The World Of Warcraft As A Cultural Product Marketing Essay Essay Example

The World Of Warcraft As A Cultural Product Marketing Essay Essay Example The World Of Warcraft As A Cultural Product Marketing Essay Essay The World Of Warcraft As A Cultural Product Marketing Essay Essay Abstraction The outgrowths of new engineerings have brought alteration on cultural merchandises, creative persons are more competent and globalisation has widened up market operations for Warcraft games. Digitization adopted by assorted makers has increase communicating all over the universe and has allowed interaction among communities globally. Customer demand for faster and quality services is critical at a point where the market has got many participants viing. Research and development is critical to understand emerging client demand and market tendencies. This thesis paper analyses the profusion deepness and diverseness of cultural merchandises, 0.1 Introduction The universe is envisaged by promotion of engineerings which affects the society positively, the advent creativeness of societal networking has brought about divergent cultural linkages and inter-boundary communities through Warcraft games. The societal cultural effects and the originative Industry is traveling at a higher gait, nevertheless client demand are critical as good in which un scrupulous bargainers are taking advantage of an cognizant consumers, companies that create Warcraft games merchandises e.g. Blizzard are confronting, Warcraft is a franchise of video games and other media originally created by Blizzard amusement company, engineering has brought commanding practical enemies into the cultural originative industry with which value can be created to the benefit of a consumer upon public-service corporation, this are likely to be affected by market conditions, monetary values and the medium used for broadcast 0.2 Cultural industry A cultural industry refers to assorted concern entities that produce, distribute, market and sell merchandises as flatly in originative humanistic disciplines. The cultural industry involves the originative humanistic disciplines of production of games, films telecasting plans or music ; by and large it combines all right originative humanistic disciplines. Anything made by human existences is an single piece of work and look of purposes fro good being of a society, it is based on the creativeness of members of the society who exploit probationary political orientations for development of information, cultural industries a referred as originative economic system harmonizing to ( Howkwins 2001 ) Harmonizing to ( Howkins 2001 ) cultural industry or originative economic system s made up of advertisement, trades, manner research and development, music, movie, executing humanistic disciplines, package and publication merely to advert a few ( Howkins 2001 ) . Harmonizing to Florida 2002 the originative humanistic disciplines industry of the 20 first century is likely depend on creativeness and invention with which has come on age based on promotion of engineering, the basic dogmas of the cultural industry in future will be depended on quality design to bring forth value for persons and societies, the industry has become a pillar in economic development with which human creativeness is the ultimate economic resource. This is through fostering originative endowment to a knowing labour intensive society, making employment and wealth. The kernel in invention and creativeness will heighten creativeness accomplishments furthering advanced communities with cultural diverseness which improve economic public presentation. Digitization by major cultural industries globally unusually with regulative mechanism will promote intensive investing flow among states which consequences progressive concentration and market laterality likely by pudding stones . Harmonizing ( Fuller and Jenkins 1995 ) picture games tempt the participant to play longer, seting more and more quarters into the arcade machine ( or supplying play value for those who ve bought the game ) by unveiling of all time more dramatic microworlds, the disclosure of a new degree the wages for holding survived and mastered the old environment. 0.3 How tantrums as a cultural merchandise and how it digital games industry is a cultural industry 0.3.1 Features of a cultural merchandise 0.3.2 Experienced goods Customer acceptableness of merchandises and services is based on demand and quality, nevertheless this are affected by single gustatory sensation, cultural demands and penchants, many artiest holding the passion to rank top in cultural productions have vastly connected to consumers through engineering, nevertheless the cultural industry is non a practical place. The supply concatenation from the cultural merchandise of the maker and related services, quality production and selling activities to distribution hold added value on to the terminal consumer on cultural merchandises. Warcraft games in this instance and relevant to promotion of engineering can be easy accessed by consumer virtually. 0.3.3 Elastic demand Economic growing in assorted parts of the universe via international webs and globalisation has played a major function in demand, creativeness in the micro economic degree, end product, employment meet consumer demands for the Warcraft games merchandise, the virtue of engineering has added value in client demand on cultural goods ingestion making a high grade of volatility and capriciousness, research on consumer tendency hence becomes critical to understand emerging demands. That most of the cultural goods, its fixed costs are higher, while the variable costs are comparatively low 0.3.4 Vertically differentiated Differentiation is based on branding to make a merchandise with a competitory border that is typical from that of the rivals, this can be based on pricing and alteration of design in Warcraft games and create sense of value, pricing kineticss in a market in which two or Sellerss compete to information of goods or services to a population of purchasers across boundaries with an purpose to maximize net incomes, with globalisation it can be easier when organisations create amalgamations and corporations for merchandise circulation around the universe. Maximizing net incomes and stakeholder value can be achieved by Blizzard through its Warcraft games by making a strong trade name so as when the quality spreads between narrows due to roll uping and symmetric assorted bundling, monetary values and net incomes lessening but societal public assistance and consumer excess addition. This besides affects quality when distinction is a symmetric across Blizzard merchandises as may perplex pricing and net incomes which can be strategically emerge due to independence that assorted bundling creates. 0.3.5 Infinite assortment Human creativeness and competiveness for market portion is based on productiveness on Warcraft games all right humanistic disciplines, research and development plays a major function in underline procedure on new merchandise development and assortment e.g. based on use and characteristics, an administration can make merchandises based on assortments upon carry oning a market research and good understand the mark market, nevertheless engineering derives demands high every twenty-four hours. The production can be enticed on assorted cultural involvements to custom while gross revenues and purchase can be derived from the field of humanistic disciplines and civilization in the value concatenation. In this instance relationship direction is critical for success. It besides calls for investing on advertizements to make consciousness and remind consumers of new and existing merchandises, the medium for advertizement and pick of publication will besides depend on targeted audience in relati on to cost. With a assortment of merchandise available to consumers supported by strong trade name will make a competitory border. However to understand client BASIC besides require trained staff e.g. in engineering and client relationship direction which plays a major function and affects the positions of client of the Gods and services. 0.4 Pure Public Good The last offering of Warcraft games merchandises variant to the terminal user should be of quality. Availability of the merchandise might intend that ingestion of a merchandise by an person does non cut down handiness of the merchandises for ingestion by others and no consumer should be excluded from utilizing the merchandise globally, most merchandises might non sell good in the state of beginning but does so internationally. 0.5 Cost of Production The cost of production is the investing in resources that goes into a merchandise, eg capital, revenue enhancement and labor, when puting monetary values it is border added that should retrieve these investing, most sellers add mark-up monetary value or full cost pricing 0.6 Exclusive Devicess Denies private waiters by utilizing holding media governments to close them devouring them down. This is a critical function of the administration in value concatenation to guarantee the Wargame consumers are protected ; it is besides a necessity to supervise Wargame participants to acquire to cognize the tendencies on operations and even eschewing down unrealistic traders. 0.7 Copyrights and rational belongingss The universe has been witnessing much of counterfeited merchandises by scrupulous traders taking advantage of incognizant consumers, with this it is critical for Warcraft games to hold a strong trade name and protected holding under right of first publications and rational act under amusement Torahs, holding sophisticated package s and hardware s is besides necessary unscrupulous trading and violation and guarantee there is no misdemeanor of act. ( Digital Millennium Copyright Act ) Harmonizing to Throsby in 2003, he argues that due to cultural goods are contained advanced merchandises which is a manifestation of rational belongings, and be able to convey some kind of symbolic significance. He argues that the Godhead of cultural industries can follow a more laissez faire manner of direction, this is likely to assist avoid gait of work by Godheads and the environment rigidness and hardening. 0.8 Features of the Digital Games Industry 0.8.1Process of Production The package development procedure by which picture games are produced is called Game development. Well made games are a signifier of creative activity and they generate net income to the company and the person who comes up with the thought and they are normally founded by a publishing house. It is really of import to gauge the fiscal demands of the game so that one does non transcend the allocated budget. Inventions are of extreme importance to the publishing house as net incomes can non be got from imitations of other people s work. Due to the trouble in get downing a new company because of the high initial capital required, insouciant and nomadic game market has come up leting developers with smaller squads to come in the market, and when they become financially stable they develop larger games. The thought or construct is the root to Game development, production, and design which is normally a alteration of an existing game. Interior designers try out different combinations of gen res to come up with the best game. The game proposal papers contains the construct, game drama, feature list, puting and the narrative, mark audience, staff and budget estimations. Game design and development depends on a specific company because different companies have different formal processs and doctrines. 0.8.2 Risk Management There is hazard involved in games development undertakings, The traditional manner of covering with hazard is to disregard it and do up for it with overtime, or to embroider your undertaking continuances and milepost day of the months if possible, publishing houses, nevertheless, the lone manner that one can avoid hazard is when the game undertaking is a no-brainer and you have a seasoned squad with ample resorts, experience and engineering to carry through the undertaking. This is because they want to see that hazard was assessed in the pre-production stage to guarantee that safeguards were taken before the start of the undertaking or everything is under control in site of the many hazards. Mangers can besides asses hazard. Hazards that one identifies do non needfully stop up in the agenda but may act upon the manner things are done, who does the work or the solutions chosen for execution. The publishing house developer relationships should be honest. Hazards are normally found in a start up company or an established company. The appraisal of hazard normally entails bring forthing a list of possible jobs and likely impacts they may hold on the agenda. Hazards can be proficient and can besides be found in art and design. There are processs necessary when seting together a hazard appraisal. All hazards will non stop up being reflected on the agenda. Hazards and undertakings should non be confused. Risk direction is a good manner to place some research that ought to be done during pre-production. Particular characteristics or undertakings that are experimental in nature are associated with hazards. 0.8.3 Reducing Hazard A good appraisal describes back-up programs and explores other possible solutions that would cut down or extinguish the hazard. Some hazards can merely be mitigated by accounting for them in a maestro agenda while others can be reduced by other ways such as ; Extinguishing the design or altering the design. Strive to maintain it simple. Put your best people at work Pre-purchase your equipment. Check out other programs that might be a less gamble. Always have a backup program 0.9 Double merchandise market ( media good and entree to audience ) Picard ( 1989 ) explains that media industries are alone in that they function on double merchandise. That means although media companies produce one merchandise they participate in two separate good and service markets, this varies harmonizing, mark markets which varies on political, legal, economic, technological and environmental factors ( PESTEL ) 10 PRICE TO EARNING RATION 10.1 Price to Earnings Ratio = Price / Earnings Per Share ( EPS ) Share monetary value determines market strength of a company in a comparative economic system ; it is the step of monetary value relation to the one-year net income earned by the house by portion. PE ratio shows the current investor demands for a company portion, when the PE ratio is high it indicates increasing demand as investors anticipate net incomes growing in future, it besides show how much an investor is ready to pay on a one dollar of net incomes. PE ratio has figure of old ages that can be interpreted as clip taken to pay back purchase monetary value and can be calculated on appraisal of following twelvemonth s net incomes per portion. 11. THE WAY THE ORGANISATION WORKS 11.1 Final merchandise ever reflects a wow manner This is normally done to guarantee that the World of art is alone and typical. To accomplish this, the creative persons and manufacturers must travel through the art manager to help them concentrate on a wider scoop or wider shoulders and spikes to maintain the art manner WoWish. 11.2The administration has constrains and ends Cultural merchandises need a batch of money to bring forth, hence the administration has no clip to easy bring forth one merchandise by one because of the demand to maximize net incomes. The more the company produces the easier for them to interrupt even. A good illustration is in the production of Starcraft 2 and wow where the catastrophe went on at the same time. the term catastrophe is the 3rd enlargement for World of Warcraft. 11.2 Employees Blizzard which creates Warcraft games is more predictable and this leads to a larger nucleus squad than contract workers one of the grounds why this is because they want to maintain the rational belongingss within the company and because they hire on undertaking to project footing. Most of the employees are extremely educated and passionate since they are creative persons and coders so they do it with passion. To avoid many hazards and costs, workers have to maintain themselves updated with the new package s and engineering in the market. Decision The creative person creativeness as the cardinal merchandise remains at the Centre of cultural merchandises, nevertheless related services such as digitisation through outgrowth of new engineerings and invention is determining consumer behavior, in expectancy of these engineerings there is a displacement of computing machine games lovers concentrating attending on to originative potencies of the emerging medium, globalisation has opened up markets increasing competitory. An chance for creative persons to draw a bead on towards consistent growing and develop more in-depth cognition has eloped in industry games. The aspect revolves around the creativeness, invention and consumer experience. Merchandise fond regards are built-in for the development of cultural merchandise composed of beliefs and behaviors chiefly based on incorporate forms on human cognition can be centre phase and symbolic points for societal acquisition.

