Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Managing technological change Free Essays

Overseeing innovative change adequately in associations, and even across whole ventures, has consistently been a test for the executives, IT experts, and business improvement authorities. Innovative change inside organizations and ventures isn't fundamentally an innovation issue nor is it a zone of intrigued constrained to IT directors and masters alone. Innovative change ought to be an essential worry for business administrators. We will compose a custom exposition test on Overseeing mechanical change or on the other hand any comparable subject just for you Request Now The new ages of IT progressions can be applied to help propelled data the board which in turns can empower business change inside an association. Overseeing computerization centered tasks has become an obsolete methodology. Without a framework on overseeing innovative change adequately, the final products for associations in applying new advancements as a rule bring about surprisingly high disappointment rates (BusinessWeek Online, 2006). An answer for business and IT administrators is to utilize the Benefits Realization strategy. All associations really have a Benefits Realization process whether they know about it or not. For most organizations, it is in all probability not a conventional procedure, and in that capacity, the association doesn't just think about it, however it additionally doesn't get it. At the point when an association doesn't know about the Benefits Realization set up, at that point it will in general be a detached procedure, not an oversaw one. What occurs obviously is that the procedure doesn't work quite well. In any case, when the Benefits Realization process is planned and designed efficiently, it can really prompt a gigantic improvement in the organization’s execution (BusinessWeek Online, 2006). When all is said in done, the Benefits Realization technique accommodates another reason for utilizing IT to convey business results all the more reliably, typically, and viably. The methodology utilizes two interconnected components: mentalities on IT and on the executives techniques. Taken these two fields together, Benefits Realization looks to concentrate on coordinating innovation into an organization’s business framework. It places that the utilization of only it, paying little heed to how in fact amazing, can't convey viable and effective business results without considering and consolidating IT with business strategies (BusinessWeek Online, 2006). At the end of the day, for a compelling Benefits Realization process, the association must try to join IT and the executives capacities, and accommodate a framework that screens the whole procedure all the way. F. Examination Issue The perfect Benefits Realization configuration should begin from the dispatch of the task, go past convey, and really measure the achievement and procedure improvement of the new structure, procedure, programming, or whatever innovation was acquainted with the association. The issue is that not all organizations have frameworks set up to truly quantify process improvement for Benefits Realization after finish of the undertaking. This may happen when the association doesn't know that it has a Benefits Realization process set up in the first place, or when the organization’s Benefits Realization configuration essentially doesn't have the apparatuses to gauge the final products of the procedure. G. Targets of the Study The examination study has the accompanying destinations: ? To recognize the reasons why the presentation of innovation in benefits acknowledgment has regularly neglected to achieve genuine change and advantages to the organization. ? To talk about how disappointment of most advantages acknowledgment programs are because of the absence of estimation devices in deciding the advantages from its speculations. ? To give suggestions and arrangements on the most proficient method to set up powerful advantages acknowledgment inside an association. H. Meaning of Terms The accompanying key terms, which will be utilized repetitively all through the examination, are characterized as follows: ? Advantages acknowledgment †the control of guaranteeing that business activities convey anticipated advantages (Aron, Tucker Hunter, 2005). It is â€Å"an coordinated arrangement of procedures, methods, instruments, documentation norms and administration system that stick be utilized to get the most incentive from innovation investments† (Federal Aviation Administration, 1999, p. 1-2). ? Business advantage †a genuine wellspring of significant worth to the business, for example, expanded incomes, improved client maintenance, lower costs, or snappier opportunity to-advertise (Aron, Tucker Hunter, 2005). ? IT-serious venture/activity †a business venture with a noteworthy IT part. It is progressively normal to consider all ventures business ventures. Tasks including huge IT exercises or potentially costs speak to an open door for the Chief Operating Officer (CIO) and Information System (IS) association to contribute unequivocally to benefits acknowledgment (Aron, Tucker Hunter, 2005). I. Criticalness of the Study The examination is noteworthy since it will break down the reasons why benefits acknowledgment programs flop in organizations. It will talk about the qualities and shortcomings of advantages acknowledgment approaches utilized by organizations. The proposals that the examination will give can fill in as valuable instruments for association in setting up successful advantages acknowledgment programs. The most effective method to refer to Managing mechanical change, Papers

Saturday, August 22, 2020

The Salem Witch Trials - How Did it Lead to a Less Religious Society Research Paper

