Sales Performance Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sales Performance - Case Study Example Keeping the quality maintained it was necessary to take a step which leads to make the standardize space in market for the brand and though I lowered the retail selling price of this product to 5.25. It isn't a big loss but a nice way to attract consumers to use this product. It wasn't a bad decision, as per my decision to lower down the price for attracting more customers becomes true to the fact that sale price raised from 102.1 to 119.7, net income raised from 67.2 to 99.6 and stock price move up from 38.35 to 51.89. It was a nice and successful decision as at the end of year the brand was known among customers and made its fix place in the market. But, as nobody is perfect, I missed the advantage of consumers i.e., I forgot to fix the budget in a manner that consumers may get good allowance as well. It was the time to satisfy the consumers as well before they stop requesting for the brand. As alternatives for every product is available in the market and the vital source to keep the brand name in market is to keep the consumers in hand. Though, I made the decision to satisfy consumers this year sustaining the brand name. However, things were not stabling but still the brand name was flourishing in the market with upraise of 2.9%. But unfortunately, from market efficiency to consumer satisfaction everything was lowering. I was still satisfied that my aim to make place in the market till new product introduces was on its advancing stage. But yet to manage the budget and keep other resources satisfied. There I noticed that in deed of gaining name I lost the direct sales force from 94 to 75. Part 3: The summary of year 3 performance; To stabilize sales force before the product launch, a strong step has to be taken in order the brand name enhancement strategy don't get disturbed. For this, numbers of sales people were hired, and different branches with the company name are opened. This step enhances the direct sales force from 75 to 114. A good margin was increased to sale of the product in many new locations publicizing the brand name. Opening of 5 drug stores, 22 chain drug stores, and introducing the brand product Allround in grocery and convenience stores involves a large amount of money. I had overlooked the expenditure on hiring and showing off brand name all over which made me loss of 4.7 Million. Moreover, for the good sale I might have given too much discount which made a big affect on stock price which lowers 7.29% and net income that lowers at the difference of 18.4%. I would have a nice budget plan. Part 4: The summary of year 4 performance; Loss of 4.7 million was not less, still when a new product has to be launched this year. Despite the fact that, loss is there, I decided to launch the new product Allround+ with minimum price, to all stores and sacrifice with the budget loss. Moreover, I planned to lessen the sales force a bit. This was the start of new product and though launched at minimal rate 4.85. It attracts the customers and due to the same discounts from the company consumption went fine this year. Net Income and stock price

The Sundale Club Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Sundale Club - Essay Example 1. Appoint a successor for Watis, who will be in a more willing position to intervene. Obviously, Watis does not want to intervene or solve conflicts anymore. A successor at this point will give the organization direction. 6. Structural: Tasks-Employees pay more attention to cutting costs rather than enhancing customer service. Information flow-Information flows two ways. Both employees and managers set the goals together. Managers can detect trouble spots faster. Rules-Higher than normal standards are set in management by objectives. 7. Psychosocial: Human resources-Higher standards are set for performance evaluation. Attitudes-Many feel that management by objectives is unfair. Perception and motivation-In the first year, the goals are still perceived as being attainable and are attained. Not so in the following years though. 1. Incorporate other goals into management by objectives that might affect financial results, such as customer service. The various departments should have set customer service as one of the objectives if they feel that it is important. 2. Use a different goal setting tool and performance evaluation tool, such as the balance scorecard that incorporates all aspects of performance.

The Importance Of Liquidity For Commercial Banks Finance Essay

The Importance Of Liquidity For Commercial Banks Finance Essay 1.Explain the importance of liquidity for commercial banks and identify the main sources of liquidity in a typical commercial banks balance sheet. 3 2.Outline the reasons why, as a matter of monetary policy, central banks control liquidity in the banking system. 4 3.Describe briefly the method(s) used by central banks to control liquidity in the banking system. 5 References 6 Explain the importance of liquidity for commercial banks and identify the main sources of liquidity in a typical commercial banks balance sheet. Banks are considered to be as safe deposit for customers associated with them for both short and long term basis. It has increased liability over banks to make sure that they are able to fulfill all the demands of the customers. Also the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act has reduced the dependency that commercial banks used to possess over Federal Reserves to make sure that their needs are sufficed in case some emergency arrives. Thus to maintain certain level of stake in the company, it is mandatory for commercial banks to retain appropriate liquidity ratios such that any ambiguous situation could be avoided. If any disturbance is encountered in these ratios, there is a problem of funding that comes into picture and hampers banks credibility among its stakeholders. Liquidity control is also necessary for proper structuring of the bank along with looking after all the complexities related to the size and related measures. Thus commercial banks adopt controlling me asures for liquidity risk in a highly comprehensive fashion. (Liquidity) Some of the sources of liquidity associated with commercial banks are, Deposits in other banks on demand basis Marketable debt securities over a qualitative basis Commitment made with other banks over provision of credit As liquidity is a critical issue for commercial banks, thus in most of the cases they tend to follow a reliable source of liquidity that will help in retaining their ratios to the required limit and make sure that low cost sources of liquidity are always a part of the banks functioning. Also to maintain proper liquidity ratios bank take several actions like selling redeemable assets, restriction of new loans, fund borrowing, issue of capital instruments, and reduction in dividends. These measures help in maintain ratios to exist above a particular level that indicate that bank responds in those conditions when its reserve ratio targets are disturbed. These ratios are derived from the regulations and liabilities that are associated with the banks functioning and put a number of obligations that has to be carried out under any circumstances. Outline the reasons why, as a matter of monetary policy, central banks control liquidity in the banking system. Central Bank is the key authority that can be held responsible for carrying out the regulatory activities. It is central bank that control credit growth and liquidity in the banking system with the help of a number of tools to make sure that a firm monetary policy is formulated and followed in the entire banking system. It takes care of the management that is involved in regulating supply of money in the entire banking system thus its regulations also helps banks in maintaining their ratios above required limit such that their reserves does not fall beyond a certain frontier. Financial sector is one of those sectors that have to be supervised by some certain entity otherwise it will result into an unregulated segment heading in an uncontrolled manner. Central Banks perform has not only taken, but also performed this duty in a highly beneficial manner for entire financial sector. Gravity of the situation can be understood from the fact that pace of a nations economy is regulated by the supply of money it is having, which in turn depends over central banks decisions. Thus central banks make an indirect contribution in the economic growth of the company through banking system that operates entirely under its control. There may be conditions when banks have high cash available with them, but injecting them without any condition in the market will not provide required return, rather it should be handled with optimum care to channelize their available resources and make sure that both banking system and markets get benefit of that availability of cash. Finally it will also help in boosting up of economy. (Central bank vows to damp excess liquidity, credit growth ) Describe briefly the method(s) used by central banks to control liquidity in the banking system. Central bank is concerned authority that puts a check over liquidity factor existing in banking sector, it follow some of the guidelines to make sure that it does not gets deviated from its track. In order to do so some of the methods followed are, It sets the bank reserve ratio that every bank has to retain with itself so as to take care of its customers at any time on their demand. Limit of this ratio may be increased or decreased based over the demand possessed by the external conditions. These conditions are reliant over highly volatile financial market thus has to be altered on a regular basis by the central bank otherwise it may result into fatality of many reputed financial institutions that will ultimately hamper functioning of national economy. (Zhiming, 2007) It also has to perform an action of liquidity management that is related to the economic adjustments which can be performed with the help of amendments in the policies that are formulated on an initial basis and applied afterwards. Applications of these policies are based over expansion of domestic consumption that finally aims at retention of economic stability. For this purpose, central bank also has to take numerous other factors into consideration that are even slightly related to the economic modifications. As economic growth is depicted by actions and regulations applied by central bank, thus it is up to central bank that whether it follow a discreet monetary policy or make some changes in its multiple monetary policy tools in order to attain a pre defined economic growth that will ultimately help in stabilizing economic health of the banking system.

Alcohol vs. Marijuana Essays -- Comparison Compare Contrast

Alcohol vs. Marijuana Alcohol and marijuana are two drugs commonly used and abused in the United States. Alcohol is the number one abused drug, while marijuana is number one among illegal drugs. While alcohol remains legal, and marijuana illegal, this does not necessarily mean that alcohol is better for you. There have been many arguments where people suggest that marijuana should be legal because alcohol is more deadly. On the other hand, there are alcoholics who would tell a pothead that smoking weed is bad for you. Both substances are very bad for your health and should not be heavily used by anyone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana has an immediate effect during and for about 2 hours after smoking. With alcohol, users feel slight effects after just one drink, and recover depending on the amount the person drank, how much they weigh, and how much they had to eat before ingesting the alcohol. Immediate effects of use are slurred speech, decreased inhibitions, poor judgment, and lack of motor coordination. Marijuana causes red eyes, dry mouth, increased appetite, slowed reaction, paranoia, hallucinations, decreased social inhibitions, and memory loss. Drinking heavy amounts of alcohol can lead to a coma or even death. A person would have to smoke 40,000 times the amount to get high to overdose, so it is practically impossible. Alcohol is responsible for over 100,000 deaths per year. Marijuana kills less than 10,000 per year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Among the deaths caused by alcohol, drinking and ... Alcohol vs. Marijuana Essays -- Comparison Compare Contrast Alcohol vs. Marijuana Alcohol and marijuana are two drugs commonly used and abused in the United States. Alcohol is the number one abused drug, while marijuana is number one among illegal drugs. While alcohol remains legal, and marijuana illegal, this does not necessarily mean that alcohol is better for you. There have been many arguments where people suggest that marijuana should be legal because alcohol is more deadly. On the other hand, there are alcoholics who would tell a pothead that smoking weed is bad for you. Both substances are very bad for your health and should not be heavily used by anyone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana has an immediate effect during and for about 2 hours after smoking. With alcohol, users feel slight effects after just one drink, and recover depending on the amount the person drank, how much they weigh, and how much they had to eat before ingesting the alcohol. Immediate effects of use are slurred speech, decreased inhibitions, poor judgment, and lack of motor coordination. Marijuana causes red eyes, dry mouth, increased appetite, slowed reaction, paranoia, hallucinations, decreased social inhibitions, and memory loss. Drinking heavy amounts of alcohol can lead to a coma or even death. A person would have to smoke 40,000 times the amount to get high to overdose, so it is practically impossible. Alcohol is responsible for over 100,000 deaths per year. Marijuana kills less than 10,000 per year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Among the deaths caused by alcohol, drinking and ...

