China's energy technology and how it affects the United States Research Paper

China's energy technology and how it affects the United States - Research Paper Example The Chinese economy have shown remarkable strength and resiliency throughout the economic crisis and has likewise shown significant strength when recovery started to set in. However, the United States remain shackled down by systemic risks since the crisis basically crippled the banking sector of the US. Among the positive contributors to the resiliency of the Chinese economy was the strong domestic demand that has been instrumental in ensuring consumption and therefore economic growth. This has been brought about by the fact that China has the highest population in the world which the Central Intelligence Agency (2011) estimates to about 1.3 billion. On the other end, the United States has over .3 billion which places it at the third spot over the world. Looking at the population alone, it is easy to surmise that these countries are also the most voracious energy consumers in the world. However, the recent acceleration of the Chinese economy has prompted the government to be more se rious in tackling the energy demand of the country. This is a basic necessity since this is a basic requirement for continued economic growth. Hence, it has been a pressing concern for the Chinese to improve their capability to power their economy which includes renewable energy sources from the sun and the wind. Likewise, this has been instrumental in pushing China past the United States in terms of energy consumption (IEA, 2010). Main Body Economic recovery and Energy Sustainability The recovery of the global economy has been coupled by the increased arousal to the reality of global warming. Likewise, the fact that fossil fuels will eventually run out has been increasingly gaining traction on economic, social, political and even in military dialogues worldwide. As a matter of fact, world leaders have inked the Copenhagen agreement in order to lessen emissions from green house gases (World Energy Outlook, 2010). This is a significant agreement since the environmental symptoms of gl obal warming has been growing more severe. Likewise, in order to ensure economic growth and stability, countries would do well to veer away from the traditional power source of fossil fuels. This has significantly boosted demand for renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind energy. More so, the economic growth of China has necessitated additional power producing capabilities. Over the last generation, China has increased its power output by about 53 gigawatts (gw) per year (Campbell 2011). Given the high population and the increasing investments to further grow their economy, China has really stepped up its efforts and investments in renewable energy. According to Wong (2010), China has been significantly pouring funds for renewable energy. Basically, the Chinese hopes to be ahead of the curve when it comes to generating new ways to harness renewable energy as well as to be able to make it available for consumption and actually making its economy able to utilize it. Furt hermore, China has significantly moved away from the coal dependent economy that is, although growing industrially, manufactures only low value goods that are mainly dependent on labor. Nowadays, despite still being a predominantly agricultural economy, China has been re-cast as an advanced economy with an increasingly sophisticated economy coupled by the

Factors That Has Helped Four Seasons Hotel Tourism Essay

Factors That Has Helped Four Seasons Hotel Tourism Essay The main reason behind the preparation of this assignment is to analyse the case study about the factors that has helped Four Seasons hotel to succeed initially and understanding and appreciating the different growth strategies that are adopted and implemented by Four Seasons in order to be one of the successful operating company in hospitality industry. This assignment also discusses the various downturns that the hospitality industry has faced over the years and how Four Seasons dealt with the situation in order to survive in the business. Moreover, in the assignment, the unique business model of Four Seasons hotel is compared and relate to different theories such as value chain analysis which shows how Four Seasons hotel is able to manage their stakeholders expectations. In addition, I have given some recommendations for Four Seasons hotel, to sustain in the hotel business. Company Profile: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the worlds leading operator of luxury hotels with a history spanning four decades and a portfolio that extended worldwide. It is one of the worlds biggest and finest chains of luxury hotels which have developed from one motel started by Isadore sharp 1961 in downtown Toronto Canada, to 82 luxury hotel properties in 34 countries worldwide. Four Seasons owns its own hotels, principally under the Four Seasons and Regent names, as well as some others, including the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago and the Pierre in New York. About half the companys earnings come from management fees, and half of it from properties it owns directly. Their highly admired service quality helped them to become