Outsourcing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Redistributing - Term Paper Example concentrate more on center capabilities, permits association to give items and administrations to buyers on a lot less expensive rate, it permits best use of time and factors of creation, and with exercises it likewise moves the hazard appended to those exercises. With focal points, re-appropriating has a few inconveniences also, which remembers Increase for joblessness in redistributing nation, it frequently kills direct correspondence between an association and its customers which ruins association to assemble solid relationship with representatives, it rises the danger of losing command over tasks, it makes the touchy data helpless as odds of spillage of data increments with re-appropriating, and it makes associations to a great extent subordinate upon the re-appropriated accomplice (Bettis, Bradley, and Hamel, 1992). There are number reasons which clarify why associations re-appropriate their capacities and business forms, one of the fundamental and significant reasons is that it sets aside cash and permits association to pool that cash in increasingly profitable movement There are numerous things which organizations consider while hoping to re-appropriate as the accomplishment of redistributing, for example, Companies’ capacity to oversee in versatile areas; Companies’ abilities to grow and to manufacture re-appropriate associations, and companies’ aptitudes and capacities to what to deliver and not to create while being serious in the market (Boudreaux, 2008). There are number of exogenous elements which likewise should be considered by organizations while searching for redistributing, which are Political strength of a nation where capacity or procedure is re-appropriated, Language abilities of re-appropriated accomplice, Infrastructure steadiness of re-appropriated accomplice, and adaptability of licensed innovation rights and business contracts in the nation of re-appropriated accomplice. Organizations should worry about giving over innovation to different organizations as this training is very stressing for them who re-appropriate capacities or business forms so as to spare

Podkayne of Mars Review Essay Example

Podkayne of Mars Review Paper Paper on Podkayne of Mars In the event that I distribute an audit, I do it is for the most part to spare individuals time. In the event that the book is acceptable, while on the expense of the inquiry of gold in the trash pile (which is currently on the racks of book shops in mass) on the off chance that a book is terrible (if awful books exist;?) is the way that individuals can do to believe: is it justified, despite all the trouble to understand it? Opening a record with Martian, I remembered the desire something to that effect . TA-TO-GO !!! We will compose a custom exposition test on Podkayne of Mars Review explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom paper test on Podkayne of Mars Review explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on Podkayne of Mars Review explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer Thus. . Loaded with dissatisfactions I know about Heinlein in 14 years, and began with a somewhat mind boggling item Citizen of the Galaxy. From Martian I hung tight for about similar encounters in some cases philosophical, some place savvy, some experience . Conceptual book extremely succinct. However, practically speaking, the secretive and evil occasions on board the tremendous visitor kosmolaynera it is the last 5-6 pages out of 80 (I read in the electronic adaptation) The journal sections of a young lady who, alongside his sibling and uncle sent to travel. . On Mars, Venus and the Moon through the Earth. In transit, longing for how she would be the female space explorer, chivalrous and valiant. The start of the book I was interested. Myl of solidified youngsters, on the first page qualified to peruse the start. It might merit perusing even seclusion, however to me it appeared to be very baffling and for the most part new. Center, you can basically erase. Particularly when they showed up on Mars, and strolled through the gambling club there. Now, I would keep on perusing didn't simply nothing else was helpful Thus I read as far as possible and now I get that on the off chance that, at that point dropped - . Nothing would be lost I might want extra, minor plot strands, increasingly striking range of feelings End: poor people can be even Heinlein. Tragic.

ShareThis

ShareThis INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in the beautiful Palo Alto in the ShareThis office. Hi Tim, who are you and what do you do?Tim: I am the founder and chairman of ShareThis.Martin: Awesome.Tim: Yes.BUSINESS MODEL OF SHARETHISMartin: How did you come up with this idea?Tim: Well it was about 2007 and it was right when social networking started to take hold. People didn’t know the term social network yet. I had been investor in a number of advertising companies and noticed that the world was becoming more driven by people, more people oriented then it was data and information oriented. And after a lot of research and talking to people who were using the internet from young age to the older age, didn’t matter, found out that people were sharing a lot. They were searching a lot, they were sharing a lot and so focus groups revealed that basically the number one way people got new information was through share links. It is interesting, I do that, that’s why I know it is true but wh o measures it? So I started to investigate and I started talking to research organizations and others to say who has the data. How many times do people share? Then I found out that nobody had he answer and so that was the beginning of realizing that there was a big opportunity if you could somehow know collectively across the web who was sharing what to whom.Martin: And how did you then start? Did you build an MVP, just checking out if somebody would use your snippet?Tim: I actually co-founded with Dr. David Goldberg from the University of Illinois who is one of the worlds authorities on what you now call big data but generic algorithms and machine learning and he is kind of rock star. We had some PhDs working on it and we were taking quick stream data from other websites and trying to see if we could predict behavior.Ultimately what we did was we did the toolbar extension so we could as user share any page where we are and we would mash up at the time e-mail or MySpace or Facebook. This is before they had APIs, it was very early. The results were pretty promising but we knew that having a toolbar wasn’t sufficient.After talking to publishers we found out that they obviously wanted to promote sharing on their web sites but they didn’t have an easy way to do it. They had a lot of image links on their sites where forward to a friend e-mail image link no one ever used and we said if we can give you a one stop shop to get all the services and give you the analytics so you can actually track this and make your content more shareable I think they would like that. And it turned out we partnered actually with Alex King who was the WordPress developer who had developed the icon at the time but there was no code behind it. So we were the first ones to basically build the java script service because in order to do the tracking we had to know every time that page was loaded, every time it was shared what happened. And so we basically married the icon, the image with b ackend java script service and it just took off from there.We launched in November 2007 and I remember our goal was to get to 200 websites and in the last two months of the year, November and December and we had over a thousand sites in first week. Then I said, “Hmm, there is something happening here” and it just continued to take off and still growing today.Martin: Did you approach those 1000 sites or how did you get to acquire them?Tim: Some of the big ones yes but many of them did on their own and we quickly became popular WordPress plug in and provided other platforms as well, so it really was organic. There wasn’t a lot of PR and marketing required, just good publishers on good sites and they said, “Hey, we need to use the ShareThis tools” and it just kept growing from there.Martin: And when I look at ShareThis I know this Ive seen this tool but is it that it is only software as a service so to speak or do you also give some kind of recommendations for example if I wa s liking some articles you can recommend me some other articles from other websites for example and monetize that recommendation that you are giving?Tim: Right, we are not doing recommendation service today. So it is really providing a service to the publishers, more publisher focused tools so they can customize their website and customize the look and get the analytics and the insights from it. But we think there are a lot of potential capabilities given the distribution which is over 3 million websites now. We are looking at a broad range of capabilities that we could do.One of the fundamental principles was that people share in a lot of different ways. We know