Critically analyse the relative merits of the Capital Asset Pricing Assignment

Critically analyse the relative merits of the Capital Asset Pricing Model and empirical approaches to Asset pricing (such as FAMA and French model) - Assignment Example The basic essence of the model is that it determines the amount of return that an investor is going to earn for putting their money at risk. It would be helpful to have a brief and basic idea about the concept of CAPM with the intention that the understanding of relative merits of it becomes easy. According to the model and ultimate derivation, it can be said that the return which an investor expects to earn by investing on a security or a portfolio is the rate on a risk-free security and a risk premium. The formula for this finding is written like: The basic concept behind the above model is that the investors are required to be compensated in two ways: risk and time value of money. The compensation for time value of money is represented by the risk-free rate which an investor earns by putting his money on investment over a period of time. The other part of the formula on the right hand side is a factor of risk and it determines the compensation the investors should get for taking an additional amount of risk. This amount is calculated by a risk measure (beta). There are certain implications of the model: According to Michailidis (2006), an examination of the emerging Greek Securities market was done based on the CAPM by considering weekly stock returns of 100 companies that were listed on the Athens Stock Exchange for the period 1998-2002. The findings of the test did not support the basic statement that higher risk (beta) means higher levels of return. However the model explains excess return and ultimately supports the linear structure of the CAPM equation (Michailidis & Et. Al., 2006). The model considers reality in explaining risk factor where it assumes only systematic risk associated with the investment options. The unsystematic risk can be removed since there are diversified options for investors and thus can be eliminated. CAPM derives a theoretical relationship between return and

The Strong Form of Efficient Market Hypothesis Essay

The Strong Form of Efficient Market Hypothesis - Essay Example This evaluation may seem too obvious to day, but prior to the efficient market hypothesis in the 1900s, it was not so self-evident. In recent times however, the Efficient Market Hypothesis is subject to critical re-examination and trial in the paradigms of financial market research (Russel and Torbey, 2001:27). Primary evidence shows that the initial confidence of the concept of Efficient Market Hypothesis is misplaced. According to observations, Efficient Market Hypothesis based financial equilibrium models do not depict the actual trading operations in the world. Indeed, numerous inconsistent results and anomalies require refinement of the current paradigms. This paper presents a critical analysis on the validity of Efficient Market Hypothesis strong form based on existing evidence. Within the realms of finance, Efficient Market Hypothesis reiterates that there is efficient information in financial markets, that assets traded in the financial markets such as bonds, property, or sto cks, reflect all the known and relevant information. In this regard therefore, there is no bias since the information present reflects the collective beliefs of involved investors concerning future expectations and prospects. The Effective Market Hypothesis states that in a financial market with effective information, it is impossible to outperform that market using known information, with the exception of lack (Palan, 2011:24). According to the hypothesis, news or information refers to anything capable of affecting the current market prices.

Free Time In Germany And Bangladesh Cultural Studies Essay

Free Time In Germany And Bangladesh Cultural Studies Essay Free time is the time when people have nothing specific to do, when they can dispose of their spare time at their own sweet will. Not only the people are free from work, they are with an unoccupied mind. The necessity for having a rest from work and worry cannot be too much stressed. Peoples life is usually bound by routine; free time affords an opportunity to escape out of the compulsions of routine and breathe the fresh air of freedom. Free time perhaps is the very essence of life. People dont live to create work but to enjoy free time. Free time as the most priceless thing a people can have. To them the only object of work is to obtain free time. I am going to compare and contrast free time in Germany and Bangladesh. Description: Focusing the two countries: In Germany people spend their free time watching soccer, they practice a lot of sport, passing their time with outdoor activities, otherwise, theyre busy with their pets (especially dogs), they spend the weekend visiting their relatives living in another city, they throw out barbecue parties, and they have spectacular brunch Sunday. They have 6 hour 34 minute free time in every 24 hour according to their national survey (OECD) In Bangladesh people dont have that much free time like the other Europeans countries. They usually spend their free time watching TV, visiting relatives house. Younger people plays cricket. Now days young people love internet a lot, they likes to go out with their friend. Most of the women usually stay home in their free time. Watching TV in free time: In Germany not many people watch TV on their free time. According to their national survey (OECD) only 28 percent people spend their free time by watching TV or listening radio. Because of German soccer league on TV the percentage goes bit higher otherwise I couldve been much lower. Another reason behind that they dont like to stay at home on their free time, in summer they like outdoor sport or traveling. In winter they love to spend their free time in coffee shop or bar or they go out for ice skating. [Ref: http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_5027850.html] As for Bangladesh concern, watching TV is one of the best ways to spend free time. They havent done any national survey to say the percentage of it, but because Bangladesh is a Muslim country, woman doesnt go outside that often like German women. So the large number of Bangladeshi women