How do you define violent crime illistrate with examples Essay

How do you define violent crime illistrate with examples - Essay Example It also looks into the social reaction and impacts of crime (Newburn 2007). The study looks at the criminals themselves. The term criminology is borrowed from R. Garofalo, an Italian law scholar. Criminologists are involved in the study of criminals’ mindset. The aim is to understand what motivates the criminals (Nexis UK 2003). Certain things may be crimes in one society but legal in another. A criminologist explains these social and cultural variances. Criminology explores the various types of punishments and why some societies opt to have them (Newburn 2007).This study includes a study of that suggest why crimes are committed. This is necessary in understanding violent crimes. Some of the violent crimes theories include classical, individual trait and positive theories (Singer & Gardner 2003). Classical theory suggests the reason why people commit a crime is because they are satisfied that the benefits of the crime outweigh the cost. When the punishment is harsh, then crimi nals fear committing the crime according to this theory (Nexis UK 2003). According to the positive theory, crime happens out of both internal and external factors. The social and biological factors contribute to the positive theory (Singer & Gardner 2003). Some of the social factors that contribute to crime include poverty and illiteracy. Individual trait theory suggests that the psychological and biological factors contribute directly to criminal behavior. According to this theory, biological factors help to distinguish between non criminal and criminal traits (Newburn 2007). Crime, therefore, is a result of natural instincts arising from innate behaviors according to individual trait theory. Therefore, this theory suggests that some people have a natural desire to do violent crimes. According to individual trait theory, such people love to be violent genetically. As a result, no amount of punishment can control their violent tendencies (Nexis UK 2003). Limiting interaction with th ese violent criminals becomes the only way to prevent these crimes. According to individual traits theory, violent criminals should be alienated from the society. Violent crimes can result from extreme emotions like rage or hate. These extreme emotional states can be directed to both people and animals. Sometimes it is demonstrated through kicking a dog. According to Weiner and Sagi (1990), a violent crime can be defined as any threat or attempt to use physical force by a single or many people resulting in non physical or physical harm (Nexis UK 2003). The definitions of violent crimes tend to include the cause of the crime. Violent crimes are thought to be actions directed to other people in a face to face confrontation. Many believe that there has to be physical contact for violent crimes to occur. Violent crimes may result from frustrations (Singer & Gardner 2003). However, violent crimes may be purposeful and intentional. Violent crimes can stem from socially acceptable and appr oved activities. Sports violent crimes are legal given the environmental circumstances in which they happen. According to Atyeo, the pain inflicted in sports is not perceived to be a real pain. Yet it fully falls under the definition of violent crimes (Newburn 2007). Boxing is seen as fun while the players injure each other leading to death in extreme cases. There is an observation that legitimizing violent sport crimes can cause athletes to be violent

