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Frostbite Chapter 21 Free Essays

Twenty-one THIS WAS SO NOT WHAT I needed right now. I could have handled anything else Adrian did: hitting on her, getting her to smoke his ridiculous cigarettes, whatever. But not this. We will write a custom essay sample on Frostbite Chapter 21 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Lissa quitting those pills was exactly what I’d wanted to avoid. Reluctantly I pulled out of her head and returned to my own grim situation. I would have liked to see what further developed with Adrian and Lissa, but watching them would do no good. Okay. I really needed a plan now. I needed action. I needed to get us out of here. But, glancing around me, I found myself no closer to escape than I had been earlier, and I spent the next few hours brooding and speculating. We had three guards today. They looked a little bored but not enough to slack off. Nearby, Eddie appeared unconscious, and Mason stared blankly at the floor. Across the room, Christian glared at nothing in particular, and I think Mia was sleeping. Painfully aware of how dry my throat was, I almost laughed in recalling how I’d told her water magic was useless. It might not do much in a fight, but I would have given anything for her to summon up some- Magic. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? We weren’t helpless. Not entirely. A plan slowly coalesced in my mind- a plan that was probably insane but was also the best we had. My heart thudded with anticipation, and I immediately schooled my features to calmness before the guards noticed my sudden insight. On the opposite side of the room, Christian was watching me. He’d seen the brief flare of excitement and realized I’d thought of something. He watched me curiously, as ready for action as I was. God. How could we pull this off? I needed his help, but I had no real way of letting him know what I had in mind. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if he could help me at all- he was pretty weak. I held his gaze, willing him to understand that something was going to happen. There was confusion on his face, but it was paired with determination. After making sure none of the guards were looking directly at me, I shifted slightly, giving a small tug at my wrists. I glanced behind me as much as I could, then met Christian’s eyes again. He frowned, and I repeated the gesture. â€Å"Hey,† I said loudly. Mia and Mason both jerked in surprise. â€Å"Are you guys really going to keep starving us? Can’t we at least have some water or something?† â€Å"Shut up,† said one of the guards. It was a pretty standard answer whenever any of us spoke. â€Å"Come on.† I used my best bitchy voice. â€Å"Not even like a sip of something? My throat’s burning. Practically on fire.† My gaze flicked to Christian as I said those last few words, then returned to the guard who’d spoken. As expected, he rose from his seat and lurched toward me. â€Å"Do not make me repeat myself,† he growled. I didn’t know if he’d really do anything violent, but I had no interest in pushing it just yet. Besides, I’d accomplished my goal. If Christian couldn’t take the hint, there was nothing else to be done for it. Hoping I looked afraid, I shut up. The guard returned to his seat, and after a while, he stopped watching me. I looked at Christian again and gave the wrist tug. Come on, come on, I thought. Put it together, Christian. His eyebrows suddenly shot up, and he stared at me in amazement. Well. He’d apparently figured out something. I just hoped it was what I’d wanted. His look turned questioning, as though asking if I was really serious. I nodded emphatically. He frowned in thought for a few moments and then took a deep, steadying breath. â€Å"All right,† he said. Everyone jumped again. â€Å"Shut up,† said one of the guards automatically. He sounded weary. â€Å"No,† said Christian. â€Å"I’m ready. Ready to drink.† Everyone in the room froze for the space of a few heartbeats, including me. This wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind. The guards’ leader stood up. â€Å"Do not screw around with us.† â€Å"I’m not,† said Christian. He had a feverish, desperate look on his face that I didn’t think was entirely faked. â€Å"I’m tired of this. I want to get out of here, and I don’t want to die. I’ll drink- and I want her.† He nodded toward me. Mia squeaked in alarm. Mason called Christian something that would have earned him a detention back at school. This definitely wasn’t what I’d had in mind. The other two guards looked to their leader questioningly. â€Å"Should we get Isaiah?† asked one of them. â€Å"I don’t think he’s here,† said the leader. He studied Christian for a few seconds and then made a decision. â€Å"And I don’t want to bother him anyway if this is a joke. Let him go, and we’ll see.† One of the men produced a pair of sharp pliers. He moved behind Christian and leaned down. I heard the sound of plastic popping as the flex-cuffs gave way. Grabbing a hold of Christian’s arm, the guard jerked him upright and led him over to me. â€Å"Christian,† exclaimed Mason, fury filling his voice. He struggled against his constraints, shaking his chair a little. â€Å"Are you out of your mind? Don’t let them do this!† â€Å"You guys have to die, but I don’t,† snapped Christian, tossing his black hair out of his eyes. â€Å"There’s no other way out of this.† I didn’t really know what was going on now, but I was pretty sure I should be showing a lot more emotion if I was about to die. Two guards flanked Christian on either side, watching warily as he leaned toward me. â€Å"Christian,† I whispered, surprised at how easy it was to sound afraid. â€Å"Don’t do this.† His lips twisted into one of the bitter smiles he produced so well. â€Å"You and I have never liked each other, Rose. If I’ve got to kill someone, it might as well be you.† His words were icy, precise. Believable. â€Å"Besides, I thought you wanted this.† â€Å"Not this. Please, don’t- â€Å" One of the guards shoved Christian. â€Å"Get it over with, or get back to your chair.† Still wearing that dark smile, Christian shrugged. â€Å"Sorry, Rose. You’re going to die anyway. Why not do it for a good cause?