Monday, September 30, 2019

Mystery Genre Essay

In the first video segment, Smith discusses the definition of a Mystery Genre by separating the different aspects of mystery into subgenres. There are the cozies, serial killer books, suspense, and classic mysteries. Smith says that’s cozies are mysteries devoid of onstage violence and sex. For example, in a cozy the protagonist would be a cat or a British housekeeper and also the crime solver. In serial killer books, everyone dies in a very gruesome and graphic way. Classic mysteries the reader asks the question of, what just happened? While suspense thrillers the reader asks, what is going to happen next? Smith goes onto explain that suspense uses multiple points of view and that the protagonist and antagonist were on a collision course from the start and the reader already knows it. In the second video segment, Smith talks about the five elements for a mystery genre and how each of them is used to make a good story. The first element mentioned is the inclusion of high stakes; Smith says that there is a misperception of high stakes and it doesn’t have to be life or death. He says to make characters that people care about and whatever is important to that character the reader will care about it too. The next element is larger than life characters; Smith says to, â€Å"Amp it up.† If you change different aspects of a characters life then the stakes will go up immensely. High concept of character, conflict, and conclusion; by having one line that describes the plot with character, conflict, and conclusion the concept will be good. Smith says having multiple points of view lets the reader to be emotionally involved with more than one character at a time and it also allows the writer to build suspense more effectively. The setting needs to be exotic and interesting and exotic doesn’t necessarily mean a foreign country but it could be a place of business. Anywhere that will take the reader somewhere they’ve never been before.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Avid Pharmaceuticals

The cost structure with the lower breakable volume has the lower systematic risk. Fluctuations in sales volume has an impact on net income. Because there is no certainty, Waver must be ready for increases and decreases in sales if the new equipment is purchased. It is important for Waver to understand that the company will not always be at normal operating levels. Sometimes more units will need to be produced and oftentimes, less units will need to be produced due to the demand in sales. Fluctuations in demand will affect the bottom line, as seen in the examples above. ) What other factors should Waver consider in making this decision? Will the quality of the product remain the same? Is the machine more efficient than the workers? Will time be saved? Can the machine produce more than 60,000 units per year? How many units can the equipment produce in a year, while maintaining a quality product? Can the company charge more for the product if there is an increase in quality? How will th is equipment affect Waver long-term? Short-term? Will upgrades be needed (added expenses)? How quickly will the equipment be outdated? How quickly can the equipment be installed?Will there be a loss of manufacturing products while the equipment is being setup? Will the company lose money during setup due to lack of production? How will this new piece of equipment show on the company's financial statements? Will it be depreciated? What form of depreciation? Are there new asset conversions that the accounting department will have to record? Do the product costs and/or period costs change? Is it possible to make other areas more efficient, therefore, reducing fixed or variable costs? What company makes the manufacturing equipment? Is the company successful/reputable?Is the company new? Is the return on the investment satisfactory to board members and owners? How does the new equipment affect the employees? Will additional training be needed? Who will operate and manage this new equipme nt? How difficult would it be to get service if repairs were needed? How dependable are the service repair people? Will Waver have to hire a full time employee to fix the repairs? This salary is an additional expense. How dependable is the machine? Will the equipment affect the factory layout, efficiency, create toxic smells or be too loud for workers to be near it?Will customer satisfaction be increased? Will the employees operating the machine be paid more, therefore, increasing salary Will training occur? This is an added expense. Are there enough Jobs to reassign all employees displaced to new Jobs within Waver? How will Waver communicate this large change to its employees? How much does the machine cost? Are there additional variable costs that will be incurred? (4) What is your recommendation? This does not look like a good investment for Waver. The return on investment is low at the normal 60,000 operating volume. The fixed costs are large, Jumping by 476,000.That is a large increase when the sales at normal operating conditions will only yield an extra $4,000. It is not worth the expense. In the beginning, the equipment may be slow to operate at normal volume due to set up, training, glitches, etc. There may be a length of time where Waver is not able to produce and sell 60,000 units per year, which will hurt Wavers bottom line (as seen in the 25% volume decrease in example above). The new equipment seems like a risky investment. The choice of production structure (with the new equipment or without) depends on the expected future sales.If Waver was certain they could produce and sell more than 60,000 units per year, this may be an investment worth looking into, however, this is an unknown. Making a little less than the 60,000 units (59,500 units), would put Waver in the same position had they not purchased the new equipment. This point at which both cost structures intersect is what is relevant. From a management's perspective, this new equipment is re ally not a good idea. There are too many What ifs' and too many personnel and training issues that could be factors. I would not recommend purchasing this new equipment for Waver.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Islamophobia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Islamophobia - Essay Example This has made people be afraid and resent Islam even more. In the past one week, news has been abuzz with the killing of two Islamic gunmen. The two were shot on Sunday 3rd May 7, 2015 at a contest dubbed â€Å"Draw Muhammad†, which was taking place at Garland in Texas. The art exhibit and cartoon contest was being hosted by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, led by Pamela Geller, who is the founder of the group. Their main objective was to sensitize the public about Islam. People were asked to draw â€Å"Muhammad†, a common Muslim name, to depict a Muslim person in their lives. The incident led to the injury of a security guard manning the place. According to International Business Times, 2015, American Muslim activists have strongly come out saying that they are even more resolute on taking on anti-Islam prejudice after the incident. This is because, according to them, such incidences of violence only show how much there is a need for sensitization and creativity on ways to stop the growing Islamophobia in America. The y argue that the condemnation by the leaders in the community is not enough, and more is needed in order to stop the violence and killings of innocent people. The Texas cartoon contest was attended by at least two hundred people when men armed with guns started shooting. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. Reports indicate that it is still unclear how the gunmen are linked to the Islamic state. Activists insist that hate will not help stop hate and violence. They say that with the creation of more peaceful ways of countering the bigotry against Muslims, which have been increasing in the recent years, more will be achieved. It is now a reality that the Islamic state (ISIS) is everywhere, even in the United States. The thought that many citizens are aware of the past violent deeds and the terror attacks experienced all over the world by the infamous group has crippled many

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Divine Feminine in Buddhist Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Divine Feminine in Buddhist Art - Essay Example It was therefore enlightening to note that under Buddhism as practiced in the land of ancient China, women have traditionally been accorded a position not only of respect but even reverence. Case in point is Kuan Yin, the divine feminine, goddess of healing and compassion and a bodhisattva which meant enlightened (bodhi) existence (sattva). A bodhisattva is a being who foregoes or postpones entering Nirvana in order to come to the aid of others. Kuan Yin was encountered during the Module 4 cyberjourney to the video on the Thousand Hand Buddha Chinese dance (also entitled Thousand Hand Guan Yin). The dance itself was highly inspirational and embodies both spectacle and symbolism; the thousand hands represented the ready and willing help that arrives when one individual is in need of assistance, and the readiness of that individual to come to the help of others who may be in need. Other than the technical exquisiteness of the dance, the allure of the beautiful young Chinese womanâ€⠄¢s face at the head of the line of dancers was exceedingly serene, benevolent, and unmistakably, mystically feminine. Unlike the Western denominations where all images of God and their ministers and pastors were all men, Buddhism appears to look favorably upon the power of women.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Read the requirement i send you carefully---marketing Essay

Read the requirement i send you carefully---marketing - Essay Example Like market size, cost of work force and other potential factors are more favoring to industrialist to develop to business in China. However, there are some challenges too that industry developers have to face before starting the business in the market of China. Foreign players have to tackle with cost reduction and local competitors; these are huge challenges for any foreign player. In this we are going to discuss about analysis of electronic market of China with the help of PEST analysis and SWOT analysis of E-Commerce industry of China. PEST analysis of China’ market will aid the reader to understand about its strengths and weakness in aspect of political, economical, social and technological factors, these factors are external factors which aids to analyze e-commerce industry. In other hand SWOT analysis give a brief introduction of Taobao, is e-commerce company in China, so the readers will able to know about the internal’s strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats of the company. Political variables incorporate government regulations and lawful issues and characterize both formal and casual leads under which firm must work. Furthermore it is asserted that the political energy is presumably the most turbulent constrain in natures domain (Fahey & Narayanan, 1986). In the previous one decade, the Chinese government appends extraordinary imperativeness and center to the advancement of e-trade in the most crowded nation, for instance, on issuing the Summaries of the Middle/Long Term Science and Technology Development Plans of China and the Development of Information Industry Plans in the Eleventh Five-year and Long Plan in 2020 Years in The Ministry of Information Industry, the "provision of e-business stage innovation" has been recorded as a key point (Lili, 2011). In term of the lawful framework, the Chinese legitimate skeleton for e-trade is still in its incipient stage and has officially accomplished a few issues. China has restricted

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Similarities and Differences Between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union Essay

