The general election of 2002 – Voter apathy

a) Political apathy is when the voters feel disillusioned by the current state of politics. They feel that there is no point in voting because their vote will have no impact. In areas of high Labour support a conservative voter may feel little point in voting because it will have no effect. This means that that person, while still interested in politics, feels that their vote will be worthless and that they can do nothing to change the system. Also as the political parties move closer together in ideologies this means that voters no longer see much of a difference in who they choose to vote for which means they don't really feel the need to vote because it will make no difference and they don't care who is in power because they don't see that it affects them very much. On the very basic level this means that people may not be interested in politics at all. Less and less people watch the news each day, newspaper buying is in decline and the most popular programme is Eastenders. Programmes like Question time and other political debate programmes never get high ratings and this shows a continuing trend. People these days don't care about the government, don't feel that the government effects them, don't see any difference in the government and so don't really care who wins and this all boils down to Political apathy. b) No campaign differences Vote worthlessness Don't like anyone Too busy for something which does not matter. One of the main reasons for low voter turnout could have been the fact that more and more people do not see a difference between the parties. Whilst Labour and the Conservatives claim to have different ideologies their methods of running the country do not vary a great deal. In fact many people do not really notice much of difference from the way the country was run pre-1997 and how it was run afterwards. New Labour is very different to old Labour and thus it occupies the same space as the Conservatives did. This means that people feel that it does not matter who wins the election because nothing really changes for them on a street level. When people feel like that they then see no point in voting. Another small factor could be that Labour supporters felt unhappy at the way labour had acted but could not bring themselves to vote for Conservatives so they decided not to vote at all out of principle. Perhaps the biggest factor is that people feel that there vote won't make a difference. The problem with that is that they are correct. If there is a Labour supporter in a region which is a conservatives area then there is no point in that voting because the vote will not make a difference. That's not just a myth, that is true and people know this. Why take the time and the trouble to vote when it will do nothing. Being armed with this knowledge will mean that people will not bother to vote because they know that 1 vote will not make a difference anywhere. One way to reverse this is to get everyone in England to vote for a party and not for a candidate, which means every vote would be used in getting a party elected. The parties would then be able to win a number of MP's where then put into certain areas. Also in 2001, it is a fact that more people felt that they tough no one really represented what they wanted. This meant that they had no one to vote for and they did not want to vote for another party. This would mean that around 10% of the country had no one to vote for and that is a lot of votes that would not have been cast because of that. Another smaller factor is that people are busier and more stressed than ever these days. Many people may simply have not had had time to go to a polling booth to vote and coupled with the aforementioned facts, people may not have been that bothered to vote anyhow. But it is still true that people may just feel that they don't have enough time to go and vote and so just stay away. One reason, which is similar to another reason, which has been mentioned, is that people did not vote because they were happy with the current govt. If people feel that the current govt. is doing a good job then they don't feel the need to vote against it or to vote for it (the poll's all said Labour were going to win anyway). People were happy with Labour and did not want anyone else so they did not feel the need to vote unlike other instances where people are very unhappy with the state that the country is in and vote to get a new party elected to make some changes. If people are happy with the current govt. then they will not waste voting because they don't need to.

Review of the Article About Gopher It Essay

The business plan of Goffer It is all about the plans and strategies for the establishment of an errand service for professionals in the business district of Boston. The service includes standard service, which includes usual time-consuming errand works of professionals, and custom service, which includes services according to the needs of the people. This partnership firm is to be founded by three highly experienced professionals with adequate knowledge in management and administration. The new venture they plan out is apt as there are not many similar ventures around their targeted locality and it is highly felt to be of need for the people. The population and the potential people interaction is quiet high in that locality. The services offered are quiet many and no competitor is as good as Goffer It. They had a very good marketing strategy and the formost among it is to utilize the benefits of the locality. As many thousands of people travel through the area it gives a natural opportunity for them to expose the firm to many without much of expenditure. This untapped market can be also expanded by way of short advertising campaigns too. The core of it included: * Needs of the target market on the basis of geography, demography, life style and buyer intentions. * Product differentiation. * Effective and profitable marketing mix. They also had a clear plan for the future, ways and means for expansion and to make it a profitable business in short time span of more than a year. They were very clear about the service to be delivered and the pricing of it. Their idea is to give the best service and gain customers through word of mouth. As the founders of this venture the three of them are well experienced and that they have prior experience in managing other but somewhat similar ventures. The best part of the organizational structure is that the three at the top are professionally fit for this work and they are good and qualified in finance and marketing, which can be considered the key areas of a business. Their advantages can be summarized in the following points. Untapped errand market * Large customer base * Low cost of marketing * Geographical advantage * Lifestyle of the people and their need for errand services * Experience of the partners in management * Their professional qualification in finance and marketing * Possibility of future expantion All these make this business very attractive and a possible success in the near future. There are no areas as such that are not addressed by them. Thus in this business plan we see a clear vision of a great firm in the years to come.