† He brought his face down to my neck. â€Å"This is probably going to hurt,† he added. I actually doubted it would †¦ if he was really going to do it. Because he wasn’t†¦right? I shifted uneasily. By all accounts, if you got all your blood sucked out of you, you also got enough endorphins pumped in during the process to dull most of the pain. It was like going to sleep. Of course, that was all speculation. People who died from vampire bites didn’t really come back to report on the experience. Christian nuzzled my neck, moving his face under my hair so that it partially obscured him. His lips brushed my skin, every bit as soft as I recalled from when he and Lissa kissed. A moment later, the points of his fangs touched my skin. And then I felt pain. Real pain. But it wasn’t coming from the bite. His teeth only pressed against my skin; they didn’t break it. His tongue moved against my neck in a lapping motion, but there was no blood to suck. If anything, it was more like some kind of weird, twisted kiss. No, the pain came from my wrists. A burning pain. Christian was using his magic to channel heat into my flex-cuffs, just as I had wanted him to. He’d understood my message. The plastic grew hotter and hotter as he continued his barely there drinking. Anyone who’d been looking closely would have been able to tell he was half-faking it, but too much of my hair was blocking the guards’ view. I knew plastic was hard to melt, but only now did I really, really understand what that meant. The temperatures required to do any damage were off the charts. It was like plunging my hands into lava. The flex-cuffs seared my skin, hot and terrible. I squirmed, hoping I could relieve the pain. I couldn’t. What I did notice, however, was that the cuffs gave a little when I moved. They were getting softer. Okay. That was something. I just had to hold out a little longer. Desperately, I tried to focus on Christian’s bite and distract myself. It worked for about five seconds. He wasn’t giving me much in the way of endorphins, certainly not enough to combat that increasingly horrible pain. I whimpered, probably making myself more convincing. â€Å"I can’t believe it,† muttered one of the guards. â€Å"He’s actually doing it.† Beyond them, I thought I heard the sound of Mia crying. The cuffs’ burning increased. I’d never felt anything so painful in my life, and I’d been through a lot. Passing out was rapidly becoming a very real possibility. â€Å"Hey,† the guard suddenly said. â€Å"What’s that smell?† That smell was melting plastic. Or maybe my melting flesh. Honestly, it didn’t matter because the next time I moved my wrists, they broke through the gooey, scalding cuffs. I had ten seconds of surprise, and I used them. I leapt out of my chair, pushing Christian backward in the process. He’d had a guard on either side of him, and one still held the pliers. In a single motion, I grabbed the pliers from the guy and plunged them into his cheek. He gave some kind of gurgled scream, but I didn’t wait to see what happened. My window of surprise was closing, and I couldn’t waste time. As soon as I let go of the pliers, I punched the second guy. My kicks were stronger than my punches as a general rule, but I still hit him hard enough to startle him and make him stagger. By then, the guards’ leader was in action. As I’d feared, he still had a gun, and he went for it. â€Å"Don’t move!† he yelled, aiming at me. I froze. The guard I’d punched came forward and grabbed my arm. Nearby, the guy I’d stabbed was moaning on the floor. Still training the gun on me, the leader started to say something and then yelped in alarm. The gun glowed faintly orange and fell from his hands. Where he’d held it, the skin burned red and angry. Christian had heated the metal, I realized. Yeah. We definitely should have been using this magic thing from the start. If we got out of this, I was going to take up Tasha’s cause. The Moroi anti-magic custom was so instilled in our brains that we hadn’t even thought to try this sooner. It was stupid. I turned on the guy holding me. I don’t think he expected a girl my size to put up so much of a fight, plus he was still kind of stunned over what had happened to the other guy and the gun. I managed enough room to get in a kick to his stomach, a kick that would have earned me an A in my combat class. He grunted at the impact, and the motion propelled him back into the wall. In a flash, I was on him. Grabbing a fistful of his hair, I slammed his head against the ground hard enough to knock him out but not kill him. Immediately, I sprang up, surprised the leader hadn’t come after me yet. It shouldn’t have taken him that long to recover from the shock of the heated gun. But when I turned around, the room was quiet. The leader lay unconscious on the ground- with a newly freed Mason hovering over him. Nearby, Christian held the pliers in one hand and the gun in the other. It had to still be hot, but Christian’s power must have made him immune. He was aiming at that man I’d stabbed. The guy wasn’t unconscious, merely bleeding, but, like I had, he froze beneath that barrel. â€Å"Holy shit,† I muttered, taking in the scene. Staggering over to Christian, I held out my hand. â€Å"Give me that before you hurt somebody.† I expected a biting remark, but he simply handed the gun over with shaking hands. I shoved it into my belt. Studying him further, I saw how pale he was. He looked like he could collapse at any moment. He’d done some pretty major magic for someone who’d been starved for two days. â€Å"Mase, get the cuffs,† I said. Without turning his back on the rest of us, Mason took a few steps back toward the box where our captors had kept their stash of flex-cuffs. He pulled out three strips of plastic and then something else. With a questioning glance at me, he held up a roll of duct tape. â€Å"Perfect,† I said. We bound our captors to the chairs. One had remained conscious, but we knocked him out too and then put duct tape over all their mouths. They’d eventually come to, and I didn’t want them making any noise. After releasing Mia and Eddie, the five of us huddled together and planned our next move. Christian and Eddie could barely stand, but at least Christian was aware of his surroundings. Mia’s face was streaked with tears, but I suspected she’d be able to take orders. That left Mason and me as the most functional in the group. â€Å"That guy’s watch says it’s morning,† he said. â€Å"All we’ve got to do is get outside, and they can’t touch us. As long as there are no more humans, at least.