The Da Vinci Code Chapter 33-37

CHAPTER 33 Sophie's SmartCar tore through the diplomatic quarter, weaving past embassies and consulates, finally racing out a side street and taking a right turn back onto the massive thoroughfare of Champs-Elysees. Langdon sat white-knuckled in the passenger seat, twisted backward, scanning behind them for any signs of the police. He suddenly wished he had not decided to run. You didn't, he reminded himself. Sophie had made the decision for him when she threw the GPS dot out the bathroom window. Now, as they sped away from the embassy, serpentining through sparse traffic on Champs-Elysees, Langdon felt his options deteriorating. Although Sophie seemed to have lost the police, at least for the moment, Langdon doubted their luck would hold for long. Behind the wheel Sophie was fishing in her sweater pocket. She removed a small metal object and held it out for him. â€Å"Robert, you'd better have a look at this. This is what my grandfather left me behind Madonna of the Rocks.† Feeling a shiver of anticipation, Langdon took the object and examined it. It was heavy and shaped like a cruciform. His first instinct was that he was holding a funeral pieu – a miniature version of a memorial spike designed to be stuck into the ground at a gravesite. But then he noted the shaft protruding from the cruciform was prismatic and triangular. The shaft was also pockmarked with hundreds of tiny hexagons that appeared to be finely tooled and scattered at random. â€Å"It's a laser-cut key,† Sophie told him. â€Å"Those hexagons are read by an electric eye.† A key? Langdon had never seen anything like it. â€Å"Look at the other side,† she said, changing lanes and sailing through an intersection. When Langdon turned the key, he felt his jaw drop. There, intricately embossed on the center of the cross, was a stylized fleur-de-lis with the initials P. S. !† Sophie,† he said,† this is the seal I told you about! The official device of the Priory of Sion.† She nodded. â€Å"As I told you, I saw the key a long time ago. He told me never to speak of it again.† Langdon's eyes were still riveted on the embossed key. Its high-tech tooling and age-oldsymbolism exuded an eerie fusion of ancient and modern worlds. â€Å"He told me the key opened a box where he kept many secrets.† Langdon felt a chill to imagine what kind of secrets a man like Jacques Sauniere might keep. What an ancient brotherhood was doing with a futuristic key, Langdon had no idea. The Priory existed for the sole purpose of protecting a secret. A secret of incredible power. Could this key have something to do with it? The thought was overwhelming. â€Å"Do you know what it opens?† Sophie looked disappointed. â€Å"I was hoping you knew.† Langdon remained silent as he turned the cruciform in his hand, examining it. â€Å"It looks Christian,† Sophie pressed. Langdon was not so sure about that. The head of this key was not the traditional long-stemmed Christian cross but rather was a square cross – with four arms of equal length – which predated Christianity by fifteen hundred years. This kind of cross carried none of the Christian connotations of crucifixion associated with the longer-stemmed Latin Cross, originated by Romans as a torture device. Langdon was always surprised how few Christians who gazed upon† the crucifix† realized their symbol's violent history was reflected in its very name:† cross† and† crucifix† came from the Latin verb cruciare – to torture. â€Å"Sophie,† he said,† all I can tell you is that equal-armed crosses like this one are considered peaceful crosses. Their square configurations make them impractical for use in crucifixion, and their balanced vertical and horizontal elements convey a natural union of male and female, making them symbolically consistent with Priory philosophy.† She gave him a weary look. â€Å"You have no idea, do you?† Langdon frowned. â€Å"Not a clue.† â€Å"Okay, we have to get off the road.† Sophie checked her rearview mirror. â€Å"We need a safe place to figure out what that key opens.† Langdon thought longingly of his comfortable room at the Ritz. Obviously, that was not an option. â€Å"How about my hosts at the American University of Paris?† â€Å"Too obvious. Fache will check with them.† â€Å"You must know people. You live here.† â€Å"Fache will run my phone and e-mail records, talk to my coworkers. My contacts are compromised, and finding a hotel is no good because they all require identification.† Langdon wondered again if he might have been better off taking his chances letting Fache arrest him at the Louvre. â€Å"Let's call the embassy. I can explain the situation and have the embassy send someone to meet us somewhere.† â€Å"Meet us?† Sophie turned and stared at him as if he were crazy. â€Å"Robert, you're dreaming. Your embassy has no jurisdiction except on their own property. Sending someone to retrieve us would be considered aiding a fugitive of the French government. It won't happen. If you walk into your embassy and request temporary asylum, that's one thing, but asking them to take action against French law enforcement in the field?† She shook her head. â€Å"Call your embassy right now, and they are going to tell you to avoid further damage and turn yourself over to Fache. Then they'll promise to pursue diplomatic channels to get you a fair trial.† She gazed up the line of elegant storefronts on Champs-Elysees. â€Å"How much cash do you have?† Langdon checked his wallet. â€Å"A hundred dollars. A few euro. Why?† â€Å"Credit cards?† â€Å"Of course.† As Sophie accelerated, Langdon sensed she was formulating a plan. Dead ahead, at the end of Champs-Elysees, stood the Arc de Triomphe – Napoleon's 164-foot-tall tribute to his own military potency – encircled by France's largest rotary, a nine-lane behemoth. Sophie's eyes were on the rearview mirror again as they approached the rotary. â€Å"We lost them for the time being,† she said,† but we won't last another five minutes if we stay in this car.† So steal a different one, Langdon mused, now that we're criminals. â€Å"What are you going to do?† Sophie gunned the SmartCar into the rotary. â€Å"Trust me.† Langdon made no response. Trust had not gotten him very far this evening. Pulling back the sleeve of his jacket, he checked his watch – a vintage, collector's-edition Mickey Mouse wristwatch that had been a gift from his parents on his tenth birthday. Although its juvenile dial often drew odd looks, Langdon had never owned any other watch; Disney animations had been his first introduction to the magic of form and color, and Mickey now served as Langdon's daily reminder to stay young at heart. At the moment, however, Mickey's arms were skewed at an awkward angle, indicating an equally awkward hour. 2:51 A. M. â€Å"Interesting watch,† Sophie said, glancing at his wrist and maneuvering the SmartCar around the wide, counterclockwise rotary. â€Å"Long story,† he said, pulling his sleeve back down. â€Å"I imagine it would have to be.† She gave him a quick smile and exited the rotary, heading due north, away from the city center. Barely making two green lights, she reached the third intersection and took a hard right onto Boulevard Malesherbes. They'd left the rich, tree-lined streets of the diplomatic neighborhood and plunged into a darker industrial neighborhood. Sophie took a quick left, and a moment later, Langdon realized where they were. Gare Saint-Lazare. Ahead of them, the glass-roofed train terminal resembled the awkward offspring of an airplane hangar and a greenhouse. European train stations never slept. Even at this hour, a half-dozen taxi sidled near the main entrance. Vendors manned carts of sandwiches and mineral water while grungy kids in backpacks emerged from the station rubbing their eyes, looking around as if trying to remember what city they were in now. Up ahead on the street, a couple of city policemen stood on the curb giving directions to some co nfused tourists. Sophie pulled her SmartCar in behind the line of taxis and parked in a red zone despite plenty of legal parking across the street. Before Langdon could ask what was going on, she was out of the car. She hurried to the window of the taxi in front of them and began speaking to the driver. As Langdon got out of the SmartCar, he saw Sophie hand the taxi driver a big wad of cash. The taxi driver nodded and then, to Langdon's bewilderment, sped off without them. â€Å"What happened?† Langdon demanded, joining Sophie on the curb as the taxi disappeared. Sophie was already heading for the train station entrance. â€Å"Come on. We're buying two tickets on the next train out of Paris.† Langdon hurried along beside her. What had begun as a one-mile dash to the U. S. Embassy had now become a full-fledged evacuation from Paris. Langdon was liking this idea less and less. CHAPTER 34 The driver who collected Bishop Aringarosa from Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport pulled up in a small, unimpressive black Fiat sedan. Aringarosa recalled a day when all Vatican transports were big luxury cars that sported grille-plate medallions and flags emblazoned with the seal of the Holy See. Those days are gone.Vatican cars were now less ostentatious and almost always unmarked. The Vatican claimed this was to cut costs to better serve their dioceses, but Aringarosa suspected it was more of a security measure. The world had gone mad, and in many parts of Europe, advertising your love of Jesus Christ was like painting a bull's-eye on the roof of your car. Bundling his black cassock around himself, Aringarosa climbed into the back seat and settled in for the long drive to Castel Gandolfo. It would be the same ride he had taken five months ago. Last year's trip to Rome, he sighed. The longest night of my life. Five months ago, the Vatican had phoned to request Aringarosa's immediate presence in Rome. They offered no explanation. Your tickets are at the airport.The Holy See worked hard to retain a veil of mystery, even for its highest clergy. The mysterious summons, Aringarosa suspected, was probably a photo opportunity for the Pope and other Vatican officials to piggyback on Opus Dei's recent public success – the completion of their World Headquarters in New York City. Architectural Digest had called Opus Dei's building† a shining beacon of Catholicism sublimely integrated with the modern landscape,† and lately the Vatican seemed to be drawn to anything and everything that included the word† modern.† Aringarosa had no choice but to accept the invitation, albeit reluctantly. Not a fan of the current papal administration, Aringarosa, like most conservative clergy, had watched with grave concern as the new Pope settled into his first year in office. An unprecedented liberal, His Holiness had secured the papacy through one of the most controversial and unusual conclaves in Vatican history. Now, rather than being humbled by his unexpected rise to power, the Holy Father had wasted no time flexing all the muscle associated with the highest office in Christendom. Drawing on an unsettling tide of liberal support within the College of Cardinals, the Pope was now declaring his papal mission to be† rejuvenation of Vatican doctrine and updating Catholicism into the third millennium.