Nelson Mandela Inauguration Speech Analysis Essay

All inaugural addresses use tools of rhetoric. Nelson Mandela gave an inaugural address. Therefore, Mandela’s inaugural address uses tools of rhetoric. As stated by Campbell and Jamieson, â€Å"inauguration is a right of passage, and therefore creates a need for the newly elected president to make a public address – these addresses have a synthetic core in which certain rhetorical elements †¦ are fused into an indivisible whole† (1990). This paper will discuss the often subtle but effective tools of rhetoric used in inaugural addresses, focusing on former South African President Nelson Mandela’s, in particular. I will argue that the creation of unity is the overriding rhetorical purpose of the inaugural address as a genre, which is synonymous with Burke’s theory of identification To begin with, I will provide some background information on the inaugural address as a rhetorical genre. Following this, I will discuss the positions of the author an d audience (the rhetorical situation), and relate these positions to Aristotle’s concept of ethos and pathos; I will go on to analyze the appeals and tropes exercised by Mandela in his inaugural address; all of these rhetorical elements, I will argue, construct unity and persuade the people of South Africa to take their first steps towards reunification. The inaugural address can be considered a rhetorical genre, as it is a recognizable kind of speech with â€Å"similar forms that share substantive, stylistic, and situational characteristics† (Tarvin, 2008). The inaugural address is ceremonial and traditional in nature, and can be characterized by Aristotelian theorists as epideictic oratory, which is oratory that takes place on special occasions; the author â€Å"celebrates the event for an audience of †¦ fellow citizens by appealing to common values and cultural traditions† (Killingsworth, 2005). The speech symbolizes a change in government, and is the newly elected President’s first official public address. Corbett and Connors have observed that â€Å"inaugural addresses usually deal in broad, undeveloped generalizations. Principles, policies, and promises are enunciated without elaboration† (1999), while Sigelman points out that presidents â€Å"typically use the occasion to commemorate the natio n’s past, to envision its future, and to try to set the tone for [following] years† (1996). Campbell and Jamieson define five key elements that distinguish the inaugural address as a genre. The presidential inaugural: â€Å"unifies the audience by reconstituting its members as the people, who can witness and  ratify the ceremony; rehearses communal values drawn from the past; sets forth the political principles that will govern the new administration; and demonstrates through enactment that the president appreciates the requirements and limitations of executive functions. Finally, each of these ends must be achieved †¦ while urging contemplation not action, focusing on the present while incorporating past and future, and praising the institution of presidency and the values and form of the government of which it is a part (Campbell and Jamieson, 1990). Note that unification of the audience (which is synonymous with Burke’s theory of identification) constitutes the â€Å"most fundamental [element] that demarcate[s] the inaugural address as a rhetorical genre† (Sigelman, 1996), which is the overriding argument of this paper. I would also like to poin t out the three main positions in any piece of rhetoric, as stated by Killingsworth (2005): the position of the author (Mandela, for the purpose of this essay), the position of the audience (immediate and secondary audiences), and the position of value to which the author refers (the unity of whites and blacks). The author’s rhetorical goal is to move the audience towards his position via a shared position of values, which results in the alignment of the three positions (author, audience, and value). Therefore, Mandela’s rhetorical goal is to move his immediate and secondary audience of both supporters and critics towards his position as the newly elected black President of South Africa by the shared goal of unification of all races within the nation. Put another way, Kenneth Burke, in his work â€Å"A Rhetoric of Motives†, describes the basic function of rhetoric as the â€Å"use of words by human agents to form attitudes or induce actions in other human agents† (1969). In order to align attitudes of author, audience, and value, or in order to form attitudes to induce action in other human agents, the first consideration in the construction of the speech must be the audience. Before I discuss audience though, I will talk about the position of Mandela – the author of the inaugural address in question. Corbett and Connors (1999) point out that when doing a rhetorical analysis, one must always consider the special situation that faces the speaker. Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president in South Africa on May 10th, 1994; this election was particularly significant because it was the first ever multi-racial, democratic election in the country’s history. It also signaled  the end of the apartheid (from the Afrikaans word for â€Å"apartness† or â€Å"separateness†), which was both a slogan and a social and political policy of racial segregations and discrimination, enforced by the White National party from 1948 until Mandela’s election. However, racial segregation has characterized South Africa since white settlers arrived in 1652, before apartheid. Furthermore, Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa for his role as a freedom fighter and leader of the African National Congress (ANC), and his significant contribution to anti-apartheid activities. All of these factors established some doubts in Mandela, especially in the minds of white South Africans. Mandela â€Å"had to address the very legitimate needs of black South African people while preventing the flight of white South Africans and foreign capital from the nation †¦ [and his inaugural address] needed to [rhetorically] establish the ground from which progress would grow† (Sheckels, 2001). Because of these varying circumstances, the inaugural address might be â€Å"an occasion when a powerful ethical appeal would have to be exerted if the confidence and initiatives of the people were to be aroused† (Corbett and Connors, 1999). However, while these factors established doubts in some, they also contributed to Mandela’s ethos, which is defined by Aristotle as the character or credibility of the rhetor. Aristotle claims â€Å"It is necessary not only to look at the argument, that it may be demonstrative and persuasive but also [for the speaker] to construct a view of himself as a certain kind of person† (Aristotle in Borchers, 2006). As stated in Killingsworth, â€Å"authors demonstrate their character †¦ in every utterance† (2005). A person who possesses â€Å"practical wisdom, virtue, and good will †¦ is necessarily persuasive to the hearers† (Borchers, 2006). Mandela possesses considerable ethos as a result of his personal identity and regional history; his involvement with the ANC, the political party whose aim was to defend the rights and freedoms of African people, and the time he served as a political prisoner demonstrate his dedication to the construction of a democratic nation. One author notes that Mandela serves as a â€Å"representative of the African people at large† (Sheckels, 2001). The public’s knowledge of Mandela’s past allows him to establish ethos, which in turn helps him deliver a rhetorically successful inaugural address, which serves in the construction of unity between all people of South Africa. Additionally, as one author points out, ethos â€Å"may  take several forms – a powerful leader like the President will often have the ethos of credibil ity that comes from authority† (Tuman, 2010). While Mandela uses his past to construct ethos, he also gains ethos as South Africa’s newly elected President. Because it was the first ever democratic election, in which his party won 62% of the votes, Mandela gains authority over past South African Presidents; his call to office represents the wants and needs of all people in South Africa, while his predecessors’ did not. Mandela’s accumulated ethos contributes to the persuasive power of his inaugural address, in which he makes his first official attempt as President to establish unity through speech. Next I will discuss the position of the audience. When constructing a speech, the author must first consider who his specific audience is: â€Å"consideration of audience drives the creation of an effective persuasive message† (Tuman, 2010). When writing his inaugural speech, which is a form of oral rhetoric, Mandela had to consider both an immediate audience, as well as a secondary audience who would watch the speech through the medium of TV and listen to it on the radio. The audience consisted not only of South Africans, but of people across the world interested and inspired by this monumental moment in history. Furthermore, Mandela had to consider both listeners who were his supporters and listeners who were his adversaries. Corbett and Connors claim that â€Å"the larger and more heterogeneous the audience is, the more difficult it is to adjust the discourse to fit the audience. In his content and his style, the President must strike some common denominator – but [one] that does not fall below the dignity that the occasion demands† (Killingsworth, 2005). One such way that Mandela adjusts his discourse to fit his audience is his choice in diction. While he does engage in the use of tropes and rhetorical appeals, he also uses fairly common language throughout. This is especially important in his situation, as many of his black listeners were denied education by the whites, and thus had limited vocabularies. While Mandela wanted to reach out to the educated citizens and international guests, he also had to ensure that his less educated listeners were able to grasp his words and thus be affected by the emotionality of his address and persuaded to unite. When analyzing Mandela’s Inaugural address in consideration of audience, we may also note his opening line: â€Å"Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Comrades, and Friends.† Here he acknowledges both the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"distinguished international guests,† as well as the people of South Africa: â€Å"Comrades and Friends.† Recognizing members of the international and internal audience is a tradition of inaugural addresses with rhetorical value. Kennedy, for example, followed this tradition when he began his inaugural address: â€Å"Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, Fellow Citizens,† as did Roos evelt when he began: â€Å"Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, My Friends† (Wolfarth, 1961). Additionally, we may note that it is traditional for inaugural addresses to â€Å"abound with unity appeals† (Wolfarth, 1961), which unite the president to the citizens of the country for which he reigns. President Jefferson, for example, addressed â€Å"Friends and Fellow-Citizens† in his opening line; Pierce opened with â€Å"My countrymen;† while Lincoln saluted his â€Å"Fellow-Citizens of the United States† in the first lines of his second inaugural address (Wolfarth, 1961). An address containing official salutations as well as unity appeals causes all audiences to identify with the President. We may also note additional unity appeals throughout Mandela’s inaugural address. There is a pervasive use of personal pronouns, such as â€Å"we,† â€Å"us,† and â€Å"our,† along with â€Å"symbolically potent terms that embody a sense of collectivity† (Sigelman, 1996), such as â€Å"South Africa/Africans† â€Å"homel and,† â€Å"people,† and â€Å"country,† all of which connote community and contribute to the construction of unity. Mandela begins 15 out of 30 sections (as designated in the index) with â€Å"we† or â€Å"our,† and they constitute 59 of the 893 words in the address (6.6%). The repetition of the word â€Å"we† at the beginning of subsequent sentences is a rhetorical trope called ‘anaphora;’ by using this rhetorical technique, Mandela subtly emphasizes the importance of unity As one author explains, the strategic use of personal pronouns is â€Å"one fairly subtle means of transmitting a feeling of unity† (Sigelman, 1996). Appeals to unity follow in Burke’s theory of identification as a means of persuasion or cooperation. By addressing â€Å"Comrades and Friends† and using the words â€Å"we† and â€Å"us† throughout the speech, Mandela is uniting the audience with himself, as well as each other – a â€Å"powerful, yet subtle, type of identification †¦ The word ‘we’ reinforces the idea that all of the [listening] community is united in its efforts to accomplish [certain] goals† (Borchers, 2006). The rhetorician who appeals to an audience to the  point where identific ation takes place has accomplished the purpose of his rhetoric (Burke, 1969). Mandela’s use of personal pronouns and terms that embody collectivity construct unity, which is the overriding purpose of both his inaugural address, as well as his Presidency in general. Mandela’s inaugural address also employs pathos, which is an appeal to the emotions of one’s audience that serves as a persuasive power. Aristotle argued that a speaker must understand the emotions of one’s audience in order to be persuasive (Borchers, 2006); that is, he must understand his audience’s state of mind, against whom their emotions are directed, and for what sorts of reasons people feel the way they do, in order to connect emotionally with them. Mandela’s inauguration was an emotional day for the people of South Africa and the world, because it represented a shift towards democracy, equality, and freedom for all people. One author notes that â€Å"Mandela’s first presidential address before the newly constituted South African Parliament lifted South Africa from the realm of imaginary democracy into a state of actual democratic practice and was a self-referential act of bringing opposing parties together. The [inauguration] speech was the first example of reconstruction and development after apartheid †¦ in words – and words alone – [Mandela’s] speech reconstitute[d] the nation† (Salazar, 2002). We can see Mandela’s use of pathos throughout his inauguration speech. For example, he refers to the past as an â€Å"extraordinary human disaster† (3); he enlists his fellow South Africans to â€Å"produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity’s belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all† (4); he discusses â€Å"the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict †¦ saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world† (9); and he refers to his win as â€Å"a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity† (11) and his o pponents as â€Å"blood-thirsty forces which still refuse to see the light† (14). Mandela then makes an emotional pledge: â€Å"we pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender, and other discrimination †¦ we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts† (16-18). He then dedicates â€Å"this day to all the heroes and heroines †¦ who sacrificed  Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ and surrendered their lives so that we could be free† (20). The rhetorical use of pathos is thick throughout Mandela’s inaugural address. Mandela’s appeals to unity also contribute to the pathos of the speech by inspiring the listeners to join together as one, rather than opposing entities. Mandela concludes with a promise: â€Å"never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression †¦ and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world./ Let freedom reign† (28-29). It is also important to note Mandela’s use of what rhetorical scholars have called ‘ideographs,’ which are defined as â€Å"high-level abstraction[s] that encapsulate or summarize the definitive principles or ideals of a political culture† (Parry-Giles & Hogan, 2010). I would like to add that the use of ideographs employs Aristotle’s concept of pathos, as the words are often emotionally laden. Examples of ideographs used in Mandela’s inaugural address include: â€Å"liberty† (2); â€Å"nobility† (4); â€Å"justice† (4, 11, 26); â€Å"peace† (11, 26); â€Å"human dignity† (11, 18); â€Å"freedom† (17, 21, 29); and â€Å"hope† (1, 18). Freedom is the most significant ideograph in the speech, as Mandela was a ‘freedom-fighter’ and was ‘freed’ from prison in 1990, which was a major step towards ‘freedom’ for all South Africans. Ideographs, claim rhetorical scholars, â€Å"have the potential to unify diverse audiences around vaguely shared sets of meaning† (Parry-Giles & Hogan, 2010). Yet again we are presented with appeals to unity in Mandela’s inaugural address. As discussed, Mandela’s speech provides evidence that he understands his audience’s state of mind (a mixture of apprehension and optimism), against whom their emotions are directed (Mandela himself, as well as the apartheid), and for what sorts of reasons people feel the way they do (change, fear, history, etc.). Thus, he was able to connect emotionally with his audience, which is Aristotle’s understanding of Pathos. I will continue my analysis of Mandela’s speech with consideration of appeals he makes to place and race. Killingsworth points out that â€Å"appeals to race †¦ often work together with appeals to place† (2005). In Mandela’s inauguration speech he says: â€Å"Each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld. /Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change. /We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when   grass turns green and the flowers bloom. /That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland †¦.† (6-9). This claim on the land can be thought of as an identification of race with place, or in terms of Ke nneth Burke’s dramatism, a ratio between agent and scene, who and where (Killingsworth, 2005). When white settlers arrived in South Africa in the 1600s, they began displacing indigenous black inhabitants from their homeland, pushing them onto â€Å"less desirable terrain where water was comparatively scarce, grazing poor and agricultural conditions harsh† (Horrell, 1973). Apartheid made the separation of blacks with their homeland even more acute with the implementation of designated group areas, in which blacks were relocated to slums and townships, separate from whites. Hook, in Killingsworth, claims that â€Å"collective black self-recovery can only take place when we begin to renew our relationship to the earth, when we remember the way of our ancestors† (2005). Mandela’s appeals to race and place in his inaugural address advocate collective self-recovery, and, as a byproduct, unity. Burke notes that â€Å"rhetors who feature the scene see the world as relatively permanent †¦ [and] rhetors who features the agent see people as rational and capable of making choices† (Borchers, 153). By featuring both scene and agent, it is evident that Mandela sees the physical geography of South Africa as unchanging, and also sees that the people who inhabit South Africa have the power to choose to unite on that shared territory. Unity is the underlying theme of Mandela’s inaugural address as well as his presidency: the unity of white and black people; the dissolution of apartheid and its associated segregation; the reunification of native South Africans with their homeland; and the unification of South Africa with the rest of the free democratic world. â€Å"When [Mandela] took up the reins of power in 1994, the world was holding its breath, expecting the racial tensions splitting the country to explode into a blood bath. Instead, the world witnessed a miracle. Mandela’s achievement is colossal† (Davis, 1997). Mandela’s inaugural address served as an instrument of reunification and produced an atmosphere of stability from which the new system of government could go forward. Index Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Comrades and Friends: Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty. Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud. Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity’s belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all. All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well represented here today. To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld. Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change. We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowers bloom. That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world, precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression. We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom, that we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil. We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to take possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity. We trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenges of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy. We deeply appreciate the role that the masses of our people and their political mass democratic, religious, women, youth, business, traditional and other leaders have played to bring about this conclusion. Not least among them is my Second Deputy President, the Honorable F.W. de Klerk. We would also like to pay tribute to our security forces, in all their ranks, for the distinguished role they have played in securing our first democratic elections and the transition   democracy, from blood-thirsty forces which still refuse to see the light. The time for the healing of the wounds has   The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has   The time to build is upon us. We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace. We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity–a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world. As a token of its commitment to the renewal of our country, the new Interim Government of National Unity will, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of amnesty for various categories of our people who are currently serving terms of imprisonment. We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free. Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward. We are both humbled and elevated by the honor and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley of darkness. We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world. Let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement! God bless Africa! Thank you. Works Cited Borchers, T. (2006). Rhetorical theory: An introduction. Waveland Press Inc.: Illinois Burke, K. 1969. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley: University of California Press. Burke, K. (1966). Language as symbo1ic action: Essays on life, literature, and method. Berkeley: University of California Press. Campbell, K.K. & Jamieson, K.H. (1990). Deeds done in words: Presidential rhetoric and the genres of governance. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago. Corbett, E.P.J. & Connors, R.J. (1999) Classical rhetoric for the modern student. Oxford University Press: New York. Davis, G. (1997, July 18). No ordinary magic. Electronic Mail & Guardian [On-line]. Available: http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/97jul2/18JUL-mandels.html . Horrel, M. (1973). The African homelands of South Africa. USA: University of Michigan. Ali-Dinar, A.B. (1994). Inaugural speech, Pretoria [Mandela]. University of Pennsylvania: African studies center. Retrieved from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Inaugural_Speech_1798 4.html Killingsworth, M.J. (2005). Appeals in modern rhetoric: An ordinary-language approach. Southern Illinois University Press. Parry-Giles, S.J. & Hogan, J.M. (2010). The handbook of rhetoric and public address. United Kingdome: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Salazar, P.J. (2002). An African Athens: Rhetoric and the shaping of democracy. London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Sheckels, T.F. (2001). The rhetoric of Nelson Mandela: A qualified success. Howard Journal of Communications, Vol 12-2. Sigelman, L. (Jan-Mar 1996). Presidential inaugurals: The modernization of a genre. Political Communication. Vol 13-1. South Africa’s political parties. SouthAfrica.info. Retrieved from http://www.southafrica.info/about/democracy/polparties.htm Tarvin, D. (2008). Vincent Fox’s inaugural address: A comparative analysis between the generic characteristics of the United States and Mexico. Retrieved from http://lsu.academia.edu/DavidTarvin/Papers/687161/Vicente_Foxs_Inaugural_Addr ess_A_Comparative_Analysis_Between_the_Generic_Characteristics_of_the_United_States_and_Mexico Tuman, J.S. (2010). Communicating terror: The rhetorical dimensions of terrorism. San Francisco: Sage Publications. Wolfarth, D.L. (April 1961). John F. Kennedy in the tradition of inaugural speeches. Quarterly journal of speech, Vol. 47-2. Additional Works Referenced Foss, S.K. (2004). Rhetorical criticism: Exploration & practice. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. Hart, R.P. & Daughton, S. (2005). Modern rhetorical criticism: Third edition. USA: Pearson Education, Inc. Kuypers, J.A. (2005). The art of rhetorical criticism. USA: Pearson Education Inc. Lacy, M.G. & Ono, K.A. (2011). Critical rhetorics of race. New York: New York University Press

