Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Columbian Exchange History of the Americas, Eurasia and...

Columbian Exchange About 200 million years ago there was one big continent called Pangaea. They believed that, this landmass began to separate. They believed that the Atlantic Ocean formed, dividing Africa and Eurasia from the Americas. Over the next several million years plants and animals changed and made to separate biological worlds. It wasn’t until Christopher Columbus and his crew sailed to the Americas in October 1492, they started interacting with each other. Europeans brought diseases to the Americas, such as smallpox and measles. The original descendants did not bring the diseases because they traveled through the cold and they had no domesticated animals. Many of these diseases were caused by domesticated animals. At†¦show more content†¦Indigenous people went through a lot from white brutality, alcoholism, the killing and driving off of game, and the expropriation of farmland, but all of these things added together explained the degree of their defe at. The history of the United States began with Virginia and Massachusetts; their histories begin with epidemics of unidentified diseases. Smallpox was the worst and the most amusing diseases that were out. Smallpox were just killing down all the Native Americans, they didn’t know what to do with it all. The epidemic destroyed half of the Cherokee in 1738, in 1759 almost half of the Catawba’s, in the first years of the next century two-thirds of the Omaha’s and perhaps half of the population between the Missouri River and New Mexico. Some of the foods and animals that came from Europe to the Americas were bananas, coffee, cows, sheep, rice, horses, pigs, pears, wheat, turnips, lettuce, peaches, oranges, and lemons. Those are some of the foods and animals that came from Europe to the Americas. Some stuff that came from the Americas to Europe was, corn, cotton, papayas, peanuts, pumpkins, vanilla beans, marigolds, pineapples, and avocados. There are a lot more of food that came from the Americas to Europe. We talked about the food and diseases and we also talked about how the Columbian Exchanged worked. Smallpox was one of the biggest diseases that were out there. They came from all kinds of cattle. Thank you forShow MoreRelatedThe Columbian Exchange : A System Of Exchanges Between Eurasia And The Americas938 Words   |  4 PagesThe Columbian Exchange was a system of exchanges between Eurasia and the Americas. It started when Christopher Columbus and other voyagers began to discover and populate the Americas, which is also referred to as the New World. During this time of discovery and expansion, newcomers began bringing plants, animals, technologies, and diseases along with them to the New World. However, it did not stop there. Once people began traveling back to the Eurasia, which is also known as the Old World, they wouldRead MoreThe Columbian Exchange : History, Culture, And Agriculture1370 Words   |  6 PagesGeologists believe that over 200 million ago, continental drift carried the Old World and New Worlds apart, splitting North and South America from Eurasia and Africa, eventually creating two separate biological worlds (Crosby, 2009). In 1491, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were nearly impassable barriers, and America might as well have been on another planet from Europe and Asia (Morris, 2011). However, when Christopher Columbus and his fellow voyagers made land in the Bahamas in 1492, the plantRead MoreThe Positive Effects Of The Columbian Exchange1643 Words   |  7 PagesThe term â€Å"Columbian Exchange† refers to the massive transfer of life between the Afro-Eurasian and American hemispheres that was precipitated by Columbus’ voyage to the New World . It was known as the widespread interchange of plants, animals, diseases, culture, human populations and technology between Europe and the Americas. After Columbus’ arrival to the Americas, the plant, animal and bacter ial life began to mix between the Americas, which was also referred to as the â€Å"New World† and Europe,Read MoreAP World1176 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿World History AP withMr. Derrick-Learning Targets Part2- The Classical Era in World History, 500B.C.E. -500C.E. Chapter6- Classical Era Variations: Africa and the Americas500B.C.E.–1200C.E. Learning Targets ★ Analyze classical civilizations thatevolvedoutsideof themorewell-known civilizations of Eurasia ★ Comparethedevelopmentof civilizationsinAfrica and the Americas ★ Examinethefactorsthatmakecivilizationsdevelop andanalyzewhytheydevelop differentlyin someregions ★ DistinguishthecharacteristicsRead MoreThe Columbian Exchange1317 Words   |  6 PagesWorlds apart, splitting North and South America from Eurasia and Africa. That separation lasted so long that it fostered divergent evolution; for instance, the development of rattlesnakes on one side of the Atlantic and vipers on the other. After 1492, human voyagers in part reversed this tendency. Their artificial re-establishment of connections through the commingling of Old and New World plants, animals, and bacteria, commonly known as the Columbian Exchange, is one of the more spectacular and significantRead MoreNative American And African Slaves1731 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican slavery though predominately in the Spanish colonies was used in North America. Though unlike the Mesoamerican slaves, the North American slaves were also the slavers. The colonists of North America lured Native Americans to capture other Native Americans in exchange for trade goods and alliances, forcing Native Americans to choose between being the slaver or the slaved, much like some African tribes. In South America, the Spaniards enticed nearly 100,000 under false promises of riches, and insteadRead MoreWorld History Final Exam 20131485 Words   |  6 Pagesof iron metallurgy across Sub Africa, Bantus language slash burn agriculture 7. Inca and Aztec societies were similar politically how Both expanded empires using the military 8. What economic change or explanation justifies the claim that the late 1400s mark the beginning of a new period in world history? Age of Exploration – – America incorporated into Global Trade Network 9. What is an economic similarity among European colonial empires in the Americas in the period 1450–1750? AfricanRead MoreAPWH Ch1306 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿AP WORLD HISTORY Chapter Processing Work INTRODUCTION Historical Thinking Skill Exercise: Periodization: Compare the author’s periodization in Parts One through Six to the Colleges Board’s historical periodization. How do the author’s dates and titles compare to the College Board’s? What explains the similarities and the differences? Why do you suppose the periodization in world history can be so controversial? UNIT 1 CHAPTER 1: Historical Thinking Skill Exercise: Historical Argumentation:Read MoreThe Mexican Exchange, Bombing Of Hiroshima, And The Events That Took Place Essay2212 Words   |  9 Pagesdoubt whether or not the Colombian exchange, bombing of Hiroshima, and the events that took place in 1968 impacted our world history forever because everyone agrees these three events were extremely impactful. Early The Colombian exchange The Columbian Exchange (also sometimes known as The Great Exchange) has been one of the most significant events in the history of world ecology, agriculture, and culture. The term is used to describe the enormous widespread exchange of plants, animals, foods, humanRead MoreThe Columbian Exchange And The Colonization Of The Americas2659 Words   |  11 Pages â€Å"The Columbian Exchange† When considering the discoveries of the Americas, commonly one may recall only the presence of Christopher Columbus and the fact that his discovery, or more appropriately rediscovery, brought forth the colonization of certain areas of the Americas, leading, in due time, to a variety of thriving economies that engage in mass import and export between themselves and the world at large. In doing so, it is thus forgotten that, prior to any establishment of a United States

