The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 6~8

Six Catfish's Story Was 'bout fifty year ago. I was hoboing through the Delta, playin juke joints with my partner Smiley. He called Smiley cause he don't never get the Blues. Boy could play the Blues, but he never got the Blues, not for a second. He be broke and hungover and he still always smilin. Make me crazy. I say, â€Å"Smiley, you ain't never gone play no better'n Deaf Cotton, lessin you feels it.† Deaf Cotton Dormeyer was this ol' boy we used to play with time to time. See, them days, bunch of Bluesmen was blind, so they be called Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Jackson – like that. And them boys could play them some Blues. But ol' Cotton, he deaf as a stone, a little bit more of a burden than bein blind iffin you playing music. We be playing â€Å"Crossroads,† an' ol' Deaf Cotton be over on the side playin' â€Å"Walkin Man's Blues† and a-howlin like a ol' dog, and we stop, go down to the store, have us a Nabs and a Co-Cola, and Deaf Cotton just keep right on playin. And he the lucky one, 'cause he can't hear how bad he is. And didn't nobody have the heart to tell him. So, anyway, I says, â€Å"You ain't never gone play no better than ol' Deaf Cotton, lessin you get some Blues on you.† And Smiley say, â€Å"You gots to help me.† Now Smiley, he my friend from way back – my partner, see. So I says I will get the Blues to jump on him, but he got to promise not to get mad how I do it. So he say okay, and I say okay, and I sets to sic the Blues on him so we can go to Chicago and Dallas and makes us some records and get us some Cadillacs and so on like them boys Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and them. Smiley, he had him a wife name of Ida May, sweet little thing. He keep her up there in Clarksville. And he always sayin how he don't have to worry 'bout Ida May when he on the road cause she love him true and only. So one day I tell Smiley they's a man down Baton Rouge got him a prime Martin guitar he gonna sell for ten dollars, and would Smiley go get it for me cause I got me a case of the runs and can't take the train ride. So Smiley ain't out of town half a day before I takes me some liquor and flowers and make my visit on little Ida May. She's a young thing, ain't much for drinkin liquor, but once I tells her that ol' Smiley done got hisself runned over by a train, she takes to drinkin like a natural (in between the screamin and cryin and all, and I had my own self some tears too, he being my partner and all, God rest his soul). And before you know it, I'm givin' Ida May some good lovin to comfort her in her time of grief and all. And you know when Smiley get back, he don't say a word 'bout my sleepin with Ida May. He say he sorry he can't find the man with the guitar, gives me my ten dollars, an' say he got to go home 'cause Ida May so happy to see him she been doing him special all day. I say, â€Å"Well, she done me special too,† and he say that okay, her being sad and me being his best friend. That boy was greased to the Blues, and they just wouldn't stick to him. So I borrowed a Model T Ford, drove over to Smiley's, and done run over his dog, who was tied up in the yard. â€Å"That dog was old anyways,† he say. â€Å"I had him since I was a boy. Time I get Ida May a puppy anyways.† â€Å"You ain't sad?† I say. â€Å"Naw,† he say. â€Å"That ol' dog had his time.† â€Å"You hopeless, Smiley. I gots to do some ponderin.† So I ponders. Takin me two days to come up with a way to put the Blues on ol' Smiley. But you know, even when that boy standing there over the smokin ashes of his house, Ida May in one arm and his guitar in the other, he don't do nothin but thank God they had time to get out without gettin burnt up. Preacher once told me that they is people who rises to tragedy. He says colored folk gots to rise to tragedy like ol' Job in the Bible, iffin they gonna get they propers. So I figures that Smiley is one of them who rises to tragedy, get stronger when bad things come on him. But they more than one way to get the Blues on you. Ain't just bad things happening, sometime it good things not happenin – disappointment, iffin you know what I mean? So I hears that down Biloxi way, round 'bout one of them salt marshes on the Gulf, they is a catfish big as a rowboat, but nobody can catch him. Even a white man down there will give five hundred dollars to the man bring that big ol' catfish in. Now you know people be trying to catch him, but they don't have no luck. So I tells Smiley I got me a secret recipe, and we gonna go get that catfish, get that money, and go up to Chicago and make us a record. Now I knows they ain't no catfish big as a rowboat, and iffin there was, he'd be caught by now, but Smiley need him a disappointment iffin the Blues gonna jump on him. So I spends the whole ride down there buildin up that boy's hopes. Cadillacs and big ol' houses ridin on the back of that catfish. We ridin in that ol' dog-killin Model T Ford, two hundred feet a rope and some shark hooks in the back with my secret catfish recipe. I figure we get us some bait on the way, and sho' nuff, I accidentally run me over two chickens got too close to the road. ‘For dark we down on the bayou where that ol' cat spose to live. Them days 'bout half the counties in Mississippi got signs say: NIGGER, DON'T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON YOU IN THIS COUNTY, so we always plan to get where we goin' ‘for dark. My secret recipe a gallon jar of chicken guts I keep buried in the backyard for a year. I takes that jar and punches some holes in the lid and toss her out in the water. â€Å"A catfish smell them rotten guts, they be there lickety-split,† I tells Smiley. Then we hooks up one them chickens and throw it out there and we sits back and has us a drink or two, me all the time talkin trash 'bout that five hundred dollar and Smiley grinnin like he does. ‘For long Smiley doze off on the bank. I lets him sleep, thinkin he be more disappointed if he wake up and we ain't caught that catfish. Just to be sure, I starts to pull in the rope, and ‘for I got it pulled in ten feet, somethin grab on. That ol' rope start burning through my hand like they's a scared horse on't'other end. I musta yelled, cause Smiley woke up and goes running off the other way. â€Å"Watch you doin?† I yells, and that old rope burnin through my hands like a snake on fire. Well, that it, I think, and I lets go of the rope. (A Bluesman got to take care of his hands.) But when the rope come to the end, it tighten up like an E string and make a twang – throw moss and mud up into my face – and I looks round and see Smiley crankin up that Model T Ford. He done tied the rope on the bumper and now he drivin it back out the bayou, pullin whatever out there in the water as he go. And it ain't comin easy, that ol' Ford screamin and slidin and sound like it like to blow up, but up on the bank come the biggest catfish I ever seen, and that fish ain't happy. He floppin and thrashin and just bout buryin me in mud. Smiley set the brake and look back at what we catch, when that ol' catfish make a noise I don't know can come out a fish. Sound like woman screaming. Which scares me, but not as much as the noise that come back out the bayou, which sound like the devil done come home. â€Å"You done it now, Smiley,† I says. â€Å"Get in,† he say. Don't take more than that for me, cause somethin risin up out the bayou look like a locomotive with teeth, and it comin fast. I'm in that Model T Ford and we off, draggin that big catfish right with us and that monster thing coming behind. ‘For long we got us some distance, and I tells Smiley to stop. We gets out and looks at our five-hundred-dollar catfish. He dead now, dragged to death, and not lookin too good at that, but in a full moon we can see this ain't no ordinary catfish. Sho, he got his fins and tail and all, but down on his belly he growin things look like legs. Smiley say, â€Å"What that?† And I say, â€Å"Don't know.† â€Å"What that back there?† he say. â€Å"That his momma,† I say. â€Å"She ain't happy one bit with us.† Seven It has the soul-sick wail of the Blues, the cowboy tragedy of Country Western. It goes like this: You pay your dues, do your time behind the wheel, put in long hours on boring roads, your vertebrae compress and your stomach goes sour from too much strong coffee, and finally, just when you get a good-paying job with benefits and you're seeing the light at the end of the retirement tunnel, just when you can hear the distant siren song of a bass boat and a case of Miller calling to you like a willing truck stop waitress named Darlin', a monster comes along and fucks your truck and you are plum blowed up. Al's story. Al was drowsing in the cab of his tank truck while unleaded liquid dinosaurs pulsed through the big black pipe into the underground tanks of the Pine Cove Texaco. The station was closed, there was no one at the counter to shoot the bull with, and this was the end of his run, but for a quick jog down the coast to a motel in San Junipero. On the radio, turned low, Reba sang of hard times with the full authority of a cross-eyed redheaded millionaire. When the truck first moved, Al thought he might have been rear-ended by some drunk tourist, then the shaking started and Al was sure he was in the middle of the bull moose earthquake of the century – the big one – the one that twisted cities and snapped overpasses like dry twigs. You thought about those things when you towed around ten thousand gallons of explosive liquid. Al could see the tall Texaco sign out of the windshield, and it occurred to him that it should be waving like a sapling in the wind, but it wasn't. Only the truck was moving. He had to get out and stop the pump. The truck thumped and rocked as if rammed by a rhino. He pulled the door handle and pushed. It didn't budge. Something blocked it, blocked the whole window. A tree? Had the roof over the pumps come down on him? He looked to the passenger door, and something was blocking that one too. Not metal, not a tree. It had scales. Through the windshield he saw a dark, wet stain spreading over the concrete and his bladder emptied. â€Å"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.† He reached behind his seat for the tire thumper to knock out the windshield and in the next instant Al was flaming bits and smoking pieces flying over the Pacific. A mushroom cloud of greasy flame rose a thousand feet into the sky. The shock wave leveled trees for a block and knocked out windows for three. Half a mile away, in downtown Pine Cove, motion detector alarms were triggered and added their klaxon calls to the roar of the flames. Pine Cove was awake – and frightened. The Sea Beast was thrown two hundred feet into the air and landed on his back in the flaming ruins of Bert's Burger Stand. Five thousand years on the planet and he had never experienced flight. He found he didn't care for it. Burning gasoline covered him from nose to tail. His gill trees were singed to stumps, jagged shards of metal protruded between the scales of his belly. Still flaming, he headed for the nearest water, the creek that ran behind the business district. As he lumbered down into the creek bed, he looked back to the place where his lover had rejected him and sent out a signal. She was gone now, but he sent the signal anyway. Roughly trans-lated, it said, â€Å"A simple no would have sufficed.† Molly The poster covered half of the trailer's living room wall: a younger Molly Michon in a black leather bikini and spiked dog collar, brandishing a wicked-looking broadsword. In the background, red mushroom clouds rose over the desert. Warrior Babes of the Outland, in Italian, of course; Molly's movies had only been released to overseas theaters – direct to video in the United States. Molly stood on the wire-spool coffee table and struck the same pose she had fifteen years before. The sword was tarnished, her tan was gone, the blonde hair had gone gray, and now a jagged five-inch scar ran above her right breast, but the bikini still fit and muscles still raked her arms, thighs, and abdomen. Molly worked out. In the wee hours of the morning, in the vacant space next to her trailer, she spun the broadsword like a deadly baton. She lunged, and thrust, and leapt into the improbable back flip that had made her a star (in Thailand anyway). At two in the morning, while the village slept around her, Molly the crazy lady became, once again, Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland. She stepped off the coffee table and went to her tiny kitchen, where she opened the brown plastic pill bottle and ceremoniously dropped one tablet into the garbage disposal as she had every night for a month now. Then she went out the trailer door, careful not to let it slam and wake her neighbors, and began her routine. Stretches first – the splits in the high wet grass, then a hurdler's hamstring stretch, touching her forehead to her knee. She could feel her vertebrae pop like a string of muted firecrackers as she did her back stretches. Now, with dew streaking her legs, her hair tied back with a leather boot lace, she began her sword work. A two-handed slash, a thrust, riposte, leap over the blade, spin and slash – slowly at first, working up momentum – one handed spin, pass to the other hand, reverse, pass the sword behind her back, speeding up as she went until the sword cut the air with a whistling whirr as she worked up to a series of backflips executed while the sword stayed in motion: one, two, three. She tossed the sword into the air, did a back flip, reached to catch it in midspin – a light sweat sheeted her body now – reached to catch it – the sword silhouetted against a three-quarter moon – reached to catch it and the sky went red. Molly l ooked up as the shock wave rocketed through the village. The blade slashed the back of her wrist to the bone and stuck in the ground, quivering. Molly swore and watched the orange mushroom cloud rise in the sky over Pine Cove. She held her wrist and stared at the fire in the sky for several minutes, wondering if what she was seeing was really there, or if perhaps she'd been a little hasty about stopping her meds. A siren sounded in the distance, then she heard something moving down in the creek bed – as if huge rocks were being kicked aside. Mutants, she thought. Where there were mushroom clouds, there were mutants, the curse of Kendra's nuked-out world. Molly snatched the sword and ran into her trailer to hide. Theo The shock wave from the explosion had dissipated to the level of a sonic boom by the time it reached Theo's little cabin two miles out of town. Still, he knew that something had happened. He sat up in bed to wait for the phone to ring. A minute and a half later, it did. The 911 dispatcher from San Junipero was on the line. â€Å"Constable Crowe? You've had some sort of explosion at the Texaco station on Cypress Street in Pine Cove. There are fires burning nearby. I've dispatched fire and ambulance, but you should get over there.† Theo struggled to sound alert. â€Å"Anyone hurt?† â€Å"We don't know yet. The call just came in. It sounds like a fuel tank went up.† â€Å"I'm on my way.† Theo swung his long legs out of bed and pulled on his jeans. He snatched his shirt, cell phone, and beeper from the nightstand and headed out to the Volvo. He could see an orange corona from the flames in the sky toward town and billowing black smoke streaking the moonlit sky. As soon as he started the car, the radio crackled with the voices of volunteer firemen who were racing to the site of the explosion in Pine Cove's two fire engines. Theo keyed the mike. â€Å"Hey, guys, this is Theo Crowe. Anyone on scene yet?