Introduction to Counseling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Introduction to Counseling - Essay Example This is what I call building. Yes, building or making my plans realized. Indeed, the choices we make affect our future. My decision today will shape my future. Before I have to make my choice of a course, and eventually a career that will accompany me for the rest of my earth's life, I have to get back to where I came from, of what led me to this institution to study. I can't think of any possible career. There is one story of my life however that is forever fresh in my youthful mind - a story of my childhood. Some humble beginnings nurtured my mind to an environment that values life above anything. I would prefer seeing people counseling others, giving them a touch of a loving hand, and young ordinary folks sacrificing personal happiness and pursuits for the service of people in the countryside, ordinary human beings who really come from the grassroots. Though I may not be them to the letter, I'll try to follow a path where my life will be focused of the goals set forth in my childhood - that of helping and counseling people. Most courses focus on improving. Improving ways to look for money. Improving or finding ways for fortune and fame. Others focus on serving not just with pay but with an enormous amount of pay. Simply put, they are not gratifying, albeit satisfying or comparable to helping people unselfishly by counseling them. What can be more rewarding than touching people and letting them feel that here's someone who cares, who prefers to listen rather than dictate. With my planned career of helping people I need to be more unselfish, to have a lot of sacrifices and concern. I have to be broadminded, and need to understand other areas of human relationship like the emotional, spiritual and social environment. On the other hand, I may further need a firm determination, lots of sacrifice, and some thought that by helping others I am making a profound difference on the life of another human being. This is a challenging and rewarding endeavor - to feel the needs of a patient, to listen and guide someone through a more secure and promising path through life. 3. My choice of my career is an extension of my personality What we want to be reflects what we always think of life, from the beginning when we build dreams and castles in the air, until we start a process of fulfilling those dreams. But these dreams and plans are usually influence by the environment, or how we were brought up, until we acquire a personality that we embrace all throughout. I have always planned of a helping career. My goal is to compassionately share my knowledge and resources to people in need of these resources. I have exhibited this since I was too young, and now it is high time that I start to frame and reflect what is really inside of me. 4. How an internship can help me develop as a professional Internship can help a lot because it is through this that I will be able to feel the real job of counseling, a true hands-on experience. It is like an on-the-job training that young graduates pass through before they go on with real work in the office or any workplace. I will be encouraged and challenged to work professionally, see for myself what really are the

Business Email (100 words) and Attachment (400 words) Essay

Business Email (100 words) and Attachment (400 words) - Essay Example We have already prepared several copies of our business card that has a Korean translation to help us communicate our official rank in the company. (Kwintessential Ltd. 2008)2 When it comes to exchanging business cards, our sales team has been informed to use both hands when giving or receiving a business card. We have also informed our team to read the business card first before keeping it in a case or a pocket. Unlike the typical handshake as a business practice in North America, our sales team have been taught that they should greet South Korean businessmen with their family name combined with a â€Å"slight bow† and a handshake while maintaining a good eye-contact with the other party upon the first meeting the Korean business people in an informal reception, just before the presentation and the evening meal starts. (Kwintessential Ltd. 2008) Calling them by their surname remain a practice until the Korean businessmen to tell us to simply call them with their first name. We have also made the sales presentation as short as possible so as not to avoid over-selling our expertise as a consultant company. (Movius et al. 2006) Instead, we aim to develop a stronger business relationship with them. "Communicaid." Doing business in South Korea| South Korean Social and Business Culture. 2008. http://www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/culture-for-business-and-management/doing-business-in/South-korean-business-and-social-culture.php (accessed June 14,

Abdullah Badawi’s Effect on Political Economy

Abdullah Badawi’s Effect on Political Economy 1.0 INTRODUCTION Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the fifth Malaysia’s Prime Minister (2003-2009), was born on 26th November, 1939 in Kampung Perlis, Bayan Lepas. He was greatly influenced by his family religious background and further strengthened it through the subject of Islamic Studies in Universiti Malaya, and graduated in 1964. After he was graduated from Universiti Malaya, Abdullah was working as a civil servant, including Assistant Secretary in the Public Services Department and Head Assistant Secretary in the National Operation Council (NOC) (Welsh, 2003). At that time, he also was also being a Director in the Ministry of Youth and Sports; and since 1974, Deputy Chief Secretary in the same ministry. In 1978, Abdullah resigned in the civil service and had been elected as the candidate for Kepala Batas Parliament seat For the year 1978-1987, Abdullah has won the 1978 elections for the Kepala Batas Parliament seat (Sivamurugan Rusdi Omar Mohd Azizuddin, 2010). He was then elected as Parliamentary Secretary and Deputy Minister in the Federal Territory Ministry. He was also been Minister in Prime Minister’s Department (1981-1984), Minister of Education (1984-1986), Minister