The Crystal Shard 30. The Battle of Icewind Dale Free Essays

string(31) " screams of the raging battle\." The people of Bryn Shander heard the fighting out on the field, but it wasn’t until the lightening of full dawn that they could see what was happening. They cheered the dwarves wildly and were amazed when the barbarians crashed into Kessell’s ranks, hacking down goblins with gleeful abandon. Cassius and Glensather, in their customary positions upon the wall, pondered the unexpected turn of events, undecided as to whether or not they should release their forces into the fray. We will write a custom essay sample on The Crystal Shard 30. The Battle of Icewind Dale or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"Barbarians?† gawked Glensather. â€Å"Are they our friends or foes?† â€Å"They kill orcs,† Cassius answered. â€Å"They are friends!† Out on Maer Dualdon, Kemp and the others also heard the clang of battle, though they couldn’t see who was involved. Even more confusing, a second fight had begun, this one to the southwest, in the town of Bremen. Had the men of Bryn Shander come out and attacked? Or was Akar Kessell’s force destroying itself around him? Then Cryshal-Tirith suddenly fell dark, its once glassy and vibrant sides taking on an opaque, deathly stillness. â€Å"Regis,† muttered Cassius, sensing the tower’s loss of power. â€Å"If ever a hero we had!† The tower shuddered and shook. Great cracks appeared over the length of its walls. Then it broke apart. The monster army looked on in horrified disbelief as the bastion of the wizard they had come to worship as a god came crashing down. The horns in Bryn Shander began to blow. Kemp’s people cheered wildly and rushed for the oars. Jensin Brent’s forward scouts signaled back the startling news to the fleet on Lac Dinneshere, who in turn relayed the message to Redwaters. Throughout the temporary sanctuaries that hid the routed people of Ten-Towns came the same command. â€Å"Charge!† The army assembled inside the great gates of Bryn Shander’s wall poured out of the courtyard and onto the field. The fleets of Caer-Konig and Caer-Dineval on Lac Dinneshere and Good Mead and Dougan’s Hole in the south lifted their sails to catch the east wind and raced across the lakes. The four fleets assembled on Maer Dualdon rowed hard, bucking that same wind in their haste to get revenge. In a whirlwind rush of chaos and surprise, the final Battle of Icewind Dale had begun. * * * Regis rolled out of the way as the embattled creatures tumbled past again, claws and fangs tearing and ripping in a desperate struggle. Normally, Guenhwyvar would have had little trouble dispatching the helldog, but in its weakened state, the cat found itself fighting for its life. The hound’s hot breath seared black fur; its great fangs bit into muscled neck. Regis wanted to help the cat, but he couldn’t even get close enough to kick at its foe. Why had Drizzt run off so abruptly? Guenhwyvar felt its neck being crushed by the powerful maw. The cat rolled, its greater weight taking the dog over with it. But the hold of the canine jaws was not broken. Dizziness swept over the cat from lack of air. It began to send its mind back across the planes, to its true home, though it lamented having failed its master in his time of need. Then the tower went dark. The startled hellhound relaxed its grip slightly, and Guenhwyvar was quick to seize the opportunity. The cat planted its paws against the dog’s ribs and shoved free of the grasp, rolling away into the blackness. The helldog scanned for its foe, but the panther’s powers of stealth were beyond even the considerable awareness of its keen senses. Then the dog saw a second quarry. A single bound took it to Regis. Guenhwyvar was playing a game that it knew better, now. The panther was a creature of the night, a predator that struck from the blackness and killed before its prey even sensed its presence. The helldog crouched for a strike at Regis, then dropped as the panther landed heavily upon its back, claws raking deeply into the rust-colored hide. The dog yelped only once before the killing fangs found its neck. Mirrors cracked and shattered. A sudden hole in the floor swallowed Kessell’s throne. Blocks of crystalline rubble began falling all about as the tower shuddered in its final death throes. Screams from the harem chamber below told Regis that a similar scene of destruction was common throughout the structure. He was gladdened when he saw Guenhwyvar dispatch the helldog, but he understood the futility of the cat’s heroics. They had nowhere to run, no escape from the death of Cryshal-Tirith. Regis called Guenhwyvar to his side. He couldn’t see the cat’s body in the blackness, but he saw the eyes, intent upon him and circling around, as though the cat was stalking him. â€Å"What?† the halfling balked in astonishment, wondering if the stress and the wounds the dog had inflicted upon Guenhwyvar had driven the cat into madness. A chunk of wall crashed right beside him, sending him sprawling to the floor. He saw the cat’s eyes rise high into the air; Guenhwyvar had sprung. Dust choked him, and he felt the final collapse of the crystal tower begin. Then came a deeper darkness as the black cat engulfed him. * * * Drizzt felt himself falling. The light was too bright, he couldn’t see. He heard nothing, not even the sound of air rushing by. Yet he knew for certain that he was falling. And then the light dimmed in a gray mist, as though he were passing through a cloud. It all seemed so dreamlike, so completely unreal. He couldn’t recall how he had gotten into this position. He couldn’t recall his own name. Then he dropped into a deep pile of snow and knew that he was not dreaming. He heard the howl of the wind and felt its freezing bite. He tried to stand and get a better idea of his surroundings. And then he heard, far away and below, the screams of the raging battle. You read "The Crystal Shard 30. The Battle of Icewind Dale" in category "Essay examples" He remembered Cryshal-Tirith, remembered where he had been. There could only be one answer. He was on top of Kelvin’s Cairn. * * * The soldiers of Bryn Shander and Easthaven, fighting arm in arm with Cassius and Glensather at their head, charged down the sloping hill and drove hard into the confused ranks of goblins. The two spokesmen had a particular goal in mind: They wanted to cut through the ranks of monsters and link up