The Galapagos Affair

The Galapagos Islands are a small chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean off the western coast of Ecuador, to which they belong. Not exactly a paradise, they are rocky, dry and hot, and are home to many interesting species of animals found nowhere else. They are perhaps best known for the Galapagos finches, which Charles Darwin used to inspire his Theory of Evolution. Today, the Islands are a top-notch tourist attraction. Normally sleepy and uneventful, the Galapagos Islands captured the worlds attention in 1934 when they were the site of an international scandal of sex and murder. The Galapagos Islands The Galapagos Islands are named after a sort of saddle which is said to resemble the shells of the giant tortoises that make the islands their home. They were discovered accidentally in 1535 and then promptly ignored until the seventeenth century when they became a regular stopping point for whaling ships looking to take on provisions. The government of Ecuador claimed them in 1832 and no one really disputed it. Some hardy Ecuadorians came out to make a living fishing and others were sent to penal colonies. The Islands big moment came when Charles Darwin visited in 1835 and subsequently published his theories, illustrating them with Galapagos species. Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch In 1929, German doctor Friedrich Ritter abandoned his practice and moved to the Islands, feeling he needed a new start in a faraway place. He brought with him one of his patients, Dore Strauch: both of them left spouses behind. They set up a homestead on Floreana Island and worked very hard there, moving heavy lava rocks, planting fruits and vegetables and raising chickens. They became international celebrities: the rugged doctor and his lover, living on a far-off island. Many people came to visit them, and some intended to stay, but the hard life on the islands eventually drove most of them off. The Wittmers Heinz Wittmer arrived in 1931 with his teenage son and pregnant wife Margret. Unlike the others, they remained, setting up their own homestead with some help from Dr. Ritter. Once they were established, the two German families apparently had little contact with one another, which seems to be how they liked it. Like Dr. Ritter and Ms. Strauch, the Wittmers were rugged, independent and enjoyed occasional visitors but mostly kept to themselves. The Baroness The next arrival would change everything. Not long after the Wittmers came, a party of four arrived on Floreana, led by Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet, an attractive young Austrian. She was accompanied by her two German lovers, Robert Philippson and Rudolf Lorenz, as well as an Ecuadorian, Manuel Valdivieso, presumably hired to do all the work. The flamboyant Baroness set up a small homestead, named it Hacienda Paradise and announced her plans to build a grand hotel. An Unhealthy Mix The Baroness was a true character. She made up elaborate, grand stories to tell the visiting yacht captains, went about wearing a pistol and a whip, seduced the Governor of Galapagos and anointed herself Queen of Floreana. After her arrival, yachts went out of their way to visit Floreana; everyone sailing the Pacific wanted to be able to boast of an encounter with the Baroness. However, she did not get along well with the others. The Wittmers managed to ignore her but Dr. Ritter despised her. Deterioration The situation quickly deteriorated. Lorenz apparently fell out of favor, and Philippson started beating him. Lorenz started spending a lot of time with the Wittmers until the Baroness would come and get him. There was a prolonged drought, and Ritter and Strauch began to quarrel. Ritter and the Wittmers became angry when they began to suspect that the Baroness was stealing their mail and badmouthing them to visitors, who repeated everything to the international press. Things turned petty. Philippson stole the Ritters donkey one night and turned it loose in the Wittmers garden. In the morning, Heinz shot it, thinking it feral. The Baroness Goes Missing Then on March 27, 1934, the Baroness and Philippson disappeared. According to Margret Wittmer, the Baroness appeared at the Wittmer home and said that some friends had arrived on a yacht and were taking them to Tahiti. She said she left everything they werent taking with them to Lorenz. The Baroness and Philippson departed that very day and were never heard from again. A Fishy Story There are problems with the Wittmers story, however. No one else remembers any ship coming in that week, and the Baroness and Wittmer never turned up in Tahiti. Additionally, they left behind almost all of their things, including ( according to Dore Strauch) items that the Baroness would have wanted on even a very short journey. Strauch and Ritter apparently believed