Appealing Letter Assignment Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Appealing Letter Assignment - Personal Statement Example From an economic point of view, I gauge that Manama is blessed with the reputation of being the freest market in the Middle East apart from having the fastest growth rate economically. In order to sustain and nurture this explosive economic growth it is only prudent that Bahrain welcomes more labor, skilled as well as semi-skilled. News reports say that, Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) while leading the Kingdom's delegation to the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos held in January 2008 announced plans of raising the country's profile economically. In the context of tourism, it beats its cosmopolitan neighbor Dubai in terms of providing cheaper and more luxurious accommodation. Bahrain is fast emerging as the favorite tourist spot for many tourists in Saudi Arabia due to its proximity and similar cost structure. A major restructuring and expansion project is underway at the Manama airport as part of making it a major cargo hub. Strategically placed in the Middle East, Bahrain has the potential to serve as Cargo centre in the Persian Gulf. Termed the Cargo Oasis an integrated facility is being built on the north of the existing airport. Ahmed Nemat, Assistant Undersecretary Civil Aviation Affairs announced this at the inauguration of the Air Cargo Show 2008. "MANAMA: Workers of a top garment factory went on a rampage... Drawing Flak: But Shamim, of recent, Bahrain has attained a bad reputation of being cruel to its foreign workforce both domestic and industrial. Two cases are being cited as examples here. 27-Mar-05: Labor rage, GDN: "MANAMA: Workers of a top garment factory went on a rampage last night following the death of a colleague. More than 500 Asians working for the MRS Fashions, which makes trousers for J C Penny, started damaging the factory's East Riffa premises after their colleague, who was kept in isolation for 15 days due to chicken pox, committed suicide." (GDN,27-Mar-05, Labor rage) . 7-Jun-04: Sale!! Only BD300 for Bahraini torture! GDN MANAMA: A Bahraini man was jailed for three months yesterday after being convicted of torturing a Bangladeshi employee. The sentence will be suspended if the 26-year-old fish trap maker pays a BD300 fine. (GDN,07-Jun-04, Sale!! Only BD300 for Bahraini torture!) I was disturbed to read these reports in the daily local newspapers. The pace of growth and potential for more infrastructural development naturally necessitates a growing labor population and hence a burgeoning expatriate community in Bahrain. Hence my humble suggestion to you is to galvanize the authorities involved to provide for the safety and security of women and men involved in the developmental work of the illustrious nation. As the two examples point out, the labor force working for Bahrain is denied their self respect, honor and even their earnings. My suggestion is for you to tell the authorities in charge of labor affairs to constitute special laws to take care of foreign workers, ensure their safety and see to it that no more exploitation takes place. My added request to you would be to ask the authorities so that

The House in Zapote Street Essay Example for Free

The House in Zapote Street Essay Quijano de Manila is the pen name of Nick Joaquin. He started writing before the war and his first story, â€Å"Three Generations† has been hailed as a masterpiece. He has been recipient of almost all the prestigious awards in literature and the arts, including the National Artist Award for Literature in 1976. He was also conferred, among other recognitions, the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Literature in 1961, the Journalist of the Year Award in the early 1960s, the Book of the Year Award in 1979 for his Almanac for Manileà ±os, the national Book award for several of his works, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, Creative Communication Arts (the Asian counterpart of Nobel Prize) in 1996, and the Tanglaw ng Lahi Award in 1997. Dr. Leonardo Quitangon, a soft-spoken, mild-mannered, cool-tempered Caviteno, was still fancy-free at 35 when he returned to Manila, after six years abroad. Then, at the University of Santo Tomas, where he went to reach, he met Lydia Cabading, a medical intern. He liked her quiet ways and began to date her steadily. They went to the movies and to basketball games and he took her a number of times to his house in Sta. Mesa, to meet his family. Lydia was then only 23 and looked like a sweet unspoiled girl, but there was a slight air of mystery about her. Leonardo and his brothers noticed that she almost never spoke of her home life or her childhood; she seemed to have no gay early memories to share with her lover, as sweethearts usually crave to do. And whenever it looked as if she might have to stay out late, she would say: Ill have to tell my father first. And off she would go, wherever she was, to tell her father, though it meant going all the way to Makati, Rizal, where she lived w ith her parents in a new house on Zapote Street. The Quitangons understood that she was an only child and that her parents were, therefore, over-zealous in looking after her. Her father usually took her to school and fetched her after classes, and had been known to threaten to arrest young men who stared at her on the streets or pressed too close against her on jeepneys. This high-handedness seemed natural enough, for Pablo Cabading, Lydias father was a member of the Manila Police Depatment. After Lydia