Questionnaire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Questionnaire - Essay Example 1. Please state your gender Gender --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Please state the ethnic group you belong to 3. What is your age bracket? Age (Years) 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ 4. Please indicate your highest level of education A Primary B Secondary C College D University E Post Graduate 5. How many years have you been teaching pre-school? 6. Does your institution provide napping opportunities for pre-school children? (Tick as appropriate) YES NO 7. How many minutes does your institution provide for napping 8. What is the age limit for children for children to stop napping at your institution 9. Do you believe napping is beneficial to children? (Tick as appropriate) YES NO 10. Are there any noticeable differences between a child who has taken a nap and one who hasn’t? If yes, please state the differences. 11. In your opinion what are the benefits of napping to children? 12. Are there differences in napping and slee p problems for children of different racial backgrounds (Blacks vs whites). (Tick as appropriate) YES NO Please explain a little. 13. What is the interdependence between napping and child’s level of focus and movement rate? 14. Do daytime naps affect night time rest in preschool children? 15. What impact does napping have on school going children

Analysing Strategic Management and Leadership

Analysing Strategic Management and Leadership This unit is all about strategic management and leadership. This assignment will cover the link between strategic management and leadership style in organisation in different situations. Strategic management and leadership is an ability to anticipate the future requirement that is for an organisation to be proactive in maintaining flexibility, motivation and empower the people to create the strategic change for the growth of organisation. Strategic management is all about shaping strategies and taking important decision for the organisation to survive and to get success in the face of competitive challenges and from other pressures from within and outside organisation. 1.1: Link between Management and Leadership Both word strategic management and leadership are often used interchangeably, although these words actually describe two different concepts. The main aim of management is to maximize the output of organisation through administrative implementation. His functions include; organizing, planning, directing and controlling. While according to John Kotter (1996) leadership is the set of practises that create the organisation in first place or adapt them to significantly changing circumstances. Strategic management is a vital area for any organization. It helps to improve an organisational performance and productivity. It is the responsibility of the strategic manger to design strategies for the future needs of the organisation. Designing and setting the plan is the job of strategic managers or we can say strategic management but to bring this plan and design into practice is the job the leadership. Leadership qualities are required to achieve those goals and targets which are set by the strategic management. Central to strategic success is aligning the right leaders with the right skills in the right places at the right times to achieve desired competitive results (William J. Rothwell 1999) To run an organisation successfully and get the goals and objectives of the firm both qualities of a manager and leaders are needed. A manager needs leadership qualities to be effective be and successful in taking initiative while leader needs some management capabilities to run the organisation. It is the job of the strategic manager to decide what they need to do and what they need to avoid to achieve objective in longer term. They make the policies internally and externally to achieve their goals. 1.2: Impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions. Management and leadership style play pivotal role on strategic decisions. They make decision according to the expectation of the organisation and their decision always have the support of the team. It is the style of the management and leader which keeps organization moving. Different styles have different type of impact on strategic decision and organisation. For example if we look at the democratic style of management and leadership, in this style management always consult and discuss with their team which makes them feel more responsible and motivates them to work hard. It is the job of strategic manager to decide and make critical decision regarding the future of the organisation. It is the wisdom of the management and leadership that drives the organisation forward. It is their vision which has always great impact on the organisation. Their style of management and leadership plays vital role on the decision making and on the future of the organisation. They should have the style which changes according to the situation, sometime they are very much cooperative and give everybody chance to express but if situation demands them to be more authoritarian they have the style approach and power to change them. 1.3: Management and leadership style in British Petroleum (b.p) Management and leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans and motivation people. There are different leadership and management style based on different theories and assumption which can be adapted on different situations As currently being employed in British Petroleum retail store. In BP management adapts different styles of management and leadership. BP leadership has a mix style of management and leadership. They vary from situation to situation, but mostly in BP they practise democratic style of management and leadership. Again when we talk about democratic style of leadership and management, it is a kind of situational leadership where management changes them according to situation and circumstances. According to Jane Henry (2001)the personal style of superb leaders vary; some leader or subdued and analytical, other shout their manifesto from mountain top. And just as important, different situation calls for different type of leadership. The philosophy of retail store management is to integrate the staff and create feel of one in organisation. The senior management is always very close to staff and they believe in having excellent relationship with all staff members. Leadership of BP has the capacity and capability to understand and anticipate the situation and then react according the situation demands. Based on my understanding democratic style of management has some positive and few negative points but in my point of view it has more positive than negative points Through democratic style of management and leadership, BP achieves good communication between their staff. In that way staff feels comfortable in giving their opinion to management, moreover the management motivates employees by organising some events where B.P management and staff gathers together that results to minimize the gap between senior management and staff. Through this they can have good feedback from their staff which gives them opportunity to improve further. It is very good way of having a good understanding of organisation internally. As BP retail stores are open 24 hours because of the timing of the stores it is hard for the managers to stay at store all the time. In the night time only three customer assistant are present on duty. In this situation because of democratic style they delegate the work to junior staff and give them sense of responsibility. Because of this trust junior staff feels more motivated and perform their duties and task more efficiently. Through this kind of motivation staff feels freedom and space to enjoy their work and management achieve the goals and target which are requirement of the organisation. BP higher management believes that through teamwork they can achieve their objective and target. As in retail stores there is always direct interaction with customers and there is lot of pressure of work on the staff, so through team work BP management and leadership always manage to get the best out of their staff. BP management and leadership style has this quality and capacity to bring staff together when it is required. In teamwork BP management believe in sharing work load equally and with this they not only achieve individual targets but they achieve team and organizational objectives. BP through the democratic leadership and management style they have made friendly environment in all stores so they always believe in helping each other. Without team work they cannot achieve excellent customer service that they provide. There are some situations when some employees become hesitant to perform certain task; I have witness working in B.P retail stores that manager sometime do certain duties to inspire the junior staff. I have seen manager doing the cleaning himself to maintain the standards this way other employees also get inspiration from this and next time they perform the task himself. People expect leader to have sense of direction and concern for future of the organisation (Kouzes Posner 2007). 1.4 Conclusion Effective performance management is important process that can be achieved by setting realistic expectation, goals and targets that need to be established together with management and employees. In the short report I have highlighted the link between leadership and management. Being part of B.P Retail store I have learned that B.P management have the capacity, knowledge and skills leadership to achieve their goals and targets. The report has highlighted the importance of strategic management and Leadership style in an organisation has explained the good point of democratic style of leadership and management. In the report I have discussed various factors which are the core point of the management. In the case study of B.P Retail I have pointed out how the management works keeping in mind all the basic factor of strategic management and leadership. I have personally experienced the qualities of management and leadership which make an organisation unique. As many of good point of democratic style have discussed in this report, there are some bad factors of the style which I identified during my research on organisation. In democratic style of leadership and management style sometime it is difficult of for the manager to have good control on their junior staff and it can lead to some inefficiency toward work, but overall during my research on this assignment I have come to learn that democratic style of management and leadership is the solution to most of the problems in an org anisation. Task 2: Be able to apply management and leadership theory to support organisational direction This task is all about leadership and management theories which support organisational direction. In this task the case study is about Warid telecom, I have worked in warid telecom for two years in Pakistan. Warid telecom is multinational company and it is telecom service providing company. This task will elaborate how leadership theories support the organisation and at the end this task will provide a leadership plan which will support the organisational direction. 2.1: Review the impact that selected theories of management and leadership have on organisational strategy Leadership and management qualities are very important to make average organisation into a very successful organisation, at the same time there are lots of leadership and management theories which create big impact on the organisational strategies. Leadership and management apply different theories according to situation to make organisation move forward. There are some theories which are practiced very effectively in Warid Telecom. 2.1.1: Charismatic leadership and management theory: Charismatic leadership theory is very important and it plays very critical role on Warid telecom success. Mr Muneer Farooqi who is the CEO of Warid Telecom is the example of this, he has charismatic leadership and management style which is very inspirational for all management team and through his leadership and management style he is driving Warid telecom forward and expanding the business all over. Mr Muneer Farooqi has the power to influence his management by the style and approach toward work; he inspires them to by their own working style and wisdom. Through his style and leadership he shows trust toward his sub-ordinate which motivates them to work hard for the organisational goals and objective. Mr Muneer Forooqi is a result oriented professional. He is a team player with an objective-driven approach that gives priority to company best interest at all times strongly backed by efforts that are focused on determination, dedication, follow-up and successful completion of result o riented initiative.(www.waridtel.com) . 2.1.2: Transformational leadership and management theory: Transformational theory of leadership is also in practice very effectively in Warid Telecom. According to this theory leaders and follower both work together and help each other for the organisational goal. This theory brings positive change in the sub-ordinates behaviour and approach, sub-ordinate get motivation which helps him to perform according to expectation of the leaders (leadership in organisation). Mr Suhail Jan is Gm Commercial in Warid telecom and he is responsible for sales, marketing and distribution and it is the requirement of the job that he needs to be more transformational in his management style, he is through his transformational leadership and management style is motivating his team and working very closely with them to bring more productivity in Warid Telecom (www.waridtelcom.com). Transformational theory has great impact on organisational, with this kind of theory leaders can bring good teamwork among employees and they can work together for organisational obj ectives. According to Burns (1978), Transformational leadership is a process which leaders and followers help each other to advance to higher level of morale and motivation. Under this kind of working environment brings great success for an organisation, they put passion and enthusiasm to everyone working around them. 2.2: Create leadership strategy that supports organisational direction Warid telecom: Leadership plays important role to take organisation toward right direction and it is the responsibility of leadership to make strategies which support the organisation directions and objectives. It is very important for manager and leaders to understand clearly what are the objectives and should find the right path and strategies to achieve these objectives and goals. There are certain things on which leaders need to work to support organisation direction and objectives and they can bring better result and more productivity in Warid telecom. 2.2.1: Developing Professionalism: As with growing trend of globalisation and with this trend employees are also from different region and cultures, so they do not know what behaviours and attitude is suitable for working environment. It is the responsibility of Warid telecom leadership and management to make strategies to solve this kind of issues. Leaders need to develop certain rules and regulation at working place which each and every employee should follow; these standards should be met to create more effective professionalism between employees. If a leader can bring up plan or strategy to develop professionalism it can support the organisational strategies and directions more efficiently. 2.2.2: Developing trust and belief: Its vital for Warid telecom management make strategy to give more value to employees. Employees are most important asset of an organisation without them no one can grow and achieve their objectives, so it is the duty of leaders to develop trust and belief on employees which motivates them to work hard for organisational directions. Trust between staff and leaders or manager create healthy working environment which brings positive effect on the performance of the employees. To create trust and belief leader should be friendly, honest and more close to the staff. He should be more consistent and in his behaviour and attitude toward work and his employees, if leader can develop trust and belief in his staff then it will be lot easier for him to achieve objectives. 2.2.3: Developing Respect: It is very important factor for Warid telecom if they want to grow and go on right direction to have sense of respect for each other; through this a leader can bring good teamwork in the organisation and build up better understanding between staff. Leader should not discriminate employees and leader should treat everyone equally and respect them, it is the duty of leader to promote the culture in which everyone respect each and through this a better working environment can be established. It is the responsibility of leader to bring certain type of organisational policies which will prevent incident of disrespecting each other. 2.2.4: Training Program: To achieve organisation objective one of the major factor is training program to support the organizational direction. Warid telecom is growing multinational company and it is very important for leadership and management to identify the need of training and development for the staff, as it is a fast growing world and to keep up with the new and advance techniques one should keep planning for training and development plan to compete with new challenges. If a leader can train his team it can bring lot of benefit for organisational direction and it can help an organisation to grow and develop with great speed. 2.3: Conclusion: In this task Warid telecom is taken as case study. As being part of Warid telecom in the past so it is discussed here how leadership has big impact on warid telecom strategies and policies. In the first part this task main point which was under discussion was how leadership works and how it affects the performance of the employees. In the second part of this task leadership plan for organisational direction is developed, in this part a leadership strategy is made for Warid telecom. Task 3: Planning for Leadership: Introduction: The main purpose of this task to discuss and elaborate the future needs for the leadership skills developments. In this task learner will develop a link for himself for future need for leadership development. Past experience will be linked and connected for my future planning and development of leadership skills. I have worked in Warid telecom for few years in sales and at the moment being employed in B.P retail store as Customer service assistance and at the same time studying to complete my M.B.A. As I have plan to become part of the management of leading organisation so it is a belief that to achieve my organisational and professional goals once need to develop his leadership skill. Leadership is about a big vision, big picture view, coping with change. Part of reason leadership has become so important in recent years is that the business world has become more global, more competitive and more volatile .Major changes in organisational design , structure and leadership has become e ssential for survival in this new environment (Leadership in Organisation, 2009). 3.1: Be able to assess the current Leadership requirements: As we are moving into very fast and more competitive environment which demands more and more every passing day. World has become global village because of technology and because technology most of traditional way of business changing. Business has changed, is changing and will change further in future. Global competition, world market, new technologies, and significantly different global workforce have forced companies to become more aware of global competition, foreign workforces and demand for new work, leader has to be more vigilant to understand the need and demands of the world as it is very common trend now days that more and more companies are doing mergers and partnerships to expand themselves in other part of the world so leadership need to have wisdom, understanding, vision and mission to deal with these type of challenges. As it is the time of globalisation so if something happens in one part of the world it automatically affects the other part of the world, for example climate change in one part of the world affects other part the world, as this year flood came in Pakistan which destroyed most of its crops, as Pakistan is the biggest exporter of cotton the England and other European countries so it is predicted that cotton prices will be more higher next year in most of countries as Pakistan could not export any cotton this year, so current leadership should have awareness and vision to foresee these problems and come up with solution to these problems. Social and Cooperate Responsibility One the most current leadership requirement is social and corporate responsibility for leaders, they need to be more responsible and aware what is happening around the them and whether it is right or wrong, one the most famous example regarding social and corporate leadership comes from Primark that when the realise that child labour is being practice in India to make their product they cancel all the contract with Indian companies until they restricted the practice in India, one more very common example is which is in practice by more and more major companies now a days that companies like ASDA, BP and Tesco are charging customer for the plastic bags, the idea behind this concept is to reduce the use of plastic bags are as they are threat to environment in future. 3.2: Plan for development for future situations: Merger and Takeover As world is changing very fast and every day something new happening in this world so for this situation every organisation is working hard. Every organisation wants to grow fast in this competitive world and one the fastest way to grow as an organisation is merger and takeover. It is the requirement for current and future leadership to understand the need of merger and takeover; it is very complicated and sensitive issue because wrong analyses of a merger could cost an organisation huge amount of money. It is requirement of leadership to have innovation and skill to understand what is the right time and time organisation for this type of acquisitions. Emerging of new Technologies One of the major challenges for the current leadership is technology; technology is growing very fast and taking over everything in an organisation. Now there is more concept of virtual business or e-business where business in done mostly online and employees are scattered in most part of the world. There are so many successful businesses in current world which just base online, for example Google, Face book, and EBay they are run by people globally from their computers. It is requirement for leadership to learn more skills have more control; leadership needs to bring new innovation into their thoughts to have better management of these types of challenges. Regulatory Compliances In future there will be more regulatory compliance so leadership any organisation needs to be more vigilant and they need to make strategies which will keep them within the regulatory limits because it is seen that if anyone tries to exceed the limit that company can lose its licence for business or that licence can be suspended for certain period of time. In past we have seen that due to this many organisation lost their or licence or it was being suspended for certain period of time. So it is must for leadership to make strategies to train their staff and improve their knowledge about laws and regulatory compliances that they will not violate or exceed it in future. Cultural Diversity As now more and more organisations are diversified and people from all over world works together so it is very vital for leaders to understand the requirement for such condition they need to be more cooperative and should understand the requirement for other cultures. Leaders should develop more effective interpersonal skills to make the entire staff member who belong to different cultures into a one team. It is the need of the situation to develop skills to form a team which can work for leaders to achieve future objectives. 4.1: Plan the development of leadership skills for specific situation. Leadership is a very vital area for any organisation future, as now days world is developing very fast and demands are increasing. It is very vital to plan a development for leadership skills as it is the requirement for the future. Leaders need to more knowledgeable and skilful to handle future situations. Development of skills by means of Formal Learning As there are new products are being introduced in market so it is necessary for leaders to be up-to date with these new products, for this purpose organisation plan formal training program to groom leaders for their future needs, some organisation send them for higher studies in universities to learn latest skills and get knowledge about new developments. Development of Skills by means of Training Programs Leaders need to increase their communication skills because through this leaders will be able to achieve their objective more efficiently and properly. As new invention are being launch everyday so it is important for leader to be in touch with these products so leaders need to attend more and more seminar and conferences to attain further knowledge and improve their skills to meet the current and future requirement for leadership. Leaders should learn from the experience and they should always be more vigilant and active to see what is happening around them, they should need to develop the skill to learn from the mistake because if someone learns from mistake and experience that that will last in the mind of that person forever. 4.2: Report on usefulness of method used to plan the development of leadership skills: It is imperative for leaders to develop more skill to cope with future challenges and demands, as discussed earlier about current and future leadership requirements and leadership plan it is very important that method which are used to improve leadership skill should be more effective and useful so objective can be achieved leadership requires vision, contagious, enthusiasm and self-confidence, empowerment, action enabling of others, getting things done, making things happen(David I.bertocci,2009). Formal learning is very good way to improve skill and get further knowledge about upcoming challenges. The extent of which leadership competencies are acquired and used depends on the type of development activities that occur (e.g., training, experimental learning, self learning), facilitating condition (e.g. boss support, learning environment), and qualities of the individual manager (flexible, pragmatic, learning oriented) (Hall Seibert, 1992). Conclusion:

