Considering Divorce- Smart Marriges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Considering Divorce- Smart Marriges - Essay Example Having been into a relationship with eight men so far in her life, Julie was able to make a checklist against which she would assess the qualities of men in the future. The one scoring full would be eligible to take her hand in hand. The list goes as follows: 1. He would be established in his life with a business worth at least $2 million 2. He would not have been into any relationship before meeting Julie 3. He would not be into a relationship with any woman in addition to Julie 4. He would love Julie by heart and would never leave her 5. He would not see his parents more than twice a year and would not spend more than twenty four hrs with them in the whole year 6. His love for Julie would not be driven by lust 7. He would love Julie for her personality rather than her body 8. He would be virgin †¦.and the list goes on! One day, Julie met Ben. Ben was from Holland and had come to Ontario for studies. Julie offered him to share her apartment. After spending a year with him, Juli e found Ben scoring full in her checklist. She had waited for so long for the right person to come into her life and there she had him. Julie had spent more than half of her youth in her search of the right man. At the age of 38 years, she resolved to marry Ben. But it only took Julie three days after marriage to file a case for divorce.

Health Care Financial Terms Week One Essay Example for Free

Health Care Financial Terms Week One Essay Controlling is the practice that managers use to ensure that the company plans and goals are being attained. By comparing report to each other areas that are working and succeeding are defined and the areas where problems are occurring can be addressed and corrected (Baker Baker, 2011). A manager has four different, lets say teams† that report to this manager. Controlling would be when team A, B, C, and D submit the teams’ financial report to the manager. The manager would review all four teams to ensure the teams are meeting the financial goals. So, in this scenario Team A, B, and C is on target and meeting the goals. However, Team D has not met the goals. The manager needs to review the team D’s progress determine where the problem is, such as cutting cost, the resource allocation, operating procedure, or other issues. Without controlling the teams and reviewing progress, other area will suffer. Decision making Decision making is management making informed decisions based on all information that accomplishes the company’s goals (Baker Baker, 2011). The company is making a decision on purchasing electronic medical records. The financial reports will inform management of the financial status on the company and the amount of money they can budget for the purchase of this the EMR. Organizing Organizing is a term for companies to decide how to use resources for the best outcome for the company (Baker Baker, 2011). A manager is given a certain amount of revenue and the manager decides where the money is allocated for the department to accomplish the goals set by the company. Planning To succeed, companies need corporate goals. Planning is identifying the goals and resources. Laying out the steps by using the resources to accomplish those goals (Baker Baker, 2011). A manager has a specific project to install and to perform the primary function of the project. The manager works out a step by step plan from the beginning to the end of implementing the project until the project is complete and accomplishes the goal. Original records When a transaction is recorded into a journal or ledger this becomes the original records (Baker Baker, 2011). A patient makes a payment of $100. This payment is entered into the patient’s file and payment history. This entry is an original record in the company’s income ledger. Reference: Baker, J. J., Baker, R. W. (2011). Health Care Finance Basic Tools for Nonfinancial Managers (3rd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC.

The Macro Environment Of The Tui

The Macro Environment Of The Tui TUI illustrates one of the most amazing and successful strategic changes of a firm among the largest European companies .From 1997 to 2003, its management turned one of the oldest steel and mining conglomerates known as pressaug into TUI, the undisputed European leader in the tourism industry -a fast growing but very volatile and competitive industry. Putting a smile on peoples faces was TUIs mission. And this is they have worked for employing 65,000 people around the world work day after day to create unforgettable holiday experiences for our over 30 million customers. As an integrated travel group, brands offered by TUI are the complete range of services associated with holiday and travel. Headquartered in Crawley, near Gatwick airport in the UK, company mainly serves the leisure travel customer and is organised and managed through four business sectors: Mainstream, Specialist Emerging Markets, Activity and Accommodation Destinations. In the financial year ended 30 September 2008 TUI Travel had revenues of  £13.9bn and an underlying profit before tax of  £320m. According to Phil Kelly (2009), the analysis of the external environment may be described as an external audit. To analyse the macro-environment of the TUI, this report utilises three tools namely; PESTLE analysis, five forces framework and Opportunity and Threat from the SWOT analysis. This report includes only critical issues from the current macro-environment whereas detailed analysis of PESTLE. PESTLE Analysis Political Environment: These include Tax policy: Tourists contribute to sales, profits, jobs, tax revenues, and income in an area. According to (Dye, 1992) the tourism tax policy is to ensure that the nation adopts the right policies to achieve the right goals. To diversify the currency and geographical risk of the TUI group. KEY DRIVERS TO CHANGE TUI embarked on steady programme of major acquisitions while divesting the noncore businesses. TUI group is also listed on London Stock Exchange. These strategic moves gave TUI group protection from devaluation of the currency and more access to capital market. But this strategy also exposed TUI to the high taxation policies of the developed economies. These high taxes could minimize the profit after tax of TUI. Political stability: Presently TUI is focussing on the markets of developing economies by using the cash from developed markets. Developing markets have high growth rate but this could be affected by the political instability in developing economies. Political instability in many parts of the world, increased risks of terrorism have a significant adverse impact on TUI Groups financial condition and results of operations. New political crises, terrorist attacks, wars and other hostilities could cause a significant decrease in demand for travel and tourism. Economical Environment: The most direct effects occur within the primary tourism sectors lodging, restaurants, transportation, amusements, and retail trade. Through secondary effects, tourism affects most sectors of the economy. An economic impact analysis of tourism activity normally focuses on changes in sales, income, and employment in a region resulting from tourism activity. Economic growth: The importance of channelizing the cash generated from developed markets to innovate new services and to invest it in high growth markets (Ghoshal, 1987). Spending on travel and tourism is discretionary and price sensitive. Interest rate: Many of the tourists prefer to take bank travel loans or holiday loans .so if the bank rates are high then tourist will really think twice before going on holiday this might have a great impact on tourism industry. Inflation rate: TUI customers may reduce or stop their spending on travel or opt for low-cost offers, in particular during periods of economic slowdown. TUI results were negatively affected in 2002 and 2003 by the general economic slowdown in our source markets. Although their tourism business improved considerably in 2004, their future economic downturns may cause significant reductions in demand for travel and tourism. Exchange rate: The exchange rate is commonly considered a determinant in the estimation of tourism demand and it is introduced either as an independent variable or by including