finished her internship, Leopardo Quitangon became a regular visitor at the house on Zapote Street: he was helping her prepare for the board exams. Her family seemed to like him. The mother Anunciacion, struck him as a mousy woman unable to speak save at her husbands bidding. There was a foster son, a little boy the Cabadings had adopted. As for Pablo Cabading, he was a fine strapping man, an Ilocano, who gave the impression of being taller than he was and looked every inch an agent of the law: full of brawn and guts and force, and smoldering with vitality. He was a natty dresser, liked youthful colors and styles, decorated his house with pictures of himself and, at 50, looked younger than his inarticulate wife, who was actually two years younger than he. When Leonardo started frequenting the house on Zapote Street, Cabading told him: ill be frank with you. None of Lydias boy friends ever lasted ten minutes in this house. I didnt like them and I told them so and made them get out. Then he added laying a hand on the young doctors shoulder: But I like you. You are a good man. The rest of the household were two very young maids who spoke almost no Tagalog, and two very fierce dogs, chained to the front door in the day time, unchained in the front yard at night. The house of Zapote Street is in the current architectural clichà ©: the hoity-toity Philippine split-level suburban style—a half-story perched above the living area, to which it is bound by the slope of the roof and which it overlooks from a balcony, so that a person standing in the sala can see the doors of the bedrooms and bathroom just above his head. The house is painted, as is also the current fashion, in various pastel shades, a different color to every three or fou r planks. The inevitable piazza curves around two sides of the house, which has a strip of lawn and a low wall all around it. The Cabadings did not keep a car, but the house provides for an eventual garage and driveway. This, and the furniture, the shell lamps and the fancy bric-a-brac that clutters the narrow house indicate that the Cabadings had not only risen high enough to justify their split-level pretensions but were expecting to go higher. Lydia took the board exams and passed them. The lovers asked her fathers permission to wed. Cabading laid down two conditions: that the wedding would ba a lavish one and that was to pay a downy of P5.000.00. The young doctor said that he could afford the big wedding but the big dowry. Cabading shrugged his shoulders; no dowry, no marriage. Leonarado spent some frantic weeks scraping up cash and managed to gather P3.000.00. Cabading agreed to reduce his price to that amount, then laid down a final condition: after the wedding, Lydia and Leonardo must make their home at the house on Zapote Street. I built this house for Lydia, said Cabading, and I want her to live here even when shes married. Besides, her mother couldnt bear to be separated from Lydia, her only child. There was nothing. Leonardo could do but consent. Lydia and Leonardo were on September 10 last year, at the Cathedral of Manila, with Mrs. Delfin Montano, wife of the Cavite governor, and Senator Ferdinand Marcos as sponsors. The reception was at the Selecta. The status gods of Suburdia were properly propitiated. Then the newlyweds went to live on Zapote Street and Leonardo almost immediately realized why Lydia had been so reticent and mysterious about her home life. The cozy family group that charmed him in courtship days turned out to be rather too cozy. The entire household revolved in submission around Pablo Cabading. The daughter, mother, the foster-son, the maids and even the dogs trembled when the lifted his voice. Cabading liked to brag that was a killer: in 1946 he had shot dead two American soldiers he caught robbing a neighbors house in Quezon City. Leonardo found himself within a family turned in on itself, self-enclosed and self-sufficient — in a house that had no neighbors and no need for any. His brothers say that he made more friends in the neighborhood within the couple of months he stayed there than the Cabadings had made in a year. Pablo Cabading did not like what his to stray out of, and what was not his to stray into, his house. And within that house he wanted to be the center of everything, even of his daughters honeymoon. Whenever Leonardo and Lydia went to the movies or for a ride, Cabading insisted on being taken along. If they seated him on the back scat while they sat together in front, be raged and glowered. He wanted to sit in front with them. When Leonardo came home from work, he must not tarry with Lydia in the bedroom chatting: both of them must come down at once to the sala and talk with their father. Leonardo explained that he was not much of a talking: Thats why I fell in love with Lydia, because shes the quiet type too. No matter, said Cabading. They didnt have to talk at all; he would do all the talking himself, so long as they sat there in the sala before his eyes. So, his compact family group sat around him at night, silent, while Cabading talked and talked. But, finally, the talk had stop, the listeners had to rise and retire and it was this moment that Cabading seemed unable to bear. He couldnt bear to see Lydia and Leonardo rise and go up together to their room. One night, unable to bear it any longer he shouted, as they rose to retire: Lydia, you sleep with your mother tonight. She has a toothache. After a dead look at her husband, Lydia obeyed. Leonardo went to bed alone. The incident would be repeated: there would always be other reasons, besides Mrs. Cabadings toothaches. What horrified Leonardo was not merely what being done to him but his increasing acquiesces. Had his spirit been so quickly broken? Was he, too, like the rest of the household, being drawn to revolve, silently and obediently, around the master of the house? Once, late at night, he suddenly showed up at his parents’ house in Sta. Mesa and his brothers were shocked at the great in him within so short a time. He looked terrified. What had happened? His car had broken down and he had had it repaired and now he could not go home. But why not? You dont know my father-in-law, he groaned. Everybody in that house must be in by a certain hour. Otherwise, the gates are locked, the doors are locked, the windows are locked. Nobody can get in anymore!