of Defence (1986-1987). From the year 1987 to 1990, it was climax in Abdullah’s political leadership. The growth of Anwar Ibrahim and the presence of opposition leaders in UMNO had not feared by Abdullah (Sivamurugan Rusdi Omar Mohd Azizuddin, 2010). By this, he finally get the highest position in the party and government. He was trusted by Dr.Mahathir to offer him for involving in 1990 General Elections. He was also elected as the part of Cabinet. The support gained by Abdullah not only particularly on inner support but also because of his inner confidence and strength that had given him a trust by peoples (Sivamurugan Rusdi Omar Mohd Azizuddin, 2010).. Abdullah was served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs during 1991-1999. At that time, Abdullah also succeeded in winning back the UMNO Vice President seat in the 1996 elections after the failure to win Vice President seat in 1993 (Case, n.d). He gained the Dr. Mahathir’s trust and was finally elected as the UMNO Deputy President in 1999 and Deputy Prime Minister, the fourth under the leadership of Dr. Mahathir. In Jun 2002, Dr. Mahathir announced to retire, and announced to the public that he had given trust to Abdullah to be his successor of Prime Minister. The main objective to conduct this case study is to critically examine the political economy throughout his reign of nearly six years. The specific objectives are; firstly, to critically review Abdullah’s political performance by providing the election report between 2003-2009 and figure out the reason why the mass supported him; secondly, to interpret the international economy oil price and its problems; thirdly, to identify issues and challenges during his tenure, whether Abdullah’s political policy affects the Malaysia’s economy or vice versa or both. To complete our research, we will assess the data from books in library, journals articles, newspapers and electric sources to prove whether our argument is valid or not. The research is conducted by 3 members, everyone from each will be divided to collect sources based on their own task. Our finding will dramatically advance our understanding of political economy under the administration of Abdullah. 2.0 LEADERSHIP OF ABDULLAH BADAWI During Abdullah’s premiership, the government policies did not change much. To him, he was presiding over an individual change rather than regime change. Abdullah implemented his promise to address corruption. Abdullah is widely admired for his religious knowledge and credentials, and can confront Islamic radicals (in his own quiet way) while maintaining respect from mainstream society (McCreedy, 2003). Abdullah’s personal style—mild, incremental, consensual—will differ from the fiery tone of his predecessor (Tun Mahathir), and likely improve relations with the West (McCreedy, 2003). Not having as Mahathir aggressive personality as Mahathir had, Abdullah showed an early willingness to listen and work as a team. He attempted to bring economic liberalisation, declared war on corruption, improved governance, and opened up democratic space (Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid Muhammad Takiyuddin Ismail, 2012). To reform policy, he re-attached importance to agriculture, re-emphasized poverty eradication, highlighted human capital development, and shifted focus to regional development which was been practiced by the second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak. Abdullah was so much emphasing on religious and he attempted to establish Islam Hadhari, a progressive approach towards understanding and practising Islam as a modern rather than conservative religion. Thus, Abdullah’s leadership style was soft-personality, but under his premiership, many plans were proved to be more than just declare. 3.0 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY TUN ABDULLAH BADAWI 3.1 The Global Financial Crisis (2008-2009) The global financial crisis (GFC), caused by the bursting of a speculative bubble in the US housing market in 2008, affected the capital flows, trade flows, and commodity prices of the world (Athukorala, 2010). Different countries have been affected differently, depending on the nature of their financial/trade linkages with the rest of the world, the quality of financial institutions and polices. As we will see below, for Malaysia, the financial and economic development had worsened in 2008 and 2009. Our GDP remained declining in the year of 2008, ultimately 0.1% growth of GDP in third quarter of 2008. The GDP felt by approximately 3% in the fourth quarter of 2008, which was also the first time in negative territory since 2001 (figure 1) (World Trade Organization, 2011). From the data interpreting above, we could imagine that during Abdullah Badawi’s premiership, the main challenge affected by global financial crisis was the declining of GDP in Malaysia in 2008 and the exportation of Malaysia declined. 3.2 International Oil Price Crisis The second issue and challenge faced by Abdullah Badawi is international oil price crisis by 2008. The oil price has skyrocketed to levels never predicted by the strategists and economic planners, estimated from USD170 per barrel in end 2008 to USD200 in 2009 (D-8 Secretariat Istanbul, 2008). The increasing of oil price at that time also caused the price of food increased beyond the normal abilities to pay by the poor. Abdullah Badawi (2008) said that the oil price crisis was required global-level solutions, and Malaysia was needed to bring up this issue to international community to resolve together. It is undeniably that the oil price crisis also caused the most urgent challenge facing by Malaysia was the food shortage in the world. As the global oil price increased, the food price also increased, and believed to reach more than 75% since 2000 (D-8 Secretariat Istanbul, 2008). These had threatened to the Malaysia’s economic growth under Abdullah Badawi’s tenure. Thus, the methods that used by Abdullah Badawi to solve the issue were to cut off the government subsidy on fuel (since the increasing of oil price has burdened the government subsidy on fuel) and also suggested to produce or creating alternative sources of energy, such as bio-fuels and agriculture. From Table 1, fuel subsidies had raised from RM2.4bil or 3.8% of total operating expenses (OE) and 0.7% of GDP in 2001 to RM7.3bil in 2006 or 6.8% of total OE and 1.3% GDP (Ministry of Finance, 2008). While in 2007, it rose further to RM8.8bil or 1.4% of GDP (Ministry of Finance, 2008). In estimated 2008, fuel subsidies would escalate to estimate RM15.5bil or 12% of total OE and 2.3% of GDP (table 1) (Ministry of Finance, 2008). From Table 2, the petroleum product subsidy had increased from RM16.0bil in 2005 to RM16.2bil in 2007, but had decreased from 43.7% of total subsidy in 2005 to 37.3% in 2007 (Ministry of Finance, 2008). It could be said that the government had begun to cut off the fuel subsidy due to the increasing of oil price in 2007 but had put more effort on gas price subsidy due to Abdullah Badawi’s recommendation policy on replacing the fuel energy. 