Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Gay adoptions is a very controversial topic - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 650 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/07/30 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Gay Adoption Essay Did you like this example? Today there are about 153 million kids in orphanages worldwide. With a number that high, we shouldnt hold people back from providing these kids with a home, a family, and an education. You hear so many people say, They are the future, but the same people who say that, arent doing everything they possibly can to help the kids find homes. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Gay adoptions is a very controversial topic" essay for you Create order Even though all of the 50 states allow gay adoptions, in order for them to adopt it can only be joint adoptions. While Gay Marriage alone is a very controversial topic, gay adoption is more controversial because people believe that a family should consist a mother and a father. One argument that people have about gay adoption is that the kids are not being put into a traditional family. They believe that every child should have a mother and a father. I can understand when people say that a child needs a mother and a father in their lives. A mother can teach her child things that a father could never teach, or that a father can teach his child things that a mother could never. But is that a reason to deny a child a family? Is a child better off in an orphanage system, rather than being in a non traditional family? Another argument is about how the the child of a gay couple would be treated by their peers. We have to work on acceptance, instead of working on ways to prevent gays to adopt. Besides the questions of gay couples fitness for parenthood, there is the issue of how the children of such parents would be treated by their peers In this day and age we have to work on acceptance, instead of working on ways to prevent gays to adopt. While it has commonly been used as an argument against gay and lesbian adoption, studies have shown that same-sex adoption does not have a negative impact on children The studies arent saying that the kids and their families wont still face prejudice and discrimination from people in their communities, it just says that it wont impact them to much. The families will still continue to make a living while battling all it. People who believe that gay adoptions should be legal will say, that same-sex adoptions are needed because there are so many children waiting to be adopted and same-sex couples are able to provide the children with stable homes and families. Kids who are in the orphanage just want a home, and a family. As a parent if you can provide the kids with food, shelter and clothings, it shouldnt matter whether there is a mom and a dad. Our number one worry should be to provide the kids with a stable home, and a great family that they can call their own. So many kids spend their whole life in an orphanage system, and they simply age out of the system when they turn 18, without a family and without the skills to make it on their own. In 2016 over 17,000 kids aged out of foster care. They also will never have a home that they could come back to. They never had someone who could guide them, teach them the skills they need to survive out in the world, because others are denying gays to adopt. I dont believe that a gender of a parent would affect the kind of shelter, food, or clothing that they would provide for the child. No one should deny someone love, or family based on the gender. Love is love, and every child deserves that in their life, no one should ever grow up without a family of their own. They are all alone, because people who have never been in their shoes believe that every child needs a traditional family. That kids are better off in the system rather than being in a home with a gay parent.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

My Life That Influenced My Development During The...

Martin Luther King Jr. (1965) once said, â€Å"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.† This quote stuck has always stuck with me and that is because of living in many places and experiencing different cultures and societal norms; I cam to learn no matter where someone came from or where they have been, being part of the military no matter the branch is part of one big family. Throughout an individuals life they experience events, which have great influence on their development, whether it is good or bad. In this paper I will be covering various aspects about events in my life that influenced my development at during this point in my life. This point is going to be at the ages of 14 to 17, also known as adolescence. Before I talk about this point in my life I am first going to cover certain relevant background information, family influences, sociocultural and environmental influences, and finally I will discuss my own personal development d uring the adolescent stage, specifically that of the ages 14 to 17. To start this paper it is best to being with any relevant background information during this period in adolescence. During this point of life I was a brother, a son, a friend, and a student. Both my parents were working; my father was active duty Air Force and my mother worked on base. My brother, my only sibling, had recently left to go to basic training, and we had just moved from Georgia to Massachusetts. Also during these threeShow MoreRelatedMy Virtual Teen1193 Words   |  5 PagesTeen years are the most complicated and overwhelming years of a childs life. Every teen goes through different stages while they are in the transition in becoming into an adolescent. For the Virtual Teen program I had a teen daughter, she was very outgoing and social. She enjoyed trying new things and was very involved in school. She also did well academically, and was part of the gifted program at her school. She lives with bo th her biological parents and a younger sister. Her relationship withRead MoreThe Effects Of Peer Relationships On Behavioral And Social Development Essay1559 Words   |  7 PagesThe Effects of Peer Relationships on Behavioral and Social Development In the stage of early adolescent development, emotional and behavioral development is affected by a variety of experiences. A major aspect of adolescence is the influence of peer relationships. As a child grows older the effect of peer relationships becomes much greater. 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Through my life my grandmother has been a constant source of support who has provided our family with loving care over many decades. She has experienced many struggles, triumphs, changes, and up’s and downs over the course of her life. As she approaches her ninety third birthday she is still a vibrant source of energy, companion, love and strength for myself and my family. According to HutchisonRead MoreMy Identity Essay1167 Words   |  5 Pagesdeveloped most of my identity and aspect in my life. I am who I am because of the inspirational impact of my family. I am a West Indies Guyanese from the country Guyana where I was raised by my family, which includes my parents, my grandparents, my brother and my sister. My family and I are citizens of Guyana but we permanently migrated to the United State in 2013.Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environment are all factors that tend to help shape my personal identityRead MoreVirtual Teen Program1250 Words   |  5 PagesTeen years are the most complicated and overwhelming years of a childs life. For the Virtual Teen program I had a teen daughter, She was very out going and social. She enjoyed trying new things and was very involved in school. She has also been doing very good academically, and was part of the gifted program at school. At home she gets along pretty well with her sister pretty with the exception of some little arguments that they easily resolve on their own. She also went through some major changesRead MoreErik Erikson s Developmental Theory Essay1628 Words   |  7 Pagespsychological development. The ideas of Erikson were heavily influenced by an Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud, who also analyzed the human psychological development and identified psychosexual stages of development. However, Erikson did not emphasize the predominant role of sexual development in psychological development. He argued that the role of culture and society on a human was the most significant factor which through the evolution separated human psychological development from the developmentRead MoreErik Erickson Was A Man Who Made A Huge Contribution In884 Words   |  4 Pagesto be called the developmental theory. â€Å"Each stage brings a psychosocial crisis involving transitions in important social relationships† (Weiten 350). According to Erickson, every person must go through a series of eight interrelated stages over their entire life cycle. â€Å"Each stage is presented as two opposing statements representing the challenges a person faces at a particular age† (Ericksonâ€⠄¢s Eight Stages of Development 1). Erickson was influenced greatly by psychologist Sigmund Freud. Freud andRead MorePhysical And Cognitive Development Of Children Essay1473 Words   |  6 PagesPhysical and Cognitive Development in the Children In the book Child Development An Active Learning Approach, it states that the sequence of motor milestones happen in the same way for most babies around the world. This fact indicates that motor development is strongly controlled by our genes, which dictates the expected sequence of the development (page 193). In researching the physical development of children I learned that there are two forms of motors skills. Fine motors skills which use smallRead MoreEducational Psychology : Next Generation Essay1394 Words   |  6 Pagesroaming the halls, and hanging out with friends. They are being influenced by the people around them. Their social development today impacts their roles in society tomorrow. Prevention clubhouses are working to target at risk youth and empower them to make a difference. One of these dedicated facilities is located in Northeast Georgia. Next Generation Prevention Clubhouse is impacting adolescents through positive social development. Next Generation also uses t eaching styles that are student driven

