Bridgeton Industries Essay Example for Free

Bridgeton Industries Essay 1. Describe the competitive environment for Bridgeton as well as the cost accounting system currently in use. When foreign competition and scarce, expensive gasoline began to play an important role in the market, Bridgeton began to lose domestic market share. The ACF Bridgeton plant faced new challenges in their production that led them to serious cutbacks like the closing of the ACF plant for manufacture of fuel-efficient diesel engines. By 1987, they classified their products in terms of â€Å"world class† competitive position and potential. With four criteria (quality, customer service, technical capability and competitive cost position) they classified their products in Class I (remain), II (observe) and III (outsource). The classification allowed Bridgeton to take decisions on how to better manage their products performance compared to their competitors. The cost accounting system was product costing, a mixed between job costing and process costing. 2. Explain why manifolds moved from Class II to Class III after oil pans and muffler-exhaust systems had been outsourced from the ACF. Despite improvements in the production process manifolds were downgraded from Class II to III. The results were not sufficient, even though they increased the uptime from an average of 30% to 65% they were behind their Japanese competitors that reached a â€Å"world class† goal of 80% uptime. In addition, as seen in Exhibit 2, the direct material costs for manifolds (based on stainless steel) is extremely high as a percentage of sales (around 40%) compared to the other products manufactured at ACF and at a better Class level. However, there was a doubt on this move due to the possibility of new market requirements for lighter weight (more efficient manifolds). This represented a good opportunity for ACF because as they manufactured manifolds with stainless steel, demand could increase and therefore selling price too.

How Will Bitcoin Impact Banks and Finance Structures?

How Will Bitcoin Impact Banks and Finance Structures? What is finance, and how does cryptocurrency fit in to our current understanding of it: At the start of the unit, one of the first concepts we were asked to consider was a point that is highly contended – a philosophical question which has never borne more significance than it does today, with the recent emergence and explosive growth of cryptocurrencies. We were asked to consider what finance was, and how it fit into society. Now it would be prudent to ask what finance is, and how cryptocurrencies fit in to our current understanding of it. Let me start to answer this with a brief description of ‘fiat’ currencies, or legal tenders, with no material value or value redeemable for commodities. Historically, the value of a nation’s currency was pegged against a commodity with well-established value, such as gold or silver. This was the case for the majority of currencies up until 1971, when Richard Nixon decoupled the US dollar from gold. Supply and demand determines the value of fiat currency. Governments can control how much is in circulation and control the value of money as well as inflation. One of the biggest downfalls of cryptocurrency according to its critics, is the inability of more tokens to enter circulation when demand is high. The total amount of Bitcoin, is limited by a digital production process analogous to precious metal mining, which can stop its value from being eroded by systematic over-production and debasement as has been the case with numerous fiat currencies historically.18 This inability to react to demand causes sharp volatility in the value of cryptocurrency, making them unreliable stores of value. This has been most evident with the steep spikes in Bitcoin value since the beginning of the year. Conversely, as fiat currencies are not linked to physical reserves, they risk becoming worthless due to  hyperinflation. If people lose faith in a nations paper currency, the money will no longer hold value. Fiat money serves as a good currency if it can handle the roles that an economy needs of its monetary unit: storing value, providing a numerical account and facilitating exchange. Because fiat money is not a scarce or fixed resource like gold, central banks have much greater control over its supply, which gives them the power to manage economic variables such as credit supply, liquidity, interest rates and money velocity. Cryptocurrencies on the other hand do not serve as a currency for one particular nation, and are not controlled by any government body either. Instead they employ what is known as blockchain technology, which is a form of digital ledger that is maintained by all the users of the network. An on-going record of all transactions is kept and added to, each time a new transaction occurs. Despite this however there is an inherently high level of anonymity, given that bitcoin, tezos etc. addresses are not linked directly to any person or entity. This also gives way to several problems for governments which are unable to control inflation or the amount of cryptocurrency in circulation, declaration of earnings and tax, prohibition of trading illegal goods and money laundering. There are several safe-guards in place to ensure against ‘double-spending’ and other fraudulent activities however which are built in to the blockchain technology. Further, as a result of this peer-to-peer network in which cryptocurrencies operate, there is no single point of failure, making it very difficult for the system to collapse.17 What potential effects will the use of cryptocurrency and decentralising of currency have, particularly on banks? The total value of all cryptocurrency in circulation is now  ~$200 billion USD3. Even though this is almost double the value it was in July, it is still trumped by the value of paper USD issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which alone amounts to about $1.4 trillion. We are therefore nowhere near the point yet where cryptocurrencies pose a credible threat of supplanting central-bank-issued money. Nonetheless it is worth thinking through some of the implications if something like Bitcoin (which has about a 45% market share of all cryptocurrencies) were to wholly or even partially supplant central bank fiat currency. The agreed protocols that govern Bitcoin, Tezos and other cryptocurrencies, are effectively their monetary policy. In exchange for mining blocks of bitcoins and consuming computing power to verify the legitimacy of transactions, Bitcoin â€Å"miners† get paid in Bitcoin. These rewards increase the supply of Bitcoin, though the increase in Bitcoin money supply is inhibited by the increasing difficulty of verifying transactions. Increasing computational power is required to verify each transaction and mine new blocks to create new Bitcoins, meaning that the total supply of coins is gradually approaching the limit of ~ 21 million coins (currently there are ~16.5 million in circulation). Fiat money has its own protocols that stabilise inflation using interest rates and bond-buying, and the money supply that results from this is generally ignored. With cryptocurrencies however, money supply does not respond to shifts in money demand and with a