with Bruenor’s charges. On the wall a few moments before, they had seen the barbarians attempting the same strategy, and they figured that if all three armies could be brought together in flanking support, their slim chances would be greatly improved. The goblins gave way to the assault. In their absolute dismay and surprise at the sudden turn of events, the monsters were unable to organize any semblance of a defensive line. When the four fleets on Maer Dualdon landed just north of the ruins of Targos, they encountered the same disorganized and disoriented resistance. Kemp and the other leaders had figured that they could easily gain a foothold on the land, but their main concern was that the large goblin forces occupying Termalaine would sweep down behind them if they pushed in from the beach and cut off their only escape route. They needn’t have worried, though. In the first stages of the battle, the goblins in Termalaine had indeed rushed out with every intention of supporting their wizard. But then Cryshal-Tirith had tumbled down. The goblins were already skeptical, having heard rumors throughout the night that Kessell had dispatched a large force to wipe out the Orcs of the Severed Tongue in the conquered city of Bremen. And when they saw the tower, the pinnacle of Kessell’s strength, crash down in ruins, they had reconsidered their alternatives, weighing the consequences of the choices before them. They fled back to the north and the safety of the open plain. * * * Blowing snow added to the heavy veil atop the mountain. Drizzt kept his eyes down, but he could hardly see his own feet as he determinedly placed one in front of the other. He still held the magical scimitar, and it glowed a pale light, as though it approved of the frigid temperatures. The drow’s numbing body begged him to start down the mountain, and yet he was moving farther along the high face, to one of the adjacent peaks. The wind carried a disturbing sound to his ears – the cackle of insane laughter. And then he saw the blurred form of the wizard, leaning out over the southern precipice, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening on the battlefield below. â€Å"Kessell!† Drizzt shouted. He saw the form shift abruptly and knew that the wizard had heard him, even through the howl of the wind. â€Å"In the name of the people of Ten-Towns, I demand that you surrender to me! Quickly, now, lest this unrelenting breath of winter freeze us where we stand!† Kessell sneered. â€Å"You still do not understand what it is you face, do you?† he asked in amazement. â€Å"Do you truly believe that you have won this battle?† â€Å"How the people below fare I do not yet know,† Drizzt answered. â€Å"But you are defeated! Your tower is destroyed, Kessell, and without it you are but a minor trickster!† He continued moving while they talked and was now only a few feet from the wizard, though his opponent was still a mere black blur in a gray field. â€Å"Do you wish to know how they fare, Drow?† Kessell asked. â€Å"Then look! Witness the fall of Ten-Towns!† He reached under his cloak and pulled out a shining object – a crystal shard. The clouds seemed to recoil from it. The wind halted within the wide radius of its influence. Drizzt could see its incredible power. The drow felt the blood returning to his numbed hands in the light of the crystal. Then the gray veil was burned away, and the sky before them was clear. â€Å"The tower destroyed?† Kessell mocked. â€Å"You have broken just one of Crenshinibon’s countless images! A sack of flour? To defeat the most powerful relic in the world? Look down upon the foolish men who dare to oppose me!† The battlefield was spread wide before the drow. He could see the white, wind-filled sails of the boats of Caer-Dineval and Caer-Konig as they neared the western banks of Lac Dinneshere. In the south, the fleets of Good Mead and Dougan’s Hole had already docked. The sailors met no initial resistance, and even now were forming up for an inland strike. The goblins and orcs that had formed the southern half of Kessell’s ring had not witnessed the fall of Cryshal-Tirith. Though they sensed the loss of power and guidance, and as many of them remained where they were or deserted their comrades and fled as rushed around Bryn Shander’s hill to join in the battle. Kemp’s troops were also ashore, shoving off cautiously from the beaches with a wary eye to the north. This group had landed into the thickest concentration of Kessell’s forces, but also into the area that was under the shadow of the tower, where the fall of Cryshal-Tirith had been the most disheartening. The fishermen found more goblins interested in running away than ones intent on a fight. In the center of the field, where the heaviest fighting was taking place, the men of Ten-Towns and their allies also seemed to be faring well. The barbarians had nearly joined with the dwarves. Spurred by the might of Wulfgar’s hammer and the unrivaled courage of Bruenor, the two forces were tearing apart all that stood between them. And they would soon become even more formidable, for Cassius and Glensather were close by and moving in at a steady pace. â€Å"By the tale my eyes tell me, your army does not fare well,† Drizzt retorted. â€Å"The ‘foolish’ men of Ten-Towns are not defeated yet!† Kessell raised the crystal shard high above him, its light flaring to an even greater level of power. Down on the battlefield, even at the great distance, the combatants understood at once the resurgence of the powerful presence they had known as Cryshal-Tirith. Human, dwarf, and goblinalike, even those locked in mortal combat, paused for a second to look at the beacon on the mountain. The monsters, sensing the return of their god, cheered wildly and abandoned their heretofore defensive posture. Encouraged by the glorious reappearance of Kessell, they pressed the attack with savage fury. â€Å"You see how my mere presence incites them!† Kessell boasted proudly. But Drizzt wasn’t paying attention – to the wizard or the battle below. He was standing in puddles of water now from snow melting under the warmth of the shining relic. He was intent on a noise that his keen ears had caught among the clatter of the distant fighting. A rumble of protest from the frozen peaks of Kelvin’s Cairn. â€Å"Behold the glory of Akar Kessell!† the wizard cried, his voice magnified to deafening proportions by the power of the relic he held. â€Å"How easy it shall be for me to destroy the boats on the lake below!