The Disaster at Chernobyl Essay -- Nuclear Explosions Ukraine Essays H

The Disaster at Chernobyl On April 26th, 1986, operators at the Chernobyl Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, ran what they thought to be a routine safety test. But fate was not on the side of these operators. Without warning, reactor #4 became unstable, as it had been operating at a low power for a possible shutdown and the reactor’s design caused it to be unsafe at this level of power. Internal temperatures rose. Attempts to cool the system produced the opposite effect. Instantly, the nuclear core surged with power. At 1:23 p.m., the reactor exploded. The first blast ripped off the reactor's steel roof. The second blast released a large plume of radiation into the sky. Flames engulfed the building. For ten long days, fire fighters and power plant workers attempted to overcome the inferno. Thirty-one of them died of radiation poisoning. Chernobyl was the worst nuclear disaster in history. It unleashed radiation hundreds of times greater than the atomic bombs exploded over Japan during Wo rld War II. [1] Initially the Soviet Government kept the accident at Chernobyl a secret. Because radiation lacks smell or taste, and is invisible, people carried on with their daily lives, all the while inhaling radioactive particles. It took ten days for the Soviet government to evacuate the contaminated areas. Particles fell into the crops and plants of the people. Cows ate grass that had been contaminated by the nuclear particles causing the dairy produ...

