Background of Benjamin Franklin Essay Example for Free

Background of Benjamin Franklin Essay â€Å"The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin† was thought by himself to be â€Å"the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection†. It refers to when he was in his twenties, around 1726, he found himself jobless; penniless; in debt and suddenly a single father. He was very intelligent and he knew there was definitely something wrong in his life and he was eager to make a change. So he wrote this autobiography not only to tell his son about his life but also to improve his financial situation and to provide a model for self-improvement for anyone interested. In order to achieve his goal, Franklin developed and committed himself to a personal improvement program that consisted of thirteen virtues. Actually, Franklin found twelve virtues out of thirteen in the reading (124). And another one was from the suggestion of his friend (133). Franklin made a list of thirteen virtues as follow: silence; order; resolution; frugality; industry; sincerity ; justice; moderation; cleanliness; tranquility; chastity and humility (125-126). The first eight virtues relate to people’s attitudes towards their daily activities and their challenges, which belongs to personal virtues . The last five virtues that Franklin stated concern one’s attitudes toward people with whom one has to be dealings, which fall into social virtues. Franklin set forth the thirteen virtues in a very practical and rational way. Simultaneously, he gave reasons for the order of these virtues (126). He put temperance at the top of the list, while humility came last. If a person can conquer temperance, such a primal urge for food or drink, he can keep a cool and clean mind to do something more important, thus making self-development in other virtues. Overall, his rational arrangement for the virtues makes each prior virtue help Franklin acquire each following virtue. In order to acquire these thirteen virtues, Franklin charted his daily progress, focusing his attention on one virtue each week, so after thirteen weeks he had completed all the virtues (127-128). Keeping track of his successes and failures in a small book, he kept it with him at all times for many years. Every night before going to bed, he would reflect and evaluate himself on what he had acquired and what he had failed. His goal was to minimize faults in his life, thus indicating he was moving toward living a more virtuous life free of mistakes. Although Franklin tried to follow the virtues himself, he sometimes strayed from his good intentions. The most troublesome virtue he met with was order (130-132). It was partly because Franklins good memory made order not as necessary. When he was young he remembered whenever he left anything. As he grew older, his memory became poorer and poorer, which caused him problems with order. Partly because he was a business man to be interrupted from the public frequently so that he could not focus on something as it was expected. Another troublesome virtue Franklin confronted with was humility (133). Virtually, Franklin was born to be proud, but he had to pretend to be humble in public so that he could establish a good social status. Though Franklin admitted in his autobiography that he often fell short, he believed the process helped make him a better man and contributed to his success and happiness (131-132). For example, temperance contributed to his long life and good health. As for persisting in Industry and Frugality, he accumulated a lot of wealth and gained a large scope of knowledge to do scientific research. All those virtues together had shaped Franklin’s very pleasant personality. Furthermore, the autobiography indicates Franklin was very intelligent. Initially, he could list out these virtues in the reading (124) and the method of virtues was very rational for people to follow(127). In all his life, Franklin had followed his plan of virtues and become a person full of virtuousness. He also set a good model for the descendants to follow and expressed his good will for them (132). As for the autobiography itself, I completely agree with his consents â€Å"the bold and arduous project.† It means that it was not easy for people to follow. But Franklin himself had proved to be very successful in many fields by following his plan of thirteen virtues. Franklin was also a very responsible person because he educated and raised his son on his own. He was passionate about science, that’s why he had made great contribution to our society, making a lot of inventions: lighting rod, Franklin’s stove and odometer, so on and so forth. The autobiography can be of great use to others. If only we descendants can follow his virtues, we can make great self-improvement in our own fields and in moral standards. I have been reckoning how Franklin made his own name? When he was twenty-two years old, he was strikingly impoverished and a single father. But by the age of forty-two, Franklin had achieved all his goals, which were not acquired by accident, but by his strong faith in his virtues. For more than twenty years, six days a week with dirty hands, Franklin had been doing the routine work in the printing house. Every night he constantly made self-criticism on what he had achieved and what he should have to acquire. If only I can follow some of Franklin’s thirteen virtues, I am definitely making great progress in my study overseas and in my future teaching career. Take the virtue order for example, it sounds so minor that we can easily neglect in our daily life, actually, searching for items for class every day is always time-consuming. If I can arrange everything in its place, I would study more efficiently and achieve much higher grades. Of course, the thirteen virtues are a good guide for me to follow. In fact, keeping track of how well I do in maintaining the virtues and having positive character traits, as Franklin did, is worth trying.