relatively fixed supply, large fluctuations in value and prices result (in the preceding 11 months the price of bitcoin has soared almost 8 fold5). This some argue, is specifically the reason Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will not take over2 and makes Bitcoin impractical as a money. Cryptocurrencies however have proven to be a useful alternative to traditional reserve currencies in places with poor monetary policy and weak banks. In Kenya for example, 1 in 3 people own a bitcoin wallet1, while in India, where recently there has been a significant shortage in cash supply, greater numbers of people have converted to the use of bitcoin.4 If a particular country were to adopt Bitcoin to replace its currency, the effects of doing so would likely be felt by others in a knock-on effect. A larger credit cycle in one country would mean larger booms and busts for its trading partners. Foreigners outside the country that adopted the cryptocurrency, may also opt to deposit directly within that country and desert their own country’s banks in doing so – this could affect the flow of capital into and out of a their home country, further amplifying the credit cycle. The latest difficulties with Bitcoin make the prospect of a crypto currency takeover seem fanciful at the moment, but if solutions to these problems were found or a new currency were devised with better protocols, central banks would have to resolve these dilemmas one way or another. Financial history – what can we learn from historical bubbles and is it reasonable to foresee the current growth as sustainable?: An  economic  or  asset bubble,  is trade in an  asset  at a price or price range that strongly exceeds the assets  intrinsic value.  It could also be described as a situation in which asset prices appear to be based on implausible or inconsistent views about the future19. The general consensus among industry professionals, is that the current cryptocurrency market is in an unsustainable phase of bubble growth6,7. There were 30 ICOs each launching new cryptocurrencies in July, then more than 50 in August. Part of this mania is based on speculation. But its also clear that there has been departure from a fundamental assumption of what a cryptocurrency originally was – a scarce digital commodity where the value derived from its scarcity. To be frank, if more than one hundred new sources of this digital commodity have been launched since June, then the concept of scarcity, and therefore the supposed inherent value, begins to erode. In fact, many of these newer cryptocurrencies will need to fail in order to maintain the value and viability of the most widely used currencies, bitcoin and ether. These look to remain viable over the intermediate and perhaps long-term, though not necessarily at the current prices. History has shown us that the majority of cryptocurrencies fail dismally at some point soon after their conception16. Only a select handful have shown consistent growth over the last few years. Bitcoin itself has crashed significantly several times. Even so, though the core blockchain technology left behind others, will provide value as a hidden infrastructure underlying future applications. Though bitcoin has seen astronomical growth over the last year one of the major problems in its use is the extreme volatility in its value. On April 8th 2013 for example, Bitcoin was valued at $215 USD, eight days later this figure dropped to $63 USD then seven months after this its price soared to $1,200 USD. This volatility was in hindsight partly a consequence of strong speculative demand from buyers for a new and unknown technology.   There are however, more fundamental problems that cause the value of Bitcoin to fluctuate. The algorithm that controls supply prevents the amount of Bitcoin from expanding to meet increases in demand. This inelasticity in supply leads to price variations and also encourages speculation and excessive volatility, all of which render it unreliable as a store of value.7 The cryptocurrency market is new and being filled with new currencies almost daily. As competition develops however and with little history, few can value them correctly, forecast which currencies will succeed, and whether they are all part of a larger bubble that will eventually burst. History has shown however that new financial instruments are the authors of financial bubbles – be they options for tulip bulbs in the 1630s, fiat money in the Mississippi bubble of the 1700s, stock in the South Sea bubble, leverage in 1929 or collateralised debt instruments in the credit crunch of 2007, the problem was the world was behind the knowledge curve of the instrument and the power of greed drove the market wild and finally into collapse.8 It would therefore not be unusual to see a similar crash with cryptocurrencies in the near future. Cryptocurrency regulation How is it possible to regulate an online currency based globally?: In short, it isn’t. The whole premise of cryptocurrencies is that they are decentralized and ungoverned by any one government, but rather managed by a peer-to-peer network of users worldwide. The focus has thus shifted to the soundness and legality of investing in them through means such as ICOs and derivatives markets. In the largely unregulated world off cryptocurrencies, one issue remains at the forefront of the attention of regulators such as the SEC (in the U.S.) and ASIC (in Australia), and that is in the nature of ICOs, whether they are seeking genuine donations for the development of software, or whether they are in fact shares in a company or other investment, which contributors hope to redeem at a future date for financial benefit – an illegal and unregulated speculative investment. Initial coin offerings have raised $3.6 billion USD so far this year15 with several currency developers generating vast amount of capital in a matter of hours with little more than a website and a promise of a revolutionary new product. This unchecked source of crowd-funding has been banned by several governments, as other countries’ regulatory bodies such as the SEC and ASIC, have developed their own policies regarding these offerings. On September 4th, China banned investment in ICOs citing breaches of securities laws and â€Å"disruption to economic and financial order†13, and moved to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges also.13 In July, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission required companies to register ICOs in the same fashion as IPOs14. Following this ruling on September 29th, the SEC charged two companies with fraud and selling unregistered securities after running successful ICOs that collected more than $300,000 USD14. Substantial efforts have been made to legitimise cryptocurrency offerings by law firms such as Cooley in New York and others with vested interests in making ICOs work. Cooley attests that it has developed a â€Å"simple agreement for future tokens† (SAFT) framework that will allow token sales to be compliant with US securities laws. This is important given that several major ICOs had excluded US individuals from participating given the then-standing issues with the SEC. If by applying the SAFT framework the SEC is satisfied, then US investors would have access to more ICOs providing a major source of capital to them. The basic premise of the Simple Agreement of Future Tokens (SAFT) is that the cryptotoken fail the Howey test, a measure of whether a financial instrument is in fact a security. In order for tokens to fail the test and not be considered securities, they must be delivered to investors only after a functioning product or service is in place. â€Å"The network and the token must be genuinely useful such that they are actually used on a functional network,† according to Cooley’s framework. To date ICOs have delivered tokens to investors before the launch of the underlying currency, meaning that the only real function tokens could have use for would be in trading in secondary markets, blatantly classifying them as securities.   