Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Paramount vs. Tantamount

Foremost versus Commensurate Foremost versus Commensurate Foremost versus Commensurate By Mark Nichol What’s the contrast among principal and commensurate? The differentiation is of vital significance; it’s commensurate to being correct or wrong. Fundamental, from the Anglo-French word paramont, got from the Latin expression per advertisement montem, actually deciphered as â€Å"up the mountain,† implies â€Å"supreme.† It’s likewise utilized (once in a while) as a thing to allude to an incomparable ruler. Commensurate was initially a thing, converted into English from the Anglo-French expression tant amunter, which means â€Å"to sum to as much,† and means â€Å"equivalent.† It is only here and there utilized more’s the pity, since it is such a great word in such expressions as â€Å"tantamount to treason.† This pomposity, and the word’s similarity to principal, may deceive essayists into accepting it has a grand sense like its partner. As you would have speculated, the thing sum, which means â€Å"sum,† additionally gets from the Latin word for mountain. Another word with the component - sum is catamount, an almost out of date equivalent word for cougar or lynx that is a pressure of the term feline a-mountain. Shut compound action words with the root word mount incorporate descent (â€Å"remove oneself from a high situation, as a pony or a bit of gymnastic equipment,† or â€Å"take apart†) demount is a once in a while utilized variation remount (â€Å"get up on again,† or â€Å"revert†), and conquer (â€Å"climb,† â€Å"excel,† or â€Å"overcome,† or â€Å"be at the top of†). Seamount is a thing alluding to a submerged mountain whose highest point doesn't arrive adrift level. (In the event that it did, it would be called an island.) Dismount and remount additionally have thing structures; the previous alludes to the finishing up development in an acrobatic daily schedule, and the last signifies a pony that replaces a rider’s past one. A fascinating side note: In arrow based weaponry, â€Å"lord paramount† and â€Å"lady paramount† are terms for an authority responsible for a bows and arrows competition, or for a stately pioneer of such an occasion, proportionate to a motorcade fabulous marshal. The terms began in the medieval time, when a ruler vital, one not subordinate to an individual from the honorability of more noteworthy position, was required to give prepared longbowmen in case of war, and directed at bows and arrows competitions. (The title â€Å"lord paramount† is known to enthusiasts of the TV arrangement A Game of Thrones and the arrangement of books on which it is based.) Need to improve your English in a short time a day? Get a membership and begin getting our composing tips and activities day by day! Continue learning! Peruse the Misused Words classification, check our well known posts, or pick a related post below:70 Idioms with HeartReplacement for and substitution ofWood versus Wooden

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Renaissance Art And Culture Essay Paper Example For Students

Renaissance Art And Culture Essay Paper The word Renaissance is a French word that implies Re-birth. Renaissance was a social development that secured the period around from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. Renaissance started in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spread to the remainder of Europe. As a social development, it secured creative opening of Latin and vernacular writings. In governmental issues, the Renaissance contributed the improvement of the arrangements of tact, and in science an expanded conviction on perception. Despite the fact that the Renaissance saw insurgencies in numerous scholarly exercises, just as social and political disarray, it is maybe most popular for its aesthetic turns of events. Leonardo father Vinci and Michelangelo were motivated by the term Renaissance man. Renaissance impact was felt in writing, theory, workmanship, music, legislative issues, science, religion, and different parts of scholarly examination. Renaissance researchers utilized the humanist strategy in study, and scanned for authenticity and human feeling in craftsmanship. The civic establishments of Greece and Rome were rediscovered, rousing an enthusiasm for Old style realizing which tested medieval convictions and thoughts. The populace was turning out to be wealthier which prompted an expansion in exchange and travel and the spread of new thoughts. The ascent in success likewise produced an enthusiasm for instruction, bolstered the prospering of expressions of the human experience and advanced logical disclosures and new innovations. Maybe the most significant of these was the print machine, which permitted the dissemination of data to an a lot more extensive crowd than any time in recent memory, further expanding the interest for more knowledgeRenaissance was considerably more than a resurrection of traditional workmanship. It was a dismissal of the medieval times, which were Just completion. During medieval occasions, human expressions were concerned basically with religion, with the life of the soul, with the great beyond. Little significance was given to life on earth with the exception of as a groundwork for the following scene. Be that as it may, as the 1 fifth century started, Italians were directing their concentration toward the world about them. Individuals began to contemplate nonstructural, or nonreligious, matters. They started putting confidence in their own characteristics and their own significance. Control, unquestioning confidence, dutifulness to authoritythese medieval advantages were o longer aimlessly acknowledged. Individuals posed inquiries and needed to locate their own answers. Craftsmen were among the primary influenced by the new soul of humanism. In their work they started to concentrate on human life on earth. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART The Italian Renaissance was one of the most beneficial periods throughout the entire existence of craftsmanship, with huge quantities of exceptional experts to be found in numerous focuses and in all the significant fields painting, figure, and design. In Florence, in the primary portion of the fifteenth century, there were extraordinary pioneers in every one of these fields, whose work raked a start off new time throughout the entire existence of craftsmanship. The possibility of masterful virtuoso got well known; Michelangelo was called divine due to the enormity of his imaginative forces. In the Renaissance, workmanship and science were firmly associated. Both the craftsman and the researcher took a stab at the dominance of the physical world, and the specialty of painting benefitted by two fields of study that might be called logical: life systems, which made conceivable a progressively precise portrayal of the human body, and scientific viewpoint. Humanistic instruction, in light of morals and the aesthetic sciences, was pushed s an approach to make experienced residents who could effectively partake in the political procedure. Humanists praised the brain, excellence, power, and gigantic capability of people. They accepted that individuals had the option to encounter God legitimately and ought to have an individual, passionate relationship to their confidence. God had made the world yet people had the option to partake in his wonder by turning out to be makers themselves. Effect ON PAINTING The work of art in France was known as Florentine painting. The procedures supported by the Florentine were gum based paint and fresco. The Tempera Painting: In gum based paint painting a dry surface was utilized. A wooden board was grounded with a few layers of mortar in stick, and the work was then replicated from a drawing.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Skipping the Drama of Payday Loans - To Payday or Not to Payday (1 of 3)

Skipping the Drama of Payday Loans - To Payday or Not to Payday (1 of 3) To Payday or Not to Payday? (1 of 3) Skipping the Drama of Payday Loans To Payday or Not to Payday? (1 of 3) Skipping the Drama of Payday LoansWho doesn’t love good dramatic theater? The music, conflict, romance and comedy that happens once those stage curtains go up is enough get to anyone excited. But there’s one type of drama everyone should skip: Payday Loans.Everyone needs money (and help) from time to time. But when you find yourself in need, ask yourself: Is a payday loan what you need, or is it what you really need to avoid?Here are the top three reasons you should dodge the drama of a payday loan:1. They’re a trapPayday loans are predatory loans. This means that the lenders are 100% out to get repeat business out of you. That’s how they make profits! It’s all a ruse, really. A well-crafted ruse perhaps, but a ruse all the same (read more in our Blog How to Avoid a Payday Loan: Savings Strategies).Here’s how they work: let’s say you take out a payday loan to cover a monthly expense (a Pew Charitable Trusts study found that 69% of p ayday loan users took out their first loan to pay for a recurring expense, while only 16% used the money for an unexpected emergency expense).1 So you take out a payday loan to cover, say, your electricity bill.You use the loan to pay the bill, everything is going great. Then your payday comes up and the payday lender pulls the money you borrowed (plus their cut) from your checking account. After the high interest rates and fees, the money you’re left with isn’t even close to enough to afford rent. So what do you do? Well, you go back to the lender and take out another loan. Repeat this pattern 10 times in a year and you’ve got the average scenario for a payday loan borrower.2. These lenders lieWhen faced with criticism from the public, the media, or legislators, the payday lenders all read their lines from the same script: “We provide a short-term solution for people facing unexpected emergency expenses!” (Seriously, you can look up any interview. They all say this, pract ically verbatim.) If payday lenders and their advertising told the truth, we would be getting a much different story.These loans are used by people to cover ordinary expenses. They are not short-term solutions, due to high interest rates and rollover allowances. The average borrower is in debt with payday loans five months out of the year, not 14 days like they want you to believe. We’re still looking for a time when it might be a good idea to take out a payday loan. We haven’t found it yet.3. Everyone knows they’re bad (even the regulators)Payday lending is facing tough new regulation and for good reason. Small-dollar loans that carry impossibly high interest are currently banned in eighteen states and the District of Columbia. New regulatory agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are fighting to curtail this $46 billion dollar industry that is known to target low-income areas.While the industry and the regulators battle it out, payday lenders are using decept ive advertising and difficult, complex contracts to hide the truth that they are, as one expert put it, “toxic… the leading cause of bankruptcy behind medical and credit card debt.”2So, if the question is “To payday or not to payday?”, the answer is pretty clear: Never.If you do need financial help, don’t payday. Consider a safe, credit-building installment loan. OppLoans helps people escape payday loans every day. Our personal installment loans come with longer terms and lower interest. You deserve better than a payday loan.References:1. “Payday Lending in America: Who Borrows, Where They Borrow, and Why” Federal Student Aid: An Office of the U.S. Department of Education. Accessed May 13, 2016. href=https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/small-dollar-loans-research-project2. “Payday Loan Rules Proposed by Consumer Protection Agency.” NewYorkTimes.com. Accessed May 13, 2016. href=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/business/dealbook/consumer-protection-agency-pro poses-rules-on-payday-loans.html?_r=0Blog Series: To Payday or Not to PaydayPart 1: Skipping the Drama of Payday LoansPart 2: Predatory Lending’s Second ActPart 3: The Final Act

