National Correct Coding Initiative Edit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

National Correct Coding Initiative Edit - Essay Example The NCCI Coding Policy Manual for the Medicare Services is usually updated annually by the CMS. This Coding Policy Manual should therefore be used as a general reference tool, which explains the rationale for the NCCI edits, by the FIs and the carriers (â€Å"National Correct Coding Initiative Edits†, n.d.). There are two types of NCCI Edits, which include procedure-to-procedure (PTP), and Medically Unlikely Edits (MUE). The PTP edits defines HCPCS/CPT codes which should not be reported together for various reasons, while MUE defines the maximum units of service which a provider would report on the circumstances of the same beneficiary on a single service date for each HCPCS/CPT code The NCCI edits is aimed at preventing inappropriate or improper payments after reporting of incorrect code combination. It contains two tables of edits, one for the outpatient hospital services and another for the physicians/practitioners. The Correct Coding Edits table for Column 1 – Column 2 has been combined into one table with the Mutually Exclusive Edits table and they include the code pairs, which should not be reported together for several reasons, which are explained in the Coding Policy Manual (â€Å"National Correct Coding Initiative Edits†, n.d.). A Correspondence Language Manual has also been made available. It was written and is maintained for the Medical Contractors utilization in answering routine correspondence enquiries on the MUE edits and NCCI procedure-to-procedure. The rationale for the edits are explained in the paragraphs for the general correspondence language (â€Å"The National Correct Coding Initiative in Medicaid | Medicaid.gov.†, n.d .). These guidelines consist of HCPCS or CPT procedure code-pairs, which must not be reported together. It also consists of MUEs, which determine if the procedure codes are submitted in,

Success or Failure in the Organizational Change Process Essay Example for Free

Success or Failure in the Organizational Change Process Essay With the current state of the economy today many organizations are faced with the task of implementing organizational change. The change that needs to occur can be either very successful or a complete failure if attention to the details of the change is not explored. The Concord Bookstore is an independent store that faced these challenges during a time of urgency for businesses to restructure in order to achieve a successful strategic renewal. When reflecting on the varying approaches an organization can take in order to form a strategic renewal, there were a few critical steps that the Concord Bookstore ignored. These important steps may have been what contributed to the failure of their organizational change. The Concord Bookstore is one small business that is facing economic hardship similar to what many other organizations of all shapes and sizes are. The need for restructuring was self-evident, but the manner in which the restructuring occurred led to employee and customer resistance alike. The first example I would like to address involves the history of the business as an independently owned entity that survived for 64 years. Upon tallying the staff’s time with the company collectively it outdid the existence of the company itself averaging 73 years of experience. This detail leads one to believe that it is this experience which has made the business so successful in the community for so long. When the owner of the company announced the need for organizational change, Spector (2010) noted this change as a â€Å"precipitating event [that] was a surprise announcement last month†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (p. ) This description alone illustrates a disjointed business in which decisions were made from the upper level corporate management straight to the community with no intermediate involvement from the managers and the employees of the business. When they chose to take this approach, it led to much resistance from the employees since it did not take into account any of their personal attributes as being integral parts of the businesses past successes. Although one can agree based on the current economy alone, that small business does have major challenges they need to face in order to stay profitable and successful, it is imperative to have employee support in order to achieve these objectives. During a time of strategic renewal it is important to note that an organizational change is necessary. The Concord Bookstore should have evaluated the behaviors of the employees in order to reflect a more supportive stance in order to gain acceptance of the organizational change. According to Burrows, as cited by Spector (2010) â€Å"In the corporate world, customers expect to be treated as long-term partners, actually having a say in the development of new products† (p. 5 ). This theory tends to illustrate the dissatisfaction of the customers of the Concord Bookstore that also took the announcement of the organizational change as a negative attribute. These concerns stated by both employee and customers alike are what led to the failure of the organizational change. For a successful strategic renewal to take place a business/organization should really first aim to work towards behavioral change. This can be done in a variety of ways. The first initiative that the Concord Bookstore should have taken was to work on the â€Å"motivation† of the employees. As referenced by Spector (2010), Denison noted that the advantage to behavioral change relies on â€Å"the manner in which work is organized, information is shared, decisions are made, coordination occurs, and problems are solved are [all] performance differentiators† (p 7). If these attributes are defined and utilized during the organizational change process then the advantages can sustain for the long-term. Many customers noted that the admirable qualities of the Concord Bookstore were the knowledgeable staff and their eagerness and joy to meet the consumer demands. By the corporate level management deciding how the business would be restructured with no employee or customer input, it is easily understood why there was so much resistance to the organizational change. With the â€Å"participation† of the employees and customers alike, an organizational change leading to a strategic renewal may have been more successful. The willingness to let the employees and customers alike â€Å"participate† demonstrates a value for the employees and the customers that an organization does business with. Spector (2010) noted that â€Å"participation in the process of defining problems and designing solutions will help build commitment to the new directions that result from that process† (p. 12). When one lets â€Å"participation† occur naturally, it leads to a sense of self-worth, allows the employees to feel apart of the restructuring, gives the employees a chance to be a part of finding solutions and supporting the process with more commitment and motivation. When the Concord Bookstore made their initial announcement none of these strategies took place. When there is a need for and organizational change it is hard to leave the status quo. It is even harder to leave something so familiar if not allowed to feel a valued asset of what had once in the past contributed so much to the success of a business. Had the Concord Bookstore allowed the employees to play a more active role in the organizational restructuring of the business, there may have been a much different outcome. In the end, the Concord Bookstore ended up defending its initiatives for organizational change but never had the support of the people it needed the most; its employees and customers. This case demonstrates a great example to the fact that every organizational change needs to also deal the behavioral change of the business in order to avoid any type of resistance and further meet long-term success and vitality.

‘Who am I when I am transported?’ Postcolonialism and Peter Carey’s Jack Maggs :: Essays Papers

‘Who am I when I am transported?’ Postcolonialism and Peter Carey’s Jack Maggs In Decolonising Fictions, theorists Diana Brydon and Helen Tiffin claim that postcolonial writers create texts that ‘write back’ against imperial fictions and question the values once taken for granted by the once dominant Anglocentric discourse of the imperial epicentre. In Jack Maggs the process of ‘writing back’ is well illustrated. As in Jean Rhy’s Wide Sargasso Sea , the colonial ‘other’ character from a canonised Victorian novel becomes the principal figure in a modern 'decolonising' text, and the peripheral reaches of empire become of central importance. In Jack Maggs, Australian novelist Peter Carey reconfigures the plot of Dickens’s classic Great Expectations so that it is the maginalised, (colonial) convict figure who now becomes the narrative focus. By filtering the experiences of the exiled convict through a post-colonial lens, Carey creates a text that pays homage too, yet simultaneously questions the values at the heart of the source text’s imperialist discourse. As Brydon and Tiffin point out, Anglocentrism refuses Post-Colonial territories the right to their own identities, assuming instead that they are merely engulfable parts of the imperial centre. Therefore, in Great Expectations, Australia functioned not as a coherent, cohesive nation, but rather, as an off stage peripheral location were characters awaited their return to the on stage action of the imperial centre, London . Carey tackles this trend head on, by writing a novel that seeks ‘non repressive alternatives to imperialist discourse’ and which refuses to privilege the metropolitan centre over the Colonial margins. At the heart of the text’s reconfiguration of imperialist discourse lies the complex relationship between returned convict Jack Maggs and up-and-coming writer Tobias Oates. Significantly, Oates bears more than a few biographical similarities with Charles Dickens. For instance, like Dickens, Oates has a feckless, indebted father, an unhappy marriage, a fascination with mesmerism, and the fierce desire to make his name ‘not just as the author of comic adventures, but as a novelist who might one day topple Thackeray himself’ (Carey 43). By having Oates, a fictionalised Charles Dickens figure, exist in the same imaginative space as Jack Maggs, the modern reworking of one of Dickens’ most memorable characters, Carey is able to explore not only the questions left unanswered by the source text, but also the difficult relationship that exists between character and creator. The relationship between Oates, soon to become the Empire’s greatest living writer, and Maggs, the marginalised colonial figure, is one that parallels the manner in which the literary potential of the Imperial colonies was mined by Victorian writers.

