A Bag of Oranges Essay

The story â€Å"A Bag of Oranges† by Spiro Athanas tells about a poor family lived in the rotting slum and the boy in this family became a mature person from a childish kid. Because the boy’s father needs to pay his responsibility to his family and the people who he loved, so his rude behavior and act makes his son hate him for a short time. After the boy notice his family’s financial situation, then he realize it’s not easy be an adult to making life run in the society, and you would lose some important things while you are paying responsibility to your family, so he begin understand his father. When the boy know his father hit by a car, all his emotion spew out and make his act like an adult in the end of the story because he take the responsibility from his father. The author wants to tell us the childish boy becomes a mature boy because the boy understands take care of a family need you pay a lot or got misunderstand. He throws all his childish behavio r away and tries to take the responsibility to his family and the people who he loved. Sometimes, it’s not easy to be an adult because you need swallow all tough things with no childish emotion. At the beginning of the story, the boy is a really childish kid because he doesn’t understand anything about life. When his father goes to buy two boxes of strawberries and it’s just thirty cents for two, his father still bargains with the vendor three times. Finally, he gets two boxes of strawberries for 25 cents. Even though he still think the vendor is not good. As the story say, â€Å"The boy watched and listened to this dialogue, intrigued and a little frightened. But the smile on his father’s lips as they walked away reassured him. (p.217)† The boy doesn’t try to understand the conversation’s meaning. He is just confused and gets scare of the dirty words what his father say like many kids will to do that. It shows us that the boy was childish, had no idea about life at first. He can easily forget the conversation because his father’s smile comforted him. In the coffeehouse, his father has some adult conversation with his brother and another guy. Like many child, the boy just sit with his father and listen to them without thinking. As the story point out, â€Å"The boy enjoyed the talk and sometimes felt he was allowed to hear all the secrets of the world, and was only mildly frustrated by the mysteries he could not understand. (p.218)† That means, the boy feel he is an adult when he sitwith his father and listen to their conversation about women and some adult jokes. As it mentions, he can’t understand everything they talked because he doesn’t interested on the topics that they talk.so he is still immaturity at that time because he doesn’t interest on that and has no idea about the meaning of the conversation. But he can understand the conversation like that is only for adult. Let’s move on to the incident of the story, the boy was very childish after the incident happened and his act and thought was really a kid. As the story says, â€Å"He felt the shadow and weight of his father behind him, placid and unashamed. Oh how he hated him and his smug, foreign stupidity! Why did he have to be his father (p.220)?† We can know the boy was really childish after the incident happened. Although his father’s behavior was rude or not good, he is so emotional and doesn’t give hi s father respect. His father grab the orange form a young man who seemed wants to give help. The boy couldn’t judge his father like that way because he doesn’t know these oranges are for their family and they don’t have much money to waste, so it’s important for them and his father must do that. Also he doesn’t even know what the orange use is for. It shows us, the boy feel momentary hated because of his childish. Children usually forget their feelings and thoughts quickly. The boy was so hated his father after the incident, but when they get home, he is back to his father again. As the story mentions, â€Å"It was so easy and natural he could scarcely believe the emotions he experienced moments ago were real. (p.220)† That means, the boy hate his father before they get home and it was just a childish emotion of him. We can see that when they get home and the boy jump to his father and put his arm around his father’s neck and wrapping his legs around his body. Sometimes, children hate their parents in a moment and show all the emotions on their face to express their feeling, even though these acts and emotions come quickly, but leave quickly. All these acts show and prove he is childish. All these things happen on the boy, they are waiting for the right moment to wake up the boy who in a childish dream. A kid won’t always be a kid, someday they will grow up. As the story point out, â€Å"He sipped. It was bitter, the price of being a man. (p.222)† That means, the boy remembered all the things happened on him and his father. He doesn’t understand before, but he does understand now. He feet his father responsibility for his family, and he realize it’s hard to be an adult to figure out everything forlife. He knows if he wants to be an adult, he must pay many things for that just like his father. That’s why he drink black coffee because he want to taste the hardships of being an adult from the black coffee and he want to feel his father’s position from the black coffee. It shows us, the boy is starting to understand adulthood. The biggest point of the story is the boy acts like an adult and take the responsibility of their family from his father, he chases to the young man who picked their orange. As the story say, â€Å"Without breaking stride, the boy leaped onto his back, his small fists flailing wildly. (â€Å"That’s my orange!†) He screamed. (â€Å"Give me my orange!†) (p.225)† That means, the boy understand how to be an adult and he wants to take the responsibility from his father because he wants to do something for his family. At that time, all his emotions spew out but not crying. On the one hand, he feels so sorry and guilty of his fa ther so he acted like an adult to make up for his mistakes. On the other hand, he figure out how to being an adult so he acts like an adult to face the problem by himself and deal with it like a man. It shows us, the boy is act as an adult and changed his childish act. In conclusion, we can tell by this story that being an adult it’s not easy, you need pay the price for being an adult. Sometimes you will lose yourself and got misunderstand, so all you can do is swallow these tough things and hold you ground for your family and the people who you loved. People who are being an adult or ready to be an adult, you should read this story. This story can teach you find yourself and help you realize what the most important thing is for you and how to protect the thing. Sometimes, you have to do what you don’t like to do and you must accept it because live in the adult’s world you have to pay the price for you and something or someone important for you.

On the Ethics of Psychological Research Essay

Potter Stewart an associate justice of the United States supreme court once said that â€Å"Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do†. He believed in doing things pragmatically instead of impractically and it made him more recognized for his realistic approach to his job. Ethics in life are very important in setting standards of morality and integrity, especially since ethics show the principles and values that one uses to govern their actions. Ethics in psychology are very similar to the ethics we follow on a day to day basis. The ethics in psychology often relate to how people are treated when put in experiments in order to complete theories and concepts that are psychology based. When psychology research began many experiments began as well, to test the many beginning theories that came about when psychology was introduced to researchers. The American Psychological Association now has a code of ethics for psychology resear ch due to the fact that many psychologists in the past have violated the safety, belief systems, needs, values, and the overall protection of their participants. The code of ethics that has been put in place by the APA holds all psychologists to the same set of standards and provides a guideline in an attempt to ensure professionalism and respect for all involved and sometimes this doesn’t occur. The APA published the first ethics code in 1953 that equals about a 16 page document today, but in 1953 it seemed so much larger back then. The reason that the ethics code was written is because ethics in research of psychologists began to be questioned by society for their safety and effectiveness. The research studies that were performed in the past often became public scandals and compromised the principle of research. Following the code of ethics is very important in research. The five reasons to adhere to the code of ethics is to promote the intent of research, promote a basic normality that helps when researchers collaborate, to ensure the liability of the experimenter, to gain more support from the general population, and to promote morality and obligation (Resnik). The overall incentive for the code of ethics according to Resnik is to constantly advocate for effective research while also being consensual. These ethics placed must be followed just to maintain the respects of t he rights of research participants, the reputation of psychology, and the dignity of research principles. Another purpose of ethics in research is for the safety of the people involved in the experiment, and the notoriety of psychologists in society. Committees of research must have a code of ethics that discuss the guidelines made by the APA and the personal ethics for the experiment. Some of the most important codes are informed consent, debrief, protection of participants, deception, confidentiality, and ability to withdraw. (Mcleod). According to the research done by Mcleod, the APA is using the code of ethics to protect their name and the reputation they have built, a so to maintain a stability of trust with their experimenters and participants. There were many unethical procedures after 1953 even though those guidelines had been set. Some of the experiments were very traumatic to patients and almost risked their lives, or could have died or killed each other. One of the many most known unethical experiments that occurred was the Stanford Prison Experiment. This experiment was conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971, and the purpose of the experiment was to attempt to understand the development of power norms in society and specifically the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a prison environment. Twenty four students were chosen out of 75, half were assigned roles of prisoner and half were assigned the role of guard. In the experiment Zimbardo made it very realistic for the prisoners, having cops come and arrest them, having rules that they had to follow, but gave the guards no prior training. The end result of the experiment being guards who became consumed in power and behaved in a brutalizing way, and prisoners who became submissive and cowering (Mcleod). While Zimbardo didn’t actually go against any ethical codes while outlining his experiment and he got the experiment approved before conducting it, some believed that his place as the conductor of the experiment was to stop the simulation from getting too abusive which it did, but he didn’t stop it because he was trying to maintain the realism of the experiment, and in the end he felt as though he did what was best for the sake of research. Regardless of this, Zimbardo did go against the ethics code in multiple ways like the fact that the experiment was unpredictable, the guards were drunk, and no steps were taken to avoid harm of his volunteers. He faile d to understand that participants are people and should their dignity should be maintained because â€Å"respect in research refers to respect for people and respect for truth† (Yousef). Zimbardo’s experiment was evaluated by the APA, where they said that all ethical guidelines were followed. The overall unethicality of the experiment left the participants with long-term scarring mentally and physically, and this is just another reason why ethics are important in research. Ethics are maintained to provide structure in experiments to promote effective decision making, while also being aware of the benefits and risks of the experiment. In experiments conducted previous to the release of the code of ethics, often times there was a lack of informed consent, pressure on volunteers, risk of safety of participants, deception, and even violation of natural born rights. The whole overall purpose of ethics is to â€Å"help researchers grapple with the ethical dilemmas they are likely to encounter by introducing them to important concepts, tools, principles, and methods that can be useful in resolving these dilemmas† (Resnik). There are five general principles of ethics, which are informed consent, debrief, protection of participants, deception, and ability to withdraw. When it comes to informed consent participants must distinctively say â€Å"yes† and give permission to the researcher to be involved in the experiment. The researcher must outline the details of the experiment like the purpose, the possible risks, procedures involved if there are any and many other things. Debriefing is very important in research because it’s where the participants gets to sit down with the research and understand the research, clear up misconceptions and to make sure the participants leaves with the same sense of cognition they arrived with. Along with this goes deception, and participants should not be mislead about the resear ch and though some deception may occur, researchers must attempt to keep it at a minimum. The main thing researchers should be aware of is the protection of their subjects, and participants should not be subject to more harm than they would experience in everyday life. The very last thing is the ability for a participant to leave the experiment whenever they feel like they are in danger or in a extremely uncomfortable situation. These codes of ethics have really made research more controlled and prevent negligence and misconduct. The basics to remember about ethics is that research done by psychologists should meet the criteria for ethics before the experiment is conducted. Subjects should be informed about the dangers and basics of the experiment and provide authorization. Psychologists do many experiments just because they are unethical and it all starts with what they believe and consider to be right and wrong, and sometimes the extreme involvement in personal research make the research seem less dangerous than it is. Scientist deals with many controversial topics and often stray away from norms and rules to build their theories and strengthen their ideas and beliefs. Our natural instinct often goes against what we think and the code of ethics is put in place to mandates the things that researchers are able to do while conducting an experiment.

