Creation of a Teaching environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Creation of a Teaching environment - Essay Example Each learning experience is unique and necessitates different needs, and so they may need a different rubric to address these unique needs of the student. The designing of a rubric can be cumbersome task but at the same time a rewarding and useful experience to nurse educators. Nowadays, health care environment is becoming more complex and diverse. There are an increasing number of patients from at-risk populations as well as an increase in the number of chronic diseases that need to be managed in a community setting. This complex and diverse scenario makes it mandatory on the part of the nurse educators to ensure that their graduates have the skills necessary to be leaders in this healthcare environment (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). The utilization of innovative strategies will assist the nurse educators to apply various teaching methods to facilitate learning to ensure core competencies attainment amongst the students, as well as during teaching and mentoring newer nurses. (Billings & Halstead, 2009). This paper will examine the core competencies needed by graduates of today’s nursing programs and how nurse educators can facilitate learning and attainment of these competencies needed for safe evidence-based practice. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has formulated nine essentials competencies that graduates should posses by the end of their various nursing program. These competencies are stated in a different manner by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) as well as various other stakeholders of nursing education, but they fully support it. (Billings & Halsted, 2009; The National League for Nursing, 2005). This paper will discuss the core competencies of scholarship for evidence based practice, inter-professional communication/collaboration skills, the use

Head on vs Tylenol Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Head on vs Tylenol - Annotated Bibliography Example Head on is a product that relieves headaches by simple application on the forehead. The success of this product can be attributed to the vigorous and repetitive advertisement about it that has increased its awareness to people. Tylenol, the competitor brand is effective for temporary relief of aches, pains, headaches, nasal congestions. Its popularity has mainly been backed by the reputation of the Johnson and Johnson companies and the marketing it has been given. Head on is manufactured by Miralus healthcare Company. The ownership and manufacture of this product was transferred to Sirvision, inc. located in North America. Tylenol is one of the products made by the Tylenol Company and ownership is by Mc Neil consumer healthcare which is Johnson and Johnson subsidiary. Headon is made up of three ingredients from a flower, vine and a carcinogen. These ingredients are iris versicolor, potassium dichromate and white bryony. The active ingredient in Tylenol is paracetamol. The ingredients used in making these products have once or more been discredited by users and other groups for some reasons that reveal their failure or ineffectiveness. So far I have identified the population to gather the information from. The age of the people and their geographical location has been identified too. The methods of information gathering to use, and the timeline that will be enough to cover the project have also been ascertained. The information required for analysis of these products will be conducted after a survey by interviewing people to give their opinions on them and their preference. The interviews will cover the effectiveness \of these products, their failure and the most preferred in terms of effectiveness, accessibility and price. Questionnaires will also be used to collect information on the rival products. These data collecting instruments will be evenly distributed in the targeted demographic area to minimize chances of getting biased information. Manufacturers

Reflective Essay on Team Building Skills

Reflective Essay on Team Building Skills Writing a reflection is comparable to that of using a Pensive, in the direction of reliving the already lived experience with the objective of learning from the past matters to enhance future performances. This reflection will closely practice (Gibbs,1988) Reflective Cycle. First stage will begin with a description of what happened, followed by feelings about that event or experience, further evaluating and analysing towards arriving at a conclusion along with making of an action plan for performing in a more efficient manner if a similar situation arises in the future. To begin with, in our course Managing Organization and People, Our Professor helped forming the teams by a structured process, he also encouraged to break the ice between the team members, by making us do a very exciting team building activity. Soon after, we were briefed about the case study on decision making; the job was to make a presentation on the given case. My team comprised of 5 members, and four members out of five were from the same country and common native language, I was the one who added country diversity to our team. Since other four members shared one common native language, with English as their second language, it appeared to me that they will be more comfortable communicating in their first language rather than English, which was our course language. In our first meeting we had dialog around the over-all plan, which we will follow to accomplish the goal of making our presentation. Division of the tasks was done, but there was no concrete discussion over how we as a team would check if individuals work is aligning with the overall schema or not. I was feeling confident to have a team with dedicated and friendly members, although few concerns were there, which arose after our first group meeting. The concerns were, communication, trust, fear of conflict, leadership. At