we all share e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, we are multidimensional. So we are not trying to compete with the social networks, so finding things that can be effective and valuable to users and publishers that are sort of meta-social be near where we are looking to navigate.Martin: How is the revenue model working? Do you have s ome kind of specific pricing tiers or what is the pricing driver?Tim: Well, it is free to publishers and we use the data for advertising. So it is all non-PII, no personalized data that we help advertisers understand the target. The users they are most interested in on a real time basis and that is the trick of it. That is the hard part because we are generating terabytes or so of data a day processing that, being able to cross 700 million users around the globe and being able to build an audience segments for advertisers very quickly.Martin: And the advertising, how do you display it then, is it a normal banner of the block or is it next to the ShareThis?Tim: It is not in the widget or in the service itself. We use it for any other display or video mobile ads that the advertiser might be trying to buy anywhere else on the web. So to give an example perhaps you shared a lot of stuff on vacation with your friends or family. When you go to other sites in any of your other surfing you may start seeing some interesting travel ads. So in that way we are buying inventory exchanges from other partners.Martin: And so basically this means an advertiser who wants to target some specific customer segments and he needs some more preference information for some users then he could go to ShareThis and say, “Guys, you know so much about some click references, I would like to buy this information in order to improve the advertising”.Tim: Well, just like search. Search is going to be highly effective because it is a very good insight into what users are interested in. Sharing is very similar. It is also very real time, meaning you have to capitalize on it quickly or the attention fades away and the value of that attention fades away. So being able to identify these users in real time becomes very important.Martin: Tim, all the year what have been the major obstacles during your entrepreneursial journey and how did you overcome them?Tim: I think that startups grow in phases . So the first phase was the product-market fit, developing the product and the service for ShareThis and then letting that grow organically. The next phase was revenue generation and we are still in that phase. The good news is we were patient, making sure that we build the right kind of product from our own view standpoint before we launched it because I knew as an entrepreneur and investor that the moment you start generating revenue if it is not going fast enough it can come against you. The idea sometimes is more valuable than reality if you start generating revenue and it is not growing as fast. So we held off until we had very large reach and when we turn on the revenue it grew very quickly.So we are now in that scale mode and we said, “OK, we have achieved that scale from revenue stand point, go back and look at where else we are investing on the product side. Because we think there are a lot of possibilities still. It’s the early days of social on the web and so picking the right spot and the right road map for us is really important. It will lead I think to a next generation.Martin: Were there any other obstacles where you said, “Oh, this was a really hard or decisive point in the history and this was the situation and this is how we managed it”?Tim: Well one of the things for example in the early days we decided to work with advertisers instead of just selling our data. We believed that is important for a number of different reasons. One we didn’t want to provide a negative perception to users, we didn’t want to have publishers question what we are doing with the data and at the end of the day we said, “If anybody knows how to use this data should be us”. So we did something that was, we could have easily solved the data and had revenue but we said, “No, we are going to sell it ourselves and really work through the issues and the challenges of how effective does this make advertising” and I think we worked through that well.And n ow we are at a point where we say, “Okay, now let’s look at how we can partner with this data in a way that doesn’t create channel conflicts or other issues.” I think that the issue with data nowadays and advertising, problematic advertising is the quality of data varies greatly depending on where the data comes from. And usually it is its latency is an issue. The data is too old and so that signal quality is low. Ours is very high, it is real time so we are very selective in terms of who we partner with and how we go to market with that. So that is something that we are in a number of conversations now are exploring that and are pretty enthused about what can be done with it and so that is. We are around that challenge now.Martin: When you grew the organization from your first start of two or three people to maybe next 20, 30 what have been your findings when building the organization? Was there some point of saying, “I didn’t expect that, there were some kind of issue s how I put the organization in place”, or something like that?Tim: Right. I used to give a speech at every quarter which is to say the folks, “Don’t get comfortable with your job function or your title, or where you are sitting at your desk” because if you are in a fast growth company that is going to change. We are a creatures of habit and we tend to, so when we are twenty people we all kind of like the office, we like having 20 people, we all go out for drinks on Friday. And then when you go from 20 to 50 or from 20 to 100 whatever it is that is going to change and not everybody is going to be comfortable with that. So that was a speech I often had to give, every quarter.The other thing that happens and the reason you have to look at everything from a zero base line in terms of staff and overall resources is that you grow given the certain set of assumptions and in overtime some of those assumptions prove to be valid or false and so you have to correct as you go. I think every companies goes through that regardless of size. So that is something that to keep in mind and I think I am reminded of often just when things are going great and you have several months of great growth and great success you are reminded, “You have to recalibrate.” And that is not necessarily a bad thing. You shouldn’t assume that this is just like a linear process. Growth just keeps going cranking without any change and market conditions are changing, underlying metrics. So that is one of the big reminders is that you need to readjust and calibrate every so often.Martin: It seems that you also felt that emotional roller coaster quite a bit. Can you give us some kind of insights and one moment that you feel really, “Wow, this is awesome. I will rock the world” and the other one will “Oh, I am really on the brink of going to bankruptcy, whatsoever”.Tim: I used to say: Sometimes I feel like I am on top of the world and some days it is on top of me, so that is for su re. There is a risk of being bipolar when you are an entrepreneur. I remember that one time we had launched new service or capability and I remember a big company (dont remember the name) but I got a threatening e-mail and it just ruined my weekend. I just felt like everything is just going crumbling down and it turns out it didn’t and I realized that it was just kind of flattering. The big company was taking notice of what we were doing but at first I just thought competitors will come out and I was like “Somebody is doing exactly what we are doing”.Over time again it proved that that you put it in perspective I guess, this is the point. When enough of those things happen you get more and more of that perspective and in our case the mode, the fencibility we have is the distribution. Three million websites and those are all independent decisions, publishers come to us to get our tools and it think that stirred things in the network.I used to say in the investing days as a VC: Companies that come on the radar screen quickly go off the radar screen quickly. So it is easy to fall into a hype cycle but there is no business fundamentals there. You will go away just as fast. So what I like is that it is grown over time and we certainly have had fast growth but it has also been building a really strong foundation and that is the most important thing.Martin: When I look at the publishers is there any kind of benefit that you are offering them that is based on this economies of scale or is it just free and you have analytics for your website?Tim: right now it is free and analytics, although it is some of our biggest publishers we roll up our sleeves and we did a hackathon with their team and our team, and we are exploring ways that publishers could take advantage of that data, take advantage of that network in bigger ways that aren’t possible today. We believe that because of that distribution, because of the type