Fastrack Company Essay

Fastrack was launched in 1998 as a sub-brand of Titan. It was spun off as an independent brand of watches targeting the urban youth in 2005. Since then, it has carved a niche for itself with designs that were refreshingly different and affordable. During that time, Fastrack also extended its footprint into eye gear and in the last 4 years has quickly notched up the title of being the largest sunglass brand in the country. Fastrack has now chartered into newer categories – bags, belts, wallets and wrist bands – as part of its vision to become a complete fashion brand for the youth. With enough categories to fill up one cool store, Fastrack has ‘moved on’ to open its own stores for its young consumers. The store is positioned as a complete accessories destination with all Fastrack gear under one roof. The first store was opened in Pune in 2009. With a smart combination of edgy design and value pricing Titan’s Fastrack has managed to keep a firm grasp on the capricious youth market. Not many brands live by what they preach. Taglines are often born out of a creative team’s clever phrasing or a strategy team’s eye on a certain positioning. For Titan Industries’ Fastrack ‘Move on’ is a way of life. From a sub-brand with a fuzzy identity to a bonafide youth brand, Fastrack sure has moved on. The brand, which was conceived in 1998 as a flanker to fend off a competitor and insulate Titan from the fray, now contributes about 25 per cent to Titan Industries watch division’s profits, raking in close to Rs 500 crore. Initially called Titan Fastrack, it was meant to be a brand of cool watches; but it soon became clear that defining cool was far from easy. It started with funky packaging and then with steel bands to make the range look sharp. People into their first jobs were its targets. However, around the same time, Titan Industries was also contemporising the Titan range, with similar metals and communication. â€Å"Fastrack was then just a sub-brand of Titan. It was only in 2005-06 that the brand came into its own,† says Bijou Kurien, who left the company as chief operating officer in 2006, after 19 years with Titan Industries. He is now president (lifestyle) at Reliance Retail. Titan Industries had entered a joint venture with Timex Corporation, leading US fashion watch manufacturer, in 1992, which broke off in 1998. â€Å"Timex had been conceived as a young brand while Titan would focus on premium watch buyers. After the JV ended, there was an opportunity for Fastrack to be launched as the youth brand from Titan,† says Kurien. In 2004, another division called the Accessories and Licensing Business launched sunglasses under the brand name Fastrack. It had already been selling licensed eyewear by FCUK andTommy Hilfiger. But it was only in 2005 that Titan Industries took the decisive call to hive off Fastrack as a separate business unit. â€Å"In 2005, we saw the opportunity of bringing all the divisions under one umbrella,† says Ronnie Talati, vice-president and business head, Fastrack & New Brands. By then, there were all of 1,500 products carrying the Fastrack tag. The total turnover then was Rs 30 crore, from 1.5 lakh watches and 30,000-40,000 sunglasses being sold that year. Sunglasses accounted for about 25 per cent of the sales at that time. Making it happen Kurien recalls, â€Å"We started investing a lot more in the brand, we signed up John Abraham as the celebrity ambassador.† It started with defining the look (stress on design) and the price (introduced lower priced watches) of the products. The company put in place a separate distribution network for Fastrack rather than let the brand piggy ride on Titan’s network of stores and increased counter displays at all Titan showrooms. Then of course, there was the decision to enter other categories, inspired by its successful foray into sunglasses. â€Å"We weren’t willing to run out of options for the youth and wanted to move beyond being a watch brand,† says Kurien of Fastrack’s transition to a full-fledged youth brand. Titan put together dedicated teams for sourcing, marketing and sales for the products sold under the Fastrack umbrella. Talati says, â€Å"We even moved to a new office.† The first year of hiving off Fastrack as a separate busines s unit resulted in a 130 per cent increase in revenues, according to Talati. The brand now sells 3 million watches and 1 million sunglasses a year. Bags, belts and wallets are the latest in the range of accessories launched in 2010. These accessories together account for 40 per cent of Fastrack’s revenues on an average. The year 2005 also saw the brand beefing up its retail muscle. Stores with around 500 square feet of retail space each were added. These stores get half their revenues from accessories. Even though the bulk of Fastrack’s sales (60-70 per cent) still come from multi-brand outlets, the like for like growth in sales at the exclusive stores has been 100 per cent over the last year with a conversion rate of 75 per cent (the total walk-ins at the 63 stores stand at 3,000 per month). Streets near colleges and college towns such as Manipal have appeared on its store map along with high streets in metros and small cities such as Vizag and Kolhapur. Apart from Fastrack stores, each category is available in 1,000 to 3,000 multi-brand outlets. Marketing to the youth is no child’s play. Fastrack realised that when launching itself as an SBU (strategic business unit). It made the logo more energetic, removed the upfront mention of Titan (seen by youngsters as a serious brand) and stopped using the Mozart tune. Dheeraj Sinha, chief strategy officer at Bates 141, says youth brands need a single-minded effort rather than sit on the fence. â€Å"The biggest challenge to build a youth brand is to avoid the trap of defining the audience as between 25-35 years old,† says Sinha. â€Å"There are just too many young-looking brands that talk to them. A youth brand should bite the bullet and let go of such a wide definition. It should be able to exclude all other age groups and look at only young people, talk to them like a 20 year old and not a 35 year old. As a result, the brand might have to say and do things which might shock older generations,† he adds. According to Sinha, brands such as Fastrack, Virgin Mobile and Indian Killer Jeans have managed to stay rele vant to its target audience with edgy imagery. Having said that, Fastrack is now targeting a lower age group than when it started. Earlier the target audience was 25-35 year-olds while now the core group is 18-20 year old. â€Å"We are clear about our core target group. Our sense is that older people want to feel younger and the young want to feel older. We talk to people in their language,† says Ronnie Talati. The communication that followed in the wake of the rebranding in 2005 asked â€Å"How many you have?†. It referred to the urge for variety and constant change in accessories, including watches, among college students. It made way for the next campaign ‘Move On’ (to newer range of accessories) with couples swapping the watches and sunglasses they had gifted each other before breaking up. Next came the series featuring young icons, cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Genelia D’Souza. The campaign highlighted the range of bags Fastrack launched last year, taking a cheeky look at how young people flirted with the opposite gender. The current campaign, which features the same duo in racy ads in the next edition, gives us a take on why the world moved on to automatic contraptions such as auto-pilot, answering machines etc. Of the total ad budget of Rs 40 crore, Fastrack spends half on watches and the rest goes into sunglasses and the new accessories range. Rajiv Chatterjee, vice-president, Lowe Lintas, the agency handling the Fastrack account, says, â€Å"We were clear that we had to attract the young college-goers, and we knew that if we chased this objective, it could possibly get a few raised eyebrows from their parents. Both ‘How many†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and ‘Move on’ refer to their habits in accessories and also their outlook towards attraction and desirability. We did not want to sound judgmental or tell them what to do. We have said, ‘It is ok’ in a conversational tone that has got the youth to relate to Fastrack.† Staying on top Fastrack has stuck to its pegs of design and variety. Design boundaries have been pushed with different straps (made of denim, metal and synthetic materials), hands of the watches and cases. Themes have spanned bikes, army, beaches, outdoor sports and hip-hop music. â€Å"We need to keep reinventing for the youth. Over the last five years, we have changed our brand ambassadors to keep it fresh. The audience’s attention span is less and hence, we refresh our collections as well,† points out Talati. Sinha adds, â€Å"Fastrack has consistently leveraged the potent insight of young people’s aversion to commitment, be it relationships, jobs or the accessories they flaunt. What has also helped them is the fact that a majority of the Indian youth does not have a penchant for international brands like they do in other countries. They would relate to an interesting brand that is real rather than hanker after a knockoff of an international brand.† While Fastrack has successfully walked the marketing tightrope of speaking exclusively to teenagers, it has also walked the talk of a teen brand by keeping prices firmly in check. Its watches range between Rs 695 and Rs 3,500, sunglasses Rs 695-2,500, bags Rs 595-2,500 and belts Rs 195-1,095. Sinha says, â€Å"There has to be a sweet-spot of aspiration and affordability for the youth.† In effect, Fastrack has come to occupy the sub-Rs 1,500 slot in watches, with just 15-20 per cent of its range priced above it. By virtue of being a stylish but affordable brand in sunglasses, it has filled a gap between the RayBans of the world at the upper end and the unbranded flea-market bargains at the lower end. With bags, belts and wallets, it has eschewed leather goods for materials that help keep the costs low, weather rough use and also look good. Talati says, â€Å"We have kept a check on our costs by ensuring a lean team but one that means business. The average age in our office is 25-26 years. Having a young team helps us feel the youth’s pulse.† While Titan watches would have a strength of over 150 people, Fastrack has 60 people manning the var ious functions, with a brand manager for each category. At the retail front, only 10 stores are company-owned, the rest managed by franchisees. The production of the accessories is outsourced while watches are a mix of in-house and third-party manufacturing. Fastrack also ensures the materials used don’t add to the price of the products but lend themselves to innovative designs. Talati says the brand is the entry barrier for competition. â€Å"It will be difficult to beat the way youngsters relate to our brand,† he points out. â€Å"None of the other brands that operate in the accessories’ space are solely focused on accessories; accessories are just one part of a larger portfolio. So they end up concentrating more on their flagship products such as sports shoes, luggage etc. In contrast, we have separate ad budgets and teams to service these product categories.† Sinha points out a challenge for Fastrack: â€Å"The challenge for Fastrack is to sustain its message of Move On. It has taken one aspect and stuck to it for so long. But how long before its target audience finds it repetitive?† For its part, Fastrack is working on a new line of attack. Next up are helmets and fashion footwear. These could prove to be much more difficult to crack — with helmets offering little in terms of precedents and fashion footwear a problem of plenty. But then who said Fastrack was afraid of changing the rules of the game? Fastrack is a brand of watches from the house of Titan Industries Ltd which is the market leader in the watches category in India. Fastrack was launched in 1998 as a sub-brand of Titan. It was spun off as an independent brand of watches targeting the urban youth in 2005. Since then, it has infiltrated the lives of India’s youth with designs that were refreshingly different and affordable. During that time, Fastrack also jumped headlong into the sunglasses business and in the last 4 years has quickly notched up the title of being the largest sunglasses brand in the country. Fastrack has now pushed past the horizons into newer areas – bags, belts, wallets and wrist bands – as part of its mission to offer the youth everything they need to be cool! Executive Summary Moving over from outsourcing our social media initiative to an in-house program has allowed us to engage and really connect with our audience in typical Fastrack fashion and style. Having college-interns run this Fastrack initiative has been a great step in being able to speak the language of our customers/fans. The essence of the brand being communicated in real-time and in a manner that is acceptable and easily understood by our customers is our constant thought as we go through daily customer queries, feedback, comments, suggestions & brand announcements. Our initiative is focused around the experience we deliver to the fans and both current and potential, driving them toward a better, and more personalized connection with the brand. Background Fastrack is essentially a youth brand, and what better way to get in touch with our target audience of 15-25 year-olds (SEC A,B) than having a presence on the very platforms that they use daily? Social networking is a big part of today’s youth and we have made it a big part of us, extending all our online initiatives to incorporate our social networks and communities. With this step forward we worked on tapping the pulse of the youth by answering queries, getting feedback about the brand and our collections and campaigns, engagement, resolving complaints & doubts and interacting with ‘Fastrack Fans’ daily, 24/7.