the subsequent meeting the worries turned out to be true, instead of progressing we were in retrograde motion. The other four members preferred interacting in their first language rather than our course language not just this, but also everyone had a different point of view concerning the most essential question of the case study, we were asked to state organizations problem and opportunities clearly, but no one was ready to accept others view point, dissatisfaction was fumed and question was left unanswered. Other than Professors first team building activity, no other such activity was performed to better build the relationships and trust amongst the team members. In the absence of a strong connection between team members, we couldnt debate plentiful about how we will resolve this state of disagreement and if a leader was needed to facilitateand direct us in such circumstances. The bright side was that in terms of accountability, commitment, result oriented approach our team seemed standing strong. I felt quiet uncomfortable in this situation and tried taking the step of simplifying things by making everyone indulge in talks and making them to participate more. To ease the situation, we decided that everyone will stick to the chosen parts and at last we will add individual work to arrive at a better collective result. The situation was very challenging, but taking a call of not interfering in each others work till we complete, seemed the best possible way to avoid disagreements. However, the study by (Clark Clark, 2015) proved that team with better individual skills can be outperformed by team with more synergy, and in absence of synergy it was implied that our teams productivity was not going to be the optimum. It is often claimed that by engaging in team building à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦any group can transform itself into a high-performing team (Shandler Egan, 1996 as cited in Riener Wiederhold, 2016) and the study by (Riener Wiederhold, 2016) concluded that members who engage in team building tasks give better efforts than who dont.   Whereas our team never positioned team building activities in high importance ranking. We should have engaged in more team building to help us develop a good bonding. It was a major step missed by our team for turning out as a high performing team. Advancing to other key interconnected issues related to team structure were: Self-managed or leader driven, which best suited us. Avoiding arguments or shaping them to healthy discussions. Well defined by (Phillips, 2001) Whether a team is leader driven or self-directed; higher level of productivity and greater results are desired in a team, we as a team had the same goals of achieving higher level of productivity and our team was a self-directed team with no leader present, I think with the type of team mix we had, there was a leader required to reduce the differences between team members to help us in achieving higher productivity. Discussing more about a leader and importance of a leader in team, as stated by (Hamlin Jennings, 2007) Leaders influence both the mode of interaction and outcome of these interactions, therefore, in presence of a leader with right approach, our team interactions which were whirling as never-ending arguments, could have been shaped to fruitful debates, instead of it our arguments were gradually shaping to conflicts, again the big question; conflicts are helpful or obstructive for a teams productivity. There have been different views on this, The Study by (De Dreu Weingart, 2003) tells that conflicts adds tensions, increases gap and troubles between team members, therefore they should be treated as obstructions in any teams progress. Whereas, the study by (Amason, 1996, Cited by Brockmann, 1996)has a different view anddivides conflicts into two types. Type one is cognitive conflict, which aims at issues, ideas or process, it is constructive and useful for a team, whereas the second type is affective conflict which aims at people, emotions and values, it is harmful to a team and is destructive conflict. As a self-directed team, when we were not able to manage conflicts, a leader with positive influencing approach was required to route our teams destructive conflicts in direction of cognitive conflicts and we could have better responded to the case study question of stating organizations problem and opportunity. (Claus Langfred, 2007) suggested that Self-managing teams when cannot manage conflicts; tend to reform themselves in an inefficient structure, and with higher conflicts the trust level decreases. It was well reflected in our response to conflict, we decided to work on individual tasks without much interference and with greater autonomy we built a greater level of trust. Trust is a crucial factor for team performance (Erdem, 2003, cited by Aki   Mila, 2012) and with the developed trust we started performing slightly better. Cooperation followed by trust is what we gained next, which also resolved the perception of imbalanced diversity that I had in my mind. (Mitchell Boyle, 2015) concluded that Professional diversity could be good for innovation if team members have openness, Though initially, I was bit concerned that our team is not very diverse as all members except me were from the same culture and same language group, which was different from our course language, but later I realized that we all were very diverse in our professional experiences and fields; with openness to suggestions, creative thinking did prosper in our team and after divisions of task and developed trust, team members were very cooperative and communicated in English only. The five characteristics of a dysfunctional team stated in (Lencioni, 2010) are: lack of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, inattention to results, we were able to overcome four out of five characteristics by having a team with trust, commitment, result oriented approach and accountable members but we could never reach a stage of having a healthy