of the data-bases. But the prospect is that they will still co-exist for a long time future with the OODBS 3.2 COMPARING RDBMS with the ORDBMS An ORDBMS is a relational DBMS with SQL3 extensions. SQL3 extensions include: row types, user-defined types and user-defined routines, polymorphism, inheritance, reference types and object identity, collection types (ARRAYs), new language constructs that make SQL computationally complete, triggers and support for language objects. A RDBMS is characterized by simplicity and increased stability as compared to an ORDBMS, and this fact confers it the quality of being easily used. A mechanism to plug in any user defined index structure provides the highest level of flexibility. Both DBMSs are characterized by simplicity of development owing to the fact that it provides independence of data from applications good for simple relationships. RDBMS is a mature software product while ORDBMS is an immature product (extensions are new, thy are still being de-fined and are relatively unproven. 3.3 COMPARING OODBMS with ORDBMS OODBMSs and ORDBMSs both support user-defined ADTs, structured types, object identity and reference types, and in-heritance; They both support a query language for manipulating collection types; ORDBMSs support an extended form of SQL, and OODBMSs support ODL/OQL; ORDBMSs consciously try to add OODBMS features to an RDBMS, and OODBMS in their turn have developed query languages based on relational query languages; Both OODBMSs and ORDBMSs provide DBMS functionality such as concurrency control and recovery; OODBMSs try to add DBMS functionality to a programming language, whereas ORDBMSs try to add richer data types to a relational DBMS 3.4 XML AND OODBMS XML data does not need to be instantiated as objects in OO code in order to be processed and presented to users. Instead, XML data can be decorated and enriched with tags, and these tags can be processed and understood XML Schema may seem very OO-like at the first glance, but in fact it is missing some important OO-like capabilities. For instance, there is no element-level polymorphism. OO programming is intended to optimize the programmer, not the value or usefulness of the data. XML, on the other hand, is intended to optimize the data. If you use XQuery with XML for all data representations, and never write any OO code, you optimize the datas usefulness and accessibility, because data in XML can be accessed and processed by almost any software on the market. Data in an object database cant. 3.5 XML AND RDBMS. Many developers in the search for greater flexibility think their options are limited to the relational model. Some think that store everything in XML format, reducing the difference between object-oriented applications and relational databases. The relational model is limited, limits are needed to meet the data integrity. In XML, the data structure is more relaxed but it exists. XML schemas are very volatile business, but very stable in other situations. Not being able to find a structure that adapts to a problem of a company, does not mean that this structure does not exist. XML model should be used if the data are scarce, this is to have many unknowns, or columns (fields) do not apply to all rows (records). The solution to this problem is to introduce subtypes or implement an open scheme in the relational model. Introducing subtypes can lead to many new tables, with an open schema solution in the relational model can lead to dynamic and complex SQL statements. An XML-based solution might be best. Conclusions From my point of view the future of Internet-based business applications is dependent on their ability to exchange information between different data stores or database systems. Every day more data such as images, digital and audio/video data types need to be transported from one application to another one through the Net. Because relational databases store data as two-dimensional tables, they are not ideally suited for data manipulation, since data itself may be expressed in the form of complex structures, object-oriented languages appears to be much more efficient, expressing data as objects with rich features including inheritance, polymorphism and encapsulation for maintaining relationships between objects.. However, large amounts of data across the world are still typically stored in RDBMS; when the data from an object-oriented world is persisted in a two-dimensional table format; hierarchical relationships between objects arent preserved, making persistence and recovery of data a complex task. The addition of an OODBMS in the RDBMS environment may require modifications in the existing databases in order to enable communication and data access among them. Moreover, the retrieval and search in many cases wouldnt be efficient as we expect. As we have seen in my document XMLs express purpose is to provide a mechanism for the expression of data structures so it might be a big opportunity to unify the technology providing the bridge between these two kinds of persistence systems and makes it unnecessary for example object and relational databases solutions of direct conversion between one another. Here we realise that despite the differences, the RDBMS and OODBMS could live in agreement whit XML and offer their advantages for todays e-business solutions.

