The Stupidest Angel Chapter 8

Chapter 8 HOLIDAY HEARTBREAK Christmas Amnesty. You can fall out of contact with a friend, fail to return calls, ignore e-mails, avoid eye contact at the Thrifty-Mart, forget birthdays, anniversaries, and reunions, and if you show up at their house during the holidays (with a gift) they are socially bound to forgive you – act like nothing happened. Decorum dictates that the friendship move forward from that point, without guilt or recrimination. If you started a chess game ten years ago in October, you need only remember whose move it is – or why you sold the chessboard and bought an Xbox in the interim. (Look, Christmas Amnesty is a wonderful thing, but it's not a dimensional shift. The laws of time and space continue to apply, even if you have been avoiding your friends. But don't try using the expansion of the universe as an excuse – like you kept meaning to stop by, but their house kept getting farther away. That crap won't wash. Just say, â€Å"Sorry I haven't called. Merry Chris tmas.† Then show the present. Christmas Amnesty protocol dictates that your friend say, â€Å"That's okay,† and let you in without further comment. This is the way it has always been done.) â€Å"Where the fuck have you been?† said Gabe Fenton when he opened the door and saw his old friend Theophilus Crowe standing there, holding a present. Gabe, forty-five, short and wiry, unshaven and slightly balding, was wearing khakis that looked like he'd slept in them for a week. â€Å"Merry Christmas, Gabe,† said Theo, holding out the present, a big red bow on it – sort of waving the box back and forth as if to say, Hey, I have a present here, you're not supposed to sandbag me for not calling for three years. â€Å"Yeah, nice,† said Gabe. â€Å"But you might have called.† â€Å"Sorry. I meant to, but you were involved with Val, I didn't want to interrupt.† â€Å"She dumped me, you know?† Gabe had been seeing Valerie Riordan, the town's only psychiatrist, for several years now. Not for the last month, however. â€Å"Yeah, I heard about that.† Theo had heard that Val wanted someone who was a little more involved with human culture than Gabe. Gabe was a behavioral field biologist who studied wild rodents or marine mammals, depending on who was providing the funding. He lived at a small federally owned cottage by the lighthouse with his hundred-pound black Labrador retriever, Skinner. â€Å"You heard? And you didn't call?† It was nearly noon, and Theo's buzz had mostly worn off, but he was still thrown. Guys were not supposed to lament the lack of support from a friend, unless it was backup in a bar fight or help in moving heavy stuff. This was not normal behavior. Maybe Gabe really did need to spend more time around human beings. â€Å"Look, Gabe, I brought you a present,† Theo said. â€Å"Look at how glad Skinner is to see me.† Skinner was, in fact, glad to see Theo. He was crowding Gabe in the doorway, his beefy tail beating against the open door like a Snausage war drum. He associated Theo with hamburgers and pizza, and had once thought of him as the emergency backup Food Guy (Gabe being the primary Food Guy). â€Å"Well, I suppose you should come in,† said Gabe. The biologist stepped away from the door and allowed Theo to enter. Skinner said hi by shoving his nose into Theo's crotch. â€Å"I'm working in here, so things are a little messy.† A little messy? An understatement on a par with calling the Bataan Death March a nature hike – it looked like someone had loaded all of Gabe's belongings into a cannon and fired them into the room through the wall. Dirty laundry and dishes covered every surface except for Gabe's worktable, which, except for the rats, was immaculate. â€Å"Nice rats,† Theo said. â€Å"What are you doing with them?† â€Å"I'm studying them.† Gabe sat down in front of a series of five-gallon aquariums arranged around a center tank in a star pattern and linked by Habitrail tubes, with gates for routing rats from one chamber to another. Each of the rats had a silver disk about the size of a quarter glued to its back. Theo watched as Gabe opened a gate and one of the rats rushed to the center tank and immediately tried to mount its occupant. Gabe picked up a small remote control and hit the button. The attacking rat nearly did a backflip trying to retreat. â€Å"Ha! That'll teach ‘im,† Gabe shouted. â€Å"The female in the center cage is in estrus.† The rat backed away tentatively and did some sniffing, then attempted to mount the female again. Gabe hit the button. The male was jolted off of her. â€Å"Ha! Now do you get it?!† Gabe said maniacally. He looked up from the cages to Theo. â€Å"There are electrodes on their testes. The silver disks are batteries and remote receivers. Every time he gets sexually aroused, I'm hitting his little nuts with fifty volts.† The rat made another attempt and again Gabe hit the button. The rat spazzed its way to the corner of the cage. â€Å"You stupid shit!† Gabe shouted. â€Å"You think they'd learn. I'll hit each of them with the jolt a dozen times today, but when I open the cage tomorrow, they'll all run back in and try to mount her again. You see, you see how we are?