it in the relative prices (Crouch, 1994). In this sense, Sinclair and Stabler (1997) argue that tourists consider the exchange rate since they have limited knowledge about relative prices. Thus exchange rate regimes with low uncertainty could promote tourism. Socio-cultural Environment: Social factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external microenvironment .These factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets .some social factors associated with TUI are as follows Emphasis on safety, Health consciousness and age distribution, Change in lifestyle, Higher life expectancy. Technological Environment: TUI launched virtual tour operator TOUROPA.COM in Germany selling not only online but through travel agents, television and call centres. Hence TUI became European leader in direct sales of travel product with turnover of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 2.6 billion. Environmental: The environmental issue like global warming has led to the environmental protection laws such as carbon emission limits. This law limits the amount of carbon to be emitted by TUI Airlines which could affect the overall customer service in a particular region/country. Legal Environment: In the European countries in which TUI airlines operate, an air carrier is permitted to operate airline services only if it is majority owned, and effectively controlled, by member states of the European Economic Area (EEA) or their nationals. The carrier must be able to prove this at any time. Failure to do so may result in withdrawal of, or a refusal to issue, the carriers operating license or route licenses. Accordingly, TUI must remain majority owned and effectively controlled by EEA member states or their nationals in order for their airlines to maintain their operating and route licenses. In addition, there may be national ownership restrictions applicable to the grant of route licenses to TUI airlines. PORTER FIVE FORCES FRAMEWORK (also diagram please refer Appendix 3) Threat of new entrants: Low-cost airlines compete successfully on many routes against TUI charter airlines. For example, established low-cost airlines have gained significant market share on certain flight routes, in particular, routes between the United Kingdom and Spain. In response, TUI had introduced low-cost airline Hapag-Lloyd Express in Germany in December 2002 and introduced TUI low-cost airline Thomsonfly in the United Kingdom in April 2004. If TUI is unable to maintain a competitive cost structure for their airlines as compared to low-cost carriers, their airline and hotel utilization rates could decrease. Threat of substitutes: The entry of new players in the tourism industry is of very minimal threat to the market share of TUI Group. In developed market these new players are not highly preferred by the customers hence addressing this issue is of least strategic importance for the TUI. Competitive rivalry for TUI: There is high competition in tourism industry. This competition is fierce not only in developed market but also in developing market where TUI had a started a new cost cutting programme targeting a yearly saving of around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬260 million and à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬100 m for 2004. The implication is to diversify in the world market and in new services to compensate the down trend in developed markets (Dickson, P. Ginter, J, 1987). Buyers: Due to high competition in tourism industry, the customers in tourism industry have high bargaining power. High bargaining power of buyer raises the importance of the marketing for TUI to create customer loyalty and price inelasticity in consumers to maintain high margin of its brands (Miller, D. 1988). Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers is very low because TUI enjoys the benefit of backward integration. Strengths TUI already acquired established players TUI has well established distribution channels. TUI took several measures to improve customer services TUI offers wide range of products. Backward integration because TUI has its own suppliers. Economies of scale benefits Weakness TU I has  £900 million share holder loans. TUI has no cheap accommodations GENERIC STRATEGY Cost Leadership TUIs primary goals is to expand tourism business, grow their container shipping business, complete divestment program and improve financial risk profile. The business strategy for TUIs tourism division includes the following key elements: Expand tourism business. TUI intends to capitalize on strong brands and market positions to expand tourism business, both in absolute terms and in terms of market share. TUIs growth strategy reflects belief that the quality of products, the strength of business model and ability to react to new market trends at early stages of development both in existing European source markets and in selected new source markets, such as the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, including Russia, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia, and Asia, including China and India. As part of the same strategy, we may divest assets or business units where appropriate returns cannot be earned in the foreseeable future. Exploit synergies and cost efficiencies across markets and products. TUI intend to take advantage of remaining synergy and efficiency opportunities to further optimize operational procedures and integrate tourism businesses at each stage of the value chain. TUI has started to integrate and optimize their maintenance, administration, IT network management and purchasing functions and have completed this process for their airlines by establishing a centralized airline management to ensure maximum utilization of airlines capacities. Continue to leverage the benefits of integrated business model and wide distribution network. TUI intend to continue to develop fully integrated business model to take advantage of new developments in the tourism industry in order to ensure the continued attractiveness of core products and to attain high utilization of own flight and hotel capacity. This strategy helps to maximize the utilization of own capacity at each stage of the value chain and provides considerable flexibility in making contractual arrangements for additional capacity with third parties. In addition, through TUIs multi-channel distribution network, they are able to initially funnel tourism products into their own tour operators, airlines and hotels and only subsequently into flight and hotel capacity that they purchase from third parties. Identify new trends and exploit developments in the tourism industry. The travel and tourism industry is changing rapidly. Recent trends are not only providing travellers new options but also providing industry participants with new opportunities. Recent trends include the growing customer demand for modular products, the growth of low-cost air carriers and the increasing availability of tourism information over the internet. TUI intends to continue to develop business model to take advantage of new developments and to ensure the sustained desirability of their core product offerings. TUI also intend further to align the activities of their airlines with each other to benefit from the generally high passenger load factors in the charter flight sector and the cost advantages of some of their own airlines. TUI believes that they can promote new products more effectively and profitably than non-integrated competitors through their presence at each stage of the value chain. VALUE CHAIN (for diagram please refer Appendix 4) With TUIs fully integrated business model, tourism division operates at all major stages of the tourism value chain: Retail sales. TUI is the largest distributor of package holidays in Europe based on number of travel agencies, with 3,399 travel agencies in source markets. They also distribute products through independent travel agencies and direct sales channels, such as internet sites and travel television. Tour operators. TUI tour operators in Europe sold approximately 18.4 million travel packages in 2004, approximately seven million of which were sold through their own distribution channels and approximately 11 million through third-party distribution channels. Air transportation. In 2004, TUI own airlines flew 22.6 million passengers (based on one-way trips) who