Appearance versus reality Essay

Appearance versus reality Appearance versus reality is an important theme in William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. The theme focuses on characters who are deceived by what appears to be real, and on the tragic consequences that follow this error in judgement. By evaluating the way the play shows that appearances are deceptive and the consequences of each pretence it is apparent that Shakespeare is conveying the message that all humans must make a decision whether to choose the world of appearance or real world concerns. This suggests that the characters who choose to be authentic will gain rewards and the characters who are deceptive will suffer the consequences. Throughout the play there are many examples of how appearances are deceptive and characters choose the world or appearance rather than of real world concerns. The audience is immediately introduced to the idea of appearance rather than reality through the supernatural witches. In act 1 scene 1 they say â€Å"Fair is foul, and foul is fair† this is an idea that contradicts itself, and is used to foreshadow the fact that characters in the play who seem to be good and righteous (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth) may actually be tainted or evil, and vice versa. This is clear whilst looking at both Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth, as their appearances and the way the act are deceptive and generally fatal to the other characters. Macbeth’s appearance differs from his true self. He portrays himself to be strong and wise, but inside he is truly weak. When he first faces the witches predictions, he says; â€Å"Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.† (Act I, Scene 3) Basically he says that any good fortune that may come to him in the future will come on its own. He wants to appear collected, strong, and noble, but in the end, he completely contradicts his statement by greedily killing men to get what he expects is his for the taking. This shows his extreme weakness and deception of being a strong, noble man as he believes what three weird strangers tell him. Just like her husband, Lady Macbeth paints herself as a very potent woman. In spite of this facade, the murders and guilt beat at her conscience until she too crumbles. She tells her husband to â€Å"Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t (Act 1, Scene 5), in order to hide their true intentions  whilst meeting King Duncan. Both these characters deceive others and also themselves as their original personalities are destroyed with the ambition to be king, by the thought of power and by the prophecies of the three witches. In ‘Macbeth’, ambition is presented as a dangerous quality. It causes the downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and triggers a series of deaths in Macbeth. Ambition has a series of consequences in the play: Macbeth is slain as a tyrant and Lady Macbeth commits suicide. Shakespeare does not give either character the opportunity to enjoy what they have achieved by deceiving the other characters. This is clearly revealed in Macbeths soliloquy in Act 5, Scene 5, where he states: She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Here, Macbeth is summing up his life’s work, concluding that it’s nothing. Macbeth is saying that we are deceived if we think our lives should have meaning, he feels like this ass his ambition has left him empty. All this struggle—the fake appearance, the murder, the plotting, the self-questioning, the eternal damnation—and the world ends up exactly where it began: Malcolm will be king, and no one will remember Macbeth except as an evil, blood-thirsty traitor. By understanding the characters motives and personalities an understanding of  the representation of the human condition is established. It is clear that throughout the play desire and ambition comes before morals and the sense of power allows people to change their views and potentially become somebody their â€Å"not†. Macbeth knows to kill the king is immoral but is easily persuaded into doing so even though he knows it is fraudulent. This allows the understanding that humans are easily persuaded and although they might second-guess their actions, their lust for power and an influence on their decision making is a huge motivation to do â€Å"wrong†. The soliloquy in Act 2, scene 1 proves that Macbeths mind begins to play tricks on him, as the guilt of what he is about to do gets the better of him. Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feelings as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable as this which I now draw. Thou marshall’st me the way I was going. And such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are mode the fools o’th’other senses, or else worth all the rest, I see thee still. And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, which was no so before. There’s no such thing; it is bloody business which informs thus mine eyes. Now o’er the on half-world nature seems dead and wicked dreams abuse the curtain’d sleep. This soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 1 implies Macbeth’s uncertainty and second thoughts about killing his king. The dagger’s appearance is somewhat ambiguous it can be read as an omen that Macbeth should proceed, or is it a final warning of his conscience? This further shows how humans will second-guess their actions and generally rely on others to push them over the edge to make their decision. Throughout the play it is clear that appearance versus reality is a main theme in the text. Ambition and search for power allows characters such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to seem innocent and loyal but in reality be ‘evil’. By evaluating the way the play shows that appearances are deceptive and the consequences of each pretence it is apparent that Shakespeare is conveying the message that all humans must make a decision whether to choose the world of appearance or real world concerns. This suggests that the characters who choose to be authentic will gain rewards and the characters  who are deceptive will suffer the consequences. By understanding the text, it is clear that the appearance of these characters is nothing like the reality, and this became a tragedy to themselves and others.

Jim Morrison

Case Study on Jim Morrison Abnormal Psychology Mount Vernon Nazarene University By: Michael Moyer Tuesday, December 6, 2011 In the following pages, I chose Jim Morrison a rock singer from the 1960 and 1970’s band called the Doors; I am going use him as a case study example. Jim had abnormality and I will explain this in detail in the case study. I will also give you a comprehensive clinical background on Jim Morrison. In addition to the background, I am give you a look at his symptoms at the time of onset, severity, exactly what his personality disorder caused him to experience.After that, I will provide you with a 5-axis diagnosis of him including a GAF score. Later, in the case study I will give you behavioral explanation from a B. F. Skinner approach and explain how Jim developed his abnormality according to his theory. In the closing pages, of the case study I will provide a treatment plan with methods I chose to use. In addition, why I feel this would help him and the obs tacles I encounter in my treatment with Jim Morrison and ending, with my prognosis. James Douglas Morrison and his number one alias is Mr.Mojo Risin anagram of his name Jim Morrison and common nickname The Lizard King was born December 8, 1943 Melbourne, Florida, United States and Died on July 3, 1971at the young age of 27 in Paris, France. He died from a suspected heroin overdose and years of severe alcohol and drug dependence, which climaxed to his death in and no autopsy was performed on his body after death, and his exact cause of his death is still unknown. Jim Morrison is buried in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, one of the city's most visited tourist attractions (Riordan ;Prochnicky, 1991).Jim Morrison family and childhood years, before he became a legend. He was born to his parents Rear Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Morrison. He also had a sister, Anne, who was born in 1947; and a brother, Andrew. He was of Irish and Scottish descent. He had an I. Q. of 149 he had high intellect and that was his key to writing great songs and poems however no drive to use his education for higher learning. His parents never spanked him and he lived what was quasi-military way of disciplining. His parents always dressed him down or has a military drill nstructor would talk down to his recruits and break down any line of defense to infer his total control and his father would tell him what he had done wrong over and over again, until reducing him to tears, however he learned to hold back his tears. Moreover, he developed a great sense of hate for his parents especially his father. He never had any true friends beside the band and his wife Pamela; they were the only people that did not run from his outburst and wild and coursed behavior that stemmed from his drug and alcohol abuse (Hopkins, 1992).His onsets of substance abuse develop early, because of his hatred of his father and swore never to do anything his father wanted. His periods of drinking starte d slow, however his drugging was at severity level quickly. He smoked pot and tripped on acid during college years claimed it helps him see the world more clearly. On the other hand, Jim was falling to the grips of borderline personality disorder for example, he was aware that he is slipping into despair, and voiced his concern that he did not know who he was.According to the authors, he stop eating and went on a sleep deprivation and taking large amount of acid, because he thought he was a shaman and was doing what young Indian braves, did to find there selves in trance of unconscious and learn who he was because everyone else did not know him. ( Riordan ;Prochnicky, 1991). However, his relationships were blurred and quickly lost excitement for the people he performed for and he started to use large capacity of drugs, and this still was not enough to quiet the demons anymore.He developed an self-damaging impulsiveness personality and had thoughts of suicide for example he would cli mb tall building tripping on many different psychedelic drugs and walking on the edge with no fear of falling. In addition, his nights of sexual experiences and using drugs with many different women played a part in his mood swings and intense anxiety or depression that would last for days and weeks, because he never took the time to detox and come down from the drugs.Moreover, his chronic feelings of emptiness became more dreadful and his first line of defense of alcohol had ceased to numb the pain of emptiness. His thoughts of getting drunk, high, death, and working on his poetry consumed his daily life. When he serve his probation requirements he played games with the psychiatrist, playing him with a stream of intellectual and philosophical nonsense, and then ending the sessions shortly when he became bored. In addition, he reacted to sychotherapy with distain and scorn, but he ached deep in his absorbent self-core and harbored an ambiguous, unconscious hope that something or som eone might have pulled him up from the void and helped him stop living on the edge and testing the bounds of reality. It was around 1970 when Jimi Hendricks and two weeks later Janis Joplin died of overdosed caused by an injection of heroin. Janis’s death bothered him, his death anxiety that Irvin Yalom, wrote about caused him to have his lingering thoughts about death more impulsive, and his behavior became more wreck less.He would come to perform so drunk and high he could barely finish a concert with going to jail or assaulting someone. He also started to ruin family and friendship gatherings with being late or so rude to his friends they all left. Furthermore, he had troubles keeping up with recording session and personal tasks. My five Axis diagnosis with Gaf score, examples, and reason why I felt Jim Morrison needed treatment. Axis 1: Alcohol Dependence, with Physiological Dependence 303. 90, Substance-Induced Mood Disorder (Opioid, Cocaine, Cannabis, and hallucinogen i ntoxication 292. 9) with Mixed Features, and (X) With onset during intoxication According to the DSM IV-TR: he meets the criteria in Axis I in these ways: * His recurrent substance uses and resulting in a failure to fulfill major roles for example never on time for concerts, studio times, and gatherings * His recurrent substance uses that in most of his situations ended in him or someone suffering from physically hazardous for example, him drunk driving, climbing up to the top of tall buildings, and walking on the edge not worried about death, being rude to friends and always cheating on his wife. His recurrent substance-related legal problems for example him being arrested on several occasions before or during a concert, at partying, gathering with friends and fans. * He continued his substance uses despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or intensified by the effects of the substance for example, instability in interpersonal relationships, fa mily, co-workers, and personal relationships. He has indicated by evidence of tolerance or symptoms of withdrawal for example, he never entered the studio without a bottle of liquor, spends his days in bars that surround his motel, sleeping and partying with many different women including his wife. * Clinically significant maladaptive behavioral or psychological changes that developed during, or shortly after, alcohol ngestion for example, his lewd and lascivious behavior, drunk driving, interference with flight of an aircraft, and sexual aggressive behavior, his mixed periods of mania and depression, and ending with long periods of anxiety that lead to make him feel more empty inside. (These previous symptoms are not due to a general medical condition) Axis 2: Borderline Personality Disorder 301. 83According to the DSM IV-TR, he meets the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder in these ways: * Jim show frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment caused by his father not accepting him as child and as adult. * He had a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships with his family and friends and alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation, with his mood swings cause by his drug and alcohol use. Shifting and unpredictable moods and recurrent suicidal behaviors, gestures, or threats, like climbing tall building and walking on the edge extremely intoxicated. * A poor control of impulses and emotions beginning in early adulthood and evident in a variety of contexts, where his mood would leave him with chronic feelings of emptiness and was confused who he was. * He had an unstable self-image and self-injuring with reckless drinking and drugging with many different sexual partners. Axis 3: NoneAxis 4: Problem with Primary Support Groups (his entire friend able him in his actions), (Disruption of family by separation as a military family) and (his father inconsistent behavior between treating his children as recruits and exercising little parental authority) Problems Related to Interactions with the Legal System/Crime Jim was (arrested at least ten times on such charges as drunk driving, lewd and lascivious behavior, battery, and driving without a license), (harassing media law enforcement officers), and (his Arrest and litigation record left him with and unpredictable future) Axis 5: GAF= 38 current however he moves up and down the scale with his mood swings (30-40).I rated him this way because his behavior is considerably influenced by delusions, hallucination, or severe impairment with his family, friends, job, judgment, and mood. In most days caused by his depression, drug, alcohol use, and his personality disorder hindered him from recovery. Now, I am going to explain how Jim developed his abnormality with a Freudian approach on id, ego, and super ego. In addition, explain some of Freud defense mechanisms that rescued Jim on a daily basis. I believe Freud would of said that his id and ego are m ixed up and causing his motivating behavior to be twisted by him being raised in a military control family that moved from state to state and not giving him time to find himself.In addition, Freud’s psychoanalytic approach would help to explain his behavior, motivation, and borderline personality disorder. For example, he was a highly education with a IQ of 149, however, his father controlled his life by wanting him to join the Navy and follow his footsteps, and Jim wanting to go to film school and write movies. Freud would say he is struck in spitting out (rejection) mode of functioning, because everything his father made him do, he rejected it and did his own thing as child and as an adult (Fiest;Feist, 2009). Freud identified three components of personality structure: the id, the ego, and the superego. He would have thought Jim behavior was due to the result of interactions between these three components.His id is the primitive, instinctive component of personality and ope rates according to the pleasure principle. For example, he ruled by the pleasure principle which set his personalities in motion to meet all satisfy instinctual needs and led to his drugging and alcoholism. In addition, he would say his id never matured and his actions are controlled by some unconscious behavior to be like a Shaman and live his life in acid induced trance looking for his way. His id is entirely centered on his needs and wants like sex, drugs, alcohol, and writing poetry. This drove him to fulfill all his desires at the cost of many relationships, friendship, and his life.The ego was his decision-making component of his personality and it operated according to his reality principle in which he rarely seen, because of the high amounts of drugs and alcohol in his system. His conflict caused his ego and the lines between his unconscious and reality to be distorted. Freud also would say he struggled with reality principle and the tight bond he developed after he witness a car crash in the desert. There in desert was truckload of American Indians were scatter across the ground bleeding to death and he swore the Indian Shaman’s soul jumped into his soul. This event is what led to his identity crises and his desire to consume large amount of acid to see his path of life, in a many different visions and trances (Riordan ;Prochnicky, 1991).If Jim were still alive, I would use close quarters and secure measure for substance-abuse treatment with detoxification as the first step, to help eliminate all the substances from Jim’s body and protect him from himself and others enabler’s. Followed by Freud Psychodynamic Therapy and we would try free association to get him talking about all his emotions, thoughts, and any images coming to mind (Comer, 2011). I would sign Jim into long-term inpatient treatment program combined with antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and a comprehensive substance treatment program that would help him describe his dre ams in â€Å"therapist interpretation sessions, with the three interpretations phenomena techniques’ resistance, transference, and dreams† (Comer, pg. 59, 2011).If previous treatment measure did not work, because he reacted to psychotherapy with distain and scorn as he did in probation force treatment, I would try Marsha Lineman’s â€Å"Dialectical Behavior Therapy† approach (Comer, pg. 528, 2011). In this treatment, I would be helping him to cope with his disorder. In addition, this approach will teach him to take control of his life, their emotions, and himself through self-knowledge, emotion regulation, and cognitive restructuring (Comer, 2011). One other problem we might have is he like getting high, sees no issues with it, and believes it a spiritual tradition to get high and test limits of life for his sick pleasure. I hope with the previous treatments or his continue drug use he see a vision of himself recovering and changes his ways and follows my direction to brings him to better place in life.Jim’s prognosis would depend on how willing he was to address these difficult issues. The life Jim had created for he is very demanding person. The drugs, alcohol, and sex go together with being a stage performer with borderline personality disorder. I would have made it clear that he is not being forced into treatment and is free to leave at any time, but it is highly recommended that he stay. Only Jim could have made that decision. In closing, I would have hoped to see Jim recovered and see him go after his first dream of writing poetry and films. One other important hope would have seen him rebuild his relationship with his father. REFERENCES Association, A. P. ; Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders, Dsm-Iv-Tr. (Fourth edition ed. , Vol. Text revision). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub Inc. , 2000. Comer, C. J. Abnormal psychology. (7 ed. ). New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2011. Feist, J. , ; Feist, G. J. Theories of personality. (7 ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2009. Hopkins, Jerry. The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison. New York, Fireside, 1992. Hopkins, Jerry and Sugarman, Danny. No One Here Gets Out Alive. New York, Warner Books, 1995. Riordan, J. , ; Prochnicky, J. Break on through, the life, and death of Jim Morrison. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1994.