Hybrid Cars Essay -- Gasoline Electric Hybrid Automobiles

1 Introduction A healthy and prosperous society is based on a healthy and prosperous economy. And during the last century, following the economic growth, the social networks expansion and the geographic dispersion of economic activities, transport became the spinal column of commercial and industrial interaction. The capacity of individuals as well as firms to exchange goods and services became crucial not only for economic purposes but also for better life quality. Unfortunately, the drawback effects of transport have an important impact on the natural and human environments on one hand, and on the growing fuel consumption accompanying the current oil crisis on another hand. Fossil fuel combustion associated to urban transport conditions lead to serious damage to fragile ecosystems and human health as well as contributing to climatic changes and global warming. This leads to the call of the environmental protection agencies and market competition all over the world for significant improvement of fuel economy of all the different classes of vehicles. Meanwhile, studies have confirmed that in recent years, fuel consumption from heavy duty vehicles has grown at a much faster rate then that of passenger cars due to an increase in the demand for transportation of goods [2]. In addition, heavy trucks and buses are normally equipped with highly efficient diesel engines, which limit the opportunities for improvements in fuel economy through studies on the engines efficiency. Consequently, hybrid propulsion systems can be critical solutions to achieve future fuel economy goals for heavy duty vehicles [3]. 2 What is a Hybrid Car. A hybrid car is a vehicle that uses a combination of at least two different fuel sources for its prop... ...ice for Hybrid Powertrain Applications†, SAE paper 2005-01-0810, 2005 . [2] – Wu, Lin, Filipi, Peng, Assanis, â€Å"Optimization of power management strategies for a Hydraulic Hybrid Medium Truck†, the university of Michigan, Advanced vehicle control conference, Hiroshima, Japan, September 2002. [3] – Buchwald, Christensen, Larsen and Pedersen, â€Å"Improvement of City bus Fuel Economy Using a Hydraulic Hybrid Propulsion System – a Theoretical and Experimental Study†, SAE Paper 790305, Warrendale, 1979. [4] – Filipi, Louca, Daran, Lin, Yildir, Wu, Kokkolaras, Assanis, Szkubiel and Chapp, â€Å"Combined optimization of design and power management of the hydraulic hybrid propulsion system for the 6x6 medium truck† , Automotive research center, University of Michigan, National Automotive Center, US Army RDECOM, 2004. [5] – www.hybridcars.com [6] – www.consumerreports.org

The Strong Women in The Orestia by Aeschylus Essay -- Aeschylus Orest

The Strong Women in The Orestia by Aeschylus To most readers, the women of The Orestia are evil and vindictive, a disgrace to all chaste and righteous women.   Aeschylus portrayed women as equals to men, which was not the opinion of most Greeks at the time.   Although he showed some of his women characters as evil, he granted them power, and emasculated the men around them.   Unlike Homer, the women of Aeschylus show both ranges of emotions, both the good and the bad.   A woman portrayed as a villain may be thought of negatively, but the fact that a female is allowed to be the villain, to take action, and leave other men helpless to the choices that she makes, it is a great step.   In the time of the Greeks, a woman was either victimized by the male world around her, or victimized other males to hold a place in the world.   Aeschylus made his women characters unique for his time but relevant to ours, since all the bad and evil characteristics of women then are mostly recognized as strength and intellect.   This th eme is mostly clearly shown through Clymanestra.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Clymanestra was not an evil character, but rather a misunderstood one.   Woman of today could perfectly relate to her situation.   For example, Clymanestra was like a housewife, who ran her family while her husband was off focused on his job, working overtime, even when he didn?t need the money, leaving her needs totally unattended to.   The husband talked about his work life like he was the gear that everything revolves around, perhaps even talks about the women that worship him for his skills, or at worst, sleeps with his secretary.   He sacrificed spending time with his children, even missed his daughter?s first ballet recital, so that he could kiss up to the bos... ...   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All in all, the strong women in Aeschylus were a man?s nightmare, but the fulfillment of a woman?s dream.   Clymanestra was the type of woman hated in Greece as a she-devil tyrant, but in the present, the kind of woman who would have been a very effective and respected politician who could keep her own in a man?s world.   Aeschylus clearly showed that for a woman, it was nobler to take control of one?s life, be independent, and die, than to ride the rivers of passiveness, watch the world float by without taking any action to change one?s fate, and live a fruitless life.   Clymanestra was not just another ?evil? woman, but could be looked at as a role model for the feminist movement.   She took control of sexuality, of her kingdom, of her children, and her marriage.    Works Cited: Aeschylus. Oresteia. Trans. Peter Meineck. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998.

