Education - Gymnasium Essay Example for Free

Education Gymnasium Essay Education in India today is nothing like it was in Pre-Independence and Post-Independence Era. Education System in India today went through a lot of changes before it emerged in its present form. Present education system in India is also guided by different objectives and goals as compared to earlier time. Present system of education in India, however is based around the policies of yesteryears. After independence, it was on 29th August 1947, that a Department of Education under the Ministry of Human Resource Development was set up. At that time the mission was the quantitative spread of education facilities. After, 1960’s the efforts were more focussed to provide qualitative education facilities. The present research focus on steps through which our indian education system had gone through. The basic moto of this research is to show that india has done serious efforts in education nd has shotremendous development but it is still lacking in comparison with developed nations. This study is an effort to suggest some measures for its improvement. INTRODUCTION Education in every sense is one of the fundamental factors of development. No country can achieve growth without substantial investment in human capital. Education improves the quality of their lives and lead to broad social benefits to individuals and society. Education including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential. The pre british indian Education system comprised of three types  Elementary education Secondary education Higher education Although Higher education is seen as the producer of elite class in society which largely contribute in the system of governance. The dawn of independence saw the significance of higher education in its reach and coverage. At the time of independence, there was bleak situation of higher education in India as the three important indicator:the number of Educational institutions, the number of teachers and the students enrollment in Education. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY First objective of the research is to get a understanding of various Educational changes that have taken place in India from pre Independence era. To study various Act launched for Education growth. To Find current scenario of Education sector in India To suggest some meaningful meausures to improve our Education sector. MYTHODOLOGY The study is based upon secondary data. Data has been collected from various sources like www. world bank. in,UNESCO,UNTDA. Statistical figures are main vehicle to achieve objective. It has studied internet research as well as policy papers and other official documents. CHANGES IN EDUCATION The changes which we are watching today due to education are may be because of various policy of government . Few of them are following: The National policy on Education 1986 had underscored the constitutional resolve to provide quality Education to all. under this policy government decided to review the growth and development of higher Education through five year plan which paid rich dividend in promoting education in India. The Eighty sixth constitutional amendment act in December 2002,made elementary Education a fundamental right for all children in the age group of 6-14. The Government initiated the scheme of area intensive program for Educationally backward minority and scheme of financial assistance of madrasa Education as part of its revised programme of action(1992). Taking into consideration the need for technical Education so that skill is acquired, the Government took steps to open industrial training Institute, medical colleges,polytechnics. At present there are 1500 such Institutes. National adult Education programme was taken up in 1978. The aim was to reach 100 percent literacy (age 15-35) by the year 1990. Its basic pupose was to promote small family. As a result of announcement of national policy on Education priority is given to vocationalisation of secondary Education to make Education relevant to work. A central Institute of Education technology was set up in NCERT to purchase equipment for state Institute of Educational technology. UGC was set up in 1955 for coordination and determination of standards. UGC  has taken steps to implement the recommendations of new policy on education such as autonomous colleges,centers of advanced studies in universities, establishment of education media research center and audio visual research center for the use of media and setting up academic staff colleges for training and orientation of college teachers National program for nutritional support to primary Education was launched in 1995 under which food grains is provided to childrens in primary classes. The program assures 199 gm of grain per day for attending school for at least 80 percent of total school days in a month. Following India independence a number of rules were formulated for backward scheduled caste and scheduled tribes of India. Special reservation are also provided for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes example a reservation of 15 percent in kendriya vidyalaya for scheduled caste and another reservation of 7. 5 percent in kendriya vidyalaya fot scheduled tribe. CURRENT STATUS There were 20 universities and 496 college at the time of Independence At present universities and university level institutions-504 State universities-243 State private universities-53 Central universities-40. Deemed universities-130 Institutions of National importance established under act of Parliament-33 Institutions established under various state legislation-5 In addition there are 25951 college including atound 2565 women college Table-1: All India Growth of institutions Year. Universities Colleges. Total 1947-48. 20 496. 516 1950-51 28. 578. 606 1960-61. 45 1819. 1864 1970-71. 93 3227. 3320 1980-81. 123. 4738 4861 1990-91. 184 5748 5932 2000-01 266 11146. 11412 2004-05 348 17625. 17973 2005-06. 355. 18064. 18419 2006-07. 367. 19000 19367 2007-08. 416. 20677 21093 2008-09. 480 22000. 22480. 2009-10 504. 25951. 26455 Source: UGC To promote higher education, college were established to provide specialized professional or vocational training. The first ever college in india was during the British rule in 1817,the CMS college kottaysm in kerela. After induction of new education policy, college education got flip and has increased manifold. Women enrolment was less than 10 percent of total enrollment on eve of Independence and it was risen to 41. 40 percent Number of teachers in 1950 were 15000 , in 1991 teachers were 272 thousand and in 2004 it was 457 thousand , in 2010 it was 699 thousand. Number of students enrolled in 1950 was 0. 1 million , in 1991 it was 4. 9 million,in 2004 it was 9. 95 million and in 2010 it reaches to 14. 6 million. EVIDENCE As Indias higher Education system is one of the world largest, enrolling nearly 22 million students in more than 46000 institutions. The changing landscape of higher education should be noted by key administrator, particularly government should be aware of the opportunity for institutions to nurture entrepreneurial growth and establish partnership with various organization to address community needs. Indias government currently plays a command and control role in higher Education. Under government oversight, public universities set curricula, determine courses offering, administer exam and grant degrees. But in 12th five year plan government key policy for economic development theory 2017 proposes a steer and evaluate role that allows a greater degree of self regulation and enforces higher level of accountability across the education system institutions The Economic development through Education is clearly evident in market ,demand for service which have pace. ADVANCEMENT Today development of Education in India has attained new level essentially after the independence of country. India is developing nation and it has been expanding in every field. Development of Education in India brought about a transformation and the concept of Education got modified. India got well known Educational institutions such as IITs,IIMs,AIIMS,, ISB,ISI. Indias higher Education system is the third largest in world after China and Uk. The Development of Education has traveled a longway and thus Indian Education system introduced certain advantageous system such as online Education in India. Online Education is a system of Education training which is delivered primarily via the Internet to students at remote location. Online Education enables the students to opt for many online degrees or courses from various university In the modern times, students are provided with extensive scope and courses to choose from and they enjoy the opportunity of selecting the required field. The system of distance Education in India is becoming increasingly popular. The student choosing distance learning process are benefitted with modern pattern followed. Development of Education in India ensures that all Indian citizens will receive Education in spite of financial constraints or unavailability of college and school. In addition the non formal Education is launched which is about acknowledging the importance of Education, learning and training which takes place outside recognized Educational institutions. It is the process of learning throughout life. PROBLEMS Undoubtedly India has made a vast improvement in education sector but stilk it lacks in some or the other way like  1)The enrollment rate in India had shown progress of gross enrollment rate in higher education to 17. 2 percent over the years yet it was short as per the world standard as seen,the Country was behind China 19 percent and UK 60 percent and USA 82 percent 2) The teacher strength in institutions of higher education was far from adequate. 3)Gross enrollment has increasd but were not matching anywhere with developed countries 4)Wide variations are seen in rural and urban areas 5)Regional disparities are also visible. 6)Education given is irrelevant according to job market  7)Innovation and creation are missing from the field 8)Education is seen as a object of providing immediate skills and tools, not means for future growth 9)By far one of the most pressing problem is that unavailability of money or inadequate funding of Indian Education system. RECOMMENDATIONS Our Education system still in this era faces many problems. funny thing is that from colonial times, few things have changed. we have established IITs,IIMs and other Institute of excellence. Students now routinely score 90 percent marks still find difficult to get into college of their choice. we live in a country where the people see Education as means of climbing the social and economic ladder. Some of the useful measures to improve our education system are following: 1)Private capital should be allowed in Education to reach at excellence level and compete with developed nations 2)Personalize education should focused as one size does not fit all humans. So Education should be given according to its demand. 3)Implement massive technology infrastructure for Education 4)Focus on skill based technology according to modern era 5)Reward creativity, original thinking, research and innovation. 6)Redifine the purpose of Education system 7)Take mediocrity out of the system 8)Policy makers in India should continue to develop and implement an accreditation system that can over time become a key measure of quality. 9)An Effort is needed to gradually phase in methods to link funding to quality measure. 10)Raising the level of Education, to be competitive like developed nations. 11)Identify the need of business and industry, then supply Education to fulfill their demand REFERENCES Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2001). Selected Educational Statistics 2001-2002, Government of India, New Delhi. Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2001). Annual Report, 2003-2004, MHRD, Government of India, New Delhi. Shukla, Snehlatha, et. al (1998). Attainment of Primary School Children in India, NCERT. Strides in Education in India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India Registrar General and Census Commissioner. (2001). Census of India 2001. Provisional Population Totals Paper-I of 2001, Controller of Publications, New Delhi. Ministry of Human Resource Development, Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education 2000-01 to 2002-03, Government of India,New Delhi.