Benefits of Single Gender Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Benefits of Single Gender Education - Essay Example Girls perform better in single sex schools than boys. Therefore, people choose single gender school for bright future of females. Female students also avoid sexual harassment in single gender schools. Research shows that boys and girls have different ways of learning because of difference of mind. Single gender schools are the solution to this problem. Few researchers provided conflicting evidence on importance of single gender schools. Financial aspects, race and moral values like issues are easy to handle in single gender schools and to overcome class difference. Therefore the research of decades has proved that single gender schools are beneficial than co-education institutes. Research proved definite decline in distraction in single gender schools. According to Hubbard & Datnow (2005), in teenage students, lose focus on their work due to attraction in opposite sex (pp. 121). This declines their progress in educational activities. Boys and girls spend more time in attracting each other and give more importance to their getup and outlook. Mostly girls are found lost in the classrooms as they reach their puberty. Boys are more distracted in the presence of girls as it is part of their nature and personality. Therefore, single gender schools are vital for good educational output from the boys. ... Girls and boys can come with normal dressing and makeup in single gender schools due to non-availability of opposite sex (Hubbard & Datnow 122). This saves time and keeps the mind committed in their work. Research has proved better performance of girls in single sex schools. Parents are now attracted towards single gender schools for females for making them better educated for future challenges. Girls with mathematical and scientific expertise can produce even better results in schools (Datnow, Hubbard & Conchas 186) Girls are highly affected by the sexual harassment from the opposite gender (Hubbard & Datnow 122). Their mind always works to take safety measures to avoid sexual harassment. Boys show more confidence towards this activity and tend to attract girls and tend to sexually harass them in coeducation schools. Single gender schools have the advantage of protecting girls from sexual assaults and harassment. Girls and boys have different mind structure and hobbies that become p ermanent part of the personalities. Gender difference has connection with the initial lifestyle and habits and priorities. This creates a lot of difference in approach of both sexes towards education. Hence, it is always difficult to observe same understanding of a subject in both genders. One will understand the subject matter easily and the other gender may feel it difficult. Uniformity of understanding of scientific and mathematical subjects be best achieved in single sax schools and colleges. According to Datnow, Hubbard & Conchas (2001), â€Å"some argued that the single gender educational settings promote stereotypical attitude towards the opposite sex†. (pp. 186). The conflicting evidence of single gender

Cultural Dimensions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cultural Dimensions - Assignment Example Cultural dimensions Disparities and similarities exist in the cultural domains between the two countries. The two countries exhibit lower long-term orientation. They score normative in this dimension. Spanish people prefer keeping their lives normal without considering what the future entails. Americans treat changes that arise in the society with great suspicion. They tend to analyze emerging information to confirm its validity. Americans possess good analytical skills that give them a clear view whether particular information is good or disastrous. The foundation of businesses in America is short-term goals. America and Spain share individualism in the cultural domains. The members Interact freely with people from other parts of the world. Americans find it easy to interact and seek information from non-Americans. They exhibit free-spirited interactions amongst themselves simplifying their engagement that relates to business and other activities. In the power distance domain of culture, the countries perform differently. In contrast to Spanish, Americans do not appreciate the fact that people must be different in the society. They constantly struggle to address the inequality that exists among people. Most employees in America prefer to participate in the decision-making process and tend to question the actions of the authorities on issues that relate to them. In Spain, people accept the diversity prevalent in the society. They make little effort to breach the gap. Spanish people refer to the decisions made by the authorities as autocratic and rarely challenge the directives from the leaders. In uncertainty avoidance domain, the two countries exist on opposite sides of the divide. Spain scores highly in this domain while America performance is below average. Americans find it easy to incorporate new ideas than the Spanish people.  

