Obesity and Responsibility Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Obesity and Responsibility - Lab Report Example Obesity is defined as weight at least 20% in excess of the range suggested in standard height weight tables or a body mass index greater than 27 (Martin 2005).. Every year, child obesity costs 100 million dollars to the government. Poor education and absence of equal opportunities is the main factors limited the equal distribution of economic and social resources. The responsibility of the government can be explained by the fact that it does not introduce strict rules and regulations to control fast food industry and advertising. Most researchers (Anderson et al 2003) parallel child obesity epidemics with economic problems and development and growth of fast food industry which became a distinctive feature of the life style. Fast food life style is dangerous because it results in disbalance of nutrition and causes eating disorders. All fast food contains high cholesterol level which is the primarily cause of obesity. Limited physical activity worsens the problems of obesity. Most fast food restaurants popularize and promote unhealthy eating behavior which leads to obesity problems. Most food proposed in such restaurants is fat saturated with high caloricity level. In spite of advertising efforts to promote health conscious menus or calorie free diet, hamburgers and fried potato are the most "dangerous" products sold by fast food. Social dimens ions are manifested in the ability of mass media to control the circulation of ideas about body image and fashion. The researchers state that: Fast food consumption is the other leading suspect in the childhood obesity epidemic. Fast food typically includes all of the things that nutritionists warn against: "saturated and trans fats, high glycemic index, high energy density, and increasingly, large portion size." They further note that a large fast food meal can contain about 2,200 calories, which at a burn rate of 85-100 calories per mile would require something near a full marathon to expend!" (Anderson et al 2003, p. 30). Thus, children's relation to McDonald's and other forms of popular culture is complex: it is not always oppressive; it is not always empowering. All phases of the relationship must be analyzed in their specificity and uniqueness. In the same manner every aspect of McDonald's does not signal a macro-social dynamic at work; on the other hand, however, many do. Researching the impact of McDonald's on children's attention to the testimonies and actions of specific child customers of McDonald's is certainly necessary, but it is not sufficient in the inquiry needed to tell this story. The government can be blamed for false advertising and lack of strict control over fast food industry. The main social institution responsible for ability problem is a family. Staveren and Dale (2004) underline that today many families have a possibility to buy and eat healthier fat free food in contrast to low-income families which are used to buy lower-price fat saturated food. That is why more blue collars suffer form obesity than white collars. In addition, families with high income usually visit more expensive bars and restaurants where they order fat free dishes, but the popular place for low income people is fast food restaurants. The effect of fast food on risk of obesity is tremendous. It was proved that fast-food habits have strong, positive, and independent associations with weight gain and insulin resistance in young

Cyberspace and real Space Essay Example for Free

Cyberspace and real Space Essay The real space is a backdrop where human entities are controlled by the sovereign codes or constitution of the land based on particular demographics. For instance, people need to have passports for them to be legitimate to drive vehicles; they also need passports with visa stamps for them to be able to roam about in different territorial precincts. Whereas the cyberspace is a backdrop that persons are, inherently, free from the control of real space sovereigns. Licenses determine one’s individuality, they say who they are, and if they have been involved in any criminal activities. These are internal passports of many contemporary societies. This environment is characterized by the decentralized nature of the internet that has created the world a global village. Contrary to the underlying connotations, the cyberspace like the free world is subject to monumental regulations that are now evident with the emerging technological advances. Ideally, the cyberspace has the probability of being the most enormously and extensively controlled space in our very existence. So the prospects of a space of freedom shouldn’t arise. Bolter J. D (1999) Presently as in authentic freedom, myriad restrictions control character in the cyberspace. The legal framework for instance has documented the cyberspace patent law, defamation law, sexual harassment law, to control character of the cyber space just like it is curtailed in the real world. The cyberspace at present has incorporated regulatory models that administer attitude and renders persons to approve from others. This also works in the cyberspace as customs operate in real space, aggressive punishments expressed by a society. The bazaar hampers in cyber space, presently as in the actual space. Change the value of access, the restrictions on access varies. Differentiate the architecture of pricing access and the regulation of marginal access shifts dramatically as well. Bukatman S (2000) The cyberspace in this argument hinges on the architecture inclined on the coding system. How persons interact and co-subsist in the cyberspace backdrop is therefore determined by clustered protocols, the set of rules, implemented or codified, in the software of cyberspace itself. The cryptogram architecture in the real space sets the terms that also apply in the cyberspace. Life in the real space is subject to the code in the same way just like life in real space is subject to the architectures of real space. Bukatman S (2000) The essence of the constrictions of code in cyberspace differs, although the comprehension of it does not fluctuate. The cyberspace infrastructures have been made in a way that prompts password verification before one gain an access into the network or database. At some point transactions processed by individuals offers map out that guide transactions. In some backgrounds one can opt to speak a language that the recipient can only comprehend, and in other regions, encryption in not an option. Bukatman S (2000) The variations are represented by the code of these conflicting places. The cryptogram or program or design or code of behavior of the spaces constructs these prototypes. These are typically prototypes determined by code writers; they hold back some performances by making other performances probable. Bukatman S (2000) In actual sense these clustered rules like the designs inherent in the real space, regulate character in cyberspace. Code and market and norms and law together control the cyberspace then as architecture and market and norms and law regulate in real space. Based on research findings, real space depends on architecture configurations. Clustered rules and traditions and the bazaar could easily differentiate alongside various types in real space. In real space hiding is a bit problematic. Evidently, a kid can don a mustache, and position on stilts and endeavor to pierce a porn shop to purchase porn. Cyberspace and real spaces are two separate entities, even though it has been assumed that clustered regulations operating between the two spaces are moreless similar. The default in cyberspace is ambiguity. Since it is easy to conceal the identity and enhance perversity on the