Decision-Making Process Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Decision-Making Process Paper - Essay Example Hence the steps that I will undertake in the wake of the decision-making process are reliant on how well I think through the different areas and how aptly driven my understandings are at the end of the day. The decision-making process that I have applied is exactly in line with the decision-making process that is present within the text. My methodology is much the same as has been outlined in the text and this makes for an interesting debate nonetheless. I have envisioned that the proper format for comprehending the decision-making process is to follow the very basics and this has been done properly through the textual instance which is provided to me in essence. There is absolutely no difference between my decision-making process and the one outlined in the text and hence there is no reason why the comparisons should come out in the open. The steps that have been taken are thus reliant on getting the job done which is indeed a better understanding of how to reach a decision in the f irst place. The decision-making process is a difficult one and it takes a lot of hard work and toil on the part of the person who ultimately reaches upon a decision. Therefore it would be viable to suggest success for an individual who wishes to give time, adequate analysis regimes and a comparison of the shortcomings within the entire decision-making process in entirety (Castellan, 1993). If the mistakes are taken care of and are removed essentially, then this will mean that the decision-making has been done correctly. It is important that the decision once reached upon is adhered to across the board as there is no analysis of a decision which has been wrongly made. However, it is a good measure to tackle a wrong decision within the decision-making process early on within this process. This can mean that the individual can put back the decision that has been done on his part on some of the occasions but the guarantee is not a must under such scenarios. The decision-making

Ernest Hemingway Essay Example for Free

Ernest Hemingway Essay Ernest Hemingway is one of the writers that define American Literature. Although he accomplished much in reputation and status due to his novel, his most celebrated works have always been his short stories. His short stories, which are known for their simple language and artful prose, are often seen as a reflection of his life. It can indeed be seen through several of the plots he penned that he was drawing out his own life experiences such as his portrayal of himself as a macho man, his relationship with the women in his life, war and death and of course alcohol. Noting this Martin Scofield rightly states, â€Å"the personal experience on which he frequently drew directly in his writing was full of confusing tension and conflict – between masculine and feminine elements in his personality, between admiration for the physical courage and a growing disillusion with violence, and between the optimism of youth and physical energy, and the inevitable depredation of old age and death. In his short stories we see vividly developed snapshots of turmoil, precise delineations of individual fragments of disparate experience.† (Scofield 139). The kind of heroes that the author went to write about in his book were a direct reflection of the kind of man he wanted to be. The male protagonist has an aura of dignity and an unwavering integrity about them. Compromise is not known to these characters in most instances. In fact both male and female characters that were created by Hemingway are more often than not, defiant of the society that they exist in and continually go against the societal norms and expectations. Hemingway was by nature a macho man. His life has shown us his indulgences in great adventures. The time he spent in wars, hunting and sport is reflected in several of his works. The kind of heroes Hemingway wrote about will probably not suffice today; torn soldiers, and death defying hunters, adventurers and bullfighters made up his works, but that these characters exhibited a personal code of honesty and decency. Harvey Claflin Mansfield rightly categorized the author’s personality in his book ‘Maniliness’, â€Å"Hemingway was a macho fellow and a seeker of adventure when coupled with fun†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Mansfield 52). An example of this can be taken from his short story ‘Indian Camp,’ where the physician is neither concerned with his lack of anesthetic and equipment nor the screaming patient. In true alpha male mode, he goes onto deliver a child with a jack-knife.   His complete lack of interest in the women’s pain, which normally affects people, and the way he goes onto admire his work as though it was a non-living thing gives off a very sadistic and stereotypical macho essence. At the same time we can compare the physician’s character to the American Indian man who slit his throat and died during his wife’s giving birth. That man did not have the courage and strength to face the ordeal that his wife was going through, unlike the physician who seemed to think nothing of it. And like that Hemingway continuously writes about men that could stand up to things and endure things. The strength which he at times referred to ‘grace under pressure’ was reflective of the kind of man that does not succumb to his problems. His story of the bull fighter can also be seen as an example of this very thing, where the protagonist ignores injuries to enter battle. Explaining the development of the characters through the developments in Hemingway’s life, John Campbell noted, â€Å"In the 1920s, Hemingway began to develop a public role for himself in an attempt to show people how a writer acts when not writing. He became comfortable with this role and wrote essays for Esquire Magazine that reflected a person, outdoorsman image of a very physical man; he made a safari to Africa in the 1930s, killed big game, and so on. His male characters began to resemble this image and became more â€Å"Active† in the 1930s and 1940s. Readers often associate this macho image with Hemingway, but it is difficult to generalize about men in his work, since the early male characters are vulnerable and the later ones – more independent – have a sense of â€Å"toughness† strength and masculinity.†Ã‚   (Campbell 251) Hemingway wrote extensively throughout his career. One of the main recurring themes that can be seen in his short stories is that of war and death. He participated in the First World War as an ambulance driver under the Red Cross. It was during his term in Italy that he had his first love affair and was also injured. As a part of the Italian infantry he was awarded two decorations by the Italian government as well. It was his time here that he witnessed first hand the ruthlessness and stoic attitude of soldiers around him. Much of his observations later became part of his works. His time as a war correspondent in span also influenced his work. The events of the civil war that took place in Spain greatly affected him. â€Å"The Spanish civil war stories have two characteristics in common. The first-person narrator in all of them is obviously Hemingway himself, correspond dent, film-maker, raconteur, and famous personage. The second characteristic is that the real subject of all these stories, as well as the play, is the political nature of the conflict. Philips Rawlings, the main character in the ‘Fifth Column’ is also substantially autobiographical and the ‘girl,’ Dorothy Bridges, is clearly based on Martha Gellhorn, as is the girl in the story ‘Landscapes with Figures† (Donaldson 236). The stories are his version of events and how he saw the war. Most of the material is based on first hand information and as he experienced it. His short stories poignantly portrayed soldiers that left behind and lived with legacies of combat. In ‘Soldier’s Home,’ Krebs is the disillusioned veteran that comes back to home to find himself without a spiritual home. He is out of place, alienated from his family, religion and society. Hemingway’s examination of the war torn characters can also bee seen through Nick Adams. Some critiques have linked the short stories to a potential autobiographical connection and their thematic treatment to the various stages the characters go through i.e. Nick’s stages of recovery from his physical and psychological war wounds which mirror the one’s Hemingway suffered himself. It is Hemingway who in the third-person story supports the fundamental idea of Nick’s physical and spiritual recovery and renewal. It can be taken in view that writing was a form of catharsis for the author and through writing about his ordeal he managed to work through his anxiety of war (to an extent). We can see through the stories, glimpses of Hemingway’s own pain and anguish. When he returned from war ridden areas he was deeply affected. The effects of his experiences were heavy influences on his work and gave them a new sense of life. Hemingway had extremely turbulent relationships with the women in his life. His love stories are ruled by conflict between men and women whose lives are always stuck in some momentum of great tension and problems, or an extremely vivid change. He was married to four different women and was infamous for his multiple affairs. If one was to look at Hemingway’s life, one would notice that he lacked the will to stick to one woman. At some point and time breaking things off and moving on stopped giving him the guilt it once did and women became just a habit for him. His relationships with women affected his work a great deal; Paul Reuban went onto prove this in his work when he wrote that, â€Å"His [Hemingway’s] writing also reflected his trouble with relating to women and his tendency to treat them as objects, as he had four marriages and countless affairs, highlighting his theme of alienation and disconnection [in his work].† It was his guilt over women that led him to the bottle and subsequently drenched him in depression. He could not move past his guilt quickly enough before he moved onto the next woman. In his entire life he repeatedly cheated on all the women he was   with; it was a vicious cycle of finding love, breaking love by finding someone else, getting depressed over his actions, finding someone else to get out of the depression. An example of the effect that his love life had on his work can be seen in ‘Hills like White Elephants,’ which was written after Hemingway had cheated on his wife Hadley with her own friend Pauline Pfeiffer. When Hemingway asked for a divorce, Hadley placed a condition of a separation between him and Pfeiffer for a certain period of time; if he remained in love even after that time he was to be granted the divorce. It was during this period that he wrote the story. The biggest similarity between his life and the short story is that in either a family member or loved one was being separated. The story which centers on a conversation between a man and a woman show that the man is the authority. The poor communication skills between the two also reflect that their relationship might end. Perhaps Hemingway himself saw this as Hadley and himself which poor communication was ending up in the death of something that connected them, in the case of the characters this would be the unborn child. When in Italy, Hemingway had a love affair while he was wounded in this duration. The effects of this can be seen in his works as well. In ‘A very short story,’ the injured solider who is found on the Italian front has a love affair with a nurse who tended to him. Just like Hemingway himself who fell in love with Agnes Von Kurowsky. As the story goes, the nurse later leaves the solider for an Italian officer. â€Å"‘A very short story’ ranks as one of Hemingway’s least effective stories. Behind a pretense of objectivity, it excoriates the faithless Agnes. Even four years after the jilting, he was too close to his subject matter to achieve the requisite artistic distance†¦ twice again he explored the subject of love between a wounded soldier and his nurse†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Beegal 105). Throughout his work it will be seen that he advocates the kind of courage in the world where men must survive without women, which goes against the work itself because it is based largely on this mother, sisters, wives, lovers etc. Hemingway’s works paved way for an entirely new genre of writing. He used plain simple language to give voice to his stories. Much of his work, when it comes to short stories, is greatly influenced by his life and it can be seen through the various example given herewith, how his life was a muse to him. His relationships with women and subsequently alcohol, his experiences at war and the death that he saw, and his ideas on masculinity and manhood were some of the basic ideas that he infused with his writings to form the basis of many of his stories. Hemingway may have been gifted but he very conflicts that he tried to work out through his writings, and the very tensions that he wrote about, subsequently became the reason he took his own life.

