The Mysteries Of Udolpho, Frankenstein, And The Rime Of...

Ghostly evocations of terror, decrepit castles and manors, villainous tyrants bent on destruction...and witty dialogue — laced with irony and satire — speaking of matchmaking, fall fashions and the propriety of social actions? Pre-dash, the elements of Gothic fiction permeate and resonate throughout the Romantic era and are included in analysis of many such fiction and prose. The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, etc. display said aspects and can be considered works of true Gothic horror. Emily St. Aubert (from Udolpho) acts in the Gothic fashion when, examining the secret chambers of the deceased Marchioness, she witnesses the supernatural apparition rising above the resting place and subsequently fleeing in terror. Such is not said when Elizabeth Bennet refuses the wedding proposal from Fitzwilliam Darcy. To most, Pride and Prejudice is a work of romance and social satire; an apex in wit and dialogue. There are no spectres at Pemberley nor is there an insatiable tyrant or haunted castle at Derbyshire. However, there is a sense of fear amongst many of the characters. The houses are often large and hiding a painful secret. And love, at least between a few, transcends the boundary into the supernatural; or at least has elements thereof. Contrary to its popular, and overly common, definition and perception, I will argue that Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (hereon referred to as PP) is an established piece of Gothic fiction, as it

How Technology Can Improve Learning Skills - 985 Words

Educational Technology some people think â€Å"Its a waste of time, why should we even know this?† Techniques of E-learning are known as software and equipment of technology. Also each new device brought new set of procedures and techniques. There are several types of education one of which is Formal education. Applications like Function, Visual Technology Aid, Computer Technology Aid, Internet technology aid, and considerations. There are certain online games can also improve learning skills in different environments such as historical and cultural ideas. A game known as Civilization is a prime example. A 7th grade teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts says Education through meaningful real-world play and exploration is what his pre-k-8 school is built upon. He embraces and been wildly successful with digital game-based education in his classroom for the past 7 years. He believes that he should pair up each student to play on one computer and each team plays the role of a country, he has also played the game as a whole class via one computer and a projector. There are many benefits to playing Diplomacy in the classroom versus his traditional instructional worksheet work, one of the strongest is the students explore and interact with the scenario-at-hand such as political causes of WWI. Parents and teacher took a worldwide survey were asked a few questions and one of them was, â€Å" how important is it for schools to make good use of technology in the education of students today?†Show MoreRelatedClassroom And Listening Techniques Must Be Implemented From My Initial Individual Learning Plan Essay1637 Words   |  7 Pagespromote student learning and establish a learning environment where students interact positively and share their knowledge. 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ThroughoutRead MoreTechnology Assistive Can Improve And Advance Young Children With Or Without Special Needs936 Words   |  4 PagesThe purpose of this study is to show that technology assistive can improve and advance young children with or without special needs. Technology has advance through the years and all children are more interest in learning skills with technology devices. My action research project has four children the majority are two to nine year of age that can benefit for technologies in tasks at school and home with a nd without special needs. The technologies assist can be more creativity, innovation, communicationRead MoreLiterature Review Of Assistive Technology1277 Words   |  6 PagesAssistive technology includes products and related services that improve the functioning of children with disabilities. Many forms of technology, both â€Å"high† and â€Å"low,† can help individuals with learning disabilities capitalize on their strengths and bypass, or compensate for, their disabilities. In conclusion, appropriate assistive technology can be a powerful tool to increase a child’s independence and improve their participation. It can help children become mobile, communicate more effectivelyRead More Students Aims of Academic Studies, and Means of Achieving Them833 Words   |  4 Pagestheir studies after graduating from school, while they should have academic aims in studying and how to achieve their aims. Academic study is to study at a higher educational institution, un iversity or college, where you get the best education to become a professional in the field that you chose. Students have many aims for academic study which are divided to include their desire or to improve a skill for a future job and maybe to gain more knowledge. Education is important factor to develop ourselvesRead MoreStudent Motivation, Attitudes, And Engagement Regarding Technology Usage1561 Words   |  7 PagesAttitudes, and Engagement Regarding Technology Usage in the Classroom Many teachers struggle with motivating students to learn. When technology integration in the classroom is seamless and thoughtful, students not only become more engaged, they begin to take more control over their own learning, too. Technology helps change the student and teacher roles and relationships. With the presence of technology in the classroom, students now take responsibility for their learning outcomes, while teachers becomeRead MoreDigital Literacy And The Public Education821 Words   |  4 PagesDiscussion Post #4 How important is ‘digital literacy’ considered to be in our current public education? How important do you think digital literacy is? 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According to Michael Moore, in the book Idiot Nation, and John TaylorRead MoreDigital Storytelling And Its Effect On Student Lea rning1737 Words   |  7 Pages21st century, educators believe using technology can be an effective factor in education for the new generation, making educational goals easier to achieve. In fact, technology is being studied by teachers and implemented into classrooms for a positive effect on student learning. Many teachers are integrating multimedia tools in teaching students different skills including synthesizing, analyzing, evaluating, and presenting information. When students use technology, they learn to convert data into informationRead MoreHow Technology Is The Future State Of Health Information Management1591 Words   |  7 PagesReflecting on Using Technology I ve learned that as part of my job you need to utilize technology to your advantage, use it to improve work processes and become an expert so you can train others. Throughout my career, I have had opportunities to improve our work processes by diagnosing the current state of the health information management department and identifying problems that exist, assigning a level of importance to each one, and assessing the kinds of changes needed to solve the problems

Tomb of Shihuangdi Free Essays

Tomb of Shihuangdi Professor Carney Hum 111 Joanna Davis January 23, 2012 Qin Shihuangdi, born Ying Zheng was one of the most influential rulers of all China. It is believed that Shihuangdi was father by one of two men, Zichu a son of the king of Qin at the time. Zichu was sent as a hostage to the state of Zhao during a dispute between the two kingdoms (Lindesay p. We will write a custom essay sample on Tomb of Shihuangdi or any similar topic only for you Order Now 4). Eventually Zichu was allowed to live freely in Zhao. There he became acquainted with a rich, but conniving merchant named Lu Buwei, who had a concubine. When Zichu became interested in the concubine, Lu Buwei stepped aside and eventually helped them escaped to Qin where Zichu shortly became king (Lindesay p. 4). Shortly after arriving in Qin, Ying Zheng (later to become Shihaungdi) was born. It was never revealed whether Zichu or Lu Buwei was his father. At only thirteen Shihuangdi took control of the Qin Dynasty, which was a start of a great rule for the young emperor. Many accomplishments were accredited to his rule, The Great Wall, a road system throught the kingdom, a written script that unified all of China, and of course his mystifying tomb that contain life-sized soldiers of the Terra Cotta Army. Many theories surround his tomb. Probably one of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries was his tomb with over 6,000 life-size soldiers buried with the emperor. One theory that could be believable was that he feared death, therefore he was always in search of immortality. In seeking immortality Shihaungdi made at least three pilgrimages to Zhifu Island seeking immortality. In one case of he sent Xu Fu, a Zhifu islander, with ships carrying hundreds of men and women in search of the mystical Penglai mountain (Wintle p. 61, p. 71). Penglai mountain was said to be the home for the Eight immortals and the 1,000 year old magician Anqi Sheng who Shihaungdi supposedly met while traveling, invited him to seek him there (Pregadio p. 199). The people that was sent on the voyage never returned with any evidence of the immortal, or the magician, perhaps in fear of returning without any news they would be executed. Legend states they reached Japan and colonized it (Cavendish p. 17). Many of the Emperor’s best scholars were also executed for not being able to produce any evidence of supernatural powers. Since Shihaungdi was afraid of death he had workers build tunnels and passage ways to each of his palace, thinking this would protect him from the evil spirits, as he traveled unseen. Death In 211 BC a large meteor is said to have fallen in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. On it was the words inscribed â€Å"The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided (Liang p. 5). When he heard of this, he sent an imperial secretary to investigate this prophecy. When no one would confess, everybody living nearby was put to death. On September 10, 210 BC (Julian Calendar),while on one of his tours to Eastern China the Emperor died. Reportedly, he died from ingesting mercury pills, made by his court scientists and doctors (Wright p. 49). Ironically Shihaungdi ingested the pills thinking they would make him immortal (Wright p. 49). Perhaps there maybe some truth to this theory surrounding his death due to the fact high levels of mercury was found in his tomb. References Cavendish, M. (2006). China Condensed: 5000 Years of History Culture. Liang, Y. (2007). The Leitimation of New orders: Case Studies in World History. Chinese University Press. Lindesay, W. (2008). The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China. Airphoto International Ltd. Man, J. (2008). The Terra Cotta Army. Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA Wintle, J. (2002) China. Rough Guides Publishing. Wright, D. (2001). The History of China. Greenwood Publishing Group. How to cite Tomb of Shihuangdi, Papers

Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The free essay sample

Rye Essay, Research Paper ? Nature? s foremost green is gold, Her hardest chromaticity to keep. Her early foliage? s a flower ; But merely so an hr. Then leaf subsides to flick. So Eden sank to heartache, So morning goes down to twenty-four hours. Nothing gold can remain. -Robert Frost ? Nothing Gold Can Stay? by Robert Frost exemplifies the loss of artlessness. The verse form displays how you are pure and guiltless when you are a kid but as you mature, it is impossible to stay this manner. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden will shortly recognize that? nil gold can remain. ? Holden? s chief end in life is to protect kids from losing their artlessness. He designates this to the function of backstop in the rye, who catches kids before they fall off the drop. Symbolically, the drop represents the passage from childhood to maturity. He idolizes his sister Phoebe and his asleep brother, Allie, because they embody the features of artlessness and virtuousness, attributes Holden finds ideal. We will write a custom essay sample on Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Holden yearns for that childlike earnestness, alternatively of the grownup universe, which seems hypocritical and hypocrite. Obviously, Holden? s occupation of backstop in the rye is merely a dream, but he still tries to protect kids? s naivet? . While sing Phoebe? s school, he notices that some had written? Fuck you? on the wall. Sing that drove him crazy because he knew that if his sister saw the authorship, she would discover what it meant, and hence portion of her artlessness would be taken off. In order to continue his backstop in the rye function, he wipes off all the ? Fuck you? marks that he can. Here you can see he is a measure closer to recognizing that his dream function can non come true when he says that non even in a million old ages cou ld you rub off half the? Fuck you? marks. This shows that he is get downing to recognize that his dream may non be possible. One good illustration of Holden? s character comes when he is at the Museum of Natural History. He remarks about how the greatest thing about the museum is how, although you may come many times over the old ages, it neer alterations. Every exhibit would be precisely the same. The merely thing that alterations is you. It makes Holden despondent to believe about Phoebe traveling to the museum and altering every clip she goes. ? Certain things should remain the manner they are. You ought to be able to lodge them in one of those large glass instances and merely go forth them alone. ? These two lines represent Holden? s character wholly. The flood tide of the novel comes when Holden is watching Phoebe on the carrousel in the rain and his dream is symbolically crushed. Phoebe and all of the kids are making for a gold ring on the carrousel and Holden is worried she will fall off. ? The thing with childs is, if they want to catch for the gold ring, you have to allow them make it, and non state anything. If they fall off, they fall away, but it? s bad if you say anything to them. ? When Holden makes this remark, you can see his positions have changed. He now sees that kids can non be restricted in this manner. In his pursuit for an Eden filled with artlessness and pureness, Holden came to the decision that life must travel frontward and this means that Holden can non keep onto adolescence everlastingly. Although he does hold a nervous dislocation, he now seems able to cover with his jobs. He besides seems to understand the word? hypocrite? now, and no longer uses it. D.B? s English girlfriend sounds? affected? but non bogus. Holden seems to hold grown and recognize now that non every grownup in the universe is bad.

Marcel Sobieski Interview - the Man Who Goes Against the Wind

A while ago, we thought about starting a series of interviews with people who have  succeeded in WordPress. From developers, to designers, bloggers, influencers, marketers, and everyone whos doing interesting things with WordPress in one way or the other. Today, the first interview is finally out.There are 10 questions in total, the same for everyone. We hope this will make the whole series fun, and that well see a range of different perspectives on common WordPress-related issues. But this is not only strictly business. We also want to outline the personalities of our interviewees. Thats why youre going to find a handful of off-topic questions too.So, lets break the ice! Welcome to the very first interview in our  new Pirate Interviews series.Marcel Sobieski interview The CEO of TeslaThemesThe WordPress market is pretty much saturated at the moment, but TeslaThemes still made its way to becoming a profitable project over the years. It is a theme shop that delivers high-quality and stunning designs, bundled with all sorts of cool features.A curious thing to notice about Marcel, the CEO, and his team is that they dont provide free themes or, theyve built only one free theme to date. Their business is based on premium products only. Its been 3 years since TeslaThemes was born. And at the time of writing, they have 60 awesome themes in their catalog.The CEO position at TeslaThemes is not the only thing that Marcel is doing. Hes also the CEO at Red Sky Moldova, which owns Greedeals.com and WPMatic.io, and from 2006 to 2010 he held a COO and CEO positions for a Swiss and a Liechtenstein IT Company, all headquartered in Chisinau, Moldova, his home city.That being said, Marcel Sobieski is the man who always flew against the wind, as he describes himself. How did his theme shop survive in the competitive WordPress market of today? Lets find out:When and how did you start working with WordPress? Is there an interesting story here?Marcel Sobieski:Im in IT since 200 6 and the first three years I was managing a Swiss software company based in Chisinau, Moldova. We were focused on mobile payments and mobile platforms, working close with mobile operators. We were pretty much enterprise and did not know a lot of things about pure multimedia startups, design or B2C at that time.Nevertheless, one day we invited to an interview a web designer that we wanted to attach to a project for a Swiss client. He came to the meeting and rejected the offer, mentioning that he rather came to see a new company and touch the market instead of getting a job. He was a designer at a well established WordPress Theme Club up to today and money did not matter much. It was the first connection Ive had with these restless guys from the WP world. From that very moment I knew, we will return to this topic. And we did, in 2011. The year when our, at that time, flagship project Filestube.com started to shake under the major legislation changes of ACTA and SOPA regulations.What do you think youd be doing right now if WordPress didnt exist?Marcel Sobieski:Hard to say. We might joke that we would write it in the office with the team, but thats not the case. Definitely Id still be in the IT ecosystem, work with bright minded guys and colleagues. Would probably be in the mobile app industry, and this is also one of the directions we will take in a year from now. And would travel, and ride my bicycle.Whats your technique for staying productive throughout the day?Marcel Sobieski:There is an endless list of factors that distract us every day. From your daily Facebook notifications to concrete server issues, or a pissed off customer from hell, and you have to handle them all, no matter how. My case is a bit different because Im juggling from one project to another. We run simultaneously 3 successful startups in one office, with the same team. Somehow my the day is divided into clusters, dedicated to each project, to every issue, from product management to customer satisfaction and business development. This way I rarely get bored, being always refreshed and stimulated by my colleagues ideas and activity. In fact, this is the best team Ive ever managed to get in one company, a brilliant squad. But what keeps me and my team productive are actually the great results we see every day, from all over the world in these 3 projects.What keeps me and my team productive are actually the great results we see every day.How do you define being successful?Marcel Sobieski:At first, I would think about the cash we generate every month. Obviously, money talks and is a reliable criterion of your business success, maybe the biggest, although we should look at YouTubes or Twitters quarterly financial reports. In these two cases, the term success is not extrapolated into cash. Besides the financial profitability and constant offers to get acquired, we quantify our success in other metrics as well. Like having customers from 235 countries, like regular visits fro m North Korea, Afghanistan or Yemen, like excited testimonials our clients send us, like being well-known everywhere you go on this planet with the project we do, like respect and appreciation from our competitors and big fishes from the WP market. Like being able to inspire other youngsters or professionals to achieve even more, like seeing the astonishment on many faces when they find out that actually, we are TeslaThemes. These things, most of the times, matter more and make you feel both proud and humble about our success.What do you like to do when youre not WordPress-ing?Marcel Sobieski:Traveling and riding my bicycle. These are 2 of my passions. The more exotic the country I visit, the better. From Cuba to the Philippines, anytime and with excitement. I was lucky enough to ride my bicycle there as well. Im fortunate to spend my free time with my friends and family and my lovely girlfriend. In my spare time, I will always consider making some plans, both for our office and my personal life.What do you wish more people knew about WordPress?Marcel Sobieski:That WordPress is not easy anymore. Its a myth that in a couple of minutes you will have your website up and running. It used to be like that back in the day, but not now. In the same time, we want people to know that WordPress makes their lives so much easier if they choose a quality theme and partner with a strong theme club for the support.That way, they can save a lot of cash by using WP, and they can scale their websites with opulent and exuberant features, effects and plugins. My advice is to find a reliable and professional support provider, otherwise, alone, most probably, they will not be able to make it through.Exactly for this reason, seeing all these years so many users struggling hard to keep their themes alive the way they have imagined, we decided to help them and launched a new service WPmatic. Which is a 360-degrees 1-on-1 support and development center for any WordPress issue (includin g issues with themes).WordPress is not easy anymore.Whos doing things that are just cutting-edge and incredible in the WordPress space right now?Marcel Sobieski:Hard to say. Like seriously! Most of the players in the WordPress industry today think more about the money rather than leadership. How to make more cash, how to optimize work and save money again. So do we, everybody does, but there must be a significant room left for research and development, new intuitive frameworks for our moms and dads, for those who are not developers; smart and cool plugins; a different design layout trend. The market is tired of the general and boring templates: header, slider, about us, team and footer. Go to ThemeForest; all the themes are the same, nothing special, just a plastic theme multiplied. Everyone copies the most popular themes, changes the color and voila, ready to go. Its hard to mention a flagman, though there are some serious guys in the business. The first that come to my mind are Te slaThemes, WPZoom, MHThemes and ThemeIsle. I see soul and logic from these providers.Describe the WordPress community in one word.Marcel Sobieski:Crowded and at times overloaded. WordPress today feeds a lot of people, from Iraq to the US. Some of us made a fortune with WordPress. I cant imagine the world without it. We see so many new players entering this market every day and this makes us happy, cause competition develops and makes our lives better. But we still must think very seriously about my previous answer about solid and serious RnD and uniqueness when launching a new theme to the market, otherwise, we will totally compromise the WP core values.Whats the main threat to WordPress these days? Other platforms like Ghost, or maybe things like Squarespace?Marcel Sobieski:No external threats. WordPress itself is in a wonderful position as of today. The only real threat comes from within. It is about the bad quality that a lot of theme providers deliver in the run for earnings. Th ere is an ocean of WordPress themes on the internet that sincerely are useless, done without a logic, without a robust framework, just for the sake of sales, and people buy them, install them and get instantly pissed off and disappointed, a total mess and no support, and what happens? They move to Medium, they move to Ghost or any other nice, clean and intelligent platform. And I understand them. Every theme provider needs to bring quality, uniqueness, and usefulness to people. Many theme clubs think and work more to add intelligent tools to force their users to buy a theme, instead of convincing them with superb features, wonderful design and marvelous chromatic.The only real threat comes from within. It is about the bad quality that a lot of theme providers deliver in the run for earnings.What are your recommendations for a WordPress novice?Marcel Sobieski:Not to stay hungry and not to stay foolish. 🙂 But to eat good in the morning, and be vertical in his or her position, and persevere to bring something good, to be useful to the world, and be appreciated by those who use his or her artworks. Not to run for money, it will pop-up at the right time. Quality and usefulness are most important, plus add some luck on top.Those are indeed some golden tips from Marcel. I hope they will come in handy when youre working on your next WordPress project. What do you think about what Marcel Sobieski shared in this interview?

