The World Will Have A Generation Of Idiots - 855 Words

Save the Kids! Albert Einstein, a famous philosopher once said, I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots. Along the years, technology has increased immensely and has changed people lives. Some inventions that have made a big impact on younger generations are cell phones, video games and the internet. Nowadays, children prefer to stay indoors rather than going outside to play with other kids. As a consequence, obesity in children is increasing, the way kids interact with people and most importantly is changing their learning ways. According to statistics, children obesity in North America has increased tremendously in the past decade. The main cause for this disease is bad eating habits and lack of exercise. Obesity, is not only an issue with adults but it is starting to affect our kids and technology is not helping solve the problem. The time that children spend watching TV, being on the computer and playing video games has become one of the main reasons that obesity rates have grown so rapidly in many developed countries. The important fact for parents to know is that obesity can also lead to diabetes, cancer and other illnesses. The pathetic situation and the most concerned fact is that these diseases were not common among children years ago. Truly, most youngsters prefer to stay in the house and interact with their devices rather than with people. Nerveless, simple activities like washing, cleaning,Show MoreRelatedThe World Will Have A Generation Of Idiots931 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"I fear the day tha t technology will surpass human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.† This unfortunate, but true prediction was made by the great physicist Albert Einstein. In today’s society, people are enraptured by their cellular devices, wherever they go, the phones goes with them. Whether it be in class, at work, in the car, or even on the toilet seat, people can not detach themselves from these material objects and now it is affecting other aspects of their characterRead MoreThe World Will Have A Generation Of Idiots931 Words   |  4 Pageshuman interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.† This is a very interesting statement and in so many ways it’s true too. Nowadays, it is easy to see people sitting around each other but only staring at their cell phones without any conversation. The conversation between me and my family or friend’s decreases when we are using cell phones. Many people take their phones everywhere like cla ssrooms, the workplace, restaurants and bathrooms. Undoubtedly, we always have to be prepared for emergencyRead MoreThe World Will Have A Generation Of Idiots1563 Words   |  7 Pagesour human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.† Albert Einstein’s words describe a time where people are more focused on a virtual version of themselves than real human interaction. Some may argue that this time has already come, and some say this time will be upon us soon. The inevitable growth of video games will lead to children whose lives are dictated by video games. From mobile apps to consoles, video games have taken the world by storm. They have grown to become the pastimeRead MoreSocial Media Intervention : The World Will Have A Generation Of Idiots2056 Words   |  9 Pagestechnology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots. This quote does apply for this current generation, a generation that relies on technology for almost everything. Is that a bad thing? Are we those idiots Albert Einstein is talking about? Well that depends on how much we depend on technology on our daily lives. Most people agree that no matter how much excessive it gets, technology is the best thing discovered in the world thus far. On the other hand, others thinkRead MoreThe Film 3 Idiots, A Critically Acclaimed Film By Rajkumar Hirani904 Words   |  4 Pagestaking many steps towards modernizing itself for a better future for its younger and upcoming generations. One of these steps was the film 3 Idiots, a critically acclaimed fi lm by Rajkumar Hirani. Its story and morals not only expressed the hidden and, in some cases, ineffable opinions of the Indian youth, but challenged the traditional customs and practices of raising children performed by older generations. Similar to Akhil Sharma’s Family Life, the film tells the story of three boys and their experiencesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Idiot And The Idiot By Ernest Hemingway958 Words   |  4 PagesFyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot and Ernest Hemingway s A Farewell To Arms feature differing schools of thought in the ever-evolving world of literature; A Farewell To Arms depicting impressionistic realism through Hemingway s objective retelling of events in the First World War, and The Idiot conveying psychological realism In Dostoevsky’s projection of not only his epileptic behavior, but his idyllic sense of man (Neilson Kashdan). Despite these differences in writing styles, each author featuresRead MoreAmeric Land Of The Free And Home1076 W ords   |  5 Pagesthe essay Idiot Nation, is as anti-Republican as they come and not at all afraid to express his beliefs with overflowing passion. Over the past 20 years, both Moore’s popularity and notoriety have boomed to new heights as a film maker, writer, and social critic. From winning Oscars and Academy Awards for his films and documentaries to co-writing 8 renowned books, Moore has not stopped producing ways of expressing his thoughts on the government and society to the general public. In Idiot Nation, MooreRead MoreDisadvantages Of Technology In Education836 Words   |  4 Pagesinteraction. The world will have a generation of idiots† -Albert Einstein. Today’s day and age has produced, and still produces, some of the most intelligent people who have created and thought of the machines and theories that have forever changed life itself. With the creation of things such as computers, cell phones, television, and more, communication between people has never been easier, or so one would think. One popular interpretation of the quote describes the use of the term â€Å"idiots† by statingRead MoreIdiot Nation : Draft 1 Essay1325 Words   |  6 PagesAndrew Romero Prof. Cathy Arellano ENGWR 300 Purple 28 September 2016 Idiot Nation: Draft 1 Across America, you d be hard pressed to find a person that doesnt agree that everyone should receive a free education. Because of this, most everyone goes to high school, or at the very least receives an equivalent education. However, after this free education is done, many high school graduates are pushed to continue their studies in colleges and universities. And while these facilities are believed toRead MoreWatching Tv Makes You Smarter1392 Words   |  6 PagesEveryday people are shown what has been referred to as an idiot box, boob tube, or â€Å"telly†, but more familiarly known as T.V. There is something available on T.V. for almost all types of viewers. There are cartoons for children, shows for seniors, daytime series for housewives, wildlife programs for nature enthusiasts, and the list is endless. The question is, is watching T.V. helping or hurting us? While some people argue that watching television is counter-productive, stimulating and interesting

The Death Penalty And Capital Punishment - 3365 Words

The time in prison is meant to take the criminal’s freedom to go anywhere he or she may want to go, or whatever he or she chooses to do in the world. Which will cost the criminal to think about the crime and not want to come back. But when the person is put to death, they are taught absolutely nothing because they are no longer alive to learn from it. The penalty is nothing but a cruel murder killing someone. A murder killing a possible murder. 2. The death penalty is also known as capital punishment, a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial ruling that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual enforcement is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. There are forty-one capital offenses punishable by death were listed by The United States federal government. The capital offenses include espionage, treason, murder while transporting explosives, attempted murder of a witness in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, large scale drug trafficking, and death resulting from aircraft hijacking. However, they mostly involve of different forms of murder such as murder committed during a drug-related drive-by shooting, murder during a kidnapping, murder for hire, and massacre. 