The eNotes Blog Reading Round-Up May

Reading Round-Up May We asked everyone in the office to talk about their favorite books from last month. Take a look at our favorite reads from May, and let us know in the comments which books you’ll be adding to your to-read list. From graphic novels to fantasy, there’s something for everyone here! The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Page count: 552 Genre: Historical Fiction Publish date: 2006 I started off the month with this delightful, impactful, and downright beautiful read. I started it the way I start most books- that is to say, I went in without a clue about the plot simply because I heard the book is good- and fell in love with Zusak’s word craft and creative narrative style. The Book Thief is narrated by Death himself, but it is done so in a tactful, poetic, and very much not-creepy way. He tells the story of a young German girl and her family during World War II. Unlike other Holocaust stories I’ve read, the novel focuses on a non-Jewish family. Growing up and learning about World War II, it’s hard not to get desensitized to the topic. Zusak made it real again by showing us a glimpse of the daily lives of an everyday family just trying to do the right thing. The Book Thief is a haunting, yet touching, tale that everyone needs to read at least once. - Kate, Marketing Coordinator Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett Page count: 228 Genre: Fantasy Publish date: 2005 Thanks to Sam’s thoughtful recommendation, this month I read Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett. In a world named â€Å"Bad Ass,† wizards can only be men and witches can only be women- that is, until Eskarina Smith comes along. Nine-year-old Esk breaks the stereotypes on her journey to becoming the world’s first female wizard. With the help of her strong-willed, sassy grandmother, Granny Weatherwax, Esk embarks on a fantastical adventure to seek her destiny. Terry Pratchett crafts a hilarious, charming narrative that rings with relevance over thirty years after its original publication. I highly recommend this read to anyone looking to escape our current reality and indulge in a magical universe where feminine power rules. Plus, if your reading experience is anything like mine, you’ll adopt Granny Weatherwax as your bossy new muse. Shed be a witch and a wizard, too. And she would show them. - Savannah, Social Media Manager Naked by David Sedaris Page count: 304 Genre: Humor; Memoir Publish date: 1998 If you, too, are also a student in the throes of midterms and finals, I would highly recommend reading one (or more) of David Sedariss collections of short stories. They are a dose of positivity for me, perfect for a quick read between classes, during breaks from homework, or during commutes on the bus. If youre a fan of audio books, Sedaris’s voice adds to his distinctive comic style. His specialty- stories about family dynamics and idiosyncrasies- can give readers a comedic perspective on their own family dramas. Im a fan of short story collections, but even if youre not a regular short story reader, Naked is a good place to start. - Sophie, Editorial Intern â€Å"Liking What You See: A Documentary† by Ted Chiang Page count: 20 Genre: Science Fiction; Short Story Publish date: 2010 This month I read a sci-fi short story by Ted Chiang called â€Å"Liking What You See: A Documentary.† The story is formatted as the transcript of a documentary in which people are interviewed about an operation that prevents people from being able to perceive attractiveness. Essentially, those who get the operation are able to see everything as usual- except for physical beauty or its lack. The story follows a campaign at a university that tries to make this operation a requirement for all students. I found this story to be quite thought-provoking and entertaining to read. Considering a world without discrimination based on appearance is a fascinating concept, and I enjoyed reading about a society in which conventional beauty may no longer play a role in our interactions with one another. Chiang’s writing is fun and very readable, and he does a wonderful job of writing about this concept from multiple perspectives. - Mary, Editorial Intern Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett Page count: 496 Genre: Fantasy Publish date: 2003 That’s the trouble about the good guys and the bad guys! They’re all guys! Since I’ve been on a Terry Pratchett kick lately, my good friend lent me his favorite Pratchett novel, Monstrous Regiment. (Elegant and impressive choice, by the way, Jeff!) Monstrous Regiment is set in Pratchetts renowned Discworld, but the book itself is a stand-alone read- and a great initial foray for anyone new to this fantasy realm. Unfortunately, it’s pretty hard to write much of anything about this book without giving away serious spoilers, but if you enjoy books about gender and identity colliding with the topics of war, tradition, and religion- or, even, if you’re just a fan of the Disney movie Mulan- you’ll love this read. This endearing satire is one Im sure to revisit many, many times with half an onion and a pair of socks (just in case) in tow. - Sam, Marketing Manager The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf edited by Louise De Salvo and Mitchell Leaska Page count: 480 Genre: Nonfiction Publish date: 2004 This May, I read The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf, compiled and edited by Louise De Salvo and Mitchell Leaska. Going in, I knew only that Woolf and Sackville-West were lovers and that Sackville-West was the inspiration for Woolf’s novel Orlando, which features a gender-traversing protagonist. By the end, I was enraptured by the passionate, witty, and complicated love between these two brilliant women. Their letters, spanning nineteen years, are a mixture of poetic musings, society gossip, grand declarations of love, petty arguments, and day-to-day concerns. However, some of the most iconic and memorable exchanges stem from atheir mutual longing to simply spend more time together: I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way. –Vita Sackville-West, 1926 Look here Vita- throw over your man and I’ll tell you all the things I have in my head, millions, myriads- They won’t stir by day, only by dark on the river. Think of that. Throw over your man, I say, and come. –Virginia Woolf, 1927 - Marissa, Editorial Intern Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Page count: 303 Genre: Philosophy Publish date: 2006 Ive spent this May slowly reading through Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, in Gregory Hays’s 2002 translation. Many consider Meditations a source of Stoic wisdom and one of the most profound works of ethical reflection ever written. And its this latter part that most intrigues me; Im drawn to Marcus as a flawed human, writing down thoughts to himself as a way of processing his philosophy and struggling with his convictions. The best parts of Meditations are the passages in which he concerns himself with doing what is good, with doing what Nature- with that capital N- requires. Perhaps the most appealing parts of this book are how similar Marcuss concerns are to my own- even though were separated by nearly two thousand years. This is definitely a text Ill revisit more than once. - Wes, Project Manager My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame Page count: 352 Genre: Graphic Novel; Manga Publish date: 2017 This month, on a recommendation from our local bookstore, the Elliott Bay Book Company, I started reading Gengoroh Tagame’s manga masterpiece My Brother’s Husband. Published in two omnibus editions, it’s the story of a single Japanese dad, named Yaichi, who receives a visit from Mike, the widowed husband of Yaichi’s estranged gay twin. While he initially invites Mike into his home with plenty of trepidation, Yaichi soon finds his ideas about sexual identity, family, and Japanese versus Western traditions expanding in the presence of this kindly Canadian in cargo shorts. Yaichi’s acceptance of Mike is helped along by his young daughter, Kana, who loves Mike instantly and only needs the briefest of explanations to understand that- at least where Mike comes from- boys can marry each other. (Learning that in Canada you can order tempura sushi comes as more of a shock!) I love the sweetness of this story and as well as the way Tagame doesn’t shy a way from exploring the painful moments that can arise when people look deeply into their own unexamined prejudices. In all, My Brother’s Husband is a feel-good read with a refreshingly calm pace; clean, expressive lines; and a moving degree of vulnerability in its characters. And while much of queer life remains under wraps in Japan (and for many in the US, too), Tagame’s manga- and its receipt of both American and Japanese literary awards- shows that things are slowly but surely changing for the better. - Jules, Editor