spending their free time by watching TV. Its not only the woman, the man also like to watch TV especially live sports (cricket). It is the most popular sport in Bangladesh. So we can tell now, both country loves to see sports on TV in their free time. But they watch different kind of sport. Traditional free times: Germany people celebrated a large number of traditional festivals in big way. Christmas, Fasching, Easter, Oktoberfest and Love parade are some of their traditional festivals. This is also count as their free time. The biggest free time they have is summer holiday, school kids have more than month break. The people can take also a month break, because they can have one month break in whole year. And they usually take it in summer. They like to travel with their family. Christmas is also their favorite free time. The month of December they have lots of free time, this month they get extra bonus salary. They spend their free time in this month by shopping and they often go restaurant to eat. And this month consider fun in Germany. Everyone is happy; especially children have lots of fun. Bangladesh people have lots of fixed public holiday called New Years Day, International Mother Language Day, Independence Day, Bengali Solar New Year, Labor Day, National Mourning Day, National Revolution Day, Victory Day, Christmas Day .There are also lots of religious holiday, especially they have two big religious holiday which they consider the best free time. Although its Muslim fest, but because Bangladesh is a Muslim country they enjoy that time. This two religious holiday called Eid Al Adha and Eid Al Fitr. In this two occasions people goes for shopping. Its the happiest free time for Bangladeshi people. [Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Bangladesh] Both countries are different as religious point of view and cultural view. As for international holiday both countries people have same free time, but they spend it different way. Cultural and religious way they both have different holiday which they call free time. New Year celebration: The people in Germany celebrate New Year on the night of December 31st to January 1st. The people in Germany regard the New Year to be a major celebration. As a salute to the New Year celebrations the people in Germany light up fireworks. The New Year is called Neujahr and is observed as a public holiday in Germany. The customs in Germany play a significant role in the New Year celebrations. The New Year is a time to celebrate, enjoy and have fun. Its also their free time activities. [Ref: http://www.123newyear.com/newyear-customs/new-year-customs-germany.html] [Ref: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/germany/new-year-day] Bengali New Year (Bengali Noboborsho) or (Pohela Boishakh) is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in Bangladesh. It coincides with the New Years Days of numerous Southern Asian calendars. Poila Boishakh connects all ethnic Bengalis irrespective of religious and regional differences. In Bangladesh, it is a national holiday celebrated around 14 April according to the official amended calendar designed by the Bangla Academy. They enjoy their free time in that day very much. [Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohela_Boishakh] Free time in students view: In between study every students have their free time. German students love to attend their free time on sports. They like to play outdoor sports like soccer, ice skating, Basketball and indoor sports like Bowling, pool etc. In long holiday they love to go for study tour. They visit some other country university for attending two or three class. To improve their educational knowledge skills. This is really very nice things to do because students get opportunity to see the other country education system. Its a part of their education system, teacher also go with them. Bangladeshi students have also got study tour on their free time. They usually visit Historical places. Teachers also join them, to managing and telling them about the places. Bangladeshi students also go in coxs bazaar [largest sea beach in the world] sudorbon [largest mangrove forest in the world]. They have some national holiday called pohela boisakh, which is one of the biggest cultural fest they have. All the school, college, university arranged program for students where they celebrate. 21st February is international mother language day, Bangladesh celebrate this day more than any other country do, because of the blooded history behind of their mother language 1952. This day the whole country and the students doing lots of program to shown their love and respect to the Martyr. This is also their free time activities. One country fun differs in the other country: Oktoberfest is one of the popular fest in Germany. Its a part of German culture; its to drink bear (alcohol). German people often drink alcohol in their free time. Bar, pub, disco, night club its all part of spending free times for fun. They drink alcohol, if they have free time. Young people in Germany like to go in disco at night. Its obviously if they have free time. They have spectacular brunch Sunday; they enjoy it with their family. Weekend free time comes to end Sunday. Bangladesh is an Islamic country. Islamic law forbids the drinking of alcohol. Under Islamic law, drinking alcohol is classified as a serious or Hadd crime. Drinking in Bangladesh is also illegal. Although they have some bar where people can go to spend their free time and drinking. But it stills not that easiest like in Germany. In free time, drinking is normal in Germany. Its may be fun for them but its completely different case in Bangladesh. Conclusion: Bangladesh and Germany both country have some little things similar. Maximum way of spending free time is completely different. But the bottom line about free time in both the countries to occupied the time well, not to wasting it unnecessary. Because time as tide waits for none. And there are some ways, where German people find it as fun. But the same thing doesnt make any fun to Bangladeshi people. They find it unnecessary and against their religious thought. But still both have their own way to spending free times. And free times are all about relaxed from the stressful life. Because life is not only about work, its to live also. References Bibliographies: page viewed in date: 1st may 2011 http://www.holidayshub.com/holiday-traditions/german.html http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_5027850.html http://www.bangladesh.com/national-holidays/ http://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Bangladesh.html http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/schoolholidays.html http://www.ehow.com/list_7372498_islamic-laws-foreign-businesswomen.html http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/bangladesh/SOCIETY.html http://www.123newyear.com/newyear-customs/new-year-customs-germany.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohela_Boishakh http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/germany/new-year-day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Bangladesh