Monday, December 16, 2019

The Last Dance Chapter Four Free Essays

string(153) " your birth certificate or your driver’s license, you stood on line for an hour and a half while some nitwit pretended to be operating a computer\." There were three airports servicing the metropolitan area. The largest of them, out on Sands Spit, flew three direct flights and six connecting flights to Houston on most weekdays. The airport closest to the city flew nine direct flights and eleven connecting flights. We will write a custom essay sample on The Last Dance Chapter Four or any similar topic only for you Order Now Across the river, in the adjoining state, direct flights went out virtually every hour, starting at 6:20 a.m. Twenty-one non-stop and connecting flights left from that airport alone. Altogether, a total of fifty flights flew to Houston almost every day of the week. It was a big busy city, that Houston, Texas. Starting early Wednesday morning, the tenth day of November, twelve detectives began surveillance of the check-in counters at Continental, Delta, US Airways, American, Northwest, and United Airlines, looking for a Jamaican with a knife scar who might be headed for either Houston-Intercontinental or Houston-Hobby on a direct flight, or on any one of the flights connecting through Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Philadelphia. None of the men boarding any of the flights even remotely fit the description Harpo Hopwell had given them. There were still a lot more flights going out that day. â€Å"Who’s in charge here?† the assistant medical examiner wanted to know. Ollie merely gave him a look: he was the only person here with a gold and blue-enameled detective’s shield pinned to his jacket lapel, so who the hell did the man think was in charge? The only other cops at the scene were a pair of blues, both of them standing around looking bewildered, their thumbs up their asses. Did the man think uniforms were now handling homicide investigations? Or maybe the man had forgotten that he and Ollie had worked together before. Ollie could not imagine this; he did not consider himself an eminently forgettable human being. Did the man work with detectives as fat as Ollie every day of the week? The man had to know that the fat detective in the loud sports jacket was the one in charge here. Or was he pretending not to know Ollie because he didn’t want Ollie to think the only reason he remembered him was because he was fat? If so, that was stupid. Ollie knew he was fat. He also knew that behind his back people called him Fat Ollie. He considered it a measure of respect that nobody ever called him this to his face. â€Å"Oh, hello, Weeks,† the ME said, as if noticing him for the first time, which was tantamount to suddenly noticing a hippopotamus at the dinner table. â€Å"What’ve we got?† â€Å"Dead black girl in the kitchen,† Ollie said. The ME’s name was Frederick Kurtz, a Nazi bastard if Ollie had ever met one. Even had a little Hitler mustache under his nose. Little black satchel like some mad doctor at Buchenwald. Wearing a rumpled suit looked as if he’d slept in it all this past week. Had a bad cold, too. Kept taking a soiled handkerchief from his back pocket and blowing fresh snot into it, the fuckin Nazi. Ollie followed him into the kitchen. The girl lay on her back in front of the sink counter, the knife still in her. This was going to be a real tough call. It would take a fuckin Nazi rocket scientist to diagnose this one as a fatal stabbing. Nobody had yet taken the knife out of her because rule number one was you didn’t touch anything till the ME officially pronounced the vie dead. Ollie waited while Kurtz circled the body like a vulture, trying to find a comfortable position from which to examine the dead girl. He put his satchel down on the floor beside her, and leaned over close to her mouth, as if hoping to catch a shimmer of breath from her lips. Ollie was thinking if the girl was still breathing, she’d be sanctified before nightfall. Be the first black saint from this city. Kurtz placed his forefinger and middle finger on the side of her neck, feeling for a pulse in the carotid artery. Fat Chance Department, Ollie thought. â€Å"Reckon she’s dead?† he asked, trying to sound like John Wayne, but succeeding only in sounding like W. C. Fields. Ollie sometimes tried to do Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, and Robert De Niro, but somehow all his imitations came out sounding like W. C. Fields. He didn’t realize this. He actually considered his imitations right on the money, and often thought of himself as the man with the golden ear. Kurtz knew sarcasm when he heard it, however, even when it came from a fat dick who neither looked nor sounded like a cowboy. He didn’t answer Ollie. Instead, he put his stethoscope to the girl’s chest, already knowing she was dead as a doornail, to coin a medical phrase, and went about his examination pretending Ollie wasn’t there, something difficult to do under any circumstances. A voice from the bedroom doorway startled Kurtz, echoing as it did his own earlier question, â€Å"Who’s in charge here?† Monoghan asked. Same stupid question from another jackass who should know better, Ollie thought. In this city, the detective catching the squeal was the cop officially investigating the case from that moment on. Detective Monoghan, his partner Detective Monroe, and various other detectives from the Homicide Division were sent to the scene of any murder in their bailiwick, to serve in a so-called advisory and supervisory capacity. The reason for their existence was that this city was a bureaucratic monolith that cost more to run than the entire nation of Zaire. In this city, ten people were necessary to do the job of one person. What this city did was hire high school drop-outs, put them in suits, and then teach them how to greet the public with blank stares on their faces. In this city, if you needed a copy of, say, your birth certificate or your driver’s license, you stood on line for an hour and a half while some nitwit pretended to be operating a computer. You read "The Last Dance Chapter Four" in category "Essay examples" When he or she finally located what you were there for, you had to go over to the post office and stand on line for another hour and a half to purchase a money order to pay for it. That was because in this city, municipal employees weren’t allowed to accept cash, personal checks, or credit cards. This was because the city fathers knew the caliber of the people who were featherbedding throughout the entire system, knew that cash would disappear in a wink, knew that credit cards would be cloned, knew that personal checks would somehow end up in private bank accounts hither and yon. That’s why all those people behind municipal counters gave you such hostile stares. They were angry at the system because they couldn’t steal from it. Or maybe they were pissed off because they couldn’t qualify for more lucrative jobs like security officers at any of the city’s jails, where an ambitious man could earn a goodly amount of unreportable cash by smuggling in dope to the inmates. Monoghan and Monroe were necessary to such a system. Without two jackasses here to tell an experienced detective like Ollie how to do his job, the system would fall apart in a minute and a half. The Homicide dicks knew damn well who was in charge here. Oliver Wendell Weeks was in charge here. It bothered them, too, that in days of yore, the Homicide Division in this city had merited the measure of respect it now enjoyed only on television. Nowadays, Homicide’s proud tradition was vestigial at best. All that remained of its elegant past were the black suits Homicide cops still wore, the color of death, the color of murder itself. Both Monoghan and Monroe were wearing black on this dismal November afternoon. They looked as if they were on their way to a funeral home to tell some Irish mick like themselves how sorry they were that Paddy O’Toole had kicked the bucket, poor drunken soul. The consistent thing about Ollie Weeks was that he hated everyone, regardless of race, creed, or color. Ollie was a consummate bigot. Without even knowing it. â€Å"These two Irishmen walk out of a bar?† he said. â€Å"Yeah?† Monoghan said. â€Å"It could happen,† Ollie said, and shrugged. Neither Monoghan nor Monroe laughed. Kurtz, the fuckin Nazi, laughed, but he tried to hide it by blowing his nose again, because to tell the truth these two big Irish cops scared hell out of him. He guessed Ollie was of English descent, or he wouldn’t have told such a joke to two Irishmen dressed like morticians and looking somewhat red in the face to begin with. â€Å"What is that, some kind of ethnic slur?† Monoghan asked. â€Å"Some kind of stereotypical innuendo?† Monroe asked. â€Å"Is she dead or not?† Ollie asked the ME, changing the subject because these two Irish jackasses seemed to be getting touchy about their drunken cronies. â€Å"Yes, she’s dead,† Kurtz said. â€Å"Would you wish to venture a guess as to the cause?† Ollie said, this time trying to sound like a sarcastic British barrister, but it still came out as W. C. Fields. â€Å"Coroner’s Office’11 send you a report,† Kurtz said, thinking he could ace the Big O, but Ollie merely smiled. â€Å"I can’t blame you for being so cautious,† he said, â€Å"knife stickin out of her chest and all.† Fuck you, Fat Boy, the ME thought, but he blew his nose instead and walked out. The Homicide dicks wandered around the apartment looking grouchy. Ollie guessed they were still smarting over his Irish joke, which he thought was a pretty good one, hey, if you can’t take a joke, go fuck yourself. There were enough personal items around the place – an engagement calendar, an address book, bras and panties in the dresser – to convince Ollie that the girl lived here and wasn’t just visiting whoever had juked her. The super of the building confirmed this a few minutes later when he came upstairs to see how the investigation was coming along. One thing Ollie hated – among other things he hated – was amateur detectives sticking their noses in police work. He asked the super what the girl’s name was, and the super told him she was Althea Cleary, and that she’d been living here since May sometime. He thought she was from Ohio or someplace like that. Idaho maybe. Iowa. Someplace like that. Ollie thanked him for the val uable information and his citizenly concern and ushered him out of the apartment. One of the responding blues told him the lady who’d phoned the police was in the hall outside waiting to talk to him, was it okay to let her in? â€Å"What makes you think it wouldn’t be okay?† Ollie asked. â€Å"Well, it being a crime scene and all.† â€Å"That’s very good thinking,† Ollie said, and smiled enigmatically. â€Å"Show her in.† The woman was in her late fifties, Ollie guessed, wearing a green cardigan sweater and a brown woolen skirt. She told Ollie that she and Althea were friends, and that she’d knocked on her door around two o’clock to see if she wanted to go down for a cappuccino. â€Å"I work at home,† the woman said. â€Å"And Althea was home a lot, too. So sometimes, we walked over to Starbucks for cappuccino.† â€Å"What is it you do?† Ollie asked. â€Å"At home, I mean.† â€Å"Well, I teach piano,† she said. â€Å"I always wanted to play piano,† Ollie said. â€Å"Could you teach me five songs?† â€Å"I’m sorry?† â€Å"I want to learn five songs. I want to play five songs like a pro. Then when I go to a party, I can sit down and play the five songs and everybody’11 think I know how to play piano.† â€Å"Well, if you can play five songs, then actually you are playing the piano, aren’t you?† Ollie hated smart-ass women, even if they knew how to play piano. â€Å"Sure,† he said, â€Å"but I mean they’ll think I know more than just the five songs.† â€Å"I suppose I could teach you five songs,† the woman said. â€Å"Have you got a card or anything?† â€Å"Don’t you want to know about Althea?† â€Å"Sure, I do. Have you got a card? I’ll give you a call, you can teach me five songs sometime. Do you know ‘Night and Day’?† â€Å"Yes, I do. You should understand, however †¦ I normally teach classical piano. To children, mostly.† â€Å"That’s okay, all I want is five songs.† â€Å"Well,† the woman said, and sighed, and opened her handbag. She fished in it for a card, found one, and handed it to Ollie. The name on the card was Helen Hobson. â€Å"How much do you charge?