Potential And Impact Of Eco Tourism Tourism Essay Essays

Potential And Impact Of Eco Tourism Tourism Essay Essays Potential And Impact Of Eco Tourism Tourism Essay Essay Potential And Impact Of Eco Tourism Tourism Essay Essay Tourism is a taking and the individual largest industry in the universe today. Harmonizing to the World Tourism Organization, the touristry industry histories for 11 % of entire planetary employment. It is said that every 12 tourists create a new occupation. Tourism has a different set of principles- touristry distinctive features, sustainability and community engagement to other industries such as agribusiness that underpins traditional primary production and trade ( Shen, Hughey A ; Simmons, 2008 ) . It is frequently argued that touristry can be a major accelerator for economic and societal development in such a manner that can ( a ) generate occupations ; ( B ) provide hard-currency for foreign exchange ( Armstrong and francis,1994 ) ; ( degree Celsius ) generate revenue enhancements and other indirect gross for authorities ; ( vitamin D ) stimulate activities in the agribusiness, industry and commercial sector of the economic system that come into contact, straight and indirectl y with the touristry industry ( Alleyne, Brown,1974 ) ; ( vitamin E ) substructure betterments and instruction diverseness. In malice of the above positive impacts, touristry besides has some negative impacts, such as, ecological depletion, cultural and societal pollution, economic exclusion and gross volatility ensuing from the development of touristry. So, sustainable touristry depends on sustainable ecology of a set of environment of a state or a part. In the Bruntland Report, Mc Minn ( 1997 ) suggested that the term sustainable touristry merely limits the significance to those peculiar elements associated with touristry. The importance of the links between touristry and other activities leads to the decision that touristry should be seen as a tool for development and non stop in itself ( Mc Cool and Moisey, 2001 ) . Tourism is improbable to be the exclusive user of resources and that a balance should be sought out between touristry and other bing and possible activities. It is suggested that a sustainable support ( SL ) attack ( scones, 1998 ) may offer a practical manner frontward. Sustainable support processs normally involve an appraisal of community activities, assets, capablenesss, adaptative schemes and engineerings, all of which contribute to their support systems ( IISD, 1999 ) . Communities decide to integrate touristry as one of their support in order to accomplish sustainable development that will besides be a signifier of support variegation. Such variegation can hold many advantages and touristry can go, ( 1 ) a agency to enable accretion for ingestion and investing ; ( 2 ) a agency to assist distribute hazard ; ( 3 ) an adaptative response to long term, and ( 4 ) a means to take force per unit area off delicate lands and increase family incomes for purchase of extra nutrient or payment of school fees ( Hussein and Nelson, 1998 ) . It is peculiarly of import that touristry complements instead than replaces bing support beginnings taking to variegation of support schemes. Sustainable touristry is a by-product of ecotourism ( Weight, 2002 ) . In the 1990s, ecotourism came on the scene to go one of the largest and fastest turning industries in the universe ( Orams, 1996 ) . Ecotourism is described as a signifier of natural resources based touristry focused on sing and larning about nature, which is low-impact, non-consumptive and locally oriented with regard to command, benefits and graduated table ( Fennell, 1999 ) . Orams ( 1995 ) provides three additive graduated tables along which ecotourism can be positioned. The first of these graduated tables represents the grade of human duty from low at one terminal to high at the other. The 2nd and 3rd graduated tables represent the impact of ecotourism on the eco-tourist and natural environment. Blamey ( 1997 ) assumes that ecotourism is nature-based and it is placed within four overlapping circles such as little groups/personalized, education/interpretation, sustainability in purpose, and sustainability in r esult. Ecotourism has besides been defined in relation to its philosophical, moral, or ethical place within the touristry industry ( Fennell, 2004 ) . Eco-tourists are seen as more likely to utilize locally owned adjustments and services and therefore to profit local economic sciences and more likely to back up Parkss and preservation organisations through user fees and voluntary contributions and therefore to back up preservation plans ( Carrier and Maclead, 2005 ) . To rush up the development of touristry industry, the Malayan Tourism Policy was formulated in 1992. The policy had identified ecotourism as one signifier of touristry to be expanded and sustained. Three old ages subsequently, national ecotourism program was formulated with more specific issues in 1995 that was accepted in 1996. The national ecotourism program was intended to supply a general model to help the authorities in developing the state s ecotourism potencies. In order to guarantee the success of the ecotourism programs, joint attempts between the assorted degrees of authorities, the private sector and the local communities were planned and carried out to maximise the economic, socio-cultural and environmental benefit it has to convey in ( Siti-Nabiha, 2006 ) . Although, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism ( MOCAT ) acts as a individual coordination organic structure to spearhead the overall execution of the National Eco-tourism program, the Ministry recognizes the imp erative function of the private sector and particulars functions for all sectors of Federal, State and Local Authority ( LA ) , private concern, NGOs and other participants ( APEC, 2002 ) . The Eastern Corridor Economic Region ( ECER ) involves three E seashore provinces of Malaysia, viz. Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang. It is formed to be focused on the socio-economic and industrial development of the part. The development of the eastern corridor, spearheaded by PETRONAS, together with the northern corridor spearheaded by Sime Darby Bhd and southern corridor ( Khazanah Nasional Bhd ) are portion of the Ninth Malaysia Plan ( 9MP ) , which has the aim of distributing economic development throughout the state. Harmonizing to Aseambankers Malaysia Bhd, the eastern corridor offers large potency for certain industries, particularly oil and gas ( O A ; G ) and touristry. The eastern corridor contributed RM30.8bil, or 12 % , of Malaysia s existent gross domestic merchandise in 2005 versus 15.6 % for Sabah and Sarawak, 20 % for the Northern Corridor provinces and 54.5 % for more developed provinces of Selangor, the Federal Territory, Penang and Johor. The chief bunchs or secto rs were identified as the engine of growing for the Terengganu province include touristry, oil, gas and petrochemical, fabrication, agribusiness and instruction. Agribusiness and touristry will be the chief undertaking for development in this province. Because there are immense piece of lands of land available here for cultivation. On the other manus, this province is full of natural beauty which may be the chief attractive force for ecotourism. Conceptual Model Therefore, advocators of sustainable development should non stress the care of touristry over an indefinite period of clip. Rather, their purposes would be better served by geographic expedition of how touristry might suit into a suite of support schemes, lending to the accomplishment of sustainable support results. The strength of the sustainable support attack is that it encourages the acceptance of a wide position from which to analyze the effects of touristry. Analysis of institutional/ Organizational influences on entree to livelihood resources and composing of support scheme portfolio Contexts, Conditions A ; Tendencies Livelihood Resources Institutional Processes A ; Organizational Structures Support Schemes Sustainable Livelihood Outcomes Contextual analysis of conditions and tendencies and appraisal of policy scene Analysis of livelihood resources: Combinations, sequences, rends Analysis of support scheme portfolios and tracts History Politicss Macro-economic conditions Trade clime Agro-ecology Demography Social distinction Natural capital Economic/ Fiscal Capital Human capital Social capital and others Institutions and Organizations Agricultural intensification- extensification Support Diversification ( Tourism ) Migration Support 1. Increased Numberss of working yearss 2. Poverty decrease 3. Well-being and capablenesss improved Sustainability 1. Livelihood version, exposure and resiliency enhanced 2. Natural resource base sustainability ensured Analysis of results and tradeoffs Policy Figure 1: Sustainable Rural Support: A Framework for Analysis ( Source: Scoones, 1998 ; page 4 ) . Second through touristry E N activities I H Tourism Domestic International Institutional Agreements Vertical National Governments Regional Governments Local GovernmentsHorizontal Governments Tourism Enterprise Local Community Nongovernmental organization Tourists Vulnerability context Tendencies Dazes Seasonality Institutions external market hazards Livelihood Outcomes Sustainable economic development sustainable societal developments sustainable environmental development sustainable institutional development Tourism Domestic International Figure 2: Sustainable Livelihood Framework for Tourism. Literature Review The survey has reviewed a huge literature from assorted beginnings such as diaries, studies, proceedings and related paperss on appraisals of impacts of ecotourism on livelihood security in assorted states. In Malaysia, there is a deficiency of survey on appraisal of possible and impacts of ecotourism finishs for livelihood security in a specific country. Etsuko Okazaki ( 2008 ) stated that community engagement in the touristry planning procedure is a manner of implementing sustainable touristry. He discussed the community engagement in the survey include the ladder of citizen engagement, power redistribution, coaction procedures, and societal capital creative activity form the footing for specifying a community-based touristry ( CBT ) theoretical account. He besides showed how this theoretical account can be used to measure engagement degrees in a survey site and suggested farther actions required. Steven Jackson ( 2008 ) studied the attitudes towards the environment in general and ecotourism in peculiar, which were assessed for several groups of stakeholders in the UK touristry sector. The New Environmental Paradigm ( NEP ) graduated table was used to mensurate general attitude while an ecotourism graduated table ( TES ) was used to mensurate specific attitudes. Significant correlativities were measured between the NEP and TES graduated tables proposing that general attitudes affect specific attitudes. The survey suggested that there is a reluctance to interpret good purposes into pattern. Kaltenborn et Al. ( 2008 ) discussed about rural touristry, particularly through second-home development, which is increasing quickly in much of Europe, the USA and Canada. The survey besides reveals that second-home development plan is offering new economic chances for local communities, but it is holding challenges related to environmental impact. The survey examines associations between the environmental attitudes of occupants and their attitudes toward second-home development. Make J. et Al. ( 2008 ) revealed that sustainability, environmental friendly, and eco-sounds are the footings that are widely used presents and emphasized really much in any industry inclusive of agribusiness, forestry and touristry industry. Agro-forestry and integrated agriculture system are the attacks that are beef uping in Bario for bring forthing nutrient, energy and besides increasing the aesthetic value of the country. The highest ranking of jobs faces by Bario community is transit ( 24 % ) that significantly influenced the high cost of life. The type of development preferred harmonizing to the highest ranking was related with preservation ( 60 % ) , followed by eco-tourism, agribusiness and research. The hereafter challenges faced by Bario community would be seeking to turn to the jobs and run intoing with the development demands of the shacking community in order to prolong their support and the upland ecosystem. Based on the resources and potencies, agro-eco-tourism can be the options for elating and prolonging the support in Bario. Dhan B. Gurung and Klaus Seeland ( 2008 ) analyzed the present province of touristry in Bhutan and see the chances for the development of ecotourism. Empirical studies of circuit operators and foreign tourers indicate that visitants interested in the natural beauty of the Himalayan land stay longer than those who come to see its civilization. By pulling younger tourers, ecotourism could lend to the ends of Gross National Happiness. The bulk of tourers and circuit operators are in favour of ecotourism activities that might profit local rural communities. The requirement for a significant publicity of ecotourism would be alterations in the Bhutanese touristry policy to promote the variegation of touristry merchandises. Ecotourism operations based on urban environments give assorted benefits and sustainability in Kenya. There are six schemes have followed when marketing ecotourism merchandises. These are wide distribution, partnership development, show bottom line, ownership, uses frien dly merchandises and pattern what you preach ( Roselyne N. Okech, 2009 ) . Carlos ( 2009 ) presents the construct of the firewalls of ecotourism wherein the debut of different protection and preservation constituents is instituted in the operation of ecotourism sites. He uses some environmental constructs coupled with societal, cultural, and economic considerations should be developed and practiced by establishments wishing to use ecotourism as a preservation tool. There is a consistent demand to develop and use constructs and patterns to assist protect the resources from the possible impacts of travel industry for sustainable resource use through ecotourism. Zhang Meng ( 2009 ) reflects on the current intensions of ecotourism in footings of four facets viz. , objects of ecotourism, ecotourists, nature of