The History of Smallpox and How It Became Eradicated Essay

Smallpox is an ancient and very deadly disease. Scientists think that smallpox first started around 10,000 B.C. in Africa. They also think that it spread from Africa to India by Egyptian merchants. Scientists have studied the mummy of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V., who died in 1156 B.C., and they think that he had smallpox. Smallpox was also known to be in China in 1122 B.C. There are also writings from India around that same time that mention smallpox. Smallpox is the only disease to ever be eradicated, which means it is no longer around. The last person to have it was in Somalia in 1977. Smallpox first appeared in Europe between the 5th and 7th centuries and was common in the Middle Ages. There was an epidemic of smallpox around the†¦show more content†¦Andrew Jackson got it when he was 14, while he was a British prisoner during the American Revolution. His brother was a prisoner with him and died from smallpox. Abraham Lincoln got sick right after he gave his famous spe ech, â€Å"The Gettysburg Address.† He was sick for almost four weeks and survived, but one of his servants did not. Smallpox is caused by the variola virus. It is in the family of viruses called Poxviridae. There are two kinds of variola virus, variola major and variola minus. Variola major is much more severe than variola minor and kills about 30% of people who are infected. Variola minor kills between 1 and 5% of those infected. Smallpox does not infect any animals except humans and people or animals cannot just carry the disease. Smallpox is spread by face-to-face contract. It can also be spread through the bed sheets and clothes of people who have the disease. The symptoms of smallpox start about two weeks after people get the virus, with a fever and feeling of low energy. People also have headaches, sore throats, flu symptoms, and start throwing up. After a few days, a rash that is raised above the skin begins. People also get sores inside the mouth, throat, and nose. A fter a person has had smallpox for about three weeks, scabs form and then begin to fall off. A person is contagious from the time the fever starts until the last scab falls off. People do not spread the disease at school or out inShow MoreRelatedWhy The Disease Has Been An Enemy Of A Human Ever Since It First?856 Words   |  4 Pagesthe disease for most of history, often at the losing end. However, the principle of immunization equalized this adversarial relationship. The concept of vaccination has been one of the most significant medical advancements in history because it has prevented the onset of deadly diseases, has eradicated previously malignant maladies, and has improved human life by removing fear of acquiring such contagious afflictions. The institution of vaccination began with smallpox. Smallpox had been a very eminentRead MoreWhat is Smallpox?789 Words   |  3 PagesSmallpox What is smallpox? Smallpox is a contagious deadly disease that can easily be transferred from one person to another either by face-to-face contact or direct contact with bodily fluids such as sweat and saliva from someone who’s infected such as sneezing, coughing, or skin touching. They can also spread from being in contact with contaminated objects as well. Those who are infected usually doesn’t know they are infected until 7-17 days later when they start developing flu like symptomsRead MoreIs Child Vaccination A Good Idea?1393 Words   |  6 Pageswere to have measles, whoever is immune would not contract it. If the population was not immune to easily preventable illnesses such as smallpox and diphtheria, then epidemics could erupt, killing most of the population. This has been proven to be true in the history of America. Once the Europeans came over the America, they had already formed a resistance to smallpox. However, the Native Americans had never been exposed to those diseases found in civilizations. Once the Europeans came in contact withRead MoreThe Importance Of Vaccines1195 Words   |  5 Pagestheir own decision about being vaccinated; and the ramifications that their decision may have on society as a whole; is it advisable to make the vaccination programme compulsory? Firstly, one must understand the technique involved in vaccination, and how it can be utilised most effectively. Then, the moral and ethical implications of the practice can be considered. Vaccinations work by immunising the body against a particular pathogen. By introducing a weakened or inactive version of the microbe, itsRead MoreVaccination Of The Anti Vaccination Movement1324 Words   |  6 Pageseconomically and in efficiency, as indicated by the history of vaccines. It is not reasonable to believe in anti-vaccination as it has been proven that vaccinations save lives. Vaccines prevent an estimated 2.5 million deaths every year through their effectiveness in preventing disease (Barnighausen, et al.,2014). They prevent individuals from getting diseases by stimulating the body to produce an immune response so that the body’s immune system remembers how to fight the disease and can easily rid the bodyRead MoreHow Did The People And Events That Changed Medical History1105 Words   |  5 PagesPeople and Events that Changed Medical History Modern Medicine wouldn’t be the same without major turning points in history. Not only did it change the way people work in hospitals, but it changed the way people live their lives. Because of these medical discoveries and scientists, people are able to live happy, healthy lives. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is considered the â€Å"Father of Microbiology.† He was passionate about lens grinding and could adjust light extremely well. He developed a compoundRead MoreVaccines : A More Influential Achievement Than The Development Of The Last Century1589 Words   |  7 Pageshave been eradicated because of the development and widespread use of vaccines. The history of vaccines is, however, very complex. The growth widespread use of vaccines requires a balance of scientific ingenuity and social acceptance. Vaccines historically have, and continue to, cause strong scientific, social, and cultural reactions. The concept of vaccines, basically exposure to a disease to trick the body into forming immunity, has been controversial from its beginnings. The history of vaccinesRead MoreBubonic Plague vs Smallpox Essay1611 Words   |  7 PagesIlls Throughout history, many diseases have come and gone, leaving waves in the water of human progress. And though illnesses have been numerous, only two diseases have truly affected entire civilizations, ravaging the culture and lifestyle of the peoples, and escalating to epidemical heights. The two scourges are bubonic plague, which influenced Europe during the 1300’s, and smallpox, which impacted Mesoamerica and the Native Americans from the 1500’s to the 1900’s. To understand how these sicknessesRead MoreThe Plague Of The Black Death1484 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout human history there have been a few events that have caused devastation and irreversibly changed the course of history. These events were triggered not by humans, but by plagues. Plagues, defined as an epidemic with an amazingly high mortality rate according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, have been recorded throughout history, from the Plague of Justinian in Rome, to the Modern Plague of China (CDC). To the common man, all s/he sees is, the plague arrives, kills tens of millionsRead MoreSmallpox : A Dangerous And Highly Contagious Disease2225 Words   |  9 PagesAbstract Smallpox is a dangerous and highly contagious disease. It is described as a disfiguring disease due to the bumps that appear on an infected person, once gone through their entire cycle they leave behind deep pitted scars. There are two strains of smallpox, variola major and variola minor. Variola major is the most common form of smallpox with more dangerous outcomes than variola minor. Smallpox is transmitted via face to face prolonged contact with an infected person but can also be transmitted

Microeconomics of Customer Relationships Free Essays

Reading: Microeconomics of Customer Relationships ? Reading: Microeconomics of Customer Relationships The follow is a critique and review of the reading of Microeconomic of Customer Relationships by Fred Reichheld. I will review the article and evaluate Mr. Reachheld. We will write a custom essay sample on Microeconomics of Customer Relationships or any similar topic only for you Order Now I will also apply economic theories into why and how I came to my conclusions. Overview on the Reading Microeconomic of Customer Relationships by Fred Reichheld is based on a simple survey based customer-relationship metric known as â€Å"net-promoter score†, or NPS. The NPS divides customers into three categories based on the simple question, â€Å"How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague? † (Reichheld, 2006, pg. 73) Customers at the high end are labeled promoters, because of their likelihood of loyalty and positive word-of-mouth promotion. The low end of the spectrum is the opposite of the promoter and labeled a detractor. By quantifying the value the customers have the company can then devise action plans to solve problems, or expatiate growth. Evaluation of the Author Fred Reichheld was very good at relating NPS in a practical and evaluative way. What I found most interesting in his analysis of NPS was the customer grid (Figure 1). Figure 1. Customer Grid. From Fred Reichheld’s Microeconomics of Customer Relationships. (2006, pg. 76) Reichheld came to the conclusion that the upper right was the top long-term priority. I completely agree with this conclusion. He then put the upper right and the lower right as the next highest priority. He does make some good points, such as bad word-of-mouth and high profits that could pick up ship and move on elsewhere. I, however, would put a higher priority in the upper middle section as long as this is a large corporation. A small business may very well need to stamp out the issues of the unsatisfied because they can’t afford the risk of losing base. In a large corporation, volume is huge and needs to be satisfied. If you can find a way to get the middle column to the right, your NPS would rise. Conversely, if you don’t satisfy the middle, or large volume customers, they could move to the left causing havoc. Netflix recently made a bold move of raising it’s prices 60% and split it’s services into two separate entities. This angered that middle column of subscribers that used Netflix, but didn’t have strong opinions toward it. Netflix’s stock prices have plummeted 26 percent this year(Randall, 2011). Netflix was counting on customer loyalty to prevail over the increase in prices, but instead had a huge backlash. An example of a company that focuses on the right and the middle of their NPS is Apple. Apple has created a company with an almost cult like following. Apple’s NPS is 79% with only 2% detractors based on a 2008 survey by Satmetrix (Schofield, 2008). Apple has been genius at getting customers to the upper right section of the customer grid. It developed products to appeal to the masses. Criticism toward Apple has been their lack of Adobe flash integrated into their iphones(Chen, 2008). This causes anger to the left sections of customer who want flash enabled devices. Apple could easily try to appease this group and enable Flash, but because it views it as an unstable platform, it refuses to use it. Apple isn’t as concerned about the haters as it is about those loyal to Apple, or those who are on the fence. Recent commercials have depicted Apple as more stable and fun to used than PCs, in an attempt to grab at that market with no brand loyalty. Economic Theories I do realize my examples for my disagreement with Reichheld on priority placed on the NPS is not for all market conditions and companies. There are many factors that can sway priority away from where focus was previously. The Netflix example, for instance, was based on a company who thought it had somewhat of a monopoly, yet after it made it’s decision to raise prices realized costumers left for other options such as Hulu plus and Blockbuster’s DVD by mail service. Netflix is now forced to have its main focus on the left and pacify those who were angered. There is also supply and demand to consider. When there is a high demand for a product and a limited supply, a higher priority needs to be set on the upper right because holding a high percentage of the market share when supply is low will keep customers when or if the supply is increased and you will need customer loyalty when new competitors are able to enter due to a lower cost of entry. Conclusion Fred Reichheld wrote an excellent article breaking down NPS and applying it to business. I had a slight disagreement over his priority placement mainly because it is flexible to the situation and I would focus on the masses rather and a select few. The article was well written and very practical with easy to understand data. References Chen, B. (2008, November 17). Why apple won’t allow adobe flash on iphone. Retrieved from http://www. wired. com/gadgetlab/2008/11/adobe-flash-on/ Randall, D. 2011, September 19). Nflx tumbles on qwikster announcement; are netflix’s best days behind it?. Retrieved from http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2011/09/19/nflx-netflix-stock-qwikster_n_970879. html Reichheld, F. (2006). The microeconomics of customer relationships. MITSloan Management Review, 47(2), 73-78. Schofield, M. (2008, April 10). Satmetrix benchmarks net promoter scores in four key industry sectors. Retrieved from http://www. reuters. com/article/2008/04/10/idUS191482 10-Apr- 2008 BW20080410 How to cite Microeconomics of Customer Relationships, Papers