Brave New World - Society And Socio-economic Class :: essays research papers

Discuss how the society in Brave New World works to ensure that people do not change their socio-economic class. Through Brave New World, Huxley depicts a new, industrialized world, which is financially stable and has prevented poverty and self-destruction. Dictatorial governments are there to ensure stability and maintain perfection of the world. Therefore, just like under any other totalitarian government, social, mental and economic freedoms are abolished in order to retain social stability. The government eliminated these freedoms by censoring art and religion, by predestining peoples’ social caste prior their birth, and by controlling each individual’s life with the introduction of conditioning. At the beginning of the novel, the Director addresses his students and mentions, â€Å" We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future Directors of Hatcheries,† (p. 29). Citizens of the World State are categorized into distinct social classes, before they come into existence. Mr. Foster explains, â€Å"The lower the caste, the shorter the oxygen,† and this shows how chemical conditioning of the embryos presets the mentality and physical features of individuals towards a certain standard specified by the government. (p. 29) In an autocratic society whose aim is to maintain perfection, people no longer have the right to choose who or what they want to be. The government engineers babies to grow into efficient adults, who will then again contribute towards a stabilized society. After birth babies’ minds are altered to accept the moral education of the government. Two processes the new world uses to control human judgement are the Neo-Pavlovian process and hypnopaedia. The children, during early childhood, are trained to like and dislike certain aspects of life, nature, and science so that they can consume the maximum resources. Beta babies receive electric shocks in the presence of flowers and books and then the Director teaches how, â€Å" They’ll grow up with what the psychologists †¦ call an ‘instinctive’ hatred of books and flowers †¦ they’ll be safe from books and botany all their lives," (p. 36). The conditioning of the children forms a barrier in their minds, so that they are never free to decide for themselves, but are always bounded by the instructions of the state. Thus, the government is achieving its goal, the maintenance of stability. The Alpha students also got a chance to hear one of the hypnopaedic repetitions addressing Beta babies which echoed, â€Å" Alpha children wear grey.

Collision Theory Essay

I have been asked to investigate the effects different factors such as concentration and temperature have on the rate of reaction The rate of reaction is the loss rate of a reactant or the rate of creation of a product during a chemical reaction and it can be measured by dividing one by the time taken for the reaction be completed. Collision Theory states that an increase in concentration, temperature, surface area and the use of a catalyst in a reaction will either increase the rate of reaction by increasing the rate of collision between reactant particles, increase the success rate of collisions between the reactants or both of these reactions, there is also another factor which effects the rate of reaction, but is only applicable in gasses, that factor being pressure. I have chosen to investigate the effects of Concentration on rate of reaction, as it is the most accurately achievable while still challenging factor to change. Method: Equipment- 1x conical flask 2x 50ml measuring cylinder 1x 10ml measuring cylinder 1x pipette Sodium Thiosulphate Hydrochloric acid Water Stop clock Safety goggles Plain paper with a black cross on it. Add 10ml of HCL to a conical flask, by All procedures will be undertaken with safety goggles on. After assembling all of the equipment I will pour as close to 10 ml of hydrochloric acid into the 10 ml measuring cylinder, using the pipette to get the amount as close as reasonably possible, I will when doing this take into account surface tension and hence fill so the actual amount in the measuring cylinder is at 10ml not a little under as it may appear. I will then add (starting with 50ml descending in steps of 5ml to 20ml) sodium thiosulphate to the 50ml measuring cylinder. Following this I will add (starting with 0ml rising to 30ml in steps of five, in such a manner that the total volume of water combined with sodium thiosulphate Is always at 50ml) water to the second 50ml measuring cylinder. I will then add the two 50ml measuring cylinders contents into the cylinder containing the sodium thiosulphate, leave the cylinder for 10 seconds for the liquids to mix together (after swirling gently 10 times) before emptying the hydrochloric acid into the conical flask, followed by the mixture of sodium thiosulphate and water. The conical flask will be left on top of the piece of paper for the addition of the latter and when the second liquid is poured into the conical flask the stop clock will be started, I will then proceed to watch the view the black cross on the piece of paper bellow the conical flask until the point I can no longer see the black cross, at which instance I will stop the stop clock and record the time taken on a table along with the volumes of liquids used, I will also take the temperature at the time to make sure if there is any major discrepancy caused by the temperature I will know that this is the case and will be able to identify and explain these results.