Monday, December 9, 2019

Literature Review for Health Promotion Coles- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theLiterature Reviewfor Health Promotion Intervention. Answer: Introduction The health promotion intervention warranted to enhance the wellness outcomes of the people of various age groups across the community environment attributes to the lifestyle enhancement of the target population. Evidence-based research literature proves the vulnerability of the individuals towards acquiring adverse health pattern under the influence of unhealthy dietary and lifestyle approaches (Kumar Preetha, 2012). The unhealthy lifestyle strategies include the continued utilization of tobacco and reduction in physical activities that substantially elevate the risk of population towards developing cardiovascular diseases and associated adverse complications. The long-term implications of lifestyle on the pattern of health and wellness of people remain evident and indicate the requirement of developing preventive healthcare strategies for reducing the burden of diseases across the community environment (Opie, 2014). The clinical findings in (Opie, 2014) substantiate the protective effect of non-smoking on the arterial structure and functionality. Exercise intervention results in reducing the heart rate and decreasing the systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels. The dietary management approaches require the administration of green leafy vegetables, fruits, red meat as well as unsaturated fatty acids for effectively managing the weight of individuals (Opie, 2014). These facts evidently validate the requirement of conducting prospective research interventions for identifying the extended health benefits of lifestyle enhancement approaches for effectively reducing the progression and establishment of various communicable and non-communicable diseases across the community environment. Search Methods The following search methods employed for undertaking this literature review in the context of acquiring the desirable evidence-based outcomes. Keywords and Index Terms Search Strategy Lifestyle (Lifestyle [mh] OR Lifestyle[tiab] Quality of Life [tiab] OR Diet [mh] OR Diet [tiab] OR Smoking [mh] OR Smoking [tiab] OR Alcohol [mh] OR Alcohol [tiab] OR Stress [mh] OR Stress [tiab] OR Living Standard [mh:noexp] OR Living Standard [tiab] Quality of Life Diet Smoking Alcohol Stress Living Standard [mh]: MeSH (Medical Subject headings); [tiab]: Title and Abstract The complex Boolean search pattern was effectively utilized while performing the literature review of the health promotion intervention (NCBI, 2007). The selected search strategy assisted in exploring the search terms and keywords across PubMed indexes and the titles/abstracts of the articles of interest extracted accordingly from the NCBI database (NCBI, 2017a). Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria The articles between the years 2010 2017 included in the literature review. Systematic studies and qualitative research interventions were taken into consideration while undertaking the literature review on the selected healthcare intervention. The research articles pertaining to the year 2009 and before were excluded from analysis because of the questionable authenticity of their outdated findings. The articles that objectively described the influence of pharmacotherapeutic interventions on the disease outcomes in the absence of lifestyle modification strategies were also not considered in the literature review. Research Evidence Research analysis by (Ory, et al., 2014) reveals the positive influence of health education intervention on the health related behavioural pattern of individuals in 45 years age and older. The health education strategy assisted in elevating the lifestyle of the selected individuals in promoting the pattern of their health and wellness across the community environment (Ory, et al., 2014). The findings of the research intervention evidentially reveal the influence of positive health behaviours attributing to regular water, vegetables and fruits consumption as well as aerobic activity on the pattern of health improvement of the target population (Ory, et al., 2014). The evidence-based evaluation by (Katzke, Kaaks, Khn, 2015) substantially reveals the considerable influence of lifestyle factors on the development of several types of cancers across the societies. Therefore, the sustained modification of these factors attributing to physical inactivity, dietary inadequacy, overweight, alc ohol abuse and smoking is necessarily required for reducing the prevalence of cancers and associated mortalities (Katzke, Kaaks, Khn, 2015). Lifestyle enhancement approaches assist in preventing the establishment of various psychopathological conditions across the community environment (Walsh, 2011). These lifestyle approaches assist in improving the self-management skills of individuals and facilitate the development of coping strategies warranted for reducing the onset and establishment of their psychosocial complications and associated health adversities. The lifestyle enhancement interventions include the enjoyable and recreational activities that substantially foster the social development of disadvantaged groups of the society (Walsh, 2011). Evidence-based analysis by (Niewiadomski, et al., 2016) reveals the impact of dietary alterations and smoking pattern on the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and associated gastrointestinal manifestations. This indicates th e requirement of administering lifestyle enhancement interventions focussing on dietary modification and smoking cessation with the objective of decreasing the prevalence of IBD among the predisposed individuals. The lifestyle variables that substantially influence the pattern of health and wellness of individuals attribute to study, recreation, utilization of modern technology, drugs abuse, substance abuse, sexual behaviour and orientation, sleep, exercise, body mass index and diet (Farhud, 2015). The research findings by (Vazquez, Conti, Sears, 2010) evidentially indicate the effectiveness of psychosocial lifestyle enhancement interventions in reducing the pattern of device resistance and anxiety experienced by the female patients after undergoing ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) implantation. These interventions include the groups psychotherapy as well as social support strategies and cognitive behavioural interventions by the medical practitioners. Evidence-based an alysis by (Trovato, 2012) emphasizes the significance of lifestyle enhancement interventions in terms of improving the pattern of opinions, interests, attitudes, income allocation and day-to-day activities of individuals. The systematic improvement in these attributes assists in the enhancement of self-efficacy and self-esteem of people in the context of improving their healthcare outcomes. healthcare professionals require configuring preventive as well as personalized approaches in the context of improving the quality of life of individuals and associated psycho-socio-somatic outcomes. The lifestyle enhancement interventions assist in motivating the masses for practicing effective weight management strategies and overcoming maladaptive cognition, mood fluctuation and eating inadequacies that substantially influence their health outcomes across the community environment (Rieger, Dean, Steinbeck , Caterson , Manson , 2009). The lifestyle enhancement approaches also assist in combati ng the hypertension risk factors that predispose individuals towards acquiring the pattern of elevated blood pressure and associated cardiovascular outcomes (Zoellner, et al., 2014). The lifestyle improvement approaches require unbiased and equitable administration by the healthcare professionals for overcoming the ethnic and racial healthcare disparities experienced by the impoverished and underprivileged sections of the society (Zoellner, et al., 2014). Conclusion from the Evidence The research evidence affirms the efficacy of lifestyle improvement approaches in terms of preventively challenging the onset and progression of various disease conditions and associated health adversities. The analysis reveals the requirement of undertaking behavioural strategies for improving the level of understanding of individuals in relation to the systematic improvement of their quality of life. The lifestyle enhancement approaches advocate the requirement of acquiring healthy dietary pattern for enhancing the level of immunity of individuals against disease infestation. Lifestyle interventions also improve the coping skills of people for overcoming the adverse manifestations of various communicable and non-communicable chronic disease conditions. The lifestyle management approaches improve the level of compliance of people to their health related behaviour. The improvement in the pattern of confidence and self-dependence of people enhances the pattern of their physical and me ntal health across the community environment. The lifestyle enhancement approaches directly influence the level of independence and confidence of the masses that reciprocally improve the pattern of their psychological, social, spiritual as well as cardiovascular health status. Evidence-Based Study Objectives Research analysis regarding the health promotion activity leads to the establishment of the following objectives requiring the administration of prospective study intervention for the systematic improvement in health outcomes. Identification of the best lifestyle improvement interventions for preventing the development of various disease conditions across the community environment. An evaluation of lifestyle enhancement strategies warranted for effectively decreasing the length of patients stay in the hospital settings. Development of person-centred and community based approaches warranted for the systematic enhancement of the quality of life of the patients in various age groups and geographical regions. Categorization of various lifestyle modification interventions in the context of identifying the significance of each modality for preventing the onset of various disease outcomes. Bibliography Farhud, D. D. (2015). Impact of Lifestyle on Health. Iranian Journal of Public Health, 44(11), 1442-1444. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4703222/ Katzke , V. A., Kaaks, R., Khn , T. (2015). Lifestyle and cancer risk. Cancer Journal, 21(2), 104-110. doi:10.1097/PPO.0000000000000101 Kumar, S., Preetha, G. S. (2012). Health Promotion: An Effective Tool for Global Health. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 5-12. doi:10.4103/0970-0218.94009 NCBI. (2007). Complex Boolean Search. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Class/MLACourse/Modules/Entrez/complex_boolean.html NCBI. (2017a). MeSH. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh Niewiadomski , O., Studd , C., Wilson , J., Williams , J., Hair , C., Knight , R., . . . Bell , S. (2016). Influence of food and lifestyle on the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease. Internal Medicine Journal, 669-676. doi:10.1111/imj.13094 Opie, L. H. (2014). Lifestyle and diet. Cardiovascular Journal of America, 25(6), 298-301. doi:10.5830/CVJA-2014-063 Ory, M. G., Smith, M. L., Howell, D., Zollinger, A., Quinn, C., Swierc, S. M., Stevens, A. B. (2014). The Conversion of a Practice-Based Lifestyle Enhancement Program into a Formalized, Testable Program: From Texercise Classic to Texercise Select. Frontiers in Public Health. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2014.00291 Rieger, E., Dean, H. Y., Steinbeck , K. S., Caterson , I. D., Manson , E. (2009). The use of motivational enhancement strategies for the maintenance of weight loss among obese individuals: a preliminary investigation. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 637-640. doi:10.1111/j.1463-1326.2008.01027.x Trovato, G. M. (2012). Behavior, nutrition and lifestyle in a comprehensive health and disease paradigm: skills and knowledge for a predictive, preventive and personalized medicine. EPMA Journal, 3(1). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384462/ Vazquez , L. D., Conti, J. B., Sears, S. E. (2010). Female-specific education, management, and lifestyle enhancement for implantable cardioverter defibrillator patients: the FEMALE-ICD study. Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, 33(9), 1131-1140. doi:10.1111/j.1540-8159.2010.02787.x Walsh, R. (2011). Lifestyle and mental health. The American Psychologist, 579-592. doi:10.1037/a0021769 Zoellner, J., Connell, C., Madson, M., Thomson, J. L., Landry, A. S., Molaison, E., . . . Yadrick, K. (2014). HUB City Steps: A 6-month lifestyle intervention improves blood pressure among a primarily African American community. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114(4), 603-612. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2013.11.020

Monday, December 2, 2019

Inuit People Essays - Aboriginal Peoples In Canadian Territories

Inuit People THE INUIT PEOPLE The Inuit are the northernmost inhabitants of North America. The name INUIT and Eskimo is given to the population of the Arctic region and the region from eastern Siberia to Greenland. The Inuit have been called Eskimo but they really do prefer to be called Inuit. The word Inuit means, people who are alive at this time. Inuit also refers to the group of people of Eskimoid ancestry, which live in northern Canada. The word Eskimo means eaters of raw meat - and in today's time it is insulting to use the term. Eskimo is a word that comes from the CREE. It is a term that honors the ability of this group of people to survive in a harsh climate, living on the products of the hunt alone. There were several different Eskimoid cultures that came to the Canadian Arctic at different times. Some of the names for the early culture were the Paleo-Eskimo, Arctic Small-Tool Tradition (which included the Independence I, Pre-Dorset, Denbigh Flint Complex - which was from Alaska), and Saqqaq (which were from Greenland). By 1700 BC, the Pre-Dorset Inuit were established in Northern Hudson Bay, the Hudson Strait, and Fox Basin. They used snow houses, and soapstone lamps, bows, toggling harpoon heads, and fish and bird spears. The Pre-Dorset Inuit used dogs for packing and hunting. The Inuit at this time did not use them for pulling sleds. The Dorset Inuit had to change their techniques of a way of life based on seal and mammal hunting because around 1800 BC the climate in the Arctic became colder. The Inuit of the eastern Arctic have long known these people as the Tuint. From the early days of the Pre-Dorset and Dorset people who moved across the Arctic in the first millennium BC have left a record of their art. They made beautiful ivory carvings out of walrus tusks and whale-bones. Around the time of 1000 AD a warming trend allowed the bowhead whales to migrate along the Arctic coast. A new group, were following the whales and they were called the Thule people. The Thule lived in villages up to 100 people and created semi-subterranean winter houses. These houses used whale-bone for the roof supports. The Thule used umiaks, which are large walrus-skin boats, kayaks, and dogsleds. They had many special tools for whale, walrus, and seal hunting. Another cooling trend occurred around 1600-1850 AD, which brought back ice to the summer Arctic and the bowhead whales no longer came along the cast. It was at this time, that the Thule people had to change. The modern Inuit were from 1600 AD to the present. The Thule people did change, by learning to hunt for smaller prey like seals, walrus and caribou. They lived in much smaller groups and leaned how to migrate. The Inuit loved their traditional lifestyle but they have always hated the cold. All of their knowledge and technology within their group of people is geared towards combating the cold. During the Arctic winter, a long period of time that is barely lit by the sun a few hours a day, the land is covered with ice and snow. The Inuit usually would return to the same bay, where they had hunted the previous year. The most difficult task was locating the ice holes where seals would come to breathe. Inuit traditionally love the warm weather, and would rather been able to settle where it was warmer. But due to other powers, of which they had no control off, they settled in the Arctic and made the best of it. Not all Inuit would eat raw meat. Meat that had been imported from the South {beef, chicken, and pork} is never eaten raw since bacteria and parasites seem to be on the increase in warm, humid climates. But in the North, it is like one big refrigerator! The dead animals seem to freeze upon contact with the air - and this slows down the process of bacteria and rot. Inuit eat their meat only soon after its been killed. Frozen meat is called quaq. Medical science has proven that eating animals raw enabled the Inuit to get large quantities of vitamins and minerals, which