Moving Parts Digger Essay Example For Students

Moving Parts Digger Essay MAKe YOUR own: moving parts digger Diggers are very popular in our house but weve found that good digger crafts are quite hard to come by. Using Roger Prides great book Rainbow Trucks as inspiration decided to take matters into my own hands. The end result is this simple digger picture. Its heaps Of fun to color in and, best Of all, you get to put the pieces together and move them around. You will need this project sheet roadbed hole punch split pins (brads) markers or paints scissors photo and glue (optional) directions Before you get started youll need to transfer the digger images to cardboard. You can print or photocopy the images straight onto card. Otherwise, just glue the paper onto card or trace the image on to card by holding it up against a window (thats what did). 1 232 1 Color-in or paint the digger and digger parts. Cut the pieces out and punch oleos where marked. We also cut up some photos and pasted them on the digger so that the kids could be in the drivers seat! Attach the parts using split pins (brads) and there you have a fabulous moving parts digger! Hope you enjoy this craft. If you have a chance, take a photo of your completed digger and email it to me ([emailprotected] Com) so can add it to the Kids Craft Weekly photo gallery. T) 2007 streetwalker. Com 2007 streetwalker. Com

Kenny Chesney ; No Shoes Nation by Kenny Chesney free essay sample

Kenny Chesney Kenny Chesney is a renowned country singer and songwriter. Threw his career he has recorded around 20 albums. Kenny was born on March 26, 1968 (48 years old 2016) in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is known for wearing his baseball cap or cowboy hat. I have been to one of Kennys concerts along the Big Revival Tour at Gillette Stadium. That concert was one of the best one’s I have ever been to. Kenny Chesney not only makes music bus has his own brand and radio station. No Shoes Nation is his brand. It in compasses who his fans are, Kenny’s style, what he is about, and was the name to his 2013 tour. When he decided to call all the fans No Shoes Nation he was performing at Gillette Stadium in 2012. No Shoes Radio is Kenny’s official radio station. There is also an online version playing 24/7. At the time of writing this Kenny just released a new single Noise, last thursday (March, 24th). We will write a custom essay sample on Kenny Chesney ; No Shoes Nation by Kenny Chesney or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This is a single prior to him releasing a new album this coming summer. When Kenny makes music he know just want No Shoes Nation wants. He has never disappointed with new music. I have listened and been a fan of his music from a kid. My parents always have country music playing and has rubbed off to me. If you had the chance to see my dad next to Kenny it is very hard to tell the difference, they look like brothers. Kenny is in my blood I will be a life member to No Shoes Nation. I love my country music no matter what others say about country. Kenny Chesney is just an amazing artist and will continue to send us great albums. I can’t wait to hear the rest of his new Noise album this summer. The No Shoes Nation will continue to grow and the No Shoes Radio won’t stop playing.When I get the chance to go and see Kenny again you can bet I will be there. I hope whoever reads this likes Kenny Chesney or just Country music as much as I do!

Free Essays on D-Day

Under Adolf Hitler the German empire extended from Russia to the west, to France on the east. Germany controlled much of Europe except for Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Sweden (Keegan 1). Hitler’s army’s gained control of much of Europe during the years of 1939 through 1941. It was not until December 11th 1941 that Hitler declared war on the United States. Soon afterward, Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander in charge of planning the invasion of Europe. American invasion planners were in favor of an attack across the English Channel that would defeat the German army in the west and later, push into the German capital of Berlin. The allied plan would be a land attack, supported by air power and navy. The attack, if successful, would mark the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler referred to his western defenses as the â€Å"Atlantic Wall†(Jennys 1). The British under Prime Minister Winston Churchill, had an invasion plan before the United States got into the war. When the United States entered the war, a plan to attack the German forces from England was talked about again. The Germans knew that they would have to defend their Atlantic Wall, since they knew that an attack would probably come across the English Channel. Even though England was bombed day and night, Germany was unable to defeat them. One major problem in defending the ‘Atlantic Wall† was â€Å"no single supreme German commander in the west† was named to command the army (Badsey 25). Instead, Hitler had two commanders in Western Europe, Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rundstedt and Rommel could not agree on how best to defend an invasion from England. Rommel believed that the strongest German forces should be positioned a long the Normandy coastline. While Rundstedt believed that the allies would best be defeated by holding back a large central army in an effective counter attack (Jennys 1). ... Free Essays on D-day Free Essays on D-day Under Adolf Hitler the German empire extended from Russia to the west, to France on the east. Germany controlled much of Europe except for Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Sweden (Keegan 1). Hitler’s army’s gained control of much of Europe during the years of 1939 through 1941. It was not until December 11th 1941 that Hitler declared war on the United States. Soon afterward, Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander in charge of planning the invasion of Europe. American invasion planners were in favor of an attack across the English Channel that would defeat the German army in the west and later, push into the German capital of Berlin. The allied plan would be a land attack, supported by air power and navy. The attack, if successful, would mark the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler referred to his western defenses as the â€Å"Atlantic Wall†(Jennys 1). The British under Prime Minister Winston Churchill, had an invasion plan before the United States got into the war. When the United States entered the war, a plan to attack the German forces from England was talked about again. The Germans knew that they would have to defend their Atlantic Wall, since they knew that an attack would probably come across the English Channel. Even though England was bombed day and night, Germany was unable to defeat them. One major problem in defending the ‘Atlantic Wall† was â€Å"no single supreme German commander in the west† was named to command the army (Badsey 25). Instead, Hitler had two commanders in Western Europe, Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rundstedt and Rommel could not agree on how best to defend an invasion from England. Rommel believed that the strongest German forces should be positioned a long the Normandy coastline. While Rundstedt believed that the allies would best be defeated by holding back a large central army in an effective counter attack (Jennys 1). ... Free Essays on D-day In the early hours of June 6, 1944, American, British, and Canadian troops landed on the coast of Normandy to begin Operation Overlord. There were five drop zones who’s code names were Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Americans troops invaded Utah and Omaha Beach. US troops quickly secured Utah Beach while at Omaha Beach things did not go so well. US troops suffered heavy casualties in just a few hours but by nightfall they had managed to clear the bluffs covering the beach. British and Canadian troops were to invade Gold, Juno, and Sword Beach and were met with much less resistance. The preparation for D-Day took a long time. Gathering and transporting tanks on shores and the movement of thousands of men and their weapons proved to be quite difficult. The plan called for almost 6,500 ships and landing crafts, which would land nearly 200,000 vehicles and 600,000 tons of supplies in the first three weeks of the operation. The invasion would also involve more than 13,000 fighters, bombers, and transport planes. D-Day was previously scheduled for May 1, but was postponed to June 5 to make more landing crafts available, but was again moved to June 6. This was because of the bad weather conditions that occurred on June 5. General Eisenhower was named Supreme Allied Commander with General Montgomery as land force commander of Operation Overlord. As the ships traveled across the dark English Channel, men lied crammed on their bunks reading, sleeping, playing poker, and some men dealing with sea-sickness. The German High Commander had no clue about the attack that was about to happen and left for his wife’s birthday. Also, many of his senior commanders were away as well. When the Allies began their invasion, the German response was bewildered and uncertain. They awoke to see the Allied armada coming toward them. More than 1,000 transports dropped paratroopers to secure the flanks and beach exits of the assault a... Free Essays on D-Day INTRODUCTION Imagine if you will. Go back in time to June 5th, 1944 to a place known as England. You’re a British citizen use to hearing the sounds of war. These sounds include heavy transport vehicles, marine vessels and airplanes. It is nighttime and you have suddenly been awakened by louder than normal sounds. You step out of your house for a moment and to your surprise you see in the air, more planes than you ever thought existed. You wipe your eyes and focus on the mass. Through the darkness, you notice U.S. and British planes flying together in formation. This great site of combined military might means only one thing. Invasion! Feelings of pride, hope and cohesion among you and your countrymen replace those of uncertainty, fear and failure. Overjoyed, you return to your house and try to get some sleep. The next morning, June 6th, 1944, you awake extra early, anticipating some kind of national announcement. Just after 9:00am you hear your anticipation. â€Å" Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces supported by strong air forces began landing Allied armies this morning on the coast of France.† Moments later the rest of the world knew. Invasion! PLANNING THE INVASION The origination of D-Day planning is thought to have happened in Dunkirk in 1940. Winston Churchill had had a meeting with Lord Louis Mountbatten. There, Churchill requested Mountbatten to begin planning for a distant offensive. Russia and America joined forces with Britain, what was once a distant offensive wasn’t quite so distant after all. In January 1943, Churchill met with Roosevelt at Casablanca to appoint Gen. F.E. Morgan as joint staff of COSSAC, Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander. The choice of a Supreme Commander would come later. For six months COSSAC studied the coasts of Europe, Allied/German forces that might be joined in battle, and technical details of the project. From this intense...

