Criminological Theories A comparison Between Control Theories and Essay

Criminological Theories A comparison Between Control Theories and Scocial control Theories of Crime - Essay Example The social control they describe is not through Laws, but through Beliefs and societal Norms. However, these norms could later evolve into Laws, ethics, Etiquettes and Customs . The Control is effected through establishing conformity and compliance to these norms. SOCIAL CONTROL THEORIES are viewed along two perspectives. The Macro social and Micro social perspectives . The Macro Social Perspective examines the Formal Control Systems which include the Legal systems, Law enforcers, lobbies which influence laws, which exercise control over the society. Micro Social Perspective, studies the INFORMAL control systems. exercised by Families, religious and educational institution and peer groups. This Informal control manifests as Bonding ,Re Integrative Shaming, Attachment, and Learning through Role Models. The control theories focus on a person's Relationship to their parents, teachers, parish priests and coaches who act as agents of socialization -.A child's Effective interaction with these agents translates into bonds with society.(Hirschi1960) Control Theories study the internalization of Moral codes and the stakes and ties in the community the individuals develops, which make them to voluntarily limit their deviant behaviour.These are Informal controls exercised by social and familial bonds. It is more a "self concept". The most influential among the Control Theories are, John Bolwlby 's Attachment Theory, Travis Hirschi's Social Bonds Theory , the Age Graded Life course Theory of Sampson and Laube and the General Theory of Crime by Gottferson and Hirschi (1999) The Control Theory of Delinquency was presented by Travis Hirsche in 1969. It emerged from the Social Disorganisation Theory (Western Criminology Review)which was slowly losing its prestige at that time. Hirschi took his cue from this theory which held that Disorganised communities generate crime as informal social controls have broken down.It was John Bowlby who first floated the emotional aspect in social control in his Attachment Theory in 1969.Hirschi synthesizes both these perspectives . Hirschi's Control Theory posits that it is not so much the Individual's personality, but his social Relationships and social bonds which determine the deviance or conformity of his Behaviour. Absence of Control exercised by those bonds left him free to weigh the profits against risk . Attachment to others make him less likely to be deviant. Both Hirschi and Bowlby stress Parental upbringing in instilling socialization. The accrual of emotional investment by parents develops Empathy in the individual , which heightens his control and help him to Desist from acts violating the conventions. .The other Control theories, The General Theory of Crime, The Age Graded Life Course Theory that followed, acknowledged the SELF concept .They explained how at a Micro perspective, Informal social bonds which are at first external, become internalized . Gottferson and Hirschi (1990) , and later,Sampson and Laube (1993)in their Age Graded Life Course Perspective said that there is a relationship of causes between the later deviant behavior and the

Improving science literacy with hypermedia Essay Example for Free

Improving science literacy with hypermedia Essay Methods Learning Design Architecture The four cornerstones of this Science learning and teaching design are goal-based and constructivist learning, simulation, computer-based creative learning environment, computer-based creative assessment, as well as the traditional lectures and tutorials. In the present research, the Discovery Channel â€Å"Pompeii: The Last Day† site was used as the hypermedia environment for investigating the science topic of Plate Tectonic Theory, first, and the impact of natural processes on human history (Pompeii), second. A few words need to be said about the structure of this hypermedia resource and its value for the current research. It is organized as the complex system of thematic hypermedia audio/video-packages accompanied by informational texts in written form. The structure of the site appears to be complex, so far as on the macrolevel it consists of the hypermedia sections: â€Å"What Happened Here? ,† the â€Å"Virtual Volcano† simulation, Pompeii Quiz, and Eruption Videos. Each macrounit, meanwhile, is designed as another macroentity. For example, the section â€Å"What Happened Here? † provides learners with different types of information on the theme of volcanic activity having erased ancient cities from the earth surface. The â€Å"Step Back in Time† slide-show is organized as a series (7 parts or pages) of the typed texts (â€Å"The Long, Deathly Silence,† â€Å"Herculaneum,† â€Å"Two Days in August,† â€Å"The Story of Lupercus,† â€Å"Pompeii: Part I,† â€Å"Pompeii: Part II,† and â€Å"The Story of Caius Julius Polybius† by Rossella Lorenzi). The â€Å"Ongoing Excavations,† or â€Å"Ongoing Archaeology† slide-show comprising 6 parts or pages (â€Å"Uncovering Pompeii,† â€Å"Bringing the Oldest Pompeii to Light,† â€Å"A Unique Glimpse,† â€Å"Herculaneums Lost Papyri,† â€Å"Lost Plays of Sophocles,† and â€Å"Multi-Spectral Imaging†) is analogous in structure to the â€Å"Step Back in Time† macrounit. Besides, within the same â€Å"What Happened Here? † macrosection, there is a â€Å"Pompeiis Eyewitness Account† web documentary. The students listen to the text and watch the video accounting for Pliny the Younger’s story about the ancient Pompeii devastation. Whereas the aforedescribed macrounit explores the issues of human history in relating to natural catastrophes, the other macrosections concentrate on Plate Tectonics theory and scientific description of volcanoes as natural pressure valves. Under the umbrella of Volcanology, there are the hypermedia macrounits â€Å"Virtual Volcano† and of â€Å"Eruption Video. † The section â€Å"Virtual Volcano† consists in its turn of the Overview and the â€Å"Virtual volcano† simulation sections. The theme of the section is â€Å"Tectonic Plates and Volcanoes. † The Overview dwells on the Earth’s tectonic structure, volcano types (three subsections) and structure. The information is presented through both visual and textual form (typed text). In the macrounits of â€Å"Global Perspective† and â€Å"Virtual volcano† a specific type of hypermedia symbolic simulation or microworld – introduces students to the details of tectonic structure and volcanic activity. Simulation is â€Å"a computer-based simulation of a work or decision-making environment† as a