Charity Paper

Giving back to the community is very important when a growing company like ours starts to become successful. It's great that you are trying to support a philanthropic program, and In this e-mail I will give you Information about two programs/Charles to support. The two organizations that I recommend are Penn Future and LEAD (Leadership Education and Development). Penn Future Penn Future Is one of the most effective environmental organizations In Pennsylvania. The nonprofit organization Is located In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was founded In 1998.The organization's mission statement states that their mall goal Is focusing on enforcing environmental laws to create a future where nature, communities and the economy thrive. The President, George Coving, is only compensated 4. 09% of the total revenue. The organization spends 77. 3% of its money on program expenses, growth, and fundraisers. Policies enforced by Penn Future are clean energy, air quality, water quality, and mining. The o rganization has been trying to achieve success In their mission to create a thriving community by replacing old outdated rower sources with clean and renewable energy made in Pennsylvania.They also are fighting factory farm pollution and damage from mining. Penn Future has been making sure that the government has been doing its part in maintaining a safe and healthy environment in the Trim-state area; they have also provided $2 million each year to help protect the environment. Climate change is becoming a big issue around the world, and Penn Future Is trying Its best to advocate for action regarding the Issue. They have proposed four actions that would reduce heat-trapping gases to the necessary level.These actions are: Implement the Pennsylvania climate action plan by first applying the recommendations with the greatest emission reduction potential with the least cost. Increase the amount of clean, renewable energy required in the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards. Continue P ennsylvania participation in the creation of a regional Low-Carbon Fuel Standard. Extend provisions of the energy Savings legislation. Penn Future would be a great organization to work with because of their reputation for going out and actually getting things done.The organization spends a majority of TTS money towards the environment, and with environmental issues becoming a big issue around the world, working with the organization would be great for our business's reputation and also the environment around us. We can support Penn Future by Ralston money around the office and donating the money to the organization. We can also provide some type of Incentive for workers If they go out and try to volunteer with the organization. In addition, we can work with the organization to make our building more CEO-friendly. LEAD (Leadership Education and Development)LEAD, a nonprofit organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their mission Is to engage youth of diverse backgrounds and help them convert their great potential corporations so that they can find the right students to participate in their program. I understand you were also in a similar program in college, so you must be aware of the importance of such organizations. They use 71% of their money towards the program, the rest goes to expenses. LEAD has received about $2 million, and they serve 500 students yearly. Working with LEAD would be amazing for us.We could offer internships to the organization, which will help us around the office and will also give the students an idea of what it is like to work in the real world. We can also offer the interns Jobs depending on how they worked around the office. This will be great because we will see what kind of workers we are hiring before we even hire them. To sum it all up†¦ In conclusion, Penn Future and LEAD are the best organizations for us to partner up with. Penn Future will help the company's reputation, which is always a good thing. It will als o give us an opportunity in working towards a healthy environment.With the whole â€Å"Green† movement going on today, working with an CEO-friendly organization will definitely be great for our workers and community. LEAD is a great organization to work with because our company is based around ambition and hard work, and having the opportunity to help ambitious and hard-working students is great. Giving students the opportunity to become an intern at our company would be a win for us and the students. Some help around the office can't hurt, and the student can learn a few things while he's here. These are my two philanthropic program recommendations. Let me know what you think.

Four Challenges of Sustainability

â€Å"Four Challenges of Sustainability† by David W. Orr confronts the problems of sustainability and proposes a path to get there. The concept of sustainability is the primary topic and goal in regards to the future of humans. The entire idea that humans and civilization as we know it may cease to exist, is a relatively new idea. This very real idea has spawned acknowledgement and pursuit of avoiding it through sustainability. Militarization, the increasing number of incredibly poor, and the increasing amount of frivolous consumption are some of the many current practices that simply cannot be sustained. Major industrial industries like agriculture, energy production, and health care have begun to exhibit diminishing returns. The move to sustainability requires major changes and improvements in government, specifically democratic governments and the relationship between them and their citizens. Fair distribution of wealth, cradle to cradle material policy, and building ecologically sound cities are only possible through ethical governments that have their citizen’s best interests at heart. Orr more succinctly puts this as, â€Å"Sustainability, in short, constitutes a series of public choices that require effective institutions of governance and a well-informed democratically engaged citizenry. † Education and curriculums must be improved to include ideas that are essential to sustainability. These ideas should promote more windmills, more farmers’ markets, and more small businesses. Orr feels that the public must be educated about sustainability and then taught how to implement it. It is then their responsibility to pass this knowledge on to future generations. The transition to sustainability requires more than education and critical problem solving skills. In the quest for sustainability, Orr says we need â€Å"a higher level of spiritual awareness† and references Schumacher in saying that we require, â€Å"wisdom, love, compassion, understanding, and empathy. † These spiritual tools will enable us to stop the self destructive behaviors that we continually perpetuate. If not for any other reason than preserving humanity we must stop killing the planet.

Systems and diffusion of innovation theories as they apply to Essay

Systems and diffusion of innovation theories as they apply to healthcare delivery and nursing practice - Essay Example Such demands energy. The theory also tackles the concept of equifinality, which is among the differences between closed and open systems. Equifinality describes a system that can reach the same final state even with different states of initial condition. Unlike close systems that have positive entropy, open systems also approach minimum entropy production, thus aiming for complexity. Taking note of all of these differences, it has been described that the stable state of closed and open systems are equilibrium and steady-state, respectively (von Bertalanffy, 1950). 1. Systems Theory and Healthcare Delivery in the U. S. The Healthcare system, in general, is an open system. It does not react to changes by trying to maintain its state, but by trying to adapt to the changes it is up against. It is in a constantly changing state to maintain its stability, so to speak. Historically, in United States, from 1965, the expenses for healthcare has steadily increased at least 4.5% yearly, much gr eater than the 1.7% increase posted by the country’s gross domestic product, a measure of income. A part of the healthcare expense has increasingly been depended on the private sector, through the private health insurance provided by the employers. The government, on its part also took part in covering for the increase in healthcare expenses. The advancements in medical technologies and the deregulation of medical supply have caused such increase in expenses. However, when the country was undergoing recession, the government implemented the â€Å"managed care†, in which the government limited the use of advanced medical equipment and therapy options (Reinhardt, 2001). In addition, the healthcare system is equifinal. For example, a patient’s willingness to use a novel therapeutic option depends upon the healthcare provider’s sex, specialty, medical school, years in profession, practice volume, and practice location (Sanson-Fisher, 2004). The different perm utations that can lead to the willingness to subject to a treatment option are many. One may arrive at the final decision of (dis)agreeing to undergo the treatment option even through different initial points. 2. Systems Theory and Nursing Practice Going inside the healthcare system is a complicated one because of its complex structure. It is so complex that the nursing profession itself, which is the largest healthcare profession in the United States, is an open system. Their characteristic as an open system is evident in various instances. First, the final state in nursing practice does not depend on the amount of initial state from which it came or the tangible additions or omissions that resulted to the existence of the final state. For example, the nurses’ role in healthcare is vital because they provide the majority of the initial care to the patients, especially among those in critical condition. Specifically, nurses of a certain section of the hospital are exposed to the same conditions during their clinical practice, but yet others graciously handle the situation and others crack under pressure (Smith, 2010). Diffusion of Innovation Theory Applied to the Current Situation From the name itself, diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, as proposed by Rogers is a much more recently developed theory concerned with the adoption of innovations by a unit over time. In this theory, the contribution of the subunits in spreading the new

UK Bar Vocational Course Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UK Bar Vocational Course - Assignment Example As the report declares this application has assumed an urgent nature because of the weekly discos and baseball sessions which continue unabated. Claimants refer in particular to the exhibit marked SC3, which sets out details of a baseball tournament and barbecue to be held at the Oak Lane Sports Club on the 13th of August. In view of the fact that defendants have hitherto ignored Claimants’ telephone calls and written requests for action on the hindrances caused to them and the fact that an application has been filed in this Court for legal remedy to restrain the defendants, Claimants fear that the defendants will continue with their plans for the baseball tournament and barbecue scheduled for the 13th of August. This poses the threat and danger of real and further damages that may be caused by baseballs and broken bottles, not only to the property of the Claimants but also the risk of bodily harm to the children being minded on the property and /or the Claimants themselves. This essay stresses that Claimants fear that they will be removed from the roster of child minders as a result of the dangers and risk posed by flying baseballs. One child has already been removed by her parents from being minded by the Claimants, which has caused a loss of income of 100 pounds per week to the Claimants. Claimants state that it has therefore become extremely urgent that the defendants’ destructive activities be stopped immediately.

Compare and contrast Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Compare and contrast - Assignment Example powerful customer base, great expertise in recommendation software, and opportunities to market through cross-selling† (Furtado, Grosman, & de Souza, n.d., p. 2). Despite its failure to dominate the net, Microsoft still has much strength to sustain competition. Aside from being the most globally recognizable brand, it has a diverse and talented workforce, a good reputation as an employer, and its own online network division (Hafner & Hibert, 2001). Although they have different strengths and products, Amazon and Microsoft share the same market which makes competition inevitable. However, both companies can fare better if they cooperate. First, it would increase the exposure and scope of Amazon products. Secondly, it would provide Microsoft with more assets (e.g. in music retail) and prevent companies like Apple from dominating their respective markets. More importantly, Amazon and Microsoft are more like complimentary companies than competitors. For example, Microsoft could provide the software to Amazon’s Kindle (Perlow, 2010).On the part of the consumers, however, such partnership may not be beneficial. As in traditional trade, online commerce can be monopolized. Monopolies can dictate the online market to their advantage, just as in the case of Google whose â€Å"new formats†¦increase expenses for advertisers† (Edwards, 2010). Scenarios like that would trigger a domino effect that would eventually burden

Why do you think it is important to manage know-who and stimulating Essay

Why do you think it is important to manage know-who and stimulating connection between people - Essay Example The primary function of knowhow companies and organizations is to furnish complicated, non-stereotypical and nonconventional, and creative solutions (Charan, 2007). So, its gets utterly important to manage knowhow as the primary asset of such organizations is their knowhow capital and not some unwieldy production process or their financial assets. This calls for a unique management approach that places individuals at the center and specializes in connecting people to give way to compatible, stress free and culturally harmonized teams (Charan, 2007). It is also vital to manage knowhow because knowhow only becomes profitable when it is tagged to a positive business idea (Sveiby & Lloyd, 1989). Human networking plays a pivotal role in the knowhow organizations as fostering relationships with suppliers, customers and compatible and likeminded organizations ensure a prompt risk management and streamline the flow of information that constitutes the raw material of a knowhow company (Sveiby & Lloyd, 1989). There is no denying the fact that knowhow also requires financial capital to succeed. Proper management of knowhow and stimulating connections between people promotes a coordinated cooperation between the people owning knowhow capital and the stakeholders representing financial capital (Sveiby & Lloyd, 1989).