An analysis of Mark Rothko's Essay Example For Students

An analysis of Mark Rothkos Essay There seems to be no shadowing and modeling is poor which makes it difficult to locate one individual light source. It also gives the figures a two dimensional appearance and makes them seem vacant and somber. The tonal range is wide but the use of cool colors (in particular grey and blues) has the effect of distancing the spectator from the scene. Furthermore, emphasis is placed on color rather than detail because the brushwork is crude. These factors lend the scene a cold and somewhat eerie feeling. Rotators repeated use of vertical lines (specifically the railings and pillars) segregates the figures from one another and more significantly, from the spectator. The overlapping of these objects gives the scene perspective, but long with the idea of segregation and a high picture plane, this only serves to further distance the spectator. The two left most pillars are arranged in such a way that they run parallel with the two right most pillars and with the wall at the back left of the scene. Furthermore the figures on the descending staircase and the figures around the ticket booth are along the same parallel plane, and are framed within the pillars. The effect is that the eye is drawn towards the booth along this line, Perhaps then it is no coincidence that the ticket booth also mess to be the location for the vanishing point. These factors would suggest that the implied spectator position is further back along the same line as the ticket booth and the figures on the descending stairs. Roth uses the methods have discussed to distance and segregate the spectator from the scene. Along With his brushwork, lighting and choice Of colors, this lends the painting an eerie atmosphere. As such, Subway Scene is a bleak and cold image that stresses a feeling Of alienation to the spectator.

Competitive Advantage Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Competitive Advantage - Assignment Example It encompasses several aspects of a company's marketing tactics and strategies in building a strong competitive advantage that can secure the company's future. A competitive advantage is plainly a facet or capability of the organisation that it occupies or extends to the customers. For an organisational facet to form a 'competitive advantage', it needs to be unequalled in the market and not acquired by any other existing or upcoming competition in the market. This notion can also be translated in the words of Barney (2002, p9) as, "a firm experiences competitive advantages when its actions in an industry or market create economic value and when few competing firms are engaging in similar actions". Porter (1985, p3) explores the concept of competitive advantage as the capability of an organisation to create value for its customers in a way that procures more value to the customers than the competitors, he says, "Competitive advantage grows out of value a firm is able to create for its buyers that exceeds the firm's cost of creating it. Value is what buyers are willing to pay, and superior value stems from offering lower prices than competitors for equivalent benefits or providing unique benefits that more than offset a higher price. There are two basic types of competitive advantage: cost leadership and differentiation". Hence, a firm's competitive advantage has to be unique among all the other companies in the market. This implies that whatever company owns and provides to customers should have one or more differential aspect that can distinguish it form its competitors. Today, many organisations engage in providing almost same kind of products to a specific range of products. Consequently, the customers need to choose between a lot of options with slight distinction to satisfy their needs and problems. For a firm to win more customers than its competitors and sustain them in the long run, it needs to offer its customers something that is not being currently offered in the market. For instance, a different product with enhanced value, a courteous and friendly workforce, a well-known company image, and a breakthrough in technology helpful in satisfying customers in a much better way than the competitors. The customers would only be willing to buy the company's product or even pay a higher price for it if there's something in the product or service being by the company that the customers perceive to be valuable or different in satisfying their needs than other products in the market. The more the customers perceive the product to be valuable, the more the opportunity for the company to remain successful in the long run. The upcoming section of the paper investigates into some of the aspects of a company's marketing tactics and manoeuvres that could be utilised towards the achievement of a competitive advantage. Winning Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty And Trust Firms consistently endeavour to attain the mellowest possible levels of customer satisfaction and retention to survive in the modern competitive business arena. It is a factor that rightfully approximates a company's emplacement in the competitive market. If the customers are satisfied, the company is likely to be successful; otherwise it is doomed to be obscure in the future

Peter Singer and Garrett Hardin On Helping the Poor Essay

Peter Singer and Garrett Hardin On Helping the Poor - Essay Example I find that both articles are very well written, and as previously stated, both make their point on their issues, though Singer does so in a more antagonistic, provoking manner, while Hardin seems to remain impartial while giving concrete examples to support his position. After reading these two articles, I find myself disagreeing wholeheartedly with Mr. Singer, on the basis that a nation should look within its own borders and fix the problems that plague it from within before even beginning to give aid to any other countries that may be in need. While I agree that there may be a moral obligation to provide aid and assistance, it should first be provided to those that reside within the borders of a given nation, before being provided elsewhere. Mr. Singer is fixated on a situation occurring in Bengal, while providing general evidence that nations capable of sending aid have not done enough to help. However, he fails to provide concrete, quantitative statistics on the nations that he is citing as able to provide aid to Bengal. There is no concrete evidence given to suggest what is happening within the nations that are able to provide aid, and no other examples other than criticism of those nations who choose to build luxury items rather than send aid. For example, Mr. Singer states that â€Å"Australia’s aid amounts to less than one-twelfth the cost of the Sydney’s new opera house.† He further states that Britain, another country able to give aid to Bengal, has â€Å"non-recoverable costs of the Anglo-French Concorde Project already in excess of ?275,000,000.† Yet he does not mention the per capita statistics of these two countries specifically, citing only that â€Å"they are able to give aid†. Mr. Singer also fails to mention that most large projects such as the opera house and transport systems are, inevitably, taxpayer funded over a long period of time. This in and of itself creates a vicious cycle which, again, Mr. Singer does not mention: higher taxes means less money in the pockets of the citizens, which means less to give to others. It seems as though Mr. Singer is trying to make people feel guilty for having luxuries while there are others that do not, which is hardly the basis for any moral argument that one should give money. Mr. Hardin, in fact, says this in another, perhaps more realistic way by stating â€Å"Some say they feel guilty about their good luck. My reply is simple: Get out and yield your place to others.† Just because one has the resources to share, does not mean that they should. It should be the choice of each and every person and/or country if they choose to share, or if they choose to use that money where it is most needed, which may well be within the borders of their own country. Another issue to look at is the fund that is being donated to. Mr. Singer mentions the Bengal Relief Fund. What proof do people have that the Bengal Relief Fund will actually get the money to actually assist others? In 2001, the World Food Program received notice that one million people in Zimbabwe would be â€Å"in urgent need of food aid within a month†; however, the government, after â€Å"holding out the begging bowl†, refused to allow anyone but themselves to distribute that food (LoBaido). The World Food Program would have no way of knowing if the goods that were donated actually made it to the people in need of aid, or

Understanding the Short Story Brownies Essay Example for Free

Understanding the Short Story Brownies Essay Amongst the legion of newly talented American playwrights is Z. Z Parker, an African American author who is popularly known to be the master behind a number of recently published and highly praised short fiction stories across the United States. Included in one of his compilations â€Å"Drinking Coffee Elsewhere† is the short story entitled â€Å"Brownies† which depicts the story about a troop of young Black African-American girls and their encounters and personal experiences with regard to adversities of social discrimination in the entire American Country. Thus, the book depicts and illustrates both of the different faces of the society which is that of the good and dreadful side, more especially in the entire society of the United States wherein there is an evident divergence between the white and black people. In a sense, it is seen obvious that the story is fundamentally set to highlight and enlighten one of the major social problems in the entire American society in both ancient and modern days, which is that of the racial biases and/or discrimination among the Black African-American people. Thus, the story also aims to give a picture of the pessimistic consequences of such social differences between the American group of white and the black. For instance is the adverse incident wherein the troop of black African-American girls and the opposite color have collide and involved their selves into an awful brawl in response to the act of racial discrimination coming from the group of white girls. Hence, such illustration is an example as to how the writer has utilized the specific situations to depict the atrocities and cynicism that social discrimination incorporates in the society. On the other hand, it is also well represented that the society is made of both negative and positive notions wherein the people living in this world are all situated to experience both of the good and bad sides of the society. Through the narrative of one of the black African-American girls in the story, whose name is Laurel, she shares the story of her father’s encounter with a white family and recalls the moment her father said that, It was the only time hed have a white man on his knees doing something for a black man for free† (30). It is indeed an evident way of the writer to balance her depiction of the two faces of society which is that of the good and bad. In the end, it is evident that such book of Z. Z. Parker entitled â€Å"Brownies† is socially prearranged to depict and discuss the problems of society, more specifically in the United States, where Americans are seen to be alienated by this social difference and discrimination. Thus, the short story â€Å"Brownies† is indeed a paradigm of an outstanding socially significant story that presents valuable lessons for the readers and for the entire society. Work Cited Packer, ZZ. â€Å"Brownies. † In Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. New York, NY: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2003.

Women Slaves in Rum Distillation and Domestic Roles :: American History

Women Slaves in Rum Distillation and Domestic Roles Women slaves were also employed in rum distillation and domestic roles. Much like mill-feeding, women basically ran the rum distillation operations from cleaning machines to lifting and distilling. They were trusted more so than men to do this job because owners believed that women would be less likely to steal the rum and drink it themselves. However, a negative aspect of being employed in rum distillation is that owners would often substitute the alcohol for meat and other nutritious and essential dietary components, which could only lead to worse stages of malnutrition. In regards to domestic work, the elite slave and plantation owners had a tendency to employ more domestics than they actually needed. This of course was not negative since domestic and household work was regarded as being of a higher rank than field work and it was the only other position in which females had a chance to escape the tedious, back-breaking work of the fields. Because the nature of this work was much lighter, those slaves who were given it were envied by those who had to work in the field or the sugar mills or rum distillation factories. Both males and females began work as servants from the young age of 7 or 8. Domestic occupations ranged from cook, servant, washerwoman, laundress, seamstress, nurse, midwife, and doctress. Cooks especially were held in high regard because food was such a powerful weapon on the plantation since it was so scarce and regulated. The females basically managed the household while men were found to be cooks. Nurses and midwives were especially admired and coveted, even by the owner, because they were crucial to maintaining the slave population. Further, midwives were considered to increase the number of live births so they were highly regarded because this too increased the slave population. Research by Rhoda Reddock (in Kleinberg, 1988) demonstrates that many of the female domestic tasks, such as cooks and servants, were actually performed by males. Furthermore, the number of females in the field still outnumbered the number in household tasks. Extending to the household this dominance of males in more prestigious positions continued where males were head servants and women were still relegated to lower ranks. Reddock examines the composition of the slave population in the British Caribbean and still, the same trend is seen where females outnumber males after 1825.