One of Canadas Greatest Authors, Margaret Laurence :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Early Years: The Beginnings of a Writer Sunday, July 18th 1926, at 7:30pm at the Neepawa General Hospital, one of Canada's greatest authors, Margaret Laurence, was born to proud parents Robert and Verna Wemyss. Verna's father, John Simpson, was a self-made man. Born in 1853 in Middletown Ontario, John attended school, training to be a cabinetmaker. In the 1870's John, with only his change in his pocket, made his way towards Portage la Prairie Manitoba, in an attempt to unite with a cousin who sold clothing there. While working in the clothing store, John met his future wife, Jane Bailey. Four years after marrying Jane the Simpson family decided to move north, towards to the newly founded town of Neepawa. Margaret's Laurence's grandmother, Margaret Weymss, whom she was named after, came from a proud family. Margaret Weymss' great-grandfather was the Minister of Agriculture, and at one point the Premier of Manitoba. Margaret Laurence's grandfather, John Weymss, came from England to Neepawa in 1883. John Weymss, Neepawa's first lawyer, was a bright aristocratic man dying tragically, two weeks after the birth of his granddaughter Margaret. This was only the beginning of the many tragic deaths that Margaret's family endured in her first twenty years of life. At the young age of four, Margaret's mother Verna Simpson died. The death of Margaret's mother had a profound effect on the once bright and bubbly girl. It was Verna who first nicknamed her daughter Margaret, "Peggy", a name by which Margaret was addressed as for almost 40 years. After Verna's death, her older sister, Margaret Simpson, quickly moved in with Peggy and her father. A year after moving in, Margaret Simpson married Robert Weymss, becoming "mother" to Peggy. In 1935, another tragedy shook the Weymss household. Peggy's father Robert died after catching pneumonia. Margaret's last family death in her early years was in 1936 when Peggy's grandmother Jane, contracted Polio. It was around this time that Peggy began to write, in an attempt to escape the horrible nightmare she was living, by creating imaginary worlds. Margaret found that writing was the only way she could control external events, such as life and death. At the age of thirteen Margaret Laurence's first story "Pillars of a Nation" was published in the newspaper TheWinnipeg Free Press. The fictional town name Manawaka first appeared in this story. Her second work published in the Winnipeg Free Press was "The Case of the Blond Butcher" only a few months after the first. One of Canada's Greatest Authors, Margaret Laurence :: Biography Biographies Essays The Early Years: The Beginnings of a Writer Sunday, July 18th 1926, at 7:30pm at the Neepawa General Hospital, one of Canada's greatest authors, Margaret Laurence, was born to proud parents Robert and Verna Wemyss. Verna's father, John Simpson, was a self-made man. Born in 1853 in Middletown Ontario, John attended school, training to be a cabinetmaker. In the 1870's John, with only his change in his pocket, made his way towards Portage la Prairie Manitoba, in an attempt to unite with a cousin who sold clothing there. While working in the clothing store, John met his future wife, Jane Bailey. Four years after marrying Jane the Simpson family decided to move north, towards to the newly founded town of Neepawa. Margaret's Laurence's grandmother, Margaret Weymss, whom she was named after, came from a proud family. Margaret Weymss' great-grandfather was the Minister of Agriculture, and at one point the Premier of Manitoba. Margaret Laurence's grandfather, John Weymss, came from England to Neepawa in 1883. John Weymss, Neepawa's first lawyer, was a bright aristocratic man dying tragically, two weeks after the birth of his granddaughter Margaret. This was only the beginning of the many tragic deaths that Margaret's family endured in her first twenty years of life. At the young age of four, Margaret's mother Verna Simpson died. The death of Margaret's mother had a profound effect on the once bright and bubbly girl. It was Verna who first nicknamed her daughter Margaret, "Peggy", a name by which Margaret was addressed as for almost 40 years. After Verna's death, her older sister, Margaret Simpson, quickly moved in with Peggy and her father. A year after moving in, Margaret Simpson married Robert Weymss, becoming "mother" to Peggy. In 1935, another tragedy shook the Weymss household. Peggy's father Robert died after catching pneumonia. Margaret's last family death in her early years was in 1936 when Peggy's grandmother Jane, contracted Polio. It was around this time that Peggy began to write, in an attempt to escape the horrible nightmare she was living, by creating imaginary worlds. Margaret found that writing was the only way she could control external events, such as life and death. At the age of thirteen Margaret Laurence's first story "Pillars of a Nation" was published in the newspaper TheWinnipeg Free Press. The fictional town name Manawaka first appeared in this story. Her second work published in the Winnipeg Free Press was "The Case of the Blond Butcher" only a few months after the first.

