California DMV Written Test

California DMV written test #1 1 . It is illegal for a person 21years of age or older to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (bac) that is or higher. a. 0. 08%- Eight hundredths of one percent 2. You must notify DMV within 5 days if you: a. Sell or transfer your vehicle. 3. Highways are typically most slippery: a. When it first starts to rain after a dry spell. 4. A police officer is signaling you to continue driving through a red traffic light. What should you do? a. Do as the officer tells you 5. When planning to pass another vehicle you should: a. Not count on other drivers making room for you. 6.What is the difference between traffic lights with red arrows and those with solid red lights a. You cannot turn on a red arrow, even if you stop first. 7. Which of the following increases your chances of having a collision? a. Continually changing lanes to pass other vehicles. 8. Which of these statements about drugs and driving is true a. Even over-the- counter drugs can impair you r driving. 9. You should allow more space in front of your vehicle when following large trucks because: a. You need the extra room to see around the truck. 10. You may cross double yellow lines to pass another vehicle if the: a.Yellow line next to your side of the road is broken. 11. You must use your seat belt: a. And failure to do so will result in a traffic ticket. 12. Which of these statements is true about road work zones? a. You must â€Å"slow for the cone zone†.. 13. Animals may be transported in the back of a pickup truck only if: a. They are properly secured 14. If you drive slower than the flow of traffic, you will most likely: a. Interfere with traffic and receive a ticket. 15. When changing lanes on a freeway, you should: a. Signal for at least five seconds. 16. You want to pass a bicyclist riding on the tight edge of your lane.You: a. Must not squeeze past the bicyclist. 17. At intersection, crosswalks, and railroad crossings, you should always: a. Look to the s ides of your vehicle. 18. You want to turn left ahead. In the middle of the road there is a lane marked as shown. You must. a. Merge completely into this lane before you make your left turn. 19. This yellow sign means: a. Merging traffic ahead. 20. You are driving on a city street and see an emergency vehicle with flashing lights behind you. What should you do? a. Drive to the edge of the road and stop. 21 . which statement is true about motorcyclists and motorists a. otorcyclists he same rights/responsibilities as other motorists 22. When making a right turn from a highway with two lanes in your direction, you may turn from. a. The lane nearest the curb or edge of the road. 23. Which of these vehicles must stop before crossing railroad tracks? a. Tank truck marked with hazardous materials placards. 24. If you have trouble seeing other vehicles because dust or smoke blowing across the roadway, you should drive slower and turn on your: a. Headlights 25. Large trucks turning right ont o a street with two lanes in each direction: a. Often have to use part of the left lane to complete the turn. . You should not start across an intersection if you know you will block the intersection when the lights turn red: a. Under any circumstances. 27. Pedestrians crossing at corners have the right-of-way: a. Whether or not a crosswalk is marked. 28. Which of the following will help you avoid being hit from behind? a. Decreasing your following distance. 29. You want to make a right turn at the corner. A pedestrian with a guide dog is at the corner ready to cross the street in front of you. Before making your right turn, you should: a. Wait until the person crosses the street. 30.Smoking inside a vehicle when a person younger than 18 years of age is present is: a. Illegal at all times. 31 . You must file a report of Traffic Accident Occurring in California (SR 1) with DMV within 10 days if you: a. Are in a collision that causes $750 in damage. 32. When is it legal to use a cell phone without a hands-free device while driving? a. When making a call for emergency assistance. 33. This white sign means: a. Stay in the right lane if you are driving slower than other traffic. 34. You should use your horn when: a. It may help prevent a collision. 35. You are driving on a one-way street.You may turn left onto another one-way street: a. If traffic on the street is moving to the left. 36. At dawn or dusk, or in rain or snow, it can be hard to see and be seen. A good way to let other drivers know you are there is to turn: a. On your headlights. -rest 1. You must notify DMV within 5 days if you: 2. It is illegal for a person 21years of age or older to drive with a blood alcohol 3. You are driving on a five-lane freeway in the lane closest to the center divider. To exit the freeway on the right you should a. Change lanes one at a time until you are in the proper lane. 4A large truck is driving in the middle ot three lanes. You want to pass the large truck. It is the be st to pass: a. Quickly on the left and move ahead of it. 5. You are driving on a divided street with multiple lanes in your direction if you need to make a U-turn, where should you start? a. In the left lane. 6. When you are in a dedicated turn lane controlled by a green arrow, which of the following is true? a. All oncoming vehicles and pedestrians are stopped by red light. 7. Always look carefully for motorcycles before you make a turn because: a. Their smaller size makes them harder to see. 8.When looking ahead of your vehicle while driving, you should: a. Scan your surroundings. 9. Unless otherwise posted, the speed limit in a residential or business district is: a. 25mph 10. There is one lane in your direction and the vehicle ahead of you often slows down for no apparent reason. In this situation you should: a. Increase the following distance between you and the other vehicle. 11. If an oncoming vehicle has started to turn left in front of you: a. Slow or stop to prevent a coll ision. 12. You should usually drive your vehicle more carefully when you: a. Are near schools, playgrounds, and in residential areas. . This yellow sign means: a. Divided highway ahead. 14. Do not cross double solid yellow lines in the center of the roadway to: a. Pass another vehicle. 15. Where should you stop your vehicle if there is no crosswalk or limit line? a. At the corner. 16. You are approaching an intersection. The traffic signal light is flashing red. What should you do? a. Stop before entering, then proceed when safe. 17. which statement is true about motorcyclists and motorists a. motorcyclists have the same rights/responsibilities as other motorists 18. Use your high-beam headlights at night: a. Whenever it is legal and safe.

Teenage Curfew

When it comes to having a curfew, opinions can be wide spread about what it right and what is wrong. I believe though, that it is a parent’s decision whether or not they let their child out. As long as your parents know where you are, you aren’t doing anything dangerous or illegal, and you always have somebody with you in case something happens, then you shouldn’t have to worry about a curfew or getting punished for something that is perfectly harmless. When you are out after dark, always make sure your parents know where you are. You don’t want to be somewhere without a way of contacting them. If they know where you are, then that makes the chances of them finding you a lot higher. Also, if they know where you are going, they have the option to tell you that no, you can’t go, or at least help you make choices about what you do when you get there. One other reason to make sure that your parents are aware of your location is so that they won’t have to worry about calling the police if they can’t seem to find you. It saves a lot of people a lot of trouble! As most teens would probably have to agree, if you aren’t doing anything illegal or dangerous, then why shouldn’t you be allowed out? When out after a certain time, yes, the police are out, but why should they be monitoring you if you aren’t doing anything against the law or dangerous? It makes you feel somewhat childish being watched all the time. You shouldn’t be getting punished for being out past a certain time because a lot of people may have late jobs or games that they are coming home from and it isn’t fair to penalize them for just coming home after a long day. No harm intended! Finally, when you are out past dark, always make sure you have a buddy with you. I mean, who doesn’t like company?! When you are alone, if you get hurt or get caught in a sticky situation, you might be incapable of calling for help. It’s always good to have someone with you so they can call for help if needed. Having a friend with you can also keep you from making wrong decisions. They can be a good second opinion on right and wrong, and keep you out of trouble. And we all know that the slammer is no fun place to be! These are just a few reasons that I have why you should be allowed out. If you aren’t doing anything dangerous or illegal, your parents know where you are, and you always have a friend with you, then your parents should be able to make the decision whether or not they want their child out after a certain time. You shouldn’t have to worry about being punished. After all, they police aren’t the ones who raised us. Thanks for taking the time to listen to my opinion about why teenagers should have to worry about a curfew.

American Education vs Asian Education Essay

In the past twenty years the United States school system has been accumulating a bit of criticism. Studies have shown that the United States has been lagging exponentially compared to almost all the industrialized countries. This specifically refers to Asian countries that are statistically blowing the U.S. out of the water. In his article â€Å"New Math-Science Study Rates U.S. Students Mediorce At Best† William S. Robinson decusses survey results after students from around the world have taken a science and math test.The survey results in the universal subject of math show us that the U.S. eighth graders have fallen behind, while the twelfth grade level showed only slight improvement.We would potentially look at these education systems as extremes of each other. Each education system being on the different side of the spectrum. Both systems having faults and advantages. Taking the positive aspects from both sides and merging them together, a harmonious education system could be established . In the article â€Å" Strengths, Weaknesses, and Lessons of Japanese Education† James Fallows tells us that in an Asian classroom students will feel an incredible amount of pressure starting from grade school and up, while U.S. teachers are too afraid to raise the bar because of potential discouragement of the student(201). In Japan, University admissions as opposed to grades earned in university, determines what kind of career you can have in Japan. Japanese students will spend most of their time studying in cram schools, unlike American students who spend most of their time socializing. A negative of the Asian school system, is the conformity that must be upheld. This achieves better education because it becomes the â€Å"thing to do†. When everybody is on the same curriculum there is no other choice but to follow the herd. While conformity creates better math students, it demises the aspect of creativity and individuality. The U.S. places a much bigger emphasis on creativity and choice. Thus providing students with opportunities that help them learn about them selves, and develop original ideas. An important characteristic that the U.S. education system lacks, is the idea of effort being directly correlated to success. In her article â€Å" Why Are U.S. Kids Poor In Math† Barbara Vobejda says that the American and  Asian mothers have a diffrent view on what determines their child’s success in school. An American mother thinks that her child’s academic achievement comes from innate ability, while an Asian mother thinks that her childs academic achievement comes from hard work and effort. An Asian mother would demand her child spends hours after school doing homework and studying. An American mother would just say that her child is not good in their subject.Vobeja says that a study has shown that Asian students spend more time in their seats than American students do. American students were out of their seats 21 percent of time, compared to Chinese and Japanese students who were out of their seats 2 percent of the time. Though the American student may think that they work hard, we find that the Asian student is at a much greater level of pressure. As we saw in the previous passage, serious pressure is put on the Asian student. In further examination of the article â€Å"Japan’s School System†, a supporter of the catalytic pressure theme, we find many contrasts to the U.S. views of putting pressure on students . Japanese students attend school six days a week. The school year consists of 220 days compared to the 180 days in the U.S. A third grade Japanese school week consists of eight hours of Japanese, five of arithmetic, three of science, social studies and physical education, two hours of music and art. For an U.S. student this might seem like hell. Yet the only reason this might seem like to much pressure, is because we are judging their system with an ethnocentric point of view. Japanese students think it’s quite OK. Humans are a very dynamic and adept species. We always look at things from our conditioned point of view. Thus, if pressure is increased on the U.S. students, the only ones who would have any complaints are current students. Being dynamic and adept, they too would be able to fulfill the new requirements asked of them. The eastern ideas of pressure could be used as a catalyst for results in the U.S. While as much as we are in need of more pressure on the students, we must retain the creative individual factor at all costs. We are not machines that have identical downloaded brains. In the article â€Å"We Should Cherish our Children’s Freedom To Think†, Kie Ho provides a critical question. He asks, â€Å"If American education is so tragically inferior, why is it that this is  still the country of innovation?† Looking back at the regular Japanese school week, we find that not much attention is brought to music or art. Creativity forms individuality, expression of ideas, and self-fulfillment. This could ruin all the conformity and control of ideas in the Asian student. Our Asian friends could never have that happen now could they. Ho provides an example of an U.S. student taking a role of Lyndon Johnson and debating a student in the role of Ho Chi Minh. An Asian student would never be given a chance to look at things from a different point of view. In all their mathematical glory they have missed the essential human need to express individuality. Most likely that is done with intent. While many Americans yell and scream about their children’s math abilities, they have overlooked the fact why most immigrants come here. This fact is freedom. Which would not be possible without all the creative outlets provided by our school system. In merging these two fundamental ideas of both of the education systems, many new positive effects are felt by the students. An increase of pressure to motivate and accelerate education. The development of ideas and creative outlets, which lead to self-discovery and formation of original and innovative ideas which, fuel our nation. This guarantees freedom and a mind to use it. Americans complain about the core subject of education. That will change with a harder curriculum and more emphasis being placed on effort. We will also continue providing our students with individuality. Asian education can also see positive effects from the development of choice and move away from conformity. The students who do cannot or will not participate in the hard curriculum will now have a choice to develop their creative side. These changes will be hard to make. U.S. students adjusting to a faster harder education. Asians might start to loose control of the masses. In the end it will be beneficial fo r both.