† The translation, Aringarosa feared, was that the man was actually arrogant enough to think he could rewrite God's laws and win back the hearts of those who felt the demands of true Catholicism had become too inconvenient in a modern world. Aringarosa had been using all of his political sway – substantial considering the size of the Opus Dei constituency and their bankroll – to persuade the Pope and his advisers that softening the Church's laws was not only faithless and cowardly, but political suicide. He reminded them that previous tempering of Church law – the Vatican II fiasco – had left a devastating legacy: Church attendance was now lower than ever, donations were drying up, and there were not even enough Catholic priests to preside over their churches. People need structure and direction from the Church, Aringarosa insisted, not coddling and indulgence! On that night, months ago, as the Fiat had left the airport, Aringarosa was surprised to find himself heading not toward Vatican City but rather eastward up a sinuous mountain road. â€Å"Where are we going?† he had demanded of his driver. â€Å"Alban Hills,† the man replied. â€Å"Your meeting is at Castel Gandolfo.† The Pope's summer residence? Aringarosa had never been, nor had he ever desired to see it. In addition to being the Pope's summer vacation home, the sixteenth-century citadel housed the Specula Vaticana – the Vatican Observatory – one of the most advanced astronomical observatories in Europe. Aringarosa had never been comfortable with the Vatican's historical need to dabble in science. What was the rationale for fusing science and faith? Unbiased science could not possibly be performed by a man who possessed faith in God. Nor did faith have any need for physical confirmation of its beliefs. Nonetheless, there it is, he thought as Castel Gandolfo came into view, rising against a star-filled November sky. From the access road, Gandolfo resembled a great stone monster pondering a suicidal leap. Perched at the very edge of a cliff, the castle leaned out over the cradle of Italian civilization – the valley where the Curiazi and Orazi clans fought long before the founding of Rome. Even in silhouette, Gandolfo was a sight to behold – an impressive example of tiered, defensive architecture, echoing the potency of this dramatic cliff side setting. Sadly, Aringarosa now saw, the Vatican had ruined the building by constructing two huge aluminum telescope domes atop the roof, leaving this once dignified edifice looking like a proud warrior wearing a couple of party hats. When Aringarosa got out of the car, a young Jesuit priest hurried out and greeted him. â€Å"Bishop, welcome. I am Father Mangano. An astronomer here.† Good for you.Aringarosa grumbled his hello and followed his host into the castle's foyer – a wide- open space whose decor was a graceless blend of Renaissance art and astronomy images. Following his escort up the wide travertine marble staircase, Aringarosa saw signs for conference centers, science lecture halls, and tourist information services. It amazed him to think the Vatican was failing at every turn to provide coherent, stringent guidelines for spiritual growth and yet somehow still found time to give astrophysics lectures to tourists. â€Å"Tell me,† Aringarosa said to the young priest,† when did the tail start wagging the dog?† The priest gave him an odd look. â€Å"Sir?† Aringarosa waved it off, deciding not to launch into that particular offensive again this evening. The Vatican has gone mad.Like a lazy parent who found it easier to acquiesce to the whims of a spoiled child than to stand firm and teach values, the Church just kept softening at every turn, trying to reinvent itself to accommodate a culture gone astray. The top floor's corridor was wide, lushly appointed, and led in only one direction – toward a huge set of oak doors with a brass sign. BIBLIOTECA ASTRONOMICA Aringarosa had heard of this place – the Vatican's Astronomy Library – rumored to contain more than twenty-five thousand volumes, including rare works of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Secchi. Allegedly, it was also the place in which the Pope's highest officers held private meetings†¦ those meetings they preferred not to hold within the walls of Vatican City. Approaching the door, Bishop Aringarosa would never have imagined the shocking news he was about to receive inside, or the deadly chain of events it would put into motion. It was not until an hour later, as he staggered from the meeting, that the devastating implications settled in. Six monthsfrom now! he had thought. God help us! Now, seated in the Fiat, Bishop Aringarosa realized his fists were clenched just thinking about that first meeting. He released his grip and forced a slow inhalation, relaxing his muscles. Everything will be fine, he told himself as the Fiat wound higher into the mountains. Still, he wished his cell phone would ring. Why hasn't the Teacher called me? Silas should have the keystone by now. Trying to ease his nerves, the bishop meditated on the purple amethyst in his ring. Feeling the textures of the mitre-crozier applique and the facets of the diamonds, he reminded himself that this ring was a symbol of power far less than that which he would soon attain. CHAPTER 35 The inside of Gare Saint-Lazare looked like every other train station in Europe, a gaping indoor- outdoor cavern dotted with the usual suspects – homeless men holding cardboard signs, collections of bleary-eyed college kids sleeping on backpacks and zoning out to their portable MP3 players, and clusters of blue-clad baggage porters smoking cigarettes. Sophie raised her eyes to the enormous departure board overhead. The black and white tabs reshuffled, ruffling downward as the information refreshed. When the update was finished, Langdon eyed the offerings. The topmost listing read: LYON – RAPIDE – 3:06 â€Å"I wish it left sooner,† Sophie said,† but Lyon will have to do.† Sooner? Langdon checked his watch 2:59 A. M. The train left in seven minutes and they didn't even have tickets yet. Sophie guided Langdon toward the ticket window and said,† Buy us two tickets with your credit card.† â€Å"I thought credit card usage could be traced by – â€Å"Exactly.† Langdon decided to stop trying to keep ahead of Sophie Neveu. Using his Visa card, he purchased two coach tickets to Lyon and handed them to Sophie. Sophie guided him out toward the tracks, where a familiar tone chimed overhead and a P. A. announcer gave the final boarding call for Lyon. Sixteen separate tracks spread out before them. In the distance to the right, at quay three, the train to Lyon was belching and wheezing in preparation for departure, but Sophie already had her arm through Langdon's and was guiding him in the exact opposite direction. They hurried through a side lobby, past an all-night cafe, and finally out a side door onto a quiet street on the west side of the station. A lone taxi sat idling by the doorway. The driver saw Sophie and flicked his lights. Sophie jumped in the back seat. Langdon got in after her. As the taxi pulled away from station, Sophie took out their newly purchased train tickets and tore them up. Langdon sighed. Seventy dollars well spent. It was not until their taxi had settled into a monotonous northbound hum on Rue de Clichy that Langdon felt they'd actually escaped. Out the window to his right, he could see Montmartre and the beautiful dome of Sacre-Coeur. The image was interrupted by the flash of police lights sailing past them in the opposite direction. Langdon and Sophie ducked down as the sirens faded. Sophie had told the cab driver simply to head out of the city, and from her firmly set jaw, Langdon sensed she was trying to figure out their next move. Langdon examined the cruciform key again, holding it to the window, bringing it close to his eyes in an effort to find any markings on it that might indicate where the key had been made. In the intermittent glow of passing streetlights, he saw no markings except the Priory seal. â€Å"It doesn't make sense,† he finally said. â€Å"Which part?† â€Å"That your grandfather would go to so much trouble to give you a key that you wouldn't know what to do with.† â€Å"I agree.† â€Å"Are you sure he didn't write anything else on the back of the painting?† â€Å"I searched the whole area. This is all there was. This key, wedged behind the painting. I saw the Priory seal, stuck the key in my pocket, then we left.† Langdon frowned, peering now at the blunt end of the triangular shaft. Nothing. Squinting, he brought the key close to his eyes and examined the rim of the head. Nothing there either. â€Å"I think this key was cleaned recently.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"It smells like rubbing alcohol.† She turned. â€Å"I'm sorry?† â€Å"It smells like somebody polished it with a cleaner.† Langdon held the key to his nose and sniffed. â€Å"It's stronger on the other side.† He flipped it over. â€Å"Yes, it's alcohol-based, like it's been buffed with a cleaner or – † Langdon stopped. â€Å"What?† He angled the key to the light and looked at the smooth surface on the broad arm of the cross. It seemed to shimmer in places†¦ like it was wet. â€Å"How well did you look at the back of this key before you put it in your pocket?† â€Å"What? Not well. I was in a hurry.† Langdon turned to her. â€Å"Do you still have the black light?† Sophie reached in her pocket and produced the UV penlight. Langdon took it and switched it on, shining the beam on the back of the key. The back luminesced instantly. There was writing there. In penmanship that was hurried but legible. â€Å"Well,† Langdon said, smiling. â€Å"I guess we know what the alcohol smell was.† Sophie stared in amazement at the purple writing on the back of the key. 24 Rue Haxo An address! My grandfather wrote down an address! â€Å"Where is this?† Langdon asked. Sophie had no idea. Facing front again, she leaned forward and excitedly asked the driver,†Connaissez-vous la Rue Haxo?† The driver thought a moment and then nodded. He told Sophie it was out near the tennis stadium on the western outskirts of Paris. She asked him to take them there immediately. â€Å"Fastest route is through Bois de Boulogne,† the driver told her in French. â€Å"Is that okay?† Sophie frowned. She could think of far less scandalous routes, but tonight she was not going to be picky. â€Å"Oui.† We can shock the visiting American. Sophie looked back at the key and wondered what they would possibly find at 24 Rue Haxo. A church? Some kind of Priory headquarters? Her mind filled again with images of the secret ritual she had witnessed in the basement grotto ten years ago, and she heaved a long sigh. â€Å"Robert, I have a lot of things to tell you.† She paused, locking eyes with him as the taxi raced westward. â€Å"But first I want you to tell me everything you know about this Priory of Sion.† CHAPTER 36 Outside the Salle des Etats, Bezu Fache was fuming as Louvre warden Grouard explained how Sophie and Langdon had disarmed him. Why didn't you just shoot the blessed painting! â€Å"Captain?† Lieutenant Collet loped toward them from the direction of the command post. â€Å"Captain, I just heard. They located Agent Neveu's car.† â€Å"Did she make the embassy?† â€Å"No. Train station. Bought two tickets. Train just left.† Fache waved off warden Grouard and led Collet to a nearby alcove, addressing him in hushed tones. â€Å"What was the destination?† â€Å"Lyon.† â€Å"Probably a decoy.† Fache exhaled, formulating a plan. â€Å"Okay, alert the next station, have the train stopped and searched, just in case. Leave her car where it is and put plainclothes on watch in case they try to come back to it. Send men to search the streets around the station in case they fled on foot. Are buses running from the station?† â€Å"Not at this hour, sir. Only the taxi queue.† â€Å"Good. Question the drivers. See if they saw anything. Then contact the taxi company dispatcher with descriptions. I'm calling Interpol.† Collet looked surprised. â€Å"You're putting this on the wire?