† â€Å"ETA one minute, Theo† came back at him. â€Å"Ambulance is on scene.† An EMT from the ambulance came on the radio. â€Å"The Texaco is gone. So's the burger stand. Doesn't look like the fire is spreading. I don't see anyone around, but if there was anybody in those two buildings, they're toast.† â€Å"Delicate, Vance. Very professional,† Theo said into the mike. â€Å"I'll be there in five.† The Volvo bucked over the rough dirt road. Theo's head banged on the roof and he slowed enough to buckle his seat belt. Bert's Burger Stand was gone. Gone. And the minimarket at the Texaco, gone too. Theo felt an empty rumbling in his stomach as he pictured his beloved minimarket nachos going black in the flames. Five minutes later he pulled in behind the ambulance and jumped out of the Volvo. The firefighters seemed to have the fire contained to the as-phalt area of the Texaco and the burger stand. A little brush had burned on the hill behind the Texaco and had charred a few trees, but the firemen had drenched that area first to keep the fire from climbing into the residential area. Theo shielded his face with his hands. The heat coming off the burning Texaco was searing, even at a hundred yards. A figure in fire-fighting re-galia approached him out of the smoke. A few feet away he pulled up the shield on his helmet and Theo recognized Robert Masterson, the volunteer fire chief. Robert and his wife Jenny owned Brine's Bait, Tackle, and Fine Wines. He was smiling. â€Å"Theo, you're gonna starve to death – both your food sources are gone.† Theo forced a smile. â€Å"Guess I'll have to come to your place for brie and cabernet. Anyone hurt?† Theo was shaking. He hoped Robert couldn't see it by the light of the fire and the rotating red lights of the emergency vehicles. He'd left his Sneaky Pete pipe on the nightstand. â€Å"We can't locate the driver of the truck. If he was in it, we lost him. Still too hot to get close to it. The explosion threw the cab two hundred feet that way.† Robert pointed to a burning lump of metal at the edge of the parking lot. â€Å"What about the underground tanks? Should we evacuate or something?† â€Å"No, they'll be fine. They're designed with a vapor lock, no oxygen can get down there, so no fire. We're going to have to let what's left of the minimart just burn out. Some cases of Slim Jims caught fire and they burn like the sun, we can't get close.† Theo squinted into the flames. â€Å"I love Slim Jims,† he said forlornly. Robert patted his shoulder. â€Å"It'll be okay. I'll order some for you, but you can't tell anyone I'm carrying them. And Theo, when this is all over, come see me at the shop. We'll talk.† â€Å"About what?† Robert pulled off his fire helmet and wiped back his receding brown hair. â€Å"I was a drunk for ten years. I quit. I might be able to help you.† Theo looked away. â€Å"I'm fine. Thanks.† He pointed to a ten-foot-wide burned strip that started across the street and led away from the fire in a path to the creek. â€Å"What do you make of that.† â€Å"Looks like someone drove a burning vehicle out of the fire.† â€Å"I'll check it out.† Theo got a flashlight from the Volvo and crossed the street. The grass was singed and there were deep ruts cut into the dirt. They were lucky this had happened after the rainy season had started. Two months earlier and they would have lost the town. He followed the track to the creek bed, fully expecting to find a wrecked vehicle pitched over the bank, but there was nothing there. The track ended at the bank. The water wasn't deep enough to cover anything large enough to make a trail like that. He played the flashlight around the bank and stopped it on a single deep track in the mud. He blinked and shook his head to clear his vision, then looked again. It couldn't be. â€Å"Anything over there?† Robert was coming across the grass toward him. Theo jumped down onto the bank and kicked the mud until the print was obliterated. â€Å"Nothing,† Theo said. â€Å"Must have just been some burning fuel sprayed out this way.† â€Å"What are you doing?† â€Å"Stomping out the last of a burning squirrel. Must have gotten caught in the flames and ran over here. Poor guy.† â€Å"You really need to come see me, Theo.† â€Å"I will, Robert. For sure I will.† Eight The Sea Beast He knew he should return to the safety of the sea, but his gill trees were singed and he didn't relish the idea of treading water until they healed. If he'd known the female was going to react so violently, he would have re-tracted his gills into the folds beneath his scales where they would have been safe. He made his way down the creek bed until he spotted a herd of animals sleeping above the bank. They were ugly things, pale and graceless, and he could sense parasites living in every one of them, but this was no time to be judgmental. After all, some brave beast had to be the first to eat a mastodon, and who would have thought that those furballs would turn out to be the tasty treats that they were. He could hide among this wormy herd until his gills healed, then perhaps he'd take one of the females on a grateful hump. But not now, his heart still ached for the purring female with the silvery flanks. He needed time to heal. The Sea Beast slithered up the bank into an open space among the herd, then curled his legs and tail under his body and assumed their shape. The change was painful and took more effort than he was used to, but after a few minutes he was finished and he quietly fell asleep. Molly No, this wasn't what she had planned at all. She had stopped taking her meds because they had been giving her the shakes, and she'd been willing to deal with the voices if they came back, but not this. She hadn't counted on this. She was tempted to run to her kitchen area and gulp down one of her blue pills (Stelazine – â€Å"the Smurfs of Sanity,† she called them) to see if it could chase the hallucination, but she couldn't tear herself from the trailer window. It was too real – and too weird. Could there be a big, burnt beast lumbering out of the creek? And if so, had she just watched it turn into a double-wide trailer? Hallucinations, that was one of the five symptoms of schizophrenia. Molly kept a list of all the symptoms. In fact, she'd stolen a desk drawer version of the DSM-IV – The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the book psychiatrists use to diagnose mental illness – from Valerie Riordan. According to the DSM-IV, you had to have two of the five symptoms. Hallucinations were one; okay, that was a possibility. But delu-sions, no way; she wasn't the least bit deluded, she knew she was having hallucinations. Number three was disorganized speech or incoherence. She'd give it a try. â€Å"Hi, Molly, how the heck are you?† she asked. â€Å"Not well, thank you. I'm worried that my speech may be disorganized,† she answered. â€Å"Well, you sound fine to me,† she said, by way of being polite. â€Å"Thanks for saying so,† she replied with genuine gratitude. â€Å"I guess I'm okay.† â€Å"You're fine. Nice ass, by the way.† â€Å"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself.† â€Å"See, not disorganized at all,† she said, not realizing that the conversation was over. Symptom four was grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior. She looked around her trailer. Most of the dishes were done, the videotapes of her movies were arranged chronologically, and the goldfish were still dead in the aquarium. Nope, nothing disorganized in this place. Schizo 1, Sanity 3. Number five, negative symptoms, such as â€Å"affective flattening, alogia, or avolition.† Well, a woman hits her forties, of course there's a little affect-ive flattening, but she was sure enough that she didn't have the other two symptoms to not even look them up. But then there was the footnote: â€Å"Only one criterion required if delusions are bizarre or hallucinations consist of a voice keeping up a running commentary on the person's behavior or thoughts.† So, she thought, if I have a narrator, I'm batshit. In most of the Kendra movies, there had been a narrator. It helped tie a story together that was supposed to take place in the nuked-out future when, in fact, it was being filmed in an abandoned strip mine near Barstow. And narration was easy to dub into foreign languages because you didn't have to match the lips. So the question she had to ask herself, was: â€Å"Do I have a narrator?† â€Å"No way,† said the narrator. â€Å"Fuck,† said Molly. Just when she'd settled into having a simple personality disorder, she had to learn to be psychotic all over again. Being schizo wasn't all bad. Being diagnosed schizo ten years ago had gotten her the monthly disability check from the state, but Val Riordan had assured her that since then her status had changed from schizophrenic: paranoid type, single episode, in partial remission, with prominent negative symptoms, persecutory-type delusions, and negative stressors (Molly liked to think of the negative stressors as â€Å"special sauce†) to a much more healthy, post-morbid shizotypal personality disorder, bipolar type (no â€Å"special sauce†). To make the latter you had to fulfill the prerequisite of at least one psychotic event, then hit five out of nine symptoms. It was a much tougher and more subtle form of batshit. Molly's favorite symptom was: â€Å"Odd be-liefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms.† The narrator said, â€Å"So the magical thinking – that would be that you believe that in another dimension, you actually are Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland?† â€Å"Fucking narrator again,† Molly said. â€Å"You're not going away, are you? I don't need this symptom.† â€Å"You can't really say that your ‘magical thinking' affects your behavior, can you?† the narrator asked. â€Å"I don't think you can claim that symptom.† â€Å"Oh hell no,† Molly said. â€Å"I'm just out practicing with a broadsword at two in the morning, waiting for the end of civilization so I can claim my rightful identity.† â€Å"Simple physical fitness regimen. Everyone's trying to get into shape these days.† â€Å"So they can hack apart evil mutants?† â€Å"Sure, Nautilus makes a machine for that. Mutant Master 5000.† â€Å"That's a crock.† â€Å"Sorry, I'll shut up now.† â€Å"I'd appreciate that. I really don't need the ‘voices' symptom, thanks.† â€Å"You've still got the monster-trailer hallucination outside.† â€Å"I thought you were going to shut up.† â€Å"Sorry, that's the last you'll hear from me. Really.† â€Å"Jerk.† â€Å"Bitch.† â€Å"You said†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Sorry.† So without voices all she had to deal with was the hallucination. The trailer was still sitting there, but admittedly, it just looked like a trailer. Molly could imagine trying to tell the shrink at county about it when they admitted her. â€Å"So you saw a trailer?† â€Å"That's right.† â€Å"And you live in a trailer park?† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"I see,† the shrink would say. And somewhere between those two little words the judgment would be pronounced: crazy. No, she wasn't going to go that route. She would confront her fears and go forward, just as Kendra had in The Mutant Slayer: Warrior Babes II. She grabbed her sword and left her trailer. The sirens had subsided now, but she could still see an orange glow from the explosion. Not a nuclear blast, she thought, just some sort of accident. She strode across the lot and stopped about ten feet away from the trailer. Up close, it looked – well, it looked like a damn trailer. The door was in the wrong place, on the end instead of the side, and the windows were frosty, as if they'd iced over. There was a thin patina of soot over its entire length, but it was a trailer. It didn't look like a monster at all. She stepped forward and ventured a poke with her sword. The aluminum skin of the trailer seemed to shy away from the sword point. Molly jumped back. A warm wave of pleasure swept through her body. For a second she forgot why she had come out here and let the wave take her. She poked the trailer again, and again the pleasure wave washed over her, this time even more intense. There was no fear, no tension, just the feeling that this was exactly where she should be – where she should always have been. She dropped her sword and let the feeling take her. The frosty layer on the trailer's two end windows seemed to lift, revealing the slitlike pupils of two great golden eyes. Then the door began to open, not from side to side, but splitting itself in the middle and opening like a mouth. Molly turned on her heel and ran, wondering even as she went why she hadn't just stayed there by the trailer where everything felt so good. Estelle Estelle was wearing a leather fedora, a pair of dark sunglasses, a single lavender sock, and a subtle and satisfied smile. Sometime after her husband had died – after she'd moved to Pine Cove and started taking the antide-pressants, after she'd stopped coloring her hair or giving a damn about her wardrobe – Estelle had vowed that no man would ever see her naked again. At the time, she considered it a fair trade: carnal pleasures, of which there were few, for guilt-free cookies, of which there were many. Now, having broken that vow and lying in her feather bed next to this sweaty, stringy old man, who was teasing her left nipple with his tongue (and who didn't seem to mind that said nipple was leading her breast over her arm rather than jutting skyward like the cupola on the Taj Mahal), Estelle felt like she understood, at last, the Mona Lisa's smile. Mona had been getting some, and she had her cookies too. â€Å"You are some storyteller,† Estelle said. A spidery black hand crawled up her thigh and parked an index finger moistly on her pleasure button – just settled there – and she shuddered. â€Å"I didn't finish,† Catfish said. â€Å"You didn't? Then what was all that ‘Hallelujah, Lord, I'm comin home!' followed by the barking?† â€Å"I didn't finish the story,† Catfish said, his enunciation remarkably clear, considering he didn't miss a lick. Harmonica player, Estelle thought. She said, â€Å"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me.† And she didn't. One minute they were sipping spiked tea and the next there was an explosion and she had her mouth locked over his, moaning into him like a saxophonist playing passion. â€Å"You didn't see me fightin you,† Catfish said. â€Å"We got time.† â€Å"We do?† â€Å"Sho', but you gonna have to pay my way now. You done chased the Blues off me and I feels like they ain't never comin back. I'm out a job.† Estelle looked down to see Catfish grinning in the soft orange light and grinned herself. Then she realized that they hadn't lit any candles, and she didn't have any orange lights. Somewhere in the tussle between the kitchen and the bedroom, amid the tossing of clothes and groping of flesh, they had turned the lights out. The orange glow was coming through the window at the foot of the bed. Estelle sat up. â€Å"The town is on fire.† â€Å"It is in here,† Catfish said. She pulled the sheets up to cover herself. â€Å"We need to do something.† â€Å"I got an idea a somethin we can do.† He moved his spidery fingers and her attention was taken away from the window. â€Å"Already?† â€Å"Seem soon to me too, girl, but I'm old and this could be my last one.† â€Å"That's a cheery thought.† â€Å"I'm a Bluesman.† â€Å"Yes, you are,† she said. Then she rolled over on him and stayed there, off and on, until dawn.

