Smoking Cigarettes Should Be Banned - 927 Words

Many people who smoke don’t realize how harmful it truly is to themselves and the ones around them. How is it so bad for someone who isn’t smoking, but is around a smoker? Why are cigarettes so damaging to a person’s body? Why do some people get so bent out of shape when a person smokes in a public place? What is so wrong with smoking in the car with children? What is so wrong with smoking an electronic cigarette? Smoking cigarettes and electronic cigarettes are very harmful to your body, but when you smoke in a public place or around other people you are also posing a threat to their health not just yourself. According to Caroline White, â€Å"long term exposure to environmental tobacco smoke increases the risk of dying from the disease by 20-30% in non-smokers, accounting for severalhundred extra deaths from lung cancer in the UK every year† (White, Smoking in public should be restricted.). There are a lot of people who can’t handle cigarette smoke, not just because they dislike them, but for someone who has a disease such as cystic fibrosis, which is a very serious disease that affects the lungs and other organs. This disease you often can’t even tell a person has it, but its very serious and smoke can trigger them to choke up and not be able to breathe. â€Å"A group of people conducted multiple experiments both in humans and in laboratory-grown cells testing the effe cts of cigarette smoke on the function of a protein that helps the lungs stay hydrated, called CFTR. They foundShow MoreRelatedShould Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?1376 Words   |  6 PagesSurgeon General’s report stated that cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer death in the United States. This statement is so true today. Smoking a cigarette is an acquired behavior and that makes it the most preventable cause of death in our society. Cigarettes contain nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. The main ingredient in cigarettes is tobacco. The nicotine in cigarettes is very addictive and when smoke containingRead MoreShould Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?1365 Words   |  6 PagesShould Cigarette Smoking be banned? The United States Surgeon General’s report stated that cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer death in the United States. This statement is so true today. Smoking a cigarette is an acquired behavior and that makes it the most preventable cause of death in our society. Cigarettes contain nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. The main ingredient in cigarettes is tobacco. The nicotineRead MoreShould cigarette smoking be banned?700 Words   |  3 Pages Should cigarette smoking be banned? Smoking is an expensive habit. People who smoke cigarettes can spend as much as $2,500 a year on them (Singletary). Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes. Cigarettes remain primarily industrially manufactured, but they can be hand-rolled from loose tobacco and paper. Today we are more aware on how bad smoking is forRead MoreShould Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?899 Words   |  4 Pages Should Cigarette Smoking Be Banned Whether or not cigarette smoking should be banned completely, has become an object of controversy in many countries. Should cigarette smoking be banned for everyone in the United States? Smoking tobacco products have been around for decades and in many different forms. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deathsRead MoreCigarette Smoking Should Not Be Banned1528 Words   |  7 PagesShould cigarette smoking be banned for everyone in the United States? Why? Why not? Should those who chose their time smoking to relieve stress, personal enjoyment, or simply just because, have to lose their right to what makes them happy? Smoking tobacco products has been around for decades and in many different forms. Should personal rights be pushed aside to please those around us that disagree with the so called â€Å"disgusting habit†? In t he paper The Washington Times an article caught my interestRead MoreShould Smoking Cigarettes Be Banned?988 Words   |  4 Pages Isabella Zannettino Smoking is an addictive practice which entails inhaling and exhaling smoke from burning tobacco leaves. In the last 15 years extensive research and shocking statistics have demonstrated the adverse effects smoking can have on pregnant mothers and their babies. Currently, smoking cigarettes is the No. 1 cause of adverse outcomes for babies† (WebMed.com, 2013). Banning cigarettes may seem the most effective way of stopping pregnant mothers from smoking; however, doing this wouldRead MoreShould Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?925 Words   |  4 PagesProfessor Fuentes English 1003 April 22, 2015 Ban smoking in the United States Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of diseases and premature death in the United States (U.S.), yet more than 45 million Americans still smoke cigarettes. The health threat posed by tobacco has been accepted by scientists since the 17th century. In 1928, studies linked smoking to cancer. In 1964, the first Surgeon General’s report on cigarette smoking summarized the evidence that tobacco poses seriousRead MoreShould Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?1137 Words   |  5 PagesBiology 101 Should Cigarette Smoking Be Banned? Should there be a ban on cigarette smoking in the United States? Since cigarettes were introduced to Americans, questions have been raised concerning the legality of smoking and if it should be allowed everyone, in public places, or not at all. Recently, with the increase knowledge in cost and healthcare, the controversy with cigarette smoking has significantly risen. Across the country, states have banned smoking in public areas and inside buildingsRead MoreShould Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?824 Words   |  3 Pages Introduction: Tobacco Humans have been using tobacco in one way or the other since ancient times. Use of doesn’t always imply smoking it, but it can be chewed or used in different forms such as Tobacco chewing, dipping tobacco, etc. History: There is no fix time for the start of the use of tobacco in humans but it has been in human use since very ancient times. Locals were using before the arrival of Europeans to Americas. Las Casas brilliantly describes in his journal what the scouts who firstRead MoreCigarette Smoking Should Be Banned1768 Words   |  8 PagesCigarette Smoking Should be banned in United States Cigarette Smoking should be banned in the United States because it causes significant health problems. Tobacco is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the whole country; also the smoke contains monoxide that reduces oxygen- carrying ability of red blood cells. The origins of tobacco go way back when; but how it was manufactured is a question asked constantly. How it had started was On November twenty third, 1998, forty-six states, as

Egyptian Art Sakhmet Free Essays

The archaeologist came to this conclusion based on hieroglyph samples at Gaza, which showed clear and deep cuts in diorite and granite. Sesames is an Egyptian, African sun goddess whose name meaner â€Å"The Powerful One†. Sesames reigned over Egypt from 1390- 1352 B. We will write a custom essay sample on Egyptian Art: Sakhmet or any similar topic only for you Order Now C. E. It’s said she was known to have always been draped in red garments hence another one of her many nicknames was â€Å"Red Lady’. The symbolism of her red garments, were from the blood of her conquered enemies. Her name is derived from the Egyptian word â€Å"Seem† (which meaner â€Å"power† or â€Å"might†) and is often translated as the â€Å"Powerful One†. She is depicted as a lion-headed woman, sometimes with the addition of a sun disc on her head. Her seated statues show her holding the ankh of life, but when she is shown striding or standing she usually holds a scepter formed from papyrus (the symbol of northern or Lower Egypt) suggesting that she was associated primarily with the north. However, some scholars argue that the deity was introduced from Sudan (south of Egypt) where lions are more plentiful. It was said that her breath formed the desert. She was seen as the protector of the harass and led them in warfare. Sesames was associated with the goddesses given the title â€Å"Eye of Re† she wore a sun-disk and cobra on her brow, identifying her as the daughter of the sun god Re. According to myth, Ra became angry because mankind was not following his laws and preserving Matt Justice or balance). He decided to punish mankind by sending an aspect of his daughter, the â€Å"Eye of Ra†. He plucked Hath from Areas on his brow, and sent her to earth in the form of a lion. She became Scheme, the â€Å"Eye of Re† and began her rampage. The fields ran with human load. However, Re was not a cruel deity, and the sight of the carnage caused him to repent. He ordered her to stop, but she was in a blood lust and would not listen. So Re poured 7,000 Jugs of beer and pomegranate Juice (which stained the beer blood red) in her path. She gorged on the â€Å"blood† and became so drunk she slept for three days. When she awoke, her blood lust had dissipated, and humanity was saved. In another version of the myth, Path is the first thing she sees on awaking and she instantly fell in love with him. Their union (creation and destruction) created Unfetter (healing) and so re-established Matt. The saving of mankind was commemorated every year on the feast day of Hath/Scheme. Everyone drank beer stained with pomegranate Juice and worshipped â€Å"the Mistress and lady of the tomb, gracious one, destroyer of rebellion, mighty one of enchantments†. A statue of Scheme was dressed in red facing west, while Bass was dressed in green and faced east. Bass was sometimes considered to be Sesames ‘s counterpart (or twin depending on the legend), and in the festival of Hath they embodied the duality central to Egyptian mythology. Scheme represented Upper Egypt while Bass represented Lower Egypt. In her role as the eye of Re, Sesames was dispatched abroad to destroy Egypt enemies. Sesames became angered when she discovered Re set another goddess in her place while she was away. The Eye refused to return and protect Egypt, until pacified by wine, music, and dance. The Egyptians explained the sun’s annual motion toward the south and then back to Egypt as the Eye’s departure and return. In other myth’s, Re’s Eye symbolized natural phenomena, such as the Niles flood and the Egyptian new year. Although Kismet’s true form was believed to be hidden, this bust’s lioness face refers to her power and fierce nature, which could either defend or destroy. The goddess’s benevolence and protection were deemed particularly necessary at times of transition, such as the new day or year. Amputated Ill commissioned two or more Sesames statues for each day in the year, compelling the goddess’s favor and protection. Many statues of Sesames were found in the precinct of Mute Kara. Since Kismet’s actions were primarily destructive while Mute represented protection, the two goddesses were sometimes insider as the positive and negative aspects of one deity. In conclusion, my trip to the Brooklyn Museum of art was not my first, nor will it be my last, but it was the most entertaining and informative trip. Next time I go I will definitely bring some friends along so they can enjoy the rich Egyptian culture as much as I did. This is a statue of Sesames. Medium: Grandiosity Place Found: Thebes, Egypt Dates: ca. 1390-1352 B. C. E. Dynasty: XVIII Dynasty Period: New Kingdom Dimensions: 39 x 19 7/8 x 15 9/16 TN. (99 x 50. 5 x 39. 5 CM) How to cite Egyptian Art: Sakhmet, Papers