3. Criminals usually are looked down upon by society. People are sickened by the awful, unacceptable acts they commit and feel greatShow MoreRelatedCapital Punishment : The Death Penalty1482 Words   |  6 PagesMrs. McElmoyl 12/12/14 Capital Punishment As stated by former governor of New York, Mario M. Cuomo, Always I have concluded the death penalty is wrong because it lowers us all; it is a surrender to the worst that is in us; it uses a power- the official power to kill by execution- that has never brought back a life, need inspired anything but hate. (Cuomo 1) This is one of the main arguments against capital punishment (also known as the death sentence.) Capital punishment is the ability for a governmentRead MoreThe Death Penalty And Capital Punishment931 Words   |  4 Pageswritten down (Robert). The death penalty was applied for a particularly wide range of crimes. The Romans also used death penalty for a wide range of offenses. Historically, the death sentence was often handled with torture, and executions, except that it was done in public. In this century, the death penalty, execution or capital punishment, whatever you’d like to refer it as, is the result for committing capital crimes or capital offences and it is not in public. The death penalty has been practiced byRead MoreCapital Punishment : The Death Penalty1410 Words   |  6 PagesCapital Punishment in America In 1976 the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled the Death Penalty constitutionally permissible. The debate over capital punishment has always been a topic of great controversy. Before the Supreme Court ruling in 1976 America had been practicing capital punishment for centuries. At the current time some states enforce the death penalty, while some do not. There are differences of opinion’s relating to whether or not the death penalty is the proper wayRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty991 Words   |  4 PagesCapital Punishment Imagine your having a normal morning, eating breakfast doing your normal routine. Suddenly your phone rings and when you answer you hear the worst news possible. One of your family members has just been murdered in cold blood. You cry, mourn, then become angry. You attend the court hearing and you sit less than 20 feet away from the murderer. Do you truly believe this person deserves to live? Or should they face a punishment that is equal to their crime? Some may say CapitalRead MoreThe Death Penalty And Capital Punishment1569 Words   |  7 Pagesthe death penalty also referred to as capital punishment. The death penalty is both useless and harmful to not only criminals but also their potential victims. This paper uses these horrific facts to try and convince the reader that the death penalty should be done away with before it is too late, although that time may have already come. With supporting evidence to support my cause, I hope that the following information sways at least one reader to see the harm of keeping the death penalty an activeRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty1235 Words   |  5 PagesWhat is capital punishment? Why do people support it, but yet people cherish lives? Is it a moral thing to do? Should one be for or against the Death Penalty? Let’s take a look deep into the world of justices and why capital punishment still exists in today’s society. Capital punishment or the death penalty is a feder al punishment given to criminals who are convicted of murders. It is the highest law punishment available that can prevent future murders by developing fear within them. Capital punishmentRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty1017 Words   |  5 PagesName: Lucas Falley Topic: Capital Punishment Background: Capital punishment, or the death penalty, has existed for thousands of years. For as long as there has been organized society, the death penalty has existed in numerous cultures and civilizations. Throughout the years the methods have changed, but the use of capital punishment is becoming a pressing matter. Amnesty International reports that there are 140 countries worldwide that have abolished the death penalty, while over 50 countries stillRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is A Capital Punishment1271 Words   |  6 Pages What is the death penalty? The death penalty is a capital punishment that is punishable by death or execution. This is usually given to people that have committed serious offences or capital crimes. There are 31 states in the United States that are for the death penalty. Crimes that are punishable by the death penalty, vary from state to state. Examples of such crimes are; first degree murder or premeditated murder, murder with special circumstances, such as: intende d, multiple, and murder whichRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty1539 Words   |  7 PagesCapital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, has been the center of debate for a long time. Capital punishment may be defined as the â€Å"[e]xecution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense† (Capital Punishment). Up until 1846, when Michigan became the first to abolish the death sentence, all states allowed legal practice of capital punishment by the government (States). Currently, there 32 states still supporting the death penalty and 18Read MoreThe Death Penalty Of Capital Punishment1480 Words   |  6 Pagesjustice system, such as the death penalty. Capital punishment has been used many times in history all around the world, and it was quite popular. Many people argue that capital punishment is useful in deterring crime and that it is only fair that criminals receive death as punishment for a heinous crim e. On the contrary, others see the death penalty as a violation of the 8th amendment. It restricts excessive fines, and it also does not allow cruel and unusual punishment to be inflicted upon criminals

The Aging Special Senses Free Essays

Vanessa McClain Anatomy and Physiology GE 258 Unit 9. Assignment 2. The Aging Special Senses Thursday, November 17, 2011 1. We will write a custom essay sample on The Aging Special Senses or any similar topic only for you Order Now ) Age-related Macular Disease – Is a disease associated with aging that gradually destroys sharp, central vision. Central vision is needed for seeing objects clearly and for common daily tasks such as reading and driving. AMD affects the macula, the part of the eye that allows you to see fine detail. There are two forms of age-related macular degeneration: Dry form and Wet form. The dry form is characterized by the presence of yellow deposits, called drusen, in the macula. A few drusen may not cause change in vision; however, as they grow in size and increase in number, they may lead to a dimming or distortion of vision that people find most noticeable when they read. In more advanced stages, there is also a thinning of the light-sensitive layer of cells in the macula leading to atrophy, or tissue death. In the atrophic form, patients may have blind spots in the center of their vision. The wet form is characterized by the growth of abnormal blood vessels from the choroid underneath the macula. These blood vessels leak blood and fluid into the retina, causing distortion of vision that makes straight lines look wavy, as well as blind spots and loss of central vision. They eventually scar, leading to permanent loss of central vision. They affect daily life in that there is struggle to do housework, studying, shopping, enjoying leisure activities and interests such as reading. 2. ) Glaucoma – Is a disease in which damage to the optic nerve leads to progressive, irreversible vision loss because the aqueous humor does not flow out of the eye properly and fluid pressure builds up over time causing damage to the optic nerve. It is the second leading cause of blindness. It affects one’s daily life such as driving or playing certain sports . It causes contrast sensitivity, problems with glare, and light sensitivity which interfere with daily activities. 3. ) Cataracts – Are cloudy areas in the lens inside the eye which is normally clear. There are two types: Age related cataracts which appear later in life and congenital cataracts, that may be present when a baby is born or shortly after birth. Cataracts cause an individual to see halos around lights. In some, the glare from car ights become bothersome and driving at night may be dangerous. Although far sight is affected more than near vision. If the cataracts are bad enough, it can make reading more difficult as well. 4. ) Detached Retina – Is a disorder of the eye in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, l eading to vision loss and blindness. It affects daily activities because of the sudden appearance of â€Å"floaters†, (dark, semi-transparent, floating shapes) in the field of vision or a shower of black dots. These are actually red blood cells because all retinal tears bleed a little when they occur. ) It causes a loss of central vision, a loss of peripheral vision called the â€Å"curtain effect† and brief, bright flashes of light which may be most noticeable when you move your eyes in the dark. 5. ) Deafness (sensorineural and conductive) – Sensorineural hearing loss is due to damage to the pathway that sound impulses take from the hair cells of the inner ear to the auditory nerve and the brain. Conductive hearing loss is caused by anything that interferes with the transmission of sound from the outer to the inner ear. Both of these hearing losses affect daily life because you may experience difficulty localizing sounds or understanding speech in busy environments and participating in everyday normal conversations which can lead to social isolation, frustration, tension, anger, stress and depression. 