Peaceful Pastures

Mid-term Exam| Page: | 1 2 3 | 1. | Question 😠 (TCO 1) The goal of managerial accounting is to provide information that managers need for| | | Student Answer:| | planning. | | | | control. | | | | decision making. | | | | All of the above answers are correct. | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 1, Page 4| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 2. | Question 😠 TCO 1) Which of the following statements regarding fixed costs is true? | | | Student Answer:| | When production increases, fixed cost per unit increases. | | | | When production decreases, total fixed costs decrease. | | | When production increases, fixed cost per unit decreases. | | | | When production decreases, total fixed costs increase. | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 1, Page 9| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 3. | Question 😠 (TCO 1) A retailer purchased some trendy clothes that have gone out of style and must be marked down to 40% of the original selling price in order to be sold. Which of the following is a sunk cost in this situation? | | | Student Answer:| | the current selling price | | | | the original selling price | | | | the original purchase price | | | | the anticipated profit | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 1, Page 9| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 4. | Question 😠 (TCO 1) Shula’s 347 Grill has budgeted the following costs for a month in which 1,600 steak dinners will be produced and sold: materials, $4,080; hourly labor (variable), $5,200; rent (fixed), $1,700; depreciation, $800; and other fixed costs, $600. Each steak dinner sells for $14. 00 each. How much is the budgeted variable cost per unit? | | | Student Answer:| | $5. 80 | | | | $7. 74 | | | | $6. 68 | | | | $3. 25 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 1, Page 8 ($4,080 + $5,200) / 1,600 = $5. 80| | | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | Comments:| | | | 5. | Question 😠 (TCO 1) Which of the following is an example of a manufacturing ov erhead cost? | | | Student Answer:| | security at the manufacturing plant | | | | fabric used to produce shirts | | | | cost of shipping product to customers | | | | the salary of the president of the company | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 2, Page 37| | | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 6. | Question 😠 (TCO 1) Product costs| | | Student Answer:| | are also called manufacturing costs. | | | | are considered an asset until the finished goods are sold. | | | | become an expense when the goods are sold. | | | All of the above answers are correct. | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 2, Page 38| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 7. | Question 😠 (TCO 1) At December 31, 2010, WDT Inc. has a balance in the Work in Process Inventory account of $62,000. At January 1, 2010, the balance was $55,000. Current manufacturing costs for the year are $292,000, and cost of goods sold is $284,000. How much is cost of goods manufactured? | | | Student Answer:| | $292,000 | | | | $299,000 | | | | $277,000 | | | | $285,000 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 2, Page 43 $55,000 + $292,000 – $62,000 = $285,000| | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 8. | Question 😠 (TCO 2) BCS Company applies manufacturing overhead based on direct labor hours. Information concerning manufacturing overhead and labor for August follows: | Estimated| Actual| Overhead cost| $174,000| $171,000| Direct labor hours| 5,800| 5,900| Direct labor cost| $87,000| $89,975| How much overhead should be applied in total during August? | | | Student Answer:| | 177,000 | | | | 179,950 | | | | 171,100 | | | | 168,200 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 2, Page 54 ($174,000 / 5,800) x 5,900 = 177,000| | | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | | Comments:| | | 9. | Question 😠 (TCO 2) Citrus Company incurred manufacturing overhead costs of $300,000. Total overhead applied to jobs was $306,000. What was the amount of overapplied or underapplied ove rhead? | | | Student Answer:| | $7,000 overapplied | | | | $6,000 overapplied | | | | $6,000 underapplied | | | | $13,000 underapplied | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 2, Page 55 $306,000 – $300,000 = $6,000 overapplied| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 10. | Question 😠 (TCO 3) Companies in which of the following industries would not be likely to use process costing? | | | Student Answer:| | cereals | | | paints | | | | cosmetics | | | | auto body shop | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 3, Page 84| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 11. | Question 😠 (TCO 3) The Blending Department began the period with 45,000 units. During the period the department received another 30,000 units from the prior department and completed 60,000 units during the period. The remaining units were 75% complete. How much are equivalent units in The Blending Department’s work in process inventory at the end of the period? | | | Student Answ er:| | 30,000 | | | | 22,500 | | | | 15,000 | | | | 11,250 | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 3, Page 88 (45,000 + 30,000 – 60,000) x 75% = 11,250| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 12. | Question 😠 (TCO 3) Ranger Glass Company manufactures glass for French doors. At the start of May, 2,000 units were in-process. During May, 11,000 units were completed and 3,000 units were in process at the end of May. These in-process units were 90% complete with respect to material and 50% complete with respect to conversion costs. Other information is as follows: Work in process, May 1:| | Direct material| $36,000| Conversion costs| $45,000| Costs incurred during May:| |Direct material| $186,000| Conversion costs| $255,000| How much is the cost per equivalent unit for direct materials? | | | Student Answer:| | $24. 00 | | | | $16. 20 | | | | $15. 86 | | | | $13. 58 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 3, Page 89 ($36,000 + $186,000) / [11,000 + (3,000 x 90%)] = $16 . 20| | | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 13. | Question 😠 (TCO 4) Duradyne, Inc. has total costs of $18,000 when 2,000 units are produced and $26,000 when 5,200 units are produced. During March, 4,000 units were produced and sold for $8 each. What is the variable cost per unit? | | | Student Answer:| | $2. 0 | | | | $0. 40 | | | | $2. 00 | | | | $4. 00 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 4, Page 127 ($26,000 – $18,000) / (5,200 – 2,000) = $2. 50| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | | Page: | 1 2 3 | 1. | Question 😠 (TCO 4) The three elements of the profit margin are:| | | Student Answer:| | Selling price per unit, variable cost per unit, and fixed cost per unit. | | | | Total revenues, total variable costs, and total fixed cost. | | | | Selling price per unit, variable cost per unit, and total fixed costs. | | | | Selling price per unit, total variable costs, and fixed cost per unit. | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 4, Page 130| | | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 2. | Question 😠 (TCO 4) Circle K Furniture has a contribution margin ratio of 16%. If fixed costs are $176,800, how many dollars of revenue must the company generate in order to reach the break-even point? | | | Student Answer:| | $1,105,000 | | | | $282,880 | | | | $1,060,800 | | | | $208,476 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 4, Page 133 $176,800 / 16% = $1,105,000| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 3. | Question 😠 (TCO 4) Randy Company produces a single product that is sold for $85 per unit.If variable costs per unit are $26 and fixed costs total $47,500, how many units must Randy sell in order to earn a profit of $100,000? | | | Student Answer:| | 1,735 | | | | 618 | | | | 890 | | | | 2,500 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 4, Page 132 ($100,000 + $47,500) / ($85 – $26) = 2,500 units| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 4. | Question 😠 (TCO 5) Which of the following is treated differently in full costing than in variable costing? | | | Student Answer:| | Direct materials | | | | Fixed manufacturing overhead | | | | Direct labor | | | | Variable manufacturing overhead | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 5, Page 168| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 5. | Question 😠 (TCO 5) Which of the following items appears on a variable costing income statement but not on a full costing income statement? | | | Student Answer:| | Sales | | | | Gross margin | | | | Net income | | | | Contribution margin | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 5, Page 169| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 6. | Question 😠 (TCO 5) Peak Manufacturing produces snow blowers. The selling price per snow blower is $100. Costs involved in production are: Direct Material per unit| $20| Direct Labor per unit| 12|Variable manufacturing overhead per unit| 10| Fixed manufacturing overhead per year| $148,500| In addition, the compan y has fixed selling and administrative costs of $150,000 per year. During the year, Peak produces 45,000 snow blowers and sells 30,000 snow blowers. How much is net income using full costing? | | | Student Answer:| | 1,641,000 | | | | $1,590,000 | | | | $1,441,500 | | | | $1,491,000 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 5, Pages 172-174 Sales = $100 x 30,000 = $3,000,000Expenses = [($148,500 / 45,000) + $20 + $12 + $10] x 30,000 = $1,359,000 COGS + $150,000 = $1,509,000Net Income = $3,000,000 – $1,509,000 = $1,491,000| | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 7. | Question 😠 (TCO 6) Costs may be allocated to | | | Student Answer:| | products. | | | | services. | | | | departments. | | | | any of the above. | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 6, Page 201| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 8. | Question 😠 (TCO 5) An allocation base| | | Student Answer:| | is the minimum amount to be allocated to a cost object. | | | | coordinates the man ufacturing overhead costs as they are incurred. | | | | will always be less than the variable costs for a product. | | | | relates the cost pool to the cost objectives. | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 6, Page 202| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 9. | Question 😠 (TCO 6) Sierra Company allocates the estimated $200,000 of its accounting department costs to its production and sales departments because the accounting department supports the other two departments, particularly with regard to payroll and accounts payable functions. The costs will be allocated based on the number of employees using the direct method. Information regarding costs and employees follows: Department| Employees| Accounting| 4| Production| 36| Sales| 12|How much of the accounting department costs will be allocated to the production and sales departments? | | | Student Answer:| | Production: $150,000 Sales: $50,000 | | | | Production: $180,000 Sales: $60,000 | | | | Production: $1,800, 000 Sales: $600,000 | | | | Production: $22,222 Sales: $66,667 | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 6, Pages 213-214 Production = [$200,000 / (36 + 12)] x 36 = $150,000Sales = [$200,000 / (36 + 12)] x 12 = $50,000| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 10. | Question 😠 (TCO 7) A company is trying to decide whether to keep or drop the sporting goods department in its department store.If the segment is dropped, the manager will be fired. The manager's salary, in relation to the decision to keep or drop the sporting goods department, is| | | Student Answer:| | avoidable and therefore relevant. | | | | not avoidable and therefore relevant. | | | | sunk and therefore not relevant. | | | | the same for all alternatives and therefore not relevant. | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 7, Pages 256-257| | | | Points Received:| 0 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 11. | Question 😠 (TCO 7) BigByte Company has 12 obsolete computers that are carried in inventory at a cost of $ 13,200.If these computers are upgraded at a cost of $7,500, they could be sold for $15,300. Alternatively, the computers could be sold â€Å"as is† for $9,000. What is the net advantage or disadvantage of reworking the computers? | | | Student Answer:| | $6,300 advantage | | | | $1,200 disadvantage | | | | $5,400 disadvantage | | | | $3,000 advantage | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 7, Pages 251-252 ($15,300 – $9,000) – ($7,500 – $0) = ($1,200)| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | 12. | Question 😠 (TCO 7) Olde Store has 12,000 cans of crab meat just a week past the expiration date. Each can cost $0. 31.The cans could be sold as is for $0. 20 each, or relabeled and sold as gourmet cat food. The cost of relabeling the cans would be $0. 04 per can and the cans would then sell for $0. 29 per can. What should be done with the cans and why? | | | Student Answer:| | The cans should be thrown away since there will be a loss with the oth er alternatives. | | | | The cans should be relabeled into cat food since the sales price increases $0. 09 per can and the cost is only $0. 04 per can. | | | | The cans should be put on clearance since there is no reason to put more money into something that is already selling below cost. | | | It doesn’t matter what you do since all alternatives result in a loss. | | Instructor Explanation:| Chapter 7, Pages 251-252| | | | Points Received:| 4 of 4 | | Comments:| | | | Page: | 1 2 3 | 1. | Question 😠 (TCO 3) Why is it necessary to use equivalent units in a process costing system? | | | Student Answer:| | Process costing, as we have seen, is essentially a system of averaging. Equivalent Units In calculating the average unit cost, it is necessary to convert the number of partially completed units in Work in Process to an equivalent number of whole units.Otherwise, the denominator in the average unit cost calculation will be misstated. When partially completed units are c onverted to a comparable number of completed units, they are referred to as equivalent units. Jiambalvo. Managerial Accounting, 4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons. . | | Instructor Explanation:| In a company that uses process costing, there may be incomplete units in ending Work in Process inventory. These units are converted to a comparable number of completed units in order to calculate the cost per equivalent unit. | | | | Points Received:| 20 of 20 | | Comments:| | | | 2. Question 😠 (TCO 7) Computer Boutique sells computer equipment and home office furniture. Currently, the furniture product line takes up approximately 50% of the company's retail floor space. The president of Computer Boutique is trying to decide whether the company should continue offering furniture or just concentrate on computer equipment. If furniture is dropped, salaries and other direct fixed costs can be avoided. In addition, sales of computer equipment can increase by 13%. Allocated fixed costs are as signed based on relative sales. | Computer| Home Office| | | Equipment| Furniture| Total| Sales| $1,200,000| $800,000| $2,000,000|Less cost of goods sold| 700,000| 500,000| 1,200,000| Contribution margin| 500,000| 300,000| 800,000| Less direct fixed costs:| | | | Salaries| 175,000| 175,000| 350,000| Other| 60,000| 60,000| 120,000| Less allocated fixed costs:| | | | Rent| 14,118| 9,882| 24,000| Insurance| 3,529| 2,471| 6,000| Cleaning| 4,117| 2,883| 7,000| President's salary| 76,470| 53,350| 130,000| Other| 7,058| 4,942| 12,000| Total costs| 340,292| 380,708| 649,000| Net Income| $159,708| ($ 8,708)| $151,000| | | | | | Prepare an incremental analysis to determine the incremental effect on profit of discontinuing the furniture line. | | Student Answer:| | | | Instructor Explanation:| Incremental drop in revenue| ($800,000)| Incremental cost savings:| | Cost of sales| 500,000| Salaries| 175,000| Other| 60,000| Incremental increase in computer equipment| | (13% x $1,200,000)| 156,000| Incremental increase in computer equipment| | variable costs (13% x $700,000)| (91,000)| Incremental increase in profit| $ 0| | | | | Points Received:| 10 of 25 | | Comments:| | | | 3. | Question 😠 (TCO 4) Beach Rentals has estimated that fixed costs per month are $79,200 and variable cost per dollar of sales is $0. 2. (a) What is the break-even point per month in sales? (b) What level of sales is needed for a monthly profit of $24,000? (c) For the month of July, the company anticipates sales of $240,000. What is the expected level of profit? | | | Student Answer:| | a. ) $165,000 sales b. ) $215,000 c. ) | | Instructor Explanation:| (a) Contribution margin ratio = 1. 00 – 0. 52 = 0. 48 $79,200 ? 0. 48 = $165,000 (b) ($79,200 + $24,000) ? 0. 48 = $215,000 (c) ($240,000 ? 0. 48) – $79,200 = $36,000| | | | Points Received:| 20 of 25 | | Comments:| | | |

Lulu PLC Clothing Manufacturing In China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lulu PLC Clothing Manufacturing In China - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Lulu PLC Company is a textile company specialized in the manufacturing sector and is based in the UK. In the recent years, the company has engaged in business relations targeting international market. Recent developments led to the company developing a manufacturing plant in China. Rapid economic growth and industrial development have been witnessed in China in the recent past. China is ranked third from the U.S and Germany in the rankings of world’s trading nations. Business organizations intending to exploit business opportunities in China has a mandatory task to understand the prevailing business environment as this may have profound consequences in business development. The Cultural and political environment in particular greatly affects any business performance. The government of the People’s Republic of China has over time developed a market economy in the system, which is dominated by socialist characteristics. Soc ialism in China advocate for collective or state ownership of economic resources and their distribution. Equal opportunities to all characterize the mode of production. This poses a challenge to Lulu Company in that it may take time before adjusting to the common ownership and sharing of production resources. Clothing and textile industry has been in the lead among the industries that have dominated the economy of China. She has been a leading country in supplying the world market with the commodity.