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 31~32

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE Booty and the Beasts The second time Amy came out of the bedroom, she was dressed in her familiar hiking shorts, flip-flops, and a WHALES ARE OUR PALS T-shirt. â€Å"Better?† â€Å"I don't feel any better, if that's what you're asking.† Nate sat at the table with a can of grapefruit juice and a pint of vodka in front of him. â€Å"I mean, are you more comfortable now that I'm dressed? Because I can be naked again in a flash –  » â€Å"You want a drink?† Nate needed to forget the whole naked encounter as quickly as possible. Applying alcohol seemed like the most efficient method at this point. â€Å"Sure,† she said. She pulled a glass out of one of the kitchen cubbies, the clear door folding back like the protective cover of a frog's eye. â€Å"You want a glass?† Nate had been sipping alternately from the juice can and the vodka bottle until he had enough room in the can to pour in some vodka. â€Å"Yeah. I don't like reaching into the cupboards.† â€Å"You're kind of squeamish for a biologist, but I guess it does take some getting used to.† Amy set the glasses in front of him and let him mix the drinks. There was no ice. â€Å"You adjust.† â€Å"You seem to have adjusted. When did they take you? You must have been really young.† â€Å"Me? No, I was born here. I've always been here. That's why I was perfect to work for you guys. The Colonel has been teaching me cetacean biology for years.† It occurred to Nate that he had seen a few human children around and hadn't really thought about growing up in Gooville. Someone had to teach them. Why not the infamous Colonel? â€Å"I should have known. When you were trying to locate the whale by listening for it that last day. I should have known.† â€Å"Correction, when I did locate the whale by listening for it, for which you still owe me dinner.† â€Å"I think this is one of those all-bets-are-off situations, Amy. You were a spy.† â€Å"Nate, before you get too angry, you need to remember the alternative to my spying and finding out what you were working on in detail. That would have been to just kill you. It would have been much easier.† â€Å"You and Ryder act like you did me a favor. Like you saved me from some great danger. The only danger I was in was from you in the first place. So stop trying to impress me with the quality of your mercy. You did it all – tore up the lab, sank Clay's boat, all of it – didn't you?† â€Å"No, not directly. Poynter and Poe tore up the lab. The whaley boys sank Clay's boat. I took the negatives out of the packet at the photo lab. I kept them informed, and I made sure you were where they needed you to be, that's all. I never wanted to hurt you, Nate. Never.† â€Å"I wish I could believe that. Then you show up here like that, trying to convince me that this is a great place to live right after Ryder has given me the speech.† He drained his glass, poured himself another drink, this one with just a splash of grapefruit juice over the top. â€Å"What are you talking about? I haven't seen Ryder since I've been back. I just got in a few hours ago.† â€Å"Well, then it's always been a part of the plan: Let Amy lure the biologist into staying.† â€Å"Nate, look at me.† She took his chin in her hand and looked him right in the eye. â€Å"I came here of my own free will, without any instructions from Ryder or anyone else. In fact, no one knows where I am, except maybe the Goo – you can never be sure about that. I came here to see you, with all the masks and the role-playing out of the way.† Nate pulled away from her. â€Å"And you didn't think I'd be mad? And what was with the whole ‘Look how luscious I am' act?† She looked down. Hurt, Nate thought. Or acting hurt. If she cried, it wouldn't matter. He'd be useless. â€Å"I knew you'd be mad, but I thought you might be able to get over it. I was just trying to be floozish. I'm sorry if I'm not very good at it. It's not a skill you get to use a lot in an undersea city. Truth be told, the dating pool is sort of shallow here in Gooville. I was just trying to be sexy. I never said I was a good floozy.† Nate reached over and patted her hand. â€Å"No, you're a fine floozy. That's not what I was saying. I wasn't questioning your†¦ uh, floozishness. I was just questioning its sincerity.† â€Å"Well, it's sincere. I really do like you. I really did come here to see you, to be with you.† â€Å"Really?† What was the biological analog for this? A black widow spider male falling for one of her lines, knowing innately where it was going. Knowing right down to his very DNA that she was going to kill and eat him right after they mated, but he would worry about after. So time and again Mr. Black Widow passed his dumb-ass, sex-enslaved genes on to the next generation of dumb-ass, sex-enslaved males who would fall for the same trick. Spinning a little conversation: Interesting name, Black Widow. How'd you come about that? Tell me all about yourself. Me? Nah, I'm a simple guy. I'm doomed by my male nature to follow my little spider libido into oblivion. Let's talk about you. Love the red hourglass on your butt. â€Å"Really,† Amy said. There were tears welling in her eyes, and she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it gently. â€Å"Amy, I don't want to stay here. I'm not – I want – I'm too old for you, even if you weren't a lying, destructive, evil – ; â€Å"Okay.