that the two were murdered by Lorenz and the Wittmers helped cover it up. Strauch also believed that the bodies were burned, as acacia wood (available on the island) burns hot enough to destroy even bone. Lorenz Disappears Lorenz was in a hurry to get out of Galapagos and he convinced a Norwegian fisherman named Nuggerud to take him first to Santa Cruz Island and from there to San Cristobal Island, where he could catch a ferry to Guayaquil. They made it to Santa Cruz but disappeared between Santa Cruz and San Cristà ³bal. Months later, the mummified, desiccated bodies of both men were found on Marchena Island. There was no clue as to how they got there. Incidentally, Marchena is in the northern part of the Archipelago and not anywhere near Santa Cruz or San Cristà ³bal. The Strange Death of Dr. Ritter The strangeness did not end there. In November of the same year, Dr. Ritter died, apparently of food poisoning due to eating some poorly-preserved chicken. This is odd firstly because Ritter was a vegetarian (although apparently not a strict one). Also, he was a veteran of island living, and certainly capable of telling when some preserved chicken had gone bad. Many believed that Strauch had poisoned him, as his treatment of her had gotten much worse. According to Margret Wittmer, Ritter himself blamed Strauch. Wittmer wrote that he cursed her in his dying words. Unsolved Mysteries Three dead, two missing over the course of a few months. The Galapagos Affair as it came to be known is a mystery that has puzzled historians and visitors to the islands ever since. None of the mysteries have been solved. The Baroness and Philippson never turned up, Dr. Ritters death is officially an accident and no one has any clue how Nuggerud and Lorenz got to Marchena. The Wittmers remained on the islands and became wealthy years later when tourism boomed: their descendants still own valuable land and businesses there. Dore Strauch returned to Germany and wrote a book, fascinating not only for the sordid tales of the Galapagos affair but for its look at the hard life of the early settlers. There will likely never be any real answers. Margret Wittmer, last of those who really knew what happened, stuck to her story about the Baroness going to Tahiti until her own death in 2000. Wittmer often hinted that she knew more than she was telling, but its hard to know if she really did or if she just enjoyed tantalizing tourists with hints and innuendos. Strauchs book doesnt shed much light on things: she is adamant that Lorenz killed the Baroness and Philippson but has no proof other than her own (and supposedly Dr. Ritters) gut feelings. Source Boyce, Barry. A Travelers Guide to the Galapagos Islands. San Juan Bautista: Galapagos Travel, 1994.

Trans Representation Of Modern Society And Western Multimedia

Trans Representation in Modern Society and Western Multimedia What do award winning actor Ben Stiller, reality star Caitlyn Jenner, and the Tar Heel state, North Carolina, all have in common? More than one may think. Stiller has been in the news recently for a distasteful portrayal of a trans (gender non-conforming) individual in his one star movie, Zoolander 2 (Deen, 2015, p.2; â€Å"Zoolander 2,† 2016, p. 1). In, June 2015, former olympic athlete, Caitlyn Jenner, came out as transgender, spreading her wings for the first time on the cover of Vanity Fair, titled â€Å"Call me Caitlyn† (Lowder, 2015, p. 1). As for North Carolina, anybody who reads the news knows about their strict, anti-transgender, bathroom policies as of late. The pattern is†¦show more content†¦2). In fact, a new genre has emerged, that is, become much more popular, called â€Å"trans lit.† Meaning that these novels are written for trans people, by trans people (Rollman, 2015, p. 2). This encourages trans writers and readers alike. Even though transgender representation in literature is great and varying, some novels still poorly represent the trans characters they include. Canadian author and journalist Casey Plett shared her insight on cis writers writing trans characters, â€Å"Trans people have historically always been written in certain ways to serve certain interests by cis people†¦ a lot of these novels which have storylines written by cis people tend to put trans people on pedestals and make them look like one-dimensional Disney heroes† (Rollman, 2015, p. 2). Even with the best of intentions, trans characters are often misrepresented. It is not just books either. The comic book industry is catching up as well. Andrew Wheeler comments: Every character has to carry the weight of everyone’s expectations, because there just aren’t enough characters to represent a diverse range of desires and experiences. We need to get from some to enough. And really, we’ll know we’ve achieved success when Captain America can have a boyfriend and Wonder Woman can have a girlfriend. For queer representation in superhero comics, that’s what success