benchmark in luxury hotel market. The basic operational policy of Four Seasons hotel is Treat others as you would like to be treated. Highest quality of service to the customers is acquired by Four Seasons by maintaining and improving their service standards also with an innovative approach and continuous development and an eye for detail every single time of service. The company shifted from hotel owner to hotel operator in 1990s the companys 95% of the shares are owned by Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft and Al-Waleed Bin Talal (Prince of Saudi Arabia equally). Rest of the shares are owned by Isadore sharp CEO and company founder. Establishment of Four Seasons: Four Seasons Hotel Chain was founded in 1961, by visionary Isadore sharp with the opening of 126 rooms Inn on the Park in downtown Canada. Sharp was a degree holder in architecture and not from a hotel management background thus Sharp was totally new to the Hotel Business. Sharp describes himself a builder who joined his fathers business after graduation. Joining a hotel industry business was not at all in his mind or his intention till he was working on a project to build a motel. He got an exposure with the motel project and he realised about the upcoming market of luxury hotels. The need of personalised service round the clock with the booming economy made him take a decision to get into Hotel business. The hotel he opened is named as The Four Seasons motor hotel which he opened with the help from his brother in law. The hotel became famous amongst the business travellers and celebrities as it had a innovative design it was different from other hotels as he built all rooms facing inwards giving a view of inner courtyard and swimming pool instead of the outside neighbourhood. Growth and expansion: With the initial success of his first hotel, the big break through which Isadore Sharp was waiting for came in 1970 by opening first Four Seasons Hotel in Hyde Park area of London. Comparatively the room rates were higher than the competitors in the 270 room hotel but then also Four Seasons enjoyed 95% occupancy through out the year. The success came with an innovative idea of hotel equipped with latest amenities unlike old traditional hotels in London. In 1972, Sharp opened a massive 1600 room hotel convention centre in Toronto, Canada in partnership with Sheraton. It took a long time to complete the project, almost 10 years. In 1980 the economy was booming and the demand for luxury hotels increased , and thus Sharp started building hotels across the North America, later in almost every major US city, also to take an advantage of real estate deals. In three decades by 1990, Four Seasons already opened 23 hotels in three countries with net earnings of $15 million. Four Seasons became Global leader in 1992 with acquisition of Regent International hotels. further strong financial base to build and buy hotel properties worldwide came in 1994 when Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal bought 25% of companys shares. They also signed a contract with Carlson Hospitality to develop and expand regent brand worldwide through establishing management contracts and franchising agreements. Initial Success Factors of Four Seasons: To combine best of small hotels with the best of large hotels Isadore Sharp He came up with the idea of opening the medium sized hotels which was enough to give a touch of personalised service providing with a range of luxury amenities and services. Running business from Customers Perspective: The most effective initial strategy for Sharp was to look at the business from customers point of view. He was a innovative thinker to fulfil customers needs in terms of luxury. Example When Four Seasons came into existence the trend was to use flimsy towels in bathroom, he replaced that we 100% cotton towels which worked really well. With experience of opening the first hotel, Sharp realised customers are ready to spend for one thing thats service. And as Four seasons most guest were business travellers and with the experience he came to a conclusion that for them Service means luxury. Luxury Redefined: Maintaining high quality service can also be a brand if delivered constantly according to Sharp. This idea provided him with the initial success in medium sized luxury hotels which gives commitment of providing homelike comforts and personalised service. Thus luxury was redefined as Service and not as decor and architecture. Quality of service comes before the hotel decor and architecture for the customers. As most of the customers for Four Seasons were business travellers Sharp commented They are mostly executives, often under pressure fighting jet lag, stress and the clock. We decided to redefine luxury as service. Thus the key towards Customer satisfaction was achieved by Sharp and he knew what the customers wanted unmatched service quality will give them competitive edge. Although Four Seasons charge 20% extra room rate than the closest competitors but still they were successful of maintaining high occupancy rates. Further Sharp wanted the highest personalised service quality for the guest which was possible only if employees are motivated and happy they will deliver it. Thus employee motivation, mutual respect and