of data that we have we can enable new capabili ties that just aren’t possible with others and that is just where we are looking to navigate, not to replicate features. Recommendations for example have been around for a long time and then you have got our brains to build on others doing some of those sorts of things. Well, that is possible with or without our data. But what we want to look at is what is possible that nobody else can replicate. That would be unique so that is where we are headed.We like working with the customers and I have always been about customers driven design. That is basically how ShareThis was created. I was really understanding end users and publishers so we like to go really close to those publishers to figure out where we are going to navigate next.Martin: Lots of first time entrepreneurs think “Oh, I need so much money to start a company”. How much money did it take you to simply start?Tim: We kept a very burn rate. It was three or four people, college students, basically PhD students for a while and even when it took off in terms of the distribution it was pretty revenue and we said, “Look we have a fixed burn rate and we are not going to violate it.” And in fact luckily we raised a series B on March 1st 2008, just before the market started to crash. And I remember saying, “Ok, this needs to last forever” and our plan was to last at least three years until we have visibility in terms of the revenue growth. And that is how we didn’t spend any more than we were already spending and then when the revenue started coming in and the first three years we blew away 20 percent of our revenue projections than we were able to invest in growth.Martin: So if I am looking at shareability you need some social networks that are open. Do you see a trend of websites closing themselves and in terms of communities etc.?Tim: I don’t know about a trend but I do believe that there are actual challenges, the walled garden challenge. Will social networks go all the way up portals did a nd first generation on the internet?I believe that still is a risk or danger. Facebook has done a great job and they are certainly become the internet guerilla and maybe other ones will sprout out. Theoretically Pinterest shouldn’t exist but it does and I think other ones will over time. They all face that challenge of having a wall garden and internet is an open place. And that is how we have designed ShareThis is the assumption that people will always share in different ways, not just one singular way and that presents opportunities but also challenges in terms of how much data is available.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM TIM SCHIGEL In Palo Alto (CA), we met Founder Chairman of ShareThis, Tim Schigel. Tim tells us his story, how he came up with the idea and founded ShareThis and how the current business model works. He also shares some advice for young entrepreneurs.INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in the beautiful Palo Alto in the ShareThis office. Hi Tim, who are you and what do you do?Tim: I am the founder and chairman of ShareThis.Martin: Awesome.Tim: Yes.BUSINESS MODEL OF SHARETHISMartin: How did you come up with this idea?Tim: Well it was about 2007 and it was right when social networking started to take hold. People didn’t know the term social network yet. I had been investor in a number of advertising companies and noticed that the world was becoming more driven by people, more people oriented then it was data and information oriented. And after a lot of research and talking to people who were using the internet from young age to the older age, didn’t matter, found out that people were sharing a lot. They were searching a lot, they were sharing a lot and so focus groups revealed that basically the number one way people got new information was through share links. It is interesting, I do that, that’s why I know it is true but who measures it? So I started to investigate and I started talking to research organizations and others to say who has the data. How many times do people share? Then I found out that nobody had he answer and so that was the beginning of realizing that there was a big opportunity if you could somehow know collectively across the web who was sharing what to whom.Martin: And how did you then start? Did you build an MVP, just checking out if somebody would use your snippet?Tim: I actually co-founded with Dr. David Goldberg from the University of Illinois who is one of the worlds authorities on what you now call big data but generic algorithms and machine learning and he is kind of rock star. We had some PhDs working on it and we were taking quick stream data from other websites and trying to see if we could predict behavior.Ultimately what we did was we did the toolbar extension so we could as user share any page where we are and we would mash up at the time e-mail or MySpace or Facebook. This is before they had APIs, it was very early. The results were pretty promising but we knew that having a toolbar wasn’t sufficient.After talking to publishers we found out that they obviously wanted to promote sharing on their web sites but they didn’t have an easy way to do it. They had a lot of image links on their sites where forward to a friend e-mail image link no one ever used and we said if we can give you a one stop shop to get all the services and give you the analytics so you can actually track this and make your content more shareable I think they would like that. And it turned out we partnered actually with Alex King who was the WordPress developer who had developed the icon at the time but there was no code behind it. So we we re the first ones to basically build the java script service because in order to do the tracking we had to know every time that page was loaded, every time it was shared what happened. And so we basically married the icon, the image with backend java script service and it just took off from there.We launched in November 2007 and I remember our goal was to get to 200 websites and in the last two months of the year, November and December and we had over a thousand sites in first week. Then I said, “Hmm, there is something happening here” and it just continued to take off and still growing today.Martin: Did you approach those 1000 sites or how did you get to acquire them?Tim: Some of the big ones yes but many of them did on their own and we quickly became popular WordPress plug in and provided other platforms as well, so it really was organic. There wasn’t a lot of PR and marketing required, just good publishers on good sites and they said, “Hey, we need to use the ShareThis to ols” and it just kept growing from there.Martin: And when I look at ShareThis I know this Ive seen this tool but is it that it is only software as a service so to speak or do you also give some kind of recommendations for example if I was liking some articles you can recommend me some other articles from other websites for example and monetize that recommendation that you are giving?Tim: Right, we are not doing recommendation service today. So it is really providing a service to the publishers, more publisher focused tools so they can customize their website and customize the look and get the analytics and the insights from it. But we think there are a lot of potential capabilities given the distribution which is over 3 million websites now. We are looking at a broad range of capabilities that we could do.One of the fundamental principles was that people share in a lot of different ways. We know we all share e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, we are multidimensional. So we are not trying to compete with the social networks, so finding things that can be effective and valuable to users and publishers that are sort of meta-social be near where we are looking to navigate.Martin: How is the revenue model working? Do you have some kind of specific pricing tiers or what is the pricing driver?Tim: Well, it is free to publishers and we use the data for advertising. So it is all non-PII, no personalized data that we help advertisers understand the target. The users they are most interested in on a real time basis and that is the trick of it. That is the hard part because we are generating terabytes or so of data a day processing that, being able to cross 700 million users around the globe and being able to build an audience segments for advertisers very quickly.Martin: And the advertising, how do you display it then, is it a normal banner of the block or is it next to the ShareThis?Tim: It is not in the widget or in the service itself. We use it for any other display or vide o mobile ads that the advertiser might be trying to buy anywhere else on the web. So to give an example perhaps you shared a lot of stuff on vacation with your friends or family. When you go to other sites in any of your other surfing you may start seeing some interesting travel ads. So in that way we are buying inventory exchanges from other partners.Martin: And so basically this means an advertiser who wants to target some specific customer segments and he needs some more preference information for some