Supply Chain Management in The Milk Industry Essay

Supply Chain Management in The Milk Industry - Essay Example Transportation of milk is the major key logistic that challenge the supply chain of milk. A logistic like transportation ensures that the milk gets to the consumer in time, at a fair cost, at the right place, and the product is of the best quality. Different methods of transport of the milk determine the achievement of the above four elements of logistics. Transport of milk by road is not the best method since it causes unreasonable delay due to traffic jam and its slow means thus the milk perish. Consequently, the temperature is hot in a vehicle, and thus road means is only for short distances. Rail transport of milk is the worst because milk is a perishable good and, thus the slow nature of this transport way can cause loss considering time is of great essence in business. Transport by sea ship can also be a bit inconvenient because it may take long before the milk gets to the market or the distributors and can also temper with the cool temperature needed for milk. Air transport is the best convenient for most perishable goods like milk since it is fast, so the product reaches the customer in time. It preserves the cool temperature of the milk and thus the quality is not tempered ( Altekar 2005). Another great challenge in the supply chain in milk industry is the competition from other dairy industries. Unhealthy market competition results in the occurrence of great loss to a retailer or manufacturer who occasionally lowers the product price to match that of his competitors.

Project MKUltra Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Project MKUltra - Research Paper Example Project MKUltra scope is broad, with research happening within 80 institutions including colleges, universities, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and prisons. CIA operated through the institutions using some front organizations though the top officials from these institutions knew of the involvement of CIA. The Project MKUltra came to public in 1975 by US congress church committee and the Gerald Ford Commission in order to investigate on the activities of CIA in United States. However, the investigative efforts suffered adversely when Richard Helms, the CIA director, ordered destruction to MKUltra files. This compelled investigators to rely on sworn testimony directly from participants and few documents that survived the destruction order by Helm. A 20,000 documents cache emerged in 1977 through a freedom of Information request. This led to senate hearings in the same year, and in 2001, there was declassification of surviving information on MKUltra.1 Goals of MKUltra The agency used a lot of money to examine the methods used in controlling and influencing the mind, as well as enhancing the ability of extracting information from resistant subject when interrogating them. CIA attempted to focus the attention of the media on programs to divert the attention of people on the major goal of the research, which developed effective interrogation and torture methods. The substances used promoted impulsiveness and illogical thinking to a level of discrediting the recipient in public. Such substances enabled the subjects withstand torture, coercion and torture during interrogation, and enhanced mental confusion such that an individual cannot maintains any fabrication. In 19532, a secret memorandum granted up to 6 percent of CIA research budget to MKUltra with accounting or oversight. The LSD drug distorted sense of reality of a person. The administration of drugs targeted helpless people with no ability to fight back, and also to the officials of CIA, doctors and military personnel. However, the administration happened without the subjects’ informed consent or knowledge. After the administration, subjects answered questions in the presence of doctors, with stern warnings of punishment in case they failed to reveal the secrets. This aimed at bringing out drugs which irresistibly triggered deep confessions. Other drugs triggered a person to sl eep so that interrogators may ask questions and get answers with much ease. This enabled CIA asks questions, and sometime gets useful answers. Deaths The CIA destroyed most records purposely and failed in following up informed consent when administering the drugs. However, project MKUltra caused several deaths such as those of Frank Olson of United States Army and other CIA officials. CIA used the biological materials in their covert operations. In January 1953, Harold Blauer died after administration of secret army experiment using MDA. Legal Issues Associated with MKUltra Revelations of the army and CIA prompted most survivors and subjects file several lawsuits against the federal government for engaging in experiments without the informed consent. Despite the government trying to evade legal liability, most plaintiffs received compensation through court orders. The CIA and Army director also met together with victims offer their apologies. The Army and CIA had previously sought a successful incrimination of the information, and secretly

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Project management - Essay Example Acting with integrity as the project manager will not only make the team members to buy into the plan but also become a solid extension of you and remain committed to your methodology and produce a better work. To act with integrity as a project manager requires some kind of tips such as; being impartial – this is being fair and objective oriented. Being fair in judgement and making objective decisions that fleshes out the problems and allow the team to get to the bottom of the project without patching them. Being thorough - finishing project tasks completely and in a comprehensive manner. Being thorough project planner means evaluating project requirements and any gaps in details (Heagney, 2012). To be project manager one needed to be focused on the end business result; team members should verify – within the scope of their project role – initial project requirements and the result that is being expected from no matter when they are introduced. As a project mana ger who acts with integrity you will probably know that you are allowing them to provide their own input based on their subject matter expertise and strengthens the chances of project success. Discussion Experience as an intern in HIV/AIDS research firm I served as a project manager intern in a firm that deal with research on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS firm. It was an awesome experience worth talking about. The research firm is situated in city of San Diego. As a project manager the biggest virtue I required was integrity. This is because I handled people who are older than me and some were my age mates. To identify self-integration and views of integrity is more of a personal matter; meaning that integrity is a social virtue, one that is defined by a person’s relationship to others, and it’s also a matter of person’s proper regard to their own judgement. As the project manager, it didn’t matter whether I was an intern or not the fact was that I was handling the position I had to make important and Taff decisions regarding the project and the team. As a manger and supervisor at the same time I had to credibly demonstrate commitment and personal accountability for the projects and activities integrity, promote an open and trusting environment and understand how my behaviour as the manager affected the team in the field. I had to gain a lot of skills so as for the team to produce a quality output. As the manager I had to develop leadership skills and behaviours that would be required for integrity management. At times I had to go the field with the team and talk with the clients. This was to make me understand the position of the team in the field and to acknowledge their effort. Challenges and experiences The organization is a big one and the position I was holding is a challenging one. The fact that I had a team to handle was more than a responsibility but also an experience to be gained. Management is a position that esta blishes the scope, priority and pace for system implementation and improvement, considering the complexity and risks involved with the project being handled (Heagney, 2012). It is said that whether you are a new project manager or experienced leader, project management will still reveal

An Examination of Community Acceptance in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery Essay

An Examination of Community Acceptance in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery - Essay Example Thus, the entire community evolves into a monstrous entity consuming itself, the ramifications of which hinge upon the acceptance of the individuals involved, as will soon be examined. Yet a result cannot happen without cause. Therefore, one must examine both the origins of the lottery as well as its ongoing impact, as will be discussed through the course of this paper. To understand the full impact of the lottery upon the community, one must first understand what the ritual and the black box represent. They symbolize, in a more modern from, the nature of society to hold onto ceremony beyond the origins of its purpose. This is comparable to the pagan holidays that survived the arrival of the Christian calendar by either being adopted under a new guise or tolerated despite disapproval. The former exists in such parallels of Christmas or Easter to traditional seasonal celebrations; the latter is found in the example of Halloween. The lottery itself falls more in the realm of Halloween - indeed, is held in the same area used for Halloween activities - as it seems an act of sacrifice whose origins no one can recall. Yet the superstitious adherence is evident not only in the fact that it is still practiced, but also in the reverence with which the citizens hold the box, which despite its dilapidation, is believed to contain portions of the original box used by the founders of the village. Other aspects of the event the "tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly every year," as well as a "ritual salute" given by the official prior to each participant drawing from the box, only reinforce both the ritualistic and pagan aspects of the sacrifice. Perhaps Old Man Warner's saying of "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." is most exact roots of the process. Regardless, the fact that these social pleasantries, along with other traditional paraphernalia, have been abandoned indicates that whatever fear initiated the lottery originally made a strong enough impression in the collective psyche that the ritual is continued beyond its need. The lottery has become the appendix of the civic body: useless, its purpose obsolete yet still deadly. Whatever the initial justification for this yearly atrocity, the true evil is its continuation, both in blindly following tradition without reason and the social pressure of conformity. Old Man Warner, as the eldest member of the community, seems to represent the general opinion of the community, calling the north village a "pack of crazy fools" for discussing a cessation of their lottery, prophesying a regression to dwelling in caves if the abandon this element of 'civilization'. The most frightening aspect of the entire event is the casual aspect of human nature regarding public execution. Hangings have been cause for morbidly lighthearted social gatherings for centuries however, the blas attitude the villagers have about an event that may very well cause their own demise is chilling. It is a comment on the horrible feedback loop that the lottery has caused, for, once the necessity of the sacrifice is accepted without question, the community accepts it as just another "civic activ ity". Being selected by the lottery is then like jury duty, or rather being drafted, with the understanding that the individual

Marketing in Hospitality industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing in Hospitality industry - Essay Example Marketing in Hospitality industry This boils down to the fact that reaching a near exact (if not exact) supply and demand equation is important for achieving company goals. In hospitality industry, market supply can be measured by the number of beds or hotels available in an area. They are categorized as budget, mid-market or luxury experiences. Demand, which is an important factor in determining the profitability of a hospitality organization can be categorized as negative, nil, latent, falling, irregular, full , overfull an unwholesome ). Each demand type requires a different marketing strategy. For example if there is a latent demand it means that demand can be created by providing services that customers need. For example, many hotels provide â€Å"domestic short breaks† as a way of creating latent demand (Bowie and Buttle 2004). Another demand categorization stems from different types of travel which can be business travel and travel for leisure. Both these could be domestic and international. Hospitality industry is characterized by cyclical trends. For example, many tourist destinations close down during adverse weather conditions like extreme heat (e.g. UAE) or extreme cold. Thus, the hotels and restaurants have to ensure that they either earn enough during the peak tourist seasons to sustain their operational costs during the troughs or come up with marketing techniques to attract customers during these times. Socio-cultural factors also impact this industry to a great extent. Eating and drinking habits, travel habits and types of entertainment that people like to indulge in are all important factors that the hotels and restaurants in a particular area need to keep in mind before designing services or products. Demographic factors also impact this industry. For example, countries that have aging population need to have restaurants that have menus according to their liking which would be very different from those in younger countries. Technological advances in communica tion as well as kitchen equipment are vital factors affecting hospitality marketers. Environmental factors have today become very sensitive issues for marketers of this industry. The race for setting up new leisure properties has had an adverse impact on the environment which the local populations have started acknowledging now. Local population of these places has felt the effects of deforestation and carbon emission resulting from ferrying tourists from one place to the other. Thus, the marketers need to keep these sensitive issues in mind and promote green services which do not harm the environment. The intermingling of the local and foreign population also has impact on the social and cultural values of the local youth. Internal factors that impact this industry are suppliers, employees, intermediaries, competitors, publics and customers (Bowie and Buttle 2004). Suppliers are very important for a restaurant of a hotel to maintain quality. Employees are of utmost significance in this business as they are the face of the organization. Service is an intangible experience which is highly dependent on courtesy as well as skill. Intermediaries are important links between the customers and the hoteliers. They help to influence consumer choices for a particular destination and hotel. Competition like any other industry is very important factor in determining the marketing strategy. Direct competitors can be tackled by designing value add services but indirect competitors pose equal amount of threat as the direct ones. For example, the decision on buying a luxury car vs. going on a holiday has a significant impact on the business generation for this industry. High fixed cost is another important characteristic of this industry.

