Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt Essay -- Midni

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was written by John Berendt and was 388 pages long. This was a non-fiction story of the beautiful town of Savannah, Georgia. John Berendt was a reporter who lived in New York and one night while dinning out he realized that one plate of food cost him the same amount of money that it would to fly to Savannah. So he did and he found himself in love with the city and stayed. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: a fading belle who packs a pistol in her dà ©colletage; a charming, piano-playing con man who moves like a hermit crab from one empty showplace house to the next, accompanied by his high-living entourage and pursued closely by his creditors; a moneyed dowager who conducts business from a cruising Mercedes limousine; a sour alcoholic inventor who claims to own a vial of poison so powerful that it could kill off the entire city; a voodoo priestess in purple shades; and a foul-mouthed black drag queen who passes so convincingly for a woman that she is able to extort abortion money from the parents of her white boyfriend. With these and other people from savannah, Berendt reviles his alliances and enemies in the town where everybody knows everybody else.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The exciting colorful town of Savannah is said to be the main character in this Novel, but the main character was actually John Berendt, he was the narrator and main character . He was a reporter from New York who made savannah and the people in Savannah his interest, his home, and his life. He learned all about this secluded city through observation, meetings, and gossip. He was an intelligent man who always knew where to be at the right time. There was this one scene in the book where he was having an interview with Jim Williams when Danny Hansford walked in, in a tirade, with a shirt on that said F-U on it. Well earlier that day his other friend Joe Oldem had been talking about this strange man who woke up in his bed with that same thing printed on his shirt. John was in the right place at the right time to put two and two together. Jim Williams was the other major character in this book, he was an antique dealer who owned one of the nicest homes in Savannah. He was a major ... ... job at it. The strongest features of the book was the way he described the people and the city as being one, The weakest part of the book was that the actually story of the murder didn’t start until the second part of the book. If I was the author I would probably incorporate more of the murder story line into the first part of the book and introduce the character’s throughout the whole book not just the first part ( the book was separated into a part 1 and part 2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ending of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was very satisfactory, Jim was found not guilty of Danny Hansfords’s death. Jim threw his first Christmas party of the year for the first time in 8 years, where he found himself remaking the guest list. Then at the very end he died, I believe that it was ideal for him to die, it was uncanny though that he died in the same place that he would of died 8 years ago if Danny had shot and killed him like he intended too. After Jim’s death Savannah was still the same. It was growing inward away from the real world, living in its own. The book starts with the town and ends with the town and I found that to be very satisfactory.

Zechariah Essay -- essays research papers fc

Zechariah Zechariah is one of the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. His book is located between the books of Haggai and Malachi. Zechariah is thought to have preached from about 520-518 B.C. The book of Zechariah deals with the restoration of Jerusalem, the Temple, and God‘s people. Chapter 11 verses 4-17, which is a story of two shepherds, is one of the most difficult passages in the Old Testament to understand. From the New Living Translation, the passage reads as follows: 4 This is what the LORD my God says: "Go and care for a flock that is intended for slaughter. 5 The buyers will slaughter their sheep without remorse. The sellers will say, 'Praise the LORD, I am now rich!' Even the shepherds have no compassion for them. 6 And likewise, I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD. "I will let them fall into each other's clutches, as well as into the clutches of their king. They will turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not protec t them." 7 So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter – the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd's staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. 8 I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month. But I became impatient with these sheep – this nation – and they hated me, too. 9 So I told them, "I won't be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And those who remain will devour each other!" 10 Then I took my staff called Favor and snapped it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 That was the end of my covenant with them. Those who bought and sold sheep were watching me, and they knew that the LORD was speaking to them through my actions. 12 And I said to them, "If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to." So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potters" – this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potters in the Temple of the LORD. 14 Then I broke my other staff, Union, to show that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken. 15 Then the LORD said to me, "Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd. 16 This will illustrate how I will give this nation a... ...ill leave them to be destroyed in the hands of the false prophets and corrupt leaders of the land. God tells them that he really does not want it to come to this, because the passage ends with a prophecy about what will become of the worthless shepherd. I think this is a message to false prophets that eventually no one will believe them, and also to the leaders or kings that they will lose all of their power and military strength. God reminds them that he really is helping protect them from the full effect of their sins even if they don’t realize it. In other words, things could be a lot worse, but God loves humans so much that he won’t let it get worse. The general message is for the people to clean up their act and repent so these bad things won’t happen. Bibliography Works Cited Chisholm, Robert B., Jr. Interpreting The Minor Prophets. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990. Brown, William P. Westminster Bible Companion: Obadiah Through Malachi. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. Holy Bible New Living Translation. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 1996. Meyers, Carol L., and Eric M. Meyers. The Anchor Bible: Zechariah 9-14.New York: Doubleday. 1993.