Interest Rates Affects on the Is-Lm Model Essay Example for Free

Interest Rates Affects on the Is-Lm Model Essay Assignment 4 5. According to the IS-LM model, what happens to the interest rate, income, consumption and invest under the following circumstances. a. The central bank increases money supply. An increase in the money supple shifts the LM curve downward. The equilibrium moves from point A to point B. Income rises from Y1 to Y2 and the interest rate falls from r1 to r2. Therefore this increase in money supply causes a decrease in interest rate, an increase in income, an increase in consumption and an increase in investment. LM Income, output, Y b. Government increases government purchases An increase in government purchases result in a shift in the IS curve to the right. The equilibrium moves from point A to point B. Income rises from Y1 to Y2 and interest rate rises from r1 to r2. This increase in government purchases therefore causes interest rate to rise and income also rises. Consumption will also increase but the increase in government purchases will cause investment to decrease. interest rate, r LM IS2 IS1 Income, output, Y c. The government increases taxes. An increase in taxes shifts the IS curve to the left. The equilibrium moves from point A to point B. Income falls from Y1 to Y2 and the interest rate from r ¬1 to r 2. Therefore increase in taxes will bring about a decrease in interest rate, cause income to also decrease which will decrease consumption also but will result in an increase in investment. interest rate, r LM IS1 IS2 Income, output, Y d. The government increase government purchases and taxes equally 6. Consider the following economy of Hicksonia. a. The consumption function is given by C= 200 + 0. 75 (Y T) The investment function is I= 200-25r Government purchases and taxes are both 100.

Examination Of The Motifs In Till Eulenspiegel Music Essay

Examination Of The Motifs In Till Eulenspiegel Music Essay After an unsuccessful premiere of the opera Guntram in 1894, Strauss was consistently looking for new material for an opera. It appears he became more concrete about plans for an opera after finding the Eulenspiegel material from the chapbook Ein kurtzweilig lesen von Dyl Ulenspiegel [an amusing reading of Dyl Ulenspiegel] from 1515. The opera libretto for Till Eulenspiegel remained only a sketch, but the symphonic poem became a triumph. Franz Wà ¼llner conducted the premiere in November 1895. He asked Strauss for a few programmatic explanations, but the composer restricted himself to enunciating the two Eulenspiegel themes at the beginning. Further, he said that it would be impossible to produce a programme for Eulenspiegel. So this time we will leave the audience to crack the nuts themselves the rogue hands out to them. 615. Up that ladder. See him hang, he is running out of breath, one last convulsion. Till, the mortal, is no longer In my work I have decided to focus on Till Eulenspiegel ´s melodic motifs and their interpretations presented by Mathias Hansen, Thomas Armstrong and Michael Kennedy (see bibliographical references at the end). I have compared and examined them in reference to points on which they agree or disagree and I have integrated my own ideas by implying text to the score. In the first few bars we can find disagreement between the different observations. Mathias Hansen writes that the six introductory bars do not play a role until the epilogue in bar 633. It is true that this introduction does not take over the function of a ritornello in the sense of a Rondeau, but I disagree with the claim that this once upon a time theme has a separate status in the story. The opening phrase is in a folk-lore character taking as back to the times when Till was a historical figure. The first half of Tills theme, starting in bar six, is hesitant, however the second, identical entry is confident and self-assured, as if Till was checking the scene before appearing. Das war ein arger Kobolt wrote Strauss himself under this phrase (He was a wicked Goblin) and the above musical example portrays Till according to Strauss description. Thomas Armstrong notices that prologue is based on the second Till theme in bar 46/47: By writing this theme in its simplest form, we can easily