Skipping the Drama of Payday Loans - To Payday or Not to Payday (1 of 3)

Skipping the Drama of Payday Loans - To Payday or Not to Payday (1 of 3) To Payday or Not to Payday? (1 of 3) Skipping the Drama of Payday Loans To Payday or Not to Payday? (1 of 3) Skipping the Drama of Payday LoansWho doesn’t love good dramatic theater? The music, conflict, romance and comedy that happens once those stage curtains go up is enough get to anyone excited. But there’s one type of drama everyone should skip: Payday Loans.Everyone needs money (and help) from time to time. But when you find yourself in need, ask yourself: Is a payday loan what you need, or is it what you really need to avoid?Here are the top three reasons you should dodge the drama of a payday loan:1. They’re a trapPayday loans are predatory loans. This means that the lenders are 100% out to get repeat business out of you. That’s how they make profits! It’s all a ruse, really. A well-crafted ruse perhaps, but a ruse all the same (read more in our Blog How to Avoid a Payday Loan: Savings Strategies).Here’s how they work: let’s say you take out a payday loan to cover a monthly expense (a Pew Charitable Trusts study found that 69% of p ayday loan users took out their first loan to pay for a recurring expense, while only 16% used the money for an unexpected emergency expense).1 So you take out a payday loan to cover, say, your electricity bill.You use the loan to pay the bill, everything is going great. Then your payday comes up and the payday lender pulls the money you borrowed (plus their cut) from your checking account. After the high interest rates and fees, the money you’re left with isn’t even close to enough to afford rent. So what do you do? Well, you go back to the lender and take out another loan. Repeat this pattern 10 times in a year and you’ve got the average scenario for a payday loan borrower.2. These lenders lieWhen faced with criticism from the public, the media, or legislators, the payday lenders all read their lines from the same script: “We provide a short-term solution for people facing unexpected emergency expenses!” (Seriously, you can look up any interview. They all say this, pract ically verbatim.) If payday lenders and their advertising told the truth, we would be getting a much different story.These loans are used by people to cover ordinary expenses. They are not short-term solutions, due to high interest rates and rollover allowances. The average borrower is in debt with payday loans five months out of the year, not 14 days like they want you to believe. We’re still looking for a time when it might be a good idea to take out a payday loan. We haven’t found it yet.3. Everyone knows they’re bad (even the regulators)Payday lending is facing tough new regulation and for good reason. Small-dollar loans that carry impossibly high interest are currently banned in eighteen states and the District of Columbia. New regulatory agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are fighting to curtail this $46 billion dollar industry that is known to target low-income areas.While the industry and the regulators battle it out, payday lenders are using decept ive advertising and difficult, complex contracts to hide the truth that they are, as one expert put it, “toxic… the leading cause of bankruptcy behind medical and credit card debt.”2So, if the question is “To payday or not to payday?”, the answer is pretty clear: Never.If you do need financial help, don’t payday. Consider a safe, credit-building installment loan. OppLoans helps people escape payday loans every day. Our personal installment loans come with longer terms and lower interest. You deserve better than a payday loan.References:1. “Payday Lending in America: Who Borrows, Where They Borrow, and Why” Federal Student Aid: An Office of the U.S. Department of Education. Accessed May 13, 2016. href=https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/small-dollar-loans-research-project2. “Payday Loan Rules Proposed by Consumer Protection Agency.” NewYorkTimes.com. Accessed May 13, 2016. href=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/business/dealbook/consumer-protection-agency-pro poses-rules-on-payday-loans.html?_r=0Blog Series: To Payday or Not to PaydayPart 1: Skipping the Drama of Payday LoansPart 2: Predatory Lending’s Second ActPart 3: The Final Act

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Learn to Calculate Percent Change