6. ) Meniere’s Disease – Is a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance to a varying degree. It is characterized by episodes of vertigo and tinnitus and progressive hearing loss, though usually in one ear. It affects daily life because for some, sounds appear tiny or distorted and may experience unusual sensitivity to noises. In addition, you may experience a sensation of fullness or pressure in one or both ears and unilateral or bilateral tinnitus. Some may have parasitic symptoms, which aren’t necessarily symptoms of Meniere’s, but rather side effects from other symptoms. Typically these are nausea, vomiting and sweating. 7. ) Ataxia – Is an inability to coordinate muscle activity during voluntary movement, most often results from disorders of the cerebellum or the posterior columns of the spinal cord; may involve the limbs, head or trunk. Affects one’s daily life because it can alter a person’s walking pattern. For e. . wide based unsteady gain with difficulty stopping, turning and problem walking in poorly lit areas. It can cause falls due to postural instability, difficulty with tasks requiring fine control and coordination, tremors during voluntary movement, slurred speech and altered handwriting. 8. ) Hyposomnia – literally means â€Å"less† sleep. I t is a condition whereby a person does not need as much sleep as a normal individual. Specifically, they sleep less than 6 hours per night, but are adequately rested. It may occur at the onset, during or at the termination of sleep, and is common among the elderly. It affects daily life because the person that sleeps less but feels they need more experience the same problems as the person with insomnia that cannot sleep more than a few hours but feel they need more. It affects everyday life and activities because it is usually accompanied by general emotional upset, depression, or anxiety. References Conductive and Sensorineural hearing loss | Hearing Aid Know. (n. d. ). Hearing aids – hearing loss – help, information and blog – hear aids | Hearing Aid Know. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www. hearingaidknow. om/2007/10/25/conductive-and-sensorineural-hearing-loss/ Detached Retina (or Retinal Detachment): Eye Conditions: Patient Care: U-M Kellogg Eye Center. (n. d. ). University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www. kellogg. umich. edu/patientcare/conditions/detached. retina. html Manan Hearing Care | Types of Hearing Loss. (n. d. ). Manan Hearing Care | #1 Midwest On-Site Hearing Care. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://mananhearing. com/types_of_hearing_loss. html Meniere’s disease – MayoClinic. com. (n. d. ). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www. mayoclinic. com/health/menieres-disease/DS00535 What is Cataracts?. (n. d. ). Consumer Reports: Expert product reviews and product Ratings from our test labs. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www. consumerreports. org/health/conditions-and-treatments/cataracts/what-is-it. htm What is Glaucoma? | Glaucoma Research Foundation. (n. d. ). Glaucoma Research Foundation. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www. glaucoma. org/glaucoma/what-is-glaucoma. php? gclid=CO2f2Jvns6wCFY3KKgodyH2rIQ hyposomnia (thing)@Everything2. com. (n. d. ). Everything2. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from How to cite The Aging Special Senses, Papers

British Castles Essay Research Paper BRITISH CASTLESGreat free essay sample

British Castles Essay, Research Paper British CASTLES Great Britain s palaces exemplify artistic features and were indispensable elements in the lives of male monarchs, Godheads, Lords, and captains. The word palace means a edifice or group of edifices normally intended as a abode of a male monarch, Godhead, baronial, or captain. There are many different types of palaces, and the characteristics about them are merely astonishing. Warfare was besides an of import issue affecting palaces. They had to hold some agencies of protection. The palaces reached their fullest development in the mediaeval period, even though bastioned edifice had been about much earlier. The palaces created a feudal system, which gave them their greatest importance. The feudal system was divided into three categories: the knights and Lords, clergy, and provincials. The knights and Lords occupation was to support society, the clergy was to pray, while the provincials had the responsibility to till the dirt and support other categories ( Collier s Encyclopedia 532 ) . We will write a custom essay sample on British Castles Essay Research Paper BRITISH CASTLESGreat or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The beginning of has been traced back to the late Roman times when work forces placed themselves under a adult male stronger and wealthier than themselves ( Rowling 31 ) . The knights lived in palaces built upon brows or in the crook of rivers. There they received vass, held meeting: and upon juncture, defended themselves from challengers. There are many different general manners of palaces in Britain. One of the manners is a motte and Bailey, which was one of the first types of palaces built. The palace was made of a motte, which was a big semisynthetic hill of Earth. The top of the hill was surrounded by wooden palisades, which were like logs. Within those logs was a wooden support. This was used as a sentinel tower and a last safety or maintain ( Farndon 7 ) . The lone manner to acquire into the motte was across a sloping span, placed on high pillars. The Bailey was following to the motte, and wooden palisades besides surrounded it. A ditch of H2O protected the Bailey. The motte and Bailey were connected by a winging span that could be torn down if the Bailey was non needed any longer. Since the motte and Bailey were made of wood and Earth none of the palaces have survived wholly today ( Remfry 1 ) . Norman s were few so they must hold had to coerce people to assist construct it ( Farndon 6 ) . By the 11th century t he motte and bailey signifier of palace was widely spread ( Alistair 3 ) . Another type of palace is a shell support. This was one of the first rock palaces built. The support was a round wall that had edifices environing it. The support was surrounded by an open-courtyard. This had the advantage of constellating the major constituents of the palace into a individual strong, easy defendable support ( Remfry, Types of palaces 1 ) . Due to the fact that the shell maintain was light plenty to be supported by a semisynthetic hill, many of the supports were added to the bing motte and Bailey palaces. This support was so much stronger and larger that it took longer to construct than a motte or Bailey. A Masonry Tower was a square that was 30 or 40 pess high. This tower was made of paste and rocks, but brick and rubble were frequently used to make full walls at times. These towers were freestanding and the rock led to a better defence if needed. A later development of the design was a Welsh D-Tower which is a combined square maintain with a unit of ammunition tower that made the masonry tower even stronger. The Tower of London is the most celebrated of these Towers ( Remfry, Types of palace 2 ) . A keep was rather common and found in many forms. The keep Was considered to be a last line of defence. They were surrounded by a rock drape wall, which was defended by several towers. The wall was really thick, as, much as nine or ten pess thick and possibly 40 pes in tallness. The wall has an apron like based on it to inspissate the wall base, and doing solid or liquid stuff ( Simpson 14 ) . A ulterior design to these towers was a gatehouse. The gate caused a weak defence so they subsequently surrounded it by a brace of Towers. These other towers would let aggressors to be defeated from above or on the side of the gatehouse. A portcullis was besides used to protect the gate with a metal grating ( Remfry 2 ) . Finally, a homocentric palace was an unusual type of palace. It represented the highest signifier of a palace. It normally consisted of a keep and drape wall, even two or more walls. The 2nd wall was lower than the first, leting bowmans to drop from both walls and fire upon aggressors. The tower besides consisted of unit of ammunition towers, big fosses, and gatekeeps. If the first tower was destroyed, the aggressor was still faced with a whole other complete palace. If the palace were constructed decently, it would be unbeatable. Edward I built a bulk of the palaces to set down the Cambrian rebellions ( Remfry 2 ) . Warfare was really of import with the Godheads of the palaces. A good built palace could seldom be taken down by a direct onslaught. During a besieging, the attacking ground forces would environ the entryway of the palace and prevent supplies from come ining ( Mfeinberg 1 ) . The ground forces would