† She held his hand to her cheek. â€Å"What do you mean, ‘okay'?† â€Å"You don't have to stay. But can I stay with you tonight?† He pulled his hand back from her, but she held his gaze. â€Å"I need to be way more drunk for this,† he said. â€Å"Me, too.† She went over to the scary fridge thing. â€Å"Do you have more vodka?† â€Å"There's another bottle over there in that thing – that other thing that I'm afraid of.† He caught himself watching her bottom while she found the bottle. â€Å"You said ‘okay. You mean you know a way out?† â€Å"Shut up and drink. You gonna drink or you gonna talk?† â€Å"This isn't healthy,† Nate observed. â€Å"Thank you, Dr. Insight,† Amy said. â€Å"Pour me one.† â€Å"Nice red hourglass.† â€Å"What?† Back at his bungalow at Papa Lani, Clay sat on the bed with his head in his hands while Clair rubbed the knots out of his shoulders. He'd told her the Old Broad's story, and she'd listened quietly, asking a few questions as he went along. â€Å"So do you believe her?† Clair asked. â€Å"I don't even know what I'm admitting to believing. But I believe she thinks she's telling the truth. She offered us a boat, Clair. A ship. She offered to buy us a research vessel, hire a crew, pay them.† â€Å"What for?† â€Å"To find Nate and her husband, James.† â€Å"I thought she was broke.† â€Å"She's not broke. She's loaded. I mean, the ship will be a used one, but it's a ship. It will still run in the millions. She wants me to find one – and a crew.† â€Å"And could you find Nate if you had a ship?† â€Å"Where do I look? She thinks he's on an island somewhere, some secret place where these things live. Hell, if she's telling the truth, they could be from outer space. If she's not†¦ well, I can't just run a ship around the world stopping at islands and asking them if they happen to have seen people crawling out of a whale's butt.† â€Å"Technically, baby, whales don't have butts. You have to walk upright to have booty. This is why we are the dominant species on the planet, because we have booty.† â€Å"You know what I mean.† â€Å"It's an important point.† She slid into his lap, her arms around his neck. Clay smiled despite his anxiety. â€Å"Technically, man is not the dominant species. There's at least a thousand pounds of termites for every person on earth.† â€Å"Well, you can have my termites, thanks.† â€Å"So man isn't really dominant, whether it's brains or booty.† â€Å"Baby, I wasn't saying that man was the dominant species, I was saying that we are the dominant species. Wo-man.† â€Å"Because you have booty?† She wiggled on his lap by way of an answer, then leaned her forehead against his, looked in his eyes. â€Å"Good point,† Clay said. â€Å"What about this ship? You going to let the Old Broad buy it for you? You going to go look for Nate?† â€Å"Where do I start?† â€Å"Follow one of these signals. Find whatever is making it and follow them.† â€Å"We'd need location for that.† â€Å"How do you do that?† â€Å"We'd need to have someone working the old sonar grid the navy put down all over the oceans during the Cold War to track submarines. I know people at Newport who do it, but we'd have to tell them what we're doing.† â€Å"You couldn't just say you were trying to find a certain whale?† â€Å"I suppose we could.† â€Å"And if you have your ship and that information, you can follow the whale, or the ship, or whatever it is to its source.† â€Å"My ship?† â€Å"Roll over, I'll rub your back.† But Clay wasn't moving. He was thinking. â€Å"I still don't know where to start.† â€Å"Who has the booty? Turn over, Captain.† Clay slipped off his aloha shirt and rolled over onto his stomach. â€Å"My ship,† he said. Nate was suddenly cold, and when he opened his eyes, he was pretty sure that his head was going to explode. â€Å"I'm pretty sure my head is going to explode,† he said. And someone rudely jostled his bed. â€Å"Come on, party animal, the Colonel sent for you. We need to go.† He peeked between the fingers he was using to hold the pieces of his head together and saw the menacing but amused face of Cielle Nuà ±ez. It wasn't what – who – he expected, and he did a quick sweep of the bed with one leg to confirm that he was alone. â€Å"I drank,† Nate said. â€Å"I saw the bottles on the table. You drank a lot.† â€Å"I didn't get a knob so just anyone could use it anytime they want.† â€Å"I noticed your knob. It looks out of place.† About that time Nate realized that he was naked, and Nuà ±ez was standing over his naked body, and he was going to have to let the pieces of his head go where they may if he was going to cover himself. He felt for a sheet, pulled it up as he sat up and threw his legs off the bed. â€Å"I'm going to need a moment.