The Blue Sword CHAPTER ELEVEN

In the hollow where they met Murfoth they set up their first proper camp. The hunting-beasts all went out that night, and everyone, not just a few Riders, had good fresh meat for dinner. The king's zotar was put up, and it was obvious that it was the king's, for it was the biggest, but this one was plain, a dull dun color, and the door was just a tent flap, and inside there were a few carpets, and hooks on side poles for lanterns, but that was all; although the black-and-white banner still flew bravely from the peak of the roof. She and the king and Murfoth and most of the Riders – Innath and Mathin among them – slept within it; but she lay awake a long time listening to the others breathe. You didn't hear the person next to you breathing if there wasn't a ceiling over you to keep the noise closed in. She missed the stars. The next morning there was breakfast at a long table similar to the one where she had first met the Riders; they were all there again, with a few others of those who had joined them over the last few days. Corlath explained what was immediately ahead of them: how they would climb into the mountains again – the range was widest where the curve west was sharpest – to meet the high plateau where the Lake of Dreams lay, and where Luthe lived. Luthe? thought Harry. Most of the army would not climb all the way to the meeting-place, but fade into the forest in little groups and pretend to be invisible; for, so far at least, Corlath and the outriders believed they had not been sighted. Harry blinked and wondered if the morning mists that seemed to continue all day long every day as a kind of dull haze had after all been more than a curious local weather pattern. Luthe himself – Mathin told her this during an interval while the household folk brought in hot malak – had ways even Corlath did not understand of seeing things, and Corlath wished to see and speak to him. But Luthe never left his lands, and so it was necessary to seek him there. â€Å"Luthe claims that lowland air confuses him,† Mathin said, and shrugged the uneven Hill shrug. â€Å"It is not for us to know.† He picked up his cup. â€Å"Yes, but who is Luthe?† said Harry. Mathin regarded her with his inscrutable expression. â€Å"No one knows,† he said. â€Å"Luthe is †¦ someone who lives in the mountains, who sees things – things something like what some of us see when we taste the Meeldtar. He has been there a very long time. No one can remember when Luthe came, or when he has not lived on his mountain.† â€Å"And the Lake of Dreams?† Mathin stared into his cup. â€Å"There is a spring that runs into the Lake of Dreams, and it is where the Water of Sight is found; but sometimes the water from the spring is only water, and no one knows why; although it is believed that Luthe knows. Water drunk from the Lake of Dreams does not give the Sight, as the true Meeldtar does; but it is not quite like drinking †¦ water.† Harry sighed. Corlath explained briefly for the newcomers what the army was proposing to do. The Northerners must, perforce, choose the one wide pass in the mountains that led into the great central plain and then the bare desert of Damar, for it was the only gap large enough to accommodate an army's numbers. The gap was a bit west of the midpoint of the length of the mountains from the curve where the north-south mountains, the Ildik range, became the east-west Horfel Mountains. When the last of Corlath's little army had collected in the hollow at the elbow of the two ranges, they would ride as quickly as horseflesh would allow to the mouth of that pass, and prepare to engage the enemy among the empty villages and deserted fields of Damar. Then there was a silence, for all in the king's tent knew that Corlath's force could not win a victory from the Northerners; nor were they likely able to resist them to the point that the invaders would decide Damar wasn't worth the trouble and return home. The best the defenders could hope for, and this they did hope for, was to cause enough trouble and loss that the Northern army would not have the strength left to seize all of Damar in quite so tight and effective a grip as Thurra would wish; and that pockets of renegade Hillfolk might hide in the Hills, or under the kelar of the City. If they succeeded so much, the battle would be worth what it would cost them, for they would have preserved themselves a future. Harry swallowed uncomfortably. She heard, a little dizzily, what Corlath was saying about the foothills the mountain pass gave into, and where the army would stand; and she cast in her mind for her best memory of Damarian geography, for she had the unpleasant sensation that something was being ignored, something that shouldn't be. Corlath was saying that they would decide more exactly once they arrived, but he seemed to know every stone and clump of grass there, the exact location of every farmhouse, as did those who listened; no one fell so low as to seek recourse to a map. She frowned in concentration. She could almost see the Residency map of Dana; it was very poor at the eastern end; it barely admitted to the existence of the mountains where the king's City stood – the City itself was one of Jack Dedham's native legends – but about the west it was pretty accurate †¦ Ah! Corlath had fallen silent. Murfoth said something and there was another silence, and Harry put in, timidly but stubbornly: â€Å"Sola, what of the pass just northwest of the †¦ of the Outlander station? It is narrow, but not so narrow that the †¦ the Northerners could not send a line through to come up behind us.† Corlath frowned. â€Å"Let them take the Outlander city – it will keep them amused long enough to delay them, perhaps. Even the Outlanders will try to stop them when they are on the threshold.† There was a silence so rigid that Harry felt that speaking words into it was like chopping holes in a frozen lake. â€Å"They would do a better job trying to stop them if they were warned,† she said. Her words didn't make much of a hole; the ice thickened visibly. She didn't want to do anything so obvious as put her hand on her sword hilt; but she did press her elbow surreptitiously against it, and stiffened her spine. â€Å"They were warned,† said Corlath, and Harry raised her eyes to his and saw the golden tide rising in them; and wondered what that fruitless conversation in the Residency must have cost him. Yet he hadn't burned the Residency down with that golden glare of his, as she suspected he could have; and so she blinked at him now and said, â€Å"Colonel Dedham would listen to you. You did not know the Northerners were on the march †¦ then; you know for certain now. The pass is narrow; he could hold it for you indefinitely – but not if they have had time to come through and go where they will.† Her voice was rising with fear and perhaps anger: was there anything but stubborn pride, the offended majesty of the absolute ruler of his small land, working in Corlath, that he should waste a chance to gain a little more time? How little she knew him after all, and how little she knew Damar, she who could not visualize every yellow blade of korf before the great pass in the mountains. And yet she could see – did she not truly see? – the threat that this second, narrow pass presented; a threat that the king and the commander of the army was choosing to overlook. She did not understand; she was born of a different people and she understood different things. â€Å"No,† said Corlath; the word rang like an axe blow, and his eyes were as yellow as topazes. Harry stared back at him – you great bully – even knowing what he could do to her, even as the sweat broke out on her skin with the effort of holding his eyes. Her elbow clamped desperately on Gonturan, and the hard edge of the blue gem dug into her ribs and encouraged her. Then he snapped his gaze from her and pointed it at the tent flap and shouted, though he rarely shouted, and fresh malak was brought in and fruit with it. The ice began, nervously, to break up, and Harry glowered at her cup and refused to be drawn into conversation, and listened to her heart beating, and wondered if she were a traitor; and if so, to whom? The next morning thirty-five chosen horsemen, with Corlath at their head and Harry, still somewhat sulky, among them, started up the track to Luthe's holding. The rest of the army broke camp first, and melted into the scrub of the mountains' feet, taking the hunting-beasts and the pack horses with them. Corlath and the little band with him waited till last, watching them go, judging if their disappearance was effective; looking to see if there were any too obvious paths broken in the undergrowth. A few fleeks broke cover, but that was the only sign of their passage. Corlath and whoever else might have a weather talent must have been satisfied, and Harry watched, with a few cold fingers working their way up her spine in spite of the heat: for the loyal fog over them was blandly breaking up. The sky was blue and clear. A britti burst into song, and Harry raised her eyes to watch the little brown speck zigzagging madly overhead. Corlath sent his big bay forward, and thirty-four riders, and one obstinate hunting-cat, followed. Harry hung near the back. She had not slept the night before for thinking of the northwest pass and Jack Dedham; Dedham's face watching Corlath as he stormed out of the Residency; and Corlath's face as he said, â€Å"Let them take the Outlander city – it will keep them amused.† Surely there was a reason none of the Hillfolk thought that gap into Damar worth consideration? But if there was a reason, what was the reason? Perhaps this Luthe would show some sense. Perhaps his crystal ball or what-have-you would say, â€Å"Beware the northwest pass! Beware!† And then again maybe it wouldn't. So, Harry, what do you propose to do about it then? She didn't know. She concentrated on Sungold's ears, slender and pricked, framing the trail in front of her, and the dark grey haunches of Innath's horse going on before. The scrub gave way to trees, and the trees to greater trees, till they were walking in a forest heavy with age, where even the air tasted old. By the end of the afternoon all the riders were on foot, walking with their sweat-dark horses up a steep uneven incline. Harry was panting, but she tried to do it quietly. Corlath probably never breathed hard. Tsornin's nostrils showed red, but his ears were as alert as ever, and occasionally he would rub his nose gently against the nape of her neck, just in case she was momentarily not thinking about him. Narknon ranged beside them like a dappled shadow. The trees were so tall and grand that Harry, watching her, could believe that she was no bigger than a housecat; that when she came up to be petted, she would twine around Harry's ankles, and Harry would pick her up with one hand and put her on her shoulder. The trees were so high overhead that the twilight beneath them might have been sunset, but might only be leaf shade; and they were a silent company, for no one spoke and the footfalls were muted by leaves and moss. Harry allowed herself to wonder about the trail, as an alternative to her endless mental circles about northwest passes: that it stayed clear enough that no one had to duck under low-hanging branches, or fight a way through an encroaching bush, but so little used that the moss underfoot was thick and smooth. And still smooth after thirty horses and thirty human pedestrians have tramped over it, the thirty-first