Antitrypsin Deficiency

Alpha- l -Antitrypsin (AAT), is a chemical synthesized in the liver and circulating throughout via bloodstream. Also known as Alpha- l -Proteinase Inhibitor (A1 -PI), it is a member of the serpin or the serine protease inhibitor family. Its physiological target is elastase.A normal individual inherits two AAT genes: one from each parent. Nevertheless, when individuals inherit two abnormal AAT genes they tend to show symptoms of alpha-1 deficiency. Some people inherit only one abnormal gene and they are called alpha-1 â€Å"carriers. † Alpha-1 is therefore purely a genetically inherited condition.According to the American Thoracic Society (2006), risk of major health problems in a person with one abnormal gene or a carrier may be lower as compared to a person with two abnormal genes (American Thoracic Society, 2006). WHO (2008) categorizes Alpha- l -Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1) as a genetic disorder that can cause liver and lung disease in adults and children. Alpha-1-antit rypsin (AAT) deficiency is associated with 85%-90% reduction in serum concentrations of AAT. This causes increased risk for liver and lung ailments such as cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and emphysema (Stoller, 2005; Primhak and Tanner, 2001).In normal and healthy individuals, the primary role of AAT is to defend the connective tissue of lung against breakdown by a degradative enzyme called neutrophil elastase. In AAT deficient individuals, lack of AAT allows neutrophil elastase to destroy the connective tissue in the lungs (Stoller, 2005) and apart, in affected individuals, deficiency of blood levels below a level called â€Å"protective threshold† value makes them vulnerable to emphysema. This conditional may usually occur in prime of life, i. e. by age 40 even though there is absence of added risk factors such as cigarette smoking (Stoller, 1998).Polymerization of a mutant AAT protein in the liver cells, along with abnormal accumulation of AAT in the liver ends in hep atocellular injury (Primhak and Tanner, 2001). It is believed that this abnormal accumulation of AAT within the liver cells is mainly due to a structural abnormality of the AAT protein. Normally, it is secreted from the hepatocyte and circulates through bloodstream, but in abnormal conditions it accumulates within liver cells leading to deficiency of AAT in the blood (Brantly et al. , 1988).The mutant AAT molecules are usually retained in the endoplasmic reticulum of the hepatocyte and are also hepatotoxic . Teckman et al. (1996) reveals that these retained AAT appear to be periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive, diastase-resistant eosinophilic inclusions in the periportal hepatocytes. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency disorder occurs also in newborns. Primary symptoms in newborns are jaundice, swelling of the abdomen, and poor feeding. In late childhood or adulthood Alpha-1 disorder can be detected by symptoms such as poor appetite, fatigue, swelling of the abdomen and legs or abnormal l iver tests.