Public Administration and Management Essay

Introduction Public administration in Britain takes place through a variety of state agencies with varying histories, functions, as well as patterns of political control and accountability. These comprise the civil service; a large number of local bureaucracies serving an elective system of local government; another massive organization administering the National Health Service (NHS) and, under the acronym ‘quango’, a diverse range of organizations responsible for a assortment of administrative, consultative, advisory in addition to regulatory roles. In addition there is a compound of tribunals, inquiries, an ombudsman system and the judiciary, which together dispense administrative justice. The architecture of the modern state was drawn mainly in the nineteenth century, when the rising industrial bourgeoisie required a means of supporting the emerging capitalist economy. A number of major reports and Acts of Parliament offered blueprints for a competent and meritocratic modern civil service and the system of carefully managed municipalities. Reconstruction following the Second World War added a new layer to the modern state with the making of a inclusive welfare state, including the NHS, and the nationalization of a number of chief industries in the form of public corporations. From the 1980s an additional chapter was opened, as the post-war Keynesian beliefs were challenged in the rise of neo-liberalism under the government of Margaret Thatcher. The bureaucratic terrain was re-landscaped, part of a procedure distinguished as a ‘hollowing out’ of the state (Rhodes 1994; 1997). Even though talk of reform had long featured on the political program, the public bureaucracies had established a renowned capacity to resist change. However, this time the thoughts were backed by resolute political will. A significant intellectual dynamic came from interpretation based on rational individuality under the name of public choice theory (Niskanen 1973). This was usually suspicious of public bureaucracies, which were seen as principally self serving. Much of the practical reform in structure and management was stirred by the model of the private sector, where it was reasoned that the restraint of the profit motive secured greater efficiency, effectiveness as well as economy. The oratory spoke of ‘reinventing government’ (Osborne and Gaebler 1992); though to critics it emerged as abandoning government in an anti-statist crusade. A program of privatization cut sheathe through the state industrial sector while giving rise to a new generation of regulatory agencies. Much of the civil service was recast into a compound of agencies with a greater level of autonomy from the centre, and the collection of quangos began to grow as responsibilities for a variety of functions were transferred from the realm of elected local government. Indeed, processes of market testing as well as compulsory competitive tendering saw the stipulation of certain services passing from the state altogether and into the hands of the private sector. The arrival of a Labour Government in 1997 did little to stem the tide of change. Furthermore, this new government occasioned further seismic shifts through devolution to Scotland and Wales. Great Britain includes the nations of England, Wales and Scotland, while the United Kingdom extends the embrace to Northern Ireland. These cultural forms were recognized in an outline of administrative regionalism. For long this motivated little political feeling; only in Northern Ireland were separatist tensions felt. Nonetheless, during the 1980s, nationalist movements gathered speed in both Wales and Scotland; this sequentially generated some pressure towards English regionalism. Thus the state has been forced to concern itself with issues of territorial management and make some chief allowances to diversity (Thompson, 1997). Rooted in a history dating from the take-over of Ireland by the Tudors and re-conquest first by Cromwell and later by the Protestant William of Orange, Northern Ireland dwarfs all other territorial problems of UK Government. Coming to office in the year 1997, Tony Blair’s first official journey was to Ulster and Sinn Fein was invited into new peace talks. After indirect negotiations, which included some mediation from US President Bill Clinton, an agreement was reached which included: A Northern Ireland assembly of 108 elected by PR with legislative powers under an all-party executive A North-South Ministerial Council to reflect on issues for instance cross-border co-operation The Irish Government to give up constitutional claims to Northern Ireland and Westminster to reinstate the Government of Ireland Act A Council of the Isles comprising members from the north and south of Ireland and the Scottish and Welsh assemblies There were also to be releases of prisoners in addition to a decommissioning of arms. The agreement was effectively put to referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic in May 1998. Elections were held, but advancement began to slow down. Scotland and Wales In the UK mainland, Wales and Scotland had been governed as provinces from London, with Secretaries of State in the Cabinet and Grand Committees in Parliament. Public administration in the provinces came under Whitehall outposts, the Welsh and Scottish Offices. Nonetheless, from 1979 an extremely centralizing government heightened a mood of separatism, placing strains on the veracity of the state which were to go off in tectonic constitutional shifts in 1998. The configuration of the two new assemblies was intended to release a safety valve on the separatist pressure. On the other hand, opinion polls began to show rising support for the SNP and its objective of complete Scottish independence in the background of the EU. Comparable murmurings were heard in Wales, a country that had done very fine from its European involvement (Jones 1997). Labor’s central machine showed an enthusiastic concern to have its chosen men as the leaders of the provincial parties (and hence first ministers in the assemblies) representing a keen aspiration to keep the provinces under the Westminster wing. Nonetheless, when the elections by the additional member system (d’Hondt version) to the new assemblies were held on 6 May 1999, the Labour Party, with 28 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd, and 59 of Scotland’s 129-seat assembly, failed to win unconditional majorities in either province. A future of alliance government loomed. furthermore, with 17 seats in Wales and 35 in Scotland, the nationalists were second placed in both cases, possibly presaging further separatist pressure (Drewry, & Butcher, 1991). England Devolution debate reverberated into England with requirements for regional independence. A political split was opening as from the early 1980s voting patterns gradually more revealed the Conservatives as a party of the southeast. past the ballot box an economic split yawned as huge deindustrialization and the collapse of mining confounded communities in the north. The economic forecasting organization, the Henley Centre, found per capita income in the south-east to be 20 per cent higher than in the rest of Britain (Wagstyl 1996). A European Commission report of November 1996 established that, while post-war economic revival had closed the poverty gaps between Western Europe’s states, wide dissimilarities remained between regions, the greatest being within the UK.   The British public sector, with numerous of its customs cast in the nineteenth century, has for long been criticized as managerially incompetent. The post-war era saw repeated efforts at reform all through the public sector, though few made any lasting notion before the 1980s. Ever since this time there has been something of a revolution as what was phrased a ‘new public management’ movement became a familiar international influence (Hood 1991; Lowndes 1997). It was to send shivers to the very foundations of the state, reforming structures as well as practices. The nineteenth-century reforms recognized a custom of elitist generalism and social superiority in which Oxbridge graduates schooled in the classics were to lead the upper reaches of the state bureaucracy. This was to stimulate substantial post-war debate. The onset in office of a Labour Government in 1964 pledged revolution and the 1968 Fulton Committee set up by Harold Wilson criticized the ‘cult of the amateur’. It resulted in the formation of a Civil Service Department (CSD) in Whitehall to supervise managerial reforms all through the service, and the establishment of a Civil Service College to offer continuing operating training. One proposal which failed to stimulate was that entrants should hold relevant degrees: the place of the ‘generalist’ administrator remained unassailed. In the 1990s, Richards (1996) initiated the generalists’ promotion prospects still significantly brighter than those of the specialist. In the interim, the Civil Service College had fallen well short of the determined position envisaged for it and the CSD had been ignominiously wipe out from the bureaucratic map. Not until Thatcher took the bit between her teeth did a grave breakthrough come. In her first year of office an Efficiency Unit was set up headed by Sir Derek Rayner of the retail giant Marks & Spencer. He initiated a system of ‘scrutinies’ in which competence teams studied recognized practices and suggested reforms, an initiative which achieved more than anything before (Hennessy 1990:619). Even so, the reforms did not go far enough for those of a fundamental bent. An even greater culture shock was to come when Robin Ibbs took over the Efficiency Unit and produced the 1988 report, ‘Improving Management in Government: The Next Steps’. This was the report which led to the recasting of the Civil Service as executive agencies. Despite its structural impact the intent in this initiative was essentially managerial (Elcock 1991:236-42). Once established, the new chief executives were given a free rein to introduce a wide range of management practices such as performance-related pay and short-term contracts in the quest for efficiency. A special unit was created in the Cabinet Office to maintain the reforming impetus. The government