pedestrian thought, scuffing it curiously with one foot. Sturdy moss. Maybe Luthe is a botanist in his spare time. By nightfall Harry was still walking only by dint of holding a large handful of Sungold's mane in one hand. She had tried resting an arm across his back, but his back was too high for comfort; and her sweaty hand kept sliding through his fine hair. Even his head was hanging a little low, and Harry knew she was still in company only by the soft creaking of other saddles and the occasional flicker in the gloom immediately ahead that was Innath's horse flipping its tail. As she walked her eyes closed and the colors of exhaustion twinkled across her eyelids. Then to her dismay they began to sort themselves out into patterns, but she was too tired even to open her eyes and disperse them. She saw a red-haired rider on a white horse. The horse was old, white with age, the bones of its face very clear and fine; she thought it went just a bit short with its right hind foot, but its neck was arched and its tail high. The rider's shoulders were set grimly, the legs against the horse's sides were determined, not eager. There was a smoky redness to the horizon beyond them, scarlet that did not look like dawn or sunset; they were going toward it, and the light flashed off a chain around the rider's neck and the helm tied to the saddle, and the rider's hair, and the horse's flanks. Harry wondered where they were going, where they had come from. The countryside could have been Damar. It could have been almost anywhere. She realized there was light shining through her eyelids; it was setting the white horse on fire. The horse broke into a canter, a shining glistening wave of motion †¦ Harry dizzily opened her eyes. They were approaching a clearing set with torches; she could see Corlath halted, talking to a man as tall as he was, but narrower; the man's hair was yellow. Innath broke into the lighted circle, and Harry came after, trying not to stumble, too tired even to take her hand out of Sungold's mane for pride's sake. She looked around a little, and the faces she could see near her were haggard and drooping. Perversely, this gave her strength; she dropped her hand and straightened her shoulders. Sungold turned his head to rest his chin on her shoulder. â€Å"Who's reassuring whom here?† she murmured, and Narknon immediately sat on Harry's feet and bumped her hand with her head as if to say, I am. Someone knew the way, for while Corlath finished speaking with the yellow-haired man the rest of the Riders were following someone else to †¦ someplace to lie down, Harry wished fervently. She stole a glance at Corlath as she passed him, and was comforted by the hollows under his eyes and cheekbones. It might have been only the torchlight. When Harry woke up the sun was high, and for a minute she had no idea where she was. Her first thought was that she had missed breakfast and her father would tease her about burning midnight oil. Then she remembered, with the old lurch of the heart, that she was in Daria with Richard – no, Damar, with Sungold, and Narknon, who sprawled across her feet. And Corlath, and Gonturan. Her hand had rested lightly on her sword hilt again as she slept, and through the first upheaval of waking; now her fingers recognized what they touched. She shivered, sighed, sat up. She was in a long narrow hall with a dozen or so low beds in it; high overhead, narrow but close-spaced windows let in a flood of sunlight. She only dimly remembered coming here, having seen Tsornin stabled and unsaddled and happy with a manger of grain and a heap of hay; and falling into her bed, asleep before she touched it. Most of the other beds in the room were still occupied. The hall was built of large blocks of undressed grey-and-white stone; the same sort of stone, she thought, as much of Corlath's City. The room was cool, but it smelled clean and sharp, like young leaves. There were doors at each of the narrow ends of the room, and as she stood at the foot of the bed she could look through either of them. The flagstones were cold underfoot. She sat back down on the edge of the bed – It's even a real bed, she thought – and regarded her pillow a moment. Then she sighed regretfully and pulled on her boots. Narknon opened one eye and closed it again. The rooms on each side looked much like the one she was in, and full of still-sleeping bodies rolled in dark blankets. There was another door midway in the wall opposite the windows. This she went through. Here was a vast hall, taller than the ancient trees of the forest she had just walked wearily through, with windows cut at the very heads of the walls to open above the lower roofs of the sleeping corridors. At one end of this space was a fireplace that in any room less immense would have been itself enormous; here it looked insignificant. There were several massive wooden chairs before it, and a long trestle table beyond these; the rest of the chamber was empty. Opposite the fireplace wall were doors, thrown open to admit sunlight and birdsong and the rustle of leaves. She looked up at the ceiling. Curiously, there was no sense of oppression built by the stone and space; rather there was peacefulness, the quiet of repose. Contented simply to be less tired than she had been the night before, she stood a moment, drinking in the sense of relaxation. For the first time since the confrontation with Corlath, the thought of the northwest pass left her freely, without her straining to push it aside; even the knowledge of the coming war, of her part in her first battle, did not trouble her at present. Of the latter she did know it would trouble her later – soon; but she would attend to it later. For now she smiled. Her mouth felt stiff. She brought her gaze down from the ceiling and directed it again toward the fireplace. Sleep and peace were all very well, but she smelled food, and she was hungry. The man with yellow hair who had stood talking with Corlath the night before was sitting in one of the great wooden chairs; she did not notice him till she was quite near. Her footfalls dropped gently to silence; no sullen echoes ran up the walls to disturb the birdcalls. She stopped. There was a tiny fire, barely two hands' breadth, burning at the front of the cavern of the hearth. Over it hung a large silver pot on a chain, and on a stool nearby were a stack of deep silver bowls, and a heap of shining silver spoons. â€Å"Breakfast,† said the man with yellow hair. â€Å"I've had mine; eat as much as you like. I flatter myself it's quite good, although I admit I'm not much accustomed to cooking for so many, and one begins to lose count of how many potatoes one has already put in after the first armful.† She sat down with her bowl, feeling that formal introductions were not wanted and that he would be amused if she tried to be conventionally polite; and she was so hungry. As she sat, he brought up a leather bag from the far side of his chair and poured into a flagon discovered at his feet. He handed it to her: â€Å"Goat's milk,† he said. There were brown flecks of spices floating in it. She smiled, not so stiffly this time. She looked at him as she ate; and while she was sure he knew she watched him, he kept his eyes on the small leaps and dance steps of the flame beneath the pot, as if letting her look her fill was a courtesy he did her along with filling her belly. He was tall, she knew; sitting, he looked even taller, for he was so slender. His arms were spread wide from his sides to rest on the is of the chair; but his long fingers reached well over the curled fronts of the armrests, and his knees were several inches beyond long seat of the chair. He wore a dark green tunic, and a brown shirt beneath it, with long full sleeves gathered at the wrists with gold ribbons. He wore tall pale boots that reached just above his knees, where the tunic fell over them. The tunic was slit up the side to his waist, and the leggings beneath it were the gold of the ribbons. He wore no sash; rather a narrow band of dark blue cloth made a cross over his breast, and wrapped once thinly about his waist. The ends of it were tassels, midnight blue shot with gold. A huge dark red stone hung on a chain around his neck. His face was thoughtful as he stared at the fire. His nose was long and straight and his lips thin; his eyes were heavy-lidded and blue. His hair was curly as well as bright gold, and it grew low over his collar and ears although he was clean-shaven. He should look young, Harry thought. But he did not. Neither did he look old. He turned to her as she set down her bowl and cup, and smiled. â€Å"Well? Did I know when to stop adding potatoes?† Hill potatoes were golden and far more flavorful than the pale Homelander variety that Harry had eaten obediently but without enthusiasm when she was a child, and here they blended most satisfactorily with the delicate white fish that was the basis of the I stew. It was the first time she had eaten fresh fish since she had left her Homeland, where she had often brought supper home after a few hours beside a pool or stream on her father's estate; and she was pleased, now, to notice that remembering this fact caused no nervous ripples of emotion about her past or her future. â€Å"Yes,† she said peacefully. Their eyes met, and he asked, as though he were an old friend or her father, â€Å"Are you happy?† She thought about it, her gaze drifting away from his and coming to rest on the tip of Gonturan, as she leaned against her sol's chair; for she had, without thinking about it one way or another, slung Gonturan around her as soon as she stood up from her bed. â€Å"No, not precisely,† she said. â€Å"But I don't believe I wish to complain of unhappiness.† She paused a minute, looking at the thoughts that had been with her constantly for the weeks since she had left her old life as a bundle across Fireheart's withers. â€Å"It is that I cannot see what I am doing or why, and it is unsettling always to live only in the moment as it passes. Oh, I know – one never sees ahead or behind. But I see even less. It is like being blindfolded when everyone else in the room is not. No one can see outside the room – but everyone else can see the room. I would like to take my blindfold off.† The man smiled. â€Å"It is a reasonable wish. No one lives more than a few moments either way – even those fortunate or unfortunate ones who can see how the future will be cast; and perhaps they feel the minute's passing the most acutely. But it is comforting to have some sense of †¦ the probability of choices, perhaps?† â€Å"Yes,† she sighed, and tapped a finger on Gonturan's hilt, and thought of the red-haired rider on the white horse. He had looked as though he knew where he was going, although she had to admit that he had also looked as if the knowledge gave him no joy. â€Å"Not he,† said the man with yellow hair. â€Å"The Lady Aerin. You should begin to recognize her, you know; you have seen her often enough.† She blinked at him. â€Å"You carry her sword, and ride to a fate not entirely of your own choosing. It is not surprising that she in some manner chooses to ride with you. She knew much of fate.