In the case of Tezos, investors bought into the project hoping that the Tezos platform would be built successfully, and that by owning the tokens, also yet to be created, they would become stakeholders able to shape the final platform. One particular case highlights the blatant regulatory arbitrage which is plain for all to see, and which the founders of Tezos attempted to disguise by consistently referring to their ICO contributions as â€Å"non-refundable donations†, in order to make ambiguous the nature of the security they were offering. Tim Draper, one of the main venture capital backers, when asked by Reuters how much he had donated replied â€Å"You mean how much I bought? A lot.† In Australia, ASIC released a decisive factsheet on ICOs and their position, stipulating that ICOs must be conducted in a manner that â€Å"promotes investor trust and confidence, and complies with the relevant laws†11. ASIC has also warned that the Corporations Act may apply to an ICO depending on the rights that attach to the coin from the ICO itself, rights to underlying coins or rights on tokens used in the ICO. Likewise, ASIC has also made it clear that if an ICO is conducted to fund a company, then the rights attached to the coins issued by the ICO may fall within the definition of a share. Where it appears that an issuer of an ICO is actually making an offer of a share, the issuer will need to prepare a prospectus as for any other IPO11, which will allows investors the safeguard to withdraw their investment before the shares are issued should there be misleading or deceptive information in the prospectus.    Lastly it is worth noting that some ICOs have been described by their initiators as a form of crowd funding. In Australia, ASIC has made a clear distinction between crowd funding using an ICO and crowd-sourced funding (CSF) that has been regulated by the Corporations Act since 29th September 201711. Under the new laws, CSF will be a financial service where start-ups and small businesses raise funds, generally from a large number of investors that invest small amounts of capital. There will be specific rules for conducting CSF with fewer regulatory requirements than ICOs, while maintaining investor protection measures. This is particularly of importance in the case of Tezos, where the developers sought â€Å"donations† to fund the development of their network, a deliberate misrepresentation which would now be both illegal and arguably unethical in Australia. REFERENCES: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ameer-rosic-/7-incredible-benefits-of-_1_b_13160110.htmlhttps://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/06/07/2189849/guest-post-the-consequences-of-allowing-a-cryptocurrency-takeover-or-trying-to-head-one-off/https://coinmarketcap.com/all/views/all/https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-demand-rise-cash-run-dry-india/https://au.investing.com/currencies/btc-aud-historical-datahttps://www.coindesk.com/comes-cryptocurrency-bubble/http://www.cityam.com/1408388669/why-bitcoin-won-t-be-money-future-cryptocurrencies-might-behttps://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2017/05/31/cryptocurrency-is-a-bubble/#4501c7dc33b1https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-27/cryptocurrency-derivatives-you-bet-this-trader-has-295-returnhttps://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/10/19/2195028/trouble-in-ico-paradise/http://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/digital-transformation/initial-coin-offerings/https://qz.com/1091812/the-secs-ico-crackdown-may-be-avoided-by-the-saft-legal-framework/https://techcrunc h.com/2017/09/04/chinas-central-bank-has-banned-icos/https://coinidol.com/icos-to-be-regulated-as-ipos-in-the-us/https://www.coinschedule.com/stats.phphttps://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/deadcoins/https://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-workshttps://3decuj2tc6bl1oljdt3zfwbb-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/Currency-Debasement.pdfhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_bubble

The Birth of China :: The Birth of China Herrlee Glessner Essays

The Birth of China Herrlee Glessner Creel wrote The Birth of China. The book was published in 1937 at Frederick Lungar Publishing in New York City. Creel was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 15 1905. Both Creel’s mother and father were writers. Creel attended the University of Oklahoma, Creighton University, and finally the University of Chicago where he received his Ph.D. in 1929. In 1922 he worked as a newspaper reporter and later became a Sinologist discovering oracle bones that dated back to 3,000 years. Eventually, Creel became a Professor of Chinese History and Literature at the University of Chicago. Creel died in June of 1994, he was then living in Parlos Park, Illinois. His books have been published in England, France, Japan, Italy, and Spain. He wrote once that, â€Å"My principal concern is to understand the origins and the early history of humanity’s most continually enduring civilization, that of China.† The first section of this book talks about the true discovery of china. Creel notes that until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s with the discovery of China’s magnificent marble sculptures and oracle bones, we had to rely on tradition and legend for the knowledge of the Chinese people. He goes on to talk about the excavation of Chinese artifacts and finally the origin of the Chinese people. In the second section Creel goes on to the talk about the great city of Shang. The Shang were the first people known Chinese history. That period in time is now referred to as the Shang Dynasty. He discuses there livelihood, handicrafts, sculpture and bronze, society, war, writing, their gods, and talks about sacrifice. Finally, in the last section, Creel talks about the Chou Dynasty. A huge advance in civilized living gave him a chance to discuss China’s early politics, literature, marriage, family, business, religion, and law. This book got many great reviews. Collectively they all described this book as well written, colorful, and exciting. Alan Priest of the â€Å"New York Times† wrote, â€Å"Mr. Creel produced a most interesting study of the life and culture of a civilization†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mr. Priest was not alone in his review of the book. Yet, another review of this book comes from and unknown author with â€Å"Time† magazine.

