thank u, next The Books That Taught Us Love, Patience, Pain

thank u, next The Books That Taught Us Love, Patience, Pain One taught me love; one taught me patience; one taught me pain If youre anything like me, youve been humming Ariana Grandes newest song to yourself since it came out a couple of weeks ago. You might have seen the memes on Twitter, too, where people reminisce about TV crushes â€" or even TV shows â€" that have also taught them love, patience, and pain. I asked my fellow Rioters which books have played those roles in their lives. Heres what they said. Priya Sridhar: Love: Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi   You want a memoir about oppression, literary analysis, and finding power in the darkness? Then this memoir is for you, about the Iranian Revolution and how books can become our refuge. Patience: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie This is a case where skipping to the end only makes the rest of the book more delicious. Don’t read it late at night, though. Pain: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas   It took me a while to finish this book because I screamed when the major character death happened. Patricia Thang: Love: The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White I’ve always loved animals, so E.B. White was my jam as a kid, and this is one of the first books that I can remember really grabbing hold of my heart. Patience: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien At this point I consider myself a HUGE Tolkien fan, and yet, this almost became the only book I ever DNF’d in my life. That goddamn Entmoot, y’all. It’s described as having lasted three days, and I felt every tedious minute of those three days just reading about it. Pain: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult When I was a young teen, this book absolutely destroyed me with the gut-punch of a lifetime and taught me that books were not just the generally nice escape havens I had considered them to be. Grace Lapointe: Love: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling From the intriguing opening chapter of the first book in the series, my eight-year-old self was hooked for life. Patience: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire This book in the middle of the series contained a lot of filler. The Quidditch match at the beginning of the book seemed particularly endless. Pain: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows RIP to so many of our favorite characters in the final battle against Voldemort. Yaasmeen Piper: Love: This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins Jerkin’s essays and manifestos made me love the skin I’m in even more. When finishing this book I had a refreshed appreciation for black women and all the trial and tribulations we’ve endured. Patience: Last Night I Sang to The Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz This book will tear you to pieces from start to finish. Saenz paints such a vivid portrait of these characters struggling with their recovery. Though at times this book made me cry, as these characters start to heal so will you. Pain: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood I’ve never read a book with characters filled with so much pain as All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. At times I wanted to reach into the book and hug some of the characters and say, “It’s going to be okay.” Jenn Northington Love: Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai This wasn’t my first romance novel, but it was one of the first ones where I felt like I really saw some of my own struggles on the page, and that is an incredible gift. Patience: A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride I don’t read much experimental fiction, and when I do I often get discouraged â€" but this dark, twisted gem of a book drew me in and taught me how to read it, line by line and page by page, and it was so worth it. Pain: Heavy by Kiese Laymon In resisting the urge to lie and to sugarcoat his own pain, Laymon lays out what it looks like to confront the truth of your own pain, and it is both inspiring and heart-breaking. What are the books that have taught you love, patience, and pain? Tell us in the comments!