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Macao Job Vacancy Issues in Hospitality Industry Essays

Macao Job Vacancy Issues in Hospitality Industry Essays Macao Job Vacancy Issues in Hospitality Industry Essay Macao Job Vacancy Issues in Hospitality Industry Essay Macao Job Vacancy Issues in Hospitality Industry Statistic Analysis Introduction This report analyses key factors which result in vacancy issue in Macao hospitality industry with supportive statistics and information basically from 2009 to 2011. Since 2009, the influx tourist flow keeps enlarging the tourism market. [18] In 2011 every Macao labour has received at least 80 tourists. (D1) The problem is that tourist growth rate (up to15. 1% in 2010 and down to 12. 2%) has far exceeded the number of labour growth rate (1. 5% in 2010, to 3. % in 2011) of Macao, and the difference keeps becoming larger during the last three years. (D5)So Macao labor market is obviously unable to feed the tourism industry employment gradually expanding need. [2] Job vacancy issues description In 2008 to 2010 periods, the total percentage of vacancy jobs has been growing with the total amount of job offered in hospitality industry from 7% to 8% in the total 50,271 offered jobs in 2010. According to the rese arch, the hospitality job vacancy problem mainly occurred on both management position (such as company leader and senior manager) and rank-and-file position. In the same period, management position vacancies drop from 3% in 2008 and ended up with 1% in all vacancy jobs). Rank-and-file position vacancies occupation grew from 88. 2% in 2008 to 88. 5 %( 4,099 vacancies) in 2010 among all the job vacancies. Particularly, waiter/waitress, unskilled workers vacancies takes over 95% in the rank-and-file vacancies during the three years. Reasons for job vacancy issue analysis There are two reasons cause the management position vacancy. First, limited quality of labor market. Till 2011, there are 26% of the total Macao labors are holding a college or higher educational degree, this percentage would be 15. 8% if excluded imported workers apart. [3][4]Moreover, the language skills would bring the percentage even lower, as the most regular used language is Cantonese (83. 30%), and followed by Mandarin(5%), and English (2. 30%) respectively in 2011. Second, the lack of international exposure, makes Macao labors less competitive in the market, because of small amount of travels and business activities outside to western ountries. As for the rank-and-file job vacancy issue, mostly owes to: lower salary, lower status, and restricted labor importing policy. Low salary, especially for waiter/waitress, unskilled workers(around MOP6000), if compare with that(about MOP10,000) (D7)of rank-and-file positions in gaming industry which owns the similar job requirement; In Macau, there are common negative attitudes toward some rank-and-file jobs, because of social status c oncerns. Jobs like waiter/waitress, cleaning and house keeping, is always in need. Conclusion and Recommendations In conclusion, with the rapid development of tourism industry, issues like naturally lacking of human resource(267,200 local labours[10]), limited qualified manpower[14] and restricted labor importing policy, together will affect efficiency and effectiveness of the hospitality industry. In order to solve the job vacancy issues, government on the one hand, acts as a profound role in guaranteeing the benefit and priorities for local labors, in the short term; On the other hand government has being taken step improving the education system during the years, by subsidizing application for studying professional subjects and tertiary education, [13]in the long term. Recommendations for a company, such as arranging more practical training on management concepts and skills to develop local talents for senior positions; Language training to cater to international customers and management is also an alternative; Bring in certificate recognition system could be a good way to measure competence or set standard for employment, promotion and reward. Finally, its also the individual responsibility to making full use of the resources offered by public and private organization, get to ready for the global competition. Reference: [1] 4 ? 2011 2] : http://news. china. com. cn/local/2012-03/29/content_25017774. htm [3] 1. 8? macaodaily. com/html/2012-04/24/content_692714. htm [4] 13/2010 http://bo. io. gov. mo/bo/i/2010/22/regadm13_cn. asp [5]2. 6 , , ,2011 [6] bizintelligenceonline. com/content/view/229/10/lang,/ [7] newmacau. org/cms/index. php? option=com_contentview=articleid=1290:2011-06-12-04-17-20catid=9:2009-10-14-10-38-30Itemid=23 [8] chengpou. om. mo/news/2011/12/9/19932. html [9] ,2009 al. gov. mo/diario/l03/cs1-4/2009-120%20%2801-05%29. pdf [10] , ,2011 [11] 14 15 gov. cn/jrzg/2007-09/12/content_746039. htm [12] dsal. gov. mo/chinese/dfpcourse. htm [13]Government to create databank for securing young talent macaudailytimes. com. mo/macau/35383-Government-create-databank-for-securing-young-talent. html [14] macaodaily. com/html/2011-12/31/content_660715. htm [15] acaodaily. com/html/2011-12/20/content_657692. htm [16] macaodaily. com/html/2012-03/19/content_682512. htm [17]Macao workers happier, concerns lurking macaudailytimes. com. mo/macau/34953-Macau-workers-happier-concerns-lurking. html [18]Macaus GDP growth rate slows to 20. 7 pct in 2011 macaunews. com. mo/content/view/1667/53/lang,english/ [19] dsec. gov. mo/Statistic. aspx Diagram 1: 2008~2010 ( : ) | |2008? |2009? |2010? | | |2293. 3185 |2175. 214 |2496. 5411 | | |323. 4 |323. 9 |336. 3 | [pic] : ; Diagram 2: 2009~2010 ( : ) [pic] : -2010? 11 ; 2010~2011 ( : ) [pic] : -2011? 11 ; Diagram 3: 2009~2011 ( : ) |2009? | | |? 1? |? 2? |? 3? |? 4? | | |15176 |14250 |17272 |18222 | | 9216 |7027 |9331 |10325 | | |5960 |7223 |7941 |7897 | |2010? | | |? 1? |? 2? |? 3? |? 4? | | |14860 |29878 |44460 |45585 | | |8845 |12753 |14705 |13769 | | |6015 |17125 |29775 |31816 | |2011? | | |? 1? |? 2? |? 3? |? 4? | | 47404 |52525 |64091 |60961 | | |14199 |16912 |19554 |21278 | | |33205 |35613 |44537 |39683 | : ; Diagram 4: [pic] : ; Diagram 5: [pic] | |2009? |2010? |2011? | | |-1. 00% |1. 50% |3. 80% | | |-6. 20% |15. 10% |12. 20% | Diagram 6: 2008? ~2010 ( 😕 ) | |2008? 2009? |2010? | | |6617 |6490 |6470 | | |6468 |6340 |7850 | | |5619 |6080 |6100 | | |5633 |5820 |5830 | | |10045 |10580 |10730 | | |13974 |13360 |13710 | : ; Diagram 7: 2008? ~2010 pic] : ; Diagram 8: ( : ) [pic] : ; Diagram 9: | | (? ) | (? ) | (? ) | | |15. 7(5. 0%) |13. 9(4. 3%) |14. 8(4. 4%) | | |52. 3(16. 6%) |55. 8(17. 4%) |52. 5(15. 7%) | | |172. 6(54 . 7%) |177. 6(55. 5%) |189. 8(56. 6%) | | |75. 2(23. 8%) |73. 0(22. 8%) |78. 3(23. %) | | |315. 8 |320. 2 |335. 4 | : ; Diagram 11: | | : | | : | : , | | : | : , , | | : | : | | : ? 4-5 3 , | | | : , ( ) | | | : | | | : | | : | : , | | : 18-45? | : , | | : | : , | | : | : , | | : ( ) | | | : , , | | : ;

Saturday, November 23, 2019

How Islam Can Help Smokers Quit

How Islam Can Help Smokers Quit One of the dangers of tobacco is that it is so addicting. It causes a physical response in your body when you try to give it up. Therefore, quitting is often difficult. However, some people may find that with the help of Allah and the personal commitment to improving yourself for the sake of Allah, and for your own health, it is possible. Niyyah - Make Your Intention It is first recommended to make the firm intention, from deep in your heart, to give up this evil habit. Trust in Allahs words: ...When you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah. For Allah loves those who put their trust in Him. If Allah helps you, none can overcome you; if He forsakes you, who is it - after that - that can help you? In Allah, then, let believers put their trust (Quran 3:159-160). Change Your Habits Secondly, you must avoid situations where you are used to smoking and people who do so around you. For example, if you have certain friends who gather together to smoke, make a choice to stay away from that environment for the time being. At a vulnerable stage, it is too easy to relapse by having just one. Remember, tobacco causes a physical addiction and you must stay away completely. Find Alternatives Thirdly, drink a lot of water and keep yourself busy in other endeavors. Spend time in the mosque. Play sports. Pray. Spend time with your family and non-smoking friends. And remember the words of Allah: And those who strive hard in Our Cause, We will certainly guide them to Our Paths, for verily Allah is with those who do right† (Quran 29:69). If You Live With a Smoker If you live with or are friends with smokers, first of all, encourage them to quit, for the sake of Allah, their health, and their deen. Share with them the information here, and offer support through the difficult process of quitting. Remember that we will each face Allah alone, however, and we are responsible for our own choices. If they refuse to quit, you have the right to protect your own health and the health of your family. Do not allow it in the house. Do not allow it in enclosed quarters with your family. If the smoker is a parent or other elder, we should not neglect to take care of our health out of respect. The Quran is clear that we are not to obey our parents in things which are forbidden by Allah. Gently, but firmly, advise them of the reasons for your own choices.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Written Business Communication (Peer Response #1) Assignment

