Financial Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Financial Strategy - Essay Example â€Å"Value added† is only meaningful in the context of some kind of value that a firm's portfolio has that isn't immediately apparent from their stock prices or investment guide. The fact that a company is connected to a larger company, for example, would be relevant to investors. Managing cost centres is normally quantified on the balance sheet anyways, but even when it isn't, it is a tiny part of the value added picture. Lu, Tsai and Yen (2010) point out that intangible assets are immensely important to valuing firms. â€Å"In knowledge-based economy, the method for creating firm value transfers from traditional physical assets to intangible knowledge. As intangible assets value is an important part of firm value, valuation of intangible assets becomes a widespread topic of interest in the future of economy† (Lu et al, 2010). Lu, Tsai and Yen point to six particular value-added sources that their data-mining from Taiwanese firms found: â€Å"R&D intensity, family, p articipation in management, pyramids, profitability, and dividend† (Lu et al, 2010). Intangible assets are clearly vital to a company: Indeed, they are the company, the money being the way for those assets to be deployed. What makes a company like Microsoft grow ten-thousand fold is intangible elements like strategy, intuition, etc. The problem with these assets is manifold: 1. These assets are not easily fungible. Bill Gates would not have been worth very much before Microsoft's ascension. 2. These assets are not easily measurable. Creativity, political connections, inherited knowledge from family, secret recipes... until they have been tried and tested in the market, they have no quantifiable value. 3. They are context-specific. A piece of land is worth however much it is objectively. But Bill Gates and Paul Allen were a team. Split them apart and their separate value was probably far, far lower. Aside from the factors that Lu, Tsai and Yen (2010) identify, intangible assets of value include far more. Political connections are immensely valuable: If someone can exert political pressure to protect one from upcoming regulation or other important legislation, that can be worth millions to the shareholders. Families are value-added because they typically have a shared sense of camaraderie and loyalty with less need for monitoring and because they have special knowledge passed down a family line not accessible to those outside of it. Again, the problem is the signal-to-noise ratio: The vast majority of family knowledge is not applicable to business success, but sometimes an individual piece of information in the flotsam and jetsam, like a recipe, actually is. Innovation is particularly important, especially a culture of innovation. Companies like Google, 3M, Microsoft in their heydey and Mac now are known for being innovators, which is partially created by the people they hire but also heavily determined by the organizational practices they implement. Partn erships with other firms would be another value-added investors should be aware of. Strategic partnerships have a proven track record of raising company value. In small-to-medium sized software companies, Kennedy and Keeney's research found that â€Å"strategic partnerships were initiated to take advantage of firm synergy, reputation and credibility

Oppression in the Twentieth Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Oppression in the Twentieth Century - Essay Example Much of the definition of oppression is attributed to its nineteenth-century roots. Particularly, the works of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, and John Stuart Mill were pivotal in outlining the systematic nature of oppression, which has tremendous influence in its modern forms. On the one hand, the works and philosophies of Gandhi, de Beauvoir, Malcolm X, among others, have added dimensions to oppression, updating its conception to contemporary twentieth century. Imperialism and colonization dominated the discourse on oppression especially during the early part of the 20th century. From Africa, Asia to Latin America, there was a wave of liberation movements that demonstrated various experiences of oppression and the attempts to be free from it. One of these experiences is the emergence of conflicts such as World War II wherein colonies were expected to provide warm bodies to fight in the frontlines as well as supply the raw materials and augment the war chest of their masters. The wartime sacrifices underscore a form of oppression that has permeated since the previous century and has spilled over to the 20th. Then, individual experiences amidst the dawn of modernity and the increased contact of people from various part of the globe gave rise to the growth of nationalism. This aspect is highlighted in the case of Gandhi. He is one of the most vocal advocates of decolonization in Asia. Gandhi’s crusade for India’s independence fro m Britain was inspired by personal maltreatment as he was building his career in Africa as a lawyer. As a non-white person, he experienced being thrown out of first-class train car, barred from certain hotel rooms and beaten for no reason but his color. Gandhi’s philosophy behind the liberation movement he launched underscored a kind of oppression India experienced in its relationship with Britain.  