Human Sexuality Essay

Teresita went to a fraternity party because she’d heard that this fraternity â€Å"really knew how to have fun† and she really needed fun after a disastrous academic week. She knew that some women had been taken advantage of at previous parties, but she put that out of her mind, as she downed one drink after another. Just when things were getting dull, the coolest guy on campus took her by the hand, led her upstairs and talked her into having sex. The next day, Teresita noticed that her vagina was bruised and bleeding. She barely recalled having sex, but knew who was responsible for her condition, and filed rape charges against him with the campus administrator. Phillip was alone on the beach. Midnight was his favourite time of day, there were no other people around and he could really enjoy the sound of the waves and smell of the ocean breeze. He was almost asleep when he felt two women sit down next to him. One of them held down his arms while sitting on his chest. The other woman pulled down his bathing suit and began fellatio. In spite of his struggling and his anger, he got an erection. Both women took turns sitting on his erection, and left him when they were done. Phillip was confused — he couldn’t tell if he had been raped or not. He knows he didn’t want to have sex with these women he didn’t know, but can’t understand why he couldn’t fight them off (they were both smaller than him) and why he had an erection. Monica is seventeen and has been having sex with guys since she was fifteen. Gary is twenty-one and heard that Monica was â€Å"hot stuff† in bed. They go out and have consensual sex. Next day, Gary’s friend tells him he raped Monica. Is Gary’s friend correct?