† â€Å"They said Isaiah was gone,† said Mia in a small voice. â€Å"We should just be able to leave, right?† â€Å"Those men haven’t left in hours,† I said. â€Å"They could be wrong. We can’t do anything stupid.† Carefully, Mason opened the door to our room and peered out into the empty hallway. â€Å"Think there’s a way outside down here?† â€Å"That’d make our lives easier,† I muttered. I glanced back at the others. â€Å"Stay here. We’re going to check out the rest of the basement.† â€Å"What if somebody comes?† exclaimed Mia. â€Å"They won’t,† I assured her. I was actually pretty sure there was no one else in the basement; they would have come running with all that racket. And if anyone tried to come down the stairs, we would hear them first. Still, Mason and I moved cautiously as we scouted around the basement, watching each other’s backs and checking around corners. It was every bit the rat’s maze I remembered from our initial capture. Twisted hallways and lots of rooms. One by one, we opened each door. Every room was empty, save for the occasional chair or two. I shuddered, thinking that all of these were probably used as prisons, just as ours had been. â€Å"Not a goddamned window in this whole place,† I muttered when we’d finished our sweep. â€Å"We’ve got to go upstairs.† We headed back toward our room, but before we got there, Mason caught hold of my hand. â€Å"Rose †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I stopped and looked up at him. â€Å"Yeah?† His blues eyes- more serious than I’d ever seen them- looked down at me regretfully. â€Å"I really screwed things up.† I thought about all the events that had led to this. â€Å"We screwed things up, Mason.† He sighed. â€Å"I hope †¦ I hope when this is all done, we can sit down and talk and figure things out. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you.† I wanted to tell him that that wasn’t going to happen, that when he’d disappeared, I’d actually been on my way to tell him things wouldn’t be better between us. Since this didn’t seem like the right time or place to bring up a breakup, I lied. I squeezed his hand. â€Å"I hope so too.† He smiled, and we returned to the others. â€Å"All right,† I told them. â€Å"Here’s how it’s going to be.† We quickly hashed out a plan and then crept up the stairs. I led, followed by Mia as she tried to support a reluctant Christian. Mason brought up the rear, practically dragging Eddie. â€Å"I should be first,† Mason murmured as we stood at the top of the stairs. â€Å"You aren’t,† I snapped back, resting my hand on the doorknob. â€Å"Yeah, but if something happens- â€Å" â€Å"Mason,† I interrupted. I stared at him hard, and suddenly, I had a brief flash of my mother that day when the Drozdov attack had broken. Calm and controlled, even in the wake of something so horrible. They’d needed a leader, just like this group did now, and I tried as hard as I could to channel her. â€Å"If something happens, you get them out of here. Run fast and run far. Do not come back without a herd of guardians.† â€Å"You’ll be the one who gets attacked first! What am I supposed to do?† he hissed. â€Å"Leave you?† â€Å"Yes. You forget about me if you can get them out.† â€Å"Rose, I’m not going to- â€Å" â€Å"Mason.† I again envisioned my mother, fighting for that strength and power to lead others. â€Å"Can you do this or not?† We stared at each other for several heavy moments while the others held their breaths. â€Å"I can do this,† he said stiffly. I nodded and turned back around. The basement door squeaked when I opened it, and I grimaced at the sound. Scarcely daring to breathe, I stood perfectly still at the top of the stairs, waiting and listening. The house and its eccentric decorating looked the same as when we’d been brought in. Dark blinds covered all of the windows, but along the edges, I could see bright light peeping in. Sunshine had never tasted so sweet as it did at that moment. Getting to it meant freedom. There were no sounds, no movements. Looking around, I tried to remember where the front door was. It was on the other side of the house- really not far in the grand scheme of things but a gaping chasm at the moment. â€Å"Scout with me,† I whispered to Mason, hoping to make him feel better about bringing up the rear. He let Eddie lean on Mia for a moment and stepped forward with me to do a quick sweep of the main living area. Nothing. The path was clear from here to the front door. I exhaled in relief. Mason took hold of Eddie again, and we moved forward, all of us tense and nervous. God. We were going to do this, I realized. We were really going to do this. I couldn’t believe how lucky we’d gotten. We’d been so close to disaster- and had just barely made it through. It was one of those moments that made you appreciate your life and want to turn things around. A second chance you swear you won’t let go to waste. A realization that- I heard them move almost at the same time I saw them step in front of us. It was like a magician conjured Isaiah and Elena out of thin air. Only, I knew there was no magic involved this time. Strigoi just moved that quickly. They must have been in one of the other main floor rooms that we’d assumed were empty- we hadn’t wanted to waste the extra time looking. I raged at myself internally for not having checked out every inch of the whole floor. Somewhere, in the back of my memory, I heard myself taunting my mother in Stan’s class: â€Å"It seems to me like you guys messed up. Why didn’t you scope out the place and make sure it was clear of Strigoi in the first place? Seems like you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble.† Karma’s a real bitch. â€Å"Children, children,† crooned Isaiah. â€Å"This isn’t how the game works. You’re breaking the rules.