system (Sauer, Wastell, Hockey, 2000, p. 46, qtd. in Gredler, 2004, p. 577). Whereas a â€Å"Global Perspective† is a genuine symbolic simulation of Earth with delineated plate boundaries and active volcanoes, the â€Å"Virtual volcano† section is an experiential simulation. This is an alliance of hypermedia and video images â€Å"to create a virtual experience for students who are fulfilling roles as researchers† (ibid. ). The macrounit seems to be designed to improve students’ comprehension of the theme by projecting the concepts from short-term to long-term memory, training topical vocabulary and operating knowledge in the goal-based settings. Six informational video packages within the section of â€Å"Eruption Video† train audition as well as visual comprehension. It also broadens students’ vocabulary with useful terms and present visual information on useful concepts (e. g. pyroclastic flow, lava flow, underwater volcano, etc. ). The informational section â€Å"Volcano news† provides learners with interesting facts on ancient and modern volcanic activity (as well as other scientific facts; there are 13 news pieces, 2 of which are corrupted). The hypermedia assessment tool is given in the form of the Pompeii Quiz. This is an interactive multiple-choice test â€Å"Would you survive after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius?. † To accomplish the test, a student must use knowledge having been gained during the research of the site. The Discovery Channel â€Å"Pompeii: The Last Day† site seems to be a useful hypermedia environment for investigating the topics of Plate Tectonic Theory and its impact on human history. First, students pick up useful concepts related to several branches of science (tectonics, Volcanology, history, archeology, etc. ). Second, they learn important vocabulary on the topics in the flow of constructivist and creative learning process. Due to the fact that the hypermedia environment is used for achieving the learning goals, the body of information is presented through various media (typed text, oral speech, graphics, videoimages, photographs, simulations) and organized flexibly. A learner is free to step from one macrounit to another being led by his/her personal background and motivation, return to the sections which are of most interest for him/her essentially and train comprehension skills in the Quiz as many times as (s)he needs. Finally, it refines students’ ICT skills while they use the World Wide Web to reach the site and proceed from page to page. Instruments To evaluate the effect of the hypermedia learning environment on students’ comprehension of Science (Plate Tectonics, Volcanology, History, Archeology), the researcher investigated each of the four â€Å"Pompeii: The Last Day† sections for the most significant scientific concepts to be utilized by students in the learning process. The search was done by qualitative linguistic analysis of the informational texts. The concepts were grouped into three main sections: geographical names, personal names and scientific terms and concepts (see Table 1 for the list). The students were assumed to learn those terms in the constructivist educational process through the hypermedia tools to incorporate them into their evaluation assignments as the evidence for their improved science reading and visual comprehension. Second, an end-of the week questionnaire was administered to the eight-graders in the Science Hypermedia class to find out feedback on their learning experience from using the hypermedia learning environment including time spent on independent research in the hypermedia environment (â€Å"Pompeii: The Last Day†) (see Tables 3, 4 and Figure 1). Third, Power Point presentations were used as creative evaluation instrument to check the learning outcomes of students’ comprehension. All the students were trained to create computer-based presentations by the given program. In an effort to guide and improve the learning of science concepts in the realms of Geology, History and Archeology with eight-graders in the middle school, a week study of the Topic â€Å"Plate Tectonic Theory and the Impact of Volcanic Activity on Human History† was designed as an action research experiment. From the point of view of settings and partly qualitative assessment of the outcomes of research on specific stages (e. g. students’ feedbacks), this study may also be called a case study, since only one science topic was investigated in regard to students’ comprehension and motivation. Two classes of eight-graders relatively equal in achievements and learning potential were invited to participate in educational experiment. However, there was no internal sampling conducted within each of the classes. All the students participated voluntarily and for no reward in grades or other. The goals of the present research were clarified to all the participants (N = 40). The total number of participants (N = 40) was invited to study the topic of Plate Tectonics and its impact on human history through different learning resources. The students of experiment group (n = 20) studied the topic in the hypermedia environment (a school computer laboratory equipped with Windows-based microcomputers and, optionally, at home), whereas the other group of students (control group, n = 20) did not use any hypermedia resources learning solely from printed textbooks and handouts as well as teacher’s oral instructions. To comment, the student of the experiment group received small portions of a teacher’s instruction while researching the hypermedia context. They were also assisted by a teacher in proceeding from one structural part of the site to the other in order to investigate the topic on each other’s individual pace. However, the general framework of scientific topic was introduced to a group of students. Thus, both group and individual types of instruction tool place in the research. One more thing to note, the studies in both the experiment and the control groups were conducted by one and the same teacher of a teaching style being familiar to the students from previous experience. After a week of studies, the students from both the groups designed Power Point presentations on the topic within the Hypermedia Evaluation Project in lieu of a formal examination. The assessment comprised: 45% on the subject comprehension (major concepts and direct conceptual links), 45% on utilizing Power Point hypermedia resources, and 10% on creativity. All the students (n = 40) were trained in using the Power Point program. Presentations were evaluated by three examiners. The point of degree between the evaluators was high (r = . 088).