† â€Å"We?† â€Å"Us. Males. See how we are. We know there's going to be nothing but pain, but we go back again and again.† Gabe had always been so steady, so calm, so professionally detached, scientifically obsessed, so dependably nerdy – Theo felt as if he were talking to a whole different person, like someone had scrubbed off all the intellect and had exposed the nerves. â€Å"Uh, Gabe, I'm not sure that we should equate ourselves with rodents. I mean – ; â€Å"Oh, sure. That's what you say now. But you'll call me and tell me I was right. Something will happen and you'll call. She'll stomp your heart and you'll finish the destruction she starts. Am I right? Am I right?† â€Å"Uh, I – † Theo was thinking about the graveyard sex followed by the fight he'd had with Molly last night. â€Å"So I'm going to change the association. Watch this.† Gabe stormed over to a bookshelf, threw aside a bunch of professional journals and notebooks until he found what he was looking for. â€Å"See. See her.† Gabe held up a recent Victoria's Secret catalog. The model on the front was wearing garments spectacularly inadequate in concealing her appeal. She looked as if she just couldn't be happier about it. â€Å"Beautiful, right? Amazing, right? Hold that thought.† Gabe reached into the pocket of his khakis and pulled out a stainless remote just like the one on the rat table. â€Å"Beautiful,† he said, and he hit the button. The biologist's back arched and he suddenly became six inches taller, all the muscles of his body seeming to flex at once. He convulsed twice, then fell to the floor, the crumpled catalog still in his hand. Skinner lapsed into a barking fit. Don't die, Food Guy, my bowl is on the porch and I can't open the door by myself, he was saying. It was the same every time, he was always glad when the Food Guy wasn't actually dead, but the Food Guy's convulsions made him anxious. Theo rushed to his friend's aid. Gabe's eyes were rolled back and he twitched a couple of times before he sucked in a deep breath and looked Theo in the eye. â€Å"See. You change the association. Won't be long and I'll have that reaction without the electrodes glued to my scrotum.† â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"Oh yeah. It will take hold, I know it. It hasn't worked with the rats yet, but I'm hoping it will before they all die.† â€Å"They're dying of this?† â€Å"Well, it has to hurt or they'll never learn.† Gabe held up his remote again and Theo snatched it out of his hand. â€Å"Stop it!† â€Å"I have another set of electrodes and receiver. You want to try it? I've been dying to try it out in the field. We could go to a titty bar.† Theo helped Gabe to his feet, then set him in a chair facing away from the rat table and pulled a chair around for himself. â€Å"Gabe, you are out of control. I'm sorry I didn't call.† â€Å"I know you've been busy. It's okay.† Great, now he has the appropriate Christmas Amnesty reaction, Theo thought. â€Å"These rats, the electrodes, all of it, it's just wrong. You're just going to end up with either a bunch of paranoid misogynist males, or a pile of corpses.† â€Å"You make that sound like a bad thing.† â€Å"You got your heart broken. It will heal.† â€Å"She said I was dull.† â€Å"She should see this.† Theo gestured around the room. â€Å"She wasn't interested in my work.† â€Å"You guys had a good run. Five years. Maybe it was just time. You told me yourself that the human male was not evolved for monogamy.† â€Å"Yeah, but I had a girlfriend when I said that.† â€Å"So it's not true?† â€Å"No, it's true, but it didn't bother me when I had a girlfriend. Now I know that I am biologically programmed to spread the seed of my loins far and wide, to as many females as possible, a series of torrid, meaningless matings, only to move on to the next fertile female. My genes are demanding that I pass them on, and I don't know where to start.† â€Å"You might want to shower before you start the seed spreading.† â€Å"You don't think I know that? That's why I was trying to reprogram my impulses. Tame the animus, as it were.† â€Å"Because you don't want to shower?† â€Å"No, because I don't know how to talk to women. I could talk to Val.† â€Å"Val was a pro.† â€Å"She was not. She never turned a trick in her life.† â€Å"Listener, Gabe. She was a pro listener – a psychiatrist.† â€Å"Oh, right. Do you think I should start with a prostitute, or ‘tutes?† â€Å"For a broken heart? Yeah, I'm sure that will work just as well as the electrodes on your scrotum, but first I need you to do something for me.† Theo thought maybe, just maybe, work – nonfreakish work – might bring his friend back from the brink. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the hank of yellow hair he'd taken out of the Volvo's wheel well. â€Å"I need you to look at this and tell me about it.† Gabe took the hair and looked at it. â€Å"Is this crime stuff?† â€Å"Sort of.† â€Å"Where did you get it? What do you need to know?† â€Å"Tell me everything you can about it before I tell you anything, okay?