A research topic related to religion and the environment Paper

A topic related to religion and the environment - Research Paper Example Indeed the Bible does not directly tell anything about how man should interact with the environment; but concept of ‘nature’ occupies an important part of Christian faith. A devout Christian necessarily believes that the ‘nature’ or in a broader term, the ‘universe’ is the creation of God and man is merely God’s tenant in it. Depending on this doctrinal premise, scholars further build up the Christian environmentalism. Man as the tenant of God on earth should not perturb God’s house. Thus Christianity advocates for an intimate, harmonious and friendly relationship with nature. But the debates on Christianity-and-Environment relationship evolve from the claim that man has been created in the ‘image of God’ which necessarily entails that man is entitled with the ownership of this world. The Christian belief about the ‘ownership status’ of man is supported by the Bible as following: â€Å"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground† (Genesis 1:26 and 28). During the industrial era, the Christian belief persists that since the world is God’s and man is His true representative on earth, the world belongs to man. Such doctrinal reasoning inspired the industrial society to use the environmental resources ruthlessly and recklessly, as Hansberry notes in this regard: â€Å"Some Christians have interpreted this story as giving people the right to exploit the environment.† (1) Behind this ruthless use of earthly resources there is another belief that God is generous and that He has created everything for man’s consumption. But as the concern about man’s harmful impact over nature began to grow, a group of scholars began to emerge under the banner of ‘green Christian environmentalist’ with a view to purporting the harmonious

Baroque of Versailles and Italian baroque Essay

Baroque of Versailles and Italian baroque - Essay Example For the Italians, this involved a number of very unique style buildings. One of the first to use this style was Carlo Manderno, whose famous designs include the Santa Susanna (1) and the Santa Maria della Vittoria. One of the finest examples of his work is in the design of the Santa Susanna. The building is just two stories tall. The lower part has a total of five tiers and the upper level has only three. The construction of all the elements are so designed so that everything points to the middle of the structure, pointing to a loggia - a simple gallery open to the air. Funny enough, he used the old Renaissance style inside the building. You can tell the difference when you cross the street into the Santa Maria della Vittoria (2), where construction was also completed by Carlo Manderno. The interior of the building reveals the expanse of the building, with three chapels separated only by arches and pillars. The style is clearly simple, very strait forward, and also a very enormous wa y of getting a point across. For example, inside is a statue depicting something from the Saint Teresa of Avila (3). The scene portrayed is of a dream she had about an angel peircing her heart with a long shaft, and filling herself with both joy and pain. She is said to be in a contorted posture and the flowing robes, very voluptous looks between -- it was the essense of the Barouque style for the Italians. The statue is larger than life, and purposefully done so. It isn't a complicated piece, just very big, very to the point. Hence the Roman Catholic Church's vision is realizes in such art and architecture -- art that should be very easy for the public to understand the meaning, and so big that it will be unforgettable and symbolizing religious themes. ( Wittkower, R. 1999) French Baroque, often called Classicism, was similar in style to the Italians as to the simplicity and more importantly, the idea that size does matter, and that grandness was to mean you had great power. (Wikipedia Website. 2007) Not all the styles transferred from Italy to France, as the openness and very frank displays of the art was not always in French taste. While the French had no problem getting on with the grandness of their architecture, they had a problem with the bluntness, and preferred slightly subdued style. There were also differences in the architectural structure, given that the French preferred mansard roofs and complex rooflines. During the reign of Louis XIV, new construction was happening to the Louvre. He invited a designer to look into completing the project, but rejected his two design ideas. Because of his focus on Versailles at the time, the Louvre construction was

Compensation Plan - University of Phoenix - HRM Essay Example for Free

Compensation Plan University of Phoenix HRM Essay A good compensation plan must include both aspects, financial and nonfinancial of a rewarding system where financial rewards, or a pay system, assign a monetary value to each job in the organization (a base rate) and an orderly procedure for increasing the base rate (e.g., based on merit, inflation, or some combination of the two) (Cascio, 2005, p. 425). Also, a properly designed Pay for Performance (PFP) Program enables companies to reduce their cost of labor while increasing the average take home pay of their workforce (Jensen, 2009). On the other hand we also will offer nonfinancial systems that will cover indirect aspects such as benefits, professional and personal development. We want to give our sales staff a reason to get out there and sell, sell, sell (Ward). Rewards bridge the gap between organizational objectives and individual expectations and aspirations. To be effective, organizational reward systems should provide four things: (1) a sufficient level of rewards to fulfill basic needs, (2) equity with the external labor market, (3) equity within the organization, and (4) treatment of each member of the organization in terms of his or her individual needs (Cascio, 2005, p. 419). New compensation planPay systems are designed to attract, retain, and motivate employees (Cascio, 2005, p. 419)The new compensation plan will be based in a performance system. If business takes off, more pay goes to workers. If it doesnt, the company is not locked into high fixed costs of labor. 417 This system was chosen since meets the company strategy of growth and objectives and such variable-pay systems almost guarantee cost control. 