Define and discuss sustainable development by focusing on a global Essay

Define and discuss sustainable development by focusing on a global issue - Essay Example Global warming is an issue that has to be looked into urgently in order to curb these effects before they even get worse than they are now. And in dealing with these issues, so many things have to be put into consideration. Will the measures taken be able to sustain this problem over the years to come and will the generations to come be able to put up with these measures? Without a doubt, it is evident that there exist symbiotic relationship and dependency between society (human beings) and natural resources. This relationship is what we refer to as â€Å"social metabolism† (Ghosh & Goswami, 2014, pg. 67). In any given society, natural recourses are what keep the economy moving. They are the backbone of any economy in society. Human beings depend on forests in so many ways. Forests are the sole source of wood used in construction of houses, commercial buildings; office and house hold furniture and so on. Literally in any building or place one walks into, rarely will one miss a â€Å"wood† aspect around them. Forests too are a good source of charcoal and firewood used at homes. Rural societies and some urbanites depend on forest for medicinal purposes since it is in these forests that you will find herbs and wild vegetation that contain medicinal value for curing various human and animal diseases. Forests are a good water catchment area and source of some rivers. Rivers, lakes and other water bodies provide human beings with water. â€Å"Water is life† no living thing in the world can survive without water. Water from rivers is used in irrigation and in other domestic uses by human beings. Water bodies are a source of habitat for creatures that benefit society in one way or the other (Ghosh & Goswami, 2014, pg. 68). Fish is a good source of healthy food for humans. Other than being used for home purpose, most societies living around fresh water bodies have built their economy through the sale of fish, both locally and to other

The issue of ecology Essay Example for Free

The issue of ecology Essay The issue of ecology as a transnational issue has become highlighted with the intensification of world trade. As such, it becomes a global responsibility and a consideration in developing trade policies. As the primary governing body of international trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been one of the pioneers in equating environmental responsibility with trade (Deal, 2002). At the same time there, has been regional efforts to standardize environmental laws to mitigate the impact of development in shared environs as illustrated by the efforts of the European Union (EU), North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Sampson, 1998). One of the efforts made by the WTO is the development of the Kyoto Protocol which is aiming to mitigate environmental issue particularly global warming by establishing a trade system for emissions. However, there has been a difficulty in the implementation of the regulation because of varying views on the policies as well as difficulty in monitoring emissions. At the same time, there have been some issues regarding the institution of multilateral agreements that are contradicting or undermining the Kyoto Protocol or the status of most favored nations (MFN) (Brewer, 2004). Focus For WTO members, the use of energy tax adjustments could have significant implications. The issue raises difficult environmental, trade policy issues, economic issues. It also raise the internalization of environmental costs and the â€Å"polluter pays† principle, the effects on trade competitiveness and relationship between the multilateral environmental agreements and WTO agreements. The main issue that whether Article III: 2 first provisions of the 1994 GATT or the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade ponders the use of border tax adjustment (BTA) on â€Å"final† products for taxes on the manufacture of inputs. Albeit the decision in Superfund case, discussed in the latter of this section, the question will turn on a proper analysis of the taxes â€Å"applied, directly or indirectly, to â€Å"the like products to be compared, as opposed to the overall â€Å"fiscal burden† on producers from taxes on inputs. The Kyoto Protocol and the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade In December 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention was adopted. Under Kyoto Protocol, only Annex 1 countries are subject to legally binding emissions reduction commitments for the commitment period 2008-2012 in post-2000 scenario. Annex 1 parties or developed countries have to meet individual emission reduction targets listed in Annex B of the Protocol. Developing countries or non-Annex 1 parties are not subject to specific emission reduction commitments. Though over 120 countries have ratified the Protocol but the Protocol has yet to come into force. U. S. A and other developed countries have to date indicated an intention not to ratify the Protocol. Another contention is with regards to Article 1, II, VI and VII of the GATT and their potential implication with border tax adjustments. Further, energy tax adjustments may be challengeable under Article XXIII: 1 [b] of 1994. Finally, Panel approach to WTO-consistency will be governed by the reasonableness of the specific measure and its appreciation of the wider international implications. Energy tax adjustments as per Article III: 2 first sentences could offer potentially broad scope for countries to apply energy tax adjustments as disguised barriers to trade. Such results would do little to serve the objectives of either the WTO multilateral trading system or the international response to climatic change. Border Tax Adjustment Border Tax Adjustment [BTA] is a tax levied on imported products to adjust or compensate for taxes levied on domestic product. The main goal of BTA is to ensure trade neutrality of domestic taxation and thereby safeguarding competitive equality between imported and domestic goods. BTA is not necessarily levied at the border and imports may be taxed at the point of sale or consumption. Sales tax, consumption taxes or excise duties, value added taxes are examples of domestic taxes that might be subject to BTA. Likewise, a BTA on imported energy products such as imported natural gas or diesel fuel and other fossil fuels for domestic excise duties would fall within this group. Though the taxes on energy have been levied by governments for fiscal purpose for long time, now there has been a change in trend to levy â€Å"energy tax† mainly for â€Å"environmental† purpose. Energy tax is being levied on energy inputs such as coal ,electricity or gasoline which in turn calculated in value terms , or on the basis of its content of carbon of fossil fuels which is also known as â€Å"carbon taxes†. As of now, there exists no border tax adjustment scheme in place for taxes on energy inputs employed in the production of final products. However, European and other high energy taxing governments are contemplating to introduce such measures in near future due to the pressure exerted by environmental and industry groups. But there are increasing pressures from environmental groups to enforce strictly trade measures to enforce Kyoto Protocol objectives against non-signatories like United States. These environment groups regard the U. S. rejection of the Kyoto protocol is unfair as it places the European business at a disadvantage. They argue that Europe has the right to penalize the U. S goods for the pollution they cause under â€Å"Polluters pay â€Å"policy. Cases for Consideration A BTA can be applied on final goods or on inputs used in the production process. An example is the border tax adjustment on imports of aluminum’s for taxes on energy used in the production process as taxes are being levied on embodied energy in the final good that are adjusted, as opposed to taxes on the final goods itself. These measures are regarded as contentious with linkage to WTO trade and environmental debate. Albeit the Appellate body’s findings in the United States – Shrimp dispute, the exercise of trade measures applied on the basis of process and production methods (PPM) – in this case embodied taxes, carbon or energy –remains highly contentious. BTA for domestic taxes on energy inputs also raise significant equity and sovereignty concerns on the use of trade measures to inflict domestic environmental or taxation systems on other countries. Super Fund The case is against levy of superfund tax by U. S. A on petrochemicals and other chemicals and inputs when imported and sold in U. S and no tax is levied when it is exported out of U. S. U. S claimed that the aim of the tax was to compensate the cleaning up cost of hazardous waste sites and towards public health programs. When an importer fails to provide the details of input which he imported, then a penalty tax rate of 5 % was imposed. The GATT panel ruled that the tax on imported substance was a tax ‘directly imposed on products’ and hence eligible for border tax adjustments. The panel held the US super tax would be consistent with the Article III: 2 first sentence as long as it is equivalent to tax borne by the like domestic substances. The U. S direction to provide the information of inputs may make such information available to trade competitors and would have a real effect in discouraging trade. In this case, it appeared that neither the GATT Panel nor the parties sought to distinguish between the tax applied to the imported products, the like domestic products or the chemical products used in the production of the like domestic products. The Panel seemed to accept the US argument that the imported product and that the like domestic product was subject to the same â€Å"fiscal burden†.

Bless Me, Ultima Essay -- essays research papers

Antonio is Alienated   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I believe that in the novel Bless Me, Ultima Antonio is an alienated individual. He doesn’t seem to act like any of the other kids his age and has been through so much more then they have. For example, Antonio is torn between making his mother happy and becoming a priest, or making his father happy and becoming a cowboy type figure. He also has experienced a lot of death in his life to people he cared deeply about. I believe that Antonio is alienated because he has the mind of an adult, he is the only one who can talk to Ultima, and he can see the future. Oddly, Antonio is the only one who understands Ultima. For example, in the beginning of the book Antonio shook Ultima’s hand and he could sense the power of a whirlwind pass through hi...

Sporting Goods

What promotional activities might Prince use to reach the following segments: (a) recreational players and (b) junior players? The first thing that Prince needs to do is find different ways to appeal to both generation gaps in the tennis industry. It is important to keep all the Baby Boomer customers and still grasp the attention of the younger generation. In efforts to get the attention of the junior players, Prince utilizes social media sites like face book and twitter as one way of promoting to junior players.The use of Prince teaching Pro Program is excellent for targeting recreational players! Prince’s website directly reaches tennis players of all ages giving them information on products, tennis tips, and the latest news from the industry. Prince teaching pro program can be used to target the junior players more because it gives demo rackets, equipment information, and the latest product information better assisting them with developing their skills and understanding whi ch equipment could better their skills and help them become more experienced tennis players.In efforts to attract the attention of both junior and recreational players, Prince holds local â€Å"Prince Demo Events†. This event allows potential customers an opportunity to experience hands on different prince rackets, grips, and strings. What might Prince do to help it gain distribution and sales in (a) mass merchandisers like Target and Wal-Mart and (b) specialty tennis shops?To gain distribution and sales in large chains, Prince uses co-op advertising for in-store circulars, point of purchase displays, and consumer brochures assisting the retailers set up of Prince Products in their sports (tennis) section of the stores. For small specialty tennis shops, Prince issues a supply of demo rackets, detailed catalogs, equipment fixtures, string and racket guides, racket hooks, and tennis shelves. He also issues â€Å"player standees†, which are large life size cut outs of pro fessional tennis players to these small specialty shops.

Bunker Gear Fabric

Bunker gear or turnout gear is the protective clothing used by a firefighter in fighting fires and during rescue operations. This gear is called turnouts because when not being used, they are kept standing by to be put on swiftly by ‘turning out' the pants over the boots. It is a requirement for firefighters to be able to put on all of the gear in no time, and in this set up, all they have to do is to step into the boots and pull the pants up. This solidly insulated gear is worn to shield the firefighter's body from the extreme heat of a fire.Approximately, structural turnouts will break down at 650 °C (1200 °F). A full turnout gear may weigh more or less 30kg aside from other extra tools to be carried. It is consisted of â€Å"a coat, pants and suspenders, leather or rubber waterproof boots, a hood, a strong helmet with eye protection, gloves, a belt, and SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus)† (www. sccfd. org). Turnout pants protects the lower part of the firef ighter's body. It is made of fire-resistant materials and they are easy to put on with Velcro and snaps.Turnout pants have side pockets for tools, gloves, and other necessary equipment. In order for the firefighters to be seen at nigh, these pants also have reflective stripes on the bottom. Turnout coat's outside liner is made of exclusive fire resistant fabrics. The coat has various liners for extra protection. One of these liners acts as a moisture barrier, it prevents outside moisture to reach the firefighter. Another part of the liner protects firefighters from the exposure to thermal heat. Pockets are also available for extra equipment such as gloves, radio, wrenches and other tools.Around its neck is a Nomex hood. Except for the face, it covers practically the entire head of the firefighter. The turnout boots are made of rubber. Aside from steel to covering, these have a steel shank in sole to protect firefighters from sharp or pointed objects. In order to be put on quickly, t hese boots have handles at the top. Wearing of this protective gear is a requirement for all firefighters approaching a seat of the fire or entering a hazardous area as stated in the NFPA 1971 Code or the Protective Clothing for Structural Fire Fighting.Looking back in history, firefighters' garment was consisted of a cotton or wool shirt, heavy wool trousers, and a heavy wool tunic, which was sometimes worn over with rubber slickers. Wool was used because of its ability to protect a firefighter from heat and cold, and also because of its resistance to mild flame and water. Their gloves were the traditional leather gloves for laborers. It was only after the World War II when the standards for firefighter protective gears were issued by a number of organizations like the National Fire Protection Association or the NFPA.According to the NFPA 1971 Standard on Protective Clothing for Structural Firefighting, turnout gears must be composed of three layers: the outer layer must be made fr om flame-resistant fabric â€Å"that would not be destroyed through charring, separating, or melting when exposed to 500 °F for a five-minute period;† the second layer must â€Å"prevent moisture from penetrating through to the wearer;† and the third layer must â€Å"provide thermal insulation from radiant, conducted, and convective heat† (http://www. pbs. org). Firefighters' gloves should also be resistant to heat, flame, liquids, vapor, and sharp objects.The boots should also withstand flame, puncture, heat, electrical current, and abrasion. Further advancements in firefighters' turnout materials came up during the 80s. The 500 °F temperature resistance limit of the outer shell was raised to around 1,200 °F. The other layer also allowed the firefighters to â€Å"release moisture from inside the gear,† and the material used was a fire-resistant fabric. Being self-extinguishing, this material will not continue to burn once it is out of contact with a fire. Bunker gears are made out of synthetic fibers such as Aramid and Polybenzimidazoles (PBI).These synthetic fibers are polymers. A polymer is a substance with high molecular weight made up of a large number of smaller molecules. These molecules, called monomers, react together in hundreds, or even millions of times. The properties of the polymers are determined by the molecular shape variations that resulted from the reactions. These could be in the form of long, straight chains or branched. It is through their average molecular weight that their sizes are expressed. Polymers with higher molecular weights have the higher strength. They also usually have high melting or boiling points.Filaments made of synthetic polymer fibers have excellent strength because these fibers can be prepared with regular structures that allow the chains to pack together tightly. Another advantage of synthetic polymers is that they are stronger and much lighter than steel, making them the choice for bunker gears and bullet proof vests. Aramids are synthetic polyamides, a class of polymer for textile fibers. It has a carbon-based backbone which contains aromatic rings. Fabrics made of aramids are strong and flame resistant even at extreme temperatures because of the stability of the fiber's aromatic structures and their conjugated amide linkages.Polyamides are manufactured through step-growth polymerization. In this process, â€Å"monomers with two reactive ends join to form dimers (two â€Å"parts† joined together), then â€Å"trimers† (three â€Å"parts†), and so on. However, since each of the newly formed oligomers (short chains containing only a few parts) also has two reactive ends, they can join together; so a dimer and a trimer would form a pentamer (five repeating â€Å"parts†)† (www. fibersource. com). The aramid fibers, on the other hand, are produced through Wet Spinning process.The fiber-forming materials are dissolved in a solvent, which is usually hydrogen sulfate (H2SO4), and spun using a spinneret. Aside from firefighting gears, aramid fabrics are also useful for friction products such as brake pads, clutch pads or seals and gaskets, because synthetic materials made from this fabric does not ignite or melt. Aramid fibers are also flexible, lightweight, resistant to organic solvents and fuels, and good insulators of electricity. Aramids are more popularly known with the names Kevlar and Nomex. The blend of these two aramids is used in manufacturing turnout gears.