How the PisoNet Became Successful Essay

Piso Net has been making quite a buzz in the metro since early 2010, but it’s not only until recently that the enterprise got the attention of business-minded folks. So what is Piso Net and how are things from a business standpoint? Is it really a viable source of extra income? Piso Net is basically a merge of PC rental and Arcade rental services wherein customers can pay the services by inserting coins to the machine. The rate is typically 4mins/peso which also amounts to the typical Internet Cafe at of Php15/hr. This rate can be tweaked higher or lower either to be more competitive and entice customers or gain more income by decreasing the minutes/peso So if there’s not much difference in pricing, what is the advantage of Piso Net over traditional Internet Cafes? Well some internet cafes have a fixed rates and minimum minutes of usage, this makes for not-so ideal scenario for budget-conscious Pinoys. And although the rate is the same, Piso Net offers a much flexible alternative that most internet cafes done, and that is to have more control on how much time and money a customer is willing to spend at a given time. The setup is rather simple with the bare PC parts are inside a wooden box similar to that of an Arcade machine or Videoke machine. Much like the Arcade machine, it is activated by inserting coin/s which triggers the machine. Once the time is consumed, the machine cuts off the display and will resume when a coin is inserted. The bottom wooden part inside the machine has a carved hole to collect the coins. What are the advantages compare to traditional inter cafà ©? There are also other providers who offer the same configuration for a cheaper price. Depending on your market, which is most of the time your neighbors, you can choose a configuration that suits your market’s needs (internet, gaming and/or document editing). Needless to say that gauging your market and choosing the right configuration is crucial to the success of the business and the amount of time to spend to return the investment. We did some research on how things are going on a revenue standpoint. We interviewed a housewife married to an OFW who runs a 3 Piso Net units business for little over six months now. She got it for Php20,000 apiece and placed it in small space inside their house. According to her the monthly revenue averages at Php17,000/mo. If we break down on a per week and per day, the revenues averages at Php4,265 and Php610 respectively. So a Piso Net unit generates more or less Php5,600/month, Php1,410/week and Php200 a day. This revenue is based on 16Ãâ€"7 operation on a not-so developed are In terms of cost of operation, she said that the 3 unitsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ electricity consumption amounts to Php2,700/month and Php1,000 for the internet service. Since she’s not paying for the location, the total cost of operation only sums to Php3,700/month. So if we deduct the TCO from the monthly average revenue (17,000 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 3,700), youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d have an average net revenue of Php13,300/month. At this pace, the turnaround for the return of investment is only 5 months. Another benefit of Piso Net is that it requires less effort to maintain unlike with Internet Cafes. All the personnel need to do is to make sure that he/she has more than enough stock of 1 peso coins and units are pretty much on auto-pilot. I only wish that the future iteration of the machine supports coin amounts bigger than a Peso because it can be a pain in the neck to drop a coin every now and then.