Keats Yearned to Transcend the Human Condition Essay

â€Å"Keats yearned to transcend the human condition but could only find a temporary respite from mortality.† Discuss. Keats, through his poetry, has in effect risen above the mortality which was so prominent in his psyche both temporarily and permanently. Much of Keats’s poetry can be seen as an attempt to explore Keats’ acute awareness and musings on the transience of human life. Coloured by his experiences of life and death, and ironically captured in his own sickness and early demise, there is evidence in his poetry which displays moments of visionary understanding of imminent mortality; albeit interspersed within the ambiguous poetry of a man struggling to come to terms with one of life’s most complex mysteries. Keats life experience was of upmost importance in forming this awareness. Contacts with death such as the death of his brother Tom at a young age, as with other members of his family, had a profound impact on the poet. ‘To Autumn’ displays this heightened sense of time and its passing. The vivid description of the transition between the seasons gives the reader an almost snapshot like vision of a moment at the end of autumn with â€Å"all fruit with ripeness to the core;† (I. 6) However we are subtly reminded that this atmosphere of â€Å"fruitfulness† and â€Å"warm days† may soon be destroyed by the â€Å"winnowing wind† of the imminent winter. By the final stanza of the poem, we are given the harrowing reminder of the ready to be slaughtered â€Å"full grown lambs† (III. 30) and the â€Å"gathering swallows† which signify that the new season is pending. At these times it appeared he found a temporary respite through exploring his tortured nature through his poetry. Ward describes poems he wrote in the â€Å"dark months† where he contemplated the subject of death as: â€Å"the only release; poetry itself was a kind of communication with the immortal dead, or of the dead with one another, and the and the poet a birdlike figure who escapes who escapes the bonds of the earth to join them.† (Ward 40) Poetry in a sense provided a method of relief and catharsis for a man surrounded by and near to death. However, Keats yearned to achieve a much more extensive release from the human condition than that gained through the writing of poetry. A letter to George Keats after Tom’s death displayed how this experience congealed John Keats’ belief in immortality: â€Å"The3 last days of poor Tom were of the most distressing nature†¦ yet the common observations of the commonest people on death are as true as their proverbs. I have scare doubt of immortality of some nature or other- neither had Tom† (Walsh 57). A letter to Fanny exposes Keats’ longing to extend his being beyond that of a mortal life: â€Å"how short is the longest Life- I wish to believe in immortality. I wish to live with you forever.† (Ward 359) Keats’ own, soon to be fatal illness surely emphasised the transitory nature of life. The final line of Keats’ Last Sonnet provides additional evidence of this fixation with the capacity for immortality: â€Å"Still to hear her tender- taken breath,/ And so live forever – or else swoon to death† (13– 4). This refusal to accept death and the end of his life is replicated with a powerful allusion to Greek myth at the beginning of ‘Ode to Melancholy’: â€Å"No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist/ Wolf’s- bane, tight- rooted, for its poisonous wine† (1- 2). Keats, immensely aware of his mortality sought to procure an escape, a means of escaping this doom. Where he was to subsequently find this was through the art of poetry. Ode to a Nightingale explores the relationship between arts and immortality. The nightingale’s song is used as a gateway into the immortal world; a world completely removed from the fleeting mortal one. With the song of the nightingale having been heard and admired by the human race for thousands of years, there is a sense of immortality in its melody which Keats envies: â€Å"Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird,/ No hungry generations tread thee down† (VII. 70- 1). Keats’ heartfelt anguish towards the nightingale is based on the belief that while the individual bird is mortal the species’ artform, that is song, lives on. Likewise Ode on a Grecian Urn, based on an intense meditation on art by Keats, further explores Keats’ interest in mortality, and the capacity which some forms of art have to escape it. â€Å"The theme of what is gone before is the arrest of beauty, the fixity given by art to forms in life which are fluid and impertinent, and the appeal of art from the senses to the spirit† (Garrod in Fraser 68). The artefact which has survived and is being admired for 2,200 years in a sense has a mastery over time which Keats as a mortal does not: â€Å"Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought/ As does eternity.† This admiration for art and the artist is furthered at points in his poetry, including in his inferring to ‘Old Meg’ as an, albeit at a more unassuming level, artistic person who â€Å"with her fingers old and brown.. Plaited mats o’rushes.† However, the assumption of Keats holding a steadfast and absolute belief in the capacity for a human to, by some means, achieve a form of immortality may be questioned. Ambiguities and paradoxes in many poems may provide suggest that while there is an obvious interest in the power to retain some form of mortality; this belief is not as unconditional as this. He constantly wrestles with the idea. One critic states that: â€Å"He has found no haven in the world. He is not the fanatic who lives within the mortal security of his safety, which is the security of dogma. Nor is he the dreaming savage who is insecure in his mortality and can thus only guess at heaven† (Pollard 118). This more balanced interpretation of Keats’ opinions can be seen especially in the latter parts of poems which may have begun with a positive emphasis on immortality succeeding over the power of time. In the final stanzas of ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ the whole poem is revealed as effectively a deceit. The nightingale is after all mortal: â€Å"a deceiving elf.† Perhaps Keats’ desire to come in contact with a more sensuous and perpetual world is in fact materialising in a fantasy: â€Å"Was it a vision, or a waking dream?/ Fled is that music: – Do I wake or sleep?† (VIII 79- 80). Similarly while ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ at first admires the ability of art to have a sense of permanence, this viewpoint transforms in the latter stages. The figures on the urn are, however beautiful, only an artist’s attempt to capture the human nature and event’s portrayed. The paradoxical nature of the poem means that the probing questions asked ultimately have no satisfactory answers. In searching melancholically for synthesis, Keats is conscious of how the concept of eternity is, and always will be, a mystery to us. Ode on Melancholy is another such poem which may substantiate claims that Keats acceptance that art and beauty may not be an essence which has complete immortal qualities. Mayhead (96) argues that this is the case: â€Å"The Melancholy Ode accepts the impermanence of beauty and joy as inevitable†. Keats understands that in a sense â€Å"beauty must die† (III. 21); not all works of art will be able to withstand the test of time. However for Keats art is, if not an actual way to achieve a level of immortality, then the best option he believes he can attempt. This agnostic awareness of the temporary state of human life at this point was heightened by his illness and imminent death. One of his final poems, ‘Sonnet’, perhaps most obviously displays this yearning to transcend the human condition, and an almost prophetic mention of how the poet will find this exemption from mortality: â€Å"When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain, Before high piled books† (1. 1- 3). Keats longs that his writing’s and creativity will, as a form of art, carry his existence to higher, almost platonic level. Whilst providing temporary respite the impermanence of the human conditions at points through his art, Keats through his works, has managed to further extend his influence far beyond his life on earth through his writings. Works Cited Fraser, G. S. ‘Part 3: Recent Studies.’ John Keats: Odes. London: MacMillan, 1971. Mayhead, Robin. ‘1: The Odes II.’ John Keats. London: Cambridge University Press, 1967. 95- 101 Pollard, David. The Poetry of Keats: Language and Experience. Sussex: The Harvester Press, 1984. The Complete Poems of John Keats. London: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1994. Ward, Aileen. John Keats: The Making of a Poet . New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986. Walsh, William. ‘3: The Development of Self.’ Introduction to Keats. London: Methuen and Co., 1981.

My Investment Choices Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My Investment Choices - Assignment Example Initial dollar estimates are encouraged; typically at this stage, however, they are not yet completely validated. On the basis of the strategic goals, it is necessary to consider three broad categories of potential integration (in the three central columns), and eventually, they place each major issue into one of these three categories, to reflect the level of integration required for obtaining optimized results (Camp, 2002). 2. It is possible to minimize "full integration" but accepts minimal integration. Selected corporate and staff functions will be merged and consolidated, primarily to achieve staffing synergies and cost-efficiencies. All strategic and day-to-day operating decisions will remain autonomous and decentralized, with agreed-upon requirements for reporting to the parent company (Reed-Lajoux and Elson 2000). Also, it is possible to minimize the integration of culture and organizational structure. Few initiatives or responses change the configurations or the environment of a company more visibly and dramatically than an acquisition does. 3. The main emotional and personal reasons to start a business is to obtain a high social position in society and respect. Many people start a venture in order to communicate with new people and self-actualize.

Articls Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Articls - Essay Example The expectancy levels have also been questioned on their validity on assessing the quality of healthcare. The piece wraps up by arguing that it is not warranted to argue that the US healthcare system is not quality (Docteur & Berenson, 10). Dickson’s article indicates that the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s move to ensure that the congress narrows the variations in the payments made to the service providers in relation to the services provided (Dickson 1). MedPAC also advocated that the cover also caters for hospice services for its clients. If these recommendations were to be adhered to Dickson argues that the expenses incurred by Medicare would indeed reduce, and the services offered to the clients would improve to a great extent (1). Dent’s article indicates that cultural competency has been defined in various contexts (1). The article emphasizes that quality healthcare cannot be alienated from cultural competency. When the heath service providers are able to relate to the cultural background of their patients, quality service can be achieved (Dent 1). The policies made in regard to healthcare must relate to cross-cultural contexts. Dent, Lowanda. â€Å"The Role of Cultural Competency in Eliminating Health Disparities†. Minority Nurse, MN 2005 Winter. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. http://www.minoritynurse.com/article/role-cultural-competency-eliminating-health-disparities Docteur, Elizabeth & Berenson, Robert A. How Does the Quality of U.S. Health Care Compare Internationally? Timely Analysis of Immediate Health Policy Issues August 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

Computer Sciences and Information Technology Coursework

Computer Sciences and Information Technology - Coursework Example Outsourcing aids in mitigation of risks, through pieces of training to employees by professionals, outsourced on subjects as catastrophes, hazards and prevention methods, and hence there are minimal injuries. Due to competition amongst companies, research on new products and services is very crucial, this entails introduction of new processing lines, improvement in service delivery, analysis and testing of the new products among others, All these requires the input of a third party and it will involve outsourcing as the introduction of the new techniques requires professionals (Belohlavek, 2007). Insourcing is a business model in which a company awards a contract or give a certain task to its’ own employees and hence work that would have been done by a third party is done in-house. Through the use of its’ employees in carrying out functions, there is the creation of a team of skilled personnel who understands the system better, this ultimately improves the efficiency and tasks are done well and at the right time. Insourcing also aids in the reduction of the cost of labor as insourcing requires the input of permanent personnel employed by the firm (Belohlavek, 2007). I.T portfolio management system entails the use of scoring model systems in rating projects whereby a list of criteria is developed whereby projects are rated on each criterion to yield attractiveness scores for each project and hence projects can be rated in relation to the attractiveness scores. There are different kinds of scoring systems; Celanese scoring model, Dupont scoring model, Exfo model and computer-based scoring model. Scoring models are very important and they are a source of data which is utilized in meetings whereby project attractiveness is compared to cut off criterion, thereby in portfolio review stage the outputs used in ranking the projects.Lack of physical evidence when testifying jeopardise the computer crime cases, relying on second hand information or hearsay may bring forth doubts on the evidence presented. If an expert use difficult technical terms that are difficult to understand to the jury or attorney when testifying, understanding of the evidence presented may be difficult. Use of unqualified experts in testifying a computer crime case is a great challenge as the expert lacks the understanding of the subject matter and may end up presenting substandard evidence moreover he/she may be emotional if provocative questions are posed, moreover they hav e no knowledge on the legal process (Belohlavek, 2007).