Jefferson and Hamilton Essay -- essays research papers

The post-revolutionary war period of the Unites States saw the establishment of the first party system and an enlarging gap in viewpoints between the wealthy and the common man. The contradictory views of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were primarily responsible for the rise of political parties from 1783-1800. Alexander Hamilton exerted the most influence in the new Federalist Party. He believed that only an enlightened ruling class could produce a stable and effective federal government. The government therefore needed the support of wealthy men. Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans defended more the rights of the common man and an agrarian society with little power from the federal government. His basic principle was "in general I believe the decisions of the people in a body will be more honest and more disinterested than those of wealthy men." The Republican Party attracted more of the common people while the Federalist Party drew support from the aristocracy. Although neither side was willing to admit to it, these institutions were known as the "first party system." Both parties stance on who should have more power in the government contributed to the largely divers views of the common man and the wealthy man. When the French Revolution grew to its most radical peak the Federalists reacted with horror as citizens overthrew the aristocracy. In launching the New Ship of State Hamilton said, "The cause of France is compared with that of America during its late Revolution. I own I do not like the comparison...well informed men must equally unite in the doubt whether this [free and good government] be likely to take place." Thomas Jefferson's response was "I still hope the Revolution will issue happily...The livery of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was ever such a prize won with so little innocent blood?" Many Republicans even imitated French Jacobins in dress and in speaking. The difference between the Federalist and Republican social philosophies is most easily seen among their different reactions to the French Revolution. Federalists called for a national debt to be funded and hoped to create a large national bank credited by wealthy men. He defended it in a plan presented to Congress by claiming "where the authority of the government is general it can create corp... ...Sedition Acts exercise a power nowhere delegated to the Federal government...this commonwealth does declare that the said Alien and Sedition Acts are violations of the said Constitution." The resolutions nullified the laws and contributed to the rise of Republicanism and the fall of Federalism. The differing opinions on how the government in the post-Revolutionary war period should be run ultimately created the first rise in political parties. The Federalist belief in a government run by wealthy men and opposing Republican support for and agrarian society split the nations people in support of a government most beneficial to them. Differing reactions to the French Revolution showed the distinct difference in Federalist and Republican belief of who the government should be run under. The National Bank and the excise tax on liquor revealed differing views on how strictly the Constitution should be interpreted and the Alien and Sedition Acts reveal an attempt of one party to dissolve another. The contrasting views of Hamilton's Federalism and Jefferson's Republicanism were the ultimate contributors to splitting the nation on views and establishing the first political parties.

Free Speech -- The First Amendment

When you think about America, the first thing that comes to mind is liberty. Liberty of the government and its citizens is one thing that colonists exceedingly desired during the British oppressive regime. When United States gained independence, the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution of the Unites States, a document that has been governing our country for more than 200 years. The constitution was drafted accordingly to ensure that people’s opinions were heard. What our Founding Fathers could not foresee is that in our 21st century, The Freedom of Speech not only gives a person such a massive power, but also an opinion even if it is immoral and goes against citizens’ values. Thesis statement The First Amendment is the right that has been belonging to people since the birth. When we think about freedom of speech, we tend to remember the protester who expressed his opinion through burning the United States flag or about journalists who exposed a corrupt official. But now the trend is to use the First Amendment to release hatred and worshiping mindsets that go against society’s values and morals. Background, History In the United States of America, the First Amendment is one of the things that distinguishes us from any other nations. The First Amendment guarantees the absolute freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to exercise any religion and freedom to assemble. In many countries,the press gets censored and people who publicly express their opinion end up in the jail. In our country, however, political speech is protected and any citizen can sue an other if one feels his or her opinion is suppressed. The Westboro Baptist Church, Neo-Nazi, Neo- Klu Klux Klan, and many others emerged as groups that invoke and in... ... on Corporate Speech, the Press Is a Problem." New York Times 8 Feb. 2011: A12(L). Student Resource Center - Gold. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. Document URL†¨http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=IPS&docId=A248547954&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=moun43602&version=1.0 Welch, Matt. "The 'costs' of free speech: consequentialism and the First Amendment don't mix." Reason July 2010: 2+. Student Resource Center - Gold. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. Document URL http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A227945164&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=moun43602&version=1.0 Lawver, Bryan. "Laws Do Not Prevent Hate Speech." The Globe. 27 Apr. 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2011. .