Analysis of Russias Financial and Labour Crisis

Analysis of Russias Financial and Labour Crisis INTRODUCTION In 2003, major economic organisations and key economists predicted that within a decade, the Russian Economy will face a human capital and labour crisis that will be unable to meet the growing demands of the country. This prediction came true and Russia slowly witnessed diminishing labour market performance following the Global Financial Crisis starting in 2009. The Russian Federation has a very flexible labour market. Cutting wages, reducing working hours and minimising non-wage labour costs are some of the policies adopted by most of the companies to adjust to the economic scenario. The workers respond to this by changing jobs. Hence, there exists a high and stable overall employment rate, but also high wage inequality, informality and labour turnover, due to which firms do not have the incentive to invest in human capital and productivity improvements. Hence, the growth figures of the Russian Economy rarely indicate how the economic performance is impacting the average man. Problems in the labour market of Russia slowly became noticeable following the Global Financial Crisis that started in 2008. The global financial crisis had a significant impact on the Russian economy and its labour market. According to OECD Database, in 2009, the decline in the GDP was −7.9% (World Bank Economic Outlook, 2009). However, since the latter half of 2009, Russia showed economic recovery. There was 4.5% growth rate in 2010 (World Bank Economic Outlook, 2010), and 4.3% in 2011 (World Bank Economic Outlook, 2011). The graph above indicates the changes in the unemployment rate and GDP of Russia during 2008-09. Russia was the third country along with Slovenia in the list with highest downfall in the GDP after Estonia and Finland. The unemployment rate increased, although it was stable as compared to other countries This period saw a fall in the output generation of goods. Working hours and wages were reduced to adjust to the scenario. The Youth of the country were the most affected by the sudden increase in unemployment. As shown in the diagram, from 2009 to 2012, unemployment rate was the highest for people aged 15-24. The labour market strengthened a little in early 2013. Unemployment in the months of January, February, and March lowered by 0.4% than the rate prevalent in 2012. But the second quarter of 2013 again saw a reversal of this trend, with unemployment again growing up by 0.1% compared to 2012 (OECD Economic Survey- Russian Federation, 2013) This marked the advent of an Economic Slump in the Russian Economy that is discussed in the succeeding chapter. Russian Economic Slump: How and Why? Russia suffered from major economic slump in 2012 and tried to make efforts to recover from it using the oil and gas revenues. However the living standards and productivity was below those of advanced BRIICS countries. Growth in 2012 slowed not only because of cyclical factors but also due to slow down of potential output growth. The Ministry of Economic Development, in November 2013, projected long-term average growth to 2.5% (OECD Survey 2013) down from 4.3% (ibid) projected in April, warning that Russian growth until 2030 would lag behind the global average. The reason that led to the emergence of slump is the heavy dependence on natural resources and the challenge lies in reduction of dependence on exhaustible natural resources, strengthen sustainable, productivity-driven, regionally balanced and broad-based growth. The abovementioned Economic slump emerged in late 2012 and into 2013, resulting in the recent Russian Economic crisis triggered by stagnant terms of trade due to inefficient labour market reforms. The temporary factors that earlier boosted growth slowed down, reducing investment mostly driven by natural resource related sectors and public expenditures. The employment and capacity utilization rates are near their pre-crisis records. The unemployment rate has fallen because of employment gains, a fall in labour force, high wage flexibility and extremely low unemployment benefits. Inflation rose above the central bank target range of 5-6% (Ibid). Although this rapid rise was driven mostly by high food prices due to the poor 2012 harvest and headline inflation, the second half of 2013 was on a downward trend and inflation expectations are sticky. These factors structurally limited growth , slowing potential growth below 3% (ibid) This Russian economic slowdown led to several changes in the society and some significant trends were seen: Partial employment increase No demand for radical life changes or political changes Dormant discontent against crisis situation unique adjustment function of the Russian labor market suppressed the impact of the economic crisis on the workers and they did not express their discontent in the form of strikes The policies and reforms for this slump are given in further chapters as discussed by the OECD report on Russian Economic Crisis. OECD ECONOMIC REPORT: REFORMS AND POLICIES Previously we studied the background of Russia and the possible reasons that triggered the current Russian economic slump. OECD is a world organisation that has come up with a report about the changes required for the current economic slump. The Organization of economic cooperation and development (OECD) is a forum founded in 1961 that discusses economic growth and world trade of its 34 member countries. It provides answers to common problems, identify practices in favour of these countries and also provide coordination between the domestic and international policies. It gives assistance in economic, environmental and social issues. Objectives of the OECD- To promote sustainable development in economic growth and employment, giving a rise in standard of living along with the maintenance of financial sector. To provide economic expansion to member countries in order to promote development in world economies. To carry out this expansion on a non-discriminatory basis. OECD: Russian Labour Market The Russian Labour market is in segments even though the global financial crisis ended the long period economic growth .The labour market faces a number of problems like unequal earnings, lack of enforcement of effective labour laws and underdeveloped collective bargaining. To improve this imbalance between labour market flexibility and the protection of workers the Russian federation needs to impose favourable labour market institutions. This imbalance can be improved by shifting to a more sustainable based growth from dependence on revenues from natural resources such as oil (main relying natural resource) by making it attractive place to invest, study and work. Russia should ensure growth beyond natural endowment. BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY Stronger and more sustainable growth is not possible without better use of skills and stronger innovation. Considerable resources are employed in lowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœproductivity activities. Lifelong learning, activation programmes and temporary income support remain underdeveloped. Key Recommendations: Better market oriented training. Strengthening the quality of the education system Improve the governance of higher education. IMPROVING THE BUSINESS CLIMATE The business climate in Russia is turning out to be risky as rule of law is weak and widespread corruption along with widespread state involvement. The implications are widespread such as low level of entrepreneurship and investment. Thus a stronger policy initiative along with stronger financial sector is required to match the skills of labour. Key Recommendations- Identify risks to integrity for particular jobs, work and project. Strengthening the rule of law by enhancing the quality of law instead of increasing the number of laws and regulations thus giving rise to judicial independence. Incorporating accountability and transparency of public institutions through promotion of media freedom. COMPETITION FRAMEWORK IN RUSSIA Russia has the highest barriers to competition when compared with any OECD country or emerging country. This halts the diffusion of technology and hampers the speed with which the labour productivity catch up with best performers. As suggested by OECD product market regulation (PMR) indicator, it suggests that Russia’s PMR is very restrictive as compared to any other OECD country. A PMR indicator tells the state involvement extent and administrative barrier to developing new enterprises. This high rate is reflected in Small and Medium sized enterprises sector in Russia. Key Recommendations- Lowering administrative burden on firms by cutting ‘red tape’, introducing deemed clearance regime and