417 (Cascio, 2005, p. 417) and a well planed recognition system adds to the compensation plan to offset a higher level of discouragement found in a competitive selling environment and also can be used to express gratitude, admiration, and to inspire to greater sales and greater sales initiative (FB Publications, 2005). Our new compensation plan will adopt a combination of base salary plus commission and bonus based on the overall performance. Perhaps the most important objective of any pay system is fairness or equity (Cascio, 2005, p. 419). To ensure the correctness of our plan, a committee has been created  to evaluate each employee performance, keep our compensation plan current and provide support and training at any time needed. We are also taking in consideration that our payment plan should include a three-tier approach of immediate recognition for a job well done, short-term rewards for performance over a month or quarter, and long-term rewards for being a loyal employee over the years (Schoeffler, 2005). -Salary: a monthly salary will be based on the job description of each position and it has the possibility of be complimented and enhanced depending of the employee performance. -Commission: a percentage of the profit will be used to increase the monthly employee compensation. -Bonus: bonuses will be given based on the performance of the sales individual each three months. Percentages will be given according to the goals met, or exceeded, so sales reps will rely on their individual performance. -Team incentives: Team incentives provide an opportunity for each team member to receive a bonus based on the output of the team as a whole (Cascio, 2005, p. 443). Sales personnel will have participation on this incentive to promote a teamwork environment. These events will happen at the end of the year. -On spot bonus: This is going to be granted for exceptional behavior regarding to teamwork efforts, customer satisfaction or any attitude that can be used as an example to the other workers. We may reward the worker with a one-time bonus of $50, $100, or $500 shortly after the noteworthy actions (Cascio, 2005, p. 441). -Incentives When it comes to performance incentives, the possibilities are endless (Cascio, 2005, p. 436), and we plan to use nonfinancial reward system that will include anything an employee values and desires that an  employer is able and willing to offer in exchange for employee contributions (Cascio, 2005, p. 418). Based on the answers compiled from the questionnaire we created, we will develop some entertaining activities such as trips, restaurants, theaters and any other approved selection available in our committee that will be available each three months and also at the end of the year. In our committee we will also make available the following benefits that our employees can choose to participate on:-Employee stock ownership plans As the company grows we will offer participation in the stocks of our company and a limited amount of them available to each employee for purchase. It helps to fulfill a philosophical belief in employee ownership 447. ESOPs do promote an increase in employee willingness to participate in company decisions. Companies that take advantage of that willingness can harness employees energy and creativity (Cascio, 2005, p. 447). -Recognition is a non financial reward and helps to enhance a workers sense of self-respect and esteem by others (Cascio, 2005, p. 418). These recognitions will be done in the yearly meetings where all employees are going to be together and have the opportunity to see their colleagues performance is rewarded. Recognition amongst their peers is still the quintessential motivator, whether theres an incentive program or not (Shearstone)Recent data indicates that people are more attached and committed to organizations that offer family-friendly policies, regardless of the extent to which they benefit personally from the policies (Cascio, 2005, p. 489), therefore our plan also cover other benefits that will be extend to all employees regardless merit or performance. Once you have great employees on board, how do you keep them from jumping ship? One way is by offering a good benefits package. (Entrepreneur Media, Inc, n.d.)†¢Tuition aid†¢Auto insurance†¢Fitness and wellness programs†¢Counseling Service†¢Child adoption†¢Child care Social activities†¢Elder care Referral awards†¢Charter flights Family leaves†¢Flexible work arrangementsWe also developed some benefits options that will  integrate salary and benefits into a package that will encourage the achievement of an organizations goals (Cascio, 2005, p. 470). They will be available to all employees and they can choose among them all. †¢Life insurance†¢Disability insurance†¢Healthy insurance†¢Other medical coverage†¢Sick leave†¢Pension plans†¢Unemployment insurance†¢401KEvidence indicates that the perceived value of benefits rises when employers introduce choice through a flexible benefits package (Cascio, 2005, p. 466). For that reason we expect that this pay system will bring excitement to our workforce since the opportunities are vary. This pay system should also increase motivation of our employees and deepens commitment with our customer to bring success to both the individual and the company. Following are pointed some reason that we expect to succeed with this new plan. -The final compensation at the end of the month has the opportunity to be largely increased according to the employee performance, but yet, the base salary is high enough to give the employees some breathing in order to meet the essential financial obligations. -Commissions, bonuses and team incentives. -Variety of employee services and benefits. -Friendly and family environmentBefore our pay system is implemented training will be given to all employees to ensure understanding of it. A website will be available to answer most common questions and our committee will also be available for further explanation and training as needed. References Cascio, W. F. (2005). Managing Human Resources (7th ed.). : The McGraw−Hill Companies. Entrepreneur Media, Inc (n.d.). The Basics of Employee Benefits. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/FB Publications (2005). Sale Incentive Ideas Motivating Your Sales Team. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/Jensen, M. L. (2009). 9 Key Aspects For Successful Pay For Performance Systems. EzineArticles.com. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/Schoeffler, B. (2005). Employee Incentive Plans: Make Them Worthwhile. Insurance Journal. Retrieved from http://www.insurancejournal.com/Shearstone, P. (). Creating Sales Incentive Programs That Work. About.com, 2. Retrieved from http://sbinfocanada.about.com/Ward, S. (). 6 Sure Ways to Increase Sales. About.com. Retrieved from http://sbinfocanada.about.com/

