Functionalism and Marxism. A Critical Evaluation Essay

Functionalism and Marxism. A Critical Evaluation During the 18th and 19th centuries, political and industrial revolutions coupled with a philosophical movement which promoted a new scientific way of thinking (`The Enlightenment), heralded the advent of several new scientific disciplines. These social sciences attempted to explain the rapid and fundamental changes which were shattering traditional ways of life in Britain and Europe. Sociology emerged as one of these innovative areas and sought to analyse the nature of society and the complexities within it using collective theories and perspectives. The construction of a sociological perspective can best be illustrated by the application of several fundamental questions, the responses†¦show more content†¦Functionalists seem to suggest that societies have rules of behaviour prior to the existence of its members, therefore leaving the enigma of who decides the functional characteristics of a society if its not the members themselves. This is a problem called reification. Fun ctionalists treat society as a thing by endowing it with the ability to think and act intentionally. The analogous comparison by which the operation of society and the functions of the social institutions is likened to a biological organism, illustrates the idea that all parts of society have their function and are interdependent on each other for the good of society as a whole. Sickness in the living organism would be likened to a loss of social equilibrium, an abnormal state for a society that is normally in balance. Functionalists believe that the balance is achieved through a consensus- the majority of people in society having the same moral values. Marxism however has contradictory views and rejects the idea that society is based on value consensus for the benefit of all. Instead society is acknowledged as being organised to meet the interests of the most powerful groups. The ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883) suggested that society functions on the basis of continual class conflict, except ironically in times of war. He viewed the economic system as the foundation of society. This infrastructure effects all other areas of society, which are collectively termed as theShow MoreRelatedOutline and Assess the View That Vocational Education Simply Trains Workers for Exploitation.1119 Words   |  5 Pageseducation simply trains workers for exploitation. [50] The idea that vocational education allows workers to be exploited is a view held by Marxism. Vocational education is that which gets an individual ready for the workplace, either through a course directly complimenting a skill, like hairdressing, or that which has a broader area of learning. Whilst functionalism sees a great system underlying vocational education, Marxists have a more cynical view of the idea. 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Charles Dickens Hard Times Essay - 1746 Words

Class systems sadly are an institutional part of society since biblical times and are still prominent in all cultures today. In British society, class systems are still as prevalent as they were in the 19th century, there are seven social classes, ranging from the elite at the top to the extreme poor at the bottom. Typically, in English society social class was always defined by occupation, wealth, and education with an addition of social and cultural classes. Social classes is a prevalent aspect of British society since before recorded history, it was the addition of money, land and title that increased the division of the classes. As the industrial revolution swung into full force, the division of classes strengthened. Social mobility became a common occurrence as society developed and moved forward towards the twentieth century. This holds true in the novel Hard Times, written by Charles Dickens in the Nineteenth century, examines the British class system through examples of so cial relationships and the labor force. (4) Class systems throughout British society are visible in each book of Hard Times. In Book One: Sowing, the first distinctions of class discrepancy are evident in the relationship between schoolmasters and students. Education and educators were deemed higher up in society than most people. The school masters of Coketown, Mr. and Mrs. Chokeumchild, and Mr. Gradgrind. The children who were the stories center focus were Louis, Tom, Sissy, and Bitzer. TheShow MoreRelatedCharles Dickens Hard Times1494 Words   |  6 Pages May 1, 2015 Mr. Johnson Literature Dickens Calls for Desperate Measures in Hard Times â€Å"I want to change the world.† How many times is that line heard from small children, aspiring to be someone who achieves their maximum potential? If a child is asked how they might go about doing so they might respond with an answer that involves a superhero or princess who helps people for the greater good. As one grows and adapts to their surrounding society, the art of seeing the big picture includingRead MoreCharles Dickens Hard Times Essay1717 Words   |  7 Pagesbecame a common occurrence as society developed and moved forward towards the twentieth century. This holds true in the novel Hard Times, written by Charles Dickens in the Nineteenth century, examines the British class system through examples of social relationships and the labor force. (4) Class systems throughout British society are visible in each book of Hard Times. In book one: Sowing, the first distinctions of class discrepancy are evident in the relationship between the schoolmasters andRead MoreCharles Dickens Hard Times971 Words   |  4 PagesIn Hard Times, Dickens presents life philosophies of three men that directly contradict each other. James Harthouse sees one’s actions in life as meaningless since life is so short. Mr. Gradgrind emphasizes the importance of fact and discourages fantasy since life is exactly as it was designed to be. Mr. Slearly exhibits that â€Å"all work and no play† will make very dull people out of all of us. He also proclaims that one should never look back on one’s life and regret past actions. Dickens is certainlyRead MoreHard Times By Charles Dickens1502 Words   |  7 Pagesnovel, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, concentrates on the Gradgrind family; of Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, his daughter Louisa, and son Tho mas Jr. A major theme of friendship is portrayed in the books through the character of Mr. Gradgrind as he struggles with the idea of friendship between other characters. According to the Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle, it explains a detailed account of friendship and what it is to be a friend to others. In comparing the character Mr. Gradgrind in Hard Times, to theRead MoreHard Times and Charles Dickens1845 Words   |  8 PagesThe novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens is a fictitious glimpse into the lives of various classes of English people that live in a town named Coketown during the Industrial Revolution. The general culture of Coketown is one of utilitarianism. The school there is run by a man ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature . This man, known as Thomas Gradgrind, is responsible for the extermination of anything fanciful and integration of everything pertinent and factual into the young, pliableRead MoreCharles Dickens Hard Times For These Times1074 Words   |  5 Pageselse, only to constantly find yourself memorizing empty facts over and over again? In Hard Times for these Times, Charles Dickens embodies the consequences of an absolutely factual world: blindness, imbalance, and nonfulfillment. Through the convoluted stories of the opposite worlds, Sissy’s journey to becoming a jewel of balance, Louisa’s tragic fight for fulfillment, and the harmonious character Sleary, Dickens defines the urgency for the proportional combination of fact and fancy. Gradgrind’sRead MoreIndustrialization in Hard Times by Charles Dickens1626 Words   |  7 PagesThe industrial revolution was an era of mechanization. During this era, in 1854, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) wrote Hard Times to comment upon the change within society and its effect on its people. Dickens points out the flaws and limitations of this new society in his eloquent and passionate plea on behalf of the working poor (Charles Dickens Hard Times, 2000). The novel shows presents to readers the authors perspective of life during the nineteenth century and makes comments on the central themeRead More Charles Dickens Hard Times Essay1102 Words   |  5 PagesCharles Dickens Hard Times There are a huge variety of characters in Hard Times, ranging from the good to the unnaturally cruel. The novel is full of extremity in its characterisation; cruel, bitter and selfish characters such as Mrs. Sparsit contrast dramatically with characters such as Stephen Blackpool and Rachael, who are benevolent and altruistic. Among the cruellest and most villainous characters in the novel is James Harthouse, who is completely ammoral, and therefore renderedRead MoreAnalysis: Hard Times by Charles Dickens1807 Words   |  7 PagesHard Times as a Social Commentary with Parallels in the Modern Era The novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens is clearly an incitement of the economic and social burden associated with economic and social disparity. The work is set in a small fictional mill town, Coketown, where the challenges of the newly emerging industrial revolution were fundamentally being set at the footsteps of the poor, who had little if any opportunity for upward mobility. During this period the alternatives for those withRead MoreEssay on Charles Dickens Hard Times2066 Words   |  9 PagesCharles Dickens Hard Times The book Hard Times was written in 1854. It was written in weekly instalments in a magazine called Household Words. This is like a normal soap but was weekly. The magazine was owned by Charles Dickens as he was a journalist. The book was written at the time of the Industrial Revolution. This was when factories were being built near major towns and cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. The Industrial Revolution was a time when there were big

Comparison of Wade-Davis Bill to Proclamation of Amnesty free essay sample

Both the Wade-Davis Bill and the Proclamation of Amnesty came about after the civil war as a means to try to kick start the reconstruction process by dealing with the former Confederate states. Both plans accounted for the wrongdoings of the Southerners and the Confederate leaders and went to punish them accordingly but to also act as forgiving pardons in their own ways. While both the bill and proclamation may have used different levels of intensity or different ways or persuasion, they shared a common goal in trying to merge the South back into the Union. The Wade-Davis bill and the Proclamation of Amnesty both had lots of similarities between them that link the two documents together. One of the biggest similarities is the fact that both of them are willing to grant pardons to the people and states of the Confederacy, despite the horrible crimes they had committed. Not only did the documents grant pardons to the people but the Proclamation of Amnesty went as far as to grant a full pardon, â€Å"a full pardon is hereby granted to them†. We will write a custom essay sample on Comparison of Wade-Davis Bill to Proclamation of Amnesty or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Both documents also made the people swear an oath of loyalty to the Union before they are granted the pardon. Both of the documents also withheld their respected pardons from high holding officers of the Confederacy, with the proclamation rejected all persons above kernel in the army and in the bill rejecting only those who had a substantial role in the military of the Confederacy. While both documents tried to use similar means to achieve their goal, they also split in some areas and major differences can be seen. As well as having similarities, the Wade-Davis Bill and the Proclamation of Amnesty also had glaring differences too. One of the most profound differences between the documents was the tone with which they were presented. The Proclamation of Amnesty had a very forgiving tone and was willing to compromise to a certain extent with the people of the Confederacy. The Wade-Davis bill, on the other hand, can be seen as a stricter version of the proclamation as the tone of it seems to be more towards an authoritative stance. It is a more direct ultimatum directed towards the South than the proclamation was. A second noticeable difference between the two documents can be seen in the willingness to compromise. In the Proclamation of Amnesty, Lincoln set fourth his plan on reuniting the South, and soon put forth the idea that only ten percent of a states voter’s were needed to allow it to reenter the Union. Then in the Wade-Davis bill, that number was raised to a staggering five times the amount previously needed and the willingness to compromise goes drastically down in the Wade-Davis bill as it becomes more of an ultimatum than before. Despite all of these differences and similarities between the two documents, both can be seen as the stepping stone between the civil war and the beginning of reconstruction of the South and admittance back into the Union. With many glaring similarities between the two documents it can easily be understood that they both were trying to get the South onboard with reconstruction without being too harsh on them. Both of the documents also had evident differences, despite being written at about the same time with the same goals in mind. Both of the documents were eventually successful in achieving their goals, despite not being to the fullest extent they wanted, but, none the less, both of these documents proved crucial in the early stages of reconstruction.