† A younger brother, Gene offered to accompany him home and explain to Cabading what had happened. The two rode to Zapote and found the house dark and locked up. Says Gene: That memory makes my blood boil my eldest brother fearfully clanging and clanging the gate, and nobody to let him in. 1 wouldnt have waited a second, but he waited five, ten, fifteen minutes, knocking at thai gate, begging to be let in. I couldnt have it! In the end the two brothers rode back to Sta. Mesa, where Leonardo spent the night. When he returned to the house on Zapote the next day, his father-in-law greeted him with a sarcastic question: Where were you? At a basketball game? Leonardo became anxious to take his wife away from that house. He talked it over with her, then they went to tell her father. Said Cabading bluntly: If she goes with you, Ill shoot her head before your eyes. His brothers urged him to buy a gun, but Leonardo felt in his pocket and said, Ive got my rosary. Cried his brother Gene: You cant fight a gun with a rosary!. When Lydia took her oath as a physician, Cabading announced that only he and his wife would accompany Lydia to the ceremony. I would not be fair, he said, to let Leonardo, who had not borne the expenses of Lydias education, to share that moment of glory too. Leonardo said that, if he would like them at least to use his car. The offer was rejected. Cabading preferred to hire a taxi. After about two months at the house on Zapote Street, Leonardo moved out, alone. Her parents would not let Lydia go and she herself was too afraid to leave. During the succeeding weeks, efforts to contact her proved futile. The house on Zapote became even more closed to the outside world. If Lydia emerged from it at all, she was always accompanied by her father, mother or foster-brother, or by all three. When her husband heard that she had started working at a hospital he went there to see her but instead met her father coming to fetch her. The very next day, Lydia was no longer working at the hospital. Leonardo knew that she was with child and he was determined to bear all her prenatal expenses. He went to Zapote one day when her father was out and persuaded her to come out to the yard but could not make her make the money he offered across the locked gate. Just mail it, she cried and fled into the house. He sent her a check by registered mail; it was promptly mailed back to him. On Christmas Eve, Leonardo returned to the house on Zapote with a gift for his wife, and stood knocking at the gate for so long the neighbors gathered at windows to watch him. Finally, he was allowed to enter, present his gift to Lydia and talk with her for a moment. She said that her father seemed agreeable to a meeting with Leonardos father, to discuss the young couples problem. So the elder Quitangon and two of his younger sons went to Zapote one evening. The lights were on in Cabading house, but nobody responded to their knocking. Then all the lights were turned off. As they stood wondering what to do, a servant girl came and told them that the master was out. (Lydia would later tell them that they had not been admitted because her father had not yet decided what she was to say to them.) The last act of this curious drama began Sunday last week when Leonardo was astounded to receive an early-morning phone call from his wife. She said she could no longer bear to be parted from him and bade him pick her up at a certain church, where she was with her foster brother. Leonardo rushed to the church, picked up two, dropped the boy off at a street near Zapote, then sped with Lydia to Maragondon, Cavite where the Quitangons have a house. He stopped at a gasoline station to call up his brothers in Sta. Mesa, to tell them what he had done and to warn them that Cabading would surely show up there. Get Mother out of the house, he told his brothers. At about ten in the morning, a taxi stopped before the Quitangon house in Sta. Mesa and Mrs. Cabading got out and began screaming at the gate: Wheres my daughter? Wheres my daughter? Gene and Nonilo Quitangin went out to the gate and invited her to come in. No! No! All I want is my daughter! she screamed. Cabading, who was inside the waiting taxi, then got out and demanded that the Quitangons produce Lydia. Vexed, Nonilo Quitangon cried: Abah, what have we do with where your daughter is? Anyway, shes with her husband. At that, Cabading ran to the taxi, snatched a submachinegun from a box, and trained it on Gene Quitangon. (Nonilo had run into the house to get a gun.) Produce my daughter at once or Ill shoot you all down! shouted Cabading. Gene, the guns muzzle practically in his face, sought to pacify the older man: Why cant we talk this over quietly, like decent people, inside the house? Look, were creating a scandal in the neighborhood.. Cabading lowered his gun. I give you till