Leisure and Recreation in Action Essay

Unit 6: Leisure and Recreation in action is a mandatory part of my AVCE Leisure and Recreation Course. This unit includes planning, organising and hosting a leisure and recreation event. We found out at the end of July 2005 that we were going to have to hold an event for a certain customer group. We would have to decide on this customer group and then brainstorm some ideas for events that we could organise for them. Once we have done this we will have to make a business plan and present it to school officials. Then we would also have to think of advertising the event. Our first meeting included brainstorming different ideas for the event that we could organise. Below is a copy of this brainstorm. Once we had brainstormed the event we wrote down our ideas and put them into a tally table. Once we had done this we went round different classes around the school and asked which event they would prefer to go on. It turned out that the preferred event would be to go to an England football match. We thought that this event would be quite easy to organise, as there were 2 England World Cup qualifier matches coming up. We tried to order the tickets for both of the upcoming matches but found out that our request would be put into a ballot as there were many different groups of people who wanted to go to these matches. We wouldn’t find out if we had succeeded in getting the tickets until 6 weeks before each match. This was a problem, as we would have had to rush organising the rest of the event. E.g. Transport, Customers. We were unsuccessful in getting tickets to either of the matches. This was a blow to us because we had designed posters and already done some organising. We had to decide on another event that would be quite easy and quick to organise. Read more:  When Leisure is Defined as Recreational Activity We decided to organise and host a Senior Citizen Christmas Lunch, as it was near to Christmas. We decided on our customers because we decided that the senior citizens of Darlaston had done a lot for our community, and we wanted to give them something back for their help and support. Our customers would also be ex-employees of our school. This wasn’t even in our list of brainstormed ideas, but with a little help we thought of it. First we had to come up with aims and objectives for our event, and also all other details. We decided on the aims and objectives by thinking about the customers’ wants and needs and also our own. This included finding a venue for the event, finding out if the Senior Citizens would want to come to our event and other aspects such as our budget. We had to consider our budget as we would have to provide the Senior Citizens with a high standard of cuisine, and also provide them with entertainment and make their time with us enjoyable. We found out that the school wouldn’t be able to provide all of our funds for the event, so we had to find a way of making enough money to pay for it. We came up with a number of ideas such as bag packing at ASDA, Football Cards; Guess the number of sweets in a jar and to hold a football tournament. We decided to do the football card because the other ideas would take a while to conduct and also host. The football card was really successful. We had 48 teams and people paid à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1 for a team name, a team name was then picked out of a hat by an unbiased volunteer, and the person who had the name of the team picked out won à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10. From this fund raiser we made à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½38. This was enough to pay for some of the shopping for the event. On our second meeting we had to decide on committee roles for each member of our group. We decided on these roles by looking at everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. These roles are listed below: * Chairperson – Mathew Bayley. As the chairperson Mathew would have to make sure that everyone was doing their jobs right, and if they weren’t then they would have to tell them to try harder. We selected Mathew for this role as he is a strong minded person who everyone listens to * Secretary – Krystle Larkin. As the secretary Krystle takes down notes from each of our meetings and turns them into minutes, then she gives them to us as soon as possible so we know what our weekly jobs are. We selected Krystle for this role as she is the most organised person of the group * Treasurer – Ben Hall. As the treasurer Ben looks after all of our funds and receipts. We selected Ben for this job as he is good with money and knows how to budget money * Marketing Person – Donna Hawkins. As the marketing person it is my job to market the event through invitations and/or posters. I was selected for this job as I have done marketing for 1 year in business and am also quite creative * Staffing/Human Resources – Leigh Griffiths. As the person in charge of staffing it is Leigh’s job to recruit more staff members if we need them. Leigh was selected for this job as he is quite persuasive and also good at deciding on good workers with good character * Health and Safety – Matthew Bray. As the health and Safety person it is Matthew’s job to do a risk assessment of the event. Matthew was selected for this job as he is good at finding out what problems could occur during events We had a good marketing structure which meant we were all on the same level as each other and we were all given fair shares of the jobs. Our management structure is below. I think that the group worked really well together, although there were a few problems along the way. We worked well throughout communication, although because of the stress of organising our event we did argue quite a lot. Mathew Bayley coped really well being our leader. He managed to keep us on track with all of our work and also our set tasks. We interacted well with each other, keeping each other informed on how well we were getting on with our jobs and tasks. There was some tension between myself and Krystle, because we kept getting in each others way and taking over each others jobs. But overall, we worked really well together. As a team we really enjoyed planning and organising the event. Until the day of the event we helped each other with our tasks and also with any problems that occurred with the tasks that we were set. We managed to keep out of each others way most of the time, although there were a few problems and hiccups during the planning and organising of the event. However, apart from the few problems that occurred we all worked well together. Moxhull Hall Hotel I think that our visit to Moxhull Hall Hotel went really well. We had to dress smart to make a good impression on Andreas, the manager, and the rest of his staff at the hotel. We learnt a lot off the chefs at the Hotel, than if we had of prepared meals ourselves. On 7th December 2005 at 11.30am we travelled to Moxhull Hall Hotel. This visit was to help us learn to set up covers and serve our guests properly and also how to prepare food properly. Our group was split up into two teams. These were the front of house team and the catering team. My team (the catering team) were taken into the kitchens and the front of house team was taken into one of the restaurants. First we had to get acquainted with the members of staff who would be helping us. There was John and Neil, the two chefs. They then split us up into two teams of four. One of the teams went with John, whilst my team stayed with Neil. We were allocated different jobs. I had to mix up the flour, butter and sugar to make the dough for the mince pies that we were going to cook. My group also had to make a salad, potato salad and also coleslaw. We had to chop up the vegetables from fresh and then mix them up with mayonnaise to make the coleslaw and potato salad. We had cooked this meal for our and the rest of the group’s lunch. Once we had finished cooking for the group we then had to clean the side units and table tops that we had gotten dirty whilst preparing the food. The day of the event We started the day of the event by meeting up at our school at 8.15 and collected all of the equipment and accessories that we needed. We then walked up to the venue of our event and started to set up our equipment. The front of house staff set up the main hall and the kitchen staff, which consisted of me, Matthew Bray, Leigh Griffiths and 2 other helpers from a year 11 leisure and tourism class, went into the kitchen to set up. We took all of the food into the kitchen and started to prepare the food. We all washed our hands first and also washed up the saucepans and cooking utensils that we would need. I had to prepare the parsnips, while Matthew and Leigh prepared the carrots. Reagan and Emily prepared the sprouts whilst Mrs Lavender prepared the potatoes. Below is a photograph of me peeling the parsnips After we had prepared the food and put it on the stoves to cook we had to tidy up and clean the sides. We also had to set out the small plates for the starter. We decided to do a prawn cocktail for the started and while the main course was cooking I prepared the prawns whilst the others tidied up and washed up any bowls and cutlery we had used. Below is a photograph of me preparing the prawns After preparing the prawns and setting them out on the plates the front of house staff came through to collect the starters and serve them to our guests. When our guests had finished eating the plates were brought back in and the main meal was served. It was my job to serve the sprouts, as the picture at the side shows. Once the plates had been taken out then we had to wash up the starter plates and prepare the desert. Because 2 of our guests were diabetic we couldn’t serve them the traditional dessert of Christmas pudding and custard, so we served them a variety of cheese and biscuits instead. Once all of the food had been served the washing up and clearing away had to be done. This was done whilst the front of house staff were setting up the entertainment equipment. The washing up and cleaning away was done by all of us in turn. Below is a photo of me cleaning the sides of the kitchen Once all of the cleaning and washing up had been completed we had to go and get changed into our front of house uniforms. We did this because we were going out the front to the guests to help with the entertainment. Below is a picture of me in my front of house uniform Our first lot of entertainment was a few games of bingo. Ben was the caller for the bingo, and the rest of us helped our guests with the games. After the games of bingo we had a few different quizzes that some of the group had composed. These were played in teams of two. After the quizzes had been completed we then played a game of catchphrase, which was performed by Leigh and Ben. The quizzes and the bingo went down really well with the senior citizens, as did the game of catchphrase. After the entertainment was finished it was time for the guests to go home. While Mathew Bayley and Leigh were seeing the guests out the rest of us started tidying away the tables and chairs and all of the equipment that we had used. This took about 20 minutes to do. Afterwards we had to take all of the equipment back to the school and pack it all away. Overall the day went extremely well. There were a few problems, such as 2 people turning up early and uninvited. Also the cooking utensils from the venue went missing, so I had to go home to get some from my house that we could use. All of the entertainment went down well and the meal was enjoyed by all of the senior citizens. The atmosphere of the venue was really good and Christmassy too, which made us and the guests feel good about ourselves, and also really happy with each other. This made us better people to be around and we worked better together because of this. Improvements If we were to do this event again then I would recommend making some improvements. We would have to make sure that people didn’t turn up uninvited. Because of this we had to make room for extra people and also share the food out more than we thought we would have to. I also think that we could have made more money from the fund raising. We could do two fund raising events to make double the amount of money so we don’t have to struggle so much keeping within our budget. I also think that we could improve the attitudes of the extra staff that we recruited. The year 11’s that worked in the kitchen didn’t pull their weight and they stopped working for a chat at anytime they could. We had to keep telling them to get back to work. I think that we could split them up and make them work with one of our group to keep them in check and stop them from slacking off. I also think that we could improve the running smoothness of the quizzes. We did have 4 quizzes, so we had to do them quickly. However, some of the guests thought that the quizzes were read out too slow and the others thought that the quizzes were read out too fast. We could improve this by practising how to read out loud to guests properly. I think that we could also use a bigger venue. Everyone did seem quite cramped up and there was not much room to move about in the kitchen area either. The kitchen was small and there were 6 people in there all together. This made it very cramped and quite uncomfortable for us to work in. I think that we should also only have 2 courses instead of 3 if we do the event again. Originally we had only planned to do two courses, but the manager of Moxhull Hall Hotel gave us some prawns to make a starter as he knew our budget was limited. We thought that this was a nice gesture, but we should have checked if any of our guests were allergic to seafood. It turned out that one of our guests was allergic to seafood, so she didn’t get to have starter. She did state on her invitation reply that she was allergic to seafood but they weren’t checked properly, so in future we would have to make sure that we checked the invitations more than once. I think that the project was successful. We kept to our objectives throughout the planning the event and also conducting it. We worked well as a team throughout the event, with only a few arguments occurring. We found solutions to possible problems, such as the arguments and also problems with decorating the venue. We provided our guests with a high standard of cuisine and entertainment. We know this from the witness statements that they produced for us. We all enjoyed the experience and we provided the elderly with a memorable event. We know that we enjoyed it from talking to each other and finding out what we thought went good and bad on the day. We know that our extra staff enjoyed themselves too, as we found out when we questioned them about it. We know that our guests enjoyed the experience from the positive comments we had, witness statements, our guests facial expressions on the video and also one of the guests took the time to write in to the local newspaper about how much she enjoyed the event. This statement was sent into the newspaper by Mrs Doris Robertson. These are all included in my work. We came in on budget, but we had to keep things to a minimum and also add a few extra pounds ourselves to buy the prizes for the quizzes. I think that if this event is done again then more fund raising could be done. This way products will be brought comfortably without any worry of not having enough money to buy the necessities for the meal. Customers were satisfied with the event and we have the proof of this from witness statements. Such quotes include ‘ very polite, willing and helpful. All cheerful and pleasant’ and also ‘ very good meal†¦ efficient service all round’. The ambience of the venue worked really well with event. We made the venue look Christmassy by putting up decorations and we also played Christmas music into the hall where the meal was to be served. All of the front of house staff were dressed professionally in black trousers, white blouse/shirt and a black bow tie. Once the kitchen staff came out, we also changed into smart, professional clothing. Good things of the event included: * Making the senior citizens happy and cheerful * Giving ourselves the satisfaction of making other people happy * Everything running quite smooth * Positive feedback from the guests and members of staff Bad things of the event included: * Venue being too small * Extra people turning up * One member of the kitchen team turned up late * I had to go home to get some cooking utensils as the ones from the venue were missing

