Risk Assessment and Return Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

King Corn Movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Lord Corn Movie - Essay Example The film presents the insurgency that has happened during the time spent cultivating, whereby the tractor has supplanted the utilization of ponies to pull the furrow. For this situation, the tractor is one of the supplies that have been presented during the time spent cultivating. A portion of different angles in cultivating, which are talked about in this narrative, respects the choice by the legislature to appropriations the corn so as to keep their value low. Basically, the little ranchers were offered a low possibility of extending, in this manner prompting huge changes u the nature of corn throughout the years. Also, the greater part of the creation of corn had been utilized with respect to taking care of creatures and creation of corn syrup, which has healthful quality in the production of nourishments high in an assortment of starch. Hence, the new assortment of corn that was presented couldn't be expended before being controlled; therefore ranchers were not, at this point rea dy to devour the items that they were developing. Some of serious issues introduced in film included the developing and creation of harvests that are not consumable by ranchers until they handled. For this situation, there was an enormous region in Iowa, where corn was developed on a huge track of land, and this was longer there when Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis were embraced their analysis. Obviously, as the ranchers kept on understanding the issue of developing corn for being unpalatable until handling; henceforth, they chose quit developing the harvest. Then again, there was another issue, which included the harvest being deprived of crucial supplements because of hereditary building so as to encourage expanded populaces of the yield. For this situation, there... The paper recounts about the story in which two school graduates Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis contends that they have distinguished the importance of devouring corn. This prompts interest of going in look for a way they could develop corn. Be that as it may, the two of them follow their family at a humble community of Iowa, and they settled on a choice to rent a section of land of land, which could empower them attempt their investigation. For this situation, the film clarifies that a few families had a similar real estate parcel, and there was a part of chance from the harvest size because of the foundation of product cultivating and corruption of item quality. In this way, their analysis and narrative depicted a part of progress and the discernment towards corn. Some of serious issues introduced in film included the developing and creation of harvests that are not consumable by ranchers until they handled. For this situation, there was a huge territory in Iowa, where corn was developed on a huge track of land, and this was longer there when Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis were attempted their test. The film presents thoughts that corn is the procedure into different items, for example, a sugar and ethanol, creature takes care of, and the corn syrup, which is devoured by the vast majority of the Americans in the current days. At long last, Cheney and Ellis understood that their section of land was untraceable because of the size of the corn business; actually, this sealed government endowments assume a noteworthy job in guaranteeing that corn creation stays gainful.