A Famous Metaphysical Poet Essay

Andrew Marvell was a famous Metaphysical Poet. Marvell lived from 1621 to 1678 and made a few accomplishments, his poem has unique style and theme for his time, and his poem contains a deep analysis. He wrote several love poems; â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† was one of his most unusual poems for the time in history which he lived. Born on March 31, 1621, in Winestead-in-Holderness, Yorkshire, England Marvell was the son of an Anglican clergy man. He attended Hull Grammar school, and at the age of 12 began college at Cambridge University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1638, but it is believed that he stayed at Cambridge until 1641 for a master’s degree. Not much is known about Andrew Marvell’s life; though scholars do know in the 1650s he had a part in the English Government. In 1657 He was appointed Assistant Latin Secretary to the Council of the state; in 1659 he concentrated more on political satire and stopped writing poetry. During Marvell’s life time England’s government had some surprising changes. Monarchy and parliament worked together, but King James I did not have the skill to manage a country, but the government gained more issues when his son, Charles I succeeded him. King Charles I was overthrown and beheaded. England wanted to establish a new government, after doing so; Charles II was made King of England. Marvell died on August 16, 1678 due to a fever. â€Å"While he is not thought to be married, shortly after his death, a woman claiming to be his widow published a volume of his poetry† (Ruby 276). He was one of the chief wits and satirists, a Puritan, and a public defender of individual liberty during his time. Today he is just known for his poetry. (Margoliouth, Sackville-West, Hunt, Murray, Toliver, Legouis, Wallace, Friednreich, Donno. 1) In the 1600s Marvell’s poem â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† was seen as â€Å"obscene and obscure† because of his message in the poem, and the control the church had over the people. Marvell is considered to have been a carpe diem writer, and sometimes described as a metaphysical poet. Carpe diem means the writing style encourages a reader to â€Å"seize the day† because life is short; Metaphysical poets use many unique metaphors and were very appreciated for their originality. Jeffrey Karon states â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† may be one of Marvell’s most destructive poems. â€Å"Its strength is that having turned against itself in the expected manner of ironic poems, it then turns against its own internal objections† (Karon par. 39). In the poem, the speaker describes how he could worship his mistress forever; however part two the tone shifts to time rushing past and the mistress’s physical beauty being wasted away with it. The speaker wants to beat time and enjoy his mistress’s company. There are many different themes in â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† such as time, love, passion, seduction, beauty, and death. This poem is of forty-six lines, and three paragraphs dividing up the rhyming couplets. Marvell used personification, hyperboles, and very bizarre metaphors. The speaker is speaking to his mistress in a rhetorical situation. He passionately describes his love for her and there is not enough time to live to show her how beautiful she is, and how great his love is for her. He wants his love with his mistress to go further by getting intimate with each other, although she wants to save her virginity due to her religious views with the church. He informs her if their love is true and they are in love, they should further their relationship. The woman is said to be coy because she is taking too much time, and time doesn’t stop for anyone. â€Å"’To His Coy Mistress’ is a sublime example of a carpe diem poem, a Latin phrase meaning ‘seize the day’† (Adams par. 8). The first two lines of the poem the main theme, time, is introduced to the reader. It is basically saying life passes quickly and one should not waste their youth, that they should â€Å"seize the day. † The first paragraph of the poem the speaker describes how life is too short for them to waste time. He uses exotic metaphors such as, â€Å"vegetable love† to describe how long he could love his mistress. Beginning at line seven until line eighteen he uses hyperboles to describe the amount of years he could love her and devote to worship her. He describes her physical attractiveness and how long he could love every part of her body and of course her heart. In paragraph two the speaker goes from speaking of his love for his mistress to imagining her grave. He speaks of time as the driver in a chariot hurrying closer to them; he uses â€Å"hurrying† to the show the distress of the little time they have. A few lines down in this paragraph, he describes to his mistress her virginity will eventually over time mean nothing, and when she dies it will be an unusual and worthless treasure. In the first few lines of third and final paragraph the speaker describes his mistress as â€Å"morning dew† saying she is young and her skin a healthy glow just like the dew over the grass in the early morning. Another exotic metaphor he uses is â€Å"birds of prey. † He and his mistress are the birds, and they are preying on time. They want to eat and not be eaten. The speaker finally breaks through and wins his mistress over using the last few lines of the poem. He is saying to her they should take every part of themselves, the strong, the sweet, and the vulnerable, roll it up into a ball and come together as one to beat time. Since they cannot make the sun stay still they will race with him, the speaker using personification and making the sun seem like a person literally racing with him. Marvell was not acknowledged for his unique, but brilliant poems until after his death, he changed the meaning of Metaphysical Poet. Marvell made a few accomplishments, his poems usually had unique style and theme for his time, and his poem contains a deep analysis. This could be a perfect poem for someone interested in love poems with deep meaning.

Study of Personality

What is Personality? It is the combination of qualities that form an individual's unique character and make them different from other people. Personality is made up the characteristic patterns of thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. Personality becomes apparent from an individual's early age and remains consistent throughout his / her lifetime. Cloninjer (1999), believe that people are born with four specific temperaments ( harm avoidance, novelty seeking, perseverance, reward dependence) which have a crucial role in forming the personality and how we get along with our family and other people.There are numerous theories about how personality develops and they focus on difference approaches. For instance the Freudians and the Behaviorists argue that personality is developed by ones interactions with their environment and by studying behaviors that can be observed and assessed. The humanists theory focuses on the importance of free will and individual experience in the development of pe rsonality.The two issues I selected that are of interest to me are Free-will vs Determinism and Cultural Determinism vs Cultural Transcendence. Free-will vs Determinism. With this issue, the focus is on finding out if genetic and environmental events have a bearing on our personality? Can we shape, direct and control our character development and destiny? The notion of free will argues that we are conscious human beings and as a result are free to make undetermined decisions in situations where we can and are able to do so.Determinism on the other hand argues that things or events that happen are as a result of things/events that happen in the past. Cultural Determinism vs Cultural Transcendence. The question here is that to what extent does our cultures shape us to become who we are? Just like the Free-will question, can we transcend cultural differences by rising above it? Should it so happen that we can transcend cultural difference, how can it be done, and how easy or difficult will it be to do so?I am inclined to believe that the culture in which we were born and raised shapes who we are emotionally and behaviorally, however the environment has a commanding influence. Many cultural studies conducted during the last decade on issues such as self- processes, emotion, and personality traits have firmly established the following: culture is a key determinant of what it means to be a person (Diener, Oishi & Lucas, 2003; Markus & Kitayama, 1998).

United States and People Essay Example

United States and People Essay Example United States and People Essay United States and People Essay Restrepo . The war in Afghanistan has been going on for 10 years and is still going on today. This war has been going on for to long and is being fought for the wrong reason. In the beginning the war was fought to get rid of the terrorist groups in Afghanistan and to stop the training of Al Qaeda. Now in Afghanistan the reason of fighting is to get rid of the Taliban. The United states should not be in Afghanistan for this long. It has been to long and to many soldiers have lost their lives. Maybe the United States can get rid of Taliban member, but why keep fighting if it has taken ten years and it will take many more to stop violence in this region. This war is now affecting people around my age now because family members are in the war and now friends of kids my age will be going into this war. â€Å"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing†-Edmund Burke â€Å"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertion of better man than himself. †- John Stuart Mill The movie â€Å"Restrepo† does not support the first quote but does support the second quote. It does not support the first quote because in the movie when they were in the Korengal Valley one group called Chosen Company tried taking over a region and they stayed in one spot and didnt do to much and they lost troops and had many get injured. If they did something then they wouldnt have lost soldiers and have soldiers get injured. The second quote is supported because war is an ugly thing and â€Å"Restrepo† shows it is ugly but it also show how these men are the â€Å"better† men that will fight for the safety of others and they are willing to fight. In the society some people might think more people should join the military and some people might think that right now we have a good amount of people joining and it should stay the way it is. To me I think the amount of people joining the military today is a good amount because we dont have a problem with numbers right now and we dont need to much more to have a good military. For me I have always wanted to be in the military and to fight for this country. If I had a chance to sign up and have my family support me I would sign up. The men in the movie to me are heroes for many reasons. One reason why I consider them heroes is because they have the guts to do what thousands of people cant and are not fit for and they risk their lives to protect our country and protect people they dont even know. Another reason why I think they are heroes is because they go through fight after fight after fight and they keep pushing on even after losing fellow members and good friends and I think that is a heroic action.

1993 Ap Us History Dbq Essay Example

1993 Ap Us History Dbq Essay Example 1993 Ap Us History Dbq Essay 1993 Ap Us History Dbq Essay Essay Topic: Us History During the 17th century there were many colonies settled in the New World. One thing most of these colonies had in common is the fact that almost all of them were settled by the English. If one were to focus mostly on the New England and Chesapeake colonies, one would find that although they were settled by similar people, they ended up splitting for very different reasons. The New England colonies were searching for religious freedom from the Church of England, whereas the Chesapeake colonies were striving for economic growth. The New England colonies consisted of the settlements of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Connecticut Colony, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and Province of New Hampshire. Most, if not all, of these colonies were mainly settled by religious motivation. They did not want to be told by what means they could or could not worship, that was the reason they left England in the first place. Now in this new world they were being given the same rules. They wanted to control their cities by the rules of God that they believed. They wanted to elect their own faithful minister to make the laws and divide up their real estate (Doc D). They also wanted to follow John Winthrop’s idea of a model puritan city, the â€Å"City on a Hill† (Doc A). The first name on a list of emigrants coming to the New England was Joseph Hull of Somerset, he was a Minister. His name was the very first name on the list, therefore his name was the most prominent name on the list, and he was a minister (Doc B). This shows that the New England colonist truly respected members of the clergy. The Chesapeake colonies were settled for very different reasons. They were mainly settled for economic development and prosperity. In many of the Chesapeake colonies, such as Connecticut, the prices and wages were set and agreed upon by the court. They did not have any religious figures decided laws or actions to carry them out. Many of the tradesmen, as well as the laborers, in Connecticut were told to â€Å"consider the religious ends of their calling† and to â€Å"[not] live in the practice of that crying sin of oppression, but avoid it† (Doc E). This means that they were told to end their religious practices but to also avoid the life of sin. By doing this, they made room for more work which would in turn help the settlement prosper economically. There were also many plantations in the Chesapeake colonies. These plantations grew tobacco which inclined many workers to uphold the demand. This helped to draw in many English workers, as well as African Slaves, which ended up helping the economic growth of the colony overall. Lastly, both settlements were colonized by two different types of people, with extremely different motives. The Chesapeake colonies, such as Virginia and Maryland, were colonized by single men looking for the potential development of economic growth, and the ability to make a profit. Whereas the New England Colonies, such as Rhode Island, were colonized by family men looking for a place where their family could be free from religious oppression. Virginia was colonized by John Smith, a single man who saw the opportunity to make some money and did everything in his power to keep the colony alive in order to do so. Maryland was colonized by Lord Baltimore, another single man who granted real estate to his friends which paved the way for economic growth. Although the New England colonies and the Chesapeake colonies were both settled by Englishmen, they split for very different, but equally legitimate reasons. The New England colonies were searching for religious freedom from the Church of England, whereas the Chesapeake colonies were striving for economic growth.

