Travelling For Education

Due to the miserable situations of Lebanese students and their long years of suffering from the bad educating services and due to the absence of responsibility toward university students and the difficulty of finding jobs. The researcher in this paper shows the attention to this problem. Traveling For Education It was become a fashion trend that more and more people choose to go abroad to study. Some people think it is great experience while on the country , some others think it is not good at all!Despite of the importance of studying abroad and the presence of scientist that have raised Lebanon's name abroad , there are still oppositions to the views of this idea that prefer to stay in Lebanon despite of all its problems that they suffer from . Students in Lebanon should study outside for many reasons. General atmosphere is not suitable to study in Lebanon on all levels. The lack of raw materials in Lebanon led to the weakness of electricity and this case does not fit college studen t who needs a convenient means for study and research. In addition to the electricity obstacle we  notice the non-existence of laboratories, libraries and research centers, the state does not give an adequate attention to this deficiency, which leads for big effort toward the college student.For example , there is only one public library that opened new in Nabtieh † centre de lecture et d'animation culturelle † beside the red cross and it does not have the media support to be a know place to come to it. In addition to all problems that Lebanese students face we have an initial problem by students that is the lack of comfort in government universities , and when they resort  Ã‚  to private universities that are more comfortable with all they need for studying they will be shocked by the high cost that they can't afford which lead them to depression , and we will not forget the non-support for the best students that government must appreciate and have a look for them. Going abroad to study means far more than learning. The book† Intercultural journeys from study to residence abroad † ( Jackson , 1954) talk about this issue.This book focuses on the actual experiences of college students who travelled from their homes to foreign lands, the author  explores the linkage between intercultural awareness and sensitivity, language development , and identity reconstruction in young adult college learners. Generally, the first thing you need to do is to survive in a foreign nation. Where to find a place to live? How to deal with transportation? How to cook food? All these are the things you have to think and depend on yourself.Students who study abroad have to take care of themselves, and these questions are used the Lebanese students who don't want to travel abroad. Without parents, you can learn how to arrange their  own issues and do everything by yourself better. This is what we call independent awareness. Studying abroad cultivate your independent awareness and capability of taking care yourself. It is   always a tough time when living in a country that is totally new to you and facing all kinds problems. One you overcome them , you get the ability to live on your own. This is great, when the people of your age still enjoying their lives under the protection of their families, you begin to experience life.We take this factor as the most important advantage as it teaches you the basic ability to live your life. No one but yourself can teach you this! Everyone needs to be enriched with more experience and be more mature. Studying abroad means you set yourself into a circumstance that is totally different to you. You can enjoy a new culture all by yourself: people's thoughts and behaviors and the way people live are the first-hand to you , is not this great ? Cultural differences are more than just differences in language, food, appearances, culture and personal habits.A person's reflects very deep perceptions, be liefs, and values that influence his or her way of life and the way that he or she views the world. Students who experience cultural differences personally can come to truly understand where other cultures are coming from.You can greatly increase your adaptability to what we call the † Global Village† in your potential career ( Dixon , 2009 ) . Only knowing cultural difference is not enough, studying abroad has a lot more to explore! seeing the beautiful sceneries of a nation, volunteering   in social work and communicating with local people are all up to you. By studying abroad you know more about the world, no matter academically or physically. Knowing more a and experiencing more help you think rationally and behave maturely. The things above are the most important and valuable advantages we can think of. And of course there are much more that hat we mentioned , learning and mastering a new manage or having the chance to travel may also be the advantages that attrac t you. Do not hesitate, going abroad to study do offer you great improvement!

How to Build Online Business Trust in the Philippines

Trust is probably the single most important factor in running an online business. Although the volume of online transactions are increasing, most customers are hesitant to use their credit cards due to the many scams, frauds and other fly-by-night operations plaguing the Internet. Studies show that nearly 70 percent of online shoppers have terminated an order in the middle of processing because they did not feel â€Å"safe† enough. But without the benefit of face-to-face interaction, how can you communicate trust to your online clients? Invest in design. The form, look and feel of your website is the first thing that can make your visitors feel at home. Viewer friendly layouts and customized content will help persuade customers to make that purchase. * Have great customer service. Many developers tend to forget that an offline presence is essential in beefing up your online business. Place telephone numbers and other vital contact information on your homepage. This will assure clients that there are flesh-and-blood people behind every transaction. Use an effective secure payment system. Secure payment gateways like Paypal up your credibility, especially when paired with SSL/PCI scanning seals and other forms of security verification. * Have a Trust Mark Seal on your website. A Trust Mark Seal Certification is probably the easiest and most effective way of building trust in your business. Rampant online fraud has taught shoppers to value third-party trust marks, resulting in significantly larger conversion rates on websites with these certifications.However, there are different kinds of Trust Mark. SSL and PCI Scanning Certifications protect data encryption, but they will not assure your clients that you are a legitimate legal entity, or help you stand out from the competition. Business Verification Trust Marks, on the other hand, certify your credentials and help showcase your company advantages. Having a Business Verification Trustmark will tell your cl ients that you are a serious company that cares about ethics, security and reliability.Localized service is key to choosing a Trust Mark. For Philippine firms, Sure Seal is the first service to offer this verification. So invest in design, customer service, payment security and Trust Mark business certifications. It may sound simple, but these four basic steps will go a long way in building trust in your online business. Qartas Corp. , recently launched the first Online Business Verification Service in the country through â€Å"SureSeal. ph†, with JobsDB. com, IslandRose.Net, Pinoydelikasi. com and Load. PH as one of their first featured members. With the SureSeal Trust Mark on your website, your can: * Differentiate your businesses from competitors, imitators and fraudsters. * Convert visitors into consumers. * Be part of a community of Filipino online businesses with the highest legal and ethical standards. Showcase your legitimacy and credentials as veri? ed by a trusted t hird party specializing in Philippine-based clients. SureSeal? localized service assures thorough investigation of client credentials relevant to customers.Firms certi? ed with the Sure Seal Trust Mark will be included in a searchable online database. This will allow potential customers to identify quality businesses, therefore helping minimize fraud on the Internet. The fees to acquire the seal and undergo the verification process, from what i heard, ranges from Php15k to Php20k.. visit www. sureseal. ph for further details. This service is targetted to Philippine registered companies only.