† Not surprising. It continued to surprise her. She would prefer that it surprise her, in fact. She permitted herself – just briefly – to think about her Homeland, with the wide grassy low hills and blue rivers, when the only sword she knew was her father's dress sword, which was not sharp and which she was forbidden to touch; and where the only sand was at the seaside. She rediscovered herself staring at a silver pot over a tiny fire. â€Å"I'm afraid I can't comfort you very much with predictions; it is pleasant when I can comfort anyone with predictions, and I always enjoy it as much as possible because it doesn't happen too often. But I can tell you even less than I can usually tell anyone, and it hurts my pride.† His hand closed around the dark stone at his neck; it glowed through his fingers like fire. She looked at him, startled. â€Å"You have already begun to see the hardness of the choices that you will soon be forced to make; and the choosing will not be any easier for your not knowing why you must choose.† His voice took on a singsong quality, the red light of the stone pulsed like a heart, and the heavy eyelids almost closed. â€Å"Take strength from your own purpose, for you will know what you must do, if you let yourself; trust your horse and the cat that follows you, for there are none better than they, and they love you; and trust your sword, for she holds the strength of centuries and she hates what you are learning to hate. And trust the Lady Aerin, who visits you for your reassurance, whether you believe it at present or not; and trust your friendships. Friends you will have need of, for in you two worlds meet. There is no one on both sides with you, so you must learn to take your own counsel; and not to fear what is strange, if you know it also to be true.† He opened his eyes. â€Å"It is not an enviable position, being a bridge, especially a bridge with visions. I should know.† â€Å"You're Luthe, of course,† she said. â€Å"Of course. I told Corlath in particular to bring you – although he has always brought his Riders if he brings anyone. And I knew you had been made a Rider. I don't ask for anyone often; you should be pleased.† â€Å"I can see the two worlds I am between,† she said, unheeding, â€Å"although why the second one chose to rise up and snatch me I still don't understand – â€Å" â€Å"Ask Colonel Dedham the next time you see him,† Luthe put in. â€Å"The next – ? But – † she said, bewildered, and thrown off her thought. â€Å"You were about to ask me a question important to you, for you were trying to put your thoughts in order, when I interrupted you,† said Luthe mildly, â€Å"although I won't be able to answer it. I told you I am not often comforting.† â€Å"What are your two worlds?† she said, almost obliterating the question as she continued: â€Å"But if you can't answer it, why should I ask? Can you hear everything I'm thinking?† â€Å"No,† he replied. â€Å"Only those arrow-like thoughts that come flying out with particular violence. You have a better organized mind than most. Most people are distressing to talk to because they have no control over their thinking at all, and it is a constant barrage, like being attacked by a tangle of thornbushes, or having a large litter of kittens walking up your legs, hooking in their claws at every step. It's perhaps also an effective preventative to having one's mind read, for who can identify the individual thorn?† Harry laughed involuntarily. â€Å"Innath said you lived where you do, high up and away from everything, because lowland air clouds your mind.† â€Å"True enough. It is a little embarrassing to be forced to play the enigmatic oracle in the mountain fastness, but I have found it necessary. â€Å"Corlath, for example, when he has something on his mind, can knock me down with it at arm's length. He's often asked me to come stay in his prison that he calls a city, saying that I might like it as it is made of the same stone as this – † He gestured upward. â€Å"No thank you.† He smiled. â€Å"He does not love the stone walls of his city, and so he does not understand why I do love my walls; to him they look the same. But he knows me better than to press it, or to be offended.† â€Å"If it is only within arm's length you find Corlath overwhelming, I have no sympathy for you,† Harry said ruefully, and he laughed. â€Å"We soothsayers have other means of resistance,† he said, â€Å"But I shall be sure to tell him you said so.† She sobered. â€Å"I'd rather you didn't, if you don't mind. I'm afraid we're – we're not on the best of terms just now.† Luthe drummed his fingers on the wooden armrest. â€Å"Yes, I did rather suspect that, and I'm sorry for it, for you need each other.† He drummed some more. â€Å"Or at any rate he needs you, and you could do a lot worse than to believe in him.† Luthe rubbed his forehead. â€Å"But I will grant you that he is a stubborn man at times.† He was silent a moment. â€Å"Aerin was a little like that; but she was also a little like you †¦ Aerin was very dear to me.† He smiled faintly. â€Å"Teachers are always vain of the students who go on to do great things.† â€Å"Aerin?† said Harry. â€Å"Aerin? Lady Aerin of this sword?† – and she banged the hilt of Gonturan. â€Å"Yes,† said Luthe gently. â€Å"The same red-haired Aerin who troubles you with visions. You asked me about my two worlds: you could say that they are the past and the present.† After a long cold moment Harry said, â€Å"Why did you ask Corlath to bring me here?† â€Å"I told you that, surely. Because I knew he needed you; and I wanted to find out if you were the sort of vessel that cracks easily.† Harry took a deep breath. â€Å"And am I?† â€Å"I think you will do very well.† He smiled. â€Å"And that is a much more straightforward answer than anyone consulting an oracle has a right to expect. I shall stop feeling guilty about you.† Corlath and his Riders spent two days in Luthe's hall; the horses grazed in a broad meadow, the only wide stretch of sunlit green within a day's journey of the tree-filled valley where Luthe made his home. Harry found Sungold tearing across the field, head up and tail a banner, on the first morning, the toilsome way up the mountain apparently forgotten. He galloped over to where Harry leaned on the frame of the open stable, where a few of the horses still lingered inside, musing over their hay. â€Å"You make me tired,† said Harry absently, thinking of her conversation with Luthe. â€Å"You should be recuperating, not bounding around like a wild foal.† Tsornin thrust his nose under her chin, unrepentant. â€Å"You realize we will have to do the whole thing again shortly? And then go on – and on and on? You should be harboring your strength.† Sungold nibbled her hair. The other Riders and the fifteen other horsemen slowly seeped out of the tall stone house. Harry tried to decide, watching them, if any had had bewildering conversations with their host; but she couldn't guess, and it did not seem the sort of thing one might ask. They all looked only semi-awake, as if the journey so far – this was the first real halt since they left the City – combined with the sweet peacefulness of Luthe's domain prevented the lot of saddle-hardened warriors from feeling anything but pleasantly drowsy. They smiled at one another and leaned on their swords, and even tended their precious horses nonchalantly, as though they knew that the horses did not need them here. Narknon, so far as Harry could tell, never moved from her bed; she merely stretched out when Harry left it, and reluctantly permitted herself to be shoved to one side when Harry re-entered. Harry, although she felt the same gentle air around her, was surprised; whatever it was, it had less effect on her. Corlath himself strode around in his usual high-energy fashion; if any sense of ease was trying to settle on him, it was having a hard time of it, for he was no different than he ever was, although he did not seem surprised at the condition of his followers. Harry stayed out of his way, and if he noticed this, he gave no sign. Mostly he spoke to Luthe – Harry saw with interest, on the occasions she saw them together, that Corlath seemed to do far more talking than his companion – or muttered to himself. The mutter-ings couldn't have been pleasant, for he was often scowling. The two days were fine and clear; warm enough during the day to make bathing in the pool at the edge of the horses' meadow pleasant, cool enough at night to make the blankets on the beds in the sleeping-chambers of comfort. The torches that formed a ring outside the front gates of the hall were not lit again; Luthe was willing to welcome his guests, but did not deem further illumination necessary. On the second afternoon Harry followed the stream that spilled out of the bathing-pool, and after a certain amount of fighting with curling branches and tripping over hidden hummocks she burst out of the undergrowth to a still silver beach bordering a wide lake. The Lake of Dreams. The stream stopped its chattering as it left the edge of the woods, and slid silently over the silver sand and slipped into the waters of the lake. Harry went to the edge of it and sat down, looking at the water. There was a step at her side; she looked up and it was Luthe. â€Å"There is a path,† he said. â€Å"You should have asked.† He bent down and detached a twig from her hair, and another from the back of her tunic. Then he sat down beside her. â€Å"I will show you the way to return.† â€Å"Do you live here alone?† Harry said, extracting a leaf from the neck of her undershift. â€Å"No,† he replied, â€Å"but my housemates are even shyer than I am, and have a tendency to retreat into the undergrowth when visitors are anticipated. There are quite a number of visitors, now and again.† â€Å"The oracle is a popular one,† said Harry, smiling. Luthe smiled back, but sidelong. â€Å"Yes; I think it may be private dismay that sends my companions away at such times; they have something of kelar and the Sight themselves.† He did not seem disposed to go on, so Harry said: â€Å"Does everyone who comes here behave as though they're half asleep?† â€Å"No again; I and my friends are generally quite sharp. But yes, most visitors find it a sleepy sort of place – a reputation I, um, encourage, as it makes their thoughts sleepy too, and thus easier to dodge.† Harry said, â€Å"Encourage?† Luthe said, â€Å"You are not a sleepy one, are you? The source of the Meeldtar taints all the water here; and the air that passes over the Lake of Dreams carries something of sleepiness with it. Only those bearing much kelar of their own do not find that faintest touch of the Water of Sight a little drowsy. Like you. And Corlath.† Harry, at that, caught a thought just as it was streaking out, and stuffed it back behind her eyes. â€Å"Very good,† said Luthe. â€Å"I thought you might prove apt. I didn't catch a glimpse of that one.† Harry smiled faintly. â€Å"I suspect, however, that it might make you more comfortable to ask me it nonetheless,† Luthe said, looking into her face; but she turned away. â€Å"Corlath, eh?† Luthe said gently. Harry shook her head, not denying it, but as though she could shake herself free of her anxieties; but Luthe said no more. At last she stood up, gazing across the lake; she could not see its farther shore. â€Å"It is so large,† she said. Luthe rose to stand beside her. â€Å"No, not so large,† he said, â€Å"but it is a private sort of lake, and hard to see. Even for me.† He was quiet a moment, looking across the water. â€Å"I think perhaps the reason I stay in this particular uninhabited valley of all the uninhabited valleys in the Hills is that it comforts me by reminding me of things I cannot do. I cannot see the farther shore of the Lake of Dreams.† He turned away. â€Å"Come; I will show you the path. Unless you prefer fighting your way through the poor trees, which are accustomed to being undisturbed.†