net, it is pragmatic that codes and norms to apply in the cyberspace are a bit tricky. Regulation of behavior in the cyberspace is an intricate affair as it is evident in the real space. This is attributed to the amorphous nature of the coding design that make-up the cyberspace. McCaffrey L (1999) Politically the cyberspace architecture portrays differences in political regimes of liberty and political regimes of monopoly. They follow divergent ideological differences between the West and the East Germany; flanked also by the USA and the former USSR; in addition to the Republic of China and the Mainland China. In a nutshell these spaces are about divergent philosophies of admittance. The underlying principals construct differences between control and freedom and these differences are manifested through design and structured rules. The coding platforms have been enhancing political mores. With the advents of contemporary scientific advances, the choices in terms of the architecture are as imperative as the constitution that governs the land. Essentially the clustered rules governing the cyberspace are simply its constitution. This code establishes terms through which individuals obtain entry; the codes also determine the regulations and fashion the traditions. Implicitly, the coding system is the cyberspace authority regulating this particular backdrop just like the realspace is regulated by the constitution. Much as the Internet configuration has been celebrated as a conduit of freedom, so much in response to the system is changing under our consciousness. The misconception that the net enhances a liberal society is practically undergoing serious metamorphosis. There has been a shift in the coding system from freedom to monopoly. This change is rather inevitable and it’s being implemented without interference by state machineries. Both the political class and also pundits representing the interests of the political elites have invaded the evolution of the coding structures. They are indeed shifting the design from a freedom-based backdrop to despotic kind of network. McCaffrey L (1999) With the enormous rates by which technology is changing, it is evident that probabilities are very high to the uprising of despotic authorities that would be rather worse off hypothetical than any sovereignty in the real space ever was. Scientific structures of control are prospective, although very expensive to support. The extravagant monetary aspect inherent with the cyberspace is one aspect that fosters potential liberty. Inefficient Real space monopolistic technologies are tantamount to real space liberty. No sooner than soon the cyberspace culture is translating into a culture visible in the real space. The direction technology is heading will soon bring about a costless database collecting persons statistics at no cost, without interfering with persons endeavors. Tabbi J (2000) Soon or later the cyberspace just like the real space will witness massive authorization to monitor behavior. However, the scrutinizing effect in the cyberspace would be less expensive in comparison to the tracking architectures in the real world. The monitoring factors function in stealth modes on the background of the cyberspace, but effectively and invisibly. The cyberspace system is an awful system of control that is much more significant than real space systems in the history of humanity. The system to some extent professes the notions of liberty as well as freedom from government. What is imperative in terms of the coding structure is to find possible means by which salient and fundamental the modern day freedom platform of the net could offer. Benjamin F (2005) What is however fundamentally true in the evolution of the Cyberspace, is that the coding industry should perceive how these clustered laws are emerging sovereign omnipresent, omnipotent, gentle, efficient, expanding and it should be constructed contrary to the authority and precincts that have been industrialized not in favor of real space crown heads. In the real space, law controls in myriad ways as well. It controls, indirectly and directly. It regulates indirectly when it controls these other modalities of constraint in the sense that they regulate differently. Dry law controls the norms divergently, whereas it regulates the market and at the same time the market controls differently; it also controls design in the sense that architecture could control separately. Spinard N (2000) In the real space the government of the day can co-opt, the other configurations in the sense that this structures constrain to the governments end. The same is applicable in cyberspace. Nonetheless, the government can control the Cyberspace so that character in the Cyberspace becomes rather governable. By the use of encryption, the government could easily regulate to particular substantive ends. Most regimes in this case have been curtailing on encryption in bid to controlling privacy and the ability to hide the content of communications from the eyes of an eavesdropping third party. With the technological advances present, the US has dominated the market with encryption that offer a backdoor open for the government to enter. Benedict. M (1999) The real space scenario, passports were symbolically badges that gave persons admittance. They controlled what in the Russian state Russians could come to know. It is until the issue of the passports were abolished is when Russian people obtained their democratization of citizenship in Russia. In essence the real space or rather the real world is controlled by certain constraints. Law controls by imposing sanctions, in the event that taxes are not duly paid, the consequences are so tough that they could lead someone into jail. If you steal some one car you could easily end up behind bars. Dry law is consequently a highflying constraint. Social mores also do regulate, in terms of how persons should contact themselves. This mores are enhanced through various code laid down by different societies. The market constraints also act as control mechanisms that curtail the amount of expenditure on attires. Through the structures of price, the market constructs opportunities as well as regulations. Lastly but not least nature functions as an aspect of regulation in the real space. This is categorically, the constraint of the world as it is. The fact that you cannot see what lies behind this or that mountain is imperatively nature limitation of the perception. Bell, D (2002) References: Bell, D (2002) A study of the Cyber traditions. Britain Rout ledge. Benedict. M (1999) the Cyberspace, Oxford University Press. Bolter J. D (1999) Space Coding: Technology and the evolution of coding, hypertext. Hillsdale. Bukatman S (2000) Workstation Distinctiveness. The Virtual themes in Contemporary scientific fiction. Harvard University Press. Dery M (2000) Get away Swiftness. Cyber traditions at the end of the century. Minnesota University Press. Jordan T (2000) Cyber Authority: the traditions and politics of the cyber world. Cambridge University Press. McCaffrey L (1999) Invading the Practical Studio: study on the cyberpunk and contemporary scientific fiction. Birmingham University Press. Penley et al (1999) the techno culture. Minneapolis: University of Leeds press. Tabbi J (2000) Contemporary Sublime: American scientific revolutions from mail to cyberpunks. Oregon University Press. Cavallaro D (2005) Cyberpunk and the Real space: scientific fiction and the works of Gibson William. New York press. Benjamin F (2005) trouncing up the scientific flight path Post Modern identity and Political Alternatives. Modern fiction. Cambridge University Press. Spinard N (2000) The Necromantic Cyber experts; Science fiction in the real world. Carbondale, Illinois University Press.