If I Die in a Combat Zone Review

If I Die in a Combat Zone Review The 1960s was a series of ongoing changes. It was the height of the counter culture revolution, the civil rights movement the drive for higher education, middle class advancement, the â€Å"Great Society†, the industrial community servicing the military, and most notably, the Vietnam war and conscription into service. The time frame of O'Briens If I Die in a Combat Zone is majorly in 1968 and O'Brien was feeling the heat from everything that was going on at this time From the very beginning Tim O'Brien stressed his opposition to the war in Vietnam.He even comes out and states at the beginning that, â€Å"The war, I though, was wrongfully conceived and poorly justified†. At this time there was a massive movement against the war. This the upcoming election and Eugene McCarthy openly opposed to Vietnam it was no surprise to learn that O'Brien supported him. But supporting the antiwar movement was not enough to avoid the draft, especially fo r O'Brien. With protests rising and the Yippies leading major protests against the war and draft, conscription was still a major worry among the public.It was known that if you were of age and not in college then Vietnam was your next stop. Unless of course individuals could gain deferment through specific issues as did some of O'Briens friends at the time. But even with strong opposition, both morally and emotionally to the war, O'Brien still knew he had a duty and obligation to serve. In one instance when O'Brien is speaking to a chaplain regarding the war, the chaplain uses a strong example of American Exceptionalism by saying, â€Å"If you accept, as I do, that America is one helluva great country, well then, you do as she tells you†.He the. Goes on to say that, â€Å"i did not wan to be a soldier, not even an observer to war. But neither did i was to upset a particular balance of the order I knew, the people I knew, and my own private world. † This again reinforce d O'Brien that his duty and obligation was more important than his personal belief. This was a common bond that was found between O'Brien and other soldiers while in Vietnam. This was the bond of the citizen-soldier. The citizen-soldiers were just that. Normal citizens that were turned soldier due to conscription.Because elf the similar circumstances the soldiers could relate together. There wasn't a common bond between the unsympathetic soldiers to the Vietnamese however. Mistreatment of the Vietnamese was very common. Especially with O'Briens tour of duty being after the Tet Offensive, distrust of the Vietnamese was rampant. By the beginning of 1968, 90% of south Vietnam was under communist influence and 1/3 of the population was under communist control. This meant that the soldiers did not know who they could and couldn't trust.The mistreatment of the local population was consistent. Even on one of O'Briens missions of a raid on a village that turned up one communist weapon, no o ne in the village spoke up of who's it was. So the orders were handed down and O'Briens squad interrogated the villagers, burned the village down and took prisoners to basically act as a human shield to ensure they were not attacked for the that night. This was a common occurrence that occurred repeatedly before, during and after O'Briens time of service.The benefits of such actions provided security for the soldiers but costs outweighed the benefits. Because of this treatment, the Vietnamese population was also distrusting of the American troops. Distrust among the locals led to decreased support for actions and the communists offers and proposals became more appealing to the local population than the American goals did, based on their actions. Though not mentioned much in O'Briens If I Die in a Combat Zone book, racial tensions were still high because of the civil rights movements going on back in the United States.During one instance a majority of the black soldiers felt disgrace d and mistreated by a fellow lieutenant. The soldiers kept saying that the lieutenants time was coming and he was â€Å"going to get it†. Then it had finally happened. An explosion that erupted beneath the lieutenant that tore his lower body apart and killed him was not confirmed but rumored as a grenade fired for. One of the black soldiers that did its intended purpose of taking him out. Besides that, and even with the civil rights movement back home, there did not seem to be much more racial tensions between the soldiers themselves.They were in a common situation that bonded them together and they looked past their differences for the most part. These common words; similar situation and bond, are again what pieces together this idea of the conscripted citizen-soldier that O'Brien indeed was. The conscripted citizen-soldier was different in a way as the volunteer was. A volunteer signed up willingly for the military. This was a common thing for some because they wanted some form of control over their experience in the military.The major difference of the conscripted citizen-soldier is that there was no volunteering. O'Brien like many others who opposed involvement, hoped to not be drafted but was. Control of the situation was relinquished and failure to report was punishable. This played the major role in O'Briens thoughts of going AWOL but overall, his pride, family and duty spoke louder than his fear and open opposition to the war. This was what O'Brien saw in the other conscripted citizen-soldiers then lead to such a strong attachment with him and the men in his unit.Others had normal lives like O'Brien and they too were torn away from it and drafted to come to a war that as opposed by so many. There is one quote by Tim O'Brien that I feel sums this all up. He states, â€Å"Courage is nothing to laugh at, not if it is proper courage and exercised by right men who know what they do is proper. Proper courage is wise courage. It's acting wisely, actin g wisely when fear would have a man act otherwise. It is the endurance of the soul is spite of fear. In a time that was going through so many changes and problems as the 1960s, I believe that this is a quote that speaks the truth above all else. Not just about the Vietnam war but also the courage of all those who sought for equal rights, opposed the war and stood up for what they believed was right even though there were fearful consequences for them taking such a stand and actions. In a world where so much wrong was happening, the citizens, soldiers and activists stood for change, exemplified courage and banded together to do what was right.

Role Transition from LPN to RN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Role Transition from LPN to RN - Essay Example LPN and RN practice have several similarities and differences in terms of how they are undertaken. LPN practice has fewer skills compared to the RN practice. For example, what a registered nurse can be allowed to undertake in his practice is different from what a licensed practice nurse can be allowed to undertake in his practice. This is because of the limitation in the skills that a licensed practice nurse is required to develop before being allowed to practice. The functions of LPN practice and RN practice are identical. The functions performed by the licensed practice nurse are almost identical to function performed by a registered nurse in their day-to-day practice. Both the LPN and RN implement the nursing process in the delivery of nursing care and also administer treatment authorized by an authorized prescriber. This indicates that the functions of RN and LPN practices are identical. Licensed practice nurse is not allowed to give instructions but to follow instructions of the registered nurse and doctors. A good example is being required to administer nursing care services only when instructed by a registered nurse. This indicates that this nursing practice has no leadership responsibilities. LPN roles also lack peer relationship. Peer relationship is exhibited when individuals within the same level of practice are allowed to work together and share knowledge and experience in order to improve their effectiveness. Licensed practice nurses are not allowed to function without instructions from a registered nurse or a doctor.