conflict. We knew our presentation was not going to be the best, but it was time to feel motivated and deliver our finest with the available resources. Conclusion If given a chance to go back to the time, when teams were formed, definitely I will make the team indulge in more team building activities for achieving a greater bonding, which would have further helped us to sensibly handle and shape the conflicts into cognitive conflicts. Although, every member of the team worked with dedication and commitment, but we failed to understand the importance of synergy, thats how collective effort could have helped us to accomplish the given task with distinction. Our team achieved the required coordination, trust, communication, but we were too late to reap the benefit of these gears, so time management is one another important aspect we missed at. Action Plan This team project experience is one key asset that will help me in future to grip better the alike situations, and being a business student such teamwork situations will certainly come again in my professional career. Learnings which I have gained from this experience are that when working in a team conflicts are essential for success, but only if teams are mature enough to be self-managed or there is a right leader appointed who can shape conflicts in a positive direction to help teams achieving the synergy. which is the most desired element of team performances. Therefore, I will never shy away from such situation rather I will take first move to make team talk about it. References Aki, S., Mila, H. (2012). Building Trust in High-Performing Teams. Technology Innovation Management Review, Iss June 2012: Global Business Creation, Pp 38-41 (2012), (June 2012: Global Business Creation), 38. Brockmann, E. (1996). Removing the paradox of conflict from group decisions. Academy of Management Executive, 10(2), 61-62. doi:10.5465/AME.1996.9606161555. Clark, C., Clark, B. (2015). Is the Sum of the Parts Greater Than the Whole? Skill vs. Synergy. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 14(2), 23-35. De Dreu, C. W., Weingart, L. R. (2003). Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 741-749. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.4.741. Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Oxford Polytechnic Further Education Unit. Hamlin, A., Jennings, C. (2007). Leadership and conflict. Journal of Economic Behavior Organization, 64(1), 49-68. Langfred, C. W. (2007). The Downside of Self-Management: A Longitudinal Study of the Effects tf Conflict on Trust, Autonomy, and Task Interdependence in Self-Managing Teams. Academy of management journal, 50(4), 885-900.doi:10.5465/AMJ.2007.26279196 Lencioni, P. M. (2010). Overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team: A field guide for leaders, managers, and facilitators (Vol. 16). John Wiley Sons. Mitchell, R., Boyle, B. (2015). Professional diversity, identity salience and team innovation: The moderating role of openmindedness norms. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(6), 873-894. doi:10.1002/job.2009. Phillips, C. (2011). Managing team conflict. Center for Human Systems. Retrieved from http://www. chumans. com/human-systems-resouces/managing-teamconflcit. Htmlip. Riener, G., Wiederhold, S. (2016). Team building and hidden costs of control. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 1231-18.doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2015.12.008

The War of 1812 Essays -- History, The Battle of Baltimore

The War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain. This all started on June 12, 1812 and finished sometime in 1815. Many of the battles were on land but also there were a lot of sea battles. The United States declared War because there were many different disputes among the two countries. The main target for the British is the American ships (War of 1812, 2). The battle of Baltimore was one of the most important battles of the war. The U.S. Naval forces were under Commodore Macdonough. They beat a British fleet at Lake Champlain. Baltimore was home of U.S. privateers and also, Baltimore was the third largest city in the U.S. On September twelfth, the British ships arrive at Baltimore. They were under command by General Ross(War of 1812, 2). The Battle of Raisin River was on January twenty first, 1813. General Winchester was the commander of the United States forces. In this battle, the U.S forces were in three different divisions in order to attack the British forces at the right time in Detroit. One of the groups went off mission and went to find food and a place to sleep because of the cold weather. There were 700 Kentuckians. They eventually went to a battle and captured a Frenchtown market and set up camp there. It was a very bad defense system. Because of that, they were attacked by 1,200 Brits and 1400 Indians. Around 15 U.S. troops escaped. At the end of the battle, the U.S had 100 dead and around 500 troops held captive. They then surrendered to British Colonel Henry A. Proctor (American History, 4). The Battle of Lake Erie was fought on September 10, 1813. The U.S. forces were under command of Perry. Th... ...ort Malden, but he failed to take it. He then moved on and the British had more troops moving in and Hull surrenders to the British (War of 1812, 1). The War of 1812 ended in 1815 (War of 1812 Web, 2). Some people say that the British won the war and the Americans lost but to me, it is an even match only because the Treaty of Ghent and most of the War was over by that reason. The Americans got a lot of respect for withstanding the British Empire. The country had a great outcome even though the American’s lost a lot of troops, the government help strong. There are many heroes in the War of 1812, but the most recognized ones are, Judah Touro, a Philanthropist, Jean Lafitte, a Buccaneer leader, Uriah Phillips Levy, the first Jewish Commodore of the U.S. Navy, and Captain Mordecai Myers, part of the 13th Pennsylvania Infantry (National Archives and Records, 3).