Is it Money Well Spent? Election 2004 :: essays research papers

We live in a time where more expensive means more desirable. This year’s election spending has gotten out of hand. It is time for future presidents to ask themselves, is all of this spending necessary? The total spending in the 2004 election was at least 1.2 billion dollars and the total costs of the 2005 inauguration to be 50 million dollars. Advertisements and personal luxuries the President elect and their family indulge in are even pricier than anything is. What exactly are the leaders of this free world spending this much money for? Appearance is a big deal when someone is trying to make an impression. A person has to be able to hold him or herself properly, groom themselves properly, and wear the latest outfits to appeal to the many eyes looking up at them. First Lady Laura Bush, along with her two daughters spent a lump sum of 30 thousand dollars on one out of six outfits they wore during the inaugural bashes held on January 19 and 20. The Presidential suite package at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for inauguration celebrations cost 200 thousand dollars alone. This is 50 thousand dollars more than military necessities that the President claims we desperately need. This includes a fully armored military Humvee and one set of Army body armor. President George W. Bush’s inauguration could have paid for vaccinations and health care for 22 million children impacted by the tsunami disaster, or it could have paid off some of the nation’s 412 billion dollar deficit from last year. Millions of government do llars was spent on construction of the platform, stands at the Capitol, and rigid inauguration security. Is it Money Well Spent? Election 2004 :: essays research papers We live in a time where more expensive means more desirable. This year’s election spending has gotten out of hand. It is time for future presidents to ask themselves, is all of this spending necessary? The total spending in the 2004 election was at least 1.2 billion dollars and the total costs of the 2005 inauguration to be 50 million dollars. Advertisements and personal luxuries the President elect and their family indulge in are even pricier than anything is. What exactly are the leaders of this free world spending this much money for? Appearance is a big deal when someone is trying to make an impression. A person has to be able to hold him or herself properly, groom themselves properly, and wear the latest outfits to appeal to the many eyes looking up at them. First Lady Laura Bush, along with her two daughters spent a lump sum of 30 thousand dollars on one out of six outfits they wore during the inaugural bashes held on January 19 and 20. The Presidential suite package at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for inauguration celebrations cost 200 thousand dollars alone. This is 50 thousand dollars more than military necessities that the President claims we desperately need. This includes a fully armored military Humvee and one set of Army body armor. President George W. Bush’s inauguration could have paid for vaccinations and health care for 22 million children impacted by the tsunami disaster, or it could have paid off some of the nation’s 412 billion dollar deficit from last year. Millions of government do llars was spent on construction of the platform, stands at the Capitol, and rigid inauguration security.

Event and Milieu :: Language Sociology Essays

Event and Milieu ABSTRACT: I consider how the notion of event is used in such important branches of twentieth-century thought as relativity, quantum mechanics, Marxist sociology and psychoanalysis. I show that in each case there is the same concept of event as of a series of communications. It is also shown that this new concept of event corresponds to traditional concepts of historical events. I analyze the difference between the concept of event and that of fact. Since a fact presupposes "an external observer" it is impossible to deal with an event without being involved in it. Since a fact presupposes its permanent logical form as a necessary condition of knowledge about it, any condition of knowledge about an event appears to be empirical itself. I show that the division between history and prehistory has the same basis as that between event and fact. The crucial question is how knowledge about an event is possible. The problem is that the concept of identity applicable to fact appears to be inap plicable to event. However, it appears possible to define an identity of event with an identity of media or "places" of communication. An open system of such "places" we call "milieu." A language is a paradigm for it. However, I suppose that unlike "the linguistic paradigm," the "paradigm of milieu" should refute the idea of the exceptional status of human language. The notion of event became to play a basic role in science with such revolutionary physical theories as relativity and quantum mechanics. Today the notion of event is widely applied also in synergetic. To make clear the importance of the notion of event for sociology and psychology of 20-th century it is enough to name such a key figures of the century as Marx and Freud. The notion of social even (revolution) is essential for Marxism as well as the notion of psychological event (child’s trauma) for Freud’s psychoanalysis. We cannot say that the notion of event was neglected by philosophers of our century: Heidegger and Deleuze among others presented elaborated concepts of event. These concepts (which can not be analyzed here) however do not relate directly to science nor to knowledge in general. What is an event as a matter of knowledge remains beyond considerations of these authors. To answer to the question is the first purpose of this paper. The second purpose of the paper is to elaborate a notion of environment or milieu that as it is shown below appears to be correlative to that of event.