Analysis of Boral Limited Company ASXBTL

Question: Describe about the Prospective analysis, valuation and application of the Boral Limited company ASX:BTL? Answer: 1. Prospective Analysis This prospective analysis of Boral Limited can be divided into two sections. These sections are forecasting and valuation. Initial forecasting analysis of the Borals performance will be based upon the past and current financial performance of the company. After initial analysis, four valuation models which are Dividend Discount model, Discounted Abnormal Earnings model, Discounted Abnormal Operating Earning model and Discounted Cash Flow model are used for assessing the companys value. 1.1 Forecasting sales growth rate Through analyzing the current and future macroeconomic conditions as well as Borals competitive strategy it is predicted that sales will increase by 2% in FY15 and FY16, 3% in FY17, 4% in FY18 and 6% in FY19. As the company invests in the Joint venture, it sales will gradually increase in upcoming years. At present the sales growth rate for last five years is a mixed one. The sales of company showed increasing trend except for the year ended 2013, which showed a decline. However the construction industry is developing one and Boral is having strong position in this industry thus a good sales growth in future can be expected. 1.2 Forecasting asset turnover It may be noted that the changes in revenue and net operating asset (NOA) directly affect the movement of ATO(Bragg 2012). In the case of Boral, NOA is expected to keep stable. Recently Boral has restructured its business, it has established joint venture. Now the company is focusing on managing the costs and expenses. Hence it is not expected that there will be noticeable growth in NOA in coming future, though some small projects may be initiated. Thus the ATO of Boral is expected to constant at 0.80. 1.3 Forecasting profit margin It can be safely assumed that profit margin will remain constant at 3.5% which is relatively low but in line with the average profit of building material industry(Yahoo 2015). In the next five years sales revenue of the company will increase as it has set up joint venture and Boral is merging its brick business with CSR(AFR 2014). However the cost of raw material will also increased and there is not much scope in the building material industry to boost the profit ratio beyond a limit. Thus the profit margin is taken as constant at 3.88%. 1.4 Forecasting dividend payout ratio A constant dividend payout ratio of 33% has been forecasted for the next 5 years, based on Borals current dividend policy. It has been little lower in the past five years but as now Boral has restructured most of its business it is expected that the directors will be able to maintain at least this dividend payout ratio. 1.5 Forecasting cost of debt after tax Boral has paid a major portion of tis debt in the year 2013. Hence the cost of debt after tax is expected to be slightly diminishable. As a result, cost of debt after tax of Boral for the next 5 years is predicted around 4%. 2. Valuation 2.1Dividend Discount Model (DDM) There are several valuation models; however for the purpose of this assignment focus will be made only for few major models. Dividend discount model is one of such model. Under this method the valuation part is done of by forecasting the net dividends and than discounting the stream of dividends(Brigham Ehhardt 2010). It is assumed that after restructuring of the business Boral limited will be able to pay a fixed series of dividends in coming years, thus this model is used. Forecasts Value Forecast Forecast Forecast Forecast Forecast 1.Forecast net dividend pay-out $ 58.15 $ 59.31 $ 61.09 $ 63.53 $ 67.35 2. estimate cost of capital for equity 10% 1.1 1.210 1.331 1.464 1.611 3. Calculate forecast dividend growth patterns 2% 3% 4% 6% Estimate TV method - perpetuity with growth of 6% 4. Calculate TV (div from next year / cost capital - growth) $ 1,122 5. Discount dividend stream to TV year $ 53 $ 49 $ 46 $ 43 $ 42 Discount TV $ 697 Total value = $ 930 Number of shares 583 Share price $ 1.60 2.2 Discounted Abnormal Earnings (DAE) The second valuation model used to value a company and its stock is DAE model. This DAE model is basically a theoretical framework for valuation of equity shares, which is based on the information extracted from the financial reports(Palepu 2013). This model heavily relies upon the accounting information. The accounting information can be manipulated by the management, thus this model may not give accurate valuation which reflects market expectation. Cost of capital (firm) 9% Cost of capital (equity) 10% Growth 2% Number of shares outstanding (million) 779 Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 NOA $ 5,559 $ 5,670 $ 5,784 $ 5,957 $ 6,195 $ 6,567 NFO $ 886 $ 21 $ 15 $ 65 $ 177 $ 419 BV $ 4,673 $ 5,649 $ 5,768 $ 5,892 $ 6,018 $ 6,148 CSP $ 159 $ 175 $ 179 $ 185 $ 190 $ 197 Residual earnings = CSP1 - (CSE0*CoC(e)) $ 159 $ 161 $ 167 $ 172 $ 178 Growth patterns 1.30% 3.16% 2.82% 3.68% Terminal value (growth rate 3%) $ 4,847 Discounted terminal value $ 3,009 Discounted residual earnings $ 145 $ 133 $ 125 $ 117 $ 111 Present value of residual earnings $ 3,641 NOA $ 5,559 Intrinsic value of the firm $ 9,200 NFO $ 886 Intrinsic value of equity $ 8,314 Price per share $ 10.67 2.3 Discounted Abnormal Operating Income (DAOI) The third valuation method used is discounted abnormal operating earnings (DAOE). This model can be seen as an alternative model for the valuation of the stock prices of the Boral Limited. Cost of capital (equity) 10% Cost of capital (firm) 11% Number of shares outstanding 779 Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 NOA $ 5,559 $ 5,670 $ 5,784 $ 5,957 $ 6,195 $ 6,567 Free cash flow $ 930 $ 65 $ 66 $ 12 -$ 46 -$ 168 change in NOA -$ 757 $ 111 $ 113 $ 174 $ 238 $ 372 NOPAT = FCF + NOA $ 173 $ 176 $ 180 $ 185 $ 193 $ 204 AOI = NOPAT1 - (NOA0*CoC(f)) $ 157 $ 160 $ 165 $ 172 $ 183 Growth patterns 1.96% 3.03% 3.96% 5.87% Terminal value (growth rate 4%) 4575 Discounted terminal value 2715 Discounted abnormal operating income $ 142 $ 130 $ 121 $ 113 $ 109 Present value of AOI $ 3,330 NOA $ 5,559 Intrinsic value of the firm $ 8,889 NFO $ 886 Intrinsic value of equity $ 8,003 Price per share $ 10.27 2.4 Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Under discounted cash flow model, the future free cash flows are discounted to the present value. (Coyle 1999). Thus first of all the FCF of the Boral limited are calculated and there after these cash flows are discounted by taking an appropriate discounting factor. The disadvantage of this model is that not every companys shares can be valued by predicting the FCFs. Through this method, Borals share price is coming negative; this may be due to the reason that Boral has used most of its cash flows in restructuring business activities. Cost of Capital (firm) 11% Shares Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 1. Forecast FCF $ 65 $ 66 $ 12 -$ 46 -$ 168 2. Estimation of cost of capital for the firm 1.11 1.23 1.37 1.52 1.69 3. Calculation of forecast FCF growth patterns 0.02 -0.82 -4.89 2.67 4. Calculate TV (negative growth) 0 5. Discount fcf to TV year $ 59 $ 54 $ 9 -$ 30 -$ 99 Discount TV 0 Intrinsic value of the firm -$ 8 less NFO $ 886 Equity -$ 894 shares outstanding 779 share price -$ 1.15 2.5 Comparison The market price of the share of Boral Limited as on 30th June 2014 is $ 5.25(Boral 2014). The share price as per various models is very different from the market price of the share, or in other words the actual share prices it with just an approximate average of various models. The price of the share can be listed as under- Model Estimated Share Price Actual Market Price Deviation from Actual market price Dividend Discount Model (DDM) $ 1.60 $ 5.25 $ -3.65 Discounted Abnormal Earnings (DAE) $ 10.67 $ 5.42 Discounted Abnormal Operating Income (DAOI) $ 10.27 $ 5.02 Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) $ -1.15 $ -6.40 As the dividend discount model provides most nearest value to the market price, sensitivity analysis will be applied to this model. 2.6 Sensitivity Analysis Dividend discount model PM % in PM Price Per Share % in Price Div as % of NOPAT % in Div Price Per Share % in Price 4.66% 20% $ 1.43 19.79% 39.58% 20% $ 1.43 19.79% 4.27% 10% $ 1.31 9.74% 36.28% 10% $ 1.31 9.74% 3.88% 0% $ 1.19 0.00% 33% 0% $ 1.19 0.00% 3.49% -10% $ 1.07 -10.37% 29.68% -10% $ 1.07 -10.37% 3.10% -20% $ 0.95 -20.42% 26.38% -20% $ 0.95 -20.42% Cost of Debt % in Cost of Debt Price Per Share % in Price Cost of equity % in Cost of Equity Price Per Share % in Price 6.00% 20% $ 1.19 -0.31% 12.00% 20% $ 1.10 -7.85% 5.50% 10% $ 1.19 -0.31% 11.00% 10% $ 1.15 -3.66% 5.00% 0% $ 1.19 0.00% 10.00% 0% $ 1.19 0.00% 4.50% -10% $ 1.19 -0.31% 9.00% -10% $ 1.24 3.88% 4.00% -20% $ 1.19 -0.31% 8.00% -20% $ 1.30 8.90% The sensitivity analysis states that the key drivers of share price under DDM model are profit margin and dividend payout ratio, followed by cost of equity and cost of debt. Under this valuation model, cost of debt has no effect on share price. 3. Application 3.1 Opportunities for improvement Boral limited is in a phase of restructuring. It has set up joint venture, merging its brick business with another entity; it has sold its land fill business to another entity. Boral has paid a huge amount of debts in the last year, due to strong cash generation. Thus it is in a position to launch it to a paced business growth. For this it has to control its administrative cost and various other costs. The reduction is cost is possible due to business restructuring. In fact the company has already save $130 million of overhead and contractor cost due to this restructuring(Boral 2014). The construction markets have picked up and this can result in increased sales. Thus reduction in cost and increased sales will lead to increased profit. Company is having a strong balance sheet and the management can benefit from the improving housing conditions in Australia, USA and other markets. Another option which is seen as an opportunity for the company is the expansion of business of the company to markets outside the country. Boral can achieve this goal by becoming a partner of local companies at Asian markets such as China or India. This will help the company in increasing stability and Boral can improve their sale and profit margin. Furthermore, if the company runs business internationally, few more markets will be opened and thus sale growth rate will be expect to increase and ultimately results in the increase for Borals value in the future. 3.2 Challenges The performance of the company is improving, yet all is not well for the company. Some of the business units of the Boral limited are still delivering low returns. Company needs to improve the position of these units. The management is in the process of restructuring which has worked for the company and more benefits will accrue in future. The USA business division has remained challenging for Boral Limited. The USA housing business has collapsed since the global financial crisis of year 2008. Boral has to focus on US business also in order to survive at global level. Company has also recruited new CFO, which has to take more efforts on cutting cost. There is a heightened possibility of Borals management using accounting policies to achieve the accounting strategies of a newly appointed CEO because Borals current CEO, Mike Kane, has only been in his position for two years (since October 2012). Empirical accounting research has found that firms with a newly appointed CEO are more likely to implement accounting strategies that involve exercising greater scrutiny over the value of assets, that change the strategic focus of the firm or that place the blame for poor acquisitions on previous management Besides that the company is facing certain issues over the injuries at work places. Boral is also facing certain issues from the labour unions. Boral is operating in an environment characterised by legal disputes with unions over access to construction sites (e.g. the dispute between Boral and the CFMEU over access to construction sites in Victoria). This has impacted on Borals current business and will likely impact on its future performance. The construction industry does not have a high margin. The Australian brick business has shown a declining trend. A recent report by PWC has both highlighted that the construction industry is a perennial underperformer from a productivity perspective and that technology can be a driver of future productivity. [Reference: PWC Report]. The report recommends that there be significant improvements in the technologies used to produce and distribute construction materials [Reference: PWC Report]. Therefore, if Boral can improve its technological processes, future profits will be positively impacted. The first target point of the Boral should be development of business process. As most of units of the company have been closed, may be due to the reason of poor business processes. The company should focus on the developing standard process of doing particular things. Company is expecting growth in revenue in coming years and it is able to control the cost and improve the process than it can earn good profit. The second target point of the company should be quality products. As the focus of the company on controlling cost, this aspect may hurt the quality of the products. Boral should pay special attention towards the quality of the products, which should not be suffered due to cost cutting and business restructuring. Bibliography AFR 2014, ACCC approves merger of Boral, CSR brick units, viewed 17 January 2015, https://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/accc_approves_merger_of_boral_csr_kXZ1uX9Qk3RF9Ip0440urM. Boral 2014, 'Annual Report 2014', Annural Report, Boral, Boral, Boral, Australia. Bragg, S 2012, Business Ratios and Formulas: A Comprehensive Guide, John Wiley $ Sons, NY. Brigham, EF Ehhardt, MC 2010, Financial Management Theory and Practice, Cengage Learning, NY. Coyle, B 1999, Cash Flow Control, Global Professional Publishi, UK. Palepu, KHPABV 2013, Business Analysis and Valuation using Financial Statements, 5th edn, Southwestern, Canada. Yahoo 2015, Industry: General Building Materials, viewed 19 January 2015, https://au.finance.yahoo.com/q/in?s=BLD.AX.