The House of Lords Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The House of Lords - Essay Example Membership of the Lords Temporal had by 15th century, become almost entirely hereditary and male, members usually being summoned by writ rather than chosen by the monarch. Lords Temporal became to be known as Peers and until the suppression of the monasteries in 1539 the Lords spiritual consisted of Bishops, abbots and priors. After 1839, only bishops attended and the Lords Temporal formed a majority for the first time. During the civil war of 1642, Bishops were excluded from the House of Lords but returned by the clergy act of 1661. The house itself ceased to exist in 1649 but resumed separate sittings in 1660. Legal backing, in 1671 and 1678 resolutions gave pre-eminence in financial matters to the House of Commons after attempts by the House of Lords to breach the convention. Also the bill of rights was initiated in 1689, by the Commons, to establish authority of the parliament over the king. A lot of reforms, in the House followed over time. In 1999, the House of Lords act removed the right of most hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House. An amendment to the bill, tabled by the Lord Weatherill and accepted by the government enabled 92 hereditary peers to remain until the House was fully reformed. The House of Lords is the second chamber of the United Kingdom parliament.

Business Emails Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Emails - Essay Example I know that if I have had this experience, you must also have other stores that are in the same situation. I would even be willing to help share the cost of producing the catalog. Well Jack, think about this proposal. As I said, your product is second to none but we need to give the customer greater access to it. A full line catalog will increase my sales significantly and I'm not opposed to standing part of the expense of having a catalog printed. Let me know what decision you come to as soon as you can. We are entering our busy season and it would be good to move on this as soon as possible. When we entered into a contract for you to supply our store with custom made desks, we were guaranteed 8 weeks delivery. However, the last 2 orders took 12 weeks to get to the customer. There were several phone calls from you requesting more detailed information from the customer and each time the delivery was further delayed. This has caused problems for our customer and has reflected negatively upon our store and our sales staff. When the desks arrived, they were of excellent quality and there were no complaints on the product, but the late delivery and installation caused my customers to reschedule other design work that was pending. Please understand that there was a pe... We do not wish to enforce that clause at this time. We would prefer to have the product delivered as promised. I suggest we design a specification sheet that is more detailed than the one we currently use. Our staff can get all the information you need on their first customer contact. I understand that your custom made department is difficult to schedule and we have taken that into account. Again, we like your product and wish to continue to use your company to fill that customer need. We simply need to get the desks to our customers as promised to maintain our relationship with them. Please contact me as soon as possible to design a more complete order form. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you in the future. To: MEllington@Notmail.com From: TMartin@Thefurniturebarn.com Subject: Country of Origin May 17, 2007 Ms. Ellington, We have been purchasing fabric for our commercial office furniture for several years and have had few complaints. We recently noticed that some of the fabrics in your catalog were not exactly as labeled. For example, we purchased an Italian fabric for a customer and it was marked as 'Made in Indonesia'. I understand the use of the word 'Italian' may have a generic meaning, but our clients do not perceive it that way. To better inform our customers, I would like to get a country of origin list for your fabrics. I know this will take you some time to put together, but it would greatly aid our commercial clients in making a fabric decision. In addition, it could be used as a sales tool by offering the customer additional information about their custom made furniture. Please get back to me as soon as you can and let me know if there is anything that I can do to help you compile the list. If you could get me the

Modular Integrated Manufacturing Systems (MISS) Essay

Modular Integrated Manufacturing Systems (MISS) - Essay Example This means they have to increase efficiency in the manufacture of their products, maintain good quality and make reasonable profit just to stay ahead of the others in the game. With this in mind, SMEs is embracing methods of improving manufacturing through different methods among which specialized designing and modular designing. Unlike specialized designing which is customized for a specific SME, modular designing involves the combination of standard components together to form a complete system that functions as desired by the manufacturer. This method offers a variety of options for the SME to choose from since standard components are in abundance in the market, thus making many modular designs available. However, one must research which of the many is best suited for the business. The best way to solve this is developing a Modular Integrated Systems Strategy (MISS) framework to help in the selection. This paper will look at the best way for SMEs to integrate formulation of a manu facturing strategy through MISS. Given that there are several types of modular design methods, only six of them are considered as standard. These include component sharing, component swapping, cut-to-fit mix bus and sectional modularity as illustrated in the figure below. All these forms of modularity are visible in our day to day lives in their simplest forms. Workmen’s tool kits with drills, sanders and jigsaws are one example. In terms of component sharing modularity, these tools are designed to use the same battery pack between them and the drill head being switched for a sander is an example of component swapping modularity. Bus modularity is used in the communication system of telephones through switchboards and cut-to-fit in the tailoring industry for custom fit clothes. The best example of sectional modularity is best brought out by the LEGO Â ® Company in making blocks that stack in any direction (The Daily Module, 2014). These forms of

Citizenship and Human rights in Australia Essay

Citizenship and Human rights in Australia - Essay Example (Freckelton, 1991) The colonial masters imposed a police force amongst the Australians in the year 1834. The force was poorly received because most people thought they were inefficient and that they were performing duties which should be exclusive only to the military. Fifteen years later, an ordinance for the Police was passed and Police responsibilities and powers were laid out. Chain of command and powers of its members was clarified in the year 1861. This was closely followed by the Police Act of 1892. Some elements of this Act are still in force today. (Lewis, 1999) During the 1970s and 60s, there were cases of people engaging in demonstrations from all parts of the world. (Australian Law Reform Commission, 1978) Most of these images became quite disturbing when they depicted police conducting themselves in an inappropriate manner. Similarly, within the country, there were some accusations against police with claims that some of them were engaging in corrupt acts. (Wood, 1997) This necessitated a sort of measure to correct these insufficiencies. However, one should not make the assumptions that the entire police force was corrupt at that time. There were a few cases that were tainting the image of the entire force. One of the major efforts that were directed towards curbing these malpractices was through the formation of the Australian Law Reform Commission. It was formed in the year 1975. The Commission was supposed to deal with the latter mentioned cases as required by Federal Law. However, this commission was replaced by other bodies that were similar in function but different in name due to loss of power by the federal government. In 1982, there was the Police Integrity Commission. The purpose of this group was to ensure that there is equality in the enforcement of law within the country. (Australian Law Reform Commission, 1975) Currently in Queensland, power has been placed in the

Differences in Worlds Economic Models. Structural Trade Adjustment Assignment

Differences in Worlds Economic Models. Structural Trade Adjustment. Fair Trade policy - Assignment Example Promoting the concept of globalization and opening gates for multinationals, the BWIs designed such exchanging trade policies in which there is an exchange of business and generation of the profits. High privatization, reduction of Government interference, reduction of public spending, wage suppression, low tariffs, and high international trade exchange are features of SALPs Structural adjustment loan programs (WHO). SALs are adjustments for poorer states while these are sources of profit for richer countries. SALs are instruments to provide loans to under developing nations in terms of availing their geographical resources. This is to favor MCNs Multinational Corporations, which take such resources for incremental profit maximization activity. International businessmen, money makers, stake holders and policy executors all benefit from SALs but keep detrimental effect for international loan borrowers mostly the underdeveloped nations (WHO). The case of Serbia was a major highlight, w hen Structural Adjustment Loans introduced brought detrimental effects for the people of Serbia. According to IFIs International Financial Institutions â€Å"SINCE THE BANK AND OTHER IFIs SHOW NO SIGN OF CLOSING THEIR DOORS, GENDER ACTION BELIEVES THAT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ENSURE THAT THEIR LOANS ASSIST AND NOT HARM THE POOR AMONG WHOME THE MAJORITY ARE FEMALES† (Vladisavljevic and Zuckerman, pp. 3). Opposite to the statement came out in Serbia, where poor groups became jobless and with health expenditure cutbacks working women were brought to unpaid care services (Vladisavljevic and Zuckerman). NAFTA In the last decades, NAFTA was one of the finest examples of liberal trade â€Å"free trade†. It came out as a source of development and growth for all member countries which took part in such liberal trade agreement. In the start, NAFTA established the pool of 436 million people which later on produced $12 trillion worth of goods on the annual basis (McKinney). The pe riod of the decade 1993-2003 was tremendous projecting the real economies of scale in the NAFTA member countries. Though the starting impact was positive but later NAFTA brought worst effects on member countries and other parts of the world. According to Economic policy institute, NAFTA created unemployment, reduced wages, and obscured labor rights in Mexico (White). This inevitably brought gang wars, drug apprehension and poverty in the Mexico district (White). Apart from the member States, rest of the world also got affected. India was found with numerous child labor cases, China with starvation wages, and Korea with slave-labor, which was all because of the weak NAFTA policy that neglected labor rights and their implementation (White). Fair Trade When there are high business interests, exerted market pressures, and continuous exploitation of resources then reformists advice Fair Trade to stabilize such dissolving business order. Fair Trade is used to bring solidarity, a reform wh ich remove the multinational culture and bring highest apprehension of environmental codes and obligations. When Fair Trade policies are implemented then Governments take part in the business. Their concern is to serve public and to establish the norms of social well being, which are all astray in any international conventional business order (Raynolds, Murray and Wilkinson, pp. 1-20). In a Fair Trade policy, the aims are not to meet market competition or to produce cheaper but instead quality goods and in bulk volumes. With the execution of the Fair Trade programme, the business becomes transparent and opened for the public. Social well being and valuation of environment all becomes

Rhetoric of Apple Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rhetoric of Apple Marketing - Essay Example The positioning of the products is based on Apple’s differentiation and innovation which in turn lead to the creation of a loyal customer base. Furthermore the use of the ‘halo’ effect which initiated from the sale of the iPod has resulted in Apple being able to increase its overall market share and better position its products which enable it to take away its competitors market share. Another advantage that Apple has over its competitors is the fact that it invests a higher percentage of its sales to Research and Development, which In turns aids Apple to better position itself and benefit from the first movers advantage when it brings forth new products in the market, effectively capturing consumer preference and attention. There are many other key success factors which formulate to the core strengths of the brand which in turn become an important reason for consumers showing a preference for Apple products. These can be attributed to the fact that Apple has very dominant footing in the personal computer market because of its differentiated and innovative products as well as the ease of use. Apple develops its own operating system, which enables it to be free from the complexities of the dependence on Microsoft operating systems. This gives Apple a lot of flexibility and control when it comes to its products physical appearance, specification and their overall usability. Apple does all this and at the same time is able to keep its Macintosh computers well-matched with their existing PC computers. Furthermore the perception of Apple products being closely associated with fashion and the latest current trends make it a product that is high in consumer demand as well as preference. Apple manages to constantly release products that are in line with the latest trends and styles, like the latest iPod and Mac mini, due to its research intensive office environment. This effectively makes Apple one of the biggest innovators in the market and keeps i ts consumers interested by maintaining its reputation of introducing new and creative products and ideas into the market first (Ireland, Duane, Hoskisson, Robert, Hitt and Michael, 2011). Apple’s broad target market also serves to be of an advantage in the way it aids Apple to position itself and viewed as a full-fledged digital convergence company that aims to facilitate and reinvent a consumer’s digital life. Building on this uniqueness, developing a strong brand name and culture, is a main asset when it comes to Apple standing out among its competition. This can be seen in the introduction of all of its products from the iPod all the way to the multi-touch screen of its iPhone. Consumers today are a lot more engaged in a variety of technology based activities. A core understanding of this changing trend and the needs of the consumers which are entrenched in the digital lifestyle, whether it is a PC or a smartphone, is major strength of Apple. Apple analyzes such tre nds that are a part of the consumers’ lifestyle and then correlates it to the increasing consumer electronics demand in the market. Furthermore Apple strategizes to focus on increasing connectivity between its various products which helps it fulfill the multiple needs of its tech-savvy customers. This in turn benefits Apple to pursue the additional opportunities of the expanding consumer electronics market (Hogan and Kurt, 2011). When you talk about the popularity and success of