midnight tonight to produce my daughter, he growled. If you dont, you better ask the PC to guard this house! Then he and his wife drove off in the taxi, just a moment before the mobile police patrol the neighbors had called arrived. The police advised Gene to file a complaint with the fiscals office. Instead, Gene decided to go to the house on Zapote Street, hoping that diplomacy would work. To his surprise, he was admitted at once by a smiling and very genial Cabading. You are a brave man, he told Gene, and a lucky one, And he ordered a coke brought for the visitor. Gene said that he was going to Cavite but could not promise to produce. Lydia by midnight: it was up to the couple to decide whether they would come back. It was about eight in the evening when Gene arrived in Maragondon. As his car drove into the yard of this familys old house, Lydia and Leonardo appeared at a window and frantically asked what had happened. Nothing, said Gene, and their faces lit up. Were having our honeymoon at last, Lydia told Gene as he entered the house. And the old air of dread, of mystery, did seem to have lifted from her face. But it was there again when, after supper, he told them what had happened in Sta. Mesa. I cant go back, she moaned. Hell kill me! Hell kill me! He has cooled down now, said Gene. He seems to be a reasonable man after all. Oh, you dont know him! cried Lydia. Ive known him longer, and Ive never, never been happy! And the brothers at last had glimpses of the girlhood she had been so reticent about. She told them of Cabadings baffling changes of temper, especially toward her; how smiles and found words and caresses could abruptly turn into beatings when his mood darkened. Leonardo said that his father-in-law was an artista, Remember how he used to fan me when I supped there while I was courting Lydia? (At about that time, in Sta. Mesa, Nonilo Quitanongon, on guard at the gate of his familys house, saw Cabading drive past three times in a taxi.) I cant force you to go back, said Gene. Youll have to decide that yourselves. But what, actually, are you planning to do? You cant stay forever here in Maragondon. What would you live on? The two said they would talk it over for a while in their room. Gene waited at the supper table and when a long time had passed and they had not come back he went to the room. Finding the door ajar, he looked in. Lydia and Leonardo were on their knees on the floor, saying the rosary, Gene returned to the supper table. After another long wait, the couple came out of the room. Said Lydia: We have prayed together and we have decided to die together.† Well go back with you, in the morning. They we’re back in Manila early the next morning. Lydia and Leonardo went straight to the house in Sta. Mesa, where all their relatives and friends warned them not to go back to the house on Zapote Street, as they had decided to do. Confused anew, they went to the Manila police headquarters to ask for advice, but the advice given seemed drastic to them: summon Cabading and have it out with him in front of his superior officer. Leonardos father then offered to go to Zapote with Gene and Nonilo, to try to reason with Cabading. They found him in good humor, full of smiles and hearty greetings. He reproached his balae for not visiting him before. I did come once, drily remarked the elder Quitangon, but no one would open the gate. Cabading had his wife called. She came into the room and sat down. Was I in the house that night our balae came? her husband asked her. No, you were out, she replied. Having spoken her piece, she got up and left the room. (On their various visits to the house on Zapote Street, the Quitangons noticed that Mrs. Cabading appeared only when summoned and vanished as soon as she had done whatever was expected of her). Cabading then announced that he no longer objected to Lydias moving out of the house to live with her husband in an apartment of their own. Overjoyed, the Quitangons urged Cabading to go with them in Sta. Mesa, so that the newlyweds could be reconciled with Lydias parents. Cabading readily agreed. When they arrived in Sta. Mesa, Lydia and Leonardo were sitting on a sofa in the sala. Why have you done this? her father chided her gently. If you wanted to move out, did you have to run away? To Leonardo, he said: And you are angry with me? house by themselves. Gene Quitangon felt so felt elated he proposed a celebration: Ill throw a blow-out! Everybody is invited! This is on me! So they all went to Maxs in Quezon City and had a very merry fried-chicken party. Why, this is a family reunion! laughed Cabading. This should be on me! But Gene would not let him pay the bill. Early the next morning, Cabading called up the Sta. Mesa house to pay that his wife had fallen ill. Would Lydia please visit her? Leonardo and Lydia went to Zapote, found nothing the matter with her mother, and returned to Sta. Mesa. After lunch, Leonardo left for his classes. Then Cabading called up again. Lydias mother refused to eat and kept asking for her daughter. Would Lydia please drop in again at the house on Zapote? Gene and Nonilo Quitangon said they might as well accompany Lydia there and start moving out her things. When they arrived at the Zapote house, the Quitangon brothers were amused by what they saw. Mrs. Cabading, her eyes closed, lay on the parlor sofa, a large towel spread out beneath her. She has been lying there all day, said Cabading, tossing restlessly, asking for you, Lydia. Gene noted that the towel was neatly spread out and didnt look crumpled at all, and that Mrs. Cabading was obviously just