Similarities and Differences Between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union Poster Propaganda in the Twentieth Century - Essay Example Both the Soviet Union and Germany used propaganda posters to incite their citizens to support the cause of their nations during World War II. In comparing their posters, it is clear that the use of fear was one way in which to incite an emotional response towards the causes that the posters represented. The Soviet Union defined their enemy as outside of the nation, while the Nazis created internal threats through providing images that placed Jewish people in a context with invented threats to diminish their humanity. Differences are also evident in the styles and methods with which the posters were created. Through an examination of Soviet and Nazi propaganda posters of World War II, the styles of the work and the identification of threats can be contrasted for differences and similarities. Jowett and O’Donnell write that â€Å"there was little appreciation of the specific social and political conditions that had made World War I propaganda so effective† (228). The natu re of propaganda is to influence, but in order to create effective influence, the imagery and text had to connect to the social conscious of the viewers. An example of a poster that did not connect to the social conscious that was considered brilliant for its intentions and artistry, but was declined by the Soviet Union government was that of El Lissitzky’s â€Å"Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge† (1919) (see Figure 1). ... Figure 1 Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919) El Lissitzky (Wikipedia) Socialist realism existed â€Å"with its reliance on simple classical styles and photographically accurate forms in a modern context, its demand of realism, its glorification of socialist ideals and achievements, and its anticipation of a utopian communist society† (Frucht 260). The active campaign to produce posters that reflected the desires of the government in order to align the views of the people was done through the TASS studio which adapted the style of the ROSTA posters which were stenciled. Different from the traditions of the ROSTA posters, however, was the desire to create fine art while creating important cultural messages. Where the ROSTA used iconic images that were generally graphic, The TASS studio employed the use of realist paintings as models for the work (Zegers, Druick and Akinsha np). As shown in the work of Figure 2 The Motherland will Never Forget the Heroic Deeds of its  Son s (1947) Viktor Koretsky (David Winter Bell Gallery) Viktor Koretsky, the warmth of the colors and the power of the imagery evoke the national emotions towards their sons and to a pride based in their sacrifices as they give of themselves to a belief system (David Winter Bell Gallery). The posters provide a reason for the losses that they were experiencing, placing meaning with what they have given (see Figure 2). The works were bold with their use of color and just as bold in their use of fear that asserted the concept of killing Germans with a sense of pride and national presence As exampled in the work Death to the German Murderers, the works revealed a sense

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

French Revolution Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

French Revolution - Coursework Example Furthermore, the author discusses the cultural, economic, and social changes in France during the period, as well as France’s international relations. Robespierre and the Terror by Marisa Linton is a readable discourse on contemporary terrorism based on French history. The author is Kingston University’s Reader in History and has written widely on 18th-century French culture and politics and the French Revolution. Vividly narrating the beginning of the Great Terror mobilised by Robespierre, this engaging work provides incomparable images of apparently unreasonable acts of murder and cruelty. Linton examines Robespierre’s reformist enthusiasm, his part in the king’s prosecution and the demise of the monarchy, and his determined effort to build a modern republic. This work also discusses how Robespierre has contributed to the course of French history, influencing not only the country’s domestic life, but also its responses to overseas events. Roger Price’s Napoleon III: Hero or Grotesque Mediocrity is a historiographical analysis of the monarch and his government. Price, an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Wales, has thoroughly worked on the history of France. In this work, he takes into consideration the mid-century predicament which gave Napoleon III the chance to acquire the presidential post. This work is very relevant to the discussion of the impact of foreign events on France during the period 1789-1906 because not only did the author explains the goals or purposes of Napoleon III, he also presents a summary of the ruler’s accomplishments and administration, his political, social, and economic influence, as well as the evolving historical views of the period. The book France 1870-1914 by Robert Gildea talks about the union of republican regime and the regaining of national self-reliance.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Strategic Marketing Managment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Strategic Marketing Managment - Case Study Example One of the major competitors of Reebok that is Adidas was already offering technologically superior footwear, while the other competitor that is Nike was offering shoes that guaranteed superior athletic performance (Hines & Bruce, 2007, p. 307). So long, Reebok had been struggling hard to carve out a space for itself amidst these two arch rivals. Besides, it also desired to increase its market share. Prior to this positioning strategy, the competitive strategy of Reebok was mainly focused on offering the lowest prices (Hines & Bruce, 2007, p. 308). It offered significant discounts to the retailers opting to sell Reebok products. However, the flip side of this strategy was that it not only curtailed the revenues at Reebok, but also made Reebok seem a cheaper brand as compared to Adidas and Nike (Hines & Bruce, 2007, p. 308). However, the new positioning offered to the consumers, something that they could relate to. Besides, it is utterly difficult for Nike and Adidas to venture into t his new position affiliated to lifestyle branding, without compromising their stakes in the market segments they already specialize in. Finally, Reebok has found a place for itself in the footwear market, in which it can dare to be the best. This strategy allows Reebok to consolidate its stakes in the lifestyle shoe discipline, while retaining adequate share in the athletic shoe segment (Kotler, 2003). It also allows Reebok the first entrant advantage, thus enabling it to keep on improving its superiority in the lifestyle shoe market, before Nike and Adidas chose to foray into this segment (Kotler, 2003). It also adds to the profitability of Reebok, thereby enabling it to further strengthen its position in the athletic and performance shoe segment (Kotler, 2003). 2: The success of Reebok was assured by its acumen in understanding well in time that the professional athletes comprised only a very small segment of the customers opting to buy sport shoes (Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns, 2007: Online). The major bulk of the sportswear customers comprised of the young men and women who preferred athletic shoes as street wear and demanded comfort and style from the sports shoes they purchased. These casual wearers comprised the largest customer segment in the sports shoes market, responsible for more than 80 percent of the sales (Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns, 2007: Online). While Nike and Adidas worked hard at being perceived by the propitious customers as being the sellers of cutting edge sports shoes, Reebok knew well that technological superiority was certainly not its forte. In the current scenario, Reebok is targeting young, sports minded males, who perceive their casual wear to be a projection of their young and sporty persona. This segment is not only the largest customer segment in the market under consideration, but also tends to be more loyal and relatively easier to approach through advertising campaigns and event sponsorship. Right now, Reebok is emphatically focusing on targeting and converting the young people having a taste for sports and desirous of reflecting their athletic temperament in their casual wear. Not to say, Reebok has accrued immense success in this endeavor. 3: Reebok’s strategy of creating new brands to target new markets and launching special collections under new brand names is a sound brand strategy considering the fact that Reebok primarily associates itself

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Global Money Transfer (Remittances) Market Report Essay Example for Free

Global Money Transfer (Remittances) Market Report Essay For more details on the content of report and ordering information please visit: http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Global-Money-Transfer-Remittances-Market-Report-2012-Edition-70275.html Remittances are an important source of income for households, particularly in developing countries. Remittances are gaining importance in the economic planning of all major developing economies of the world. With globalization and growing socio-political activities, more and more people from underdeveloped or developing economies are working outside the countries of their origin. Remittances are being considered as an important financial resource for development as well as a social change by financial planners in developing economies. The worldwide inflow and outflow of remittances is rising constantly since past several years with the exception of 2009, which was characterized by global economic slowdown. The developing nations which include both low-income and middle income countries account for the majority of the global remittance inflow with majority contribution from India, China, Mexico and Philippines, due to their large emigrant population. The largest source of remittance flow to developing regions is high income countries including the US and Western Europe, with the GCC countries fast developing as an important source. The companies operating in the global remittance market are faced with strong competition with few large competitors and numerous small and niche competitors. The leading money transfer organization like Western Union, Money Gram, Euronet, and other independent players compete on the basis of technology, price and quality of service offered to remitters. The report analyzes the global remittances market with focus on India, China, Mexico and Philippines. The key trends observed within the market include exchange rate, fluctuating remittance cost, regional employment or unemployment affecting remittances, number of RSPs and cost variation across India and China and dominance of cash prices over the remittance market. The global remittance market faces several challenges which include the taxes which are imposed by the government on remittances and numerous legal and regulatory hurdles. The major factors which will contribute in the growth of the industry include growing international migration, rising employment rate and global economic growth. By combining SPSS Inc.’s data integration and analysis capabilities with our relevant findings, we have predicted the future growth of the industry. We employed various significant variables that have an impact on this industry and created regression models with SPSS Base to determine the future direction of the industry. Before deploying the regression model, the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and the dependent variable was analyzed using standard SPSS output, including charts, tables and tests.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Human Physical Appearance Essay Example for Free