How to prevent Internet Addiction Essay

Internet Addiction is one of the most serious problems for all the teenagers; it will seriously affect your mental and physiological health. Have you ever been a person who has been addicted to the Internet social world? According to a research of US National Library Of Medicine National Institutes of States, 70% of teenagers in the state spent nearly six hours to surf the Internet per day. â€Å"Just we could have rode into the sunset, along came the Internet, and it tripled the significance of the PC† said Andy Grove. Have you ever been addicted to any Internet website or social media platform? The first Social media platform is called Geocities. It’s the first social media platform with web hosting service, originally founded by David Bohnett in late 1994. It has a simple blog structure. Users could upload photos and text among the blog. In October 16, 2009, The Geocities service in United State was shut down. There were at least 38 million people that were using Geocities before it shut down. After that, a lot of different social media website and platforms had started to build up. There are a lot of examples of social media platforms in the 21st Century. The most famous platforms are arguably Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter. They actually have linked together; User can enjoy different kinds of features. For example, if you uploaded and edited a photo in Instagram, you can directly update your status or photos to the other social media platforms like Facebook. It is one of the reasons why people who have online addiction problems will always keep checking their status like â€Å"did anyone ‘like’ my photos? † and keep checking their electronic devices even they didn’t receive any notifications. According to professor Larry D. Rosen, this is a term called—i-disorder. To explain it in-detail and specifically, i-disorder is where you exhibit signs and symptoms of a psychiatric disorder such as OCD, narcissism, addiction or even ADHD, which are manifested through your use—or overuse of technology. Whether our use of technology makes us exhibit these signs or simply exacerbates our natural tendencies. Do you think you are an i-disorder? If yes, the following suggestion may help you a lot in prevent it. One of the best ways to prevent to become an i-disorder is to get a hobby that doesn’t involve the smartphone, computer or even TV and media player. It’s good to stay away from electric media products, because they may attract you easily. If you are a student, try to get involve with different school teams, clubs, music educations, dancing lessons or even go to church. Exercise should probably be the best way because while you exercising, your body will produce some hormones that help your health a lot in psychologically and physiologically. Also, try to go to bed on time and get a good night rest. Remind yourself; â€Å"don’t turn on your electricity device before or while you are going to sleep. Except school activities. † You can also join some local events in your community during holidays. There may be some useful talks, film screenings or concerts, which you will like it. If you are an athlete, ask someone to join local sporting events with you. Look for some different kind of extra curricular activities as long as they are not on the Internet and get involved. For teenagers who are having academic studies, remember to concentrate on your homework and studies. This is probably a great thing to do right away when you get home. Control yourself, don’t turn on the computer or you will not concentrate on your homework and studies. If you absolutely need resources, go to library and read books to do research instead of browsing Wikipedia or Google your resources; study lessons that you learnt first instead of turning on your computer and checking your online status. Sometimes, because of online addiction the relationship between you and your family will get worse. So, try to plan a family day with your family. For example, plan a picnic trip to get out of the city and grab some fresh air. Going shopping and having a great dinner with your family is an idea if you don’t like to go outskirts locations on family day. If you are seriously busy, at least to plan a family night. During dinnertime, chat more with your family instead of doing individual things especially using your smartphone to surf on social media platforms. After you help your parents with housework. It will totally make them happier instead of chatting online. Make some dessert or bake some cake one night for your family. Anything that gets you off the computer for a while will help and increase your confidence so that you can stay off even longer. To avoid online addiction, the most important should be self-discipline. The Internet is very important to our daily life; sometimes we can’t avert to surf the net, but we all know that unlimited timing in using the Internet is one of the keys that cause our addiction. So limit your time on using Internet. If you are using a laptop, you should put it somewhere that you can remember, but not somewhere you can see everyday and try to keep it close. The laptop will be attractable as a bunch of magnets if you keep it open with the monitor and keyboard. If you are using a desktop computer, try to stay over it or cover it. Control yourself to not to use it usually, and every time when you use your computer, remember to set an alarm clock to always remind yourself when you should stop. For example before you use it, decide on a time limit such as around 30 minutes. Make sure that you get off your computer when the time is up. In daily communications, prefer to call people instead of sending instant messages from different social media platforms or instant message applications like Whatsapp, Line and Wechat. If your friends are feeling free to do something with you, call them and ask them to hang out with you, maybe you could and play some basketball games, go to bowling alley, ice rink or mall, but remember to avoid places, which have free Internet access such as coffee shop or McDonald. Once you addicted to the in Internet, it will cause a lot of serious problems that can let you lose control and self-discipline. It can break down relationships between you, your family and friends. It also will affect your mental and physiological health.

A Raisin In The Sun Study Guide Essay

Part 1: Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer. (worth 1 point each) Act I Scene One 1. Why did Walter ask Ruth what was wrong with her? 2. Why was Ruth upset when Walter gave Travis the money? 3. Who are Willy and Bobo? 4. Walter said, â€Å"Damn my eggs†¦damn all the eggs that ever was! † Why? 5. Who is Beneatha? 6. Why did Beneatha say she wouldn’t marry George? 7. What was Beneatha’s attitude towards God? 8. What happened to Ruth at the end of Act I Scene One? Act I Scene Two 9. Who is Joseph Asagai? 10. What did Ruth find out in the doctor’s office? 11. Why is Asagai’s nickname for Beneatha appropriate? 12. What does Mama say is â€Å"dangerous†? 13. Why did Mama call Walter a disgrace to his father’s memory? Act II Scene One 14. What are â€Å"Assimilationist Negroes†? 15. What did Mama do with her money? Act II Scene Two 16. How did Ruth find out Walter hadn’t been going to work? 17. Where had Walter been going instead of work? 18. What did Mama do for Walter? 1 A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Study Guide Act II Scene Three 19. Who was Karl Lindner? 20. What presents did Mama get? 21. What news did Bobo bring to Walter? Act III 22. Why didn’t Beneatha want to be a doctor anymore? 23. What does Asagai ask Beneatha to do? 24. Why didn’t Walter take the money Lindner offered? 25. Did the Youngers stay of move? Important Quotations: Tell who said it and why it’s significant. Quote 1: â€Å"Weariness has, in fact, won in this room. Everything has been polished, washed, sat on, used, scrubbed too often. All pretenses but living itself have long since vanished from the very atmosphere of this room† Quote 2: â€Å"Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ’bout thirty thousand, see. That be ten thousand each†¦ Baby, don’t nothing happen for you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off! † Quote 3: â€Å"We one group of men tied to a race of women with small minds. † Quote 4: â€Å"Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don’t know what it is – but he needs something – something I can’t give him any more. He needs this chance, Lena. † Quote 5: â€Å"Big Walter used to say, he’d get right wet in the eyes sometimes, lean his head back with the water standing in his eyes and say, ‘Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams – but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while. ‘† Quote 6: â€Å"Something has changed. You something new, boy. In my time we was worried about not being lynched and getting to the North if we could and how to stay alive and still have a pinch of dignity too†¦ Now here come you and Beneatha – talking ’bout things we ain’t never even thought about hardly, me and your daddy. You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean that you had a home; that we kept you out of trouble till you was grown; that you don’t have to ride to work on the back of nobody’s streetcar – how different we done become. â€Å" Quote 7: â€Å"I see you all the time – with the books tucked under your arms – going to your (British A – a mimic) ‘clahsses. ‘ And for what! What the hell you learning over there? Filling up your heads – (Counting off on his fingers) – with the sociology and the psychology – but they teaching 2 A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Study Guide you how to be a man? How to take over and run the world? They teaching you how to run a rubber plantation or a steel mill? Naw – just to talk proper and read books and wear white shoes†¦ † Quote 8: â€Å"What you need me to say you done right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it. So what you need for me to say it was all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine – you – who always talking ’bout your children’s dreams†¦ † Quote 9: â€Å"And from now on any penny that come out of it or that go in it is for you to look after. For you to decide. It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the world and I’m putting in your hands. I’m telling you to be head of this family from now on like you supposed to be. â€Å" Quote 10: â€Å" I’m waiting to see you stand up and say we done give up one baby to poverty and  that we ain’t gonna give up nary another one†¦. I’m waiting. † Quote 11: â€Å"Well – I don’t understand why you people are reacting this way. What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren’t wanted and where some elements – well – people can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they’ve ever worked for is threatened†¦ You just can’t force people to change their hearts, son. â€Å" Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 105-6 Quote 12: â€Å"I seen†¦ him†¦ night after night†¦ come in†¦ and look at that rug†¦ and then look at  me†¦ the red showing in his eyes†¦ the veins moving in his head†¦ I seen him grow thin and old before he was forty†¦ working and working and working like somebody’s old horse†¦ killing himself†¦ and you – you give it all away in a day†¦ â€Å" Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 117 Quote 13: â€Å"I live the answer! (pause) In my village at home it is the exceptional man who can even read a newspaper†¦ or who ever sees a book at all. I will go home and much of what I will have to say will seem strange to the people of my village†¦ But I will teach and work and things will happen, slowly and swiftly. At times it will seem that nothing changes at all†¦ and then again†¦ the sudden dramatic events which make history leap into the future. And then quiet again. And perhaps†¦ perhaps I will be a great man†¦ I mean perhaps I will hold on to the substance of truth and find my way always with the right course†¦ † Act 3, pg. 124 Quote 14: â€Å"There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. † Act 3, pg. 135 Quote 15: â€Å"He finally came into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain†¦ † Act 3, pg. 141. Quote 16: â€Å"What’s the matter with you all! I didn’t make this world! It was give to me this way. † Quote 17: â€Å"That was what one person could do for another—sew up the problem, make him all right again 3 A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Study Guide Potential Short Answer 1. What is the setting of the play? 2. What is the central conflict in the play? 3. Define idealist and realist as Asagai does. Which characters fit into each category? 4. What contemporary political issue does Hansberry bring to the stage? Explain. What is the significance of this issue and how does it play a role one’s pursuit of  the American dream? 5. Who/what is the play’s protagonist? 6. Who/what is the play’s antagonist? 7. What moment in the play could be considered the climax? Explain. 8. Compare and contrast Beneatha and Walter. (You may use a chart/diagram). 9. Compare and contrast Asagai and George. (You may use a chart/diagram). 10. Explain the symbolic significance of the plant. 11. What is Asagai’s nickname for Beneatha. Discuss how it is a significant one for the play 12. To whom is Beneatha referring when she says to Lindner, â€Å"You heard that the man said? † Why is it significant?