No Sooner Than (Not When)

No Sooner Than (Not When) No Sooner Than (Not When) No Sooner Than (Not When) By Maeve Maddox Maeve, how about no sooner had she than, or no sooner had she when. Im always confused about that. Judging from frequent questions about this usage on various internet grammar sites, its a concern shared by many writers. Interestingly, when I tried to find online examples of no sooner†¦when, I found only one: She just knew that she was going to be very happy here, but no sooner had she thought this, when a dark shadow fell upon her. a childrens story No sooner†¦than is a two-part comparative adverb. According to the American Heritage ® Book of English Usage (1996): Because the sooner in no sooner is a comparative adverb like better in no better, the expression should be followed by than, not when: No sooner had she come than the maid knocked. I had no sooner left than she called. My search did turn up several odd incomplete uses of no sooner†¦missing its obligatory than: So no sooner had he touched her, and begun to dally, she caught his hands, and spoke roughly to him, bidding him go away, as she did not want him. Translation of a Buddhist story No sooner had she committed to hunkering down in Alaska to get back to work, the Last Frontiers rogue governor, Sarah Palin, is headed back to the campaign trail again†¦ The Huffington Post I also found one example in which than is incorrectly rendered then, but that could have been a typo: But, no sooner had she hit rock bottom then she bounced back up again. Obit of Jade Goody in Telegraph Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Based in" and "based out of"Using the Active Voice to Strengthen Your WritingHow often is "bimonthly"?