Zoe’s Tale PART III Chapter Twenty-Two

â€Å"Demand something back,† I said to myself as I waited for the Obin council member to greet me in my state-room. â€Å"Demand something back. Demand something back.† I'm definitely going to throw up, I thought. You can't throw up, I answered myself. You haven't figured out the plumbing yet. You don't know what to throw up into. That at least was true. The Obin don't excrete or take care of their personal hygiene the same way humans do, and they don't have the same issues with modesty that we do when they're with others of their own race. In the corner of my stateroom was an interesting array of holes and spigots that looked like something that you would probably use for bathroom purposes. But I had no idea what was what. I didn't want to use the thing that I thought was the sink, only to find out later it was supposed to be the toilet. Drinking from the toilet was fine for Babar, but I like to think I have higher standards. This was definitely going to be an issue in another hour or two. I would have to ask Hickory or Dickory about it. They weren't with me because I asked to be taken directly to my stateroom when we took off and then asked to be alone for an hour, at which point I wanted to see the council member. I think that by doing that, I messed up some sort of ceremonial welcome from the crew of the Obin transport (called Obin Transport 8532, in typical and boring Obin efficiency), but I didn't let that bother me. It did have the effect I was going for at the moment: I had decided I was going to be a little bit difficult. Being a little bit difficult was going to make it easier, I hoped, to do what I needed to do next. Which was to try to save Roanoke. My dad had his own plan to do that, and I was going to help him with it. But I was thinking up a plan of my own. All it needed me to do was to demand something back. Something really, really, really big. Oh, well, my brain said. If this doesn't work at least you can ask this council guy where you're supposed to pee. Yes, well, that would be something. There was a knock on my stateroom door, and the door then slid open. There was no lock on the door because Obin among themselves didn't have much of a concept of privacy (no signal on the door, either, for the same reason). Three Obin entered the room: Hickory and Dickory, and a third Obin who was new to me. â€Å"Welcome, Zoe,† it said to me. â€Å"We welcome you at the start of your time with the Obin.† â€Å"Thank you,† I said. â€Å"Are you the council member?† â€Å"I am,† it said. â€Å"My name is Dock.† I tried very hard to keep a smile off my face and failed miserably. â€Å"You said your name was Dock,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† it said. â€Å"As in ‘Hickory, Dickory, Dock,'† I said. â€Å"That is correct,† it said. â€Å"That's quite a coincidence,† I said, once I got my face back under control. â€Å"It is not a coincidence,† Dock said. â€Å"When you named Hickory and Dickory, we learned of the nursery rhyme from which you derived the names. When I and many other Obin chose names for ourselves, we chose words from the rhyme.† â€Å"I knew there were other Hickorys and Dickorys,† I said. â€Å"But you're telling me that there are other Obin named ‘Dock,' too.† â€Å"Yes,† said Dock. â€Å"And ‘Mouse' and ‘Clock,'† I said. â€Å"Yes,† said Dock. â€Å"What about ‘Ran,' ‘Up,' and ‘The'?† I asked. â€Å"Every word in the rhyme is popular as a name,† said Dock. â€Å"I hope some of the Obin know they've named themselves after a definite article,† I said. â€Å"We are all aware of the meaning of the words,† Dock said. â€Å"What was important is the association to you. You named these two ‘Hickory' and ‘Dickory.' Everything followed from there.† I had been getting sidetracked by the idea that an entire fearsome race of aliens had given themselves goofy names because of the names I had thoughtlessly given two of them more than a decade before; this comment by Dock snapped me back into focus. It was a reminder that the Obin, with their new consciousness, had so identified with me, so imprinted on me, even as a child, that even a nursery rhyme I liked carried weight. Demand something back. My stomach cramped up. I ignored it. â€Å"Hickory,† I said. â€Å"Are you and Dickory recording right now?† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"Stop please,† I said. â€Å"Councilor Dock, are you recording this right now?† â€Å"I am,† it said. â€Å"Although only for my personal recollection.† â€Å"Please stop,† I said. They all stopped recording. â€Å"Have we offended you?† Dock asked. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"But I don't think you'll want this as part of the permanent record.† I took a deep breath. â€Å"I require something from the Obin, Councilor.† â€Å"Tell me what it is,† Dock said. â€Å"I will try to find it for you.† â€Å"I require the Obin to help me defend Roanoke,† I said. â€Å"I am afraid we are unable to help you with that request,† Dock said. â€Å"It's not a request,† I said. â€Å"I do not understand,† Dock said. â€Å"I said, it's not a request. I didn't request the Obin's help, Councilor. I said I require it. There's a difference.† â€Å"We cannot comply,† Dock said. â€Å"The Colonial Union has requested that we provide no assistance to Roanoke.† â€Å"I don't care,† I said. â€Å"What the Colonial Union wants at this point means absolutely nothing to me. The Colonial Union is planning to let everyone I care about die because it's decided Roanoke is more useful as a symbol than a colony. I don't give a crap about the symbolism. I care about the people. My friends and family. They need help. And I require it from you.† â€Å"Assisting you means breaking our treaty with the Colonial Union,† Dock said. â€Å"Your treaty,† I said. â€Å"That would be the one that allows you access to me.† â€Å"Yes,† Dickory said. â€Å"You realize you have me,† I said. â€Å"On this ship. Technically on Obin territory. You don't need Colonial Union permission to see me anymore.† â€Å"Our treaty with the Colonial Union is not only about access to you,† Dock said. â€Å"It covers many issues, including our access to the consciousness machines we wear. We cannot go against this treaty, even for you.† â€Å"Then don't break it,† I said, and this is where I mentally crossed my fingers. I knew the Obin would say they couldn't break their treaty with the Colonial Union; Hickory had said so before. This is where things were about to get really tricky. â€Å"I require the Obin help me defend Roanoke, Councilor. I didn't say the Obin had to do it themselves.† â€Å"I am afraid I do not understand you,† Dock said. â€Å"Get someone else to help me,† I said. â€Å"Hint to them that the help would be appreciated. Do whatever you have to do.† â€Å"We would not be able to hide our influence,† Dock said. â€Å"The Colonial Union will not be swayed by the argument that our forcing another race to act on your behalf does not constitute interference.† â€Å"Then ask someone the Colonial Union knows you can't force,† I said. â€Å"Whom do you suggest?† Dock asked. There's an old expression for when you do something completely crazy. â€Å"Shooting the moon,† it's called. This was me raising my rifle. â€Å"The Consu,† I said. Blam. There went my shot at a very faraway moon. But it was a shot I had to take. The Obin were obsessed with the Consu, for perfectly excellent reasons: How could you not be obsessed with the creatures that gave you intelligence, and then ignored you for the rest of eternity? The Consu had spoken to the Obin only once since they gave them consciousness, and that conversation came at the high cost of half of all Obin, everywhere. I remembered that cost. I planned to use it to my advantage now. â€Å"The Consu do not speak to us,† Dock said. â€Å"Make them,† I said. â€Å"We do not know how,† Dock said. â€Å"Find a way,† I said. â€Å"I know how the Obin feel about the Consu, Councilor. I've studied them. I've studied you. Hickory and Dickory made a story about them. Obin's first creation myth, except it's true. I know how you got them to speak to you. And I know you've tried to get them to speak to you again since then. Tell me it's not true.† â€Å"It's true,† Dock said. â€Å"I'm willing to guess you're still working on it even now,† I said. â€Å"We are,† Dock said. â€Å"We have been.† â€Å"Now is the time to make that happen,† I said. â€Å"There is no guarantee that the Consu would help you, even if we convinced them to speak to us and hear our plea on your behalf,† Dock said. â€Å"The Consu are unknowable.† â€Å"I understand that,† I said. â€Å"It's worth a try anyway.† â€Å"Even if what you ask were possible, it would come at a high cost,† Dock said. â€Å"If you knew what it cost us the last time we spoke to the Consu – â€Å" â€Å"I know exactly how much it cost,† I said. â€Å"Hickory told me. And I know the Obin are used to paying for what they get. Let me ask you, Councilor. What did you get from my biological father? What did you get from Charles Boutin?† â€Å"He gave us consciousness,† Dock said, â€Å"as you well know. But it came at a price. Your father asked for a war.† â€Å"Which you never gave him,† I said. â€Å"My father died before you could pay up. You got his gift for free.† â€Å"The Colonial Union asked for a price to finish his work,† Dock said. â€Å"That's between you and the Colonial Union,† I said. â€Å"It doesn't take anything away from what my father did, or the fact you never paid for it. I am his daughter. I am his heir. The fact you are here says that the Obin give me the honor they would give him. I could say to you that you owe me what you owe him: a war, at least.† â€Å"I cannot say that we owe you what we owed your father,† Dock said. â€Å"Then what do you owe me?† I asked. â€Å"What do you owe me for what I've done for you? What is your name?† â€Å"My name is Dock,† it said. â€Å"A name you have because one day I named those two Hickory and Dickory,† I said, pointing at my two friends. â€Å"It's only the most obvious example of what you have through me. My father gave you consciousness, but you didn't know what to do with it, did you? None of you did. All of you learned what to do with your consciousness by watching me grow into mine, as a child and now as who I am today. Councilor, how many Obin have watched my life? Seen how I did things? Learned from me?† â€Å"All of them,† Dock said. â€Å"We have all learned from you, Zoe.† â€Å"What has it cost the Obin?† I asked. â€Å"From the time Hickory and Dickory came to live with me, until the moment I stepped onto this ship, what has it cost you? What have I ever asked of any Obin?† â€Å"You have not asked for anything,† Dock said. I nodded. â€Å"So let's review. The Consu gave you intelligence and it cost you half of all the Obin when you came to ask them why they did it. My father gave you consciousness, and the price for it was a war, a price which you would have willingly paid had he lived. I have given you ten years of lessons on how to be conscious – on how to live. The bill for that has come due, Councilor. What price do I require? Do I require the lives of half the Obin in the universe? No. Do I require the Obin to commit to a war against an entire other race? No. I require only your help to save my family and friends. I don't even require that the Obin do it themselves, only that they find a way to have someone else do it for them. Councilor, given the Obin's history of what it's received and what it has cost, what I am requiring of the Obin now comes very cheap indeed.† Dock stared at me, silently. I stared back, mostly because I had forgotten to blink through all of that and I was afraid if I tried to blink now I might scream. I think it was making me look unnervingly calm. I could live with that. â€Å"We were to send a skip drone when you arrived,† Dock said. â€Å"It has not been sent yet. I will let the rest of the Obin council know of your requirement. I will tell them I support you.† â€Å"Thank you, Councilor,† I said. â€Å"It may take some time to decide on a course of action,† Dock said. â€Å"You don't have time,† I said. â€Å"I am going to see General Gau, and I am going to deliver my dad's message to him. The Obin council has until I am done speaking to General Gau to act. If it has not, or will not, then you will leave General Gau without me.† â€Å"You will not be safe with the Conclave,† Dock said. â€Å"Are you under the impression that I will tolerate being among the Obin if you refuse me?† I said. â€Å"I keep telling you this: I am not asking for this. I am requiring it. If the Obin will not do this, they lose me.† â€Å"That would be very hard for some of us to accept,† Dock said. â€Å"We had already lost you for a year, Zoe, when the Colonial Union hid your colony.† â€Å"Then what will you do?† I asked. â€Å"Drag me back onto the ship? Hold me captive? Record me against my will? I don't imagine that will be very entertaining. I know what I am to the Obin, Councilor. I know what uses you have all put me to. I don't think you will find me very useful after you refuse me.† â€Å"I understand you,† Dock said. â€Å"And now I must send this message. Zoe, it is an honor to meet you. Please excuse me.† I nodded. Dock left. â€Å"Please close the door,† I said to Hickory, who was the closest to it. It did. â€Å"Thank you,† I said, and threw up all over my shoes. Dickory was over to me immediately and caught me before I could fall completely. â€Å"You are ill,† Hickory said. â€Å"I'm fine,† I said, and then threw up all over Dickory. â€Å"Oh, God, Dickory,† I said. â€Å"I'm so sorry.† Hickory came over, took me from Dickory and guided me toward the strange plumbing. It turned on a tap and water came bubbling out. â€Å"What is that?† I asked. â€Å"It is a sink,† Hickory said. â€Å"You're sure?† I asked. Hickory nodded. I leaned over and washed my face and rinsed my mouth out. â€Å"How do you feel?† Hickory said, after I had cleaned myself off as best I could. â€Å"I don't think I'm going to throw up anymore, if that's what you mean,† I said. â€Å"Even if I wanted to, there's nothing left.† â€Å"You vomited because you are sick,† Hickory said. â€Å"I vomited because I just treated one of your leaders like it was my cabin boy,† I said. â€Å"That's a new one for me, Hickory. It really is.† I looked over at Dickory, who was covered in my upchuck. â€Å"And I hope it works. Because I think if I have to do that again, my stomach might just flop right out on the table.† My insides did a flip-flop after I said that. Note to self: After having vomited, watch the overly colorful comments. â€Å"Did you mean it?† Hickory said. â€Å"What you said to Dock?† â€Å"Every word,† I said, and then motioned at myself. â€Å"Come on, Hickory. Look at me. You think I'd put myself through all of this if I wasn't serious?† â€Å"I wanted to be sure,† Hickory said. â€Å"You can be sure,† I said. â€Å"Zoe, we will be with you,† Hickory said. â€Å"Me and Dickory. No matter what the council decides. If you choose to stay behind after you speak to General Gau, we will stay with you.† â€Å"Thank you, Hickory,† I said. â€Å"But you don't have to do that.† â€Å"We do,† Hickory said. â€Å"We would not leave you, Zoe. We have been with you for most of your life. And for all the life that we have spent conscious. With you and with your family. You have called us part of your family. You are away from that family now. You may not see them again. We would not have you be alone. We belong with you.† â€Å"I don't know what to say,† I said. â€Å"Say you will let us stay with you,† Hickory said. â€Å"Yes,† I said. â€Å"Do stay. And thank you. Thank you both.† â€Å"You are welcome,† Hickory said. â€Å"And now as your first official duties, find me something new to wear,† I said. â€Å"I'm starting to get really ripe. And then tell me which of those things over there is the toilet. Because now I really need to know.†