carrying out systematic Regulatory Impact Analysis and Stake Holder consultations. Strengthen the competition by eliminating subsidies to large firms, prioritize resources only to important cases and liberalization of foreign trade and investment policy. Widening scope of competition by taking WTO accession as an opportunity and supporting the concerned firms with framework measures rather than imposing entry barriers. POLICY IMPLICATIONS The basic problem in the Russian Economy is that it is still heavily dependent on the communist age infrastructure and economic mechanisms. No innovations or new methods of economic development have significantly evolved after the communist era collapsed. The economy still uses capitalist management styles that were used in the erstwhile USSR. The economy is heavily dependent on gas reservoirs and their rising prices. This leaves the domestic market open to major jolts due to the fluctuating world market prices of gas and other natural resources. Growth in 2013 slowed to 1.3 percent, the lowest in a decade other than during the global recession in 2009 (OECD Economic Indicators Report 2013). As mentioned in the previous chapter, the economic resilience of the economy can be raised through structural reforms. Making the economy more balanced, and less dependent on the volatile revenue from the energy market is one of the main challenges. This challenge can only be met by higher productivity of labour and energy efficiency which further, can by increasing competition in the market and investment in the structural economy. The improvement of the political economy and implementation of structural reforms is crucial to revive the Russian Economy. The society and not natural resources needs to partake in Russia’s transformation. And so there is need for investments in infrastructure, innovation and human resources. Russia needs to step up its governance and address the increasing inter-regional disparity. The OECD survey indicates that the Federation is doing well in numerous areas but future growth and development is being retarded by poor governance and laws. Russia faces major transport bottlenecks that hinder the infrastructural growth in many potential regions. The irony is that a majority of the Russian population- about a million, are engaged in the railways with most of them being disguisedly unemployed in the process. The Russian Federation has one of the highest shares of tertiary educated population in the world, but the education system has had difficulties in providing the education according to the needs of the market and the firms. The education system of the country is outdated. It needs to be revamped to suit the modern sensibilities and economic conditions. Education will have to target higher paying and more intellectual jobs (white collar jobs). Public spending on education is low and the high inequality of educational opportunities adds to the problem. Major public and private sector investments in the education sector, especially in backward areas should be a national priority. Better quality of market oriented vocational training and an improved technical curriculum is also the need of the hour. Another good way to increase the labour force of the nation is to decrease the gender gap in the labour market. Education and training focused solely on women would be beneficial. The Government should also increase the retirement age of women to equal to that of men. A boost in education and skill in turn will increase opportunities and investments in Research and Development that will bring the much needed innovation and further enhance the business climate. Flexibility in the Russian labour market has helped the economy achieve very low levels of unemployment. However, firms lose the incentive to invest in human resource due to the high labour turnover. This causes high wage inequality. The OECD encourages better communication between employers and labour, encouragement to engage in long term training programmes and temporary income support from the Government. One industry that has a lot of potential in the Russian economy and will benefit out of the recommended labour changes by OECD is the automobile industry. This will not only give a much required push to the economy but also solve the transportation bottleneck that the nation is facing. The Russian Federation will also benefit by strengthening its Immigration policies. There is a large influx of unskilled labour from countries that were part of the former Soviet Union, who come in the search for better employment opportunities and standards of living. They are seen to be putting additional burden on the Government’s diminished welfare schemes such as free education and healthcare systems. This is happening due to the easy immigration policy of the state. Hence the welfare labour policies that are already functional in the State cannot give quality output due to this additional burden put on them. CONCLUSION It can be asserted that the economic slump in Russia is a temporary bottleneck in its path of growth and development and can the removed by focusing on the improvement of the labour market performance by implementing the measures given in the OECD Economic Report on the Russian Federation 2013. As suggested by the OECD, encouraging lifelong learning among skilled workers, training and targeting the youth for inculcating better skills, developing advanced Information Technology in this arena, reducing the gender gap in the work force, reforms in the education system and promoting innovation and technology can take the nation a long way. However other measures such as State support in welfare schemes that boost labour performance and privatisation of firms can be beneficial. Encouraging better Human Resource policies in Russian Firms and stronger collective bargaining power of the workers can also help promote the right balance between wages and productivity. Russia also needs to look into its immigration policy to stop the rapid rise in immigrants who are unskilled and ultimately become a burden on the state.

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Ceramics are used extensively in dental restorations because of their superior aesthetics and biocompatibility compared to metals (1). However, the brittleness of ceramics can initiate crack propagation causing failure of the restoration (2). Resin cements are used for cementing ceramic restorations because of their excellent aesthetics and mechanical properties. The cement penetrates any defects or irregularities on the ceramic surface thereby preventing propagation of cracks (3, 4, 5). Optimal clinical performance depends on sufficient resin cement polymerisation. Degree of conversion (DC) is affected by the amount of light reaching the cement which in turn, is affected by the opacity and the thickness of the ceramic as well as the thickness of the resin cement layer. Insufficient polymerisation influences both mechanical properties and clinical performance of the restoration (2, 5). Aims of this study are to see how light transmission (LT) is affected by thickness or opacity of a ceramic and how resin cements thickness affects DC. Hypotheses are: (1) LT decreases with increasing thickness or opacity (2) DC would decrease with thicker cement samples. Method Shade A1, A2, A3 and A3.5 of Base Dentine VN7 powder (Vita, Bad SÃ ¤ckingen, Germany) were used. Ceramic disc thicknesses tested (measured using digital calliper) were 1.40, 1.00 and 0.60mm. Specimen preparation Twenty ceramics discs, five of each shade, were prepared by mixing 0.73g of powder with 0.29mL of Modelling Liquid (Vita, Bad SÃ ¤ckingen, Germany). The mixture was placed in a 1.60mm thick metal ring on a mould assembly and vibrated for 40 seconds. The surface was levelled using a razor blade before firing the discs in a furnace (Vita Vacumat 40, Bad SÃ ¤ckingen, Germ... ... the disc. LT through a ceramic disc would ultimately affect the polymerisation of resin cements. The second hypothesis that DC should decrease with increasing resin cement thickness layer is rejected as the graph showed that 1.00mm resin cement thickness had the greatest DC. A higher DC was seen with thinner resin cement specimens because there would be more LT and the photoinitiator in resin cements needs light to initiate the polymerisation reaction. A thicker resin cement layer would allow less light to reach the bottom so there would be less monomer to polymer conversion and resultantly, lower DC. However, very thin specimens may experience light reflectance which may affect the DC results. Conclusion LT through ceramics was measured and LT decreased with increasing thickness or opacity. DC appeared to increase when thicker resin cement samples were tested.