Towton - Battle of Towton - Wars of the Roses - Edward IV

Towton - Battle of Towton - Wars of the Roses - Edward IV Battle of Towton: Date Conflict: The Battle of Towton was fought on March 29, 1461, during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). Armies Commanders Yorkists Edward IV20,000-36,000 men Lancastrians Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset25,000-42,000 men Battle of Towton - Background: Beginning in 1455, the Wars of the Roses saw a dynastic conflict erupt between King Henry VI (Lancastrians) and the out-of-favor Richard, Duke of York (Yorkists). Prone to bouts of insanity, Henrys cause was chiefly advocated by his wife, Margaret of Anjou, who sought to protect their sons, Edward of Westminster, birthright. In 1460, the fighting escalated with Yorkist forces winning the Battle of Northampton and capturing Henry. Seeking to assert his power, Richard attempted to claim the throne after the victory. Blocked from this by his supporters, he agreed to the Act of Accord which disinherited Henrys son and stated that Richard would ascend to the throne upon the kings death. Unwilling to let this stand, Margaret raised an army in northern England to revive the Lancastrian cause. Marching north in late 1460, Richard was defeated and killed at the Battle of Wakefield. Moving south, Margarets army defeated the Earl of Warwick at the Second Battle of St. Albans and recovered Henry. Advancing on London, her army was prevented from entering the city by the Council of London which feared looting. Battle of Towton - A King Made: As Henry was unwilling to enter the city by force, negotiations began between Margaret and the council. During this time, she learned that Richards son, Edward, Earl of March, had defeated Lancastrian forces near the Welsh border at Mortimers Cross and was uniting with the remnants of Warwicks army. Concerned about this threat to their rear, the Lancastrian army began withdrawing northwards to a defensible line along the River Aire. From here they could safely await reinforcements from the north. A skillful politician, Warwick brought Edward to London and on March 4 had him crowned as King Edward IV. Battle of Towton - Initial Encounters: Seeking to defend his newly won crown, Edward immediately began moving to crush the Lancastrian forces in the north. Departing on March 11, the army marched north in three divisions under the command of Warwick, Lord Fauconberg, and Edward. In addition, John Mowbry, Duke of Norfolk, was sent to the eastern counties to raise additional troops. As the Yorkists advanced, Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, commanding the Lancastrian army began making preparations for battle. Leaving Henry, Margaret, and Prince Edward at York, he deployed his forces between the villages of Saxton and Towton. On March 28, 500 Lancastrians under John Neville and Lord Clifford attacked a Yorkist detachment at Ferrybridge. Overwhelming men under Lord Fitzwater, they secured the bridge over the Aire. Learning of this, Edward organized a counterattack and sent Warwick to attack Ferrybridge. To support this advance, Fauconberg was ordered to cross the river four miles upstream at Castleford and move to attack Cliffords right flank. While Warwicks assault was largely held, Clifford was forced to fall back when Fauconberg arrived. In a running fight, the Lancastrians were defeated and Clifford was killed near Dinting Dale. Battle of Towton - Battle Joined: The crossing retaken, Edward advanced across the river the next morning, Palm Sunday, despite the fact that Norfolk still had not arrived. Aware of the previous days defeat, Somerset deployed the Lancastrian army on a high plateau with its right anchored on the stream of the Cock Beck. Though the Lancastrians occupied a strong a position and had a numerical advantage, the weather worked against them as the wind was in their face. A snowy day, this blew the snow in their eyes and limited visibility. Forming to the south, the veteran Fauconberg advanced his archers and opened fire. Assisted by the strong the wind, the Yorkist arrows fell in the Lancastrian ranks causing casualties. Replying, the Lancastrian archers arrows were hampered by the wind and fell short of the enemys line. Unable to see this due to the weather, they emptied their quivers to no effect. Again the Yorkist archers advanced, gathering up the Lancastrian arrows and shooting them back. With losses mounting, Somerset was forced to take action and ordered his troops forward with a cry of King Henry! Slamming into the Yorkist line, they slowly began pushing them back (Map). On the Lancastrian right, Somersets cavalry succeeded in driving off its opposite number, but the threat was contained when Edward shifted troops block their advance. Details pertaining the fighting are scarce, but it is known that Edward flew about the field encouraging his men to hold and fight. As the battle raged, the weather worsened and several impromptu truces were called to clear the dead and wounded from between the lines. With his army under severe pressure, Edwards fortunes were bolstered when Norfolk arrived after noon. Joining Edwards right, his fresh troops slowly began to turn the battle. Outflanked by the new arrivals, Somerset shifted troops from his right and center to meet the threat. As the fighting continued, Norfolks men began to push back the Lancastrian right as Somersets men tired. Finally as their line neared Towton Dale, it broke and with it the entire Lancastrian army. Collapsing into full retreat, they fled north in an attempt to cross the Cock Beck. In full pursuit, Edwards men inflicted severe losses on the retreating Lancastrians. At the river a small timber bridge quickly collapsed and others reportedly crossed on a bridge of bodies. Sending horsemen forward, Edward pursued the fleeing soldiers through the night as the remnants of Somersets army retreated to York. Battle of Towton - Aftermath: Casualties for the Battle of Towton are not known with any precision though some sources indicate they may have been has high as 28,000 total. Others estimate losses around 20,000 with 15,000 for Somerset and 5,000 for Edward. The largest battle fought in Britain, Towton was a decisive victory for Edward and effectively secured his crown. Abandoning York, Henry and Margaret fled north to Scotland before separating with the latter ultimately going to France to seek aid. Though some fighting continued for the next decade, Edward ruled in relative peace until the Readeption of Henry VI in 1470. Selected Sources HistoryNet: Battle of TowtonUK Battlfields Resource Centre: Battle of Towton

Female Circumsicion Essays - Female Genital Mutilation, Free Essays

Female Circumsicion Essays - Female Genital Mutilation, Free Essays Female Circumsicion CULTURE OR TORTURE? Female circumcision, better known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is an ugly monster finally rearing its head from out of the depths of time. It can attack a girl at any age, with a little prompting from her society, and the aid of an unsuspecting human wielding a knife. Usually, it is performed from a few days after birth to puberty, but in some regions, the torture can be put off until just before marriage or the seventh month of pregnancy (Samad, 52). Women that have gone beyond the primary level of education are much less likely to fall victim to the tradition (Men's..., 34). The average victim is illiterate and living in a poverty-stricken community where people face hunger, bad health, over-working, and unclean water (Female..., 1714). This, however, is not always the case. As one can see in the following story of Soraya Mire, social classes create no real barriers. Soraya Mire, a 13-year-old from Mogadishu, Somolia, never knew what would happen to her the day her mother ca lled her out of her room to go buy her some gifts. When asked why, her mother replied, I just want to show you how much I love you. As Soraya got into the car, she wondered where the armed guards were. Being the daughter of a Somolian general, she was always escorted by guards. Despite her mother's promise of gifts, they did not stop at a store, but at a doctor's home. This is your special day, Soraya's mother said. Now you are to become a woman, an important woman. She was ushered into the house and strapped down to an operating table. A local anesthetic was given but it barely blunted the pain as the doctor performed the circumcision. Soraya was sent home an hour later. Soraya broke from her culture's confining bonds at the age of 18 by running away from an abusive arranged marriage. -2- In Switzerland, she was put in a hospital emergency room with severe menstrual cramps because of the operation. Seven months later, the doctor performed reconstructive surgery on her. Now in the U.S., Soraya is a leading spokeswoman against FGM (Bell, 58). In addition to being active in the fight against FGM, she is an American filmmaker. She has come a long way. Being well educated about the facts of FGM also brings to light the ugly truth. It is happening on American soil, insists Soraya. Mutilations are occurring every day among innigrants and refugees in the U.S. (Brownlee, 57). Immigrants have also brought the horrifying practice to Europe, Australia, and Canada (McCarthy, 14). Normally, it is practiced in North and Central Africa (Men's..., 34), the Middle East, and Muslim populations of Indonesia and Malaysia (Female..., 1714). Although it seems to have taken root in Muslim and African Christian religions, there is no Koranic or Biblical backing for FGM (Men's..., 34). Many ti mes female circumcision is treated as a religion in itself. It can be a sacred ritual meant to be kept secret forever. As a woman told poet Mariama Barrie, You are about to enter Society sic}, and you must never reveal the ritual that is about to take place. (Barrie, 54). The ritualistic version of FGM is much more barbaric than the sterile doctor's world that Soraya Mire passed through. Mariama Barrie had to endure the most severe form of FGM at the tender age of ten. Mariama's torture is known as infibulation. There is also excision and sunna. Infibulation consists of the removal of the entire clitoris, the whole of the labia minora and up to 2/3 of the labia majora. The sides of the vulva are sewn or held together by long thorns. A small opening the size of the tip of a matchstick is left for the -3- passage of menstrual blood and urine. Excision is a clitoridectomy and sometimes the removal of the labia minora; Sunna is the only type that can truthfully be called circumcision. It is a subtotal clitoridectomy (Female..., 1714). To put this in perspective, infibulation would be like cutting off a man's penis completely, cutting the testicles to the groin, and making a hole in them to have the semen siphoned

List of Elements in the Transition Metal Group

List of Elements in the Transition Metal Group The largest group of elements on the periodic table is that of the transition metals, which is found in the middle of the table. Also, the two rows of elements below the main body of the periodic table (the lanthanides and actinides) are special subsets of these metals. These elements are called transition metals because the electrons of their atoms make the transition to filling the d subshell or d sublevel orbital. Thus, the transition metals are also known as the d-block elements.   Here is a list of elements that are considered to be transition metals or transition elements. This list does not include the lanthanides or actinides, just the elements in the main part of the table. List of Elements That Are Transition Metals ScandiumTitaniumVanadiumChromiumManganeseIronCobaltNickelCopperZincYttriumZirconiumNiobiumMolybdenumTechnetiumRutheniumRhodiumPalladiumSilverCadmiumLanthanum, sometimes (often considered a rare earth, lanthanide)HafniumTantalumTungstenRheniumOsmiumIridiumPlatinumGoldMercuryActinium, sometimes (often considered a rare earth, actinide)RutherfordiumDubniumSeaborgiumBohriumHassiumMeitneriumDarmstadtiumRoentgeniumCopernicium  presumably is  a transition metal. Transition Metal Properties The transition metals are the elements you normally think of when you imagine a metal. These elements share properties in common with each other: They are excellent conductors of heat and electricity.The transition metals are malleable (easily hammered into shape or bent).These metals tend to be very hard.Transition metals look shiny and metallic. Most transition metals are grayish or white (like iron or silver), but gold and copper have colors not seen in any other elements on the periodic table.The transition metals, as a group, have high melting points. The exception is mercury, which is a liquid at room temperature. By extension, these elements also have high boiling points.Their d orbitals become progressively filled as you move from left to right across the periodic table. Because the subshell is not filled, atoms of the transition metals have positive oxidation states and also display more than one oxidation state. For example, iron commonly carries a 3 or 2 oxidation state. Copper may have a 1 or 2 oxidation state. The positive oxidation state means the transition metals typically form ionic or partially ionic compound s. Atoms of these elements have low ionization energies.Transition metals form colored complexes, so their compounds and solutions may be colorful. The complexes split the d orbital into two energy sublevels  so they absorb specific wavelengths of light. Because of the different oxidation states, its possible for one element to produce complexes and solutions in a wide range of colors.Although the transition metals are reactive, they are not as reactive as elements belonging to the alkali metals group.Many transition metals form paramagnetic compounds.

Financial Statement Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Statement Analysis - Assignment Example A provision for warranty should be provided for at 2% and any changes is taken to the profit and loss account. An account should be maintained that has this figures and if there is returns then the actual amount and changes in the provision is taken to the profit and loss account. b. Calculate K2’s warranty expense for 2008. Opening balance 8,430,000 Provision 2% of 1,934,700,000 38, 694,000 47, 124,000 Closing balance 6,490,000 Warranty expense for the period 40,634,000 c. How much did K2 pay during the year to repair and or replace goods under warranty? Amount paid for repairs =50% of warranty Amount paid for repairs =50% of 2% of 1934.7million = 19,347,000 2. (6 points) Mustang Inc. issued $800,000 of 5%, 20-year bonds at 96 on January 1, 2000. Through Jan 1, 2008, Mustang amortized $20,000 of the bond discount. On January 1, 2008, Mustang Inc. retired the bonds at 102 (after making the interest payment on that date). a. Calculate the net book value of the bond on January 1 , 2008 Interest = .05 x800,000= 40,000 Net book value = 800,000x102/100 = 816,000 b. and the gain or loss that Mustang would report for this retirement. Loss of the retirement = 800,000-816,000= 16,000 3. Higher Ratio financial risk Total debt/ equity (%) Increases EBITDA interest coverage Decreases Operating income/Sales (%) Decreases Free operating cash flow/Total debt (%) Decreases Return on equity (%) Decreases FFO/Total debt (%) Increases / Decreases Long-term debt/ equity (%) Increases EBIT interest coverage Decreases 4. (18 points) Progressive Corporation (a property and casualty insurance company) reported the following in its 2008 annual report: 2008 2007 (in millions) Carrying Value Fair Value Carrying Value Fair Value 6.375% Senior Notes due 2012 (issued: $350.0, December 2001) $ 348.9 $ 355.3 $ 348.6 $ 367.8 7% Notes due 2013 (issued: $150.0, October 1993) 149.3 154.3 149.2 162.9 6 5?8% Senior Notes due 2029 (issued: $300.0, March 1999) 294.6 272.0 294.4 311.8 6.25% Seni or Notes due 2032 (issued: $400.0, November 2002) 394.0 350.0 393.9 397.6 6.70% Fixed-to-Floating Rate Junior Subordinated Debentures due 2067 (issued: $1,000.0, June 2007 988.7 450.0 987.8 936.5 $2,175.5 $1,581.6 $2,173.9 $2,176.6 On December  31, 2008, we entered into a 364-Day Secured Liquidity Credit Facility Agreement with National City Bank (NCB). Under this agreement, we may borrow up to $125 million, which may be increased to $150 million at our request but subject to NCB’s discretion. The purpose of the credit facility is to provide liquidity in the event of disruptions in our cash management operations, such as disruptions in the financial markets, that affect our ability to transfer or receive funds. The revolving credit facility agreement discussed above replaced an uncommitted line of credit with NCB in the principal amount of $125 million. Under this terminated agreement, no commitment fees were required to be paid and there were no rating triggers. Interest o n amounts borrowed would have generally accrued at the one-month LIBOR plus .375%. We had no borrowings under this arrangement during 2008, 2007, or 2006. Aggregate principal payments on debt outstanding at December  31, 2008, are $0 for 2009, 2010, and 2011, $350.0 million for 2012, $150.0 million for 2013, and $1.7 billion thereafter. Required: a. What amount does Progressive report for long-term debt on its balance sheet? The amount of long-term debt reported in the year 2008 was 2,175.5 million and 2,173.9million in the year 2007 b. Why is

Staff Turnover in Hong Kong's Hospitality Industry Essay

Staff Turnover in Hong Kong's Hospitality Industry - Essay Example The phenomenon of employee turnover is considered as one of the natural outcomes of conduct of business in modern organizations. Thus it is said that achieving zero percent turnover is not practical and should not even be attempted in today’s rapidly changing employment environment (Branham, 2000). It is also said that some turn over may be desirable as it would enable a shake out amongst the employees avoiding bunching up of a large number with similar pay scales, salaries and capabilities making a pyramid (Branham, 2000). To retain all such employees will be extremely expensive for the organization. New employees are also said to bring in fresh ideas, approaches, abilities, attitudes and also prevent the organization from remaining stagnant (Branham, 2000). 2.3 Brief introduction of Hong KongHong Kong is said to be a very vibrant metropolis which has a life and dynamism of its own making it one of the unique cities in the World. It has a typical Chinese culture which has rem ained unaffected by British influence over the years (Hong Kong, 2006). It offers a mix of the modern and the ancient, the Oriental and the Western and therein lies its charm. At the same time the employment environment in Hong Kong follows a very flexible tendency. Thus employees in Hong Kong are not inhibited by generally accepted norms of loyalty and life long service which is characterized by some Eastern management cultures such as the Japanese (Hong Kong, 2006).