users then he could go to ShareThis and say, “Guys, you know so much about some click references, I would like to buy this information in order to improve the advertising”.Tim: Well, just like search. Search is going to be highly effective because it is a very good insight into what users are interested in. Sharing is very similar. It is also very real time, meaning you have to capitalize on it quickly or the attention fades away and the value of that attention fades away. So b eing able to identify these users in real time becomes very important.Martin: Tim, all the year what have been the major obstacles during your entrepreneursial journey and how did you overcome them?Tim: I think that startups grow in phases. So the first phase was the product-market fit, developing the product and the service for ShareThis and then letting that grow organically. The next phase was revenue generation and we are still in that phase. The good news is we were patient, making sure that we build the right kind of product from our own view standpoint before we launched it because I knew as an entrepreneur and investor that the moment you start generating revenue if it is not going fast enough it can come against you. The idea sometimes is more valuable than reality if you start generating revenue and it is not growing as fast. So we held off until we had very large reach and when we turn on the revenue it grew very quickly.So we are now in that scale mode and we said, “OK , we have achieved that scale from revenue stand point, go back and look at where else we are investing on the product side. Because we think there are a lot of possibilities still. It’s the early days of social on the web and so picking the right spot and the right road map for us is really important. It will lead I think to a next generation.Martin: Were there any other obstacles where you said, “Oh, this was a really hard or decisive point in the history and this was the situation and this is how we managed it”?Tim: Well one of the things for example in the early days we decided to work with advertisers instead of just selling our data. We believed that is important for a number of different reasons. One we didn’t want to provide a negative perception to users, we didn’t want to have publishers question what we are doing with the data and at the end of the day we said, “If anybody knows how to use this data should be us”. So we did something that was, we could have easily solved the data and had revenue but we said, “No, we are going to sell it ourselves and really work through the issues and the challenges of how effective does this make advertising” and I think we worked through that well.And now we are at a point where we say, “Okay, now let’s look at how we can partner with this data in a way that doesn’t create channel conflicts or other issues.” I think that the issue with data nowadays and advertising, problematic advertising is the quality of data varies greatly depending on where the data comes from. And usually it is its latency is an issue. The data is too old and so that signal quality is low. Ours is very high, it is real time so we are very selective in terms of who we partner with and how we go to market with that. So that is something that we are in a number of conversations now are exploring that and are pretty enthused about what can be done with it and so that is. We are around that challenge now.Martin: When you grew the organization from your first start of two or three people to maybe next 20, 30 what have been your findings when building the organization? Was there some point of saying, “I didn’t expect that, there were some kind of issues how I put the organization in place”, or something like that?Tim: Right. I used to give a speech at every quarter which is to say the folks, “Don’t get comfortable with your job function or your title, or where you are sitting at your desk” because if you are in a fast growth company that is going to change. We are a creatures of habit and we tend to, so when we are twenty people we all kind of like the office, we like having 20 people, we all go out for drinks on Friday. And then when you go from 20 to 50 or from 20 to 100 whatever it is that is going to change and not everybody is going to be comfortable with that. So that was a speech I often had to give, every quarter.The other thing that happens and the reason you have to look at eve rything from a zero base line in terms of staff and overall resources is that you grow given the certain set of assumptions and in overtime some of those assumptions prove to be valid or false and so you have to correct as you go. I think every companies goes through that regardless of size. So that is something that to keep in mind and I think I am reminded of often just when things are going great and you have several months of great growth and great success you are reminded, “You have to recalibrate.” And that is not necessarily a bad thing. You shouldn’t assume that this is just like a linear process. Growth just keeps going cranking without any change and market conditions are changing, underlying metrics. So that is one of the big reminders is that you need to readjust and calibrate every so often.Martin: It seems that you also felt that emotional roller coaster quite a bit. Can you give us some kind of insights and one moment that you feel really, “Wow, this is awesom e. I will rock the world” and the other one will “Oh, I am really on the brink of going to bankruptcy, whatsoever”.Tim: I used to say: Sometimes I feel like I am on top of the world and some days it is on top of me, so that is for sure. There is a risk of being bipolar when you are an entrepreneur. I remember that one time we had launched new service or capability and I remember a big company (dont remember the name) but I got a threatening e-mail and it just ruined my weekend. I just felt like everything is just going crumbling down and it turns out it didn’t and I realized that it was just kind of flattering. The big company was taking notice of what we were doing but at first I just thought competitors will come out and I was like “Somebody is doing exactly what we are doing”.Over time again it proved that that you put it in perspective I guess, this is the point. When enough of those things happen you get more and more of that perspective and in our case the mode, th e fencibility we have is the distribution. Three million websites and those are all independent decisions, publishers come to us to get our tools and it think that stirred things in the network.I used to say in the investing days as a VC: Companies that come on the radar screen quickly go off the radar screen quickly. So it is easy to fall into a hype cycle but there is no business fundamentals there. You will go away just as fast. So what I like is that it is grown over time and we certainly have had fast growth but it has also been building a really strong foundation and that is the most important thing.Martin: When I look at the publishers is there any kind of benefit that you are offering them that is based on this economies of scale or is it just free and you have analytics for your website?Tim: right now it is free and analytics, although it is some of our biggest publishers we roll up our sleeves and we did a hackathon with their team and our team, and we are exploring ways t hat publishers could take advantage of that data, take advantage of that network in bigger ways that aren’t possible today. We believe that because of that distribution, because of the type of data that we have we can enable new capabilities that just aren’t possible with others and that is just where we are looking to navigate, not to replicate features. Recommendations for example have been around for a long time and then you have got our brains to build on others doing some of those sorts of things. Well, that is possible with or without our data. But what we want to look at is what is possible that nobody else can replicate. That would be unique so that is where we are headed.We like working with the customers and I have always been about customers driven design. That is basically how ShareThis was created. I was really understanding end users and publishers so we like to go really close to those publishers to figure out where we are going to navigate next.Martin: Lots of fi rst time entrepreneurs think “Oh, I need so much money to start a company”. How much money did it take you to simply start?Tim: We kept a very burn rate. It was three or four people, college students, basically PhD students for a while and even when it took off in terms of the distribution it was pretty revenue and we said, “Look we have a fixed burn rate and we are not going to violate it.” And in fact luckily we raised a series B on March 1st 2008, just before the market started to crash. And I remember saying, “Ok, this needs to last forever” and our plan was to last at least three years until we have visibility in terms of the revenue growth. And that is how we didn’t spend any more than we were already spending and then when the revenue started coming in and the first three years we blew away 20 percent of our revenue projections than we were able to invest in growth.Martin: So if I am looking at shareability you need some social networks that are open. Do you see a trend of websites closing themselves and in terms of communities etc.?Tim: I don’t know about a trend but I do believe that there are actual challenges, the walled garden challenge. Will social networks go all the way up portals did and first generation on the internet?I believe that still is a risk or danger. Facebook has done a great job and they are certainly become the internet guerilla and maybe other ones will sprout out. Theoretically Pinterest shouldn’t exist but it does and I think other ones will over time. They all face that challenge of having a wall garden and internet is an open place. And that is how we have designed ShareThis is the assumption that people will always share in different ways, not just one singular way and that presents opportunities but also challenges in terms of how much data is available.