PC Vitals for Every Freelance Writer

PC Vitals for Every Freelance Writer PC Vitals for Every Freelance Writer PC Vitals for Every Freelance Writer By Colin If you’ve never experienced the horror of a computer screen turning stark blue and displaying garbled characters while you are working on it, then lucky you. My advice is to never take things for granted. Computers have a nasty habit of hiding their internal illnesses until it’s too late, by telling you one thing when they mean another, or by playing tricks on your mind. If, however, you have experienced this scenario, you won’t need me to remind you of the blood curdling scream that came from your throat, or the moment of rapid pleading with a metal box, or the red mist of anger that followed very soon after. You’ll already know what it’s like to have your PC, something you came to think of as a friend, get up and desert you just like that. It’s every writer’s worst nightmare. But it is avoidable. Here are a few tips to help keep your PC in tip-top shape, and to spot those all important warning signs that not everything is as it should be. Only Install What You Need Don’t install software you will probably never use. It only takes up room, and makes unnecessary entries into the computer’s registry, which over time, slows it down considerably. When you do install software, always keep a copy of the installation executable, and always keep this updated at regular intervals. If you ever find you have to start again and rebuild your PC, or even get a new one, you will be able to get back to where you were relatively easily. Make a regular point of going through the installed programs list in the Control Panel and removing what you rarely use. Hard Drive Maintenance Your PC comes with a disk defragmenter and surface scanner – use them regularly. The disk defragmenter will reorganize the data on your hard drive, to ensure faulty sectors are either repaired or removed. This process also optimizes your system to run software faster. The surface scanner checks for physical errors that can then be repaired, or give you warning that something more serious might be on the cards, and that action should be taken. Keep Your Anti-Virus Software Updated There’s a multitude of subscription and free anti-virus software products on the market, so the modern freelance writer can have no reason for not having some form or protection on his PC. Scan For Malware And Adware Regularly Along with anti virus software, these utilities keep your system free from the full spectrum of ware’isms, to the risk of data theft. There are several free products available in the Internet that do this job wonderfully, which no serious freelance writer should be without. Remove All Crap CCleaner is a highly recommended tool to remove the crap that builds up in a PC over time. It quickly and easily rids your machine of unwanted cookies, temporary files, logs, and installation garbage, clearing up space, and ensuring integrity. CCleaner is also excellent at keeping your system registry in tip-top shape, by scanning for obsolete entries, missing links and files, and removing them after taking a backup. Keep Regular Backups Perhaps the most important thing a writer can, and should, do regularly. If you take nothing else from this article, you should at least take heed of this section, the importance of which cannot be stressed enough. Should you lose your PC to internal failure, you can always buy another one. But if that failure means the loss of the directory called â€Å"All My Writing,† and you have taken no backups, your life is over. There’s no excuse for not backing up regularly. Once per month is not enough – it should be done at least once per week minimum, and daily if you have works in progress. Whether you back the whole lot up onto a DVD in one go, or do it file by file because your system still uses 4.5† floppy disks DO IT! You will never forgive yourself if the worst happens. Watch for Warning Signs PCs often give off subtle warnings that a failure is impending, so it would be useful to be able to recognize them. Should you spot any of the following, take immediate backups of everything, and start running checks. At Boot Up Watch for any difference in the start-up messages as your PC boots up, such as hardware not being located, registry information missing, control, or system file errors, etc. Listen for strange noises coming from the hard drive as it gets going. Squeaks, groans, or moans can indicate something is wrong. Keep an eye on the boot-up time. Is it getting slower or does it appear to be struggling? If so, do a back up and run your checks. While In Use Have you noticed applications taking a while to load up, or when in use, are they running slower, hanging for no reason, or closing down unexpectedly? Don’t leave it until it dies before doing something about it. Does your hard drive go through periods of seemingly intense use when nothing is happening? Watch the CPU and make sure it’s not being over-used – a larger issue could be unfolding. At Shutdown Does the machine take a while to shut down? Does it hang while closing down, leaving you to pull the plug to shut it down for the night? Are there any spurious messages on the screen? Any of these things could indicate there is a problem. The rule of thumb if you spot a potential problem is to take a backup, then get it checked out. When To Do All Of This Daily – Incremental backups on all WIPs, checks on PC running stability. Weekly – AV quick scan, ad/malware quick scan, crap clean, full backup of all data. Monthly – AV deep scan, ad/malware deep scan, full backup of the entire system (data and applications). Staying on top of your PC’s integrity can save a freelance writer much embarrassment, time, and money – even his career. Don’t be a fool and fall into the â€Å"it will never happen to me† trap, because when you start thinking like that, the chances are you’re next. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Slang Terms for Money40 Fish Idioms7 Sound Techniques for Effective Writing

Human resource management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words - 1

Human resource management - Assignment Example The employees are rewarded and reinforced against their performances. The labour market of hospitality industry comes with greater supply than the demand while there is high rate of turnover. Hilton Hotel needs HR plan that is strategically fit with the needs of organisation so it may overcome the potential issues and enhance its services. HR management needs to forecast the internal and external supply and demand of the labour to design the recruitment process accordingly. It needs to increase employee engagement in all the processes and provide them career path to self actualise and grow. Comparing recruitment process of Marriot Hotel, Hilton Hotel and Holiday Inn, it is found that there is no significant difference in the process while the key focus is to hire people with right skill and for the long term; hence line managers are also indulged in the process. The hospitality industry comprises of hotels and restaurants mostly that serve public and keep staff to efficiently perform diverse tasks. Human resource is the most valuable asset of an organisation which is managed by a distinct entity called human resource management. HRM of a hotel or restaurant endeavours to free the organisation from conflicts and administers the tasks to optimally run organisation so it may expand and compete in the market (Boella et al. 2013). However it is found that there is lack of research in the service sector especially in hospitality industry which is the fourth largest industry of UK. This study attempts to provide detailed analysis of role of human resource management for entire industry in the UK in context with the laws and recommendations are provided to strategically manage the human resource in improved way. This study focuses on HR practices, roles and processes of Hilton Hotel as an example of hospitality industry of the country. As a human resource manager of a hospitality

Explore the class system in America. In what way does it still exist Research Paper

Explore the class system in America. In what way does it still exist Or, in what way does it really not exist - Research Paper Example Kendall defines the definition of the class system as follows (219): The class system is a stratification based on the ownership and control of resources and on the type of work they do (qtd. in Rothman). Classical Perspectives on Social Class Karl Marx and Max Weber viewed class as an important factor in determining social change. According to Karl Marx, class is defined as a relationship to the means of production. In his opinion, a class can be capitalistic or it can be a working class. A capitalistic class consists of those who own the means of production. Workers in a working class are those who need to sell their labor in order to earn money. Major factor described by Marx’s theory involved in distinction between the two classes is power and authority (Kendall, 221). Weber came up with another theory as he was living in an era in which capitalism changed over time. He came up with a multidimensional approach to social stratification. He suggested there are three main fac tors wealth, power and prestige, out of which no single factor can determine the class level. Individuals can rank high in one factor and low in the other (Kendall, 221). Combining the Weberian and Marxian approaches to social class, research Dennis Gilbert (2003) developed a model of social class based on three factors: education, occupation, family income (Kendall, 223). Stratification based on education, occupation and income (Kendall, 224). ... duced that education is not a direct factor contributing in the status level, but it indirectly influences the two other dimensions, that is, occupation and income. Education also shapes cultural behavior. Statistics of 1993 confirms that education the role of education in generating America’s social division. It shows that among individuals earning more than $100,000 per year, 49 percent had postgraduate degrees (Fleishman, 57). Sajjadi in her article discusses about social class system as a description of how scarce resources are distributed in a society. Those scarce resources are wealth, income, education and occupation. She further writes that income is an important scarce resource. But, it is occupation that provides income, and it is education that determines the type of occupation. Income is also related to other life consequences such as the quality of education obtained, health care, and housing (Sajjadi, Social Stratification in United States). As mentioned above, U S individual income depends on education. In 2005, the top 15 percent of income earners were actually the ones with doctorate and professional degrees. Those who had bachelor’s degree had incomes above the national median and people with college degree had less income (Sajjadi, Social Stratification in United States). Education serves as one of the most essential class feature in US, which is directly linked in income and occupation. Level of Disparity Let us see how rich the riches are in US: (Durden, A Visual Reminder of US Social Stratification). A Harvard professor and behavioral economist asked more than 5000 Americans on their opinion on wealth distribution in US. Most of them thought its more balanced than it actually is (Durden, A Visual Reminder of US Social Stratification). (Durden,