Teens Decreasing Morality Essay Example for Free

Teens Decreasing Morality Essay Some aspects of moral values among university students in three societies: Poland, Australia and the Philippines J.J. Smolicz, D.M. Hudson and M.J. Secombe1 Graduate School of Education, Adelaide University The paper reports the findings from a comparative study of moral values undertaken among university students from five universities in the Philippines, Poland and Australia. The aim of the study was to compare the way students brought up in different cultural traditions, but subjected to the homogenizing trends of globalization, evaluated what they deemed as the most appropriate solutions to some of the basic life dilemmas facing individuals today. The respondents were senior undergraduate and postgraduate students drawn from education and social science faculties in two independent Catholic and three secular state universities. A total of 448 students participated in the study, with 80 to 100 students originating from each university. This paper presents a detailed analysis of one example from each of three categories of moral dilemmas, in which students were asked to state their position in relation to twelve issues including abortion, extramarital affairs and stealing. In addition to providing concrete data on themselves, students indicated whether they believed the actions listed were wrong, acceptable or dependent on circumstances. The students’ responses to the issues showed a generally consistent position for each university along a value orientation continuum ranging from Traditional Christian to ‘Post-modern Individualist’. The degree of support for Traditional Christian values varied, however, from issue to issue according to the university and country under investigation. moral values; abortion; infidelity; stealing; tertiary students; international. INTRODUCTION As a result of global secular influences, it could be expected that responses to moral dilemmas would have become more uniform across different cultural and ethnic and religious groups. In order to ascertain any possible modification to or rejection of traditional moral values crossculturally, the study sought the views of young people who were university students in three different countries and in institutions with different ideological profiles. The researchers had access to the collection of comparable data in Poland, the Philippines and Australia countries very different in their regions, cultures and histories. It should be stressed that the study did not aim to take the form of a statistical analysis of variables to test a pre-established hypothesis which could lead to any predictions for a wider population. This comparative study was not funded by any organisation, but was the result of co-operative efforts among colleagues in the three countries concerned. The authors, in particular, would like to express their gratitude to Ms Monika Koniecko, Professor Elzbieta Halas, Dr Illuminado Nical, Ms Susana Manzon and Mr Robert de la Serna for the contribution they have made to the data collection and analysis of this paper. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the humanistic sociological conceptualization of Znaniecki, in which the term ‘moral values’ refers to the meanings which group members are expected to accept as a guide to right and proper conduct and the way in which they should act in their daily life. Znaniecki (1963: 267-70) draws an important theoretical distinction between the ideological attitudes which individuals profess in terms of the religious and moral values of their group, and the tendencies to action which these same individuals reveal in the specific contexts of daily life. UNIVERSITY PROFILES Data were gathered from a total of 448 respondents, drawn from five different universities. The number in each institution ranged from 80 to 109 (80 in Leyte and Adelaide; 89 in Warsaw; 90 in UAP and 109 in KUL). In Poland, the student respondents were drawn from two universities. One of these can be regarded as firmly set within the Catholic tradition. In 1918 the Catholic Church established the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) as a privately funded institution in a provincial centre in the east-central part of Poland. Over the period of Communist rule, it functioned as the bastion of Catholic religious and moral values in Poland. Today it is a medium-sized university with faculties reflecting its religious base: Theology, Canon and Civil Law, Christian Philosophy, Humanities, and Social Sciences as well as specialised institutes in Polish Church History, Higher Religious Education and Migration. Many of its students have gone to the priesthood and a variety of leadership positions in the Church and society at large. The second Polish university which provided respondents for this study was Warsaw. A state institution, originally founded in the early nineteenth century, Warsaw is a very large university, with a full range of humanities, social science and natural science faculties. Its position in the heart of a capital city, renowned for its high culture in music, art, literature and the theatre, yet traditionally strongly linked to the Polish Catholic Church, has had an important influence on its ethos in providing access to moral values based in the Catholic tradition, as well as its more atheistic, anti-clerical counter-tradition. Two other groups of respondents were drawn from universities in the Philippines. One set was provided by the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP), which is a private university in Manila, established by the Opus Dei order of the Catholic Church. Its ethos reflects the Opus Dei dedication to Catholic spirituality and emphasis on intellectual, political. educational and business leadership. It is best known for its high profile research specialisations in economics, political economy and business management, as well as its undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences. Its fee-paying structure and high entrance standards make it an à ©lite institution, both socially and academically, and its total enrolment of around two thousand students is still relatively small. The second Philippines institution from which respondents were drawn was the provincial state university at Tacloban on the island of Leyte in the eastern Visayas. The Leyte Institute of Technology (LIT) sees its role as providing for the practical educational needs of the surrounding community which has maintained a strong commitment to Catholic values reflecting the local community. It offers degrees in vocational disciplines, applied science and technology and teacher education, with a particular emphasis on post-graduate studies in education. At present time there are around seven thousand students enrolled at the Leyte Institute. The two universities in the Philippines were chosen to provide contrasting communities within the overall Catholic ethos of the country. UAP could be regarded as an intellectual centre closest to the teachings of the magisterium of the Church. Opus Dei is rightly regarded as a bastion of traditional Catholic teaching because it has scrupulously upheld the full and undiluted doctrine of the church. LIT, in contrast, is a comparatively small regional university, chosen because it had no metropolitan glitter about it, was state-run and attracted a technically oriented clientele from financially and socially modest homes, in one of the poorest provinces of the country. The strong Catholic orientation of the Philippines was very apparent, however, in that seminars were normally begun with a prayer and Catholic feast days were regularly observed, even though it was a state university. For the Australian section of the study, respondents were drawn from Adelaide University, which was established as a public institution in the late nineteenth century, the third oldest university in Australia. Situated in the capital city of the state of South Australia, it offers a wide range of degrees across the disciplines of science, agriculture, engineering, the professions, economics, music, humanities and social sciences. The student body currently numbers close to thirteen and a half thousand. Like most government-funded educational institutions in Australia, Adelaide University is strongly secular in ethos and has traditionally regarded religion and theology as sectarian pursuits, inappropriate for university students, while its philosophy department has been openly atheistic (Duncan and Leonard, 1974). The students participating in the study came from the Graduate School of Education. Poland and the Philippines, the two predominantly Catholic countries investigated in this study, both inherited a strong Catholic tradition anchored in the post-Tridentum spirit. The respondents from the four Polish and Filipino universities who claimed to be Catholic (over 80%) would formally be expected to uphold the religious and moral values prescribed by their church and know that any deviation would be regarded as a sin. Evidence on which values were being rejected or regarded more relativistically and how frequently constitutes valuable information on changes taking place in moral values in countries which have long been regarded as strongholds of Catholicism. METHOD Student participants from the five universities were asked to complete a questionnaire on their religious and moral beliefs. For students in the Philippines and Australia the questionnaire was in English, but a Polish version was used for the respondents from Poland. Some questions were designed to gather concrete data concerning the respondents’ background: gender, age, language use, level of parental education and religious affiliation. There was also a series of questions to gather cultural data i.e. these were concerned with the students’ beliefs and moral perceptions and other attitudes in relation to the moral/religious convictions among them. Responses to Specific Moral Issues When presented with moral issues which epitomized contemporary moral dilemmas, participants were asked to indicate whether they agreed that action concerned was wrong: whether its moral status depended on the situation; or whether they considered the action not wrong. The range of responses available was: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Considered Wrong Situation dependent Not wrong No opinion The questions and responses were thus deliberately framed in terms of the maintenance of traditional moral values. Data were initially summarized in frequency distributions for each university. Of the twelve situations presented to the respondents, one example from each category of issues will be discussed. viz. Abortion classified as a ‘Life and Death issue’: Abortion: A Life and Death Issue This issue proved important in the analysis because of the polarisation of data. There was a clear distinction between the percentage of responses which considered abortion to be wrong from the three Catholic oriented universities, including LIT, and the two more secular ones. Traditional moral values on abortion were strongly maintained on this issue especially at the three Catholic oriented universities: UAP (93%), KUL( 80%) and LIT (74%) while in Warsaw (49%) only half gave evidence of supporting these values. Even lower, the Adelaide figure of 25% who considered abortion to be wrong, could be seen to reflect a society where abortion is legally available, virtually ‘on demand’. In the case of responses rejecting traditional values, Adelaide respondents (44%) stood out as having the highest percentage of rejectors of traditional values. Warsaw (12%) is aligned with LIT on 15% in this response an indication of much lower rejection among students who lived in predominantly Catholic societies, than the secular society of Adelaide which largely accepted abortion. Abortion was an issue of debate, depending on the situation, for students from Adelaide (30%) and Warsaw (34%) rather than for the three Catholic-oriented universities LIT (4%), UAP (6%) and KUL (14%). These students were upholding the traditional Catholic teachings. The situational response indicated that some students considered an issue was neither right nor wrong in itself. If they had doubts about it, they could choose this option to record individual responses . Extra-Marital Affairs: A Sex and Marriage Issue There was a marked convergence of responses in relation to this issue. The majority of students from all five universities agreed in maintaining traditional opposition to such actions: UAP were unanimous on 99%. Warsaw(70%) and Adelaide (69%) showed a similar stance in opposing this issue. In this regard, Warsaw and Adelaide respondents almost matched the frequency levels from LIT at 73% and KUL at 85%. The ‘ranking’ of the university responses is similar to the previous issue, abortion, but there is general consensus. The responses on the upholding of traditional moral values had their mirror image in the data showing rejection of such values. There was strong evidence of less acceptance for ‘extramarital affairs’ at Warsaw (1%) and Adelaide (5%) where responses to this option were at a very low level, comparable to UAP(1%) and KUL (1%). The respondents at LIT (14%) showed some approval of the issue but the number was relatively small. The third response option, reflecting a more situational approach, was valuable in highlighting issues where there was a high degree of ambiguity or uncertainty. Low scores, in contrast, suggested that the respondents in the group concerned had made up their minds to be either upholders or rejectors of traditional morality. The relativistic view was comparatively high and shared by as many as 26% from Warsaw and 23% from Adelaide indicating the doubts some students expressed depending on the situation. STEALING: A Human Relations Issue The issue of ‘stealing’ was also striking in the way a large degree of consensus was displayed among students from all universities but the pattern of response differed markedly from those shown for the other two issues. ‘Stealing’ elicited the highest response of moral rectitude with over 70% of students in all universities and over 80% in three of them considering stealing as ‘wrong’. ‘Stealing’ was also the issue which elicited the highest level of support for any traditional value among Warsaw students (87%). With a corresponding figure of 82% at KUL, stealing seems to evoke a particularly strong sense of ‘wrong’ among Polish students. It is interesting to note that UAP students, who were the highest upholders of moral values on virtually all other issues, were below Warsaw at 81% in the case of ‘stealing’. Adelaide students with their dual Protestant and secularist orientations, also demonstrated greater acknowledgment of ‘stealing’ as ‘wrong, than for any other issue (74%). At Adelaide 41% of respondents indicated that they belonged to one of the Protestant denominations whilst 30% claimed that they had no religion a response which did not occur at all in any of the other groups of participants. The remarkable unanimity of responses for this issue from students at all universities was also seen in the complementary rejection of traditional values, in that only very few claimed outright that ‘stealing’ was not wrong. Only LIT showed a relatively high proportion of those rejecting traditional values, amounting to 14%. In contrast, while on most moral issues Warsaw and Adelaide displayed a high degree of permissiveness, Adelaide showed no more than 4% of respondents, and Warsaw had no-one who condoned stealing. The figures for KUL and UAP were minimal 3 and 2%. Overall stealing was not acceptable as an issue. The minimal number of students at Warsaw and KUL, UAP and Adelaide who openly condoned stealing has to be considered alongside the proportion who expressed relativistic attitudes by indication that their judgement of whether stealing was ‘wrong’ or ‘not wrong’ would depend on the circumstances. Respondents from Adelaide (21%) and UAP (17%) expressed some doubt in relation to stealing which was somewhat higher than Warsaw (12%) and KUL (16%). The figure for LIT was as low as 6% which reflects the pattern for all universities as seeing stealing as ‘wrong’. These findings suggest that moral issues in social relationships are not necessarily seen to be tied directly to Christian beliefs, despite their specific prohibition in the Ten Commandments. Findings raise questions such as : Is stealing related to established ‘legal’ rather than ‘moral’ codes? For some Protestants, what constitutes sin and restitution for sin becomes very much more a matter for the individual conscience and there is a greater tendency to adopt relativistic attitudes where what constitutes right and wrong depends on personal judgement of the situation. CONCLUSIONS The various responses to these three issues provide valuable information on the relative ‘holding power’ of Christian (mainly Catholic) beliefs in Poland and the Philippines when compared with mainly Protestant (or religiously indifferent) Australia. The responses also throw light on differences among the various moral values examined, in the extent of their support or rejection. In the three predominantly Catholic universities (UAP, LIT and KUL), traditional Christian values continued to be upheld for ‘abortion’ in the life and death issue. In the two universities where there has been a tradition of secularist values, there is a much greater rejection of traditional moral values, together with a substantial number of those with a relativistic orientation expressing an essentially ambiguous stance. One issue on which Warsaw and Adelaide join forces with the Catholic oriented University is on the issue of ‘extra-marital affairs’, a ‘Sex and Marriage Issue’, with about two third of responses upholding a traditional negative view of such practices. This particular value appears to hold no relationship to Christian religious belief or non-belief, assuming a virtually universalistic dimension. The same situation apprears to hold for the ‘social relationship’ issue stealing. Responses from students in all five universities favour the upholding of traditional moral values for this issue which is considered more frequently ‘wrong’ by Warsaw students than by respondents from all other universities. There is a minimal rejection of the traditional norms that condemn ‘stealing’. It is the rejection of certain moral propositions when the respondents openly admit that certain actions which are contrary to traditional morality are no longer ‘wrong’ which put them in conflict with the religious authority to which they officially subscribe. What is clear is that some of the traditional values are changing within the orbit of particular Christian denominations. The results suggest that believers display a spirit of selectivity among moral values showing traditional disapproval for certain actions, while revealing a proclivity for greater permissiveness in relation to others. The issue of abortion shows that in the Catholic oriented universities, there is little evidence of collapse of traditional values and that globalization trends have not seriously undermined other traditional values. The other two moral issues discussed, extra-marital affairs and stealing, where there is a greater convergence of responses, can be viewed as highlighting more univer salistic values which appear to go beyond the confines of any particular religious belief. REFERENCES Andres, T. D. (1980) Understanding Values. Quezon City: New Day Publishers. Blumer, H. (1939) Critiques of Research in the Social Sciences I: Appraisal of Thomas and Znaniecki’s ‘The Polish Peasant in Europe and America’. New York: Social Science Research Council. Duncan, W.G.K. and Leonard, R.A. (1974) The University of Adelaide. Adelaide: Rigby. Ossowska, M. (1985) Normy Moralne: Proba Systematyzacji. P.W.N. Warszawa. Smolicz, J.J. (1997) In Search of a Multicultural Nation, in R. J. Watts and J.J.Smolicz (eds), Cultural Democracy and Ethnic Pluralism: Multicultural and Multilingual Policies in Education. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Smolicz, J.J. (1999) On Education and Culture. (M.J. Secombe and J. Zajda, eds) Melbourne: James Nicholas Publishers. Smolicz, J.J., Secombe, M.J. and Hudson, D.M., (2001) Family Collectivism and Minority Languages as Core Values of Culture among Ethnic Groups in Australia, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vo l. 22:2. Znaniecki, F. (1963) Cultural Sciences: Their Origin and Development. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Znaniecki, F. (1969) On Humanistic Sociology: Selected Papers (Bierstedt, R. ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Znaniecki, F. (1998) Education and Social Change. (Halas, E. ed) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