† â€Å"Well, it appears to be blond.† â€Å"Thanks, Gabe, I was thinking maybe you could look at it under the microscope or something.† â€Å"Doesn't the county have a crime lab for that?† â€Å"Yeah, but I can't take it to them. There are circumstances.† â€Å"Like?† â€Å"Like they will think I'm stoned or nuts or both. Look at the hair,† Theo said. â€Å"You tell me. I'll tell you. â€Å"Okay, but I don't have all that cool CSI stuff.† â€Å"Yeah, but the guys at the crime lab don't have batteries Super-Glued to their gonads. You've got them there.† Ten minutes later Gabe looked up from his microscope. â€Å"Well, it's not human,† he said. â€Å"Swell.† â€Å"In fact, it doesn't appear to be hair.† â€Å"So what is it?† â€Å"Well, it seems to have a lot of the qualities of optic fiber.† â€Å"So it's man-made?† â€Å"Not so fast. It has a root, and what appears to be a cuticle, but it doesn't look like keratin. I'd have to have it tested for proteins. If it's manufactured, there's no evidence of the process. It looks as if it was grown, not made. You know polar-bear hair has fiber-optic properties – channels light energy through to the black skin for heat.† â€Å"So it's polar-bear hair?† â€Å"Not so fast.† â€Å"Gabe, goddammit, where in the hell did it come from?† â€Å"You tell me.† â€Å"Just us, okay? This doesn't leave this cottage unless We get some confirmation, okay?† â€Å"Of course. Are you okay, Theo?† â€Å"Am I okay? You're asking me if I'm okay?† â€Å"Everything all right with you and Molly? The job? You're not smoking dope again, are you?† Theo hung his head. â€Å"You say you have another one of those electrodes?† Gabe brightened. â€Å"You'll need to shave a spot. Can I open my present while you're in the bathroom? You can use my razor.† â€Å"No, go ahead and open your present. I have some stuff I need to tell you.† â€Å"Wow, a salad shooter. Thanks, Theo.† â€Å"He took the salad shooter,† Molly said. â€Å"Wow, was that important to him?† Lena asked. â€Å"It was a wedding present.† â€Å"I know, I gave it to you. It was a wedding present to me and Dale, too.† â€Å"See, there was tradition.† Molly was inconsolable. She drank off half of her diet Coke and slammed the plastic Budweiser cup down on the bar like a pirate cursing over a schooner of grog. â€Å"Bastard!† It was Wednesday evening, and they were at the Head of the Slug saloon to coordinate the replanning of the food for the Christmas for the Lonesome party. Lena's first reaction to Molly's call to help was to beg off and stay at home, but even as she was creating an excuse, she realized that she'd only sit home obsessing alternately on getting caught for killing Dale and getting her heart broken by this strange, strange helicopter pilot. She decided that maybe meeting with Molly and Mavis down at the Slug wasn't such a bad idea. And she might be able to find out from Molly if Theo suspected her in Dale's disappearance. Yeah, fat chance, with Molly obsessing on Theo's – whatever it was that Theo was supposed to have done wrong. It sounded to Lena like he had just taken a salad shooter to work with him. You were supposed to empathize with your friend's problems, but they were, after all, your friend's problems, and Lena's friends, Molly in particular, could be a little wacky. The bar was full of singles in their twenties and thirties and you could feel a desperate energy sparking around the dark room, like loneliness was the negative and sex was the positive and someone was brushing the wires together over an open bucket of gasoline. This was the fallout of the holiday heartbreak cycle that started with young men who, lacking any stronger motivation toward changing their lives, would break up with their current girlfriend in order to avoid having to buy her a Christmas present. The distraught women would sulk for a few days, eat ice cream, and avoid calling relatives, but then, as the idea of a solitary Christmas and New Year started to loom large, they swarmed into the Slug in search of a companion, virtually any companion, with whom they could pass the holidays. Full speed ahead and forget the presents. Pine Cove's male singles, to display their newfound freedom, would descend on the Slug, and avail themselves of the affections of dejected women in a ga me of small-town sexual musical chairs played hungrily to the tune of â€Å"Deck the Halls† – everyone hoping to have slipped drunkenly into someone more comfortable before the last fa was la-la-ed. There might have been a bubble around Lena and Molly, however, for they were obviously not part of the game. While both were certainly more than attractive enough to garner attention from the younger men, they had about them a mystique of experience, of having been there and moved on, of unbullshitability. Essentially, they scared the hell out of all but the drunkest of the Slug's suitors, and the fact that they were drinking straight diet Coke scared the hell out of the drunks. Molly and Lena, despite their own personal distress, had slain their own holiday desperation dragons, which was how the Lonesome Christmas party had started in the first place. Now they were on to new, individual anxieties. â€Å"Sloppy joes,† said Mavis, a great cloud of low-tar smoke powering the announcement and washing over Lena and Molly. It had been illegal to smoke in California bars for years, but Mavis ignored the law and the authorities (Theophilus Crowe) and smoked on. â€Å"Who doesn't like his meat sloppy on a bun?