Percent increase and decrease are the two types of percent change, which is used to express the ratio of how an initial value compares to the result of a change in value. A percent decrease is a ratio that describes a decline in value of something by a specific rate, while a percent increase is a ratio that describes an increase in the value of something by a specific rate. The easiest way to determine whether a percent change is an increase or a decrease is to calculate the difference between the original value and the remaining value to find the change then divide the change by the original value and multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage. If the resulting number is positive, the change is a percent increase, but if it is negative, the change is a percent decrease. Percent change is highly useful in the real world, for example,  allowing you to calculate  the difference  in the  number of customers who come into  your store daily or to determine  how much money you’d save on a 20-percent-off sale. How to Calculate Percent Change   Suppose the original price for a bag of apples is $3. On Tuesday, the bag of apples sells for $1.80. What is the percent decrease? Note that you would not find the difference between $3 and $1.80 yielding and answer of $1.20, which is the difference in price. Instead, since the cost of the apples has decreased, use this formula to find the percent decrease: Percent decrease (Older – Newer) à · Older. (3 – 1.80) à · 3 .40 40 percent Note how you convert a decimal into a percent by moving the decimal point twice to the right and tacking on the word percent after that number. How to Use Percent Change to Alter Values In other situations, the percent decrease or increase is known, but the newer value is not. This may occur at department stores that are putting clothing on sale but don’t want to advertise the new price or on coupons for goods whose prices vary. Take, for example, a bargain store selling a laptop for $600, while an electronics store nearby promises to beat the price of any competitor by 20 percent. You would clearly want to choose the electronics store, but how much would you save? To calculate this, multiply the original number ($600) by the percent change (0.20) to get the amount discounted ($120). To figure out the new total, subtract the discount amount from the original number to see that you would only be spending $480 at the electronics store. In another example of altering a value, suppose a dress regularly sells for $150. A green tag, marked 40 percent off, is attached to the dress. Calculate the discount as follows: 0.40 x $150 $60 Calculate the sales price  by subtracting the amount you save from the original price: $150 - $60 $90 Exercises With Answers and Explanations Test your skills in finding percent change with the following examples: 1) You see a carton of ice cream that originally sold for $4 now selling for $3.50. Determine the percent change in the price. Original price: $4Current price: $3.50Percent decrease (Older – Newer) à · Older(4.00 - 3.50) à · 4.000.50 à · 4.00 .125 12.5 percent decrease So the  percent decrease is  12.5 percent. 2) You walk to the dairy section and see that the price of a bag of shredded cheese has been reduced from $2.50 to $1.25. Calculate the percent change. Original price: $2.50Current price: $1.25Percent decrease (Older – Newer) à · Older(2.50 - 1.25) à · 2.501.25 à · 2.50 0.50 50 percent decrease So, you have a percent decrease of  50 percent. 3) Now, youre thirsty and see a special on bottled water. Three bottles that used to sell for $1 are now selling for $0.75. Determine the percent change. Original:  $1Current:  $0.75Percent decrease (Older – Newer) à · Older(1.00 - 0.75) à · 1.000.25 à · 1.00 .25 25 percent decrease You have a percent decrease of 25 percent. Youre feeling like a thrifty shopper, but you want to determine the altered values in your next three items. So, calculate the discount, in dollars, for the items in exercises four through six. 4.) A box of frozen fish sticks was $4. This week, it is discounted 33 percent off the original price. Discount: 33 percent x $4 0.33 x $4 $1.32 5.) A lemon pound cake originally cost $6. This week, it is discounted 20 percent off the original price. Discount: 20 percent x $6 0.20 x $6 $1.20 6.) A Halloween costume usually sells for $30. The discount rate is 60 percent. Discount: 60 percent x $30 0.60 x $30 $18

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Second Foundation 9. The Conspirators Free Essays

For Dr. Darell and Pelleas Anthor, the evenings passed in friendly intercourse; the days in pleasant unimportance. It might have been an ordinary visit. We will write a custom essay sample on Second Foundation 9. The Conspirators or any similar topic only for you Order Now Dr. Darell introduced the young man as a cousin from across space, and interest was dulled by the clich. Somehow, however, among the small talk, a name might be mentioned. There would be an easy thoughtfulness. Dr. Darell might say, â€Å"No,† or he might say, â€Å"Yes.† A call on the open Communi-wave issued a casual invitation, â€Å"Want you to meet my cousin.† And Arcadia’s preparations proceeded in their own manner. In fact, her actions might be considered the least straightforward of all. For instance, she induced Olynthus Dam at school to donate to her a home-built, self-contained sound-receiver by methods which indicated a future for her that promised peril to all males with whom she might come into contact. To avoid details, she merely exhibited such an interest in Olynthus’ self-publicized hobby – he had a home workshop-combined with such a well-modulated transfer of this interest to Olynthus’ own pudgy features, that the unfortunate youth found himself: 1) discoursing at great and animated length upon the principles of the hyperwave motor; 2) becoming dizzyingly aware of the great, absorbed eyes that rested so lightly upon his; and 3) forcing into her willing hands his own greatest creation, the aforesaid sound-receiver. Arcadia cultivated Olynthus in diminishing degree thereafter for just long enough