Consequences of Chocies

In Romeo &Juliet, and its modern counterpart West Side Story, the choices the characters made, lead to their pain and suffering. Many of the choices that lead to negative consequences were because of characters in both Romeo & Juliet, and West Side Story acting out of love. Their love for someone made them act out in a way that kept their life at risk. Love can force someone to do things they would never even think of to do. In West Side Story, when Tony hears that Marl was murdered by Chino, he runs out In the open, calling out is name and asking Chino to kill him too.Tony knows that Chino can come out with a gun and kill him. But, because of his love for Marl, he risks his life to see If this news was true. HIS choice risked his life, and In the end, he was shot by Chino. In Romeo & Juliet, when Romeo hears of Gullet's death, he rides back to Verona to see it for himself. In the Caplet's grave, he sees Juliet â€Å"dead†. He does not have anything to live for because of his love's death. Due to this, he drinks poison and kills himself. â€Å"Here's to my love. [Drinking] O true apothecary, / Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a sis I die† (Shakespeare V, 3, 119-120).Because of Gullet's death, Romeo believes that there is no reason to live anymore. His love for Juliet forced him to drink the poison. It was a choice that he made, but an event that could have made both, Romeo and Juliet alive. The act of love is not the only emotion that can cause someone to make a wrong choice. The emotion of hatred can also cause someone to react In a way they would never do. Hatred can also make someone act In a way they never would. The hatred for someone or a group of people can lead someone to act out. Without thinking. Their hooch will lead to a great consequence.A grudge can also lead to a bad decision. With a bad decision, comes a major consequence. In Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare writes about when Table demands to fight Romeo, even when the Prince warned both houses, if anyone causes a commotion, they will be executed. Table's hatred for Romeo and the Montage's for their appearance at the Caplet's dance caused him to require a fight. â€Å"Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries/ That thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw† (Shakespeare Ill, 1, 67-68). Emotions can make someone act in ways that are absurd.The emotion basically takes over them, and makes them make terrible choices without even thinking about It. Generally, people make decisions based what seems the most reasonable or most ethical. A bad choice comes with a negative consequence. If that choice seems reasonable, he/she will pursue that choice, without going over the consequence that their choices will create. In Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare writes about when Table kills Mercuric with his sword. When Romeo finds out that Mercuric was murdered by a Caplet, it greatly angers him and he runs to where Table and the Capsules are.Romeo draws his sword and demands a sword fight with Table to avenge his cousin's death. â€Å"Alive in triumph, and Mercuric slain! ‘ Away to heaven, respective lenient,] And fire eyed fury be my conduct now. -/ Now, Table, take the â€Å"villain† back again/ That late thou agaves me, for Americium's soul/ Is but a little way above our heads,] Staying for thing to keep him company. ‘ Either thou or l, or both, must go with him† (Shakespeare Ill, 1, 127- 134). Romeo definitely did not think this over, and he did not think about the outcome of his decision.Because of his decision to fight Table, he ended up murdering Table and getting banished from Verona. Ultimately, all bad decisions come from people not thinking the decision through. Because of not thinking decisions through, the main characters of Romeo & Juliet, and West Side Story suffered. The character's choices led to negative consequences and to their deaths. Emotions of the characters forced them to act in a wrong way and not realizing t he consequence of their actions brought them to their deaths. Life is definitely made of the choices people make in their lives.

Retribution Theology

God delivered the children of Israel out of the Egyptian’s abusive hands and gave them the Ten Commandments. These rules were given to live by and form an everlasting relationship with their God. But, if they failed to keep their end of the bargain, God would have to punish them. Retribution theology is the belief that those who are obedient to God are called righteous and will be blessed, while those that are disobedient are wicked and will be cursed (Tullock 2006). From the beginning of Exodus and beyond the Babylonian Exile, retribution theology was prevalent in the lives of Israel. The Old Testament writings reiterate God’s faithfulness towards Israel. â€Å"The Old Testament indicates that God’s law was specially revealed to Israel in the context of His redeeming and delivering His people from bondage,† (Bahnsen 1980). But before Moses, God established an unconditional covenant with Abram when he obeyed Him. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and told him that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan forever. â€Å"I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. † (Genesis 12:2, NRSV). These descendants became known as Israel and after 500 years of being God’s chosen people, they became the slaves of the Egyptians. Since God is faithful and Israel was His people, He had to remove them from the oppression of Pharaoh. In a theophany, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and commissioned him to deliver the children of Israel. Once God freed them and provided them an escape route, under the leadership of Moses, He endowed them with the law and His blessings. â€Å"Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. (Exodus 19:5, NRSV). After freeing them, God provided them with the means for remaining freed and receiving His provisions. In spite of their deliverance, the Israelites’ problems did not end with their exodus from Egypt. They suffered many trials and tribulations, but from the hand of the God who had promised to bless them (Deffinbaugh 1976). Because of their murmuring, com plaining, and unbelief, God allowed Israel to walk around in the wilderness for forty years. This was literally only a three day journey. In addition, God never intended for Israel to have to fight their way into the Promised Land; He wanted them to have faith and obey Him. Again, because of their disobedience, God allowed them to suffer the consequences of sin. God called Israel to be righteous before Him. Righteousness was what the people were to be and to do because of God. It meant to be in the right relationship with God, and to act accordingly in the world based on that moral relationship. He blessed Israel out of His love and cursed out of His righteousness or holiness (Deffinbaugh 1976). To be righteous was to have the teaching of God in one’s heart, to know and to understand the things of God. While the term could be used to describe ethical actions in the world, the primary focus of righteousness was toward God, what the people were in relation to God. Righteousness was the people’s relationship to God based on the fact, that â€Å"I am your God. † Therefore, God felt that He had every right to curse them when they were disobedient to His covenant. The first commandment God gave Israel was to have no other gods before Him because He was the one true God. Clearly, God knew and acknowledged that there were other gods or objects the people in that time worshipped. But He had proven to the Hebrew people that He was their deliverer, provider, and their God. The second commandment said not to make for themselves any type of idol, that God was jealous, and that He showed mercy to those that loved Him and kept His commandments. Now, He revealed His nature and how He was to be honored. It was only right, just and honorable that they worshipped and obeyed Him. There did not seem to be any secrets or mysteries on what God expected from Israel. But, Israel just could not stop worshipping idols. They continued to worship Baal, the god of sun, rain, thunder, fertility, and agriculture despite the prophets’ warnings. Many prophets such as Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, and Micah warned Israel of their wickedness and the consequences. When Israel became a nation, God’s law of righteousness did not change. He still expected them to obey His word. God’s national blessings and cursings were conditional as well. If a nation repented of its sin and turned to God, its threatened judgment could be prevented. If a nation turned from God, its promised blessings would be taken away. Many forms of divine retribution can fall on a human life which is worse than immediate death. In fact, Jeremiah made just such a complaint about the punishment inflicted on Jerusalem (Lam. 4:6, 9). One might think also of King Saul, whose last days were burdened with such mental and emotional turmoil that death itself was a kind of release. 10:30-31. No one should regard such a warning as an idle threat. God Himself has claimed the right to take vengeance and to judge His people. In saying this, the author quoted twice from Deuteronomy (32:35-36), a chapter which most vividly evokes the picture of God’s people suffering His retributive judgments (cf. esp. Deut. 32:19-27). Those familiar with this text, as well as other descriptions of God’s wrath against â€Å"His people,† agree: it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Not only did God operate in that manner of retribution theology, but Israel believed that if you obeyed the law, you would prosper. If you didn’t obey the law, you would suffer.