4.0 POLITICAL POLICY AFFECTS ECONOMY OR ECONOMY AFFECTS POLITICAL POLICY? During Abdullah Badawi’s tenure, whether his political policy had affected Malaysia’s economy or the economy had affected his political policy? Based on our research, we would critic that during Abdullah Badawi’s era, the economy had affected his politcal policy. We would provide few facts at the following to support our critical analysis. The first fact is, the rising of world oil price to between US90 and US100 a barrel is expected to force Abdullah Badawi administration on reduction in fuel subsidies in 2008. According to Asia Times (2008), the fuel and gas subsidiaries approximately cost US12bil a year. The global oil price crisis had put increasing burdens on the family budgets, especially the middle-income family from developing country. Not only that, the oil price crisis also forced governments to curtail expenditures or reallocate resources for development in order to meet the more immediate needs of societies (D-8 Secretariat Istanbul, 2008). Thus, from our analysis, we could comment that the rising of oil price had affected Abdullah Badawi to reduce or cut off the fuel subsidies policy to societies. However, we could not find any other long-term solutions yet to stabilize the price of oil in the market. Perhaps, the reduction on fuel subsidies would be the best alternatives for controlling the government exp enditures. However, Abdullah Badawi’s reduction fuel subsidiary policy had been implemented until today. It could be proven by Malaysian government now (Najib Razak’s era) is following Abdullah Badawi’s step to cut fuel subsidy on ron95 fuel (Athukorala, 2010). In our opinion, there are pros and cons on abolishing fuel subsidy in Malaysia. The pros definitely would be the Malaysia takes advantages of falling global oil price and reduce the burden of government. If cut off fuel subsidy be implemented, the oil price would be followed international oil price, thus, if global oil price reduces, then Malaysia would pay lesser to import oil (McAleavey, 2014). Moreover, abolishing fuel subsidy could benefits government because government could save up the money to use it on other field of subsidiaries. The con on abolishing fuel subsidy in Malaysia would be widen the wealth gap issues. Dismissing fuel subsidy would be benefited to high-income households instead of protecting the l ow-income workers (Palatino, 2014). Nevertheless, in our point of view, if the reduction on fuel subsidy policy would be announced and get opinion from the societies first, it would be more beneficial to both societies and government to achieve a win-win situation. The second fact that we could provide to prove that the economy had affected Abdullah Badawi’s policy is the recommendation on Bio-Fuel Policy in 2006 (D-8 Secretariat Istanbul, 2008) by Abdullah Badawi as a renewable sources of energy to encounter the increasing of oil price issue. The goal to implement this policy is to promote the use of bio fuels as an alternative to petroleum in Malaysia. Examples of bio-fuel or bio-gas could be natural gas vehicles (NGV). Based on our finding, National Biofuel Policy (NBP) provided an alternative to reduce the dependency on petroleum in Malaysia. Palm oil is used as the alternative resource to replace the depleting petroleum as it is more environmental friendly and it could produce investments for it value added-finished products. Oil palm is an energy-efficient crop and the adoption of renewable energy resources started as the crisis of increasing oil price and depletion of crude oil reserve. Palm oil contribute the largest part in Malaysia’s economic. NBP was being launched to sustain the economic growth. Few objectives were formulated to mobilize the local resources for biofuel production and explore new technology to generate energy as an alternative resources (table 2). In 2009, the use of B5 blends (Envo Diesel) of 5% diesel biofuels and 95% petroleum diesel was introduced (Majid, 2015). This was to create an environmental friendly and renewable energy resources. The use of biofuel is definitely a great idea yet the usage of diesel biofuel in Malaysia is still low. Moreover, diesel engined-vehicles is more expensive than petrol engined-vehicles. Thus, less people supported the biofuel policy. It is in fact that until today, the Najib Razak’s era, this policy was not implemented yet in Malaysia. The current prime minister could only implement the reduction of fuel subsidy policy, instead of carrying up the bio-fuel policy. Based on our research, there are a few weakness of this National Biofuel Policy which launched by Datuk Sri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2006. Ccsenet.org (2011) mentioned that the weakness of this policy is that the demand from market is small. There is only few diesel users compare to petrol users. Thus, the biofuel policy only benefits some of the populations. Figure 2 shows the difference of energy consumption between petroleum products and biodiesel in Malaysia. The minuscule domestic market could not gain much profits and supports from the people and lastly would fail to reach the objectives of the policy. Besides that, the biofuel infrastructure which could fulfill the basis of nation was not sufficient. People might feel interested