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM TIM SCHIGELMartin: Tim, today we do not only share great links but maybe I would be interested in your advice that you can shar e. Imagine, a young founder comes to you and seeks your advice because you have done it several times. What tips can you provide?Tim: Easiest way to sum it up that I have developed now after working with hundreds of startups is start with the end in mind. When I look at the patterns of all the theories on startups it is about goal setting, it is envisioning where you want to go, so start up with the end in mind. And think about END â€" E, N, D evaluation, navigation and dedication. I have got this idea and people are always passionate about their idea.So the first phase is get it evaluated, evaluate yourself, have others try to find holes, confirm or deny so your assumptions and the idea. That is the evaluation stage. It is just like if you are getting a trip and evaluate where you want to go on vacation. Look at the scenery, what you want to accomplish, things you want to do on that trip. That shall be done in the evaluation stage.Next stage â€" navigation. Again if you are doing a trip how long is it going to take, how many times do we have to stop for food or stop for fuel or stop to eat. That is your business plan. Your navigation. And while you are navigating it you may find some roads are closed, you may find some stores are not open and you have to adjust. So it is all about the metrics and understanding what metrics are driving your business and the assumptions behind your projections.And finally the dedication phase is if you get the first two solved no matter what you get to your destination and you keep driving, you continue on that journey. And if your idea is big enough you will be driving for a very long time, meaning you are always on the journey if you have a big enough idea.That to me encapsulates a lot of lessons and we can go for hours in terms of each one of those stages but it is really starting with the end in mind.Martin: Cool. Do you have any other advice that you would like to share?Tim: So the other thing that I see a lot is there ar e very few people that have been through the zero to ten million growth phase, ten million in revenue. There are more people that raise more money than that and the mistake raising money for revenue, it is all about the revenue. It is important to find people that have been through that phase that zero to ten million phase.It doesn’t mean that founders need to have that to be founder of the company, I don’t think that is a requirement but if you don’t have you should surround yourself with people who have because I think it is the nature of the numbers. With a high failure rate of companies there are a lot more people out there who have stories of failure then there are stories of success. So find somebody who has been through the success. They can tell you what it is like to go from zero to ten million. Who can help you navigate, who can help you set the end goal and say how do you go from here to there.So for example I meet with a lot of startups who are after a big, large m arket and are excited about it. I see their projections and they are getting to ten or 15 million in five years or so and I say, “Why don’t you go to tem million revenue next year?” and they look at you right here, “Are you crazy?” I say, “What would have to happen, what would have to be true for you to go from zero to ten million by next year?” I know it is possible. I have seen it. And even if it is not in that particular case, maybe there is more product development needed, it is a good way to think. It is good to think backwards. Say what has to be true, we don’t have to take five years to get there. We won’t even need a year to get there if we can get faster.So part of what I look for or what I try to suggest other entrepreneurs is to find people that have gone through that experience and help them visualize that road map. How to grow in their first phase and see zero to ten. When you figure that solved you can go from ten to hundred.Martin: Good. Tim, thank y ou so much for your time.Tim: You are welcome.Martin: And for your advice. And next time you are starting a company have the end in mind. END. Ok, thank you so much.Tim: That went great, right?Martin: Yes, nice.

Alfred Charles Kinsey s The Reception Of The Kinsey

Alfred Charles Kinsey vs. Historian Dagmar Herzog Alfred Charles Kinsey altered the way in which people of the twentieth century understood homosexuality. Kinsey’s findings created a great deal of discussion and controversy that became an enduring part of American culture. Historian Dagmar Herzog’s work The Reception of the Kinsey Reports in Europe observed European and American reactions to both volumes of Kinsey’s work. Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work supports and challenges Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings. Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work supports Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings on European activists’ views over the Kinsey Scale. However, Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work also challenges Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings on Europeans’†¦show more content†¦The scale ranged from zero, for exclusively heterosexual with no experience with or desire for sexual activity with their same sex, to six, for exclusively homosexual with no experience with or desire for sexual activity with those of the opposite sex, and one through five for varying levels of desire or sexual activity with either sex (â€Å"The Kinsey Institute – Kinsey Sexuality Rating Scale,† n.d.). The Kinsey Scale made homosexual behavior, not only more common, but also less pathological. Alfred Charles Kinsey’s work supports Historian Dagmar Herzog’s findings by comparing Europeans’ reactions to Kinsey’s research on homosexuality. With Americans’ reactions Kinsey’s research had a profound effect on the gay subculture in the United States (â€Å"The Kinsey Institute – Kinsey Sexuality Rating Scale,† n.d.). However, it also impacted homosexuals in other parts of the world. Historian Dagmar Herzog argues that activists for homosexual rights in France and West Germany were thrilled by Kinsey’s research that showed heterosexual and homosexual behaviors as being on a continuum rather than as a dichotomy between gay and straight (Herzog, 2006). This is ultimately due to the fact that in West Germany homosexuality was still illegal and in

the natural mystic Essay example - 1950 Words

The Natural Mystic nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Long-time friend of legend Bob Marley, Lee Jaffee, once wrote of him saying, â€Å"Around Bob, you felt very in-touch with the miraculous† (Scaggs). For Robert Nesta Marley was more than a musical star, he was a lover, a fighter, a Rasta, an ordinary man, a poet. When trying to evaluate whether or not an artist is the most significant of an era, one must consider the quality and timelessness of their music, the power of their performance, and of course, the substance behind their character. In examining his life ands music, the power of Bob Marley’s music, performance and character are heroic in nature. He is composed of sadness, love, understanding and God-given talent and he left behind the†¦show more content†¦Bob Marley put everything he had into his music and it shows more than any song than can be heard on the radio. Contrasting most of today’s pop stars, Bob was concerned with so much more than entertainment, money or fame when creating his music. Most musicians sell-out to big-time record labels for five-year contracts making music that is â€Å"popular† or supposedly what the people want to hear, so that they can be heard and make some quick money (Steffens). Any talent they may have had is put into poorly written music with hollow, pointless lyrics. They create the songs heard on the radio everyday, over and over, that show little flair or originality. No one really wants to hear the same thing repeatedly, and Bob created music with a fresh sound and beautiful lyrics that have intense meaning. He saw his music as an outlet for his message of Rastafari, for â€Å"music raises the soul of man even higher that the so-called external form of religion†¦ that is why in ancient times the greatest prophets were musicians† (Steffens). Marley’s true legacy lies in the r oots of the Rastafarian religion and his music demonstrates a sense of spirituality and soul, communicating his ultimate message of love and only love (Scaggs). Whether he is speaking of the hardships of life as in his song Night Shift, â€Å"Right around the corner, bring your goods. Go around the other corner, bring your suitcases, by the sweat of my brow† (Peake), the trials of love in No Woman, No Cry, â€Å"My feet isShow MoreRelatedNature: Goddess of Africa1650 Words   |  7 Pagessmiled with a shake of her head.