File Sharing on the Internet Essay -- Computers Technology Essays

File Sharing on the Internet When we think of pirates, we see scruffy men with unshaven chins, a bandana, a gold earing, a black patch on one eye, and a wooden leg, men with guns in hand, riding the seas in their wooden ship proudly flying the terrifying skull and crossbones. Well, pirates these days look much different. In fact, you may be sitting by one right now. They are ordinary people who have come to enjoy the technologies the Internet provides. These pirates are boys and girls, women and men, who habitually root themselves in their desk chairs with eyes fixed on the computer screen. But today's pirates have something in common with the pirates of days lost in history. Both steal what doesn't belong to them. Today's pirates sail the Internet on the prowl for a treasure chest of downloadable files. In the age of technology and information, the Internet has become widely used for a variety of reasons. I, like many other college and high school students, love to download things off the Internet. Everything is right there in front of me. With a few clicks of the mouse and some intelligent searching strategies, a world of information awaits my curious mind. There's much to be found: movies, computer games, books, reference guides, almost anything you want is there to download. My favorite thing to download is music, and it's easily accessible on the Internet. I admit I am one of those who indulges in the popular practice of downloading music from servers. At first, the hot thing was to use Napster. If I heard a good song on the radio, I would remember what it was called and who sang it so that I could download the song and have it available to hear whenever I wanted. After a while, record companies realized that thi... ...ongs from CDs I don't have, and as soon as I have the means I plan to finish collecting their CDs. I am like the many Wilco fans and other music fans who aren't trying to cheat record companies and artists by getting the CDs online for free. In light of everything, today's pirates, like those of the past, are in control and can't be stopped. Only by taking drastic measures and infringing on people's rights to copy CDs legally for legitimate purposes will the pirating be stopped. However, pirating music is not all that bad, and in many ways is actually good for artists, record companies, listeners, and especially people who love music. Sources cited: Levy, Steven. "Turning Off the Music Tap." Newsweek 13 May 2002: 40. On-line. Proquest. 10 Oct 2002. Available at http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=0000001189692564&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=l&Idx=4&Sid=13&RQT=309.

Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” and John Milton’s Paradise Lost Essay

The main female characters in Alexander Pope’s â€Å"The Rape of the Lock† and John Milton’s Paradise Lost are seen at first as extensions of the male characters, at the mercy of supernatural forces. Does their rebellion show that they begin to break the chains of male dominion? A view of the actions of Eve and Belinda can be seen as rebellion against their controllers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Eve, the main female character of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, comes to the forefront in Book IX, after she has taken her first independent action, that of eating the apple. To understand the actions of Eve, it is important to understand Milton’s view of the interactions between God, Adam and Eve.   Roberta Martin states In Paradise Eve, the â€Å"mother of mankind†, is the figure of a contained, â€Å"other† creative energy that is carefully derivative: she herself was â€Å"derived† from Adam’s rib, and she is under Adam’s domination in the hierarchy of the Father’s â€Å"perfect† Symbolic†¦ Eve is subordinate to Adam because she is â€Å"lacking†. The Father intends her to be a deliberately limited and controlled Other. (61) On Eve’s first awakening in the garden, the difference between Adam and herself is made clear. While he wonders who he is, and is aware of himself as a differentiated entity, Eve wonders where and what she is, and is not aware of any difference between herself and her surroundings – as one with no conception of the separateness of her being, she begins life as an Object, rather than as a Person (Martin, 70). From this perspective, it is clear that Eve is at first fully controlled by the desires of Adam and of God, her joint Creators. It is not until, daring to become a Person,   she expresses her own desires; then, further defying her masters, she chooses to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. She begins, tentatively, to have opinions of her own and thoughts as to how the Garden should work – she starts innocently, with a suggestion as to how the work should be done.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Let us divide our labors, thou where choice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   †¦   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With Myrtle, find what to redress till Noon:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Our task we choose, what wonder if so near,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Looks intervene and smiles, or object new   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Casual Discourse draws on, which intermits   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Our day’s work brought to so little, though begun   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Early, and th’hour of Supper comes unearn’d. (Milton, 209). Adam objects sharply to this suggestion, leaving no doubt that Eve has gone against his wishes for, perhaps, the first time. â€Å"for nothing lovelier can be found In Woman/than to study household good,/and good works in her Husband to promote (Milton, 209).† And yet, he concedes sadly, â€Å"But if much converse perhaps/Thee satiate, to short absence I could yield. /For solitude sometimes is best society/And short retirement urges sweet return (Milton, 209).† Eve has won her first, small battle – that for time on her own, without the companionship of Adam, whom she was conceived as Companion for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Adam is not yet done attempting to assert his will, and God’s will, over Eve.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But God left free the Will, for what obeys Reason  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   , is free and Reason he made right, But bid her well beware and still erect, Lest by some fair appearing good surpris’d, She dictate false, and misinform the Will To do what God expressly hath forbid. (Milton, 212) Eve is, here, to be allowed some freedom of her will, but only if it is within the rules already outlined for her. Temptation follows in the form of the Serpent and she defies the wishes of Adam and of God, and eats the Fruit she has been forbidden. This is her greatest act of rebellion, and the point at which she throws off the chains of her Creation. She gains the knowledge that had been forbidden her; she conceives of a desire, that of being an equal. She ponders â€Å"In Female Sex, the more to draw his Love,/ and render me more equal, and perhaps,/ a thing not undesirable, sometime/Superior, for inferior who is free? (Milton, 225)† Suddenly aware of the possibility of her own death, she resolves to share the knowledge she has gained with Adam, for â€Å"So dear I love him, that with him all deaths/I could endure, without him live no life. (Milton 225)† So choosing the path of love over the path of knowledge, she feeds the fruit to Adam, and brings the wrath of the Creator down upon their heads. Milton is not content to let Eve’s transgression, that of throwing off the patriarchal rule and allowing her own will to become paramount, pass lightly. For he closes, â€Å"Thus it shall befall/Him who to worth in Woman overtrusting/Lets her Will rule. (Milton 234).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If Eve is a creation of Adam and God, Belinda is a creation of Man’s conception of Woman, and the object of a struggle between Man and the supernatural. Rising only late in the morning, she spends hours at her toilet, grooming obsessively in order to meet her admirers. Pope inquires:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Say what strange motive, goddess! Could compel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A well-bred lord t’assault a gentle belle?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   O say what stranger cause, yet unexplored,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Could make a gentle belle reject a lord? (Pope, 28) Belinda is the beloved of the sylphs, for her purity and beauty are made in their image. One whispers to her as she lies sleeping â€Å"Know farther yet; whoever fair and chaste/Rejects mankind, is by some sylph embraced:/For spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease/Assume what sexes and what shapes they please (Pope, 29).† When she ventures out, all fall to her charms, including the Baron; â€Å"Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay (Pope, 32)†. All, that is, except the Sylph, who sees in the Baron a rival for Belinda’s affections. The Baron conceives of a plan – to wrest a lock from Belinda’s unsuspecting head, thus despoiling her. Despite the guardianship of the Sylphs, he succeeds: â€Å"He takes the gift with reverence and extends/the little engine on his finger ends; /This just behind Belinda’s neck he spread, /As o’er the fragrant steams she bends her head (Pope, 38).† The sylphs are enraged – â€Å"Not Cynthia, when her manteau’s pinned awry/E’er felt such rage, resentment and despair,/ As thou, sad virgin! for thy ravished hair. (Pope, 39).† The spirits desert Belinda, and she is left at the mercy of new knowledge of love; bereft of her beauty with the lock of hair, she falls into a dark despair, abandoning her previous beauty regime and descending into slovenliness. Driven to rage, she attacks the Baron for his unforgivably churlish act: See fierce Belinda on the baron flies, With more than usual lightning in her eyes, Nor feared the chief th’unequal fight to try, But this bold lord with manly strength subdued†¦ â€Å"Now meet thy feate,† incensed Belinda cried, And drew a deadly bodkin from her side. (Pope, 45)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Belinda, in rebellion against the desires of Man, throws off the strictures of her previous role as Virgin and takes the persona of Warrior. â€Å"Restore the lock!† is Belinda’s cry – she desires what has been taken from her to be returned, as she desires to return to her previous state of innocence. Belinda is not a puppet of the supernatural nor of Man; her rebellion is against the unending march of maturity and gained knowledge, not against the machinations of those who would control her. Belinda has chosen the supernatural rather than the control of Man, and has wrested control of her Self back from the man who would control her. She is still a creature of Man’s conception, but she is no longer a creature for Man’s desire.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Eve and Belinda represent two very different views of female rebellion and independence. Eve, in choosing to perform an action expressly forbidden by her creators, has chosen the path of opposition; Belinda has chosen the control of one of her creators, rejecting the path of the other, who held himself in opposition to the first’s wishes. Belinda has chosen the path not of rebellion, but of total rejection of the assertion of Man’s control. Works Cited Pope, Alexander. â€Å"The Poetry of Pope: A Selection†. New York: Appleton-Century- Crofts, 1954. Martin, Roberta C. â€Å"How Came I Thus?: Adam and Eve in the Mirror of the Other.† College Literature, 27.2 (2000): 57-79. Milton, John. â€Å"Paradise Lost.† New York: Odyssey Press, 1962.