Human Physical Appearance Essay The appearances of people is like their cover, that? s why it? s so important, because it? s what can be seen, the first thing you note in a person, and like it or not, it tells a lot. It? s like a book, most of the time it? s judged by it? s front page, the right thing would be to read the review where you can know the details of it? s content, but what do you notice first? That why I compare the human appearance with a book, and I affirm that you can? t know a person only by the way they look, because it?  s not always what it seems, wearing designers clothes not necessarily shows your economic status and you can? t know a person only by their physical appearance, because this can be modified by a very important factor, self-esteem According to the Pequeno Larousse Ilustrado (1976), Appearance is â€Å" the outside look of a person or thing†. In another words is peoples physics, but there are situations in which the person can be criticized by this, specially during the teenage, that are the years of physical and mental development, but the physical part is commonly judged. Are we really conscious of what we say about other people? , I? m not saying it? s wrong, because the physical appearance is important, but is it all?. The appearance are not always what they look like, and even more in the teenage, the psychiatrist Felix Loracca says that we are modeling are personality in function of what others expect from us. For example, psychologists say that women tend to want to be accepted, not so much for their personality but for them to feel prettier. Young men present a similar case, now that they pay a lot of attention to their physical appearance, without neglecting their clothes, their hair, etc. The way each and every one of the teenagers practice their personal care for their appearance changes from one to another, but basically the aim is the same one, â€Å"try to look good†. Teenagers not only change their clothes, but their response, their expressions, their vocabulary and recreative activities. The way they dress and the physical appearance become very important, it can be a way to express solidarity with their friends, or as a way to declare their growing independence from their families. Another important aspect to consider is that clothing not necessarily proves your economical status, and this is more discussable nowadays, because material things don’t tell who you really are, a good example of this is Mahatma Gandhi, who despite of everything he owned economically speaking, acted like the most humble person in the world. People use to go for others clothing. Physical appearance influence, but is not determinant when we meet someone, and you can’t determine their economy, or their education by this, because everybody can have any kind of clothes or material objects without mattering the cost of these, there is who say â€Å"fashion, what suits you† and people can dress according with what they feel comfortable with without caring what other people think about them. Elton Mayo says that human relationships are majorly based in ties that exist between the members of society, thanks to communication, that can have many ways: principally visual, linguistically, affective and by specially created languages for the development of complex societies, that’s why he affirms that there is some importance in the physical appearance. One of the human needs is to relate with other living creatures, like Maslow shows in his hierarchical pyramid, in the affiliation is the friendship, or the creation of relations with other people. But in any moment he affirms the importance of the physical appearance. The changes in how we look to others are related with our self-esteem and not to our auto-perception, that’s why any change in our physical appearance can affect our present ME status, if we don’t have the ability to accept and adapt to these changes, in the same way this affects directly in our emotional status. In conclusion, physical appearances are an important part of people presence, but they are not determinant in the way to judge them, for what we saw previously. They exist an infinity of questions that we can make as thinking beings, that we lead us to much more questions, but it all ends in ourselves, the answer is in each one of us, you decide what to base in, how to act with others and how you want them to see you, but without losing your own personality.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Harry Potter: Impact of the Books, Themes and Controversies