Multicultural Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Multicultural Education - Essay Example As the paper discusses  multicultural education means different things to people and this has led to its complexity and since it has so many definitions teachers or instructors implement it in a variety of ways, based on their own understanding of this type of education. There are many reasons why teachers introduce multicultural education in their classrooms and these reasons are implemented to address the following issues: the development of ethnic and cultural literacy; the personal development of individual students especially those from underrepresented communities; the clarification of attitudes and values among students; and finally, the development of a multicultural social competence.  From this discussion it is clear that the main reason for the use of multicultural literature in class is to get the students to appreciate each other’s culture in order to have a positive understanding and respect for each other, no matter their background. This encourages the posi tive development of common relationships, honesty and interest in the others’ culture. Multicultural books should also be used to engender racial pride in students and not to only create an appreciation of the culture of others. Literature affects how students look upon themselves and if some of these students are from a minority background for example, and the literature taught in class does not have any minority character as a hero, then this would lead to a low opinion of their own people, hence a low esteem of themselves. There are many multicultural books that have come into the market and some of these are not the best type of literature to teach to a multicultural class. Teachers should therefore be very careful about the quality of multicultural literature that they introduce to their classes. Given the rising cost of books, teachers might be tempted to only get those books that are cheaper, not considering their quality, as long as it is a multicultural book. However , teachers should always do their best to ensure that their students get only the best quality of material for their classes, no matter their cost. According to Keengwe (2010), teachers should select books that do not display racism by modern standards and should avoid those classics, which openly display racism as well as cultural hatred. They should not only select those books that portray minorities in a positive light, but they should also look at the language quality of each of the books they get because language is an essential part of how students receive the message that the book is attempting to convey. Most teachers have very little understanding of the kind of multicultural literature they should introduce in their classes and because of this, it would be best for them to carefully do their research before making any

Palliative Care for Urinary Tract Infections in Elderly Patients Essay

Palliative Care for Urinary Tract Infections in Elderly Patients - Essay Example By an extension, the principles of a model of medical reflection also provide a cyclical model which will enable me to reflect upon this problem and subsequently examine my nursing practice as a founding point for further development and improvement in the nursing profession. Description In this paper I will be reflecting on an experience with a patient who was suffering from urinary tract infection, dehydration and dementia, whom I encountered during my community placement. This patient was suffering from Urinary tract infection and dehydration and had been transferred to the ward from Emergency Medical Unit (EMU). The patient was also suffering from dementia and during the handover it was mentioned that she could be both verbally and physically aggressive. It was also handed over that she had intravenous (IV) fluids prescribed and needed a cannula insertion as she had removed the one previously in place. This involved a patient who will be referred to as Mrs P, in order to maintain confidentiality and anonymity (NMC 2008). Mrs P was an elderly 79-year old woman who was suffering from dehydration and urinary tract infection. Mrs P had also been diagnosed with dementia, and was reported as being aggressive both physically and verbally. Feelings Initially when we opted to insert the cannula into the patient initially she agreed to our intentions only to turn aggressive and unmanageable, later my mentor advised the matron to insert the cannula, which she did though without the patient’s consent, as the patient shouted and almost made the whole process impossible. I was disturbed by these two related events, first, the patient’s aggressiveness and two, our forceful way to inserting the cannula into the patient. Thus these situations brought in me a need to find out more about the patient and their condition, and the consequences of the matron’s decision. When I met the patient I felt sympathetic towards her and her insistence to refusing the c annula insertion given her general condition. A mixture of thoughts crossed my mind, although I could understand why she did not want to undergo the process, but this thought was not conclusive for me as a medical student. On reflection it seemed a positive experience as it allowed me to see how people cope differently with medical conditions, and the impact it has on the patient and the entire therapeutic process. Evaluation During this experience I thought that the nursing team had built a good professional relationship with the patient and therapeutic process. The patient had plenty of time to discuss any concerns or issues that she had and any of her reasons for refusal the cannula insertion. In my mind, I had theorized that the issues that had been discussed or ought to be discussed included issues such as symptom management; how the patient is feeling is important and needs to be taken into consideration. This would also need to be discussed with her partner alone, to find out how she is feeling and to find the best medical alternative for her treatment. This is why the Visual Analogue Scale could have been helpful for monitoring the progression of the patient’s condition (Crichton 2001). Since I have used the tool before, I find it to be beneficial for effective monitoring of patient’s condition because it was a good indicator as to when we would need to adjust her analgesia using the World Health Organization (WHO)Â  analgesic ladder (WHO, 2005).

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Case study - Essay Example These relationships take time to build because nothing else done prepares the teacher for the classroom set up ( Butchart Ronald E. and McEwan Barbara 32). Micky’s case requires development of interpersonal relationship with the student. Owing to the prevailing conditions at home Micky will need to be assisted by using detention. This will instill discipline also solve the problem of not doing his homework. The use of detention is for correctional process and should not be practiced regularly (Moore 419). As stated by Tauber (92), there is no single course for discipline that can be effectively applied this situation. The assertive discipline can be used to develop Micky because it encourages the teacher to appreciate the work of the student by complimenting him daily for positive deed (Tauber 92). For Mickys case, he can be complimented for completing his homework. Despite the application of assertive discipline, there is a need for the teacher to assist the student in doing homework by either tutoring, or setting times for the student to complete the homework. The case of Micky can be solved by applying both assertive and non assertive disciplinary methods to ensure that the classroom management process is maintained and

Revise and edit the essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Revise and edit the - Essay Example Classes were fun-filled, characterized by â€Å"work and play†. For my colleagues and I, the fun festivity also entailed editing our yearbook pages before the due date for graduation. Every year in college du leman, students set to graduate edit their yearbook pages and keep a copy of the yearbook as a souvenir. The yearbook is meant to record the memories and experiences of the students in their senior year. In the last few months of high school, I was not only happy that I was about to graduate, but also that my grades had significantly improved. The night before graduation, I got to contemplate about the future and what it held for me. When the graduation day finally came, I woke up early in the morning and took a long hot shower to energize me and freshen up. I headed to Theatre du Leman where the graduation was taking place. Graduating students had to stand in lines by alphabetical order, and all the parents were sitting in the salon waiting for us to go on the stage. Bef ore long, graduation started and they started calling the names of the students. When they called my name, I walked in with a proud face and took my Diploma from the General Director of Collage du Leman. I received my certificate from the Director as everybody on the high school honor roll does. When I was receiving my diploma I could see my parents from the middle of the salon looking at me proudly. After I graduated, I went to my country and continued the celebration with my relatives. We went to restaurants and visited places for fun. I was so proud of myself and I felt free to enjoy my time off school work. My father could not hide his joy and he, therefore, allowed me to go on holiday for one month with my friends. He acknowledged my efforts in school and told me that I deserved to have some fun with my friends. So, I went for holiday to Istanbul accompanied by my friends, where we partied and had fun every day. The one month

Organizational Ethics Issue Resolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organizational Ethics Issue Resolution - Essay Example However, in today's world, where the scientific world has come of age in its standing vis--vis organization ethics and prevention, subsidiary issues have emerged that are considered to be of prime importance in the realm of ethics. The changes in society and life all around the world have brought about considerable changes in the lifestyles of people. Similarly, the provision of norms has seen its development through the ages, and many additional factors like ethical, legal and professional concerns need to be understood better. The learning outcomes associated with this course are crucially linked to the integral understand of organizational issues and practice. Understanding the domain of every prong individually is of vital importance. As was mentioned earlier, knowledge of ethical issues to the cause of organizational practice has now become imperative. Though universal laws for humanitarianism and morality remain constant for humans, yet there are certain legal implications that are different for certain countries and even states within countries. It must be understood by a professional, that the legal clauses are not a matter of burden, but actually a facilitating and binding factor that ensures that the provision of ethics would be unequivocal and just for all. ... However, despite the magnitude and quality of work that was done at that time, the obvious constraint due to the war was that a systematic procedure for providing ethics cannot be established. Much has changed since then, and the corporate face of the organizations in the changing world has brought about a new shape to the domain of organizational practice. With the inception of concepts like quality and the ISO standards, what the world of today has realized, is that documentation, for any system of work, is not only essential, but is a must. Specifically focusing on the legal and professional issues, it has enabled to understand all the paraphernalia that are associated with the direct management of ethics. Documentation is as important as giving of training to the organization. No scientific analysis in the contemporary world is possible with out the necessary documentation throughput the process. Archival record, current and past medications, and future preventions, all are possible simply because of efficient records. Values Identification Though the importance and significance of the major issues has been established, yet appropriate working with these concerns in minds is still easier said than done. For a new professional, it is extremely important to properly identify with the issues. The ethical and legal concerns are very similar to the organizational ones in their dynamics. For one, the first thing that needs to be done with a organization is appropriate identification with respect to the symptoms. Only a sound knowledge of the traits of a organization and its patterns can help identity for the professional as to what is to be done with it. Similarly, with legal and ethical concerns, the first step is to identify any anomaly in the

ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 19

ART - Essay Example The emperor later constructed a new city with large buildings and beautiful buildings. This created a good opportunity for Gustav and his partners to demonstrate their talents. Gustav and his colleagues received an invitation by the Emperor. The Emperor wanted them to paint the palace in preparation for a pageant. The Emperor had organized the pageant to celebrate the silver wedding with his wife Empress Elisabeth. In subsequent years, Gustav and his company got an invitation to produce a ceiling painting for thermal birth in Carlsbad. Gustav’s use of color and his patterns in his paintings were influenced by various arts. This included arts of Japan, Byzantine Ravenna, the flat, ancient Egypt and the two dimension perspective of his paintings. Gustav’s paintings at the early ages brought him a lot of success. (Rogoyska, Gustav, and Patrick 7-60). Gustav painted his famous art The Kiss at the beginning of the 20th century. The Kiss portrayed two lovers kissing one another. The painting exemplifies the era of historians and historians alike whom he referred the fin-de siecle, meaning the end of a century. The concept describes the artistic culture of the late 18th and early 19th century. This was more so in Vienna where the determination by Austrians to enjoy a happy lifestyle was disturbed by political upheavals and a future that was uncertain. Gustav captured the sensuality and opulence of this period by the famous painting (The Kiss). The setting in the painting is ambiguous and cannot be determined. The painting pattern in The Kiss signifies the gender differences. The circles represent the woman’s garment. The rectangles represent the man’s garment. The patterns depicted on the picture unite the two lovers into one entity. This shows their erotic union. Modern artists use artistic patterns to communicate dee p messages (Rogoyska, Gustav, and Patrick 7-60). The artistic work by Gustav is impressive. It

Exam on inpatient and outpatient codinhg Essay Example for Free

Exam on inpatient and outpatient codinhg Essay 1. The three goals of the Physicians Payment Reform are to decrease Medicare expenditures. As well as redistribute physician’s payments more equitably. Also to ensure quality health care at a reasonable rate. 2. I would use modifier -57, decision for surgery with the E/M code for this case. Due to the E/M service and the decision for surgery were made earlier that same day. 3. There are three components of the relative value unit the first component is work, which is the amount of time, the intensity of effort and the technical expertise required for the physician to provide the service. The second would be the overhead component also known as the practice expense, it is identified as the allocation of cost associated with the physicians practice (ex. Staffing) that must be expended in order to provide a service. The third component is malpractice and is identified as the cost of the medical malpractice insurance coverage/ risk associated with providing the service. 4. People age 65 and older, along with patients who are experiencing end-stage renal disease are both eligible for Medicare. As well as people who are eligible for disability benefits from social security, they are too covered by the Medicare program. 5. To find the main terms in the index of the CPT you must use these basic location methods, you must search by the service or the procedure, the anatomic site, condition or disease. You also could use synonyms, eponym’s or abbreviations to find main terms in the index. 6. The E/M code 99253 would be used to report an initial impatient consultation. With a detailed history and exam along with a MDM of low complexity. 7. There are many elements when considering the correct E/M code. There are four elements of history which include chief complaint, history of present illness, as well as review of symptoms and past, family, and/or social history. 8. The complexity of medical decision making is base doff of three elements which are the number of diagnosis or management options. These options can be minimal, limited, multiple or extensive. The nest element is the amount and/or the complexity of data to review. The data can be minimal or none, limited, moderate or extensive. The last element of medical decision making is the risk of complication or death if the condition goes untreated. This risk can be minimal, low, moderate or high. 9. The correct CPT code is 99214 due to the detailed history. As well as the detailed exam and a MDM of moderate complexity. 10. There are three key components present in every patient’s case except counseling encounters and/or time based codes. The three components are the history, the level of examination, the level of medical decision making. These components allow us coders to choose the appropriate level of service.