had purchased one of their tour packages or flight-only products. TUI flew approximately 65% of package holiday customers on their own airlines, with the remainder flying on third-party airlines. Based on total passenger kilometres flown, their combined aircraft fleet was the fourth largest airline in Europe and the fifteenth largest worldwide (Source: Airline Business, August 2005. The Airline Rankings, Passenger Analysis). Destination services. TUI destination services are provided by 41 incoming agencies at major destination areas in 25 countries. Hotels. TUI owned, leased or managed a portfolio of 285 hotels and 162,800 beds worldwide as of September 30, 2005. At the end of 2004, TUI was the 12th largest hotel chain in the world based on number of hotels and bed capacity. (Source: Hotels Magazine, Industry Survey, July 2005). Future implications of the changing business environment General economic and political conditions affecting the tourism industry. Adverse effects on TUIs business arising from terrorist attacks or the threat of. terrorism, outbreak of Diseases and natural catastrophes. TUIs ability to remain competitive in the markets for their products and services. Changes in international legal, tax, administrative, regulatory or economic conditions. Risks associated with TUIs structure, the Bonds and their other indebtedness. The impact of exchange rate fluctuations. The impact of TUIs acquisition of CP Ships Limited and the related acquisition financing. Opportunities Customer needs are changing TUI has flexible travel experience with wide range of experience Expanding the group and creating values through acquisition Threats Economic conditions Restricted capacity management Own very few budget hotels. Lower job security. ANSOFF MATRIX Market penetration strategy: is the least risky since it leverages many of TUIs existing resources and capabilities. In a growing market, simply maintaining market share will result in growth and exists opportunities to dominate the market if competitors reach capacity limits. However, it has limits, and once the market approaches the saturation stage, another strategy must be pursued to continue expansion. Consolidation: Consolidation means focussing on current market and current products. There is also mention in the annual report of 2005 to focus on consolidation rather than acquisition and geographic diversification in order to defending market share and downsizing. Market development options include the pursuit of additional market segments or geographical regions. New market developments for a product may seem to be a good strategy if TUIs core competencies are related more to the specific product than to its experience with a specific market segment. This strategy posseses more risk than the market penetration strategy as TUI expands into a new market. It seems appropriate to adopt this development strategy as it relates TUIs strengths to its specific customers rather than to the specific product itself. Diversification is the most risky of all the growth strategies since it requires both product and market development activities and may be outside the core competencies of TUI. Diversification may be a reasonable choice if the high risk is compensated by the chance of a high rate of return. As from the case study in TUI group started a new cost cutting programme targeting around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬260 m in 2003 and around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬100 m for 2004.Then in april 2004 TUI opened its first low cost travel agency in hamburg germany with Touristik Express to sell low cost holidays. The optimal bases on which segment the market depend on the particular situation are determined by marketing research, market trends, and managerial judgment Limitations to ANSOFF matrix Ansoff matrix, particularly focuses on growth which may not be appropriate in some circumstances. Uses and Limitations of Tools Applied This analysis is useful in understanding the market growth or decline, business position and direction for TUI (Kotler, P., 1990). The result of the PESTLE analysis can be used to take advantage of the opportunities and to make plans to tackle the threats. It also ensures that TUIs performance is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change (Byars, L., 1992). Uses of PESTEL 1: Identifying past trend in the macroeconomic variables based on which future trends can be identified. 2: Identify the key scenarios affecting the strategy. 3: Identification of key scenarios help in taking right and informed decision. 4: Effective policy formulation. However, one of the disadvantages of this analysis arises from the issues of reliability, validity and relevance of the information from the secondary sources. Also the past data and past events has to be checked and be applied to the current business conditions. While considering the disadvantages of the PESTLE analysis, managers should understand that it is just a strategic starting point hence conclusions and findings of this analysis should be tested against the reality. Limitations to PESTEL 1: The variables in this model are highly speculative so analysis of past may not be the indication for future. 2: The analysis will be based on predictions so it may not be accurate. 3: It is practically difficult to analyse unlimited macro-economic factors. 4: It is difficult to identify the level of uncertainty. Limitations to Porters Five Forces The assumption that the organizations own interest comes first for some charitable institutions and government bodies may be incorrect. It assumes that buyers have no greater importance than any other aspect of the micro-environment. But the customer is more important than other aspects of strategy development and is not to be treated as an equal aspect of any analysis. It considers suppliers and buyers as threats to be tackled by the organisations, but some companies such as TUI found it useful to engage in closer co-operation with suppliers; such a strategy may be excluded if they regarded purely as threats. It ignores human resource aspects of strategy that might connect people to their own and other organisations. Uses of Porters Five Force Analyses 1: It helps to analyse the dynamics of industries or sector. 2: It helps to analyse the profitability of the industry as a whole. The high level of these forces denotes that industry is highly competitive and may not be attractive to compete in as hyper competition might prevail in the industry. Limitations of Porters Five Force Analyses 1: Five forces helps in identifying the industry structure but it may not remain fixed, as different strategies might change the structure. The acquisition of competitor might help to reduce the hyper competition and that might in turn increase power over buyers and suppliers. 2: Five force analyses takes into consideration industry as a whole but it does not segregate different segments. The individual analysis of each of the segment can be of much assistance than industry as a whole. Conclusion This period of recession and peoples incomes are curtailed .though there is a setback in the growth and profitability there is a tremendous potential in the tourism industry. References: Ansoff, H. (1990), Implanting Strategic Management, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall Byars, L. (1991), Strategic Management: Formulation and Implementation, 3rd ed., New York: Harper Collins BBC. (2004, september 17). Natural disasters on the rise. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from www.bbc.co.uk: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3666474.stm Crouch, G.I. (1994): The study of international tourism demand: A review of Findings. Journal of Travel Research, summer, pp. 12-23. Daily Mail. (2006, March 10). Imporving Technology affects Tourism. Retrieved November 3, 2009, from www.dailymail.com. Dickson, P and Ginter, J (1987), Market Segmentation, Product Differentiation and Marketing Strategy, The Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51, Issue. 