Humorous and Sentimental Wedding Speech by the Groom -- Wedding Toasts

Humorous and Sentimental Wedding Speech by the Groom I was going to begin with "ladies and gentlemen" but on looking around I'm glad I didn't. So here goes. Distinguished guests, those of lesser distinction, and those of no distinction at all, family relatives, new and old, in-laws and out-laws, friends, friends of friends, and freeloaders, welcome to our wedding reception. First of all I would like to thank my brothers and my new sister for their kind words. I did have a speech all worked out for this special occasion, but of course now that I'm a married man, she has told me what to say instead. So here goes: On behalf of my wife - and I suppose I'm going to have to get used to saying that ?I would like to start by thanking everyone here today for sharing our very special day with us. A lot of people have traveled far to be here tonight and we are delighted to see you all. Thank you for your cards, kind thoughts, wedding gifts, and especially the big checks! And. of course, all these smiling faces I see in front of me tonight. I hope you can all get the opportunity to mingle tonight, get to know each other a little better, and, naturally, have a good time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my parents for my upbringing and the sacrifices they have made for me. I would like to thank them both for the advice they have given me, for putting up with me, and for pointing me in the right direction usually only to watch me go off and do exactly the opposite, of course but that's what sons are for and do best. To my new mom and dad, I would like to thank you so much for everything you have done and for welcoming me so openly into your family. I feel very proud to be able to say that I am your son-in... .... You agreed to make me the happiest man in the world today and have a natural way that makes every day a joy to be with you. I know that I told you earlier but I want everyone to know how beautiful you look today. Your dress is stunning and you really do look like a little princess. You have made me the happiest and proudest man alive today by saying "I do" and I can't wait to tell everyone that you are my wife at every opportunity I have. I don't have to hope that our future together will be a happy one. I know it will be, because every day I wake to find that I love you twice as much as the day before. As every day will tell you - I?m sometimes wrong, but in marrying, I know I've made the right decision. Thank you darling. Thank you all for joining us tonight. We know we are surrounded by loved ones. Please enjoy the rest of the night and have a great time.

Forecasting Hotel Arrivals and Occupancy

Abstract Forecasting hotel arrivals and occupancy is an important component in hotel revenue management systems. In this paper we propose time series approach for the arrivals and occupancy forecasting problem. In this approach we simulate the hotel reservations process forward in time. A key step for the faithful emulation of the reservations process is the accurate estimation of its parameters. We propose an approach for the estimation of these parameters from the historical data. We considered as a case study the problem of forecasting room demand for the Ganjali Plaza Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan.The proposed model gives satisfactory result. 1. Introduction Forecasting in the hotel industry is very useful for estimating or calculating a variety of factors that can assist management in strategic decision making. Given the perishable nature of tourism services, there exists an important need to obtain accurate forecasts of future business activity (Archer, 1987; Athiyaman & Robertso n, 1992). Certainly, forecasting plays a crucial role in tourism planning both in the short and the long run. However, from a merely practical point of view, tourism industry is much more interested in getting good predictions in the short-term.Needs in the hospitality, transport and accommodation sectors have become more short-term in focus, and they can change rapidly with changing market demand. Therefore, increasing the accuracy of short-term forecasts is an essential requirement to improve the managerial, operational, and tactical decision-making process especially in the private sector. Because of the large number of existing hotels, any possible improvement in the methodology will amount to potentially very large overall savings. In recent years there has been rapid growth in the inflow of tourists to Azerbaijan.Declaring 2011 the Year of Tourism in the country has opened up new opportunities for further development in this field. In a modernizing Azerbaijan construction of h otel complexes, a high level of service has become widespread. The number of hotels in Azerbaijan is growing every year as the number of foreign tourists visiting the country. In 2002, the country had 70 hotels and hotel complexes, and visiting tourists were just over 800 thousand, now number over 500 hotels, and tourists – more than half a million. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism 40 new hotels is currently under construction in Azerbaijan.Today, the hotel fund of the republic consists of 31 thousand places against 9000 in 2002. As a result of the state program of tourism development up to 2016 capacity of hotels and recreation areas should be increased to 150 thousand. At the present time in Baku, mainly the business -and congress tourism is developed, which participants are only five-star hotels. Therefore in Baku there is a lack of hotels class â€Å"three or four† stars with reasonable prices and good service. Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Aze rbaijan is preparing a special offer for construction in the city hotels of different categories.There are currently functioning in Azerbaijan 499 hotels and hotel-type facilities. 312 of them operate on the basis of licenses issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and 187 – is illegal. Overall, about 80 hotels and facilities for recreation in the country have received the category of â€Å"star†. Today in Azerbaijan exist 17 five-star hotels, 13 of them – in Baku. 34 four-star hotels, 21 of which are located in Baku, the rest – in the regions. Of the 27 three-star hotel 18 is also located in Baku. In addition the republic has 6 two-star hotels.From five-star hotels the most popular are The Boutique Palace Hotel, Hilton Baku, Excelsior Hotel Baku, Grand Hotel Europe Baku, Palace Hotel Baku and others, among four-star hotels – The Ganjali Plaza Hotel, Riviera Hotel Baku, Austin Hotel Baku, Ramada Baku, Hyatt Regency Baku, etc. , three-star ho tels – Sea Port Hotel, Sun Rise Hotel Baku, Metropol the Hotel, Azcot Hotel, two-star hotels – Baku Palace Guesthouse, Baleva, Royal Guest House Baku, and finally one star hotel – Nur-2 hotel. So as we conduct research based on data about The Ganjali Plaza Hotel, should review it further.In 2008 industrial – commercial company â€Å"Ganjali † completed and put into operation the hotel â€Å"Ganjali Plaza. † The hotel is centrally located opposite the boulevard, within walking distance of the city's attractions and shops. The area of 4000 sqm hotel. An eight-story building with elevators there is. The hotel Ganjali Plaza handed comfortable accommodation to services of lodgers. This 4-star hotel is located in Baku city centre, a 10-minute walk from the Old Town district and the Heydar Aliyev Palace. The Ganjali Plaza Baku offers free Wi-Fi and elegant interiors.The classic-style rooms at the Ganjali Plaza Hotel feature stylish wooden furniture and floors. All rooms are air-conditioned and include satellite TV and a private bathroom with bath. Breakfast is provided each morning at the Ganjali Plaza. Guests are also welcome to relax in the bar with its rich wooden and glass furnishings, or in the fitness room. Reception at the Ganjali Plaza is open 24/7, and includes a tour desk and ticket service. Shuttle services and car rental are also available. We considered as a case study the problem of forecasting room demand for Ganjali Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan. . Methodology In this topic the data set is discussed and the time series models used in this study are briefly explained. The data set Figure 1: The time series plot of the monthly guest arrivals data from January 2011 to December 2011. The time series plot from January 2011 to December 2011 consisting of a total of 12 monthly observations is shown in Figure 1. From the plot, it is clear that tourist arrivals has generally increased and decreased time by time and obviously it is not a stationary time series. There also appears to have some sort of seasonal pattern in it.There are also some unexpected dips and some events may have contributed to a drop in guest arrivals at these points of time. 3. 1. Time series In statistics, signal processing, econometrics and mathematical finance, a  time series  is a sequence of  data points, measured at successive times. Time series  analysis comprises methods for analyzing time series data in order to extract meaningful statistics and other characteristics of the data. Time series forecasting  is the use of a  model  to predict future values based on previously observed values.Time series are very frequently plotted via  line charts. In  evenly spaced  time series, the time intervals between data points are all equal, while in  unevenly spaced  time series the intervals differ. Time series data have a natural temporal ordering. This makes time series analysis distinct from other common da ta analysis problems, in which there is no natural ordering of the observations. A time series model will generally reflect the fact that observations close together in time will be more closely related than observations further apart.In addition, time series models will often make use of the natural one-way ordering of time so that values for a given period will be expressed as deriving in some way from past values, rather than from future values. Time-Series Behaviors * Trend * Seasonality * Cycles * Irregular variations * Random variation * Trend Trend A long-term upward or downward movement in data. * Population shifts * Changing income Seasonality Short-term, fairly regular variations related to the calendar or time of day. Restaurants, service call centers, and theaters all experience seasonal demand CycleWavelike variations lasting more than one year. These are often related to a variety of economic, political, or even agricultural conditions Random Variation Residual variati on that remains after all other behaviors have been accounted for Irregular variation Due to unusual circumstances that do not reflect typical behavior * Labor strike * Weather event 3. 2. Time-Series Forecasting – Averaging These Techniques work best when a series tends to vary about an average. Averaging techniques smooth variations in the data They can handle step changes or gradual changes in the level of a series Techniques: Moving average * Weighted moving average * Exponential smoothing Later I will give a brief overview of techniques used in this study in the rich and rapidly growing field of time series modeling and analysis. 3. 3. Moving Average or Smoothing Techniques Inherent in the collection of data taken over time is some form of random variation. There exist methods for reducing of canceling the effect due to random variation. An often-used technique in industry is â€Å"smoothing†. This technique, when properly applied, reveals more clearly the underly ing trend, seasonal and cyclic components.There are two distinct groups of smoothing methods †¢Averaging Methods †¢Exponential Smoothing Methods Exponential Smoothing is a very popular scheme to produce a smoothed Time Series. Whereas in Single Moving Averages the past observations are weighted equally, Exponential Smoothing assigns exponentially decreasing weights as the observation get older. In other words, recent observations are given relatively more weight in forecasting than the older observations. In the case of moving averages, the weights assigned to the observations are the same and are equal to 1/N.In exponential smoothing, however, there are one or more smoothing parameters to be determined (or estimated) and these choices determine the weights assigned to the observations. 3. The Ganjali Plaza Hotel Case Study We applied the proposed forecasting model to the problem of forecasting the arrivals and the occupancy of the Ganjali Plaza Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan, as a detailed case study. In collaboration with the hotel, we apply our proposed forecasting model to the hotel’s data. The Hotel Data We have applied the proposed forecasting model on this data of the Ganjali Plaza Hotel. 2011 months| Occupancy(Person)| jan| 137| feb| 108| ar| 186| apr| 117| may| 104| jun| 143| jul| 149| aug| 157| sep| 166| oct| 142| nov| 129| dec| 130| Table1. The Ganjali Plaza Hotel monthly guest arrivals data from January 2011 to December 2011. We have obtained a full set of data covering the period from jan-2011 until dec-2011. The set of the data include only the reservations. We forecast a month ahead using the last twelve months of the data. In next section we present the results of our study. 4. 4. Results Figure2. shows the moving average model for the case of one month forecasting. Figure2. The Ganjali Plaza Hotel occupancy forecast for January 2012 using Moving Average method. 011 year| occupancy(person)| Moving Average| Standard deviation| jan| 137 | #N/A| #N/A| feb| 108| #N/A| #N/A| mar| 186| 143. 6666667| #N/A| apr| 117| 137| #N/A| may| 104| 135. 6666667| 32. 63377028| jun| 143| 121. 3333333| 24. 98147462| jul| 149| 132| 24. 22961151| aug| 157| 149. 6666667| 16. 45420131| sep| 166| 157. 3333333| 11. 8023852| oct| 142| 155| 9. 964752696| nov| 129| 145. 6666667| 13. 189502| dec| 130| 133. 6666667| 12. 3857744| jan| | 129. 5| 9. 852617625| Table2. The Ganjali Plaza Hotel occupancy forecast for January 2012 using Moving Average method. Spreadsheet Showing Results Using n = 3.Figure3. represents the exponential smoothing model for the case of one month forecasting. Figure3. The Ganjali Plaza Hotel occupancy forecast for January 2012 using Exponential Smoothing method. 2011 year| occupancy(person)| Exponential Smoothing| jan| 137| #N/A| #N/A| feb| 108| 137| #N/A| mar| 186| 125. 4| #N/A| apr| 117| 149. 64| #N/A| may| 104| 136. 584| 43. 12280758| jun| 143| 123. 5504| 43. 96758903| jul| 149| 131. 33024| 28. 89852128| aug| 157| 138. 3 98144| 24. 16763962| sep| 166| 145. 8388864| 18. 58795672| oct| 142| 153. 9033318| 18. 83896641| nov| 129| 149. 1419991| 17. 6449977| dec| 130| 141. 0851995| 17. 83124541| jan| | 136. 6511197| 14. 94736414| | | | | damping factor=0. 6| Table3. The Ganjali Plaza Hotel occupancy forecast for January 2012 using Exponential Smoothing method. Spreadsheet Showing Results Using w = 0. 4(damping factor=1-w=0. 6). 4. Conclusion In this paper we have proposed model for hotel arrivals and occupancy forecasting using time series method. We considered as a case study the Ganjali Plaza Hotel of Baku, Azerbaijan. The proposed forecasting model achieves good forecasting accuracy and beats other competing forecasting models.In other words, it estimates the whole picture of what will happen in the future for all processes, and in a probabilistic way. Table 1. and Figure1. show the different seasonal periods for the Ganjali Plaza Hotel, as determined by the managers. We used these data to determine th e forecast for January 2012 occupancy rate. For this purpose we implemented two techniques of time series methodology such as exponential smoothing and moving average method. References 1. Brockwell, P. J. and Davis, R. A. (2002), Introduction To Time Series And Forecasting, 2nd Edition, Springer-Verlag, New York. 2.Andrawis, R. , Atiya, A. F. , 2009. A new Bayesian formulation for Holt’s exponential smoothing. Journal of Forecasting 28, 218–234. 3. Andrew, W. , Cranage, D. , Lee, C. , 1990. Forecasting hotel occupancy rates with time series models: an empirical analysis. Hospitality Research Jour- nal 14, 173–181. 4. Chow, W. S. , Shyu, J. -C. , Wang, K. -C. , 1998. Developing a forecast sys- tem for hotel occupancy rate using integrated ARIMA models. Journal of International Hospitality, Leisure Tourism Management 1, 55–80. 5. Franses, P. H. , 1998. Time Series Models for Business and Economic Fore- casting.Cambridge University Press. 6. Gardner, E. S. , 2006. Exponential smoothing: The state of the art Part II. International Journal of Forecasting 22, 637–666. 7. Hyndman, R. J. , Koehler, A. B. , Ord, J. K. , 2008. Forecasting with Exponen- tial Smoothing: The State Space Approach. Springer Series in Statistics. 8. Kimes, S. E. , 1999. Group forecasting accuracy for hotels. Journal of the Operational Research Society 50, 1104–1110. 9. Weatherford, L. R. , Kimes, S. E. , January 2003. A comparison of forecasting methods for hotel revenue management. International Journal of Forecast- ing 99 (19), 401–415.