The Effect of Salt on Boiling Temperature of Water

EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE PROJECTS:The Effect of Salt on the Boiling Temperature of Water(Initially prepared by a 4th Grade student)To quickly jump to a section below click on:INITIAL OBSERVATIONCooking instructions tell you to add salt to water before boiling it. PROJECT TITLEThe Effect of Salt on the Boiling Temperature of WaterPURPOSE OF THE PROJECTTo find out how table salt affects the boiling temperature of water. HYPOTHESISAdding table salt to boiling water will cause the water to boil at a higher temperature.MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT ·Table Salt  ·Distilled Water  ·2 Quart Cooking Pot  ·Pint measuring cup  ·Teaspoon and tablespoon measuring spoons  ·Thermometer  ·Stirring spoon EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDUREBoil one quart of distilled water on a stove. Measure the temperature of the boiling water. Record the highest temperature reading. This is the control to compare with. Measure out table salt using a kitchen measuring spoon. Level the spoonful. Add the measured salt to the b oiling water and stir.Measure the temperature of the boiling water with the salt in it. Record the highest temperature reading. Repeat for other amounts of salt. DATAData Obtained: 2/25/95, Mankato, MN|| Amount of boiling water|2 Cups| Temperature of boiling water (Control)|212. 9 °F| Amount of table salt added to boiling water: Run #1|1 Tbl. | Temperature of boiling water after adding salt: Run #1|215. 6 °F| Additional amount of table salt added to boiling water: Run #2|1 Tbl. | Temperature of boiling water after adding salt: Run #2|218.  °F| || EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONSWhen the salt was added to boiling water it bubbled up more, and then stopped boiling. Shortly afterwards, it boiled again. If the thermometer extends beyond the outside of the pot it reads a higher temperature. Heat from the stove burner makes the thermometer read higher. Keep the thermometer over the pot when making temperature measurements. CALCULATIONS ·Total amount of table salt added for Run #1: 0 + 1 = 1 Tbl.  ·Total amount of table salt added for Run #2: 1 + 1 = 2 Tbl.RESULTS|| Temperature of boiling water (Control)|212. 9 °F| Amount of table salt added to boiling water: Run #1|1 Tbl. | Temperature of boiling water after adding salt: Run #1|215. 6 °F| Total amount of table salt added to boiling water: Run #2|2 Tbl. | Temperature of boiling water after adding salt: Run #2|218. 3 °F| || Amount of Table Salt Added VersusWater Boiling TemperatureCONCLUSIONS ·Is the hypothesis correct? Yes. Adding table salt to water causes the water to boil at a higher temperature.  ·Problems with doing the experiments.The temperature readings were hard to make. Gloves had to be worn to keep my hands from getting too hot. Had to be careful that the stove heat was not hitting the thermometer.  ·Other things learned. Be careful when adding salt to boiling water. It makes the water boil vigorously for a second or two. RELATED QUESTIONS ·Why do you think cooking instructions tell you to add salt when boiling water? When the water is hotter, you can cook food faster. Salt also makes the food taste better. || HOME[->0]|| [->0] – .. /index. html

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 22~23

Twenty-two Theo The walls of Molly's trailer were plastered with movie posters. He stood in the middle of the living room among the scattered videotapes, magazines, and junk mail and slowly turned. It was her, Molly. She hadn't been lying all this time. Most of the posters were in foreign languages, but every one featured a younger Molly in various states of undress, holding weapons or fighting off bad guys, her hair flying in the wind, a nuked-out city or a desert littered with human skulls and burned-out cars in the background. The adolescent male part of Theo, the part that every man tries to bury but carries to his grave, reared up. She was a movie star. A hot movie star! And he knew her, had in fact put handcuffs on her. If there was only a locker room, a street corner, or a second-period study hall where he could brag about it to his friends. But he didn't really have any friends, except for Gabe maybe, and Gabe was a grown-up. The prurient moment passed and Theo felt guilty about the way he had treated Molly: patronizing her and condescending to her; the way many people treated him when he tried to be something besides a pothead and puppet. He kneeled down to a bookshelf filled with videotapes, found one labeled KENDRA: WARRIOR BABE OF THE OUT LAND (ENGLISH), and slipped it into the VCR and turned on the television. Then he turned off the lights, laid his guns on the coffee table, and lay down on Molly's couch to wait. He watched as the Crazy Lady of Pine Cove battled mutants and Sand Pirates for half an hour before he drifted off to sleep. His mind needed a deeper escape from his problems than the movie could provide. â€Å"Hi, Theo.† He came awake startled. The movie was still casting a flickering light over the room, so he couldn't have been sleeping that long. She stood in the doorway, half in shadow, looking very much like the woman on the television screen. She held an assault rifle at her side. â€Å"Molly, I've been waiting for you.† â€Å"How'd you like it?† She nodded toward the television. â€Å"Loved it. I never realized. I was just so tired†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Molly nodded. â€Å"I won't be long, I just came to get some clean clothes. You're welcome to stay here.† Theo didn't know what to do. It didn't seem like the time to grab one of the pistols off the table. He felt more embarrassed than threatened. â€Å"Thanks,† he said. â€Å"He's the last one, Theo. After him there aren't any more of his kind. His time has passed. I think that's what we have in common. You don't know what it is to be a has-been, do you?