The Region Is The Middle East International Relations Essay

The Region Is The Middle East International Relations Essay The region is the Middle East. The cause of the Israel/Palestine conflict is the question of land and who rules it. Jewish colonization and Palestinian nationalism, both laying claim to the same territory is the basis of this long conflict.The land involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict totals approximately 10,000 square miles at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. The state of Israel encompasses the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean ocean, bordered by Egypt in the south, Lebanon in the north, and Jordan in the East. The Gaza strip is an additional141 square miles south of Israel, thatis under the control of the Palestinians. Palestine is one of the oldest agricultural sites in the world. Archeologists found wheat at Jericho dating from before 8,000 B.C. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have roots in the Middle East. The land has been one of conflict and shifts in power back to the days of the Bible. I believe unfair reports and incomplete information have reached the American people with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The only way to find the real stories is to go looking for them. Richard North Patterson brought the lack of accurate information to my attention when I read his novel called, â€Å"Exile†. I, like most Americans, have received most of my information, and therefore the basis for my beliefs from the media. Mr. North Pattersons novel shook my beliefs enough for me to want to look further into the facts of the conflict. As the organization of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting shows, the media does not always provide the unbiased detail to understand what the conflict involves. It is difficult to report a story without taking a side to the conflict, but one side seems to have had the sympathies of the media and therefore the rest of the world. After World War II, the United Nations recommended partitioning Palestine into two states and the internationalization of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In this UN Resolution, the minority of the Jewish people received the majority and the better of the land. The Arabs received 43 percent of the land, the Jews 57 percent. Despite the Arab Palestinians rejection of the partition and the existence of Israel, Israel was proclaimed a state on May 14 1948. While the Jewish people obtained their homeland, there has been no Palestine and no internationalization of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In 1948, Palestinians were driven out of the new state of Israel into refugee camps in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and other regions. Approximately 750,000 people were driven from their homes in Israel; and many Jews were also driven from their homes in surrounding Arab countries. Both the expelled Palestinians and Jews often had their land and bank accounts and other property seized. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been one of the longest and has led to thousands of deaths. For both the states, the claim to the land goes back thousands of years. The Jewish peoples claim dates from Biblical times when Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish Kingdom. By 70 A.D. the Romans had claim to the land which started the Jewish â€Å"time of wandering†. The Romans lost control by the 9th century to the Arabs who were mostly Muslims and who, like the Jews considered Jerusalem one of the holiest cities. Palestine remained under Muslim rule for over ten centuries. Britain claimed control of the land in November of 1917 and the League of Nations gave the British control to govern and help Zionists settlers build a Jewish national home. In 1922, Britain divided the land, with the eastern half becoming the separate country of Jordan. The British ruled Palestine over the next 25 years until hostilities between the Arab Palestinians and the Jewish settlers became intoler ably hostile so that Britain turned Palestine over to the newly formed United Nations. The holocaust during World War I, from 1939 to 1945 was a catalyst for the Jewish people to return to Palestine. The worlds sympathies were with the Jews and creating a Jewish national homeland. As a result in 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine into two states; one Jewish the other Palestinian. The Palestinians felt that establishing Israel and the resulting Jewish settlers that displaced the original Palestinian inhabitants created the conflict that exists today while the Israelis argue that the Palestinians refusal to accept Israel and by trying to destroy it, created the conflict that exists today. On May 15, 1948, the day following the declaration of Israels independence armies from five Arab countries combined to invade Israel. After a year of fighting, Israel held more land than was originally given to them by the United Nations. Cease-fire agreements were signed but the Arabs would not sign a peace treaty because they did not consider the war to be over. Egypt and Jordan absorbed the parts of Palestine not taken by Israel. The Arab Palestinians call this war the â€Å"Catastrophe†. Approximately a million Palestinians that were left without homes or farms fled Israel but most were turned away from other Arab countries and found themselves living in United Nations run refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank. In 1967, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan attacked Israel. During the 6-day-war Israel took large stretches of land from the Arabs including the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank from Jordan, which was the center of ancient Israel but was supposed to become the center of the Palestinian state in 1948. By winning the West Bank, Israel held most of historic Israel and the cities of Bethlehem, Hebron and the old city of Jerusalem. After the war, Israel attempted peace by returning all the land except Jerusalem but the Arab Palestinians would not negotiate on this point. The United Nations passed Security Council resolution 242 in November that called for, â€Å"Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in exchange for secure and recognized boundaries†. The Arabs rejected the resolution but over time, most Arab nations accepted the resolution as the basis for todays peace agreements and negotiations. Jerusalem is prized because of its religious history as the holy city for Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The current conflict over Jerusalem is the direct result of the United Nations Partition Plan in 1947, which would make Jerusalem an International city under United Nations control. In the 1948 war following the partition, Israel captured West Jerusalem and Jordan held East Jerusalem. The city remained divided until the 6-day war in 1967 when Israel also captured East Jerusalem from Jordan. Since 1967, Israel considers the entire city of Jerusalem to be its capital, while it was historically Jerusalem was the capital of Palestine and must be the capital of their future homeland. Peace depends on resolving the issue of Jerusalem. Palestinians have lived in the West Bank under Israeli occupation since 1967. Israel has built settlements in the West Bank which house 400,000 Jews. These settlements are illegal under International law, which Israel disputes and ignores. These settlemen ts on what should be Palestinian land are also a major factor in the conflict today. Since 1967, negotiations have centered on retuning land to pre-1967 states as required by International law and United Nations resolutions. In the late 1980s began the first Palestinian uprising called the â€Å"Intifada†. The movement was initially non-violent but the media focused on the violence that did occur. Young Palestinians confronted Israeli troops with slingshots and stones and thousands were killed by the Israeli military. In 1993 another one-sided peace accord, the Oslo Peace Accord, provided that Israel recognize the PLO and gave them limited autonomy in return for peace and an