† A cruel smile played over his lips. He found us amusing, no real threat at all. Honestly? He was right. â€Å"Fast and far, Mason,† I said in low voice, never taking my eyes off the Strigoi. â€Å"My, my †¦ if looks could kill †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Isaiah arched his eyebrows as something occurred to him. â€Å"Are you thinking you can take us both on by yourself?† He chuckled. Elena chuckled. I gritted my teeth. No, I didn’t think I could take them both on. In fact, I was pretty sure I was going to die. But I was also pretty sure I could provide one hell of a distraction first. I lunged toward Isaiah but pulled the gun on Elena. You could get a jump on human guards- but not on Strigoi. They saw me coming practically before I even moved. They didn’t expect me to have a gun, though. And while Isaiah blocked my attacking body with almost no effort whatsoever, I still managed to get a shot off at Elena before he seized my arms and restrained me. The gun’s report rang loud in my ears, and she screamed in pain and surprise. I’d aimed for her stomach but had been jostled into hitting her thigh. Not that it mattered. Neither spot would kill her, but the stomach would have hurt a lot more. Isaiah held my wrists so hard, I thought he’d break the bones. I dropped the gun. It hit the floor, bounced, and slid toward the door. Elena shrieked in rage and clawed at me. Isaiah told her to control herself and pushed me out of reach. All the while, I flailed as much as possible, not so much to escape as to make a nuisance of myself. And then: the sweetest of sounds. The front door opening. Mason had taken advantage of my distraction. He’d left Eddie with Mia and sprinted around me and the grappling Strigoi to open the door. Isaiah turned with that lightning-fast speed of his- and screamed as sunlight poured over him. But even though he was suffering, his reflexes were still fast. He jerked himself out of the patch of light into the living room, dragging Elena and me with him- her by the arm and me by my neck. â€Å"Get them out!† I yelled. â€Å"Isaiah- † began Elena, breaking out of his grip. He shoved me to the floor and spun around, staring at his escaping victims. I gasped for breath now that his grip on my throat was gone and peered back at the door through the tangle of my hair. I was just in time to see Mason drag Eddie over the threshold, out into the safety of the light. Mia and Christian were already gone. I nearly wept in relief. Isaiah turned back on me with all the fury of a storm, his eyes black and terrible as he loomed over me from his great height. His face, which had always been scary, became something almost beyond comprehension. â€Å"Monstrous† didn’t even begin to cover it. He jerked me up by my hair. I cried out at the pain, and he brought his head down so that our faces were pressed up to one another’s. â€Å"You want a bite, girl?† he demanded. â€Å"You want to be a blood whore? Well, we can arrange that. In every sense of the word. And it will not be sweet. And it will not be numbing. It will be painful- compulsion works both ways, you know, and I will make sure you believe you are suffering the worst pain of your life. And I will also make sure your death takes a very, very long time. You will scream. You will cry. You will beg me to end it all and let you die- â€Å" â€Å"Isaiah,† cried Elena in exasperation. â€Å"Just kill her already. If you’d done it sooner like I said, none of this would have happened.† He kept his grip on me but flicked his eyes toward her. â€Å"Do not interrupt me.† â€Å"You’re being melodramatic,† she continued. Yeah, she really was whiny. I never would have thought a Strigoi could do that. It was almost comical. â€Å"And wasteful.† â€Å"Do not talk back to me, either,† he said. â€Å"I’m hungry. I’m just saying you should- â€Å" â€Å"Let her go, or I’ll kill you.† We all turned at the new voice, a voice dark and angry. Mason stood in the doorway, framed in light, holding my dropped gun. Isaiah studied him for a few moments. â€Å"Sure,† Isaiah finally said. He sounded bored. â€Å"Try it.† Mason didn’t hesitate. He fired and kept firing until he’d emptied the entire clip into Isaiah’s chest. Each bullet made the Strigoi flinch a little, but otherwise, he kept standing and holding on to me. This was what it meant to be an old and powerful Strigoi, I realized. A bullet in the thigh hurt a young vampire like Elena. But for Isaiah? Getting shot in the chest multiple times was simply a nuisance. Mason realized this too, and his features hardened as he threw down the gun. â€Å"Get out!† I screamed. He was still in the sun, still safe. But he didn’t listen to me. He ran toward us, out of his protective light. I redoubled my struggles, hoping I’d pull Isaiah’s attention away from Mason. I didn’t. Isaiah shoved me into Elena before Mason was halfway to us. Swiftly, Isaiah blocked and seized hold of Mason, exactly as he’d done to me earlier. Only, unlike with me, Isaiah didn’t restrain Mason’s arms. He didn’t jerk Mason upright by the hair or make long, rambling threats about an agonizing death. Isaiah simply stopped the attack, grabbed Mason’s head with both hands, and gave a quick twist. There was a sickening crack. Mason’s eyes went wide. Then they went blank. With an impatient sigh, Isaiah released his hold and tossed Mason’s limp body over toward where Elena held me. It landed before us. My vision swam as nausea and dizziness wrapped around me. â€Å"There,† Isaiah said to Elena. â€Å"See if that’ll tide you over. And save some for me.† How to cite Frostbite Chapter 21, Essay examples

Should Capital Punishment be reintroduced into Britain Essay Example Essay Example