pretending to be asleep. He smiled at the childishness of the stratagem, but Lydia was past being amused. She wont straight to her room, were they heard her pulling out drawers. While the Quitangons and Cabading were conversing, the supposedly sick mother slipped out of the sofa and went upstairs to Lydias room. Cabading told the Quitangons that he wanted Lydia and Leonardo to stay there; at the house in Zapote. I thought all that was settled last night, Gene groaned. I built this house for Lydia, persisted Cabading, and this house is hers. If she and her husband want to be alone, I and my wife will move out of here, turn this house over to them. Gene wearily explained that Lydia and Leonardo preferred the apartment they had already leased. Suddenly the men heard the clatter of a drawer falling upstairs. Gene surmised that it had fallen in a struggle between mother and daughter. Excuse me, said Cabading, rising. As he went upstairs, he said to the Quitangons, over his shoulder, â€Å"Dont misunderstand me. Im not going to coach Lydia. He went into Lydias room and closed the door behind him. After a long while, Lydia and her father came out of the room together and came down to the sala together. Lydia was clasping a large crucifix. There was no expression on her face when she told the Quitangon boys to go home. But I thought we were going to start moving your things out this afternoon,, said Gene. She glanced at the crucifix and said it was one of the first things she wanted taken to her new home. Just tell Narding to fetch me, she said. Back in Sta. Mesa, Gene and Nonilo had the painful task of telling Leonardo, when he phoned, that Lydia was back in the house on Zapote. Why did you leave her there? cried Leonardo. Hell beat her up! Im going to get her. Gene told him not you go alone, to pass by the Sta. Mesa house first and pick up Nonilo. Gene could not go along; he had to catch a bus for Subic, where he works. When Leonardo arrived, Gene told him: Dont force Lydia to go with you. If she doesnt want to, leave at once. Do not, for any reason, be persuaded to stay there too. When his brother had left for Zapote, Gene realized that he was not sure he was going to Subic. He left too worried. He knew he couldnt rest easy until he had seen Lydia and Leonardo settled in their new home. The minutes quickly ticked past as he debated with himself whether he should stay or catch that bus. Then, at about a quarter to seven, the phone rang. It was Nonilo, in anguish. Something terrible has happened in Lydias room! I heard four shots, he cried. Who are up there? Lydia and Narding and the Cabadings. Ill be right over. Gene sent a younger brother to inform the family lawyer and to alert the Makati police. Then he drove like mad to Zapote. It was almost dark when he got there. The house stood perfectly still, not a light on inside. He watched it from a distance but could see no movement, Then a taxi drove up and out jumped Nonilo. He had telephoned from a gasoline station. He related what had happened. He said that when he and Leonardo arrived at the Zapote house, Cabading motioned Leonardo upstairs: Lydia is in her room. Leonardo went up; Cabading gave Nonilo a cup of coffee and chatted amiably with him. Nonilo saw Mrs. Cabading go up to Lydias room with a glass of milk. A while later, they heard a woman scream, followed by sobbing. There seems to be trouble up there, said Cabading, and he went upstairs. Nonilo saw him enter Lydias room, leaving the door open. A few moments later, the door was closed. Then Nonilo heard three shots. He stood petrified, but when he heard a fourth shot he dashed out of the house, ran to a gasoline station and called up Gene. Nonilo pointed to the closed front gate; he was sure he had left it open when he ran out. The brothers suspected that Cabading was lurking somewhere in the darkness, with his gun. Before them loomed the dark house, now so sinister and evil in their eyes. The upper story that jutted forward, forming the houses chief facade, bore a curious sign: Dra. Lydia C. Cabading, Lady Physician. (Apparently, Lydia continued- or was made- to use her maiden name.) Above the sign was the garland of colored lights that have been put up for Christmas and had not yet been removed. It was an ice-cold night, the dark of the moon, but the two brothers shivered not from the wind blowing down the lonely murky street but from pure horror of the house that had so fatally thrust itself into their lives. But the wind remembered when the sighs it heard here were only the sighing of the ripe grain, when the cries it heard were only the crying of birds nesting in the reeds, for all these new suburbs in Makati used to be grassland, riceland, marshland, or pastoral solitudes where few cared to go, until the big city spilled hither, replacing the uprooted reeds with split-levels, pushing noisy little streets into the heart of the solitude, and collecting here from all over the country the uprooted souls that now moan or giggle where once the carabao wallowed and the frogs croaked day and night. In very new suburbs, one feels human sorrow to be a grass intrusion on the labors of nature. Even barely two years ago, the talahib still rose man-high on the plot of ground on Zapote Street where now stands the relic of an ambiguous love. As the Quitangon brothers shivered in the darkness, a police van arrived and unloaded quite a large contingent of policemen. The Quitangons warned them that Cabading had a submachinegun. The policemen crawled toward the front gate and almost jumped when a young girl came running across the yard, shaking