Microeconomics Project free essay sample

For instance, will buyers or sellers pay a larger portion of the tax per unit? Explain. Alike the weight on buyers’ tax accepted by them is more for goods that have inelastic demand. Based on the elasticity classifications their effect on tax revenue, and tax incidence, which goods would the government prefer to tax? The Government tax goods with inelastic demand like meats, bread, soft drinks as people will devour for these items in the face of the change in price Part 2: Research the effect of changes in cigarette taxes on tax revenue for a state. Does this change indicate cigarettes have an elastic or inelastic demand in that state? Support your answer I have chosen Indiana where I am and Illinois and Michigan which are close to Indiana. State and local tobacco tax revenue select years 2008 to 2010 thousand of dollars Indiana 519,871-2008, 510,585-2009, 484,686-2010, Illinois 827,484-2008, 770,648-2009, 746,953-2010, Michigan 1,076,087-2008, 1,043,532-2009, 1,057,495-2010 What is showed is that cigarettes have an inelastic a decrease in price reduces revenue the increase in quantity demanded is proportionally smaller than the decrease in price. We will write a custom essay sample on Microeconomics Project or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page

America, Russia and the Cold War essays

America, Russia and the Cold War essays The Cold War was a rivalry between America and Russia; it began after World War II and ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought as allies against the Axis powers. At the meeting in Yalta in 1945 the main Allied countries decided to control Germany jointly. Each country would be responsible for a certain area of Germany. The relationship between the US and Russia was a tense one. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and were concerned about the Russian leader, Joseph Stalin, who was a known tyrant in his own country. Postwar Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe shocked many Americans,' and they feared a Russian plan was in the works to control the world. This aggressive move was countered by the US establishing military bases and setting up other countries to be able to stop a possible attack. In 1947 Greece and Turkey were in the line of fire for a communist takeover, so US president Truman asked Congress for aid and acquired $400 million to aid both countries in not becoming communist. So you could say that both sides were to blame for the tension that became the Cold War. In 1948, The Russians blockaded Berlin. Berlin was situated in the middle of the Russian area of Germany, so the only way to get there was to fly. This action prompted the US and British to airlift 1.5 million tons o f supplies to the residents of West Berlin. After almost one year and 200,000 flights, the Soviets lifted the blockade. This action by the Soviets was yet another red flag and the United States, Britain and France soon became the protectors of Germany instead of the conquerors. They needed to help Germany, so they were not sucked into another communist state. In 1949, with the threat of further Communist expansion, the United States and 11 other Western nations form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization In 1955 the Soviet Union and its Communist nations in Eastern E...