Harry Potter: Impact of the Books, Themes and Controversies Chapter II The Harry Potter Phenomenon 2.1 How did it start? The Harry Potter phenomenon started slowly, as we have seen Rowling had a lot of trouble trying to publish the book and 12 publishing houses turned her down but she had perseverance and she really believed in the books, in the story and kept on trying. The content of the books was so unique, so fantastic from anything else that it triggered a mass phenomenon. We can ask our selves: what becomes a phenomenon? First of all we need to understand the term ‘cultural phenomenon or ‘media phenomenon. A phenomenon is not an invention of the present, of the times we live in, but it has existed ever since a human collective conscience has existed. Someone found something useful and it was so good and necessary that everybody started using it. For example the invention of the telephone, or the computer, we may not think it this way but the invention of those things brought with them a whole phenomenon. I mean even if Alexander Graham Bell wouldnt have invented the telephone it would still be invented by someone else as it is a very useful and revolutionary device. People need this device and have needed it ever since the beginning of the world. The invention of TV or photo camera are things that the humans needed ever since they know it but couldnt materialized their desire. People would paint in caves things they liked, things they did, things they believed in, they had this desire to capture their everyday life and immortalize it somehow. As time passed people got more and more skilled in the art of painting and could reproduce the reality better and better; technology advanced as well and continued to pursue this ancient desire and now thank God we really managed to invent a device that can capture the reality exactly as it is. The camera is something so useful and needed by the humans that almost every human being posses at least one camera. Phones are equipped with cameras, with voice recording features, with internet etc. Why is that? Because we want to immortalize our experiences, we want to record special events and ordinary as well, we want to take pictures with the people that we love so we can keep them with us forever, we especially like to look back at our past and by having photos taken in the past we can really transport ourselves better. By taking pictures we can leave behind to our descendants proo f of our existence, of how we were, how we looked, what we liked etc. This was only one example of how a phenomenon takes place, how it starts. A phenomenon exists only when it is recognized by the masses. If only a few people, or some groups adhere to it then it is not really a phenomenon. A phenomenon is something that it is so useful, necessary and was needed by the humans for a long time but couldnt really achieve it and then when somebody finally gets to invent/create it, it is rapidly assimilated by everyone. What Graham Bell did was only to continue the collective dream of being able to speak with another person even when that person is not near. The ones that invented the camera followed on a collective, pre-historical dream that of reproducing the reality, the ones that invented the TV and the computer same thing. Now what J.K. Rowling did was to exploit our ancient desires to handle magic, to possess magic, to use magic, among many other features in her books but the magic is the one that triggered the phenomenon. When we look at the influences that her books have we find texts such as: British Folklore and mythology, The Bible, The Iliad, Mac Beth, Emma, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Sword in The Stone, A tale of two cities, etc. many of which have to deal with magic. Magic has always been present in the human consciousness, in the human imagination, what Rowling did is just to exploit these mythologies, these dreams, these manifestations of our imagination. What makes them still so captivating is that we cannot know for sure, even with all technology and knowledge of the physical world, that they dont exist. Magic will disappear from our minds only when we will possess the ultimate knowledge of this world, of how it works, of how it came to existence until then our minds will always fancy a round these aspects of an ‘alternate reality. The ‘alternate reality is the second main reason why The Harry Potter Phenomenon exists. The world that Rowling has created is so vast, so deep, so intense that it can be called an ‘alternate reality. Im not saying that one should really believe that magic exists and take a broom and jump of the roof with it hoping it will start flying, this is not what I mean when I say ‘alternate reality, it is an ‘alternate reality that is to be found when plunging into that world by reading. It is so vast and it has everything in it that you can easily forget about this world and be captivated by that world. Now why do we need to forget about this world and plunge into another, imaginary one? The answer is simple: this world is too ugly and boring, at least the society we live in. We are forced to go to school against our will, we are forced to obey orders by our parents, by our teachers, by the society. We are obliged to work if we want to survive, we have to make a lot o f concessions and all our dreams and ambitions are restrained by other people who laugh at as, by parents, by teachers and all these things really make us sick, we need to escape, we need to getaway from everything in order to not fall into a deep depression. What is the best and safest way to do so? It is to read a book. But not all the books have this feature or capability to help you do so, not all the books depict such wonderful things in such a wonderful way as to make you plunge into them. And here comes the true merit of J.K. Rowling because she really managed to do this. And it is not me that is saying it, actually I dont even have to say it Im not J.K. Rowlings lawyer; but the fact that her books have become a global phenomenon says it all. A phenomenon is something that comes at the right time and it is something that the humans always needed. From here comes the conclusion that we really need magic in our lives, that this society in which we live in is not so perfect and that we need to get away from it at least in our minds. Children come home from school completely exhausted from the many classes they had boring long classes, they come home also with a lot of homework to do as if the hours spent in school were not enough and what is there to do, to really get away from it all? To read a book, a good book, another world to escape to. The same thing with adults: they have lived all their lives constrained and restrained by the society now they continue to work for the society, each with his job and sometime it is just too much there must be something to help them get away from it all. Harry Potter is a Phenomenon because it has the power to fulfill this more or less conscious desire in our minds that of escape. Music has the same power, the same feature and maybe the same purpose. People normally sing about love, about what they dont have and wish to have, about other places etc. When we listen to a song we get transported to the world the singer is singing about or we resonate by having the same feelings, sufferings etc. That is what makes up a phenomenon the mass resonation of something that has always intrigued, haunted and followed us but we didnt know or have the power to express it. In J.K. Rowlings case, however, the success was not so instant and we could not talk about a phenomenon before the year 2000 when the forth book was released. She had local success with the release of the first book and second but the breakthrough did not come until U.S. discovered the books; then it started to become a cultural phenomenon. I said not before year 2000 and by that I mean that with the release of the forth book Harry Potter became a global phenomenon, the premieres of it were really huge all around the world and had widespread media coverage. I think one thing that helped a lot the Harry Potter books to become a phenomenon was the internet. The internet pages that were created by fans had tremendous effect in spreading the publicity. Of course the first and main way of publicity was word-of-mouth, literally people would talk to one another and recommend this fantastic book but the phenomenon wouldnt have started so fast if it wasnt for the internet. Televisions can broadcast some events regarding the books, or radio stations talking about them but what is more truthful than real reviews made by fans who have read the books and were so stunned by them that they felt the need to make websites dedicated to them? If the televisions and radio stations were just doing their jobs these people were doing it because they loved the books. So the ones that have the main credit for triggering the phenomenon are not by any means the media or paid publicity. Thats what a true phenomenon is, it doesnt need too much publicity, everything happens spontaneous and it will automatically have the support of everyone that came in contact with it. 2.2 The impact on the society The impact on society is huge and in almost every field: music, movies, entertainment park, clothing etc. therefore in this subchapter I will describe every aspect in which Harry Potter has left its traces in society. The Fan Sites: The oldest Harry Potter fan sites date around 1997-98. The sites are so sincere and clean that even J.K. Rowling admire them and occasionally awards the ones that are the best. The first site awarded by J.K. Rowling was ‘Immeritus a website devoted especially to Sirius Black. Then Rowling awarded ‘Godrics Hollow then ‘Mugglenet a very good fan site containing: news, pictures, interviews, excerpts from books, quotations, has a very good design and contains all in all everything you need to know about Harry Potter. Another fan site awarded by Rowling is ‘hp-lexicon.org an useful site containing facts about each one of the books, it contains answered questions about various things regarding the HP world and as the name says it, it is like a lexicon with a lot of useful information. ‘The Leaky Cauldron the website awarded by Rowling in 2005 has a very good design, works very well and is mainly focused on the HP news Rowling likes it very m uch and says it is her favorite. Rowling tries each year to award a site that does a good job in promoting and giving useful information about Harry Potter. At one time Warner Bros., the company that holds the rights of the Harry Potter trademark, tried to shut down all fan sites. This attempt was unsuccessful and the company later agreed that it is important that these websites continue to exist in order to keep the fans interested. Probably the company was feeling threatened by the popularity of those sites and wanted to have instead full popularity with their own dedicated site. Of course its all about money, they wanted to have all the revenues they could from every aspect involving HP and could not bear that others were making profit over their brand. The fan sites have indeed ads on their sites from which they get revenue but the money made is probably just enough to cover the expenses of maintaining the site online and its not about making a living out of it. Fan Fiction: refers to works made by fans involving characters, places, story of the original work. These fan works are normally not accepted by the authors and they are tolerated only as long as they are not published because that would be totally illegal as it would mean plagiarism. The Harry Potter books have a whole world of fan fiction works from the most innocent ones to real grotesque ones. There is a huge number of fan fiction works on the net more than a half a million and J.K. Rowling is not against these works but supports them. As we know Rowling is a huge supporter of imagination and believes it to be very important for mental health. There are many sites dedicated especially to HP fan fiction where users can read these works or upload their own creations. There is a fan fiction work called ‘The Shoebox Project to which many fans write and contribute to. It has over 20 ‘chapters and continues or tells ‘untold stories of the HP world. The fan fiction has also a more negative aspect which J.K. Rowling does not agree with. There are a lot of stories of the ‘slash fiction genre which are depicting sexual relationships between characters, relations that normally do not appear in the books and are not even suggested. Nobody can stop others from writing and uploading such stories and therefore there are a lot of websites dedicated to this ‘bad fiction. Role Playing: is a main component in any fan community and it couldnt be absent here. There is real life live action role play and internet based playing. Fans have come up with a so called ‘muggle quidditch which is similar to the quidditch game in the books but of course it is on the ground. The fans hold tournaments and give away prizes to the winners. There are also card games, puzzles and games of that kind invented for the fans. There is a vast internet based role playing community which puts up games related to the books, to Hogwarts, to the characters etc. Wizard rock: is a specific genre of music which emerged in 2000 with the music band ‘Harry and the Potters and has since gained a widespread interest so much that today there are over 700 bands belonging to this genre. The listeners are mostly HP fans and the lyrics are mostly based on the books. Harry Potter theme park: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the name of the HP theme park that had its opening 18 June 2010 in Orlando, Florida. It is a park having real life proportions where people can go and have fun eating the ‘Hogwarts specialties, visiting Diagon Alley, visiting Hogwarts, the different shops etc. It has roller coasters, tours in the castle and visitors encounter the ‘whomping willow, dementors, and witness a quidditch match. The investement costed 200 million dollars and the park was built on a huge space. The park has received very good reviews both from the fans and nonfans and good reviews from newspapers and specialized reviewers. They reviewed it as a unique experience which is very close to the experience of the books and the films. 2.3 The controversies Legal disputes: -The first problems J.K. Rowling had surrounding and involving her books is copyright infringement accusations. The American author Nancy Kathleen Stouffer had written two books in 1984 which (at least the title) resemble to some realities in the Harry Potter books: â€Å"The legend of Rah and the muggles† and â€Å"Larry Potter and his best friend Lily†. The word muggle is a word often used in the HP books and the names Potter(â€Å"and his best friend Lily†) and Lily have also a sounding importance in the books, Potter being Harrys last name and Lily the name of his mother. The resemblances go much further than being just some similarities between names as the word Muggle was used by N.K. Stouffer to refer to a humanoid species and Larry Potter is a dark haired boy wearing glasses very similar to Harry Potter. Other similarity found in N.K. Stouffers book is a castle by a lake resembling Rowlings Hogwarts. The interesting fact is that Stouffer never got to re ally publish the books, only parts of â€Å"The legend of Rah† in a booklet to a company which soon went bankruptcy preventing her to get her books published in or outside U.S. Rowling first went to U.S. in 1998, 1 year after her book was already published and 8 years after she got the inspiration to write these books. -A trial was started during which it was proven that Stouffer had manipulated her original work inserting the word muggle and other changes in her manuscript as to resemble the Harry Potter books. She was also found with false and untruthful testimony and was fined $50.000. She later tried to recourse but was refused by the court. -Other problems surrounding these books rose when Warner Bros. demanded all the fan sites to be closed because their respective owners (which were children, teenagers) had no right to use the trademark. Somehow this thing was settled after some scandals in the media and Warner Bros. started to make a difference between a commercial use of their trademark and the non-commercial use as it is in the case of the fan sites. -Unauthorized and fake copies of the books have been circulating in China. Apparently where it is success everyone tries to steal a little and be ‘part of the success. â€Å"Harry Potter and Bao Zoulong† is the name of a Chinese fake sequel of Harry Potter which came out in 2002 and was published and sold publicly. This book had in fact no connection with the HP books it was a translation of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien but with all the characters names changed to the ones from HP. The fake was rapidly denounced and Warner Bros. sued that publishing company which was fined to the extremely small sum of $3.400. -In India also one author tried to publish a book called: Harry Potter in Calcutta where Harry gets to meet various figures from the Indian culture. Warner Bros. reaction was prompt and made the author stop publishing the novel. -The attempt to stop copyright infringement was not so successful in the case of the Russian writer Dmitri Yemets who published a book called â€Å"Tanya Trotter and the Magical Double Bass† which intentionally resembles Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Warner Bros. tried to get the book out of publishing and succeeded in not having it published in English but the book was still sold in Netherlands, Belgium and Russia. This ‘copy of Harry Potter has sold over 3 million copies and has a relative success in Russia where the writer has written 12 more sequels. -A successful fan site which began its activity as a lexicon for the Harry Potter world wanted to get all the facts there published in book form which would therefore be illegal so Warner Bros. again had to defend the copyright infringement of their trademark. The case was much debated and judged and in the end it got a semi-positive result: they can publish the guide but under a name which suggests its nature: â€Å"The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials†. This was possible as the Court and law cannot restrict others to write about others works and that this should not represent in anyway a copyright infringement. -Another case which could have turned out bad for Warner Bros. was when the estate of Adrian Jacobs sued Bloomsbury for  £500 million stating that Rowling has plagiarized a scene from †The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: Livid Land NO 1† and used it in Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. However in 6th January 2011 the lawsuit was dismissed because there were simply not enough resemblances between the two books. In fact Rowling hasnt even heard about that book and that author until 2004 when the charges were made (4 years after her book was published). This was in a way similar to Stouffers case where she accused Rowling for plagiarism. What happens in fact, in my opinion, is that it is impossible to write something completely ‘from another planet as to not resemble in anyway other works or to retell some ideas, you do that unconsciously and when you write 4000 pages of fiction it is impossible for many ideas there not to resemble others but that doesnt mean it i s a ‘direct plagiarism it is not even an indirect one it is purely a coincidence because the world cannot be so infinite so that everyone can invent something that has never been said. -Black mailing attempt which ended after a gun had been fired (yes were still talking about Harry Potter) is another issue in this world of copyright infringement business. A guard from a book distribution centre managed to steal a number of pages from the 5th book 6 weeks before its release and tried to sell them to a journalist from The Sun and/or try to black mail Bloomsbury. The appointment got serious when the guard fired his gun, luckily the journalist was not wounded but the guard got arrested. -Other accusations came from Asda a UK supermarket chain complaining that the books are too expensive and that they cost at least half more than what usually a bestseller for children would cost. I mean how stupid can such an affirmation be? First of all J.K. Rowling is not writing for children, she never intended to write for children if the books came out that way thats a different thing. How can you compare other childrens bestseller books to Harry Potter when each of the Harry Potter books broke all the records in matter of selling number, selling speed and stayed in newspapers bestselling lists for years? And another thing, how many pages does an HP book have and how many does a usual childrens book have? What sort of material and format has been used for the HP books and what material for other usual books? So, in my opinion, Bloomsbury did a right thing to cancel all the orders made by Asda (about 500.000 books) if they started to quarrel about the price ($30/book). Religious debates: Probably the main accusations brought to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books are from religious groups; many different religious groups have something to say against the HP books: Evangelicalism : The Evangelical Christian groups are targeting their accusations mainly at the themes of witchcraft and magic that the books are full of or exclusively about. They recognize the moral features of the books, the valuable lessons about courage, love etc. but they dont like the world in which all these take place. They say that pagan rituals and witchcraft are clearly denounced by the Bible. They say that the Potter books open a doorway that will put untold millions of kids into hell or are comparing the Harry Potter books to rat poison mixed with orange soda. Other Evangelical Christian newspapers portrayed Rowling as a Satanist and her story inspired by Satan, that she has sold her soul to the devil and received much wealth. They made a picture of 3 children sitting in a circle with a Satanist symbol in front of them and with Harry Potter books near them; they made it circulate among Christians as a â€Å"proof† on their views. Suggesting that reading Harry Potter makes you a Satanist: â€Å"Mrs. J. K. Satan-said that as she sat in a coffee shop one grey day, wondering what to do with her empty, aimless life, it hit her: Ill give myself, body and soul, to the Dark Master. And in return, he will give me absurd wealth and power over the weak and pitiful of the world. And he did!† Catholicism: Catholic leaders had no official position on Harry Potter in the beginning later however bad reviews started coming: It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly; Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil; â€Å"The books make a false distinction between black and white magic, while, in reality, the distinction does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil; Despite several positive values that can be found in the story, at the foundations of this tale is the proposal that of witchcraft as positive, the violent manipulation of things and people thanks to the knowledge of the occult, an advantage of a select few: the ends justify the means because the knowledgeable, the chosen ones, the intellectuals know how to control the dark powers and turn them into good This is a grave and deep lie, because it is the old Gnostic temptation of confusing salvation and truth with a secret knowledge. Orthodox: the Greek Orthodox Church denounced the books as Satanic: these books acquaint people with evil, wizardry, the occult and demonology; It is beyond doubt that Harry was made to resemble a young savior. Upon his birth people try to kill him, he is forever subjected to injustice but always supernaturally manages to prevail and save others. Let us reflect, who else is held to be the unjustly treated God?; Official liturgies were held to pray in order to heal the young minds from the attraction towards these books which dealt with ‘real magic and reading or reciting the spells found in the books was like praying to the devil and that the poor, innocent minds got possessed. A Russian orthodox writer defended the books saying that they contain moral, Christian values and that the books do not encourage to any pagan practices. This position was held by other orthodox priests as well. Anglicanism: Representatives of Anglicanism had mixed reactions, from forbidding the churches to be filmed as to not have any connection to Hogwarts and Harry Potter to praising the books and seeing the clear difference between imagination and reality: These sessions draw parallels between events in the world of Harry and his friends, and the world in which we are seeking to proclaim the gospel to young people [] To say, as some have, that these books draw younger readers towards the occult seems to me both to malign J. K. Rowling and to vastly underestimate the ability of children and young people to separate the real from the imaginary Islam: in 2002 the books were banned in schools in United Arab Emirates being labeled as un-Islamic, containing elements of fantasy and magic which are against Islamic values. In 2007, hours before the release of the final HP book the police force found and defused a bomb located near a shopping centre in Pakistan. However the police dont know for sure if the target was indeed the HP premiere or not. 6 days after this event a newspaper in Iran criticized the Iranian minister of culture for accepting the HP books in their country claiming that the publisher of HP is of Zionist origin. The newspaper further described the books as a Zionist project on which was spent billions of dollars. In 2009 a documentary on Iranian television about Harry Potter said: The creation of new stories, based on mythical themes of witchcraft and devil worship, has always been a tool used by contemporary Zionists, and it is once again used in recent years, now more visibly than ever, targeting innocent chil dren and youth. Judaism: in the Judaic community Harry Potter has received mainly favorable reviews: in a society in which adolescents are precociously adult, and adults are permanently adolescent, Harry Potter has reclaimed the kingdom of childhood, proving that you dont have to betray to enchant; the HP books are â€Å"a force for good†; etc. The only thing that angered the community was the setting of the premiere of the last book on a Sabbath day. Rowlings response to all these accusations: â€Å"I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into witchcraft. Im laughing slightly because to me, the idea is absurd. I have met thousands of children and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, Ms Rowling, Im so glad Ive read these books because now I want to be a witch.; People underestimate children so hugely, they know its fiction. When people are arguing from that kind of standpoint, I dont think reason works tremendously well. But I would be surprised if some of them had read the books at all. In U.S. many schools banned the reading or possessing of Harry Potter books because of the fear of the occultism the books may contain. The HP books are, according to American Library Association, the most challenged books of the 21th century. A solution for the banning problem which has been adopted is to let the parents of each child choose what books their children can read from the school libraries. However parents and paranoid people were still against the books: Its against my daughters constitution, its evil, its witchcraft Im not paying taxes to teach my child witchcraft. It is interesting how people can react like that when there is something which apparently touches their religious beliefs but when it is something like teaching 7 graders about sex there is nothing wrong about that or when their children stay all day in front of the computer or go out and never tell with whom they hang out. It is far more dangerous to stay inside and read a fantasy book than to do all those things right? Politics in Harry Potter: Education versus indoctrination Some say that after the 9/11 Rowlings books have abounded of ideas regarding freedom of speech, the dangers of dictatorship, about heroism and sacrifice. One odd thing indeed for me too is that after the books were released Rowling said in an interview, when asked, that Dumbledore was in fact gay and that she always saw him that way. The audience applauded and cheered but many scholars had a different reaction and probably many fans too were hurt by this disclosure. There was no sign in any book that Dumbledore was gay and now suddenly she ‘reveals his sexual orientation, she says: â€Å"I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. Dumbledore fell in love with Gellert Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was falling in love can blind us to an extent he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him.†; It is what it is. He is my character and as my character, I have the right to know what I k now about him and say what I say about him. An American pro-activist organization, among others, said that Rowling is trying to indoctrinate young people to tolerate gays. Racism, ethnic cleansing and Nazism The books contain indeed these themes just look at the first one: Racism, is present from the first book when Harry finds out about the ‘muggle bloods and ‘pure bloods, the fight at Hogwarts between the two and the overall coverage of these aspects till the end of the series. Draco Malfoy especially is a promoter of the ‘pure blood and he doesnt lose a chance to remind the ‘muggles of their ‘filthy origins. Voldermort does only recruit pure bloods and wants to kill all muggle bloods, the founder of Slytherin wanted to cleanse the school of muggles and placed a huge snake in the basement used for killing muggles (in the second book). On the other hand the muggles, as if Rowling tries to defend them, are normally more skillful in magic than the pure blood wizards, they have a good sense of what is right and what is wrong, they are intelligent and moral. Has Rowling made all this on purpose, does it have any reference to the actual racism in the world? This is what she said in an interview: I do not think I am pessimistic but I think I am realistic about how much you can change deeply entrenched prejudice, so my feeling would be that if someone were a committed racist, possibly Harry Potter is not going to have an effect. And criticizing racism she said: People like to think themselves superior and that if they can pride themselves in nothing else they can pride themselves on perceived purity. Regarding Nazism she compared Voldermort to Adolf Hitler and said: Well, it is a political metaphor. But I didnt sit down and think, I want to recreate Nazi Germany, in the-in the wizarding world. Because-although there are-quite consciously overtones of Nazi Germany, there are also associations with other political situations. So I cant really single one out. Evils of war About this Rowling said: I very consciously wanted to show what is one of the great evils of war, which is that totally innocent people are slaughtered Another great evil of war is that children lose their families. Social activism Rowling has worked at the non-governmental organization Amnesty International which is fighting against the abuses on the human rights and this is somehow portrayed in the HP books through Hermione who tries to defend the rights of the abused house-elves and protect the magical creatures. Hermione is starting