A Dirty Job Chapter 27

â€Å"So, checking your appointments?† she said. â€Å"You must be feeling optimistic about how things will go.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not really.† Lily was smitten. He was beautiful and morose – like a great brown man-gift from the gods. â€Å"How bad can it be?† Lily said, pulling the appointment book out of his hand and flipping through the pages. She stopped on today’s date. â€Å"Why is Asher’s name in here?† she asked. Minty hung his head. â€Å"He said you’ve known all about us for a while.† â€Å"Yeah, but – † She looked at the name again and the realization of what she was seeing was like a punch in the chest. â€Å"This is that book? This is your date book for that?† Minty nodded slowly, not looking at her. â€Å"When did this name show up?† Lily asked. â€Å"It wasn’t there an hour ago.† â€Å"Well, fucksocks,† she said, sitting down on the bar stool next to the big man. â€Å"Yeah,† said Minty Fresh. He put his arm around her shoulders. With Charlie pulling on the legs of the bobcat guy (who was doing some impressive screaming considering he had prototype vocal cords) and the squirrel people dog-piling onto the Boston terrier, they were eventually able to extricate their lieutenant from the jaws of the bug-eyed fury with only a few snags in his Beefeater’s costume. â€Å"Down, Bummer,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just chill.† He didn’t know if chill was an official dog command, but it should be. Bummer snorted and backed away from the surrounding crowd of squirrel people. â€Å"Not one of us,† said the bobcat guy, pointing at Bummer. â€Å"Not one of us.† â€Å"You shut up,† Charlie said. He pulled a beef jerky from his pocket that he’d brought for emergency rations, tore off a hunk, and held it out to Bummer. â€Å"Come on, buddy. I told the Emperor I’d look out for you.† Bummer trotted over to Charlie and took the beef jerky from him, then turned to face down the squirrel people as he chewed. The squirrel people made clicking noises and brandished their weapons. â€Å"Not one of us. Not one of us,† chanted Bob. â€Å"Stop that,† Charlie said. â€Å"You can’t get a mob chant going, Bob, you’re the only one with a voice box.† â€Å"Oh yeah.† Bob let his chanting trail off. â€Å"Well, he’s not one of us,† he added in his defense. â€Å"He is now,† Charlie said. To Bummer he said, â€Å"Can you lead us to the Underworld?† Bummer looked up at Charlie as if he knew exactly what was being asked of him, but if he was going to find the strength to carry on, he was going to need the other half of that beef jerky. Charlie gave it to him and Bummer immediately jumped up to a higher, four-foot pipe, stopped, barked, then took off down the pipe. â€Å"Follow him,† Charlie said. After an hour following Bummer through the sewers, the pipes gave way to tunnels that got bigger as they moved along. Soon they were moving in caves, with high ceilings and stalactites in the ceiling that glowed in various colors, illuminating their way with a dull, shadowy light. Charlie had read enough about the geology of the area to know that these caves were not natural to the city. He guessed that they were somewhere under the financial district, which was mostly built on Gold Rush landfill, so there would be nothing as old-looking or as solid as these caves. Bummer kept on, leading them down one fork or another without the slightest hesitation, until suddenly the cave opened up into a massive grotto. The chamber was so large that it simply swallowed up Charlie’s flashlight and headlamp beams, but the ceiling, which was several hundred feet high, was lined with the luminous stalactites that reflected red, green, and purple in a mirror-smooth black lake. In the middle of the lake, probably two hundred yards away, stood a great black sailing ship – tall-masted like a Spanish galleon – red, pulsating light coming from the cabin windows in the rear, a single lantern lighting the deck. Charlie had heard that whole ships had been buried in the debris during the Gold Rush, but they wouldn’t have been left preserved like this. Things had changed, these caves were all the result of the Underworld rising – and he realized that this was just a hint of what was going to happen to the City if the Underworlders took o ver. Bummer barked and the sharp report echoed around the grotto, sending a cloud of bats into the air. Charlie saw movement on the deck of the ship, the blue-black outline of a woman, and he knew that Bummer had led them to the right place. Charlie handed his flashlight to Bob and set his sword-cane on the cave floor. He drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster, checked that there was a round in the chamber, cocked the hammer, then reset the safety and reholstered the pistol. â€Å"We’re going to need a boat,† Charlie said to Bob. â€Å"See if you guys can find something we can make a raft from.† The bobcat guy started down the shore with Charlie’s flashlight, scanning the rocks for useful flotsam. Bummer growled, tossed his head like he had ear mites or perhaps to indicate that he thought Charlie was insane, and ran out into the lake. Fifty yards away he was still only in water up to his shoulder. Charlie looked at the black ship and realized that it was sitting way, way too high out of the water – that, in fact, it was sitting with its hull on the bottom in only about six inches of water. â€Å"Uh, Bob,† Charlie said. â€Å"Forget the boat. We’re walking. Everyone quiet.† He unsheathed his sword and sloshed onward. As they approached the ship they could make out details in its construction. The railings were fashioned from leg bones lashed together, the mooring cleats were human pelvises. The lantern on the deck was, in fact, a human skull. Charlie wasn’t exactly sure how his powers as Luminatus were going to manifest themselves, but as they reached the hull of the ship he found himself very much wishing it would happen soon, and that levitation would be one of the powers. â€Å"We’re fucked,† said Bob, looking up at the black hull curving above them. â€Å"We’re not fucked,† Charlie said. â€Å"We just need someone to climb up there and throw us a rope.† There was some milling around amid the squirrel people, then a lone figure stepped out of the little crowd – this one appeared to be a nineteenth-century French dandy with the head of a monitor lizard. His outfit – the ruffles and the coat – actually reminded Charlie of pictures that Lily had shown him of Charles Baudelaire. â€Å"You can do it?† Charlie asked the lizard guy. He held out his hands and lifted one foot out of the water. Squirrel paws. Charlie lifted the lizard guy as high as he could up to the hull, and the little creature caught ahold in the black wood, then scurried up the side of the ship and over the gunwale. Minutes passed, and Charlie found himself listening hard for some hint as to what was going on above. When the thick rope splashed down next to him, he leapt two feet in the air and barely contained blasting out a full-blown man-scream. â€Å"Nice,† said Bob. â€Å"You first, then,† Charlie said, testing the rope to see if it would hold his weight. He waited until the bobcat guy was about three feet over his head before he tucked the sword-cane down inside the Lexan plate strapped over his back and started the climb himself. By the time he was three-quarters of the way up the rope, he felt as if his biceps were going to pop like water balloons and he entwined his motocross boot into the rope to rest. As if being granted a second wind by the gods, his biceps relaxed and when he resumed climbing he felt as if he might really be gaining his power as the Luminatus. When he reached the railing, he grabbed one of the bone mooring cleats and swung himself up until he sat straddling the rail. He swung around and his headlamp caught the black shine in her eyes. She was holding the bobcat guy like an ear of corn, her claw driven through his skull, pinning his jaw shut. There was flesh and goo glowing dull red, running down her face and over her breasts as she tore another bite out of the Beefeater. â€Å"Want some, lover?† she said. â€Å"Tastes like ham.† At the breakfast bar in Charlie’s apartment, Lily said, â€Å"Shouldn’t we tell them?† â€Å"They don’t all know about us. About this.† Minty held the date book. â€Å"Just Audrey.† â€Å"Then shouldn’t we tell her?† Minty looked at Audrey, who was sitting on the couch entwined in a sleepy pile with Charlie’s sister and one of the hellhounds, looking very content. â€Å"No, I don’t think that would serve any purpose right now.† â€Å"He’s a good guy,† Lily said. She snatched a paper towel off the roll on the counter and dabbed her eyes before her mascara went raccoon on her again. â€Å"I know,† Minty said. â€Å"He’s my friend.† As he said it, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to where Sophie was staring up at him. â€Å"Hey, do you have a car?† she asked. â€Å"Yes, I do, Sophie.† â€Å"Can we go for a ride?† Without any hesitation, Charlie whipped the sword-cane out of his back and snapped it down on the Morrigan’s wrist. She lost her grip on the bobcat guy, who bolted, screaming, across the deck and over the opposite railing. The Morrigan grabbed the sword-cane and tried to wrench it from Charlie’s grasp. He let her – pulled the sword free, then drove it into her solar plexus so hard that his fist connected with her ribs and the blade came out her back, sinking into the wooden hull of the lifeboat she was reclining against. For a split second his face was an inch from hers. â€Å"Miss me?† she asked. He rolled away just as she slashed at him. He got his forearm up just in time to deflect the blow away from his face, the thick Lexan plate on his forearm stopping the claws from taking off his hand. She lunged for him, but the sword kept her pinned to the boat. Charlie ran down the deck away from her as she screeched in anger. He saw light coming from a door that must have led to the cabin at the aft of the ship – that same red glow – and he realized that it had to be coming from the soul vessels. Rachel’s soul could still be in there. He was only a step from the hatch when the giant raven dropped in front of him and spread her wings out across the deck, as if trying to block the whole end of the ship. He backpedaled and drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster. He tried to hold it steady as he clicked off the safety. The Raven snapped at him and he leapt back. The beak then pulled back, changed, bubbled into the face of a woman – but the wings and talons remained in bird form. â€Å"New Meat,† said Macha. â€Å"How brave of you to come here.† Charlie pulled the trigger. Flame shot a foot out of the barrel and he felt as if someone had hit him in the palm with a hammer. He thought he had aimed right between her eyes, but the bullet had ripped through her neck, taking half of the black flesh with it. Her head lolled to the side and the raven body flailed its wings at him. Charlie fell backward onto the deck, but pulled the pistol up and fired again as the raven was coming down on him. This one caught her in the center of the chest and sent her flying backward, up onto the cabin roof. The ringing in his ears felt like someone had driven tuning forks into his head and hit them with drumsticks – a long, painful, high-pitched wail. He barely heard the shriek from his left as another Morrigan dropped out of the rigging behind him. He rolled to the railing and brought the gun up just as she slashed at his face. The gun and his forearm pad absorbed most of the blow, but the Desert Eagle was knocked from his grasp and slid down the deck. Charlie did a somersault to his feet and ran after the gun. Nemain flicked her claws at his back and he heard the sizzle as the poison strafed the Lexan pad down his spine and burned onto the deck on either side of him. He dove for the pistol and tried to roll and come up with it pointed at his attacker, but he misjudged and came up with the back of his knees against the bone railing. She leapt, claws first, and hit him in the chest just as he fired the Desert Eagle and he was driven backward over the railing. He hit flat on the water. The air exploded from his body and he felt like he’d been hit by a bus. He couldn’t breathe, but he could see, he could feel his limbs, and after a couple of seconds of gasping, he finally caught a breath. â€Å"So, how’s it going so far?† asked the bobcat guy, about two feet from Charlie’s head. â€Å"Good,† Charlie said. â€Å"They’re running scared.† There was a big chunk bitten out of the middle of Bob’s torso, and his Beefeater uniform was in tatters, but otherwise he seemed in good spirits. He was holding the Desert Eagle cradled in his arms like a baby. â€Å"You’ll likely need this. That last shot connected, by the way. You took off about half of her skull.† â€Å"Good,† Charlie said, still having a little trouble catching his breath. He felt a searing pain in his chest and thought he might have broken a rib. He sat up and looked at his chest plate. The Morrigan’s claws had raked the front of it, but in one spot he could see where a claw had slipped under the plate and into his chest. He wasn’t bleeding badly, but he was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. â€Å"Are they still coming?† â€Å"Not the two you shot. We don’t know where the one you stuck with your sword went.† â€Å"I don’t know if I can make it up that rope again,† Charlie said. â€Å"That may not be a _roblem,† Bob said. He was looking up to the ceiling of the grotto, where a whirlwind of squeaking bats was spiraling around the mast, but above them was beating the wings of another creature altogether. Charlie took the pistol from Bob and climbed to his feet, nearly fell, then steadied himself and backed away from the hull of the ship. The squirrel people scattered around him. Bummer let loose with a fusillade of angry yapping. The demon hit the water about thirty feet away. Charlie felt a scream rising in his throat but fought it down. The thing was nearly ten feet tall, with a wingspan of thirty feet. Its head was as big as a beer keg, and it appeared to have the shape and horns of a bull, except for the jaws, which were predatory, lined with teeth, like a cross between a shark and a lion. Its eyes were gleaming green. â€Å"Soul stealer,† it growled. It folded its wings into two high points behind its back, and stepped toward Charlie. â€Å"Well, that would be you, wouldn’t it?† Charlie said, a little breathless still. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus.† The demon stopped. Charlie took the hesitation to bring up the pistol and fire. The shot took the demon high in the shoulder and spun him to the side. He turned back and roared. Charlie could smell the creature’s breath, like rotting meat, wash over him. He backed up and fired again, his hand numb now from the recoil of the big pistol. The shot knocked the demon back a step. There was shrill cheering from above. Charlie fired again and again. The slugs opened craters in the demon’s chest. He wavered, then fell to his knees. Charlie aimed and pulled the trigger again. The gun clicked. Charlie backed up a few more steps and tried to remember what Minty had shown him about reloading. He managed to hit a button that released the clip from the pistol, which plopped into the water. Then he unsnapped one of the pouches under his arm to retrieve an extra clip. It slipped out and fell into the lake as well. Bob and a couple of the squirrel people splashed forward and started diving beneath the water, looking for the clip. The demon roared again, unfurled his wings, and, in one great flap, pulled himself to his feet. Charlie unsnapped the second clip and, with his hands shaking, managed to fit it into the bottom of the Desert Eagle. The demon crouched, as if to leap. Charlie jacked a shell into the chamber and fired at the same time. The demon fell forward as the huge slug took a chunk out of his thigh. â€Å"Well done, Meat!† came a female voice from above. Charlie looked up quickly, but then back to the bullheaded demon, who was on his feet again. Then he braced his wrist and fired, and again, walking forward, pumping bullets into the demon’s chest with each step, feeling any second as if his wrist would just shatter into pieces from the recoil, until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. He stopped, just five feet away from the demon when it fell over, facefirst into the water. Charlie dropped the Desert Eagle and fell to his knees. The grotto seemed to be tilting before him, his vision tunneling down. The Morrigan landed on three sides of him. Each had a glowing soul vessel in her claw and was rubbing it on her wounds. â€Å"That was excellent, lover,† said the raven woman standing closest to the fallen demon. Charlie recognized her from the alley. The stab wound his sword had made in her stomach healed over as he watched. She kicked the bullheaded demon’s body. â€Å"See, I told you that guns suck.† â€Å"That was well done, Meat,† said the one to Charlie’s right. Her neck was still knitting back together. She was the one he’d blasted up onto the cabin roof. â€Å"You guys do bounce back with a certain Wile E. Coyote charm,† Charlie said. He grinned, feeling drunk now, like he was watching all this from another place. â€Å"He’s so sweet,† said the hand-job harpy. â€Å"I could just eat him up.† â€Å"Sounds good to me,† said the Morrigan to his left, whose head was still a little lopsided. Charlie saw the venom dripping from her claws, then looked to the wound below his chest plate. â€Å"Yes, darling,† said hand job, â€Å"I’m afraid Nemain did nick you. You really are quite the warrior to have lasted this long.† â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† Charlie said. The Morrigan laughed, the one in front of Charlie did a little dance step. As she did, the bullheaded demon lifted his head from the water. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† said the demon, black goo and water running between his teeth as he spoke. The Morrigan stopped dancing, grabbed one of the demon’s horns, then pulled his head back. â€Å"You think?† she said. Then she plunged her claws into the demon’s throat. He rolled and threw her off, sending her sailing twenty feet in the air to smash into the hull of the ship. The Morrigan behind Charlie patted his head as she passed. â€Å"We’ll be right with you, darling. I’m Macha, by the way, and we are the Luminatus – or we will be in a minute.† The Morrigan fell on the bullheaded demon, taking great chunks of flesh and bone off his body with each slash of their talons. Two took to the air and swept in, taking swipes at the demon, who flailed at them, sometimes connecting, but too weakened from the gunshots to fight effectively. In two minutes it was finished, and most of the flesh had been flayed from it. Macha held his head by the horns like she was holding the handlebars of a motorcycle, even as the demon’s jaws continued to snap at the air. â€Å"Your turn, soul stealer,† Macha said. â€Å"Yeah, your turn,† said Nemain, baring her claws. Macha held the demon head out in front of her, driving it at Charlie. He backed away as the teeth snapped inches from his face. â€Å"Wait a minute,† said Babd. The other two stopped and turned to their sister, who stood over what was left of the demon’s corpse. â€Å"We never got to finish.