How Good People Turn Evil Essay Example for Free

How Good People Turn Evil Essay Understanding is not excusing. Though it may help to prevent wrong acts against humanity in the future (may it? ). The world was created with the potential of sin. Looking at the theological approach, Adam and Eve, when were put into the situation of seduction by the snake, started to be driven by evil inclination giving birth to the first sin. Why does it happen? Why do people go against normality and moral principals? Why do people do evil things? Psychologists-experimenters, philosophers, writers have been trying to answer this question. There will always be good and evil in our world. However there is a fine line between good and evil, sometimes it is so vague, that without noticing we can find ourselves on the opposite side. Zimbardo in his Stanford experiment proves, that not only is the line blurred, but also movable and permeable. The Webster dictionary defines ‘good’ as ‘being positive or desirable in nature; not bad or poor’. ‘Bad’ is on the contrary ‘not achieving an adequate standard; poor; injurious in effect; detrimental’. We must keep in mind that it is not right to think about these notions as only about global ones, but good and evil are found in every person and dominance of one or another depends on different factors. Good people can turn evil, as well as (thanks God) evil people can become good again. How does the transformation happen? After the abuses in Abu Ghraib the general wanted to know who is responsible for the inhuman treatment with the prisoners, who were those rotten apples ‘infecting’ others. However the question rather should be: ‘What is responsible? ’ At first we have to look at the situation in order to understand the behavior. In the fight between good people and vicious situation the situation has won. Some may argue that it is not right, as far as the guards who were taking part in the crime in Abu Ghraib (as well as the ‘guards’ of Stanford experiment) were intelligent, normal, mentally and physically healthy people, who should have been responsible for their terrible actions. But could just ‘bad apples’ go that far? The human transformation according to Zimbardo has several perspectives: ? Dispositional – internal factors. The evil starts in the person oneself. These are the bad rotten apples. ? Situational – external factors. The situation is the one to blame, which influenced people and helped evil to gain the guards over. ? Systematic – the power that is in a system (political, economical, cultural, etc). Those are the bad barrel makers. ‘A country is considered the more civilized the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak and a powerful one too powerful. ’ Primo Levi. Evil is the exercise of power. As soon as someone has the power to humiliate, do harm or destroy someone else physically or spiritually, the potential of evil may get to unreachable heights and it usually does (which was proved by the Milgram experiment). Starting the Stanford experiment, Zimbardo could not predict such a development of events, because the guards who were thoroughly chosen and tested to be normal people, in a couple of days turned into madmen, psychopaths and sadists. The main driving force that provoked this metamorphosis was power. First it had to be used as a tool for control of disobedient prisoners, but later the guards started receiving pleasure out of it, feeling their privilege and dominance and the right to exercise their power in every possible way. Personally I observed the same phenomenon in sports, a gymnastics girl’s team. A couch may use the power of a superior for too much, abusing children morally and physically, excusing it as a training and forming of tenacity. One more example can be found in the student dorms of LBS. One girl was chosen by the administration as a unit representative, the task of which was to coordinate girls living in the unit and make sure the community room and the corridor are kept clean. She also had to help girls with the home appliances lending them such things as vacuum cleaner, iron, etc, which belonged to the dorms. Only students who showed themselves to be responsible, tolerant, helpful could get this ‘position’ including some privileges. As soon as the girl received this trivial power, she started humiliating girls, each time pointing out that they are dirty and disgusting and as a punishment depriving them of things that they could use freely before, like a fridge or hanger. In this case the person was changed, because she was put into another situation; and the situation in turn was endowed with power by the system. If we go back to the Stanford experiment, one of the important factors that influenced the transformation in people, both guards and prisoners, was the phenomena of deindividuation. Humiliation and disgrace increase where personality is about to vanish. John Watson in his research proves that while starting a battle or a fight people who wear masks or costumes, which cover their faces or disguise them, are more likely to kill and to torture. Zimbardo’s guards were given a uniform and shades which somehow ‘protected’ them from the external world, as if nobody could see the horrors they were doing or as if it were not them, but some other people conducting that evil behavior. In other words this phenomenon can be called the power of anonymity. It works for every one. We are much more likely to do something unusual for us and even immoral, when nobody can see us or recognize. However we should not forget that on the other side of the barricade were the prisoners or victims, who suffered from deindividuation, rather than gained of it. Prisoners were given numbers instead of names; their clothes reminded rather that of women, than men, their heads were covered with ridiculous hats. People stop perceive themselves as individuals and later as human-beings, when are found in such conditions. Deindividuation was one of the strongest driving forces of holocaust, though it made its long detour to gas chambers in concentration camps. First Jews were not allowed to get high positions at work, than to sit on the same benches in a park as locals, come in to a shop (reading a sign that Jews and dogs are not allowed to enter), later every Jew had to wear a yellow star on one’s clothes, so every one could easily identify them in a crowd. Step by step the personality was diminished, so when Jews were told to move out from their homes and to settle in ghettoes quite few of them resisted. One of the most striking things for me that actually quite few of them tried to resist, accepting the situation and believing in their individuality being erased. ‘We are Jewish, we should be quiet’. They were imposed the opinion that they were not part of the country, which many of them defended during the World War I and they did not belong to their home. Finding themselves in camps, people were usually totally disgraced having no power and desire to oppose whatsoever. It is hard to imagine a human-being sinking so deep, deeper than an animal, totally perverting one’s nature. Hanna Arendt in her book ‘Eichman In Jerusalem. The Report On The Banality of Evil. ’ wrote that evil is always on the surface and as soon as we dig deeper it disappears. This means that often when people happen to be in some situation it becomes difficult for them to judge their actions, as soon as they become the prisoners of the situation. Being ‘inside’ makes one perceive the horror as normality. Going back to Milgram’s experiment, which proved that people can turn evil easily and very fast, by imposing power of control and blurring their responsibility for the crime. The electroshock experiment showed that two thirds of people who were tested conformed and obeyed the experimenter blindly, suggesting an idea that they are not the ones to blame for the ‘death’ of other participants of the experiment. The evil is the readiness to follow the commands and fully comply. There are really quite few monsters in the world; the problem is in the whole majority of people who are ready to follow them and to conform to any orders without considering the consequents or the actions themselves. People face uncritical conformity to the leader’s or group norms. Their personality and moral principals are simply switched off and the aggressiveness starts growing. However Zimbardo claims that evil is not only concluded in an action, but also in passive tolerance of what is going on. A new situation may breed both – rage and inaction – and both promote evil. Although on the other hand a new situation may provoke heroic imagination. For example during holocaust many non-Jewish families under the threat of death were hiding Jewish kids in their homes. After the holocaust they were granted the title of the righteous among the nations though the righteous considered that what they did, everyone would do in the same situation. That is something that must be conveyed to our children. In every situation we can choose 3 ways: either give the green light to the hostile imagination and evil, stay aside or become heroes. Every one must be taught that humanity is our business. Bulgakov in his ‘Master Margarita’ through his character Voland claims that in the last 3000 years society did not change. People will always stay the same and the evil and the good will always confront inside us. We must always keep in mind humanity’s previous experiences and try to make the best out of them. The XXth century was a pure return of barbarism – holocaust, genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, Abu Ghraib, mass suicide persuaded by the pastor Reverend Jim Jones etc. The list is long. According to Judaism the evil and the good come from one and the same source, so that is the reason, why it is sometimes so difficult for us to differentiate between those two. Our task is to fight with our bad inclination (Hebrew- yatzir ha-ra), helping the good inclination (yatzir ha-tov) to develop.

Risk factors in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft

Risk factors in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Association of selected risk factors and the number of grafts at Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery: A preliminary study E M S Bandara1, S Ekanayake1*, A D Kapuruge2 and C A Wanigatunge3 Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is associated with multi-factorial risk factors; i.e. family history, hyperlipidemia, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, environmental and life style variables. The study attempted to find the association of some selected risk factors (family history, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetic) and the number of grafts (> 3 or à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 by considering the middle point as the maximum number of grafts bypassed at surgery is five) of the patients (n=73) who underwent CABG at Cardiothoracic unit of Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (Ethical Approval No.635/12). Data on family history, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetes were gathered by using an interviewer administrated questionnaire. The patients were categorized into two groups depending on the number of coronary artery bypass grafts as those who have hadà ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 grafts (n=38) and > 3 grafts (n=35) irrespective of the gender. The prevalence of family history, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetesof patients with à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 grafts were 63%, 71%, 79% and 50% respectively. The prevalence of above risk factors in patients who had > 3 grafts was40%, 51%, 62%, and 54%respectively. From the total group 4% of patients did not have any of the above risk factors.The results indicate that hypertension was the most prevailing risk factor in both the groups. However, a significant difference was seen only between family history and number of grafts (p 2 = 3.9).The odds ratio of >3 grafts being bypassed at surgery for patients with any of the four risk factors were 2.6 (95% C I: 0.96-6.88), 0.4 (95% CI: 0.16-1.23), 2.0 (95% CI: 0.67-6.0), 1.2 (95% CI: 0.67-6.05) respectively compared to those without above risk factors. Even though not significant, those who have a family history of CAD and hypertension as risk factors are more likely to (2.6 times and twice respectively) have > 3 grafts bypassed at CABG irrespective of the gender or age. According to the above results contribution of hyperlipidemia to augment the number of grafts is less. Early detection and treatment for hypertension thus may contribute to reduce the number of grafts being performed at CABG. Therefore, CAD patients should be made aware of the contribution of above risk factors to contribute to increase the number of grafts at surgery. Keywords: Coronary Artery Diseases, Risk factors, Grafts Association of selected risk factors and the number of grafts at Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery: A preliminary study Introduction A high incidence of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) has been observed in South Asian countries including Sri Lanka. According to a recent estimation 524 deaths from 100 000 in Sri Lanka were from cardio- and cerebro-vascular diseases. Hospitalization due to non communicable diseases and ischemic heart disease has increased significantly over the past 10 years. Hypertension, smoking, diabetes, obesity and hyperlipidemia, age and family history are established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. According to previous studies prevalence of hypertension was 63.7% in, over 70 years and it was 28.4% in over 20 yrs [1]. High prevalence of dyslipidemia is also reported in a study of Sri Lankan individuals > 18 years [2]. No data were found on the prevalence of above risk factors in patients with confirmed CAD or number of grafts performed and their association to the CAD risk factors. The study attempted to find the association of some selected risk factors (family history, hyperlipidemia , hypertension and diabetic) and the number of grafts (> 3 or à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 by considering the middle point as the maximum number of grafts bypassed at surgery is five) of the patients who underwent CABG at Cardio-Thoracic unit of Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital. Methodology This descriptive study was carried out with patients (n=73, male- 48, female 25) who underwent CABG at Cardio-Thoracic unit of Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (Ethical Approval No.635/12). An interviewer administrated questionnaire was used for gathering data on family history, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetes. Patients were categorized in to two groups, considering the middle point (03 grafts as the maximum number of grafts bypassed at surgery is five) and those who have had à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 grafts (n=38) and > 3 grafts (n=35) irrespective of the gender and age. Data were analysed using SPSS version 16 statistical package. Result and Discussion The prevalence of family history, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetes of the study population is summarized in table 01. Table 1. Prevalence of risk factors Hypertension was the most common risk factor among both groups. Hyperlipidemia and diabetes were second common risk factors among groups of à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 and > 3 grafts respectively. Prevalence of diabetes is comparatively low in the patients that have had à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 grafts. According to Wijewardene et al (2005) the total prevalence of hypertension in Western, North central, Uva and Southern provinces of Sri Lanka was 18.8% for males and 19.3 % for females among age group of 30 – 65 yrs [3]. Katulanda et al (2010) reported the prevalence of hypertension as 28.4 % for males and 27.7 % for females of > 20 yrs among adults from seven provinces in Sri Lanka [1]. In the current study the patient’s age ranged from 38 to 80 years and also all of them were confirmed as having CAD. Sri Lanka diabetes and cardiovascular study, carried out in 2005 – 2006 period have concluded that high prevalence of dyslipidemia among Sri Lankan adults (> 18 years) [2]. In this study among confirmed patients of CAD hyperlipidemia was the second common risk factor among patient who had à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ £ 3 grafts (71 %) and 51 % in patients who had > 3 grafts. According to Fernando et al (1994) prevalence of diabetes and hypertension was 15% and 61% for males and 18% and 41% for females in suburban community of age range 30 – 64 years respectively [4] which agrees with present data among CAD patients. A significant difference was observed between the family history and number of grafts bypassed (à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ £2 = 3.9, p Table 2. The odds ratios related to risk factors According to Veeranna et al (2010) diabetes mellitus was the only predictor of obstructive CAD in elderly (> 65 years) and lipid levels had no correlation or a weak correlation with obstructive CAD [5]. According to present data hyperlidemia had the lowest odds ratio while diabetics had 1.2 time risk of having > 3 grafts. However, those who have family history and hypertension are twice likely to have > 3 grafts performed at the surgery irrespective of the gender or age. However, according to this study contribution of hyperlipidemia to increase the number of grafts is comparatively less. Early detection and treatment for hypertension thus may contribute to reduce the number of grafts being performed at surgery (CABG). Therefore, CAD patients should be made aware of the contribution of above risk factors to contribute to increase the number of grafts at surgery. Referances Katulanda, P., De Vas Gunawardena, A.N.P., Constantine, G.R., Sheriff M.H.R., Matthews, D.R.: Prevalence and correlates of hypertension in Sri Lanka. In: 42nd Anual Academic Sessions of College of Physicians, pp. 43 (2009) Herath, H.R.I.S., Katulanda, P., Matthews, D.R., Sheriff, M.H.R., Constantine, G.R., De Vas Gunawardena, A.N.P., Katulanda, G.W.:Prevalence and patterns of dyslipidaemia among adult Sri Lankans. In: 123rd Anual Scientific Sessions of Sri Lanka Medical Association, pp. 15 (2010) Wijewardene, K., Mohideen, M.R., Mendis, S., Fernando, D.S., Kulathilaka T., Weerasekara, D., and Uluwitta, P.: Prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and obesity: baseline findings of a population based survey in four provinces in Sri Lanka. Ceylon Medical Journal. 62–70 (2004) Fernando, D.J.S., Siribaddana, S.H., De Silva D.R., Perera S.D.,: The prevalence of obesity and other coronary risk factors in a suburban Sri Lankan community. Asia Pacific J Clin Nutri, pp. 155–159 (1994) Veeranna, V., Pradhan, J., Niraj, A., Fakhry H.,and Afonso, L.,: Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Severity of Angiographic Coronary Artery Disease in the Elderly. Preventive Cardiology, pp. 135-140 (2010)