Get Some 411 on Growing Up With These Quotes

Get Some 411 on Growing Up With These Quotes If youre in the midst of some serious growing up stress boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, cliques, popularity, grades, sports, parents you might need a little life from those who have been there and survived.   Quotes About Growing Up The Wonder YearsGrowing up happens in a heartbeat. One day youre in diapers; the next day youre gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder whats to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didnt have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves ... for growing up. Alden NowlanThe day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise. May Lamberton BeckerWe grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves. Walt DisneyToo many people grow up. Thats the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They dont remember what its like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well, I wont do that. Christopher MorleyWeve had bad luck with children; theyve all grown up. Meredith GreyIve heard that its possible to grow up Ive just never met anyone whos actually done it. Dr. James C. DobsonSometimes, were so concerned about giving our children what we never had growing up, we neglect to give them what we did have growing up. Tom StoppardMaturity is a high price to pay for growing up. John J. PlompYou know children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers. P. J. ORourkeYou know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where theyre going. Elizabeth TaylorI think Im finally growing up and about time. Elvis PresleyI was an only child, and Mother was always right with me all my life. I used to get very angry at her when I was growing up its a natural thing. Abraham LincolnYou have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was. J. M. BarrieGrowing up is such a barbarous business, full of inconvenience ... and pimples. Mary Beth DanielsonIf growing up is the process of creating ideas and dreams about what life should be, then maturity is letting go again. Ethel BarrymoreYou grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself. M. Scott PeckIt is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. Sylvia PlathDoing all the little tricky things it takes to grow up, step by step, into an anxious and unsettling world. Casey StengelThe trick is growing up without growing old. Woody HarrelsonA grown-up is a child with layers on. Christopher AtkinsNow Im growing and I can see my faults. I can look at myself objectively and say I cant blame anyone else; it was my own damn fault. Beverly MitchellPart of growing up is just taking what you learn from that and moving on and not taking it to heart.

1990 Turing Award Essays - Multics, Compatible Time-Sharing System

1990 Turing Award Essays - Multics, Compatible Time-Sharing System 1990 Turing Award According to the Association for Computing Machinery, (ACM) the A.M. Turing Award is the most prestigious technical award with a prize of $250,000. The Turing Award is given to a member or members of the computing community that has contributed a major technical importance to the computer field. ("ACM's Turing Award.") The Turing Award has been named the ?highest distinction in Computer science? and the ?Nobel Prize of computing?. This award contributes to the ACM?s mission ?to advance computing as a science and a profession?. (Geringer) The Turing Award is named after Alan Mathison Turing, a British mathematician, who is ?credited for being the Father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence?. (Homer) The first award was given out in 1966 and the Association for Computing Machinery has been giving them out every year since. In 1990, Fernando Jos? "Corby" Corbat? received the Turing Award for his work in ?organizing the concepts and leading the development of the general-purpose, large-scale, time-sharing and resource-sharing computer systems?. Corbat? was born on July 1, 1926 in Oakland, California. He received his bachelor?s degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1950, and then went on to receive his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956. After getting his Ph.D., he joined MIT?s Computation Center and soon was appointed Associate Professor in 1962. In 1965, he got promoted to a Professor and then during 1974 to 1993 he was Associate Department Head for Computer Science and Engineering. (Conte) Corbats work with time-sharing computer systems started in November 1961, at the MIT Computation Center, when ?an early version of the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) was first demonstrated?. (Csail) Timesharing, driven by the need to increase interactivity between user and computer and ease-of-use of the computer, allows a large number of users to interact with the computer simultaneously. It involves connecting various numbers of consoles to a single, central computer. Each console is allotted a time-slice of the central computer?s time, as the central computer delegates its time by switching between the user?s applications and problems and ?it appears to the user that s/he has complete access to the central computer.? (1963 Timesharing: A Solution to Computer Bottlenecks)The Compatible Time-Sharing System in the IBM 7094 digital computer timesharing operating system was used as the programming and debugging tool. (Vleck) In 1964, Corbats new knowledge of multiple access systems blossomed into the creation of a new system called Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service). This new system also supported an online reconfiguration, which allowed central processing units, memory banks, and disk drives can be added or removed while the system was still operating. Multics was one of the earliest multiprocessor systems because it supported multiple CPUs. In addition, it was the first major operating system to have a secure system from the outset, which lead to more secure systems and prefigured modern security engineering techniques. Multics was the first operating system to provide a hierarchical file system, which means that files could have multiple names and links between directories were supported. In 1973, Multics became the ?basis of a commercial system? that Honeywell Information Systems, Incorporated offered. (Conte) The computer advances that Corbat? has contributed to the world have been very impactful. CTSS was very influential because it showed that time-sharing was viable because it provided means of multi-tasking and multiprogramming, which is still significant and crucial for today?s computers. This provided new applications and programs to be created and used because computers were no longer single-use machines. A semi-recent creation that has brought back the concept of time-sharing is the Internet, where corporate server farms can host millions of customers that all share common resources. (Csail) CTSS also had one of the first inter-user message implementations. This pre-aged electronic mail and e-mail is one of the most common ways of communication in these present times. (Homer) In addition, Multics was the first powerful multi-processor computing machine, which set the groundwork for all of the multi-processing machines that are so popular today. Multics directly inspired AT&T to de velop Unix, another multitasking and multi-user computer operating system. Unix?s direct descendants are still used today in operating systems like Linux and these descendants were