Environmental Science- make up a hypothetical disaster scenario Essay

Environmental Science- make up a hypothetical disaster scenario - Essay Example This plate is not static as it moves about ten centimeters annually hence forcing its way under the South America continental plate (U S library of congress n.p). Such telluric dislodgment resulted to the Trench in Peru and Chile thereby making the country prone to earthquakes as the Nazca plate causes high stress beneath Chile. Additionally, about 50% of the nation’s terrain is mountainous and the nation’s citizens mostly live near these mountains. In relation to the issue of possible contamination, water contamination and chemical contamination are possible (U S library of congress n.p). During this disaster, the country was subjected to sudden earthquake of about 9.0 richter scale. This earthquake was more than any other experienced in the area in the recent past. On this occasion, the earthquake was so great that the high stress beneath the land caused buildings to sink as soil liquefaction occurred. During such a strong earth quake, the water and the soil mix thereby making the ground very soft and act like a quicksand. Since the South American arc extends over 7000 km from the Chilean margin and the Panama fracture zone along a triple junction (Embassy of the United States n.p). This junction marks the plate boundary between sub-ducting Nazca plate and almost static South American plate. At this point, Nazca plate’s oceanic lithosphere and crust underlie the South American mantle hence causing earthquakes and active volcanic along the deformation. This form of an earthquake was recently experienced in Japan on March 11 2011 resulting to massive damage inc luding infrastructure and damage to several Nuclear power plants (U S library of congress n.p). The main role of public health professionals is to ensure that the negative consequences associated with such an event are minimized through evacuation, in a place around the site. In terms of health, gas leaks are a very likely either a natural gas or as gas used for

Evaluation of the concept of childhood based on a range of theoretical Essay

Evaluation of the concept of childhood based on a range of theoretical perspectives - Essay Example The qualities of purity, innocence, delight, faith, hope, charity and magnificence are attributed to a child—traits that people seem to lose upon reaching adulthood. To better comprehend the concept of a child, the different perceptions associated with a child should be further tackled and scrutinized. Traditionally, a child has been defined as a comparative negative: a child is an individual who is not yet an adult (Van Bueren 1998) or an individual embodied being that is not an adult (Gittins 1998). However, the child is a transitory being that is constantly changing, growing and developing (Gittins 1998). During the time of Plato and Aristotle, about half a century before the birth of Christ, the classical Athenian attitude towards children saw them as simply cute, not to be taken too seriously, but to be loved and enjoyed (Frost 2010). Biologically, the child is defined as a human between the stages of birth and puberty. The legal definition of a child, on the contrary, im plies that the child refers to a minor, younger than the age of maturity. Moreover, a child may be defined as someone who is under 18 years old especially when it comes to the law. For Pufall and Unsworth (2004), the child is an age-related concept which is the classificatory label given to the category of people who inhabit that temporal space or time of life called childhood. On the other hand, Gittins (1998) also pointed out that the child and the concept of childhood is a myth, a fiction, an adult construction. However, both have become symbolically central to our culture and psychologically crucial to our sense of self. Gittins (1998) further adds that the child exists in imagery that pervades our conscious and even in our unconscious minds; it is evident that images of a child are everywhere. Childhood, on the contrary, is believed to begin from the moment of conception (Van Bueren 1998). Pufall and Unsworth (2004) stressed that the term childhood embraces the temporality of t he developmental aspects of children’s lives. Gittins (1998) emphasized that individuals’ memories of their own childhoods inform their ideas regarding who they think they are, who they think they once were, what they believe children are and therefore, what they believe a child and the concept of childhood should be. Mash and Wolfe (2010) recognize children as persons with a value independent of any other purpose. Each and every person consequently carries their own, usually well-hidden and frequently denied, emotional and irrational baggage relating to their own subjective experiences of having once been a child (Gittins 1998). On the contrary, according to Kozier et al (2004) if a child grew up in a family whose members appreciate, respect and cherish each other are likely to feel good about himself when he becomes an adult. Childhood, however, has its pessimistic views and disapproving constructions. One example is the Puritan Discourse of childhood that focuses on the belief of inherent wickedness (Kassem 2010). Kassem (2010) further suggests that the proponents of this view hold a construction of childhood as uncivilized. The idea of childhood is also reflected on two discourses that strengthen contemporary understandings of childhood: the Romantic discourse or the optimistic view of childhood and the discourse of tabula rasa or blank slate. Kehily (2004) cited that the Romantic disc

Bowlbys research Essay Example for Free

Bowlbys research Essay The maternal deprivation hypothesis was developed in post second world wartime and Bowlbys research was based on children that were extremely traumatized, having possibly lost both parents at war. As a result a lot of children ended up in institutions which more than likely had substandard conditions and numerous untrained carers. It is very important to bear in mind the context of that time as there was a national need for family life to be recreated and stabilised after the war. Thus, Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis was interpreted as an opposition to the employment of women with young children and therefore the use of day-care facilities. It is important to acknowledge that Bowlby was primarily concerned with the welfare of children and that his theory of maternal deprivation played a huge role in reforming child care practices by pointing out the damaging effect of been cared for by numerous staff. In the years since however, the maternal deprivation hypothesis has been largely discredited in light of subsequent research which suggests that some separation, for example some time in a high quality day-care, may not necessarily have long-term effects on future relationships. Bowlbys monotropic model of attachment has also been highly criticised as recent evidence is revealing that children do form attachments with more than one adult, in particular with fathers, siblings and other adult carers with whom they have developed a stable relationship. Research has shown that children generally favour their fathers company to the company of a stranger. According to Lewis (1986) the attachment bond between a father and child is dependant on the quality of their relationship, that is, a child with a sensitive father that is focused on their needs will develop a stronger attachment bond with them. Nonetheless, in times of distress infants are more likely to seek out the comfort of their mother over their father (Lamb, 1981). Given the changing times and the steady increase in the proportion of working mothers, it is necessary to focus more on the effects of multiple attachments and specifically to the childs relationship with adult caregivers other than parents and relatives. Studies however, carried out by Tizard and Rees (1975) and Tizard and Hodges (1978) caution that while children can be cared for and attached to more than one adult, having a large number of caregivers may have an adverse effect on their ability to develop close relationships. Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis was further developed by the work of Mary Ainsworth (1969), who devised a method for observing and assessing the attachment behaviour babies display towards their mothers/caregivers. This is known as the Strange Situation (ED209 TV4 programme) and is essentially a method for measuring a one year-olds attachment to its mother and assessing how the child reacts to separation and more importantly to reunion with its mother when placed in a slightly stressful situation. Briefly, the experiment involves taking mother and child to a strange room and observing the childs responses to the introduction of a stranger, the mothers departure, reunion with the mother, leaving the child alone for a few minutes in the room (most stressful event), and leaving the child alone with the stranger. Researchers classify the maternal-child attachment relationship based on the childs behaviour during reunion with the mother. Ainsworth suggests that attachment relations fall into three categories: securely attached, insecure-avoidant and insecure-ambivalent infants. Sometimes an additional category (disorganised) has been used. According to Ainsworth securely attached infants explore freely when their mother is present and use her as a secure base when a stranger appears. They greet her warmly on reunion and show a clear preference for her over the stranger. Children who do not behave this way, for example by clinging (insecure-ambivalent) or been more detached (insecure-avoidant) during reunion with their mother, are described as insecurely attached. Ainsworth et al (1978) believed that children who are separated from their mother, for example children who attend day-care, are likely to form insecure attachments. This is supported by Belsky (1988) who, it is interesting to note, revised his conclusions regarding the consequences of placing children in non-maternal day-care. Initially, he believed that day care did not effect a childs attachment to his/her mother, however subsequently in his review of a number of US studies, he concluded that children who are subjected to more than twenty hours a week of non-maternal day-care in their first year of life are at risk of developing insecure attachments. It is important to note that although the strange situation technique has been widely used by Belsky and others to assess the quality of a childs attachment to its caregiver, it may not however be the best method for comparing children who experience day care with those who do not. Belskys conclusions regarding day-care have been disputed by Clark-Stewart (1988) who argues that the differences in attachment styles between infants attending non-maternal day-care for less than twenty hours a week and more than 20 hours a week are not large enough to conclude that working mothers put their children at risk of suffering from psychological problems. Furthermore, she points out that children who attend day care are used to separation and therefore react differently on reunion with their mothers than children who are with their mothers all day. Thus, children may appear detached not because they are insecure but because they are more independent and more accustomed to been separated from their mother (Clark-Stewart, 1988) . Like Bowlby, Ainsworth believed in a universal model of attachment however, evidence from cross-cultural research on secure and insecure attachments carried out by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) revealed cultural differences in the mother-child relationship. This evidence questions the validity of using the strange situation method to measure and compare attachment in different cultures. For example, children from Japan showed intense distress in the strange situation when separated from their mother, as in their culture children are never left alone at twelve months. These cultural differences highlight the importance of moving away from a universal model of attachment towards a more cultural perspective. Bowlbys ethnocentric perspective, which sees the biological mother as the all-important person for the infants first attachment, has received a lot of criticism and has been branded as a Western cultural construction by some psychologists. It is interesting to note that out of 186 non-industrial societies Weisner and Gallimore (1977) found that, in only five of these societies was the child (almost) solely looked after by the mother! Moreover, research carried out in different countries showed the grandmother as having a special and unique attachment to the child due to her long life experience and wisdom (Tyszowka, 1991) thereby lending support to a more polyadic model of attachment.