Computers in Elementary School Classrooms :: Teaching Education Essays

Computers in Elementary School Classrooms Technology has influenced many aspects of life, but I think that it has influenced education the most. I am going to be an elementary teacher after I graduate, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to learn how computers will help me to teach. I will be focusing on how technology influences the development of young children. Today the computer has worked its way into the classrooms of our elementary schools. To some this may seem a little early to start teaching children about technology, but the studies prove that the computer is a productive learning tool. Children learn to use the computer at an early age by interacting with their parents and other adults. Children can listen to books being read, learn about the alphabet, numbers, sizes, colors, and shapes. They enjoy learning new things while using the computer. It is fun and gives them a sense of accomplishment because they are doing it by themselves. New opportunities for young children often increase their understanding of how the world works. The early years are the most important to provide a solid base for learning in the future. Each aspect of learning has to connect with the experience of the child’s life. The computer also has to connect with what the child is learning throughout the curriculum of school. Computers help children learn about new things that can enhance their development. The computer alone doesn’t cause the learning, but it helps the teacher to facilitate learning. [1]â€Å" The National Education Goals Panel identified five essential dimensions of early development and learning: physical well- being and motor development; social and emotional development; approaches toward learning; language development; and cognition and general knowledge.† They say that the computer can facilitate development in all of these areas. The first one I want to talk about is physical well-being and motor development. The National Education Goals Panel says that children must make use of their entire bodies and the environment surrounding them. This means that they must make a connection between the relationships of other things and the environment. Children can play and explore new ideas using the computer. This gives them an opportunity to look things up that they don’t understand, so that they can make the connection between things. Computers in Elementary School Classrooms :: Teaching Education Essays Computers in Elementary School Classrooms Technology has influenced many aspects of life, but I think that it has influenced education the most. I am going to be an elementary teacher after I graduate, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to learn how computers will help me to teach. I will be focusing on how technology influences the development of young children. Today the computer has worked its way into the classrooms of our elementary schools. To some this may seem a little early to start teaching children about technology, but the studies prove that the computer is a productive learning tool. Children learn to use the computer at an early age by interacting with their parents and other adults. Children can listen to books being read, learn about the alphabet, numbers, sizes, colors, and shapes. They enjoy learning new things while using the computer. It is fun and gives them a sense of accomplishment because they are doing it by themselves. New opportunities for young children often increase their understanding of how the world works. The early years are the most important to provide a solid base for learning in the future. Each aspect of learning has to connect with the experience of the child’s life. The computer also has to connect with what the child is learning throughout the curriculum of school. Computers help children learn about new things that can enhance their development. The computer alone doesn’t cause the learning, but it helps the teacher to facilitate learning. [1]â€Å" The National Education Goals Panel identified five essential dimensions of early development and learning: physical well- being and motor development; social and emotional development; approaches toward learning; language development; and cognition and general knowledge.† They say that the computer can facilitate development in all of these areas. The first one I want to talk about is physical well-being and motor development. The National Education Goals Panel says that children must make use of their entire bodies and the environment surrounding them. This means that they must make a connection between the relationships of other things and the environment. Children can play and explore new ideas using the computer. This gives them an opportunity to look things up that they don’t understand, so that they can make the connection between things.

Counterfeiting: Were In The Money Essay -- essays research papers

Counterfeiting: We're In The Money A frequently asked question by a customer is "Can you break a hundred dollar bill?" If this request has been granted, why do the cashiers take the bill and turn it into a biology experiment? Between pouring a liquid on the note and/or holding it up to the light to check for authenticity, is our currency system in danger? As of the beginning of 1996, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the Secretary of the United States Treasury, prove their economic wizardry by making the new one hundred dollar bill nearly impossible to counterfeit in attempt to protect our economy. This is just the first step in improving our currency system. Counterfeiting U.S. currency is an illegal practice that has has been around for years and, unfortunately,is getting worse. "Last year, ...the Secret Service cooperated with the Italian authorities' seizure of $43.8 million in counterfeit U.S. currency, Germany's capture of more than $19 million in counterfeit cash, and the Canadian authorities; seizure of than $129 million in counterfeit U.S. currency." (Gomez, Bertha. "Officials Say..") In a small town north of Chicago, two high school seniors were arrested for the use of counterfeit bills. With the use of the internet and a color printer, these two teenagers were able to create and pass their counterfeit twenty dollar bills through the high school cafeteria but were later arrest by police after trying to use their money at a local Taco Bell. If teenagers are finding ways to counterfeit money, that should tell someone that we need to do something to protect our economy for the future. In attempt to enhance our currency system, the one hundred dollar bill was completely redesigned last year and released at the beginning of this year. This new bill contains a security thread, a watermark, a larger portrait, varriable-color ink and infrared fibers. It is called the 1996 series. Next year the fifty dollar bill will change and so forth. At first, economist talked about recalling all of US currency, but later this idea was ruled out o keep a smooth transition and to honor the new bills at current face value. If our economy is at its strongest, who paid for the creation of the series 1996? The Federal Reserve, under the direction of Alan Greenspan, paid for this currency improvement. When t... ...bject, someone will try to copy it. But, what if our currency system was strictly based on a credit? This will be the United States currency of the future. Our world has advanced so far with the aid of the computer. Ten years ago, computers were for only a weak version of typing. We have come so far from the past. Technology will improve in the years to come. The money in our wallets is just a special type of paper with a special type of ink. It does not back gold like it use to. In the future, we will have two cards in our wallet. A credit card, if we so choose to own one, and a currency card. Our treasury and federal reserve will design a feasible system where paper money is something of the past. Work Cite "Fed Moved Too Slow On Increasing Rates." Wall Street Journal 11 April 1994. "Who Controls The Fed?." Investors Business Daily 19 August 1996 Gomez, Berta "U.S. Officials Say Currency Counterfeiting Remains Small." USIA Staff Writer (1996) WWW Internet Access. Moreau, Ron and Russell Watson. The Hard-Up North Koreans are suspected of making nearly perfectly fakes of U.S. $100 bills.

The Benefits of Distance Learning Essay -- Teaching Learning Education

The Benefits of Distance Learning I. Easy access for both students and teachers II. Knowledge of instructors and classmates A. Posting of bibliographies III. One-on-one contact between instructor and student A. Phone contact B. Web-site email C. Chat areas IV. Students learn just as easily as in the classroom V. Access to other students through online communication A. Personal emails B. Classroom and group discussion boards C. Online course chat rooms VI. Learning of proper etiquette required for posting discussions VII. Learning computer tools A. Classroom and group discussion boards B. Chat rooms C. Web-site email D. Coffee shop chatting areas VIII. Accessibility for student and instructor assistance A. Technical Support B. Student and Academic Advisors C. Financial Aid Representatives IX. Convenience for students and instructors with everyday issues A. Careers B. Families C. Disabilities X. Overall availability and accessibility of higher-education to everyone A. Students C. Instructors The structure for this outline was determined by the experience as a current student attending an online university, a distance learning program. The outline starts...

Elegy for my father’s father&quot Essay

What is the true meaning of family? A support system. A unit that guides you through life. People that always have your best interest at heart. They are and will always be there for you. You are yourself around them and they never expect you to hold back. Joy and sorrow. Laughs and tears. All elements shared with family. This is not the case in all situations as seen in the poem elegy for my father’s father. Elegy for my father’s father is one stanza poem of sorrow and sadness. A poem written by a man who hardly knew his grandfather. Thus the title elegy for my father’s father which brings out the detached mood. The persona begins by telling the reader how they all knew this man died knowing he was emotionally detached from all those around him. He was an introvert and kept to himself. ‘O for all the tall tower broken memorial denied’ a sentence showing the little they had to remember him by. There were no marks of him and there was very little to him. ‘And the unchanging cairn that pipes could set ablaze An aaronsrod and blossom. ‘ There was no tombstone and instead Just a pile of stones on top of his grave. I believe this shows the little respect they had for him. They are not alone as nature also refuses to be one with him. No flower grows by his graveside. He is alone just like he was in real life. ‘They stood by his graveside from his bitter veins born And mourned him in their own fashion. ‘ The persona again describes his grandfather as a bitter angry man. The reader begins to get the immensity of anger that the persona has for his grandfather. The situation was so serious that his family did not know how to mourn him. There was no unity when they were mourning him and they as a result they all did it in their own ways. ‘A chain of sods in a day he could slice and build high as the head of a man And a flowering cherry tree On his walking shoulder held under the lion sun’ the persona finally gives an unexpected positive remark about this man. They honor his strength and endurance seen in his youth. He did intense amount of work and was able to accomplish it in the harshest of conditions. He was a ‘workaholic’. This could have been a way to ensure people kept off. The persona however jumps back into the negative comments. When he was old he had nothing to do except sit in his curved chair all day the kitchen fire. Perhaps a sense of pity for him. His family watched him waste time he could have made so much out of. He was quiet and observant. He scrutinized every detail but he kept all his observations to himself. He confined his feelings and wisdom. He was very mysterious. A lot of imagery is used in the lines describing this. The last eleven lines of the poem are all imagery. They show how the old man never spoke in times of joy. ‘This heart had never spoken in song or bridal bed’ He was shockingly also distant to his wife. A person who he should have at least been able to trust and express himself to. He was unable to reveal himself on his honeymoon. This shows how great his separation from all those around him was. The poem is of a mixed tone as there is an element of sorrow but at the same time there is celebration of life and reminiscing of the old man’s youthful days. The poet uses descriptive words that carry out the task of giving vivid illustration to the reader. The poem however does not have a flow as has no rhythm regularity. The poem is cyclic as the reader is taken through the old man’s life. The theme of family and its great impact on one’s life is seen throughout the poem.