The Protection Of Marine Ecosystems Environmental Sciences Essay

The Protection Of Marine Ecosystems Environmental Sciences Essay Oceans cover approximately 71 % of Earths surface and comprise the greatest preponderance of its hydrosphere. While all the seas of the world share certain obvious characteristics, many have unique attributes. For example, shipping lanes and straits are used more intensively than other parts of the ocean for navigation, making accidents and spills there more likely; some areas of the sea are more ecologically fragile than others; some seas such as the Mediterranean and the Baltic, are semi-closed, inhibiting the exchange of their waters with those of the rest of the ocean and thus slowing the process of self-purification; and some parts of the ocean are utilized more intensively by humans than others, resulting in more pollution, both chronic and accidental. The worlds oceans are under stress from over-fishing, climate change, invasive species and marine pollution. United Nations Environmental Programme Ocean Atlas define pollution sources that exist through the world as leading to a state of silent collapse. The stresses are particularly acute in coastal areas. In addition to ocean dumping and spills, intensive shore development funnels oil and toxic pollutants into coastal waters. Nutrient run off from farm and yard fertilizers cause algae blooms which threaten coral reefs and sea grass beds. In this project, the various aspects related to the protection of marine ecosystems have been analyzed in detail. Also, the particular problems of the conservation of marine ecosystemand marine biodiversity and the threats with which they are confronted have been examined. Finally, the international regime for the protection of marine ecosystem has been discussed in detail with special reference to UNCLOS. Also, the international regime for the protection of marine ecosystem components has been discussed in brief. WHAT IS MARINE ECOSYSTEM? The problems of addressing the conservation of marine ecosystems and the maintenance of biodiversity in the oceans are qualitatively different from those of terrestrial systems. Because mankind is a terrestrial creature, there is, perhaps, inevitably a terrestrial bias in understanding of species and of ecosystem as well as the means which have been developed for their protection. This bias is reflected in the Convention on Biological Diversity itself.Article 2 of the Convention defines biological diversity to include variability amongst living organisms from all sources includingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part, however it goes on to specify that this includes diversity within the species, between species and of ecosystems. Nowhere else in the Convention is specific reference made to the protection of marine biodiversity although Article 22(2) does specifically provide that contracting States shall implement the Convention with respect to the marine environment consistently with the rights and obligations of States under the law of the sea. In fact the whole approach of the Convention directed as it is to the biotechnology issues and, arguably a concept of national ownership of resources based on assumptions about endemic species bypasses some of the key issues of marine biodiversity conservation. Awareness of the importance of ecosystems or of ecosystem conservation and management is relatively new in international arena. Few international instruments rarely use this precise terminology. MARINE BIODIVERSITY: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT AND HOW IS IT THREATENED? The oceans cover 70% of the planet yet far less is known about the marine environment than the terrestrial; 80% of all the known species are terrestrial; only sixteen of the 6,691 species officially classified as endangered are marine and fourteen of these are mammals and turtles creatures which have some affinity with the terrestrial creatures. Because of the fluid nature of the marine environment scientists suggest that there has been less opportunity or need for speciation in marine organisms, as there has been in land organisms in which species and subspecies have developed as they have become separated from each other by physical forces. This does not mean however that, oceans are single amorphous system. Apart from the obvious variations in the oceans at different latitudes or depths, the existence of closed or semi-closed seas and of major currents, confluences and gyres in the open system means that there is a wide variety of different ecosystems in the marine environment. H owever, these bear little relation to the various legal jurisdictional zones established by customary international law and now to be found codified in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. As seen from the definition of biodiversity given in CBD, the common practice of terrestrial biologists of assessing biological diversity or richness in terms of number of species and subspecies in a particular ecosystem, especially number of those who are unique or endemic. However, as far as marine biodiversity is concerned speciation is low and endemism uncommon. In oceans there is far greater variety of organisms amongst the higher taxonomic orders than species or subspecies. In the last few years entirely new life-forms which thrive in the boiling waters around deep ocean thermal vents have been discovered which offer exciting opportunities for development of medical and industrial processes. Marine and coastal systems provide important food sources, and marine creatures offer a multitude of different substances which may be of significance to the medical and chemical industry. It is well established that oceans play a key role as sinks for greenhouse gases, but also, and perhaps more significantly, there is increasing evidence that marine biota play an important role in global chemical processes which may affect the climate change. Thorne Miller and Catena suggest that the concentration on genetic, species and ecological diversity reflected in the work of terrestrial biologists (and strongly represented in the 1992 Convention) overshadows what has been termed functional diversity which reflect biological complexity of an ecosystem. In their words: In the face of environmental change, the loss of genetic diversity weakens a populations ability to adapt; the loss of species diversity weakens a communitys ability to adapt; the loss of functional diversity weakens an ecosystems ability to adapt; and the loss of ecological diversity weakens the whole biospheres ability to adapt. The evidence suggest that marine ecosystems are rich in functional diversity, and that there are therefore dangers in transferring to the marine environment concerns about lower order diversity and about protection of rarity which have been developed in a terrestrial context. There are threats to the very maintenance of ecosystems. The most significant threats are posed by marine pollution from a variety of sources and activities, from over-exploitation or indiscriminate exploitation of marine species, as well as the destruction of the coastal habitats. A large proportion of sea creatures depend on the inshore or coastal areas for an important part of their breeding or life-cycles. The destruction or degradation of coastal habitats or the degradation of coastal water quality therefore has a major impact on a widespread of marine `life. This does suggest that protection of rare and endangered species and of key and representative ecosystems may also be appropriate to certain aspects of marine biodiversity conservation. These protected areas cannot in themselves provide protection from marine pollution. It must also be said that despite the fact that 1982 UNCLOS specifically recognizes that the problems of ocean space are closely inter-related and need to b e considered as a whole. Also, the maritime jurisdictional zones recognized