Should Capital Punishment be reintroduced into Britain Essay Example Paper Should Capital Punishment be reintroduced into Britain Essay Introduction Capital punishment cannot take back what has already been lost. Life is sacred and to destroy it is unforgivable. So why let law carry out the same barbaric, slaughter? Osuma Bin Laden is a good example of why capital punishment should not be used. He created so much grief and destroyed so many lives that to bring death down upon him, does not seem to me like a suitable punishment. Death by no means is the harshest punishment for him or anyone else who has committed a crime. By killing through law we all become hypocrites of our own making.We say life is precious, that I know. We value ourselves enough to believe this, but cannot stick by our principles when we are tested to the limit. Human’s ability to forgive sometimes betrays us all. Capital punishment being reintroduced into Britain cannot be answered one way or another by statistics and figures. It rests upon the soul of man; his or her love or hatred for life could change someone else’s forever. Would you be able to slay someone for his or her felony?Many religious individuals believe that it is within the Bible that capital punishment should be legalised here. They believe that because Jesus was killed at the cross by public execution that this is a form of capital punishment. However, they fail to see that whilst the bible portrays an execution the bible also is putting the point across that nobody should take a life. Once again this is contradicted as the Bible also says â€Å"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.† With all these different retrospects how can one understand and consider the entire Bible as a whole. Why would anyone use their religious beliefs to make their own decision?In contrast to the feeble reasons as to why capital punishment should be reintroduced into Britain there are many reasons why this is not a necessary and worthy subject to support. To sentence someone to death is bad enough but to extinguish them due to fear of them committing the same horrendous crimes again is quite another. It is impossible to determine whether those executed would actually have repeats the crimes of which they were convicted. Execution entails taking the lives of prisoners to prevent hypothetical future crimes, many of which would never have been committed anyway.Similarly, I feel that I would not like to live in a society that is no better than that of a killer! People are going to commit horrific crimes however do they deserve to die? Such an act by any society or any law is the mirror image of the criminal’s willingness to use physical violence against a victim. No system is or could conceivably be capable of deciding fairly, consistently and infallibly who should live and who should die. We are turning into the killers if we cannot punish them in a rational way. We shall punish them, but we shall not become them.In many cases innocent people have been inhumanly killed due to someone else’s unlawful mistake. A man must be proven guilty f irst. A great deal is implied in that. For you and I to do something is one thing but for someone else to do something is quite another. To know whether one is guilty requires infinite study, which no one can give. When someone is sentenced to death the jury must be 100% sure that, the man or women is guilty of the crime he or she has been blamed of. There must be hard evidence to link someone to an incident as once the execution has been performed, there is and never will be any turning back. Hypothetically if in many years to come evidence were found to link someone else to the crime and to prove the innocence of the deceased what would then happen? It is too late to bring to justice the true criminal and some innocent man has had to suffer at the cause of another man’s error. Through life we all make mistakes but someone doesn’t always have to die for your actions. Is this any different? Putting a stop to capital punishment would save innocent lives!A classic exampl e of why people think capital punishment should be reinstated is that if someone had the hatred to conceive a crime then why not be able to face the consequences that come with it. This to some extent is true. But I feel that no human however full of hatred has no guilt for what they have done. Murderers may not feel any emotion for their victim at the time of the assault however, has anyone ever stopped to think what goes on in the brain after they come to terms with what they have done. For a period of time they enter a stage of denial and can not come to terms with what they have done. If they are then condemned to the same punishment then the criminal does not have to come to terms with the guilt and have to face the consequences of their actions. To some death is a consequence. To me this is an easy way out. So that the criminal does not have to live with the thought of what they did for the rest of their lives, day after day. Which would you rather if someone you knew was sava gely murdered, for the criminal to live and face what he did for the rest of his life or to die and be given an escape route from all the pain and suffering he had caused?On the contrary, criminals may not always feel remorse for what they have done. An illustration of this is Timothy McVeigh who bombed Oklahoma. He felt no sorrow for the pain he had inflicted and he knew what he would receive in return for the massacre he brought down upon Oklahoma. He was executed on June 11th 2002 and to this day he lives on. He is not someone that the world wishes to remember but he always will be, just like Hitler and many others who caused so much grief to the world. Timothy was the â€Å"master of his fate† and the â€Å"captain of his soul.† He is unconquerable because each day those affected by the bombing have to remember him and know what he put them through. This should show that in some cases people will not regret what they have done and will not change how they feel. Dea th will not change this. If they do not fear death and know that if they carry out their actions that they will be terminated. Why give them this pleasure?In addition to this, many people say that it is not like the criminal suffers in any way. However, lethal injections have not always been successful. The first lethal injection was held in Guatemala and was a painful and horrific experience for everyone there that day. The person to attach the line that was to supply the constant, steady flow of poison to the prisoner’s body was so nervous that it took a long time to start the procedure. There was then a power cut which stopped the flow of poison reaching its prey and the prisoner took 18 minutes in total to die. This to me does not seem like an easy, pain free experience. Any form of execution is inhumane. All methods can be painful and