† he asked. â€Å"We can discuss that,† she said. â€Å"Maybe you can give me a flat rate for just the five songs,† he said. â€Å"Did she work nights or what?† His change of direction was so abrupt that Helen actually blinked. â€Å"You said she was home a lot,† Ollie said. â€Å"Oh, yes. She worked nights. At the telephone company.† Ollie hated the telephone company. He could easily imagine some irritated subscriber stabbing Althea Cleary in the chest half a dozen times. â€Å"I liked her a lot,† Helen said. â€Å"She was a very nice person.† â€Å"Who you used to have cappuccino with every now and then.† â€Å"Almost every day.† â€Å"But today when you went down, you found her dead.† â€Å"The door was open,† Helen said, nodding. â€Å"Standing wide open, you mean?† â€Å"No, just a crack. I thought this was odd. I called Althea’s name, and when I got no answer, I walked in. She was in the kitchen. On the floor there.† â€Å"What’d you do then?† â€Å"I went up to my own apartment and called the police.† â€Å"What time was this, Miss Hobson?† â€Å"A little after two. My lesson ended at two, I don’t have another one till four. So I came down to see if Althea wanted to come with me to Starbucks.† â€Å"How’d you come down?† â€Å"By the stairs. I’m only one flight up.† â€Å"See anybody on the way down?† â€Å"No one.† â€Å"Anybody outside her apartment?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"When did you notice the door was open?† â€Å"Immediately.† â€Å"Before you knocked or anything?† â€Å"I didn’t knock at all. I saw the door standing open maybe an inch or two, so I called her name, and went in.† â€Å"Thanks, Miss Hobson, we appreciate your help,† he said. â€Å"I’ll call you about the lessons. All I want to learn is five songs.† â€Å"Yes, I understand.† â€Å"‘Night and Day,’ and four others. So I can impress people.† â€Å"I’m sure they’ll be very impressed.† â€Å"Hey, tell me about it,† Ollie said. â€Å"You got this under control here?† Monoghan asked. â€Å"Soon as the technicians get here,† Ollie said. â€Å"What’s holding up traffic? Is the Pope in town or something?† â€Å"You gonna tell a Pope joke now?† â€Å"I only know one Pope joke,† Ollie said. â€Å"Maybe this lady here can teach you four more,† Monroe said. â€Å"Then you can really impress people. You can play five songs on the piano, tell five Pope jokes, and maybe five Irish jokes if there are any Irishmen in the crowd.† â€Å"Sounds like a good idea,† Ollie said. â€Å"You know four Pope jokes, Miss Hobson?† â€Å"I don’t know any Pope jokes at all,† she said. â€Å"I need four more Pope jokes,† Ollie said. â€Å"I’ll have to get them someplace else, I guess.† â€Å"Can I leave now?† she asked. â€Å"You want some advice?† Monroe said. â€Å"Sure, what’s that?† Ollie said. â€Å"There are lots of Irishmen on the job. I wouldn’t go telling any more Irish jokes, I was you.† â€Å"Gee, is that your advice?† â€Å"That’s our advice,† Monroe said. â€Å"You think telling Irish jokes might be politically incorrect, huh?† â€Å"It might be downright dangerous,† Monroe said. â€Å"Gee, I hope that’s not a threat,† Ollie said. â€Å"It ain’t a threat, but you can take it as one if you wish.† â€Å"Can I leave now?† Helen said again. â€Å"Cause you know,† Ollie said, â€Å"I don’t give a rat’s ass about what’s politically correct or what ain’t. All I want to do is learn my five songs and my five Pope jokes, is all I want to do, and maybe in my spare time find out who stabbed this little girl. So if you got no further advice to dispense here . . .† â€Å"Is it all right if I go?† Helen asked. â€Å"Go already, lady,† Monoghan said. â€Å"Thank you, Officers,† she said, and hurried out of the apartment. â€Å"What if I told you I myself was Irish?† Ollie asked. â€Å"I wouldn’t believe you,† Monroe said. â€Å"Why? Cause I ain’t drunk?† â€Å"That’s the kind of remark can get you in trouble,† Monoghan said, wagging his finger under Ollie’s nose. â€Å"I once bit off a guy’s finger, was doing that,† Ollie said, and grinned like a shark. â€Å"Bite this a while,† Monoghan said. â€Å"Good thing the piano teacher’s already gone,† Ollie said, shaking his head in dismay. â€Å"Who’s in charge here?† one of the technicians asked from the doorway. â€Å"Well look who’s here!† Ollie said. â€Å"Keep us advised,† Monoghan said. You fat bastard, he thought, but did not say. That Wednesday morning, at a few minutes past eleven, Arthur Brown knocked on the door to Cynthia Keating’s apartment. â€Å"Yes, who is it?† she asked. â€Å"Police,† Brown said. â€Å"Oh,† she said. There was a long silence. â€Å"Just a minute,† she said. They heard a latch turning, tumblers falling. The door opened a crack, held by a security chain. Cynthia peered out at them. â€Å"I don’t know you,† she said. Brown held up his shield. â€Å"Detective Brown,† he said. â€Å"Eighty-seventh Squad.† â€Å"I already spoke to the others,† she said. â€Å"We have a few more questions, ma’am.† â€Å"Is this legal?† â€Å"May we come in, please?† â€Å"Just a second,† she said, and closed the door to take off the chain. She opened it again, said, â€Å"Come in,† and preceded them into the apartment. â€Å"This better be legal,† she said. â€Å"Ma’am,† Kling said, â€Å"do you know a man named John Bridges?† â€Å"No. Let me see your badge, too,† she said. Kling fished out a small leather holder, and flashed the gold and blue-enameled shield. â€Å"Excuse me,† she said, and went directly to the telephone on the kitchen wall. She dialed a number, waited, listening, and then said, â€Å"Mr Alexander, please. Cynthia Keating.† She waited again. â€Å"Todd,† she said, â€Å"the police are here. What’s your advice?† She listened again, nodded, kept listening, finally said, â€Å"Thanks, Todd, talk to you,† and hung up. â€Å"Gentlemen,† she said, â€Å"unless you have a warrant for my arrest, my attorney suggests you take a walk.† There was something very comforting about being alone at last in the dead girl’s apartment. First of all, the silence. This city, the one thing you could never find anyplace was peace and quiet. There were always sirens going, day and night, police or ambulance, and there were car horns honking, mostly taxicabs, foreigners from India or Pakistan leaning on their horns day and night because they were remembering how fast their camels used to race across the desert sands where there were no traffic lights. Noisiest damn city in the entire universe, this city. Ollie much preferred the silence here in the dead girl’s apartment. He sometimes felt if he hung around a dead person’s apartment long enough, he would pick up the vibrations of the killer. Get into his or her skin somehow. He had read a story once – he hated reading – where the theory was the image of a person’s murderer would be left on the person’s eyeballs, the retina, whatever. Total bullshit. But the silence in a victim’s apartment was almost palpable, and he gave real credence to the notion that if he stood there long enough, in the silence, the vibrations of the killer would seep into his bones, though to tell the truth this had never happened to him. Nonetheless, he stood stock still at the foot of the dead girl’s bed now, imagining her as he’d first seen her on the kitchen floor, knife in her chest, trying to feel what the killer had felt while he was stabbing her, trying to get into his skin. Nothing happened. Ollie sighed, farted, and began his solitary search of Althea Clearyâ€℠¢s apartment. What he hoped he definitely would not find was her parents’ names. He did not want to have to call them personally and tell them their daughter was dead. He wasn’t good at such stuff. To Ollie, when a person was dead he was dead, and you didn’t go around wringing your hands or tearing out your hair. He couldn’t think of a single dead person he missed, including his own mothe and father. He guessed if his sister Isabelle died, he woul miss her a little, but not enough to be the one who got u and said some kind words about her at the funeral servic because to tell the truth he couldn’t think of a single kini thing he might care to say about her, dead or alive. Lik most living people, Isabelle Weeks was a pain in the ass She once told him he was a bigot. He told her to go fuel herself, girlfriend. He had already looked through the dead girl’s addres book and appointment calendar, but he hadn’t found an; listings for anybody named Cleary. There were a fev names for people in Montana, which wasn’t either Ohi( or Idaho or Iowa as the super had guessed, but thes weren't Clearys, and he didn't plan on calling somebody in Montana just to find out if they were related to ; dead black girl he didn't want to tell them about in th( first place. Her appointment calendar wasn't much help either. She probably was new here in the city, whicl maybe explained why she had cappuccino all the time with the lady upstairs who taught piano. Ollie woulc have to give her a call. Night and Day, he thought And maybe Satisfaction, which was one of his favorite songs, too. He went to the girl’s dresser now, and opened the top drawer, looking for he didn’t know what, anything thai would tell him something about either her or whoever had been with her on the night she died. There were cops who went by the book, canvassed the neighborhood first, asked Leroy and Luis, Carmen and Clarisse did they see anybody going in or out of the apartment, but up here in Zimbabwe West, nobody ever saw nothing if you were a cop. Anyway, he preferred getting to know the vie first, and then getting to know whoever knew her. Besides, Ollie liked dead people much better than he did most living ones. Dead people didn’t give you any trouble. You went into a dead person’s apartment, you didn’t have to worry about farting or belching. Also, if the vie was a girl, you could handle her panties or panty hose – like he was doing now – without anybody thinking you were some kind of pervert. Ollie sniffed the crotch of a pair of red pan ties, which was actually good police work because it would tell him was the girl a clean person or somebody who just dropped panties she had worn right back in the drawer without rinsing them out. They smelled fresh and clean. Being in her apartment, sniffing her panties, going through the rest of her underwear, and her sweaters and her blouses and her high-heeled shoes in the closet, and her coats and dresses, one of them a blue Monica Lewinsky dress, going through all her personal belongings, trying to find something, wondering what kind of person could have stabbed the girl it looked like half a dozen times and then left a fuckin bread knife sticking out of her chest, opening her handbag and rummaging through the personal girl things in it, he felt both privileged and inviolate, like an invisible burglar. Carl Blaney was weighing a liver when Ollie got downtown at four o’clock that Wednesday afternoon. It was still raining, though not as hard as it had been earlier. The morgue and the rain outside both had the same stainless steel hue. He watched as Blaney transferred the liver from the scale to a stainless steel pan. Personally, Ollie found body parts disgusting. â€Å"Is that hers?† he asked. â€Å"Whose?† Blaney said. â€Å"The vic’s.† â€Å"That’s all we’ve got here is vies.† â€Å"Althea Cleary. The little colored girl got stabbed.† â€Å"Oh, that one.† â€Å"What do you do here, you just go from one liver to another?† â€Å"Yep, that’s all we do here,† Blaney said dryly. â€Å"So what’ve you got for me?† Ollie asked. There was nothing Meyer liked better than to irritate Fat Ollie Weeks. The man was calling to talk to Carella, but Carella was down the hall. Meyer could not resist the temptation. â€Å"Do you plan to sue this guy?† he asked. â€Å"What guy is that?† Ollie asked. He had never sued anybody in his entire life. He figured the lawyers of the world were rich enough. â€Å"This guy who wrote this book with a lot of police stuff in it.† â€Å"What guy?† Ollie asked again. â€Å"This Irishman who wrote a book. You’re famous now, Ollie.† â€Å"The fuck is that supposed to mean?† Ollie said. â€Å"On the other hand, it does say in the front of the book that the names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.† â€Å"Wonderful,† Ollie said. â€Å"Tell Steve I called, okay? I got to see him about something.† â€Å"‘Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons is entirely coincidental,'† Meyer quoted. â€Å"Is what it says. So I guess it is just a coincidence.† â€Å"What is just a coincidence?† Ollie asked. â€Å"His name being so similar to yours and all,† Meyer explained. â€Å"Whose name?† â€Å"This guy.† â€Å"What guy?