Morality of war in Afghanistan and Iraq Essay

The war in Afghanistan and Iraq are referred by President Bush as wars against terror. They came as a result of the events that happened in the land of America in September 11th 2007. During this time America was attacked by terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center and Washington’s defense unit; the pentagon. These two attacks led to the loss of about 3000 lives. Immediately the US president declared war on Afghanistan which was said to harbor the world’s terrorist Osama bin Laden who masterminded the attacks. Later, he also attacked Iraq after Saddam Hussein said that he also happy to learn that America was attacked though he was not responsible. When both nations were attacked by USA in the name of war against terror, they retaliated. Now the question of morality comes in, who had a right to fight back, is it USA or the so called terrorists? It is this question of morality that will be my main focus on this paper. On 11th September 2001, America was hit by what seemed to be a well coordinated terrorist attack. There were about 19 terrorists who worked in groups of 4 or 5 to execute their plans. They used American jetliners as bombs to hit their two targets that is, the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon which is the USA’s military headquarters at Arlington, Virginia. The other plane which was also hijacked failed to hit its target after the passengers realized what was going on and fought back. It crashed somewhere in rural fields of Pennsylvania. All these acts showed every traits of terrorism. And the 19 men who were involved were Arabs who came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab countries. They were all linked to the al-Qaeda network which is an Islamic group headed by Osama bin laden. This organization is dedicated to wage war against USA and their main targets include financial, political and military section. It has never witnessed such deaths since the civil war ended. This is why Bush found it morally right to protect and to fight for he thought it wise to stand up to their bullies. The al-Qaeda network started when Osama bin laden offered himself to support Afghanistan in 1980’s against the occupation by the Union of Soviet Socialist State (USSR). He financed the anti-soviet resistance. After he succeeded in chasing the Soviet out, Osama devoted himself to fight for Muslims in other regions in the world. He was especially angered by the stationing of USA military in Saudi Arabia and the idea of United States for supporting Israel against Palestine in the Arab- Israel war. Osama is an extremist who believed that no US citizen should step in the Muslim land and is totally opposed to the Western influences. Osama bin laden is not an Afghanistan citizen. Afghanistan as an independent nation and it had its every right to fight back USA. Any independent nation should be able to protect its citizens against any external aggression. So, this is one of these obligations that Iraq and Afghanistan were meeting (Press release. 2007 Sept 27) Again, Afghanistan had every right to fight USA back in support of Osama bin laden- the said master minder. This is because a friend in deed is a friend in need. Osama and his al-Qaeda, network saved them from external aggression by the USSR. Now it was their turn to help him. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. By not fighting back was not only a sign of cowardice but also being ungrateful. The Taliban regime depended on Osama’s wealth. He helped to organize and equip all military training camps USA should have used diplomatic strategies to arrest Osama bin laden and bring an end to the operations of the al-Qaeda. According to Martin Luther King junior, you do not pay evil with evil, it will escalate to a very terrible thing. There was no way the attacked nations could have remained quiet. Yes war is not the answer and should be the last option but cannot face your enemy who is armed with open arms. For this reason, I don’t see anything unusual or bad with Iraq and Afghanistan retaliating. Therefore, they were justified to fight back. To the affected Arab nations, the September 11th, 2001 attacks if anything, was a revenge of harms done by USA to the Arab states. USA has been against the Arabs since the Israel Palestine conflict. The US government thought that it must teach these deviant nations a lesson by attacking them. They knew that US is superior to them but they had slow down its move. They were aware that that if you give your enemy an inch, they will take a mile so by fighting back, they were only reducing further military interventions. According to the Muslims (Scott D. M. , 2005) staging a holy war is not morally wrong. Muslims do value holy war or what is called Jihad. To Muslims jihad war should be directed to a