have their own unpleasant characteristics.Moreover, it must be remembered the death penalty is not only about the minutes during which the prisoner is brought from the cell and killed; a prisoner lives with the penalty of death hanging over his head from the moment he or she is sentenced to the moment of unconsciousness and death. The search for a â€Å"humane† way of killing people should be seen for what it is and not for what it should be. It is a search to make executions more palatable to those carrying out the killing, to the governments, which wish to appear humane, and to the public in whose name the killing is to be carried out. Man only seeks to find new methods to make it less pain staking for themselves not for the victim. That is what the criminal is. A victim. Anyone who under goes such a procedure is a victim. A victim of society.Should we refrain from using capital punishment on mentally disabled and children? Everyone should be treated as equals and yet this is not the case. We are brought up to treat everyone, as we would wish to be treated and to treat everyone as equals however, special trea tment is given in certain cases. Whether or not someone has complete control of what they are doing they still should receive the same punishment as someone who is capable of controlling their actions. If a mentally disabled person was to kill then shouldn’t they be given the same treatment as someone who is not disabled.This doesn’t happen and if someone can be made an exception then why bother having capital punishment at all. As every person is an individual. No two people are alike but everyone is treated equally apart from those with special needed. This is wrong under all circumstances. If a disabled person was capable of committing a crime they too can suffer the consequences. Child executions also need to be brought up here. If a man can kill and be sentenced to his death then if a boy of 15 years of age was to commit the same crime shouldn’t he be penalised in the same way the man was? Whether or not you could punish so harshly as to sentence a child to death is not the question. The question is if you can do it to a man why not a child? Introducing the capital punishment back into Britain will start arguments as to why some people are not convicted of the same punishment because of their age or their disability.However hard I try to convince you that capital punishment is wrong and that it should not be brought back into Britain, many will not change their minds due to principles or religion. However, would you like your children to one day grow up in a society that has a punishment of death? I do not believe in capital punishment and feel it is inhumane and that it is unlawful to kill another being whether through law or not. It should not be brought back into Britain who is above that degrading standard. If you believe capital punishment should be brought back into Britain I would like for you to imagine yourself- standing, watching as a victim is pumped with a warm liquid, which drifts them off into a calm sleep and obliterate s their body. Taking away what we believe is so precious. Life. Should Capital Punishment be reintroduced into Britain Essay Thank you for reading this Sample!

Whats a Good ACT Score for Your College

What's a Good ACT Score for Your College SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Hopefully at this point in your college application process you have thought about your dream schools. Whether you took the ACT once and are debating taking it again or if you are just beginning the ACT preparation process, you are probably wondering what ACT will get you accepted. While there is no one exact ACT score that will be considered â€Å"good† for your college or guarantee you a spot, there is a particular ACT score that will you give you the best chance of being accepted. What is it? I will answer that and more by guiding you through 4 easy steps. College ACT Score Ranges and What They Mean for You Before figuring out your target score, you should look at colleges’ ACT score range.The score range will show the scores that admitted freshmen received.Usually, schools provide you with scores from the most recent applicant pool. The scores will be written in one of two ways: as a 25th/75th percentile range or as an average ACT score.The 25th percentile score indicates 25% of admits received an ACT score at or below that number (and 75% of admits scored higher).The 75th percentile score means 75% of admits received an ACT score at or below that number (and 25% of admits scored higher).The average ACT scoreis simply the average of all admitted students’ ACT scores. Looking at the score ranges will help you understand what ACT score you need to be a competitive applicant to that universitysince you'll know what ACT scores admitted students received.Before figuring out your target ACT score, you need to figure out what your list of target schools. Step #1: Create Your List of Target Schools You may have some schools in mind, but take the time to write down a list of the schools you hope to attend. Do not include your safety schools on this list.A safety school is a schoolthat you're almost certain you'll be accepted to with the ACTscore and GPA you have now. This target school list should include the more selective colleges. You should exclude the safety schools because you want to plan your target ACT score for the colleges with the most difficult admissions criteria. If you meet the admissions criteria for the selective colleges, you'll very likely be accepted to your safety schools.Once you have identified your target schools, draw a table with 3 columns with the following titles: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score Fill in your target colleges under school name as I did below: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan UC Berkeley Under the 2nd column for 25th percentile or average ACT, you should write either the 25th percentile or average SAT score for that college. As I said before, universities will only give you one or the other; whichever they give you, writethat number in that column. Under the last column for 75th percentile / target score, write