Ganguro Girls Essay Example for Free

Ganguro Girls Essay Many of the world’s greatest technologies are Japanese technologies. Many of the world’s best selling cars are Japanese cars. Japanese fashion, especially Tokyo fashion is among the most diverse and dynamic fashion in the world. The Japanese are known fashion lovers that Japanese girls always surprise the world with new and interesting trends not only in fashion but also in accessorizing. In fact, many of the Japanese, including the men, have high sense of fashion that typical Japanese in the streets of Tokyo would look like a magazine front cover model who just turned to life. From the looks of glamorous geishas, to the teenage school girls wearing short skirts, the Japanese teenager is now again making headlines as the Ganguro girl. The Ganguro is setting new trends, and earning criticisms not only from the foreigners but even from the Japanese population. Ganguro Girls According to Funch, Japanese teenagers are a continuing source of strange but interesting fashion trends. Today, almost everyone in Japan are talking about the Ganguro look (Watrous) especially with the fact that the Kugaro, the Ganguro and the Yamanaba are continuously growing in numbers and are becoming more visible in the streets, in shopping districts and in bars. Watrous added that with their rather attractive colorful outfits, the Ganguro, with their towering shoes and skimpy clothes, face piercing and hair bleached and teased, are easy to spot and easy to dismiss as those Americans like in the 1980s who forced their bangs into towering crispy hair dos above their faces. From this view, Watrous intimated that the Ganguro girls can easily be figured out as those teenage Japanese girls obsessed with black and American fashion and culture. Ganguro literally means black. So the Ganguro look refers to the heavily tanned face and the very black-faced Japanese girls (Masaichi). The Ganguro Look Funch described the Ganguro look to have hair dyed to blonde or brown, plucked eyebrows, tan skin (sometimes beyond tan), the mini-skirts and the cool towering shoes. In a web page entitled, â€Å"Ganguro†, Ganguro is defined as that fashion trend among Japanese girls that literally means ‘face-black’, an outgrowth of the chapatsu hair dyeing. Perhaps, one of the reasons that Ganguro is so named is the fact that ganguro girls cover and paint their faces with black or brown make-up to hide their rather white complexion. The most basic look for a typical Ganguro gril include the blonde-bleached hair; perm and willed to a towering hairpiece; and set for amore than half a day and costs about $400 dollars (â€Å"Gnaguro†). The Ganguro look is also not complete without the deep tan, an artificial tan obtained from tanning salons and make up (â€Å"Ganguro†). The intention of having their skin tanned is to attain a look similar to their American idols TLC and Lauryn Hill, known for their black American look (Watrous). In order to have the tan that they want, Ganguro girls frequent tanning salons, purchase sun lamps and cover their face with brown make ups (†Ganguro†). .Sometimes, a Ganguro, with limited income and fund resorts to cheaper and conventional way of tanning, like covering their entire face with brown magic marker (Watrous). Meanwhile, those with enough money would prefer Tokyo’s hippest salons and hair stylists for their trendy afro perms and tans (Watrous). Moreover, in the article, â€Å"Ganguro†, it is mentioned that the purpose of the tanned look is to achieve the blonde California beach girl look. It cannot be denied that the Ganguro look is influenced by the American fashion and American fashion icons and trend setters. For the Japanese, the attraction of having that tanned skin as opposed to the normal white complexion of Japanese women, as portrayed by the geishas, is a great challenge and interesting to try and experiment on. In fact, according to the article, â€Å"Ganguro†, the Ganguro look â€Å"goes against the grain of the usual Japanese standard of female beauty, which calls for skin as white as possible†. This brings to life the Ganguro look, which is believed to have started sometime in the 1990s, with the famous Okinawan singer, Amuro Namie (â€Å"Ganguro†). The look is also attributed to super model Naomi Campbell wherein the teenage girls imitated her make up and clothing style (Masaichi). The Japanese population recognizes the white complexion as standard for its women. For this reason, the Japanese are not actually fond of dark skin. Many Japanese are fond of the white skin which is known as Shirohada (Masaichi). The white skin- face according to them makes the face fuller. Because of these preferences, the typical Japanese will not actually go out of her way to have a tan (Masaichi). According to Masaichi, this prevailing standard can also be attributed to the emergence of the ganguro fashion so much so that the customary proscriptions against the dark skin encouraged the girls to getr really tan and dark. Masaichi also stated that the ganguro girls wanted to be in the minority. This makes them more exotic and unique unlike the majority of the Japanese ladies. Masaichi finally stated that â€Å"the fresh-looking Ganguro seem to offer hope – a fresh current of air flowing through the stale homogeneity of Japanese society†. One of the most apparent characteristics of the Gangaru look is the used of extraordinary accessories to go with the unique clothes. Important accessories include the platform shoes or boots, the photo stickers and cellular phones with the centerpiece of the total ganguro look being the 15 centimeter of higher platform shoes and sandals that make them look taller than the usual Japanese teenager (â€Å"Ganguro†). Many believed that the Ganguro look is wanting in attention that is why the Ganguro girls use the attractive hairs, clothes, shoes and accessories. According to the article, â€Å"Ganguro†, the Ganguro look â€Å"lets them look down on the world or to have the world look up to them†. The Ganguro enjoys the attention and to be regarded as a unique way of expressing Japanese fashion and art. The center of the Ganguro fashion can be found in major fashion districts in Tokyo like Shibuya and Ikebukuro (â€Å"Ganguro†). Some stated that Ganguro is also known as Yamanaba, but some consider Ganguro as merely a division of Yamanaba, together with Kugaro look. According to Watrous, another name for Ganguro is Yamanaba, which in Japan, means mountain grandmother – a name given to a mythical hag who is believed to haunt the Japanese mountains in the Japanese folklores. Yamanaba In â€Å"Ganguro†, the Yamanaba is considered to be one step beyond the Ganguro because besides the Ganguro look, the Japanese girls wear more outrageous outfits and make-up. For example, the Yamanaba wears white lipstick, white eye shadow, silvery hair with touch of glitter and fake tear drops on the cheek. More than these, they also have their own outrageous ways of talking and laughing as you see them on the streets and bars of Japan. According to Funch, the Yamanaba includes the Ganguro and the Kugaro. The Ganguro gal, according to him, are the brown-skin gals; while the gonguro gals are those in deep-brown skin. The Yamanaba girl is characterized by her white or brown hair, brown face, the heavy make up ore the panda make up (Funch). The Yamanaba girl according to â€Å"Ganguro†, also her hair with brown or gold and uses blue contact lenses to attain that â€Å"California beach girl look without the bikini† (â€Å"Gangaru†). Soemtimes, the Yamanaba also wears fake flowers in their hair (â€Å"Ganguro†). An outsider, according to Watrous, a foreigner for example, will have a hard time identifying a kogaru from a gangaru because of their similarities. However, Watrous emphasized that despite their clear similarities and shared predilection on platform shoes and body piercing, these two subcultures of Yamanaba are completely different with their differing fashion aspirations (Watrous). According to the Encyclopaedia Dramatica, the Ganguro phenomenon is more of a matriarchal subculture because it depicts the aggressiveness of the Japanese women. The Ganguro look is sometimes compared to the British punk primarily because of the hair and the outrageous fashion sense. Menkes described this similarity as the â€Å"elaborate attention to an extraordinary, even grotesque, appearance†. However, the Ganguro is g\from beyond compared to Punk. According to Menkes, Punk had its origin on a sociological perspective and phenomenon, that is, a disaffected and nihilistic youth is thumbing its nose as a convention; while the Gangaru fashion is more upbeat and is about consumerism with Prada and Louis Vuitton backpacks as integral aspect of the entire Gangaru look (Menkes). As have been mentioned earlier, the Gangaru look is also distinguished by the use of accessories. But the Ganguro do not use simple and ordinary accessories. Sometimes, the accessories are more expensive than the clothes. For example, the use of cellular phone, its cost can be very expensive. The same goes with the backpacks used for accessories that should necessarily come from brands like Prada and Louis Vuitton to achieve the ideal Ganguro look. The Encyclopaedia Dramatica provided that aside from the influences of the United States seafront retirees, the Ganguro also come from a variety of influences like the images of women in R B bands and music icons. According to Liu, the ganguro phenomenon as an imitation of the black culture did not happen over night in Japan. In fact, Liu noted that as early as the year 1840, blackface performers started to appear in Japan. With the seemingly outrageous and out of this world fashion statements, many have speculated on the motivations of the Japanese girls to have become Ganguro. According to Liu, some speculate that the ganguro girls are â€Å"using hip hop image to rebel against wearing traditional school uniforms to express individuality†. While the most obvious and popular speculation, some believe that the Ganguro is in clear imitation of celebrities (Liu); many also believe that the ganguro phenomenon is a way of self expression and to gain self identity. Liu, also added that despite the apparent opposition to the traditional Japanese fashion and social standards, the ganguro became popular with the non-ganguro that readily accepted the phenomenon. However, it cannot be avoided that there have been some exclusions. The ganguro has, in its entire history has consistently been criticized. Criticisms on Ganguro Look According to the Encyclopaedia Daramatica, apparently, the typical woman considers the Ganguro as ‘freaks’ although their fashion sense resembles that of the women in Florida. Expectedly, with the outrageous fashion sense, the Gangaru look faced various criticisms. It even faced hostility from among Japanese. According to Watrous, despite the growing number of Japanese teenagers embracing the Ganguro fashion, both the kogaru and the Ganguro encountered hostility in Japan. Watrous described how a recent publication in Kansai Time Out, through the eminent novelist Haruku Murakami, called the Ganguro as â€Å"big problem fro Japan†. Murakami also added that he â€Å"feels sadness and disgust when he passes these bleached and flamboyantly outfitted young ladies on the streets of his neighborhood† (Watrours). Many Japanese, like Murakami consider the Ganguro fashion as a disgrace for the Japanese fashion and that it devoid the Japanese women of the respect and the glamour that had long been associated to her since the time of the geishas. According to them, the Japanese women, known to have standard white complexion, should preserve the same as the true Japanese look. However, this should not serve to undermine the Ganguro fashion as it only relates to carry out influences from major fashion trends, particularly in America. The biases and prejudices against the Ganguro fashion even grew and spread into the legislature when in February of 2002, in Osaka, a laws was enacted prohibiting women to drive wearing tall boots (Watrous). This is obviously in direct prohibition among the Ganguro ladies, whose centerpiece costume includes the towering shoes and sandals. According to the legislature, the law was enacted to prevent major road accidents as a result of the driver failing to break fast enough with the platform soles (Watrous). In view of this law, the legislature proposed a maximum allowable platform height to only a few centimeters for anyone driving a vehicle (Watrous). Taking the law as a clear incident of the police power of the state, it can not be directly be considered as a clear prejudice against the Ganguro because the law is founded upon a valid ground and responsibility of the state to protect its people. IT does not intend to discriminate or unduly prejudice the Ganguro. Instead the prohibition only imposed an incidental limitation to the Ganguro fashion as a result of the intention to avoid road accidents. This is in accordance to a battery of tests conducted with drivers wearing different sole heights (Watrous) and the conclusion that the sole height can be attributed to the driver’s ability to break fast in case of road emergencies. Conclusion The Ganguro fashion, however criticized and praised remains a fact of Japanese history, particularly of japans fashion history along side with the Geishas and the popular Japanese school girl in uniform fashion. It should be respected and considered as a valid expression of fashion sense. Although the Ganguro look is believed to have come from the American fashion culture, it cannot be denied that the touch of Japanese culture is embedded in it. In fact, without the known fact that the fashion was a clear expression of obsession to black and American fashion, the Ganguro look is purely Japanese. The Ganguro is clearly a Japanese sense of fashion. It should not be viewed as something resorted to by some Japanese teenage girls in order to receive attention. Works Cited Emcyclopaedia Dramatica. â€Å"Ganguro. † 12 Oct. 2007 http://www. encyclopediadramatica. com/Ganguro. Funch, Flemming. â€Å"Ming the Mechanic: Ganguro Girls. † 2003. 12 Oct. 2007 http://ming. tv/flemming2. php/__show_article/_a000010-000633. htm. â€Å"Ganguro. † 12 Oct. 2007 http://www. livemusicstudio. com/mac/pages/ganguro. html. Liu, Xuexin. â€Å"The Hip Hop Impact on Japanese Youth Culture. † 12 Oct. 2007 http://www. uky. edu/Centers/Asia/SECAAS/Seras/2005/Liu. htm. Masaichi, Nomura. â€Å"Driving My Body. † 2000. 12 Oct. 2007 http://brokenstones. at. infoseek. co. jp/fashion/dmv. html. Menkes, Suzy. â€Å"Tokyo Is Now World Capital of Street Style: In the City and on the Catwalk, Japan Cultivates Its Roots. † 2000. 12 Oct. 2007 http://www. iht. com/articles/2000/11/14/menkes. t. php. Watrous, Malena. â€Å"Hello Kitties. † 2000. 12 Oct. 2007 http://archive. salon. com/people/feature/2000/03/08/kogaru/.