† â€Å"I think I'm what they call a never-was.† â€Å"That's easier. At least you're always looking up the ladder, not down. Coming down is scarier.† â€Å"How? Why? What is he?† â€Å"I'm not sure, a dragon maybe. Who knows?† She leaned back against the doorway and sighed. â€Å"But I can kinda tell what he's thinking. I guess it's because I'm nuts. Who would have thought that would come in handy, huh?† â€Å"Don't say that about yourself. You're saner than I am.† Molly laughed, and Theo could see her movie-star teeth shine in the light of the television. â€Å"You're a neurotic, Theo. A neurotic is someone who thinks something is wrong with him, but everyone else thinks he is normal; a psychotic thinks something's wrong with her. Take a poll of the locals, I think I'd come out in the latter category, don't you?† â€Å"Molly, this is really dangerous stuff you're messing with.† â€Å"He won't hurt me.† â€Å"It's not just that. You could go to jail just for having that machine gun, Molly. People are getting killed, aren't they?† â€Å"In a manner of speaking.† â€Å"That's what happened to Joseph Leander, and the guys working the drug lab, right? Your pal ate them?† â€Å"They were going to hurt you, and Steve was hungry. Seemed like great timing to me.† â€Å"Molly, that's murder!† â€Å"Theo! I'm nuts. What are they going to do to me?† Theo shrugged his shoulders and sat back on the couch. â€Å"I don't know what to do.† â€Å"You're not in a position to do anything right now. Get some rest.† Theo cradled his head in his hands. His cell phone, still in the pocket of his flannel shirt, began ringing. â€Å"I could sure use a hit right now.† â€Å"There's some Smurfs of Sanity in the cupboard over the sink – neuroleptics Dr. Val gave me, antipsychotics – they've done wonders for me.† â€Å"Obviously.† â€Å"Your phone is ringing.† Theo pulled out the phone, flipped it open, hit the answer button and watched as the incoming number ap peared on the display. It was Sheriff Burton's cell phone number. Theo hit disconnect. â€Å"I'm fucked,† Theo said. Molly picked up Theo's .357 Magnum from the table, held it on Theo, then picked up Joseph Leander's automatic. â€Å"I'll give these back before I go. I'm going to get some clean clothes and some girlie things out of my bedroom. You be okay here?† â€Å"Yeah, sure.† His head was still hung. He spoke into his lap. â€Å"You're bumming me out, Theo.† â€Å"Sorry.† Molly was gone from the room for only five minutes, in which time Theo tried to get a handle on what had happened. Molly returned with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She was wearing the Kendra costume, com-plete with thigh-high boots. Even in the dim light from the television, Theo could see a ragged scar over her breast. She caught him looking. â€Å"Ended my career,† she said. â€Å"I suppose now they could fix it, but it's a little late.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Theo said. â€Å"I think you look beautiful.† She smiled and shifted both of the pistols to one hand. She'd left the assault rifle by the door and Theo hadn't even noticed. â€Å"You ever feel special, Theo?† â€Å"Special?† â€Å"Not like you're better than everyone else, just that you're different in a good way, like it makes a difference that you're on the planet? You ever feel that way?† â€Å"I don't know. No, not really.† â€Å"I had that for a while. Even though they were cheesy B movies and even though I had to do some humiliating things to get into them, I felt special, Theo. Then it went away. Well, now I feel that way again. That's why.† â€Å"Why what?† â€Å"You asked me why before. That's why I'm going back to Steve.† â€Å"Steve? You call him Steve?† â€Å"He looked like a Steve,† Molly said. â€Å"I have to go. I'll leave your guns in the bed of that red truck you stole. Don't try to follow, okay?† Theo nodded. â€Å"Molly, don't let it kill anybody else. Promise me that.† â€Å"Promise to leave us alone?† â€Å"I can't do that.† â€Å"Okay. Take care of yourself.† She grabbed the assault rifle, kicked open the door, and stepped out. Theo heard her go down the steps, pause, then come back up. She popped her head in the door. â€Å"I'm sorry you never felt special, Theo,† she said. Theo forced a smile. â€Å"Thanks, Molly.† Gabe Gabe stood in the foyer of Valerie Riordan's home, looking at his hiking boots, then the white carpet, then his boots again. Val had gone into the kitchen to get some wine. Skinner was wandering around outside. Gabe sat down on the marble floor, unlaced his boots, then slipped them off. He'd once been into a level-nine clean room at a biotech facility in San Jose, a place where the air was scrubbed and filtered down to the micron and you had to wear a plastic bunny suit with its own air umbilical to avoid contaminating the specimens. Strangely, he'd had a similar feeling to the one he was feeling now, which was: I am the harbinger of filth. Thank God Theo had made him shower and change before his date. Val came into the sunken living room carrying a tray with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She looked up at Gabe, who was standing at the edge of the stairs as if ready to wade into molten lava. â€Å"Well, come on in and have a seat,† Val said. Gabe took a tentative step. â€Å"Nice place,† he said. â€Å"Thanks, I still have a lot to do on it. I suppose I should just hire a decorator and have done with it, but I like finding pieces myself.† â€Å"Right,† Gabe said, taking another step. You could play handball in this room if you didn't mind destroying a lot of antiques. â€Å"It's a cabernet from Wild Horse Vineyard over the hill. I hope you like it.† Val poured the wine into stemmed bubble glasses. She took hers and sat down on the velvet couch, then raised her eyebrows as if to say, â€Å"Well?† Gabe joined her at the other end of the couch, then took a tentative sip of the wine. â€Å"It's nice.