E-Marketing Report for www.northbrisbanelandscapes.com.au Assignment

E-Marketing Report for www.northbrisbanelandscapes.com.au - Assignment Example A ranking of the four companies, North Brisbane Landscape, C Price Landscapes, Australian Native Landscapes, and Frosts Garden Centres, chosen in this paper, has also been done to deduce the comparative position of each company. The overall result suggested a lowly position of North Brisbane Landscape, the company discussed in the paper. The company was found to lack in its 7 I’s and 6 C’s components. The recommendations have been done, keeping in focus the deficiencies observed in these two components respectively. Introduction E-marketing is the marketing using digital technologies in order to help selling of the products or services. E-marketing provides businesses houses of any size an easy access to the general mass market within an affordable price range. Specific benefits achieved from e-marketing include the following aspects: global reach, lower cost, results that can be tracked and measured, 24-hour marketing, personalization, one-to-one marketing, etc (Develo ping an E-Marketing Plan, 2005, pp.2-3). Business websites should be maintained by every running company in order to propagate their products and services online. As websites are so important for a company, this needs to be audited on regular basis in order to determine their effectiveness as well as any broken link, i.e. a link which cannot be accessed by the user. A good website audit report would provide information on how often the website is accessed by the users, whether by subscribing or paid advertisements, etc (Website Audit – an Analytical Approach, 2007). In this paper, we will talk about North Brisbane Landscape and compare it with three other websites at the local, national and international levels, namely at local level - C Price Landscapes, nationally - Australian Native Landscapes, and internationally - Frosts Garden Centres located in Oxfordshire, UK. In this research, two tools of the 6Is and the 7Cs will be used to compare and evaluate these three websites. These websites belong to the same industry. The audit report of North side Landscape supplies says that the website of North side Landscape has been experienced in their services for the past 36 years but not experienced in the effectiveness of their website. This is because the website requires more information and features for providing information for their customers or even in dealing with their suppliers. The company lacks in features such as identification, individualization and interaction with customers (North Brisbane Landscape, 2010). The local company, i.e. C Price Landscapes, is better in terms of its homepage contents (C Price Landscapes, 2010). The information is clear and it has communication with the social network users like Facebook. The company chosen at the national level, Australian Native Landscapes, is far better than the rest of the company websites going by its contents and features. The website has made good use of color combination and provides correct li nks to guide its customers (Australian Native Landscapes, 2011). The last company chosen at the international level is Frosts Garden Centres in Oxfordshire. The company has a well maintained website. Interactive marketing Interactive marketing is the ability to address the customer, remember what the customer has said, and address the custo

Media activisim Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Media activisim - Essay Example i. May 4, 1970 was a typical day for many Kent State students getting ready for a revolution. With the Vietnam War going poorly overseas and many students waiting for morbid news of family and friends currently serving, one can understand the social climate and, perhaps, why the national guard was called to settle the 1000 unarmed student protesters on this Ohio campus of 21,000 (Payne). The students were not especially concerned for their safety. It was, after all, a nonviolent protest and "there was no logical reason [for the national guardsmen] to aim or shoot"(Canfora). It is easy to assume that many students were there simply as an excuse to stay out of class, while others were voyeurs, watching the events unfold, warming benches. It is most interesting to hear how the actions of the United States National Guard appeared to eye witnesses. Alan Canfora, one of the nine injured survivors watched the events play out up close, gives a chilling recount of what occurred after he and h is fellow classmates "assumed [the guardsmen] were marching in a retreat back over the hill to the KSU Commons" and that they "were quite shocked when, at the hilltop, perhaps a dozen members of Troop G simultaneously stopped, turned and aimed their rifles." For thirteen seconds the guards fired a total of sixty-one shots into an unarmed crowd as far as almost 400 feet, killing four students and injuring nine others (Payne). ii. But what are we left with today, in the stale exhaust of the Kent State Massacre Do we know why the guardsmen shot, seemingly without reason Was there a sniper Perhaps a student in the crowd concealing a gun These are questions that we do not know the answers to. We must consider how this tragedy affects our society without those answers. Compared to the war in Iraq and the many protests that happen on campuses around the country, it is easy to feel secure next to our dormitories and behind the shield of our constitutional rights, but one must not forget the events of May 4, 1970, and how the security blanket can be so quickly torn away. It is events like this that cause people to rise up and take a stand. The rioters of this time "were called cancer...agitators with disregard for the tenets fo humanity, who would poison [the] water with LSD and set off bombs in [the] post offices and facilitate chaos. Long-hairs. Hippies. Revolutionaries. They brought this on" (Giffels, Klosterm an, & Weinreb). It was events like these that make mere people into revolutionaries. Events like these that convince people to keep protesting. To keep asking questions. To keep fighting for more. B. Che Guevara, Malcolm X, & Martin Luther King, Jr. i. Revolutionaries like Che Guevara, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were consistently reminded of the dangers of their chosen profession. Their chosen activism. Like the students protesting the war with guns pointed at them, these men risked their lives in their every day endeavors. Ernesto Guevara, more commonly known as "Che," is today considered a liberal icon, especially in Latin America where they have "made him a symbol of

E-commerce and M-commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

E-commerce and M-commerce - Essay Example If E-commerce and M-commerce matters for development, it is not because the are the fancier or more convenient ways of doing shopping: but they allows allow enterprises to operate efficiently with their trading partners including their production sites, vendors and point of sales. For an Internet user to become an e-commerce customer, a much higher frequency of access is necessary in order to acquire the familiarity with the e-business transactions and payment systems. This is more required for the B2B traders, where the order of magnitude of their exposure to Internet etiquette must be more than a normal user. Contradicting the above general assumption, a survey conducted by IDC in 2002 there is a gap found between the Internet users and e-commerce revenue in the developing and developed countries. This shows that the usage of Internet does not directly imply the e-business attitude. Where as, the M-Commerce does not necessarily require more adequacy of such involvement with the mobile devise or operating the m-commerce applications. The reason behind this could be attributed to the low involvement and less choice of options for the customer to choose between while buying something through mobile phone. In other terms, mobile commerce involves a quick decision for buying, by simply replying to the message alert for the sale offer or saying yes to the chosen option. The prevalence of E-commerce has led people to research and form the strategically options to push the sales through Internet in the recent years. Some researches stated that lower per capita incomes, low credit card usage, lack of relevant Products and service to buy in near places, and lack of logistics and fulfillments are the factors influencing the buying behaviors of the users on E-commerce. Though these should be the same factors influencing the buying behavior of the M-Commerce also, rather than clear evidence of that, one could perceive some thing else alarming that the above for the influence of M-Commerce buying patterns. E-commerce trading is more seen between B2B or Business to Government types of transactions than Business to Consumer. This adoption could be linked with their capacity to integrate themselves into regional and global supply chains. At the enterprise level, this requires being able to meet technological and organizational challenges. At the country level, the digital and the physical layers of the national economies have to be connected in congruence. Thus E-commerce opens more trading between different foreign countries. Where as M-commerce, due to the localized service operators, has the limitation of global restriction with the service options limited within the geographical regions. Beyond technological limitations, the logistics and Policy regulations are also the other factors for this shortage. May be the still future of M-commerce could resolve such type of hindrances in a very short future depending on the nature of service expansions. While looking at the scenario of operations, E-commerce offers a more popular way of shopping than the other, through PC, laptops and palm tops. The purchasers of the Internet

Music has the power to change lives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Music has the power to change lives - Essay Example Music is about being sensitive to sounds †¦ about listening to sounds you’ve never heard before. These simple sentences speak volumes in terms of a philosophical background for modern music curricula. For ‘being sensitive to sounds’ read ‘being sensitive to what someone somewhere else in the world is saying through musical sound’ (Hurworth, 2003). Music surrounds our lives, we hear it on the radio, on television, from our car and home stereos. We come across it in the mellifluous tunes of a classical concert or in the devotional strains of a bhajan, the wedding band, or the reaper in the fields breaking into song to express the joy of life. Even warbling in the bathroom gives us a happy start to the day. Since time immemorial, music has infused a spark of the Divine in human beings. Stating the esoteric nature of music, Sufi saint and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan said: "The true harmony of music comes from the harmony of the soul. That music alone can be called real which comes from the harmony of the soul, its true source, and when it comes from there, it must appeal to all souls" (Sokhal, 1998). Many argue that music is not a natural kind. Indeed, following a conventional dictionary definition of music - "The art of combining sounds of voices or instruments to achieve beauty of form and expression of emotion" - it would be difficult to do so.