Management of Acid Rain

First of all, as the name suggests, acid rain is rain that is too acidic; with a pH of 5 or below. PH is based on the concentration of hydrogen ions. Acid Rain is caused by emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These major contributing pollutants come from factories, power plants, automobile exhaust, chemical fertilizers, and other sources. Acid rain harms man-made objects as well as humans, animals, plants, aquatic systems, soils, forest, and etc. The list goes on and on. Acid rain reaches the earth in five different forms: rain, snow, hail, sleet, or fog. There are also dry acidic particles that fall from the atmosphere. Most people do not think that acid rain is a big deal, but it is. There have been laws passed to help control this issue, but it has not helped the United States as much as it should have. In this report I will explain controversies in the past over acid rain and I will say a little bit about what is going on in the present. In the 1980†³s acid rain was a major environmental issue. Environmentalists believed that acid rain was poisoning lakes and killing fish in North America. Because the political debate was so fierce, and the scientific process was so acrimonious, Congress created what was then the country†s biggest environmental research project which consumed half a billion dollars in 10 years. Following this research project, Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990, which required polluters, mainly electric power companies, to reduce their emission of sulphur dioxide. After this act, the problem seemed to be solved. Now we have come to realize that acid rain has not at all disappeared. In many lakes across North America the water is less acidic, but there is no sign of recovery across the northeastern and midwestern United States-and there may not be for decades. Gene Likens, an ecologist at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. quotes, † The problem is complex, and it has not gone away.† Here is a list of some of the effects of acid rain in aquatic ecosystems: v As the pH approaches 6.0, crustaceans, insects, and some plankton species begin to disappear. v As pH approaches 5.0, major changes in the makeup of the plankton community occur, less desirable species of mosses and plankton may begin to invade, and the progressive loss of some fish populations is likely, with the more highly valued species being generally the least tolerant of acidity. v Below pH of 5.0, the water is largely devoid of fish, the bottom is covered with undecayed material, and mosses may dominate the areas near the shore. v Terrestrial animals dependent on aquatic ecosystems are also affected. Waterfowl, for example, depend on aquatic organisms for nourishment and nutrients. As these food sources are reduced or eliminated, the quality of habitat declines and the reproductive success of the birds is affected. When a lake is too acidic, many fish, insects, amphibians, birds, plants, and etc. die. Eventually every form of life will die. Because the young fish are weaker than the fully-grown ones, a whole generation of young fish can die if the water is too acidic. Even if the fish were to survive the water, they may die because their food supply has decreased drastically because of the acid rain. Birds also suffer from this problem. They depend on the lakes for food, and when the lakes and fish are poisoned or dead, therefore the birds goes hungry. Aquatic systems are not the only things that are affected by acid rain. Humans, plants, forests, and a whole bunch if other things are too. Acid rain can harm us (humans) in several ways: v If the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe has come in contact with acid deposition, it can cause health problems for us. v Studies have shown that there is a link between acid rain and respiratory problems in sensitive populations such as children and asthmatics. v Also, acid rain can increase the levels of toxic metals such as aluminum, copper, and mercury in untreated drinking water supplies. Plants can be harmed by acid rain in many ways also. For example, it can alter the protective waxy surface of leaves, lowering disease resistance. Here are a few more examples: v It may inhibit plant germination and reproduction. v It accelerates soil weathering and removal of nutrients. v It makes some toxic elements, such as aluminum, more soluble. High aluminum concentrations in the soil can prevent the uptake and use of nutrients by plants. Its effects on animals are hard to assess. As a result of pollution-induced alteration of habitat or food resources, acid deposition may cause population decline through stress and lower reproductive success. Acid rain affects forests and soils. When sulphuric acid falls onto the earth, nutrients present in the soil are washed away. Aluminum, which is present in the soil, is released and this element can be absorbed into the roots of trees and plants. As a result, the trees and plants are starved to death as they are deprived of their vital nutrients such as calcium and magnesium. The needles of some trees will turn yellow because of this; eventually they will fall off. Besides just killing the trees and plants, they also, acid rain also makes them grow when they don†t have the proper nutrients. Also, trees are forced to grow well into late autumn when it is actually time for them to prepare for severe frosts in the winter. Man-made objects are also harmed. Rust can be formed on metal and statues, buildings, graves, and many other things can be ruined because of acid rain. Acid rain wears down rock structures down gradually, and can be devastating over a long period of time, sometimes causing bridges to collapse or become unstable. In conclusion, acid rain may not sound all that harmful, but it really is and it is not a subject to be taken lightly. There are some things that you can do to reduce the acidity in acid rain, so maybe this report will change your mind and make you think!