Cable TV Vs Network TV Essay Example for Free

Cable TV Vs Network TV Essay In addition, consumer trend have changed from dish network, to cable network and direct network. First, consumer had access to only dish networks which provided a limited variety of channels through a satellite receiver and dish antenna. The antenna had to revolve at specific angle in order to capture different channels, nut then, cable television came into play which entirely changed the concept of watching television. With hundreds of channels through a single wire, people had access to more information then ever before. Concept of couch potatoes also came onto stage according to which there were viewers who actually switched between channels the entire day as they had a large variety of channels . The largest impact of such advancement was seen in the developing countries which actually came to know what was happening in the world outside at a larger scale. Due to a variety of channels covering all sectors of daily life, many cultures started to adopt the western culture because of the fact that most of the channels on cable at that time belonged to the west. This was the time when new TV channels came on air even more rapidly then the news. Globalization and the concept of westernization in different cultures was seen as the west projected its media all over there world. However, today, the concept of direct TV and network TV are on their boom rather then cable TV because of the fact that consumer preferences have an addition of high quality resolutions rather then just the variety which only the direct TV networks provide. Customer satisfaction and high resolutions were met through which customers paid for only those channels which they wanted to watch rather then subscribing to all of the channels and then switching between them. Viewers want quality entertainment more then they want bulk entertainment. Almost all news channels tell the same story with different perspectives, but, viewers what to see what is right, what is in accordance to their perspective and stance on specific issues, what is in line with their tastes, what attracts them the most, what tells the truth and what is more attractive. Thus, as direct network TV offers high quality resolution, high quality services and broadcasting along with selection of the channels, the viewers are moving towards this type of media rather than the booming cable network industry.

Epidemiology of Ebola

Epidemiology of Ebola Genesis Santiago Introduction Historical Significance Epidemiology is the study of disease distributed amongst a certain population of people. This study zooms in on groups versus individual people in the population. Epidemiology is specifically concerned with studying and surveying a population to understand what groups are being affected and whether it is based on age, sex, ethnic group, and or occupation. Furthermore the data collected during the survey and study are utilized to come to a conclusion on risk factors and how to prevent further spread of the epidemic. The Ebola virus disease is an epidemic that has returned to claim more lives than one can count. This virus was formerly known as the hemorrhagic fever. The virus was first discovered during an outbreak dated back to the year 1976. The virus obtained its name from the Ebola River in Africa. EBOV causes death in 80 to 90 percent of cases http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epidemiology Natural Life History Just as any other virus Ebola’s goal is to enter the host and replicate. Ebola has one major difference from other viruses, which is that the reservoir species is unknown. Not knowing the reservoir of the Ebola virus makes this part of the life cycle a mystery. What scientists do know about the virus is the effects and the manner in which the virus operates once it has invaded the host. The virus is made up of seven proteins that work together to consume the host cell as it begins making countless copies of itself. The seven proteins that make up the virus, violently attack the body of the cell and it’s and the structural proteins of the body of the host. Ebola multiplies at a rapid speed and immediately the infected cells become full of crystal-like blocks of virus components. The incubation period of the virus is 2 to 21 days. Ebola was first discovered in Ebola River located in West Africa. Speculation about the virus living in animal host that are native to Africa has also been a hot topic. The suspected reservoirs of the virus include bats, insects, rodents and primates that can be found in the tropical forests of Africa and Asia. In other words the virus thrives in native animals. Fortunately any animal that may have the Ebola virus if cooked cannot infect a human however when uncooked it can. If the virus does not have a host or a reservoir it cannot survive. Currently scientists do not know how the virus is killed. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/index.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177623/Ebola The pathophysiology of the disease is a more complicated then many would think. If studied under an electron microscope, the virus appears as long filaments that can be branched and even weaved. The particles of the virus consist of a molecule of noninfectious single-stranded RNA. Scientists have no knowledge on how the virus attacks the cells. It has not been confirmed but researchers believe proteins suppress the immune system. These proteins that suppress the immune system are now allowed to produce replicates of the virus. Ebola can be spread through contact with bodily fluids and/or blood. Studies show that of the very few that miraculously survived from the disease still retained the virus in their organs after recovery. The disease is easy to spread in unsanitary areas that do not have enough medical supplies. Another way many are being infected is through rituals done when person has passed away. The body fluids still carry the disease. Using aseptic procedures when treating infected patient and wearing protective can prevent the transmission of the Ebola virus. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177623/Ebola/280820/Course-of-infection Prevalence, Morbidity Mortality Ebola has claimed thousands of lives already. On August 31, 2014 it was reported by the CDC that 2,106 death cases were confirmed in the laboratory of having been caused by Ebola. On September 5, 2014 it was reported by WHO that 3,944 people have been infected by the virus. The current mortality rate of the Ebola virus is 49.9 % however it can reach 90%, in other words about half of the infected cases have resulted in fatalities. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/resources/outbreak-table.html http://healthfinder.gov/News/Article/691500/novel-ebola-vaccine-shows-potential-in-monkey-trial http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/09/09/cdc-calls-ebola-outbreak-perfect-viral-storm-as-infected-count-reaches-almost-4000-with-over-1500-fatalities/ Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Interventions There are three levels of interventions that can and should be applied when handling when preventing or treating disease. Primary interventions are used to reduce or prevent the chances that a disease or injury can affect a person. The primary interventions that would be applied to avoid or reduce the chances of contracting the virus is staying away from areas of known outbreaks. When consuming food avoid bush meat as they are suspected to carry the virus. When caring for patients use aseptic procedures and sanitize hands often. In order to prevent Ebola from spreading any further, everyone should be educated on the disease including signs and symptoms and the way it is transmitted. If a patient is infected use protective clothing. Another way to prevent contracting the illness is the use infection control measures. There is no cure at the moment for Ebola so there are vaccines one can receive to prevent contracting the virus. If a person becomes infected he/she must be isolated. In the unfortunate event that a patient passes away, do not attend funeral or burial that requires that one must handle the c orpse. Secondary Prevention includes practices and precaution used such as early detection screening and immediate intervention to keep the disease contained. There’s no way to detect the illness early on. It may take up to 22 days to experience symptoms of the virus. The immediate response to the disease would be to isolate the patient and begin to support the immune system. In using tertiary prevention the goal is to prevent anymore physical more deterioration of the body and improving quality of life as much as possible. Tertiary prevention does not exist at this moment as there is no known cure for Ebola virus. The only way for survival is if the patient’s immune system is strong enough to fight off the infection. The goal of a healthcare provider is to take care of the body and help to strengthen the immune system of the patient so that it can fight off the infection. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/prevention/ Healthy People 2020 Objectives What does Healthy People 2020 have to say about this problem? What objectives/goals do they have? If it is not addressed in Healthy People 2020, state so, but look into the CDC or WHO to find out what do they have to say about this problem. Provide Citations. After searching the healthy people 2020 database for information and studies done on Ebola I was unable to find any information. According to the CDC It is currently working with United States government agencies, WHO including domestic and international partners on one of the largest Ebola outbreaks. The CDC says that this outbreak is indeed the first outbreak in West Africa. Fortunately for the United States the Ebola virus does not pose a threat to the United States. Most importantly the CDC has now activated its Emergency Operations Center. The (EOC) is set up to help with technical assistance and organize communication with it’s partners. CDC has sent a number of health care experts to the West of Africa to several teams of public health experts to the West Africa region to begin helping the country in this crisis. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/resources/outbreaks.html Conclusion/Recommendation Summarized the most important points from your research. Provide citations. What recommendations can you offer to deal with the problem. In conclusion, the Ebola virus currently does not a confirmed resivre it comes from. Due to the fact that researchers still do not completely understand the pathophysiology of the virus this disease is hard to control and no cure is known yet. The lack of knowledge on the disease including the lack of resources is the reason the virus has been spreading like a wild fire. Thousands of West Africans are growing fearful and skeptical of the disease and even more dangerously the health care providers. Thousands of people have lost their lives or loved ones to this virus. As a nation I believe all we can do at this point is pray for that this crisis is isolated, and a cure is found soon. Although there is no significant threat of the virus in our country one can never be sure, therefore we should always wash our hands, and report signs of any symptoms as soon as possible. References Epidemiology. (n.d.). Retrieved August 25, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epidemiology 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. (2014, August 29). Retrieved September 3, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/index.html Outbreaks Chronology: Ebola Virus Disease. (2014, August 29). Retrieved September 1, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/history/chronology.html Prevention. (2014, September 19). Retrieved September 2, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/prevention/ CDC Calls Ebola Outbreak Perfect Viral Storm As Infected Count Reaches Almost 4,000 With Over 1,500 Fatalities (2014, September 5). Retrieved September 8, 2014, from http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/09/09/cdc-calls-ebola-outbreak-perfect-viral-storm-as-infected-count-reaches-almost-4000-with-over-1500-fatalities/

E.B. Whites Once More to the Lake Essay -- E.B. White Once More Lake

E.B. White's Once More to the Lake "Once More to the Lake", by E.B. White was an essay in which a father struggles to find himself. The essay is about a little boy and his father. They go to a lake where the father had been in his childhood years. The father looks back at those years and tries to relive the moments through his son's eyes. He knows he can't, and has difficulty dealing with the fact that he can't go back in time. E.B. White's way of letting the reader know that the father is in a way depressed, is through great detail and description. The story mentions how the lake has changes since the father had seen it last. How the once gravel roads have been paved over, and the sail boats are now replaced with boats with outboard motors. As the reader, one can sense a...

Is Atkins good or bad? :: essays research papers fc

Is Atkins good or bad?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Take a good look around, and you will see sexy and skinny people staring you in the face in some shape or form by the media. It seems like a propaganda machine that is trying to poison your mind, telling you can only be attractive, if you are either super skinny or super buff. Well folks, I have something to say. Look around and examine the average person. Most people do not look like models. To be attractive is to be thin, so a long-standing fad is people doing whatever it takes to be thin. As a consensus, America is not very patient, so we go for the quick fix. That is where the new Atkins diet comes into play. Eat all the fatty foods we want, and we can lose weight? Yes, sign me up for that. Is this paradise or what? No restrictions on diet and the pounds melt away. Millions of people swear on it. However, some do not buy into this high fat, low carbohydrate diet. Most physicians and nutritionist’s believe Atkins diet has long-term effects that endanger your health.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The influence of Atkins is spreading all over the country. Some restaurants are promoting having an Atkins friendly menu, so people can eat fatty but low carbohydrate foods. Carbohydrates if you did not know are energy that you get from grain products such as bread and pasta. When you do not burn the energy, it gets stored in your body, and it becomes fat. It is as simple as that. However, with the media promoting it all over, this trend is spiraling out of control. Millions of people are swearing by it. I am guessing this is due to the mindset of our country. We are always on the outlook for a painless and easy shortcut. Since this is a new trend, not much is known about the long-term effects of this diet, but many scientists are skeptical, because it is contradicting their earlier philosophy of losing weight by eating less, and exercising more. â€Å"Most public health professionals and organizations strongly disapprove of this diet.† (Goodman) I feel that while this benefits you in the short run, you are only setting yourself up for failure, when you return to your normal diet. Seriously, think about it, how can you say no to French toast or pasta from Olive Garden?