An Effective Interpersonal Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

An Effective Interpersonal Communication - Essay Example Another thing which is important in the mean of communication is that the person who is communicating does note carefully if the listener or the person who is being referred to understand the theme of the message. This can be achieved by a two-way process. By two way process here it is meant that the communicator should ask for replies from the person who is being referred to with the message. This would help to assure the communicator that his message is being interpreted properly by the listener. Similarly, if this is not done the message would be misinterpreted and other problems may arise because of this miscommunication (Michael 1988 & Kelly 1979). In a personal relationship, it should be noted that some expressions like nodding, smiling and movement of eyes etc. help as a tool for answering and creating the two-way process of communication. Similarly verbal messages like OK, I understand, true, indeed etc. also support the two-way process of communication. Positivism is one imp ortant aspect of the communication process. By positivism here it is meant that both the negative and positive aspects of the message should be kept in balance so that the person to whom the message is being referred to does not get a wrong concept. If this happens and the negative aspect is given more weigh the person who is being referred to may take it wrong and get discouraged by the other person’s response or assertions (Michael 1988 & Kelly 1979). Communication process has several barriers when dealing with the spouses.... Thus it is necessary that the communicator does not drag his message up to critical levels where the other listener gets confused by the message. This confusion can therefore lead to several other problems in the relationships (Kelly 1979 & Taylor 2001). Dear Sara and Tim, my advice to you for a successful relationship is to maintain a level of understanding and frankness which allows you to speak out ‘clearly’ your innermost feelings and communicate your expectation without hesitation. The expectations from the other partner to understand the unspoken or ambiguously communicated wishes may end up weakening the relationship. The communicator should make it a point that he is direct when communicating. The communicator should not involve irrelevant messages while he communicates as these irrelevant messages can lead to errors in understanding the basic idea or expectation of the other partner.. The misconception about reaching the point in communication is that the commun icator usually thinks that adding up other points may give him an advantage but this rather creates an absurd image in which one can miss out the main points of the original message. So it can be concluded that in communication it is necessary that the main point is laid out firstly so that it is not missed out later on (Michael 1988 & Kelly 1979). It is also necessary for the communicator to make up his speech in such a way that it does not sound cold or harsh. This is because the message would put down the listeners or the person to whom the message is referred to. And this would create other errors at the workplace as well as in the personal relationships. Thus it is necessary for

Retail Business Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Retail Business Analysis - Research Paper Example A retail establishment that implemented generic marketing and segmentation approaches is a Reebok store. Implementation of segmentation strategy The retail implemented the strategy by separating a big probable market into minor groups, which exude diverse retail needs. The retail started by categorizing their market thus stating the general boundaries of market they intended to segment. This is achievable at the product progress stage. As such, one needs to find information about the intended target. Later on, they established market segmentation drivers for every product, which is achievable basing on age. Furthermore, other determinants incorporate expenditure, likeability of other merchandise, demographic facts, and imbursement methods. After successfully doing that, they chose a critical strategy that defines major segments. In the last stage of the implementation, they prioritized basing on the resources that they could dedicate to their marketing effort and the likely outcome o f addressing each segment (Weinstein, 2004). Implementation of Generic market strategy The retailers implemented the strategy by identifying its strengths and weaknesses, uniqueness, advantage, and usual tendencies. After identifying themselves, the organization identified their customers by finding information about them. The organization could not make an assumption about each customer groups, so they had to know their market better than their competitors did. For them to acknowledge their customers, they had to talk and listen to them. By presenting questions to customers, they could find vital information like the reasons attributable to the non-utilization of their products. Moreover, they convinced their consumers to start buying their merchandise (Pizam, 2010). Additionally, they used a present-day date base system to get a relatively cheap and competent marketing tool. This system could record customers’ behaviors and expectations. The information acquired from the sy stem was instrumental in decision-making. In marketing, the amount of sales made is not necessary. However, the important aspect is the profit figure. This is because, in marketing, decisions derive their basis on profit and not on the amount of sales, which is significantly minor. For the organization to respond properly to its marketplace, it linked the customer database with other market information system and business brainpower system (Pizam, 2010). Another implementation step that the retailer employed was the application of differentiation. This enabled them to proffer remarkable benefits to their customers. Applying differentiation enabled them to know the values of their customers so that they could appeal to these values in an effective way than competitors. By differentiation, it is easier to identify their potency and the weaknesses of their rivals. They then developed a clear image of each segment (Pizam, 2010). During the implementation, the Reebok stores avoided to co mpete with its products in the same segment. The entity was clear in defining its own role and tried to cover all bases to discourage potential competitors. It therefore, built a good correlation with its consumers, while trying to avoid dependence on one customer or any product (Pizam, 2010). Improving implementation of segmented marketing For effective implementations of

Cruise ship business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cruise ship business - Essay Example A population size of 1.7million people with only 0.5% unemployed reveals that the service sectors are well versified with manpower. A look at business venture in this area shows that 10% corporation tax is charged for foreign companies and nil for local companies. The Qatar tourism authority has opened avenues for making visitors experiences pleasant and efficient as they cruise in the country. The government involvement ensures great security around its ports and has been boosting the much welcomed economic growth area. Qatar has a full capacity of ships and other vessels at the targeted port of Doha, with the 12 berths present. The year 2014 will attest the opening of the new Doha port that will allow for the growing demand of vessels around this area (Jeff, 2007). Due to the high number of visitors in the country every year, the cruise business has been expanding with many investors targeting long distance voyage e.g. seven seas voyager. The short distance cruise of up to a week h as not been exploited around this port. The eye capturing view of the capital city is one of the sites that make a cruise business worthwhile along Doha port. Along its 7.5km stretch, Doha has very many tourist sites worth seeing e.g. historical museums, escapades, water sports et cetera. The market area for the capital city is ever increasing with the projected new port construction to accommodate more room for tourists (Qatar economy, 2011). The cruise industry is soon becoming flooded as more people can afford the prices from the previous high prices decreases. The cruise ship prices have also excruciated from 10 to 40% the initial price of a ship with capacity of 5300 people. The targeted for the cruise industry would entail a smaller vessel to maintain the high class clientele as well as privacy of the business around Doha. Precisely the cruise industry faces challenges of seasonality and

William Shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

William Shakespeare - Essay Example The parents of William were John and Mary, in whom father belonged to a merchant class, and mother land gentry. During his teenage years, William’s dad faced with much financial difficulties and it continued till the success and fame of his son. It is not very easy to track the exact details of the life of William Shakespeare, the greatest, writer, poet and art lover of England. Surprisingly, William married women 8 yrs senior to him and became a proud father of three children not very late. The life of William Shakespeare could be categorized in to three phases : the first 20 years in which he completed his schooling and got married and attained father hood, the next 25 years where he explored and practices his writing and poetry skills, and last 5 years when he retired to Stratford to live a satisfying and successful old age. The distinction of Shakespeare was that, he was immensely talented play writer and wrote his works mostly foreseeing the actors in mind. According to ( Mcevoy,19)â€Å" William Shakespeare just like all other play writers of his time working in London playhouse, did not write with readers in mind. He instead wrote lines to speak for actors to speak which has to be understood as soon as they were heards by the audience†. Part II -The Masterpiece of Shakespeare -Romeo and Juliet i)Plot of the story Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by Shakespeare in his early literary career, and this work went on to become one of his greatest literary works. This play is all about a young couple, Romeo and Juliet, who passionately fall in love each other, and longs for union in a background of hatred and violence. The families of both the lovers are enemies to each other and strongly oppose the romance shared by the young hearts. Romeo being the Son of Lord Montague meets the charming and beautiful Juliet in an uninvited ball and instantly falls in love with her. Interestingly, on the same night Romeo proceeds to the balcony of Juliet to exchange love vows and further decides to get married to his lady of love. ii)Form of the story This play is classic one written by William Shakespeare and unlike his other prologues it starts with a sonnet. As per (Elizabeth) â€Å"Three main sonnet forms have been in use since the Renaissance: the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, the English or Shakespearean sonnet, and the Spenserian sonnet. Each is named for a poet who made the form famous.†This story initiates with a prologue and explains the outline of the story and is followed by 5 acts which is the rest part of the story .This play is different from most of other plays of Shakespeare as it had no dream scenes or flashbacks. The main centre of attraction of the story is the male character Romeo, and he carries the story till the climax. Structure of the story a)Exposition : The exposition of the story initiates with a prologue and the scene of fighting servants depicts the rivalry of the two families where Romeo and J uliet belong. This prologue defines the enemity that had been long practiced by the two families and indicate that the two lovers in such a case can never have a romantic union. This fight shows the intensity of revenge and hatred boiling in the hearts of the two families. b)First Incident: The initial incident that occurs in the story is the act by Romeo at the ball party, where he arrives uninvited. He here meets Juliet for the first time and innocently falls in love with her at the first sight. c)Rising Action - The action starts to progress greatly at the scene of balcony where each confess their love for each other. They instantly plan to get married and are talked out