† â€Å"Mavis, it's Christmas,† Lena said. So far Mavis had only suggested soupy or saucy entres – Lena suspected that Mavis had misplaced her dentures again and was therefore lobbying for a gummable feast. â€Å"With pickles, then. Red sauce, green pickles, Christmas theme.† â€Å"I mean shouldn't we do something nice for Christmas? Not just sloppy joes?† â€Å"At five bucks a head, I told her that barbecue was the only way to feed them.† Mavis leaned in and looked at Molly, who was muttering malevolently into her ice cubes. â€Å"But everyone seems to think it's going to rain. Like it ever rains in December.† Molly looked up and growled a little, then looked at the television screen behind Mavis and pointed. The sound was muted, but there was a weather map of California. About eight hundred miles off the coast there was a great blob of color whirling in jump-frame satellite-photo motion, making it appear that a Technicolor amoeba was about to consume the Bay Area. â€Å"Ain't nothin',† Mavis said. â€Å"They won't even give it a name. If that thing was crouched like that over Bermuda, they'd have given it a name two days ago. Know why? ‘Cause they don't come onshore here. That bitch will turn right a hundred miles off Anacapa Island and go down and dump all over the Yucatan. Meanwhile we won't be able to wash our cars because of the drought.† â€Å"The rain at least will stop any sand-pirate attacks,† Molly said, crunching an ice cube. â€Å"Huh?† said Lena. â€Å"The hell did you say?† Mavis adjusted her hearing aid. â€Å"Nothing,† Molly said. â€Å"What do you guys think about lasagna? You know, some garlic bread, a little salad.† â€Å"Yeah, we can probably do it for five bucks a head if we don't use sauce or cheese,† said Mavis. â€Å"Lasagna just doesn't seem very Christmasy,† said Lena. â€Å"We could put it in Santa Claus pans,† Molly suggested. â€Å"No!† Lena snapped. â€Å"No Santas! We can do a snowman or something, but no friggin' Santas.† Mavis reached over and patted Lena's hand. â€Å"Santa played a little grab-ass with a lot of us when we were little, darlin'. Once your mustache starts growing you're supposed to let go of that shit.† â€Å"I am not growing a mustache.† â€Å"Do you wax? Because you can't see a thing,† said Molly, being supportive. â€Å"I do not have a mustache,† said Lena. â€Å"You think it's bad being a Mexican, Romanian women have to start shaving when they're twelve,† Mavis said. Lena took that opportunity to plant her elbows squarely on the bar and grip two great handfuls of her hair, which she began to pull, slowly and steadily, to make her point. â€Å"What?† said Mavis. â€Å"What?† said Molly. And there was an awkward moment of silence among the three – only the muted jukebox thumping in the background and the low murmur of people lying to one another. They looked around to avoid talking, then turned to the front door as Vance McNally, Pine Cove's senior EMT, came through it and let loose a long, growling belch. Vance was in his midfifties, and fancied himself a charmer and a hero, when, in fact, he was a bit of a dolt. He had been driving the ambulance for over twenty years now, and nothing gave him pleasure like being the bearer of bad news. It was the measure of his importance. â€Å"You guys hear that the highway patrol found Dale Pearson's truck parked up in Big Sur by Lime Kiln Rock? Looks like he was fishing and fell in. Yep, surf coming up from that storm, they'll never find him. Theo's up there now investigating.† Lena stumbled back to her bar stool and climbed up. She was sure everyone in the bar, all the locals anyway, were looking at her for a reaction. She let her long hair hang down by her face, hiding in it. â€Å"So, lasagna it is,† said Mavis. â€Å"But no fucking Santa pans!† Lena snapped, not looking up. Mavis pulled both of their plastic cups off the bar. â€Å"Normal circumstances, you'd be cut off, but as it is, I think you two really need to start drinking.†

Quality Health Care Essay

Quality health care is defined as â€Å"the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge†. The Institute of Medicine’s 2001 article, To Err Is Human released the statement that medical errors were responsible for between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths annually in the United States (McEwen and Willis, 2014). An immediate demand for accountability and quality in the health care system requested and many quality improvement/management initiatives were undertaken that directly impacted the discipline of nursing. A recent announcement was made that The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimated 1.3 million fewer patients (a 17% reduction) were harmed in U.S. hospitals from 2010 to 2013. The estimate of 34,530 