100 Must-Read Essay Collections

100 Must-Read Essay Collections Theres something about a shiny new collection of essays that makes my heart beat a little faster. If you feel the same way, can we be friends? If not, might I suggest that perhaps you just havent found the right collection yet? I dont expect everyone to love the thought of sitting down with a nice, juicy personal essay, but I also think the genre gets a bad rap because people associate it with the kind of thing they had to write in school. Well, essays dont have to be like the kind of thing you wrote in school. Essays can be anything, really. They can be personal, confessional, argumentative, informative, funny, sad, shocking, sexy, and all of the above. The best essayists can make any subject interesting. If I love an essayist, Ill read whatever they write. Ill follow their minds anywhere. Because thats really what I want out of an essay the sense that Im spending time with an interesting mind. I want a companionable, challenging, smart, surprising voice in my head. So below is my list, not of essay collections I think everybody must read, even if thats what my title says, but collections I hope you will consider checking out if you want to. 1. Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 2. Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere André Aciman 3. American Romances Rebecca Brown 4. Art and Ardor Cynthia Ozick 5. The Art of the Personal Essay anthology, edited by Phillip Lopate 6. Bad Feminist Roxane Gay 7. The Best American Essays of the Century anthology, edited by Joyce Carol Oates 8. The Best American Essays series published every year, series edited by Robert Atwan 9. Book of Days Emily Fox Gordon 10. The Boys of My Youth Jo Ann Beard 11. The Braindead Megaphone George Saunders 12. Broken Republic: Three Essays Arundhati Roy 13. Changing My Mind Zadie Smith 14. A Collection of Essays George Orwell 15. The Common Reader Virginia Woolf 16. Consider the Lobster David Foster Wallace 17. The Crack-up F. Scott Fitzgerald 18. Discontent and its Civilizations Mohsin Hamid 19. Dont Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric Claudia Rankine 20. Dreaming of Hitler Daphne Merkin 21. Self-Reliance and Other Essays Ralph Waldo Emerson 22. The Empathy Exams Leslie Jameson 23. Essays After Eighty Donald Hall 24. Essays in Idleness Yoshida Kenko 25. The Essays of Elia Charles Lamb 26. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader Anne Fadiman 27. A Field Guide to Getting Lost Rebecca Solnit 28. Findings Kathleen Jamie 29. The Fire Next Time James Baldwin 30. The Folded Clock Heidi Julavits 31. Forty-One False Starts Janet Malcolm 32. How To Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America Kiese Laymon 33. I Feel Bad About My Neck Nora Ephron 34. I Just Lately Started Buying Wings Kim Dana Kupperman 35. In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction anthology, edited by Lee Gutkind 36. In Praise of Shadows Junichiro Tanizaki 37. In Search of Our Mothers Gardens Alice Walker 38. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling 39. I Was Told Thered Be Cake Sloane Crosley 40. Karaoke Culture Dubravka Ugresic 41. Labyrinths Jorge Luis Borges 42. Living, Thinking, Looking Siri Hustvedt 43. Loitering Charles DAmbrosio 44. Lunch With a Bigot Amitava Kumar 45. Madness, Rack, and Honey Mary Ruefle 46. Magic Hours Tom Bissell 47. Meatless Days Sara Suleri 48. Meaty Samantha Irby 49. Meditations from a Movable Chair Andre Dubus 50. Memories of a Catholic Girlhood Mary McCarthy 51. Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris 52. Multiply/Divide: On the American Real and Surreal Wendy S. Walters 53. My 1980s and Other Essays Wayne Koestenbaum 54. The Next American Essay, The Lost Origins of the Essay, and The Making of the American Essay anthologies, edited by John DAgata 55. The Norton Book of Personal Essays anthology, edited by Joseph Epstein 56. Notes from No Mans Land Eula Biss 57. Notes of a Native Son James Baldwin 58. Not That Kind of Girl Lena Dunham 59. On Beauty and Being Just Elaine Scarry 60. Once I Was Cool Megan Stielstra 61. 100 Essays I Dont Have Time to Write Sarah Ruhl 62. On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored Adam Phillips 63. On Lies, Secrets, and Silence Adrienne Rich 64. The Opposite of Loneliness Marina Keegan 65. Otherwise Known as the Human Condition Geoff Dyer 66. Paris to the Moon Adam Gopnik 67. Passions of the Mind A.S. Byatt 68. The Pillow Book Sei Shonagon 69. A Place to Live Natalia Ginzburg 70. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination Toni Morrison 71. Pulphead John Jeremiah Sullivan 72. Selected Essays Michel de Montaigne 73. Shadow and Act Ralph Ellison 74. Sidewalks Valeria Luiselli 75. Sister Outsider Audre Lorde 76. The Size of Thoughts Nicholson Baker 77. Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 78. The Souls of Black Folk W. E. B. Du Bois 79. The Story About the Story anthology, edited by J.C. Hallman 80. A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 81. Ten Years in the Tub Nick Hornby 82. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man Henry Louis Gates 83. This Is Running for Your Life Michelle Orange 84. This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage Ann Patchett 85. Tiny Beautiful Things Cheryl Strayed 86. Tuxedo Junction: Essays on American Culture Gerald Early 87. Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints Joan Acocella 88. The Unspeakable Meghan Daum 89. Vermeer in Bosnia Lawrence Weschler 90. The Wave in the Mind Ursula K. Le Guin 91. We Need Silence to Find Out What We Think Shirley Hazzard 92. We Should All Be Feminists Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi 93. What Are People For? Wendell Berry 94. When I Was a Child I Read Books Marilynne Robinson 95. The White Album Joan Didion 96. White Girls Hilton Als 97. The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kinston 98. The Writing Life Annie Dillard 99. Writing With Intent Margaret Atwood 100. You Dont Have to Like Me Alida Nugent If you have a favorite essay collection Ive missed here, let me know in the comments!

Blocking Diode Is Useful Tool For Limiting The Direction...