What About Gloria Steinem free essay sample

II Early Life a. Her father, Leo Steinem, was a traveling antique dealer and her mother, Ruth Steinem, was a reporter for a newspaper called the â€Å"Toledo Blade†, their hometown newspaper. b. Some of her influences were her parents, a few feminists, and her trip to India. c. Her and her sister Susanne moved around a lot and couldn’t go to regular school, so their mother gave them daily lessons. d. She sold her ideas and articles to many magazines and was slowly getting a reputation as a free-lance reporter. e. She was hired by Show magazine to work as a playboy bunny undercover at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Club. III Qualities and Description of Person a. She is an independent , hardworking, dedicated person, who didn’t get married till the age 63 because she didn’t want to give her independence to a man b. Because of her independence she became one of the leading voices for women’s rights because she wanted equal pay in the work place. We will write a custom essay sample on What About Gloria Steinem or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page c. It was her expose on the playboy bunny club, which was later turned into a movie called â€Å"A Bunny’s Tale†, which added to her fame. IV Contribution to Society a. She is a famous woman’s rights activist because she wanted the same equal rights as men. b. She thought that a way to make society better for women was, as I said before, she wanted the same equal rights as men. c. She helped shaped women’s rights by not stopping till we had the same rights as men. V Conclusion a. I learned because of her, we now have equal pay in the work place and when we get married we don’t have to give our land to our husband, like we had to when Gloria was a kid. b. I want everybody to remember that because of people like her this world, we live in wouldn’t be like it is if she wasn’t born. Report Gloria Marie Steinem was born on March 25, 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. She was a feminist leader, writer, American journalist, and the very first editor of Ms. Magazine. She is currently 76 and is still traveling, writing, and lecturing as much as and like she did 34 years ago. In 1977 she was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Scholarship to study feminism. She also received a Penney-Missouri Journalism award, the Front page and Clarion awards and many more. Gloria’s father, Leo Steinem, was a traveling antique dealer and her mother, Ruth Steinem, was a reporter for a newspaper called the Toledo Blade, their hometown paper. Years later, Ruth suffered from mental illness because she felt lonely when her husband traveled and from the disappointment of having to give up her job. It was too much for Leo, he got divorced and moved to California but still sent a meager pay to Gloria and her mom. Gloria made all the meals, went grocery shopping, and kept the house in shape with little or no help from her mom. A few influences of hers are her parents, other feminist, and her trip to India. Since her and her family moved and lived in a dome-topped trailer and couldn’t go to regular school, she and her sister, Susanne, were given daily lessons by their mother. She sold her ideas and articles to many magazines and was slowly getting a reputation as a free lance reporter. She was hired by Show magazine to work as a playboy bunny undercover at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Club. She is an independent, hardworking, dedicating person, who didn’t get married till the age 63 because she didn’t want to give her independence to a man. Because of her independence she became one of the leading voices in woman’s rights. It was her expose on the playboy bunny club, which was later turned into a movie called the â€Å"Bunny’s Tale†, which added to her fame. She is a famous women’s rights activist for two reasons: She wanted equal pay and she didn’t want to have to give her property to her husband, basically the same equal rights as men. She thought a way to make society better for women, like I said before, was having the same equal rights as men. She helped society by not stopping or giving up till we had the same rights as men.