Organisational Culture Essay

Culture According to Kroeber and Kluckholn (1952) culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts. Sinha (2000) suggests that â€Å"Culture consists of totality of assumptions, beliefs, values, social systems and institutions, physical artifacts and behaviour of people, reflecting their desire to maintain continuity as well as to adapt to external demands.† Organisational Culture Organisational culture is a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes an organisation from other organisations. Organisational culture is the set of values that helps the organisation’s employees understanding which actions are considered acceptable and which are unacceptable According to Schein, Organisational Culture is defined as A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as a correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems Gareth Morgan has described organizational culture as: â€Å"The set of the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it.† Types of Organizational Culture Organisational culture can vary in a number of ways. It is these variances that differentiate one organisation from the others. Some of the bases of the differentiation are presented below : 1. Strong vs weak culture : Organisational culture can be labelled as strong or weak based on sharedness of the core values among organisational members and the degree of commitment the members have to these core values. The higher the sharedness and commitment, the stronger the culture increases the possibility of behaviour consistency amongst its members, while a weak culture opens avenues for each one of the members showing concerns unique to themselves. 2. Soft vs hard culture : Soft work culture can emerge in an organisation where the organisation pursues multiple and conflicting goals. In a soft culture the employees choose to pursue a few objectives which serve personal or sectional interests. A typical example of soft culture can be found in a number of public sector organisations in India where the management feels constrained to take action against employees to maintain high productivity. The culture is welfare oriented; people are held accountable for their mistakes but are not rewarded for good performance. Consequently, the employees consider work to be less important than personal and social obligations. Sinha (1990) has presented a case study of a public sector fertilizer company which was established in an industrially backward rural area to promote employment generation and industrial activity. Under pressure from local communities and the government, the company succumbed to overstaffing, converting mechanised operations into manual operations, payment of overtime, and poor discipline. This resulted in huge financial losses (up to 60 percent of the capital) to the company. 3. Formal vs informal culture : The work culture of an organisation, to a large extent, is influenced by the formal components of organisational culture. Roles, responsibilities, accountability, rules and regulations are components of formal culture. They set the expectations that the organisation has from every member and indicates the consequences if these expectations are not fulfilled. Mechanistic and organic cultures: The most important aspects of organisation in public sector companies include hierarchies, supervision, control, formalisation, flow of authority and communication from top to bottom, etc., rather than the results or outcome. Organisations with these characters are termed as mechanistic organisations. They follow status quo strategy and therefore resist innovation and aggressiveness on the part of employees. These organisations also lack customer-orientation and employee welfare. Tata Infotech, on the other hand, is more flexible and open. Jobs and roles are not defined rigidly and employees are given freedom to adjust themselves to the environmental requirement. Concern is more towards the outcome and results, but not the procedure or hierarchy. Communication in this company is more multi-directional. The informal communication is widely used. Decision-making is more decentralized. People with the ability to handle problems are given freedom to assume authority and responsibility. This company is a continuous learning organisation from the environment and such companies are termed as organic structures.† The mechanic culture de-motivates the competent people and leads to negative organisational culture and while the organic culture motivate the able employees to be competitive and innovative. Authoritarian and participative cultures: Authority to make the decisions is centralised at the top management level in Nagarjuna Fertilisers Limited. Consequently, the CEO of the company makes the decisions and informs them to the lower levels in the organisation. Such culture of concentration of authority and power at the central level is called authoritarian culture. Such a culture kills the initiative and innovativeness of the employees at different levels. In contrast, Cybertech Systems and Software decentralises the power and authority decision-making. In fact, employees are involved in decision-making. Communication flows not only from the top to bottom but also from the bottom to the top. Such type of culture is called participative culture. Participative culture encourages the employees to be innovative, aggressive and to take risks. Features of Organisational Culture The analysis of the above definitions indicate the following features of organisational culture Innovation and risk taking: ‘Innovation is the way of life in Microsoft.’ Innovation the key characteristic of Gillette Company.’ Companies encourage the employees to innovative and risk takers at different degrees. Attention to detail: ‘Employees in the Boston Consultancy Group are expected to be precise, analytical and pay attention to even the minor details.’ Thus, organisations require their employees to be precise, analytical and pay attention to the minute details at different degrees. Outcome orientation: ‘Coromandal Cements expects its employees to improve their performance at least by 5% every year irrespective of the approaches they follow.’ Thus the organisations require their employees to pay attention or the results. Pople Orientation: Hewlett and Packard announced one day unpaid holiday for every nine working days and avoided lay-off.’ Thus, the organisations take the effect its decisions on the employees.ei Team orientation: â€Å"Global Solutions repeats: â€Å"We Work.† It does mean that activities are designed around teams but not individuals. Thus, we today find team jobs rather than individual jobs. Aggressiveness: The employees of State Bank of India were not allowed to be aggressive whereas the employees of IDBI Bank are expected to be aggressive and competitive. Thus, aggressiveness is the level to which the employees are expected to be competitive rather than easygoing. Stability: Most of the Indian Universities still have the status quo strategy of maintaining the traditional values and beliefs of ‘Guru and Shishya’ parampara of Gurukulas Radical change: In contrast to the stability strategy, most of the organisations after 1991 have the growth, diversification and conglomerate diversification strategies. It is the degree at which the organisational activities emphasise growth and diversification Customer Orientation: Pizza Huts build relationship with the customers and then adapt aggressive marketing strategies. It is the degree to which the management decisions take into considerations the effect of outcomes on customers of the organization. indicates the consequences if these expectations are not fulfilled. Table 1.1 presents some of the components of formal culture and their implication for organisations.

Transport and cultural geography of London Essay

Transport and cultural geography of London - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that London developed the first underground railway in the world. The Metropolitan Company financed the construction of the railway that became the first to use electric engines for propulsion. Besides, the company built an escalator at Earls Court and Holloway. The underground train exists to date carrying 1.07 million passengers annually. The London underground tunnel hosts animals from deer to grass snakes. About half a million mice also dwell in these tunnels. The mosquitoes inhabiting the tunnels have evolved into a unique species for its insatiable biting. London now has seven major railway stations covering long distances. Â  Recent developments in London Heathrow airport make it the world’s busiest airports. The airport services both local and international travels. Heathrow airport has underground station served by an underground railway connecting the airport to Central London. Taxis are also available outside the airport. London also has 24 bridges over river Thames such as the Tower Bridge built in 1894. The London transport museum hosts all the developments in transportation beginning first inventions. The Roman settlers were the first to settle permanently in London. The World War II destroyed a large part of London. London has 7.5 million residents as indicated by the 2007 census. The population consists of people from different cultures and religions. The main geographical feature in London is Thames River, which runs through the city from east to southwest.

Unit 1 Seminar Case managemnet Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 1 Seminar Case managemnet - Research Paper Example dividuals, actively manage any programs that ensure a successful service provision as well as making decisions that facilitate a smooth service provision (Metzger 30). Dual relationships mean relationships that crop up between a client and a worker in the course of their interaction. A dual relationship might occur consecutively or simultaneously during the interaction between the client and the service provider. There are various types of dual relationships. They include, social dual relationships whereby the client is also a friend, a professional dual relationship whereby the client and the service provider are professional acquaintances in other arenas and a communal dual relationship involves the client and worker living in the same area/community. Other dual relationships include sexual dual relationships whereby the two are involves in a sexual relationship and a business dual relationship whereby the client and worker are business partners as well. Client rights refer to the entitlement of a client to receive certain treatment or services. Some of clients’ rights include privacy and confidentiality, accurate and timely access to information, receipt of excellent services (Woodside, 271). Clients are also entitled to have the cultural needs respected as they get respect as well as dignity in service provision. For instance a client going to see a professional counselor over divorce or custody matters has the right to have information disclosed to the counselor private and confidentially no matter

Describe and evaluate the current budgetary process in Congress. What, Essay

Describe and evaluate the current budgetary process in Congress. What, if anything would you change How would you change it - Essay Example at include outlays, subsidies for loans and insurance (Beranek), tax deductions among other tools; and enhanced public confidence and trust in the said process. This article discusses the various reform options available and focuses on presenting the best ways that are most likely to meet the required effectiveness and feasibility. A breakdown of the best way to do this is divided into three sections comprising of efficient and timely budgeting, accountability, and transparency (Beranek). Since the budgeting process starts at the time the president communicates his proposed budget to the Congress and is usually meant to be carried out by the first Monday of February each year and usually fails to happen, it is, therefore, almost impossible for any newly elected president to comply with a set timetable at the beginning of the year due to the existence of a strong case regarding pushing back the legislative and executive branch timetables at the time as noted by the House Budget Committee. The reform that should be carried out in enhancing the effectiveness of timely budgeting include:- The level of public trust in the budgeting process has over the years been eroded alongside the deteriorating status of the federal government and the Congress specifically. One cause of the mistrust is the prevalent credence that insiders are frolicking some sort of shell game that is designed to completely conceal the actual happenings in the process. Politicians frequently castigate against the budgeting process: Proclaiming that â€Å"Only in Washington is an expenditure increase labelled as a cut. When viewed from the stance of the ordinary mutual sense, these critics seem to have a point. For example, considering a family that uses the same location as their vacation spot every year (Beranek). The prices for lodging and travelling rises, between this year and the next year, increasing the overall vacations expenditure by $700, the family has two options either to take the cost

Fashion Designer versus Stylist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fashion Designer versus Stylist - Essay Example Suffice it to say, that lots of TV-stars and celebrities prefer having their personal stylists, who is always ready to create a fantastic image for them. As for the fashion shows, they are, as usual, above all praises. Designers are to satisfy the most sophisticated clients, there are notorious for the ability to create the masterpieces of clothing, which never keeps you indifferent. Nevertheless, most of us do not distinguish between the professions of people connected with fashion industry. We just apply to these people and trust them during the procedure of creating our perfect style without looking deeply into their tasks and the peculiarities of this or that job. Stylists, designers, whatever, we know that their vocation is to make us more beautiful and thus, self-confident. But it is hard to imagine that, in case of need of a gorgeous dress, you will address the stylist at once, as well as it is impossible to dress your hair at the Fashion House. It is obvious that both fashion designer and fashion stylist belong to the same sphere of activity; their efforts are directed to satisfying the aesthetic tastes of various people, they bring beauty, refinement and preciosity in their lives. These professionals work with the same materials, communicate with the similar categories of people, they are to monitor the world’s most popular trends and respond to the particular needs of the customers.

Organization Changes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Organization Changes - Essay Example The main objective of this paper is to analyze the external and internal forces which are responsible for the changes in the organizations and also a detail discussion about one specific internal and one specific external factor associated with the organization changes. Based on the economy of various nations, several organizations across the globe have incorporated various changes in their organizational structure as well as their way of operation. This paper makes a conclusion that among internal factors one most important factor is the growth of the organization. To ensure steady growth various organization undergone several changes both structurally as well as functionally. In order to ensure continuous growth the top management introduces these changes in the system. there must be similarities and balance between change plan and organizational context- as this coordination plays a substantial role in the accomplishment or failure of organizational change. The main objective of organizational modification is to inaugurate new pattern of thinking and behavior among the employees as well as in day to day operation. If the new design conflicts with the existing ones to develop resistance and if that resistance is more powerful than the change initiated then the process of organization change is bound to be a failure. Therefore, while planning a change, the organizational context must be taken in to attention along with external and internal factors.