The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Academic Achievment among College Essay

The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Academic Achievment among College Students Literature Review - Essay Example â€Å"Over 40% of students nationwide have been reported to participate in binge drinking behavior, when it is defined as at least four drinks per drinking occasion for women and at least five drinks for men† (Jennison, 2004b). Excessive consumption of alcohols among college students has been closely linked with academic disturbances such as missed classes, reduction in classroom performance, lowered grades, dropping out, and school failure (Jennison, 2004b). The Harvard School of Public Health CoUege Alcohol Study (1999) reveals 44% of the surveyed students to be binge drinkers 23% to be frequent binge drinkers (Richardson, 2000). Its effects on academics in higher education institutions are indeed a matter of concern. â€Å"In addition to well-documented consequences such as poor performance on assignments and missed classes, studies suggest that college drinking is a major factor in student dropout rates† (Sullivan, 2002). This severe threat of the college drinking problem led to the setting up of a task force on College Drinking in 1998 by the National Advisory Council to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) with the view to support the development of a national plan for college drinking research at NIAAA (Jennison, 2004b). According to the information provided by NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking almost 25% of college students experience academic disturbances due to alcohol consumption, such as obtaining lower grades, performing poorly in tests and projects, missing class and even dropping out (â€Å"A Call to Action†, 2002). The use and abuse of alcohol by students on campuses has been recognized as a serious disturbance affecting the student life (Molstad et al., 1998). Heavy patterns of alcohol accompany greater chances of students experiencing alcohol related problems mainly poor academic performance (Molstad et al., 1998). The alcohol intake by male college students is more frequent and in greater volumes

Chinese media boundaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chinese media boundaries - Essay Example In light of the above findings, it is evident that there trends necessitating disconnection when it come to this vital field. The media undoubtedly plays an important role in the lives of people. People relies on this institution for news and other information. As a result, it is vital to ensure that whatever is reported is free from manipulation or bias. It is for this reason that a research is conducted to identify the issues that influence reporting. This paper proposes the following as the research questions for the research: Does variance in political and governmental structures influence how media report government-related cases? Can the media be entirely free from manipulation? Should patriotism be a defining factor when reporting or should the truth be reported irrespective of the impact? Does the West’s level of civilization in comparison to China’s contribute to the way reporting is done? As noted above, reporting normally varies with different media houses le t alone nations meaning it can never be uniform. That is to say, there is a probability of America’s NBC to report the same news with CNN but from a very different context. According to Groseclose (2011), Ruschmann (2006), Davenport (2010) and Sloan & Mackay (2007) this discrepancy is fuelled by a number of issues including the motive of reporting, the interpretation and the validity of the source. In this case involving the Chinese, the problem is important because the cities in which the protests are taking place are vital to business world.

Alcatraz Prison Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alcatraz Prison - Research Paper Example Alcatraz is located on Alcatraz Island, which is right outside San Francisco Bay. It earned its name from Juan Manuel de Ayala who named the island La Isla de los Alcatraces, which means island of the pelicans. Since its creation Alcatraz has served as an institution for multiple prisoners such as a military prison and then as a federal prison. The earliest history has the island serving as a prison for those in the Civil War. After serving as a military prison, it was turned over to the federal government in 1933. During this time it housed some of the most dangerous criminals of all time. It was closed in 1963 and now serves as a historical site, which can be toured by the public. In 1847, the United States Army began a topographical survey of the island assessing it’s potential due to the fact it was isolated, small, and had relatively little flora and fauna. The United States Army Corps of Engineers was called in and began construction of a military fortress. Another reaso n that the United States created this as a military prison was due to the fact that it had extremely strong and freezing currents, which would prevent escape of prisoners. It has housed military prisoners not only from the Civil War, but also from the Spanish-American War. It was considered a harsh facility due to the fact of military discipline and corporal punishment. The cellblocks in the island were divided into three levels and each level housed criminals who did a particular crime. There were also perks and privileges that were associated with each level i.e. Reading time, being able to write letters, etc. Unlike traditional prisons today in which inmates spend a majority of time in their cells, the military prisoners were only allowed to return to their cells in order to sleep. During the day, they were on work details in which they would be assigned work details based on their skill level and what was required, not unlike how duties in the military are assigned today. The de cline of the military presence was actually due to public dislike. They felt that the sterility and harshness of the island was an eyesore and wanted it renovated to look more pleasing. Unfortunately, this was also the time where the Great Depression was starting to set in and the military abandoned its investments there as it was closed in 1934 (â€Å"History of Alcatraz Island†). Before the prison could start taking on civilian prisoners, the federal government had to convert it and make sure that the island was reformed so that no prisoner could escape. It would end up costing the federal government around $260,000. The military buildings were renovated and new technology such as thicker windows and better bars were implemented to replace the outdated materials. There was also limited travel allowed and/or near the island. The restriction was only for government owned ships to come near the island. Thick iron gates were placed which kept everything contained and was only a ccessible via keys that the guards had. Electricity was rewired into all of the cells, as unlike the military counterparts, the prisoners, especially the dangerous ones, would be housed there. Prisoners also had access to a library, which contained many different types of literature that a person could read. There were also other amenities such as services and a chaplain that were

The Crusades Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Crusades - Essay Example Origins of the crusades. There are many origins of the Crusades. The Crusades movement is a series of religious wars. The Popes wrote encyclicals and gave orations for the necessity to implement the crusades as Christianity’s antidote to the Turks and other Muslim invaders1. In 1464, Pope Pius personally went to Ancona to lead the Crusade’s attempts to retain Constantinople from the Muslims. Pope Pius died from the plague while waiting for the crusade army to arrive2. The Pope and the Catholic Church approved the Crusades’ war strategy. The main goal of the crusades was to get back access to the holy places. The Crusades had political influence over a significant part of Europe, the Western sector. The Crusades’ soldiers made a solemn vow to the Pope that they will fight for the Cross of Christ. Consequently, the Pope gave each soldier a cross. The cross symbolized the soldier as a soldier of the Church. In 1280, to ensure Muslim success over the crusade a rmies, Kalavun, the Muslim leader, took advantage of petty disagreements between the different Crusade armies within Jerusalem. Those in Acre supported King Charles and those in Tyre supported King Hugh of Cyprus. Kalavun entered into different treaties with different cities. Kalavun was counting on the factionalism to fit the different parts of the kingdom against one another3. The Ottoman Turks focused their war on the doorsteps of the European countries. Previously, the crusades focused on recovering the Holy Land from the Muslim invaders. During the 1370s, European Christians had to fight the Ottoman Turks who were invading the European nations. The theme was refocused from the Holy Land to reducing the continuing spread of the Muslim faith in Europe. In 1354, the Turks occupied Gallipoli and started entering Europe. In 1361, the Ottoman Turks conquered several European areas, including Bulgaria and most of Greece. The Crusades had economic influence over several parts of Europe , the Western sector4. The best-funded Crusade was the Crusade of St. Louis5. The Christian pilgrims were being persecuted by the Muslims on their way to Jerusalem. With the Christian lands being gobbled up by the Muslims, the economic power of the Pope was also reduced. To recover its former economic power, the Pope, especially Pope Urban II, launched the Crusades to recover the lands from the Muslim invaders. Maalouf insists the Crusades were a drain on the Christian nation’s coffers. Money was needed to pay for the war to proceed6. Pope Urban II made a strong appeal to all Christian rulers in Europe to launch attacks against the Muslim armies. The Pope admonished the Muslim infidels’ desecration of the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem. The Pope described the horrific atrocities and damages of the Muslim infidels plundering of the Holy Land and attacks on the innocent Christian pilgrims going to Jerusalem. In 1368, King Peter tried to raise another Crusade. When King Peter returned to Cyprus, the local barons were mad at the huge amount of money spent on Peter’s crusade. Peter was finally assassinated during his sleep. The people of Europe decried the treachery of the Cyprus traitors and mourned the loss of their crusade’s King7. When King Louis, the Crusade leader, was captured by the Muslim armies, Turan-Shah, a Muslim leader, released the hostages in exchange for 800,000 bezants. In addition, the Crusade armies had to surrender Damietta to the Muslim rulers. The French paid 400,000 bezants to Mamluks for the release of King Louis8. The Crusades had social influence over many parts of Europe, the Western sector. The people rallied to the Crusades. The Christian people

Alcatraz Prison Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alcatraz Prison - Research Paper Example Alcatraz is located on Alcatraz Island, which is right outside San Francisco Bay. It earned its name from Juan Manuel de Ayala who named the island La Isla de los Alcatraces, which means island of the pelicans. Since its creation Alcatraz has served as an institution for multiple prisoners such as a military prison and then as a federal prison. The earliest history has the island serving as a prison for those in the Civil War. After serving as a military prison, it was turned over to the federal government in 1933. During this time it housed some of the most dangerous criminals of all time. It was closed in 1963 and now serves as a historical site, which can be toured by the public. In 1847, the United States Army began a topographical survey of the island assessing it’s potential due to the fact it was isolated, small, and had relatively little flora and fauna. The United States Army Corps of Engineers was called in and began construction of a military fortress. Another reaso n that the United States created this as a military prison was due to the fact that it had extremely strong and freezing currents, which would prevent escape of prisoners. It has housed military prisoners not only from the Civil War, but also from the Spanish-American War. It was considered a harsh facility due to the fact of military discipline and corporal punishment. The cellblocks in the island were divided into three levels and each level housed criminals who did a particular crime. There were also perks and privileges that were associated with each level i.e. Reading time, being able to write letters, etc. Unlike traditional prisons today in which inmates spend a majority of time in their cells, the military prisoners were only allowed to return to their cells in order to sleep. During the day, they were on work details in which they would be assigned work details based on their skill level and what was required, not unlike how duties in the military are assigned today. The de cline of the military presence was actually due to public dislike. They felt that the sterility and harshness of the island was an eyesore and wanted it renovated to look more pleasing. Unfortunately, this was also the time where the Great Depression was starting to set in and the military abandoned its investments there as it was closed in 1934 (â€Å"History of Alcatraz Island†). Before the prison could start taking on civilian prisoners, the federal government had to convert it and make sure that the island was reformed so that no prisoner could escape. It would end up costing the federal government around $260,000. The military buildings were renovated and new technology such as thicker windows and better bars were implemented to replace the outdated materials. There was also limited travel allowed and/or near the island. The restriction was only for government owned ships to come near the island. Thick iron gates were placed which kept everything contained and was only a ccessible via keys that the guards had. Electricity was rewired into all of the cells, as unlike the military counterparts, the prisoners, especially the dangerous ones, would be housed there. Prisoners also had access to a library, which contained many different types of literature that a person could read. There were also other amenities such as services and a chaplain that were

Stem Cell Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Stem Cell Research - Essay Example ern, it is important to remember that stem cell research should not be used as just another tool in the long standing debate between science and religion. There are certainly plenty of other concerns in that genre. Stem cell research is a new and necessary technological advance that will help cure many previously incurable diseases and genetic defects. This research also adds more insight into the miracle that is this universe. The real debate here is between ethical principles that upon closer scrutiny may not be so far apart. What are stem cells? The general scientific definition is as follows, "Stem cells are self-renewing, non-differentiated cells with the ability to differentiate into a number of specialized phenotypes in response to appropriate signals." (Cai, Fu, & Sheng, 2007, p. 655) More simply stated, stem cells are the progenitor cells, the building blocks, of all the diverse cells in our bodies. Starting in the embryo, these cells are what scientist also call "undifferentiated." They have not yet begun the process of forming the myriad variety of differentiated cells that make up a human being. Skin cells, liver cells, kidney cells, etc. all start out as stem cells and then become differentiated into these individual types. This research has typically used embryos taken from fertility clinics before they are discarded. These embryos are allowed to continue to develop further until the stage when they form a hollow sphere called a blastocyst. The inner cell walls of this sphere have a small amount of stem cells attached to them. These cells are gently removed and harvested then placed in cultures with nurturing feeder cells. A protein rich broth is added and the cells begin to multiply. (Brown, 2007) These cells can then, hypothetically, be used to replace virtually any cell in the human body: Several human diseases result from the loss of specific types of cells. So far, medicines approach to treatment has been to replace the chemicals

Deontological Vs Utilitarian Ethics Essay Example for Free

Deontological Vs Utilitarian Ethics Essay Kant believed that morality is dependent upon reason, that to act rationally was the same as acting morally. He placed a high value upon duty in determining the moral worth of an action. Kant’s deontological ethics is essentially an ethics of duty or obligation. As such, he claims that the moral worth of an action depends solely on whether or not it was done exclusively from a sense of duty. If an act is done simply because one is so inclined, the act has no moral value. This principle holds true even if inclination happens to be in agreement with duty. To illustrate this point, he uses the example of a truly beneficent person. He says that while kindness to all man is a duty, there are some who are naturally inclined to be kind. He asserts â€Å"But I maintain that in such a case an action of this kind, however proper, however amiable it may be, has nevertheless no true moral worth, but is on a level with other inclinations†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Gregory and Giancola, 82). When these spread kindness while motivated by their own inclination to be kind, their kind acts have no moral value, because in his view in order for an act to be moral, it must be done for the sake of duty alone. Essentially, deontological ethics says the less inclined one is to perform an act that duty calls one to, the more moral worth the act has. While deontological ethics is completely independent of inclination, utilitarian ethics is in many was based upon it. Utilitarianism is built on hedonism, which is the claim that pleasure is the supreme good for man. The main idea of utilitarianism is that man is naturally inclined to seek pleasure and avoid pain and this natural inclination is to be embraced as it will lead man to the supreme end, which is happiness. Utilitarian ethics says that moral acts are those that promote pleasure and avoid pain while immoral acts do the opposite. In is definition of utilitarianism, John Mills says that as far as possible, pleasure in its highest quantity and quality should be promoted and this for the greatest number of people possible. He says, â€Å"†¦that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Gregory and Giancola, 92). In my view this means that according to utilitarian ethics, the moral act is the o ne that brings pleasure to the greatest amount of people.

Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Knights Tale :: Chaucer Knights Tale Essays

In his prologue, Chaucer introduces all of the characters who are involved in this fictional journey and who will tell the tales. One of the most interesting of the characters introduced is the Knight. Chaucer refers to the Knight as â€Å"a most distinguished man† and, indeed, his sketch of the Knight is highly complimentary.   Another Knight seen in the â€Å"Canterbury Tales† is the rapist knight in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, who is not a very noble knight and doesn’t follow a chivalric code. This knight seems more realistic as opposed to the stereotypical ideal knight that Chaucer describes in the Prologue. It is hard to believe that such a   perfect knight existed during that time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Today we look back at knighthood, chivalry, and â€Å"curteisye† as romantic and unreal. It is true that a code of   behavior did exist, and Chaucer presents the Knight as a real representative of the code. However the Knight in the Wife of Baths tale, is the complete opposite of this one, and violates all of the rules of Knighthood. By way of contrast the Knight in The Wife of Bath’s Tale is more common during the Middle Ages, and stories of rape by knights were not uncommon. Chaucer goes against the normal chivalric ideal of a knight by presenting a knight as he really might have been, which is the knight presented in The Wife of Bath’s Tale. As all of the different tales reflect back on the characters of the pilgrims who tell them, the ideas in the Knight’s Tale are reflected back on the Knight.   His tale is a tale of ideal love and chivalry, and fits the character of the Knight. Furthermore, fitting the Knight’s character, his tale has no incidents of vulgarity, the love is a clean love, with no hint of sensuality. The love exists on a high, platonic level.   In the article â€Å"Costume Rhetoric in the Knight’s Portrait:   Chaucer’s Every-Knight and his Bismotered Gyphon,† by Laura F. Hodges, featured in the April 1995 edition of the Chaucer Review, Hodges examines the reasons behind Chaucer’s decisions on the clothing of his Knight. Hodges said that the fact that the Knight was wearing soiled clothing is an allusion to the fact that the knight was soiled religiously. However I think his shirt was â€Å"much stained† by where the armor had left his mark, and he just arrived from service and went directly on his pilgrimage.

Corporate Social Responsibility with HIV / AIDS Drugs :: Social Responsibility Essays

â€Å"Each year, just three diseases kill 5.4 million people worldwide. Malaria kills at least one million, mainly in developing countries, with 90% of the deaths in Africa. Tuberculosis causes 1.9 million deaths a year, almost all of them in developing countries, where resistance to the five major anti-tubercular drugs is spreading. Some 400,000 of the tuberculosis victims are also HIV positive. The yearly death toll for HIV/Aids is almost 2.5 million, with about 1.8 million concentrated in the Sub-Saharan Africa† The Times Higher 20/07/01 Assess the responsibilities of the pharmaceutical companies for providing low cost drugs to the poor people in the developing countries. There is no generally accepted definition for corporate social responsibility (CSR), although various theorists have attempted to surmise one. One useful definition is provided by Archie Carroll (1979): ‘The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that society has of organisations at a given point in time’ Another definition is offered by Kok et al: ‘The obligation of the firm to use its resources in ways to benefit society, through committed participation as a member of society, taking into account the society at large and improving the welfare of society at large independent of direct gains of the company.’ An alternative definition by Frederick et al (1988): ‘business and society are interdependent and co-exist, with business using society's resources and, in turn, fulfilling economic needs and changing social goals Thus, business and society are bound by a reciprocal "social contract" which is seen as the "core idea of corporate social responsibility† These definitions encapsulate the notion that business has a responsibility to society as a whole, aside from the basic profit maximising ideas dictated by traditional free-market theory. in direct contrast from the classical economic sense of increasing shareholder wealth (Friedman, 1970) that it is a ‘fundamentally a subversive doctrine’. In the pharmaceutical industry has ia system that produces drugs in two categories. Category A would include drugs for conditions like

Biography of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States (1961-1963). He was the youngest person ever to be elected president. Also, He was the first Roman Catholic president and the first president to be born in the 20the century. He served in World War II on PT boat. He also helped to solve the Cuban Missile Crisis and started Peace of Corps to help 3rd world countries better them selves. Kennedy was assassinated before he completed his third year as president. Therefore, his achievements were limited. He was shot in the head and died within an hour. Kennedy was born on May 29,1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the second of nine children of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. â€Å"The other children in the family were Joseph, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, and Edward. â€Å"(Encarta' 95). â€Å"The Kennedys were an active family. With 11 people in the house, someone was always busy. The children took swimming, sailing, and tennis lessons. â€Å"(Potts, Steve – 7). The Kennedy family had long been active in politics. His brothers Robert and Edward Kennedy also entered politics. Kennedy's both grand fathers had been active in politics. His father was a self-made millionaire. He served as first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and as U. S. ambassador to Great Britain during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Kennedy's family called him jack. He and his older brother Joe were strong rivals. Jack was quiet and often shy, but held his owns in fights with Joe. â€Å"The boys enjoyed playing touch football. â€Å"(The World Book Encyclopedia, 261). His childhood was full of sports, fun and activity. This all ended when he grew up old enough to leave for school. Kennedy attended elementary schools in Brookline and Riverdale. â€Å"In 1930, when he was 13 years old, his father sent him to the Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn. † (The World Book Encyclopedia, 261). One year later, he transferred to Choate Academy in Wallingford, Coon. He graduated from Choate in 1935 at the age of 18. He was promised a trip to London as a graduation gift but he became ill with jaundice and would have to go to the hospital. He spent the rest of the summer trying to recover. He was not entirely well when he started Princeton, several weeks later in the fall of 1935. The jaundice returned and he had to drop out of school. Before the next school year began, he told his father he wanted to go to Harvard. He entered Harvard University in 1936. There he majored in government and international relations. At Harvard, he tried to explain in his senior thesis why Britain had not been ready for war. Kennedy began to send his paper to publishers, and it was accepted on his second try. Wilfrid Funk published it under the title Why England Slept. It became a bestseller. He became a literary sensation. â€Å"In the spring of 1941, both John and Joe, Jr. decided to enroll in the armed service. † (Reevs, Thomas C. , 37)Joe was accepted but John was turned down. He hoped to fight in the WWII but he was rejected by the U. S. Army because of his back trouble and history of illness. He reapplied after five months program of special exercise and was accepted into the Navy as a desk clerk in Washington. He was disgusted and applied for a transfer. Kennedy was sent to Naval Officers Training School at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1941. Later he was sent for additional training at the Motor Torpedo Boat Center at Melville, Rhode Island. In late April 1943, he was put in command of a PT 109 in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. Kennedy saw action in the form of night patrols and participated in enemy bombings. â€Å"On August 1, 1943, during a routine night patrol, a Japanese destroyer collided in the darkness with Kennedy's craft and the PT 109 was sunk. † (Falkolf, Lucille – 7). Kennedy heroically swam back and forth rescuing his wounded crew. Two were killed in the crash. The injury once again aggravated his back. Still, Kennedy pushed on swimming from island to island in the South Pacific hoping for a patrol to come by. Kennedy had no idea he had been in the water for eight hours. Finally, an island was spotted that could provided cover from Japanse planes. Kennedy realized that he and the crew must move on. He gathered the crew to move to another island in search of food. Kennedy swam for the next four days along a water route that he knew American ships used. Kennedy was now desperate enough to seek help from natives on a Japanese controlled island. He persuaded the natives to deliver a message written on the back of a coconut shell to allied forces. â€Å"The coconut fell into the hands of allied scouts and a patrol was sent. â€Å"(Encarta' 95) Kennedy and his crew were finally rescued. â€Å"For his courage, endurance, and excellent leadership, Kennedy received the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps medal, awarded for heroism not involving conflict with the enemy. â€Å"(Encarta' 95). John soon contracted malaria. He became ill. Then, he returned to the United States for medical. During recovery, Kennedy knew that his brother Joe, Jr. had been killed in action. Kennedy put his feelings onto paper and a second book was published for the family and close friends. † (Reevs, Thomas C. , 11). He called it â€Å"As We Remember Joe. † Kennedy's father had assumed that Joe, Jr. would go into politics. Both of his grandfathers had been active in politics. Now, Kennedy was the oldest Kennedy of his generation. His first chance in politics came when Congressman James Curley from the 11th District of Massachusetts decided to retire. It was his first Congressional seat by a margin of more than two to one. He was placed on the front page of the New York Times and in Time Magazine. He was often mistaken in Congress as a Senate page or an elevator operator. Later he ran against nine other candidates. He won the primary with 42 percent of the votes. He served three terms in the House of Representatives, during the Democratic Administrations of President harry S. Truman. He supported legislation that would serve the interests of his constituents. He also joined with Republicans in criticizing the Truman administration's handling of China. Kennedy easily won reelection to Congress in 1948 and 1950. â€Å"In 1952 he decided to run against incumbent Republican Senator henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Because Kennedy was little know outside his congressional district. † (Encarta' 95). He began his campaign two years before the election and met thousands of people throughout Massachusetts. The entire Kennedy family took part in the campaign. Kennedy defeated Lodge by 70, 000 votes. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newport, Rhode Island. He had three children. One daughter and two sons. Kennedy's youngest son died in less than 48 hours after his birth. Kennedy underwent a spinal-disk operation in less than a year after his marriage. Soon after that, a second back operation was performed. He wrote â€Å"Profiles in Courage† during this time. A book of essays on American politicians who risked their careers fighting for just but unpopular causes. It was published in 1956. This book received the Pulitzer Prize in 1957. Many people had known little about Kennedy came to admire him because of the success of â€Å"Profiles in Courage. † In 1957, Kennedy became a member of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he later won a place on the Senate Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor Management Field. His brother Robert served as chief counsel in the same Committee. In 1958, he spent many of his weekends campaigning for reelection in Massachusetts. â€Å"His Margin of victory, 874, 000 votes, was the largest ever recorded in a Massachusetts senatorial contest. † (Encarta' 95). Kennedy now began speaking out on foreign affairs. He was a severe critic of France's refusal to make concessions to its colony, Algeria. He advocated Algerian independence. Kennedy wanted the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination. He began working for it and faced several major obstacles. Many party leaders considered him too young and too inexperienced for the presidency. Many also doubted that a Roman Catholic could win a national election in a country that was mostly Protestant. Kennedy won most of the larger states in the northeastern United States. â€Å"The election drew a record 69 million voters to the polls, but Kennedy won by only 113, 000 votes. â€Å"(Encarta' 95). He won49. 7 percent of the popular vote, and Nixon won 49. 6 percent. Kennedy received 303 electoral votes to Nixon's 219. Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he emphasized America's revolutionary heritage. â€Å"The same†¦ beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe,† Kennedy said. â€Å"Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage-and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. (Encarta' 95) The words of his address were, â€Å"Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country. â€Å"(The World Book Encyclopedia, 268). â€Å"During Kennedy's first year in office, the Congress of the United States passed a major housing bill, a law increasing the minimum wage, and a bill granting federal aid to the country's economically depressed areas. â€Å"(Schlesinger, Arthur Meier-17). Kennedy also oversaw a bill creating the Peace Corps. After his initial success with Congress, Kennedy found it increasingly difficult to get his programs enacted into law. Although the Democrats held a majority in both legislative houses, Southern Democrats joined with conservative Republicans to stop legislation they dislike. With one bill, however, Congress dedicated more than $1 billion to finance sending a man to the moon. The major American legal and moral conflict during Kennedy's three years in office was in the area of civil rights for black citizens. Although â€Å"Kennedy was in no way responsible for the growth of the civil rights movement, he attempted to aid the cause by enforcing existing laws. He also asked Congress to pass a civil rights bill that would guarantee blacks the rights to vote, to attend public school, to have equal access to jobs, and to have access to public accommodations. â€Å"(Schlesinger, Arthur Meier-59). â€Å"In the late 1950s and early 1960s the government of Cuba under fidel Castro became increasingly hostile to the United States. When Castro began to proclaim his belief in Communism, many Cubans fled to the United States. † (Encarta' 95). In 1961 a secret project begun during the previous administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower culminated. Under the training of the Central Intelligence Agency, more than 1000 Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at a place called the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). â€Å"In Cuba both the bay of pigs occurred, in which U. S. supported rebels revolted in a poorly laid out plan of events that fell out beneath them, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in which the Soviet Republic were building missile silos in Cuba, 100 miles away from Florida. â€Å"(Encarta' 95). The Space Race was in full force with both Russia and the U. S. in competition to reach the moon during this time. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the world's largest approach to nuclear war. In 1960 Khrushchev decided to supply Cuba with nuclear missiles that would put the eastern United States within range of nuclear missile attack. In 1962 U. S. spy planes flying over Cuba spotted the first missile. Kennedy demanded that the USSR remove the weapons. United troops prepared to invade Cuba, but after a few tense days Khrushchev promised not to invade Cuba. The United States signed a limited nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the USSR, outlawing nuclear explosions in the atmosphere or underwater, but allowing them underground. â€Å"John F. Kennedy was shot to death by an assassin on Nov. 2. 1963, as he rode through the streets of Dallas, Texas. † (The World Book Encyclopedia, 266). Two shots were fired in rapid succession. One bullet passed through the president's neck and struck Governor Connally in the back. The other bullet struck the president in the head. His car sped to Parkland Hospital but doctors couldn't save his life. He was pronounced dead at 1:00 p. m. Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated him. Oswald was charged with the murder and arrested that afternoon. Two days after, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot Oswald while being moved from the city to the county jail. Millions of television viewers saw Ruby kill Oswald, who was under police guard. On November 24, the body of President Kennedy was carried on a horse-drawn carriage from the White House to the Rotunda of the Capitol. Thousands of people filed past the coffin of the president. The state funeral of President Kennedy was watched on television by millions around the World. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Kennedy was the first President to be born in the twentieth century and was very much a man of his time. He was restless, seeking, with a thirst of knowledge, and he had a feeling of deep commitment, not only to the people of the United States, but to the people of the world. Many of the causes he fought for exist today because of what he did for the rights of minorities, the poor, the very old and the very young. He never took anything for granted and worked for everything he owned. Perhaps Kennedy summed up his life best in his own inaugural speech: â€Å"Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. â€Å"(The World Book Encyclopedia, 268). He was a very loved and respected president and will truly be missed.