The Salem Witch Trials - How Did it Lead to a Less Religious Society - Research Paper Example During the time of 1692, the Massachusetts Bay state was considered as a segregated yet rising puritan network in the wild of North America. The populace in the territory was fundamentally dispersed. Individuals restraining the secluded networks of the Salem town, were effectively undermined because of the wild creatures present there, and furthermore the continuous assaults by the Native Americans. The most fundamental and fascinating situation of the Salem people group was the profound convictions and parts of the individuals from the network. The powerless idea of the puritans restraining in the Salem town was profoundly because of their strict convictions, techniques, and practices. The essentials of the puritans worried on the way that everything was in the hand of the god-like (Wilson, 7). It is god who decides the favorable luck and prosperous soundness of a person. Salvation was a blessing from god. The puritan’s practice of love included love administrations, dedicati on, supplication, and self assessment to accomplish the endowments of the god-like. The puritans likewise adequately had faith in the way that god allowed Satan to cause enticement and torment the ones who veered off from the way of nobility and acted indecently or those whose confidence the all-powerful needed to test (Wilson, 7). It was accepted that the individuals who neglected to follow the way of exemplary nature was exposed to incident, disorder, and suffered with a noticeable time of distress. It is likewise to be informed that the puritans had the conviction that a Satan may likewise enter a person’s life as a witch. This was a lot of noticeable in the time of Salem’s witch preliminary, which was additionally a noteworthy reason for the advancement of the American common society (Wilson, 7-8) The postulation recognizes the reality, â€Å"Salem Witch Trials was a critical factor of the development of American common society. Partition of Church and State, and a breakdown of the severe puritan codes prompted a less strict society, improving the equity framework which later took into consideration reasonable trials.† It is basically risky to really find out the reality about what had happened in Salem during the time of 1962, yet a lion's share of antiquarian and insightful sources recommend that the Salem’s witch preliminary started because of a specific episode. A gathering young ladies from the Salem town was determined to have capricious fits, trailed by crazy responses, giggling and crying which was not deliberately incited, unintelligible prattling, endeavors to fly, and furthermore now and again a sleep inducing daze. What went before these episodes of odd fits were probably a mystery charming meeting with a lady named Tituba, a treatment of the Indian cause from the Caribbean What went before these unusual fits evidently were mystery captivating, during which the lady Tituba, joined by a few young ladies from the town rehearsed society enchantment so as to anticipate the nature and character of their better half before they are hitched. At the point when the young ladies were analyzed by the neighborhood specialist, no powerful physical reason was found for such strange conduct. Because of the mentality and convictions of that time, it was finished up as no consistent clarification could be closed, at that point there must be an upsetting impact of the Satan. Because of the way that two of them were from the place of a neighborhood serve, reverend Parris, he therefore called the clergymen from