detect that the prologue is a conclusion of it: Hansen also notices the Till-chord, which is the dominant chord in bar 47/48 (related to C and leading to the F home key); further on, he shows the relationship between this chord and the Tristan-chord: written in another tone or interval position, the harmony of the Till-chord corresponds with the one from the Tristan-chord. Strauss: Till EulenspiegeWagner: Tristan und Isolde The section between bars 51 -111 Strauss uses for exposition of the Till themes. One interesting thing is noticed by Armstrong, who shows the appearance of the wicked goblin theme in bar 53, starting with the clarinet and continuing with the first violins, further developments takes place in bassoon and lower strings part. Hansen also refers to these theme in his observation on bar 63 (et sqq) where a compressing through a massive overlapping of the first part of the wicked goblin theme takes place. Hansen writes that the passage from bar 46 et sqq. is dominated by one motif Regardless of its meaning, it [material compression] tries to integrate approximately every note in the context relating to motifs. Such complexity, that tries to dissolve the contrast of primary and secondary material, of foreground and background of a piece, is emerging emphatically in Strausss way of composing Till  [1]  . Hansens dissolving of foreground and background material might be suitable for the passage he is describing; however, if we think of Strausss Don Quixote, which was written two years after Till, we can find a quite clear separation of primary and secondary material. Strauss even assigned the characters of the piece to instruments: there is Don Quixote, who is represented by the solo cello and his squire Sancho Panza, who is described by the solo viola and the bass clarinet. In Till Eulenspiegel the whole passage from bar 46 to bar 134 includes figures that imply use of verbal text; this musical narration finds the words and their meaning in the actual notation of the music; e.g.: Bar. 71 et sqq.: Till is ready for his first prank Bar. 81-85: But when? But where? Bar. 98 et sqq.: Tills zest for action Bar. 105-109: Till is thinking of a crude prank Bar. 111 133: Just you wait you bootlicker! War ten mal! (just you wait) This is when the first true episode takes place. Clarinets rush upwards, cymbal clashes and Till mounts a horse andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦jumps! (137et sqq.) Riding roughshod through the market square as the beginning is presented in the string section: Strauss noted down in the score Away in seven-league-boots for bar 151 and 152 notes that depict that theme are assigned to the flutes, the oboes and the clarinets and refer these two bars to the first part of the wicked goblin theme. There is a pause in bar 154 when Till hides himself in a mouse-hole and carefully puts out his head. Armstrong explains the pause in bar 154 with the words: Till seems to be lost. I would rather say that the break has the character of Phew that was a near thing! Starting from bar 157 until 169 Till is again in the heart of a new adventure. Strausss note on that passage: He emerges in disguise as a priest, oozing unction and morality lets us expect a musical caricature. On the contrary, whatever the clarinet, the bassoon and the violas play in a folksong-way of simplicity it has nothing to do with open mockery or cautious irony. The repeated inclusion of the first part of the wicked goblin theme does not radiate the effect of a caricature. With his note The knave peeps out of [his disguise] at the big toe, Strauss must have meant the figure in bar 191: It is when D clarinet presents Tills second theme revealing who is under preacher disguise! The chromatic runs of the horn, trumpets and violins (bars 196 198) show how dangerous Tills practice of mocking religion is at that moment. 