“Panopticism” and “Our Secret” Essay

In Michael Foucault’s reading on â€Å"Panopticism† he breaks down the social/economical systems and explains that society’s mentality on the law system. He answers the â€Å"why question† in a way certain individuals act and think as they do. Many times his explanation is much branched off into a different level of thinking. In one paragraph in â€Å"Panopticism†, a disciplinary mechanism is described, which is considered the best way for one person to be punished, in the new knowledge and learning is gained by every individual. But in â€Å"Our Secret† by Susan Griffins she carefully constructs and describes history, particularly WWII through the lives of several different people. Such as David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky who had a difficult time grasping her concepts that says, â€Å"Griffin writes about the past on how we can know it, what its relation to the present, why we should care. In the way she writes, she is also making an argument about how we can know and understand the past.† Griffin strikes all of these aspects in her essay. What is most compelling about the essay is how she incorporated personal, family, and world history into a good story of narrative, without ever losing the factual evidence the story provides. In the paragraph on page 182 in Ways of Reading, Foucault explains how he feels a person should be disciplined and he looks at it from different angle to really understand. â€Å"This enclosed, segmented space, observed at every point, in which the person inserted a fixed place, in which the slightest movements are supervised, which all events are recorded in an uninterrupted work of writing links the center and periphery, in which the power is exercised without the division, according to a continuous hierarchical figure, that a person is constantly located, examined, and distributed among the living beings, sick, and the dead that constitutes a compact model of the disciplinary mechanism.† In the first sentence of the paragraph a description of how closely watched and evaluated the individuals are. All movement, all actions, everything would be analyzed. This is how he feels a disciplinary mechanism should be and is a key model to follow. Disciplining that way would make the individual a better person, which I believe; â€Å"exercising power without division† is an example. In her essay, Griffin incorporates stories of people from totally different backgrounds,  upbringings, including herself, all to describe the accounts of one time period. Each person history is somehow connected with the next, and each story contributes equally to the bigger picture of history. Griffin puts three types of histories in her text; personal, family, and world history. In her personal history, she describes her life, and childhood, which is intertwine with her family history. However, she not only talks about her histories, she talks about the histories of the other characters in the essay to bring across the world. One of the technique’s that Griffin uses to help the audience understand her concepts, is explaining two other story lines while telling her main story. The first on is description of a cell. Throughout the essay italicized sentences explaining the complex of a cell being placed randomly between passages. The description beings with a nucleus, and as the story progresses, so does the nucleus. She tells what happens to the nucleus, and how the inner cells work on developing a nucleus, which gave rise to many of other cells, that will eventually become an embryo. The other story line, were also italicize sentences, goes through the making and beginning of missiles. â€Å"The plague is met by order; its function is to sort out every possible confusion that is of the disease, which is transmitted when bodies are mixed together, that the evil is increased when fear and death overcome prohibitions.† Disease definitely confuses the society when two or more people come together and embrace there disease. Evil becomes very overwhelming when it cannot be controlled or prevented; with the help of the plague everything becomes more controlled. â€Å"It lays down for each individual his place, his body, his disease, and his death, his wellbeing, by means of an omnipresent and omniscient power that subdivides itself in a regular, uninterrupted way even to the ultimo determination of the individual, of what characterize him, of what belongs to him, of what happen to him.† The plague served as some sort of god to most of the people. It breaks everything down and describes â€Å"omnipresent and omniscient power.† Act as keeping an eye on the person that sort the test, show how an individual would react knowing that they are being watched regardless if they believe it or not. Just how they would adapt to their own surroundings. What are the most compelling aspects about Griffin essay is  the way she combine personal, family, and world, and etc. The reading is a novel, which helps the audience to understand the concepts with a clear and complete overall view of her world. Two other authors, Richard Rodriguez, and Ralph Ellison, who wrote about their life experience that’s better understood as an historical text that is view through the eyes of Griffin. Rodriguez explores his own educational history that called â€Å"The Achievement of Desire† and Ellison depicts his own journey and personal growth which is called â€Å"An Extravagance of Laughter†. Both their writing are seen through G riffin’s perspective, can be opened and examined from a different view, helping the people understand with more of a lucid view of history and what it is really about. â€Å"The mixture of the plague brings into play its power, which is on the analysis.† In this sentence it describes the strength that is considered power. Learning can only make you more intelligent and the more you know the broader you understand would be which in your mental state would make you stronger. â€Å"A whole literary fiction of the festival grew up around the plague: suspended laws, lifted prospect, individuals unmarked, abandoning their statutory identity and the figure which they had recognized, allowing some different truth to appear†. When the individuals were changing their personalities to fit into the containment, as I said earlier in the essay, their trying to adapt to their environment. But their also political dream of the plague, that got reverse. Not the collective festival, but strict divisions; not laws transgressed, but the penetration of regulation into even the smallest details of everyday life through the thoughts of complete hierarchy that assured the function of power; the masks were put on and off, but the assignment for each person was their â€Å"true† name, â€Å"true† place, â€Å"true† body, and â€Å"true disease†. This sentence talks about a different side of the plague, the â€Å"political side†. Instead of analyzing the people was forcing out the power to handle certain individual. This was the dream of many that instead of interaction and strict regulation of everything done. The separated story lines are placed in the story to explain the background and the past of everyone. The background and past are factors in developing the present and future, and the characters in the story and tendency to try  and forget their past, but not realizing that there are no escapes. Griffin illustrates the technique with Heinrich Himmler, a prominent Nazi figure during WWII. In every detail, she describes Himmler’s childhood, and the harsh ways of his father. She also trace his life, and evident there’s always a maker; base from his childhood that affect the decision made later on in his life. Griffins merely do this to help provide understanding on such behavior develops. The art of this technique being effective, however, that Griffin interconnects all three stories so the audience to understand other authors and texts. Richard Rodrigues is one author that already go through history, from an educational standpoint. He discusses his childhood, and how co ming from a working class family improved his learning process. He examines a bit about his family history and personal history as well. Rodriguez traces his family back to Mexico, their move to America, and the struggle of keep up with the America living lifestyle. He examine what was it like growing up in a Mexican American household. As he gets older he began to not like his background and roots at an early age. He was working on many ways to discard the Mexican persona and develop a stronger American one. Rodriguez hides himself behind an image of what he thinks he should be, but not who he really is. The aspect of his family and personal history into his world history. Both family and personal history with his family’s migrating to America. While the war was not in America, they had to endure racism and hardships in the comings to the United States. Another author that was looked at in the eyes of Griffin was Ralph Ellison’s â€Å"Extravagance of Laughter’s†. What was interesting about these two essays were not only that the histories, but a lot of the major themes were implied in the essays. Ellison has a vast personal history that surrounds by world history; however there is not too much evidence of his family history. His personal history begins in the south to the north in the early nineteenth century. He talks about accounts of racism that occur in both places, which fall into a larger picture in world history. He remembers racism happening throughout the country at the time. Ellison combines so much personal history and world that became so difficult to distinguish that his personal history effected world history. One of the themes that stayed incorporated throughout both essay was constant effort to hide the truth. Ellison had difficult time admitting and realizing his true place in society. He wore  Ã¢â‚¬Å"marks† to cover how he felt in certain situation that he was in. When Griffins talks about her family, she also speaks of a mask as well. She says, â€Å"I think of it now as a mask, not an animated mask that expresses the essence of the inner truth, but a mask that falls like dead weight over the human face, make face, making flesh a stationary object†. Both Ellison and Grif fin felt trapped in there mark, and it took there self-dignity in freeing themselves of the mask. It hit Ellison during a play and it hit Griffin after learning about her family history. All three authors are in a sense of historians. They write events that are in the past, which make it about history. The work they do are very good work, others use their writings as guideline of writing events in an historian context. The themes about finding the truth within one’s self are throughout working, and different types of histories are explored, making these text much more than just history. Ralph Ellison once said, â€Å"The way a person expresses both the agony of life and the possibility of conquering it through is the sheer toughness of the spirit. They fall short of tragedy only in that they provide no solution; offer no scapegoat but the self†. â€Å"The plague as a form at once real and imaginary, of disorder had as its medical correlative disciple. Behind the disciplinary mechanisms can be read the haunting memory of â€Å"contagious† of the plague can be used as effective way disorder†. The plague can be used as an effective way to discipline; it is how they would use it to effect even if it would be possible. Each author demonstrates the toughness of theirs spirit, and it is up to the person to decide whether history will repeat itself or not. They all did the part in providing solutions for history. Work Cited Foucault, Michel. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison Ways of Reading/(New York: Vintage Books 1995) Tenth edition. pp. 195-228 Griffin, Susan. â€Å"Our Secret†. Way of Reading Eds: David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Tenth edition. Boston. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2002.