literally hunger everybody to do him or her resignation. This would take months or even old ages, and in this clip they would pulverize the palaces visual aspect with arms. The most common of these arms was a slingshot, which would hurtle rocks at the palace wall and at the guardians. A slingshot could besides be used to hurtle other things at the palaces such as caputs or organic structures. That would acquire really mussy! It could besides be used to hurtle things at one point of the wall because they were so accurate. This could do the palace to crumple. Another arm of the in-between ages was a catapult. This was a immense crossbow that hurled arrows the size of trees. It could besides be used to hurtle big rocks ( Brown 64 ) . This would truly get down to destruct the palaces in small to no clip at all. A different besieging arm was a banging random-access memory brought near to the gate and rammed until broken ( Mfeinberg, Siege warfare 1 ) . Other methods were used to acquire around the wall. A turn overing tower, the tallness of the wall, was used to acquire near to the wall and bead soldiers at the top of the wall. Palaces on drops were common and made it difficult for the enemy to assail. There was good visibleness to see aggressors and made an first-class beginning of H2O and supplies. A palace with entree to supplies could defy a besieging longer than one that did non. A fosse was added to palaces to do them stronger. A fosse is a big ditch that went around the palace, filled with H2O. It besides contained a lift bridge that limited entree to the palace. Another add-on to a palace were arrow cringles, which were little slits in the wall that allowed bowmans a long field of fire and made him difficult to hit. On the top of the wall battlements served a intent of arrow cringles. A battlement is an jumping form of high a low musca volitanss that affords an bowman a topographic point to conceal ( Mfeinberg, besieging warfare 1 ) . Alternatively of an bowman, a crossbowman was used but a 2nd helper was needed to recharge a 2nd crossbow. Since Windowss were the lone beginning of natural visible radiation, secesses behind them were the size of little suites. They had built in seats behind them. For security Windowss near the underside of the palace were really narrow, whereas the top 1s were broad ( Macaulay 31 ) . Subsequently promotions were even better for the palaces. A unit of ammunition tower stronger than the square had a better platform for fire and was harder to sabotage. A glacis or inclining wall was placed at the underside of the tower to forestall random-access memory aggressors. A slaying hole was used to drop cold H2O to set out fires. Rocks and hot H2O were besides dropped upon aggressors to rag them. The combination of these things resulted in the gatehouse. These consisted of a brace of towers that if aggressors managed to come in the gate slaying holes and pointer would assail them loops from close scope. A concluding feature added to palaces was a posten gate. That was a little gate that allowed flight encasing the palace started to fall. During a besieging it was besides used to direct out a immense figure of military personnels to hassle the aggressors. Many of these methods made a castle about defeatless. But in the sixteenth century these methods all changed when gunpowd er was invented. Then everyone started utilizing canons to get the better of the palace. The canon had more power than a slingshot or catapult. The canons could level walls sometimes within a couple attempts. Gunpowder revolutionized warfare and the usage of palaces and besiegings became portion of history ( Mcfeinberg, besieging warfare 2 ) . The Godhead and lady of a palace wore beautiful garments. They would kip bare and put on linen under garments when lifting for the twenty-four hours. After they bathed in cold H2O, which was merely one time a hebdomad, they would set on their outer garments. Their garments were fundamentally the same. A long sleeved adventitia slipped over the caput and fastened at the cervix with a burch. The 2nd tunic went over the first. It was shorter with either sleeveless or with broad, loose arms and frequently lined with pelt. Finally a mantle made with a round piece of stuff, lined with pelt and fastened at the cervix with a concatenation. The Godheads garments were shorter that the ladies and had looser arms. Both wore belts tied at the waist or fastened with a metal buckle. The adult male s costume was completed with a long hosiery attached to the belt that held up his bloomerss. The adult females s hose were shorter and suspended from supporters below the articulatio genuss. The Godhead a nd lady both wore places: sandals for around the palace and boots for the out-of-doorss ( Gies 110 ) . The colourss of there adventitias, mantles, hosiery, and places were bright blues, yellows, rubies, purples, and leafy vegetables. Their garments were normally made out of wool, though all right silks were frequently worn. Camlet was sometimes used for winter robes, which was woven from camel or caprine animal hair. The fur fixingss were of squirrel, lambskin, coney, otter, marten, beavers, fox, ermine, and sable. For gay occasions belts might be silk with gold or Ag togss with gems attached to them. Both work forces and adult females wore head coverings indoors an out-of-doorss. The Godhead normally wore a linen hairdo tied by threading to his mentum. Feathers and buttons decorated this. The lady wore a linen wimple either white or colored that covered her hair and cervix. Outside, goon and caps were worn over the hairdo and wimples. Elegant baseball mitts, jewellery, necklaces, gold rings with rocks, pins, hairbands, shoebuckles and watchbands completed the costume ( Gies, 111 ) . The forenoon was spent in everyday undertaking depending on whether the palace had quest. The Godhead had conferences with members of his advocate. The lady conversed with her pursuit or stayed busy with embellishment and other undertakings. The knights practiced fence and tilting, while kids did their lessons with a coach. The coach was normally one of the Godhead s clerks. When the lesson was over the kids would play. The misss played with dolls and the male childs with tops and balls, quoitss, and bows and pointers. In the courtyard, the grooms swept out the stallss and fed the Equus caballuss. Smith s worked on quoitss, nails, and waggon adjustments ( Gies, 112 ) . In the kitchen the cook and his staff turned the meat on a tongue and prepared frets and soups in Fe pots hung over the fire on a hook and concatenation that could be raised and lowered for different temperatures. Some of there meat was porc, beef, mouton, domestic fowl, and game. When the boiling meat was ready it was lifted out of the pot with an Fe meat hook, a long fork with a wooden grip and prongs attached to the side. The soup was stirred with a pole-handled slotted spoon. Salting or smoking preserved the meat. Most common was to maintain the meat alive int cubic decimeter ready for usage. On fast yearss they served fish ( Gies, 113 ) . The Godheads had to utilize hunting as a manner of life. At morning on summer yearss the Godheads, his family, and quest would travel into the forest while the hunter, a professional and regular member of the Godhead s staff would run the cervid down with their Canis familiariss. There were three sorts of Canis familiariss: the lymer, a sleuthhound, bachet, and a grey hound. The sleuthhound was kept on a tether and used to complete off the quarry at bay. The bachet was a smaller hound and a grey hound was larger than the modern strain and capable of killing a cervid on its ain. When the animate being was brought to the bay it was normally beheaded. Sometimes they would utilize bow and pointer to kill. Clambering and spliting up the meat, including the hound s portion ( Gies 125 ) followed the putting to death. A repast would besides include beer. The Godheads and there familiarities love to imbibe beer ( Quenells 43 ) . Dinner would be served between 10:00 a.m. and midday. The dinner consisted of two or three classs each served in separate dishes. All of the classs consisted of the same sorts of nutrient except for the last class, which consisted of fruits, nuts, cheese, wafers, and spiced vino. On vacations and weddings a big measure of nutrient would be served. When Henry III girl married there was more than 60 grazing land cowss eaten at the first and chief class at the tabular array ( Gies, 117 ) . During dinner the quest might be entertained with music or gags, and narratives. When dinner was over one of the quest would entertain the company with a vocal of their ain. The manner of life lived in these times were really different from how we live things now. Their manner of onslaught so was really barbarous and took strong work forces to draw the occupation off. Now gun-power is invented so it is easier to support us from aggressors. The Godheads and ladies were really originative in their ways of making things. It would hold been astonishing to populate in those times.