The Great Change in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Essay -- The Metamorphos

Although Gregor turned into a bug, the real Metamorphosis occurred before the change and with the whole family. Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis reflects the ideals about industrialization and existentialism during the turn of the century. In the novella, Gregor turns into a bug, and the whole family has to deal with it in different ways. Many characters go through a metamorphosis in the novella. Although the changes may not be physical the changes occurred greatly in Gregor, Mr. Samsa, and Grete. Gregor’s major transformation occurred not when he turned into a bug, but through the changes in his life. Gregor’s life before the changed into some sort of bug was like a bumble bee. He would go through life doing as others told him. In the story Gregor said, â€Å"For the time being, however, I must get up because my train leaves at five† (Kafka 4), which explains how he was just someone going through life on a schedule, just like a worker bee. But even before his time as a traveling salesman, he was someone else, â€Å"On the wall just opposite hung a photograph of Gregor from the time of his military service† (16). He was a military man, so at this point; he has already changed from someone who was in the military, to a boring worker in a modern industrial world. The greatest change that happened to Gregor was of his appreciated for music. Before, Gregor hardly noted his sister’s violin playing, but at the end of the novella, he said, â€Å"W as he a beast if music could move him so? He felt as though the path to his unknown hungers was being cleared† (49). Gregor was never so appreciative towards music in his entire life, but the changes he went through, came out with a new lenience towards it. The obvious assumption about Gregor’s metamorp... ..., she felt strongly towards her brother, and she loved him, but at the end, the greatest change in to story happened. â€Å"It has to go†¦that’s the only way†¦we have no brother†¦it obviously wants to take over the whole apartment† (53). She wanted to kill her brother, because of the work and pain he has brought the family. She even went so far as to say, â€Å"We have to get rid of it† (52). In conclusion, the greatest change in the novella was of a kind and loving sister, to a murderous human, who has no brother anymore. Although Gregor may seem like the only one who went through a metamorphosis, his whole family was along for the ride. So what if everybody looked at their own lives this way, and instead of turning into a bug, just changed in a slight way. What effect would that have on your family if you woke up a different person? Works Cited Kafka- The Metamorphosis

Are Human Innately Evil Essay

Humans are not born innately good or evil; they are born without knowledge of good or evil but with an innate need for survival. If you look at babies, they are innately very selfish, that is their nature. They have survival instincts, and all they care about is getting as much food as they can so they can survive. But does that make them evil? No. Most kids grow to be innately good adults, and it’s a small minority who grow into being â€Å"evil† adults. I would argue that it is most likely something that happens in a child’s development that causes them to be â€Å"evil† and that no one is born â€Å"evil. Humans are born blank slates but with an innate need for survival. In the short story â€Å"The Metaphor† by Budge Wilson Miss Hancock and Charlotte were shaped by society. Miss Hancock was overenthusiastic and flamboyant natured teacher who was loved by her class. She is an innately good adult. She was shaped by society to be a good and fun loving person. Charlotte was in Miss Hancock’s class, and she was a bright student who was not afraid to express her opinion because of the friendly environment her class had. Charlotte also had a mother who you could say is innately evil. Charlotte could have been an evil person too if it was not for Miss Hancock who influenced Charlotte to become good. This shows us that’s humans are born as blank slates and it is their surroundings that shape them into becoming who they are. Charlotte is a prime example of this. Charlotte was born as a blank slate and could have become good or evil. In conclusion this shows that humans can be influenced to become good or evil. In the short story â€Å"The Portable Phonograph† by Walter Van Tilburg Clark Dr.  Jenkins is shaped by the world war that has destroyed much of the earth’s habitat and killed many people. Dr. Jenkins feels the need to protect everything he has because they are the last of their kind in this world. Throughout the story the musician seemed very intrigued by the phonograph. Dr. Jenkins believed that the musician would try to steal the phonograph and Dr. Jenkins then becomes a defensive man. When all the men leave Dr. Jenkins hears a coughing sound outside his house. â€Å"He heard what he had been listening for, a sound of suppressed coughing. † This causes Dr. Jenkins to hide the phonograph and sleep with a lead pipe in his bed to protect himself and the phonograph. Dr. Jenkins changes from a kind, generous man who is trying to spread hope, to a defensive man, who is relying on one of his most primitive instincts; protectiveness. Dr. Jenkins was born as a blank slate, as all humans are, and likely being raised in a good environment during his childhood made him an innately good adult. Then after the war he changed into a defensive man. He was not necessarily evil as he did not want to hurt the musician but only wanted to protect his belongings. This story showed us that there are many things that can change you; however your main characteristics that you develop through your childhood stand out the most. From being born as a neutral human your childhood is where you become good or evil. In the short story the â€Å"Possibility of evil† by Shirley Jackson Miss Strangeworth was born a blank slate, but to keep evil out of her town she was forced to become â€Å"evil†. It was her surroundings that changed her from being neutral or being good to becoming â€Å"evil. She had to write poison pen letters to warn people and these letters sometimes ended up hurting people. From our point of view she was evil but from Miss Strangeworth’s point of view she was good. She was trying to get rid of evil in her town and trying to help others. â€Å"Mr. Lewis would have never imagined for a minute that his grandson might be lifting petty cash from the store register if he had not had one of Miss Strangeworth’s letters. † Miss Strangeworth was not innately evil or innately good she was neutral until her surroundings made her evil. She was a product of her surroundings.

Putnam [email protected] Case

Cost and Benefit Analysis of [email  protected] One of the primary advantages of the [email  protected] program is that it creates a cost advantage. Having employees work at home as opposed to in-facility is significantly less costly. According to Table A in the case, annual recurring costs for each individual working in-facility is around $10,650. That is over twice the recurring cost of the average [email  protected] employee with an ISDN connection and over 20 times the annual recurring cost of a [email  protected] employee with a cable modem connection.Given the large quantity [email  protected] employees at Putnam, this program provides a method of greatly reducing recurring costs in the short and long term. Additionally, the e-learning program costs less than half of what the traditional training process costs. It even better prepares employees for the job because the quality of the training is higher and individuals can complete the training at their own pace. Moreov er, [email  protected] employees feel that Putnam has made a sizeable investment in them, and feeling is supported by high productivity rates and decreased turnover.The turnover rate among [email  protected] employees is around 8% which is significantly lower than the Putnam average of 30%. By training employees for less and retaining them for longer, Putnam decreases both recruiting and training costs by a significant margin. Furthermore, the [email  protected] program allows Putnam to expand their business into new areas without having to invest in additional real estate. And because the majority of these [email  protected] employees are from rural areas where the cost of living is lower than locations near Putnam’s office facilities, Putnam can get away with paying [email  protected] employees less than their in-facility counterparts.All these factors contribute to the low cost advantage that the [email  protected] program creates. Because Putnam only allows hi gh productivity workers the option of working at home, the [email  protected] program can provide an incentive for employees to increase their productivity. According to a Putnam manager, anyone who is eligible to work from home and who wants to can work at home as long as he has higher than average productivity. Anyone at Putnam who desires to work from home will have the incentive to increase productivity above the mean so that they will have the option of working from home. However, this ncentive only applies to workers who have jobs that allow them to work from home. Also, many people like the social experience that the office brings and have no desire to work from home. One of the pitfalls of using this program as an incentive is that there is no reason for employees to produce anything higher than the company average. However, all things considered, this program does incentivize a select group of individuals to boost their productivity levels. Various costs arise from the [e mail  protected] program as well. It takes a special type of person to succeed in a [email  protected] position.Employees must be willing to sacrifice the social aspect of work and must be good at solving problems on their own because immediate help cannot always be obtained. Unfortunately the workers who fit the [email  protected] criteria do not necessarily bring about optimal production for Putnam. The most qualified and potentially productive candidates may find the [email  protected] program to be unfulfilling. Consequently Putnam is forced to accept candidates who while still productive, may not produce optimally. In fact, overqualified candidates in Vermont and Mane tended to have higher turnover rates due to the unfulfilling nature of the work.One of the other primary costs of the program is the communication barrier. By not being in-facility, [email  protected] employees cannot as easily talk to co-workers or supervisors about work-related problems. Also they are not exposed to the culture and are unable to get as good of a sense of how the company operates compared to in-facility workers. Putnam has tried to mitigate these costs through the advent of the chat system and other communication methods, but the fact remains that communication is not as good as it is among in-facility workers. Finally, employee performance needs to be monitored a bit more closely with [email  protected]Due to the lack of social pressure among co-workers to perform, employees could be tempted to shirk. But Putnam’s performance evaluation process has eliminated this problem, and in fact, [email  protected] employees have been equally if not more productive than in-facility workers. Human Resources Policies Overall I think Putnam is doing a pretty good job with regards to its human resources policies in the [email  protected] program. However, I feel a few changes could be made that could improve the program. According to some Putnam managers, monitorin g an employee working at home is not significantly different from monitoring employees in-facility.Rather, supervisors just have to monitor what’s going on â€Å"in different ways†. If it really isn’t much more costly or time consuming to monitor [email  protected] employees as opposed to in-facility employees, I see no reason to offer [email  protected] opportunities exclusively to high productivity employees. My recommendation is that Putnam rank workers on a relative scale in quintiles and assign each quintile a grade of A, B, C, D, or E with A workers being the top 20% and E workers the bottom 20%. Employees should not be made aware of their rankings.Next, my recommendation is that Putnam select a sample of employees from each of the bottom three quintiles to work at home for a period of 6 months to a year. The reasoning for only using the bottom three quintiles is that the top two quintiles are already eligible to work at home. The purpose of the experi ment is to determine from a cost standpoint whether or not it is advantageous to allow average and below average employees to work at home. Putnam should use the exact same evaluation process and compensation system with these employees. In other words, they should be treated no differently from the typical [email  protected] employee.Putnam should then compare the productivity numbers of the experimental [email  protected] employees and compare them to their respective productivity numbers from when they worked in-facility. If there is not a huge discrepancy in their productivity, then it may be advantageous for Putnam to allow employees of average to below average productivities to participate in the [email  protected] program. In fact, because overhead costs are so low for [email  protected] employees compared to in-facility counterparts, it could still be advantageous from a cost standpoint for Putnam to allow these employees to work at home even if their productivities drop off a bit.There are two major concerns I would have with employees in the bottom 3 quintiles working at home. One is that worker productivity will drop without direct monitoring. The second is that monitoring costs will spike due to the employees’ lack of motivation to do the job alone at home. If the increased costs of monitoring and the value of lost productivity do not exceed the difference in overhead cost between [email  protected] and in-facility employees, then Putnam should definitely consider allowing more employees to work at home.Doing so could decrease operating costs and increase profits in the long run. By performing this experiment Putnam can figure out how to optimally take advantage of its unique [email  protected] program. The limitation of this is that it may not be possible to assign a dollar amount to the cost of increased supervisory monitoring or the value of lost productivity. In light of this, it may be difficult to determine any cost advanta ges from performing this experiment. With regards to employee evaluation and compensation, I believe Putnam is doing a more than adequate job.By using both quantitative and subjective measures of performance like accuracy and call screening, Putnam keeps [email  protected] employees on their toes and producing at a high level. Additionally, by offering bonuses tied to performance of up to 20% of base salary, Putnam does a solid job of aligning [email  protected] employees interests with the company’s. The high level of productivity and low turnover rate among [email  protected] employees is proof that these policies work. One other aspect of HR that could be improved is making a clear cut path of promotion from [email  protected] employee up to a higher level position like manager or supervisor.By establishing a clear path to a higher level job in the company, Putnam can inspire its [email  protected] employees to work harder than ever. However, this could result in employee sabotage and decreased collaboration among [email  protected] employees. Employees may refrain from helping each other out because they are all seeking the same promotion. Experimental [email  protected] The first thing the travel agency should do is come up with a method of measuring employee performance. Without an accurate method of measuring performance, the experiment will not yield any meaningful results.The travel agency ideally would find a quantitative measure of performance that helps predict the total profit or revenues of the firm. By finding a quantitative measure that drives revenues, the travel agency can be sure that their method of evaluation will tie closely into firm performance. For the sake of simplicity in this exercise, I will assume that the number of clients served is the quantitative measure that most closely measures firm profitability and employee productivity. The next step in performing this experiment would be to research the costs associ ated with having a call center employee work at home as opposed to in-facility.If it is not any cheaper to have employees work at home, then there is no reason to even perform the experiment. This difference in cost is between work at home and in-facility employees will eventually determine whether or not a work at home program would be advantageous for the travel agency. The major cost would likely be installing the work phone in each employee’s house. There could be other costs in addition, however, like increased supervisory costs. Next, similar to my strategy for Putnam, I would rank all call center employees on a relative scale based on productivity and divide them into quartiles.Then I would take a random selection of a given amount of employees from each productivity quartile. These randomly selected individuals would be the ones taking part in the work at home experiment. These individuals would work at home for a lengthy period of say 6 months to a year. The travel a gency should heavily monitor their productivity during their time working at home, which in this case would be keeping track of clients served. At the end of the trial period of the work at home experiment, the travel agency should collect all the data regarding the participating individuals’ productivity.Their productivity should be compared to each individual’s respective productivity in the 6 months to a year prior to the experiment. Also, to adjust for possible seasonal factors influencing productivity, the travel agency could compare each work at home employee’s productivity to other employees in the same quartile who work in facility. The main concern here should be that worker productivity could decrease to the point that it would not be cost effective for the travel agency to have employees work at home, in spite of the fact that it probably costs significantly less in overhead to have employees work at home.If possible, the travel agency should attempt to assign dollar values to the additional costs of productivity loss and supervision from having employees work at home. If these additional costs are less than the difference in overhead cost between work at home and in-facility employees, then implementing a work at home program would probably be advantageous for the travel agency. There is a reason workers are ranked on a relative scale at the beginning of the experiment. Call center employees of different productivities may respond differently to working at home.The highest productivity employees are probably the most intrinsically motivated, and thus we would expect to see not as large a drop off in their performance as employees in other quartiles. Based on the data collected at the end of the experiment, the travel agency could decide that it is only profitable to allow employees above a certain level of performance standard to work at home. The firm could then use this standard as a benchmark and incentive for employees to o btain in order to get the option of working at home.