Baroque and Impressionism Essay

Baroque art refers to the style that would be found in Europe and North and South America during the 17th and 18th century. The Catholic Church heavily influenced their art, as well as the Protestant rising up during this time. There was an emphasis on unity and harmony in all of the visual arts that often had themes from the Bible or stories. There was realism and more attention was paid to physical details in portrait paintings, there was more light contrast, landscapes were more expansive and there was use of more deep, rich colors. In architecture there were structures that expressed humans longing for spirituality and there was extreme presentation and in the grand scale it was reflected theatrically (Mindedge, 2013). In the Baroque period the art would depict a play, that it was not just a picture but every figure would have meaning, the art was meant to be read just not looked at as decoration. Figures would be drawn with realism, they have depth in the art, and they are almost falling off the page. They used dark shades and lights to show realism in their paintings. This was brought on with the further discovery of how our universe was formed, how we are not the center of the universe and also with that discovery, we discovered that Europe is not the middle of the Earth as well. Each painting had a story, told about us, about real people and there was more realism than before. Sculptures were made to be experienced, they were made not as standing men but men in action, they told a story in each sculpture that was made in this period. The social conditions that contributed to the Baroque period began with the rebirth of people, the Catholic Church had overcome the Protestant rising. There was new life and new water brought in to Rome and other major cities. We made discoveries that had shown us that the Earth was not the center of the universe like we had previously thought, also the discovery that the Earth was not flat. We had explored across the Atlantic and discovered the Americas as well. This was a time of great growth and triumph, and this was all shown in our paintings, which told their stories, and the sculptures that shared their tales. Impressionism which would be found in France in the late 19th century, took a fresh bold approach to painting. Impressionism did not paint pictures of the past, or historical figures but instead they painted pictures of their reaction to now. There were pictures of current landscapes, current people and the painting was often done very vividly using lights and colors and were very over simplified, often leaving out many details. Many artists focused on the interactions between sunlight and color and the way that the light would be interpreted by the eye. Storing paint in tubes at this time allowed artists to paint outside the studios, they could take their canvas, put it down in front of a scene and paint it in the natural light and see how it impacted the landscape (Mindedge, 2013). In the Impressionism era the opera house in France was completed, there was a time that new classes of people came forth and they felt they should be able to enjoy themselves. Paintings were painted at events, they were treating the world as a spectacle, there would be people enjoying themselves, going about their everyday lives and that was depicted in their paintings. It would be open air, mostly simple art, visible brush work and no form that made their work look sloppy. There was much interest in painting outdoors and each artist would put their own vision on the landscape. The relationship between the Baroque and the Impressionism periods were few, the stylistic similarities between the eras were using lighting to make the paintings come to life, they would paint in a way that it would tell a story, the Baroque period there would be large canvas that would go from one story to the next, and in the Impressionism period artists would paint a party, a gathering and show what it was like, or give the current mood and story behind the event. The differences between the periods is the detail in the art. The Baroque period paid large attention to detail in the art, there was blending and lighting differences and the art was life like. The Impressionism period the art was often like a draft, there would be paint brush marks on the painting still, there would be blotches lines and there would be details missing from the paintings. Baroque and Impressionism do have similarities with their subject matter. Ordinary objects and people were used as subject matter in the Impressionism time. This was also used in the Baroque period since the painters did not create art just for the upper class, and it was painted for the merchant class as well which led them to use ordinary people and objects in their art. Impressionism deviated from the Baroque period in details, the Realism period was before the Impressionism period, and it still contained many details from the Baroque period, but with the Impressionism art there were many details and stories that were lost. The pictures didn’t depict life like characters, there was often sloppy work with less than ideal lighting, and the art was also made outdoors, often with the painters taking the canvas to their location, in the Baroque period you went to your canvas or painted in a workshop because the paint was not portable like in the Impressionism period. Impressionism was the end of conventional art, the Baroque period showed life like sculptures and paintings, Impressionism went away from that. Impressionism gave the artists freedom to break away from the usual art that was photo-esc, they would paint how they wanted, they left brush marks and would give little details compared to the Baroque period. The specific work of art I chose from the Baroque period is The Abduction of Europa by Rembrandt van Rijn and from the Impressionism period I chose the Houses of Parliament by Claude Monet. The comparisons between the two paintings are their attention to details, The Abduction by Rembrandt van Rijn is a very detailed picture of a lady on a horse that is running into the water, there are people on the shore trying to get her to stay there but she is being abducted across the river. The Houses of Parliament is a picture of a dark castle type building that appears to be on a river or lake, there are clear brush marks on the picture and it is not very detailed, the strokes are very rough unlike in The Abduction of Europa where it is a very fine line, it is almost hard to tell what you are looking at because of this. Impressionism changed how the world saw art, artists were no longer constrained to painting indoors, and they could move their canvas to any scene that they wanted to paint, carry their paint tubes and then paint. Artists were liberated from what art was, there were no rules or technique that they had to follow, and they were free to paint how they wanted and what they wanted. There are brighter color used in art now which is a direct influence from Impressionism times, and it is widely considered that Impressionism is the root of all modern art (Alan Oz, 2012). Alan Oz (2012) Retrieved from http://www.impressionism.org/finis.htm Mindedge (2013) Baroque and Impressionism. Retrieved from http://wgu.mindedgeonline.com/content.php?cid=19779