Partial Birth Abortion is Murder Essay -- Argument Argumentative Persu

Partial Birth Abortion is Murder Partial birth abortion is a controversial method of abortion late in a woman’s pregnancy in which the baby is aborted by a craniotomy. Two organizations are commonly affiliated with abortion: Pro-choice supports abortion saying that what is in a woman’s body is her â€Å"property†, while Pro-life believes it is murder of innocent babies. Partial birth abortion is murder of innocent children and an abomination to basic human rights and values. Thesis Statement: Partial birth abortion is murder of innocent babies and an abomination to basic human rights and values. I. The differing sides on Intact D&X are distinctly opposite A. Pro-choice supports abortions 1. Done 650 times a year and only when the mother’s life is endangered or the child is deformed 2. Says the public is mistaken in its knowledge of Intact Dilation and Extraction B. Pro-life doesn’t support abortions of any kind 1. Backed by medical experts it is claimed that 80% of partial birth abortions are purely elective 2. Believes the baby is a living human being and deserves the rights of a human II. There are benefits and harmful consequences to P.B.A. A. Many abortionists claim that the benefits far out way the consequences 1. It is safer, quicker, and easier 2. Intact D&X is less traumatic to the mother B. There are also many harmful effects 1. Risk of uterine and breast cancer is increased 2. Rates of depression also increase III. The issue of partial birth abortion has come into our courtrooms A. Congress made its first attempt to ban P.B.A in 1996 1.Brenda Shafer R.N. testified to what she saw in abortion clinic 2. Congress passed the ban, but President Clinton vetoed the bill B. The second attempt was made in 1997 1. Passed Congress again 2. President Clinton vetoed the bill Imagine being in excruciating pain from a gaping hole in the back of your neck. Then you hear a slight â€Å"whirr† before your brains are sucked out through a tiny tube. Sadly this happens to many babies each day because they are unwanted, inconvenient, or imperfect. The abortionist first delivers the baby breech style except for the head, scissors are then jammed into the head at the base of the skull, and the brains sucked out, the skull then collapses. This procedure is commonly known as partial birth abortion or Intact Dilation and E... ...ference of a couple weeks, and even just a few days separates the abortionist from a murderer, and the procedure from Infanticide. We need to take strong action against not only partial birth abortion, but also abortions of any kind by writing our representatives and senators. References Information Page on Abortion. Retrieved October 17, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://web.tusco.net/newone/abortion2.htm Partial Birth Abortion (1996). Retrieved October 17, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.jeremiahproject.com/prophecy/partbirthabort.html Shafer, B. P. (1996, March 21). Hearing on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act (HR 1833). Retrieved October 23, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.priestsforlife.org/testimony.html Sprang and Neerhof (1998, August 26). Rationale for Banning Abortions Late in Pregnancy. American Medical Association 280 744-747. Retrieved October 19, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.partialbirthabortion.org/welcome/what_is.html Sykes, M. (2000). ‘Late Term’ Confusion, ‘Partial Birth’ Lies. Retrieved October 23, 2000 from the World Wide Web:http://prochoice.about.com/newissues/prochoice/library/bllatetermlies.htm

Abortion is Not the Reason for Lower Crime Rates Essay -- Argumentativ

What is wrong with the ivory tower? The appointment of Peter ("Death to Disabled Newborns!") Singer to the bioethics faculty at Princeton University has generated considerable controversy. Recently, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and Stanford University Law School professor John Donohue III created a furor with their research paper "Legalized Abortion and Crime." The authors contend that legalized abortion fueled the drop in crime in the 1990s because a new subclass of humanity they've identified- "women most at risk to have children who would engage in criminal activity"-have higher abortion rates, thus preemptively executing the would-be felons. This subclass, we are told, is populated predominantly by women who are teens, single and/or African American. Talk about your prenatal racial profiling! The American public is supposed to be grateful to have been spared the cost of not only the crimes, but due process, trial by jury, incarceration, appeals and execution. Â   The paper footnotes even the title with "preliminary and incomplete," and contains all manner of caveats on the "well recognized potential shortcomings of the [crime] data" and concedes the general impossibility of ever proving the asserted causal link with any degree of certainty. Yet it brazenly attempts to put a happy face on the achingly personal and national tragedy that is abortion. That is why articles extolling the findings are popping up throughout the pro-abortion press, while indignant editorials are questioning the authors' eugenicist leanings. It was, after all, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger who established contraceptive clinics in ghettos so that "defectives" and "human weeds" could be eliminated. Â   Wi... ...gnant, compared to 20 percent of girls in the same age group in D.C. public schools. About 10 percent of the Best Friends participants ages 12-18 had had sex, compared to 72% of their peers. Â   Why the decline in crime in the 1990s? Many plausible explanations have been reported (and given short shrift by the authors), including higher conviction rates and longer prison terms which are keeping repeat offenders off the streets, more police and better policing strategies, decline in the crack cocaine trade and higher expenditures in victim precautions like security guards, alarms, car theft devices, etc. Â   Might I suggest another avenue of research? Let's determine what conditions lead families to produce academics who have no sense of the sanctity and dignity of human life. Some early childhood intervention in values education might really pay off.