The Jungle 2 Essay Example For Students

The Jungle 2 Essay Sinclair’s book ,The Jungle probably had to do the most with the fact that he himself was a Socialist. He was brought up in Baltimore, and his family was considerately poor. His father was not very successful at his job and for this reason it seems good to believe he became a Socialist because in communist countries it is said that all people are treated equal. An opposite of this book would be â€Å"Animal Farm†, which Sinclair has probably never read. This other novel shows the bad sides of Socialism and it ends with the rules saying, â€Å"All animals are considered equal, but some are more equal than others†. We will write a custom essay on The Jungle 2 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In this book it shows that a hard worker is not rewarded and is only disposed of once he becomes a burden. The life of Sinclair and his book is reflected upon only because he uses his opinions in the book. In his book, he made a financial breakthrough and had his first successful novel. Sinclair has written many books dealing with the problems of capitalism and the solutions of communism which is not fair because he writes nothing good of capitalism and it’s benefits. He also wrote other books on his wisdom he had gained and relegion. He frequently tried for office but never succeeded. His publications were originally made mostly by publishing them himself. The story itself takes place in Chicago with a group of immigrants. They come to the U.S. and discover it’s a cruel, harsh world. First, though, this group goes through a series of trials. The first is a marr iage which costs much money, and the second is a death. After this, comes a house which is sold to the one couple for three times the value of the house. It’s at this time that the parents and other groups move into this house. One character goes into a meat packing business where he learns of unsanitary conditions. The second is a musician which is currently down on his luck and his wife goes out to work. After a while the first character breaks his arm and loses time at work and is then not received back. He learns at this point when you are new, they will accept you, but once injured they throw out the crippled. At this point this character talks to a Socialist and begins to travel to meetings. But first he returns to his job. And at the point of return he becomes a manager. After his first Socialist rally, he listens mainly to two people, one a ex-professor whose has become a philosopher and the other who is currently an evangelist who has become a traveler.

How western Imperilism affects china and japan

How western Imperilism affects china and japan CopyrightsI am handing over the copyrights to Jen Shriver upon doing so you accept this .Thank youMike SorrentinoOct. 23, 1996How Western Imperialism affects China and JapanChina and Japan had very different experiences with Western Imperialism . Their reactions to western interference would lay a foundation for their destiny in a world that was rapidly progressing forward , leaving the traditional world behind .China viewed themselves as totally self sufficient , superior , and the only truly civilized land in a barbarous world. They were inward looking and were encouraged by the conservative Confucianistic beliefs of their emperors to cling to the ancient and traditional ways of the past . They slid rapidly behind in industrial development , refusing to acknowledge the need for shipbuilding or naval development , and saw no importance in European trade .Then in the 1800's , Europe thrust its way into the heart of the Middle Kingdom, shattering and destroying its isolation forever.E nglish: Japan_China_Peace_Treaty_17_April_1895.China would then be involved in four wars during the nineteenth century ; Britain's opium war (1839-1842), a second war (1856-1860) fought by British and French , the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895) , and a final western invasion involving British , French , German , Japanese and U.S troops (1899-1900). Chinese Emperors were compelled to sign unequal treaties and were forced to open a number of ports , as well as agree to other territorial concessions . China was also forced to open its seacoasts and its rivers to Western intruders . The Europeans also exploited China's land by securing rights to build railways and develop its natural resources .China had been unwilling to learn the ways of the West and so became the next victim to fall prey to Western Imperialism , Japan however,

A Dirty Job Chapter 2

After that, it was a memory out of a sleepwalk, scenes filmed from a zombie’s eye socket, as he ambled undead through explanations, accusations, preparations, and ceremony. â€Å"It’s called a cerebral thromboembolism,† the doctor had said. â€Å"A blood clot forms in the legs or pelvis during labor, then moves to the brain, cutting off the blood supply. It’s very rare, but it happens. There was nothing we could do. Even if the crash team had been able to revive her, she’d have had massive brain damage. There was no pain. She probably just felt sleepy and passed.† Charlie whispered to keep from screaming, â€Å"The man in mint green! He did something to her. He injected her with something. He was there and he knew that she was dying. I saw him when I brought her CD back.† They showed him the security tapes – the nurse, the doctor, the hospital’s administrators and lawyers – they all watched the black-and-white images of him leaving Rachel’s room, of the empty hallway, of his returning to her room. No tall black man dressed in mint green. They didn’t even find the CD. Sleep deprivation, they said. Hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Trauma. They gave him drugs to sleep, drugs for anxiety, drugs for depression, and they sent him home with his baby daughter. Charlie’s older sister, Jane, held baby Sophie as they spoke over Rachel and buried her on the second day. He didn’t remember picking out a casket or making arrangements. It was more of the somnambulant dream: his in-laws moving to and fro in black, like tottering specters, spouting the inadequate clichs of condolence: We’re so sorry. She was so young. What a tragedy. If there’s anything we can do†¦ Rachel’s father and mother held him, their heads pressed together in the apex of a tripod. The slate floor in the funeral-home foyer spotted with their tears. Every time Charlie felt the shoulders of the older man heave with a sob, he felt his own heart break again. Saul took Charlie’s face in his hands and said, â€Å"You can’t imagine, because I can’t imagine.† But Charlie could imagine, because he was a Beta Male, and imagination was his curse; and he could imagine because he had lost Rachel and now he had a daughter, that tiny stranger sleeping in his sister’s arms. He could imagine the man in mint green taking her. Charlie looked at the tear-spotted floor and said, â€Å"That’s why most funeral homes are carpeted. Someone could slip.† â€Å"Poor boy,† said Rachel’s mother. â€Å"We’ll sit shivah with you, of course.† Charlie made his way across the room to his sister, Jane, who wore a man’s double-breasted suit in charcoal pinstripe gabardine, that along with her severe eighties pop-star hairstyle and the infant in the pink blanket that she held, made her appear not so much androgynous as confused. Charlie thought the suit actually looked better on her than it did on him, but she should have asked him for permission to wear it nonetheless. â€Å"I can’t do this,† he said. He let himself fall forward until the receded peninsula of dark hair touched her gelled Flock of Seagulls platinum flip. It seemed like the best posture for sharing grief, this forehead lean, and it reminded him of standing drunkenly at a urinal and falling forward until his head hit the wall. Despair. â€Å"You’re doing fine,† Jane said. â€Å"Nobody’s good at this.† â€Å"What the fuck’s a shivah?† â€Å"I think it’s that Hindu god with all the arms.† â€Å"That can’t be right. The Goldsteins are going to sit on it with me.† â€Å"Didn’t Rachel teach you anything about being Jewish?† â€Å"I wasn’t paying attention. I thought we had time.† Jane adjusted baby Sophie into a half-back, one-armed carry and put her free hand on the back of Charlie’s neck. â€Å"You’ll be okay, kid.† Seven,† said Mrs. Goldstein. â€Å"Shivah means ‘seven.’ We used to sit for seven days, grieving for the dead, praying. That’s Orthodox, now most people just sit for three.