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 13

Thirteen Breakfast Somehow, through the night, the residents of Pine Cove, especially those who had been withdrawing from antidepressants, found a satisfied calm had fallen over them. It wasn't that their anxiety was gone, but rather that it ran off their backs like warm rain off a naked toddler who has just dis-covered the splash and magic of mud. There was joy and sex and danger in the air – and a euphoric need to share. Morning found many of them herding at the local restaurants for breakfast. Gathering together like wildebeests in the presence of a pride of lions, knowing instinctively that only one of them is going to fall to the fang: the one that is caught alone. Jenny Masterson had been waiting tables at H.P.'s Cafe for twelve years, and she couldn't remember a day out of the tourist season when it had been so busy. She moved between her tables like a dancer, pouring coffee and decaf, taking orders and delivering food, catching the odd request for more butter or salsa, and snatching up a dirty plate or glass on her way back to the window. No movement wasted, no customer ignored. She was good – really good – and sometimes that bugged the hell out of her. Jenny was just forty, slender and fair-skinned with killer legs and long auburn hair that she wore pinned up when she worked. With her husband Robert, she owned Brine's Bait, Tackle, and Fine Wines, but after three months of trying to work with the man she loved and after the birth of her daughter Amanda, who was five, she returned to waitressing to save her marriage and her sanity. Somewhere between college and today, she had become a bull moose waitress, and she never ceased to wonder how in the hell that had happened. How had she become the repository for local information bordering on gossip, and how had she become so damn good at picking up her customers' conversations, and following them as she moved around the restaurant? Today the restaurant was full of talk about Mikey Plotznik, who had disappeared along his paper route the day before. There was talk of the search and speculation on the kid's fate. At a few of her two-tops were seated couples who seemed intent on reliving their sexual adventures from the night before and – if the pawing and fawning were any indication – were going to resume again after breakfast. Jenny tried to tune them out. There was a table of her old-guy coffee drinkers, who were trading misinformation on politics and lawn care; at the counter a couple of construction workers intent on putting in a rare Saturday's work read the paper over bacon and eggs; and over in the corner, Val Riordan, the local shrink, was scribbling notes on a legal pad at a table all by herself. That was unusual. Dr. Val didn't normally make appearances in Pine Cove during the day. Stranger than that, Estelle Boyet, the seascape painter, was having her tea with a Black gentleman who looked as if he would jump out of his skin at the slightest touch. Jenny heard some commotion coming from the register and turned to see her busgirl arguing with Molly Michon, the Crazy Lady. Jenny made a beeline for the counter. â€Å"Molly, you're not supposed to be in here,† Jenny said calmly but firmly. Molly had been eighty-sixed for life after she had attacked H.P.'s espresso machine. â€Å"I just need to cash this check. I need to get some money to buy medicine for a sick friend.† The busgirl, a freshman at Pine Cove High, bolted into the kitchen, tossing â€Å"I told her† over her shoulder as she went. Jenny looked at the check. It was from the Social Security Administration and it was above the amount she was allowed to accept. â€Å"I'm sorry, Molly, I can't do it.† â€Å"I have photo ID.† Molly pulled a videotape out of her enormous handbag and plopped it on the counter. There was a picture of a half-naked woman tied between two stakes on the cover. The titles were in Italian. â€Å"That's not it, Molly. I'm not allowed to cash a check for that much. Look, I don't want any trouble, but if Howard sees you in here, he'll call the police.† â€Å"The police are here† came a man's voice. Jenny looked up to see Theophilus Crowe towering behind Molly. â€Å"Hi, Theo.† Jenny liked Theo. He reminded her of Robert before he had quit drinking – semitragic but good-natured. â€Å"Can I help here?† â€Å"I really need to get some money,† Molly said. â€Å"For medicine.† Jenny shot a look to the corner, where Val Riordan looked up from her notes with an expression of dread on her face. The psychiatrist obviously didn't want to be brought into this. Theo took the check gently from Molly and looked at it, then said to Jenny, â€Å"It's a government check, Jenny. I'm sure it's good. Just this once? Medicine.† He winked at Jenny from behind Molly's back. â€Å"Howard will kill me when he sees it. Every time he looks at the espresso machine, he mutters something about spawn of evil.† â€Å"I'll back you up. Tell him it was in the interest of public safety.† â€Å"Oh, okay. You're lucky we're busy today and I have the cash to spare.† Jenny handed Molly a pen. â€Å"Just endorse it.