George Carruthers and the Spectrograph

George Carruthers has gained international recognition for his work which focuses on ultraviolet observations of the earths upper atmosphere and of astronomical phenomena. Ultraviolet light is the electromagnetic radiation between visible light and x-rays. George Carruthers first major contribution to science was to lead the team that invented the far ultraviolet camera spectrograph. What Is a Spectrograph? Spectrographs are images which use a prism (or a diffraction grating) to show the spectrum of light produced by an element or elements. George Carruthers found the proof of molecular hydrogen in interstellar space by using a spectrograph. He developed the first moon-based space observatory, an ultraviolet camera (see photo) that was carried to the moon by Apollo 16 astronauts in 1972*. The camera was positioned on the moons surface and allowed researchers to examine the Earths atmosphere for concentrations of pollutants. Dr. George Carruthers received a patent for his invention the Image Converter for Detecting Electromagnetic Radiation especially in Short Wave Lengths on November 11, 1969 George Carruthers Work With NASA He has been the principal investigator for numerous NASA and DoD sponsored space instruments including a 1986 rocket instrument that obtained an ultraviolet image of Comet Halley. His most recent on the Air Force ARGOS mission captured an image of a Leonid shower meteor entering the earths atmosphere, the first time a meteor has been imaged in the far ultraviolet from a space-borne camera. George Carruthers Biography George Carruthers was born in Cincinnati Ohio on October 1, 1939, and grew up in South Side, Chicago. At the age of ten, he built a telescope, however, he did not do well in school studying math and physics but still went on to win three science fair awards. Dr. Carruthers graduated from Englewood High School in Chicago. He attended the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where he received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1961. Dr. Carruthers also obtained his graduate education at the University of Illinois, completing a masters degree in nuclear engineering in 1962 and a doctorate in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1964. Black Engineer of the Year In 1993, Dr. Carruthers was one of the first 100 recipients of the Black Engineer of the Year award honored by US Black Engineer He has also worked with NRLs Community Outreach Program and several outside education and community outreach organizations in support of educational activities in science at Ballou High School and other DC area schools. *Description of Photos This experiment constituted the first planetary-based astronomy observatory and consisted of a tripod-mounted, 3-in electronographic Schmidt camera with a cesium iodide cathode and film cartridge. Spectroscopic data were provided in the 300- to 1350-A range (30-A resolution), and imagery data were provided in two passbands (1050 to 1260 A and 1200 to 1550 A). Difference techniques allowed Lyman-alpha (1216-A) radiation to be identified. The astronauts deployed the camera in the shadow of the LM and then pointed it toward objects of interest. Specific planned targets were the geocorona, the earths atmosphere, the solar wind, various nebulae, the Milky Way, galactic clusters and other galactic objects, intergalactic hydrogen, solar bow cloud, the lunar atmosphere, and lunar volcanic gasses (if any). At the end of the mission, the film was removed from the camera and returned to earth.George Carruthers principal investigator for the Lunar Surface Ultraviolet Camera, discusses the instru ment with Apollo 16 Commander John Young, right. Carruthers is employed by the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. From left are Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke and Rocco Petrone, Apollo Program Director. This photograph was taken during an Apollo lunar surface experiments review in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Prologue Of Antigone - 899 Words

This passage is an excerpt from the prologue of ‘Antigone’, an Ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles. In this scene, Antigone is trying to convince her sister, Ismene, to help her bury their brother, Polynices. It is significant to the rest of the play as gives explanation to future events and establishes the characters of Antigone and Ismene and their roles in the overall plot. Additionally, the excerpt gives a strong idea of the setting. In the scene, the audience can infer ideas about past events, political climate, place, and time. The passage also reveals central themes in the play such as: mortality, gender, law and power, and loyalty. It gives the audience a hint to the values and choices the characters struggle with as they have to†¦show more content†¦Ismene also has high regard for her family however lacks will and confidence to do the same as Antigone. She is afraid of breaking the law and believes she is â€Å"not strong enough†. Ismene is also s ubmissive to the patriarchy and its rulers that govern her country, she says to Antigone: â€Å"we are women; it is not for us to fight against men; our rulers are stronger than we†. In comparison to Antigone, we can see that Ismene is not as steadfast in her beliefs or morality. In the passage, we can clearly see Sophocles exploration of said ideas and themes through his characters. Throughout