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 25

~Part III Hunters Chapter 25 All Dressed Up Tommy stormed around the loft collecting beer cans and breakfast plates and carrying them to the kitchen. â€Å"Bitch!† he said to Peary. â€Å"Shark-faced bitch. It's not like I have any experience at this. It's not like there's Cosmo articles on how to take care of a vampire. Bloodsucking, day-sleeping, turtle-hating, creepy-crawling, no-toilet-paper-buying, inconsiderate bitch!† He slammed an armload of dishes into the sink. â€Å"I didn't ask for this. A few friends come over for breakfast and she goes bat-shit. Did I make a fuss when her mother came over with no notice? Did I say a word when she brought a dead guy home and shoved him under the bed? No offense, Peary. Do I complain about her weird hours? Her eating habits? No, I haven't said a word.† â€Å"It's not like I came to the City saying, ‘Oh, I can't wait to find a woman whose only joy in life is sucking out my bodily fluids. Okay, well, maybe I did, but I didn't mean this.† Tommy tied up a trash bag full of beer cans and threw it in the corner. The crash reverberated through his head, reminding him of his hangover. He cradled his throbbing temples and went to the bathroom, where he heaved until he thought his stomach would turn inside out. He pushed himself up from the bowl and wiped his eyes. Two snapping turtles regarded him from the tub. â€Å"What are you guys looking at?† Scott's jaw dropped open and he hissed. Zelda ducked under the foot of fouled water and swam against the corner of the tub. â€Å"I need a shower. You guys are going to have to roam around for a while.† Tommy found a towel and wrestled the turtles out of the tub, then stepped in and ran the shower until the water went cold. As he dressed he watched Scott and Zelda wandering around the bedroom, bumping into walls, then backing up and slumping off until they hit another wall. â€Å"You guys are miserable here, aren't you? No one appreciates you? Well, it doesn't look like Jody's going to use you. Whoever heard of a vampire with a weak stomach? There's no reason for all of us to be miserable.† Tommy had been using the milk crates he'd carried Scott and Zelda in as laundry baskets. He dumped the dirty laundry on the floor and lined the crates with damp towels. â€Å"Let's go, guys. We're going to the park.† He put Scott in a crate and carried him down the steps to the sidewalk. Then went back up for Zelda and called a cab. When he returned to the street, one of the biker/sculptors was standing outside of the foundry, blotting sweat out of his beard with a bandanna. â€Å"You live upstairs, right?† The sculptor was about thirty-five, long-haired and bearded, wearing grimy jeans and a denim vest with no shirt. His beer belly protruded from the vest and hung over his belt like a great hairy bag of pudding. â€Å"Yeah, I'm Tom Flood.† Tommy set the crate on the sidewalk and offered his hand. The sculptor clamped down on it until Tommy winced with pain. â€Å"I'm Frank. My partner's Monk. He's inside.† â€Å"Monk?† â€Å"Short for Monkey. We work in brass.† Tommy massaged his crushed hand. â€Å"I don't get it.† â€Å"Balls on a brass monkey.† â€Å"Oh,† Tommy said, nodding as if he understood. â€Å"What's with the turtles?† Frank asked. â€Å"Pets,† Tommy said. â€Å"They're getting too big for our place, so I'm going to take a cab over to Golden Gate Park and let them go in the pond.† â€Å"That why your old lady left all pissed off?† â€Å"Yeah, she doesn't want them in the house anymore.† â€Å"Fucking women,† Frank said in sympathy. â€Å"My last old lady was always on me about keeping my scooter in the living room. I still have the scooter.† Obviously, in Frank's eyes, Tommy should be carrying Jody out in a crate. Frank thought he was a wimp. â€Å"No big deal,† Tommy said with a shrug, â€Å"they were hers. I don't really care.† â€Å"I could use a couple of turtles, if you want to save cab fare.† â€Å"Really?† Tommy hadn't relished the idea of loading the crates into a cab anyway. â€Å"You wouldn't eat them, would you? I mean, I don't care, but – â€Å" â€Å"No fucking way, man.† A blue cab pulled up and stopped. Tommy signaled to the driver, then turned back to Frank. â€Å"I've been feeding them hamburger.† â€Å"Cool,† Frank said. â€Å"I'm on it.† â€Å"I have to go.† Tommy opened the cab door and looked back at Frank. â€Å"Can I visit them?† â€Å"Anytime,† Frank said. â€Å"Later.† He bent and picked up the crate containing Zelda. Tommy got in the cab. â€Å"Marina Safeway,† he said. He would be a couple of hours early for work, but he didn't want to stay at the loft and risk another tirade if Jody returned. He could kill the time reading or something. As the cab pulled away he looked out the back window and watched Frank carrying the second crate inside. Tommy felt as if he had just abandoned his children. Jody thought, I guess not everything changed when I changed. Without realizing how she got there, Jody found herself at Macy's in Union Square. It was as if some instinctual navigator, activated by conflict with men, had guided her there. A dozen times in the past she had found herself here, arriving with a purse full of tear-smeared Kleenex and a handful of credit cards tilted toward their limit. It was a common, and very human, response. She spotted other women doing the same thing: flipping through racks, testing fabrics, checking prices, fighting back tears and anger, and actually believing salespeople who told them that they looked stunning. Jody wondered if department stores knew what percentage of their profits came from domestic unrest. As she passed a display of indecently expensive cosmetics, she spotted a sign that read: â€Å"Melange Youth Cream – Because he'll never understand why you're worth it.