9 bars later a glissando in solo violin opens another adventure: Bar. 209 et sqq.: Till the cavalier, exchanging sweet courtesies with beautiful girls Tills horn theme is presented in a romantic way Till felt in love with one of the girls and the music is coated with harmonically richer material. When Till is mistreated by the girl, his themes stomp through the orchestra until the four horns seem to be shaking their fist at the world and this is when in bar. 287 288: He [Till] vows he will take revenge on all mankind The most promoted part of the tone poem starts here (bar 293 et sqq.). Strauss brings the rhythmical energy of the motifs into play. Till is amongst the Philistines whose motif is played by bass clarinet and four bassoons (bar 293 299). Tills horn motif is now played by strings as if Till was asking the pedagogues his questions; this is how Strauss puts it: After he has posed a couple of atrocious theses to the philistines, he leaves them to their fate dumbfounded. The music of this section portrays pointlessness of pedagogues calculations; They have been cornered by Till and left puzzled. Concerning the Philistines, a series of variations develops, in which the formative force is in the rhythmical richness of creation, some of them are composed as canonical variations: In the following passage Strauss tries to create a deceptive silence after the council of the Philistines decided to end Tills days. Till is waiting cautiously for revenge, he takes advantage of this situation and does more and more mischief, rather than trying to become an ordinary citizen. The first Till theme sounds again, Till reappears first in first horn in F in bar 429, then in bar 436 horn in D presents Tills theme enriching the tonality. Starting in bar 429 (et sqq) Till appears again for new pranks and these know no bounds anymore. Consumed by disappointments, he does not appear as a harmless humorist, but as a revengeful human being in a fools costume. It gives a feeling of wildness and in this broadening atmosphere Strauss develops an intensity and complexity of motives combinatory that is difficult to beat. Armstrongs description is also in this direction: The music is keyed up to a higher pitch of excitement than ever. Tills last stretch of development, some 140 bars in length, shows Strausss music in full and unhesitating flight.  [2]   Trying to describe this long passage, I would put the following words: Bar 410 to 429: There is a deceptive silence From bar 486: Till is very successful From bar 546 Till gets up to more and more mischief, he becomes more high-spirited, livelierà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and even daredevil (bar 555 et sqq.) He feels like the lord of the world, even a god! (Bar 567 et sqq.) Fanfares in trumpets and horns: Straus puts an extra emphasis on this passage by expanding the brass section by three trumpets and an optional second quartet of horns. The boldness and arrogance of Tills behaviour is growing. He gets arrested and faces judges accusations (bars 573 581) accompanied by violent side-drum roll that lasts for fifteen bars. Till wants to keep his nonchalant attitude but starts to realize he has gone too far. The biggest penalty is given pictured in music by second Tills theme instrument D clarinet playing upward notes falling into major seventh chord (bars 615 616), when Till is going up the ladder to be hanged. This is when D clarinet reaches its highest A flat, holding it awhile and starts to move down, accompanied by the flute-trill (bars 619- 620) that describes Till running out of breath. This passage does not only sound like a sharp cry, though, it also portrays the breathlessness of Till. None of the authors specifies the epilogue. Kennedy refers the epilogue to Till himself: A gentle epilogue recalls the works fairy tale opening, as if to remind us, before he scampers away, that Till was not such a bad fellow.  [3]   Armstrong writes similarly: It is Tills characteristic tune with the devil taken out of it, so that it seems almost tender. This epilogue shows the composers insight at its keenest  [4]  . The epilogue recalls and extends Once upon a time version of Tills second theme (bar 632 et sqq). The atmosphere is similar to the one from the opening of the piece with it folk-lore narration and charm. In my opinion, Strauss composed the following content: Once upon a time, there was a foolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦he diedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but through this story, he is still alive. Hansen and Werbeck have differing opinions about the form of Till Eulenspiegel. Hansen describes the form