Written campaign pitch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Written campaign pitch - Essay Example This campaign pitch is designed to work under a strategy known as market-differentiation and through the use of the resources that are available in the Attic stores. The growth of this business as well as the consumer awareness/loyalty will be attained through the use of the resources provided by the three principal partners of Attic stores. The marketing mix to be used by the Attic stores will be centered on the emphasis of the high quality of their products and the fast customer service accorded to the clients by the staff of Attic stores. It is definitely probable that various risks will be involved in this type of a marketing mix. As a solution to this, Attic stores will consider structuring this campaign pitch into four segments. The first segment of this campaign pitch will focus on the instantaneous and responsive business environment accorded to Attic stores. In utilizing the immediate and responsive business environment, the Attic stores shall make use of a campaign slogan to be referred to as ‘fashion mania’. ‘Fashion mania’ can be given wide-meaning showing obsessions that people have for up-to-the-minute clothing and more specifically leisure/sportswear. We shall therefore change our business name to Attic Stores Fashion Mania. As part of our change, we shall encompass various modes for the distribution of our products. That means that we will not rely only on the traditional methodologies that are used by other retail outlets in the distribution of their products. As such, we will employ the use of other methodologies for example mail orders so as to address the clothing needs of our clients who are very busy and do not have free time at their disposal to come personally to the stores (Adcock, 1998). We will also use the internet and the social media like Facebook and blogs sell our products. The use of the social media is particularly important because at this digital era, most of the people

Eugenics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Eugenics - Essay Example The foundation of the idea of eugenics is that any species can be manipulated through genetically selecting parents in order to achieve higher levels of attributes in each generation. While this was developed as a science, the concepts took a dark turn when applied to human genetics.Eugenics was used during World War II to support attempts at genocide by Adolph Hitler’s regime. Forced sterilization was a solution that preceded the camp deaths of those fitting into an undesirable framework in keeping the ‘Nordic’ race pure. Through ideas that defined people based on traits of birth or instances of medical problems, eugenics was a false science that allowed for the reasoning behind much of the atrocities of World War II. The foundation of the idea of eugenics is that any species can be manipulated through genetically selecting parents in order to achieve higher levels of attributes in each generation. While this was developed as a science, the concepts took a dark t urn when applied to human genetics. In the early 20th century eugenics thrived as a popular belief system to the point that over 30 states had eugenic programs of sterilization in the United States (Joseph 342). More horrific adaptations of eugenics occurred in Hitler’s Germany. In 1923 Fritz Lenz berated his fellow countrymen for not having kept up with the United States in eugenics studies and programs. Marriage was being prohibited in the United States for people who had mental challenges, as well as those who had epilepsy. Lenz was more specific than the United States in that instead of focusing on the idea of preserving the ‘white’ race, Lenz focused on the ‘Nordic’ race, defining superiority through a narrow set of characteristics (Lifton 23). Lenz clarified his position when he wrote in a paper for his professor Alfred Ploetz that â€Å"race was the criterion of value† and â€Å"the State is not there to see that the individual gets hi s rights, but to serve the race† (Lifton 24). As Nazi Germany began to evolve, the idea of purification was romanticized; the idea of â€Å"a more extensive program of compulsory sterilization than had ever previously been attempted† began a social reform that would lead to the genocide that was the greatest horror of World War II (Lifton 24). Abortion became one of the means through which control of the population of those who had ‘undesirable’ traits was established. German laws were passed in 1933 which allowed abortion and eventually forced it through German health courts who decided the fates of those who were not desired under Hitler’s regime (David, Fleischhacker, and Hohn 110). Bavarian scientists pushed the idea of sterilization and elimination of undesirable traits from the population to the point that compulsory sterilization became the standard. From that step, it was a short leap to massacre. Those who were blessed by the ‘rightâ⠂¬â„¢ traits were encouraged to marry and have children with the state providing for those families through welfare programs who had â€Å"racially valuable children† (Lifton 43). Beyond encouragement, the state engaged in kidnapping children with desirable traits, fostering their growth through programs that also helped to shape their belief systems. Heinrich Himmler developed the program called â€Å"Lebensborn† or â€Å"Spring of Life† which was intended to breed the SS from a ‘superior’ biological gene pool, through which the kidnapping was accomplished. Himmler is quoted as saying â€Å"I really intend to take German blood from wherever it is to be found in the world, to rob it and steal it wherever I can†

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic management - Essay Example By using the SWOT analysis (Yelken, et al., 2012, p.267) that was carried out by the Global Data company over the company, we are able to understand the company’s strengths, opportunities, weaknesses as well as threats. The analysis reveals its strengths as extensive operating network and branding offerings. The company however has the major pull back to her operations being the enormous losses it has continuously suffered though it has opportunities to expand in her operations and increase the market share. Moreover, it has other threats, which include high competitive pressures as well as over-stringent regulations. However, there is the need to evaluate the strategic plans that the company has in place in regulating and propelling its operations (Global Data company, 2013, para 1). The company has a well-written strategy concerning the way of developing and exploiting a further competitive front within its pub as well as brewing sector. This strategic vision is based on the already existing positions in the market, its employee’s capabilities as well as skills together with its traditionally designed model of business, which is vertically integrated. Moreover, the company has a business target drive to continuously outperform other players within the market in the different segments of her operations. The company has a well established investment program, which champions its way in selecting business sites, and thus developing newer restaurants. The company claims to undertake thorough analysis before establishing new pub buildings which are modern and appropriate in terms of trading and which offer the customers convenience and value for the services. The company establishes fair, long-lasting and transparent kind of agreements with its licensees which rent their leased and tenanted pubs. It also enjoys long life expertise and experience in operating leases premises. Moreover, this company offers provisions for long-term lease agreements to th e licensees and offers pricing mechanisms on free trade as well as free-of-tie options. In order to underpin the operational development within her managed facilities, Marston company operates under a plan called the ‘F-plan’, which refers to food, females, forty/fifty some things and families. The plan was developed and adopted back in 2006, and was meant to have long-term effects. The company also enjoys designing differentiated brew brands purely designed to increase the consumers demand as well as providing greater range of choices to consumers. The company has exploited the niche in the country through well-organized distribution of her products across the entire country from the running five breweries. In financial terms, the company has huge debts, which comprises 90% long-term debts which are secured through its wide distribution of free hold assets in terms of pubs and which fetches low interest rates. However, the current strategy and target is to reduce the n et debt by a ratio stipulated by EBITDA to see off at least a five times reduction capacity is realized within three years. This is postulated to be aided by raising return to capital across the entire group’s operations (Marston’s, nd, para 1-5) Strategic management refers to the analysis of major initiatives and programs undertaken by the management of a company on behalf of the entrepreneurs revolving the effective use of resources as well as general performance

Advertising Strategies Essay Example for Free

Advertising Strategies Essay Advertising Strategies Advertising is used as a means to attract the buyer to follow a brand. There are many different advertising techniques that can be used depending on the demographics of the target market. As a 14-year-old, marketers have to understand what people my age like when it comes to advertising. For an advertisement to be effective for my age group, it needs to appeal to the audience. There are three main types of advertising used for people my own age, and they are celebrity power, lots of action, and the use of attractive women. Celebrity power is one effective form of advertising used for young teenagers. Because of the stage of life that I am currently at, I tend to look up to people who are famous. Most teenagers like to idolize musicians, sports players, and film stars. I am no different in this manner because I do associate myself with my favorite celebrities and try and follow them. If one of my idols is advertising a product, then I am more likely to pay that product some attention. I think that if my favorite celebrity is endorsing a product, then to be a true fan I should start buying that brand. This type of advertising is one of the oldest in the book, but it is also very effective for young people who are searching for an identity. Advertisements that have lots of action are also very popular with my age group. As a teenage boy, I enjoy watching television with great action scenes. This could either be a fight scene or a car chase. Marketers know that people my age like to see lots of action because it gets the adrenaline pumping. I am no different in that I enjoy watching advertisements that include a lot of action. There does not have to be much dialogue or any key message, just the inclusion of action appeals to young boys my age. Unlike the use of celebrities, using action sequences is a type of advertising that only works with males, particularly those around my own age. The third type of advertising that is effective for my age group is the use of sexy women. The saying that sex sells is a well-known one and it has been used ever since advertising first existed. The use of a pretty lady can set something going inside of teenage boys that make them take notice of the  advertisement. Scantily-clad women may be offensive to young females, but to guys like me it can make all the difference when it comes to advertising. I think that the use of attractive women will continue to be used by marketers because they know that it is an effective strategy and plenty of young men will approve of it. We are all bombarded by advertising every single day of our lives because marketers know the opportunities that it can bring. More than this, they also know that advertising can be extremely effective when trying to sell a product or service. For young boys of my age, this is no different. The advertising techniques used to attract people my age can be different from other target markets. The three main advertising strategies that are used to target someone like me are the celebrity factor, action sequences, and the inclusion of attractive young women.