† â€Å"For a local cheapie,† Val said. An awkward silence passed between them. Val made a show of tasting the wine again, then said, â€Å"You don't really believe this stuff about a sea monster, do you, Gabe?† Gabe was relieved. She wanted to talk about work. He'd been afraid that she would want to talk about something else – anything else – and he didn't really know how. â€Å"Well, there are the tracks, which look very authentic, so if they are fake, whoever did them studied fossil tracks and replicated them perfectly. Then there's the timing of the rat migration, plus Theo and your patient. Estelle, was it?† Val set down her wine. â€Å"Gabe, I know you're a scientist, and a discovery like this could make you rich and famous, but I just don't believe there's a dinosaur in town.† â€Å"Rich and famous? I hadn't thought about it. I guess there would be some recognition, wouldn't there?† â€Å"Look, Gabe, you deal in hard facts, but every day I deal with the delusions and constructions of people's minds. They are just tracks on the ground, probably like that Bigfoot hoax in Washington a few years ago. Theo is a chronic drug user, and Estelle and her boyfriend Catfish are artist types. They all have overactive imaginations.† Gabe was put off by her judgment of Theo and the others. He thought for a second, then said, â€Å"As a biologist, I have a theory about imagination. I think it's pretty obvious that fear – fear of loud noises, fear of heights, the capacity to learn fear – is something that we've adapted over the years as a survival mechanism, and so is imagination. Everyone thinks that it was the big strong caveman who got the girl, and for the most part, that may have been true, but physical strength doesn't explain how our species cre-ated civilization. I think there was always some scrawny dreamer sitting at the edge of the firelight, who had the ability to imagine dangers, to look into the future in his imagination and see possibilities, and therefore sur-vived to pass his genes on to the next generation. When the big ape men ended up running off the cliff or getting killed while trying to beat a mas-todon into submission with a stick, the dreamer was standing back thinking, †˜Hey, that might work, but you need to run the mastodon off the cliff.' And, then he'd mate with the women left over after the go-getters got killed.† â€Å"So nerds rule,† Val said with a smile. â€Å"But if fear and imagination make you more highly evolved, then someone with paranoid delusions would be ruling the world.† Val was getting into the theory of it now. How strange to talk to a man who talked about ideas, not property and personal agendas. Val liked it. A lot. Gabe said, â€Å"Well, we didn't miss that by far with Hitler, did we? Evolution takes some missteps sometimes. Big teeth worked pretty well for a while, then they got too big. Mastodons' tusks got so large they would snap the animal's neck. And you've probably noticed that there are no saber-toothed cats around anymore.† â€Å"Okay, I'll buy that imagination is an evolutionary leap. But what about depression?† Talking about mental conditions, she couldn't help thinking about what she'd done to her patients. Her crimes circled in her mind, trying to get out. â€Å"Psychiatry is looking more and more at mental conditions from a physical point of view, so that fits. That's why we're treating depres-sion with drugs like Prozac. But what evolutionary purpose is there for depression?† â€Å"I've been thinking about that since you mentioned it at dinner,† Gabe said. He drained his wineglass and moved closer to her on the couch, as if by being closer, she would share in his excitement. He was in his element now. â€Å"A lot of animals besides humans get depressed. Higher mammals like dolphins and whales can die from it, but even rats seem to get the Blues. I can't figure out what purpose it serves. But in humans it might be like nearsightedness: civilization has protected a biological weakness that would have been weeded out by natural dangers or predators.† â€Å"Predators? How?† â€Å"I don't know. Depression might slow the prey down, make it react less quickly to danger. Who knows?† â€Å"So a predator might actually evolve that preyed on depressed animals?† Right and it's me, Val thought. If I haven't been preying on depressed people, what have I been doing? She suddenly felt ashamed of her home, of the pure materialism of it. Here was an incredibly bright man who was concerned with the pure pursuit of knowledge, and she had sold her integrity for some antiques and a Mercedes. Gabe poured himself another glass of wine and sat back now, thinking as he spoke. â€Å"Interesting idea. I suppose there could be some sort of chemical or behavioral stimulus that would trigger preying on the depressed. Low serotonin levels tend to raise libido, right? At least temporarily?† â€Å"Yes,† Val said. That's why the entire town has turned into horndogs, she thought. â€Å"Therefore,† Gabe continued, â€Å"you'd have more animals mating and passing on the depression gene. Nature tends to evolve mechanisms to remain in balance. A predator or a disease would naturally evolve to keep the depressed population down. Interesting, I've been feeling especially horny lately, I wonder if I'm depressed.† Gabe's eyes snapped open wide and he looked at Val with the full-blown terror of what he had just said. He gulped his wine, then said, â€Å"I'm sorry, I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Val couldn't stand it anymore. Gabe's faux pas opened the gate, and she stepped through it. â€Å"Gabe, we have to talk.† â€Å"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She grabbed his arm to stop him. â€Å"No, I have to tell you something.