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (French pronunciation: ​[maÊ ki dÉ™ la fajÉ›t]; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), often known simply as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France. Lafayette was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde nationale during the French Revolution. In the American Revolution, Lafayette served as a major-general in the Continental Army under George Washington. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, he still managed to organize a successful retreat. He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he returned to France to negotiate an increase in French support. On his return, he blocked troops led by Cornwallis at Yorktown while the armies of Washington and those sent by King Louis XVI under the command of General de Rochambeau, Admiral de Grasse, and Admiral de Latouche Trà ©ville prepared for battle against the British. Lafayette was the most important link between ...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

AIDS :: Free AIDS Essays

AIDS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aids stand for Acquired Immune Defiency Syndrome, which is the final and the most serious stage of the HIV Disease and it causes damage to the immune system. Between the ages of twenty five to forty four, AIDS is the fifth leading cause of death. Since the start of HIV disease forty seven million have been infected in the world. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is what causes aids. This virus attacks the immune system and leaves the body open a lot of illnesses and cancers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aids are transmitted through sexual contact, through blood, or from mother to the child. It is not spread by casual contact such as hugging, touching doorknobs, or toilet seats by a person infected with the HIV Virus. It is also not transmitted to a person who donates blood, but it can be transmitted to the person receiving blood or organs from an infected donor. The people that are at risk the most are homosexual men, who are having unprotected sex, drug users who share the same needle, sexual partners who participate in high risk activities, and infants born to the mother who is infected with the HIV Virus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aids begin with the HIV infection. The people infected with the HIV Virus may not have any symptoms for ten or more years, but they can transmit the infection to other during this system free period. Their immune system emptied by HIV and is very susceptible to opportunistic infections. Some of the common symptoms are fever, sweats, swollen glands, chills, weaknesses, and weight loss.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is no cure for Aids at this very moment, but there are several treatments that are available that can possibly slow down the progression of the disease for many years and improve the quality of life for the ones who have the symptoms. Antiviral Therapy suppresses the replication of the HIV Virus in the body. A combination of several antiretroviral agents, termed Highly Active Retroviral Therapy (HAART), has been highly effective in reducing the number of the HIV particle in the blood stream. This might help the immune system come back for a while and improve the T-cells count. People on HAART with suppressed levels of HIV can still give the virus to others through sex or by sharing needles this treatment shows a great promise. When HIV becomes resistant to HAART, salvage Therapy is required to try to suppress the resistant strain of HIV.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Lord of the Flies Essay