London Bridge Hospital Operational Methods and Strategies The WritePass Journal

London Bridge Hospital Operational Methods and Strategies Introduction London Bridge Hospital Operational Methods and Strategies , p. 588). The London Bridge Hospital uses operations management methods and strategies in understanding and improving labor productivity, shortening cycle times, improving the overall experience of patients, and reducing waiting lines. All these contribute to the overall financial health of the hospital. Operational methods and strategies in the Healthcare Industry In the healthcare industry and in particular hospitals, healthcare operations is a summation of all the functions that allow the hospital staff to offer their services to the patients in the best possible way. Chahal (2010, p. 362) says that the various transformations going on in the healthcare industry across the world are driving the people working in hospitals and other healthcare facilities to also adopt the reforms in their daily operations. The management of the London Bridge Hospital is aware of the fact that operational efficiency is critical to the success of any business organization. This is particularly so because the opinions developed by the patients on the hospital plays a big role in determining not only whether they will come back or not but also on the messages that they pass to their peers who are also potential clients to the hospital (Stock McDermott, 2011, p. 145). The London Bridge Hospital faces many different challenges that range from resource utilization, improvement of care, to lowering the costs to the patients. Reduction of the bottlenecks and implementation of solutions to the common problems are vital in ensuring the success of the hospital in both the short and long run. The hospital has both internal and external customers. The external customers of the London Bridge Hospital are the patients and other people who visit the hospital and its other premises for help. In particular it includes the patients, their friends, family members or any other representatives. Harper (2002, p. 169) says that the internal customers on the other hand are the facilities and the hospital staff. The employees of the hospital often buy products like medicine from the hospital store, come for treatment whenever they get sick and refer their friends and relatives to come to the hospital. The latter category of customers is very important in determining th e success or failure of the hospital as they are not only customers of the hospital, but also offer service to the external customers. This is why the management of the London Bridge Hospital does its best to ensure that its employees are well remunerated and have good working terms. As already outlined, the external customers are the people receiving services from the hospital. These customers expect the hospital staff to adapt a more personal approach in executing their service and willingness to keep them happy. The internal customers on the other hand expect that the different departments in the hospital should function efficiently in order to improve their work experience. For example, the central department should always ensure that all the instruments used in patient care are properly sterilized and stored in their right places (Dwyer et al 2010, p 519).   They should also ensure that the doctors get the right instruments when they need them. This is an important department in the hospital as the nurses, other hospital staff and doctors depend directly on it and its efficiency has a direct impact on the external customers. Operational objectives Healthcare operations management as a discipline integrates different principles of scientific management in determining the most optimal and efficient methods in supporting the delivery of care to the patients. Although the London Bridge Hospital does not have a department named operational management, most of the positions in the hospital involve roles of coordination and execution of different operations. Nearly 85% of hospitals are nonprofit in nature as they are there to serve the community in which they operate (Dey, Hariharan, Clegg, 2006, p. 861). Some nonprofits hospitals are often exempt from paying some taxes and are not required to continuously show positive growth rates or large profit margins like is done by most publicly traded companies. However, if a hospital fails to show positive return on the capital invested then there will be negative consequences on the economy. For instance, if a hospital fails to show reasonable margins, then the public bond market (the publ ic bond market finances most of the healthcare growth today) will likely record sub-par credit ratings. Sachdeva, Williams Quigley (2007, p. 162) claim that the consequence of this is that the bonds will have poor yields hence rendering the hospitals less than stellar investments for bondholders. The limited profit margins imply that there will be little money to invest back in the business to ensure that the buildings are updated, technology innovated, equipment replaced and clinical programs continue to expand and be enhanced. Without the investments, the hospitals will lose the ability to attract the most qualified administrators and physicians and the downward spiral will continue. While some healthcare systems and hospitals at times wait for changes in public health policy to save them, some competitive and successful ones like the London Bridge Hospital act in advance in order to save their margins. The current economic climate is characterized by perpetual pricing pressures that affect the top of the line income statement. In fact more than 50% of all hospitals report negative profit margins (Sinreich, Jabali, 2007, p. 301). This is why it is essential for hospitals to start looking forward toward more sophisticated business strategies in order to succeed. The London Bridge Hospital uses differentiated marketing strategies and programs, long term planning on service lines and broader use of advertising in order to be able to succeed in its business operations. It does this in tandem with adopting broader logistical and operational techniques into the business affairs of the hospital. The London Bridge Hospital monitors and maximizes labor productivity for all the medical support and allied health professionals as a way of maintaining salary expenses. The other strategies that other hospitals have adopted but are not currently in use by the London Bridge Hospital include: Incorporation of methods of scheduling optimization and queuing theory to eliminate time wastage and cycle time out of hospitals. Incorporation of techniques of logistical and supply chain in reducing operational expenses. Elimination of excess safety stocks. General improvement on the management of the working capital. Use of technology in the automation and streamlining of all the hospital operations to reduce operational costs and maximize efficiency. The hospitals and other healthcare organizations cannot depend on the extrinsic factors like shifts in managed care market structures and health policy as tools for changing their margin potentials. Although the macro level issues are important, the organizational and micro economic issues are more important as they have a strong and direct impact on a particular organization. In fact all the microeconomic issues are a function of operational management. As such, operational management is a set of intrinsic decisions and processes that assist in addressing productivity, costs, process and technology (Ford et al 2004, p.26). Healthcare is a primary service sector because the industry provides intangible goods to the customers. The goods here cannot be seen or touched. The services provided by the London Bridge Hospital and other hospitals in the industry are somewhat unique, differentiated, knowledge based and have high levels of customer interaction (Teoh, Pan,   Ramchand, 2012, p.588). There are also physical goods that accompany the service in the hospitals which the supply chain procures and replenishes. The hospitals also store medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, in this regard hospitals have a mix of both tangible and intangible characteristics. It is these attributes that make operations management in hospitals a little different from those of other industries that strictly produce physical goods. It is in this regard that Harper (2002, p 171) defines healthcare operations management as the quantitative management of processes and supporting business systems that transform resources (inputs) into healthcare services (outputs). Inputs in this case refer to the resources and assets like equipment, labor, technology, cash, personnel and space.   The outputs include actual production and delivery of healthcare services. Quantitative management uses extensive quality improvement techniques, optimization and analytical tools to drive improved results. Healthcare operations management integrates quantitative or scientific principles in determining the most optimal and efficient methods of supporting patient care delivery. Functions of Healthcare Operations Management Healthcare operational management is a relatively new field in healthcare although it has been in existence in the other industries for many years. Its scope includes all functions related to business processes and management systems that underlie clinical care. It includes physical labor, physical network optimization, workflow, process engineering, supply chain and logistics management, capacity design, staffing and productivity management (Lorence Jameson 2002, p 749).   The healthcare operations and logistics management includes all the business functions that provide job opportunities for the people like administrators, operations supervisors and scheduling manager.    Operations Management Objectives or Issue to consider Workflow process How many manual processes exist? Are there ways of reducing steps, cycle time and choke points for the key processes? Can we improve speed and patient satisfaction? Are there too many departments or people performing the same task? Capacity design and planning How to reduce bottlenecks to improve the experience of patients? In which case to increase the use of technology to improve labor productivity? Staffing levels and productivity management How much output to expect from the employees? Have we maximized the use of automation and electronic commerce in increasing productivity? Quality, planning and process improvement Do we know how to compare the key competitors? Do we use advanced tools for tracking projects? Have we identified the quality issues that affect the goals of customer satisfaction and efficacy? Physical layout Are the hospital facilities designed with the consideration of traffic flow, operational efficiency and consideration of speed? Physical network optimization How to strategically utilize vendors and their facilities Where to strategically position the different facilities like pharmacy satellites, supplies and warehouses in order to minimize costs and resources. Supply chain and logistics management How much inventory needed at a particular time Whether or not to use perpetual inventory in ensuring stringent internal controls and accurate financial reporting Have we built collaborative planning and forecasting processes to standardize items and reduce total costs? The goals of operational management The operational management team in the hospital is tasked with different goals and functions in the hospital that include reduction of variability, costs, improve logistics, business processes, productivity, flow of logistics, and quality of customer service. These are explained in more details in the following sections Reduce costs The primary role of operational management is to take out the costs of the healthcare system. It finds waste, improves utilization, stabilizes and reduces the overall costs of service delivery. A hospital that has an appropriate management and tracking system   with the ability to isolate material, personnel and other resources utilized for delivery of care is more likely to reduce the costs of operation because it has a good understanding of the underlying cost structure (Teoh, Pan, Ramchand, 2012, p. 591). Once the costs have been identified and all unnecessary wastes eliminated then an organization can operate efficiently. Reduce variability and improve the flow of logistics The operations management team should continually look for more efficient and optimal ways of moving both physical and information resources. This should go together with reducing variability. Chahal (2010, p355) defines variability as the inconsistency or dispersion of inputs and outputs. Variability disrupts processes because it leads to uncertainty, too few or many resources and inconsistent results. For instance, if there are 30 patients seeking treatment in a certain hospital within a specific period, and then in the following period the number doubles or triples it creates problems for the employees in terms of controlling waiting times and general management of patient flows. An improvement in flows means higher yields or throughput with the same level of resource input. Shapiro Shapiro (2003, p246) define throughput as the velocity or rate at which goods are delivered or services performed. In the hospital situation, if a hospital attends to ten patients per hour and can inc rease the number to 15 per hour then this represents a 50% improvement in throughput and logistical flow (Miller, Sumner, Deane, 2009, p. 156). In the same manner, if the number of patients in the hospital doubles and the hospital manages to maintain the same historical inventory levels of pharmaceutical supplies then this is a significant improvement in material flow owing to the higher level of capacity utilization. Resource consumption and staffing should be directly tied to workload and patient volumes (Cowen, 2008, p.410). If the number of patients increases the quantity of the resources should equally increase. Good management of this variability allows a change in staffing mix and scheduling to accommodate the changes without staffing at the low points, valleys or peaks. Improve Productivity Improving productivity means looking for higher levels of output from all employees and other assets. This ensures that the hospital is operating optimally with high levels of efficiency by not only eliminating bottlenecks but also making efficient use of the available resources within the organization (Leury, Jean-Louis, Sicotte, 2003, p58). Improve the quality of customer care Improving quality means reducing medical errors and improving the safety of the patients. Additionally, constant improvement and maintenance of high quality service levels in terms of both patient care and other business services like admissions and cafeteria is also important. In the healthcare industry just like other industries, higher quality services leads to the ability to secure higher prices and this has the effect of driving an increase in operating margins and market shares (McCue McCluer, 2008, p 36). Ensuring an improvement in the patient satisfaction levels and reducing waiting and response times simultaneously ensures that the patients get higher quality services. Continuously improve Business Processes In the highly structured organizations like hospitals, business processes often tend to be unique in all departments as they are not integrated or highly cross functional. For example the operating room of a hospital may handle the procurement of a certain good in a certain way while the gynecology department of the same hospital handles it in a totally different way.   Miller, Sumner, Deane (2009, p. 110) assert that in large hospitals most departments operate as independent businesses which lead to multiple problems of efficiency. This is where operations management comes in as it ensures that efficiency and effectiveness are greatly improved in the organization. Recommended Changes From the analysis it is clear that the London Bridge Hospital is performing fairly well in terms of operational management although there are areas that the hospital management needs to work on in order to improve the general performance of the organization. First off the hospital should incorporate methods of scheduling optimization and queuing theory to eliminate time wastage and cycle time out of hospitals.   Efficient scheduling and queuing methods will improve the experience of the customers by eliminating unnecessary time wastage. The hospital should also incorporate techniques of logistical and supply chain as a way of reducing operational expenses.  Ã‚   Improved logistics and throughput in the hospital will increase the workflow and overall capacity (Noon et al 2003, p97). The London Bridge Hospital should tie staffing and resource consumption directly with workload and patient volumes. This will ensure that if the number of patients increase, then the number of resource s should equally increase as a response. Once the hospital manages to efficiently deal with the variability in the number of patients, it will have created a change in the staffing mix and scheduling to accommodate any changes. Staffing at the peaks leads to excessive costs whereas staffing for the valleys leads to periodic long lines because of the limited resources. The success or failure of the hospital depends directly on its readiness to cope well with the valleys and peaks without disrupting the normal flow of operations. This is where technology comes in as it automates most if not all of the manual processes. It also improves transaction processing capabilities and the quality of analysis, reports and organizational decisions. This will alter all the economics of the hospital because mechanization allows for faster production and delivery using relatively less resources. Substituting capital or technology for labor especially in the department of business support services wi ll reduce transactional and processing costs in the long run. As such, the role of technology in enhancing productivity is one which the London Bridge Hospital should take into consideration. Conclusion Although operations management is a relatively new phenomenon in the healthcare industry compared to the other industries, it is important to the industry because hospitals face the same challenges just like the other business organizations. The London Bridge Hospital is already making use of most of the principles of operational management although it still needs to implement some changes in its way of operation as highlighted in the discussion. These changes will ensure that the hospital continues to perform well both in the short and long run. Hospital operational management will help the London Bridge Hospital to deal efficiently with the challenges that it is currently facing. Additionally, this paper has shown that the manner in which the hospital responds to the valleys and peaks is critical to its performance. Hospital operational management has the solution for this as it puts in place mechanisms that ensure that the organization makes optimal and efficient use of its resour ces to achieve the best results without any shortages or wastages in terms of resource allocation and utilization. Bibliography Chahal, H. 2010, Two component customer relationship management model for healthcare services, Managing Service Quality, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 343-365. Cowen, M.E., M.D., Halasyamani, L.K., M.D., McMurtrie, D., M.D., Hoffman, D., R.N., Polley, T., M.D., Alexander, J.A., PhD. Banko, P.D., F.A.C.H.E. 2008, Organizational Structure for Addressing the Attributes of the Ideal Healthcare Delivery System/PRACTITIONER APPLICATION, Journal of Healthcare Management, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 407-18; discussion 419. Dey, P.K., Hariharan, S. Clegg, B.T. 2006, Measuring the operational performance of intensive care units using the analytic hierarchy process approach, International Journal of Operations Production Management, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 849-865. Dwyer, Alison J, MBBS, MBA, MHSM,F.R.A.C.M.A., F.C.H.S.M. 2010, Medical managers in contemporary healthcare organizations: a consideration of the literature, Australian Health Review, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 514-22. Ford, R., Boss, R.W., Angermeier, I., Townson, C.D. Jennings, T.A. 2004, Adapting to Change in Healthcare: Aligning Strategic Intent and Operational Capacity, Hospital topics, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 20-9. Harper, P. R. (2002). A framework for operational modeling of hospital resources. Health Care Management Science, 5(3), 165-73. Leury, M., Jean-Louis, D. Sicotte, C. 2003, The role of regional planning and management strategies in the transformation of the healthcare system, Health Services Management Research, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 56-69. Lorence, D.P. Jameson, R. 2002, Adoption of information quality management practices in US healthcare organizations: A national assessment, The International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 737-756. McCue, M.J. McCluer, R.F. 2008, Financial and Operational Ratios for Bond-Insured Hospitals, Hospital topics, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 37. Miller, W.J., Sumner, A.T. Deane, R.H. 2009, Assessment of Quality Management Practices Within the Healthcare Industry, American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 105-113. Noon, C.E., Hankins, C.T., Cote, M.J. Lieb, M. 2003, Understanding the impact of variation in the delivery of healthcare services / Practitioner application, Journal of Healthcare Management, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 82-97; discussion 97-8. Sachdeva, R., Williams, T. Quigley, J. 2007, Mixing methodologies to enhance the implementation of healthcare operational research, The Journal of the Operational Research Society, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 159-167. Shapiro, J. Shapiro, R. 2003, Towards an improved collaboration model for the national healthcare system in England and Wales: A critical and constructive approach using operational research, Logistics Information Management, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 246-258. Sinreich, D., Jabali, O. (2007). Staggered work shifts: A way to downsize and restructure an emergency department workforce yet maintain current operational performance. Health Care Management Science, 10(3), 293-308. Stock, G.N. McDermott, C. 2011, Operational and contextual drivers of hospital costs, Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 142-58. Teoh, S. Y., Pan, S. L., Ramchand, A. M. (2012). Resource management activities in healthcare information systems: A process perspective. Information Systems Frontiers, 14(3), 585-600.