Gewirth and Nagel :: Alan Gewirth Thomas Nagel Rights Essays

Gewirth and Nagel One difference between Alan Gewirth’s defense of absolutism and that offered by Thomas Nagel is that Nagel concedes that it can be wrong to fail to violate absolute prohibitions (or absolute rights) in order to prevent catastrophic consequences whereas Gewirth does not. Explain what you regard as the most important advantages and disadvantages of each author’s position. Which one has the more compelling defense of absolutism? Rights delineate a space around individuals that must be respected. The study of rights is a struggle to understand how rights may be prioritized, and in what cases the interests of someone may overcome the rights of another. Gewirth and Nagel are both asking whether there are rights which may not be overridden, even in the case where it seems that overriding them would serve some greater common good. They call these rights ‘absolute.’ Gewirth is attempting to show that there are such rights, and that respecting them does not conflict with the rights of others. Nagel, on the other hand, believes that some situations require the violation of the rights of one or another, and argues that absolutism can provide important criteria attempts for determining how to evaluate claims in such events. Gewirth’s conclusion rests upon a strict delineation of responsibility, so that a responsible actor can always be identified for a violation of rights, and other actors can always avoid violating another’s absolute right. This formulation appears to be too strong. It is also limited in that it requires the identification of an actor; there are situations in which it offers us no help in evaluating right action. But, while Gewirth’s formulation is problematic in practice, it is powerful in that it offers a coherent, consistent defense of absolute rights. Nagel is not interested in justifying absolute rights, but in articulating actions that are prohibited. His belief is that the world is an imperfect place; that fear and human cruelty will always present difficult moral situations, and that therefore, establishing criteria to deal with these less than ideal situations is essential. He also argues, unlike Gewirth, that one can be confronted with two choices, both of whose outcomes are bad, and for both of which one bears responsibility. Thus, he asks, when both respecting and violating an absolute right are wrong, what is the morally right thing to do?

Reitman’s Financial Analysis Essay

Reitmans – Financial Analysis From an analysis of the Company’s ratios over the last three years since 2009, as found in the Appendix: Exhibit _, the quantitative data reveals an unfavourable trend in performance. Liquidity Reitmans has the strongest current ratio when compared to its competitors—The Gap and Le Chateau—at almost double their value. However, the Company’s ratio has been in decline since 2009; at that time, it was at 4. , then fell to 4. 3, and finally, to 4. 1 in 2011. This trend reveals a slight decline in Reitmans’ short-term liquidity; however, even with the decline, the Company has more than enough liquidity to meet their short-term cash requirements. It could even be argued that they are not utilizing their assets to their full potential, as the usual acceptable current ratio is 2:1. Even when inventory is not considered, as with the quick ratio and cash ratio, Reitmans’ ratios are unusually high when compared to their competitors—which adds strength to the argument that they are not utilizing their assets as effectively as they could be if they were to invest their funds instead of leaving them sitting idle within an account. Asset Management As revealed by their inventory turnover of 1. 2, Reitmans sells its inventory more slowly than its competitor, the Gap, does with their ratio of 5. 7 in 2011. However, the Gap may have a higher than normal turnover, as Reitmans is favourable when compared to their other competitor, Le Chateau. The Company’s accounts receivable turnover has remained relatively stable over the past three years, fluctuating slightly but still taking just one day on average to collect from customers. In contrast, Reitmans’ accounts payable turnover has been experiencing an unfavourable decline since 2009; it used to take just 106 days to make payments to suppliers, but now it takes 257 days, over twice the time. Long-term Debt Paying Ability Reitmans’ debt ratio measures the extent of creditor financing and leverage. Their percentage of debt, 22%, is much smaller than their competitors at 63% and 39% and a result, Reitmans’ is much more solvent and more able to maintain their long-run financial viability. Further, when looking at the Company’s times interest earned, we see that Reitmans is considered to be less-risky for lenders as they are able to earn their fixed interest charges ver 3 times per year; this exceeds the general guideline that says creditors are reasonably safe if the company has a times interest earned ratio of two or more times. Profitability Most merchandising companies need sufficient gross profit in order to cover their operating expenses or else they will likely fail. Reitmans, as similar to their competitors, maintains a higher profit ratio of 64% in 2011 and 67% in 2010. Even though the Company’s other measures of profitability are still fa vourable compared with their competitors, Reitmans’ profitability ratios have declined by almost half from 2010 to 2011.