Rules Of Tic Tac Toe Game Computer Science Essay

Rules Of Tic Tac Toe Game Computer Science Essay In this section the Tic-Tac-Toe game will be discussed in details. At the outset, the basic rules of the game are going to be covered. Then, there will be a review on existing Tic-Tac-Toe games, which in turn will lead to discussion about the existing models of this game and the proposed model of this work. Finally, this section is going to be concluded with a technology research concentrated towards Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME). 3.1 Basic Rules of Tic-Tac-Toe game The basic Tic-Tac-Toe game consists of two players, X and O, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3ÃÆ'-3 grid [1, 2]. The game usually starts with the X player, and the player who will manage to place three respective marks wins the game. The marks can be placed in any direction, i.e. in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row. This basic version of the game is rather simple and very often leads to draw. This simplicity allows the game to be used as a useful tool in combinatorial game theory, as well as a branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the searching of game trees [3]. The Roman Empire is known to have established the beginnings of the earliest known variant of tic-tac-toe. It originated around the first century BC [1]. At that time, the game was called Terni Lapilli. Instead of having any number of pieces, each player only had three. The game was played by moving them around to empty spaces to keep playing. However, according to Claudia Zaslavskys book, the game Tic Tac Toe is originating from ancient Egypt [5]. Chess and Tic-Tac-Toe are one of the most famous games to which the moves are not left to chances, rather than pure mathematics and logical reasoning. In these games, a player wins by achieving a winning configuration first, like for instance: checkmate in chess, and 3-in-a-row in a basic Tic-Tac-Toe game in 33 board [2]. Thus, the question which can be posed at this point is: How a player can achieve a winning configuration first? Even though there isnt a general theorem to answer this question, there might be a well-known strategy stealing argument that can give a partial answer about when a player can achieve a winning configuration first [3]. In order to find a winning strategy, in theory all the paths could be explored. However, in practice this is not easy because the total number of strategies can be calculated a double exponential function of the size of the board. For example, a 3-dimensional 5ÃÆ'-5ÃÆ'-5 version of Tic-Tac-Toe, has about 3125 positions. This is because each one of the 53 cells has 3 options: Marked by the first player, Marked by the second player, or Unmarked. Thus the backtracking on a graph of 3125 vertices takes at least 3125 steps. This is the main reason that this 3-dimensional 5ÃÆ'-5ÃÆ'-5 version of Tic-Tac-Toe remains unsolved up to date. Moreover, only two explicit winning strategies are known from in the whole class of nÃÆ'-nÃÆ'- ·  ·  ·ÃƒÆ'-n = nd Tic-Tac-Toe games. This is the 33 version and it is characterized with an easy winning strategy, and the 43 version that in turn has an extremely complicated winning strategy. In order to play a perfect tic-tac-toe game, i.e. a win or a draw, the player can play given they move consistent with the uppermost possible moves. This is presented in the following table [1]: Win If the player has two in a row, play the third to get three in a row. Block If the opponent has two in a row, play the third to block them. Fork Create an opportunity where you can win in two ways. Block opponents fork Option 1: Create two in a row to force the opponent into defending, as long as it doesnt result in them creating a fork or winning. For example, if X has a corner, O has the center, and X has the opposite corner as well, O must not play a corner in order to win. (Playing a corner in this scenario creates a fork for X to win.) Option 2: If there is a configuration where the opponent can fork, block that fork. Center Play the center. Opposite corner If the opponent is in the corner, play the opposite corner. Empty corner Play in a corner square. Empty side Play in a middle square on any of the 4 sides. Initially, the player that starts first gets the X and has 3 probable positions to mark in his turn. Even though it seems that there are 9 possible positions, as there are 9 squares in the grid, by rotating the board, this is not the case. It can be observed that: Every corner mark is tactically equal to every other corner mark, and Every edge mark is tactically equal to every other edge mark. There are therefore only three possible first marks: corner, edge, or center. The first player could win (or make a draw) from any of these starting marks. It can be also observed that playing a corner would give the opponent the smallest choice of squares. This is a nice strategy as could be played to avoid losing [5]. The second player can be identified as O and this player must respond to Xs opening mark. However, this should be done in such a way as to avoid Player X to win. It can be stated that Player O must always respond with [5]: To a corner opening with a center mark, To a center opening with a corner mark and To an edge opening either with a center mark, a corner mark next to the X, or an edge mark opposite the X. Any different play would allow X to compel a win. After every next turn of player X, the player O should follow the above list. This way the player O can achieve a draw (or a win if the player X makes a weak play). 3.2 Existing Tic-Tac-Toe games As many other games like: three mens morris, nine mens morris, pente, gomoku, Qubic, Connect Four, Quarto and Gobblet, Tic-Tac-Toe also has the same goal, i.e. a player wins if he is the first one to get n-in-a-row. Basically, if a generalization is to be provided, it can be concluded that all the different formations of Tic-Tac-Toe can be represented as nd-games, which are accordingly played on a d-dimensional boards with edge n [5]. As it was discussed in the previous section as well, the original Tic-Tac-Toe game is actually a 32-game. There are many variations, discussed as follows [2, 3]: A slightly different version of a Tic-Tac-Toe game is the 33-game, played on a 3x3x3 board. It can be noted that this game gives good opportunities to the player that plays first, so he could achieve an easy win by playing at the center with his first move. Similarly, playing on a 4x4x4 board also gives the first player better chances for wining. More complex version of a Tic-Tac-Toe game is playing it on a board with higher dimensional space. 4 dimensional, i.e. 3ÃÆ'-3ÃÆ'-3ÃÆ'-3 board is one of the most commonly played Tic-Tac-Toe. In this version there are 2 possible aims. One of them is to position elements through all of the board, thus the player that has more rows of 3 totally than the other one is the winner of the game. And the other strategy is to include 4 players, in which case the winner is the payer that will get a row of 3 first. Another version is the misà ¨re tic-tac-toe game. In this variation 33 game would be a draw, whereas the winner is the player that will get n in a row. Quite a new game is the Tic Tac Tactic variation of tic-tac-toe. This game is played on a 3 dimensional curved board, and the here each player tries to roll a ball at least half the way, as it would then drop on a grid that has 9 positions (33 grid). This way the players should make a row of 3 in order to gain a ball. The winner is the player that will have won the first 5 balls. In order to roll their balls precisely, they could use a device that helps into changing a balls trajectory. Yet another version is the nine board tic-tac-toe. In this game, there are in essence 9 boards, arranged as 33 grids, and the first payer can start on any of them by his choice. The following moves are supposed to be places on the board chosen by the first player. Once this board gets full and there is no more space left, the next move can be again on any of the boards left, by the choice of the player. The winner is the one that will achieve 3 in a row. However, having 9 boards gives the game yet another spirit than the usual tic-tac-toe game, as the players can have an opening, middle and end of their game. Similar to the nine board tic-tac-toe game is the super tic-tac-toe game. The difference in this variation is that this game does not end once a player makes 3 in a row in one of the 9 boards. As an alternative, the position of that board is marked on a new 33 grid, and the winner is the one that will make 3 in row there. Tic-Tac-Chess is an interesting combination of games, as it involved playing a chess game, as well as a tic-tac-toe game at the same time. In this variation, once a player captures a piece from the challenger on the chess game, makes a move on the tic-tac-toe game (even if the challenger has not placed anything on the tic-tac-toe game yet). And of course, the winner is the player that will make 3 in a row on the tic-tac-toe game first. A game that in essence is an isomorphic to a tic-tac-toe game, even though it seems as a completely different game, is described as follows. Basically, there are 2 players that should say a number between 1 and 9, without repeating the previously said numbers. The winner is the player that will first make a sum of 15. This game is isomorphic to a tic-tac-toe, because if those numbers are to be placed on a 33 magic grid, then it will be exactly as playing a tic-tac-toe game, because a straight line is formed only if the sum of the numbers is 15. This information is mostly useful in programming variations of a tic-tac-toe game. Another different variation again employs numbers from 1 to 9. These are to be placed on a 33 grid, but must be held with an order of precedence defined by the players. Then the players play a tic-tac-toe game, filling the grid by the precedence defined beforehand. Check Lines is a very old variation of tic-tac-toe game, invented in the 1970s by Tri-ang Toys Games. In this game the board is actually any geometrical pattern that consists of 12 lines. There are 11 holes in total, distributed in a way that each line has 3 holes. At this point, each player is given 5 coins, and each player on their turn should place a coin on the board. The winner is the one that will have first completed 2 lines. Because the players have only 5 coins, this means that they have to complete intersecting lines. If none of the players have won after placing their 5 coins, then they will continue playing by replacing the position of the coins, on the remaining spaces, with the rule that it must be done only on an adjacent hole. Very similar game to the tic-tac-toe game is the Toss Across game. Here, the players are given bags with beans and they are throwing them on a big board for marking the squares. Star Tic Tac Toe is another popular variation of tic-tac-toe. This game is played with checkers like movable pieces. It has a 33 board, thus a player has 3 pieces accordingly. The participants keep on replacing pieces into the spaces which are left empty in the board, until one the players wins; this actually adds some more dynamism in the game. Moreover, the players have supplementary star shaped pieces, which can be swapped. Similar category of games as the previous bullet, are the: Mojo, Mojo Too and Mojo tic-tac-toe games. In these variation the payers also pieces and pawn(s) onto empty positions until there is a winner. Moreover, there are many shows based on the tic-tac-toe game, as well: Hollywood Squares is a show with 9 celebrities, which fill the cells of the tic-tac-toe grid. Tic-Tac-Dough is a show on which the players put symbols up on the board. This is achieved by answering queries in a variety of categories. In Beat the Teacher competitors respond to questions to win a turn, again on a tic-tac-toe grid. On The Price Is Right, there is a pricing game called Secret X, in which players must estimate prices to win Xes, in order to place them on a blank board. They must position the Xes as to provide speculation of the location on the secret X. This is in turn hidden in the middle line of the board, forming a tic-tac-toe line across. The fictional game Dni game of Gemedet, has an aim to place 6 balls in a row to a 9x9x9 grid. The fictional game Squid-Tac-Toad, has an aim to place 4 or 5 balls in a row to a 44 or 55 grid, accordingly. A more simplistic variation of this game is having the rules as of the Y formations to count as a win. This is rather simple, because all the scenarios basically forming some kind of a Y configuration. Quantum tic tac toe is yet another variation in which the participants are positioning a quantum superposition of numbers on a tic tac toe board. A larger grid (for example 1010) tic-tac-toe games also exist. In a 1010 grid the winner should place 5 in a row. The more the grids there are on a board, the larger complexity of the game is. Another similar game named Go-moku, originating from Vietnam, also has the strategy for a player to get 5 in a row in order to win the game. The players put Xs and Os, but in order to try blocking each other, in this variation they should also try to create changes for wining. Another difference is that the board has no limit, thus the game is played until there is a winner. Three Mens Morris and Nine Mens Morris are also variations, in which there is a limiting on the number of pieces in order for a move to be allowed. Finally, the last variation of the tic-tac-toe game, employs the words: eat, an, laf, it, line, if, lot, on and foe. In this game, the winner is the one that will select 3 words that start with the same letter. If the game was places on a tic-tac-toe grid, it would mean 3 words in order to form a line (three in a row line). 3.3 Proposed model There are quite a few algorithms that can be used for creating the Tic-Tac-Toes game strategy. The most popular ones are the semantic algorithms and the lexical algorithms. For this project, a lexical algorithm was utilized. The model of the tic-tac-toe game described in this work contains 2 different game strategies. Basically, the one strategy is the Single Player game where a player plays against a computer. The other strategy involves Multiple Player environment, and it is being played by a player versus another player. In order to analyze this game, a decision tree might be used. Moreover, for the analyzing part it should be assumed that both the players in the Multiple Player environment, and the single player in the Single Player game, are in essence experienced. This means that the result of a game can be foreseen after the first move from each participant (again assuming that there are no mistakes). Let us represent with 1 if the player that has the X wins and with -1 if the player that has the O wins. The following figure represents the decision tree after the first move from each participant. As it was already discussed in section 3.1 Basic Rules of Tic-Tac-Toe game, the tic-tac-toe game is symmetric and therefore it is sufficient to consider only the squares 1, 2 and 3 for the first player (see the figure below). The rest of the moves are symmetric and will be presented. So, following this reasoning, the first player has the positions 1, 2 and 3 available, and the second player has the remai ning two positions. The figure above presents an expansion, so called an extensive form. It demonstrates that even in the simplest scenario the decision tree can be quite large. For example, if the first two moves were to be presented, this would be impossible to be demonstrated on a single page. Similarly to this discussion, the strategic form of the game can be presented by a different model, i.e. as a matrix. In order to demonstrate this approach, it should be assumed that the players choose one strategy and they strictly follow it when their turn comes. Of course, each strategy should represent all the paths of action and in every possible situation. At the beginning, let us assume that there is a strategy that the first player uses for their first move, and another strategy for the first move of the second player. This logic would create some rules like the following [5]: For the first player: select one of the nine squares on the game board. For the second player: Select one of the nine squares on the game board. If the first player already uses the selected square, then à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ put an O in square 3, 5, 7, or 9 if an X is in square 1 (center) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ put an O in cell 1 if an X is in cell j. These rules are examples of complete strategies, and these can be selected by the payers before the beginning of the game, and thus followed with their first moves. The strategic form of a tic-tac-toe game is presented on the figure below. It should be noted that the entries in the table below are in essence the values of the game. They hold values for every possible selection of strategies. Each tic-tac-toe game that can be actually presented in an extensive form would have an equivalent strategic form similar to the one shown in the table presented above. Moreover, this table is also equivalent to the matrix established previously. The payoff matrix in cooperation with the descriptions of the strategies comprises the model for the two-person tic-tac-toe game. 3.4 Comparison of Proposed model with Existing Models The semantic algorithm is yet another approach towards the tic-tac-toe game. The semantic algorithm is in essence a learning algorithm, and it might be structured in the following way. It might have as initial information the ability to recognizing the 3 states of a game: lost, won or a draw. The algorithm in this case would play the X, and it will play against another algorithm, i.e. the O. As soon as a game is finishes, the information if the game was won or lost is stored. Moreover, the moves are presented with the smaller letters x and o accordingly. A possible structure of stored information could be the following line: x5 o3 x9 o4 x1 won. The first move is always randomly selected. So, given that the algorithm played 7 (x7), and the opponent played 6 (o6), the algorithm will search for previous games that are most similar to x7 o6. If such a case is found, then the following rules apply: If the game found was a win, than the algorithm will try to reproduce the move. If the position is not available, it will play randomly. If the game found was a loss, the algorithm will try to correct the move, by not placing an element in the same position as in the lost game. This is repeated until there is a winner. Moreover, if a game end with a draw, it is not saved in the database. Comparing this algorithm with a lexical algorithm, it might be noted that the semantic algorithm usually plays very badly at the begging. But, after a certain number of games, the learning curve of the algorithm becomes higher. 3.5 Technology Research (j2me) Being quite different from other programming languages, Java does both compiling and interpreting when it comes to process code. As it can be seen from the photo above, the source code (i.e. the .java files) is initially translated by the compiler. This gives an output of an intermediate language, called Java bytecode (i.e. the .class files). The bytecode is then ready to be executed (or in other words, interpreted) within a particular virtual processor, known as the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) [6, 7]. This is in essence a simulated processor that executes all the bytecode commands. The Java Virtual Machine is the basic components that give to Java the feature to compatibility. This is simply because it represents a reliable layer between bytecode and the concrete machine instructions, translated at runtime. Over the years, the Java language has undergone many changes and development. J2SE (Java 2 Standard Edition) had its first edition targeting GUIs, applets, and other basic and rather simple applications. Recently, the language was extended with the Java suite known as J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition). This edition is based for server side development, and includes tools for: database access, messaging, content rendering, inter-process communications, and transaction control [6, 8]. J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) came into existence as to cover the needs for applications targeting mobile devices. As it can be seen from this short overview, there are versions of Java to suit different environments: from the enterprise development tools intended for use in servers, to the micro systems. An important thing to note at this point is that the separation between platforms is not just unconditional [7]. Many times these are not a simple line than can be drawn. In order to demonstrate this, it mi ght be explained that Java 2 Micro Edition development sometimes requires the use of Java 2 Enterprise Edition and Java 2 Micro Edition. This is the case with multiplayer games for instance, so and Java 2 Micro Edition is used for the client side, but Java 2 Enterprise Edition is used for the server side of the application/game. Moreover, different Java editions target different hardware configurations. Similarly, there are 3 virtual machines to be used for the different environments [8]. For example, Hotspot VM is a default virtual machine suitable for a executing the full-scale edition of JavaHotspot. JavaHotspot is a newer type of virtual machine competent of vigorously optimizing a great deal of executed code (called as hotspots) during the runtime [8]. Other versions of virtual machine are the Compact Virtual Machine (CVM) and Kilobyte Virtual Machine (KVM). These are in essence smaller virtual machine implementations. They are targeted to run within the restrictions of the lim ited resources found on the micro devices (these will be discussed later in this section, as well). The requirement of having another version (like the Java 2 Micro Edition) for the mobile devices came because these devices do not have sufficient recourses to run Java 2 Standard Edition, since J2SE was clearly way excessively large to fit on even the bigger micro devices. However, the question was imposed initially was which features should be left out from the J2SE, so to be minimized in a smaller edition. Also, having great diversity of different devices, it would not have been a nice decision to restrict all the J2ME applications to the lowest compatible hardware configuration [8, 9]. Moreover, this solution would not have been practical as well, because it would incorrectly neglect the capabilities of the higher end devices. The final solution is comprehended through a mixture of J2ME configurations and profiles [10]. It represented a revised Java architecture, which actually offers for the leaving out of parts of the platform, at the same time as addition to device and categor y precise components. Along these lines, the configuration would identify the abilities of a Java platform intended for use on a sequence of analogous hardware. Possible components that can be removed are the following [9, 11]: Java language mechanism smallest amount hardware necessities, such as the memory, screen size, and processor power for the family of devices integrated Java libraries By utilizing this approach, there are actually 2 preset configurations for mobile devices: one for somewhat restricted devices such as PDAs and Set-Top-Boxes (for instance the digital TV receivers), and another one for devices such as pagers and mobile phones. These two configurations are [9, 10, 11]: CDC (Connected Device Configuration) CLDC (Connected, Limited Device Configuration) All of these configurations are to be reviewed as follows. On the other hand, a good example of java profiles is the UI (User Interface) for mobile phones. For example, the J2ME configuration CLDC that wraps this type of device, keeps out the typical Java UI libraries (AWT and Swing). The devices do not have the ability of presenting anything derived from these libraries in any case. This is due to the fact that their screens are just too small. Thus, there is no point to slaughtering valued space on them. The solution was to generate an innovative User Interface, fitting to the exact necessities of the poor mobiles LCD display. The consequential LCD UI is built-in in the CLDC profile. This targets MIDs (Mobile Information Devices), for this reason the name is MIDP. The CDC is built for bigger devices such as digital TV set-top-boxes and PDAs. These are devices characteristically with numerous space of memory. The CDC is the bigger brother of the J2ME configurations. It encloses a single profile (the Foundation profile) as well as a high performance virtual machine (known as the Compact Virtual Machine CVM). This Java language implementation, as well as the API, practically has all the influence of J2SE. Unluckily, the CDC is not accessible on the platform for the most micro-game players (the mobile phones). The CLDC is especially targeted to micro devices, like mobile phones. It fundamentally defines a standard, which in turn is used by all the device manufacturers that put into service a Java run-time environment. This enhances third-party development, because this same standard is being utilized. The CLDC configuration was developed as part of the Java Community Process (JSR-30) [10, 11]. It affects many aspects of Java development and delivery, which include [7, 8]: Target device distinctiveness The security form Application administration Language dissimilarity JVM variations Built-in class libraries Talking about the security model, the J2SEs offered protection system was too big to fit within the restrictions of the CLDC target platform. It might be stated that by itself it would probably have gone beyond all accessible memory [7]. Therefore, the modified model removed many of the functionalities. This in turn requires far less resources. But nevertheless, this overview made it greatly simpler for wrapping all the fine points. Basically, there are two major parts to the CLDC security model [8, 9]. Virtual machine security Application security The modified security model for the CLDC, also provides some significant foundation for the application execution models. The objective of the virtual machine protection layer is to defend the underlying device from any harm that an executable code could probably do. With the usual conditions, a bytecode verification process is performed. This should be done preceding any code execution. This verification procedure basically authenticates a class-file bytecode. Thus in turn ensures that the code is safe for execution. Very important here is that incorrect instructions or corrupted memory outside the Java environment, will be eliminated and protected, as well. This process is very light as well. It only consumes 50 KB of code space additionally to 100 KB of heap. However, one might argue that even though light and insignificant on larger systems, it is still a good space when mobile devices are taken into consideration. Taking into consideration the notion of Application Security, the class-loader verification procedure (mentioned in this section) is very much limited as well.