† â€Å"Hurry.† â€Å"I have to pee.† â€Å"That will be fine.† â€Å"And throw up.† â€Å"Also fine.† â€Å"Okay. You go away now.† â€Å"Brush your teeth.† And she left the room. Nate looked around the room for signs of Amy, but there were none. He didn't remember where her clothes were, but the last time he'd seen them, he was pretty sure they weren't on her. He stumbled into the bathroom and looked into the basin, mother of pearl with its little siphon fixtures and the green sphincter drain. Seeing that pretty much did it for him, and he heaved into the sink. â€Å"Hi,† Amy said, poking her head out of the retracting shower door. Nate tried to say something – something about trapdoor spiders, in keeping with an arachnid theme he was developing with regard to Amy – but it came out more bubbly and moist than he intended. â€Å"You go ahead,† Amy said. â€Å"I'll be in here.† And the door clicked shut like a frightened clam. When Nate had finished reviewing the contents of his stomach, he rinsed his face and the sink, emptied his bladder into the thing on which he would not sit, then leaned against the sink and moaned for a second while he gathered his thoughts. A head popped out of the shower. â€Å"So, that went well.† â€Å"The water's not running.† â€Å"I'm not showering, I'm hiding. I didn't want Nuà ±ez to see me. The Colonel shouldn't know I've been here. I'll leave after you go. Brush your teeth.† And then she was back in her shell. He brushed, rinsed, repeated, then said, â€Å"Okay.† Out she came, grabbed him by the hair, kissed him hard. â€Å"Nice night,† she said. The shower clicked shut, Amy inside. â€Å"I'm too old for this.† â€Å"Yeah, I was going to talk to you about that. Not now, later. Go. She's waiting.† CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO The Replicator Versus the Imitator Nuà ±ez bought him a large cup of coffee at a cafe where whaley boys stood around pouring down lattes the size of fire extinguishers and exchanging clicks and whistles at an irritating volume. â€Å"If ever there was a creature that didn't need caffeine,† Nate said. Nuà ±ez kept him moving, while he kept trying to stop to lean on things. â€Å"Don't ever drink with them,† Nuà ±ez said. â€Å"Especially the males. You know their sense of humor. You're as likely as not to get a wet willy in the ear, and it's a real wet willy.† â€Å"I may have to hurl again.† â€Å"Don't destroy yourself out of spite, Nate. Just accept things how they are.† He wasn't trying to destroy himself, and he wasn't spiteful. He was just confused, hungover, and kind of in love, or something remotely like love, except that the pain was more localized in his temples rather than being the overall, life-ruining pain it usually caused him. â€Å"Can we stop in at the Lollipop Guild and get a couple aspirins?† â€Å"You're late already.† In the corridors she handed him off to a pair of killer whaley boys. â€Å"You should be honored, you know?† Nuà ±ez said. â€Å"He doesn't meet with many people.† â€Å"You can take my appointment if you want.† The Colonel had a goo recliner waiting for him when he walked through the iris door. Nate sat in it and held his coffee cup like a security blanket against his chest. â€Å"Well, can you see now that life wouldn't be so bad here?† Nate's mind raced. Amy said the Colonel didn't know, but maybe the Goo knew, but the Colonel was tapped in to the Goo, so did he know? Or had he sent her in the first place and this was all a scam, just like when he'd sent her to Hawaii to spy on him? She'd fooled him for a month there, why couldn't she be fooling him now? He wanted to trust her. But what was Ryder getting at? â€Å"What's different, Growl? When I saw you nine hours ago, I was a prisoner, and I'm a prisoner now.† Ryder seemed surprised. He wiped the lock of gray hair out of his eyes furiously, as if it had caused him to make some sort of mistake. â€Å"Right, nine hours. So you've had some time to think.† He didn't sound sure. â€Å"I got drunk and passed out. In the clear, lightning-bug light of day, Colonel, I still want to go home.† â€Å"You know, time† – Ryder patted the living chair he was sitting in as if he were petting a dog, sending waves of blush through the pink Goo outward from where he touched. Nate shivered at the sight of it – â€Å"time is different down here, it's†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Relative?† Nate offered. â€Å"It's on a different scale.† â€Å"What do you want from me, Colonel? What can I possibly offer you that I get the special treatment of being spared and granted multiple audiences with the†¦ the grand pooh-bah?† Nate was going to say â€Å"with the alpha whacko,† but he thought of Amy and realized that something had changed. He no longer felt like he had nothing to lose. Rider swiped at his hair and clutched at the flesh of his chair with the other hand. He began rocking slightly. â€Å"I want someone to tell me I'm thinking clearly, I guess. I dream things that the Goo knows, and I think it knows things that I dream, but I'm not sure. I'm overwhelmed.