Housing Industry Research Essay

People would often refer to real estate and housing industry as the best way to build up riches, or possibly the best, easiest and fastest way for anybody to get rich. Most of the time, the terms real estate industry and housing industry are being used interchangeably by people, not knowing the very basic distinctions between the two terminologies. Real estate industry more formally refers to the industry that focuses on simply buying and selling real estate properties. Whereas, the housing industry is more concerned on developing and incorporating improvements to a real estate property. Basically, those that are in the real estate industry are doing much more of retail business, while those in the housing industry are doing much more of service and nonetheless, research, design, and manual work. The housing industry is the industry which is primarily concerned in building and developing houses and housing designs for private individuals, for government housing projects and for a local community. Moreover this is also the industry which provides the basic materials such as the building materials, and hard escape materials for a housing project. When you drive or ride through a community, the variety of architecture often reflects some of the history of the community or the locality. Architectural styles of the past are illustrated in the older neighborhoods but also influence the styles of homes built today. In a community, the housing industry is the one which is mainly concerned in all these. For most communities, there is only one housing industry which can be regarded as the main housing industry of the community. This can be a company, or a group of companies that would generally dominate all the housing projects within the locality, be it a private housing project or a housing project from the government. Mostly, these housing industries would dominate the landscaping industry, hard escape industry, and the hardware, building equipments and materials industry as well. Since most people believe in the logical trend that as one industry goes up the black, a counter industry would fall down the red; this would lead many to believe that the immediate spike in the information technology and communications industry would leave other industries such as the real estate industry and housing industry, to experience its most protracted slump for several years. This is actually the opposite of what’s really happening in the economy, for many years, the housing industry has remained as one of the most stable industries all over the globe. Indeed the housing industry has had its share of downs and suffered greatly from economic destabilizations, inflations and other economic fluctuations, but in spite of all these, it has retained itself as still one of the most promising, and stable industry. With nearly 17 million new conventional homes added over the past decade, the home building industry continues to set new records and standards. In 2005 alone, single-family starts exceeded 1. 7 million—far and away the largest number ever. Thanks to a stable economy and low mortgage interest rates, the home building industry has not seen a significant downturn since the early 1990s. This undeniable stretch of strong, stable growth in the home building industry has ushered-in a period of prosperity for major builders and supported a wave of mergers and acquisitions within the industry. In the early 1990s, the top 10 builders in the country accounted for less than 10 percent of all conventional new single-family home sales. By 2004, their share had risen to over 20 percent in most major metropolitan areas; larger builders hold an even greater market share. There are three major reasons for the dramatic increase in the scale among the home builders. The change in the access to capital is one of these reasons. After World War II, the savings and loan industry was the principal source of capital for the home building industry. With the collapse of many of these institutions in the late 1980s, builders had to turn to other sources of financing. Banks and private funds companies have thus, stepped in to fill the need for capitals and investments. These funding companies gave an edge to the housing industries since their presence meant easier access to capitals. Another reason is the change in the land use regulation. More and more communities are restricting residential development in an effort to manage growth. As a result, the development process in many locations takes longer than it once did, with land assembly and entitlement typically more complex and costly. This again creates a premium for scale of operations, since smaller builders often lack the resources to work with local officials over extended periods to secure the necessary approvals. The third reason is the change in economic environment. This has favored large-scale home builder industries. The strong economic environment for home construction over the past decades has ushered a stable growth and low mortgage interest rates that have prevented a major recession in the home building industry since 1991. This combination of market conditions has produced stunning increases in top-line growth and bottom-line financial performance for large home building companies. Between 1999 and 2004, builders of 500 units or more each year realized inflation-adjusted revenue growth of 135 percent. In addition, their gross margins on homes sold and net income each increased about 4. 5 percentage points. With industry consolidation have come new opportunities. To increase their scale and overall capabilities, larger-scale builders have incentives to reinvest in their operations by adding information systems for estimating, scheduling, and purchasing, or investing in panel plants to save time and costs in the construction process. With such investments, larger home builders continue to improve their operating performance, at a much faster rate relative to smaller builders. Better performance encourages even more builder consolidation, which in turn produces even greater scale economies, creates more incentives for investments to leverage these opportunities, and so on. This cycle would dictate further consolidation and greater efficiency in the home building industry in the years ahead. When asked to name the single most important reason for their recent financial performance, over half of the corporate-level survey respondents attributed their success to strong housing market fundamentals, and nearly a third cited their land assembly strategies. Another 13 percent considered improved customer satisfaction the key to profitability. In sharp contrast, few respondents attributed their success to shorter construction cycles, savings on product purchase, man power, on-site construction costs, and other operational efficiencies. Still, evidence of operational improvements does exist, particularly within the divisions of national and international home builders. Although their homes have become bigger and have incorporated higher-quality materials in recent years, national and international home builders have been cut the construction time to minimal, keep cost increases at modest levels, and significantly improve customer satisfaction scores, in parallel to improvements in the quality of finished products. Local divisions of regional builders have been less successful in improving the efficiency of their operations. Improvements in home building efficiency were the most common results from the implementing of innovative operating practices. Studies from Harvard have cited four general types of operating practices that homebuilders especially those at large scale, have used to their advantage. 1. Coordination with subcontractors. Subcontractors are typically the ones who purchase the materials used in home building, making payments to contractors a major expense category for homebuilders. Innovative builder practices in this area include initiatives such as making scheduling information easily accessible to subcontractors, automatically notifying subcontractors of schedule changes, and frequently updating the job site production schedule. As a result, increased efficiencies in the building process and lower production costs is maintained. 2. Component preassembly. Preassembling major components such as roof trusses allows greater precision in manufacturing and often provides cost savings by substituting semi-skilled off-site labor for skilled on-site labor. The preassembly process is also more efficient when done off-site, thereby creating the potential for shorter construction cycle time, and even so, smaller labor costs. 3. Supplier installation. In many product categories, builders have begun to purchase installation services from the manufacturers or distributors. Supplier installation helps to limit product disputes over the source of any problems. In addition, this practice can reduce construction labor needs since product manufacturers and distributors typically serve broader geographic areas than subcontractors. 4. Supply chain management. Supply chain management covers a broad range of practices from price negotiations for products and value-added services to the implementation of information systems to support purchasing and inventory management. Supply chain management is an area where scale economies give larger builders an obvious edge over their smaller competitors. Innovative operating practices help large home builders not only run their operations more efficiently and use their market power more effectively, but also better manage risk especially financial risks and risks in operations. Builders have reduced their exposure by controlling more land through options, joint ventures, and other approaches that keep land costs off their books until they buy the entitled lots. In this way, builders only incur these expenses close to the time of construction. With more efficient operations and better management controls, large builders typically do not begin construction until a home is pre-sold. Across builders surveyed, 73 percent of all homes closed in 2004 were sold before construction began an increase from 70 percent in 1999. National builders pre-sold over three-quarters of homes closed in 2004, while regional builders pre-sold about two-thirds. Larger builders have incentives to adopt innovative operating practices because they have the market power to implement these efficiencies and can leverage the benefits across a broader range of operating divisions. The financial payback for these improvements, however, depends greatly on conditions in the local market. Over the past years, consolidation of the home builders has dramatically changed the home building industry. In addition to improved financial performance, the adoption of innovative practices and methodologies related to product distribution and assembly line and development, has improved the operational performance of large builders along such dimensions as construction cycle time, efficiency of the building process, stability, style, and overall quality of structures, and customer satisfaction. In generating these efficiencies, builders have helped to streamline processes throughout the entire homebuilding industry. Home buyers have also benefited in parallel to the home building improvements. More efficient builder operations have kept construction costs low and customer satisfaction levels high, allowing builders to offer more model home options and more product choices without any corresponding increases in prices. In addition, greater efficiency has enabled builders to pre-sell more homes, which in turn has reduced the risk of overbuilding, and thus reduced the risk or putting the company financial trend line on the red. By keeping supply in line with demand, home builders have helped to bring greater stability to house prices, since overbuilding has historically been a principal cause of house price declines. Whether these improvements will continue as market conditions change remains to be seen. One encouraging sign is that operating efficiencies, as opposed to financial performance, have increased most in more competitive markets. If the housing market weakens in the years ahead and competition increases, larger builders still have the potential to improve their operations and maintain their strong financial performance. In communities where demand is strong but residential development opportunities are limited, house price appreciation tends to be high. In markets where price appreciation is low, land is generally more accessible and builders face fewer barriers to entry. As a result, construction activity can respond very quickly to changes in demand. As market conditions shift, however, builders can get caught with excess inventory, which drives down area-wide house prices. In these markets, builders must run their operations efficiently to remain profitable. In high-appreciation markets, demand for new homes is generally greater than the number of homes that can be added under existing land use and building regulations. This limits the risk of rapid overbuilding. Given that it takes more time and resources to build in these markets, higher barriers to entry and higher land costs push up the average price of homes sold. Builders working in these communities generally put a premium on their land acquisition and development strategy. Since they are often able to achieve higher margins on homes sold in these markets, they may put less emphasis on operational efficiencies. The market conditions that have helped to create a more efficient home building industry over the past years have also, in turn, favored the housing consumers. A more stable economy, with more muted cycles and low inflation, has produced some of the lowest long-term interest rates in a generation. Low interest rates, together with low unemployment rates, have also provided greater financial security for many citizens and thus given them more initiative to build their own households or improve their current household. Internationally, house prices have raised an average of 127 percent since 1990, with nearly half of this increase coming since 2000. Until recently, economic cycles interacted with housing cycles to produce tremendous volatility in home prices. From 1975 to 1993, house prices rose more slowly than overall inflation in 10 of the 19 years, or over half of the time. In each of the 12 years since 1993, however, house price appreciation has exceeded the pace of inflation. Builders that have already adopted more innovative practices have clearly profited from their investments. New practices related to product distribution and assembly has improved the operational performance of large builders, particularly in terms of construction cycle time and customer satisfaction, and thus greatly increasing their profits. Although being in the housing industry has a lot of economic advantages it is undeniable that there are still various external, economical, factors that can negatively affect this industry. A low economy, and low living standards, would most likely correspond to a decrease in the demands for housing industries. Natural disasters and calamities such as earthquakes, floods and typhoons that would occur at an unfortunate time, would leave home builders hanging in the deadlines for finishing their projects, since building cannot continued during such occasions. Generally speaking, the housing industry reflects the type of economy in a given region or locality. A region with a high economic state, low inflation, and high monetary value would most likely have a high level of housing industry in turn. The houses in the said region would also be of high quality; however, man power for construction would also come at higher rates at such an area. A stable economy in terms of monetary value and inflation would be the most ideal economy for a successful housing industry. Even high-performing builders still have the potential to make more improvements. Given that their strong financial performance has largely resulted from their leading land positions in booming housing markets, builders just have not to focus on implementing innovative practices and on maximizing operational efficiencies. Larger builders are those that would especially benefit from focusing on efficiency. Local builders with closings of 10,000 homes or more in 2004 reported implementing only half of the common innovative practices, while the divisions of builders with sales of 2,500 to 10,000 homes implemented less than 40 percent of the innovative practices. There are many valid reasons why implementation has been relatively weak. The corporate offices of larger builders report above-average development of innovative procedures, but implementation at the division level has often lagged. With the increase in the number of acquisitions in recent years, many of these divisions have only recently come under management of the acquiring builder and may thus need additional time to implement new systems and procedures. Furthermore, given their strong financial performance in recent years, corporate offices have less incentive and reason to develop new procedures for their local divisions, and local divisions have less incentive and reason to implement such changes. Whether builders will seize these opportunities remains to be seen. One encouraging sign, however, is that operational improvements have increased the most where house price appreciation is relatively low and no one builder dominates the market. If the house building industry weakens in the years ahead, house price appreciation is likely to slow and more builders are likely to compete within individual markets, these are exactly the conditions that lead to the development and implementation of operational improvements made in recent years. This means that a crisis such as the weakening of the economy leading to the weakening of the housing market, although has its undeniable negative effects in the housing industry, on the positive side, it would somehow force the home building industry to continuously and further develop and implement more and more innovations in their systems. Nonetheless, this would consequently lead to further innovations and efficiencies in the home building industry, and thus more high quality and affordable choices of homes for the consumers. References What’s next for housing industy CIOs. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. cio. com/article/134004 Seiders, D. F. (2006, September 19). Housing economics. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. nbnnews. com/houseecon/issues/2006-09-19. html Milt N. (2005, April 27). Housing market crisis threatens economy. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. workers. org/2005/us/housing-0505/ Schoen J. W. (2007, June 19). Housing industry still looking for the bottom. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/19311316/ Buban C. E. (2007, December 22). Housing developers and current industry trends. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://showbizandstyle. inquirer. net/ lifestyle/view_article. php? article_id=108293 Zito K. (2006, June 16). Billions to state from housing. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. sfgate. com/cgi-bin/article. cgi? f=/c/a/2006/06/16/BUG77JER951. DTL Housing slump reflects worsening economic crisis. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://en. internationalism. org/inter/144/housing-slump A new paradigm of the housing industry. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. meti. go. jp/english/newtopics/data/nBackIssue20080408_01. html Brief overview of the housing economy. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www. oppapers. com/essays/Brief-Overview-Housing-Economy/116741 Barry S. Housing industry, subprime loans and mortgage woes: how serious is it? Retrieved