† Gabe braced himself for the worst. He'd fallen out of the lofty world of theory into the awkward, gritty world of first dates, and she was going to drop the â€Å"Don't get the wrong idea† bomb on him. She gripped his arm and her nails dug into his bicep hard enough to make him wince. She said, â€Å"A little over a month ago, I took almost a third of the people in Pine Cove off antidepressants.† â€Å"Huh?† That wasn't at all what he'd expected. â€Å"My God, why?† â€Å"Because of Bess Leander's suicide. Or what I thought was her suicide. I was just going through the motions in my practice. Writing prescriptions and collecting fees.† She explained about her arrangement with Winston Krauss and how the pharmacist had refused to put everyone back on the drugs. When she finished, to wait for his judgment, there were tears welling up in her eyes. He put his arms around her tentatively, hoping it was the right thing to do. â€Å"Why tell me this?† She melted against his chest. â€Å"Because I trust you and because I have to tell someone and because I need to figure out what to do. I don't want to go to jail, Gabe. Maybe all my patients didn't need to be on antidepressants, but a lot of them did.† She sobbed on his shoulder and he began to stroke her hair, then pushed up her chin and kissed her tears. â€Å"It'll be okay. It will.† She looked up into his eyes, as if looking for a hint of disdain, then not finding it, she kissed him hard and pulled him on top of her on the couch. A Higher Power And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? – Revelation 13:4 Twenty-three Steve What horrors can a dragon dream? A creature who has, in his own way, ruled the planet for millions of years, a creature for whom the mingy man mammals have built temples, a creature who has known no predator but time – what could he possibly dream that would frighten him? Call it the knowing? Under a stand of oak trees, sexually satisfied and with a bellyful of drug dealers, the dragon dreamed a vision of time past. The eternal now that he had always known suddenly had history. In the dream he saw himself as a larva, tucked into the protective pouch under his mother's tongue until it was safe to venture out under her watchful eye. He saw the hunting and the mating, the forms he had learned to mimic as his mercurial DNA evolved not through generations, but through regeneration of cells. He saw the mates he had eaten, the three young he had borne as a female, the last killed by a warmblood who sang the Blues. He remembered the chan-ging, not so long ago, from female to male, and he remembered all of it in pictures, not in mere instinctual patterns and conditioned responses. He saw these pictures in the dream, brought on by the strange mating with the warmblood, and he wondered why. For the first time in his five thousand years, he asked, Why? And the dream answered with a picture of all the oceans and swamps, the rivers and bogs and trenches and mountains beneath the sea, and they were all empty of his kind. As sure as if he were floating through the cold black at the end of the universe, where light gives up hope and time chases its tail until it dies from exhaustion, he was alone. Sex does that to some guys. Val â€Å"Oh my God, the rat brains!† Gabe shouted. It was a different response to lovemaking. Val wasn't sure that she might not be hurt, feeling vulnerable as she was, with her knees in the vicinity of her ears, a biologist on top of her, and her panty hose waving off one foot like a tattered battle flag. Gabe collapsed into her arms and she looked over his shoulder to the coffee table to check that they hadn't kicked the wineglasses off onto the carpet. â€Å"Are you okay?† she asked, a little breathless. â€Å"I'm sorry, but I just realized what's going on with this creature.† â€Å"That's what you were thinking about?† Yes, her feelings were definitely hurt. â€Å"No, not during. It came to me in a flash right after. Somehow the creature can attract mammals with lower than normal serotonin levels. And you've got, what, a third of the population running around in antidepressant withdrawal?† She was pissed now, not hurt. She dumped him off her onto the floor, stood up, pulled her skirt down, and stepped away. He scrambled into his pants and looked around for his shirt, which lay in shreds behind the couch. He had a tan that ended at the neckline and just below the shoulders; the rest of him was milk white. He looked up at her from the gap between the couch and the coffee table with a pleading in his eyes, as if he were looking up from a coffin in which he was about to be buried alive. â€Å"Sorry,† he said. He wasn't looking her in the eye, and Val suddenly realized that he was talking to her exposed breasts. She pulled her blouse closed, and a battery of insults rose in her mind, ready to be fired, but all of them were mean-spirited and would serve to do nothing but make them both feel ashamed. He was who he was, and he was honest and real, and she knew that he hadn't meant to hurt her. So she cried. Thinking, Great, crying is what got me into this in the first place. She plopped down on the couch with her face in her hands. Gabe moved to her side and put his arm around her. â€Å"I'm really sorry. I'm not very good at this sort of thing.† â€Å"You're fine. It's just too much.† â€Å"I should go.† He started to stand. She caught his arm in a death grip. â€Å"You go and I'll hunt you down and kill you like a rabid dog.† â€Å"I'll stay.† â€Å"No go,† she said. â€Å"I understand.† â€Å"Okay, I'll go.† â€Å"Don't you dare.† She threw her arms around him and kissed him hard, pulling him back down onto the couch, and within seconds they were all over each other again. That's it, she thought, no more crying. It's the crying that does it. This guy is aroused by my pain. But soon they lay in a panting sweaty pile on the floor and the idea of crying was light-years away. And this time Gabe said, â€Å"That was wonderful.† Val noticed a wineglass overturned by her head, a cabernet stain bleeding over the carpet. â€Å"Is it salt or club soda?