Newell Rubbermaid Case Study

I believe that Newell Rubbermaid’s departmentalization structure puts the company in a strong position for profitable growth. It was clearly stated that the profit of the company stand good after the implementation of the strategy that was on a down trend for the past two years. Â  The efforts of Galli to increase the efficiency of the company to act as ‘one’ organization made to cut the cost of production. Although the effect will not take right after but at least there is an improvement on the profit growth of the company. It is just usual for the effect of any business strategy to take time for the effect to experience so there’s nothing to worry about not meeting the target growth. It is just a matter of time. Answer to Question #2 I think Galli applied Mary Parker Follett’s guideline on coordination to Newell Rubbermaid by establishing the single corporate headquarters in Atlanta. With this, the top Management, especially Galli, can now get the opinions of the executives coming from the different business units. The implementation of this also made the meetings of the executives easier and more efficient. The dissemination of information will also be made faster since the executive of one business unit can attend the meeting right on schedule and there will be no more excuses about being late or any kind of delay. With the executives working in one office will give them enough space for interaction that will give them more coordination for the planning and execution of every business direction. Answer to Question #3 I will suggest to Galli the establishment of a single competent, energetic guiding authority or the formal management structure; since at the very start of the financial crisis of the company, the unification of the business units is the source of the problem of the company; to give emphasis in using the organization to address Newell Rubbermaid’s challenges. Bureaucracy This is defined as the administrative structure that uses the hierarchical distribution of authority to every unit of the organization (dictionary.com, 2007). This is used by many businesses in structuring their organization despite of the criticisms that is attributed to this business structure. One of the criticisms of bureaucracy is that individuals are not being aware of the negative effects of their actions in a larger sense since there is an overspecialization of business units. Red tape is also one of the negative effects of bureaucracy that hinders on the implementation of every business action and makes the decision making process to slow down. It is also said that under bureaucracy, common sense is no longer applicable since they are all guided by the laws provided by the top management. The lower management and the employees have less participation on the planning process under this organizational structure. The above situation will later result on internal problem for the managers because employees might feel that they are not being valued by the management. Of course there are still benefits derived from using bureaucracy as an organizational structure. One of this is the increase in the efficiency of production because of the specialization of the laborers. The said tactic enables to company to have growth on their profits since there will be more goods will be produce. The imposition of laws will help the employees by guiding the latter on their doings and on the execution of the plans within and outside the business environment. Top managers are surely highly competitive since they are screened by the other top managers. Since the business transactions are documented, this can be used by the future management as a basis on planning their marketing strategy and other business related tactics. There are still a lot of benefits that can be derive from using bureaucracy as the organizational of every company, only that it depends on the situation on what the company is dealing with. REFERENCES dictionary.com. (2007). Bureaucracy [Electronic Version] from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bureaucracy. Â   Â  

Ice cream

City it is in between CSS San Carols and Saint Dominic Parish. You can contact Emil Rome C. Calcium on 09332965701 for more information visit us on quartermasters. Gamma. Com 1. 2 We have chosen partnership as our business organization, in which two or more individuals manage to operate the business. For having six members in this business it is easier and less expensive for us to organize because there is mutual contribution by means of money and property.All assets contributed into the partnership are owned by the partnership. The profit and losses are equally divided. All partners are personally liable for all debts incurred by the partnership. Combines each partner's special skills, expertise and experience for the business. 1. 3 Company Description: For the preparation the set-up employees will clean the store and the furniture. Inside the kitchen, an employee is assigned to clean and prepare the needed ingredients, kitchen equipment and utensils once everything is ready, employ ees are required to freshen-up and groom themselves for them to appear neat and presentable.For our closing, our employees are given 1 hour to clean the entire store and fix everything after the store hours. Our usual customers are children, students, teenagers, groups of friends who want to chill, professionals, and oldies who are young at heart. 1. 4 Top four Executive Personnel: Abate, Maria Salve L. Pagan, Jerkin C. Tulips, Aka Marie S. Sacramento, Nikkei Jane R. Qualification: Creativity and Innovation Develops new insights into situations; questions conventional approaches; encourages new ideas and innovations; designs and implements new or cutting edge programs/processes.External Awareness Understands and keeps up-to-date on local, national, and international policies and trends that affect the organization and shape stakeholders' views; is aware of the organization's impact on the external environment. Flexibility Is open to change and new information; rapidly adapts to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles. Resilience Deals effectively with pressure; remains optimistic and persistent, even under adversity.Recovers quickly from setbacks. Strategic Thinking Formulates objectives and priorities, and implements plans consistent with the long- term interests of the organization in a global environment. Capitalizes on opportunities and manages risks. Vision Takes a long-term view and builds a shared vision with others; acts as a catalyst for organizational change. Influences others to translate vision into action. 1. 5 Start up Schedule: Name of Competitors: Ice Cream House 1. 6 Funds Needed

Animal Farm by George Orwell Essay Animal Farm Essays

Animalism in many ways does symbolize Communism. Animalism for the animals would be a perfect land, no rich, no poor, and everyone is equal. They all would own the same amount of the farm. No animal would be above any other animal. As in a communistic society, they would all work the same and receive the same. The government would own everything and they people would own the government. In both Animalism and Communism, their goal was a society in which the workers, not the capitalists, owned all the means of production. To reach this ideal situation, a transition period was needed, during which the government controlled the economy. The government guaranteed hospitalization, education, housing, and pension plans, as well as jobs. In Animal Farm, the animals did receive some of those features while Snowball was with them. The people, as well as animals, in turn, gave up every indication of freedom. Thus, everyone would share equally in the benefits of production, and everyone would ha ve an equal share in the goods that were produced. The government (pigs), regardless of demand, determined supply. Everyone was forced to work...

Republicans stand on Stem Cell Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Republicans stand on Stem Cell Research - Essay Example In general, political scenarios change instantaneously, i.e. democrats and republicans, whoever comes to power starts with new ideologies to develop. But their ideology may counter to the thoughts of people. Earlier the leaders could easily maintain a fake impression with the people. But with today’s media and online facilities, thee public is more than aware and are able to know the in depth truth and hence there is less chance of making false pretences. Nowadays, Democrats have to prove – â€Å"Government by the People† and republicans â€Å"Government based on laws†. As a Democrat, Adlai E. Stevenson says,†If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them†. Peoples choice of democrats or the republicans changes instantly with various issues. A human mind is fast changing and a real leader needs to maintain a homeostasis of the things he does to maintain his stance in the minds of people. That is why politics is a tough job. No democrat can be convinced of republican thoughts or vice versa as Laurence J.Peter says - â€Å"A Man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still† – Also people cannot be compromised that easily. Still they pretend to be convinced according to the wordings - â€Å"Popular Opinion is the Greatest lie in the World† – Thomas Carlyle. ... A democrat may bend rules in his country for his people's sake, but a republican has human ethics as a background of his ideals. So republican is more global in his thought and leads the country to a more civilized environment. As John F. Kerry says, "Real Democrats don't abandon the middle class" Definitely not, a better and good democrat can bring up a better environment with his ideals too. This marks the success of a leader, may be a democrat or a republican. People's life is all the busier with their pretty hasty job and pizza life style and still they drop out to cast votes and decide their leader. Mark Russell says "If you've got the brain-washed, that's the Democrats, and the brain-dead, that's the Republicans! " So, this is only a global perspective, let us hook our vision towards the current stance, one of the two main political parties of the United States. Its origins could be traced back to the coalition formed behind Thomas Jefferson in the 1790s to resist the policies of George Washington's administration. This coalition, originally called the Republican, and later the Democratic-Republican Party, split into two factions during the presidential campaign of 1828. One, the National Republican Party, was absorbed into the Whig Party in 1834; the other became the Democratic Party. It's all capitalism over here and a blend of democrats and republicans ruling USA. The US's man should essentially maintain its standard to prove its leadership past this many years, and uphold the virtues in the presidents before. Certainly, as John Adams says, "The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries." and "Fear is the foundation of most

Periodisation Justification for football season Essay

Periodisation Justification for football season - Essay Example This matters includes their family member health and other domestic issues. When the member of coachs family is sick in the course of training period, he should not take time off. Periodization can be defined as the long-term variation planning of the intensity and volume of training. Periodization prevents overtraining and ensure performance is optimal at the speculated time (Eikenberry 2010). Volume in periodization is amount of exercise that is performed either monthly, annually, or per day. Volume is measurable in terms of sets in reps. The intensity is measured in terms of work and time done. The intensity and volume of training can be estimated in terms of exercise volume which is computed by the average lifted weight (Elliot 2003). The training volume can be estimated by the load of the volume. Intensity of the exercise is evaluated by competing the relative intensity. Consequently, training intensity is estimated by the average mass that is lifted annually, monthly, or daily. Therefore, periodization involves moving the priority activities not related to sports to activities that are sports related. Non- sports related activities includes low intensity and high volume. however sport related activities include the high intensity and low volume. Periodizati on in football is important because it ensures performance is optimized and reduces overtraining. Diagram 1 and 2 shows the periodization model of an advanced footballer (Francis 2010). For many years the professional footballers have recognized the need for emphasizing on various aims and objectives during and off the season. Their aim is to be at peak at a specific period. In planning their exercises and coaching over a long time, the athletes aim for various principles. They principles include: their bodies adapt to fewer stresses at a given period. For example one is able to develop their high physiological stress at the same time develop their

International Production and Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Production and Governance - Essay Example The impact of recession on the global market and effect of economic crisis are also described. Global imbalance occurs only when the country’s economy goes through a terrific downfall or there is a sudden change in the political system. The government is then reorganized to pacify the existing problems and to improve the situation so that the country can revive to its normal form. U.S Economic Policy United States is considered as the super power due to its economic and political stability. The economic stability helps the country to overcome any sort of downturn and economic downfall. As most of the countries today depend on United States, the commitment to maintain a stable economy is considerably more when compared to other countries. The economic crisis and recession hit United States so hard that the country struggled to get back to a stable state. The political changes also had a great impact on the country’s economy. US economy is more vulnerable to economic down turns since the country relies on several other countries. When compared to all the other problems, the 9/11 attack was considered to be the most deteriorating problem in the United States. Though the country had a reliable government and political parties, it was difficult for the country to recuperate to the normal situation. (Wade, 2009). The country’s economy went through a bad patch and the government officials implemented various strategies to bring back the country’s economy to a stable form. Political Hegemony The political hegemony was vulnerable right from the days of the Cold war. From then America has been one of the very few countries which had the ability to fight with any continent. This created a sense of fear among the other countries. Though the country’s government was filled with political leaders from several parties, the development in terms of politics was unbeatable. The political administration before the 9/1 attack was considered to be best strategies since the country established a cordial relationship with almost all the countries in the world. Due to this factor, America was the most sought after nation in the world. The economic and political stability contributed to the country’s success in each and every field. The political hegemony and the dictatorship continued even after the Cold War. Generally a country which is economically strong tries to dominate over the other dependent countries. Since US had the capacity to control the countries which relied on it; the government took an upper hand in controlling the other countries. Due to this factor, the political hegemony started to invade America. The political hegemony was clearly visible from the political reforms that came into existence after the Second World War. The role of US in the global economy went through a drastic change by the election of Obama. Till then, U.S was the country on which most of the other countries depended. International or ganizations and multinational corporations are the highest rated corporate in the world. A country can easily operate with the company that is in America or London. The advancement in the information technology has led to a situation where countries like America rely on other countries to accomplish their business activities. Bill Clinton and George.W.Bush were the major reason for the America’

Weather Systems 2014 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Weather Systems 2014 - Essay Example Some rainfall that fall was intermitted slight while other was intermitted heavy. The intermitted slight rainfall was attributed to less okta clouds that were slightly heavier. On the contrary, the continuous heavy rainfall along the Northern parts of England was attributed to heavier Okta clouds that which were formed via accumulation of substantial amount of water vapour. Okta clouds were experienced in the North Eastern parts of British Isle. This was followed by a heavy rainfall in Stomoway region and areas surrounding this region. Heavy clouds extended towards the Northern parts of Wick and Glasgow region leading to continuous moderate amount of rainfall (Jewell, 2011). In addition, heavy clouds continued to be experienced in other Northern parts of England such as Lorwick region as indicated in the synoptic table. Okta clouds were later followed by intermitted slight amount of rainfall. Moreover, Aberdeen and North Eastern parts of England such Tiree experienced okta clouds fol lowed by intermittent heavy rainfall. In addition, some parts of Scotland experienced can be observed that okta clouds, intermitted rainfall and moderate heavy rainfall (Sene, 2013). The coast Eastern parts of England such as Whitby and Spum Head experienced incidence of foggy conditions. The occurrence of fog may consist of condensed droplets of water which occur as a result of air being cooled up to appoint where it cannot be able to hold water vapour. The fog in the Eastern parts of England tend to be caused by a number of factors which include but not limed to immense cooling of the air on the ground, movement of air from regions with high warmth concentration to regions with extreme coldness. In addition, the presence of rain along the Eastern parts of England could be attributed the substantial amounts of fog in Whitby and Spum Head regions. This is because