Air Asia Case analysis summary Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Management Assignment Questions Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management Questions - Assignment Example In addition, volunteer groups and other non-profit organizations also work to support struggling sectors of the community. Such volunteer groups have a crucial role to play in abolishing social class systems and improving living standards of the society. Multinational corporations like Wal-Mart and Toyota allow its employees to take part in volunteer work so as to increase the stature of their business. 2. Simply, a Nichepreneur is an individual who operates big business in a small market. A Nichepreneur has several secrets and strategies, which would place him on the top of the market segment in which he operates. Sometimes, Nichepreneurs do not even try to compete in particular niches as they have already dominated against corporate giants having huge budgets and highly qualified PR teams. An effective tagline is one of the major secrets of success of a Nichepreneur as it is the way a customer identifies the company. In the opinion of marketing experts, the tagline must be too crea tive and should pass some strong messages to customers. Similarly, a Nichepreneur often focuses on the cultural aspects of the niches as he serves the needs of a specific group of people. According to Friedmann (2008), fewer competitors, higher efficiency, attractive profitability, and increased visibility are some of the most significant benefits of a Nichepreneur. 3. Developing a career plan is significant in an individual’s life, for it will assist him to work for attaining the predetermined goals and thereby to achieve a good standard of living. A well organized long term career development plan is greatly beneficial for an individual to obtain job promotion by enhancing his skills and abilities. In addition, this plan would greatly motivate individuals to deal with life difficulties as well. Moreover, a good long term career development plan may aid an individual to achieve financial security and thereby quality life (Professional growth). When a post-graduate MBA studen t enters the employment sector, he gets a range of quick start opportunities. Successful completion of the first assigned task may greatly assist the student to start his career outstandingly as every management team would be enthusiastic to monitor the performance of its new employees. In addition, development of a creative idea for a business venture would also assist a post-graduate MBA student to begin his career. 4. Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a post graduate degree that has been accepted globally. The idea behind this degree was derived from the need of applying a scientific approach to business administration. This degree in business administration greatly assists the holder’s career for long-term as an MBA course involves a wide variety of subjects like accounting, finance, marketing, economics, supply chain management, and project management. The MBA degree course includes training programs and it will definitely aid an individual to enhance his leader ship skills. In addition, various projects, presentations, and group assignments would greatly assist an individual to acquire different skills for addressing difficult business situations in future. Scholars opine that group assignments and project works may be beneficial for the student to evaluate the principles of teamwork and collaborative effort. Furthermore, this degree

Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 7

Research Proposal Example The results in this research will be very useful in improving various businesses across the world. The research shall identify the various factors that make leadership the main tool in implementing business strategies. The paper shall highlight the type of leadership important in promoting business strategies in order to maximize production Leadership is very important in strategic management. The leadership organization is very broad and does not only include a single executive. It comprises of an effective team that offers the way for the organization. The team should posses certain leadership traits such as honesty, trustworthy, risk taker, innovative. With the traits in place, the team could lead the organization in implementing certain strategies. The study will find the specific role that the leadership has to play in implementing these strategies. The study is very important in spreading the awareness message of the importance of leadership in any organization. In addition, the primordial importance of the study is to provide necessary leadership information to the leaders of various businesses. The information may include their specific roles in implementing various strategies that are important in their organization. In the end, it would assist in improving the leadership skills of these leaders. Thus, the study would be an important tool in improving the production level of various businesses. The study will be the basis of identifying various tools in strategic management. The tools will be important in implementing different strategies in the organization. Furthermore, it would help business develop the important phases used during implementation of the strategies. The study aims at identifying the role of management or leadership in the implementation of strategies. The study shall show the importance of leaders when it comes to formulation of strategies. The strategies are the backbone for any

How the financial crisis will affect the ship repair yards and Article

How the financial crisis will affect the ship repair yards and shipping business - Article Example A typical argument put forward by shippers is that cyclical fluctuations in the shipping industry are typical because booms are followed by recessions. However the current financial crisis in the world has affected the industry so badly. Demand factors such as prices of other goods, production costs, demand for those other goods and the availability and the cost of finance have played a very significant role in the current decline in demand for shipping and freight services, including the decline at shipping yards for repairs. (Guironnet, Peypoch & Solonandresana, 2009). On the other hand supply factors are determined by the demand for shipping and freight services along with the prevailing interest rates. Suppliers went on accumulating excess capacity by ordering new ships and containers to meet the rising demand then. However the demand trend did not continue as was anticipated. The financial crisis has hit hard not only ship repair and building yards but also all connected services as well. Shippers in North America, Europe and Asia have been hit so hard by it. For instance the contracted tonnage of containerized cargo has declined by several millions of cubic feet. The annual decline has been one of the worst that industry has witnessed in the past. According to industry watchers there would be a further fall in demand for containerized cargo shipping till a few more months have lapsed. The existing contractual obligations are less likely to be honored by the buyers because losing what has already been paid is better than taking charge of a new or a repaired ship which would not be put in to service in the foreseeable future. The current financial crisis is inevitably the result of the global economic downturn. As early as 2008 the first major signs of a global economic crisis were seen though shippers did not pay heed to advice by economists that the crisis would engulf the

Developing and Transitional Economies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Developing and Transitional Economies - Essay Example Professionals, who have talents, transfer to developed nations in search of better living standards. To increase the standard of living in developing nations; proper infrastructure needs to be developed, literacy rate needs to be increased and investment rates need to elevate. Developing countries face the curse of low productivity due to low saving rate as there are very few attractive saving options. Even those who have the power to save, transfer their funds to developed nations to gain higher returns. Foreign aid is one of the best ways for developing underdeveloped nations, foreign aid is used to build infrastructure, develop educational and medical centers (Gravelle, 1992, p.300). Two countries having same size can have different living standards. Living standard is calculated by dividing national income with the number of people, this tells us the income earned by each individual at an average (World Bank, 2009, p.391). This measure does not helps in identifying what actually per house in a particular country is spending as certain households may be spending the highest percentage of the total national

Business Law and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Law and Ethics - Essay Example A number of parents consider themselves obliged to instill virtues of right or wrong in their children. Foundations of personal ethics are built when a parent tells the child that it is wrong to steal and the behavior of the parent has a strong impact alike. Family’s actions contribute heavily to the personal ethics and morality of a child (Pojman & Fieser 56). Religious beliefs, on the other hand, do have special influences on personal ethics. The reason is, religion allows individuals to conform to set moral regulations. There is a promise of reward as a form of motivation for adhering to the â€Å"rules† in religion. Culture is a set of key values, attitudes, assumptions, and norms shared by a group of people (Pojman & Fieser 63). One may have a personal ethos simply because of the culture surrounding. With time the traditions and norms of society may be upheld and ingrained in an individual. As a person grows up in life, ethical standards do change. A number of facts can shift ones ethical standards: experience, emotions, personal understanding, and internal reflection. In the development of an individual, there are diverse experiences that one goes through, this, have a great impact on his ethical norms. Feelings could shift the ethical attitudes of people. As one is overtaken by the time he will have a different understanding o n different issues and he will develop his ethics towards the issues that he understands better off. It feels bad and ashamed when something is done in contrary to our moral code. Similarly, it feels good and proud when something that is coined to our ethical norm is done. The manufacturing company is in grave violation of the principles of ethics. A critical examination is taken on scenario three. First, it is against the principle of consequents, that stipulates the ratio of good or bad an action produces.     