W2 DQ Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

W2 DQ - Assignment Example This intervention in diplomacy happened from the highest levels, with no less than Powell and Armitage, the highest and most key officials in the US defense establishment, intervening and securing the guarantees of no less than President Musharraf that he would, with all the might of his position, stop the infiltration. Having secured this, the US officials then turned around and made public the pledge to the Indian government, while they were in India. This one maneuver is said to be responsible for the gradual de-escalation of the conflict and the averting of what could have been a deadly turn of events between the two countries. One can see from this episode that while the diplomatic intervention was quite late, having arrived when the two parties were already on a tension level that was dangerously close to a full-scale war, America as the third party had within its means to diffuse the tension, and act as a superpower and disinterested party to which both Pakistan and India can turn to as a kind of referee. There is no lack of political will, at least on the part off the United States, and at least in this one instance. Though it came a bit late, this one incident can be looked at as a kind of reminder that if needed, at least the US can be counted on to rise to the occasion again. Elsewhere too we see that the US was also instrumental in trying to apply the lessons from the Cold War by trying to get the two countries to participate in CSBMs, or Confidence and Security Building Measures (Nayak and Kepron, 2006, pp. 13-22; Khan, 2002). On one level, the analogy of the Pakistan-India relations with that of the US and Soviet Union are valid, to the point where theories on deterrence, and dealing with the paradox known as â€Å"stability-instability† as it applies to the two South Asian countries. The literature is expanding, and is being used as reference to deal with the complex dilemmas facing India and Pakistan, as far as deterrence

The process of gathering forensic evidence Essay

The process of gathering forensic evidence - Essay Example Electronic data is also fragile like any other type of data so any data that is to be preserved has to undergo a given protocol to make it safe. The expert should ensure that the data is not damaged and that computer virus does not affect the data. This can be done by storing data in a computer that is well protected from any virus and at the same time has a secure system that gives access to only stakeholders who can come up with the password. Once its location has been known the data has to be collected by the experts. They have to go to the virtually stored data get it and record it in the prepared storage device that had been preserved for its storage and that has minimum potential of destroying the data. When collecting the data various data collection tools are required to enable the process. This is the part where the experts sit down and examine the data that had been collected. This is the stage where they are able to know if the data has been tampered with after they have done all this then they have to give the go ahead for the writing of the report. This is a computer hardware toolkit that is used in the performance of very detailed digital examination of forensic evidence. It is built using ubuntu software and is able to combine witness experience to come up with a witness format that is used in hand with advanced forensic format. The software’s that are used to make the device is sleuth kit which is a kit used to make file systems for analysis. The device has the capability of taking fingerprints through a touch screen and storing it in the computer memory. This tool helps forensic experts to secure and examine raw data disks. It also has the capability of handling multiple file systems as well as come up with the format for the evidence that has been made. The tool also has the capability of placing strict deadlines to the data and how to work on it. In order to see all visible traffics, the tool is able to