† Fache regretted the potential embarrassment, but he saw no other choice. Close the net fast, and close it tight. The first hour was critical. Fugitives were predictable the first hour after escape. They always needed the same thing. Travel.Lodging.Cash.The Holy Trinity. Interpol had the power to make all three disappear in the blink of an eye. By broadcast-faxing photos of Langdon and Sophie to Paris travel authorities, hotels, and banks, Interpol would leave no options – no way to leave the city, no place to hide, and no way to withdraw cash without being recognized. Usually, fugitives panicked on the street and did something stupid. Stole a car. Robbed a store. Used a bank card in desperation. Whatever mistake they committed, they quickly made their whereabouts known to local authorities. â€Å"Only Langdon, right?† Collet said. â€Å"You're not flagging Sophie Neveu. She's our own agent.† â€Å"Of course I'm flagging her!† Fache snapped. â€Å"What good is flagging Langdon if she can do all his dirty work? I plan to run Neveu's employment file – friends, family, personal contacts – anyone she might turn to for help. I don't know what she thinks she's doing out there, but it's going to cost her one hell of a lot more than her job!† â€Å"Do you want me on the phones or in the field?† â€Å"Field. Get over to the train station and coordinate the team. You've got the reins, but don't make a move without talking to me.† â€Å"Yes, sir.† Collet ran out. Fache felt rigid as he stood in the alcove. Outside the window, the glass pyramid shone, its reflection rippling in the windswept pools. They slipped through my fingers.He told himself to relax. Even a trained field agent would be lucky to withstand the pressure that Interpol was about to apply. A female cryptologist and a schoolteacher? They wouldn't last till dawn. CHAPTER 37 The heavily forested park known as the Bois de Boulogne was called many things, but the Parisian cognoscenti knew it as† the Garden of Earthly Delights.† The epithet, despite sounding flattering, was quite to the contrary. Anyone who had seen the lurid Bosch painting of the same name understood the jab; the painting, like the forest, was dark and twisted, a purgatory for freaks and fetishists. At night, the forest's winding lanes were lined with hundreds of glistening bodies for hire, earthly delights to satisfy one's deepest unspoken desires – male, female, and everything in between. As Langdon gathered his thoughts to tell Sophie about the Priory of Sion, their taxi passed through the wooded entrance to the park and began heading west on the cobblestone cross fare. Langdon was having trouble concentrating as a scattering of the park's nocturnal residents were already emerging from the shadows and flaunting their wares in the glare of the headlights. Ahead, two topless teenage girls shot smoldering gazes into the taxi. Beyond them, a well-oiled black man in a G-string turned and flexed his buttocks. Beside him, a gorgeous blond woman lifted her miniskirt to reveal that she was not, in fact, a woman. Heaven help me! Langdon turned his gaze back inside the cab and took a deep breath. â€Å"Tell me about the Priory of Sion,† Sophie said. Langdon nodded, unable to imagine a less congruous a backdrop for the legend he was about to tell. He wondered where to begin. The brotherhood's history spanned more than a millennium†¦ an astonishing chronicle of secrets, blackmail, betrayal, and even brutal torture at the hands of an angry Pope. â€Å"The Priory of Sion,† he began,† was founded in Jerusalem in 1099 by a French king named Godefroi de Bouillon, immediately after he had conquered the city.† Sophie nodded, her eyes riveted on him.† King Godefroi was allegedly the possessor of a powerful secret – a secret that had been in his family since the time of Christ. Fearing his secret might be lost when he died, he founded a secret brotherhood – the Priory of Sion – and charged them with protecting his secret by quietly passing it on from generation to generation. During their years in Jerusalem, the Priory learned of a stash of hidden documents buried beneath the ruins of Herod's temple, which had been built atop the earlier ruins of Solomon's Temple. These documents, they believed, corroborated Godefroi's powerful secret and were so explosive in nature that the Church would stop at nothing to get them.† Sophie looked uncertain. â€Å"The Priory vowed that no matter how long it took, these documents must be recovered from the rubble beneath the temple and protected forever, so the truth would never die. In order to retrieve the documents from within the ruins, the Priory created a military arm – a group of nine knights called the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.† Langdon paused. â€Å"More commonly known as the Knights Templar.† Sophie glanced up with a surprised look of recognition. Langdon had lectured often enough on the Knights Templar to know that almost everyone on earth had heard of them, at least abstractedly. For academics, the Templars' history was a precarious world where fact, lore, and misinformation had become so intertwined that extracting a pristine truth was almost impossible. Nowadays, Langdon hesitated even to mention the Knights Templar while lecturing because it invariably led to a barrage of convoluted inquiries into assorted conspiracy theories. Sophie already looked troubled. â€Å"You're saying the Knights Templar were founded by the Priory of Sion to retrieve a collection of secret documents? I thought the Templars were created to protect the Holy Land.† â€Å"A common misconception. The idea of protection of pilgrims was the guise under which the Templars ran their mission. Their true goal in the Holy Land was to retrieve the documents from beneath the ruins of the temple.† â€Å"And did they find them?† Langdon grinned. â€Å"Nobody knows for sure, but the one thing on which all academics agree is this: The Knights discovered something down there in the ruins†¦ something that made them wealthy and powerful beyond anyone's wildest imagination.† Langdon quickly gave Sophie the standard academic sketch of the accepted Knights Templar history, explaining how the Knights were in the Holy Land during the Second Crusade and told King Baldwin II that they were there to protect Christian pilgrims on the roadways. Although unpaid and sworn to poverty, the Knights told the king they required basic shelter and requested his permission to take up residence in the stables under the ruins of the temple. King Baldwin granted the soldiers' request, and the Knights took up their meager residence inside the devastated shrine. The odd choice of lodging, Langdon explained, had been anything but random. The Knights believed the documents the Priory sought were buried deep under the ruins – beneath the Holy of Holies, a sacred chamber where God Himself was believed to reside. Literally, the very center of the Jewish faith. For almost a decade, the nine Knights lived in the ruins, excavating in total secrecy through solid rock. Sophie looked over. â€Å"And you said they discovered something?† â€Å"They certainly did,† Langdon said, explaining how it had taken nine years, but the Knights had finally found what they had been searching for. They took the treasure from the temple and traveled to Europe, where their influence seemed to solidify overnight. Nobody was certain whether the Knights had blackmailed the Vatican or whether the Church simply tried to buy the Knights' silence, but Pope Innocent II immediately issued an unprecedented papal bull that afforded the Knights Templar limitless power and declared them† a law unto themselves† – an autonomous army independent of all interference from kings and prelates, both religious and political. With their new carte blanche from the Vatican, the Knights Templar expanded at a staggering rate, both in numbers and political force, amassing vast estates in over a dozen countries. They began extending credit to bankrupt royals and charging interest in return, thereby establishing modern banking and broadening their wealth and influence still further. By the 1300s, the Vatican sanction had helped the Knights amass so much power that Pope Clement V decided that something had to be done. Working in concert with France's King Philippe IV, the Pope devised an ingeniously planned sting operation to quash the Templars and seize their treasure, thus taking control of the secrets held over the Vatican. In a military maneuver worthy of the CIA, Pope Clement issued secret sealed orders to be opened simultaneously by his soldiers all across Europe on Friday, October 13 of 1307. At dawn on the thirteenth, the documents were unsealed and their appalling contents revealed. Clement's letter claimed that God had visited him in a vision and warned him that the Knights Templar were heretics guilty of devil worship, homosexuality, defiling the cross, sodomy, and other blasphemous behavior. Pope Clement had been asked by God to cleanse the earth by rounding up all the Knights and torturing them until they confessed their crimes against God. Clement's Machiavellian operation came off with clockwork precision. On that day, countless Knights were captured, tortured mercilessly, and finally burned at the stake as heretics. Echoes of the tragedy still resonated in modern culture; to this day, Friday the thirteenth was considered unlucky. Sophie looked confused. â€Å"The Knights Templar were obliterated? I thought fraternities of Templars still exist today?† â€Å"They do, under a variety of names. Despite Clement's false charges and best efforts to eradicate them, the Knights had powerful allies, and some managed to escape the Vatican purges. The Templars' potent treasure trove of documents, which had apparently been their source of power, was Clement's true objective, but it slipped through his fingers. The documents had long since been entrusted to the Templars' shadowy architects, the Priory of Sion, whose veil of secrecy had kept them safely out of range of the Vatican's onslaught. As the Vatican closed in, the Priory smuggled their documents from a Paris preceptory by night onto Templar ships in La Rochelle.† â€Å"Where did the documents go?† Langdon shrugged. â€Å"That mystery's answer is known only to the Priory of Sion. Because the documents remain the source of constant investigation and speculation even today, they are believed to have been moved and rehidden several times. Current speculation places the documents somewhere in the United Kingdom.† Sophie looked uneasy. â€Å"For a thousand years,† Langdon continued,† legends of this secret have been passed on. The entire collection of documents, its power, and the secret it reveals have become known by a single name – Sangreal. Hundreds of books have been written about it, and few mysteries have caused as much interest among historians as the Sangreal.† â€Å"The Sangreal? Does the word have anything to do with the French word sang or Spanish sangre – meaning ‘blood'?† Langdon nodded. Blood was the backbone of the Sangreal, and yet not in the way Sophie probably imagined. â€Å"The legend is complicated, but the important thing to remember is that the Priory guards the proof, and is purportedly awaiting the right moment in history to reveal the truth.† â€Å"What truth? What secret could possibly be that powerful?† Langdon took a deep breath and gazed out at the underbelly of Paris leering in the shadows.† Sophie, the word Sangreal is an ancient word. It has evolved over the years into another term†¦ a more modern name.† He paused. â€Å"When I tell you it's modern name, you'll realize you already know a lot about it. In fact, almost everyone on earth has heard the story of the Sangreal.† Sophie looked skeptical. â€Å"I've never heard of it.† â€Å"Sure you have.† Langdon smiled. â€Å"You're just used to hearing it called by the name ‘Holy Grail. ‘†