Autobilography of Zlatan Ibrahimovic

â€Å"I AM ZLATAN† By Zlatan Ibrahimovic as told to David Lagercrantz ————————————————————————— This book is dedicated to my family and friends, to those who have stood by my side, on good days and bad. I also want to dedicate it to all the kids out there, those who feel different and don't fit in. Those who are seen for the wrong reasons. It's OK to be different. Continue being yourself. It worked out for me. ————————————————————————— CHAPTER 1Pep Guardiola, the coach in Barcelona, with his grey suits and troubled face, came up to me looking concerned. I thought he was all right at that time, certainly not a Mourinho or Capello, but an ok guy. This was way before we started our war. It was the fall of 2009 and I was living my childhood dream. I was playing in the best team in the world and had been welcomed by 70 000 people at the Camp Nou. I was walking on clouds. Well maybe not entirely, there were some bullshit in the papers. I was the bad boy and all that. I was difficult dealing with. But still, I was here. Helena and the kids were also good.We had a nice house in Esplugues de Llobregat and I felt fully charged. What could go wrong? â€Å"Hey you†, Guardiola said. â€Å"Here in Barca we keep our feet down on the ground. † â€Å"Sure†, I said. â€Å"Fine. † â€Å"Here we don't drive any Ferraris or Porsches to training. † I nodded, didn't go cocky on him, like how the fuck is what car I'm driving your concern? But I thought â€Å"What does he want? What message is he giving me? Believe me, I don't need any fancy cars or parking on the sidewalk to show off anymore. That w asn't it. I love my cars. They're a passion of mine, but I sensed something else behind his words.Kind of: don't think you're so special. I had already at that point understood that Barca is like a school. The players were all nice, nothing wrong with them, and there was Maxwell, my old friend from Ajax and Inter. But honestly, none of the guys acted like superstars, and I thought that was odd. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, the whole gang, was like school kids. The world's best players stood there nodding, and I couldn't understand that. It was ridiculous. If a coach in Italy says â€Å"jump†, the players ask â€Å"what? Why should we jump? † Here, everyone jumped at any command. I didn't fit in, not at all.But I was thinking: Accept the situation. Don't confirm their thoughts about you. So I started adapting. I became too kind. It was insane. Mino Raiola, my agent, my friend, said: â€Å"What's wrong with you Zlatan? I don't recognize you. † No one recognized me, not m y buddies, no one. I became boring, bland, and you should know that ever since Malmo FF I've had one philosophy: I run my own race. I don't give a damn what people think and I've never felt comfortable with authority. I like guys who run the red light, if you know what I mean. But now†¦ I didn't say what I wanted. I said what I thought people expected of me. It was wack.I drove the club's Audi and stood there nodding like back in school, or like I should have stood nodding back in school. I didn't give my team mates any crap. I was boring. Zlatan wasn't Zlatan, and that hadn't happen since back in school when I saw chicks in Ralph Lauren shirts for the first time and almost shit my pants when I was asking them out. But still, I started the season great. I scored goal after goal after goal. We won the UEFA Super Cup. I was shining. I dominated. But I was somebody else. Something had happened, nothing serious, not yet. I had been silenced, and that's dangerous, believe me. I have to be mad to play well.I have to shout and make scenes. Now I kept all that within me. Maybe it had to do with all pressure. I don't know. I was the second most expensive transfer in history, and the papers kept saying I was a problem child and had issues with my personality, all kinds of bullshit, and unfortunately I felt the weight of it all – in Barca we don't stick out, and I guess I wanted to show that I could fit in. It was the most stupid decision of my entire life. I was still killing on the field. But it wasn't as fun anymore. I even thought about quitting football. Not that I would break my contract, I'm a professional. But I lost the fun.And then came Christmas break. We went to Are and I rented a snowmobile. Whenever life stands still, I want action. I always drive like a maniac. I've gone 325 km/hr in my Porsche Turbo, leaving chasing cops behind. I've done so many fucked up things I barely want to think about them. And now in the mountains I was giving it my al l on the snowmobile, got freeze burns and had the time of my life. Finally some adrenaline! Finally the old, the real Zlatan, and I were thinking to myself: Why am I doing this? I have money. I don't have to feel shit with idiot coaches. I can have fun instead and take care of my family.It was a great time, but it didn't last long. When we returned to Spain disaster struck. Not immediately, but slowly. Disaster was in the air. A light snowfall came. It was like the Spaniards had never seen snow before, and in our hood, in the hills above Barcelona, cars were smashing to the left and right, and Mino, the fat idiot – the wonderful fat idiot I should add if anyone would misunderstand me – froze like a dog in his summer shoes and light jacket and convinced me to take the Audi. It almost ended in disaster. On a downhill street we lost control of the car and smashed into a stone wall.The whole right side of the car was demolished. Many had crashed during the bad weather, but no one as badly as me. I won the crash contest too, and we laughed a lot about that. And I was actually feeling like myself sometimes. I felt ok. But then Messi started talking. Messi is awesome. Fucking unbelievable. I don't know him very well. We are very different personalities. He came to Barca 13 years old and is brought up in their culture. He doesn't have any problems with that school shit. In the team, the play revolves around him, which is natural really. He's brilliant, but now I had come, and I was scoring more than he did.He went to Guardiola and said: â€Å"I don't want to play on the right side, on the wing, anymore. I want to be in the middle. † That was where I was. But Guardiola didn't give a shit. He changed tactics. From 4-3-3 he switched to 45-1 with me on top and Messi right behind, leaving me in the shadow. All balls went through Messi and I couldn't play my game. I have to be free as a bird on the field. I'm the guy who wants to make a difference on al l levels. But Guardiola sacrificed me. That's the truth. He locked me in up there. OK, I can understand his situation. Messi was the star. Guardiola has to listen to him.But come on! I had scored goal after goal in Barca, I was lethal too. He couldn't adapt the team after one single guy. I mean: why the hell did he buy me then? No one pays that kind of money just to strangle me as a player. Guardiola had to think of both of us, and of course, the mood amongst the club management became nervous. I was their biggest investment ever, and I didn't feel good in the new lineup. I was too expensive not to feel good. Txiki Begiristain, the sports director, was pushing me; he said I had to speak with the coach. â€Å"Work it out! † I didn't like it. I'm a player who accepts the situation.But sure, fine, I did it! A friend of mine said â€Å"Zlatan, it's like if Barca bought a Ferrari but are driving it like a Fiat†, and I thought, yeah, that's a good argument. Guardiola had tra nsformed me into a simpler, worse player. And the whole team was losing from that. So I went to the coach. I approached him on the pitch, during training, and I was careful about one thing. I didn't want a fight, and I told him: â€Å"I don't want to fight. I don't want a war. I just want to discuss things. † He nodded. But maybe he looked a bit frightened, so I repeated: â€Å"If you think I want a fight, I will leave.I just want to talk. † â€Å"Good! I like talking with the players. † â€Å"Listen! † I continued. â€Å"You are not using my capacity. If it was a goal scorer you wanted, you should have bought Inzaghi or someone. I need space, and to be free. I can't run up and down constantly. I weigh 98 kilos. I don't have the physique for it. † He was thinking. He was often doing that. â€Å"I think you can play like this. † â€Å"No, then its better if you bench me. With all due respect, I understand you, but you are sacrificing me for other players. This isn't working. It's like you bought a Ferrari but are driving it like if it was a Fiat. He continued thinking. â€Å"OK, maybe it was a mistake. This is my problem. I will work it out. † I was happy. He would work it out. But then the ice cold came. He would barely look at me, and I'm not one who really cares about such things, and despite my new position I continued to be great. I scored more goals. Not as nice ones as in Italy. I was too high up on the pitch. It wasn't Ibracadabra anymore, but still†¦ Against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the Champions League we outplayed them completely. The stadium was boiling. The first twenty minutes were amazing, and I scored one goal†¦ two goals.Beautiful goals, and I was thinking: Screw Guardiola! I'll run my own race! But then I was substituted, Arsenal came back and scored two goals. It was shit and afterwards my thigh hurt. Normally a coach cares about such things. An injured Zlatan is a serious thing for any team. But Guardiola was ice cold. He didn't say a single word, and I was out for three weeks. Not once did he face me and ask â€Å"How are you feeling, Zlatan? Can you play the next game? † He didn't even say hello. Not a word. He avoided looking at me. If I entered a room, he would leave. What's going on? I was thinking.Have I done something? Do I look strange? Am I speaking strange? My mind was spinning in circles. I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about it constantly. Not that I needed Guardiola's love or anything. He could hate me all he wanted. I'm triggered by hate and revenge. But now I lost focus, and I talked to the other players. No one understood what was going on. I asked Thierry Henry, who was on the bench during this time. Thierry Henry is the top scorer in the history of the French national team. He's cool. He was still amazing, and he was also having problems with Guardiola. â€Å"He doesn't greet me.He doesn't look me in the eyes, what has happ ened? † I asked. â€Å"No idea†, Henry said. We started joking about it. â€Å"Hey, Zlatan, has he looked at you today? † â€Å"No, but I saw his back! † â€Å"Congratulations, things are improving! † Shit like that, and it helped a little bit. But it was really getting on my nerves, and I asked myself every hour: What have I done? What's wrong? But I never got any answers. Nothing more than that the ice storm must have had to do with our talk about my position. There couldn't be any other explanation. But that would be twisted. Was he psyching me out because a chat about my position?I tried confronting him, I'd walk towards him try looking him in the eyes. He turned around. He seemed scared, and sure I could have booked an appointment and asked â€Å"What is this about? † But never. I had done enough crawling for that guy. This was his problem. Not that I knew what it was. I still don't know it. Or, well†¦ I don't think the guy can hand le strong personalities. He wants nice school boys. And worse: he runs away from his problems. He can't look them in the eye, and that made everything so much worse. It got worse. The ash cloud from the volcano on Iceland came.No flights at all in Europe and we were going to San Siro to face Inter. We took the bus. Some brain-dead person in Barca thought that was a good idea. I was free from injuries then. But the trip became a disaster. It took 16 hours and we were all worn out when we arrived in Milano. It was our most important game so far that season, semifinal in the Champions League, and I was prepared for mayhem, booing and whistling at my old arena, no problems, that drive me. But the situation a part from that was terrible. And I think Guardiola had a hang up on Mourinho. Jose Mourinho is a big star.He had won Champions League already with Porto. He was my coach in Inter. He's cool. The first time he met Helena he whispered to her: â€Å"Helena, you only have one mission. Feed Zlatan, let him sleep, keep him happy! † The guy says what he wants. I like him. He's the leader of an army. But he also cares. He was sending me text messages all the time in Inter asking how I was feeling. He's the opposite of Guardiola. If Mourinho lights up a room, Guardiola pulls the blinds. † I guess Guardiola now tried to measure up to him. â€Å"It's not Mourinho we are facing. It's Inter†, he said, like we thought we'd play ball with the coach.And then he pulled his philosophy crap. I was barely listening. Why would I? It was advanced crap about blood, sweat and tears, shit like that. I've never heard a coach talk like that. Pure garbage. But now he finally came up to me. It was during the practice at San Siro, and people were there watching, like â€Å"Wow, Ibra is back! † â€Å"Can you play from start† Guardiola asked. â€Å"Definitely†, I answered. â€Å"But are you prepared? † â€Å"Definitely. I feel fine. † â €Å"But are you ready? † He was like a parrot, and I got some nasty vibes. â€Å"Listen, it was a terrible trip, but I'm in good form. The injury is gone.I'll give it my everything. † Guardiola looked as though he doubted me. I didn't understand him, and afterwards I called Mino Raiola. I call Mino all the time. Swedish journalists use to say: Mino is bad image for Zlatan. Mino is this and that. You want the truth? Mino is a genius. I asked him: â€Å"What does the guy mean? † None of us understood. We started losing it. But I got to play from start and we scored 1-0. Then the game turned, I was substituted after sixty minutes and we lost 3-1. It was shit. I was furious. But in the earlier days, like Ajax, I could dwell on a loss for days or even weeks.Now I have Helena and the kids. They help me forget and move on. And I was focusing on the return game at Camp Nou. The return game was incredibly important and the excitement was building up, day by day. The pres sure was incredible. It was like thunder in the air, and we had to win big to advance. But then†¦ I don't even want to think about it, or, well, I do. It made me stronger. We won by 1-0. But that wasn't enough. We were eliminated from the Champions League, and afterwards Guardiola looked at me like it was my fault, and I was thinking: The bottle is empty now. We're out of playing cards.After that game it felt like I wasn't welcome in the club anymore, and I felt bad driving their Audi. I felt like shit sitting in the dressing room and Guardiola would stare at me like I was a problem, some freak. It was insane. He was a wall, a stone wall. I didn't get a single sign of life from him, and I wanted to get far away every second. I was no longer part of the team, and when we played Villa Real he let me play five minutes. Five minutes! I was boiling inside, not because I was on the bench. I can deal with that if the coach is man enough to say: You're not good enough, Zlatan.But Guard iola didn't say a single word, nothing, and at this point I'd had it. I could feel it in my entire body, and if I was Guardiola, I would have been scared. Not that I'm a fighter. I've done all kinds of crazy shit. But I don't fight, well, on the pitch I've knocked one or two out. But still, when I get angry, my eyes turn black. You don't want to be anywhere near. And let me tell you in detail what happened. After the game I went into the dressing room, I hadn't exactly planned some raging attack†¦ But I wasn't happy, to use mild words, and in the dressing room my enemy stood, scratching his bald head. Few others were in there.Toure and a few others, and the big metal box where we put our clothes, and I was staring at the box. Then I kicked it. I think it flew like three meters, but I wasn't done yet. Far from it. I yelled: â€Å"You have no balls†, and probably some worse things, and added: â€Å"You shit yourself in front of Mourinho. You can go fuck yourself! † I went insane, and maybe you'd expect Guardiola to say something, maybe: Calm down, you don't talk like that to your coach! But he's not like that. He's a weak coward. He just picked up the box, like a little cleaner, and then he left and never talked about it again, nothing at all.But of course words spread. In the bus everyone was crazy: â€Å"What happened, what happened?! † Nothing, I thought. Just a few words of truth. But I didn't have the energy talking about it. I was so pissed off. My coach had frozen me out week after week without explaining why. It was sick. I've had some bad fights before. But the day after we'd always sorted things out and moved on. Now the silence and terror just continued, and I thought: â€Å"I'm 28 years old. I've scored 22 goals and 15 assists only here in Barca, and still I'm treated like I don't exist, like air. Should I accept this?Should I continue adapting? No way! When I understood I'd be on the bench against Almeria, I remembered tho se words: â€Å"Here, in Barca, we don't drive Ferrari or Porsche to the practice! † What bullshit was that anyway? I drive what I want, at least if it pisses off some idiot. I jumped into my Enzo, floored it and parked outside the door at practice. Of course it resulted in a circus. The papers wrote that my car cost as much as the monthly salary for the entire Almeria squad. But I didn't care. Media bullshit meant nothing at this point. I had decided to give back.I decided to fight back seriously, and you should know one thing, that's a game I can play. I've been a bad boy before, believe me. But I didn't want to mess with the preparations just because of that, so obviously I called Mino. We always plan the smart and dirty tricks together. I also called my buddies. I wanted different perspectives on the situation, and oh god, I got all kinds of advice. The Rosengard guys wanted to come down and â€Å"trash stuff†, and of course that was nice of them to offer, but it d idn't feel like the right strategy at that point. And of course I discussed everything with Helena.She's from another world. She's cool. She can also be tough. But now she tried encouraging me: â€Å"You've become a better dad. When you don't have a team where you feel good, you team up with us†, she said, and that made me happy. I played some ball with the kids and tried to make sure everyone was feeling alright, and of course I spent time with my video games. It's like a disease for me. They eat me up. But since the time in Inter when I could play until four, five in the morning and go to practice after just a couple of hours sleep, I've set some rules for myself: no Xbox or Playstation after 10 at night.I can't let time run away from me, and during these weeks in Spain I really tried to spend time with my family and just chill in our garden. I even had a Corona now and then. That was the good side of it. But at nights when I would be lying awake, or at practice when I saw Guardiola, the dark side of me woke up. The anger was pounding inside my head and I planned my next move and my revenge. No, I realized it more and more, there was no turning back. It was time to stand up for myself and become the real me again. Because don't forget: You can take the kid away from the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto away from the kid. —————————————————————— The feet Ibra & Sanela on dad's blue Opel Kadett CHAPTER 2 My brother gave me a BMX bike when I was little. I called it Fido Dido. Fido Dido was a tough little bastard, a cartoon guy with spiky hair. I thought he was the coolest. But the bike got stolen quickly outside the Rosengard bathhouse and my dad went there , with open shirt and sleeves rolled up. He's the kind of guy who says: No one touches my kids! No one steals their stuff! But not even a tough guy like him could do anything about it. Fido Dido was gone, and I was devastated.After that I started stealing bikes. I'd smash the locks. I became great at it. Bang, bang, bang, and the bike was mine. I was the bicycle thief. It was my first â€Å"thing†. It was pretty innocent. But sometimes it got out of control. Once I dressed up in all black, went out into the night like fucking Rambo and got a military bike using a huge bolt cutter. And sure, that bike was cool. I loved it. But honestly, it was more the kick I got out of it than the bike. It triggered me