The Crimes of Child Killer Angela McAnulty

The Crimes of Child Killer Angela McAnulty Angela McAnulty sits on death row at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Oregon after pleading guilty to the murder of her 15-year-old daughter Jeanette Maples, whom she literally tortured, beat, and starved to death. McAnulty also pled guilty to altering and destroying evidence in the case. Angela McAnultys Formative Years Angela McAnulty was born on October 2, 1968, in California. When she was 5 years old, her mother was murdered. She spent the remainder of her childhood living with her father and two brothers. Her father was abusive, often withholding food from the children as a form of punishment. At the age of 16, McAnulty began a relationship with a carnival worker and left home. It was during this time that she became involved with drugs. She later met Anthony Maples, with whom she had three children, two boys, Anthony Jr. and Brandon, and her daughter, Jeanette. She also had another child, a daughter named Patience, by another father. When Maples and McAnulty were incarcerated on drug charges, the children were placed in foster care. After her release from jail in 2001, McAnulty regained custody of Jeanette and Patience. In 2002, Angela met and married a long-haul truck driver named Richard McAnulty. They had a son soon after the marriage. By October 2006, the family relocated to Oregon, leaving Anthony Jr. and Brandon behind. The boys had sent letters to a judge requesting to stay in foster care rather than be returned to their abusive mother. Cries for Help Born on August 9, 1994, Jeanette Maples spent six of her first seven years in foster care prior to being returned to her mother. According to interviews with family members, Angela began abusing Jeanette soon after the two were reunited. Described as a good child, Jeanette attended public school and took her studies seriously. She was given perfect attendance awards in the seventh and eighth grade. However, in social interactions, Jeanette had a difficult time. Sent to school wearing torn, dirty tops and worn-out sweatpants, she was sometimes teased by her classmates. Despite her shyness, she managed to make a few friends, although she would only see them at school. Her mother did not allow her to invite friends to her home. In 2008, after a friend spotted several bruises on Jeanette during gym class, she admitted that her mother did not allow her to eat and that she was abused. The friend told her parents and Child Protection Services (CPS) was contacted but the agency representatives were reluctant to respond to what they called second-hand information. A teacher was contacted who spoke to Jeanette who again admitted to being abused. She said was terrified of her mother. The teacher contacted CPS and reported her concerns. CPS went to the McAnulty home but closed the case after McAnulty denied abusing her daughter and blamed the accusations on Jeanette, whom she described as a compulsive liar. McAnulty subsequently pulled Jeanette out of school, saying that she was going to home school her daughter. This left Jeanette completely isolated and greatly reduced any chances of her getting the help she so badly needed. In 2009 another call was made to the CPS, this time by an anonymous caller who later turned out to be Lee McAnulty, Jeanettes grandmother. She called CPS after seeing how grossly underweight Jeanette had become. The child also had a split lip, both conditions Angela McAnulty dismissed when it was suggested that she should take her daughter to a doctor. Over the following months, Jeanettes grandmother called CPS several times but the agency did not follow up on the calls. Her last call was made within days of Jeanettes death. The Death of Jeanette Maples On December 9, 2009, at around 8 p.m., Angela McAnulty told emergency personnel responding to a 9-1-1 call made from her home that her daughter Jeanette was not breathing. Paramedics found the small, thin-framed 15-year-old girl in the living room. Jeanettes hair was wet and she wasnt wearing a top. She had no pulse. McAnulty told the paramedics that Jeanette had fallen down and seemed fine an hour before she stopped breathing. However, a brief exam of the dying girl told a different story. Jeanette had multiple bruises on her face, cuts above her eye, and scars on her lips. She was so emaciated that she looked much younger than her age. Jeanette was transferred to the hospital where she was pronounced dead at 8:42 p.m. The Criminal Investigation At the hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Hilton examined Jeanette and found that her face was disfigured from severe bruising. There were scars and deep wounds on her head, legs and back, including an exposed femur. Her front teeth were broken and her lips were pulverized. It was determined that Jeanettes dehydrated, starved and beaten body was not a result of a simple fall. The police searched the McAnulty home and found a blood-splattered bedroom that family members admitted McAnulty tried to clean before calling 9-1-1 to come to the aid of her dying daughter. Richard McAnulty also admitted that Angela wanted to bury Jeanette rather than call 9-1-1 but he had insisted on calling for help. He made the call while Angela attempted to hide evidence of the abuse that had gone on inside the home. The two children in the McAnulty home were interviewed. Patience told police that Angela and Richard were starving Jeanette and that Angela beat Jeanette repeatedly. She later said that Richard and Angela often struck Jeanette across the mouth with shoes or their hands. Police Interview of Angela McAnulty During the first police interview, Angela McAnulty tried to convince detectives that Jeanettes injuries were caused by a fall. She said her husband was responsible for disciplining the children and that she had never hurt Angela. She changed her story only after investigators apprised her that they had spoken to other family members whod described the abuse Angela routinely inflicted on Jeanette. When questioned about Jeanettes dehydrated and starved condition, McAnulty said it was a result of ignorance, not neglect. She told detectives, The reason why shes so skinny, honest to God, is when she split her lip awhile back, I did not know exactly how to feed her. The investigators continued to challenge McAnultys version of the facts until she eventually broke and began to tell them what really happened. I did wrong, she said. I should never have spanked my daughter with a belt. I shouldnt have done that. That was horrible of me. I shouldnt have done any of that stuff that I did. I shouldnt have done hands up. I understand that. I am very sorry. I dont know how I can take it back. But when it came to what McAnulty assumed was the final blow that caused her daughters death, she refused to take the blame. I didnt do the injury on the head. I did not do that, she told detectives. I know that she probably died because of the injury on her head, through the skull when she fell down. I did not kill my daughter over a spanking. I didnt do that. McAnulty told detectives that maybe she should have taken up smoking to help relieve the stress that Jeanette caused. I guess the things she did just got to me, she went on to explain. I dont know. Honest to God, I dont know. Im sorry. I am sorry. Torture and Starvation Angela and Richard McAnulty were arrested and charged with aggravated murder by intentionally maiming and torturing Jeanette Maple. Based on the evidence found at the McAnulty home, autopsy reports, and interviews with the Angela and Richard McAnulty, their children, and other relatives, prosecutors determined that the following took place over the course of several months: McAnulty punished Jeanette regularly using different methods of abuse and torture. To hide the abuse from the other children in the home, she would bring Jeanette into her bedroom, later described by prosecutors as the torture room, turn on the vacuum cleaner to mask the sounds, force Jeanette to strip naked, and then she would repeatedly beat her with leather belts, sticks, and torture her with pliers.Tests on various objects found in the home would later show that they contained blood and pieces of Jeanettes flesh.Jeanette was deprived of food and water for days at a time. She was forced to drink water from the dogs bowl and the toilet bowl to quench her thirst.Dying tissue had been cut away, likely with a knife, from wounds that had become infected to the point of exposing bone on Jeanettes hip.Jeanette was forced to sleep on cardboard so that blood would not seep into the carpet. She was often left tied up after being beaten or forced to kneel with her arms behind her back as if handcuffed. McAnulty forced Patience to collect dog feces from the yard which McAnulty would smear over Jeanettes face and mouth.McAnulty forced Jeanette to stand facing the walls with her arms raised for hours at a time. Often she could only stand on one foot because her other foot was too injured from Angela stomping on it.Angela and Richard McAnulty hit Jeanette across the mouth with shoes and the backs of their hands, which pulverized her lips. Angela refused to get medical help for Jeanette which resulted in her lips healing from the inside out. The scar tissue that formed left her mouth deformed.McAnulty purposely beat Jeanette in areas that she had already caused severe damage, resulting in old wounds opening up and becoming infected. ​Disturbing Testimony by Jeanette Maples Half Sister ​According to testimony given by Patience, the half-sister of Jeanette Maples, Angela McAnulty began abusing Jeanette as soon as she regained custody of the child who was 7 years old at that time. Patience also spoke about an incident just days before Jeanette died, during which McAnulty showed her a wound about the size of a quarter on the back of Jeanettes head. McAnulty made the comment that if someone was  Ã¢â‚¬Å"stabbed in the back of the head with a branch, it would cause brain damage.†Ã‚  Patience went on to testify that by that time, Jeanette was acting strange and was incoherent. When asked about what she remembered during the time that Jeanette was first returned to McAnulty, Patience said that after McAnulty married Richard McAnulty in 2002, Jeanette was locked in a back bedroom so that she would â€Å"not really be part of the family.† She went on to describe how she witnessed both Angela and Richard abusing Jeanette, which including beating her with shoes and depriving her of food.​ Sentencing Angela McAnulty was sentenced to death for the torture and murder of her daughter. Richard McAnulty was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until serving 25 years. He denied directly abusing Jeanette but admitted that he failed to protect her from her mother or to report the abuse to authorities. Anthony Maples v. Oregon Department of Human Services The State of Oregon agreed to pay $1.5 million to the estate of Jeanette Maples in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her biological father, Anthony Maples, who was the sole heir to Jeanette Maples estate. It was determined that beginning in 2006, and ending with a call that was received the week before her death, CPS agents failed to investigate four reports of possible abuse of Jeanette Maples by her mother. Anthony Maples had no contact with his daughter for nearly 10 years prior to her murder, nor did he attend her memorial service. Under Oregon law, only a deceased persons parents, spouse, or children can be considered legal heirs. Siblings, who are not considered legal heirs, are unable to share in an estate.