† Molly signed the check with a flourish and handed it over. Jenny counted out the bills on the counter. â€Å"Thanks,† Molly said. Then to Theo, â€Å"Thanks. Hey, you want a collector's edition of Warrior Babes?† She held the videotape out to him. â€Å"Uh, no thanks, Molly. I can't accept gratuities.† Jenny craned her neck to look at the cover of the tape. â€Å"It's in Italian, but you can figure it out,† Molly said. Theo shook his head and smiled. â€Å"Okay,† Molly said. â€Å"Gotta go.† She turned and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Theo staring at her back. â€Å"I guess she really was in movies,† Jenny said. â€Å"Did you see the picture on the cover?† â€Å"Nope,† Theo said. â€Å"Amazing. Did she look like that?† Theo shrugged. â€Å"Thanks for taking her check, Jenny. I'll find a seat. Just some coffee and an English muffin.† â€Å"Any luck finding the Plotznik kid?† Theo shook his head as he walked away. Gabe Skinner barked once to warn the Food Guy that he was about to collide with the crazy woman, but it came a little too late and, as usual, the dense but good-hearted Food Guy didn't get the message. Skinner had finally talked the Food Guy into stopping work and going to get something to eat. Catching rats and hiking around in the mud was fun, but eating was important. Gabe, covered with mud to the knees and burrs to the shoulder, was head down, digging in his backpack for his wallet as he approached H.P.'s Cafe. Coming out, Molly was counting her money, not looking at all where she was going. She heard Skinner bark just as they conked heads. â€Å"Ouch, excuse me,† Gabe said, rubbing his head. â€Å"I wasn't watching where I was going.† Skinner took the opportunity to sniff Molly's crotch. â€Å"Nice dog,† Molly said. â€Å"Did he produce B movies in his last life?† â€Å"Sorry.† Gabe grabbed Skinner by the collar and pulled him away. Molly folded her money and stuffed it into the waistband of her tights. â€Å"Hey, you're the biologist, huh?† â€Å"That's me.† â€Å"How many grams of protein in a sow bug?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"A sow bug. You know, roly-polies, pill bugs – gray, lotsa legs, designed to curl up and die?† â€Å"Yes, I know what a sow bug is.† â€Å"How many grams of protein in one?† â€Å"I have no idea.† â€Å"Could you find out?† â€Å"I suppose I could.† â€Å"Good,† Molly said. â€Å"I'll call you.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"Bye.† Molly ruffled Skinner's ears as she walked off. Gabe stood there for a second, distracted from his research for the first time in thirty-six hours. â€Å"What the hell?† Skinner wagged his tail to say, â€Å"Let's eat.† Dr. Val Val Riordan watched the lanky constable coming through the restaurant toward her. She wasn't ready to be official, that's why she'd taken herself out to breakfast in the first place – that and she didn't want to face her as-sistant Chloe and her newfound nymphomania. She was months, no, years behind on her professional journals, and she'd packed a briefcase full of them in hope of skimming a few over coffee before her appointments began. She tried to hide behind a copy of Pusher: The American Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacological Practice, but the constable just kept coming. â€Å"Dr. Riordan, do you have a minute?† â€Å"I suppose.† She gestured to the chair across from her. Theo sat down and dove right in. â€Å"Are you sure that Bess Leander never said anything about problems with her marriage? Fights? Joseph coming home late? Anything?† â€Å"I told you before. I can't talk about it.† Theo took a dollar out of his pocket and slid it across the table. â€Å"Take this.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"I want you to be my therapist. I want the same patient confidentiality that you're giving Bess Leander. Even though that privilege isn't supposed to extend beyond the grave. I'm hiring you as my therapist.† â€Å"For a dollar? I'm not a lawyer, Constable Crowe. I don't have to accept you as a patient. And payment has nothing to do with it.† Val was willing him to go away. She had tried to bend people to her will since she was a child. She'd spoken to her therapist about it during her residency. Go away. â€Å"Fine, take me as a patient. Please.† â€Å"I'm not taking any new patients.† â€Å"One session, thirty seconds long. I'm your patient. I promise you'll want to hear what I have to say in session.† â€Å"Theo, have you ever addressed, well, your substance abuse problem?† It was a snotty and unprofessional thing to say, but Crowe wasn't exactly being professional either. â€Å"Does that mean I'm your patient?† â€Å"Sure, okay, thirty seconds.† â€Å"Last night I saw Joseph Leander engaging in sexual relations with a young woman in the park.† Theo folded his hands and sat back. â€Å"Your thoughts?† Jenny couldn't believe she'd heard it right. She hadn't meant to, she was just delivering an English muffin when the gossip bomb hit her unprepared. Bess Leander, not even cold in the grave, and her straitlaced Presbyterian husband was doing it with some bimbo in the park? She paused as if checking her tables, waited for a second, then slid the muffin in front of Theo. â€Å"Can I bring you anything else?