The Hofstra Production of Shakespeare’s Play, Loves Labors Lost :: Love Labor Lost

The Hofstra Production of Shakespeare’s Play, Love's Labor's Lost Well-educated college students who study Shakespeare’s plays tend to have mixed feelings on how to stage scenes. In Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost, the boy says, "An excellent device. Now Hercules destroys the snake." (5.2.137). Here he is supposed to be taken seriously and be bringing out a good point during the "Nine Worthies." In the Hofstra stage version he pretty much looks like a joke and his comments then become meaningless. He should have been appearing as a much more serious character, portraying the attitude of an intelligent young boy. As the production proceeded there were other distractions that caught the viewer's eye. Another major distraction was the running to the microphones to sing or to state an idea. If everyone else can hear the actors and actresses for the rest of the play what was the point of the microphones? Along with the microphones and running, the songs really tended to cause the audience to become less interested. The crowd’s attention goes towards the microphone and the rest of the play is ignored. Another major problem was the scenery. The stage was set the same for every scene, never changing, although the setting changed in the text version. For instance, when all the men, beginning with Berowne, confess that they broke the oath and fell in love they are in a forest-like setting. When the production took place there were no trees or bushes. When Berowne says, "I was behind the tree and heard everything so why are you lying "(4.3.80), the audience noticed there were no trees or any type of setting to resemble that. This makes the words sound bad if the scenery does not match what is being acted out. Once again distractions cause problems within a play. Although the messenger coming down the aisle was an interesting touch, it caused my eyes to leave the stage, the main focus. There are some positive opinions on this production. The ending scene was very well acted and stressed what really went on in the text.

Oedipus The King and the Existence of Man :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

Oedipus The King and the Existence of Man      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since the beginning of time, man has used various methods on which to pass down stories, beliefs, and myths which explain different aspects of life. From oral tradition, to pictographs, to clay tablets, and onto paper, all compose the world of literature. Literature has always been an infinite realm of ideas, morals, and trains of thought.   Although the sphere of literature is encircled with extreme diversity of thought, its core is focused on one theme: man. All literature carries with itself three main characteristics: it is written by man, for man, and about man. Oedipus the King, the great Greek tragedy by the unparalleled philosopher, Sophocles, is no exception to literature's domain. It deals with one king, Oedipus, and his plight to avenge the death of his predecessor, King Laios. In his determined search to find the murderer, he establishes a proclamation which would demand the banishment and even the death of the murderer. In his ironic action, the reader discovers that this murderer that Oedipus is so determined to discover is none other than Oedipus himself. In adhesion to the definition of literature, this tragic plot reveals to the reader three main commentaries about the nature of man: man cannot escape his past, pride is the sin which leads man to greater evils, and although the life of man is in itself a positive good, there will always be a shadow of terrible tragedy that falls across it.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All throughout literature, many works have portrayed characters who carry with them a dark and gloomy past, and try to tear this shameful history of their lives from the books of their life. Unfortunately, this is impossible due to the fact that the past is a precursor to the present which, in turn, determines one's future. It is one's past that makes one what he or she is today. For example, if an individual committed ruthless acts such as theft or murder, was not caught by the law, and later realizes that that particular aspect of his or her life has caused them great grief and regret, he or she will make the effort to change and become a new individual. Let us say that individual becomes Oedipus The King and the Existence of Man :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex Oedipus The King and the Existence of Man      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since the beginning of time, man has used various methods on which to pass down stories, beliefs, and myths which explain different aspects of life. From oral tradition, to pictographs, to clay tablets, and onto paper, all compose the world of literature. Literature has always been an infinite realm of ideas, morals, and trains of thought.   Although the sphere of literature is encircled with extreme diversity of thought, its core is focused on one theme: man. All literature carries with itself three main characteristics: it is written by man, for man, and about man. Oedipus the King, the great Greek tragedy by the unparalleled philosopher, Sophocles, is no exception to literature's domain. It deals with one king, Oedipus, and his plight to avenge the death of his predecessor, King Laios. In his determined search to find the murderer, he establishes a proclamation which would demand the banishment and even the death of the murderer. In his ironic action, the reader discovers that this murderer that Oedipus is so determined to discover is none other than Oedipus himself. In adhesion to the definition of literature, this tragic plot reveals to the reader three main commentaries about the nature of man: man cannot escape his past, pride is the sin which leads man to greater evils, and although the life of man is in itself a positive good, there will always be a shadow of terrible tragedy that falls across it.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All throughout literature, many works have portrayed characters who carry with them a dark and gloomy past, and try to tear this shameful history of their lives from the books of their life. Unfortunately, this is impossible due to the fact that the past is a precursor to the present which, in turn, determines one's future. It is one's past that makes one what he or she is today. For example, if an individual committed ruthless acts such as theft or murder, was not caught by the law, and later realizes that that particular aspect of his or her life has caused them great grief and regret, he or she will make the effort to change and become a new individual. Let us say that individual becomes

Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 1-2

PART ONE SATURDAY NIGHT Like one that on that lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And no more turns his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1 THE BREEZE The Breeze blew into San Junipero in the shotgun seat of Billy Winston's Pinto wagon. The Pinto lurched dangerously from shoulder to centerline, the result of Billy trying to roll a joint one-handed while balancing a Coors tallboy and bopping to the Bob Marley song that crackled through the stereo. â€Å"We be jammin' now, mon!† Billy said, toasting The Breeze with a slosh of the Coors. The Breeze shook his head balefully. â€Å"Keep the can down, watch the road, let me roll the doobie,† he said. â€Å"Sorry, Breeze,† Billy said. â€Å"I'm just stoked that we're on the road.† Billy's admiration for The Breeze was boundless. The Breeze was truly cool, a party renaissance man. He spent his days at the beach and his nights in a cloud of sinsemilla. The Breeze could smoke all night, polish off a bottle of tequila, maintain well enough to drive the forty miles back to Pine Cove without arousing the suspicion of a single cop, and be on the beach by nine the next morning acting as if the term hangover were too abstract to be considered. On Billy Winston's private list of personal heroes The Breeze ranked second only to David Bowie. The Breeze twisted the joint, lit it, and handed it to Billy for the first hit. â€Å"What are we celebrating?† Billy croaked, trying to hold in the smoke. The Breeze held up a finger to mark the question, while he dug the Dionysian Book of Days: An Occasion for Every Party from the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt. He flipped through the pages until he found the correct date. â€Å"Nambian Independence Day,† he announced. â€Å"Bitchin',† Billy said. â€Å"Party down for Nambian Independence.† â€Å"It says,† The Breeze continued, â€Å"that the Nambians celebrate their independence by roasting and eating a whole giraffe and drinking a mixture of fermented guava juice and the extract of certain tree frogs that are thought to have magical powers. At the height of the celebration, all the boys who have come of age are circumcised with a sharp stone.