Representative Democracy

A Representative democracy is define as The form of government that rests on the principle of the people being represented by individuals they elect;it is government that holds the belief that elected officials represent the people. Countries that have representative democracies include the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. A Representative Democracy is the only type of governance that provides the order of having a hierarchy with the satisfaction of the people having control.Representative democracy is the most successful form of government because the people have the power, The human rights are highly respected and protected, and The welfare of the society would not be put aside for the needs of the individual. Giving people the power to vote for their leaders in government is a way to have the majority of the peoples ideas be brought up. Having specifically designated elected officials in government can help simplify the needs and problems of societies with everyone agreeing on the decisions made.Governments that represent the views of the people tend to have higher success rates and less rebellion. In a representative democracy form of government the human rights are held to the highest standards. The right to life and liberty acknowledges that all human beings should be free. Freedom of speech also primarily guarantees that the government itself would not prohibit the people from voicing their opinions. Equality and fair treatment for everyone is also giving to the people by the government to show that everyone has the same opportunities.The welfare of the society would not be sidelined for the needs of the individual. Decisions would be made based on the common good of the people. Everyone is also encouraged to go voice their opinions and vote for what the believe is right. and everyone is entitled to free and public education and giving the ability to seek knowledge to better themselves and there society and take part in government decisions if the choose to.These are some of the many reasons why a representative democracy is the most successful form of government. Direct democracy may work very well among a small group of people, but the larger the group the more difficult it is to run effectively. Representative democracy eliminates this difficulty by operating on a much smaller scale the majority of the time Most people do not really want to vote all the time on political issues.Voting for a representative who agrees with you takes less effort, doesn't require you to do anything about issues that don't concern you and does not require you to learn about complex issues. Sources: (William P. Meyers (2002)The Original America: Republic or Democracy? ] [Held, D. (1996) Models of democracy] [Ankersmit, Frank R. (1996). Aesthetic Politics: Political Philosophy Beyond Fact and Value. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ] [Nadia Urbinati (2006) Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy. )

Determination of Rate Law Essay

Abstract: A solution containing potassium iodide was mixed with a hydrogen peroxide solution to determine the rate law for the reaction between hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide at room temperature and the activation energy, Ea, of the above reaction. Potassium iodide and hydrogen peroxide react according to the following equation: We found the experimental rate law for this reaction to be and the activation energy of the reaction was calculated to be and the Arrhenius pre-exponential factor (A) of . Introduction All chemical reactions require some minimum amount of energy to transform the reactants into products. The rate of the reaction is the rate at which the products are formed from reactants. At constant temperature, the rate of a chemical reaction is constant and can be determined experimentally using the general rate law . Varying the temperature at which a particular reaction takes place changes the activation energy of the reaction at the different temperatures. Using a transformed version of the Arrhenius equation the value of for the reaction and the Arrhenius pre-exponential factor can be determined graphically. Methods There were two solutions involved in this experiment: Solution A comprised of 5. OmL buffer (to stabilize [H+]), 0. 3M KI (a source of I-), starch (indicator for I2), 0. 02M sodium thiosulfate (source of thiosulfate ion), and distilled water (to bring the total volume to 40. 00mL), while solution B contained 0. 1M hydrogen peroxide. In the first part of the experiment, we determined the rate law as follows: We prepared solutions A and B for each trial using the recommended volumes in Table 2 of the lab manual. After preparing the solutions, we used separate thermometers to record the temperature of each solution to the  nearest 0. 1, ensuring that both solution temperatures did not deviate by more than 0. 5. The data obtained was recorded as Table 1. After recording the temperatures, my partner started the timer on her phone while I poured solution B into the flask containing solution A. The end of the reaction was signaled by the formation of a blue iodine-starch complex in the flask. The amount of iodine produced was calculated using the amount of thiosulfate (limiting reagent in the thiosulfate-iodine reaction) in the solution. After performing all five trials, the values obtained for the first three trials were used to create Table 1a below. These values were then plotted using Graphical Analysis and curve fitted to determine the order of the reaction with respect to iodide as shown on Figure 1a. Table 1b was also created using the values for the last three trials, then plotted on a graph (as shown on Figure 1b) to determine the order of the reaction with respect to hydrogen peroxide and two values for the rate constant, . The values for p and q were rounded to the nearest integer and the average of the two values was then calculated to be resulting in the rate law for the of In the second part of the experiment, we determined the activation energy for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using potassium iodide by performing runs similar to part 1, but varying temperatures at which the reaction takes place. For each run, solution A and B were prepared using the recommended values from the lab manual. We then place both solutions in an ice bath (for the first 2 runs) and in a water bath (for the remaining runs) to get their temperatures to the same values as that of the water/ice in the bath. We also used the temperature values suggested in the lab manual. When needed, we increased the temperature by heating the hot plate on which we placed our bath of adding ice cubes into the bath. Once the thermometers in each solution and that in the bath reached the desired value, I simultaneously noted the time on the lab clock and poured solution B into the flask containing solution B. I recorded the time from when I poured solution A into B to when I noticed a color change from colorless to purple. I then used the data obtained to plot a graph of ln(k) against the reciprocal of the temperature for all the six runs, plus the average value of k and temperature calculated from the first part of the lab. This graph was then used to determine the activation energy, Ea and the Arrhenius pre-exponential factor, A. We report an A value of and an activation energy value of 56. 80kJ/mol. This compares to theoretical value of 56. 5kJ/mol at 0. 53% difference.