† Yep, they knew. The righteous and the wronged shall find solace in a sale at Macy's. It was two weeks until Christmas and the stores in Union Square were staying open late into the evening. Tinsel and lights were festooned across every aisle, and every item not marked for sale was decorated with fake evergreen, red and green ribbon, and various plastic approximations of snow. Droves of package-laden shoppers trudged through the aisles like the chorus line of the cheerful, sleigh-bell version of the Bataan Death March, ever careful to keep moving lest some ambitious window dresser mistake them for mannequins and spray them down with aerosol snow. Jody watched the heat trails of the lights, breathed deep the aroma of fudge and candy and a thousand mingled colognes and deodorants, listened to the whir of the motors that animated electric elves and reindeer under the cloak of Muzak-mellowed Christmas carols – and she liked it. Christmas is better as a vampire, she thought. The crowds used to bother her, but now they seemed like†¦ like cattle: harmless and unaware. To her predator side, even the women wearing fur, who used to grate on her nerves, seemed not only harmless, but even enlightened in this heightened sensual world. I'd like to roll naked on mink, she thought. She frowned to herself. Not with Tommy, though. Not for a while, anyway. She found herself scanning the crowds, looking for the dark aura that betrayed the dying-prey – then caught herself and shivered. She looked over their heads, like an elevator rider avoiding eye contact, and the gleam of black caught her eye. It was a cocktail dress, minimally displayed on an emaciated Venus de Milo mannequin in a Santa hat. The LBD, Little Black Dress: the fashion equivalent of nuclear weapons; public lingerie; effective not because of what it was, but what it wasn't. You had to have the legs and the body to wear an LBD. Jody did. But you also had to have the confidence, and that she'd never been able to muster. Jody looked down at her jeans and sweatshirt, then at the dress, then at her tennis shoes. She pushed her way through the crowd to the dress. A rotund, tastefully dressed saleswoman approached Jody from behind. â€Å"May I help you?† Jody's gaze was trained on the dress as if it were the Star of Bethlehem and she was overstocked with frankincense and myrrh. â€Å"I need to see that dress in a three.† â€Å"Very good,† the woman said. â€Å"I'll bring you a five and a seven as well.† Jody looked at the woman for the first time and saw the woman looking at her sweatshirt as if it would sprout tentacles and strangle her at any moment. â€Å"A three will be fine,† Jody said. â€Å"A three might be a bit snug,† the woman said. â€Å"That's the idea,† Jody said. She smiled politely, imagining herself snatching out handfuls of the woman's tastefully tinted hair. â€Å"Now let's get the item number off of that,† the woman said, making a show of holding the tag so that Jody could see the price. She sneaked a look for Jody's reaction. â€Å"He's paying,† Jody said, just to be irritating. â€Å"It's a gift.† â€Å"Oh, how nice,† the woman said, trying to brighten, but obviously disgusted. Jody understood. Six months ago she would have hated the kind of woman she was pretending to be. The woman said, â€Å"This will be lovely for holiday parties.† â€Å"Actually, it's for a funeral.† Jody couldn't remember having this much fun while shopping. â€Å"Oh, I'm sorry.† The woman looked apologetic and held her hands to her heart in sympathy. â€Å"It's okay; I didn't know the deceased very well.† â€Å"I see,† the woman said. Jody lowered her eyes. â€Å"His wife,† she said. â€Å"I'll get the dress,† the woman said, turning and hurrying away. Tommy had only been in the Safeway once before when it was still open: the day he applied for the job. Now it seemed entirely too active and entirely too quiet without the Stones or Pearl Jam blasting over the speakers. He felt that his territory had been somehow violated by strangers. He resented the customers who ruined the Animals' work by taking things off the shelves. As he passed the office he nodded to the manager and headed to the breakroom to kill time until it was time to go to work. The breakroom was a windowless room behind the meat department, furnished with molded plastic chairs, a Formica folding table, a coffee machine, and a variety of safety posters. Tommy brushed some crumbs off a chair, found a coffee-stained Reader's Digest under an opened package of stale bear claws, and sat down to read and sulk. He read: â€Å"A Bear's Got Mom!: Drama in Real Life† and â€Å"I Am Joe's Duodenum†; and he was beginning to feel a pull toward the bathroom and the Midwest, both things he associated with Reader's Digest, when he flipped to an article entitled: â€Å"Bats: Our Wild and Wacky Winged Friends† and felt his duodenum quiver with interest. Someone entered the breakroom, and without looking up, Tommy said, â€Å"Did you know that if the brown bat fed on humans instead of insects, that one bat could eat the entire population of Minneapolis in one night?