† She took one step before something hit her like a ball of darkness, knocking her out of sight. Charlie looked at the demon head coming at him, then there was a loud smack and Macha was yanked to the side as if she’d had a bungee cord attached to her ankle. The screeching started again and Charlie could see the Morrigan being whipped around in the darkness, splashing, and chaos – he couldn’t follow what was happening. His eyes wouldn’t focus. He looked to Nemain, who was now coming at him with her claws dripping venom. A small hand appeared at the edge of his vision and the Morrigan’s head exploded into what looked like a thousand stars. Charlie looked to where the hand had appeared before his eyes. â€Å"Hi, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"Hi, baby,† Charlie said. Now he could see what was happening – the hellhounds were tearing at the Morrigan. One of them broke, jumped into the air and unfurled her wings, then dove at Sophie, screeching. Sophie raised her hand as if she was waving bye-bye and the Morrigan vaporized into a spray of black goo. The souls, thousands of them, that she had consumed over the millennia, floated into the air, red lights that circled the grotto, making the whole huge chamber appear to have been frozen in the middle of a fireworks display. â€Å"You shouldn’t be here, honey,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yes, I should,† Sophie said. â€Å"I had to fix this, send them all back. I’m the Luminatus.† â€Å"You†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah,† she said matter-of-factly, in that Master of All Death and Darkness voice that is so irritating in a six-year-old. The hellhounds were both on the remaining Morrigan now, tearing her in half as Charlie watched. â€Å"No, honey,† Charlie said. Sophie raised her hand and Babd was vaporized like the others – the captured souls rose like embers from a bonfire. â€Å"Let’s go home, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"No,† Charlie said, barely able to hold up his head. â€Å"We have something we have to get.† He lurched forward and one of the hellhounds was there to brace him. The whole army of squirrel people was coming around the bow of the ship, each carrying a glowing soul vessel he’d retrieved from the ship’s cabin. â€Å"Is this it?† Sophie said. She took a CD from Bob and handed it to Charlie. He turned it in his hands and hugged it to his chest. â€Å"You know what this is, honey?† â€Å"Yeah. Let’s go home, Daddy.† Charlie fell over the back of Alvin. Sophie and the squirrel people steadied him until they were out of the Underworld. Minty Fresh carried Charlie to the car. A doctor had come and gone. When Charlie came to he was on his bed at home and Audrey was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. â€Å"Hi,† he said. â€Å"Hi,† Audrey said. â€Å"Did Sophie tell you?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"They grow up so fast,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah.† Audrey smiled. â€Å"I got this.† He reached behind his chest plate and pulled out the Sarah McLachlan CD that pulsated with red light. Audrey nodded and reached out for the disc. â€Å"Let’s put that over here where you can keep an eye on it.† As soon as her fingers touched the plastic case the light went out and Audrey shuddered. â€Å"Oh my,† she said. â€Å"Audrey.† Charlie tried to sit up, but was forced back down by the pain. â€Å"Ouch. Audrey, what happened? Did they get it? Did they take her soul?† She was looking at her chest, then looked up at Charlie, tears in her eyes. â€Å"No, Charlie, it’s me,† she said. â€Å"But you had touched that before, that night in the pantry. Why didn’t it happen then?† â€Å"I guess I wasn’t ready then.† Charlie took her hand and squeezed it, then squeezed it much harder than he intended as a wave of pain washed through him. â€Å"Goddammit,† he said. He was panting now, breathing like he might hyperventilate. â€Å"I thought it was all dark, Audrey. All the spiritual stuff was spooky. You made me see.† â€Å"I’m glad,† Audrey said. â€Å"Makes me think I should have slept with a poet so I could have understood the way the world can be distilled into words.† â€Å"Yes. I think you have the soul of a poet, Charlie.† â€Å"I should have made love with a painter, too, so I could feel the wave of a brushstroke, so I could absorb her colors and textures and really see.† â€Å"Yes,† Audrey said, brushing at his hair with her fingers. â€Å"You have such a wonderful imagination.† â€Å"I think,† said Charlie, his voice going higher as he breathed harder, â€Å"I should have bedded a scientist so I would understand the mechanics of the world, felt them right down to my spine.† â€Å"Yes, so you could feel the world,† Audrey said. â€Å"With big tits,† Charlie added, his back arching in pain. â€Å"Of course, baby,† Audrey said. â€Å"I love you, Audrey.† â€Å"I know, Charlie. I love you, too.† Then Charlie Asher, Beta Male, husband to Rachel, brother to Jane, father to Sophie (the Luminatus, who held dominion over Death), beloved of Audrey, Death Merchant and purveyor of fine vintage clothing and accessories, took his last breath, and died. Audrey looked up to see Sophie come into the room. â€Å"He’s gone, Sophie.† Sophie put her hand on Charlie’s forehead. â€Å"Bye, Daddy,† she said. EPILOGUE THE GIRLS Things settled in the City of Two Bridges, and all the dark gods that had been rising to erupt out over the world remembered their place and returned to their domains deep in the Underworld. Jane and Cassie were married in a civil ceremony that was dissolved and sanctioned a half-dozen times over the years. Nevertheless, they were happy and there was always laughter in their home. Sophie went home to live with her Aunties Jane and Cassandra. She would grow to be a tall and beautiful woman, and eventually take her place as the Luminatus, but until then, she went to school and played with her puppies and had a fairly wonderful time as she waited for her daddy to come get her. THE SHOPKEEPERS While Minty Fresh had believed in the adage that in every moment there is a crisis, his belief had been somewhat academic until he started seeing Lily Severo, when it became very practical indeed. Life jumped up several steps for him on the interesting scale, to the point where the Death Merchant part of his existence became the more prosaic of his pursuits. They became renowned around town, the giant in pastels always in company with the short, Gothic chef, but the City really stood up and took notice when they opened up the Jazz and Gourmet Pizza Place in North Beach in the building that had once housed Asher’s Secondhand. As for Ray Macy, Inspector Rivera set him up with a lady pawnbroker from the Fillmore named Carrie Lang, and they hit it off almost immediately, having in common a love of detective movies and handguns, as well as a deep mistrust for most of humanity. Ray fell deeply in love, and true to his Beta Male nature, was doggedly loyal to her, although he always secretly suspected her of being a serial killer. RIVERA Inspector Alphonse Rivera has spent most of his life trying to change his life. He’d worked in a half-dozen different police departments, in a dozen different capacities, and although he was very good at being a cop, he always seemed to be trying to get out. After the debacle with the Death Merchants and the strange, unexplainable things that had gone on around it, he was simply exhausted. There had been a brief time when he’d been able to leave police work and open a rare-book store, and he felt as if that might have been the only time he had ever truly been happy. Now, at age forty-nine, he was ready to try it again: take an early retirement and just read and live in a calm, unevent-filled world of books. So he was somewhat pleased when, two weeks after the death of Charlie Asher, he went to his mailbox to find a substantial envelope that could only be a book. It was like an omen, he thought as he sat down at his kitchen table to open the package. It was a book – what looked like a very rare and bizarre children’s book. He opened it and turned to the first chapter. So Now You’re Death: Here’s What You’ll Need. THE EMPEROR The Emperor enjoyed a happy reunion with his troops and went on to rule benevolently over San Francisco to the end of his days. For leading Charlie into the Underworld, and for his boundless courage, the Luminatus gave Bummer the strength and durability of a hellhound. It would fall to the Emperor to explain how his now all-black companion – while he never weighed more than seven pounds soaking wet – could outrun a cheetah and chew the tires off a Toyota. AUDREY Audrey continued her work at the Buddhist center and did costuming for a local theater group, but she also took a volunteer job with hospice, where she helped people to the other side as she had done for so long in Tibet. The hospice position also, however, gave her access to bodies that had been recently vacated by their souls, and she used these opportunities to cycle the squirrel people back into the human flow of birth and rebirth. And for a while, there were remarkable instances of people recovering from terminal illness in the City, as she exercised the p’howa of undying. She didn’t give up her work with the squirrel people altogether, however, as it was a skill she had come to over a long time and a lot of work, and it could still be extraordinarily rewarding. At least that’s how she was feeling as she looked over her latest masterpiece in the meditation room of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. He had the face of a crocodile – sixty-eight spiked teeth, and eyes that gleamed like black glass beads. His hands were the claws of a raptor, the wicked black nails encrusted with dried blood. His feet were webbed like those of a waterbird, with claws for digging prey from the mud. He wore a purple silk robe, trimmed in sable, and a matching hat with a wizard’s star embroidered on it in gold thread. â€Å"It’s only temporary, until we find someone,† Audrey said. â€Å"But take my word for it, you look great.† â€Å"No, I don’t. I’m only fourteen inches tall.† â€Å"Yeah, but I gave you a ten-inch schlong.† He opened his robe and looked down. â€Å"Wow, would you look at that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Nice.† A Dirty Job Chapter 27 â€Å"So, checking your appointments?† she said. â€Å"You must be feeling optimistic about how things will go.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not really.† Lily was smitten. He was beautiful and morose – like a great brown man-gift from the gods. â€Å"How bad can it be?† Lily said, pulling the appointment book out of his hand and flipping through the pages. She stopped on today’s date. â€Å"Why is Asher’s name in here?† she asked. Minty hung his head. â€Å"He said you’ve known all about us for a while.† â€Å"Yeah, but – † She looked at the name again and the realization of what she was seeing was like a punch in the chest. â€Å"This is that book? This is your date book for that?† Minty nodded slowly, not looking at her. â€Å"When did this name show up?† Lily asked. â€Å"It wasn’t there an hour ago.† â€Å"Well, fucksocks,† she said, sitting down on the bar stool next to the big man. â€Å"Yeah,† said Minty Fresh. He put his arm around her shoulders. With Charlie pulling on the legs of the bobcat guy (who was doing some impressive screaming considering he had prototype vocal cords) and the squirrel people dog-piling onto the Boston terrier, they were eventually able to extricate their lieutenant from the jaws of the bug-eyed fury with only a few snags in his Beefeater’s costume. â€Å"Down, Bummer,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just chill.† He didn’t know if chill was an official dog command, but it should be. Bummer snorted and backed away from the surrounding crowd of squirrel people. â€Å"Not one of us,† said the bobcat guy, pointing at Bummer. â€Å"Not one of us.† â€Å"You shut up,† Charlie said. He pulled a beef jerky from his pocket that he’d brought for emergency rations, tore off a hunk, and held it out to Bummer. â€Å"Come on, buddy. I told the Emperor I’d look out for you.† Bummer trotted over to Charlie and took the beef jerky from him, then turned to face down the squirrel people as he chewed. The squirrel people made clicking noises and brandished their weapons. â€Å"Not one of us. Not one of us,† chanted Bob. â€Å"Stop that,† Charlie said. â€Å"You can’t get a mob chant going, Bob, you’re the only one with a voice box.† â€Å"Oh yeah.† Bob let his chanting trail off. â€Å"Well, he’s not one of us,† he added in his defense. â€Å"He is now,† Charlie said. To Bummer he said, â€Å"Can you lead us to the Underworld?† Bummer looked up at Charlie as if he knew exactly what was being asked of him, but if he was going to find the strength to carry on, he was going to need the other half of that beef jerky. Charlie gave it to him and Bummer immediately jumped up to a higher, four-foot pipe, stopped, barked, then took off down the pipe. â€Å"Follow him,† Charlie said. After an hour following Bummer through the sewers, the pipes gave way to tunnels that got bigger as they moved along. Soon they were moving in caves, with high ceilings and stalactites in the ceiling that glowed in various colors, illuminating their way with a dull, shadowy light. Charlie had read enough about the geology of the area to know that these caves were not natural to the city. He guessed that they were somewhere under the financial district, which was mostly built on Gold Rush landfill, so there would be nothing as old-looking or as solid as these caves. Bummer kept on, leading them down one fork or another without the slightest hesitation, until suddenly the cave opened up into a massive grotto. The chamber was so large that it simply swallowed up Charlie’s flashlight and headlamp beams, but the ceiling, which was several hundred feet high, was lined with the luminous stalactites that reflected red, green, and purple in a mirror-smooth black lake. In the middle of the lake, probably two hundred yards away, stood a great black sailing ship – tall-masted like a Spanish galleon – red, pulsating light coming from the cabin windows in the rear, a single lantern lighting the deck. Charlie had heard that whole ships had been buried in the debris during the Gold Rush, but they wouldn’t have been left preserved like this. Things had changed, these caves were all the result of the Underworld rising – and he realized that this was just a hint of what was going to happen to the City if the Underworlders took o ver. Bummer barked and the sharp report echoed around the grotto, sending a cloud of bats into the air. Charlie saw movement on the deck of the ship, the blue-black outline of a woman, and he knew that Bummer had led them to the right place. Charlie handed his flashlight to Bob and set his sword-cane on the cave floor. He drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster, checked that there was a round in the chamber, cocked the hammer, then reset the safety and reholstered the pistol. â€Å"We’re going to need a boat,† Charlie said to Bob. â€Å"See if you guys can find something we can make a raft from.† The bobcat guy started down the shore with Charlie’s flashlight, scanning the rocks for useful flotsam. Bummer growled, tossed his head like he had ear mites or perhaps to indicate that he thought Charlie was insane, and ran out into the lake. Fifty yards away he was still only in water up to his shoulder. Charlie looked at the black ship and realized that it was sitting way, way too high out of the water – that, in fact, it was sitting with its hull on the bottom in only about six inches of water. â€Å"Uh, Bob,† Charlie said. â€Å"Forget the boat. We’re walking. Everyone quiet.† He unsheathed his sword and sloshed onward. As they approached the ship they could make out details in its construction. The railings were fashioned from leg bones lashed together, the mooring cleats were human pelvises. The lantern on the deck was, in fact, a human skull. Charlie wasn’t exactly sure how his powers as Luminatus were going to manifest themselves, but as they reached the hull of the ship he found himself very much wishing it would happen soon, and that levitation would be one of the powers. â€Å"We’re fucked,† said Bob, looking up at the black hull curving above them. â€Å"We’re not fucked,† Charlie said. â€Å"We just need someone to climb up there and throw us a rope.† There was some milling around amid the squirrel people, then a lone figure stepped out of the little crowd – this one appeared to be a nineteenth-century French dandy with the head of a monitor lizard. His outfit – the ruffles and the coat – actually reminded Charlie of pictures that Lily had shown him of Charles Baudelaire. â€Å"You can do it?† Charlie asked the lizard guy. He held out his hands and lifted one foot out of the water. Squirrel paws. Charlie lifted the lizard guy as high as he could up to the hull, and the little creature caught ahold in the black wood, then scurried up the side of the ship and over the gunwale. Minutes passed, and Charlie found himself listening hard for some hint as to what was going on above. When the thick rope splashed down next to him, he leapt two feet in the air and barely contained blasting out a full-blown man-scream. â€Å"Nice,† said Bob. â€Å"You first, then,† Charlie said, testing the rope to see if it would hold his weight. He waited until the bobcat guy was about three feet over his head before he tucked the sword-cane down inside the Lexan plate strapped over his back and started the climb himself. By the time he was three-quarters of the way up the rope, he felt as if his biceps were going to pop like water balloons and he entwined his motocross boot into the rope to rest. As if being granted a second wind by the gods, his biceps relaxed and when he resumed climbing he felt as if he might really be gaining his power as the Luminatus. When he reached the railing, he grabbed one of the bone mooring cleats and swung himself up until he sat straddling the rail. He swung around and his headlamp caught the black shine in her eyes. She was holding the bobcat guy like an ear of corn, her claw driven through his skull, pinning his jaw shut. There was flesh and goo glowing dull red, running down her face and over her breasts as she tore another bite out of the Beefeater. â€Å"Want some, lover?† she said. â€Å"Tastes like ham.† At the breakfast bar in Charlie’s apartment, Lily said, â€Å"Shouldn’t we tell them?† â€Å"They don’t all know about us. About this.† Minty held the date book. â€Å"Just Audrey.† â€Å"Then shouldn’t we tell her?† Minty looked at Audrey, who was sitting on the couch entwined in a sleepy pile with Charlie’s sister and one of the hellhounds, looking very content. â€Å"No, I don’t think that would serve any purpose right now.† â€Å"He’s a good guy,† Lily said. She snatched a paper towel off the roll on the counter and dabbed her eyes before her mascara went raccoon on her again. â€Å"I know,† Minty said. â€Å"He’s my friend.† As he said it, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to where Sophie was staring up at him. â€Å"Hey, do you have a car?† she asked. â€Å"Yes, I do, Sophie.† â€Å"Can we go for a ride?† Without any hesitation, Charlie whipped the sword-cane out of his back and snapped it down on the Morrigan’s wrist. She lost her grip on the bobcat guy, who bolted, screaming, across the deck and over the opposite railing. The Morrigan grabbed the sword-cane and tried to wrench it from Charlie’s grasp. He let her – pulled the sword free, then drove it into her solar plexus so hard that his fist connected with her ribs and the blade came out her back, sinking into the wooden hull of the lifeboat she was reclining against. For a split second his face was an inch from hers. â€Å"Miss me?