A Country Study on the Ancient Cultures of Japan

A Country Study on the Ancient Cultures of Japan On the basis of archaeological finds, it has been postulated that hominid activity in Japan may date as early as 200,000 B.C. when the islands were connected to the Asian mainland. Although some scholars doubt this early date for habitation, most agree that by around 40,000 B.C. glaciation had reconnected the islands with the mainland. Populating the Land of Japan Based on archaeological evidence, they also agree that by between 35,000 and 30,000 B.C. Homo sapiens had migrated to the islands from eastern and southeastern Asia and had well-established patterns of hunting and gathering and stone toolmaking. Stone tools, inhabitation sites, and human fossils from this period have been found throughout all the islands of Japan. The Jomon Period More stable living patterns gave rise by around 10,000 B.C. to Neolithic  or, as some scholars argue, Mesolithic culture. Possibly distant ancestors of the Ainu aboriginal people of modern Japan, members of the heterogeneous Jomon culture (ca. 10,000-300 B.C.) left the clearest archaeological record. By 3,000 B.C., the Jomon people were making clay figures and vessels decorated with patterns made by impressing the wet clay with braided or unbraided cord and sticks (Jomon means patterns of plaited cord) with growing sophistication. These people also used chipped stone tools, traps, and bows and were hunters, gatherers, and skillful coastal and deep-water fishermen. They practiced a rudimentary form of agriculture and lived in caves and later in groups of either temporary shallow pit dwellings or above-ground houses, leaving rich kitchen middens for modern anthropological study. By the late Jomon period, a dramatic shift had taken place according to archaeological studies. Incipient cultivation had evolved into sophisticated rice-paddy farming and government control. Many other elements of Japanese culture also may date from this period and reflect a mingled migration from the northern Asian continent and the southern Pacific areas. Among these elements are Shinto mythology, marriage customs, architectural styles, and technological developments, such as lacquerware, textiles, metalworking, and glassmaking. The Yayoi Period The next cultural period, the Yayoi (named after the section of Tokyo where archaeological investigations uncovered its traces) flourished between about 300 B.C. and A.D. 250 from southern Kyushu to northern Honshu. The earliest of these people, who are thought to have migrated from Korea to northern Kyushu and intermixed with the Jomon, also used chipped stone tools. Although the pottery of the Yayoi was more technologically advanced, it was more simply decorated than Jomon ware. The Yayoi made bronze ceremonial nonfunctional bells, mirrors, and weapons and, by the first century A.D., iron agricultural tools and weapons. As the population increased and society became more complex, they wove cloth, lived in permanent farming villages, constructed buildings of wood and stone, accumulated wealth through land ownership and the storage of grain, and developed distinct social classes. Their irrigated, wet-rice culture was similar to that of central and south China, requiring heavy inputs of human labor, which led to the development and eventual growth of a highly sedentary, agrarian society. Unlike China, which had to undertake massive public works and water-control projects, leading to a highly centralized government, Japan had abundant water. In Japan, then, local political and social developments were relatively more important than the activities of the central authority and a stratified society. The earliest written records about Japan are from Chinese sources from this period. Wa (the Japanese pronunciation of an early Chinese name for Japan) was first mentioned in A.D. 57. Early Chinese historians described Wa as a land of hundreds of scattered tribal communities, not the unified land with a 700-year tradition as laid out in the Nihongi, which puts the foundation of Japan at 660 B.C. Third-century Chinese sources reported that the Wa people lived on raw vegetables, rice, and fish served on bamboo and wooden trays, had vassal-master relations, collected taxes, had provincial granaries and markets, clapped their hands in worship (something still done in Shinto shrines), had violent succession struggles, built earthen grave mounds, and observed mourning. Himiko, a female ruler of an early political federation known as Yamatai, flourished during the third century. While Himiko reigned as a spiritual leader, her younger brother carried out affairs of state, which included diplomatic relations with the court of the  Chinese Wei Dynasty  (A.D. 220 to 65).

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Nobel Peace Prize laureate - Essay Example In between he served briefly as Prime minister in the year 1973 – 74. This Nobel Prize held a lot of significance to the person receiving it. It is the highest honor for any individual to be recognized for their sincere and selfless efforts taken towards acquiring peace and stability for their country and countrymen. It was Alfred Nobel’s wish that the Peace Prize should be awarded to those noble people who strived hard for brotherhood and peace, sometimes even at the cost of their own lives, as happened to Muhamed Anwar Al Sadat. The Nobel Peace Prize of 1978 was given as a joint award to the Israeli Prime minister Menachen Begin and Muhamed Anwar Al Sadat for their courage in bringing peace to their countries in the face of adversity. The Middle East, for the last thirty years has been torn and ravaged with the scars of so many different wars and was badly in need of peace as well as a strong reconstruction program to help it to its feet once again. This noble deed came in the guise of the President of Egypt, Muhamed Sadat who exerted a lot of effort on the peace front. The Egyptian government was deep in debt and hence was forced to sell its interests to the British Government and linked the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal. These resources were then utilized by the British and the French to lay the foundation for a strong political control over Egypt and its affairs. He completed his education at the Military College. In Egypt and soon after his graduation, he was posted at a distant out post by the government authorities. It was during this time that he met a person called Gamal Abdel Nasser and began a long political association with him, which finally led to his presidency. This out post served as the culmination point of revolutionaries like himself who were determined to overthrow the British rule. Sadat went to jail a couple of times

Living Environment in Kalahari Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Living Environment in Kalahari - Essay Example Measures to diverge these conditions have become futile. Despite many global environmental bodies that are mandated with environmental protection being set, little is being done due to lack of good will from different countries from the globe. Many meetings e.g. Kyoto have been convened in an effort to look for a solution to the crisis, but little has been achieved as developed countries have failed to sign the protocol which would bind the countries to contribute in environmental protection (Valsson, 2006). Some of the adverse effect of environmental pollution has been highlighted in the book, cry in the Kalahari. The author emphasizes on the problems that the animals go through in the wilderness. He wrote that they lacked basic needs making them make use of the little water that they get e.g. water from the bowls that the writer forgot outside the tent. This indicates the human ignorance when building empires while ignoring other living organisms which also depend on the environmen t (Owens & Cordelia, 1992 p.4). The chapter also emphasizes on the neglect by the developed countries to help in environmental conservation measures despite playing a great role in environmental pollution. ... This has increased demand for land. The land that was previously used by animals as their habitat has been transformed into human living areas. This has starved thousands of wild animals as feeding areas have reduced tremendously (Owens & Cordelia, 1992). Desert conditions have become very extreme with the living conditions become so unbearable. People living in these areas have been left vulnerable unable to afford even the basic needs. It has become hard for them to grow food crops as the environmental conditions have become harsh (Haluzan 2010). Environmental conditions in the arctic regions have also changed. The temperature levels have increased with 0.7 degree centigrade. This has led to smelting of the snow making the environment unfavorable for animals living in these areas. Furthermore, the vegetation which are adapted to cold conditions, have also been affected. Aquatic organisms have also been affected with a majority of them dying as a result of increased temperature leve ls of the water (Haluzan 2010). Changes in biodiversity Biodiversity plays a great role in protecting the lives of people, increasing food security, health and even resilience. There have been great changes in biodiversity especially in the northern countries. The changes in biodiversity are expected to continue increasing with the level of temperature increasing in the world. The growing vegetation both in the desert and the arctic regions are affected directly by changes in climatic conditions. According to the scientific information, the lichens and mosses population levels are expected to decrease. These act as food for reindeer therefore; their population is also expected to decrease (David & Paul, 1992, p. 16). On the other hand, the