as follows: Basically, there are only two central events, and they are actually a combination of theme and motif those two of the hero, of which Strauss informs Wà ¼llner in his letter  [5]  . Walter Werbeck tries to explain the form more accurately: Strauss composes neither an authentic sonata rondo nor a traditional rondo chain  [6]  . The element of a rondo that is missing is ritornello, but if we see rondo as representation of two themes then we might be dealing with a variant of rondo in Till Eulen spiegel. Walter Werbeck continues: One could easily describe the first part of Till as a free variation form, or, preferably, as a form in which rondo and variation are combined as follows: A (Exposition); Aà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ² (market scene, variation 1); B (sermon scene, episode 1); A à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ² (love scene, variation 2); and C (Philistines, episode 2). Strauss also drew on principles of sonata form. As evidence we might cite especially the emphatic recapitulation of the initial horn theme in bar 429 that opens the second part of the piece.  [7]   Both Hansen and Werbeck divide the piece in the same way into two main parts. Whereas Hansen only tells us approximately where his second part starts, Werbeck gives us the exact bar number (429) of his division. Hansen is content with the division into two central events; Werbeck, however, tries to show that Till is undoubtedly much more than a sonata rondo. The composer combines sonata form, variations and rondo. These forms cannot be seen separately they overlap and penetrate each other to varying degrees. At some points the form of a set of variations dominates, sometimes as sonata or as rondo. Warbecks quotation As Till Eulenspiegel, the protagonist of the tone poem, resists societal norms by mocking them with continuous pranks, so does the composer thwart the expectations of those who want to pin him down to the norms of a rondo  [8]   seems to be especially appropriate here. Trying to fit Till into a rondo form, the following division makes sense: 1. Prologue and Exposition; bar 1-111, the fool is introduced 2. Variation I; bar 112-178, the upsetting of the market place 3. Episode I; bar 179-206, the mockery of the sermon 4. Variation II; bar 207-288, Till in love 5. Episode II; bar 289-409, the confusing of the professors 6. Recapitulation (Variation III); bar 410-594, Till goes on his way 7. Coda (Episode III); bar 595-632, Till is arrested and hung 8. Epilogue; bar 633-658 At this point I would like to summarise the themes of Till Eulenspiegel: The wicked goblin theme and its modifications: BASIC FORM: NARRATIVE: AS A CAPER: HE LIES IN WAITING AT A GALLOP RELIEVED, AT A SAFE PLACE IN LOVE AS AN OATH OF REVENGE IN A CONFIDENT WAY UP THE LADDER FURTHER THEMES: Till Eu len spie gel, till Eu-len-spie gel, Till Eu-len spie-gel NAMING OF TILL NEW PRANKS IN LOVE COURTING AGAINST THE PHILISTINES DECEPTIVE SAFETY MISCHIEVOUS Richard Strausss Till Eulenspiegel appears as a masterpiece in composers career. In this piece Strauss used yet the biggest orchestra with massive woodwind section and optional second horn quartet. It is in some way symbolical that after serious labour on Guntram Strauss composes such a spectacular work inspired only by a folk legend. Richard Strauss himself leads us well and truly to believe in something with his title Nach alter Schelmenweise in Rondeauform [after an old rascal manner in rondo form]. Whoever thinks that Strauss came to a compromise with the traditional form will notice quickly that any pattern is avoided. It is not the form of the rondo with the methodical; umpteen times reprise of the theme, the unity is reached by the consistent development of the melodical-thematical elements. These elements, which come in the most varying forms, in the bravest disguises and the rhythmical and harmonical transformations, are the two main themes. Strauss uses the specific sound character of an instrument in the score very carefully. This is what gives the whole tone poem the humorous colour. When the notes become alive, everything sounds so simple, natural and unconstrained. Strauss makes high demands on the musical intelligence of the musicians playing his works.