the school’s 75th percentile score (if you can find it). For colleges that give average ACT, you will be calculating a unique target score later on in this article. Step #2: Find Out the ACT Scores of Admitted Students. Now that you have your list finding the admitted students’ ACT score range is very easy. Simply search â€Å"[College Name] ACT† or â€Å"[College Name] ACT 25th/75th percentile† in Google.That will lead you to what is known as the Freshman Admission Profile for your target school.If you can't locatea Freshman Admit Profile for your target college, check out our database of college admission requirements. There you'll find the admissions requirementsfor almost every schoolin the US. Use the Command + F function on your keyboard to search for your target college. Here is a screenshot of University of Michigan’s Freshman Admit Profile: Colleges will usually provide you with the 25th/75th percentile ACT score for freshmen. Some colleges call it the mid 50% range (as UMich does above), but the 2 numbers they provide are the 25th and 75th percentile scores.For UMich, the 25th percentile ACT score is 30, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 34. Add the 25th percentile / 75th percentile composite ACT score to your chart in the appropriate columns: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan 31 34 UC Berkeley While most colleges tell you the 25th/75th percentile ACT scores, other colleges will only give you one number, the average ACT score for admits (which UC Berkeley does on their admissions site).The average ACT score is just the average of all of the ACT scores for admits. Since the score is an average, you cannot determine exactly how many applicants scored above and below it, but we will assume about 50% of admits scored above and 50% of admits scored below. For Berkeley, the average ACT is 31. Knowing this information, we'll writeit in the column for 25th Percentile or Average SAT, leave the 75th Percentile / Target Score blank for now for the schools that only provide average ACT. I'll explain what to fill in for those schools later on: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan 31 34 UC Berkeley 31 Step #3: Determine Your Target Score for Those Schools. Based on each school’s 25th/75th percentile ACT or average ACT, we'll determine what your target score should be.For schools that provide the 25th/75th percentile ACT, you should aim for a score at or above the 75th percentile. (Which is exactly why I had you list the 75th percentile in the same column as target score. The 75th percentile is your target score!) For those schools that just give you an average composite ACT (such as UC Berkeley), I would aim for a score 2 points above that average score.For the best shot of admission to UC Berkeley, I would aim for a 33. You should writein that number (the average ACT plus 2 points) on your chart under 75th percentile / Target score: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan 31 34 UC Berkeley 31 33 You may wonder why you shouldn’t aim a score closer to the 25th percentile or the average since many applicants are accepted with that score. I wrote this article assuming that you are a â€Å"normal† applicant and not a â€Å"special† applicant. To qualify as a special applicant, you need to be an athlete, legacy, child of significant donors, or a unique talent (such as world-class opera singers or famous actors). These special applicants are typically admitted with the lower scores (25th percentile score). If you're a â€Å"normal† applicant, you'll want a higher ACT score to set you apart and give yourself the best chance of being accepted. The higher your score, the better your chance of admission. As an example, check out Brown University’s breakdown of admission; below is a screenshot: If you look at the highest score (36), 23.8% of applicants who scored a 36 were accepted to Brown, which is significantly higher than the overall Brown admissions rate 8.7%. You can see that as your score begins to decline (you get between 33 and 35) your chance of admission drops by 11.1%, from 23.8% to 12.7%.The lesson to take away from this data is the higher you score, the better your chance of being accepted. In my chart above, the two â€Å"Target Scores† vary by 1 point, so which should you aim for?Aim for the highest target score on your list. That way, when you reach the highest target score, you have the best chance of admission at all of the universities on your list. If you got a 34 and applied to UC Berkeley and University of Michigan, you would have a great chance of being accepted to both. However, if you aimed for the lower target score and got a 33 and applied to University of Michigan, you would now fall short of the 75th percentile score and be in the middle 50% of admits scores. You still have a decent chance of being accepted, but your chances are not quite as good. Step #4: Create a Plan to Achieve Your Target ACT Score. To achieve your target score, you need to have a clearplan of attack. If you need significant improvement to meet your target score, you should think about taking an ACT prep class, hiring an ACT tutor, or using an online ACT program such as PrepScholar. Our program figures out your strengths and weaknesses and personalizes your ACT preparation to your needs. For more information about our program, read How to Ensure Online Tutoring from PrepScholarTutors is Right for You? If your family can’t afford one of those options and/or you want to prepare on your own, check out our ACT study plan guides: 5 Step SAT/ACT Test Dates Study Plan for Summer before Senior Year SAT/ACT Test Dates Study Plan for Sophomores and Juniors SAT / ACT Study Guide: Schedule and Plan for One Year or More Don't forget that your target score is in reach if you put in the time and effort. What’s Next? Learn more about preparing for the ACT: How Many Questions Can You Skip for a Good ACT Score? Systems of Equations on ACT Math: Algebra Strategies and Practice Problems The Ultimate Study Guide for ACT English: Tips, Rules, Practice, and Strategies The Ultimate Study Guide for ACT Science: Tips, Practice, and Strategies Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.