Christian Marrige Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Christian Marrige - Term Paper Example entire blame on themselves for anything going wrong, thinking they could have done something to avoid it and it was their own shortcomings that led the event to take place. On the other hand, persons with character-disorder will put the blame on everyone and everything other than themselves, thinking that it is their environment that caused things to go wrong and that they had no part to play in it at all. On a personal level, neurotic personalities suffer from a sense of inferiority, which leads them to become over-achieving individuals, who try to control everything around them and often over-compensate in all aspects of their lives, as they believe that they can, rather they should, always do more. Character-disordered personalities, however, have a sense of powerlessness; they feel that they cannot control anything and that no matter what they do, it is actually factors outside themselves that cause things to happen the way they do. Thus, the neurotics are constantly harming themselves by their actions, while those with character-disorder are harming those around them: the former blaming themselves and being hard on themselves, and the latter blaming those around them and being hard on others. On a grander scale of things, neurotics cause exasperation in those around them, however, with a little bit of help from their loved ones they can overcome this habit, as they are always open to growth; keeping in mind their low self-esteem, they are more open to the ideas and thoughts of others. Character-disordered people, however, are not open to criticism at all; they never apologize for their behavior as nothing is ever their fault – they always have some outside force to blame. Thus, it is very hard for the neurotics to fall in love as they find fault in themselves, whereas the character-disordered personalities simply cannot love because of their passive aggressiveness as well as due to their deflection of blame on those around them. The most marked

Loyalty Programmes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Loyalty Programmes - Assignment Example This dissertation aims to understand how loyalty programmes are designed and if they have been of value to the hotel and restaurant business. It is also acknowledged that the idea of "gift coupons" and "rewards" is losing its meaning in the mind of consumers because it has become such a common offering. Therefore, whether a loyalty programmes continues to really help business in driving its profits remains to be examined and will be the focus of this dissertation. The aim of this dissertation is to find out whether the implementation of loyalty programmes succeed or fail in the hotel and restaurant business and identify ways to design loyalty programmes that will succeed. It is said that 80% of sales is derived through 20% of customers (Lake, 2006). This has led to a plethora of customer-focused programmes created with the help of customer relationship management tools, to increase company profitability (Brown, 2000; Kalakota and Robinson, 1999; Peppers and Rogers, 1997). Such initiatives, aim to achieve customer retention through the use of loyalty programmes. The motive behind loyalty programmes is to establish customer loyalty by rewarding a certain frequency of repeat purchase by customers. As pointed by Uncles et al (2002): "Loyalty programs are schemes offering delayed, accumulating economic benefits to consumers who buy the brand. Usually this takes the form of points that can be exchanged for gifts, free product, or aspirational rewards such as air miles. Airline frequent-flier programs have been a prototype for many of the schemes" (p.28).However, there is no consensus on the definition of loyalty exhibited by consumers (Jacoby and Chestnut, 1978; Dick and Basu, 1994; Oliver, 1999). While some claim that satisfaction is an indicator of loyalty, others debate this point. Reichheld (1994) points out that despite being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" many customers still defect. In the UK, Oglivy Loyalty Centre found out that 85 % of its automotive customers claimed to be satisfied but only 40 % made a repeat purchase, and 66 % of packaged goods customers who identified a favourite brand actually ended up buying "another brand" in the recent past (McKenzie, 1995). Gremler and Brown (1999) point out that Federal Express, Pizza Hut franchises, and Cadillac dealerships have been able to forecast the sales from loyal customers with more certainty. Research on loyalty programmes in the hospitality industry is limited. Oh's (2000), work in this field, highlights that the concept of customer value is crucial for the hospitality industry. His study explains how perception of value by customers impacts pre and post dining decisions. According to National

Management information system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Management information system - Essay Example Confidentiality ensures that the information is not accessed by any person who is not authorized. Integrity ensures that the data is not modified or altered by unauthorized users and authentication deals with ensuring that the user is actually the person he claims to be. These days computers are used by everyone from banking to shopping and communicating with others. Though there might not be any secret information in your data but one would not want a stranger getting access to his/her information. Intruders often gain control to anyone’s computer so that they can use it for their attacks on other confidential systems. According to (Caldwell 175) computer security has five fundamental functional areas which are listed below: Risk Avoidance This is a basic security fundamental which deals with questions like unrestricted internet access, business engaging in risky activities and standardization on a desktop operating system. Prevention This consists of implementing security to the system in order to avoid any attacks. Complete prevention is desirable but not achievable. Deterrence It deals with the threats to information assets, consisting of communication strategies which are developed and designed to catch the intruders when they attack the system. Detection It works well with preventive measures. When prevention fails, detection should be started in order to minimize the damage. It also includes activities like log-keeping and auditing. Recovery When all measures fail and the intruder has successfully attacked the system and nothing has worked, it is important to focus on recovery. Includes backing up servers, internet connections and other similar recovery activities. Attacking Techniques There have been various techniques used by intruders these days to attack a single computer or a network. Some of them are listed and described briefly below: Viruses A virus is such a program that when it is executed it works within the security policy completely. When a virus is activated, that is when it becomes a part of a process; it makes use of a Trojan horse to look for the authorized environment for executable programs which are modifiable and then attaches itself with all such programs. Hence, when these programs are executed, the virus activates and spreads throughout the executable code of the computer. Viruses can create, modify, move, replicate and erase the files on a computer in order to engage much of the computer’s memory and causes the system not to function properly. Some viruses even have the ability to duplicate themselves and attack to other programs. An infected email attachment is one of the most common and easy ways to get a virus. (Caldwell 212) Trojan Horse A Trojan horse attack can be designed to attain any desired goals by the attacker. Trojan horse attacks are one of the most serious threats to computer security. If a computer has been attacked with a Trojan horse, it may not be the only computer under att ack but unknowingly it is used to attack several other computers. Trojan Horses are usually built and attached to the source code of an original program and is made to remain dormant until an attempt is made to overcome security. For example a Trojan horse may appear in the form of a computer game, which once double clicked, starts writing on parts of your hard drive, corrupting the data. Trap door A trapdoor is normally an entrance to the

Art History 306 Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art History 306 - Dissertation Example The proximity and accessibility of the artists to each other’s lives and work sprouted an art â€Å"scene† with â€Å"constant face to face encounters†¦constant feedback, mutual awareness† (Sandler, 1978, pg. 30) and frequent socializing in â€Å"semi-public and public meeting places†. (Sandler, 1978, p. 29) The ambience was electric, for it â€Å"generated social and intellectual exchanges†, â€Å"and it was natural for vanguard artists in every field to gravitate to the world of the New York school† (Sandler, 1978, p.22). This solidarity was reinforced by a post war sentiment of alienation which could best be summarized as â€Å"you had a feeling †¦ of you and your friends against everyone on the outside.† (Sandler, 1978, p. 29) Disillusioned further by the political climate and pseudo culture of Middle America, the vanguard artists turned to their art for â€Å"self-discovery, freedom of belief and action, and autonomous, honest creation.† (Sandler, 1978, p.21) The canvas became an â€Å"arena in which to act† (Rosenberg, 1959) and gestural painting was adopted by such influential figures as de Kooning and Hofmann. Art produced during this time was coined Abstract Expressionism (Rosenberg, 1959).

Big Fish Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Big Fish - Essay Example At his father’s deathbed, William Bloom tries to understand who his father is through memories. He therefore tries to understand his father’s exaggerations and the impact in reality. The novel involve first person narration; and the chapters involving â€Å"my father’s death† shows William planning his final discussion with his father, Edward Bloom, with a view of eventually understanding him. In the novel, William Bloom using first person narration literary style and this has made the story telling capability very effective. In chapter one of the novel, William Bloom uses first person narration to explain the circumstances in which his father was born; his father was born during one of the worst summers, drought and famine was experienced in the land there was scarcity of food. The story is also mostly told in past tense, despite the first person narration style. He also says that the birth of his father was a blessing, because on that birth day clouds formed and it rained. William Bloom also uses first person narration in the first chapter of the book to demonstrate the cordial relationship his father had with animals. He explains that cows and horses liked his father, and they followed him around; and chicken once laid a mysterious small brown egg on his lap. William Bloom also uses a lot of symbolism as indicated in chapter one of Big Fish. For example he equates his father to a big fish in order to illustrate or symbolize his abundant knowledge. Edward Bloom read widely on Philosophy, Arts and History and other literary areas; and hence, his knowledge was more than the librarian or any other person (Wallace 137). The big fish representation of the father also illustrates his extra-ordinary ability of communicating with animals; for example birds rested on his shoulders as he worked with his father in the field. William Bloom says that his father is a