by UNCLOS, inevitably make arbitrary decisions in ocean ecosystems, do not assist a holistic approach to management of these issues. The recognition by international environmental law of the importance of ecosystem management is relatively of recent origin. The earlier environmental treaties related simply to species protection. It is possible to group the general classes of relevant international obligations. Firstly, those that address specific threats to marine environment and therefore to marine ecosystem.Secondly, those obligations that address the conservation what might be called ecosystems components and finally those obligations that require conservation of marine ecosystems per se. Such a classification may serve to identify the strengths as well as defects and lacunae in the current legal regimes. CONSERVATION OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS The recognition of importance of management of ecosystems, rather than simply those of their components which maybe of immediate significance to mankind, is a relatively recent phenomenon. Crucial steps in development were the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and the 1980 IUCN World Conservation Strategy which formed the basis of the 1982 UN General Assembly World Charter for Nature, and which popularized the concept of, as well as the term, life support systems and which stressed the interrelationship of these with other ecological processes and genetic diversity. INTERNATIONAL REGIME FOR THE PROTECTION OF MARINE ECOSYSTEM UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF SEA, 1982 (UNCLOS) In order to seek an answer to a wider question of whether there is a general obligation on all States to conserve marine ecosystem, it is necessary to look beyond the specific treaty obligations at customary international law. The starting point of this assessment is UNCLOS which came into force only in November, 1994 but which is widely recognized as reflective of customary law. Customary law recognizes the division of ocean into a series of juridical regimes which reflect criteria related to Coastal States sovereignty and resource exploitation rather than considerations of ecosystem integrity. The nature of the obligations which the customary international law, and now the 1982 UNCLOS, imposes on the States in relation to the marine environment does to a large extent depend upon the juridical nature of the particular waters under consideration, consequently these jurisdictional divisions can create a major obstacle to the rational management of ecosystems or species which cross or straddle more than one zone. Broadly, the oceans are divided into the following maritime zones: internal waters behind the coastal state baseline; a belt of territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles in breadth, a 24 nm contiguous zone with restricted enforcement jurisdiction, a 200 nm exclusive economic zone or fishing zone, and the high seas beyond these limits. Within each of these zones, the Convention envisages a different balance of rights and duties between the coastal states and other states. UNCLOS contains a number of provisions of general significance for the protection of marine ecosystems. Nevertheless, it would probably be a mistake to think this was a conscious drafting objective per se. It is certainly possible to read into the provisions of Part XII of the Convention endorsement for a marine ecosystem approach to marine conservation, although these obligations are even less precise than those relating to pollution control. Article 192 of UNCLOS recognizes a general obligation to protect and preserve marine environment. In so far as this goes beyond simple protection, it can be interpreted as being an obligation to behave in a precautionary way. Article 194(5) specifically requires that measures taken in accordance with this Part shall include those necessary to protect and preserve rare and fragile ecosystems as well as the habitat of depleted, threatened or endangered species and other forms of marine life. As this provision is located within general provisions of Part XII this requires all States to protect these special ecosystems and habitats form the effects of pollution originating from all sources in addition to other general conservation measures. Article 196 requires the States to take all measures to prevent, reduce and control pollution from the use of technologies under either their jurisdiction or control. This could be mean to read biotechnology or any other polluting technology. The rest of the paragraph requires the states to prevent, reduce and control the incidental or accidental introduction of species, alien or new, to a particular part of marine environment which may cause significant or harmful changes thereto. However, the definition of pollution adopted by UNCLOS does not make explicit reference to impacts on marine ecosystems. This defect has been remedied by in some regional conventions. In the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (Part V) coastal States are obliged to ensure through proper conservation and management measures that the maintenance of living resources is not endangered by over-exploitation, taking into consideration the effects on species associated with or dependent upon harvested species with a view to maintaining or restoring populations of such associated or dependent species above levels at which their reproduction may become seriously threatened. Similar provisions apply to such species in high sea fisheries. But these provisions only aim to maintain the viability of such species, and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..[not] to protect their role within the food web or the functioning of the marine ecosystem as a whole. 1980 CANBERRA CONVENTION ON THE CONSERVATION OF ANTARTIC MARINE LIVING RESOURCES This is arguably the first convention to be centered on ecosystem approach to conservation and has been described as a model of ecological approach. Even the geographical scope of the treaty itself is unique, in that it is designed around the Antarctic ecosystem. Under Article 1, the Convention applies to the Antarctic marine resources of the area south of 60 degrees South latitude and to the Antarctic marine living resources of the area between that latitude and the Antarctic Convergence which form a part of Antarctic marine ecosystem. The Antarctic ecosystem is then defined by Article 1(3) as the complex of relationships fop Antarctic marine living resources with each other and with their physical environment. The sole objective of the Convention is declared to be the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources; conservation however is defined to include rational use. To achieve this end any harvesting or associated activities has to be conducted in accordan.ce with declared principles. These objectives, which clearly relate to the maintenance of the ecosystem rather than its exploitation, are implemented by the Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) which coordinates research on Antarctic marine living resources and adopts appropriate conservation and management measures. A further formal step in the protection of Antarctic Ecosystem was taken with the conclusion of the 1991 Madrid Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection. 