A Game of Thrones Chapter Seventy

He strapped his roll to the saddle, his scarred fingers stiff and clumsy. â€Å"Ghost,† he called softly, â€Å"to me.† And the wolf was there, eyes like embers. â€Å"Jon, please. You must not do this.† He mounted, the reins in his hand, and wheeled the horse around to face the night. Samwell Tarly stood in the stable door, a full moon peering over his shoulder. He threw a giant’s shadow, immense and black. â€Å"Get out of my way, Sam.† â€Å"Jon, you can’t,† Sam said. â€Å"I won’t let you.† â€Å"I would sooner not hurt you,† Jon told him. â€Å"Move aside, Sam, or I’ll ride you down.† â€Å"You won’t. You have to listen to me. Please . . . â€Å" Jon put his spurs to horseflesh, and the mare bolted for the door. For an instant Sam stood his ground, his face as round and pale as the moon behind him, his mouth a widening O of surprise. At the last moment, when they were almost on him, he jumped aside as Jon had known he would, stumbled, and fell. The mare leapt over him, out into the night. Jon raised the hood of his heavy cloak and gave the horse her head. Castle Black was silent and still as he rode out, with Ghost racing at his side. Men watched from the Wall behind him, he knew, but their eyes were turned north, not south. No one would see him go, no one but Sam Tarly, struggling back to his feet in the dust of the old stables. He hoped Sam hadn’t hurt himself, falling like that. He was so heavy and so ungainly, it would be just like him to break a wrist or twist his ankle getting out of the way. â€Å"I warned him,† Jon said aloud. â€Å"It was nothing to do with him, anyway.† He flexed his burned hand as he rode, opening and closing the scarred fingers. They still pained him, but it felt good to have the wrappings off. Moonlight silvered the hills as he followed the twisting ribbon of the kingsroad. He needed to get as far from the Wall as he could before they realized he was gone. On the morrow he would leave the road and strike out overland through field and bush and stream to throw off pursuit, but for the moment speed was more important than deception. It was not as though they would not guess where he was going. The Old Bear was accustomed to rise at first light, so Jon had until dawn to put as many leagues as he could between him and the Wall . . . if Sam Tarly did not betray him. The fat boy was dutiful and easily frightened, but he loved Jon like a brother. If questioned, Sam would doubtless tell them the truth, but Jon could not imagine him braving the guards in front of the King’s Tower to wake Mormont from sleep. When Jon did not appear to fetch the Old Bear’s breakfast from the kitchen, they’d look in his cell and find Longclaw on the bed. It had been hard to abandon it, but Jon was not so lost to honor as to take it with him. Even Jorah Mormont had not done that, when he fled in disgrace. Doubtless Lord Mormont would find someone more worthy of the blade. Jon felt bad when he thought of the old man. He knew his desertion would be salt in the still-raw wound of his son’s disgrace. That seemed a poor way to repay him for his trust, but it couldn’t be helped. No matter what he did, Jon felt as though he were betraying someone. Even now, he did not know if he was doing the honorable thing. The southron had it easier. They had their septons to talk to, someone to tell them the gods’ will and help sort out right from wrong. But the Starks worshiped the old gods, the nameless gods, and if the heart trees heard, they did not speak. When the last lights of Castle Black vanished behind him, Jon slowed his mare to a walk. He had a long journey ahead and only the one horse to see him through. There were holdfasts and farming villages along the road south where he might be able to trade the mare for a fresh mount when he needed one, but not if she were injured or blown. He would need to find new clothes soon; most like, he’d need to steal them. He was clad in black from head to heel; high leather riding boots, roughspun breeches and tunic, sleeveless leather jerkin, and heavy wool cloak. His longsword and dagger were sheathed in black moleskin, and the hauberk and coif in his saddlebag were black ringmail. Any bit of it could mean his death if he were taken. A stranger wearing black was viewed with cold suspicion in every village and holdfast north of the Neck, and men would soon be watching for him. Once Maester Aemon’s ravens took flight, Jon knew he would find no safe haven. Not even at Winterfell. Bran might want to let him in, but Maester Luwin had better sense. He would bar the gates and send Jon away, as he should. Better not to call there at all. Yet he saw the castle clear in his mind’s eye, as if he had left it only yesterday; the towering granite walls, the Great Hall with its smells of smoke and dog and roasting meat, his father’s solar, the turret room where he had slept. Part of him wanted nothing so much as to hear Bran laugh again, to sup on one of Gage’s beef-and-bacon pies, to listen to Old Nan tell her tales of the children of the forest and Florian the Fool. But he had not left the Wall for that; he had left because he was after all his father’s son, and Robb’s brother. The gift of a sword, even a sword as fine as Longclaw, did not make him a Mormont. Nor was he Aemon Targaryen. Three times the old man had chosen, and three times he had chosen honor, but that was him. Even now, Jon could not decide whether the maester had stayed because he was weak and craven, or because he was strong and true. Yet he understood what the old man had meant, about the pain of choosing; he understood that all too well. Tyrion Lannister had claimed that most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, but Jon was done with denials. He was who he was; Jon Snow, bastard and oathbreaker, motherless, friendless, and damned. For the rest of his life—however long that might be—he would be condemned to be an outsider, the silent man standing in the shadows who dares not speak his true name. Wherever he might go throughout the Seven Kingdoms, he would need to live a lie, lest every man’s hand be raised against him. But it made no matter, so long as he lived long enough to take his place by his brother’s side and help avenge his father. He remembered Robb as he had last seen him, standing in the yard with snow melting in his auburn hair. Jon would have to come to him in secret, disguised. He tried to imagine the look on Robb’s face when he revealed himself. His brother would shake his head and smile, and he’d say . . . he’d say . . . He could not see the smile. Hard as he tried, he could not see it. He found himself thinking of the deserter his father had beheaded the day they’d found the direwolves. â€Å"You said the words,† Lord Eddard had told him. â€Å"You took a vow, before your brothers, before the old gods and the new.† Desmond and Fat Tom had dragged the man to the stump. Bran’s eyes had been wide as saucers, and Jon had to remind him to keep his pony in hand. He remembered the look on Father’s face when Theon Greyjoy brought forth Ice, the spray of blood on the snow, the way Theon had kicked the head when it came rolling at his feet. He wondered what Lord Eddard might have done if the deserter had been his brother Benjen instead of that ragged stranger. Would it have been any different? It must, surely, surely . . . and Robb would welcome him, for a certainty. He had to, or else . . . It did not bear thinking about. Pain throbbed, deep in his fingers, as he clutched the reins. Jon put his heels into his horse and broke into a gallop, racing down the kingsroad, as if to outrun his doubts. Jon was not afraid of death, but he did not want to die like that, trussed and bound and beheaded like a common brigand. If he must perish, let it be with a sword in his hand, fighting his father’s killers. He was no true Stark, had never been one . . . but he could die like one. Let them say that Eddard Stark had fathered four sons, not three. Ghost kept pace with them for almost half a mile, red tongue lolling from his mouth. Man and horse alike lowered their heads as he asked the mare for more speed. The wolf slowed, stopped, watching, his eyes glowing red in the moonlight. He vanished behind, but Jon knew he would follow, at his own pace. Scattered lights flickered through the trees ahead of him, on both sides of the road: Mole’s Town. A dog barked as he rode through, and he heard a mule’s raucous haw from the stable, but otherwise the village was still. Here and there the glow of hearth fires shone through shuttered windows, leaking between wooden slats, but only a few. Mole’s Town was bigger than it seemed, but three quarters of it was under the ground, in deep warm cellars connected by a maze of tunnels. Even the whorehouse was down there, nothing on the surface but a wooden shack no bigger than a privy, with a red lantern hung over the door. On the Wall, he’d heard men call the whores â€Å"buried treasures.† He wondered whether any of his brothers in black were down there tonight, mining. That was oathbreaking too, yet no one seemed to care. Not until he was well beyond the village did Jon slow again. By then both he and the mare were damp with sweat. He dismounted, shivering, his burned hand aching. A bank of melting snow lay under the trees, bright in the moonlight, water trickling off to form small shallow pools. Jon squatted and brought his hands together, cupping the runoff between his fingers. The snowmelt was icy cold. He drank, and splashed some on his face, until his cheeks tingled. His fingers were throbbing worse than they had in days, and his head was pounding too. I am doing the right thing, he told himself, so why do I feel so bad? The horse was well lathered, so Jon took the lead and walked her for a while. The road was scarcely wide enough for two riders to pass abreast, its surface cut by tiny streams and littered with stone. That run had been truly stupid, an invitation to a broken neck. Jon wondered what had gotten into him. Was he in such a great rush to die? Off in the trees, the distant scream of some frightened animal made him look up. His mare whinnied nervously. Had his wolf found some prey? He cupped his hands around his mouth. â€Å"Ghost!† he shouted. â€Å"Ghost, to me.† The only answer was a rush of wings behind him as an owl took flight. Frowning, Jon continued on his way. He led the mare for half an hour, until she was dry. Ghost did not appear. Jon wanted to mount up and ride again, but he was concerned about his missing wolf. â€Å"Ghost,† he called again. â€Å"Where are you? To me! Ghost!† Nothing in these woods could trouble a direwolf, even a half-grown direwolf, unless . . . no, Ghost was too smart to attack a bear, and if there was a wolf pack anywhere close Jon would have surely heard them howling. He should eat, he decided. Food would settle his stomach and give Ghost the chance to catch up. There was no danger yet; Castle Black still slept. In his saddlebag, he found a biscuit, a piece of cheese, and a small withered brown apple. He’d brought salt beef as well, and a rasher of bacon he’d filched from the kitchens, but he would save the meat for the morrow. After it was gone he’d need to hunt, and that would slow him. Jon sat under the trees and ate his biscuit and cheese while his mare grazed along the kingsroad. He kept the apple for last. It had gone a little soft, but the flesh was still tart and juicy. He was down to the core when he heard the sounds: horses, and from the north. Quickly Jon leapt up and strode to his mare. Could he outrun them? No, they were too close, they’d hear him for a certainty, and if they were from Castle Black . . . He led the mare off the road, behind a thick stand of grey-green sentinels. â€Å"Ouiet now,† he said in a hushed voice, crouching down to peer through the branches. If the gods were kind, the riders would pass by. Likely as not, they were only smallfolk from Mole’s Town, farmers on their way to their fields, although what they were doing out in the middle of the night . . . He listened to the sound of hooves growing steadily louder as they trotted briskly down the kingsroad. From the sound, there were five or six of them at the least. Their voices drifted through the trees. † . . . certain he came this way?† â€Å"We can’t be certain.† â€Å"He could have ridden east, for all you know. Or left the road to cut through the woods. That’s what I’d do.† â€Å"In the dark? Stupid. If you didn’t fall off your horse and break your neck, you’d get lost and wind up back at the Wall when the sun came up.† â€Å"I would not.† Grenn sounded peeved. â€Å"I’d just ride south, you can tell south by the stars.† â€Å"What if the sky was cloudy?† Pyp asked. â€Å"Then I wouldn’t go.† Another voice broke in. â€Å"You know where I’d be if it was me? I’d be in Mole’s Town, digging for buried treasure.† Toad’s shrill laughter boomed through the trees. Jon’s mare snorted. â€Å"Keep quiet, all of you,† Haider said. â€Å"I thought I heard something.† â€Å"Where? I didn’t hear anything.