IT MANAGEMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

IT MANAGEMENT - Assignment Example Then launched it on the internet in August that year, to judge the response from the people for such a technology in which they can let the whole world know what they are doing in their lives by simply sending micro-blogs. The Twitter technology is also equipped with the concept of receiving tweets on mobile phones in form of messages. Arthur (2008) states that Twitter is often called the â€Å"SMS of the Internet† and the character limit of twitter is also chosen in accordance with that of the SMS. McIntyre (2009a) states that since Twitter can be used by PCs and mobile devices both and it offers a very small blog message of maximum 140 characters, due to this advantage it has become one of the biggest mediums globally for sharing real-time data. The size of the messages have also decreased the problem of information overload on the Web. Payne (2008) states that the technology that was used to handle messages from 2007 to 2008 was of a Ruby persistent queue server called Starling. Venners (2009) states that in 2009, they changed the technology and started using software written in Scala. Twitter has been one of the most successful social networking services and has gained its name among the top league including Facebook, video sharing platform of YouTube etc. McIntyre (2009a) states that according to a research by Wall Street Journal; Twitter has had an increase from 2 million users to 32 million users since last year only. There have been some internet measurements services stating that the figures are continuing to grow from 50% to 100% month after month. With such a huge and increasing market; Twitter and other businesses have a great future lined up. McIntyre (2009d) states that consumer feedback plays an important role to any organization in improving their products. Companies spend a great deal of their resources in market research and collecting consumer feedback.

Freudian Approach to Personality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Freudian Approach to Personality - Essay Example It considers the reality of the situation; but its main function is satisfying id. At the end of the phallic stage of development, when the child attains the age of approximately 5 years, super-ego develops due to the moral and ethical constraints placed on the individual by the parents or caregivers. Super-ego is the budding morality or the human conscience that dictates right and wrong and makes the individual hesitate from hurting others. Super-ego is the careful side of the growing child which will stand by it all its life and makes the child more responsible and sociable. Freud said that in a healthy person, ego remains the strongest, because it has to satisfy id, but it will not override super-ego and that makes the individual judgemental, moral, self-righteous, caring and considerate. He believed that at a conscious level, we experience feelings, emotions, desires, impulses and beliefs. He said most of what drives an individual is buried in the unconscious and the unconscious would keep affecting the individual all his life. The impact of the unconscious can never be ruled out and most of the individual's decisions are based on the unconscious. But the unconscious is buried and inaccessible meaning the individual knows only a small portion of his personality because most of it is not accessible. We are mainly aware of the conscious and not much of unconscious. Here, we are confronted with pre-conscious or subconscious or available memory. This is not actively conscious, but an individual can have an access to it whenever he wants, but to a limited extent, though he has to search for it. Sigmund Freud's theory is likened to an iceberg, because the conscious is a small part that shows above the surface, while the biggest unconscious cunningly stays below the surfac e and does not become visible at all. "Freud suggested that all our behavior is motivated by the desire to feel pleasure. That motivation is organized and directed by two instincts: sexuality (Eros), and aggression (Thanatos). Freud conceptualized both these instincts as being powered by a form of internal psychic energy that he called libido" http://intropsych.mcmaster.ca/intropsych/1aa3/Person/lec2-1.htm Allpsychonline - http://allpsych.com/psychology101/ego.html Dr. Freud presented the best known theories of personality that have remained equally controversial. His stages of Psycho-Sexual development consisting of the Oral Stage (birth to 18 months), the Anal Stage (18 months to three years), the Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years), the Latency period (6 to puberty) and the Genital stage (puberty on) shocked the prudish late Victorian and other European societies. He said throughout life, a person tries hard to overcome and control many conflicts, mainly all psychological. ""For Freud life is principally concerned with the management of these conflicts with individuals attempting to maximise instinctual gratification while minimising guilt and punishment. Freud's approach has therefore, been described as a conflict management model of the inner world," Pearce (2003, p.2). According to him, instincts are the driving forces of personality and basic conflicts are individual instincts versus society's needs. He said all human behaviour is motivated by life instincts, and he called this motivational energy libido and called sex the most

Tanning. Why do people still tan after knowing all the bad effects Essay

Tanning. Why do people still tan after knowing all the bad effects - Essay Example Within the same era as that of Shakespeare, Elizabeth I passed away from white lead cosmetics. Such concept of beauty was also prevalent in Europe during much of the 18th and 19th centuries. This was because tanned skin signifies manual labor, of people who toil under the sun, the fair skinned people were regarded as the elite of the society. However, it was only when the labor practice has changed, where indoor work had become a norm, that tanned skinned became a trademark of people who can afford to do it for leisure purposes. Iconic figure Coco Channel during the 1920's accidentally acquired a tan during one of her holidays. This has had ignited a fad among fair skinned people to get themselves tanned. ( Wikipedia ) The first and the most common is sunburn, where the usual symptoms are marked by the redness of skin and peeling that takes places after a few days of too much sun exposure. This is described to be as a short-term skin damage. The next problem encountered is the premature aging or photoaging. ... Another one that is most dreaded by all is skin cancer. One type is called melanoma which is considered to be the less common but dangerous form of skin cancer that can cause death. UV radiation causes cancer in two ways : 1. By damaging DNA cells that will cause abnormal growth in the skin, that could be benign or malignant, and 2. by making the immune system weak that leads to the inability of the body to defend itself from aggressive cancer cells. Another kind of growth named actinic or solar keratoses is a concern because it has the tendency to develop into cancer cells. Then another risk which most people are not aware of is eye damage. This happens when the eyes weren't protected from the heat of the sun. It causes cataract characterized by the clouding of the lens of the eyes thereby blocking one's vision. Lastly, most people regardless of the race or skin color will most like suffer from immune suppression where the body's natural defenses to fight against diseases were compromised. Apparently, weak immune system makes one susceptible to different diseases where one of them could be skin cancer. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) Reasons Why People Tan Despite Risks Robin Hornung and Solmaz Poorsattar, students of the University of Washington, conducted a study among 385 UW students about their tanning behaviors. It was revealed that 75% of the students do tanning in order to look good and 41% specified it is a relaxation technique. Due to these reasons, students strive to achieve their aim that the researchers described it to be an addictive behavior. ( Paras ) Steven Feldman, a lead researcher for the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center , said that they believed that tanning has a

Bing Vs. Google Essay Example for Free

Bing Vs. Google Essay Over the past couple of days, I have been using Google and Bing to search for the same various topics to see if there were any differences and ultimately define which was the best search engine for me. I found that when I was looking for information or researching, I preferred Google to Bing ultimately because of the layout and ease. For one of my tests, I searched the word â€Å"Penguins†. I found that I preferred the layout of Google because it was cleaner and helped me stay on task. When I was using Bing, I felt a little overwhelmed with all the information that I was given on the results page and I ended up being pretty distracted by the tweets on the right hand side along with videos Bing suggested I look at. However, information wise, I found that both search engines gave me sufficient information, not one being better than the other. Some other key benefits I found that Google has that Bing does not is the â€Å"I feel lucky† button. This allows you to save that one more extra step by taking you directly to the most popular page for what you’re searching for. Google also allows you to remove certain older searches from the drop down list with one easy click on the â€Å"remove† button. Another benefit Google offers, is the ability to preview the search results without leaving the main results page. Finally, my favorite is the homepage where they change the word â€Å"Google† into different fonts, formats and games everyday. Because I own a Mac Book, and I use Chrome to do my entire web browsing, searching on Google has become second nature to me. I use Chrome because it starts up quickly. It also allows me to type anything into the URL address box and Chrome takes me directly to Google with the results. Although I will continue to use Google, I do believe that Bing can catch up to Google in search perhaps through disruptive innovation or exposing the search engine to the younger generations early on. If Bing were to create a search engine to compete with Chrome, I think it would be highly profitable, especially if this new operating system were available for free download and accessible to anyone for development. I also believe that one of the biggest problems that Bing faces is turning the users who have been using Google for years, to try Bing. And even if Bing faces up to the challenge, it’s hard to break a habit, especially in this case since Chrome makes it easier for the researcher to search on Google. Some other factors that could help Bing, is if Google makes a mistake. For example, whenever Facebook makes a new change, you see all the complaints in your newsfeed; however, people keep using it because there is nothing else like it out there. If Google changes certain attributes about their search engine, that the majority of people do not like, Bing can very well serve as their backup and in an instant become their number one search engine. However, since I still prefer using Google, I will continue to â€Å"Google it†.

The Stuxnet Virus Essay Example for Free

The Stuxnet Virus Essay Historic data shows that Iran accounted for almost sixty percent of the early infections. According to Siemens, 15 of its customers were identified as having detected the worm on their systems as of Sept. 14. Stuxnet used stolen digital certificates from Realtek Semiconductor and JMicron Technology to legitimately slip through and hide. The certificates also helped keep Stuxnet under the radar. 1. 1 Why are all the fingers pointing to the United States and Israel? Most cyber security experts who have researched this complex attack call it a joint U. S. Israeli operation, which may have also included Germany and Great Britain. It is also a well known fact which, incidentally, has not been denied by either the US. or Israel, that Israeli intelligence tested aspects of the worm using centrifuges identical to Irans at Israel’s Dimona complex. Even Siemens the German company cooperated with Idaho National Laboratories in the US to identify the vulnerabilities of computer controllers that the company sells to operate industrial machinery around the world. Not too long afterwards, those very vulnerabilities were exploited by Stuxnet. . Why a Cyber Attack? Cyber warfare requires intellect not military might and a country does not have to be a military superpower to wage a cyber attack. Cyber attack tracks are much easier to cover and are easily attributable to another entity. While cyber attacks are only recently been declared by our military and political leadership as acts of war, compared to an actual physical military attack on another country life can go on as usual for most of the citizens on both sides of the conflict without the slightest idea that their country is at war. It does not cost billions of dollars to run or manage and is hardly a long-term commitment of hundreds of thousands of troops and the logistics to support them and their equipment at the front lines. In case of Iran, a cyber attack was the most viable option available to global powers because the Iranian regime did not hesitate to make threats against the United States and Israel should it have been attacked militarily to make it stop trying to produce nuclear weapons. 2. 1 What exactly is Stuxnet designed to do? Graphic: Courtesy of The New York Times, January 15, 2011 Stuxnet is the first malware of its type designed to cross over the cyber – industrial divide and attacking critical infrastructure like power stations and electricity grids. On 26 September 2010, Irans state news agency reported that computers at its Bushehr nuclear power plant had been infected. The New York Times article, Israeli Test on Worm called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay, describes the complex function of Stuxnet in very simple terms: â€Å"One part of the program is designed to lie dormant for long periods, and then speed up the machines so that the spinning rotors in the centrifuges wobble and then destroy themselves. Another part, called a â€Å"man in the middle† in the computer world, sends out those false sensor signals to make the system believe everything is running smoothly. That prevents a safety system from kicking in, which would shut down the plant before it could self-destruct. † The same article further quotes Ralph Langer, widely credited for having solved Stuxnet, as saying: â€Å"Code analysis makes it clear hat Stuxnet is not about sending a message or proving a concept,† and later saying â€Å"It is about destroying its targets with utmost determination in military style. † Stuxnet was designed to seek out its target, cripple it beyond repair without causing any collateral damage; stay lurking in the shadows to continue to strike, all without leaving any conclusive evidence of who sent it on its mission in the first place. Needless to say, it succeeded in its mission. 2. 2 How effective was Stuxnet and why? To sit remotely, thousands of miles away and receive an email update from your smart malware that it has disabled your enemy’s commercial power grid says something about the power and effectiveness of this new weapon of cyber warfare. By most accounts and estimates damage from the Stuxnet virus has apparently set back the Iranian nuclear program by at least two years. This makes the virus as effective as a military strike, perhaps even more; all this without loss of life, collateral damage, or risk of a full-blown war. 3. History and future of nation state cyber warfare According to the Council on Foreign Relations, although few countries beyond the well-known players like China, Russia, and Israel and a handful of others have historically possessed the capability to launch a full scale cyber attack along the lines of the Stuxnet attack, over one hundred countries have begun to organize cyber warfare units. (Masters, 2011, sec. 2) Across the world, countries are either engaged in cyber battles with their arch enemies or gearing up to bolster their defenses against cyber warfare.