† â€Å"Maybe we can circumcise a few Techies tonight if it gets boring,† Billy said. Techies was the term The Breeze used to refer to the male students of San Junipero Technical College. For the most part, they were ultraconservative, crew-cut youths who were perfectly satisfied with their role as bulk stock to be turned into tools for industrial America by the rigid curricular lathe of San Junipero Tech. To The Breeze, the Techies' way of thinking was so foreign that he couldn't even muster a healthy loathing for them. They were simply nonentities. On the other hand, the coeds of S.J. Tech occupied a special place in The Breeze's heart. In fact, finding a few moments of blissful escape between the legs of a nubile coed was the only reason he was subjecting himself to a forty-mile sojourn in the company of Billy Winston. Billy Winston was tall, painfully thin, ugly, smelled bad, and had a particular talent for saying the wrong thing in almost any situation. On top of it all, The Breeze suspected that Billy was gay. The idea had been reinforced one night when he dropped in on Billy at his job as night desk clerk at the Rooms-R-Us motel and found him leafing through a Playgirl magazine. In Breeze's business one got used to running across the skeletons in people's closets. If Billy's skeleton wore women's underwear, it didn't really matter. Homosexuality on Billy Winston was like acne on a leper. The up side of Billy Winston was that he had a car that ran and would take The Breeze anywhere he wanted to go. The Breeze's van was currently being held by some Big Sur growers as collateral against the forty pounds of sinsemilla buds he had stashed in a suitcase at his trailer. â€Å"The way I see it,† said Billy, â€Å"we hit the Mad Bull first. Do a pitcher of margaritas at Jose's, dance a little at the Nuked Whale, and if we don't find any nookie, we head back home for a nightcap at the Slug.† â€Å"Let's hit the Whale first and see what's shakin',† The Breeze said. The Nuked Whale was San Junipero's premier college dance club. If The Breeze was going to find a coed to cuddle, it would be at the Whale. He had no intention of making the drive with Billy back to Pine Cove for a nightcap at the Head of the Slug. Closing up the Slug was tantamount to having a losing night, and The Breeze was through with being a loser. Tomorrow when he sold the forty pounds of grass he would pocket twenty grand. After twenty years blowing up and down the coast, living on nickle-dime deals to make rent, The Breeze was, at last, stepping into the winners' circle, and there was no room for a loser like Billy Winston. Billy parked the Pinto in a yellow zone a block away from the Nuked Whale. From the sidewalk they could hear the throbbing rhythms of the latest techno-pop dance music. The unlikely pair covered the block in a few seconds, Billy striding ahead while The Breeze brought up the rear with a laid-back shuffle. As Billy slipped under the neon whale tail and into the club, the doorman – a fresh-faced slab of muscle and crew cut – caught him by the arm. â€Å"Let's see some I.D.† Billy flashed an expired driver's license as Breeze caught up to him and began digging into the pocket of his Day-Glo green surf shorts for his wallet. The doorman raised a hand in dismissal. â€Å"That's okay, buddy, with that hairline you don't need any.† The Breeze ran his hand over his forehead self-consciously. Last month he had turned forty, a dubious achievement for a man who had once vowed never to trust anyone over thirty. Billy reached around him and slapped two dollar bills into the doorman's hand. â€Å"Here,† he said, â€Å"buy yourself a night with an Inflate-A-Date.† â€Å"What!† The doorman vaulted off his stool and puffed himself up for combat, but Billy had already scampered away into the crowded club. The Breeze stepped in front of the doorman and raised his hands in surrender. â€Å"Cut him some slack, man. He's got problems.† â€Å"He's going to have some problems,† the doorman bristled. â€Å"No, really,† The Breeze continued, wishing that Billy had spared him the loyal gesture and therefore the responsibility of pacifying this collegiate cave man. â€Å"He's on medication. Psychological problems.† The doorman was unsure. â€Å"If this guy is dangerous, get him out of here.† â€Å"Not dangerous, just a little squirrelly – he's bipolar Oedipal,† The Breeze said with uncharacteristic pomposity. â€Å"Oh,† the doorman said, as if it had all become clear. â€Å"Well, keep him in line or you're both out.† â€Å"No problem.† The Breeze turned and joined Billy at the bar amid a crunch of beer-drinking students. Billy handed him a Heineken. Billy said, â€Å"What did you say to that asshole to calm him down?† â€Å"I told him you wanted to fuck your mom and kill your dad.† â€Å"Cool. Thanks, Breeze.† â€Å"No charge.† The Breeze tipped his beer in salute. Things were not going well for him. Somehow he had been snared into this male-bonding bullshit with Billy Winston, when all he wanted to do was ditch him and get laid. The Breeze turned and leaned back, scanning the club for a likely candidate. He had set his sights on a homely but tight-assed little blond in leather pants when Billy broke his concentration. â€Å"You got any blow, man?† Billy had shouted to be heard over the music, but his timing was off; the song had ended. Everyone at the bar turned toward The Breeze and waited, as if the next few words he spoke would reveal the true meaning of life, the winning numbers in the state lottery, and the unlisted phone number of God. The Breeze grabbed Billy by the front of the shirt and hustled him to the back of the club, where a group of Techies were pounding a pinball machine, oblivious to anything but buzzers and bells. Billy looked like a frightened child who had been dragged from a movie theater for shouting out the ending. â€Å"First,† The Breeze hissed, waving a trembling finger under Billy's nose to enumerate his point, â€Å"first, I do not use or sell cocaine.† This was half true. He did not sell since he had done six months in Soledad for dealing – and would go up for five years if he was busted again. He used it only when it was offered or when he needed bait when trolling for women. Tonight he was holding a gram. â€Å"Second, if I did use, I wouldn't want it announced to everybody in San Junipero.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Breeze.† Billy tried to look small and weak. â€Å"Third,† The Breeze shook three stubby fingers in Billy's face, â€Å"we have an agreement. If one of us scores, the other one gets cut loose. Well, I think I found someone, so cut loose.† Billy started to shuffle toward the door, head down, his lower lip hanging, like the bloated victim of a lynch mob. After a few steps he turned. â€Å"If you need a ride – if things don't work out – I'll be at the Mad Bull.† The Breeze, as he watched the injured Billy skulk away, felt a twinge of remorse. Forget it, he thought, Billy had it coming. After the deal tomorrow he wouldn't need Billy or any of the quarter-ounce-a-week buyers of his ilk. The Breeze was eager for the time when he could afford to be without friends. He strutted across the dance floor toward the blond in the leather pants. Having wafted through most of his forty years as a single man, The Breeze had come to recognize the importance of the pickup line. At best, it should be original, charming, concise but lyrical – a catalyst to invoke curiosity and lust. Knowing this, he approached his quarry with the calm of a well-armed man. â€Å"Yo, babe,† he said, â€Å"I've got a gram of prime Peruvian marching powder. You want to go for a walk?† â€Å"Pardon me?† the girl said, somewhere between astonishment and disgust. The Breeze noticed that she had a wide-eyed, fawnlike look – Bambi with too much mascara. He gave her his best surfer-boy smile. â€Å"I was wondering if you'd like to powder your nose.