Social Problems Facing the Contemporary United States Essay Example for Free

Social Problems Facing the Contemporary United States Essay Homelessness is a social problem in the United States. Homelessness defined according to the National Health Care for The Homeless Council (2011), â€Å"is a person or individual that lacks housing†. Homeless do not have permeant residents. They may live on the streets, shelters, missions and under freeway overpasses. They also occupy facilities of abandoned buildings, vehicles, and campgrounds. They can be found sleeping behind buildings, sitting against a building wall or digging in a trash can for food. Homeless people are human beings without shelter. They often fall victim to infections, frozenness, diseases, and assault. Homelessness does not have prejudices; it is an equal opportunity social issue. It is seen in every major city in the United States. This paper will describe the social problem of homelessness, analyze how it affects the United States and explain one sociological theory to explain a cause of homelessness. Homelessness in the United States is a large problem. It is hard to determine how people in the US are homeless, but they have a profound economic effect on society. There are few support services available for homeless, such as shelters, soup kitchens, which come in the form of taxpayers’ dollars. Homeless do not have cars or control over their daily lives. They depend on the daily grind of shelters, soup kitchens, and minimal jobs to meet their basic survival needs and are socially abandoned. The homeless lack medical health insurance. Hospital emergency departments are used as a community resource for the homeless, regardless of their ability to pay. So the expense falls on the taxpayer. Surprisingly, about one-third of emergency room visits are by homeless people. The needs of the homeless are vast. They typically have chronic medical conditions, multiple psychosocial risk factors, like substance use disorders and mental disease.  Their social support system is nonexistent. Most, emergency departments are not set up to meet the psychosocial needs of the homeless (Additional Medical Concerns, 2015). In addition, homelessness can advance to other social concerns like the illegal sex trade and crimes. With essentially no home and no money to purchase food, homeless people re sort to becoming prostitutes or engaging in criminal activities to get money for food or shelters. Some homeless become beggars. Food will commonly be the greatest importance. Individual states are affected by the amount of homeless people they have. Read more:  Essay on Social Issues Some states, like New Orleans, report decreased revenue from tourists who do not want to visit. Most people consider places with high homeless dirty and unsafe. New Orleans, is one example of how homelessness gives the area a bad reputation and results in decreased revenue from tourists. Our government spends millions of dollars on the homeless. The active assistance the government provides is seen with rental assistance, food stamps, and welfare. This support although positive still affects the taxpayers. On the negative side, many homeless are picked up for loitering, sleeping in cars and begging resulting in millions of dollars spent on law enforcement like prisons and jails. There are many sociological theories that relate to homelessness. One theory is conflict theory. Since its beginning, the conflict theory has been used to define certain groups including the homeless population across the United States. The conflict theory provides a perfect mapping as to how people have become homeless due to a single life event, causing them to adapt to the situation. People change to the homeless lifestyle instead of taking steps to return to traditional society. (Calhoun, 2002). The behaviorism of a homeless individual begins to change as they start to work to survive. Shortly after this survival mode the homeless person accepts the battle of being homeless as a societal norm and believes himself to be a regular part of that society. The conflict theorists look at the society from an impartial view. This viewpoint looks at individuals and sees them as inferior to society. The groundwork of societal structure is power or enticement and the only way to advance within the societal structure is through a power struggle. In this power struggle, there is much competition. Social class is intensely valuable in this mindset for it characterizes your place in the monument of authority. Wealth and assets are limed significantly in society, and people  are constantly in competition for these goods and prosperity. Conflict theorists approach the issue of homelessness just like an emperor approaches his subordinates. They see the homeless as people that are too fragile and unable to rise up the societal ranking. They see the homeless as individuals unable to reach the goal of greater social status. Conflict theorists identify themselves as the emperors of mankind and consider the homeless as insignificant people because they are unable to do anything. Essentially the conflict theorists see themselves as the ones with all the skill. They are masters in political, economic and social assets. The homeless are dominated by the higher social class. (Calhoun, 2002). Homelessness in the United States continues to be a social problem. Thousands of people still meet the characterization of homeless. It is a social issue that has existed for years. It does not have prejudices; it is an equal opportunity social issue. It is seen in every major city in the United States. Homeless are the abandoned people. References Additional Medical Concerns The State of Connecticut (n.d.). Retrieved from http://examguidelines.connsacs.org/additional-medical-concerns/_br Why Sony Should Screen â€Å"The Interview† | SeegitzWrites.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://seegitzwrites.com/?p=232_br HOW CONFLICT THEORY APPLIES TO THE HOMELESS POPULATION essays. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/202384.html?page=2_br Example research essay topic: Homelessness And Sociological (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.essaychief.com/research-essay- pic.php?essay=2764827title=Homelessness-And-Sociological- Perspectives_br Calhoun, C. (2002). Dictionary of the social sciences. New York: Oxford University Press. Home. (2011, October 7). Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.nhchc.org/

Von Neumann Computer Architecture Information Technology Essay

Von Neumann Computer Architecture Information Technology Essay The Von Neumann Computer is a digital pc that storing the data in a single separate way and it use a processing unit. A digital computer keeps its program in instruction with its data as well. The Von Neumann Computer named after name of computer scientist John von Neumann. 5 Internal Components: Description of each components, how they are connected to Mother Board, Diagram. Hard Disk: Hard disk is a magnetic disk that allows you to store your computer data, a hard disk consist of several platters, which every individual platter is able to read and write. The hard disk is connected to the motherboard by ribbon cable (ATA66/100). Random Access Memory (RAM: It is type of computer memory but it can be accessed randomly, RAM is very fast to read than any storage device in a PC. As long as your computer is running the data store in a RAM but when the computer turns off, Ram will lose its data. The Ram connected to the motherboard by small circuit, in the motherboard there is two circuit places which is one for inline memory and the second is duel inline memory. Processor: Processor or Central Processing Unit (CPU) it is part of computer system and in easy way it is a brain of computer the job of CPU in a computer is to give a instruction for any computer program the processor is connected to the motherboard directly. Graphic Card: It is a bridge between processor and other devices to send command and gets back the signal, the Graphic Card is connected throw the expansion slot which is in the Motherboard. 5 External Components: Description, how are they connected? Eg Ports, USB, etc. Diagram. Key Board: keyboard is primary way to communicate with input; you can use the keyboard to input text and data. When we press a key, it presses a button, completing the circuit and allowing an amount of current to run through and keyboards are connected by USB cable or PS2. Mouse: mouse is device which lets you work with graphical objects that the computer displays on the screen. Mouse has one button or sometimes three buttons and it have scroll wheel that enable user to scrolling long document or webpage. The Mouse is connected by USB cable or PS2. Printer: It is a device that can print text or graphic that stored in a electronic form, and it connect to the PC by USB Port. Scanner: It is a device that scans data or any text, printed page or photo you scan it to the computer and it connected to the computer by USB Port. Monitor: A Monitor is like a television but the difference is that monitor display the information produced by a computer, basically it is a screen display of a computer and it connect VGA port in a PC or in some PC by the Video card. Task 2 Describe the characteristics of the various types of internal memory of computer: What is internal memory of computer? The internal memory of computer is also part of computer devices that recoding media that keep digital data used for computing for some interval of time. What are the major types of internal memory of computer? For each type of internal memory, explain how it works and what are its major characteristics There are types of computer internal memory which is Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). Random Access Memory (RAM): It is a temporary computer internal memory and it is a space that allows us to temporarily store data when a program is running. The contents are being lost when the computer is switched off it only holds data while power is on. There are some major types of RAM which are : Rambus DRAM (RDRAM): is a serial memory technology that arrived in three flavours, PC600, PC700, and PC800. PC800 DRAM has doubled the maximum throughput of old, but a higher speed and it use small capacitors to store each bit of memory in an addressable format that consists of rows and columns, DRAM designs with multiple channels. SIMM chips: Single in-line memory modules (SIMMs) it is a type of solid state computer memory which is used particular for the processor cache memory. The 72-pin SIMM has a notch among the contacts in the middle. An important characteristic of RAM is that the entire memory place can be accessed at almost the same speed. Read Only Memory (ROM): Is a kind of memory that store the data permanently and it cannot be removed, eventually every computer is coming with a small amount of ROM which recorded of boot firmware, when we start our computer the ROM chips will running hardware diagnostics that will loading the operating system into RAM. Cache: The cache will make our computer more skilled and better, your computer memory, cache is extremely fast memory that store data and the data is accessible quickly and it gives quickest response to the CPU. Virtual Memory: The virtual memory task was to enable a process to operate or establish the status of pages in its virtual address space. Task 3 Explain the purpose and functions of the system busses of a computer: Explain how the internal subsystems are linked through buses and where these buses could be found inside a computer. The computer internal subsystems are connect to the busses through wire inside the computer and the data transfer throw these from one part to the another part of computer. Busses connect the entire computer component with the main memory and processor. Explain the functions of control, data, and address busses. What is bus width and what is the effect of the bus width on the bus performance? The architecture of buses is a wire inside a computer which data is transfer from one part to another part inside the computer, the purpose of buses is to connect the entire computer component to the processor and to the central memory. Busses are dividing into two parts the Data busses and Address busses. The function of data busses is to transfer the data and the function of address busses is to give direction to data where to go. Bus width is a canal that information is flowing; when the bus width is wider it is beneficial for busses because more information can flow in more speedy time. What is a motherboard chip set? With use of a diagram, explain what is the role and characteristics of the North and South Bridge of a motherboard. It is a specific chip in a computer that calls motherboard chipset. The Northbridge is core logical in a computer motherboard and its role is to hold communication with RAM, BIOS ROM, PCI and CPU. The South Bridge job is to manage the basic of input/output These include all hard drive and expansion slots, USB, FireWire, RAID, audio codes, real-time system clock, system power management, interrupt controller, direct memory access (DMA) controller, and non-volatile BIOS memory. Task 4 Describe, with the aid of diagrams, what are the components and the structure of CPU and how CPU works: What is the CPU of a modern computer and what are the CPU components? The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brain of a computer that gives function to a computer programme. Every time when CPU doing a job there is a stored code in the computers memory that instructs the CPU what to do. CPU needs to decode the instruction code to find what it needs to do finish the task. After the CPU solve the code, the CPU will start to perform calculation and the result whether it store the result back in memory, to hard drive, or the computer display. The way that we can understand how powerful a process is by the number of instruction that a CPU can execute per second. The CPU components are: Logic or Arithmetic unit (ALU) it performs calculations, there are four types of function that ALU do and it depends on these to perform and they are addition, subtraction, multiplication and division even registering and instruction. Register or the memory which stores the data, it tell CPU where the information is located, also its a temporary storage areas for instructions or data and they are not part of the memory. Register hold and transfer instructions. Register operate faster than a Ram, normally register assess by bit like 32 bits. Control unit which give direction to the data around the CPU by sending control signals and its job is to control the data that executed by the ALU, also the Control Unit keeping communicate with ALU and system memory. Use a diagram to explain the components of CPU CPU Components Diagram Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) Registers Control Unit Input Device Secondary Storage Output Device Explain shortly the Fetch Execute Cycle of CPU referring to its components and RAM. Fetch Execute Cycle of CPU it is an order of actions that the central processing unit (CPU) perform to execute each machine code instruction in a program. There are five register in the Fetch Execute Cycle which are: The Instruction Register that hold the solved and executed last instruction. The memory buffer register that use to get data from memory. The memory address registers that to be use when a word is transferred between memory and MBR. The accumulator job is to hold the result of ALU for the time being and the programme counter that hold the address of the next instruction to be fetched from memory.