ecotourism every bit good as the relationship between ecotourism and communities. The survey reveals that ecotourism should travel beyond natural, pristine, or even merely crude natural countries to including cultural resources together with their natural context which besides deserve saving. Tourism operators, compared to tourers should shoulder more duties for preservation. Ecotourism should function as a rule to steer touristry enterprises towards sustainability and community engagement. Regina Scheyvens ( 1999 ) considers ways in which we understand how ecotourism ventures impact on the lives of people populating in and around. From a development position, ecotourism ventures should merely be considered successful if local communities have some step of control over them and if they portion equitably in the benefits emerging from ec otourism activities. The research has proposed an empowerment model as a suited mechanism for helping analysis of the societal, economic, psychological and political impacts of ecotourism on local communities. Abby Liu ( 2006 ) examined the adequateness of the planning attack and establishment types in developing rural touristry in Malaysia with a focal point on rural capacity to absorb touristry. It explores the policy background that encourages the growing of rural touristry and high spots issues and factors haltering the engagement of rural communities in touristry. Three illustrations, which are drawn from Kedah State, involve the probes of regional planning enterprises, remote resort constitutions and a home-stay plan. Positions of stakeholders, the planning bureaus, touristry industry and communities, refering their outlooks, development enterprises, and responses to turn to concerns of touristry, are examined. Consequences indicate that the current development sarcasm arises because of the deficient attending to local capacity edifice, reluctance to incorporate local colonies and a misplaced impression of professionalism. Insensitivity to provide for cultural and cultural difference s in the brushs of host and invitee besides impedes meaningful local engagement. Sheng-Hshiung Tsaur et Al. ( 2006 ) measure the sustainability of an ecotourism site utilised subjective steps to analyse the relationships between resource, community, and touristry. A Chinese autochthonal ecotourism site was taken as an illustration in the survey, and the Delphi technique was used to place rating indexs of this tourer finish. Local occupants, tourers, and resource disposal were interviewed to research each group s perceptual experience of relationships with the staying two groups. The consequences of the survey reflected the chief concern for ecotourism development is the negative impact on the environment and its debasement and devastation. The survey suggested that the chief concern is protecting occupants supports so as to keep an attractive life environment and assist the tourers to develop more consciousness in conserving and protecting resources. Problems Statement: Ecotourism now considered as a chief watercourse of touristry in many states. Because it has minimum negative environmental effects and pull the tourer extremely. Those states besides emphasize ecotourism for their economic development and the support security for the peoples. It is one of the of import tools for socioeconomic development in any state. Substantial alterations and betterments should take topographic point in touristry policies and activities at a diverseness of degrees and concrete facets: national, regional, design and coordination for schemes, fiscal support and bureaucratic installations and substructure development ( Alexandru, 2005 ) . A comprehensive policy and legislative bundle for ecotourism and resource usage should be formulated to guarantee that local people can portion in the benefits generated by these activities ( Jianqiong, 2008 ) . Ecotourism has been identified as a signifier of sustainable touristry expected to lend to both preservation and development. Unfortunately, due to inadequate environmental appraisals and audits, many ecotourism finishs tend to be both risky and suicidal. The chief concern for ecotourism development is the negative impact on the environment and its debasement and devastation. For community and occupants, the chief concern is protecting occupants supports so as to keep an attractive life environment ( Sheng-Hshiung, 2006 ) . The success of ecotourism depends on its impacts on the livelihood security of the local community. When the local occupants may back up ecotourism development, their purposes to move will depend on local environmental, societal and politico-economic conditions. That issues related to community authorization, relation between authorities and communities, and the kineticss among and between assorted community groups will necessitate to be addressed if positive community purpose to take part in ecotourism is to be encouraged ( Lai A ; Nepal, 2006 ) . Mohok Agreement for responsible ecotourism recommended assorted suggestion for developing ecotourism. Among these, a ) provide economic, societal, and cultural benefits for local communities and surrogate community engagements, where appropriate, B ) minimum impact on and presentation of local ( autochthonal ) civilization and locally appropriate graduated table and design for housing, Tourss and attractive forces are required to run int o ecotourism criterions ( Robin,2010 ) . Tourism has an of import function in exciting investings in new substructure, every bit good as in bring forthing authorities grosss through assorted revenue enhancements and fees. Tourism comprises a immense part of gross domestic production ( GDP ) in some little developing states such as the Maldives, Barbados, etc. makes clear the profound importance of touristry for economic development ( Halicioglu, 2004 ) . There is research spread to mensurate the touristry demand analysis for any touristry finish due to proper touristry development. From the above treatment it is clear that effectual policies and schemes are necessary for ecotourism development in Malaysia. The success of any touristry depends on the step of sustainability. Because, unsustainable touristry does non run into the demands of community every bit good as environmental coherence. There is research spread to mensurate the sustainability of touristry due to success ness. Again, ecotourism creates socioeconomic impacts on the livelihood security of the local communities. So, it is necessary to analyze the socioeconomic impacts of ecotourism on the support for finding the potency. Research Questions In visible radiation of job statement, the survey has set out some research inquiries which are as follows: How to measure the sustainability for ecotourism? What are the effects of ecotourism on the local community? How to mensurate the socio economic impacts of ecotourism on the support security? Hypothesiss Once all the informations have been analyzed utilizing assorted statistical and econometric techniques, this survey will come up with empirical consequences obtained from the testing of a considerable figure of specific hypotheses. However, the survey chiefly considers a few, but wide-ranging hypotheses which are mentioned below: Ecotourism helps by bettering incomes and economic potencies of little farms and rural communities, in Terengganu, Ecotourism Fosters respect for local civilizations and greater grasp of natural home grounds, and Eco touristry entreaties to ecologically and socially witting persons. Aims The overall aim of the survey is to measure and analyse the possible and impact of eco touristry for livelihood security in Terengganu province of Malaysia. In order to achieve the above, the following sub-objectives will be pursued: To measure the bing policies and schemes associating to ecotourism in Malaysia ; particularly in the province of Terengganu, To place the potency for ecotourism derived from analysis of community demands and sustainable touristry, To find the socioeconomic impacts of ecotourism on the livelihood security of the local communities, Significance of the survey Many developing states of the universe, today, have improved their economic system through the agencies of touristry. The relationship between touristry and economic development is a subject of involvement to policymakers, contrivers, and research workers everyplace whether or non touristry plays an of import function within the societal and economic cloth of society. So it is of import to understand the overall state of affairs of touristry industry and touristry policy in Malaysia. Ecotourism is loosely defined as travel that allows interaction with nature and local communities with minimum negative impact ( Carrier and Macleod, 2005 ; Palacio, 1997 ) . It aims to minimise environmental and cultural harm and maximise long-run economic growing for a state or a part. Tourism sellers use the term ecotourism as a trade name to label commercial circuit bundles that offer a wide scope of activities. Tourism is different than other productive sectors. This is particularly true for communi ty development in footings of the touristry sector being deployed as a support scheme. Neither the SL attack nor conventional touristry research theories can entirely steer touristry to accomplish sustainable development. Consequently, cognition about an integrating of SL and touristry is needed ( Shen, Hughey A ; Simmons, 2008 ) . Malaysia has immense chances to develop ecotourism, which will guarantee economic development including livelihood security of the rural communities. But unluckily merely few surveies are done on this issue. Therefore, this survey is an attempt to place the chance and potency of ecotourism in the Eastern Corridor Economic Region of Malaysia, particularly in Terengganu province. The findings and recommendations of the survey would assist the appropriate governments in formulating and implementing specific policies in order to raise chances for and develop the ecotourism in Malaysia. Methodology Beginnings of informations: The survey will utilize both primary and secondary informations which are expected to be collected from reliable beginnings. Two recreational woods and ecotourism place- Tasik Kenyir Lake of Terengganu will be chosen for observation and informations aggregation. For appraising and experimental intents, nevertheless, the survey will use some rational standards to find the figure and choose the ecotourism topographic points in the province. The secondary information every bit good as the necessary paperss, Acts of the Apostless, ordinance, and policies will be collected from the relevant sections and ministries of the authorities of Malaysia. Published stuffs such as relevant research studies, articles, books, one-year studies, and so on will besides be reviewed in order to roll up secondary informations and justify statements. Sample size, Data Collection, and Sampling techniques: While a broad coverage of information does ever supply more accurate consequences, but budgetary constrains may ensue in an unexpected alteration in the sample size. The present survey has intent to interview a lower limit of 300 respondents from the survey countries for the intent of informations aggregation. A purposive sampling technique and a set of structured questionnaire will be used to interview the most of import stakeholders of the eco touristry industry, such as local communities, relevant authorities/officials, and the visitants. In order to roll up primary informations, trained census takers will be hired for questioning the above groups of stakeholders, including local communities who are involved in and dependent on eco touristry activities for their support. Besides questioning a figure of tourers sing the eco touristry topographic points, a considerable figure of functionaries in the ecotourism industries will besides be interviewed in order to acquire relevant feedb ack from them. While the proposed sample is 300, the proportion and distribution of sample will be determined based on some standards reflecting the weight and importance of the inquiries asked and Scopess of the study. Datas analysis For obtaining ( 1 ) aim, The bing policies and schemes of ecotourism are analyzing exhaustively. To achieve this aim, the high functionaries and direction professionals are observed and discussed with them on assorted facets of touristry. For obtaining ( 2 ) aim, To mensurate sustainable touristry, you can see the affiliated article- Sustainable touristry. ( Developed equation ) To mensurate the community needs you can develop equation on the footing of some variables, such as, employment chance, local occupant engagements in determination devising, occupants perceptual experience to the touristry, alteration in the community, environmental effects ( positive A ; negative ) , community and rural development etc ( Developed equation ) An equation for willingness to pay ( WTP ) of tourers ; Probability ( WTP ) = This equation is must. Because it suggested by my Supervisor. You can see the affiliated article- WTP. For obtaining ( 3 ) aim, To mensurate the visitant satisfaction you can develop equation on the footing of some variables such as, reactivity, tangibles, monetary value, communicating, confidence, empathy, natural resources etc. You can see the affiliated article- Visitor Satisfaction. For economic impact, some variables are gross revenues, occupation, income degree, revenue enhancement gross, quality and measures of nutrient, family disbursement, cut down poorness, higher quality of life etc. For societal impact, some variables are civilization, spiritual, occupants feelings for the presence of tourers, demographic character, impact on the business of household member etc. For mensurating touristry selling scheme, TOT= degree Fahrenheit ( SP, SE, AC, E, CS, TR, TIA ) Where, TOT= Tourist, SP=Spots, SE=Security, AC= Accommodation, E= Entertainment, CS= Cost of Services, TR= Tour operator A ; usher, TIA= Tour information and Advertisement. You can see the article- Tourism Bangladesh. Expected Results Socioeconomic and livelihood profile of affected communities, Economic, societal and environmental impacts of ecotourism in Terengganu, Factors impacting possible growing and barriers to growing of ecotourism in Terengganu, Policy deductions and recommendations for sustainable ecotourism in the country.

