Succubus on Top CHAPTER 18

â€Å"That's not funny,† I said. â€Å"Seems like a reasonable question.† I looked at him and then wrapped my arms around myself. â€Å"Is that all you're going to say?† â€Å"I†¦I don't really know what else to say.† â€Å"This is the part where you yell at me.† His eyebrows rose. â€Å"Oh, I see. I didn't know this was already scripted out. â€Å" â€Å"That's not what†¦look. I slept with someone else. And not just slept. I didn't have to do it†¦not the way I have to with humans. You get that, right?† â€Å"Yes,† he said, still dead calm. â€Å"And I wasn't drunk or anything. Tipsy maybe, but still in control of my senses.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"So aren't you mad?† â€Å"Stunned is the dominant emotion at the moment. Finding out someone impersonated you is almost more troubling than the sex part.† â€Å"He didn't impersonate you, perse†¦I mean, I knew it was him.† â€Å"I know. But it's still weird.† When he fell silent again, I could only stare with incredulity. He caught my look and retuned it. â€Å"What do you want?† This time he did sound annoyed, almost angry. â€Å"Do you want me to be mad? Will that like†¦punish you or something? Is that what you want?† I said nothing and realized that was exactly what I wanted. I had read a book once where a guy accidentally killed a girl while driving drunk. His powerful family had managed to keep him out of jail, and he'd hated it. He'd wanted the cleansing catharsis of real punishment, of paying for his crimes. Right now, I needed the same thing. â€Å"I deserve it,† I told Seth. His voice was cold. â€Å"Well, I'm not going to give it to you right now. You can't dictate what I feel. Sorry.† My mouth started to drop open, unsure what to do with this turn of events. The ringing of my cell phone interrupted my rumination. I glanced at my purse, then let the phone go to voice mail. A moment later, it rang again. â€Å"You should answer it,† Seth told me. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I wanted to crawl into a hole. But I got the phone and read the display. No one I recognized. Sometimes that was Jerome. If I didn't answer, the demon was likely to teleport on over, and that was quite possibly the only thing that could make this scenario worse. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said softly to Seth, just before I answered. I didn't know if I was apologizing for the interruption or what I'd done with Bastien. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"Hey, Georgina. This is Wyatt.† It took me a moment. From Doug's band. â€Å"Hey, how's it going?† â€Å"Bad. I didn't know who else to call. I'm at the hospital with Doug. â€Å" My heart stopped. â€Å"Oh my God. What happened?† â€Å"He, uh, took some pills.† â€Å"What kind of pills?† â€Å"Not sure. But he took a whole bottle of them.† Wyatt's news spurred Seth and me to action. It was funny how tragedy could override anger. Whatever unresolved issues ensnared us, we put them on hold as I drove us downtown. Wyatt had briefly told the rest of the story as I'd left my apartment at a run. Alec hadn't come through with his latest shipment. Doug had crashed again, plunging into that frightening darkness I'd observed before. Wyatt didn't entirely know what had triggered the overdose. He blamed everything from a suicidal urge to a desperate attempt at recapturing the high through other means. The emergency room had pumped his stomach, and the doctor said he was okay for now, but he hadn't yet regained consciousness. Wyatt had called me because Doug had no family here, and no one knew how to contact the ones who lived out of town. Corey and Min were there when we arrived. They elaborated a bit more for us and said there was no change in Doug's condition. Seth stayed silent, but I could tell he was as concerned as I was. I asked if I could see Doug, and a nurse told me I could. I entered the room alone and found him asleep, hooked up to tubes and a bleeping machine. I had watched medical technology change over the years, from leeches to defibrillators, but that didn't mean I felt comfortable with any of it. Machines that kept people alive rubbed me the wrong way. They weren't natural, even if they did good. â€Å"Oh, Doug,† I murmured, sitting at his bedside. His skin was pale, his hand cold and clammy. The bleeping machine registered a steady heartbeat, so that was something. None of the other readouts meant anything to me. I watched him, feeling helpless. Mortals, I thought, were fragile things, and there was nothing I could do about that. Many, many years ago, Bastien and I had worked at a dance hall in Paris. Dancers in those days were almost always prostitutes too, but I hadn't minded. The opportunity had provided me with both succubus energy and monetary income. Bastien had been a bouncer and ostensibly my lover. This allowed him to sing my praises, bolstering my reputation and sending me a large clientele. â€Å"There's a young man who shows up every night,† the incubus told me one day. â€Å"He has ‘virgin' stamped all over him, but he's rich too. I've talked to him a few times. He doesn't like the idea of paying for sex, but he's completely obsessed with you.