Managing An Overseas Branch Office Management Essay

Managing An Overseas Branch Office Management Essay Cabelas Inc. is a well-established specialty retailer of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, since its founding in 1961 by the brothers Dick and Jim Cabela, it has grown from a small company from their parents kitchen table into a 3 billion NYSE publicly listed company with 41 stores in the United States and Canada. In order to have better support and more effective communication with vendors, the Cabelas HK office had been started in 2005 to cope with the rapid increase in merchandise styles and the growing demand of an overseas quality assurance team. For the first 43 years Cabelas would only need to manage offices, warehouses and retail locations all inside United States, with the new HK office in 2005 and Canada office in 2009, and possibly an Australian store in the coming 2 years, it is time to identify the methodology of Managing an Overseas Office. 1.2 Rationale for Identifying the Issue At the beginning there was only 5 contract staff in the Cabelas Hong Kong office, as the company grew to a 25-employee office, to manage it becomes a challenge. As a member of the Cabelas HK office, seeing the differences between the US and HK team, and also the issues with communications with respect to differences in background, culture, language, knowledge, relationships, etc., its important to identify the issues and tackle them using the 3Rs Recognize, Remedy and Report. When interviewing our CEO and President Mr. Tommy Millner, he said, The challenges of running an international office are pure cultural in my view. Specifically, how do we get our employees in China to accept and embrace the values that were created in the farm lands of Western Nebraska? Whereas when interviewing the HK Office Manager Mr. Justin Gordon his view is very different, as he mentioned The main challenge for a manager is to ensure he /she gets clear instructions / directions / objectives from those he /she reports to. Without these it is virtually impossible for the manager to give clear instructions to those that report to him/her. This then results in what appears to be poor management. These would be 2 of the most important HR related issues with managing an overseas office Cultural and Communication. This document will discuss all the related challenges and provide recommendations for management on how to effectively manage an overseas office, in order to create a happy working environment that creates trust and value their employees, with responsible HR practices aligning to CSR values. 1.3 Recommendations for Management The question of how to better manage an overseas office has been a broad issue, there are many variables and could have a lot of ways to do it better, which should all be catered to a particular situation. The below outlines a few main concerns and recommendations to management to make a difference in the overseas office. Cultural Differences For urban dwellers it would be hard for them to imagine the life of people growing up in the nature while hunting, fishing, hiking and camping is embraced in their everyday lifestyle. It is not easy to change how employees think, except to fly them to Nebraska to really experience it, listen to stories how hunting should be done ethically, and why hunting is considered essential in some areas of the world. The reason for thinking it is cruel is that they are not exposed before and thus do not understand, by education and exposing them with the reality, this could be corrected in times. Of course for them to fall in love with hunting would not be very possible, but taking another direction and lead them to appreciating the nature could be a better approach. Cabelas has recently launched a new anthem Its In Your Nature. It has always been a controversial topic in the office where hunting equals cruelty. As the anthem suggests, its in your nature to respect for tomorrow, it could apply to hunting and fishing, and it could also apply to overseas staff with preserving the environment by less greenhouse gas emission, switching off the lights behind you, and printing conservatively. The difference in the traditional cultural background could also be creating issues at work. Nobody intends to offend anyone else, but may do so inadvertently if not educated in the cultures. For example Americans casually throw their name cards over their desks, while Asians considered that as rude. Relationships in Chinese context are very important in businesses, but westerners might see that as bribery in some ways. It would take both sides to learn each others culture, as a responsible corporate this difference must be respected and HR policies should be sensitive in addressing this through values, ideas and beliefs. It would also be HRs responsibility to educate employees about diversity, that different people would act differently for the same circumstances, and respect would be the key to work together. Suggestions to Management: Educating and exposing employees to company culture lead employees into appreciating the nature and wildlife HR policies should be sensitive in addressing cultural differences HR should educate employees about diversity Coordination between Corporate Office and Overseas Office As the HK Office Manager has identified, clear instructions from corporate office to overseas office would be essential for managers to communicate directions to employees. These would include long and short time objectives and goals, HRM initiatives as well as CSR commitments. Objectives and goals could assist employees recognize their value, have a target to look forward to, knowing what they are doing is making a difference, and would be contributing to the sustainable growth of the company. The current Employee Handbook is written for US outfitters, the Director of Human has commented that the company will follow the same HR practices for overseas outfitters where the policies are not otherwise dictated by local laws or customs. Of course ideally there should be a customized local version as the office grows, it would be the best if employees can be involved with setting the policy so that what they are looking for could be considered and included too. Whereas for CSR commitments, bear in mind that employees nowadays not only look for the salary, but also if they are working for a responsible employer with greater corporate disclosure  [1]  . With the cultural differences, it would not be surprising to see different expected CSR initiatives between US and overseas employees, and therefore staff involvement would be crucial to make sure HR is working on the focused areas when drafting the CSR commitments for overseas offices. It is important to keep your HRM initiatives and CSR commitments alive in your corporate communications on a regular basis. Very often employees of overseas offices would have a feeling that they are being neglected being far away. Semi-annual or even seasonal meetings with the corporate HR department could pull everybody together so that employees will get to hear first-hand updates and HR can hear about comments to policies and procedures. Either somebody from the corporate office visits the overseas office regularly, or the video conferencing system could be utilized, as face to face meetings create warmer atmospheres. Also whenever anybody from the senior management team visits the overseas office, make sure they schedule an hour to meet with the whole office and update them with what is happening at the corporate office, how is the business for the last quarter, new management level changes, exciting new store opening announcements, comments from US team to the work from the overseas team, etc., could be great information for the employees. Other than that, sharing corporate presentations, keeping employees updated through company announcements and regular newsletters are the instruments necessary to keep employees energized about the organizations socially responsible initiatives. Suggestions to Management: there should be a customized local version of the Employee Handbook with employee involvement when drafting CSR commitments for overseas offices take into account employees needs too regular meetings with the HR department from the corporate office keep employees updated whenever senior management team visits the overseas office Good communication within Teams Although emails would do for day to day routine communications, weekly departmental or whole office face to face meetings would also be a good way for the team to sit together and go through the agendas and projects to see if there are obstacles and any help could be provided. It would also be a good time for the HR manager to announce anything related to the office well-being, such as new medical care plans, job duties assigned, or new regulations imposed by the corporate office etc. Currently there is a lack of these weekly meetings in the Cabelas HK office for the office manager to know if there are any concerns with work, although the office manager usually keeps an open door policy, it would still be beneficial to start so that employees will feel warmer with the closer communications and a feeling that they are well taken care of with their job security and career progression  [2]  . Managers should also not be locked up in their room the whole day but to walk out and talk to the team more, through these day to day communications would the manager be able to know how employees have been working hard to gain the trust and advance on the targets. Managers could also be able to establish a loving environment and let the employees feel a sense of belonging through additional interactions. Whenever the office manager needs to make a big decision he should ask the employees for advises so that they feel respected and a better sense of confidence. Sometimes interdepartmental task forces would be created for special tasks, these groups could have members from both US team and overseas team. To ensure better communication web conferences on a regular basis could enhance the communication and grow the bond between the teams, as well as eliminating misunderstanding through email communications too. Suggestions to Management: More face to face meetings should be arranged between Office manager and all employees Manager should check with employees for comments before making major decisions Web conferences should be utilized for tasks forces to communicate with the US team The Role of HR Manager Talents that are well suited into a companys culture are hard to find but are the greatest asset any company can possess. In order to obtain and retain these talents, HR would need to make sure the company brand is well managed to attract talents, and competitive packages, rewards and incentives are offered to retain talents. Employees nowadays would also be looking forward to involvements in giving back to the society, the HR manager could send surveys and discuss with the staff what employee volunteering would they prefer, and work with social enterprises to arrange volunteer projects. At times of major disasters the company can setup donation boxes and send love to organizations that uses the money most wisely. Also working with employees to preserve the environment by switching off lights behind, printing less, and avoiding non-reusable utensils cold help too. Other than daily administration work, the HR Manager should also periodically hold workshops with employees to go through employee handbook and code of conducts and make sure everybody understands their rights and obligations. Employees also work happier in an environment without discrimination, one that promotes a diversity workforce and inclusion in the workplace. HR in US has recently employed a Senior Diversity Manager, whom would be planning events for diversity and inclusion. The HR manager could take the initiative and work with the diversity manager to create diversity programs specially catered for overseas office, especially with a big cultural difference in HK. Suggestions to Management: HR manager should hold workshops to go through employees rights and obligations HR should make sure company brand is well managed to attract talents HR should ensure there are competitive packages, rewards and incentives to retain talents Staff volunteering should be arranged for employees to give back to society HR should work with Diversity manager to promote diversity and inclusion in overseas offices Staff Involvement Employees nowadays look for working with a good and responsible company that they have pride working for, and not only for a stable income. Many CSR initiatives fail as a result of the lack of employees involvement and failure to embed the socially responsible values into organizational culture. Before policies are imposed, HR can set up a review committee to ensure staff involvement and to collect comments of what the employees actually want. In this way they will be more involved in the process and will actively follow up, thus internalizing corporate culture. Also try to get the staff involved as much as possible with every project that involves multiple parties, they will feel respected by their contribution and the knowledge they possess, higher morale leading to better results. Whenever employees take pride in their work strengthen employee identity, making them the brand ambassador. Although there are no retail stores in Asia, this brand ambassador will work with vendors and factories as well to be sending positive message to partners and ensuring them mutually benefits by working with Cabelas. Although taxidermies are mounted to make the office more Cabelas, its still difficult to feel the nature-loving culture with from overseas offices. To further enhance staff involvement management should send employees to the corporate office at their first year so that they can feel the passion of corporate employees towards outdoor living, going out to the fields to inhale the scent of nature, and stepping into the retail stores and be greeted by the outfitters, would they feel how enthusiastic customers would feel when they step into a Cabelas store and feel the sense of belonging. When the employee return, HR should also encourage them to share their experiences so that other teammates could feel the same too. With this sense of involvement, whenever employees identify risks at the factory they would know where to report so that the company can work on risk management remedies immediately, reducing the possibility of destroyed reputation if sweatshop factories being identified, child labor found, etc. Employees that are less involved might simply pretend not seeing the risks and give a pass to the factory audits in order to do less. Suggestions to Management: HR can set up review committee to ensure staff involvement in setting up of CSR policies send employees to the corporate office at last once when the employee returns arrange for experience sharing encourage staff involvement so that risks would be identified and reported Fair Employment Practices and Leveraging Diversity In job posted for openings in