2, pp. 1-10. Dye,Richard, and Therese McGuire. Growth and Variability of State Individual Income and General Sales Taxes. national Tax Journal 44 NO 1 (March, 1992); 55-66 Gil-Pareja, S., Llorca-Vivero R., and J.A. Martà ­nez-Serrano (2006): The Effect of EMU on Tourism, Review of International Economics 14, forthcoming. Gil-Pareja, S., Llorca-Vivero R., and J.A. Martà ­nez-Serrano (2007): Did the European Exchange-rate mechanism contribute to the integration of peripheral countries? Economics Letters 95, pp. 303-308 Ghoshal, S. (1987), Global Strategy: An Organising Framework, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 8, Issue. 5, pp. 425-440. Independent. (2009, December 5). TUI sees recovery in long haul holiday market. Retrieved Novemeber 1, 2009, from http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show/display/id=446621/display/id=456831 Johnson, G., Scholes, K., Whittington, R. (2005). Exploring corporate strategy (7th Edition ed.). Harlow: Prentice Hall. Kotler, P. (1990), Marketing: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall. Miller, D. (1988), Relating Porters Business Strategies to Environment and Structure: Analysis and Performance Implications, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 31, Issue. 2, pp. 280-308. Porter, M. E. (2001). Strategy Internet. Haward Business Review, 63-79. Porter, M. E., Miller, V. E. (1985). How Information gives you competitive advantage. Harward Business Review , 149-160. Sinclair, M.T. and M. Stabler (1997): The Economics of Tourism. Routledge, London. TUI Annual Report. (2008). Annual Report. TUI AG. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/archive/410295-airline-business/august-2005.html accessed on 3rd November 2009. http://www.hotelsmag.com/article/CA6485150.html accessed on 3rd November 2009. http://www.ise.ie/debt_documents/3118.pdf accessed on 3rd November 2009 Appendix 1

Global Marketing :: essays research papers

New and improved products are developed almost daily, they are launched in the marketplace in hopes that the product will be accepted and purchased, the fate of any product is determined by consumers through their acceptance and purchase or rejection of the product. New product introductions are becoming more and more expensive and the product success rate is less than in previous years. The number of promotion methods to choose from can be overwhelming, and finding the best method which will allow the Palm Mercury to flourish in the market is a very challenging step to overcome. PalmOne has developed a new product and we want to tell a large number of people about it very quickly. Mass selling is our intention. Several of the approaches that will allow PalmOne to determine the potential success of the Mercury is to initiate a small, cost effective mass selling campaign that can easily grow to a much larger campaign in the coming months. We can put together a short campaign very cost effectively to quickly establish if this kind of promotion will work. One of the most effective approaches to reach people on the go is to advertise the product on the radio. Radio reaches tens of thousands of people each day while driving in their car, or listening at the beaches and the intended advertisements will reach our target listeners with our message. We will plan an advertisement campaign over a single week or multiple weeks in order maximize the impact. Advertisements will be run several ways through the radio stations. Radio stations love prizes and free products. PalmOne can provide a small number of the Palm Mercury’s for give-a-aways and contests. Contests have a high audience participation and retention rate giving PalmOne some much desired publicity. Picking the correct prize, the correct approach and the correct target audience will allow the Palm Mercury to receive desirable exposure for a minimal cost.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 2~3

Chapter 2 Death Warmed Over She heard insects scurrying above her in the darkness, smelled burned flesh, and felt a heavy weight pressing down on her back. Oh my God, he's buried me alive. Her face was pressed against something hard and cold – stone, she thought until she smelled the oil in the asphalt. Panic seized her and she struggled to get her hands under her. Her left hand lit up with pain as she pushed. There was a rattle and a deafening clang and she was standing. The dumpster that had been on her back lay overturned, spilling trash across the alley. She looked at it in disbelief. It must have weighed a ton. Fear and adrenaline, she thought. Then she looked at her left hand and screamed. It was horribly burned, the top layer of skin black and cracked. She ran out of the alley looking for help, but the street was empty. I've got to get to a hospital, call the police. She spotted a pay phone; a red chimney of heat rose from the lamp above it. She looked up and down the empty street. Above each streetlight she could see heat rising in red waves. She could hear the buzzing of the electric bus wires above her, the steady stream of the sewers running under the street. She could smell dead fish and diesel fuel in the fog, the decay of the Oakland mudflats across the bay, old French fries, cigarette butts, bread crusts and fetid pastrami from a nearby trash can, and the residual odor of Aramis wafting under the doors of the brokerage houses and banks. She could hear wisps of fog brushing against the buildings like wet velvet. It was as if her senses, like her strength, had been turned up by adrenaline. She shook off the spectrum of sounds and smells and ran to the phone, holding her damaged hand by the wrist. As she moved, she felt a roughness inside her blouse against her skin. With her right hand she pulled at the silk, yanking it out of her skirt. Stacks of money fell out of her blouse to the sidewalk. She stopped and stared at the bound blocks of hundred-dollar bills lying at her feet. She thought, There must be a hundred thousand dollars here. A man attacked me, choked me, bit my neck, burned my hand, then stuffed my shirt full of money and put a dumpster on me and now I can see heat and hear fog. I've won Satan's lottery. She ran back to the alley, leaving the money on the sidewalk. With her good hand she riffled through the trash spilled from the dumpster until she found a paper bag. Then she returned to the sidewalk and loaded the money into the bag. At the pay phone she had to do some juggling to get the phone off the hook and dialed without putting down the money and without using her injured hand. She pressed 911 and while she waited for it to ring she looked at the burn. Really, it looked worse than it felt. She tried to flex the hand and black skin cracked. Boy, that should hurt. It should gross me out too, she thought, but it doesn't. In fact, I don't really feel that bad, considering. I've been more sore after a game of racquetball with Kurt. Strange. The receiver clicked and a woman's voice came on the line. â€Å"Hello, you've reached the number for San Francisco emergency services. If you are currently in danger, press one; if the danger has passed and you still need help, press two.† Jody pressed two. â€Å"If you have been robbed, press one. If you've been in an accident, press two. If you've been assaulted, press three. If you are calling to report a fire, press four. If you've – â€Å" Jody ran the choices through her head and pressed three. â€Å"If you've been shot, press one. Stabbed, press two. Raped, press three. All other assaults, press four. If you'd like to hear these choices again, press five.† Jody meant to press four, but hit five instead. There was a series of clicks and the recorded voice came back on. â€Å"Hello, you've reached the number for San Francisco emergency services. If you are currently in danger – â€Å" Jody slammed the receiver down and it shattered in her hand, nearly knocking the phone off the pole. She jumped back and looked at the damage. Adrenaline, she thought. I'll call Kurt. He can come get me and take me to the hospital. She looked around for another pay phone. There was one by her bus stop. When she reached it she realized that she didn't have any change. Her purse had been in her briefcase and her briefcase was gone. She tried to remember her calling card number, but she and Kurt had only moved in together a month ago and she hadn't memorized it yet. She picked up and dialed the operator. â€Å"I'd like to make a collect call from Jody.† She gave the operator the number and waited while it rang. The machine picked up. â€Å"It looks like no one is home,† the operator said. â€Å"He's screening his calls,† Jody insisted. â€Å"Just tell him – â€Å" â€Å"I'm sorry, we aren't allowed to leave messages.