1-Ralph calls the assembly and reminds everyone of their agreement to maintain fresh water supplies, observe sanitation measures, build shelters, and keep the signal fire going. He then addresses the growing fear that he knows is beginning to overwhelm many of the boys by opening up the floor for discussion. 2-Jack takes the conch to point out that if a beast were on the island, he would have seen it during his hunting trips 3-.Piggy adds that the field of psychology can be used as a tool to explain logically the experience of fear, thereby invalidating it 4- Simon attempts to explain that the boys themselves, or something inherent in human nature, could be the beast they fear. His unsuccessful explanation leads to talk of ghosts. But the assembly ends chaotically. 5- Ralph ,piggy and simon are left lamenting the orderly adult-dominated lives they had before coming to the island. 6- After the assembly, all the boys go to sleep. Above them an aerial battle is taking place. A casualty of the battle floats down to the island on his opened parachute. The wind drags the body to rest at the top of the mountain. The breeze inflates the parachute occasionally, making the body appear to sit up and then sink forward again.  7- Samneric, tending the fire on the mountain, catch a glimpse of the body’s movement and hear the parachute inflating.  8-They flee to Ralph in a panic with a story exaggerated by their fear. 9-At dawn, Ralph calls an assembly, where they decide to investigate the only spot on the island left unexplored: the castle-like rock formation at one end. Ralph goes first by himself, followed a few minutes later by Jack. After they establish that the beast is not there, the other boys join them in the castle and want to play there a while. They resist when Ralph announces that they need to all go check on the fire, but he forces the issue and Jack leads the way back up to the fire site.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Jesus the Son of God: Gospel of Luke Essay

According to the book of Luke, Jesus is presented as the savior of both Israel and the whole human race. The birth of Jesus was foretold by Angel Gabriel when he appeared to Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26 – 38). He announced that Mary would give birth to a child whose name would be â€Å"the Son of the Most High†. Since Mary was a virgin she wondered how this would be but the angel told her â€Å"the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you† (Luke 1: 35). Indeed this would be a special birth. Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph who was in the linage of King David. This had to be, in the fulfillment of the Old Testament prediction that Jesus was to be born in the lineage of David. Jesus’ birth happened in Bethlehem, in manger and a great company of heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God (Luke 1: 13) Shepherds came to see the baby at Bethlehem. At a very young age of 12 years Jesus already knew who he was and everyone was amazed at his â€Å"understanding and his answers†. Jesus knew he was the Son of God because after 3 days of search by his parents at Jerusalem they found him at the temple. Upon asking him where he had been, he wondered why they were searching for him yet he was in his Father’s house. (Luke 2:49) Jesus dramatic baptism also went further to prove that Jesus was not an ordinary person. As John the Baptist was baptizing Him, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove and a voice came from heaven declaring â€Å"You are my son whom I love, with you I am well pleased† (Luke 3: 22). Jesus’ lineage revealed that he was in the lineage of Adam who was the Son of God. Satan also was fully aware of the Sonship of Jesus while he was tempting him in the desert. He wanted Jesus if he was the Son of God to turn stones into bread. (Luke 4: 3) It is worth noting that while it took a long time for the people including his disciples to notice that Jesus was the Son of God, the demons or evil spirits could immediately recognize he was indeed the Son of God. (Luke 4: 34, Luke 8: 28). In such instances, the demons identified him as the â€Å"Son of the Holy one of God†. Being the Son of God, Jesus had the power and authority to give orders to evil spirits he was able to perform various miracles including raising some people upon the dead. Simon was the first person to come very close in identifying whom Jesus was, this could be seen when Jesus performed the miraculous catch of fish. Peter was so amazed that he became afraid, realizing who Jesus was. (Luke 5: 8). Jesus also had the authority to forgive sins. It is worth noting that this was very symbolic because no one else could forgive sin apart from the person sinned against, who was God. Throughout his teachings Jesus constantly used parables to teach, no other parable came close to describe him as the Son of God than the parable of the tenants. In this parable, Jesus describes how the owner of the vineyard (God) would send his Son (Jesus) because the people might respect him but they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. This was also a prediction of his death. While Jesus was passing through Jericho, we also see the blind beggar adding another tag to Jesus, Son of David (Luke 19: 38 – 39). This how the people then understood who Jesus was, the son of David. From this account, it seems people only knew him as the son of David. However, Jesus clarified further, who he was. Although he did not say directly, he cleared the air on the issue of whose son he was. He quoted Psalm 110: 11 to indicate that David called the Christ Lord thus Jesus could not be David’s son. During the last supper, Jesus continued to predict his betrayal and death. He intimidated to his disciples that he was conferring the Kingdom to them just as God; his Father had conferred it to him. At the Mount of Olives just before his arrest, Jesus was in anguish and beseeched God his father to take the cup (death on the cross) from him. The cup could not be taken away because his mission had not been accomplished yet. Jesus in most cases also identified himself as the â€Å"Son of Man† (Luke 5: 24, Luke 6: 5, Luke 7: 34). This was another way of saying the son of God. Peter later exactly defined who Jesus was. When Jesus asked his disciples who he was, Peter pointed out that he was â€Å"The Christ of God† to which Jesus retorted that this should strictly not be told to anyone. Jesus in this case perhaps did not want to receive undue attention especially from the establishment because he would turn out to be a threat to the authorities and his mission of seeking and saving those who were lost would not have succeeded. It was after Jesus had sent out the seventy-two who he sent out two by two and they came back full of joy because of their accomplishment, that Jesus for the first addresses God directly as his Father (Luke 10: 21 – 22). Jesus here acknowledges that his Father has committed everything to him, and he reiterates that no one else knows who the Son is except the Father. We learn from here that for anyone to know whom the Son is it has to be revealed to him by the father- God. This is the reason why despite how obvious it was, many people of Jesus’ time including his disciples could not understand who he was. While Jesus could not reveal himself to the people while he was running his ministry, this was to change when he was to come the second time. The ‘Son of Man’ after facing many sufferings will have ‘his day’ which will be ‘like the lightening’ (Luke 17: 22 – 37). After Jesus’ arrest, he was then taken before Pilate and Herod, but before that, the teachers of the law and the chief priests interrogated him to find something to accuse him with. When they asked Jesus who he was, he affirmed indeed he was the Son of god and they found grounds of Blasphemy to pin Jesus with (Luke 22: 66 – 70). By declaring, he was the son of God it meant he was equating himself with God, which was blasphemy. The solders also used this basis to mock him, challenging him if he was the Son of God the ‘Chosen one’ to save himself. After he resurrected a proof that indeed he was the Son of God he ascended to heaven but promised the Holy Spirit who the Father had promised. REFERENCE Scriptures have been taken from the Holy Bible (NIV). 1984 International Bible Society.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Disadvantages of Labor Unions Essay