Monday, August 17, 2020

50 Must-Read Books about Modern Englishness

50 Must-Read Books about Modern Englishness Hari Kunzru writes in The Impressionist, “there is something marvellous about English people. Their lives are structured like pieces of engineering, railway engines or steamers unpacked and bolted together at the heads of new rivers. Each one is rigid and assured, built according to blueprints of class and membership that are almost noble in their invariance, their stern inflexibility. Noble, at least, in the manner that a suspension bridge or a viaduct is noble. English lives, conquering and functional. Industrial lives.” This is the impression of an Indian character reflecting on the way that an unwavering kind of Englishness has been exported to, and imposed upon, much of the rest of the world. It doesn’t reflect every type of Englishness, of course. But taken as a whole, the following books do suggest the breadth of quintessentially English characteristics. Some of these books dip into other parts of the UK, but they’re primarily set in what Julian Barnes’s  England, England calls Anglia. All set following the Second World War, they reflect the sensibilities of a nation less naïve about the horrors of war and colonialism. They’re also introspective about England’s place in the world, its relationship with the rest of the British Isles, and the deep inequalities within. This doesn’t mean it’s all seriousness and gloom, however. There’s a recognition here that England punches above its weight in some critical waysâ€"music, academia, footballâ€"that ensure the continuing global relevance of what Bill Bryson recognizes is, after all, a small island. Modern Englishness is complex, of course. Here are some entertaining books that help to make sense of that complexity.   Nonfiction Watching the English by Kate Fox “Anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people.” In Search of the English Eccentric by Henry Hemming “The English eccentric is under threat. In our increasingly homogenised society, these celebrated parts of our national identity are anomalies that may soon no longer fit. Or so it seems. On his entertaining and thought-provoking quest to discover the most eccentric English person alive today, Henry Hemming unearths a surprisingly large array of delightfully odd characters.” Letters from London by Julian Barnes “With brilliant wit, idiosyncratic intelligence, and a bold grasp of intricate political realities, the celebrated author of Flauberts Parrot turns his satiric glance homeward to England, in a sparkling collection of essays that illustrates the infinite variety of contemporary London life.” Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby “A famous account of growing up to be a fanatical football supporter.” Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters “Stuart Shorter’s brief life was one of turmoil and chaos. In this remarkable book, a masterful act of biographical restoration, Alexander Masters retraces Stuart’s troubled journey. This extraordinary book is a glimpse at the underbelly of English society, a world largely hidden from our lives.” Salaam Brick Lane: A Year in the New East End by Tarquin Hall “After ten years living abroad, Tarquin Hall wanted to return to his native London. Lured by his nostalgia for a leafy suburban childhood spent in southwest London, he returned with his Indian-born, American fiancé in tow. But, priced out of the housing market, they found themselves living not in a townhouse, oozing Victorian charm, but in a squalid attic above a Bangladeshi sweatshop on London’s Brick Lane.” Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge   “The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today.” Novels England, England by Julian Barnes “As every schoolboy knows, you can fit the whole of England on the Isle of Wight. Grotesque, visionary tycoon Sir Jack Pitman takes the saying literally and does exactly that. He constructs on the island ‘The Project’, a vast heritage centre containing everything ‘English’, from Big Ben to Stonehenge, from Manchester United to the white cliffs of Dover. The project is monstrous, risky, and vastly successful. In fact, it gradually begins to rival ‘Old’ England and even threatens to supersede it” Brick Lane by Monica Ali “Still in her teenage years, Nazneen finds herself in an arranged marriage with a disappointed man who is twenty years older. Away from the mud and heat of her Bangladeshi village, home is now a cramped flat in a high-rise block in Londons East End. Nazneen knows not a word of English, and is forced to depend on her husband. But unlike him she is practical and wise, and befriends a fellow Asian girl Razia, who helps her understand the strange ways of her adopted new British home.” Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman “Eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku, the second best runner in Year 7, races through his new life in England with his personalised trainersâ€"the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker penâ€"blissfully unaware of the very real threat around him. Newly-arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister Lydia, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of city life, from the bewildering array of Haribo sweets, to the frightening, fascinating gang of older boys from his school. But his life is changed forever when one of his friends is murdered.” Londonstani by Gautam Malkani “Londonstani, Gautam Malkani’s electrifying debut, reveals a Britain that has never before been explored in the novel: a country of young Asians and white boys (desis and goras) trying to work out a place for themselves in the shadow of the divergent cultures of their parents’ generation.” NW by Zadie Smith “Zadie Smith’s brilliant tragi-comic new novel follows four Londonersâ€"Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. From private houses to public parks, at work and at play, their London is a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end.” White Teeth by Zadie Smith “One of the most talked about fictional debuts ever,  White Teeth  is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealingâ€"among many other thingsâ€"with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.” Speak for England by James Hawes “Brian Marley, a divorced Englishman, is alone in the vilest jungle on earth, about to die live on television. A contestant on  Brit Pluck,  Green Hell,  Two Million, the ultimate reality TV show, Marley has managed to outlive his rivals and win enough money to change his life. Except that the TV crew has just been wiped out in a helicopter crash. With the crocodiles closing in, he has no option but to climb the vast cliff at his back. Inevitably, he fallsAnd awakes in a lost world that is remarkably like an Englishmans heaven. There’s cricket and rugger, the Union Jack, plucky boys, pretty girls, a tough but fair headmasterâ€"an entire miniature civilization preserved by the surviving passengers from Comet IV, which vanished in 1958.” Harare North by Brian Chikwava “When he lands in Harare North, our unnamed protagonist carries nothing but a cardboard suitcase full of memories and a longing to be reunited with his childhood friend, Shingi. He ends up in Shingi’s Brixton squat where the inhabitants function at various levels of desperation. Shingi struggles to find meaningful work and to meet the demands of his family back home; Tsitsi makes a living renting her baby out to women defrauding the Social Services. As our narrator struggles to make his way in ‘Harare North’, negotiating life outside the legal economy and battling with the weight of what he has left behind in strife-torn Zimbabwe, every expectation and preconception is turned on its head.” The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce “1988. Frank owns a music shop. It is jam-packed with records of every speed, size and genre. Classical, jazz, punkâ€"as long as it’s vinyl he sells it. Day after day Frank finds his customers the music they need.  Then into his life walks Ilse Brauchmann. Ilse asks Frank to teach her about music. His instinct is to turn and run. And yet he is drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with her pea-green coat and her eyes as black as vinyl. But Ilse is not what she seems. And Frank has old wounds that threaten to re-open and a past he will never leave behind…” How to Be Good by Nick Hornby “According to her own complex moral calculations, Katie Carr has earned her affair. She’s a doctor, after all, and doctors are decent people, and on top of that, her husband David is the self-styled Angriest Man in Holloway. But when David suddenly becomes goodâ€"properly, maddeningly, give-away-all-his-money goodâ€"Katie’s sums no longer add up, and she is forced to ask herself some very hard questions.” The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru “This is the extraordinary story of a child conceived in a wild monsoon night, a boy destined to be an outsider, a man with many names and no name.” Cat among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie “Unpleasant things are going on in an exclusive school for girlsâ€"things like murder…Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious flashing light in the sports pavilion, while the rest of the school sleeps. There, among the lacrosse sticks, they stumble upon the body of the unpopular games mistressâ€"shot through the heart from point blank range.” The Norfolk Mystery by Ian Sansom “Love Miss Marple? Adore Holmes and Watson? Professor Morley’s guide to Norfolk is a story of bygone England; quaint villages, eccentric localsâ€"and murder!” Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik “Sofia Khan is single once more, after her sort-of-boyfriend proves just a little  too  close to his parents. And shed be happy that way too, if her boss hadn’t asked her to write a book about the weird and wonderful world of Muslim dating. Of course, even though she  definitely  isnt looking for love, to write the book she does need to do a little research…” Number 11 by Jonathan Coe “This is a novel about the hundreds of tiny connections between the public and private worlds and how they affect us all. Its about the legacy of war and the end of innocence. Its about how comedy and politics are battling it out and comedy might have won. It’s about how 140 characters can make fools of us all. It’s about living in a city where bankers need cinemas in their basements and others need food banks down the street. It is Jonathan Coe doing what he does bestâ€"showing us how we live now.” What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe “It is the 1980s and the Winshaw family are getting richer and crueller by the year: Newspaper-columnist Hilary gets thousands for telling it like it isn’t; Henry’s turning hospitals into car parks; Roddy’s selling art in return for sex; down on the farm Dorothy’s squeezing every last pound from her livestock; Thomas is making a killing on the stock exchange; and Mark is selling arms to dictators. But once their hapless biographer Michael Owen starts investigating the family’s trail of greed, corruption and immoral doings, the time growing ripe for the Winshaws to receive their comeuppance…” A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Gu “Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang (or Z as she calls herselfâ€"Westerners cannot pronounce her name) arrives in London to spend a year learning English. Struggling to find her way in the city, and through the puzzles of tense, verb and adverb; she falls for an older Englishman and begins to realise that the landscape of love is an even trickier terrain.” Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas “They’re in the prime of their lives but our bright young things are all burnt out. Six sparky twenty-somethings just out of university and working dead-end jobs, they are all bored to tears with their lives and looking for a way out. When a mysterious job is advertised in the newspaper, they all apply.  What they least expect is to find themselves prisoners on a deserted island. Theres food in the fridge and they have a bedroom each, but theres no telephone, no television, and no way to escape.” The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing “In a London squat a band of bourgeois revolutionaries are united by a loathing of the waste and cruelty they see around them. These maladjusted malcontents try desperately to become involved in terrorist activities far beyond their level of competence. Only Alice seems capable of organising anything. Motherly, practical and determined, she is also easily exploited by the group and ideal fodder for a more dangerous and potent cause. Eventually their naïve radical fantasies turn into a chaos of real destruction, but the aftermath is not as exciting as they had hoped. Nonetheless, while they may not have changed the world, their lives will never be the same again…” The Information by Martin Amis “How can one writer hurt another where it really counts? This is the problem facing novelist Richard Tull, contemplating the success of his friend and rival Gwyn Barry. Revenger’s tragedy, comedy of errors, contemporary satire,  The Information  is an extraordinary novel of dark humour and piercing insight.” One Day by David Nicholls “It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same dayâ€"July 15thâ€"of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.” Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding “Bridget Jones’s Diary  is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud account of a year in the life of a thirty-something Singleton on a permanent doomed quest for self-improvement.” The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury “The History Man  is Malcolm Bradbury’s masterpiece and the definitive campus novel of the 1970s. It brilliantly satirizes a world of academic power struggles and abuse at the highest level as the Machiavellian Howard effortlessly seduces his way around campus.” The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon “At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London.” Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years by Sue Townsend “Adrian Mole is thirty, single and a father. His cooking at a top London restaurant has been equally mocked (the sausage on my plate could have been a turd’) and celebrated (will he be the nation’s first celebrity offal chef?). And the love of his life, Pandora Braithwaite, is too busy as the newly elected MP for Ashby-de-la-Zouch to notice him. Frustrated, disappointed and undersexed, Adrian despairs until a letter from his past changes everything…” Kraken by China Miéville “Deep in the research wing of the Natural History Museum is a prize specimen, something that comes along much less often than once in a lifetime: a perfect, and perfectly preserved, giant squid. But what does it mean when the creature suddenly and impossibly disappears? For curator Billy Harrow it’s the start of a headlong pitch into a London of warring cults, surreal magic, apostates and assassins. It might just be that the creature he’s been preserving is more than a biological rarity: there are those who are sure its a god. A god that someone is hoping will end the world.” The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks “Enter if you can bear itâ€"the extraordinary world of Frank, just sixteen and unconventional to say the least.” The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver “It all hinges on one kiss. Whether Irina McGovern does or does not lean in to a specific pair of lips in London will determine whether she stays with her disciplined, intellectual partner Lawrence or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player.” The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi “Karim Amir lives with his English mother and Indian father in the routine comfort of suburban London, enduring his teenage years with good humor, always on the lookout for adventureâ€"and sexual possibilities. Life gets more interesting, however, when his father becomes the Buddha of Suburbia, beguiling a circle of would-be mystics. And when the Buddha falls in love with one of his disciples, the beautiful and brazen Eva, Karim is introduced to a world of renegade theater directors, punk rock stars, fancy parties, and all the sex a young man could desire.” Comics/Illustrated Books Nelson by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix “London, 1968. A daughter is born to Jim and Rita Baker. Her name is Nel. This is her story, told in yearly snapshots. Each chapter records the events of a single day, weaving one continuous ribbon of pictures and text that takes us on a 43 year journey from Nel Baker’s birth to 2011. Based on an original idea by Rob Davis and co-edited by Davis and Woodrow Phoenix, Nelson celebrates the incredible diversity of talent in British comics today.” Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds “Posy Simmonds, Britain’s best-loved cartoonist and the author of Gemma Bovery, has now created the irresistible Tamara Drewe, a graphic novel that delightfully skewers modern mores and manners with great wit and understanding for the foibles of humanity.” Dark Satanic Mills by Marcus Sedgwick, Julian Sedgwick, John Higgins, and Marc Olivent “Set in a near-future Britain,  Dark Satanic Mills  tracks a young girls journey from the flooded landmarks of London to the vast, scorched and abandoned hills of the north.” A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond “Paddington Bear had traveled all the way from Peru when the Browns first met him in Paddington Station. Since then, their lives have never been quite the sam…for ordinary things become extraordinary when a bear called Paddington is involved.” The Inking Woman by Nicola Streeten and Cath Tate “The Inking Woman  is a groundbreaking picture-led celebration of the work of over 100 named British artists, and a few more anonymous ones, revealing a wealth of womens wit and insight spanning 250 years.” Short Stories The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith “The Embassy of Cambodia is a rare and brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals and escapee from one set of hardships to another. Beginning and ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, north-west London, Zadie Smith’s absorbing, moving and wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions.”   Grey Area by Will Self “Grey Area, like all of Will Self’s fiction, is funny, bizarre and disturbing. From a London where every waiter is an aspiring writer to a supply teacher killed by the colossal philistinism of his pupils, this is a truly inimitable showcase of short stories.” The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing “Four novellas by Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, that once again show her to be unequalled in her ability to capture the truth of the human condition.” England and Other Stories by Graham Swift “In these beautifully crafted stories, Graham Swiftâ€"author of the Booker Prize-winning  Last Ordersâ€"presents a vision of a country, England, that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.” HumoUr Alan Partridge: Nomad  by  Rob Gibbons, Neil Gibbons and Steve Coogan “In Alan Partridge: Nomad, Alan dons his boots, windcheater and scarf and embarks on an odyssey through a place he once knewâ€"it’s called Britainâ€"intent on completing a journey of immense personal significance.” The Thick of It: The Missing DoSAC Files  by Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche “Based around the idea that King of Spin Malcolm Tucker has lost a confidential and highly-damaging file on a train, this book is a collection of highly sensitive documents: personnel files, policy drafts, letters and emails, transcripts of phone calls, election campaign documents and top secret papers on the governments media strategy for wars and recessions. There are also more personal documents such as the early drafts of Tuckers diary, in no legal condition for publication. Its explosive stuff, which could end careers on both sides, including Tucker’s own” Notes from a Small Island: Journeys through Britain by Bill Bryson “In 1995, before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family, Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of the nation’s public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite.” Plays Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth “On the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron is a wanted man. Local officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants his full attention, and his motley crew of friends wants his ample supply of booze…” Educating Rita by Willy Russell “Educating Rita, about a working-class Liverpool girl’s hunger for education, is ‘simply a marvellous play, painfully funny and passionately serious; a hilarious social documentary; a fairy-tale with a quizzical, half-happy ending.’ Sunday Times” Further reading: 100 Must-Read Novels Set in London 30 Books for Anglophiles and Homesick British Expats Literary Tourism: A Magical Harry Potter Guidebook to Scotland and England 40 Excellent UK Books from 2017