Cruise ship business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cruise ship business - Essay Example A population size of 1.7million people with only 0.5% unemployed reveals that the service sectors are well versified with manpower. A look at business venture in this area shows that 10% corporation tax is charged for foreign companies and nil for local companies. The Qatar tourism authority has opened avenues for making visitors experiences pleasant and efficient as they cruise in the country. The government involvement ensures great security around its ports and has been boosting the much welcomed economic growth area. Qatar has a full capacity of ships and other vessels at the targeted port of Doha, with the 12 berths present. The year 2014 will attest the opening of the new Doha port that will allow for the growing demand of vessels around this area (Jeff, 2007). Due to the high number of visitors in the country every year, the cruise business has been expanding with many investors targeting long distance voyage e.g. seven seas voyager. The short distance cruise of up to a week h as not been exploited around this port. The eye capturing view of the capital city is one of the sites that make a cruise business worthwhile along Doha port. Along its 7.5km stretch, Doha has very many tourist sites worth seeing e.g. historical museums, escapades, water sports et cetera. The market area for the capital city is ever increasing with the projected new port construction to accommodate more room for tourists (Qatar economy, 2011). The cruise industry is soon becoming flooded as more people can afford the prices from the previous high prices decreases. The cruise ship prices have also excruciated from 10 to 40% the initial price of a ship with capacity of 5300 people. The targeted for the cruise industry would entail a smaller vessel to maintain the high class clientele as well as privacy of the business around Doha. Precisely the cruise industry faces challenges of seasonality and

Issues in internet sales law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Issues in internet sales law - Essay Example When a bid is made, the bidder is said to have made an offer. When the auctioneer strikes a hammer thrice or says words like ‘Going, Going, Gone’, the offer is accepted and a contract of sale is made. These days, a wide variety of goods are presented for auction online. The seller does not need to meet face-to-face with the buyer or the bidder. The person who makes the highest bid wins the auction and the goods are sold to him. In the given case, Chris won an auction online and bought an artifact for ?50. He believed it to worth ?500 if it was free of chips. Otherwise, it was worth ?50 only. He saw an image of the artifact online and found no flaw in it. The seller had a feedback rating of 50 transactions. The seller had written in caption, â€Å"Old pot ornament, in good condition for its age. I know nothing about these items, but it looks old to me.† Also, in seller’s information, he had written, â€Å"all goods are sold as seen.† When the item was delivered, Chris found out that it was not free of chips. S.14(1) of Sale of Goods, 1979 provides that there are no implied terms as to the condition or warranty about the quality or fitness of goods. In this case, the parties had no direct interaction. The buyer had a look at a photograph of the item online and bought it. There are no implied terms as to the warranty or condition. But S.14(2) states that, â€Å"Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business, there is an implied condition that the goods supplied under the contract are of merchantable quality, except that there is no such condition- (a) as regards defects specifically drawn to the buyer's attention before the contract is made ; or (b) if the buyer examines the goods before the contract is made, as regards defects which that examination ought to reveal.† According to the given facts, the seller had a feedback of 50 transactions. The given facts also quote the seller, â€Å"Old pot ornament, in good condition for its age. I know nothing about these items, but it looks old to me.† The online trading system often produces a dilemma whether the seller acted in the course of business or not. The former of the two facts reveals that the seller had been trading online for quite some time. This means that the seller had acted in the course of business. However, during his run in online trading, he did not sell the same type of goods every time. The later of the two facts shows that the seller did not act in the course of business because he had vividly expressed that he had no knowledge of the ornament. This puts him somewhere in the middle of the two types of actions. Taylor and Willet (2005) call such a seller a Hybrid Seller. The law is silent about this type of seller. There was no concept of such a seller until the emergence of online trading system. The most important factor in determining the rights and remedies of the buyer is the ascertainment of the fact whether it was a sale by description and whether the consumer relied on such description. Chris saw the picture and decided to purchase the ornament thinking that it would be a good investment if the ornament was free of chips. The picture in question shows that the item was a clean piece. Chris depended on the depiction by the picture and decided to purchase the item. Consumer’s reliance is pivotal in the cases of sale by description. S.13(1) of Sale of Goods Act 1979, states that, â€Å"

Life And Work Of George Gershwin Music Essay

Life And Work Of George Gershwin Music Essay The name of George Gershwin linked one of the most interesting periods of music history of the United States. One hundred years after his birth, George Gershwin is the most widely remembered of the songwriters who dominated African popular music between the end of World War I and the rise of rock-and-roll (Teachout 46). George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. His parents were immigrants from Russia. He did not receive systematic music education and began to study to play the piano with the help of a famous music teacher Hambitzer in 14 years old. Then, already a famous author, he took lessons in composition and harmony. Since 1913 he worked as a pianist-accompanist at the music store and began to write songs in the style of I. Berlin (1888-1989) and D. Kern (1885-1945). Soon he achieved a success in musicals. Many of the songs from the musicals have become extremely popular with the crowds. The most popular musicals written by Gershwin are the following ones: Ladies, please, Funny Face, Crazy and many of his songs. The real fame came to Gershwin in 1924, after writing Rhapsody in blue for the piano and orchestra, performed by the author with the orchestra conducted by P. Whiteman. Thus, in this paper we are going to discuss and examine biographical information about this composer, to explore musical styles and forms which he is famous for, and to describe one of the major works of George Gershwin that is called Rhapsody in blue. Biographical information about George Gershwin Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898 in New Yorks block of Brooklyn. He was a son of Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a native of St. Petersburg. The real name of the famous composer was Jacob Gershowitz. Since childhood, absorbing jazz culture (they say, that Gershwinhas heard jazz music at age 6), he was a lover of jazz concerts. In 12 years old, George began to learn to play the piano himself. Much later, as a famous composer, Gershwin has never ceased to learn, and improve his technique. During these lessons, he became acquainted with unique American composers of those years Henry Cowell, Wallingford Constantine Rieggerand Russian Professor Joseph Schillinger (Joseph was famous for the fact that he approached to the process of composing music with a mathematical position, trying to develop a universal algorithm). In 1914, Gershwin began to play music professionally, working as an accompanist in the company of Jerome Remick. Two years later, the first authors work of George Gershwin was presented to the audience. Despite the fact that this work had not much success with the crowds, some well-known and famous Broadway producers and directors paid attention to a talented composer. For example, Sigmund Romberg happily included music of Gershwin in his operetta The Passing Show of 1916. In those years, Gershwin, playing the piano and mastering harmony and orchestration, earned extra money as a pianist in different restaurants. In 1918-1919, on Broadway there were a lot of works of Gershwin: Swanee entered the musical Sinbad and had a resounding success in the performance of Al Jolson. In 1919, a famous performance La, La Lucille was entirely based on the works of Gershwin. In 1920-1924, George Gershwin created several dozens of works for George Whites Scandals, and in 1922, he even wrote a real opera, which was named Blue Monday (also known as 135th Street). After the premiere, he was invited by Whiteman to a jazz band as a composer. George wrote especially for Whiteman a real pearl of his work Rhapsody in Blue. In 1924, Gershwin created his famous musical Lady, Be Good! that had much success and brought a composer the first wide popularity on Broadway. In this performance, Gershwin first worked with his brother Ira Gershwin, who wrote all the lyrics. The next decade, this creative union was one of the most productive and popular unions on Broadway. The most successful show was Of Thee I Sing, 1931.They r eceived the Pulitzer Prize, first awarded to a musical performance, for this show. The most extensive and ambitious work in the biography of George Gershwin was a folk opera Porgy and Bess, 1935, staged on the novel by Edwin DuBose Heyward, who took part in writing the libretto for that opera. According to Crawford, Gershwins Porgy and Bess (libretto by DuBose Heyward with help from Ira Gershwin)-the stage work that has come to at the Great American Opera tag (minus Kahns stenographers and subways) perhaps better than any other-opened in New York (697).In early 1937,Gershwin was diagnosed with symptoms of a brain tumor. Gershwin was placed in Leben-Clinic, where he died on July 11, 1937in Los Angeles without regaining consciousness after cancer surgery to remove a tumor. Musical styles and forms of Gershwins masterpieces The musical styles and forms of Gershwins works are well-known and can be characterized as dynamic contrast images, humor or satirical grotesque combinations of traditional African-American folk and jazz music with the principles of symphonism. The melodies of Gershwins songs are unique for their combinations of identity and almost complete dissolution of African-American melodies and harmonies. Sometimes, his music is influenced by cantorial singing, though the Jewish theme is virtually absent in his work. It is interesting to know that Gershwin not only composed and created light music. By 1919, he wrote a string quartet that was called Lullaby. This composition represented a very high-style opus, written in the genre of light blues, but it had a resemblance to elegant music of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky. Gershwin joined the classic means with intonations of jazz in the opera music. All compositions and works that were written by Gershwin, permeated by a common idea to make music accessible to everyone, do not break away from everyday life, do not turn away from the sound arrogant streets, dancing, do not erect the adamantine walls between classical and popular music. This idea led George Gershwin to the creation of his works included in a music custom all over the world, which raised American music to the level of classics. Rhapsody in Blue Rhapsody in Blue is one of the most famous and successful works of George Gershwin. Rhapsody was first performed by the author on February 12, 1924 in New York, accompanied by the orchestra of Paul Wightman. This work was ordered by Wightman on January 5, 1923, as an experiment to create a new musical style that combines jazz and classical music. Initially, that product was called An American Rhapsody. The well-known name of this work was suggested by the composers brother Ira Gershwin, after visiting an art exhibition of James McNeill Whistler. Rhapsody in Blue became a masterpiece of classical music and jazz, and, in various interpretations, played by musicians in different fields of music. This composition that includes elements of jazz, the Negro folk music and light music are combined with a brilliant piano writing in the style of Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff. This work was a kind of bridge between the so-called light and academic music. Rhapsody is one of the most freque ntly performed concertos for the piano and orchestra (along with the concerts by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, etc.) and the repertoire of the finest pianists in the world. Music is characterized by vivid signs of early American jazz: a syncopated rhythm, a sense of improvisation, etc. However, the development of the main themes goes on within the strict framework of sonata form, the author uses a classic orchestra, and solo piano reminds a romantic style of Liszt and Rachmaninoff. In this musical composition, the themes are based on the blues scale that consists of major and minor thirds and lowered sevenths. There are significant differences in presentation styles of each theme. The harmonic structure of this composition is difficult to express and analyze. One thing can be said that the piece of Rhapsody begins and consequently ends in B flat. Different contemporary styles and jazz are present in this masterpiece. The tempos of Rhapsody in Blue vary directly and widely. There is an extreme use of rubato in a lot of places throughout this composition. According to Howard, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Rhapsody is irresistible still, with its syncopated rhythmic vibrancy, its abandoned, impudent flair that tells more about the roaring twenties than could a thousand words, and its genuine melodic beauty colored a deep, jazzy blue by the flatted sevenths and thirds that had their origins in the Negro slave songs (par. 3).In addition, Schiff stated that Rhapsody in Blue is an enduring monument to the love affair of Americans and people around the world with the African-American idiom that became the most influential language of twentieth-century music (3). Conclusion Taking the above-stated information into consideration, it is possible to draw a conclusion that George Gershwin was one of the most famous and talented American composers in the first half of the XX century. In his work, he has managed to combine seemingly incompatible phenomena: the European late romantic music, jazz and pop. The composers creative experience is unique and no one could repeat it exactly. However, a style found by Gershwin (a combination of different spheres of music), proved to be fruitful and prosperous for American culture and led to wonderful phenomena, such as musicals of Leonard Bernstein. Many critics noted that Gershwin mixed folk and classical music. However, it was a common thing for a lot of great composers. Music of ordinary people finds its place in symphonic music with the majestic compositions. Gershwins creativity is distinguished by a great emotional and original melodic, harmonic and rhythmic language, enriched with folk motifs of African-American songs. Harmony and characteristic rhythms of swing and jazz were influenced by the music of George Gershwin. Despite ingenious rhythms and beautiful lyrical melody, his music arises primarily from his own harmonic structure. After Gershwin, the development of jazz can be mostly attributed to the expansion and complication of harmony.