Creating a Life Mission Statement †English Essay

Creating a Life Mission Statement – English Essay Free Online Research Papers Creating a Life Mission Statement English Essay I have composed a mission statement - a constitution for my life, if you will. I feel that more than anything else, this statement declares who I am more than any other document I could write. I have included a part of it here: The supreme mission of my existence is continual happiness and eternal perfection. I found my existence on the principles of integrity and excellence. To accomplish my mission: I am a student. I continually thirst for all knowledge. I desire to know the meaning and mechanics behind all things in the universe. I never tire of learning. I know that every single one of God’s children each has something to teach me. I do not keep to myself the knowledge I have obtained; I impart it to those who wish to learn in a respectful manner. I strive to teach both by words and by my good example. I suppose it took me until my early teens to really discover the answer to the adults’ favorite question, â€Å"So, what do you want to be when you grow up?† And, that’s probably not all bad - I know some that can’t even really answer that question now. I most likely would not be far off if I were to say that my earliest strivings to find what kind of life I wanted to create for myself were based on my intense, almost shameless admiration for heroes. I find that most people have a hero or two; I have countless. I have had these heroes since my early childhood, and I always found them easily - firemen, policemen, airplane pilots, and of course my father, who managed a warehouse. My heroes propelled and inspired me, and there were even several times when I can remember I wished to juggle ten such careers at once. Obviously, some time passed before I was focused enough to understand that any sort of adeptness in a career requires strict fidelity in and concentration on a single vocation. So, there it was. A doctor. My mother’s side is quite medically oriented; her father and brother are both physicians and her mother was a nurse in World War II. From an external perspective, it could easily be inducted that because these heroes in my life were in the medical profession, I desired to emulate that. I don’t doubt that this is somewhat true, but I suspect there is much more. I do not question the validity of the fact that my introduction to the medical field was through my mother and her influence. However, my desire to pursue that introduction was something different - it was a discovery made independently and a quest of the most passionately personal kind. It was a pleasant coincidence; at the time I discovered the local hospital and the Medical Explorers Post, a group that met to orient young teens like myself to the medical profession, I had just begun to ascertain the complexity of the universe and become amazed at its beautiful intricacy. Despite all my analytic tendencies, I find that my mind often becomes exceptionally synthetic; among all the talk of the stars and the planets and the billions of light-years and the fiery supernovas and all, I listened to the dialogues about cells and neurons and COX inhibitors and found the same universe inside my own body. At the hospital, I saw people who were struggling with this universe - those who had fractured their bones, those who needed a toxic part of their body destroyed, and even those whose own hearts were on the brink of experiencing their own supernova. It was at once disheartening and incredibly motivational - one day I would see them again in their suffering state, but on th at day I would be able to aid them. I love to do this; I love to help people. I love to heal and to remove suffering. However, I want to become a doctor because medicine is my passion. If all I wanted to do was to help people, I suppose I could become a social worker or join the Peace Corps. I am, of course, delighted with the idea that my passion will be able also to help others. But there is even more. I mentioned that since my early teens I have been infatuated by the beauty of the world and fixated on understanding its complexity. My aspiration to practice medicine then is based on this more fundamental desire to learn about the universe. To me, the human body is the most intricately complicated and beautiful system that I can see in the cosmos, housing not only our minds but directly affecting how we see the world and how we progress. Thus, practicing medicine and gaining knowledge of this miniature universe is the most fitting way that I can both specialize in a vocation and further my progression in universal k nowledge, especially as it applies to us as a human race. It is most likely the desire to ease pain and suffering that I desire to enter the specialty of anesthesiology. Obviously, as a biochemistry major, I love the mechanisms of the human body. It is wonderful that technology has taken the medical profession so far that we can actually open someone up, severing critical arteries and dislocating the entire heart while removing a congestive abscess and all the while the person does not feel, remember, or move a thing. It is often heard that patients â€Å"love their anesthesiologist,† and for obvious reasons- of course, I feel that this is a benefit. As an organic and biochemist, generally I understand why the patients do not feel pain. I understand how the drug interacts with the body and inhibits the suffering. I love the science of the body, but even more I love to see science at work accompanied by my hurting patient return a smile of relief. I see science not as a small group of specialized branches of study, but as the comprehensive study of everything in the cosmos; my focus on biochemistry and other sciences at the university level is simply a reflection of this belief. My concentration on entry into the medical field is a natural consequence of my love for science and my passion to study and come just a little closer to mastery of this beautiful and complex world. Research Papers on Creating a Life Mission Statement - English EssayPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyStandardized TestingMind TravelEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThe Fifth HorsemanWhere Wild and West MeetArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Bionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfCapital PunishmentAnalysis Of A Cosmetics Advertisement