Ever since their initial establishment, there has been much dispute whether labor unions are a positive or negative social economic force in the United States. There are many disadvantages that labor unions pose on the individual, the organization, and society as a whole. This paper discusses the negative effect of having labor Unions in the United States. The union’s top weapons, strikes, can be self-disastrous. The reason being is that â€Å"employers of striking workers have the legal right to continue to operate their business with permanent replacement employees who need not be discharged once the strike ends.† In this case, employees on strike are not eligible to return since their previous jobs have been occupied. They would then have to wait until there is eventually an employment vacancy, if any. Striking employees also will destroy people’s every day routines and habits. On December 20, 2005, The Transport Workers Union Local 100 in New York City went on strike. New York City Transit Authority personal had observed the strike. The 2005 strike, which took place during the busiest shopping week of the year, had significantly affected the local economy since many people had then chosen to avoid shopping in New York. These shoppers chose to shop online, or postpone shopping. The strike was ended on Tuesday, December 27, 2005. The number of strikes and their effectiveness has decreased tremendously. The following figure from Hunter’s report, taken from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, provides us with the evidence: Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, emphasizes the above in his article â€Å"Where Union Power Lies†. He gives an example of the failed â€Å"air-traffic controllers’ strike during the Reagan administration†. The union in this case was simply not able to prevent the Federal Aviation Administration from employing new workers. Unfortunately, in such instances, unions may tend to violence as a means of eliminating competition. Williams illustrates this during several incidents. Back in 1987, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers struck an Anchorage Alaska utility plant. Non-striking workers were routinely attacked and had their tires slashed. One employee had to move after union members threatened to rape and murder his wife. In his report â€Å"Freedom from Union Violence† released by Cato Institute, David Kendrick, program director at the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, affirms that there have been 8,799 incidents of violence reported since 1975, with only 258 convictions. Obviously this first disadvantage of union representation impacts not only the individual, but the organization through acts of vandalism and society by victimizing innocent people. Another disadvantage of union representation is discussed by Hunter as â€Å"loss of individuality†. When a union is an exclusive employee representative in a workplace, the employees then become part of a collective bargaining unit where the majority rules. This majority may not be concerned with the individual needs or demands of each employee. Individual agreements between employees and management are not allowed because each employee has to deal with the union. After all, members of a union become part of a collective bargaining unit in which the majority rules, regardless of any affiliate’s best interests. Union leaders often operate based on their self-interest, which basically means expanding union membership regardless of the members’ benefits; they do so to gain more power and even enjoy some of the extra money. Hunter states â€Å"Loss of individuality is of prime concern for many employees, as well as the loss of the opportunity to negotiate for themselves an individual arrangement†. Student assistants at Yale asked to be heard as individuals and not part of a union as they didn’t see union representation as beneficial. Hockfield commented â€Å"†¦individual voices are more effective than that of a union.† â€Å"Many faculty members voiced concerns about the implications of unionization, asking questions about strikes, union dues, and the loss of individuality. Loss of individuality is inevitable when labor unions represent a majority. Another disadvantage of union representation that Hunter discusses is â€Å"cost to employees†. Collective bargaining units require all employees to support the union financially as a condition of their employment. â€Å"Federal law provides that employees may, regardless of the language in the agreement, opt not to formally join the union; however, they may still be required to pay certain dues and initiation fees.† Every union member is required to financially support the union by paying dues, and can face penalties that amount to his/her discharge for failing to do so. That is, the union can demand the discharge of any employee who fails to pay required dues and fees, unless a right-to-work law has been enacted in the state where the business operates. The costs of union membership differ but the average Michigan union employee pays hundreds of dollars in dues a year. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, â€Å"In 2007, 30 states and the District of Columbia had union membership rates below that of the U.S. average, 12.1 percent, while 20 states had higher rates.† That means that the average cost to union members is above 12.1%. This union representation can be quite costly to employees and in some cases defeats the purpose of fringe benefits. Other disadvantages of labor unions that Hunter argued is â€Å"Penalties by labor unions† employee can be fined or disciplined for involving in activities that violate union code. Such activities include, but are not limited to: crossing strike picket lines, surpassing set production quotas, and seeking representation by other unions. Unfortunately for union workers, these fines are enforced by the law. This is not the case however for nonunion employees who are exempt from all the declared restrictions. Although Robert Hunter raises excellent points, disadvantages of union representation exceed the individual to adversely affect the society and the economy. With regards to society, Terry Moe, underlines in his article â€Å"EDUCATION: Taking on the Unions† that the teachers’ union have interests that are â€Å"often in conflict with the public interest†. Moe raises the concern that the union does not permit the riddance or even the evaluation of bad teachers, which apparently is not good for the kids and schools. As for the economy and organizations, Thomas Sowell touches on this issue by explaining that union contracts have helped put American automakers at a disadvantage compared to its Japanese competitors, resulting in General Motors â€Å"going from selling about half the cars in the country to selling about one quarter today†. The UAW simply did not exhibit flexibility at a time when change was needed most. The consequences were terrible to the econ omy and organizations like The Auto industry: numerous plants closing, hundreds of thousands of employees being laid off, the moving of plants to states that have no union control, and the moving of plants overseas. From all of the above, it is easy to conclude that labor unions are a negative social economic force in the United States. Unions simply forgot their main purpose of existence which is to be fair to all parties: workers, companies, and the society. Instead, unions have become like businesses interested in maximizing membership count regardless of consequences. That is why the unionized share of the total U.S. labor force has declined tremendously since the 1970s till our present day. According to Richard Vedder, distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, replied in an interview with The Austrian Economics Newsletter by â€Å"Americans now realize that we don’t need labor unions† The continuous decline in union membership over the past years serves only to solidify Vedder’s statement. Also, according to Hunter, â€Å"the labor movement will have to add nearly 700,000 members per year just to maintain its current levels of employee representationâ₠¬ .

Saturday, September 14, 2019

College app Essay

1. Obtain applications. Applications can be obtained online at college websites; downloadable and electronic applications are now available at most college websites. In fact, most colleges now prefer that applicants complete their online application (as opposed to the printable paper application), as it is more efficient for them and for you. Application fees may be waived by some schools if you use the electronic applications. However, if you would like to complete the application by hand, you may obtain a printable version online or by calling, writing, or emailing to request an application and information. Some applications are available in the Career Center (check with Ms. Roth). NOTE: Students are responsible for completing and mailing their college applications, essays, and processing fees to the college to which they are applying. All of your application â€Å"pieces† do not have to be mailed at the same time. As materials are received, the colleges will create â€Å"your† file. After submitting applications, you will want to follow up with each college to make sure that they have received all â€Å"pieces† of your application so that they can begin to evaluate your application. 2. Schedule a Senior Interview with your Counselor. Counselors will be meeting individually with you to discuss your post-graduation plans and to discuss how they can help you with the process and with your plans. If you are applying Early Decision or Early Action schedule a conference in SEPTEMBER. 3. Complete your Activity Sheet, Counselor Recommendation Brag Sheet and Parent Brag Sheets. Pick up the brag sheets and an example of an Activity sheet from your school counselor, Career Center or on Family Connection in the Document Library section. 4. Students must complete an Annandale High School Transcript Request and Release of Records form at least three weeks prior to the college’s application deadline in order to give our student services staff ample time to process your transcript and/or letter of recommendation. This form can be retrieved from Ms. Garman in the Office of Student Services or in the Family Connection Document Library. Once completed and signed by you and your parent, the form should be returned to Ms. Garman along with the following for each college you’re applying to: The college’s Secondary School Report Form (if required), a typed copy of your Activity Sheet, an AHS envelope address to the college’s Office of Admission and TWO stamps. If applying to more than 3 schools a $5. 00 fee is required for each additional school. Once the process is completed, your information will be mailed from our office to the colleges to which you’re applying. 5. Obtain teacher or counselor recommendations. Students should refer to each college’s application to find out how many recommendations are required, if any. Not all schools require a recommendation. For Teacher recommendations, students must give the teacher one self-addressed, stamped envelope for EACH school to which they are applying. The teacher will then mail the recommendation directly to each college. Again, Please be sure to give them at least 3 weeks notice on getting a letter of recommendation out. We recommend that Juniors ask their teachers if they’d be willing to write them a letter of recommendation for college at the end of their Junior year. For Counselor recommendations, students should fill out the Counselor Recommendation Brag Sheet and attach a typed or written Activity sheet or Resume of Activities. In addition, the student’s parent or guardian must fill out the Parent Information Sheet. Please be very detailed when filling out these forms. When finished, these forms should be given to your counselor at least three weeks prior to the college’s application deadline. Please note that your counselor will not write a letter of recommendation until these forms are received and a senior meeting has been held. 6. Register for all admissions tests†¦SAT I, SAT II, ACT, and TOEFL. Fee waivers are available for students who receive free or reduced Lunch. Please ask your school counselor for a test fee waiver. Colleges require that student test scores be sent directly to them via Collegeboard (www. collegeboard. com) or ACT (www. act. org) or TOEFL (www. toefl. org). You may send your scores free of charge to a maximum of 4 schools if they are sent within the designated window of opportunity. You will have to pay a fee for any additional scores sent. 7. Begin Scholarship searches NOW! Do not wait until you have been accepted to college to begin your search for money! A good place to start would be scholarship database in Family Connection under the â€Å"College Tab† if you don’t know where this is, see Ms. Roth in the Career Center. 8. Keep organized. Put each school’s materials in its own folder and create a check list for each application. Identify deadlines!!! Remember that application deadlines and financial aid deadlines are often times different dates. 9. Don’t succumb to Senioritis! Don’t stop working after you have been accepted; you have been accepted to a college provided you finish out your second semester satisfactorily! Colleges are not afraid to change their mind on their decision to accept you. 10. RELAX! DON’T STRESS OUT! If you are, please see your counselor or Mrs. Roth in the Career Center for help with the process.

A Burlesque Biography By Mark Twain English Literature Essay

A Burlesque Biography By Mark Twain English Literature Essay by Mark Twain (1835-1910) Two or three persons having at different times intimated that if I would write an autobiography they would read it when they got leisure, I yield at last to this frenzied public demand and herewith tender my history. Ours is a noble house, and stretches a long way back into antiquity. The earliest ancestor the Twains have any record of was a friend of the family by the name of Higgins. This was in the eleventh century, when our people were living in Aberdeen, county of Cork, England. Why it is that our long line has ever since borne the maternal name (except when one of them now and then took a playful refuge in an alias to avert foolishness), instead of Higgins, is a mystery which none of us has ever felt much desire to stir. It is a kind of vague, pretty romance, and we leave it alone. All the old families do that way. Arthour Twain was a man of considerable note–a solicitor on the highway in William Rufus’s time. At about the age of thirty he went to one of those fine old English places of resort called Newgate, to see about something, and never returned again. While there he died suddenly. Augustus Twain seems to have made something of a stir about the year 1160. He was as full of fun as he could be, and used to take his old saber and sharpen it up, and get in a convenient place on a dark night, and stick it through people as they went by, to see them jump. He was a born humorist. But he got to going too far with it; and the first time he was found stripping one of these parties, the authorities removed one end of him, and put it up on a nice high place on Temple Bar, where it could contemplate the people and have a good time. He never liked any situation so much or stuck to it so long. Then for the next two hundred years the family tree shows a succession of soldiers–noble, high-spirited fellows, who always went into battle singing, right behind the army, and always went out a-whooping, right ahead of it. Thi s is a scathing rebuke to old dead Froissart’s poor witticism that our family tree never had but one limb to it, and that that one stuck out at right angles, and bore fruit winter and summer. Early in the fifteenth century we have Beau Twain, called â€Å"the Scholar.† He wrote a beautiful, beautiful hand. And he could imitate anybody’s hand so closely that it was enough to make a person laugh his head off to see it. He had infinite sport with his talent. But by and by he took a contract to break stone for a road, and the roughness of the work spoiled his hand. Still, he enjoyed life all the time he was in the stone business, which, with inconsiderable intervals, was some forty-two years. In fact, he died in harness. During all those long years he gave such satisfaction that he never was through with one contract a week till the government gave him another. He was a perfect pet. And he was always a favorite with his fellow-artists, and was a conspicuous member o f their benevolent secret society, called the Chain Gang. He always wore his hair short, had a preference for striped clothes, and died lamented by the government. He was a sore loss to his country. For he was so regular.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Immigration consequences of criminal activity Research Paper