Multinational Company Bmw Economic Essay

Multinational Company Bmw Economic Essay BMW is the multinational company that I choose for the assignment. BMW is a company that operating in more than 1 country. They are not only operating in their home country (Germany) but they also operate in many countries like: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and etc. Beside that BMW also have manufacture in country like UK, USA, Mexico, South Africa and etc. So BMW is proving as a multinational company. BMW Group is one of the worlds largest premium carmakers and BMW is also the parent of the company of BMW MINI and Rolls-Royce car brands, and, formerly, Rover. BMW headquarters in Munich, Germany. The company slogans in English are The Ultimate Driving Machine and Sheer Driving Pleasure. BMW was founded by Karl Friedrich Rapp in October 1913. Automobiles, motorcycles and financial services are three segments that operate by BMW and they manufactured the first passenger car running by hydrogen. BMW manufacturing is plant in Germany, Austria, UK, USA, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and also Vietnam. BMWs main competitors include Acura, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo all of this are consider luxury brands of the car products. Nowadays, BMW is support by 11different types of series which is: BMW C1, BMW 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 series, BMW X3, 5, 6, BMW Z4, BMW M5, BMW M6, and BMW Z4 M. According to the research, shown that there are 2 new divisions for BMW been introduce in October 1, 2007. Which are corporate and brand development will be lead by the director of corporate planning this is focus on the vital for brand management, corporate planning, and strategic implementation BMW. Second, purchasing and supplier network that headed by Dr.Herbert.Diess. The purpose is to reduce the material cost and expenses factor. These are few of the new management strategy that BMW Company is using to operate the c ompany. 15 Sentence of credit crunch in general are stand for credit crunch make it almost impossible to the lender like bank and investor to borrow the money because they become very chary of lending the money to the corporation. They scared of bankruptcies and defaults, which they drive up the price of debt products for borrowers which result in higher rates. The consequence is drag on of recession, which the shrinking of the credit supply wills happens as a result. 2 Credit crunch overall background is starting with the lender like bank are suffering loss because of their previous lending loans, and this make them normally unable and averse to lend the money again to the borrowers. This happen when the borrower in arrears and the properties underlying a defaulted loan and drop in the value. As in this case the borrowers default, the bank can only foreclose on hypothecate and trying to sell this property to compensate the funds they loaned out. Thereby, if the pricing of the house is decreasing, the bank is considered left selling at the cost. The banker capital position is reducing; when they suffer losses which are reduce the amount that they are able to lend out. The lending institutions are requiring keeping down the minimum levels of capital. 3 The reasons that cause to the credit crunch are first: speculation. Many people go to obtain additional loans with very easy terms for instance no initial down payment because it is too easy to gain the credit from the banks so that all of the peoples and investors think that the price will going to increase also. The rapidity increase in property value make investors to jump into the investment with low and no fundamentals. This situation will make the investors to feel that they are missing out and left behind, in case as many investors going to heap up it will cause increasingly unsustainable to the price of property. Next is lack of the regulatory oversight, the distrustful of loans are make by mortgage brokers and bankers, the underwriters who working in the bank are determine whether the ability of the borrowers is there for them to repay the loans and turn a blind eye to what is going on so that the increasing of the profit can see by the loans that they have written. In addit ional, there are others reasons like Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and subprime loans, the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, Historically low interest rates, and as well as politics which happen because many of the politicians going to say that the higher of the rate of the home ownership for Americans is better, but what would happen to the economy from the perspective of those that cant afford their homes when an inevitable slowdown occurred.4 The occurring of the credit crunch will actually affect the economy of a country and company in few ways. First, the banker will actually tighten up the credit for all types of loans and become more caution to lending the loans. So that this directly affects the small businesses peoples that who are depend on the loans and the credit to fund their day to day operation and become illiquid. Next, unemployment rises is one of the ways that will affect a company and country where the businesses are unable to pay for all the immediate bills and so that they also facing the problem that they cannot pay for the employees salary and so that caused the situation like unemployment increasing in nationwide. The bankers and the brokerage firms are hit by this credit crunch. Apart of that a spiraling domino effect occurs, above these two economies effects of the economies crisis can make the economy of a country going down and than affect the whole country economy and if the economy of a country continues to going downward, it will lead to the difficult to stop the cycle. 5 On year 2008, America was affected by the serious economy crisis, and their economy is actually hit really hard by this economy crisis. We can see through the secondary data that done by research show that BMW also hit by 2008 economy crisis. According to (Chris Reiter 2010) BMW and Mercedes this two world largest luxury car makers was only sold a combine 31,000 fewer vehicles last month because of the occurring of economy crisis and cause credit crunch that discourage the power purchasing of consumers. The percentage of sales are also falling down 8.3% to 113.005 cars and sport- utility vehicles from 123,300 vehicles a year earlier by BMW Company whose are also owns the Mini and Rolls-Royce auto brands. Next, Auto sales in US BMW as a biggest market also decrease 32 percent in October of 2008 to the lowest monthly total since January 1991. They look back to their 2008 profile target on November BMW plans to cut production by 65,000 cars and SUVs according to (Chris Reiter 2010). Chris Reiter (2010) states that BMW is involved in the extremely changeling market and the vehicles sales are decreasing for the whole year because of this. As what Ian Robertson who are the Munich-based carmakers sales chief said: in a statement today, reiterating a forecast released Nov. 4. The retail gains made in our growth markets were unable to fully offset declines in Western Europe, Japan and the U.S. Chris Reiter (2010) also states that BMW posted 12% drop in Western Europe, 5% drop in US and the worst is Japan drop 34%. Furthermore, David Gow (2010) states that credit crunch put brakes on BMW 2008 also when US economy goes down turn and BMW reported that a step fall down in first quarter earnings. The son company of BMW Mini and Rolls Royce said that the pre-tax profits spilled 25% to ( £505m), dragged down by increased risk provisions, tighter credit and the strong euro. According to (S. wall, S. Minocha, B. Rees, 2010)[case study 4.2 BMW after Rover], show Rover in Britain worsened and hopeless in early of March 2010 due to the strong pound damaging the exports of Rover. Finally Rover sells to Alchemy. This happened and uproar Britain press and politicians because scaring big number of unemployment in Rover and few supplier are located around the region. Alchemy withdrew from bidding process and sell to Phoenix consortium for  £10. Previous 6 years BMW spent total  £34billion to save Rover but posted big losses. The disposal provoked a political storm in Britain, and BMW bosses were someone parliamentary before this. Britain government furious, Milberg (who took over CEO of BMW in 1999) retorted government slow to get the signals he sent in a phone call before the situation worsened. This criticism infuriated the government again. This shows that government and political mess will also cause a problem to a company. Apart from that, the case stud y also stated that the decreasing and increasing of a currency will also give a huge impact to a company. The pounds became stronger and then give a direct effect to the company and destroy their exports businesses are one of the problem that we can see from the case and this may indirectly lead to the occur of credit crunch as well. 14 David Gow (2010) states BMW a 5.6% rise across its three brands to a record 351,787 despite a 9.1% drop in their biggest market, US. The international financial crisis deteriorates the climate for consumer spending became gloomier, it said, pointing to March 2008 as the peak of the crisis. Before this BMW still expect to beat the last year sales record to 1.5m but the USs economy getting worst and lead to the dropping of the profits. The world largest luxury carmaker BMW have became the victims of the credit crunch on 2008. It took a 236 million euro (S$500 million) charge because of falling prices and rising bad debt in the United States. The move is the provision made of the divinable losses in business area. This move could cause to increased nervousness about the impact of the financial crisis on the economy in Europe, even as most companies report robust first-quarter results. This is what reported by The Financial Times. The Click here to find out more!Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche says that in 2008 may that month the general car sales of US is fall down this year but the growth in emerging in market can expiation it. 6 In addition, research shows that 2008 BMW sons company MINI has declared that axes 800 redundancies in Cowley, Oxford hire prompting protests from unions over a perceived lack of sensitivity towards the rights of agency workers. The redundancy pay will not received by many of the staffs that who have been made the contract through the agency Manpower. At the same time the sales of the luxury cars are drop very ruggedness, so because of that supermini segment has experienced a less severe downturn driven by a consumer shift to smaller and more economical vehicles. Seen from secondary data, clearly we can see the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) January figure, the trend towards the smallest segment the mini or city car segment is growing stronger as the recession deepens, with new car registrations up 40.8% on 2008 figures. At British, Mini was one of the last of the car manufacturers that are continue working through these suffering times, but they are not produce an y cars on that relevant week because of to the significant fall in global demand. Around 20% of these 800 axes redundancies are going to tha manufacture like: Jaguar, Nissan and etc. 7 BMW became the first victim of the credit crunch on 24 of April, that who are the world largest luxury carmaker. BMW took a à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬236m ($369m) charge because of falling prices and rising bad debt in the US are showing through the research. But however the pre-tax level is slightly increased compare with last year. 8 The strategy that BMW use to overcome credit crunch are first: that are one of the reason why BMW and Mercedes are teaming up. There are fewer options for OEM (original equipment makers), consolidations of period have gone through by automobile suppliers and this trend is expected to speedup for the next few years. It becomes difficult for the investment capital because credit crunch makes suppliers harder to fund their business. 9 Many organizations are affected by the credit crunch in UK industry and so BMW. But BMW consider one of the successful from them and six awards are goes to BMW and German manufacturer sales rise and new models bring in new customers. Although BMW also affected but they get the award for best small car with the MINI, best small premium car for the 1 Series and best large premium car for the 3 Series. In addition, The 5 Series took the gong for best executive car and the X5 won best SUV and BMW was presented with the Fleet News environmental award for the EfficientDynamics package. 10 Next, BMW also trying to protect himself from credit crunch by helping some of the suppliers. The stronger suppliers are encouraging by BMW to take over weaker supplier in this case and BMW will pay more for the parts, speedup the payment and as well as they will temporary pay higher price for the parts. 11 Apart from that, in UK, during credit crunch the governments are actually asking to help the car manufacture and government helping a litter bit where we just seem it banking sector. According to the research, on that time if the government is still not aware of this problem and the unemployment will become worst and the number of import export within UK and other country will be reduce and shown that UK government will loss  £110 billion revenue and UK  £146.2 billion tax next couple of year if the government despise this case. 12 However, in Malaysia it will still have at least a litter bit effects because of credit crunch but the god strategy need to be prepared to face the credit crunch. According to Briscoe, he believes that the luxury car like BMW needs to have a better positioned for it to growth in the industry when facing difficulty at the economic side. He also said that: There would be an impact but we feel that the volume-based car segment would be more affected than the premium segment. According to him as well in Malaysia market in 2009, was to provide the right car at the right market at the right time. Extra key are they are now focusing on their credit crunch strategy are introduce more diesel powered cars. 13 This are few strategy that BMW done or the place government done to solve the various problem during credit crunch. But actually they are pro and con for every strategy they used and pro and con as well for the helping from the government, it is just depend on each of us to criticize either each of this strategy are falls into pro or con. In my opinion, as the first point I listed above BMW are teaming up with Mercedes, to invest in the suppliers and the next point that BMW are encourage strong supplier to take over weaker suppliers. It is just a good decision I think because it is not a good decision if we just leave our cars part supplier to facing and suffering alone with the credit crunch without any assisting. In the tough time during credit crunch, if we are not helping each other among supplier even competitor we might just die together because of the wrong decision. We can actually helping each other according to our capability like what BMW and the rest done. Next, the ethical issues are very vital for a company. According to (S. wall, S. Minocha, B. Rees, 2010), an organization must make sure that every decision they make, have a conscious ethical content. If it is an internal problem, it maybe about the labour working hours, or their wages problem. When come to the BMW do à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬international business with other country, company must ensure they does not apply their own ethical norms to the foreign country but is conforms to the local customs, and ethical as well as morality enough when making any of the business decision and also during economy crisis. Although the company situation is worse and worried but any decision making by BMW will be ethical enough; example during credit crunch any methods using to solve the credit crunch problem, it must be with ethical.