visible enemy, against devil inducements and on one’s self aspects. So, by Afghanistan and Iraq fighting back, they were only fulfilling the teachings of Koran. According to them, America fits the description of a foe and it should be shunned from entering in any of the Muslim territories. According to Saddam, it was alright to fight your foe. He was a very strong supporter of this course. In one of his speech that was read by the Information Minister Saeed Al sahaf he said, â€Å"O great warrior nation, O sons our great nation men of arms who uphold the honor of resistance, God’s peace be upon you as you face the aggressors the enemies of God and humanity the passing infidels, with chests filled with faith and love for God. † In his speech he argued people to fight against their enemy, â€Å"The aggressors will flee from what is right and be damned along with their devils. Faith and honor will brighten the faces of Mujahedden (holy fighters), men and women. † He said. Saddam Hussein justified the course he took of fighting Americans and Persians. He died cursing both of them. Before he died he argued all Muslims from all over world to unite and fight their common enemy. By fighting Americans they are only acting according to the Koran’s teachings. After the September 11 attack (Press release. 2007 Sept 27)Saddam was heard saying that the act was heroic though he was not responsible there was no indication that Iraq was responsible for the attack Saddam Hussein celebrated the attacks on USA just a few days after the attack. He said that the attacks were the fruits of the crimes they had committed against humanity. There was no evidence pointing Iraq to the attack so, there was no way they could have allowed USA to attack them. Any move to punish them was resisted by fighting back. America attacked Iraq on allegations that it was involved in the 2001 September 11 attack. What I think prompted US to act against Iraq is the Saddam’s speech after the attack. It should be known that everybody should feel free to express his ideas whenever he feels like. That is why there is freedom of expression. Therefore, Saddam was only exercising his freedom of speech. In Afghanistan, the US government crushed the Taliban government and put another government of their choice. This can be said to be interfering with other states affairs. Taliban was the ruling government before it was ousted by the American troops. Thus, they were fighting back to take their former leadership positions. On the other hand, I think America had all the rights to attack Afghanistan. This is because all the evidence was pointing on Afghanistan. For example in 2007 a videotape was discovered in Afghanistan. It provided insights in Osama’s thinking and ties to the attack. This video was discovered in November 2001 and was conversation between Osama bin laden and the Arab Sheik who had visited Afghanistan. In the tape Osama bin Laden could be heard saying how he premeditated the attacks. He even knew the number of people who would be victims of the attack. Also, because he is a construction engineer, he knew that the best floors to target were three or four because the fine caused by the caused by the gas on the plane would melt all the iron above it and make the while building to collapse. This was enough evidence that linked Osama bin laden, Taliban government and USA attack. Though this tape linked Afghanistan with September eleven attacks, it was not enough evidence to prove that they are the one who did that. May be the tape was recorded by people who wanted to make a name for al-Qaeda? Even before the tape was discovered, USA had already started to revenge on Afghanistan as on 7TH October 2001(Bergen P. , 2006)

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Sixteen

Bonnie never could quite remember how the next few seconds went. She heard Stefan's cry that almost seemed to shake the earth beneath her. She saw Damon start toward him. And then she saw the flash. A flash like Klaus's lightning, only not blue-white. This one was gold. And so bright Bonnie felt that the sun had exploded in front of her eyes. All she could make out for several seconds were whirling colors. And then she saw something in the middle of the clearing, near the chimney stack. Something white, shaped like the ghosts, only more solid looking. Something small and huddled that had to be anything but what her eyes were telling her it looked like. Because it looked like a slender naked girl trembling on the forest floor. A girl with golden hair. It looked like Elena. Not the glowing, candle-lit Elena of the spirit world and not the pale, inhumanly beautiful girl who had been Elena the vampire. This was an Elena whose creamy skin was blotching pink and showing gooseflesh under the spatter of the rain. An Elena who looked bewildered as she slowly raised her head and gazed around her, as if all the familiar things in the clearing were unfamiliar to her. It's an illusion. Either that or they gave her a few minutes to say good-bye. Bonnie kept telling herself that, but she couldn't make herself believe it. â€Å"Bonnie?