the play, the sisters’ key traits and nature remain mostly stagnant nevertheless, they do change in some aspects, notably their courage and regret. Later in the play, it is illustrated that Antigone has capacity for lamentation and humility. Although she seems unapologetic and â€Å"shall be content to lie beside a brother whom [she] love[s]† in this excerpt, before she is entombed, she grieves for the life she did not get a chance to live. Subsequent to Antigone being caught for her crime, Ismene takes unwonted action. Ismene decides to pretend that she also buried Polyn ices so that she can also be punished. This decision illustrates that Ismene can be brave and fortitudinous, contradicting the impression of her in this passage. The famous philosopher, Aristotle, identified that a tragic hero is necessary to the structure of aShow MoreRelatedThe Conflict Between Antigone And Creon836 Words   |  4 PagesIn Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, Sophocles follows Aristotle’s definition of tragedy which is constructed in six parts: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song. Although these six parts are used to produce a successful tragedy, thought is especially important in Antigone because it encapsulates the plot of the play. The thought, or the theme, is revealed in the dialogue from the Prologue to the Second Episode. As a result, Antigone’s and Creon’s dialogue exhibits two interrelated themes:Read MoreThe Chorus as a Homonym 1168 Words   |  5 Pages In Jean Anouilh’s Antigone and in Euripides’s Medea the Chorus is both a tool for characterization and representation of theme; however, the ways they function in their respective plays are noticeably different. The differences in the way the Choruses function in each respective play make the name of the character â€Å"the Chorus† a homonym, same name different meaning. The Chorus in Antigone functions to incorporate the technique of metatheatre. The purpose of metatheatre is to provide a separationRead MoreThe Importance Of Justice In Antigone1133 Words   |  5 PagesJustice is the essence of life and is what the whole world should aspire. It is also all what Antigone wanted for herself and for her brother. Antigone is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles about two sisters (Antigone and Ismene) whose brothers (Polyneices and Eteocles) killed each other in a fight over who received the throne. Eteocles fought with the town of Thebes and Polyneices attained an army from Argos. Since Polyneices fought against his hometown Theban army, he was considered to be a ‘trader’Read MoreComparing Aristotle s The Play Antigone 1066 Words   |  5 Pagesa good piece of literature. The play Antigone by Sophocles contains all of Aristotle’s poetics in one way or another. This review will focus on the elements of plot, character, and melo dy. Aristotle says that a plot is essential to any story, so of course it must be reviewed. The plot of a Greek tragedy typically has a certain structure. The structure is made up of 5 parts; the prologue, the parode, the episode, the stasimon, and the exode. The prologue is where the tragedy’s topic is introducedRead MoreShakespeares Julius Caesar and Sophocles Antigone789 Words   |  3 Pagesmoral standards, courage and honesty. Many characters showed such traits in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and Antigone by Sophocles (for example, Brutus being known as an honorable man even by his enemies), but of all the characters in both plays, Antigones and Antonys acts of nobility are most prominent. While both Antigone and Antony exhibited noble characteristics, Antigone demonstrated the most honorable character due to her good intentions and integrity. Antony did not have such anRead MoreAnalysis Of Shakespeare s Antigone And Julius Caesar 1297 Words   |  6 PagesHonors Essay: Antigone and Julius Caesar Option 3 The involvement of women is very important in the two stories, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and Antigone by Sophocles. Throughout each story it becomes clear that the ideas and biases surrounding women play an important part in how society views women, and how women see themselves. Readers also see these ideas spread into the minds of women affecting what they do in their life, and how they act. Antigone and Ismene, from Antigone, and CalpurniaRead MoreAntigone Study Guide Questions Wood722 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Antigone Study Guide Questions Prologue and Scene One 1. What differences do you notice between Antigone and her sister, Ismene? Examine their character. 2. The action of the play begins immediately with a conflict between Antigone and Ismene. What is the cause the cause of the conflict? 2. Why do you think that Ismene will not help her sister with her plan? 3. Do you think Antigone has thought her decision through? Why or why not? 4. Why does Antigone get so angry at her sister? Do you thinkRead More Antigone: Hero Or Fool? Essay842 Words   |  4 Pagesthat brings about their own death and the death of others; and obtaining pity from the audience. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Antigone was a prime example of a Greek tragic hero. Antigone, being the daughter of Oedipus, obtained a high social standing in Thebes. Prior to his self-exile from Thebes, Oedipus was the citys king. Because of her high standing in society, Antigone was capable of great suffering, in that she had a reputation and a vast amount of respect to lose. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;AntigonesRead MoreAntigone Theme Essay941 Words   |  4 PagesIn the story Antigone by Sophocles, the theme guilt and innocence, as wells as morals play a huge role between characters, specifically the female character Antigone, the ruler of the city, Creon, Antigone’s sister, Ismene, and Antigone’s husband, Haimon. Antigone and Haimon represent innocence for many reasons. Their morals lead the two in a direction to honor Antigone’s brother, Antigone protects her sister from certain death, and the lovers commits suicide for the sake of innocence itself. CreonRead MoreEssay about The Tragic Hero Creon in Antigone by Sophocles818 Words   |  4 PagesIn the play, Antigone by Sophocles, at first glance readers assume that Antigone is the tragic hero. However, this is not the case. Although Antigone does display some characteristics of a tragic hero, I believe that Creon is the true tragic hero. For many readers, it may be a challenge to see Creon as the tragic hero; however, when you take a second look at the play, you can see that Creon displays every quality of a tragic hero. Creon’s power and pride as well as going against the gods all lead

Middle East case studies Elixir Technology Free Essays

1.  Ã‚  Entering the Middle East market through Malaysia is the best alternative at this time. Malaysia has a market not dissimilar with that of the Middle East. We will write a custom essay sample on Middle East case studies: Elixir Technology or any similar topic only for you Order Now Entering Middle East via this option gives the Company an opportunity to partner with a company which has insights on working in a Muslim country. This way, Elixir is not starting with zero knowledge since this entry strategy is a duplication of what it did in Japan. 2.  Ã‚  Elixir develops and sells computer software which includes the stand-alone and the server-side versions of the Elixir Report. These two versions provide business an enterprise-class reporting solution. ER â€Å"was designed for high-performance operation, capable of handling large report generation† (O’Neil, 2004, p. 4). As such, Elixir Report is â€Å"able to accommodate multiple input data source types and provide reports in multiple output formats† (O’Neil, 2004, p. 4). Aside from these benefits, ER can support multilingual reporting and platform independence, and can support mobile devices. The core competencies of Elixir for its ER are: Speed in adopting changes in the environment and technologies into ER’s programs and applications. As a matter of Elixir claims that flexibility is built in into the Company’s spirit   (O’Neil, 2004, p. 8). Network with technology vendors. This relationship enables Elixir to rapidly fit its ER into a client’s information system which was sourced from a particular vendor or several vendors. Capacity and capability to localize the Elixir Report into specific customer requirements. This capacity and capability is a result of the unique design of ER which enables Elixir for â€Å"easy modification for accommodating local cultural needs† (O’Neil, 2004, p. 8). 3.  As the Company recognized the positive relationship between its understanding of it’s customers’ technology vendors and the efficiency of the sales process, Elixir made developing partnerships with other technology vendors the basis of its â€Å"marketing, sales and distribution strategy† ((O’Neil, 2004, p. 6). Another component of its marketing strategy is stressing that other technology companies translate their products instead of localizing them as what Elixir does (O’Neil, 2004, p. 8). Also, the Company provided for a free trial of the software which can be downloaded from the Company’s Web site (O’Neil, 2004, p. 9). By scaling the software into different versions and selling licensing agreements, Elixir is able to sell ER at a price 50 percent lower than its competitors. This scalability, however, is not a liability in terms of software performance. 4.  Ã‚  Elixir, as to its plan and strategy to expand outside Singapore, has been averagely successful. For example, in its entry into Japan, the Company’s initial marketing strategy – advertising in international magazines – generated low response from Japanese customers. However, this was remedied with the Company’s partnership with GrapeCity which enabled Elixir to bridge cultural gap and language barriers. This same strategy can be used in entering the Middle east market. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes, based on the facts presented, it is financially beneficial for Lau Shih Hor to take Elixir into the Middle East. I suggest that Lau pursues a distribution partnership with a Malaysian-based company. This company has a better understanding of the Middle East market than Lau which will allow the Company to better localize ER which is one of the product’s competitive advantages. References O’Neil, E. (2004). Elixir Technology – Entry into the Middle East. Ivey Management Services, pp. 1-24. How to cite Middle East case studies: Elixir Technology, Essay examples

Police Corruption Essays (3149 words) - , Term Papers