deaths prevented in 2013 was nearly 10 times greater than the reduction estimated in 2011. The cumulative cost savings during the period analyzed was nearly $12 billion. Healthcare quality and safety experts call the reductions impressive, but they also emphasize that there is still a long way to go to improve the safety of the nation’s hospitals (Rice, 2014). The majority of these medical errors result from faulty systems and processes, not individuals. Because errors are caused by system or process failures it is important to adopt various process-improvement techniques to identify inefficiencies, ineffective care, and preventable errors to then influence changes associated with systems. Each of these techniques involves assessing performance and using findings to inform change (McNally, Page, and Sunderland, 1997). Our textbook and this class provide us with the insight on specific theories, models, and framework applicable to nursing administration and management. Quality management (QM) is responsible greatly for the work done on the reduction of medical errors. We will discuss components to leadership in a QM environment and essential roles and responsibilities of these leaders. We will also learn that quality improvement and evidence-based practice are cornerstones of a successful and high performing health care organization. McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2014). Theoretical basis for nursing (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott. ISBN: 978-1-4511-9031-1 McNally M., Page M., and Sunderland V. (1997). Failure mode and effects analysis in improving a drug distribution system. American Journal of Health System Pharmacy. (54) 17-7.  Rice, S., (2014). 1.3 million adverse events prevented in U.S. hospitals since 2010, feds say. Retrieved December 4, 2014 from: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20141202/NEWS/312029936.

History of French Cuisine from Conventional to Extraordinary Essay

Derived from the French language, bon appetit has been a familiar saying known around the world. Meaning good appetite or enjoy your meal, bon appetit exemplifies the French culture. The French have been known for centuries of elegant and exquisite cuisine especially gourmet desserts. Located in Western Europe between Italy and Spain, France has been a hotspot of enriched ancient culture. France flourished into a tourist location which ignited a change in France’s commercial kitchens. Chefs were obliged to create dishes that appealed to a growing audience. French cuisine has evolved extensively over the centuries. However, centuries of bliss and creativity was dampened with years of anguish and turmoil, when Germany occupied France during the Second World War. France’s once plentiful food supply quickly turned scarce. This forced cooks to utilize new substitutions for ingredients and start practical meal planning. The hardships the French cuisine faced during 1940-1944 simultaneously changed the French lifestyle. Modern French food now embodies simplicity yet class; rustic yet modern. Once having everything then being stripped away to nothing, France needed to rebuild a cuisine embracing the past, present, and future. Therefore beginning from World War II to modern day, French cuisine has experienced many changes whereby impacting French culture. An adversary of Germany, France sustained a significant setback when Germany took control. Prior to the German occupation, French food was known has haute or grande cuisine. Traditional haute cuisine is highly noted all around the world. The food is well known due to the immense amount of preparation and presentation that goes into each dish. Precision plays a crucial role in creating an exquisite haute meal (Franklin). However, haute cuisine ceased to exist under German occupation and subsequent food shortages. Lines were long in front of French shops as people hoped to purchase depleted foods and staple products. Burdened with these difficulties, the French government instituted food charts and tickets which were to be exchanged for French staples. Items such as butter, bread, and meat were being rationed. Traditional cuisine then became obsolete due to citizens skimping on spices and decorations. Although the government tried to provide food subsidies, hunger still existed affecting the youth in urban areas. With the absence of standard foods normally seen in their diet, the French people searched for new European dietary substitutes (Beaufort). They ate unusual vegetables, such as Swedish turnip and Jerusalem artichoke. Products such as sugar were replaced by alternatives such as saccharin. In lieu of coffee, toasted barley mixed with chicory became the beverage of choice (â€Å"French Classics†). Scams and trickery got the best of people who were desperate for a meal during this time. Some people utilized the black market. There people could sell food without government tickets. Resulting in the prices being extremely high. Counterfeit food tickets were also in circulation. Along with the black market there was also