† said a voice uncertainly. A voice that wasn't like wind chimes at all. The voice of a frightened young girl. Bonnie's knees gave out. A wild feeling was growing inside her. She tried to push it away, not daring to even examine it yet. She just watched Elena. Elena touched the grass in front of her. Hesitantly at first, then more and more firmly, quicker and quicker. She picked up a leaf in fingers that seemed clumsy, put it down, patted the ground. Snatched it up again. She grabbed a whole handful of wet leaves, held them to her, smelled them. She looked up at Bonnie, the leaves scattering away. For a moment, they just knelt and stared at each other from the distance of a few feet. Then, tremulously, Bonnie stretched out her hand. She couldn't breathe. The feeling was growing and growing. Elena's hand came up in turn. Reached toward Bonnie's. Their fingers touched. Real fingers. In the real world. Where they both were. Bonnie gave a kind of scream and threw herself on Elena. In a minute she was patting her everywhere in a frenzy, with wild, disbelieving delight. And Elena was solid. She was wet from the rain and she was shivering and Bonnie's hands didn't go through her. Bits of damp leaf and crumbs of soil were clinging to Elena's hair. Elena gasped back, â€Å"I can touch you! I'm here!† She grabbed the leaves again. â€Å"I can touch the ground!† â€Å"I can see you touching it!† They might have kept this up indefinitely, but Meredith interrupted. She was standing a few steps away, staring, her dark eyes enormous, her face white. She made a choking sound. â€Å"Meredith!† Elena turned to her and held out handfuls of leaves. She opened her arms. Meredith, who had been able to cope when Elena's body was found in the river, when Elena had appeared at her window as a vampire, when Elena had materialized in the clearing like an angel, just stood there, shaking. She looked about to faint. â€Å"Meredith, she's solid! You can touch her! See?† Bonnie pummeled Elena again joyfully. Meredith didn't move. She whispered, â€Å"It's impossible-â€Å" â€Å"It's true! See? It's true!† Bonnie was getting hysterical. She knew she was, and she didn't care. If anyone had a right to get hysterical, it was her. â€Å"It's true, it's true,† she caroled. â€Å"Meredith, come see.† Meredith, who had been staring at Elena all this while, made another choked sound. Then, with one motion, she flung herself down on Elena. She touched her, found that her hand met the resistance of flesh. She looked into Elena's face. And then she burst into uncontrollable tears. She cried and cried, her head on Elena's naked shoulder. Bonnie gleefully patted both of them. â€Å"Don't you think she'd better put something on?† said a voice, and Bonnie looked up to see Caroline taking off her dress. Caroline did it rather calmly, standing in her beige polyester slip afterward as if she did this sort of thing all the time. No imagination, Bonnie thought again, but without malice. Clearly there were times when no imagination was an advantage. Meredith and Bonnie pulled the dress over Elena's head. She looked small inside it, wet and somehow unnatural, as if she wasn't used to clothing anymore. But it was some protection from the elements, anyway. Then Elena whispered, â€Å"Stefan.† She turned. He was standing there, with Damon and Matt, a little apart from the girls. He was just watching her. As if not only his breath, but his life was held, waiting. Elena got up and took a tottery step to him, and then another and another. Slim and newly fragile inside her borrowed dress, she wavered as she moved toward him. Like the little mermaid learning how to use her legs, Bonnie thought. He let her get almost all the way there, just staring, before he stumbled toward her. They ended in a rush and then fell to the ground together, arms locked around each other, each holding on as tightly as possible. Neither of them said a word. Bonnie watched unabashedly, feeling some of the heady joy spill over into tears. Her throat ached, but these were sweet tears, not the salt tears of pain, and she was still smiling. She was filthy, she was soaking wet, she had never been so happy in her life. She felt as if she wanted to dance and sing and do all sorts of crazy things. Some time later Elena looked up from Stefan to all of them, her face almost as bright as when she'd floated in the clearing like an angel. Shining like starlight. No one will ever call her Ice Princess again, Bonnie thought. â€Å"My friends,† Elena said. It was all she said, but it was enough, that and the queer little sob she gave as she held out a hand