NYC Vital Records Births, Deaths and Marriages

NYC Vital Records Births, Deaths and Marriages Learn how and where to obtain birth, marriage, and death certificates and records from the five boroughs of New York City, including the dates for which NYC vital records are available, where they are located, and links to online New York City vital records databases. If you are looking for births, marriages, or deaths in New York, but outside of New York City, see New York State Vital Records. New York City Vital Records Division of Vital RecordsNew York City Department of Health125 Worth Street, CN4, Rm 133New York, NY 10013Phone:  (212) 788-4520 What You Need to Know:  Check or money order should be made payable to  New York City Department of Health.  Personal checks are accepted. Call or visit the website to verify current fees. Web site: New York City Vital Records New York City Birth Records Dates:  From  1910 at city level; some earlier records at borough level Cost of copy:  $15.00 (includes a 2-year search) Comments:  The vital records office has birth records since 1910 for those occurring in the Boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. For birth records prior to 1910, write to Archives Division, Department of Records and Information Services, 31 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007. Online ordering is preferred (through VitalChek)  and processed within 24 hours. However, this incurs both a processing fee, in addition to a shipping fee. Applications sent via postal mail must be notarized  and the processing time is at least 30 days, but there is not an additional processing fee. You can also order in-person for a $2.75 security fee in addition to the certificate fee. Birth records  prior to 1910  are available through the  municipal archives: Manhattan (from 1847), Brooklyn (from 1866), Bronx (from 1898), Queens (from 1898) and Richmond/Staten Island (from 1898).  The fee for online and mail orders is $15 per certificate. You can also visit in person and research in the microfilmed vital records for free.  Certified copies of identified records may be ordered over-the-counter and will be printed while you wait. The fee is $11.00 per copy. Self-service copying is not available for vital records.   Online: New York Births and Christenings, 1640–1962 (name index to selected records) New York City Death Records: Dates:  From  1949 at city level; some earlier records at borough level Cost of copy:  $15.00 (includes a 2-year search) Comments:  The vital records office has death records since 1949 for those occurring in the Boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. For death records prior to 1949, write to Archives Division, Department of Records and Information Services, 31 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007.  Online ordering is preferred (through VitalChek)  and processed within 24 hours. However, this incurs both a processing fee, in addition to a shipping fee. Applications sent via postal mail must be notarized  and the processing time is at least 30 days.* Death records  prior to 1949  are available through the  municipal archives: Manhattan (from 1795, with a few gaps), Brooklyn (from 1847, with a few gaps), Bronx (from 1898), Queens (from 1898) and Richmond/Staten Island (from 1898). The fee for online and mail orders is $15 per certificate. You can also visit in person and research in the microfilmed vital records for free.  Certified copies of identified records may be ordered over-the-counter and will be printed while you wait. The fee is $11.00 per copy. Self-service copying is not available for vital records.   New York City Marriage Records Dates:  From 1930 Cost of copy:  $15.00 (includes a 1-year search); add $1 for a second-year search, and $0.50 for each additional year Comments:  Marriage records from 1996 to present can be obtained in person from any office of the New York City Clerk. Marriage records from 1930 to 1995 can only be obtained from the Manhattan Office. Marriage records for marriages that took place in the past 50 years are only available to the bride, groom, or their legal representative. You can also obtain a marriage certificate with written, authorized notice from either spouse or by presenting the original death certificates if both spouses are deceased. Bronx Borough:City Clerks OfficeSupreme Court Building851 Grand Concourse, Room B131Bronx, NY 10451 Brooklyn Borough:City Clerks OfficeBrooklyn Municipal Building210 Joralemon Street, Room 205Brooklyn, NY 11201 Manhattan Borough:City Clerks Office141 Worth St.New York, NY 10013 Queens Borough:City Clerks OfficeBorough Hall Building120-55 Queens Boulevard, Ground Floor, Room G-100Kew Gardens, NY 11424 Staten Island Borough (no longer called Richmond):City Clerks OfficeBorough Hall Building10 Richmond Terrace, Room 311, (enter at Hyatt Street/Stuyvesant Place intersection entrance).Staten Island, NY 10301 Marriage  records  prior to 1930  are available through the  municipal archives: Manhattan (from  June  1847, with a few gaps), Brooklyn (from 1866), Bronx (from 1898), Queens (from 1898) and Richmond/Staten Island  (from 1898). New York City Divorce Records Dates:  From 1847 Cost of copy:  $30.00 Comments:  Divorce records for New York City are under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Health, which holds divorce records from  January 1963.Application for a Record of Divorce or Dissolution For divorce records from  1847-1963, contact the County Clerk in the county where the divorce was granted. Keep in mind, however, that New York divorce files are sealed for one hundred years. A few divorce decrees granted by the Court of Chancery from 1787-1847 are available in the  New York State Archives.

The Impact of Economic Crisis on Sweden and Norway Research Paper

The Impact of Economic Crisis on Sweden and Norway - Research Paper Example The main theme that runs across this entire piece of writing is the effects of economic crisis in Sweden and Norway, their negative impacts and ways in which the countries are trying to fight the same. The paper also compares the effect of these crises to the two mentioned countries. In Sweden, the monetary deregulation began a few years ago. The financial intermediaries hastily stretched loans as an outcome of the monetary deregulation. Mortgage institutions, banks, and finance firms freely competed to grant loans. The total lend increased by 136 % from 1986 to 1990. A tax increase was also experienced due to the rise in housing costs. According to Perrels, when people borrowed from financial institutions to purchase houses, interest expenses were wholly deductible from taxable salary. High-leverage monetary savings were used in the standard market. The standard market became lively and stock amounts persistent in rising. The redundancy rate continued to drop to the lowest levels in 1989. Mutually, high increase anticipation and a tax benefit decreased the after-tax actual interest rate to a lower level. Conversely, the bubble unexpectedly busted after 1990, when the financial strategy was tautened. A tax improvement also contributed to the severe drop in asset costs. A reduction of the interest expenses from taxable earnings was strictly forced by the change. The stock market on the other hand also adversely responded and began to drop. Specifically, the real estate stock cost index had dropped by 52%. The bust of the bubble was initiated by a taut monetary strategy. The fundamental change of financial strategy was triggered by international interest rate hiking, succeeding the German reintegration and Riksbank’s plan alteration to focus on inflation.