Reading comprehension Essay

|Types of Reading | |Maija MacLeod | |[pic] | |In this Page: | |Overview | |Intensive Reading | |Extensive Reading | |Intensive and Extensive Reading Together | |Scanning | |Skimming | |Scanning and Skimming Together | |References | |[pic] | |Overview: | |Several types of reading may occur in a language classroom. One way in which these may be categorized ,| |as suggested by Brown (1989) can be outlined as follows: | | A. Oral | | B. Silent | | I. Intensive | | a. linguistic | | b. content | | II. Extensive | | a. skimming | | b. scanning | | c. global | |The first distinction that can be made is whether the reading is oral or silent. This web page will not| |deal with oral reading, only silent reading. | |Within the category of silent reading, one encounters intensive and extensive reading. Intensive | |reading is used to teach or practice specific reading strategies or skills. The text is treated as an | |end in itself. Extensive reading on the other hand, involves reading of large quantities of material,| |directly and fluently. It is treated as a means to an end. It may include reading reading simply for | |pleasure or reading technical, scientific or professional material. This later type of text, more | |academic, may involve two specific types of reading, scanning for key details or skimming for the | |essential meaning. A relatively quick and efficient read, either on its own or after scanning or | |skimming, will give a global or general meaning. | |This web page then will first examine intensive reading. The second part will deal with extensive | |reading, with a focus on how it results in a general or global meaning. The fourth part gives a short | |comment on how intensive and extensive reading may operate in the same class. The fourth part examines | |scanning and the fifth, scanning. A final sixth part comments on how scanning and skimming may be used | |in the same reading. | | | |[pic] | |Intensive Reading | |In this section: | |What it is | |How it looks | |-Characteristics | |-Materials | |-Skills developed | |-Activities | |-Assessment | |When it is used | |Role of the teacher | |Advantages | |Disadvantages | |Questions sometimes asked | | | |What it is | |Brown (1989) explains that intensive reading â€Å"calls attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, | |and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, | |rhetorical relationships, and the like. † He draws an analogy to intensive reading as a â€Å"zoom lens† | |strategy . | |Long and Richards (1987) say it is a â€Å"detailed in-class† analysis, led by the teacher, of vocabulary | |and grammar points, in a short passage. † | |Intensive Reading, sometimes called â€Å"Narrow Reading†, may involve students reading selections by the| |same author or several texts about the same topic. When this occurs, content and grammatical structures| |repeat themselves and students get many opportunities to understand the meanings of the text. The | |success of â€Å"Narrow Reading† on improving reading comprehension is based on the premise that the more | |familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or having read other works by | |the same author, the more comprehension is promoted. | |How it looks | | Characteristics: | |usually classroom based | |reader is intensely involved in looking inside the text | |students focus on linguistic or semantic details of a reading | |students focus on surface structure details such as grammar and discourse markers | |students identify key  vocabulary | |students may draw pictures to aid them (such as in problem solving) | |texts are read carefully and thoroughly, again and again | |aim is to build more language knowledge rather than simply practice the skill of reading | |seen more commonly than extensive reading in classrooms | | Materials: | |usually very short texts – not more than 500 words in length | |chosen for level of difficulty and usually, by the teacher | |chosen to provide the types of reading and skills that the teacher wants to cover in the course | | Skills developed: | |rapid reading practice | |interpreting text by using: | | -word attack skills | | | | -text attack skills | | -non-text information | |Activities: | |Intensive reading exercises may include: | |looking at main ideas versus details | |understanding what is implied versus stated | |making inferences | |looking at the order of information and how it effects the message | |identifying words that connect one idea to another | |identifying words that indicate change from one section to another | | | | Munby (1979) suggests four categories of questions that may be used in intensive reading. These | |include: | |Plain Sense – to understand the factual, exact surface meanings in the text | |Implications – to make inferences and become sensitive to emotional tone and figurative language | |Relationships of thought – between sentences or paragraphs | |. Projective – requiring the integration of information from the text to one’s own background information| |Note that questions may fall into more than one category. | |. | |Assessment: | |Assessment of intensive reading will take the form of reading tests and quizzes. | |The most common systems of questioning are multiple-choice and free-response. | |Mackay (1968) , in his book Reading in a Second Language, reminds teachers that the most important | |objective in the reading class should NOT be the testing of the student to see if they have | |understood. Teachers should, instead, be spending most of the time training the student to understand | |what they read. | |When it is used | |when the objective of reading is to achieve full understanding of: | | – logical argument | | – rhetorical pattern of text | | – emotional, symbolic or social attitudes and purposes of the author | | – linguistic means to an end | | for study of content material that are difficult |.

Denial and deception Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Denial and deception - Essay Example The particulars of D&D thus deserve closer academic scrutiny. According to Shulsky (2000, p. 17), â€Å"‘Denial’ refers to the attempt to block all information channels by which an adversary could learn some truth (e.g., about a military development program, a policy, a course of action, etc.), thus preventing him from reacting in a timely manner.† Thus, â€Å"denial† includes all methods that may be employed in order to safeguard information that may be â€Å"classified†, such as security programs. Shulsky also wrote: â€Å"’Deception’ by contrast refers to the effort to cause an adversary to believe something that is not true, to believe a ‘cover story’ rather than the truth, with the goal of leading him to react in a way that serves one’s own interests, rather than his.† â€Å"Deception† therefore involves creating an â€Å"alternative reality† which the target is induced to believe. While denial and deception are two different concepts, they are so intertwined in practice as to make one a necessary adjunct to the other. After all, deceiving one into believing a story other than what is reality is denying him the reality. According to (Caddell, 2004), deception is traditionally accepted as an integral component of political and military conflict. It is even a popularly accepted truth that a certain level of deception regularly occurs in all levels and types of human interaction and even in nature. Disinformation/deception, however, should not be confused with unintentional misinformation. Deception has two elements: intention to disinform, and intention to gain an advantage from the disinformation. In nature, deception exists in some forms of natural defense among flora and fauna. For instance, protective coloration or â€Å"camouflage† is common, in order to visually conceal the plant or animal in its natural habitat. Some animals are

Narrative Report on The Wizard of Oz (1939) Essay

Narrative Report on The Wizard of Oz (1939) - Essay Example It has significance as a unit, and a thread can be traced all the way along. Plot, on the other hand, is an item that occurs within that story. So for example, there are twists and turns in the story caused by these episodes, or plots, that crop up. They are each of lesser importance in themselves, but they all contribute to the work as a whole, creating interest and sometimes also contrast. The plot element of the balloon scene is an example of a little excursus from the main story and some of the places that Dorothy visits are also branches of sub plot . The scene where the wizard tells Dorothy to find the broom is an example of a new plot being inserted into the story and this, too, diverts her from her main goal of returning to Kansas for a while. It motivates her to take a certain course of action and increases an element of danger because she has to encounter the wicked witch. The film begins with Dorothy out walking with her dog when suddenly a tornado arrives and all the Kansas characters are depicted rushing to find shelter. This dramatic start creates suspense, because Dorothy runs here and there, flinging her arms out and wrestling with items in her desperation to find a safe spot. The whole scene is filmed in black and white, and it shows a rather plain and drab country atmosphere with chickens and horses. There is some cartoon-like camera work when Dorothy gets hit on the head and lies down in bed watching figure pass by through the window, as if being whirled up in the tornado. Finally the camera pulls right away and there is an image of the house spiralling up and away. Suspense is created at this point because the viewer wants to know what happens to Dorothy and Toto. In the final scene there is a repetition of the spiralling house but this time it spins downwards, in reversal of the opening sequence.

Global warming Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Global warming - Research Paper Example While many people recognize and acknowledge that global warming is something that we should concern ourselves with, there are others still that believe the issue is either not that vital or that global warming is something that we can benefit from. However, given the rather drastic increase in the temperature of the earth, global warming is an event that should be taken seriously in the hopes of preventing drastic damage to our environment and our lives. History of Global Warming The premise for global warming dates back to the 1800s, when it was noted that, due to the first Industrial Revolution, the coal, railroad, and land clearing prompted greenhouse gas emissions to speed up (Weart 29). It was noted at the time of the second Industrial Revolution that electricity, public health, and fertilizers further accelerated the greenhouse gases. It was revealed the various ways in which the earth’s temperature was changing in relation to certain events or situations, such as wars o r population growth. It was not until the late 1990s that it was discovered that the changing of the temperature was changing rapidly throughout the world and fears began to grow about what global warming was capable of doing. In 2009, it had been announced that global warming was moving at a faster pace. ... Pros of Global Warming Many people believe that global warming can be beneficial to humanity and should be embraced, not feared. One of the examples as to how global warming can be beneficial is that some of the frozen regions of the earth, such as Arctic, Antarctic, and Siberia have the possibility of experiencing plant growth and milder climates (Houghton 94). This could also hold true for other places throughout the world that may be too cold for plant growth, which could aid in the issues of hunger in some of the third world countries. Similarly, the agriculture seasons would be much longer, allowing for increased production, thus aiding and boosting the economy. If the weather were warmer more often, there would be fewer injuries and deaths due to the cold. This could be especially helpful to people that live rather exposed in colder climates. It would also take less energy consumption to make colder places warmer, which would help the country with the ever-growing concerns of f inite resources. Though many of these sound like welcome changes to the way the world is now, they have their downfalls, thus turning down the potential benefits of global warming. The frozen regions of the world were not meant to have plant or agricultural growth, and this could prove to have repercussions on the ecosystem. An increase in agricultural bounty would be useful, but overproduction would not be useful. Finally, though warmer weather may mean fewer deaths due to cold weather, there could be an increase in deaths due to warmer weather if things get too hot for people. Cons of Global Warming Perhaps unsurprisingly, the cons of global warming greatly outweigh the pros. The greatest consequence we could see due to global warming is further complications with