† Drizzt realized that Kessell, in his arrogant disregard for the dangers growing around him, was making a flagrant mistake. All that he had to do was delay the wizard from taking any decisive actions for the next few moments. Reflexively, he grabbed the dagger at the back of his belt and flung it at Kessell, though he knew that Kessell was joined in some perverted symbiosis with Crenshinibon and that the small weapon had no chance of hitting its mark. The drow was hoping to distract and anger the wizard to divert his fury away from the battlefield. The dagger sped through the air. Drizzt turned and ran. A thin beam shot out from Crenshinibon and melted the weapon before it found its mark, but Kessell was outraged. â€Å"You should bow down before me!† he screamed at Drizzt. â€Å"Blasphemous dog, you have earned the distinction of being my first victim of the day!† He swung the shard away from the ledge to point it at the fleeing drow. But as he spun he sank, suddenly up to his knees in the melting snow. Then he, too, heard the angry rumbles of the mountain. Drizzt broke free of the relic’s sphere of influence and without hesitating to look back, he ran, putting as much distance between himself and the southern face of Kelvin’s Cairn as he could. Immersed up to his chest now, Kessell struggled to get free of the watery snow. He called upon the power of Crenshinibon again, but his concentration wavered under the intense stress of impending doom. Akar Kessell felt weak again for the first time in years. Not the Tyrant of Icewind Dale, but the bumbling apprentice who had murdered his teacher. As if the crystal shard had rejected him. Then the entire side of the mountain’s snow cap fell. The rumble shook the land for many miles around. Men and orcs, goblins and even ogres, were thrown to the ground. Kessell clutched the shard close to him when he began to fall. But Crenshinibon burned his hands, pushed him away. Kessell had failed too many times. The relic would no longer accept him as its wielder. Kessell screamed when he felt the shard slipping through his fingers. His shriek, though, was drowned out by the thunder of the avalanche. The cold darkness of snow closed around him, falling, tumbling with him on the descent. Kessell desperately believed that if he still held the crystal shard, he could survive even this. Small comfort when he settled onto a lower peak of Kelvin’s Cairn. And half of the mountain’s cap landed on top of him. * * * The monster army had seen their god fall again. The thread that had incited their momentum quickly began to unravel. But in the time that Kessell had reappeared, some measure of coordinating activity had taken place. Two frost giants, the only remaining true giants in the wizard’s entire army, had taken command. They called the elite ogre guard to their side and then called for the orc and goblin tribes to gather around them and follow their lead. Still, the dismay of the army was obvious. Tribal rivalries that had been buried under the iron-fisted domination of Akar Kessell resurfaced in the form of blatant mistrust. Only fear of their enemies kept them fighting, and only fear of the giants held them in line beside the other tribes. â€Å"Well met, Bruenor!† Wulfgar sang out, splattering another goblin head, as the barbarian horde finally broke through to the dwarves. â€Å"An’ to yerself, boy!† the dwarf replied, burying his axe into the chest of his own opponent. â€Å"Time’s almost passed that ye got back! I thought that I’d have to kill yer share o’ the scum, too!† Wulfgar’s attention was elsewhere, though. He had discovered the two giants commanding the force. â€Å"Frost giants,† he told Bruenor, directing the dwarf’s gaze to the ring of ogres. â€Å"They are all that hold the tribes together!† â€Å"Better sport!† Bruenor laughed. â€Å"Lead on!† And so, with his principle attendants and Bruenor beside him, the young king started smashing a path through the goblin ranks. The ogres crowded in front of their newfound commanders to block the barbarian’s path. Wulfgar was close enough by then. Aegis-Fang whistled past the ogre ranks and took one of the giants in the head, dropping it lifeless to the ground. The other, gawking in disbelief that a human had been able to deliver such a deadly blow against one of its kind from such a distance, hesitated for only a brief moment before it fled the battle. Undaunted, the vicious ogres charged in on Wulfgar’s group, pushing them back. But Wulfgar was satisfied, and he willingly gave ground before the press, anxious to rejoin the bulk of the human and dwarven army. Bruenor wasn’t so willing, though. This was the type of chaotic fighting that he most enjoyed. He disappeared under the long legs of the leading line of ogres and moved, unseen in the dust and confusion, among their ranks. From the corner of his eye, Wulfgar saw the dwarf’s odd departure. â€Å"Where are you off to?† he shouted after him, but battle-hungry Bruenor couldn’t hear the call and wouldn’t have heeded it anyway. Wulfgar couldn’t view the flight of the wild dwarf, but he could approximate Bruenor’s position, or at least where the dwarf had just been, as ogre after ogre doubled over in surprised agony, clutching a knee, hamstring, or groin. Above all of the commotion, those orcs and goblins who weren’t engaged in direct combat kept a watchful eye on Kelvin’s Cairn, awaiting the second resurgence. But, settled now on the lower slopes of the mountain, there was only snow. * * * Lusting for revenge, the fighting men of Caer-Konig and Caer-Dineval brought their ships in under full sail, sliding them up recklessly onto the sands of the shallows to avoid the delays of mooring in deeper waters. They leaped from the boats and splashed ashore, rushing into the battle with a fearless frenzy that drove their opponents away. Once they had established themselves on the land, Jensin Brent brought them together in a tight formation and turned them south. The spokesman heard the fighting far off in that direction and knew that the men of Good Mead and Dougan’s Hole were cutting a swath north to join up with his men. His plan was to meet them on the Eastway and then drive westward toward Bryn Shander with his reinforced numbers. Many of the goblins on this side of the city had long since fled, and many more had gone northwest to the ruins of Cryshal-Tirith and the