Violent computer games Essay Example for Free

Violent computer games Essay The huge influence media productions have on their audience is unquestionable. The use of quirky television advertisement to persuade the public to purchase a particular product ahead of other similar brands is a tried and tested method used by manufactures. The millions of pounds spent on a major celebrity endorsing their franchise is a risk that companies are willing to take. Newspapers campaigns aimed to manipulate their readers opinions on world issues, political campaigns and even the winner of a reality television show have been successful for many years and are another way of swaying the publics views. But could a video game really influence a human being into committing crime or even murder? . In 1993 Jamie Bulgar, a three year old boy from Liverpool was abducted from a shopping mall by two 10 year old boys. Jamie was taken over two miles away from the mall, being heavily tortured on the way. Jamie was eventually killed by the boys who then left his remains on a railway track so that a train would get rid of the evidence. However the murder was not put down to cold blood alone, it was largely discussed at the time by the media and in court what the real motivators of the boys actions were. The two boys, Thompson and Venables had access to a collection of violent films, one of which was Childs play 3 in which a possessed doll kills young children. Although no testimony was presented at the trial the films in question were subsequently banned and removed from video rental chains. There are several theories to explain the various effects the media has on its audience. Firstly, the hypodermic syringe model, the type of consumption that has the most impact. As the name implies this short term effect theory this short term effect theory is based on an idea that the violence witnessed on screen injects itself into the audience like a needle. There is a belief that as a consequence, this may lead to people imitating or rein acting a violent scene. There are several different cases to support this theory: In 1982 an American, John Hinkley JR, shot President Ronald Regan in an attempt to impress actress Jodie foster when he became obsessed by her after seeing her in the film Taxi Driver. In the film, Foster plays a young prostitute who is rescued by a man that plans to murder a presidential candidate. Hinkley harassed Foster and told her he would come to rescue her as she had been in the film. In 1978 Michael Ryan went on a killing rampage through a small town on Hungerford, shooting 13 people. Ryan was dressed on military uniform, although there was no conclusive evidence, it was suggested that Ryan had been inspired by Sylvester Stallones character in the film Rambo. The second theory is the inoculation model. This time the suggestion is that long term exposure to the media de-sensitises the audience to its content. This means the viewer could become immune to the messages and watches passive state. It is hard to shock this type of viewer as they have seen it all before. This is potentially as dangerous as the syringe theory, as it makes it hard for them to distinguish between fiction and reality and the right thing and the wrong thing as violence, gore and bad language have no effect on them. The final theory is the gratification theory. Here, the viewer is in control, we select and reject media in an active and thoughtful way. The media is consumed to satisfy certain needs, for example, TV soap operas can provide an artificial community for people that dont have the opportunity to experience one in real life. Documentaries, soaps and dramas can also help reinforce a viewers identity. Viewers experiencing difficulties in their lives may find it comforting or supportive if the topic concerning them is raised publicly. Video games can be played on several types of platforms: home consoles used with TV sets, computers, and computers with access to the Internet, coin-operated arcade machines, and handheld devices including games systems and mobile phones. In the past these electronically products were not available highlighting the fact that they have become developed and more poplar. There are a number of video games on the current market that have been campaigned against for causing an in fluctuation in crimes committed and in sighting violence. Grand Theft Auto and Carmageddon were accused of glamorising crime and subsequently blamed for causing in increase in road rage, car jacking and armed robbery. Tekken and Mortal Combat were heavily criticized for their trademark Finishing Moves which involved characters being decapitated, mutilated and tortured. In all these games, the players were rewarded for their sever brutality with bonus points.

Essay on the Two Types of Pride in Pride and Prejudice -- Pride Prejud

Two Types of Pride in Pride and Prejudice      Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, there is a stark contrast between the pride displayed by the characters Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Mr. Bennet. Austen demonstrates the importance of possesing the "correct" pride and makes this the main theme throughout the novel.    Pride may be considered as either an attribute or flaw. To posses pride as an attribute is to have self-respect, honor, and integrity. To posses pride as a flaw is to demonstrate arrogant or disdainful conduct and haughtiness. Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy posses pride as an attribute while Mr. Bennet posses pride as a flaw. Darcy is responsible for his sister, himself, his estate, and his family name. He takes pride in these things and does anything he can in order to protect them. But Mr. Bennet who is responsible as a father of five daughters, a husband, and the holder of reputable conduct in the family, does not take pride in his family or his responsibility; Mr. Bennet instead ridicules the members of his family and in turn does not control their unruly actions.    Mr. Darcy, the leading male character in the novel, possesses an ancient family name, magnificent estate, and a sizable fortune which may seem to contribute to his pride. But later on in the book, we learn that he is a generous master to his servants and tenants and a loving brother to his young sister Georgiana. He is responsible for so much: his sister, his family name, and his estate, Pemberley. Although seen as excessively proud in a negative way, Charlotte Lucas defends Darcy by saying that a man of his wealth and family background has a right to be proud.    Darcy cares dearly for his younger sister, Georgiana. As... ...arcy family name and protects it with a hawk-like manner. He takes his responsibility as the landowner, brother, and master very seriously. On the other hand, Mr. Bennet lets his family do as it pleases and almost does not care. The reputation of the Bennet family is blemished by the behavior of its members because the head of the household, Mr. Bennet, lacks the pride to protect it.    Works Cited and Consulted: Austen, Jane.   Pride and Prejudice.   Ed. Donald Gray.   New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. Jane Austen Info Page. Henry Churchyard. U of Texas, Austin. 23 Nov. 2000. <http://www.pemberly.com/janeinfo/janeinfo/html>. Poplawski, Paul.   A Jane Austen Encyclopedia.   Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1998. Reidhead, Julia, ed. Norton Anthology of English Literature vol. 7, 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2000.   

Sexual Selection of African Cichlids

Sexual selection: it is part of natural selection. Sexual selection acts on an organism's ability to obtain or successfully couple with a mate. Selection makes many organisms go to extreme lengths in order to find a mate such as: peacocks need to develop a beautiful tail, elephant seals fight over territories†¦. Sexual selection is often powerful enough to produce features that are harmful to the individual’s survival. For example, extravagant and colorful tail feathers or fins are likely to attract predators as well as interested members of the opposite sex. In nature females always invest more energy into producing offspring than males invest, and as a result in most species females are a limiting resource that male have to compete for. In most cases it is the females who have a relatively larger investment in producing each offspring and in contrast sperm are cheaper than eggs. There is such a large production of sperm that a single male can easily fertilize all of female's eggs. So clearly female will not produce more offspring by mating with more than one male since her eggs are the limiting factor where in contrast a male is capable of fathering more offspring if he mates with several females. Generally, a male's potential reproductive success is limited by the number of females he mates with, whereas a female's potential reproductive success is limited by how many eggs she can produce. This results in sexual selection, in which males compete with each other, and females become choosy in which males to mate with. As a result of being heterogamy, males are fundamentally less likely to stick to one female, and females are fundamentally selective when it comes down to selecting a mate. Sexual selection takes two major forms one is called intersexual selection and one is called intrasexual selection. intersexal selection is simply males competing with each other to be chosen by females. Intrasexual selection means that members of the less limited sex which are always males compete aggressively among themselves for access to the limiting sex the female. The limiting sex is the sex which has the higher parental investment, which therefore faces the most pressure to make a good mate decision. In his essay Emlen comes up with few hypotheses as to why or how natural selection may have shaped patterns of horn evolution in such a way as to generate divergence in horn morphology, change from one type to another. First we need to understand the benefit of having a particular horn type and how they’re used. One thing he presents is that eetles live underground, in the same cylindrical tunnel no matter if it’s in the hot desserts or tropical area, but male have to keep the tunnels defended against other males trying to invade it therefore horns have defensive and weaponry use. Next important idea that is brought up in his essay is the cost of having certain horns. At this point we don’t care about the benefit or function of the horns, the only thing matters is its trade-offs. The main reason for that is the growth and siz e of beetle horn can stunt the relative size of other morphological structures such as antenna, wings, and eyes. The first identified trade off was that males who possessed long horns also had small eyes. Based on his research he found a correlation between where the horn is located and the adjacent structure to it. After breeding beetles for multiple generations he realized that horns that grow on the center or front of the head affect the size of the antenna, horns that grow on the thorax affect the size of the wing, and finally horns that grow on the base of the head affect the eyes.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 29