Mahatma Gandhi Biography Speech Essay

â€Å"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind†. This is a quote said by Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian revolutionary and religious leader who used his religious power for political and social reform and was the main force behind the second-largest nation in the world’s struggle for independence. Gandhi was born on October 2nd 1869 in Probandar, India. Him and his family lived in a self-sufficient residential community and only ate simple vegetarian food and undertook long fasts. He was the fourth child in the family and often had it the worse when it came to his education for his parents wanted him to follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming a lawyer. He eventually became a lawyer and trained in law in London and was employed in South America during the revolution from British control in India. At the age of 15 he married his wife Kasturba and had 4 children named Hirlal, Manilal, Ramdas, and Devdas. It was at this age that Mahatma first helped protest excessive land-tax and discrimination on the poorer people of India. What made him different from other protesters was that he created the concept of Satyagraha which is a nonviolent way of protesting injustices. He also spent 20 years of his life in South Africa fighting discrimination. He is also majorly known for leading the Indians in the Dandi Salt March of 1930 challenging the British-imposed salt tax. For many of his nonviolent protest though, he and many of his followers were often imprisoned in both South Africa and India. But weirdly enough, even after getting arrested many times, he never reacted in any violent ways for his vision of a free India was based off religion and pluralism. He was often described by many Indians as â€Å"The Father of The Nation†. On August 15th 1947, India attained independence after a great political and social struggle. Mahatma had achieved his goal but only enjoyed it for a short period of time. Mahatma Gandhi died on January 30th 1948, at the age of 78 in New Delhi after being assassinated by Nathuram Gadse. However, Mahatma’s legacy still continues for he inspired many movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. I decided to choose Mahatma Gandhi for my biography speech because he had a dramatic influence on the Indian Independence movement and achieved it in all nonviolent ways while never giving in to the evil that so many people do today.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 20~23

20 Leadership's a Bitch The storm had been easy on the Shark People. A little thatch lost from a roof here and there, a cookhouse blown over, some breadfruit and coconuts stripped from the trees, but not enough to cause hardship. Some seawater had washed into the taro patch, but only time would tell if it was enough to kill the crop. The Shark People went slowly about the business of cleaning up, the women doing most of the work while the men sat in the shade of the men's house, drinking alcoholic tuba and pretending to discuss important religious matters. Mainly they were there to pass the heat of the day and get good and drunk before dinner. Malink, the high chief of the Shark People, was late rising. He awoke shivering and afraid, trying to figure out how to interpret a strange dream. He rolled off of his grass sleeping mat, then rose creakily and ambled out of the hut to relieve himself at the base of a giant breadfruit tree. He was a short, powerfully built man of sixty. His hair was bushy and gone completely white. His skin, once a light butterscotch, had been burned over the years to the dark brown of a tarnished penny. Like most of the Shark men, he wore only a cotton loincloth and a wreath of fresh flowers in his hair (left there by one of his four daughters while he slept). The image of a shark was tattooed on his left pectoral muscle, a B-26 bomber on the other. He went back into the hut and pulled a steel ammo box out of the rafters. Inside lay a nylon web belt with a holster that held a portable phone, his badge of leadership, his direct line to the Sorcerer. The only time he had ever used it was when one of his daughters had come down with a fever during the night. He had pushed the button and the Sorcerer had come to the village and given her medicine. He was afraid to use the phone now, but the dream had told him that he must deliver a message. Malink would have liked to go down to the men's house and discuss his decision for a few hours with the others, but he knew that he couldn't. He had to deliver the dream message. Vincent had said so, and Vincent knew everything. As he pushed the button, he wished he had never been born a chief. The High Priestess was also sleeping late, as she always did. The Sorcerer jostled her and she pulled the sheets over her head. â€Å"What?† â€Å"I just got a call from Malink. He says he's had a message from Vincent.† The High Priestess was awake now. Wide awake. She sat upright in bed and the Sorcerer's eyes fell immediately to her naked breasts. â€Å"What do you mean he's had a message from Vincent? I didn't give him any message.† The Sorcerer finally looked up at her face. â€Å"He was terrified. He said that Vincent came to him in a dream and told him – get this – to tell me that ‘the pilot was alive and on his way, and to wait for him.'† She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and shook her head. â€Å"I don't get it. How did he know about a pilot coming? Did you say something?† â€Å"No, did you?† â€Å"Are you kidding? I'm not stupid, Sebastian, despite what you might think.† â€Å"Well, how did he find out? The guards don't know anything. I haven't said anything.† â€Å"Maybe it's a coincidence,† she said. â€Å"Maybe he was just having bad dreams from the storm. Vincent is all he thinks about. It's all any of them think about.† The Sorcerer stood and backed away from the bed, eyeing her suspiciously. â€Å"Coincidence or not, I don't like it. I think you need to have an audience with the Shark People and give them a direct message from Vincent. This whole operation depends on us being the voice of Vincent. We can't let them think that they can reach him directly.† He turned and started out of the room. â€Å"Sebastian,† she said and the Sorcerer paused and looked over his shoulder at her. â€Å"What about the pilot? What if Malink is right about the pilot being on his way?† â€Å"Don't be stupid, Beth. The only way to control the faithful is to not become one of them.† He turned to leave and was struck in the back of the head by a high-velocity whiskey tumbler. He turned as he dropped to the floor grasping his head. The High Priestess was standing by the bed wearing nothing but a fine golden chain at her hips and an animal scowl. â€Å"You ever call me stupid again and I'll rip your fucking nuts off.