1985 ASEAN CONVENTION ON CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES Another treaty of major potential significance but, unfortunately, still not in force after a decade is the 1985 ASEAN Convention on Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. This Convention reflects in its wording the concepts contained in the 1980 IUCN World Conservation Strategy, embracing a clear ecosystem approach to conservation. Kiss and Shelton describe this Treaty at the most comprehensive approach to viewing conservation problems that exist today. The Convention recognizes the interdependence of living resources, between them and other natural resources, within the ecosystems of which they are a part. It is divided into eight chapters. It is tempting to observe that the major treaties calling for marine ecosystem conservation considered thus far are either limited in geographical scope, or not yet in force, or both. GENERAL CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW There is a general obligation first promulgated by Principle 21 of Stockholm Declaration and now to be found in Principle 2 of Rio Declaration to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or to areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. This obligation not to cause damage extends not simply to activities physically located within the State territory but also to activities within the State jurisdiction. Customary international law would impose responsibility on States under this principle for a range of activities which impact on marine ecosystems whether such activities take place within the areas of national jurisdiction or outside or straddling such areas.Activities which could be argued to cause damage to marine ecosystems and to fall foul of this principle would include marine pollution particularly that emanating from land based sources and activities; it could also be extended to fishing and related activities which impact upon rare and endangered marine species or their habitat. REGIMES FOR THE CONSERVATION OF MARINE ECOSYSTEM COMPONENTS Historically, the two main techniques which have been utilized by international conventions for the conservation of marine species are derived from those taken for terrestrial species, namely, the regulation or prohibition of the taking of designated species and the protection of habitat by designation of protection areas. PROTECTION OF SPECIES The protection of designated species has habitually been addressed by the imposition of restrictions and prohibitions on the harvesting, taking or killing of target species. The approach was taken by the 1946 Whaling Convention, by the various seal hunting regulatory agreements and by the 1973 Polar Bears Agreement. Such a strategy is still maintained as a part of approach adopted by more modern generic or regional protected species treaties such as the 1979 Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and the regional treaties concluded under UNEP Regional Seas Programme. PROTECTED AREAS The second key technique, often used in combination with protection of species and in modern treaties increasingly merge with it, is the establishment of protected areas either to protect the habitats of specific species or as representative examples of ecosystems or habitats. These may be important isolated areas or take their place within a systematic network permitting for example transnational migration. In the terrestrial environment between 5-8% of the total world land mass now lies in protected areas. Despite the fact the sea covers more than two and a half times the land area, marine protected areas may cover an area less than half that of terrestrial protected areas. REGULATION OF TRADE IN WILD SPECIES One of the major threats to marine species such as sea turtles is the commercial trade in products such as turtle shell. Other well known threats to marine ecosystems are posed by over exploitation of shells and corals for the tourist souvenir trade and of reef fish for the aquarium trade. CITES provides the main regulation of such trade, although a number of treaties provide independent proscriptions or regulation of such trade. CONCLUSION It is paradoxical that although the particular problems of conservation of many marine creatures, particularly pelagic creatures, make them particularly suitable to regulation at an international level under a treaty on biological diversity, in fact the most important discussions concerning conservation of marine biological diversity are currently taking place in the context of other forums those relating to land based resources, straddling fish stocks or at a regional or sectoral level. The recognition by the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity of the issue of the conservation of biological diversity as a matter of common concern of humankind implies that all states have a legal interest in the issue as well as positive responsibility to safeguard it. However, this common concern still requires a more obvious focus than national actions or diverse regional or sectoral actions, for much of the attention has to be taken in international waters as well in coastal waters or in ways that will reflect natural ecosystem boundaries rather than national maritime jurisdictional boundaries. It can thus, be concluded that there is an existence of a substantial body of treaty law which seeks to address one or more aspects of marine ecosystem conservation. Although, a few treaties actually commit themselves to this, it is clear that a large number of treaty regimes are developing an ecosystem approach through their parties interpretation of their existing treaty obligations. UNCLOS can be seen as a most positive force in the crystallization of the general obligations of States to protect the marine environment. Nevertheless, important though the obligations of Part XII are in this respect, they too require further substantial elaboration and implementation. A protocol on the conservation of marine biodiversity in context of protection of marine ecosystems would be an obvious way of seeking to remedy the lacunae of existing regimes and refocusing attention on this crucial, but somewhat neglected, aspect of biodiversity debate.

How Home-Schooling Really Got Started :: Essays Papers

How Home-Schooling Really Got Started People have often been known to find comfort in numbers and to therefore enter into social contracts with others living around them. People feel safer in groups and so they choose to give up certain rights and privileges for protection from their peers. This inevitably leads to domination of man over man. People choose leaders to make their decisions for them, or they do as the majority says. It is very rare for people to make rational decisions and carry to them to their full potential once they have entered into a social contract. The desire to follow the crowd which is created by this social setting is deplorable and is therefore the main object of critism in Henrick Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People. The characters in this play all live together in a town ruled by what is known as the compact majority. This majority is led by a group of town officials who come up with plans and policies on which the people may vote. This system offers no chance for the freedom of individuals. Beginning with a speech discussing â€Å". . . the colossal stupidity of the authorities,† Doctor Stockmann deconstructs this appalling social system. This speech criticizes the lack of intelligence the authorities have shown and the need for their destruction. If freedom is to exist for individuals, the first step must be to do away with worthless officials and authorities that force the people to make a choice from the narrow selection they provide. What is right in one situation may not hold true in another, but the authorities force all people to live under the same laws with the same punishments instead of allowing for diversity. However, Stockmann does not stop there. In fact, he says t hat the authorities are not the main problem, but that instead â€Å"The most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom among us is the compact majority.† This majority follows its leaders blindly without ever giving thought to any alternative outside of the shielded path on which they are directed. â€Å"People that do that are . . . so very far from distinction.† These people have given up their won right to think and have doomed themselves to lives that can never meet the full potential of the human experience.