Merchant of Venice Essay: A Comedy? :: free essay writer

To the reader, The Merchant of Venice, may seem horrible and it be impossible to find the â€Å"comedy† at all.   Perhaps, Shakespeare may have been simply trying to make people laugh at the appalling injustice we cause one another because of the small differences among us.  Ã‚   Or, perhaps, he may have at first wanted the viewers of The Merchant of Venice to feel that they, the Christians, had nothing in common with the Jew, Shylock.   What on earth could the Christians have in common with a Jew?   Shakespeare demonstrates that the Christians were just as hungry for money and fortune as the Jew.   Perhaps this is a comedy after all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That Shakespeare sees people, Jew or Christian, as simply people, and if he could not make people see that they were all people with common ground, then he would have to start with something he knew everyone could relate with.  Ã‚   The best item to come to mind was money.   No matter if the amount is in ducats, dollars or pesos, everyone understands this concept.  Ã‚   Although it does not seem perfectly clear in what way Shakespeare was trying to deliver the comedy in this play, one thing is evident,   Shakespeare was a man before his time.     Ã‚   So, besides trying to find where the comedy is, maybe one should try to find where the most superficial person lies.   Who is more superficial in this play?   The Jew whose only business is money, or the Christians? It seems apparent that both are superficial, and one no more than the other.   In the play Bassanio does not try to hide the fact that he needs to marry a woman of wealth to restore his fortune.   Shylock's daughter Jessica,   promises to steal jewels and fortune from her father, proving that she too is money hungry.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even Salerio and Solanio seem to talk of nothing more than riches and wealth throughout the play.   So yes, they all are superficial, and one can not peg one any more than another.So again, we are back to the comedy of the whole thing!   Ã‚  Ã‚   Now that I think about it, it seems strange that the majority of our class found no humor in this play.  Ã‚  Ã‚   When one thinks of why this may be, it is simple.   We do not laugh when we read this play because we have not changed.   Since the time of this play, we have inched very little away from prejudice and belittling people because they are what we feel is different, therefore making them strange.

The Debate :: Personal Narrative Essays

The Debate      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Memory can be so fickle.   Like some great book that is slowly loosing its pages, you begin with an entire novel full of details and descriptions and, if you're not careful, you end up with nothing more than the cover and the brief synopsis on the back page.   My novel on the subject of the end of summer school debate has lost its share of pages but the back-cover synopsis, the essence of the entire experience, is still with me.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"We are about to begin our annual debating tournament,† the instructor beamed with an enthusiasm that let each of us know how happy he was that we had made it this far.   â€Å"It will be the culmination of your six weeks of learning and will count as a considerable part of your grade for the course.   We will begin at eight tomorrow morning.   Get some practice, get some sleep, see you there.†      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I don't know what drew me to the course but I can remember my parents telling me they felt I should go to summer school.   I was opposed to the concept of summer school right up to the moment I was issued the dictum â€Å"go to school or get a job†, at which point I became the world's greatest advocate of off-season learning.   Besides, I was only fifteen and the workplace just wasn't ready for me.   So I thumbed through the course book, singing a chorus of no's until I arrived on the Debate and Public Speaking page.   There resided a large photograph of a boy confidently standing behind an ornate podium, clearly frozen in the middle of some captivating and influential argument.   I read the passage describing the course and was immediately sold.   How could a stuffy math class or a trivial course in art compare to â€Å"a course that teaches students the skills and techniques of competitive debate, culminating in a week long tournament?† So I filled out the forms and mailed them and before I knew It I was sitting in a lecture hall, learning the skills and techniques of competitive debate.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As I have said, I was only fifteen and perhaps this debating course was not yet ready for me either.   I was both the youngest and least experienced of the lot.   Little could be done to gain ground on the former adversity, but I set about rectifying th latter by filling a notebook with all the wisdom that the teacher could impart to us during the hour long periods.   When it was time for The Debate :: Personal Narrative Essays The Debate      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Memory can be so fickle.   Like some great book that is slowly loosing its pages, you begin with an entire novel full of details and descriptions and, if you're not careful, you end up with nothing more than the cover and the brief synopsis on the back page.   My novel on the subject of the end of summer school debate has lost its share of pages but the back-cover synopsis, the essence of the entire experience, is still with me.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"We are about to begin our annual debating tournament,† the instructor beamed with an enthusiasm that let each of us know how happy he was that we had made it this far.   â€Å"It will be the culmination of your six weeks of learning and will count as a considerable part of your grade for the course.   We will begin at eight tomorrow morning.   Get some practice, get some sleep, see you there.†      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I don't know what drew me to the course but I can remember my parents telling me they felt I should go to summer school.   I was opposed to the concept of summer school right up to the moment I was issued the dictum â€Å"go to school or get a job†, at which point I became the world's greatest advocate of off-season learning.   Besides, I was only fifteen and the workplace just wasn't ready for me.   So I thumbed through the course book, singing a chorus of no's until I arrived on the Debate and Public Speaking page.   There resided a large photograph of a boy confidently standing behind an ornate podium, clearly frozen in the middle of some captivating and influential argument.   I read the passage describing the course and was immediately sold.   How could a stuffy math class or a trivial course in art compare to â€Å"a course that teaches students the skills and techniques of competitive debate, culminating in a week long tournament?† So I filled out the forms and mailed them and before I knew It I was sitting in a lecture hall, learning the skills and techniques of competitive debate.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As I have said, I was only fifteen and perhaps this debating course was not yet ready for me either.   I was both the youngest and least experienced of the lot.   Little could be done to gain ground on the former adversity, but I set about rectifying th latter by filling a notebook with all the wisdom that the teacher could impart to us during the hour long periods.   When it was time for

Moral Dilemas Essay

This situation is a moral dilemma because Captain Ericson has to make a very hard decision, to either destroy the u-boat whilst killing the men in the water or to save the stranded men but risk future trouble and destruction by letting the u-boat go ie it is a situation to which his everyday morality cannot identify a solution. The ethical principles in this situation are very simple but it is very hard to determine what is best for everyone. If you sink the u-boat and kill the men you may have saved the lives of thousands of people in the future but at the same time you have slaughtered 40 hundreds of your own men who have done nothing but fight for their country. Having said this if you leave the u-boat and save your comrades from the water you have saved the lives of a few men but risked the lives of tens of thousands in the future. By destroying the u-boat he is obeying the principle of the military duty of an officer to his superiors and his country by destroying the enemy, and I quote â€Å"attacking at all costs†. On top of performing his military duty by getting rid of the u-boat he is likely to save the lives of the men on convoys that would be threatened by the same u-boat if it were not destroyed. Ericson â€Å"shut and battened down his mind† because it is human nature to doubt a decision directly after having made it; this is done because of our need for perfection. And so Ericson did this because he did not want nor could he allow doubt to enter his mind for even a second for fear of inaccuracy in judgement and failure to carryout his decision with precision. Also in order to be at ease with his decision he constantly needs to reassure himself that it was the right choice and this would be extremely hard to do if he constantly had doubt creeping into his head. Also he needs to block out all human emotions and pity for those men in order to make the correct decision. Some would argue that Ericson’s actions were completely irrational because instead of avoiding violence and death which would have spared many lives he went ahead with his military instinct, as a result killing many men both English and foreign. Some would argue that he had the chance to come out of the situation without a slaughter on his hands, which according to the religious man would have been the moral thing to do. However we must ask ourselves what we are doing in a war if we are not prepared to make a decision based in military procedure and ethics for the greater good. Therefore from my point of view I feel that Ericson made a responsible decision taking into account the factor of the safety of other men in an extremely pressured situation, a situation which thankfully I will probably never have to make nor do I feel I would have the strength nor the character to make a well balanced decision and stand for the consequences. His decision may not have been the right one but there are always going to be people with different points of view on things but whether it was the right one or not is not really relevant nor should it be dwelt upon as everyone makes mistakes at some point in their lives. In this case it was his decision to make because his superiors obviously thought he was the right man for the job, not without reason and so he made the decision under extreme pressure and in a situation which did not have many alternatives which he had been appointed to make following not moral procedure but military procedure as is the custom during. And so taking all of this into consideration I personally feel he did the right thing. As always with a question like this we must consider both arguments. To be honest we cannot establish whether Ericson is a good person or not, as the case may be simply by examining one event as people make mistakes, that is what makes us human. Having said this there is no real reason to assume that his actions were a mistake and that he acted wrongly. On the contrary I feel that Ericson did exactly what a man in his position should do. He acted only after he was sure and only after taking into account the consequences of his actions and in this case he clearly felt that he would be acting for the greater good. In war it is the norm to sacrifice one man for the safety of hundreds of others and I feel that even thought his theory is not religiously moral it is still correct because in a time of war we have no time for things like moral issues, its either kill or be killed, the enemy will shoe no mercy so why should we. Therefore I do think that he is a good person as I simply think that he is a very stressed out man in a very difficult situation with the lives of hundreds at his mercy trying to do the right thing which is military procedure which he would have been taught; kill for the greater good. Having said this a religious man would say not necessarily that he is a bad man but that he made the wrong decision in this case because instead of avoiding murder which although is lisenced in war is morally wrong. He would look much deeper into the emotions of those men in the water which is exactly what military school trains you not to do, mixing emotions with actions can get you confused and in a military situation this can make you weak and vulnerable. Therefore in conclusion I think it is fair to say that we cannot really establish whether he is a good man or not but that according to some peoples’ views he made the wrong decision.