end to Palestinian claims on Israeli territory. This was one-sided because Israel gained control of the land, water and other resources, and the Palestinians really did not gain anything. Many acts of violence have occurred over the years from both sides but with little results. The Palestinians are still without a nation, have limited rights and suffer from poverty. Israel continues to increase and expand settlements into occupied territories, and are willing to give up less and less land than they promised. The Palestinians have lived under military occupation for over thirty years. Frustration and anger against both the United States and the United Nations have resulted in extremism in some cases. These militant groups from Palestine and other Arab nations have engaged in acts they see as freedom fighting but that Israel, the United States and most of the world see as terrorism. In 2002, Israel began building a large security fence in the West Bank to stop terrorists from entering Israeli cities and settlements, this fence falls on Palestinian land. The International court says the barrier was illegal but construction continued. In 2003, the United States and Palestinians pushing for peace and a two-state resolution announced a cease-fire but Israel continued to assassinate militant leaders leading to Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli air strikes. In recent years, anger and frustration mount as poorer Palestinians find themselves with poorer and poorer land while Israel bulldozes their homes in an attempt to kill militant leaders more often killing innocent civilians including women and children. Israel has demanded that the Palestinian National Authority control the suicide bombers but then Israel bombs official buildings and compounds making it impossible for the Authority to control the terrorists. Israel is actually giving more power to the extremists such as Hamas and fueling their desire to destroy Israel. Hamas has gained power with the Palestinian people because although their means are terrorism and they are listed as a terrorist organization, Hamas spends most of its $70 million annual budget on extensive social programs. â€Å"Hamas funds schools, orphanages, mosques, health care clinics, soup kitchens, and sport leagues. Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural and educational activities.† The people depend on Hamas because the Palestinian Authority does not provide these services and because Hamas has a reputation for honesty compared to the corruption within the Palestinian Authority. The result of this conflict appears to be one-sided. The Israelis gained their homeland and the holy city of Jerusalem while Palestine lost its entire state and their holy city. Most Palestinians had their land taken, land which had been bought by or given to their ancestors and passed down through generations. The United States and other Western countries interest in the Middle East is and has been largely about oil. The United States military and financial support of Israel has been largely due to the oil to ensure a large, strong ally in the Middle East. However, the military and financial support has resulted in Israel having the strongest and most advanced military in the Middle East, which includes nuclear weapons. The United Nations has attempted many resolutions that have been critical of Israels inaction, and though the international community has been behind these resolutions, the United States vetoes them. Instead, there is more Israeli land expansion and settlements. There is no doubt in my mind that the original United Nations plan to divide the land to provide for the needs of both the Palestinians and the Jews. The United Nations plan has not been carried out, honored, or enforced by the United Nations or by the United States. Today the Palestinians are in the â€Å"wandering time† without a homeland. There is no way to end Israels responsibility in the conflict without eliminating the consequences of the â€Å"catastrophe† of the Palestinian people. The same conflict exists today because of the continued wars, occupation, aggression, and walls to glorify Israels independence and legitimacy while trying to eliminate Palestinians legitimate national rights, freedom, and independence.† One cannot exist without the other. United Nations resolutions enforcement and United States interventions could right an imbalance. In the quest for a Jewish homeland with the creation of Israel, there has been devastation of Palestinian live s. Historic Palestine was of its people whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim and they lived together in peace. Violence and force will not bring peace to either side. â€Å"Only a peaceful solution to the conflict based on mutual rights will put an end to the violence and suffering on both sides, and will lay down the foundations for the prosperity and well-being of the two peoples (Bisharat).† Shah, Anup. â€Å"The Middle East conflict—a brief background.† Global Issues, Updated: 30 Jul. 2006. Accessed: 08 May. 2010. http://www.globalissues.org/article/119/the-middle-east-conflict-a-brief-background>

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The advance in telecommunications will not cause people to be dependent on their computers and alone in a world of billions. Rather, it will open up new avenues in democracy and will help people involve themselves more in the democratic process. Computers can simplify voting, create less biased views of world events, and encourage more political awareness. Going to the polls could be a thing of the past. A click of the mouse could instantly register your vote. Furthermore, nationwide results could be instantly tabulated, to increase voter participation and decrease costs. The main argument against on-line voting is security. The national computer system could be hacked into, but this problem could be rectified with a secure computer system like that used by the Department of Defense. Another potential problem is multiple votes. A simple solution is to use personal identification numbers, such as social security numbers. While these arguments are valid, they can be easily solved in order to maximize the benefits of an on-line voting system. It is often predicted that by the year 2000, 5-10 corporations will control most of the worlds important media. This concentration of ownership raises concerns that the information citizens receive from the media may be censored or biased in favor of the owner corporation. With the Internet, you can receive news almost instantaneously from eyewitnesses. You eliminate the middle man who can censor the news and color the truth. A problem with news on the Internet is credibility, which is a problem in all media. Whether in a newspaper or magazine, on television or the Internet, information should always be verified by other sources. Despite this, the timeliness and breadth of Internet news can lead us to being more open and informed voters. Computers also aid democracy by providing a unique venue for increased political awareness. Many politicians and political interest groups have websites that provide a wealth of information. With Internet â€Å"chats†, you can get to know your local government officials and air any subjects that concern you. Also, anybody can now e-mail the President and other high ranking officials. All this makes the bureaucratic process less impersonal and gives us a convenient and better way to know the people and issues in our political life. These advantages in telecommunications have created the possibility of a more direct form of democracy, or "electronic city-state." The United States could become a country where every citizen votes over the Internet on every law . This will not happen, however, because most congressmen would vote against an "electronic city state" as they

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 1~2