and wish to try something which is new and environmentally friendly yet the lack of infrastructure had made the policy unsuccessful. According to Phys.Org (2009), 16 biofuel plants were built but due to low price of biofuel was not being operated. The infrastructure that being built was wasted and made the people feel not confident with the good side of biofuel. The lack of market opportunities of biofuel had also lead to the failure of this policy. Development of biofuel always related to the rain forest deforestation which lead to biodiversity loss. Malaysia has chosen a solution of land-clearing to get plant oil-palm for biodiesel. Climate changes and global warming had become the issue in few conferences and lead to the failure of this policy. Resources and skilled workers and research were not fully utilized to conduct the policy. Thus, National Biofuel Policy is indeed a good policy if we have sufficient manpower, resources and technology intelligence to make it successful and increase the nation’s economic growth. However, the lack of skilled labour and technology and high dependency towards petroleum had caused the implementation of the mandate of B5 biodiesel sale to be delayed in February 2010. 5.0 CONCLUSION The difference in Abdullah Badawi’s leadership style with his predecessor brings about cause for some to consider it as a weakness and loss of control (Utusan Malaysia, 19 September 2006). Under his tenureship, Malaysia had experienced two big challenges, which are the global financial crisis and international oil price crisis during 2008-2009. These two challenges yet never came into a long-term solutions to solve these issues until today. Therefore, in our opinion, the international oil crisis, cut off subsidiaries on oil and increased of oil prices in Malaysia perhaps are the reasons to let him lose his mass support on general election in 2008. REFERENCES Welsh, B. (2003). Malaysias transition: Elite contestation, political dilemmas and incremental change. Washington, D.C: Asia Program Special Report. Sivamurugan, P., Rusdi Omar., Mohd Azizuddin. (2010). Work with Me, Not for Me†: Malaysia under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (2003-2009). Asian Culture and History, Volume 2, Issue 1. Case, W. (n.d). Abdullah Badawi’s first year as Malaysia’s Prime Minister. Austrialia: Griffith Asia Institute. McCreedy, A. (2003). Passing the mantle: A new leadership for Malaysia. Washington, D.C: Asia Program Special Report. Welsh, B. (2003). Malaysias transition: Elite contestation, political dilemmas and incremental change. Washington, D.C: Asia Program Special Report. Welsh, B. (2003). Malaysias transition: Elite contestation, political dilemmas and incremental change. Washington, D.C: Asia Program Special Report. Welsh, B. (2003). Malaysias transition: Elite contestation, political dilemmas and incremental change. Washington, D.C: Asia Program Special Report. http://www.energyglobal.com/downstream/refining/30102014/Malaysia-reduces-fuel-prices-1527/ http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/why-malaysia-reduced-its-fuel-subsidy/ http://www.twn.my/title2/ge/ge26.pdf APPENDIXES Figure 1: Real GDP and trade growth of Malaysia, 2008-10 Source: World Trade Organization, 2011. https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres11_e/pr628_e.htm Figure 2: The Difference of Energy Consumption between Petroleum Products and Biodiesel in Malaysia. Source: National Energy Balance 2012 (Retrieved from Malaysia Energy Statistic Handbook, 2014) Table 1: Malaysia’s Fuel Subsidies 2001-08 Table 2: Malaysia’s Subsidies and Financial Assistance (RM bil) 2005-07 Source: Ministry of Finance, Bank Negara, Department of Information, Malaysia CIMB/GK Research, 2008.

Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games Essay -- Papers Children

Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games The video game technology, like most technologies, has changed drastically in the last few years. Arcades may look much the same on the surface as they did a decade or two ago, but the games have become far more violent, sophisticated and addictive. When one visits the video arcade it is not surprising to see children pointing and shooting something that looks suspiciously like a real weapon. If Pong – or, for that matter, Pac-Man and Super Mario Brothers – is one’s point of reference, one needs to think again. What one assumes about the benign, outdated games of the 1970s and the 1980s, even of the early 1990s, the research regarding them cannot be considered valid as video games put in the market in the last five years. It is a whole new world, and it is evolving at a rate that is hard for parents to keep pace with (Funk. Jeanne 1993). How fast a rate? Consider this: During the last two decades interactive video games have emerged as one of the most popular forms of entertainment, particularly among teens. According to the non-profit organization, Mediascope, â€Å"Globally, annual video games revenues now exceed $18 billion. In the United States alone, video game revenues now exceed $10 billion annually, nearly double the amount Americans spend going to the movies. On average, American children who have home video game systems play with them about ninety minutes a day. The kids are changing with the technology – how could they not be? They are riding technology curve in a way we are not and never can. On many levels, it’s wonderful to have them exposed to this brav... ...tors in Computing Systems CHI '04 Abstracts on Human factors in computing systems. ACM Press New York, NY , USA p. 1375-1378 Provenzo, Eugene. Video Kids. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991 47-48. Schmitt, B.D. (2004). Disadvantages of Video Games. Clinical Reference Systems. Jan 1, 2004 p 3356. Behavioral Health Advisor 2004.1 McKesson Health Solutions LLC Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Pres, New York, USA The First Fighting Game That Let You Just Be Friends. Take Greatest Games of All Times. Mortal Kombat II. Midway 1993. Accessed 2 Sept 2005 at: http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/p-17.html Videogame- mind control? Accessed 2 Sept 2005 at: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread37141/pg1