Split Cherry Tree

The short story, Spilt Cherry Tree, was written by Jesse Stuart. In the beginning of the story, Dave and his classmates went with Professor Herbert on a field trip for biology class. They were all searching for lizards, bugs, snakes, frogs, flowers, and plants. Dave and five of his classmates had spotted a lizard in the old cherry tree up the hill, so all six of them ran up the tree after it, and the tree broke down. Eif Crabtree, the owner of the tree was plowing when it happened and he ran up and go tall the boys’ names. Dave’s five classmates who broke the tree with him were all able to get the dollar that they owed Mr. Crabtree, but Dave knew he wouldn’t be able to get his. Professor Herbert kept Dave after school and told him that he paid Dave’s dollar, but he would have to work four hours at the school to earn the full dollar, which means he would be getting paid twenty-five cents and hour to help the janitor. Dave really didn’t mind staying after school, but he knew that he would get a whipping from his father if he was two hours late getting home. Dave told Professor Herbert that he would rather have the professor whip him with a switch so he could go on home and help his dad with chores because he knew his dad would whip him if he was two hours late. Dave was also afraid that his father would make him quit school because he was a little old fashioned and didn’t understand the school system of that time. Split Cherry Tree The short story, Spilt Cherry Tree, was written by Jesse Stuart. In the beginning of the story, Dave and his classmates went with Professor Herbert on a field trip for biology class. They were all searching for lizards, bugs, snakes, frogs, flowers, and plants. Dave and five of his classmates had spotted a lizard in the old cherry tree up the hill, so all six of them ran up the tree after it, and the tree broke down. Eif Crabtree, the owner of the tree was plowing when it happened and he ran up and go tall the boys’ names. Dave’s five classmates who broke the tree with him were all able to get the dollar that they owed Mr. Crabtree, but Dave knew he wouldn’t be able to get his. Professor Herbert kept Dave after school and told him that he paid Dave’s dollar, but he would have to work four hours at the school to earn the full dollar, which means he would be getting paid twenty-five cents and hour to help the janitor. Dave really didn’t mind staying after school, but he knew that he would get a whipping from his father if he was two hours late getting home. Dave told Professor Herbert that he would rather have the professor whip him with a switch so he could go on home and help his dad with chores because he knew his dad would whip him if he was two hours late. Dave was also afraid that his father would make him quit school because he was a little old fashioned and didn’t understand the school system of that time.

Clark International Airport Corporation Essay

Abandoning the largest U.S. Air Force Base outside of the continental United States back in 1991 was not an easy task for America. Given the countless industrial/commercial buildings, residential quarters, officers homes, manicured golf courses, road network, two, huge 3.2-kilometer parallel runways capable of landing the space shuttle and over 100 years of U.S. occupation, it quite-possibly would have been easier to pull all the teeth of the resident Generals on-base than to abandon all that Clark Air Base had become to the U.S. Military. This decision to evacuate was not made unilaterally though. Mt Pinatubo had a say in the matter spewing a thick blanket of ash throughout the base. The Philippine Senate also had its input regarding the 100 year U.S. occupation, and, during September 1991, convinced America to turn its back on billions of dollars of infrastructure when they rejected the ratification of the RP-US Military Bases Agreement. Numerous reasons were given for the rejection of this treaty. This was a destructive blow to the Aquino administration, which was very-strongly in favor of maintaining the treaty and the presence of the U.S. Military with its economic benefit to the country. She even called for a referendum by the Filipino people that was later determined as unconstitutional. Several years later, the former US Air Force Military Airlift Wing is now experiencing some major and exciting transformational processes, all without the presence or assistance of a super power. Since 1996, as a subsidiary of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), the runways, airport buildings, infrastructure and surrounding areas of this former military installation is managed by and in the capable-hands of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC). From the beginning of the transformation, CIAC has provided the organizational and management arm for the daunting job of transforming a former military airfield into a world-class international airport and logistics hub. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in recognition of her father and former president of the Philippines, renamed the facility, Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA). Today it stands in honor to her father’s past administration and as a bright hope to current and future generations as a newly revitalized Philippine gateway, providing sustained commercial, industrial and tourism growth in the face of a new world economy. From humble beginnings in 2003 of only 7,880 international passengers, to over half a million passengers making their way through DMIA in 2007, this airport is an overwhelming success story in all of Asian airport history. As the long-term plans for this facility to be the premier gateway of the Philippines progress, projected estimates range from 20 million to 40 million passengers passing-through the new DMIA annually at fruition of the project. On October 29, 2003, Asiana Airlines had the honor to be the first airline to established international flights in and out of Clark. These flights brought tourists and businessmen to and from Incheon, South Korea. This initiated a new wave of international flights that has blossomed-forth ever since. Some of the international destinations currently being serviced from DMIA include Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Macau, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul Korea. Cebu, Caticlan are the current domestic travel offerings at Clark Airport. South Korean tourists began to discover the Philippines, and specifically, Clark and Subic Bay in ever-growing numbers. In fact, according to the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT), today they constitute the leading group of tourist by nationality in the Philippines. According to the DOT, the number of business and pleasure travelers is on the rise in the Philippines with South Korean leading the pack. For the entire country in 2006, South Korea lead the arrival numbers reaching 572,133 while the U.S. was second with 567,355 and then Japan with 421,808. For the following year, 2007, South Korea once again lead the arrival numbers reaching 653,310, a 14.2% increase, while the U.S. was second with 578,983, a 2% increase and Japan with 395,012, a 6.4% decrease. The fastest growing arrivals percentage-wise between 2006 and 2007 were from China and Malaysia. These countries posted arrival increases of 18.0% and 23.3% respectively. Chinas arrivals in the Philippines in 2007 were at 157,601 while Malaysia’s were 65,695. Growth is one thing, but maintaining quality and performance in the face of tremendous growth is an accomplishment worth taking note. Two consecutive world-class awards from two different organizations speak volumes of an organization’s efforts. In 2006 DMIA was awarded the â€Å"Low Cost Airport of the Year award from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA). Then, in 2007, DMIA was awarded the prestigious â€Å"Airport of the Year† award by Frost and Sullivan, at the Asia Pacific Aerospace and Defense Awards Banquet in Singapore. Formulated in 1961, Frost and Sullivan maintain over 26 offices worldwide, and is a major, respected global research company. The company fields a staff of over 1,500 employees, with job titles ranging from economists, market researchers and technology analysts. These analysts and researchers are focused on the industries of aerospace, defense, energy, transportation, environmental-issues, technology, chemicals, food, power systems and more. It looks like CIAC is entirely-focused and performing above and beyond the call of duty in their determination to witness the realization of DMIA becoming the premier gateway of the Philippines. Exciting plans abound for the long-term prospectus of the Clark Freeport and DMIA. After 15 years of conflict and negotiations with the indigenous Aeta people of the region, CDC has acquired 10,000 hectares of new expansion land area. CDC now has a total of almost 28,000 hectares of contiguous, raw land to work with and put to productive use over the next couple of decades. The Clark governing body has designating a new, modern, 21st Century city to be built from scratch in the combined areas comprising existing and new land acquisitions in and around the Clark Freeport. Aeropolis is the named assigned this modern, Aviation-focused, master-planned, multi-use mega-city/mega-region. CDC already has in a master-plan set-aside for Aeropolis comprised of 4,400 hectare main-zone and a 27,600 hectare sub-zone centered on an aviation-driven urban center that will be ideally suitable to high-end IT, airport-industries, logistics-related enterprises, agro-industries and tourism. This type of long-term, far-sighted planning translates to exponential airport-related arrivals/departures and the ongoing future success of the Clark Airport as a major player in the world economy for many decades to come. Departure Procedure Step 1 – Entry Check * Here is where a pax join the first queue – the airport entrance queue. * Before a pax can enter the building they must show both of their passport and airline ticket, so they must have them ready. * Now is a good time to remove metal objects from their pockets or purse and place them in their hand carried luggage that will be x-rayed. These items include watches, pens, cell phones, and coins – anything that will trigger the metal detector. Doing this early will save delays later. * Once they have shown their passport and ticket they will have to place their entire luggage on the x-ray conveyor belt before walking through the metal detector. Step 2 – Airline Check-in * If all goes well they can collect their luggage and proceed to their airline check-in counter. * They should expect huge queues so they must get there early. * While waiting in the check-in queue they must prepared to have their baggage sniff tested for explosives. * After checking in and getting their boarding pass they can now proceed to the departure area – but their queuing is not yet over. Step 3 – Pay Departure Tax/ Terminal Fee * Before entering the departure area they must show their passport and boarding pass. Once cleared they can now go to the counter where they will pay their departure tax and terminal fee. This terminal fee is currently 150 pesos for domestic and 450 pesos for international per passenger. * At the counter they must give the counter operator their boarding pass and the money. She will return their boarding pass along with a receipt. Step 4 – Immigration Clearance * The next step is Immigration Clearance. They must present their passport and boarding pass. Step 5 – Security Check * The next queue is at the security check. Once again pax must make sure to have taken all metal objects out of their pockets or purse. They can either place those in their hand carry bag or in a plastic tray that the security people will provide. * Make sure they adhere to the currency export limits for both Philippine pesos and foreign currencies. * After they have gone through the metal detector they can collect their bags and the tray with their personal effects, and then they can proceed into the departure area. Step 6 – Departure Gate Check * If they think they have stood in the last queue they may be disappointed. Depending on their airline there may be one more security check. This will be as they enter the departure gate area. This check is just a routine and quick check of they and their hand carried bag. Step 7 – Passport Boarding Check * Again, depending on the airline, they may have to show both their boarding card and their passport as they board the aircraft. If so, they must be ready and have their passport open at the photo page. Arrival Procedure Step 1 – Quarantine/ Immigration Procedures * Pax must have their passport ready to complete quarantine and immigration procedures. Foreign travelers will need to fill out an arrival card. Step 2 – Baggage Claim * They must check the information board for the name of their airline and flight no. and collect their baggage from the appropriate carousel. If they cannot find their baggage, they must show their baggage claim tag to the airline service representative and ask for assistance. Step 3 – Customs Inspection * Pax must take their baggage and proceed to Customs Inspection. If they have items to declare complete the necessary procedures at the appropriate counter. Step 4 – To the Arrivals Lobby / Meet Greet * They will proceed to the arrivals lobby which is the convenient place to meet friends and families. My 50 Days of Experience I have learned a lot in my 50 days of experience at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport especially with the Airport Operation Department staff. I don’t even knew the existence of the airport operation before. But now after being a part of this department just even for a while I have realized the importance and the role of it. Airport Operation Department has a big role in running an airport. It is like the main ingredient in a recipe and the heart of a body system. Without it an airport cannot be called an airport terminal because they are the one who keep safety and security excellence as the first priority, they develop a better airport for the future by taking advantage of emerging market opportunities, they operate an efficient airport dedicated to exceptional customer service, they broaden and increase the airport’s revenue base to ensure on-going viability, and they maintain strong relationships with â€Å"neighbors†, communities, and industries. Being a part of it is not really easy because it is too broad. But thanks to our leaders who made us understand our role and made us feel that we are really a part of the Airport Operation Department even though we are just OJTs.