For Jim Darling, Flip Nicklin, and Meagan Jones: extraordinary people who do extraordinary work Fluke (flook) 1. A stroke of good luck 2. A chance occurrence; an accident 3. A barb or barbed head, as on a harpoon 4. Either of the two horizontally flattened divisions of the tail of a whale PART ONE The Song An ocean without its unnamed monsters would be like a completely dreamless sleep. – JOHN STEINBECK The scientific method is nothing more than a system of rules to keep us from lying to each other. – KEN NORRIS CHAPTER ONE Big and Wet Next Question? Amy called the whale punkin. He was fifty feet long, wider than a city bus, and weighed eighty thousand pounds. One well-placed slap of his great tail would reduce the boat to fiberglass splinters and its occupants to red stains drifting in the blue Hawaiian waters. Amy leaned over the side of the boat and lowered the hydrophone down on the whale. â€Å"Good morning, punkin,† she said. Nathan Quinn shook his head and tried not to upchuck from the cuteness of it, of her, while surreptitiously sneaking a look at her bottom and feeling a little sleazy about it. Science can be complex. Nate was a scientist. Amy was a scientist, too, but she looked fantastic in a pair of khaki hiking shorts, scientifically speaking. Below, the whale sang on, the boat vibrated with each note. The stainless rail at the bow began to buzz. Nate could feel the deeper notes resonate in his rib cage. The whale was into a section of the song they called the  «green » themes, a long series of whoops that sounded like an ambulance driving through pudding. A less trained listener might have thought that the whale was rejoicing, celebrating, shouting howdy to the world to let everyone and everything know that he was alive and feeling good, but Nate was a trained listener, perhaps the most trained listener in the world, and to his expert ears the whale was saying – Well, he had no idea what in the hell the whale was saying, did he? That's why they were out there floating in that sapphire channel off Maui in a small speedboat, sloshing their breakfasts around at seven in the morning: No one knew why the humpbacks sang. Nate had been listening to them, observing them, photographing them, and poking them with stick s for twenty-five years, and he still had no idea why, exactly, they sang. â€Å"He's into his ribbits,† Amy said, identifying a section of the whale's song that usually came right before the animal was about to surface. The scientific term for this noise was  «ribbits » because that's what they sounded like. Science can be simple. Nate peeked over the side and looked at the whale that was suspended head down in the water about fifty feet below them. His flukes and pectoral fins were white and described a crystal-blue chevron in the deep blue water. So still was the great beast that he might have been floating in space, the last beacon of some long-dead space-traveling race – except that he was making croaky noises that would have sounded more appropriate coming out of a two-inch tree frog than the archaic remnant of a superrace. Nate smiled. He liked ribbits. The whale flicked his tail once and shot out of Nate's field of vision. â€Å"He's coming up,† Nate said. Amy tore off her headphones and picked up the motorized Nikon with the three-hundred-millimeter lens. Nate quickly pulled up the hydrophone, allowing the wet cord to spool into a coil at his feet, then turned to the console and started the engine. Then they waited. There was a blast of air from behind them and they both spun around to see the column of water vapor hanging in the air, but it was far, perhaps three hundred meters behind them – too far away to be their whale. That was the problem with the channel between Maui and Lanai where they worked: There were so many whales that you often had a hard time distinguishing the one you were studying from the hundreds of others. The abundance of animals was a both a blessing and a curse. â€Å"That our guy?† Amy asked. All the singers were guys. As far as they knew anyway. The DNA tests had proven that. â€Å"Nope.† There was another blow to their left, this one much closer. Nate could see the white flukes or blades of his tail under the water, even from a hundred meters away. Amy hit the stop button on her watch. Nate pushed the throttle forward and they were off. Amy braced a knee against the console to steady herself, keeping the camera pointed toward the whale as the boat bounced along. He would blow three, maybe four times, then fluke and dive. Amy had to be ready when the whale dove to get a clear shot of his flukes so he could be identified and cataloged. When they were within thirty yards of the whale, Nate backed the throttle down and held them in position. The whale blew again, and they were close enough to catch some of the mist. There was none of the dead fish and massive morning-mouth smell that they would have encountered in Alaska. Humpbacks didn't feed while they were in Hawaii. The whale fluked and Amy fired off two quick frames with the Nikon. â€Å"Good boy,† Amy said to the whale. She hit the lap timer button on her watch. Nate cut the engine and the speedboat settled into the gentle swell. He threw the hydrophone overboard, then hit the record button on the recorder that was bungee-corded to the console. Amy set the camera on the seat in front of the console, then snatched their notebook out of a waterproof pouch. â€Å"He's right on sixteen minutes,† Amy said, checking the time and recording it in the notebook. She wrote the time and the frame numbers of the film she had just shot. Nate read her the footage number off the recorder, then the longitude and latitude from the portable GPS (global positioning system) device. She put down the notebook, and they listened. They weren't right on top of the whale as they had been before, but they could hear him singing through the recorder's speaker. Nate put on the headphones and sat back to listen. That's how field research was. Moments of frantic activity followed by long periods of waiting. (Nate's first ex-wife had once commented that their sex life could be described in exactly the same way, but that was after they had separated, and she was just being snotty.) Actually, the wait here in Maui wasn't bad – ten, fifteen minutes at a throw. When he'd been studying right whales in the North Atlantic, Nate had sometimes waited weeks before he found a whale to study. Usually he liked to use the downtime (literally, the time the whale was down) to think about how he should've gotten a real job, one where you made real money and had weekends off, or at least gotten into a branch of the field where the results of his work were more palpable, like sinking whaling ships – a pirate. You know, security. Today Nate was actively trying not to watch Amy put on sunscreen. Amy was a snowflake in the land of the tanned. Most whale researchers spent a great deal of time outdoors, at sea. They were, for the most part, an intrepid, outdoorsy bunch who wore wind- and sunburn like battle scars, and there were few who didn't sport a semipermanent sunglasses raccoon tan and sun-bleached hair or a scaly bald spot. Amy, on the other hand, had milk-white skin and straight, short black hair so dark that the highlights appeared blue in the Hawaiian sun. She was wearing maroon lipstick, which was so wildly inappropriate and out of character for this setting that it approached the comical and made her seem like the goth geek of the Pacific, which was, in fact, one of the reasons her presence so disturbed Nate. (He reasoned: A well-formed bottom hanging in space is just a well-formed bottom, but you hook up a well-formed bottom to a whip-smart woman and apply a dash of the awkward and what you've got yo urself is†¦ well, trouble.) Nate did not watch her rub the SPF50 on her legs, over her ankles and feet. He did not watch her strip to her bikini top and apply the sunscreen over her chest and shoulders. (Tropical sun can fry you even through a shirt.) Nate especially did not notice when she grabbed his hand, squirted lotion into it, then turned, indicating that he should apply it to her back, which he did – not noticing anything about her in the process. Professional courtesy. He was working. He was a scientist. He was listening to the song of Megaptera novaeangliae (â€Å"big wings of New England,† a scientist had named the whale, thus proving that scientists drink), and he was not intrigued by her intriguing bottom because he had encountered and analyzed similar data in the past. According to Nate's analysis, research assistants with intriguing bottoms turned into wives 66.666 percent of the time, and wives turned into ex-wives exactly 100 percent of the time – plus or minus 5 percent factored for post-divorce comfort sex.) â€Å"Want me to do you?