Medical Revolutions :: essays research papers

The Civil War started as a picnic and ended in compassion, but in between were four hideous years of twisted flesh, burning fevers, rampant pus, and oozing raw stumps. Never before had America faced even a hint of such agony and the way it responded to the occasion is fascinating history. In a very real sense the War Between the States brought forth a medical revolution and, perhaps above all, an awareness of public health. The terrible, swift scalpel became less terrible: and the dank, dirty, dingy pesthouse evolved into a pavilion of hope. Nursing, dentistry, and pharmacy also experienced a renaissance and the art and science of military medicine was projected into the future. The man of medicine who served in the Civil War was, whether he liked it or not, first and foremost a surgeon and always referred to as such. Though his first knife may well have been government issued, he learned the tricks of the trade in due course and sometimes became quite an expert. â€Å"Do your best† was the general idea, and most surgeons did, or at least tried. Nearly all the older doctors had received their education on an apprenticeship basis but the younger men, those who made up the bulk of the army surgeons, usually held a medical school diploma along with an office internship. Little attention was paid to clinical instruction, and in most cases the laboratory was all but forgotten. Further, stethoscopes, thermometers, syringes, and the like were widely used in Europe while many doctors here at home had never seen them let alone used them. In regard to ability and competence, there is no reason to believe the doctors in the North and the South differed in any significant way. While the North was home to more prestigious medical institutions, the South was learning to become less dependent on the North in this area at the outbreak of the war. A number of schools became established. Whether good, bad, or indifferent, the doctors were needed and just about every device was tried to keep up supply, a task compounded by frequent absenteeism. This situation was by no means peculiar to the medical people, for many others in the Civil War had the habit of picking up their blankets and heading back to the old homestead. This is exactly the case for Inman in the novel, Cold Mountain, by Carles Frazier.

Julian Bonds Lecture on Brown vs. Board of Education :: Julian Bond Race Affirmative Action

Loose Ends Still Untied Aurora is not known to be the greatest town in the suburbs of Chicago, so it is a typical move for the people from my side of town to claim residence in Naperville. I will be the first to admit that I have often betrayed my hometown and laid claim to its relatively glamorous neighbor. Naperville is one of the country’s â€Å"best places to raise a family,† or so I have heard. I wouldn’t be too surprised, considering the amount of wealth that flows through the town. Naperville offers a mix of people, professionals and their families of various ethnicities and backgrounds; however, it lacks true culture diversity. Even though there are whites, blacks, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, etc., few of its youths are conscious of the various backgrounds because of the economic equality of everyone: everyone is equally rich in Naperville (a point of which I and my fellow Aurorans regularly accused our Naperville schoolmates). My high school consisted of a decent racial blend, and despite a few cultural cliques, everyone was White in thought and in wallet. I did not hold this view at the time, but I had yet to be exposed to reality then. When I came to the University of Illinois, I was accompanied by a significant force of my high school peers, including all but two of my closest friends. During the first few weeks of school, when everybody was meeting everybody else, I was busy hanging out with my standard high school group and, thus, missed much of the opportunity to make a bounty of new friends. I did, however, meet one person who has become my closest friend and who sparked my introduction to reality. I went to visit him over spring break. It was a Friday, a little past noon. My friend lives around 75th Street, a block from Lake Michigan. For everyone who isn’t from the area, I was right in the middle of a very black south side of Chicago neighborhood. When his mother found out I was coming to do lunch, she asked him, â€Å"Why are you making this boy come out here?† My friend responded immediately: â€Å"Mom, he’s not afraid of black people.† This was a true statement; I n ever had feared anyone because of race, but his mother instinctively knew, unlike my friend and me, that his hometown and my hometown were polar opposites.