Emergency Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Emergency Management - Assignment Example In contrast, MEPP seeks to improve emergency management capabilities by focusing on already trained personnel. In other words, MEPP is an advancement of emergency management exercises. Hit by significant budget cuts, FEMA could eliminate MEPP and make an integral part of the Independent Study Courses. The idea is to eliminate it as a standalone program but provide for its accommodation in Independent Study Courses. Eliminating Independent Study Courses is not an option because doing so would jeopardize national preparedness goal. Persons with emergency management responsibilities and the public at large need the Independent Study Courses (Jenkins, 2011). Eliminating this important program would create a void in management of emergencies in the public context. Given that MEPP is an advancement program, FEMA should eliminate it because the Independent Study Courses could still provide for advancement opportunities as far as the program is concerned. The social and economic benefits of Independent Study Courses outweigh the improvements covered in the MEPP

Translate Niches or Gaps Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Translate Niches or Gaps - Assignment Example The topic of the study is, â€Å"Impact of the internet on information literacy and library skills.† There is no doubt that numerous studies have been conducted on the same topic. It is also true that with the introduction, development, and advancements of the internet, information literacy and library skills have tremendously improved. In the contemporary society, studies are now able to develop their research methods and achieve a good sense of plagiarism through specific software (Correia & Teixeira, 2003). In addition, there is an extensive use of web 2.0 applications as well as search engines such as the Wikipedia and Google that has enabled students and other stakeholders to increase their information literacy and library skills (Correia & Teixeira, 2003). Indisputably, the internet has had a major impact on information literacy and library skills within the contemporary environment. Despite earlier studies and researches on the impact of the internet on education, very little has been done on specific items such as information literacy and library skills. Most previous studies and researchers have only been able to generalize the impact of the internet on education and probably acquisition of information. Specific skills such as library and information literacy have rarely been studies. Even in the few cases that such studies have been conducted, the research is not intensive and extensive. In this respect this research aims at finding out more about the specific impact of the internet. The specific impact of the internet to be addressed in this paper includes the information literacy and the library skills. Even though many researches and studies have been carried out on the impact of the internet on broad perspectives such as education, it is still evident that new advancements and developments arise within the internet. There are numerous dynamics still being experienced within the concepts of the

Comparative Study on the Origin of Religion Essay Example for Free

Comparative Study on the Origin of Religion Essay Since the early 1800s, there had been an ample amount of skeptics trying to account for the origin of religion. The basic question on everybody’s mind was where does religion come from? Some believed that people developed religion because they didn’t understand the forces of nature around them. Others believe that religion was created as a way of restrain people. In the 19th century, people were introduced to social science and anthropologists who once studied primitive culture were exposed to several theories on the origin of religion. Edward B Tylor was one of the first who developed a theory on religion. Max Muller was a German professor at Oxford University whose interest included Indian mythology and the study of religion. Another anthropologist was George Frazer who key contributions to religious anthropology was a religious encyclopedia. There are many explanations to the origin of religion, one of the most prominent being Edward B. Tylor’s theory of animism. This theory is considered the foundation of the physical evolution of religion; two other influential religious anthropologists, Max Muller and James Frazer, also based their explanations of the origin of religion on nature. All three religious anthropologists are similar in the sense that they traced the evolution of religion in an attempt to figure out the origin of it but differ in the way they approach the concept of religion. Edward B. Tylor developed the theory of animism to help explain the most rudimentary form of religion. Animism is defined as the belief that attributes souls and spirits to humans, plants, animals and other entities. Animistic religious beliefs are well-known among primitive societies who were â€Å"so low in culture as to have no religious conceptions what so ever† (Tylor). Tylor considered animism as the most primitive phase in the development of religion. He believed that the reflection of dreams and the observation of death caused primitive people to develop the idea of souls and spirits. Tylor thought that primitive people believed that everything in nature had a soul within it. He hypothesized that a belief in animism led to the formation of a more generalized god and, eventually, the creation of monotheism. Animism ultimately led to the evolution of religion in the minds of the people. It led them to take something so simple as nature and use it to explain the natural phenomenon in their environment. A conflicting theory that uses the concept of evolution is that of Max Muller. Another theory of the origin of religion was developed by Max Muller. He believed that people first developed religion from the observation of nature. According to his theory, primitive people became aware of regularity of the seasons, the tides and the phases of the moon. Their response to these forces in nature was to personalize them†(Hopfe and Woodward). They personalized them through linguistics. Muller believed that development of religion was a cause of confusion in language (Goldsmith). There seems to be a divide between Muller and Tylor over the nature of the origin o f religion. Max Muller believed that the answer to the sole origin of religion could be found in the past and a person can trace its origin in the linguistic remnants in the Indo-European languages. Tylor thought that implementing an ethnological approach would be more successful than studying languages for answers of the origin of religion. Evolution of religion is evident in Muller’s theory because â€Å"they personified the forces of nature, created myths to describe their activities, and eventually developed pantheons and religions around them† (Hopfe and Woodward). By developing religions and pantheons from identifying the forces in nature is a clear sign of the evolution of religion in the human mind set. Even though their theories are different, the idea of evolution of religion in the human mind is evident in both Muller and Tylor’s theory. Sir James George Frazer, a fellow religious anthropologist, began developing his own theories on religion. Frazer believed that humans used magic as a way to control nature and the events around them and when that failed, they turned to religion. They used religion to control the events for a while and when religion failed they turned to science. Frazer’s theories were similar to those of Tylor. They both believed that the human mind developed in the same way as that of physical evolution.. Even though Frazer took a similar approach to Tylor in tracing the origin of religion, he modified Tylor’s theory and replaced Tylor’s theory of animism with his idea of magic. A similarity between Frazer and Tylor is that they both believed that religion began from an intentional method of describing and making sense of a strange world. Frazer replaces the idea that religion explains nature by introducing science as a substitute. Frazer’s approach to tracing the origin of religion is similar to that of Tylor and Muller since all three traced the evolution of religion in an attempt to figure out its origin. Both Muller and Frazer’s theory are similar to Tylor’s theory since both trace the origin of religion through the evolution of it but differ in the way they interpret religion. All three of them seemed to miss a vital element of religion which is that no one who practices religion is doing so to explain how the world works. People use religion for several reasons. Some use it to give meaning to their lives while others use it to enforce social order. Maybe all three anthropologists didn’t miss this key component but rather didn’t know about it due to the rapid evolution of religion.

Rewriting Canonical Portrayals of Women :: Good Bones Margaret Atwood Literature Essays

Rewriting Canonical Portrayals of Women In her collection of short stories, Good Bones (O. W. Toad, 1992), Margaret Atwood (1939 - ) has included Gertrude Talks Back, a piece that rewrites the famous closet scene in Shakespeare ´s Hamlet. The character of Hamlet ´s mother has posed problems of interpretation to readers, critics and performers, past and present, and has been variously or simultaneosly appraised as a symbol of female wantonness, the object of Hamlet ´s Oedipus complex, and an example of female submissiveness to the male principle (Hamlet ´s as much as Claudius ´s). Like other revisionist rewritings produced by women writers in the last few decades, Margaret Atwood ´s short story challenges received concepts of the female, and particularly the "Frailty, thy name is woman" notion that has marked so much canonical literature. Recent developments in the humanities, usually grouped under the common label of "post-structuralist theory," have contributed to making us sensitive to the politics of culture, in general, and of literature, in particular. Much thought has been given in the last few decades to how the literary canon emerges and holds its ground, and to the relations between canonical and non-canonical, between the centre and the margins. Post-colonial theorist Edward Said reminds us that "[t]he power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them" (xiii). Here as in other respects, the political agendas of feminism and post-colonialism overlap; both aim at challenging the canon and at inscribing the experiences of the marginal subject (female and/or post-colonial). Revisionist rewritings are one of the strategies that can serve that purpose; I need not mention the by now many rewritings of such canonical texts as The Tempest or Robinson Crusoe. As regards the author I am concerned with here, Margaret Atwood, extensive attention has been paid to a recurrent feature of her fiction: her repeated reworking of fairy tales, most importantly the different versions of Bluebeard ´s Egg, a re-shaping which culminates in her novel The Robber Bride (1993). I would also point out how what is perhaps her most popular novel to date, The Handmaid ´s Tale (1985), thematizes the politics of reading and writing or, as Hutcheon has aptly put it, "the opposition between product and process" (139). Similar concerns are apparent in the compilation of her short stories under the title Good Bones (1992). If the constructions of womanhood and manhood occupy her in The Female Body and Making a Man, in other stories (There Was Once, Unpopular Gals, etc) it is the literary construction of womanhood that is foregrounded.