† â€Å"You're old enough to be my father,† she said. The Breeze was staggered by the rejection. As the girl escaped onto the crowded dance floor, he fell back to the bar to consider strategy. Go on to the next one? Everybody gets tubed now and then; you just have to climb back on the board and wait for the next wave. He scanned the dance floor looking for a chance at the wild ride. Nothing but sorority girls with absolutely perfect hair. No chance. His fantasy of jumping one and using her until her perfect hair was tangled into a hopeless knot at the back of her head had been relegated long ago to the realm of fairy tales and free money. The energy in San Junipero was all wrong. It didn't matter – he'd be a rich man tomorrow. Best to catch a ride back to Pine Cove. With luck he could get to the Head of the Slug Saloon before last call and pick up one of the standby bitches who still valued good company and didn't require a hundred bucks worth of blow to get upside down with you. As he stepped into the street a chill wind bit at his bare legs and swept through his thin shirt. Thumbing the forty miles back to Pine Cove was going to suck, big time. Maybe Billy was still at the Mad Bull? No, The Breeze told himself, there are worse things than freezing your ass off. He shrugged off the cold and fell into a steady stride toward the highway, his new fluorescent yellow deck shoes squeaking with every step. They rubbed his little toe when he walked. After five blocks he felt the blister break and go raw. He cursed himself for becoming another slave to fashion. Half a mile outside of San Junipero the streetlights ended. Darkness added to The Breeze's list of mounting aggravations. Without trees and buildings to break its momentum, the cold Pacific wind increased and whipped his clothes around him like torn battle flags. Blood from his damaged toe was beginning to spot the canvas of his deck shoe. A mile out of town The Breeze abandoned the dancing, smiling, and tipping of a ghost-hat that was supposed to charm drivers into stopping to give a ride to a poor, lost surfer. Now he trudged, head down in the dark, his back to traffic, a single frozen thumb thrust into the air beaconing, then changing into a middle finger of defiance as each car passed without slowing. â€Å"Fuck you! You heartless assholes!† His throat was sore from screaming. He tried to think of the money – sweet, liberating cash, crispy and green – but again and again he was brought back to the cold, the pain in his feet, and the increasingly dismal chance of getting a ride home. It was late, and the traffic was thinning to a car every five minutes or so. Hopelessness circled in his mind like a vulture. He considered doing the cocaine, but the idea of entering a too-fast jangle on a lonely, dark road and crashing into a paranoid, teeth-chattering shiver seemed somewhat insane. Think about the money. The money. It was all Billy Winston's fault. And the guys in Big Sur; they didn't have to take his van. It wasn't like he had ever ripped anyone off on a big deal before. It wasn't like he was a bad guy. Hadn't he let Robert move into his trailer, rent free, when his old lady threw him out? Didn't he help Robert put a new head gasket in his truck? Hadn't he always played square – let people try the product before buying? Didn't he advance his regulars a quarter-ounce until payday? In a business that was supposed to be fast and loose, wasn't he a pillar of virtue? Right as rain? Straight as an arrow†¦. A car pulled up twenty yards behind him and hit the brights. He didn't turn. Years of experience told him that anyone using that approach was only offering a ride to one place, the Iron-bar Hotel. The Breeze walked on, as if he didn't notice the car. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his surf shorts, as if fighting the cold, found the cocaine and slipped it into his mouth, paper and all. Instantly his tongue went numb. He raised his hands in surrender and turned, expecting to see the flashing reds and blues of a county sheriff cruiser. But it wasn't a cop. It was just two guys in an old Chevy, playing games. He could make out their figures past the headlights. The Breeze swallowed the paper the cocaine had been wrapped in. Taken by a burning anger, fueled by blow and blood-lust, he stormed toward the Chevy. â€Å"C'mon out, you fucking clowns.† Someone crawled out of the passenger side. It looked like a child – no, thicker – a dwarf. The Breeze blew on. â€Å"Bring a tire iron, you little shit. You'll need it.† â€Å"Wrong,† said the dwarf, the voice was low and gravely. The Breeze pulled up and squinted into the headlights. It wasn't a dwarf, it was a big dude, a giant. Huge, getting bigger as it moved toward him. Too fast. The Breeze turned and started to run. He got three steps before the jaws clamped over his head and shoulders, crunching through his bones as if they were peppermint sticks. When the Chevy pulled back onto the highway, the only thing left of The Breeze was a single fluorescent-yellow deck shoe. It would be a fleeting mystery to passers-by for two days until a hungry crow carried it away. No one would notice that there was still a foot inside. PART TWO SUNDAY All mystical experience is coincidence; and vice versa, of course. – Tom Stoppard, Jumpers 2 PINE COVE The village of Pine Cove lay in a coastal pine forest just south of the great Big Sur wilderness area, on a small natural harbor. The village was established in the 1880s by a dairy farmer from Ohio who found verdant hills around the cove provided perfect fodder for his cows. The settlement, such as it was – two families and a hundred cows – went nameless until the 1890s, when the whalers came to town and christened it Harpooner's Cove. With a cove to shelter their small whaling boats and the hills from which they could sight the migrating gray whales far out to sea, the whalers prospered and the village grew. For thirty years a greasy haze of death blew overhead from the five-hundred-gallon rendering pots where thousands of whales were boiled down to oil. When the whale population dwindled and electricity and kerosene became an alternative to whale oil, the whalers abandoned Harpooner's Cove, leaving behind mountains of whale bone and the rusting hulks of their rendering kettles. To this day many of the town's driveways are lined with the bleached arches of whale ribs, and even now, when the great gray whales pass, they rise out of the water a bit and cast a suspicious eye toward the little cove, as if expecting the slaughter to begin again. After the whalers left, the village survived on cattle ranching and the mining of mercury, which had been discovered in the nearby hills. The mercury ran out about the same time the coastal highway was completed through Big Sur, and Harpooner's Cove became a tourist town. Passers-through who wanted a little piece of California's burgeoning tourist industry but didn't want to deal with the stress of life in San Francisco or Los Angeles, stopped and built motels, souvenir shops, restaurants, and real estate offices. The hills around Pine Cove were subdivided. Pine forests and pastures became ocean-view lots, sold for a song to tourists from California's central valley who wanted to retire on the coast. Again the village grew, populated by retirees and young couples who eschewed the hustle of the city to raise their children in a quiet coastal town. Harpooner's Cove became a village of the newly wed and the nearly dead. In the 1960s the young, environmentally conscious residents decided that the name Harpooner's Cove hearkened back to a time of shame for the village and that the name Pine Cove was more appropriate to the quaint, bucolic image the town had come to depend on. And so, with the stroke of a pen and the posting of a sign – WELCOME TO PINE COVE, GATEWAY TO BIG SUR – history was whitewashed. The business district was confined to an eight-block section of Cypress Street, which ran parallel to the coast highway. Most of the buildings on Cypress sported facades of English Tudor half-timbering, which made Pine Cove an anomaly among the coastal communities of California with their predominantly Spanish-Moorish architecture. A few of the original structures still stood, and these, with their raw timbers and feel of the Old West, were a thorn in the side of the Chamber of Commerce, who played on the village's English look to promote tourism. In a half-assed attempt at thematic consistency, several pseudo-authentic, Ole English restaurants opened along Cypress Street to lure tourists with the promise of tasteless English cuisine. (There had even been an attempt by one entrepreneur to establish an authentic English pizza place, but the enterprise was abandoned with the realization that boiled pizza lost most of its character.) Pine Cove's locals avoided patronage of these restaurants with the duplicity of a Hindu cattle rancher: willing to reap the profits without sampling the product. Locals dined at the few, out-of-the-way cafes that were content with carving a niche out of the hometown market with good food and service rather than gouging an eye out of the swollen skull of the tourist market with overpriced, pretentious charm. The shops along Cypress Street were functional only in that they moved money from the pockets of the tourists into the local economy. From the standpoint of the villagers, there was nothing of practical use for sale in any of the stores. For the tourist, immersed in the oblivion of vacation spending, Cypress Street provided a bonanza of curious gifts to prove to the folks back home that they had been somewhere. Somewhere where they had obviously forgotten that soon they would return home to a mortgage, dental bills, and an American Express bill that would descend at the end of the month like a financial Angel of Death. And they bought. They bought effigies of whales and sea otters carved in wood, cast in plastic, brass, or pewter, stamped on key chains, printed on postcards, posters, book covers, and condoms. They bought all sorts of useless junk imprinted with: Pine