also assisted developments by abolishing the Northcote-Trevelyan model of centralized recruitment through the independent Civil Service Commission for some 95 per cent of appointments. Responsibility was to lie with the various departments and agencies themselves. A Recruitment and Assessment Service was created to offer central assistance if required although, amidst heated controversy, this itself was privatized in 1991. The result was a variety of terms and conditions of employment throughout the service. There were limits to the revolution. Government radicals had wanted the reforms to reach the senior mandarins, subjecting them to short-term contracts, market-testing and large-scale appointments from the private sector on the ‘revolving-door’ principle. For most civil servants, anticipating a life insulated from the chill winds of the market economy, much of the managerial reform process was demoralizing. While academics in the right-wing think tanks applauded the changes, many other academic critics saw in the quest for efficiency serious threats to the fundamental public service ethos (Elcock 1991:188; Chapman and O’Toole 1995). There was some feeling that the reforms reflected governmental antagonism towards civil servants as much as a quest for improved management; the term ‘deprivileging’ was sometimes heard. The Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee noted that in 1992/3,  £768 million worth of activities out of the  £1.119 billion subjected to market testing were contracted out without civil servants even being allowed to make in-house bids. The traditional management structure in local government entailed separate departments responsible for the provision of various services, each headed by a chief officer and responsible to a particular council committee. A legion of post-war critics saw this as slow, cumbersome and diffuse. A major debate in the 1960s concerned a corporate management model in which a powerful chief executive would displace the traditional town clerk to give strong leadership at the centre. Councilors, faced with a palpable loss of power, proved resistant and traditional practices persisted, although often under the camouflage of some changed nomenclature. New impetus came with the Thatcher regime and was elaborated under John Major (Kingdom 1999). Looking as always to the private sector, much was made of the concept of the ‘enabling authority’; the emphasis was not on the direct provision services but on contracting them out to the private and voluntary sectors. Such a practice was by no means new but, from the late 1980s, it became central to government policy, with compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) introduced for an ever-widening range of functions, from refuse collection to professional, legal and accounting responsibilities. A policy of care in the community, coming into force in April 1993, added impetus by requiring local authorities to make use of private and voluntary-sector residential homes for their widening community care responsibilities. In opposition Labour had poured scorn on the policy; in government it maintained the contracting out principle under the term ‘Best Value’. The managerial implications in CCT were profound. Although local responses varied with political complexion, few authorities could remain untouched by the culture shift. Even where there was no stomach for contracting out, teams of officials had to endure considerable stress in producing competitive in-house bids in order to keep their jobs. Colleagues found themselves in competitive relationships with each other, some becoming contractors and others providers (Audit Commission 1993). Moreover, the drawing up and monitoring of contracts required the skills of lawyers and accountants rather than elected councilors. Major’s Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine produced a consultation document, The Internal Management of Local Authorities, stressing that the control and co-ordination of large workforces would no longer be the central management task. The paper looked for speedy decision-making and strong leadership, advocating local cabinets, appointed council managers or, most radically, directly elected US-style mayors with high public profiles. The latter had held little appeal to Heseltine’s party but, in a February 1998 consultation paper, Modernizing Local Government: Local Democracy and Community Leadership, the new Labour Government declared itself ‘very attracted’ to the model of a strong directly elected mayor (para 5.14). The promised Greater London Authority was seen as a suitable flagship for innovation. Here the mayor, served by three or four deputies and a small bureaucracy of around 250, would set policy objectives and an annual budget (of some  £3.3 billion). The role of the councilors in the assembly would be approving rather than determining the budget. Responsibilities of the new mayor would include public transport, the fire brigade, strategic planning, trunk roads, traffic management, the ambulance service and possibly the arts. In addition, responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Force would be taken over from the Home Secretary. The potential power of the new office would be considerable, and both main parties showed alarm as the names of some of their more maverick members were canvassed. For Labour leader Tony Blair, the nightmare candidate appeared to be the left-wing Ken Livingstone, ex-leader of the old GLC and extremely popular with Londoners. The nightmare became reality in May 2000. There was an expectation that this model would be extended to other major cities. All 494 councils were asked to submit plans to central government showing how they would separate the decision-making role from that of representing constituents. Three options were offered: †¢ a leader elected by the council who would appoint a cabinet from the council A directly elected executive mayor who would appoint a cabinet from the council A directly elected mayor working with a full-time manager appointed by the council Conclusion The general election of May 1997 saw the end of an 18-year period of Conservative rule during which the administrative landscape of the state had been radically recast. Few corners of the public sector could be said to have escaped some aspect of the winds of change which included privatization, agencification, CCT, market-testing, public-private partnership ventures, the emergence by stealth of the ‘new magistracy’ and the general spread of a private-sector managerial ethos. In opposition, the Labour Party had maintained a prolonged crusade against most of the reforms, and many supporters had looked forward to the advance of the political bulldozers to level the ground. In power the party kicked off with a number of significant constitutional moves over devolution, the electoral system, the ECHR, the House of Lords, the Bank of England and the reform of local government. However, the party in power termed itself New Labour and preservation orders appeared over the recently privatized sector; indeed further privatizations were soon mooted in the cases of the Royal Mint and Air Traffic Control, and the remodeled Civil Service and NHS. In local government grant-maintained schools remained under the term ‘foundation schools’, and the replacement of CCT with ‘Best Value’ was, in the eyes of critics, little more than cosmetic (Theakston, & Fry, 1998). Moreover, there remained something very much like a capping regime over local government expenditure. In managerial terms, the three Es of effectiveness, economy and efficiency continued as the holy trinity. As the millennium closed it was safe to say that, while the British public sector would remain in the state of flux allowed by its vague and unwritten constitution, the substructure had seen some tectonic shifts from which there would be little reversal.   Reference: Audit Commission (1993) Realising the Benefits of Competition: The Client Role forContracted Services, London: HMSO. Birkinshaw, P. (1997) ‘Freedom of information’, Parliamentary Affairs, 50, 1:164-81. Chapman, R.A. and Toole, B.J. (1995) ‘The role of the civil service: a traditional view in a period of change’, Public Policy and Administration, 10, 2:3-20. Elcock, H. (1991) Change and Decay: Public Administration in the 1990s, Harlow: Longman. Hennessy, P. (1990) Whitehall, London: Fontana.   Hood, C. (1991) ‘A public management for all seasons’, Public Administration, 69, 1: 3-19. Jones, B. (1997) ‘Wales: a developing political economy’, in M. Keating and J. Loughlin (eds), The Political Economy of Regionalism, London: Frank Cass. Kingdom, J. (1999) ‘Centralisation and fragmentation: John Major and the reform of Local Government’, in P. Dorey (ed.), The Major Premiership, Basingstoke: Macmillan, pp 45-7. Klug, F., Starmer, K. and Weir, S. (1996) ‘Civil liberties and the parliamentary watchdog: the passage of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994’, Parliamentary Affairs, 49, 4:536-49.   Lowndes, V. (1997) ‘Change in public service management: new institutions and new managerial regimes’, Local Government Studies, 23, 2:42-66.   Mandelson, P. and Liddle, R. (1996) The Blair Phenomenon: Can New Labour Deliver? London: Faber.    Nicholson, E. (1996) Secret Society, London: Indigo. Osborne, D. and Gaebler, T. (1992) Reinventing Government, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Rhodes, R.A.W. (1994) ‘The hollowing out of the state: the changing nature of the public service in Britain’, Political Quarterly, 65:138-51. Rhodes, R.A.W. (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance,Reflexivity and Accountability, Buckingham: Open University Press.   Richards, D. (1996) ‘Recruitment to the highest grades in the civil service-drawing the curtains Open’, Public Administration, 74, 4:657-77. Wagstyl, S. (1996) ‘Nice work if you can get it’, The. Financial Times, 18 December, 23. Theakston, K. and Fry, G.K. (1998) ‘Britain’s administrative elite: permanent secretaries 1900-1986’, Public Administration, 67, 2:129-48.   Ã‚   Thompson, B. (1997) ‘Conclusion: judges as trouble-shooters’, Parliamentary Affairs, 50, 1:182-9.   Drewry, G. and Butcher, T. (1991) The Civil Service Today (2nd edn), Oxford: Blackwell.