Written Business Communication (Peer Response #1) - Assignment Example A proper management that would ensure systematic logging and planting of trees is an example. Regulated logging and plantation that would ensure sustainability of a safe percentage of the vegetation, based on scientific survey, would provide jobs for logging services and the plantation and management of growing trees and at the same time meet the interest of logging companies, authorities, and political stakeholders. The alternative further integrates your initial proposal but improves it by ensuring immediate implementation. In addition, the proposal has more benefits because it will offer opportunities for improving the vegetation, based on tourists taste and preferences, for more effective tourist attraction. New varieties of trees that can attract more tourists can be planted in the region to boost tourism and other improvements can be done on the area than when it previously had limited room for innovation. The proposal is based on the utilitarian concept that advocates for maximum benefit, of decisions or actions, to a majority of members of the society (Brooks and Dunn,

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

THE NOTION OF CHILD-INCLUSIVE MEDIATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

THE NOTION OF CHILD-INCLUSIVE MEDIATION - Essay Example This approach definitely has its merits. Attaching considerable importance to the voice of the child is highly important during mediation processes and leads to reduced conduct problems among children.1 This also facilitates both the parents and the jury to acknowledge in a better way the child’s experiences, concerns, and desires2 and how to design parental responsibilities in accordance with those experiences later. But even after myriad benefits offered by the child-inclusive notion, the opponents of this mediation approach deny its credibility and argue that openly dragging children into the middle of the hot mess created by the parental conflict could inflict a wide variety of deteriorating effects on the raw minds of the young children. This could also make them experience divided loyalties, suffer from anxiety and confusion as they may feel overburdened by offering their opinions.3 In addition to this, a child may feel disappointed when he/she expresses his/her views bu t realizes later that those views were not listened to.4 This essay aims at contemplating the arguments both in favor and against of child-inclusive strategy by exploring research literature in an attempt to evaluate the credibility of the argument that child-inclusive mediation is flawed and misguided. In order to validate discussion, the relevant research is also presented with special reference to the rights of the child. A growing body of research could be found presently related to the concepts of child-inclusive and child-focused mediation both of which are child welfare oriented strategies but stand in stark contrast to each other in terms of practical procedure. While child-focused intervention encourages parents to address the child’s needs without any direct involvement of the children,5 the child-inclusive intervention includes separate consultation by a specialist with the children.6 Mediation is important because otherwise post-separation court visits, legal affa irs, and acrimonious family disputes together inflict a profoundly devastating influence on the minds of innocent children related to aggression, impulsivity, delinquency, depression, peer difficulties, and academic achievement.7 It is further claimed that for about 10% of all divorcing couples, the unremitting animosity will shadow the entire growing up years of their children.8 General consensus is that long-standing, unresolved, and harsh conflicts prove to be highly risky for not only the parents but for the children also9 and it has been repeatedly suggested that family disputes which are tried to be resolved by involving courts take considerably more time than which are resolved through the aid of cost-effective10 mediation. Ineffective communication between parents following separation readily fosters flawed parenting which leaves the child stuck in the middle of chaos11 and it is advised that the quality of parenting provided by both parents following separation and divorce is as important as conflict in determining children’s outcomes.12 Mediation is effective in this regard because not only it seeks to resolve chronically bitter family disputes but also provides opportunities to exit the legal system at the earliest point possible.13 Though the basic aim of child inclusive practice is to enable parents to become bigger, stronger, wiser, and kinder,14 there is much conflict regarding which mediation approach should be used and the issue is hotly debated so as to find out which way would produce least ruthless effects on the children. It is widely believed that the voice of the child is important and should be heard during times of parental

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Financial Inclusion Essay Example for Free

Financial Inclusion Essay Role of Government in financial inclusion Abstract:- This research paper contains the full information about the financial inclusion of the world’s economic. In this research paper we describe the financial inclusion basic meaning, definitions, scope significance. Now we move towards the second phase which include role of government role of banks in financial inclusion. we also include the reforms that has been done by the government and the other government organizations . We also include the main article that has been given by the different ministers about financial inclusion its reform. Financial Inclusion Meaning: Financial inclusion is a policy adopted by many countries to include more people in the financial set up of the country. It aims at tackling poverty and deprivation in the country. In simple terms financial inclusion refers to making the finance or the financial/banking sector more accessible to people. For example: Debit cards, internet banking and direct debit facilities are now common, convenient and cheap ways of paying for goods and services. Yet there are still people who are excluded from using these services. People who are losing out as they are unable to take advantage of the benefits offered by the range of financial products available. In developing and poor countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Afgan etc there are many people who do not even have a bank account or who are unable to take advantage of the loans and deposit benefits offered by banks due to various reasons like lack of knowledge, fear, lack of proximity etc. Today, personal debt is at a record igh and borrowing without a bank account means using high interest lenders. Many of the people in this position live in our poorest communities and find themselves without choice or access to basic financial services, making it even more difficult to find routes out of poverty. Defination: Financial Inclusion is the delivery of banking services at affordable costs to vast sections of disadvantaged and low income groups. Unrestrained access to public goods and servic es is the sine qua non of an open and efficient society. It is argued that as banking services are in the nature of public good, it is essential that availability of banking and payment services to the entire population without discrimination is the prime objective of public policy. The term Financial Inclusion has gained importance since the early 2000s, and is a result of findings about Financial Exclusion and its direct correlation to poverty. Financial Inclusion is now a common objective for many central banks among the developing nations. Financial Inclusion in India The Reserve Bank of India setup a commission (Khan Commission) in 2004 to look into Financial Inclusion and the recommendations of the commission were incorporated into the Mid-term review of the policy (2005-06). In the report RBI exhorted the banks with a view of achieving greater Financial Inclusion to make available a basic no-frills banking account. In India, Financial Inclusion first featured in 2005, when it was introduced, that, too, from a pilot project in UT of Pondicherry, by K C Chakraborthy, the chairman of Indian Bank. Mangalam Village became the first village in India where all households were provided banking facilities. In addition to this KYC (Know your Customer) norms were relaxed for people intending to open accounts with annual deposits of less than Rs. 50, 000. General Credit Cards (GCC) were issued to the poor and the disadvantaged with a view to help them access easy credit. In January 2006, the Reserve Bank permitted commercial banks to make use of the services of non-governmental organizations (NGOs/SHGs), micro-finance institutions and other civil society organizations as intermediaries for providing financial and banking ervices. These intermediaries could be used as business facilitators (BF) or business correspondents (BC) by commercial banks. The bank asked the commercial banks in different regions to start a 100% Financial Inclusion campaign on a pilot basis. As a result of the campaign states or U. T. s like Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have announced 100% financial in clusion in all their districts. Reserve Bank of India’s vision for 2020 is to open nearly 600 million new customers accounts and service them through a variety of channels by leveraging on IT. However, illiteracy and the low income savings and lack of bank branches in rural areas continue to be a road block to financial inclusion in many states. Apart from this there are certain in Current model which is followed. There is inadequate legal and financial structure. India being a mostly agrarian economy hardly has schemes which lend for agriculture. Along with Microfinance we need to focus on Micro insurance too. The scope of financial inclusion The scope of financial inclusion can be expanded in two ways. ) through state-driven intervention by way of statutory enactments ( for instance the US example, the Community Reinvestment Act and making it a statutory right to have bank account in France). b) through voluntary effort by the banking community itself for evolving various strategies to bring within the ambit of the banking sector the large strata of society. When bankers do not give the desired attention to certain areas, the regulators have to step in to remedy the situ ation. This is the reason why the Reserve Bank of India is placing a lot of emphasis on financial inclusion. In India the focus of the financial inclusion at present is confined to ensuring a bare minimum access to a savings bank account without frills, to all. Internationally, the financial exclusion has been viewed in a much wider perspective. Having a current account / savings account on its own, is not regarded as an accurate indicator of financial inclusion. There could be multiple levels of financial inclusion and exclusion. At one extreme, it is possible to identify the ‘super-included’, i. e. , those customers who are actively and persistently courted by the financial ervices industry, and who have at their disposal a wide range of financial services and products. At the other extreme, we may have the financially excluded, who are denied access to even the most basic of financial products. In between are those who use the banking services only for deposits and withdrawals of money. But these persons may have only restricted access to the financial system, and may not en joy the flexibility of access offered to more affluent customers. Steps towards financial inclusion

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Genghis Khan and the making of the Modern World Essays -- Civilization

When the word â€Å"Mongol† is said I automatically think negative thoughts about uncultured, barbaric people who are horribly cruel and violent. That is only because I have only heard the word used to describe such a person. I have never really registered any initial information I have been taught about the subject pass the point of needing and having to know it. I felt quite incompetent on the subject and once I was given an assignment on the book, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern Age, I was very perplexed for two reasons. One I have to read an outside book for a class that already requires a substantial amount of time reading the text, and secondly I have to write a research paper in History. I got over it and read the book, which surprisingly enough interested me a great deal and allow me to see the Moguls for more than just a barbaric group of Neanderthals, but rather a group of purpose driven warriors with a common goal of unity and progression. Jack Weatherford ’s work has given me insight on and swayed my opinion of the Mongols. Jack Weatherford showed great enthusiasm and passion while depicting Genghis Khan as a great leader, who was responsible for the unity of people and various other accomplishments. He had a very positive attitude toward the subject, although he didn’t set out to write a book about him, but rather on about the history of world commerce. In the process of researching the Silk Road he traveled to Mongolia and gain vital first hand information into the vast accomplishments of Genghis Khan and the Mongols (xxx). He seems upset about previous ideas that many may have believed that highlight his beloved Mongols in anything but a positive and respectful light. He also expresses feelings about later Mon... ...ed Chinese culture then and still does now. The Mongol Global Awakening caused new technological advancement, such as carpenters using general adze less and adapted more specialized tools. There were new crops developed as well (235). The Mongol preeminence was destroyed as a result of the Black Plague. The Mongols have influenced many of the concept and idea that we still see utilized today in politics and international relations. Jack Weatherford tremendously changed my insight into the true Mongol and not the barbaric, savage I once thought of just by hearing the word. I resent this research paper a great deal, and I know that I may not get the grade I want, but at least I did learn something new and destroyed the previous thought I had about these people just by completing it so I feel it served its purpose and that’s the only reason my mind was changed.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 16~18