Chapter 29 When it was all finished, Simon looked great, better than I'd ever seen him look. Joshua had not only raised him from the dead, but also healed his leprosy. Maggie and Martha were ecstatic. The new and improved Simon invited us back to his house to celebrate. Unfortunately, Abel and Crustus had witnessed the resurrection and the healing, and despite our admonishments, they started to spread the story through Bethany and Jerusalem. Joseph of Arimathea accompanied us to Simon's house, but he was hardly in a celebratory mood. â€Å"This dinner's not exactly a trap,† he told Joshua, â€Å"it's more like a test.† â€Å"I've been to one of their trials by dinner,† said Joshua. â€Å"I thought you were a believer.† â€Å"I am,† said Joseph, â€Å"especially after what I saw today, but that's why you have to come to my house and have dinner with the Pharisees from the council. Show them who you are. Explain to them in an informal setting what it is that you are doing.† â€Å"Satan himself once asked me to prove myself,† said Joshua. â€Å"What proof do I owe these hypocrites?† â€Å"Please, Joshua. They may be hypocrites, but they have great influence over the people. Because they condemn you the people are afraid to listen to the Word. I know Pontius Pilate, I don't think anyone would harm you in my home and risk his wrath.† Joshua sat for a moment, sipping his wine. â€Å"Then into the den of vipers I shall go.† â€Å"Don't do it, Joshua,† I said. â€Å"And you have to come alone,† said Joseph. â€Å"You can't bring any of the apostles.† â€Å"That's not a problem,† I said. â€Å"I'm only a disciple.† â€Å"Especially not him,† said Joseph. â€Å"Jakan bar Iban will be there.† â€Å"So I guess it's another night sitting home for me, too,† said Maggie. Later we all watched and waved as Joseph and Joshua left to go back to Jerusalem for the dinner at Joseph's house. â€Å"As soon as they get around the corner you follow them,† Maggie said to me. â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"Stay close enough to hear if he needs you.† â€Å"Absolutely.† â€Å"Come here.† She pulled me inside the door where the others wouldn't see and gave me one of those Maggie kisses that made me walk into walls and forget my name for a few minutes. It was the first in months. She released me and held me at arm's length, then, â€Å"You know that if there were no Joshua, I wouldn't love anyone but you,† she said. â€Å"You don't have to bribe me to watch over him, Maggie.† â€Å"I know. That's one of the reasons I love you,† she said. â€Å"Now go.† My years of trying to sneak up on the monks in the monastery paid me back as I shadowed Joshua and Joseph through Jerusalem. They had no idea I was following, as I slipped from shadow to shadow, wall to tree, finally to Joseph's house, which lay south of the city walls, only a stone's throw from the palace of the high priest, Caiaphas. Joseph of Arimathea's house was only slightly smaller than the palace itself, but I was able to find a spot on the roof of an adjacent building where I could watch the dinner through a window and still have a view of the front door. Joshua and Joseph sat in the dining room drinking wine by themselves for a while, then gradually the servants let in the other guests as they arrived in groups of twos and threes. There were a dozen of them by the time dinner was served, all of the Pharisees that had been at the dinner at Jakan's house, plus five more that I had never seen before, but all were severe and meticulous about washing before dinner and checking each other to make sure that all was in order. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I really didn't care. There seemed to be no immediate threat to Joshua, and that was all I was worried about. He could hold his own on the rhetorical battlefield. Then, when it seemed that it would end without incident, I saw the tall hat and white robe of a priest in the street, and with him two Temple guards carrying their long, bronze-tipped spears. I dropped down off the roof and made my way around the opposite side of the house, arriving just in time to see a servant lead the priest inside. As soon as Joshua came through the door at Simon's house Martha and Maggie showered him with kisses as if he had returned from the war, then led him to the table and started interrogating him about the dinner. â€Å"First they yelled at me for having fun, drinking wine, and feasting. Saying that if I was truly a prophet I would fast.† â€Å"And what did you tell them?† I asked, still a little winded from the running to get to Simon's house ahead of Joshua. â€Å"I said, well, John didn't eat anything but bugs, and he never drank wine in his life, and he certainly never had any fun, and they didn't believe him, so what kind of standards were they trying to set, and please pass the tabbouleh.† â€Å"What did they say then?† â€Å"Then they yelled at me for eating with tax collectors and harlots.† â€Å"Hey,† said Matthew. â€Å"Hey,† said Martha. â€Å"They didn't mean you, Martha, they meant Maggie.† â€Å"Hey,† said Maggie. â€Å"I told them that tax collectors and harlots would see the kingdom of God before they did. Then they yelled at me for healing on the Sabbath, not washing my hands before I eat, being in league with the Devil again, and blaspheming by claiming to be the Son of God.† â€Å"Then what?† â€Å"Then we had dessert. It was some sort of cake made with dates and honey. I liked it. Then a guy came to the door wearing priest's robes.† â€Å"Uh-oh,† said Matthew. â€Å"Yeah, that was bad,† said Joshua. â€Å"He went around whispering in the ears of all the Pharisees, then Jakan asked me by what authority I raised Simon from the dead.† â€Å"And what did you say?† â€Å"I didn't say anything, not with the Sadducee there. But Joseph told them that Simon hadn't been dead. He was just sleeping.† â€Å"So what did they say to that?† â€Å"Then they asked me by what authority I woke him up.† â€Å"And what did you say?† â€Å"I got angry then. I said by all the authority of God and the Holy Ghost, by the authority of Moses and Elijah, by the authority of David and Solomon, by the authority of thunder and lightning, by the authority of the sea and the air and the fire in the earth, I told them.† â€Å"And what did they say?† â€Å"They said that Simon must have been a very sound sleeper.† â€Å"Sarcasm is wasted on those guys,† I said. â€Å"Completely wasted,† said Joshua. â€Å"Anyway, then I left, and outside there were two guards from the Temple. The shafts of their spears had been broken and they were both unconscious. There was blood on one's scalp. So I healed them, and when I saw they were coming around, I came here.† â€Å"They don't think you attacked the guards?† Simon asked. â€Å"No, the priest followed me down. He saw them at the same time that I did.† â€Å"And your healing them didn't convince him?† â€Å"Hardly.† â€Å"So what do we do now?† â€Å"I think we should go back to Galilee. Joseph will send word if anything comes of the meeting of the council.† â€Å"You know what will come of it,† Maggie said. â€Å"You threaten them. And now they have the priests involved. You know what will happen.† â€Å"Yes, I do,† said Joshua. â€Å"But you don't. We'll leave for Capernaum in the morning.† Later Maggie came to me in the great room of Simon's house, where we were all bedded down for the night. She crawled under my blanket and put her lips right next to my ear. As usual, she smelled of lemons and cinnamon. â€Å"What did you do to those guards?† she whispered. â€Å"I surprised them. I thought they might be there to arrest Joshua.† â€Å"You might have gotten him arrested.† â€Å"Look, have you done this before? Because if you have some sort of plan, please let me in on it. Personally, I'm making this up as I go along.† â€Å"You did good,† she whispered. She kissed my ear. â€Å"Thank you.† I reached for her and she shimmied away. â€Å"And I'm still not going to sleep with you,† she said. The messenger must have ridden through several nights to get ahead of us, but when we got back to Capernaum there was already a message waiting from Joseph of Arimathea. Joshua: Pharisee council condemned you to death for blasphemy. Herod concurs. No official death warrant issued, but suggest you take disciples into Herod Philip's territory until things settle down. No word from the priests yet, which is good. Enjoyed having you at dinner, please drop by next time you're in town. Your friend, Joseph of Arimathea Joshua read the message aloud to all of us, then pointed to a deserted mountaintop on the northern shore of the lake near Bethsaida. â€Å"Before we leave Galilee again, I am going up that mountain. I will stay there until all in Galilee who wish to hear the good news have come. Only then will I leave to go to Philip's territory. Go out now and find the faithful. Tell them where to find me.† â€Å"Joshua,† Peter said, â€Å"there are already two or three hundred sick and lame waiting at the synagogue for you to heal them. They've been gathering for all the days you've been gone.† â€Å"Why didn't you tell me?† â€Å"Well, Bartholomew greeted them and took their names, then we told them that you'd be with them as soon as you got the chance. They're fine.† â€Å"I lead the dogs back and forth by them occasionally so we look busy,† said Bart. Joshua stormed off to the synagogue waving his hands in the air as if asking God why he had been plagued by a gang of dimwits, but then, I might have been reading that into his gesture. The rest of us spread out into Galilee to announce that Joshua was going to be preaching a great sermon on a mountain north of Capernaum. Maggie and I traveled together, along with Simon the Canaanite and Maggie's friends Johanna and Susanna. We decided to take three days and walk a circle through northern Galilee that would take us through a dozen towns and bring us back to the mountain just in time to help direct the pilgrims that would be gathering. The first night we camped in a sheltered valley outside a town called Jamnith. We ate bread and cheese by the fire and afterward Simon and I shared wine while the women went off to sleep. It was the first time I'd ever had a chance to talk to the Zealot without his friend Judas around. â€Å"I hope Joshua can bring the kingdom down on their heads now,† Simon said. â€Å"Otherwise I may have to look for another prophet to pledge my sword to.