† They sat shivah in Charlie and Rachel’s apartment that overlooked the cable-car line at the corner of Mason and Vallejo Streets. The building was a four-story brick Edwardian (architecturally, not quite the grand courtesan couture of the Victorians, but enough tarty trim and trash to toss off a sailor down a side street) built after the earthquake and fire of 1906 had leveled the whole area of what was now North Beach, Russian Hill, and Chinatown. Charlie and Jane had inherited the building, along with the thrift shop that occupied the ground floor, when their father died four years before. Charlie got the business, the large, double apartment they’d grown up in, and the upkeep on the old building, while Jane got half the rental income and one of the apartments on the top floor with a Bay Bridge view. At the instruction of Mrs. Goldstein, all the mirrors in the house were draped with black fabric and a large candle was placed on the coffee table in the center of the living room. They were supposed to sit on low benches or cushions, neither of which Charlie had in the house, so, for the first time since Rachel’s death, he went downstairs into the thrift shop looking for something they could use. The back stairs descended from a pantry behind the kitchen into the stockroom, where Charlie kept his office among boxes of merchandise waiting to be sorted, priced, and placed in the store. The shop was dark except for the light that filtered in the front window from the streetlights out on Mason Street. Charlie stood there at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the light switch, just staring. Amid the shelves of knickknacks and books, the piles of old radios, the racks of clothes, all of them dark, just lumpy shapes in the dark, he could see objects glowing a dull red, nearly pulsing, like beating hearts. A sweater in the racks, a porcelain figure of a frog in a curio case, out by the front window an old Coca-Cola tray, a pair of shoes – all glowing red. Charlie flipped the switch, fluorescent tubes fired to life across the ceiling, flickering at first, and the shop lit up. The red glow disappeared. â€Å"Okaaaaaaay,† he said to himself, calmly, like everything was just fine now. He flipped off the lights. Glowing red stuff. On the counter, close to where he stood, there was a brass business-card holder cast in the shape of a whooping crane, glowing dull red. He took a second to study it, just to make sure there wasn’t some red light source from outside refracting around the room and making him uneasy for no reason. He stepped into the dark shop, took a closer look, got an angle on the brass cranes. Nope, the brass was definitely pulsing red. He turned and ran back up the steps as fast as he could. He nearly ran over Jane, who stood in the kitchen, rocking Sophie gently in her arms, talking baby talk under her breath. â€Å"What?† Jane said. â€Å"I know you have some big cushions down in the shop somewhere.† â€Å"I can’t,† Charlie said. â€Å"I’m on drugs.† He backed against the refrigerator, like he was holding it hostage. â€Å"I’ll go get them. Here, hold the baby.† â€Å"I can’t, I’m on drugs. I’m hallucinating.† Jane cradled the baby in the crook of her right arm and put a free arm around her younger brother. â€Å"Charlie, you are on antidepressants and antianxiety drugs, not acid. Look around this apartment, there’s not a person here that’s not on something.† Charlie looked through the kitchen pass-through: women in black, most of them middle-aged or older, shaking their heads, men looking stoic, standing around the perimeter of the living room, each holding a stout tumbler of liquor and staring into space. â€Å"See, they’re all fucked up.† â€Å"What about Mom?† Charlie nodded to their mother, who stood out among the other gray-haired women in black because she was draped in silver Navaho jewelry and was so darkly tanned that she appeared to be melting into her old-fashioned when she took a sip. â€Å"Especially Mom,† Jane said. â€Å"I’ll go look for something to sit shivah on. I don’t know why you can’t just use the couches. Now take your daughter.† â€Å"I can’t. I can’t be trusted with her.† â€Å"Take her, bitch!† Jane barked in Charlie’s ear – sort of a whisper bark. It had long ago been determined who was the Alpha Male between them and it was not Charlie. She handed off the baby and cut to the stairs. â€Å"Jane,† Charlie called after her. â€Å"Look around before you turn on the lights. See if you see anything weird, okay?† â€Å"Right. Weird.† She left him standing there in the kitchen, studying his daughter, thinking that her head might be a little oblong, but despite that, she looked a little like Rachel. â€Å"Your mommy loved Aunt Jane,† he said. â€Å"They used to gang up on me in Risk – and Monopoly – and arguments – and cooking.† He slid down the fridge door, sat splayed-legged on the floor, and buried his face in Sophie’s blanket. In the dark, Jane barked her shin on a wooden box full of old telephones. â€Å"Well, this is just stupid,† she said to herself, and flipped on the lights. Nothing weird. Then, because Charlie was many things, but one of them was not crazy, she turned off the lights again, just to be sure that she hadn’t missed something. â€Å"Right. Weird.† There was nothing weird about the store except that she was standing there in the dark rubbing her shin. But then, right before she turned on the light again, she saw someone peering in the front window, making a cup around his eyes to see through the reflection of the streetlights. A homeless guy or drunken tourist, she thought. She moved through the dark shop, between columns of comic books stacked on the floor, to a spot behind a rack of jackets where she could get a clear view of the window, which was filled with cheap cameras, vases, belt buckles, and all manner of objects that Charlie had judged worthy of interest, but obviously not worthy of a smash-and-grab. The guy looked tall, and not homeless, nicely dressed, but all in a single light color, she thought it might be yellow, but it was hard to tell under the streetlights. Could be light green. â€Å"We’re closed,† Jane said, loud enough to be heard through the glass. The man outside peered around the shop, but couldn’t spot her. He stepped back from the window and she could see that he was, indeed, tall. Very tall. The streetlight caught the line of his cheek as he turned. He was also very thin and very black. â€Å"I was looking for the owner,† the tall man said. â€Å"I have something I need to show him.† â€Å"There’s been a death in the family,† Jane said. â€Å"We’ll be closed for the week. Can you come back in a week?† The tall man nodded, looking up and down the street as he did. He rocked on one foot like he was about to bolt, but kept stopping himself, like a sprinter straining against the starting blocks. Jane didn’t move. There were always people out on the street, and it wasn’t even late yet, but this guy was too anxious for the situation. â€Å"Look, if you need to get something appraised – â€Å" â€Å"No,† he cut her off. â€Å"No. Just tell him she’s, no – tell him to look for a package in the mail. I’m not sure when.† Jane smiled to herself. This guy had something – a brooch, a coin, a book – something that he thought was worth some money, maybe something he’d found in his grandmother’s closet. She’d seen it a dozen times. They acted like they’ve found the lost city of Eldorado – they’d come in with it tucked in their coats, or wrapped in a thousand layers of tissue paper and tape. (The more tape, generally, the more worthless the item would turn out to be – there was an equation there somewhere.) Nine times out of ten it was crap. She’d watched her father try to finesse their ego and gently lower the owners into disappointment, convince them that the sentimental value made it priceless, and that he, a lowly secondhand-store owner, couldn’t presume to put a value on it. Charlie, on the other hand, would just tell them that he didn’t know about brooches, or coins, or whatever they had and let someone else bear the b ad news. â€Å"Okay, I’ll tell him,† Jane said from her cover behind the coats. With that, the tall man was away, taking great praying-mantis strides up the street and out of view. Jane shrugged, went back and turned on the lights, then proceeded to search for cushions among the piles. It was a big store, taking up nearly the whole bottom floor of the building, and not particularly well organized, as each system that Charlie adopted seemed to collapse after a few weeks under its own weight, and the result was not so much a patchwork of organizational systems, but a garden of mismatched piles. Lily, the maroon-haired Goth girl who worked for Charlie three afternoons a week, said that the fact that they ever found anything at all was proof of the chaos theory at work, then she would walk away muttering and go out in the alley to smoke clove cigarettes and stare into the Abyss. (Although Charlie noted that the Abyss looked an awful lot like a Dumpster.) It took Jane ten minutes to navigate the aisles and find three cushions that looked wide enough and thick enough that they might work for sitting shivah, and when she returned to Charlie’s apartment she found her brother curled into the fetal position around baby Sophie, asleep on the kitchen floor. The other mourners had completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Hey, doofus.