Sunday, May 24, 2020

How Was the Moon Made

The  Moon has been a presence in our lives as long as weve existed on this Earth. It has been around our planet much longer, practically since Earth was formed. However, one simple question about this spectacular object went unanswered until fairly recently: how was the Moon made? The answer requires a deep understanding of conditions in the early solar system and how they worked during the formation of the planets. The answer to this question hasnt been without controversy. Until the last fifty years or so every proposed idea about how the Moon came into being  has had problems, either with technical aspects, or plagued by scientists own lack of information about the materials that make up the Moon. Co-creation Theory One idea says the Earth and Moon formed side-by-side out of the same cloud of dust and gas. That makes sense, given that the entire solar system arose from actions within that cloud, called a protoplanetary disk. Over time, their close proximity might have caused the Moon to fall into orbit around Earth. The main problem with this theory is in the composition of the Moons rocks. While Earth rocks contain significant amounts of metals and heavier elements, particularly below its surface, the Moon is decidedly metal-poor. Its rocks just dont match Earth rocks, and thats a problem for a theory that suggests they both formed from the same piles of material in the early solar system. The Sun and planets formed in a cloud of gas and dust called a protoplanetary disk some 4.5 billion years ago. The Moon formed about the same time as Earth, but could have been made during a collision event, rather than co-formed with Earth. NASA   If they did form at the same time, their compositions should be very similar or close to identical. We see this as the case in other systems when multiple objects are created in close proximity for the same pool of material. The likelihood that the Moon and Earth could have formed at the same time  but ended up with such vast differences in composition is pretty small. So, that raises some doubt about the co-forming theory. Lunar Fission Theory So what other possible ways could the Moon have come about?  Theres the fission theory, which suggests that the Moon was spun out of Earth early in the solar systems history. While the Moon doesnt have the same composition as the entire Earth, it does bear  a striking resemblance to the outer layers of our planet. So what if the material for the Moon was spat out of the Earth as it spun around early in its development? Well, theres a problem with that idea, too. Earth doesnt spin nearly fast enough to spit anything out and likely wasnt spinning fast enough to do it early in its history. Or, at least, not fast enough to hurl a baby Moon out to space.   The best theory about the formation of the Moon says that the infant Earth and a Mars-sized body called Theia collided early in the history of the solar system. The remnants were blasted to space and eventually coalesced to form the Moon. NASA/JPL-Caltech  Ã‚   Large Impact Theory So, if the Moon wasnt spun out of the Earth and didnt form from the same set of material as Earth, how else could it have formed? The large impact theory may be the best one yet. It suggests that instead of being spun out of the Earth, the material that would become the Moon was instead ejected from the Earth during a massive impact. An object roughly the size of Mars, which planetary scientists have called Theia, is thought to have collided with the infant Earth early in its evolution (which is why we dont see much evidence of the impact in our terrain). Material from the Earths outer layers was sent hurtling into space. It  didnt get far though, as Earths gravity kept it close by. The still-hot  matter began to orbit about the infant Earth, colliding with itself and eventually coming together like putty.  Eventually, after cooling, the Moon evolved to the form that we are all familiar with today. Two Moons? While the large impact theory is widely accepted as by far the most likely explanation for the Moons birth, there is still at least one question that the theory has difficulty in answering: Why is the far side of the Moon so different than the near side? While the answer to this question is uncertain, one theory suggests that after the initial impact not one, but two moons formed around the Earth. However, over time these two spheres started a slow migration toward each other until, eventually, they collided.  The result was the single Moon that we all know today. This idea may explain some aspects of the Moon that other theories do not, but much work needs to be done to prove that it could have happened, using evidence from the Moon itself.   As with all science, theories are strengthened by additional data. In the case of the Moon, further studies of rocks from various places on and beneath the surface will help fill in the tale of our neighbor satellites formation and evolution. Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Geek Love, By Katherine Dunn - 871 Words