English Contractions for ESL

English Contractions for ESL English contractions are shortened forms of helping or auxiliary verbs in both positive and negative sentences. Contractions are generally used in spoken English, but not in formal written English. However, written English is becoming more informal (emails, notes to friends, etc.) and you will often see these forms in print. Heres an example from a business email: Ive been working on a new project. It hasnt been easy, but next week Ill finish. This example shows three contractions: Ive / hasnt / Ill. Learn the rules of contraction use in English below. Each of the following English contractions includes an explanation of the full form and example sentences to provide context for understanding. Positive Contractions Im : Im waiting for my friend.Ill : Ill see you tomorrow.Id : Id better leave now. OR Id already eaten by the time he arrived.Ive : Ive worked here for many years. Youre : Youre joking!Youll : Youll be sorry!Youd : Youd left before he arrived, hadnt you? OR Youd better hurry up.Youve : Youve been to London many times. Hes : Hes on the phone now. OR Hes been playing tennis since 10 this morning.Hell : Hell be here tomorrow.Hed : Hed prefer to meet you later in the week. OR Hed finished before the meeting began. Shes : Shes watching TV at the moment. OR Shes had a lot of trouble lately.Shell : Shell be at the meeting.Shed : Shed been working for two hours when he telephoned. OR Shed like to have a glass of wine. Its : Its been long time since we saw each other last. OR Its very difficult to concentrate.Itll : Itll be here soon.Itd : Itd be difficult to say no. OR Itd been a long time. Were : Were working hard on the Smith account this week.Well : Well begin when he arrives.Wed : Wed better hurry up if we want to catch the train. OR Wed finished the meeting before you arrived.Weve : Weve been waiting for you! Theyre : Theyre studying German this afternoon.Theyll : Theyll finish soon if they concentrate.Theyd : Theyd eaten their lunch when she stopped by to say hello. OR Theyd rather not come to the meeting.Theyve : Theyve just purchased a new home. Theres : Theres a hotel in the next town. OR Theres been too many telephone calls today!Therell : Therell be a price to pay!Thered : Thered better be a good explanation for this. OR Thered be some reason for that. Thats : Thats been on my mind lately. OR Thats why I cant come.Thatll : Thatll happen sooner than you think.Thatd : Thatd be the reason why. OR Thatd happened before my time. Negative Contractions arent : They arent coming next week.cant : I cant understand you.couldnt : He couldnt get his shoes on!didnt : We didnt visit Rome. We went straight to Florence.doesnt : He doesnt play golf.dont : They dont like cheese.hadnt : I hadnt thought of that!hasnt : She hasnt telephoned yet.isnt : She isnt listening to you.mustnt : Children mustnt play with fire.neednt : You neednt worry about that.shouldnt : You shouldnt smoke cigarettes.wasnt : I wasnt joking when I said that.werent : They werent invited to the party.wont : I wont be able to attend the conference.wouldnt : She wouldnt be surprised if he showed up at the party. Contractions in Speech English learners should become familiar with contractions in order to understand the grammar of what is said quickly. Native English speakers tend to speak quickly and glide over function words such as helping verbs. Most English contractions are contractions of helping verbs, so an understanding of the role these contracted helping verbs play in grammar can help you better understand spoken English. English learners should feel free to use contractions whenever they speak, but the use of contractions is not required. If you prefer to speak using full helping verb forms, continue to do so, but become familiar with contractions in order to help your understanding.

Pachyrhinosaurus Facts and Figures

Pachyrhinosaurus Facts and Figures Name: Pachyrhinosaurus (Greek for thick-nosed lizard); pronounced PACK-ee-RYE-no-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of western North America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (70 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 20 feet long and 2-3 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Thick bump on nose instead of nasal horn; two horns on top of frill About Pachyrhinosaurus Its name notwithstanding, Pachyrhinosaurus (Greek for thick-nosed lizard) was an entirely different creature from the modern rhinoceros, though these two plant-eaters do have a few things in common. Paleontologists believe Pachyrhinosaurus males used their thick noses to butt one another for dominance in the herd and the right to mate with females, much like modern-day rhinos, and both animals were approximately the same length and weight (though Pachyrhinosaurus may have outweighed its modern counterpart by a ton or two). Thats where the similarities end, though. Pachyrhinosaurus was a ceratopsian, the family of horned, frilled dinosaurs (the most famous examples of which were Triceratops and Pentaceratops) that populated North America during the late Cretaceous period, only a few million years before the dinosaurs went extinct. Oddly enough, unlike the case with most other ceratopsians, the two horns of Pachyrhinosaurus were set on top of its frill, not on its snout, and it had a fleshy mass, the nasal boss, in place of the nasal horn found in most other ceratopsians. (By the way, Pachyrhinosaurus may turn out to be the same dinosaur as the contemporary Achelousaurus.) Somewhat confusingly, Pachyrhinosaurus is represented by three separate species, which differ somewhat in their cranial ornamentation, especially the shape of their unflattering-looking nasal bosses. The boss of the type species, P. canadensis, was flat and rounded (unlike that of P. lakustai and P. perotorum), and P. canadensis also had two flattened, forward-facing horns on top of its frill. If youre not a paleontologist, though, all three of these species look pretty much identical! Thanks to its numerous fossil specimens (including over a dozen partial skulls from Canadas Alberta province), Pachyrhinosaurus is quickly climbing the most popular ceratopsian rankings, though the odds are slim that it will ever overtake Triceratops. This dinosaur got a big boost from its starring role in Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie, released in December 2013, and it has featured prominently in the Disney movie Dinosaur and the History Channel TV series Jurassic Fight Club.