Blanches psychological breakdown Essays - English-language Films

Blanche's psychological breakdown Essays - English-language Films Blanche's psychological breakdown English Blanche's psychological breakdown In Tennesse Williams' play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" the readers are introduced to a character named Blanche DuBois. In the plot, Blanche is Stella's younger sister who has come to visit Stella and her husband Stanley in New Orleans. After their first meeting Stanley develops a strong dislike for Blanche and everything associated with her. Among the things Stanley dislikes about Blanche are her "spoiled-girl" manners and her indirect and quizzical way of conversing. Stanley also believes that Blanche has conned him and his wife out of the family mansion. In his opinion, she is a good-for-nothing "leech" that has attached itself to his household, and is just living off him. Blanche's lifelong habit of avoiding unpleasant realities leads to her breakdown as seen in her irrational response to death, her dependency, and her inability to defend herself from Stanley's attacks. Blanches situation with her husband is the key to her later behavior. She married rather early at the age of sixteen to whom a boy she believed was a perfect gentleman. He was sensitive, understanding, and civilized much like herself coming from an aristocratic background. She was truly in love with Allen whom she considered perfect in every way. Unfortunately for her he was a homosexual. As she caught him one evening in their house with an older man, she said nothing, permitting her disbelief to build up inside her. Sometime later that evening, while the two of them were dancing, she told him what she had seen and how he disgusted her. Immediately, he ran off the dance floor and shot himself, with the gunshot forever staying in Blanches mind. After that day, Blanche believed that she was really at fault for his suicide. She became promiscuous, seeking a substitute men (especially young boys), for her dead husband, thinking that she failed him sexually. Gradually her reputation as a whore built up and everyone in her home town knew about her. Even for military personnel at the near-by army base, Blanche's house became out-of-bounds. Promiscuity though wasn't the only problem she had. Many of the aged family members died and the funeral costs had to be covered by Blanche's modest salary. The deaths were long, disparaging and horrible on someone like Blanche. She was forced to mortgage the mansion, and soon the bank repossessed it. At school, where Blanche taught English, she was dismissed because of an incident she had with a seventeen-year-old student that reminded her of her late husband. Even the management of the hotel Blanche stayed in during her final days in Laurel, asked her to leave because of the all the different men that had been seeing there. All of this, cumulatively, weakened Blanche, turned her into an alcoholic, and lowered her mental stability bit-by-bit. Her husband's death affects her greatly and determines her behavior from then on. Having lost Allan, who meant so much to her, she is blinded by the light and from then on never lights anything stronger than a dim candle. This behavior is evident when she first comes to Stella's and puts a paper lantern over the light bulb. Towards the end, when the doctor comes for Blanche and she says she forgot something, Stanley hands her her paper lantern. Even Mitch notices that she cannot stand the pure light, and therefore refuses to go out with him during the daytime or to well lit places. Blanche herself says "I can't stand a naked light bulb any more than ...". A hate for bright light isn't the only affect on Blanche after Allan's death - she needs to fill her empty heart, and so she turns to a lifestyle of one-night-stands with strangers. She tries to comfort herself from not being able to satisfy Allan, and so Blanche makes an effort to satisfy strangers, thinking that they need her and that she can't fail them like she failed Allan. At the same time she turns to alcohol to avoid the brutality of death. The alcohol seems to ease her through the memories of the night of Allan's death. Overtime the memory comes back to her, the musical tune from the incident doesn't end in her mind until she has something alcoholic to drink. All of these irrational responses to death seem to signify how Blanche's mind is unstable, and yet she tries to still be the educated, well-mannered, and attractive person that Mitch first sees her as. She tries to not let the horridness come out on top of her image, wanting in an illusive and magical

ACT Practice Tests How to Reflect and Get the Most Out of Them

ACT Practice Tests How to Reflect and Get the Most Out of Them SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips ACT practice tests can be a great tool in preparing yourself for the real exam. In order for these tests to be worth your time, however, you’ll need to learn to evaluate your mistakes effectively. In this article, I’ll show you the most productive ways to reflect on ACT practice tests so that you can use them to your best advantage. Time-Based Reflection Strategies for Practice Tests It’s crucial that you reflect on your mistakes on practice tests in order to learn from them and improve your scores.First off, regardless of your time constraints, you should always take ACT practice tests under realistic testing conditions.This means appropriate timing, access to materials, and environment (an inconveniently small desk is optional).Print out the practice test; don’t take it on your computer! The only way to be sure that your assessment of your mistakes is accurate is to replicate test day conditions as closely as possible. You may have more or less time to reflect on the results of practice tests, so I’ll give some advice based on how many hours you think you can devote to studying before the ACT. If You Have FewerThan 40 Hours: Students who have less time to study often benefit more from taking practice tests.First, take an initial practice test to get a baseline reading on your score level.After you score the test, you should review your mistakes to see where you have the most problems.If you really messed up on one section or on certain types of questions, you should think about how you can change your strategy to fix your mistakes. If you find yourself running out of time, you might decide to read passages differently (skim instead of reading closely) or make more of an effort to skip difficult questions that are slowing you down.If you see many careless mistakes, you may need to do the opposite and stop yourself from rushing too much and glossing over important aspects of questions.If you have small problems with content that are relatively easy to resolve, you can focus on learning those concepts. Since you don’t have a ton of time, don’t worry about large content gaps that might take a ton of practice to fix. Focus on the mistakes that you can resolve most efficiently.Try not to spend more than four hours on fixing your mistakes.After this, take an additional practice test to see where you stand, and do another basic evaluation of your mistakes. Then you should have time to take at least one more final practice test before the real ACT! Two otters, carefully evaluating their situation. On your practice tests, you OTTER do the same (wow I'm really sorry about this). If You Have 40 to 100 Hours: Just like in the previous plan, you should take an initial practice test, score the test, and mark off all of your wrong answers.With this amount of time, however, you can afford to be a little more specific.For each incorrect answer, you should figure out exactly why you got it wrong so you can make judgments about where you have the most problems on the test.Most mistakes will fall into one of four main categories: Careless Error A careless error is a mistake that makes you facepalm.It’s when you get a question wrong, but you should have easily known the correct answer.Most of the time, this happens because you were rushing too much and didn’t read the question carefully. Content Issue A content issue is when you are missing the basic knowledge that you need in order to answer a question.Most of the time, this happens in the math section if you don’t remember how to solve certain types of problems. When you’re labeling content issue questions, it’s helpful to be specific about what you’re missing.You might say something like â€Å"didn’t know how to calculate angle measurement† or â€Å"forgot formula.† Question Comprehension Issue This is a weird mistake category. It means that the wording of the question was confusing, and you couldn’t figure out what it was actually asking.Usually, these problems can be solved through greater familiarity with the test and reading more closely. This type of mistake is less common on the ACT than on the SAT because questions are asked in a more straightforward manner. Time Issues Mistakes due to time issues usually happen on questions at the end of a section.If you can’t make it to the last few questions and end up leaving them blank or answering randomly, you have problems with time.These types of mistakes can be fixed by modifying your test-taking strategy and getting used to moving more quickly through the sections. Time stops for no one. This image is pure existential dread. Once you’ve categorized all of your mistakes, you can list them in descending order from most common to least common so that you have a good sense of which areas need the most attention. Work towards fixing your mistakes beginning with the ones that you think will be easiest to eliminate. This is a good time to fill in gaps in your content knowledge that were causing you to miss questions.If you struggle with time pressure, you might reevaluate your testing strategy by reading passages a different way or making a point of skipping difficult questions on the first pass through a section. After you’ve spent about five to ten hours fixing your mistakes, you should take another practice test and see how you do.Go through the same process that you did with the first test with your mistakes, and do another round of evaluation and fixing problems.You can then take another practice test to see where you stand, and keep repeating this process until you’re at the level you want or you run out of study time. If you don’t seem to be improving from test to test, you should rethink your test-taking strategies and whether you’re really understanding your mistakes.You may need to get help from a tutor or prep program to get to the bottom of what you’re missing. Practice Testing Strategies for High and Low Scorers Now I’ll give more specific advice on the best ways to approach practice tests for high and low scorers.You’re a high scorer if you’re scoring a 27 or higher consistently, and you’re a low scorer if you’re scoring a 20 or lower consistently. If you're in between those two scores, you can read the advice for both categories and decide which strategies might be most helpful to you based on the types of mistakes you struggle with the most. For example, if careless mistakes make up a big chunk of your incorrect answers, the high scorer advice might be more helpful to you. If time is more of an issue, the low scorer advice may be more relevant to your situation. For High Scorers: Most of the time, high scorers have more problems with careless mistakes on easy questions than anything else.With that in mind, it’s important for you to always double check your work at the end of each section if you have time left.This will prevent you from losing points as a result ofmisreading questions or solving for the wrong value.On math questions, sometimes it’s helpful to underline or circle the value that you need to find so that you don’t lose track of your goal in the midst of the calculations. When you come across a difficult question, make sure that you fully understand what it’s asking. Don’t rush through it!Rushing too much can lead you to perform worse overall than you would have if you slowed down a bit and answered more deliberately (even if you don't get to every questiondue to time pressure).This is why it’s sometimes a good idea to answer all the easy questions first and then go back for the more difficult ones.You’ll feel less time pressure on hard questions and able to think clearly. For Low Scorers: If you’re a low scorer, skipping difficult questions is one of the most important test-taking strategies for you.Many low scorers suffer from issues with time pressure because they get stuck on questions that give them trouble. You can avoid this by taking one pass through each section initially where you focus solely on easy questions and ignore any that confuse you. On the Reading and Science sections, you will need to look at the questions in groups because they correspond to different passages. For each set of questions, skim the passage first and then answer the relevant questions that come easily to you. If you find yourself spending more than 30 seconds on one question, move on. After you do this, you can allow yourself to spend more time on difficult questions since you’ve already locked down the questions that are a sure bet.With this strategy, you won’t be missing questions at the end of sections that should have been easy for you.You also won’t waste too many valuable minutes of your time on questions that you can’t figure out. Whether you’re a high or low scorer, it’s often helpful to treat the test like a game or a race where you’re trying to score as many points as possible as quickly as you can.This will make the whole experience feel less boring and pointless (pun intended). You might find that when you introduce this element of competition, you’re more energized and can answer questions more efficiently. The ACT is just like this except it has words and there's no physical activity involved! Conclusion It's important that you take the time to go over your mistakes on ACT practice tests so that you can figure out which types of errors are causing you to lose the most points. If you're aware of your mistakes, you will have the power to prevent yourself from repeating them in the future. Depending on how much time you have, you might be more or less meticulous in this process. Even if you only have a little bit of time before the test, you can still take one or two practice tests and fix your more superficial mistakes. Even small changes to your strategy can make a big difference in your scores! High and low scorers tend to make different types of mistakes on the ACT, so there are certain test-taking strategies that are more applicable to students who fit into each of these categories. Most people will struggle at least a little with time. Make sure you're not rushing or spending too much time on difficult questions before you get through the whole section. Learning how to reflect on your practice tests effectively is a crucial aspect of studying for the ACT. Taking an honest and thorough survey of your mistakes is the best way to reach your score goals on the real test. What's Next? Not sure how to formulate an effective study plan? Learn more abouthow long you should study for the ACT in order to reach your score goal. Is online studying more your style? Here are the best ACT prep websites you should be using.Don't forget to supplement with printed practice tests! If you're interested in using books to help direct your studying, read our 2015 guide to the best ACT prep books. Disappointed with your ACT scores? Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Samantha Lindsay About the Author Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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Residual Income as a measure of managerial performance. Include Essay