† She nudged his shoulder with her toe and he rolled onto his back, the baby still in his arms. â€Å"These okay?† â€Å"Did you see anything glowing?† Jane dropped the stack of cushions on the floor. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Glowing red. Did you see things in the shop glowing, like pulsating red?† â€Å"No. Did you?† â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Give ’em up.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"The drugs. Hand them over. They’re obviously much better than you led me to believe.† â€Å"But you said they were just antianxiety.† â€Å"Give up the drugs. I’ll watch the kid while you shivah.† â€Å"You can’t watch my daughter if you’re on drugs.† â€Å"Fine. Surrender the crumb snatcher and go sit.† Charlie handed the baby up to Jane. â€Å"You have to keep Mom out of the way, too.† â€Å"Oh no, not without drugs.† â€Å"They’re in the medicine cabinet in the master bath. Bottom shelf.† He was sitting on the floor now, rubbing his forehead as if to stretch the skin out over his pain. She kneed him in the shoulder. â€Å"Hey, kid, I’m sorry, you know that, right? Goes without saying, right?† â€Å"Yeah.† A weak smile. She held the baby up by her face, then looked down in adoration, Mother of Jesus style. â€Å"What do you think? I should get one of these, huh?† â€Å"You can borrow mine whenever you need to.† â€Å"Nah, I should get my own. I already feel bad about borrowing your wife.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Kidding! Jeez. You’re such a wuss sometimes. Go sit shivah. Go. Go. Go.† Charlie gathered the cushions and went to the living room to grieve with his in-laws, nervous because the only prayer he knew was â€Å"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,† and he wasn’t sure that was going to cut it for three full days. Jane forgot to mention the tall guy from the shop. A Dirty Job Chapter 2 After that, it was a memory out of a sleepwalk, scenes filmed from a zombie’s eye socket, as he ambled undead through explanations, accusations, preparations, and ceremony. â€Å"It’s called a cerebral thromboembolism,† the doctor had said. â€Å"A blood clot forms in the legs or pelvis during labor, then moves to the brain, cutting off the blood supply. It’s very rare, but it happens. There was nothing we could do. Even if the crash team had been able to revive her, she’d have had massive brain damage. There was no pain. She probably just felt sleepy and passed.† Charlie whispered to keep from screaming, â€Å"The man in mint green! He did something to her. He injected her with something. He was there and he knew that she was dying. I saw him when I brought her CD back.† They showed him the security tapes – the nurse, the doctor, the hospital’s administrators and lawyers – they all watched the black-and-white images of him leaving Rachel’s room, of the empty hallway, of his returning to her room. No tall black man dressed in mint green. They didn’t even find the CD. Sleep deprivation, they said. Hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Trauma. They gave him drugs to sleep, drugs for anxiety, drugs for depression, and they sent him home with his baby daughter. Charlie’s older sister, Jane, held baby Sophie as they spoke over Rachel and buried her on the second day. He didn’t remember picking out a casket or making arrangements. It was more of the somnambulant dream: his in-laws moving to and fro in black, like tottering specters, spouting the inadequate clichs of condolence: We’re so sorry. She was so young. What a tragedy. If there’s anything we can do†¦ Rachel’s father and mother held him, their heads pressed together in the apex of a tripod. The slate floor in the funeral-home foyer spotted with their tears. Every time Charlie felt the shoulders of the older man heave with a sob, he felt his own heart break again. Saul took Charlie’s face in his hands and said, â€Å"You can’t imagine, because I can’t imagine.† But Charlie could imagine, because he was a Beta Male, and imagination was his curse; and he could imagine because he had lost Rachel and now he had a daughter, that tiny stranger sleeping in his sister’s arms. He could imagine the man in mint green taking her. Charlie looked at the tear-spotted floor and said, â€Å"That’s why most funeral homes are carpeted. Someone could slip.† â€Å"Poor boy,† said Rachel’s mother. â€Å"We’ll sit shivah with you, of course.† Charlie made his way across the room to his sister, Jane, who wore a man’s double-breasted suit in charcoal pinstripe gabardine, that along with her severe eighties pop-star hairstyle and the infant in the pink blanket that she held, made her appear not so much androgynous as confused. Charlie thought the suit actually looked better on her than it did on him, but she should have asked him for permission to wear it nonetheless. â€Å"I can’t do this,† he said. He let himself fall forward until the receded peninsula of dark hair touched her gelled Flock of Seagulls platinum flip. It seemed like the best posture for sharing grief, this forehead lean, and it reminded him of standing drunkenly at a urinal and falling forward until his head hit the wall. Despair. â€Å"You’re doing fine,† Jane said. â€Å"Nobody’s good at this.† â€Å"What the fuck’s a shivah?† â€Å"I think it’s that Hindu god with all the arms.† â€Å"That can’t be right. The Goldsteins are going to sit on it with me.† â€Å"Didn’t Rachel teach you anything about being Jewish?† â€Å"I wasn’t paying attention. I thought we had time.† Jane adjusted baby Sophie into a half-back, one-armed carry and put her free hand on the back of Charlie’s neck. â€Å"You’ll be okay, kid.† Seven,† said Mrs. Goldstein. â€Å"Shivah means ‘seven.’ We used to sit for seven days, grieving for the dead, praying. That’s Orthodox, now most people just sit for three.† They sat shivah in Charlie and Rachel’s apartment that overlooked the cable-car line at the corner of Mason and Vallejo Streets. The building was a four-story brick Edwardian (architecturally, not quite the grand courtesan couture of the Victorians, but enough tarty trim and trash to toss off a sailor down a side street) built after the earthquake and fire of 1906 had leveled the whole area of what was now North Beach, Russian Hill, and Chinatown. Charlie and Jane had inherited the building, along with the thrift shop that occupied the ground floor, when their father died four years before. Charlie got the business, the large, double apartment they’d grown up in, and the upkeep on the old building, while Jane got half the rental income and one of the apartments on the top floor with a Bay Bridge view. At the instruction of Mrs. Goldstein, all the mirrors in the house were draped with black fabric and a large candle was placed on the coffee table in the center of the living room. They were supposed to sit on low benches or cushions, neither of which Charlie had in the house, so, for the first time since Rachel’s death, he went downstairs into the thrift shop looking for something they could use. The back stairs descended from a pantry behind the kitchen into the stockroom, where Charlie kept his office among boxes of merchandise waiting to be sorted, priced, and placed in the store. The shop was dark except for the light that filtered in the front window from the streetlights out on Mason Street. Charlie stood there at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the light switch, just staring. Amid the shelves of knickknacks and books, the piles of old radios, the racks of clothes, all of them dark, just lumpy shapes in the dark, he could see objects glowing a dull red, nearly pulsing, like beating hearts. A sweater in the racks, a porcelain figure of a frog in a curio case, out by the front window an old Coca-Cola tray, a pair of shoes – all glowing red. Charlie flipped the switch, fluorescent tubes fired to life across the ceiling, flickering at first, and the shop lit up. The red glow disappeared. â€Å"Okaaaaaaay,† he said to himself, calmly, like everything was just fine now. He flipped off the lights. Glowing red stuff. On the counter, close to where he stood, there was a brass business-card holder cast in the shape of a whooping crane, glowing dull red. He took a second to study it, just to make sure there wasn’t some red light source from outside refracting around the room and making him uneasy for no reason. He stepped into the dark shop, took a closer look, got an angle on the brass cranes. Nope, the brass was definitely pulsing red. He turned and ran back up the steps as fast as he could. He nearly ran over Jane, who stood in the kitchen, rocking Sophie gently in her arms, talking baby talk under her breath. â€Å"What?