† Hanging up, Jody destroyed the phone; this time, on purpose. She thought, Pounds of hundred-dollar bills and I can't make a damn phone call. And Kurt's screening his calls – I must be very late; you'd think he could pick up. If I wasn't so pissed off, I'd cry. Her hand had stopped aching completely now, and when she looked at it again it seemed to have healed a bit. I'm getting loopy, she thought. Post-traumatic loopiness. And I'm hungry. I need medical attention, I need a good meal, I need a sympathetic cop, a glass of wine, a hot bath, a hug, my auto-teller card so I can deposit this cash. I need†¦ The 42 bus rounded the corner and Jody instinctively felt in her jacket pocket for her bus pass. It was still there. The bus stopped and the door opened. She flashed her pass at the driver as she boarded. He grunted. She sat in the first seat, facing three other passengers. Jody had been riding the buses for five years, and occasionally, because of work or a late movie, she had to ride them at night. But tonight, with her hair frizzing wild and full of dirt, her nylons ripped, her suit wrinkled and stained – disheveled, disoriented, and desperate – she felt that she fit in for the first time. The psychos lit up at the sight of her. â€Å"Parking space!† a woman in the back blurted out. Jody looked up. â€Å"Parking space!† The woman wore a flowered housecoat and Mickey Mouse ears. She pointed out the window and shouted, â€Å"Parking space!† Jody looked away, embarrassed. She understood, though. She owned a car, a fast little Honda hatchback, and since she had found a parking space outside her apartment a month ago, she had only moved it on Tuesday nights, when the street sweeper went by – and moved it back as soon as the sweeper had passed. Claim-jumping was a tradition in the City; you had to guard a space with your life. Jody had heard that there were parking spaces in Chinatown that had been in families for generations, watched over like the graves of honored ancestors, and protected by no little palm-greasing to the Chinese street gangs. â€Å"Parking space!† the woman shouted. Jody glanced across the aisle and committed eye contact with a scruffy bearded man in an overcoat. He grinned shyly, then slowly pulled aside the flap of his overcoat to reveal an impressive erection peeking out the port of his khakis. Jody returned the grin and pulled her burned, blackened hand out of her jacket and held it up for him. Bested, he closed his overcoat, slouched in his seat and sulked. Jody was amazed that she'd done it. Next to the bearded man sat a young woman who was furiously unknitting a sweater into a yarn bag, as if she would go until she got to the end of the yarn, then reknit the sweater. An old man in a tweed suit and a wool deerstalker sat next to the knitting woman, holding a walking stick between his knees. Every few seconds he let loose with a rattling coughing fit, then fought to get his breath back while he wiped his eyes with a silk handkerchief. He saw Jody looking at him and smiled apologetically. â€Å"Just a cold,† he said. No, it's much worse than a cold, Jody thought. You're dying. How do I know that? I don't know how I know, but I know. She smiled at the old man, then turned to look out the window. The bus was passing through North Beach now and the streets were full of sailors, punks, and tourists. Around each she could see a faint red aura and heat trails in the air as they moved. She shook her head to clear her vision, then looked at the people inside the bus. Yes, each of them had the aura, some brighter than others. Around the old man in tweeds there was a dark ring as well as the red heat aura. Jody rubbed her eyes and thought, I must have hit my head. I'm going to need a CAT scan and an EEG. It's going to cost a fortune. The company will hate it. Maybe I can process my own claim and push it through. Well, I'm definitely calling in sick for the rest of the week. And there's serious shopping to be done once I get finished at the hospital and the police station. Serious shopping. Besides, I won't be able to type for a while anyway. She looked at her burned hand and thought again that it might have healed a bit. I'm still taking the week off, she thought. The bus stopped at Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square and groups of tourists in Day-Glo nylon shorts and Alcatraz sweatshirts boarded, chattering in French and German while tracing lines on street maps of the City. Jody could smell sweat and soap, the sea, boiled crab, chocolate and liquor, fried fish, onions, sourdough bread, hamburgers and car exhaust coming off the tourists. As hungry as she was, the odor of food nauseated her. Feel free to shower during your visit to San Francisco, she thought. The bus headed up Van Ness and Jody got up and pushed through the tourists to the exit door. A few blocks later the bus stopped at Chestnut Street and she looked over her shoulder before getting off. The woman in the Mickey Mouse ears was staring peacefully out the window. â€Å"Wow,† Jody said. â€Å"Look at all those parking spaces.† As she stepped off the bus, Jody could hear the woman shouting, â€Å"Parking space! Parking space!† Jody smiled. Now why did I do that? Chapter 3 Oh Liquid Love Snapshots at midnight: an obese woman with a stun gun curbing a poodle, an older gay couple power-walking in designer sweats, a college girl pedaling a mountain bike – trailing tresses of perm-fried hair and a blur of red heat; televisions buzzing inside hotels and homes, sounds of water heaters and washing machines, wind rattling sycamore leaves and whistling through fir trees, a rat leaving his nest in a palm tree – claws skittering down the trunk. Smells: fear sweat from the poodle woman, rose water, ocean, tree sap, ozone, oil, exhaust, and blood-hot and sweet like sugared iron. It was only a three-block walk from the bus stop to the four-story building where she shared an apartment with Kurt, but to Jody it seemed like miles. It wasn't fatigue but fear that lengthened the distance. She thought she had lost her fear of the City long ago, but here it was again: over-the-shoulder glances between spun determination to look ahead and keep walking and not break into a run. She crossed the street onto her block and saw Kurt's Jeep parked in front of the building. She looked for her Honda, but it was gone. Maybe Kurt had taken it, but why? She'd left him the key as a courtesy. He wasn't really supposed to use it. She didn't know him that well. She looked at the building. The lights were on in her apartment. She concentrated on the bay window and could hear the sound of Louis Rukeyser punning his way through a week on Wall Street. Kurt liked to watch tapes of â€Å"Wall Street Week† before he went to bed at night. He said they relaxed him, but Jody suspected that he got some latent sexual thrill out of listening to balding money managers talking about moving millions. Oh well, if a rise in the Dow put a pup tent in his jammies, it was okay with her. The last guy she'd lived with had wanted her to pee on him. As she started up the steps she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. Someone had ducked behind a tree. She could see an elbow and the tip of a shoe behind the tree, even in the darkness, but something else frightened her. There was no heat aura. Not seeing it now was as disturbing as seeing it had been a few minutes ago: she'd come to expect it. Whoever was behind the tree was as cold as the tree itself. She ran up the steps, pushed the buzzer, and waited forever for Kurt to answer. â€Å"Yes,† the intercom crackled. â€Å"Kurt, it's me. I don't have my key. Buzz me in.† The lock buzzed and she was in. She looked back through the glass. The street was empty. The figure behind the tree was gone. She ran up the four flights of steps to where Kurt was waiting at their apartment door. He was in jeans and an Oxford cloth shirt – an athletic, blond, thirty-year-old could-be model, who wanted, more than anything, to be a player on Wall Street. He took orders at a discount brokerage for salary and spent his days at a keyboard wearing a headset and suits he couldn't afford, watching other people's money pass him by. He was holding his hands behind his back to hide the Velcro wrist wraps he wore at night to minimize the pain from carpal tunnel syndrome. He wouldn't wear the wraps at work; carpal tunnel was just too blue-collar. At night he hid his hands like a kid with braces who is afraid to smile. â€Å"Where have you been?