† The news pleased me, and when Bastien pointed out the gentleman, I made a lot of eye contact with him throughout the performance. Sure enough, a manservant of his discretely solicited me on behalf of his employer afterward, and I hurried to prepare myself backstage. â€Å"Josephine,† called a voice beside me. I turned and saw another dancer, an especial friend of mine named Dominique. â€Å"Hey,† I told her, grinning. â€Å"I have a nice prospect I've got to get to.† Her grim face made me pause. â€Å"What's wrong?† Dominique was small and blond, with an almost waifish appearance that made her look like she wasn't getting enough to eat. That wasn't a surprise, however. None of us in that profession ever got enough to eat. â€Å"Josephine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she murmured, blue eyes wide. â€Å"I need your help. I think†¦I think I'm pregnant.† I stopped in my tracks. â€Å"Are you sure?† â€Å"Pretty sure. I†¦I don't know what to do. I need this job. You know I do.† I nodded. From the wings, Jean – the man who took cuts from our liaisons – yelled at me to hurry up and meet my young man. I gave Dominique a quick hug. â€Å"I have to go do this. I'll find you later, okay? We'll figure something out.† But I never really got a later. The young man, Etienne, proved to be adorable. He was much younger than my apparent age, and engaged to be married. He was torn on the issue of sex. Part of him felt he needed to be pure for his bride; the other part wanted to be experienced on his wedding night. That was the part that won out, the part that brought him to my bed and gave me the succubus bonus of both a moral corruption and an energy yield. He resented me for both my lifestyle and my hold over him, but that didn't stop him from coming back every day for the next few weeks. â€Å"I hate you for this,† he told me one day after we'd been together. He lay back against the sheets, in a sweaty, postcoital repose. I stood near the bed, putting my clothes on while he watched. â€Å"Marry me.† I laughed out loud, tossing my hair – then honey blond and curly – over one shoulder. He flushed angrily. He had dark eyes and hair and a perennially brooding look. â€Å"Is that funny?† â€Å"Only because you hate me in one breath and love me in the other.† I smiled as I laced up my undergarments. â€Å"I suppose there are a lot of marriages like that.† â€Å"Not everything's a joke,† he said. â€Å"Maybe not,† I agreed. â€Å"But this comes pretty close.† â€Å"Are you turning me down?† I pulled my dress over my head. â€Å"Of course I am. You have no idea what you're asking. It's ridiculous.† â€Å"You treat me like I'm a child sometimes,† he declared, sitting up straighten â€Å"You're not that much older than me. You have no right to act so wise†¦especially since you're a†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I grinned at him. â€Å"A whore?† He had the grace to look embarrassed. â€Å"And that, sweeting, is the problem. Never mind your family's scandalized reaction. Even if we managed to pull it off, you'd never get over that. You'd spend the rest of our marriage – which would probably be short-lived – obsessing about all the men I'd been with. Wondering if one of them had been better. Wondering if I'd done something with them that you thought was new and novel with you.† Angry, he stood up and pulled on his pants. â€Å"I would have thought you'd be grateful.† â€Å"Flattered,† I said coldly, â€Å"but nothing more.† That wasn't entirely true. The truth was, despite his youthful certainty and mood swings, I liked Etienne. A lot. Something about him appealed to me. Maybe it was because all that emotionality and pride came from an artistic nature. He painted as a hobby. There it was again, my unfortunate obsession with creative men. Luckily, at that time in my life, I had enough sense to avoid deep entanglements with humans. â€Å"I wish you could choose who you love,† he said bitterly. â€Å"Because I wouldn't choose you, you know. But, here we are. I can't stop thinking about you. I feel like there's some pull to you I can't fight.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said gently, surprised at the small ache in my heart. â€Å"Wait until you're married. Your wife will make you forget all about me.† â€Å"No. She doesn't even compare.† â€Å"Plain?† Egotistical of me, perhaps, but I heard it a lot. â€Å"Boring,† he replied. Then I'd heard a scream, a bloodcurdling, horror-filled scream. I forgot all about Etienne and tore out of the small, dank room. Down the hall I ran until I found a congregation of people and the source of distress. It was Dominique. She sprawled over a narrow pallet, lying in blood. â€Å"My God,† I gasped, kneeling beside her. â€Å"What happened?