† I nearly choked on my wine, and handed him the wineskin as I fought for breath. â€Å"Simon,† I said, â€Å"do you believe he's the Son of God?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"You don't, and you're still following him?† â€Å"I am not saying he's not a great prophet, but the Christ? the Son of God? I don't know.† â€Å"You've traveled with him. Heard him speak. Seen his power over demons, over people. You've seen him heal people. Feed people. And what does he ask?† â€Å"Nothing. A place to sleep. Some food. Some wine.† â€Å"And if you could do those things, what would you have?† Here Simon leaned back and looked into the stars, as he let his imagination unroll. â€Å"I would have villages full of women in my bed. I'd have a fine palace, and slaves to bathe me. I would have the finest food and wine and kings would travel from far away just to look at my gold. I would be glorious.† â€Å"But Joshua has only his cloak and his sandals.† Simon seemed to snap out of his reverie, and he wasn't happy about it. â€Å"Just because I am weak does not make him the Christ.† â€Å"That's exactly what makes him the Christ.† â€Å"Maybe he's just naive.† â€Å"Count on it,† I said. I stood and handed him the wineskin. â€Å"You can finish it. I'm going to sleep.† Simon raised his eyebrows. â€Å"The Magdalene, she's a luscious woman. A man could lose himself there.† I took a deep breath and thought about defending Maggie's honor, or even warning Simon about making advances on her, but then I thought better of it. The Zealot needed to learn a lesson that I wasn't qualified to teach. But Maggie was. â€Å"Good night, Simon,† I said. In the morning I found Simon sitting by the cold ashes of the fire, cradling his head in his hands. â€Å"Simon?† I inquired. He looked up at me and I saw a huge purple goose egg on his forehead, just below the bangs of his Roman haircut. A spot of blood seeped out of the middle. His right eye was nearly swollen shut. â€Å"Ouch,† I said. â€Å"How did you do that?† Just then Maggie came out from behind a bush. â€Å"He accidentally crawled into Susanna's bedroll last night,† Maggie said. â€Å"I thought he was an attacker, so naturally, I brained him with a rock.† â€Å"Naturally,† I said. â€Å"I'm so sorry, Simon,† Maggie said. I could hear Susanna and Johanna giggling behind the bush. â€Å"It was an honest mistake,† said Simon. I couldn't tell whether he meant his or Maggie's, but either way he was lying. â€Å"Good thing you're an apostle,† I said. â€Å"You'll have that healed up by noon.† We finished our loop of northern Galilee without incident, and indeed, Simon was nearly healed by the time we returned to the mountain above Bethsaida, where Joshua awaited us with over five thousand followers. â€Å"I can't get away from them long enough to find baskets,† Peter complained. â€Å"Everywhere I go there are fifty people following me,† said Judas. â€Å"How do they expect us to bring them food if they won't let us work?† I had heard similar complaints from Matthew, James, and Andrew, and even Thomas was whining that people were stepping all over Thomas Two. Joshua had multiplied seven loaves into enough to feed the multitude, but no one could get to the food to distribute it. Maggie and I finally fought our way to the top of the mountain where we found Joshua preaching. He signaled the crowd that he was going to take a break, then came over to us. â€Å"This is excellent,† he said. â€Å"So many of the faithful.† â€Å"Uh, Josh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I know,† he said. â€Å"You two go to Magdala. Get the big ship and bring it to Bethsaida. Once we feed the faithful I'll send the disciples down to you. Go out into the lake and wait for me.† We managed to pull John out of the crowd and took him with us to Magdala to help sail the ship back up the coast. Neither Maggie nor I felt confident enough to handle the big boat without one of the fishermen on board. A half-day later we docked in Bethsaida, where the other apostles were waiting for us. â€Å"He's led them to the other side of the mountain,† Peter said. â€Å"He'll deliver a blessing then send them on their way. Hopefully they'll go home and he can meet us.† â€Å"Did you see any soldiers in the crowd?† I asked. â€Å"Not yet, but we should have been out of Herod's territory by now. The Pharisees are hanging on the edge of the crowd like they know something is going to happen.† We assumed that he would be swimming or rowing out in one of the small boats, but when he finally came down to the shore the multitude was still following him, and he just kept walking, right across the surface of the water to the boat. The crowd stopped at the shore and cheered. Even we were astounded by this new miracle, and we sat in the boat with our mouths hanging open as Joshua approached. â€Å"What?† he said. â€Å"What? What? What?† â€Å"Master, you're walking on the water,† said Peter. â€Å"I just ate,† Joshua said. â€Å"You can't go into the water for an hour after you eat. You could get a cramp. What, none of you guys have mothers?† â€Å"It's a miracle,† shouted Peter. â€Å"It's no big deal,† Joshua said, dismissing the miracle with the wave of a hand. â€Å"It's easy. Really, Peter, you should try it.† Peter stood up in the boat tentatively. â€Å"Really, try it.† Peter started to take off his tunic. â€Å"Keep that on,† said Joshua. â€Å"And your sandals too.† â€Å"But Lord, this is a new tunic.† â€Å"Then keep it dry, Peter. Come to me. Step upon the water.† Peter put one foot over the side and into the water. â€Å"Trust your faith, Peter,† I yelled. â€Å"If you doubt you won't be able to do it.† Then Peter stepped with both feet onto the surface of the water, and for a split second he stood there. And we were all amazed. â€Å"Hey, I'm – † Then he sank like a stone. He came up sputtering. We were all doubled over giggling, and even Joshua had sunk up to his ankles, he was laughing so hard. â€Å"I can't believe you fell for that,† said Joshua. He ran across the water and helped us pull Peter into the boat. â€Å"Peter, you're as dumb as a box of rocks. But what amazing faith you have. I'm going to build my church on this box of rocks.† â€Å"You would have Peter build your church?† asked Philip. â€Å"Because he tried to walk on the water.† â€Å"Would you have tried it?† asked Joshua. â€Å"Of course not,† said Philip. â€Å"I can't swim.† â€Å"Then who has the greater faith?† Joshua climbed into the boat and shook the water off of his sandals, then tousled Peter's wet hair. â€Å"Someone will have to carry on the church when I'm gone, and I'm going to be gone soon. In the spring we'll go to Jerusalem for the Passover, and there I will be judged by the scribes and the priests, and there I will be tortured and put to death. But three days from the day of my death, I shall rise, and be with you again.† As Joshua spoke Maggie had latched onto my arm. By the time he was finished speaking her nails had drawn blood from my biceps. A shadow of grief seemed to pass over the faces of the disciples. We looked not at each other, and neither at the ground, but at a place in space a few feet from our faces, where I suppose one looks for a clear answer to appear out of undefined shock. â€Å"Well, that sucks,† someone said. We landed at the town of Hippos, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, directly across the lake from Tiberius. Joshua had preached here before when we had come over to hide the first time, and there were people in the town who would receive the apostles into their homes until Joshua sent them out again. We'd brought many baskets of the broken bread from Bethsaida, and Judas and Simon helped me unload them from the ship, wading in and out of the shallows where we anchored, as Hippos had no dock. â€Å"The bread stood piled like small mountains,† Judas said. â€Å"Much more than when we fed the five thousand. A Jewish army could fight long days on that kind of supply. If the Romans have taught us anything it's that an army fights on its stomach.† I stopped schlepping and looked at him. Simon, who stood next to me, set his basket down on the beach, then lifted the edge of his sash to show me the hilt of his dagger. â€Å"The kingdom will be ours only when we take it by the sword. We've had no problem spilling Roman blood. No master but God.† I reached over and gently pulled Simon's sash back over the hilt of his dagger. â€Å"Have you ever heard Joshua talk about doing harm to anyone? Even an enemy?† â€Å"No,† Judas said. â€Å"He can't speak openly about taking the kingdom until he's ready to strike. That's why he always speaks in parables.† â€Å"That is a crock of rancid yak butter,† said a voice from the ship. Joshua sat up, a net hung over his head like a tattered prayer shawl. He'd been sleeping in the bow of the ship and we'd completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Biff, call everyone together, here on the beach. I haven't made myself clear to everyone, evidently.† I dropped my basket and ran into town to get the others. In less than an hour we were all seated on the beach and Joshua paced before us. â€Å"The kingdom is open to everyone,† Joshua said. â€Å"Ev-ree-one, get it?† Everyone nodded. â€Å"Even Romans.† Everyone stopped nodding. â€Å"The kingdom of God is upon us, but the Romans will remain in Israel. The kingdom of God has nothing to do with the kingdom of Israel, do you all understand that?† â€Å"But the Messiah is supposed to lead our people to freedom,† Judas shouted. â€Å"No master but God!† Simon added. â€Å"Shut up!† said Joshua. â€Å"I was not sent to deliver wrath. We will be delivered into the kingdom by forgiveness, not conquest. People, we have been over this, what have I not made clear?† â€Å"How we are to cast the Romans out of the kingdom?† shouted Nathaniel. â€Å"You should know better,† Joshua said to Nathaniel, â€Å"you yellow-haired freak. One more time, we can't cast the Romans out of the kingdom because the kingdom is open to all.† And I think they were getting it, at least the two Zealots were getting it, because they looked profoundly disappointed. They'd waited their whole life for the Messiah to come along and establish the kingdom by crushing the Romans, now he was telling them in his own divine words that it wasn't going to happen. But then Joshua started with the parables. â€Å"The kingdom is like a wheat field with tares, you can't pull out the tares without destroying the grain.