to remove all suspicion that the sound-receiver had been the cause of the friendship. For months afterwards, Olynthus felt the memory of that short period in his life over and over again with the tendrils of his mind, until finally, for lack of further addition, he gave up and let it slip away. When the seventh evening came, and five men sat in the Darell living room with food within and tobacco without, Arcadia’s desk upstairs was occupied by this quite unrecognizable home-product of Olynthus’ ingenuity. Five men then. Dr. Darell, of course, with graying hair and meticulous clothing, looking somewhat older than his forty-two years. Pelleas Author, serious and quick-eyed at the moment looking young and unsure of himself. And the three new men: Jole Turbor, visicastor, bulky and plump-lipped; Dr. Elvett Semic, professor-emeritus of physics at the University, scrawny and wrinkled, his clothes only half-filled; Homir Munn, librarian, lanky and terribly ill-at-ease. Dr. Darell spoke easily, in a normal, matter-of-fact tone: â€Å"This gathering has been arranged, gentlemen, for a trifle more than merely social reasons. You may have guessed this. Since you have been deliberately chosen because of your backgrounds, you may also guess the danger involved. I won’t minimize it, but I will point out that we are all condemned men, in any case. â€Å"You will notice that none of you have been invited with any attempt at secrecy. None of you have been asked to come here unseen. The windows are not adjusted to non-insight. No screen of any sort is about the room. We have only to attract the attention of the enemy to be ruined; and the best way to attract that attention is to assume a false and theatrical secrecy. (Hah, thought Arcadia, bending over the voices coming – a bit screechily – out of the little box.) â€Å"Do you understand that?† Elvett Semic twitched his lower lip and bared his teeth in the screwup, wrinkled gesture that preceded his every sentence. â€Å"Oh, get on with it. Tell us about the youngster.† Dr. Darell said, â€Å"Pelleas Anthor is his name. He was a student of my old colleague, Kleise, who died last year. Kleise sent me his brain-pattern to the fifth sublevel, before he died, which pattern has been now checked against that of the man before you. You know, of course, that a brain-pattern cannot be duplicated that far, even by men of the Science of Psychology. If you don’t know that, you’ll have to take my word for it.† Turbor said, purse-lipped, â€Å"We might as well make a beginning somewheres. We’ll take your word for it, especially since you’re the greatest electroneurologist in the Galaxy now that Kleise is dead. At least, that is the way I’ve described you in my visicast comment, and I even believe it myself. How old are you, Anthor?† â€Å"Twenty-nine, Mr. Turbor.† â€Å"Hm-m-m. And are you an electroneurologist, too? A great one?† â€Å"Just a student of the science. But I work hard, and I’ve had the benefit of Kleise’s training.† Munn broke in. He had a slight stammer at periods of tension. â€Å"I†¦ I wish you’d g†¦ get started. I think everyone’s t†¦ talking too much.† Dr. Darell lifted an eyebrow in Munn’s direction. you’re right, Homir. Take over, Pelleas.† â€Å"Not for a while,† said Pelleas Anthor, slowly, â€Å"because before we can get started – although I appreciate Mr. Munn’s sentiment – I must request brain-wave data.† Darell frowned. â€Å"What is this, Anthor? What brain-wave data do you refer to?† â€Å"The patterns of all of you. You have taken mine, Dr. Darell. I must take yours and those of the rest of you. And I must take the measurements myself.† Turbor said, â€Å"There’s no reason for him to trust us, Darell. The young man is within his rights.† â€Å"Thank you,† said Anthor. â€Å"If you’ll lead the way to your laboratory then, Dr. Darell, well proceed. I took the liberty this morning of checking your apparatus.† The science of electroencephalography was at once new and old. It was old in the sense that the knowledge of the microcurrents generated by nerve cells of living beings belonged to that immense category of human knowledge whose origin was completely lost. It was knowledge that stretched back as far as the earliest remnants of human history- And yet it was new, too. The fact of the existence of microcurrents slumbered through the tens of thousands of years of Galactic Empire as one of those vivid and whimsical, but quite useless, items of human knowledge. Some had attempted to form classifications of waves into waking and sleeping, calm and excited, well and ill – but even the broadest conceptions had had their hordes of vitiating exceptions. Others had tried to show the existence of brain-wave groups, analogous to the well-known blood groups, and to show that external environment was the defining factor. These were the race-minded people who claimed that Man could be divided into subspecies. But such a philosophy could make no headway against the overwhelming ecumenical drive involved in the fact of Galactic Empire – one political unit covering twenty million stellar systems, involving all of Man from the central world of Trantor – now a gorgeous and impossible memory of the great past – to the loneliest asteroid on the periphery. And then again, in a society given over, as that of the First Empire was, to the physical sciences and inanimate technology, there was a vague but mighty sociological push away from the study of the mind. It was less respectable because less immediately useful; and it was poorly financed since it was less profitable. After the disintegration of the First Empire, there came the fragmentation of organized science, back, back – past even the fundamentals of atomic power into the