Leadership characteristics: Autocratic or democratic Essay

Leadership characteristics can be generalized as either autocratic or democratic. The autocratic leader tends to lead by authority and uses coercive power. Oppositely, the democratic leader will delegate authority and use expert and referent power to influence employees. One difference between a mechanistic structure and an organic structure in an organization is the chain of command. Similarly, a difference between an autocratic and a democratic leader is how decisions are made. At the one end of the spectrum, the autocratic side, the manager makes a decision and announces it. This is similar to the mechanistic organizational structure where there is a strict hierarchy of authority and the decision-making is centralized. At the other end of the spectrum, the democratic side, the manager defines limits but lets the group make the decision. This is similar to the organic organizational structure where the decision-making tends to be informal and decentralized within a relaxed hierarch y. After matching the autocratic style with a mechanistic structured organization and the democratic style with an organic structured organization, it is clear that an autocratic or a democratic leader may have difficulty functioning in the oppositely structured organization. Beginning with the autocratic leader working in an organic organization, one major challenge may be learning to work on a team. Organic organizations tend to have many teams and task forces. An autocratic leader is most comfortable with just making a decision and announcing it, however in a team structure they will most likely have to ‘sell’ their decision to the group in order to get any response or action. Learning how to communicate and work along with employees could be the largest adjustment an autocratic leader would have to make in an organically structured organization. At first, it seems easier for a democratic leader to adjust to working in a mechanistic organization. However the problem they will have to face is employees expecting direction and not getting a clear decision. In this case, the productivity is certain to go down because no one is making the decision. It may be hard for a democratic leader to get used to having to make decisions and then have to impose them on their employees. Even though a leader’s personality may be more autocratic or more democratic, ultimately leaders must adjust their style depending on the structure of the organization in which they work. Perhaps the best leader is the one that is able to adjust their style most timely and effectively.