Industrialization, Economics, and the Environment Essay -- Environment

Industrialization, Economics, and the Environment Human technological advancements make it possible to sustain larger and larger population by exploiting more and more natural resources. The three revolutions in human history, agricultural, industrial and green have all been answers to overpopulation. Naturally, industrialization leads to environmental degradation. The concern with Industrialization is that it is not a long term solution to human sustainability, since it operates under the premise of the tech fix, or the idea that humans will be able to invent new technologies to ensure their own survival. These solutions, while economically advantageous, do not consider the long term impacts of this continual and escalating intensification or resource use and extraction; indeed they suppose an exhaustibility of possibilities. However, the role human nature plays in determining these attitudes and actions which support this system is not insignificant, and is the key which will decide how the future plays out. What is industrialization? Dicitonary.com defines industrialism as, "An economic and social system based on the development of large-scale industries and marked by the production of large quantities of inexpensive manufactured goods and the concentration of employment in urban factories". This definition ignores the environmental aspect of industrialism; industrialization pushes the threshold of earth's resource availability. Such demanding management of the natural world is justified in the name of prioritizing immediate human needs over long term sustainability. However, the main environmental impacts of industrialization are those caused by consumption and population growth, which are both culturally malleabl... ...t" (Ridley and Low). The future of the earth and human existence rests on the shoulders of our policy makers in government. Works Consulted: Cipolla, C. M. (1996). Epilog from â€Å"Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700.† Sunflower Univ. Press. Dolan, Edwin G., Ch. 5 from "TANSTAAFL: The Economic Strategy for Environmental Crisis" 1974, pp. 55-72. Southwick, Charles H., Ch. 15 from "Global Ecology in Human Perspective" Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, pp. 159-182. Trent, is my citation for an essay entitled "Sogoff on Environnemental Values I" which was posted on a website for an environmental science class at Trent University. http://www.trentu.ca/ers/erst310.shtml Ridley and Low. "Can Selfishness Save the Environment?" in The Atlantic Monthly; September 1993; Volume 272, No. 3; pages 76-86.

Literary Merit of John Gunthers Death be not Proud :: essays research papers

Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther is a classic work of literary merit. The genre of the memoir is one that will never die. The life of young Johnny Gunther takes place in the 1940’s, but the courage and wisdom he portrays can be understood forever. The message Johnny sends will endure the test of time. Johnny Gunther goes through countless surgeries, hospital visits, and painful illness. Yet, despite his troubles, Johnny is surprisingly upbeat and optimistic. It is not that he is naive, it is simply that he does not want to show his anguish to the people around him. His fortitude shines through him and surrounds every one he meets. Gunther uses light in various ways in his memoir. When Johnny is at home, with friends, or studying the light is always present. This symbolizes him getting to be him with out a single thought of the disease, in essence his happiness. When Johnny is getting worse, or more bad news is brought forward the room always seems dark or full of shadows. Even though it is dark there always seems to be a little light. For example a crack in the door with light beaming through, the moon hitting his face, the sun lighting up a corner of the room. This symbolizes even in the worst of times Johnny finds a shred of hope. Instead of using his energy for self-pity he uses it constructively. He is a very bright young man and when school was no longer an option he was crushed but instead of letting it get him down, he wrote all his teachers and pleaded for tutors. Despite concerns for his doctors he took test, studied, and constructed lengthy science experiments. Even though Johnny knows death is inevitable it does not stop him from learning as much as he can while he can. He even takes his college entrance exam and is accepted into Harvard University. Johnny shows bravery in the worst of circumstances. Just as Johnny’s courage shines through so does his fast maturity from child to adult. His childhood was stolen away from him by his illness but instead of sulking he pulls himself together. He takes every difficulty in stride, and gets through them. Even when he is feeling down he hides it for he does not want anyone else to feel his pain. Being a seventeen year old boy he wants to do the things all other seventeen year old boys do.

Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity

Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity Grand Canyon University: HLT-310V March 16, 2013 Abstract Health care is a very diverse field. Two patients with the same diagnosis would have very different plans of care due to the underlying conditions and faith or religious practices involved with each patients healing process. This paper will discuss the healing aspect of three religions: Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and compare them to the healing aspect of Christianity. Also information important to health care worker when caring for patients of these religions will be discussed.Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity Christianity if the largest religion in the world and is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christianity has over two billion followers and there are thirty four thousand different denominations that followers classify themselves under. These include Jehovah Witnesses who believe in one God, Jehovah. They believe illness comes from the mind and body. Illness was pass ed on from Adam because he lost perfection. Jehovah Witnesses seek health care when they are sick but they refuse blood products since it’s prohibited by biblical passages. Winslow, n. d, pg 10-11) Protestants use prayer for communication to God and believe that â€Å"God forgives freely and will save all who accept the gift of Jesus’ death for salvation†. (Winslow, n. d pg 14) Health practices should include improvements on the mind, body and spirit. Protestants do not have specific restrictions when it comes to receiving medical treatments. (Winslow, n. d pg 14-15) Judaism teaches there is a single God and focuses more on actions than on beliefs. Jews use the Torah, a gift from God, as a guide to how one should live their life.Health care workers are seen as instruments of God and are important when caring for the sick. (Winslow, n. d, pg26) Christians believe in one God, but this God contains three elements: God the Father, God the Son and The Holy Spirit. Ch ristians believe that all healing comes from God through the work of Jesus Christ and promise of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is the component used to obtain healing, since all healing is Gods choice, it’s not guaranteed that one will be healed. The Holy Bible is the doctrine that outlines the core beliefs of Christianity. Islam Islam is the second largest religion in the world and is practiced by Muslims.Similar to Christianity, where the belief is in one All-knowing God, â€Å"Islam teaches the one can only find peace by submitting in heart, soul and deed to the Almighty God Allah. † (Winslow, n. d, pg 29). Prayer is a critical component of healing for both religions. Muslims use The Quran as book of guidance for good health and healing, and Christians follow the Holy Bible. Muslims and Christians also share the belief that God has power in everything and is responsible for healing, â€Å"belief in and submission to the will of God is the most essential part of good heal th care. (Stacey, 2008). Muslims believe that their bodies are a trust given to them by God and should be used for the attainment of salvation. Muslims view health care workers as agents of God in healing. Some things for health care worker to consider when caring for a Muslim patient are their strong religious concerns regarding modesty. Most Muslims will not accept health care from provider from the opposite sex. They pray five times a day and may desire to pray bending or kneeling on the floor. (Ehman, 2007).So accommodating them with space and privacy to do so is important and beneficial to their healing process. Muslims may understand their pain to be spiritually enriching and may hesitant to accept pain medication. (Ehman, 2007). Also since most Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset during the 30-day month of Ramadan, it’s important for the provider to be aware of this and explore with the patient if this is medically appropriate during hospita lization. Hinduism Hinduism is possibly the world’s oldest religion.Hindus have beliefs in many meanings or purposes in life. â€Å"Loving nature and the importance of living simply and in balance with God and nature is the foundation of Hindu healing. † (Hindu beliefs, n. d) unlike Christians whose foundation for healing is a belief and commitment to God. The four elements earth, air, fire and water represent the elements of mankind which is physical, spiritual, emotional and mental. There is a state of health when these elements are in balance and when even one of them is off balance then illness occurs.Christians use prayer to achieve health and healing while Muslims use meditation as a way of health, and yoga as a way to balance the elements to avoid illness. Christians believe that all healing is the work of God. Hindus believe in Karma, which states that each person reaps what they sow so therefore a person will be healed if they deserve to be healed. Hindus also have respect for healthcare workers. It’s important for provider to be aware that Hindus have religious concerns about modesty and will refuse treatment from the opposite sex. Ehman, 2007). Since they follow vegetarian diet, they will not accept medications that contain animal products. A cultural norm is to use the right hand for â€Å"clean† tasks like eating and the left hand for â€Å"dirty† tasks like using the bathroom. (Ehman, 2007). Providers should be mindful of this when moving a patient in any way. Buddhism Buddhism is the fourth largest religion but is more of a spiritual practice than a religion. A concept central to Buddhism is the Four Nobel Truths that defines the cause and existence of suffering.It is believed that one can eliminate suffering by following the Eightfold Path which consist of â€Å"1) accept the Four Noble Truths, 2) renounce the pleasures of the senses and harbor no ill will toward anyone, 3) do not lie, slander, or abuse anyon e, 4) do not destroy any living creature and take only what is given to you, 5) earn your livelihood in a way that harms no one, 6) prevent evil from arising in you and strive to acquire good qualities, 7) be observant, alert, contemplative, and free of desire and sorrow, and 8) meditate. † (Winslow, n. , pg 21) while Christians believe that surrendering to God will eliminate suffering if He sees fit. Buddhist believe that sickness is a result of laziness in their lifestyle or faith which differs from Christianity which view sickness as punishment from God. Buddhist and Christians use prayer to achieve health but in addition Buddhist also use† meditation, good hygiene, healthy eating, stretching and exercise along with deep breathing† (The Medicine Buddha, n. d) as a path to a health. When caring for a Buddhist patient, healthcare worker should be aware that they value peace and quiet and may request a quiet space in order to meditate. Ehman, 2007). They are vegeta rian and may refuse medications that contain animal products. They value mindful awareness of all experiences of life and may not want to take pain medications that would cloud their awareness. The provider would need to be specific in the discussion about side effects of medications, and also clarify to the patient and family that if a patient is suffering a great deal, a little pain medication may actually help them gain more awareness. In conclusion, this research has given me a lot of insight into how to better care for these types of patients.It also reinforces the importance of being a culturally competent health care worker. Being ill and in the hospital away from what makes one comfortable and secure is very stressful. Gaining a patients trust and confidence that they can be cared for by competent providers ensures a positive experience for the patient and the staff. It would be beneficial for staff to approach either the patient or family and find preferences or specific ne eds the patient requires to have the best experience and receive the highest quality of care possible. References Ehman, J. (2007, April 20). Religious Diversity: Practical Points for Health Care Providers.In Penn Medicine. Retrieved March 15, 2013, from http://www. uphs. upenn. edu/pastoral/resed/diversity_points. html Stacey, A. (2008). Health in Islam (part 2of 4): Quran is a Healing. In The Religion of Islam. Retrieved March 15, 2013, from http://www. islamreligion. com/articles/1891/ The Medicine Buddha and the Philosophy of Healing. (n. d. ). Retrieved March 15, 2013, from http://www. heaven-and-earth-home-remedies. com/medicine-buddha. html Winslow, G. R. (n. d. ). Health care and Religious Beliefs (pp. 4-35). N. p. : Loma Linda University Health Systems. Retrieved March 15, 2013, from lomalindahealth. org