Police Corruption Analysis Of Police Corruption Analysis of Police Corruption Police corruption is a complex phenomenon, which does not readily submit to simple analysis. It is a problem that has and will continue to affect us all, whether we are civilians or law enforcement officers. Since its beginnings, may aspects of policing have changed; however, one aspect that has remained relatively unchanged is the existence of corruption. An examination of a local newspaper or any police-related publication on any given day will have an article about a police officer that got busted committing some kind of corrupt act. Police corruption has increased dramatically with the illegal cocaine trade, with officers acting alone or in-groups to steal money from dealers or distribute cocaine themselves. Large groups of corrupt police have been caught in New York, New Orleans, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. Methodology: Corruption within police departments falls into 2 basic categories, which are external corruption and internal corruption. For a corrupt act to occure, three distinct elements of police corruption must be present simultaneously: 1) missuse of authority, 2) missuse of official capacity, and 3) missuse of personal attainment. (Dantzker, 1995: p 157) It can be said that power inevitably tends to corrupt, and it is yet to be recongnized that, while there is no reason to suppose that policemen as individuals are any less fallible than other members of society, people are often shocked and outraged when policemen are exposed violating the law. The reason is simple. There diviance elicits a special feeling of betrayal. Most studies support the view that corruption is endemic, if not universal, in police departments. The danger of corruption for police, and this is that it may invert the formal goals of the organization and may lead to the use of organizational power to encourage and create crime rather than to deter it (Sherman 1978: p 31) General police deviance can include brutality, discrimination, sexual hara ssment, intimidation, and illicit use of weapons. However it is not particularly obvious where brutality, discrimination, and misconduct end and corruption begin. Essentially, police corruption falls into two major categories-- external corruption which concerns police contacts with the public, and internal corruption, which involves the relationships among policemen within the works of the police department. The external corruption generally concists of one ore more of the following activities: 1) Payoffs to police by essentially non-criminal elements who fail to comply with stringent statutes or city ordinances; (for example, inviduals who repeatedly violate traffic laws). 2) Payoffs to police by individuals who continually violate the law as a method of making money (for example, prostitutes, narcotics addicts and pusshers, they have accepted bribes; they have sold narcotics. They have known of narcotics vilolations and have failed to take proper enforcement action. They have en tered into personal associations with narcotics criminals and in some cases have used narcotics. They have given false testimony in court in order to obtain dismissal of the charges against a defendant. (Sherman 1978: p 129) A scandal is perceived both as a socially constructed phenomenon and as an agent of change that can lead to realignments in the structure of power within oraganizations. New york, for instance, has had more than a half dozen major scandals concerning its police department within a century. It was the Knapp Commission in 1972 that first brought attention to the NYPD when they released the results of over 2 years of investigations of alleged corruption. The findings were that bribery, especially amoung narcotics officers, was extremely high. As a result many officers were prosecuted and many more lost their jobs. A massive re-structuring took place aftewards with strict rules and regulations to make sure that the problem would never happen again. Be that as it may , the problem did arrise once gain... Some of the most recent events to shake New York City and bring attention to the national problem of police corruption

Southwest case Essays

Southwest case Essays Southwest case Paper Southwest case Paper Southwest stock outperformed all other U. S. Stocks. 7 This and Southwests position as the only consistently profitable U. S. Airliner validated its unconventional methods (see Exhibit 2 for financial performance and Exhibit 3 for comparison of Southwest Airlines to other U. S. Carriers). On the customer service side, Southwest won the airline industry Triple fewest delays, the fewest complaints, and the fewest mishandled bags-?not only for individual months but for entire years-?1992 through 1996. Southwest also prided itself on consistently offering the lowest fares in the industry. The US. Department of Transportation in 1 993 published a report on the so-called Southwest effect, documenting the impact on fares and passenger volumes when Southwest entered a market. According to the report, when Southwest announced service on a new route, other airlines serving that route almost immediately reduced their fares, and moieties increased their frequencies as well. The effect reduced fares by an average of 65%, and increased passenger traffic by up to 500% (Exhibit 4 shows the Southwest effect on the 6 James Highest, Southwest Airlines: 1 993 (A), HOBS case No. 94-023, p. 3. 7 Calculations performed on data supplied by CROPS. 8 Southwest was profitable in all but the first of its 30 years. 