†--- Okara recites his view of the spirit of Africa as a form of the Nature Goddess in the poem The Mystic Drum. Okara worships her to revive the spirit of Africa, and the way he seemed to be doing it is by being more and more close to the nature. This closeness can be found in most of the poems of this African poet Gabriel Okara. The Mystic Drum, The Call of The River Nun, The Snow Flakes Sail Gently Down, Moon in The Bucket, You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed are onlyRead More A Comparison of Barna di Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine and Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child1483 Words   |  6 PagesA Comparison of Barna di Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine and Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child Development in art often follows two tracks: development over a period of time and also differences in regional development. Both changes are seen in the comparison of Barna di Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine and Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child. 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The Crystal Shard 7. The Coming Storm Free Essays

They started at dawn, charging across the tundra like an angry whirlwind. Animals and monsters alike, even the ferocious yetis, fled before them in terror. The frozen ground cracked beneath the stamp of their heavy boots, and the murmur of the endless tundra wind was buried under the strength of their song, the song to the God of Battle. We will write a custom essay sample on The Crystal Shard 7. The Coming Storm or any similar topic only for you Order Now They marched long into the night and were off again before the first rays of dawn, more than two thousand barbarian warriors hungry for blood and victory. * * * Drizzt Do’Urden sat nearly halfway up on the northern face of Kelvin’s Cairn, his cloak pulled tight against the bitter wind that howled through the boulders of the mountain. The drow had spent every night up here since the council in Bryn Shander, his violet eyes scanning the blackness of the plain for the first signs of the coming storm. At Drizzt’s request, Bruenor had arranged for Regis to sit beside him. With the wind nipping at him like an invisible animal, the halfling squeezed in between two boulders a further protection from the unwelcoming elements. Given a choice, Regis would have been tucked away in the warmth of his own soft bed in Lonelywood, listening to the quiet moan of the swaying tree branches beyond warm walls. But he understood that as a spokesman everyone expected him to help carry out the course of action he had suggested at the council. It quickly became obvious to the other spokesmen and to Bruenor, who had joined in the subsequent strategy meetings as the representative of the dwarves, that the halfling wouldn’t be much help in organizing the forces or drawing any battle plans, so when Drizzt told Bruenor that he would need a courier to sit watch with him, the dwarf was quick to volunteer Regis. Now the halfling was thoroughly miserable. His feet and fingers were numbed from the cold, and his back ached from sitting against the hard stone. This was the third night out, and Regis grumbled and complained constantly, punctuating his discomfort with an occasional sneeze. Through it all, Drizzt sat unmoving and oblivious to the conditions, his stoic dedication to duty overriding any personal distress. â€Å"How many more nights do we have to wait?† Regis whined. â€Å"One morning, I’m sure – maybe even tomorrow they’ll find us up here, dead and frozen to this cursed mountain!† â€Å"Fear not, little friend,† Drizzt answered with a smile. â€Å"The wind speaks of winter. The barbarians will come all too soon, determined to beat the first snows.† Even as he spoke, the drow caught the tiniest flicker of light in the corner of his eye. He rose from his crouch suddenly, startling the halfling, and turned toward the direction of the flicker, his muscles tensed with reflexive wariness, his eyes straining to spot a confirming sign. â€Å"What’s – † Regis began, but Drizzt silenced him with an outstretched palm. A second dot of fire flashed on the edge of the horizon. â€Å"You have gotten your wish,† Drizzt said with certainty. â€Å"Are they out there?† Regis whispered. His vision wasn’t nearly as keen as the drow’s in the night. Drizzt stood silently in concentration for a few moments, mentally trying to measure the distance of the campfires and calculate the time it would take the barbarians to complete their journey. â€Å"Go to Bruenor and Cassius, little friend,† he said at length. â€Å"Tell them that the horde will reach Bremen’s Run when the sun peaks tomorrow.† â€Å"Come with me,† said Regis. â€Å"Surely they’ll not put you out when you bear such urgent news.† â€Å"I have a more important task at hand,† Drizzt answered. â€Å"Now be off! Tell Bruenor – and Bruenor alone – that I shall meet him on Bremen’s Run at the first light of dawn.† And with that, the drow padded off into the darkness. He had a long journey before him. â€Å"Where are you going?† Regis called after him. â€Å"To find the horizon’s horizon!† came a cry from the black night. And then there was only the murmur of the wind. * * * The barbarians had finished setting up their encampment shortly before Drizzt reached its outer perimeter. This close to Ten-Towns, the invaders were on their guard; the first thing Drizzt noticed was that they had set many men on watch. But alert as they were, their campfires burned low and this was the night, the time of the drow. The normally effective watchmen were outmatched by an elf from a world that knew no light, one who could conjure a magical darkness that even the keenest eyes could not penetrate and carry it beside him like a tangible cloak. Invisible as a shadow in the darkness, with footfalls as silent as a stalking cat’s, Drizzt passed by the guards and entered the inner rings of the camp. Just an hour earlier, the barbarians had been singing and talking of the battle they would fight the next day. Yet even the adrenalin and bloodlust that pumped through their veins could not dispel the exhaustion from their hard march. Most of the men slept soundly, their heavy, rhythmic breathing comforting Drizzt as he picked his way among them in search of their leaders, who would no doubt be finalizing the battle plans. Several tents were grouped together within the encampment. Only one, though, had guards posted outside its entrance. The flap was closed, but Drizzt could see the glow of candles within, and he could hear gruff voices, often raised in anger. The drow slipped around to the back. Luckily, no warriors had been permitted to make their beds close to the tent, so Drizzt was fairly secluded. As a precaution, he pulled the panther figurine out of his pack. Then, taking out a slender dagger, he poked a tiny hole in the deerskin tent and peeked in. There were eight men inside, the seven barbarian chiefs and a smaller dark-haired man that Drizzt knew could not have been from northern stock. The chiefs sat on the ground in a semicircle around the standing southerner, asking him questions about the terrain and forces they would encounter the next day. â€Å"We should destroy the town in the wood first,† insisted the largest man in the room, possibly the largest man Drizzt had ever seen, who bore the symbol of the Elk. â€Å"Then we can follow your plan to the town called Bryn Shander.† The smaller man appeared absolutely flustered and outraged, though Drizzt could see that fear of the huge barbarian king would temper his response. â€Å"Great King Heafstaag,† he answered tentatively, â€Å"if the fishing fleets sight trouble and land before we get to Bryn Shander, we shall find an army that outnumbers our own waiting for us within the solid walls of that city.† â€Å"They are only weakly southerners!† growled Heafstaag, thrusting out his barrel chest in pride. â€Å"Mighty king, I assure you that my plan will satisfy your hunger for southern blood,† said the dark-haired man. â€Å"Then speak, deBernezan of Ten-Towns. Prove your worth to my people.