Sixteen Mavis The phone behind the bar rang and Mavis yanked it out of its cradle. â€Å"Mount Olympus, Goddess of Sex speaking,† she said, and there was a mechanical ratcheting noise as she cocked a hip while she listened. â€Å"No, I haven't seen him – like I would even tell you if he was here. Hell, woman, I have a sacred trust here – I can't rat out every husband who comes in for a snort after work. How would I know? Honey, you want to keep this kind of thing from happening? Two words: long, nasty blowjobs. Yeah, well, if you were doing them instead of counting words, then maybe you wouldn't lose your husband. Oh, all right, hold on.† Mavis held her receiver to breast and shouted, â€Å"Hey! Anyone seen Les from the hardware store?† A few heads shook and a fusillade of â€Å"nopes† fired through the bar. â€Å"Nope, he's not here. Yeah, if I see him, I'll be sure and tell him that there was a screeching harpy looking for him. Oh yeah, well, I've been done doggie-style by the Better Business Bureau and they liked it, so say hi for me.† Mavis slammed down the phone. She felt like the Tin Man left out in the rain. Her metal parts felt rusty and she was sure that her plastic parts were going to mush. Ten o'clock on a Saturday, live entertainment on the stage, and she still hadn't sold enough liquor to cover the cost of her Blues singer. Oh, the bar was full, but people were nursing their drinks, making them last, making goo-goo eyes at each other and slipping out, couple by couple, without dropping a sawbuck. What in the hell had come over this town? The Blues singer was supposed to drive them to drink, but the entire pop-ulation seemed to be absolutely giddy with love. They were talking instead of drinking. Wimps. Mavis spit into the bar sink in disgust and there was a pinging sound from a tiny spring that had dislodged somewhere inside of her. Wusses. Mavis threw back a shot of Bushmills and glared at the couples sitting at the bar, then glared at Catfish, who was finishing up a set on the stage, his National steel guitar whining as he sang about losing his soul at the crossroads. Catfish told the story of the great Robert Johnson, the haunting Bluesman who had met the devil at the crossroads and bargained his soul for super-natural ability, but was pursued throughout his life by a hellhound that had caught his scent at the gates of hell and finally took him home when a jealous husband slipped poison into Johnson's liquor. â€Å"Truth be,† Catfish said into the microphone, â€Å"I done stood at midnight at every crossroad in the Delta lookin' to sell my soul, but wasn't nobody buyin'. Now that there is the Blues. But I gots me my own brand of hellhound, surely I do.† â€Å"That's sweet, fish boy,† Mavis shouted from behind the bar. â€Å"Come over here, I gotta talk to you.† â€Å"‘Scuse me, folks, they's a call from hell right now,† Catfish said to the crowd with a grin. But no one was listening. He put his guitar in the stand and ambled over to Mavis. â€Å"You're not loud enough,† Mavis said. â€Å"Turn up your hearing aid, woman. I ain't got no pickup in that National. They's only so high you can go into a mike or she feed back.† â€Å"People are talking, not drinking. Play louder. And no love songs.† â€Å"I gots me a Fender Stratocaster and a Marshall amp in the car, but I don't like playin ‘lectric.† â€Å"Go get them. Plug in. Play loud. I don't need you if you don't sell liquor.† â€Å"This gonna be my last night anyway.† â€Å"Get the guitar,† Mavis said. Molly Molly slammed the truck into the Dumpster behind the Head of the Slug Saloon. Glass from the headlights tinkled to the tarmac and the fan raked across the radiator with a grating shriek. It had been a few years since Molly had done any driving, and Les had left out a few parts from the do-it-yourself brake kit he'd installed. Molly turned off the engine and set the parking brake, then wiped the steering wheel and shift knob with the sleeve of her sweatshirt to remove any fingerprints. She climbed out of the truck and tossed the keys into the mashed Dumpster. There was no music coming from the back door of the Slug, only the smell of stale beer and the low murmur of conversation. She scampered out of the alley and started the four-block walk home. A low fog drifted over Cypress Street and Molly was grateful for the cover. There were only a few lights on in the park's trailers, and she hurried past them to where her own windows flickered with the lonely blue of the unwatched television. She looked past her house to the space where Steve lay healing and noticed a figure out-lined in the fog. As she drew closer, she could see that it was not one person, but two, standing not twenty feet from the dragon trailer. Her heart sank. She expected the beams of police flashlights to swing through the fog any second, but the figures were just standing there. She crept around the edge of her trailer, pressed so close that she could feel the cold coming off the aluminum skin through her sweatshirt. A woman's voice cut the fog, â€Å"Lord, we have heeded your call and come unto you. Forgive us our casual attire, as our dry cleaner did close for the weekend and we are left sorely without outfits with matching accessories.† It was the school prayer ladies, Katie and Marge, although Molly wouldn't be able to tell which was which. They were wearing identical pink jogging suits with matching Nikes. As she watched, the two women moved closer to Steve, and Molly could see a rippling across the dragon trailer. â€Å"As our Lord Jesus did give His life for our sins, so we come unto Thee, O Lord, to giveth of ourselves.† The end of the dragon trailer lost its angles to curves, and Molly could see Steve's broad head extending, changing, the door going from a vertical rectangle to a wide horizontal maw. The women seemed unaffected by the change and continued to move slowly forward, silhouetted now by Steve's jaws, which were opening like a toothed cavern. Molly ran around her trailer and up the steps, reached in and grabbed her broadsword which was leaned against the wall just inside the door, and dashed back around the trailer and toward the Sea Beast. Marge and Katie were almost inside of Steve's open mouth. Molly could see his enormous tongue snaking out the side of his mouth, reaching behind the church ladies to drag them in. â€Å"No!† Molly leapt from a full run, slamming between Marge and Katie like a fullback leaping through blockers to the goal line, and smacked Steve on the nose with the flat of her sword. She landed in his mouth and rolled clear to the ground just as his jaws snapped shut behind her. She came up on one knee, holding the sword pointed at Steve's nose. â€Å"No!† she said. â€Å"Bad dragon.† Steve turned his head quizzically, as if wondering what she was so upset about. â€Å"Change back,† Molly said, raising the sword as if to whack his nose again. Steve's head and neck pulled back into the shape of a double-wide trailer. Molly looked back at the church ladies, who seemed very concerned with having been knocked into the mud in their pink jogging suits, but oblivious to the fact that they had almost been eaten. â€Å"Are you two okay?† â€Å"We felt the call,† one of them said, either Marge or Katie, while the other one nodded in agreement. â€Å"We had to come to give ourselves unto the Lord.† Their eyes were glazed over and they stared right past her to the trailer as they spoke. â€Å"You guys have to go home now. Aren't your husbands worried about you or something?† â€Å"We heard the call.† Molly helped them to their feet and pointed them away from Steve, who made a faint whining noise as she pushed the church ladies away toward the street. Molly stopped them at the edge of the street and spoke to them from behind. â€Å"Go home. Don't come back here. Okay?† â€Å"We wanted to bring the children to feel the spirit too, but it was so late, and we have church tomorrow.† Molly smacked the speaker across the butt with the flat of her sword, a good two-handed stroke that sent her stumbling into the street. â€Å"Go home!† Molly was winding up to smack the other one when she turned and held up her hand as if refusing a refill on coffee. â€Å"No thank you.† â€Å"Then you're going and you're not coming back, right?† The woman didn't seem sure. Molly turned her grip on the sword so the edge was poised to strike. â€Å"Right?† â€Å"Yes,† the woman said. Her friend nodded in agreement as she rubbed her bottom. â€Å"Now go,† Molly said. As the women walked away, she called after them, â€Å"And stop dressing alike. That's fucking weird.† She watched them until they disappeared into the fog, then went back to where Steve was waiting in trailer form. â€Å"Well?† She threw out her hip, frowned, and tapped her foot as if waiting for his explanation. His windows narrowed, ashamed. â€Å"They'll be back, you know. Then what?† He whimpered, the sound coming from deep inside, where the kitchen would be if he were really a trailer. â€Å"If you're still hungry, you have to let me know. I can help. We can find you something. Although there is only one hardware store in town. You're going to have to diversify your diet.† Suddenly an electric guitar screamed out of the fog, wailing like a tortured ghost of Chicago Blues. The dragon trailer became the dragon again, his white skin went black, then flashed brilliant streaks of red anger. The bandages Molly had spent all day applying shredded with the abrupt shape change. His gill trees hung with tatters of fiberglass fabric as if toilet-papered by mischievous boys. The Sea Beast threw back his head and roared, rattling the windows through the trailer park. Molly fell in the mud as she backed up, then rolled and came up on her feet with the broadsword poised to thrust into the Sea Beast's throat. â€Å"Steve, I think you need to take a timeout, young man.† Theo Such a short period of time to have so many new experiences. In just the last few days, he had coordinated his first major missing person search, including talking to worried parents and the milk carton company, whose people wanted to know if Theo could get a picture of Mikey Plotznik where he wasn't making a contorted, goofy face at the camera. (If they found a better picture, Mikey would end up with great exposure on the two percent or nonfat cartons, but if they had to go with what they had, he was going on the side of the buttermilk and would only be seen by old folks and people making ranch dressing.) Theo had also had to deal with his first major fire, the hallucination of giant animal tracks, and opening a real live murder investigation, all without the benefit of his lifelong chemical crutch. Not that he couldn't nurse at his favorite pipe, he'd just lost the desire to do so. Now he had to decide how to go about investigating Bess Leander's murder. Should he pull someone in for interrogation? Pull them in where? His cabin? He didn't have an office. Somehow he couldn't imagine holding an effective interrogation with the suspect in a beanbag chair under a hot lava lamp. â€Å"Talk, scumbag! Don't make me turn the black light on that Jimi Hendrix poster and light some incense. You don't want that.† And amid all the other activity, he felt a nagging compulsion to go back to the Fly Rod Trailer Court and talk to Molly Michon. Crazy thoughts. Finally he decided to drop by Joseph Leander's house, hoping he might catch the salesman off guard. As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed that weeds had grown up around the garden gnomes and there was a patina of dust on the Dutch hex sign over the front door. The garage door was open and Joseph's minivan was parked inside. Theo paused at the front door before knocking and made sure that his ponytail was tucked into his collar and his collar was straight. For some reason, he felt as if he should be wearing a gun. He had one, a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver, but it was on the top shelf of his closet, next to his bong collection. He rang the bell, then waited. A minute passed before Joseph Leander opened the door. He was wearing paint-spattered corduroys and an old cardigan sweater that looked like it had been pulled out of the trash a dozen times. Obviously not the sort of attire that Bess Leander would have allowed in her home. â€Å"Constable Crowe.† Leander was not smiling. â€Å"What can I do for you?† â€Å"If you have a minute, I'd like to talk to you. May I come in?† â€Å"I suppose,† Leander said. He stepped away from the door and Theo ducked in. â€Å"I just made some coffee. Would you like some?† â€Å"No thanks. I'm on duty.† Cops are supposed to say that, Theo thought. â€Å"It's coffee.† â€Å"Oh, right, sure. Milk and sugar please.† The living room had bare pine plank floors and rag rugs. An antique pew bench took the place of a sofa, two Shaker chairs and a galvanized milk can with a padded cushion on the top provided the other seating. Three antique butter churns stood in the corners of the room. But for a new thirty-six-inch Sony by the fireplace, it could have been the living room of a seventeenth-century family (a family with very high cholesterol from all that butter). Joseph Leander returned to the living room and handed Theo a hand-thrown stoneware mug. The coffee was the color of butterscotch and tasted of cinnamon. â€Å"Thanks,† Theo said. â€Å"New TV?† He nodded to the Sony. Leander sat across from Theo on the milk can. â€Å"Yes, I got it for the girls. PBS and so forth. Bess never approved of television.† â€Å"And so you killed her!† Leander sprayed a mouthful of coffee on the rug. â€Å"What?† Theo took a sip of his coffee while Leander stared at him, wide-eyed. Maybe he'd been a bit too abrupt. Fall back, regroup. â€Å"So did you get cable? Reception is horrible in Pine Cove without cable. It's the hills, I think.† Leander blinked furiously and did a triple-take on Theo. â€Å"What are you talking about?† â€Å"I saw the coroner's report on your wife, Joseph. She didn't die from hanging.† â€Å"You're insane. You were there.† Leander stood and took the mug out of Theo's hands. â€Å"I won't listen to this. You can go now, Constable.† Leander stepped back and waited. Theo stood. He wasn't very good at confrontation, he was a peace officer. This was too hard. He pushed himself. â€Å"Was it the affair with Betsy? Did Bess catch you?† Veins were beginning to show on Leander's bald pate. â€Å"I just started seeing Betsy. I loved my wife and I resent you doing this to her memory. You're not supposed to do this. You're not even a real cop. Now get out of my house.† â€Å"Your wife was a good woman. A little weird, but good.