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 2

Damon had to wait some hours for another opportunity to feed – there were too many girls in deep sleep – and he was furious. The hunger that the manipulative creature had roused in him was real, even if it hadn't succeeded in making him its puppet. He needed blood; and he needed itsoon . Only then would he think over the implications of Caroline's strange mirror-guest: that trulydemonic demon lover who had handed her over to Damon to be killed, even while pretending to make a deal with her. NineA.M . saw him driving down the main street of the town, past an antique store, eateries, a shop for greeting cards. Wait. There it was. A new store that sold sunglasses. He parked and got out of the car with an elegance of motion born of centuries of careless movement that wasted not an erg of energy. Once again, Damon flashed the instantaneous smile, and then he turned it off, admiring himself in the dark glass of the window. Yes, no matter how you look at it, I am gorgeous, he thought absently. The door had a bell that made a tinkling sound as he entered. Inside was a plump and very pretty girl with brown hair tied back and large blue eyes. She had seen Damon and she was smiling shyly. â€Å"Hi.† And though he hadn't asked, she added, in a voice that quavered, â€Å"I'm Page.† Damon gave her a long, unhurried look that ended in a smile, slow and brilliant and complicit. â€Å"Hello, Page,† he said, drawing it out. Page swallowed. â€Å"Can I help you?† â€Å"Oh, yes,† Damon said, holding her with his eyes, â€Å"I think so.† He turned serious. â€Å"Did you know,† he said, â€Å"that you really belong as a chatelaine in a castle in the Middle Ages?† Page went white, then blushed furiously – and looked all the better for it. â€Å"I – I always wished that I'd been born back then. But how could you know that?† Damon just smiled. Elena looked at Stefan with wide eyes that were the dark blue of lapis lazuli with a scattering of gold. He'd just told her that she was going to have Visitors! In all the seven days of her life, since she had returned from the afterlife, she had never – ever – had a Visitor. First thing, right away, was to find out what a Visitor was. Fifteen minutes after entering the sunglasses shop, Damon was walking down the sidewalk, wearing a brand-new pair of Ray-Bans and whistling. Page was taking a little nap on the floor. Later, her boss would threaten to make her pay for the Ray-Bans herself. But right now she felt warm and deliriously happy – and she had a memory of ecstasy that she would never entirely forget. Damon window-shopped, although not exactly the way a human would. A sweet old woman behind the counter of the greeting cards shop†¦no. A guy at the electronics shop†¦no. But†¦something drew him back to the electronics shop. Such clever devices they were inventing these days. He had a strong urge to acquire a palm-sized video camera. Damon was used to following his urges and was not picky about donors in an emergency. Blood was blood, whatever vessel it came in. A few minutes after he'd been shown how to work the little toy, he was walking down the sidewalk with it in his pocket. He was enjoying just walking, although his fangs were aching again. Strange, he should be sated – but then, he'd had almost nothing yesterday. That must be why he still felt hungry; that and the Power he'd used on the damnable parasite in Caroline's room. But meanwhile he took pleasure in the way his muscles were working together smoothly and without effort, like a well-oiled machine, making every movement a delight. He stretched once, for the pure animal enjoyment of it, and then stopped again to examine himself in the window of the antiques store. Slightly more disheveled, but otherwise as beautiful as ever. And he'd been right; the Ray-Bans looked wicked on him. The antiques store was owned, he knew, by a widow with a very pretty, very young niece. It was dim and air-conditioned inside. â€Å"Do you know,† he asked the niece when she came to wait on him, â€Å"that you strike me as someone who would like to see a lot of foreign countries?† Some time after Stefan explained to Elena that Visitors were her friends, hergood friends, he wanted her to get dressed. Elena didn't understand why. It was hot. She had given in to wearing a Night Gown (for at least most of the night), but the daytime was even warmer, and she didn't have a Day Gown. Besides, the clothes he was offering her – a pair of his jeans rolled up at the hems and a polo shirt that would be much too big – were†¦wrong somehow. When she touched the shirt she got pictures of hundreds of women in small rooms, all using sewing machines in bad light, all working frantically. â€Å"From a sweat shop?† Stefan said, startled, when she showed him the picture in her mind.†These?† He dropped the clothes on the floor of the closet hastily. â€Å"What about this one?† Stefan handed her a different shirt. Elena studied it soberly, held it to her cheek. No sweating, frantically sewing women. â€Å"Okay?† Stefan said. But Elena had frozen. She went to the window and peered out. â€Å"What's wrong?† This time, she sent him only one picture. He recognized it immediately. Damon. Stefan felt a tightening in his chest. His older brother had been making Stefan's existence as miserable as possible for nearly half a millennium. Every time that Stefan had managed to get away from him, Damon had tracked him down, looking for†¦what? Revenge? Some final satisfaction? They had killed each other at the same instant, back in Renaissance Italy. Their fencing swords had pierced each other's hearts almost simultaneously, in a duel over a vampire girl. Things had only gone downhill from there. But he's saved your life a few times, too, Stefan thought, suddenly discomfited. And you promised you'd watch out for each other, take care of each other†¦. Stefan looked sharply at Elena.She was the one who'd made both of them take the same oath – when she was dying. Elena looked back with eyes that were limpid, deep blue pools of innocence. In any case, he had to deal with Damon, who was now parking his Ferrari beside Stefan's Porsche in front of the boardinghouse. â€Å"Stay in here and – and keep away from the window.Please ,† Stefan hastily told Elena. He dashed out of the room, shut the door, and almost ran down the steps. He found Damon standing by the Ferrari, examining the dilapidated boardinghouse's exterior – first with sunglasses on, then with them off. Damon's expression said that it didn't make a great deal of difference whichever way you looked at it. But that wasn't Stefan's first concern. It was Damon's aura and the variety of different scents lingering on him – which no human nose would ever be able to detect, much less untangle. â€Å"What have you beendoing ?† Stefan said, too shocked for even a perfunctory greeting. Damon gave him a 250-watt smile. â€Å"Antiquing,† he said, and sighed. â€Å"Oh, and I did some shopping.† He fingered a new leather belt, touched the pocket with the video camera, and pushed back his Ray-Bans. â€Å"Would you believe it, this little dust speck of a town has some pretty decent shopping. I like shopping.† â€Å"You like stealing, you mean. And that doesn't account for half of what I can smell on you. Are you dying or have you just gone crazy?† Sometimes, when a vampire had been poisoned or had succumbed to one of the few mysterious curses or illnesses that afflict their kind, they would feed feverishly, uncontrollably, on whatever – whomever – was at hand. â€Å"Just hungry,† Damon replied urbanely, still surveying the boardinghouse. â€Å"And what happened to basic civility, by the way? I drive all the way out here and do I get a  ¡Ã‚ ®Hello, Damon,' or  ¡Ã‚ ®Nice to see you, Damon'? No. Instead I hear  ¡Ã‚ ®What have you been doing, Damon?'† He gave the imitation a whining, mocking twist. â€Å"I wonder what Signore Marino would think of that, little brother?† â€Å"Signore Marino,† Stefan said through his teeth, wondering how Damon was able to get under his skin every time – today with a reference to their old tutor of etiquette and dancing – â€Å"has been dust for hundreds of years by now – as we should be, too. Which has nothing to do with this conversation, brother . I asked you what you were doing, and you know what I meant by it – you must have bled half the girls in town.† â€Å"Girls and women,† Damon reproved, holding up a finger facetiously. â€Å"We must be politically correct, after all. And maybe you should be taking a closer look at your own diet. If you drank more, you might begin to fill out. Who knows?† â€Å"If I drank more – ?† There were a number of ways to finish this sentence, but no good ones. â€Å"What a pity,† he said instead to the short, slim, and compact Damon, â€Å"thatyou'll never grow another millimeter taller however long you live. And now, why don't you tell me what you're doing here, after leaving so many messes in town for me to clean up – if I know you.† â€Å"I'm here because I want my leather jacket back,† Damon said flatly. â€Å"Why not just steal anoth – ?† Stefan broke off as he suddenly found himself flying briefly backward and then pinned against the groaning boards of the boardinghouse wall, with Damon right in his face. â€Å"I didn't steal these things,boy . I paid for them – in my own coin. Dreams, fantasies, and pleasure from beyond this world.† Damon said the last words with emphasis, since he knew they would infuriate Stefan the most. Stefanwas infuriated – and in a dilemma. He knew Damon was curious about Elena. That was bad enough. But right now he could also see a strange gleam in Damon's eyes. As if the pupils had, for a moment, reflected a flame. And whatever Damon had been doing today was abnormal. Stefan didn't know what was going on, but he knew just how Damon was going to finish this off. â€Å"But a real vampire shouldn't pay,† Damon was saying in his most taunting tones. â€Å"After all, we're so wicked that we ought to be dust. Isn't that right, little brother?† He held up the hand with the finger on which he wore the lapis lazuli ring that kept him from crumbling to dust in the golden afternoon sunlight. And then, as Stefan made a movement, Damon used that hand to pin Stefan's wrist to the wall. Stefan feinted to the left and then lunged right to break Damon's hold on him. But Damon was fast as a snake – no, faster. Much faster than usual. Fast and strong with all the energy of the life force he'd absorbed. â€Å"Damon, you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Stefan was so angry that he briefly lost his hold on rational thought and tried to swipe Damon's legs out from under him. â€Å"Yes, it's me, Damon,† Damon said with jubilant venom. â€Å"And I don't pay if I don't feel like it; I just take. Itake what I want, and I give nothing in return.† Stefan stared into those heated black-on-black eyes and again saw the tiny flicker of flame. He tried to think. Damon was always quick to attack, to take offense. Butnot like this . Stefan had known him long enough to know something was off; something was wrong. Damon seemed almost feverish. Stefan sent a small surge of Power toward his brother, like a radar sweep, trying to put his finger on what was different. â€Å"Yes, I see you've got the idea, but you'll never get anywhere that way,† Damon said wryly, and then suddenly Stefan's insides, his entire body was on fire, was in agony, as Damon lashed out with a violent whip of his own Power. And now, however bad the pain was, Stefan had to be coldly rational; he had to keepthinking , not just reacting. He made a small movement, twisting his neck to the side, looking toward the door of the boardinghouse. If only Elena would stay inside†¦ But it was hard to think with Damon still whiplashing him. He was breathing fast and hard. â€Å"That's right,† Damon said. â€Å"We vampirestake – a lesson you need to learn.† â€Å"Damon, we're supposed to take care of each other – we promised – â€Å" â€Å"Yes, and I'm going to take care ofyou right now.† And Damon bled him. It was even more painful than the lashings of Power, and Stefan held himself carefully still for it, refusing to put up a struggle. The razor-sharp teeth shouldn't have hurt as they plunged into his carotid, but Damon was holding him at an angle – now by his hair – deliberately so that they did. Then came the real pain. The agony of having blood drawn out against your will, against your resistance. That was a torture that humans compared with having their souls ripped out from their living bodies. They would do anything to avoid it. All Stefan knew was that it was one of the greatestphysical anguishes that he had ever had to endure, and that at last tears formed in his eyes and rolled down his temples and down into his wavy dark hair. Worse, for a vampire, was the humiliation of having another vampire treat you like a human, treat you likemeat . Stefan's heart was pounding in his ears as he writhed under the double carving knives of Damon's canines, trying to bear the mortification of being used this way. At least – thank God – Elena had listened to him and stayed in his room. He was beginning to wonder if Damon had truly gone insane and meant to kill him when – at last – with a shove that sent him off balance, Damon released him. Stefan tripped and fell, rolled, and looked up, only to find Damon standing over him again. He pressed his fingers to the torn flesh on his neck. â€Å"And now,† Damon said coldly, â€Å"you will go up and get me my jacket.† Stefan got up slowly. He knew Damon must be savoring this: Stefan's humiliation, Stefan's neat clothes wrinkled and covered with torn blades of grass and mud from Mrs. Flowers' scraggly flower bed. He did his best to brush them off with one hand, the other still pressed to his neck. â€Å"You're quiet,† Damon remarked, standing by his Ferrari, running his tongue over his lips and gums, his eyes narrow with pleasure. â€Å"No snappy back talk? Not even a word? I think this is a lesson I should teach you more often.† Stefan was having trouble making his legs move. Well, that went about as well as could be expected, he thought as he turned back toward the boardinghouse. Then he stopped. Elena was leaning out of the unshuttered window in his room, holding Damon's jacket. Her expression was very sober, suggesting she'd seen everything. It was a shock for Stefan, but he suspected it was an even greater shock for Damon. And then Elena whirled the jacket around once and threw it so that it made a direct landing at Damon's feet, wrapping around them. To Stefan's astonishment, Damon went pale. He picked up the jacket as if he didn't really want to touch it. His eyes were on Elena the whole time. He got in his car. â€Å"Good-bye, Damon. I can't say it's been a pleasure – â€Å" Without a word, looking for all the world like a naughty child who'd been whipped, Damon turned on the ignition. â€Å"Just leave me alone,† he said expressionlessly in a low voice. He drove off in a cloud of dust and gravel. Elena's eyes were not serene when Stefan shut the door to his room behind him. They were shining with a light that nearly stopped him in the doorway. Hehurtyou. â€Å"He hurts everyone. He doesn't seem to be able to help it. But there was something weird about him today. I don't know what. Right now, I don't care. But look at you, making sentences!† He's†¦Elena paused, and for the first time since she'd first opened her eyes back in the glade where she had been resurrected, there was a frown-wrinkle on her forehead. She couldn't make a picture. She didn't know the right words.Something inside him. Growing inside him. Like†¦cold fire, dark light, she said finally.But hidden. Fire that burns from the inside out. Stefan tried to match this up with anything he'd heard of and came up blank. He was still humiliated that Elena had seen what had happened. â€Å"AllI know that's inside him is my blood. Along with that of half the girls in town.† Elena shut her eyes and shook her head slowly. Then, as if deciding not to go any further down that path, she patted the bed beside her. Come,she ordered confidently, looking up. The gold in her eyes seemed especially lustrous.Let me†¦unhurt†¦the pain. When Stefan didn't come immediately, she held out her arms. Stefan knew he shouldn't go to them, but hewas hurt – especially in his pride. He went to her and bent down to kiss her hair.