Blocking diode The blocking diode is a helpful tool for limiting the direction energy can flow through a wire to just one direction. It uses a semiconductor P/N junction achieve this behavior. The diagram shows a simple setup with two panels charging a battery (for simplicity no controller is shown) with a blocking diode in series with the two panels, which are also wired in series. When the sun shines, as long as the voltage produced by the two panels is greater than that of the battery, charging will take place. However, in the dark, when no voltage is being produced by the panels, the voltage of the battery would cause a current to flow in the opposite direction through the panels, discharging the battery, if it was not for the blocking diode in the circuit. Blocking diodes will be of benefit in any system using solar panels to charge a battery. Blocking diodes are usually included in the construction of solar panels so further blocking diodes are not required. Most photovoltaic solar panels are used to charge a battery during the daytime. Nearly all panels come equipped with a blocking diode. The diode prevents DC current from flowing backwards from the battery bank into the panel at night. The usual blocking device of choice is a schottky diode with a typical 0.5v voltage drop. In some large panels, which can often source over 4 Amps of current, the power loses due to this voltage dropShow MoreRelatedGsm Based Anti Theft System11765 Words   |  48 Pages 4.5 MICROCONTROLLER (AT89S52/C51) 4.6 GSM COMMUNICATION 4.7 GSM MODEM 4.9 SMART CARD MODULE 4.10 KEYPAD 4.11 LCD DISPLAY 4.12 MAX-232 4.13 DB9 CONNECTOR 4.14 ENERGY METER 4.15 BC547 4.15 OPTOCOUPLER 4.16 1N4007 4.17 RESISTOR 4.18 CAPACITOR 5. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS 56 5.1 IDE 57 5.2 CONCEPT OF COMPILER 57 5.3 CONCEPT OF CROSSRead MoreFinal Year Project (Heat Sensor)15216 Words   |  61 Pages After Transformation PCB Layout PCB Layout Sample Original After Transformation Component Used Part Description Note IC 1 LM741 Op-Amp NE741, µA741,etc Q1 2N2222A transistor Any power of transistor D1 1N4148 Diode 1N4001, or others Th1 10k Thermistor KC003T in prototype Re1 12v Relay RS is 1A R1 15k, ¼W,5% resistor Brown-green-orange R2,R5 10k, ¼W,5% resistor Brown-black-orange R3 150k, ¼W,5% resistor Brown-green-yellow R4 4.7k, ¼W,5% resistor Yellow-purple-redRead MoreHydraulic System Introduction18784 Words   |  76 Pageswork under high pressures, can be very expensive. (5) Hydraulic fluids under pressure are dangerous and under certain conditions, flammable. PRINCIPLES OF HYDRAULIC SYSTEM OPERATION Introduction Hydraulic systems employ fluids to transmit energy from the point of application, ie power source to the output actuator. A fluid is defined as, ‘a substance that will readily take up the shape of its container’ and it may be either a liquid or a gas. However, one of the main characteristics ofRead MoreHarmonic Load Flow Analysis8204 Words   |  33 Pageswhich include * Rectifiers * Inverters * Static VAR compensators * Cycloconverters * HVDC transmission The thyristor family includes: * Reverse blocking triode thyristors or silicon controlled rectifiers â€Å"SCR’s† * Bidirectional triode thyristors known as triacs * Bidirectional diode thyristors known as diacs * Reverse conducting triode thyristors * Light- activated SCR’s * Asymmetrical SCR’s * Static inductive thyristors * Gate turn-off thyristorsRead MoreQuality Improvement328284 Words   |  1314 Pagesframework to use in conducting quality improvement projects. DMAIC often is associated with six-sigma, but regardless of the approach taken by an organization strategically, DMAIC is an excellent tactical tool for quality professionals to employ. Part II is a description of statistical methods useful in quality improvement. Topics include sampling and descriptive statistics, the basic notions of probability and probability distributions, point and interval estimation of parameters, and statistical hypothesisRead MoreManaging Information Technology (7th Edition)239873 Words   |  960 PagesTechnology Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Enterprise Systems 189 Managerial Support Systems E-Business Systems 253 187 223 PART III Acquiring Information Systems 327 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Basic Systems Concepts and Tools 329 Methodologies for Custom Software Development 361 Methodologies for Purchased Software Packages 390 IT Project Management 410 PART IV The Information Management System Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 517 Planning Information