† 21 How the Navigator Got from There to Here Watching the sharks circle the boat, Tuck felt as if he was being sucked down the vortex of a huge bathroom drain. â€Å"We need a better weapon,† Tuck said. He remembered a movie once where Spencer Tracy had battled sharks from a small boat with a knife lashed to an oar. â€Å"Don't we have any oars?† Kimi looked insulted. â€Å"What wrong with me?† â€Å"Not whores. Oars!† Tucker pantomimed rowing. â€Å"For rowing.† â€Å"How I know what you talking about? Malcolme always say oars. ‘Bloody oars,' he say. No, we don't have oars.† â€Å"Bail,† Tuck said. The navigator began scooping water with the coffee can as Tuck did his best to bail with his hands. A half hour later the boat was only partially full of water and the sharks had moved on to easier meals. Tucker fell back onto the bow to catch his breath. The sun was still low in the morning sky, but already it burned his skin. The parts of his body not soaked with seawater were soaked with sweat. He dug into the pack and pulled out the liter bottle of water he had bought the day before. It was half-full and it was all they had. Tuck eyed the navigator, who was bailing intently. He'd never know if Tuck drank all of the water right now. He unscrewed the cap and took a small sip. Nectar of the gods. Keeping his eye on Kimi, he a took a large gulp. He could almost feel his water-starved cells rejoicing at the relief. As he bailed, Kimi sang softly in Spanish to Roberto, who clung to his back. Whenever he tried to hit a high note, his voice cracked like crumpled parchment. Salt was crusted at the corners of his mouth. â€Å"Kimi, you want a drink?† Tucker crawled onto the gas tank and held the bottle out to the navigator. Kimi took the bottle. â€Å"Thank you,† he said. He wiped the mouth of the bottle on his dress and took a deep drink, then poured some water into his palm and held it while Roberto lapped it up. He handed the bottle back to Tucker. â€Å"You drink the rest. You bigger.† Tucker nodded and drained the bottle. â€Å"Who's Malcolme?† â€Å"Malcolme buy me from my mother. He from Sydney. He a pimp.† â€Å"He bought you?† â€Å"Yes. My mother very poor in Manila. She can't feed me, so she sell me to Malcolme when I am twelve.† â€Å"What about your father?† â€Å"He not with us. He a navigator on Satawan. He meet my mother in Manila when he is working on a tuna boat. He marry her and take her to Satawan. She stay for ten years, but she not like it. She say women like dirt to Micronesians. So she take me and go back to Manila when I am nine. Then she sell me to Malcolme. He dress me up and I make big money for him. But he mean to me. He say I have to get rid Roberto, so I run away to find my father to finish teach me to be a navigator. They hear of him on Yap. They say he lost at sea five year ago.† â€Å"And he was the one that taught you to navigate?† Tucker knew it was a snotty question, but he had no idea what to say to someone whose mother had sold him to a pimp. Kimi didn't catch the sarcasm. â€Å"He teach me some. It take long time to be navigator. Sometime twenty, thirty year. You want learn, I teach you.† Tucker remembered how difficult it had been to learn Western navigation for his pilot's license. And that was using sophisticated charts and instru-ments. He could imagine that learning to navigate by the stars – by memory, without charts – would take years. He said, â€Å"No, that's okay. It's different for airplanes. We have machines to navigate now.† They bailed until the sun was high in the sky. Tuck could feel his skin baking. He found some sunscreen in the pack and shared it with Kimi, but it was no relief from the heat. â€Å"We need some shade.† The tarp was gone. He rifled the pack, looking for something they could use for shade, but for once Jake Skye's bag of tricks failed them. By noon Tuck was cursing himself for pouring out the gallon of fresh water during the storm. Kimi sat in the bottom of the boat, stroking Roberto's head and mumbling softly to the panting bat. Tuck tried to pass the time by cleaning his cuts and applying the antibiotic ointment from Jake's first-aid kit. By turning his back and crouching, he was able to create enough privacy to check on his damaged penis. He could see infection around the sutures. He imagined gangrene, amputation, and consequently suicide. Then, looking on the bright side, he realized that he would die of thirst long before the infection had gone that far. 22 Finding Spam The octopus jetted across the bottom, over a giant head of brain coral, and tucked itself into a tiny crevice in the reef. Sarapul could see the light purple skin pulsing in the crevice three fathoms down. He took a deep breath and dove, his spear in hand. The octopus, sensing danger, changed color to the rust brown of the coral around it and adjusted its shape to fit the crannies of its hiding place. Sarapul caught the edge of the crevice with his left hand and thrust in his spear with his right. The spear barely pierced one of the octopus's tentacles and it turned bright red in a chromatic scream, then released its ink. The ink expanded into a smoky cloud in the water. Sarapul dropped his spear to wave the ink away before making another thrust. But his air was gone. He left his spear in the crevice and shot to the surface. The octopus sensed the opening and jetted out of the crevice to a new hiding place before Sarapul knew it was gone. Sarapul broke the surface cursing. Only three fathoms, eighteen feet, and he couldn't stay down long enough to tease an octopus out of its hole. As a young man, he could dive to twelve fathoms and stay down longer than any of the Shark men. He was glad that no one had been there to see him: an old man who could barely feed himself. He pulled off his mask and spit into it, then rinsed it with seawater. He looked out to sea, checking for any sign of the sharks that lived in abund-ance off the reef. There was a boat out there, perhaps half a mile off the reef, drifting. He put on his mask and looked down to get a bearing on his spear so he could retrieve it later. Then he swam a slow crawl toward the drifting boat. He was winded when he reached the boat and he hung on the side for a few minutes, bobbing in the swell, while he caught his breath. He made his way around to the bow and pulled himself up and in. A huge black bat flew up into his face and winged off toward the island. Sarapul cursed and said some magic words to protect himself, then took a deep breath and examined the bodies. A man and a woman – and not long dead. There was no smell and no swelling of the bellies. The meat would still be fresh. It had been too long since he'd tasted the long pig. He pinched the man's leg to test the fat. The man moaned. He was still alive. Even better, Sarapul thought. I can eat the dead one and keep the other one fresh! PART TWO Island of the Shark People 23 Deus Ex