Broadcast TV Show - Family Guy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Broadcast TV Show - Family Guy - Research Paper Example Family Guy, for example, is an animated evening sitcom broadcast by the FOX network that celebrates the dysfunction of the American family but attempts to encourage more critical thinking in social commentary. Generally, Family Guy presents the different adventures of an average American family that includes the four major roles within the dysfunctional family. The Griffin family consists of the overweight, mentally disadvantaged father Peter, his fallen debutante wife Lois, their oldest son Chris, daughter Meg, infant son Stewie, and anthropomorphic pet dog Brian. Chris is almost as stupid as his father, but he takes on the role of the caretaker, "the families social director or clown, diverting the familys attention from pain and anger" (Burney, 2008). Meg is the scapegoat, seen as the unathletic, not necessarily intellectual, slightly overweight, highly insecure, unpopular girl. Stewie is the genius of the family and is set up for the family hero role. Although hes an infant that no one else in the family seems to understand, he constantly comes up with new inventions and ideas of how to eliminate his mother or to rule the world. His plans are sometimes stopped, sometimes joined, by Br ian, the other intellectual member of the family and takes on the role of the lost child. Where Stewies motivations are generally childishly selfish, Brian has a more mature outlook and attempts to add reason back into the conversations. Unlike Stewie, Brian can be understood by the family. It is thought these types of shows are entertaining because they help us feel better about ourselves or our own dysfunctional families. "All families have challenges and problems and sometimes very serious ones. And somehow, when we see them on film, I guess it somehow expiates our own troubles" (Shapiro, 2008). To understand how the show both celebrates American dysfunction and attempts to encourage critical thought within social commentary, it is

The Age of Napoleon Essay Example for Free

The Age of Napoleon Essay The Age of Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte was a very influential character in the history of France. When Napoleon rose to power, many reforms were made regarding the social system, economics, education, and political aspects. For some, the reforms made under his rule were for the better of the people, but others viewed the reforms as negative changes. Nonetheless, Napoleon will always be thought of as a powerful figure in the French Revolution. A leader from the beginning, Napoleon was sent to France for military training at age nine. Before Napoleon completely conquered France, he had a number of early successes such as defeating the British in Toulon in 1793, and he won victory against the Austrians in Italy. In 1799, he came to France and set up a 3-man governing board called the Consulate, overthrowing a very weak system of government called the Directory. People accepted him as a leader because he was charismatic and a good speaker. France was also in a state where they desperately needed a system of order, they are in a midst of a revolution with no one taking charge. It makes sense that Napoleon, a man who seizes power, takes control of the revolution. Napoleon also had a reputation of being an excellent military chief, which lead to an even greater acceptance to him in France. In 1802, he declared himself the consul for life, and 2 years after that, he held enough power to become the emperor of the French. The French longed for change because the American Revolution had inspired them, and there was a large gap between the rich and the poor. Napoleon valued order while he was in power. Order, security, and efficiency replaced liberty, equality, and fraternity. He restored the struggling economy by building new roads and canals, so it could be easier to transport goods or obtain them from other societys. He also set up a public school system and made peace with the Catholic Church by signing the Concordat of 1801. The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between the Roman Catholic Church in France and Napoleon, for the French had been in disagreement with the Catholic Church since the revolution. The Third Estate (made up of peasants and a vast majority of France) didn’t feel that it was fair that the clergy were getting treated better than them. It ended the churches political power and recognized religious freedom for Catholics. The taxes weren’t as high for the clergy as it was for the Third Estate. Napoleon even encouraged the Emigres to return to France. The Emigres were people who feared the revolution and fled France to seek foreign help to restore the old order. He also gave the land that had once belonged to the churches to the peasants, so they could have more land to farm with, which could boost the economy. Jobs were now â€Å"open to all talent†, meaning anyone could work in any job, no matter what Estate they belonged to. The Napoleonic Code was also established when Napoleon came to rule. It recognized equality for all citizens under the law, religious toleration, and trial by jury. The Napoleonic Code was a set of French laws made by a group of legal experts. The rules governed all French-controlled countries in Europe. The Napoleonic Code undid some of the reforms made in the revolution, for example a lot of the rights women had just gained, were now lost. The men now gained complete control over the household and children. Another reform Napoleon made was he abolished serfdom, or slavery. Over time, he came to bring negative changes such as how women had very few rights. He also eliminated freedom of press. When he became emperor, he could not be removed from office which was a problem because not everybody liked the way he was ruling, and they wanted to overthrow him. In Napoleons rule, he attempted to build a French Empire. With Napoleon being an egomaniac, he felt like all of his decisions would be for the better of the people and that he could do no wrong. He won victories over Austria, Prussia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of Italy and Germany, but failed to defeat Britain or Russia. By 1810, his Grand Empire reached its greatest extent. Napoleon was able to win victories over so many countries because he used a different strategy for each battle, so no one could predict his next move. Some say that one Napoleon was the equivalent to 40,000 troops. His Grand Empire redrew the map of Europe, and controlled much of Europe through diplomacy. A diplomacy is the practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. He replaced the King of Spain with his brother, Joseph. The spirit of nationalism, which is the devotion and loyalty to one’s nation, was spread throughout France. Soon, new alliances formed to resist Napoleon’s extreme power, and he was defeated in 1815. The Age of Napoleon brought many reforms in France. His reign included achievements and failures. One of his greatest successes was that he equalized the people of France, and their worth was based off of merit instead of social status. He established the Napoleonic code, which is still in use in France and other parts of the world today. Most importantly, e restored order in France by stabilizing the economy, building schools for better education, made roads, and built hospitals and orphanages. Some of the failures encountered when Napoleon was in rule was that he violated the freedom of the press when he censored the newspapers being published. He invaded Spain, which began a war with the Spaniards. He changed the European boundaries forever. He was the first modern dictator and brought out the spirit of nationalism in France. Overall, Napoleon changed the way of life for the French and surrounding countries forever.