Digital Fortress Chapter 3

Susan's Volvo sedan rolled to a stop in the shadow of the ten-foot-high, barbed Cyclone fence. A young guard placed his hand on the roof. â€Å"ID, please.† Susan obliged and settled in for the usual half-minute wait. The officer ran her card through a computerized scanner. Finally he looked up. â€Å"Thank you, Ms. Fletcher.† He gave an imperceptible sign, and the gate swung open. Half a mile ahead Susan repeated the entire procedure at an equally imposing electrified fence. Come on, guys†¦ I've only been through here a million times. As she approached the final checkpoint, a stocky sentry with two attack dogs and a machine gun glanced down at her license plate and waved her through. She followed Canine Road for another 250 yards and pulled into Employee Lot C. Unbelievable, she thought. Twenty-six thousand employees and a twelve-billion-dollar budget; you'd think they could make it through the weekend without me. Susan gunned the car into her reserved spot and killed the engine. After crossing the landscaped terrace and entering the main building, she cleared two more internal checkpoints and finally arrived at the windowless tunnel that led to the new wing. A voice-scan booth blocked her entry. NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA) CRYPTO FACILITY AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY The armed guard looked up. â€Å"Afternoon, Ms. Fletcher.† Susan smiled tiredly. â€Å"Hi, John.† â€Å"Didn't expect you today.† â€Å"Yeah, me neither.† She leaned toward the parabolic microphone. â€Å"Susan Fletcher,† she stated clearly. The computer instantly confirmed the frequency concentrations in her voice, and the gate clicked open. She stepped through. The guard admired Susan as she began her walk down the cement causeway. He noticed that her strong hazel eyes seemed distant today, but her cheeks had a flushed freshness, and her shoulder-length, auburn hair looked newly blown dry. Trailing her was the faint scent of Johnson's Baby Powder. His eyes fell the length of her slender torso-to her white blouse with the bra barely visible beneath, to her knee-length khaki skirt, and finally to her legs†¦ Susan Fletcher's legs. Hard to imagine they support a 170 IQ, he mused to himself. He stared after her a long time. Finally he shook his head as she disappeared in the distance. As Susan reached the end of the tunnel, a circular, vaultlike door blocked her way. The enormous letters read: crypto. Sighing, she placed her hand inside the recessed cipher box and entered her five-digit PIN. Seconds later the twelve-ton slab of steel began to revolve. She tried to focus, but her thoughts reeled back to him. David Becker. The only man she'd ever loved. The youngest full professor at Georgetown University and a brilliant foreign-language specialist, he was practically a celebrity in the world of academia. Born with an eidetic memory and a love of languages, he'd mastered six Asian dialects as well as Spanish, French, and Italian. His university lectures on etymology and linguistics were standing-room only, and he invariably stayed late to answer a barrage of questions. He spoke with authority and enthusiasm, apparently oblivious to the adoring gazes of his star-struck coeds. Becker was dark-a rugged, youthful thirty-five with sharp green eyes and a wit to match. His strong jaw and taut features reminded Susan of carved marble. Over six feet tall, Becker moved across a squash court faster than any of his colleagues could comprehend. After soundly beating his opponent, he would cool off by dousing his head in a drinking fountain and soaking his tuft of thick, black hair. Then, still dripping, he'd treat his opponent to a fruit shake and a bagel. As with all young professors, David's university salary was modest. From time to time, when he needed to renew his squash club membership or restring his old Dunlop with gut, he earned extra money by doing translating work for government agencies in and around Washington. It was on one of those jobs that he'd met Susan. It was a crisp morning during fall break when Becker returned from a morning jog to his three-room faculty apartment to find his answering machine blinking. He downed a quart of orange juice as he listened to the playback. The message was like many he received-a government agency requesting his translating services for a few hours later that morning. The only strange thing was that Becker had never heard of the organization. â€Å"They're called the National Security Agency,† Becker said, calling a few of his colleagues for background. The reply was always the same. â€Å"You mean the National Security Council?† Becker checked the message. â€Å"No. They said Agency. The NSA.† â€Å"Never heard of 'em.† Becker checked the GAO Directory, and it showed no listing either. Puzzled, Becker called one of his old squash buddies, an ex-political analyst turned research clerk at the Library of Congress. David was shocked by his friend's explanation. Apparently, not only did the NSA exist, but it was considered one of the most influential government organizations in the world. It had been gathering global electronic intelligence data and protecting U.S. classified information for over half a century. Only 3 percent of Americans were even aware it existed. â€Å"NSA,† his buddy joked, â€Å"stands for ‘No Such Agency.' â€Å" With a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, Becker accepted the mysterious agency's offer. He drove the thirty-seven miles to their eighty-six-acre headquarters hidden discreetly in the wooded hills of Fort Meade, Maryland. After passing through endless security checks and being issued a six-hour, holographic guest pass, he was escorted to a plush research facility where he was told he would spend the afternoon providing â€Å"blind support† to the Cryptography Division-an elite group of mathematical brainiacs known as the code-breakers. For the first hour, the cryptographers seemed unaware Becker was even there. They hovered around an enormous table and spoke a language Becker had never heard. They spoke of stream ciphers, self-decimated generators, knapsack variants, zero knowledge protocols, unicity points. Becker observed, lost. They scrawled symbols on graph paper, pored over computer printouts, and continuously referred to the jumble of text on the overhead projector. JHdja3jKHDhmado/ertwtjlw+jgj328 5jhalsfnHKhhhfafOhhdfgaf/fj37we ohi93450s9djfd2h/HHrtyFHLf89303 95jspjf2j0890Ihj98yhfi080ewrt03 jojr845h0roq+jt0eu4tqefqe//oujw 08UY0IH0934jtpwfiajer09qu4jr9gu ivjP$duw4h95pe8rtugvjw3p4e/ikkc mffuerhfgv0q394ikjrmg+unhvs9oer rk/0956y7u0poikIOjp9f8760qwerqi Eventually one of them explained what Becker had already surmised. The scrambled text was a code-a â€Å"cipher text†-groups of numbers and letters representing encrypted words. The cryptographers' job was to study the code and extract from it the original message, or â€Å"cleartext.