† he asked, more angry than concerned. Jody wanted smiles and sympathy, not recrimination. Tears welled in her eyes. â€Å"I was attacked tonight. Someone beat me up and stuffed me under a dumpster.† She held her arms out for a hug. â€Å"They burned my hand,† she wailed. Kurt turned his back on her and walked back into the apartment. â€Å"And where were you last night? Where were you today? Your office called a dozen times today.† Jody followed him in. â€Å"Last night? What are you talking about?† â€Å"They towed your car, you know. I couldn't find the key when the street sweeper came. You're going to have to pay to get it out of impound.† â€Å"Kurt, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm hungry and I'm scared and I need to go to the hospital. Someone attacked me, dammit!† Kurt pretended to be organizing his videotapes. â€Å"If you didn't want a commitment, you shouldn't have agreed to move in with me. It's not like I don't get opportunities with women every day.† Her mother had told her: Never get involved with a man who's prettier than you are. â€Å"Kurt, look at this.† Jody held up her burned hand. â€Å"Look!† Kurt turned slowly and looked at her; the acid in his expression fizzled into horror. â€Å"How did you do that?† â€Å"I don't know, I was knocked out. I think I have a head injury. My vision is†¦ Everything looks weird. Now will you please help me?† Kurt started walking in a tight circle around the coffee table, shaking his head. â€Å"I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.† He sat on the couch and began rocking. Jody thought, This is the man who called the fire department when the toilet backed up, and I'm asking him for help. What was I thinking? Why am I attracted to weak men? What's wrong with me? Why doesn't my hand hurt? Should I eat something or go to the emergency room? Kurt said, â€Å"This is horrible, I've got to get up early. I have a meeting at five.† Now that he was in the familiar territory of self-interest, he stopped rocking and looked up. â€Å"You still haven't told me where you were last night!† Near the door where Jody stood there was an antique oak hall tree. On the hall tree there was a black raku pot where lived a struggling philodendron, home for a colony of spider mites. As Jody snatched up the pot, she could hear the spider mites shifting in their tiny webs. As she drew back to throw, she saw Kurt blink, his eyelids moving slowly, like an electric garage door. She saw the pulse in his neck start to rise with a heartbeat as she let fly. The pot described a beeline across the room, trailing the plant behind it like a comet tail. Confused spider mites found themselves airborne. The bottom of the pot connected with Kurt's forehead, and Jody could see the pot bulge, then collapse in on itself. Pottery and potting soil showered the room; the plant folded against Kurt's head and Jody could hear each of the stems snapping. Kurt didn't have time to change expressions. He fell back on the couch, unconscious. The whole thing had taken a tenth of a second. Jody moved to the couch and brushed potting soil out of Kurt's hair. There was a half-moon-shaped dent in his forehead that was filling with blood as she watched. Her stomach lurched and cramped so violently that she fell to her knees with the pain. She thought, My insides are caving in on themselves. She heard Kurt's heart beating and the slow rasp of his breathing. At least I haven't killed him. The smell of blood was thick in her nostrils, suffocatingly sweet. Another cramp doubled her over. She touched the wound on his forehead, then pulled back, her fingers dripping with blood. I'm not going to do this. I can't. She licked her fingers and every muscle in her body sang with the rush. There was an intense pressure on the roof of her mouth, then a crackling noise inside her head, as if someone were ripping out the roots of her eyeteeth. She ran her tongue over the roof of her mouth and felt needlelike points pushing through the skin behind her canines: new teeth, growing. I'm not doing this, she thought, as she climbed on top of Kurt and licked the blood from his forehead. The new teeth lengthened. A wave of electric pleasure rocketed through her and her mind went white with exhilaration. In the back of her mind a small voice shouted â€Å"No!† over and over again as she bit into Kurt's throat and drank. She heard herself moaning with each beat of Kurt's heart. It was a machine-gun orgasm, dark chocolate, spring water in the desert, a hallelujah chorus and the cavalry coming to the rescue all at once. And all the while the little voice screamed no! Finally she pulled herself away and rolled off onto the floor. She sat with her back to the couch, arms around her legs, her face pressed against her knees, ticking and twitching with tiny convulsions of pleasure. A dark warmth moved through her body, tingling as if she had just climbed out of a snowbank into a hot bath. Slowly the warmth ran away, replaced by a heart-wrenching sadness – a feeling of loss so permanent and profound that she felt numbed by the weight of it. I know this feeling, she thought. I've felt this before. She turned and looked at Kurt and felt little relief to see that he was still breathing. There were no marks on his neck where she had bitten him. The wound on his forehead was clotting and scabbing over. The smell of blood was still strong but now it repulsed her, like the odor of empty wine bottles on a hangover morning. She stood and walked to the bathroom, stripping her clothes off as she went. She turned on the shower, and while it ran worked down the remnants of her panty hose, noticing, without much surprise, that her burned hand had healed completely. She thought, I've changed. I will never be the same. The world has shifted. And with that thought the sadness returned. I've felt this before. She stepped into the shower and let the scalding water run over her, not noting its feel, or sound, or the color of the heat and steam swirling in the dark bathroom. The first sob wrenched its way up from her chest, shaking her, opening the grief trail. She slid down the shower wall, sat on the water-warmed tiles and cried until the water ran cold. And she remembered: another shower in the dark when the world had changed. She had been fifteen and not in love, but in love with the excitement of touching tongues and the rough feel of the boy's hand on her breast; in love with the idea of passion and too full of too-sweet wine, shoplifted by the boy from a 7-Eleven. His name was Steve Rizzoli (which didn't matter, except that she would always remember it) and he was two years older – a bit of a bad boy with his hash pipe and surfer smoothness. On a blanket in the Carmel dunes he coaxed her out of her jeans and did it to her. To her, not with her: she could have been dead, for her involvement. It was fast and awkward and empty except for the pain, which lingered and grew even after she walked home, cried in the shower, and lay in her room, wet hair spread over the pillow as she stared at the ceiling and grieved until dawn. As she stepped out of the shower and began mechanically toweling off, she thought, I felt this before when I grieved for my virginity. What do I grieve for tonight? My humanity? That's it: I'm not human anymore, and I never will be again. With that realization, events fell into place. She'd been gone two nights, not one. Her attacker had shoved her under the dumpster to protect her from the sun, but somehow her hand had been exposed and burned. She had slept through the day, and when she awoke the next evening, she was no longer human. Vampire. She didn't believe in vampires. She looked at her feet on the bath mat. Her toes were straight as a baby's, as if they had never been bent and bunched by wearing shoes. The scars on her knees and elbows from childhood accidents were gone. She looked in the mirror and saw that the tiny lines beside her eyes were gone, as were her freckles. But her eyes were black, not a millimeter of iris showing. She shuddered, then realized that she was seeing all of this in total darkness, and flipped on the bathroom light. Her pupils contracted and her eyes were the same striking green that they had always been. She grabbed