Blood Pressure and Electrocardiography Assignment

Blood Pressure and Electrocardiography - Assignment Example 1. Define diastolic blood pressure. "Diastolic" came from the Greek diastole meaning "a drawing apart." The term has been in use since the 16th century to denote the period of relaxation of the heart muscle. The diastolic pressure is specifically the minimum arterial pressure during relaxation and dilatation of the ventricles of the heart when the ventricles fill with blood. In a blood pressure reading, the diastolic pressure is typically the second number recorded. For example, with a blood pressure of 120/80 ("120 over 80"), the diastolic pressure is 80. By "80" is meant 80 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury). (Braunwald E, 2004; Moreno MN, 2006)) 2. Given a blood pressure of 125/80, what is the mean arterial pressure? Mean Arterial Pressure = DBP + 1/3(SBP-DBP) Given: SBP = 125 DBP = 80 80 + 1/3(125-80) = 95mmHg Electrocardiography 1. When the electrode pads are placed on the subject, where is the positive electrode placed? An electrocardiogram is obtained by measuring electrical potential between various points of the body using an amplifier. A lead records the electrical signals of the heart from a particular combination of recording electrodes which are placed at specific points on the patient's body. When a depolarization wavefront (or mean electrical vector) moves toward a positive electrode, it creates a positive deflection on the ECG in the corresponding lead.

International terrorism Essay Example for Free

International terrorism Essay Terrorism is the intended use or threat of use of extra normal violence or brutality by sub-national groups to obtain a political, religious, or ideological objective through intimidation of a huge audience, usually not directly involved with the policy making that the terrorists seek to influence. (Enders and Sandler, 2002a, 2002b) Several historical and contemporary terrorist groups support a strong religious party, typically by dint of their membership. Anti-colonial, nationalist movements such as the Jewish terrorist organizations active in pre-independence Israel and the Muslim dominated FLN in Algeria come eagerly to mind, as do more topical examples such as the devastatingly Catholic IRA; their Protestant counterparts, arrayed in various loyalist paramilitary groups like the Ulster Freedom Fighters, the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commandos; and the predominantly Muslim PLO. Though, in all these groups it is the political, not the sacred aspect of their motivation that is prevailing; the primacy of their ethno-nationalist and/or irredentist aims is obviously true. For others, however, the religious motivation is overriding. Certainly, the religious crucial for terrorism are the most significant defining characteristic of terrorist activity today. The consequences of the rebellion that transformed Iran into an Islamic republic in 1979 have included its critical role in the renaissance of this strand of terrorism; but, the contemporary advent of religious terrorism has not been restricted exclusively to Iran, much less to the Middle East or to Islam: since eighties it has involved elements of all the worlds’ key religions and, in several instances, smaller sects or cults as well. I have no regrets, said Yigal Amir, the young Jewish extremist who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to the police. I acted alone and on orders from God. (Amir Yigal, 1987, pp. 7-8). Like Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah is another international terrorist group that was the product of numerous splits within the Lebanese Shia movement. Its origins can be traced back to 1974, when a Lebanese Shia cleric, Imam Musa al-Sadr, who had studied in the Iranian holy city of Qom, organized the Movement of the Underprivileged to advance Shia interests and progress the communitys lowly socioeconomic conditions. This movement was consequently reorganized as the principal Shia political party in Lebanon, Amal, which formed its own militia during the civil war that racked Lebanon a year later. Hezbollahs ideology is as simple as the organization is â€Å"wraithlike. † The members are taught that humans form two groups: the followers of Allah (Muslims) and the followers of Satan (infidels) who must be censored so that Allahs rule will expand to the whole planet. Satan, they have been told, evident himself in all sorts of disguises: a womans lock showing from under her veil (chador); the bare leg of a teenager boy; women and men mixing in public places (cinemas, cafes, restaurants); the Israeli profession of Palestine; and so on. The struggle against Satan is a full-time job for party members; the partys proposal clearly states: â€Å"Our religion is not a meager part-time hobby like cross-worshipers who go to church on Sunday to bribe their God. † (Robert Fisk, 1996) The party recruit â€Å"volunteers for martyrdom,† trains them, and flings them on missions. In October 1983, such volunteers carried out the suicide bombing of the American marines and French commandos in Beirut. Other members linger the streets, throwing acid on womens unveiled faces, pasting opponents, setting fire to newspaper offices, and so on. The party also broadcasts courses on radio and TV on how to use a diverse firearm, techniques of guerrilla warfare, kidnapping, assassinations of â€Å"enemies of God,† and other deeds. The size of the membership is composed of teenagers and even children. Throughout the eight-year war with Iraq, â€Å"children’s martyrs† were commonly sent to the mine fields to clear the way for tanks. A senior member of the party explained that children can be replaced at less cost than the tanks. Khomeinis justification was perceptibly less cynical: Those less than twenty have not yet been infected by satanic Western culture. In its first months, the Islamic Republic used Syrian and Palestinian terrorists to perform assassinations of opponents in foreign countries. In 1980, Khomeini ordered the formation of an Iranian force capable of striking anywhere in the world. Hojatol-Islam Fazlollah Mahalati, with the assistance of Hadi Ghaffary and Chamran, a pro-Khomeini radical who lived in Lebanon (who had both been trained in PLO camps in the early 1970s), was dispersed to the task. By 1981 the hit squads started their worldwide operations. In 1979, however, al-Sadr vanished throughout a visit to Libya. The desertion of the Imam created a vacuum within Amal that made the party productive ground for Iranian influence, and given the movement prone to the fundamentalist call of the revolt which had brought Khomeini to power earlier that year. Nabih Berri, a lawyer, was appointed head of Amal the following year. Hussein Mussawi, and the assumed mastermind behind the terrorist campaign against Libya to recover the Imam, was named as Berris deputy and commander of the militia. A fanatical supporter of Khomeini, Mussawi sought to place Amal in the front line of a regional revolution based on the new Iranian Islamic Republic. Berri, on the other hand, clung to a modest line and advocated a new deal for the Shia community within the limits of the existing Lebanese state structure. By this time, though, the radicalization of the Shia in Lebanon had gone far away the narrow nationalist and social aims of Amal. In 1981, Mussawi broke with Berri and founded his own organization, Islamic Amal. Shortly after, another faction split from Amal and under the leadership of Abbas Mussawi and the spiritual guidance of Sheikh Mohamed Hussein Fadlallah, it soon came to be recognized as the Hezbollah. Like Islamic Amal, Hezbollah embraced Khomeinis directive for a pan-Islamic revolt designed to turn Lebanon into an Iranian-style Islamic republic. It is really unfortunate that people around the world are irritable about three human deaths throughout this war yet hardly uttered a word with the massacres lately in Africa where hundreds of thousands of people were murdered. The United Nations is calling for a cease-fire and saying this could lead to a humanitarian crisis. Though, this effort didn’t work well so far. According to Gal Luft, In Hizballahland, the movements fighters have much more than a safe haven. Its training camps have become a hub of international terrorism, a convention center for some of the worlds most dangerous men. Here they can experiment with new weapons, practice their tactics, and collaborate with fellow terrorists from groups like al Qaeda, Hamas, Ansar al-Islam, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Kurdish Workers Party. From Lebanon, similarly, Hizballahs agents and associates can easily export their skills to destinations around the world. (Gal Luft, Hizballahland, Commentary Magazine, July-August 2003). The second advantage Hizballah enjoys is sophisticated weaponry. Al Qaedas arsenal is now limited to small, easily smuggle arms. When it comes to anti-aircraft capabilities, it possesses (as far as we know) only antiquated Soviet SA-7 Strella missiles, part of roughly 50,000 that were sold to third-world countries during the cold war; such missilesthey may have figured in last Novembers attack on an Israeli passenger plane in Kenyaare largely ineffective against the countermeasure routinely employed by modern planes. By contrast, Hizballah has accumulated an impressive stockpile of weapons, including, as I mentioned at the outset, thousands of rockets, artillery pieces, and antitank and anti-aircraft missiles. In the latter category, it has reportedly equipped itself with SA-18 missiles, whose substantially improved range and speed enable them to shoot down almost any aircraft. Gal Luft, Hizballahland, Commentary Magazine, July-August 2003. Owning more weapons than it knows what to do with, Hizballah has also helped procure arms for other groups. It played a key role in the January 2002 attempt to smuggle 50 tons of weapons to the Palestinian Authority aboard the Karine-A. Its external-operations commander, Imad Mughniyeh, one of the worlds most wanted terrorists, arranged to purchase the ship, and Mughniyehs deputy Haj Bassem personally supervised the loading operation at the Iranian island of Kish. Gal Luft, Hizballahland, Commentary Magazine, July-August 2003.