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 19

Chapter 19 Another day spent wandering the city with the angel, another dream of the woman standing at the foot of my bed, and I awoke finally – after all these years – to understand what Joshua must have felt, at least at times, as the only one of his kind. I know he said again and again that he was the son of man, born of a woman, one of us, but it was the paternal part of his heritage that made him different. Now, since I'm fairly sure I am the only person walking the earth who was doing so two thousand years ago, I have an acute sense of what it is to be unique, to be the one and only. It's lonely. That's why Joshua went into those mountains so often, and stayed so long in the company of the creature. Last night I dreamed that the angel was talking to someone in the room while I slept. In the dream I heard him say, â€Å"Maybe it would be best just to kill him when he finishes. Snap his neck, shove him into a storm sewer.† Strange, though, there wasn't the least bit of malice in the angel's voice. On the contrary, he sounded very forlorn. That's how I know it was a dream. I never thought I'd be happy to get back to the monastery, but after trudging through the snow for half the day, the dank stone walls and dark hallways were as welcoming as a warmly lit hearth. Half of the rice we had collected as alms was immediately boiled, then packed into bamboo cylinders about a hand wide and as long as a man's leg, then half of the root vegetables were stored away while the rest were packed into satchels along with some salt and more bamboo cylinders filled with cold tea. We had just enough time to chase the chill out of our limbs by the cook fires, then Gaspar had us take up the cylinders and the satchels and he led us out into the mountains. I had never noticed when the other monks left on the pilgrimage of secret meditation that they were carrying so much food. And with all this food, much more than we could eat in the four or five days we were gone, why had Joshua and I been training for this by fasting? Traveling higher into the mountains was actually easier for a while, as the snow had been blown off the trail. It was when we came to the high plateaus where the yak grazed and the snow drifted that the going became difficult. We took turns at the head of the line, plowing a trail through the snow. As we climbed, the air became so thin that even the highly conditioned monks had to stop frequently to catch their breaths. At the same time, the wind bit through our robes and leggings as if they weren't there. That there was not enough air to breathe, yet the movement of the air would chill our bones, I suppose is ironic, yet I was having a hard time appreciating it even then. I said, â€Å"Why couldn't you just go to the rabbis and learn to be the Messiah like everyone else? Do you remember any snow in the story of Moses? No. Did the Lord appear to Moses in the form of a snow bank? I don't think so. Did Elijah ascend to heaven on a chariot of ice? Nope. Did Daniel come forth unharmed from a blizzard? No. Our people are about fire, Joshua, not ice. I don't remember any snow in all of the Torah. The Lord probably doesn't even go to places where it snows. This is a huge mistake, we never should have come, we should go home as soon as this is over, and in conclusion, I can't feel my feet.† I was out of breath and wheezing. â€Å"Daniel didn't come forth from the fire,† Joshua said calmly. â€Å"Well, who can blame him, it was probably warm in there.† â€Å"He came forth unharmed from the lion's den,† said Josh. â€Å"Here,† said Gaspar, stopping any further discussion. He put down his parcels and sat down. â€Å"Where?† I said. We were under a low overhang, out of the wind, and mostly out of the snow, but it was hardly what you could call shelter. Still, the other monks, including Joshua, shed their packs and sat, affecting the meditation posture and holding their hands in the mudra of all-giving compassion (which, strangely enough, is the same hand gesture that modern people use for â€Å"okay.† Makes you think). â€Å"We can't be here. There's no here here,† I said. â€Å"Exactly,† said Gaspar. â€Å"Contemplate that.† So I sat. Joshua and the others seemed impervious to the cold and as frost formed on my eyelashes and clothing, the light dusting of ice crystals that covered the ground and rocks around each of them began to melt, as if there was a flame burning inside of them. Whenever the wind died, I noticed steam rising off of Gaspar as his damp robe gave up its moisture to the chill air. When Joshua and I first learned to meditate, we had been taught to be hyperaware of everything around us, connected, but the state that my fellow monks were in now was one of trance, of separation, of exclusion. They had each constructed some sort of mental shelter in which they were happily sitting, while I, quite literally, was freezing to death. â€Å"Joshua, I need a little help here,† I said, but my friend didn't move a muscle. If it weren't for the steady stream of his breath I would have thought him frozen himself. I tapped him on the shoulder, but received no response whatsoever. I tried to get the attention of each of the other four monks, but they too gave no reaction to my prodding. I even pushed Gaspar hard enough to knock him over, yet he stayed in the sitting position, looking like a statue of the Buddha that had tumbled from its pedestal. Still, as I touched each of my companions I could feel the heat coming off of him. Since it was obvious that I wasn't going to learn how to reach this trance state in time to save my own life, my only alternative was to take advantage of theirs. At first I arranged the monks in a large pile, trying to keep the elbows and knees out of the eyes and yarbles, out of respect and in the spirit of the infinitely compassionate Buddha and stuff. Although the warmth coming off them was impressive, I found that I could only keep one side of me warm at a time. Soon, by arranging my friends in a circle facing outward, and sitting in the middle, I was able to construct an envelope of comfort that kept the chill at bay. Ideally, I could have used a couple of more monks to stretch over the top of my hut to block the wind, but as the Buddha said, life is suffering and all, so I suffered. After I heated some tea on Number Seven monk's head and tucked one of the cylinders of rice under Gaspar's arm until it was warm, I was able to enjoy a pleasant repast and dropped off to sleep with a full belly. I awoke to what sounded like the entire Roman army trying to slurp the anchovies out of the Mediterranean Sea. When I opened my eyes I saw the source of the noise and nearly tumbled over backward trying to back away. A huge, furry creature, half again as tall as any man I had ever seen was trying to slurp the tea out of one of the bamboo cylinders, but the tea had frozen to slush and the creature looked as if he might suck the top of his head in if he continued. Yes, he looked sort of like a man, except his entire body was covered with a long white fur. His eyes were as large as a cow's, with crystal blue irises and pinpoint pupils. Thick black eyelashes knitted together when he blinked. He had long black nails on his hands, which were similar to a man's except twice the size, and the only clothing he wore at all were some sort of boots that looked to be made of yak skin. The impressive array of tackle swinging between the creature's legs tipped me off to his maleness. I looked around at the circle of monks to see if anyone had noticed that our supplies were being raided by a woolly beast, but they were all deeply entranced. The creature slurped again from the cylinder, then pounded on the side of it with his hand, as if to dislodge the contents, then looked at me as if asking for help. Whatever terror I felt melted away the second I looked into the creature's eyes. There wasn't the hint of aggression there, not a glint of violence or threat. I picked up the cylinder of tea that I had heated on Number Three's head. It sloshed in my hand, indicating that it hadn't frozen during my nap, so I held it out to the creature. He reached over Joshua's head and took the cylinder, pulled the cork from the end, and drank greedily. I took the moment to kick my friend in the kidney. â€Å"Josh, snap out of it. You need to see this.† I got no response, so I reached around and pinched my friend's nostrils shut. To master meditation the student must first master his breath. The savior made a snorting sound and came out of his trance gasping and twisting in my grip. He was facing me when I finally let go. â€Å"What?† Josh said. I pointed behind him and Joshua turned around to witness the full glory of the big furry white guy. â€Å"Holy moly!† Big Furry jumped back cradling his tea like a threatened infant and made some vocalization which wasn't quite language. (But if it had been, it would probably have translated as â€Å"Holy Moly,† as well.) It was nice to see Joshua's masterful control slip to reveal a vulnerable underbelly of confusion. â€Å"What†¦I mean who†¦I mean, what is that?† â€Å"Not a Jew,† I said helpfully, pointing to about a yard of foreskin. â€Å"Well, I can see it's not a Jew, but that doesn't narrow it down much, does it?† Strangely, I seemed to be enjoying this much more than my two semi-terrified cohorts. â€Å"Well, do you remember when Gaspar gave us the rules of the monastery, and we wondered about the one that said we were not to kill a human or someone like a human?† â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Well, he's someone like a human, I guess.† â€Å"Okay.† Joshua climbed to his feet and looked at Big Furry. Big Furry straightened up and looked at Joshua, tilting his head from side to side. Joshua smiled. Big Furry smiled back. Black lips, really long sharp canines. â€Å"Big teeth,† I said. â€Å"Very big teeth.† Joshua held his hand out to the creature. The creature reached out to Joshua and ever so gently took the Messiah's smaller hand in his great paw†¦and wrenched Joshua off his feet, catching him in a hug and squeezing him so hard that his beatific eyes started to bug out. â€Å"Help,† squeaked Joshua. The creature licked the top of Joshua's head with a long blue tongue. â€Å"He likes you,† I said. â€Å"He's tasting me,† Joshua said. I thought of how my friend had fearlessly yanked the tail of the demon Catch, of how he had faced so many dangers with total calm. I thought of the times he had saved me, both from outside dangers and from myself, and I thought of the kindness in his eyes that ran deeper than sea, and I said: â€Å"Naw, he likes you.† I thought I'd try another language to see if the creature might better comprehend my meaning: â€Å"You like Joshua, don't you? Yes you do. Yes you do. He wuvs his widdle Joshua. Yes he does.† Baby talk is the universal language. The words are different, but the meaning and sound is the same. The creature nuzzled Joshua up under its chin, then licked his head again, this time leaving a steaming trail of green-tea-stained saliva behind on my friend's scalp. â€Å"Yuck,† said Joshua. â€Å"What is this thing?† â€Å"It's a yeti,† said Gaspar from behind me, obviously having been roused from his trance. â€Å"An abominable snowman.† â€Å"This is what happens when you fuck a sheep!?† I exclaimed. â€Å"Not an abomination,† Josh said, â€Å"abominable.† The yeti licked him on the cheek. Joshua tried to push away. To Gaspar he said, â€Å"Am I in danger?† Gaspar shrugged. â€Å"Does a dog have a Buddha nature?† â€Å"Please, Gaspar,† Joshua said. â€Å"This is a question of practical application, not spiritual growth.† The yeti sighed and licked Josh's cheek again. I guessed that the creature must have a tongue as rough as a cat's, as Joshua's cheek was going pink with abrasion. â€Å"Turn the other cheek, Josh,† I said. â€Å"Let him wear the other one out.† â€Å"I'm going to remember this,† Joshua said. â€Å"Gaspar, will he harm me?† â€Å"I don't know. No one has ever gotten that close to him before. Usually he comes while we are in trance and disappears with the food. We are lucky to even get a glimpse of him.† â€Å"Put me down, please,† said Josh to the creature. â€Å"Please put me down.† The yeti set Joshua back on his feet on the ground. By this time the other monks were coming out of their trances. Number Seventeen squealed like a frying squirrel when he saw the yeti so close. The yeti crouched and bared his teeth. â€Å"Stop that!† barked Joshua to Seventeen. â€Å"You're scaring him.† â€Å"Give him some rice,† said Gaspar. I took the cylinder I had warmed and handed it to the yeti. He popped off the top and began scooping out rice with a long finger, licking the grains off his fingers like they were termites about to make their escape. Meanwhile Joshua backed away from the yeti so that he stood beside Gaspar. â€Å"This is why you come here? Why after alms you carry so much food up the mountain?† Gaspar nodded. â€Å"He's the last of his kind. He has no one to help him gather food. No one to talk to.† â€Å"But what is he? What is a yeti?† â€Å"We like to think of him as a gift. He is a vision of one of the many lives a man might live before he reaches nirvana. We believe he is as close to a perfect being as can be achieved on this plane of existence.† â€Å"How do you know he is the only one?† â€Å"He told me.† â€Å"He talks?† â€Å"No, he sings. Wait.† As we watched the yeti eat, each of the monks came forward and put his cylinders of food and tea in front of the creature. The yeti looked up from his eating only occasionally, as if his whole universe resided in that bamboo pipe full of rice, yet I could tell that behind those ice-blue eyes the creature was counting, figuring, rationing the supplies we had brought. â€Å"Where does he live?† I asked Gaspar. â€Å"We don't know. A cave somewhere, I suppose. He has never taken us there, and we don't look for it.† Once all the food was put before the yeti, Gaspar signaled to the other monks and they started backing out from under the overhang into the snow, bowing to the yeti as they went. â€Å"It is time for us to go,† Gaspar said. â€Å"He doesn't want our company.† Joshua and I followed our fellow monks back into the snow, following a path they were blazing back the way we had come. The yeti watched us leave, and every time I looked back he was still watching, until we were far enough away that he became little more than an outline against the white of the mountain. When at last we climbed out of the valley, and even the great sheltering overhang was out of sight, we heard the yeti's song. Nothing, not even the blowing of the ram's horn back home, not the war cries of bandits, not the singing of mourners, nothing I had ever heard had reached inside of me the way the yeti's song did. It was a high wailing, but with stops and pulses like the muted sound of a heart beating, and it carried all through the valley. The yeti held his keening notes far longer than any human breath could sustain. The effect was as if someone was emptying a huge cask of sadness down my throat until I thought I'd collapse or explode with the grief. It was the sound of a t housand hungry children crying, ten thousand widows tearing their hair over their husbands' graves, a chorus of angels singing the last dirge on the day of God's death. I covered my ears and fell to my knees in the snow. I looked at Joshua and tears were streaming down his cheeks. The other monks were hunched over as if shielding themselves from a hailstorm. Gaspar cringed as he looked at us, and I could see then that he was, indeed, a very old man. Not as old as Balthasar, perhaps, but the face of suffering was upon him. â€Å"So you see,† the abbot said, â€Å"he is the only one of his kind. Alone.† You didn't have to understand the yeti's language, if he had one, to know that Gaspar was right. â€Å"No he's not,† said Joshua. â€Å"I'm going to him.† Gaspar took Joshua's arm to stop him. â€Å"Everything is as it should be.† â€Å"No,† said Joshua. â€Å"It is not.† Gaspar pulled his hand back as if he had plunged it into a flame – a strange reaction, as I had actually seen the monk put his hand in flame with less reaction as part of the kung fu regimen. â€Å"Let him be,† I said to Gaspar, not sure at the time why I was doing it. Joshua headed back into the valley by himself, having not said another word to us. â€Å"He'll be back when it's time,† I said. â€Å"What do you know?† snapped Gaspar in a distinctly unenlightened way. â€Å"You'll be working off your karma for a thousand years as a dung beetle just to evolve to the point of being dense.† I didn't say anything. I simply bowed, then turned and followed my brother monks back to the monastery. It was a week before Joshua returned to us, and it was another day before he and I actually had time to speak. We were in the dining hall, and Joshua had eaten his own rice as well as mine. In the meantime, I had applied a lot of thought to the plight of the abominable snowman and, more important, to his origins. â€Å"Do you think there were a lot of them, Josh?† â€Å"Yes. Never as many as there are men, but there were many more.† â€Å"What happened to them?† â€Å"I'm not sure. When the yeti sings I see pictures in my head. I saw that men came to these mountains and killed the yeti. They had no instinct to fight. Most just stood in place and watched as they were slaughtered. Perplexed by man's evil. Others ran higher and higher into the mountains. I think that this one had a mate and a family. They starved or died of some slow sickness. I can't tell.† â€Å"Is he a man?† â€Å"I don't think he is a man,† said Joshua. â€Å"Is he an animal?† â€Å"No, I don't think he's an animal either. He knows who he is. He knows he is the only one.† â€Å"I think I know what he is.† Joshua regarded me over the rim of his bowl. â€Å"Well?† â€Å"Well, do you remember the monkey feet Balthasar bought from the old woman in Antioch, how they looked like little human feet?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And you have to admit that the yeti looks very much like a man. More like a man than he does any other creature, right? Well, what if he is a creature who is becoming a man? What if he isn't really the last of his kind, but the first of ours? What made me think of it was how Gaspar talks about how we work off our karma in different incarnations, as different creatures. As we learn more in each lifetime we may become a higher creature as we go. Well, maybe creatures do that too. Maybe as the yeti needs to live where it is warmer he loses his fur. Or as the monkeys need to, I don't know, run cattle and sheep, they become bigger. Not all at once, but through many incarnations. Maybe creatures evolve the way Gaspar believes the soul evolves. What do you think?† Joshua stroked his chin for a moment and stared at me as if he was deep in thought, while at the same time I thought he might burst out laughing any second. I'd spent a whole week thinking about this. This theory had vexed me through all of my training, all of my meditations since we'd made the pilgrimage to the yeti's valley. I wanted some sort of acknowledgment from Joshua for my effort, if nothing else. â€Å"Biff,† he said, â€Å"that may be the dumbest idea you've ever had.