sneaking around in the dark, and I'd throw eggs at windows and that kind of stuff and I was only caught sometimes.One embarrassing thing happened at the Wessels department store out at Jagersro, for example. But honestly, I deserved it. Me and a friend were wearing huge winter down jackets in the middle of summer, quite fucked up, and under those jackets we had four table tennis rackets and some other crap we picked up . â€Å"You guys, aren't you paying for those† said the guard who caught us. I pulled out a few pennies from my pocket: â€Å"With these? † But the guy didn't have a sense of humor, so I decided to be more professional from then on. And I guess I became quite a skilled maniac in the end. I was a small kid.I had a big nose and I lisped and went to a speech coach. A woman came to my school and taught me how to say S and I thought it was demeaning. I guess I wanted to assert myself somehow. And it was like I was boiling inside. I couldn't sitt still for more than a second and I was running around all the time. It was like nothing bad could happen to me if I ran fast enough. We lived in Rosengard outside of Malmo and it was full of Somalis, Turks, Yugoslavs, Poles, all kinds of immigrants, and Swedes. We were all acting cocky. The smallest thing got us fired up, and it wasn't easy at home, to say the least.We lived on the fourth floor up on Cronmans Road, and we didn't run around hugging each other. No one asked â€Å"How was your day today little Zlatan†, nothing like that. No grown-ups would assist with homework or ask if you had any problems. You were on your own, and you couldn't whine about someone being mean to you. You just had to bite the bullet, and there was chaos and fights and some punches. But sure, sometimes you'd wish for some sympathy. One day I fell off the roof at the kindergarten. I got a black eye and ran home crying expecting a pat on the head or at least some kind words. I got a slap in the face. What were you doing on the roof? † It wasn't like â€Å"Poor Zlatan. † It was â€Å"You fucking idiot, climbing up a roof. Here's a slap for you†, and I was shocked and ran away. Mom didn't have time for comforting, not at that time. She was cleaning and struggling to make money, she was really a fighter. But she couldn't take much else. She had it tough, and all of us had a terrible temper. It wasn't like the normal Swedish chat at home, like â€Å"Honey, can you please pass me the butter†, more like: â€Å"Get the milk you jerk! † There were doors slamming and mom crying. She cried a lot. She has my love.She's had a tough life. She was cleaning like fourteen hours a day, and sometimes we'd tag along, emptying trashcans and stuff like that and got some pocket money. But sometimes mom lost it. She'd hit us with wooden spoons, and sometimes they broke, so I had to go buy a new one, like if it was my fault she'd hit me that hard. I remember one day in particular. I had thrown a brick at kindergarten that somehow bounced and broke a window. Mom freaked out when she heard about it. Everything that cost money freaked her out, and she hit me with spoon. Bang, boom! It hurt and maybe the spoon broke again.I don't know. Sometimes there were no spoons at home, and then she'd come after me with a rolling pin. But then I got away, and I talked with Sanela about it. Sanela is my only f ull sibling. She's two years older. She's a tough girl, and she thought we should play some games with mom. Fuck, hitting us in the head! Insane! So we went to the store and bought a bunch of those spoons, really cheap ones, and gave them to mom as a Christmas present. I don't think she got the irony. She didn't have room for that. There had to be food on the table. All her energy was consumed by that.We were quite a bunch at home, also my half-sisters who later disappeared and broke all contact with us, and my younger brother Aleksandar, we'd call him Keki, and the money wasn't enough. Nothing was enough and the older ones to care of the younger, otherwise we wouldn't have made it. There was a lot of instant macaroni and ketchup, and eating at friends’ homes or at my aunt Hanife's who lived in the same building. She was the one of us who came to Sweden first. I wasn't even two years old when my mom and dad got divorced, and I don't remember anything about it. That's probably good. It wasn't a good marriage, I've heard.There were a lot of fighting, and they had gotten married for my dad to get a residence permit. I guess it was natural for all of us to end up living with mom. But I missed my dad. He had more going for him and there was always something fun going on with him. Me and Sanela would meet dad every other weekend and he used to come in his old blue Opel Kadett and we'd go to Pildammsparken or out on the island in Limhamn to get hamburgers and soft ice cream. One day he made a splurge and got us each a pair of Nike Air Max, the cool sneakers that where like over a thousand kronor, really expensive.Mine were green, Sanela's pink. No one in Rosengard had shoes like that, and we felt so cool. We had it nice with dad and we'd get some money for pizza and Coca-Cola. He had a decent job and only one other son, Sapko. He was our fun weekend-dad. But things would change. Sanela was awesome at running. She was the fastest at running 60 meters in her age in all of Skane [ed note: region of southern Sweden] and dad was proud as a peacock and used to drive her to practice. â€Å"Great, Sanela. But you can do better†, he said. That was his thing, â€Å"Better, better, don't settle†, and this time I was in the car.Dad remembers it like that anyway, and he noticed it immediately. Something was wrong. Sanela was quiet. She struggled not to cry. â€Å"What's wrong? † he said. â€Å"Nothing†, she answered and then he asked again and she told. W e don't have to go into details, that's Sanela's story. But my dad, he's like a lion. If something happens to his kids he goes wild, especially when it comes to Sanela, his only daughter. And it became a huge circus, with interrogations, social welfare investigations, custody battles and shit. I didn't understand too much of it. I was turning nine.It was the fall of 1990 and they kept that stuff away from me. But I had my hunches of course. It was turbulent at home. Still , not the first time. One of my half-sisters did drugs, some heavy shit, and kept stashes at home. There was always chaos around her, and creepy people calling and a lot of fear that something bad would happen. Another time my mom was arrested for stashing stolen goods. Some friends had told her: â€Å"Take these necklaces! † and she did it. She didn't understand. But the stuff was stolen and the police came bombarding in and took her.I remember it vaguely like a weird feeling: Where's mom? Why is she gone? But after that latest thing with Sanela she was crying again, and I just ran away from it. I was messing around outside or playing football. Not like I was the most balanced guy, or the greatest promise. I was just one of the kids kicking ball, or actually worse. I had some terrible outbursts. I'd headbutt people and lash out against my teammates. But I had the football. It was my thing, and I was playing all the time, in our yard, on the field, during school breaks. We we nt to the Varner Ryden school at that time.Sanela in fifth grade, and me in third, and no one doubted which one of us was well-behaved! Sanela had to grow up at young age and become an extra-mom for Keki and take care of the family when the sisters left. She took a huge responsibility. She behaved. She wasn't the girl who got called to the principal's office, and that's why I became worried immediately when I got the call. We were both asked in for talks, and like, if only me had been called, it'd been normal, just routine. But now it was me and Sanela. Had someone died? What was going on? I got stomach pains, and we walked through the corridor.It must have been late fall or winter. I felt paralyzed. But when we came into the office my dad was sitting there with the principal, and I felt happy. Dad used to mean fun stuff. But wasn't fun. Everything was stiff and formal and I felt very uncomfortable, and honestly, I didn't get much of what was said, only that it was about dad and mom , and it wasn't any pleasant stuff. But now I know. Now, much later, when working on this book, the pieces of the puzzle have come in place. In November 1990 the social services had done their investigation, and dad had gotten custody of me and Sanela.The environment at mom's place was decided bad for us, not so much because of her, I have to say that. There were other things, but it was a huge thing anyway, a major disapproval, and mom was devastated. Would she lose us as well? It was a disaster. She cried and cried and sure, she had been hitting us with spoons, given us beatings and not listened to us, and she'd had bad luck with her men and there was no money and all that. But she loved her kids. She was just raised under tough conditions, and I think my dad understood that. He went to her the same afternoon: â€Å"I don't want you to lose them, Jurka. But he demanded some improvement, and dad isn't to play games with in situations like that. I'm sure there were harsh words. â⠂¬Å"If things don't improve, you'll never see the kids again†, stuff like that, but I don't know exactly what happened. But Sanela iived with dad for a few weeks, and I stayed with mom, despite everything. It wasn't a good solution. Sanela didn't like it at dads. She and I found him sleeping on the floor around that time, and the table was full of beer cans and bottles. â€Å"Dad, wake up, wake up! † But he kept sleeping. It was a strange thing for me. Like, why does he do this?We didn't know what to do. But we wanted to help. Maybe he was freezing? We covered him with towels and blankets to get him warm. But I didn't understand anything. Sanela probably understood more. She had noticed how his mood could swing and how he could explode and scream like a bear and I think that frightened her. And she missed her little brother. She wanted to go back to mom and I wanted the opposite. I missed my dad, and one of those nights I called him, probably sounding desperate. I felt lonely without Sanela. â€Å"I don't wanna live here. I wanna be at your place. † â€Å"Come here†, he said. â€Å"I'll call a cab. There were new investigations by the social services, and in March 1991 mom got custody of Sanela and dad of me. We separated, me and sis, but we have always stayed close, or let's say, it's been up and down. But we are very close. Sanela is a hairdresser now and sometimes people come to her salon and say: â€Å"My god, you look like Zlatan! † and she always answers: â€Å"Bullshit, he looks like me. † She's tough. But none of us have had an easy ride. My dad, Sefik, moved from Hards road in Rosengard to Varnhems squre in Malmo in 1991, and you have understood this – he's got a big heart, he's prepared to die for us.But things didn't turn out the way I had expected. I knew him as weekend-dad who got us hamburgers and ice cream. Now we were to share every day and I noticed immediately: it was empty at his place. Someth ing was missing, maybe a woman. There was a TV set, a sofa, a book shelf, and two beds. But nothing extra, no comfort, no well-being, and there were beer cans on the tables and trash on the floor, and sometimes when he got going and started wallpapering, he'd only do one wall. â€Å"I'll do the rest tomorrow! † But it never happened, and we also moved a lot, and never really got settled anywhere.But it was also empty in another way. Dad was a caretaker with the worst working hours and when he came home with work pants with all those pockets with screwdrivers and things he'd sit down by the phone or the TV, and didn't want to be bothered. He was in his own world, and often with headphones listening to Yugoslavian folk music. He's crazy about Yugo music. He's recorded some tapes himself. He's a showman when he's in the right mood. But most of the time he was in his own world and if my friends called he'd hiss at them: â€Å"Don't call here! † I couldn't take my friends t here and if they had asked for me I never found out.The phone wasn't important to me, and I had no one to speak with at home really, or, well, when there was something serious, dad was there for me. Then he could do anything for me, run downtown with his cocky style trying to settle stuff. He had a way of walking which made people go, like â€Å"Who the fuck is that? † But he didn't care about all the normal stuff, what happened in school, in football and with friends, so I had to talk to myself or get outside. Sapko, my half-brother, lived with us during the first time, and sure I must have talked with him sometimes, he must have been seventeen then.But I don't remember much of it, and soon my dad would throw him out. They had some horrible fights. That's also a sad thing of course and it was only me and dad left. We were alone on our own sides, so to say, because the strange thing was that he didn't have any friends coming visit either. He was sitting by himself drinking. T here was no company. But most of all, there was no food. I was outdoors most of the time playing football and riding stolen bikes, and I would often come home hungry as a wolf and open the fridge thinking: Please, please, let there be something!But no, nothing, just the usual stuff: milk, butter, some bread, and if I was lucky some juice, Multivitamin, the 4 liter pack, bought at the Arabian store because they were the cheapest, and beer of course, Pripps Bla and Carlsberg, six-packs with that plastic wrap around them. Sometimes there was only beer, and my stomach was screaming for food. There was a pain in that which I'll never forget. Ask Helena! I always say that the fridge has to be jam-packed. That will never change. The other day my kid, Vincent, cried, because he didn't get his pasta, but it was already cooking on the stove.The guy was yelling because he didn't get his food quick enough so I wanted to scream: If you only knew how well your life is! I could search every drawer , every corner, for one single macaroni or a meatball. I could fill my stomach with toast. I could eat a whole loaf of bread, or I'd run over to mom's place. I wasn't always welcomed with open arms. It was more like â€Å"Fuck, is Zlatan coming too? Doesn't Sefik feed him? And sometimes she'd yell at me: Are we made of money? Are you gonna eat us out on the street? But still, we helped each other, and at dad's place I started a little war against the beer.I poured out some of them in the sink, not all of them, that would have been too obvious, but a few. He rarely noticed anything. There was beer everywhere, on the tables, in the shelves, and often I'd collect the empty cans in big black plastic trash bags and went to recycle them. I'd get 50 ore per can. Still I'd sometimes collect 50 or 100 kronor [ed note: that's 100 or 200 cans]. That was a lot of cans and I was happy for the cash. But of course, it was a sad thing, and like all kids in a situation like that, I'd learn to read his mood. I knew exactly when I could talk to him. The day after he'd been drinking it was quite cool.Second day was worse. In some situations he could strike like lightning. Other times he was incredibly generous. Gave me five hundred kronor just like that. At that time I was collecting football pictures. You'd get a chewing gum and three pics in a little package. Oh, oh, which guys would I get? I wondered. Maradona? I was often disappointed, especially when I only got Swedish players I didn't know anything about. But one day he came home with a whole box. It was a blast and and I tore them all open and got all kinds of cool Brazilians. Sometimes we'd watch TV together, talking. Then it was all great. But other days he was drunk.I have some horror images in my head, and when I got older, I started facing him. I wouldn't back off, like my brother. I told him: â€Å"You're drinking to much, dad†, and we'd have some insane fights, sometimes meaningless, to tell you the truth. B ut I wanted to prove that I could speak for myself, and then we'd have a freaking chaos at home. But he never touched me physically, never. Well, once he lifted me two meters up in the air and dropped me in my bed, but that was because I had been mean to Sanela, his jewel. Inside he was the kindest man in the world, and I understand now that he didn't have the easiest life. He drinks to bury his sorrow†, my brother said and maybe that wasn't the whole truth. The war really affected him a lot. The war was a strange thing. I never found out anything about it. I was being protected. Everyone really made an effort. I didn't even understand why mom and my sisters dressed in black. It was weird, like some new fashion thing. But it was our grandmother who had died in a bomb attack in Croatia and everyone mourned, everyone except me, who never found out about anything and never would care if people were Serbs or Bosnians, or whatever.But it was worst for my dad. He came from Bijeljina in Bosnia. He used to be a mason down there, and all his family and old friends lived in the city and now suddenly hell had come there. Bijeljina was more or less raped, and it wasn't strange that he called himself a muslim again, not at all. The Serbs invaded the town and executed hundreds of muslims. I think he knew many of them, and all his family had to escape. The whole population in Bijeljina was replaced, and Serbs moved into all the empty houses, also in my dad's old house.Someone else just entered the house and took over, and I can really understand he didn't have much time for me, especially not at nights when he sat waiting for the news on TV or some phone call from down there. The war ate him, and he became obsessed with following the news. He sat alone, drinking and mourning, listening to his Yugo-music, and I tried to stay outdoors or went over to mom's place. It was a different world. At my dad's it was only him and me. At mom's it was a circus. People coming and lea ving, loud voices and doors slamming.My mom had moved five floors up on the same street, Cronmans road 5A, the floor above my aunt Hanife, or Hanna as I called her. Me, Keki and Sanela were really close. We made a pact. But there was some shit going on at mom's place too. My half-sister sank deeper and deeper into the drugs and mom would twitch every time the phone rang or someone was at the door: No, no, kind of. Haven't we had enough accidents? What now? She grew old too soon, and is rabid against all kinds of drugs. Not a long time ago, and I'm talking recently as we speak, she called me, totally freaked out: â€Å"There are drugs in the fridge! â€Å"My god, drugs! † I got going too. Not again, you know, so I called Keki, kind of aggressively: â€Å"What the fuck, are there drugs in mom's fridge!? † He didn't understand a thing. But then it hit us. She talked about snus [ed note: swedish chewing tobacco]. â€Å"Chill, mom, it's just snus. † â€Å"The same shit†, she said. Those years really marked her, and we should have behaved better. But we didn't know how to. We only knew the rough style. The half-sis and her drugs moved out quite soon and went to a rehab place, but always came back into the shit and eventually mom cut her off, or the other way around.I don't know the details there. Anyway, it was quite tough, but we have that tendancy in our family. We hold our grudges, we're dramatic and say: â€Å"I never wanna see you again! † stuff like that. Anyway, I remember one time when I was visiting her and her drugs in her own little apartment. It could have been on my birthday. I think so. I had bought her some gifts, and she was acting very kind. But when I was going to the bathroom, she panicked and stopped me. â€Å"No, no†, she yelled and ran in there and started moving stuff around. I knew something was wrong. There was like a secret.Lots of stuff like that happened. But like I said, they kept it away from m e, and I had my own stuff, my bikes and my football, and my dreams about Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali. I wanted to be like them. Dad had an older brother named Sabahudin in the old Yugoslavia. They called him Sapko, my older brother was named after him. Sabahudin was a boxer, a real talent. He was fighting for BK Radnicki in the city Kragujevac and became Yugoslavic Champion with his club, and a national team boxer. But in 1967, when the guy was just had gotten married, and only twenty three years old, he swam out into the Neretva river.There were some currents and stuff and