Comparison And Contrast Between Nuclear And Solar Energy Engineering Essay

Comparison And Contrast Between Nuclear And Solar Energy Engineering Essay Human beings have been using fossil fuels for hundreds of years, satisfying the demand of industrialization. The behavior of using fossil fuels, on the other hand, causes huge pollution, such as soil, water and atmosphere contamination. In addition, fossil fuels, such as solid, liquid and gas, are all facing on the exhaustion. It is evidential that the situations need to be checked or repressed. However, the solutions should satisfy the urgent requirement of energy as well. Nuclear and solar energy are two clean, practicable solutions for human beings. Because they have been tested and been put to use since the mid twentieth century. On the surface, nuclear and solar energy seem absolutely different in other aspects except for low direct pollution and practicability. In fact, they share some significant similarities while they are totally different in other aspects. This essay will concentrate on comparing and contrasting nuclear and solar energy by discussing the similarities in gas emissions, high expend in increasing efficiency and electricity price, and the differences in safety and equipments. There are numerous similarities between nuclear and solar energy. The most significant one is that they are pollution-free and have no direct emission of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. Both nuclear and solar energy will give a carbon dioxide saving of 1330kg for 1kw electric power per year (Bosshard, 2006). Even though they lead to indirect emission of gases, the quantity of pollutant is small and unavoidable. However, at the price of low emission, the improvement of efficiency is expensive and difficult for both. In other words, they require high expenses in material and maintenance, especially when increasing the electricity production. Furthermore, according to Bosshard (2006) and Murray (2000), low efficiency is a traditional challenge for nuclear energy to conquer as it is in the solar energy field. Nuclear plant has efficiency about 7% in collecting radioactive energy to drive dynamotors. Merely 30-40% energy can be converted into electricity power by dynamotors. Likewise, neither silicon solar cell nor compound solar cell has an average efficiency which is over 16% (Edmonds, 2007). Even thought both nuclear and solar energy have plans for increase of efficiencyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬fusion for nuclear energy and Thin Film Poly for solar energyà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬that will make a great improvement in efficiency, these techniques will not be conquer and put into application within a decade . Another common point that these two kinds of energy share together is the price of electricity. According to Thamm (2007), the price for solar energy is $0.35-$0.6 per kWh for solar cell and $0.085-$0.135 per kWh for solar thermal, while Fell (2006) claimed that the nuclear electricity price was from $0.3/kWh to $0.6/kWh; whereas, comparing to fossil fuels energy, which is merely 0.04 dollar per kilowatt-hour; hence, the expensive costs these two energies need will influence the competitive ability of worldwide market obviously. In spite of the similarities, safety is the main problem. It caused the differences of worldwide application in fund input and popularity between nuclear and solar energy. According to Duncan (2002), radioactive materials are regarded as the most basic sources for nuclear plant, which is extremely deadly pollutant. Therefore, as a solution, it will be stored in deeply in the earth with high-end and mature technology. Nuclear energy becomes one of the luxury goods for some wealthy countries. In contrast, solar energy application is much safer, such as solar cell, it can not only be built in solar station but also be applied in every aspect of daily life in both developed and developing countries. For instance, it supplies energy to homes or even playthings. Furthermore, the two famous nuclear accidents, The Three Mile Island in 1979 and The Chernobyl in 1986, are regarded as the another main evident reason for environmentalists to refuse nuclear power and for many counties to prefer p utting more fund into other clean energy like solar energy. There are three differences of the equipment applied to generate electricity for these two kinds of energy. The main difference involves the principle of operation of energy transformation. In this area, solar energy is more direct. Gonyeau (2003) stated that nuclear plant applied some special substance to absorb the radioactive energy from radioactive material in order to convert the energy into the heat of vapor, which would drive the thermoelectric generator to produce electricity. Moreover, heavy water, which is so difficult to produce that its value is higher than gold, is requite as Refrigerant. In contrast, Solar equipments prefer to generate electricity more directly by collecting photon energy and transforming it into potential energy in the cell or just gather the heat of light with water or parabolic dish collector (Corporation, 2008). As result, solar energy is more convenient than nuclear energy. Not only the ways of energy transformation are distinct, protection problem is also regarded as the area where difference exists. Nuclear plant needs frequent examination and to be well protected, because every little mistake will deal to the over heated of the reactor which is likely to cause the disaster that beyond retrieve. However, solar equipments are more easy to be controlled and do not requite as much care as nuclear plant does. The last point of difference is in energy gathering. It is obviously that nuclear plant can generate hundreds of times electricity than solar equipments (Edmonds, 2007). In addiction, difficulty in gathering energy is regarded as the disadvantage of solar energy, while the nuclear plant is good at this work. From what has been discussed above, it is easy to identify that solar energy is more promising than nuclear energy for its pollution-free production, safety, and convenience. Also, while nuclear energy, especially the fusion reaction that will be applied in future, is much danger and shouldering the pressure of nuclear proliferation, solar energy has wider and wider application in all aspects in society. Moreover, solar energy is one of the energies which are almost infinity for humankinds, because it can be found even outside the solar system; while nuclear energy is suffering the shortage of source. In brief, solar energy will develop well and become far more popular than now. In conclusion, by comparing and contrasting these two kinds of energy, it is clear that nuclear and solar energy share the common point of low greenhouse gas emissions and high cost of electricity. However, they still differ in many areas such as safety and principle of operation of devices. It is evidently that the application of nuclear and solar energy will grow in the future; while solar energy is more promising. Although there are several difficulties for both nuclear and solar energy to conquer, great progresses will be made. Consequently, they will serve Human beings and satisfy the increasing demand of consuming energy. ReferenceÃÆ' ¯Ã‚ ¼Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚ ¡ Corporation, P .W (2008). Solar Energy. available at: http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/energy/pdf/10-SolarEnergy.pdf (Accessed date 09/03/2010) Duncan, T (2000). Advanced Physics. 4th Edition, London: Murray Publishers Ltd. Edmonds, JA (2007). Nuclear Energy. available at: http://www.nuclear.gov/pdfFiles/History.pdf (Accessed date 08/03/2010) Bosshard, P (2006). An Assessment of Solar Energy Conversion Technologies and Research Opportunities. Available at: http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/assessments/solar_assessment.pdf (Accessed date 07/03/2010) Gonyeau, J (2003). Nuclear Energy. available at: http://www.pnl.gov/gtsp/docs/getspnuclear.pdf (Accessed date 08/03/2010) Fell, H. J. (2006). Uranium Resources and Nuclear Energy. available at: http://www.lbst.de/publications/studies__e/2006/EWG-paper_1-06_Uranium-Resources-Nuclear-Energy_03DEC2006.pdf (Accessed date 09/03/2010) Murray, R. L (2000). Nuclear Energy available at: http://www.thevespiary.org/LYC/Chemistry/Nuclear%20chemistry/Nuclear%20Energy,%20An%20Introduction%20to%20the%20concept.pdf (Accessed date 11/03/2010 Thamm, A. L (2007). A Strategic Research Agenda for Photovoltaic Solar Energy Technology. available at: http://www.eupvplatform.org/fileadmin/Documents/PVPT_SRA_Complete_070604.pdf (Accessed date 07/03/2010)