What is spanglish Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What is spanglish - Case Study Example Languages are alive and they are constantly changing. Incorporating new words that are generally used is part of the logical evolution of a language. But languages are also part of the cultural heritage of a country that must be respected. Language is part of a country's identity.The use of Spanglish in formal institutions must not be allowed,much less tolerated.Its inclusion in school curriculum in the interest of studying it as a social phenomenon is acceptable but only with the purpose of understanding today’s society. The major values of a nation are expressed by its language. The first thing people identify with is the language of their country and it is the means by which they express their ideas, their values and their feelings. Language is very powerful in that sense, as well as the accents of each region, but this is a characteristic that Spanglish will never have. Spanglish first appeared near the border of America and Mexico, where both languages lived together. The term Spanglish was coined by Salvador Ti' in 1940. Although the number of people speaking Spanish in English-speaking countries is increasingly high, this does not mean that English can disappear. Learning a language must be an enriching experience, which promotes diversity as well as nationality. Both English and Spanish are languages with a historic root, but Spanglish is just a mixture of two languages, which uses both in the same sentence, combining words from one and other or creating new words from the fusion of the two. A result of the collision of two languages, Spanglish takes different forms. The most basic form is "code-switching," where words are substituted or inserted from one language into the other. For example, Spanglish might sound like "Vamos a la store para comprar milk" to mean, "Let's go to the store to buy milk." A bit more complicated form is the making up of words, or basically switching between languages within a word, by translating a word or phrase literally. In all cases, the resulting language or product does not bear the generally acceptable correctness of grammar rules and word usage. Spanglish is completely random. This will only lead to the bad use and the degradation of both languages. Moreover, countries influenced by English and Spanish have the big advantage of being bilingual, and it makes no sense renouncing it to this. Mexicans usually see Spanish as a symbol of colonization. But, does Spanglish have something to do with rejecting domination, or is it more like a trendy use of language' In some cases, Spanglish is the language of poor illiterate population trying to adapt to the changing situation. In other cases it is a matter of being part of the majority and using the same words as the major part of the population but, in fact, they are submitting to this majority instead of enriching their differences. The proliferation of a hybrid street language like Spanglish in dominantly English-speaking United States poses a serious threat not only to the socio-cultural aspect of the country's development, but also to its economic and political growth. Why is Spanglish a threat to the overall development of the U.S.' Foremost, the language of politics and commerce is English. In a highly globalized economy of nations, there is only one language used: English. It is in no way, therefore, that a mangled and fake English in the form of Spanglish can help facilitate the nation's coping and rising above the challenges brought about by globalization. Secondly, it is culturally unwell for any nation, much less the U.S., to uphold and encourage the proliferation of "languages" like Spanglish as doing so would show the people and the world as a whole a lack of healthy cultural identity. While it is understandably necessary to allow Spanglish to be used in places and in instances where it is the most convenient to use, given the growing diversity of communities in the United States, it is very important that the long-term benefits and losses from allowing it to prosper be considered over and above everything else. For instance, the use of Spanglish must be confined to the streets, where it actually originated and developed. It can also be used by people in their multicultural homes and neighborhoods

Court Brief 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Court Brief 2 - Assignment Example Is officer Brosseau entitled to qualified immunity for the use of excessive force? The Court of Appeals decided for Brosseau finding that she was entitled to qualified immunity. There was a â€Å"hazy border between excessive and acceptable force† in Brosseau’s actions for which, she was entitled to qualified immunity. Officer Brosseau violated the Fourth Amendment, but she had the cause according to which, â€Å"the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to the others, it is not constitutionally unreasonable to prevent escape by using deadly force† after which, she was not regarded as a violator of law. According to Haugen, Brosseau violated his federal constitutional rights. Glen Tamburello reported officer Brosseau about some stolen tools from his shop and blamed Kenneth Haugen, his former crime partner. Later on, Brosseau came to know that for Haugen’s felony, there was no-bail arrest warrant against him for charges of drugs and other offences. When Haugen was in his mother’s driveway, Tamburello accompanied with Matt Attwood drove to Haugen, where they had a fight after which, a neighbor called 911. Brosseau reached the scene and due to her arrival, Haugen got a chance to get away and hide in a neighbor’s backyard. On a radioed report, Brosseau reached there and found Haugen. Haugen tried to escape by jumping into his jeep. Brosseau doubted him trying to get some weapon. However, he was searching for the keys to drive away. Brosseau ordered Haugen multiple times to get out of the vehicle and also fired several times on the driver’s side window with her hand gun. She even tried to get the keys through the side window and hi t Haugen with the barrel and butt of her gun, but ignoring all her commands and attempts, Haugen started and drove the jeep a little after which, Brosseau shot in his back considering the life of those officers in danger who were on foot. While deciding for

American Civic Values Essay Example for Free

American Civic Values Essay In America our society has always been a morals run country, from our domestic everyday lives. Our society, groups with different civic values with who have a lot of power on our lives that we live everyday which includes schools and religious groups. There are some individuals who hold our civic values to a higher standard than those who have no regard for other members in their community. When it comes to undermining American civic values our media has a lot to be blame for as they promote and glamorize violence and illegal activities and does not show how communities can help each other adhere to civic policies. It is important for large groups to have set behaviors to adhere to, and civic values are important in keeping America a peaceful place that is safe for us as well as children. America has become a haven for special interest groups. If people don’t like something you say or do, plan on your freedom turning inwards and being used against you. Our society is no longer based off a country and its people as a whole, but by individual groups. The American civic values have dropped as special interest groups are in favor of political ground. There are several penalties that fail to adhere to the civic value such as â€Å"blue laws† these laws regulate behavior and restrict activities or the sale of goods on a Sunday to accommodate religious means. For an example in parts of one county here in North-East Florida we are not allowed to purchase alcohol on Sunday this day is constituted for religious matters. Another example of a blue law is the law in Pennsylvania where hunting is prohibited on Sunday’s as this day is recognized for a day of rest according to the religious groups.