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Viability Of New Provinces History Essay

Viability Of New Provinces History Essay The first ideological state of the World; Pakistan since its independence in yr 1947 followed the concept for electing the members of legislature / parliaments till the time of West Pakistan felt insecure of retaining their seats in the parliament against the erstwhile East Pakistan counterparts. Foreseeing their imminent defeat in the then forthcoming elections, West Pakistan was declared a separate Unit and given more number of seats in the Parliament based on population ratio. The country, since then, has been the victim of personal / party conveniences rather than maintaining a cohesive national approach towards resolution of issues confronted by the nation from time to time. It does not need to be over emphasized that the country continues to face serious administrative and economic issue in the absence of viable and prudent administrative division. The need to have or not to have new provinces has always fell prey to the political and personal expediency rather than the vital n ational requirement. Over the past decades, power hubs and most of the development funds out of national / provincial budgets have been circulated / spent within the limited provincial / federal capital and selected places having direct bearings to personal reputation / comforts. This attitude, coupled with the media blitz, vested interests of non staged actors and administrative difficulty caused to the people of distant cities to approach the provincial capitals have the potential to intensify the sense of deprivation amongst the underprivileged populace of remote / less developed areas within each province. The existing state of deprivation can give further rise to the ethno-political and linguistic divide. The rapid population has only compounded the administrative and socio political affairs. Necessity of creation of the new provinces notwithstanding, it would have considerable economic concerns. The other school of thought considers that by improving the governance in existing administrative setups of divisions and districts, allocating sufficient development funds to immediately undertake major projects in deprived areas would do the trick. Apropos the above mentioned facts, the question of having or not having new provinces, along with its constitutional, political, structural, socio-economic and national implications needs to be thoroughly and dispassionately. Nexus to above, carryout a detailed analysis for the viability of new provinces vis-a-vis existing system, while suggesting a far-sighted way forward. SUB THEME In the recent years, ethnic and political problems have been on the increase in Pakistan. Amongst a host of factors, mal-governance and deteriorating economy situation are considered the major causes of the strife. Coupled with this, the role of religious parties and ethnic organizations has also come under severe criticism. The existing deteriorating conditions of the country and the state of deprivation amongst the masses, has further complicated the ethno-political and linguistic divide. The creation of new provinces would have considerable ethno-political concerns and will further aggravate the instability amongst the masses Government Institutions. Nexus to above, there is a need to carryout detailed viability for creation of new provinces on the basis of ethno-political structures of Pakistan. VIABILITY OF NEW PROVINCES IN PAKISTAN Intro 1. Pakistan was created on the basis of two nation theory. The only bond which connected the people from various regions and classes/casts was the religion. Both the states opted to adopt the Government of India act 1935, which was parliamentary in nature. Since creation Pakistan faced many difficulties and amongst them, promulgation of constitution was foremost. It was very imp due to two main reasons, 1st to give direction to the political forces of all regions and 2nd to give equal and rightful representation to all ethnic groups. After approval of 1st constitution, federal system of Government was chosen for Pakistan, with max autonomy to provinces in mind. Over a period of time, we kept on switching between democratic and martial law regimes, and virtually no one political system has been able to flourish. Resultantly this gave the worst set back of history to Pakistan in 1973. 2. Provincial structuring of Pakistan in its present shape based on linguistic diversity (Punjabi, Baluchi, Sindhi and Pakhtuns) as the factor of territorial equation was probably not kept in view at the time of independence. Thus administrative units were contrived with ethnic units keeping intact. This fact was realized in earlier timeframe and a system of one unit was introduced. However, that too failed and the present structure came into being as described in constitution of 1973. The issue has regained prominence on renaming of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and the reaction in its Hazara Division. It gave added impetus to the demand of a separate province in southern parts of Punjab due to prevailing political wrangling of various parties for their vested interests, resurfacing the demand for Bhawalpur and Seraiki provinces since the break-up of one unit in 1970. The demands may set in motion trend for other provinces in rest of the country for which many proposals are already being trumpeted. However, there is a requirement to deliberate upon these proposals on ethno political basis for an ultimate decision in the national interest. Aim 3. To carryout in depth analysis for creation of new provinces on ethno political structural basis in Pakistan and proffer suitable way fwd for having more provinces. Sequence 4. Historical Perspective and Background Part 1 5. Arguments Far Against New Provinces Part 2 6. Analysis and Important Conclusions Part 3 7. Recommendations Part 4 PART- I HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE AND BACKGROUND Background of the Issue History of the issue under evaluation goes back to the time of creation of Pakistan when various princely states and territories formed part of Pakistan as separate entities within the new creation. The periodical changes hitherto in the status of these princely states and territories have given reasons to think for a possible change in the existing administrative structure / division of the country. The administrative units of Pakistan as of today are[update] derived from the administrative units inherited from British India. From independence in 1947 to 1971, Pakistan comprised two wings separated by 1600 kilometers of Indian Territory. The eastern wing comprised the single province of East Bengal. The western wing was formed from three full provinces i.e then NWFP, West Punjab and Sind, one Chief Commissioners Province (Baluchistan), thirteen princely states and parts of Kashmir. In 1948, the area around Karachi was separated from Sind Province to form the Federal Capital Territory. In 1950 name of West Punjab was changed to Punjab. The four princely states of southwest Pakistan formed the Baluchistan States Union in 1952. The One Unit policy was enforced in 1955, whereby the provinces and princely states of the western wing were merged to form the new province of West Pakistan with Lahore as the provincial capital. Simultaneously East Bengal was renamed as East Pakistan with Dhaka as the provincial capital. In 1960 the federal capital was moved from Karachi to Rawalpindi and then to Islamabad when it was completed, followed in 1961 by the merger of the Federal Capital Territory into West Pakistan. West Pakistan was dissolved in 1970 by President Yahya Khan and four new provinces were created. East Pakistan became independent in December 1971 as the new country of Bangladesh. In 1974 the last of the princely states (Hunza and Nagar) were finally abolished and their territory merged with the Gilgit Agency to form the Northern Areas and later as Gilgit Baltistan province. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was formed from parts of Hazara, districts of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan in 1975. The status of the Islamabad area was changed to a capital territory in 1981. In 2010, the NWFP changed its name to KPK. This change of name regenerated the notion of creating more provinces in Pakistan on various factors and drivers. The present day Pakistans administrative units  [1]  is as under:-:- Ser Administrative Unit Population Area (Km ²) Population Density (Per Km ²) a. Baluchistan Province 4.8% 39.3% 18.9 b. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province 12.9% 8.5% 238.1 c. Punjab Province 53.7% 23.3% 358.5 d. Sindh Province 22.2% 16.0% 216 e. Islamabad Capital Territory 0.6% 0.1% 888.8 f. Federally Administered Tribal Areas 2.3% 3.1% 116.7 g. Azad Kashmir 2.2%[ 1.5% 223.6 h. Gilgit-Baltistan 1.3% 8.2% 24.8 Total 100% 100% 193.9 The issue of the creation of new provinces has become an ardent debate; it has started with the KPK (Hazara) and Punjab (Saraiki and Bahawalpur) but may not begin or end thereafter. While supporting the creation of new provinces may appear an easy way out for the politicians, it is going to be a difficult task to actually carve them out. Once the genie is out it will not be possible to force it back into the bottle. Like creation of new districts, addition of provinces would become a political appeasement tool in a run up to each election. At the end of the day, country is likely to end up having a provincial map very close to an existing administrative entity called Division.Pakistan-New-Provinces.jpg Political Structure of Pakistan Federal Form of Government and Implications on Provinces. Pakistan is a federation by constitution 1973. The 1st and foremost feature of the federalism is the existence of two sets of constitution including national / state and regional or provincial. Each is free to function within its own defined field. Various features of the federal system, which are its essence and clearly indicate our limitations, are as under:- It maintains a written constitution which establish the relationship between federations various elements. Division of powers between federation and various entities is on regional / territorial basis and written in law. It does not have some specific formula and every country has made it as per its own requirements. Federal system believes in de-centralized of powers. Common features including the existence of independent judiciary. It is an attempt in heterogeneous societies to promote coop and coordinated in the social, political, economy and administration fields as well as respect and accommodation of diversity for various constituent units. Certain factors which facilitate the smooth function of federalism including:- Units must share the sense of community. There should be no sharp inequality in size, resources and population. Equitable sharing of economy resources. Geographical contiguity. Democratic form of Government and greater decentralization. Political Populous Support in Various Provinces for Different Political Parties. The passage of 18th amendment and the change in the name of NWFP to KPK has arose a sense of deprivation in the people of Hazara which resulted in the sudden increase in the pace of the movement for the demand of Hazara province for which more than a dozen people lost their lives in April 2010 . In the same vain the Nawab of Bahawalpur paced up his demand for a separate province the Saraiky province seekers want to make two districts of KPK and 19 districts of Southern Punjab to make their province. Will it be possible in the light of current party position in Punjab assembly to acquire two third votes for the division of the province? Moreover The government that already have the blood of dozen innocent people of Hazara on its hands can be perceived to allow its two districts to be taken by someone else? All this shows that our motherland is going towards a series of constitutional, political ethnic and financial crisis, which are anticipated as the adverse effects of the creation of new provinces in Pakistan. Meanwhile the master stroke of the chief minister of Punjab (his statement of bifurcating Sindh) has further heated this political debate and has exposed many faces believing more in regionalism than in nationalism. Following have to be considered:- There will be a new debate of the division of revenues, new provincial consolidated funds should be created irrespective of the fact whether the newly created provinces are able to make their way or they will prove to be another liability on the federation. Let us say that the government admits to the demands of the new provinces, what will be the result? More ethnic movements will arise and different ethnicities will ask for separate province on the bases of their ethnicity, some pressure groups will press hard for the creation of new provinces that will severely undermine the already divided sense of nation hood. The creation of new provinces on the bases of ethnicity will be another blow to the already in questioned ideology of Pakistan. Moreover many Nawabs of the states (that exceeded to Pakistan after its independence) will follow the footsteps of Nawab of Bahawalpur that will create another dilemma. If the creation of new provinces will not result in the automatic improvement of the management, if the creation of more administrative units on ethnic lines is going to endanger the sense of nation hood, if more provinces cannot help in bridging the gulf between the ruler and the ruled and if the multiplication of the number of federating units is anticipated to create more constitutional problems that would require another 64 years to solve them then why this frenzy of the creation of new provinces in Pakistan has been created at the time when the land of pure is already in crises. Punjab its Political Dynamics with ref to Creation of Sarikistan Province. Alone Punjab accounts for over more than 50% of the population of the country while Balochistan which is having around 50% of the countrys whole area, is having only 5% of the population. With the movement of Hazara province and 18th amendment there come up a sudden demand for Sareiki Province including two districts of KPK and 19 districts of Punjab. There are three major political parties having different views:- PML (N). This party is not in favour of creation of provinces in Punjab, rather want to have broader consideration. Party wants to have more no of provinces on administration grounds and irrespective of the demands of people. PML (Q). It is an imp actor in this scene. It is in