I think he had a problem with his heart or his lungs. He was drawn down by the currents and drowns. You can imagine, it was quite a blow for the family, and after that my dad became sort of a fanatic. He had all the great games recorded on video and it wasn't just Sabahudin, but also Ali, Foreman and Tyson, and all the Bruce Lee- and Jackie Chan-flicks on those old tapes. Those were the things we'd watch when we h ung out in front of the telly. Swedish TV was crap. It wasn't on the map. We lived in a totally different world. I was twenty years old when I watched my first Swedish film, and I ad no clue about Swedish heroes or sport guys, like Ingemar Stenmark and guys like that. But I knew Ali! What a legend! He did his own thing no matter what people said. He never apologized and that's something I'll never forget. That dude was cool. He did his thing. That was the way to be, so I copied some stuff, I'm the greatest, kind of. You needed a tough attitude in Rosengard, and if you heard some shit, the worst was being called a cunt, and then you couldn't back down. But usually we didn't mess around. You don't take a shit in your own bed, we used to say. It was more Rosengard against everyone else.I was there watching and screaming against the racist fuckers who demonstrate on November 30th, and once, at the Malmo Festival, I saw a huge gang from Rosengard, like two hundred of them, chasing a lone guy. It didn't really look fair, honestly. But since they were guys from my neighborhood I ran along, and I don't think that guy felt too good afterwards. We were all cocky and wild. But sometimes that's not so easy. When me and dad lived by the Stenkula School I often stayed until late at mom's, and then I had to walk home through a dark tunnel which crosses Amiral street and is across the Annelunds bridge.Once, years before, my dad had robbed and badly beaten there and gone to the hospital with a punctured lung. Although I didn't want to, I often thought about that. The more I tried to repress it, the more often it popped up in my head, and in this neighborhood there were some railroad tracks and a street. There's also a disgusting alley and some bushes and two lamp posts, one before the tunnel and one after. A part from that it was dark, and creepy vibes. That's why those lamp posts became my beacons.Between them I'd run like crazy with a pounding heart, and all the time I was t hinking: I'm sure there are some creepy dudes in there, like the ones who attacked my dad, and I thought: If I run fast enogh things will be alright, and I came home breathless, and surely was no Muhammad Ali. Another time dad took me and Sanela to go swimming in Arlov and afterwards I was at a friend's place. When I was going home it started to rain. It was pouring down and I biked like crazy and stumbled home all wet. We lived at Zenith Street then, a bit away from Rosengard, and I was very tired. I was shaking and had stomach ache. I was in so much pain.I could barely move and lay in bed all rolled up. I threw up. I had cramps. I freaked out. Dad came in and sure, he is like he is, his fridge was empty and he drank too much. But when the shit hits the fan, there's no one like him. He called a cab and lifted me up in the only position I could be in, like a little schrimp, and carried me down to the car. I was light as a feather back then. Dad was big and powerful and totally crazy , he was like a lion again a screamed at the female cab driver: â€Å"He's my boy, he's my everything, screw all the traffic rules, I'll pay the fines, I'll take care of the cops†, and the woman, she did what he asked.She ran two red lights and came to the childrens section of Malmo Hospital. The whole situation had become en emergancy, I've been told. I was getting a shot in my back, and dad had heard some shit about people getting paralyzed by things like that, and he said some aggressive stuff, I'm guessing. He would tear the city upside down if something went wrong. But he calmed down and I was lying belly down sobbing and got that shot in my spine. We found out I had meningitis, and the nurse pulled down all the blinds and turned off all lights. It should be all dark around me and I got some meds and dad was watching by my side.Five in the morning the next day I opened my eyes and the crisis was over, and still I don't know, what caused that? Maybe I wasn't taking care o f myself well enough. I didn't exactly eat well. Physically I was small and weak at that time. Still, I must have been strong in other ways. I forgot about it and moved on and instead of sitting at home dwelling on things I went looking for kicks. I was running around all the time. There was like a fire inside me, and just like my dad, I got going for nothing: Like, who the hell are you? Those were tough years, I've realized that now.My dad was on a roller coaster, often totally absent or furiously mad: â€Å"You have to be home by this or that time. † â€Å"You can't fucking do that. † If you were a guy in dad's world and got in trouble, you should stand up for yourself and be a man. Not exactly some softy shit, not â€Å"I have stomach pain today. I'm a bit sad. † Nothing like that! I learned how to bite the bullet and move on, and also, don't forget that, I learned some stuff about sacrificing yourself. When we bought a new bed for me at Ikea, dad couldn't af ford the transport. It was like five hundred extra or something. So what could we do?It was simple. Dad carried the bed on his back all the way from Ikea, totally insane, mile after mile, and I walked after him with the bed headboards. Those were light, like nothing, Still I couldn't keep up with him: â€Å"Take it easy, dad, stop. † But he just walked on. He had that macho style, and sometimes he'd turn up in school at parents meetings with his cowboy thing going on. Everyone wondered: Who is that? People noticed him. He got respect, and the teachers probably didn't dare complaining about me as much as they had planned. Kinda like, we have to be careful with that guy!People have asked me: What would I be doing if I hadn't become a football player? I have no idea. But maybe I would have become a criminal. There were a lot of crimes at that time. Not like we were going out just to steal or rob. But some shit still happened, not just bikes. It was in and out of department store s also, and I often got a kick out of that. The thefts triggered me, and I should be so happy my dad never found out. He was drinking, sure, but there were still rules. You should do the right thing. And definitely not steal things, not a chance. Then he'd be pulling down the sky, sort of.But the time we were caught at Wessels department store wearing our winter jackets I was lucky. We had taken stuff worth one thousand four hundred kronor. It wasn't the ordinary stealing candy thing. But my friend's dad had to come pick us up, and when the letter arrived at home, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been arrested for theft, bla bla bla, I could tear it up before dad got to see it. I was lucky and I continued stealing, so okay, it could have ended badly. But I can say one thing for sure, it wouldn't have had anything to do with drugs. I was obviously totally against them. I didn't just pour out dad's beer. I threw away mom's cigarettes.I hated all drugs and poisons and I was seventeen or eighteen when I got drunk the first time and threw up in some stairs like any other teenager, and after that I haven't gotten drunk many times, only one collapse in a bathtub after the first scudetto with Juventus. It was Trezeguet, the snake, who pushed me into drinking shots. Me and Sanela also pushed Keki hard in Rosengard. He wasn't allowed to smoke or drink because then we'd be coming after him. It was a special thing, with my younger brother. We took care of him. With sensitive stuff he'd go to Sanela. With tougher things he'd turn to me. I stood up for him.I took responsibility. But a part from that I wasn't exactly being a saint, and I haven't always been too kind to friends and teammates. I did some aggressive things, the kind of shit that would make me go insane today if someone did it to Maxi and Vincent. But there's a fact we can't forget. I was double already back then. I was disciplined and wild, and I was figuring out philosophies about that. My thing was that I would both ta lk and perform. So, not just talking: I'm the best, who the fuck are you? Of course not, there's nothing more childish, but not either performing or saying chicken shit like the Swedish stars.I wanted to become the best while being cocky. Not that I thought I'd become a superstar or anything like that. Jesus, I came from Rosengard! But maybe those things made me a bit different. I was trouble. I was crazy. But I had character. I wasn't always in time to school. I had problems getting up in the mornings, I still do, but I did my homework, at least sometimes. Math was the easiest. Bam, bam, bam and I saw the solution. It was a bit like on the football field. Images and solutions just came to me like lightning. But I sucked at writing down the solutions so the teacher thought I cheated.I wasn't exactly the guy you'd expect doing well in school. I was more like the guy you kick out of school. Still, I really studied. I read everything before the tests, and forgot everything the day afte r. I wasn't really a bad boy. I just had trouble sitting still, and I threw some rubbers and stuff like that. I had ants in my pants. Those were turbulent years. We moved all the time, I don't really know why. But we rarely lived in one place for more than a year, and the teachers used that. You have to switch to a school near your home, they said, not because rules mattered much to them, but because they saw a chance of getting rid of me.I went to different schools all the time and had problems getting friends, and dad had was on call on his caretaker job and had his war and his drinking, and the worst thing was the tinnitus in his ears. It would be ringing in his head, and I was taking care of myself more and more, trying not to care about the chaos in my family. There was always some shit. You know, we from the Balkan are tough. My sister and her drugs had cut off contact with mom and us, and maybe that was to expect after all the fights with the drugs and rehab centers. But also my other halfsister was struck out from our family.Mom just erased her, and then I barely knew why. It was some crap about a boyfriend, a guy from Yugoslavia. Him and my sister had a fight and mom took his side for some reason, and then my sister freaked out and she and mom yelled some terrible shit at each other, and of course that wasn't good. But still, it shouldn't have been like the end of the world. It wasn't like it was the first time we were fighting in my family. But mom was proud, and I guess she and my sister got some kind of lock up. I recognize that. I don't forget things either. I remember a bad tackle for years.I remember shit that has been done to me, and I can hold grudges for a long time. But this time things went too far. We had been five siblings at mom's place, and suddenly we were only three; me, Sanela and Aleksandar, and things couldn't be repaired. They were like written in stone. The half-sis no longer belonged to us, and years went by. She was gone. But f ifteen years later her son called our mom. My half-sister had a son, a grandson to mom in other words. â€Å"Hi granny†, he said, but mom didn't want to have anything to do with him. â€Å"I'm sorry†, she said and hung up. I couldn't believe it when I heard. I felt very bad.I can't describe the feeling. I wanted to disappear. You don't act like that! Never, ever! But there is a lot of pride in my family that fucks things up for us, and I'm happy I had the football. ————————————————————————— At dad's place in Rosengard, years later CHAPTER 3 In Rosengard we had different areas (enclosures), and no area was better or worse than the other, well the one that was called the Gipsy area had a low status. But it wasn’t like all the Albanians or Turks hanged around at one place. It was the area that counted, not the country your parents where from.But you had to stay at your own area, and the area where my mom had her house was called Tornrosen. It had a swing, a playing ground, a flag pole and a football court where we played every day. Sometimes they didn’t let me play. I was to little. Then I flipped out in an instant. I hated to be left outside. I hated to lose. But still, the most important thing wasn’t winning. It was the tricks and the awesome stuff. There was a lot of â€Å"wow! Look at that! †. You could impress the guys with tricks and flicks, and you had to practice until you were the best, and often the mom’s yelled from the windows: â€Å"It’s late.The food is ready. Come inside. † â€Å"Soon, soon†, we said and continued playing, and it could get late and start raining and general chaos. But we continued playing. We never got tired and it was close spaces. You had to be quick in both head and feet, especially for m e since I was little and weak and could easily be get tackled, and I learned cool stuff all the time. I had to. Or else I wouldn’t get any â€Å"wow’s†, nothing that triggered me, and often I slept with the ball and thought of new tricks I would do the next day. It was like a movie that kept on going. My first club was MBI, Malmo Boll och idrottsforening.I was six years when I started there. Vi played on gravel behind a couple of green barracks, and I biked to the training on stolen bikes and wasn’t always that well behaved I guess. The coaches sent me home a couple of times, and I screamed and swore at them, and I heard all the time: â€Å"Pass the ball, Zlatan! †. It pissed me off, and I felt awkward. In MBI you had both foreigners and Swedes, and a lot of parents whined about my tricks from the block. I told them to go to hell and changed club several times and came to FBK Balkan, and that was something else! In MBI the Swedish dads stood and ye lled: â€Å"Come on, guys.Good work! † In Balkan it was more: â€Å"I will fuck you mother up the ass†. They were crazy Yugoslavs who smoked a lot and threw shoes around them and I thought: Wonderful, exactly like home. I belong here! The coach was a Bosnian. He had played on a high level down there in Yugoslavia, and he became some kind of a dad to us. He drove us home sometimes, and could give me a couple of Kronor to buy ice cream or sometime to straighten up my hunger. I was a goalie for a while. I don’t know why really. Maybe I had flipped out on the old goalie and said something like: â€Å"You suck, I can do this better myself†.It was probably something like that. But one game I let in a lot of goals, and then I became furious. I screamed that everyone was shit. That football was shit. That the whole world was shit, and that I would start playing hockey instead: â€Å"Hockey is a lot better, you fucking idiots! I will become a hockey pro! Go drown yourselves! † It was just that: I looked hockey up, and damn, all the stuff you needed! You had to have money. The only thing I could do was to continue with that shit sport called Football. But I stopped being a goalie and went up to the attack, and became kind of good.One day we were going to play a game. I wasn’t there and everybody was screaming: â€Å"Where’s Zlatan? Where’s Zlatan? † There was only one minute to the start, and the coach and my team mates probably wanted to kill me: â€Å"Where is he? How the fuck can be the absent from a important game like this? † But then they saw a crazy guy that biked like a idiot on a stolen bike and was riding straight towards the coach. Was that mad man going to run him over? No, just in front of the old man I stood on the brakes and ran into the field, and I guess that the coach went mad.He got sand in his eyes. He got splashed. But he let me play, and I guess we won. We were a good gang. One t ime i was punished for some other shit, and had to sit on the bench in the first half. We were down 4-0 against a snob team, Vellinge, it was us the immigrants against the good boys, there was a lot of aggression in the air and I was so pissed of that I was about to explode. How could that idiot put me on the bench? â€Å"Are you stupid? † I asked the coach. â€Å"Easy, easy, you’ll get to play soon† He let me play in the second half and I scored eight goals.We won with eight-five and mocked the snobs and sure, I was good. I was technical and saw openings in the game all the time and at block were my mom lived I had become a little champion when it came to doing the unexpected stuff on narrow spaces. But I’m still tired of all the Donald Duck characters that go around and say: I immediately saw that Zlatan would become something extra, bla bla bla. It’s like they breast fed me. He was my best friend. That’s just bullshit. Nobody saw anything . At least, not as much as they said they did afterwards. No big clubs were knocking at my door.I was a punk ass little kid. It wasn’t all: â€Å"Ohh, we must be nice to that talented little boy! † It was more: â€Å"Who let the immigrant in†? And already back then it was a lot of ups and downs. I could score eight goals in one game, just to be really bad in the next. I hanged around with a guy called Tony Flygare. We had the same home language teacher. His parents are also from Balkan and we was something of a tough guy also. He didn’t live in Rosengar, he live just outside at Vitemollegatan. We were born the same year, he was born in January and I in October, and that probably meant something.He was bigger and stronger and was seen as the bigger talent. It was a lot of Tony: â€Å"Look at him, what a player† and I stood in his shadow. Maybe it was good, what do I know. I had to be the underdog. But like I said, at the time I wasn’t a big t alent. I was a savage, a maniac, and I really didn’t get control over my temper. I continued to yell at players and referees and I changed clubs all the time. I played in Balkan. I came back to MBI and then again Balkan and then to BK Flagg. It was a mess and no one took me to training, so to speak, and sometimes I look at the parents standing there.My dad was never there, not amongst the Yugoslavs nor the Swedes, and I really don’t know what I thought. That was just the way it was. I didn’t need anyone. I had gotten used to that. But still, it pained me. I don’t know. You get used to your life, and I kept that on a distance. Dad was dad. He was hopeless. He was fantastic. He was up and down. I didn’t count on him, not like other kids counted on their parents. But still, I guess I had some hope for him. Damn, imagine if he had seen that awesome stuff, that Brazilian thing? Dad had his moments when he was extremely involved.He wanted me to become a lawyer. I can’t say that I believed in it. In my circles you didn’t become a lawyer. You did crazy stuff and dreamt of becoming the tough guy, and we really didn’t have any support from the parents either, it wasn’t all: â€Å"Should I explain the Swedish story for you? † It was all Yugoslavian music and beer cans and empty fridges and the Balkan war. But sometimes, you know, he took his time and talket about football with me and it made me happy every time. I mean, he was dad one day, and one day he said, I don’t forget it, there was something ceremonial in the air: Zlatan, it’s time for you to start playing in a big club† â€Å"What do you mean big club? † â€Å"A good team, Zlatan. Like Malmo FF†. I don’t think I really understood. What was so special with Malmo FF? I didn’t know anything about stuff like that. But I knew about the club. I had played against them with Balkan, and thought: Why not? If my dad says so. But I didn’t know where the stadium was, or anything else in the city for that matter. Malmo where close. But it was another world. I reached the age of seventeen before I went to the city central, and I didn’t understand anything about the life there.But i learned the road to the training, and it took me thirty minutes to bike there with my clothes in a plastic bag, and of course, I was nervous. In Malmo FF it was serious. It wasn’t the usual: Come and play, kid! Here you had to go on trial and take a place and I noticed at once, I wasn’t like the others, and I prepared myself to pack my stuff and go home. But on the second day, coach Nils told me: â€Å"You’re welcome to the team† â€Å"You really mean that? † I was thirteen back then, and there was a couple of foreigners there already, Tony was amongst them.Other than that there were only Swedes, somewhere Limhamn’s types, high class kids. I felt like