3 Baltimore-Providence market). Southwest employees liked to point out that their net impact was to offer the freedom to fly to a larger segment of the traveling public, expanding the overall market rather than just taking market hare. By January 2001 , Southwest served 58 airports in 29 s tates and was the fourth largest domestic carrier in terms of customers boarded. The company operated more than 2,650 flights a day using a fleet of 342 Boeing sass with an average age of 8. 4 years-?one of the youngest pure jet fleets in the domestic industry. Southwests success inspired competitors-?including People Express, Midway, Value Jet, Continental Elite, Delta Express, Metro and the United Shuttle-?to copy elements of its strategy, but none had generated sustainable profits from doing so. Getable was the newest airline to imitate elements of the Southwest model, and though its early performance was impressive, the jury was still out on its longer-term success. Even so, Southwest performance had slipped over time; the company had not earned a Triple Crown since 1996. The Baltimore Station In 1993, Southwest selected the BOW airport in Maryland, 30 miles from Washington, D. C. , as its first East Coast gateway and began service from BOW to Cleveland and Chicago on September 15. One year later, the airport broke ground on a $27. 6 million expansion project to extend the terminal and create six more domestic gates. Southwest signed up for all of them. Through the 1 9905, Southwest added more cities to its non-stop service from Baltimore (see Exhibit 5). After just seven years, Southwest share of BOW passengers reached 34%, displacing the perennial leader, US Airways (28. 5%). Baltimore had become one of Southwest eight mega-stations-?so called because it offered more than 100 flight departures per day. (Exhibit 6 lists all cities served by Southwest. ) Given the continued growth in number of flights projected by management, Southwests Baltimore gates would reach capacity limits later in 2001. Southwests bag sorting area had reached its capacity already. BOW was planning to renovate Concourses A and B to provide more gates for the company. Executive Vice President of Operations Jim Weinberg explained the importance of BOW to Southwest: Baltimore plays an important role in Our system, competitively, given its location in the center of the East Coast. Weve had a lot of serious discussions internally about how much more Baltimore can take given the facility constraints that we have, and the shortage of employees that we have there. Its a customer service issue because we dont want to put our customers through [an] experience in an airport where we cant deliver the type of reduce that our reputation stands on. One specific operational challenge in Baltimore was the volume of connecting passengers and their impact both on station performance and on the customers experience with Southwest. Exhibit 7 compares Bis Southwest passengers to those at other large Southwest stations. Passenger Connections as an Operational Challenge Matt Heaven described the effect of passenger connections on Baltimore operations: Over the past year, 800,000 passengers made connections here-?about 25% of our total passengers at Baltimore-?with probably an equal number of transferred bags. This makes us one of Southwesters biggest transfer stations. Right now, our reservations system generates 4 602-1 56 passenger itineraries with a minimum connecting time of 35 minutes. This means that passengers cant book connecting flights with less than 35 minutes scheduled between the arrival of the first flight and the departure of the second flight. Today, 83% of Southwests revenue is from direct one-stops or non-stop flights. The other 17% of our revenue is from connecting flights. We do not want to leave 17% of our revenue on the table, but these connecting flights have complicated our service design. We might have three people a month going from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Spokane, Washington, yet the computer system carefully adjusts the entire system schedule to make that flight convenient. This is compounded by the fact that we have given our people at individual stations and at customer service in Dallas the authority to make decisions about holding a flight. Our employees want to serve the customer-?thats their job-?so we end up holding flights pretty often. Now we are rethinking the practice of holding the 100 passengers ready to leave Nashville for Spokane-?a hold that will ripple throughout the system-?for the nee person whose flight has not yet arrived from Fort Lauderdale. Jim Weinberg placed Bowls case within the context of the total system: Connections definitely are a challenge. Its not that the percentage of our passengers who connect has changed that much. Overall, for the system as a whole, connections have been relatively constant over the past 10 years, in the 20% range. What has changed is that we have some cities like Baltimore that have a disproportionate number of connecting passengers. So connections have become more concentrated in certain cities than they used to be in our system. For example at Baltimore, I think theyre closer to 30%. Colleen Barrett, Southwests President and Chief Operating Officer, pointed out that any workable solution would have to fit Southwests particular vision: Most airlines schedules are operationally driven. Ours is marketing driven. When we develop a new flight schedule, our first priority from a marketing standpoint is, Where do we need non-stop flights? The