† Ollie asked for the third fuckin time. â€Å"This guy in this police novel written by this Irish journalist.† â€Å"Okay, I’ll bite,† Ollie said. â€Å"Fat Ollie Watts,† Meyer said, drawing the name out grandly. â€Å"Not that anyone ever calls you Fat Ollie,† he added at once. â€Å"They better not† Ollie said. â€Å"What do you mean, Fat Ollie Watts?† â€Å"Is the name of a character in this book.† â€Å"A character! Fat Ollie Watts?’ â€Å"Yeah. But he’s just a minor character.† â€Å"A minor character?† â€Å"Yeah, some kind of cheap thief.† â€Å"Some kind of cheap thief!† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Called Fat Ollie Watts!† â€Å"Yeah. Pretty close, don’t you think?† â€Å"Close? It’s right on the fuckin nosel† â€Å"Well, no. Watts isn’t Weeks.† â€Å"It ain’t, huh?† â€Å"It’s even spelled differently.† â€Å"Oh, is that right?† â€Å"I wouldn’t worry about it.† â€Å"On your block, Fat Ollie Watts ain’t Fat Ollie Weeks, huh? Then what is it?† â€Å"It’s Watts.† â€Å"Who the fuck is this guy?† â€Å"Fat Ollie Watts,† Meyer said. â€Å"I just told you.† â€Å"Not him The guy who wrote the fuckin book Don’t he even know I exist?† â€Å"Gee, I guess not.† â€Å"He’s writing a book about cops and he never heard of me? A real person! He never heard of Oliver Wendell Weeks!† â€Å"Oh, come on, Ollie, relax. This is just another Thomas Harris ripoff serial-killer novel. I wouldn’t worry about it.† â€Å"Does this fuckin guy live on Mars, he never heard of me?† â€Å"He lives in Ireland, I told you.† â€Å"Where in Ireland? In some booth in a pub? In some stone hut by the side of the road? In some fuckin smelly bogl† â€Å"Gee, I’m sorry I even mentioned it.† â€Å"What’s this guy’s name?† â€Å"I told you. Fat Ollie . . .† â€Å"Not him,† Ollie said. â€Å"The writer. The fuckin writerl† â€Å"I’ll tell you the truth,† Meyer said, grinning, â€Å"I’ve already forgotten it.† And hung up. The two men met in a bar at five that afternoon. Both were officially off duty. Carella ordered a beer. Ollie ordered a Harvey Wallbanger. â€Å"So what’s this about?† Carella asked. â€Å"I told you on the phone.† â€Å"Some girl got stabbed . . .† â€Å"Black girl named Althea Cleary. Eight times, according to the ME. Knife was still in her chest. Weapon of convenience. Matches the set in her kitchen. Thing that made me think of you was Blaney telling me . . .† â€Å"Which Blaney?† â€Å"I don’t know. How many Blaneys are there?† â€Å"Two. I think.† â€Å"Well, this was one of them,† Ollie said. â€Å"He told me the girl had maybe been doped. With guess what?† Carella looked at him. â€Å"Yeah,† Ollie said. â€Å"Rohypnol?† â€Å"Rohypnol. Hey, bartender!† he yelled. â€Å"Excuse me, but did you put any vodka in this fuckin drink?† â€Å"I put vodka in it,† the bartender said. â€Å"Cause what I can do, I can take it down the police lab, we’ll run some toxicological tests on it, see if there’s any alcohol in it at all.† â€Å"Everything’s in it supposed to be in it,† the bartender said. â€Å"That’s a good strong drink you got there.† â€Å"Then whyn’t you make me another one just like it, on the house this time, it’s so fuckin good.† â€Å"Why on the house?† the bartender asked. â€Å"Cause your toilet’s leakin and your bathroom window’s painted shut,† Ollie said. â€Å"Those are both violations.† Which they weren’t. â€Å"You’re sure she was doped?† Carella said. â€Å"According to Blaney.† â€Å"And he’s sure it was roofers?† â€Å"Positive.† â€Å"What you’re suggesting is a link to my case.† â€Å"By George, I think you’ve got it.† â€Å"You’re saying because they were both doped . . .† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å". . . and later murdered, there’s a link.† â€Å"Which don’t seem like too extravagant a surmise.† â€Å"I think it’s a very far reach, Ollie.† â€Å"Here’s your Wallbanger,† the bartender said, and banged it down on the bar. Ollie shoved his chair away from the table and walked over to pick it up. Watching him, Carella thought he moved surprisingly fast for a fat man. Ollie lifted the glass, sipped at it, smacked his lips, said, â€Å"Excellent, my good fellow, truly superior,† and came back to the table. â€Å"It ain’t a far reach at all,† he told Carella. â€Å"No? You’re saying the same person who hanged my guy may have stabbed your girl.† â€Å"I’m saying there’s a pattern here. In police work, we call it an M.O.† â€Å"Gee, thanks.† â€Å"Happy to inform,† Ollie said, and raised his glass in a silent toast, and drank. â€Å"There ain’t no vodka in this one, either,† he said and looked into the glass. Carella was thinking. â€Å"Questions,† he said. â€Å"Shoot.† â€Å"Do you have any evidence at all that Allison Cleary . . . ?† â€Å"Althea.† â€Å". . . knew John Bridges?† â€Å"None at all. But they could have met.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"Guy’s up from Houston, right? Out on the town, from what it appears, am I right? With a little help from his friends, he does a hanging, then goes out to play some cards on the weekend. Meets our little faggot friend Harpo, introduces him to his friends, too, here, pal, take these with you, they’ll help your sex life, tee hee. Meaning, if Harpo is ever bisexually inclined, he can drop a few tabs in a young lady’s drink, induce her to slobber the Johnson. Which is exactly what Bridges or whoever he is done two nights later to little Althea Cleary.† â€Å"Where do you think they met?† â€Å"Lady lives upstairs from her has cappuccino with her every now and then. Tells me the girl works nights for the telephone company. Okay, I’m prowling her pad, I find a social security card in her handbag. You want to know where she worked?† â€Å"You just told me. The telephone company.† â€Å"Yeah, but not AT. What I done, I checked the ID number on her social security card with Soc Sec Admin. Employer contributions on her behalf were made for the past six months to a go-go joint called The Telephone Company on The Stem downtown. Wanna go dancin, Steve-a-rino?† The last plane to Houston that Wednesday night, a non-stop Delta flight scheduled to arrive at Houston-Intercontinental at 9:01 p.m., closed its doors at 6:00 p.m. sharp. There were no Jamaicans on it. A dive called The Telephone Company, Carella didn’t know what to expect. Maybe something on the style of the Kit Kat Klub of Cabaret fame, telephones on all the tables, numbered placards indicating which table was which, girls phoning from table to table, â€Å"This is table twenty-seven, calling table forty-nine. Sitting all alone like that. . .† and so on. But when they got there at ten o’clock that night, the only telephones in sight were the house phone sitting behind the bar and a pay phone on the wall to the right of the entrance door. The joint was located on Lower Stemmler, all the way downtown, where The Stem became a narrower passage lined with meatpacking houses, the occasional restaurant, and an assortment of clubs featuring masturbaters in drafty dungeons; cross-dressers wearing smeared lipstick, high heels, and crude tattoos; raving teeny boppers in spangles and pinkish-green hair; pneumatic West Coast starlets thrilling to the big bad city or – as was the case here in The Telephone Company – an assortment of topless girls wearing thong panties and gyrating on a crescent-shaped stage. The detectives roamed around like casual customers. Smoke drifted in bluish-gray layers in the beam of follow spots illuminating half a dozen girls slithering restlessly across the stage, eyes slitted, tongues wetting glossy lips, imitation sex oozing from every pore with each insinuating spike-heeled step they took. If a man signaled from one of the tables below the stage, a wink of the eye or a flick of the tongue acknowledged that the girl would join him on the dance break, to negotiate whatever suited his fancy behind the plastic palms in a back room called The Party Line. One peek into that room told the detectives exactly what was going on back there. A bouncer gave them a look, but said nothing to them. A dozen or so men sat at tables below the stage, drinking, chatting among themselves, trying to look bored by the exhibition of all that flesh up there because demeaning these women was part of the joy of participation. Even the men who would never dream of taking one of these girls into the back room for actual sex knew that just sitting here while the girls displayed themselves was a way of telling them they could be had for a price – were, in fact, being had for a price, witness the ten-dollar bills tucked into G-string bands. The girls, on the other hand, perhaps to convince themselves they hadn’t already been broken by this city or the men in this city, told themselves that only a jackass would part with ten bucks to watch a girl bouncing her tits or bending over to spread the cheeks on her ass. Here in the spotlight-pierced gloom stinking of stale cigarette smoke and sour sweat, over the deafening roar of music blaring from speakers on pillars and posts, the detectives introduced themselves to the man behind the bar, who told them he was Mac Gordon, owner of the club. Gordon looked to be some six feet, three inches tall. His eyes appeared blue, but who could tell in the near-darkness? One thing for sure, he had a red handlebar mustache. â€Å"Did a girl named Althea Cleary work here?† Carella asked. â€Å"Still does. Should be in any minute now.† â€Å"Don’t count on it,† Ollie said. â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"She was murdered last night.† â€Å"Holy smokes. And here I thought this was about some kind of violation.† â€Å"What kind of violation did you have in mind?† Ollie asked. â€Å"Well, gee, how would I know?† Carella wasn’t here to throw a scare into the owner; all he wanted was information. Ollie, on the other hand, couldn’t resist being a fucking cop. â€Å"You’re not thinkin of the hand jobs in the back room, are you?† he asked. â€Å"I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, sir.† â€Å"Fifty bucks a throw.† â€Å"Not here, sir.† â€Å"A hundred for a blow job where the jungle gets thicker?† â€Å"I don’t know what jungle you mean, sir.† â€Å"Back there at the very back of the back room,† Ollie said. â€Å"All them fake trees dripping moss and shit.† â€Å"You must be thinking of some other place,† Gordon said. â€Å"Yeah, maybe. You didn’t see Althea taking some kind of Jamaican back there last night, did you?† â€Å"I sure didn’t,† Gordon said. â€Å"Guy with a knife scar on his face?† â€Å"Nossir.† â€Å"Who did you see with her?† â€Å"I believe she was talking to various gentlemen at various times during the night.† â€Å"Gentlemen, huh?† â€Å"Yes, sir.† â€Å"Talking to them, huh?† â€Å"Yes, sir. And sharing an occasional drink.† â€Å"Sharing a drink, I see. Did she happen to leave here with one of these gentlemen?† â€Å"That is strictly against the rules, sir.† â€Å"Oh, there are rules.† â€Å"Yes, sir, very strict rules. None of the performers here . . .† â€Å"Performers, I see.† â€Å". . . is allowed to leave the club with any of the customers. Or even to make arrangements to meet any of the customers outside the club.† â€Å"How many girls you got working here?† Ollie asked. â€Å"A dozen or so. Fourteen. Sixteen. It varies on different nights.† â€Å"How many were here last night?† â€Å"I would say ten or twelve.† â€Å"Which?† â€Å"Ten. Eleven.† â€Å"Are they all here tonight? All ten or eleven of these girls?† â€Å"I believe so, yes. I would have to check the time cards.† â€Å"Oh, you have time cards, do you?† â€Å"Yes, sir, this is a business establishment.† â€Å"I’m sure it is. Find out which girls were here last night, okay? We want to talk to them. You got a nice quiet place where we can visit?† â€Å"I suppose you could use my office,† Gordon said. â€Å"If you don’t mind the clutter.† â€Å"Gee, that’s very kind of you, thanks,† Ollie said. Carella wanted to kick him in his fat ass. The girls ranged in age from nineteen to thirty-four. That was because Gordon knew better than to hire anyone under eighteen. The mayor’s vigorous anti-vice campaign notwithstanding, Gordon was running a virtual whore house here, lacking only genital penetration to qualify for full statehood. Five of the eleven girls, it turned out to be, were white. The remaining six were black. Some of them were experienced, some of them were straight off the train from Oaken Bucket, Minnesota. Nine of the girls were single. Two of them were married. Even some of the single girls had children. Three of the girls had worked in massage parlors . . . â€Å"Where it can sometimes get rough,† a girl named Sherry told them. â€Å"Because doin massage, you alone with the dude, you dig? It ain’t like here, where they’s a whole buncha shit goin on.