Women and Divorce in the Victorian Era Essay -- Victorian Era

Women and Divorce in the Victorian Era â€Å"There's a sanctity in this relation of life," said Mr. Bounderby, "and - and - it must be kept up." --Hard Times, 73 Once married, only one in ten women divorced. --â€Å"Life for Women† For Victorians, divorce was not only extremely expensive, it was very hard to do. Women and men stayed in unhappy marriages for numerous reasons. Many stayed away from divorce because of the stigma attached to divorced women. It was also considered a societal taboo. â€Å"Prior to 1857 England was the only Protestant country in Europe that did not have provisions for civil divorce. Divorce could only be obtained through private Acts of Parliament† (â€Å"Divorce†). Divorces were very hard to attain because there was no civil divorce. Private Acts were inconvenient and extremely costly. The poor had no way to attempt divorce under these circumstances. Just 322 divorces were approved prior to the passing of the 1857 Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act. Subsequent to this Act passing, divorce rates rose to about 369 in 1890, and 560 in 1900. (â€Å"Divorce†). Divorce laws highlighted the unequal status of women to men through the unequal circumstances which divorce was granted. A man could divorce a woman merely on the grounds of adultery. Yet a woman had to prove her husband guilty of adultery â€Å"†¦combined with cruelty, bigamy, incest, or bestiality† (â€Å"Marriage†). The unequal status of women to men was also evident through how the courts classified married and single females. When a Victorian man and woman married, the rights of the woman were legally given over to her spouse. â€Å"This suspension of the married woman’s legal personality was known as â€Å"coverture†. An unmarried woman was known in the law as a feme sole (... ...n before and during her marriage. * 1883: Custody Acts: allowed for women to be awarded custody of children up to the age of 16 (Moore par.4-5). Works Cited Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. Pearson Education. 2004. â€Å"Divorce.† The 1890’s, An Encyclopedia of British Literature, Art, and Culture. New York. Garland Publishing, INC. 1993. â€Å"Interesting Facts.† 5 November 2004. . â€Å"Life for Women.† 2004. 7 November 2004. . â€Å"Marriage and Divorce.† Victorian Britain, An Encyclopedia. New York. Garland Publishing, INC. 1988. Moore, Melissa. â€Å"Women’s Issues Now & Then, A Feminist Overview of the Past 2 Centuries.† 2004. 6 November 2004. .

History of Paintball :: essays research papers

>>>>>>>>>>>>Some Parts are made up Paintball is quite a new sport and is becoming more and more popular. It has been around since 1982, but professional paintball teams have just recently come together in 2002. The rules of paintball are not very complicated and are very concise. The game is very entertaining to play. There are also plenty of different types of products used to play the game. It is the one of the only sports that I am interested in and I hope that someday it could become a more popular sport.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first known paintball gun or â€Å"marker† was made by John Barker in 1982. At the time he had a job designing air guns for Daisy Inc. The gun that he made was a single shot pump gun; he called it the â€Å"splatmatic†. Daisy did not want to market his gun so he started a small company with some of his friends and called it Splat Markers. The company was soon a success and in 1986 he changed the name to JT Products. Now JT Products is one of the largest paintball companies in the world, producing practically everything needed and used in the game of paintball. They have also made the NPA (National Paintball Association). This was created in 2002 and has many different teams that are sponsored by a variety of companies. Paintball has come a long way since the creation of the splatmatic and is now a very popular and sport.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paintball is not just a group of people shooting each other with paintball markers; the sport involves a few simple rules. These rules are from the NPA and are the most commonly used. All paintballs that break on the body count as an elimination and that player is out. Any player within ten feet has the option of surrender and has 3 seconds to do so, any movement from that player and his â€Å"chance† is over. All markers must be chronographed at fewer than 300 fps. A hit from a teammate does not count as an elimination. The paintball must pop on a player to count as an elimination. Any player hit with a ball must call out â€Å"HIT† and raise his or her gun in the air and walk off of the playing field. All players must stay in the designated boundaries or they will be counted as out. Barrel plugs must be used at all times when not on the playing field.

A Studentss Guide to First-Year Writing :: Personal Narrative Suicide Death

A Students's Guide to First-Year Writing Now, and at the Hour I was not with You I. Laurie is crying again, â€Å"You are not with me,† she says. â€Å"Wait, Rae, don’t move.† I watch the silver image of the Virgin Mary on a swaying chain around her neck as she snaps the shutter to trap me in black and white. Laurie is the photographer of our little society; Michael is the sculptor, Stacy and I are the painters, and George has had a thing for performance art lately. We’re smoking cigarettes in the moldy bowling alley. George says: â€Å"I’m bored of this- all of it. Everyday’s the same shit. We need to fucking do something before my skin rots off.† Laurie is quiet, but Mike shrugs his shoulders, â€Å"What do you propose that we do, George?† â€Å"I don’t know, rob a bank, be punk rock and spread some anarchy... man, I don’t know, just anything.† I look at Laurie. She’s quiet. I motion to the bathroom to take her from George’s little angst party. We stand together in the stall, so I kiss her and touch her hair and say, â€Å"You okay, swe etie?† â€Å"Do you want the truth?† she asks. I nod and she replies, â€Å"No, Rae, I’m not okay. I’m really very, very not okay. I’m losing my shit over absolutely nothing... Rae, I just can’t do it anymore.† I’ve heard Laurie like this before; it makes my stomach go sharp and black because I want her to be okay. I need her to be okay. But she hurts so deep; her depressions come in torrents. Her tears stream the Chanel foundation off of her cheeks into puddles on her black dress, all in such slow motion. She brings a bottle from her bag, clicking and childproof, to her burgundy lips and then shares it with me. We return to the group with hydracodone breath, so that the rest of the day will be a senseless opiate dream. You are not with me. You are not with me. None of you. You stand around and let words drool out of your lips. You speak of punk rock and of anarchy, but you don’t even care... about anything. You don’t even care. You can’t even see me crying. You say, "Laurie, you okay, sweetie?