† Leander set the coffee mugs down on a butter churn, went to the front door, and pulled it open. â€Å"Go.† He waved Theo toward the door. â€Å"I'm going, Joseph. But I'll be back.† Theo stepped outside. Leander's face had gone completely red. â€Å"No, you won't.† â€Å"Oh, I think I will,† Theo said, feeling very much like a second grader in a playground argument. â€Å"Don't fuck with me, Crowe,† Leander spat. â€Å"You have no idea what you're doing.† He slammed the door in Theo's face. â€Å"Do too,† Theo said. Seventeen Molly Molly had always wondered about American women's fascination with bad boys. There seemed to be some sort of logic-defying attraction to the guy who rode a motorcycle and had a tattoo, a gun in the glove compart-ment, or a snifter of cocaine on the coffee table. In her acting days, she'd even been involved with a couple of them herself, but this was the first one who actually, well, ate people. Women always felt that they could reform a guy. How else could you explain the numerous proposals of marriage received by captured serial killers? That one was a bit too much even for Molly, and she took comfort in the fact that no matter how crazy she had gotten, she'd never been tempted to marry a guy who made a habit of strangling his dates. American mothers programmed their daughters to believe that they could make everything better. Why else was she leading a hundred-foot monster down a creek bed in broad daylight? Fortunately, the creek bed was lined in most places by a heavy growth of willow trees, and as Steve moved over the rocks, his great body changed color and texture to match his surroundings until he looked like nothing more than a trick of the light, like heat rising off blacktop. Molly made him stay under cover as they approached the Cypress Street bridge, then waited until there was no traffic and signaled him to go. Steve slithered under the bridge like a snake down its hole, his back knocking off great hunks of concrete, and he passed through. In less than an hour they were out of town, into the ranchland that ran along the coast to the north, and Molly led Steve up through the trees to the edge of a pasture. â€Å"There you go, big guy,† Molly said, pointing to a herd of Holsteins that were grazing a hundred yards away. â€Å"Breakfast.† Steve crouched at the edge of the forest like a cat ready to pounce. His tail twitched, splintering a cypress sapling in the process. Molly sat down beside him and cleaned mud from her sneakers with a stick as the cows slowly made their way toward them. â€Å"This is it?† she asked. â€Å"You just sit here and they come over to be eaten? A girl could lose respect for you as a hunter watching this, you know that?† Theo Theo found himself trying to figure out why, exactly, he was driving to Molly Michon's place, when his cell phone rang. Before he answered, he reminded himself not to sound stoned, when it occurred to him that he actually wasn't stoned, and that was even more frightening. â€Å"Crowe here,† he said. â€Å"Crowe, this is Nailsworth, down at County. Are you nuts?† Theo stalled while he tried to remember who Nailsworth was. â€Å"Is this a survey?† â€Å"What did you do with that data I gave you?† Nailsworth said. Theo suddenly remembered that Nailsworth was the Spider's real name. A second call was beeping on Theo's line. â€Å"Nothing. I mean, I conducted an interview. Can you hold? I've got another call.† â€Å"No, I can't hold. I know you've got another call. You didn't hear anything from me, do you hear? I gave you nothing, understand?† â€Å"‘Kay,† Theo said. The Spider hung up and Theo connected to the other call. â€Å"Crowe, are you fucking nuts!† â€Å"Is this a survey?† Theo said, pretty sure that it wasn't a survey, but also pretty sure that Sheriff Burton wouldn't be happy with a truthful answer to the question, which was: â€Å"Yes, I probably am nuts.† â€Å"I thought I told you to stay away from Leander. That case is closed and filed.† Theo thought for a second. It hadn't been five minutes since he'd left Joseph Leander's house. How could Burton know already? No one got through to the sheriff that quickly. â€Å"Some suspicious evidence popped up,† Theo said, trying to figure out how he was going to cover for the Spider if Burton pressed. â€Å"I just stopped by to see if there was anything to it.† â€Å"You fucking pothead. If I tell you to let something lie, you let it lie, do you understand me? I'm not talking about your job now, Crowe, I'm talking about life as you know it. I hear another word out of North County and you are going to be getting your dance card punched by every AIDs-ridden convict in Soledad. Leave Leander alone.† â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Say ‘Yes, sir,' you bag of shit.† â€Å"Yes, sir, you bag of shit,† Theo said. â€Å"You are finished, Crowe, you – â€Å" â€Å"Sorry, Sheriff. Battery's going.† Theo disconnected and headed back to his cabin, shaking as he drove. Molly In Flesh Eaters of the Outland, Kendra was forced to watch while a new breed of mutants sprayed hapless villagers with a flesh-dissolving enzyme, then lapped up puddles of human protein with disgusting dubbed sucking sounds that the foley artists had obtained at Sea World, recording baby walruses being fed handfuls of shellfish. The special effects guys simulated the carnage with large quantities of rubber cement, paraffin body parts that conveniently melted under the Mexican desert sun, and transmission fluid instead of the usual Karo syrup fake blood. (The sugary stage blood tended to attract blowflies and the director didn't want to get notice from the ASPCA for abuse.) Overall, the effect was so real that Molly insisted that all of Kendra's reaction shots be done after the cleanup to avoid her gagging and going green on camera. Between the carrion scene and some salmonella tacos served up by the Nogales-based caterer, as well as repeated propositions by an Arab coproducer with ha litosis that made her eyes water, Molly was sick for three days. But none of it, even the fetid falafel breath, produced the nausea she was experiencing upon watching Steve yack up four fully masticated, partially digested Holsteins. Molly added the contents of her own stomach (three Pop Tarts and a Diet Coke) to the four pulverized piles of beefy goo that Steve had expelled onto the pasture. â€Å"Lactose intolerant?† She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and glared at the Sea Beast. â€Å"You have no problem gulping down a paperboy and the closet perv from the hardware store, but you can't eat dairy cows?† Steve rolled onto his back and tried to look apologetic – streaks of purple played across his flanks, purple being his embarrassment color. Viscous tears the size of softballs welled up in the corner of his giant cat's eyes. â€Å"So I suppose you're still hungry?† Steve rolled back onto his feet and the earth rumbled beneath him. â€Å"Maybe we can find you a horse or something,† Molly said. â€Å"Stay close to the tree line.† Using her broadsword as a walking stick, she led him over the hill. As they moved, his colors changed to match the surroundings, making it appear that Molly was being followed by a mirage. Theo For some reason, the words of Karl Marx kept running through Theo's mind as he dug the machete out of the tool shed behind his cabin. â€Å"Religion is the opiate of the masses.† It follows, then, that â€Å"opium is the religion of the addict,† Theo thought. Which is why he was feeling the gut-wrenching remorse of the excommunicated as he took the machete to the first of the thick, fibrous stems in his marijuana patch. The bushy green weeds fell like martyred saints with each swing of the machete, and his hands picked up a film of sticky resin as he threw each plant onto a pile in the corner of the yard. In five minutes his shirt was soaked with sweat and the pot patch looked like a miniature version of a clear-cut forest. Devastation. Stumps. He emptied a can of kerosene over the waste-high pile of cannabis, then pulled out his lighter and se the flame to a piece of paper. â€Å"Throw off the chains of your oppressors,† Marx had said. These plants, the habit that went with them, were Theo's chains: the boot that Sheriff John Burton had kept pressed to his neck these last eight years, the threat that kept him from acting freely, from doing the right thing, He threw the burning paper, and the flames of revolution whooshed over the pile. There was no elation, no rush of freedom as he backed away from the pyre. Instead of the triumph of revolution, he felt a sense of sickening loss, loneliness, and guilt: Judas at the base of the Cross. No wonder communism had failed. He went into the cabin, retrieved the box from the shelf in the closet, and was beating his bong collection into shrapnel with a ballpeen hammer when he heard automatic weapons fire coming from the ranch. Ignacio and Miguel Ignacio was lying in the shade just outside the metal shed, smoking a cigarette, while Miguel labored away inside, cooking the chemicals down into methamphetamine crystals. Beakers the size of basketballs boiled over electric burners, the fumes routed through glass tubes to a vent in the wall. Miguel was short and wiry, just thirty years old, but the lines in his face and the grim expression he always wore made him look fifty. Ignacio was only twenty, fat and full of machismo, taken with his own success and toughness, and convinced that he was on his way to being the new godfath-er of the Mexican Mafia. They had crossed the border together six months ago, smuggled in by a coyote to do exactly what they were doing. And what a sweet deal it had turned out to be. Because the lab was protected by the big sheriff, they were never raided, they never had to move on a moment's notice like the other labs in California, or bolt across the border until things cooled off. Only six months, and Miguel had sent home enough money for his wife to buy a ranch in Michoacn, and Ignacio was driving a flashy Dodge four-wheel drive and wearing five-hundred-dollar alligator-skin Tony Lama boots. All of this for only eight hours of work a day, for they were only one of three crews that kept the la b running twenty-four hours a day. And there was no danger of being stopped on the road while transporting drugs, because the big sheriff had a gringo in a little van come every few days to drop off supplies and take the drugs away. â€Å"Put out that cigarette, cabrone!† Miguel shouted. â€Å"Do you want to blow us up?† Ignacio scoffed and flicked his cigarette into the pasture. â€Å"You worry too much, Miguel.† Ignacio was tired of Miguel's whining. He missed his family, he worried about getting caught, he didn't know if the mix was right. When the older man wasn't working, he was brooding, and no amount of money or consoling seemed to satisfy him. Miguel appeared at the doorway and stood over Ignacio. â€Å"Do you feel that?† â€Å"What?† Ignacio reached for the AK-47 that was leaning against the shed. â€Å"What?† Miguel was staring across the pasture, but seemed to be seeing nothing. â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"It is nothing. You worry too much.† Miguel started walking across the pasture toward the tree line. â€Å"I have to go over there. Watch my stove.† Ignacio stood up and hitched his silver-studded belt up under his belly. â€Å"I don't how to watch the stove. I'm the guard. You stay and watch the stove.† Miguel strode over the hill without looking back. Ignacio sat back down and pulled another cigarette from the pocket of his leather vest. â€Å"Loco,† he mumbled under his breath as he lit up. He smoked for several minutes, dreaming and scheming about a time when he would run the whole oper-ation, but by the time he finished the cigarette he was starting to worry about his partner. He stood to get a better look, but couldn't see anything beyond the top of the hill over which Miguel had disappeared. â€Å"Miguel?† he called. But there was no answer. He glanced inside the shed to see that everything was in order, and as far as he could tell, it was. Then he picked up his assault rifle and started across the pasture. Before he got three steps, he saw a white woman coming over the hill. She had the face and body of a hot senorita, but the wild gray-blonde hair of an old woman, and he wondered for the thousandth time what in the hell was wrong with American women. Were they all crazy? He lowered the assault rifle, but smiled as he did it, hoping to warn the woman off without making her suspicious. â€Å"You stop,† he said in English. â€Å"No trespass.† He heard the cell phone ringing back in the shed and glanced back for a second. The woman kept coming. â€Å"We met your friend,† Molly said. â€Å"Who is we?† Ignacio asked. His answer came over the hill behind the woman, first looking like two burned scrub oak trees, then the giant cat's eyes. â€Å"Holy Mary, Mother of God,† Ignacio said as he wrestled with the bolt on the assault rifle. Theo Eight years of living at the edge of the ranch and never once had Theo so much as taken a walk down the dirt road. He had been under orders not to. But now what? He'd seen the trucks going in and out over the years, occasionally heard men shouting, but somehow he'd managed to ignore it all, and there had never been gunfire. Going onto the ranch to investigate automatic weapons fire seemed an especially stupid way to exercise his newfound freedom, but not investigating, well, that said something about him he wasn't willing to face. Was he, in fact, a coward? The sound of a man screaming in the distance made the decision for him. It wasn't the sound of someone blowing off steam, it was a throat-stripping scream of pure terror. Theo kicked the shards of his bong collection off the front steps and went back to the closet to get his pistol. The Smith & Wesson was wrapped in an oily cloth on the top shelf of his closet next to a box of shells. He unwrapped it, snapped open the cylin-der, and dropped in six cartridges, fighting the shake that was moving from his hands to his entire body. He dumped another six shells into his shirt pocket and headed out to the Volvo. He started the Volvo, then grabbed the radio mike to call for some backup. A lot of good that would do. Response time from the Sheriff's Department could run as long as thirty minutes in Pine Cove, which was one of the reasons there was a town constable in the first place. And what would he say? He was still under orders not to go onto the ranch. He dropped the mike on the seat next to his gun, put the Volvo in gear, and was starting to back out when a Dodge minivan pulled in beside him. Joseph Leander waved and smiled at him from the driver's seat. Theo put the Volvo in park. Leander climbed out of his van and leaned into the passenger window and looked at the .357 lying on the seat. â€Å"I need to talk to you,† he said. â€Å"You weren't much for talking an hour ago.