† Jane said. â€Å"I know you have some big cushions down in the shop somewhere.† â€Å"I can’t,† Charlie said. â€Å"I’m on drugs.† He backed against the refrigerator, like he was holding it hostage. â€Å"I’ll go get them. Here, hold the baby.† â€Å"I can’t, I’m on drugs. I’m hallucinating.† Jane cradled the baby in the crook of her right arm and put a free arm around her younger brother. â€Å"Charlie, you are on antidepressants and antianxiety drugs, not acid. Look around this apartment, there’s not a person here that’s not on something.† Charlie looked through the kitchen pass-through: women in black, most of them middle-aged or older, shaking their heads, men looking stoic, standing around the perimeter of the living room, each holding a stout tumbler of liquor and staring into space. â€Å"See, they’re all fucked up.† â€Å"What about Mom?† Charlie nodded to their mother, who stood out among the other gray-haired women in black because she was draped in silver Navaho jewelry and was so darkly tanned that she appeared to be melting into her old-fashioned when she took a sip. â€Å"Especially Mom,† Jane said. â€Å"I’ll go look for something to sit shivah on. I don’t know why you can’t just use the couches. Now take your daughter.† â€Å"I can’t. I can’t be trusted with her.† â€Å"Take her, bitch!† Jane barked in Charlie’s ear – sort of a whisper bark. It had long ago been determined who was the Alpha Male between them and it was not Charlie. She handed off the baby and cut to the stairs. â€Å"Jane,† Charlie called after her. â€Å"Look around before you turn on the lights. See if you see anything weird, okay?† â€Å"Right. Weird.† She left him standing there in the kitchen, studying his daughter, thinking that her head might be a little oblong, but despite that, she looked a little like Rachel. â€Å"Your mommy loved Aunt Jane,† he said. â€Å"They used to gang up on me in Risk – and Monopoly – and arguments – and cooking.† He slid down the fridge door, sat splayed-legged on the floor, and buried his face in Sophie’s blanket. In the dark, Jane barked her shin on a wooden box full of old telephones. â€Å"Well, this is just stupid,† she said to herself, and flipped on the lights. Nothing weird. Then, because Charlie was many things, but one of them was not crazy, she turned off the lights again, just to be sure that she hadn’t missed something. â€Å"Right. Weird.† There was nothing weird about the store except that she was standing there in the dark rubbing her shin. But then, right before she turned on the light again, she saw someone peering in the front window, making a cup around his eyes to see through the reflection of the streetlights. A homeless guy or drunken tourist, she thought. She moved through the dark shop, between columns of comic books stacked on the floor, to a spot behind a rack of jackets where she could get a clear view of the window, which was filled with cheap cameras, vases, belt buckles, and all manner of objects that Charlie had judged worthy of interest, but obviously not worthy of a smash-and-grab. The guy looked tall, and not homeless, nicely dressed, but all in a single light color, she thought it might be yellow, but it was hard to tell under the streetlights. Could be light green. â€Å"We’re closed,† Jane said, loud enough to be heard through the glass. The man outside peered around the shop, but couldn’t spot her. He stepped back from the window and she could see that he was, indeed, tall. Very tall. The streetlight caught the line of his cheek as he turned. He was also very thin and very black. â€Å"I was looking for the owner,† the tall man said. â€Å"I have something I need to show him.† â€Å"There’s been a death in the family,† Jane said. â€Å"We’ll be closed for the week. Can you come back in a week?† The tall man nodded, looking up and down the street as he did. He rocked on one foot like he was about to bolt, but kept stopping himself, like a sprinter straining against the starting blocks. Jane didn’t move. There were always people out on the street, and it wasn’t even late yet, but this guy was too anxious for the situation. â€Å"Look, if you need to get something appraised – â€Å" â€Å"No,† he cut her off. â€Å"No. Just tell him she’s, no – tell him to look for a package in the mail. I’m not sure when.† Jane smiled to herself. This guy had something – a brooch, a coin, a book – something that he thought was worth some money, maybe something he’d found in his grandmother’s closet. She’d seen it a dozen times. They acted like they’ve found the lost city of Eldorado – they’d come in with it tucked in their coats, or wrapped in a thousand layers of tissue paper and tape. (The more tape, generally, the more worthless the item would turn out to be – there was an equation there somewhere.) Nine times out of ten it was crap. She’d watched her father try to finesse their ego and gently lower the owners into disappointment, convince them that the sentimental value made it priceless, and that he, a lowly secondhand-store owner, couldn’t presume to put a value on it. Charlie, on the other hand, would just tell them that he didn’t know about brooches, or coins, or whatever they had and let someone else bear the b ad news. â€Å"Okay, I’ll tell him,† Jane said from her cover behind the coats. With that, the tall man was away, taking great praying-mantis strides up the street and out of view. Jane shrugged, went back and turned on the lights, then proceeded to search for cushions among the piles. It was a big store, taking up nearly the whole bottom floor of the building, and not particularly well organized, as each system that Charlie adopted seemed to collapse after a few weeks under its own weight, and the result was not so much a patchwork of organizational systems, but a garden of mismatched piles. Lily, the maroon-haired Goth girl who worked for Charlie three afternoons a week, said that the fact that they ever found anything at all was proof of the chaos theory at work, then she would walk away muttering and go out in the alley to smoke clove cigarettes and stare into the Abyss. (Although Charlie noted that the Abyss looked an awful lot like a Dumpster.) It took Jane ten minutes to navigate the aisles and find three cushions that looked wide enough and thick enough that they might work for sitting shivah, and when she returned to Charlie’s apartment she found her brother curled into the fetal position around baby Sophie, asleep on the kitchen floor. The other mourners had completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Hey, doofus.† She nudged his shoulder with her toe and he rolled onto his back, the baby still in his arms. â€Å"These okay?† â€Å"Did you see anything glowing?† Jane dropped the stack of cushions on the floor. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Glowing red. Did you see things in the shop glowing, like pulsating red?† â€Å"No. Did you?† â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Give ’em up.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"The drugs. Hand them over. They’re obviously much better than you led me to believe.† â€Å"But you said they were just antianxiety.† â€Å"Give up the drugs. I’ll watch the kid while you shivah.† â€Å"You can’t watch my daughter if you’re on drugs.† â€Å"Fine. Surrender the crumb snatcher and go sit.† Charlie handed the baby up to Jane. â€Å"You have to keep Mom out of the way, too.† â€Å"Oh no, not without drugs.† â€Å"They’re in the medicine cabinet in the master bath. Bottom shelf.† He was sitting on the floor now, rubbing his forehead as if to stretch the skin out over his pain. She kneed him in the shoulder. â€Å"Hey, kid, I’m sorry, you know that, right? Goes without saying, right?† â€Å"Yeah.† A weak smile. She held the baby up by her face, then looked down in adoration, Mother of Jesus style. â€Å"What do you think? I should get one of these, huh?† â€Å"You can borrow mine whenever you need to.† â€Å"Nah, I should get my own. I already feel bad about borrowing your wife.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Kidding! Jeez. You’re such a wuss sometimes. Go sit shivah. Go. Go. Go.† Charlie gathered the cushions and went to the living room to grieve with his in-laws, nervous because the only prayer he knew was â€Å"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,† and he wasn’t sure that was going to cut it for three full days. Jane forgot to mention the tall guy from the shop.