Death of a Salesman Essay Example for Free

Death of a Salesman Essay What techniques does Arthur Miller use to highlight the conflict between past and present in Death of a Salesman? How do these techniques also demonstrate his main themes? Death of a Salesman is set in a time when the capitalist system is changing. It is set in the late 1940s, not long after the Wall Street crash in 1929. Willy Loman is unable to adjust to these changes and therefore, there is conflict between the past, where his dreams were achievable, and the present, where he has fallen foul of the capitalist system and is no longer any use to the firm. These conflicts are personified in Willy, and Arthur Miller uses a number of techniques to highlight this. The techniques Miller uses represent Willys mind and they distinguish between past and present. These theatrical methods also help to demonstrate the main themes in Death of a Salesman. These theatrical methods include music, lighting, wall-lines, scenery, the use of leaves and also use of costumes. In my essay I plan to explain what each method conveys to the audience and show how Miller uses these methods effectively to highlight the conflicts. Music is used to highlight significant points and themes in the play. Also, the type of music sets the mood for a scene. It creates atmosphere and conveys to the audience the emotions of the characters. Also, silence can highlight a particular scene. The absence of music means that the audience focuses entirely on the conversation taking place. In Death of a Salesman, flute music is heard constantly throughout the duration of the play. It bridges the play, as it is heard both at the beginning and the end. The flute music evokes a faraway, idyllic world, representing the past. It also represents a contrast between Willy and his father. Willys father was a pioneer; he made flutes and sold his own products. Willy, on the other hand, has to sell other peoples goods to make a living. A good example of music being used to set the scene is at the beginning of the restaurant scene. The lights have blacked out signifying the end of the previous scene Suddenly rollicking music is heard. This is setting the mood of the scene for the audience. It shows that the atmosphere is happy and lively. This is to show the mood of the present time. It is a contrast to the past. By having rollicking music, Miller is highlighting this contrast. This links to the theme of Happy and shows more of an insight into his character. Happy has chosen this restaurant and it shows the kind of life he lives, and this is a contrast to Willy.

Medical Image Fusion Based on Joint Sparse Method

Medical Image Fusion Based on Joint Sparse Method I. INTRODUCTION From the identical scene number of images can be obtained concurrently by utilizing dissimilar sensors. Using the many sensors to identify the picture complete of scene from the obtained images is highly impossible. For this here using image fusion algorithm it will accept the mixing of multiple obtained images to produce number of useful complex image integrating the opposite information from the many sensors, yet, they are out of boundary and of dissimilar declaration. In medical diagnosis we will find the medical imaging. After completing the diagnosis the imaging movements are like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) it will gives dissimilar view in the same scene, which can be delay clinical decision making and the diagnostic process. For example MRI gives the perspectives of soft materials, while CT for bone structures evaluation. For accurate diagnosis this inspires the necessary for image fusion by combining the reciprocal information. Three problems to be notified while fusing the images [1] are: 1) the fused image should preserve all the important information needed for further processing. 2) Artifacts should not be introduced in fused image. 3) Noise and unimportant information should be suppressed. Several dissimilar Greedy approaches using the sparse representation of the signal this signal is presently possible [3], Sparse representation of signals is now possible utilizing many different Greedy approaches [3], including: 1. Matching Pursuit (MP) [3] 2. Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) [3], and 3.Stage wise Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (St OMP) [4]. These techniques are used to represent signals with the fewest number of non-zero coefficients. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) [5] is one of the powerful state-of-the-art image fusion approaches in terms of visual inspection and quantitative evaluation metrics. This fusion is carried out by integrating the principal components of images to be fused. Both PCA and Sparse fusion have specific advantages and disadvantages. PCA fusion will enhance the spatial quality but have dense nonzero entries that might represent uninformative features. Sparse fusion preserves important information but high spatial resolution is lacking. This paper proposes a new algorithm inspired by [6], which employs different fusion rules for common and innovative sparse comp onents of the source images. The proposed algorithm utilizes the advantages of both PCA and Sparse representation for fusing common and innovative features of the captured images. This algorithm also overcomes the disadvantages of both PCA and Sparse representation. In this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method by comparing its results with PCA and Sparse Fusion. II. SYSTEM DESIGN As discussed in the previous section, sparsest approximation is achieved through Greedy methods. In this section, we briefly explore the Orthogonal Matching Pursuit algorithm to achieve sparsest representation. These sparse coding algorithms are constructed based on the premise that Dictionary D of size nÃâ€"k is already known. For effective results, we use phase included DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) dictionary [7] for our experiment. In this paper, we have customized OMP sparse coding algorithm for fusion purposes. The ultimate aim of OMP algorithm is to achieve best approximation. The mathematical formula for solving this constraint problem is given by: (1) (2) Where N is the number of non-zero coefficients. Equation 2 represents the definition for solving error constrained problem. Next atom to be added in this iterative framework is the atom which has highest correlation to the residual at each stage. Iteration is performed until it meets the stopping criterion. OMP is due to orthogonalization between atoms in the dictionary D and residual r. Pseudo Algorithm of OMP Given: Dictionary D, signal S, and error threshold à Ã‚ µ Initialize residual r0=S-Ds0, index set I0={} and main iteration is k = k+1 (initial k=0). Using the ideal solution à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ §Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- = à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ¡Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ¸Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å"−1/, Calculate the error (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-) = for all i. Update stage: Augmenting the index set à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å" = à °Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å"−1 ∠ª {à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-0} (find i0 of (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-): ∀1 ≠¤ à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- ≠¤ à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ… ¡ and (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-0) ≠¤ (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-). Update the solution (à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ-0)+= à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ §Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ- and residual. If stopping criterion is met, à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   = à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  Ãƒ °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‹Å"; else, apply another iteration. III. PROPOSED SCHEME This work proposes a fusion method that employs PCA transformation and sparse transformation. An attempt is made to efficiently utilize the advantages of PCA and Sparse fusion scheme. The proposed fusion framework has been illustrated in Fig.1. Firstly, the common and innovative components are extracted from geometrically aligned multiple images of the same scene. Secondly, different fusion rules are adopted to fuse these coefficients. The algorithm is summarized as follows: 1) Registered multiple images in an ensemble have one common component and multiple innovative components. Innovative components contain the complementary information from different images of same scene 2) Innovative components of different images i are decomposed into sparse vectors s1,s2,s3,†¦si via orthogonal matching pursuit method described in Figure.1. Fig.1. Flow of Sparse PCA joint fusion algorithm 3) Combine the sparse coefficients of innovative components using PCA fusion rule, for which the covariance matrix s C of innovative images is calculated as follows, (3) Where s1,s2 are the sparse vectors of the innovative components. Find the Eigen sparse and normalized Eigen sparse vector of maximum Eigen value. Eigen vector will be used as weightings for innovative sparse vectors to be fused. 4) Fused PCA result Ip is reshaped into a block of 8Ãâ€"8 and each pixel position is the sum of several block values. Reconstructed image is obtained by dividing each pixel by number of addition operations performed at each pixel. 5) For fusing common component and fused innovative component, the fuse rule of weighted average scheme proposed by Burt et al. [2] is adopted. IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS In order to test the performance of the proposed joint fusion algorithm, we compared the quantitative and qualitative results with two state the of art methods. Qualitative measurement is done through visual inspection that considers sharpness and noise suppression. Since the proposed joint fusion uses both PCA and sparse domain, we use PCA, Sparse OMP fusion methods for comparison. For the evaluation, we adopted proposed joint strategy for Multi resolution, Multi focus and Multimode images and compared the results with existing algorithms. Our experiment is carried out with the assumption that the source images are registered already. Fig. 2, shows results of fusion for the case of multi focus images. Based on visual inspection, The Joint PCA Sparse algorithm performs the best since the resultant image contain more geometric structures while sparse fusion comes the second. Result of proposed method seems to contain sharp edges. Fig.3, illustrates results of fusion of mutli dosage image results based on three different fusion algorithms. Low dose image seems to suffer from patchiness. As it can be observed, visually, Joint Sparse result shows the details clearly than the Low dose image. Visually, joint fusion resultant seems to be better than other 2 methods. Increasing the dosage might reduce the noise but harm patients. Low dose images are prone to noise. Fusing low dose and medium dose image should suppress the noise and enhance the informative details for precise diagnosis. Fig.4, illustrates the results of applying two multi modal medical images to three image fusion algorithms. The medical images are MRI and CT image of same scene which have been registered already. CT image provides the information on bone structures and MRI image contains tissue information. Medical image fusion needs great accuracy as it’s used for diagnosis. Hence, multimodal image fusion would give sufficient details necessary for diagnosis. Based on the visual inspection, the Joint Sparse results contain more detail information. Results of PCA seem to have high spatial resolution but they are disappointing in terms of detailed information. Bone details are not visible in PCA resultant image. Sparse result is better but some artifacts are easily observed Reconstructing fused image through joint fusion algorithms seems to be more precise comparatively. In order to analyze the quality of the algorithms quantitatively, we consider 5 metrics: Mutual Information (MI), PSNR, Correlation, Entropy and Structural Similarity (SSIM) index. Mutual Information shows how much information has been transferred from source images to the resultant images. Entropy shows the amount of important details available in the image. PSNR is Peak Signal to Noise Ration which is used to measure the reconstruction quality of fused image. PSNR of the fused image If is calculated using the standard formula: (4) Where M is the maximum possible pixel value of the image and MSE is the Mean Square error. The SSIM [8] provides structural information of objects and measures the similarity between the two images. Experiment results are shown in Table.1. Tabulated result demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm over existing methods in terms of Qualitative and Quantitative methodologies. We can observe that the results of multimodal image fusion and multi focus image fusion utilizing our proposed fusion strategy outperforms PCA and Sparse fusion. The PCA by itself performs poorer results for all cases. Table 1 Performance Of Fusion Methods By The Quality Evaluation Metrics Image Type Fusion Stratergy PSNR(db) Mutual Information Entropy Correlation SSIM Multi focus Joint PCA Sparse 34.1742 2.1733 7.3656 0.9990 1.000 PCA 31.6321 2.0177 7.2607 0.9981 0.9999 OMP fusion 32.3392 2.0606 7.3654 0.9981 1.000 Multi dose Joint PCA Sparse 25.2115 0.7887 4.8643 0.9997 1 PCA 22.6994 0.7638 4.7905 0.9991 0.9997 OMP fusion 24.4680 0.7794 4.7937 0.9995 0.9998 Multimodal(MRICT) Joint PCA Sparse 26.4111 0.9634 6.7409 0.9403 .9977 PCA 20.8380 0.8096 6.5502 0.8690 .9919 OMP fusion 24.8056 0.9940 6.7376 0.8985 .9975 V. CONCLUSION Medical Image fusion plays an important role in clinical diagnosis. In this paper, a joint fusion modal is proposed based on sparse representation theory and PCA for multimodal and multi dose medical images. Visually and quantitatively, the experimental results show that the proposed method has effectively expressed the geometric structures and edges and has proved to perform better than PCA and OMP fusion. This modal can also be extended to fuse multiple source images from multi resolution, multiple spectral frequencies and multiple modalities. REFERENCES [1] S.G. Nikolov., P.R. Hill., D.R. Bull., C.N. Canagarajah.Wavelets for image fusion, A. Petrosian, F. Meyer (Eds.), Wavelets in Signal and Image Analysis, Computational Imaging and Vision Series, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands (2001). pp. 213–244. [2]P. Burt, R. Kolczynski, Enhanced image capture through fusion, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Vision, 1993, pp. 173-182. [3] L. Rebolloà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Neira and D. Lowe, Optimized orthogonal matching pursuit approach, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, pp.137–140, 2002. [4] D. Donoho and Y. Tsaig, Sparse solutions of underdetermined linear equations by stagewise orthogonal matching pursuit, Stanford University, Tech. report 2006. [5] M. R.Metwalli, A. H. Nasr, O. S. Farag Allah, and S. El-Rabaie†Image fusion based on Principal Component Analysis and High-pass Filter†, Proceedings of the IEEE/ ICCES 2009 international Conference, DEC. 14-16, 2009, pp. 63-70. [6] H. Yin, S. Li,†Multimodal image fusion with joint sparsity model†, Opt Eng., 50(6), (2011). [7] Z. Sadeghipour, M. Babaie-Zadeh, and C. Jutten, An adaptive thresholding approach for image denoising using redundant representations, IEEE international workshop on Machine Learning for Signal Processing, 2009, pp. 1-6. [8] Zhou Wang, Alan C. Bovik, Hamid R. Sheikh and Eero P. Simoncelli, â€Å"Image Quality Assessment: From Error Visibility to Structural Similarity†, IEEE transactions on Image Processing, vol. 13, no. 4, April 2004.