Chapter 13 Madeye Moody

â€Å"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures†¦damn it, we’re still with the Slytherins†¦.† â€Å"Double Divination this afternoon,† Harry groaned, looking down. Divination was his least favorite subject, apart from Potions. Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry’s death, which he found extremely annoying. â€Å"You should have given it up like me, shouldn’t you?† said Hermione briskly, buttering herself some toast. â€Å"Then you’d be doing something sensible like Arithmancy.† â€Å"You’re eating again, I notice,† said Ron, watching Hermione adding liberal amounts of jam to her toast too. â€Å"I’ve decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights,† said Hermione haughtily. â€Å"Yeah†¦and you were hungry,† said Ron, grinning. There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows carrying the morning mail. Instinctively, Harry looked up, but there was no sign of white among the mass of brown and gray. The owls circled the tables, looking for the people to whom their letters and packages were addressed. A large tawny owl soared down to Neville Longbottom and deposited a parcel into his lap – Neville almost always forgot to pack something. On the other side of the Hall Draco Malfoy’s eagle owl had landed on his shoulder, carrying what looked like his usual supply of sweets and cakes from home. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment in his stomach, Harry returned to his porridge. Was it possible that something had happened to Hedwig, and that Sirius hadn’t even got his letter? His preoccupation lasted all the way across the sodden vegetable patch until they arrived in greenhouse three, but here he was distracted by Professor Sprout showing the class the ugliest plants Harry had ever seen. Indeed, they looked less like plants than thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid. â€Å"Bubotubers,† Professor Sprout told them briskly. â€Å"They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -â€Å" â€Å"The what?† said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted. â€Å"Pus, Finnigan, pus,† said Professor Sprout, â€Å"and it’s extremely valuable, so don’t waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus.† Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, but oddly satisfying. As each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson had collected several pints. â€Å"This’ll keep Madam Pomfrey happy,† said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. â€Å"An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples.† â€Å"Like poor Eloise Midgen,† said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. â€Å"She tried to curse hers off.† â€Å"Silly girl,† said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. â€Å"But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end.† A booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signaling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration, and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn toward Hagrid’s small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous black boarhound, Fang. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As they drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached their ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions. â€Å"Mornin’!† Hagrid said, grinning at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. â€Å"Be’er wait fer the Slytherins, they won’ want ter miss this – Blast-Ended Skrewts!† â€Å"Come again?† said Ron. Hagrid pointed down into the crates. â€Å"Eurgh!† squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward. â€Å"Eurgh† just about summed up the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Harry’s opinion. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches. â€Å"On’y jus’ hatched,† said Hagrid proudly, â€Å"so yeh’ll be able ter raise ’em yerselves! Thought we’d make a bit of a project of it!† â€Å"And why would we want to raise them?† said a cold voice. The Slytherins had arrived. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words. Hagrid looked stumped at the question. â€Å"I mean, what do they do?† asked Malfoy. â€Å"What is the point of them?† Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds’ pause, then he said roughly, â€Å"Tha’s next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus’ feedin’ ’em today. Now, yeh’ll wan’ ter try ’em on a few diff’rent things – I’ve never had ’em before, not sure what they’ll go fer – I got ant eggs an’ frog livers an’ a bit o’ grass snake – just try ’em out with a bit of each.† â€Å"First pus and now this,† muttered Seamus. Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Harry, Ron, and Hermione pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Harry couldn’t suppress the suspicion that the whole thing was entirely pointless, because the skrewts didn’t seem to have mouths. â€Å"Ouch!† yelled Dean Thomas after about ten minutes. â€Å"It got me.† Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious. â€Å"Its end exploded!† said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand. â€Å"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off,† said Hagrid, nodding. â€Å"Eurgh!† said Lavender Brown again. â€Å"Eurgh, Hagrid, what’s that pointy thing on it?† â€Å"Ah, some of ’em have got stings,† said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box). â€Å"I reckon they’re the males†¦.The females’ve got sorta sucker things on their bellies†¦.I think they might be ter suck blood.† â€Å"Well, I can certainly see why we’re trying to keep them alive,† said Malfoy sarcastically. â€Å"Who wouldn’t want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?† â€Å"Just because they’re not very pretty, it doesn’t mean they’re not useful,† Hermione snapped. â€Å"Dragon blood’s amazingly magical, but you wouldn’t want a dragon for a pet, would you?† Harry and Ron grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew only too well – he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures, the more lethal, the better. â€Å"Well, at least the skrewts are small,† said Ron as they made their way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later. â€Å"They are now,† said Hermione in an exasperated voice, â€Å"but once Hagrid’s found out what they eat, I expect they’ll be six feet long.† â€Å"Well, that won’t matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?† said Ron, grinning slyly at her. â€Å"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up,† said Hermione. â€Å"As a matter of fact I think he’s right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all.† They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that Harry and Ron stared at her. â€Å"Er – is this the new stand on elf rights?† said Ron. â€Å"You’re going to make yourself puke instead?† â€Å"No,† said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. â€Å"I just want to get to the library.† â€Å"What?† said Ron in disbelief. â€Å"Hermione – it’s the first day back! We haven’t even got homework yet!† Hermione shrugged and continued to shovel down her food as though she had not eaten for days. Then she leapt to her feet, said, â€Å"See you at dinner!† and departed at high speed. When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Harry and Ron set off for North Tower where, at the top of a tightly spiraling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and the room where Professor Trelawney lived. The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder. As ever, the curtains were all closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by the many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls. Harry and Ron walked through the mass of occupied chintz chairs and poufs that cluttered the room, and sat down at the same small circular table. â€Å"Good day,† said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making him jump. A very thin woman with enormous glasses that made her eyes appear far too large for her face, Professor Trelawney was peering down at Harry with the tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. The usual large amount of beads, chains, and bangles glittered upon her person in the firelight. â€Å"You are preoccupied, my dear,† she said mournfully to Harry. â€Å"My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas†¦most difficult†¦I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦.and perhaps sooner than you think†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, who looked stonily back. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired Professor Trelawney, were sitting on poufs very close to her. â€Å"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars,† she said. â€Å"The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle†¦.† But Harry’s thoughts had drifted. The perfumed fire always made him feel sleepy and dull-witted, and Professor Trelawney’s rambling talks on fortune-telling never held him exactly spellbound – though he couldn’t help thinking about what she had just said to him. â€Å"I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But Hermione was right, Harry thought irritably, Professor Trelawney really was an old fraud. He wasn’t dreading anything at the moment at all†¦well, unless you counted his fears that Sirius had been caught†¦but what did Professor Trelawney know? He had long since come to the conclusion that her brand of fortunetelling was really no more than lucky guesswork and a spooky manner. Except, of course, for that time at the end of last term, when she had made the prediction about Voldemort rising again†¦and Dumbledore himself had said that he thought that trance had been genuine, when Harry had described it to him. â€Å"Harry!† Ron muttered. â€Å"What?† Harry looked around; the whole class was staring at him. He sat up straight; he had been almost dozing off, lost in the heat and his thoughts. â€Å"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn,† said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words. â€Å"Born under – what, sorry?† said Harry. â€Å"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!† said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn’t riveted by this news. â€Å"I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth†¦.Your dark hair†¦your mean stature†¦tragic losses so young in life†¦I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?† â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"I was born in July.† Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough. Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation of angles. â€Å"I’ve got two Neptunes here,† said Harry after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, â€Å"that can’t be right, can it?† â€Å"Aaaaah,† said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney’s mystical whisper, â€Å"when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry†¦.† Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown – â€Å"Oh Professor, look! I think I’ve got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one’s that, Professor?† â€Å"It is Uranus, my dear,† said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart. â€Å"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?† said Ron. Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him, and it was this, perhaps, that made her give them so much homework at the end of the class. â€Å"A detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart,† she snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall than her usual airy-fairy self. â€Å"I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses!† â€Å"Miserable old bat,† said Ron bitterly as they joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall and dinner. â€Å"That’ll take all weekend, that will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Lots of homework?† said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. â€Å"Professor Vector didn’t give us any at all!† â€Å"Well, bully for Professor Vector,† said Ron moodily. They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them. â€Å"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!† Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something. â€Å"What?† said Ron shortly. â€Å"Your dad’s in the paper, Weasley!† said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. â€Å"Listen to this! FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC It seems as though the Ministry of Magic’s troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.† Malfoy looked up. â€Å"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It’s almost as though he’s a complete nonentity, isn’t it?† he crowed. Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on: Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers (â€Å"policemen†) over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of â€Å"Mad-Eye† Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody’s heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene. â€Å"And there’s a picture, Weasley!† said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. â€Å"A picture of your parents outside their house – if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn’t she?† Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him. â€Å"Get stuffed, Malfoy,† said Harry. â€Å"C’mon, Ron†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren’t you, Potter?† sneered Malfoy. â€Å"So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?† â€Å"You know your mother, Malfoy?† said Harry – both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron’s robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy – â€Å"that expression she’s got, like she’s got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?† Malfoy’s pale face went slightly pink. â€Å"Don’t you dare insult my mother, Potter.† â€Å"Keep your fat mouth shut, then,† said Harry, turning away. BANG! Several people screamed – Harry felt something white-hot graze the side of his face – he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he’d even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall. â€Å"OH NO YOU DON’T, LADDIE!† Harry spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing. There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Harry – at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head. â€Å"Did he get you?† Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly. â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"missed.† â€Å"LEAVE IT!† Moody shouted. â€Å"Leave – what?† Harry said, bewildered. â€Å"Not you – him!† Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody’s rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head. Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons. â€Å"I don’t think so!† roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again – it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. â€Å"I don’t like people who attack when their opponent’s back’s turned,† growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. â€Å"Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. â€Å"Never – do – that – again -† said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again. â€Å"Professor Moody!† said a shocked voice. Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books. â€Å"Hello, Professor McGonagall,† said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher. â€Å"What – what are you doing?† said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret’s progress through the air. â€Å"Teaching,† said Moody. â€Å"Teach – Moody, is that a student?† shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms. â€Å"Yep,† said Moody. â€Å"No!† cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. â€Å"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!† said Professor McGonagall wealdy. â€Å"Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?† â€Å"He might’ve mentioned it, yeah,† said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, â€Å"but I thought a good sharp shock -â€Å" â€Å"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender’s Head of House!† â€Å"I’ll do that, then,† said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike. Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words â€Å"my father† were distinguishable. â€Å"Oh yeah?† said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. â€Å"Well, I know your father of old, boy†¦.You tell him Moody’s keeping a close eye on his son†¦you tell him that from me†¦.Now, your Head of House’ll be Snape, will it?† â€Å"Yes,† said Malfoy resentfully. â€Å"Another old friend,† growled Moody. â€Å"I’ve been looking forward to a chat with old Snape†¦.Come on, you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And he seized Malfoy’s upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons. Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms. â€Å"Don’t talk to me,† Ron said quietly to Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened. â€Å"Why not?† said Hermione in surprise. â€Å"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever,† said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. â€Å"Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret.† Harry and Hermione both laughed, and Hermione began doling beef casserole onto each of their plates. â€Å"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though,† she said. â€Å"It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it -â€Å" â€Å"Hermione!† said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again, â€Å"you’re ruining the best moment of my life!† Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again. â€Å"Don’t tell me you’re going back to the library this evening?† said Harry, watching her. â€Å"Got to,† said Hermione thickly. â€Å"Loads to do.† â€Å"But you told us Professor Vector -â€Å" â€Å"It’s not schoolwork,† she said. Within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and departed. No sooner had she gone than her seat was taken by Fred Weasley. â€Å"Moody!† he said. â€Å"How cool is he?† â€Å"Beyond cool,† said George, sitting down opposite Fred. â€Å"Supercool,† said the twins’ best friend, Lee Jordan, sliding into the seat beside George. â€Å"We had him this afternoon,† he told Harry and Ron. â€Å"What was it like?† said Harry eagerly. Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning. â€Å"Never had a lesson like it,† said Fred. â€Å"He knows, man,† said Lee. â€Å"Knows what?† said Ron, leaning forward. â€Å"Knows what it’s like to be out there doing it,† said George impressively. â€Å"Doing what?† said Harry. â€Å"Fighting the Dark Arts,† said Fred. â€Å"He’s seen it all,† said George. â€Å"‘Mazing,† said Lee. Ron dived into his bag for his schedule. â€Å"We haven’t got him till Thursday!