Nesting Strategy of Active Directory for Riordan Manufacturing Essay

Nesting Strategy of Active Directory for Riordan Manufacturing - Essay Example Universal Groups - These are formed in the forest comprising of multiple trees (that is, multiple domains). The users assigned in universal groups can get privileges on any domain within the forest. Universal groups can also incorporate other universal groups and global groups within the same forest. Domain Local Groups - These are formed within the same domain in a tree. These can incorporate users from any domain within the forest (provided trust relationships are in place) and can also incorporate the other universal groups, global groups and local groups of the same domain. The difference between groups in organizational units (OUs) is that the groups comprises of users & groups while the OUs comprises of users and computers. The purpose of groups is to assign privileges to users pertaining to networked resources while the purpose of OUs is to use Group Policy Organization (GPO) to apply security & other configuration settings. All groups proposed herewith are security groups. The business framework of Riordan Manufacturing has two locations having corporate functions - Corporate HQ and China. The Corporate HQ has Finance, HR, Marketing and Corporate groups and China has Finance QA and corporate groups. The corporate functions will need access to resources of all locations and department functions as appropriate. In this context the following policies are proposed: (a) The corporate HQ governance functions shall have access rights everywhere on the active directory. (b) The China governance functions shall have access rights in China and Corporate business areas. (c) The QA function in China would govern quality control activities across the group and hence shall have access right everywhere on the AD. (d) All other users shall have access rights within their respective departments/locations. To support the above policies, the following Nesting Strategy has been proposed for Riordan Manufacturing: Primary Domain: Riordan.com Domain Local Groups: Corporate, Corporate R&D, Pontiac and Albany Child Domain: China.Riordan.com Domain Local Groups: China Corporate, China MFG and China MTLS. The Local groups

Wind Tunnel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wind Tunnel - Essay Example Moreover, the drag ought to oppose force within the opposite direction in order maintain or escalates the velocity of the object. The drag on the body resulted from pressure drag and corresponding friction drag. Pressure drag normally emanates from the disturbance of the new flow stream as it passes the prevailing body thus developing the turbulent wake. Pressure drag relies on the roughness of the surface, shape of the prevailing body coupled with the Reynolds number of the flow and the corresponding effect of supplementary body. The pressure relies on the prevailing roughness of the surface, the shape of the objects, the underlying Reynolds number of the existing flow coupled with the influence of the supplementary of the body. Moreover, the friction drag is normally measured for the objects moving at the flow velocity within the vicious that results to extremely low Reynolds numbers. In case the fluid stream flows of the body corresponds to the surface of the prevailing body, the boundary layer segregates the surface resulting formed from the turbulent. The net force from the pressure drag is normally developed from the pressure of the relatively lower stagnation location of the body. Moreover, the pressure drag is dimisheshed in case the separation takes place on the back due to the occurrences of the corresponding reduction. The drag is designated as 22 when the drag force is 22 where is d designates drag force ( N), and Cd depicting drag coefficient . The density of the underlying medium is expressed as Si Unit of kg/ m3. The velocity of the object is designated as V and projection area. The firs specimen was mounted on the open hemisphere within the wind tunnel struts offered on the three components balance. The zero mark was adjusted to the position of the counter balance weights till the bubbles within the spirits levels were centralized with the underlying jockey. The wind tunnel was started and the dial was adjusted

The differences between xbox 360 and playstation 3 Essay

The differences between xbox 360 and playstation 3 - Essay Example PS3 has the ability to output a higher resolution signal than Xbox 360 as gaming has become a norm and a much favored option on PS3 than on the Microsoft model. PS3 offers two HD outputs as it helps enormously in multitasking. As far as the memory is concerned, Xbox 360 has around 20GB which is close to 5000 songs on an iPod. While PS3 users need to buy a hard drive at the pay point. When it comes to music, both PS3 and Xbox 360 offer surround sound with Dolby 5.1. Sony PS3 has the feature of supporting seven different controllers, being quite different from Xbox 360’s range. The other differences between Xbox 360 and PS3 include the fact that PS3 has the capacity to support far more players in the room than Xbox 360 which could support only four at a time. Both the machines support Internet access and playing online is a worthwhile option. The graphics of Xbox 360 are better when one compares them to PS3 since the lighting seems more realistic in Xbox 360. Also brightness within Xbox 360 gives a sense of realism more than the PS3 machine. The power differences between the two machines seem to suggest that PS3 has more power on paper than in essence. The technical differences between Xbox 360 and PS3 come down to the graphics and resolution differences, where the advanced one takes the lead over the other. However these differences have meant time and again that users from territorial locations have seemed to enjoy one over the other ever since these machines came into the respective

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

It 1 - Essay Example Furthermore, experts in the IT sector require prior knowledge in business strategies and the technological sector. Therefore, IT management is about management because in all business entities, management usually involves togetherness to accomplish certain objectives using available resources. I think that IT experts have a clear understanding of the business better than other individuals in the business sector. In fact, IT experts have the ability to gain a better understanding of the business. It is quite clear that there is no other department in the business sector which interacts with diverse parties as compared to the IT sector. In fact, in the contemporary world, most activities usually require IT information and skills. This has been significantly attributed to the development in technology. Research asserts that business knowledge and technical knowledge should be merged together to improve the overall functioning of the company. If the business experts and the technological individuals share knowledge, communication can be enhanced significantly in the company. This affirms that the overall performance of a company can be improved by the business manager and the IT experts (Austin, Nolan, and O’Donnell 11). According to Barton, it is quite evident that business knowledge and technical knowledge should be merged together. According to the context, the capability gap is depicted by two hills and a valley between them. One of the hills represents the executive side while the other side represents IT leaders. The executives are supposed to acquire enough understanding of a business to become effective IT experts. This capability gap is brought about by the fact that business executives lack knowledge in IT management. Lack of communication between the business executives and the IT department has also contributed to the capability gap. Barton explains that it is difficult to bridge the