The Fast Approval Article Submission Directories Marketing Essay

The Fast Approval Article Submission Directories Marketing Essay Article submission is one of the  best technique  in Search engine  optimization  and Social media optimization to share information on any product or services. Through submitting your articles, you can easily get more  backlinks  and web traffic for your website without  paying for it.  You just have to  register  in the article directories and submit your  write-ups. Below is the top 10  fast approval article submission directories   Amazines.com   The most comprehensive article database site for free submission. And free and easy for the publisher to use articles on their web pages and include them in ezines and other publishing mediums. Ideamarketers.com   An online PR and free content source for a long time now. With the back link, you will also get a good traffic too! Pubarticles.com  Ã‚  A very nice user interface that  help  you managing your write-up in an easy way. You are also allowed to place link in the body using  BBCode. Goarticles.com  Ã‚  This site changed a lot from period.  A very old article directory site with instant approval for your article. Earticlesonline.com  Ã‚  A fast growing article submission directory but useful when you have to submit your article instantly. Articlesnatch.com  Ã‚  An article directory with a simple and fast submission interface. Articlesnare.com   A  free article submission site to share your articles. Also provide widgets that allows you to publish fresh articles on your site, blog etc. easily with a single click. Articlebase.com   An  another popular directory for free and instant article submission for freebacklinks  and traffic to the website. Articlerich.com  Ã‚  This website offers publishers and webmasters an avenue to get their articles published instantly. Articlepool.com   An another  fast growing article  directories  for an instant article submissions approval. And thanks to all these above article directories owners to make wonderful and useful spaces on web. text 2 Article Submission Sites Important For  SEO Service Posting your content  articles to different article  submission  websites is an  essential  technique to boost the position of your site in the results pages of search engines. This may be a tedious and wearisome task if you complete it manually. Realizing how to use article submission is an essential action in doing the method simpler. It will help you use the time you spare for some other important routines to improve your online marketing campaigns.  Make certain hyperlinks to your site are embedded in the content articles that  youre submitting to the  directories. One benefit of this  tactic is that individuals who happen  to take a look at your articles in these websites and also like them may click  the link and check out your website.  Another benefit is thehyperlinks  in the articles and other content will function as one-way links. This plays an important role incalculating  the rank of your web page in the results pages. If you would like the internet to assist you set up your website and your companys credibility, you have to publish some of your unique, quality content to the top article submission sites. There are literally thousands  of these sites, article directories and document submission portals.  However, only a few is sufficiently  recognized  and highly regarded to provide you with real benefit. As the search engines allocate credibility and subsequent rating according to the links that occur from site to site, it follows that if you have a back link from a credible authority site directing at your webpage, you will gain a certain  value  out of this. Some people  contend  that the actual  page  where your article was published is on the top article submission site and is not really as powerful as the directorys homepage. Article marketing is related to the distribution of highly targeted content material to the top article submission sites on the internet.  Your articles will be available for other website owners to  publish or  access through these sites. So you initiate a significant back  hyperlink  to your website when theyre posted.  Write unique variants of each article and avoid duplicate content when publishing. Otherwise you cant expect to get more than one result on a typical search results page, when people look for your keyword. This is because the search engines will  lump  together all the duplicate content articles found. Therefore, send variants  to the peak article submission sites at all times. It is certainly true that article marketing can represent a big commitment and a lengthy task. Look for proven and prominent organizations to take on this work for you. In turn, they will research the task, compose the articles, the variants, and the resource box and then monitor the back link generation, distribution and the submission of the report to you. You have to  maintain  a really high  standard  if the top article submission sites are to take your projects for publication. Among the thousands of article directories on the web, a good number of them are usually market  dedicated,  or might be of interest if you operate within a particular  category.  If you distribute, you should remember that each article published  ought to be unique  and this is how you make the most gain. While the top article submission sites will be the  highest viewed and stand to get  you the greatest  quantity of hits, youre going to get  a back link from each directory that publishes your work. text 3 Top 10  Article Submission Sites For Marketing Ebooks If you are  marketing  ebooks with articles,  you will need to  review  the article directories you will use for your submissions. Generally you will use the  Google PageRank  of a site and its  Alexa ratings  to decide if a site is  a top  site or not. Google PageRank  is the value  Google  assigns to sites to determine their relevance to searches performed on  Google. Alexa  ratings are based on the number of  Alexa  toolbar users who visited a specific site; it does not measure total internet traffic, but can give you  an idea  of the traffic on a site. The lower an  Alexa  rating is, the more popular that site is, to  Alexa toolbar users. Based on these, the top  10  article directories submission sites you may want or need for marketing your ebooks  are 1. EzineArticles.com   2. Buzzle.com   3. GoArticles.com   4. ArticleDashboard.com   5. IdeaMarketers.com   6. SooperArticles.com   7. Amazines.com   8. ArticleCity.com   9. ArticleRich.com   10. iSnare.com Bear in mind that this will likely change over time though, if more or less  Alexa toolbar users  visit each site or  Google changes the PageRank  of any one of the sites. There are lots of sites on the internet that provide for  free,  a listing of article directories with their  Google PageRank and Alexa  ratings on a weekly or monthly basis or so, you may want to use them to keep track of these information. In addition to the Google PageRank  of a site and its  Alexa  ratings, for effective article marketing you will also need  to figure  out the specific targets each article directory  focuses on.  And will also have to  find  out, if the specific  categories  that are related to your  niche  are available on each directory. You may  previewthe top articles in your  categories  across several article sites to have an idea of  popular article topics,  you may create for your  promotions too. You may also want to know the rules governing  each article directory to know how to write for them. You may submit your articles to the top  5-10  article directories first and then  get a list of the next top  30 or more directories  to submit to, too.  You may get this list for free on the internet  also.  The more top article directories you submit to, the better your results are likely to be.  Your ebook marketing efforts will greatly pay  off,  if you use article submission software  with the promotion of your ebooks. With ebooks, just like any other  product  you will sell online, you may need to  promote  with lots of articlesconsistently  for some time to get some good results, trying to do this manually may not be ideal.  Article submission software will not only help you to get your articles to more sites  quickly,  it will also free you up for other tasks in your online  business. Marketing ebooks through  articles can be  effective  if you create the right content, choose the  best  article directories for your  promotions, automate  your submissions and  consistently  track your article marketing results to know where to  optimize next. text 4 The article writing   posting of them  on any free  article submission directory constitutes  an importantoptimization process which is popularly known as article marketing these days. When quality articles arewritten  on your website service or products get published on free article directory it can drive  hugetraffic to your website  faster.  Most of the search engine optimization marketing  professionals  use this free article submission service as an  effective technique  to bring a  boost  in website traffic. At first you have to write  certain keyword targeted articles on a wide  variety of topics or products covered in any of your website pages, squidoo lens,  blogs or other online advertising forms provide them with aURL  for enabling users to jump over to the site  in case  they feel interested. Your article should be well written   devoid of any  grammatical or spelling mistakes. According to some grammar hardly matters if your writing makes some sense. But it is not true   you have to maintain the proper standard  for writing. Free article submission has huge potential for traffic generation. Its result depends purely on the articles which are written with an intention to deliver user more details about your website service or its product. Since a genuine article gives more information about the company profile, it can lead to your brand awareness among users make them purchase from your site. But if users dont find your articles in good taste then they will run away from there itself bringing a drastic fall in the website traffic. It would be better to hire a professional writer who will help you develop SEO friendly content for submission in free article directory that are available online. Surprisingly, you will start to mark a difference in your website traffic. The article  marketing has great relevance in  SEO these days.  The free article submission directory is seen helping many  webmasters  drive targeted traffic to their websites. While submitting to free article directory, the article submission form shows  up a resource box  where the article submitter has to give alink  to the site he/she is working for. It will direct the reader to a relevant page of the website  relevant  to that of the theme of the article. After doing  all this, your article is now  ready  for submission to free article directory. You have to  search for   find out a  good  list of free article directories where you can  start  submitting your articles. Prior to posting  make sure that your  article confirms  to the submission  guideline  otherwise all your efforts  may just go  waste. You need to see a lot  many  things such as  allowance  of HTML formatting, inclusion  of hyperlinks inside the body of article content, maximum number of  links  contained in the article resource  box   last but not the least is the minimum article  length that is found  mentioned in every free article submission directory guideline. Once  approved  and published, your articles will start  bringing  instant benefits for the website in the following manner: An article will  pass PR (Page Rank) from the article directory page where it gets published to your website  link  given in the resource section. By following proper SEO content writing rules, your published articles may attain top ten Google ranking for certain mostly searched keywords thus drive huge traffic to your website. The free article directory displays published articles on a wide range of topic area. When users search for information on a specific topic your article gets visible in the search engine result page for that then there is high chance of users reading it clicking on your website link given below. Thus your article may bring you more number of potential visitors. A large number of AdSense sites are not only referring to free article submission directory sites but also using their article content for their own sites. With this, your website gets both ranking traffic through Google other major search engines. text 5 How to Find a Good Article Submission Service Its no secret that every author out there wants as many people to read their articles as possible. Many authors will dedicate a lot of time writing informative and illustrative prose, BUT its a different story when it comes to publishing and distributing their content. What is an Article Submission Service Anyway? This is  generally  a service you will have to pay for.  The basic workings of all services available are  simple.Your article will be  submitted  to many different article directories, saving  you the hassle  of manually uploading each article yourself. Services  vary from  computer automated systems to manual input services. Why would I want my Article posted to many Different Article Directories? The idea behind article  submission  services is that you will  receive  two or more inbound  links pointing backat your website or the website you are promoting in  return  for your content. The  theory goes  that the more links you gain the more favourably  Google  and its counterparts will see your site within the search results. Now this article will  require you to make  a choice: Either 1)  Follow  these instructions for finding a  Good  Article Submission Site or 2)  Ignore the instructions and learn why in the final section. 1)  Okay, Lets first look at some key factors that you should consider when choosing a submission service: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  If it looks like spam,  it most probably is  spam!  Avoid any sites that continually  pester you with  pop-up windows even though you just closed the  last  window. If the service provided was good enough then this type of  over-selling  would definitely not be required. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Join in a couple of discussions on  relevant  forums and find out what people are  saying  about the servicesavailable.  This is a great source for  unbiased advice and up to date information. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Many reputable services will  offer you a month trial or a money back guarantee. Obviously take care withthese offers and read the small print before giving you  card  details over but this is a sign of a company with a good track record. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Testimonials can give you a good indication, although it is very easy for these to be bogus so be careful and dont put all your faith into a few customers comments à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Dont be afraid to get in contact with whoever is providing the service. If they display a telephone number theyre obviously willing to discuss the services available. If there is no telephone number or equivalent be more cautious à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Finally, go with your  gut.  Not the most  scientific advice  but once you have carried out some research  and feel set on a certain submission service, trust  your instincts and go with it. 2)  And now for the  part of this article  which will quite  uncharacteristically  advise you to ignore all theinstructions  above! After in  depth  research into the topic of the Best Article Directories  certain facts have become clear: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ At best there is only a handful of Article Directories that a worth submitting to: Its all very well having your article submitted to loads of article directories but you have to consider what you are getting in return. A link from a non-existent PageRanked site is pretty much worthless, regardless of the how many. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Links from a Directory with the  stature of Ezine  is thousands of times more valuable than many links from minor directories. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Google are savvy to  duplicate content and an article that has been submitted to  hundreds  of different directories will get  flagged  and will lose  any credibility.  The article will only ever show up on a highly regarded directory and any other links will soon be  disregarded.  Like a neurone pathway in the brain that isnt used it will  die,  so will your links. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Focus your time on creating  original content. Even consider the money that you were willing to pay submission services for, put towards employing someone to write more  articles! à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ã‚  Choose your top  five  article directories and focus your  attention on them. A useful resource can be found here:  Best_Article_Directory text 6 Top 10 Google Ranking Use Ezine  Article Submission For Free, Natural Search Engine Optimization Worldwide internet marketers and owners of online businesses pay  a small fortune to market  their business on the web rather than using  natural search engine optimization  and  ezine  article submission to get  top 10  google  rankings. One very common form of getting  customers  to your business is by using pay per click marketing. Another traffic generator  that costs absolutely no money at all is natural search engine optimization through  ezine article submission.  This article will discuss the best way to use  ezine  article submission  for  natural search engine optimization  and  top  10 google  rankings through free  search engine optimization management. Many internet marketers spend tens of thousands of dollars every month using pay per click advertising traffic to their site. However, there is a much simpler and cheaper method (ie free) to get highly targeted website traffic through  natural search engine optimization  and  search engine optimization management. The best way to  get natural (organic) search engine optimization placement is by targeting keywords in your ezine article submission with low competing pages in Google. This represents a good guide for getting free natural search engine optimization traffic through effective search engine optimization. The best way to search for potential competition in Google  is to use search engine optimization  managementtools such as the overture tool, wordtracker,  the free keyword tool at Good Keywords  or the free tool at Digital Point.  If you are an  Adwords  user then you can log into their system  and search for competing phrases that way. You can also search for your competition directly on  Google.  This search engine optimization management involves simply doing a search in  Google  for the one word or if it is more than one word put the  keyword phrase with quotes around it. For effective search engine optimization management using  ezine  article submission, you need to find a product that has searches of at least  300-3000  per month plus has few competing pages on  Google.  If you can find 500,000  competition thats  okay, under 100,000 youre  onto a good thing, but under 40,000 competition and todays your lucky day  for search engine optimization management and natural search engine optimization. That being said, you can get traffic to a site with over 1 million  competing  pages, however, why make your life that  difficult  and delay getting  sales  when you can target some smaller but more targeted phrases that will result in free natural search engine optimization through  ezine article submission. Now not all ezine  article submission services or directories are  treated equally for the purpose  of natural search engine optimization and search engine optimization management. There are some  ezine  article submission directories that are  adored by Google. Some  of these are  Ezine  Articleshttp://www.Ezinearticles.com, Go Articles and Article Dashboard. The  reason why these  ezine  article submission directories are so highly  regarded by Google  is that their page rank is so high. Also, with  EzineArticles, every new article gets briefly listed on their home page  (currently page rank 6)  which means you get a brief  PR6  linking back to your site mentioned in your resource box. This is what makes natural free search engine optimization and search engine optimization management so easy through  ezine article submission.  This search engine optimization management causes good rankings extremely  quickly.  There is a  trick though to  achieving high natural search engine optimizationrankings  and that is  that  when you submit your article to any of  these ezine  article submission sites  that your article is unique. If its not you will be affected by a duplicate content penalty. Make sure that your target keywords are mentioned  frequently  throughout the article, particularly the beginning and the end, to achieve the best natural search engine optimization. Natural search engine optimization and search engine optimization  through ezine  article submission sites is  a wonderful  and easy way for people new to internet  marketing  or people with  little  or no money to invest in promoting their website to get  highlytargeted traffic to their website and  page one rankings on Google. text 7 Finding the Best Article Submission Services on the  Web   The easiest and most powerful way to maximize the power of your articles on the Internet is by using article submission services. No wonder they are one of the cornerstones of effective article marketing. What Is An Article Submission Service? An article submission service is a service which submits your articles to a wide range of article directories for you in exchange for a small fee. What normally happens is that you would go to each article directory and submit your article to them manually. For example, if you want to submit to  EzineArticles,  you would have to open an account there, log in and submit the article. If you wanted to do the same thing in  Go Articles,  you would follow the same process. This is obviously a time consuming process and this is where article submission services come in  handy.  They perform the whole submission process on your behalf at hundreds of article directories. You submit once and they do all the work for you. Why You Need To Submit To Article Directories On The Web? When you submit an article to an article directory on the Web, this represents a link back to your website (more commonly known as backlinks). In general, the more backlinks to your website, the higher your website ranking will be in the search engines. And the better you rank, the more traffic your website gets and the more sales you can make. By submitting to many article directories, you can potentially create hundreds of links back to your website. The Duplicate Content Issue Major search engines such as  Google  have an algorithm which  penalises  those websites which copy content from other websites. As a result, there is a  fear  that if you submit the exact same article  to various article directories, that those backlinks will not be valuable in the eyes of the search engines and will not help your ranking much at well. This is in fact true. Nevertheless, the top article submission services out there ask that you write variations of your article so that it appears slightly different at each online article directory. A good article variation percentage is 30% (at the minimum). This allows you to overcome (or at minimise) the duplicate content issue. Which Ones Are The Best Article Submission Services? Ive used a lot  of article submission services in the  last 2 years as an Internet marketer,  and I can  safely  say that most of them  have not been great in terms of results and dealing with the duplicate content issue. Luckily for you,  you wont have to go through such a  tough learning and experimental curve. Ive found what I believe to the 2 best  article submission services  on the Web today. Submit Your Article (SYA) This article submission service allows you to submit your article to the major article directories  (such as EzineArticles and Go Articles)  as well as  publishers  on their network who are  constantly  looking for content. It has a system called Article Leverage which  allows you  to write variations of your article for distribution. It costs  $US47 a  month, which is  pretty cheap  compared to the  massive value you can potentially get. Article Marketing Automation (AMA) text 8 What Exactly Can an Article Submission Service Do For Your Company? The internet is definitely  one of the most effective and useful inventions ever. Since it first  appeared,  the internet has continuously evolved and grown  in order to  accommodate  the new technologies, that have been developed at an extremely fast  pace. Every single  day there are  thousands and tens of thousands  of websites that  pop up.  The most general uses for these websites include business ventures,  blogs and news sites. Although it is not a general rule, most website owners are trying to make a profit from their websites, but in most cases their websites operate in niches which are extremely competitive due to the large number of companies operating in them. A company that wants to make its presence felt on the internet, but also a private individual that wants to be the first one to bring international readers with certain information need to employ the help of professional companies that offer SEO services. There are currently several methods of optimizing a site in order for it to gain search engine visibility, improve sales and ultimately increase its profits. One of the most sought after SEO services available today, which by the way is also one of the first services of its kind, is the article submission service. With article submission services, website owners and brick and mortar companies can largely benefit in the sense that results show up relatively fast, and most importantly the costs for article submission services, and other SEO services of this kind are much lower than those required by pay per click campaigns and other similar services. Some of the primary  targets  of any companies  wanting  to increase their business  numbers  through the use of online websites  include  increasing their visitor count and their degree of  visibility.  These two aspects are  vital  to the success of any online business and articles submission is currently considered the best  road  to achieving those targets. With SEO services being part of search engine marketing or SEM,  basically any company, regardless of the sector it operates in  or  its geographical location can become a top player in any of the international markets with the help of article submission services  used in conjuncture  with other SEO services and search engine marketing services.  Sure there are other SEO services  that have proven to provide terrific  results, even on their own in certain niches, but the article submission service, given its simplicity and ease of deployment makes it the perfect choice. The article submission service  is not a miracle by any means; it cannot get a website to the highest peaks of success without some serious effort on the part of professional SEO services experts and companies.  Usually, experienced companies and experts create well targeted  campaigns  which incorporate article submission services and other SEO services such as press release submission services, social bookmarking,  private blog advertising, and numerous others.  The two most important factors of article submission services are  quality and  quantity. First of all, the articles  being  submitted must be  exceptional,  and secondly these articles must be submitted to a large number of directories  in order to be fully effective. text 9 HOME  Ã‚ »Ã‚  Internet and Businesses Online  Ã‚ »Ã‚  SEO   Article Submission Services By A SEO Company Any website that  aims to appear in the  search engine results must take the help of an SEO company, which provides all the services for the website helping it to become more popular.  Article Submission services by a SEO company are  among  the best services for a website that help it to  get listed  in the results of the search engine. Article writing is writing some data or information that is related to the content of the website or products and services of a company. These are then submitted  to the popular article submission directories will help in  the search engine  optimization of the website. The main aim of the  article submission services  by an SEO company is to create back links to a website in order to get it higher up in the rankings. The most important factor  the website owner  has to keep in mind is that the articles are related to the type or content of the desired back link. A link goes in the footer of the article which has a link to the relevant website. An article submission services help the website in many  ways. After the article is submitted, the page andback links  generated help to increase the rank of the business related website in the results of search engines. Since the link is in the footer of the article the link is from a related website on text, providing a powerful back link. Another  important advantage a company can enjoy with this service provided by an SEO Company, is that the  particular  owner of the website will be  established  as an expert in their sector. Providing  valid information and details about the topics  the website is involved  in  will help them to become more established in their market. This will increase the trust of the clients towards the company and they willtake time to  visit the company website. The articles  to be submitted must  be original  and should be rich with  all the contents of the  subject which is targeted. The main keywords which describe the  website  of the company should be used in the articles.Your SEO Company will  have  experience in this field and  should write from scratch all the articles submitted.There are many online directories  where you can submit your articles,  you should remember that it is better a unique article is submitted  to all. If you are not performing article submissions in your niche, then you run the risk of being left behind. text 10 Many article marketers, unfortunately, absolutely  despise writing, and the idea of  sitting in front of  the computer for hours on end  trying to write  multiple content is agony to them.  An even bigger source ofannoyance  is when they have to manually submit these articles to different directories, which can be a time-consuming task.  However, the good news  is that for writers like these,  an alternative solution exists in the form of auto-submission. It is no wonder that this form of article submission is so popular with many article marketers today its simple, convenient, hassle-free, and best of all, fast! There are also a lot of companies offering these services on the Internet today, and all you have to do is look them up in search engines like Google. How about having your content published in highly-ranked websites? Here are the things to keep in mind: 1. Avoid duplication, as Google will absolutely hate you for it. Therefore, submit 1 piece of unique and freshly-written content to around a couple or so directories. 2. Do a dry run first! Dont try to submit them all at the same time. Try doing it with one high-ranking site first, and if you dont encounter any problems with it, then try another website and re-submit. Here are a few handy tricks to keep up your sleeve when you decide to get started with article auto-submission: 1. Ge