main fighting. The army of Lac Dinneshere made good speed toward their goal. They reached the road with few losses and dug in to wait for the southerners. * * * Kemp watched anxiously for the signal from the lone ship sailing on the waters of Maer Dualdon. The spokesman from Targos, appointed commander of the forces of the four cities of the lake, had moved cautiously thus far for fear of a heavy assault from the north. He held his men in check, allowing them to fight only the monsters that came to them, though this conservative stance, with the sounds of raging battle howling across the field, was tearing at his adventurous heart. As the minutes had dragged along with no sign of goblin reinforcements, the spokesman had sent a small schooner to run up the coastline and find out what was delaying the occupying force in Termalaine. Then he spied the white sails gliding into view. Riding high upon the small ship’s bow was the signal flag that Kemp had most desired but least expected: The red banner of the catch, though in this instance, it signaled that Termalaine was clear and the goblins were fleeing northward. Kemp ran to the highest spot he could find, his face flushed with a vengeful desire. â€Å"Break the line, boys!† he shouted to his men. â€Å"Cut me a swath to the city on the hill! Let Cassius come back and find us sitting on the doorstep of his town!† They shouted wildly with every step, men who had lost homes and kin and seen their cities burned out from under them. Many of them had nothing left to lose. All that they could hope to gain was a small taste of bitter satisfaction. * * * The battle raged for the remainder of the morning. Man and monster alike lifting swords and spears that seemed to have doubled their weight. Yet exhaustion, though it slowed their reflexes, did nothing to temper the anger that burned in the blood of every combatant. The battlelines grew indistinguishable as the fighting wore on, with troops getting hopelessly separated from their commanders. In many places, goblins and orcs fought against each other, unable, even with a common foe so readily available, to sublimate their long-standing hatred for the rival tribes. A thick cloud of dust enveloped the heaviest concentrations of fighting; the dizzying clamor of steel grating on steel, swords banging against shields, and the expanding screams of death, agony, and victory degenerated the structured clash into an all out brawl. The sole exception was the group of battle-seasoned dwarves. Their ranks did not waver or disintegrate in the least, though Bruenor had not yet returned to them after his strange exit. The dwarves provided a solid platform for the barbarians to strike from and for Wulfgar and his small group to mark for their return. The young king was back among the ranks of his men just as Cassius and his force linked up. The spokesman and Wulfgar exchanged intent stares, neither certain of where he stood with the other. Both were wise enough to trust fully in their alliance for the present, though. Both understood that intelligent foes put aside their differences in the face of a greater enemy. Supporting each other would be the only advantage that the newly banded allies enjoyed. Together, they outnumbered and could overwhelm any individual orc or goblin tribe they faced. And since the goblin tribes would not work in unison, each group had no external support on its flanks. Wulfgar and Cassius, following and supporting each other’s movements, sent out defensive spurs of warriors to hold off perimeter groups, while the main force of the combined army blasted through one tribe at a time. Though his troops had cut down better than ten goblins for every man they had lost, Cassius was truly concerned. Thousands of the monsters had not even come in contact with the humans or raised a weapon yet, and his men were nearly dropping with fatigue. He had to get them back to the city. He let the dwarves lead the way. Wulfgar, also apprehensive about his warriors’ ability to maintain their pace, and knowing that there was no other escape route, instructed his men to follow Cassius and the dwarves. This was a gamble, for the barbarian king wasn’t even certain that the people of Bryn Shander would let his warriors into the city. Kemp’s force had made impressive initial headway in their charge to the slopes of the principle city, but as they neared their goal, they ran up against heavier and more desperate concentrations of humanoids. Barely a hundred yards from the hill, they were bogged down and fighting on all sides. The armies rolling in from the east had done better. Their rush down the Eastway had met with little resistance, and they were the first to reach the hill. They had sailed madly across the breadth of the lakes and ran and fought all the way across the plain, yet Jensin Brent, the lone surviving spokesman of the original four, for Schermont and the two from the southern cities had fallen on the Eastway, would not let them rest. He clearly heard the heated battle and knew that the brave men in the northern fields, facing the mass of Kessell’s army, needed any support they could get. Yet when the spokesman led his troops around the final bend to the city’s north gate, they froze in their tracks and looked upon the spectacle of the most brutal battle they had ever seen or even heard of in exaggerated tales. Combatants battled atop the hacked bodies of the fallen, fighters who had somehow lost their weapons bit and scratched at their opponents. Brent surmised at once that Cassius and his large force would be able to make it back to the city on their own. The armies of Maer Dualdon, though, were in a tight spot. â€Å"To the west!