† When she laughed, she exposed a gap in her mouth where two front teeth were missing. â€Å"Which is great for givin derby, hm?† she said, and laughed again, and covered her mouth with a hand on which there was a fake emerald ring as big as all Hong Kong. None of the girls seemed nervous talking to two detectives. Carella and Ollie both figured Gordon was spreading some heavy bread among the neighborhood law enforcement types. Carella abhorred the widespread practice. Ollie considered it all part of the game, ah yes. Two of the girls had worked the hostess circuit. â€Å"This’s much better,† one of them said. â€Å"You never knows what you goan walk into when you take a hos’ess call.† Her name was Ruby Sass. â€Å"Mah whole name’s Ruby Sassafras Martin,† she said, â€Å"but I think Ruby Sass got pinch to it, don’t you?† She was a black girl with bleached blond hair, wearing a bra top and G-string covered with sequins the color of her name. Silicone breasts virtually spilled out of her top, but she paid them no mind. Instead, she puffed on her cigarette and sipped at the drink the detectives had purchased for her. She told them she was studying drama and dance during the day, which they believed was as authentic as her blond hair. She also told them she’d seen Althea go in the back room with three different guys last night. â€Å"Finely went home at two a.m.,† she said. â€Å"Approximate.† â€Å"Alone?† â€Å"Meaning?† â€Å"Meaning was she with anyone? What else does alone mean?† â€Å"Depends on whether you’re president of the United States.† â€Å"I’m not,† Ollie said. â€Å"Didn’t think so.† â€Å"Was she alone or wasn’t she?† â€Å"Let me tell you something about this business, okay?† Ruby said. â€Å"Guys who come here, they don’t want all the hassle of arrangements or commitments, you comprehend? They make they business deal, whatever it’s for, and that’s whut it is. So Mac tellin us don’t meet no men outside, don’t take no men home with you, that happens ony like once in a blue moon, anyway. Like some college kid with pimples all over his face falls in love with one of the girls up there dancin, he keeps stuffm bills in her gadget, axes her to go the back room with him. Kid like that, he keeps comin back for more, you play him like a fish till he finely works up the courage to ax could he go home with you. Then you tell him sure, but that’s gonna coss you, honey. By then, he’ll go along with whatever you say, cause he is yours, darlin, he is completely yours. You play it right he’ll become yo own personal muff diver and pay you for the ple asure besides.† â€Å"Does that mean Althea was alone?† Carella asked. â€Å"It means far as I could see, Althea left the club alone. Whether somebody was waitin outside for her is another matter. But let me tell you suppin else bout this business . . .† â€Å"We’re all ears,† Ollie said. â€Å"Most guys I know – and this prolly includes you – they have sex with a woman, the next thing they want is to go home and go to sleep. Especially sex a guy pays for. You ever pay for sex?† â€Å"Never in my life,† Ollie said. â€Å"Didn’t think you had to, handsome fella like you,† Ruby said dryly, and sucked on her cigarette. â€Å"But even with a freebie, your average guy today, he don’t want to wake up the next morning with some beast in bed, am I right? Or even some beauty, for that matter.† â€Å"I don’t mind wakin up with beauties in my bed,† Ollie said. â€Å"Then you’re different from the average guy we get in here. The guys who come here don’t want commitment, you comprehend? It’s as simple as that. They come here, they get they pleasure, and that’s it. So are you tellin me that here’s a guy who pays for sex in a whore house – is what this is here, you know – and then still wants more an hour later? What is this, Chinese food?† â€Å"You’re saying he won’t want more.† â€Å"Is what I’m saying. If he goes in the back room with a girl, that’s usually enough to satisfy him.† â€Å"What if he doesn ‘t go in the back room?† Carella asked. â€Å"Then he’d be too fuckin timid to ask a girl to meet him on the outside. Besides, why would she?† â€Å"Why wouldn’t she?† â€Å"Cause first of all, we exhausted when we leave here two-thirty, three in the morning. We’re on that stage shakin our asses all night long, hopin to snare as many ten-dollar bills as we can, but what does that come to? A hundred bucks maybe? The back room is where the money is. If we catch a wink from one of the tables, we go sit with the guy for twenty minutes while he tells us the story of his life and all we’re thinkin is do I buy a ticket or not, you want a hand job, a blow job, what is it you want, mister? Without being able to say none of this out loud cause he might be a fuckin cop, excuse me.† â€Å"You said Althea bought three half-hour tickets last night,† Carella said. â€Å"Thass right. An’ if that’s all the time she bought, then whut the boys wanted was hand jobs. Tickets woulda cost her twenty for the half-hour, she probably charged fifty, sixty to milk ’em. When we’re doin more serious work, ahem, we usually buy an hour ticket for fifty bucks, charge the John a full C for it. What Mac does is rent space to us, you comprehend? The back room is space, that’s all. He lets us use his stage to advertise our goodies only cause his customers drink while they watchin us.† â€Å"So if a guy went in the back room with Althea last night . . .† â€Å"Yeah, it woulda been a hand job. That’s what we buy a half-hour ticket for.† â€Å"Anybody follow her out? When she left last night?† â€Å"Not that I seen.† â€Å"Where were you when you saw her leaving?† â€Å"Onstage. It was the last dance. The last dance starts at two. The place closes at two-thirty, three.† â€Å"So she left before the last dance, is that it?† â€Å"Guess she’d made money enough by then,† Ruby said, and shrugged again. â€Å"How? You said a hundred is tops for G-string change . . .† â€Å"Well, a hundred, a hun’twenty †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Okay, and if she got fifty for each trip to the back room . . .† â€Å"Sixty be more like it.† â€Å"Okay, that netted her forty on each trip. That’s a hun’twenty plus the G-string money comes to two-forty. What time do you girls start?† â€Å"Nine.† â€Å"If she left at two, that was five hours,† Ollie said. â€Å"Divide two-forty by five, you come up with forty-eight bucks an hour. She coulda made more workin at McDonald’s.† â€Å"Not hardly.† â€Å"You consider forty-eight an hour good wages?† â€Å"Most nights we do better.† â€Å"If two-forty was all she’d earned last night, why’d she leave half an hour before closing?† â€Å"Maybe she was tired.† â€Å"Or maybe she’d arranged for somebody to meet her outside and take her home,† Carella said. â€Å"Is that possible?† â€Å"Anything’s possible,† Ruby said. â€Å"What’d these guys look like?† Ollie asked. â€Å"The ones who went back with her.† â€Å"Who knows what any of these creeps look like?† â€Å"Any of them look Jamaican?† â€Å"Whuf s a Jamaican look like?† â€Å"This one was light-skinned, with blue-green eyes and curly black hair. Around six-two or -three, broad shoulders, narrow waist, a lovely grin, and a charming lilt to his speech.† â€Å"If I’d seen anybody like that aroun here,† Ruby said, â€Å"Fda axed him to marry me.† That Wednesday night, the airwaves were full of stories about Danny Gimp and his two murderers. Slain stool pigeons do not normally attract too much attention. Unless they’re killed in a place as public as a pizzeria, in broad daylight, during a week when television was panting for something sensational to captivate the no imagination of the ever-salivating American viewing audience. The hanging death of a nondescript old man in a shabby little apartment in a meager section of the city was nothing as compared to two bald-faced gunmen striding into a pizzeria during the breakfast hour and blazing away like Butch and Sundance, albeit one had been black. In a city divided by race, even the racial symmetry was reason for jubilance. For here, if nowhere else, a black man and a white man seemed to have worked in harmonious accord to rid the earth of that vilest of all human beings, the informer. Danny Gimp, unremarkable and unregarded while alive, became in death something of an inverted martyr, a man made suddenly famous by his extinction. In a world where wars were given mini-series titles, Danny and his two bold slayers stepped out of reality into the realm of truth made to seem fictitious, achieving in the space of several days a notoriety reserved for mythical bad guys and their destroyers. Killers though they were, The White Guy and The Black Guy had slain The Rat. One would have thought, from the interest generated on television, that once the salt-and-pepper assassins were apprehended, they’d be awarded medals and a ticker tape parade down Hall Avenue. That Wednesday night, all five networks featured stories about Danny Gimp, the black and white shooters, and the similarly hued pair of detectives – Brown and Kling – who had responded to the call. The talking heads on the cable channels, babbling away on shows joining in their titles the words â€Å"pizza,† â€Å"shootout,† â€Å"terror,† â€Å"confrontation,† and â€Å"ambush† in various unimaginative combinations, endlessly debated whether a police informer was truly a â€Å"rat† as the term was commonly understood, why illegal guns seemed to proliferate at such an alarming rate in American cities, and whether it was politic or merely politics to have a black-and-white in detective team investigating a case involving a black and a white shooter. Thursday came and Thursday went. So did Friday and Saturday. And Sunday. And all at once it was a new week. In days of yore, the police department used to run a lineup every Monday to Thursday morning. Detectives from squads all over the city would gather in the gymnasium at headquarters downtown, where the Chief of Detectives paraded any felony offender arrested the night before. This was done solely to acquaint the people in law enforcement with the people doing mischief in their town, the premise being that the bad guys would continue being bad all their lives and it was a good thing to be able to recognize them on the street. Nowadays, lineups were held only for purposes of identification, the suspected perp standing on a lighted stage with five innocent people, two of whom were usually squadroom detectives, the victim sitting behind a one-way mirror hoping to pick out a winner. But there was also another type of lineup, and it took place on television news programs whenever the tapes from hidden surveillance cameras were shown. On the five o’clock news that Monday night, the surveillance tapes from the pizzeria cameras were run for the first time, revealing in all their glory the two bold gunmen who had sprinted into the place and sprayed it with bullets. Danny Nelson’s assailants were identifiable chiefly by race, but otherwise blurry to anyone who didn’t really know them. In any event, no one came forward. In a brilliant public-relations move, however, Restaurant Affiliates, Inc. – the company that owned the Guide’s Pizzeria chain – now posted a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the capture and conviction of the two gunmen who’d shot up their fine establishment on Culver Avenue. That RA, Inc. seemed more interested in the damage done to their place of business than to the untimely demise of Danny Nelson went unnoticed by television viewers and newspaper readers alike. Informers were admittedly the scum of the earth, the campaign suggested, but public places should not be submitted to wanton violence. Linking pizza to after-school sports and public prayer, the TV commercials and newspaper ads called for swift apprehension of the culprits and stricter gun control everywhere in this wild and woolly nation. In conjunction with the police, an 800 line was set up and strict confidence was guaranteed any caller. A newspaper columnist wryly commented tha t Charlton Heston had stopped eating pizza in favor of a Japanese dish called Shogun Sushi, a weak pun on â€Å"shotgun,† but this was the afternoon paper. The column caused no end of amusement among the executive types up at RA, Inc. Still no one came forward. In a bit more than three weeks’ time, the Danny Gimp case passed from intense media scrutiny to total oblivion. Thanksgiving Day seemed almost an afterthought. How to cite The Last Dance Chapter Four, Essay examples