The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe and Eveline by James Joyce Essay

The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe and Eveline by James Joyce 'The Tell Tale Heart' and 'Eveline' are stories based around the circumstances, which surround a central character. Both protagonists are portrayed in totally different ways. The characters in both stories are quite different. Eveline is the image of a girl's failure to become a woman. She tells herself that "she would not be treated as her mother had been," but she isn't aware that "such treatment offers her the only kind of security she knows". She has had to endure violence at the hand of her father, and she has let herself believe that she is in love with Frank when she isn't really. In 'The Tell Tale Heart', the story contains a nameless narrator who is the central character of the story. The narrator may be male or female because Poe uses only "I" and "Me" in reference to this character. Most readers may assume that the narrator is male because it is written in first person by a male author but the story can also be plausible if the narrator was a woman. In the times Poe was writing, he would be creating a story whose impact would be changed simply by imagining this horrendous deed being committed by a woman. In 'The Tell Tale Heart', the story covers a period of eight days where any important action usually occurs around midnight. This period of time is relevant to the story as it makes the reader more curious about the narrator's ordeal. The readers are deliberately not informed about the illness that the narrator had, and they are left to wonder whether the 'evil eye' is truly evil. The eight day period limits what the reader knows because they don't know what happened before. The narrator may have an extremely genuine reason... ...to people of the early 1900's. 'Eveline' was also written in the early 1900's and in that time it would have been Eveline's duty to look after her father rather than be in love. So the time in which the story was written would have really affected the way in which the story was perceived, as people in the early 1900's were less tolerant of behaviour written in the stories. James Joyce's portrayal of Eveline is very believable because many of the readers may be able to relate to the character as she lives an ordinary life. The narrator in "The Tell Tale Heart", is not very believable because it is not often that readers hear about someone killing a person because they have a "vulture eye", it's just unrealistic, but the story has a pull to it that makes readers want to read it because it is exciting and there is suspense, something which "Eveline" lacks.

Deception Point Page 66

The old man turned off the television. â€Å"NASA claimed Dr. Harper was not feeling well that night.† He paused. â€Å"I happen to think Harper was lying.† Lying? Sexton stared, his fuzzy thoughts unable to piece together any logical rationale for why Harper would have lied about the software. Still, Sexton had told enough lies in his life to recognize a poor liar when he saw one. He had to admit, Dr. Harper sure looked suspicious. â€Å"Perhaps you don't realize?† the old man said. â€Å"This little announcement you just heard Chris Harper give is the single most important press conference in NASA history.† He paused. â€Å"That convenient software fix he just described is what allowed PODS to find the meteorite.† Sexton puzzled. And you think he was lying about it? â€Å"But, if Harper was lying, and the PODS software isn't really working, then how the hell did NASA find the meteorite?† The old man smiled. â€Å"Exactly.† 77 The U.S. military's fleet of â€Å"repo† aircraft repossessed during drug-trade arrests consisted of over a dozen private jets, including three reconditioned G4s used for transporting military VIPs. A half hour ago, one of those G4s had lifted off the Thule runway, fought its way above the storm, and was now pounding southward into the Canadian night en route to Washington. Onboard, Rachel Sexton, Michael Tolland, and Corky Marlinson had the eight-seat cabin to themselves, looking like some kind of disheveled sports team in their matching blue U.S.S. Charlotte jumpsuits and caps. Despite the roar of the Grumman engines, Corky Marlinson was asleep in the rear. Tolland sat near the front, looking exhausted as he gazed out the window at the sea. Rachel was beside him, knowing she could not sleep even if she'd been sedated. Her mind churned through the mystery of the meteorite, and, most recently, the dead room conversation with Pickering. Before signing off, Pickering had given Rachel two additional pieces of disturbing information. First, Marjorie Tench claimed to possess a video recording of Rachel's private deposition to the White House staff. Tench was now threatening to use the video as evidence if Rachel tried to go back on her confirmation of the meteorite data. The news was particularly unsettling because Rachel had specifically told Zach Herney that her remarks to the staff were for in-house use only. Apparently Zach Herney had ignored that request. The second bit of troubling news dealt with a CNN debate her father had attended earlier in the afternoon. Apparently, Marjorie