Counter Terrorism Policies and Organizations in Iran Free Essays

On the bright sunny morning of September 11, Al Qaeda terrorists organized one of the most destructive attacks the world has ever seen. They hijacked four commercial planes using them as weapons for annihilation. Two planes full of passengers were flown directly into the twin towers of the World Trade Center immediately killing thousands of people. We will write a custom essay sample on Counter Terrorism Policies and Organizations in Iran or any similar topic only for you Order Now The third plane targeted the Pentagon and the hijackers of the fourth plane aimed to hit Washington DC but the passengers fought back crashing the plane in Pennsylvania. The terrorists carefully and patiently devised this plan of attack which was never foreseen by the American government. Instantly, then President George Bush vowed that fighting terrorism would be his administration’s top priority. This 9/11incident is one of the many attacks that molded the image of terrorism all over the world. This fateful incident led the leaders of the world to make a commitment to fight terrorism (Gjelten). The war on terrorism is a seemingly endless fight. Some people say that this is a political war; others say that this is merely a clash of ideologies most specifically Islamic ideologies against the world but the raison d’etre behind every act of terror does not matter because the very act itself produces the same result- terrorism continues to steal thousands of innocent lives and strike terror in the hearts of people all throughout the world. In order to respond to these attacks, countries from all ends of the world met and created laws in order to prevent the admission of terrorists. The worsening crisis in terrorism paved the way to the enactment of the adoption of Anti-terrorism policies by the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Countries on June 13, 2002. The policy describes the different forms of terrorist attack as well as the corresponding penalties keeping in mind the most sacred and fundamental human rights. The anti-terrorism campaign also includes several courses of action for the battle against international organized crimes. Through the cooperation of EU Countries, the member states adopted a uniform policy on visas thereby lessening illegal immigration. On December 6, 2001, the United States and the EUROPOL agreed to share strategic and technical information concerning several policies about the manner of prevention and investigation of combating serious international crimes (â€Å"Reinforcement of EU Policy against Terrorism†). The United States have several laws against terrorist even before the 9/11 attack. The US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provided that an alien who had been engaged in terrorist activity or those under suspicion of being a terrorist cannot enter the United States territory. Terrorist activity has been defined as any violent attack against persons, assassinations including hijacking planes and using chemical or nuclear weapons and any similar activity. Shortly after the 9/11 attack, the USA Patriot Act provided a wider definition of terrorist activity which now includes any person who have taken advantage of any position whether public or private to endorse aid or abet any terrorist activity or organization (Schoenholtz Hojaiban). In a joint effort to capture members of the Kurdisan Workers’ party, Turkey and Iraq finalized negotiations regarding counter- terrorism agreement allowing Turkey to engage in hot pursuit of PKK terrorists at its base in northern Iraq (Anti-Terror Group, 2007). Iran is one of the countries that contributed greatly in terrorism. They have a special relationship with the Islamic Jihad due to the fact that they get paid for building nuclear weapons for them. They also played a great role in the war between Israel and Pakistan. They provide training and weapons for the war soldiers. Yonah Alexander, an expert in counter-terrorism said that in order to start negotiations with Iran, the past events and policies of the country in connection with terrorism must first be taken into consideration. In 1980, the United States Embassy in Beirut was bombed by the Islamic Jihad resulting in the death and injuries of several people. About twenty eight years ago, the United States failed to rescue the hostages taken in the Embassy in Iran. An important point to consider way back then was that it was difficult to plan anti-terrorism measures because the times did not call for it unlike today. Just recently, Iran’s nuclear-making operations were suspended because of the inquiries made by several countries who had been alarmed by such activity. The investigation of IAEA led to the discovery of eighteen years