Case for Investment: Space in USA

Case for Investment: Space in USA Sun Yudong Ever since the dawn of man, mankind has been gazing at the sky in wonder. Space, has always been a mysterious place, a place where the frontier of science and innovation are put to the test, a place where 99% of what we have yet to discover exists. In the present era, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (better known as NASA) and the NSF[1] are the forefronts of space exploration and scientific research in the USA and they have no doubt played a key role in many of Man’s greatest achievements. NASA could even take credit for mundane items such as quartz timing crystals and bar-code scanners. The Sad Situation Space is a difficult, dangerous but exciting $300 billion industry worldwide. However, despite space being the final frontier, with many against space exploration, NASA has only received 0.48% of the US Federal budget, only half a cent for every tax dollar. NASA is getting a pathetic amount of funding. In 2008, $700 billion[2] was spent by the US government to revive the economy, which was way more than the 50-year running budget of NASA. In 2013, US spent more than $3.45 trillion, with more than $600 billion going to defence, but with only $17.7 billion going to NASA, a tiny portion of worldwide spending on space. The allocation of funds is warped and there is just simply not enough funding going towards space exploration and scientific innovation, the seedling of hope, the future of the US economy. Over the past four decades, instead of NASA, we could have had at least six additional MIT’s. Consider all of the research that our single MIT has produced during that period, all of the students taught and leadership provided. For all the gains that NASA has made, its opportunity costs are far greater. Keith Yost, The Tech (MIT) Staff Columnist argument against NASA funding What is even more infuriating is that, even though the budget for NASA has been decreasing, the money saved were not put to good use. For example, US plans on spending more than $200 billion in the next decade to maintain nuclear weapons when they are almost useless. The one thing I convinced myself of after all these years of exposure to the use of nuclear weapons is that they were useless. They could not be used. Colin Powell, Former Secretary of State Figure 2 NASA Budget over the years. Retrieved August 31, 2014, from: http://www.penny4nasa.org/ However, NASA did get a substantial amount of funding and this increased steadily in its infancy and peaked in 1966 at slightly more than 4.4% of the Federal Budget, before plummeting to the current meagre 0.48%. Because of this, the campaign â€Å"penny4nasa† was launched in 2012 to fight for an increase in the budget for NASA, through advocating the economic, scientific and cultural value of NASA. With this as a trigger, the paper will look at the different factors that led to the establishment of NASA, the decline in the budget, and ultimately explore why we should invest in space, and space exploration. Why NASA was set up The roots of NASA could be traced back to October 4, 1957. On that day, the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched. This surprise success of the Soviets in the midst of the Cold War horrified the US and triggered the Sputnik Crisis that became part of the bigger Space Race. US was afraid, afraid that the Soviets would become more technologically advanced, that the Soviets would fire a missile at US, that US will lose its place on the global arena. Out of the fear factor of Sputnik, many policies were put in place. The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was passed by congress to increase educational standards to allow more people to become scientists and engineers. And on July 29 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Act was signed, establishing NASA. It took over the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and currently is the United States government agency that is responsible for civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. With motivation from Sputnik 1, and large funding, many space programs were quickly developed and put into action. The Decline in Budget Throughout the Apollo Missions that ultimately aim to go to the Moon, NASA was very well funded, and all developments were extremely rapid. US was still in fierce competition with the Soviets. In 1969, the historic Apollo 11 mission put the first man on the Moon, and puts US in the lead ahead of the Soviets significantly. However, when US realised that the Soviets were not ready to go to the moon, the rate of progress in Space Exploration slowed. This was because, with the Soviets unable to catch up with US technological abilities and the Cold War becoming increasingly less intense, people were no longer as fearful of the Soviets as before, nobody was really interested in the STEM[3] fields anymore and those congressmen without NASA facilities in their state felt absolutely no reason why NASA should get so much funding as an increasing proportion of people want more welfare instead. As discussions went on the Congress, NASA naturally got increasingly less budget, resulting in the current situation. After all, congressmen work for the people, or they will lose their position in the next elections. However, I believe that they have failed to realise and consider the significance of NASA and space exploration on the culture and economics of the society. Significance of NASA and Space Exploration Social and Cultural Space is not a special interest, unlike what many people may think. Space exploration inspired a whole generation to dream about tomorrow, a tomorrow made possible by scientific innovations, in a time of turmoil. It provided a different kind of hope, a hope that our lives will change for the better. The homes of tomorrow, the transportation of tomorrow, all these ingrained in the many issues of magazines. Space frontiers, engineering frontiers were being breached almost weekly. Space influenced our culture, our zeitgeist. It galvanized the whole nation to want to work towards Tomorrow, influencing our creative minds, our culture. For example, almost every science fiction cartoon made in and after the 1960s had rockets with fins, fins of the V2 Rocket used in NASA missions. (Figure 3[4]) We saw space influences everywhere, even in Hollywood. Space exploration also inspired a whole generation of Scientists and Engineers as Innovation made the headlines. No special programmes were needed to attract them. There is a cultural presence of these activities. From 1968 to 1972, there has been a sharp significant increase in the number of students pursuing education and career in these fields. (Figure 4[5]) With the Space program, heroes were made. Space exploration is a force acting on the education pipeline and inspired a whole generation to join the scientific community. Space exploration also had a direct impact on the cultural asset of the human race. When we looked back from the moon, we rediscovered Earth with a whole new perspective, without borders, without conflicts. We saw earth as nature intended it, we saw earth as a whole. It is possible to see that Earthrise (Figure 5[6]) marked the tipping point, the moment when the sense of the space age flipped from what it meant for space to what it means for Earth Robert Poole, Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth It inspired us to take time off amidst the war to start thinking about Earth and nature. This is what sparked off a series of events: Figure 6 Timeline of Space Missions with happening events All these would not have happened so quickly without space exploration, without us looking back at earth to realise that earth is a home that is worth protecting. Economic Beyond culture, space exploration has also brought about economic benefits. Satellites, GPS, intercontinental communication, the Internet. All of these has been directly or indirectly influenced by space exploration, and has had a huge impact on our lives as man. By breaching space and engineering frontiers, there were innovations, spin-offs. Space exploration and engineering drives innovation, the fuel for our capitalist economies. In fact, the satellites that we use to transmit TV signals, to transmit Internet packets, to communicate globally, could only have been brought about by government-initiated space exploration. This is because space is expensive and has incalculable risks, and it is a venture only a government could have successfully led. In fact, innovation drives the economy so much so that one of the main messages of Robert Solow’s[7] work has been that a large proportion of the economy is driven by technological advancement. Conclusion As goes the health of space faring ambition, so too goes the emotional, spiritual intellectual, creative, economic ambitions of a nation Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2012 In conclusion, space exploration is not a special interest group, and its significance is far and outreaching. With NASA being the frontier of space exploration, more funding should to be given to the agency, not as a handout, but as an investment that is able to penetrate our culture and transcend generations to reach greater heights. References Belleflamme, P. (2012, September 25). How to make innovation drive economic growth? Retrieved September 6, 2014, from http://www.ipdigit.eu/2012/09/how-to-make-innovation-drive-economic-growth/ Bilstein, R. E. (1996). From NACA to NASA. In NASA SP-4206, Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles (pp. 32–33). NASA. Retrieved from http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch2.htm#32 Burrows, W. E. (1998). This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age. New York: Random House. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.ca/This-New-Ocean-Story-First/dp/0679445218/ref=sr_1_1?s=booksie=UTF8qid=1280690435sr=1-1#reader_0679445218 Demographic Trends: Undergraduate and Graduate Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1985/8507/850705.PDF Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson: Launch Keynote: 28th National Space Symposium. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLzKjxglNyEfeature=youtube_gdata_player Hunt, T. C. (2013, December 16). National Defense Education Act (NDEA). In Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. Retrieved from http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/404717/National-Defense-Education-Act-NDEA Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Nuclear Weapons (HBO). (2014). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y1ya-yF35gfeature=youtube_gdata_player NASA. (2005). The National Aeronautics and Space Act. Retrieved September 3, 2014, from http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ogc/about/space_act1.html National Science Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2014, from http://www.allgov.com/departments/independent-agencies/national-science-foundation?agencyid=7341 Neil deGrasse Tyson We Stopped Dreaming (Episode 1). (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIZU8cQWXcfeature=youtube_gdata_player Office of Management and Budget. (n.d.-a). Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2013. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 2010. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/budget.pdf Office of Management and Budget. (n.d.-b). Retrieved September 4, 2014, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb OMB-President Obama’s 2013 Budget-Summary Table. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/tables.pdf Penny4NASA | Penny4NASA is a nonprofit striving to increase NASA’s funding to 1% by encouraging popular support for NASA through education and outreach. (n.d.). Retrieved September 8, 2014, from http://www.penny4nasa.org/ Photo 17 of 58, Apollo 11. (2009, June 4). Retrieved September 3, 2014, from http://imageevent.com/afap/spaceandscience/apollo11;jsessionid=hmk1oipnb3.camel_s?p=16c=4n=1m=-1w=2s=0z=1y=2 Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). President John F. Kennedy Gives Man on the Moon Speech. Retrieved September 19, 2014, from http://history1900s.about.com/od/1960s/a/jfkmoon.htm Space Race. (2014, September 17). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Space_Raceoldid=625983337 Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs. (1961). Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/xzw1gaeeTES6khED14P1Iw.aspx Sputnik crisis. (2014, September 14). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sputnik_crisisoldid=622755710 Temple-Raston, D. (2008, October 3). Bush Signs $700 Billion Financial Bailout Bill. National Public Radio. Retrieved from http://www-cdn.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95336601 V-2 rocket. (2014, September 19). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=V-2_rocketoldid=626151508 We Stopped Dreaming (Episode 2) A New Perspective. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFO2usVjfQcfeature=youtube_gdata_player Wilford, J. N. (2009, July 14). On Hand for Space History, as Superpowers Spar. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/science/space/14mission.html Yost, K. (2010, April 9). Should we cut NASA funding? The Tech, p. 6. 1 [1] The National Science Foundation (NSF) is a United States government agency set up to support fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. The National Institutes of Health is the medical counterpart of NSP. [2] Amount of money spent on Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, to bailout the U.S. financial system [3] Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics [4] (Clockwise) MundodelPene, Start einer V2 [Photograph] (1943), Retrieved September 3, 2014, from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_141-1880,_Peenemà ¼nde,_Start_einer_V2.jpg, [Rocket Cartoon Image], Retrieved September 3, 2014, from: http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-aiqenRx6T, 1956 GM Firebird II [Photograph] (n.d.), Retrieved September 3, 2014, from: http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2010/06/top-ten-concept-cars-of-the-fifties/ [5] Doctorate Degrees in Science and Engineering by Field and by Year, 1958-83. Retrieved September 15, 2014, from https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1985/8507/850705.PDF [6] Figure 5 NASA / Bill Anders (1968) Earthrise over the moon [Photograph], Retrieved September 03, 2014, from: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a410/AS8-14-2383HR.jpg [7] Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics in 1987