Sample of Business Plan for Resort

â€Å"UNDERWATER ISLAND RESORT† A great place to stay in and a great place to enjoy and relax! Here at Underwater Island Resort which is located at the beautiful island of Bantayan in Cebu City, you will enjoy the great scenery and you will have a different vacation than ever! Underwater Island Resort that was being establish by Ms. Lovina M. Mercader last April 29, 2010 which offers a variety of services and treats for every guest who will be visiting the said resort. With Ms.Mercader’s team, they strived hard to build up the said Resort and name it with the greatest view that can be seen UNDERWATER. And we ensure guest safety and their enjoyment as they stay in our resort. Underwater Island resort’s main attraction is the beauty of the sea especially the marine life and resources. Scuba diving and snorkeling is also one of our offered services. Restaurants and bars are also advertised in our said resort for guess to also taste the greatest specialties of the Ph ilippines. Also, live bands are available at our bar.Availability of rooms and cottages are also provided for guest staying long. We also accept reservations for any occasions and events. A view of sunset can be clearly seen in our resort. Many services are available in our said resort where you can enjoy a vacation with your love ones. Seat backs relax and enjoy in staying in UNDERWATER ISLAND RESORT. OBJECTIVE: †¢ To provide them a great time with their love ones and for them to enjoy their stay in the resort. †¢ To provide them with new and enjoyable facilities. To ensure that guest are enjoying and also satisfied in their stay and the service of the resort. †¢ To also provide security for every guest that will be staying in the resort. Underwater Island resort’s Missions and Visions is to be one of the leading Resorts in Cebu but not just only in Cebu but also in the whole Philippines and to be recognize also in the whole world as one of the best resorts an d attraction in the Philippines. One of our goals also is to attract tourist for the growth of tourism here in the Philippines.SWOT ANALYSIS: STRENGTH †¢ We provide guest with excellent ambiance †¢ We also excellent when it comes to service †¢ Also, the management of our resort is very efficient. †¢ Our resort provides unique facilities and events that you cannot see from other resorts. WEAKNESS †¢ Our competitors with their high-standard service offered. †¢ The place is too far from the city. Also, the availability of transportation. †¢ One of our weaknesses to is the weather condition of our place. OPPORTUNITIES †¢ Word of mouth from guest to their connections. Investors from different companies †¢ Easy to locate. †¢ Advertisements THREATS †¢ The safety of the guest for them to travel at sea. †¢ The Competitors in the said Island. Whether discovering the soothing and healing wonders of the resort's spa or journeying throu gh a delicious culinary trail in any of the food and beverage outlets, Under Water Island Resort knows no boundaries when it comes to fun under the sun. â€Å"UNDERWATER ISLAND RESORT† PREPARED BY: LOVINA MERCADER LY-AN MANACIO CATHERINE SINGCOL EL DAVE OTARA JESS JASPER SABORIENDO ROWENA BAHINTING

International Nurses in Canada Essay

International Nurses in Canada Nurses play vital role in the person’s life. Nurses take care of health of all age group of Canadians and make the nation very healthy and wealthy. Nursing, as a career to both men and women offer varieties of opportunities for professional development and the personal satisfaction by helping people, when they really seek caring hand. Duties and Responsibilities of a Nurse in Ontario, Canada In Canada duties and responsibilities of nurses are well defined and listed with the emphasis on good ethics. The main duties of the Registered Nurses are as follows. Nurses assess patients to identify appropriate nursing interventions and provide medications and treatments according to policies and protocols . They collaborate with team members to plan, implement and evaluate patient care in consultation with patients and their relatives. They educate the patients and implement the institute policies for discharging patients. They assist surgeons, physicians in medical procedure or surgery and successfully monitor and operate medical equipments and supervise subordinates staff. (1. Employment Ontario). They maintain stock of supplies; prepare rooms, sterile instruments and equipments. They perform routine laboratory and office work. (2. Compassionate nursing care). In Ontario, there are two major groups in nursing profession. 1. Registered Nurse, 2. Registered Practical Nurse. The important differences between these two nursing professions are education and practice. RN requires studying a four year Bachelor of Nursing degree course and RPN requires studying, diploma program of four semesters. (3. RNAO). Working area of a nurse trained in Ontario, Canada – A nurse trained in Canada can work in nearly 120 countries in the world. This is due to the Global nursing connections of Canadian Nursing Associationwith ICN (International Council Of Nursing). ICN is a federation of national nurses’ associations, representing nurses in more than 120 countries. CNA has very good leadership, which has represented ICN at various senior level for pretty long period. (4. CNA). Duties of a nurse in a Third World Country (ZAMBIA) Zambia is a member of International Council of Nurses (ICN) and nursing profession is regulated by the Nurses and Midwives Act No. 31 of 1997. Unfortunately, Zambia is among the 57 countries identified by WHO as experiencing critical shortage nurses and doctors as they are changing their profession or migrating to other counties. (5-ZUNO, 2008). Nurses in Zambia are working in highly unsafe and poor occupational conditions. In Zambia HIV/AIDS and other diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria are predominant. Due to the shortage of nursing staff, there is an overload of work on existing nurses. They work with inadequate protective clothing and instruments. They are offered very poor salary and deprived of basic needs of life. All these factors increase stress to nurses and deteriorate their physical, mental and financial condition. The nurses trained in Ontario can work in any part of the world, but the internationally trained nurse cannot work here as soon as they come here. At first glance this looks unpalatable and dominance of developed country over developing country and third world country. Here, the development in health care is very fast to keep the people healthy and provide faster recovery. So nurses will require keeping the pace with new technology and innovations. Nurses need to implement new health programs. Nurses need to work more independently. Nurses must be able to collaborate, the activities of the different disciplines for the patient’s benefit. Here, Nurses should be aware of consequences of ethical and legal issues, while treating the patient with their consent, relating nursing practice in the institute / hospital. (6. CNA). All these important information and knowledge are required before treating patients in Ontario. Above all, communication should also be fluent, to understand team members and patients. Because of these reasons, internationally trained nurses might not be able to work immediately, when they arrive here. Requirements for internationally trained nurse to be accepted in nursing profession They should be Canadian citizen, Permanent Resident or authorized under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) and provide evidence of fluency in English / French. They should complete an acceptable nursing program, provide recent safe nursing practice, should successfully complete national nursing registration examination and provide registration or eligibility of registration in Ontario. They should provide Good character and clean criminal record from a Canadian Criminal Record. (7. CNO). Expenses to obtain Ontario Certification for internationally trained nurses Various Bridge Training programs are offered by Ontario government to internationally educated nursing professional to gain the knowledge and information needed to get license to do practise in Ontario. (8. Ontario Bridge Training). This study program is ranging between 2 to 4 semesters. The tuition fee for this study program is ranging between$ 12000 to $ 4400. After completion of this program they will have to pay,1. application fee,2. PLAR Fee,3. Examinatin fee,4,General class registration fee. The total comes $ 2457. 0. (9. CNO). These expenses are overwhelming for newcomers. Newcomers initially struggle to get the job to meet their daily expenses. How could they take care of expensive tuition fees and license fees with full time study? This system is very expensive for internationally trained nurse to get license and do the practise in Ontario.