City Council Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

City Council Paper - Essay Example Motorist ought to be offer with relatively safer, smoother and structurally sound roadway system. This will reduce the traffic congestion on the road. Even though an inconvenience to the daily routines, road construction is fundamental to ensuring that the underlying motorists are offered with safer and functional roads. The pressing issue and reason for the present traffic congestion rests on the underlying want of the citizenry to understand and exercise substitute method of transportation. In progressive towns such as Bloomington, citizens with vision of future possess the capability of raising the consciousness of the status quo (Black, pp34-87). Bloomington residents have interest in the present alternative Transportation by offering bicycling community with a network of user friendly commuter lines and paths. The City Planning Department ought to be swift in offering bicycle commuter lines on under advanced tracts of land, develops an opportunity to enhance alternative transpor tation, recreation and preserving open space corridors. Nevertheless, large scale efforts demand coordination at all the prevailing levels of administrative coupled with comprehensive planning vision. The achievement of the underlying vision does not merely end at the quality of life issues. Comprehensive alternative transportation and recreation plans will promote economic advancement (Black, pp34-87). The city is aware of the inherent value that such strategy might have on the marketing Bloomington, tourism and strengthening economic advancement. The problem of sustainability of the Transportation Alternative such as bicycle paths have rise numerous and diverse interests. Sustainable development will only be achieved when Bloomington implement an effective alternative transportation strategy for its citizens. Nevertheless, the effective process of such projects that can sustain development is still skeptical. The considerable strive

Managing Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Managing Sustainability - Essay Example And the human economy is a subsystem of this biosphere. From the session I came to know that according to the neo-classical concept, the market system is considered to be the preferred institution for allocating scarce resources. The market system accomplishes this wonderful feat using prices as a means of gauging resource scarcity. In sharp contrast to the Malthusians, neoclassicists believe that economic growth, through increases in per capita income and improvements in technology, provides solutions for both environmental and population problems. In other words, the solution to environmental and population problems is more, not less, economic growth. It was quiet evident to me that according to Malthusian doctrine of resource scarcity and economic growth, technology is not the ultimate escape from the problem of resource scarcity from which I agree to some extent but it doesn’t means that we should stop economic growth. Human beings have a natural propensity for self-destru ction while critics consider that the Malthusian predictions of economic collapse are unwarranted and moreover not helpful politically. In the neoclassical economics I came to know that resources are generally considered to be fungible. On that point I agree to the criticism that the link between the flow of matter–energy in the economic system and the natural environment is very much ignored. From my point of view, economic growth and technological advances should be viewed not as problems in themselves – the way Malthusians tend to view them, but as cures for stresses involving population, resources, pollution, and other environmental damages which were rectified to some extent in ecological economics. According to ecological economics, systems are complex, adaptive, living systems that need to be studied as integrated, co-evolving systems in order to be adequately understood (Costanza et al. 1993). Here, the human economy is viewed as a subsystem of the natural ecos ystem. The nature of the exchanges of matter and energy between the ecosystem and economic subsystem is the primary focus of ecological economics (Ayres 1978; Pearce 1987). Except for information, the natural ecosystem is the ultimate source of all material inputs for the economic subsystem. In this sense, then, nature can rightly be regarded as the ultimate source of wealth. In Sustainable development economics we studied three different conceptions of sustainability, namely Hartwick–Solow sustainability, ecological economics sustainability and the safe minimum standards (SMS) sustainability. Ecological economics presumes that the sustainability of ecological systems is a prerequisite to sustainable human economic development, and it views human and natural capital as complements. Market failures can happen when the benefits of natural or social capital depletion are privatized and the costs are often externalized. When natural capital is undervalued by society since we are not fully aware of the real cost of the depletion of natural capital then also market failures happen. Information asymmetry can also result in market failure when the link between cause and effect is obscured, making it difficult to make informed choices. From the session I agree to the view of Boulding (1966) â€Å"

Buddhist art at Asian art Museum in SF Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Buddhist art at Asian art Museum in SF - Essay Example The architectural designs of the walls and lights bring anyone inside into a time of serenity and ancient civilization which Buddhism stand for. The pillars are arranged parallel to the series of time warps inside the whole journey in the museum. Each segment inside the museum depicts a historical time that attributed to the living conditions of each country under the Buddhism religion. For example one of the artifacts that peeked my interest during visit in the Asian Museum was the artifact entitled "Bodhisattva crossing over". This artifact is made from nephrite (also known as jade) which size comprise of: Height 9 in x Width 6 1/2 in x Diameter 3 in, Height 22.9 cm x Width 16.5 cm x Diameter 7.6 cm. This jade carving was made from the time of Chin Dynasty in China. For our information, Qin Dynasty is one of the most influential and greatest dynasty in China headed by Emperor Qin Hwang Ti. During this time, arts have been one of the most precious means of depicting arts to preserve and foretell the significance of this dynasty during that time. Nephrite or much known as Jade is a precious stone (a green colored stone, which is uniquely made). Jade is considered to be one of the most precious stones every used in China, especially during the ancient times. To be able to create a form in jade one needs to patiently polish in order to create depth and form. This symbolical artifact used a significant precious stone to share to the world and to people that during the Qin Dynasty, Buddhism is the most significant religion ever followed by most people in China. The image in this artifact is intricately done because each curve, shapes and depth formed the message of the piece. The top portion of the artifact is shaped form like a cave, which the depth of the piece has generally created a distinct image of a person inside a cave. The bottom of the artifact is series of layered curved like waves forming which symbolically moving towards the right side (facing the artifact). In addition to the bottom portion of the artifact, the curves as mixed with various sizes (big and small currents); that also is mixed with stoned form enveloping the waves in each side. The middle part of the artifact is slimmed down in size, which adds another form and balance into the whole piece. The middle portion contains an image of a person, who is believed to be Buddha (or known as the enlightened one). The image of Buddha in the artifact is standing on top of the big and strong currents and as he is also enveloped above by the cave forming stones. The balance in t his artifact is blended with a piece of branches with tiny leaves growing in each of its edges. Buddha's gown was curved finitely creating a gentle movement of alternating flowing of the cloth as it follows the blowing wind. Chinese arts developed every dynasty. Each century or decade, the art and literature of China embodies the depth, symphony and music that each creator and artist have appreciated and grateful for. Buddhism in this creation is highly looked up and followed by everyone. Sakaymuni Buddha or Sidharhta (as he was commonly known for) has a lot of divine teachings to which

Business Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Business Economics - Essay Example This essay stresses that government policy influences the main circulation of money in the economy. The annual budget shows opportunities and threats for our manufacturing industry. This is because it enables us to know the sectors of the economy that is being encouraged and those areas that are being discouraged. Through this, we can make decisions about how to distribute our scarce resources and also pay our obligations to the state in a way and manner that suits our best interest. Microeconomics is about the elements of demand and supply and it studies trends and patterns in consumer decision-making in a given industry. This paper makes a conclusion that the presence of state-owned firms that have the objective of improving the lives of people implies that our manufacturing company will do quite well in China because we will be up in competition against entities that are not positioned to compete as aggressively as other UK entities around the world. Hence, we have an advantage in China and the propensity to attain better results and achieve better successes than our competitors, the SOEs of China. locating our business in China gives us the chance to get lower operation costs. This is because the costs of doing business in China are low due to the current economic policy which encourages businesses from overseas to set up their operations in China. Hence the knowledge of the Chinese macro-economy and the current economic policy will be a plus for us in dealing with our expansion policy.