† he cried to his men as he charged toward the trapped force. A new surge of adrenalin sent the weary army in full flight to the rescue of their comrades. On orders from Brent, they came down off of the slopes in a long, side-by-side line, but when they reached the battlefield, only the middle group continued forward. The groups at the ends of the formation collapsed into the middle, and the whole force had soon formed a wedge, its tip breaking all the way through the monsters to reach Kemp’s embattled armies. Kemp’s men eagerly accepted the lifeline, and the united force was soon able to retreat to the northern face of the hill. The last stragglers stumbled in at the same time as the army of Cassius, Wulfgar’s barbarians, and the dwarves broke free of the closest ranks of goblins and climbed the open ground of the hill. Now, with the humans and dwarves joined as one force, the goblins moved in tentatively. Their losses had been staggering. No giants or ogres remained, and several entire tribes of goblins and orcs lay dead. Cryshal-Tirith was a pile of blackened rubble, and Akar Kessell was buried in a frozen grave. The men on Bryn Shander’s hill were battered and wobbly with exhaustion, yet the grim set of their jaws told the remaining monsters unequivocally that they would fight on to their last breath. They had backed into the final corner, there would be no further retreat. Doubts crept into the mind of every goblin and orc that remained to carry on the war. Though their numbers were still probably sufficient to complete the task, many more of them would yet fall before the fierce men of Ten-Towns and their deadly allies would be put down. Even then, which of the surviving tribes would claim victory? Without the guidance of the wizard, the survivors of the battle would certainly be hard-pressed to fairly divide the spoils without further fighting. The Battle of Icewind Dale had not followed the course that Akar Kessell had promised. How to cite The Crystal Shard 30. The Battle of Icewind Dale, Essay examples

Australian Commercial Law

Question: Discuss about theAustralian Commercial Law. Answer: Issue: Whether negligence has occurred on the part of chartered accountant firm, Tom, Jane Co (TJC) while auditing the accounts of Sunflower Bank Limited or not. Rule: Section 5 of the Civil Liability Act, 2002 defines negligence. Negligence has been defined as failure to exercise reasonable care and skill.[1] Under the provisions laid down under Section the harm includes economic loss, personal injury and damage to property. Sub section (1) of Section 5B lays down that a person would not be held liable for negligence if he fails to take precaution against a risk of causing harm to others unless it can be shown that the risk was not unforeseeable the risk was a significant risk and the precaution would have been taken by a reasonable man under similar circumstances to avoid the risk.[2] Sub section (2) of Section 5B lays down that for determining whether precaution would have been taken by a reasonable person against the risk of harm, the factors which the Court would consider are as follows: the possibility of causing of harm in case no precautions were taken the seriousness of the harm likely to arise if such precautions were not taken the burden of taking precautionary measures for avoiding the risk of harm and the social utility of the activity, because of which the risk of harm is created.[3] Section 5D lays down guidelines to determine whether the harm has been caused by negligence or not. The elements which need to be present for determining whether the harm has been caused by negligence or not are as follows: that the harm would not have caused if negligence had not occurred. that it is appropriate for the scope of the negligent persons liability to extend to the harm so caused[4] Application: In the instant case, TJC has committed a grave error while auditing the account of Sunflower Bank Limited. It has failed to detect a $65 million fraud committed by the chief financial officer of the Company and her assistant. Under the terms of the contract which was entered into between TJC and Sunflower Bank Limited, TJC was to audit the account of Sunflower for a period of 4 years. TJC agreed not to take any fee for the first one year. Under the present circumstances, TJC had the duty to exercise reasonable care and skill while auditing the business of Sunflower. The audited accounts were required to be submitted to the Australian Stock Exchange. Thus, the risk involved in the auditing was foreseeable. It was not an insignificant risk as TJC was aware of the consequences of submission of incorrect audited accounts to the Australian Stock Exchange. Had any reasonable person been allowed to take the responsibility of auditing accounts of Sunflower, he would have taken proper precaution to avoid the risk of harm. To determine whether or not a reasonable man would have taken precaution under similar circumstances, the factors to be considered are: Possibility of harm: Auditing of accounts is a very important part of doing business. It is mandatory to submit a true and correct audit to the Australian Stock Exchange. Therefore, any error in auditing would have the possibility of causing harm to the entire business. Seriousness of harm: The harm would be mainly in the form of economic loss to the Company and its shareholders. The value of the shares of the Company would decrease in case an incorrect audited report is submitted to the Australian Stock Exchange. Therefore, there is no doubt regarding the fact that the harm would be a serious one if correct auditing is not done. Burden of taking precaution: There is a burden on every chartered accountant firm to do proper auditing one it undertakes to audit the accounts of some business entity because the entire business of the company is dependent on such auditing. Thus, elements of negligence as required under Section 5B of the Civil Liability Act, 2002 has been fulfilled in the present case. Moreover, the present case also fulfils the requirement under Section 5D. In the instant case, the harm would never have been caused, had the negligence not occurred on the part of TJC. A $65 fraud was ought to have been detected by TJC and the failure to do so has resulted in the loss to the company. Under the circumstances, it would be appropriate to make TJC liable for all the losses suffered Sunflower. Conclusion: In the instant case, negligence has been committed by TJC in auditing the account of Sunflower and hence it is liable for all the losses suffered by Sunflower. Bibliography Barker, Kit, et al.The law of torts in Australia. Oxford University Press, 2012. Beran, Roy G. "SUDEP revisitedA decade on: Have circumstances changed?."Seizure27 (2015): 47-50. Horvath, Michal, and Greg Lauritsen-Damm. "Liability issues in single vehicle accidents."Precedent (Sydney, NSW)114 (2013): 13. Sekendiz, Betul, Robin Ammon, and Daniel P. Connaughton. "An Examination of Waiver Usage and Injury-Related Liability Claims in Health/Fitness Facilities in Australia."Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport26.2 (2016): 144-161.