favour of separate province in the southern part of Punjab to capitalize on its popularity for political reasons. PPP. Again just to lower the popularity and Government of PML (N), they are in favor of creation of this province. Other Political Parities. Many small political parties such as MQM, Jamat-e-Islami and JUI does not have considerable influence due to less no of seats in provincial assembly. Change of Political Affiliations. Most of the MNAs keep on switching their political affiliations as per the popular sentiments. This is not for want of the betterment of people rather it is for self served future political benefits. This trend is more pronounced like once elections are nearing. PART-II ARGUMENTS FAR AGAINST NEW PROVINCES Proposals and Political Demands  [2]   There are many proposals for creation of more provinces in Pakistan. Whereas, each exponent has logic in support of the proposal, these require deliberation before taking a final decision in national interest. Besides many voices, most prominent are from Mr.Javaid Hashmi who is a renowned Seraiki politician in Multan, the largest city in the Seraiki belt. He has on previous occasions supported the creation of new provinces in order to improve governance quality and adm efficiency and had implied support for a Seraiki province. According to Hashmi, a province should be created which incl Multan and Bahawalpur, adding that in the future to solve problems Karachi, Lahore and Quetta could also be made into provinces  [3]  . The PML-N has approved in principle the formation of new provinces strictly on adm basis Summary of various proposals appeared in media is as fol  [4]  :- Proposal Exponent Motive Remarks Restoration of former Bahawalpur Province Muhammad Ali Durrani, PML(Q) Ijaz-ul-Haq (PML(Q) Political History Creation of Seraiki Province from Punjab PML (Q) and PPP Political Linguistic Creation of Hazara Province from KPK Hazara Province Political History Linguistic Creating more provinces from Punjab alone on history / linguistic basis Mr Ayaz Amir Linguistic Creating province from Sindh for Karachi and Hyderabad MQM (Initial Stance) Political Ethnic Creating more provinces on administrative grounds Mr Nawaz Sharif, PML(N) Salim Saifullah, PML (LM) Administrative Creating more provinces from all provinces PML (N) MNA Javed Hashmi, PML(N) Political Administration Case for new provinces is also based on the continuous neglect of the far flung areas by successive regimes and marginalization of people residing on peripheries of existing provinces in terms of economic development builds a strong case for creation of smaller units especially with the high population density in certain areas making the quality of service delivery by existing mechanisms poorer and poorer. In fact this panel feels that one major cause of poor governance is failure to create new provinces. As such the following points also merit attention:- Population Growth. The 180 million population with 60 million plus alone in Punjab demands creation of new provinces to develop the areas lagging behind current provincial headquarters / big cities in particular. Spatial Disparities. It is critical that the new provinces are created to remove spatial disparities, develop infrastructure; set up schools, colleges, hospitals. The creation of new provinces will allow the structured development of areas hitherto fore in a state of utter neglect due to lack of time out their urgent needs. Over Burdened Politicians / Bureaucrats. Paucity of time with elected representatives / bureaucrats to entertain issues confronting residents of peripheral areas. The creation of new provinces will speed up focused dev; dispel feelings of marginalization and deprivation by the people who have to wait for days in provincial capitals to get a hearing from the elected representatives and bureaucrats who are busy in the issues confronting mega cities like Karachi, Lahore and the unique law and order issues of Peshawar and Quetta. Comparative Study  [5]   India. In India, on the other hand language was used as a basis of provincial divisions. As such, India reorganized and created more provinces on the basis of language. In Pakistan, the governments in power felt that language was not an acceptable basis or legitimate source of identity and the creation of new provinces were continuously opposed. The criteria for new provinces on the basis of language were felt to be a potential cause of political destabilization. As such demand/creation of language-based provinces was considered as taboo. Apart from their core communities, these provinces contained large ethnic minorities, which retained provincial aspirations of their own, e.g. Pakhtuns in Balochistan, Mohajirs (Urdu speaking migrants from India) in Sindh, Siraiki-speakers in south Punjab and Hindko-speakers in the Hazara division of NWFP. More over in Pakistan there is a requirement for a two-third majority in the two houses of parliament to create a new province, along with consen t in the assembly of the provinces concerned. These requirements have made the creation of a new province extremely difficult. In contrast in India, a simple majority of the LokSabha is required while opinion of the state legislature has to be sought. USA. In case of USA, there are 50 states and each state has its own constitution, however, the federation has its control through a federal presidential form of government with the Congress and the Senate. Afghanistan. Afghanistan, our next door neighbour has 29 provinces for a population of about 28 million. The division of Afghanistan into provinces is based on ethnic and tribal affinities and these provinces are controlled by the ruler in Kabul historically. The ruler in Kabul always managed these provinces through the tribal hierarchy. Afghanistan has been subjected to revolutions, civil wars, insurgencies and invasions but the unity of Afghanistan remained intact due to large number of smaller provinces. Other Examples. While large unequal provinces are always prone to breed and fuel secessionist mind-sets, smaller provinces serve as a safety valve against such tendencies. Nigeria, facing religion-bases secessionist war in Biafra Region in 1960s solved this problem by forming smaller provinces. Most of the large and medium sized countries in todays world have divided themselves into smaller provinces or states as administrative units. Examples are:- China 34 provinces, India 28 states and seven union territories, Iran 30 provinces, Indonesia 33, Egypt 26, France 26, Germany 16, Nigeria 38, Philippines 80, Thailand 78, Turkey 81 and UK 114 counties. Looking at the systems of other developed and developing countries, we find ourselves a unique example of federation with almost no parallel anywhere in the world. No country, roughly equal to Pakistan geographical or population size, has so few and such large provinces  [6]  . In an unequal setup, no method of government will work. It is a system designed for paralysis which we are already experiencing. Rationale / Necessity  [7]  for Having New Provinces The neglect of the far flung areas and marginalization of people residing on peripherys of existing provinces in terms of economic development form a major necessity resulting in demand for more provinces. Other reasons are:- Exponential Growth. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world. The exponential growth in population demands creation of new provinces to improve service delivery. Neglect of Peripheral Areas. Neglect of many parts due to attention to provincial capitals and big cities resulted in poor governance and said neglect of the peripheral areas by successive Governments. Removal of Disparities. Need to remove special disparities. Develop infrastructure; set up schools, colleges and hospitals. New Province creation likely to speed up focused development and dispels feeling of marginalization / deprivation. Opportunities for less Privileged. Creation of more provinces is thought to provide more opportunities for the less privileged classes. End of Dynasty based Politics. It may lead to ending dynasty-based politics in the country which on rise at the moment. Ease of Access. On administrative grounds to facilitate poor masses to have access to line departments close to their localities. Grass Roots Level Empowerment. Creating more provinces would empower people at grassroots level to facilitate the people at their doorsteps. Creative use of Ethnic Diversities. Unnatural unity tends to strengthen sub-identities and have often weakened the commitment to Pakistani identity. Ethnic diversities, being inerasable components of the human genome, cannot be cured and hence must be endured. In fact, must be celebrated and managed creatively. De-centralization of Power. De-centralization of power to the provinces is necessary. In a decentralized system, local representatives make local autonomous decisions towards achievement of its local goals aimed to culminate into national good. Governance improvement. Creation of more provinces may lead to possible improvement in governance. Enhancement of Unity of Nation. Splitting provinces into more compact, efficient and effective units has the benefit of reducing the importance of provinces, which interfere with the cohesion of the country as one nation. Adm, Log and Cultural Harmony. Once the country will be divided into more compact smaller units, than it will have positive effs. So more provinces are likely to ensure the smooth administrative, logistic and cultural harmony. Estb of the Writ of the State. Failure of the state to establish its writ in many parts of the country has created a situation where far-flung neglected populations are in danger of shifting their allegiances to the terrorists, extremists and criminals. Greater Homogeneity. Creation of more provinces will afford greater homogeneity. This homogeneity will benefit the country in overall progress. Reduction of Congestion in Big Cities. More provinces means more developed cities and all the population congestion towards Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta will be reduced. Distribution of Resources. Distribution of provinces into more compact and smaller units, if coordinated and agreed will result into better distribution of resources. Pakistani Nationalism. It will give rise to Pakistani nationalism rather than Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto or Balochi, if the division is not based on languages. Filtration of Bad Politicians. It probably will allow the politician to seriously work for their people once they dont have big brother Punjab to blame for deprivation and problems. Rationale / Necessity for Not Having New Provinces  [8]   There however are certain impediments which may hinder creation of more provinces. Details are as following:- Stress on Pakistani Nationhood. Fear of the stress that they may exert on the untested foundations of Pakistani nationhood. People were killed in rioting leading up to a mere change of name from NWFP to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Rise to Ethnicity. May give further rise to ethnicity. Creation of more provinces on the basis of ethnicity exacerbates the feeling of isolation. This is a self-destructive tendency. Creating new provinces may affect Pakistans unity like it did to Yugoslavia. Problem of Adm and Pol Realities. Ethnic aspirations cause problems to recognize administrative and political realities. Every ethnic aspiration does not justify a province. If the move to make new provinces catches roots, Pakistan would be de-novo decimated into several petty ethnic provinces. Equality of Geography and Population. The degree of equality of geographical and population sizes across provinces may not be a balanced one giving rise to problems of its own. Sindhi Nationalist Ideology. Sindhi nationalists strongly oppose division of Sindh. Economy Difficulties. Raising funds locally would be difficult particularly under the current not so healthy state of Pakistans economy. Size. There is no definition of correct size of a province or state. Division of Punjab. Punjab plays a major part in Pakistan politics and its division may not be accepted by influential politicians. Poor Institutions. Smaller provinces would have lesser human capital and civil society institutions and therefore might be susceptible to the problem of poorer institutions. Inter Provincial Struggle. The division of larger provinces may cause inter provincial struggle / friction for resource control. Balkanization. With uncontrolled increase in population growth, the country cannot be subjected to balkanization. Division of Balochistan. Pakhtun province carved out of Balochistan until the more sensitive Baloch grievances are resolved would be detrimental to Pakistans unity. However, the rationale for the creation of new provinces carries more weight due to the fact that development of areas which in the last sixty four years have been unable to show any tangible socio-economic development, the new provinces will enable them to generate their own resources, make their own decisions to address the years of neglect and lack of focus on areas away from the provincial Capitals and the big cities. PART-III OPTIONS AVAL AND ANALLYSIS Options and Analysis Above discussion straight away lead us to various options for creation of more provinces or for that matter more administrative units, which are mentioned as under:- Option-1. Declare the former administrative commensurate divisions as provinces. However, this would result in creation of over 30 provinces which in the present socio-economic and political circumstances is not viable option. Advantages Creation of more than 30 provinces. Creation of more minor administrative units. Well defined and establish boundaries. Non lingual and ethnic basis. Disadvantages More no of administrative units. More expenses. Viability of few administrative units with reference to bearing their own burden will be questionable. Distribution of resources amongst units will be difficult. Option-2. Popular option can be to create more provinces on the basis of cultural, ethnic and linguistic lines. However, such creation would have a negative impact on national cohesion. Advantages Societies will remain united as per their culture, ethnic and lingual lines. No cultural or ethnic or lingual dichotomies. Most political parties are expected to agree with that. Disadvantages Will give rise to ethnicity instead of national cohesion. Viability of few administrative units will be questionable. More expensive option. Boundary demarcation will be disputed. Option-3. Another option of creating new provinces is base