chemical power of coal and oil. The one exception to this, of course, was the First Foundation where the spark of science, revitalized and grown more intense was maintained and fed to flame. Yet there, too, it was the physical that ruled, and the brain, except for surgery, was neglected ground. Hari Seldon was the first to express what afterwards came to be accepted as truth. â€Å"Neural microcurrents,† he once said, â€Å"carry within them the spark of every varying impulse and response, conscious and unconscious. The brain-waves recorded on neatly squared paper in trembling peaks and troughs are the mirrors of the combined thought-pulses of billions of cells. Theoretically, analysis should reveal the thoughts and emotions of the subject, to the last and least. Differences should be detected that are due not only to gross physical defects, inherited or acquired, but also to shifting states of emotion, to advancing education and experience, even to something as subtle as a change in the subject’s philosophy of life.† But even Seldon could approach no further than speculation. And now for fifty years, the men of the First Foundation had been tearing at that incredibly vast and complicated storehouse of new knowledge. The approach, naturally, was made through new techniques – as, for example, the use of electrodes at skull sutures by a newly-developed means which enabled contact to be made directly with the gray cells, without even the necessity of shaving a patch of skull. And then there was a recording device which automatically recorded the brain-wave data as an overall total, and as separate functions of six independent variables. What was most significant, perhaps, was the growing respect in which encephalography and the encephalographer was held. Kleise, the greatest of them, sat at scientific conventions on an equal basis with the physicist. Dr. Darell, though no longer active in the science, was known for his brilliant advances in encephalographic analysis almost as much as for the fact that he was the son of Bayta Darell, the great heroine of the past generation. And so now, Dr. Darell sat in his own chair, with the delicate touch of the feathery electrodes scarcely hinting at pressure upon his skull, while the vacuum-incased needles wavered to and fro. His back was to the recorder – otherwise, as was well known, the sight of the moving curves induced an unconscious effort to control them, with noticeable results – but he knew that the central dial was expressing the strongly rhythmic and little-varying Sigma curve, which was to be expected of his own powerful and disciplined mind. It would be strengthened and purified in the subsidiary dial dealing with the Cerebellar wave. There would be the sharp, near-discontinuous leaps from the frontal lobe, and the subdued shakiness from the subsurface regions with its narrow range of frequencies- He knew his own brain-wave pattern much as an artist might be perfectly aware of the color of his eyes. Pelleas Anthor made no comment when Darell rose from the reclining chair. The young man abstracted the seven recordings, glanced at them with the quick, all-embracing eyes of one who knows exactly what tiny facet of near-nothingness is being looked for. â€Å"If you don’t mind, Dr. Semic.† Semic’s age-yellowed face was serious. Electroencephalography was a science of his old age of which he knew little; an upstart that he faintly resented. He knew that he was old and that his wave-pattern would show it. The wrinkles on his face showed it, the stoop in his walk, the shaking of his hand – but they spoke only of his body. The brain-wave patterns might show that his mind was old, too. An embarrassing and unwarranted invasion of a man’s last protecting stronghold, his own mind. The electrodes were adjusted. The process did not hurt, of course, from beginning to end. There was just that tiny tingle, far below the threshold of sensation. And then came Turbor, who sat quietly and unemotionally through the fifteen minute process, and Munn, who jerked at the first touch of the electrodes and then spent the session rolling his eyes as though he wished he could turn them backwards and watch through a hole in his occiput. â€Å"And now-† said Darell, when all was done. â€Å"And now,† said Anthor, apologetically, â€Å"there is one more person in the house.† Darell, frowning, said: â€Å"My daughter?† ‘Yes. I suggested that she stay home tonight, if you’ll remember.† â€Å"For encephalographical analysis? What in the Galaxy for?† â€Å"I cannot proceed without it.† Darell shrugged and climbed the stairs. Arcadia, amply warned, had the sound-receiver off when he entered; then followed him down with mild obedience. It was the first time in her life – except for the taking of her basic mind pattern as an infant, for identification and registration purposes – that she found herself under the electrodes. â€Å"May I see,† she asked, when it was over, holding out her hand. Dr. Darell said, â€Å"You would not understand, Arcadia. Isn’t it time for you to go to bed?† â€Å"Yes, father,† she said, demurely. â€Å"Good night, all.† She ran up the stairs and plumped into bed with a minimum of basic preparation. With Olynthus’ sound-receiver propped beside her pillow, she felt like a character out of a book-film, and hugged every moment of it close to her chest in an ecstasy of â€Å"Spy-stuff.† The first words she heard were Anthor’s and they were: â€Å"The analyses, gentlemen, are all satisfactory. The child’s as well.