empowerment played a vital role in achieving customer satisfaction. And thus he introduced the golden rule. Golden rule: Sharp refer to his first business rule as Golden rule treat your customers as you want to be treated. This became the operational policy for Four Seasons. Every employee is a member of customer service and in charge of it. And he believed employees are the most important part of Four Seasons hotel because there is very limited time in which service encounter takes place unlike other industries. And the employee has to give his best to maintain proper service standards thus lot of screening and interviews are done to ensure the right candidate is selected for right job. Innovation: Innovation contributed a lot in the initial success of Four Seasons. Most of the luxurious amenities and services like Shampoo in the shower, bathrobes, 24 hour room service, two- line phone in guest room, pressing iron, 24 hour secretarial service, big well lit desk were the First to be introduced by Sharp and Four Seasons. The Custom made mattresses is now became the standard of luxury hotels which was Sharps favourite. Vision of Isadore Sharp: Provide each and every thing in the guest room that will make the customer happy. Growth Strategies adopted by four seasons: Initial success for Four Seasons did built a platform for them to grow world wide. It created a network of mid sized luxury hotel in almost all key financial cities all over the world. During this process Four Seasons adopted many different growth strategies as follows: Brand name is competitive advantage: The biggest asset for Four Seasons group was their brand name which was not responsible for their initial success but also a part of their global expansion strategy. The core business strategy for four seasons was to continuously improve their market position and profitability to ensure the competitive advantage while obtaining new management contracts worldwide. Strategic relationship with investors: With the help of strategic relationships with many small private institutions earlier helped them to expand their opportunities worldwide. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bought 25% of company shares and with his major investments in Four Seasons which helped them to enter in new markets as well the ownership was not of Four seasons so it served their primary objective of being a management company. From Hotel owner to Hotel operators: Their unique business development model stated they wanted to be a hotel chain operator than hotel chain owner. It has ownership of only three hotels out of their sixty three hotels. Under this unique business model Four seasons hotel doesnt have a burden of ownership, the major capital is brought by the partners with whom Four Seasons developed strategic relationships. There is wide range of management fees (base fee, incentive fee, sales and marketing charge and reservation charge) for providing these services to the owner. How Four Seasons responded to economic downturns? Four Seasons faced economic downturns in different years in four decades 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 in the following years 74, 81, 91, 2001. And all of them made a significant impact on Four seasons strategy. The hotel business during the time of recession were mainly affected by Increased interest rates and Decrease in market prices With the increased airfares and the increased occupancy rates the tourism was badly affected. Executives of the company were travelling less and the leisure facilities were decreased for the executives which affected the hotel and tourism market. Furthermore increased terrorism affected hotel and tourism market. There were drastic steps taken by different hotel operators by cutting labour cost, lowering prices buy Four seasons believed that the industry is going to return to normal soon and Isadore Sharp adopted exactly the other way. He took the challenge during the time of recession and saw the opportunity to develop the hotels. He told his executives about his thoughts that when our competitors are lowering standards we will raise ours The different actions taken by Four Seasons as an answer to economic downturns are: Four Seasons followed their words to look after their employees: During the time of recession most of the hotel operators cut down their labour cost but Four Seasons tackled the situation the other way, they responded by cutting the overhead costs but not the labour costs. They aimed for maximizing labours value instead of lowering labour cost. Sharp explained this strategy to his executives, And we also know that what we must do to meet that goal, is to lower costs and raise service and product quality. But cutting costs and raise service and product quality. But cutting costs by cutting labour, if carried too far, lowers quality. The only way these seemingly conflicting aims can be reconciled is by responsible employees committed to working smarter. Instead of minimizing labours cost we should maximize labours value: by convincing our employees that our purpose merits commitment. Four seasons offered Flexible Contracts to the employees rather than job cut, in which employees will be called on duty as per the demand of the business which replaced working four days a week