† The horses stopped. â€Å"You can’t hear yourself fart.† â€Å"I can too,† Grenn insisted. â€Å"Quiet!† They all fell silent, listening. Jon found himself holding his breath. Sam, he thought. He hadn’t gone to the Old Bear, but he hadn’t gone to bed either, he’d woken the other boys. Damn them all. Come dawn, if they were not in their beds, they’d be named deserters too. What did they think they were doing? The hushed silence seemed to stretch on and on. From where Jon crouched, he could see the legs of their horses through the branches. Finally Pyp spoke up. â€Å"What did you hear?† â€Å"I don’t know,† Haider admitted. â€Å"A sound, I thought it might have been a horse but . . . â€Å" â€Å"There’s nothing here.† Out of the corner of his eye, Jon glimpsed a pale shape moving through the trees. Leaves rustled, and Ghost came bounding out of the shadows, so suddenly that Jon’s mare started and gave a whinny. â€Å"There!† Halder shouted. â€Å"I heard it too!† â€Å"Traitor,† Jon told the direwolf as he swung up into the saddle. He turned the mare’s head to slide off through the trees, but they were on him before he had gone ten feet. â€Å"Jon!† Pyp shouted after him. â€Å"Pull up,† Grenn said. â€Å"You can’t outrun us all.† Jon wheeled around to face them, drawing his sword. â€Å"Get back. I don’t wish to hurt you, but I will if I have to.† â€Å"One against seven?† Halder gave a signal. The boys spread out, surrounding him. â€Å"What do you want with me?† Jon demanded. â€Å"We want to take you back where you belong,† Pyp said. â€Å"I belong with my brother.† â€Å"We’re your brothers now,† Grenn said. â€Å"They’ll cut off your head if they catch you, you know,† Toad put in with a nervous laugh. â€Å"This is so stupid, it’s like something the Aurochs would do.† â€Å"I would not,† Grenn said. â€Å"I’m no oathbreaker. I said the words and I meant them.† â€Å"So did I,† Jon told them. â€Å"Don’t you understand? They murdered my father. It’s war, my brother Robb is fighting in the riverlands—† â€Å"We know,† said Pyp solemnly. â€Å"Sam told us everything.† â€Å"We’re sorry about your father,† Grenn said, â€Å"but it doesn’t matter. Once you say the words, you can’t leave, no matter what.† â€Å"I have to,† Jon said fervently. â€Å"You said the words,† Pyp reminded him. â€Å"Now my watch begins, you said it. It shall not end until my death.† â€Å"I shall live and die at my post,† Grenn added, nodding. â€Å"You don’t have to tell me the words, I know them as well as you do.† He was angry now. Why couldn’t they let him go in peace? They were only making it harder. â€Å"I am the sword in the darkness,† Halder intoned. â€Å"The watcher on the walls,† piped Toad. Jon cursed them all to their faces. They took no notice. Pyp spurred his horse closer, reciting, â€Å"I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.† â€Å"Stay back,† Jon warned him, brandishing his sword. â€Å"I mean it, Pyp.† They weren’t even wearing armor, he could cut them to pieces if he had to. Matthar had circled behind him. He joined the chorus. â€Å"I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch.† Jon kicked his mare, spinning her in a circle. The boys were all around him now, closing from every side. â€Å"For this night . . . † Halder trotted in from the left. † . . . and all the nights to come,† finished Pyp. He reached over for Jon’s reins. â€Å"So here are your choices. Kill me, or come back with me.† Jon lifted his sword . . . and lowered it, helpless. â€Å"Damn you,† he said. â€Å"Damn you all.† â€Å"Do we have to bind your hands, or will you give us your word you’ll ride back peaceful?† asked Halder. â€Å"I won’t run, if that’s what you mean.† Ghost moved out from under the trees and Jon glared at him. â€Å"Small help you were,† he said. The deep red eyes looked at him knowingly. â€Å"We had best hurry,† Pyp said. â€Å"If we’re not back before first light, the Old Bear will have all our heads.† Of the ride back, Jon Snow remembered little. It seemed shorter than the journey south, perhaps because his mind was elsewhere. Pyp set the pace, galloping, walking, trotting, and then breaking into another gallop. Mole’s Town came and went, the red lantern over the brothel long extinguished. They made good time. Dawn was still an hour off when Jon glimpsed the towers of Castle Black ahead of them, dark against the pale immensity of the Wall. It did not seem like home this time. They could take him back, Jon told himself, but they could not make him stay. The war would not end on the morrow, or the day after, and his friends could not watch him day and night. He would bide his time, make them think he was content to remain here . . . and then, when they had grown lax, he would be off again. Next time he would avoid the kingsroad. He could follow the Wall east, perhaps all the way to the sea, a longer route but a safer one. Or even west, to the mountains, and then south over the high passes. That was the wildling’s way, hard and perilous, but at least no one wouid follow him. He wouldn’t stray within a hundred leagues of Winterfell or the kingsroad. Samwell Tarly awaited them in the old stables, slumped on the ground against a bale of hay, too anxious to sleep. He rose and brushed himself off. â€Å"I . . . I’m glad they found you, Jon.† â€Å"I’m not,† Jon said, dismounting. Pyp hopped off his horse and looked at the lightening sky with disgust. â€Å"Give us a hand bedding down the horses, Sam,† the small boy said. â€Å"We have a long day before us, and no sleep to face it on, thanks to Lord Snow.† When day broke, Jon walked to the kitchens as he did every dawn. Three-Finger Hobb said nothing as he gave him the Old Bear’s breakfast. Today it was three brown eggs boiled hard, with fried bread and ham steak and a bowl of wrinkled plums. Jon carried the food back to the King’s Tower. He found Mormont at the window seat, writing. His raven was walking back and forth across his shoulders, muttering, â€Å"Corn, corn, corn.† The bird shrieked when Jon entered. â€Å"Put the food on the table,† the Old Bear said, glancing up. â€Å"I’ll have some beer.† Jon opened a shuttered window, took the flagon of beer off the outside ledge, and filled a horn. Hobb had given him a lemon, still cold from the Wall. Jon crushed it in his fist. The juice trickled through his fingers. Mormont drank lemon in his beer every day, and claimed that was why he still had his own teeth. â€Å"Doubtless you loved your father,† Mormont said when Jon brought him his horn. â€Å"The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember when I told you that?† â€Å"I remember,† Jon said sullenly. He did not care to talk of his father’s death, not even to Mormont. â€Å"See that you never forget it. The hard truths are the ones to hold tight. Fetch me my plate. Is it ham again? So be it. You look weary. Was your moonlight ride so tiring?† Jon’s throat was dry. â€Å"You know?† â€Å"Know,† the raven echoed from Mormont’s shoulder. â€Å"Know.† The Old Bear snorted. â€Å"Do you think they chose me Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch because I’m dumb as a stump, Snow? Aemon told me you’d go. I told him you’d be back. I know my men . . . and my boys too. Honor set you on the kingsroad . . . and honor brought you back.† â€Å"My friends brought me back,† Jon said. â€Å"Did I say it was your honor?† Mormont inspected his plate. â€Å"They killed my father. Did you expect me to do nothing?† â€Å"If truth be told, we expected you to do just as you did.† Mormont tried a plum, spit out the pit. â€Å"I ordered a watch kept over you., You were seen leaving. If your brothers had not fetched you back, you would have been taken along the way, and not by friends. Unless you have a horse with wings like a raven. Do you?† â€Å"No.† Jon felt like a fool. â€Å"Pity, we could use a horse like that.† Jon stood tall. He told himself that he would die well; that much he could do, at the least. â€Å"I know the penalty for desertion, my lord. I’m not afraid to die.† â€Å"Die!† the raven cried. â€Å"Nor live, I hope,† Mormont said, cutting his ham with a dagger and feeding a bite to the bird. â€Å"You have not deserted—yet. Here you stand. If we beheaded every boy who rode to Mole’s Town in the night, only ghosts would guard the Wall. Yet maybe you mean to flee again on the morrow, or a fortnight from now. Is that it? Is that your hope, boy?† Jon kept silent. â€Å"I thought so.† Mormont peeled the shell off a boiled egg. â€Å"Your father is dead, lad. Do you think you can bring him back?† â€Å"No,† he answered, sullen. â€Å"Good,† Mormont said. â€Å"We’ve seen the dead come back, you and me, and it’s not something I care to see again.† He ate the egg in two bites and flicked a bit of shell out from between his teeth. â€Å"Your brother is in the field with all the power of the north behind him. Any one of his lords bannermen commands more swords than you’ll find in all the Night’s Watch. Why do you imagine that they need your help? Are you such a mighty warrior, or do you carry a grumkin in your pocket to magic up your sword?† Jon had no answer for him. The raven was pecking at an egg, breaking the shell. Pushing his beak through the hole, he pulled out morsels of white and yoke. The Old Bear sighed. â€Å"You are not the only one touched by this war. Like as not, my sister is marching in your brother’s host, her and those daughters of hers, dressed in men’s mail. Maege is a hoary old snark, stubborn, short-tempered, and willful. Truth be told, I can hardly stand to be around the wretched woman, but that does not mean my love for her is any less than the love you bear your half sisters.† Frowning, Mormont took his last egg and squeezed it in his fist until the shell crunched. â€Å"Or perhaps it does. Be that as it may, I’d still grieve if she were slain, yet you don’t see me running off. I said the words, just as you did. My place is here . . . where is yours, boy?† I have no place, Jon wanted to say, I’m a bastard, I have no rights, no name, no mother, and now not even a father. The words would not come. â€Å"I don’t know.† â€Å"I do,† said Lord Commander Mormont. â€Å"The cold winds are rising, Snow. Beyond the Wall, the shadows lengthen. Cotter Pyke writes of vast herds of elk, streaming south and east toward the sea, and mammoths as well. He says one of his men discovered huge, misshapen footprints not three leagues from Eastwatch. Rangers from the Shadow Tower have found whole villages abandoned, and at night Ser Denys says they see fires in the mountains, huge blazes that burn from dusk till dawn. Quorin Halfhand took a captive in the depths of the Gorge, and the man swears that Mance Rayder is massing all his people in some new, secret stronghold he’s found, to what end the gods only know. Do you think your uncle Benjen was the only ranger we’ve lost this past year?† â€Å"Ben Jen,† the raven squawked, bobbing its head, bits of egg dribbling from its beak. â€Å"Ben Jen. Ben Jen.† â€Å"No,† Jon said. There had been others. Too many. â€Å"Do you think your brother’s war is more important than ours?† the old man barked. Jon chewed his lip. The raven flapped its wings at him. â€Å"War, war, war, war,† it sang. â€Å"It’s not,† Mormont told him. â€Å"Gods save us, boy, you’re not blind and you’re not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?† â€Å"No.† Jon had not thought of it that way. â€Å"Your lord father sent you to us, Jon. Why, who can say?† â€Å"Why? Why? Why?† the raven called. â€Å"All I know is that the blood of the First Men flows in the veins of the Starks. The First Men built the Wall, and it’s said they remember things otherwise forgotten. And that beast of yours . . . he led us to the wights, warned you of the dead man on the steps. Ser Jaremy would doubtless call that happenstance, yet Ser Jaremy is dead and I’m not.† Lord Mormont stabbed a chunk of ham with the point of his dagger. â€Å"I think you were meant to be here, and I want you and that wolf of yours with us when we go beyond the Wall.† His words sent a chill of excitement down Jon’s back. â€Å"Beyond the Wall?† â€Å"You heard me. I mean to find Ben Stark, alive or dead.† He chewed and swallowed. â€Å"I will not sit here meekly and wait for the snows and the ice winds. We must know what is happening. This time the Night’s Watch will ride in force, against the King-beyond-the-Wall, the Others, and anything else that may be out there. I mean to command them myself.† He pointed his dagger at Jon’s chest. â€Å"By custom, the Lord Commander’s steward is his squire as well . . . but I do not care to wake every dawn wondering if you’ve run off again. So I will have an answer from you, Lord Snow, and I will have it now. Are you a brother of the Night’s Watch . . . or only a bastard boy who wants to play at war?† Jon Snow straightened himself and took a long deep breath. Forgive me, Father. Robb, Arya, Bran . . . forgive me, I cannot help you. He has the truth of it. This is my place. â€Å"I am . . . yours, my lord. Your man. I swear it. I will not run again.† The Old Bear snorted. â€Å"Good. Now go put on your sword.