† Child, she thought disgustedly, and bristled at Anthor in the darkness. Anthor had opened his briefcase now, and out of it, he took several dozen brain-wave records. They were not originals. Nor had the briefcase been fitted with an ordinary lock. Had the key been held in any hand other than his own, the contents thereof would have silently and instantly oxidized to an indecipherable ash. Once removed from the briefcase, the records did so anyway after half an hour. But during their short lifetime, Anthor spoke quickly. â€Å"I have the records here of several minor government officials at Anacreon. This is a psychologist at Locris University; this an industrialist at Siwenna. The rest are as you see.† They crowded closely. To all but Darell, they were so many quivers on parchment. To Darell, they shouted with a million tongues. Anthor pointed lightly, â€Å"I call your attention, Dr. Darell, to the plateau region among the secondary Tauian waves in the frontal lobe, which is what all these records have in common. Would you use my Analytical Rule, sir, to check my statement?† The Analytical Rule might be considered a distant relation – as a skyscraper is to a shack – of that kindergarten toy, the logarithmic Slide Rule. Darell used it with the wristflip of long practice. He made freehand drawings of the result and, as Anthor stated, there were featureless plateaus in frontal lobe regions where strong swings should have been expected. â€Å"How would you interpret that, Dr. Darell?† asked Anthor. â€Å"I’m not sure. Offhand, I don’t see how it’s possible. Even in cases of amnesia, there is suppression, but not removal. Drastic brain surgery, perhaps?† â€Å"Oh, something’s been cut out,† cried Anthor, impatiently, â€Å"yes! Not in the physical sense, however. You know, the Mule could have done just that. He could have suppressed completely all capacity for a certain emotion or attitude of mind, and leave nothing but just such a flatness. Or else-â€Å" â€Å"Or else the Second Foundation could have done it. Is that it?† asked Turbor, with a slow smile. There was no real need to answer that thoroughly rhetorical question. â€Å"What made you suspicious, Mr. Anthor?† asked Munn. â€Å"It wasn’t I. It was Dr. Kleise. He collected brain-wave patterns much as the Planetary Police do, but along different lines. He specialized in intellectuals, government officials and business leaders. You see, it’s quite obvious that if the Second Foundation is directing the historical course of the Galaxy – of us – that they must do it subtly and in as minimal a fashion as possible. If they work through minds, as they must, it is the minds of people with influence; culturally, industrially, or politically. And with those he concerned himself.† â€Å"Yes,† objected Munn, â€Å"but is there corroboration? How do these people act – I mean the ones with the plateau. Maybe it’s all a perfectly normal phenomenon.† He looked hopelessly at the others out of his, somehow, childlike blue eyes, but met no encouraging return. â€Å"I leave that to Dr. Darell,† said Anthor. â€Å"Ask him how many times he’s seen this phenomenon in his general studies, or in reported cases in the literature over the past generation. Then ask him the chances of it being discovered in almost one out of every thousand cases among the categories Dr. Kleise studied.† â€Å"I suppose that there is no doubt,† said Darell, thoughtfully, â€Å"that these are artificial mentalities. They have been tampered with. In a way, I have suspected this-â€Å" â€Å"I know that, Dr. Darell,† said Author. â€Å"I also know you once worked with Dr. Kleise. I would like to know why you stopped.† There wasn’t actually hostility in his question. Perhaps nothing more than caution; but, at any rate, it resulted in a long pause. Darell looked from one to another of his guests, then said brusquely, â€Å"Because there was no point to Kleise’s battle. He was competing with an adversary too strong for him. He was detecting what we – he and I – knew he would detect – that we were not our own masters. And I didn’t want to know! I had my self-respect. I liked to think that our Foundation was captain of its collective soul; that our forefathers had not quite fought and died for nothing. I thought it would be most simple to turn my face away as long as I was not quite sure. I didn’t need my position since the Government pension awarded to my mother’s family in perpetuity would take care of my uncomplicated needs. My home laboratory would suffice to keep boredom away, and life would some day end – Then Kleise died-â€Å" Semic showed his teeth and said: â€Å"This fellow Kleise; I don’t know him. How did he die?† Anthor cut in: â€Å"He died. He thought he would. He told me half a year before that he was getting too close-â€Å" â€Å"Now we’re too c†¦ close, too, aren’t we?† suggested Munn, dry-mouthed, as his Adam’s apple jiggled. â€Å"Yes,† said Anthor, flatly, â€Å"but we were, anyway – all of us. It’s why you’ve all been chosen. I’m Kleise’s student. Dr. Darell was his colleague. Jole Turbor has been denouncing our blind faith in the saving hand of the Second Foundation on the air, until the government shut him off – through the agency, I might mention, of a powerful financier whose brain shows what Kleise used to call the Tamper Plateau. Homir Munn has the largest home collection of Muliana – if I may use the phrase to signify collected data concerning the Mule – in existence, and has published some papers containing speculation on the nature and function of the Second Foundation. Dr. Semic has contributed as much as anyone to the mathematics of encephalographic analysis, though I don’t believe he realized that his mathematics could be so applied.† Semic opened his eyes wide and chuckled gaspingly, â€Å"No, young fellow. I was analyzing intranuclear motions – the n-body problem, you know. I’m lost in encephalography.