a handful of her hair and inspected the ends. None were split, none broken. She was – as far as she could allow herself to believe – perfect. A newborn at twenty-six. I am a vampire. She allowed the thought to repeat and settle in her mind as she went to the bedroom and dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. A vampire. A monster. But I don't feel like a monster. As she walked back from the bedroom to the bathroom to dry her hair, she spotted Kurt lying on the couch. He was breathing rhythmically and a healthy aura of heat rose off his body. Jody felt a twinge of guilt, then pushed it aside. Fuck him, I never really liked him anyway. Maybe I am a monster. She turned on the curling iron that she used every morning to straighten her hair, then turned it off and threw it back on the vanity. Fuck that, too. Fuck curling irons and blow dryers and high heels and mascara and control-top panty hose. Fuck those human things. She shook out her hair, grabbed her toothbrush and went back to the bedroom, where she packed a shoulder bag full of jeans and sweatshirts. She dug through Kurt's jewelry box until she found the spare keys to her Honda. The clock radio by the bed read five o'clock in the morning. I don't have much time. I've got to find a place to stay, fast. On her way out she paused by the couch and kissed Kurt on the forehead. â€Å"You're going to be late for your meeting,† she said to him. He didn't move. She grabbed the bag of money from the floor and stuffed it into her shoulder bag, then walked out. Outside, she looked up and down the street, then cursed. The Honda had been towed. She'd have to get it out of impound. But you could only do that during the day. Shit. It would be light soon. She thought of what the sun had done to her hand. I've got to find darkness. She jogged down the street, feeling lighter on her feet than she ever had. At Van Ness she ran into a motel office and pounded on the bell until a sleepy-eyed clerk appeared behind the bulletproof window. She paid cash for two nights, then gave the clerk a hundred-dollar bill to ensure that she would not, under any circumstances, be disturbed. Once in the room she locked the door, then braced a chair against it and got into bed. Weariness came on her suddenly as first light broke pink over the City. She thought, I've got to get my car back. I've got to find a safe place to stay. Then I need to find out who did this to me. I have to know why. Why me? Why the money? Why? And I'm going to need help. I'm going to need someone who can move around in the day. When the sun peeked over the horizon in the east, she fell into the sleep of the dead.

Paleontology and The Evolutionary Theory

Paleontology and The Evolutionary Theory Introduction Paleontology is a wide field of study that is filled with a long and fascinating past and â€Å"an even more intriguing and hopeful future† (UCMP, n.d, p.1). A large number of people think that this field involves just the study of fossils but it is much more than this. According to UCMP (n.d), paleontology is defined as â€Å"the study of what fossils tell us about the ecologies of the past, about evolution, and about our place in the world† (UCMP, n.d, p.1).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Paleontology and The Evolutionary Theory specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This field of study takes in knowledge from other fields such as anthropology, biology, and computer science as well among others, in order to have the understanding of the processes which have contributed to the coming about and ultimate destruction of the various kinds of living organisms, beginning from the time life s tarted. The field of paleontology is traditionally broken down into a number of sub-disciplines and these include; palynology, vertebrate paleontology, invertebrate paleontology, micropaleontology, paleobotany, human paleontology, paleocology, taphonomy, and ichnology (UCMP, n.d, p.1). In this paper, the discipline of paleontology is going to be explored and the main concern will be on looking at paleontology and how it relates to the Darwin’s evolutionary theory. In the discussion, the background information on the fossil record is going to be given and this will be followed by the main discussion on paleontology and the evolutionary theory. The conclusion section will give a summary of the discussion. Fossil Record Before embarking on the main discussion, we need to consider what the fossil record is because the discussion is going to be based on this to some extent. The fossil record is defined as â€Å"the collective accumulation of artefacts which have been fossilized a ll over the world† (Fossil record, 2003, p.1). When looked at as a whole, there can be offering of very interesting information by the fossil record concerning how life evolved on earth. The scientists can make a decision to engage in studying the fossil record in its entirety or may chose to go to a specific period, in an effort to get information about the earth’s history and the living organisms that dwelt on it (Fossil record, 2003). A large number of fossils, amounting to millions, which are found in rocks, exhibit forms of evolution through time and also exhibit a large number of transitions that take place in species. In the year 1831, Charles Darwin commenced on assembling a huge bulk of evidence and in turn engaged in assessing and analysing it for over one and a half decades before keenly deducing a fresh rule of â€Å"descent of organisms with no modification† (Calabro, 2000, p.1).Advertising Looking for research paper on archeology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The fossil record is clear on the evolution of life beginning from simple forms of life to complex forms ones. The fossil record has been seen as having been very important in the development of the evolutionary theory by Darwin. However, it was pointed out that the fossil record was incomplete and Darwin criticized it for the weaknesses associated with it (Calabro, 2000). Paleontology and the Evolutionary Theory According to Sepkoski (2008), there exists a direct relationship between the health of a scientific discipline and the quality of its data sources. The discipline of paleontology â€Å"has a rich source of data in the fossil record†(Sepkoski, 2008, p.27). However, there has been contradictions in opinions in the course of time in regard to the completeness of the fossil record and the sufficiency it has for making conclusions on the evolutionary trends and patterns (Sepkoski, 2008). In t he more recent times, experts in the field of paleontology have had enthusiasm about the fossil record quality and there has been optimism about its approximations and the completeness it has (Benton, 2003; Jablonski et al., 2003, Foote Sepkoski, 1999). However, In the course of the last one century or even more, after Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ publication, there was strict hindering of the capability of paleontologists to take part fully in the discussions concerning the evolutionary theory by perceptions that, â€Å"the fossil record was not a complete or reliable source of data† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.27). While paleontology developed its professional distinctiveness in the course of the 1900s, the critical task for the experts in this field was to set up the sufficiency of the data they had to give answers to questions raised about the authenticity of the contributions made by paleontology to the evolutionary theory. This program involved carrying out determination of the appropriate connection between paleontology and the biology and geology fields, which are its very intimately related sister disciplines. It is pointed out that, in the absence of this backing on behalf of its data, â€Å"paleontology might never have claimed a place at the ‘high table’ of evolutionary biology, and the modern discipline of paleobiology might never have existed† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.27). During the start of the 1800s, at a time paleontology methodology and discipline orientation were coming up, the current fields of science as we now know them were not there. In the year 1859, such a term as ‘biology’ was at that time still a relatively new innovation and even Charles Darwin himself did not utilize it in any of his editions of â€Å"Origin of Species† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.27). At that time, the term ‘paleontology’ was in general use.