Foundation’s Edge CHAPTER EIGHTEEN COLLISION

COLLISION Stor Gendibal was edging toward Gaia almost as cautiously as Trevize had – and now that its star was a perceptible disc and could be viewed only through strong filters, he paused to consider. Sura Novi sat to one side, looking up at him now and then in a timorous manner. She said softly, â€Å"Master?† â€Å"What is it, Novi?† he asked abstractedly. â€Å"Are you unhappy?† He looked up at her quickly. â€Å"No. Concerned. Remember that word? I am trying to decide whether to move in quickly or to wait longer. Shall I be very brave, Novi?† â€Å"I think you are very brave all times, Master.† â€Å"To be very brave is sometimes to be foolish.† Novi smiled. â€Å"How can a master scholar be foolish? – That is a sun, is it not, Master?† She pointed to the screen. Gendibal nodded. Novi said, after an irresolute pause, â€Å"Is it the sun that shines on Trantor? Is it the Hamish sun?† Gendibal said, â€Å"No, Novi. It is a far different sun. There are many suns, billions of them.† â€Å"Ah! I had known this with my head. I could not make myself believe, however. How is it, Master, that one can know with the head – and yet not believe?† Gendibal smiled faintly, â€Å"In your head, Novi†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he began and, automatically, as he said that, he found himself in her head. He stroked it gently, as he always did, when he found himself there just a soothing touch of mental tendrils to keep her calm and untroubled – and he would then have left again, as he always did, had not something drawn him back. What he sensed was indescribable in any but mentalic terms but, metaphorically, Novi's brain glowed. It was the faintest possible glow. It would not be there except for the existence of a mentalic field imposed from without – a mentalic field of an intensity so small that the finest receiving function of Gendibal's own well-trained mind could just barely detect it, even against the utter smoothness of Novi's mentalic structure. He said sharply, â€Å"Novi, how do you feel?† Her eyes opened wide. â€Å"I feel well, Master.† â€Å"Are you dizzy, confused? Close your eyes and sit absolutely still until I say, ‘Now.† Obediently she closed her eyes. Carefully Gendibal brushed away all extraneous sensations from her mind, quieted her thought, soothed her emotions, stroked – stroked. He left nothing but the glow and it was so faint that he could almost persuade himself it was not there. â€Å"Now,† he said and Novi opened her eyes. â€Å"How do you feel, Novi?† â€Å"Very calm, Master. Rested.† It was clearly too feeble for it to have any noticeable effect on her. He turned to the computer and wrestled with it. He had to admit to himself that he and the computer did not mesh very well together. Perhaps it was because he was too used to using his mind directly to be able to work through an intermediary. But he was looking for a ship, not a mind, and the initial search could be done more efficiently with the help of the computer. And he found the sort of ship he suspected might be present. It was half a million kilometers away and it was much like his own in design, but it was much larger and more elaborate. Once it was located with the computer's help, Gendibal could allow his mind to take over directly. He sent it outward – tightbeamed – and with it felt (or the mentalic equivalent of â€Å"felt†) the ship, inside and out. He then sent his mind toward the planet Gaia, approaching it more closely by several millions of kilometers of space – and withdrew. Neither process was sufficient in itself to tell him, unmistakably, which – if either – was the source of the field. He said, â€Å"Novi, I would like you to sit next to me for what is to follow.† â€Å"Master, is there danger?† â€Å"You are not to be in any way concerned, Novi. I will see to it that you are safe and secure.† â€Å"Master, I am not concerned that I be safe and secure. If there is danger, I want to be able to help you.† Gendibal softened. He said, â€Å"Novi, you have already helped. Because of you, I became aware of a very small thing it was important to be aware of. Without you, I might have blundered rather deeply into a bog and might have had to pull out only through a great deal of trouble.† â€Å"Have I done this with my mind, Master, as you once explained?† asked Novi, astonished. â€Å"Quite so, Novi. No instrument could have been more sensitive. My own mind is not; it is too full of complexity.† Delight filled Novi's face. â€Å"I am so grateful I can help.† Gendibal smiled and nodded – and then subsided into the somber knowledge that he would need other help as well. Something childish within him objected. The job was his – his alone. Yet it could not be his alone. The odds were climbing – On Trantor, Quindor Shandess felt the responsibility of First Speakerhood resting upon him with a suffocating weight. Since Gendibal's ship had vanished into the darkness beyond the atmosphere, he had called no meetings of the Table. He had been lost in his own thoughts. Had it been wise to allow Gendibal to go off on his Own? Gendibal was brilliant, but not so brilliant that it left no room for overconfidence. Gendibal's great fault was arrogance, as Shandess's own great fault (he thought bitterly) was the weariness of age. Over and over again, it occurred to him that the precedent of Preem Palver, flitting over the Galaxy to set things right, was a dangerous one. Could anyone else be a Preem Palver? Even Gendibal? And Palver had had his wife with him. To be sure, Gendibal had this Hamishwoman, but she was of no consequence. Palver's wife had been a Speaker in her own right. Shandess felt himself aging from day to day as he waited for word from Gendibal – and with each day that word did not come, he felt an increasing tension. It should have been a fleet of ships, a flotilla. No. The Table would not have allowed it. And yet. When the call finally came, he was asleep – an exhausted sleep that was bringing him no relief. The night had been windy and he had had trouble falling asleep to begin with. Like a child, he had imagined voices in the wind. His last thoughts before falling into an exhausted slumber had been a wistful building of the fancy of resignation, a wish be could do so together with the knowledge he could not, for at this moment Delarmi would succeed him. And then the call came and he sat up in bed, instantly awake. â€Å"You are well?† he said. â€Å"Perfectly well, First Speaker,† said Gendibal. â€Å"Should we have visual connection for more condensed communication?† â€Å"Later, perhaps,† said Shandess. â€Å"First, what is the situation?† Gendibal spoke carefully, for he sensed the other's recent arousal and he perceived a deep weariness. He said, â€Å"I am in the neighborhood of an inhabited planet called Gaia, whose existence is not hinted at in any of the Galactic records, as far as I know.† â€Å"The world of those who have been working to perfect the Plan? The Anti-Mules?† â€Å"Possibly, First Speaker. There is the reason to think so. First, the ship bearing Trevize and Pelorat has moved far in toward Gaia and has probably landed there. Second, there is, in space, about half a million kilometers from me, a First Foundation warship.† â€Å"There cannot be this much interest for no reason.† â€Å"First Speaker, this may not be independent interest. I am here only because I am following Trevize – and the warship may be here for the same reason. It remains only to be asked why Trevize is here.† â€Å"Do you plan to follow him in toward the planet, Speaker?† â€Å"I had considered that a possibility, but something has come up. I am now a hundred million kilometers from Gaia and I sense in the space about me a mentalic field – a homogeneous one that is excessively faint. I would not have been aware of it at all, but for the focusing effect of the mind of the Hainishwoman. It is an unusual mind; I agreed to take her with me for that very purpose.† â€Å"You were right, then, in supposing it would be so. Did Speaker Delarmi know this, do you think?† â€Å"When she urged me to take the woman? I scarcely think so – but I gladly took advantage of it, First Speaker.† â€Å"I am pleased that you did. Is it your opinion, Speaker Gendibal, that the planet is the focus of the field?† â€Å"To ascertain that, I would have to take measurements at widely spaced points in order to see if there is a general spherical symmetry to the field. My unidirectional mental probe made this seem likely but not certain. Yet it would not be wise to investigate further in the presence of the First Foundation warship.† â€Å"Surely it is no threat.† â€Å"It may be. I cannot as yet be sure that it is not itself the focus of the field, First Speaker.† â€Å"But they†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"First Speaker, with respect, allow me to interrupt. We do not know what technological advances the First Foundation has made. They are acting with a strange self-confidence and may have unpleasant surprises for us. It must be decided whether they have learned to handle mentalics by means of some of their devices. In short, First Speaker, I am facing either a warship of mentalics or a planet of them. â€Å"If it is the warship, then the mentalics may be far too weak to immobilize me, but they might be enough to slow me – and the purely physical weapons on the warship may then suffice to destroy me. On the other hand, if it is the planet that is the focus, then to have the field detectable at such a distance could mean enormous intensity at the surface – more than even I can handle. â€Å"In either case, it will be necessary to set up a network – a total network – in which, at need, the full resources of Trantor can be placed at my disposal.† The First Speaker hesitated. â€Å"A total network. This has never been used, never even suggested – except in the time of the Mule.† â€Å"This crisis may well be even greater than that of the Mule, First Speaker.† â€Å"I do not know that the Table would agree.† â€Å"I do not think you should ask them to agree, First Speaker. You should invoke a state of emergency.† â€Å"What excuse can I give?† â€Å"Tell them what I have told you, First Speaker.† â€Å"Speaker Delarmi will say that you are an incompetent coward, driven to madness by your own fears.† Gendibal paused before answering. Then he said, â€Å"I imagine she will say something like that, First Speaker, but let her say whatever she likes and I will survive it. What is at stake now is not my pride or self-love but the actual existence of the Second Foundation.† Harla Branno smiled grimly, her lined face setting more deeply into its fleshy crags. She said, â€Å"I think we can push on with it. I'm ready for them.† Kodell said, â€Å"Do you still feel sure you know what you're doing?† â€Å"If I were as mad as you pretend you think I am, Liono, would you have insisted on remaining on this ship with me?† Kodell shrugged and said, â€Å"Probably. I would then be here on the off chance, Madam Mayor, that I might stop you, divert you, at least slow you, before you went too far. And, of course, if you're not mad†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yes?† – â€Å"Why, then I wouldn't want to have the histories of the future give you all the mention. Let them state that I was here with you and wonder, perhaps, to whom the credit really belongs, eh, Mayor?† â€Å"Clever, Liono, clever – but quite futile. I was the power behind the throne through too many Mayoralties for anyone to believe I would permit such a phenomenon in my own administration.† â€Å"We shall see.† â€Å"No, we won't, for such historical judgments will come after we are dead. However, I have no fears. Not about my place in history and not about that,† and she pointed to the screen. â€Å"Compor's ship,† said Kodell. â€Å"Compor's ship, true,† said Branno, â€Å"but without Compor aboard. One of our scoutships observed the changeover. Compor's ship was stopped by another. Two people from the other ship boarded that one and Compor later moved off and entered the other.† Branno rubbed her hands. â€Å"Trevize fulfilled his role perfectly. I cast him out into space in order that he might serve as lightning rod and so he did. He drew the lightning. The ship that stopped Compor was Second Foundation.† â€Å"How can you be sure of that, I wonder?† said Kodell, taking out his pipe and slowly beginning to pack it with tobacco. â€Å"Because I always wondered if Compor might not be under Second Foundation control. His life was too smooth. Things always broke right for him – and he was such an expert at hyperspatial tracking. His betrayal of Trevize might easily have been the simple politics of an ambitious man – but he did it with such unnecessary thoroughness, as though there were more than personal ambition to it.† â€Å"All guesswork, Mayor.† â€Å"The guesswork stopped when he followed Trevize through multiple Jumps as easily as if there had been but one.† â€Å"He had the computer to help, Mayor.