† â€Å"Not right now,† Theo said. Jenny looked at Val Riordan and decided that whatever she needed right now was not on the menu. Val was sitting there wide-eyed, as if someone had slapped her with a dead mackerel. Jenny backed away from the table. She couldn't wait for Betsy to come in to relieve her for the lunch shift. Betsy always waited on Joseph Leander when he came in the cafe and made comments about him being the only guy with two children who had never been laid. She'd be blown away. Betsy, of course, already knew. Gabe Gabe tied Skinner up outside and entered the cafe to find all the tables oc-cupied. He spotted Theophilus Crowe sitting at a four-top with a woman that he didn't know. Gabe debated inviting himself to their table, then de-cided it would be better to approach Theo under the pretense of a rat news update and hope for an invitation. Gabe pulled his laptop out of his shoulder bag as he approached the table. â€Å"Theo, you won't believe what I found out last night.† Theo looked up. â€Å"Hi, Gabe. Do you know Val Riordan? She's our local psychiatrist.† Gabe offered his hand to the woman and she took it without looking away from his muddy boots. â€Å"Sorry,† Gabe said. â€Å"I've been in the field all day. Nice to meet you.† â€Å"Gabe's a biologist. He has a lab up at the weather station.† Gabe was feeling uncomfortable now. The woman hadn't said a word. She was attractive in a made-up sort of way, but she seemed a little out of things, stunned perhaps. â€Å"I'm sorry to interrupt. We can talk later, Theo.† â€Å"No, sit down. You don't mind, do you, Val? We can finish our session later. I think I still have twenty seconds on the books.† â€Å"That's fine,† Val said, seeming to come out of her haze. â€Å"Maybe you'll be interested in this,† Gabe said. He slipped into an empty chair and pushed his laptop in front of Val. â€Å"Look at this.† Like many sci-entists, Gabe was oblivious to the fact that no one gave a rat's ass about research unless it could be expressed in terms of dollars. â€Å"Green dots?† Val said. â€Å"No, those are rats.† â€Å"Funny, they look like green dots.† â€Å"This is a topographical map of Pine Cove. These are my tagged rats. See the divergence? These ten that didn't move the other night when the others did?† Val looked to Theo for an explanation. â€Å"Gabe tracks rats with microchips in them,† Theo said. â€Å"It's only one of the things I do. Mostly, I count dead things on the beach.† â€Å"Fascinating work,† Val said with no attempt to hide her contempt. â€Å"Yeah, it's great,† Gabe said. Then to Theo, â€Å"Anyway, these ten rats didn't move with the others.† â€Å"Right, you told me this. You thought they might be dead.† â€Å"They weren't, at least the six of them that I found weren't. It wasn't death that stopped them, it was sex.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"I live-trapped twenty of the group of rats that moved, but when I went to find the group that hadn't, I didn't have to trap them. There were three pairs, all engaged in coitus.† â€Å"So what made the others move?† â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"But the other ones were, uh, mating?† â€Å"I watched one pair for an hour. They did it a hundred and seventeen times.† â€Å"In an hour? Rats can do that?† â€Å"They can, but they don't.† â€Å"But you said they did.† â€Å"It's an anomaly. But all three pairs were doing it. One of the females had died and the male was still going at her when I found them.† Theo's face was becoming strained with the effort of trying to figure out what in the hell Gabe was trying to tell him, and why he was telling him in the first place. â€Å"What does that mean?† â€Å"I have no idea,† Gabe said. â€Å"I don't know why there was a mass evacuation of the large group, and I don't know why the smaller group stayed in one place copulating.† â€Å"Well, thanks for sharing.† â€Å"Food and sex,† Gabe said. â€Å"Maybe you should eat something, Gabe.† Theo signaled for the waitress. â€Å"What do you mean, food and sex?† Val asked. â€Å"All behavior is related to obtaining food and sex,† Gabe said. â€Å"How Freudian.† â€Å"No, Darwinian, actually.† Val leaned forward and Gabe caught a whiff of her perfume. She actually seemed interested now. â€Å"How can you say that? Behavior is much more complex than that.† â€Å"You think so?† â€Å"I know so. And whatever this is, this radio rat study of yours proves it.† She swiveled the screen of the laptop so they all could see it. â€Å"You have six rats that were engaged in sex, but if I have this straight, you have, well, a lot of rats that just took off for no reason at all. Right?† â€Å"There was a reason, I just don't know it yet.† â€Å"But it wasn't food and it obviously wasn't sex.† â€Å"I don't know yet. I suppose they could have been exposed to television violence.† Theo was sitting back and watching now, enjoying two people with three decades of education between them puffing up like schoolyard bullies. â€Å"I'm a psychiatrist, not a psychologist. Our discipline has moved more toward physiological causes for behavior over the last thirty years, or hadn't you heard?† Val Riordan was actually grinning now. â€Å"I'm aware of that. I'm having the brain chemistry worked up on animals from both groups to see if there's a neurochemical explanation.