Pearl Harbor Essays (878 words) - Military History By Country

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor - Brief Look On December 7, 1941 the U.S. troops stationed on the island of Pearl Harbor were not waken up by the familiar sound of a bugle but instead by gunfire and explosions. This is what it might have been like if you were one of the troops at Pearl Harbor. This attack was important because it led to other events in World War II. Some of these events were America's involvement in the war and the dropping of the Atom Bomb at Hiroshima. Between the years of 1920 and 1940 dictators came to power in Germany, Italy, and Japan. The first country to have a dictatorship was Italy. Thier dictator was Benito Mussolini. He became dictator in 1922. Mussolini organized and founded the Fascist party before he became dictator. After thier loss in World War I Germany had severe problems with thier economy. Adolf Hitler and his political party the Nazis promised they would end Germanies problems if Hitler became dictator. The Germans made Hitler thier dictator in 1933. Italy and Germany decided to become allies in 1939. They called themselves the Axis Powers. Japan joined the Axis Powers in 1940. The emperor of Japan at the present time was Emperor Hirohito. After he joined with the Axis Powers he started taking over countries, cities, and island in and around Japan that belonged to countries who opposed the Axis Powers. Joseph Stalin, the ruler of Russia at the present time, sided with Hitler until Hitler double crossed him and tried to take over Russia. After the double cross Stalin decided to side with the Allies. The Allies were the countries that were opposed to the Axis Powers. These countries were Britain, France, the U.S.A., and Russia. The three leaders of the Allied Powers were Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president of the U.S.A., Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain, and Joseph Stalin. After World War II started Japan grew angry with the U.S.A. because they were helping China by sending them war supplies. Japan didn't like this because China was the main target of Japanese attacks. As a result of this Japan decided to take a peace trip to the U.S.A. . They made the trip in November of 1941. During this peace trip Japan made three proposals to the government. These proposals were, to stop aiding China, to stay out of Asian affairs, and to begin shipping oil to Japan right away or Japan would attack the U.S.A. . President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the government of the United States didn't carry out these proposals. As a result of this Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941 at 7:55 AM. The reason they attacked that early was because Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the person in control of the Japanese warships in that area, knew most of the troops at Pearl Harbor would be asleep. The main planes Japan used for the attack were bombers. The number of bombers used was 350. Six aircraft carriers are what these planes were carried on. They chose to use bombers because thier primary objective was to destroy as many ships as possible. They did have one squadron of fighter planes in each wave, however. The reason they did this was because Yamamoto predicted that the troops at Pearl Harbor would be able to a launch a few planes. There were two waves of planes. The first wave of planes were to destroy as many capital ships as possible. Capital ships are ships that are powerful. The planes that were still up and running after the first wave were to join in the second wave. The second wave of planes were to destroy whatever was left after the first wave of planes finished thier mission. These were mostly carrier ships and submarines that were surfaced. During this attack exactly ten major command ships were destroyed. Some of the ships that were destroyed were the U.S.S. Arizona, the Pennsylvania, the Maryland, and the West Virginia. The major results off the bombing of Pearl Harbor were the involvement of the United States in World War II. The second major result was the dropping of the Atom Bomb at Hiroshima in Japan. Harry S. Truman was the

The 3-Step Change Management Process That Will Boost Your Career

The 3-Step Change Management Process That Will Boost Your Career Over the course of 40 years, Dr. John Kotter developed an 8-step change management process. Its scope is incredible. And its worked in organizations big and small for decades. Do you want to lead change in your team, your company, or even in your own life? If so, theres huge value there. As marketers, though, we can take a leaner approach and apply it even faster even by the time youre done reading this post. This post is for you if you want to: Lead lasting change in your marketing team, Transform the way you (and your team) work, And become more productive than ever. The 3-Step Change Management Process That Will Boost Your Career by @jordan_loftis via @The 3-Step Change Management Process That Will Boost Your Career You will learn three simple steps to leading (and sustaining) change. Create a sense of urgency. Take action and find quick wins. Go back through the loop to sustain momentum. As youll see, each step is directly driven by your teams goal. At , we talk a lot about goals why? Theyre incredibly important. In fact, our own research shows marketers who set goals are 429% more likely to be successful than those who dont. Im not talking about fluffy New Years resolutions, either. (^^^ After all, the University of Scranton found that 92% of people who make those resolutions dont hit them.) Instead, were tackling specific and challenging goals, which the classic study, Goal Setting And Task Performance, found was a linchpin of success. Specific means there is a number and a deadline on your calendar. Challenging means it will achieve significant growth in your team, organization, or personal career. For example, you may want to leverage this change management process to revolutionize the way your team works. Leverage this change management process to revolutionize the way your team works.The Specific And Challenging Goal To Fuel Your Change Management Process We work with thousands of marketers in over 100 countries. Our customers range from companies like Microsoft to agencies and lean marketing teams. One thing unites them all: they are done with the old, outmoded, crappy way marketing works. Theyre sick of endless spreadsheets Theyre over confusing email threads Theyve had it with single-function tools that werent built for marketers in the first place We call the old way of doing things  makeshift marketing. And it refers to mashing disconnected tools into one martech stack. And thousands of smart marketers are sick of letting it gobble up their budgets and productivity. While thousands have defeated this ugly beast its taken a dead-serious approach to do so. In this case, setting the specific and challenging goal of  transforming from the old way things worked, to the new way. You have to overcome the reality of change aversion. This is our natural inclination to resist change and even to reject a new solution as bad because its different. You have to fight this in your team - and even in yourself. Setting a specific and challenging goal is your first step. It might look something like this: We will refine all of our marketing processes for maximum efficiency by July 1, 2018. Your goal specifically outlines the change youre after AND puts a date on the calendar. This is the focusing force of your new change management process: Create a sense of urgency around accomplishing your goal. Enable action toward your goal by racking up quick wins. Sustain positive momentum even after your goal is accomplished. Step One: Create A Sense Of Urgency First up, lets talk urgency. Recently, I met with my boss, our head of demand generation. Id been working on a project