bombing of world trade center in manhatten 1993 :: essays research papers

Tapes Depict Proposal to Thwart Bomb Used in Trade Center Blast Law-enforcement officials were told that terrorists were building a bomb that was eventually used to blow up the World Trade Center, and they planned to thwart the plotters by secretly substituting harmless powder for the explosives, an informer said after the blast. The informer was to have helped the plotters build the bomb and supply the fake powder, but the plan was called off by an F.B.I. supervisor who had other ideas about how the informer, Emad Salem, should be used, the informer said. The account, which is given in the transcript of hundreds of hours of tape recordings that Mr. Salem secretly made of his talks with law-enforcement agents, portrays the authorities as being in a far better position than previously known to foil the February 26th bombing of New York City's tallest towers. The explosion left six people dead, more than a thousand people injured, and damages in excess of half-a-billion dollars. Four men are now on trial in Manhattan Federal Court [on charges of involvement] in that attack. Mr. Salem, a 43-year-old former Egyptian Army officer, was used by the Government [of the United States] to penetrate a circle of Muslim extremists who are now charged in two bombing cases: the World Trade Center attack, and a foiled plot to destroy the United Nations, the Hudson River tunnels, and other New York City landmarks. He is the crucial witness in the second bombing case, but his work for the Government was erratic, and for months before the World Trade Center blast, he was feuding with th F.B.I. Supervisor `Messed It Up' After the bombing, he resumed his undercover work. In an undated transcript of a conversation from that period, Mr. Salem recounts a talk he had had earlier with an agent about an unnamed F.B.I. supervisor who, he said, "came and messed it up." "He requested to meet me in the hotel," Mr. Salem says of the supervisor. "He requested to make me to testify, and if he didn't push for that, we'll be going building the bomb with a phony powder, and grabbing the people who was involved in it. But since you, we didn't do that." The transcript quotes Mr. Salem as saying that he wanted to

Online News and Print’s Future Essay -- Technology Computers Essays

Online News and Print’s Future The Internet’s influence on our lives has spread throughout. Researching, shopping, job searching, and more can all be done with a keyboard and a few clicks of a mouse. But this ease of use casts a shadow on the future of printed information. The Web’s instant knowledge has changed our reading and writing habits and has made print media seem old-fashioned. One of the first industries to lead the change was journalism. As the Web expanded in the mid 90’s, online editions of popular newspapers surfaced and opened a new field for seeing and telling the world's events. Even before the Web boom, the advance of another technology had already started to threaten print newspapers’ survival. In his essay â€Å"Deadline,† Nicholson Baker shares his frustrations with libraries who destroy newspaper archives in favor of microfilm backups. For years, he tried to buy as many of these collections as he could before they were destroyed. He says in the essay, â€Å"Sometimes I'm a little stunned to think that I've become a newspaper librarian†¦But at the moment nobody else seems to want to do what needs to be done† (Baker 33). As libraries adapted the new technology, they felt less of a need to keep the old style. Disregard for newspapers took on a new form with the growth of the Internet. Journalism and the news have frequently taken on new forms as communication technology advances. Beginning with oral tradition, friends and family use to tell the news to each other without mass audiences or recording instruments, like pen and paper. But as new technologies emerged, the early methods declined in usage. One such shift happened in Socrates-era Greece when writing culture overtook oral culture (Birkerts 63). As m... ...lied. Using it like it's print media won't do any good. Champions of old media need to realize that before they declare doom. Works Cited Baker, Nicholson. â€Å"Deadline† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age. Ed. Evelyn B. Tribble and Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 9- 34. Birkerts, Sven. â€Å"Into the Electronic Millennium.† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age. Ed. Evelyn B. Tribble and Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 62-74. Mitchell, Stephens. â€Å"Complex Seeing: A New Form.† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age. Ed. Evelyn B. Tribble and Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 418-442. Sosnoki, James. â€Å"Hyper-readers and their Reading Engine.† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age. Ed. Evelyn B. Tribble and Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 400-417.