Psych Assignment

As an international student at JIM from Kuwait, I get a lot of follow-up questions and surprised looks when asked where I'm from. Over time, I have received a wide-range of questions but I am almost always asked about my experience Of living in an Arab country. This past weekend, someone jokingly asked me if my dad owned oil mines and camels in Kuwait, which got me thinking, is this because of the various stereotypes associated with the Arab community in America? Since ASSAI is an Indian association, it is obvious that membership is limited to those who are Indian.However, a distinct feature of the association is that many Indians on amp's believe that ASSAI is a separate clique, and you can only be a part of it if you have friends in the association already. A unique type of grouping is at play here; just being Indian is not sufficient to be a part of an Indian cultural organization. Some social psychology concepts that are applicable to this phenomenon include self-censorship, whic h is the tendency to withhold information or opinions in-group discussions.Evaluation apprehension, defined as people's concern about how they might appear in the eyes of others or, in other words, about being evaluated can be applied here as well. Identification is the perceived loss of individuality and personal responsibility that can occur when someone participates as part of a group. It can have both positive as well as negative effects, for instance, cause a person to be more likely to donate a large amount of money to charity, but also cause them to be more likely to engage in mob violence. Group cohesiveness is the strength of the liking and commitment group members have toward each other and to the group.The social psychology concept of stereotypes; generalizations about groups of people in which certain traits re assigned to virtually all members of the groups, regardless of actual variation among the members, is illustrated in the second phenomenon. In fact, a report titl ed â€Å"100 Years of Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim stereotyping† specifies the three B syndrome' (Bombers, belly dancers or billionaires) in the Arab community, in reference to Arab men being portrayed as terrorists or as wealthy oilmen and Arab women being portrayed as sex objects.Racism, defined as an individual's prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race, is a feature of this phenomenon. Stereotype threat, which means being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group, is a social psychological concept applied here too. Victims of stereotyping can suffer from attribution ambiguity, not knowing whether performance feedback is genuine or based on their group membership.One of my friends on board of ASSAI told me about how their board meetings worked: everyone seemed to agree to whatever the President had to say and this was very strange to her, since ideally they should discuss issues from every pos sible point view, rather Han a skewed, one-dimensional view in which people withhold their opinions. This sounded a lot like self-censorship to me. Evaluation apprehension is also relevant since choosing to be a part of it, or not, is almost completely based on how others will view you- whether you want to be a part of the ‘clique' of people that is ASSAI, or not.Most social organizations have many traits that make them conducive to identification. In the case of ASSAI, identification may not seem as extreme as fraternities or sororities in which members wear clothing marked with their â€Å"letters†, but strong drive towards group cohesiveness does exist. In fact, many Indians on campus actually believe that ASSAI is a ‘cult', a group of people that is always seen together, no matter what. Following the September 1 1, 2001 attacks in the United States, discrimination and reclaimed violence has markedly increased against Arab Americans.This is also reflected in co mmon stereotypes that Arabs are ‘barbaric, oil-rich sheikhs' or more extreme ones believing that all Arabs are terrorists/villains. In light of these, some Arabs suffer from stereotype threat, and hence they might hide their wealth or tatty because they are afraid of affirming a stereotype that exists about their group – that all Arabs are rich and Arab women are beautiful, and beauty is all they care about.Such actions might make them feel ashamed of something they should actually be proud of. Attribution ambiguity can lead Arabs to feel uncertainty about whether negative outcomes are due to discrimination against them or their own behavior. In comparison, they might discredit positive feedback as a form of sympathy rather than seeing it as the result of their ability and achievement.

Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 18

18. Carpe Noctem MARVIN Marvin the big red cadaver dog had done his job. He sat and woofed, which translated from the dog meant, â€Å"Biscuit.† Nine vampire hunters paused and looked around. Marvin sat in front of a small utility shed in an alley in Wine Country, behind a particularly nasty Indian restaurant. â€Å"Biscuit,† Marvin woofed. He could smell death amid the curries. He pawed the pavement. â€Å"What's he doing?† said Lash Jefferson. He, Jeff, and Troy Lee carried Super Soakers loaded with Grandma Lee's Vampire Cat Remedy, other Animals had garden sprayers slung on their backs, except for Gustavo, who thought that making him carry a garden sprayer was racial stereotyping. Gustavo had a flame thrower. He wouldn't say where he got it. â€Å"Second Amendment, cabrones.† (The guy who sold Gustavo his green card had included two amendments from the Bill of Rights and Gustavo had chosen Two and Four, the right to bear arms and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. [His sister Estrella had had seizures as a child. No bueno.] For five bucks extra he threw in the Third Amendment, which Gustavo bought because he was already sharing a three-bedroom house in Richmond with nineteen cousins and they didn't have any room to quarter soldiers.) â€Å"That's his signal,† said Rivera. He was wearing his UV-LED leather jacket and felt like a complete dork. â€Å"When he sits and does that with his paw he's found a body.† â€Å"Or vampire,† added Cavuto. â€Å"Biscuit,† woofed Marvin. â€Å"He's fucking with you,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"There's nothing here.† â€Å"Maybe in the shed,† said Lash. â€Å"There's no lock on it.† â€Å"Who would leave anything unlocked in this neighborhood?† asked Jeff. â€Å"Biscuit please,† woofed Marvin. They had an agreement: As consideration for finding dead things, the cadaver dog, heretofore referred to as Marvin, shall receive one biscuit. There was some flexibility, however, and Marvin understood that in this case, they weren't looking for dead humans, but dead cats, and despite their inherent tastiness, Marvin was not to eat the findees. â€Å"Biscuit,† he rewoofed. Where was the biscuit? It had been months since he'd led them to the dead things. (Well, it seemed like months. Marvin wasn't very good with time.) â€Å"Open it,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"We'll cover you.† Rivera and Cavuto moved to the shed, which was aluminum and had a roof shaped like an old-fashioned barn's. The Animals moved in a semicircle and trained their weapons on the shed. (Grandma Lee had stayed home to watch wrestling on TV when she realized there weren't going to be any firecrackers.) â€Å"On three then,† said Rivera. â€Å"Wait,† said Cavuto. He turned to Gustavo. â€Å"No fuego. Comprende? Do not fucking light up that flamethrower.† â€Å"S,† said Gustavo. They had tested the flamethrower on the basketball court in Chinatown. It had a fairly short, wide spray. In other words, if Gustavo used it in the alley he would probably fry them all. Barry turned and sprayed the flamethrower's pilot light with a stream of vampire cat remedy. The flame went out with a sizzle. â€Å"Okay, go.† â€Å"On three, then,† said Rivera. They all raised their weapons. â€Å"One,† Rivera nodded to Cavuto and grabbed the switch to his jacket LEDs. â€Å"Two.† Troy Lee crouched and aimed his Super Soaker to the center of the doors, ready to strafe in any direction. Cavuto drew his Desert Eagle, cocked the hammer, and thumbed off the safety. â€Å"Three!† The cops threw open the doors and lit up their jackets, the Animals leaned in. Six surprised kittens and a mother cat looked out from a box set on stacks of five-gallon detergent buckets. They all looked around, not saying anything. The Animals lowered their weapons. The cops turned off their jackets. â€Å"Well, that's embarrassing,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"Biscuit,† Marvin woofed. They all looked at Marvin. â€Å"You suck, Marvin,† said Cavuto. â€Å"Those are normal cats.† Marvin didn't understand. He had followed the trail, he had made the signal when he came to the end of the trail. Where was his biscuit? â€Å"Bad dog, Marvin,† said Lash. Marvin growled at him, then turned to Rivera and woofed, â€Å"Biscuit.† He was not a bad dog. It wasn't his fault that no one had taught him how to point up. It wasn't his fault they weren't looking up, past the top of the shed, up the wall, to the roof, four stories up. Couldn't they hear them? â€Å"Biscuit,† he woofed. CHET Chet watched the vampire hunters moving below. He understood what they were doing and how badly they were doing it. The other cats had moved away from the edge of the roof, the smell of flame, the sunlight jackets, and the dog had made them weary. A few of them were survivors of the encounter with the little Japanese swordsman, and Asians in general still freaked them out a little. Although they couldn't see the life auras that a human vampire could, it was still in their instinct as predators to take the weak and the sick, and the group below appeared to be neither. Chet, on the other hand, was less and less of a cat every night. He was bigger than Marvin now, and had lost most of his cat instinct, and whatever he was now, it wasn't a cat. Although he was still a predator, words kept invading his mind, sounds that produced pictures in his mind. Abstract concepts whirled around in sound and symbols. His kitty brain had been rewired with human DNA, and what had resulted was not only an alpha predator, but a creature with the capacity for revenge, mercy, and conscious cruelty. Chet watched the group below move out of the alley, led by Rivera and trailed by Barry, the bald, portly scuba diver of the Animals. The kitty part of Chet's brain saw Barry's bald spot like a ball of yarn, teasing him to attack. He needed to get it. He went to mist and snaked down the side of the building. He liked climbing face-down, especially since he had grown thumbs, but stealth was the only way to pick off the last one without facing the whole group in combat. He rematerialized in front of Barry, on his hind feet, and before the hapless grocery clerk could call out, Chet thrust his entire paw into his mouth and unsheathed his claws. There was only a slight gurgling sound, and Clint, the born-again, who had been walking ahead of Barry, turned to see only an empty alley behind him. Chet was already three floors above him on the wall. Barry dangled from Chet's claws, twitching, as the huge, shaved vampire cat drank his life away. TOMMY â€Å"Foo,† Tommy said, right in Foo's ear. â€Å"I want you to remember, before you move, at all, that I was the one who wore your sun jacket to rescue Jody from Elijah. So if I see you even look like you're going to touch a switch of any kind, I'm going to tear that arm off, okay?