with a pretty important goal. And while I was working hard, my progress didnt have quite the velocity we needed it to. So we had a frank conversation. He told me, Were accelerating the timeline. Were hitting your goal this week, not next month. Thats right my roadmap had a few weeks left to make the project successful. After this conversation, there was just five days! Thankfully, Nathan didnt simply dump an impossible deadline on my shoulders. He offered to go shoulder to shoulder and help accelerate growth. And in just five days, we accomplished what Id planned on achieving in weeks. How did we do this? Urgency. Urgency is a force or impulse that impels or constrains. And its a productive marketers secret weapon. It makes you focus, prioritize, and then act. Urgency makes you focus, prioritize, and then act.How To Create A Sense Of Urgency With Loss Aversion Now, what is your goal? There are many levers to pull to increase urgency in accomplishing it but the most powerful is loss aversion. Research has shown: For human beings â€Å"losses loom larger than gainsand the pain of losing is psychologically about twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining. (Kahneman Tversky, 1979) If youve ever done any conversion copywriting, you understand this. People prefer to avoid loss rather than acquiring equivalent gains. For example, whats more compelling to you not losing $100 you have? or gaining $100 you dont have? Psychologically, we work harder to avoid loss than to make gains. This is the first lever you can pull to create a sense of urgency. Ask yourself: What will I lose if I dont meet [your goal] by [specific date]? The bigger the goal, the more you have to lose by not hitting it. As depressing as this may sound, its actually invigorating to see whats really at stake if you (and your team) do not change. Step Two: Enable Action With Minimum Viable Marketing (MVM) Next in our change management process, take action and get to quick wins with minimum viable marketing. It helps you quickly test ideas to learn what works - and what doesnt - before you heavily invest into marketing campaigns or projects destined for failure. In Garrett Moons new book,  10x Marketing Formula, he devotes an entire chapter to Minimum Viable Marketing (MVM). He explains: The MVM concept stems from the minimum viable product (MVP) methodology, which was popularized in the world of startups by Eric Ries in a book called The Lean Startup. At their essence, MVPs are a way of quickly validating business ideas by producing the minimum number of features to satisfy early customer or audience needs. The MVP process decreases risk by testing assumptions against reality. For our simple change management process, MVM is the perfect framework for action. First, because it enables you and your team to rack up quick wins that get fast results and build momentum. Second, because it actually allows you to decrease long-term risk by testing ideas in small before you roll them out in large. Heres an excellent example Garrett cites in  10x Marketing Formula: Use A Minimum Viable Project Mentality In 1981 American Airlines was in dire financial straits. They were low on cash and high on expenses. This is never a good place to be. To pull themselves from the money pit, they cooked up what seemed a clever, homerun of a marketing campaign. To get millions dripping into their coffers, they offered  unlimited first-class travel for life  for $250,000. To most of us, a quarter-million bucks sounds steep (and it’s roughly $600,000 in today’s dollars). However, to the consumers who spend as much time in the air as they do on the ground, this was an incredibly good deal. A  Los Angeles Times interview  recounts one of the frequent flyers who took advantage of this deal: â€Å"We thought originally it would be something that firms would buy for top employees,† said Bob Crandall, American’s chairman and chief executive from 1985 to 1998. â€Å"It soon became apparent that the public was smarter than we were.† The unlimited passes were bought mostly by wealthy individuals, including baseball Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays, America’s Cup skipper Dennis Conner and computer magnate Michael Dell. Mike Joyce of Chicago bought his in 1994 after winning a $4.25-million settlement after a car accident. In one 25-day span this year, Joyce flew round trip to London 16 times, flights that would retail for more than $125,000. He didn’t pay a dime. â€Å"I love Rome, I love Sydney, I love Athens,† Joyce said by phone from the Admirals Club at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. â€Å"I love Vegas and Frisco.† American Airlines soon went upside down on this big bet- and they still kept it going for nearly ten years! Oops. This historic marketing blunder is a good lesson for us 10x marketers. Because this story is far from an isolated incident. Here’s how it goes. A giant X-factor company puts loads of money into a big campaign. Problem is, this campaign does more harm than good. And whether money is lost from lack of sales, or poorly projected financial impact, the big bet goes belly up. So, test your assumptions by building in stages to learn as quickly as possible. Use MVM In 3 Steps With The Lean Feedback Loop This method of MVM capitalizes on what startups call a â€Å"lean feedback loop.† It works in three stages: Build it. What projects or ideas will do you believe will help you quickly reach your goal? What lean version of this idea can you launch to test it and get quick results? Measure it. Is the idea working? What key data points who if youre toward your goal, remaining stagnant, or even shrinking? Learn from it. Based on key metrics is the idea working, and therefore worth investing more time, energy, and resources into? By working the change management process in this way, youll notice you are concerned with learning as much as winning. Learning is winning. Lets look at some example projects Launching A Podcast With A Lean Loop Build: Smartphone recording of pilot podcast episode shared as a key blog post. Measure: Measure traffic, number of listens or downloads, and listen to comments. Learn: Will a podcast be a viable marketing channel between us and our target audience at this stage? Timeline: One week. Rebranding With A Lean Loop Build: Start with core positioning statements, value propositions, and key messaging. Measure: Present the messaging to sales and target customers on calls for one week to gauge resonance. Record all calls for the marketing team to review. Learn: If the messaging is clear and relevant, continue to the next stages. But repeat this process of testing each major element before investing further. Timeline: One week. Adopting New Marketing Strategy, Processes, Or Tools Build:  Get a free demo of the software with a real person. Ask questions specifically about how it would work for your team. Then,  hold a kickoff meeting with your team to introduce them to the new tool. Measure: Set benchmarks for success. What results are you working for? What numbers will tell you if your new tool is growing them? Learn: Look at the data and make the call. Does your team like the process? Has your tool made your life easier? Are you getting closer to your goals? Timeline: Two weeks. Step Three: Sustain The Momentum Of Your Change Management Process Now that youve gotten results, its time to sustain the momentum youve created. There are tons of amazing books to help you get better marketing results There are game-changing marketing strategies you can adopt There are clever ways to 10x your ROI in short order but the truth is, none of it matters if you dont maintain the results youre getting. This third step is the most important. Why? If you rest on yesterdays success, you will be tomorrows failure. Thankfully, this can be the easiest part of the process. To sustain momentum, propel your team back into the process of urgency and action.