The Trade Deficit and Exchange Rates

The Trade Deficit and Exchange Rates Since the U.S. Dollar is weak, shouldnt that imply we export more than we import (i.e., foreigners get a good exchange rate making US goods relatively cheap)? So why does the U.S. have an enormous trade deficit? Trade Balance, Surplus, and Deficit Parkin and Bades Economics Second Edition defines trade balance as: The value of all the goods and services we sell to other countries (exports) minus the value of all the goods and services we buy from foreigners (imports) is called our trade balance If the value of the trade balance is positive, we have a trade surplus and we export more than we import (in dollar terms). A trade deficit is just the opposite; it occurs when the trade balance is negative and the value of what we import is more than the value of what we export. The United States has had a trade deficit for over the last ten years, though the size of the deficit has varied during that period. We know from A Beginners Guide to Exchange Rates and the Foreign Exchange Market that changes in exchange rates can greatly impact various parts of the economy. This was later confirmed in A Beginners Guide to Purchasing Power Parity Theory where we saw that a fall in the exchange rates will cause foreigners to buy more of our goods and us to buy less foreign goods. So theory tells us that when the value of the U.S. Dollar falls relative to other currencies, the U.S. should enjoy a trade surplus, or at least a smaller trade deficit. If we look at the U.S. Balance of trade data, this doesnt seem to be happening. The U.S. Census Bureau keeps extensive data on U.S. trade. The trade deficit does not appear to be getting smaller, as shown by their data. Here is the size of the trade deficit for the twelve months from November 2002 to October 2003. Nov. 2002 (38,629)Dec. 2002 (42,332)Jan. 2003 (40,035)Feb. 2003 (38,617)Mar. 2003 (42,979)Apr. 2003 (41,998)May. 2003 (41,800)Jun. 2003 (40,386)Jul. 2003 (40,467)Aug. 2003 (39,605)Sep. 2003 (41,341)Oct. 2003 (41,773) Is there any way we can reconcile the fact that the trade deficit is not decreasing with the fact that the U.S. Dollar has been greatly devalued? A good first step would be to identify who the U.S. is trading with. U.S. Census Bureau data gives the following trade figures (imports exports) for the year 2002: Canada ($371 B)Mexico ($232 B)Japan ($173 B)China ($147 B)Germany ($89 B)U.K. ($74 B)South Korea ($58 B)Taiwan ($36 B)France ($34 B)Malaysia ($26 B) The United States has a few key trading partners such as Canada, Mexico, and Japan. If we look at the exchange rates between the United States and these countries, perhaps we will have a better idea of why the United States continues to have a large trade deficit despite a rapidly declining dollar. We examine American trade with four major trading partners and see if those trading relationships can explain the trade deficit:

The Boer War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Boer War - Research Paper Example Compared to the British troops, the Boers were not as disciplined and organized; they had no set uniform, and as soon as a confrontation broke out, they immediately gathered up to form a unit and elected a commander. The Boer troops had no proper uniforms or weapons and vastly depended on hunting guns in order to launch an offensive against the well-equipped British troops. Their weapons included field guns and pistols, and they were also armed with shotguns; most of the Boer troops often traveled with at least 8 days of supplies. Unlike the British troops, their marksmanship was not the result of intense training regimes, but was learned through experience. The Boers were not soldiers but mere hunters or farmers that earned them the name ‘Boer’. The people had no real access to ammunitions either, and when they ran out of proper weapons, they usually relied on stealing or capturing the weapons of the British.The British had realized that the only way they could subdue t heir opponent was by attacking their formation and not their position; which meant that they were trying to cut off their access to their supplies. Any sort of siege had seemed pointless for their excellent marksmanship that made any sort of progression towards their base completely pointless. They even had their ranges marked out with white stones and fired according to them and soon the British troops were ordered to avoid going near white stones on the ground.  Ã‚   Since the South Africans were devout Christians, many of the people did not believe.

Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 16

Reflection Paper - Essay Example Allen infers that he never bothers to use a more energy intensive and expensive technology in areas where a simple technology can serve a similar purpose. In place of industrial fertilizer, he opts to create his own compost rations that serve the same purpose as the industrial fertilizer. The captioned picture in the book where Allen is standing at the top of a gigantic compost pile speaks volume of the sheer capacity of a simple technology which is less energy intensive. The compost is made from recycled farm waste, brewery waste, coffee grounds, and food waste. The composting operation is run in a greenhouse that absorbs several thousand pounds of coffee grounds from the surrounding restaurants and mash which is an output from an organic restaurant. Other inputs include tons of vegetables and fruits that are usually collected from local food banks. The composting process emits enough heat to warm up the greenhouses during the freezing winters in Milwaukee. In case of alternative, heaters and lighting in the greenhouse can be used to warm up the structure. This would have been a more costly exercise as heaters and lighting equipment would have to be acquired at a cost and additional costs put in place for fuel or electricity. Simple technology from the compost making process has addressed the problem. The way the compost is managed also depicts Allen’s preference towards simple technology which is energy efficient. Instead of commercially manufactured enzymes, Growing Power uses thousands of worms which are tasked with the responsibility of producing castings by breaking down the food scraps (Allen & Charles 62). The process makes compost and top-grade organic fertilizer every eight weeks. The thousands of worms are equally bred in huge bins which are made out of scrap lumber. Allen finds ways to innovate through fabrications of much simpler version of technology which achieves the desired

Law Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Law - Term Paper Example The disastrous effects of these truths could carry forward into our future life which needs to be averted. (150 Words) Outline: Our present energy resources may not last long due to high rate of usage and unbridled consumption, especially by the industrial sectors. Therefore it has become necessary to seek new and alternative means for addressing this issue and providing means of its alleviation and mitigation, if not a long term solution that could effectively deal with this current issue. Developing several ways and means by which the dependence and funds spend on fossil fuels and contemporary energy sources could be reduced and innovative ideas leading to outsourcing of alternative energy sourcing could be developed and gainfully employed. Innovating and development may take time and resources. It is a long drawn process which requires sustained efforts and investments. It is also necessary to develop newer techniques through which existing energy resources could be optimized and effective control measures taken to limit its ineffective and inefficient use, through innovation. Introduction: The subject of seeking alternative and substitute means of generating energy resources needs to be seen in the context of depleting resources, due to mismanagement and slack control mechanism which does not address the core issues. Although much has been said about the need to tackle energy crisis on a war footing and seek renewable and alternative areas like harnessing wind, solar or nuclear energy for the advancement of human society, there are many areas in which improvements could be made for achieving such objectives. In the first place, there is legislation in place that is designed to control the use of energy. This is done by creating hybrid or alternative fuel usage in vehicles. It is planned that by year 2018, nearly 50% of

Hunger Games Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hunger Games - Essay Example The plotting of the previous release covers the disparity in power between formerly thirteen districts but currently twelve and the capitol, which ideally represents power (Collins, 3-18). The capitol district capitol represents the source of power or influence and which is depicted to rule over the rest of the districts. Poverty, hunger and general misery is shown to dominate the twelve districts while great wealth and technological advancement is what characterizes the capitol district. As a way of executing the power, the capitol district invents a mechanism through which food and such other humanitarian aid would be advanced to the rest of the districts through the ‘hunger games’, which are conducted annually. Every district therefore selects young representatives who would participate in fighting contests and the winner defines the district, which will receive the food aid over the year. The capitol district is therefore shown to have the capacity and power to advan ce food aid to the rest of the districts at will though this is not the case. The program to involve the districts in the hunger games is shown through the literature to be informed by the selfish ambitions of the power district to rule through oppression. In the movie (catching the fire), Peeta as well as Katniss comes back home after they are crowned victors in hunger games for the year. However, winning the 74th games meant that the duo would leave family as well as friends as they embarked on a countrywide tour, which is called ‘victors tour’ and involves visiting all the districts in the country. On the day that the journey was to commence, the president ‘Snow’ visits the 12th district unexpectedly and had to express his disappointment with Katniss for having broken the game rules within the previous annual games in which the two won. Snow’s anger was triggered by the defiance of Katniss’s rebellion, which he blamed to have triggered rebe llion among natives in the country (Panem). Nevertheless, the tour commences and the two starts at district 11 where after addressing and congratulating the citizens for their participation in the previous games, horror strikes when one three men are executed after one whistled a familiar tune to many. Among other motives in their travel, tour around the districts was to curtail rebellion and make peace between president snow and Katniss, which never materializes. After winding up the tour and returning home, two district 8 runways reveal Katniss that unlike what was said of district 13, the inhabitants had not been wholly wiped off but that they rather adopted underground shelters where they lived. This leads to announcement of 75th annual games, which was to involve the victors of the previous 24 matches. The common name to such games was ‘Quarter Quell’ and the two victors (Peeta and Katniss) individually commit to protect each other within the games. The movie unfol ds and the fight happens within the jungle and despite many deaths, which claims the live of Peeta, Katniss succeeds to direct lightening towards the ‘force field’ having the arena and wholly destroys it. However, she is equally harmed by the force and she paralyzes temporarily only to wake in district 13. It is also revealed to her that district 12 had been destroyed through bombing but the reporting friend safely rescued her family. The main thematic expressions of the movie

Arroyo Fresco Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Arroyo Fresco Study - Essay Example This case study response assesses the Arroyo Fresco Community Health Clinic’s strategy under the Baldrige National Quality Program criteria and proposes new strategies to assist the organization in meeting their performance excellence goals. Arroyo Fresco (AF) is a nonprofit Community Health Center (CHC) serving Western Arizona from 11 clinics and 4 mobile service vans. AF serves three counties- Yuma, Mojave, and La Paz in a service area of over 23,000 square miles, but with a population of fewer than 400,000 people. Arroyo Fresco’s stated mission is to provide residents of Yuma, Lap Paz, and Mojave counties easy and timely access to high-quality and safe health care services; responsive to their diverse cultural and socioeconomic needs, regardless of their ability to pay (AF Case Study). In general, AF’s senior leaders have implemented a focus on results that created value through the development of the FOCUS (Financial Performance, Organizational Learning, Clinical Excellence, Utilization, and Satisfaction) framework, which allows the organization to address key strategic challenges and align its efforts on key areas to maximize the use of limited resources (nist.gov). AF demonstrated favorable performance levels in key results areas, including some clinical outcome measures that show favorable trends for the past four to five years (nist.gov) but there are several areas with opportunities for improvement. Under the Baldrige criteria, health care performance excellence is embodied in seven categories – leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results. values (VMV) is not clearly articulated in their strategy, particularly how this is conveyed to patients, other customers, and suppliers. There does not appear to be a well-defined approach for senior leaders to empower and motivate all staff and