† â€Å"I didn't know that,† said a woman's voice. Tommy looked up from the magazine to see the new cashier, Mara, pulling a chair out from the table. She was tall and a little thin, but large-breasted: a blue-eyed blonde of about twenty. Tommy had been expecting one of the box boys and he stared at her for a second while he changed gears. â€Å"Oh, hi. I'm Tom Flood. I'm on the night crew.† â€Å"I've seen you,† she said. â€Å"I'm Mara. I'm new.† Tommy smiled. â€Å"Nice to meet you. I came in a little early to catch up on some paperwork.† â€Å"Reader's Digest?† She raised an eyebrow. â€Å"Oh, this? No, I don't normally read it. I just spotted this article on bats and decided to check it out. They're our wild and wacky winged friends, you know?† He looked at the page as if to confirm his interest. â€Å"For instance, did you know that the vampire bat is the only mammal that has been successfully frozen and thawed out alive?† â€Å"I'm sorry, bats give me the creeps.† â€Å"Me too,† Tommy said, throwing the magazine aside. â€Å"Do you read?† â€Å"I've been reading the Beats. I just moved here and I want to get a feeling for the City's literature.† â€Å"You're kidding. I've only been here a few months myself. It's a great city.† â€Å"I haven't had a chance to look around much. Moving and everything. I left a bad situation back home and I've been trying to adjust.† She didn't look at him when she talked. Tommy assumed at first that it was because she found him disgusting, but after studying her he realized that she was just shy. â€Å"Have you been to North Beach? The Beats all lived there in the fifties.† â€Å"No, I don't know my way around yet.† â€Å"Oh, you have to go to City Lights Books, and Enrico's. And the bars up there all have pictures of Kerouac and Ginsberg on the walls. You can almost hear the jazz playing.† Mara finally looked up at him and smiled. â€Å"You're interested in the Beats?† Her eyes were wide, bright, and crystal-blue. He liked her. â€Å"I'm a writer,† Tommy said. It was his turn to look away. â€Å"I mean, I want to be a writer. I used to live in Chinatown, it's right next to North Beach.† â€Å"Maybe you could give me directions to some of the hot spots.† â€Å"I could show you,† Tommy said. As soon as he said it he wanted to retract the offer. Jody would kill him. â€Å"That would be wonderful, if you wouldn't mind. I don't know anyone in the City except the other cashiers, and they all have home lives.† Tommy was confused. The manager had said that she had recently lost a child. He assumed that she was married. He didn't want it to appear that he was trying to make a move on her. He didn't really want to make a move on her. But if he were still single, unattached†¦ No, Jody wouldn't understand. Having never had a girlfriend before, he'd never been tempted to stray. He had no idea how to deal with it. He said, â€Å"I could show you and your husband around a little and the two of you could have a night on the town.† â€Å"I'm divorced,† Mara said. â€Å"I wasn't married very long.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Tommy said. Mara shook her head as if to dismiss his sympathy. â€Å"It's a short story. I got pregnant and we got married. The baby died and he left.† She said it without feeling, as if she had distanced herself emotionally from the experience – as if it had happened to someone else. â€Å"I'm trying to make a new start.† She checked her watch. â€Å"I'd better get back up front. I'll see you.† She stood and started to leave the room. â€Å"Mara,† Tommy called and she turned. â€Å"I'd love to show you around if you'd like.† â€Å"I'd like that. Thanks. I'm working days for the rest of the week.† â€Å"No problem,† Tommy said. â€Å"How about tomorrow night? I don't have a car, but we can meet in North Beach at Enrico's if you want.† â€Å"Write down the address.† She took a slip of paper and a pen from her purse and handed it to him. He scribbled the address and handed it back to her. â€Å"What time?† she asked. â€Å"Seven, I guess.† â€Å"Seven it is,† she said, and left the breakroom. Tommy thought: I'm a dead man. Jody turned in front of the mirror, admiring the way the LED fit. It was cut down to the small of her back and had a neckline that plunged to the sternum, but was held together at her cleavage with a transparent black mesh. The saleswoman stood beside her, frowning, holding larger sizes of the same dress. â€Å"Are you sure you don't want to try the five, dear?† Jody said, â€Å"No, this one is fine. I'll need some sheer black nylons to go with it.† The saleswoman fought down a grimace and managed a professional smile. â€Å"And do you have shoes to match?† â€Å"Suggestions?† Jody asked, not looking away from her reflection. She thought, I wouldn't have been caught dead in something like this a few months ago. Oh hell, I'm caught dead in everything now. Jody laughed at the thought and the saleswoman took it personally and dropped her polite smile. An edge of disgust in her voice, she said, â€Å"I suppose you could complete the look with a pair of Italian fuck-me pumps and some maroon lipstick.† Jody turned to the dowdy woman and gave her a knowing smile. â€Å"You've done this before, haven't you?† After a visit to the shoe department, Jody found herself at the cosmetics counter where an ebullient gay man talked her into â€Å"doing her colors† on the computer. He stared at the screen in disbelief. â€Å"Oh my goodness. This is exciting.