† â€Å"You might have thought about that before you declared yourself wizard.† â€Å"You think I chose this? I didn't choose this, Nate. The Goo chose me. I don't know how many people have been brought down here over the years, but I was the first biologist. I was the first one who had some idea how the Goo worked. It had the whaley boys bring me to a place like this, where there was raw, unformed animal, and it never let me leave. I've tried to make things better for people in Gooville, but – † Ryder's eyes rolled up in his head as if he were starting to have a seizure, but then he was back again. â€Å"Did you see the electricity on the whale ships? I did that. But it's not – It's different now than it has been.† Nate suddenly felt bad for the older man. Ryder was behaving like an early Alzheimer's patient who is realizing that he's losing recognition of his grandchildren's faces. â€Å"Tell me,† Nate said. Ryder nodded, swallowed hard, pressed on – hardly the picture of the powerful leader he'd appeared the night before. â€Å"I think that after the Goo found its safe haven here under the sea, it needed to have more information, more DNA sequences to make sure it could protect itself. It produced a minute bacterium that could spread throughout the oceans, be part of the great world ecosystem but could pass genetic information back to the source. We call the bacteria SAR-11. It's a thousand times smaller than normal bacteria, but it's in every liter of seawater on the planet. That worked fine to transmit information back to the Goo for three billion years – everything that could be known was in the sea. Then something happened.† â€Å"Animals left the water?† â€Å"Exactly. Until then, everything there was to know – every piece of information that could be known – was transmitted through DNA, replicators, in creatures that lived in the seas. The Goo knew everything. Mind you, it might take a million years to learn how to make an arthropod's segmented shell. It might take two million years to learn to make a gill or, say, twenty million to make an eye, but it had its safe niche, so it had the time – it didn't have anywhere it needed to be. Evolution doesn't really have a destination. It's just dicking around with possibilities. The Goo is the same way. But when life left the water, the Goo got a blind spot.† â€Å"I'm having a little trouble seeing the immediacy of your story, Colonel. I mean, why, beyond the obvious that I'm sitting inside this thing, is this supposed to be urgent?† â€Å"Because four hundred million years later, the land creatures came back into the water – sophisticated land animals.† â€Å"Early whales?† â€Å"Yes, when mammals came back to the sea, they brought something that even the dinosaurs – the reptiles and amphibians that had come back to the water – didn't have. Something the Goo didn't know. Knowledge that didn't replicate itself through DNA. It replicated through imitation, learned knowledge, not passed on. Memes.† Nate knew about memes, the information equivalent of a gene. A gene existed to replicate itself and required a vehicle, an organism, in which to do it. It was the same with memes, except a meme could replicate itself across vehicles, across brains. A tune you couldn't get out of your head, a recipe, a bad joke, the Mona Lisa – all were memes of sort. They were a fun model to think about, and computers had made the idea of a self-replicating piece of information more manifest with computer viruses, but what did that have to do with – But then it hit him. Why he'd learned about memes in the first place. â€Å"The song,† Nate said. â€Å"Humpback song is a meme.† â€Å"Of course. The first culture, the first exposure the Goo had to something it didn't understand. What, maybe fifteen million years ago it found out it wasn't the only game in town. Three billion years is a long time to get used to living in what you think is your private house only to suddenly find out that someone moved into an apartment above you while you were sleeping. â€Å"For a long time the Goo didn't perceive that genes and memes were at odds. Whales were the first carriers. Big brains because they need to imitate complex behaviors, remember complex tasks, and because they could get the high-protein food to build the brains the memes needed. But the Goo came to terms with the whales. They're an elegant mix of genes and memes, absolute kings of their realm. Huge, efficient feeders, immune from any predation except from each other. â€Å"But then something started killing whales. Killing them in alarming numbers. And it was something from the surface world. It wasn't something the Goo could find out about from its ocean-borne nervous system, so that's when I think it created the whale ships, or a version of them. Late seventeen or early eighteen hundreds, I'd guess. Then, I think when it had somehow gotten back enough samples of human DNA, it made the whaley boys. To stay camouflaged but to watch, to bring people back here so it could learn, watch us. I may have been the final link that started the war.