with terror and shrieking gibberish. She was one of the maids. She and her companion and the foster son had fled from the house when they heard the shooting and had been hiding in the yard. It was they who had closed the front gate. A policeman volunteered to enter the house through the back door; Gene said he would try the front one. He peered in at a window and could detect no one in the sala. He slipped a hand inside, opened the front door and entered, just as the policeman came in from the kitchen. As they crept up the stairs they heard a moaning in Lydias room. They tried the door but it was blocked from inside. Push it, push it, wailed a womans voice. The policeman pushed the door hard and what was blocking it gave. He groped for the switch and turned light. As they entered, he and Gene shuddered at what they saw. The entire room was spattered with blood. On the floor, blocking the door, lay Mrs. Cabading. She had been shot in the chest and stomach but was still alive. The policeman tried to get a statement from her but all she could say was: My hand, my hand- it hurts! She was lying across the legs of her daughter, who lay on top of her husbands body. Lydia was still clutching an armful of clothes; Leonardo was holding a clothes hanger. He had been shot in the breast; she, in the heart. They had died instantly, together. Sprawled face up on his daughters bed, his mouth agape and his eyes bulging open as though still staring in horror and the bright blood splashed on his face lay Pablo Cabading. Oh, I cursed him! cries Eugenio Quitangon with passion. Oh, I cursed him as he lay there dead, God forgive me! Yes, I cursed that dead man there on that bed, for I had wanted to find him alive! From the position of the bodies and from Mrs. Cabadings statements later at the hospital, it appears that Cabading shot Lydia while she was shielding her husband, and Mrs. Cabading when she tried to shield Lydia. Then he turned the gun on himself, and its an indication of the mans uncommon strength and power that, after the first shot, through the right side of the head, which must have been mortal enough, he seems to have been able, as his hands dropped to his breast, to fire at himself a second time. The violent spasm of agony must have sent the gun a .45 caliber pistol- flying from his hand. It was found at the foot of the bed, near Mrs. Cabadings feet. The drama of the jealous father had ended at about half-past six in the evening, Tuesday last week. The next day, hurrying commuters slowed down and a whispering crowd gathered before 1074 Zapote Street, to watch the police and the reporters going through the pretty little house that Pablo Cabading built for his Lydia.

NETWORK EFFECTS AND COMPETITION: :: essays research papers

In many industries, the network of consumers using compatible products or services influences the benefits of consumption. Positive network effects arise when the consumer utility of using a product or service increases with the number of users of that product or service. The telephone system is a widely used example since it seems clear that the value of being part of the network rises as the network sizes increases. Consumption benefits can also arise in markets where a large customer network leads to increases in complementary products and services, which in turn, leads to increased consumer utility (e.g., see Farrell and Saloner 1985; Katz and Shapiro 1985;1986). Prominent examples of industries thought to exhibit network effects include automated bank teller machines, computer hardware and software, videocassette recorders, video games, and Internet web browsers. Not surprisingly, network externalities and the implications of having a large installed customer base are receiving increased attention by strategy researchers (e.g., Garud and Kumaraswamy 1993; Hill 1995; Wade 1995). As noted by Majumdar and Venkataraman (1998), the literature related to network effects broadly tackles three categories of research questions: (1) technology adoption decisions (e.g., what factors are related to whether and when a new technology is adopted), (2) technology compatibility decisions (e.g., what factors influence a firm’s decision to seek compatibility), and (3) decisions among competing incompatible technologies (e.g., what factors are related to consumers’ choices among rival incompatible products within a single product category). While theoretical research has addressed all three of these categories, empirical research has been limited to the first and second categories of questions (e.g., see the reviews in David and Greenstein 1990; Liebowitz and Margolis 1994; Economides 2001). Empirical efforts supporting the existence of network effects for a single product technology show that a larger network size is related to higher minicomputer sales (Hartman and Teece 1990), higher likelihood of adopting a new telecommunications technology (Majumdar and Venkataraman 1998), and quicker adoption of a new banking technology (Saloner and Sheppard 1995). In addition, Gandal (1994; 1995) and Brynjolfsson and Kemerer (1996) use a hedonic price model to show that consumers are willing to pay higher prices for software products that are compatible with the dominant product standard, i.e., the product with the larger customer network. However, with the exception of a few industry case studies (e.g., Gabel 1991; Grindley 1995; Liebowitz and Margolis 1999), we are unaware of any published studies that empirically investigate the nature of network effects in an industry with multiple competing product technologies that are incompatible.