Tench had made a rare appearance and deftly baited Rachel's father into crystallizing his position against NASA. More specifically, Tench had cajoled him into crudely proclaiming his skepticism that extraterrestrial life would ever be found. Eat his hat? That's what Pickering said her father had offered to do if NASA ever found extraterrestrial life. Rachel wondered how Tench had managed to coax out that propitious little sound bite. Clearly, the White House had been setting the stage carefully-ruthlessly lining up all the dominoes, preparing for the big Sexton collapse. The President and Marjorie Tench, like some sort of political tag team wrestling duo, had maneuvered for the kill. While the President remained dignified outside the ring, Tench had moved in, circling, cunningly lining up the senator for the presidential body slam. The President had told Rachel he'd asked NASA to delay announcing the discovery in order to provide time to confirm the accuracy of the data. Rachel now realized there were other advantages to waiting. The extra time had given the White House time to dole out the rope with which the senator would hang himself. Rachel felt no sympathy for her father, and yet she now realized that beneath the warm and fuzzy exterior of President Zach Herney, a shrewd shark lurked. You did not become the most powerful man in the world without a killer instinct. The question now was whether this shark was an innocent bystander-or a player. Rachel stood, stretching her legs. As she paced the aisle of the plane, she felt frustrated that the pieces to this puzzle seemed so contradictory. Pickering, with his trademark chaste logic, had concluded the meteorite must be fake. Corky and Tolland, with scientific assurance, insisted the meteorite was authentic. Rachel only knew what she had seen-a charred, fossilized rock being pulled from the ice. Now, as she passed beside Corky, she gazed down at the astrophysicist, battered from his ordeal on the ice. The swelling on his cheek was going down now, and the stitches looked good. He was asleep, snoring, his pudgy hands clutching the disk-shaped meteorite sample like some kind of security blanket. Rachel reached down and gently slipped the meteorite sample away from him. She held it up, studying the fossils again. Remove all assumptions, she told herself, forcing herself to reorganize her thoughts. Reestablish the chain of substantiation. It was an old NRO trick. Rebuilding a proof from scratch was a process known as a â€Å"null start†-something all data analysts practiced when the pieces didn't quite fit. Reassemble the proof. She began pacing again. Does this stone represent proof of extraterrestrial life? Proof, she knew, was a conclusion built on a pyramid of facts, a broad base of accepted information on which more specific assertions were made. Remove all the base assumptions. Start again. What do we have? A rock. She pondered that for a moment. A rock. A rock with fossilized creatures. Walking back toward the front of the plane, she took her seat beside Michael Tolland. â€Å"Mike, let's play a game.† Tolland turned from the window, looking distant, apparently deep in his own thoughts. â€Å"A game?† She handed him the meteorite sample. â€Å"Let's pretend you're seeing this fossilized rock for the first time. I've told you nothing about where it came from or how it was found. What would you tell me it is?† Tolland heaved a disconsolate sigh. â€Å"Funny you should ask. I just had the strangest thought†¦ â€Å" Hundreds of miles behind Rachel and Tolland, a strange-looking aircraft stayed low as it tore south above a deserted ocean. Onboard, the Delta Force was silent. They had been pulled out of locations in a hurry, but never like this. Their controller was furious. Earlier, Delta-One had informed the controller that unexpected events on the ice shelf had left his team with no option but to exercise force-force that had included killing four civilians, including Rachel Sexton and Michael Tolland. The controller reacted with shock. Killing, although an authorized last resort, obviously never had been part of the controller's plan. Later, the controller's displeasure over the killings turned to outright rage when he learned the assassinations had not gone as planned. â€Å"Your team failed!† the controller seethed, the androgynous tone hardly masking the person's rage. â€Å"Three of your four targets are still alive!† Impossible! Delta-One had thought. â€Å"But we witnessed-â€Å" â€Å"They made contact with a submarine and are now en route to Washington.† â€Å"What!† The controller's tone turned lethal. â€Å"Listen carefully. I am about to give you new orders. And this time you will not fail.† 78 Senator Sexton was actually feeling a flicker of hope as he walked his unexpected visitor back out to the elevator. The head of the SFF, as it turned out, had not come to chastise Sexton, but rather to give him a pep talk and tell him the battle was not yet over. A possible chink in NASA's armor. The videotape of the bizarre NASA press conference had convinced Sexton that the old man was right-PODS mission director Chris Harper was lying. But why? And if NASA never fixed the PODS software, how did NASA find the meteorite?