The Industry Of Portable Music Players Media Essay

The Industry Of Portable Music Players Media Essay Nowadays, most people in the world love to listen to the music. Some of them use it for relaxation, some for inspiration and energy, but regardless of the reasons, music became an important part of our lives. This is proved by the fact that now we can meet more and more people with earphones in their ears while walking, going in subway or even working. Portable audio players are now as popular as the Beatles were in the 1960s (Biersdorfer 2009). Each era has its musical carrier. The 60s and 70s were marked by ribbons in rolls and phonograph records; 80s were marked by the advent of cassettes. Time passed and the carries changed; audio players became more portable, tech. The romance has gone away, and only practical issues remained the music moved into digital format (GreenFacts 2008). Just now we have ipod, Iriver and many more brands under which the players are produced. But thirty years ago such a thing as a portable music player, did not exist at all. There were weighty reel and cassette recorders, record players. There was no opportunity of spending time listening to favorite tracks. But the idea was hovering somewhere in the air and waited for its genius. The Japanese were the first who started to develop the idea of portable music players (Krakow 2005). Even now, not everything is known about the exact creation of the first portable music player. There are two major and quite implausible versions: according to the first one, an engineer Nobutoshi Kihara created it for the head of Sony, so he could listen to music during long trips through the ocean. According to the second the idea of a portable cassette recorder was created by Akio Morita himself (founder of Sony). Watching his children all days long listening to the stereos of their favorite the Beatles and Elvis, he need the device for listening to music, which he could take everywhere with him. He insisted player not to have recording function. And it was a bold move, considering that most of desktop cassette recorders were very popular thanks to their ability to record music (Clements 1994). Sony guessed the desire of the public. The result was an absolute bestseller. In 1979, a small cassette player Walkman TPS-L2 was released. Although it was the first of its kind, it cost not so much $ 200. The first Walkman players used magnetic audio cassettes and looked bulky a little bit. Sony first advertised that series in Japan, in 1979. Walkmans where almost always powered by two AA batteries and provided rather good quality music if the cassette was of good quality (Hart-Davis 2004). Over time, Walkman TPS-L2 was recognized as one of the greatest inventions of the company. Or even the best in history in general. According to rating of the 50 best devices created by mankind made by the magazine PC World, the first place was awarded L2, seized the gold medal even from iPod. After that Sony decided not to stop: and in 1980 gave the world the first prototype of CD. And four years later the first portable model Sony Discman D50 appeared. It cost accordingly $ 500 (Glenn 2006). The capacity of the first CD was 640 MB, and that number was not occasional. Morita made a research, which provided a very interesting data. It was found that potential buyers of CDs are the people who preferred to listen to classical music. Taking the most popular in Japan, Ninth Symphony by Beethoven, which lasts almost 74 minutes, the engineers transferred 74 minutes of 16th-bit sound into bytes, and received 640 MB (Grey 2010). While many people still think that such a size of a disc is just a technical limitation, it is not so. Some time later the discs with 700 and even 800 MB were created, although the laser parameters were not changed. One way or another, Sony has always focused on the needs of the buyer. And it was the main secret of success of the company during the period from 70s to 90s, when the vendor has acquired an impeccable reputation and tremendous respect among consumers (Lungu 2008). Bit in the 1990s the Japanese did a mistake, creating its own ATRAC audio format and new carriers Mini Disc. Work in those areas could easily turn into a success. Mini Disc was significantly less than the conventional CD, consequently, as the players for them. The first player with new carrier, Sony Walkman MD MZ1, was compact in comparison with the first CD-models. But cost too much $ 750 (Martin 2009). In general a good venture suffered from fiasco. In Japan, the new invention was greeted very warmly, but the unyielding American market categorically rejected the creation of a new Sony. Sales of mini-discs in Russia were more very poor. The market had plenty of cheap CD-players, which were much easier to use than the new Mini Disc with the new format ATRAC. The failure of the ATRAC was because of the need to transcode music from CDs to digital format individual files. That dubious necessity took away five minutes of time on the transcoding of each record. On the one hand, it was a breakthrough the recordings could be kept not on the compacts, but in the computer. But that fact also gave a big disadvantage: those days there were not so many computers and they were very slow and space on hard drive was not enough for music collections (Gross 2007). In addition, music in ATRAC was protected by a system of copy protection OpenMG the invention of Sony. Such records could not be listened to on another computer or player. The users were not satisfied by that fact. If the failure of MD-players on the ATRAC was assumed, the refusal to support released in 1995 MP3 was a colossal folly. Many companies, including Sony, underestimated the prospects for MP3. The people understood the beauty of the new format. By 1998 hard drives were already able to accommodate a small audio collection, and the computers coped with encoding audio CDs to MP3. In addition, relatively small files could be easily sent over the Internet. So, none then needed that problematic ATRAC (Ruckert 2003). So, in 1998, a rather unknown Korean company Saehan Information Systems released its first MP3-player called MPman F10. No discs were used; there was used a flash memory of 32MB. A low price and ease of filling the music through an LPT port showed that in the very near future, such players would have to become megapopular. The first MP3-player on the hard drive HanGo PJB-100 appeared a year later. It was huge as a brick (150h80h26 mm), incredibly expensive ($ 800), but with the memory of 4.8 GB. About 4500 minutes of music at a bitrate of 128 kbps (Dixon 2006). The first player with hard drive was developed by Compaq, but has begun to be made in late 1999 under license by Hango and was called Personal JukeBox. PJB-100 had anti-shock buffer and could accommodate about a hundred of CDs to the hard disk with the capacity of 4.8 GB. It was chubby black player with a screen to navigate directly to albums and songs. Player Creative Nomad Jukebox with 6 GB of capacity released in September 2000, it still weighed a lot (about 450 g), but looked like a portable CD-player. Player Creative provided an opportunity to play WAV-files and the firmware update also allowed to listen to files in Microsoft WMA (Shamoon 2009). In 2000, Kenwood has developed a portable CD-player DPC-MP727, which could play a CD with WMA-file, and in 2001 it introduced the Rio Volt combined portable CD-player capable to play both audio CD, and CDs with MP3-files. It was possible to use a simple list of songs in M3U, but players with hard drives and flash memory worked on battery power longer (Humphries 2009). The high price and smaller convenience led to the fact that removable media did not become popular in the MP3-players. That time, the company I2Go released player based on a miniature hard drive IBM MicroDrive. In the MP3-player with a small size it was possible even to insert two hard drives of 1 GB MicroDrive, but it cost $ 2000 (Keppler 2010). I2Go ceased to exist after giving its promotional samples to all the nominees at the Oscar awards ceremony in 2000. Iomega applied the same approach in players HipZip, which used much less expensive carriers Click on the 40 MB (PocketZip); cost $ 10 each. Players HipZip reproduced audio format WMA, AAC and MP3. The problem was in this: despite the fact that it was technically possible to support a capacity of 60 or 80 MB, Iomega preferred 40 MB in order more discs were bought. Alas, but to record 60 minutes of CD quality music on a disk with the capacity of 40 MB with no appreciable loss of quality is impossible (Green 2007). Sony has developed its first digital music player in 2000, but it was not named Walkman and could not play MP3-files. Player MC-P10 Music Clip MP3 encoded files to ATRAC3, used by MiniDisc (and all music devices until the production of Sony phones Sony Ericsson Walkman). Then the player was renamed to Memory Stick Walkman and got a slot for flash cards Memory Stick, but it still played only ATRAC-files. In 2001, Nike introduced its first sport player Nike PSA Play, lightweight flash-player with large buttons, wrist holder and a neoprene case. In the same year Intel released the first MP3-player with a 128 MB Pocket Concert, but it wasnt very popular. And in October 2001, Apple announced the first 5 GB iPod (Khan, Joshua 2010). So, the year of 2001 was a turning point, and certainly a landmark for the entire industry of portable players. That year, changed not only the way of listening to music, but the entire music industry changed. Instead of strange Japanese and gloomy Korean players there appeared a legendary iPod. Known for its thought-out products, Apple approached the creation of the player thoroughly: great headphones were added to iPods, also there was attached a mechanical scroll wheel and provided excellent audio chip. Later, wheel became a touch and it remains the same till today. In addition, Apple was the first that equipped the player with 1.8-inch hard disk drive of 5 GB that previously used only in subnotebooks (Sturm 2010). There were also players with the capacious hard drives, but they cost a lot, were hefty, and the volume of 20 GB was simply not needed. IPod has become the golden mean between the storage capacity, size, and adequate price. Plus, the design made by Apple couldnt remain anyone indifferent. And Sony, having lost all credibility and respect of the public, went into hibernation for almost five years during which we have not seen a single item product. Awareness of errors came rather late: only last year it was decided to abandon the format ATRAC and SonicStage. So, during the last eight years the market of portable players grew much faster than in the ` 90s. The demand for MP3 players appeared. The company Archos, was the first that established in the PMP a full color screen. Since 2004, there was the fashion on video every player then was not only to play music but movies also. Players got new functions in the Rio Karma there was a support of an alternative format OGG, which was popular in 2003. Then, Archos has done absolutely useless trick, folding player and a simple digital camera AV300. The idea, however, completely failed (Zimmer 2009). The attempt of Creative to make a smart player, also failed. UMPC ZEN PMC looked cool in 2004, but it was absolutely useless: firstly, because of the size, and secondly, because of Windows CE. The little player Diva GEM has introduced Bluetooth, but in 2004 it was unclaimed. But the year of 2005 gave us the iPod nano that is after all, the best of our days. Attractive appearance, small size, good price, quality of Apple thats the whole secret of success (AsanWay 2010). Then music players were modified with different touch-screens and other implementations. The development of media players in general is very interesting to watch you never know how things will turn will there be a new trend maker or a new, unknown function will become standard? It is difficult to guess even a year ahead, because Portable Music Players are popular now and the technology is developing very quickly.