direct buying from farmers in the countryside. The above activities carried the risk of fines and punishments as they were strictly prohibited by the government. In remote country villages vegetable gardens, the availability of milk products, and illicit animal slaughtering provided better survival for the people verses those living in the large cities (Beaufort). Wine played a key role during World War II as well. Wine is commonly consumed during festive occasions it has been utilized during war as well. Over the years, wine has made an unusual appearance on the battlefield. Commanders have allowed their troops to consume wine on the front lines hoping for an increase in performance and moral. During World War II, the combination of wine and war played out in a heartfelt way. The French army did everything in their power to keep their wine and their national identity out of the hands of the invading German forces (â€Å"Saving†). Although, the German forces did invade France, the consumption of wine on the frontline gave hope to the French soldiers that traditional French culture was being preserved during and after the war. The liberation of France began on June 6th, 1944. The Allied forces put forth into to action their plan, D-Day which was the invasion of France. After World War II, tourism signaled a new beginning for French cuisine. Tourism introduced the demand for haute cuisine at a reasonable price. Japanese, Middle Easterners, British, Americans, and even French travelers were yearning for new food experiences. French chefs were now determined to start a new style of cooking, one that would keep some traditional recipes but implement new ones. New cuisine was a counteraction to the classic haute cuisine (Franklin). New cuisine or Nouvelle was the answer that chefs from all parts of the world were looking for. Nouvelle cuisine had several characteristics. For example it was important that high quality and fresh products were utilized for cooking. The chefs would travel to markets every morning and look for the freshest products. These new and improved cooks would not fathom the idea of using any product that was not absolutely fresh or needed preservatives. Chefs simplified menu cards deleting a long list of dishes. Smaller quantities and choices meant no leftovers guaranteeing freshness. Chefs were looking for quality and became more attracted by unfamiliar products. Foreign influences prevailed and chefs began to use exotic products from Asia, North Africa and Italy (â€Å"Nouvelle Cuisine†). In new cuisine recipes, fewer ingredients were used to enhance purity and light sauces substituted creamy, thick ones. Flexible preparation methods and more experimentation with non-traditional flavors allowed new cuisine to become popular (Franklin). Fortunately, this new cooking style is said to be less fattening. Chefs used limited meat in new recipes which stems from the shortage of meat during World War II. It is perfect for those seeking a healthier lifestyle. Additionally, the new cuisine was prepared with lighter ingredients such as herbs, quality butter, lemon juice, and vinegar. This flexible and less expensive cuisine mainstreamed into restaurants and other eateries (Beaufort). One byproduct of the new cuisine is the menu de degustation or tasting menu that was offered in many restaurants. Achieving notoriety, diners were eager to sample all of the dishes of the new cuisine. Each member in a group had the opportunity to order a different appetizer, main course, and dessert. Tasting menus gave the diners the convenience to experience many varieties. Another byproduct of new cuisine is the choice of a la carte. It is a menu in which the patron makes individual selections from various menu categories and each item is priced separately. Serving single portions was seen as a rare new talent to chefs (Olver). The French culture was launched and savored by people around the world. World War II impacted French living for the better by reevaluating French values and introducing new French cuisine ideas. French cuisine influenced other cultures as well and many countries adapted new French cooking methods. Throughout the centuries, France was noted for its grandiose and eccentric lifestyle. Rich foods and lavish feasts were an integral part of the France culture. Chefs prepared French cuisine with the finest ingredients. Wine was served and enjoyed at every meal. Food was plentiful for all. All of this changed rapidly with the German Invasion in 1940. A ravaged and war torn country left the French people forced to explore new and less expensive ways to provide meals solely for survival. Yet, despite the devastation and hardship the French citizens endured, they utilized these cost effective measures and the importation of ingredients into the development of the nouvelle cuisine. Tasting menus and ala carte menus, not to mention exquisite appetizers and desserts, created the ultimate dining experience enjoyed by patrons. Thus emerged the world renowned and delectable French cuisine that is so popular today.