the corporate office, it will quote Cabelas as an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)  [3]  , this is not included in the job ads from the HK office and should be added to make sure eligible candidates know that the company is a responsible employer. The ads will also list the workplace as inclusive, embracing diverse background, life experiences and perspectives. This will be very important to send a message to candidates that this is the company that they would love to work for. From within, HR has to be living up with the promises and be fair with the selection, interview and recruitment process for new employees, not discriminating candidates with race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc. As the employee handbook clearly wrote, Cabelas is committed to improve the quality of life within our community. To be a fair employer all benefits should not be withhold for certain employees as well, therefore benefits including vacations, medical insurance, dental coverage, employee insurance, provident funds, etc should have the same treatment as US colleagues. As the Director of Human Resources has mentioned that The entire area of compensation and benefits must of course be administered based upon international differences. We do need to be aware of any differences by culture or customs. This fairness will also be enhanced when the group gains more awareness with diversity program being carried out both in US in overseas offices. By leveraging diversity, a company should respect and relate to people from varied backgrounds, see diversity as an opportunity, creating an environment where diverse people thrive, challenge bias and intolerance, and understand diverse worldviews and are sensitive to group differences. Cabelas has a moral and ethical commitment, as well as a legal responsibility, to promote equal opportunity within all operating units. Overseas offices should make sure employees understand their rights to be treated equally, if there is unlawful and discriminatory treatment, they should inform supervisor or HR manager immediately, and if they are the source of the problem, employees can utilize the Cabelas anonymous In-Touch Hotline to report concerns. HR should re-communicating this information to employees periodically. Corporate HR has been doing a good job last year with the Diversity week, arranging a diversity photo competition and inviting all employees to submit photos related to the Cabelas Core values. By taking part in the game employees go through self-evaluation to think what is important in their work that relates to the core values, thus promoting CSR initiatives from within. Management should be encouraging overseas employees to participate in living the company culture. Suggestions to Management: Job postings in HK should include Cabelas as an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) HR should be fair with the recruitment process for new employees make sure benefits provided to overseas team match with the corporate office make sure employees understand their rights to be treated equally encourage employees to participate in diversity competitions Recruitment, Retention, Redundancy and Performance Appraisal Many successful CEOs had identified the most important measure of corporate success and main business objectives as hiring and retaining of talents over profitability  [4]  , and treating the talented workforce as the most valuable asset, as Cabelas CEO has also stated that the right talents are often hard to find but are the greatest asset any company can possess. Employer branding is essential with attracting talents, recruiting the right person at the right time, retaining them and as a result, strengthening the employer brand.  [5]  Good CSR initiatives will attract good employees as candidates will look at a companys CSR policy before they apply. Employees that look for a responsible employer would at the same time be more committed in helping with improving the CSR policies after they have joined. With fair employment in mind, HR should be selecting, interviewing and recruiting new talents with an aim to attain a diversity workforce. Job advertisements should be posted in the main career newspapers and websites, as well as sending to agencies to recruit the best candidates available. For management posts head hunters could be utilized to capture the experienced. It is very important that we have leaders in place to manage the staff that understands the importance of the companys core values and treating everyone with respect, honesty, and integrity. Once talents have been obtained, the orientation programme for newly recruited employees should be designed in a manner that corporate philosophies will be well communicated, with CSR being highlighted. It would take a new person weeks or months to understand a companys culture by himself, so a thorough introduction would be beneficial, and managerial positions should be sent to the corporate office as soon as possible to learn the culture too. Good CSR leads to improved staff retention and better motivated and innovative staff and thus improving work performance and profitability of the company, therefore making sure employees are aware of the efforts done in CSR would help in building faith and trust with employees. Employees have a lower morale when there are other individuals not performing up to standard or have a comparatively smaller workload. HR would need to work with the manager to give him more responsibilities, or consider this as redundancy and let him go. Carefully handling this case could make sure a positive impact on the morale of other employees Given replacement costs is 100% to 250% of annual compensation, HR should investigate if this person is having a work life imbalance or not that result in lower performance and use the 3Rs to try and fix it. Current performance appraisals have been done annually, but to effectively manage and retain the talents, this should be done every 6 months to make sure employees are on track with their yearly planning and expectations. Senior managers can have a CSR bonusable goal, while employees could set personal CSR objectives to be reflected in their annual performance reviews. In Chinese society appreciation and incentives is a big push to better performance, if possible, mid and end of year bonuses could be motivations to better performances. Suggestions to Management: make sure the employer brand is established to attract and retain talents recruitment process should be fair and aiming at a diversity workforce orientation programmes should communicate corporate philosophies with CSR highlighted Investigate if an employee has become redundant and try to remedy before letting go. Performance appraisals should be done mid-year as well HR should assist employees in setting personal CSR goals Bonuses as incentives could better motivate employees Leadership Development and Mentor program Employees nowadays not only look for career advancement, but also how would the company assist them to step up to the next level, therefore leadership development and mentor programs are common staff requests. Cabelas CEO Mr. Tommy Millner has picked 24 managers from all locations to attend his From the Field Leadership trainings, which he would be talking about his own experience on various topics, through interesting work experience sharing, managers could learn to be a good leader and how to handle different situations. More of these leadership courses should be held through the Cabelas University, an online Learning Management System where courses are provided for various topics from policies explanation to how to be a good leader. HR should encourage overseas employees to attend as many courses so as to better equip themselves. The Women in Leadership council will also be working on mentor programs to train up potential women into higher positions. HR should work with the WIL council to make sure these programs will consider overseas employees as well. Suggestions to Management: HR should encourage staff to attend training classes on Cabelas University Make sure the Woman in Leadership program consider mentorship in overseas offices Staff Engagement and Development For employees to be more engaged in work and the company, one of the easiest ways is to make them satisfied and happy with their work and with their supervisors  [6]  . People tend to be happier when they feel the trust. The first office manager of the Cabelas HK office has returned to US after 7 years, upon re-joining the US team one of his responsibilities is to educate US team about the role and connection the HK team had played in the business, and how important it is to include the HK team when making important decisions. With involvement of more big projects, the overseas teams could all be more engaged. The management should also persuade directors to further empower the overseas team, like moving Quality Assurance and Sourcing to HK as the team is closer to the factories and suppliers. With each individuals vast knowledge of the industry and environment and also with the common language, work would be done more effectively and employees would love to be trusted by corporate office. As for staff development, internally, management should encourage employees in utilizing the Cabelas University for courses such as leadership, communication, process management, etc. to equip staff with the necessary skills and be more confident at work. Cabelas also has a Tuition Reimbursement Program where job related courses could have tuition fee reimbursed. Management should encourage employees to look for further education to increase their industrial knowledge, stay ahead of the trend, and to be more professional in their work. Suggestions to Management: Management should encourage US to get overseas team involved in projects. Further empowering the overseas office could increase staff engagement Encourage more internal training through the Cabelas University Encourage employees to attend external trainings and further education. Managing Work Life Balance Making sure employees has a balance between work and life is a very important task for the Human Resources team. Using the 3Rs, HR professionals should be able to easily recognize if an employee has too much stress at work or from life that has affected their performance. Once issues were identified they will also need to remedy or report it. In the US employees can enjoy a very flexible working hour system, they can shift their work given that they work 40 hours a week. Some prefer to start earlier at 6am and leave earlier by 3pm to fetch their kids from school. Some might need to take care of personal matters on Fridays, and therefore work a 10-hour per day schedule for 4 days only. This should be applied to the overseas office as well, where if employees prefer to stay late at night, they can go to work slightly later as well. This has traditionally been not accepted by the older generation managers since they look for punctuality, however flexibility is very important as well, if shifting work schedule slightly and start working at 9:30am could enable employees to take their kids to school they would be more happy with their managers. Too much overtime could be due to slow performance, but could also be due to too much work and understaffing. Managers should evaluate each employees workload and check if extra staffing will be necessary. Of course to be keeping a smaller team could save extra headcounts, however if employees are working late into the night, the next day they will come in with a lack of sleep and the possibility of incorrect calculations and human input errors would increase. If the manager could remedy the situation by increasing staff for the same amount of work, employees can leave work earlier, enjoy their own personal life, and come back with a fresh mind, increasing productivity and result in happier employees too. Suggestions to Management: Be flexible with working hours HR should assist employees reach a Work Life balance by recognizing stress. Make sure the teams are not understaffed to avoid excessive overtime. Managers and the Generation Y team Among the 4 managers in the Cabelas HK office, only one of them is from the Generation Y and at least 2 of the managers are still using the traditional way of managing their team. Generation Y employees are more diverse, achievement oriented, attention craving, confidence, collaborative. In order to keep them interested in their work, managers should periodically check with the team if they are satisfied with their current work, and if they have any suggestions to changes, the job nature, the way projects are handled, the way information is gathered, etc., anything that they could find challenges in, manager should evaluate and give it a try. Managers should also ask employees if there are any courses that theyd like to take to enrich their knowledge. In this way the employees will feel they are being respected with their ideas and needs and the manager has been an open minded one that they can continue to work for. Keeping the Gen Y employees busy is another key to managing them. Manager should be setting short to long term goals and targets with employees that are feasible and mutually agreed upon. New projects and challenges could keep the employees challenged and prevent them from feeling bored too. Another characteristic of Gen Y employees is they prefer to work anytime anywhere, this would require a change of mindset to traditional managers, but as long as they can deliver their work managers should give them the flexibility. Bear in mind that they are accustomed to multitasking, managers might see a surprising better result with the change! Newer generation employees like to be acknowledged, managers should be holding team meetings for them to share achievements, and everybody should be encouraged to praise good work done. This creates a sense of belonging to the company and further boost productivity. Suggestions to Management: Managers should be educated the characteristics of Gen Y employees Keep the Gen Y employees busy and entertained. Praise good work from the employees. 1.4 Conclusion The key to better manage an office is always, trust, respect and communicate. Managers that understand what the employees want and act upon them, know how to keep them happy, be innovative with providing little benefits, have CSR initiatives in mind, keeping the employees entertained, competitive and educated, assist with preparing for the next step, etc., could be good managers. To manage an overseas office will be very similar, add the ability to handle cultural differences and be able to communication well between parties, employees will stay happy and loyal. Think, decide and act, and managers would have a devoted workforce that drives better performance and profitability. (4992 words) 2a Question 1 Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion within Cabelas Established since 1961 in the farmlands of Western Nebraska, Cabelas has a large workforce of mostly white people at the corporate office, with male dominance in some departments a