What does gender or race have to do with it Freedom Writers and the Essay

What does gender or race have to do with it Freedom Writers and the American Education System - Essay Example More often not, these films feature an inspiring teacher, which may or may not be relevant to reality depending on which school you attended. Films that illustrate education also often combat issues of race and gender, which come into play in many schoolyards across the world, with problems of language and communication at the forefront of this fight. The film Freedom Writers, released in 2007, illustrates the American school system by being based on a true story, whilst employing a number of stereotypes and Hollywood norms to make the film appeal to the intended audience. Freedom Writers is a tale of a young teacher who comes to work at a school which has just recently brought in a integration plan on the back of the Los Angeles Riots in 1992. This teacher, Erin Gruwell, struggles initially to cope with the racial segregation at the school, as well as the violence between the groups. One day, Gruwell finds a racist drawing by one of the students and uses this to illustrate the probl ems of the Holocaust, which opens the eyes of the students and allows them to see that racism and other discrimination can lead to destructive acts. Gruwell continues on in this path, by inviting Holocaust survivors to the class, as well as encouraging her class to raise the funds to bring the woman that sheltered Anne Frank in the war to their school. Gruwell encourages the class to write their own diaries, like Anne Frank, and complies them into book form, eventually having the success that she desired by preparing a number of her students for attending college. Although some of the information here may be fictional or using Hollywood hyperbole, some interesting points about the American education system were raised. The purpose of this essay is to explore the stereotyping and struggles of the racial groups portrayed in Freedom Writers, and how the film highlights racial discrimination issues and how these affect schools across the United States. The American education system is p ortrayed as place that should inspire students in their learning, encouraging them to make the right decisions and go to college, despite the initial fears and anxieties of the classroom. The inspiration may not be accurate for many, but the difficulties are, which are what makes Freedom Writers such a useful learning tool for exploring both discrimination and American educational philosophies. Intended Audience It is difficult to identify a specific intended audience for this film, although it is useful for any analysis to do so. Using mainstream actors such as Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey, as well as the large Hollywood budget, show that the film was intended for mainstream audiences who may have been unfamiliar with Erin Gruwell and her work as a teacher. The idea came from a documentary about Gruwell (The Freedom Writers & Gruwell, 2006), which did not hit mainstream audiences and therefore the film aimed to illustrate her story but with a number of Hollywood-style attribute s to further bolster the decision to release the story to mainstream audiences as a release. Freedom Writers promotional poster (LaGravenese, 2007) As with any education-based transformation Bildungsroman film, part of the intended audience includes young adults from the demographic of the film. This is particularly evident in Freedom Writers, as there are a number of slang terms used throughout the film that are used for comedic effect in one particularly memorable scene. Swank apologises for her â€Å"badness† (LaGravenese, 2007), which the students find hilarious because it has a completely different meaning in their language. Obviously, this scene (and other

Arroyo Fresco Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Arroyo Fresco Study - Essay Example This case study response assesses the Arroyo Fresco Community Health Clinic’s strategy under the Baldrige National Quality Program criteria and proposes new strategies to assist the organization in meeting their performance excellence goals. Arroyo Fresco (AF) is a nonprofit Community Health Center (CHC) serving Western Arizona from 11 clinics and 4 mobile service vans. AF serves three counties- Yuma, Mojave, and La Paz in a service area of over 23,000 square miles, but with a population of fewer than 400,000 people. Arroyo Fresco’s stated mission is to provide residents of Yuma, Lap Paz, and Mojave counties easy and timely access to high-quality and safe health care services; responsive to their diverse cultural and socioeconomic needs, regardless of their ability to pay (AF Case Study). In general, AF’s senior leaders have implemented a focus on results that created value through the development of the FOCUS (Financial Performance, Organizational Learning, Clinical Excellence, Utilization, and Satisfaction) framework, which allows the organization to address key strategic challenges and align its efforts on key areas to maximize the use of limited resources (nist.gov). AF demonstrated favorable performance levels in key results areas, including some clinical outcome measures that show favorable trends for the past four to five years (nist.gov) but there are several areas with opportunities for improvement. Under the Baldrige criteria, health care performance excellence is embodied in seven categories – leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results. values (VMV) is not clearly articulated in their strategy, particularly how this is conveyed to patients, other customers, and suppliers. There does not appear to be a well-defined approach for senior leaders to empower and motivate all staff and

Bank recession of 2011 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Bank recession of 2011 - Essay Example Particularly marked by decreased bank lending, which creates the recurring loop of a recessive economy. Three main players are involved in this triangular arrangement of the financial system: The government, the banks/financial institutions and the credit consumers. The government with its increased involvement to regulate financial markets formulates policies for the consumers which are mediated through the banks and financial institutions. Thus, the banks are stuck in a paradox of adhering to government policies and maintaining their own liquidity and capital ratios, which in turn effect the end consumers. During the pre-recession period, credit access was particularly easy worldwide, especially among the G 10 countries which were attributed as pioneers of the ongoing economic boom. (Michael, B., Leonardo, G., & Goetz, P. 2011) Increased mortgaging and borrowing backed by higher expectations from the market were rampant, but to the dismay of economic analysts, this bubble was artif icial. And eventually the growth backed by ill securities, bad mortgages and irregular credit ratings suddenly came to a halt with the financial market in doldrums.( Badertscher, B., Burks, J., & Easton, P. 2012) Banks and financial institutions had major investments in the real estate sector, the most effected of these by the financial crisis were those who had had readily converged to commercial construction and land development loans during the boom. (Hays, F., & Ward, S. 2010) Earlier financial crises have demonstrated that a concentration of loans within a single sector is very risky, since the developing sector may turn out to be a fad. It is considered a rule of thumb to diversify the investment portfolio to lower the risk to a minimum. But such was not the case and eventually, with the excess of subprime lending in the real estate economy without much securitization to back it, the banks involved had to bear the brunt of this mammoth of a crisis. Since then bank credit requi rements have increased twofold making it harder to borrow and creating a bottleneck in economic injections. And on the other hand dipping credit ratings are naturally creating skepticism in the average consumer’s mind about the credibility of bank loans, creating a demand lag which is evident in the 2011 loan demand figures. Worldwide government efforts have been aimed towards saving major banks and financial institutions by providing much needed capitalization as a measure to increase liquidity. But smaller community banks have had a tough time surviving without much government assistance, and a plethora of risky real estate mortgage loans with an unfavorable market to profit from. Since larger banking corporations are more inclined towards heavier accounts and portfolios, the role of an intermediary played by relatively smaller banks for consumer loans remains vacant. This becomes evident in the form of the supply lag for loans that has been a feature of the banking crisis. The major clients for bank loans are corporate clients which require substantial amounts of capital. This is an area where international banking is prevalent, with loan syndication seen as a common practice among international financial institutions. (Ralph, H., & Neeltje, H. 2011) This may perhaps also be the reason why the recession in the

Income and Wealth Equality Essay Example for Free

Income and Wealth Equality Essay Discuss whether the most effective way to have income and wealth equality is to tax income more progressively. Income is a stable flow of money, often a salary, which someone works for but this can also be made through interest on savings. This flow of money is often very unequal from person to person due to wage differentials, this then creates inequality. Wealth on the other hand is a stock of assets which have a market value, which may change over time e. g. houses or cars. These are often inherited but can be bought by someone through their income. Wealth and income often found together however someone who is wealthy doesn’t always have a large income. Their relationship with inequality is also very different with a lot more inequality found in wealth as a fifth of wealth is concentrated among the richest one per cent of households however there is still some in income. One way the government can stop this inequality is through a progressive taxation system that aims to tax the poorest people very little but make the money up by taxing the richer. This would work at several boundaries with someone income being taxed higher when it exceeds a certain limit. This then creates equality as the richer people have less money and the poorer have more from not paying tax and then the unemployed get benefits. This then reduces the budget deficit as the tax payers pay for people benefits, helping to reduce the class system. However one problem with this is that it may cause the highest earners to leave the country to avoid paying tax and companies moving their headquarters abroad where they will pay less tax. This happened in the 70s with the rolling stones but is also happening with corporations such Amazon and Costa and this something that may happen more if the richer are taxed too much. This is also taking money out of the economy as they spend their money abroad, out of the flow of income in the UK. Another problem with this system is that it creates ‘the poverty trap’. A type of government failure, this is when there is no incentive for people to get off benefits as they won’t make any more money. To stop this there may need to be a re-evaluation of the system as the replacement ratio is too high. This can also create poor attitudes, with generations of people not working. This is also found in the work place with some people refusing pay rises as they will have to pay more money in tax as they go through a tax boundary. However more recently this has happened with child benefits as these are being reduced depending on how much someone earns another reason why someone would refuse a pay rise. Wealth is often harder to tax however it is often caused by income so the tax system previously described may be used to reduce wealth and thus stopping inequality. This system can also be found in wealth though, with inheritance tax being used progressively. For example any money above 325,000 is taxed at 40%. This then creates a source of revenue for the government but also stops people inheriting huge sums of money, stopping inequality. However this system has its flaws as the tax has to be paid first, it could also be argued as unfair as someone who works for their money is entitled to leave it to who they want, especially as it was already taxed when it was earned. This system has also caused many pensioners to move abroad where what they leave is taxed less. The money inherited is also often used by entrepreneurs to fund businesses so the system may also reduce the possibility for future in income tax. This systems also sonly raises  £2.9bn a year, a mere 0.18% of GDP, which sometimes ends up being spent on court cases as people argue against the system. One alternative system for reducing inequality is by providing incentives for people to get into work. This could be done by changing the minimum wage as it would reduce the replacement ratio. This can also be achieved by reducing the unemployment benefits or making them harder to get. Reducing benefits would also lower the budget deficit as the government can save money. However this could be hard on people who genuinely can’t work due to long term illness or disability. Another way of increasing the work force is by increasing spending on training of workers but also in the education system. This will create better skilled and qualified workers, allowing them to make more money and giving them more job opportunities. This type of supply side policy can be expensive but there should be future benefits as their will be more money made from income tax. They would also create job opportunities for teachers or other people to teach skills. Other examples of this include apprenticeships and part time work schemes that together should create a job for everyone, reducing the tax bill. However they won’t work for everyone as there is always someone who will be left behind and It may also be hard to change the mind set of people who are used to not working. These types of policies would also all stop inequality as the poorer people would have employment opportunities giving them a higher source of income. However there are very little alternatives to redistribute wealth as it is impossible to give people items of value as those who are in poverty often don’t even have a house. The government may be able to provide schemes for people to work for their homes and other areas of wealth. It is also hard for them to find things of wealth at an affordable rate especially as it is normally found through work done by relatives. This is why it is unlikely to be done as it wouldn’t be very sustainable and effective however in theory the re distribution of wealth could be done. In conclusion the progressive tax system has its benefits as it provides a simple way of reducing inequality by taxing the rich and giving the poor money, bringing them closer financially. However in my opinion the system is the easy solution with short term benefits rather than long term gains that might happen through providing incentives rather than disincentives for people. However the problem with wealth is greater as it can’t be easily moved but through redistributing income wealth will consequently be redistributed as ultimately income is the main cause of wealth.