Inhibit vs Prohibit

Inhibit vs Prohibit Inhibit vs Prohibit Inhibit vs Prohibit By Maeve Maddox Greg Landretti asks: How about inhibit versus prohibit? The first definition of inhibit in the OED gives prohibit as a synonym: inhibit: trans. To forbid, prohibit, interdict (a person) Several of the illustrations show inhibit being used where a modern writer would probably use prohibit. Heres one: By expresse words he was inhibited to beare armes without his own frontiers. prohibit: trans. To forbid (an action, event, commodity, etc.) by a command, statute, law, or other authority Perhaps owing to the influence of the psychology term inhibition, current usage usually associates inhibit with internal control and prohibit with external control. inhibition: Psychol. A voluntary or involuntary restraint or check that prevents the direct expression of an instinctive impulse; also colloq., in looser use, an inner hindrance to conduct or activity. Scientists fear that libel ruling will inhibit debate. Most dogs need to learn to control or inhibit their behavior. B.C. Government Says it Will Prohibit Mining in the Flathead. New Hampshire Bill HB 1301 will prohibit no-fault divorce for parents with minor children. The ability to inhibit ones desires and impulses is an essential and desirable social skill. In some contexts, however, the word inhibited conveys a negative state, while uninhibited is seen as positive. I find myself wishing I were not so inhibited. The people from South Africa are known for the wonderful, uninhibited way in which they express their joy and happiness in life. It was not until the twentieth century that freedom of the press came to be understood as guaranteeing an uninhibited, robust and wide-open public discourse. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Similes from Literature to Inspire YouThe Four Sounds of the Spelling OU20 Movies Based on Shakespeare Plays

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Philosophy - Essay Example If one can form the adequate and perfect idea, then absolute knowledge of God is viable. For Spinoza, to conceive an idea in its most adequate form, the mind needs, first and foremost, to undergo a long and strenuous process of self-transformation, the aim of which is to render itself adequate to the infinite intellect. Thereafter, the mind is able to intuit the concrete essence of a thing as Gods knowledge. Gods essence is eternal and infinite. By contrast, human knowledge is temporal and finite. To reach Gods knowledge, the human mind must transcend itself to the extent that it grasps Gods eternity and infinity. On knowing Gods essence, humans are, to a certain extent, as infinite and eternal as God is. In what ways can humans know the infinite and eternal aspects of Gods essence? Insofar as one knows the first causes of things, one understands the infinite of Gods essence as substance. Such formulation is not very illuminating. How are the first causes of things related to the infinite aspect of Gods essence? Even if infinity is tantamount to the first causes of things, how can one practically experience actual infinity so as to comprehend Gods essence? Spinoza suggests two kinds of infinity, the infinite of imagination and the infinite of reason. Presumably, the two infinities are related: one has to grasp, say, the infinite of imagination before proceeding to the infinite of reason . Within the context of infinity, God’s essence is eternity. Eternal existence is conceived to follow from the essence of the thing. Gods essence necessarily involves his existence; to know a things essence as Gods knowledge entails grasping its eternal existence as well. Humans exist and endure in time. How can they know Gods essence and enjoy his eternal existence? As finite modes, things are caused to exist. Things subsist in time; they come into existence and go out of existence. Through conceiving ideas, humans know things as

Buying & Merchandising Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Buying & Merchandising Project - Essay Example In propounding such a vision of capitalism, Schumpeter extrapolated the business model framework for competitive markets, stating â€Å"capitalism, then is by nature a form or method of economic change† (Schumpeter, 1942). Furthermore, Schumpeter argued that innovation was the key to success and survival in a capitalist state and Reinert refers to the fact that the term highlights how failure to be innovative in business results in a â€Å"vicious circle where developing countries, lacking the necessary technological and institutional infrastructure, fall further and further behind† (Reinert, 2004:11). Therefore according to Schumpeter’s model, capitalism is the central change embodied in technological advancement and innovation as a form of economic evolution (Aghion, P., & Howitt, P., 1992). From a retailing perspective, it is evident that proliferation of the multi-channel retailing paradigm as required retailers to â€Å"innovate† in order to maintain position in the marketplace (Levy & Weitz, 2008). Schumpeter further argues that internal innovation within a business operational framework produces lower costs, which in turn permits companies to sell products at lower prices, which is referred to as dynamic efficiency (Utterback, J. 1996). This in turn highlights a key element of Schumpeter’s model that competition for innovation as opposed to competition for customers is the most important, which arguably underpins contemporary multi-channel retail strategy (Diamond & Pintel, 2004). Innovation in the context of multi-channel retail strategy essentially becomes essential to effective capitalism, providing the foundation of dynamism in line with Schumpeter’s theory that the evolution and sustainability of a successful business model is not dependant on how capitalism administers existing models, but rather with how it destroys them through creativity to survive long term growth (Metcalfe, J.S. 1998; Levy & Weitz,