† he said in a disappointed voice. Chapter 13 Madeye Moody â€Å"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures†¦damn it, we’re still with the Slytherins†¦.† â€Å"Double Divination this afternoon,† Harry groaned, looking down. Divination was his least favorite subject, apart from Potions. Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry’s death, which he found extremely annoying. â€Å"You should have given it up like me, shouldn’t you?† said Hermione briskly, buttering herself some toast. â€Å"Then you’d be doing something sensible like Arithmancy.† â€Å"You’re eating again, I notice,† said Ron, watching Hermione adding liberal amounts of jam to her toast too. â€Å"I’ve decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights,† said Hermione haughtily. â€Å"Yeah†¦and you were hungry,† said Ron, grinning. There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows carrying the morning mail. Instinctively, Harry looked up, but there was no sign of white among the mass of brown and gray. The owls circled the tables, looking for the people to whom their letters and packages were addressed. A large tawny owl soared down to Neville Longbottom and deposited a parcel into his lap – Neville almost always forgot to pack something. On the other side of the Hall Draco Malfoy’s eagle owl had landed on his shoulder, carrying what looked like his usual supply of sweets and cakes from home. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment in his stomach, Harry returned to his porridge. Was it possible that something had happened to Hedwig, and that Sirius hadn’t even got his letter? His preoccupation lasted all the way across the sodden vegetable patch until they arrived in greenhouse three, but here he was distracted by Professor Sprout showing the class the ugliest plants Harry had ever seen. Indeed, they looked less like plants than thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid. â€Å"Bubotubers,† Professor Sprout told them briskly. â€Å"They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -â€Å" â€Å"The what?† said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted. â€Å"Pus, Finnigan, pus,† said Professor Sprout, â€Å"and it’s extremely valuable, so don’t waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus.† Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, but oddly satisfying. As each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson had collected several pints. â€Å"This’ll keep Madam Pomfrey happy,† said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. â€Å"An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples.† â€Å"Like poor Eloise Midgen,† said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. â€Å"She tried to curse hers off.† â€Å"Silly girl,† said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. â€Å"But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end.† A booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signaling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration, and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn toward Hagrid’s small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous black boarhound, Fang. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As they drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached their ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions. â€Å"Mornin’!† Hagrid said, grinning at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. â€Å"Be’er wait fer the Slytherins, they won’ want ter miss this – Blast-Ended Skrewts!† â€Å"Come again?† said Ron. Hagrid pointed down into the crates. â€Å"Eurgh!† squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward. â€Å"Eurgh† just about summed up the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Harry’s opinion. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches. â€Å"On’y jus’ hatched,† said Hagrid proudly, â€Å"so yeh’ll be able ter raise ’em yerselves! Thought we’d make a bit of a project of it!† â€Å"And why would we want to raise them?† said a cold voice. The Slytherins had arrived. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words. Hagrid looked stumped at the question. â€Å"I mean, what do they do?† asked Malfoy. â€Å"What is the point of them?† Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds’ pause, then he said roughly, â€Å"Tha’s next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus’ feedin’ ’em today. Now, yeh’ll wan’ ter try ’em on a few diff’rent things – I’ve never had ’em before, not sure what they’ll go fer – I got ant eggs an’ frog livers an’ a bit o’ grass snake – just try ’em out with a bit of each.† â€Å"First pus and now this,† muttered Seamus. Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Harry, Ron, and Hermione pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Harry couldn’t suppress the suspicion that the whole thing was entirely pointless, because the skrewts didn’t seem to have mouths. â€Å"Ouch!† yelled Dean Thomas after about ten minutes. â€Å"It got me.† Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious. â€Å"Its end exploded!† said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand. â€Å"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off,† said Hagrid, nodding. â€Å"Eurgh!† said Lavender Brown again. â€Å"Eurgh, Hagrid, what’s that pointy thing on it?† â€Å"Ah, some of ’em have got stings,† said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box). â€Å"I reckon they’re the males†¦.The females’ve got sorta sucker things on their bellies†¦.I think they might be ter suck blood.† â€Å"Well, I can certainly see why we’re trying to keep them alive,† said Malfoy sarcastically. â€Å"Who wouldn’t want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?† â€Å"Just because they’re not very pretty, it doesn’t mean they’re not useful,† Hermione snapped. â€Å"Dragon blood’s amazingly magical, but you wouldn’t want a dragon for a pet, would you?† Harry and Ron grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew only too well – he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures, the more lethal, the better. â€Å"Well, at least the skrewts are small,† said Ron as they made their way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later. â€Å"They are now,† said Hermione in an exasperated voice, â€Å"but once Hagrid’s found out what they eat, I expect they’ll be six feet long.† â€Å"Well, that won’t matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?† said Ron, grinning slyly at her. â€Å"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up,† said Hermione. â€Å"As a matter of fact I think he’s right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all.† They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that Harry and Ron stared at her. â€Å"Er – is this the new stand on elf rights?† said Ron. â€Å"You’re going to make yourself puke instead?† â€Å"No,† said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. â€Å"I just want to get to the library.† â€Å"What?† said Ron in disbelief. â€Å"Hermione – it’s the first day back! We haven’t even got homework yet!† Hermione shrugged and continued to shovel down her food as though she had not eaten for days. Then she leapt to her feet, said, â€Å"See you at dinner!† and departed at high speed. When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Harry and Ron set off for North Tower where, at the top of a tightly spiraling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and the room where Professor Trelawney lived. The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder. As ever, the curtains were all closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by the many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls. Harry and Ron walked through the mass of occupied chintz chairs and poufs that cluttered the room, and sat down at the same small circular table. â€Å"Good day,† said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making him jump. A very thin woman with enormous glasses that made her eyes appear far too large for her face, Professor Trelawney was peering down at Harry with the tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. The usual large amount of beads, chains, and bangles glittered upon her person in the firelight. â€Å"You are preoccupied, my dear,† she said mournfully to Harry. â€Å"My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas†¦most difficult†¦I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦.and perhaps sooner than you think†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, who looked stonily back. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired Professor Trelawney, were sitting on poufs very close to her. â€Å"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars,† she said. â€Å"The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle†¦.† But Harry’s thoughts had drifted. The perfumed fire always made him feel sleepy and dull-witted, and Professor Trelawney’s rambling talks on fortune-telling never held him exactly spellbound – though he couldn’t help thinking about what she had just said to him. â€Å"I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But Hermione was right, Harry thought irritably, Professor Trelawney really was an old fraud. He wasn’t dreading anything at the moment at all†¦well, unless you counted his fears that Sirius had been caught†¦but what did Professor Trelawney know? He had long since come to the conclusion that her brand of fortunetelling was really no more than lucky guesswork and a spooky manner. Except, of course, for that time at the end of last term, when she had made the prediction about Voldemort rising again†¦and Dumbledore himself had said that he thought that trance had been genuine, when Harry had described it to him. â€Å"Harry!† Ron muttered. â€Å"What?† Harry looked around; the whole class was staring at him. He sat up straight; he had been almost dozing off, lost in the heat and his thoughts. â€Å"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn,† said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words. â€Å"Born under – what, sorry?† said Harry. â€Å"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!† said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn’t riveted by this news. â€Å"I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth†¦.Your dark hair†¦your mean stature†¦tragic losses so young in life†¦I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?† â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"I was born in July.† Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough. Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation of angles. â€Å"I’ve got two Neptunes here,† said Harry after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, â€Å"that can’t be right, can it?† â€Å"Aaaaah,† said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney’s mystical whisper, â€Å"when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry†¦.† Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown – â€Å"Oh Professor, look! I think I’ve got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one’s that, Professor?† â€Å"It is Uranus, my dear,† said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart. â€Å"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?† said Ron. Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him, and it was this, perhaps, that made her give them so much homework at the end of the class. â€Å"A detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart,† she snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall than her usual airy-fairy self. â€Å"I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses!† â€Å"Miserable old bat,† said Ron bitterly as they joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall and dinner. â€Å"That’ll take all weekend, that will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Lots of homework?† said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. â€Å"Professor Vector didn’t give us any at all!† â€Å"Well, bully for Professor Vector,† said Ron moodily. They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them. â€Å"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!† Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something. â€Å"What?† said Ron shortly. â€Å"Your dad’s in the paper, Weasley!† said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. â€Å"Listen to this! FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC It seems as though the Ministry of Magic’s troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.† Malfoy looked up. â€Å"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It’s almost as though he’s a complete nonentity, isn’t it?† he crowed. Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on: Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers (â€Å"policemen†) over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of â€Å"Mad-Eye† Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody’s heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene. â€Å"And there’s a picture, Weasley!† said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. â€Å"A picture of your parents outside their house – if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn’t she?† Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him. â€Å"Get stuffed, Malfoy,† said Harry. â€Å"C’mon, Ron†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren’t you, Potter?† sneered Malfoy. â€Å"So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?† â€Å"You know your mother, Malfoy?† said Harry – both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron’s robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy – â€Å"that expression she’s got, like she’s got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?† Malfoy’s pale face went slightly pink. â€Å"Don’t you dare insult my mother, Potter.† â€Å"Keep your fat mouth shut, then,† said Harry, turning away. BANG! Several people screamed – Harry felt something white-hot graze the side of his face – he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he’d even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall. â€Å"OH NO YOU DON’T, LADDIE!† Harry spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing. There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Harry – at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head. â€Å"Did he get you?† Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly. â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"missed.† â€Å"LEAVE IT!† Moody shouted. â€Å"Leave – what?† Harry said, bewildered. â€Å"Not you – him!† Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody’s rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head. Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons. â€Å"I don’t think so!† roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again – it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. â€Å"I don’t like people who attack when their opponent’s back’s turned,† growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. â€Å"Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. â€Å"Never – do – that – again -† said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again. â€Å"Professor Moody!† said a shocked voice. Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books. â€Å"Hello, Professor McGonagall,† said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher. â€Å"What – what are you doing?† said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret’s progress through the air. â€Å"Teaching,† said Moody. â€Å"Teach – Moody, is that a student?† shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms. â€Å"Yep,† said Moody. â€Å"No!† cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. â€Å"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!† said Professor McGonagall wealdy. â€Å"Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?† â€Å"He might’ve mentioned it, yeah,† said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, â€Å"but I thought a good sharp shock -â€Å" â€Å"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender’s Head of House!† â€Å"I’ll do that, then,† said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike. Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words â€Å"my father† were distinguishable. â€Å"Oh yeah?† said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. â€Å"Well, I know your father of old, boy†¦.You tell him Moody’s keeping a close eye on his son†¦you tell him that from me†¦.Now, your Head of House’ll be Snape, will it?† â€Å"Yes,† said Malfoy resentfully. â€Å"Another old friend,† growled Moody. â€Å"I’ve been looking forward to a chat with old Snape†¦.Come on, you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And he seized Malfoy’s upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons. Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms. â€Å"Don’t talk to me,† Ron said quietly to Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened. â€Å"Why not?† said Hermione in surprise. â€Å"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever,† said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. â€Å"Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret.† Harry and Hermione both laughed, and Hermione began doling beef casserole onto each of their plates. â€Å"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though,† she said. â€Å"It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it -â€Å" â€Å"Hermione!† said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again, â€Å"you’re ruining the best moment of my life!† Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again. â€Å"Don’t tell me you’re going back to the library this evening?† said Harry, watching her. â€Å"Got to,† said Hermione thickly. â€Å"Loads to do.† â€Å"But you told us Professor Vector -â€Å" â€Å"It’s not schoolwork,† she said. Within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and departed. No sooner had she gone than her seat was taken by Fred Weasley. â€Å"Moody!† he said. â€Å"How cool is he?† â€Å"Beyond cool,† said George, sitting down opposite Fred. â€Å"Supercool,† said the twins’ best friend, Lee Jordan, sliding into the seat beside George. â€Å"We had him this afternoon,† he told Harry and Ron. â€Å"What was it like?† said Harry eagerly. Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning. â€Å"Never had a lesson like it,† said Fred. â€Å"He knows, man,† said Lee. â€Å"Knows what?† said Ron, leaning forward. â€Å"Knows what it’s like to be out there doing it,† said George impressively. â€Å"Doing what?† said Harry. â€Å"Fighting the Dark Arts,† said Fred. â€Å"He’s seen it all,† said George. â€Å"‘Mazing,† said Lee. Ron dived into his bag for his schedule. â€Å"We haven’t got him till Thursday!† he said in a disappointed voice.