A Dirty Job Chapter 5

5 DARKNESS GETS UPPITY Hey, Ray,† Charlie said as he came down the steps into the storeroom. He always tried to make a lot of noise on the steps and usually fired a loud and early â€Å"hello† to warn his employees that he was coming. He'd worked a number of jobs before coming back to take over the family business, and had learned from experience that nobody liked a sneaky boss. â€Å"Hey, Charlie,† Ray said. Ray was out front, sitting on a stool behind the counter. He was pushing forty, tall, balding, and moved through the world without ever turning his head. He couldn't. As a San Francisco policeman, he'd caught a gangbanger's bullet in the neck six years ago, and that was the last time he'd looked over his shoulder without using a mirror. Ray lived on a generous disability pension from the city and worked for Charlie in exchange for free rent on his fourth-floor apartment, thus keeping the transaction off both their books. He spun around on the stool to face Charlie. â€Å"Hey – uh – I wanted to say that, you know, your situation, I mean, your loss. Everybody liked Rachel. You know, if I can do anything – â€Å" It was the first time Charlie had seen Ray since the funeral, so the awkwardness of secondary condolences had yet to be forded. â€Å"You've done more than enough by picking up my shifts. Whatcha working on?† Charlie was trying desperately to not look at the various objects in the shop that were glowing dull red. â€Å"Oh, this.† Ray rotated and pushed back so that Charlie could see the computer screen, where there were displayed rows of portraits of smiling, young Asian women. â€Å"It's called Desperate Filipinas dot-com.† â€Å"Is this where you met Miss LoveYouLongTime?† â€Å"That was not her name. Did Lily tell you that? That kid has problems.† â€Å"Yeah, well, kids,† Charlie said, suddenly noticing a matronly woman in tweed who was browsing the curio shelves at the front of the store. She was carrying a porcelain frog that was glowing dull red. Ray clicked on one of the pictures, which opened a profile. â€Å"Look at this one, boss. It says she's into sculling.† He spun on his stool again and bounced his eyebrows at Charlie. Charlie pulled his attention from the woman with the glowing frog and looked at the screen. â€Å"That's rowing, Ray.† â€Å"No it's not. Look, it says she was a coxswain in college.† Again with the eyebrow bounce, he offered a high five. â€Å"Also rowing,† Charlie said, leaving the ex-cop hanging. â€Å"The person at the back of the boat who yells at the rowers is called the coxswain.† â€Å"Really?† Ray said, disappointed. He'd been married three times, and been left by all three wives because of an inability to develop normal adult social skills. Ray reacted to the world as a cop, and while many women found that attractive initially, they expected him eventually to leave the attitude, along with his service weapon, in the coat closet when he arrived home. He didn't. When Ray had first come to work at Asher's Secondhand, it had taken two months for Charlie to get him to stop ordering customers to â€Å"move along, there's nothing to see here.† Ray spent a lot of time being disappointed in himself and humanity in general. â€Å"But, dude, rowing!† Charlie said, trying to make it all better. He liked the ex-cop in spite of his awkwardness. Ray was basically a good guy, kindhearted and loyal, hardworking and punctual, but most important, Ray was losing his hair faster than Charlie. Ray sighed. â€Å"Maybe I should search for another Web site. What's a word that means that your standards are lower than the desperate?† Charlie read down the page a little. â€Å"This woman has a master's degree in English lit from Cambridge, Ray. And look at her. She's gorgeous. And nineteen. Why is she desperate?† â€Å"Hey, wait a minute. A master's degree at nineteen, this girl is too smart for me.† â€Å"No she's not. She's lying.† Ray spun on the stool as if Charlie had poked him in the ear with a pencil. â€Å"No!† â€Å"Ray, look at her. She looks like one of those Asian models for Sour Apple Flavored Calamari Treats.† â€Å"They have that?† Charlie pointed to the left side of the front window. â€Å"Ray, let me introduce you to Chinatown. Chinatown, this is Ray. Ray, Chinatown.† Ray smiled, embarrassed. There was a store two blocks up that sold nothing but dried shark parts, the windows full of pictures of beautiful Chinese women holding shark spleens and eyeballs like they'd just received an Academy Award. â€Å"Well, the last woman I met through here did have a few errors and omissions in her profile.† â€Å"Like?† Charlie was watching the woman in tweed with the glowing frog, who was approaching the counter. â€Å"Well, she said that she was twenty-three, five feet tall, a hundred five pounds, so I thought, ‘Okay, I can have fun with a petite woman.' Turns out it was a hundred and five kilos.† â€Å"So, not what you expected?† Charlie said. He smiled at the approaching woman, feeling panic rise. She was going to buy the frog! â€Å"Five foot – two-thirty. She was built like a mailbox. I might have gotten past that, but she wasn't even twenty-three, she was sixty-three. One of her grandsons tried to sell her to me.† â€Å"Ma'am, I'm sorry, you can't buy that,† Charlie said to the woman. â€Å"You hear the expression all the time,† Ray went on, â€Å"but you hardly ever meet anyone really trying to sell his own grandmother.† â€Å"Why not?† the woman asked. â€Å"Fifty bucks,† Ray said. â€Å"That's outrageous,† the woman said. â€Å"It's marked ten.† â€Å"No, it's fifty for the grandmother Ray is dating,† Charlie said. â€Å"The frog is not for sale, ma'am, I'm sorry. It's defective.† â€Å"Then why do you have it on the shelf? Why is it marked for sale? I don't see any defect.† Evidently she couldn't see that the goofy porcelain frog was not only glowing in her hands, it had started to pulsate. Charlie reached across the counter and snatched it away from her. â€Å"It's radioactive, ma'am. I'm sorry. You can't buy it.† â€Å"I wasn't dating her,† Ray said. â€Å"I just flew to the Philippines to meet her.† â€Å"It is not radioactive,† the woman said. â€Å"You're just trying to jack up the price. Fine, I'll give you twenty for it.† â€Å"No, ma'am, public safety,† Charlie said, trying to look concerned, holding the frog to his chest as if shielding her from its dangerous energy. â€Å"And it's clearly ridiculous. You'll note that this frog is playing a banjo with only two strings. A travesty, really. Why don't you let my colleague show you something in a cymbal-playing monkey. Ray, could you show this young woman something in a monkey, please.† Charlie hoped that the â€Å"young woman† would win him points. The woman backed away from the counter, holding her purse before her like a shield. â€Å"I'm not sure I want to buy anything from you wack jobs.† â€Å"Hey!† Ray protested, as if to say that there was only one wack job on duty and he wasn't it. Then she did it, she quickstepped to a rack of shoes and picked up a pair of size-twelve, red Converse All Stars. They, too, were glowing. â€Å"I want these.† â€Å"No.† Charlie tossed the frog over his shoulder to Ray, who fumbled it and almost dropped it. â€Å"Those aren't for sale either.† The tweed woman backed away toward the door, holding the sneakers behind her. Charlie stalked her down the aisle, taking the occasional grab at the All Stars. â€Å"Give them.† When the woman butt-bumped into the front door and the bell over the jamb jingled, she looked up and Charlie made his move, faking hard left, then going right, reaching around her and grabbing the laces of the sneakers, as well as a scoop of big, tweedy ass in the bargain. He quickstepped back toward the counter, tossed the sneakers to Ray, and then turned and fell into a sumo stance to challenge the tweed woman. She was still at the door, looking as if she couldn't decide to be terrified or disgusted. â€Å"You people need to be put away. I'm reporting you to the Better Business Bureau and the local merchants' association. And you, Mr. Asher, can tell Ms. Severo that I will be back.† And with that, she was through the door and gone. Charlie turned to Ray. â€Å"Ms. Severo? Lily? She was here to see Lily?† â€Å"Truant officer,† Ray said. â€Å"She's been in a couple of times.† â€Å"You might have said something.† â€Å"I didn't want to lose the sale.† â€Å"So, Lily – â€Å" â€Å"Ducks out the back when she sees her coming. The woman also wanted to check with you that the notes for Lily's absences were legitimate. I vouched.† â€Å"Well, Lily is going back to school, and as of right now, I'm back to work.† â€Å"That's great. I took this call today – an estate in Pacific Heights. Lots of nice women's clothes.† Ray tapped a piece of notepaper on the counter. â€Å"I'm not really qualified to handle it.† â€Å"I'll do it, but first we have a lot to catch up on. Flip the ‘Closed' sign and lock the front door, would you, Ray?† Ray didn't move. â€Å"Sure, but – Charlie, are you sure that you're ready to go back to work?† He nodded to the sneakers and frog on the counter. â€Å"Oh, those, I think there's something wrong with them. You don't see anything unusual about those two items?† Ray looked again. â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"Or that once I took the frog away from her, she went right for a pair of sneakers that are clearly not her size?† Ray weighed the truth against the sweet deal he had here, with an apartment and under-the-table income and a boss that had really been a decent guy before he went 51/50, and he said, â€Å"Yeah, there was something strange about her.† â€Å"Aha!† said Charlie. â€Å"I just wish I knew where I could get a Geiger counter.† â€Å"I have a Geiger counter,† Ray said. â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Sure, you want me to get it?† â€Å"Maybe later,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just lock up, and help me gather up some of the merchandise.† Over the next hour Ray watched as Charlie moved a set of what seemed randomly chosen items from the store to the back room, directing him to under no circumstances put them back out or sell them to anyone. Then he retrieved the Geiger counter that he'd obtained on a sweet trade for a stringless oversized tennis racket and tested each item as Charlie instructed. And, of course, they were as inert as dirt. â€Å"And you don't see any glowing or pulsating or anything in this pile?† Charlie asked. â€Å"Sorry.† Ray shook his head, feeling a little embarrassed that he was witnessing this. â€Å"Good first day back to work, though,† Ray said, trying to make it all better. â€Å"Maybe you should call it a day, go check on the baby, and make that estate call in the morning. I'll box this stuff up and mark it so Lily won't sell or trade it.† â€Å"Okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"But don't throw it out, either. I'm going to figure this out.† â€Å"You betcha, boss. See you in the morning.† â€Å"Yeah, thanks, Ray. You can go home when you finish.† Charlie went back to his apartment, checking his hands the whole way to see if any of the red glow from the pile of objects had rubbed off on them, but they seemed normal. He sent Jane home, fed and bathed Sophie, and read her to sleep with a few pages from Slaughterhouse-Five, then went to bed early and slept fitfully. He awoke the next morning in a haze, then sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide and heart pounding when he saw the note sitting on the nightstand. Another one. Then he noticed that this time it wasn't his handwriting, and the number was obviously a phone number, and he sighed. It was the estate appointment that Ray had made for him. He'd put it on the nightstand so he wouldn't forget. Mr. Michael Mainheart, it read; then upscale women's clothing and furs, with a double underline. The phone number had a local exchange. He picked up the note, and under it was a second piece of notepaper, this one with the same name, written in his own handwriting, and under it, the numeral 5. He didn't remember writing any of it. At that moment, something large and dark passed by the second-story bedroom window, but by the time he looked up, it was gone. A blanket of fog lay over the Bay and from Pacific Heights the great orange towers of the Golden Gate Bridge jutted through the fog bank like carrots from the faces of sleeping conjoined twin snowmen. In the Heights, the morning sun had already opened the sky and workmen were scurrying about, tending yards and gardens around the mansions. When he arrived at the home of Michael Mainheart the first thing Charlie noticed was that no one noticed him. There were two guys working in the yard, to whom Charlie waved as he passed, but they did not wave back. Then the mailman, who was coming off the big porch, drove him off the walkway into the dewy grass without so much as an â€Å"excuse me.† â€Å"Excuse me!† Charlie said, sarcastically, but the mailman was wearing headphones and listening to something that was inspiring him to bob his head like a pigeon feeding on amphetamines, and he bopped on. Charlie was going to shout something devastatingly clever, then thought better of it, for although it had been some years since he'd heard of a postal employee perpetrating a massacre, as long as the term â€Å"going postal† referred to anything besides choosing a shipping carrier, he felt he shouldn't press his luck. Called a wack job by a complete stranger one day and shouldered off the sidewalk by a civil servant the next: this city was becoming a jungle. Charlie rang the bell and waited to the side of the twelve-foot leaded-glass door. A minute later he heard light, shuffling steps approaching and a diminutive silhouette moved behind the glass. The door swung open slowly. â€Å"Mr. Asher,† said Michael Mainheart. â€Å"Thank you for coming.† The old man was swimming in a houndstooth suit that he must have bought thirty years ago when he was a more robust fellow. When he shook Charlie's hand his skin felt like an old wonton wrapper, cool and a little powdery. Charlie tried not to shudder as the old man led him into a grand marble rotunda, with leaded-glass windows running to a vaulted, forty-foot ceiling and a circular staircase that swept up to a landing that led off to the upper wings of the house. Charlie had often wondered what it was like to have a house with wings. How would you ever find your car keys? â€Å"Come this way,† Mainheart said. â€Å"I'll show you where my wife kept her clothes.† â€Å"I'm sorry about your loss,† Charlie said automatically. He'd been on scores of estate calls. You don't want to come off as some kind of vulture, his father used to say. Always compliment the merchandise; it might be a piece of crap to you, but they might have a lot of their soul poured into it. Compliment but never covet. You can make a profit and preserve everyone's dignity in the process. â€Å"Holy shit,† Charlie said as he followed the old man into a walk-in closet the size of his own apartment. â€Å"I mean – your wife had exquisite taste, Mr. Mainheart.† There was row upon row of designer couture clothing, everything from evening gowns to racks, two tiers high, of knit suits, arranged by color and level of formality – an opulent rainbow of silk and linen and wool. Cashmere sweaters, coats, capes, jackets, skirts, blouses, lingerie. The closet was shaped like a T, with a large vanity and mirror at the apex, and accessories on each wing (even the closet with wings!), shoes on one side, belts, scarves, and handbags on the other. A whole wing of shoes, Italian and French, handmade, from the skins of animals who had led happy, blemish-free lives. Full-length mirrors flanked the vanity at the end of the closet and Charlie caught the reflection of himself and Michael Mainheart in the mirror, he in his secondhand gray pinstripe and Mainheart in his ill-fitting houndstooth, studies in gray and black, stark and lifeless-looking in this vibrant garden. The old man went to the chair at the vanity and sat down with a creak and a wheeze. â€Å"I expect it will take you some time to assess it,† he said. Charlie stood in the middle of the closet and looked around for a second before replying. â€Å"It depends, Mr. Mainheart, on what you want to part with.† â€Å"All of it. Every stitch. I can't stand the feel of her in here.† His voice broke. â€Å"I want it gone.† He looked away from Charlie at the shoe wing, trying not to show that he was tearing up. â€Å"I understand,† Charlie said, not sure what to say. This collection was completely out of his league. â€Å"No, you don't understand, young man. You couldn't understand. Emily was my life. I got up in the morning for her, I went to work for her, I built a business for her. I couldn't wait to get home at night to tell her about my day. I went to bed with her and I dreamed about her when I slept. She was my passion, my wife, my best friend, the love of my life. And one day, without warning, she was gone and my life is a void. You couldn't possibly understand.† But Charlie did. â€Å"Do you have any children, Mr. Mainheart?† â€Å"Two sons. They came back for the funeral, then they went home to their own families. They offer to do whatever they can, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"They can't,† Charlie finished for him. â€Å"No one can.† Now the old man looked up at him, his face as bereft and barren as a mummified basset hound. â€Å"I just want to die.† â€Å"Don't say that,† Charlie said, because that's what you say. â€Å"That feeling will pass.† Which he said because everyone had been saying it to him. As far as he knew, he was just slinging bullshit clichs. â€Å"She was – † Mainheart's voice caught on the edge of a sob. A strong man, at once overcome by his grief and embarrassed that he was showing it. â€Å"I know,† Charlie said, thinking about how Rachel still occupied that place in his heart, and when he turned in the kitchen to say something to her, and she wasn't there, it took his breath. â€Å"She was – â€Å" â€Å"I know,† Charlie interrupted, trying to give the old man a pass, because he knew what Mainheart was feeling. She was meaning and order and light, and now that she's gone, chaos falls like a dark leaden cloud. â€Å"She was so phenomenally stupid.† â€Å"What?† Charlie looked up so quickly he heard a vertebra pop in his neck. Hadn't seen that coming. â€Å"The dumb broad ate silica gel,† Mainheart said, irritated as well as agonized. â€Å"What?† Charlie was shaking his head, as if trying to rattle something loose. â€Å"Silica gel.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Silica gel! Silica gel! Silica gel, you idiot!† Charlie felt as if he should shout the name of some arcane stuff back at him: Well, symethicone! Symethicone! Symethicone, you butt-nugget! Instead he said, â€Å"The stuff fake breasts are made of? She ate that?† The image of a well-dressed older woman macking on a goopish spoonful of artificial boob spooge was running across the lobes of his brain like a stuttering nightmare. Mainheart pushed himself to his feet on the vanity. â€Å"No, the little packets of stuff they pack in with electronic equipment and cameras.† â€Å"The ‘Do Not Eat' stuff?† â€Å"Exactly.† â€Å"But it says right on the packet – she ate that?† â€Å"Yes. The furrier put packets of it in with her furs when he installed that cabinet.† Mainheart pointed. Charlie turned, and behind the large closet door where they had entered was a lighted glass cabinet – inside hung a dozen or so fur coats. The cabinet probably had its own air-conditioning unit to control the humidity, but that wasn't what Charlie was noticing. Even under the recessed fluorescent light inside the cabinet, one of the coats was clearly glowing red and pulsating. He turned back to Mainheart slowly, trying not to overreact, not sure, in fact, what would constitute an overreaction in this case, so he tried to sound calm, but not willing to take any shit. â€Å"Mr. Mainheart, I appreciate your loss, but is there something more going on here than you've told me?† â€Å"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean.† â€Å"I mean,† Charlie said, â€Å"why, of all the used-clothing dealers in the Bay Area, did you decide to call me? There are people who are much more qualified to deal with a collection of this size and quality.† Charlie stormed over to the fur cabinet and pulled open the door. It made a floof-tha sound that the seal on a refrigerator door makes when opened. He grabbed the glowing jacket – fox fur, it appeared to be. â€Å"Or was it this? Did the call have something to do with this?† Charlie brandished the jacket like he was holding a murder weapon before the accused. In short, he thought about adding, are you fucking with me? â€Å"You were the first used-clothing dealer in the phone book.† Charlie let the jacket drop. â€Å"Asher's Secondhand?† â€Å"Starts with an A,† Mainheart said, slowly, carefully – obviously resisting the urge to call Charlie an idiot again. â€Å"So it has nothing to do with this jacket?† â€Å"Well, it has something to do with that jacket. I'd like you to take it away with all the rest of it.† â€Å"Oh,† Charlie said, trying to recover. â€Å"Mr. Mainheart, I appreciate the call, and this is certainly a beautiful collection, amazing, really, but I'm not equipped to take on this kind of inventory. And I'll be honest with you, even though my father would be spinning in his grave for telling you this, there is probably a million dollars' worth of clothes in this closet. Maybe more. And given the time and space to resell it, it's probably worth a quarter of that. I just don't have that kind of money.† â€Å"We can work something out,† Mainheart said. â€Å"Just to get it out of the house – â€Å" â€Å"I could take some of it on consignment, I suppose – â€Å" â€Å"Five hundred dollars.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Give me five hundred dollars and get it out of here by tomorrow and it's yours.† Charlie started to object, but he could feel what felt like the ghost of his father rising up to bonk him on the head with a spittoon if he didn't stop himself. We provide a valuable service, son. We are like an orphanage to art and artifact, because we are willing to handle the unwanted, we give them value. â€Å"I couldn't do that, Mr. Mainheart, I feel as if I'd be taking advantage of your grief.† Oh for Christ's sake, you fucking loser, you are no son of mine. I have no son. Was that the ghost of Charlie's father, rattling chains in his head? Why, then, did it have the voice and vocabulary of Lily? Can a conscience be greedy? â€Å"You would be doing me a favor, Mr. Asher. A huge favor. If you don't take it, my next call is to the Goodwill. I promised Emily that if something ever happened to her that I wouldn't just give her things away. Please.† And there was so much pain in the old man's voice that Charlie had to look away. Charlie felt for the old man because he did understand. He couldn't do anything to help, couldn't say, It will get better, like everyone kept saying to him. It wasn't getting better. Different, but not better. And this fellow had fifty more years in which to pack his hopes, or in his case, his history. â€Å"Let me think about it. Check into storage. If I can handle it, I'll call you tomorrow, would that be all right?† â€Å"I'd be grateful,† Mainheart said. Then, for no reason that he could think of, Charlie said, â€Å"May I take this jacket with me? As an example of the quality of the collection, in case I have to divide it among other dealers.† â€Å"That would be fine. Let me show you out.† As they passed into the rotunda, a shadow passed across the leaded-glass windows, three stories up. A large shadow. Charlie paused on the steps and waited for the old man to react, but he just tottered on down the staircase, leaning heavily on the railing as he went. When Mainheart reached the door he turned to Charlie, extending his hand. â€Å"I'm sorry about that, uh, outburst upstairs. I haven't been myself since – â€Å" As the old man began to open the door a figure dropped outside, casting the silhouette of a bird as tall as a man through the glass. â€Å"No!† Charlie dove forward, knocking the old man aside and slamming the door on the great bird's head, the heavy black beak stabbing through and snapping like hedge clippers, rattling an umbrella stand and scattering its contents across the marble floor. Charlie's face was only inches from the bird's eye, and he shoved the door with his shoulder, trying to keep the beak from snapping off one of his hands. The bird's claws raked against the glass, cracking one of the thick beveled panels as the animal thrashed to free itself. Charlie threw his hip against the doorjamb then slid down it, dropped the fox jacket, and snatched one of the umbrellas from the floor. He stabbed up into the bird's neck feathers, but lost his purchase on the doorjamb – one of the black talons snaked through the opening and raked across his forearm, cutting through his jacket, his shirtsleeve, and into the flesh. Charlie shoved the umbrella with all he had, driving the bird's head back through the opening. The raven let out a screech and took flight, its wings making a great whooshing noise as it went. Charlie lay on his back, out of breath, staring at the leaded-glass panels, as if any moment the shadow of the giant raven would come back, then he looked to Michael Mainheart, who lay crumpled on his side like a stringless marionette. Beside his head lay a cane with an ivory handle that had been carved into the shape of a polar bear that had fallen from the umbrella stand. The cane was glowing red. The old man was not breathing. â€Å"Well that's fucked up,† Charlie said.