Kite Runner Essay Essay Example for Free

Kite Runner Essay Essay Betrayal lingers like a curse, haunting its way into consciousness, injecting its poison of despair and loneliness. The action of Betraying is mostly associated with hate. However, there are some exceptions. Betrayal is not always done by evil people neither it is necessarily a closed end to a strong relationship between individuals. In khaled Hosseini’s novel The kite Runner, it is illustrated through character and setting the situations where betrayers were put under hard situations which causes them to commit actions that oppose their ethics. The goodness that exists in betrayers’ hearts in this novel indicates how everything can be betrayed, but hate could still be replaced by love. In the novel, the relationship status between individuals and the situations involved the betrayal were illustrated through character. Even though Baba betrayed his friend Ali when he slept with his wife, the relationship between Baba and Ali stayed the same due to Baba’s morality and love for his childhood friend. This is indicated when Baba said â€Å"He is staying here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we are his family. †(Page 95). Throughout the novel, Baba is portrayed as generous, kind and loyal person. However, his betrayal to Ali created an oxymoron between his loyalty and betrayal. Despite his treachery to Ali, Baba’s morals continued to be alive and his love for Ali continued to be brotherly . In other words, the betrayal did not end the strong relation ship that was built between Ali and Baba throughout the years. This is because the actions committed by Baba don not reveal to his evilness or hate to Ali. It was the human desire that conquered his mind and led him to perform a disloyal action and a mistake that he paid the price for. Baba believed that there is always a chance for redemption and forgiveness as long is there is an existence of conscience. That is why he treated Ali as part of the family and insisted to have them living by him forever to prove that betrayal is not the death of loyalty. Also, Hassan’s reaction toward Amir’s betrayal shows that friendship and love beat betrayal and protects a strong relationship from collapse. Hassan demonstrates this when he confessed that he stole even though he did not as Baba asks â€Å"Did you steal that money and Amir’s watch† â€Å"Yes† Hassan replied. (page111). The heavy blow of betrayal was when Amir planted a watch and money in Hassans mattress to drive him away from his home. This was very harsh for Hassan but his innocence, devotion and sweet heart caused him to prevent the erasing of beautiful memories between two intimate friends. That is why he decided to admit something that he didn’t carry out. This proves the disloyalty is not the end of a strong relationship since Hassan kept respecting and loving Amir after he was betrayed by him. Furthermore, Amir’s betrayal to Hassan is not the result of Amir’s evilness or hate for Hassan, but it is the outcome of Amir’s felling of guiltiness. Therefore, the characters and in this novel changed the common idea that suggests how betrayal is done by sinful people which as result leaves the relationship in disappear. The novelist emphasizes the factors that cause people to betray each other despite their goodness though the setting. The story takes place in Afghanistan where Hazaras were persecuted which led Baba to betray both of Amir and Hassan by hiding the truth regarding their brotherhood. The suffering of Hazaras in Afghanistan is mentioned at the beginning in the book when the novelist said â€Å"Pashtuns had quelled Hazaras with unspeakable violence. †(page9). This quote indicates that anything associated with Hazaras was treated cruelly and forbidden in Afghanistan. That is why Baba could not admit that Hassan the Hazara is his son. If he told the truth, many conflicts could have developed and fanatical people in Afghanistan could have harmed Hassan. Baba’s conscience made him remember everyday that the biggest sin he has done is hiding the truth from people who have the right to know that truth. This indicates that Baba’s lie does not refer to his evilness, but it indicates his consciousness of the place he was surrounded in. In Afghanistan, blood at that time was everywhere and death of Hazaras was everyday’s scene. Amir became very upset after finding the truth. Nevertheless, the betrayal caused by Baba did not lead Amir to hate his father, but he tried to seek reasons for why his dad has done that. Moreover, the miserable and most exclusive betrayal of Hassan in the novel done by Amir signifies how even if the betrayal destroys the victim, the betrayer might not be evil and the victim could still have no hate for the betrayer. This is shown when Amir said â€Å"Everywhere I turned, I saw signs of his loyalty, his goddamn unwavering loyalty† (page 94). Amir watched Hassan becoming raped by Assef and does nothing to stop it. This is the biggest betrayal in the novel that left both Amir and Hassan in the dark side. However, the location of the raping scene greatly contributes to the betrayal’s status. The raping scene was set up in a place where only Asssef and his friends were standing in the alley at the time of sunset while they were abusing Hassan. The terrifying setting of the scene led Amir to be afraid that if he steps in, they would harm him. So, Amir decided to escape and betray Hassan by leaving him alone facing the disaster. Even thought it was a horrible betrayal, this does not point out to Amir’s evilness or hate . It is the setting that influenced Amir’s reaction. Besides, the betrayal was not the end of their friendship. Hassan kept being loyal until the last minute, and his loyalty was seen everywhere in Amir’s eyes even after the raping event. Redemption and fogginess were the keys of the continuous brotherly love between Amir and Hassan. In summary, it is evident that the places events occur in could be the reason for actions that oppose the individuals’ goodness. In conclusion, the novel The kite Runner incorporates Character and setting to prove that for every betrayal there is a cause, and every betrayer has reasons for their actions. The novelist conveys that betrayal must not be categorized under antipathy. The end of the novel indicates that redemption could solve the problem no matter how complicated it is. Anything may be betrayed, anyone may be forgiven, but not those who lack the courage of their own greatness. Strong relationship and love can solve any problem. There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love. Therefore, disloyalty is not the path toward hate.