† A Game of Thrones Chapter Seventy He strapped his roll to the saddle, his scarred fingers stiff and clumsy. â€Å"Ghost,† he called softly, â€Å"to me.† And the wolf was there, eyes like embers. â€Å"Jon, please. You must not do this.† He mounted, the reins in his hand, and wheeled the horse around to face the night. Samwell Tarly stood in the stable door, a full moon peering over his shoulder. He threw a giant’s shadow, immense and black. â€Å"Get out of my way, Sam.† â€Å"Jon, you can’t,† Sam said. â€Å"I won’t let you.† â€Å"I would sooner not hurt you,† Jon told him. â€Å"Move aside, Sam, or I’ll ride you down.† â€Å"You won’t. You have to listen to me. Please . . . â€Å" Jon put his spurs to horseflesh, and the mare bolted for the door. For an instant Sam stood his ground, his face as round and pale as the moon behind him, his mouth a widening O of surprise. At the last moment, when they were almost on him, he jumped aside as Jon had known he would, stumbled, and fell. The mare leapt over him, out into the night. Jon raised the hood of his heavy cloak and gave the horse her head. Castle Black was silent and still as he rode out, with Ghost racing at his side. Men watched from the Wall behind him, he knew, but their eyes were turned north, not south. No one would see him go, no one but Sam Tarly, struggling back to his feet in the dust of the old stables. He hoped Sam hadn’t hurt himself, falling like that. He was so heavy and so ungainly, it would be just like him to break a wrist or twist his ankle getting out of the way. â€Å"I warned him,† Jon said aloud. â€Å"It was nothing to do with him, anyway.† He flexed his burned hand as he rode, opening and closing the scarred fingers. They still pained him, but it felt good to have the wrappings off. Moonlight silvered the hills as he followed the twisting ribbon of the kingsroad. He needed to get as far from the Wall as he could before they realized he was gone. On the morrow he would leave the road and strike out overland through field and bush and stream to throw off pursuit, but for the moment speed was more important than deception. It was not as though they would not guess where he was going. The Old Bear was accustomed to rise at first light, so Jon had until dawn to put as many leagues as he could between him and the Wall . . . if Sam Tarly did not betray him. The fat boy was dutiful and easily frightened, but he loved Jon like a brother. If questioned, Sam would doubtless tell them the truth, but Jon could not imagine him braving the guards in front of the King’s Tower to wake Mormont from sleep. When Jon did not appear to fetch the Old Bear’s breakfast from the kitchen, they’d look in his cell and find Longclaw on the bed. It had been hard to abandon it, but Jon was not so lost to honor as to take it with him. Even Jorah Mormont had not done that, when he fled in disgrace. Doubtless Lord Mormont would find someone more worthy of the blade. Jon felt bad when he thought of the old man. He knew his desertion would be salt in the still-raw wound of his son’s disgrace. That seemed a poor way to repay him for his trust, but it couldn’t be helped. No matter what he did, Jon felt as though he were betraying someone. Even now, he did not know if he was doing the honorable thing. The southron had it easier. They had their septons to talk to, someone to tell them the gods’ will and help sort out right from wrong. But the Starks worshiped the old gods, the nameless gods, and if the heart trees heard, they did not speak. When the last lights of Castle Black vanished behind him, Jon slowed his mare to a walk. He had a long journey ahead and only the one horse to see him through. There were holdfasts and farming villages along the road south where he might be able to trade the mare for a fresh mount when he needed one, but not if she were injured or blown. He would need to find new clothes soon; most like, he’d need to steal them. He was clad in black from head to heel; high leather riding boots, roughspun breeches and tunic, sleeveless leather jerkin, and heavy wool cloak. His longsword and dagger were sheathed in black moleskin, and the hauberk and coif in his saddlebag were black ringmail. Any bit of it could mean his death if he were taken. A stranger wearing black was viewed with cold suspicion in every village and holdfast north of the Neck, and men would soon be watching for him. Once Maester Aemon’s ravens took flight, Jon knew he would find no safe haven. Not even at Winterfell. Bran might want to let him in, but Maester Luwin had better sense. He would bar the gates and send Jon away, as he should. Better not to call there at all. Yet he saw the castle clear in his mind’s eye, as if he had left it only yesterday; the towering granite walls, the Great Hall with its smells of smoke and dog and roasting meat, his father’s solar, the turret room where he had slept. Part of him wanted nothing so much as to hear Bran laugh again, to sup on one of Gage’s beef-and-bacon pies, to listen to Old Nan tell her tales of the children of the forest and Florian the Fool. But he had not left the Wall for that; he had left because he was after all his father’s son, and Robb’s brother. The gift of a sword, even a sword as fine as Longclaw, did not make him a Mormont. Nor was he Aemon Targaryen. Three times the old man had chosen, and three times he had chosen honor, but that was him. Even now, Jon could not decide whether the maester had stayed because he was weak and craven, or because he was strong and true. Yet he understood what the old man had meant, about the pain of choosing; he understood that all too well. Tyrion Lannister had claimed that most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, but Jon was done with denials. He was who he was; Jon Snow, bastard and oathbreaker, motherless, friendless, and damned. For the rest of his life—however long that might be—he would be condemned to be an outsider, the silent man standing in the shadows who dares not speak his true name. Wherever he might go throughout the Seven Kingdoms, he would need to live a lie, lest every man’s hand be raised against him. But it made no matter, so long as he lived long enough to take his place by his brother’s side and help avenge his father. He remembered Robb as he had last seen him, standing in the yard with snow melting in his auburn hair. Jon would have to come to him in secret, disguised. He tried to imagine the look on Robb’s face when he revealed himself. His brother would shake his head and smile, and he’d say . . . he’d say . . . He could not see the smile. Hard as he tried, he could not see it. He found himself thinking of the deserter his father had beheaded the day they’d found the direwolves. â€Å"You said the words,† Lord Eddard had told him. â€Å"You took a vow, before your brothers, before the old gods and the new.† Desmond and Fat Tom had dragged the man to the stump. Bran’s eyes had been wide as saucers, and Jon had to remind him to keep his pony in hand. He remembered the look on Father’s face when Theon Greyjoy brought forth Ice, the spray of blood on the snow, the way Theon had kicked the head when it came rolling at his feet. He wondered what Lord Eddard might have done if the deserter had been his brother Benjen instead of that ragged stranger. Would it have been any different? It must, surely, surely . . . and Robb would welcome him, for a certainty. He had to, or else . . . It did not bear thinking about. Pain throbbed, deep in his fingers, as he clutched the reins. Jon put his heels into his horse and broke into a gallop, racing down the kingsroad, as if to outrun his doubts. Jon was not afraid of death, but he did not want to die like that, trussed and bound and beheaded like a common brigand. If he must perish, let it be with a sword in his hand, fighting his father’s killers. He was no true Stark, had never been one . . . but he could die like one. Let them say that Eddard Stark had fathered four sons, not three. Ghost kept pace with them for almost half a mile, red tongue lolling from his mouth. Man and horse alike lowered their heads as he asked the mare for more speed. The wolf slowed, stopped, watching, his eyes glowing red in the moonlight. He vanished behind, but Jon knew he would follow, at his own pace. Scattered lights flickered through the trees ahead of him, on both sides of the road: Mole’s Town. A dog barked as he rode through, and he heard a mule’s raucous haw from the stable, but otherwise the village was still. Here and there the glow of hearth fires shone through shuttered windows, leaking between wooden slats, but only a few. Mole’s Town was bigger than it seemed, but three quarters of it was under the ground, in deep warm cellars connected by a maze of tunnels. Even the whorehouse was down there, nothing on the surface but a wooden shack no bigger than a privy, with a red lantern hung over the door. On the Wall, he’d heard men call the whores â€Å"buried treasures.† He wondered whether any of his brothers in black were down there tonight, mining. That was oathbreaking too, yet no one seemed to care. Not until he was well beyond the village did Jon slow again. By then both he and the mare were damp with sweat. He dismounted, shivering, his burned hand aching. A bank of melting snow lay under the trees, bright in the moonlight, water trickling off to form small shallow pools. Jon squatted and brought his hands together, cupping the runoff between his fingers. The snowmelt was icy cold. He drank, and splashed some on his face, until his cheeks tingled. His fingers were throbbing worse than they had in days, and his head was pounding too. I am doing the right thing, he told himself, so why do I feel so bad? The horse was well lathered, so Jon took the lead and walked her for a while. The road was scarcely wide enough for two riders to pass abreast, its surface cut by tiny streams and littered with stone. That run had been truly stupid, an invitation to a broken neck. Jon wondered what had gotten into him. Was he in such a great rush to die? Off in the trees, the distant scream of some frightened animal made him look up. His mare whinnied nervously. Had his wolf found some prey? He cupped his hands around his mouth. â€Å"Ghost!† he shouted. â€Å"Ghost, to me.† The only answer was a rush of wings behind him as an owl took flight. Frowning, Jon continued on his way. He led the mare for half an hour, until she was dry. Ghost did not appear. Jon wanted to mount up and ride again, but he was concerned about his missing wolf. â€Å"Ghost,† he called again. â€Å"Where are you? To me! Ghost!† Nothing in these woods could trouble a direwolf, even a half-grown direwolf, unless . . . no, Ghost was too smart to attack a bear, and if there was a wolf pack anywhere close Jon would have surely heard them howling. He should eat, he decided. Food would settle his stomach and give Ghost the chance to catch up. There was no danger yet; Castle Black still slept. In his saddlebag, he found a biscuit, a piece of cheese, and a small withered brown apple. He’d brought salt beef as well, and a rasher of bacon he’d filched from the kitchens, but he would save the meat for the morrow. After it was gone he’d need to hunt, and that would slow him. Jon sat under the trees and ate his biscuit and cheese while his mare grazed along the kingsroad. He kept the apple for last. It had gone a little soft, but the flesh was still tart and juicy. He was down to the core when he heard the sounds: horses, and from the north. Quickly Jon leapt up and strode to his mare. Could he outrun them? No, they were too close, they’d hear him for a certainty, and if they were from Castle Black . . . He led the mare off the road, behind a thick stand of grey-green sentinels. â€Å"Ouiet now,† he said in a hushed voice, crouching down to peer through the branches. If the gods were kind, the riders would pass by. Likely as not, they were only smallfolk from Mole’s Town, farmers on their way to their fields, although what they were doing out in the middle of the night . . . He listened to the sound of hooves growing steadily louder as they trotted briskly down the kingsroad. From the sound, there were five or six of them at the least. Their voices drifted through the trees. † . . . certain he came this way?† â€Å"We can’t be certain.† â€Å"He could have ridden east, for all you know. Or left the road to cut through the woods. That’s what I’d do.† â€Å"In the dark? Stupid. If you didn’t fall off your horse and break your neck, you’d get lost and wind up back at the Wall when the sun came up.† â€Å"I would not.† Grenn sounded peeved. â€Å"I’d just ride south, you can tell south by the stars.† â€Å"What if the sky was cloudy?† Pyp asked. â€Å"Then I wouldn’t go.† Another voice broke in. â€Å"You know where I’d be if it was me? I’d be in Mole’s Town, digging for buried treasure.† Toad’s shrill laughter boomed through the trees. Jon’s mare snorted. â€Å"Keep quiet, all of you,† Haider said. â€Å"I thought I heard something.† â€Å"Where? I didn’t hear anything.