Difference Between CML and SML Essay

CML stands for Capital Market Line, and SML stands for Security Market Line. The CML is a line that is used to show the rates of return, which depends on risk-free rates of return and levels of risk for a specific portfolio. SML, which is also called a Characteristic Line, is a graphical representation of the market’s risk and return at a given time. One of the differences between CML and SML, is how the risk factors are measured. While standard deviation is the measure of risk for CML, Beta coefficient determines the risk factors of the SML. The CML measures the risk through standard deviation, or through a total risk factor. On the other hand, the SML measures the risk through beta, which helps to find the security’s risk contribution for the portfolio. While the Capital Market Line graphs define efficient portfolios, the Security Market Line graphs define both efficient and non-efficient portfolios. While calculating the returns, the expected return of the portfolio for CML is shown along the Y- axis. On the contrary, for SML, the return of the securities is shown along the Y-axis. The standard deviation of the portfolio is shown along the X-axis for CML, whereas, the Beta of security is shown along the X-axis for SML. Where the market portfolio and risk free assets are determined by the CML, all security factors are determined by the SML. Unlike the Capital Market Line, the Security Market Line shows the expected returns of individual assets. The CML determines the risk or return for efficient portfolios, and the SML demonstrates the risk or return for individual stocks. Well, the Capital Market Line is considered to be superior when measuring the risk factors. Summary: 1. The CML is a line that is used to show the rates of return, which depends on risk-free rates of return and levels of risk for a specific portfolio. SML, which is also called a Characteristic Line, is a graphical representation of the market’s risk and return at a given time. 2. While standard deviation is the measure of risk in CML, Beta coefficient determines the risk factors of the SML. 3. While the Capital Market Line graphs define efficient portfolios, the Security Market Line graphs define both efficient and non-efficient portfolios. 4. The Capital Market Line is considered to be superior when measuring the risk factors. 5. Where the  market portfolio and risk free assets are determined by the CML, all security factors are determined by the SML.

The Chinese National Anthem

The Chinese National Anthem The official national anthem of China is titled, March of the Volunteers (ä ¹â€°Ã¥â€¹â€¡Ã¥â€ â€ºÃ¨ ¿â€ºÃ¨ ¡Å'æ› ², yà ¬yÇ’ngjÃ… «n jà ¬nxà ­ngqÇ”). It was written in 1935 by the poet and playwright, Tian Han, and the composer, Nie Er. Origins The song  honors soldiers and revolutionaries who fought the Japanese in northeast China in the 1930s. It was originally written as a theme song to a popular propaganda play and movie that encouraged the Chinese people to resist the Japanese invasion. Both Tian Han and Nie Er were active in the resistance. Nie Er was influenced by popular revolutionary songs at the time, including The Internationale. He drowned in 1935. Becoming the Chinese National Anthem Following the Chinese Communist Partys victory in the civil war in 1949, a committee was set up to decide on a national anthem. There were nearly 7,000 entries, but an early favorite was March of the Volunteers. It was adopted as the provisional national anthem on September 27, 1949. Anthem Banned Years later during the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, Tian Han was jailed and subsequently died in 1968. As a result, March of the Volunteers became a banned song. In its place, many used The East is Red, which was a popular Communist song at the time. Restoration March of the Volunteers was eventually restored as the Chinese national anthem in 1978, but with different lyrics that specifically praised the Communist Party and Mao Zedong. After the death of Mao and the liberalization of the Chinese economy, Tian Hans original version was restored by the National Peoples Congress in 1982. The Chinese anthem was played in Hong Kong for the first time in the 1997 handover of British control of Hong Kong to China, and in the 1999 handover of Portuguese control of Macao to China. They were subsequently adopted as the national anthems in Hong Kong and Macao. For many years until the 1990s, the song was banned in Taiwan. In 2004, the Chinese constitution was officially amended to include March of the Volunteers as its official anthem. Lyrics of the Chinese National Anthem è µ ·Ã¦  ¥Ã¤ ¸ Ã¦â€ž ¿Ã¥ Å¡Ã¥ ¥ ´Ã©Å¡ ¶Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¤ º ºÃ¤ » ¬ Stand up! Those who are unwilling to become slaves! 把我ä » ¬Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¨ ¡â‚¬Ã¨â€šâ€°Ã§ ­â€˜Ã¦Ë† Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¤ » ¬Ã¦â€" °Ã§Å¡â€žÃ©â€¢ ¿Ã¥Å¸Å½! Take our flesh, and build it to become a new Great Wall! ä ¸ ­Ã¥ Å½Ã¦ °â€˜Ã¦â€" Ã¥Ë† °Ã¤ ºâ€ Ã¦Å"ی  ±Ã©â„¢ ©Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¦â€" ¶Ã¥â‚¬â„¢ The Chinese people have reached a most dangerous time, æ ¯ Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¤ º ºÃ¨ ¢ «Ã¨ ¿ «Ã§ â‚¬Ã¥ â€˜Ã¥â€¡ ºÃ¦Å"ی Å½Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¥  ¼Ã¥ £ °Ã£â‚¬â€š Every person is being compelled to send issue a final roar. è µ ·Ã¦  ¥Ã¨ µ ·Ã¦  ¥Ã¨ µ ·Ã¦  ¥ Arise! Arise! Arise! 我ä » ¬Ã¤ ¸â€¡Ã¤ ¼â€"ä ¸â‚¬Ã¥ ¿Æ' We are millions with one heart, 冒ç â‚¬Ã¦â€¢Å'ä º ºÃ§Å¡â€žÃ§â€š ®Ã§  «Ã¥â€° Ã¨ ¿â€º Braving our enemy’s gunfire, march on! 冒ç â‚¬Ã¦â€¢Å'ä º ºÃ§Å¡â€žÃ§â€š ®Ã§  «Ã¥â€° Ã¨ ¿â€º! Braving our enemy’s gunfire, march on! å‰ Ã¨ ¿â€ºÃ¥â€° Ã¨ ¿â€ºÃ¨ ¿â€º! March on! March on! Charge!