second priority is to create the optimum number of one-stop and two-stop direct flights from a marketing standpoint. The last priority is, What can we make from connections? Connections are a significant part of our revenue, but from a marketing standpoint, based on what the customer wants, it is our last priority. Coordinating Southwests Baltimore Operations: Flight 110 Southwests airport operations were unique in the U. S. Industry. Unlike other carriers such as American Airlines, which centralized aircraft turnaround and ground operations and managed each of its daily flights from its headquarters using an integrated computer system,l O Southwest decentralized this coordination, leaving it to employees on site at its airport stations. Coordination had two aspects: the coordination of Southwest flights not and out of a given station, and the coordination of each flight turnaround. Operations coordinators and supervisors managed the former task, and operations agents the latter, as discussed below. Like American, Southwest had managers responsible system-wide traffic flow based at Dallas headquarters. Unlike American, these 9 In which ongoing passengers to a final destination would stay onboard while an aircraft took on additional passengers at an intermediate airport. 10 See Aspen Andersen and F. Warren McFarland, American Airlines: Object Oriented Flight Dispatching Systems, HOBS case No. 195-046. Southwest supervisors on duty (SOD) did not orchestrate local changes from Dallas but worked with the operations supervisors at individual airport stations to manage overall traffic flow. Consistent with its high supervisory ratios, Southwest relied on operations supervisors to look several hours ahead of the course of the daily flight schedule in order to identify potential problems before they emerged. Constant contact with Dallas SOD kept the ops supervisors informed of systemic developments likely to affect traffic in and out of their station, 1 1 and also helped assure that the solutions they reposed did not unduly burden the system beyond their station. The ops supervisors, in coordination with the SOD, would then work to design solutions to these challenges. In practice these included holding planes or resolving delays, coordinating gate usage accordingly, changing planes, and so on. In addition to monitoring the schedule, the ops supervisors also mentored ops agents and were frequently at the gate with them helping with difficult turnarounds created by overbooking, delays, or baggage issues. Southwest staffed its ops agents at much higher levels than other airlines did. Ops agents coordinated all aspects of flight turnaround, effectively span inning the boundaries of the 12 participating groups of handlers, and were empowered to organize and coordinate all aspects of the turnaround, from beginning to end, to maximize speed, productivity, and efficiency. 12 The high staffing levels allowed Southwest to assign a single flight to each ops agent (rather than the industry norm of multiple flights per agent). That agent would begin preparing for and tracking the single aircrafts turnaround an hour prior to its arrival and be totally focused on that flight up through its aperture and the transfer of paperwork and information downstream to the ops agent at the unwounded flights destination. The ops coordinator brought all the strands of activity together from the Coordinators Room, a communications nerve center at the station, managing the execution of decisions made by the supervisory team and communicating with Dallas, ops supervisors, ops agents, and pilots in flight to ensure that all concerned were informed. The ops coordinator role was filled by ops agents on a rotating basis. The following pages recount the how the Southwest team at Baltimore managed the turnaround of Flight 110 on June 7. The Operations Coordinators Alice, the on-duty ops coordinator, and Darlene, her assistant coordinator, worked from the Coordinators Room on the tarmac level to bring in arriving flights and assign them to gates. In the room with them were the ramp coordinator and the customer service coordinator. The ops supervisors worked just outside the coordinators office, and streamed in and out constantly with updates and information. During their 3:00 p. M. To 1 1 p. M. Shift, Alice and Darlene were expecting 63 flights at Southwests 16 gates, a typical evening. Their colleagues on the morning shift had brought in 64 lights to the same 1 6 gates. Alice and Darlene could view two of the gates directly through the large window facing the tarmac, and the other 14 via television screens mounted above and to their right. At a glance they could watch aircraft being marshaled into their gates, getaways being placed into position, and aircraft being serviced by the ramp crew assigned to each gate. They 1 1 Delays caused by weather, or back-ups at particular airports, etc. 12 Jody Hoofer Getting, Coordinating Services Across Functional Boundaries: The Departure Process at Southwest Airlines, in Ron Kemp and John Wood, des. Best Practices in Customer Services: Case Studies and Strategies (Amherst: HARD press, 1999). 6 were in radio contact, through a company specific frequency, with Southwest airplanes arriving or departing Baltimore. 