Tunnels used in War Zones :: essays research papers

Tunnels The first characteristic of a tunnel complex is normally superb camouflage. Entrances and exits are concealed, bunkers are camouflaged and even inside the tunnel itself, side tunnels are concealed, hidden trapdoors, and dead-ends where used to confuse the attacker. Trapdoors were used extensively, both at entrances and exits and inside the tunnel complex itself. There where several different types of trapdoors, concrete covered by dirt, hard packed dirt reinforced by wire, or a basin type consisting of a frame filled with dirt. This latter type was particularly difficult to locate in that probing would not reveal the presence of the trapdoor unless the outer frame was actually struck by the probe. Trapdoors covering entrances were generally 100 meters apart. Booby traps were used both inside and outside entrance and exit trapdoors. Tunnels found in the War Zones were generally better constructed than those found in other areas. In some cases these complexes were multileveled, with storage and hiding rooms generally found on the lower levels. Entrance was often gained through concealed trapdoors and secondary tunnels. In the deeper complexes, foxholes were dug at intervals to provide water drainage. These were sometimes booby-trapped as well as containing punji-stakes for the unwary attacker. Average tunnel size was 2-feet wide and 2.5 to 3-feet high. They also used air or water locks that acted as firewalls, preventing blast, fragments or gas from passing from one section of the tunnel to another. A trained tunnel exploitation team was essential to the expeditions of VC tunnels since untrained people may have missed hidden tunnel entrances, taken unnecessary casualties from concealed mines and booby traps . To facilitate this, teams were trained, equipped and maintained in a ready status to provide immediate assistance when tunnels were discovered. Hiding VC attempted to evade and avoid all contact with government forces for any one of many reasons and this was the normal reaction for a VC unit when confronted with a superior government force. Frequently however, GVN tactics or time/distance considerations made it necessary for the VC to evade by physically hiding in villages, or becoming one of the local population. This article is concerned with this one aspect of VC escape and evasion technique and is especially oriented to the situation presented when search operations were made more difficult because they were conducted in the presence of a friendly or passive populace. Protection of equipment was equally important, if not more so, than protection of personnel.

Strengths Of Animation And Its Technology Art Essay

â€Å" It can sometimes look that CG life regards the production of a plausible and photo-realistic human figure as its sanctum grail. Such a pursuit, nevertheless, misunderstands the existent strengths of life and of its engineering. † Evaluate this statement in the context of a individual illustration from animated movie or a digital game. You must do close mention to both primary and secondary beginnings. The quest for pragmatism in Computer artworks has been the ultimate award for creative persons and coders. These originative people have been endeavoring for over 20 old ages to bring forth realistic practical characters and universes. The art of Computer life has been a pursuit for pragmatism. I have decided to concentrate on a expression at the movie â€Å" Concluding Fantasy: The Liquors Within † and its effects on itself and the industry. The branchings of which are still felt today. Concluding Fantasy: The Spirits within was the first CGI ( computing machine generated image ) movie having simulated human existences. The star of the film is a character created called Dr. Aki Ross, a female Doctor/heroine who has dreams about foreigners and the terminal of the universe. She is a scientist who is seeking to work out how to humanly take ghost-like foreigners called â€Å" apparitions † that have been terrorizing the planet since an asteroid crashed into the Earth. The realistic return on this character was that of a sexy immature female physician – presumptively to lure the usual male videogame demographics of 18-35. An illustration of this was her organic structure was placed on provocative show for readers of the work forces ‘s magazine, Maxim, two months before Final Fantasy ‘s American premiere in the summer of 2001. Looking curiously guiltless in her twine Bikini, Aki addresses the spectator with the same quiet regard she maintains throughout the movie. ( Wikipedia, 2006 ) The movie and the character attempt to play off the frequently popular Asiatic subjects in Western America such as Manga yet seek to lure both Manga fans and western society by understating their divergences from the dominant Hollywood manner in order to appeal to the widest, most â€Å" planetary † audience possible. Yet overall low box office and DVD gross revenues clearly demonstrate the inability of uniting these manners while bring forthing a ‘live-action ‘ CG animated characteristic. ( BoxOfficeMojo, 2006 ) The most interesting thing to audiences and critics was the chief merchandising point of Final Fantasy. It was the first CGI movie to incorporate near-to-photorealistic or â€Å" Hyper Realistic † histrions and actresses ( McCarthy, Variety Online, par. 6 ) . â€Å" One of the things that helped Sid with his pragmatism is the sum of item they were able to add to his tegument † Says Animation Director Andy Jones. â€Å" Adding more item, more age musca volitanss, more material like that makes characters look even more existent. That ‘s one of the grounds that Aki was one of the most hard characters to do expression existent. We could n't set a batch of age musca volitanss and things on her because we needed to maintain her skin clean and attractive † ( The Making of concluding phantasy, The Liquors Within 2001, pg 147 ) Using a computing machine plan called Maya, the scenes were created, blocked-out and shooting with practical cameras, which could be moved about and used like existent cameras. â€Å" On top of everything else, we ‘re besides required to imitate a real-life camera and do the whole show look like it was really shot through a existent lens † – Compositing Supervisor James Rogers â€Å" Some times we have to screen of dirty things up a small to do them look existent. It ‘s sort of Ironic. † ( The Making of concluding phantasy, The Liquors Within 2001, pg 208 ) Once the storyboards and animatic had been produced, the gesture gaining control squad took over and changeable many histrions executing stunts and normal human motion. Harmonizing to the life manager Andy Jones, energizers debated on what made a character more ‘human like ‘ – the manner it moved, or the manner it looked visually. They eventually decided to concentrate on the expression, peculiarly the facial country and appendages. â€Å" We gave her lentigos, but it was hard. We fought to acquire those in at that place. It was a conflict between seeking to do her expression existent and maintaining her beauty. In a unrecorded action movie they cover up a batch of blemished. So where do we pull the line every bit far as world is concerned? We were merely seeking to add item to do the characters more existent † ( The Making of concluding phantasy, The Liquors Within 2001, pg 147 ) Besides, due to Director Sakaguchi ‘s fancy for elaborate and elaborate storyboarding, the staff seemed to pay more attending to the item of the characters through expression and visual aspect instead than through their duologue and narrative. â€Å" The best analogy that I can believe of is when Walk Disney did Snow White. Snow White was the first all-colour, full length sketch, and everybody thought he was brainsick. He could hold gone out and hired a existent actress and got some small people to play the midget ; but he felt really strongly that there was a better was to state that peculiar narrative. † ( The Making of concluding phantasy, The Liquors Within 2001, Chris Lee pg8 ) One concern with the visuals, was the drawn-out usage of gesture gaining control, which accounted for over 90 % of the chief character ‘s organic structure motions used in the film. For Final Fantasy each performing artist wore around 35 markers on skintight suits. Motion gaining control can be so sensitive, that it can capture the bodily niceties of performing artists even when they were still. Nuances that were hard to inspire by manus, but easy to enter through the gesture gaining control procedure. Once the public presentations were captured, energizers could work on honing the visual aspect and motion of the characters ‘ organic structures and faces and later, of their tegument and hair. Last but surely non least, the originative squad constructed ocular environments ; sets, props, ‘phantom ‘ foreigners, illuming and particular effects for their new semisynthetic stars. The consequence is a film that looks and feels someplace between life and unrecorded movie. Sakaguchi, Square Co. vice-president and head designer of Final Fantasy, sums it up in the undermentioned manner: â€Å" We ‘ve created characters that no longer experience blatantly computing machine generated. If we press on, we can accomplish the world degree of a live-action movie, but I sort of like where we are now. It ‘s non anime ; it ‘s non unrecorded action. It ‘s something people have ne'er seen before † ( Time 31 July 2000 par. 7 ) . However, one of the taking people in CG life, John Lasseter from the enormously successful Pixar Animation Studios, argues against the usage of ‘live action ‘ CG pragmatism in alive movies. â€Å" It ‘s really of import for us to hold a movie that people look at on a screen and cognize, from the minute it starts, is non unrecorded action. This is a semisynthetic movie. This does non be. It ‘s farcical to seek to make ‘live action ‘ with this medium, Computer life is so complex and clip consuming. Why cause yourself and crew to endure over something you could merely hit with live-action movie? Just take a camera out and movie it. At the same clip, I like to take a universe that people know full well does n't be, and so do it as credible and realistic as we perchance can. † ( Jeff Krutti 1998, pg15 ) Sakaguchi was largely right in that CGI had non been applied to the creative activity of lead human-like histrions antecedently. However, people had seen assorted elements of CGI Realism before, in Western animated characteristics such as Pixar ‘s Toy Story ( 1995 ) and Sony ‘s Stuart Little ( 1999 ) . Even earlier plants in the ocular effects arena such as Jurassic Park ( 1993 ) , Forrest Gump ( 1994 ) , Titanic ( 1997 ) and the latest Star Wars Trilogy Parts 1-3 ( 1999-2005 ) . These are all proficient accomplishments that were hard to bring forth. â€Å" The development of hyper existent CG characters has been technically more ambitious than ab initio anticipated, and has lead us through a series of hurdlings to get the better of † – Hironobu Sakaguchi ( The Making of concluding phantasy, The Liquors Within 2001, pg4 ) Final Fantasy ‘s failure at the Box Office ( BoxOfficeMojo.com 2006 ) proves a instance for the ‘Uncanny Valley ‘ . What the movie ‘s shapers ab initio saw as the perfect blending of two different civilizations ( Western and Eastern ) and media ( Films and Games ) amounted in the terminal to a immense loss of money for Square Pictures. This may hold been due non merely to the videogame origins of the movie and the fact that it was computing machine animated ( all other game-based movies have been unrecorded action ) , but the controversial manner that the movie used digital life to try mimetic representations of human existences. â€Å" When people come up to me and state, ‘Final Fantasy looks so existent. Why did n't you make it with existent people? ‘ , I tell them, ‘Because this is a better manner of making it. ‘ The future belongs to those who dare, and I think that ‘s what happened here. † ( The Making of concluding phantasy, The Liquors Within 2001, Chris Lee, pg8 ) Traditional life is all about suspending incredulity and making a universe that the position understands is existent within the given context. What Final Fantasy was seeking to make was make world – something that creative persons have been seeking for decennaries utilizing other mediums. World is defined by our deficiency of ability to reproduce it. â€Å" If Aki is non every bit existent as a human actress, she is approximately every bit existent as a Playmate who has been retouched to a calendered flawlessness. † ( Ebert, Roger 2001 ) Criticism of the movie was high, in the fact that the lip-sync motions and emotions of the characters were bland at best. They about looked ‘dead ‘ which is dry sing there is a concealed characteristic located on the Final Fantasy DVD of the characters ‘playing dead ‘ dancing to their version of Michael Jackson ‘s Thriller, ( Concluding Fantasy: The Spirits Within, 2001 DVD ) . I have found that it was easier to suspend incredulity for alive films such as Toy Story 2 than for the computer-created human figures in Final Fantasy. There has non yet been another to the full rendered CGI film seeking to accomplish pragmatism in worlds. I doubt nevertheless Final Fantasy is the concluding effort.Bibliography:A Bugs Life: the art and devising of an heroic poem of illumination proportion. Jeff Krutti. Hyerpion New York. 1998 Steven L. Kent & A ; Tim Cox. 2001. The Making of Final phantasy, The Spirits Within. 1st Edition. Brady Printing