of hidden nuclear activities. Even though Iran answered several questions, many remained unconvinced. On October 2003, after the Iraq invasion, Iran joined the International Atomic Energy Agency and signed a protocol stating that they support and promote its safeguard procedures (Cochran). In 2007, the Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made a statement saying that Iran is willing to consider talks with the United States on Iraq even after the United States Ambassador in Baghdad; Ryan Crocker made a complaint about the participation of Iran in terrorist activity by extending supports by supplying weapons and training to terrorists. Several attempts towards negotiations have been made by Iran but were rejected by the United States. Indeed, it is seemingly hard to forge anti-terrorist strategy with Iran considering that it gives support to terrorist activity but no matter what the situation is, Iran is also a country that realized how much they wanted change and hw much they desire a different way of life for its people so there is a possibility that peace and negotiation talks might happen (Winer, 2007). Policy makers all throughout the world have different ideas and strategies but they all lead to one goal, which is to win the fight against terrorism. It is greatly devastating to see millions of innocent lives being lost and it is precisely because of this reason that in this type of battle, nobody ever wins. The value of human life is nothing compared to a political belief or an ideology. The most effective way of fighting terrorism is to stop them before they get a chance to execute their plan. However, no matter how good the intentions are in enacting these laws, the extreme policies of several countries should also undergo some changes. The definition of terrorist and suspected terrorist should be reevaluated so as not to prejudice innocent people who are also seeking refuge. Indeed, the counter- terrorism negotiations with Iran has been on a rough road but through patience and constant communication, many people strongly believe that it will soon be achieved. An important thing to consider in opening renegotiations is that Iran should declare every detail and surrender all its accounts concerning their development of nuclear programs. They should also make a stand that they would severe all their efforts in supporting terrorism. It is important to keep in mind that the main reason why everybody is uniting against terrorism is to protect the people and not to push them directly in harm’s way. Works Cited Anti-Terror Group. 2007. †Turkey, Iraq to sigh counter-terrorism deal, hot pursuit on agenda†. PKKterror. com. 22 April 2009 http://www. pkkterror. com/content/view/711/27/ Gjelten, T. 2009. â€Å"September 11 Attacks. † Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 22 April 2009http://encarta. msn. com  © 1997-2009 Microsoft Corporation. â€Å"Reinforcement of EU Policy against Terrorism†. 2005. Hellenic Republic, Embassy of Greece. 22 April 2009 http://www. greekembassy. org/embassy/content/en/Article. aspx? office=1folder=39article=58 Schoenholtz, Andrew and Jeniffer Hojaiban. 2008. â€Å" International Migration and Anti-Terrorism Laws and Policies; Balancing Security and Refugee Protection†. Institute for the Study of International Migration Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. 22 April 2009. http://isim. georgetown. edu/Publications/GMF%20Materials/AntiTerrorismLaws. pdf Winer, J. 2007. â€Å"Paradoxical Policies For Pakistan and Iran†. Counterterrorism Blog. 24 April 24, 2009. http://counterterrorismblog. org/2007/08/paradoxical_policies_for_pakis. php How to cite Counter Terrorism Policies and Organizations in Iran, Papers

Entrepreneurial Marketing Environmental Analysis

Question: Discuss about the Entrepreneurial Marketingfor Environmental Analysis. Answer: The Marketing Mix; Environmental Analysis: DU being one of the largest telecommunication companies of United Arab Emirates has focused to implement numerous business strategies on marketing so that the products can be circulated in larger geographical areas. Marketing mix strategy is one of the most effective ways of promoting the products of DU (du.ae 2017). MarketingMix: The marketing managers of DU have primarily focused in dealing with 4ps of marketing mix with the help of which the marketing managers can gather brand identity and image. Product: DU being an integrated telecommunication company tends to provide internet facilities, telecommunication facilities, broadband connectivity, IPTV services to the individuals and so many. In addition the roaming offers of DU are highly beneficial for those people who have to stay out of their states (Baker 2014). Therefore, product diversity is one of the most effective reasons of DU due to which customers show their level of satisfaction for using