† But I already knew. I didn't need the forthcoming explanation from the other dancers. I had neglected her pleas for help a couple weeks ago, caught up in my own whirlwind romance. So she had sought her own solution, as so many lower-class women often did. Unfortunately, there were no machines or sanitizing in those days. An abortion was a dangerous, often deadly, business. â€Å"Oh God,† I said again. I had never lost the need to appeal to my creator, despite my theoretical renouncement. I clutched her hand, not knowing what to do. A half-dressed Etienne appeared in the crowd. I looked up at him desperately. â€Å"You have to go get a doctor. Please.† Whatever injured pride he harbored over my rejection, he couldn't refuse me in that moment. I saw him make motions to leave, but Bastien grabbed his arm. â€Å"No, it doesn't matter.† To me he said: â€Å"She's gone, Fleur .† I looked at Dominique's young face. Her skin was pale, eyes blank and glazed over as they stared at nothing. I knew I should close them, but suddenly I didn't want to touch her. I dropped her hand, slowly backing up, staring in horror. It was by no means the first time I'd seen a dead body, but something struck me about it then I'd never really considered with such shocking clarity. One moment she was here, the next she wasn't. Oh, the difference one heartbeat could make. The stink of mortality hung in the air, painting the awful truth about humans. How short their lives were. And fragile. They were like paper dolls among us, turning to ash in the blink of an eye. How many had I seen come and go in over a millennium? How many had I seen pass from infancy to a gray-haired death? The stink of mortality. It threatened to overwhelm the room. How could no one else sense it? I hated it†¦and I feared it. Feeling suffocated, I backed up further. Both Bastien and Etienne reached for me in some fumbling attempt at comfort, but I wanted none of it. Dominique, barely out of childhood, had just bled her life away in front of me. What fragile things humans were. I had to get out of there before I became sick. I turned from those who would console me and ran away. â€Å"What fragile things humans are,† I murmured to Doug. The feeling that welled up within me now as I sat beside him was not sorrow or despair. It was anger. White-hot anger. Humans were fragile, but some of them were still in my care. And whether that was foolish or not on my part, I could not shirk my duty. Doug was one of my humans. And someone had nearly cut his time short. I stood up, gave his hand a last squeeze, and strode out of the room. From the shocked glances Corey, Min, and Wyatt gave me, I must have looked terrifying. I hit the pause button on my righteous fury when I noticed something. â€Å"Where's Seth?† â€Å"He said he had to go,† said Corey. â€Å"He left you this.† He handed me a scrap of paper with Seth's scrawled writing. Thetis, I'll talk to you later. I stared at it, suddenly feeling nothing. I went numb. My mind would not allow me to focus on Seth just then. I crumpled the paper up, said good-bye to the band, and left the hospital. When I reached the lobby, I took out my cell phone and dialed. â€Å"Alec? This is Georgina.† â€Å"Hey, Georgina!† I heard the anxious note in his voice. Almost desperate. â€Å"You were right,† I began, hoping I sounded anxious too. â€Å"You were right. I need more. Now. Tonight. Can you do it?† â€Å"Yes,† he said. There was palpable relief in his voice. â€Å"Absolutely I can do it.† We set up a meeting spot immediately. It couldn't be too soon for me. I'd been on an emotional roller coaster in the last twenty-four hours, and I was about to take it out on Alec. I couldn't wait. The fact that he seemed so eager for it was icing on the cake. â€Å"Oh, hey, Georgina?† he asked, just before we disconnected. â€Å"Yeah?† His voice sounded strange; I couldn't decipher the emotion. â€Å"You have no idea how glad I am you called.†

Rethink What You Drink Essay

Between an 8oz glass of orange juice to a 24oz can of soda, one person can drink between six to eighteen teaspoons of sugar. One may not think that a can of soda a day will hurt a person greatly; but that person is wrong. If you consume one non-diet soda, sugary sport or energy drink, even juice, it can increase your risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, even leading to chronic problems down the road. Even drinking a Five-Hour Energy or Monster in the morning everyday can lead to a caffeine related death. Keeping up homework, going to practice after school and maintaining a social life, a day being a teenager can be draining. We stay up late texting or studying for a test at the last minute, and sleep is not our number one priority. Yes, we wake up the next morning wishing we did not stay up so late, but there is always a cure for that. Almost one third of 12 to 24 year olds said they regularly down an energy drink in the morning. There is nothing wrong with consuming a Starbucks coffee or Five-Hour energy shot in the