Liquidity Ratio Analysis

Liquidity Ratio Analysis Liquidity ratio is a measure of the ability of the company to transform immediately of its assets into any other asset and pay their short term obligation due on time. This is among the important measurement which involve planning and controlling the current assets and current liabilities. Cash is among the very liquid assets compare to fixed asset which is illiquid. Liquidity ratio analysis of the company must be done first in analyzing the companys financial position. This is due to the serious problems that might arise such as potential insolvency and mismanagement by the manager. The commonly liquidity ratio used are current ratio and quick ratio for a quick check of liquidity, but there are also another component to have better understanding of companys ability to make payments to other parties such as cash cycle, working capital, accounts receivable, inventories, current liabilities. Besides the use of the liquidity ratio as determinant of firms ability to pay for short term debt, it also can be used to avoid of excessive holding of inventory. The financial analysts commonly used the specific liquidity ratio such as current and quick ratios, which allow them to make temporal or cross sectional comparison which is within the company itself or other companies in the industries. As part of it, another concept that also commonly used to identify the liquidity of the company is working capital which is calculated by deducting the current liabilities of the firm from the current liabilities. The working capital is very important measurement in determining financial stability for the company. It is health for the company to have more current assets over its current liabilities suppose to be practiced by the company. The company needs to stress on the liquidity management because from the previous research on companys balance sheet composition in Spanish found that 69 percent of the assets is current asset and 52 percent of liabilities represent current liabilities (La Porta et al, 1997). According to Petersen and Rajan (1997), the high percentage of current liabilities due to the reason that the current liabilities become one of their main external financial loans because the company failed to obtain the long term fund from the bank and other creditors. This is also supported by other researcher such as Whited (1992), Petersen and Fazzari (1993) that stated that current liabilities become one of resources due to their financial constrain. Also research done in US by Elliehhausen and Wolken (1993), Petersen and Rajan (1997) found that the US small and medium firm size depend on current liabilities when they have financial problems. The efficient liquidity management is particularly important for the big companies as well as small companies. It is rather important in small companies as highlighted by Peel and Wilson (1996). If a companys current liabilities exceed the amount of current assets, the company will face the problems to pay back the creditors in the short term. If this problem persists, the company could end up into bankruptcy. As stated by Nicholas (1991) that companies that did not concern to improve liquidity management until it was too late and reaching crisis conditions or end up on the verge of bankruptcy. Furthermore, it is important to have liquidity management in good times and it takes further importance in troubled times. The useful of liquidity ratio Liquidity ratio as part of accounting ration is important tools in financial analysis. Basically, these ratios used to identify the ability of the firm to pay it debt, to evaluate company performance as well as to access company value. According Palepu et al (2003) analysis done may be within company itself, or for the particular firm but compare for several years, compare the same ratio for the different company in same industry. From previous studies, they found that accounting ratio also useful in providing information for decision making process (Houghton, and Woodliff, 1987, Thomas and Evanson (1987, Lewellen, 2004). For some instant, liquidity ratio also useful in predicting business failures (Beaver, 1966; Altman (1968). The excess in working capital represents a safety cushion for providers of short-term funds of the company such as creditors, bank. This is also viewed positively the availability of excessive levels of working capital and cash. However, from an operating point of view, this excessive of working capital has been looked as a restraint on financial performance because these assets do not contribute to return on equity (Sanger, 2001). A lot of techniques could be applied to improve liquidity and cash positions, at the same time it can increase the efficiency of their management. At the end it would result in high profitability. These include credit insurance (Brealey and Myers, 1996; Unsworth, 2000; and Raspanti, 2000), factoring of receivables (Brealey and Myers, 1996; Summers and Wilson, 2000). The effect of liquidity management The efficiency of liquidity planning and control which include liquidity management, working capital and cash management have significant effect towards the profits. Actually, the most important is to have efficient liquidity management and the next, profitability will follow as well. The important of companys liquidity can be seen from different perspectives. Basically the idea of companys liquidity laid on the going concern concept which not involved any default in near future. The first party who interested on companys liquidity is short term lenders. These lenders interested on payment made on the debt and short term obligation because they can reasonably expected to be paid. For their own security, lenders would prefer the company with a high liquidity as their protection. For the investors and management, holding large cash balances is not the benefit activities in the company. Besides the problem due to the existence of the cash, this cash also become as extra cost to the company. The company actually has forgone the interest income from short term investment if they hold a lot of surplus cash. On the other hand, it is also necessary for company to hold cash to make immediate payments in the case to undertake rapidly the most desirable projects, and to deal without major disruptions with unforeseen problems. The amount of cash depend on expected growth and faces risk, the higher the expectation, the more the company must have a cushion of ready cash. The surplus cash on hand allow company to take advantage of new opportunities quickly. A healthy cash position helps stemming from new products, changing customer tastes or changing market conditions. Another factor to be considered for keeping on hand other liquid assets such as receivables is as a part of sales strategy of the firm. Companies usually offer their customer to take 30, 60, 90 days or more to pay for their purchases. This is to encourage immediate purchase of the customer in the big amount. Account payables are a major element of corporate finance. According to Rajan and Zingales (1995) the aggregate amount of payables in American firms was a significant part (17.8%) of total assets for all in the early 1990s. Other country such as Germany, France and Italy, also shown the very significant amount of payables which represents more than a quarter of total corporate assets, in United Kingdom payable also show significant value which represent 70% of total short-term debt (credit extended) while 55% of total credit received by firms is made up of account payables(Kohler et al., 2000; Guariglia and Mateut, 2006). In fact, payables are also important factor in emerging economies, like China, due to limited support from the banking system. The companies depending more on credit on purchases compared to other forms such as bank loans as highlighted by Ge and Qiu, (2007). Similar to Atanasova and Wilson (2004) find that smaller UK companies tend to increase their reliance on inter-firm credit to avoid bank credit rationing. However, account payable does not need fully attention for the company since it does not consumes resources but serve as short term of source of finance. The benefits arise that it could reduce the cash gap. Previous researchers have viewed the relationship trade-off between inventories and payables such as Nadiri (1969), Schwartz (1974), Ferris (1981) and Emery (1987)). Only Emery (1987) considers explicitly the trade-off between trade credits and inventories but his study does not include the deterministic variable demand framework. More recently, the study from Daripa and Nilsen (2005) has theoretically investigated how this trade-off could affect the terms of credit agreements. In their model, suppliers offer trade credit as an incentive to buyers to hold higher inventories. Normally, managements concerned with liquidity but they cannot only concern liquidity as single element because when there are shortage or excessive in receivables or inventory it usually will reflected to production, sales efforts, fixed assets or other management decision parameters, not liquidity alone. As highlighted before, receivables and inventory reflected to sales and production strategies. Working capital is also important factor in liquidity management due to its effect on the profitability and risk of the firm. Specifically, the investment in working capital is highly related with tradeoff between profitability and risk which means that if the company decides to increase the profit, they have to face the increase in risk as well as stated by Smith (1980). There are a lot of determinants of working capital such as stated by Chiou and Cheng (2006) in their study: 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. factor influence working capital such as business indicators, industry effect, operating cash flows, growth opportunity for a firm, firm performance and size of firm. The study has clearly identified that determinant of working capital 1. To represent in a picture or sculpture. 2. To represent in words; describe. See Synonyms at represent. consistent results of leverage and operating cash flow Operating cash flow Earnings before depreciation minus taxes. Measures the cash generated from operations, not counting capital spending or working capital requirements. for both net liquid balance and working capital requirements. However, Capital requirements Financing required for the operation of a business, composed of long-term and working capital plus fixed assets. some variables unable to produce consistent conclusions for net liquid balance and working capital requirements of firms like business indicator, industry effect, growth opportunities, performance of firm, and size of firm. Similar study has been done by Nazir and Afza (2008) which have used both external and internal factors to explore the determinants of working capital requirements of a firm. They identified internal factors were operating cycle Operating cycle The average time between the acquisition of materials or services and the final cash realization from that acquisition. operating cycle , operating cash flows, leverage, size, ROA, Tobins q and growth while industry dummy Sham; make-believe; pretended; imitation. Person who serves in place of another, or who serves until the proper person is named or available to take his place (e.g., dummy corporate directors; dummy owners of real estate). and level of economic activity were recognize as external macroeconomic n. (used with a sing. verb) The study of the overall aspects and workings of a national economy, such as income, output, and the interrelationship among diverse economic sectors. factors. From the study, they found that operating cycle, leverage, ROA and q had a significant influence on the working capital requirements. Their finding further revealed that working capital management practices are also have significant related to industry and different industries are following different working capital requirements. Another study has been done on impact of the different variables of working capital management by Rehman (2006). The study have recognize that the variable including Average Collection Period, Inventory Turnover in Days, Average Payment Period and Cash gap on the Net Operating Profitability of firms has a strong negative relationship between above working capital ratios and profitability of firms. Another element of liquidity management that is also important is cash gap which has high relationship with working capital. This is supported by Gitman (1974) that mentioned that cash gap is among important factor in working capital management. Cash gap or cash gap can give significant effect towards companies profitability. The shorter the period, companies could generate high volume of profit. The value of the firm also increase with the reduction on number of days for which the account are outstanding (Teruel and Solaano, 2007). Investment in inventory and trade debtor which customers still owe to the company are not being able to pay off any of the companys obligations. It will affect as an increase in the working capital if a company is not operating in the most efficient manner. The slow collection as cash will affected the cash collection cycle. Uyar (2009) examined the relationship between types of industry with cash gap. The study is done on merchandising and manufacturing companies and found that merchandising industry has shorter CCC than manufacturing industries. He also investigate the relationship between the length of the CCC and the size of the firms and the findings indicated there is a significant negative correlation Noun 1. negative correlation a correlation in which large values of one variable are associated with small values of the other; the correlation coefficient is between 0 and -1 indirect correlation between the length of CCC and the firm size, in terms of both variable net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight and total assets. Furthermore, the study by Uyar(2009) investigate the correlation between the length of CCC and the profitability of the company. The finding showed there is a significant negative correlation between these two variables. In addition, the study by Rehman (2006) stated that managers can create a positive value for the shareholders by reducing the cash gap up to an optimal level To underline the importance of managing liquidity, Loeser (1988) mentioned the extreme way in order to reduce the cash cycle. Loeser recommended interest to be charged at the prime rate to outstanding accounts receivable and unbilled revenue. This is to encourage responsible employees and particular departments within companies to put every effort necessary to collect receivables, and thus reduce Cash gaps. Similarly, study by Fraser (1998) who argues that liquidity and Cash gap management starts with a simple task for financial managers by making certain that their billings, collections, and payables systems are operating efficiently. Management must be certain with the procedures of collecting the payment so that the cash collecting process will organized eventually. Critics and disadvantages on liquidity ratio Besides the benefit in liquidity management and working capital, it also arise some critics such as stated by Hawawini et al. (1986) argue that in order to get the relevant analysis result, it is a better for the firm to apply the concept of working capital investment in its operating cycle rather than the usage traditional concept of net working capital. This argument also supported by Finnerty (1993) which mentioned that the current ratio and quick ratio calculated in traditional liquidity ratios include both liquid financial assets and operating assets in their formula. This is according an ongoing concern point of view that identified inclusion of operating assets which are tied up in operations is not useful. Subsequently, Kamath (1989) argues that both current and quick ratios are static analysis in nature because the usage of past performance. These two ratios have the lack of information on the future cash flows and liquidity. There was suggestion by Gitman (1974), Richard and Laughlin (1980), Boer (1999), and Gentry et al., (1990) to replace the use of liquidity ratio with cash gap as a measure of available liquidity. This is due to the dynamic nature of cash cycles and also involved tradeoffs. As suggest by Kamath (1989) the Cash gaps (cash gap) can be used to replace or s liquidity ratios in measuring and predicting the nature and pattern of future cash flows. The Cash gap measures the length of time between actual cash payment on productive resources especially from the raw material and actual cash receipts from the sale of products or services. It is good for the company to have a short Cash gap because the longer the gap the longer company has to rely on the external financing. T he result was company will suffer of increasing interest cost. In Saudi Arabia the interest cost is more expensive in due to the absence of tax savings. Instead of paying taxes, national companies incorporated in Saudi Arabia are not required to pay zakat (level or fixed percentage tax required by Islamic shariah). This is due to the characteristic of borrowing cost which is as a cheap basis of financing loses its tax advantage since there is no tax on Saudi companies profits. Likewise, reducing cash gaps by any number of days will add equally to the pretax and after-tax profits. Although the liquidity ratios is a very useful mechanism to analyze financial position of the companies, the usage of these ratio must be with discretion and caution especially in making comparison among company and across industry as mentioned by Abdullah and Ismail (2008) . The reason is because the different of accounting method and treatment used by the different companies, also different in ratio definition. Subsequently the mislead comparison be made. To avoid the mislead use, the standardize guideline is required. According to Gibson and Boyer (1991), without the standardize guideline, companies will only disclose the ratio that only benefit them. Due to the lack of guideline and standard, study done in Malaysia found that only some of the company disclosure a comprehensive of financial ratio. The study also disclosed that there are differences in choice of ratio, method of calculated the ratio among the companies. This situation doesnt allow for any comparison among the company. The researcher also found that the good performance companies tend to disclose more information as signal of their good quality to attract attention of investors. Gibson (1982) the lacks of ratio disclosure discourage the information user to know about the financial position because most of the important financial ratios were not discloses. Furthermore, most companies disclose the ratios that only favorable to benefit their position Liquidity and profitability There are a lot of research done to identify the significant relationship between liquidity management and companies profitability. Evidence from previous studies supported the fact that aggressive working capital policies could increase the profitability of the company. Jose et, al (1996) proved that the US companies incurred high profit which benefit from aggressive working capital policies. In addition, Shin and Soenen (1998) identified that there is strong negative relation between the period of the firms net trade cycle and various measures of profitability. The study was done using a large sample of American firms during 1975-1994, found that reducing the net trade increase companys profitability. The study also includes market measures, such as stock returns, and operating profits. Previous research evidence that aggressive working capital management that heavily invested in high inventory level could enhance profitability of the company as highlighted by Wang (2002) who done the research for Japanese and Taiwan companies and found that the less cash gap period, the better operating performance. The research also had done in any other country such Deloof (2003) in Belgian companies which find the company could improve the profitability by reducing the number of days of account receivable outstanding as well as at the same time reducing their inventories. However, according the study by Uyar (2009) examined the relationship between types of industry with cash gap. The further finding showed there is significant negative correlation between the length of CCC and the profitability. Similar to Ramachandran and Janakiraman (2009) also found negative relationship between Earnings before Interest and tax (EBIT) EBIT See: Earnings Before Interest and Taxes EBIT See earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). and the cash gap. The study revealed that calculation EBIT shows how to manage the working capital of the firm. The negative relationships reflect to the lower gross EBIT was related with an increase in the accounts payable days. Thus the study identify that less profitable company will take advantage to pay for a longer to pay their bills. At the same time company also taking advantage of credit period granted by their suppliers. The study also found that there is the positive relationship between average receivable days and firms EBIT that suggested that less profitable company will try to pursue a decrease of their accounts receivable accounts receivable n. the amounts of money due or owed to a business or professional by customers or clients. Generally, accounts receivable refers to the total amount due and is considered in calculating the value of a business or the business problems in paying days in order to reduce their cash gap. The advantages of high inventory level are reducing in cost of possible interruption in the case of scarcity products. It can overcome the problem of price fluctuation; reduce supply cost (Binder and Maccini, 1991). The other advantages associated with high level inventory that allow trade credit which act as effective price cut (Brennan et. al, 1988; Petersen and Rajan, 1997), also encourage customer to purchase their resources at the lower price. As highlighted by Emery (1997). The company also could benefit long term relationship with the customers as mentioned by Ng et, al (1999). On the other hand there is contrary argument on aggressive policies that minimize on working capital which state that it would affect the profitability of the company as stated by Wang (2002) that if the inventory level is least, the company could face reduction in its sales. Similar to Ganesan (2007) that done the research on relationship of efficient capital management and profitability in telecommunication company that he identified that the efficiency working capital management was negatively associated to the profitability and liquidity. From the finding, it shows that when the working capital management efficiency was improved by decreasing days of working capital, there was improvement in profitability of the firms in terms of profit margin. Padachi (2006) examined the trend in working capital requirement and profitability of firms. This study is done to identify the causes for any significant differences between the industries. The finding reveals that high investment in inventories and receivables was associated with lower profitability. It has a significant negative effect between the inventories investment and profitability. The findings also recognized that an increasing trend in the short-term component in the short-term component of working capital financing. This finding also agreed by Raheman and Nasr (2007) also studied on the effect of working capital on liquidity towards profitability of the company. Further the study done also recognize that there was a negative relationship between liquidity and profitability of the company. Also, they find that there is a positive relationship between size of the company and its profitability and significant negative relationship between debt used by the firm and its profi tability. The similar study also done by Afza and Nazir (2007a) and they also found the same finding as previous research. In line with the study Afza and Nazir (2007b) further investigated the relationship between the aggressive/conservative working capital policies profitability as well as risk of public limited companies. The finding reveals that a negative relationship between the profitability measures of companies and degree of aggressiveness of working capital investment and financing policies. The companies will occur negative returns if they follow an aggressive working capital policy. Another study by Lazaridis and Tryfonidis (2006) that investigated the relationship of profitability which measured through gross operating profit and working capital management. The results of the study showed that there was a negative relationship between profitability and the cash gap which was used as a measure of working capital management efficacy. In order to generate can create profits for their companies, the management must handling correctly the cash gap and keeping each component like accounts receivables, accounts payables, inventory to an optimum level. Samiloglu and Demiraunes (2008) analyzed the effect of working capital management (which highlighted accounts receivable period, inventory period and leverage) on the profitability of the firms. The study depicted working capital has a negative effect on profitability of the companies profitability . Conclusion It is very important and first step taken to study the role of liquidity management policies on profitability of a company. Normally, the company decision whether they can face higher risk due to achieve higher profit. Iif a company desires to absorbed a greater risk for bigger profits and losses, it could reduces the size of its working capital in relation to its sales. If the main interest of the companies is improve its liquidity, it increases the level of its working capital. Therefore, a company should identify a balance between liquidity and profitability (Vishnani . Shah, 2007). . Before the companies adopt any method to increase the profitability, they should evaluate the tradeoff between expected profitability and risk on inventory investment. They have to make sure that the increase in profitability is more than the risk involved.