Decisions in Paradise, Part III Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Decisions in Paradise, Part III - Essay Example The creation of a strong brand is vital because it facilitates the market penetration. The coffee market in Kava Island is becoming congested with new entrants. For Starbucks, to be able to increase its market share, it must be able to develop a brand image and presence. Brand image improves brand loyalty and thus improve the penetration of the product and services. Loyalty in brands can be achieved by maintaining quality and improving communication and marketing strategy. The marketing strategy of the company must improve brand awareness through advertising and social media. Social media platforms offer added value to the marketing campaign by encouraging feedback collection and participation of the consumer in product development. The success of Starbucks in Kava Island will depend on the ability to handle issues of human resource, product and service quality. Service and product quality can be addressed by the production process as such and the production process must accept the c hanges in technology and continuously improvement. In response to competition, Starbucks must work on cost cutting measures in order to reduce product price to increase product competitiveness. In reducing production cost, the restaurant will increase the penetration of its product in the market. ... Currently, social media usage must be employed to meet the younger generation. Marketing of products using online tools has increased sales volume because the clients employ online purchase of items (Beverly & Thomson, 2011). Apart from employing the online tools, social media have a massive impact on the success of the country both in business and politics. The Arab revolution is a product of social media usage in the airing of the grievances of the citizens. Facebook is the leading social media platform with massive subscribers and increased success in terms of usage. Facebook as a social media tool enjoys massive support from the youths who have employed it in communication and information transfer. Companies use social media marketing strategy to improve brand image and resonance (Beverly & Thomson, 2011, p. 123). Marketing involves the employment of all the necessary platforms of promotion and advertising with the SNSs offering a better platform for communication. Social media p latforms offer the opportunity for collection of feedback. Traditionally, feedback collection of products released in the market was hard to obtain owing to the nature of information sharing systems. The company must develop a social communication network between consumers to market and develop new ideas and services. The success of the company in communication with consumers helps to develop loyalty. Ethical implication of the proposed models actions Stakeholder involvement in the actions to be undertaken by the company will be based on the financial implication of the approach. Stakeholders worry about wealth creation and losses which may be passed over to them. Ethical issues involving stakeholders may not be resolved easily because they are not involved in business operations.

Marketing. Performance evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing. Performance evaluation - Essay Example It would not be correct, if we only hold the employee responsible or if we hold solely the employee responsible for this immorality. An employee involves himself in such act because there is not adequate check on him, which is the responsibility of the company. However, the primary fault is that of the person himself. It is the immorality of the individual that actually works on promoting such unethical practices at company time. Hence, the person responsible for the act is to be held responsible; however, the boost to these activities given by company environment is also to be considered. Discussion Question 2: Please discuss your views of performance expectations or performance appraisals and how they accurately or not evaluate your performance Do you feel the annual evaluation you have each year accurately reflects your performance on the job What are some ethical implications related to performance evaluations Performance evaluation is said to be a yardstick for measurement and decision of whether an employee has performed according to expectations or not and if yes, how good has been the performance. Performance evaluation techniques have a structured approach followed by discussion to have a conclusion of the employee's performance. An employee is allowed to present his case through self evaluation but the final judgment is that of the boss. The annual frequency of this tool is for ease and convenience. However, there are times when the employee has been a great performer throughout the year, and just when the evaluation time is near, due to some reason the performance has slipped. In such cases, performance evaluation results do not go in the favor of employee in spite of quality and hard work all the year round. This makes performance evaluation a subjective tool to a great extent. So, better frequency can remove this drawback rather than having an annual appraisal. Ethically, it is the employee's responsibility to do a realistic and correct self appraisal and even the boss is morally bound to give the deserved rating. But, in actual scenario, the case does not match ideal needs. The employee does try to inflate and show his performance and aims at maximum rating in spite of whatever the performance is. Exceptions are always there. Also, the boss tries to have personal bias while evaluating. Hence, the ethical sense of the tool gets lost. Summary: The course on critical thinking and ethics offers a pathway to integrate the views on ethics in the professional as well as personal life. It has an impact on the thought process and helps getting a realistic view of things around us and facilitates evaluation of professional and personal development in the light of ethical standings. It also enables to let us apply theoretical topics and discussions for decision making and for assessment of skill sets and talent. The above two discussion questions give a food for thought for the immorality and morality debate at work place. It helps in analysis of the actual scenario versus the expected scenario. The collaborative effort of the course with a structured approach and discussion based topics of real life stimulate the

Health Care Organization Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health Care Organization - Term Paper Example Human resources play a key role at all levels of health care provision, enhanced by proper decision making by health care organizations. In the light of the Johns Hopkins Medicine organization, human resources environment is evaluated and assessed in terms of the various factors that characterize that environment. Challenges of managing the human resources in the organization Managing human resources is often characterized by a number of identifiable challenges. These challenges are spread across all variables that define the operational functionality of human resources in an organization. Human resources management in the context of Johns Hopkins Medicine organization experiences challenges internally and externally, based on local and international trends in factors that affect human resources and the entire health care industry. The challenges herein are discussed below: New technology challenge The Johns Hopkins Medicine organization is one of the health care organizations that h ighly adopt changes in new and advanced technologies. The organization is committed to providing the domestic and international community with health services that utilize contemporary technologies in a bid to make the services effective and efficient. This is actually a positive effort for the organization, but its human resource management personnel face a significant challenge posed by this pursuit. This process promotes a shift from touch labor to knowledge work (Beardwell & Claydon, 2010). In other words, managing this change in the context of the workforce is a difficult task. Leadership development Leadership impacts on the organization at all levels. This is because organizational decisions are taken at all levels due to the required interdepartmental relationship. While Johns Hopkins Medicine organization is focused on becoming a world leading example in the health sector, little or no concentration is directed towards internal leadership of specific departments. On the sam e note, all the departments are required to work in harmony and observe the same goals and objectives. The conflicting pursuit challenges leadership development in the organization. Measurement of effectiveness Many health care organizations are focused on the result other than the process. Effectiveness measurement in these organizations is directed to the general company performance other than the individual contribution of each department in the organization. It is important to account for the effectiveness of the human resource department in the pursuit of the organizational goals. However, proper mechanisms to do so are lacking in many organizations. While such mechanisms may be in place in Johns Hopkins Medicine organization, the key variables that measure the effectiveness are lacking. Staffing It is the role of human resources management to undertake proper staffing in an organization. This is done through recruitment and management of available skilled labor, locally and in ternationally (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2011). Johns Hopkins Medicine is an ever advancing organization in terms of its operations and technology. As a result, the staffing of the organization needs to be diverse and dynamic over time in order to match these trends. Striking a balance between the advancement and the staffing process is

A Comparative Legal Political Analysis on Child Labour in India and Dissertation

A Comparative Legal Political Analysis on Child Labour in India and Pakistan - Dissertation Example Consequently, I am writing this proposal after the research and dissertation has been finished. As requested, I have written the proposal as if the research had not yet been conducted, and have provided additional information where required. Objectives The aim of this research was to examine how people in India and Pakistan perceive child labour and what the differences in perceptions were. This information will be related to the international and national laws concerning child labour that employers in India and Pakistan are subject to, and what changes need to be made to decrease the prevalence of child labour. To address the research aim, a mixed methods research approach will be taken, using both qualitative and quantitative aspects. Proposed methods It was determined that to accurately determine the differences between the two countries, a large sample size will need to be taken. Because child labour is a sensitive topic in both India and Pakistan, it was important that the resea rch was non-invasive and did not require much time out of the participants. Consequently, a multiple-choice survey was designed containing ten questions. Using a multiple-choice survey allows the results to be quantifiable, and has the additional benefit of allow participants to maintain their anonymity. In order to bypass potential response bias and low response rate, the survey will be distributed in two forms, by mail (to 100 people in each country, using random sampling methods) and by handing out the survey in person (100 people per country). This method should allow for adequate numbers of respondents, to research the questions for this topic. Because the results from these surveys would be broad and the design did not allow individual perspectives to be shown, it was determined that a second part of the research project will also need to be undertaken. This component of the research will involve face-to-face interviews with five participants from each country, representing a range of industries. The aim is to interview two employers from industries that traditionally hire child labourers, two lawyers and one adult worker from the same industry. However, it may be difficult to find people who are willing to talk openly about child labour, so these allocations may not be exact. Each interview will be between ten minutes and an hour in length, depending on how willing the subjects are to participate. Ethical considerations Subjects who participate in this study will be given an informational page along with the survey which informs them about the study (Appendix 1) and what the data collected will be used for. Participation in the survey will be taken as informed consent. Likewise, all participants in the verbal interviews will be given information about the study, and the implications will be discussed prior to the beginning of the interview. Individuals will be given the option to opt-out of the study if they were not comfortable with the information, an d participation will be assumed to mean informed consent. The method of survey taking that will be used allows participants to remain entirely anonymous. Participants will not be asked to identify themselves in any way, and no identifying information will recorded. In addition, information on what addresses the survey is sent out to will not be recorded. Consequently, there will be no way to determine the individual identities of the people who participate in the survey. The interview portion of the study involves the researcher talking face-to-face with the participant. This is more difficult, as the researcher will be aware of the identity of the individuals that are part of the interviews. However, their anonymity will be maintained and no personally identifiable information will be