Cognitive Consequences of Pediatric Sports-Related Concussions Essay

Results: The results of this research review provide the most current information in regards to pediatric concussion and neurological and cognitive consequences. These results support the working hypothesis that the cognitive consequences of pediatric sports-related concussions do not outweigh the benefits associated with childhood sports participation. In a cohort study (total n=200), investigators looked at return to cognitive baseline after concussion in younger versus older athletes. Participants were divided into two groups, a 13-16 year old group (n=100), and 18-22 year old group (n = 100). Each participant completed baseline and post concussion neurocognitive testing using the immediate Post-Concussion assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) test battery. Results showed that athletes 13-16 years old take longer to return to neurocognitive and symptom baselines than athletes 18-22 years old (22). In a prospective design study, 18 children with mTBI and 18 matched healthy controls (8-16 years of age) were used to compare sensitivity to simple and complex visual stimuli and to determine the evolution of visuo-perceptual performance over time. At 1, 4 and 12 weeks sensitivity to static and dynamic forms of simple (first order), complex (second order), orientation and direction identification thresholds, and radial optic flow stimuli were assessed. The results of this study demonstrate that all complex stimuli were significantly affected for the mTBI children, including at the 12 week interval. There was also no difference between groups across all testing conditions for simple, first order information (2). An observational study from 2008 looked at high school athletes and recovery patterns after concussion. Out o... ...lity following traumatic brain injury in childhood: impact of injury severity and age at injury. Pediatr Neurosurg.2000;32 :282– 290. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/docview/224152197?accountid=14667 29. McCrory, P, AM Collie, V Anderson, and G Davis. "Can We Manage Sport Related Concussion in Children the Same as in Adults?." British Journal of Sports Medicine. 38.5 (2004): 516-519. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2004.014811 30. McCrory P, Meeuwisse W, Aubry M, et al. Consensus statement on concussion in sport - the third international conference on concussion in sport held in Zurich, November 2012. Phys Sportsmed. 2013; 47:250–258 . doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092313 31. Purcell, Lisa. "What are the most appropriate return-to-play guidelines for concussed child athletes?" British Journal of Sports Medicine. 43.1 (2009): i51-i55. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2009.058214

Newton’s Second Law Lab

Newton’s 2nd Law Lab Introduction: The purpose of this lab was to prove Newton’s 2nd Law; which states accelerate equals force divided by mass (a=F/m). During this lab we were trying to find out the relationship between acceleration, force, and mass by using a air track, glider with picket fence, and photogates. Before I did the lab, I had already knew that acceleration, force, and mass were related. I just didn’t know how they were related. When recording the results of this lab we had to record the applied force in Newton’s.Newtons’s is a unit of measurement represented in m(meters) divided by s2(seconds squared). I think that F/m=a because in Newton’s second law, he tells us that force is equal to mass times acceleration (f=ma), so if you take the mass and divided by both sides to cancel it out on the right, you would end up with a=f/m. Procedure: First we weighed the glider and fence with the string attached, in kg(kilograms). Then we rec orded in the table. Next we weighed the mass of the hanging weight in kg and recorded it in the table.Then we found the total mass being accelerated in kg by adding the mass of the hanging glider to the mass of the hanging weight. Fourth we found the applied force by taking the mass of the hanging weight and multiplying it by 9. 8(gravity). Then we found the theoretical acceleration by using the formula a=F/m and plugged in the total mass for m and the applied force for F. By taking F and dividing it by m we can up with the theoretical acceleration. We then looked on the time graph and found the experimental acceleration by looking at the slope of the velocity time graph and recorded it on the table.Lastly we found the percent difference by taking experimental acceleration, subtracting it from the theoretical acceleration, and then dividing that answer by the theoretical acceleration. We then took that answer and multiplied it by 100 to give us a percent. We then reweighed the glide r each time and increased the mass of the hanging weight. Then we repeated steps three through seven, 15 more times so we had enough data. Results/Observations: Result are on the attacked sheet. Durning the lab, I observed that the more mass that was on the hanging weight the less accretion.Also the more mass, the faster the glider went. I also noticed the more weighted you taped onto the glider the faster the glider went. Analysis/Conclusion I think a=f/m because in Newton’s second law, he tells us that force is equal to mass times acceleration (f=ma), so if you take the mass and divided by both sides to cancel it out on the right, you would end up with a=f/m. After this lab, we proved that this theory is right because when you look at the theoretical and experimental acceleration data and you look at the percent difference, they vary from 2. 6% to 18%, which is really good.The numbers are not perfect because of errors in the lab. Some of the possible errors could be from, s oftware calculation and the way we rounded our numbers, the air track had a little bit of friction and the weight of our hanging weight could have hit the ground and fell off before the picket fence went threw the the photogate. In conclusion, our lab proved that acceleration does equal force divided mass because when we took the applied force and divided it by the total mass and come up with the theoretical acceleration, our data result came back with an average percent difference is 5. 04; which is less then 10%!