the products. Price: The price range of DU products is very much affordable for low cost customers as well. People would not have to face any kind of difficulties in order to purchase the products and services of DU. Place: Al-Salam Tower in Dubai is the head-quarter of DU where customers from different geographical boundaries can easily avail. The business experts of DU have established the business in such a place that people from remote areas do not have to face any kind of difficulties in visiting the organization (Baker 2014). Promotion: In order to promote the product and services to the numerous countries, the marketing managers of DU have decided to use both digital media as well as electronic media. The realm of digital media is vast with the help of which people from other countries as well can communicate with the service providers by using technological devices (Hollensen 2015). On the other hand, television media is the most effective tools based on which the concept of products have been circulated to regional market as well as in the market of multinational countries. Environmental Analysis: PESTEL Political UAE has to suffer in political conflicts due to which the company like DU has to face difficulties in running their business successfully. Economic UAE is possessed with high GDP per capita due to which the rate of unemployment is very low. Social In the trend of globalization UAE is amalgamated with large number of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Therefore, the business organizations have to maintain product diversity at the workplace. Technological UAE is out an out advanced in technology. Therefore, DU would not have to face challenges in running telecommunication business. Environmental UAE is possessed with hot and dry climate. Therefore, people would not have to face any difficulties to run telecommunication business Legal UAE maintains regulations and acts strictly. Due to this the organization like DU while maintaining their business has to follow acts like anti-discrimination, data protection, health and safety and so many. Table 1: PESTEL Analysis (Source: Grabara 2013) Selecting, Developing, and Evaluating New Products and Services: Before selecting developing new products the marketing executives of DU have conducted market survey in order to know the current needs and demands of the customers. After conducting an in-depth overview about customers expectation the business experts have evaluated that only telecommunication related products are not sufficient for DU to expand their entire business process (Xiao 2013). Apart from telephonic communication products, the organization should include mobile and other electronic goods as well to enhance the range of target market. As a result, the product managers have decided to develop the products as per current trend of market demand (Nunkoo, Gursoy and Ramkissoon 2013). On the other hand, the customer service executives of DU are flexible enough to maintain both verbal and non-verbal communication. As a result, customers from different cultural attitudes can easily purchase the services of DU. Public Relations and Publicity: Maintaining quality products and service is not the primary aim and objective of a specific business organization such as DU. In order to gain brand identity and brand image the organization has to make publicity for business promotion. In order to promote the product the marketing managers of DU tend to involve public relation agencies as well so that journalists from different recognizable channels and news papers can cover the news of their products and services (Xiao 2013). As a result, the target customers would shoe their interest to use the product as well as service process of DU. On the other hand, public relation agencies are able to promote the product in numerous geographical markets as well. Therefore, people would not have to get an in-depth overview about the reliability of products. Reference List: Baker, M.J., 2014.Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan. du.ae., 2017. Telecommunications, d. 2017.du - Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company. [online] du - add life to life. Available at: https://www.du.ae [Accessed 7 Apr. 2017]. Grabara, J., 2013. Employers expectations towards the employees from the marketing and management department.Polish Journal of Management Studies,7, pp.58-70. Hollensen, S., 2015.Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education. Nunkoo, R., Gursoy, D. and Ramkissoon, H., 2013. Developments in hospitality marketing and management: Social network analysis and research themes.Journal of Hospitality Marketing Management,22(3), pp.269-288. Xiao, H., 2013. Dynamics of China tourism and challenges for destination marketing and management.Journal of Destination Marketing Management,2(1), pp.1-3.