Essay --

Abraham Lincoln was an important figure who rose from being an uneducated man, to becoming the 16th president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln is also known for his determination towards ending slavery. One of Abraham Lincoln’s political accomplishments was issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Before his presidency, Lincoln was not that knowledgeable about the military because he never really had a proper education when he was small. However, Lincoln’s entire presidency basically took place during the war. On January 1st ,1863, President Abraham Lincoln walked into his office and spotted a document on his desk which was given the name â€Å"Emancipation Proclamation†. The Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for the slaves in the southern states that were currently fighting against the United States. Lincoln was the one who wrote the first four pages of the original Emancipation Proclamation.He had no doubts of signing this document because he was much alerted about how important it was to be signed. As Lincoln signed this document, he stated, †I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.† Lincoln’s main goal during his presidency was to keep the United States unified. When word got out in the newspapers that the Proclamation was signed,everyone was excited.Henry Turner, a church minister who waited with a crowd of people at a newspaper office, described what he witnessed when everyone read the paper. He stated that â€Å"When people saw me coming with the paper in my hand, they raised a shouting cheer †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ I started to read the proclamation [but ] I was out of breath and could not read. Mr. Hinton to whom I handed the paper read it with great force and clearness†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Men... ...h amendment banned slavery in any place in the United States.So,everyone had freedom.The fourteenth amendment in 1868 made it legal deny any citizen’s life,liberty, or property unless the law allowed it . Also,this amendment stated that every citizen has equal security under the law. And finally, the fifteenth amendment stated that it was against the law to forbid any one’s rights to vote due to their race, color or previous enslavement . All in all, The Emancipation Proclamation was the first step towards freedom. Abraham Lincoln certainly played a big role in letting the United States a slave free environment. Lincoln was a very determined man who believe that slavery was wrong. All of his determination paid off when congress passed three amendments to make sure of the rights of the African Americans. Lincoln is a dynamic figure who was constantly persistent.