Employee Benefits Required By Law Essay -- essays research papers

Employee Benefits Required by Law The legally required employee benefits constitute nearly a quarter of the benefits package that employers provide. These benefits include employer contributions to Social Security, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance. Altogether such benefits represent about twenty-one and half percent of payroll costs. Social Security Social Security is the federally administered insurance system. Under current federal laws, both employer and employee must pay into the system, and a certain percentage of the employee’s salary is paid up to a maximum limit. Social Security is mandatory for employees and employers. The most noteworthy exceptions are state and local government employees. The Social Security Act was passed in 1935. It provides an insurance plan designed to indemnify covered individuals against loss of earnings resulting from various causes. This loss of earnings may result from retirement, unemployment, disability, or the case of dependents, the death of the person supporting them. Social Security does not pay off except in the case where a loss of income through loss of employment actually is incurred. In order to be eligible for old age and survivors insurance (OASI) as well as disability and unemployment insurance under the Social Security Act, an individual must have been engaged in employment covered by the Act. Most employment in private enterprise, most types of self-employment, active military service after 1956 and employment in certain nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies are subject to coverage under the Act. Railroad workers and United States civil service employees who are covered by their own systems and some occupation al groups, under certain conditions, are exempted form the Act. The Social Security Program is supported by means of a tax levied against an employee’s earnings which must be matched buy the employer. Self-employed persons are required to pay a tax on their earnings at a rate, which is higher than that paid by employees but less than the combined rates paid by employees and their employers. In order to receive old age insurance benefits, a person must have reached retirement age and be fully insured. ... ...evel is inclined to encourage disabled employees to return to work. Another potential problem is that agencies must deal only with the one authorized "insurer." In most private insurance markets, the amount of prevention services is used as a device to attract and retain customers. It is not clear whether the Office of Workers 'Compensation Programs has any incentive to offer these key services. Occupational health and safety is as important a regulatory issue today as it was in the early 20th century, when it was at the vanguard of government intervention in the labor market. We should clearly be using all available devices for improving the operation of the labor market. Because employees will be compensated for their occupational injuries, it is necessary to take full advantage of the financing of that compensation system in order to create incentives for prevention. The financing arrangements now in use are quite strong, but reinforcing prevention incentives has nev er been viewed as their primary purpose. Recognition of this preventive incentive role and attention to its improvement will serve to improve the occupational health and safety of American workers.

PESTEL Analysis :: Business, External Environment

PESTEL Analysis The PESTEL analysis is an important and widely-used tool for understanding the big picture of a firm’s external environment. PESTEL is an acronym for the political, economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and legal environment in which a firm operates. The benefits of the PESTEL analysis are that it helps identify potential environmental influence, helps better understand existing opportunities and threats, and helps understand market growth and decline. Political The political environment has an influence on business. Political factors need to be considered when viewing the external environment. According to Binstock, â€Å"Clorox is voluntarily converting its plants in the United States to safer chemical process in order to protect against disasters and terrorism† ( 2010). More than 200 chemical facilities across the U.S. have converted to safer chemical processes. In the same article, it said that in 2006 congress passed a temporary law that bars the government from requiring disaster prevention. This is good publicity for the company and puts it ahead of its competitors if the government ever puts disaster prevention laws in to place. Economic Economic factors are important to Clorox because these factors affect the company’s profits. Clorox’s main economic concern appears to be increasing raw material cost. â€Å"Significant increases in the costs of energy and transportation, including the cost of diesel, or of key raw materials, including, but not limited to, resin, chlor-alkali, sodium hypochlorite, corrugate, agricultural commodities and other raw materials† (Clorox, 2010). A rise in the price of raw materials could force the company to raise prices to keep making a profit. A struggling economy could reduce consumer spending. â€Å"Sales totaled $1.27 billion, down 2.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago† (Avalos, 2010). Socio-cultural Today’s consumers are very environmentally conscious. The company is taking advantage of this by producing environmentally friendly products. The company has increased its profits through the sales of its Green Works product line. According to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle â€Å"†¦research says that Green Works accounts for about half that $100 million annual market for eco-cleaners† (Said, 2010). Customers like company that give back to the community. Clorox does this through the Clorox Foundation.† The mission of The Clorox Company Foundation is to improve the quality of life in communities where Clorox employees live and work† (Clorox, 2011). Technological Technology factors play a major role in what opportunities a company faces. â€Å"The Company has outsourced a significant portion of its information technology activities to Hewlett-Packard, including its data centers, which are primarily located in Alpharetta, Ga.

Plot Structure in Susan Glaspells Trifles :: Trifles Essays

Plot Structure in Susan Glaspell's Trifles The play "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell is a whodunit type of murder mystery. But in this case, the "professionals," whose job it is to find out what happened, failed in their task. The County Attorney (Mr. Henderson) and the Sheriff (Mr. Peters) attempt to piece together what had transpired on the day when John Wright was murdered. They interviewed Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mr. Hale who told them that Mrs. Wright, John's wife, had been acting strange when he had found her in the kitchen. After taking in all of this information, they left Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale in the kitchen. Instead of focusing on the men and their quest to solve the case, Glaspell concentrates on the women in the kitchen. It is at this point, when the men leave the kitchen and go upstairs, that the women begin to, perhaps inadvertently, find out for themselves who had killed John Wright. I believe the rising action of this play begins when the men leave the women alone in the kitchen. Without even knowing it, the women are using the tactics that a trained detective would use: asking many questions and making inferences. They engage in small talk and comment on how the kitchen was left after the murder. For example, when Mrs. Peters was looking through the cupboard, she discovered that Mrs. Wright had a bread set. Mrs. Hale then concludes that "she was going to put this in here," referring to a loaf of bread beside the breadbox. Another example is when Mrs. Peters noticed that Mrs. Wright had been "piecing a quilt." As the two women are wondering whether she was going to "quilt it or kno t it," the men come down the stairs and overhear them. The Sheriff repeats out loud what he had heard them say and the men all laugh, obviously making fun of the women. This situation is interesting because the men have no idea that the women were actually making valuable conclusions. I think the next line that Mrs. Hale says is very important: "I don't know as there's anything so strange, our takin' up our time with little things while we're waiting for them to get the evidence. I don't see as it's anything to laugh about." This line shows that even the women themselves believe that they are not finding anything of importance.