Bogland and Tollund Man | Seamus Heaney

Bogland and Tollund Man | Seamus Heaney Postmodernism in Heaneys Poems Bogland and Tollund Man Introduction This research is a case study including discussions and analysis of two poems by Seamus Heaney, one of the postmodern poets. The poems, which are going to be analyzed, are: Bogland and The Tollund Man. In Heaneys poetry we can see a connection between the mythical and the logical, the past and the present, to describe his thoughts and emotions, concerning the Irish troubles and human experiences. Heaney represent his feelings toward these problems by using imagery and structural techniques that are present in his poems . Chapter one of this study is a review of the ideology of postmodernism with emphasis on postmodernism and poetry. It also includes the meaning of postmodernism, different views and criticism on Heaneys poetry and his ideas about the principles of imagism. Chapter two analyzes the poem Bogland and reveals some points in describing the poem such as its national sides and two key images in the poem and explains how the poet has achieved and used them in his poems. It also discusses about Heaneys essay on a poem called The Bog People by P.V Globe. Chapter three is about the poem The Tollund Man and refers it to the deadly and violent features existing in The Bog People. It discusses how the corpses from ancient world and primitive customs present themselves to the poem. Its also about the strangeness in todays conditions and how Heaney changes his descriptive statements and emotional account into images in his poetry. It says that what is considered is the history of present and the whole world is in imaginative language. Heaneys poetry is the imagination and dreams of freedom in his mirror and writing these poems is an act of expressing what is happening in his mind. Today postmodernism is considered as a reproduction of ancient traditions. Postmodernism like modernism, follows the ideas of rejecting boundaries between high and low forms of art, rejecting inflexible genre distinctions, and emphasizing parody, irony and playfulness.1 Postmodernism points to a growing reality in culture. Anything fast, image centered, any thing that shocks or no longer keeps the tradition in itself can be considered postmodern. Dr. Christopher Carter, one of the professors at University of Louisville believes: From Adrienne Rich to Jacques Derrida, poets continually attack conventional boundaries, recondition them, ignore them. Postmodern poets often subvert the very forms they appropriate. They pose as different selves while refusing to speak for anyone, risk the same audiences they attract, revitalize senses and emotions flattened by mass market culture. They compose a cacophonous music which thrives on interruption and frustrated expectation. Sonnets might have fourteen links, but seldom fourteen lines. Language, that cultural prison, becomes a site of communal resistance. 2 Postmodernism can also be considered in poetry. Among the famous postmodermn poets are: Jacques Derrida, Kathy Acker, Adrienne Rich, Charels Berstein, Yeats and Heaney. Seamus Heaney in an essey From Feeling to Word in 1974 has described his poetic life and the development of his poetic intelligence, and he believes that at first a man starts to work just like any other imitators and then what he learns is actually his special technique in poetry, he call it craft of writing. Then the poet achieves some results about technique, and in fact it is a collection of skills that the poet uses to create his own style and method. About The Bog People he writes: I admire the range of a poems criticism to be more colorful, and I like it to be more firm. The words allow you to have this two-faced encounter. They smile at their readers way of reading and wink at the poets way of using them. Of course, behind them there is much symbolic theorization, but not that in my conscious movement toward writing poetry. I was guided by the symbolic prescriptions, but I agree with a amalgam of generalities that in a vague way can best describe that symbolic label.And I find the principles of imagism, methodology of the symbolism, interesting: presenting an image as a mental and emotional knot in a moment of time. I think all of these were inevitable by considering the course I had in English literature that reached its peak with Eliot and Yeats.3 This part of modernists tradition needs no explanation. Heaney was also conscious of this matter and therefore maybe because of this, in an essay in 1974, that is an important essay for understanding his poetical grows, he talks about these matters in detail. Writing about Heaney in 1968, Jim Hunter said: His own involvement does not exclude us: there are few private references, and the descriptive clarity of his writing makes it easy to followHeaneys world is a warm, even optimistic one: his tone is that of traditional sanity and humanity.4 Heaney described his area by writing Digging as the first poem of his first book. In this and many later poems, like Tony Morisons, he was concerned about the oppressed. After writing the powerful bog poems of North (1975), he was considered as a political poet and was forced to live in the Irish Republic. The troubles of Ireland continued in his poems, but the richer harmonies in Field Work (1979), Station Island (1984), The Haw Lantern (1987), Seeing Things (1991), and The Spirit level (1996) show his strong intelligence in poetry, and thats why Robert Lowell considers him as the best Irish poet since W.B Yeats. Heaney is the winner of the 1995 Noble Prize for literature. Seamus Heaney and Bogland The year 1969 is a significant year for Heaney, when he published Bogland. In this poem Heany brought himself from modernism to the postmodernism. It is rarely seen that all of the poets in passing from modernism to postmodernism experienced all of his points completely. Two key images that have an important role in his sight, especially when we move from his earlier poems, are untouched corpses and bog. How did the poet achieve these two images? The images are important because firstly, they dont seem to have any mythological side and secondly, no one before Heaney has used them in poetry in this way. We see no trace of them neither in the plays of Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge or Yeats and no sign of them in the short stories and novels of James Joyce, Samuel Beckett or Yeats poems. Irish writers had taken no notice of these boggy corpses until the publication of Heaneys poems. But Heaney himself not only mentioned the presence of those corpses and the bog but also established a reality that has now become a part of Ireland history. The poem goes like this: We have no prairies To slice a big sun at evening Everywhere the eye concedes to Encrouching horizon, Is wooed into the cyclops eye Of a tarn. Our unfenced country Is bog that keeps crusting Between the sights of the sun. Theyve taken the skeleton Of the Great Irish Elk Out of the peat, set it up An astounding crate full of air. Butter sunk under More than a hundred years Was recovered salty and white. The ground itself is kind, black butter Melting and opening underfoot, Missing its last definition By millions of years. Theyll never dig coal here, Only the waterlogged trunks Of great firs, soft as pulp. Our pioneers keep striking Inwards and downwards, Every layer they strip Seems camped on before. The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage. The wet centre is bottomless. Heaney reveals some points in describing this poem. First of all is that this landscape reminds him of his childhood. Secondly, bog is not just a landscape but it is a memory. In the past some creatures lived in it or some other sank in it. The butter, which was put beneath the coal to save it from decay, is taken out white and salted, and it hasnt decayed in one hundred years. This memory has national sides, too. Whatever was put in Dublines museum, was a sign of an exploration in the boggy area. The things found in the bog awaken the public and personal memory of the poet. Thirdly the poet uses analogy. Prairie is one of the characteristics of Americas soil. The prairie in the dusk doesnt split the sun in Ireland. Heaney remembers this thought from the memory of American literature. The literature of pioneers, a kind of literature that is written with the opening of Americas continental border. Here, it is not that condition. In this fenceless land, the bog is layered and in each l ayer that is taken by Irish pioneers, the past generations, in former years have set up a camp. Here, the pioneer doesnt proceed, but he goes down; and here the land will not reach its explanation after millions of years. Extracting coal from here is difficult, because bogs water has softened the firs. Heaney with the image of this bog and this memory reaches his poetical independence. But he doesnt stop in this independence, he tries to bring this subject near to a new way of poetic statement. In fact the reason of Heaneys popularity in Ireland is that he deepens the realm of death, this eternal subject matter of poetry, in the Irish homeland and the death of the language of poetry. Now we come back to two main images of Heaneys poem: bog and corpse. Heaneys indication of The Bog People, published in the same year as Bogland, is not without reason. P.V Globe, the writer of The Bog People, explains fully about the saved corpses of men and women found in Jutland. These corpses are bare and their throats have been cut or they were suffocated. The writer believes that these corpses were put under the coal in the age of Iron, and he thinks that the men corpses were sacrificed in a custom in the age of the motherhood of The Mother Goddess and were sacrificed to guarantee the fertility of the land. The Mother Goddess selects young men as her bedfellows and in the spring she split their blood on the grounds. One of these men whose head is saved in the museum Silkeburg, is named The Tollund Man that is the title of one of Heaneys poems that we are going to discuss in the following chapter. Seamus Heaney and The Tollund Man What took place in the past and accompanied with violence, death and killing, threw itself into a risky future. Heaney, with a reference to these events that happened in his country, wrote the poem Tulland Man. In Death of a Naturalist he says: When I wrote this poem, I experienced a new feeling, the feeling of death(124). Here comes the poem: Some day I will go to Aarhus To see his peat-brown head, The mild pods of his eye-lids, His pointed skin cap. In the flat country near by Where they dug him out, His last gruel of winter seeds Caked in his stomach, Naked except for The cap, noose and girdle, I will stand a long time. Bridegroom to the goddess, She tightened her torc on him And opened her fen, Those dark juices working Him to a saints kept body, Trove of the turfcutters Honeycombed workings. Now his stained face Reposes at Aarhus. II I could risk blasphemy, Consecrate the cauldron bog Our holy ground and pray Him to make germinate The scattered, ambushed Flesh of labourers, Stockinged corpses Laid out in the farmyards, Tell-tale skin and teeth Flecking the sleepers Of four young brothers, trailed For miles along the lines. III Something of his sad freedom As he rode the tumbril Should come to me, driving, Saying the names Tollund, Grauballe, Nebelgard, Watching the pointing hands Of country people, Not knowing their tongue. Out here in Jutland In the old man-killing parishes I will feel lost, Unhappy and at home. The poem is about the forces of fate. The chance of survival for the bog bodies. In the poem, the poet has considered the freedom very important and valuable. There is no society, no group, cold death and outside forces. The first image is an image of a corpse who is quiet and caught in the torc of others. There is an emphasis on his brown skin. He is left unprotected, naked and destroyed but elevated at the same time. There is a harsh feeling connected with the surrounding country. The goddess is part of the country. The only marks it leaves on victims, are the remains of their death, cap, noose and girdle. The isolation from society is emphasized in the poem by dwelling on the strane name such as Tollund, Graubelle, Nebelgard. The at home is just the persons normal state and it is not supposed to be comfortable. The poem has special kind of characteristics similar to Yeats poetry. The most important characteristic of it, is its strangeness in todays condition. The poet didnt need to make a strange world in this poem, but the poem is strange itself, because of those real corpses that were brought out of the bog. . But the poetry of this world, which is entirely strange and frightening, cannot be written just with a descriptive language. We will see that Heaney himself came to this conclusion that offering a landscape even a landscape which is so frightening is not enough. The poets responsibility is not to describe a landscape either its gloomy and savage or its poetical and beautiful. He cant just get affected and then produce his poetry. The main characteristic of a part of modernism in poetry is fragmentary presentation of the pieces. Heaney now, has the subject, has his descriptive statement, has its emotional account, then he changes all of them into images. But in this poem, first of al l he deals with external references because every image of the poem and the pieces of poetry can refer to that event. Corpses from ancient world and from primitive customs present themselves to the poet. Nineteen corpses that earlier had lost their real geography, appears to the poet. Todays world of the poet with these primitive corpses is in danger. The poet himself says that he is in fear. In the field of novel, we have seen distressful worlds in the works of Borges, Nabakov, Italo Calvino and Margues and in poetry in the works of Robert Creely, John Ashbery and now in the works of Heaney that is closer to our time. Who will say corpse? To his vivid cast? Who will say `body To his opaque repose? Heaney is one of the most political poets of the twentieth century, but in spite of social and political matters, he is the poet of presence. He has a certain belief and aim in poetry. The poet sees that after producing his poetry as a progressive conscious of his time and the language of his history and his people, he reveals his dependency in his poetry. When he has passed all these matters, he arrived at a point that the philosophers nowadays call it critical point. Conclusion Heaney can be considered as a poet who showed loyalty to the classic English poetry and modern European-English poetry tradition. But because of his protest against the traditions that is passed to him from the past, he shows his originality by turning away from past and traditional principles to modern conventions. Heaneys poems, which are related to, Sacrifice Ceremonies are, as they were, the images in Heaneys mirror. They are his imaginations and dreams of freedom. What we have is a situation in which the world turns out, according to the logic of the poem, not to an unknown territory at all, but to what the poet always knew but had simply forgotten. It is as if the world is a hidden unconscious thing in the poets imagination, and writing the poems is the act of expressing this world. In these terms, the violence in Ireland is a return of the ceremonies of sacrifice and Heaneys poems show such process. Works Cited Heaney, S. (1966) Death of a Naturalist. Thompson, J. (1991). Contemporary Poetry Meets Modern Theory. Derrida, J. (1997). Grammatology. Heaney, S. (1980). Preoccupations. From Internet: http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/poetry/heaney.htm From Internet: http://athena.louisville.edu/~cscart01/pomopoetry.html From Internet: http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html Notes 1 Dr. Mary Klages, Associate Professor, English Department, University of Colorado, Boulder: http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html 2 Dr. Christopher Carter Professors at University of Louisville, Postmodern Poetries March 1999. 3 Seamus Heaney, essay on The Bog People by P. V Globe, 1969 4 From a study guide on internet: http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/poetry/heaney.htm