The Golden Lily Chapter 12

WHEN I SHOWED UP for my dinner date, Brayden was sitting at a booth with a laptop. â€Å"I got here early,† he explained. â€Å"Figured I should get in some work. Did you get yours done?† â€Å"I did, actually. I was researching self-defense classes. You won't believe what I found.† I sat down on his side of the booth so that I could use his laptop. Like usual, he smelled like coffee. I'd never get tired of that, I decided. I directed him to a website I'd found just before coming here. The site looked like one I could have made about ten years ago and had a lot of over-the-top animated images on it. Wolfe School of Defense – Malachi Wolfe, instructor. â€Å"Really?† Brayden asked. â€Å"Malachi Wolfe?† â€Å"He can't help his name,† I said. â€Å"And look – he's actually got a number of awards and commendations.† Some of the awards were even recent. Most were from at least a few years ago. â€Å"Here's the best part.† I clicked on a link entitled â€Å"Upcoming Classes.† Malachi Wolfe had a pretty busy schedule, but there was one promising part. He was holding a four-week class, starting tomorrow, that met once a week. â€Å"This isn't exactly the kind of instructor I'd had in mind,† I admitted, â€Å"but it starts right away.† â€Å"Not a very long course,† added Brayden. â€Å"But it'd give you a good intro. Why the interest?† An image of the alley flashed back into my mind, the figures in the dark and the helpless feeling as I was shoved against the wall. My breath started to catch, and I had to remind myself that I was no longer in the alley. I was in a well-lit restaurant, with a boy who liked me. I was safe. â€Å"Just, uh, something I feel it's important for a woman to learn,† I said. â€Å"Although†¦ it's open to men and women both.† â€Å"Trying to sign me up?† At first I thought he was being serious, but when I looked up, he was smiling. I grinned. â€Å"If you want. I was thinking of – my brother. He wants to do this too.† â€Å"Probably best if I don't. Although, I was going to take martial arts as a college elective.† Brayden shut off his laptop, and I moved back over to the other side of the booth. â€Å"Anyway, you've got a pretty tight-knit family. Not sure if I should force myself into that.† â€Å"Probably a smart idea,† I agreed, thinking that he didn't know the half of it. Dinner was good, as was our subsequent conversation about thermodynamics. Despite the compelling topic, however, I found my mind was wandering a lot. I had to keep tuning back into what Brayden was saying. The attack and Adrian's offhand comment about vampire hunters had given me a lot to think about. Still, we stayed at the restaurant for a long time. So much so that when we left, I saw it was completely dark. I wasn't parked that far away – and not even in a remote spot – but suddenly, the anticipation of a walk alone in the dark made me freeze up. Brayden was saying something about seeing me at the dance and then noticed my reaction. â€Å"What's wrong?† he asked. â€Å"I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I stared off down the street. Two blocks. That's how close my car was. There were people out. And yet, I was choking up. â€Å"Would you walk me to my car?† â€Å"Sure,† he said. He didn't even think twice about it, but I was mortified the entire way. As I'd told Eddie and Adrian, I didn't usually need help from others. Needing it for something like this was especially humiliating. Rose wouldn't need an escort, I thought. Even Angeline wouldn't. She'd probably beat up a few pedestrians on the way, just to stay in practice. â€Å"Here we are,† said Brayden, once we reached Latte. I wondered if he thought less of me for needing an escort. â€Å"Thanks. I'll see you Saturday?† He nodded. â€Å"You sure you want to meet there? I can pick you up.† â€Å"I know. And I wouldn't mind going in your car. No offense, Latte.† I gave the car's side a comforting pat. â€Å"But I'll have to drive my brother and sister. Easier this way.† â€Å"Okay,† he said. The smile he gave me was almost shy, contrasting with his earlier confidence in academic topics. â€Å"Can't wait to see your costume. I got mine from a theatrical company. Not an ideal reproduction of Athenian garb, of course, but the best I could find.† I'd nearly forgotten that I'd left my costume in the hands of Lia. Brayden wasn't the only one interested in seeing what I'd be wearing. â€Å"Looking forward to it,† I said. After a few moments, I wondered why he wasn't leaving. He still wore that shyness and uncertainty, as though he were trying to work up the nerve to say something. Only, as it turned out, speaking wasn't what he wanted to do. With a great show of courage, he stepped forward and kissed me. It was nice, though once again a little underwhelming. From the look on Brayden's face, however, he might have been sent to new heights. Why didn't I have the same reaction? Maybe I'd done something wrong after all. Or maybe I was deficient? â€Å"See you Saturday,† he said. I made a mental note to add kissing to my list of research topics. I got back to Amberwood and texted Adrian as I was walking into my dorm. There's a defense class that starts tomorrow night. $75. Despite his interest last night, I was a little skeptical of whether he'd snapped out of his depression enough to be up for something like this. I wasn't even sure if he was going to his art classes anymore. A minute later, I got his answer: I'll be there. This was followed by another text: Can u spot me the cash? Jill was walking into the dorm, just as I was, both of us barely getting in before curfew. She didn't even notice me and instead looked troubled and pensive. â€Å"Hey,† I called. â€Å"Jill?† She stopped halfway through the lobby and blinked in surprise upon seeing me. â€Å"Oh, hey. Were you out with your boyfriend?† I winced. â€Å"Not sure I'd call him that yet.† â€Å"How many times have you gone out?† â€Å"Four.† â€Å"He's taking you to the dance?† â€Å"I'm meeting him there.† She shrugged. â€Å"Sounds like a boyfriend to me.† â€Å"Sounds like you're quoting something from Kristin and Julia's dating guidebook.† That brought a fleeting smile, but it didn't last. â€Å"I think it's just common sense.† I studied her, still trying to get a feel for her mood. â€Å"Are you okay? You looked like something was bothering you. Is it†¦ is it Adrian? Is he still upset?† For a moment, I was actually more worried about Adrian than her. â€Å"No,† she said. â€Å"I mean, well, yes. But he's a little better. He's excited about learning selfdefense with you.† The bond would never cease to amaze me. I'd only communicated with Adrian a minute ago. â€Å"‘Excited?'† I asked. That seemed like an astonishingly strong reaction. â€Å"It's a distraction. And a distraction's the best thing for him in these moods,† she explained. â€Å"He is still upset, though. He's still depressed over his dad.† â€Å"I shouldn't have taken him to San Diego,† I murmured, more to myself than her. â€Å"If I'd refused, he wouldn't have been able to get there.† Jill looked skeptical. â€Å"I don't know. I think he would've found a way, with or without you. What happened between them was going to happen eventually.† She sounded remarkably wise. â€Å"I just feel terrible seeing Adrian like this,† I said. â€Å"These moods come and go for him. Always have.† Jill got a faraway look in her eyes. â€Å"He's laid off the drinking a little bit – for my sake. But then that just opens him up for†¦ well, it's hard to explain. You know how spirit drives people insane? When he's down like this and sober, it makes him more vulnerable.† â€Å"Are you saying Adrian's going crazy?† That was not a complication I was ready for. â€Å"No, not exactly.† She pursed her lips as she thought. â€Å"He just gets a little scattered†¦ weird. You'll know it when you see it. He kind of makes sense but kind of not. Gets dreamy and rambles. But not in the way I do. It's got like a – I don't know – mystical feel. But it's not actually magical. It's just him kind of†¦ losing it temporarily. It never lasts and, like I said, you'll know it when you see it.† â€Å"I think I might have†¦Ã¢â‚¬  An unexpected memory flashed back to me, of just before Sonya and Dimitri had arrived. I'd been at Adrian's, and he'd looked at me strangely, like he was just noticing me for the first time. Thinking about it still sent chills through me. My God, Sage. Your eyes. How have I never noticed them? The color†¦ like molten gold. I could paint those†¦ â€Å"Girls?† Mrs. Weathers was at her desk, shutting things down for the night. â€Å"You need to get to your rooms.† We nodded obediently and moved toward the stairs. When we reached Jill's floor, I stopped her before she could leave. â€Å"Hey – if Adrian's not the problem, then what was bothering you when you came in? Is everything okay?† â€Å"Huh? Oh, that.† She flushed in a cute kind of way. â€Å"Yeah. I guess. I don't know. Micah†¦ um, well, he kissed me tonight. For the first time. And I guess I was just kind of surprised at how I felt about it.† I was surprised they hadn't kissed before and supposed I should be grateful. Her words resonated with me. â€Å"What do you mean? Did it feel a lot less exciting than you expected? Like you were just touching someone's lips? Like you were kissing a relative?† She gave me a puzzled look. â€Å"No. That's crazy. Why would you think that?† â€Å"Um, just guessing.† I suddenly felt silly. Why had it felt that way for me? â€Å"It was great, actually.† A faraway look came over her. â€Å"Well, almost. I couldn't quite get into it as much as I wanted because I was worried about my fangs. It's easy to hide them talking and smiling. But not while kissing. And all I kept thinking was, ‘What am I going to say if he notices?' And then I started thinking about what you and everyone else said. About how this thing with Micah isn't a good idea and how I can't keep things hands-off forever. I like him. I like him a lot. But not enough to risk exposing the Moroi†¦ or endanger Lissa.† â€Å"That's a noble attitude.† â€Å"I guess. I don't want to end things yet, though. Micah's so nice†¦ and I love all the friends I've made by being with him. I guess I'll just see what happens†¦ but it's hard. It's a wake-up call.† She looked so sad as she went into her room. Continuing on to mine, I felt bad for Jill†¦ but at the same time, I was relieved. I'd stressed over her casual dating of Micah, worried we'd be facing some dramatic, romantic situation where she refused to give him up because their love was too great and transcended their races. Instead, I should have had more faith in her. She wasn't as immature as I sometimes thought. Jill was going to realize the truth and resolve this on her own. Her words about Adrian also stuck with me, particularly when I picked him up the next evening for our first self-defense class. He got into my car with a cheery attitude, seeming neither depressed nor crazy. He was, I noticed, dressed very nicely, in clothes that would have been an excellent choice for the visit to his father. He noticed my attire as well. â€Å"Wow. I don't think I've ever seen you in anything so†¦ casual.† I had on olive green yoga pants and an Amberwood T-shirt. â€Å"The class description said to dress in comfortable workout clothes – like I texted you earlier.† I gave his raw silk shirt a meaningful look. â€Å"This is very comfortable,† he assured me. â€Å"Besides, I don't own any workout clothes.† As I shifted the car into drive, I caught sight of Adrian's left hand. At first, I thought he was bleeding. Then, I realized it was red paint. â€Å"You're painting again,† I said in delight. â€Å"I thought you'd stopped.† â€Å"Yeah, well. You can't take painting classes and not paint, Sage.† â€Å"I thought you'd stopped those too.† He gave me a sidelong glance. â€Å"Nearly did. But then I remembered I'd convinced some girl that if she gave me a chance and got me into those classes, I'd follow through on them. That'll teach me.† I smiled and pulled into traffic. I'd left a little early so that Adrian and I had time to take care of our registration. When I'd called the Wolfe School of Defense earlier today, an agitated man had told me to just show up with the money since we were down to the last minute. The address was outside of downtown, in a residence set on sprawling grounds that had made no attempts to go green and thwart the climate. The desert still held claim here, giving the house a dismal, forlorn look. If not for WOLFE printed on the mailbox, I would've thought we had the wrong place. We pulled up into the gravel drive – no other cars were there – and stared. â€Å"This is the kind of place you see in movies,† said Adrian. â€Å"Where careless people run into serial killers.† â€Å"At least it's still light out,† I said. Ever since the alley, darkness had taken on a whole new menace for me. â€Å"Can't be that bad.† Adrian opened the car door. â€Å"Let's find out.† We rang the doorbell and were immediately met with the sounds of barking and scampering feet. I stepped back uneasily. â€Å"I hate poorly trained dogs,† I muttered to Adrian. â€Å"They need to behave and be kept in line.† â€Å"Just like the people in your life, huh?† asked Adrian. The door opened, and we were met by a fifty-something man with a grizzled blond beard. He was wearing Bermuda shorts and a Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt. Also, he had an eye patch. â€Å"This is incredible,† I heard Adrian murmur. â€Å"Beyond my wildest dreams.† I was taken aback. The eye patch made me think of Keith's glass eye, which in turn made me think of my role in him acquiring it. It wasn't a memory I liked being reminded of, and I wondered at the odds of running into another one-eyed man. This guy nudged the herd of dogs aside – which appeared to be some sort of Chihuahua mix – and barely managed to step outside without them following before he shut the door. â€Å"Yeah?† he asked. â€Å"We're, uh, here for the class. The self-defense class.† I felt the need to clarify, in case he also taught about dog breeding or riding the high seas. â€Å"I'm Sydney, this is Adrian. I called this morning?† â€Å"Ah, right, right.† He scratched his beard. â€Å"You got the money? Cash only.† I produced one hundred and fifty dollars and handed it over. Out of habit, I nearly asked for a receipt, but then thought better of it. He stuffed the cash into the pocket of his shorts. â€Å"Okay,† he said. â€Å"You're in. Go ahead and wait in the garage until the others show up. The side door's unlocked.† He gestured to a large, industrial looking building – twice the size of the house – over on the far side of the lot. Without waiting around to see if we'd comply, he slipped back inside to the barking dogs. The garage's interior, I was relieved to see, was the first thing here that looked like it had some semblance of legitimacy. There were clean mats on the floor and mirrors on some of the walls. A TV and VHS player sat on a cart, along with some defense-related tapes covered in dust. Slightly more disconcerting was some of the decor, like a pair of nunchucks hanging on the wall. â€Å"Don't touch those!† I warned, seeing Adrian head toward them. â€Å"That's not the kind of guy whose stuff you want to mess with.† Adrian stayed hands-off. â€Å"Do you think we'll get to learn to use these?† â€Å"Weapons weren't in the class description. It's about basic self-defense and hand-tohand.† â€Å"Why bother then?† Adrian strolled over to a glass case displaying several types of brass knuckles. â€Å"That's the kind of stuff Castile does all day. He could have showed us.† â€Å"I wanted someone a little more approachable,† I explained. â€Å"What, like Captain McTropicalShorts back there? Where on earth did you find him anyway?† â€Å"Just did an Internet search.† Feeling a need to defend my research, I added, â€Å"He comes highly recommended.† â€Å"By who? Long John Silver?† Despite myself, I laughed. Over the next half hour, the rest of our class trickled in. One was a woman who looked to be about seventy. Another was a mother who'd just had her fourth child and decided she needed to â€Å"learn to protect them.† The last two women in the class were in their mid-twenties and wore T-shirts with angry girl-power catchphrases. Adrian and I were the youngest in the group. He was the only man, not counting our instructor, who asked that we simply refer to him as Wolfe. I was beginning to get a bad feeling about all of this, particularly as class started. The six of us sat on the floor while Wolfe leaned against one of the mirrors and looked down upon us. â€Å"If you're here,† he began. â€Å"You probably want to learn to use those right away.