Post-occupancy evaluating of low income housing in the Kingdom of Dissertation

Post-occupancy evaluating of low income housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Dissertation Example 13 Pictures(3) Showsthe region of Ha’il, with the pleased of the project. 13 Pictures(4) Site plan of the Al-Ghazalah project 13 Pictures(5) Site plan of the Al-Ghazalah project 15 Pictures(6) Ground floor plan 15 Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Low Income Housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Chapter 1 Introduction Housing demand is one of the most important issues and challenges that face developing and developed countries (Al-klyfh, 2009). These countries have tried to solve their housing demands with different policies. Some policies and proposals have met the needs of different levels of society. One of these economic classes is called the low income group that encompass some Saudi Arabian people with low annual income. To address the issue on housing income, the government tried to establish residential complexes, an introductory concept and still under trial. This paper will focus on low income housing post occupancy evaluation as the main issue. The housing policy will b e assessed using the post-occupancy evaluation method (POE). However, before investigating the Saudi Arabian policy, it is important to investigate the different international policies for low income housing. 1.1. International policies for low income housing Many institutions, international agencies and local communities around the world have for many years now addressed poverty, increase standards of living,as well as provide adequate shelter for the poor (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, 1987).These UN programs were allocated in 155 countries and have established national centres that work directly with various local government agencies (Tiesdell, 2004). Important processes that have been followed are: a. Secure possession of the land. b. Provide public facilities and services. c. Finance low-cost housing d. Provision of construction materials. e. Community participation. f. Cooperation with the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (Tiesdell, 2004) . A review of socio-economic policies indicates that there is a growing interest in the issue of housing for the poor by civil society organizations and governments of many countries. A limited review on Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom low cost housing will be included due to time constraints. 1.1.1. Affordable Housing in the UK Housing policies in Britain has local planning authorities mandate developers of housing projects to provide a certain percentage of affordable housing for low income groups (Tiesdell, 2004). The two aims are as follows: a. Social: sustain a mixed community in terms of income and social level and reduce illegal settlements that lack basic services b. Economic: shoulder part of the burden of financing in order to allow beneficiaries provided with lower prices than the market price or rent housing (social security) at less than the prevailing costs. UK housing, however, did not meet stated objectives, such as acceptance from high-income and middle classes due to preference

American courts and the criminal justice system Essay

American courts and the criminal justice system - Essay Example This killed his victim on the spot. The unsworn statement however contradicted his earlier statement to the police that indicated that he had fired blindly while escaping1. Whichever the case though, William Furman would have been found guilty of killing (murder). This was due to the fact that the shooting took place during the commission of a felony. The suspect was tried for murder and found guilty largely on the basis of his statement. After a one day trial, Furman was found guilty uf murdering William Micke and was sentenced to death on 20th September 1968. (Roensch 2007) The Furman v. Georgia raised an important question of law on whether the imposition and carrying out capital punishment in that particular case and two others constituted cruel and unusual punishment. If this was the case then the ruling on death penalty violated the Eighth an Fourteenth Amendments. In a five to four decision the court decided that the death penalty ruling did constitute to cruel and unusual punishment and thus violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment. The justices articulated their views on over two hundred pages of concurrences and dissents. The issue of race came up with concurrences on the arbitrary nature on death penalty passed on black defendants. The other two cases consolidated together with the Furman v. Georgia were Jackson v. ... He was thus convicted of both rape and robbery and sentenced to death. During the trial, a psychiatrist refuted claims that Jackson was schizophrenic. He therefore declared Jackson competent to stand trial. Branch v. Texas Branch was also an African American male in Texas convicted of rape on an elderly woman. Though the trial determined that Branch was of below average IQ (lowest fourth percentile in his class to be precise), he was sentenced to death. Furman v. Georgia Trial Concurrences The Furman v. Georgia and the other two consolidated case were presided by the United States Supreme Courts Justices named below The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Powell Mr. Justice White Mr. Justice Blackman Mr. Justice Marshall Mr. Justice Stewart Mr. Justice Brennan Mr. Justice Douglas Mr. Justice Powell Mr. Justice Rehnquist The concurring justices were Justice Douglas, Justice Brennan, Justice Stewart, Justice White, and Justice Marshall. This section will provide an articulation of the concurring judges and their respective arguments. It is important to note that the Furman v. Georgia case turned out to be a landmark case and revolutionary in some ways. It impacted or changed American Criminal Law in the following ways. The Branch v. Texas and Jackson v. Georgia case invalidated the death penalty on rape. This was a monumental ruling that had impact on thousands of cases throughout the United States since then up to this date. The decision ruled the requirement of for a degree of consistency in the application of the death sentence. The question of the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty on numerous cases throughout the United States arose. This was due to the fact that carrying out the death sentence on those and similar cases constituted to cruel