† Blank stares. Doubly blank from the fishermen, who didn't know squat from farming metaphors. â€Å"A tare is a rye grass,† Joshua explained. â€Å"It weaves its roots amid the roots of wheat or barley, and there's no way to pull them out without ruining the crop.† Nobody got it. â€Å"Okay,† Joshua continued. â€Å"The children of heaven are the good people, and the tares are the bad ones. You get both. And when you're all done, the angels pick out the wicked and burn them.† â€Å"Not getting it,† said Peter. He shook his head, and his gray mane whipped around his face like a confused lion trying to shake off the sight of a flying wildebeest. â€Å"How do you guys preach this stuff if you don't understand it? Okay, try this: the kingdom of heaven is like, uh, a merchant seeking pearls.† â€Å"Like before swine,† said Bartholomew. â€Å"Yes! Bart! Yes! Only no swine this time, same pearls though.† Three hours later, Joshua was still at it, and he was starting to run out of things to liken the kingdom to, his favorite, the mustard seed, having failed in three different tries. â€Å"Okay, the kingdom is like a monkey.† Joshua was hoarse and his voice was breaking. â€Å"How?† â€Å"A Jewish monkey, right?† â€Å"Is it like a monkey eating a mustard seed?† I stood up and went to Joshua and put my arm around his shoulder. â€Å"Josh, take a break.† I led him down the beach toward the village. He shook his head. â€Å"Those are the dumbest sons of bitches on earth.† â€Å"They've become like little children, as you told them to.† â€Å"Stupid little children,† Joshua said. I heard light footsteps on the sand behind us and Maggie threw her arms around our necks. She kissed Joshua on the forehead, making a loud wet smacking sound, then looked as if she was going to do the same to me so I shied away. â€Å"You two are the ninnies here. You both rail on them about their intelligence, when that doesn't have anything to do with why they're here. Have either one of you heard them preach? I have. Peter can heal the sick now. I've seen it. I've seen James make the lame walk. Faith isn't an act of intelligence, it's an act of imagination. Every time you give them a new metaphor for the kingdom they see the metaphor, a mustard seed, a field, a garden, a vineyard, it's like pointing something out to a cat – the cat looks at your finger, not at what you're pointing at. They don't need to understand it, they only need to believe, and they do. They imagine the kingdom as they need it to be, they don't need to grasp it, it's there already, they can let it be. Imagination, not intellect.† Maggie let go of our necks, then stood there grinning like a madwoman. Joshua looked at her, then at me. I shrugged. â€Å"I told you she was smarter than both of us.† â€Å"I know,† Joshua said. â€Å"I don't know if I can stand you both being right in the same day. I need some time to think and pray.† â€Å"Go on then,† Maggie said, waving him on. I stopped and watched my friend walk into the village, having absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do. I turned back to Maggie. â€Å"You heard the Passover prediction?† She nodded. â€Å"I take it you didn't confront him.† â€Å"I don't know what to say.† â€Å"We need to talk him out of it. If he knows what awaits him in Jerusalem, why go? Why don't we go into Phoenicia or Syria? He could even take the good news to Greece and be perfectly safe. They have people running all over the place preaching different ideas – look at Bartholomew and his Cynics.† â€Å"When we were in India, we saw a festival in the city of their goddess Kali. She's a goddess of destruction, Maggie. It was the bloodiest thing I've ever seen, thousands of animals slaughtered, hundreds of men beheaded. The whole world seemed slick with blood. Joshua and I saved some children from being flayed alive, but when it was over, Joshua kept saying, no more sacrifices. No more.† Maggie looked at me as if she expected more. â€Å"So? It was horrible, what did you expect him to say?† â€Å"He wasn't talking to me, Maggie. He was talking to God. And I don't think he was making a request.† â€Å"Are you saying that he thinks his father wants to kill him for trying to change things, so he can't avoid it because it's the will of God?† â€Å"No, I'm saying that he's going to allow himself to be killed to show his father that things need to be changed. He's not going to try to avoid it at all.† For three months we begged, we pleaded, we reasoned, and we wept, but we could not talk Joshua out of going to Jerusalem for Passover. Joseph of Arimathea had sent word that the Pharisees and Sadducees were still plotting against Joshua, that Jakan had been speaking out against Joshua's followers in the Court of the Gentiles, outside the Temple. But the threats only seemed to strengthen Joshua's resolve. A couple of times Maggie and I managed to tie Joshua up and stash him in the bottom of a boat, using knots that we had learned from the sailor brothers Peter and Andrew, but both times Joshua appeared a few minutes later holding the cords that had bound him, saying things like, â€Å"Good knots, but not quite good enough, were they?† Maggie and I worried together for days before we left for Jerusalem. â€Å"He could be wrong about the execution,† I said. â€Å"Yes, he could be,† Maggie agreed. â€Å"Do you think he is? Wrong about it, I mean?† â€Å"I think I'm going to throw up.† â€Å"I don't see how that's going to stop him.† And it didn't. The next day we left for Jerusalem. On the way we stopped to rest along the road at a town along the Jordan River called Beth Shemesh. We were sitting there, feeling somber and helpless, watching the column of pilgrims move along the riverbank, when an old woman emerged from the column and beat her way through the reclining apostles with a walking staff. â€Å"Out of the way, I need to talk to this fellow. Move, you oaf, you need to take a bath.† She bonked Bartholomew on the head as she passed and his doggy pals nipped at her heels. â€Å"Look out there, I'm an old woman, I need to see this Joshua of Nazareth.† â€Å"Oh no, Mother,† John wailed. James got up to stop her and she threatened him with the staff. â€Å"What can I help you with, Old Mother?† Joshua asked. â€Å"I'm the wife of Zebedee, mother of these two.† She pointed her staff to James and John. â€Å"I hear that you're going to the kingdom soon.† â€Å"If it be so, so be it,† said Joshua. â€Å"Well, my late husband, Zebedee, God rest his soul, left these boys a perfectly good business, and since they've been following you around they've run it into the ground.† She turned to her sons. â€Å"Into the ground!† Joshua put his hand on her arm, but instead of the usual calm that I saw come over people when he touched them, Mrs. Zebedee pulled away and swung her staff at him, barely missing his head. â€Å"Don't try to bamboozle me, Mr. Smooth Talker. My boys have ruined their father's business for you, so I want your assurance that in return they get to sit on either side of the throne in the kingdom. It's only fair. They're good boys.† She turned to James and John. â€Å"If your father was alive it would kill him to see what you two have done.† â€Å"But Old Mother, it's not up to me who will sit next to the throne.† â€Å"Who is it up to?† â€Å"Well, it's up to the Lord, my father.† â€Å"Well then go ask him.† She leaned on her staff and tapped a foot. â€Å"I'll wait.† â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You would deny a dying woman her last request?† â€Å"You're not dying.† â€Å"You're killing me here. Go check. Go.† Joshua looked at us all sheepishly. We all looked away, cowards that we were. It's not as if any of us had ever learned to deal with a Jewish mother either. â€Å"I'll go up on that mountain and check,† Joshua said, pointing to the highest peak in the area. â€Å"Well go, then. You want I should be late for the Passover?† â€Å"Right. Okay, then, I'll go check, right now.† Josh backed away slowly, sort of sidled toward the mountain. Mount Tabor, I think it was. Mrs. Zebedee went after her sons like she was shooing chickens out of the garden. â€Å"What are you, pillars of salt? Go with him.† Peter laughed and she whirled around with her staff ready to brain him. Peter pretended to cough. â€Å"I'd better go along, uh, just in case they need a witness.† He scurried after Joshua and the other two. The old woman glared at me. â€Å"What are you looking at? You think the pain of childbirth ends when they move away? What do you know? Does a broken heart know from a different neighborhood?† They were gone all night, a very long night in which we all got to hear about John and James' father, Zebedee, who evidently had possessed the courage of Daniel, the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Samson, the devotion of Abraham, the good looks of David, and the tackle of Goliath, God rest his soul. (Funny, James had always described his father as a wormy little guy with a lisp.) When the four came back over the hill we all leapt to our feet and ran to greet them – I would have carried them back on my shoulders if it would have shut the old woman up. â€Å"Well?† she said. â€Å"It was amazing,† Peter said to us all, ignoring the old woman. â€Å"We saw three thrones. Moses was on one, Elijah was on another, and the third was ready for Joshua. And a huge voice came out of the sky, saying, ‘This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.'† â€Å"Oh yeah, he said that before,† I said. â€Å"I heard it this time,† Joshua said, smiling. â€Å"Just the three chairs then?† said Mrs. Zebedee. She looked at her two sons, who were cowering behind Joshua. â€Å"No place for you two, of course.† She started to stagger away from them, a hand clutched to her heart. â€Å"I suppose one can be happy for the mothers of Moses and Elijah and this Nazareth boy, then. They don't have to know what it is to have a spike in the heart.† Down the riverbank she limped, off toward Jerusalem. Joshua squeezed the brothers' shoulders. â€Å"I'll fix it.† He ran after Mrs. Zebedee. Maggie elbowed me and when I looked around at her there were tears in her eyes. â€Å"He's not wrong,† she said. â€Å"That's it,† I said. â€Å"Well, ask his mother to talk him out of it. No one can resist her – I mean, I can't. I mean, she's not you, but†¦Look! Is that a seagull?†