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Dwight D. Eisenhower Essay Example For Students

Dwight D. Eisenhower Essay Dwight D. Eisenhower was born on October 14,1890 in Denison Texas. His parents were David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Stover Eisenhower. He had two older brothers Arthur and Edgar and three youger ones Roy,Earl and Milton. Predictions madein his highschool year book saw Dwight as becoming a history professor and strangly enough his older brother Edgar becoming President of the UnitedStates. Many happenings in Dwights life show leadership ability. In 1941 Eisenhower was appointed by the army to plan the stradegy for the Third Army in war games in Louisianna. He brilliantly defeated the enemy force. This performance earned him apromotion to general in September 1941. The U.S. enterred World War 2 in December of 1941. After Japans attack on Pearl Habor General George C Marshall ,Army Chief of Staff, brought Eisenhower to Washington D.C. to serve in the Armys war plansdivision. He was then named commanding general of the U.S. forces in the European Theatre of Operations. In July of 1942 Eisenhower became lieutenant general. Also named commander of allied forces to invade North Africa. The invasion resultedin the recapturing of the reigon from german and italian forces. Eisenhower became a four star general in February 1943. In all these campaigns he worked to create unnity between all the foreign commanders. Many americans viewd this to be a very difficult job. Eisenhower said Good leadership was not a matter of issuing orders but it was a matter of enforcing obedience instead. With Eisenhower having all the experience in leadership, many americans thought Eisenhower would make a great president. During the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower he was faced with many difficult tasks ordecisions. When Dwight D. Eisenhower was running for office he had promised that he would travel personally to Korea to astablish a truce. In the middle of the year 1953 he full filled this promise. In 1954 Eisenhower sent protection to South Vietnam in 1954in an effort to prevent its take over by Communist-run North Vietnam. He also launched a major federal public works program that established the national interstate highway system and the Saint Lawrence Sea Way. In the year 1956 he was forced to deal with his first domestic crisis, the violent reaction to the court ordered racial segregation in Little Rock,Arkansas. Nationalizing the Arkansas National Guard and sending in additional troops quickly restored peace. In 1961 Eisenhower cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in response to the Cuban Revolution of 1959. These are just a few difficult decisions that Eisenhower had to make during his presidency. The american public had faith in their president to make the right decison. Eisenhower had full suport from the american public. Donated By:Wade Hamilton

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Three Presidents Reform Policies 19011920 Essay Example For Students

Three Presidents Reform Policies 19011920 Essay The turn of the century, was a time in which politics was in shambles. The corruption in American politics was at an all time high. The so-called big business was overrunning a country, which wanted a real democracy, not government in which the people did not have a say. Although immigration was at an all time high, the country was in decline. The basis of the three presidents to come would be a platform for reforms. The reform policies of three presidents had an effect on an era. This man went to a nation in dire need of a leader, an optimist, and above all save the country from drowning in its own feces. The fact of the matter is simple. We will write a custom essay on Three Presidents Reform Policies 19011920 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Theodore Roosevelt, was a revolutionary when it came to the political field. He made the nation new again after fifty years; he put pride in the American heart. Granted, he may have made a few arguable bad decisions, yet he breathed life into a country that was suffocating itself. Theodore Roosevelt was a great American President. In 1890 the Congress of the United States passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, this act was passed to promote Compton in the field where there may be a monopoly, by breaking up the company (Lowman 372). But it would not be until 1902 that this Act would be put to use, when Northern Securities Company was put on trial (Lowman 451). Theodore Roosevelt was the President at this time, and earned himself the nickname trustbuster, because he used this tactic so frequent in his presidency. He put other policies in commission, which made it even easier to convict companies. One of these was the Expedition Act; the Act was put in place to speed up the antitrust cases in the courts (Lowman 452). But in reality, he did not favor indiscriminately breaking up all trusts. He eventually concluded that as businesses grew, combination was a natural development; he decided that the forming of trusts was in many cases the most efficient way to manufacture and distribute goods. He began to distinguish betw een businesses that were simply big and businesses that were actually a threat to the public (Lowman 452). In foreign affairs, Roosevelt was somewhat of a revolutionary. His Presidency was the one who acquired and built the Panama Canal. In 1850, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was signed, binding the United States to go into a joint venture with the British on Canal project. America got out of that treaty in 1901, with the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, giving the United States the sole right to build and fortify a Canal Zone. In 1902, America finally agreed on the spot to build the Isthmus Channel. It was in Panama. Only Panama was owned and operated by the Colombian government. Trying to get the portion of land needed, we sent secretary of state John Hay to Columbia. And in Columbia, Hay got a treaty signed called the Hay-Herran Treaty, this gave Columbia $250,000 annually and $10 million up front. All that was needed now was for each legislature to pass the deal; not America but Colombia turned this treaty down (LaFeber 193). This is where the infamous Talk Softly and Carry a Big Stick campaign came into place. He said of military encounters, There is a homely adage which runs Speak softly and carry big stick, you will go far'(Smith 56). Thus Theodore Roosevelt made history, with the refusal of the Hay-Herran Treaty by Columbia; Roosevelt put his plan to great use. He started a revolution in Panama. There had been problems in the past between Panama and Columbia. Including a 1901 scuffle in which the American Navy had to mediate (LaFeber 193). But given the fact that America could spare no more money towards the cause, Roosevelt did the next best thing protect the revolution in Panama. In 1903 America used their powerful navy to prevent the Colombian army from attacking the revolutionaries (LaFeber 193). Hay later inked the treaty called the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, giving America a ten-mile wide strip of land (as opposed to six in the Hay-Herran Treaty) for the same quantity of money that Hay had offered Columbia. .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc , .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .postImageUrl , .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc , .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc:hover , .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc:visited , .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc:active { border:0!important; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc:active , .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub6117ab5ee2711580029621bc7ae72dc:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Sister Carrie Coming Of Age EssayRoosevelt knew the United States had