United Nations Human Development Report and the Need for International

United Nations Human Development Report and the Need for International Democratization The 2002 United Nations Human Development Report (UNHDR) is the result of many years’ study of international human progress and development. As declared in the first page of the report, "[This report] is about how political power and institutions, formal and informal, national and international, shape human progress". This statement outlines the principal theme of power dynamics and fragmentation (politics) on varying levels, public and private, rich and poor, male and female, etc. - that runs consistently throughout the work, analyzing global trends of political participation and democracy. According to the UNHDR, human development is politically determined, not only socially and economically so as represented in many studies. The Report operates under the basic assumption that the current world is more free and more just than ever before, but that democracy (including structures of political participation, economic justice, health and education, and peace and personal security) is necessary to improve human development and to protect the freedom and dignity of all people. Although the Report is outwardly concerned with all democratic countries, industrialized or not, it is most significant to developing democracies where necessary reforms in human development have not yet been realized. As expressed by lead author, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, this year’s Report emphasizes the growing divisions between "those who prosper... and those who do not... between the powerful and the powerless, between those who welcome the new global economy and those who demand a different course." At times it seems as though both sufficient coherence and evide... ... whole the UNHDR does an thorough job at citing the important role of democratic governance with regard to human development, it also was blind to one major issue: the difference between theoretical and practical democracy. The successful theoretical democracy primarily discussed in this Report is undoubtedly not the same democracy practiced by 82 "fully democratic" countries in the world.Although the Report does make note of the susceptibility of many democratic institutions to corruption and inequality, the point was not made clear enough that these are two very separate and distinct forms of democracy. No matter the stylistic flaws, though, this Report truly creates a clear perspective on the state of current international human development, and rightfully emphasizes the immediate need for foreign aid, improved living standards, and international democratization.

Class mobility

Classes have been studied under five classifications and similarly castes have classified under eight categories and both are socially viable. Absolute mobility has been used to study intergenerational social mobility and after allowing for structural changes, relative mobility has been analyzed by using odds ratio. Finally to study the effect of castes/community on social mobility logistic regression have been used with access to salariat class destination as dependent variable and class origins and castes as independent variables.To look t the trends over time, five year birth cohort data have been used with focus on father's occupation to avoid any impact of life-cycle process. Since India has gone through various social economic changes over years, like a capitalist country it is expected to become more open with greater equality of opportunities after liberalization of post 1980s. Therefore, equality of opportunity should rise along with a rise in absolute mobility. Discussion t o patterns of intergenerational mobility of men and women is limited only to paid employment.Paper pointed out that proportion of Indian labour in trade, manufacture and services has risen but the largest workforce participation still remains in agriculture. There has been an increasing room at the top and agricultural workers and farmer's participation has declined over time. More women as compared to men remain in agricultural occupations. Also, the occupational change has been there prior to liberalization. Therefore, we do not see any impact of modernization in the changing occupational patterns.Crosstabs of NES data between classes of father and respondent clearly shows a stable intergenerational society for both men and women. A trend analysis of absolute mobility shows decreasing upward mobility and increasing downward mobility as opposed to our hypothesis. Trends in inequality of opportunity calculated by using odds ratio and then by log linear model (appropriate way to test for increasing fluidity) shows a clear pattern of increasing inequality of opportunity both in agriculture and informal sector but grater in farming sector.A higher odds ratio of armer: salariat than manual: salariat ratio points out some sectoral barriers in addition to class barriers. Also, the movement between farming and salariat Jobs is harder for women. Overall there has been little demonstrable increase in equality of opportunity in Indian society. When the impact of castes was analysed is was seen that by using the logit regression and recoding castes in eight distinctive categories no clear trend could be observed for both men and women. Rather the father's class nas been a strong determining tactor tor access to salaried class destinations.Surprisingly India which is a caste based society and policies of reservation are also based on castes, it is the class which determines the upward social mobility. Caste reservation does not seen to have benefitted the SCS and STs as m ight have been hoped. CRITIC The paper in the beginning explained various modernization theses and asking research questions based on demand and supply side issues. It was said that we explore these various possibilities in remainder of the chapter. But the whole focus was concentrated only on class and lastly caste analyses.Competitive market, formalized recruitment procedure and equality of condition were not incorporated as results of modernization as per my understanding. I am not aware though if such a method is possible. Secondly, not undertaking the marital social mobility of women has been considered a limitation in the study but since the paper looks at the social mobility in terms of access to salarit Jobs, marriage of a women to a higher class individual than her father does indicate a net upward social mobility of her living tandard but not her chances of getting a better Job.Even if this argument doen't sounds good then a social mobility through marriage is not in any c ase an indicator of modernization of society. Lastly, in the birth cohort method, one has to self calculated roughly where exactly the period of liberalization has been shown on the table or graph. Since our focus is on modernization, had there been a mention of period of liberalization along the birth years it would have been easy to anlyze the changes before and after the liberalization.

Brigadier General John C. Caldwell in the Civil War