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 73-77

CHAPTER 73 Bourget Airfield's night shift air traffic controller had been dozing before a blank radar screen when the captain of the Judicial Police practically broke down his door. â€Å"Teabing's jet,† Bezu Fache blared, marching into the small tower,† where did it go?† The controller's initial response was a babbling, lame attempt to protect the privacy of their British client – one of the airfield's most respected customers. It failed miserably. â€Å"Okay,† Fache said,† I am placing you under arrest for permitting a private plane to take off without registering a flight plan.† Fache motioned to another officer, who approached with handcuffs, and the traffic controller felt a surge of terror. He thought of the newspaper articles debating whether the nation's police captain was a hero or a menace. That question had just been answered. â€Å"Wait!† the controller heard himself whimper at the sight of the handcuffs. â€Å"I can tell you this much. Sir Leigh Teabing makes frequent trips to London for medical treatments. He has a hangar at Biggin Hill Executive Airport in Kent. On the outskirts of London.† Fache waved off the man with the cuffs. â€Å"Is Biggin Hill his destination tonight?† â€Å"I don't know,† the controller said honestly. â€Å"The plane left on its usual tack, and his last radar contact suggested the United Kingdom. Biggin Hill is an extremely likely guess.† â€Å"Did he have others onboard?† â€Å"I swear, sir, there is no way for me to know that. Our clients can drive directly to their hangars, and load as they please. Who is onboard is the responsibility of the customs officials at the receiving airport.† Fache checked his watch and gazed out at the scattering of jets parked in front of the terminal. â€Å"If they're going to Biggin Hill, how long until they land?† The controller fumbled through his records. â€Å"It's a short flight. His plane could be on the ground by†¦ around six-thirty. Fifteen minutes from now.† Fache frowned and turned to one of his men. â€Å"Get a transport up here. I'm going to London. And get me the Kent local police. Not British MI5. I want this quiet. Kent local.Tell them I want Teabing's plane to be permitted to land. Then I want it surrounded on the tarmac. Nobody deplanes until I get there.† CHAPTER 74 â€Å"You're quiet,† Langdon said, gazing across the Hawker's cabin at Sophie. â€Å"Just tired,† she replied. â€Å"And the poem. I don't know.† Langdon was feeling the same way. The hum of the engines and the gentle rocking of the plane were hypnotic, and his head still throbbed where he'd been hit by the monk. Teabing was still in the back of the plane, and Langdon decided to take advantage of the moment alone with Sophie to tell her something that had been on his mind. â€Å"I think I know part of the reason why your grandfather conspired to put us together. I think there's something he wanted me to explain to you.† â€Å"The history of the Holy Grail and Mary Magdalene isn't enough?† Langdon felt uncertain how to proceed. â€Å"The rift between you. The reason you haven't spoken to him in ten years. I think maybe he was hoping I could somehow make that right by explaining what drove you apart.† Sophie squirmed in her seat. â€Å"I haven't told you what drove us apart.† Langdon eyed her carefully. â€Å"You witnessed a sex rite. Didn't you?† Sophie recoiled. â€Å"How do you know that?† â€Å"Sophie, you told me you witnessed something that convinced you your grandfather was in a secret society. And whatever you saw upset you enough that you haven't spoken to him since. I know a fair amount about secret societies. It doesn't take the brains of Da Vinci to guess what you saw.† Sophie stared. â€Å"Was it in the spring?† Langdon asked. â€Å"Sometime around the equinox? Mid-March?† Sophie looked out the window. â€Å"I was on spring break from university. I came home a few days early.† â€Å"You want to tell me about it?† â€Å"I'd rather not.† She turned suddenly back to Langdon, her eyes welling with emotion. â€Å"I don't know what I saw.† â€Å"Were both men and women present?† After a beat, she nodded.† Dressed in white and black?† She wiped her eyes and then nodded, seeming to open up a little. â€Å"The women were in white gossamer gowns†¦ with golden shoes. They held golden orbs. The men wore black tunics and black shoes.† Langdon strained to hide his emotion, and yet he could not believe what he was hearing. Sophie Neveu had unwittingly witnessed a two-thousand-year-old sacred ceremony. â€Å"Masks?† he asked, keeping his voice calm. â€Å"Androgynous masks?† â€Å"Yes. Everyone. Identical masks. White on the women. Black on the men.† Langdon had read descriptions of this ceremony and understood its mystic roots. â€Å"It's called Hieros Gamos,† he said softly. â€Å"It dates back more than two thousand years. Egyptian priests and priestesses performed it regularly to celebrate the reproductive power of the female,† He paused, leaning toward her. â€Å"And if you witnessed Hieros Gamos without being properly prepared to understand its meaning, I imagine it would be pretty shocking.† Sophie said nothing. â€Å"Hieros Gamos is Greek,† he continued. â€Å"It means sacred marriage.† â€Å"The ritual I saw was no marriage.† â€Å"Marriage as in union, Sophie.† â€Å"You mean as in sex.† â€Å"No.† â€Å"No?† she said, her olive eyes testing him. Langdon backpedaled. â€Å"Well†¦ yes, in a manner of speaking, but not as we understand it today.† He explained that although what she saw probably looked like a sex ritual, Hieros Gamos had nothing to do with eroticism. It was a spiritual act. Historically, intercourse was the act through which male and female experienced God. The ancients believed that the male was spiritually incomplete until he had carnal knowledge of the sacred feminine. Physical union with the female remained the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis – knowledge of the divine. Since the days of Isis, sex rites had been considered man's only bridge from earth to heaven. â€Å"By communing with woman,† Langdon said,† man could achieve a climactic instant when his mind went totally blank and he could see God.† Sophie looked skeptical. â€Å"Orgasm as prayer?† Langdon gave a noncommittal shrug, although Sophie was essentially correct. Physiologically speaking, the male climax was accompanied by a split second entirely devoid of thought. A brief mental vacuum. A moment of clarity during which God could be glimpsed. Meditation gurus achieved similar states of thoughtlessness without sex and often described Nirvana as a never- ending spiritual orgasm. â€Å"Sophie,† Langdon said quietly,† it's important to remember that the ancients' view of sex was entirely opposite from ours today. Sex begot new life – the ultimate miracle – and miracles could be performed only by a god. The ability of the woman to produce life from her womb made her sacred. A god. Intercourse was the revered union of the two halves of the human spirit – male and female – through which the male could find spiritual wholeness and communion with God. What you saw was not about sex, it was about spirituality. The Hieros Gamos ritual is not a perversion. It's a deeply sacrosanct ceremony.† His words seemed to strike a nerve. Sophie had been remarkably poised all evening, but now, for the first time, Langdon saw the aura of composure beginning to crack. Tears materialized in her eyes again, and she dabbed them away with her sleeve. He gave her a moment. Admittedly, the concept of sex as a pathway to God was mind-boggling at first. Langdon's Jewish students always looked flabbergasted when he first told them that the early Jewish tradition involved ritualistic sex. In the Temple, no less.Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple housed not only God but also His powerful female equal, Shekinah. Men seeking spiritual wholeness came to the Temple to visit priestesses – or hierodules – with whom they made love and experienced the divine through physical union. The Jewish tetragrammaton YHWH – the sacred name of God – in fact derived from Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve, Havah. â€Å"For the early Church,† Langdon explained in a soft voice,† mankind's use of sex to commune directly with God posed a serious threat to the Catholic power base. It left the Church out of the loop, undermining their self-proclaimed status as the sole conduit to God. For obvious reasons, they worked hard to demonize sex and recast it as a disgusting and sinful act. Other major religions did the same.† Sophie was silent, but Langdon sensed she was starting to understand her grandfather better. Ironically, Langdon had made this same point in a class lecture earlier this semester. â€Å"Is it surprising we feel conflicted about sex?† he asked his students. â€Å"Our ancient heritage and our very physiologies tell us sex is natural – a cherished route to spiritual fulfillment – and yet modern religion decries it as shameful, teaching us to fear our sexual desire as the hand of the devil.