Little Children Movie Review Essay

â€Å"You couldn’t change the past. But the future could be a different story. And it had to start somewhere. † This final statement sums up the message of the Little Children, a film opus of Todd Fiend, that talks not merely about a love affair of two married persons, but the story of struggle and redemption of common folk living in an upper-middle class suburban Boston. This notwithstanding, the film also shows a stereotypical, albeit real depiction of the contradictions in such a neighborhood – the soccer moms, the disempowered husbands, better called ‘house-bands’, and the bored housewives in terrible need of an ego boost. The film review shall mainly quote dialogue from the film, in order to showcase fully the power of this story about suburban Northeastern America. Sarah Pierce is a successful academic and campus figure, but has since lost all glory upon her marriage to Richard, and subsequent birth to Lucy, a self-assured little girl who refuses to do everything Sarah requests. She currently suffers from an absolute absence of love in her relationship with Brad, shattered further with her catching Richard in a fit of masturbation, while wearing her panties around his head. Moreover, she eternally despises the pretentious moms she sees in Lucy’s playground all the time. The lines with sarcasm are clearly suggestive of her clear disdain for the mothers, to wit – Mary Ann: He should just be castrated. Just snip, quick and easy. Sarah Pierce: [sarcastically] You know what else you should do? Nail his penis above the entrance to the elementary school. That’d really teach him a lesson. This initial situation of Sarah inextricably creates the objective conditions for the future love affair with Brad, because one cannot reasonably expect, despite promises made at the consummation of marriage that she can eternally be faithful in the wake of the loveless situation that she is in. Her disempowerment as an intellectual by becoming a fulltime housewife living in a sea of pretentious women around her also gives further ammunition, albeit personal isolation from her community-at-large, for the blossoming of a new yet forbidden relationship with Brad. The other player in this love affair is Brad Adamson, a ‘house-band’ whose career is at a standstill – he failed the bar exams twice, and his wife is a successful documentary filmmaker, named Kathy. In such as situation, he feels absolutely helpless, in view of the fact that it is his wife that serves as the breadwinner of the family, and his main task for every given day would be to accompany their child Aaron during his playtime. Without an actual career to speak of, and a similarly successful past as Sarah, it is without a doubt a situation which would create the necessary conditions for his decision to enter into an affair with Sarah – them hopeless beings supposedly full of potential, now finally united. The proverbial meet-cute of film may be the scandalous yet affirming prank they pulled against the pretentious mothers in the playground, when Sarah and Brad hugged each other, to the absolute disdain of the mothers. The prank unleashed their long-kept longings of spontaneity and passion, long gone in the running of their marriages and only to be found again in each other’s embrace. Sarah, as the formerly empowered intellectual, possesses almost the same ridicule at Richard as what she has against the pretentious mothers, to wit – Brad Adamson: You have a nice place here. Sarah Pierce: You think? Yeah, Richard does pretty well for himself. Brad Adamson: Oh, yeah? What’s he do? Sarah Pierce: He lies. They shall soon engage in passionate love-making during a fierce rainstorm, but only after Brad realizes that their feelings for each other are mutual, as shown by a picture kept by Sarah in her study. Nonetheless, the couple in the affair approach their forbidden relationship, with great fervor, but a bit unsure, with even a tinge of guilt and remorse, particularly on the part of Brad, to wit – Brad Adamson: Do you feel bad about this? Sarah Pierce: No, I don’t. Brad Adamson: I do. I feel really bad. The other characters in the movie are as interesting as the two main love-struck protagonists. Ronnie McGorvey is an indecent exposure offender, having served prison time and has since moved back into the neighborhood with his mother. Ronnie seems to have been unreformed in his perverted ways, when he masturbates yet again during a date set by his mother, ruining the date, and destroying all hopes of him ever finding love. His return, nonetheless, is met with great protest by Larry, Brad’s teammate in touch football, and a disgraced police officer. His protests turn violent at times, not content with the mere handing out of flyers and posters about Ronnie, but also vandalizing his house, and almost assaulting Ronnie and his mother. Their seemingly grown-men, good vs. evil conflict reaches a terrible turn when a drunken Larry goes to Ronnie’s house with a megaphone, waking the entire neighborhood and shaming fully Ronnie and his mother. As his mother tries to stop Larry from further his drunken actions, he pushes her to the ground, triggering a heart attack which would soon take her life. Nonetheless, before entering death’s door, she writes a note to Ronnie with a chest-pounding plea – â€Å"Please be good boy. † This triggers Ronnie to go on a fit of rage for losing his mother, ending in castrating himself, in pursuit of his mother’s request at death. Larry would soon realize how grave his mistake was and looks for Ronnie, and bring him to the hospital for medical attention. The stories of Ronnie and Larry ironically show the awkward sense of justice and reason disgraced persons in the community pursue to redeem themselves to their loved ones and to the community. Ronnie, in the most dramatic expression of remorse and love to his dead mother, has cut of his testicles – the physical object of his sexual perversion, in order to unrealistically undo the hurt feelings of his mother created by his former acts. But despite the spectacle of it all, the drama attended by it, there is no point in doing such. The mother is dead, and the date has been left crying. On the other hand, Larry, the disgraced police officer, puts the law into his own hands by maligning Ronnie’s person and by engaging into overt acts of harassment and violence in pursuit of this. The objective is clear, that despite his failure as an officer of the law, he himself continues to be an upright man, rejecting sexual depredation and moral turpitude in the person of Ronnie. He does his brand of redemption to a serious fault, notwithstanding through aimless grandstanding, by lumping together Ronnie’s person to that of his mother, by vandalizing her property and pushing her to the ground in pursuit of his shame campaign. By doing such, he fails in the end, because the object of vigilante-ism is not the person whose life was lost, but some innocent person whose continued life could have influenced Ronnie towards full redemption from his sins, without need of castration, nor the spectacle of it. Meanwhile, the affair between Brad and Sarah becomes all the more serious, to the point that Kathy herself now witnesses the truth of the affair through the tacit sexual tensions between the two during a dinner. They have even agreed to run away together, as when two young star-crossed lovers would leave their unyielding parents in pursuit of their hasty, yet seemingly ‘true’ love. In pursuit of this, Sarah even declares the situation to Mary Ann, to wit – Mary Ann: Oh that’s nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist? Sarah Pierce: No, no, no. It’s not the cheating. It’s the hunger – the hunger for an alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness. The two were prepared to leave their loveless homes, their young children and their real spouses to perfect the ‘love’ long lost, and which now they have found through one another. This feeling of seemingly ‘great love’ is expected, but appears clearly as one that is fleeting, one that is artificial, one that was created by the sordid personal experiences of their lives, where the affair’s function was a mere outlet of a love that is merely not sought, but never absent, in their own homes. Such is how their love is that in the film’s climax, at the supposed point of no return by meeting on the night they agreed upon to run away for love, the family and the past they have left pull them back, not through force, but by circumstances that put everything back into its proper perspective. Sarah’s Lucy gets lost, and a panicked mother searches for her relentlessly in the playground where she left her, only to soon find her along under a street light. It is on this moment, that the bubble of ‘love’ in the affair is completely pierced, that the idea of the absence of love is merely in her mind, nothing more, and Lucy is the personification of that love, that has never been absent, but as stated above, a love merely unsought. Brad himself experiences a similar piercing of the ‘love bubble’, in the exact moment towards their scheduled departure for love. Brad, the confident but now disempowered lawyer-to-be, has failed to leave his goodbye letter to Kathy when he met a serious accident while trying some skateboard tricks. No clue has been given as to why he failed to leave the note to Kathy, but what can be surmised is that he probably felt the same as Sarah had, the inability, at the final instance, to create the actual physical wedge between his past and his supposed future with Sarah. This unstated inability to leave is further buttressed by Kathy’s rush to the hospital to meet Brad at the emergency room doors, showing that despite acting as the breadwinner of the family, she is not without love for her husband, and that, as in Sarah’s case, Brad’s idea of a loveless home is again, a love merely unsought, waning and almost at the point of death, yes, but present with the ability to be roused to life again. In all these, the film shows who the real Little Children are in this story of suburban America – it is the adults who allow their feelings to get in the way of principled contemplation of relationships and love.