Many families have different rules set for their children, but they all have the same values. What is â€Å"normal† for most, if not all families is the want for their children to get an education and find a fitting career. Geek Love, written by Katherine Dunn, is a novel about the Binewski family, a family that is not exactly normal: each of the children were â€Å"created† differently when their mother took different drugs throughout her pregnancies. Arturo has flippers instead of legs and is known as Aquaboy, Iphy and Elly are Siamese twins, Oly is an albino hunchback, and Chick is telekinetic. Together they travel to show off their unusual human oddities with performances. Throughout the novel, Dunn shows that the Binewski’s value their performances over academics and that the sibling rivalries made them willing to do anything, even hurt one another, in order to be the best. The Binewski children take classes that are not geared to educate them but instead improve their performances for their shows and bring in crowds and money for their family. Oly, who narrates the story, introduces her family’s daily routine. She had training in â€Å"Elocution and diction, and microphonic presentation† (Dunn, p. 45) while â€Å"the twins had their piano lesson inside the trailer† (Dunn, p. 45). Oly does not have her own act like her brother and sisters, but she is responsible to introduce their acts which is why she needs speaking lessons. Her sisters, Elly and Iphy, learn how to play instrumentsShow MoreRelatedThe Use of Disgust Elicitors in Greek Love by Katherine Dunn753 Words   |  3 Pageselicitors in the book â€Å"Geek Love,† as well as the literary usage and connotations of modern day applications. ​In terms of literary practice, the physically disgusting is often described in visceral detail, specifically in adult fiction, and it almost always is used in a narrative context (Plantiga, 2009). However, it has not been used extensively in modern fiction works. The book â€Å"Geek Love† by Katherine Dunn is one such novel that explores the element of disgust quite explicably. Dunn explores the dark

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Night Creature Hunter’s Moon Chapter 25 Free Essays