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Addiction Severity Index

Addiction Severity Index The addiction severity index (ASI) is a brief, approximately one hour partly structured interview that is used to analyze the vital aspects of a person’s life that may lead to drug and alcohol abuse.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Addiction Severity Index specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The ASI was originally invented by a group of researchers in 1980 at the University of Pennsylvania’s under the leadership of Thomas McLellan at the department of Centre for the Studies of Addiction who has come to be recognized for its invention (McLellan, Cacciola and Griffith). ASI is a key initial step in development of a client’s personal profile for current or subsequent use. In carrying out the interview the interviewer should for a split second introduce himself or herself and clearly state the purpose of the interview, be it for clinical rationale or research rationale. If it’s for research the person conducting the interview should explain to the client possible gains she or he may achieve by taking part in the research. On the other hand if it is for clinical purpose, it should be explained at the initial step to the client so that it can form the basis of understanding for both the subject and the interviewer (Fureman). Structure of the ASI The structure encompasses seven areas that are used to gather information about the person being assessed. These areas include the following: a) General information/demographic Section This section helps the interviewer gather basic information about the interviewee of which most of them do not require clarification. b) Medical StatusAdvertising Looking for report on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is meant to gather the medical history of the client which includes chronic physical ailments, previous hospitalization and current medication. c) Employment /support Status This part is concerned with personal and basic information regarding the subject such as level of income, trends in income, nature of occupation, education level and so on. d) Drugs/alcohol Use This section entails acquiring information regarding the use and abuse of drugs by the client both currently and previously. It also outlines the consequences of drug abuse, treatment period, period of abstinence and financial burden associated with such treatment. e) Legal status Section. This entails any criminal involvements by the interviewee, legal charges, convictions and detainment, or whether there are any charges the interviewee is awaiting.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Addiction Severity Index specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More f) Family Social Status It expounds on the intrinsic family relation problems that may be affecting the client either because he or she is in drugs or due to other reasons u nrelated to drugs. g) Psychiatric Status Section It intends to acquire information regarding the client’s psychological and mental disorders. Importance of ASI The use of ASI is important because of it various advantages: for instance it is vital in diagnosis of alcohol related problems. Furthermore, it provides critical insight regarding a patient mental aspect and sheds light on how long and how often the person has used drugs. It also facilitates the process of coming up with tailor made treatment that meets the specific needs of patients. Finally, it helps in planning for logistical and procurement activities such as distribution of drugs. Because National policies require that all clinical information pertaining to every patient be recorded for purposes of present and future references, ASI provides reliable clinical information as required by such policies (Carey).Advertising Looking for report on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Carey, K. Reliability and validity of the addition severity index among outpatients with severe mental illness. Psychological Assessment. New York: T Head and Company, 1990. Fureman, B. Addiction severity index: a guide to training and supervising ASI interviews based on the past ten years. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1983. McLellan, A., Cacciola, J. Griffith, J. Addiction severity index: instruction manual. New YORK: Veterans Administration, 1983.

Friday, November 22, 2019

History of the Asian American Civil Rights Movement

History of the Asian American Civil Rights Movement During the Asian American civil rights movement of the 1960s and 70s, activists fought for the development of ethnic studies programs in universities, an end to the Vietnam War, and reparations for Japanese Americans forced into  internment camps during World War II. The movement had come to a close by the late 1980s. The Birth of Yellow Power By watching African Americans expose institutional racism and government hypocrisy, Asian Americans began to identify the ways in which they, too, had faced discrimination in the United States. â€Å"The ‘black power’ movement caused many Asian Americans to question themselves,† wrote Amy Uyematsu in â€Å"The Emergence of Yellow Power,† a 1969 essay. â€Å"‘Yellow power is just now at the stage of an articulated mood rather than a program- disillusionment and alienation from white America and independence, race pride and self-respect.† Black activism played a fundamental role in the launch of the Asian American civil rights movement, but Asians and Asian Americans influenced black radicals as well. African American activists often cited the writings of China’s communist leader  Mao Zedong. Also, a founding member of the Black Panther Party- Richard Aoki- was Japanese American. A military veteran who spent his early years in an internment camp, Aoki donated weapons to the Black Panthers and trained them in their use. Impact of Internment Like Aoki, a number of Asian American civil rights activists were Japanese American internees or the children of internees. The decision of President Franklin Roosevelt to force more than 110,000 Japanese Americans into concentration camps during World War II had a detrimental impact on the community. Forced into camps based on fears that they still maintained ties to the Japanese government, Japanese Americans strove to prove that they were authentically American by assimilating, yet  they continued to face discrimination. Speaking out about the racial bias they faced felt risky for some Japanese Americans, given their past treatment by the U.S. government. â€Å"Unlike other groups, Japanese Americans were expected to be quiet and behave and thus did not have sanctioned outlets to express the anger and indignation that accompanied their racially subordinated status,† writes Laura Pulido in Black, Brown, Yellow and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles. Goals of the Movement When not only blacks but also Latinos and Asian Americans from various ethnic groups began to share their experiences of oppression, indignation replaced fear about the ramifications of speaking out. Asian Americans on college campuses demanded a curriculum representative of their histories. Activists also sought to prevent gentrification from destroying Asian American neighborhoods. Explained activist Gordon Lee in a 2003  Hyphen  magazine piece called â€Å"The Forgotten Revolution,† â€Å"The more we examined our collective histories, the more we began to find a rich and complex past. And we became outraged at the depths of the economic, racial and gender exploitation that had forced our families into roles as subservient cooks, servants or coolies, garment workers and prostitutes, and which also improperly labeled us as the ‘model minority’ comprised of ‘successful’ businessmen, merchants or professionals.†Ã‚   Students' Efforts College campuses provided fertile ground for the movement. Asian Americans at the University of California, Los Angeles launched groups such as Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) and Orientals Concerned. A group of Japanese American UCLA students also formed the leftist publication Gidra in 1969. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, branches of AAPA formed at Yale and Columbia. In the Midwest, Asian student groups formed at the University of Illinois, Oberlin College, and the University of Michigan. â€Å"By 1970, there were more than 70 campus and†¦ community groups with ‘Asian American’ in their name, Lee recalled. â€Å"The term symbolized the new social and political attitudes that were sweeping through communities of color in the United States. It was also a clear break with the name ‘Oriental.’† Outside of college campuses, organizations such as I Wor Kuen and Asian Americans for Action formed on the East Coast. One of the movement’s greatest triumphs was when Asian American students and other students of color participated in strikes in 1968 and 69 at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley for the development of ethnic studies programs. Students demanded to design the programs and select the faculty who would teach the courses. Today, San Francisco State offers more than 175 courses in its College of Ethnic Studies. At Berkeley, Professor Ronald Takaki helped develop the nation’s first Ph.D. program in comparative ethnic studies. Vietnam and Pan-Asian Identity A challenge of the Asian American civil rights movement from the outset was that Asian Americans identified by ethnic group rather than as a racial group. The Vietnam War changed that. During the war, Asian Americans- Vietnamese or otherwise- faced hostility. â€Å"The injustices and racism exposed by the Vietnam War also helped cement a bond between different Asian groups living in America,† Lee said. â€Å"In the eyes of the United States military, it didn’t matter if you were Vietnamese or Chinese, Cambodian or Laotian, you were a ‘gook,’ and therefore subhuman.† The Movement Ends After the Vietnam War, many radical Asian American groups dissolved. There was no unifying cause to rally around. For Japanese Americans, though, the experience of being interned had left festering wounds. Activists organized to have the federal government apologize for its actions during World War II. In 1976, President Gerald Ford signed Proclamation 4417, in which internment was declared a â€Å"national mistake.† A dozen years later, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which distributed $20,000 in reparations to surviving internees or their heirs and included an apology from the federal government.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Alternative investments consistently provide higher returns as well as Essay

Alternative investments consistently provide higher returns as well as diversification benefits to client portfolios Discuss this statement highlighting the most common types of alternative investments - Essay Example e negatively influenced – no matter even the limitation in these products’ performance is high or low; the examination of the investors’ preferences under normal market conditions has led to the assumption that alpha returns is likely to be preferred as an investment tool instead of beta return. The nature and the performance of this investment product can be used in order to explain the increased interest of investors on alpha returns. However, under the influence of the current financial crisis, the attractiveness of alternatives and structured products has been reduced showing the strong dependency of investment decisions on the market conditions. In order to understand the increase in clients’ preferences on alpha returns it would be necessary to refer primarily to the characteristics of the specific investment; in accordance with Dorsey (2007, p.5) ‘alpha often is a virtual catchall for the return generated by an alternative investment that is not considered to be related to equity beta’. The above type of alternative investment seems to be preferred by investors – instead for the beta return; this differentiation on the investors’ preferences can be explained by analyzing the characteristics of the specific two investment products. The term beta return reflects ‘beta is the amount of return for a security or fund that is explained by its benchmark or component benchmarks’ (Dorsey, 2007, p.6); in other words, the main difference between the alpha and the beta return is that the former focuses on the factors influencing the performance of a specific investment while the latter r efers to the market prices in general. In this context, the alpha return is likely to be preferred by investors as it offers a clearer view on the potential performance of a particular investment; the identification of the price of the market to which an investment is related is of secondary importance for the investors of the particular market. From another point

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Research Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research Analysis - Essay Example The research took the form of Questionnaires that 300 teachers from different educational levels were to fill, aimed at judging their skills and knowledge, against their willingness to share the same skills and knowledge with their students, and the reasons that affected their performance in that respect. The following questions were to be filled in the questionnaires for data collection; To better analyze the data collected, an average number of the teachers with the same answers were to be categorized in the same class, from which the mean number would be taken as the representative of the actual status quo. Among the 300 teachers who filled the questionnaires, from all ages, sex and marital status, approximately 75% attributed the employers' judgment of their performance(s) on the remuneration they were paid. The same percentage (75%) of them felt motivated by an increment in their pay by their employers as a method of encouraging their individual development. 13% of the teachers indicated having timely, accurate, open two way communications with their employers. According to Pauline, & Fausel, (2007), pay in itself as the only method to compensate teachers for their performances could be deceiving.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Speech Analysis Essay Example for Free