Machina The Sky Priestess first appeared in 1944 on the nose of a B-26 bomber. Conjured out of cans of enamel by a young aviator named Jack Moses, she lay cool and naked across the aluminum skin, a red pump dangling from a dainty toe, a smile that promised pleasure that no mortal woman could offer. As soon as Moses laid the final brushstroke on her black-seamed stocking, he knew there was something special about this one, something electric and alive that would break his heart when they flew her off to the Pacific. He caught a kiss in his palm and placed it gently on her bottom, then backed down the ladder to survey his work. He stood on the tarmac for perhaps half an hour, just looking at her, charmed, wishing that he could take her home, or to a museum, or lift her off the skin of the bomber and put her on the ceiling of a cathedral. Jack Moses didn't notice the major standing at his side until the older man spoke. â€Å"She's something,† the major said. And although he wasn't sure why, he removed his hat. â€Å"Ain't she,† Moses said. â€Å"She's off to Tinian tomorrow. Wish I was going with her.† The major reached out and squeezed Moses's shoulder; he was a little short of breath and the Sky Priestess had set off a stag film in his head. â€Å"Put some clothes on her, son. We can't have muffin showing up on a newsreel.† â€Å"Yes, sir. I don't have to put a top on her, do I?† The major smiled. â€Å"Son, you put a top on her, I'll have you court-marshaled.† â€Å"Yes, sir.† Moses saluted the major and scampered back up the ladder with his brushes and his red enamel and painted a serpentine scarf between her legs. A week later, as a young pilot named Vincent Bennidetti was leading his crew across the runway to take the Sky Priestess on her first mission, he turned to his navigator and said, â€Å"I'd give a year's pay to be that scarf.† A half century away, Beth Curtis pinned a big red bow into her hair, then, one at a time, worked sheer black-seamed stockings up her legs. She stood in front of the mirror and tied the red scarf around her waist, letting the ends trail long between her legs. She stepped into the red pumps, did a quick turnaround in the mirror, and emerged from her bungalow to the sound of the Shark People's drums welcoming her, the Sky Priestess. Vincent Bennidetti and his crew flew the Sky Priestess on twelve missions and sank six Japanese ships before a fusillade from a Japanese destroyer punctured her wing tanks and took out her right engine. But even as they were limping back toward Tinian, trailing smoke and fuel, the crew of the Sky Priestess knew she watched over them. They were, after all, charmed. For the price of a blown kiss or a pat on the bottom, the Sky Priestess had ushered them into battle like a vicious guardian angel, shielding them even as the other bombers in their squadron flamed into the sea around them. She had shown them where to drop their bombs, then led them through the smoke and the flak back to Valhalla. Home. Safe. The copilot chattered over the intercom to the navigator, airspeed, fuel consumption, and now descent rate. If they lost any more airspeed, the B-26 would stall, so Captain Vinnie was bringing her down into sweet, thick lower air at the rate of a hundred feet per minute. But the lower they flew, the faster the fuel would burn. â€Å"I'm going to level her off at two thousand,† Captain Vinnie said. The navigator did some quick calculations and came back with: â€Å"At two thousand we'll be short of base by three hundred miles, Captain. I recommend we level at three thousand for a safer bailout.† â€Å"Oh ye of little fucking faith,† Vincent said. â€Å"Check your charts for somewhere we can ditch her.† The navigator checked their position on the charts. There was a flyspeck atoll named Alualu about forty nautical miles to the south. And it showed that it was now in American hands. He relayed the information to the captain. â€Å"The chart shows an uncompleted airstrip. We must have chased the Japs out before they finished it.† â€Å"Give me a course.† â€Å"Sir, there might not be anything there.† â€Å"Ya fuckin' mook, look out the window. You see anything but water?† The navigator gave him the course. Vincent patted the throttles and said, â€Å"Come on, sweetheart. You get us there safe and I'll build you a shrine.† Sarapul was heading for the beach and the men's drinking circle when he heard the drums welcoming the Sky Priestess. That white bitch was stealing his fire again. He'd been thinking all afternoon about what he would say at the drinking circle: how the Shark People needed to return to the old ways and how he had just the ritual to get everyone started. Nothing like a little cannibalism to get people thinking right. But now that was all ruined. Everyone would be out on the airstrip, drumming and chanting and marching around like a bunch of idiots, and when the Sky Priestess finally left and the men finally did show up at the drinking circle, all they would talk about was the wonderful words of Vincent. Sarapul wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise. He took the path that led away from the village and made his way toward the runway. After all, the Sky Priestess might pass out some good cargo and he didn't want to miss out on his share. Sarapul had been permanently banished from the village of the Shark People ever since one of the chief's grandchildren had mysteriously disap-peared and was later found in the jungle with Sarapul, who was building a child-sized earthen oven (an oom) and gathering various fragrant fire woods. Oh, the men tolerated him at the nightly drinking circle, and he was allowed to share in the village's take of shark meat, and the members of his clan saw to it that he got part of the wonderful cargo passed out by the Sorcerer and the Sky Priestess, but he was forbidden to enter the village when women and chil-dren were present. He lived alone in his little hut on the far side of the island and was regarded by the Shark People as little more than a monster to frighten children into behaving: â€Å"You stay inside the reef or old Sarapul will catch you and eat you.† Actually, scaring children was the only real joy Sarapul had left in life. As he emerged from the jungle, the old cannibal saw the torches where the Shark People waited in a semicircle around a raised platform. He stopped in a grove of betel nut palms, sat on the ground, and watched. He heard a click from the PA speakers mounted on the gate across the runway and the Shark People stopped drumming. Two of the Japanese guards ap-peared out of the compound and Sarapul felt the hair rise on his neck as they rolled back the gate and fifty years of residual hatred rose in his throat like acid. The Japanese had killed his wife and children, and if there was any single reason to return to the old ways of the warrior, it was to take revenge on the guards. Music blared out of the PA speakers: Glenn Miller's â€Å"String of Pearls.