Identifying Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences

Identifying Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences The two main types of series/sequences are arithmetic and geometric. Some sequences are neither of these. It’s important to be able to identify what type of sequence is being dealt with. An arithmetic series is one where each term is equal the one before it plus some number. For example: 5, 10, 15, 20, †¦ Each term in this sequence equals the term before it with 5 added on.   In contrast, a geometric sequence is one where each term equals the one before it multiplied by a certain value. An example would be 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, †¦ Each term is equal to the prior one multiplied by 2. Some sequences are neither arithmetic nor geometric. An example would be 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, †¦The terms in this sequence all differ by 1, but sometimes 1 is being added and other times it is being subtracted, so the sequence is not arithmetic. Also, there is no common value being multiplied by one term to get the next, so the sequence cannot be geometric, either. Arithmetic sequences grow very slowly in comparison with geometric sequences. Try Identifying What Type of Sequences Are Shown Below 1. 2, 4, 8, 16, †¦ 2. 3, -3, 3, -3, ... 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, †¦ 4. -4, 1, 6, 11, 16, †¦ 5. 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, †¦ 6. 9, 18, 36, 72, †¦ 7. 7, 5, 6, 4, 5, 3, †¦ 8. 10, 12, 16, 24, †¦ 9. 9, 6, 3, 0, -3, -6, †¦ 10. 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, †¦ Solutions 1. Geometric with common ratio of 2 2. Geometric with common ratio of -1 3. Arithmetic with common value of 1 4. Arithmetic with common value of 5 5. Neither geometric nor arithmetic 6. Geometric with common ratio of 2 7. Neither geometric nor arithmetic 8. Neither geometric nor arithmetic 9. Arithmetic with common value of -3 10. Either arithmetic with common value of 0 or geometric with common ratio of 1

Imagery and Symbolism in Surfacing by Margaret Atwood Essay

Imagery and Symbolism in Surfacing by Margaret Atwood - Essay Example From this research it is clear that authors use symbolism because of their hidden and deeper meanings. Atwood uses American images showing how Americans were invading and ruining Canada. The Americans put missile silos, filled the villages with tourist cabins, and left trashes everywhere. Atwood describes the growth and expansion of American as the cause of cultural infiltration. The narrator of the story calls Americans having a brain disease, relating their identity with behavior disregard rather than of nationalism. According to Atwood, an American is someone who involves himself in unnecessary violence, likes technology, and misuses resources. David argues that he hates Americans, but he likes baseball and he tends to imitate Woody Woodpecker, a funny human like cartoon character. Atwood further describes American expansion as psychologically corrupt and destructive. On the contrary, she believes she should have acted as one. In page 24, she says, â€Å"†¦.I see I’ve made a mistake, I should have pretended to be an American†. The narrator keeps on mentioning power several times in his story showing that he is actively in such of it. In the fourth chapter, Atwood remembers her thoughts that a certain plant seeds would make her more powerful. In Chapter 19, the narrator also says that doctors pretend that children’s birth is because of their power and not the mothers’ ability. The authors asserts, â€Å"the power from my father’s intercession wasn’t enough to protect me, it gave only knowledge†¦.†. This shows how the author presents men as more powerful. ... The authors asserts, â€Å"the power from my father’s intercession wasn’t enough to protect me, it gave only knowledge†¦.†(Atwood 168). This shows how the author presents men as more powerful In the fifteenth chapter, Atwood remembers herself pretending to be a powerful and helpless animal. She later puts much emphasizes on the quest of â€Å"the power†. She claims that, ever since her birth, she has been receiving isolations and emotional disturbance from the unfair religious and gender roles. She later gains her say by promising not to be powerless. She later comes to understand that, for one to be a good member of the society, one must learn on how to love and communicate. Symbolism The Barometer Atwood portrays barometer’s symbol through Paul’s wooden barometer. In page 40, she says, â€Å"†¦like the wooden man and woman in the barometer house at Paul’s†. Assessment of the barometer symbolizes her attitudes towards marriage. Atwood finally compares the barometer couples with Paul and Madame, which according to her means empty marriage. She notes that Paul and Madame seem wooden. The narrator even compares the image of barometer symbol with that of her parents sawing a portion of birch. The birch image is good because Atwood relates birches with the undestroyed nature. The image of the barometer also symbolizes unrealistic and unattainable type of romance, although her parents have true love. The Hanged Heron The use of Hanged Heron represents the America way of a destructive nature. The narrator keeps on thinking about the senselessness of her slaughter, knowing that it was hanged instead of being buried. Atwood uses the Heron’s death to

Two brothers one sister Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Two brothers one sister - Essay Example My brother, Saleh and I hated studying because we saw it as a hindrance to our time and activities together. We were not able to see each other as often as before and we had less time playing together and telling stories. Moreover, our sister started staying away from us more often because she fell in love with books. She was always excited to go to school which made me and my brother stick even closer together, spending more time with our toys than our books. Although our sister, Naelh loved school so much, she still joined us during our play when she got tired of looking at her boring books. On our part, we always entertained her and gladly took he chance of her presence as she actively participated in our activities. When we got a little older, my sister who was always the bookworm and serious type asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Saleh and I were silent for a moment and pretended to ponder about her question in silence. Without really considering the matter until then, I threw the question back to our sister who went into a dreamy state telling her dreams of becoming a doctor so that she could help other people especially those who are helpless in the state of being seriously sick. She then went on to describe how she is mapping her future by studying really hard, doing her best in school for her to achieve high grades and someday go to college to pursue Medicine. Her excitement and convictions seemed to us a part of her being a female so we just let it pass that time and went on hating our studies. We came to like the school, though because we were able to make new friends there and get to see beautiful girls. Studying for us was just a matter of showing respect and obedience tow ards our parents who always wanted the best for us. On March 6, 2005, my sister was involved in a car accident which caused her early and unexpected death. Shock struck us that time because we never thought she would leave us in such a manner, having