† â€Å"I didn't want to put you in the statue,† said Foo for the third time. â€Å"I know,† Tommy said. â€Å"Where's Jody?† â€Å"She went looking for you.† Jared started to back away from the door into the kitchen area. â€Å"You too, Jared. If I don't see your hands for one second, I'm taking them off so I don't have to worry about it.† Jared waved his hands in front of him like he was drying his nails. â€Å"Whoa, badass much? I'm the one that let you in. I was going to get you some blood.† â€Å"Sorry, stress,† Tommy said. He had Foo by the throat, but lightly. â€Å"Give him the one that's already opened,† Foo said. â€Å"The one with the drugs in it?† asked Jared. Foo flinched as if waiting for the sound of his neck snapping. â€Å"Yes, that one, you fuckwit.† â€Å"I'm good for now,† Tommy said. Then to Foo, â€Å"Jody went where to find me?† â€Å"Just out. Right after she got you out of the shell. She took half the money and most of the blood. Abby said that she was at the Fairmont, but Rivera and Cavuto found her. We don't know where she is now.† â€Å"Where's Abby?† â€Å"She's at her mom's,† said Foo. â€Å"No, she's not.† Tommy choked him a little. â€Å"She's here. I can smell her.† He cocked his head. â€Å"I don't hear her heartbeat. Is she dead?† â€Å"Kind of,† said Jared. â€Å"She is nossssss-feratu. That's how she says it. I'm so jealous.† â€Å"Did I do that?† â€Å"No,† said Foo. â€Å"She did it herself. You were out of your mind, and you bit her, but Jody pulled you off of her and threw you through the windows. You don't remember?† â€Å"Not much. Probably a good thing for you, too.† â€Å"She's under the mattress,† Jared said. â€Å"Foo made me hide her there.† â€Å"I'm going to change her back. I told you I could do it and I can. I'm already working on her batch of serum.† â€Å"And she saw Jody last?† â€Å"Her friend Lily saw Jody coming out of the Fairmont a few nights ago. Abby went there to find her and saw Cavuto and Rivera.† â€Å"Then we don't know if they found Jody while she was out?† â€Å"They didn't. They didn't say anything when they came to get their jackets.† â€Å"Their jackets? Sun jackets? You gave them sun jackets?† â€Å"I have to do what they want. They were going to take me in for statutory rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.† â€Å"Really? Have they met Abby?† â€Å"Truth,† said Foo, as wistfully as you can when you're being choked. â€Å"Tommy, let me change you back. It's what you wanted. I can do you and Abby at the same time.† â€Å"No. And you're not changing her. Wake her up.† â€Å"What? Why?† â€Å"Because I'm going to go look for Jody and I'm taking Abby with me. I'm not leaving her here with you guys.† â€Å"Why? She's my girlfriend. I wouldn't hurt her.† â€Å"She's my BFF,† said Jared. â€Å"He's the one who can't be trusted.† â€Å"I'm taking her with me. I'm not going out there without someone watching my back. Haven't you ever seen a horror movie? When you split up and go off by yourself, that's when the monster gets you.† â€Å"I thought in this movie you were the monster,† Foo said. â€Å"Only if you don't do what I say,† Tommy said, a little surprised to hear himself say it. â€Å"Wake her up, Foo.† JODY The last thing she remembered before burning up were the orange socks. And here they were again, fluorescent orange, highway safety orange socks, at the base of a tiny, blood-encrusted man who was fussing about at some sort of workbench. â€Å"Well, don't you look yummy,† she said, and she was surprised at the sound of her own voice: dry, weak, and ancient. The little man turned, startled at first, but then he composed himself, bowed, and said something in Japanese. Then, â€Å"Sorry,† in English. â€Å"It's okay,† she said. â€Å"This isn't the first time I've woken up in a strange man's apartment where I can't remember how I got there.† This was, however, the first time she remembered where she had been on fire at the end of the night. Before it had gone quite that far, the girls she worked with held a lunchtime intervention in which each told her, frankly and sincerely, as people who loved her, that she was a drunken slut who took all the hot guys at the TGIF bar crawl every week and she needed to knock it the fuck off. So she did. Now, as in those days, she was disoriented, but unlike those days, it didn't even occur to her to be afraid. The little Japanese man bowed again, then took a square-pointed knife from his workbench and approached her shyly, his head down, saying something that sounded very much like an apology. Jody held up her hand to wave him off, say, â€Å"Hey, back off there, cowboy,† but when she saw her hand, an ash-white desiccated claw, the words caught in her throat. The little man paused just the same. Her arms, her legs? She pulled up the kimono-her stomach, her breasts-she was shrunken, like a mummy. The effort exhausted her and she fell back into the pillow. The little man shuffled forward and held his hand up. There was a bandage on his thumb. She watched as he raised his hand, pulled off the bandage, and put the point of the knife to the wound that was already there. She caught his knife hand and ever so gently, pushed it down. â€Å"No,† she said, shaking her head. â€Å"No.