Training Required To Be A Soccer Player

Training Required To Be A Soccer Player Soccer players need a combination of fitness attributes such as strength, endurance, power, co-ordination, speed and agility, in order to perform and play at a high intensity considering games last 90 minutes plus, therefore as stated by (Stolen et al, 2005) success depends on players being mentally, physically, technically and tactically prepared for competition. Within this assignment I will outline the preparation requirements for a soccer player under the following headings: Strength Training, Endurance Training, Speed Agility and Quickness Training. While doing so I will give general information on each of the three topics, and then move on to give information about the specific requirements for the soccer player. Strength Training: According to Darden, (1992) Well developed, strong, lean body parts will help any athlete or non-athlete perform better. Pg: 45 Stated by Croisier et al., (2005) Strength training is very important for any competing athlete, as it corrects muscle imbalances and reduces the risk of injury, for safety it is important for everyone taking part in strength training to use a spotter and apply good lifting technique to avoid injury. Strength training is also important for non-athletes as it enhances quality of life for people as they can go about everyday tasks such as getting out of bed, getting dressed, carrying shopping bags, walking up stairs etc. (Evans, 1999). Strength training can be divided into three phases such as absolute maximal strength, explosive power, and lastly muscular endurance. McDonagh and Davies, (1984) stated that maximal strength is the biggest force that can be exerted in a single maximum voluntary contraction. According to Stone, (1981) maximal strength is proven to increase jumping ability and motor performance. The athletes main goal is to build as much maximal strength as possible so that they can turn this strength into muscular endurance and explosive power. Explosive power can be developed using a combination of heavy, moderate and light weights (Fleck and Kraemer, 2004). Plyometric training has been shown to be one of the most effective methods for improving and enhancing explosive power (Fleck and Kraemer, 2004) which occurs when the active muscle switches from rapid eccentric muscle action to rapid concentric muscle action (Luebbers et al, 2003). The purpose of plyometrics is to improve the athletes capacity to apply more force more rapidly. Therefore, the greater the athletes ability to generate maximal force or strength to begin with, the more this maximal force and strength can be converted into sport-specific power. According to Dick, (2007) a complex form of training develops muscular endurance, circuit type training which concentrates on soccer specific exercises works well. He states that including a variety of different exercises, movements, as well as equipment combinations and training methods in the circuits will help keep athletes motivated. More sports specific exercises may include using high box step ups rather than lying leg press for the leg muscles, water resistance for training leg muscles, swiss ball for working on core stability and balance. Dynamic movements such as headers, tackling, sprinting and kicks all involve a high level of muscle strength, endurance and power. Players need strength to defend against components who try to push them off the ball while in the air or on the ground, (Cabri et al, (1988). Therefore it is important for athletes to improve their soccer specific strength in the preparation period as the athlete needs to be capable of using muscle strength and power effectively and also consistently within a game and during the season Bangsbo, (1994). As stated by Bompa, (2009) the soccer players performance during the season depends on their adaption and psychological adjustment to training and competitions, and their development of skills and abilities. The duration of each of the stages below depends firstly on the competition schedule and also on the time the athlete needs to increase their level of training and athletic shape, therefore an adequate planning schedule of training and fixtures needs to be put in place. According to Davis et al, (1992) the strength training program for the soccer player is dependent on their positions which can be broken down into four stages goalkeeper, defender, midfield, and attacker given that the athletes need to build up strength and power in relation to their position on the field and what is expected of them. Sport specific training provides a stronger relationship to the soccer player then general strength training because of the way it works the muscles, the speed of the movement and the actual sporting performance Dick, (2007). The following specific requirements for the soccer player were retrieved from Bompa and Carrera, (2005); Dick, (2007); Hoff and Helgerud, (2004); Shepard, (2006) Off season In the off-season the soccer player is in the preparation stage their training to train. After their recovery and adequate rest, soccer players work on building up muscles and a solid functional strength base, they achieve this by preparing the body for more intense work in later phases, strengthening the stabiliser muscles and working on improving imbalances in the body. As soccer players in general have over developed quads from repetitive kicking action therefore they need to work on balancing flexors and extensors also, in order to reduce the risk of injury later on in the season, Off season- Early pre season In this phase the soccer player needs to build maximal strength, since power is the overall outcome, the athlete needs to develop strength first and then convert it into soccer specific power. Late pre season In the late pre season the athlete needs to keep working on muscle power and strength endurance, converting strength gains into soccer specific power and muscle endurance. For this stage plyometrics and/or circuit training should replace weight room sessions. In season-maintance During this phase the soccer player needs to maintain the gains they have made so far in the season without over reaching and overtraining. The athlete should be balanced and muscles should not be under stress, the athletes upper and lower body should be working in cohesion minimizing shock and stress and therefore reducing the risk of injury. Bobbert and Van Soest, (1994) stated that muscle training exercises need to be affiliated with sport specific motions so that the athlete can regulate their control and therefore take advantage of their enhanced muscle properties. Endurance Training: According to Tinley, (1994) endurance training involves athletes being able to keep going for long periods of time, and it also requires a high level of stamina, to develop and maintain aerobic fitness and build endurance. Non-athletes might partake in endurance training in order to improve their quality of life, so they can walk up the stairs without wheezing or run a 10k run in six months time. Stone and Kilding, (2009) stated that soccer players need a high level of aerobic fitness in order to produce and maintain power output during repeated high intensity efforts and in order to recover quickly. Bangsbo et al, (1994); Franks et al, (1999) have observed training intensities deemed suitable for endurance training, during small sided soccer games and on a dribbling track. The size of pitch, intensity, duration and number of players were also seen to have an influence on reaching target heart rate zone. As stated by Bangsbo, (1994) approximately 90% of energy during a soccer game is from aerobic sources, therefore heart rate is a valid indicator of exercise intensity for most of the training. Anaerobic endurance is important for soccer players especially strikers, they require short bursts of anaerobic power when sprinting for a ball, Shepard, (2006). The soccer player requires the following endurance training for the duration of the season Off season During the off season the athlete needs adequate rest and recovery in order to start preparation for the season as soon as possible, Bompa and Carrera, (2005). Off season- Early pre season During this stage the team takes part in small sided conditioning games, dribbling tracks, interval training or circuit training that include specific movement and skill development activities. The fitness program in this stage concentrates on aerobic and short term anaerobic endurance, Lawson, (2001); Meir et al, (2001). Late pre season The team have increased emphasis on training with the ball in order to transfer the skills and movements into their competitive environment. They are still working on drills and training programs from the last stage, although intensity has increased and sports specific adoptions have been made. The athletes develop decision making and problem solving skills under pressure and fatigue, Kelly, (2009); Little, (2006). In season-maintance During the in season the team have to maintain the aerobic fitness and sport specific skills they have acquired over the pre season training stages and apply them to their performances, Stone and Kilding, (2009). Speed Agility and Quickness Training: Speed, agility and quickness (SAQ) training is important for athletes especially those who play a sport that involves a high level of dynamic movement such as, changing direction, headers, tackling, sprinting and kicks. SAQ enables athletes to develop faster reactions so that they can accelerate more quickly and effectively, move successfully in multiple directions, change direction and decelerate quickly in order improve performance on the pitch, Pearson, (2000). Stated by Brown et al., (2000) speed, agility and quickness training drills are used to develop co-ordination, balance, and optimise neuromuscular patterning and condition. Shepherd, (2006) speed can be trained and learned through repetition and overload, speed is the athletes ability to move in the right direction through the required range of motion as fast as possible. Agility is rapid changes in direction without the loss of speed, balance, or body control, it can be improved by the use of agility ladders. Quickness this is the reaction time and the ability to move fast without hesitation. The following specific requirements for the soccer player for SAQ training were retrieved from Bompa and Carrera, (2005); Polman et al, (2003). Off season The athletes need adequate rest and recovery, in order to start preparation for season as soon as possible, Bompa and Carrera, (2005). Off season- Early pre season Teams start to train with agility ladders to improve foot speed and foot to ground contact, sprints, hops in different directions, push-ups, dribbling around cones, spot running, turn and sprint drills, working at moderate to high intensity, and adequate rest between repetitions. Late pre season Teams continue speed, agility and quickness training like last season but incorporate adaptions resisted sprints, one on one games, more sport specific movements and increase intensity of training. In season-maintance To maintain speed, agility and quickness, and their reactions that the SAQ training has taught them over the pre season training and apply the above to their performances on the pitch. Conclusion: In conclusion to this assignment on the preparation requirements for a soccer player, the following headings have been explained giving general information, Strength Training, Endurance Training, Speed Agility and Quickness Training, then moving on to give specific information about the requirements for the soccer player. According to Kraemer et al, (2004) an adequate mixture of soccer specific practices and strength and conditioning programmes which require the development of aerobic capacity, strength, power, speed, and speed endurance, can sustain and develop a soccer players physical performance therefore allowing the athlete to perform at their best throughout the whole season.

Global Warming Essay -- Climate Change

Transitioning to clean energy sources will involve a policy that involves an extensive amount of research in the fields of science, economics, and politics. It is crucial that the United States conceives energy resources that decrease both environmental and health impacts. However, environment and health impacts are not the only aspects that must be considered as the United States moves to cleaner energy resources. The competitiveness of the United States’ economy as a whole and job security must be taken in account. ("Facing Our Energy Realities† 4) Therefore, the transition must be controlled. The transition should not detrimental to the citizens of the United States. Previously, politicians with the intentions of launching a safer environment established acts, such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. However, due to the Environmental Protection Agency, some states, and activist, these acts have negatively impacted some facilities and jobs. Congress must reevaluate laws to allow business to understand what is necessary to continue remaining a part of the market. ("Facing Our Energy Realities† 4) The citizens of the United States vote to determine which politicians generate the energy policies for the United States. Therefore, as a method of guarantying that voting citizens are also informed citizens, energy education should be accessible. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission does inform citizens in the areas surrounding a nuclear plant about nuclear energy. However, they should expand their education to all citizens. As it is unrealistic to fully eliminate coal, and several people are opposed to its use, energy plants using clean coal ought to offer educational measures to enlighten citizens of its advantages. Americans... ...2012. license-review.html>. "Invest in Climate Science to Guide Energy, Economic, and Environmental Policy." Institute for 21st Century Energy. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Web. 01 May 2012. and-environmental-policy>. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Home Page. U.S. Department of Energy. Web. 03 May 2012. . â€Å"Nuclear Energy in France." Repulique Francaise. Embassy of France in Washington, 24 Feb. 2012. Web. 01 May 2012. . "The Obama-Biden Plan." Change.Gov. The Office of President-Elect. Web. 03 May 2012. . WNA. World Nuclear Association. Web. 02 May 2012. .

Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains and James Tiptree Jr.s The L

Ray Bradbury’s "There Will Come Soft Rains" and James Tiptree Jr.'s "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain" - Probable Futures of our World Since the beginning of time mankind has predicted the end of the universe. From early Christians to science fiction authors of the 20th century, each generation has had its own vision of how life on earth will cease to exist. In earlier times though, most apocalyptic ideas consisted of the "hand of God," or God’s figures punishing humankind for its sins and ending human existence. However, in the mid-twentieth century many more scientific ideas of the apocalypse appeared. Ray Bradbury’s "There Will Come Soft Rains," which was published in 1950, is a post-nuclear apocalyptic tale. "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain," written in 1969 by James Tiptree Jr. is a story about the world ending due to biological terrorism. Amazingly, over 30 years since the publication of the latter, these ideas are currently two of the most prevalent thoughts on how the world will come to end. "There Will Come Soft Rains" illustrates the devastating effects of nuclear warfare. Bradbury’s use of vivid and poignant details to describe the end of world shows exactly how unforgiving nuclear weapons are. "The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes†¦. At night the city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles" (Bradbury 719). It is almost impossible to imagine this landscape appearing in real life; almost everything destroyed, and the buildings that are still standing left in shambles. Weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear warheads, seem to have God-like powers. They can level an entire city in one swift blow, and whoever has possession of the most of them rules the world. In an instant everything is d... ...both be probable futures of our world. In the case of these two stories, science fiction and reality seem to almost overlap, and in a not too distant future they could become one. Bibliography Anthrax. 5 November 2001. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 30 November 2001. http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/anthrax.htm Bradbury, Raymond Douglas. "There Will Come Soft Rains." The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Ed. Garyn G. Roberts. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 718-722 "Bush Bioterrorism Funding Request Low, CDF Chief Says" Baltimore Sun. 30 November 2001. 30 November 2001. http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.anthrax30nov30.story Tiptree Jr., James. "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain." The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Ed. Garyn G. Roberts. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 915-921