Medical Billing and Coding Process Essay

Step One: Preregister patients-Patients who call in order to schedule an appointment have to provide basic information. General information usually includes the person’s first, middle, and last names along with their address, the reason for the encounter, their basic insurance information, and the most convenient date and time of the appointment. During the encounter: Step Two: Establish financial responsibility-The person behind the window will inform the patient on whether or not they are eligible for that specific health plan, check the factors that are covered under that health plan, determine the first payer if there are more than one health plan that actually covers that patient, and meet the payer’s conditions for the payment. Step Three: Check in patients-Returning patients are required to sign in at the front desk of the facility. They usually are asked to review previous information to make sure that it is accurate and up-to-date. Their financial records are also checked to make sure that previous balances were paid at the time of the previous visits. If a new patient arrives, they are required to fill out a form that includes their personal information and show proof of their identification as well as proof of their insurance. This helps to eliminate fraud or malpractice in the facility. The patient’s personal information and insurance information will then be copied and returned to the patient. This information is entered into the facility’s database for future reference. The front and back of the insurance cards and other identification cards are scanned and copied in order to be storied in the database. Copayments are always collected at the time of the service, some are collected before the encou nter and some are collected after the encounter. Some facilities  require other forms to be completed by the patients, these forms are included as part of the process of recording administrative and clinical facts about patients. Step Four: Review Coding Compliance-In order for billing options to be carried out to the patient, medical codes must assign the medical procedures and diagnoses. The physician does specific codes for specific treatments and procedures. The treatment that the patient receives from the physician is entered into the database. The treatment and procedures that the patient receives have to be completed and signed by the physician. At the end of the patient’s visit, the physician gives the form (with the checked-off treatments and procedures) to the individual at the front desk. That person then in turn gives the form to the billing function of the facility. After this is done, they set up a patient’s next appointment. Step Five: Review Billing Compliance-After the facility transfers the patient’s diagnoses and procedures to billing, the file is then checked by billing in order to determine if the specific billing options are correct or not, and to make sure that reimbursements are returned to the patient in a timely fashion. Every fee or charge has its own specific procedure code. Usually, the physician’s charges are applied to the medical practice’s fee schedule.

Pitfalls in executive information systems (EIS) development

As identified by Watson, EIS failures are due to the following factors: Lack of executive support – The support during the period of development is very essential. The support from the higher management with regard to information transparency and belief for the system would define better activity lifecycle and speed in implementation. Often information gathering from higher management is poorly managed and lacks standard processes for recording mechanism.As not enough documentation is done, the primary stage of IS development is miscarried and entire lifecycle suffers. Undefined system objectives – The system objectives are often revised and requirements are poorly defined. The scope of such systems is open and is never seized, thereafter making the system development in an undefined fashion. The system objective is not understood from the very beginning. The idea is to determine and set right goals for the system. Such initiatives are often neglected and not documented well.Undefined goals push activities to a different path and lack enough direction to succeed (McNurlin, 2009). Inadequate support staff – The support staff are often inadequate and unskilled to handle the development. The high skill individuals are often lacking for the development of EIS, which demands effective resources with years of aligned experience. Such shortages pose a danger to the development. Improper planning – The planning of the EIS system development is often is not adequate and lacks risk management information.The idea is to make the right judgment of the system in conjunction with various organizational objectives and the scope of the system. Such analysis often lacks and thus the system development fails. Planning the EIS system into various sub-systems for development makes the system development planned, however often the system knowhow makes it quite difficult to understand the entire system and thus the development of framework becomes difficu lt. References McNurlin B. C. and Sprague R. H. (2009). Information Systems Management in Practice (8th Ed). Prentice Hall.