† But Branno leaned her head back and laughed. â€Å"My dear Liono, you are so busy devising intricate plots that you forget the efficacy of simple procedures. I sent Compor to follow Trevize, not because I needed to have Trevize followed. What need was there for that? Trevize, however much he might want to keep his movements secret, could not help but call attention to himself in any non-Foundation world he visited. His advanced Foundation vessel – his strong Terminus accent – his Foundation credits – would automatically surround him with a glow of notoriety. And in case of any emergency, he would automatically turn to Foundation officials for help, as he did on Sayshell, where we knew all that he did as soon as he did it and quite independently of Compor. â€Å"No,† she went on thoughtfully, â€Å"Compor was sent out to test Compor. And that succeeded, for we gave him a defective computer quite deliberately; not one that was defective enough to make the ship unmaneuverable, but certainly one that was insufficiently agile to aid him in following a multiple Jump. Yet Compor managed that without trouble.† â€Å"I see there's a great deal you don't tell me, Mayor, until you decide you ought to.† â€Å"I only keep those matters from you, Liono, that it will not hurt you not to know. I admire you and I use you, but there are sharp limits to my trust, as there is in yours for me – and please don't bother to deny it.† â€Å"I won't,† said Kodell dryly, â€Å"and someday, Mayor, I will take the liberty of reminding you of that. – Meanwhile, is there anything else that I ought to know now? What is the nature of the ship that stopped them? Surely, if Compor is Second Foundation, so was that ship.† â€Å"It is always a pleasure to speak to you, Liono. You see things quickly. The Second Foundation, you see, doesn't bother to hide its tracks. It has defenses that it relies on to make those tracks invisible, even when they are not. It would never occur to a Second Foundationer to use a ship of alien manufacture, even if they knew how neatly we could identify the origin of a ship from the pattern of its energy use. They could always remove that knowledge from any mind that had gained it, so why bother taking the trouble to hide? Well, our scout ship was able to determine the origin of the ship that approached Compor within minutes of sighting it.† â€Å"And now the Second Foundation will wipe that knowledge from our minds, I suppose.† â€Å"If they can,† said Branno, â€Å"but they may find that things have changed.† Kodell said, â€Å"Earlier you said you knew where the Second Foundation was. You would take care of Gaia first, then Trantor. I deduce from this that the other ship was of Trantorian origin.† â€Å"You suppose correctly. Are you surprised?† Kodell shook his head slowly. â€Å"Not in hindsight. Ebling Mis, Toran Darell and Bayta Darell were all on Trantor during the period when the Mule was stopped. Arkady Darell, Bayta's granddaughter, was born on Trantor and was on Trantor again when the Second Foundation was itself supposedly stopped. In her account of events, there is a Preem Palver who played a key role, appearing at convenient times, and he was a Trantorian trader. I should think it was obvious that the Second Foundation was on Trantor, where, incidentally, Hari Seldon himself lived at the time he founded both Foundations.† â€Å"Quite obvious, except that no one ever suggested the possibility. The Second Foundation saw to that. It is what I meant when I said they didn't have to cover their tracks, when they could so easily arrange to have no one look in the direction of those tracks – or wipe out the memory of those tracks after they had been seen.† Kodell said, â€Å"In that case, let us not look too quickly in the direction in which they may simply be wanting us to look. How is it, do you suppose, that Trevize was able to decide the Second Foundation existed? Why didn't the Second Foundation stop him?† Branno held up her gnarled fingers and counted on them. â€Å"First, Trevize is a very unusual man who, for all his obstreperous inability to use caution, has something about him that I have not been able to penetrate. He may be a special case. Second, the Second Foundation was not entirely ignorant. Compor was on Trevize's tail at once and reported him to me. I was relied on to stop Trevize without the Second Foundation having to risk open involvement. Third, when I didn't quite react as expected – no execution, no imprisonment, no memory erasure, no Psychic Probe of his brain – when I merely sent him out into space, the Second Foundation went further. They made the direct move of sending one of their own ships after him.† And she added with tight-lipped pleasure, â€Å"Oh, excellent lightning rod.† Kodell said, â€Å"And our next move?† â€Å"We are going to challenge that Second Foundationer we now face. In fact, we're moving toward him rather sedately right now.† Gendibal and Novi sat together, side by side, watching the screen. Novi was frightened. To Gendibal, that was quite apparent, as was the fact that she was desperately trying to fight off that fright. Nor could Gendibal do anything to help her in her struggle, for he did not think it wise to touch her mind at this moment, lest he obscure the response she displayed to the feeble mentalic field that surrounded them. The Foundation warship was approaching slowly – but deliberately. It was a large warship, with a crew of perhaps as many as six, judging from past experience with Foundation ships. Her weapons, Gendibal was certain, would be sufficient in themselves to hold off and, if necessary, wipe out a fleet made up of every ship available to the Second Foundation – if those ships had to rely on physical force alone. As it was, the advance of the warship, even against a single ship manned by a Second Foundationer, allowed certain conclusions to be drawn. Even if the ship possessed mentalic ability, it would not be likely to advance into the teeth of the Second Foundation in this manner. More likely, it was advancing out of ignorance – and this might exist in any of several degrees. It could mean that the captain of the warship was not aware that Compor had been replaced, or – if aware – did not know the replacement was a Second Foundationer, or perhaps was not even aware what a Second Foundationer might be. Or (and Gendibal intended to consider everything) what if the ship did possess mentalic force and, nevertheless, advanced in this self-confident manner? That could only mean it was under the control of a megalomaniac or that it possessed powers far beyond any that Gendibal could bring himself to consider possible. But what he considered possible was not the final judgment. Carefully he sensed Novi's mind. Novi could not sense mentalic fields consciously, whereas Gendibal, of course, could – yet Gendibal's mind could not do so as delicately or detect as feeble a mental field as could Novi's. This was a paradox that would have to be studied in future and might produce fruit that would in the long run prove of far greater importance than the immediate problem of an approaching spaceship. Gendibal had grasped the possibility of this, intuitively, when he first became aware of the unusual smoothness and symmetry of Novi's mind – and he felt a somber pride in this intuitive ability he possessed. Speakers had always been proud of their intuitive powers, but how much was this the product of their inability to measure fields by straightforward physical methods and their failure, therefore, to understand what it was that they really did? It was easy to cover up ignorance by the mystical word â€Å"intuition.† And how much of this ignorance of theirs might arise from their underestimation of the importance of physics as compared to mentalics? And how much of that was blind pride? When he became First Speaker, Gendibal thought, this would change. There would have to be some narrowing of the physical gap between the Foundations. The Second Foundation could not face forever the possibility of destruction any time the mentalic monopoly slipped even slightly. – Indeed, the monopoly might be slipping now. Perhaps the First Foundation had advanced or there was an alliance between the First Foundation and the Anti-Mules. (That thought occurred to him now for the first time and he shivered.) His thoughts on the subject slipped through his mind with a rapidity common to a Speaker – and while he was thinking, he also remained sensitively aware of the glow in Novi's mind, the response to the gently pervasive mentalic field about them. It was not growing stronger as the Foundation warship drew nearer. This was not, in itself, an absolute indication that the warship was not equipped with mentalics. It was well known that the mentalic field did not obey the inverse-square law. It did not grow stronger precisely as the square of the extent to which distance between emitter and receiver lessened. It differed in this way from the electromagnetic and the gravitational fields. Still, although mentalic fields varied less with distance than the various physical fields did, it was not altogether insensitive to distance, either. The response of Novi's mind should show a detectable increase as the warship approached – some increase. (How was it that no Second Foundationer in five centuries – from Hari Seldon on – had ever thought of working out a mathematical relationship between mentalic intensity and distance? This shrugging off of physics must and would stop, Gendibal silently vowed.) If the warship possessed mentalics and if it felt quite certain it was approaching a Second Foundationer, would it not increase the intensity of its field to maximum before advancing? And in that case, would not Novi's mind surely register an increased response of some kind? – Yet it did not! Confidently Gendibal eliminated the possibility that the warship possessed mentalics. It was advancing out of ignorance and, as a menace, it could be downgraded. The mentalic field, of course, still existed, but it had to originate on Gaia. This was disturbing enough, but the immediate problem was the ship. Let that be eliminated and he could then turn his attention to the world of the Anti-Mules. He waited. The warship would make some move or it would come close enough for him to feel confident that he could pass over to an effective offense. The warship still approached – quite rapidly now – and still did nothing. Finally Gendibal calculated that the strength of his push would be sufficient. There would be no pain, scarcely any discomfort – all those on board would merely find that the large muscles of their backs and limbs would respond but sluggishly to their desires. Gendibal narrowed the mentalic field controlled by his mind. It intensified and leaped across the gap between the ships at the speed of light. (The two ships were close enough to make hyperspatial contact – with its inevitable loss of precision – unnecessary.) And Gendibal then fell back in numbed surprise. The Foundation warship was possessed of an efficient mentalic shield that gained in density in proportion as his own field gained in intensity. – The warship was not approaching out of ignorance after all – and it had an unexpected if passive weapon. â€Å"Ah,† said Branno. â€Å"He has attempted an attack, Liono. See!† The needle on the psychometer moved and trembled in its irregular rise. The development of the mentalic shield had occupied Foundation scientists for a hundred and twenty years in the most secret of all scientific projects, except perhaps for Hari Seldon's lone development of psychohistorical analysis. Five generations of human beings had labored in the gradual improvement of a device backed by no satisfactory theory. But no advance would have been possible without the invention of the psychometer that could act as a guide, indicating the direction and amount of advance at every stage. No one could explain how it worked, yet all indications were that it measured the immeasurable and gave numbers to the indescribable. Branno had the feeling (shared by some of the scientists themselves) that if ever the Foundation could explain the workings of the psychometer, they would be the equal of the Second Foundation in mind control. But that was for the future. At present, the shield would have to be enough, backed as it was by an overwhelming preponderance in physical weapons. Branno sent out the message, delivered in a male voice from which all overtones of emotion had been removed, till it was flat and deadly. â€Å"Calling the ship Bright Star and its occupants. You have forcibly taken a ship of the Navy of the Foundation Federation in an act of piracy. You are directed to surrender the ship and yourselves at once or face attack.† The answer came in natural voice: â€Å"Mayor Branno of Terminus, I know you are on the ship. The Bright Star was not taken by piratical action. I was freely invited on board by its legal captain, Munn Li Compor of Terminus. I ask a period of truce that we may discuss matters of importance to each of us alike.† Kodell whispered to Branno, â€Å"Let me do the speaking, Mayor.† She raised her arm contemptuously, â€Å"The responsibility is mine, Liono.