3 Throughout the day, Southwest employees continually updated OTIS (Operations Terminal Information System)-?an internally developed system for tracking flight information. OTIS contained anticipated passenger totals (revenue passengers as well as non-revenue passengers such as Southwest employees), in addition to all the information that each station sent down-line o the ne xt station receiving a flight. OTIS included information pertinent to Southwests operations, such as the weather, system-wide, and particular flight delays. Each delay was tagged with its location and cause-?boarding passengers, late arrival, equipment, radar, and so on. Lices OTIS screen tracked all flights bound for Baltimore. The left side of the screen listed all the incoming flights with their scheduled and expected arrival times. For every incoming flight, the right hand side of the screen listed its outgoing number and the scheduled departure time. Each flight entry had multiple status indicators, and double-clicking on them provided additional information about the flight (see Exhibit 8 for a screen view of OTIS). Flights that were expected to arrive late or early required particular attention, since either event could require changes to gate assignments, with possible repercussions for all departments preparing to turn those flights around. Darlene helped Alice coordinate maintenance responses to requests called in by inbound pilots, and by discussing with the dispatch SOD at Southwests Dallas headquarters any local changes that might affect the scheduling of flights, lanes, or crews beyond Baltimore. Darlene was also responsible for updating the Flight Information Display System (FIDS) that displayed information on gate assignments and arrival and departure times throughout the airport for Southwest employees and passengers. Alice and Darlene had already noticed that Eight 1 10 from Nashville had left 40 minutes later than expected. Regularly scheduled to arrive at 8:15 p. M. , now showed up on OTIS as expected in at 8:55 p. M. Onboard were 33 passengers due to make connections in Baltimore. Six of them were connecting to Flight 232 to Buffalo, departing at 8:40 p. M.

Fiction Writing Tips

Fiction Writing Tips Writing fiction is an art that is learned over time. One learns to write stories by writing and reading all the fiction writing tips that they can find. A good writer tends to be very observant of their surroundings and reads everything they can get their hands on. And most of all, they carve out a designated time every single day to write. Here is some fiction writing tips that any writer needs to know in order to produce a believable fiction that readers will enjoy reading. Fiction Writing Tip #1: Plot and character development. A good story will have a series of events that connect and unfold in a chronological order. Keep it tightly controlled without allowing it to stray off course in order to keep the readers interested. They’ll keep reading to see how all the different points in the story connect at the end. Fiction Writing Tip #2: Create memorable characters. The reader has to actually feel that the character could possibly be an actual person before they can identify with your story. Using dialogue, actions and thoughts to define the character for the readers. The reader should be able to create the image and idea of who your character is through their speech, mannerisms and thoughts rather than have every single detail spelled out for them. Fiction Writing Tip #3: Without proper setting the reader is likely to get lost in the story. The writer needs to be able to weave the setting by using atmosphere, location and mood into the story line. This way the reader stays grounded by knowing where the story is taking place and what the general atmosphere is like. Fiction Writing Tip #4: Make dialogue realistic and close to real life. However, this is one of the trickier fiction writing tip. If dialogue is made to mirror true life too much, it will make for a boring and tedious read. Use dialogue to describe characters, show personality and even to project events. Fiction writing tips show that interesting dialogue will grab a reader and carry them through the story. Don’t try to get too creative with dialect or slang especially with the main characters for this can slow down the story too much. It is good fiction writing tips to show the character by using varying forms of dialogue to show the character but too much of it can slow things down dramatically. Fiction Writing Tip #5: Establish point of view. Decide how the story is going to be told; if it’s going to be in third person or first person, you need to make that decision before you ever set pen to paper. Certain stories have to stay on a certain track depending on how the point of view is determined. First person has to be told strictly from the first person point of view, which means it’s basically all about the main character. Third person allows for the actions of all the characters but limits the narrator from describing the inner thoughts or feelings about them. Fiction Writing Tip #6: Craft your own writing style. It’s basically how the writer decides to tell the story. Short concise sentences that make strong statements are desirable. Avoid getting too wordy and fanatical about the English language. The smoother the story flows, the easier it will be for the reader to read along with it. These fiction writing tips are good for any writer to know and utilize in their craft. By following these simple fiction writing tips, one can create a successful story that everyone will enjoy reading.