â€Å"We need to make an appointment with Cora,† Will said. â€Å"An appointment?† Jessie asked. â€Å"She’s that busy?† â€Å"You’d be surprised. We will write a custom essay sample on Night Creature: Hunter’s Moon Chapter 25 or any similar topic only for you Order Now † â€Å"Call her then.† Will undipped his cell phone from his belt. â€Å"No service. Again.† Jessie glanced at her phone and growled. Sometimes cell service was lost this deep in the woods. â€Å"Why don’t you two go on,† I said. â€Å"I’ll finish up here.† Jessie frowned. â€Å"This is my job – â€Å" â€Å"Is it? I thought it was mine.† â€Å"You two could arm wrestle for it,† Will suggested. I’d tangled with Jessie once. In a fair fight, she could kill me. A dirty fight was another matter. But I’m sure a dirty fight – as in mud wrestling – was just what Will had in mind. â€Å"I’ll pass.† â€Å"Me, too.† Jessie considered for a moment, then gave in. â€Å"Fine, Duchess, you burn the fanged and furry; we’ll go back to town and set up an appointment with the voodoo priestess.† â€Å"Grand medicine spirit woman,† Will said. â€Å"Eighth level.† â€Å"Whatever.† â€Å"Jess, she’s old and very well respected. You have to behave.† Jessie looked at me. â€Å"Don’t I know how to behave?† I glanced at Will. â€Å"Am I supposed to answer that?† â€Å"No. Give us a call,† he glanced at his cell, then hooked it back on his belt, â€Å"when you get to your place. Maybe we can see Cora today.† He took Jessie’s arm and tugged her back the way we’d come. Amazingly, she went without argument. Probably figured they’d have time for a quickie – I glanced at the three wolves – maybe even a longie, before I was finished. I dragged them into the center of the clearing, as far away from trees and bushes as I was able to get, added accelerant, then pulled out a match. I’d done this so many times, I wasn’t really paying attention. Instead, my gaze drifted to the forest, absently watching the flicker of Jessie’s and Will’s clothing fade away. I struck the match, and a sudden flash between me and them made me freeze. I stared in horror at what appeared to be stealthily moving white fur. I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight or figure out what it might mean. Then the match burned down to my fingertip and the pain caused me to curse, then drop it on the ground. I stomped the flame into oblivion and glanced back in the same direction. The flash of white was still there. I lifted my face to the sky. The sun shone brightly in the middle of the day, though the rays did not penetrate into the deep forest. Nevertheless, I drew my gun and ran. I should have shouted right away, warned them, something, but I wanted to kill him. I wanted to end this before I had to see someone else I cared about die. Time seemed to slow. They couldn’t have gone far, yet I seemed to run forever without getting any closer. The brush cleared and I saw him. Or thought I did. Poised to spring, he was still too far away for me to hit with a handgun. â€Å"Jessie!† I shouted. â€Å"Wolf!† A gunshot rang out. I frowned at the weapon in my hand. I hadn’t fired it. Another shot brought my head up. The gunfire was coming from the other direction, and the white wolf was gone. I ran toward Jessie and Will, heedless of the sniper. The shots had stopped. Because they were hit? Or because the shooter was gone? I burst through the trees, saw them on the ground, and my heart lurched. Jessie had thrown her body over Will. Her gun was drawn and aimed toward the shots, but when she heard me the barrel swung in my direction. â€Å"Get down!† Jessie snarled. I hit the dirt. Will struggled to get up. Jessie shoved his head into the ground. â€Å"Don’t,† she warned. We lay there for five minutes at least, ears straining for the sound of approaching footsteps – or padding paws. Nothing happened. Eventually I motioned toward the west. Jessie nodded and I crawled into the brush as she covered me. I scouted the area all around us. Ten minutes later I returned to the clearing. â€Å"Nothing,† I said. â€Å"Not a track, not a calling card. Zip.† Jessie scowled and allowed Will to sit up. Her hands fluttered over him checking for injuries. â€Å"Knock it off.† He pushed her away. â€Å"I’m fine.† â€Å"What happened?† she asked me. I hesitated. It was broad daylight. I couldn’t have seen the white wolf. Besides, a gun had been fired. No matter how super-duper a shape-shifter this guy was, a wolf didn’t have the opposable thumbs necessary to fire a weapon. Usually didn’t need to, since his teeth and claws, speed and agility, were weapons enough. In other words, if there’d been a wolf, he would have attacked, not changed into a human and shot at them. I’d been seeing things again. â€Å"Leigh?† Jessie pressed. â€Å"What, exactly, did you see?† â€Å"Nothing.† â€Å"You shouted wolf,† Will pointed out. I glared at him and he held up his hands in surrender. â€Å"You said it.† â€Å"Yes,† Jessie murmured, â€Å"you did. Was it Hector?† â€Å"Look at the sky!† I shouted. â€Å"Any moon? I couldn’t have seen what I thought I did.† I sat down in the trampled grass and dirt, then wiped my hands across my face. â€Å"I’m losing it again,† I whispered. â€Å"I should go back to the padded room where I belong.† Jessie grabbed my upper arm. Her fingers dug into my flesh hard enough to make me wince. â€Å"You’re not crazy. He’s fucking with you.† â€Å"But it’s daytime.† â€Å"Everything we believe about werewolves seems to be coming apart. For all we know, a power eater can shift any damn time that it wants to.† I blinked. She could be right. For some reason, the thought cheered me. Jessie’s hold gentled. â€Å"You saved our lives, Leigh.† â€Å"I doubt that.† â€Å"You yelled; we hit the ground; a bullet whizzed through the air where my head had been.† â€Å"Mine, too,† Will added. â€Å"I should have called out as soon as I saw the white flash behind you.† Jessie released me. â€Å"No harm, no foul.† â€Å"Why didn’t he come after you?† Will asked. â€Å"We left you by yourself back there.† I shuddered at the thought of being alone in the woods with my nightmare. â€Å"He doesn’t want me dead,† I said, â€Å"just furry.† â€Å"There has to be a reason he let you go this time.† Will frowned as if an idea had just occurred to him. â€Å"He must be saving you for the blood moon.† â€Å"Gee, thanks, I hadn’t thought of that yet.† â€Å"Sorry,† Will muttered. We clambered to our feet. â€Å"Guess I’d better go back and finish what I didn’t even start,† I said, â€Å"I think we’ll go with you.† Jessie grabbed Will’s hand and tugged him into the lead. â€Å"I’ll be OK.† â€Å"Sure you will.† Cadotte glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. I gave up and followed them to the wolf pile. In truth, I didn’t want to be alone in the woods, day or night, anymore. Jessie and Will stopped so fast I plowed into them. â€Å"Shit,† she muttered. I went on tiptoe and peered over her shoulder. Pieces of the wolves I’d left behind were all over the place. â€Å"Chalk up three more for the bad guys,† Will said. â€Å"He was trying to draw me away from them, and I let him.† â€Å"He was also trying to kill us. Those bullets meant business.† â€Å"Moves awful quick, even for a wolf,† Jessie observed. â€Å"And changes quick, too. Between the time I saw a wolf, then someone shot at you, couldn’t have been more than a minute.† â€Å"Could have been two of them again.† She was right. Most likely the white wolf drew me away from the kill, then circled back. Someone, or something else, had shot at Jessie and Will. â€Å"Let’s burn what’s left and get the hell out of here,† I said. â€Å"I’m with you.† Pulling the body parts back into a pile was one of the least pleasant experiences of my life. Thankfully, I had help doing it. By unspoken agreement, Will did the physical labor along with me while Jessie stood guard. We’d been surprised once. None of us planned to be surprised again. I had just dumped more accelerant on the pyre and thrown on a match when Will exclaimed, â€Å"Oh, my God!† I spun, gun already in my hand, but nothing was in the clearing save the three of us and what was left of the dead wolves. Will ran across the damp, trampled grass toward Jessie. She scowled at him. â€Å"What is your problem?† He ignored her question, grabbing her by the shoulder and yanking her around. A bright red splotch of blood marred the back of Jessie’s uniform shirt. Since she hadn’t touched a single wolf body part, this concerned me. â€Å"You’re hit.† He turned her to face him and tried to unbutton her blouse. â€Å"Get a grip, Slick.† She smacked his hands away. â€Å"Not now.† â€Å"Let me see.† He tried to undress her again. â€Å"A scratch. Forget about it.† My heart thundered; my mouth was dry. She’d been wounded because of me. I’d worried that Will would be hurt, maybe killed, and Jessie would be unable to cope. In reality, it was the other way around. The anguish on Will’s face, the blood on Jessie’s clothes†¦ I was having a hard time thinking straight. I had to get them out of the line of fire. â€Å"Take her to town and clean her up,† I ordered. Jessie threw me an annoyed glare. â€Å"Who put you in charge?† â€Å"Edward.† â€Å"This is my town. I’m not going anywhere until we’re done here.† â€Å"You’re done.† She stepped forward until we were toe-to-toe. Since she had a good six inches on me, I had to crane my neck to meet her gaze. This made some of my authority go straight down the toilet. â€Å"I’m done when I say I’m done.† I quivered with rage – at the one who had hurt her, at myself for getting them into this, at Jessie for being so damned stubborn. All of a sudden the tension drained out of her and she glanced at Cadotte. â€Å"Watch the fire while I talk to Leigh.† He hesitated, then nodded and moved off. Jessie turned to me. â€Å"I can handle this myself,† I began. She snorted. â€Å"Right. You need us. We need you. Get used to it.† â€Å"I’ll call Edward. He’ll come back.† All I had to do was tell him that Hector was here, he’d be on the next plane. Up until now I’d avoided that conversation. Edward had saved me once. This time I wanted to save myself. But not at the cost of Jessie and Will. â€Å"You’ll call Edward and tell him what? That I’m incompetent? That Will’s a pansy?† I frowned. â€Å"No†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I chose this. So did Will. We knew the risks.† Did they? I had a hard time believing that. If they knew their chances of surviving this job were forty to two, would they stay? Maybe I should tell them. â€Å"You have each other. What do you need a dangerous job for? What if – ?† â€Å"We die? I’ve asked myself that question a hundred times. I could get hit by a truck tomorrow. Will could get shot by an overeager redneck today. That’s life, Leigh. At least we’re trying to save the world before we go.† A crusader. Who’d have thunk it? â€Å"It’s not like we plan on dying,† she continued. â€Å"I did kill the wolf god – all by myself.† I lifted a brow. â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Hector is bad news.† I looked around the bloody clearing. â€Å"And getting badder.† â€Å"Oooh, I’m all a-shiver.† I started to think ahead. I’d go out hunting alone. Ditch them whenever I could. Maybe I could end this without ending them. â€Å"I’m gonna stick to you like glue,† Jessie murmured. My eyes went to hers like a magnet drawn to metal. Amusement lightened her face, but her voice was stone-cold serious. â€Å"You’re not running around like Dirty Harry. We’re together now. All for one, one for all.† â€Å"Mix metaphors much?† â€Å"Bite me.† â€Å"If Hector gets to me first, I just might.† Jessie glanced over her shoulder at Will, who was still amusing himself with the bonfire. â€Å"Remember what you promised me and I promised you?† she whispered. How could I forget a promise like that? I nodded. â€Å"We’re partners now.† I scowled. I’d never had one of those, and I wasn’t sure what to do. Hug her? Shake her hand? Knock her out, tie her up, and keep her somewhere until the danger was over? â€Å"I’ve never had a friend like you before,† she admitted. Aw, hell. Now I couldn’t tie her up. How to cite Night Creature: Hunter’s Moon Chapter 25, Essay examples