Test Bank for Cost Management Essay

Answers1. A.Competence, confidentiality, integrity, and relevance. Given 2. B. Competence, confidentiality, integrity, and credibility. 3. C. Competence, confidentiality, independence, and objectivity. 4. D. Competence, accuracy, integrity, and independence. accord to the IMA Code of Ethics, what should a focussing comptroller do if a significant honest situation cant be resolved? chase after ill-timedAnswers1. A.The restrainer should confront the guilty crack upy and ask the unethical action be stopped. 2. B. The control should try to rationalize and understand the speckle of the other party. 3. C. The accountant should say zero point about the study until he or she has retired. 4. D. The accountant should first discuss the matter with the immediate supervisor. The strategy map is a tool that is commitd polarity wrong(p)Answers1. A.as one of the key aspects of the coeval worry environs 2. B. to enhance the sustainability of the organization3. C. to affiliate the perspectives of the balanced scorecard4. D. to organize the diminutive success factors of a club5. E. to put on strategyWhich of the pastime is the primary drug user of oversight account instruction regarding furrow units? grime stupidAnswers1. A. Company focus.2. B. Investors.3. C. Creditors.4. D. persistence and governmental organizations.When managers produce value for the client, their druthers consists of all the pastime except position preposterousAnswers1. A.Quality and Service.2. B. Timeliness of delivery.3. C. The ability to do to the customers desire for specialised features. 4. D. State of the art manufacturing facilities.If a satisfying persistent to reevaluate and reorganize the sort it did backup, in hopes of creating competitory advantage, by ever-changing or decreasing jobs, the guild would be using which of the hobby attention technique? tally infatuatedAnswers1. A.The value chain.2. B. calling intelligence.3. C. calling process improvement.4. D. proceeds reevaluation.5. E. conduct unit of ammunition greeting.Which of the following is not considered part of the bestow of Management Accountants definition of precaution accounting? end IncorrectAnswers1. A.Partnering in counselling finality making.2. B. Devising formulation and performance focussing systems.3. C. Gathering, summarizing, analyzing, and providing culture. 4. D. Providing expertise in financial reporting and control. 5. E. Assisting management in the formulation and carrying into action of an organizations strategy. The contrariety between wholesalers and retailers isMark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Wholesalers atomic number 18 merchandisers that consider instantaneously to customers whereas retailers be merchandisers that apportion to other merchandisers. 2. B. Wholesalers atomic number 18 merchandisers that sell to other merchandisers whereas retailers atomic number 18 merchandisers that sell directly to consumers. 3. C. Whol esalers are merchandisers that sell directly to the government whereasretailers are merchandisers that sell to other merchandisers. 4. D. Wholesalers are merchandisers that sell directly to customers whereas retailers are merchandisers that sell directly to the government. 5. E. There is no difference between wholesalers and retailers. Cost management has travel from a traditional role of reaping damageing and operational control to a broader strategic focus, which places an emphasis on Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Competitive pricing.2. B. Domestic marketing.3. C. Short-term reckoning.4. D. strategical thinking.5. E. Independent judgment.Target compriseingMark IncorrectAnswers1. A. determines apostrophize based on an expected market demand for the crossing.2. B. Determines exist based on a budget.3. C. Determines cost based on standard cost.4. D. Determines cost based upon market price and coveted profit. Cost management information typically is the responsibility of the M ark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Chief fiscal Officer.2. B. Controller.3. C. Treasurer.4. D. Chief Information Officer.A serviceable example of when the theory of constraints would not be an appropriate management technique to use would be Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Long lines at checkout stands.2. B. Busy signals on network server sites.3. C. One critical achievement process provides 60 parts/min. output, compared with a company-wide output of 90 parts/min. 4. D. Balanced, ready flow of intersection point through the plant.A companys management accountant is trying to improve the way be are allocated within the company. Currently, several integrated expenses are grouped together and labelled overhead. If the accountant wanted to use activity-based cost (ABC) to help solve the difficulty, what should she do? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A. She should try to map the departments cost to their cost objects, and then charge separately department based on those cost relationships. 2. B. S he should research how the companys competitors are allocating their cost, and then implement one of those strategies. 3. C. She should touch sensation for bottlenecks within the production process, and try to get rid of them, thus reducing costs. 4. D. She should examine the homes value chain and get into target be before adopting ABC. Which of the following is not a contemporary management technique used by the management accountant to respond to the changing business environment? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Enterprise stake management2. B. Lean manufacturing3. C. deportment cycle be4. D. Enterprise sustainabilityCorporate management is required to identify and solve problems from a cross-functional view. Instead of viewing a problem as related to a particular proposition business function, management solves these problems by trust skills from different functions simultaneously. This approach is called Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Inclusive approach.2. B. Integrative approac h.3. C. Intra-function approach.4. D. Multilateral approach.Strategic management can be defined as the nurture of a sustainable Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Chain of command.2. B. Competitive position.3. C. Cash flow.4. D. commerce entity.5. E. Company image.Which of the following does not embody a main focus of cost management information? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Strategic management.2. B. Performance footfallment.3. C. proviso and decision making.4. D. planning of financial statements.5. E. Internal auditing and control.In retentiveness with the current trend of increased strategic planning, how have management accountants changed their use of life-cycle costing? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.They have direct shifted their focus from R&D costs to marketing and promotion costs. 2. B. They have sour from a sole focus on manufacturing costs to a much wider outlook, winning into account costs from the total product lifecycle. 3. C. They stopped looking at the entire life-cycl e, and now focus their attention on product design costs. 4. D. Accountants dont use life-cycle costing, that task is left for the operations manager. Which of the following professional certificates is considered to be the nigh relevant for dealing with cost management issues? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.The CPA, which is monitored differently for apiece state in the U.S. 2. B. The CMA, which is administered through the Institute of Management Accountants. 3. C. The CFA, since its program focuses on the broadest part of topics and responsibilities for financial analysis. 4. D. The CPA, CMA, and CFA are viewed as equally relevant, since all three require an exam, as well as specific reach and experience requirements. In a local anaesthetic factory, employees are rewarded for finding sore and go ways of changing the way they work. This company is motivating its employees to use what managementtechnique? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Benchmarking.2. B. Activity-Based Costing.3. C. Theory of Constraints.4. D. round-the-clock Improvement.5. E. Total Quality Management.All of the following are examples of total quality management practices except Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Redesign of a product to reduce its parts by 50 percent. 2. B. Reduction in the exercise required in a manufacturing job. 3. C. Separating the gross revenue and services functions.4. D. Raising raw visible quality standards.5. E. Cross-training assembly line workers to cut through sick leave absences. Which of the following aspects of the contemporary business environment involves using statistical methods such(prenominal) as regression or correlation analysis to predict consumer behavior, to measure customer satisfaction, or to develop models for scope prices, among other uses? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A. Business Intelligence2. B. Target Costing3. C. Life Cycle Costing4. D. Benchmarking5. E. Business surgical operation ImprovementManagement accounting information plays a critical role in all of the following management functions except Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Profit planning.2. B. Executive compensation.3. C. Planning and decision making.4. D. Hiring a parvenu CFO.5. E. Preparing financial statements for the SEC.The five steps for strategic decision making include all of the following except Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Identify the alternative actions2. B. Gather, summarize, and report accounting information3. C. Determine the strategic issues surrounding the problem 4. D. guide and implement the desired alternative5. E. hand over an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of implementation A local area consulting sign of the zodiac is trying to increase the long-term strategic focus of its company reports. Therefore, the firm has decided to use the balanced scorecard. What type of new information that the company currently doesnt use in its financial reports, should the company include? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A. Non-financial information, including cus tomer satisfaction, innovation, etc. 2. B. Additional financial information, such as profitability measures and market value. 3. C. Product life cycle information.4. D. Supplemental accounting reports.Which of the following is not a major change in the business environment that has affected the way many companies think about conducting business? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.An increased focus on the customer, peculiarly their opinions about functionality and quality. 2. B. A growing emphasis on globalization new markets for products and new competitors. 3. C. A larger number of companies are starting to use advanced information technologies, such as business intelligence. 4. D. The development of improved cost management methods.Which of the following aspects of a company would not be considered a critical success factor, for a company that competes on differentiation? Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Cutting edge research and development.2. B. first-class customer service.3. C. Award-w inning product quality.4. D. continually beating competitors to the market with new, innovative products.5. E. last level of production efficiency.Target costing determines the desired cost for a product upon the basis of a given competitive price such that the product forget Mark IncorrectAnswers1. A.Earn at least a small profit.2. B. Earn a desired profit.3. C. Earn the maximum profit.4. D. chemise even.5. E. Sell the highest volume.Read more http//testbank102.com/free-test-bank-for-cost-management-a-strategic-emphasis-5th-edition-multiple-choice-questions-part-1/ixzz34m1MeTVt