No Child Left Behind Essays - 1062 Words

LITERATURE REVIEW Rushton talks about the funding for the No Child Left Behind is being held back if the students don’t do well on the standardized tests. So if the students don’t do well on the testing the teachers are being affected in the way of how much they are getting paid, also affects the school districts funding. This is encouraging the teachers not to teach the way they should, but they are teaching in the way of let’s just make the students do well on the standardized tests. In this article Rushton talks about how the brain of the student learns. Rushton talks about how the pre-frontal lobe is responsible for the thinking skills, creativity, and also making judgments. For the students that are taking the standardized test†¦show more content†¦It may not be the teacher’s performance that is affecting the students test scores. The students may not develop on the same level that the standardized test are wanting them develop at. Tests scores are unreliable, but they still are more often right than wrong, but not sufficiently more often to justify making high-stakes decisions on the basis of test scores alone. No Child Left Behind: What We Know and What We Need to Know talks about how the No Child Left Behind holds the educational agencies and states accountable for the education of the students and their performances inside the classroom. The NCLB wants to accomplish this goal by using Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this measures how the students are doing inside the classroom. There are some problems with the AYP it allows the states to pick their own standards of test scores and proficiency levels. When the states make up their own rules on how to measure the AYP the studies are finding out that the AYP is having an enormous impact in the schools that meet the AYP. Discusses the problems we have with how we measure and calculate the effectiveness of how the schools are doing with the NCLB. The article talks about how the NCLB is to improve schools for the underperforming students. The connection is the article tells the readers how they measure the progress of the AYP. So pertaining to my question of should the standardized tests be the only way of testing students?Show MoreRelatedNo Child Left Behind958 Words   |  4 Pages Good intentions are no excuse to continue a fail policy. Since the No Child left Behind Act (NCLB) became in effect, teachers have been restricted to teach in a certain way. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002, which was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. President Bush once said; â€Å"education is the gateway to a hopeful future for America’s children. America relies on good teachersRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind1974 Words   |  8 Pagesorder to improve education in America, we have to go to the root of our problem in the school system and find better ways to enforce new rules and regulations that wouldn’t be detrimental to both students, schools, and educators alike. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is having a negative effect on our education system because it reduces the choices of schools for parents, and the distribution of qualified teachers. It also has a negative impact on the amount that kids are able to learn in schoolRead MoreNo Child Left Behind2277 Words   |  10 PagesIn the case of No Child Left Behind (N CLB), is politics the enemy of problem solving? By examining selected political controversies surrounding NCLB, it will be demonstrated that politics is the enemy. Since NCLB’s enactment, vast amounts of research literature and news stories have been published on its effects, which demonstrates the impact and debate generated by this law. The major goals of this bipartisan legislation were to improve student performance through standardized testing by usingRead More No Child Left Behind1472 Words   |  6 Pagesgone into many wars. Not just physical wars that I am considered about but also wars on education. The nation could destroy its own glory and way of the source of great future that it rely on by initiating a war on the minds of the children. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a federal education policy that was developed in 2001. (Lagana-Riordan and Aguilar 135). NCLB is a program designed to minimize the differences in the level of education that white or rich people get to poor African-American, HispanicRead MoreNo Child Left Behind555 Words   |  2 Pagesschools and their mission to build the mind and character of every child, from every background in every part of America.† Pr. George W. Bush. The No Child Left Behind Act has plenty of advantages such as: helping students with disabilities, guiding teachers and parents so that they can help the child, and push the child to succeed. Students with language disabilities will be at a disadvantage in reading. The No Child Left Behind has provides students with tutors and extra help with homework. PresidentRead MoreNo Child Left Behind Act1621 Words   |  7 Pages The support for the No Child Left Behind Act plummeted down shortly after the act passed. Many people supported the act at first simply because they supported the goals of the act, once they saw the results, their opinions changed. One of the biggest arguments towards No Child Left Behind is that it is unfair. People believed the resources of difference schools were unequal, and thought the Title 1 funding that the schools received should go to ensuring all schools had equal resources. Many peopleRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act1670 Words   |  7 PagesKentucky-SW 630 Abstract This literature review seeks to explore the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), a bipartisan reauthorization and revision to the No Child Left Behind Act (2002). The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the first law passed in fourteen years to address Reneeded changes to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Considered progressive and innovative at the time of its passage, NCLB was the most dramatic and aggressive legislation enacted in decades and afforded theRead MoreEssay On No Child Left Behind1333 Words   |  6 PagesHook: â€Å"I used to love teaching,† said Steve Eklund, a retired California teacher. â€Å"Four words drove me into retirement—No Child Left Behind. I could no longer tend to the needs and wants of my students. All I was supposed to do was to get them ready to take tests.† Intro (with thesis): The surviving NCLB mindset of standardized tests being an accurate measure of a students achievement is a problem because it affects our student’s education and increases performance pressure on teachers. WhatRead MoreNo Child Left Behind Act1418 Words   |  6 Pagessystematic oppression. The flowing water of oppression floods poor schools; drowning students with dreams, and giving no mercy. The only ones safe from the water are the privileged, who are oblivious to the fact that it exists. George Bush s No Child Left Behind Act, which passed in 2002, mandated annual standardized testing in math and reading. If schools received insufficient scores, they were punished or shut down. This fueled the construed concept that a school is only doing well if the studentsRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act Essay921 Words   |  4 Pagesuccessful at it. (Source 7) Next, the â€Å"No Child left behind Act† it was signed by President George W. Bush and it passed with bipartisan support on Jan. 8, 2002. This Act states that there will be mandated annual testing in the subject reading and math and science. In the grades 3-8 and 10th grade. It shows the Adequate Yearly Progress of each school in the system of the United States. (source 1) The biggest point of this Act is that no child is â€Å"trapped in a failing school† (source 1). That each