Shakespeares Othello Essay Example for Free

Shakespeares Othello Essay Othellos destruction by Iago is inevitable due to a combination of Iagos plotting and Othellos character flaws. Iagos cunning character in Shakespeares play has identified Othellos vulnerability through flaws of jealousy, trust, poor judgement, naivety and love for the fair Desdemona. Iagos pure hate for the Moor leads to the success of Othellos downfall through Iagos manipulative and conniving plotting. Perhaps without Iagos clever plotting Othello might have had a chance to communicate with and learn to truly know Desdemona before his weaknesses were ignited. However the reality is that Iago did successfully plot Othellos downfall and is simply unavoidable with the combination of both the scheming and Othellos flaws. Othellos love for Desdemona is so pure and new that the slightest presumption of dishonesty, planted by Iago, is manipulated and exaggerated to turn Othellos love for her into madness and murder. Act I, scene ii, 24-28, For know, Iago, but that I love the gentle Desdemona, I would not my undousà ¨d free condition put into circumscription and confine for the seas worth. He describes the greatness of his love for Desdemona and how he wouldnt give it up for all the riches in the sea. The greatness of Othellos character in the beginning leads the audience to honour him and convinces them he is strong enough to endure the evilness of his tragic fate. His greatness is partly if not solely why Desdemona fell in love with him, Act I, scene iii, 166-167 She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them. She thought he was a great man and thus she fell in with him for his heroic and strong nature. Desdemona is not the only one who admires and acknowledges Othellos greatness, the Duke, Lodovico, the other soldiers and many more. Its not only his heroics and courage that make him great; he is also very respectful, honest, noble and sincere, and these qualities truly portray him to be admired and thus great. However Iago sees through this strength and breaks him through his love for Desdemona. Just like he says in Act I, scene iii, 365-386, here he first plots against Othello and even admits he will be a great husband and so knows to get his vengeance on Othello through his  love for Desdemona. As mentioned previously Iagos plotting commences at the end of Act I, throughout the second act he plots and sets up circumstances, such as Cassios dismissal as lieutenant, to assist his revenge and scheming, resulting in helping him to gain Othellos trust. Othellos strong will and mind break down during Act III, where his weaknesses are ignited by Iago. During Act II Iago gains Othellos trust by making Cassio the culprit, therefore throughout Act III Othellos trust thickens, firing his naivety and his jealousy of Cassio. At first Othello doesnt believe Iago, but Iagos tiny thoughts and assumptions grow on Othello, who begins to suspect his wife of adultery. Othellos sanity partly withers as he makes comments on suicide, If there be cords or knives, poison or fire or suffocating streams, Ill not endure it. (Act III, scene iii, 388-391). He claims how he wont believe a thing without ocular proof until Iago informs him of Cassios dream of Desdemona. With this news the audience can see Othellos first outburst of a murderous inclination, Ill tear her to pieces! (Act III, scene iii, 33) He Jealousy becomes obvious through that remark and even more so in Act III, scene iii, 272-275. I had rather be a toad and live upon the vapour of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others use. Here hed rather live almost in a hell and torturous life than to slightly keep his wife, tainted by others. Throughout Act III until the end, Othellos jealousy grows more and more destructive. He cannot talk to or look at his wife normally, he even hits her and Lodovico can see that he is not the same noble character he once was, Act IV, scene I, 255-259, Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate call all-in-all sufficient? Is this the nature whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue the shot of accident nor dart of chance could neither  graze nor pierce? Iago has this tremendous plan to seek vengeance on Othello and somewhat Cassio. It is obvious he is trying to create a hell and make all this evil occur, where in fact he just makes them seem real. He doesnt lie nor tell the truth, he tells Othello what he thinks, the worst lie of all, partly the truth. Act V, scene ii, 175, I told him what I thought, and told no more. Iago knew exactly how to affect Othello by power of speech. He knew that small observations would trigger Othellos jealousy, and then brushing them off as if they were nothing to worry about, playing the innocent act. This made Othello perceive things differently, with the state of mind that it was true and thus seeing and understanding situations in a jealous perspective. At the beginning of Act III Iagos observations and whispers first get to Othello and change him by the end of the act. He takes a psychological approach to make Othello question Desdemonas honesty and loyalty. Iago truly is the villain of this tragedy, the fall of the great Othello. With his conniving scheming he makes it inevitable for Othello to triumph, and in the process ignites all of Othellos flaws into a burning hell on earth, leading him to madness and murder. His love for Desdemona made him so happy and yet destroyed both hers and his life by the green-eyed monster. Probably if communication between the two was stronger our hero may have won, if he was not so trusting he may have seen the truth and if Iago had somewhat of a heart and patience, his time for lieutenant may have come, and this tragedy would seise to exist.

Mandatory Military Service: A good concept?

Mandatory Military Service: A good concept? Is mandatory military service a good thing for the country? Both World Wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam War have one thing in commonmost who served were drafted through a mandatory system. Recently, high ranking Democratic Congressman, Charles Rangel, proposed reinstating the draft. Is mandatory military service a good thing for the country? I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a military draft, as well as different types of compulsory military service. When people hear about a military draft the first thing that comes to mind is the Vietnam War. The Vietnam draft system was flawed to say the least. Class played a major role in the draft. It was quite easy for those with general knowledge of the Selective Service system to avoid being drafted. Many believe some of the wealthy used their connections to get into the safer branches of the military. President Bushs political opponents have accused him of using his fathers connections during the Vietnam War to get into the relatively safe Texas Air National Guard. College students could apply for student deferment, and at the time most college students were upper class. Student deferment would last until the student finished their studies and earned a degree. If a draft was instituted today college students would only be deferred until the end of their semester. During the Vietnam War, medical deferments were common. Physical problems were legitimate reasons to be exempt from active duty service, but the lower class was at a disadvantage because of fewer medical records. For example, former presidential candidate Howard Dean was exempt from serving in the military during the Vietnam War because of a back problem for which he had medical records of from a prominent New York doctor. Some of the poor didnt have the medical records to support their ailments, and were forced to serve. According to draft supporters, a draft would unite the country. Today, most young people arent actively engaged in their government. A draft would get everyone invested in our foreign policy. Congressman Rangel believes instituting the draft would lead to fewer wars. Its one thing supporting a pre-emptive strike on a country when others in the volunteer military will be performing the mission but would you support it if you were on the front lines of that pre-emptive strike? Another question that must be asked is Should those who dont want any part of the military be forced to serve their country in the event of a draft? Our militarys objective is to defend freedom in our own country and in the world. So, a draft, in some ways, sacrifices the very values we are supposed to be defending. The Supreme Court has ruled that conscientious objection can be from religious or non-religious beliefs but can not be because of a particular war. Many objectors have served in a weapons free branch of the military, or in some form of community service. According to the Selective Service System, they can evaluate and induct everyone drafted within 193 days of an emergency. With such rapid progress, is mandatory military service now necessary? The job of the Selective Service is to provide manpower to the armed forces. Therefore, the 193 days does not include the rigorous training that is standard with the U.S. military. With such great technology at its disposal, the U.S. military makes sure its members are knowledgeable about all its weapons systems. There are many issues that must be addressed to avoid mass problems if a draft were held today. Today, homosexuals are barred from serving in the military. What would stop any person who doesnt want to serve from claiming to be a homosexual? Also, would women be drafted? Today, only men have to register for the Selective Service. If the situation in the Middle East continues to worsen and spread, our government may have no other choice but to place more boots on the ground. The only way to solve troop shortages would be to re-instate the draft. We must hope that our government would only send us in harms way when this country is truly in danger. Bibliography http://www.sss.gov Selective Service System http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/20/selective.service/index.html CNN http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/19/rangel.draft.ap/index.html CNN http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh1000/stories/bush072899.htm Washington Post http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/news/news/2003/hardball_dean_120103.htm Harvard University

Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond :: Speare Witch Blackbird Pond Essays

Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond shows the maturation process of a young girl from Barbados. Kit’s life in Barbados is shattered when her grandfather dies. As a result of his death, Kit is forced to leave the island and her carefree lifestyle. She travels to Connecticut to find her only living relatives. Once she reaches Connecticut her persona evolves from an island girl, to hard worker, and finally to wife. Kit is a young island girl who is running away from her problems. She is escaping from the only home she has ever known and leaving behind her soon to be lover, Nat in order to get away from a man she does not wish to marry. Kit tells Mercy that she does not want to marry him because he is much older then she is, â€Å"He was fifty years old, and he had pudgy red fingers with too many rings on them. You see Mercy why I couldn’t write† (pg 47). She makes up her mind and runs to a family whom she has never met, without even writing to them. Once she reaches Connecticut, Kit is disappointed at the first sight of land, â€Å"The bleak line of shore surrounding the gray harbor was a disheartening contrast to the shimmering green and white that fringed the turquoise bay of Barbados which was her home.† (Pg 7) Once she reaches her aunt and uncle’s house it is a huge culture shock for her. In Connecticut everyone does his or her part and helps with the housework, where as in Barbados, there are people who do that for you. Kit must learn how to be of some use to the family. â€Å"By the end of the day the word useful had taken an alarming meaning.† (Pg 42) She also has to attend Puritan meetings regularly, something that she never had to do before. â€Å"The puritan service seems to her as plain and unlovely as the bare board walls of the meeting house† (pg 52). While at meeting she is called upon by a wealthy young man, William Ashby; once again in an attempt to fit in, she agrees to have him visit her in her uncle’s house. Although she is not interested in him, she continues seeing him because she knows that if they are married she will not have to do any chores at all.

Washintgon Irving :: essays research papers

In spite of Irving's seventeen years in Europe, his search for native themes led him to contribute importantly to portraiture of the American Indian. Although his firsthand observation of Indians was limited, he was liberated om the pioneer's need to justify Indian displacement. He was able to view Indians sympathetically, bringing the perspective of a worldly man to questions of civilization and savagery. In his first book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Dietrich Knickerbocker ( 1809), he satirizes pretentious historians and wittily deflates some shibboleths of American history. In Chapter Five Dietrich Knickerbocker pretends to justify the rights of European colonists to the land they "discovered." He succeeds, of course, in revealing the falsity and injustice of their claims. At the end of the chapter, Irving offers a Swiftian summary of colonization; this passage is reprinted below. In a more straightforward way, but not more devastatingly, Irving takes up the topic of displaced Indians again in two sketches added to The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., in 1820. In "Traits of Indian Character," Irving expresses succinctly that sympathy for wronged Indians implied in Knickerbocker's History: It has been the lot of the unfortunate aborigines of America, in the early periods of colonization, to be doubly wronged by the white men. They have been dispossessed of their hereditary possessions by mercenary and frequently wanton warfare, and their characters have been traduced by bigoted and interested writers. In this essay, Irving praises the Indians for courage and magnanimity, and explains their deep resentment of white injuries; he calls it "the dark story of their wrongs and wretchedness." In the next sketch, "Philip of Pokanoket,,, he brings together materials for the many nineteenth century treatments of Philip (most notably, Cooper's and Stone's). Irving's recognition of the heroism of this "true-born prince" in trying to save his people is in sharp contrast to earlier views of Philip as devilish. In these comic and serious meditations on history, Irving helped to establish the idealized Indian; he worked from secondary sources, the northeastern Indians having been conquered and displaced by the 1820s. But Irving's treatment of the Indian does not end with these books. In 1832 he traveled across Indian territory, and recorded his glimpses of western tribes in A Tour on the Prairies ( 1835). His most intimate contact with Indians was gathered through his acquaintance with a half-breed guide on this trip.