Hitler’s Underestimation of the Allies

Toni Smith 12/4/09 â€Å"The Boys’ Crusade† concerning Hitler’s Underestimation of the Allied Powers In his book â€Å"The Boys’ Crusade† Paul Fussell develops the theme of Adolf Hitler’s underestimation of the Allied forces. Hitler’s failure to accurately evaluate the power of the Allied enemies led to the destruction of the Axis powers and precipitated the end of WWII. He underestimated not only the strength of the Allies, but also their determination to win, their combined cooperation, their militarial organizational skills, and their combined technological advances. This underestimation was a product of Hitler’s personal theory of German Aryan racial supremacy over other races and was commonly accepted to some degree as the social Darwinist ideas of the time. In Hitler’s eyes, Germans were a dominant species, set apart from other races by their motivation, their loyal dedication to the Fuhrer, and the strength of their willpower. Hitler believed Germans would prove themselves to be superior on the battlefield if only because of their pure racial background. The lack of discipline and the dismissive attitudes of Allied troops were factors that Hitler believed maintained the theory of racial supremacy. The Germany military, called the Wehrmacht, the SS, and the Gestapo were all strictly trained and highly disciplined units. German parades during WWII consisted of controlled marches in uniform through the streets of German cities. Nazi officials aimed to show the Aryan population the strength and pride of the German military. In contrast to the strict discipline of the Wehrmacht were the Allied forces, in specific, the American troops. They gained a reputation of general laziness including â€Å"slouching postures, gum chewing, leaning against walls when tired, keeping hands in trouser pockets, and †¦ profanity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 1 Hitler saw the slovenly attitudes of the American troops as a solid example of the supremacy of the Aryan Germans. Fussell states that because conditions at the front line were so deplorable many psychological problems and morale issues arose. Also, a general unpreparedness of new recruits was a critical concern, which could have been avoided by training infantrymen for the psychological aspects of warfare. Too late, military planners found that unless replacement troops were â€Å"trained rigorously and prepared psychologically for the carnage of the front lines, they would not survive long and tended to revert to cowardice when faced with violent action. †2 In trench warfare the abysmal living environment, illness, fatigue, loneliness, and constant fear of death created a hopeless feeling of fighting in a meaningless â€Å"never-ending† war. The psychological health of Allied troops was a crucial factor in relation to the positive morale and overall troop resilience, especially of those confronted daily with violent action. The infantry suffered the highest percentage of total casualties throughout the war, and was forced to fight in the worst conditions. The idea of a â€Å"never-ending† war was created in part by the demoralization of troops during the middle stages of the war, before an end was clearly in sight, and also because American troops knew there were only three ways â€Å"to escape from the front line with its discipline, anxiety, and horror: the unlikely sudden end of the war; a wound; and death itself. †3 Before the winter of 1941, Hitler had not considered, the threat of U. S. involvement in the war. However, when the U. S. declared war on Germany and Japan on the 11th of December, 1941, Hitler wholeheartedly believed Germany was ready to challenge Britain and America in a war of global magnitude. Hitler had previously assumed the U. S. would stay out of a European conflict to continue their chosen policy of isolation across the Atlantic. But Germany was not materially prepared for a global war drawn out for more than a few years. Though the U. S. lacked the discipline and fanatical loyalty the German troops showed towards their Fuhrer, Americans were not entering a war without national strengths. The Germans were renowned craftsmen and had the capability to produce high-quality weapons and war-materials but they were not equipped for the scale of production necessary for victory in a global war. However: the strengths of the American industrial tradition – the widespread experience with mass-production, the great depth of technical and organizational skill, the willingness to ‘think big’, the ethos of hustling competition – were just the characteristics needed to transform the American production in a hurry. 