Gender inequality in the spread of HIV AIDS

Gender inequality in the spread of HIV AIDS In December 2002, Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time wrote in the New York Times, AIDS has a womans face (2002). Women constitute 57 percent of infections in sub-Saharan African countries that are experiencing HIV epidemics (UNAIDS Report 2004). Furthermore in sub-Saharan Africa, young women aged 15 to 24 are more than three times as likely to be infected as young men (UNAIDS Report 2004). In this essay I will argue, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa that the feminised epidemic that is taking place is being exacerbated largely due to Gender Inequality. I will argue this is the case because this is because women are socially, economically, and culturally more vulnerable to infection than men. Prevalent issues such as womens financial dependence on men, both physical and sexual abuse from their partners and the fact that it is customary for males to have multiple partners are key gender aspects that are crucial to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the regi on. I will start by defining what is meant by Gender Inequality and why it is important in this context and then consider the reasons with an emphasis on notions of masculinity and femininity to explain why the proportion of women being infected is rising. However, although this essay will primarily focus on women, it is important to note the gender aspects relating to the spread of HIV amongst men, in particular the pressure to perform and satisfy multiple sexual partners. Throughout the essay I will relate the issue of gender inequality to the themes of globalisation, poverty and governance and leadership whilst giving reference to the examples of Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa to support my argument. So what exactly is gender inequality and why is it important? When talking about gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa, the issue is clear. Tallis relates the term best, remarking that we are analysing the position and status of women in relation to the position of men and the po sition of other women (2000: 59). The importance of gender inequality cannot be underestimated as it is evident at all stages of the prevention-care continuum. Gender inequality is perhaps the main problem area impeding HIV/AIDS prevention (Tallis 2000: 60). Furthermore, reports by several non-governmental organizations such as UNESCO, the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Education and the Global Campaign for Education recognise that gender issues are key to the problem of HIV and AIDS (Oxfam 2008: 11). It is undisputed in the specialist HIV/AIDS field that gender roles and unequal gender relations are fuelling the epidemic by rendering women vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Gender inequality is most commonly seen in notions of masculinity and femininity across African societies. In South Africa, culture is generally male-dominated, with women traditionally given a lower social status. Men are socialised to believe that women are inferior and should be under their control; women are socialis ed to over-respect men and act submissively towards them (Health24 2009). In addition to their lower status, black African women generally have less access to safe housing and are often dependent on their male partners as breadwinners for support (Petros 2006: 72). Sex, for instance continues to this day to be defined primarily in terms of male desire with women being the relatively passive recipients of these passions(Seidel 2000).Dr. Seggasne Musisi, head of psychiatric consultation at Mulago Hospital relates effectively the psychology of sexual behaviour in Uganda. Control of sexual relations is purely with men. Women have no cultural or legal power to either promote or control their sexual health (Human Rights Watch 2003). In these male-dominated societies, the risk of HIV/AIDS is exacerbated further by risky sexual practise, both by men and by women (which will be discussed later). Traditionally men are accustomed to have multiple partners and practise sex outside of a relation ship, yet even suspected infidelity on a womans part is socially unacceptable and can easily result in violence or social exclusion (Ackerman and de Klerk 2002: 169). Misconceptions of prophylactic use in African societies only worsen the situation. Women are largely afraid to introduce subject of prophylactic protection for fear of domestic violence either for suspecting their husbands of having extramarital affairs or because they might be accused of adultery (Human Rights Watch 2003). Margaret Namusisi, 25 years old from Uganda explains the response when she asked her husband to wear a condom. When I tell him to use a condom he refuses. He accuses me of having other men. (Human Rights Watch 2003) There was also the concern from women that if they asked to use condoms during sex, it would lead to violence or financial abandonment (World Health Organization 2003). Namusisi comments on the reaction she faces when she refuses to have sex without protection, He goes away and doesnt pr ovide. So I have sex with him so that he can look after the children and wont fight (Human Rights Watch 2003) Globalisation and national economic policies have played a major role in heightening existing gender inequalities, increasing the economic dependence women have on their partners. The World Health organization has repeatedly criticized the impact globalization has had in sub- Saharan Africa, forwarding Nigeria as an example. It argues that, in Nigeria, globalisation has benefited the rich (mostly men) but penalised the poor, less educated, low skilled or unemployed fall within this other group, which relate to women (1990). What this equates to is that the average Nigerian woman finds it increasingly hard to leave abusive or risk based relationships because of increased economic dependence (Zierler and Krieger 1998:). Heavy criticism has been levelled also at the Structural Adjustment Program that was incorporated into developing countries. Despite the many benefits that Str uctural Adjustment Programmes provide to developing countries such as building up economies and changing national legislature in order to create an environment more open to incoming investment from abroad; SAPs have many flaws. PrimarilySAPs the main flaw affects the supply and the demand for health services through health spending cuts and also by reducing household income, which leaves people with less money for necessary treatment. (World Health Organization). Yet many are denied access to appropriate preventive and curative services especially in parts of the world where their needs are greatest. As the epidemic has progressed, women have taken increasing responsibility for those who are sick or orphaned by AIDS yet they have been allowed little influence over the relevant policy and planning decisions (Doyal in Tallis 2000:87). It is important to note that this is not solely the case in Nigeria, but in the majority of sub- Saharan Africa where poverty affects 315 million people and one in two of people in Sub Saharan Africa survive on less than one dollar per day (Food4Africa 2011) What SAPs and the aforementioned factors produce a society where poverty drives Women resorting to increasingly risky sexual behaviours as part of multiple livelihood strategies (Ahonsi 1999) Entering prostitution is not a personal choice in many cases but the last resort of women who have been structurally disadvantaged in every way and left with no other resource but their bodies (Schoepf 1998: 65). It is widely recognised that men will pay more to have sex without a condom, which the sex workers find difficult to refuse due to their financial problems. Moreover, with the HIV/AIDS epidemic concentrated in the poorest parts of the world with 90% of HIV positive cases living in the developing world UNAIDS/WHO (1997); it is vital to have constitutional guidelines to safeguard the population from the growing epidemic. The lack of both extensive guidelines and implementation of pr ocedures within national constitutions for extensive responses to HIV/AIDS leads to situation where gender inequality will inevitably worsen For instance the Nigerian Constitution legislates for the protection of human rights but there is a need to create explicit benchmarks and guidelines to implement and develop effective rights-based response to gender inequality and HIV/AIDS (Aniekwu 2002: 35). South Africa has brought in laws detailing measures on promoting womens rights in what had been a predominantly patriarchal society among whites as well as blacks, the ANC has legalised abortion, given women equal power in marriage, cracking down on domestic violence and banning gender discrimination amongst other initaitives (Economist 2010). On paper South Africa has one of the worlds most commendable constitution containing an impressive legal arsenals for protecting womens rights and is ranked 4th out of 53 countries with regards to this (Economist 2010). But the gap between principl e and practice is often wide (Economist 2010); with women still more likely to be unemployed and 40% admit that their first experience of sex was a rape (Economist 2010). Furthermore intimate partner violence is associated with increased levels of HIV risk behaviour, examples being multiple partners, high levels of prostitution and excessive substance use. A potential link between HIV status and domestic violence has also been recognized with studies from Africa showing an increased risk of violence when the man is HIV positive (van der Straten in WHO 2003:54) or when the woman perceives herself to be at high risk of acquiring HIV from the man (Coker AL and Richter DL in WHO 2003: 54) Before concluding, it is important that the Government is the responsible party under relevant international instruments to protect rights (Aniekwu 2002: 35). But Presidents such as South Africas Jacob Zuma are doing nothing but aggravating the controversial issue of gender inequality through their own actions. Zuma used traditional notions of gender roles within Zulu society to form the basis of his defence against rape allegations claiming sexual intercourse with his accuser was demanded by his status as a Zulu male and to deny a woman sex in Zulu culture when she is ready would be tantamount to rape (Andrews 2007: 44). The Zuma case not only exposed national concerns about a culture of violence towards women but also revealed the ways in which gender roles were related via cultural norms. To conclude, It is important to note that men do suffer also as a result of gender inequality. For men, the pressure to perform sexually and with many partners places them at risk of HIV infection (Tallis 2000: 58). The male-orientated culture present in sub-Saharan African societies means that many men wont seek HIV services due to a fear of stigma and discrimination and the perception of being labelled weak in such a male dominated society, which then has an impact on their wives or partner s. Both Education and Health Programmes can improve access to services for both women and men by removing financial barriers, bringing services closer to local communities and tackling HIV/AIDS. In this essay I have shown the combination of their sexuality and gender disadvantage in terms of cultural, economic and social factors places women more at risk of infection than men. Gender inequality has undoubtedly been a driving force in the spread of HIV/AIDS and will continue to do so until traditional notions of the roles of men and women are overhauled. As whilst, the blame culture placed towards women continues, the HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS epidemic will be remain feminised and sub-Saharan African women will still find themselves faced with overt prejudice.

There Are No Children Here - If I Grow Up Essay -- There are No Childr

There Are No Children Here - If I Grow Up  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      "If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver." If -- not when. Sentiments like this echo hauntingly through the pages of Alex Kotlowitz's account of his two-year documentation of the lives of two brothers, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers. The boys are afforded little happiness and too much grief, trying to survive from day to day in their appartment at the crime-ridden Henry Horner Homes housing project on the outskirts of Chicago. When Kotlowitz approached the boys' mother, LaJoe, about writing the book about her children, she agreed with him, but felt the need to set him straight. "But you know, there are no chlidren here. They've seen too much to be children," LaJoe told Kotlowitz. Lajoe moved to Horner when she was a young girl with her family of thirteen. The family had been living in a flat above a church that lacked adequate heating and frequently rang of organ music from the church below. Hearing of the newly finshed public housing projects for financially disadvantaged families, LaJoe's parents packed up the family and moved to one of the new buildings. When the family first arrived in their new home, they could not believe their eyes. It looked like a palace. Outside there were yellow flowers and lamp posts. The exterior of the building was made of sturdy, dark-red brick. Inside, the walls were a pristine white, with shiney linoleum floors. A new range and refrigerator awaited in the kitchen. It seemed like a dream to them -- until it all came crashing down. One of Lajoe's sisters was found strangled in the family's bathtub. Then, upon hearing the news of his sisters death, one of Lajoe's brothers had a heart attack and died. LaJoe's parents packed up soon ... ...sing the possibility of suing her husband for child support with someone. As for the analysis of the book itself, although the author aims toward providing a chronicle of two years in the lives of the two brothers, he actually ends up writing more about their mother. He discusses LaJoe's parents, how they met and married and why they moved to Horner. He depicts LaJoe as an extremely kind-hearted yet tough woman who will do anything to help not only her own family, but all the neighborhood children as well. LaJoe feeds and cares for many of the neighborhood children. For this, she is rare and special in an environment of black mothers who are prostitutes and drug addicts. She sticks by her children when most mothers would be ashamed and disown them. I finished this book feeling a great deal of respect and admiration for LaJoe and everytihg she went through.    There Are No Children Here - If I Grow Up Essay -- There are No Childr There Are No Children Here - If I Grow Up  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      "If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver." If -- not when. Sentiments like this echo hauntingly through the pages of Alex Kotlowitz's account of his two-year documentation of the lives of two brothers, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers. The boys are afforded little happiness and too much grief, trying to survive from day to day in their appartment at the crime-ridden Henry Horner Homes housing project on the outskirts of Chicago. When Kotlowitz approached the boys' mother, LaJoe, about writing the book about her children, she agreed with him, but felt the need to set him straight. "But you know, there are no chlidren here. They've seen too much to be children," LaJoe told Kotlowitz. Lajoe moved to Horner when she was a young girl with her family of thirteen. The family had been living in a flat above a church that lacked adequate heating and frequently rang of organ music from the church below. Hearing of the newly finshed public housing projects for financially disadvantaged families, LaJoe's parents packed up the family and moved to one of the new buildings. When the family first arrived in their new home, they could not believe their eyes. It looked like a palace. Outside there were yellow flowers and lamp posts. The exterior of the building was made of sturdy, dark-red brick. Inside, the walls were a pristine white, with shiney linoleum floors. A new range and refrigerator awaited in the kitchen. It seemed like a dream to them -- until it all came crashing down. One of Lajoe's sisters was found strangled in the family's bathtub. Then, upon hearing the news of his sisters death, one of Lajoe's brothers had a heart attack and died. LaJoe's parents packed up soon ... ...sing the possibility of suing her husband for child support with someone. As for the analysis of the book itself, although the author aims toward providing a chronicle of two years in the lives of the two brothers, he actually ends up writing more about their mother. He discusses LaJoe's parents, how they met and married and why they moved to Horner. He depicts LaJoe as an extremely kind-hearted yet tough woman who will do anything to help not only her own family, but all the neighborhood children as well. LaJoe feeds and cares for many of the neighborhood children. For this, she is rare and special in an environment of black mothers who are prostitutes and drug addicts. She sticks by her children when most mothers would be ashamed and disown them. I finished this book feeling a great deal of respect and admiration for LaJoe and everytihg she went through.   