† Langdon decided not to shock his students with the fact that more than a dozen secret societies around the world – many of them quite influential – still practiced sex rites and kept the ancient traditions alive. Tom Cruise's character in the film Eyes Wide Shut discovered this the hard way when he sneaked into a private gathering of ultraelite Manhattanites only to find himself witnessing Hieros Gamos. Sadly, the filmmakers had gotten most of the specifics wrong, but the basic gist was there – a secret society communing to celebrate the magic of sexual union. â€Å"Professor Langdon?† A male student in back raised his hand, sounding hopeful. â€Å"Are you saying that instead of going to chapel, we should have more sex?† Langdon chuckled, not about to take the bait. From what he'd heard about Harvard parties, these kids were having more than enough sex. â€Å"Gentlemen,† he said, knowing he was on tender ground,† might I offer a suggestion for all of you. Without being so bold as to condone premarital sex, and without being so naive as to think you're all chaste angels, I will give you this bit of advice about your sex lives.† All the men in the audience leaned forward, listening intently. â€Å"The next time you find yourself with a woman, look in your heart and see if you cannot approach sex as a mystical, spiritual act. Challenge yourself to find that spark of divinity that man can only achieve through union with the sacred feminine.† The women smiled knowingly, nodding. The men exchanged dubious giggles and off-color jokes. Langdon sighed. College men were still boys. Sophie's forehead felt cold as she pressed it against the plane's window and stared blankly into the void, trying to process what Langdon had just told her. She felt a new regret well within her. Ten years.She pictured the stacks of unopened letters her grandfather had sent her. I will tell Robert everything.Without turning from the window, Sophie began to speak. Quietly. Fearfully. As she began to recount what had happened that night, she felt herself drifting back†¦ alighting in the woods outside her grandfather's Normandy chateau†¦ searching the deserted house in confusion†¦ hearing the voices below her†¦ and then finding the hidden door. She inched down the stone staircase, one step at a time, into that basement grotto. She could taste the earthy air. Cool and light. It was March. In the shadows of her hiding place on the staircase, she watched as the strangers swayed and chanted by flickering orange candles. I'm dreaming, Sophie told herself. This is a dream. What else could this be? The women and men were staggered, black, white, black, white. The women's beautiful gossamer gowns billowed as they raised in their right hands golden orbs and called out in unison,† I was withyou in the beginning, in the dawn of all that is holy, I bore you from the womb before the start of day.† The women lowered their orbs, and everyone rocked back and forth as if in a trance. They were revering something in the center of the circle. What are they looking at? The voices accelerated now. Louder. Faster. â€Å"The woman whom you behold is love!† The women called, raising their orbs again. The men responded,† She has her dwelling in eternity!† The chanting grew steady again. Accelerating. Thundering now. Faster. The participants stepped inward and knelt. In that instant, Sophie could finally see what they were all watching. On a low, ornate altar in the center of the circle lay a man. He was naked, positioned on his back, and wearing a black mask. Sophie instantly recognized his body and the birthmark on his shoulder. She almost cried out. Grand-pere! This image alone would have shocked Sophie beyond belief, and yet there was more. Straddling her grandfather was a naked woman wearing a white mask, her luxuriant silver hair flowing out behind it. Her body was plump, far from perfect, and she was gyrating in rhythm to the chanting – making love to Sophie's grandfather. Sophie wanted to turn and run, but she couldn't. The stone walls of the grotto imprisoned her as the chanting rose to a fever pitch. The circle of participants seemed almost to be singing now, the noise rising in crescendo to a frenzy. With a sudden roar, the entire room seemed to erupt in climax. Sophie could not breathe. She suddenly realized she was quietly sobbing. She turned and staggered silently up the stairs, out of the house, and drove trembling back to Paris. CHAPTER 75 The chartered turboprop was just passing over the twinkling lights of Monaco when Aringarosa hung up on Fache for the second time. He reached for the airsickness bag again but felt too drained even to be sick. Just let it be over! Fache's newest update seemed unfathomable, and yet almost nothing tonight made sense anymore. What is going on? Everything had spiraled wildly out of control. What have I gotten Silas into? What have I gotten myself into! On shaky legs, Aringarosa walked to the cockpit. â€Å"I need to change destinations.† The pilot glanced over his shoulder and laughed. â€Å"You're joking, right?† â€Å"No. I have to get to London immediately.† â€Å"Father, this is a charter flight, not a taxi.† â€Å"I will pay you extra, of course. How much? London is only one hour farther north and requires almost no change of direction, so – â€Å" â€Å"It's not a question of money, Father, there are other issues.† â€Å"Ten thousand euro. Right now.† The pilot turned, his eyes wide with shock. â€Å"How much? What kind of priest carries that kind of cash?† Aringarosa walked back to his black briefcase, opened it, and removed one of the bearer bonds. He handed it to the pilot. â€Å"What is this?† the pilot demanded. â€Å"A ten-thousand-euro bearer bond drawn on the Vatican Bank.† The pilot looked dubious.† It's the same as cash.† â€Å"Only cash is cash,† the pilot said, handing the bond back. Aringarosa felt weak as he steadied himself against the cockpit door. â€Å"This is a matter of life or death. You must help me. I need to get to London.† The pilot eyed the bishop's gold ring. â€Å"Real diamonds?† Aringarosa looked at the ring. â€Å"I could not possibly part with this.† The pilot shrugged, turning and focusing back out the windshield. Aringarosa felt a deepening sadness. He looked at the ring. Everything it represented was about to be lost to the bishop anyway. After a long moment, he slid the ring from his finger and placed it gently on the instrument panel. Aringarosa slunk out of the cockpit and sat back down. Fifteen seconds later, he could feel the pilot banking a few more degrees to the north. Even so, Aringarosa's moment of glory was in shambles. It had all begun as a holy cause. A brilliantly crafted scheme. Now, like a house of cards, it was collapsing in on itself†¦ and the end was nowhere in sight. CHAPTER 76 Langdon could see Sophie was still shaken from recounting her experience of Hieros Gamos. For his part, Langdon was amazed to have heard it. Not only had Sophie witnessed the full-blown ritual, but her own grandfather had been the celebrant†¦ the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. It was heady company. Da Vinci, Botticelli, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Jean Cocteau†¦JacquesSauniere. â€Å"I don't know what else I can tell you,† Langdon said softly. Sophie's eyes were a deep green now, tearful. â€Å"He raised me like his own daughter.† Langdon now recognized the emotion that had been growing in her eyes as they spoke. It was remorse. Distant and deep. Sophie Neveu had shunned her grandfather and was now seeing him in an entirely different light. Outside, the dawn was coming fast, its crimson aura gathering off the starboard. The earth was still black beneath them. â€Å"Victuals, my dears?† Teabing rejoined them with a flourish, presenting several cans of Coke and a box of old crackers. He apologized profusely for the limited fare as he doled out the goods. â€Å"Our friend the monk isn't talking yet,† he chimed, â€Å"but give him time.† He bit into a cracker and eyed the poem. â€Å"So, my lovely, any headway?† He looked at Sophie. â€Å"What is your grandfather trying to tell us here? Where the devil is this headstone? This headstone praised by Templars.† Sophie shook her head and remained silent. While Teabing again dug into the verse, Langdon popped a Coke and turned to the window, his thoughts awash with images of secret rituals and unbroken codes. A headstone praised by Templarsis the key.He took a long sip from the can. A headstone praised by Templars.The cola was warm. The dissolving veil of night seemed to evaporate quickly, and as Langdon watched the transformation, he saw a shimmering ocean stretch out beneath them. The English Channel.It wouldn't be long now. Langdon willed the light of day to bring with it a second kind of illumination, but the lighter it became outside, the further he felt from the truth. He heard the rhythms of iambic pentameter and chanting, Hieros Gamos and sacred rites, resonating with the rumble of the jet. A headstone praised by Templars. The plane was over land again when a flash of enlightenment struck him. Langdon set down his empty can of Coke hard. â€Å"You won't believe this,† he said, turning to the others. â€Å"The Templar headstone – I figured it out.