Planning Function of Management Essay

Planning is a crucial function of management that enables an organization to achieve its maximum potential. Halliburton is one of the largest corporations in the United States, with a workforce of over 100,000 people in over 120 countries. Their home office is located in Houston, Texas and they are one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the oil and gas industry. This paper will discuss the issues impacting and influencing management planning within Halliburton. â€Å"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.†Peter DruckerIt takes successful management at all levels and quality leadership to lead a business down the proverbial golden path. Planning is the primary management function, which formalizes an organization’s goals and objectives and establishes a base for the other functions of management. Halliburton Company is an oilfield services company and a provider of engineering and construction services that was founded in 1919. The company has expanded through tremendous internal growth and several acquisitions and in March, 2002, Halliburton split into two main divisions: the Energy Services Group (ESG) and Kellog Brown and Root (KBR). â€Å"ESG offers a wide range of products and services to â€Å"upstream oil and gas customers worldwide, ranging from the manufacturing of drill bits and other downhole and completion tools and pressure pumping services† (www.halliburton.com) [APA citation error (incorrect-do not use Web addresses or URL’s in citations). If the author is cited in text = Author’s name (year) â€Å"direct quote† (p. #). If the author is not cited in text = â€Å"direct quote† (author, year, p. #).] . KBR is the engineering subsidiary for Halliburton and is a global leader in construction and project management. Additionally, KBR is a leading government services contractor, which has been the focal point of many legal and ethical issues. Halliburton has received a great deal of negative publicity over the past year or so regarding it Iraq and Kuwait operations. The Pentagon and Justice Department have both launched criminal investigations due to erroneous contract cost estimates totaling $2.7 billion to serve American troops in  the middle east. Accusations have been made of overcharging for meals supplied to troops in Iraq, as well as employees accepting kickbacks from a Kuwaiti subcontractor. Pentagon auditors found that KBR overcharged the U.S. government by $27.4 million during a period of nine months in 2003. Additionally, Halliburton’s internal audit revealed employees accepted these kickbacks in exchange for providing Army supply contracts to the subcontractor (Associated Press). Limited military spending has created lucrative opportunities for privately held companies such as Halliburton to win these contracts and will continue to be at the forefront of media campaigns as long as the United States re mains in Iraq, especially when it comes to Dick Cheney. [You have addressed the issue thoroughly and supported your assertions.] Much speculation has been generated in regard to current Vice President of the United States and former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney’s financial ties to his former company. On the September 14, 2003 edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Vice President Cheney said, â€Å"And since I left Halliburton to become George Bush’s vice president, I’ve several all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven’t had, now, for over three years† (St. Louis Journalism Review). However, it came to light that Cheney received a salary of over $150,000 and maintained over 400,000 shares of unexercised stock options at the time. Cheney stated that he deferred his salary and stock options; therefore it did not constitute a violation of ethics. The Congressional Research Service found that these financial interests in Halliburton demonstrated a financial interest with his former empl oyer creating a conflict of interest. Despite the fact that Cheney broke the law of ethics, he is exempt from the enforcement of such laws and cannot be prosecuted for it (Halliburton Watch). KBR is the largest military contractor in Iraq, with more than 50,000 employees and subcontractor working there and in Kuwait and Afghanistan. These employees drive trucks, wash clothes, deliver mail, and provide additional support services for the U.S. troops. These workers are part of the Pentagon’s privatization strategy that enables the military to reduce the number of troops needed in a given location by assigning noncombat functions to civilians. Halliburton’s social responsibility is to keep these  workers safe and away from fighting, but it has proved a difficult task. Numerous complaint and lawsuits have surfaced because of Halliburton’s failure to provide safe working conditions and in the case of one man who was killed, the suit states he was â€Å"intentionally sent the convoy as an enemy ‘decoy’ in the U.S. military camouflage vehicles, to ensure the safe arrival and delivery of a second H-KBR fuel convoy† (CNNMoney.com). Hallib urton’s social responsibility remains in question with workers being placed in harms way on a regular basis. Factors influencing Halliburton’s strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning include political instability, rising steel prices, and environmental regulations. Halliburton operated in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Russia, which are currently experiencing unstable political and social climates. Continued conflict in these areas could have an impact on the company’s bottom line and their ability to generate substantial revenue. Steel is a major commodity that is used in the setting up of plant and processing facilities for natural gas and petroleum refining. Record breaking high prices were reached in early 2005, but have since stabilized. However, the ongoing consolidation in the steel industry could lead to higher prices causing the profit margins to suffer. Lastly, Halliburton is subject to environment and legal requirement in its worldwide operations, such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Air Interstate Rule, causing the states to reduce the allowable sulfur dioxide SO2 emissions by 70% and nitrogen oxides emissions by 60%. Environmental issues such as these could place a burden on is cash flow. [Insightful analysis]Halliburton has an exceptional global presence and they are currently playing a prominent role in rebuilding Iraq and by providing our troops with shelter, meals, and delivery of materials. Although Halliburton has come under intense scrutiny over the past several years due to its involvement with Vice-President Chaney and its legal and ethical issues, it has still managed to win military contracts due to its expertise in the oil service industry. This shows tremendous resiliency and reassures its customers and stockholders that it will continue to be a strong force in the oilfield services industry. [Your paper is well written. It is clear and concise.]References-references must match citations by author/owner. References begin with author/owner name e.g. CNN.money and Halburton are the owners of the websites. See examples in APA manual. MarketLine Business Information Center. Retrieved January 27, 2007 fromhttp://dbic.datamonitor.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/companies/company/?pid=B07921BD-F512-44F2-AE84-4DA7D8630C9D#CompanyOverviewTop 25 Censored Stories. St. Louis Journalism Review; Dec 2006/Jan 2007, Vol. 36Issue 292, P23-27, 5p. Retrieved January 26, 2007 fromhttp://web.ebscohost.com. Decision Management System. Retrieved January 28, 2007 from www.halliburton.comHalliburton Announces Full Year and Fourth Quarter Results. Retrieved January 28,2007 from http://CNNMoney.comKelly, Matt. (2003, March). Halliburton Fires Workers for Allegedly Taking Kickbacksfor Iraq Contract. Retrieved Janury 27, 2007 from www.commondreams.orgTotal points available=14Your score=13.75Areas for improvement=teal belowContent and Development = 40%_____ Key elements covered, content comprehensive/accurate, clear points supported with detail, appropriate use of vocabulary, integration of theory and practice, research adequate/timely, content and purpose clear. Very good work on this section. Organization = 30%_____ Lead is interesting and relevant, thesis is well-developed, directional statement previews major points, paragraph transitions maintain flow, body paragraphs support a specific major point, conclusion is logical/flows evenly, conclusion reviews major points. Good work-very well organized. Easy to read. Format = 10%_____ APA format, â€Å"reader friendly,† utilizes references appropriately, headings aid adaptability/not overdone, neatly presented, format requirements followed. Some small errors in APA formatting of reference page and citations. (-.25)Mechanics = 10%_____ Punctuation rules followed, contractions avoided, spelling correct, vernacular is avoided, written in same person throughout, tense remains consistent. Readability and Style-10%_____ Complete, clear, concise statements, well constructed sentences, sentence transitions present, words/concepts precise,

“A Bit of Singing and Dancing” by Susan Hill

A Bit of Singing and Dancing by Susan Hill is the short story of Esme Fanshaw, who following a lifetime of caring after her bedridden tyrannical mother, is finally set free. Although forced by her mother to live modestly, Esme inherits 6,000 pounds from her late, stingy mother. With so much cash in hand, she has great plans for her immediate and far future, among which travelling and moving to London: â€Å"She felt flushed and a little drunk then, she felt that all things were possible, the future was in her power, and she wanted to shout and sing and dance, standing alone in the February twilight, looking at the deserted beach. Confused by her newfound freedom and feeling guilty for wanting her mother to die, Esme receives an unexpected visit by Mr Amos Curry, a salesman, who is interested in renting a room. For a woman who â€Å"knew nothing about the habits of men,† Esme is at first taken aback by her own decision to accept the stranger as her tenant.But soon things chang e and Esme realizes that she is â€Å"the sort of person who needs to give service,† just as she did for so many years when her sick mother was still alive. But how will Mr Amos afford paying the rent during the summer, when his sales drop, rests with the reader to find out by reading the short story. Susan Hill is a British short story writer, novelist, playwright and critic. She was born in 1942.