† â€Å"What?† Jody said impatiently. She just wanted to buy some lipstick and get out. She'd satisfied her shopping Jones by reducing the woman in evening wear to tears. â€Å"You're my first winter,† said Maurice. (His name was Maurice; it said so on his badge.) â€Å"You know, I've done a thousand autumns, and I get springs out the yin-yang, but a winter†¦ We are going to have fun!† Maurice began piling samples of eye shadow, lipstick, mascara, and powder on the counter next to the winter color palette. He opened a tube of mascara and held it next to Jody's face. â€Å"This one's called Elm Blight, it approximates the color of dead trees in the snow. It complements your eyes wonderfully. Go ahead, dear, try it.† While Jody brushed the mascara onto her lashes, using the magnifying mirror on the counter, Maurice read from the Winter Woman's profile. â€Å"‘The Winter Woman is as wild as a blizzard, as fresh as new snow. While some see her as cold, she has a fiery heart under that ice-queen exterior. She likes the stark simplicity of Japanese art and the daring complexity of Russian literature. She prefers sharp to flowing lines, brooding to pouting, and rock and roll to country and western. Her drink is vodka, her car is German, her analgesic is Advil. The Winter Woman likes her men weak and her coffee strong. She is prone to anemia, hysteria, and suicide. † Maurice stepped back from the counter and took a deep bow, as if he had just finished a dramatic reading. Jody looked up from the mirror and blinked, the lashes on her right eye describing a starlike Clockwork Orange pattern against her pale skin. â€Å"They can tell all of that from my coloring?† Maurice nodded and brandished a sable brush. â€Å"Here, dear, let's try some of this blush to bring up those cheekbones. It's called American Rust, it emulates the color of a 63 Rambler that has been driven on salted roads. Very winter.† Jody leaned on the counter to allow Maurice access to her cheeks. A half hour later she looked in the mirror, rotated now to the non-magnified side, and pursed her lips. For the first time she really looked like a vampire. â€Å"I wish we had a camera,† Maurice gushed. â€Å"You are a winter masterpiece.† He handed her a small bag filled with cosmetics. â€Å"That will be three hundred dollars.† Jody paid him. â€Å"Is there somewhere I can change? I'd like to see how I look with my new outfit.† Maurice pointed across the store. â€Å"There's a changing room over there. And don't forget your free gift, dear, the Needless Notions Lotion Collection, a fifty-dollar value.† Maurice held up a plastic faux-Gucci gym bag full of bottles. â€Å"Thanks.† Jody took the bag and sulked off toward the changing room. Halfway across the store she picked up the sound of the dowdy saleswoman from evening wear and turned to see her talking to Maurice. Jody focused and could hear what they were saying over the crowd and Christmas Muzak. â€Å"How did it go?† asked the woman. Maurice grinned. â€Å"She went away looking like a Donner Party Barbie.† The woman and Maurice exchanged a gleeful high five. Bitches, Jody thought.

Kombucha Fungus Essays - Chinese Tea, Mycology, Blended Tea

Kombucha Fungus Essays - Chinese Tea, Mycology, Blended Tea Kombucha fungus This article from the World Wide Web is about the Kombucha fungus, what some call the miracle mushroom. This widely hyped ailment-for-anything are also known as Manchurian mushrooms and Indo- Japanese tea fungus. There is so much information about Kombucha that when I did a web search on it over 100 web sites were devoted to this strange fungus I had never heard of. I decided to look further as see what all this hype is about. Kombucha is a yeast culture supposedly possessing an natural antibiotic effect and an extreme amount of glucuronic acid, a liver detoxifier that flushes poisons out of the body. How does this all happen? First the Kombucha yeast (It is not officially a mushroom) is ground up and most commonly taken into the body in the liquid form of tea. This tea is supposed to taste somewhat like the famous Japanese green tea. If it ferments for a long time the tea tastes like a hot apple cider with a hint of vinegar. The main reason people drink this tea is not for the taste, but for the relief of endless physical ailments. Besides Kombucha?s antibiotic and anti-toxin effects, some of the other aspects of well being it helps are: acting as a laxative, relieves pains of arthritis, helps with digestion, relieves stomach cramps and bronchitis, regulates appetite, clears acne, relieves headaches, strengthens hair and nails, stops diarrhea, improves eyesight, and most of all "vitalizes" the physical body. Think that list was long? Those are just a few things on the list that this miracle fungus can help with. Could all this be true? For some reasons the United States hasn?t done scientific or clinical studies on Kombucha. However, many other countries throughout the world including Russia, Germany, and Sweden, have been doing studies on this miracle tea for nearly 100 years and have found medical benefits within the Manchurian yeast. Perhaps there is no way to be sure if all this is true, and since there have been no negative effects of drinking Kombucha tea, I would recommend to try some yourself and find out.