Cove, Gateway to Big Sur, from bookmarks to bath soap. Over the years it became a challenge to the Pine Cove shopowners to come up with an item so tacky that it would not sell. Gus Brine, owner of the local general store, suggested once at a Chamber of Commerce meeting that the merchants, without compromising their high standards, might put cow manure into jars, imprint the label with Pine Cove, Gateway to Big Sur, and market it as authentic gray whale feces. As often happens with matters of money, the irony of Brine's suggestion was lost, a motion was carried, a plan was laid, and if it had not been for a lack of volunteers to do the actual packaging, the shelves of Cypress Street would have displayed numbered, limited-edition jars of Genuine Whale Waste. The residents of Pine Cove went about their work of fleecing the tourists with a slow, methodical resolve that involved more waiting than activity. Life, in general, was slow in Pine Cove. Even the wind that came in off the Pacific each evening crept slowly through the trees, allowing the villagers ample time to bring in wood and stoke their fires against the damp cold. In the morning, down on Cypress Street, the Open signs flipped with a languid disregard for the times posted on the doors. Some shops opened early, some late, and some not at all, especially if it was a nice day for a walk on the beach. It was as if the villagers, having found their little bit of peace, were waiting for something to happen. And it did. Around midnight on the night that The Breeze disappeared, every dog in Pine Cove began barking. During the following fifteen minutes, shoes were thrown, threats were made, and the sheriff was called and called again. Wives were beaten, pistols were loaded, pillows were pounded, and Mrs. Feldstein's thirty-two cats simultaneously coughed up hairballs on her porch. Blood pressure went up, aspirin was opened, and Milo Tobin, the town's evil developer, looked out the front window to see his young neighbor, Rosa Cruz, in the nude, chasing twin Pomeranians around her front yard. The strain was too much for his chain-smoker's heart, and he flopped on the floor like a fish and died. On another hill, Van Williams, the tree surgeon, had reached the limit of his patience with his neighbors, a family of born-again dog breeders whose six Labrador retrievers barked all night long with or without supernatural provocation. With his professional-model chain saw he dropped a hundred-foot Monterey pine tree on their new Dodge Evangeline van. A few minutes later, a family of raccoons who normally roamed the streets of Pine Cove breaking into garbage cans, were taken, temporarily, with a strange sapience and ignored their normal activities to steal the stereo out of the ruined van and install it in their den that lay in the trunk of a hollow tree. An hour after the cacophony began, it stopped. The dogs had delivered their message, and as it goes in cases where dogs warn of coming earthquakes, tornadoes, or volcanic eruptions, the message was completely misconstrued. What was left the next morning was a very sleepy, grumpy village brimming with lawsuits and insurance claims, but without a single clue that something was coming. At six that morning a cadre of old men gathered outside the general store to discuss the events of the night before, never once letting their ignorance of what had happened interfere with a good bull session. A new, four-wheel-drive pickup pulled into the small parking lot, and Augustus Brine crawled out, jangling his huge key ring as if it were a talisman of power sent down by the janitor god. He was a big man, sixty years old, white haired and bearded, with shoulders like a mountain gorilla. People alternately compared him to Santa Claus and the Norse god Odin. â€Å"Morning, boys,† Brine grumbled to the old men, who gathered behind him as he unlocked the door and let them into the dark interior of Brine's Bait, Tackle, and Fine Wines. As he switched on the lights and started brewing the first two pots of his special, secret, dark-roast coffee, Brine was assaulted by a salvo of questions. â€Å"Gus, did you hear the dogs last night?† â€Å"We heard a tree went down on your hill. You hear anything about it?† â€Å"Can you brew some decaf? Doctor says I've got to cut the caffeine.† â€Å"Bill thinks it was a bitch in heat started the barking, but it was all over town.† â€Å"Did you get any sleep? I couldn't get back to sleep.† Brine raised a big paw to signal that he was going to speak, and the old men fell silent. It was like that every morning: Brine arrived in the middle of a discussion and was immediately elected to the role of expert and mediator. â€Å"Gentlemen, the coffee's on. In regard to the events of last night, I must claim ignorance.† â€Å"You mean it didn't wake you up?† Jim Whatley asked from under the brim of a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap. â€Å"I retired early last night with two lovely teenage bottles of cabernet, Jim. Anything that happened after that did so without my knowledge or consent.† Jim was miffed with Brine's detachment. â€Å"Well, every goddamn dog in town started barking last night like the end of the world was coming.† â€Å"Dogs bark,† Brine stated. He left off the â€Å"big deal† – it was understood from his tone. â€Å"Not every dog in town. Not all at once. George thinks it's supernatural or something.† Brine raised a white eyebrow toward George Peters, who stood by the coffee machine sporting a dazzling denture grin. â€Å"And what, George, leads you to the conclusion that the cause of this disturbance was supernatural?† â€Å"Woke up with a hard-on for the first time in twenty years. It got me right up. I thought I'd rolled over on the flashlight I keep by the bed for midnight emergencies.† â€Å"How were the batteries, Georgie?† someone interjected. â€Å"I tried to wake up the wife. Whacked her on the leg with it just to get her attention. I told her the bear was charging and I have one bullet left.† â€Å"And?† Brine filled the pause. â€Å"She told me to put some ice on it to make the swelling go down.† â€Å"Well,† Brine said, stroking his beard, â€Å"that certainly sounds like a supernatural experience to me.† He turned to the rest of the group and announced his judgment. â€Å"Gents, I agree with George. As with Lazarus rising from the dead, this unexplained erection is hard evidence of the supernatural at work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have cash customers to attend to.† The last remark was not meant as a dig toward the old men, whom Brine allowed to drink coffee all day free of charge. Augustus Brine had long ago won their loyalty, and it would have been absurd for any one of them to think of going anywhere else to purchase wine, or cheese, or bait, or gasoline, even though Brine's prices were a good thirty percent higher than the Thrifty-Mart down the street. Could the pimple-faced clerks at the Thrifty-Mart give advice on which bait was best for rock cod, a recipe for an elegant dill sauce for that same fish, recommend a fine wine to complement the meal, and at the same time ask after the well-being of every family member for three generations by name? They could not! And therein lay the secret of Augustus Brine's ability to run a successful business based entirely on the patronage of locals in an economy catering to tourists. Brine made his way to the counter, where an attractive woman in a waitress apron awaited, impatiently worrying a five-dollar bill. â€Å"Five dollars worth of unleaded, Gus.† She thrust the bill at Brine. â€Å"Rough night, Jenny?† â€Å"Does it show?† Jenny made a show of fixing her shoulder-length auburn hair and smoothing her apron. â€Å"A safe assumption, only,† Brine said with a smile that revealed teeth permanently stained by years of coffee and pipe smoke. â€Å"The boys tell me there was a citywide disturbance last night.† â€Å"Oh, the dogs. I thought it was just my neighborhood. I didn't get to sleep until four in the morning, then the phone rang and woke me up.† â€Å"I heard about you and Robert splitting up,† Brine said. â€Å"Did someone send out a newsletter or something? We've only been separated a few days.† Irritation put an unattractive rasp in her voice. â€Å"It's a small town,† Brine said softly. â€Å"I wasn't trying to be nosy.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Gus. It's just the lack of sleep. I'm so tired I was hallucinating on the way down here. I thought I heard Wayne Newton singing ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus.'† â€Å"Maybe you did.† â€Å"The music was coming from a pine tree. I'm telling you, I've been a basket case all week.† Brine reached across the counter and patted her hand. â€Å"The only constant in this life is change, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Give yourself a break.† Just then Vance McNally, the local ambulance driver, burst through the door. The radio on his belt made a sizzling sound as if he'd just stepped out of a deep fryer. â€Å"Guess who vapor locked last night?