instead of five days a week. It was in the agreement of the employees and all the employees were in favour of the decision furthermore the salaries and the bonuses of the managers was also affected. This all resulted in sharing a common policy in heading towards companys goals. Improving the products: Most of the hotel operators paused the construction or running of a hotel for a temporary period but the property business is really high during the time of recession because the properties are sold out on lower rates thus Four Seasons tackled the situation by renovation and refurbishment to improve the products. Isadore Sharp believed that providing quality service to the guest are a necessity and not a service by itself. And if the hotel wants to sustain in the market the new trends in the hotel industries should be followed to keep up with the market. Thus to accommodate these changes and provide customers with quality service. During recession the room occupancy is the lowest thus the inconvenience caused to the guests are very less and thus the guests get a royal out of the world service. They followed this strategy during recession period which gave them a steady growth over the decade. Advertising costs: Most of the competitors of Four Seasons hotel kept cutting their advertising and marketing costs, but Four Seasons didnt cut their advertising and marketing budget to maintain the brand recognition as they had a very good recognition in the Hospitality industry. It is easy to maintain the momentum rather than restart it. This strategy helped them to gain a competitive edge over their competitors in maintaining their brand recognition. Property market: During recession the supply in the market for the land was than the demand on low prices. Four seasons took the advantage of low prices of the land and they picked the premium locations which would have been difficult to buy them in normal times. Thus this strategy paid off to Four Seasons during the time of recession and they came with the finest of the hotels in top locations after recession. How four seasons managed various stakeholder expectations? Stakeholder: Person, group, or organization that has direct or indirect stake in organization because it can affect or be affected by the organizations actions, objectives, and policies. (www. businessdictionary.com) There are three most important aspects of managing stakeholder expectations: Know your stakeholders Know what exactly they except from you Make them accountable for realities of project by making them aware of risks and consequences. (According to Dr. James Brown, president of the project management company Seba Solutions). Different stake holders of Four Seasons hotel are Stakeholders play a vital role for a company to survive thus the company or organisation needs to implement a strategy for managing their stakeholder expectations. Thus Four seasons implemented following strategy for managing their stakeholder expectations: STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT Managing the stakeholders expectation is a step by step process: After identification of stakeholders, the second step is to identify their needs. Needs and expectations of the stakeholders of Four seasons can be described as follows: Owners: Returns on investment by profit Management: Management fees on the basis of gross revenue. Employees: Empowerment, Career opportunities and job security. Customers: High quality service and luxury. Society: Corporate social responsibility. Their strategy to manage stakeholder expectations can be summarised with relation to value chain analysis as well value_chain_analysis Value chain analysis is a concept to create competitive advantage and sustaining superior performance. Owner: Expectation of the owners are really high on returns in terms of profit because they are the one who made the capital investment in the projects. The different aspects of value chain used by four season hotels are like Infrastructure of the hotel, the most innovative idea of the initial strategy was to come up with medium sized hotels, and it worked really well. It was made possible and successful by Isadore Sharp who was the degree holder in architecture and he knew the latest designs of buildings and hotels like building rooms facing inwards to avoid view of neighbourhood made significant contribution to it. These innovative designs really helped Four Seasons to come up with the highest occupancy among the travellers. Thus they were successful in managing owners expectations by giving returns on their investments in less time. Management: To ensure a good gross revenue it is vital to get higher occupancy with good average room rate throughout the year. Sales and Marketing and technology come into picture from Value chain analysis. The marketing strategy for Four season hotel is to target the luxury segment of the market. 