† Amy asked, holding out her preferred sunscreen-slathering hand. You just don't go there, thought Nate, not even in a joke. One incorrect response to a line like that and you could lose your university position, if you had one, which Nate didn't, but still†¦ You don't even think about it. â€Å"No thanks, this shirt has UV protection woven in,† he said, thinking about what it would be like to have Amy do him. Amy looked suspiciously at his faded WE LIKE WHALES CONFERENCE 89 T-shirt and wiped the remaining sunscreen on her leg. † ‘Kay,† she said. â€Å"You know, I sure wish I could figure out why these guys sing,† Nate said, the hummingbird of his mind having tasted all the flowers in the garden to return to that one plastic daisy that would just not give up the nectar. â€Å"No kidding?† Amy said, deadpan, smiling. â€Å"But if you figure it out, what would we do tomorrow?† â€Å"Show off,† Nate said, grinning. â€Å"I'd be typing all day, analyzing research, matching photographs, filing song tapes –  » â€Å"Bringing us doughnuts,† Nate added, trying to help. Amy continued, counting down the list on her fingers, â€Å"- picking up blank tapes, washing down the trucks and the boats, running to the photo lab – ; â€Å"Not so fast,† Nate interrupted. â€Å"What, you're going to deprive me the joy of running to the photo lab while you bask in scientific glory?† â€Å"No, you can still go to the photo lab, but Clay hired a guy to wash the trucks and boats.† A delicate hand went to her forehead as she swooned, the southern belle in hiking shorts, taken with the vapors. â€Å"If I faint and fall overboard, don't let me drown.† â€Å"You know, Amy,† Nate said as he undressed the crossbow, â€Å"I don't know how it was at Boston doing survey, but in behavior, research assistants are only supposed to bitch about the humiliating grunt work and lowly status to other research assistants. It was that way when I was doing it, it was that way going back centuries, it has always been that way. Darwin himself had someone on the Beagle to file dead birds and sort index cards.† â€Å"He did not. I've never read anything about that.† â€Å"Of course you didn't. Nobody writes about research assistants.† Nate grinned again, celebration for a small victory. He realized he wasn't working up to standards on managing this research assistant. His partner, Clay, had hired her almost two weeks ago, and by now he should have had her terrorized. Instead she was working him like a Starbucks froth slave. â€Å"Ten minutes,† Amy said, checking the timer on her watch. â€Å"You going to shoot him?† â€Å"Unless you want to?† Nate notched the arrow into the crossbow. He tucked the windbreaker they used to  «dress » the crossbow under the console. It was very politically incorrect to carry a weapon for shooting whales through the crowded Lahaina harbor, so they carried it inside the windbreaker, making it appear that they had a jacket on a hanger. Amy shook her head violently. â€Å"I'll drive the boat.† â€Å"You should learn to do it.† â€Å"I'll drive the boat,† Amy said. â€Å"No one drives the boat.† No one but Nate drove the boat. Granted, the Constantly Baffled was only a twenty-three-foot Mako speedboat, and an agile four-year-old could pilot it on a calm day like today. Still, no one else drove the boat. It was a man thing, being inherently uncomfortable with the thought of a woman operating a boat or a television remote control. â€Å"Up sounds,† Nate said. They had a recording of the full sixteen-minute cycle of the song now – all the way through twice, in fact. He stopped the recorder and pulled up the hydrophone, then started the engine. â€Å"There,† Amy said, pointing to the white fins and flukes moving under the water. The whale blew only twenty yards off the bow. Nate buried the throttle. Amy was wrenched off her feet and just caught herself on the railing next to the wheel console as the boat shot forward. Nate pulled up on the right side of the whale, no more than ten yards away as the whale came up for the second time. He steadied the wheel with his hip, pulled up the crossbow, and fired. The bolt bounced off the whale's rubbery back, the hollow surgical steel arrowhead taking out a cookie-cutter plug of skin and blubber the size of a pencil eraser before the wide plastic tip stopped the penetration. The whale lifted his tail out of the water and snapped it in the air, making a sound like a giant knuckle cracking as the massive tail muscles contracted. â€Å"He's pissed,† Nate said. â€Å"Let's go for a measurement.† â€Å"Now?† Amy questioned. Normally they would wait for another dive cycle. Obviously Nate thought that because of their taking the skin sample the whale might start traveling. They could lose him before getting a measurement. â€Å"Now. I'll shoot, you work the rangefinder.† Nate backed off the throttle a bit, so he would be able to catch the entire tail fluke in the camera frame when the whale dove. Amy grabbed the laser rangefinder, which looked very much like a pair of binoculars made for a cyclops. By taking a distance measurement from the animal's tail with the rangefinder and comparing the size of the tail in the frame of the picture, they could measure the relative size of the entire animal. Nate had come up with an algorithm that, so far, gave them the length of a whale with 98 percent accuracy. Just a few years ago they would've had to have been in an aircraft to measure the length of a whale. â€Å"Ready,† Amy said. The whale blew and arched its back into a high hump as he readied for the dive (the reason whalers had named them humpbacks in the first place). Amy fixed the rangefinder on the whale's back; Nate trained the camera's telephoto on the same spot, and the autofocus motors made tiny adjustments with the movement of the boat. The whale fluked, raising its tail high in the air, and there, instead of the distinct pattern of black-and-white markings by which all humpbacks were identified, were – spelled out in foot-high black letters across the white – the words BITE ME! Nate hit the shutter button. Shocked, he fell into the captain's chair, pulling back the throttle as he slumped. He let the Nikon sag in his lap. â€Å"Holy shit!† Nate said. â€Å"Did you see that?† â€Å"See what? I got seventy-three feet,† Amy said, pulling down the rangefinder. â€Å"Probably seventy-six from where you are. What were your frame numbers?† She was reaching for the notebook as she looked back at Nate. â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"Fine. Frame twenty-six, but I missed it,† he lied. His mind was shuffling though a huge stack of index cards, searching a million article abstracts he had read to find some explanation for what he'd just seen. It couldn't possibly have been real. The film would show it. â€Å"You didn't see any unusual markings when you did the ID photo?† â€Å"No, did you?† â€Å"No, never mind.† â€Å"Don't sweat it, Nate. We'll get it next time he comes up,† Amy said. â€Å"Let's go in.† â€Å"You don't want to try again for a measurement?† To make the data sample complete, they needed an ID photo, a recording of at least a full cycle of the song, a skin sample for DNA and toxin figures, and a measurement. The morning was wasted without the measurement. â€Å"Let's go back to Lahaina,† Nate said, staring down at the camera in his lap. â€Å"You drive.† CHAPTER TWO Maui No Ka Oi (Maui Is the Best) At first it was that old trickster Maui who cast his fishing line from his canoe and pulled the islands up from the bottom of the sea. When he was done fishing, he looked at those islands he had pulled up, and smack in the middle of the chain was one that was made up of two big volcanoes, sitting there together like the friendly, lopsided bosoms of the sea. Between them was a deep valley that Maui thought looked very much like cleavage, which he very much liked. And so, to that bumpy-bits island Maui gave his name, and its nickname became â€Å"The Cleavage Island,† which it stayed until some missionaries came along and renamed it â€Å"The Valley Island† (because if there's anything missionaries do well, it's seek out and destroy fun). Then Maui landed his canoe at a calm little beach on the west coast of his new island and said to himself, â€Å"I could do with a few cocktails and some nookie. I shall go into Lahaina and get some.