Illicit Trade and Drug Trafficking Proving to be a Major Problem Essay

Illicit Trade and Drug Trafficking Proving to be a Major Problem Drug trafficking and illicit trade have proven to be major problems that the international community face as it enters into the twenty-first century. Currently the illegal drug trade market is one of the largest sectors of the modern global economy. Because of this fact, the drug trade is deeply rooted in many nations economic and social cultures, which makes it very difficult to control. Drug trafficking also brings with it the problems of organized crime money laundering, corruption, and violence. In 1999, the United Nations Economic and Social Council warned that the international drug trade was brutal, dangerous, and ruthless for those involved with its actions, as well as those trying to enforce restrictions against it. In the debate over the international illicit drug trade, many have argued that the current situation is based on a supply and demand. The international business of narcotics produces around 400 billion dollars in trade each year, which accounts for almost 10% of all worldwide trade. With that in mind, over the past decades the problem with the illicit trafficking of drugs has been based mainly on the supply of narcotics to the international community. Many nations such as Thailand, Laos, Pakistan, Morocco, Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia are heavily dependant upon the profits of the international drug trade. The United Nations has been continuously involved in stressing the need for governments to reduce production and supply of illicit drugs. However, many nations rely on the profits of the international drug trade as a sustaining force in their economies; this has proven to be a very difficult task. Over time, the problem with illicit drug trade has worsened, over the last decade the production of opium and marijuana nearly doubled, and the production of cocaine tripled. The increase in the demand for drugs, has led to the increase in production of synthetic drugs as well as an increase in the profits for those involved in the drug trade themselves. With the demand for drugs on the rise throughout the international community the time has come for problem solving bodies such as the United Nations to step in and take action. Past United Nations Actions For the past decade the United Nations has been heavily involved in the fight against the illicit drug... ...d NGOs to encourage farmers to reduce the cultivation of illicit opium in favor of alternative crops, but more action needs to be taken.  · Middle Eastern Bloc With the rise of the black market and mafia in certain areas, drug consumption has taken a major rise in recent years. Demand for opium, cannabis, heroin and cocaine have risen drastically. The governments within this region must focus on the stronger law enforcement and restriction of corruption especially in transit countries. . Policy Questions  · What systems or programs does your country support relating to drug trade and control?  · What, if anything, has your country done in the past to help deal with illicit drug trade?  · Does your country rely on illicit drug trade for its economy?  · What has your nation done in collaboration with the United Nations or other independent NGO’s to combat illicit drug trade? Research Here are some good sites for research- http://www.state.gov/g/inl http://www.unesco.org/most/ds22eng.htm http://www.unesco.org/most/ds22eng.htm http://www.unesco.org/most/ds22eng.htm And don’t forget the Mira Costa MUN site http://www.cyberverse.com/~costamun/ GOOD LUCK!

Modernism vs. Victorianism

According to the Witcombe, in his website regarding modernism, anything is modern at the time it was created. Strictly speaking, modern refers to the a certain period in history, more or less around the 1860s, where pieces of art depict ideologies and philosophies. Art works of this period include Manet, Belvedere, Louis David, de Goya, and Courbet, to name a few. These pieces portray ideas that seemed taboo, or too different from the what society believes in. Because prior to the turn of the Modern Age, ideas for art were too â€Å"old fashioned† as many has deemed.They seemed rigid, or stifled. These art works are categorized under Victorianism. Victorianism refers to a period where Queen Victoria reigned. During this period, many aspects of society, from science, politics and religion, were a stark contrast to the modern age. As written in the website The Victorian Web, this period is a high for inventions, where man is able to to create means for the improvement on how man lives. On this aspect of society, Victorianism is at an advantage. However, in regards to their religion, the people underwent â€Å"a great age of doubt†.Their literature was an attempt to combine Romantic and Neoclassical eras, focusing on emotions and the role of art and the artists to the public. This period also gave emphasis on movements such as democracy, feminism, socialism and Marxism. There were many established names such as Darwin, Marx, and Freud, that gave way to the Modern Era. In the same website, they said that Victorianism is a parent to Modernism, and as such, there was a strong reaction to the parent. Modernism gives light to the need to find what was holding society back to the â€Å"Old Fashioned†.By having more emphasis on the progress of society, Modernism strongly opposes the ideals of Victorianism. This is evident with the projects and creations of this period, the focal points were very different. Witcombe quoted Salvador Dali, modernism is â€Å"a revolution in consciousness. † One can assume that since Victorianism is related to a very strict parents, Modernism as a child will strongly repel these ideals and create his own. Modernism focuses on freedom. By comparing the many art works from paintings to literature, to science and technology, one cannot be mistaken of the differences between these two periods.Another metaphor can be a sealed bottle. Victorianism refers to that sealed bottle, and that would be art in itself. However, people would have noticed that a sealed bottle would have served no purpose to society. There were instances where a sealed bottle could have done something more progressive for society, and not just for aesthetic values. But it is not enough for others. These people would be the forefathers of modernism. They didn't want a sealed bottle. They want an open bottle, with all its contents pouring out.That would be art, the dynamic factors of modernist approach calls for greater improvem ent. It inevitably foresees progress. As a natural reaction, anything that is repressed tends to fight back, to go to the extreme opposite. This is evident in many cases, as it is here between Modernism and Victorianism. The people back then, in the regime of Queen Victoria, were gullible, always easy to follow and be affected by what authority and society dictates. The modernist people thought that there must be a time when they can think for themselves, and be liberated by the chains of society.There were so many things that could more than tickle a man's imagination during the former period, and according to ChangingMinds. org, the thoughts and information that cannot be fully handled by the mind, is taken aside and processed in a different manner. Effects reflect in a different manner. This is called Repression. In the case between these two periods, the people had been repressed in such a way that the matters where their eyes should be open, their eyes have been closed either b y society, or by those in authority, using threats or unwanted consequences as an exchange for disobedience.In conclusion, Modernism is the reaction to Victorianism because of the repression on the ideals and practices of the people. Modernism is the point where the consciousness of the people have been opened to even greater ideas, philosophies, and possibilities. The people were liberated to reality with the use of the many aspects of society, pushing it forward. Remaining at a state where one is not challenged, stagnant at a point where life is dull, is never a good thing. Man would not be where he is to this day without this turning point.However, human beings will inevitably have such a turning point, for the complex mind of man can be more cunning than we perceive. He will never be content, and will always aspire for changes. Works Cited Landow, George. â€Å"The Reality of Victorianism. † The Victorian Web. 15 December 2007 http://www. victorianweb. org/vn/victor4. htm l â€Å"Repression. † Changing Minds. 15 December 2007 http://changingminds. org/explanations/behaviors/coping/repression. htm Witcombe, Christopher. â€Å"Root of Modernism. † Modernism. 15 December 2007 http://witcombe. sbc. edu/modernism/roots. html.