† Drizzt could see that the last statement rattled the one called deBernezan, for the undertones of the barbarian king’s demand clearly showed his contempt for the southerner. Knowing how barbarians generally felt about outsiders, the drow realized that the slightest error during any part of this campaign would probably cost the little man his life. deBernezan reached down into the side of his boot and produced a scroll. He unrolled it and held it out for the barbarian kings to see. It was a poor map, roughly drawn, its lines further blurred by the slight tremble of the southern man’s hand, but Drizzt could clearly make out many of the distinctive features that marked Ten-Towns on the otherwise featureless plain. â€Å"To the west of Kelvin’s Cairn,† deBernezan explained, running his finger along the western bank of the largest lake on the map, â€Å"there is a clear stretch of high ground called Bremen’s Run that goes south between the mountain and Maer Dualdon. From our location, this is the most direct route to Bryn Shander and the path that I believe we should take.† â€Å"The town on the banks of the lake,† Heafstaag reasoned, â€Å"should then be the first that we crush!† â€Å"That is Termalaine,† replied deBernezan. â€Å"All of its men are fishermen and will be out on the lake as we pass. You would not find good sport there.† â€Å"We will not leave an enemy alive behind us!† Heafstaag roared, and several other kings cried out their agreement. â€Å"No, of course not,† said deBernezan. â€Å"But it will not take many men to defeat Termalaine when the boats are out. Let King Haalfdane and the Tribe of the Bear sack the town while the rest of the force, led by yourself and King Beorg, presses on to Bryn Shander. The fires of the burning town should bring the entire fleet, even the ships from the other towns of Maer Dualdon, into Termalaine where King Haalfdane can destroy them on the docks. It is important that we keep them away from the stronghold of Targos. The people of Bryn Shander will receive no aid from the other lakes in time to support them and will have to stand alone against your charge. The Tribe of the Elk will flank around the base of the hill below the city and cut off any possible escape or any last-minute reinforcements.† Drizzt watched closely as deBernezan described this second division of the barbarian forces on his map. Already the drow’s calculating mind was formulating initial defense plans. Bryn Shander’s hill wasn’t very high but its base was thick, and the barbarians who were to swing around the back of the hill would be a long way from the main force. A long way from reinforcements. â€Å"The city will fall before sunset!† deBernezan declared triumphantly. â€Å"And your men will feast on the finest booty in all of Ten-Towns!† A sudden cheer went up on cue from the seated kings at the southerner’s declaration of victory. Drizzt put his back to the tent and considered what he had heard. This dark-haired man named deBernezan knew the towns well and understood their strengths and weaknesses. If Bryn Shander fell, no organized resistance could be formed to drive off the invaders. Indeed, once they held the fortified city, the barbarians would be able to strike at their leisure at any of the other towns. â€Å"Again you have shown me your worth,† Drizzt heard Heafstaag tell the southerner, and the ensuing of conversations told the drow that the plans had been accepted as final. Drizzt then focused his keen senses on the encampment around him, seeking the best path for his escape. He noticed suddenly that two guards were walking his way and talking. Though they were too far away for their human eyes to see him as anything but a shadow on the side of the tent, he knew that any movement on his part would surely alert them. Acting immediately, Drizzt dropped the black figurine to the ground. â€Å"Guenhwyvar,† he called softly. â€Å"Come to me, my shadow.† * * * Somewhere in a corner of the vast astral plane, the entity of the panther moved in sudden, subtle steps as it stalked the entity of the deer. The beasts of this natural world had played out this scenario countless times, following the harmonious order that guided the lives of their descendents. The panther crouched low for the final spring, sensing the sweetness of the upcoming kill. This strike was the harmony of natural order; the purpose of the panther’s existence, and the meat its reward. It stopped at once, though, when it heard the call of its true name, compelled above any other directives to heed the call of its master. The great cat’s spirit rushed down the long, darkened corridor that marked the void between the planes, seeking the the solitary speck of light that was its life on the material plane. And then it was beside the dark elf, its soulmate and master, crouching in the shadows by the hanging skins of a human dwelling. It understood the urgency of its master’s call and quickly opened its mind to the drow’s instructions. The two barbarian guards approached cautiously, trying to make out the dark forms that stood beside their kings’ tent. Suddenly Guenhwyvar sprang toward them and soared in a mighty leap past their drawn swords. The guards swung the weapons futilely and charged off after the cat, screaming an alert to the rest of the camp. In the excitement of the diversion, Drizzt moved calmly and stealthily away in a different direction. He heard the shouts of alarm as Guenhwyvar darted through the campsites of the sleeping warriors and couldn’t help but smile when the cat crossed through one particular group. Upon sighting this feline, who moved with so much grace and speed that it appeared as no more than a cat’s spirit, the Tribe of the Tiger, instead of giving chase, fell to their knees and raised their hands and voices in thanks to Tempos. Drizzt had little trouble escaping the perimeter of the camp, as all of the sentries were rushing off in the direction of the commotion. When the drow gained the blackness of the open tundra, he turned south toward Kelvin’s Cairn and sped off across the lonely plain in full flight, all the while concentrating on finalizing a deadly counter-plan of defense. The stars told him that there were less than three hours left before dawn, and he knew that he mustn’t be late for his meeting with Bruenor if the ambush were to be properly set. The noise of the surprised barbarians soon died away, except for the prayers of the Tribe of the Tiger, which would continue until dawn. A few minutes later, Guenhwyvar was trotting easily by Drizzt’s side. â€Å"A hundred times you have saved my life, trusted friend,† Drizzt said as he patted the great cat’s muscled neck. â€Å"A hundred times and more!† * * * â€Å"They’ve been arguin’ and scufflin’ for two days now,† Bruenor remarked disgustedly. â€Å"A blessing it is that the greater enemy has finally arrived!† â€Å"Better to name the coming of barbarians in a different way,† Drizzt replied, though a smile had found its way onto his normally stoic features. He knew that his plan was solid and that the battle this day would belong to the people of Ten-Towns. â€Å"Go now and lay the trap – you’ve not much time.† â€Å"We began loadin’ the womenfolk and children onto the boats as soon as Rumblebelly told us yer news,† Bruenor explained. â€Å"We’ll chase the vermin from our borders before the day is through!† The dwarf spread his feet wide in his customary battle stance and banged his axe onto his shield to emphasize his point. â€Å"Ye’ve a good eye for battle, elf. Yer plan’ll turn the surprise on the barbarians and it still splits the glory evenly among them that needs glory.† â€Å"Even Kemp of Targos should be pleased,† Drizzt agreed. Bruenor clapped his friend on the arm and turned to leave. â€Å"Ye’ll fight beside me, then?† he asked over his shoulder, though he already knew the answer. â€Å"As it should be,† Drizzt assured him. â€Å"An’ the cat?† â€Å"Guenhwyvar has already played its part in this battle,† replied the drow. â€Å"I’ll be sending my friend home soon.† Bruenor was pleased with the answer; he didn’t trust the drow’s strange beast. â€Å"It ain’t natural,† he said to himself as he trekked down Bremen’s Run toward the gathered hosts of Ten-Towns. Bruenor was too far away for Drizzt to make out his final words, but the drow knew the dwarf well enough to gather the general meaning of his grumblings. He understood the uneasiness that Bruenor, and many others, felt around the mystical cat. Magic was a prominent part of the underworld of his people, a necessary fact of their everyday existence, but it was much rarer and less understood among the common folk of the surface. Dwarves in particular were usually uncomfortable with it, except for the crafted magical weapons and armor they often made themselves. The drow, though, had no anxiety around Guenhwyvar from the very first day he had met the cat. The figurine had belonged to Masoj Hun’ett, a drow of high standing in a prominent family of the great city of Menzoberranzan, a gift from a demon lord in exchange for some assistance that Masoj had given him in a matter concerning some troublesome gnomes. Drizzt and the cat had crossed paths many times over the years in the dark city, often in planned meetings. They shared an empathy with each other that transcended the relationship that the cat felt with its then master. Guenhwyvar had even rescued Drizzt from certain death, uncalled