Infrastructural Warfare and the Conditions of Democracy :: Warfare Violence Essays

Infrastructural Warfare and the Conditions of Democracy When political leaders refer to the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington as "war", what do they mean? It used to be that our concept of war was defined by a set of boundaries. Nation-states fought wars to defend their borders. They fielded armies, and those armies fought along front lines. Soldiers were separate from civilians, and the military domain was separate from the civilian domain. Soldiers ran the war from day to day; the civilian leadership gave the big orders and sat back. Those boundaries no longer apply, as much evidence shows: (1) If you want to destroy someone nowadays, you get into their infrastructure. You don't have to be a nation state to do it, and if your enemy retains any capacity for retaliation then it's probably better if you're not. (2) Because the fighting is all on television, the fine details of the fighting become political matters. Soldiers complain bitterly about politicians' interference, not understanding that technology has eliminated their zone of professional autonomy. The politicians are *right* to be interfering. (3) The US military thought that the Republicans would save them from the Democrats' boundary-breaching conceptions of the 21st century world, but Donald Rumsfeld's abortive reform efforts -- which are really attempts to transpose the traditionally narrow view of military affairs into a science-fiction key -- have only clarified how archaic the traditional conception of warfare really is. (4) During the campaign, George W. Bush harshly criticizied the "nation-building" activities to which military personnel have been assigned in Kosovo and elsewhere. The truth was that nation-building is a geopolitical necessity in a totally wired world, and that the soldiers themselves *like* serving in Kosovo -- they know that they are doing something useful for once. The nation-building goes on. (5) In the old days, the industry that produced military equipment was almost entirely separate from the industry that produced civilian equipment. But economies of scale in the production of technology, especially information and communications technologies, have grown so great that the military must buy much of its equipment from the civilian market, even though the civilian equipment is not hardened for military purposes (or even, in the case of computer security, for civilian purposes). (6) Even airplane hijackings have lost their old boundaries. It is becoming clear that the people in the plane that crashed in rural Pennsylvania had extensive communications to the ground, and knew about the first attack on the World Trade Center.

Health Care” Right or Privilege” Essay

There has been an active debate about health care reform among many Americans in the United States. Some the recent concerns and questions involving a right to health care are access, fairness, efficiency, cost, choice, value, and quality. Health Care† Right or Privilege† Health care in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities. Health care facilities are largely owned and operated by the private sector. Health insurance is now primarily provided by the government in the public sector, with 60-65% of healthcare provision and spending coming from programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Veterans Health Administration (â€Å"Health care in the United States.,† 2011). In the United States, ownership of the health care system is mainly in private hands, though federal, state, county, and city governments also own certain facilities. The non-profit hospitals share of total hospital capacity has remained relatively stable (about 70%) for decades. There are also privately owned for-profit hospitals as well as government hospitals in some locations, mainly owned by county and city governments. There is no nationwide system of government-owned medical facilities open to the general public but there are local government-owned medical facilities open to the general public. The federal Department of Defense operates field hospitals as well as permanent hospitals (the Military Health System), to provide military-funded care to active military personnel. The federal Veterans Health Administration operates VA hospitals open only to veterans, though veterans who seek medical care for conditions they did not receive while serving in the military are charged for services(â€Å"Health care in the United States.,† 2011). Hospitals provide some outpatient care in their emergency rooms and specialty clinics, but primarily exist to provide inpatient care. Hospital emergency departments and urgent care centers are sources of sporadic problem-focused care. Surgery centers are examples of specialty clinics. Hospice services for the terminally ill who are expected to live six months or less are most commonly subsidized by charities and government. Prenatal, family planning, and â€Å"dysplasia† clinics are government-funded obstetric and gynecologic specialty clinics respectively, and are usually staffed by nurse practitioners (â€Å"Health care in the United States.,† 2011). Over 45 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. Those living in poverty exhibit the worst health status. Employment, education, income, and race are important factors in a person’s ability to acquire healthcare access. Having established that there are people lacking healthcare access due to multi-factorial etiologies, the question arises as to whether the intervention necessary to assist them in obtaining such access should be considered a privilege, or a right(â€Å"Health care in the United States.,† 2011). An active debate about health care reform in the United States concerns questions of a right to health care, access, fairness, efficiency, cost, choice, value, and quality. Some have argued that the system does not deliver equivalent value for the money spent. The USA pays twice as much yet lags behind other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy, though the relation between these statistics to the system itself is debated. Currently, the USA has a higher infant mortality rate than most of the world’s industrialized nations and life expectancy is ranked 42nd in the world. (â€Å"Health care in the United States.,† 2011) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law (along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) is the principal health care reform legislative action of the 111th United States Congress (à ¢â‚¬Å"Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,† 2011). A majority of the states, and numerous organizations and individual persons, have filed actions in federal court challenging the constitutionality of PPACA. As of September 2011, federal appellate courts are almost evenly divided on the constitutional issues raised in this litigation; at the district court level, three judges upheld the constitutionality of PPACA and three declared it unconstitutional, in part. PPACA includes numerous provisions to take effect over several years beginning in 2010(â€Å"Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,† 2011). Perhaps the biggest disappointment of our legislative and executive branches of government in the creation of â€Å"Obama Care† is that they lacked vision and a concrete understanding of the bigger picture when crafting and ‘pushing’ this new agenda. With a broad brush assessment, we can see that the architects of â€Å"Obama Care† failed in addressing the following two areas: Bridging Safety loophole s that needlessly lead to over 100,000 medical-related deaths and hundreds of thousands more in injuries in American medical institutions each year. Propagating the misperception that a one-tiered, national health system plan, with greater centralized control, can work somehow ‘better’. One of the provisions I disagree with is the shared responsibility requirement, commonly called an individual mandate, it requires that nearly all persons not covered by Medicaid, Medicare, or other insurance programs purchase and comply with an approved insurance policy or pay a penalty. The only people exempt from the mandate are individuals of recognized religious sects or those individuals able to obtain a waiver from the Internal Revenue Service in cases of financial hardship(â€Å"Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,† 2011) . The Act’s provisions are intended to be funded by a variety of taxes and offsets. Major sources of new revenue include a much-broadened Medicare tax on incomes over $200,000 and $250,000, for individual and joint filers respectively, an annual fee on insurance providers, and a 40% tax o n â€Å"Cadillac† insurance policies. There are also taxes on pharmaceuticals, high-cost diagnostic equipment, and a federal sales tax on indoor tanning services. Total new tax revenue from the Act will amount to $409.2 billion over the next 10 years. $78 billion will be realized before the end of fiscal 2014(â€Å"Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,† 2011). I have two problems with what many Americans now refer to as â€Å"Obama Care†, one I am no fan of paying higher taxes. Any economist will tell you that raising taxes does not stimulate economic growth and without economic growth people will continue to spend less, businesses will not hire new employees or expand, and the unemployment rate will continue to rise. Also an increased unemployment rate means more people in need of government assistance, along with more Americans unable to afford health care. So in short our government is going to raise taxes to give all Americans health care which will in effect cause more Americans to become unemplo yed and lose there health care and become subject to a penalty. Sounds like the democratic version of utopia is nothing more than a double edge sword doomed for failure. The concept of utopia is an unrealistic dream; for each person’s vision of utopia is different. The other problem I have with Obama’s centralized health care plan is that we are letting government dictate what we as American have to purchase or be subject to a fine if we do not comply. Our constitution states each person has the right to pursue happiness, it does not say the government should or could guarantee it, just that you have to right to pursue it. Some people suggest making healthcare mandatory is the same as having to purchase automobile insurance, the only problem with this type of thinking is that you do not have to drive or own a car. If you choose not to, no one fines you for it. I view health care as a right in respect that I have the right to purchase health care or to choose not too. I believe all Americans have the right to choice and should not be fined or penalized if they choose to exercise that right. Too many people today view our government as a separate entity and believe that it owes them something. We as Americans are in fact the government, for we are a government of the people for the people. References Health care in the United States. (2011). In . Retrieved October 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Health_care_in_the_United_States&oldid=456210485 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (2011). In . Retrieved October 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act&oldid=456759152