69% of their business comes from business travellers and groups. So almost all of their advertising and marketing programmes were designed to enhance the awareness of luxury service provided by Four seasons hotel. Technology played a vital part in achieving their goal by newly designed website and superior reservation system. They gained an advantage over other hotels by Global reservation system which gave an option to the guests to be comfortable with their own local language in North America, Asia and European Network. Example: There are so many hotels in Hyde Park area but over 30 years Four Seasons has gained and enjoyed the highest occupancy in the area with their strategy. Employees: Employees expect Mutual respect and Empowerment from Four season hotel. Employees are the most important stakeholders of the organisation, if they are happy to work for the organisation the whole business cycle can run smoothly, If Employees are happy then the customers are happy with their service it leads to word of mouth publicity and the organisation gets a repeat business. Employees deserve a mutual respect from the management. Human Resource Management from value chain ensures that employees should get what they deserve and expect. And most importantly the Golden Rule of Four Seasons is treat others as you would like to be treated also they believe that if employees are happy then only they can make customers happy. Four Seasons has maintained empowering their employees, and the best outcome and results can be obtained from their employees by empowering them. Im sure weve all read reports on the productivity gains achieved by empowering employees. And we all know the workplace has to change to attain this. And in a survey of 264 big company chairman, 62 percent agreed that one of the most important business issues facing them was building and keeping a qualified workforce. -Isadore Sharp d.) Customers: The expectation of the customers is very high as Four Seasons targets luxury segment of market. Service factor from Value Chain is wisely utilized by Four Seasons to manage expectations of luxury for the customers. They redefined luxury as service. Four Seasons gained a competitive edge by provided high standard of service with personalised touch. Customers got what they expected from Four Seasons. And they are very successful in making customers happy. E.) Society: As Society expects some corporate social responsibility(CRS) from all the hotels and organisation, their expectation for four seasons towards society is really high as well. CSR includes encouraging activities for development of society and avoiding practices which causes harm to the environment. Four Seasons explain how they help and take initiative towards community by various training and mentoring programmes for young people and helping whoever in need in their website www.fourseasons.com . Example: They donate organic food to local farmers to feed their animals (Costa Rica) and also providing shelter camps to Urban Elephants(Golden Triangle, Thailand), Raising significant funds for cancer research and awareness programmes. Recommendation: Four Seasons has a strong portfolio in the Hotel Industry but to sustain they should focus on few things which are as follows: Four Seasons should concentrate on building more brands and focus on all the categories like upper-scale, middle and budget hotels. Unlike Accor group of hotel they have segmented their hotels and created a brand focusing the needs of its customers such as Etap, Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel etc. To compete with other leading brands Four Seasons should come up with more hotels all over the world for more brand recognition and for customers to have a taste of their service. Furthermore Four Seasons should continue the effective management of the hotel the way they are doing it to sustain in the market. CONCLUSION With the base of the case study and research on Four seasons hotel, Canadian based business has an excellent brand recognition all over the world. The company is moving ahead with excellence along with strong financial and operational management. Different innovative ideas of Four Seasons hotel helped them grow in this hospitality business over the years furthermore during the time of recession Four Seasons hotel did really well, thus it says Fours Seasons Hotel has turned economic down turn to a competitive advantage over their competitors by coming up with different properties with prime location after recession (they responded very well to economic downturn). They took the down turn as an opportunity to expand and thus they are achieving excellence in their business.

Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth: Pure Evil? Essay -- Shakespeares Lady Mac

  Ã‚   Next to Macbeth himself, Lady Macbeth is the penultimate person in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. And though she does not survive to the end, her influence on Macbeth lasts throughout the play. She is the most influential person in Macbeth's downfall, next to the witches. However, her relationship with him goes far deeper then that of the witches. It is my belief that the witches act only as a trigger to start the events in the play, and that Lady Macbeth herself was the driving force behind Macbeth's actions. It is she who he contacts when he meets the witches, and immediately trusts her with the prophecy he is given. The relationship between Macbeth and his wife is paramount to the understanding of a major theme of this play. At first it would appear to be an equal partnership. However, I believe Lady Macbeth was the dominant of the two character; she could have