† â€Å"Then we know where we stand. The government can, of course, do nothing about the matter. Whether the mayor or anyone in his administration is aware of the seriousness of the situation, I don’t know. But this I do know – we five have nothing to lose and stand to gain much. With every increase in our knowledge, we can widen ourselves in safe directions. We are but a beginning, you understand.† â€Å"How widespread,† put in Turbor, â€Å"is this Second Foundation infiltration?† â€Å"I don’t know. There’s a flat answer. All the infiltrations we have discovered were on the outer fringes of the nation. The capital world may yet be clean, though even that is not certain – else I would not have tested you. You were particularly suspicious, Dr. Darell, since you abandoned research with Kleise. Kleise never forgave you, you know. I thought that perhaps the Second Foundation had corrupted you, but Kleise always insisted that you were a coward. You’ll forgive me, Dr. Darell, if I explain this to make my own position clear. I, personally, think I understand your attitude, and, if it was cowardice, I consider it venial.† Darell drew a breath before replying. â€Å"I ran away! Call it what you wish. I tried to maintain our friendship, however, yet he never wrote nor called me until the day he sent me your brainwave data, and that was scarcely a week before he died-â€Å" â€Å"If you don’t mind,† interrupted Homir Munn, with a flash of nervous eloquence, â€Å"I d†¦ don’t see what you think you’re doing. We’re a p†¦ poor bunch of conspirators, if we’re just going to talk and talk and t†¦ talk. And I don’t see what else we can do, anyway. This is v†¦ very childish. B†¦ brain-waves and mumbo jumbo and all that. Is there just one thing you intend to do?† Pelleas Author’s eyes were bright, â€Å"Yes, there is. We need more information on the Second Foundation. It’s the prime necessity. The Mule spent the first five years of his rule in just that quest for information and failed – or so we have all been led to believe. But then he stopped looking. Why? Because he failed? Or because he succeeded?† â€Å"M†¦ more talk,† said Munn, bitterly. â€Å"How are we ever to know?† â€Å"If you’ll listen to me – The Mule’s capital was on Kalgan. Kalgan was not part of the Foundation’s commercial sphere of influence before the Mule and it is not part of it now. Kalgan is ruled, at the moment, by the man, Stettin, unless there’s another palace revolution by tomorrow. Stettin calls himself First Citizen and considers himself the successor of the Mule. If there is any tradition in that world, it rests with the super-humanity and greatness of the Mule – a tradition almost superstitious in intensity. As a result, the Mule’s old palace is maintained as a shrine. No unauthorized person may enter; nothing within has ever been touched.† â€Å"Well?† â€Å"Well, why is that so? At times like these, nothing happens without a reason. What if it is not superstition only that makes the Mule’s palace inviolate? What if the Second Foundation has so arranged matters? In short what if the results of the Mule’s five-year search are within-â€Å" â€Å"Oh, p†¦ poppycock.† â€Å"Why not?† demanded Anthor. â€Å"Throughout its history the Second Foundation has hidden itself and interfered in Galactic affairs in minimal fashion only. I know that to us it would seem more logical to destroy the Palace or, at the least, to remove the data. But you must consider the psychology of these master psychologists. They are Seldons; they are Mules and they work by indirection, through the mind. They would never destroy or remove when they could achieve their ends by creating a state of mind. Eh?† No immediate answer, and Anthor continued, â€Å"And you, Munn, are just the one to get the information we need.† â€Å"I?†*** It was an astounded yell. Munn looked from one to the other rapidly, â€Å"I can’t do such a thing. I’m no man of action; no hero of any teleview. I’m a librarian. If I can help you that way, all right, and I’ll risk the Second Foundation, but I’m not going out into space on any qu†¦ quixotic thing like that.† â€Å"Now, look,† said Anthor, patiently, â€Å"Dr. Darell and I have both agreed that you’re the man. It’s the only way to do it naturally. You say you’re a librarian. Fine! What is your main field of interest? Muliana! You already have the greatest collection of material on the Mule in the Galaxy. It is natural for you to want more; more natural for you than for anyone else. You could request entrance to the Kalgan Palace without arousing suspicion of ulterior motives. You might be refused but you would not be suspected. What’s more, you have a one-man cruiser. You’re known to have visited foreign planets during your annual vacation. You’ve even been on Kalgan before. Don’t you understand that you need only act as you always have?† â€Å"But I can’t just say, ‘W†¦ won’t you kindly let me in to your most sacred shrine, M†¦ Mr. First Citizen?’ â€Å" â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"Because, by the Galaxy, he won’t let me!† â€Å"All right, then. So he won’t Then you’ll come home and we’ll think of something else.† Munn looked about in helpless rebellion. He felt himself being talked into something he hated. No one offered to help him extricate himself. So in the end two decisions were made in Dr. Darell’s house. The first was a reluctant one of agreement on the part of Munn to take off into space as soon as his summer vacation began. The other was a highly unauthorized decision on the part of a thoroughly unofficial member of the gathering, made as she clicked off a sound-receiver and composed herself for a belated sleep. This second decision does not concern us just yet. How to cite Second Foundation 9. The Conspirators, Essay examples