† â€Å"How do you do that again?† Theo asked. â€Å"You grind up their brains and analyze the chemicals,† Gabe said. â€Å"That's got to hurt,† Theo said. Val Riordan laughed. â€Å"I only wish I could diagnose my patients that way. Some of them anyway.† Val Val Riordan couldn't remember the last time she'd enjoyed herself, but she suspected it was when she'd attended the Neiman-Marcus sale in San Francisco two years ago. Food and sex indeed. This guy was so naive. But still, she hadn't seen anyone so passionate about pure research since med school, and it was nice to think about psychiatry in terms other than finan-cial. She found herself wondering how Gabe Fenton would look in a suit, after a shower and a shave, after he'd been boiled to kill the parasites. Not bad, she thought. Gabe said, â€Å"I can't seem to identify any outside stimulus for this behavior, but I have to eliminate the possibility that it's something chemical or envir-onmental. If it's affecting the rats, it might be affecting other species too. I've seen some evidence of that.† Val thought about the wave of horniness that seemed to have washed over all of her patients in the last two days. â€Å"Could it be in the water, do you think? Something that might affect us?† â€Å"Could be. If it's chemical, it would take longer to affect a mammal as large as a human. You two haven't seen anything unusual in the last few days, have you?† Theo nearly spit his coffee out. â€Å"This town's a bug-house.† â€Å"I'm not allowed to talk about my patients specifically,† Val said. She was shaken. Of course there was some weird behavior. She'd caused it, hadn't she, by taking fifteen hundred people off of their medication at once? She had to get out of here. â€Å"But in general, Theo is right.† â€Å"I am?† Theo said. â€Å"He is?† Gabe said. Jenny had returned to the table to fill their coffees. â€Å"Sorry I overheard, but I'd have to agree with Theo too.† They all looked at her, then at each other. Val checked her watch. â€Å"I've got to get to an appointment. Gabe, I'd like to hear the results of the brain chemistry test.† â€Å"You would?† â€Å"Yes.† Val put some money on the table and Theo picked it up and handed it back to her, along with the dollar he'd put there earlier for her fee. â€Å"I need to talk to you about that other matter, Val.† â€Å"Call me. I don't know if I can help though. Bye.† Val left the cafe actually looking forward to seeing her patients, if for no other reason than to imagine grinding up each of their brains. Anything to address the responsibility of driving an entire town crazy. But perhaps by driving them a little crazy, she could save some of them from self-destruction: not a bad reason for going to work. Gabe â€Å"I've got to go too,† Theo said, standing up. â€Å"Gabe, should I have the county test the water or something? I have to go into San Junipero to the county building today anyway.† â€Å"Not yet. I can do a general toxins and heavy metals test. I do them all the time for the frog population studies.† â€Å"You wanna walk out with me?† â€Å"I have to order something to go for Skinner.† â€Å"Didn't you say that you had ten rats that diverged from the pack?† â€Å"Yes, but I could only find six.† â€Å"What happened to the other four?† â€Å"I don't know. They just disappeared. Funny, these chips are nearly indestructible too. Even if the animals are dead, I should be able to pick them up with the satellites.† â€Å"Out of range maybe?† â€Å"Not a chance, the coverage is over two hundred miles. More if I look for them.† â€Å"Then where did they go?† â€Å"They last showed up down by the creek. Near the Fly Rod Trailer Court.† â€Å"You're kidding. That's where the Plotznik kid was last seen.† â€Å"You want to see the map?† â€Å"No, I believe you. I've got to go.† Theo turned to leave. Gabe caught him by the shoulder. â€Å"Theo, is, uh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"What?† â€Å"Is Val Riordan single?† â€Å"Divorced.† â€Å"Do you think she likes me?† Theo shook his head. â€Å"Gabe, I understand. I spend too much time alone too.† â€Å"What? I was just asking.† â€Å"I'll see you.† â€Å"Hey, Theo, you look, uh, well, more alert today.† â€Å"Not stoned, you mean?† â€Å"Sorry, I didn't mean†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's okay, Gabe. Thanks, I think.† â€Å"Hang tough.† Jenny As Jenny passed Estelle Boyet's table, she heard the old Black gentleman say, â€Å"We don't need to tell nobody nothin'. Been fifty years since I seen that thing. It probably done gone back to the sea.† â€Å"Still,† Estelle said, â€Å"there's a little boy missing. What if the two are connected?† â€Å"Ain't nobody ever called you a crazy nigger, did they?† â€Å"Not that I can remember.† â€Å"Well, they have me. For some twenty years after I talked about that thing the last time. I ain't sayin' nothin' to no one. It's our secret, girl.† â€Å"I like it when you call me girl,† Estelle said. Jenny went off to the kitchen, trying to put the morning together in her mind, pieces of conversations as surreal as a Dali jigsaw puzzle. There was definitely something going on in Pine Cove.