Controlling Employee Healthcare Benefit Cost at Quality Auto Parts Essays

Controlling Employee Healthcare Benefit Cost at Quality Auto Parts Essays Controlling Employee Healthcare Benefit Cost at Quality Auto Parts Paper Controlling Employee Healthcare Benefit Cost at Quality Auto Parts Paper Abstract Healthcare policies are part of employees’ benefits in almost all companies, organizations, or establishments. One example is the industry of quality auto parts. At 13% of GDP, and is continuously increasing, healthcare cost is affecting many companies. The amount allotted for the employees healthcare policies quite alarming to the profit of companies. So many employers now are looking for ways to control the amount expended to employee healthcare benefits. Controlling Employee Healthcare Benefit Cost at Quality Auto Parts Problem Healthcare expenses are rising and now rival the labor cost and becomes employers’ top business financial concern. The industry of quality auto parts like the one manages by DeCarlo is one example of the many companies experiencing this problem of high cost of healthcare benefits for their employees. Profit of the company is greatly affected as well as the pricing of their products .and services. These made DeCarlo and the management searched for ways to minimize the company’s expenses, specifically the one allotted for the healthcare benefits. They look for effective means to solve these out-of-control healthcare costs. Present study shows that premium for employer-sponsored health coverage is rising at a rate of 7% to 8% a year according to a survey conducted recently. If these problems will not be solved and left unchecked it will endanger many companies. Causes of the Problem Probable causes of this growing problem are identified: due to federal legislation, increasing utilization of health services, skyrocketing malpractice rates, large catastrophic-illness claims, increase use of mental health and substance abuse services, increased used of medical service, high-technology medicines, cost shifting from government programs (Medicare and Medicaid) to private insurance, high physician fees, the AIDS crisis, the demographics of employees in the auto industry (higher percentage of older employees, and recent premium price increases. Actions Taken A meeting with healthcare providers, insurers, and employers are important to address the problem and discuss possible solutions to answer the problem. The company should learn to balance and track their expenses. A more comprehensive plan should be under careful study. Conclusion and Recommendations Healthcare benefits are in fact necessary and good for employees. But if it will continue to increase; company funds and resources will be of trouble and will be affected as well. There are various solutions available which can help the organization. Companies can control their benefit expenses by understanding their health insurance costs and their employee’s health priorities more accurately. Promoting health and wellness will keep the employees more physically fit. Managing relationship with the healthcare provider is also important because both groups can help one another in achieving their specific goals. Instituting wellness programs and adopting consumer driven healthcare are some of the ways to aid this dilemma. Conducting orientation of proper health maintenance is also applicable. A healthy, clean workplace must also be observed so sickness could be prevented. Employees must also apply proper healthcare practices to their homes and families so that they will not get sick, too. Companies and their employees as well as the healthcare providers must be willing to find solutions to this problem before they become worst, thus affecting the financial status of companies and the employees. Reference â€Å"Research Reports: Guide to Healthcare Cost Control: Employer Strategies, Tactics, Benchmarks.† (2005). ioma: Business Intelligence at Work. Retrieved July 24, 2008, from ioma.com/issues/downloads/pdfs_noreg/HCCostsGuide08_TOC.pdf

York, the Slave Who Traveled With Lewis and Clark

York, the Slave Who Traveled With Lewis and Clark One member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was not a volunteer, and according to the law at the time, he was the property of another member of the expedition. He was York, an African-American slave who belonged to William Clark, the expeditions co-leader. York was born in Virginia in about 1770, apparently to slaves who were owned by the family of William Clark. York and Clark were roughly the same age, and it seems likely they had known each other since childhood. In the Virginia society in which Clark grew up, it would not have been uncommon for a Caucasian boy to have a slave boy as a personal servant. And it appears that York fulfilled that role, and remained Clarks servant into adulthood. Another example of this situation would be that of Thomas Jefferson, who had a lifelong slave and body servant named Jupiter. While York was owned by Clarks family, and later Clark himself, it seems that he married and had a family before 1804, when he was compelled to leave Virginia with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A Skilled Man on the Expedition On the expedition, York fulfilled a number of roles, and its apparent that he must have possessed considerable skills as a backwoodsman. He nursed Charles Floyd, the only member of the Corps of Discovery to have died on the expedition. So it seems York may have been knowledgeable in frontier herbal medicine. Some men on the expedition were designated as hunters, killing animals for the others to eat, and at times York functioned as a hunter, shooting game such as buffalo. So its obvious that he was entrusted with a musket, though back in Virginia a slave would not have been allowed to carry a weapon. In the expedition journals, there are mentions of York being a fascinating sight to the Native Americans, who had apparently never seen an African American before. Some Indians would paint themselves black before going into battle, and they were amazed by someone who was black by birth. Clark, in his journal, recorded instances of Indians inspecting York, and trying to scrub his skin to see if his blackness was natural. There are other instances in the journals of York performing for the Indians, at one point growling like a bear. The Arikara people were impressed by York and referred to him as the great medicine. Freedom for York? When the expedition reached the west coast, Lewis and Clark held a vote to decide where the men would stay for the winter. York was allowed to vote along with all the others, though the concept of a slave voting would have been preposterous back in Virginia. The incident of the vote has often been cited by admirers of Lewis and Clark, as well as some historians, as proof of the enlightened attitudes on the expedition. Yet when the expedition ended, York was still a slave. A tradition developed that Clark had freed York at the end of the expedition, but that is not accurate. Letters written by Clark to his brother after the expedition still refer to York being a slave, and it seems that he was not freed for many years. Clarks grandson, in a memoir, mentioned that York was Clarks servant as late as 1819, some 13 years after the expedition returned. William Clark, in his letters, complained about Yorks behavior, and it appears that he may have punished him by hiring him out to perform menial labor. At one point he was even considering selling York into slavery in the deep south, a much harsher form of slavery than that practiced in Kentucky or Virginia. Historians have noted that there are no documents establishing that York had ever been freed. Clark, however, in a conversation with the writer Washington Irving in 1832, did claim to have freed York. There is no clear record of what happened to York. Some accounts have him dead before 1830, but there are also stories of a black man, said to be York, living among Indians in the early 1830s. Portrayals of York When Meriwether Lewis listed the expedition participants, he wrote that York was, A black man by the name of York, servant to Capt. Clark. To Virginians at that time, servant would have been a common euphemism for slave. While Yorks status as a slave was taken for granted by the other participants in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the view of York has changed over the course of future generations. In the early 20th century, at the time of the centennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, writers referred to York as a slave, but often incorporated the inaccurate narrative that he had been freed as a reward for his hard work during the expedition. Later in the 20th century, York was portrayed as a symbol of black pride. Statues of York have been erected, and he is perhaps one of the better known members of the Corps of Discovery, after Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who accompanied the expedition.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment Example He points out that globalization was sort of pre-destined and inevitable. However, it is not only the ancient societies that resisted globalization but also neo-conservative societies like China abound were against it. The solution to this might be the need for tough American guidance coercing them towards democracy and stiff international economic competition might be the cure. Wrights states that, as perceived against the scenery of history, manifest destiny is powerful and continuous. He argues that the challenge emerges from history since it is self evident that globalization goes back to ancient history when early expansion of commerce was technologically driven. For instance, the early advances in transportation were an extremely important component in doing deals as well during wars. As such was information technology, which acted as a bastion of commerce. Writing originated from prehistoric Asia especially Mesopotamia, which has, records of what took place. All this informati on was grounded in human nature and deeply seated in how they went about their business. Since human nature involves the quest for profit and advances, both economic and technological advances meant a better, faster, more efficient role-playing hence globalization was an inevitable outcome. The flop side of this structure is that it might be a difficult situation at times. For instance, as commerce expands, its interdependence deepens. The ancient society saw both sides of the coin. They viewed success and prosperity stretch but also saw enormous disaster like the collapse across the Eastern Mediterranean. The main reason this trouble travels so fast is that it uses the same conduits of transport as the economic and the communication system. For instance, a good example is the downfall 1200BC raiders who used to kidnap commercial ships. Wright and Kaplan argue that in the ancient history times as it is today, protecting and expanding realm of independence is through governance. The Roman Empire for instance, secured its commercial routes. This was replicated in the middle ages where German traders in German formed the Hanseatic League to fight pirates, kidnappers, and brigades while securing their business. They argue that although global governance sounds radical, but it is not because commerce is liberating the world. They point out that today globalization of commerce and the threats emanating from the same has called for agents of global governance. With these advances, there is the need to police the world dangerous materials such as nuclear materials. This they say is just history taking its cause since globalization calls for stringent measures and plans to ensure that the avenues open for expansion of the global economy and technology are not exploited by other forces out to wreck havoc. This is only possible if there are well laid out rudiments of international governance. Wright and Kaplan state that, with the expansion in commerce, growth has not be en limited to governance but also of morality. Wright describes morality as acknowledging the humanity of people even amidst the cutthroat activities that entail business. He points out that prehistoric relations featured open hostility between groups with violence being justified by moral degradation and even dehumanization of victims. Although Wright and Kaplan slightly differ in their emphasis of morality, the key points bring them together and they tend to agree on the major