† The horses stopped. â€Å"You can’t hear yourself fart.† â€Å"I can too,† Grenn insisted. â€Å"Quiet!† They all fell silent, listening. Jon found himself holding his breath. Sam, he thought. He hadn’t gone to the Old Bear, but he hadn’t gone to bed either, he’d woken the other boys. Damn them all. Come dawn, if they were not in their beds, they’d be named deserters too. What did they think they were doing? The hushed silence seemed to stretch on and on. From where Jon crouched, he could see the legs of their horses through the branches. Finally Pyp spoke up. â€Å"What did you hear?† â€Å"I don’t know,† Haider admitted. â€Å"A sound, I thought it might have been a horse but . . . â€Å" â€Å"There’s nothing here.† Out of the corner of his eye, Jon glimpsed a pale shape moving through the trees. Leaves rustled, and Ghost came bounding out of the shadows, so suddenly that Jon’s mare started and gave a whinny. â€Å"There!† Halder shouted. â€Å"I heard it too!† â€Å"Traitor,† Jon told the direwolf as he swung up into the saddle. He turned the mare’s head to slide off through the trees, but they were on him before he had gone ten feet. â€Å"Jon!† Pyp shouted after him. â€Å"Pull up,† Grenn said. â€Å"You can’t outrun us all.† Jon wheeled around to face them, drawing his sword. â€Å"Get back. I don’t wish to hurt you, but I will if I have to.† â€Å"One against seven?† Halder gave a signal. The boys spread out, surrounding him. â€Å"What do you want with me?† Jon demanded. â€Å"We want to take you back where you belong,† Pyp said. â€Å"I belong with my brother.† â€Å"We’re your brothers now,† Grenn said. â€Å"They’ll cut off your head if they catch you, you know,† Toad put in with a nervous laugh. â€Å"This is so stupid, it’s like something the Aurochs would do.† â€Å"I would not,† Grenn said. â€Å"I’m no oathbreaker. I said the words and I meant them.† â€Å"So did I,† Jon told them. â€Å"Don’t you understand? They murdered my father. It’s war, my brother Robb is fighting in the riverlands—† â€Å"We know,† said Pyp solemnly. â€Å"Sam told us everything.† â€Å"We’re sorry about your father,† Grenn said, â€Å"but it doesn’t matter. Once you say the words, you can’t leave, no matter what.† â€Å"I have to,† Jon said fervently. â€Å"You said the words,† Pyp reminded him. â€Å"Now my watch begins, you said it. It shall not end until my death.† â€Å"I shall live and die at my post,† Grenn added, nodding. â€Å"You don’t have to tell me the words, I know them as well as you do.† He was angry now. Why couldn’t they let him go in peace? They were only making it harder. â€Å"I am the sword in the darkness,† Halder intoned. â€Å"The watcher on the walls,† piped Toad. Jon cursed them all to their faces. They took no notice. Pyp spurred his horse closer, reciting, â€Å"I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.† â€Å"Stay back,† Jon warned him, brandishing his sword. â€Å"I mean it, Pyp.† They weren’t even wearing armor, he could cut them to pieces if he had to. Matthar had circled behind him. He joined the chorus. â€Å"I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch.† Jon kicked his mare, spinning her in a circle. The boys were all around him now, closing from every side. â€Å"For this night . . . † Halder trotted in from the left. † . . . and all the nights to come,† finished Pyp. He reached over for Jon’s reins. â€Å"So here are your choices. Kill me, or come back with me.† Jon lifted his sword . . . and lowered it, helpless. â€Å"Damn you,† he said. â€Å"Damn you all.† â€Å"Do we have to bind your hands, or will you give us your word you’ll ride back peaceful?† asked Halder. â€Å"I won’t run, if that’s what you mean.† Ghost moved out from under the trees and Jon glared at him. â€Å"Small help you were,† he said. The deep red eyes looked at him knowingly. â€Å"We had best hurry,† Pyp said. â€Å"If we’re not back before first light, the Old Bear will have all our heads.† Of the ride back, Jon Snow remembered little. It seemed shorter than the journey south, perhaps because his mind was elsewhere. Pyp set the pace, galloping, walking, trotting, and then breaking into another gallop. Mole’s Town came and went, the red lantern over the brothel long extinguished. They made good time. Dawn was still an hour off when Jon glimpsed the towers of Castle Black ahead of them, dark against the pale immensity of the Wall. It did not seem like home this time. They could take him back, Jon told himself, but they could not make him stay. The war would not end on the morrow, or the day after, and his friends could not watch him day and night. He would bide his time, make them think he was content to remain here . . . and then, when they had grown lax, he would be off again. Next time he would avoid the kingsroad. He could follow the Wall east, perhaps all the way to the sea, a longer route but a safer one. Or even west, to the mountains, and then south over the high passes. That was the wildling’s way, hard and perilous, but at least no one wouid follow him. He wouldn’t stray within a hundred leagues of Winterfell or the kingsroad. Samwell Tarly awaited them in the old stables, slumped on the ground against a bale of hay, too anxious to sleep. He rose and brushed himself off. â€Å"I . . . I’m glad they found you, Jon.† â€Å"I’m not,† Jon said, dismounting. Pyp hopped off his horse and looked at the lightening sky with disgust. â€Å"Give us a hand bedding down the horses, Sam,† the small boy said. â€Å"We have a long day before us, and no sleep to face it on, thanks to Lord Snow.† When day broke, Jon walked to the kitchens as he did every dawn. Three-Finger Hobb said nothing as he gave him the Old Bear’s breakfast. Today it was three brown eggs boiled hard, with fried bread and ham steak and a bowl of wrinkled plums. Jon carried the food back to the King’s Tower. He found Mormont at the window seat, writing. His raven was walking back and forth across his shoulders, muttering, â€Å"Corn, corn, corn.† The bird shrieked when Jon entered. â€Å"Put the food on the table,† the Old Bear said, glancing up. â€Å"I’ll have some beer.† Jon opened a shuttered window, took the flagon of beer off the outside ledge, and filled a horn. Hobb had given him a lemon, still cold from the Wall. Jon crushed it in his fist. The juice trickled through his fingers. Mormont drank lemon in his beer every day, and claimed that was why he still had his own teeth. â€Å"Doubtless you loved your father,† Mormont said when Jon brought him his horn. â€Å"The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember when I told you that?† â€Å"I remember,† Jon said sullenly. He did not care to talk of his father’s death, not even to Mormont. â€Å"See that you never forget it. The hard truths are the ones to hold tight. Fetch me my plate. Is it ham again? So be it. You look weary. Was your moonlight ride so tiring?† Jon’s throat was dry. â€Å"You know?† â€Å"Know,† the raven echoed from Mormont’s shoulder. â€Å"Know.† The Old Bear snorted. â€Å"Do you think they chose me Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch because I’m dumb as a stump, Snow? Aemon told me you’d go. I told him you’d be back. I know my men . . . and my boys too. Honor set you on the kingsroad . . . and honor brought you back.† â€Å"My friends brought me back,† Jon said. â€Å"Did I say it was your honor?† Mormont inspected his plate. â€Å"They killed my father. Did you expect me to do nothing?† â€Å"If truth be told, we expected you to do just as you did.† Mormont tried a plum, spit out the pit. â€Å"I ordered a watch kept over you., You were seen leaving. If your brothers had not fetched you back, you would have been taken along the way, and not by friends. Unless you have a horse with wings like a raven. Do you?† â€Å"No.† Jon felt like a fool. â€Å"Pity, we could use a horse like that.† Jon stood tall. He told himself that he would die well; that much he could do, at the least. â€Å"I know the penalty for desertion, my lord. I’m not afraid to die.† â€Å"Die!† the raven cried. â€Å"Nor live, I hope,† Mormont said, cutting his ham with a dagger and feeding a bite to the bird. â€Å"You have not deserted—yet. Here you stand. If we beheaded every boy who rode to Mole’s Town in the night, only ghosts would guard the Wall. Yet maybe you mean to flee again on the morrow, or a fortnight from now. Is that it? Is that your hope, boy?† Jon kept silent. â€Å"I thought so.† Mormont peeled the shell off a boiled egg. â€Å"Your father is dead, lad. Do you think you can bring him back?† â€Å"No,† he answered, sullen. â€Å"Good,† Mormont said. â€Å"We’ve seen the dead come back, you and me, and it’s not something I care to see again.† He ate the egg in two bites and flicked a bit of shell out from between his teeth. â€Å"Your brother is in the field with all the power of the north behind him. Any one of his lords bannermen commands more swords than you’ll find in all the Night’s Watch. Why do you imagine that they need your help? Are you such a mighty warrior, or do you carry a grumkin in your pocket to magic up your sword?† Jon had no answer for him. The raven was pecking at an egg, breaking the shell. Pushing his beak through the hole, he pulled out morsels of white and yoke. The Old Bear sighed. â€Å"You are not the only one touched by this war. Like as not, my sister is marching in your brother’s host, her and those daughters of hers, dressed in men’s mail. Maege is a hoary old snark, stubborn, short-tempered, and willful. Truth be told, I can hardly stand to be around the wretched woman, but that does not mean my love for her is any less than the love you bear your half sisters.† Frowning, Mormont took his last egg and squeezed it in his fist until the shell crunched. â€Å"Or perhaps it does. Be that as it may, I’d still grieve if she were slain, yet you don’t see me running off. I said the words, just as you did. My place is here . . . where is yours, boy?† I have no place, Jon wanted to say, I’m a bastard, I have no rights, no name, no mother, and now not even a father. The words would not come. â€Å"I don’t know.† â€Å"I do,† said Lord Commander Mormont. â€Å"The cold winds are rising, Snow. Beyond the Wall, the shadows lengthen. Cotter Pyke writes of vast herds of elk, streaming south and east toward the sea, and mammoths as well. He says one of his men discovered huge, misshapen footprints not three leagues from Eastwatch. Rangers from the Shadow Tower have found whole villages abandoned, and at night Ser Denys says they see fires in the mountains, huge blazes that burn from dusk till dawn. Quorin Halfhand took a captive in the depths of the Gorge, and the man swears that Mance Rayder is massing all his people in some new, secret stronghold he’s found, to what end the gods only know. Do you think your uncle Benjen was the only ranger we’ve lost this past year?† â€Å"Ben Jen,† the raven squawked, bobbing its head, bits of egg dribbling from its beak. â€Å"Ben Jen. Ben Jen.† â€Å"No,† Jon said. There had been others. Too many. â€Å"Do you think your brother’s war is more important than ours?† the old man barked. Jon chewed his lip. The raven flapped its wings at him. â€Å"War, war, war, war,† it sang. â€Å"It’s not,† Mormont told him. â€Å"Gods save us, boy, you’re not blind and you’re not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?† â€Å"No.† Jon had not thought of it that way. â€Å"Your lord father sent you to us, Jon. Why, who can say?† â€Å"Why? Why? Why?† the raven called. â€Å"All I know is that the blood of the First Men flows in the veins of the Starks. The First Men built the Wall, and it’s said they remember things otherwise forgotten. And that beast of yours . . . he led us to the wights, warned you of the dead man on the steps. Ser Jaremy would doubtless call that happenstance, yet Ser Jaremy is dead and I’m not.† Lord Mormont stabbed a chunk of ham with the point of his dagger. â€Å"I think you were meant to be here, and I want you and that wolf of yours with us when we go beyond the Wall.† His words sent a chill of excitement down Jon’s back. â€Å"Beyond the Wall?† â€Å"You heard me. I mean to find Ben Stark, alive or dead.† He chewed and swallowed. â€Å"I will not sit here meekly and wait for the snows and the ice winds. We must know what is happening. This time the Night’s Watch will ride in force, against the King-beyond-the-Wall, the Others, and anything else that may be out there. I mean to command them myself.† He pointed his dagger at Jon’s chest. â€Å"By custom, the Lord Commander’s steward is his squire as well . . . but I do not care to wake every dawn wondering if you’ve run off again. So I will have an answer from you, Lord Snow, and I will have it now. Are you a brother of the Night’s Watch . . . or only a bastard boy who wants to play at war?† Jon Snow straightened himself and took a long deep breath. Forgive me, Father. Robb, Arya, Bran . . . forgive me, I cannot help you. He has the truth of it. This is my place. â€Å"I am . . . yours, my lord. Your man. I swear it. I will not run again.† The Old Bear snorted. â€Å"Good. Now go put on your sword.†