† The NSA had called Becker because they suspected the original message was written in Mandarin Chinese; he was to translate the symbols as the cryptographers decrypted them. For two hours, Becker interpreted an endless stream of Mandarin symbols. But each time he gave them a translation, the cryptographers shook their heads in despair. Apparently the code was not making sense. Eager to help, Becker pointed out that all the characters they'd shown him had a common trait-they were also part of the Kanji language. Instantly the bustle in the room fell silent. The man in charge, a lanky chain-smoker named Morante, turned to Becker in disbelief. â€Å"You mean these symbols have multiple meanings?† Becker nodded. He explained that Kanji was a Japanese writing system based on modified Chinese characters. He'd been giving Mandarin translations because that's what they'd asked for. â€Å"Jesus Christ.† Morante coughed. â€Å"Let's try the Kanji.† Like magic, everything fell into place. The cryptographers were duly impressed, but nonetheless, they still made Becker work on the characters out of sequence. â€Å"It's for your own safety,† Morante said. â€Å"This way, you won't know what you're translating.† Becker laughed. Then he noticed nobody else was laughing. When the code finally broke, Becker had no idea what dark secrets he'd helped reveal, but one thing was for certain-the NSA took code-breaking seriously; the check in Becker's pocket was more than an entire month's university salary. On his way back out through the series of security check points in the main corridor, Becker's exit was blocked by a guard hanging up a phone. â€Å"Mr. Becker, wait here, please.† â€Å"What's the problem?† Becker had not expected the meeting to take so long, and he was running late for his standing Saturday afternoon squash match. The guard shrugged. â€Å"Head of Crypto wants a word. She's on her way out now.† â€Å"She?† Becker laughed. He had yet to see a female inside the NSA. â€Å"Is that a problem for you?† a woman's voice asked from behind him. Becker turned and immediately felt himself flush. He eyed the ID card on the woman's blouse. The head of the NSA's Cryptography Division was not only a woman, but an attractive woman at that. â€Å"No,† Becker fumbled. â€Å"I just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Susan Fletcher.† The woman smiled, holding out her slender hand. Becker took it. â€Å"David Becker.† â€Å"Congratulations, Mr. Becker. I hear you did a fine job today. Might I chat with you about it?† Becker hesitated. â€Å"Actually, I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment.† He hoped spurning the world's most powerful intelligence agency wasn't a foolish act, but his squash match started in forty-five minutes, and he had a reputation to uphold: David Becker was never late for squash†¦ class maybe, but never squash. â€Å"I'll be brief.† Susan Fletcher smiled. â€Å"Right this way, please.† Ten minutes later, Becker was in the NSA's commissary enjoying a popover and cranberry juice with the NSA's lovely head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher. It quickly became evident to David that the thirty-eight-year-old's high-ranking position at the NSA was no fluke-she was one of the brightest women he had ever met. As they discussed codes and code-breaking, Becker found himself struggling to keep up-a new and exciting experience for him. An hour later, after Becker had obviously missed his squash match and Susan had blatantly ignored three pages on the intercom, both of them had to laugh. There they were, two highly analytical minds, presumably immune to irrational infatuations-but somehow, while they sat there discussing linguistic morphology and pseudo-random number generators, they felt like a couple of teenagers-everything was fireworks. Susan never did get around to the real reason she'd wanted to speak to David Becker-to offer him a trial post in their Asiatic Cryptography Division. It was clear from the passion with which the young professor spoke about teaching that he would never leave the university. Susan decided not to ruin the mood by talking business. She felt like a schoolgirl all over again; nothing was going to spoil it. And nothing did. Their courtship was slow and romantic-stolen escapes whenever their schedules permitted, long walks through the Georgetown campus, late-night cappuccinos at Merlutti's, occasional lectures and concerts. Susan found herself laughing more than she'd ever thought possible. It seemed there was nothing David couldn't twist into a joke. It was a welcome release from the intensity of her post at the NSA. One crisp, autumn afternoon they sat in the bleachers watching Georgetown soccer get pummeled by Rutgers. â€Å"What sport did you say you play?† Susan teased. â€Å"Zucchini?† Becker groaned. â€Å"It's called squash.† She gave him a dumb look. â€Å"It's like zucchini,† he explained, â€Å"but the court's smaller.† Susan pushed him. Georgetown's left wing sent a corner-kick sailing out of bounds, and a boo went up from the crowd. The defensemen hurried back downfield. â€Å"How about you?† Becker asked. â€Å"Play any sports?† â€Å"I'm a black belt in Stairmaster.† Becker cringed. â€Å"I prefer sports you can win.† Susan smiled. â€Å"Overachiever, are we?† Georgetown's star defenseman blocked a pass, and there was a communal cheer in the stands. Susan leaned over and whispered in David's ear. â€Å"Doctor.