Zoe’s Tale PART III Chapter Twenty-One

The next morning I found out Dad was under arrest. â€Å"It's not exactly arrest,† Dad said at our kitchen table, having his morning coffee. â€Å"I've been relieved of my position as colony leader and have to travel back to Phoenix Station for an inquiry. So it's more like a trial. And if that goes badly then I'll be arrested.† â€Å"Is it going to go badly?† I asked. â€Å"Probably,† Dad said. â€Å"They don't usually have an inquiry if they don't know how it's going to turn out, and if it was going to turn out well, they wouldn't bother to have it.† He sipped his coffee. â€Å"What did you do?† I asked. I had my own coffee, loaded up with cream and sugar, which was sitting ignored in front of me. I was still in shock about Enzo, and this really wasn't helping. â€Å"I tried to talk General Gau out of walking into the trap we set for him and his fleet,† Dad said. â€Å"When we met I asked him not to call his fleet. Begged him not to, actually. It was against my orders. I was told to engage in ‘nonessential conversation' with him. As if you can have nonessential conversation with someone who is planning to take over your colony, and whose entire fleet you're about to blow up.† â€Å"Why did you do it?† I asked. â€Å"Why did you try to give General Gau an out?† â€Å"I don't know,† Dad said. â€Å"Probably because I didn't want the blood of all those crews on my hands.† â€Å"You weren't the one who set off the bombs,† I said. â€Å"I don't think that matters, do you?† Dad said. He set down his cup. â€Å"I was still part of the plan. I was still an active participant. I still bear some responsibility. I wanted to know that at the very least I tried in some small way to avoid so much bloodshed. I guess I was just hoping there might be a way to do things other than the way that ends up with everyone getting killed.† I got up out of my chair and gave my dad a big hug. He took it, and then looked at me, a little surprised, when I sat back down. â€Å"Thank you,† he said. â€Å"I'd like to know what that was about.† â€Å"It was me being happy that we think alike,† I said. â€Å"I can tell we're related, even if it's not biologically.† â€Å"I don't think anyone would doubt we think alike, dear,† Dad said. â€Å"Although given that I'm about to get royally shafted by the Colonial Union, I'm not sure it's such a good thing for you.† â€Å"I think it is,† I said. â€Å"And biology or not, I think we're both smart enough to figure out that things are not going well for anyone,† Dad said. â€Å"This is a real big mess, nor are we out of it.† â€Å"Amen,† I said. â€Å"How are you, sweetheart?† Dad asked. â€Å"Are you going to be okay?† I opened my mouth to say something and closed it again. â€Å"I think right now I want to talk about anything else in the world besides how I'm doing,† I said, finally. â€Å"All right,† Dad said. He started talking about himself then, not because he was an egotist but because he knew listening to him would help me take my mind off my own worries. I listened to him talk on without worrying too much about what he said. Dad left on the supply ship San Joaquin the next day, with Manfred Trujillo and a couple other colonists who were going as representatives of Roanoke, on political and cultural business. That was their cover, anyway. What they were really doing, or so Jane had told me, was trying to find out anything about what was going on in the universe involving Roanoke and who had attacked us. It would take a week for Dad and the others to reach Phoenix Station; they'd spend a day or so there and then it would take another week for them to return. Which is to say, it'd take another week for everyone but Dad to return; if Dad's inquiry went against him, he wouldn't be coming back. We tried not to think about that. Three days later most of the colony converged on the Gugino homestead and said good-bye to Bruno and Natalie, Maria, Katherina, and Enzo. They were buried where they had died; Jane and others had removed the missile debris that had fallen on them, reshaped the area with new soil, and set new sod on top. A marker was placed to note the family. At some point in the future, there might be another, larger marker, but for now it was small and simple: the family name, the name of the members, and their dates. It reminded me of my own family marker, where my biological mother lay. For some reason I found this a little bit comforting. Magdy's father, who had been Bruno Gugino's closest friend, spoke warmly about the whole family. A group of singers came and sang two of Natalie's favorite hymns from Zhong Guo. Magdy spoke, briefly and with difficulty about his best friend. When he sat back down, Gretchen was there to hold him while he sobbed. Finally we all stood and some prayed and others stood silently, with their heads bowed, thinking about missing friends and loved ones. Then people left, until it was just me and Gretchen and Magdy, standing silently by the marker. â€Å"He loved you, you know,† Magdy said to me, suddenly. â€Å"I know,† I said. â€Å"No,† Magdy said, and I saw how he was trying to get across to me that he wasn't just making comforting words. â€Å"I'm not talking about how we say we love something, or love people we just like. He really loved you, Zoe. He was ready to spend his whole life with you. I wish I could make you believe this.† I took out my PDA, opened it to Enzo's poem, and showed it to Magdy. â€Å"I believe it,† I said. Magdy read the poem, nodded. Then he handed the PDA back to me. â€Å"I'm glad,† he said. â€Å"I'm glad he sent that to you. I used to make fun of him because he wrote you those poems. I told him that he was just being a goof.† I smiled at that. â€Å"But now I'm glad he didn't listen to me. I'm glad he sent them. Because now you know. You know how much he loved you.† Magdy broke down as he tried to finish that sentence. I came up to him and held him and let him cry. â€Å"He loved you too, Magdy,† I said to him. â€Å"As much as me. As much as anyone. You were his best friend.† â€Å"I loved him too,† Magdy said. â€Å"He was my brother. I mean, not my real brother†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He started to get a look on his face; he was annoyed with himself that he wasn't expressing himself like he wanted. â€Å"No, Magdy,† I said. â€Å"You were his real brother. In every way that matters, you were his brother. He knew you thought of him that way. And he loved you for it.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Zoe,† Magdy said, and looked down at his feet. â€Å"I'm sorry I always gave you and Enzo a hard time. I'm sorry.† â€Å"Hey,† I said, gently. â€Å"Stop that. You were supposed to give us a hard time, Magdy. Giving people a hard time is what you do. Ask Gretchen.† â€Å"It's true,† Gretchen said, not unkindly. â€Å"It really is.† â€Å"Enzo thought of you as his brother,† I said. â€Å"You're my brother too. You have been all this time. I love you, Magdy.† â€Å"I love you too, Zoe,† Magdy said quietly, and then looked straight at me. â€Å"Thank you.† â€Å"You're welcome.† I gave him another hug. â€Å"Just remember that as your new family member I'm now entitled to give you all sorts of crap.† â€Å"I can't wait,† Magdy said, and then turned to Gretchen. â€Å"Does this make you my sister too?† â€Å"Considering our history, you better hope not,† Gretchen said. Magdy laughed at that, which was a good sign, then gave me a peck on a cheek, gave Gretchen a hug, and then walked from the grave of his friend and brother. â€Å"Do you think he's going to be okay?† I asked Gretchen, as we watched him go. â€Å"No,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Not for a long time. I know you loved Enzo, Zoe, I really do, and I don't want this to sound like I'm trying to undercut that. But Enzo and Magdy were two halves of the same whole.† She nodded to Magdy. â€Å"You lost someone you love. He's lost part of himself. I don't know if he's going to get over that.† â€Å"You can help him,† I said. â€Å"Maybe,† Gretchen said. â€Å"But think about what you're asking me to do.† I laughed. It's why I loved Gretchen. She was the smartest girl I ever knew, and smart enough to know that being smart had its own repercussions. She could help Magdy, all right, by becoming part of what he was missing. But it meant her being that, one way or another, for the rest of their lives. She would do it, because when it came down to it she really did love Magdy. But she was right to worry about what it meant for her. â€Å"Anyway,† Gretchen said, â€Å"I'm not done helping someone else.† I snapped out of my thoughts at that. â€Å"Oh,† I said. â€Å"Well. You know. I'm okay.† â€Å"I know,† Gretchen said. â€Å"I also know you lie horribly.† â€Å"I can't fool you,† I said. â€Å"No,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Because what Enzo was to Magdy, I am to you.† I hugged her. â€Å"I know,† I said. â€Å"Good,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Whenever you forget, I'll remind you.† â€Å"Okay,† I said. We unhugged and Gretchen left me alone with Enzo and his family, and I sat with them for a long time. Four days later, a note from Dad from a skip drone from Phoenix Station. A miracle, it said. I'm not headed for prison. We are heading back on the next supply ship. Tell Hickory and Dickory that I will need to speak to them when I return. Love you. There was another note for Jane, but she didn't tell me what was in it. â€Å"Why would Dad want to talk to you?† I asked Hickory. â€Å"We don't know,† Hickory said. â€Å"The last time he and I spoke of anything of any importance was the day – I am sorry – that your friend Enzo died. Some time ago, before we left Huckleberry, I had mentioned to Major Perry that the Obin government and the Obin people stood ready to assist you and your family here on Roanoke should you need our assistance. Major Perry reminded me of that conversation and asked me if the offer still stood. I told him that at the time I believed it did.† â€Å"You think Dad is going to ask for your help?† I asked. â€Å"I do not know,† Hickory said. â€Å"And since I last spoke to Major Perry circumstances have changed.† â€Å"What do you mean?† I asked. â€Å"Dickory and I have finally received detailed updated information from our government, up to and including its analysis of the Colonial Union's attack on the Conclave fleet,† Hickory said. â€Å"The most important piece of news is that we have been informed that shortly after the Magellan disappeared, the Colonial Union came to the Obin government and asked it not to search for the Roanoke colony, nor to offer it assistance if it were to be located by the Conclave or any other race.† â€Å"They knew you would come looking for me,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"But why would they tell you not to help us?† I asked. â€Å"Because it would interfere with the Colonial Union's own plans to lure the Conclave fleet to Roanoke,† Hickory said. â€Å"That's happened,† I said. â€Å"That's done. The Obin can help us now,† I said. â€Å"The Colonial Union has asked us to continue not to offer aid or assistance to Roanoke,† Hickory said. â€Å"That makes no sense,† I said. â€Å"We are inclined to agree,† Hickory said. â€Å"But that means that you can't even help me,† I said. â€Å"There is a difference between you and the colony of Roanoke,† Hickory said. â€Å"The Colonial Union cannot ask us not to protect or assist you. It would violate the treaty between our peoples, and the Colonial Union would not want to do that, especially now. But the Colonial Union may choose to interpret the treaty narrowly and has. Our treaty concerns you, Zoe. To a much lesser extent it concerns your family, meaning Major Perry and Lieutenant Sagan. It does not concern Roanoke colony at all.† â€Å"It does when I live here,† I said. â€Å"This colony is of a great deal of concern to me. Its people are of a great deal of concern to me. Everybody I care about in the whole universe is here. Roanoke matters to me. It should matter to you.† â€Å"We did not say it did not matter to us,† Hickory said, and I heard something in its voice I had never heard before: reproach. â€Å"Nor do we suggest it does not matter to you, for many reasons. We are telling you how the Colonial Union is asking the Obin government to view its rights under treaty. And we are telling you that our government, for its own reasons, has agreed.† â€Å"So if my dad asks for your help, you will tell him no,† I said. â€Å"We will tell him that so long as Roanoke is a Colonial Union world, we are unable to offer help.† â€Å"So, no,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"We are sorry, Zoe.† â€Å"I want you to give me the information your government has given you,† I said. â€Å"We will do so,† Hickory said. â€Å"But it is in our native language and file formatting, and will take a considerable amount of time for your PDA to translate.† â€Å"I don't care,† I said. â€Å"As you wish,† Hickory said. Not too long after that I stared at the screen of my PDA and ground my teeth together as it slowly plodded through file transformations and translations. I realized it would be easier just to ask Hickory and Dickory about it all, but I wanted to see it all with my own eyes. However long it took. It took long enough that I had hardly read any of it by the time Dad and the others had made it home. â€Å"This all looks like gibberish to me,† Gretchen said, looking at the documents I was showing her on my PDA. â€Å"It's like it was translated from monkey or something.† â€Å"Look,† I said. I pulled up a different document. â€Å"According to this, blowing up the Conclave fleet backfired. It was supposed to make the Conclave collapse and all the races start shooting at each other. Well, the Conclave is starting to collapse, but hardly any of them are actually fighting each other. They're attacking Colonial Union worlds instead. They really messed this up.† â€Å"If you say this is what it says, I'm going to believe you,† Gretchen said. â€Å"I'm not actually finding verbs here.† I pulled up another document. â€Å"Here, this is about a Conclave leader named Nerbros Eser. He's General Gau's main competition for leadership of the Conclave now. Gau still doesn't want to attack the Colonial Union directly, even though we just destroyed his fleet. He still thinks the Conclave is strong enough to keep doing what it's been doing. But this Eser guy thinks the Conclave should just wipe us out. The Colonial Union. And especially us here on Roanoke. Just to make the point that you don't mess with the Conclave. The two of them are fighting over control of the Conclave right now.† â€Å"Okay,† Gretchen said. â€Å"But I still don't know what any of this means, Zoe. Speak not-hyper-ese to me. You're losing me.† I stopped and took a breath. Gretchen was right. I'd spent most of the last day reading these documents, drinking coffee, and not sleeping; I was not at the peak of my communication skills. So I tried again. â€Å"The whole point of founding Roanoke colony was to start a war,† I said. â€Å"It looks like it worked,† Gretchen said. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"It was supposed to start a war within the Conclave. Blowing up their fleet was supposed to tear the Conclave apart from the inside. It would end the threat of this huge coalition of alien races and bring things back to the way it was before, when every race was fighting every other race. We trigger a civil war, and then we sweep in while they're all fighting and scoop up the worlds we want and come out of it all stronger than before – maybe too strong for any one race or even a small group of races to square off against. That was the plan.† â€Å"But you're telling me it didn't work that way,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Right,† I said. â€Å"We blew up the fleet and got the Conclave members fighting, but who they're fighting is us. The reason we didn't like the Conclave is that it was four hundred against one, the one being us. Well, now it's still four hundred against one, except now no one's listening to the one guy who was keeping them from engaging in total war against us.† â€Å"Us here on Roanoke,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Us everywhere,† I said. â€Å"The Colonial Union. Humans. Us. This is happening now,† I said. â€Å"Colonial Union worlds are being attacked. Not just the new colony worlds, the ones that usually get attacked. Even the established colonies – the ones that haven't been attacked in decades – are getting hit. And unless General Gau gets them all back in line, these attacks are going to keep happening. They're going to get worse.† â€Å"I think you need a new hobby,† Gretchen said, handing me back my PDA. â€Å"Your new one here is really depressing.† â€Å"I'm not trying to scare you,† I said. â€Å"I thought you would want to know about all this.† â€Å"You don't have to tell me,† Gretchen said. â€Å"You need to tell your parents. Or my dad. Someone who actually knows what to do about all this.† â€Å"They already know,† I said. â€Å"I heard John and Jane talking about it last night after he got back from Phoenix Station. Everyone there knows the colonies are under attack. No one's reporting it – the Colonial Union has a lockdown on the news – but everyone's talking about it.† â€Å"What does that leave for Roanoke?† Gretchen said. â€Å"I don't know,† I said. â€Å"But I know we don't have a lot of pull right now.† â€Å"So we're all going to die,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Well. Gee. Thanks, Zoe. I'm really glad to know it.† â€Å"It's not that bad yet,† I said. â€Å"Our parents are working on it. They'll figure it out. We're not all going to die.† â€Å"Well, you're not going to die, at least,† Gretchen said. â€Å"What does that mean?† I asked. â€Å"If things really go swirling, the Obin will swoop in and take you out of here,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Although if all of the Colonial Union is really under attack, I'm not sure where you're going to end up going. But the point is, you have an escape route. The rest of us don't.† I stared at Gretchen. â€Å"That's incredibly unfair,† I said. â€Å"I'm not going anywhere, Gretchen.† â€Å"Why?† Gretchen said. â€Å"I'm not angry at you that you have a way out, Zoe. I'm envious. I've been through one attack. Just one missile got through and it didn't even explode properly, and it still did incredible damage and killed someone I care about and everyone in his family. When they come for us for real, we don't have a chance.† â€Å"You still have your training,† I said. â€Å"I'm not going to be able to engage in single combat with a missile, Zoe,† Gretchen said, annoyed. â€Å"Yes, if someone decides to have a landing party here, I might be able to fight them off for a while. But after what we've done to that Conclave fleet, do you think anyone is really going to bother? They're just going to blow us up from the sky. You said it yourself. They want to be rid of us. And you're the only one that has a chance of getting out of here.† â€Å"I already said I'm not going anywhere,† I said. â€Å"Jesus, Zoe,† Gretchen said. â€Å"I love you, I really do, but I can't believe you're actually that dumb. If you have a chance to go, go. I don't want you to die. Your mom and dad don't want it. The Obin will hack a path through all the rest of us to keep you from dying. I think you should take the hint.† â€Å"I get the hint,† I said. â€Å"But you don't understand. I've been the sole survivor, Gretchen. It's happened to me before. Once is enough for any lifetime. I'm not going anywhere.