† Gabe pulled away far enough to look into her eyes and saw that she was looking at the stained carpet. â€Å"Salt and cold water, I think. Or is that blood?† A drop of sweat dripped off his forehead onto her lips. She looked at him. â€Å"You weren't thinking about that creature that doesn't exist, were you?† â€Å"Just you.† She smiled. â€Å"Really?† â€Å"And a weed-whacker, for some reason.† â€Å"You're kidding.† â€Å"Uh, yes, I'm kidding. I was only thinking of you.† â€Å"So you don't think I'm a horrible person for what I've done?† â€Å"You were trying to do what you thought was right. How could that be horrible?† â€Å"I feel horrible.† â€Å"It's been a long time. I'm out of practice.† â€Å"No, not about this. About my patients. You really think something could be preying on them?† â€Å"It's just a theory. There may not even be a creature.† â€Å"But what if there is? Shouldn't we call the National Guard or something?† â€Å"I was thinking of calling Theo.† â€Å"Theo isn't even a real cop.† â€Å"He deserves to know.† They lay there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the spreading stain on the carpet, feeling the sweat run down their ribs, and listening to the beat of each other's hearts. â€Å"Gabe?† Val whispered. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Maybe we should go to couples' counseling.† â€Å"Should we get dressed first?† â€Å"You were serious about the weed-whacker, weren't you?† â€Å"I don't know where that image came from.† â€Å"There's supposed to be a good couples' guy in San Junipero, unless you'd rather go to a woman counselor.† â€Å"I thought we were going to call the National Guard.† â€Å"Only if it comes to that,† Val said. Thinking, When we tell the shrink about this, I'm leaving out the part about the wine spilling. Theo Is there anything more irritating than people who have just been laid? Especially when you have not. Not for a long time. Oh, it was obvious as soon as they came through Molly's front door, waking Theo for the second time that night: Gabe's grin looking like the oversized grill on an old Chrysler, Val Riordan wearing jeans and almost no makeup; the both of them giddy and giggling and blushing like children. Theo wanted to puke. He was happy for them, but he wanted to puke. â€Å"What?† Theo said. Gabe was obviously amped and trying not to show it. He put his hands in his pockets to keep from waving them around. â€Å"I† – he looked at Val and smiled – â€Å"we think that this creature, if it exists, may be attracted to prey with low serum serotonin levels.† Gabe bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for his statement to sink in. Theo sat there, staring at him, with no discernible change in expres-sion from the weariness he'd worn since they came through the door. He guessed that he was supposed to say something now. â€Å"Molly was here,† Theo said. â€Å"The creature exists. It ate Mikey Plotznik, and Joseph Leander, and who knows who else? She said it's a dragon.† Gabe's grin dropped. â€Å"That's great. I mean, that's horrible, but it's great from a scientific point of view. I have another theory about this species. I think it has some specialized mechanism to affect its prey. Have you been horny lately?† â€Å"There's no need to be arrogant, Gabe. I'm glad you two had a good time, but there's no need to rub it in.† â€Å"No no, you don't get it.† Gabe went on to explain about Val Riordan's decision to take her patients off antidepressants and how the lowering of serotonin levels could lead to increased libido. â€Å"So Pine Cove has been full of horny people.† â€Å"Right,† Theo said. â€Å"And I still can't get a date.† Val Riordan laughed and Theo glared at her. Gabe said, â€Å"The rats I found alive near this trailer, where we think the creature might have been, were mating when I found them. There are some species of carnivorous plants that give off a sex pheromone that attracts their prey. In some species, the behavior of the male – a display, a dance, a scent – will stimulate the ovaries in the female of the species without any physical contact. I think that's what's happened to us.† â€Å"Our ovaries are being stimulated?† Theo rubbed sleep from his eyes. â€Å"I gotta be honest with you, Gabe. I'm not feeling it.† Val turned to Gabe. â€Å"That's not very romantic.† â€Å"It's incredibly exciting. This may be the most elegant predator that the world has ever seen.† Theo shook his head. â€Å"I have no home, no job, no car, there's probably a warrant out for my arrest, and you want me to be excited over the fact that we have a monster in town that makes you horny so he can eat you? Sorry, Gabe, I'm missing the positive side of this.† Val chimed in, â€Å"It may be the reason that you've been able to quit smoking pot so easily.† â€Å"Pardon me? Easily?† Theo wanted to jump off the couch and bitch-slap them both. â€Å"Were you ever able to go this long before?† â€Å"She could be right, Theo,† Gabe said. â€Å"If this thing affects serotonin, it could affect other neurotransmitters.† â€Å"Oh good,† Theo said. â€Å"Let's open a detox clinic. We'll feed half of the patients to the monster and the other half will recover. I can't wait.† â€Å"There's no need to be sarcastic,† Gabe said. â€Å"We're just trying to help.† â€Å"Help? Help with what? Bar fight? I can handle it. Skateboard theft? I'm on it. But my law enforcement experience hasn't prepared me for dealing with this.† â€Å"That's true, Gabe,† Val said. â€Å"Theo's little more than a rent-a-cop. Maybe we should call the sheriff or the FBI or the National Guard.† â€Å"And tell them what?† Theo asked. Rent-a-cop? I'm not even that now, he thought. â€Å"He has a point.† Gabe said. â€Å"We haven't seen anything.† â€Å"That old Blues singer has,† Val said. Theo nodded. â€Å"We need to find him. Maybe he'll†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"He's living with Estelle Boyet,† Val said. â€Å"I have her address in my office.†