Paranormal Activity Essays

Paranormal Activity Essays Paranormal Activity Paper Paranormal Activity Paper Paranormal Activity: Analysis and Critique Rick Mitchell September 12, 2011 ENG 225: Introduction to Film Instructor: Alene Morrison Paranormal Activity was a movie that everyone wanted to see as soon as the previews hit the movie screen. The previews showed the viewer small pieces of the movie so they would be left wondering and want to go see the movie as soon as they could. Paranormal Activity was based on a true story about a young couple dealing with a paranormal entity. The young woman,Katie, was the one being haunted while her boyfriend, Micah, made home videos of all the mysterious things that were happening in the house. The different camera angles, cinematography, editing and the way the story unfolds in front of the audience are the things that make this movie so captive. Storytelling A film will have more success if it starts with a good story. (Goodykoontz, 2011) Paranormal Activity is a film that not only starts with a good story but keeps that story going through the entire movie. The story being told in a film is what draws the attention of the audience. It evokes emotion in the audience and makes them care about the story, watching to know how it ends, and it makes them care about the characters. In Paranormal Activity, the audience gets attached to the couple hoping that they rid their lives of this entity and â€Å"live happily ever after†. In the end the boyfriend, Micah, dies and the girlfriend vanishes without a trace. It leaves everyone wondering what happened to her and at the same time they are saddened by the death of Micah. But as the nights pass, the events In the house become much more harrowing, and the deliberately paced Paranormal Activity takes us along for a grueling experience with every breath. Mica Is first amused by the proceedings and gradually comes to the realization that this benevolent force will be the death of the two and no one can help them. Every day theres a wash of relief over the couple, and even If the audience feels safer, they will dread the night. Every Introduction of nighttime footage In the master bed room brings with It a sense of sheer terror of what will unfold ever so slowly. Theres nary an explanation of whom or what Is terrorizing this couple, and theres barely any hint to what Is bringing terror to this household. Claw prints appear along the floors, recollections of a childhood fire Katie experienced Is constantly alluded to, and the night welcomes a force of evil that makes every passing moment an experience that will leave you covering your eyes. We never get full glimpse of the force wreaking havoc on the couple, thus we leave the film feeling a sense of Incompletion and discomfort as It ends on a twisted and rather disappointing note, but suffice It to say, If you think horror movies cant scare you, If you think modern horror has nothing more to offer, try slating through Paranormal Activity and then thank the filmmakers for changing your mind. Paranormal Activity has become a slightly controversial independent film by wonderfully with incredible performances from its duo and utterly incredible special torture, and pain feels genuine. Mica and Katie have moved in together, and Katie is ere has apparently followed her everywhere, including to this new house, and the apparition that resides with them seems to have a fond interest in Katie. Her {text:soft-page-break} vain and selfish boyfriend Mica is a man who seeks to Skates pleas to respect the paranormal presence and refrain from taunting it. But as the nights pass, the events in the house become much more harrowing, and the every breath. Mica is first amused by the proceedings and gradually comes to the help them. Every day theres a wash of relief over the couple, and even if the audience feels safer, they will dread the night. Every introduction of nighttime footage in the master bed room brings with it a sense of sheer terror of what will unfold ever so slowly. Theres nary an explanation of whom or what is terrorizing this couple, and theres barely any hint to what is bringing terror to this household. Claw prints appear along the floors, recollections of a childhood fire Katie experienced is feeling a sense of incompletion and discomfort as it ends on a twisted and rather disappointing note, but suffice it to say, if you think horror movies cant scare you, if you think modern horror has nothing more to offer, try sitting through Paranormal

Regression to Childhood in Greasy Lake

Regression to Childhood in Greasy Lake "(I was nineteen, a mere child, an infant, and here in the space of five minutes I'd struck down one greasy character and blundered into the waterlogged carcass of another.)" (7)After mistakenly interrupting the romantic interlude of a greasy man and his girlfriend at Greasy Lake, the evening becomes a succession of negative events for the three boys. Following a fight with the greaser, the boys then turn their attention to his screaming girlfriend, as her man lies unconscious on the ground. The narrator and his two friends are suddenly interrupted during their assault of the greaser's girlfriend by two fraternity boys and must flee the scene of their various crimes. The narrator runs in a blind panic through the woods and unconsciously wades into Greasy Lake. As he thrashes wildly through the murky water, his progress impeded by the feculent growth, the narrator flounders into a corpse.Greasy Lake & Other StoriesShocked, a moment passes before the narrator realizes what he has encou ntered. Upon doing so, he becomes more panicked: "Understood, and stumbled back in horror and revulsion..."(7) It is at this point that the narrator abandons all pretence of being a 'bad' character by displaying his true emotions and reactions, of fear and disgust, towards the events that have transpired, and the environment in which he finds himself. Throughout the evening at Greasy Lake, the narrator discards his defiant, adolescent persona and regresses significantly in confidence and maturity due to the traumatic events endured, until he consequently reverts to a temporary infantile mentality, until finally regaining some composure in order to escape Greasy Lake."Greasy Lake" begins with the narrator describing the qualities which were prevalent among boys during his adolescence. "There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be...