Speech Analysis Essay In David McCullough’s June 2012 Commencement Speech You Are Not Special, he argues that no one is really special. In this speech he is saying that everyone is alike somewhere and somehow. Even though he is seems to be bashing the graduating class, he still adds encouraging words. Throughout the whole speech he continuously states that you are not special, but then ending the speech with saying, â€Å"You are not special because everyone is. † I argue that both McCullough and Sierra use the strategies of adding comparison, list, and emotion to make their speech and article convincing. An article in response to McCullough’s speech, Open Letter from a millennial: Quit Telling Us We Are Not Special written by a woman named Sierra on June 25, 1012. Her response argues that this speech is not appropriate for the graduating class who are ready to take on the world. McCullough’s speech should be aimed towards the parent’s generation. Sierra states that the parents are responsible for the problems their children face. In the real world the high school diploma is worthless. Comparisons are used in both McCullough’s and Sierras work. Sierra uses the comparisons to compare what we know now to our childhood memories, such as the tooth fairy. â€Å"We stopped believing in our own specialness around the same time we stopped believing in the tooth fairy. † She is saying that at a young age, we realized that we are not as special as everyone said we were. McCullough uses comparisons as well. In the beginning of his speech he compares the high school diploma to marriage. Unlike marriages, we cannot separate, divorce, from our diplomas, like we could our spouses. Both McCullough and Sierra use lists to persuade their audience. In Sierras article she uses list to show how as children and teenagers we depend on our parents. Stating that they do work for you, and then call you lazy or telling and teacher that an â€Å"A† is not good enough and the list continues. She uses list to get her point across. Rather than just stating one fact, she gives them all. In McCullough’s speech, he uses lists as well. He states that children have been pampered, fed, catered to, and so on. He uses this to get across that we have been babied our entire lives, so will we be prepared for the real world? He also uses list with statistics stating that somewhere someone is just like you. McCullough uses â€Å"There are 3. 2 million seniors from 37,000 high schools. † He continues on with the numbers of class presidents, swagger jackers, and pairs of Uggs. This is to get across that no one is different and there is always another person with the exact same thing as you. McCullough uses more humor. This makes the speech less offensive to the audience. While reading this speech you don’t notice the humor much, but when actually viewing the speech it is more humorous to the crowd. What some might think is humorous others might not. In conclusion, even though both use similar strategies in their work McCullough’s article is more persuasive. He makes you actually think that you are not special by adding comparisons, lists and emotions.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Seven Years War Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Seven Years’ War The first true World War. †¦Cause and effects!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What would the state of the free world be today if the alliance of the war of the Austrian Succession had not reversed in the Seven Years’ War? Would we speak French, still be â€Å"New England†, or perhaps New Spain? The fact is that while we may not know for certain that today’s world would be different, you can rest assured that the Seven Years’ War set the tone in Europe, and more importantly in North America for the next half century. The history of the 18th century in Europe was always uncertain. In fact, the history of Europe will show that the fate of the continent, perhaps even the world, was always on the brink. Nations constantly were maneuvering for the upper hand looking to the highest bidder to choose sides with. The war of the Spanish Succession and the war of the Austrian Succession will show us that this new â€Å"world war† would be no different. The degree of uncertainty on the continent in 1755 is unparalleled. Russia, Bohemia, and even France and England could have swung in either direction. In fact France and England did change â€Å"loyalties† if you will between the Treaty of Aix-la-chapelle and Frederick’s invasion of Bohemia in 1756. Maria Theresa, although agreed to the aforementioned treaty to end the war of her accession, would always seek revenge on Frederick for the humiliation he had inflicted on her. If these loyalties or interests I should say hadn’t changed, what would the effect on the world be today? Would you or I be speaking some other language? French perhaps? The Enlightened Despots, Frederick? Was he? Maria Theresa? Hardly, Catherine had absolutely no impact whatsoever, and William Pitt, while he was an effective military strategist, was no despot, and surely not enlightened. Louis the XV, who was led around by the nose by Mme de Pompadour, was as ineffective as all the Kings of France would be after his grandfather. Britain obtained Prussia as her ally, but you might ask, why? Surely you can’t fuel Frederick’s massive army any more? Pitt the Elder argued though that while true... ... have none of that. The war would lead Prussia to the forefront on the European continent, however Britain clearly gained much more than any other did. France would not recover, and Louis knew all too well what lay in store when he said â€Å" After me, the deluge.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Works Cited 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anderson, Fred â€Å"Crucible of War†, The Seven Years’ War and the fate of Empire in British North America. Random House: New York, NY 2000 2. Durant, Will and Ariel â€Å"Rousseau and Revolution† The Story of Civilization. Simon and Schuster: New York, NY 1967 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kennedy, Paul â€Å"The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers† Random House: New York, NY 1987 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Leckie, Robert â€Å"A Few Acres of Snow†, The Saga of the French and Indian Wars. John Wiley & Sons: New York, NY 1999 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Margiotta, Franklin D., Ed. â€Å"Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography†, Washington: Brassey’s, Inc. 1994

Monday, November 11, 2019

Macbeth: A Tragic Hero

There is much debate to whether Macbeth is a villain or hero, but it truly is clear that Macbeth is a tragic hero based on that he has the fatal flaw of having too much ambition, he was doomed to make a serious error in judgment which was killing Duncan, and that he suffered greatly in order to accomplish what he believed was right. Macbeth’s flaw of his extreme ambition is demonstrated by how he kills Duncan, how he kills Banquo, and how he kills MacDuff’s family.He was doomed to make the serious judgment error that was killing Duncan, and he was condemned to do this because the witches prophesized it, his wife wanted him to, and he was unnaturally guided by a dagger to kill Duncan. Also he went through the death of his friends at his own hand and the death of his wife to achieve what he wanted to, and was willing to suffer for it. Macbeth showed that he had a fatal flaw, which was that his ambition was what mainly factored his decisions.This is shown when he killed th e King in his quest for power, when he killed his friend Banquo, and when he killed the wife and child of MacDuff. Early in the play Macbeth was told that he would become King of Scotland, and that really put the gears in motion for the terrible decisions he would make throughout the play. His first one was to kill Duncan, who was not only the King whom he had loyally served for a long time, but also his own cousin. He killed his own flesh and blood in order to get the opportunity to gain power.He figured that if he killed Duncan he would have a chance at being king, and he acted upon that thought. This thought process is shown in the quote, â€Å"If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature? Present fears are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is but what is not. † (Act1, Scene3).This showed that he knew what a terrible deed he would be doing, but that couldn’t stop his need to become king. Also, Macbeth killed his dear friend Banquo and even attempted to kill Fleance, Banquo’s son, in order to keep the throne. The witches prophesized that Fleance would become king, and Macbeth decided that he had already done so much to become king that there was no point in letting the throne leave him so soon, and that is shown in the quote, â€Å"I am in blood, stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go'oer† (Act3, Scene4).He decided that he had already hit the point of no return and acted accordingly. Finally, the fact that he killed the wife and child of his enemy MacDuff, proved that Macbeth was willing to cross any line to keep his spot as king, and would let nothing stand in the way of his ambition. The quote, â€Å"The castle of Macduff I will surprise; Seize upon Fife; giv e to the edge o' the sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line. † (Act4, Scene1), shows that Macbeth was willing to kill an innocent family to prove that he was not ready to be defeated.Basically Macbeth showed that his fatal flaw was too much ambition, and that was demonstrated through him killing Duncan, killing Banquo, and killing the family of MacDuff. Macbeth appeared to be destined to make the serious judgment error that was killing Duncan because when you take his ambition as talked about above, and that he was told by witches that it was his future to be king, that his wife thought it was the right thing to do, and that he even had hallucinations pointing towards killing him, it seemed like he had no other choice.First off, Macbeth was approached by witches who told him that he would become king of Scotland and that intrigued him very much, especially with his crazy ambition. He took this to heart and because he wanted to become ki ng and he now thought it was in the realm of possibility, yet he knew it would not happen legally, he was really left with just one option. This was despite that at the time he knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. This is shown by the quote, â€Å"All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! † (Act1, Scene3).This was just the beginning of the seed that would grow in Macbeth that eventually culminated into a plant of terrible things. Next, Lady Macbeth also influenced Macbeth, and that was presented in the quote, â€Å"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it. † (Act1, Scene5). This just showed how Lady Macbeth reacted to the situation as though killing Duncan was the right thing to do and that Macbeth would be greatly benefited from it.Lastly, Macbe th was influenced by a hallucination of a blood stained dagger that was meant to be stained by the blood of Duncan. One night Macbeth saw the dagger and didn’t know whether it was real or fake, and what to do with it, but then it became clear in the quote, â€Å"Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee†¦ †¦ I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell hat summons thee to heaven or to hell. † (Act2, Scene2) This showed how Macbeth was basically shown the way to murdering Duncan by the dagger.And from being influenced by the witches, his wife, and the dagger, it was obviously meant to be that Macbeth was going to make a serious judgment of error in killing Duncan. A tragic hero must have a capacity for suffering, and suffer because he believes in what he is doing, and because he feels both guilt and guiltlessness. Macbeth in my mind does fit into this category through all th e pain and suffering he experiences throughout the play after he murders Duncan. A quote that shows he is suffering is â€Å"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?No, this my hand will rather turn the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red. † (Act 2, Scene2). Macbeth is just realizing that what he has done is irreversible and he will never be able to get it off of his conscious. He therefore must have the capacity for suffering, and though there are many moments when he is unsure, I believe that he truly believes in what he is doing. There are also times when Macbeth feels guilt over the act he has committed and he is never really able to shake these feelings off, but he still gladly takes over as king and moves on in life, therefore showing he feels both guilt and guiltlessness.Again, the point is now raised that yes, he believes in what he is doing, but what he is doing is a terrible thing, and how does this make him a he ro? I believe that while Macbeth isn’t your typical hero, whether his actions were right or wrong he still meets the criteria, and it is on that that I’m basing the decision. Overall, it was clear in the story that Macbeth was definitely a tragic hero. He displayed his fatal flaw that was his insane ambition, he was destined to make the disastrous make of killing Duncan, and that he is  willing so suffer to achieve what he believes is right.Macbeth showed his ambition through killing Duncan, killing Banquo, and killing Macduff’s wife and child. His serious error in judgment of killing the king was always meant to happen because three witches gave him the thought, his wife wanted him to do it, and his hallucination even pointed him towards it. To sum it up, the debate over whether Macbeth is a hero or villain should be put to rest because it is quite evident that Macbeth is a tragic, tragic hero.