† he said, obviously hoping that no one would know. Everyone turned and waited for his announcement. Vance basked in their attention for a moment to confirm his self-importance. â€Å"Milo Tobin,† he said, finally. â€Å"The evil developer?† George asked. â€Å"That's him. Sometime around midnight. We just bagged him,† Vance said to the group. Then to Brine, â€Å"Can I get a pack of Marlboros?† The old men searched each other's faces for the right reaction to Vance's news. Each was waiting for another to say what they were all thinking, which was, â€Å"It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy,† or even, â€Å"Good riddance,† but as they were all aware that Vance's next rude announcement could be about them, they tried to think of something nice to say. You don't park in the handicapped space lest the forces of irony give you a reason to, and you don't speak ill of the dead unless you want to get bagged next. Jenny saved them. â€Å"He sure kept that Chrysler of his clean, didn't he?† â€Å"Sure did.† â€Å"The thing sparkled.† â€Å"He kept it like new, he did.† Vance smiled at the discomfort he had caused. â€Å"See you boys later.† He turned to leave and bumped straight into the little man standing behind him. â€Å"Excuse me, fella,† Vance said. No one had seen him come in or had heard the bell over the door. He was an Arab, dark, with a long, hooked nose and old; his skin hung around his piercing gray-blue eyes in folds. He wore a wrinkled, gray flannel suit that was at least two sizes too big. A red stocking cap rode high on the back of his bald head. His rumpled appearance combined with this diminutive size made him look like a ventriloquist's dummy that had spent a long time in a small suitcase. The little man brandished a craggy hand under Vance's nose and let loose with a string of angry Arabic that swirled through the air like blue on a Damascus blade. Vance backed out the door, jumped into his ambulance, and motored away. Everyone stood stunned by the ferocity of the little man's anger. Had they really seen blue swirls? Were the Arab's teeth really filed to points? Were, for that moment, his eyes glowing white-hot? It would never be discussed. Augustus Brine was the first to recover. â€Å"Can I help you with something, sir?† The unnatural light in the Arab's eyes dimmed, and in a humble, obsequious manner he said, â€Å"Excuse me, please, but could I trouble you for a small quantity of salt?†

Benzathine Benzylpenicillin

There are many people around the globe who would benefit from an injectable drug designed to release small amounts of medication over the course of a month. This is particularly necessary for people suffering from bacterial meningitis as they are required to receive injections on a regular basis. Additionally, there are countless other populations that would benefit from the availability of injectable medication. This type of medication dispension is useful for third world populations since they don’t have access to doctors on a regular basis.An injection that lasts for one month would ensure that these people were receiving necessary medication on a regular basis. At the same time, an injectable form of medication increases patient compliance since they are only responsible for getting the injection once a month instead of on a more regular basis. Similarly, injectable forms of medication allow patients to receive constant therapeutic levels of drug maintenance that ensures t hey get well.Finally, making medication available in injection form eliminates the need to refrigerate drugs and also reduces the number of trips a patient must make to a clinic to receive necessary medication. Therefore, this researcher aims to look at benzathine benzylpenicillin and its usefulness as an injectable drug. The lab already purchases benzathine benzylpenicillin but it is not in pure form. As a result, the job of this researcher would be to coat the benzathine benzylpenicillin with different polymers in order to slow down the dissolving process.If successful, this process would improve the lives of sick people all over the world who are required to receive frequent doses of penicillin. Penicillin is known to be unstable in liquid formations (Ogunleye, et al, 2004). Therefore, the first goal this researcher would have is to work with one type of polymer that uses heat rather than water. This polymer will be used to coat the penicillin so particles will not clump up. It i s essential to develop a way to keep penicillin particles from clumping so they can be released on a consistent basis after the initial injection.Further, benzathine benzylpenicillin will be injected using a needle and PVA is hydrophilic so clumping must be avoided in order to successfully inject the medication. The polymer this researcher will use is called polyvinyl alcohol. Establishing a way to prevent penicillin from clumping will contribute much to the research being conducted around the possibilities and benefits of using injectable benzathine benzylpenicillin. The second aim this researcher has is to develop a way to slow down the dissolving process of the benzathine benzylpenicillin in order to ensure that it releases constant dosages for an entire month.The main goal in slowing the dissolving process is to achieve a minimum level of concentration in order for the drug to be effective at a low level for a very long time. Discovering a way to slow this process is essential f or may patients, particularly those suffering from bacterial meningitis because benzathine benzylpenicillin cannot be given orally as the gastric acid and absorption of the intestinal tract is too slow to deem the oral form of the drug effective (Shaheen, 2004).There are several steps this researcher will take in preparing penicillin to be coated in order to make an injectible form of benzathine benzylpenicillin successful and worthwhile. After successfully determining the polymer concentrations that would be most effective, this researcher would use a fluid bed coater to apply the polymers to the penicillin. A fluid bed coater looks like an upside down bottle where the drug particles are dried as they travel in a clockwise circular motion. The penicillin will go into the machine and the polymers will go into a spray gun.The penicillin will be blown up into the upside down bottle and as it passes the spray gun it will be coated with the two different polymers. The inside of the bott le is hot so that the penicillin can dry before being sprayed with the polymers subsequent times. This process goes on until the researcher stops the machine. This allows the researcher to control how much polymer is allowed to coat the penicillin. The final step in this process is a dissolution test on the polymer coated penicillin. This researcher will place the penicillin in water (used as a medium of blood) and stir until dissolved.Then, this researcher will use a visible spectrospectry to determine the concentration of the drug in the water. This process allows the researcher to figure out how much of the drug was dissolved based on the amount of polymer coating the penicillin. In order to calculate the exact concentration, a sample of the water is placed in a cubbet and a UV light is shined on the sample. Concentration rates are determined based on how much light is able to come through, what type of light is coming through and the wavelength of the light coming through.Any gi ven molecule has a characteristic spectrum for a specific concentration of the drug, so by looking at the spectrum you can find drug concentration. This researcher is right for the job based on an in depth understanding of benzathine benzylpenicillin and the process it must go through to become safe and effective as an injectible drug. Additionally, this researcher is enthusiastic about the possibilities such an injectible drug will have to positively impact the lives of many people required to take constant doses of medication.The penicillin family of medication is an important tool in the arsenal for fighting illness (Wright, 1999). They are of low toxicity, they are highly effective and they are easily distributed through the body (Wright, 1999). This work won’t be accomplished quickly and there will be challenges along the way. However, this researcher is willing to persevere in order to discover new and innovative ways to make drug administration easier and more effectiv e for people required to take benzathine benzylpenicillin.When a correct mixture of polymers is discovered and dissolution is slow, this researcher will consider the project a success. Ogunleye, D. S. ; Kolawale, J. A. ; Okaroh, I. & Okeniyi, S. O. Effects of Thawing Methods on the Stability of Cloxacillin Sodium and Benzathine Benzyl Penicillin Injections. Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences 2004, 3, 51 – 55. Shaheen, Rubina. Penicillins. Indian Journal for the Practicing Doctor 2004, 1, 11 – 12. Wright, Alan J. The Penicillins. The Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 1999, 74, 290 – 307.