† â€Å"So you don't think it's possible?† â€Å"Why would the Lord create a creature only to have it die out? Why would the Lord allow that?† Joshua said. â€Å"What about the flood? All but Noah and his family were killed.† â€Å"But that was because people had become wicked. The yeti isn't wicked. If anything, his kind have died out because they have no capacity for wickedness.† â€Å"So, you're the Son of God, you explain it to me.† â€Å"It is God's will,† said Joshua, â€Å"that the yeti disappear.† â€Å"Because they had no trace of wickedness?† I said sarcastically. â€Å"If the yeti isn't a man, then he's not a sinner either. He's innocent.† Joshua nodded, staring into his now-empty bowl. â€Å"Yes. He's innocent.† He stood and bowed to me, which was something he almost never did unless we were training. â€Å"I'm tired now, Biff. I have to sleep and pray.† â€Å"Sorry, Josh, I didn't mean to make you sad. I thought it was an interesting theory.† He smiled weakly at me, then bowed his head and shuffled off to his cell. Over the next few years Joshua spent at least a week out of every month in the mountains with the yeti, going up not only with every group after alms, but often going up into the mountains by himself for days or, in the summer, weeks at a time. He never talked about what he did while in the mountains, except, he told me, that the yeti had taken him to the cave where he lived and had shown him the bones of his people. My friend had found something with the yeti, and although I didn't have the courage to ask him, I suspect the bond he shared with the snowman was the knowledge that they were both unique creatures, nothing like either of them walked the face of the earth, and regardless of the connection each might feel with God and the universe, at that time, in that place, but for each other, they were utterly alone. Gaspar didn't forbid Joshua's pilgrimages, and indeed, he went out of his way to act as if he didn't notice when Twenty-Two Monk was gone, yet I could tell there was some unease in the abbot whenever Joshua was away. We both continued to drill on the posts, and after two years of leaping and balancing, dancing and the use of weapons were added to our routine. Joshua refused to take up any of the weapons; in fact, he refused to practice any art that would bring harm to another being. He wouldn't even mimic the action of fighting with swords and spears with a bamboo substitute. At first Gaspar bristled at Joshua's refusal, and threatened to banish him from the monastery, but when I took the abbot aside and told him the story of the archer Joshua had blinded on the way to Balthasar's fortress, the abbot relented. He and two of the older monks who had been soldiers devised for Joshua a regimen of weaponless fighting that involved no offense or striking at all, but instead channeled the energy of an attacker away from oneself. Since the new art was practiced only by Joshua (and sometimes myself), the monks called it Jew-d;, meaning the way of the Jew. In addition to learning kung fu and Jew-d;, Gaspar set us to learning to speak and write Sanskrit. Most of the holy books of Buddhism had been written in that language and had yet to be translated into Chinese, which Joshua and I had become fluent in. â€Å"This is the language of my boyhood,† Gaspar said before beginning our lessons. â€Å"You need to know this to learn the words of Gautama Buddha, but you will also need this language when you follow your dharma to your next destination.† Joshua and I looked at each other. It had been a long time since we had talked about leaving the monastery and the mention of it put us on edge. Routine feeds the illusion of safety, and if nothing else, there was routine at the monastery. â€Å"When will we leave, master?† I asked. â€Å"When it is time,† said Gaspar. â€Å"And how will we know it is time to leave?† â€Å"When the time for staying has come to an end.† â€Å"And we will know this because you will finally give us a straight and concrete answer to a question instead of being obtuse and spooky?† I asked. â€Å"Does the unhatched tadpole know the universe of the full-grown frog?† â€Å"Evidently not,† Joshua said. â€Å"Correct,† said the master. â€Å"Meditate upon it.† As Joshua and I entered the temple to begin our meditation I said, â€Å"When the time comes, and we know that the time has come for us to leave, I am going to lump up his shiny little head with a fighting staff.† â€Å"Meditate upon it,† said Josh. â€Å"I mean it. He's going to be sorry he taught me how to fight,† I said. â€Å"I'm sure of it. I'm sorry already.† â€Å"You know, he doesn't have to be the only one bopped in the noggin when noggin-boppin' time rolls around,† I said. Joshua looked at me as if I'd just awakened him from a nap. â€Å"All the time we spend meditating, what are you really doing, Biff?† â€Å"I'm meditating – sometimes – listening to the sound of the universe and stuff.† â€Å"But mostly you're just sitting there.† â€Å"I've learned to sleep with my eyes open.† â€Å"That won't help your enlightenment.† â€Å"Look, when I get to nirvana I want to be well rested.† â€Å"Don't spend a lot of time worrying about it.† â€Å"Hey, I have discipline. Through practice I've learned to cause spontaneous nocturnal emissions.† â€Å"That's an accomplishment,† the Messiah said sarcastically. â€Å"Okay, you can be snotty if you want to, but when we get back to Galilee, you walk around trying to sell your ‘love your neighbor because he is you' claptrap, and I'll offer the ‘wet dreams at will' program and we'll see who gets more followers.† Joshua grinned: â€Å"I think we'll both do better than my cousin John and his ‘hold them underwater until they agree with you' sermon.† â€Å"I haven't thought about him in years. Do you think he's still doing that?† Just then, Number Two Monk, looking very stern and unenlightened, stood and started across the temple toward us, his bamboo rod in hand. â€Å"Sorry, Josh, I'm going no-mind.† I dropped to the lotus position, formed the mudra of the compassionate Buddha with my fingers, and lickity-split was on the sitting-still road to oneness with allthatness. Despite Gaspar's veiled warning about our moving on, we again settled into a routine, this one including learning to read and write the sutras in Sanskrit, but also Joshua's time with the yeti. I had gotten so proficient in the martial arts that I could break a flagstone as thick as my hand with my head, and I could sneak up on even the most wary of the other monks, flick him on the ear, and be back in lotus position before he could spin to snatch the still-beating heart from my chest. (Actually, no one was really sure if anyone could do that. Every day Number Three Monk would declare it time for the â€Å"snatching the still-beating heart from the chest† drill, and every day he would ask for volunteers. After a brief wait, when no one volunteered, we'd move onto the next drill, usually the â€Å"maiming a guy with a fan† drill. Everyone wondered if Number Three could really do it, but no one wanted to ask. We knew how Buddhist monks liked to teach. One minute you're cu rious, the next a bald guy is holding a bloody piece of pulsating meat in your face and you're wondering why the sudden draft in the thorax area of your robe. No thanks, we didn't need to know that badly.) Meanwhile, Joshua became so adept at avoiding blows that it was as if he'd become invisible again. Even the best fighting monks, of whom I was not one, had trouble laying a hand on my friend, and often they ended up flat on their backs on the flagstones for their trouble. Joshua seemed his happiest during these exercises, often laughing out loud as he narrowly dodged the thrust of a sword that would have taken his eye. Sometimes he would take the spear away from Number Three, only to bow and present it to him with a grin, as if the grizzled old soldier had dropped it instead of having it finessed from his grip. When Gaspar witnessed these displays he would leave the courtyard shaking his head and mumbling something about ego, leaving the rest of us to collapse into paroxysms of laughter at the abbot's expense. Even Numbers Two and Three, who were normally the strict disciplinarians, managed to mine a few smiles from their ever-so furrowed brows. It was a good time for Joshua. Meditat ion, prayer, exercise, and time with the yeti seemed to have helped him to let go of the colossal burden he'd been given to carry. For the first time he seemed truly happy, so I was stunned the day my friend entered the courtyard with tears streaming down his cheeks. I dropped the spear I was drilling with and ran to him. â€Å"Joshua?† â€Å"He's dead,† Joshua said. I embraced him and he collapsed into my arms sobbing. He was wearing wool leggings and boots, so I knew immediately that he'd just returned from one of his visits into the mountains. â€Å"A piece of ice fell from over his cave. I found him under it. Crushed. He was frozen solid.† â€Å"So you couldn't†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Joshua pushed me back and held me by the shoulders. â€Å"That's just it. I wasn't there in time. I not only couldn't save him, I wasn't even there to comfort him.† â€Å"Yes you were,† I said. Joshua dug his fingers into my shoulders and shook me as if I was hysterical and he was trying to get my attention, then suddenly he let go of me and shrugged. â€Å"I'm going to the temple to pray.† â€Å"I'll join you soon. Fifteen and I have three more movements to practice.† My sparring partner waited patiently at the edge of the courtyard, spear in hand, watching. Joshua got almost to the doors before he turned. â€Å"Do you know the difference between praying and meditating, Biff?† I shook my head. â€Å"Praying is talking to God. Meditating is listening. I've spent most of these last six years listening. Do you know what I've heard?† Again I said nothing. â€Å"Not a single thing, Biff. Now I have some things I want to say.† â€Å"I'm sorry about your friend,† I said. â€Å"I know.† He turned and started inside. â€Å"Josh,† I called. He paused and looked over his shoulder at me. â€Å"I won't let that happen to you, you know that, right?† â€Å"I know,† he said, then he went inside to give his father a divine ass-chewing. The next morning Gaspar summoned us to the tea room. The abbot looked as if he had not slept in days and whatever his age, he was carrying a century of misery in his eyes. â€Å"Sit,† he said, and we did. â€Å"The old man of the mountain is dead.† â€Å"Who?† â€Å"That's what I called the yeti, the old man of the mountain. He has passed on to his next life and it is time for you to go.† Joshua said nothing, but sat with his hands folded in his lap, staring at the table. â€Å"What does one have to do with the other?† I asked. â€Å"Why should we leave because the yeti has died? We didn't know he even existed until we had been here for two years.† â€Å"But I did,† said Gaspar. I felt a heat rising in my face – I'm sure that my scalp and ears must have flushed, because Gaspar scoffed at me. â€Å"There is nothing else here for you. There was nothing here for you from the beginning. I would not have allowed you to stay if you weren't Joshua's friend.† It was the first time he'd used either of our names since we'd arrived at the monastery. â€Å"Number Four will meet you at the gate. He has the possessions you arrived with, as well as some food for your journey.† â€Å"We can't go home,† Joshua said at last. â€Å"I don't know enough yet.† â€Å"No,† said Gaspar, â€Å"I suspect that you don't. But you know all that you will learn here. If you come to a river and find a boat at the edge, you will use that boat to cross and it will serve you well, but once across the river, do you put the boat on your shoulders and carry it with you on the rest of your journey?† â€Å"How big is the boat?† I asked. â€Å"What color is the boat?† asked Joshua. â€Å"How far is the rest of the journey?† I queried. â€Å"Is Biff there to carry the oars, or do I have to carry everything?† asked Josh. â€Å"No!† screamed Gaspar. â€Å"No, you don't take the boat along on the journey. It has been useful but now it's simply a burden. It's a parable, you cretins!† Joshua and I bowed our heads under Gaspar's anger. As the abbot railed, Joshua smiled at me and winked. When I saw the smile I knew that he'd be okay. Gaspar finished his tirade, then caught his breath and resumed in the tone of the tolerant monk that we were used to. â€Å"As I was saying, there is no more for you to learn. Joshua, go be a bodhisattva for your people, and Biff, try not to kill anyone with what we have taught you here.† â€Å"So do we get our boat now?† Joshua asked. Gaspar looked as if he were about to explode, then Joshua held his hand up and the old man remained silent. â€Å"We are grateful for our time here, Gaspar. These monks are noble and honorable men, and we have learned much from them. But you, honorable abbot, are a pretender. You have mastered a few tricks of the body, and you can reach a trance state, but you are not an enlightened being, though I think you have glimpsed enlightenment. You look everywhere for answers but where they lie. Nevertheless, your deception hasn't stopped you from teaching us. We thank you, Gaspar. Hypocrite. Wise man. Bodhisattva.† Gaspar sat staring at Joshua, who had spoken as if he were talking to a child. The old man went about fixing the tea, more feebly now, I thought, but maybe that was my imagination. â€Å"And you knew this?† Gaspar asked me. I shrugged. â€Å"What enlightened being travels halfway around the world following a star on the rumor that a Messiah has been born?† â€Å"He means across the world,† said Josh. â€Å"I mean around the world.† I elbowed Joshua in the ribs because it was easier than explaining my theory of universal stickiness to Gaspar. The old guy was having a rough day as it was. Gaspar poured tea for all of us, then sat down with a sigh. â€Å"You were not a disappointment, Joshua. The three of us knew as soon as we saw you that you were a being unlike any other. Brahman born to flesh, my brother said.† â€Å"What gave it away,† I said, â€Å"the angels on the roof of the stable?† Gaspar ignored me. â€Å"But you were still an infant, and whatever it was that we were looking for, you were not it – not yet, anyway. We could have stayed, I suppose, and helped to raise you, protect you, but we were all dense. Balthasar wanted to find the key to immortality, and there was no way that you could give him that, and my brother and I wanted the keys to the universe, and those were not to be found in Bethlehem either. So we warned your father of Herod's intent to have you killed, we gave him gold to get you out of the country, and we returned to the East.† â€Å"Melchior is your brother?† Gaspar nodded. â€Å"We were princes of Tamil. Melchior is the oldest, so he would have inherited our lands, but I would have received a small fiefdom as well. Like Siddhartha, we eschewed worldly pleasures to pursue enlightenment.† â€Å"How did you end up here, in these mountains?† I asked. â€Å"Chasing Buddhas.† Gaspar smiled. â€Å"I had heard that there lived a sage in these mountains. The locals called him the old man of the mountain. I came looking for the sage, and what I found was the yeti. Who knows how old he really was, or how long he'd been here? What I did know was that he was the last of his kind and that he would die before long without help. I stayed here and I built this monastery. Along with the monks who came here to study, I have been taking care of the yeti since you two were just infants. Now he is gone. I have no purpose, and I have learned nothing. Whatever there was to know here died under that lump of ice.† Joshua reached across the table and took the old man's hand. â€Å"You drill us every day in the same movements, we practice the same brush strokes over and over, we chant the same mantras, why? So that these actions will become natural, spontaneous, without being diluted by thought, right?† â€Å"Yes,† said Gaspar. â€Å"Compassion is the same way,† said Joshua. â€Å"That's what the yeti knew. He loved constantly, instantly, spontaneously, without thought or words. That's what he taught me. Love is not something you think about, it is a state in which you dwell. That was his gift.† â€Å"Wow,† I said. â€Å"I came here to learn that,† said Josh. â€Å"You taught it to me as much as the yeti.† â€Å"Me?† Gaspar had been pouring the tea as Joshua spoke and now he noticed that he'd overfilled his cup and the tea was running all over the table. â€Å"Who took care of him? Fed him? Looked after him? Did you have to think about that before you did it?† â€Å"No,† said Gaspar. Joshua stood. â€Å"Thanks for the boat.† Gaspar didn't accompany us to the front gate. As he promised, Number Four was waiting for us with our clothes and the money we had when we arrived six years before. I picked up the ying-yang vial of poison that Joy had given me and slipped the lanyard over my head, then I pushed the sheathed black glass dagger into the belt of my robe and tucked my clothes under my arm. â€Å"You will go to find Gaspar's brother?† Number Four asked. Number Four was one of the older monks, one of the ones who had served the emperor as a soldier, and a long white scar marked his head from the middle of his shaved scalp to his right ear, which had healed to a forked shape. â€Å"Tamil, right?† Joshua said. â€Å"Go south. It is very far. There are many dangers along the way. Remember your training.† â€Å"We will.† â€Å"Good.† Number Four turned on his heel and walked into the monastery, then shut the heavy wooden gate. â€Å"No, no, Four, don't embarrass yourself with a sappy good-bye,† I said to the gate. â€Å"No, really, please, no scenes.† Joshua was counting our money out of a small leather purse. â€Å"It's just what we left with them.† â€Å"Good.† â€Å"No, that's not good. We've been here six years, Biff. This money should have doubled or tripled during that time.† â€Å"What, by magic?† â€Å"No, they should have invested it.† He turned and looked back at the gate. â€Å"You dumb bastards, maybe you should spend a little less time studying how to beat each other up and a little more time on managing your money.† â€Å"Spontaneous love?† I said. â€Å"Yeah, Gaspar'll never get that one either. That's why they killed the yeti, you know that, don't you?† â€Å"Who?† â€Å"The mountain people. They killed the yeti because they couldn't understand a creature who wasn't as evil as they were.† â€Å"The mountain people were evil?† â€Å"All men are evil, that's what I was talking to my father about.† â€Å"What did he say?† â€Å"Fuck 'em.† â€Å"Really?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"At least he answered you.† â€Å"I got the feeling that he thinks it's my problem now.† â€Å"Makes you wonder why he didn't burn that on one of the tablets. ‘HERE, MOSES, HERE'S THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, AND HERE'S AN EXTRA ONE THAT SAYS FUCK ‘EM.'† â€Å"He doesn't sound like that.† â€Å"FOR EMERGENCIES,† I continued in my perfect impression-of-God voice. â€Å"I hope it's warm in India,† Joshua said. And so, at the age of twenty-four, Joshua of Nazareth did go down into India.