Residual Income as a measure of managerial performance. Include examples of usage today and advantages and disadvantages - Essay Example In business, residual income represents a specific financial amount derived from an equation which subtracts invested capital from total, pre-tax profitability (Accaglobal.com, 1999). Where the traditional return on investment (ROI) template, which calculates a percentage by dividing the average operating assets from net operating income, residual income is represented in actual dollars through its calculation. Professionals argue that residual income (RI) may not necessarily reflect the total performance of a managerial professional, hence there is the debate as to whether compensation directly linked to RI totals is a fair measure of reward for performance. This paper examines the contemporary usage of residual income as a performance measure. There are several viable calculations to determine residual income (RI), with the most common being operating income minus the required return on investment in dollars (Marshall, McManus & Viele, 2006). A second method is subtracting required income from actual income, representing a final financial (not percentage) total, indicating either a negative or positive residual income (Economist, 1996). For instance, if the actual income of the firm is $100,000 and required income (often calculated from ROI) is $50,000, the firm has experienced a residual income increase of $50,000, which may indicate that the company executive leadership has made positive strides in boosting profitability. When ROI is used in the equation to determine residual income, positive RI occurs when actual ROI is greater than the minimum required ROI. These calculations may sound very simplistic and relatively straightforward, however, calculating residual income is not always a fair measure of total executive performance, especially when a particular company has experienced years of negative residual income. For instance, assume that a firm maintained a negative residual income for

Plagiarism and Online Education Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Plagiarism and Online Education - Research Paper Example Thus in reviewing some of the scholarly materials on plagiarism, this research paper does not merely review but, also offers my perspectives, and gives possible directions on the essential issues which future scholars might need to address. Plagiarism can be considered as the use of someone’s work without proper referencing the source. Although there are different forms of plagiarism in different institutions ,its definition is founded from the basis of the above words. Online education is the learning without necessarily being in the commonly known classroom environment. Bill Marsh presents an interesting and a new approach on plagiarism through the incorporation of the various theoretical outlooks; starting with Vitruvius then Montaigne then George Herbert Mead up to Bakhtin. Marsh tackles many things, but then critically evaluates Turnitin.com which is a policy program of detecting plagiarism, and concludes that it presumes a genuine single creator. Considering the fact that Turnitin is quite popular among many users even those outside the philosophy writing bracket and writing instructions which are extensively distributed amongst compositionists; this approach by Marsh is quite bold (Marsh, 2007). His analysis on previous debates on plagiarism takes cultural viewpoints, (considering the assumption that text is a commodity and has to be managed like a business entity) which stand out from the debates. Marsh also evaluates how handbooks help in promoting best practices in writing in order to avoid plagiarism. It is a common practice for past scholars, including those who use a cultural approach to plagiarism to wind up with a number of pedagogical solutions. At the end of Marsh book, he wisely defines pedagogy tradition and decides to point out the challenges he thinks faces studies on plagiarism. In concluding his work Marsh leaves a challenging question for future scholars to deduce its answer: Does Internet

Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionist of Slavery Essay

Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionist of Slavery - Essay Example Personally, Lincoln believed that the extension or expansion of slavery into the southern part of America would hinder the acquisition of free labor on free lands. Despite his positive thoughts, he came into fierce conflict with the abolitionists as he did not call for an instant end to slavery in the whole nation. It was not until the proposal of the 13th amendment that formed an instrumental platform of the campaign in 1864 general election. The paper examines the reasons why Abraham Lincoln hated slavery with a passion but failed to join the abolitionist camp. Historians can best explain the question as to why Abraham Lincoln did not openly pronounce himself as an abolitionist though he hated slavery by the examination of his personal attitudes and his proposal for ending it. Wyatt-Brown (2009) notes that despite the clarity of historical presentation of facts, the comprehension of Abraham’s position has been confusing. Many individual include him as one of the personalities that openly campaigned for the abolition of slavery. In reality, he knew that slavery was a practice that had no place in the moral laws. Furthermore, according to him the law sanctioned the practice. However, on most occasions he recognized the rights of the slave owners and opted for the retention of slaves. He argued that the constitution guaranteed such a position (Lee 2011). Additionally, before the commencement of the civil war, Abraham made no decision to challenge the rights of the slave owners that he believed were guaranteed by the constitution. Lee (2011) posits that his position sharply distinguished him from the individuals in the abolitionist camp who actively participated in the support of the immediate release of slaves. During that time, all the abolitionists viewed the idea of returning fugitive slaves as unacceptable regardless of what the constitution may guarantee. In most cases, the radical

Statistics of worker fatalities Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Statistics of worker fatalities - Case Study Example Henceforth, the discussion will concentrate on the importance of the training of the newly hired fleet vehicle drivers along with providing a detail towards the measurement of success in the case of Abbott Laboratories in relation to its fleet security program. Discussion Training for only the New Hires, or the Entire Fleet of Drivers It can be recommended that the training in relation to fleet security program may be provided especially for the new hires owing to the fact that the newly hired fleet vehicle drivers are at higher risks of crash in comparison with the experienced drivers. Apparently, there lie various decisive reasons behind the wheel training with major emphasis on the new hires of the company. In this regard, it can be stated that the new hires of the companies are not quite likely to be adequately familiarized with various components in relation to their jobs that include new policies of the company, products, territories, customers along with the vehicle safety. In this respect, due to their inadequate knowledge concerning the aforementioned crucial aspects, the new hires of the companies are often viewed to be neglecting the road safety aspect to an extent, which ultimately results in vehicle crashes. Moreover, the new hires are usually keen to perform better in order to develop themselves competitively by demonstrating job related capabilities or skills. As a result, they drive their vehicles incautiously on the road with higher speed that frequently results in vehicle crashes. Due to these particular reasons, it is quite necessary to provide basic training program about the fleet security, especially to the new hires of different companies. Measurement of Success In relation to the case study, it can be stated that the success was adequately measured in terms of the statistical data presented. The statistical data in the case study revealed that about 80 percent of the fatalities as well as most of the injuries of the working personnel ult imately results due to the occurrences of crashes, especially in the case of fleet vehicles. Various data supported that particularly the new hires are statistically recognized to be at a higher risk to fleet vehicle crashes in comparison with the tenured employees at their initial period of 18 months of employment. Moreover, about 60 percent of the sales representatives associated with the pharmaceutical companies have been learnt to get involved in a crash during their first five years on the job. However, these measurements can be considered as lagging indicators that follow a particular event or an activity that include the rate of injuries or accidents (University of Windsor, 2007). This can be supported with due consideration to the fact that the statistical data were collected after the occurrence of the worker fatalities caused by fleet vehicle crashes. Commitment of the Management of Abbott Laboratories It would not be wrong to state that the commitment made by the manageme nt of Abbott Laboratories was quite apparent in this particular case study. For instance, Joe worked upon improving the fleet security in one of the divisions within the company targeting the new hires to provide the training facility in relation to fleet driving security program. Joe also hypothesized that there persists a higher degree of risk concerning the new hires, as they tend to be unfamiliar with several job components that include various company policies and have the eagerness to perform well within a short span of time which deliberates their actions to over-schedule and rush, eventually leading to crashes. In relation to the commitment made by the management of the company, Joe further developed an hour long program of training for the new hires which emphasized upon the basics