† He pointed at the nunchucks. I caught sight of Adrian's face in the mirror. His expression said, Yes, that is exactly what I want to learn. â€Å"Well, too bad,† said Wolfe. â€Å"You aren't ever going to use them. Not in this class, anyway. Oh, they've got their uses, believe me. Saved my ass more than once when I was out bowhunting in Alaska a few years ago. But if you pay attention to what I'm going to tell you, you won't ever need to pick those up, seeing as we don't have a rabid moose problem here in Palm Springs.† The new mom raised her hand. â€Å"You used nunchucks on a moose?† Wolfe got a haunted look in his eyes. â€Å"I used all sorts of things on that bastard. But that's neither here nor now. Because here's the thing. With a little common sense, you won't need weapons. Or fists. You.† To my shock, Wolfe pointed at me and fixed me with a steely, one-eyed stare. â€Å"What did I tell you to do when you arrived?† I gulped. â€Å"Give you cash, sir.† â€Å"And after that?† â€Å"You told us to come wait out here.† He nodded in satisfaction, so apparently my answering of the obvious had gone well. â€Å"We're two miles from any other houses and about a mile from the highway. You don't know me, and let's face it, this place looks like something from a serial killer film.† Out of the corner of my eye, Adrian flashed me a triumphant look. â€Å"I sent you out into a remote building with hardly any windows. You went inside. Did you look around as you were walking over here? Did you scan the surroundings in here before coming all the way inside? Did you check the exits?† â€Å"I – â€Å" â€Å"No, of course you didn't,† he interrupted. â€Å"No one ever does. And that is the first rule of self-defense. Don't assume anything. You don't have to live your life in fear, but know what's around you. Be smart. Don't go blindly into dark alleys or parking lots.† And like that, I was hooked. Wolfe was astonishingly well prepared. He had lots of stories and examples of attacks, ones that kept reminding me: humans are some of the most vicious creatures out there, not vampires. He showed us pictures and diagrams of various unsafe places, pointing out vulnerabilities and providing pretty practical advice that should've been obvious to most people – but wasn't. The more he spoke, the more foolish I felt about what had happened with Sonya. If those guys had wanted to attack Sonya badly enough, they would've found a way somehow. But there were a million things I could have done to be more cautious and possibly avoid the confrontation that went down that night. That idea turned out to be a huge part of Wolfe's philosophy: avoidance of danger in the first place. Even when he finally moved on to discuss some very basic moves, his emphasis was on using them to get away – not to stick around and beat your attacker into the ground. He let us practice some of these moves in the last half hour of the class, having us pair up to work with classmates and a dummy since we didn't really want to hurt each other. â€Å"Thank God,† said Adrian, when we broke out to practice. He and I were partners. â€Å"I thought I'd come to a fight class to learn how not to fight.† â€Å"But he's right,† I said. â€Å"If you can avoid the fight, so much the better.† â€Å"But what if you can't?† asked Adrian. â€Å"Like with your sword-wielding friends? What do you do once you're in trouble?† I tapped our blank-faced stuffed practice dummy. â€Å"That's what this is for.† Wolfe's main move today was on how to break out of someone's hold if we were grabbed from behind. He had a couple of techniques which weren't much more complex than headbutting or stomping on feet. Adrian and I took turns being the attacker while the victim practiced the maneuvers – in slow motion and with almost no contact on our partners. That was what the dummies were for. I was about five inches shorter than Adrian and seemed pretty implausible as an attacker, which made us both laugh each time I made a move. Wolfe chastised us for not being serious enough but gave us high marks for learning the techniques. This made me feel a little arrogant, enough so that when Adrian turned his back to get a water bottle, I sneaked up from behind and flung my arms around him, pinning his arms in turn. Wolfe had shown us how to break that type of hold, and I honestly thought Adrian had seen me coming enough to slip away before I even touched him. Apparently not. He froze, and for one moment, we stood locked in time. I could feel the silk of his shirt against my skin and the warmth of his body. The lingering scent of the overpriced cologne he wore floated around me. No smoke for a change. I'd always told him the cologne couldn't be worth what he spent, but suddenly, I reconsidered. It was amazing. I was so awash in sensory overload that I was caught completely unaware when he did push me away. â€Å"What are you doing?† he exclaimed. I'd thought he'd be impressed at my sneak attack, but there was neither approval nor humor on his face. My own smile faded. â€Å"Testing if you could handle a surprise attack.† My tone was hesitant. I didn't know what I'd done wrong. He looked uncomfortable. Almost upset. â€Å"What's the matter?† â€Å"Nothing,† he said gruffly. For a moment his eyes locked onto me with an intensity that left me breathless. Then, he glanced away, as though he couldn't handle looking at me. I felt more confused than ever. â€Å"Never thought I'd see the day when you'd throw your arms around a vam – someone like me.† I barely even noticed his public slipup. His words drew me up short. He was right. I'd touched him without even thinking about it – and not just a formal Moroi handshake, like usual. Sure, it was in the context of our class, but I knew that I never could have done this a few months ago. Touching him now had seemed perfectly natural. Was that why he was upset? Was he worried about the Alchemists and me? Wolfe strolled by. â€Å"Nice work, girl.† He gave Adrian a teeth-rattling slap on the back. â€Å"You were totally unprepared for her.† This seemed to distress Adrian even more, and I could've sworn I heard him mutter, â€Å"That's for damned sure.† Some of Adrian's swagger returned during the car ride home, but he was still quiet and thoughtful. I again tried to figure out his shift in mood. â€Å"Do you need to stop by Clarence's for blood?† Maybe the class had exhausted him. â€Å"Nah,† he said. â€Å"Don't want you to be late. But maybe†¦ maybe you can come by this weekend, and we can do a group trip over there?† â€Å"I've got the dance on Saturday,† I said apologetically. â€Å"And I think Sonya was going to take Jill to Clarence's tomorrow after school. Probably she can pick you up too.† â€Å"I suppose,† he said. He sounded disappointed, but one day wasn't that long to wait for blood. Maybe he was afraid Sonya would recruit him for experiments again – which wouldn't be a bad thing, I thought. Suddenly, he straightened up from his slouch. â€Å"Speaking of Sonya†¦ I was thinking of something earlier. Something Wolfe said.† â€Å"Why, Adrian. Were you paying attention after all?† â€Å"Don't start, Sage,† he warned. â€Å"Wolfe's crazy, and you know it. But when he was giving all his words of wisdom, he mentioned that stuff about not giving out personal info to strangers and how victims are often staked out in advance. Remember?† â€Å"Yeah, I was there,† I said. â€Å"Like, an hour ago.† â€Å"Right, so. Those guys who attacked you and Sonya seemed to know she was a vampire – the wrong kind, but still. The fact that they showed up with a sword implies they did some research. I mean, it's possible they just noticed her on the street one day and were like, ‘Ooh, vampire.' But maybe they've been watching her for a while.† Noticed her on the street†¦ I gasped as a million pieces fell into place in my mind at once. â€Å"Adrian, you're a genius.† He flinched in surprise. â€Å"Wait. What?† â€Å"The week before the attack. Sonya and I got dinner, and we were stopped by some random guy who claimed he knew her from Kentucky. She was pretty freaked out because she was a Strigoi the whole time she was there, and obviously, she didn't hang out with humans a lot back then.† Adrian took a few moments to turn this over in his mind. â€Å"So†¦ you're saying they've been checking into her for a while.† â€Å"Actually, you're saying that.† â€Å"Right. Because I'm a genius.† More silence as we both considered the implications of Sonya's situation. When Adrian spoke again, his tone wasn't nearly so light. â€Å"Sage†¦ last night. You never acknowledged my comment about vampire hunters.† â€Å"The Alchemists have no records of modern vampire hunters,† I said automatically. â€Å"My dad once said that occasionally, some random human discovers the truth. I'd figured her attack was something like that – not some huge organized group or conspiracy.† â€Å"Is it remotely possible that somehow, somewhere, the Alchemists might have missed something? And what do you mean by ‘modern' exactly?† Alchemist history had been drilled into me nearly as much as the philosophies that governed our actions. â€Å"A long time ago – like, back in the Middle Ages – when the Alchemists were forming, a lot of factions had different ideas on how to deal with vampires. Nobody thought humans should associate with them. Those who eventually formed my group decided the best way was to work with Moroi just enough to keep them separate from humans. But there were others who didn't take that approach. They thought the best way to keep humans free was to eradicate vampires – through any means.† I was relying on facts again, my old armor. If I reasoned away this argument, then I wouldn't have to acknowledge what it would mean if there were people actively hunting Moroi. â€Å"Sounds like vampire hunters to me,† Adrian pointed out. â€Å"Yes, but they weren't successful. There were just too many vampires, Moroi and Strigoi, for a group like this to take out. The last records we have of them are from, oh, I'd say the Renaissance. Those hunters eventually faded away.† Even I heard the uncertainty in my voice. â€Å"You said that sword had alchemy symbols on it.† â€Å"Old ones.† â€Å"Old enough to be from the time that splinter group was breaking away?† I sighed. â€Å"Yes. That old.† I wanted to close my eyes and sink into my seat. Cracks were appearing in my armor. I still wasn't entirely sure I could accept the idea of vampire hunters, but I could no longer rule out their possibility. I could see Adrian studying me out of the corner of my eye. â€Å"Why the sigh?† â€Å"Because this is all stuff I should have put together sooner.† He seemed very pleased at the acknowledgment. â€Å"Well, you don't believe in vampire hunters. Makes it hard to really consider them an actual threat when you operate in a world of facts and data, huh? But then†¦ how would they have stayed under your radar for so long?† Now that Adrian had given me the seeds, my mind was already working out the idea. â€Å"Because they're only killing Strigoi – if these hunters exist. If some group were taking out Moroi, your people would notice. The Strigoi aren't organized the same way, and even if they noticed, it's not like they're going to report killings to us. Plus, Strigoi are killed all the time by Moroi and dhampirs. A few dead ones would just be written off to you guys – if anyone even found them. Toss a Strigoi out in the sun, and you'd never even know they'd been there.† Relief poured through me at my conclusion. If a group like this did exist, they couldn't be killing Moroi. Strigoi-hunting was still dangerous, however. Only Alchemists could be trusted to deal with those fiends' deaths and keep them secret from average humans. â€Å"Could you ask other Alchemists about hunters?† Adrian asked. â€Å"No, not yet. I might be able to dig through some records, but I could never bring this up officially. They'd stick to my dad's theory – that it was just some random, weird group of humans. Then they'd laugh me away.† â€Å"You know who wouldn't laugh you away?† â€Å"Clarence,† we both said in unison. â€Å"Not a conversation I look forward to,† I said wearily. â€Å"But he might really know something after all. And all his paranoia might pay off. All that home security? If this group really has it in their heads to come after Sonya, then she might be in even more danger than we realized.† â€Å"We need to tell Belikov. He excels at that protection thing. He won't sleep if we convince him she's in trouble – which seems likely after the sword attack.† I noticed that this was the first time Adrian had ever spoken about Dimitri without bitterness. In fact, Adrian's words and praise sounded legitimate. He did believe in Dimitri's skill. I said nothing about my observation, though. If Adrian was going to get over his hatred of Dimitri, it needed to come gradually and without any outside â€Å"help.† I dropped Adrian off with plans to talk later. When I got back to Amberwood, I was immediately flagged down by Mrs. Weathers. What now? I was ready to hear that Angeline had set something on fire. Instead, Mrs. Weathers's face looked calm – pleasant, even – and I dared to hope for the best. â€Å"Some things came for you, dear,† she said. From a small office behind her desk, she produced two hangers with zipped garment bags on them. â€Å"A short, energetic woman dropped these off.† â€Å"Lia.† I took the hangers, wondering what contents I'd find inside. â€Å"Thank you.† I started to turn away, but Mrs. Weathers spoke again. â€Å"One more thing. Ms. Terwilliger left something for you too.† I tried to keep my face neutral. I was already drowning in Ms. Terwilliger's latest assignments. What now? Mrs. Weathers handed me a large envelope that felt like it had a book in it. Scrawled on the outer side was: Not classwork. Maybe you won't hate this. I thanked Mrs. Weathers again and took my haul up to my room. After depositing the costumes on my bed unopened, I promptly tore into the envelope. Something about her note made me feel uneasy. I wasn't entirely surprised to see it was another spell book. What did surprise me was that unlike the others I pored over for her, this one was new. Modern. There was no publisher listed on it, so it was probably someone's home project, but it had clearly been printed and bound within the last few years. That was startling. I'd pointedly never asked Ms. Terwilliger about her magic-using pals and their lifestyle but had always assumed they were reading the dusty old volumes she had me translate and copy. That they might be working from their own, new, and updated books hadn't even crossed my mind – though it should have. I had no time to beat myself up, though, not once I got a look at the book's title. The Invisible Dagger: Practical Spells for Offense and Defense. Flipping through the pages, I saw that the spells were exactly as the title suggested but written in a more modern way than I was used to. Their origins were cited, times and places. Those varied wildly, but what didn't was the spells' efficiency. All were either the kind of spells that could be cast in very little time or ones that could be made in advance for immediate destructive effects – like the fire charm. These were exactly the kinds of spells I'd been asking Ms. Terwilliger about. Angry, I stuffed the book back in the envelope. How dare she try to lure me in with this? Did she think this would make up for everything she'd put me through? Mrs. Weathers would still be downstairs, and I had half a mind to drop the book off and tell her it had been sent to me in error. Or I could simply leave it on Ms. Terwilliger's desk first thing in the morning. I wished now I hadn't even opened it. â€Å"Returning to sender† unopened would have made a powerful statement, that she wasn't going to trick me into her magic ring by finding a topic of interest to me. Mrs. Weathers knew about my connection to Ms. Terwilliger, though, and would simply tell me to return it tomorrow if I tried giving it back tonight. So, I'd have to hang on to this until the morning. I consoled myself by getting out some tape. I couldn't undo opening the envelope, but there'd be something psychologically soothing about resealing it. Yet, as I started to unwind the tape, my mind spun back to my evening with Adrian and Wolfe. Wolfe had calmed me a bit in his constant reminders that most attacks were random and came from carelessness on the victim's part. Knowing that and what to look for had made me feel empowered. He'd offhandedly mentioned attacks of a more premeditated or personal nature, but those clearly weren't his focus. Nonetheless, they brought me back to my discussion with Adrian. What if there was truth to Clarence's stories? What if vampire hunters were real? We'd all known Sonya's attack wasn't random, but if she really was dealing with some faction that had existed since the Middle Ages†¦ well, then. My and Adrian's fears would be correct. They would probably come for her again. No amount of avoiding isolated parking spots or walking confidently would stop them. I looked down at the envelope and decided not to seal it quite yet.