† He turned and eyed her, lost. â€Å"Doctor,† she repeated. â€Å"Say the first thing that comes to mind.† Becker looked doubtful. â€Å"Word associations?† â€Å"Standard NSA procedure. I need to know who I'm with.† She eyed him sternly. â€Å"Doctor.† Becker shrugged. â€Å"Seuss.† Susan gave him a frown. â€Å"Okay, try this one†¦ ‘kitchen.' â€Å" He didn't hesitate. â€Å"Bedroom.† Susan arched her eyebrows coyly. â€Å"Okay, how about this†¦ ‘cat.' â€Å" â€Å"Gut,† Becker fired back. â€Å"Gut?† â€Å"Yeah. Catgut. Squash racquet string of champions.† â€Å"That's pleasant.† She groaned. â€Å"Your diagnosis?† Becker inquired. Susan thought a minute. â€Å"You're a childish, sexually frustrated squash fiend.† Becker shrugged. â€Å"Sounds about right.† It went on like that for weeks. Over dessert at all-night diners Becker would ask endless questions. Where had she learned mathematics? How did she end up at the NSA? How did she get so captivating? Susan blushed and admitted she'd been a late bloomer. Lanky and awkward with braces through her late teens, Susan said her Aunt Clara had once told her God's apology for Susan's plainness was to give her brains. A premature apology, Becker thought. Susan explained that her interest in cryptography had started in junior high school. The president of the computer club, a towering eighth grader named Frank Gutmann, typed her a love poem and encrypted it with a number-substitution scheme. Susan begged to know what it said. Frank flirtatiously refused. Susan took the code home and stayed up all night with a flashlight under her covers until she figured out the secret-every number represented a letter. She carefully deciphered the code and watched in wonder as the seemingly random digits turned magically into beautiful poetry. In that instant, she knew she'd fallen in love-codes and cryptography would become her life. Almost twenty years later, after getting her master's in mathematics from Johns Hopkins and studying number theory on a full scholarship from MIT, she submitted her doctoral thesis, Cryptographic Methods, Protocols, and Algorithms for Manual Applications. Apparently her professor was not the only one who read it; shortly afterward, Susan received a phone call and a plane ticket from the NSA. Everyone in cryptography knew about the NSA; it was home to the best cryptographic minds on the planet. Each spring, as the private-sector firms descended on the brightest new minds in the workforce and offered obscene salaries and stock options, the NSA watched carefully, selected their targets, and then simply stepped in and doubled the best standing offer. What the NSA wanted, the NSA bought. Trembling with anticipation, Susan flew to Washington's Dulles International Airport where she was met by an NSA driver, who whisked her off to Fort Meade. There were forty-one others who had received the same phone call that year. At twenty-eight, Susan was the youngest. She was also the only female. The visit turned out to be more of a public relations bonanza and a barrage of intelligence testing than an informational session. In the week that followed, Susan and six others where invited back. Although hesitant, Susan returned. The group was immediately separated. They underwent individual polygraph tests, background searches, handwriting analyses, and endless hours of interviews, including taped inquiries into their sexual orientations and practices. When the interviewer asked Susan if she'd ever engaged in sex with animals, she almost walked out, but somehow the mystery carried her through-the prospect of working on the cutting edge of code theory, entering â€Å"The Puzzle Palace,† and becoming a member of the most secretive club in the world-the National Security Agency. Becker sat riveted by her stories. â€Å"They actually asked you if you'd had sex with animals?† Susan shrugged. â€Å"Part of the routine background check.† â€Å"Well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Becker fought off a grin. â€Å"What did you say?† She kicked him under the table. â€Å"I told them no!† Then she added, â€Å"And until last night, it was true.† In Susan's eyes, David was as close to perfect as she could imagine. He only had one unfortunate quality; every time they went out, he insisted on picking up the check. Susan hated seeing him lay down a full day's salary on dinner for two, but Becker was immovable. Susan learned not to protest, but it still bothered her. I make more money than I know what to do with, she thought. I should be paying. Nonetheless, Susan decided that aside from David's outdated sense of chivalry, he was ideal. He was compassionate, smart, funny, and best of all, he had a sincere interest in her work. Whether it was during trips to the Smithsonian, bike rides, or burning spaghetti in Susan's kitchen, David was perpetually curious. Susan answered what questions she could and gave David the general, unclassified overview of the National Security Agency. What David heard enthralled him. Founded by President Truman at 12:01 a.m. on November 4, 1952, the NSA had been the most clandestine intelligence agency in the world for almost fifty years. The NSA's seven-page inception doctrine laid out a very concise agenda: to protect U.S. government communications and to intercept the communications of foreign powers. The roof of the NSA's main operations building was littered with over five hundred antennas, including two large radomes that looked like enormous golf balls. The building itself was mammoth-over two million square feet, twice the size of CIA headquarters. Inside were eight million feet of telephone wire and eighty thousand square feet of permanently sealed windows. Susan told David about COMINT, the agency's global reconnaissance division-a mind-boggling collection of listening posts, satellites, spies, and wiretaps around the globe. Thousands of communiques and conversations were intercepted every day, and they were all sent to the NSA's analysts for decryption. The FBI, CIA, and U.S. foreign policy advisors all depended on the NSA's intelligence to make their decisions. Becker was mesmerized. â€Å"And code-breaking? Where do you fit in?