† she asked. He rolled away just as she slashed at him. He got his forearm up just in time to deflect the blow away from his face, the thick Lexan plate on his forearm stopping the claws from taking off his hand. She lunged for him, but the sword kept her pinned to the boat. Charlie ran down the deck away from her as she screeched in anger. He saw light coming from a door that must have led to the cabin at the aft of the ship – that same red glow – and he realized that it had to be coming from the soul vessels. Rachel’s soul could still be in there. He was only a step from the hatch when the giant raven dropped in front of him and spread her wings out across the deck, as if trying to block the whole end of the ship. He backpedaled and drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster. He tried to hold it steady as he clicked off the safety. The Raven snapped at him and he leapt back. The beak then pulled back, changed, bubbled into the face of a woman – but the wings and talons remained in bird form. â€Å"New Meat,† said Macha. â€Å"How brave of you to come here.† Charlie pulled the trigger. Flame shot a foot out of the barrel and he felt as if someone had hit him in the palm with a hammer. He thought he had aimed right between her eyes, but the bullet had ripped through her neck, taking half of the black flesh with it. Her head lolled to the side and the raven body flailed its wings at him. Charlie fell backward onto the deck, but pulled the pistol up and fired again as the raven was coming down on him. This one caught her in the center of the chest and sent her flying backward, up onto the cabin roof. The ringing in his ears felt like someone had driven tuning forks into his head and hit them with drumsticks – a long, painful, high-pitched wail. He barely heard the shriek from his left as another Morrigan dropped out of the rigging behind him. He rolled to the railing and brought the gun up just as she slashed at his face. The gun and his forearm pad absorbed most of the blow, but the Desert Eagle was knocked from his grasp and slid down the deck. Charlie did a somersault to his feet and ran after the gun. Nemain flicked her claws at his back and he heard the sizzle as the poison strafed the Lexan pad down his spine and burned onto the deck on either side of him. He dove for the pistol and tried to roll and come up with it pointed at his attacker, but he misjudged and came up with the back of his knees against the bone railing. She leapt, claws first, and hit him in the chest just as he fired the Desert Eagle and he was driven backward over the railing. He hit flat on the water. The air exploded from his body and he felt like he’d been hit by a bus. He couldn’t breathe, but he could see, he could feel his limbs, and after a couple of seconds of gasping, he finally caught a breath. â€Å"So, how’s it going so far?† asked the bobcat guy, about two feet from Charlie’s head. â€Å"Good,† Charlie said. â€Å"They’re running scared.† There was a big chunk bitten out of the middle of Bob’s torso, and his Beefeater uniform was in tatters, but otherwise he seemed in good spirits. He was holding the Desert Eagle cradled in his arms like a baby. â€Å"You’ll likely need this. That last shot connected, by the way. You took off about half of her skull.† â€Å"Good,† Charlie said, still having a little trouble catching his breath. He felt a searing pain in his chest and thought he might have broken a rib. He sat up and looked at his chest plate. The Morrigan’s claws had raked the front of it, but in one spot he could see where a claw had slipped under the plate and into his chest. He wasn’t bleeding badly, but he was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. â€Å"Are they still coming?† â€Å"Not the two you shot. We don’t know where the one you stuck with your sword went.† â€Å"I don’t know if I can make it up that rope again,† Charlie said. â€Å"That may not be a _roblem,† Bob said. He was looking up to the ceiling of the grotto, where a whirlwind of squeaking bats was spiraling around the mast, but above them was beating the wings of another creature altogether. Charlie took the pistol from Bob and climbed to his feet, nearly fell, then steadied himself and backed away from the hull of the ship. The squirrel people scattered around him. Bummer let loose with a fusillade of angry yapping. The demon hit the water about thirty feet away. Charlie felt a scream rising in his throat but fought it down. The thing was nearly ten feet tall, with a wingspan of thirty feet. Its head was as big as a beer keg, and it appeared to have the shape and horns of a bull, except for the jaws, which were predatory, lined with teeth, like a cross between a shark and a lion. Its eyes were gleaming green. â€Å"Soul stealer,† it growled. It folded its wings into two high points behind its back, and stepped toward Charlie. â€Å"Well, that would be you, wouldn’t it?† Charlie said, a little breathless still. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus.† The demon stopped. Charlie took the hesitation to bring up the pistol and fire. The shot took the demon high in the shoulder and spun him to the side. He turned back and roared. Charlie could smell the creature’s breath, like rotting meat, wash over him. He backed up and fired again, his hand numb now from the recoil of the big pistol. The shot knocked the demon back a step. There was shrill cheering from above. Charlie fired again and again. The slugs opened craters in the demon’s chest. He wavered, then fell to his knees. Charlie aimed and pulled the trigger again. The gun clicked. Charlie backed up a few more steps and tried to remember what Minty had shown him about reloading. He managed to hit a button that released the clip from the pistol, which plopped into the water. Then he unsnapped one of the pouches under his arm to retrieve an extra clip. It slipped out and fell into the lake as well. Bob and a couple of the squirrel people splashed forward and started diving beneath the water, looking for the clip. The demon roared again, unfurled his wings, and, in one great flap, pulled himself to his feet. Charlie unsnapped the second clip and, with his hands shaking, managed to fit it into the bottom of the Desert Eagle. The demon crouched, as if to leap. Charlie jacked a shell into the chamber and fired at the same time. The demon fell forward as the huge slug took a chunk out of his thigh. â€Å"Well done, Meat!† came a female voice from above. Charlie looked up quickly, but then back to the bullheaded demon, who was on his feet again. Then he braced his wrist and fired, and again, walking forward, pumping bullets into the demon’s chest with each step, feeling any second as if his wrist would just shatter into pieces from the recoil, until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. He stopped, just five feet away from the demon when it fell over, facefirst into the water. Charlie dropped the Desert Eagle and fell to his knees. The grotto seemed to be tilting before him, his vision tunneling down. The Morrigan landed on three sides of him. Each had a glowing soul vessel in her claw and was rubbing it on her wounds. â€Å"That was excellent, lover,† said the raven woman standing closest to the fallen demon. Charlie recognized her from the alley. The stab wound his sword had made in her stomach healed over as he watched. She kicked the bullheaded demon’s body. â€Å"See, I told you that guns suck.† â€Å"That was well done, Meat,† said the one to Charlie’s right. Her neck was still knitting back together. She was the one he’d blasted up onto the cabin roof. â€Å"You guys do bounce back with a certain Wile E. Coyote charm,† Charlie said. He grinned, feeling drunk now, like he was watching all this from another place. â€Å"He’s so sweet,† said the hand-job harpy. â€Å"I could just eat him up.† â€Å"Sounds good to me,† said the Morrigan to his left, whose head was still a little lopsided. Charlie saw the venom dripping from her claws, then looked to the wound below his chest plate. â€Å"Yes, darling,† said hand job, â€Å"I’m afraid Nemain did nick you. You really are quite the warrior to have lasted this long.† â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† Charlie said. The Morrigan laughed, the one in front of Charlie did a little dance step. As she did, the bullheaded demon lifted his head from the water. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† said the demon, black goo and water running between his teeth as he spoke. The Morrigan stopped dancing, grabbed one of the demon’s horns, then pulled his head back. â€Å"You think?† she said. Then she plunged her claws into the demon’s throat. He rolled and threw her off, sending her sailing twenty feet in the air to smash into the hull of the ship. The Morrigan behind Charlie patted his head as she passed. â€Å"We’ll be right with you, darling. I’m Macha, by the way, and we are the Luminatus – or we will be in a minute.† The Morrigan fell on the bullheaded demon, taking great chunks of flesh and bone off his body with each slash of their talons. Two took to the air and swept in, taking swipes at the demon, who flailed at them, sometimes connecting, but too weakened from the gunshots to fight effectively. In two minutes it was finished, and most of the flesh had been flayed from it. Macha held his head by the horns like she was holding the handlebars of a motorcycle, even as the demon’s jaws continued to snap at the air. â€Å"Your turn, soul stealer,† Macha said. â€Å"Yeah, your turn,† said Nemain, baring her claws. Macha held the demon head out in front of her, driving it at Charlie. He backed away as the teeth snapped inches from his face. â€Å"Wait a minute,† said Babd. The other two stopped and turned to their sister, who stood over what was left of the demon’s corpse. â€Å"We never got to finish.† She took one step before something hit her like a ball of darkness, knocking her out of sight. Charlie looked at the demon head coming at him, then there was a loud smack and Macha was yanked to the side as if she’d had a bungee cord attached to her ankle. The screeching started again and Charlie could see the Morrigan being whipped around in the darkness, splashing, and chaos – he couldn’t follow what was happening. His eyes wouldn’t focus. He looked to Nemain, who was now coming at him with her claws dripping venom. A small hand appeared at the edge of his vision and the Morrigan’s head exploded into what looked like a thousand stars. Charlie looked to where the hand had appeared before his eyes. â€Å"Hi, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"Hi, baby,† Charlie said. Now he could see what was happening – the hellhounds were tearing at the Morrigan. One of them broke, jumped into the air and unfurled her wings, then dove at Sophie, screeching. Sophie raised her hand as if she was waving bye-bye and the Morrigan vaporized into a spray of black goo. The souls, thousands of them, that she had consumed over the millennia, floated into the air, red lights that circled the grotto, making the whole huge chamber appear to have been frozen in the middle of a fireworks display. â€Å"You shouldn’t be here, honey,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yes, I should,† Sophie said. â€Å"I had to fix this, send them all back. I’m the Luminatus.† â€Å"You†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah,† she said matter-of-factly, in that Master of All Death and Darkness voice that is so irritating in a six-year-old. The hellhounds were both on the remaining Morrigan now, tearing her in half as Charlie watched. â€Å"No, honey,† Charlie said. Sophie raised her hand and Babd was vaporized like the others – the captured souls rose like embers from a bonfire. â€Å"Let’s go home, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"No,† Charlie said, barely able to hold up his head. â€Å"We have something we have to get.† He lurched forward and one of the hellhounds was there to brace him. The whole army of squirrel people was coming around the bow of the ship, each carrying a glowing soul vessel he’d retrieved from the ship’s cabin. â€Å"Is this it?† Sophie said. She took a CD from Bob and handed it to Charlie. He turned it in his hands and hugged it to his chest. â€Å"You know what this is, honey?† â€Å"Yeah. Let’s go home, Daddy.† Charlie fell over the back of Alvin. Sophie and the squirrel people steadied him until they were out of the Underworld. Minty Fresh carried Charlie to the car. A doctor had come and gone. When Charlie came to he was on his bed at home and Audrey was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. â€Å"Hi,† he said. â€Å"Hi,† Audrey said. â€Å"Did Sophie tell you?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"They grow up so fast,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah.† Audrey smiled. â€Å"I got this.† He reached behind his chest plate and pulled out the Sarah McLachlan CD that pulsated with red light. Audrey nodded and reached out for the disc. â€Å"Let’s put that over here where you can keep an eye on it.† As soon as her fingers touched the plastic case the light went out and Audrey shuddered. â€Å"Oh my,† she said. â€Å"Audrey.† Charlie tried to sit up, but was forced back down by the pain. â€Å"Ouch. Audrey, what happened? Did they get it? Did they take her soul?† She was looking at her chest, then looked up at Charlie, tears in her eyes. â€Å"No, Charlie, it’s me,† she said. â€Å"But you had touched that before, that night in the pantry. Why didn’t it happen then?† â€Å"I guess I wasn’t ready then.† Charlie took her hand and squeezed it, then squeezed it much harder than he intended as a wave of pain washed through him. â€Å"Goddammit,† he said. He was panting now, breathing like he might hyperventilate. â€Å"I thought it was all dark, Audrey. All the spiritual stuff was spooky. You made me see.† â€Å"I’m glad,† Audrey said. â€Å"Makes me think I should have slept with a poet so I could have understood the way the world can be distilled into words.† â€Å"Yes. I think you have the soul of a poet, Charlie.† â€Å"I should have made love with a painter, too, so I could feel the wave of a brushstroke, so I could absorb her colors and textures and really see.† â€Å"Yes,† Audrey said, brushing at his hair with her fingers. â€Å"You have such a wonderful imagination.† â€Å"I think,† said Charlie, his voice going higher as he breathed harder, â€Å"I should have bedded a scientist so I would understand the mechanics of the world, felt them right down to my spine.† â€Å"Yes, so you could feel the world,† Audrey said. â€Å"With big tits,† Charlie added, his back arching in pain. â€Å"Of course, baby,† Audrey said. â€Å"I love you, Audrey.† â€Å"I know, Charlie. I love you, too.† Then Charlie Asher, Beta Male, husband to Rachel, brother to Jane, father to Sophie (the Luminatus, who held dominion over Death), beloved of Audrey, Death Merchant and purveyor of fine vintage clothing and accessories, took his last breath, and died. Audrey looked up to see Sophie come into the room. â€Å"He’s gone, Sophie.† Sophie put her hand on Charlie’s forehead. â€Å"Bye, Daddy,† she said. EPILOGUE THE GIRLS Things settled in the City of Two Bridges, and all the dark gods that had been rising to erupt out over the world remembered their place and returned to their domains deep in the Underworld. Jane and Cassie were married in a civil ceremony that was dissolved and sanctioned a half-dozen times over the years. Nevertheless, they were happy and there was always laughter in their home. Sophie went home to live with her Aunties Jane and Cassandra. She would grow to be a tall and beautiful woman, and eventually take her place as the Luminatus, but until then, she went to school and played with her puppies and had a fairly wonderful time as she waited for her daddy to come get her. THE SHOPKEEPERS While Minty Fresh had believed in the adage that in every moment there is a crisis, his belief had been somewhat academic until he started seeing Lily Severo, when it became very practical indeed. Life jumped up several steps for him on the interesting scale, to the point where the Death Merchant part of his existence became the more prosaic of his pursuits. They became renowned around town, the giant in pastels always in company with the short, Gothic chef, but the City really stood up and took notice when they opened up the Jazz and Gourmet Pizza Place in North Beach in the building that had once housed Asher’s Secondhand. As for Ray Macy, Inspector Rivera set him up with a lady pawnbroker from the Fillmore named Carrie Lang, and they hit it off almost immediately, having in common a love of detective movies and handguns, as well as a deep mistrust for most of humanity. Ray fell deeply in love, and true to his Beta Male nature, was doggedly loyal to her, although he always secretly suspected her of being a serial killer. RIVERA Inspector Alphonse Rivera has spent most of his life trying to change his life. He’d worked in a half-dozen different police departments, in a dozen different capacities, and although he was very good at being a cop, he always seemed to be trying to get out. After the debacle with the Death Merchants and the strange, unexplainable things that had gone on around it, he was simply exhausted. There had been a brief time when he’d been able to leave police work and open a rare-book store, and he felt as if that might have been the only time he had ever truly been happy. Now, at age forty-nine, he was ready to try it again: take an early retirement and just read and live in a calm, unevent-filled world of books. So he was somewhat pleased when, two weeks after the death of Charlie Asher, he went to his mailbox to find a substantial envelope that could only be a book. It was like an omen, he thought as he sat down at his kitchen table to open the package. It was a book – what looked like a very rare and bizarre children’s book. He opened it and turned to the first chapter. So Now You’re Death: Here’s What You’ll Need. THE EMPEROR The Emperor enjoyed a happy reunion with his troops and went on to rule benevolently over San Francisco to the end of his days. For leading Charlie into the Underworld, and for his boundless courage, the Luminatus gave Bummer the strength and durability of a hellhound. It would fall to the Emperor to explain how his now all-black companion – while he never weighed more than seven pounds soaking wet – could outrun a cheetah and chew the tires off a Toyota. AUDREY Audrey continued her work at the Buddhist center and did costuming for a local theater group, but she also took a volunteer job with hospice, where she helped people to the other side as she had done for so long in Tibet. The hospice position also, however, gave her access to bodies that had been recently vacated by their souls, and she used these opportunities to cycle the squirrel people back into the human flow of birth and rebirth. And for a while, there were remarkable instances of people recovering from terminal illness in the City, as she exercised the p’howa of undying. She didn’t give up her work with the squirrel people altogether, however, as it was a skill she had come to over a long time and a lot of work, and it could still be extraordinarily rewarding. At least that’s how she was feeling as she looked over her latest masterpiece in the meditation room of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. He had the face of a crocodile – sixty-eight spiked teeth, and eyes that gleamed like black glass beads. His hands were the claws of a raptor, the wicked black nails encrusted with dried blood. His feet were webbed like those of a waterbird, with claws for digging prey from the mud. He wore a purple silk robe, trimmed in sable, and a matching hat with a wizard’s star embroidered on it in gold thread. â€Å"It’s only temporary, until we find someone,† Audrey said. â€Å"But take my word for it, you look great.† â€Å"No, I don’t. I’m only fourteen inches tall.† â€Å"Yeah, but I gave you a ten-inch schlong.† He opened his robe and looked down. â€Å"Wow, would you look at that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Nice.†