Monday, May 4, 2020

Alice Walker Biography Essay Example For Students

Alice Walker Biography Essay The story Everyday Use, is being told by a mother who describes herself as a big boned woman, with a second grade education. She had always had to do the work of a man to provide for her family. A mother of two girls with different views on the family culture. Dee, a light skinned girl with nice hair and a full figure. Dee has always scorned the way the family lived. She comes home to visit and wants to take back some of the family heritage, such as Grandma Dees quilts. Maggie, a dark skinned, slim and shy girl, who has never been away from home. Maggie has a different love for the family heritage she will continue to carry it on, like quilting. While Dee and Maggie lived in the same house growing up, they have different believes about their heritage. Two women sat in the yard awaiting a visit from the older daughter, Dee, and a man who may are may not be husband. Dee, was very hard on the familys way of life, has gone to college and now seems to be a distant memory. Her mother imagines of being reunited with her daughter on television. She visions the perfect reunion someone would tell her what a fine daughter she has raised. Dee would come out in tears embracing her mother and pinning and orchid on her dress. Maggie, who is not bright and bears scars from a server house fire many years ago still, remains intimidated by her glamorous sibling. Her mother was astonished; Dee arrive wearing an ankle-length, gold and orange dress, bracelets and gold earrings hanging down to her shoulders. Her hair it stand straight up like hair the wool on a sheepWalker 283. Dee greets her family with a Swahili good morning. Her companion offers a Muslim greeting and tries to show Maggie a ceremonial handshake that she does not understand. Dee mother tried to start a conversation with Dee by calling her name. Dee explain that shes change her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, because I couldnt bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress meWalker 283. Wangero mother attempted to explain to her how far back her name go into the family history. Dee had been embarrass of her mothers house and possessions when she was younger the mother believe she was happy when the old house burn down, but now she seem to be happy with the old way of life. With her newfound joy with her cultural heritage, she takes photographs of the house, including her mom, sister, and a wandering cow. Dee, while eating, remembered she wanted to ask her mother if she could have the butter churn top whittled by her Uncle Buddy, do she may use it as a centerpiece for her table. Dee, after getting the churn top, she then ask for the dasher. Now her attention turns to a trunk at the  foot of her mothers bed. After she goes through the trunk, she returns with two quilts. The quilts become symbolic of the storys theme; in a sense, they represent the past of the women in the familyMaster Plots 733. Dee asks if she can have the quilts. Maggie in disbelief that Dee asked for the quilts slammed the kitchen door. The mother offers some other quilts that were in the trunk to her, she refused because the quilts because they were made with a machine. Then she tells Dee that she had promised the quilts to Maggie a wedding present. Dee tells her mother that Maggie would not appreciate the quilts and that she would use them in everyday use. Dees mother says she hope Maggie would use the quilts. The two sisters values concerning the quilt represent the two meaning approaches to art appreciation in our society. Art can be valued for financial and aesthetic reasons, or it can be valued for personal and emotional reasonsJokinen