Themes in Ancient Textsâ€Applicable from Past to Present Essay

The ancient texts studied in any western civilization course obviously have relevance to today’s society either through the values they themselves possess or the works that they inspired; however, not all of the values presented in these works are still relevant in the modern world. The Tanakh, Sophocles’ Antigone, and Plato’s Apology are not exceptions to this rule. Each of these works has central ideas that are incredibly applicable to our modern culture and ideas that are less than appropriate in the twenty-first century. Across cultures and religions, perhaps one of the most recognizable passages from the Tanakh is the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-14). Here, God gives Moses ten laws, which are to govern the Israelites. While this passage may seem relevant because many people, especially those of the Jewish and Christian faiths, still observe these laws, it is relevant to today’s society for an entirely different reason. These Ten Commandments are one of the first sets of written laws and today, countries all over the world still have sets of written laws to govern themselves. More guidelines and laws are presented in Exodus 20:22-23:33 that cover topics that range from slavery to the murder of other people and all of these laws together were â€Å"a remarkably humane and ‘egalitarian’ body of social legislation† (Trulove 34). For any society to function properly, whether past or present, it is crucial that there is some set of universal guidelines guiding the people and organizations that the aforementioned society consists of. Another characteristic element of many of the books of the Tanakh is the long lists of family lineages. For example, the entirety of the fifth chapter of Genesis, 32 verses in all, is a â€Å"record ... ...me† (34). Additionally, Socrates comments on the corruption that stems those who use emotional tactics or appeals related to their family to try and escape harsh punishments for criminal charges (36-37). Obviously, with fraudulent charges and defenses riddled with emotional appeals, the judicial system in Athens during Socrates’ time was less than ideal. In America, the legal system obviously is more regulated than this; however, keeping past corrupt judicial systems in mind can help keep that negative aspect of Athenian life out of our own lives. As demonstrated, many of the early works of western civilization are still applicable in today’s society. Although some of the ideas in these ancient texts have had relevance throughout time and are still applicable today while others have no place in current times, there is much to learn from the works of the past.

What Life Is :: essays research papers

Life is very funny. Many people think of it as a game that must be played to the end or some may think of it as a journey in search of something. I’m one of those that think of it as†¦. neither. I think of it as a gift. This gift that God has bestowed upon us. This gift in which WE have total control. We control where we go, what we do, whom we talk to, and what we feel. The one flaw in this gift is that others and ourselves can turn this gift, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦into a punishment. God gave us this gift for a reason. A reason which some of us must all find out ourselves. Is it to gain something, to feel something, or to just live? We all NEED something. Buddhists believe in reaching a stage in our lives called nirvana, the state at which a soul desires nothing. To me, it is impossible to not want ONE thing, throughout your life. Things that we want do not have to be material objects such as money, clothing, or anything like that. Certain souls want or need one thing. When souls never receive this ONE thing, they are destroyed and go throughout their lives feeling punished and lifeless. Why would God give us this gift if he knew that we would get this feeling? So that we could feel so punished? I myself don’t know the answer to this mystery. I know one thing though. I know that everyone NEEDS this one thing to have a complete life. This one thing is love. Love, an emotion that cannot be defined by any dictionary or human being. Few even know what this emotion means or how it feels. This emotion has its many weaknesses. I often wish God didn’t make it so. Sometimes those who give out love often don’t receive that love back, which makes one feel, well, distraught. Especially if that one soul NEEDS that love back from another. It may be a family member, a friend, or a soul, which you feel, spiritually connected to. Everyone needs love. Without it, there is no point in life. What will your ultimate goal in life be? To gain riches? To become powerful? No, God didn’t put us here for that. When we die riches and power wont matter. I think God must have felt something, somehow, somewhere, and felt like sharing it with us.