Aspects of Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Aspects of Psychology - Essay Example Each stage is characterized by a psychosocial crisis, which is based on physiological development, but also on demands put on the individual by parents and/or society. Ideally, the crisis in each stage should be resolved by the ego in that stage, in order for development to proceed correctly. The outcome of one stage is not permanent, but can be altered by later experiences. Everyone has a mixture of the traits attained at each stage, but personality development is considered successful if the individual has more of the "good" traits than the "bad" traits. A residual conflict over initiative may be expressed as hysterical denial, which may cause the repression of the wish or the abrogation of the child's ego: paralysis and inhibition, or overcompensation and showing off. The Oedipal stage results not only in oppressive establishment of a moral sense restricting the horizon of the permissible, but also sets the direction towards the possible and the tangible which permits dreams of early childhood to be attached to goals of an active adult life. Ego identity is the accrued confidence that the inner sameness and continuity prepared in the past are matched by the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for others, as evidenced in the promise of a career. In the Egocentrism in Older Adu... The child feels guilt over the goals contemplated and the acts initiated in exuberant enjoyment of new locomotors and mental powers. The castration complex occurring in this stage is due to the child's erotic fantasies. A residual conflict over initiative may be expressed as hysterical denial, which may cause the repression of the wish or the abrogation of the child's ego: paralysis and inhibition, or overcompensation and showing off. The Oedipal stage results not only in oppressive establishment of a moral sense restricting the horizon of the permissible, but also sets the direction towards the possible and the tangible which permits dreams of early childhood to be attached to goals of an active adult life. After Stage 3, one may use the whole repertoire of previous modalities, modes, and zones for industrious, identity-maintaining, intimate, legacy-producing, despair-countering purposes. Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority To bring a productive situation to completion is an aim which gradually supersedes the whims and wishes of play. The fundamentals of technology are developed To lose the hope of such "industrious" association may pull the child back to the more isolated, less conscious familial rivalry of the Oedipal time The child can become a conformist and thoughtless slave whom others exploit. Stage 5 - Identity vs. Role Confusion (or "Diffusion") The adolescent is newly concerned with how they appear to others. Ego identity is the accrued confidence that the inner sameness and continuity prepared in the past are matched by the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for others, as evidenced in the promise of a career. The inability to settle on a school or occupational identity is disturbing.