for, as if the cat had been watching protectively over the drow who was not yet its master. Drizzt had struck out alone from Menzoberranzan on a journey to a neighboring city when he fell prey to a cave fisher, a crablike denizen of the dark caverns that customarily found a niche high above the floor of a tunnel and dropped an invisible, sticky line of webbing. Like an angler, this cave fisher had waited, and like a fish, Drizzt had fallen into its trap. The sticky line entangled him completely, rendering him helpless as he was dragged up the side of the corridor’s stone wall. He saw no hope for surviving this encounter and vividly understood that a terrible death certainly awaited him. But then Guenhwyvar had arrived, leaping among the broken clefts and ridges along the wall at the same level as the monster. Without any regard to its own safety and following no orders, the cat charged right in on the fisher, knocking it from its perch. The monster, seeking only its own safety, tried to scramble away, but Guenhwyvar pounced upon it vindictively, as if to punish it for attacking Drizzt. Both the drow and the cat knew from that day on that they were destined to run together. Yet the cat had no power to disobey the will of its master, and Drizzt had no right to claim the figurine from Masoj, especially since the house of Hun’ett was much more powerful than Drizzt’s own family in the structured hierarchy of the underworld. And so the drow and the cat continued their casual relationship as distant comrades. Soon after, though, came an incident that Drizzt could not ignore. Guenhwyvar was often taken on raids with Masoj, whether against enemy drow houses or other denizens of the underworld. The cat normally carried out its orders efficiently, thrilled to aid its master in battle. On one particular raid, though, against a clan of Svirfnebli, the deep mining, unassuming gnomes that often had the misfortune of running up against the drow in their common habitat, Masoj went too far in his maliciousness. After the initial assault on the clan, the surviving gnomes scattered down the many corridors of their mazework mines. The raid had been successful; the treasures that had been sought were taken, and the clan had been dispatched, obviously never to bother the drow again. But Masoj wanted more blood. He used Guenhwyvar, the proud, majestic hunter, as his instrument of murder: He sent the cat after the fleeing gnomes one by one until they were all destroyed. Drizzt and several other drow witnessed the spectacle. The others, in their characteristic vileness, thought it great sport, but Drizzt found himself absolutely disgusted. Furthermore, he recognized the humiliation painfully etched on the proud cat’s features. Guenhwyvar was a hunter, not an assassin, and to use it in such a role was criminally degrading, to say nothing of the horrors that Masoj was inflicting upon the innocent gnomes. This was actually the final outrage in a long line of outrages which Drizzt could no longer bear. He had always known that he was unlike his kin in many ways, though he had many times feared that he would prove to be more akin to them than he believed. Yet he was rarely passionless, considering the death of another more important than the mere sport it represented to the vast majority of drow. He couldn’t label it, for he had never come across a word in the drow language that spoke of such a trait, but to the surfacedwellers that later came to know Drizzt, it was called conscience. One day the very next week, Drizzt managed to catch Masoj alone outside the cluttered grounds of Menzoberranzan. He knew that there could be no turning back once the fatal blow had been struck, but he didn’t even hesitate, slipping his scimitar through the ribs of his unsuspecting victim. That was the only time in his life that he had ever killed one of his own race, an act that thoroughly revolted him despite his feelings toward his people. Then he took the figurine and fled, meaning only to find another of the countless dark holes in the vast underworld to make his home, but eventually winding up on the surface. And then, unaccepted and persecuted for his heritage in city after city in the populated south, he had made his way to the wilderness frontier of Ten-Towns, a melting pot of outcasts, the last outpost of humanity, where he was at least tolerated. He didn’t care much about the shunning he usually received even here. He had found friendship with the halfling, and the dwarves, and Bruenor’s adopted daughter, Catti-brie. And he had Guenhwyvar by his side. He patted the great cat’s muscled neck once again and left Bremen’s Run to find a dark hole where he could rest before the battle. How to cite The Crystal Shard 7. The Coming Storm, Essay examples

The Establishment In The 1960s Essays -

The Establishment in the 1960's The nineteen sixties were times of great change. Many people went from moderates to radicals because of the environment around them. That environment was called the establishment. It included all of the events going on in the nineteen sixties. Some of the main events taking place were the Vietnam War, the government, the Democratic National Convention and the culture (*). Many protested things that they did not believe in or thought was wrong (*). There were many things that made the radical's different from the moderates. They were the music they listened to and the clothes they wore. Most obviously was the way they acted. In the summer of 1967, society and rock and roll were going through some major changes. People who listened to rock and roll wore flowers in their hair and on their clothes. They Grooved to tunes by The Grateful Dead, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, and many others (*). Radical was the name given to these diverse cultural icons of the sixty's revolution. These radicals were associated with the many of the youth parties who shared their views with the country. The music that the radicals listened too greatly affected the way the acted. It was the mellow tune and the moving lyrics that inspired this generation of teenagers. They stood up for what they believed in from listening to the rock and roll, which is now, classified as classic rock. The people who didn't listen to the new rock and roll, listened to classical and jazz music. They thought the radicals who listened to rock and roll were rebels. Large get together's were common in the sixties. At these "be ins," as they were called, people ate, drank, and listened to music (*). The greatest musical get-together that had the most influencing effect on the people of the sixties was Woodstock '69. This was the largest rock concert ever and was held in Bethel, New York. It was three days long, beginning on August 15 and ending on August 17 in 1969. The Woodstock Ventures was the newly founded company organizing the three-day festival. The Town of Wallkill was the anticipated site for the music festival, but city officials and residents protested it. Laws were made to make sure that Woodstock was not to be held in Wallkill. The laws were passed, so the Woodstock Ventures team had to search for a new site. They ended up finding a 600-acre cow pasture suitable for a three- day concert in the town of Bethel, New York. The city and state officials said they had everything planned for and prepared before the concert. But when it came around to the opening day, they knew what they hadn't planned for, a crowd of more than 500,000 people. The concert started at exactly 5:07 P.M. on August 15, 1969 (*). Around midnight on the first day, it started to rain. In as little as three hours, five inches of rain fell. This caused the field to flood, and making everyone and everything a big mud puddle. Through the three days there were two deaths, but also two births. Both of the deaths were by accident. At the end of the final day, people began to slowly make their way out of the once was grass field. That barren field now has a monument remembering those three days of music. It attracts visitors from all over the country, who want to see where the biggest party of all time was once held (*). Dress in the nineteen sixties showed what kind of attitude you possessed and the views you obtained. There were two dominant groups of dress in the sixties. One was the radical and hippie attire. It consisted of older, more ragged looking outfits. They usually wore headbands or bandanas on their heads. Sometimes they would wear tie-dye or multicolor mixed shirts. The pants that most of this teenage generation would don were usually aged and battered, which sometimes beared holes in them. The types of shoes that they wore depended on the individual. Some wore tall boots, short boots, and sandals. The most popular shoes were the original Converse All-Stars (*). Most people just wore whatever they could find, and didn't care what they looked like (*). The second dominant group of dress was the older, non-teenage generation. The men usually wore clean, newly pressed clothes. Some men wore suits all of the time. Men mostly wore black shiny dress shoes. The women wore clean, new clothes unlike the teenager's of the