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 13

â€Å"I'm really not a serial killer. It just seemed like too good a chance to pass up.† â€Å"Man,† I said. â€Å"If I had a dime for every time I heard that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Liam, the guy who'd bought me at the auction, laughed and opened the car door for me. He drove a shiny black Lotus Elise that he'd had imported from the UK. I found that impressive. It appeared to have just been freshly washed. I found that impressive too – and a little sad since it looked like it was going to rain at any moment. â€Å"It's supposed to be really good, though,† he added, starting up the engine. â€Å"So, I hope you'll like it and not think it's too demented for the holidays.† I hadn't been keen on following up with my charity date, but I'd known it would have to happen sooner or later. When Liam had called earlier to say he'd gotten tickets to a dramatic production of three Edgar Allan Poe stories tonight, I figured it was as good a time as any to get it over with. Besides, I liked Poe. It was kind of a creepy date to have around the happiest time of the year, true, but that would be the theater's fault, not Liam's. It was an early show, so we planned to attend first and catch dinner later. On the drive there, he turned out to be a lot like I'd expected. Intelligent. Nice. Moderately funny. He worked for an investment company downtown and had enough sense not to bore me with the details. We traded light banter, sharing anecdotes and experiences. I still would have rather been with Seth, but Liam was a fine guy for one night, and I figured he should have a fun time after donating so much money. The play was about as twisted as I'd hoped. They started with â€Å"The Masque of the Red Death,† followed by â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† closed the night off because honestly, what sort of Poe festivities would be complete without that crowd pleaser? â€Å"I've never heard of ‘The Masque of the Red Death,'† Liam said afterwards. We'd decided to leave the car and walk the six blocks to the restaurant he had reservations at. â€Å"I read the others in high school. I guess it's some kind of allegory about how you can't escape death, huh? You can lock yourself away, but it doesn't work.† â€Å"More than an allegory, actually,† I mused. â€Å"Historically, that wasn't an uncommon way for people to deal with plague and disease. Lock themselves up. Or else leave town and run away. Sometimes they'd throw the sick people out of town and lock the doors, so to speak.† â€Å"That's horrible,† said Liam. We stepped inside the restaurant, a small Italian one that was almost always booked. I had to admit, he was doing a good job with this date thing. â€Å"People didn't know any better,† I said. â€Å"They didn't know what caused diseases, and aside from good hygiene and luck, there were few treatments for ancient and medieval epidemics.† â€Å"That auctioneer didn't say anything about you being a history buff,† he teased. â€Å"Yeah? Would you not have bid?† â€Å"Are you kidding? A beautiful woman who uses the words ‘ancient and medieval epidemics' on the first date? I would have bid more.† I grinned and let the maitre d' lead us to our table. I was glad Liam appreciated my historical knowledge, but I'd have to be careful not to get too nerdy. I knew more than the average girl should and could get into levels of detail that modern people had no way of knowing about. I shifted to something else. â€Å"Well, I think the auctioneer was kind of distracted by the other contestants.† â€Å"Oh, you mean the feminazi who went before you?† I frowned. â€Å"No, I mean the giant blonde in silver that he bid on.† â€Å"Oh, yeah,† Liam agreed. â€Å"She was crazy. Attractive, but crazy.† â€Å"You actually thought she was pretty?† â€Å"Sure. Not as pretty as you, of course,† he hastily added, mistaking my meaning. â€Å"But the auctioneer apparently thought otherwise. He couldn't keep his hands off of her.† â€Å"Oh, come on. He barely touched her.† â€Å"Well, not during the auction, of course. I mean afterward.† â€Å"What?† I was interrupted when the waiter came by. I had to wait for Liam to order wine before he could finish the story. â€Å"After the auction. I was there helping wrap things up. Deanna's a friend of my ex-wife's. When we all finished, Nick and that blonde were all over each other and left together.† â€Å"That†¦that isn't possible.† Tawny had said they'd left separately. There was no way she and Nick could have been hot and heavy the night of the auction. The following night had been when she showed up for the dance lesson. Even if she was lying about things falling apart with Nick – and really, why would she? – she'd obviously had no recent energy fix. Massive shape-shifting, on the scale of nonhuman shapes, could burn through energy that quickly, but a new succubus wouldn't have that skill yet. None of this made sense. Liam, obviously, didn't catch my confusion. â€Å"Why's it so hard to believe?† he asked. I shook my head. â€Å"It's†¦never mind. I hope they had a great time. Now†¦what kind of wine did you order? I missed it.† Not wanting to ruin dinner, I put the Tawny conundrum into a holding bin in my mind and did my best to give Liam his seventeen-hundred-dollars worth. When dinner ended, we walked back toward his car, enjoying a leisurely pace. The weather, though damp, had warmed to about fifty. Seattle's fickle winters did that sometimes, only to freeze up a day or so later. When Liam slipped his hand into mine, I let him, but it presented me with a dilemma. He was no one I really planned on seeing again. As a courtesy to Seth and an attempt at a normal life, I avoided casual affairs in this body. All of those reasons meant I shouldn't let the night escalate into anything more than a friendly handshake good-bye. But suddenly, I was feeling the loss of my energy. It had felt so good to have Simon's – yet it had been stripped from me before I could even do anything with it. It'd be so nice to have that feeling back, to go home with Liam and get what I needed. When we reached his car, he kept holding my hand and turned me so that I faced him. â€Å"What now?† he asked. â€Å"I don't know.† I was still torn on what to do. â€Å"I'm open to suggestion.† Liam smiled, a cute smile that showed in his blue eyes too. â€Å"Well, how about this?† He leaned down and kissed me, much as Dante had nearly done. Oh, Liam. Liam was a good man. A good, good man. Seth caliber. The moment our lips touched, I felt the sweetness of his life energy trickling into me. My desire woke up, and I pressed myself to him. I might not like to use this body, but these were unusual circumstances. I made my decision. I'd sleep with him and part ways. He was a nice guy, not a psycho stalker. He might be disappointed, but he wouldn't give me grief for wanting to be friends in the morning. He kissed me harder, pushing me against the side of the car. All that energy from just one kiss. The sex was going to be great. Yes, yes. More. Get more. Feed me. I jerked away from Liam. He looked down at me, legitimately concerned. â€Å"What's the matter?† It had been a whisper in my head. Faint but real. It had been paired with a longing, a deep longing for Liam's energy that rivaled my own need – but it hadn't been mine. It had belonged to someone – or something – else. Suddenly, it all came back to me. The conversations with Dante and Erik. Some creature preying on me and stealing my energy. True, it was what I did to men†¦but, well, I couldn't help how I felt. And just then, I felt nauseous at the thought of some parasitic creature coming to me tonight because I was full of energy. It made my skin crawl. Bad enough this thing was using me. It was also using me to use Liam. I looked back at him; he was so cute and so nice. I shook my head. I couldn't do this. I needed the energy, but I was going to put if off as long as possible. I wouldn't give this thing what it wanted. â€Å"Liam†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I said slowly. â€Å"I should tell you something. I, um, just recently got out of a long relationship, and I went to the auction because I thought I could, you know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed, not appearing angry so much as regretful. â€Å"You aren't ready.† I shook my head. â€Å"I'm really sorry. I wanted to help at the auction, and I thought I could move on.† He squeezed the hand he was still holding and released it. â€Å"Well†¦I'm sad, but I understand. And I like you†¦if we went out, I'd like to work on something serious. That can't happen until you're ready, and I'd never want to force you.† Oh, God. Nice, nice guy. â€Å"I'm so, so sorry,† I said. I meant it. I so wanted his energy. â€Å"Nothing to be sorry about,† he told me, smiling. â€Å"Come on, I'll take you home.† He returned me to Queen Anne, and I kissed him on the cheek before leaving the car. He told me to call him when I was ready to date again, and I told him I would. Once he was gone, I didn't go inside. Instead, I called Dante. â€Å"It's your favorite succubus,† I said when he answered. I heard him yawn. â€Å"Debatable. What do you want? It's late.† â€Å"I need to talk to you. Something weird happened.† â€Å"I'm in bed, succubus. Unless you plan on joining me, I'd rather not receive visitors right now.† â€Å"Please, Dante. It's important.† He sighed. â€Å"Fine, come on over.† â€Å"I don't know where you live.† â€Å"Of course you do. You've been here a gazillion times.† â€Å"You live in your store?† â€Å"Why would I want to pay rent for two different places?† I drove down to the shop. The sign read CLOSED, but there was a faint light inside. Dante opened the door when I knocked. He wore jeans and a plain T-shirt, nothing unusual, but the disheveled hair suggested he had indeed been in bed. â€Å"Sorry,† I told him. â€Å"Maybe I should have waited.† â€Å"Too late for regrets. Come on in.† He led me through the storefront, back to the small door I usually saw closed. On the other side was a large room that appeared to be a combination living space, office, supply closet, and†¦workshop. â€Å"Erik was right,† I said, walking over to a high set of shelves. They were filled with jars and bottles of herbs and unidentifiable liquids. â€Å"You are a magician.† I considered. â€Å"Or at least you're pretending to be.† â€Å"No faith in me. Probably smart.† He pointed to a bean bag chair and a plaid ottoman. â€Å"Take your pick if you don't want the bed.† I chose the ottoman. â€Å"Well, it's not that I don't trust you†¦but everything else you do is a scam. Of course, Erik has to hate you for something legitimate, and he wouldn't have sent me to you in the first place if you didn't have some kind of skill.† â€Å"Interesting logic. Maybe he hates me for my charming personality.† He rubbed his eyes and yawned again. With the motion of his arm, I noticed faint punctures in the middle of his arm that I'd never seen with long sleeves. â€Å"Maybe he hates you for your vices.† Dante looked at where I was staring. He shrugged, unconcerned. â€Å"Nah, Lancaster has better things to worry about than a casual hit now and then.† â€Å"From my experience, there's no such thing as a casual hit.† â€Å"What, are you here to do an intervention now, succubus?† â€Å"No,† I admitted. I had neither time nor interest to reform Dante. â€Å"But I heard a voice tonight.† â€Å"I heard a voice too. It called and woke me up.† â€Å"Dante!† Angrily, I explained the situation. A hint of his sarcastic smile remained, but otherwise, he actually seemed concerned. â€Å"Huh. Interesting. It actually raised its ugly head.† â€Å"What do you think that means?† â€Å"Not a clue until we know what it is. The only thing I can guess is that it was desperate for some reason. Until now, it's done a pretty good job at hiding itself – aside from your energy loss, obviously.† He brightened a little. â€Å"I don't suppose it's here now, urging you to jump me?† â€Å"Sorry.† â€Å"Ah, well. I'm probably not as good a catch as Seventeen-hundred-dollar Man. Your predator has standards.† I shuddered, hating the idea that I actually had a predator. I looked up at Dante and must have looked truly pathetic because a startled look crossed his features. â€Å"Dante, you have to help me. I know we don't have the answers yet†¦but, well, I'm scared of this thing. I can't bring myself to take a victim because I'm afraid of this monster coming back. I don't even want to go to sleep.† His gray eyes assessed me, and to my astonishment, he almost looked gentle. It completely transformed him. â€Å"Ah, succubus. You can sleep tonight. No energy, no visit. I doubt the kiss was enough of a lure.† â€Å"But eventually†¦eventually I'll have to get another fix†¦and until I'm able to talk to Jerome about all this†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Well, I could maybe make you a charm or something. Protection to ward this thing away.† â€Å"You can do that?† I tried to keep the skepticism out of my voice but failed. His face turned wry once more. â€Å"If you don't want the help†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No! I do. I'm sorry. That was wrong of me. I asked for your help, then backed off.† â€Å"Well, as you said, I haven't inspired much faith in you.† â€Å"I'll take whatever help I can get,† I said honestly. He stood up and stretched, then walked over to his shelves, studying their contents. â€Å"You sure about that? You might not like what I have to do to make this. How badly do you want it?† I thought about that voice, that creature's need inside my head. â€Å"Pretty badly. Provided you don't, like, give me a necklace made out of goat entrails, I think we're good.† His eyes were still on his shelves and jars. Several moments passed while he considered. â€Å"I'm going to need some time on this, I'm afraid. It'd be a lot easier if I knew what it was we're dealing with. Without that, I've got to try to make some sort of catch-all charm that may or may not work. The broad spectrum ones are always hard, too.† â€Å"So nothing tonight.† He strolled back over to me. â€Å"You're fine tonight, remember? Of course, you're welcome to stay here, and I'll stay awake and make sure nothing happens to you.† I couldn't help a smile. â€Å"Just like Kayla.† â€Å"Who?† â€Å"My boyfriend's niece†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I'd nearly forgotten about our weird conversation. â€Å"She said some funny things. But I don't know if it was just kid imaginings or if she maybe has some kind of psychic ability.† â€Å"Fine line with kids,† he said. â€Å"If she has any powers, I'm sure science and discipline will work them out of her. What'd she say?† â€Å"She said that I was ‘magic.' And that there were monsters in the air who got into people's dreams.† When he didn't respond, I exclaimed, â€Å"Do you think she could help with this?† He shook his head. â€Å"No. If she is psychic or gifted or whatever, she's too young and inexperienced to know what she's perceiving to be of any real use.† â€Å"But she could be sensing what's following me.† â€Å"Sure. If she's a really astute psychic, she'd be sensitive to anomalies in the magical and spiritual worlds.† Interesting. Tiny little Kayla, possibly with the potential for great spiritual powers some day. â€Å"What's your advice?† â€Å"Huh?† he asked. â€Å"For someone like her. To develop her abilities and make sure science and discipline don't beat it out of her.† â€Å"My advice?† He gave a harsh laugh. â€Å"Let them beat it out of her. You'll be doing her a favor.† I sat quietly for a long time, studying my feet. When I finally looked back up at him, I asked, â€Å"Why are you so unhappy?† â€Å"Who says I'm unhappy? I make money by doing nothing.† I gestured around. â€Å"Everything says you're unhappy. Your attitude. Your arm. The pile of beer bottles over there. The fact that even though you claim I annoy you, you keep helping me and always seem glad to have me around.† â€Å"Misery loves company. You aren't exactly all that chipper yourself.† â€Å"I'm very happy with my life,† I argued. â€Å"Well, then, go back to it, and let me sleep.† In a not too subtle signal, he walked over to the door and opened it. â€Å"I'll work on your charm and get back to you.† I started to snap back at the abrupt dismissal, but he looked so weary, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Besides, I knew I'd been right. Dante Moriarty was a very unhappy man who used sarcasm and substances to hide it. I wondered what it was that plagued him so much – what it was that had darkened his soul. â€Å"Are you ever going to tell me why Erik hates you so much?† I asked quietly. Dante pointed at the door. â€Å"Good night, succubus. Sweet dreams.†