International Failures Essays -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

International Failures Companies around the world are seeking to expand overseas, driven by many different reasons whether to lower labor costs, technological innovation or the almighty dollar. No matter what the reason, without the proper knowledge and financial funding the company will fail. There have been numerous companies that have experienced this first hand. If they would have noticed the warning signs they may have been able to salvage the company. Fast-food companies have been one of the fastest to globally expand. They also experience some of the hardest down falls. An often quoted example is the failure of Prague's first Pizza Hut which closed down because too many ingredients had to be imported in for the one existing restaurant. The added expense for importing ingredients made operating expenses too high. Fortunately, most fast-food chains are large enough to overcome closure to a couple stores. But what would happen if an entire country was rejecting the company. This is the problem that McDonald's is facing. McDonald's is one of most successful fast food chains with 29,000 stores in 119 countries and sales of 38.5 billion dollars. But now, with growth slowing worldwide, McDonald's will add just 1,400 new restaurants, the lowest numbers since 1994. International sales already represent 51% of the global sales. They arrived in Brazil in 1979; many of the franchisees had a strong business selling big macs. After many years of growth, from 175 restaurants in 1995 to 563 this year, Brazil is McDonald's eighth most important market worldwide(Smith 1). Their sales in Brazil went from 620 million Reais in 1995 to 1.3 billion last year. Until recently, the company was still planning to double its current number of restaurants here by 2003. Behind the lines of customers eager for a burger, the Brazilian franchisees are having a hard time financially. According to an estimate made by franchisees that are in judicial litigation against the fast food chain, around 80% of the 152 franchisees that own half of the stores in Brazil are having difficulty to make ends meet at the end of the month(McDonald's 1). Some decided to sell their business. Others decided to fight. The first main concern of the franchisees is the rapid growth of new stores. The expansion program that increased the fast food chain in the last two years is crea... ... can succeed globally if they know what they are doing and have the financial funding WORK CITIED AT&T, BT pull Concert plug. CNN Money. October 2001. http://money.cnn.com/2001/10/16/international/bt Capell, Kerry and Heidi Dawley. Commentary: How British Telecom blew it. Business Week Online. April 2001. http://www.businessweek.com Gomoloski, Barb. Going global: Some lessons from eToys and Yahoo that might help You. InfoWorld. February 2001. http://staging.infoworld.com McDonald's Problems in Brazil. 2000. http://mcdonalds-problems-in-brazil.com Monti, Joseph A. Taking the high road when going international. Business Horizons. July 2000. http://www.findarticles.com Smith, Tony. Brazil franchisees sue McDonald's. AP Business Writer. December 2001. http://www.washingtonpost.com Pappalardo, Denise. Sprints ION, AT&T-BT's Concert reach end of the line. Network World. October 2001. Weber, Joseph. AT&T-BT: A big Telecom deal up north. August 1999. Weintraub, Arlene. How eToys could have made it. Business Week Online. February 2001. http://businessweek.com Zwaig, Melvin and Michelle Pickett. Early warning signs. MSI Network. http://msi-network.com