Finance market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Finance market - Essay Example RWT basically stated that speculative price changes were independent and identically distributed, so that the past price data had no predictive power for future share price movements. RWT also stated that the distribution of price changes from transaction to transaction had finite variance. In addition, if transactions were fairly uniformly spread across time and were large in numbers, then the Central Limit Theorem suggested that the price changes would be normally distributed. Kendall (1953) calculated the first differences of twenty-two different speculative price series at weekly intervals from 486 to 2,387 terms. He concluded that the random changes from one term to the next were large and obfuscated any systematic effect which may be present. In fact, he stated that 'the data behaved almost like a wandering series' (random walk). Specifically, an analysis of share price movement revealed little serial correlation, with the conclusion that there was very little predictability of movements in share prices for a week ahead without extraneous information. In 1959, Roberts generated a pattern of market levels and changes akin to real levels and changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Index. He estimated the probability of different share price movements over time by using a frequency distribution of historical changes in the weekly market index, and assumed weekly changes were independently drawn from a normal distribution with a mean of + 0.5 and a standard deviation of 5.0. He concluded that changes in security prices behaved as if they had been generated by a simple chance model .The fundamental concept behind random walk theory is that competition in perfect markets would remove excess economic profits, except from those parties who exercised some degree of market monopoly. This meant that a trader with specialized information about future events could profit from the monopolistic access to information, but that fundamental and technical analysts who rely on p ast information should not expect to have speculative gains.From the empirical evidence and theory of random walks arose the theory of efficient markets. Fama (1970, 1976) gives out the details of the early literature on both the theoretical and empirical foundations of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, whilst Cuthbertson (1996) summarizes the latest research developments. While EMH has empirical findings in respect of aspects like market perfection and information availability when combined with practices like trading platform and transaction costs may produce only marginal and well calculated opportunities for speculative gains; many other economists have quoted the existence of stock market bubbles. A bubble is generally defined by the economists as a deviation from stock market fundamentals; whereas Kindleberger reckons a bubble as an upward price movement over an extended range that tends to implode (Kindleberger 1996). By the same analogy an extended negative bubble is a crash . The existence of such situations has immediate

International marketing and communication Essay

International marketing and communication - Essay Example Globalization has resulted in increased pressure on the firms to achieve global competitive advantage. Automotive industry has recently witnessed large scale consolidation of organization resulting in mergers and acquisitions to capitalize the strengths of each market and organization. Most of the organizations in the automobile industry are doing business offshore. Automobile manufacturing contributes to 10% of the world GDP. Canadian Automobile industry also contributes significantly in the regional GDP. With WTO policies of free trade there is no more legislation in Canada which supports the BIG three of the US automobile industry. Many non-American firms such as Japanese have already entered Canadian market. Peugeot already has its existence in the Canadian market with their motorbikes. With fluctuating oil prices, growing environmental concerns and the expected forecast of growth the time is ripe for Peugeot to enter Canadian market with its full range of products. Peugeot has a competitive edge in the Canadian market with already developed distribution system. A large population of Canada speaks French so a French company will get some favors from the consumers. Contents Introduction 4 Market Characteristics 5 Market Review 6 SLEPT Analysis 6 Social 7 Political 7 Economical 7 Technological 8 Legal 8 Industry Climate Significant New Trends 8 French Automobile Industry 9 Situational Analysis 9 Current products 10 Existing Segments 10 Current Pricing 11 Current Distribution 11 Current Media and Communications 12 Objectives 12 Objectives for the Organizations 13 Objectives for the product/services 14 Objectives for Target market 14 Implementation 14 Segmentation 14 Positioning 15 Standardization VS Adaptation 15 Communication 16 Future Research 16 Bibliography 18 Introduction The Canadian car manufacturing industry is very huge with total revenue of $ 18.1 billion in 2010. In the recent past the growth has been negative. The compound annual rate of change (CA RC) for the total revenue is -2.7% for the period 2006-2010. Total production along with the revenue has also declines in the same period and the CARC for the production volume of the industry is -2.8%. The total production volume in 2010 was 1,272,825 units. The picture is still not all that gloomy and that is the reason for my selection of this industry. The forecasts for the industry are encouraging. An upward trend is expected. For the next five years i.e. till 2015 the industry is expected to accelerate and grow. The forecast is a positive CARC although a little low at 0.4%. With this CARC the industry is expected to grow to a value of $18.4 billion by the end of 2015. 1(Data monitor, 2011) Peugeot has long history in France. Armond Peugeot launched the first quadricycle oil in 1890. Since then there has been no looking back for Peugeot. The second French manufacturer in early 1970’s developed partnership with Renault/Volvo, Fiat or BMW. This change in management led to the creation of Citroen PSA Peugeot-Citroen. Brand strengthened and the company has expanded globally. Peugeot has a distinctive history of providing elegant and unconventional designs. Peugeot 401 and 601 Eclipse shinned in 1934 with unconventional design of retractable rooftop designed by legendary Georges Paulin. It became such a success that it was preceded by a long queue of innovative and luxurious

FDA Approval Procedure Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

FDA Approval Procedure - Assignment Example From this paper it is clear that pre-clinical studies must showcase that the medication will not induce chromosomal damage when consumed in potentially effective doses. The results are filed to the FDA together with the IND (Investigational New Drug) application. Apart from the pre-clinical studies report, the IND application contains the information on pharmacologic properties, the proposal for clinical investigations, and clarification of safety measures for prospective volunteers.This essay discusses that after a drug has survived all the trials, an NDA (New Drug Application) is forwarded to the FDA. According to the 1992 Prescription Drug User Fee Act, standard applications are to be reviewed within the 12-month timeframe. Results on priority applications are usually released within six months. Sometimes, FDA may request to provide minor corrections or labeling adjustments. As soon as the product receives the FDA approval, it is allowed for sail. In case of rejection, the FDA pre sents the reasoning together with a list of recommendations. Certain approvals are given under the condition that further research must be conducted shortly after the initial marketing. For instance, the manufacturer may be requested to assess risks in patients with specific illnesses or to examine the long-term effects.  To conclude, drug approval is a lengthy and costly process that is strictly regulated by the FDA.

Law enforcement management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law enforcement management - Essay Example But in reality it is the law enforcement officer who concentrates on those areas that pose the most immediate danger or threat is the most effective. Since ages ago man has always been governed by regulations within the community in order to believe that he fits in or and also cater to socially desirable patterns of conduct. Even earlier than that crime has been thought of as a local problem and to counter that enforcement has to be community oriented too. Enforcement of the law hence should be strengthened more and more where crime is spawned, i.e. in local communities. Faced with such considerations, much of the burden of crime prevention and crime control must be borne at the community level. But to achieve this objective we need farsighted police administrators and enlightened citizenry to work for the common good. But the surprising fact of life is that, " The police do not prevent crime" Experts know it, the police know it but the common public doesn't. But if the fear of the police in the common man's mind often lets him pause and think at least for a second before he can commit the crime then that is what we credit to the police. The major jobs of the police officer would include patrolling, criminal investigation, and regulating traffic. Administration is an additional function that involves recruitment, training, public relations and all the housekeeping functions of purchasing, paying and supervising and so forth. Traditional police management included an elaborate hierarchy of command. Police are a uniformed service where the authority is solely based on rank. Compliance is insisted upon and detailed rules cover anything and everything a police officer might do and high level of micromanagement occurs. Decisions were generally made at " the top chain of command" by a select few and passed down. The generally accepted theory was "Higher ranks give commands and lower ranks obey". This causes some frustrations. The police personnel at the lower end of the pyramid are often confused because they are forced into real life situations where they are not able to follow the rules to the book and often turn a blind eye to it because they want to avoid confrontations. This officer also feels unprotected and exposed and this also adds to their inefficiencies. It also puts his immediate commanding officer in quandary about exercising his control or watching from the sidelines. This

Lesson Plan 8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lesson Plan 8 - Assignment Example Once they are finished pasting the pictures on the cardboards, they will be arranging themselves in a line by page numbers and presenting their â€Å"story†. 9:12 – Students should present their picture storybook to the class. They should form a line in front according to the page numbers. Each student must give his/her own sentence to the page he/she is holding to complete the story. There are 16 pictures in the story. 9:35 – When they are finished, they should go back to their seats. Teacher will bind the students’ story book with a yarn. Teacher will ask students what is different or same with the Teacher’s story & their picture story book. In class Assessment: The students will arrange themselves in a line and re-tell the 3 Little Pigs’ story by giving their own sentences for the pictures they are holding. Teacher will assess if students are able to re-tell the story by the sentences they will give to the pictures. Homework: A picture of a house is pasted on their notebooks with this sentence â€Å"This pig made a house of _________†. Students are asked to finish the sentence. They should write the material they want for the pigs house. They should also draw the material they want on the house and color if they