morning if it is the only thing that will keep us going. The sugar and caffeine in juice, energy drinks and coffee is one of the main factors that keep us teens moving at the pace we do. There are juices, diet sodas and energy drinks that have an okay amount of sugar and caffeine in them to where we could have one a day, and never be harmed. The National Health and Nutrition Exanimation Survey and Nutrition Services worker, Cheri Collier states, â€Å"A â€Å"sugary drink† is known as fruit drinks, soda, energy and sport drinks and sweetened bottles of water and also coffee beverages† (Gann) The consumption of sugary drinks remains high today. In fact, over a half of the American population has a sugary drink almost every day. Lisa Cimperman, registered dietitian for University Hospitals Case Medical Center said, â€Å"Many people consume too many calories each day; Liquid calories don’t make you feel full. Causing people to eat and drink more. † (Theiss) When someone has so much sugar in their system, it can lead to obesity and diabetes. It is shown that 25. 8 million Americans have diabetes (8% of population) and 191 million (2/3) are overweight/obese. (Gann) Not to say that a soda a day can lead to this, but when you are consuming mass amounts of sugar, you will become a part of that 25. 8 million. Men and women are both at risk for developing heart disease. Men who drink one sugar-sweetened beverage daily have a 20% higher risk of chronic heart disease then men who drink none. A study put on by the Harvard School of Public Health surveyed 43,000 men throughout 22 years, and results form 18,000 men were demographically similar. Results in American Heart Association journal stated: â€Å"Drinking 12oz of regular soda, fruit drinks and other sugar sweetened beverages daily was associated with higher risk of heart disease. † Dr. Frank Hu, Professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health said that the findings were notable. The same study was put on for a group of 89,000 women, and it was shown that women who drank one or less than two sugary drinks per day had a 23% increased risk of heart attack and it was four times as likely to have a chronic heart problem down the road. (Jaslow) Studying for tests, going out to parties, finishing research papers late into the night, maintaining a social life and working, life of a college student can be draining. Balancing everything usually takes a toll on one of our most critical bodily functions, sleep. So how do these college students wake up in the morning and go to class with energy? A study done by the University of Ohio stated that 74% of undergraduate students turn to energy supplements in the form of drinks or shots. A single Monster contains 14 teaspoons of sugar and a Five-Hour Energy contains over 8,000 percent of the daily-recommended intake of vitamin B12 and over 2,000 percent of vitamin B6. They say that the rush of energy one feels when consuming the drinks is due to the amount of sucralose, an artificial sweetener over 600 times sweeter than sugar and you will also see over 500 milligrams of caffeine in some drinks. So what happens to people who drink these energy drinks and Five-Hour Energy shots? According to Medicine Plus in 2007, almost 6,000 caffeine related deaths occurred in people under the age of 19, and since then, the numbers have continued to rise(Silva). When you come to thinking about drinking a nice cold 8oz soda, remember that you are putting a toxic drug into your body. You could one day have had too many sodas and be sitting at home with heart disease or diabetes. Remember not to over load yourself with a caffeine overloaded energy drink or shot. Try resorting to diet drinks with not as much sugar, or 100% fruit drinks. â€Å"Our soda habit is something we have total control over. There are a lot of things that keep us healthy that are hard work and difficult, but cutting back on sweetened drinks isn’t one of them† Dr. Stacey Rosen said, the chairman of cardiology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY. Next time, rethink what you drink. Works Cited Jaslow, Ryan. â€Å"Sugary Drink Each Day Ups Men’s Heart Disease Risk by 20 Percent. â€Å"Www. cbsnews. com. CBS News, 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. . Gann, Carrie, and Larry Borges. â€Å"Study: One Sugary Drink Per Day Raises Risk of Heart Disease for Men. † Www. abcnews. com. ABC News, 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. . Reidt, Robert. â€Å"Sugary Drinks Can Be Hard on Heart: Study. â€Å"Www. healthyliving. msn. com. Healthy Day, 2 Mar. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. . Theiss, Evelyn. â€Å"Consumption of Sugar Drinks in the U. S. Remains High, Study Shows. â€Å"Www. cleveland. com. N. p. , 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. . Silva, Evan D. â€Å"Monsters v. Students; the Battle for Energy. † Lariat. Multimedia Editor, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. .