A Game of Thrones Chapter Fifty-seven

Sansa The walls of the throne room had been stripped bare, the hunting tapestries that King Robert loved taken down and stacked in the corner in an untidy heap. Ser Mandon Moore went to take his place under the throne beside two of his fellows of the Kingsguard. Sansa hovered by the door, for once unguarded. The queen had given her freedom of the castle as a reward for being good, yet even so, she was escorted everywhere she went. â€Å"Honor guards for my daughter-to-be,† the queen called them, but they did not make Sansa feel honored. â€Å"Freedom of the castle† meant that she could go wherever she chose within the Red Keep so long as she promised not to go beyond the walls, a promise Sansa had been more than willing to give. She couldn't have gone beyond the walls anyway. The gates were watched day and night by Janos Slynt's gold cloaks, and Lannister house guards were always about as well. Besides, even if she could leave the castle, where would she go? It was enough that she could walk in the yard, pick flowers in Myrcella's garden, and visit the sept to pray for her father. Sometimes she prayed in the godswood as well, since the Starks kept the old gods. This was the first court session of Joffrey's reign, so Sansa looked about nervously. A line of Lannister house guards stood beneath the western windows, a line of gold-cloaked City Watchmen beneath the east. Of smallfolk and commoners, she saw no sign, but under the gallery a cluster of lords great and small milled restlessly. There were no more than twenty, where a hundred had been accustomed to wait upon King Robert. Sansa slipped in among them, murmuring greetings as she worked her way toward the front. She recognized black-skinned Jalabhar Xho, gloomy Ser Aron Santagar, the Redwyne twins Horror and Slobber . . . only none of them seemed to recognize her. Or if they did, they shied away as if she had the grey plague. Sickly Lord Gyles covered his face at her approach and feigned a fit of coughing, and when funny drunken Ser Dontos started to hail her, Ser Balon Swann whispered in his ear and he turned away. And so many others were missing. Where had the rest of them gone? Sansa wondered. Vainly, she searched for friendly faces. Not one of them would meet her eyes. It was as if she had become a ghost, dead before her time. Grand Maester Pycelle was seated alone at the council table, seemingly asleep, his hands clasped together atop his beard. She saw Lord Varys hurry into the hall, his feet making no sound. A moment later Lord Baelish entered through the tall doors in the rear, smiling. He chatted amiably with Ser Balon and Ser Dontos as he made his way to the front. Butterflies fluttered nervously in Sansa's stomach. I shouldn't be afraid, she told herself. I have nothing to be afraid of, it will all come out well, Joff loves me and the queen does too, she said so. A herald's voice rang out. â€Å"All hail His Grace, Joffrey of the Houses Baratheon and Lannister, the First of his Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. All hail his lady mother, Cersei of House Lannister, Queen Regent, Light of the West, and Protector of the Realm.† Ser Barristan Selmy, resplendent in white plate, led them in. Ser Arys Oakheart escorted the queen, while Ser Boros Blount walked beside Joffrey, so six of the Kingsguard were now in the hall, all the White Swords save Jaime Lannister alone. Her prince—no, her king now!—took the steps of the Iron Throne two at a time, while his mother was seated with the council. Joff wore plush black velvets slashed with crimson, a shimmering cloth-of-gold cape with a high collar, and on his head a golden crown crusted with rubies and black diamonds. When Joffrey turned to look out over the hall, his eye caught Sansa's. He smiled, seated himself, and spoke. â€Å"It is a king's duty to punish the disloyal and reward those who are true. Grand Maester Pycelle, I command you to read my decrees.† Pycelle pushed himself to his feet. He was clad in a magnificent robe of thick red velvet, with an ermine collar and shiny gold fastenings. From a drooping sleeve, heavy with gilded scrollwork, he drew a parchment, unrolled it, and began to read a long list of names, commanding each in the name of king and council to present themselves and swear their fealty to Joffrey. Failing that, they would be adjudged traitors, their lands and titles forfeit to the throne. The names he read made Sansa hold her breath. Lord Stannis Baratheon, his lady wife, his daughter. Lord Renly Baratheon. Both Lord Royces and their sons. Ser Loras Tyrell. Lord Mace Tyrell, his brothers, uncles, sons. The red priest, Thoros of Myr. Lord Beric Dondarrion. Lady Lysa Arryn and her son, the little Lord Robert. Lord Hoster Tully, his brother Ser Brynden, his son Ser Edmure. Lord Jason Mallister. Lord Bryce Caron of the Marches. Lord Tytos Blackwood. Lord Walder Frey and his heir Ser Stevron. Lord Karyl Vance. Lord Jonos Bracken. Lady Sheila Whent. Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, and all his sons. So many, she thought as Pycelle read on and on, it will take a whole flock of ravens to send out these commands. And at the end, near last, came the names Sansa had been dreading. Lady Catelyn Stark. Robb Stark. Brandon Stark, Rickon Stark, Arya Stark. Sansa stifled a gasp. Arya. They wanted Arya to present herself and swear an oath . . . it must mean her sister had fled on the galley, she must be safe at Winterfell by now . . . Grand Maester Pycelle rolled up the list, tucked it up his left sleeve, and pulled another parchment from his right. He cleared his throat and resumed. â€Å"In the place of the traitor Eddard Stark, it is the wish of His Grace that Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West, take up the office of Hand of the King, to speak with his voice, lead his armies against his enemies, and carry out his royal will. So the king has decreed. The small council consents. â€Å"In the place of the traitor Stannis Baratheon, it is the wish of His Grace that his lady mother, the Queen Regent Cersei Lannister, who has ever been his staunchest support, be seated upon his small council, that she may help him rule wisely and with justice. So the king has decreed. The small council consents.† Sansa heard a soft murmuring from the lords around her, but it was quickly stilled. Pycelle continued. â€Å"It is also the wish of His Grace that his loyal servant, Janos Slynt, Commander of the City Watch of King's Landing, be at once raised to the rank of lord and granted the ancient seat of Harrenhal with all its attendant lands and incomes, and that his sons and grandsons shall hold these honors after him until the end of time. It is moreover his command that Lord Slynt be seated immediately upon his small council, to assist in the governance of the realm. So the king has decreed. The small council consents.† Sansa glimpsed motion from the corner of her eye as Janos Slynt made his entrance. This time the muttering was louder and angrier. Proud lords whose houses went back thousands of years made way reluctantly for the balding, frog-faced commoner as he marched past. Golden scales had been sewn onto the black velvet of his doublet and rang together softly with each step. His cloak was checked black-and-gold satin. Two ugly boys who must have been his sons went before him, struggling with the weight of a heavy metal shield as tall as they were. For his sigil he had taken a bloody spear, gold on a night-black field. The sight of it raised goose prickles up and down Sansa's arms. As Lord Slynt took his place, Grand Maester Pycelle resumed. â€Å"Lastly, in these times of treason and turmoil, with our beloved Robert so lately dead, it is the view of the council that the life and safety of King Joffrey is of paramount importance . . . † He looked to the queen. Cersei stood. â€Å"Ser Barristan Selmy, stand forth.† Ser Barristan had been standing at the foot of the Iron Throne, as still as any statue, but now he went to one knee and bowed his head. â€Å"Your Grace, I am yours to command.† â€Å"Rise, Ser Barristan,† Cersei Lannister said. â€Å"You may remove your helm.† â€Å"My lady?† Standing, the old knight took off his high white helm, though he did not seem to understand why. â€Å"You have served the realm long and faithfully, good ser, and every man and woman in the Seven Kingdoms owes you thanks. Yet now I fear your service is at an end. It is the wish of king and council that you lay down your heavy burden.† â€Å"My . . . burden? I fear I . . . I do not . . . â€Å" The new-made lord, Janos Slynt, spoke up, his voice heavy and blunt. â€Å"Her Grace is trying to tell you that you are relieved as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.† The tall, white-haired knight seemed to shrink as he stood there, scarcely breathing. â€Å"Your Grace,† he said at last. â€Å"The Kingsguard is a Sworn Brotherhood. Our vows are taken for life. Only death may relieve the Lord Commander of his sacred trust.† â€Å"Whose death, Ser Barristan?† The queen's voice was soft as silk, but her words carried the whole length of the hall. â€Å"Yours, or your king's?† â€Å"You let my father die,† Joffrey said accusingly from atop the Iron Throne. â€Å"You're too old to protect anybody.† Sansa watched as the knight peered up at his new king. She had never seen him look his years before, yet now he did. â€Å"Your Grace,† he said. â€Å"I was chosen for the White Swords in my twenty-third year. It was all I had ever dreamed, from the moment I first took sword in hand. I gave up all claim to my ancestral keep. The girl I was to wed married my cousin in my place, I had no need of land or sons, my life would be lived for the realm. Ser Gerold Hightower himself heard my vows . . . to ward the king with all my strength . . . to give my blood for his . . . I fought beside the White Bull and Prince Lewyn of Dorne . . . beside Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. Before I served your father, I helped shield King Aerys, and his father Jaehaerys before him . . . three kings . . . â€Å" â€Å"And all of them dead,† Littlefinger pointed out. â€Å"Your time is done,† Cersei Lannister announced. â€Å"Joffrey requires men around him who are young and strong. The council has determined that Ser Jaime Lannister will take your place as the Lord Commander of Sworn Brothers of the White Swords.† â€Å"The Kingslayer,† Ser Barristan said, his voice hard with contempt. â€Å"The false knight who profaned his blade with the blood of the king he had sworn to defend.† â€Å"Have a care for your words, ser,† the queen warned. â€Å"You are speaking of our beloved brother, your king's own blood.† Lord Varys spoke, gentler than the others. â€Å"We are not unmindful of your service, good ser. Lord Tywin Lannister has generously agreed to grant you a handsome tract of land north of Lannisport, beside the sea, with gold and men sufficient to build you a stout keep, and servants to see to your every need.† Ser Barristan looked up sharply. â€Å"A hall to die in, and men to bury me. I thank you, my lords . . . but I spit upon your pity.† He reached up and undid the clasps that held his cloak in place, and the heavy white garment slithered from his shoulders to fall in a heap on the floor. His helmet dropped with a clang. â€Å"I am a knight,† he told them. He opened the silver fastenings of his breastplate and let that fall as well. â€Å"I shall die a knight.† â€Å"A naked knight, it would seem,† quipped Littlefinger. They all laughed then, Joffrey on his throne, and the lords standing attendance, Janos Slynt and Queen Cersei and Sandor Clegane and even the other men of the Kingsguard, the five who had been his brothers until a moment ago. Surely that must have hurt the most, Sansa thought. Her heart went out to the gallant old man as he stood shamed and red-faced, too angry to speak. Finally he drew his sword. Sansa heard someone gasp. Ser Boros and Ser Meryn moved forward to confront him, but Ser Barristan froze them in place with a look that dripped contempt. â€Å"Have no fear, sers, your king is safe . . . no thanks to you. Even now, I could cut through the five of you as easy as a dagger cuts cheese. If you would serve under the Kingslayer, not a one of you is fit to wear the white.† He flung his sword at the foot of the Iron Throne. â€Å"Here, boy. Melt it down and add it to the others, if you like. It will do you more good than the swords in the hands of these five. Perhaps Lord Stannis will chance to sit on it when he takes your throne.† He took the long way out, his steps ringing loud against the floor and echoing off the bare stone walls. Lords and ladies parted to let him pass. Not until the pages had closed the great oak-and-bronze doors behind him did Sansa hear sounds again: soft voices, uneasy stirrings, the shuffle of papers from the council table. â€Å"He called me boy,† Joffrey said peevishly, sounding younger than his years. â€Å"He talked about my uncle Stannis too.† â€Å"Idle talk,† said Varys the eunuch. â€Å"Without meaning . . . â€Å" â€Å"He could be making plots with my uncles. I want him seized and questioned.† No one moved. Joffrey raised his voice. â€Å"I said, I want him seized!† Janos Slynt rose from the council table. â€Å"My gold cloaks will see to it, Your Grace.† â€Å"Good,† said King Joffrey. Lord Janos strode from the hall, his ugly sons double-stepping to keep up as they lugged the great metal shield with the arms of House Slynt. â€Å"Your Grace,† Littlefinger reminded the king. â€Å"If we might resume, the seven are now six. We find ourselves in need of a new sword for your Kingsguard.† Joffrey smiled. â€Å"Tell them, Mother.† â€Å"The king and council have determined that no man in the Seven Kingdoms is more fit to guard and protect His Grace than his sworn shield, Sandor Clegane.† â€Å"How do you like that, dog?† King Joffrey asked. The Hound's scarred face was hard to read. He took a long moment to consider. â€Å"Why not? I have no lands nor wife to forsake, and who'd care if I did?† The burned side of his mouth twisted. â€Å"But I warn you, I'll say no knight's vows.† â€Å"The Sworn Brothers of the Kingsguard have always been knights,† Ser Boros said firmly. â€Å"Until now,† the Hound said in his deep rasp, and Ser Boros fell silent. When the king's herald moved forward, Sansa realized the moment was almost at hand. She smoothed down the cloth of her skirt nervously. She was dressed in mourning, as a sign of respect for the dead king, but she had taken special care to make herself beautiful. Her gown was the ivory silk that the queen had given her, the one Arya had ruined, but she'd had them dye it black and you couldn't see the stain at all. She had fretted over her jewelry for hours and finally decided upon the elegant simplicity of a plain silver chain. The herald's voice boomed out. â€Å"If any man in this hall has other matters to set before His Grace, let him speak now or go forth and hold his silence.† Sansa quailed. Now, she told herself, I must do it now. Gods give me courage. She took one step, then another. Lords and knights stepped aside silently to let her pass, and she felt the weight of their eyes on her. I must be as strong as my lady mother. â€Å"Your Grace,† she called out in a soft, tremulous voice. The height of the Iron Throne gave Joffrey a better vantage point than anyone else in the hall. He was the first to see her. â€Å"Come forward, my lady,† he called out, smiling. His smile emboldened her, made her feel beautiful and strong. He does love me, he does. Sansa lifted her head and walked toward him, not too slow and not too fast. She must not let them see how nervous she was. â€Å"The Lady Sansa, of House Stark,† the herald cried. She stopped under the throne, at the spot where Ser Barristan's white cloak lay puddled on the floor beside his helm and breastplate. â€Å"Do you have some business for king and council, Sansa?† the queen asked from the council table. â€Å"I do.† She knelt on the cloak, so as not to spoil her gown, and looked up at her prince on his fearsome black throne. â€Å"As it please Your Grace, I ask mercy for my father, Lord Eddard Stark, who was the Hand of the King.† She had practiced the words a hundred times. The queen sighed. â€Å"Sansa, you disappoint me. What did I tell you about traitor's blood?† â€Å"Your father has committed grave and terrible crimes, my lady,† Grand Maester Pycelle intoned. â€Å"Ah, poor sad thing,† sighed Varys. â€Å"She is only a babe, my lords, she does not know what she asks.† Sansa had eyes only for Joffrey. He must listen to me, he must, she thought. The king shifted on his seat, â€Å"Let her speak,† he commanded. â€Å"I want to hear what she says.† â€Å"Thank you, Your Grace.† Sansa smiled, a shy secret smile, just for him. He was listening. She knew he would. â€Å"Treason is a noxious weed,† Pycelle declared solemnly. â€Å"It must be torn up, root and stem and seed, lest new traitors sprout from every roadside.† â€Å"Do you deny your father's crime?† Lord Baelish asked. â€Å"No, my lords.† Sansa knew better than that. â€Å"I know he must be punished. All I ask is mercy. I know my lord father must regret what he did. He was King Robert's friend and he loved him, you all know he loved him. He never wanted to be Hand until the king asked him. They must have lied to him. Lord Renly or Lord Stannis or . . . or somebody, they must have lied, otherwise . . . â€Å" King Joffrey leaned forward, hands grasping the arms of the throne. Broken sword points fanned out between his fingers. â€Å"He said I wasn't the king. Why did he say that?† â€Å"His leg was broken,† Sansa replied eagerly. â€Å"It hurt ever so much, Maester Pycelle was giving him milk of the poppy, and they say that milk of the poppy fills your head with clouds. Otherwise he would never have said it.† Varys said, â€Å"A child's faith . . . such sweet innocence . . . and yet, they say wisdom oft comes from the mouths of babes.† â€Å"Treason is treason,† Pycelle replied at once. Joffrey rocked restlessly on the throne. â€Å"Mother?† Cersei Lannister considered Sansa thoughtfully. â€Å"If Lord Eddard were to confess his crime,† she said at last, â€Å"we would know he had repented his folly.† Joffrey pushed himself to his feet. Please, Sansa thought, please, please, be the king I know you are, good and kind and noble, please. â€Å"Do you have any more to say?† he asked her. â€Å"Only . . . that as you love me, you do me this kindness, my prince,† Sansa said. King Joffrey looked her up and down. â€Å"Your sweet words have moved me,† he said gallantly, nodding, as if to say all would be well. â€Å"I shall do as you ask . . . but first your father has to confess. He has to confess and say that I'm the king, or there will be no mercy for him.† â€Å"He will,† Sansa said, heart soaring. â€Å"Oh, I know he will.†