Law enforcement management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law enforcement management - Essay Example But in reality it is the law enforcement officer who concentrates on those areas that pose the most immediate danger or threat is the most effective. Since ages ago man has always been governed by regulations within the community in order to believe that he fits in or and also cater to socially desirable patterns of conduct. Even earlier than that crime has been thought of as a local problem and to counter that enforcement has to be community oriented too. Enforcement of the law hence should be strengthened more and more where crime is spawned, i.e. in local communities. Faced with such considerations, much of the burden of crime prevention and crime control must be borne at the community level. But to achieve this objective we need farsighted police administrators and enlightened citizenry to work for the common good. But the surprising fact of life is that, " The police do not prevent crime" Experts know it, the police know it but the common public doesn't. But if the fear of the police in the common man's mind often lets him pause and think at least for a second before he can commit the crime then that is what we credit to the police. The major jobs of the police officer would include patrolling, criminal investigation, and regulating traffic. Administration is an additional function that involves recruitment, training, public relations and all the housekeeping functions of purchasing, paying and supervising and so forth. Traditional police management included an elaborate hierarchy of command. Police are a uniformed service where the authority is solely based on rank. Compliance is insisted upon and detailed rules cover anything and everything a police officer might do and high level of micromanagement occurs. Decisions were generally made at " the top chain of command" by a select few and passed down. The generally accepted theory was "Higher ranks give commands and lower ranks obey". This causes some frustrations. The police personnel at the lower end of the pyramid are often confused because they are forced into real life situations where they are not able to follow the rules to the book and often turn a blind eye to it because they want to avoid confrontations. This officer also feels unprotected and exposed and this also adds to their inefficiencies. It also puts his immediate commanding officer in quandary about exercising his control or watching from the sidelines. This

The Story of My Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

The Story of My Life - Essay Example With the separation, my mother had to find a job to support us as the income from the child support was never enough (for the short time the child support was paid). My parents were my idol and with them separated, my world started slowly collapsing against me. A few years passed and I slowly started getting used to the absence of having two parents in the house and I made a great friend from school. The friendship had been casual at first but I found out we shared a lot of things starting from having divorced parents to him having a younger sibling at home and we soon became best friends. We were inseparable and we even managed to go to the same high school. On our last year of high school, we were at a friend’s birthday party and he kept on telling me how such a great friend I was and that he would miss me but I just laughed at him and told him we would go to the same college and that he had nothing to worry about. When we were leaving the party, a truck which was being driven by a drunk driver rammed into us and my best friend passed on the spot. The blow that death left me was ten times worse than the separation and finally divorce of my parents. Life was never the same from then on. I took time off school for three months as I slowly sank into depression. However one day I decided that my best friend would not have wanted me to wallow in misery but would have loved to see me excel and go to the college of my dream. His great friendship and his easy-going manner taught me that life is too short not to do the things you love without procrastination and the first on my list is to excel in college and in my career as well and have a great legacy. I am a tough individual even though I may not physically look like it as life toughened me up.     Ã‚  

Understanding Your Strengths And Weaknesses Essay Example for Free

Understanding Your Strengths And Weaknesses Essay In a study released, 87% of workers worldwide are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and are less likely to be productive; making work a source of frustration rather than one of fulfillment. (Gallup, 1993) The statistics illustrate a lack of commitment to learning and understanding of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, amongst the population. People need to think about the person they are and where their strengths and weaknesses lie because if they don’t stop to consider what they’re good at and what they need to improve, they will find themselves in the 87% of the population who don’t enjoy what they do. Following this discovery, I completed a personality test on 16Personalities.com that stated my strengths and weaknesses following answering a series of questions, in hopes to have a better understanding to how my strengths and weaknesses play into the role as a paramedic. The personality test revealed that I am altruistic, a good team player, possess good communications, but also am too selfless and sensitive; these results will give me a better comprehension as to how and why a career as a paramedic is the right fit for me. My strengths of being able to work well in a team setting, having good communication skills and being altruistic will help me as a paramedic, while these are essential characteristics to becoming a great paramedic. The test revealed that I am tolerant and reliable, where it explains I excel in team environments where I am able to listen to others, even when their opinions contradict mines; and I am irritated by the idea of letting people down, so I can be counted on to see any task through. It is important for paramedics to be good team players and be trustworthy because paramedics are often placed situations where they have to work with other people (like the police and firefighters) where we have to trust each other and work well together in a situation whereby we are forced to rely to a great extent possibly for our own well-being, and everyone else on scene. The test also showed that I â€Å"instinctively know how to capture an audience, and pick up on mood and motivation in ways that allow them to communicate with reason, emotion, passion, restraint whatever the situation calls for†, further elaborating saying that I can shift my tone and manner to reflect the needs of the audience, while still maintaining my own voice. These great communication skills are a crucial part to the career as it will allow a more accurate  assessment of the situation through uncovering what happened, how many people were involved or whether there is any remaining danger. Being able to talk to people and keep both patients and family or others on the scene calm can make the situation easier to control, and maintaining conversation with a patient can help to retrieve important information that may be needed for their treatment. It was uncovered that I have an unyielding desire to do good for others and for my community, and that I genuinely believe that if I can just bring people together, I can do a world of good. Because of the nature of the career, where paramedics are responding to people who need help, it is essential individuals pursuing a career as paramedic have that natural desire to make a difference in the lives of others and in their community. The personality test revealed that I am too selfless and sensitive, explaining that I will bury myself in my hopeful promises and feeling others’ problems as my own. If I’m not careful, I could spread myself too thin, and be left unable to help anyone. Because of my sensitivity to others it means that sometimes I feel problems that aren’t my own and try to fix things I can’t fix and spending too much time worrying about whether if I am doing enough. My weaknesses might make things difficult as a paramedic because the reality of it is I will only be with the patient until they are in the hospital. It is not possible to be able to solve every problem, and if I carry that burden on my shoulders on the job, it will be very difficult for me to have good mental stability making me more susceptible to PTSD. One way I can improve my weakness is talk about my feelings as I am feeling with coworkers or the therapist. If I am diligent about keeping a realistic perception of the situation I am in, and understand there is so much one person can do, I am confident I can maneuver through each call with more ease. In conclusion, it is evident that my strengths as a natural team player, great communicator, and altruistic by nature would help make me a great paramedic. Paramedics work in stressful and pressured work environments, where lives are affected by the outcome of their actions. This can be made even more difficult by the long working hours. The role has a large amount  of responsibility, and these are important qualities for those who wish to do well in emergency care. A great paramedic would not be able to perform difficult and distressing work to the capacity that they need to without being able to work well with others on scene, be able to probe and extract information strategically, and have the natural desire to be there to make a difference in a time of crisis.