† Teabing's eyes turned to saucers. â€Å"You know where the headstone is?† Langdon smiled. â€Å"Not where it is. What it is.† Sophie leaned in to hear. â€Å"I think the headstone references a literal stone head,†Langdon explained, savoring the familiar excitement of academic breakthrough. â€Å"Not a grave marker.† â€Å"A stone head?† Teabing demanded. Sophie looked equally confused.† Leigh,† Langdon said, turning,† during the Inquisition, the Church accused the Knights Templar of all kinds of heresies, right?† â€Å"Correct. They fabricated all kinds of charges. Sodomy, urination on the cross, devil worship, quite a list.† â€Å"And on that list was the worship of false idols, right? Specifically, the Church accused the Templars of secretly performing rituals in which they prayed to a carved stone head†¦ the pagan god – â€Å" â€Å"Baphomet!† Teabing blurted. â€Å"My heavens, Robert, you're right! A headstone praised by Templars!† Langdon quickly explained to Sophie that Baphomet was a pagan fertility god associated with the creative force of reproduction. Baphomet's head was represented as that of a ram or goat, a common symbol of procreation and fecundity. The Templars honored Baphomet by encircling a stone replica of his head and chanting prayers. â€Å"Baphomet,† Teabing tittered. â€Å"The ceremony honored the creative magic of sexual union, but Pope Clement convinced everyone that Baphomet's head was in fact that of the devil. The Pope used the head of Baphomet as the linchpin in his case against the Templars.† Langdon concurred. The modern belief in a horned devil known as Satan could be traced back to Baphomet and the Church's attempts to recast the horned fertility god as a symbol of evil. The Church had obviously succeeded, although not entirely. Traditional American Thanksgiving tables still bore pagan, horned fertility symbols. The cornucopia or† horn of plenty† was a tribute to Baphomet's fertility and dated back to Zeus being suckled by a goat whose horn broke off and magically filled with fruit. Baphomet also appeared in group photographs when some joker raised two fingers behind a friend's head in the V-symbol of horns; certainly few of the pranksters realized their mocking gesture was in fact advertising their victim's robust sperm count. â€Å"Yes, yes,† Teabing was saying excitedly. â€Å"Baphomet must be what the poem is referring to. A headstone praised by Templars.† â€Å"Okay,† Sophie said, â€Å"but if Baphomet is the headstone praised by Templars, then we have a new dilemma.† She pointed to the dials on the cryptex. â€Å"Baphomet has eight letters. We only have room for five.† Teabing grinned broadly. â€Å"My dear, this is where the Atbash Cipher comes into play† CHAPTER 77 Langdon was impressed. Teabing had just finished writing out the entire twenty-two-letter Hebrew alphabet – alef-beit – from memory. Granted, he'd used Roman equivalents rather than Hebrew characters, but even so, he was now reading through them with flawless pronunciation. A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K L M N S O P Tz Q R Sh Th â€Å"Alef, Beit, Gimel, Dalet, Hei, Vav, Zayin, Chet, Tet, Yud, Kaf, Lamed, Mem, Nun, Samech, Ayin, Pei, Tzadik, Kuf, Reish, Shin, and Tav.† Teabing dramatically mopped his brow and plowed on. â€Å"In formal Hebrew spelling, the vowel sounds are not written. Therefore, when we write the word Baphomet using the Hebrew alphabet, it will lose its three vowels in translation, leaving us – â€Å" â€Å"Five letters,† Sophie blurted. Teabing nodded and began writing again. â€Å"Okay, here is the proper spelling of Baphomet inHebrew letters. I'll sketch in the missing vowels for clarity's sake. B a P V o M e Th â€Å"Remember, of course,† he added,† that Hebrew is normally written in the opposite direction, but we can just as easily use Atbash this way. Next, all we have to do is create our substitution scheme by rewriting the entire alphabet in reverse order opposite the original alphabet.† â€Å"There's an easier way,† Sophie said, taking the pen from Teabing. â€Å"It works for all reflectional substitution ciphers, including the Atbash. A little trick I learned at the Royal Holloway.† Sophie wrote the first half of the alphabet from left to right, and then, beneath it, wrote the second half, right to left. â€Å"Cryptanalysts call it the fold-over. Half as complicated. Twice as clean.† A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K Th Sh R Q Tz P O S N M L Teabing eyed her handiwork and chuckled. â€Å"Right you are. Glad to see those boys at the Holloway are doing their job.† Looking at Sophie's substitution matrix, Langdon felt a rising thrill that he imagined must have rivaled the thrill felt by early scholars when they first used the Atbash Cipher to decrypt the now famous Mystery of Sheshach.For years, religious scholars had been baffled by biblical references to a city called Sheshach.The city did not appear on any map nor in any other documents, and yet it was mentioned repeatedly in the Book of Jeremiah – the king of Sheshach, the city of Sheshach, the people of Sheshach. Finally, a scholar applied the Atbash Cipher to the word, and his results were mind-numbing. The cipher revealed that Sheshach was in fact a code word for another very well-known city. The decryption process was simple. Sheshach, in Hebrew, was spelled: Sh-Sh-K. Sh-Sh-K, when placed in the substitution matrix, became B-B-L. B-B-L, in Hebrew, spelled Babel. The mysterious city of Sheshach was revealed as the city of Babel, and a frenzy of biblical examination ensued. Within weeks, several more Atbash code words were uncovered in the Old Testament, unveiling myriad hidden meanings that scholars had no idea were there. â€Å"We're getting close,† Langdon whispered, unable to control his excitement. â€Å"Inches, Robert,† Teabing said. He glanced over at Sophie and smiled. â€Å"You ready?† She nodded.† Okay, Baphomet in Hebrew without the vowels reads: B-P-V-M-Th.Now we simply apply your Atbash substitution matrix to translate the letters into our five-letter password.† Langdon's heart pounded. B-P-V-M-Th.The sun was pouring through the windows now. He looked at Sophie's substitution matrix and slowly began to make the conversion. B is Sh†¦P is V†¦ Teabing was grinning like a schoolboy at Christmas. â€Å"And the Atbash Cipher reveals†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He stopped short. â€Å"Good God!† His face went white. Langdon's head snapped up. â€Å"What's wrong?† Sophie demanded. â€Å"You won't believe this.† Teabing glanced at Sophie. â€Å"Especially you.† â€Å"What do you mean?† she said.† This is†¦ ingenious,† he whispered. â€Å"Utterly ingenious!† Teabing wrote again on the paper. â€Å"Drumroll, please. Here is your password.† He showed them what he had written. Sh-V-P-Y-A Sophie scowled. â€Å"What is it?† Langdon didn't recognize it either. Teabing's voice seemed to tremble with awe. â€Å"This, my friend, is actually an ancient word of wisdom.† Langdon read the letters again. An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll.An instant later he got it. He had never seen this coming. â€Å"An ancient word of wisdom!† Teabing was laughing. â€Å"Quite literally!† Sophie looked at the word and then at the dial. Immediately she realized Langdon and Teabing had failed to see a serious glitch. â€Å"Hold on! This can't be the password,† she argued. â€Å"The cryptex doesn't have an Sh on the dial. It uses a traditional Roman alphabet.† â€Å"Read the word,† Langdon urged. â€Å"Keep in mind two things. In Hebrew, the symbol for the sound Sh can also be pronounced as S, depending on the accent. Just as the letter P can be pronounced F.† SVFYA? she thought, puzzled. â€Å"Genius!† Teabing added. â€Å"The letter Vav is often a placeholder for the vowel sound O!† Sophie again looked at the letters, attempting to sound them out.† S†¦ o†¦ f†¦ y†¦ a.† She heard the sound of her voice, and could not believe what she had just said. â€Å"Sophia? This spells Sophia?† Langdon was nodding enthusiastically. â€Å"Yes! Sophia literally means wisdom in Greek. The root of your name, Sophie, is literally a ‘word of wisdom.'† Sophie suddenly missed her grandfather immensely. He encrypted the Priory keystone with my name.A knot caught in her throat. It all seemed so perfect. But as she turned her gaze to the five lettered dials on the cryptex, she realized a problem still existed. â€Å"But wait†¦ the word Sophia has six letters.† Teabing's smile never faded. â€Å"Look at the poem again. Your grandfather wrote, ‘An ancient word of wisdom.' â€Å"Yes?† Teabing winked. â€Å"In ancient Greek, wisdom is spelled S-O-F-I-A.†