Further Education in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Further Education in UK - Essay Example Some FECs are funded directly; others receive money indirectly through a franchise agreement with a higher education institution, or as part of a consortium. Contact details and links to further information on FECs providing HE courses are available through the HERO web-site. The following list gives the 135 FECs that we are funding directly I am proud that my first White Paper as Secretary of State should be on the issue of education for our 14 to 19 year old.(http://195.194.167.100/unicoll/FE/). The reforms set out for further education are very much important. They are vital to UK economy equipping young people with the skills employers' need and the ability to go on learning throughout their lives. Reforms are vital for social justice giving us the chance to give break through the historic link between social back ground, educational achievement and life chances that have determined UK citizens as a nation. And most of all these are vital to each and every individual young person, whatever the needs of the young people or whatever they want to be. Young teenagers are tomorrow's leaders, entrepreneurs, parent and community servants, so we should take a special care for the children in the age group of 14 to 19; it is the age period when one needs guidance and help for selecting one's career. Build a system of 14 to 19 education that will do just that. A system that we can be proud of. And one that gives every young person the opportunities they need and deserve. Every child and every teenager has equal worth. We owe it to them to give them the chance to show what they can do, to make the most of their talents, to reach their potential. And the key to doing that is to design a system around them based on high standards, on choice and on meeting individuals' needs and aspirations. To deliver that system will take determination. It will take commitment. It will take the hard work of teachers, lecturers, other education professionals, employers, parents and all who work in or with our schools and colleges. It will require breaking down the artificial barriers between academic and vocational education. It will mean building on all that is good in our system and reforming what is not working. Building from the excellent work of Sir Mike Tomlinson and his Working Group on 14-19 Reform and from the work of the successful school and college partnerships we are already seeing in local communities. It charts a 10-year reform programme and the milestone s needed to achieve it. But more than those details and those milestones, it sets out a vision of what we want for children and teenagers what we want them to learn, the skills we want them to acquire, but above all the values we want them to have. The purpose of the education system is to help each and every individual reach their potential. (http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/14-19educationandskills /pdfs/14-19WhitePaper.pdf) School pupils in this age group and (probably) sixth form

Object Oriented Programming Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Object Oriented Programming - Research Paper Example The research paper "Object Oriented Programming" talks about main concepts and principles of the object oriented programming paradigm and about its application to computer software or computer applications design. In OOP, the represented objects have specific data fields such as rows and columns in the design of databases. These fields are used in OPP as characteristics of an object that is presented through a programming language with object oriented attributes. In addition, objects within object oriented programming are represented via specified methods or procedures which are used to ensure that these objects are orderly and consistent depending on the purpose of the design or programming. When programmers design computer software or computer applications, they achieve this by methods which cause objects to relate or interact with one another. Each object in this form of interaction is referred to as an instance of a particular class of objects. Classes in OOP represent concepts. For example â€Å"Girl† is a class within which the aforementioned objects fall. This illustrates that a class is used to capture the properties that are shared by objects in the process of object oriented programming. Therefore, classes are normally instantiated from the objects that are represented by a program design. In OOP, classes are visible within the source code of the program and this code is normally not duplicated. Also objects play the role of activating a program that is currently running as a result they occupy memory locations. Furthermore, a set of operations as presented within the class are owned by objects which means that objects in OOP own a copy of specific data that is held within the program. When a specific class within a program is a subtype of another higher level or general class, the subtype class in OOP is said to be inherited from the general class (Hadar and Uri 43). The subclass therefore inherits both member functions and the data members of the base class. In object oriented programming, inheritance particularly refers to the method of reusing a specific code that is held by various objects with an aim of establishing a lower level or subtype class below a general class. The creation of subtypes however depends on the supporting platform of the programming language that is used to design or program the application. The general classes in inheritance are referred to as base classes and it is from these classes that the subtype classes inherit various attributes. Base classes are also referred to as parent classes or super classes (Pefkaros 219). The subclasses that are derived from the parent classes are therefore referred to as child classes or derived classes. This illustrates that the patent and child classes are related within a structure which leads to a hierarchy. Encapsulation is a concept and principle in object oriented programming in which the designer of a program hides the manner in which an object behaves from the approach of implementation. Encapsulation also includes separation of the looks of an object or it appearance from the methods through which its behavior is implemented. Encapsulation emanates from the fact that objects within a program have well defined interfaces (Ramsin and Richard 31). These are the publicly accessible methods and fields. Therefore when information about objects is hidden below or behind a specific interface, it is then said that the design of a program has implemented encapsulation. This situation is also referred to as information hiding. It therefore is notable that in object oriented programming, programmers use interfaces as the most effective way through which behavior of objects are