Origins of the Cold War

Origins of the Cold War Thesis: Revisionist or Post revisionist blaming america The Cold War (1947-1991) was a continuing political conflict, military tension, economic competition and nuclear arm race between the two superpowers of the time, the USA and the USSR. It is a conflict inherited from the Second World War which did not lead to a hot war but to many proxy wars, coalitions, propaganda and espionage. The Cold War was based in a growing sense of fear and distrust, holding the former allies to a confrontation that neither could afford but at the same time that neither could escape. There are three different theses about the origins of the Cold War: the Orthodox, the Revisionist and the Post-revisionist. The Orthodox American view, as set by the American government and as reaffirmed recently by most American scholars, had been that the Cold War was an essential response of free men to communist aggression. The Orthodox view blames the USSR for the start of the cold war. (ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR, by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.) The revisionist thesis is very different. They see it in its extreme form, that after the end of World War II the United Stated deliberately abandoned the wartime policy of collaboration and with the possession of the atomic bomb, undertook a course of aggression to expel Russian influence from Eastern Europe and to establish democracy and capitalism everywhere. This aggression from the United States towards Russia left Moscow no alternative but to take measures of defense. Therefore to have as a result the Cold War. (ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR, by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.) The post revisionist view blames both the Americans and the Russians. In the thesis itself, there is a deeper split between scholars in two groups: those who blame the Americans more and those who blame the Russians more. (International Relations since 1945, by Young and Kent) In this paper I will critically examine the origins of the Cold War based in the Post-Revisionist view which blames the USA more than the USSR. There are three main justifications of why the cold war started: Ideology, National Security and Power. I will divide this paper in these three main ideas showing them on chronological basis with different examples and I will explain each of them showing that in my view the real origin of the Cold War was the desire for Power and dominance of the USA in Europe and the whole world. The origins of the Cold War date since World War I, in 1914 when the competing ideas of communism and liberal democracy came into conflict. Since the October revolution took place in Russia (1917) followed by the start of the civil war (1918), the West became worried. President Woodrow Wilson immediately sent troops to fight against the Bolsheviks. At first look this would have seemed as a complete normal action: Wilson had to send troops to fight against the Bolsheviks otherwise he would not respect the 14 points he had addressed to the congress. Thinking about the 14 points which included peace, freedom, national self-determination, free trade and international cooperation one could understand that the action of sending troops to fight the Bolsheviks was not only because of respecting this points that he had made himself. By analyzing it, we can see that if the USA let Russia have the revolution and establish communism, there would not be any free trade and the USA would not be leading the world anymore. Since that time we can see that there was ground for the start of the Cold War. This intervention from Wilson showed clearly and convinced Stalin and many others, even more that the West would do everything to destroy his communist dream. After the Second World War the alliance between the three leaders of the three superpowers, USA, Russia and Britain started to have problems. This alliance was created thanks to the help of a common greater enemy and soon its end would come. The alliance was successful because it had won the war, but it would not be able to survive the peace. The historic differences, the ideologies and mostly the need for power were two difficult to overcome. Nearly three decades later these ideologies did not change. There were many conferences that took place. One to mention was the Potsdam conference were no agreement was reached. At the conference President Truman asked Stalin to withdraw his troops from Central and Eastern Europe and to hold free elections in Poland. Stalin answered firmly that he was not going to do so because this would harm his national security. Poland has always been the border that the threat for Russia could come from, that is why it is more than justified that Russia has to look after its national security. This did not convince the West. But was Russia to blame for trying to protect its own state from a threat? It is true that Russia did not join the United Nations, and Hull said that this security could be achieved with a post war peacemaking organization, but in this case the UN was an American organization. A big reason for the start of the Cold War was the division of Germany. The superpowers could not find an agreement in this case. By 1946, the United States and Britain were making every effort to unify all of Germany under western rule. The Soviet Union responded by consolidating its grip on Europe by creating satellite states in 1946 and 1947. One by one, communist governments, loyal to Moscow, were set up in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Stalin used Soviet communism to dominate half of Europe. Why Stalin did this might not be clear. Was he trying to build an international communist movement beginning in Eastern Europe? Or, was he simply trying to protect his borders from any intervention on the part of the United States or the allies as with the case of Poland? Another cause of the cold war revolved around a relatively new development in United States-Soviet relations. At the beginning of 1946, Truman decided that he was tired of babysitting the Soviets who understand only an iron fist and strong language. Stalin responded in February with a speech stressing the basic incompatibility between Soviet communism and western democracy, thus inaugurating a new hard line policy. Frustrated, Washington found meaning in a crucial document known as the Long Telegram. In 1946, the Soviet expert George Kennan, sent an 8000 word telegram to Washington from Moscow. Kennan was a Foreign Service officer who new Russia well. He understood their history, their culture and their language. Kennan explained the communist mentality in the following way. The Soviets hostility to the west is rooted in the need to legitimize their bloody dictatorship they must therefore believe in the inevitable triumph of communism over the beast capitalism. The Soviets, Kennan c ontinued, would exploit every opportunity to extend their system and therefore could not and would not be converted to a policy of harmony and cooperation.(ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR, by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr) While at the same day of the Potsdam conference (it was the first day of the conference) in the desert of Mexico a blinding flash was seen. This blinding flash was nothing else but the first test for the atomic bomb, which did start the nuclear age. Was Russia now right to be concerned about their national security? With this act of the possession of a very dangerous weapon the USA pushed its limits and put more pressure on the Russian making the relations even worst. The USA had no excuses to worry about their national security in terms of territory or weapons. The world had to worry about their national security because the USA just showed them their immense power. The question that I would like to raise in this crucial point is: Did America fought for ideology or was it for national security? How could the Americans talk about a world of freedom, peace and international cooperation when they were the ones who produced a lethal weapon which could bring just war and destruction? If they fought for national security in the USA, what kind of security was it? The Americans were not threatened in terms of land, nor would anyone go and invade them. Why did they claim that their national security was strongly connected with what was happening in other countries in the world? I strongly believe, and facts show as well that national security was only a mask to hide behind the aim of the USA to dominate the world. Americans did not limit their interventions just in Europe. During the Korean War we could see that the Americans sent their troops there with the pretest of peace and freedom, but the reality was different. They send their troops with the only goal which was to defend American interest in the region. They did not limit themselves to just support the South Koreans but they pushed until they reached the Chinese border. They were very close to start the Third World War. These actions do not show a nation that promotes peace and freedom, but one that promotes imperialism and dominance of the world. When President Truman voiced his accusation at the White House regarding red imperialism he said so: The United Nations is in Korea because they have to put down an aggression that threatens all human hopes for peace and justice. If the aggression is successful it will spread in Asia, Europe and America. We are fighting in Korea for our own national security and survival. As I said above the Americans did not have a matter of national security. They were not endangered in terms of land and territory; rather they were endangered by an attack from the USSR. Maybe Europe and Asia and the rest of the world should be more concerned about their national security now that America had in its possession the atomic bomb. Maybe what President Truman meant was that if communism wins in Korea; it would be a threat to his plan to dominate the world because he would have to share the power with the USSR. When the Russians developed nuclear power, the USA used this against them. People went out in the streets of America protesting against the evil Russian empire that had nuclear weapons and was planning to destroy the world. This showed that propaganda was a big weapon in the hands of American politicians. No one thought of what Russian people feared when they realized that the Americans had nuclear weapons. Since this was an arm race and since the Americans turned it into a nuclear race I believe that it was more than justified for the Russians to develop their own nuclear weapons in the name of security. During this time a new phenomenon started in America. As I said before propaganda was very important. The Americans were scared that communism would start within the country and its own people, which is why they used Hollywood actors to talk against it. The USA propaganda was that America was a place where freedom of speech, religion, political views was respected; unlike Russia where if people were against communism, they were jailed or killed. It did not look like this was the case for the Hollywood Ten. The Hollywood Ten was a group of actors and other famous figures of television that refused to talk publicly against communism. They all were commanded to jail because of their beliefs. This clearly is an example that shows how these two ideologies were more similar than they appeared to be. President Truman in one of his speeches said that he was not going to end democracy and he was not going to turn FBI in Gestapo to fight communism. He was going to ensure freedom of speech, of choice and peace; promises that he did not keep, shown in the act of jailing the Hollywood ten and many other communist supporters. After the death of the Soviet Union leader the communist world was lost. No one knew who would lead the country; therefore a group leadership took place. Georgi Malenkov spoke for the party in one of their meetings by stating: We stand as we have always stood, for peaceful coexistence of the two systems. This was clearly a strong statement that for the first time sent a message of peace and cooperation to the USA from the USSR. The question that raises here is if this was just soviet propaganda or if the new leaders where different than the old. Even if it was one or the other, this was a moment for peace and cooperation. If this chance for peace ever existed the USA secretary of state John Foster Dulles destroyed it by saying publicly: We are not dancing on any Russian tune. His view was that the declaration of Malenkov was a Russian plot to divide the western allies. Except from showing paranoia and mistrust and fear, which was normal in a time of war, this shows also the small int erest of the Americans for cooperation and peace; it clearly means that the Americans wanted to get rid of the USSR and rule the world alone. At the time when Nikita Hrushov became the leader of the USSR, relations with the USA changed. He was the first leader from the USSR to visit the USA. After his visit there, he expressed in the Party meeting that relationships with the USA will be friendlier from now on. This would lead to a peaceful world order. In the meantime the Americans had been flying spy planes on Soviet air. While the Soviets where having one of their national parades, where they showed the friendship between the two superpowers one of the American spy planes was flying in Soviet air. The plane was shot down by the Soviets and as it crushed, at the same time the hopes for peace and cooperation between the two powers crushed as well. If the Americans would have accepted the cooperation and friendly relations they were constructing with the USSR and not be greedy and spy on them the world would have been more peaceful. But the Americans view was not to preserve their ideology and national security but to domin ate the world. Because they screwed the relationships with Russia they had to lie both to their people and to the Russians. But Hrushov knew that this was not the truth. In the end the American leader had to come to an open field and reveal the truth. This did not help the government look better in the eyes of the people or of the USSR. The Vietnam War made it even worst. America helped South Vietnam by supporting it in becoming a capitalist country. Although Vietnam was not of any importance to the American they feared that if the Vietnamese turned to be communist many other countries would do the same. They believed in the Domino principle. The difference of Vietnam from other countries was that Vietnam was no communism under Moscow. Its leader Ho Chi Minh was communist itself and he used communism to bring people together in one state. After two decades of unsuccessful war the Americans left Vietnam. After Vietnams War people lost trust in the government and communism overcame democracy. It was not a good time for the Americans which decided to use the policy of DÃ ©tente. When the troops came back from Vietnam, President Gerald Ford said as follows: These events tragic as they are show neither the end of the world nor the end of American leadership in the world. With these exact words I believe that it was the first time that a western leader went out so openly to express the real intentions of the Americans. From Fords words we can understand that these intentions were far away from spreading of freedom, peace and national security, but they were about Americas leadership in of the world. The Vietnam War was a very good victory for the Russians. During the Vietnam Syndrome in the US and with the victory of the Vietnam War the Russians continued to produce more arms and to march towards the goal of winning the cold war which was one of their biggest mistakes. The United States did not intervene only in Vietnam and Korea but in many other places as well. Because of the expansionist threat they had from the Soviet Union, in 1949 President Truman and the Congress approved nearly 400$ million for technical development programs in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The goal of this program, as the American claim was to modernize and strengthen developing nations and discourage the growth of communism. By giving this aid, as the Marshall Plan they were not aiming in helping these nations, but being able to have them under American control in the future. These are steps that Americans took towards governing the world. While the Americans thought of universalism, the Russians thought of spheres of influence and the British thought of a balance of powers. It is clear that the Americans wanted universalism because if not they would have been cut out of the world and would not be able to take part in European politics and decision taking. What the Russ ians wanted was just to ensure their national security which was constantly threatened and keep governing Easter Europe. (ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR, by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.) The difference between America and the USSR is, that the USSR did not intervene in many countries and made them communist; they helped those countries who wanted to become. (Example: Vietnam) In contrast America intervened in every country that wanted to turn its regime in communism with their free will. This shows that the Americans were not concerned about the will of the people in each country, but they were mostly concerned about their power and their position in the world. Another example of the American intervention in European affairs was also the creation of NATO. The idea for something like NATO grew from general European fears of renewed Soviet aggression. Hitler was still on everybodys mind. Although Hitler was dead, was Stalin perhaps viewed as the next aggressor? Regardless of whether or not Stalin was hell-bent on world domination, the point here is that he was perceived to be an aggressor in the Hitler mold. Western Europe also needed some guarantee from the United States that they would be protected from any aggression while they began the slow process of economic recovery. For the United States, NATO signified that the United States could no longer remain isolated from European affairs. Indeed, NATO meant that European affairs were now American affairs as well. But Stalin was not Hitler. Furthermore, the Soviets were not Nazis. And in the end there was very little evidence of a Soviet plot to invade Western Europe. All NATO really did was intensify Soviets fears of the West and to produce even higher levels of international tension. In conclusion, based on the post-revisionist view with a higher blame on America I have to say that the only origin of the cold war was the goal of the USA to govern the world; an goal that we can see reached in todays world.