MBA-HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

MBA-HRM - Essay Example This concept led to the evolution of strategic HRM (SHRM). Various models of SHRM have been proposed by different researchers. Each of these models considers human resources at the focal point, and organizational strategies formulated in line with organizational goals and expectations from employees. However, the challenge to SHRM is its inability to be measurable. It is extremely difficult to measure effectiveness of strategies before achieving any outcome; at the same time, waiting for outcome could be disastrous to the organization. Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Score Card system is an impressive way to assess the effectiveness of strategies. This helps in translating an organization’s vision, mission, value and strategy into a comprehensive set of performance measures based on four key perspectives, finance, learning and growth, internal processes and customers. It also enables companies to assess short-term strategies, modify strategies and also manage performance (Kaplan & Norton, 2007). Nevertheless, SHRM is a complex and dynamic process requiring a systematic approach that includes consideration of external such as socioeconomic, technical, politicolegal factors and nature of competition; and internal factors such as culture, structure, leadership, technology, organizational goals (Lundy & Cowling, 1996, 77). Yet, the comprehensive six-step SHRM application tool seems highly useful for organizations to implement SHRM at the ground level and with a futuristic vision (Hartel et al, 2007). Considering the dynamic nature of SHRM and constantly changing environmental and organizational behaviors, scope of SHRM cannot be defined or limited. Philosophically, leaders and strategists should have an outlook of ‘change’ in using and implementing SHRM concept. It is clear that HRM is a complex phenomenon and all factors related to HRM need to be

Attempts to Save a People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Attempts to Save a People - Essay Example One of the problems with the advanced way in which human beings think is that great ideologies and mythologies about life can be envisioned. This means that there are great waves of innovation that sweep through political systems, scientific communities, and communities of those who wish to find something to believe in so that they can better understand their world. The problem comes when the thoughts of one people comes into contradiction with those of another. An assumption is made that the differences between two peoples means that one is right and one is wrong.  One of the problems with the advanced way in which human beings think is that great ideologies and mythologies about life can be envisioned. This means that there are great waves of innovation that sweep through political systems, scientific communities, and communities of those who wish to find something to believe in so that they can better understand their world. The problem comes when the thoughts of one people come s into contradiction with those of another. An assumption is made that the differences between two peoples means that one is right and one is wrong.   In particular, the rise of Western culture has created a definition of what is ‘civilized’, thus creating a great number of cultures outside of this definition for whom groups of people in the West have endeavored to find a way to ‘save’ them from the ‘backward’ nature of their culture. In addition, Christianity has been considered by many members of the religion to be the only way of life, thus furthering the interference that the West has made into indigenous populations.   Therefore, the attempts that the European settlers have made to interfere with the Native American populations created great changes that devastated those tribes. The nature of their culture was forever changed, through the introduction of disease, war, and vilification that took place during the great migrations of Euro peans into the Americas. Reforms that were attempted were too late and without effect as the tribes are now relegated to near extinction, their cultures almost completely lost, and their existence a mere fragment of their former rich heritage. The nature of the Native American in regard to his or her culture is to be lost within a world in which their culture and the rituals that defined that culture are now scattered. The Native American is an American, his or her existence defined by trying to fit the round peg of his ancestry into the square hole of the American landscape.   One of the concepts of anthropology is that one cannot study a culture without affecting it through the influence of one’s presence. The Native American tribes had more than the affect of someone looking at their culture.  

Effect of YouTube on news media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Effect of YouTube on news media - Essay Example It is true that the new media is to a great extent democratic in its approach; still, there is no denying the fact that the new media is as vulnerable to doubtful news manipulation and sensationalism as the traditional news media. As per the surveys conducted in 2007, YouTube is the most visited website in the world, shadowed by only a few new media giants like Google.com, Yahoo.com and Baidu.com (Christensen, 2007, p. 36). Websites like YouTube have definitely democratized the process of news dissemination in the sense that they allow anyone to upload the news content without being censored, monitored, controlled or manipulated. However, YouTube is as much exposed to being exploited by the unscrupulous sources to broadcast falsified and objectionable content. YouTube amply allows the sources affiliated to unrestrained sensationalism to play with the viewer discretion and emotions. One of the most infamous examples in this context is that of ‘lonelygirl15’, a teenage blogger by the name of Bree, whose video clip revelations about the troubles and tribulations of growing up in modern times attracted gargantuan internet traffic of more than 37 million viewers on YouTube (Christensen, 2007, p. 37). To begin with the phenomenon signified the power of the new media, allowing a teenager with a webcam and a computer, sans media background being able to make millions of people around the world listen to what she had to say (Christensen, 2007, p. 37). However, it was in 2006 it was revealed that ‘lonelygirl15’ was the creation of two California based filmmakers (Christensen, 2007, p. 37). The final word was that though the falsity of the ‘lonelygirl15’ was revealed, the video clippings had astonishingly succe eded in creating a huge fan following for the internet celebrity, which could have been practically translated into favorable business ventures and endeavors. Thus YouTube has conclusively democratized the news media, yet