† Susan explained how the intercepted transmissions often originated from dangerous governments, hostile factions, and terrorist groups, many of whom were inside U.S. borders. Their communications were usually encoded for secrecy in case they ended up in the wrong hands-which, thanks to COMINT, they usually did. Susan told David her job was to study the codes, break them by hand, and furnish the NSA with the deciphered messages. This was not entirely true. Susan felt a pang of guilt over lying to her new love, but she had no choice. A few years ago it would have been accurate, but things had changed at the NSA. The whole world of cryptography had changed. Susan's new duties were classified, even to many in the highest echelons of power. â€Å"Codes,† Becker said, fascinated. â€Å"How do you know where to start? I mean†¦ how do you break them?† Susan smiled. â€Å"You of all people should know. It's like studying a foreign language. At first the text looks like gibberish, but as you learn the rules defining its structure, you can start to extract meaning.† Becker nodded, impressed. He wanted to know more. With Merlutti's napkins and concert programs as her chalkboard, Susan set out to give her charming new pedagogue a mini course in cryptography. She began with Julius Caesar's â€Å"perfect square† cipher box. Caesar, she explained, was the first code-writer in history. When his foot-messengers started getting ambushed and his secret communiques stolen, he devised a rudimentary way to encrypt this directives. He rearranged the text of his messages such that the correspondence looked senseless. Of course, it was not. Each message always had a letter-count that was a perfect square-sixteen, twenty-five, one hundred-depending on how much Caesar needed to say. He secretly informed his officers that when a random message arrived, they should transcribe the text into a square grid. If they did, and read top-to-bottom, a secret message would magically appear. Over time Caesar's concept of rearranging text was adopted by others and modified to become more difficult to break. The pinnacle of non computer-based encryption came during World War II. The Nazis built a baffling encryption machine named Enigma. The device resembled an old-fashioned typewriter with brass interlocking rotors that revolved in intricate ways and shuffled cleartext into confounding arrays of seemingly senseless character groupings. Only by having another Enigma machine, calibrated the exact same way, could the recipient break the code. Becker listened, spellbound. The teacher had become the student. One night, at a university performance of The Nutcracker, Susan gave David his first basic code to break. He sat through the entire intermission, pen in hand, puzzling over the eleven-letter message: HL FKZC VD LDS Finally, just as the lights dimmed for the second half, he got it. To encode, Susan had simply replaced each letter of her message with the letter preceding it in the alphabet. To decrypt the code, all Becker had to do was shift each letter one space forward in the alphabet-â€Å"A† became â€Å"B,† â€Å"B† became â€Å"C,† and so on. He quickly shifted the remaining letters. He never imagined four little syllables could make him so happy: IM GLAD WE MET He quickly scrawled his response and handed it to her: LD SNN Susan read it and beamed. Becker had to laugh; he was thirty-five years-old, and his heart was doing back flips. He'd never been so attracted to a woman in his life. Her delicate European features and soft brown eyes reminded him of an ad for Estee Lauder. If Susan's body had been lanky and awkward as a teenager, it sure wasn't now. Somewhere along the way, she had developed a willowy grace-slender and tall with full, firm breasts and a perfectly flat abdomen. David often joked that she was the first swimsuit model he'd ever met with a doctorate in applied mathematics and number theory. As the months passed, they both started to suspect they'd found something that could last a lifetime. They'd been together almost two years when, out of the blue, David proposed to her. It was on a weekend trip to the Smoky Mountains. They were lying on a big canopy bed at Stone Manor. He had no ring-he just blurted it out. That's what she loved about him-he was so spontaneous. She kissed him long and hard. He took her in his arms and slipped off her nightgown. â€Å"I'll take that as a yes,† he said, and they made love all night by the warmth of the fire. That magical evening had been six months ago-before David's unexpected promotion to chairman of the Modern Language Department. Their relationship had been in a downhill slide ever since.

Wikipedia

Wisped is a valuable research tool for university students How do I do my research: Online source Firstly, I opened Google Search Engine and printed there the key words: Wisped – valuable – research. Then I used related terms as reliable, credible, source. My next step was to read background information on different sites and look for main ideas and issues being discussed, the terminology is being used. I built my statements: 1) Wisped AND credibility; 2) Value no Wisped; 3)Wisped AND credible OR valuable OR reliable OR trustworthy AND source OR resource.I used the sites of different universities, because I consider them as the most suitable and credible. The main reason why Wisped isn't a valuable research tool is: anyone who wants can post material, and the expertise of the posters is not taken into consideration. How do I do my research: Offline source To start with, I should find some articles on the following topic. First source I found is the article of Thomas Che ney, 2006. â€Å"An empirical examination of Wisteria's credibility,† First Monday, volume 11, number 11 (November), where he states that Wisped hasn't got ‘high' credibility, but it certainly is not ‘low'.His survey shows that 13 percent of Wisteria's articles have errors. Then I searched for another article to have a wider view on this theme. I took a look at the work of Magnums, P. D. , Assistant Professor at the University at Albany, (2008), â€Å"Early response to false claims In Wisped† ; First Monday, 13(9). There he points that Wisped Is a reliable research tool because even If there are some Inaccuracies they are being deleted within 3 hours or less.