4 The U. S. as quite familiar with the technique of mass-production and implemented it very successfully. The American motor industry adapted so well to the program that â€Å"once the conversion was completed the industry began to overfulfil its orders. †5 Based on the opportunities of individual profit, many prospective entrepreneurs found that the war opened a door to the world of business. Germany had been making preparations for war since Hitler took control of the state on the 30th of January, 1933 and the American leaders were aware of just how far behind in production they were. The military weakness of the U. S. was a consequence of geographical and political isolation, but in only four years the giant plans approved by Roosevelt and Congress in the first weeks of war â€Å"turned America from military weakling to military super-power. †6 The strategy of mass-production encouraged individuals to involve themselves in the production of war materials, giving them a personal and unique sense of dedication to the war effort. Production began with Roosevelt building a wartime planning infrastructure, run by business recruits. He employed a strategy in which business was given a good deal of responsibility to further the war effort. The American approach to â€Å"production on this scale made Allied victory a possibility, though it did not make victory in any sense automatic. †7 Hitler was anxious for a victory over the Soviet Union, not only to satisfy a sense of retribution remaining from the German defeat of the First World War, but also to accomplish the goals he set out in his book, Mein Kampf, to attain Lebensraum, or living space for an expanding Aryan population. Even the war with Britain couldn’t distract him for long, and â€Å"in the summer of 1940 he turned his back on Britain, who could, he argued, be finished off by the Luftwaffe in good time, and looked eastward. †8 Hitler was so focused on the conflict against the Soviet Union, that he didn’t correctly prioritize the two conflicts and the necessary war materials needed for a victory in a war against a second front in the West. Hitler had an overabundant confidence in the superiority of German troops and German tanks and didn’t realize how decisive the Allied landing at D-Day and later the battle at Stalingrad would be. The landing on Normandy beaches were a welcome success after the months of small and costly victories in Italy and North Africa. Though Stalingrad is generally considered the most decisive battle of WWII, D-Day marked a major turning point for the Allies. The landing forced Hitler to fight a war on two fronts, which relieved some pressure from the Soviets’ bitter struggle against the Wehrmacht in the East. Hitler’s Germany was beginning to stretch thin, as â€Å"a great chasm opened up between Hitler’s plans and the material reality. 9 The Allies effectively used technology to gain the upper-hand to aide in the victory of the Second World War in Europe. The strategy of synchronizing air support with ground forces promoted forward surges of troops while destroying dug-in German fortifications and causing enemy casualties. In the Battle of the Atlantic, the British were able to crack the German naval code and use decoded transmissions to steer convoys of merchant ships away from the packs of waiting U-Boats. The Allies proved their organization and cooperation abilities during the Battle of the Atlantic. The British and Americans worked together successfully to â€Å"render redundant naval strategies still rooted in the battleship age†10 by the use of air power in groups called support escorts to keep merchant ships safe from U-Boat damage. The success of U-Boats destruction was increased with the use of long-range aircraft, radio, and radar. The warfare technology at sea was maximized, proving that â€Å"victory was a product of all those elements of organization and invention mobilized in months of painstaking labor. 11 Though the Battle of the Atlantic wasn’t won in any short span of time, it lasted for six years, the technological advances, communication improvements, and the coordination of British and Allied forces to predict U-Boat movement took Hitler by surprise. Hitler was confident that the superior German navy could easily gain control of the English Channel, but the Allies proved that in this specific battle â€Å"the careful application of air power, and the use of radar and radio intelligence, turned the tide. 12 Hitler had an overabundant confidence in the German forces and didn’t contemplate the outcome of an Allied victory because he believed Germans were racially superior. Though he wasn’t interested in a war with Britain or the U. S. , they stood in the way of the fruition of his goals of conquest in the East, specifically the destruction of the Jewish people and the downfall of the Soviet Union. Hitler underestimated the combined strength, organizational skills, and military power of the Allies and allowed his dreams of Eastern conquest to cloud his judgment concerning military priorities when faced with a pressing war in the West. His inaccurate estimation of the strength of the Allies and his inability to coordinate war efforts on two fronts, especially after Stalingrad, led to the downfall of the Axis powers. References Fussell, Paul 2003. The Boys’ Crusade. New York: Random House Printing. 136. Fussell, 97. Fussell, 107. Overy, Richard 1995. Why The Allies Won. New York: Norton Publishing. 192. Overy, 195. Overy, 192. Overy, 192. Overy, 13. Overy, 200. 10. Overy, 30. 11. Overy, 60. 12. Overy, 52.