† â€Å"Hickory and Dickory want you to leave Roanoke,† Dad said to me, after he had paged me with his PDA. Hickory and Dickory were standing in the living room with him. I was clearly coming in on some sort of negotiation between them. And it was also clearly about me. The tone of Dad's voice was light enough that I could tell he was hoping to make some point to the Obin, and I was pretty sure I knew what the point was. â€Å"Are you and Mom coming?† I said. â€Å"No,† Dad said. This I expected. Whatever was going to happen with the colony, both John and Jane would see it through, even if it meant they would die with it. It's what they expected of themselves as colony leaders, as former soldiers, and as human beings. â€Å"Then to hell with that,† I said. I looked at Hickory and Dickory when I said it. â€Å"Told you,† Dad said to Hickory. â€Å"You didn't tell her to come away,† Hickory said. â€Å"Go away, Zoe,† Dad said. This was said with such a sarcastic delivery that even Hickory and Dickory couldn't miss it. I gave a less-than-entirely-polite response to that, and then to Hickory and Dickory, and then, for good measure, to the whole idea that I was something special to the Obin. Because I was feeling saucy, and also because I was tired of the whole thing. â€Å"If you want to protect me,† I said to Hickory, â€Å"then protect this colony. Protect the people I care about.† â€Å"We cannot,† Hickory said. â€Å"We are forbidden to do so.† â€Å"Then you have a problem,† I said, â€Å"because I'm not going anywhere. And there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it.† And then I left, dramatically, partly because I think that was what Dad was expecting, and partly because I was done saying what I wanted to say on the matter. Then I went to my room and waited for Dad to call me again. Because whatever was going on between him and Hickory and Dickory, it wasn't over when I stomped out of the room. And like I said, whatever it was, was clearly about me. About ten minutes later Dad called for me again. I went back into the living room. Hickory and Dickory were gone. â€Å"Sit down, Zoe, please,† Dad said. â€Å"I need you to do something for me.† â€Å"Does it involve leaving Roanoke?† I asked. â€Å"It does,† Dad said. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"Zoe,† Dad said. â€Å"No,† I said again. â€Å"And I don't understand you. Ten minutes ago you were happy to have me stand here in front of Hickory and Dickory and tell them I wasn't going anywhere, and now you want me to leave? What did they tell you to make you change your mind?† â€Å"It's what I told them,† Dad said. â€Å"And I haven't changed my mind. I need you to go, Zoe.† â€Å"For what?† I said. â€Å"So I can stay alive while everyone I care about dies? You and Mom and Gretchen and Magdy? So I can be saved when Roanoke is destroyed?† â€Å"I need you to go so I can save Roanoke,† Dad said. â€Å"I don't understand,† I said. â€Å"That's probably because you didn't actually let me finish before you got on your soapbox,† Dad said. â€Å"Don't mock me,† I said. Dad sighed. â€Å"I'm not trying to mock you, Zoe. But what I really need from you right now is to be quiet so I can tell you about this. Can you do that, please? It will make things go a lot more quickly. Then if you say no, at least you'll be saying no for the right reasons. All right?† â€Å"All right,† I said. â€Å"Thank you,† Dad said. â€Å"Look. Right now all of the Colonial Union is under attack because we destroyed the Conclave fleet. Every CU world has been hit. The Colonial Defense Forces are strained as it is, and it's going to get worse. A lot worse. The Colonial Union is already making decisions about what colonies it can afford to lose when push comes to shove.† â€Å"And Roanoke is one of those,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Dad said. â€Å"Very definitely. But it's more than that, Zoe. There was a possibility that I might have been able to ask the Obin to help us here on Roanoke. Because you were here. But the Colonial Union has told the Obin not to help us at all. They can take you from here, but they can't help you or us defend Roanoke. The Colonial Union doesn't want them to help us.† â€Å"Why not?† I asked. â€Å"That doesn't make any sense.† â€Å"It doesn't make sense if you assume the Colonial Union wants Roanoke to survive,† Dad said. â€Å"But look at it another way, Zoe. This is the first colony with colonists from the CU rather than Earth. The settlers here are from the ten most powerful and most populous Colonial Union worlds. If Roanoke is destroyed, all ten of those worlds are going to be hit hard by the loss. Roanoke will become a rallying cry for those worlds. And for the whole Colonial Union.† â€Å"You're saying we're worth more to the Colonial Union dead than alive,† I said. â€Å"We're worth more as a symbol than as a colony,† Dad said. â€Å"Which is inconvenient for those of us who live here and want to stay alive. But, yes. It's why they won't let the Obin help us. It's why we don't make the cut for resources.† â€Å"You know this for sure?† I asked. â€Å"Someone told you this when you went back to Phoenix Station?† â€Å"Someone did,† Dad said. â€Å"A man named General Szilard. He was Jane's former commanding officer. It was unofficial, but it matched up with my own internal math.† â€Å"And you trust him?† I asked. â€Å"No offense, but the Colonial Union hasn't exactly been on the up-and-up with us lately.† â€Å"I have my issues with Szilard,† Dad said. â€Å"And so does your mom. But yes. I trust him on this. Right now he's the only one in the whole Colonial Union I actually do trust.† â€Å"What does this have to with me leaving Roanoke?† I asked. â€Å"General Szilard told me something else when I saw him,† Dad said. â€Å"Also unofficial, but from good sources. He told me that General Gau, the Conclave leader – â€Å" â€Å"I know who he is, Dad,† I said. â€Å"I've been keeping up with current events.† â€Å"Sorry,† Dad said. â€Å"He said General Gau was being targeted for assassination by someone in his own close circle of advisors, and that the assassination would happen soon, probably in the next few weeks.† â€Å"Why'd he tell you this?† I asked. â€Å"So I could use it,† Dad said. â€Å"Even if the Colonial Union wanted to tell General Gau about the attempt – which it doesn't, since it probably would like to see it succeed – there's no reason to believe that Gau would consider it credible. The CU did just blow up his fleet. But Gau might listen to the information if it came from me, because he's already had dealings with me.† â€Å"And you were the one who begged him not to bring his fleet to Roanoke,† I said. â€Å"Right,† Dad said. â€Å"It's because of that we've been attacked as little as we have. General Gau said to me that neither he nor the Conclave would retaliate against Roanoke itself for what happened to the fleet.† â€Å"We were still attacked,† I said. â€Å"But not by the Conclave itself,† Dad said. â€Å"By someone else, testing our defenses. But if Gau is assassinated, that guarantee dies with him. And then it's open season on Roanoke, and we'll get hit, fast, because we're where the Conclave had its biggest defeat. We're a symbol for the Conclave, too. So we have to let General Gau know he's in danger. For our own sake.† â€Å"If you tell him this, you'll be giving information to an enemy of the Colonial Union,† I said. â€Å"You'll be a traitor.† Dad gave me a wry grin. â€Å"Trust me, Zoe,† he said. â€Å"I'm already neck-deep in trouble.† His smile disappeared. â€Å"And yes, General Gau is an enemy of the Colonial Union. But I think he might be a friend to Roanoke. Right now, Roanoke needs all the friends it can get, wherever it can get them. The ones we used to have are turning their backs on us. We're going out to this new one, hat in hand.† â€Å"And by we you mean me,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Dad said. â€Å"I need you to deliver this message for me.† â€Å"You don't need me to do it,† I said. â€Å"You could do it. Mom could do it. It would be better from either of you.† Dad shook his head. â€Å"Neither Jane nor I can leave Roanoke, Zoe. The Colonial Union is watching us. They don't trust us. And even if we could, we can't leave because we belong here with the colonists. We're their leaders. We can't abandon them. Whatever happens to them happens to us too. We made a promise to them and we're going to stay and defend this colony, no matter what happens. You understand that.† I nodded. â€Å"So we can't go. â€Å"But you can, and secretly,† Dad said. â€Å"The Obin already want to take you off Roanoke. The Colonial Union will allow it because it's part of their treaty with the Obin, and as long as Jane and I stay here, it won't raise an eyebrow. The Obin are technically neutral in the fight between the Conclave and the Colonial Union; an Obin ship will be able to get to General Gau's headquarters where a ship from the Colonial Union couldn't.† â€Å"So send Hickory and Dickory,† I said. â€Å"Or just have the Obin send a skip drone to General Gau.† â€Å"It won't work,† Dad said. â€Å"The Obin are not going to jeopardize their relationship with the Colonial Union to pass messages for me. The only reason they're doing this at all is because I'm agreeing to let them take you off Roanoke. I'm using the only piece of leverage I have with the Obin, Zoe. That's you. â€Å"And there's something else. General Gau has to know that I believe the information I'm sending him is good. That I'm not just being a pawn again in a larger Colonial Union game. I need to give him a token of my sincerity, Zoe. Something that proves that I have as much to risk in sending him this information as he has in receiving it. Even if I or Jane could go ourselves, General Gau would have no reason to trust what we say to him, because he knows both Jane and I were soldiers and are leaders. He knows we would be willing to sacrifice ourselves for our colony. But he also knows that I'm not willing to sacrifice my only daughter. And neither is Jane. â€Å"So you see, Zoe. It has to be you. No one else can do it. You're the only one who can get to General Gau, deliver the message, and be believed. Not me, not Jane, not Hickory and Dickory. No one else. Just you. Deliver the message, and we might still find a way to save Roanoke. It's a small chance. But right now it's the only one we've got.† I sat there for a few minutes, taking in what Dad asked of me. â€Å"You know if Hickory and Dickory take me off Roanoke, they're not going to want to bring me back,† I said, finally. â€Å"You know that.† â€Å"I'm pretty sure of it,† Dad said. â€Å"You're asking me to leave,† I said. â€Å"You're asking me to accept that I might not ever see any of you again. Because if General Gau won't believe me, or if he's killed before I can talk to him, or even if he does believe me but can't do anything to help us, this trip won't mean anything. All it will do is get me off Roanoke.† â€Å"If that's all it did, Zoe, I still wouldn't complain,† Dad said, and then quickly held up his hand, to stop me from commenting on that. â€Å"But if that's all I thought it would do, I wouldn't ask you to do it. I know you don't want to leave Roanoke, Zoe. I know you don't want to leave us or your friends. I don't want anything bad to happen to you, Zoe. But you're also old enough now to make your own decisions. If when all was said and done you wanted to stay on Roanoke to face whatever came our way, I wouldn't try to stop you. Nor would Jane. We would be with you until the end. You know that.† â€Å"I do,† I said. â€Å"There are risks for everyone,† Dad said. â€Å"When Jane and I tell the Roanoke colony council about this – which we will do once you're gone – I'm pretty sure they are going to kick us out as the colony leaders. When news gets back to the Colonial Union, Jane and I are almost certainly going to be arrested on charges of treason. Even if everything goes perfectly, Zoe, and General Gau accepts your message and acts on it and maybe even makes sure that Roanoke stays unmolested, we will still have to pay for our actions. Jane and I accept this. We think it's worth it for a chance to keep Roanoke safe. The risk for you here, Zoe, is that if you do this, you might not see us or your friends again for a very long time, or at all. It's a big risk. It's a real risk. You have to decide whether it's one worth taking.† I thought about this some more. â€Å"How long do I have to think about this?† I asked. â€Å"All the time you need,† Dad said. â€Å"But those assassins aren't sitting around doing nothing.† I glanced over to where Hickory and Dickory had been. â€Å"How long do you think it will take them to get a transport here?† I asked. â€Å"Are you kidding?† Dad said. â€Å"If they didn't send for one the second I was done talking to them, I'll eat my hat.† â€Å"You don't wear a hat,† I said. â€Å"I will buy a hat and eat it, then,† Dad said. â€Å"I'm going to come back,† I said. â€Å"I'm going to take this message to General Gau, and then I'm going to get back here. I'm not sure how I'm going to convince the Obin of that, but I'm going to do it. I promise you, Dad.† â€Å"Good,† Dad said. â€Å"Bring an army with you. And guns. And battle cruisers.† â€Å"Guns, cruisers, army,† I said, running down the checklist. â€Å"Anything else? I mean, as long as I'm going shopping.† â€Å"Rumor is that I might be in the market for a hat,† Dad said. â€Å"Hat, right,† I said. â€Å"Make it a jaunty hat,† he said. â€Å"I promise nothing,† I said. â€Å"Fine,† Dad said. â€Å"But if you have to choose between the hat and the army, pick the army. And make it a good one. We're going to need it.† â€Å"Where is Gretchen?† Jane asked me. We stood outside the small Obin transport. I had already said good-bye to Dad. Hickory and Dickory waited for me inside the transport. â€Å"I didn't tell her I was leaving,† I said. â€Å"She is going to be very upset about that,† Mom said. â€Å"I don't intend to be away long enough for her to miss me,† I said. Mom didn't say anything to that. â€Å"I wrote her a note,† I said, finally. â€Å"It's scheduled for delivery tomorrow morning. I told her what I thought I could tell her about why I left. I told her to talk to you about the rest of it. So she might come by to see you.† â€Å"I'll talk to her about it,† Jane said. â€Å"I'll try to make her understand.† â€Å"Thanks,† I said. â€Å"How are you?† Mom asked. â€Å"I'm terrified,† I said. â€Å"I'm scared I'll never see you or Dad or Gretchen again. I'm scared I'm going to screw this up. I'm scared that even if I don't screw this up it won't matter. I feel like I'm going to pass out, and I've felt that way since this thing landed.† Jane gave me a hug and then looked to my neck, puzzled. â€Å"You're not taking your jade elephant pendant?† she said. â€Å"Oh,† I said. â€Å"It's a long story. Tell Gretchen I said for her to tell it to you. You need to know about it anyway.† â€Å"Did you lose it?† Jane asked. â€Å"It's not lost,† I said. â€Å"It's just not with me anymore.† â€Å"Oh,† Jane said. â€Å"I don't need it anymore,† I said. â€Å"I know who in this world loves me, and has loved me.† â€Å"Good,† Jane said. â€Å"What I was going to tell you is that as well as remembering who loves you, you should remember who you are. And everything about who you are. And everything about what you are.† â€Å"What I am,† I said, and smirked. â€Å"It's because of what I am that I'm leaving. What I am has been more trouble than it's worth, if you ask me.† â€Å"That doesn't surprise me,† Jane said. â€Å"I have to tell you, Zoe, that there have been times when I have felt sorry for you. So much of your life has been completely out of your control. You've lived your life under the gaze of an entire race of people, and they have made their demands on you right from the beginning. I'm always amazed you've stayed sane through all of it.† â€Å"Well, you know,† I said. â€Å"Good parents help.† â€Å"Thank you,† Jane said. â€Å"We tried to keep your life as normal as possible. And I think we've raised you well enough that I can tell you this and have you understand it: What you are has made demands of you all your life. Now it's time to demand something back. Do you understand?† â€Å"I'm not sure,† I said. â€Å"Who you are has always had to make room for what you are,† Jane said. â€Å"You know that.† I nodded. It had. â€Å"Part of that was because you were young, and what you are is so much larger than who you are,† Jane said. â€Å"You can't expect a normal eight-year-old or even a fourteen-year-old to understand what it means to be something like what you are. But you're old enough now to understand it. To get an appreciation for it. To know how you can use it, for something besides trying to stay up late.† I smiled, amazed that Jane remembered me trying to use the treaty to stay up past my bedtime. â€Å"I've watched you in the last year,† Jane said. â€Å"I've seen how you interact with Hickory and Dickory. They've imposed a lot on you because of what you are. All that training and practicing. But you've also started asking more of them. All those documents you've had them give you.† â€Å"I didn't know you knew about that,† I said. â€Å"I was an information officer,† Jane said. â€Å"This sort of thing is my job. My point is that you've become more willing to use that power. You are finally taking control of your life. What you are is starting to make room for who you are.† â€Å"It's a start,† I said. â€Å"Keep going,† Jane said. â€Å"We need who you are, Zoe. We need you to take what you are – every part of what you are – and use it to save us. To save Roanoke. And to come back to us.† â€Å"How do I do it?† I asked. Jane smiled. â€Å"Like I said: Demand something back,† she said. â€Å"That's unhelpfully vague,† I said. â€Å"Perhaps,† Jane said, and then kissed me on the cheek. â€Å"Or maybe I just have faith that you're smart enough to figure it out on your own.† Mom got a hug for that. Ten minutes later I was fifteen klicks above Roanoke and climbing, heading for an Obin transport, thinking about what Jane had said. â€Å"You will find that our Obin ships travel far more quickly than your Colonial Union ships,† Hickory said. â€Å"Is that right,† I said. I wandered over to where Hickory and Dickory had placed my luggage and picked out one of the suitcases. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"Far more efficient engines and better artificial gravity management. We will reach skip distance from Roanoke in a little under two days. It would take one of your ships five or six days to reach the same distance.† â€Å"Good,† I said. â€Å"The sooner we get to General Gau the better.† I unzipped the suitcase. â€Å"This is a very exciting moment for us,† Hickory said. â€Å"This is the first time since you have lived with Major Perry and Lieutenant Sagan that you will meet other Obin in person.† â€Å"But they know all about me,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"The recordings of the last year have made their way to all Obin, both in unedited and digest form. The unedited versions will take time to process.† â€Å"I'll bet,† I said. â€Å"Here we are.† I found what I was looking for: the stone knife, given to me by my werewolf. I had packed it quickly, when no one was looking. I was just making sure that I didn't imagine packing it. â€Å"You brought your stone knife,† Hickory said. â€Å"I did,† I said. â€Å"I have plans for it.† â€Å"What plans?† Hickory asked. â€Å"I'll tell you later,† I said. â€Å"But tell me, Hickory,† I said. â€Å"This ship we're going to. Is there anyone important on it?† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"Because it is the first time that you have been in the presence of other Obin since you were a child, one of the members of Obin's governing council will be there to greet you. It very much wants to meet with you.† â€Å"Good,† I said, and glanced at the knife. â€Å"I very much want to meet with it, too.† I think I actually made Hickory nervous right then.