Immigration consequences of criminal activity - Research Paper Example Annually, the INS accounts for thousands of criminal investigations. Between the period of 1997 and 2005 approximately 1.5 million people were deported by INS.1 Most are illegal aliens, half of them convicted of drug dealing and drug trafficking. In addition, it was also determined that at least 6 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were in the United States illegally, their visas having previously expired.2 Ultimately, these statistics suggest that illegal immigration has profound effects on the criminal justice system of the United States. History of Immigration and Crime in the United States As a "nation of immigrants," the United States of America and its people have witnessed the issue of immigration transform over time, from general concerns about cheap labor pushing "real Americans" out of jobs to a substantially broader policy concern with much more far-reaching economic and potentially criminal concerns. Although the events of September 11, 2001, have thrust immigration to the fore, official concern about immigration dates back to the mid-19th century. At the close of America's revolutionary period, the nation began to expand westward rapidly. The United States beckoned many settlers with its vast amount of land, temperate climate, and abundance of natural resources. The country had no restrictions on the number and type of people admitted for permanent residence. Agri ­cultural production and farm employment dominated the labor market, and most jobs required little, if any, specialized skills. Evidence suggests that newcomers entered the United States at a status equal to that of the older residents and maintained that status as time passed.3 However, in the late 19th century, United States immigration policy changed as the nation, recovering from its Civil War, began to fear the surge of foreigners pouring in. Several immigration laws passed between 1882 and 1887, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banned certain nationalities from maintaini ng residence in the United States, reflecting some of the early concerns about conflicts over cheap labor. According to proponents of the law, White wage earners could not compete with Chinese, who were willing to live in squalor.4 The act prohibited immigration of persons considered to be "idiots, lunatics, convicts and persons likely to become a public charge"5. Although this statement does not report any specific criminal statistical information, it does suggest the beginning of Americans' concern about the issues of immigration and crime.6 American political policy quickly shifted during the advent of the American industrialization process. It was at this time that increased immigration became of critical importance to the assembly of an urban labor force.7 Newly introduced mechanization procedures required mainly unskilled workers to fill the nation's rapidly expanding urban labor markets. The jobs created during this era typically required little in the way of skill, education , literacy, numeracy, or even fluency in English. The immigrant laborers filling these positions generally lacked these attributes. In fact, a 42-volume U.S. government study issued in 1911 reported that the "new immigrants" (referring to those of the industrial revolution) were less educated, less skilled, and generally less desirable than the "old

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Implementing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Implementing Strategies - Essay Example Implementation mainly involves the activation oaf the strategy and how it will be operating and monitoring of the strategy Organization or the corporate culture is values in terms of the beliefs, experiences and attitudes within an organisation. This involves the steps which are usually taken to achieve the goals in a firm, it more so includes the general guidelines and the steps taken by the members within an organization in reference to all the activities in the organization. It's the senior management which usually determine the corporate culture which further reflects the corporate goals and objectives which are transmitted to the workforce. The identity of o corporate is the image of the firm which is reflected by the relationship of the firm within its self and the external environment which may include the customers, the government and the competitors. Depending with the type of the organization culture existing in a firm, it may affect the implementation and formulation of strategies at different levels this is because in broad-spectrum corporate culture consists of control systems, paradigm, organizational structures, routines and rituals. This is the first stage of strategy formulation, generally the idea is of the strategy is examined from the point of view of whether to go in for the detailed investment of the strategy or not. The organizational structure and identity can affect this process if it holds strategy is likely to affect its identity in the society or not if it's highly recognised. If the strategy is going to have a positive well being to the whole society, it's likely to be adopted. If the power structure in the firm is an democratic one, the strategy will be scrutinized by all the workers involved in the decision making and though is likely to take long period, a good decision is like to be arrived unlike when there is an autocrat form of leadership where by the decisions are made by specific people who can make erroneous decision about the feasibility analysis hence end up making a misguiding decision. Techno-economic analysis In this stage of strategy formulation, the estimation of the strategy demand potential and choice of optimal technology is made. The strategy may be a project to increase the production of goods and services, it's imperative to know the market for such goods and services produced. This gives the strategy a unique individuality and sets stage for detailed designed development. This stage of strategy formulation is evaluated at an economic point of view whether is going to have some long term positive residue to a firm. Depending with the goals of the firm and the myths of the corporate, a strategy may be opposed since its conflicting to the

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Business Report about Dental coverage In Australia Assignment

Business Report about Dental coverage In Australia - Assignment Example The rising problem of getting timely dental treatment and increase in expenditures of the individuals has led to the intervention of the government in terms of increase in fund allocation and grant of licenses to more number of private insurers. The increase in the dental coverage in Australia has led to the rise in availability and affordability of dental care treatment for the people of Australia. The various schemes launched by the government focused on the fissure sealants for children. These are dental treatment procedures where the teeth of the children are covered by a sealed coating in order to prevent damage in future. The fissure salient for children has helped to reduce the carryover of dental problems to adulthood. Various recommendations for addressing the dental problems and role of the dental coverage in Australia have been mentioned. The inclusion of specialized schemes for children in the coverage provided by the private insurers to the Australian people would help t o mitigate the dental problems in future. The awareness programs run in the schools and the communities would help to address the problem in an inclusive manner. Discussion of Contributing Facts Dental coverage and care is associated to the physical, mental and social well being of the children and adults in the society. The Australian system of dental coverage is dominated by 90% of the players representing the private sector. Thus the Australian people tend to remain in the waiting list in terms of receiving timely treatment from the public sector. The rise in the number of patients in the domain of dental care is also due to untimely receipt of dental coverage and treatment from the childhood which is in turn carried over by the time the children grows into matured adults (Australian Dental Association, 2013, p.17). Due to the lack of treatment of the dental problems in the public sector due to shortage of trained medical staffs over a period of time, the major problem generally arise due to dislocation of teeth, inappropriate fitting of dentures, etc. This leads to increase in cost of treatment on dental care for which dental coverage has attained huge significance in the recent times (Consumer Health Forum of Australia, 2012, p.2). A quick look at the contributing facts could provide a clear idea on the scope of dental coverage in Australia. Neglect in dental hygiene in the childhood leading to carryover of dental problems in adulthood. Untimely dental treatment due to increase in waiting list in the public sector (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011, p.34). Increasing cost of dental care due to dislocation of teeth, inaccurate filing of teeth and mistake in fitting of denture. Absence of adequate trained dental staffs in the public sector facilities leading to dependence on the private sector. Discussion of the problem The increase in the cases of dental care, increase in the public sector waiting list for dental treatment and increasing cos t of the Australian people led to the intervention of the government to solve the rising need for dental care and coverage. The expenditure of the government increased from $5.3 billion in 2005-06 to $7.8 billion in 2010-11 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011, p.49). The break-up of the contributions of the governments,

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Job posting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Job posting - Assignment Example The core responsibilities of an administrative assistant include maintaining the workflow in the office and supervising the junior and interns in the office setup. The assistant creates systems and procedures to be implemented in the office. The assistant derives systems and procedures from analyzing office practices, office layout, budgetary requirements, and forms control among other office duties. The administrative assistant also delegates and develops other administrative staff in the office. The assistant provides information on the office such as educational opportunities and opportunities to further their careers. The resolving of administrative problems is also the duty of the assistant; the administrative assistant resolves problems through coordinating reports, data analysis and identifying solutions from the reports. The maintenance of office equipment is also a task of the administrative assistant. The maintenance duties include the calling experts to service the office equipment, keeping an inventory of the equipment periodically and the assessing of new office equipment. The administrative assistant is an employee who knows the workings of the office and has all the answers on matters regarding the office. The Assistant also maintains and improves his or her skills by attending workshops, establishing professional networks and partaking in professional bodies and societies. The education recruitments of an administrative assistant are minimal compared to other jobs. The minimum requirement for this work is GCSE, GED or any other equivalent certification. Proficient computer skills are an added advantage to those pursuing this line of work. Other skills include good telephone skills due to the communicative nature of the work. The job of an administrative assistant operates in an office