Free Great Gatsby Essays: Point of View :: Great Gatsby Essays

Importance of Point of View in The Great Gatsby  Ã‚   In novels containing interweaving plot and varying scenes, the author's selection of point of view becomes a primary factor in its impact and effectiveness. The Great Gatsby is such a novel which demonstrates this point most evidently.   While Fitzgerald's decision to view the plot through the eyes of Nick Carraway presents certain limitations, it provides the means to relate the tone and message of the novel as whole.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   F. Scott Fitzgerald would be the first to admit that his masterpiece was not without flaws.   In a letter written to Edmund Wilson, he criticized what he understood to be the novel's "BIG FAULT."   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I gave no account of (and had no feeling about or knowledge of) the emotional relationship   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   between Gatsby and Daisy from the time of their reunion to the catastrophe. Undoubtedly, this constraint on detailed development was imposed almost solely by point of view.   Because Fitzgerald lays out the plot through the prospective of one essential character, intimacy between any other group of characters is lost or can only be hinted at.   Somewhat of a haze surrounds these important relationships, as Nick and in turn the reader are blind to the details of their occurrence.   In the case of Gatsby and Daisy, some of the power that backs Gatsby's dream is never presented.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Such a situation is somewhat relieved, however, by integration of dialog.   Not only does this aspect of of Fitzgerald's point of view thoroughly describe the other character of the novel, but also it keeps the credibility of the narrator in check.   Who is to say that Nick Carraway is to be the readers' only insight to the affluent world of Long Island during the 1920's?   He himself admitted to being far from perfect; even "vulnerable."   By providing the reader with a chance to judge the importance, purpose, and mission of each character, less time is spent analyzing the credibility of the narrator and more is devoted to understanding Fitzgerald's statement as a whole.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Great Gatsby, this is a message that would be lost if it were not for the selected point of view.   Fitzgerald, through what Nick perceives and the changes he undergoes, comments specifically on the society of the time.

The History of Computers :: Technology Computers Essays

The History of Computers To those of us that have grown up during the computer age, computers seem like a normal part of our everyday lives. The idea that only a few decades ago computers were virtually unheard of is inconceivable. Computers are now so essential that they basically run our society and the whole of the modern world. They track hurricanes, forecast the weather, predict natural disasters, control satellites and missiles and keep countries around the world in constant contact. The technology that revolves around the computer industry is forever changing and growing, becoming more advanced and doing things that seem beyond anyone ¦Ãƒ s wildest dreams. The development of computers during the last few decades is astronomical and could be one of the fastest developing inventions ever created. The dawn of the computer age can be traced back to the period of 1936  ¡Ãƒâ„¢ 1945, when the first computers were being built in several countries (Tomaselli vii). Although they came about as a result of the war, it is certainly safe to say they would have developed on their own in the business industry. Regardless, computer technology has grown by incredible leaps and bounds since the very beginning and as Barnes says,  ¡Ãƒ we have been living amidst the fastest technological revolution of all time ¡ÃƒÅ" (vii). Every couple of years something completely new and more advanced comes out and takes over the previous style of production and pretty much exterminate it as well. The technology is forever changing and constantly growing. There are so many technologies associated with the computer industry that it ¦Ãƒ s almost hard to keep track of. The technology that is most directly related to the greater society in this country at least is the personal compute r, or the PC. A personal computer can be defined as a computer built around a microprocessor for use by an individual, as in an office or at home or school. The PC, also known as the microcomputer, was developed from the semiconductor industry (Barnes 622). In 1968, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore created Intel and started developing a photolithography method to put three components on a single chip (Barnes 622).

The Gift of the Magi by William Sidney Porter

The Gift of the Magi by William Sydney Porter Xinyan Zhu September 2, 2012 Comp1102 /Fall Mrs. Chambers The Gift of the Magi by William Sidney Porter William Sidney Porter, better known under his pen name â€Å"O. Henry†, born September 11 1862 in Greensboro North Carolina. Accused of embezzling bank fund, Henry was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. During this dark period in his life, he begin his literary career with his stories that were to be collected in his first book â€Å"Cabbage and Kings† (1904).Henry left the stories mainly laid in New York, Central American and Western American. The majority of the stories that can be found, however, are set in Manhattan, New York City. In these works, Henry portrayed the atmosphere and the scenes of its restaurant and its old lodging houses really true to life. For this reason, Henry remains secure in the hearts of the public as, â€Å"the prose laureate of Manhattan Island† (1945,Lewiston Journal Maga zine Section). Finally he deserves rank with America’s greatest of the short story and hands down far and wide up to now.His representative work The Gift of the Magi (1906) is an extremely moving story of a young couple who sell their best possessions, Della’s hair and Jim’s watch, in order to get money for a Christmas present for each other. The hair is cut and sold to buy a glorious watch chain, and the watch is sold to buy a beautiful comb, neither knowing that the present can no longer be of any use when offered to the loved one. After the first reading, the whole story seems tell about a funny story, but no one cannot laugh out. This essay focuses on the ending of The Gift of Magi.It reflects the ambience of happiness with sadness of the couple’s life. There is something deep inside this story. Many people studies Henry’s The Gift of Magi from different perspectives, such as analyzing the characteristics, the theme and also personal background of The Gift of Magi. The style of O. Henry’s short novel’s ending is well-known throughout the world of literature with its wit unexpected but reasonable results. From the beginning of the story, the young couple is characterized as their true love holder showing sincerity and loyalty through the way of sacrificing their precious treasure.First, Della cries, â€Å"she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length†(The Gift of the Magi). Later Della makes up her mind to do one thing giving the readers an astonishing shock tempting to readers to shed tears right now. The only purpose is just to give present on Christmas. Della is full of pleasure, has thought that she would give her husband the most suitable gift on the Christmas Day, but a strong sense of anxiety accompany with her.When Jim has return ed home and stared at Della, a bust of complex feeling occurs to him, his inner world fraught with many unlucky ideas. By Della’s explanation Jim has done the same thing as Della done for him, he has sold the watch to get the money to buy combs which Della loves for a very long time. Fortunately, the couple presents their most precious presents to each other, real presents is temporarily useless but their mutual love is true and lasting forever. There is no doubt that it embodies the life of happiness with sadness and deepens their love.Here Henry presents the climax and later comments on, â€Å"the foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasure of their house†(The Gift of the Magi). The young couple indeed sacrifices their precious possessions, the unwise aspect lies in their decision without telling each other ahead of time and the couple just wants to bring a surprise with great happiness to show their affection. Surpris ing ending is O. Henry’s one signature. Della asks Jim to give her watch to see how it looks on it.Instead of obeying, Jim tumbles down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled. Because Jim knows it useless right now, no watch any more. For both of them, losing their great treasure means nothing could make them proud of, but they have received one more important thing, a sense of pleasure and satisfaction. The poor couple creates a soft and gentle atmosphere to feel how much they love each other. Although Henry depicts the foolish children, â€Å"but in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. , â€Å"†¦of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. †(The Gift of the Magi) It denotes that their gifts are the most divine and pious proof to their incomparable true love. Therefore, the two foolish children, Della and Jim are the wisest. Since they receive the s piritual presents through their decision. They are the magi, and their gifts are the gifts of the magi. To sum up, even The Gift of Magi is just one section of life in American people who are struggling for life and searching for a better life with happiness and sadness in the cruel and suffering society.There is much to be learned from the love of this couple. Works Cited 1. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/O. _Henry. 2. Lewiston Journal Magazine Section, 1945. 3. Angell, Roger. â€Å"The Gift of the Magi: Interview. The New Yorker. Broadcast transcript. Morning Edition. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. 2010. 4. Wilson, Kathleen. â€Å"The Gift of the Magi. † Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale. Litfinder for Schools. 1997.