Character Situations in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich :: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Essays

Character Situations in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn creates many characters that are memorable to the reader because of both their personal situations and their responses to those situations. Through characters such as Ivan Shukhov Denisovich, Fetyukov, Aloyska the Baptist, and the two Estonians, Solzhenitsyn explores the varied reactions of the characters and the effect of these reactions on other characters' perceptions of them. Ivan Shukhov Denisovich is the protagonist of this novel. He is the character about whom the reader is told the most. The reader is told that Denisovich has had several serious health problems, has been imprisoned for nearly ten years, and is a skilled laborer. Through conversations and actions it is learned that Shukhov, though not the highest ranking member of the prisoner group, is respected and well liked. His fellow prisoners care enough about him to watch his food for him when he is not present promptly at mealtimes and to give him the occasional drag off a cigarette. Much of this respect has to do with his attitude. Shukhov is willing to do many things for his fellow prisoners and does more than his share of the work. "He faces his situation positively," and tries to make use of any opportunity to assist the group as a whole (Depoli 1). The two Estonians are similar to Shukhov in many ways. They try to look at their situation in a positive light. They are brotherly and share everything to help make life a little bit better for each other. They cling together "as though neither would have air enough to breathe without the other," and they are respected for this devotion to each other (Solzhenitsyn 44). At one point Shukhov states that he has met many Estonians, including these two, "and never run across a bad one" (44). Because the two men try to work together, they are more highly thought of among the work gang than is someone like Fetyukov. Fetyukov is the scavenger. Seeking only to better his own situation, he is shunned by the other members of the group. He is referred to as a scoundrel and stoops to using odds and ends tossed away by other prisoners because "he got no help from anywhere" (45). Fetyukov is looked down upon by almost everyone in the group because of his selfishness and unwillingness to work. Character Situations in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich :: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Essays Character Situations in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn creates many characters that are memorable to the reader because of both their personal situations and their responses to those situations. Through characters such as Ivan Shukhov Denisovich, Fetyukov, Aloyska the Baptist, and the two Estonians, Solzhenitsyn explores the varied reactions of the characters and the effect of these reactions on other characters' perceptions of them. Ivan Shukhov Denisovich is the protagonist of this novel. He is the character about whom the reader is told the most. The reader is told that Denisovich has had several serious health problems, has been imprisoned for nearly ten years, and is a skilled laborer. Through conversations and actions it is learned that Shukhov, though not the highest ranking member of the prisoner group, is respected and well liked. His fellow prisoners care enough about him to watch his food for him when he is not present promptly at mealtimes and to give him the occasional drag off a cigarette. Much of this respect has to do with his attitude. Shukhov is willing to do many things for his fellow prisoners and does more than his share of the work. "He faces his situation positively," and tries to make use of any opportunity to assist the group as a whole (Depoli 1). The two Estonians are similar to Shukhov in many ways. They try to look at their situation in a positive light. They are brotherly and share everything to help make life a little bit better for each other. They cling together "as though neither would have air enough to breathe without the other," and they are respected for this devotion to each other (Solzhenitsyn 44). At one point Shukhov states that he has met many Estonians, including these two, "and never run across a bad one" (44). Because the two men try to work together, they are more highly thought of among the work gang than is someone like Fetyukov. Fetyukov is the scavenger. Seeking only to better his own situation, he is shunned by the other members of the group. He is referred to as a scoundrel and stoops to using odds and ends tossed away by other prisoners because "he got no help from anywhere" (45). Fetyukov is looked down upon by almost everyone in the group because of his selfishness and unwillingness to work.

Crossing the Rubicon Essay

Crossing the Rubicon By: Emalie Von Douche In Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at he End of the Age of Oil, there are three main points where Mr. Ruppert tries to blame the entire tradjety of September 11, 2001, better known as 9/11, on the acting Vice President at the time, Dick Cheney. At first glance this seems to be a bold if not insane accusation against the Vice President of the United States of America, but Ruppert does make a few points that will make you think. The first point of Ruppert is Dick Cheney had the Ability to pull off this plan if he wanted to. According to Ruppert, Cheney was acting as Commander in Chief on 9/11 due to the terrible threat on the United States. This means he was in control and was calling the shots. Ruppert also has reason to believe that Cheney was leading a â€Å"completely separate chain of Command & Control via the Secret Service, assuring the paralysis of Air Force response on 9/11. The Secret Service has the technology to see the same radar screens the FAA sees in real time. (Kane) Ruppert claims that President Bush was kept out of a leadership position on purpose by the Secret Service men around him as he was reading to school children the morning of 9/11. He also claims that the Secret Service, acting through Cheney, had control over the FAA, Airforce (including the Fighter Jets), and President Bush. One question I would ask Ruppert is â€Å"Why? † Why would Cheney and the Secret Service go throu gh all of this trouble to attack his own country? The answer, according to Ruppert, is simply Oil. Cheney’s plan was to start a never-ending war to take control of the Middle Eastern oil and use it for American purposes. Ruppert claims that there was a peak in the oil reserves around the world from 2000-2007. After 2007, oil will become more rare and extremely more expensive. â€Å"By way of confirmation, people in and close to the oil industry are reporting that increased drilling is not resulting as yet in significantly increased supply. † (Ruppert) Upon hearing of this news, Cheney had to go into action. He just needed the right time to plan his so called â€Å"Attack†. According to Ruppert, the â€Å"right time† was any time that Cheney chose because as of May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney was put into control of all training exercises of all branches of military and government. This means he could set up â€Å"fake† hijackings by calling them training situations just in case anyone would ever want to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings. Cheney did call for these training simulations, except he did it on the morning of 9/11. Also, Cheney called for another training simulation that send all the fighters from D. C. into Canada and Alaska to train just incase an attack came from Russia. This meant that the Air Force could not do anything to prevent the hijacked airplanes from crashing into anything they pleased. Also, the Secret Service had control over the FAA flight path screens and put fake hijacked airplanes in the air to confuse air traffic control. At one point the FAA thought there was 11 hijacked airplanes. All of this was put into motion by Dick Cheney and people taking orders from Cheney. He is guilty for singlehandedly putting this plan into motion and being successful. The scary part if these accusations by Ruppert are true, is that Bush and Cheney were re-elected the following term.

Talent TV, the Reality

AGAZINE ARTICLE Talent TV, the reality. Talent TV; Your one big chance to humiliate yourself world wild in front of a live audience and a panel of overly critical judges, with the often slim chance of getting yourself somewhere in life other than ‘’You’ve been framed. ’’ A chance for the Talent TV audience to express their schadenfreude based humour by ‘booing’ and taunting the not-so-talented.So you’ve decided to enter the talent TV show â€Å"Britain’s got talent,† due to the misleading nod’s and smiles of encouragement from your not really listening mother. Only to go to the producers auditions where, instead of picking just the talented acts and saving mislead people like yourself from public humiliation, send you through leaving you with the impression that you are in fact talented.Then comes the somewhat tedious public audition process, where if you’re lucky Simon Cowell will compare you to some k ind of tone-deaf animal and that will be the end of it, however the slightly more unpropitious will be booed off stage by the audience themselves. However you will still have to wait and hear how horribly you did from each of the judges in turn and unnecessarily officialise that is a definite no before finally leaving the stage, your dreams and your ability to go out without being noticed as ‘that rejected contestant’ behind.In the society, day and age we live in everybody seems to have the impression that derivative ideas are the way to go. Therefore being the reason for the hundreds of talent TV shows now drowning our TV guides; Britain’s got talent, American idol, x-factor, The voice, Britain and Irelands next top model and America’s next top model, which are only the start of an endless list of mind-numbing programs now available.However the shows are not the only derivative idea in the whole Talent TV ordeal, the acts in which are performed seem to ha ve lost originality as the years go on. Every act is more or less completely predictable, seen as though the variety is so little. There is singing, dancing, dog acts, sometimes magic acts and some sort of comedy performance (deliberately or not) within every episode and every series. Therefore meaning mine and everyone else’s expectations of something completely new is very little.And as if humiliating just the rejected contestants isn’t enough, the whole town in which the contestant is from seems to go down with them, on multiple occasions ‘’Britain’s got talent,’’ has been reviewed and remarks such as ‘’Britain’s got talent, more like Britain lacks talent,’’ have been included, which leaves the very ‘country proud’ people more than a little humiliated as well. However many people, half of which being the winners of the show themselves, believe that Talent TV is merely a once in a lifeti me opportunity to become famous.This would possibly be true if you weren’t allowed to re-enter yourself in the upcoming auditions for the next show. People may argue this side of things but really sometimes all we need is someone to laugh at rather than ourselves. So what happens to the rejected once their auditions have been aired? Well they get to live a life of either having no life whatsoever, by not leaving the house, or leaving their houses just to be chased back in with comments like ‘hey, I saw you on Britain’s got talent†¦ you were awful. Those who compete in the first place have to have a very strong personality, one which isn’t affected by snide remarks from the public, or if it really was incredibly horrible, remarks from the press too. On the less embarrassing and more glamorous side of Talent TV many future celebrities such as groups like One Direction, Little Mix or diversity are found in the hundreds of auditions, for people like these and sometimes the odd finalist/semi-finalist a whole new world of opportunities opens up for them, so in some way Talent TV could be seen as a one way ticket to fame, that is if you have talent.So if you find yourself, adult or child, even contemplating entering into the time-wasting competitions for Talent TV save yourself the humiliation of Simon Cowell’s metaphors, schadenfreude based humours and mislead interpretations by ensuring you are worthy of getting through at least the auditions. However, if prove worthy in front of Simon Cowell and his panel of criticizing judges, you may be on the road to achieving your lifetime wishes, that is if you are prepared for the bumpy ride ahead.