The History of California Essay

The History of California Essay Free Online Research Papers The History of California Essay The Native American population in California flourished in the years leading up to the Spanish and Mexican periods in California. Hunting, fishing, and fertile land were very abundant and the Native population was growing steadily; however the European colonization upon Native Americans during the Spanish and Mexican periods forever changed the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. The Native American populations were ravaged by displacement, disease, warfare, and the European’s attempt to dissolve all aspects of Native American life. As the Native Americans encountered the European explorers and mission Padres the first effects of colonization began to corrode the Native American life. The impact of the European colonization is evident in the drastic decline in the Native American population in California during the Mission period. It has been estimated that there were about 310,000 Native Americans that inhabited California during the beginning of the Mission period, however the missions created a high death rate and low birth rate, due to several devastating factors that were introduced to the Native population with the building of the missions. Native Americans died daily of disease, infection, and starvation. By then end of the Mission period there were only 150,000 Native Americans estimated to be still living in California. The Native American’s society was impacted dramatically by this loss of nearly half of the Native American population in California. Such a dramatic loss in a societies population can disrupt their ability to rebuild their population, which creates difficultly in passing on their culture to future generations. Without a strong population to protect their culture, European colonization was hard to resist and the Native American society did not have the population to successfully resist the European colonization. The Native American culture was not encouraged by the Europeans, who forced the Native American’s to convert to Christianity and leave their Native beliefs and culture behind, making it very hard for the Native American’s to preserve their own beliefs and culture. The massive decline in the Native American population has been explained by some authors that have written about the California Missions and the Native Americans, each with very different view. Sherburne F. Cook, who expressed his belief that the Native Americans were primitive persons that were â€Å"stupid and ignorant,† explained that it was the Native Americans stupidity and ignorance forced the â€Å"authority at the top [to] exercise force, moral or physical, to obtain essential effort on the part of the mass.† Any group that is conquered is not going to adapt successfully to a foreign way of life, especially when it is forced upon them. Cook’s ideas on the Native American’s illuminates the Europeans feelings towards the Native Americans of California and why the Europeans felt that it was necessary to convert the Native Americans. The Native Americans could have never imagined the changes that lied ahead with the arrival of their white neighbors. The Native Americans were made to work for the missions that were created to convert the Native Americans in to God-fearing Christians and to labor the mission fields. While in the missions, the Native Americans were persuaded by hard labor, beatings, starvation, and the stripping of their culture to convert to Christianity and to abandon their former religious beliefs. The Native Americans religious beliefs had deep roots in the land that they lived on. There were spirits for the land, and food that they used. The Native Americans found it very hard to watch the land that was important to them for food, shelter, and religious matters, taken away. In the missions the Native Americans were no longer allowed to hunt and gather their food like they did prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Some Native Americans would try to escape from the missions to hunt deer and other game to feed their starving families that resided in the missions. However, most escapees were caught and then whipped for their disobedience. The missionaries whipped the Native Americans, according to Francis Guest, because â€Å"whipping played a significant role in Spanish culture in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.† Guest suggests that the missionaries were welcoming the Native Americans into their culture and trying to make them part of the Spanish culture. The missionaries would apply the same discipline to themselves. In the end one can say that the whipping was just, but only when looking at the mission period from the viewpoint of the Spanish. Examining the mission period in today’s modern society, people would find the beating of the Native Americans by the mission Padres as unjust and even bizarre. People might see the Padres whipping as extreme and brutal today, since this is not normal behavior in modern society. The Native American’s had the highest respect for the land that they lived on and from. Native American’s were very good at using every part of an animal that they killed during a hunt. When the Europeans came to California with their firearms in search of wealth, the new foreign settlers began to destroy the Native American way of life that depended on the untouched wild land that they lived on. The settlers would not use the entire animal. Animals would be found with only their skins taken, leaving the meat of the animal to rot. The Native American’s soon found that the animals that they regularly hunted were being driven away by the new settlers. The Native Americans did not corral or fence any game that they hunted. When European settlers arrived they put up fences to claim their portion of land. The fences became an issue with the native animals that would get stuck in the fences or were displaced due to the fences. The Native Americans resorted to hunting a ny animals that they found. The Native American’s â€Å"fittingly saw cows and horses grazing upon their lands as legitimate quarry for their subsistence.† This would later create more hostility between the Native Americans and the new settlers. After the Mission period the Native Americans were drawn to the rancheros that the Californios ran. The Californio society meant the transfer of economic resources from the missions to the Californios and then to the mostly white settlers. Life on the ranchero was not as harsh as mission life, however they were still laborers. Douglas Monroy explained that, â€Å"life on the ranchos did not require the discipline characteristic of the missions; labor on the ranchos was hard, but not consistently demanding, and no one worked very diligently anyway. For their labors they received food, clothing, or perhaps a few hides, which they so often traded for drink.† The Californios’ rancheros took over more of the Native American land and drove more of the wild game away. It was not only the Californios rancheros that were threatening their land, it was the settlers that began to squat on the open land. These new settlers that came from the Eastern states and foreign lands would shoot any animal that was not theirs on their property, including any man, woman, or child they saw as trespassers. The new settlers that were moving in to California from the east came to California in search of a fresh start and wealth. These city settlers did not look upon the Native American nicely. The settlers believed that they were better people than the Native Americans, more civilized. With the increased foreign population in California the Native American’s found themselves at the bottom of the social ladder with a population that was rapidly declining and struggling to keep their true culture alive. Bibliography Cook, Sherburne F., The Conflict Between the California Indians and the White Civilization. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1943. Guest 0. F. M., Francis F. â€Å"Cultural Perspectives on California Mission Life,† Southern California Quarterly. 65, Spring 1983. Monroy, Douglas. The Creation and Re-creation of Californio Society. In Contested Eden: California Before the Gold Rush, edited by Ramà ³n A. Gutià ©rrez and Richard J. Orsi. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Research Papers on The History of California Essay19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationWhere Wild and West MeetResearch Process Part OneAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropePETSTEL analysis of IndiaHip-Hop is ArtEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenQuebec and CanadaThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug Use

That Confusion

5 Cases of Which/That Confusion 5 Cases of â€Å"Which†/â€Å"That† Confusion 5 Cases of â€Å"Which†/â€Å"That† Confusion By Mark Nichol Perhaps you are confused by grammatical discussions of restrictive and nonrestrictive or essential or nonessential clauses. (I know I can never keep those terms straight.) Never mind the nomenclature; when you’re editing your own writing, or someone else’s, simply read the phrase that follows a which (or who) or a that and determine whether the phrase that follows is parenthetical (it can be removed with no change of meaning to the sentence) or it is integral to the sentence. Here are five sample sentences followed by explanation of the problem and a revision. 1. â€Å"The inventor of the Etch A Sketch toy that generations of children drew on, shook up, and started over, has died in France, the toy’s maker said.† The use of that to serve as a grammatical bridge between the name of the product and the phrase describing how it was used implies that more than one type of product called the Etch A Sketch exists; the one that children used as described is, according to this sentence construction, one of two or more types. When that is replaced with which, and which is preceded by a comma, the sentence structure makes clear that the existence of other Etch A Sketch products is not implied: â€Å"The inventor of the Etch A Sketch toy, which generations of children have drawn on and shaken up before starting over, has died in France, the toy’s maker said.† (Note, too, that I have altered the wording explaining how the toy is used and have changed the tense to indicate that the product is extant.) 2. â€Å"It was a time when tensions were growing between the black and Jewish communities that had previously been aligned in efforts to affect social change.† The point of this sentence is not what had occurred between certain communities of black and Jewish people, but what the entire black and Jewish communities had experienced. The restrictive force of that must be replaced by the parenthetical purpose of a comma followed by which: â€Å"It was a time when tensions were growing between the black and Jewish communities, which had previously been aligned in efforts to affect social change.† 3. â€Å"Police are probing allegations of incidents involving the renowned astrophysicist who is paralyzed.† The phrase â€Å"the renowned astrophysicist who is paralyzed† distractingly refers to the concept of astrophysicists who are not paralyzed. However, â€Å"who is paralyzed† is merely additional information appended to the factual statement, and should be attached with a comma followed by who (the equivalent of which): â€Å"Police are probing allegations of incidents involving the renowned astrophysicist, who is paralyzed.† 4. â€Å"The company’s incident-response team can quickly and reliably identify events, which threaten an organization’s security posture.† Here and in the example below, the problem in the previous sentence is reversed: This statement implies that all events are threatening. Replacing the comma and which with that corrects that impression by restricting the meaning to refer specifically to threatening events: â€Å"The company’s incident-response team can quickly and reliably identify events that threaten an organization’s security posture.† 5. â€Å"The court ruled this week that a law passed last summer, which gave five top government-office holders immunity from prosecution, was illegal and must be revoked.† This sentence construction suggests that the summer, rather than the law, granted immunity. Removal of the bracketing commas and replacement of which with that integrates the central point into the framing sentence: â€Å"The court ruled this week that a law passed last summer that gave five top government-office holders immunity from prosecution is illegal and must be revoked.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:75 Synonyms for â€Å"Angry†Used To vs. Use Toâ€Å"Least,† â€Å"Less,† â€Å"More,† and â€Å"Most†

Investigation the Consumer Needs and Quality Marketing Essay

Investigation the Consumer Needs and Quality Marketing - Essay Example In order to meet consumer requirements and behavior, marketing research is conducted. Marketing Research helps to identify an appropriate marketing mix. Marketing Mix is actually the right combination of product, price, place, and promotion. Such research may either be formal or informal. Behavior that influences a consumer to prefer one brand over another is known as Consumer Behavior. It is all about the choices and preferences of a final consumer. McGraw-Hill/Irwin defined Consumer Behavior as The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. Marketers use this knowledge to product design and price determination. Before making a purchase, consumers go through five stages of decision-making process such as; need recognition and problem awareness, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase, and post-purchase evaluation. First of all, the consumer recognizes his need. For example, a need for water in thirst. Then a consumer finds out the options available to meet his deprivation.