5 Strategies for Private School Admissions Test Prep

5 Strategies for Private School Admissions Test Prep Most private schools require applicants to take a standardized test as part of the admission process. Essentially what the schools are trying to determine is how prepared you are for the academic work that they want you to be able to do. The most commonly used tests in independent schools are the SSAT and the ISEE, but ther are others that you may encounter. For example, Catholic schools use HSPTs and COOPs which are similar in content and purpose. If you think of the SSAT and ISEE like the college level SAT or its preparatory test, the PSAT, then you get the idea. The tests are organized in several sections, each designed to assess a specific skill set and knowledge level. Here are several tips to help you best prepare for this important exam. 1. Start Test Prep Early Begin final preparation for your admissions test in the spring for testing in the following fall. While these standardized tests measure what you have learned over the course of many years, you should begin working some practice tests in the spring and summer before you actually take the real thing in the late fall. There are several test prep books that you can consult.  Want some study tips? Check out this blog for some SSAT test prep strategies. 2. Dont Cram Last minute cramming is not going to be very productive when it comes to learning material you should have been learning over several years. The SSAT is designed to test what you have learned over time at school. Its not designed so that you have to learn new material, just master the material you have been learning in school. Instead of cramming, you might consider working hard in school and then during the last few weeks before the test, concentrate on three areas: know what is expectedtake practice testsreview subject material 3. Know the Test Format Knowing what is expected when you step through the door to the testing room is just as important as taking practice tests. Memorize the format of the test. Know what material will be covered. Learn all the variations in the way a question can be presented or worded. Think like the examiner. Paying attention to details like how youll take the exam and how it is scored can help you excel overall. Want more test prep strategies? Check out this blog on how to prepare for the SSAT and ISEE. 4. Practice Taking practice tests is critical to your success in these standardized tests. You have a certain number of questions which must be answered within a fixed time. So you must work to beat the clock. The best way to perfect your skills is to actually try to duplicate the test environment. Try to match the test conditions as closely as possible. Set aside a Saturday morning to work a practice test to the clock. Make sure that you do the practice test in a quiet room and have a parent present you the exam, just as if you were in the actual testing room. Imagine yourself in the room with dozens of your classmates taking the same test. No cell phone, snacks, iPod or TV. If you are really serious about honing your timing skills, you should repeat this exercise at least twice. 5. Review Reviewing subject material means exactly that. If you have pursued your studies in an organized manner, that  means pulling out those notes from a year ago and going over them carefully. Note what you didnt understand. Practice what you werent sure of by writing it out. Thats a common test prep strategy, writing things out, because for many people, this strategy will help them remember things better. As you practice and review, make a note of where you excel and where you need assistance, and then get help in the areas where you have deficiencies. If you plan to take the tests next year, understand the material now so that you can nail them. Dont put off thorough test preparation. Remember: you cannot cram for these tests. Article edited by  Stacy Jagodowski

Connect Evernote Content With Your Marketing Calendar

Connect Evernote Content With Your Marketing Calendar You’ve helped us become better planners at . Yes, really! You raved about how much you love Evernote to get the blogging and marketing juices flowing: A1: I usually start with ideas and planning in Evernote. #CoChat Colin Haas (@colinmhaas) June 4, 2015 So we took that to heart and explored how awesome Evernote is for coordinating your marketing, planning ahead, and capturing ideas. That’s why you’re going to be stoked to read this: Now you can connect your Evernote content directly into your marketing calendar. So get ready to collaborate better than ever while planning awesome content. Connect Your @Evernote Content With Your #Marketing CalendarTurn Your Evernote Notes Into Real WordPress Blog Posts Until now, writing blog posts in Evernote was easy, but getting them into WordPress kind of sucked. Now you’ll sync the blog posts you write in Evernote through your marketing calendar in to easily turn notes into WordPress blog posts. Let me reiterate here (because I’m nerding out): Now that Evernote integrates with your marketing calendar, you will create your content in Evernote, then easily turn those notes into real blog posts in WordPress. Finally! Create your blog posts in @Evernote and sync them into #WordPress. #bloggingAnd to top it off, your images in your notes auto-magically sync into your WordPress Media Library. Let me repeat that, too: When you connect your Evernote notes as blog posts through , your graphics and images will automatically import into your WordPress Media Library as real media files. There is no more copying and pasting your blog posts, let alone saving your images out of Evernote then uploading them into WordPress. Simply connect your Evernote into , and you’ll turn your notes into real blog posts with a couple easy clicks. Drag And Drop Evernote Notes As Real Content On Your Calendar The drafts bin has always been your handy way of throwing blog post ideas on the back burner until you have the time to write them. It turns out that tons of you use Evernote to capture your content ideas. And, why not? Evernote is literally on every device. Even your new Apple Watch. Now, you can capture all of your blog ideas on the go in Evernote and easily turn them into WordPress blog posts when you need them. And when you connect Evernote with , youll see all of those ideas right in your drafts bin to easily drag and drop them onto your marketing calendar. From there, what was once just an idea turns into real content youll create from your marketing calendar. Sync Your Notebooks And Notes From Evernote Into There are tons of ways marketers like you use Evernote notebooks: Managing your marketing strategy Collaborating with your team Gathering ideas for content you’ll create Creating your content Now you can sync your Evernote notebooks with your marketing calendar. That combines your plans from Evernote with a calendar designed to help you create content even more efficiently. Easily add a note from your Evernote notebooks right onto your marketing calendar. From there, you have content to complete with the full benefits of using your workflows, communication, and deadlines planned with . Quickly Attach Notes Created In Evernote To Your Existing Content In You may have noticed a new feature from that helps you plan any type of content. Blog posts? No problem. Graphics or pictures? Do it. Videos, e-books, ads? Go for it. When you plan content in , it’s easy to attach Evernote notes to your existing content. From there, you can flesh out your plans, ideas, and even create your content using Evernote. Oh, And One More Bonus Feature For You When you create content in Evernote, , or even Google Docs, it’s easier than ever to export it directly into WordPress, as HTML, and PDFs. Are You Ready To Get Started With Evernote And ? We bet you are. Whether you use Evernote for free, Evernote Premium, or Evernote Business, it all works with your marketing calendar. You can rock Evernote with marketing and enterprise plans in . And we’re excited to hear how you’ll use this awesome new feature to plan awesome content, save a ton of time, and work more efficiently. So we have to ask: How will you use Evernote and ?

Quality of education in post-conflict in Rwanda and post-disasters in Essay

Quality of education in post-conflict in Rwanda and post-disasters in Pakistan - Essay Example Education can spare and support lives, offering physical, cognitive and psychosocial security when conveyed in protected, nonpartisan spaces. Education restores routine and gives individuals trust for the future; it can likewise serve as a channel both for meeting other essential compassionate needs and conveying basic messages that advance security and prosperity. During conflicts and catastrophes, education systems, students and personnel suffer the effects of the conflicts and catastrophes and forced displacement. Some of these effects include, loss of life, loss of property and loved ones, loss of educational opportunities, and mass rape and other sexual violence which is as a result of alteration of the school programs. Conflicts and catastrophes intensify inequality, disrupts the whole society. This can have severe psychological effects particular to the children who are in school (Schweisfurth, 2006). However, not having enough education worsens security and deepens poverty in a country. The presence of unequal education opportunities fuels a sense of injustice and grievances. Education of terrible quality can be exceedingly divisive, especially if choices about educational module content, course books or dialect of guideline prohibit or permit denunciation of some social gatherings, and if education strengthens messages that savagery i s a worthy answer to individual, social or political issues. Education has vast value for its own sake. This means that all young people and children, including those that have been affected by conflict and catastrophes have the right to receive a quality education. Nevertheless, education is needed in emergency setting to prepare the society for ultimate post-disaster and post-conflict reconstruction and social-economic development (Jones, 2006). Balanced development with economic development obliges that young people of all social, ethnic, religious and

Managing Change Project Feasibility Study Essay

Managing Change Project Feasibility Study - Essay Example Despite having a remarkable growth, there is a need to evaluate alternative fuel vehicles or more hybrid vehicles that align with consumer interests for the company to set the pace in the competitive world and dominate a position in the market place. Currently, gasoline prices have been so high thus affecting the Company’s earnings. Following this, hybrid vehicles are a significant approach to augment a positive change in the organization. The benefit of introducing hybrid cars is that, it will attribute technical and economical benefits. It is worth noting that, hybrid cars will benefit the company and the country that from gasoline saving not affected by high prices of oil. This advantage will also benefit clients as the government gives reductions to taxes attributed by gasoline savings thus overcome much crisis related to oil prices. With this in mind, the future of ABC car hire looks brighter with rapid developments of the hybrid vehicles that will improve the companyâ₠¬â„¢s earnings, economical benefit that in turn, benefits consumers. For the past years, the company utilizes gasoline that tends to be a high cost. Baearing this in mind, the United State’s dependency on the foreign oil is extremely high, and with ever shifting concern of the Middle Eastern climate teetering at impulsive level, there is a need to consider hybrid vehicles. ... te need of this project is that, gasoline has major effects on the health, environment, and the economic change that hybrid vehicles might dissipate if used. In consideration, a hybrid vehicle is the automobile with two or more sources of propulsion power. The hybrid power sources include coal, electricity, radio waves, electromagnetic, liquefied natural gas, solar, and air engine. With no doubt, there are advantages of using different power sources such as, eradicating oil politics. Globally, the Middle East has an extreme authority due to the oil deposits in that region. In this regard, some of the wars in that region have largely affected the oil prices. Following this, if the company has domestic power source for cars, this strong effect on oil prices would not affect the company. As gas prices continues to go up all the time and as climate change becomes more serious, there is a strong need of introducing hybrid cars that use two or more different power sources. Such combination makes these cars lower emissions and increase fuel efficiency compared to traditional gas cars. At these tentative economic times, when fuel efficiency matters, hybrid cars have many benefits over traditional cars that the company has used over years. Section B This section provides an outline of the proposed change and describes how this should be undertaken. To evaluate the viability of the hybrid vehicles; the management will assess the available types of fuel in the company. While there are various options of alternative fuels available, most are impractical. For instance, after carrying a thorough research, I found out that, the most popular power used is gasoline, which tends to be more expensive compared to other power sources. Ultimately, the only economical, practical, and