† Adjusting the transmitter, she spoke in tones scarcely less forceful and unemotional than the artificial voice that had spoken before: â€Å"Man of the Second Foundation, understand your position. If you do not surrender forthwith, we can blow your ship out of space in the time it takes light to travel from our ship to yours – and we are ready to do that. Nor will we lose by doing this, for you have no knowledge for which we need keep you alive. We know you are from Trantor and, once we have dealt with you, we will be ready to deal with Trantor. We are willing to allow you a period in which to have your say, but since you cannot have much of worth to tell us, we are not prepared to listen long.† â€Å"In that case,† said Gendibal, â€Å"let me speak quickly and to the point. Your shield is not perfect and cannot be. You have overestimated it and underestimated me. I can handle your mind and control it. Not as easily, perhaps, as if there were no shield, but easily enough. The instant you attempt to use any weapon, I will strike you – and there is this for you to understand: Without a shield, I can handle your mind smoothly and do it no harm. With the shield, however, I must smash through, which I can do, and I will be unable then to handle you either smoothly or deftly. Your mind will be as smashed as the shield and the effect will be irreversible. In other words, you cannot stop me and I, on the other hand, can stop you by being forced to do worse than killing you. I will leave you a mindless hulk. Do you wish to risk that?† Branno said, â€Å"You know you cannot do as you say.† â€Å"Do you, then, wish to risk the consequences I have described?† asked Gendibal with an air of cool indifference. Kodell leaned over and whispered, â€Å"For Seldon's sake, Mayor†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Gendibal said (not exactly at once, for it took light – and everything at light-speed – a little over one second to travel from one vessel to the other), â€Å"I follow your thoughts, Kodell. No need to whisper. I also follow the Mayor's thoughts. She is irresolute, so you have no need to panic just yet. And the mere fact that I know this is ample evidence that your shield leaks.† â€Å"It can be strengthened,† said the Mayor defiantly. â€Å"So can my mentalic force,† said Gendibal. â€Å"But I sit here at my ease, consuming merely physical energy to maintain the shield, and I have enough to maintain that shield for very long periods of time. You must use mentalic energy to penetrate the shield and you will tire.† â€Å"I am not tired,† said Gendibal. â€Å"At the present moment, neither of you is capable of giving any order to any member of the crew of your ship or to any crewman on any other ship. I can manage so much without any harm to you, but do not make any unusual effort to escape this control, for if I match that by increasing my own force, as I will have to do, you will be damaged as I have said.† â€Å"I will wait,† said Branno, placing her hands in her lap with every sign of solid patience. â€Å"You will tire and when you do, the orders that will go out will not be to destroy you, for you will then be harmless. The orders will be to send the main Foundation Fleet against Trantor. If you wish to save your world – surrender. A second orgy of destruction will not leave your organization untouched, as the first one did at the time of the Great Sack.† â€Å"Don't you see that if I feel myself tiring, Mayor, which I won't, I can save my world very simply by destroying you before my strength to do so is gone?† â€Å"You won't do that. Your main task is to maintain the Seldon Plan. To destroy the Mayor of Terminus and thus to strike a blow at the prestige and confidence of the First Foundation, producing a staggering setback to its power and encouraging its enemies everywhere, will produce such a disruption to the Plan that it will be almost as bad for you as the destruction of Trantor. You might as well surrender.† â€Å"Are you willing to gamble on my reluctance to destroy you?† Branno's chest heaved as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She then said firmly, â€Å"Yes!† Kodell, sitting at her side, paled. Gendibal stared at the figure of Branno, superimposed upon the volume of room just in front of the wall. It was a little flickery and hazy thanks to the interference of the shield. The man next to her was almost featureless with haze, for Gendibal had no energy to waste on him. He had to concentrate on the Mayor. To be sure, she had no image of him in return. She had no way of knowing that he too had a companion, for instance. She could make no judgment from his expressions, from his body language. In this respect, she was at a disadvantage. Everything he had said was true. He could smash her at the cost of an enormous expenditure of mentalic force – and in so doing, he could scarcely avoid disrupting her mind irreparably. Yet everything she had said was true as well. Destroying her would damage the Plan as much as the Mule himself had damaged it. Indeed, the new damage might be more serious, since it was now later in the game and there would be less time to retrieve the misstep. Worse still, there was Gaia, which was still an unknown quantity – with its mentalic field remaining at the faint and tantalizing edge of detection. For a moment, he touched Novi's mind to make sure that the flow was still there. It was, and it was unchanged. She could not have sensed that touch in any way, but she turned to him and in an awed whisper said, â€Å"Master, there is a faint mist there. Is it to that you talk?† She must have sensed the mist through the small connection between their two minds. Gendibal put a finger to his lips. â€Å"Have no fear, Novi. Close your eyes and rest.† He raised his voice. â€Å"Mayor Branno, your gamble is a good one in this respect. I do not wish to destroy you at once, since I think that if I explain something to you, you will listen to reason and there will then be no need to destroy in either direction. â€Å"Suppose, Mayor, that you win out and that I surrender. What follows? In an orgy of self-confidence and in undue reliance on your mentalic shield, you and your successors will attempt to spread your power over the Galaxy with undue haste. In doing so, you will actually postpone the establishment of the Second Empire, because you will also destroy the Seldon Plan.† Branno said, â€Å"I am not surprised that you do not wish to destroy me at once and I think that, as you sit there, you will be forced to realize that you do not dare to destroy me at all.† Gendibal said, â€Å"Do not deceive yourself with self-congratulatory folly. Listen to me. The majority of the Galaxy is still non-Foundation and, to a great extent, anti-Foundation. There are even portions of the Foundation Federation itself that have not forgotten their days of independence. If the Foundation moves too quickly in the wake of my surrender, it will deprive the rest of the Galaxy of its greatest weakness – its disunity and indecision. You will force them to unite by fear and you will feed the tendency toward rebellion within.† â€Å"You are threatening with clubs of straw,† said Branno. â€Å"We have the power to win easily against all enemies, even if every world in the non-Foundation Galaxy combined against us, and even if these were helped by a rebellion in half the worlds of the Federation itself. There would be no problem.† â€Å"No immediate problem, Mayor. Do not make the mistake of seeing only the results that appear at once. You can establish a Second Empire merely by proclaiming it, but you will not be able to maintain it. You will have to reconquer it every ten years.† â€Å"Then we will do so until the worlds tire, as you are tiring.† â€Å"They will not tire, any more than I will. Nor will the process continue for a very long time, for there is a second and greater danger to the Pseudo-Empire you would proclaim. Since it can be temporarily maintained only by an ever-stronger military force which will be ever-exercised, the generals of the Foundation will, for the first time, become more important and more powerful than the civilian authorities. The Pseudo-Empire will break up into military regions within which individual commanders will be supreme. There will be anarchy – and a slide back into a barbarism that may last longer than the thirty thousand years forecast by Seldon before the Seldon Plan was implemented.† â€Å"Childish threats. Even if the mathematics of the Seldon Plan predicted all this, it predicts only probabilities – not inevitabilities.† â€Å"Mayor Branno,† said Gendibal earnestly. â€Å"Forget the Seldon Plan. You do not understand its mathematics and you cannot visualize its pattern. But you do not have to, perhaps. You are a tested politician; and a successful one, to judge from the post you hold; even more so, a courageous one, to judge from the gamble you are now taking. Therefore, use your political acumen. Consider the political and military history of humanity and consider it in the light of what you know of human nature – of the manner in which people, politicians, and military officers act, react, and interact – and see if I'm not right.† Branno said, â€Å"Even if you were right, Second Foundationer, it is a risk we must take. With proper leadership and with continuing technological advance – in mentalics, as well as in physics – we can overcome. Hari Seldon never calculated such advances properly. He couldn't. Where in the Plan does it allow for the development of a mentalic shield by the First Foundation? Why should we want the Plan, in any case? We will risk founding a new Empire without it. Failure without it would, after all, be better than success with it. We do not want an Empire in which we play puppets to the hidden manipulators of the Second Foundation.† â€Å"You say that only because you do not understand what failure will be like for the people of the Galaxy.† â€Å"Perhaps!† said Branno stonily. â€Å"Are you beginning to weary, Second Foundationer?† â€Å"Not at all. – Let me propose an alternative action that you have not considered – one in which I need not surrender to you, nor you to me. – We are in the vicinity of a planet called Gaia.† â€Å"I am aware of that.† â€Å"Are you aware that it was probably the birthplace of the Mule?† â€Å"I would want more evidence than resides in your mere statement to that effect.† â€Å"The planet is surrounded by a mentalic field. It is the home of many Mules. If you accomplish your dream of destroying the Second Foundation, you will make yourselves the slaves of this planet of Mules. What harm have Second Foundationers ever done you specific, rather than imagined or theorized harm? Now ask yourself what harm a single Mule has done you.† â€Å"I still have nothing more than your statements.† â€Å"As long as we remain here, I can give you nothing more. – I propose a truce, therefore. Keep your shield up, if you don't trust me, but be prepared to co-operate with me. Let us, together, approach this planet – and when you are convinced that it is dangerous, then I will nullify its mentalic field and you will order your ships to take possession of it.† â€Å"And then?† â€Å"And then, at least, it will be the First Foundation against the Second Foundation, with no outside forces to be considered. The fight will then be clear whereas now, you see, we dare not fight, for both Foundations are at bay.† â€Å"Why did you not say this before?† â€Å"I thought I might convince you that we were not enemies, so that we might co-operate. Since I have apparently failed at that, I suggest co-operation in any case.† Branno paused, her head bent in thought. Then she said, â€Å"You are trying to put me to sleep with lullabies. How will you, by yourself, nullify the mentalic field of a whole planet of Mules? The thought is so ludicrous that I cannot trust in the truth of your proposition.† â€Å"I am not alone,† said Gendibal. â€Å"Behind me is the full force of the Second Foundation – and that force, channeled through me, will take care of Gaia. ‘What's more, it can, at any time, brush aside your shield as though it were thin fog.† â€Å"If so, why do you need my help?† â€Å"First, because nullifying the field is not enough. The Second Foundation cannot devote itself, now and forever, to the eternal task of nullifying, any more than I can spend the rest of my life dancing this conversational minuet with you. We need the physical action your ships can supply. – And besides, if I cannot convince you by reason that the two Foundations should look upon each other as allies, perhaps a co-operative venture of the greatest importance can be convincing. Deeds may do the job where words fail.† A second silence and then Branno said, â€Å"I am willing to approach Gaia more closely, if we can approach co-operatively. I make no promises beyond that.† â€Å"That will be enough,† said Gendibal, leaning toward his computer. Novi said, â€Å"No, Master, up to this point, it didn't matter, but please make no further move. We must wait for Councilman Trevize of Terminus.†