Labor Management Relations and High Performance Workplace Strategies Essay Example

Labor Management Relations and High Performance Workplace Strategies Essay Example Labor Management Relations and High Performance Workplace Strategies Essay Labor Management Relations and High Performance Workplace Strategies Essay IMPROVING LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS In today’s highly competitive global economy it is very important for both management and labor to work together to continuously improve the performance of the business as measured by the quality, price, and features of its products, the satisfaction of its customers, and the benefits provided to all its employees. Achieving continuous improvement requires good labormanagement relations, the timely resolution of workplace disputes, the effective use of the collective bargaining process, innovative approaches to workplace organization, mutual sharing of specialized knowledge about the business, and the shared ownership of new ideas. The SEWN program is experienced in working jointly with labor and management to resolve disputes and improve labor management relations both in crisis situations and over the long-term. Resolving Labor-Management Conflict Unresolved disputes between management and labor contribute to many company crises. While some, even sharp, conflict may in fact be a sign of healthy workplace relationships, far too often businesses are put in jeopardy by failing to implement high-performance organizational strategies and improve labormanagement relations. The SEWN program has helped a number of clients resolve crisis situations before they cost the workforce their jobs and the community an important employer. Through these efforts to retain manufacturing in the region we have learned that two key principals are critical for success: 1. The Need to Engage the Workforce To be successful over the long-run, all companies need to engage their workforce in the operation of the business by insuring that workers have the knowledge and skills to do the job as well as the interest and enthusiasm to get things done. In situations in which the workforce is represented by a union, however, management is often ambivalent about the role of the union in the operation of the business. When trust is absent it is especially difficult for both management and labor to separate the workplace situations where they compete or are in conflict from those in which they need to cooperate. Small and middle-market manufacturers, especially privately owned, closely-held firms, suffer the most when workplace relations deteriorate because they lack the resources to effectively manage the business without cooperation. Closely-held family businesses, especially those that try hard to treat their workers fairly, also tend to find it extremely difficult to accept any outside influence over the workplace. 2. The Need to Insure the Businesses’ Success Unions, too, are often ambivalent about cooperating with management and fail to recognize that their long-term interests usually depend on the viability of the business. Union leadership sometimes lack the communication and negotiation skills to broaden the union’s role in supporting the business. In other instances local officials lack the technical or political support of their union to handle the increased responsibilities of attending to not only the compensation and conditions of work but also to the successful use of its member’s talents and abilities. Local elected union officers must also contend with a wide range of local issues as well as cope with their own job and family responsibilities. The SEWN program works hard to stay abreast of the special concerns of organized labor and to maintain good channels of communication. More Than Mediation Both the state and federal government can provide excellent third-party mediation services to help resolve grievances, negotiate contracts, and improve labormanagement relations. When a business is in crisis, however, mediators, are neither able nor responsible for comprehensively examining a businesses’ operating, financial, marketplace, or other problems in order to develop a context in which to quickly bring all of the parties together on what needs to be done. Mediation services also may not be able to respond quickly enough to small distressed manufacturing companies that may be permanently out-of-business within just a few days of a crisis developing. And, mediation services typically are not called in until a problem has become acute. The SEWN program has the responsiveness, skills and resources to provide this kind of comprehensive assessment for its clients. High-Performance Workplaces One of the most critical issues to a businesses’ success is how the workplace is organized to get the job done. In an effort to find new ways to compete effectively in today’s global economy many businesses face hard decisions about what to do on a daily basis. Should the business be downsized, adopt cellular manufacturing techniques, seek wage concessions, adopt progressive workplace practices, utilize ISO 9000 production controls, or expand the role of the labor- management committee process in the operation of the business? Whatever the proper course of action, when both management and labor take ownership of the process of generating and implementing new ideas a much more sustainable process of organizational change can be fostered. Thus, the SEWN program’s approach to improving the productivity, culture, and profitability of a business is client centered. SEWN’s consultants work with all parties to analyze the problems at hand, suggest new ideas, and implement the group’s decisions

Jysk Porter 5 Forces Essay Example