to them. They were around her in a second, swarming her, all trying to embrace at once. Even Caroline. â€Å"Elena,† Caroline said, â€Å"I'm sorry†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's all forgotten now,† Elena said, and hugged her as freely as anyone else. Then she grasped a sturdy brown hand and held it briefly to her cheek. â€Å"Matt,† she said, and he smiled at her, blue eyes swimming. But not with misery at seeing her in Stefan's arms, Bonnie thought. Just now Matt's face expressed only happiness. A shadow fell over the little group, coming between them and the moonlight. Elena looked up, and held out her hand again. â€Å"Damon,† she said. The clear light and shining love in her face was irresistible. Or it should have been irresistible, Bonnie thought. But Damon stepped forward unsmiling, his black eyes as bottomless and unfathomable as ever. None of the starlight that shone from Elena was reflected back from them. Stefan looked up at him fearlessly, as he'd looked into the painful brilliance of Elena's golden brightness. Then, never looking away, he held out his hand as well. Damon stood gazing down at them, the two open, fearless faces, the mute offer of their hands. The offer of connection, warmth, humanity. Nothing showed in his own face, and he was utterly motionless himself. â€Å"Come on, Damon,† Matt said softly. Bonnie looked at him quickly, and saw that the blue eyes were intent now as they looked at the shadowed hunter's face. Damon spoke without moving. â€Å"I'm not like you.† â€Å"You're not as different from us as you want to think,† Matt said. â€Å"Look,† he added, an odd note of challenge in his voice, â€Å"I know you killed Mr. Tanner in self-defense, because you told me. And I know you didn't come here to Fell's Church because Bonnie's spell dragged you here, because I sorted the hair and I didn't make any mistakes. You're more like us than you admit, Damon. The only thing I don't know is why you didn't go into Vickie's house to help her.† Memory swept over Bonnie. Herself standing outside Vickie's house, Damon standing beside her. Stefan's voice: Vickie, invite me in. But no one had invited Damon. â€Å"But how did Klaus get in, then-?† she began, following her own thoughts. â€Å"That was Tyler's job, I'm sure,† Damon said tersely. â€Å"What Tyler did for Klaus in return for learning how to reclaim his heritage. And he must have invited Klaus in before we ever started guarding the house-probably before Stefan and I came to Fell's Church. Klaus was well prepared. That night he was in the house and the girl was dead before I knew what was happening.† â€Å"Why didn't you call for Stefan?† Matt said. There was no accusation in his voice. It was a simple question. â€Å"Because there was nothing he could have done! I knew what you were dealing with as soon as I saw it. An Old One. Stefan would only have gotten himself killed- and the girl was past caring, anyway.† Bonnie heard the thread of coldness in his voice, and when Damon turned back to Stefan and Elena, his face had hardened. It was as if some decision had been made. â€Å"You see, I'm not like you,† he said. â€Å"It doesn't matter.† Stefan had still not withdrawn his hand. Neither had Elena. â€Å"And sometimes the good guys do win,† Matt said quietly, encouragingly. â€Å"Damon-† Bonnie began. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he turned toward her. She was thinking about that moment when they had been kneeling over Stefan and he had looked so young. When they had been just Damon and Bonnie at the edge of the world. She thought, for just one instant, that she saw stars in those black eyes. And she could sense in him something-some ferment of feelings like longing and confusion and fear and anger all mixed. But then it was all smoothed over again and his shields were back up and Bonnie's psychic senses told her nothing. And those black eyes were simply opaque. He turned back to the couple on the ground. Then he removed his jacket and stepped behind Elena. He draped it over her shoulders without touching her. â€Å"It's a cold night,† he said. His eyes held Stefan's a moment as he settled the black jacket around her. And then he turned to walk into the darkness between the oak trees. In an instant Bonnie heard the rush of wings. Stefan and Elena wordlessly joined hands again, and Elena's golden head dropped to Stefan's shoulder. Over her hair Stefan's green eyes were turned toward the patch of night where his brother had disappeared. â€Å"You wanted us all back together again!† Bonnie shouted at Caroline, and pulled the scandalized girl into the dance. Meredith, her dignity forgotten, joined them too. And for a long time in the clearing there was only rejoicing. June 21, 7:30 a.m. The Summer Solstice Dear Diary, Oh, it's all too much to explain and you wouldn't believe it anyway. I'm going to bed. Bonnie