† â€Å"I am now.† â€Å"Later. I'm just going to check something out on the ranch.† â€Å"That's perfect,† Leander said, shoving a small automatic pistol through the window into Theo's face. â€Å"We'll go together.† Eighteen Dr. Val The bust of Hippocrates stared up at Val Riordan from the desk. â€Å"First, do no harm†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah, bite me,† said the psychiatrist, throwing her Versace scarf over the Greek's face. Val was having a bad day. The call from Constable Crowe, revealing that her treatment, or lack of it, had not caused Bess Leander's suicide, had thrown Val into a quandary. She'd zombied her way through her morning appointments, answering questions with questions, pretending to take notes, and not catching a word that anyone said to her. Five years ago there had been a flood of stories in the media about the dangers of Prozac and similar antidepressants, but those stories had been set off by sensational lawsuits against the drug companies, and the follow-ups, the fact that not one jury found antidepressants to cause destructive behavior, had been buried in the back pages. One powerful religious group (whose prophet was a hack science fiction writer and whose followers in-cluded masses of deluded movie stars and supermodels) had fielded a media attack against antidepressants, recommending instead that the de-pressed should just cheer up, buck up, and send in some gas money to keep the Mother Ship running. The various professional journals had re ported no studies that proved that antidepressants increased the incidence of suicidal or violent behavior. Val had read the religious propaganda (it had the endorsement of the rich and famous), but she hadn't read the professional journals. Yes, automatically treating her pat ients with antide-pressants had been wrong, but her attempt to atone by taking them all off the drugs was just as wrong. Now she had to deal with the fact that she might be hurting them. Val hit the speed dial button to the pharmacy. Winston Krauss answered, but his voice was muted, as if he had an incredibly bad cold. â€Å"Pine Cobe Drug and Gibt.† â€Å"Winston, you sound horrible.† â€Å"I hab on my mask and snorkle.† â€Å"Oh, Winston.† Val rubbed her eyes, causing her contacts to slide back in her head somewhere. â€Å"Not at the store.† â€Å"I'm in the back room.† His voice became clear on the last word of the sentence. â€Å"There, I took it off. I'm glad you called, I've been wanting to talk to you about killer whales.† â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"I'm attracted to Orcas. I've been watching a Jacques Cousteau tape about them†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Winston, can we cover this in session†¦?† â€Å"I'm worried. I was especially turned on by the male one. Does that make me a homosexual?† Jeez, it didn't worry him that he was a wannabe whale-humper, as long as he wasn't a gay wannabe whale-humper. As a psychiatrist, she'd tried to drop terms like â€Å"full-blown batshit† from her vocabulary, even in thought, yet with Winston, she couldn't keep the term from rising. Lately, Val felt as if she was running the batshit concession on the cave floor. It had to stop. â€Å"Winston, I'm putting everyone back on their SSRIs. Get rid of the placebos. I'm going to put everyone on Paxil to get their levels up as quickly as possible. Make sure to warn the ones who were on Prozac that they absolutely can't miss a day like they used to. I'll move those who need it later.† â€Å"You want me to take everyone off of the placebos? Do you know how much money we are making?† â€Å"Start today. I'm going to call my patients. I want you to give them credit for the unused placebos they still have.† â€Å"I won't do it. I almost have enough saved to spend a month at the Cetacean Research Center on Grand Bahama. You can't take that away from me.† â€Å"Winston, I won't compromise my patients' mental health so you can go on vacation and fuck Flipper.† â€Å"I said I won't do it. You were the one who started this. What about your patients' mental health then?† â€Å"I was wrong. I'm not going to put everyone back on antidepressants either, so you're going to lose some revenue there too. Some of them didn't need the drugs in the first place.† â€Å"No.† Val was shocked at the conviction in Winston's voice. His self-esteem problem no longer seemed an issue. What a crappy time for him to be making progress. â€Å"So you want the town to know about your little problem?† â€Å"You won't do that. You have more to lose than I do, Valerie. If you blow the whistle on me, then I'll tell the whole story to the papers. I'll get immunity and you'll go to jail.† â€Å"You bastard. I'll send my patients down to the Thrifty Mart in San Junipero. Then you won't even have the legitimate sales.† â€Å"No, you won't. Things are going to stay just the way they are, Dr. Val.† Winston hung up. Valerie Riordan stared at the receiver for a second be fore replacing it in its cradle. How? How in the hell had she given control of her life over to someone like Winston Krauss? More important, how was she going to get it back without going to jail? Theo Joseph Leander had the automatic stuck against Theo's ribs. He'd thrown Theo's gun into the backseat. Leander was wearing a tweed jacket and wool dress slacks and a film of sweat was forming on his forehead. The Volvo bounced over a rut in the dirt road and Theo felt the barrel of the automatic dig into his ribs. He was trying to remember what you were supposed to do in such a situation, but all he could remember from the cop shows that he'd watched was never to give up your gun. â€Å"Joseph, could you pull that gun out of my ribs, or put the safety on, or something? This is a pretty bumpy road. I'd hate to lose a lung because I didn't get new shocks.† That sounded sufficiently glib, he thought. Professionally calm. Now if he could just avoid wetting himself. â€Å"You couldn't leave it alone, could you? It would have just passed into history and no one would have noticed, but you had to dig things up.† â€Å"So you did kill her?† â€Å"Let's say I helped her make a decision that she'd been waffling about.† â€Å"She was the mother of your children.† â€Å"Right, and she treated me with about as much respect as a turkey baster.† â€Å"Wow, you lost me there, partner.† â€Å"They use them for artificial insemination, Crowe, you fucking stoner. One squirt and you throw them away.† â€Å"You got tired of being a turkey baster, so you hung your wife?† â€Å"Her herb garden killed her. Foxglove tea. Contains huge amount of digitalis. Stops the heart and it's almost undetectable unless you're looking for it. Ironic, isn't it? I would have never known about any of that crap if she hadn't blathered on about it constantly.† Theo was not at all happy that Leander was telling him this. It meant that he was going to have to make some sort of move to save himself or he was dead. Ram a tree maybe? He checked Leander's seat belt; it was buckled. What kind of criminal kidnaps someone and remembers to buckle his seat belt? Stall for now. â€Å"There were heel marks on the wall.† â€Å"Nice touches, I thought. I don't know, she may have still been alive when I hung her up there.† They were coming out of the forest that surrounded the ranch into an open pasture. Theo could see a metal shed next to a double-wide house trailer a couple of hundred yards ahead. A bright red Dodge truck was parked by the shed. â€Å"Hmmm,† Leander said. â€Å"They got a new trailer for the boys. Pull up to the shed and park.† Theo felt panic rise in his throat like acid and fought it down. Keep them talking and they won't shoot. Hadn't he heard that somewhere? â€Å"So you killed your wife for a big-screen TV and a tumble with Betsy? Divorce never occurred to you?† Leander laughed and Theo felt a chill run through his body. â€Å"You really are dense, aren't you, Crowe? See that shed up there? Well, I hauled twenty-eight million dollars' worth of methamphetamine out of that shed last year. Granted, I only get a piece of that, but it's a nice piece. I move it all. I'm a salesman, a family man, innocuous and unnoticeable. Who'd suspect me? Mr. Milquetoast.† â€Å"Your wife?† â€Å"Bess found out about it. Funny thing is, she was following me because she suspected an affair, but she never found out a thing about Betsy and me. She was going to turn me in. I had no choice.† Theo pulled up next to the shed and turned off the Volvo. â€Å"You have a choice now, Joseph. You don't have to do this.† â€Å"I'm not doing anything but going back to my life until there's enough money in my offshore accounts to take off. Don't get me wrong, Crowe. I didn't enjoy killing Bess. I'm not a killer. Hell, I've never even taken any drugs. This isn't crime, it's just a well-paid delivery route.† â€Å"So you're not going to shoot me?† Theo really, really wanted to believe that. â€Å"Not if you do what I tell you to do. Get out of the car. Leave the keys. Slide over and come out on my side.† Theo did as he was told and Leander kept the pistol trained on him the whole time. Where did Leander learn to do that? He'd hadn't had a television that long. Guy must have taken a mail-order course or something. â€Å"Miguel! Ignacio! Come out here!† Leander gestured with the pistol for Theo to move toward the shack. â€Å"Go inside.† Theo ducked to get through the door and immediately saw rack upon rack of lab glass, glass tubing, and plastic barrels of chemicals. A single metal chair sat in front of half a dozen electric burners that were filling the shed with a brutal heat. â€Å"Sit down,† Leander commanded. As Theo sat, he felt the handcuffs being yanked out of his back pocket. â€Å"Put your hands behind you.† Theo did as he was told and Leander threaded the handcuffs through two metal bars at the back of the chair and snapped them over Theo's wrists. â€Å"I've got to go find these guys,† Leander said. â€Å"Probably taking a siesta. What was Burton thinking when he put a house trailer down here? I'll be back in a second.† â€Å"Then what?† â€Å"Then Ignacio will shoot you, I'm guessing.† Molly This was a first: a guy that actually did what you asked him to do. When she heard a car coming down the ranch road, she asked Steve to make himself look like a trailer and he had done it. Sure, she had to make a little box diagram in the air with her hands, and he missed the first time, trying to make himself look like the tin shed next to him, a miserable failure that resulted in only his head changing and making him look like a dragon wearing an aluminum bag over his head, but after a few seconds he got it. What a guy. Okay, his tail, which had always hung down into the creek bed before, was showing, but maybe no one would notice. â€Å"What a guy,† she said, patting him on his air-conditioning unit. Or at least it was an air-conditioning unit now. No telling what body part it had been before he changed into a trailer. She's patting my unit, Steve thought. A low growl of pleasure rolled out of his front door. Molly ran and hid behind the shed, peeking out to watch the white Volvo pull up and stop. She almost stepped out to say hi to Theo, then saw the other man in the car holding a gun on him. She listened as the bald guy led Theo into the shed and made some threats. She wanted to jump out and say, â€Å"No, Ignacio won't be shooting anyone, Mr. Bald Guy. He's busy being digested right now,† but the guy did have a gun. How the hell did Theo let himself be taken prisoner by someone who looked like an assistant principal? When it was evident that the bald guy was coming out, she ran to the dragon trailer, caught the edge of the air-conditioning unit, and swung herself up onto the roof. The bald guy was going around to the front door. She ran over Steve's back and looked down over the edge. â€Å"Miguel! Ignacio!† the bald guy yelled. â€Å"Get out here!† He seemed uncertain about going into the trailer. â€Å"I saw them go in there,† Molly said. The bald guy stepped back, looking like he was going to go into a fit searching for where the voice had come from. â€Å"You're an assistant principal, aren't you?† Molly said. The bald guy finally spotted her and tried to hide the gun behind his back. â€Å"You're that crazy woman,† he said. â€Å"What are you doing here?† Molly scooched up to the edge of the dragon trailer. â€Å"‘Scuse me? Pardon me? Beg your pardon? I'm the what?† He ignored her question. â€Å"What are you doing here?† â€Å"Excuse me. Excuse me, excuse me,† she almost sang. â€Å"There is an as-yet-unapologized-for aspersion on the floor. You'll have to handle that before we move on.† â€Å"I'm not apologizing for anything. What are you doing here? Where are Ignacio and Miguel?† â€Å"You're not apologizing?† â€Å"No. Get down from there.† He showed her the gun. â€Å"‘Kay,† Molly said, patting Steve on the head/roof. â€Å"Steve, eat this impolite motherfucker.† She'd seen it before, but it was especially exciting to be sitting on Steve's head when he changed shape and his tongue leapt out below her to wrap around the assistant principal. After the initial slurp, the inevitable crunch (which had bothered her before) was sort of satisfying. She couldn't figure out if it was because the assistant principal had pointed a gun at her friend and called her a crazy woman, or if she was just getting used to it. â€Å"That was just swell,† she said. She ran across Steve's back, slid down to the top of the air-conditioning unit, then jumped to the ground. Steve growled and the angles of his trailer form melted into the curves and sinew of his dragon shape. He rolled over on his side and Molly watched as the scales on his belly parted and seven feet of dragon penis emerged as thick and stiff as a telephone pole. Luminescent colors flashed up the length of the organ. â€Å"Wow, that is impressive,† Molly said, taking a few steps backward. Steve sent her a message similar to the one he had sent to the fuel truck. It worked better on Molly. Her knees went wobbly, a warm tingling ran up her thighs, and she could feel the pulse rising in her temples. She looked into Steve's eyes (well, one of them anyway), stepped up to his face and gently touched him on the lips (or what would have been lips, if he'd had them), and let the sweetly acrid smell of his breath (a mix of Old Spice, manly Mexicans, and barfed cow) wash over her. â€Å"You know,† she said, â€Å"I never kissed a guy with assistant principal on his breath.†