Jysk Porter 5 Forces Essay Example Jysk Porter 5 Forces Paper Jysk Porter 5 Forces Paper For the external analysis I will do a Porter 5-Force analysis on the Micro environment of JYSK on the Chinese market. First I want to have a look at the Industry competitors, so the rivalry. If we take a look on the Chinese market, we can see that there is already a fierce competition going on the market. Domestic and foreign retailers like IKEA or Wal-Mart have already successful penetrated the market. The number will increase constantly, because everybody wants a piece of the cake. If we look at the entry market for JYSK, that would be Shanghai, so there is already a large furniture center. There is no concept like JYSK so far, but most of the segments they serve are already covered, like mattresses. The Chinese market suffers from plagiarism; there is no uniqueness due to that. Next I want to have a look at the potential entrants. In general there are no big entry barriers; it’s easy to penetrate the market. Costs are quiet low. The sorts of concepts you can offer are limited, there is no franchise retail chain on the market yet. IKEA is similar, but different because it’s a self-service shop. The advantage of being a famous European chain is no advantage in china any more, Chinese are brand fixed, but they don’t know European brands on the market that much. For the potential entrants there is to mention, that almost the whole world wants to join the Chinese market and there is and there will be even more beginners. Next I want to have a look at the substitutes. Substitutes do not exist due to the uniqueness of the product-level. It’s almost impossible to substitute a mattress, of course you can use an air mattress, but the possible substitutes are not worth to be mentioned. The big problem is the Chinese patent system, because there is none, the market suffers from plagiarism. Next I want to have a look at the buyers and there Power. The bargaining power of furniture buyers in china is pretty low. Furniture creates less significance for buying ambitions. Most of the time Chinese don’t even buy it by themselves due to a lack of time. If we think about switching costs in that segment, they are low. It’s hard to tie the customer, because the products JYSK sales are exchangeable without any switching costs and the possibilities will be even more in the future. As a result of that the bargaining power growths. Chinese are very open and well informed though very brand fixed, it is easier to tie them with a brand than a product. The consumers are very price sensitive, they want more for less. It’s important to consider national special features, ike not using some colors (yellow) because of their special meaning. Buyers want hard mattresses and because of the fast changing generations the trend of bed-linen and duvets will be change as well. Next I want to have a look at the suppliers. There is already a fierce competition going on at the local supplier market, mass production of less quality is floating the market. Way cheaper than JYSK products. The large number of manufacturers pushed the bargaining po wer of the Chinese furniture industry suppliers. Conclusion: Porter’s 5 Forces has shown that the Chinese furniture market is developing quite fast and changing all the time and due to this suffers from different circumstances (e. g. changing customer needs/ less raw materials). Focusing the micro-level it must be stated that the market is defined by intensive competition due to rivalry in conquering market shares. While entering the market is nothing in the way, companies must be rather careful to prevent plagiarism and stuck to what they are good at. Keep their focus on the brand and less at the variety of the products because the Chinese market offers every product already way cheaper.

A Timeline and History of the Olmec Civilization

A Timeline and History of the Olmec Civilization Olmec: An Introduction The Olmec civilization is the name given to a sophisticated central American culture with its heyday between 1200 and 400 BC. The Olmec heartland lies in the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco, at the narrow part of Mexico west of the Yucatan peninsula and east of Oaxaca. The following is an introductory guide to the Olmec civilization, its place in Central American prehistory, and some important facts about the people and how they lived. Olmec Timeline Initial Formative: 1775-1500 cal BCEarly Formative: 1450-1005 cal BCMiddle Formative: 1005-400 cal BCLate Formative: 400 cal BC While the very earliest sites of the Olmec show relatively simple egalitarian societies based on hunting and fishing, the Olmecs eventually established a highly complex level of political government, including public building projects such as pyramids and large platform mounds; agriculture; a writing system; and a characteristic sculptural artistry including enormous stone heads with heavy features reminiscent of angry babies. Olmec Capitals There are four main regions or zones that have been associated with Olmec by the use of iconography, architecture and settlement plan, including  San Lorenzo de Tenochtitlan,  La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los Cerros. Within each of these zones, there were three or four different levels of hamlets of different sizes. At the center of the zone was a fairly dense center with plazas and  pyramids  and kingly residences. Outside of the center were a somewhat sparser collection of hamlets and farmsteads, each at least economically and culturally tied to the center. Olmec Kings and Rituals Although we dont know any of the Olmec king names, we do know that the rituals associated with king included an emphasis on the sun and reference to solar equinoxes were built into platform and plaza configurations. Sun