Zoe’s Tale PART I Chapter Ten

There were two messages on my PDA after dinner that evening. The first was from Gretchen. â€Å"That Magdy character tracked me down and asked me out on a date,† it read. â€Å"I guess he likes girls who mock the crap out of him. I told him okay. Because he is kind of cute. Don't wait up.† This made me smile. The second was from Enzo, who had somehow managed to get my PDA's address; I suspect Gretchen might have had something to do with that. It was titled â€Å"A Poem to the Girl I Just Met, Specifically a Haiku, the Title of Which Is Now Substantially Longer Than the Poem Itself, Oh, the Irony,† and it read: Her name is Zoe Smile like a summer breeze Please don't have me cubed. I laughed out loud at that one. Babar looked up at me and thumped his tail hopefully; I think he was thinking all this happiness would result in more food for him. I gave him a slice of leftover bacon. So I guess he was right about that. Smart dog, Babar. After the Magellan departed from Phoenix Station, the colony leaders found out about the near-rumble in the common area, because I told them about it over dinner. John and Jane sort of looked at each other significantly and then changed the subject to something else. I guessed the problem of integrating ten completely different sets of people with ten completely different cultures had already come up in their discussions, and now they were getting the underage version of it as well. I figured that they would find a way to deal with it, but I really wasn't prepared for their solution. â€Å"Dodgeball,† I said to Dad, over breakfast. â€Å"You're going to have all us kids play dodgeball.† â€Å"Not all of you,† Dad said. â€Å"Just the ones of you who would otherwise be picking stupid and pointless fights out of boredom.† He was nibbling on some coffee cake; Babar was standing by on crumb patrol. Jane and Savitri were out taking care of business; they were the brains of this particular setup. â€Å"You don't like dodgeball?† he asked. â€Å"I like it just fine,† I said. â€Å"I'm just not sure why you think it's an answer to this problem.† Dad set down his coffee cake, brushed off his hands, and started ticking off points with his fingers. â€Å"One, we have the equipment and it fits the space. We can't very well play football or cricket on the Magellan. Two, it's a team sport, so we can get big groups of kids involved. Three, it's not complicated, so we don't have to spend much time laying out the ground rules to everyone. Four, it's athletic and will give you guys a way to burn off some of your energy. Five, it's just violent enough to appeal to those idiot boys you were talking about yesterday, but not so violent that someone's actually going to get hurt.† â€Å"Any more points?† I asked. â€Å"No,† Dad said. â€Å"I've run out of fingers.† He picked up his coffee cake again. â€Å"It's just going to be that the boys are going to make teams with their friends,† I said. â€Å"So you'll still have the problem of kids from one world staying with their own.† â€Å"I would agree with this, if not for the fact that I'm not a complete idiot,† Dad said, â€Å"and neither is Jane. We have a plan for this.† The plan: Everyone who signed up to play was assigned to a team, rather than allowed to pick their own team. And I don't think the teams were entirely randomly assigned; when Gretchen and I looked over the team lists, Gretchen noted that almost none of the teams had more than one player from the same world; even Enzo and Magdy were put on different teams. The only kids who were on the same â€Å"team† were the Kyotoans; as Colonial Mennonites they avoided playing in competitive sports, so they asked to be the referees instead. Gretchen and I didn't sign up for any teams; we appointed ourselves league managers and no one called us on it; apparently word of the intense mockery we laid on a wild pack of teenage boys had gotten around and we were feared and awed equally. â€Å"That makes me feel pretty,† Gretchen said, once such a thing was told to her by one of her friends from Erie. We were watching the first game of the series, with the Leopards playing against the Mighty Red Balls, presumably named after the game equipment. I don't think I approved of the team name, myself. â€Å"Speaking of which, how was your date last night?† I asked. â€Å"It was a little grabby,† Gretchen said. â€Å"You want me to have Hickory and Dickory talk to him?† I asked. â€Å"No, it was manageable,† Gretchen said. â€Å"And besides which, your alien friends creep me out. No offense.† â€Å"None taken,† I said. â€Å"They really are nice.† â€Å"They're your bodyguards,† Gretchen said. â€Å"They're not supposed to be nice. They're supposed to scare the pee out of people. And they do. I'm just glad they don't follow you around all the time. No one would ever come talk to us.† In fact, I hadn't seen either Hickory or Dickory since the day before and our conversation about touring the Obin planets. I wondered if I had managed to hurt their feelings. I was going to have to check in on them to see how they were. â€Å"Hey, your boyfriend just picked off one of the Leopards,† Gretchen said. She pointed at Enzo, who was playing in the game. â€Å"He's not my boyfriend, any more than Magdy is yours,† I said. â€Å"Is he as grabby as Magdy is?† Gretchen asked. â€Å"What a question,† I said. â€Å"How dare you ask. I'm madly offended.† â€Å"That's a yes, then,† Gretchen said. â€Å"No, it's not,† I said. â€Å"He's been perfectly nice. He even sent me a poem.† â€Å"He did not,† Gretchen said. I showed it to her on my PDA. She handed it back. â€Å"You get the poetry writer. I get the grabber. It's really not fair. You want to trade?† â€Å"Not a chance,† I said. â€Å"But he not's my boyfriend.† Gretchen nodded out to Enzo. â€Å"Have you asked him about that?† I looked over to Enzo, who sure enough was sneaking looks my way while moving around the dodgeball field. He saw I was looking his way, smiled over at me and nodded, and as he was doing that he got nailed righteously hard in the ear by the dodgeball and went down with a thump. I burst out laughing. â€Å"Oh, nice,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Laughing at your boyfriend's pain.† â€Å"I know! I'm so bad!† I said, and just about toppled over. â€Å"You don't deserve him,† Gretchen said, sourly. â€Å"You don't deserve his poem. Give them both to me.† â€Å"Not a chance,† I said, and then looked up and saw Enzo there in front of me. I reflexively put my hand over my mouth. â€Å"Too late,† he said. Which of course made me laugh even more. â€Å"She's mocking your pain,† Gretchen said, to Enzo. â€Å"Mocking it, you hear me.† â€Å"Oh, God, I'm so sorry,† I said, between laughs, and before I thought about what I was doing gave Enzo a hug. â€Å"She's trying to distract you from her evil,† Gretchen warned. â€Å"It's working,† Enzo said. â€Å"Oh, fine,† Gretchen said. â€Å"See if I warn you about her evil ways after this.† She very dramatically focused back on the game, only occasionally glancing over and grinning at me. I unhugged from Enzo. â€Å"I'm not actually evil,† I said. â€Å"No, just amused at the pain of others,† Enzo said. â€Å"You walked off the court,† I said. â€Å"It can't have hurt that much.† â€Å"There's pain you can't see,† Enzo said. â€Å"Existential pain.† â€Å"Oh, boy,† I said. â€Å"If you're having existential pain from dodgeball, you're really just doing it wrong.† â€Å"I don't think you appreciate the philosophical subtleties of the sport,† Enzo said. I started giggling again. â€Å"Stop it,† Enzo said mildly. â€Å"I'm being serious here.† â€Å"I so hope you're not,† I said, and giggled some more. â€Å"You want to get lunch?† â€Å"Love to,† Enzo said. â€Å"Just give me a minute to extract this dodgeball from my Eustachian tube.† It was the first time I had ever heard anyone use the phrase â€Å"Eustachian tube† in common conversation. I think I may have fallen a little bit in love with him right there. â€Å"I haven't seen the two of you around much today,† I said to Hickory and Dickory, in their quarters. â€Å"We are aware that we make many of your fellow colonists uncomfortable,† Hickory said. It and Dickory sat on stools that were designed to accommodate their body shape; otherwise their quarters were bare. The Obin may have gained consciousness and even recently tried their hand at storytelling, but the mysteries of interior decoration still clearly eluded them. â€Å"It was decided it would be best for us to stay out of the way.† â€Å"Decided by whom?† I asked. â€Å"By Major Perry,† Hickory said, and then, before I could open my mouth, â€Å"and we agree.† â€Å"You two are going to be living with us,† I said. â€Å"With all of us. People need to get used to you.† â€Å"We agree, and they will have time,† Hickory said. â€Å"But for now we think it's better to give your people time to get used to each other.† I opened my mouth to respond, but then Hickory said, â€Å"Do you not benefit from our absence at the moment?† I remembered Gretchen's comment earlier in the day about how the other teens would never come up to us if Hickory and Dickory were always hanging around, and felt a little bit ashamed. â€Å"I don't want you to think I don't want you around,† I said. â€Å"We do not believe that,† Hickory said. â€Å"Please do not think that. When we are on Roanoke we will resume our roles. People will be more accepting of us because they will have had time to know you.† â€Å"I still don't want you to think you have to stay in here because of me,† I said. â€Å"It would drive me crazy to be cooped up in here for a week.† â€Å"It is not difficult for us,† Hickory said. â€Å"We disconnect our consciousnesses until we need them again. Time flies by that way.† â€Å"That was very close to a joke,† I said. â€Å"If you say so,† Hickory said. I smiled. â€Å"Still, if that's the only reason you stay in here – â€Å" â€Å"I did not say it was the only reason,† Hickory said, interrupting me, which it almost never did. â€Å"We are also spending this time preparing.† â€Å"For life on Roanoke?† I asked. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"And how we will be of best service to you when we are there.† â€Å"I think by just doing what you do,† I said. â€Å"Possibly,† Hickory said. â€Å"We think you might be underestimating how much different Roanoke will be from your life before, and what our responsibilities will be to you.† â€Å"I know it's going to be different,† I said. â€Å"I know it's going to be harder in a lot of ways.† â€Å"We are glad to hear that,† Hickory said. â€Å"It will be.† â€Å"Enough so that you're spending all this time planning?† I asked. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. I waited a second to hear if anything else was coming after that, but there wasn't. â€Å"Is there anything you want me to do?† I asked Hickory. â€Å"To help you?† Hickory took a second to respond. I watched it to see what I could sense from it; after this many years, I was pretty good at reading its moods. Nothing seemed unusual or out of place. It was just Hickory. â€Å"No,† Hickory said, finally. â€Å"We would have you do what you are doing. Meeting new people. Becoming friends with them. Enjoying your time now. When we arrive at Roanoke we do not expect you will have as much time for enjoyment.† â€Å"But you're missing out on all my fun,† I said. â€Å"You're usually there to record it.† â€Å"This one time you can get along without us,† Hickory said. Another near joke. I smiled again and gave them both a hug just as my PDA vibrated to life. It was Gretchen. â€Å"Your boyfriend really sucks at dodgeball,† she said. â€Å"He just took a hit square on his nose. He says to tell you the pain isn't nearly as enjoyable if you're not around to laugh at it. So come on down and ease the poor boy's pain. Or add to it. Either works.†