† She couldn't imagine what her face might look like. The ends of her hair were like brittle red straw. What must she have looked like before he had done this, done this too much, she could see. â€Å"No.† With him close, she could smell the blood on him. It wasn't human. Pig. It smelled of pig, although she didn't know how she might know that. When she had been at her best she would have smelled blood on someone just walking by on the sidewalk. It wasn't only her strength that was gone, her senses were nearly as dull as when she had been human. The little man waited. He had bowed, but did not rise up again. Wait, he held his head aside, his throat open. He was bending down so she could drink. Knowing what she was, he was giving himself to her. She touched his cheek with the back of her hand and when he looked she shook her head. â€Å"No. Thank you. No.† He stood, looked at her, waited. She smelled the dried blood on the back of her hand, tasted it. She had tasted it before. She felt something tacky in the corner of her mouth-yes, it was the pig blood. The hunger wrenched through her, but she fought it down. He had fed her his own blood, obviously, but also pig's blood. How long? How far had he brought her? She gestured for him to bring her paper and something to write with. He brought her a sketch pad and a broad square carpenter's pencil. She drew a map of Union Square, then drew a crude figure of a woman and wrote down numbers, many numbers, her sizes. What about money? Rivera would have her things from the room, but she had hidden most of the money in another spot. From the brick-work in the apartment, the window frames, the angle of streetlights coming down from above, she guessed she was in a basement apartment right near where she'd been running on Jackson Street. Nowhere else in the City looked like this, was this old. She pointed to herself and the little man and then to the map. He took it from her and drew an X, then quickly drew a stick version of the Transamerica Pyramid. Yes. They were on Jackson Street. She wrote a â€Å"$† where she'd hidden the money, then scratched it out. It was hidden in a locked electrical junction box high on a roof, where she had been able to climb easily, two floors above the highest fire escape. This frail little guy would never get there. The little man smiled and nodded, pointing to the dollar sign. He went to his workbench, opened a wooden box, and held up a handful of bills. â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"Okay, then, I guess you're buying me an outfit.† â€Å"Yes,† he said. She made a drinking gesture, then nodded. He nodded and held up the knife again. â€Å"No, you can't afford it. Animal.† She thought about making a piggy sound, but wasn't sure that might not give him the wrong idea, so she drew a stickman on the sketch pad, then Xed it out and drew a first-grade stick piggy, a stick sheep, and a Jesus fish. He nodded. â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"If you bring me a Christian petting zoo I'm going to be disappointed, Mr.-uh-† Well, this was embarrassing. â€Å"Well, you're not the first guy I've ever woken up with whose name I don't remember.† Then she stopped herself and patted his arm. â€Å"I'm sounding really slutty, I know, but the truth is I used to be afraid to sleep alone.† She looked around the little apartment, at the meticulously arranged tools on the workbench, the one pair of little shoes, and the white silk kimono he had wrapped her in. â€Å"Thank you,† she said. â€Å"Thank you,† he said. â€Å"My name is Jody,† she said, pointing to herself. She pointed to him, wondering if that might not be rude in his culture. But he had already seen her nude and burned up, so perhaps they were past formality. He seemed okay with it. â€Å"Okata,† he said. â€Å"Okata,† she said. â€Å"Yes,† he said, with a big smile. His gums were receded, which made him look like he had big horse teeth, but then Jody touched her tongue to her fangs, which it seemed were not retracting in her new, dried-up state, and she realized that she should probably be less judgmental. â€Å"Go, okay?† She pointed to the sketch pad. â€Å"Okay,† he said. He gathered up his things, put on his stupid hat, and was ready to leave, when she called to him. â€Å"Okata?† â€Å"Yes.† She made a face-washing gesture and pointed to him. He went to the little mirror over the sink, looked at himself covered with blood, and laughed, his eyes crinkled into high smiles themselves. He looked over his shoulder at her, laughed again, then scrubbed his face with a cloth until he was clean and went to the door. â€Å"Jody,† he said. He pointed to the stairs outside. â€Å"No. Okay?† â€Å"Okay,† she said. When he was gone, she crawled from the futon and stumbled from there to the workbench, where she rested before trying to move farther, to look at Okata's work. Wood block prints, some finished, some with only two or three of the colors on them, proofs perhaps. They were a series, the progression of a black, skeletal monster against a yellow futon, then the gradual filling in of the figure. The care, wrapping her in the kimono, feeding her his blood. The last print was still in the sketch stage. He must have been working on it when she awoke. A sketch on thin rice paper had been glued to the wood block and he was carving away the material for the outline-the black ink in the other prints. They were beautiful, and precise, and simple, and sad. She felt a tear rise and turned so as not to drip blood on the print. How would she tell him? Would she point at the first sketch, the one where the figure looked like a medieval woodcut of Death himself, and point to his frail chest? â€Å"The first thing I noticed when I saw you was the life aura around you, and it was black. That's why I wouldn't let you give me your blood, Okata. You are dying.† â€Å"Okay,† he would say. â€Å"Thank you,† he would say, with his newly found grin.