† Well, time passed and some whalers came to the island, bringing steel tools and syphilis and other wonders from the West, and before anyone knew what was happening, they, too, were thinking that they wouldn't mind a few cocktails and a measure of nookie. So rather than sail back around the Horn to Nantucket to hoist noggins of grog and the skirts of the odd Hester, Millicent, or Prudence (so fast the dear woman would think she'd fallen down a chimney and landed on a zucchini), they pulled into Lahaina, drawn by the drunken sex magic of old Maui. They didn't come to Maui for the whales, they came for the party. And so Lahaina became a whaling town. The irony of it was that even though the humpbacks had starting coming to birth their calves and sing their songs only a few years earlier, and in those days the Hawaiian channels were teeming with the big-winged singers, it was not for the humpbacks that the whalers came. Humpbacks, like their other rorqual brothers – the streamlined blue, fin, sei, minke, and Bryde's whales – were just too fast to catch in sailing ships and man-powered whaling boats. No, the whalers came to Lahaina to rest and recreate along their way to Japanese waters where they hunted the great sperm whale, who would literally float there like a big, dumb log while you rowed up to it and stuck a harpoon in its head. It would take the advent of steamships and the decimation of the big, floaty-fat right whales (so named because they did float when dead and therefore were the  «right » whales to kill) before the hunters would turn their harpoons on the hum pbacks. Following the whalers came the missionaries, the sugar farmers, the Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Portuguese who all worked the sugar plantations, and Mark Twain. Mark Twain went home. Everyone else stayed. In the meantime, King Kamehameha I united the islands through the clever application of firearms against wooden spears and moved Hawaii's capital to Lahaina. Sometime after that Amy came cruising into the Lahaina harbor at the wheel of a twenty-three-foot Mako speedboat with a tall, stunned-looking Ph.D. sprawled across the bow seat. The radio chirped. Amy picked it up and keyed the mike. â€Å"Go ahead, Clay.† â€Å"Something wrong?† Clay Demodocus was obviously in the harbor and could see them coming in. It wasn't even eight in the morning. He was probably still preparing his boat to go out. â€Å"I'm not sure. Nate just decided to call it a day. I'll ask him why.† To Nate she said, â€Å"Clay wants to know why.† â€Å"Anomalous data,† Nate said. â€Å"Anomalous data,† Amy repeated into the radio. There was a pause. Then Clay said, â€Å"Uh, right, understood. That stuff gets into everything.† The harbor at Lahaina is not large. Only a hundred or so vessels can dock behind her breakwater. Most are sizable, fifty- to seventy-foot cruisers and catamarans, boats full of sunscreen-basted tourists out on the water for anything from dinner cruises to sport fishing to snorkeling at the half-sunken crater of Molokini to, of course, whale watching. Jet-skiing, parasailing, and waterskiing were all banned from December until April, while the humpbacks were in these waters, so many of the smaller boats that would normally be used to terrorize marine life in the name of recreation were leased by whale researchers for the season. On any given winter morning down at the harbor at Lahaina, you couldn't throw a coconut without conking a Ph.D. in cetacean biology (and you stood a good chance of winging two Masters of Science working on dissertations with the rebound). Clay Demodocus was engaged in a bit of research liars poker with a Ph.D. and a naval officer when Amy backed the Mako into the slip they shared with three tender zodiacs from sailing yachts anchored outside the breakwater, a thirty-two-foot motor-sailor, and the Maui Whale Research Foundation's other boat (Clay's boat), the Always Confused, a brand-new twenty-two-foot Grady White Fisherman, center console. (Slips were hard to come by in Lahaina, and circumstances this season had dictated that the Maui Whale Research Foundation – Nate and Clay – perform a nautical dog pile with six other small craft every day. You do what you have to do if you want to poke whales.) â€Å"Shame,† Clay said as Amy threw him the stern line. â€Å"Nice calm day, too.† â€Å"We got everything but a measurement on one singer,† Amy said. The scientist and the naval officer on the dock behind Clay nodded as if they understood completely. Clifford Hyland, a grizzled, gray-haired whale researcher from Iowa stood next to the young, razor-creased, snowy-white-uniformed Captain L. J. Tarwater, who was there to see that Hyland spent the navy's money appropriately. Hyland looked a little embarrassed at the whole thing and wouldn't make eye contact with Amy or Nate. Money was money, and a researcher took it where he could get it, but navy money, it was so†¦ so nasty. â€Å"Morning Amy,† said Tarwater, dazzling a perfectly even, perfectly white smile. He was lean and dark and frighteningly efficient-looking. Next to him, Clay and the scientists looked as if they'd been run through the dryer with a bag of lava rock. â€Å"Good morning, Captain. Morning Cliff.† â€Å"Hey, Amy,† Cliff Hyland said. â€Å"Hey, Nate.† Nathan Quinn shook off his confusion like a retriever who had just heard his name uttered in context with food. â€Å"What? What? Oh, hi, Cliff. What?† Hyland and Quinn had both been part of a group of thirteen scientists who had first come to Lahaina in the seventies (â€Å"The Killer Elite,† Clay still called them, as they had all gone on to distinguish themselves as leaders in their fields). Actually, the original intention hadn't been for them to be a group, but they nevertheless became one early on when they all realized that the only way they could afford to stay on the island was if they pooled their resources and lived together. So for years thirteen of them – and sometimes more if they could afford assistants, wives, or girlfriends – lived every season in a two-bedroom house they rented in Lahaina. Hyland understood Quinn's tendency to submerge himself in his research to the point of oblivion, so he wasn't surprised that once again the rangy researcher had spaced out. â€Å"Anomalous data, huh?† Cliff asked, figuring that was what had sent Nate into the ozone. â€Å"Uh, nothing I can be sure of. I mean, actually, the recorder isn't working right. Something dragging. Probably just needs to be cleaned.† And everyone, including Amy, looked at Quinn for a moment as if to say, Well, you lying satchel of walrus spit, that is the weakest story I've ever heard, and you're not fooling anyone. â€Å"Shame,† Clay said. â€Å"Nice day to miss out on the water. Maybe you can get back with the other recorder and get out again before the wind comes up.† Clay knew something was up with Nate, but he also trusted his judgment enough not to press it. Nate would tell him when he thought he should know. â€Å"Speaking of that,† Hyland said, â€Å"we'd better get going.† He headed down the dock toward his own boat. Tarwater stared at Nate just long enough to convey disgust before turning on his heel and marching after Hyland. When they were gone, Amy said, â€Å"Tarwater is a creep.† â€Å"He's all right. He's got a job to do is all,† Clay said. â€Å"What's with the recorder?† â€Å"The recorder is fine,† Nate said. â€Å"Then what gives? It's a perfect day.† Clay liked to state the obvious when it was positive. It was sunny, calm, with no wind, and the underwater visibility was two hundred feet. It was a perfect day to research whales. Nate started handing waterproof cases of equipment to Clay. â€Å"I don't know. I may have seen something out there, Clay. I have to think about it and see the pictures. I'm going to drop some film off at the lab, then go back to Papa Lani and write up some research until the film's ready.