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample o n Paleontology and The Evolutionary Theory specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the scientists, Charles Lyell, during that period gave a definition of this term as â€Å"’the science which treats fossil remains; both animal and vegetable’ .but it would have been quite unusual for a scientist to identify solely as ‘paleontologist’ or even ‘a geologist† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.28). Hence, the paleontology professional position, especially when compared with the biology field, is a debatable issue in the course of the time those fields had turned out to be generally recognized as independent fields. However, it is pointed out that the geological as well as paleontological evidence were of great significance to Charles Darwin in setting up the evolutionary theory (Sepkoski, 2008). This was mainly for the reason that the fossil record historical evidence made it possible for him to present arguments for chron ological evolutionary succession. In the initial edition of the Origin and those that followed, Darwin engaged in the extensive discussions about the importance of fossil succession, and it is not to overstate by pointing out that paleontology was a backbone of the argument he presented for evolution. However, it is pointed out that Charles Darwin’s conservative evaluation of the fossil record completeness hindered the capacity of the paleontologists that came thereafter to totally engage in joining in the development of the evolutionary biology community (Sepkoski, 2008,). Among the greatest fears was the idea that â€Å"the ‘incompleteness’ of the fossil record would be used to criticize his theory† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.28). The dilemma that Darwin faced, then, was that he was concurrently needed and faced embarrassment caused by the paleontological evidence found in the fossil record. As on one hand Darwin almost surely had no intentions of diminishing th e status of paleontology, on the other hand, the diagnosis he undertook of the limitations which the fossil record had, had precisely that effect for almost a century after the Origin publication. Darwin wrote about the weaknesses in the fossil record. Whilst he presented the case that the fossil data were essential for a clear understanding of the organic history, he pointed out that â€Å"the absence of transitional forms between species is an inherent and insoluble problem for paleontologists and geologists† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.28). However, it is pointed out that the theory presented by Darwin of evolution brought in a revolution in paleontology for the reason that the fossil record turned out to be the only possible source of evidence that evolution had actually taken place. In the absence of evolution, paleontology just â€Å"made interesting, descriptive observations about the form and distribution of once living creatures; without paleontology, there is no concrete ev idence that evolution happened† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.29).Advertising Looking for research paper on archeology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More But paleontology, on its own, could not independently contribute towards the theory of evolution because this theory relied on evidence which came from such fields as geology, biology and heredity among other fields in order to bring meaning to the paleontological data (Sepkoski, 2008). This means that, in the absence of the theory of evolution to paleontology, this field of study (paleontology) could not find a solution to issues concerning the organic nature history; it called for the Darwin’s theory of evolution to carry out the contextualization of the contributions it had made while excusing its shortcomings. Darwin had relatively pointed out that paleontology had already offered all it was possibly to give to having understanding of evolution. Therefore, for those who supported Darwin, there existed no immense necessity to examine the fossil record. In actual fact, those who supported Darwin were much more likely to have a wish to engage in pushing â€Å"paleontology i nto the background† (Sepkoski, 2008, p.29). For instance, Colman (1971) presents an argument that â€Å"to the biologist that fossil record posed more problems than it resolvedthe incompleteness of the recovered fossil record, in which a relatively full historical record for any major group was still lacking, was the very curse of transmutationist† (p.66). Hunt (2010), also citing the weakness in the fossil record as diagnosed by Darwin, points out that; in responding to the lack of â€Å"absence of species-levels transformation† within the fossil records, Darwin presented an argument that that â€Å"the fossil record was too incomplete, too biased, and too poorly known to provide strong evidence against his theory† (Hunt, 2010, p.61). Hunt (2010), in his research, carried out the evaluation of this view of the fossil record in light of a period of one and a half century of the paleontological research that followed. He points out that even if the assessme nt carried out by Darwin of the â€Å"completeness and resolution of fossiliferous rocks was in several ways astute† Hunt (2010, p.61), in the current day, there is much better exploration of the fossil record and there is also better documentation and understanding of this record than the way it was way back in the year 1859 (Hunt, 2010). More specifically, a logical big set of studies which seek to trace â€Å"evolutionary trajectories within species can now be brought to bear on Darwin’s expectation of gradual change driven by natural selection†(Hunt, 2010, p.61). Conclusion As it has been looked at in the discussion above, it can be concluded that, paleontology is a very wide discipline and has been there for a long time. This discipline has played a very important role in the evolutionary theory, which was set up by Charles Darwin. The fossil record enabled Charles Darwin to develop this theory. But over time, different views have come up concerning the com pleteness of the fossil record and its satisfactoriness for drawing conclusions on the evolutionary trends and patterns. For instance, Darwin’s conservative assessment of the completeness of the fossil record hindered the capability of the successive paleontologists to entirely engage in joining in the development of the evolutionary biology community. However, it is important to note that Darwin’s evolutionary theory caused a revolution in the field of paleontology and this was because the fossil record turned out to be the only available source of evidence that indicated that evolution had actually occurred. Yet paleontology, standing alone as an independent field, could not contribute to the theory of evolution and this is for the reason that this theory relied on evidence that was obtained from other fields which include the biology, geology and heredity fields or disciplines among others in order to make the paleontological data to turn out to be of significance. References Benton, M. J. (2003). The quality of the fossil record. London, England: Taylor Francis. Calabro, T. (2000). The fossil record and evolution. Retrieved from https://carnegiemuseums.org/ Coleman, W. (1971). Biology in the Nineteenth Century: Problems of Form, Function, and Transformation. New York, NY: Wiley. Foote, M. J. Sepkoski, J. (1999). Absolute measures of the completeness of the fossil record. Nature, 398(6726), 415-417 Fossil record (2003) Retrieved from https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-fossil-record.htm Hunt, G. (2010). Evolution in fossil lineages: Paleontology and the origin of species. The American Naturalist, 176 (1), 61 – 76. Jablonski, D. R. Kaustuv, J. W. Valentine, R. M. Price, Anderson, P.S. (2003). The impact of the pull of the recent on the history of marine diversity. Science, 300(5622),1133-1135. Sepkoski, D. (2008). Evolutionary paleontology and the fossil record: A historical introduction. Wilmington, NC: University of North Carolina Press. UCMP. (n.d). What is paleontology?. Retrieved from https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/paleo/paleowhat.html