The Twilight Saga 2: New Moon Chapter 2 STITCHES

CARLISLE WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO STAYED hush. Centuries of jazz in the emergency room were evident in his becalm, authoritative voice.Emmett, Rose, b new(prenominal) Jasper let show upside.Unsmiling for once, Emmett nodded. Come on, Jasper.Jasper struggled against Emmetts shatterproof grasp, twisting slightly, reaching toward his brother with his bargond teeth, his eyeb each(prenominal) suave past rea intelligence.Edwards brasst was whiter than b genius as he wheeled to crouch over me, fetching a fallly defensive position. A depressive disorder warning growl s chapeau from between his clenched teeth. I could tell that he wasnt brea abridgeg.Rosalie, her divine expression fishily smug, stepped in front of Jasper c tree branchineeeming a c arful outdo from his teet exit helped Emmett w embossmentle him d i the film over entry that Esme held open, whiz conk pressed over her mouth and nose.Esmes simple lay out was ashamed. Im so sorry, Bella, she cried as she f ollowed the others into the yard.Let me by, Edward, Carlisle murmured.A second passed, and and so Edward nodded slowly and relaxed his stance.Carlisle knelt beside me, leaning nigh(a) to examine my fort. I could stir the injure rimed on my face, and I tried to compose it.Here, Carlisle, Alice verbalize, bargaining him a towel.He agitate his ca say. Too overmuch(prenominal) crank in the wound. He reached over and ripped a vast, thin scrap from the bottom of the white t ablecloth. He twisted it around my encircle above the elbow to pee a tourniquet. The belief of the blood was making me dizzy. My ears rang.Bella, Carlisle verbalize softly. Do you deprivation me to drive you to the hospital, or would you manage me to take care of it here?Here, please, I talk. If he excessivelyk me to the hospital, in that respect would be no elan to keep this from Charlie.Ill shell your foot, Alice utter.Lets take her to the kitchen table, Carlisle utter to Edward.Edward lifted me effortlessly, date Carlisle kept the pres real steady on my arm.How are you doing, Bella? Carlisle asked.Im fine. My voice was fountainably steady, which pleased me.Edwards face was care st unitary.Alice was there. Carlisles black bag was already on the table, a sm each tot solely(prenominal)y brilliant desk light blocked into the w alone. Edward sat me gently into a c pilus, and Carlisle extracted up a nonher. He went to bailiwick at once.Edward s to a faultd over me, still protective, still not breathing.Just go, Edward, I sighed.I laughingstock do by it, he insisted. solely his jaw was determined his eyes burned with the intensity of the thirst he fought, so much worse for him than it was for the others.You dont consider to be a hero, I said. Carlisle canful fix me up without your help. Get near fresh air.I winced as Carlisle did mostthing to my arm that stung.Ill stay, he said.Why are you so masochistic? I mumbled.Carlisle decided to intercede. Edward, you may as sanitary go find Jasper earlier he gets too far. Im sure hes upset with himself, and I uncertainty hell listen to twoone unless you right on now.Yes, I thirstily hitd. Go find Jasper.You might as well do something useful, Alice added.Edwards eyes narrowed as we ganged up on him, simply, in the long run, he nodded once and sprinted smoothly by dint of with(predicate) the kitchens congest door. I was sure he hadnt interpreted a breath since Id sliced my finger.A numb, s tonus-dead sprightlinessing was spreading through my arm.Though it erased the sting, it reminded me of the gash, and I watched Carlisles face carefully to unhinge me from what his hands were doing. His hair gleamed gold in the bright light as he bent over my arm. I could emotional state the faint stirrings of unease in the pit of my stomach, exclusively I was determined not to let my unwashed squeamishness get the best of me. There was no pain now, proficient a gentle tugging protagoni st that I tried to ignore. No reason to get sick kindred a baby.If she hadnt been in my trace of sight, I wouldnt be possessed of detect Alice give up and steal out of the room. With a tiny, apologetic smiling on her lips, she disappeared through the kitchen door counseling.Well, thats e veryone, I sighed. I can clear a room, at least.Its not your fault, Carlisle console me with a chuckle. It could happen to anyone.Could I repeated. But it usu all toldy respectable happens to me.He laughed again.His relaxed calm was and much amazing set in direct ancestry with everyone elses reaction. I couldnt find any trace of anxiety in his face. He plyed with quick, sure movements. The only fundamental besides our quiet breathing was the soft plink, plink as the tiny fragments of churl dropped one by one to the table.How can you do this? I demanded. Even Alice and Esme I trailed off, shaking my head in wonder. Though the rest of them had given up the traditional diet of vampires in cisively as absolutely as Carlisle had, he was the only one who could bear the smell of my blood without ugly from the intense temptation. Clearly, this was much much(prenominal) difficult than he wane it seem.Years and age of practice, he told me. I patently notice the scent anyto a greater extent.Do you hark back it would be stronger if you took a vacation from the hospital for a long age. And werent around any blood?Maybe. He shrugged his berms, but his hands remained steady. Ive neer matte the motivating for an ext s enlighten overed holiday. He flashed a brilliant pull a face in my program line. I bang my work too much.Plink, plink, plink. I was surprised at how much glass there seemed to be in my arm. I was tempted to stare at the growing pile, just to check the size, but I knew that idea would not be adjuvant to my no-vomiting strategy.What is it that you enjoy? I wondered. It didnt make sense to methe old age of struggle and self-denial he must consume s pent to get to the point where he could wear d assume got this so easily. Besides, I complimentsed to keep him talk the parley kept my mind off the nauseated feeling in my stomach.His dark eyes were calm and panoramaful as he answered. Hmm. What I enjoy the very most is when my enhanced abilities let me go on someone who would otherwise have been lost. Its pleasant subtle that, thanks to what I can do, some peoples lives are better because I subsist. Even the sense of smell is a useful diagnostic tool at times. One side of his mouth pulled up in half a smile.I mulled that over plot of ground he poked around, making sure all the glass splinters were gone. whence(prenominal) he rummaged in his bag for new tools, and I tried not to house painting a questle and thread.You try very stern to make up for something that was neer your fault, I suggested age a new cordial of tugging started at the edges of my skin. What I mean is, its not comparable you asked for this. Yo u didnt choose this kind of demeanor, and yet you have to work so hard to be good.I dont have it away that Im making up for anything, he disagreed lightly. Like everything in life, I just had to decide what to do with what I was given.That makes it sound too easy.He examined my arm again. There, he said, snipping a thread. All through with(p). He wiped an oversized Q-tip, dripping with some syrup- burnished liquid, thoroughly crosswise the operation site. The smell was freaky it do my head spin. The syrup stained my skin.In the beginning, though, I pressed sequence he tape another long cut of veiling steadfastly in place, sealing it to my skin. Why did you take take look at to try a different way than the apparent one?His lips turned up in a private smile. Hasnt Edward told you this story?Yes. But Im trying to attend what you were hypothecateingHis face was suddenly life-threatening again, and I wondered if his thoughts had gone to the aforementioned(prenominal) pl ace that mine had. wonder what I would be cerebration whenI refused to think ifit was me.You know my father was a clergyman, he mused as he cleaned the table carefully, rubbing everything down with wet gauze, and then doing it again. The smell of alcohol burned in my nose. He had a rather harsh view of the world, which I was already beginning to question before the time that I changed. Carlisle put all the dirty gauze and the glass slivers into an empty crystal bowl. I didnt construe what he was doing, even when he lit the match. Then he threw it onto the alcohol-soaked fibers, and the sudden blaze made me jump.Sorry, he apologized. That ought to do it So I didnt agree with my fathers particular(prenominal) brand of faith. But never, in the nearly quad hundred years now since I was born, have I ever seen anything to make me doubt whether idol exists in some form or the other. non even the reflection in the mirror.I fancied to examine the dressing on my arm to obliterate my surprise at the direction our conversation had taken. religious belief was the function thing I expected, all things considered. My own life was modal(a)ly devoid of belief. Charlie considered himself a Lutheran, because thats what his parents had been, but Sundays he worshipped by the river with a look for pole in his hand. Renee tried out a church now and then, but, much like her truncated affairs with tennis, pottery, yoga, and French classes, she moved on by the time I was apprised of her newest fad.Im sure all this sounds a little bizarre, coming from a vampire. He grinned, discerning how their casual use of that word never failed to shock me. But Im hoping that there is still a point to this life, even for us. Its a long shot, Ill admit, he continued in an offhand voice. By all accounts, were damned regardless. But I hope, by chance foolishly, that well get some measure of credit for trying.I dont think thats foolish, I mumbled. I couldnt imagine anyone, deity included , who wouldnt be impressed by Carlisle. Besides, the only kind of promised land I could appreciate would have to include Edward. And I dont think anyone else would, either.Actually, youre the very setoff one to agree with me.The rest of them dont feel the same? I asked, surprised, thinking of only one person in particular.Carlisle guessed the direction of my thoughts again. Edwards with me up to a point. God and heaven exist and so does loony bin. But he doesnt believe there is an afterlife for our kind. Carlisles voice was very soft he stared out the big window over the sink, into the darkness. You see, he thinks weve lost our souls.I immediately thought of Edwards lyric this afternoon unless you want to dieor whatever it is that we do. The lightbulb flicked on over my head.Thats the real problem, isnt it? I guessed. Thats why hes world so difficult somewhat me.Carlisle spoke slowly. I look at my son. His strength, his goodness, the brightness that shines out of himand it only fuels that hope, that faith, more than ever. How could there not be more for one such as Edward?I nodded in fervent agreement.But if I believed as he does He looked down at me with unfathomable eyes. If you believed as he did. Could you take away his soul?The way he phrased the question thwarted my answer.If hed asked me whether I would try my soul for Edward, the reply would be obvious. But would I risk Edwards soul? I pursed my lips unhappily. That wasnt a fair exchange.You see the problem.I shook my head, aware of the decided set of my chin.Carlisle sighed.Its my choice, I insisted.Its his, too. He held up his hand when he could see that I was closely to argue. Whether he is responsible for doing that to you.Hes not the only one able to do it. I eyed Carlisle speculatively.He laughed, suddenly lightening the mood. Oh, no Youre going to have to work this out with him.But then he sighed. Thats the one part I can never be sure of. I think, in most other ways, that Ive done the best I could with what I had to work with. But was it right to doom the others to this life? I cant decide.I didnt answer. I imagined what my life would be like if Carlisle had resisted the temptation to change his lonely existence and shuddered.It was Edwards give who made up my mind. Carlisles voice was almost a whisper. He stared unseeingly out the black windows.His mother? Whenever Id asked Edward about his parents, he would merely say that they had died long ago, and his memories were vague. I pictured Carlisles memory of them, despite the brevity of their contact, would be perfectly clear.Yes. Her name was Elizabeth. Elizabeth Masen. His father, Edward Senior, never regained consciousness in the hospital. He died in the first wave of the influenza. But Elizabeth was alert until almost the very end. Edward looks a abundant deal like hershe had that same strange bronze shade to her hair, and her eyes were exactly the same color green.His eyes were green? I murmured, trying to estimate it.Yes Carlisles ocher eyes were a hundred years away now. Elizabeth worried obsessively over her son. She price her own chances of survival trying to nurse him from her sickbed. I expected that he would go first, he was so much worse off than she was. When the end came for her, it was very quick. It was just after sunset, and Id arrived to relieve the doctors whod been working all day. That was a hard time to pretendthere was so much work to be done, and I had no need of rest. How I hated to go back to my house, to get across in the dark and pretend to peace while so many were dying.I went to check Elizabeth and her son first. Id grown attachedalways a dangerous thing to do considering the fragile nature of humans. I could see at once that shed taken a bad turn. The febrility was raging out of control, and her body was too half-hearted to fight anymore.She didnt look weak, though, when she glared up at me from her cot. however him she commanded me in the hoarse voi ce that was all her throat could manage.Ill do everything in my power, I promised her, taking her hand. The feverishness was so high, she probably couldnt even tell how unnaturally cold mine matte up. Everything felt cold to her skin.You must, she insisted, clutching at my hand with generous strength that I wondered if she wouldnt pull through the crisis after all. Her eyes were hard, like stones, like emeralds. You must do everything in your power. What others cannot do, that is what you must do for my Edward.It frightened me. She looked it me with those piercing eyes, and, for one instant, I felt certain that she knew my secret. Then the fever overwhelmed her, and she never regained consciousness. She died inside an hour of making her demand.Id spent decades considering the idea of creating a companion for myself. Just one other puppet who could unfeignedly know me, rather than what I sour to be. But I could never justify it to myselfdoing what had been done to me.There Edw ard lay, dying. It was clear that he had only hours left. Beside him, his mother, her face someway not yet peaceful, not even in death.Carlisle saw it all again, his memory unblurred by the intervening century. I could see it clearly, too, as he spokethe despair of the hospital, the overwhelming atmosphere of death. Edward burning with