Learning and Assessment Basics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Learning and Assessment Basics - Research Paper Example It is therefore imperative to have these factors in mind when designing an appropriate assessment technique. To be more precise, an assessment technique that best serves learning must be integrated with instruction and curriculum. Characteristics of learners Although the characteristics of students may have some similarity, in the long run, they are as unique as finger prints. It’s of great importance for educators to monitor and have knowledge of the characteristics of their students. In fact, educators or teachers should keep a well updated profile of their students. This is very important when it comes to structuring tailor-made techniques of teaching, instruction and assessment. As an educator, there are various characteristics I can identify with learners. Firstly, majority of learners poses the ability to evaluate. Students like to quickly form opinions and can evaluate basically everything and especially their tutors. They can easily detect lack of competence, sincerity or enthusiasm (Wood & Cantillon, 2011). Tutors therefore need to be dedicated to doing their best to avoid giving students the opportunity to make evaluations especially the adverse one. Fallibility is another trait associated with students. Just like anybody else, students make mistakes and tutors should not lose patience when students make mistakes. ... Some grasp concepts fast but forget fast while others take time to understand new concepts but once they understand, they rarely forget. Often, those students that understands concepts fast gets bored when tutors keep on repeating the same thing while on the other hand, the ‘slow learners’ are left behind when the tutors rush. Another characteristic of learners is that they like to be recognized. Recognition is one way of motivating students and tutors can use different approaches to recognize special performances. Recognition should be prompt and proportional to the degree of performance. Other characteristics of learners include that different students poses different psychological characteristics that dictate when and how they learn. This makes students to perceive different things differently. Some students learn best early in the morning while others perform best later in the day. This is rather psychological and varies from student to student. They also react diffe rently to immediate environment like effects of sound and the setting of the learning environment (Aspin et al., 2011). Explain how your understanding of cognition and learning will influence your design of instruction and assessment with this group in mind. The two skills actually work hand in hand because it is one thing to learn and another to understand things in the classroom environment that influence the nature of instruction and assessment methods. Learning actually gives more formal skill and approach towards development of instructional and assessment methods while on the other hand, cognition helps instructors often to invent, discover, or simply stumble upon a strategy that works. According to the question, the knowledge I have gained through thinking and learning will