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Counselling: Learning and Active Listening

Counselling is to help the client to open up about there feeling inside and thoughts when the client has no one to talk to and is in need to talk to someone. Core counselling skills are†¦ Paraphrasing Reflecting Summarising Focussing Active listening Empathy SOLERParaphrasing is focusing on the main facts.Reflecting and paraphrasing are similar it’s reporting back to the client what’s been said it is a way of indicating that we are listening, Reflecting refers to the skill of communication. Summerising, summerising is the process of trying to put everything what’s been said during the session. Focusing, focusing is important because it shows the client that you’re showing an interest on what’s been said. Active listening, active listening is important because you’re listening to the client and the client knows your showing an interest. As a councillor it’s important to listen and give full attention to the client. Empathy, empathy SOLER. S: square, sit facing opposite the client O: open in your posture (not closing yourself such as folding arms and legs) L: leaning forward E: eye contact R: relaxed (don’t fidget)Its important to have SOLER as a skill because it makes the client feel comfortable and the client knows that there being herd also there’s know the councillor is showing an interest and there feel more comfortable while using this skill.Counselling skills and attitudes Being a good listener, so the client knows there being herd Having patience with your self by not getting irritated.Good body language to the show the client you are active listening and paying attention on what’s been said. Good communication by not interrupting and by reflecting the client’s point of view without being judgemental. Showing empathy is to show the client that someone understands her giving the client closure. Being genuine to show the client that you’re being real and not putting ac a ct on.What counselling skills are not Advising the client Being judgemental Caring in a particular way Befriending Treating or healing someone like a doctor Instructing or teaching Giving guidance