The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 6 Free Essays

The Concrete Doughnut I notice that my father waits until the game is just about to begin before he comes into the family room. It is only preseason, so we do not engage in any of the regular-season game-day rituals, but Dad has put on his number 5 McNabb jersey and now sits on the edge of the couch, ready to jump out of his seat. He nods at my brother solemnly but completely ignores me, even after I heard my mother say, â€Å"Please, just try to talk to Pat† when they were arguing in the kitchen. We will write a custom essay sample on The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 6 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Mom puts the food on folding tables, takes a seat next to Jake, and we all start to eat. The food is excellent, but I am the only one to say so. Mom seems happy to get the compliment, saying, â€Å"Are you sure it’s all right?† like she does, because she is modest when it comes to cooking, even though she is a great cook. â€Å"What do you think the Birds will do this year, Dad?† Jake asks. â€Å"Eight and eight,† my dad answers pessimistically, like he always does at the beginning of every NFL season. â€Å"Eleven and five,† my brother says, to which my father shakes his head and blows air through his teeth. â€Å"Eleven and five?† my brother asks me, and I nod because I am optimistic, and winning eleven games would most likely put the Eagles in the play-offs. Since we have season tickets, I know we are assured play-off tickets should the Birds earn a home game, and there’s nothing better than an Eagles play-off game. Now, I admit that I have not been keeping up with the Birds in the off-season, but when the starting lineups are announced, I am really surprised that many of my favorite players are no longer on the team. Duce Staley. Hugh Douglas. James Thrash. Corey Simon. All gone. I want to ask, â€Å"When? Why?† but don’t, fearing my father and brother will think I am not a true fan anymore, which they said would happen when I first moved to Baltimore with Nikki and gave up my season ticket. To my surprise, the Birds are also not playing in Veterans Stadium, but at Lincoln Financial Field, just like Jake had said. Somehow they have built an entire stadium since last season, and I must have missed all the hype because I was stuck in the bad place. Still, something does not really seem right to me. â€Å"Where is Lincoln Financial Field?† I try to ask nonchalantly when the commercials come on after the first series. My father turns his head and stares at me but does not answer my question. He hates me. He looks repulsed, like it is a chore to sit in the family room watching the game with his mentally messed-up son. â€Å"It’s in South Philadelphia, just like all the other stadiums,† my brother says too quickly. â€Å"Good crabby snacks, Mom.† â€Å"Can you see Lincoln Financial Field from the Vet?† I ask. â€Å"The Vet’s gone,† Jake says. â€Å"Gone?† I ask. â€Å"What do you mean, gone?† â€Å"March 21, 2004. Seven a.m. It fell like a house of cards,† my father says without looking at me, just before sucking an orange piece of meat from a chicken bone. â€Å"Over two years ago.† â€Å"What? I was at the Vet just last †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I pause because I start to feel a little dizzy and nauseous. â€Å"What year did you just say?† My father opens his mouth to speak, but my mother cuts him off, saying, â€Å"A lot has changed since you were away.† Still, I refuse to believe the Vet is gone, even after Jake retrieves his laptop from his car and shows me a downloaded video of the Vet being imploded. Veterans Stadium – which we used to call the concrete doughnut – falls like a circle of dominoes, gray dust fills the screen, and it breaks my heart to see that place crumble, even though I suspect that what I am viewing is a computergenerated trick. When I was a boy, my father took me to many Phillies games at the Vet, and of course there were all of the Eagles games with Jake, so it is hard to believe such a big monument to my childhood could be destroyed while I was in the bad place. The video ends, and I ask my mother if I can talk to her in the other room. â€Å"What’s wrong?† she says when we reach the kitchen. â€Å"Dr. Patel said that my new medication might make me hallucinate.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"I think I just saw Veterans Stadium demolished on Jake’s computer.† â€Å"Honey, you did. It was demolished over two years ago.† â€Å"What year is it?† She hesitates, and then says, â€Å"Two thousand and six.† That would make me thirty-four. Apart time would have been in progress for four years. Impossible, I think. â€Å"How do I know I am not hallucinating right now? How do I know you’re not a hallucination? You’re all hallucinations! All of you!† I realize I am screaming, but I can’t help it. Mom shakes her head, tries to touch my cheek, but I swat her hand away and she starts crying again. â€Å"How long was I in the bad place? How long? Tell me!† â€Å"What’s going on in there?† my father yells. â€Å"We’re trying to watch the game!† â€Å"Shhhh!† my mother says through tears. â€Å"How long?† I yell. â€Å"Tell him, Jeanie! Go ahead! He’s going to find out sooner or later!† my father yells from the family room. â€Å"Tell him!† I grab my mother’s shoulders, shake her so her head wobbles all over, and yell, â€Å"How long?† â€Å"Almost four years,† Jake says. I look back over my shoulder, and my brother is in the kitchen doorway. â€Å"Now let go of Mom.† â€Å"Four years?† I laugh and let go of my mother’s shoulders. She covers her mouth with her hands, and her eyes are full of pity and tears. â€Å"Why are you guys playing jokes on – â€Å" I hear my mother scream, I feel the back of my head hit the refrigerator, and then my mind goes blank. How to cite The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 6, Essay examples