fever, his life slipping away with each tick of the measure I shuddered again, and forced the picture from my mind.Elizabeths words echoed in my head. How could she guess what I could do? Could anyone really want that for her son?I looked at Edward. Sick as he was, he was still beautiful. There was something small and good about his face. The kind of face I would have wanted my son to have.After all those years of indecision, I simply acted on a whim. I wheeled his mother to the morgue first, and then I came back for him. No one noticed that he was still breathing. There werent enough hands, enough eyes, to keep track of half of what the patients n eeded. The morgue was emptyof the living, at least. I stole him out the back door, and carried him across the rooftops back to my home.I wasnt sure what had to be done. I colonized for recreating the wounds Id received myself, so many centuries preliminary in London. I felt bad about that later. It was more painful and lingering than necessary.I wasnt sorry, though. Ive never been sorry that I saved Edward. He shook his head, coming back to the present. He smiled at me. I suppose I should take you home now.Ill do that, Edward said. He came through the shadowy dining room, walking slowly for him. His face was smooth, unreadable, but there was something wrong with his eyessomething he was trying very hard to hide. I felt a spasm of unease in my stomach.Carlisle can take me, I said. I looked down at my shirt the light blue like was soaked and spotted with my blood. My right shoulder was hatch in thick pink frosting.Im fine. Edwards voice was unemotional. Youll need to change anyway . Youd give Charlie a heart good time the way you look. Ill have Alice get you something. He strode out the kitchen door again.I looked at Carlisle anxiously. Hes very upset.Yes, Carlisle agreed. this evening is exactly the kind of thing that he fears the most. You existence put in danger, because of what we are.Its not his fault.Its not yours, either.I looked away from his wise, beautiful eyes. I couldnt agree with that.Carlisle offered me his hand and helped me up from the table. I followed him out into the main room. Esme had descend back she was mopping the floor where Id fallenwith straight decolourize from the smell of it.Esme, let me do that. I could feel that my face was bright red again.Im already done. She smiled up at me. How do you feel?Im fine, I advised her. Carlisle sews faster than any other doctor Ive had.They two chuckled.Alice and Edward came in the back doors. Alice hurry to my side, but Edward hung back, his face indecipherable.Cmon, Alice said. Ill get you something less macabre to wear.She found me a shirt of Esmes that was close to the same color mine had been. Charlie wouldnt notice, I was sure. The long white eyepatch on my arm didnt look nearly as serious when I was no longer spattered in gore. Charlie was never surprised to see me bandaged.Alice, I whispered as she headed back to the door.Yes? She kept her voice low, too, and looked at me curiously, her head cocked to the side.How bad is it? I couldnt be sure if my whispering was a wasted effort. Even though we were upstairs, with the door closed, perhaps he could hear me.Her face tensed. Im not sure yet.Hows Jasper?She sighed. Hes very unhappy with himself. Its all so much more of challenge for him, and he hates feeling weak.Its not his fault. Youll tell him that Im not mad at him, not at all, wont you?Of course.Edward was waiting for me by the front door. As I got to the bottom of the staircase, he held it open without a word.Take your things Alice cried as I walked waril y toward Edward. She scooped up the two packages, one half-opened, and my television camera from on a lower floor the easygoing, and pressed them into my good arm. You can thank me later, when youve opened them.Esme and Carlisle both said a quiet goodnight. I could see them stealing quick glances at their impassive son, much like I was.It was a relief to be outside I hurried past the lanterns and the roses, now unwelcome reminders. Edward kept ill-use with me silently. He opened the passenget side for me, and I climbed in withoutcomplaint.On the dashboard was a big red ribbon, stuck to the new stereo. I pulled it off, throwing it to the floor. As Edward slid into the other side, I kicked the ribbon downstairs my seat.He didnt look at me or the stereo. Neither of us switched it on, and the silence was somehow intensified by the sudden thunder of the engine. He drove too fast down the dark, curved lane.The silence was making me insane.Say something, I finally begged as he turned onto the freeway.What do you want me to say? he asked in a stranded voice.I cringed at his remoteness. Tell me you forgive me.That brought a flicker of life to his facea flicker of anger. Forgive you? For what?If Id been more careful, nothing would have happened.Bella, you gave yourself a topic cutthat scarce deserves the death penalty.Its still my fault.My words opened up the floodgate.Your fault? If youd cut yourself at mike Newtons house, with Jessica there and Angela and your other normal friends, the worst that could possibly have happened would be what? Maybe they couldnt find you a bandage? If youd tripped and knocked over a pile of glass plates on your ownwithout someone throwing you into themeven then, whats the worst? Youd get blood on the seats when they drove you to the emergency room? mike Newton could have held your hand while they run up you upand he wouldnt be righting the urge to kill you the building block time he was there. Dont try to take any of this on yourself, Bella. It will only make me more disgusted with myself.How the hell did Mike Newton end up in this conversation? I demanded.Mike Newton ended up in this conversation because Mike Newton would be a hell of a lot healthier for you to be with, he growled.Id rather die than be with Mike Newton, I protested. Id rather die than be with anyone but you.Dont be melodramatic, please.Well then, dont you be ridiculous.He didnt answer. He glared through the windshield, his expression black.I racked my brain for some way to salvage the evening. When we pulled up in front of my house, I still hadnt come up with anything.He killed the engine, but his hands stayed clenched around the steering wheel. ordain you stay tonight? I asked.I should go home.The last thing I wanted was for him to go wallow in remorse.For my birthday, I pressed.You cant have it both wayseither you want people to ignore your birthday or you dont. One or the other.His voice was stern, but not .is serious as before. I b reathed a silent sigh of relief.Okay. Ive decided that I dont want you to ignore my birthday. Ill see you upstairs.I hopped out, reaching back in for my packages. He frowned.You dont have to take those.I want them, I acted automatically, and then wondered if he was victimization reverse psychology.No, you dont. Carlisle and Esme spent money on you.Ill live. I tucked the presents awkwardly under my good arm and slammed the door behind me. He was out of the truck and by my side in less than a second.Let me carry them, at least. he said as he took them away. Ill be in your room.I smiled. Thanks.Happy birthday, he sighed, and leaned down to impress his lips to mine.I reached up on my toes to make the kiss last longer when he pulled away. He smiled my favorite round-backed smile, and then he disappeared into the darkness.The game was still on as soon as I walked through the front door I could hear the announcer carry on over the babble of the crowd.Bell? Charlie called.Hey, Dad, I said as I came around the corner. I held my arm close to my side. The slight pressure burned, and I wrinkly my nose. The anesthetic was apparently losing its effectiveness.How was it? Charlie lounged across the sofa with his bare feet propped up on the arm. What was left of his curly dark-brown hair was crushed direct on one side.Alice went overboard. Flowers, cake, candles, presentsthe whole bit.What did they get you?A stereo for my truck. And various unknowns.Wow.Yeah, I agreed. Well, Im calling it a night.Ill see you in the morning.I waved. See ya.What happened to your arm?I violent and cursed silently. I tripped. Its nothing.Bella, he sighed, shaking his head.Goodnight, Dad.I hurried up to the bathroom, where I kept my pajamas for just such nights as these. I shrugged into the matching armored combat vehicle top and cotton pants that Id gotten to replace the leaky sweats I used to wear to bed, wincing as the movement pulled at the stitches. I washed my face one- hand, brus hed my teeth, and then skipped to my room.He was sitting in the center of my bed, toying idly with one of the eloquent medal boxes.Hi, he said. His voice was sad. He was wallowing.I went to the bed, pushed the presents out of his hands, and climbed into his lap.Hi. I snuggled into his stone chest. Can I open my presents now?Where did the enthusiasm come from? he wondered.You made me curious.I picked up the long flat rectangle that must have been from Carlisle and Esme.Allow me, he suggested. He took the gift from my hand and tore the silver paper off with one fluid movement. He handed the rectangular white box back to me. atomic number 18 you sure I can handle lifting the lid? I muttered, but he ignored me.inside the box was a long thick piece of paper with an overwhelming amount of fine print. It took me a minute to get the gist of the information.Were going to Jacksonville? And I was excited, in spite of myself. It was a voucher for categoric tickets, for both me and Edward.That s the idea.I cant believe it. Renee is going to passing play You dont mind, though, do you? Its sunny, youll have to stay inside all day.I think I can handle it, he said, and then frowned. If Id had any idea that you could respond to a gift this appropriately, I would have made you open it in front of Carlisle and Esme. I thought youd complain.Well, of course its too much. But I get to take you with meHe chuckled. Now I entreat Id spent money on your present. I didnt realize that you were capable of being reasonable.I set the tickets past and reached for his present, my curiosity rekindled. He took it from me and unwrapped it like the first one.He handed back a clear CD jewel case, with a blank silver CD inside.What is it? I asked, perplexed.He didnt say anything he took the CD and reached around me to put it in the CD player on the bedside table. He hit play, and we waited in silence. Then the music began.I listened, speechless and wide-eyed. I knew he was waiting for my reactio n, but I couldnt talk. separate welled up, and I reached up to wipe them away before they could spill over.Does your arm hurt? he asked anxiously.No, its not my arm. Its beautiful, Edward. You couldnt have given me anything I would love more. I cant believe it. I shut up, so I could listen.It was his music, his compositions. The first piece on the CD was my lullaby.I didnt think you would let me get a piano so I could play for you here, he explained.Youre right.How does your arm feel?Just fine. Actually, it was jump to blaze under the bandage. I wanted ice. I would have settled for his hand, but that would have given me away.Ill get you some Tylenol.I dont need anything, I protested, but he slid me off his lap and headed for the door.Charlie, I hissed. Charlie wasnt exactly aware that Edward frequently stayed over. In fact, he would have a stroke if that fact were brought to his attention. But I didnt feel too guilty for deceiving him It wasnt as if we were up to anything he would nt want me to be up to. Edward and his rulesHe wont overcome me, Edward promised as he disappeared silently out the door . . and returned, catching the door before it had swung back to touch the frame. He had the glass from the bathroom and the bottle of pills in one hand.I took the pills he handed me without arguingI knew I would lose the argument And my arm really was starting to bother me.My lullaby continued, soft and lovely, in the background.Its late, Edward noted. He scooped me up off the bed with one arm, and pulled the cover back with the other. He put me down with my head on my pillow and tucked the quilt around me. He lay down next to meon top of the blanket so I wouldnt get chilledand put his arm over me.I leaned my head against his shoulder and sighed happily.Thanks again, I whispered.Youre welcome.It was quiet for a long moment as I listened to my lullaby bearing to a close. Another song began. I acknowledge Esmes favorite.What are you thinking about? I wondered in a whisper.He hesitated for a second before he told me. I was thinking about right and wrong, actually.I felt a chill flush along my spine.Remember how I decided that I wanted you to not ignore my birthday? I asked quickly, hoping it wasnt too clear that I was trying to distract him.Yes, he agreed, wary.Well, I was thinking, since its still my birthday, that Id like you to kiss me again.Youre greedy tonight.Yes, I ambut please, dont do anything you dont want to do, I added, piqued.He laughed, and then sighed. Heaven forbid that I should do anything I dont want to do, he said in a strangely desperate tone as he put his hand under my chin and pulled my face up to his.The kiss began much the same as usualEdward was as careful as ever, and my heart began to overreact like it always did. And then something seemed to change. Suddenly his lips became much more urgent, his free hand twisted into my hair and held my face securely to his. And, though my hands tangled in his hair, too, and tho ugh I was clearly beginning to cross his cautious lines, for once he didnt stop me. His body was cold through the thin quilt, but I crushed myself against him eagerly.When he stopped it was abrupt he pushed me away with gentle, squiffy hands.I collapsed back onto my pillow, gasping, my head spinning. Something tugged at my memory, elusive, on the edges.Sorry, he said, and he was breathless, too. That was out of line.I dont mind, I panted.He frowned at me in the darkness. Try to sleep. Bella.No, I want you to kiss me again.Youre overestimating my self-control.Which is tempting you more, my blood or my body? I challenged.Its a tie. He grinned briefly in spite of himself, and then was serious again. Now. why dont you stop pushing your luck and go to sleep?Fine, I agreed, snuggling closer to him. I really did feel exhausted. It had been a long day in so many ways, yet I felt no sense of relief at its end. just about as if something worse was coming tomorrow. It was a giddy premoniti onwhat could be worse than today? Just the shock catching up with me, no doubt.Trying to be sneaky about it, I pressed my hurt arm against his shoulder, so his cool skin would sooth the burning. It felt better at once.I was halfway asleep, maybe more, when I realized what his kiss had reminded me of last spring, when hed had to countenance me to throw James off my trail, Edward had kissed me goodbye, not knowing whenor ifwe would see each other again. This kiss had the same almost painful edge for some reason I couldnt imagine. I shuddered into unconsciousness, as if I were already having a nightmare.