† â€Å"What war? There's a war?† Nate had a quick vision of the paranoid megalomaniacs that the Colonel said he'd considered for pseudonyms, Captain Nemo and Colonel Kurtz, both complete bedbugs. â€Å"The war between memes and genes. Between an organism that specializes in the replication of gene machines – the Goo – and one that specializes in the replication of meme machines – us, human beings. I brought electrical and computer technology here. I brought the Goo the theoretical knowledge of memes and genes and how they work. Where the Goo is now and where it was before I came is the difference between being able to drive one and being able to build a car from lumps of raw steel. It's realizing the threat. It's going to figure it out.† Ryder looked at Nate expectantly. Nate looked at him as if he wasn't getting the point. When he'd studied under Ryder, the man had been so cogent, so clear. Grumpy, but clear. â€Å"Okay,† Nate said slowly, hoping Ryder would jump in, â€Å"so you need me to†¦ uh†¦?† â€Å"Help me figure out a way to kill it.† â€Å"Didn't see that coming.† â€Å"We're at war with the Goo, and we have to find a way to kill it before it knows what's happening.† â€Å"Then don't you think you should keep your voice down?† â€Å"No, it doesn't communicate that way.† The Colonel looked perturbed at Nate's comment. â€Å"So you want me to figure out how to kill your god? â€Å"Yes, before it wipes out the human race in one fell swoop.† â€Å"Which would be bad.† â€Å"And we have to kill it without killing everyone in Gooville.† â€Å"Oh, we can do that,† Nate said, completely confident, the way he'd seen hostage negotiators in cop movies tell the bank robbers that their demands were being met and the helicopter was on the way. â€Å"But I'm going to need some time.† The strangest thing was, as Nate left the Colonel's chamber after being in direct contact with the Goo for only a few minutes, his hangover was completely gone.

Wyomia Tyus, Olympic Gold Medalist

Wyomia Tyus, Olympic Gold Medalist About Wyomia Tyus: Known for: consecutive Olympic gold medals, 1964 and 1968, womens 100-meter dash Dates: August 29, 1945 - Occupation: athlete More About Wyomia Tyus: Wyomia Tyus, with three brothers, became active in sports early. She was educated in Georgia in segregated schools, and played basketball and later began to run. In high school she competing in the Girls National Championships of the Amateur Athletics Union, placing first in the 50-yard, 75-yard, and the 100-yard races. After winning the 1964 Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter dash, Wyomia Tyus traveled to African countries as a goodwill ambassador, running training clinics and helping athletes learn to compete in world competions. Wyomia Tyus planned to compete again in 1968 and was caught up in the controversy over whether black American athletes should compete or should refuse to compete in protest of American racism. She chose to compete. She did not give the black power salute when she was honored for winning gold medals for the 100-meter dash and as anchor of the team for the 400-meter relay, but she wore black shorts and dedicated her medal to the two athletes, Tommy Smith and John Carlos, who had given the black power salute when they won their medals. Wyomia Tyus was the first athlete to win gold medals for a sprint in consecutive Olympics. In 1973, Wyomia Tyus turned professional, running for the International Track Association. She later taught physical education and coached. She continued to be active in Olympics-related organizations and to support womens sports. In 1974, Wyomia Tyus joined Billie Jean King and other women athletes in founding the Womens Sports Foundation, which aims to enhance opportunities for girls in sports. Background, Family: Born in Griffin, GeorgiaFather: Willie Tyus, dairy workerMother: Marie, laundressonly girl and youngest of four children Education: high school in Georgiacollege at Tennessee State University; recreation major Marriage, Children: husband: Art Simburg (divorced)husband: Duane Tillmanchildren: Simone (daughter) and Tyus Tillman (son) Selected Wyomia Tyus Quotations Starting all over, its kind of difficult saying where you want to go. You go step by step, waiting and waiting, and, I guess, being a sprinter, its hard to wait. I never think about anybody. I let them think about me. I wasnt paid a dime for my track career. But participating in the Olympics gave me the opportunity to learn about different cultures; it made me a better person. I wouldnt trade the time I competed for anything. After the Olympics I did not even run across the street. You can be the best in the world and not be recognized.... A lot of it has to do with breaks. If a coach at Tennessee State hadnt given me a break at 14, I never would have been in the Olympic Games.