Communities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Communities - Essay Example So, what makes a group like ours a community is the existence of values, norms, customs, and traditions that are shared and respected by one group of people. As such, the world now no more consists of individuals but of social groups and communities that are characterized by unique sets of values and norms. This means that the world is actually composed of different cultures. A community then is characterized by the ways of life of the members of a group, including how they dress, their marriage customs and family life, their patterns of work, religious ceremonies and leisure time. In the case of the group I belong to, we share the habit of going to the cafà ©, having our preferred drink, and exchanging talks and stories. Actually, the main need of the group I belong to is the need to socialize and feel that one does live alone in this world. Rather, there is a need t listen to other people’s stories, problems, and fun moments. However, some of the tensions or differences that work against the cohesion of this community include the existence of some different cultural backgrounds for the members of the community. For example, one member of our group belongs to an African culture, another one belongs to an Asian culture, and a third one is a Hispanic. Typically, a group of individuals who belong to the same society or group are characterized by certain traits and values that may be completely different from, and sometimes opposite to, other values and norms. In our group, some members belong originally to eastern societies, while others belong to Wester n societies. As for me, with my European background, I feel excited and relaxed when communicating with individuals who belong to different cultures and backgrounds. Thus, I feel that the group I belong to is quite interesting and appealing to me, as it enriches my life and gives me a chance to have an eye on other

Solid Waste Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Solid Waste - Term Paper Example Environmental activists have conducted massive research on the subject of solid waste. To date, many smartly engineered techniques like recycling and composting have been introduced to protect the environmental purity and human population from its toxic effects. There are regulations defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for different types of waste in the Unites States (US). This paper attempts to contemplate what modern literature has to say on the subject from multiple perspectives. It will also scrutinize different EPA regulations for eradication of solid waste to analyze the extent to which this issue is taken seriously in the best interests of people and global climate. Types of solid waste: There are different types of solid waste which come in all varieties. Some common examples include tires, rubber, plastic products, empty bottles/cans, broken furniture, cylinders, construction debris, and industrial waste etc. Depending on a particular source, solid waste ca n be divided into domestic, industrial, and biomedical waste. Each type of waste is interpreted differently and influences our environment differently. Also, different regulation policies are identified for each type depending on its specific nature. Household waste is considered MSW. Some kinds of industrial waste are known as hazardous waste, while biomedical waste whose source is healthcare facilities is considered infectious waste. Industrial waste is considered very harmful and is made up of chemicals and metal mostly (The Energy and Resources Institute, 2007). Biomedical waste includes wasted stuff like gloves, sheets, plastic, disposables, chemicals, swabs, syringes, human waste etc.. This genre of solid waste is generated during surgeries, research, and treatment processes. This is the most infectious of all types of solid waste and poses a serious threat to humanity if not effectively managed as often as necessary in a certified manner. Given the high rate of infectious dis position of biomedical waste, it is assumed that 1 kg of every 4 kg of hospital waste contains infectious materials (TERI, 2007). Timely management of solid waste is critical important as otherwise, the risk of dangerous infections swiftly reaches a worrisome rate. Regulations by EPA for each type of solid waste: Many regulations have been made in the area of public law to properly manage both hazardous and nonhazardous solid waste. This identifies that law enforcement agencies significantly acknowledge how untreated waste can threaten the environment. The job of EPA is to keep track of the amount of trash produced, recycled, and composted each year in America in addition to generating a detailed report on this subject. It is claimed that in the year 2011, about 250 millions of MSW alone was generated by Americans and only 87 millions of it got recycled and composted which identifies a recycling rate of 34.7% (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2013). Solid waste generat ed by house can often be harmful. So, household waste exemption is an important regulation for the solid waste management by EPA. It is literally impossible for EPA to monitor every house in every US state which may occasionally throw a bucket of paint or a bottle of acidic contents outside. So, houses are exempted from application of Subtitle C but the solid waste produced by them is still regulated under Subtitle D. The principal objective of Subtitle D is to promote â€Å"

MRES7004 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

MRES7004 - Essay Example The application of the sequence produces a FID which is read to get the gradient required. Multiple frequencies are produced as the read gradient is applied. The variation of frequencies is linearly connected. The total change of frequency experienced depends on the position within the gradient. After the FID is acquired, it is treated with a Fourier transform. This produces a spectrum that displays peaks corresponding to different frequencies. The sum total of all signal intensity values at one single place of observation become individual peaks. A one dimensional quantity is produced by the application of the read gradient as it is independent of time. (Weishaupt et al., 2006) Phase Direction Encoding A phase gradient is applied after applying a read gradient and slice selection. This is otherwise known as phase encoding and tends to increase the nuclei’s frequency such that it precesses at different angles that all match up with the Larmor frequency. The increase of frequen cy due to the application of a phase gradient directly impacts the total phase change displayed by nuclei. However there is a need to discern different nuclei which can be done by the application of Fourier transforms. (Westbrook et al., 2005) Question Two Using the Fourier transforms helps to convert the available data from the time domain to the frequency domain. This can then be utilised to form two dimensional or three dimensional images based on available data. Data is spatially encoded before becoming a part of the k space and so its position within the k space can be determined accordingly. Application of the first Fourier transforms aids in interpreting the data values that were encoded in the read direction. This is useful in identifying the frequency (alternatively signal intensity) within the plane selected for the application of the read gradient. This makes it simple to differentiate the positions within the k space’s horizontal trajectory. The data obtained in t his way has its units changed from m-1 to m. Consequently only a one dimensional image is formed. (Woodward, 2001) Application of the second Fourier transform helps to differentiate various frequencies that were encoded along the phase direction after the application of a phase gradient. This transform separates all the values and lists them accordingly. The vertical k space trajectories are dealt with this transformation. The units again change from m-1 to m and the resulting image becomes two dimensional. (IMAIOS, 2009) The total k space contains data encoded from two directions that are the read and the phase directions. The read direction’s data is displayed as horizontal trajectories in the k space while the phase direction’s data is displayed as vertical trajectories in the k space. Fourier transforms aid in creating a complete two dimensional image of the concerned nuclear spin densities in relation to the slice positions. (Hashemi et al., 2004) Question Three V arious experimental factors affect transverse spin coherence as well as the k space. These factors and their effects are listed below. Radio Frequency Pulse: A radio frequency pulse at 90o is utilised along with the chief magnetic field to produce magnetism such that the Z direction vector reorients itself into the X plane the Y plane. The magnetism produced is subsequently de-phased both in the X plane and the Y plane. This requires one more re-phasing at 180o. Read Gradient: Read

Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Law - Essay Example The legal relationship creates rights and obligations between the parties and binds only between those who are privy to the contract, and not other people who are not parties (often described in law books as â€Å"strangers† or by the misnomer â€Å"third parties†) even though those people may be affected by the contract directly or indirectly (p. 15). Usually the agreement will contain a promise or set of promises that each party has made to the other: this is known as bilateral contract because each party promises to do something. For example, X promises to build a house for Y and Y promises to pay X for doing so. Sometimes only one party will make a promise to do something if the other party actually does something stipulated by the former1. For example, X promises to pay $100 if Y completes and returns a marketing questionnaire to X. Such a contract is known as a unilateral contract because the promise is one-sided. Although X promised to pay in the stipulated circumstances, Y is under no obligation to complete and return the marketing questionnaire but if he does the court or arbitral tribunal will recognize a binding agreement that X will pay him $1002. In building projects daring negotiations for the award of a formal contract one sometimes finds so-called letters of intent expressed in terms such as these: â€Å"Please pr oceed with the works and if no formal contract is concluded we will pay you your costs and expenses that you have incurred† (Richard & Stone 2005, p. 115). It is often not appreciated that a letter in such terms can create a unilateral contract which the court will enforce, albeit not the formal contract which the parties had hoped to finalize. And although one often talks of a â€Å"written† or â€Å"formal† contract it is not really the piece of paper which itself is the contract – the piece of paper merely records what the terms of the contract are

Male culture disadvantages boys in education Essay Example for Free

Male culture disadvantages boys in education Essay Until the late 1980s, most sociological literature focused on the underachievement of girls. Girls were less likely to pursue A levels and consequently to enter higher education. However, in the early 1990s, it was argued that girls had begun to outperform boys at most levels of the education system. The main sociological focus today therefore is on the underachievement of boys. Epstein et al.(1999) state that boys underachievement is not something new, but in the past was not a worrying trend for two reasons: working-class boys used to move easily into jobs without good qualifications in the days when sons followed fathers into mines, factories, etc. And the structural and cultural barriers preventing females access to high-status jobs and the pressure on women to become wives and mothers, etc. meant that males always achieved better paid jobs in the long run. However, today Epstein notes that governments are anxious about large numbers of unemployed young men because they are a potential threat to social order. There are many reasons why boys are under-achieving in education. In some schools, the extent of boys underachievement has become so serious that twice as many girls are getting five GCSEs grades A-C. It is estimated that by the age of 16, nearly 40% of boys are lost to education. Some sociologists have suggested that the fault lies with teachers. Studies of classroom interaction and the relationship between pupils and teachers suggest that teachers are not as strict with boys as with girls. It is claimed that teachers tend to have lower expectations of boys, e. g.they expect work to be late, to be untidy and boys to be disruptive. Emphasis in the past has been on excluding such boys rather than looking for ways to motivate them. Consequently a culture of low achievement evolved among boys and was not acted upon because the emphasis in schools for many years was to make education more relevant and interesting for girls. Boys performance in schools is a complex issue. This policy issue of boys underachievement can be understood in many different ways. The issue can be framed in terms of human capital, class inequality, equal opportunities or social justice. Links can be drawn between the low educational attainment of some boys and the low employment rates of some young men. There is also for some boys an antagonism between educational attainment, even attentiveness, and the performance and achievement of particular and valued masculinities. Mac An Ghaill (1996) argues that working-class boys are experiencing a crisis of masculinity. Their socialisation into traditional masculine identity has been undermined by the decline of traditional mens jobs in manufacturing and primary industries such as mining. Mass unemployment found in working-class areas means that boys are no longer sure about their future role as men. This confusion about their future role may lead working-class boys to conclude that qualifications are a waste of time because there are only limited opportunities in the job market. The future looks bleak and without purpose so they dont see the point in working hard. They may temporarily resolve this crisis by constructing delinquent or anti-school subcultures, which tend to be anti-learning. Research evidence indicates that boys appear to gain street credibility and status in such cultures for not working. In 1994 Panoramas The Future is Female by Hannon suggested that with more opportunities for women in the work place, a change in the female ideology and with a fairer education system women simply passed the boys. Boys are not actually doing worse than they have done in the past, they are improving, but girls improvement outstrips boys Hannon, The Future is Female, 1994. With father opportunities of women it is easy to realise the origins of the current masculinity crisis, as there is no set role. Boys are no longer thought of as maturing later and comfortably walking into sustainable education. Instead men are expected to work hard throughout education to reap the rewards later but this is against the gender stereotype portrayed through the agents of socialisation. With this problem the new man was created producing a crisis for men on which to evolve into. Both published in socialisation agents boys have the problem of evolving into fulfilling the laddish stereotype or one in which they draw away from the idea that it is not male to work hard in education. Other sociologists have pointed to the feminine culture, which surrounds younger children as a possible influence on male under- achievement. Children, both male and female, may equate learning and therefore schooling with femininity. As boys grow up, they identify with more masculine role models and may reject academic learning and skills such as presentation and reading as feminine. Boys and reading and boys and literature are frequently mentioned by teachers as trouble spots in educating boys. Many young boys belong to anti-learning sub-cultures and they would therefore be deemed as un-cool if they achieved well in school especially in a girly subject such as English. Many boys dont try to achieve at school simply to conform to their groups norms and values. If their group doesnt value education then they wont. They believe it is more valuable to be popular and in with the right crowd as opposed to achieving in school and education.