A Beginners Guide to the French Revolution

A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution Between 1789 and 1802, France was wracked by a revolution which radically changed the government, administration, military, and culture of the nation as well as plunging Europe into a series of wars. France went from a largely feudal state under an absolutist monarch through the French Revolution to a republic which executed the king and then to an empire under Napoleon Bonaparte. Not only were centuries of law, tradition, and practice wiped away by a revolution few people had been able to predict going this far, but warfare spread the revolution across Europe, changing the continent permanently. Key People King Louis XVI: King of France when the revolution began in 1789, he was executed in 1792.Emmanuel Sieyà ¨s: Deputy who helped radicalize the third estate and instigated the coup which brought the consuls to power.Jean-Paul Marat: Popular journalist who advocated extreme measures against traitors and hoarders. Assassinated in 1793.Maximilien Robespierre: Lawyer who went from advocating an end to the death penalty to the architect of the Terror. Executed in 1794.Napoleon Bonaparte: French general whose rise to power brought the revolution to an end. Dates Although historians are agreed that the French Revolution started in 1789, they are divided on the end date. A few histories stop in 1795 with the creation of the Directory, some stop in 1799 with the creation of the Consulate, while many more stop in 1802, when Napoleon Bonaparte became Consul for Life, or 1804 when he became Emperor. A rare few continue to the restoration of the monarchy in 1814. In Brief A medium-term financial crisis, caused partly by Frances decisive involvement in the American Revolutionary War, led to the French crown first calling an Assembly of Notables and then, in 1789, a meeting called the Estates General in order to gain assent for new tax laws. The Enlightenment had affected the views of middle-class French society to the point where they demanded involvement in government and the financial crisis gave them a way in to get it. The Estates General was composed of three Estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of France, but there were arguments over how fair this was: the Third Estate was far larger than the other two but only had a third of the vote. Debate ensued, with a call for the Third getting a bigger say. This Third Estate, informed by long term doubts over the constitution of France and the development of a new social order of bourgeoisie, declared itself a National Assembly and decreed the suspension of taxation, taking French sovereignty i nto its own hands. After a power struggle which saw the National Assembly take the Tennis Court Oath not to disband, the king gave in and the Assembly began reforming France, scrapping the old system and drawing up a new constitution with a Legislative Assembly. This continued the reforms but it created divisions in France by legislating against the church and declaring war on nations which supported the French king. In 1792, a second revolution  took place, as Jacobins and sansculottes forced the Assembly to replace itself with a National Convention which abolished the monarchy, declared France a republic and in 1793, executed the king. As the Revolutionary Wars went against France, as regions angry at attacks on the church and conscription rebelled and as the revolution became increasingly radicalized, the National Convention created a Committee of Public Safety to run France in 1793. After a struggle between political factions called the Girondins and the Montagnards was won by the latter, an era of bloody measures called The Terror began, when over 16,000 people were guillotined. In 1794, the revolution again changed, this time turning against the Terror and its architect Robespierre. The Terrorists were removed in a coup and a new constitution was drawn up which created, in 1795, a new legislative system run by a Directory of five men. This remained in power thanks to rigging elections and purging the assemblies before being replaced, thanks to the army and a general called Napoleon Bonaparte, by a new constitution in 1799 which created three consuls to rule France. Bonaparte was the first consul and, while the reform of France continued, Bonaparte managed to bring the revolutionary wars to a close and have himself declared consul for life. In 1804 he crowned himself Emperor of France; the revolution was over, the empire had begun. Consequences There is universal agreement that the political and administrative face of France was wholly altered: a republic based around elected- mainly bourgeois- deputies replaced a monarchy supported by nobles while the many and varied feudal systems were replaced by new, usually elected institutions which were applied universally across France. The culture was also affected, at least in the short term, with the revolution permeating every creative endeavor. However, there is still debate over whether the revolution permanently changed the social structures of France or whether they were only altered in the short term. Europe was also changed. The revolutionaries of 1792 began a war which extended through the Imperial period and forced nations to marshal their resources to a greater extent than ever before. Some areas, like Belgium and Switzerland, became client states of France with reforms similar to those of the revolution. National identities also began coalescing like never before. The many and fast developing ideologies of the revolution were also spread across Europe, helped by French being the continental elite’s dominant language. The French Revolution has often been called the start of the modern world, and while this is an exaggeration- many of the supposed revolutionary developments had precursors- it was an epochal event that permanently changed the European mindset. Patriotism, devotion to the state instead of the monarch, mass warfare, all became solidified in the modern mind.