persuaded Macbeth to do anything if she so wished. And though she does not openly exercise her power over him in public, in private she often uses humiliation and emotional bribery to manipulate Macbeth to execute her will. The first scene in which we see Lady Macbeth is Act 1 Scene 5, in the first half of which she is reading the letter sent by Macbeth about his meeting with the witches, and about half way through Macbeth, himself enters, having caught up with the messenger who delivered the letter. Immediately we see the nature of her relationship with Macbeth, and have a strong sense of her character. The first thing that you notice of course, is that Lady Macbeth is reading a letter that must have been written mere hours after the events contained happened. It is a letter from Macbeth, containing potentially treasonous information about his meeting with the... ...Barbara Mowat and Paul  Ã‚   Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.   Works Consulted Bradley A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy 1912 pp. 468-9 Curry, Walter. Shakespeare s Philosophical Patterns. London: Mass Peter  Ã‚   Smith, 1968. Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakepeare, New York, Viking Publishing, 1993. Harbage, Alfred, Macbeth, Middlesex England, Penguin Publishing, 1956. Magill, Masterplots- Volume 6, New Jersey, Salem Press, 1949. Paul, Henry N. The Royal Play of Macbeth 1950 pp. 213-17 Schlegel, August Wilhelm.   Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.  Ã‚     Ã‚   Steevens, George. Shakespeare, The Critical Heritage. Vol. 6. London:  Ã‚   Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.  Ã‚   Wills, Gary. Lady Macbeth and Evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Critical thinking Essay

1. What do the authors mean by â€Å"templates†? It means that you can use right away to structure and even generate your own writing. 2. What does critical thinking require? It requires the questioning of assumptions, develop strong claims, offer supporting reasons and evidence, and consider opposing arguments. 3. How would you describe the difference between â€Å"arguing† and â€Å"entering† a conversation? In â€Å"arguing†, you assert the views of yourself and when you â€Å"enter the conversation†, you present the views of other people. 4. What famous argument do the authors use as an example? Martin Luther King Jr’s â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† 5. Using the 1st template on page 9, fill in the blanks with a controversial topic that interests you. He claims that gay marriages are acceptable, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I agree that a gay marriage is a commitment. On the other hand, I still insist that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. 6. What do the authors mean by a â€Å"larger conversation† and how are you supposed to use it as a writer? In particular, read page 19 carefully. â€Å"Larger conversation† helps the writer show what the information is responding to the point of the thesis. 7. What suggestions do the authors make for starting your paper? Start with what others are saying as in the title of the chapter recommends. 8. Isolate 10 templates you might actually use in your writing and explain the function of each. * Americans have always believed that __________________. * Conventional wisdom has it that ______________________. * Common sense seems to dictate that ___________________. * The standard way of thinking about topic X has it that _____. * It is often said that _________________________________. * My whole life I have heard it said that __________________. * You would think that ______________________________. * Many people assume that ___________________________. * I’ve always believed that ___________________________. * When I was a child, I used to think that ________________. 9. Define â€Å"return sentence.† A sentence that returns to the motivating â€Å"They say†. 10. On page 29, the author describes the qualities of a good summary. What are they? A good summary requires balancing the writing when the author writes and emphasizing those aspects of what the author is trying to say. 11. From each of the verb categories listed on page 37, select 5 that you think you might actually use in an argument. * Argue * Observe * Claim * Emphasize * Believe 12. According to the authors, why is it important to quote others? Quotes give tremendous amount of credit to the summary and also helps make sure it’s fair or equal. 13. Briefly summarize what the authors have to say about the relevant quotations. You need to have a sense of what you want to do with the quotations. 14. Give 5 examples of templates used for introducing quotations. * According to X, â€Å"_____________________.† * X Himself writes, â€Å"____________________.† * In her book, _______, X maintains that â€Å"___.† * X agrees when she writes, â€Å"______________.† * X complicates matters further when she writes, â€Å"______.†

Digital Fortress Chapter 9