Sexism In English Language English Language Essay

Sexism In English Language English Language Essay Sexism in language represents one of the major issues in sociolinguistic studies. As a phenomenon of society, sexism is reflected through language that expresses inclination in favor of one sex and treats the other one in a discriminatory manner. Characteristically, the bias is in favor of men and against women. Thus, the language is presented as a powerful tool of patriarchy. Even though in English-speaking countries all the people are considered equal, discrimination against women exists and this fact is observed in language. Given this evidence, the purpose of the research is to study morphological, syntactic and semantic peculiarities of English sexist language. The research proposal will therefore seek to explore and investigate the following: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To define the concept of sexist language; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To identify and evaluate the cultural factor, social factor, physiological factor and psychological factor which influence the existence of sexism in English language; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To examine the elements of sexism in the English language which occur in the syntax, morphology and semantics of the language; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To determine the strategies for avoiding sexism in English language. The main method applied in this study is a literary overview of the works in which is treated the topic Sexism in English language. The theoretical framework which influenced the elaboration of this research for the deeper insight into the problem of morphological, syntactic and semantic peculiarities of English sexist language is based on the relevant and recent works of such authors as Peter Trudgill in Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, Nilson, Alleen Pace and Haig Bosmajian, H Lee Gershung, Julia P Stanley in Sexism and Language, Nneka Umera-Okeke in Linguistic Sexism: An Overview of the English Language in Everyday Discourse and Hudson, R. A. in Sociolinguistics. These books were selected for the present research as they investigate the phenomenon of sexism in English language and they are recent studies from sociolinguistic domain. On the basis of their ideas concerning elements of sexism in English language, I will analyze and compare their assumptions and evidences about the topic under the discussion. Consequently, I will outline the similarities and differences between their points of view concerning the topic. In addition to this, I will try to determine if they contradict or share the same ideas about the problem investigated and if their arguments are reasonable and trustful, in order to clarify if English language is a sexist one, and if it is to examine the elements of sexism in the English language which occur in the syntax, morphology and semantics of the language. The motivation for choosing the topic of this research proposal is based on the fact that during the last decades a lot of questions and criticisms of  sexist language  have appeared, trying to identify whether English language is a sexist language or it does not. Thus, it would be relevant to perform a linguistic investigation of morphological, syntactic and semantic peculiarities of sexist language. On the basis of this investigation, we will identify the role language plays in the society and how it influences the social attitudes of human beings. Taking into account the fact that women were regarded as a weaker gender in society, being discriminated for a long time, it seems interesting and challenging to explore this topic in order to identify whether this stereotyped social phenomena or subordinate status of women in society is reflected and preserved in language. Due to the fact that many students encounter difficulties in determining the gender of the nouns, the results o f this research will help them to distinguish between the common gender, female gender and male gender of the words and to justify their use. This research could serve as a didactic material for teachers of sociolinguistics and help investigate the main morphological, syntactic and semantic peculiarities of sexist language. Definitions of Sexist Language One of the most important factors in the development of the world is language, which can be interpreted as a human creation. Taking into account the fact that humanity is divided into two spheres: the sphere of males and the spheres of females, it can be revealed a major ambiguity concerning the subject if the language is made by men or by women. Even though, English countries claim that all people are born equal, there are a lot of inequalities between men and women. It is put stress on this topic because according to sociolinguistic research, this inequality is reflected in language and this phenomena sexism in language represents one of the major issues in sociolinguistic studies. According to Hudson, sexism in English languages has existed for a long time, which is reflected of the traditional ethics that men are superior to women [x; 38]. In this order of ideas, Deborah Cameron work, reveals that Men originate from Mars and Women originate from Venus [10]. Given this evidence, it can be seen that some gender differences do exist. Support for this interpretation comes from Peter Trudgell, through his work Sociolinguistics: An introduction to language and society [7; 100], who confirms that males are above females, due to the fact that in the past there existed the myth of superiority, when the entire power was in the hands of men. Thus, as a special social phenomenon, sexism is inevitably reflected through language and sexism in language reflects sexism in society. But, with the raise of womens liberation, and the development of mass media, the whole English words start a social revolution to eliminate the sexism in the English language, because sexism in the English language is seen as a discriminating act of women. This point is particularly relevant for Nneka Umera-Okekes study Sexism in English Language, who asserts that sexism is a kind of discrimination by one sex against the other, especially by males against females [4; 7]. Applied to language, Rob in Lakoff underlines that a sexist language takes a male-as-norm attitude, while female norms have a less positive connotation than males. Thus, Robin Lakoff uses the example of master vs mistress to make the point: there are unequal  connotations  that surround these two matching terms and to the detriment of the female Master has strong and powerful connotation, while mistress does not [2; 67]. This evidence seems to indicate that a sexist language also presents stereotypes of both females and males, but more often to the disadvantage of females. A fuller discussion about sexist language appears in the study Beginners Guide to Language and Gender. Multilingual Matters, 2008, by Allyson Jule, who claims that a sexist language depicts women in the position of passive object rather than active subject, such as on the basis of their appearance (a blonde) or domestic roles (a mother of two) when similar depictions in similar contexts would not be made of men [1; 65]. On this basi s it may be inferred that sexist language discriminates against women. Research by Nneka Umera-Okeke, Linguistic Sexism: An Overview of the English Language in Everyday Discourse, suggests that sexist language is considered to be any language that is supposed to include all people, but unintentionally (or not) excludes a gender -this can be either males or females. It is clear therefore that a look at sexist language is finding the relation between language and gender. A more plausible explanation for this phenomenon would refer to the moment when many people meet difficulties of making the choices between certain words in their everyday discourses. For instance, they wonder which to choose the chairman has arrived for the meeting or the chairperson has arrived when referring to a woman. This fact lends weight to the argument that a sexist language excludes women and trivializes what women do [4; 32]. Sexist language is especially common in situations that describe jobs-common assu mptions include that all doctors are men, all nurses are women, all coaches are men, or all teachers are women. These examples lend strong support to the fact that a sexist language transmits the stereotypes. Ivy and Backlund state that a sexist language refers to the attitudes/behaviors that denigrate one sex to the rise of the other. [5; 123]. Given this evidence it can be seen that sexist language is a verbal communication that transmit those attitudes and behaviors. Additionally to this, a sexist language can be viewed as an instrument used by the members of the society to damage someone. Cameron rightly points out that a language can be called sexist if it represents or name the world from a masculine viewpoint. This means that language encodes a cultures values, and in this way reflects sexist culture [10]. The opinion of Parks Roberton concerning the definition of sexist language is that words, phrases, and expressions that unnecessarily differentiate between women and men or exclude, or diminish either gender [5; 127]. In other words, sexist language refers to the use of language expressions in such a way that it constitutes an unbalanced portrayal of the sexes. Hyde has drawn attention to the fact that in a sexist language he and man refer to everyone [3; 73]. This fact becomes clear when Slovenko examines English language stating that except for words that refer to female by definition (mother, actress, Congresswoman), and words for occupations traditionally held by females (nurse, secretary, prostitute), the English language defines everyone as male [6; 78]. Concluding this subchapter designed to the analysis of the definitions of sexist language, it can be entailed the fact that the sexist language excludes, marginalizes or discriminates against people on the basis of their gender and creates an unfair distinction between women and men. Sexism in language in general comes in three major forms: language ignores women; it defines women as less significant than men; and it completely opposes women. They can be located in the generic masculine terms. Thus, the sexist language is the use of words that cultivate stereotyped gender roles. The Factors of Sexism in the English Language Sexism in English is built up during a long period of the development of language, which leads to the variety of the causes. Thus, in the study An Analysis of Sexism in English Language, there are enumerated four factors which cause the appearance of sexism in language: [11]. Religious Factor According to the Holy Bible (The Books of The Old Testament), God created man first of all, while woman made from one of mans ribs was created just as a help meet for him [Holy Bible]. From the order of the birth, it is obvious to see the different importance of man and woman. Thus, man and woman are not equal at all because woman is only a part of man, which itself is the discrimination against women. Additionally to this, it is known the fact that the first sin was also committed by the woman. Consequently, the woman was punished to bring forth children in pain and was ruled over by the man. These two examples reveal the superiority of men and inferiority of women. In fact, the Holy Bible is actually a book of men and as Christianity is such a powerful religion in Western countries, it is clear therefore that this religious factor consolidate the inferiority of women. Physiological factor Due to the fact that men are stronger than women from physiological point of view, it can be stated that this fact determines that men play a more and more important role in social and economic lives. A mans job is to work outside but a womans job is to stay at home, do the housework and take care of the children. Women are treated as the weaker ones and they realize their own values through their marriages to men. At last, women are lower in status. They have to leech on to men and are dominated by men. Gradually, people begin to discriminate women and think that they are inferior in intelligence. This wrong perspective reflects in language [7; 37]. Social Factor Feminists all claim that we live in a patriarchal society: a society of men, ruled by men and for men. Patriarchy depicts men as the perfect norm against which women are measured and found lacking. Both the Western and Eastern societies use sex, to one degree or another, in allocating tasks, activities, rights, and responsibilities. As for the job done by men and women, there is a long-stereotyped notion of what they can do. In history, there has been a division of labor-a division in which womens place was restrained at home for housework and child-care while men worked outside being the breadwinner. At last, men had dominance over women, and women had to be dependent on men. This was the turning point for women. Thus the sexism in the society has been in existence, the embodiment of which is necessarily the sexism of language. Guimei He in his work An Analysis of Sexism in English, adds that this factor is in a strong correlation with labor division [11]. Psychological factor Because of the social and cultural factors, women are always considered to be the weak. People treat women as inferior to men. They educate men to be manly, decisive, and brave while women are required to be polite, conservative, obedient, and gentle. Because women are in subordinate status in the society, they have to constrain their emotion and give up their own need to meet the satisfaction of men. As time passes, when speaking women pay more attention to the elegance and standard of language than men. They use more pleasant and polite words in the hope that they can receive others approval. And they are taught to speak softly, to avoid contradicting others, to be obedient in communication, and to be aware of giving cues of strong confidence. They mould themselves to be inferior in their potential sub consciousness. Therefore, women try their best to strengthen their social status through their speech than men do. This also suggests that women are in a lower position in the societ y. Additionally to this, Xiang Xu in his study The Sexism in English and Its Rebuilding, claims that history development also had a strong influence to the appearance of sexism in language. Thus, he exemplifies that from ancient time on, the ruling position in western society is almost held by male persons. After climbing to the high position, men began to look down upon women. This attitude could influence the ideology of the whole society. So lots of men-central terms with sexists color came into being during the stage of English forming. In the 14th century, Chaucer, who is concieved as the Father of English language, created a great deal of terms, later, Milton and Shakespeare competitively invented new words. They contributed a lot to English, at the same time, the negative side they brought cant be ignored. These famous males contribution to English who were living in males society, accelerated the extensive transmission of the language of sexism [9; 101-103]. 1.3 Elements of Sexism in English Language In order to identify if English Language is a sexist language, we are going to focus on the identification and examination of elements of sexism which occur in the syntax, morphology and semantics of English Language. 1.3.1 Morphological Peculiarities of Sexism in English a) Derivation In English Language, derivation is a way of word formation with the help of derivational morphemes affixes and suffixes. It forms a word with meaning and category distinct from that of its base through the addition of an affix. These affixes often change the part of the stem. Thus, affixes help us to identify relationships within words. The affixes are always bound morphemes, which carries information about meaning or function. Referring to the English lexicon, Guimei He in his study An Analysis of Sexism in English, claims that in the English lexicon one of the most obvious evidences of the sexism is the affixes which lead to a view of women as a derivation from a male term [11]. The feminine one is always derivative of the masculine one by adding a feminine suffix such as -ess and -ette. Actor, for instance, with the meaning of a person who plays the part of a character in a movie or play ,when attached to a feminine suffix -ess, becomes actress with the meaning of woman with profession similar to those of actor . And as for -ette, when usher is adhered to -ette, it becomes usherette. Such pairs of the words are of long lists in English lexicon. Here just list some of them: Masculine Feminine ambassador ambassadress duke duchess Rovano lends weight to the argument that this kind of word-formation seems to tell that women are derived from men and attached to the men [3; 72-28]. On this basis it can be inferred the fact that the addition of a feminine suffix to masculine human agent nouns usually does more than simply change the gender reference of the word, it often attaches a meaning of triviality, of lesser status or dependence to the term. It shows that woman is affiliated to man, so it is a kind of linguistic discrimination against women. But with further insight into the meaning of such pairs, Randall mentions that stereotyping in the terms  governor  and governess, and  bachelor  and  spinster, the masculine and feminine forms have vastly differing connotations [8; 129]. Thus, he exemplifies that the suffix-ess not only marks the secondary position of the feminine words but also connotes the relationship between the female and male reference to the pair of words. Let us compare the pair of governor with governess. Governor is a ruler of a country, city and associates with power and high social status as well as honor and dignity; while governess is a woman employed to teach young children in their home. Because of the gender differentiation, these two words have dramatically different meanings, the masculine one of which belongs to high social class, but the feminine one marked with -ess belongs to a lower social class. By making observation of many feminine words, which are formed through derivation by adding the suffix-ess, it must therefore be recognized that -ess is far a suffix marking the female category, it has semantic meanings. Preference for but discrimination against female can be clearly seen in ways of word formation. Another aspect, touched by Trask I his study, concerned with this point is that English sex-paired words (here referring to the pair of words with gender contrast) the masculine one has greater flexibility in word-formation and mainly has a wider distribution of meaning [7; 39]. Take the pair of man and woman for instance (man and woman here are roots in the process of word formation). Manhood has three meanings in the Oxford Dictionary. (1) state of being a man, (2)qualities of a man, eg. courage, manliness,(3) a men of a country, while womanhood only has one meaning concept of state of being woman [12]. By comparison, it is clear that manhood has two more meaning concepts than womanhood. What means by having more meaning concepts? According to Trudgill, words are symbol of physical entities in reality [7; 39]. In this sense, the masculine words with much more meaning concepts reflect that men have more chance in social activities and in turn a more efficient way to express them selves and reinforce the masculine imagery. It comes to a conclusion that masculine words are common and general, while feminine words are mainly formed by attacking suffixes on the basis of the masculine words. b) Compound Words Another common way to build words in English through the combination of lexical categories is compound. Greenberg presented a taxonomy of gender for languages. In addition to languages that are without gender, languages are said to have either semantic (also called natural) gender or grammatical (also called anomalous) gender [4; 13]. Thus, he stated that English itself has no difference of gender. Many professionals such as doctor, engineer, lawyer, professor, judge, and surgeon can be used to indicate both males and females. However, actually due to the long-stereotyped view of the relationship between gender and profession, such word conventionally refers to one gender, either male or female. Since occupational terms in English are often seen as a source of perceived sexism, McMinn et al. (1990) administered a test to check for the use of sexist language among college students [1; 67-68]. In written and oral protocols subjects were asked to respond to the following occupational terms, which had been placed in non-sexual contexts:  business executive, nurse, professor, truck driver, librarian, robber, bank teller [10]. Their study shows that sexual bias in English goes beyond grammatical marking, that is, that simply finding terms unmarked for gender will not disabuse language users of their sexual stereotypes For example: (1)My cousin is an engineer. (2)My cousin is a nurse. Nine out of ten come with the first response that my cousin in sentence (1) is male and in sentence (2) female. Only one of all ten tells with hesitation whether my cousin is female or male. Professions involving power and strength such as president and chairman are more likely to be associated to men, because these satisfactory jobs are traditionally viewed as ones qualified only by males. But when indicating females position, professions, etc, these words are created by adding a bound morpheme or by combining them with a word referring to female, a compound form of combination of a female title such as woman, female, lady or madam and the professional term comes into use, for example, woman lawyer and madam chairman. On the other hand, professions involving patience, service or lower social status are more likely to be associated with woman, for example, nurse, dressmaker and secretary. If on special occasions a male involved, then the compound form of a masculine title male or man and a professional term is used for example, newsman, policeman, businessman, fireman, salesman, fisherman, etc. It makes clear that men monopolize the high status professions. Women can only do service work or low social status work. Take the compound word callboy and call girl for example. The former refers to the waiter in hotel or the person who calls the player ready to stage in theatre; the latter means the prostitute summoned by phone. These words have manifested the discrimination of language towards female from the angle of word matching. Using compound forms to specify professions between men and women is somehow a reflection of the reality that women are exclusive from professions with higher social status and to some extent the form of language usage in turn reinforces such a social phenomenon. 1.3.2 Syntactic Peculiarities of Sexism in English a) Generic Pronouns In English there are a group of nouns of common gender, which refer to either male or female such as student, person, teacher, etc. When such nouns are used with generic reference in single form, the traditional grammar advocates using the masculine pronouns in the context for the purpose of coherence with generic nouns [4; 12-14]. Generic pronouns are pronouns that are said to refer, with equal likelihood, to women and men. But the English language ignores women by allowing masculine terms to be used specifically to refer to males and commonly to refer to human beings in general. The generic pronoun he is perhaps the most well known example of the gender-specific of sexist language, and is frequently referred to be he/man language. The most significant manifestation of the sexism is in the use of generic masculine pronouns he and its variants his, him and himself in such sentences as: (1) If one wants to see the ruins, he must find his own guide. (2)  He who laughs last laughs best. (3)  Everyone must do his homework well. (4)  Everyone should learn to solve problems himself. In the above examples, he, his, him and himself are used not sex-specifically, but generically, that is, although the pronouns refer grammatically to the single male citizen, they should be taken to refer to both male and female citizens in general. On the formal occasions, he, him or his can be used to refer to such indefinite pronouns as each, everyone, everybody, no one, someone, anyone and so on. While she, her, herself dont have such usages.  Ã‚  In other words, the masculine pronoun is the representative either female or male reference. Thus, it seems like a linguistic edition of the social inequalities. b) Generic Nouns Another well-known example of generic masculine term is man. Man and woman as two equal components of human race are actually not equal in English lexicon. Man, besides its reference to male human being can also refer to the whole race. The usage in a general sense of man makes woman invisible. For example; (1) All men must die. (2) Man is a social animal. It is easy to see that man, and men can be used generically to refer to both male and female. But woman and women cannot be employed in reference to men. When man appears in discourse, it is commendatory and positive in main circumstances [3; 75-76]. Look at the following idioms: (1) be man enough: brave enough (2) be oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s own man: be able to arrange and decide things independently. However, situation involved woman is quite different: Look at the following examples: (1) Wine, women, and song: drinking, dancing, etc, and enjoying oneself (2) Make an honest woman of somebody: marry somebody having had sexual relationship with her. In the English language, some words referring to female firstly are commendatory words, but afterward slowly have derogatory senses. Survey in the dictionary on the illustrative idioms of man and woman as a quantity observation, derogation of woman is clearly seen. There are totally 33 illustrative idioms for man, of which 15 are with positive meaning, five negative and the rest are neutral with five shared by both man and woman in structure and meaning; While in case of woman, there are only 8 illustrative idioms of which five shared with man in structure and meaning, the rest are all derogatory. From this, one can know that in English using man or men indicates the human race, they treat man as the center of the society, an embodiment of criterion and totally ignore the existence of woman. c) Word order Graddol, D.Swam,J. in their study Gender Voices attest the fact that sexism in language is also reflected in word order. When men and women are presented together, usually words denoting male sex are put in front of female sex. Making females come second reflects the sexist attitude that men are superior to women [6; 71]. 1) Good morning, boys and girls Such a language phenomenon seems to appear so natural as to be widely accepted as a language norm.  In 1553, Wilson insisted that is more natural to place man before woman, as in male and female, husband and wife, father and wife. His point lends weight to the argument that males come first in the natural order, and this is one of the first examples of a male arguing for not only just the superiority of males but that this superiority should be reflected in the structure of language [8; 110-111]. However, Atkinson, K. claims that there are also cases in which male-female order is reversed, for example bride and groom, and ladies and gentlemen. He explains this phenomena by stating that marriage is important to women and the latter is influenced by the notion that men should protect women. Putting ladies before gentlemen doesnt show that women are more superior to men or ladies first, but indicates that in mens mind, women, the same as children, are the weaker ones [4; 167] 1.3.3 Semantic Peculiarities of Sexism in English 1.3.3.1 Semantic derogation of women The study of Cameron, D. in his work Language, Gender, and Sexuality: Current Issues and New Directions is relevant for the reason that he states that language has a tendency to neglect women, treat women as submission and also demean women. The process of words that refer to women acquiring demeaning or sexual connotations has been widely observed, and has been called semantic derogation [10]. 1.3.3.2 Non-parallel semantic developments of paired terms Hudson, R. A claims that words become negative when shifted into the female sphere, while male has remained pure and neutral [1; 34]. For example: King and Queen The first noun is masculine, the other feminine and both mean ruler of an independent state. However, king has preserved its initial meaning, but besides the core meaning of queen, queen is also used as a disparaging term for a gay or sexual man. Master and Mistress Both of them indicate someone who possesses and/or has power over someone or something else. For example: He is my master. usually means He is my boss. or He has more power than me. While She is my mistress. is more likely to be interpreted as meaning She is my illicit lover. Mistress originally refers to a woman in a position of authority, control, and ownership, as the head of a household like a housekeeper, but it implies a woman who has a continuing sexual relationship with a usually married man who is not her husband and from whom she generally receives material support.   1.3.3.3 Semantic collocation and change a) Semantic collocation   Fromkin, V., R.Rodman N.Hyams asserts that in English, a word may have different connotations when it is used to describe different sexes [6; 73-79]. For example: a.  He is imposing. b. She is imposing. Sentence a) means He is impressive and admirable. While sentence b could be interpreted to mean that She is disgusting and apathetic. When the sex changes, so does the meaning. Loose seems a neutral word for both male and female. But a loose woman reminds people of a woman considered being sexually promiscuous whereas a loose man just means a casual man. b) Semantic change Besides, words, which begin with either neutral or positive connotations over time, acquire negative implications and finally end up as sexual slurs. For example, the term hussy derives from Old English huswif (housewife), which means the female head of the house. The term gradually deteriorated to a rustic rude woman and finally comes to mean an indecent, impudent woman or prostitute [3; 78]. Strategies for Avoiding Sexism in English Language Any form of sexist language, whether on purpose or not, will probably stand off or offend some social member or group. Language and language use mirror social attitudes and stereotypes and bias. Along with the womens liberation movement, people began to realize the importance of the language reform and desexism becomes necessary. This evidence raises the question: Should sexist language be changed or avoided? The answer is definitely positive. In her early discussions of sexist language, Renshaw presents an article entitled Twenty-nine ways you can help eliminate sexism i