† Clay flinched, just a tad. It was Amy's job to drop off film and write up research. â€Å"Okay. How 'bout you, kiddo?† Clay said to Amy. â€Å"My new guy doesn't look like he's going to show, and I need someone topside while I'm under.† Amy looked to Nate for some kind of approval, but when he simply kept unloading cases without a reaction, she just shrugged. â€Å"Sure, I'd love to.† Clay suddenly became self-conscious and shuffled in his flip-flops, looking for a second more like a five-year-old kid than a barrel-chested, fifty-year-old man. â€Å"By calling you ‘kiddo' I didn't mean to dimmish you by age or anything, you know.† â€Å"I know,† Amy said. â€Å"And I wasn't making any sort of comment on your competency either.† â€Å"I understand, Clay.† Clay cleared his throat unnecessarily. â€Å"Okay,† he said. â€Å"Okay,† Amy said. She grabbed two Pelican cases full of equipment, stepped up onto the dock, and started schlepping the stuff to the parking area so it could be loaded into Nate's pickup. Over her shoulder she said, â€Å"You guys both so need to get laid.† â€Å"I think that's reverse harassment,† Clay said to Nate. â€Å"I may be having hallucinations,† said Nate. â€Å"No, she really said that,† Clay said. After Quinn had left, Amy climbed into the Always Confused and began untying the stern line. She glanced over her shoulder to look at the forty-foot cabin cruiser where Captain Tarwater posed on the bow looking like an advertisement for a particularly rigid laundry detergent – Bumstick Go-Be-Bright, perhaps. â€Å"Clay, you ever heard of a uniformed naval officer accompanying a researcher into the field before?† Clay looked up from doing a battery check on the GPS. â€Å"Not unless the researcher was working from a navy vessel. Once I was along on a destroyer for a study on the effects of high explosives on resident populations of southern sea lions in the Falkland Islands. They wanted to see what would happen if you set off a ten-thousand-pound charge in proximity to a sea lion colony. There was a uniformed officer in charge of that.† Amy cast the line back to the dock and turned to face Clay. â€Å"What was the effect?† â€Å"Well, it blew them the fuck up, didn't it? I mean, that's a lot of explosives.† â€Å"They let you film that for National Science?† â€Å"Just stills,† Clay said. â€Å"I don't think they anticipated it going the way it did. I got some great shots of it raining seal meat.† Clay started the engine. â€Å"Yuck.† Amy untied the bumpers and pulled them into the boat. â€Å"But you've never seen a uniformed officer working here? Before now, I mean.† â€Å"Nowhere else,† Clay said. He pulled down the gear lever. There was a thump, and the boat began to creep forward. Amy pushed them away from the surrounding boats with a padded boat hook. â€Å"What do you think they're doing?† â€Å"I was trying to find out this morning when you guys came in. They loaded an awfully big case before you got here. I asked what it was, and Tarwater got all sketchy. Cliff said it was some acoustics stuff.† â€Å"Directional array?† Amy asked. Researchers sometimes towed large arrays of hydrophones that could, unlike a single hydrophone, detect the direction from which sound was traveling. â€Å"Could be,† Clay said. â€Å"Except they don't have a winch on their boat. â€Å"A wench? What are you trying to say, Clay?† Amy feigned being offended. â€Å"Are you calling me a wench?† Clay grinned at her. â€Å"Amy, I am old and have a girlfriend, and therefore I am immune to your hotness. Please cease your useless attempts to make me uncomfortable.† â€Å"Let's follow them.† â€Å"They've been working on the lee side of Lanai. I don't want to take the Confused past the wind line.† â€Å"So you were trying to find out what they're up to?† â€Å"I fished. No bites. Cliff's not going to say anything with Tarwater standing there.† â€Å"So let's follow them.† â€Å"We actually may get some work done today. It's a good day, after all, and we might not get a dozen windless days all season here. We can't afford to lose a day, Amy. Which reminds me, what's up with Nate? Not like him to blow off a good field day.† â€Å"You know, he's nuts,† Amy said, as if it were understood. â€Å"Too much time thinking about whales.† â€Å"Oh, right. I forgot.† As they motored out of the harbor, Clay waved to a group of researchers who had gathered at the fuel station to buy coffee. Twenty universities and a dozen foundations were represented in that group. Clay was single-handedly responsible for making the scientists who worked out of Lahaina into a social community. He knew them all, and he couldn't help it – he liked people who worked with whales – and he just liked it when people got along. He'd started weekly meetings and presentations of papers at the Pacific Whale Sanctuary building in Kihei, which brought all the scientists together to socialize, trade information, and, for some, to try to weasel some useful data out of someone without the burden of field research. Amy waved to the group, too, as she dug into one of the orange Pelican waterproof cases. â€Å"Come on, Clay, let's follow Tarwater and see what he's up to.† She pulled a huge pair of twenty-power binoculars out of the case and showed them to Clay. â€Å"We can watch from a distance.† â€Å"You might want to go up in the bow and look for whales, Amy.† â€Å"Whales? They're big and wet. What else do you need to know?† â€Å"You scientists never cease to amaze me,† Clay said. â€Å"Come hold the wheel while I get a pencil to write that down.† â€Å"Let's follow Tarwater.†

When to Use the Words A, An, and And

When to Use the Words A, An, and And A and an are two forms of the same word. The conjunction and is a different word altogether. Use the  indefinite articles a and an before nouns: a before a noun that begins with a consonant sound (a doctor, a horse, a university); an before a noun that begins with a vowel sound (an envelope, an hour, an umbrella).  And is a coordinating conjunction: use it to join words, phrases, and clauses. Examples Every minute felt like an hour, and every hour felt like a day.Love is not a feeling. Love is an action, an activity. (M. Scott Peck)For lunch, she had an apple, a carrot, and a European oyster.Betty is an honorary member of the Lollipop League.Shyla and I were sitting at a table with an energetic clown and a rowdy little girl. Usage Notes on When to Use A or  An A HistorianPeople worry about whether the correct article is a or an with historian, historic, and a few other words. Most authorities have supported a over an. The traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then a is the proper form. . . . This is not a new rule. Even the venerated language authority H.W. Fowler, in the England of 1926, advocated a before historic(al) and humble. (Bryan A. Garner, a. A. Choice Between a or an. Garners Modern American Usage.  Oxford University Press, 2003)A and An Before AbbreviationsA minor complication arises with some abbreviations. Do you write, He received a M.A. degree or an M.A. degree? Do you write, a N.Y. Central spokesman or an N.Y. Central spokesman? The test is how people say or read such designations. M.A. registers with most people as alphabetical letters, not as Master of Arts; hence, an M.A. degree is proper. On the other hand, N.Y. Central is instantly translated by the mind into New York Central; it would not be read as En Wye Central. Therefore, a N.Y. Central spokesman is proper. (Theodore M. Bernstein, The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage, Simon Schuster, 1965) Practice Exercise Fill in each blank with either a, an, or and. (a) Writing is just having ______ sheet of paper, ______ pen, ______ not a shadow of ______ idea what you are going to say.(b) ______ good coach is ______ understanding tyrant ______ a hard-headed friend. Answers to Practice Exercises: A, An, And (a) Writing is just having  a  sheet of paper,  a  pen,  and  not a shadow of  an  idea what you are going to say.(b)  A  good coach is  an  understanding tyrant  and  a hard-headed friend.