Systems security technician Phil Chartrukian had only intended to be inside Crypto a minute-just long enough to grab some paperwork he'd forgotten the day before. But it was not to be. After making his way across the Crypto floor and stepping into the Sys-Sec lab, he immediately knew something was not right. The computer terminal that perpetually monitored TRANSLTR's internal workings was unmanned and the monitor was switched off. Chartrukian called out, â€Å"Hello?† There was no reply. The lab was spotless-as if no one had been there for hours. Although Chartrukian was only twenty-three and relatively new to the Sys-Sec squad, he'd been trained well, and he knew the drill: There was always a Sys-Sec on duty in Crypto†¦ especially on Saturdays when no cryptographers were around. He immediately powered up the monitor and turned to the duty board on the wall. â€Å"Who's on watch?† he demanded aloud, scanning the list of names. According to the schedule, a young rookie named Seidenberg was supposed to have started a double shift at midnight the night before. Chartrukian glanced around the empty lab and frowned. â€Å"So where the hell is he?† As he watched the monitor power up, Chartrukian wondered if Strathmore knew the Sys-Sec lab was unmanned. He had noticed on his way in that the curtains of Strathmore's workstation were closed, which meant the boss was in-not at all uncommon for a Saturday; Strathmore, despite requesting his cryptographers take Saturdays off, seemed to work 365 days a year. There was one thing Chartrukian knew for certain-if Strathmore found out the Sys-Sec lab was unmanned, it would cost the absent rookie his job. Chartrukian eyed the phone, wondering if he should call the young techie and bail him out; there was an unspoken rule among Sys-Sec that they would watch each other's backs. In Crypto, Sys-Secs were second-class citizens, constantly at odds with the lords of the manor. It was no secret that the cryptographers ruled this multibillion-dollar roost; Sys-Secs were tolerated only because they kept the toys running smoothly. Chartrukian made his decision. He grabbed the phone. But the receiver never reached his ear. He stopped short, his eyes transfixed on the monitor now coming into focus before him. As if in slow motion, he set down the phone and stared in open-mouthed wonder. In eight months as a Sys-Sec, Phil Chartrukian had never seen TRANSLTR's Run-Monitor post anything other than a double zero in the hours field. Today was a first. TIME ELAPSED: 15:17:21 â€Å"Fifteen hours and seventeen minutes?† he choked. â€Å"Impossible!† He rebooted the screen, praying it hadn't refreshed properly. But when the monitor came back to life, it looked the same. Chartrukian felt a chill. Crypto's Sys-Secs had only one responsibility: Keep TRANSLTR â€Å"clean†-virus free. Chartrukian knew that a fifteen-hour run could only mean one thing-infection. An impure file had gotten inside TRANSLTR and was corrupting the programming. Instantly his training kicked in; it no longer mattered that the Sys-Sec lab had been unmanned or the monitors switched off. He focused on the matter at hand-TRANSLTR. He immediately called up a log of all the files that had entered TRANSLTR in the last forty-eight hours. He began scanning the list. Did an infected file get through? he wondered. Could the security filters have missed something? As a precaution, every file entering TRANSLTR had to pass through what was known as Gauntlet-a series of powerful circuit-level gateways, packet filters, and disinfectant programs that scanned inbound files for computer viruses and potentially dangerous subroutines. Files containing programming â€Å"unknown† to Gauntlet were immediately rejected. They had to be checked by hand. Occasionally Gauntlet rejected entirely harmless files on the basis that they contained programming the filters had never seen before. In that case, the Sys-Secs did a scrupulous manual inspection, and only then, on confirmation that the file was clean, did they bypass Gauntlet's filters and send the file into TRANSLTR. Computer viruses were as varied as bacterial viruses. Like their physiological counterparts, computer viruses had one goal-to attach themselves to a host system and replicate. In this case, the host was TRANSLTR. Chartrukian was amazed the NSA hadn't had problems with viruses before. Gauntlet was a potent sentry, but still, the NSA was a bottom feeder, sucking in massive amounts of digital information from systems all over the world. Snooping data was a lot like having indiscriminate sex-protection or no protection, sooner or later you caught something. Chartrukian finished examining the file list before him. He was now more puzzled than before. Every file checked out. Gauntlet had seen nothing out of the ordinary, which meant the file in TRANSLTR was totally clean. â€Å"So what the hell's taking so long?† he demanded of the empty room. Chartrukian felt himself break a sweat. He wondered if he should go disturb Strathmore with the news. â€Å"A virus probe,† Chartrukian said firmly, trying to calm himself down. â€Å"I should run a virus probe.† Chartrukian knew that a virus probe would be the first thing Strathmore would request anyway. Glancing out at the deserted Crypto floor, Chartrukian made his decision. He loaded the viral probe software and launched it. The run would take about fifteen minutes. â€Å"Come back clean,† he whispered. â€Å"Squeaky clean. Tell Daddy it's nothing.† But Chartrukian sensed it was not â€Å"nothing.† Instinct told him something very unusual was going on inside the great decoding beast.