Cyclermate

CYCLERMATE REPORT I. Introduction of Cyclermate Lewis Llewellyn and Dai Armstrong were the first two men who made a plan of opening their own company after being redundant as the consequence of the closure of their town’s steel works in South Wales. Both of them belonged to the local cycle touring club and since then, they had become close friends.With the idea of making a traditional upright cycle in sharp of the 1940’s and 1950’s, Cyclermate Ltd has been established and quickly gained success and attracted a number of attentions of customers owing to its high quality hand – made products and word – of – mouth reputation. Over the next 15 years, the company had still expanded and continued to be successful when persuading many small cycle shops in Wales and England to display or at least to keep a stock of brochures of its products.Everything seems to work quite smoothly until 2010, when Cyclermate has faced a lot of issues in terms of finan ce, human resource and operation. To be specific, the demand among buyers in this field continues to fall even price of each Cyclermate’s product has been reduced; the quality of its products are no longer as good as it was in the past which illustrated by the increase of complaints from customers about its quality and fault and the bank manager has expressed concern about the overdraft which will cost Cyclermate a big trouble if it does not solve these problems immediately.These are just some of the obstacles which the company has faced so in this essay, I will analyze more clearly about its difficulty and recommend some positive solutions for Cyclermate which it can follows to handle these issues. II. Cyclermate analysis 1. SWOT analysis First of all, in order to have a wide vision about this company, I have used SWOT as a tool to identify and analyze the situation of Cyclermate at the moment. As regards internal factors, one of the strength of this company which makes it d ifferent compared to the other companies is unique products.As far as I am concerned, with the development of technology, many cycle shops nowadays use a modern production chain to dispose and assemble materials. Nonetheless, the cost for this activity is quite high and most of the products will be the same. When it comes to Cyclermate, almost processes have been settled by hand; thus, staffs can easily add their creation into products and attract customers by the wide range of style of its bicycle.Furthermore, by using traditional method, Cyclermate have brought some new things to the market making buyers feel more interesting, especially when products have been sold in the market are quite common and familiar. When it comes to the weaknesses, as almost Cyclermate’s products have been made by hand so mistakes and faults are inevitable. That is to say, besides the price paying for materials, it also has to spend some more for fixing service.Moreover, with the lack of employee s and capital, Cyclermate has struggled in operating the company and consequently, it normally has to face the insufficient production selling in the market. As regards external factors, a huge opportunity for Cyclermate at the very first is that it produces an unfamiliar product so Cyclermate can avoid big competitors and has a chance to dominate the market. Besides, according to Mr. Llewellyn, there is still strong growths to come in the cycle market as more and more people abandon their cars; hence, this is a good chance for this company to reach to its customers.One of the most striking features which should be considered here is the economic crisis occurring in 2008 resulted in the threat of total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments, and downturns in stock markets around the world. In many areas, the housing market also suffered, resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. The crisis played a significant ro le in the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in trillions of US dollars, and a downturn in economic activity.As the consequence, people will have to think about a solution to save money and one possible way at this time is reduce the usage of petrol; in another word, reduce using gas transportation and change to physical vehicle such as bicycle. So if Cyclermate can attracts customers and creates a habit of using bicycle among them, it definitely will success in the future. The only threat of Cyclermate which I want to mention here is the appearance of some competitors in this major for example Halfords which gained success at the moment even there are many cycle shops are closing – outpriced.At the very first, Cyclermate was one of the first company entering this field so it did not have to pay much attention about how to deal with the others competitors. Nevertheless, when the time passed by, many companies have noticed about this potential mar ket so it is time for Cyclermate to try their best to gain trust of customers if they do not want to lose the market to their rivals. 2. Current issues of Cyclermate a. Finance problem After having an overlook about the situation of Cyclermate, the next part of my essay will come closer to all the issues which Cyclermate has met.Firstly, this company has to deal with a huge trouble which comes from finance. As I mentioned before, Cyclermate had to reduce the cost of its product to maintain sales, costs are rising and the overdraft is increase year by year which push the company on the edge of bankruptcy. Besides, according to Ms. Barry the budget for the coming year will further decline and possible trading losses as the consequence of a decline in sales. Moreover, based on the profit statement for the last five years, it is clearly that the finance issue of this company is in danger.To illustrated, the profit retained of the company had decreased significantly compared to the last 4 year (from ? 42734 in 9/30/2009 to ? 12724 in 9/30/2010) and it did not even pay the dividends for shareholder and the cash on hand of Cyclermate in 30/9/2010 was just ? 657; put it in another words, the liquidity of this company was too low and if there was something happen for example the banks did not believe Cyclermate anymore and they wanted their money back, it could not have enough cash to pay for its creditors and had to mortgage its non-current assets; hence, this company will not have enough machine or capital to run its business.In order to help the company overcome this problem, there are some solutions which I am considered will be possible. First, according to the financial statement, even the direct sales units sold was lower than shop sales price, the profit which Cyclermate received from direct sale was much more higher. To be specific, in 9/30/2006, even there were just 743 units sold by direct sales, compared to 1010 units by shop sales, the revenue from the for mer was much more higher ( 743Ãâ€"650 – 1010Ãâ€"390 = â‚ ¬89050).That is to say, by reducing the products sold in shop, Cyclermate can saves and gains more money. Furthermore, in order to maintain the connection which suppliers after reducing the quantity, Cyclermate can negotiate with these suppliers and offer some extra interest rate or commission so that its supplier will still remain display and sell the product of this company. Another solution is that Dai Armstrong should allow Lewis Llewellyn to retire. The reason is that Lewis Llewellyn himself does not willing to work anymore and he usually find his work increasingly tiring and stressful.Besides, although he is one of the first 2 men who established Cyclermate as well as the shareholder of the company, he himself thinks that this company should close down or should be sold for the others UK firms. If employees in Cyclermate know what he is thinking, will they want to work for its workplace anymore; and even they still work for this company, no one can guarantee that they will put 100% of their mind on working. So let Lewis Llewellyn go seem to be the right choice at this time.However, Dai Armstrong must negotiate with Lewis about his share in the company because if he wants his money back; I believe that the capital of Cyclermate will not meet the standard to run its business. In my opinion, the negotiation will success as these two men has a strong relationship and has worked with each other for such a long time so if everything is ok, Cyclermate will save a lot of money for the next coming year. b. Human resources problem There are a number of problems with the human resource of Cyclermate. First of all, it does not have enough staffs to run the business smoothly after expanding.For instance, Dai Armstrong is the chairman of the company and normally, he must takes in charge of operating and controlling the activity of Cyclermate and distributes a particular job for his employees. Nonethe less, owing to the insufficient workforce, Dai himself still makes all the frames, using the original jigs constructed in his garage all those years ago and the inevitable thing is that he is finding it hard to keep up this level of production, both because of the physical demands of the task, and because of his other duties as factory manager and business director; as regards package, it is usually taken by anyone who has spare time.That is to say, it cannot guarantee the productivity of the firm, especially in rush time, when the staffs cannot even meet the quantity requirement of their main duty so how can they handle another. Moreover, at the moment, the company does not have as much skillful staffs as possible in order to maintain the productivity of Cyclermate and Gwyneth Morgan is one of typically example. She usually deals with internal and external enquiries, ata entry, and other routine tasks which is classify as paper work; however the main responsibility of her job is pu rchasing and help company avoiding disruption from stockouts; hence, the work cannot meet the efficiency as expected or Ffred Gregory who is 18 years old and quite new to the process, often has to work overtime to ensure that orders are met on time so that training him has further slowed production recently. Of course, Cyclermate still has some professional employees like Idris Pugh who was recruited from a local cycle repair shop.He is a perfectionist in terms of wheel manufacture and never cause for any complaints but sometimes, the work were late for appointment owing to his old-age and bad healthy. As far as solutions are concerned, I have found out some possible ones which Cyclermate can applies. At the very first, it should re-train the staffs in the company in order to meet the requirement of their field. This train can be hold by the boss himself or skillful employees of Cyclermate so that they can not only save a bundle of money for the company but also have more time to ch at and understand each other, especially newcomers.Moreover, after enrolling in this course, employees should be guaranteed to understand their job clearly and easily to combat with the task given. Another thing which can be done is recruit some new employees for Cyclermate. This is kind of positive way at this time as a new and professional staffs can help the company find out a new and creative way to complete the task and maintain the requirement quantity and quality of the company. However, I do not highly recommend this solution as the finance issue of the company is in danger and it is hard for Cyclermate to hire some new employees at this time. c. Operation problemThe very last problem of Cyclermate which I want to mention here is Operation ones. First of all, the leader of the company does not have a clear distribution for each staff which leads to the unstable in their job and costs a low productivity for such a long time. To be illustrated, Dai Armstrong has to take charge of many different responsibilities included the chairman of Cyclermate, the worker who makes all the frames of products and even a packaged man. With a bunch of workloads which have been handled like that, how can this man has time to think about a new strategy, a new plan to improve the current situation of the company?And the others workers, with a number of things have been done in a short time, how can they guarantee that no mistake will be made, not mention about some majors are not their professional field. Besides, as far as I concerned, before establishing Cyclermate, Lewis was just on his way up from apprentice to be chief mill engineer while Dai had progressed from â€Å"office boy† to a senior marketing post. That is to say, with this current position, how can they have enough management skills to lead the other in the company?Last but not least, the problem even come from the top manager of the company which is Lewis and Dai who share management of the business, though by nature of their differing roles, Lewis tends to focus more on production issues and Dai on external relations. Like people have said â€Å" 1 dat khong the co 2 vua†, with a different role like that, they cannot guide their employees to a single task which is break the basic rules of a corporation; consequently, Cyclermate’s staffs do not know what to concentrate on and lack of clear vision about the goal of what they have to do.When it comes to the solution, I believe that there are some ways which can help Cyclermate improve the current situation of this company. Firstly, Dai Armstrong has to set down a clear distribution for each position in the company. He has to reduce the multi – responsibility among his workers so that they can focus 100% on their current job and maintain the productivity of each process.Secondly, as I mentioned above, If Cyclermate accepts the retirement of Lewis Llewellyn, it can concentrates deeply on a single task at the mom ent for example maintain the productivity or improve the quality of its products, etc which is clear so that employees will know what they have to do to meet the goal of the company. Lastly, in order to save money, save materials and still supply enough products to meet the need of customers, Cyclermate itself should considers to apply JIT method on produce the products.This method was described by Henry Ford in his book as a production model in which items are created to meet demand, not created in surplus or in advance of need. I absolutely think that this solution will fit the Cyclermate’s situation well, especially when it has a huge issue with finance; Thus, by calculating an exact figure of materials has been and should be used, this company can avoid the waste associated with overproduction, waiting and excess inventory. In order to support for this method, I highly recommend the company to use Kanban cards to make JIT become more efficiency. As far as I oncerned, this Kanban card is like a label which contained a number of information about products such as name, number of units and a variety of other news that clearly conveys what must be done. By applying this card in manufacturing, especially in the situation of Cyclermate when the work of each staffs does not fix, it will help employees to control and identify which should be done next by analyze the color of Kanban cards for instance the white or green Kanban cards mean that a product do not have to manufacture yet, the yellow ones mean that employees should start producing a goods immediately, etc.III. Recommendation After analyzing the case study about Cyclermate, I want to note down briefly about some potential routes which this company can follow to reach to the market. First of all, as far as I am concerned, Cyclermate has a good supplied channel who ready to advertise and sell the product of the company and Word of Mouth method seems to bring a positive chance for it to attract custom ers.That is to say, developing this supplied channel can help Cyclermate increase its image on the eyes of customers and there are many others retailers which have not been asked about selling Cyclermate’s products so this a one of a best way for this company to expand its business. Another striking feature here is that it can focus on direct sale to sell its product to buyers. This method can help the company reduce the price paid for middleman and furthermore, Cyclermate can take this chance as an opportunity to interact with customers in order to understand and identify what they really want and need.Lastly, with the significant develop of technology, marketing is now become more and more important within any corporation around the world to approach and attract buyers. However, this way seems to be forgotten by Cyclermate indicated in the meeting’s report that the marketing activity of this company in recent year is quite rare. As the consequence, Cyclermate can spe nd some of the money saved from firing Lewis Llewellyn and profit retained to improve this activity to rise up its status and advertise a great hand-made bicycle to customers. IV. ConclusionCyclermate Ltd, in my opinion, is a brave company as it does not follow the trend of current market but identifying and having its own idea to manufacture a unique product, even in a harsh time like this. However, it has met a number of issues when trying to operate its business which I have mentioned above. In the future, there will be a lot of difficulties which this company has to handle. Having said that, with all the ideas and solutions which I have noted down in my essay, I strongly believe that it is possible for Cyclermate to recover and strengthen as it did in the past.