Stand Essays - The Stand, Randall Flagg, Abigail, Harold, Las Vegas

Stand Stephen King's The Stand is a thrilling novel that portrays the forces of good against evil. In the year 1991, a plague strikes America, leaving only a few thousand people alive who are immune to the epidemic. Of the survivors, those who serve Good instinctively join in Boulder, Colorado, while those who worship the Dark Man are drawn to Las Vegas, Nevada. The two groups separately re-build society, until one must destroy the other. Franni Goldsmith comes very close to killing herself. She thinks she can not deal with her parent's deaths, being unmarried and pregnant, and having the only other survivor in her hometown of Ogunquit, Main be her recently deceased best friend's weird brother Harold Lauder. Fran puts aside her personal feelings for Harold aside, and goes with him to the place in her dreams, to Boulder, Colorado. On their way, they meet up with six people from various states in the United States who joined them on their journey. Fran is disturbed by her dreams, as all of them are by their own. She dreams of an old lady named Abigail. This lady is kind and loving and promises to protect them from the evil. In the dreams there is also a Dark Man. He is always there lurking, waiting to attack. Harold admits to himself that he is in love with Fran and goes crazy when he realizes how serious Fran has become with Stuart Redman, one of the newcomers to their traveling group. Harold becomes insanely jealous and plots to separate them, even if it means murder. Harold doesn't admit it to any of them, but his dreams are different from theirs. In his dreams the Dark Man offers Harold power and respect, something Harold could never imagine in the past. Harold knows his destiny is to go to Las Vegas. The group arrives in Boulder, and soon after are joined by over one thousand others who dream of Abigail and this place. They eventuwilly form a society where they settled and has meetings to decide what they would do about the Dark Man. Abigail tells the people that three of them, including Stuart, must be sent to destroy the Dark Man. Meanwhile Harold secretly leaves with the Dark Man's bride-to-be (Nadine) to Las Vegas. Harold is ready to kill Stuart, but is killed instead by the will of Good. Nadine makes it safely to Las Vegas before Stuart and his two companions are about to be hanged. Out of the sky the hand of Good comes and destroys the Dark Man sparing the three men. After much hardship, Stuart returns to Fran and her newborn son and together they plant the seeds of a new society. The Stand is a book about human nature. It shows people's the meaning of good or evil. Mostly, it shows how it is in man's nature to build society and to fight for his beliefs. I found this book to be extremely entertaining because it was well written and somewhat interesting, despite it's supernatural aspects. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys horror movies.