glyph iconography is seen on many locations and there is an undeniable importance of  sunflower  in dietary and ritual contexts. The ballgame played an important role in  Olmec culture, as it does in many central American societies, and, like those other societies, it may have included human sacrifice. The colossal heads are often sculpted with headgear, thought to represent ball player wear; animal effigies exist of jaguars dressed as ball players. It is possible that women also played in the games, as there are figurines from  La Venta  which are females wearing helmets. Olmec Landscape The Olmec farms and hamlets and centers were situated on and next to a diverse set of landforms, including floodplain lowlands, coastal plains, plateau uplands, and volcanic highlands. But the large Olmec capitals were based on high places in the  floodplains  of big rivers such as Coatzacoalcos and Tabasco. The Olmec coped with recurring floods by building their residences and storage structures on artificially raised earth platforms, or by rebuilding on old sites, creating tell formations. Many of the earliest Olmec sites are likely buried deep within the floodplains. The Olmec were clearly interested in color and color schemes of the environment. For example, the plaza at  La Venta  has a striking appearance of brown soil embedded with tiny bits of shattered greenstone. And there are several blue-green serpentine mosaic pavements tiled with clays and sands in a rainbow of different colors. A common sacrificial object was a jadeite offering covered with red  cinnabar. Olmec Diet and Subsistence By 5000 BC, the Olmec relied on  domestic maize,  sunflower, and manioc, later domesticating  beans. They also gathered corozo palm nuts, squash, and  chili. There is some possibility that the Olmec were the first to use  chocolate. The main source of animal protein was domesticated  dog  but that was supplemented with white-tailed deer, migratory birds, fish, turtles, and coastal shellfish. White tailed-deer, in particular, was specifically associated with ritual feasting. Sacred places:  Caves (Juxtlahuaca and Oxtotitln), springs, and mountains. Sites: El Manati, Takalik Abaj, Pijijiapan. Human Sacrifice:  Children and infants at  El Manati; human remains under monuments at  San Lorenzo;  La Venta  has an altar showing an eagle-clad king holding a captive. Bloodletting, ritual cutting of part of the body to allow bleeding for sacrifice, was probably also practiced. Colossal Heads:  Appear to be portraits of male (and possibly female) Olmec rulers. Sometimes wear helmets indicating that they are ballplayers, figurines, and sculpture from  La Venta  show that women wore helmet headgear, and some of the heads may represent women. A relief at the Pijijiapan as well as  La Venta  Stela 5 and La Venta Offering 4 show women standing next to men rulers, perhaps as partners. Olmec Trade, Exchange, and Communications Exchange:  Exotic materials were brought in or traded from far places to  the Olmec  zones, including literally tons of volcanic basalt to  San Lorenzo  from the Tuxtla mountains, 60 km away, which was carved into royal sculptures and  manos  and metates, natural basalt columns from Roca Partida. Greenstone (jadeite, serpentine, schist, gneiss, green quartz), played a clearly important role in elite contexts at Olmec sites. Some sources for these materials are the gulf coastal region in Motagua Valley, Guatemala, 1000 km away from the Olmec heartland. These materials were carved into beads and animal effigies. Obsidian  was brought in from Puebla, 300 km from  San Lorenzo. And also, Pachuca green obsidian from central Mexico Writing:  The earliest Olmec writing began with glyphs representing calendrical events, and eventually evolved into logographs, line drawings for single ideas. The earliest proto-glyph so far is an Early Formative greenstone carving of a footprint from El Manati. The same sign shows up on a Middle Formative monument 13 at  La Venta  next to a striding figure. The  Cascajal block  shows many early glyph forms. The Olmec designed a printing press of sorts, a roller stamp or cylinder seal, which could be inked and rolled onto human skin, paper, or cloth. Calendar:  260 days, 13 numbers and 20 named days. Olmec Sites La Venta,  Tres Zapotes,  San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Tenango del Valle,  San Lorenzo, Laguna de los Cerros,  Puerto Escondido, San Andres, Tlatilco, El Manati, Juxtlahuaca Cave, Oxtotitln Cave, Takalik Abaj, Pijijiapan, Tenochtitlan, Potrero Nuevo, Loma del Zapote,  El Remolino  and Paso los Ortices, El Manatà ­, Teopantecuanitln, Rà ­o Pesquero, Takalik Abaj Olmec Civilization Issues The Olmec Civilization is at the center of the  mother-sister controversy, which is a debate concerning the relative strength of the Olmec society compared to other early Mesoamerican cultures.The  Cascajal Block, a large block found in a quarry that may be among the earliest written records in central America, andThe search for  bitumen  sources, which was an important resource to many archaeological societies in central America. Olmec bloodletting spoons  have a new explanation these daysWas  chocolate  first used and domesticated by the Olmec? Sources Blomster JP, Neff H, and Glascock, MD. 2005 Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined Through Elemental Analysis.  Science  307:1068-1072.Diehl RA. 2005 Patterns of Cultural Primacy.  Science  307:1055-1056.Flannery KV, Balkansky AK, Feinman GM, Grove DC, Marcus J, Redmond EM, Reynolds RG, Sharer RJ, Spencer CS, and Yaeger J. 2005. Implications of new petrographic analysis for the Olmec ‘‘mother culture’’ model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102(32):11219-11223.Follensbee BJA. 2008. Fiber technology and weaving in formative-period Gulf Coast cultures. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:87–110.Henderson JS, Joyce RA, Hall GR, Hurst WJ, and McGovern PE. 2007. Chemical and archaeological evidence for the earliest cacao beverages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(48):18937-18940.  Joyce RA, and Henderson JS. 2007. From feasting to cuisine: Implications of archaeological research in an early Hondura n village. American Anthropologist 109(4):642–653. Joyce RA, and Henderson JS. 2010. Being Olmec in Early Formative Period Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(1):187-200.Kaufman T, and Justeson J. 2007. Writing the history of the word for cacao in ancient Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 18:193-237.Pohl MD, and von Nagy C. 2008. The Olmec and their contemporaries. In: Pearsall DM, editor. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. London: Elsevier Inc. p 217-230.Rodrà ­guez Martà ­nez MdC, Ortà ­z Ceballos P, Coe MD, Diehl RA, Houston SD, Taube KA, and Alfredo DC. 2006. Oldest Writing in the New World. Science 313:1610-1614.  Sharer RJ, Balkansky AK, Burton JH, Feinman GM, Flannery KV, Grove DC, Marcus J, Moyle RG, Price TD, Redmond EM et al. 2006. On The Logic Of Archaeological Inference: Early Formative Pottery And The Evolution Of Mesoamerican Societies. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):90-103.Wendt CJ, and Cyphers A. 2008. How the Olmec used bitumen in ancient Mesoamerica. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27(2):175-191.Wendt CJ, and Lu S -T. 2006. Sourcing archaeological bitumen in the Olmec region. Journal of Archaeological Science 33(1):89-97.

Ethics memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethics memo - Essay Example Instant messaging might be considered as a source of enhancing the productivity of Texas technologies. This is because IM allows the employees to perform multiple tasks in an effective manner. However, a major issue linked with this feature is that the security and privacy risks as well as legal issues of the employers can be made an increased subject of exposure. it should be concern that if no strict policy is not put into practice, the Texas technology would result in a lack of control over their employees and inevitably into a disastrous end for the company. A major concern is that the most of the employers are unaware of the pervasiveness of the use of instant messages within the company. This is mainly because the employees at Texas technology are set up IM accounts without the knowledge of the company. In order to put a stop to this issue within the Texas technology it is important that effective policies should be enforced and the employees should be educated on the matter. Certain guidelines for appropriate and suitable personal as well as business use must be enforced and set so as to ensure that the employees are utilizing the feature of IM in a professional manner at Texas technology. By educating the employees regarding the proper IM usage will lead to minimized employers risk. Due to the fact that the IM accounts are an easy target for hacker penetration, the technology should be in place because this is allow the identity of the person they are in communication with to be confirmed. The employers must be made aware of certain legal issues which result from using the instant messaging within the company. Closing: it can thus be summarized that the use of instant messaging certain employees consider as a type of break can result in disastrous effect for the company. This can be done by appropriate IM management. Defense against liability for the behavior of the employees on IM can be accomplished

Special Stain NoteBook Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Special Stain NoteBook - Research Paper Example Again, the tissue is rinsed in the stain with cold water and finally, dipped in ethanol fixate, then in xylene for forty-five seconds (Yakovlev, 2009). Procedure (Steps): Bouin’s solution, an inorganic oxide, is used in microwave for one minute and is allowed to stand for fifteen minutes. Subsequently, for five minutes, the stain is washed in tap water, followed by the application of one drop of hematoxylin and is allowed to stand for ten minutes. Correspondingly, it is again washed in tap water for five minutes and then rinse in distilled water. In the following step, the stain is dipped in biebrich scarlet solution for five minutes and then rinsed in distilled water. Then phosphomolybdic or phosphotungstic is applied with a resting time of ten minutes required to discard it. Sixth, then transferred to aniline blue solution, and is kept for five minutes. The stain is then rinsed in distilled water. Again one percent of acetic acid is applied on the specimen and rinsed in distilled water. Finally, it is dehydrated and cleared (Media Lab Incorporated, 2015). Procedure (Steps): At the initial step, sections of the tissue is deparaffinized and hydrated and then suspended in distilled water. In the second step, 250 ml of iron stain solution is added to the specimen and dipped for thirty minutes. Then the specimen needs to be washed for three times in distilled water. Again it needs to be stained with 250 ml nuclear fast red solution for five minutes and then rinsed in distilled water. In the third step, the specimen needs to be dehydrated through 95% of alcohol for two changes, followed by the final and the last process to clear it in xylene solution for three changes and for two times, before covering the slip by using permanent mounting medium (Biogenex, 2015). Procedure (Steps): First, deparaffinize sections of the liver and hydrate it to deionized water. Second, oxidize the liver section in 1% potassium