† The Shark People turned toward the gate and dropped to their knees. Pillars of red smoke rose from either side of the gate and wafted across the runway like sulfurous serpents. The distant whine of airplane propellers replaced the big band sound from the PA and grew into a roar that ended with a flash and explosion that sent a mushroom cloud of smoke a hundred feet into the night sky. And half-naked, the Sky Priestess walked out of the smoke into the moonlight. Chief Malink turned to his friend Favo and said, â€Å"Excellent boom.† â€Å"Very excellent boom,† Favo said. â€Å"There it is,† the copilot said. The B-26 was sputtering on her last few drops of fuel. Vincent nosed her over and started his descent. â€Å"There's a strip cut right across the center of the island. Let's hope we didn't bomb the shit out of it when the Japs had it.† His last few words seemed unusually loud as the engine cut out. â€Å"No go-around, boys. We're going down. Rig for a rough one and be ready for extreme dampness if we come in short.† Vincent could see patches of dirt on the airstrip, as well as fingers of vines and undergrowth from the jungle trying to reclaim the clearing. â€Å"You going in gear up?† the copilot asked, thinking that they might have a better chance of survival going over a bomb crater if they skidded in on the plane's belly. â€Å"Gear down,† Bennidetti said, making it a command. â€Å"We might be able to land her gear up, but she'd never take off again.† â€Å"Gear down and locked,† the copilot said. They glided in about ten feet over the reef. A dozen Shark men who were standing on the reef dove underwater as the airplane passed over them as silent and ominous as a manta ray. Bennidetti flared the B-26 to drop the rear gear first and they bounced over a patch of ferns and began the rocket slide down the coral gravel airstrip. Without the engines to reverse thrust, Vincent had only the wheel brakes to stop the bomber. He applied them gingerly at first, then, realizing that the runway was obscured by vines that might be covering a bomb crater, laid into them, causing the wheels to plow furrows into the gravel and filling the still air with a thick white cloud of dust. â€Å"We still burning?† Vincent asked the copilot over the rumble. The copilot looked out the window. â€Å"Can't see anything but a little black smoke.† The bomber rolled to a stop and a cheer went up from the crew. â€Å"Everybody out. Now,† Vincent ordered. â€Å"We still might have fire. They stumbled over each other to get out of the plane into the dust cloud. Bennidetti led them away at a run. They were a hundred yards from the plane before anyone looked back. â€Å"She looks okay, Captain. No fire.† That set off a round of cheering and backslapping and when they turned around again they saw group of native children approaching them from the jungle led by a proud ten-year-old boy carrying a spear. â€Å"Let me handle this,† Vincent told the crew as he dug into his flight suit pocket for a Hershey bar. â€Å"Hey, squirts, how you doing?† The boy with the spear stood his ground, keeping his eye trained on the downed bomber while the other children lost their nerve and backed away like scolded puppies. â€Å"We're Americans,† Vincent said. â€Å"Friendly. We are bringing you many good things.† He held the chocolate bar out to the spear boy, who didn't move or take his eyes off of the airplane. Vincent tried again. â€Å"Here, kid. This stuff tastes good. Chocolate.† He smacked his lips and mimed eating the candy bar. â€Å"You savvy American, kid?† â€Å"No,† the boy said. â€Å"I no speak American. I speak English.† Vincent laughed. â€Å"Well, I'm from New York, kid. We don't speak much English there. Go tell your chief that Captain Vincent is here with presents for him from a faraway and most magical place.† â€Å"Who she?† the kid asked, pointing to the image of the Sky Priestess. â€Å"She your queen?† â€Å"She works for me, kid. That's the Sky Priestess. She's bringing presents for your chief.† â€Å"You are chief?† Vincent knew he had to be careful here. He'd heard of island chiefs refusing to deal with anyone but Roosevelt because he was the only American equal to their status. â€Å"I'm higher than chief,† Vincent said. â€Å"I'm Captain Vinnie Fuckin' Bennidetti, Bad-ass of Brooklyn, High Emperor of the Allied Forces, Pilot of the Magic Sky Priestess, Swinging Dick of the Free Fuckin' World, and Protector of the Innocent. Now take me to your chief, squirt, before I have the Sky Priestess burn you to fucking ashes.† â€Å"Christ, Cap'n!† the bombardier said. Vincent shot him a grin over his shoulder. The kid bowed his head. â€Å"Christ, Cap'n. I am Malink, chief of the Shark People.† The Sky Priestess came out of the smoke and took her place in the middle of the semicircle of Shark People. Women kept their eyes to the ground even as they pushed their children forward, hoping that they would be the next to be chosen. The Sky Priestess threw the tails of her scarf over her shoulder and the music from the PA system stopped abruptly. The Shark People fell to their knees and waited for her words, the words of Vincent. It had been months since anyone had been chosen. Malink rose and approached the Sky Priestess with a coconut shell cup of the special tuba they had made for her. He was as stunned by her now as when he had first seen her painted on the side of Vincent's plane. She drained the cup and handed it back to the chief, who bowed over it. â€Å"Still tastes like shit,† she said. â€Å"Tastes like shit!† the Shark People chanted. Beth Curtis turned her head to suppress a smile and a belch. When she turned back to Malink, her eyes were fury. â€Å"Who speaks for Vincent?† â€Å"The Priestess of the Sky,† Malink answered. â€Å"Who brings the words and cargo from Vincent?† â€Å"The Priestess of the Sky,† Malink repeated. â€Å"And who takes the chosen to Vincent?† â€Å"The Priestess of the Sky,† Malink said again, backing away a step. He'd never seen her so angry. â€Å"And who else, Malink?† â€Å"No one else.† â€Å"Damn straight no one else!† She spat so violently she nearly disengaged the bow from her hair. â€Å"You told the Sorcerer that Vincent came to you in a dream. This is not true.† The Shark People gasped. Despite what the Sky Priestess and the Sorcerer thought, Malink had told none of his people about the dream. But Malink was confused. He had dreamed of Vincent. â€Å"Vincent said that the pilot is coming. That he is still alive.† â€Å"Vincent speaks only through me.† â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"No coffee or sugar for a month,† the Sky Priestess said. She pulled her scarf from her shoulders and the music began again. The Shark People watched as she walked away. There was an explosion across the runway and the Sky Priestess disappeared into the smoke.