Abortion, Parenting, Animal Rights, Capitalism: Notes

Abortion: (See Abortion Murder, The Case Against Abortion in Highlights) Women are blessed with a miraculous reproductive system. They should be encouraged to honor and respect it. It should be used responsibly. We should not encourage women to abuse it because it is their body and thereby their right. Yes, there are circumstances where they have to make very tough decisions and choices because of rape or incest. But instead of encouraging abortion right from the start, they should be counseled on other solutions first and make abortion the very last absolutely tragic answer to their problem.Tell women they have a right to abort, it’s their body, and it’s their choice. No. Many will abuse that right and start using it as a method of birth control. I’d like to think this is not true but many will abuse that right and start using it as a method of birth control. I don’t ever want abortion to become fashionable or just another procedure. It should always be r egarded as the last possible option and only in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.American Atrocities (Domestic) : Also see International American Atrocities Rockefeller has Coal miners union organizers murdered. The Ludlow Massacre in 1914 by the National Guard. 11 Children, 2 Women. In 1847 Federal troops killed 30 workers, 100 woulded in the battle of the Viaduct in Chicago. In 1894 Federal troops killed 34 Pullman railroad union members. 1897, 19 coal miners killed, 36 wounded in PA. Animal Rights: The Illogic of Animal Rights by J. Neil Schulman The so-called â€Å"animal rights† movement is relying upon a logical fallacy which is based on mutually exclusive premises. Animal rights† premise #1: Human beings are no different from other animals, with no divine or elevated nature which makes us distinct; â€Å"Animal rights† premise #2: Human beings are ethically bound not to use other animals for their own selfish purposes. If human beings are no different from other animals, then like all other animals it is our nature to kill any other animal which serves the purposes of our survival and well-being, for that is the way of all nature.Therefore, aside from economic concerns such as making sure we don't kill so quickly that we destroy a species and deprive our descendants of prey, human animals can kill members of other animal species for their usefulness to us. It is only if we are not just another animal — if our nature is distinctly superior to other animals — that we become subject to ethics at all — and then those ethics must take into account our nature as masters of the lower animals. We may seek a balance of nature; but â€Å"balance† is a concept that only a species as intelligent as humankind could even contemplate.We may choose to temper the purposes to which we put lower animals with empathy and wisdom; but by virtue of our superior nature, we decide †¦ and if those decisions include the consumption of animals for human utilitarian or recreational purposes, then the limits on the uses we put the lower beasts are ones we set according to our individual human consciences. â€Å"Animal rights† do not exist in either case. Even though I personally believe we were created by God, unlike advocates of the Judeo-Christian tradition I do not rely upon the question of whether humans have a â€Å"soul† to distinguish humans from animals.Like secular rationalists, I'm content to resolve the issue of the nature of human beings, and the nature of animals, by scientific means — observation, experiment, and the debate of paradigms. Each of these criteria is simply a proof of intelligence and self-consciousness: 1) Being observed as producing or having produced technological artifacts unique to that species; 2) Being observed as able to communicate from one generation to the next by a recorded language unique to that species; 3) Being observed as basing action on abstract reasoning; ) Being observed as engaging in inductive and deductive reasoning processes; 5) Being observed as engaging in non-utilitarian artistic activity unique to that species. I'm sure there are other criteria we could use, but these are obvious ones that come to mind immediately. None of them speculates about the unobservable functioning of a neural network; all of them are based on observable effects of intelligence and self-consciousness. Conclusively, we are of a different nature than other animals we know. Neither cetaceans nor other higher mammals, including the higher apes, qualify as â€Å"human† under these criteria.We do not observe these significations of intelligence and self-consciousness in any other species we know, such criteria being neither necessarily anthropocentric nor even terracentric. By the â€Å"survival of the fittest† which is the law of raw nature, no animal has rights: only the tools to survive as best it can. The chicken has no right not to be eaten by the fox. The wildebeest has no ethical recourse against the lion. If we are merely animals, no other animal has any ethical standing to complain against the human animal for eating them or wearing their skins.But, if we are superior to other animals — if our nature is of a different kind than other animals — then why should we grant rights to species who can not talk, or compose symphonies, or induce mathematical equations, or build satellites which send back television pictures of other planets? Why shouldn't we humans simply regard lower animals as things which may become our property? We may be kind to animals if it is pleasing to us to do so, but we should not grant animals an equal stature that nature has not given them. Respect for nature requires a respect for the nature of what things are †¦ nd we are better, stronger, smarter, than the animals we hunt, ranch, farm, fish, trap, butcher, skin, bone, a nd eat. They certainly have no ethics about us, for they are just animals. Nor are any â€Å"animal rights† activists themselves merely animals. There is no organization called Porpoises for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It is People who make those demands of other People. Those who argue for animal rights argue that since animals are living and feel pain, that therefore nature gives them a right not to be treated cruelly.This is an argument that could only work on a being capable of empathy — and that requires an elevated consciousness. It is true that animals can feel pain, and that esthetically requires that we not be cruel in our treatment of them. But what is cruelty? Beating a horse that won't pull a wagon? Making animals fight each other for sport? That's no longer the issue, is it? The issue is ranching minks to skin them for fur; castrating and slaughtering steers to eat them; hunting and shooting deer, ducks, and elks; testing cosmetics on animals; doing medical experiments on animals to advance medical knowledge.Do we have a moral obligation not to use animals for human utilitarian purposes, which is another way of asking whether animals have the right not to be treated as objects to be exploited for their usefulness? The idea of a right means that which has rights may not be treated as a utilitarian object for the fulfillment of the purposes of others. Animal rights would mean animals would be immune from being used to fulfill any human purpose. PETA has it exactly correct. If animals have rights, then we may not ethically use them for our own selfish purposes, no matter how necessary we think that use or how humanely we assert we do it to them.This is, in fact, the logical conclusion of â€Å"animal rights. † If animals have rights then we need not make any distinction between an unnecessarily cruel use of animals (pick one: cock- fighting, animal testing for beauty products) or eating animals, because if animals have righ ts then we are not morally entitled to put them to utilitarian use, period. Let me make it clear: I am not questioning the humaneness or cruelty of any particular practice. My point is that the interests of those who assert that the lower animals have rights is not to protect animals against cruel treatment.That can be done merely by an appeal to our consciences. Those who assert that animals or even â€Å"habitats† have rights do so to destroy individual human rights to control what I term the anthroposphere: the human habitat. It is the individual human right to control our private spheres of action — our individual habitats — which they oppose. Some â€Å"animal rights† activists, basing their thinking on pantheism, equate humans with the rest of nature by saying that we are all share a divine consciousness.But equating humankind as no more divine than inanimate objects or other animals isn't raising nature but lowering humankind. Pantheists believe th at everything is sacred, including the inanimate. Yet, I don't notice them picketing Mount St. Helen's volcano for spewing its lava, burning trees and killing wildlife. It's only human action to which animal rights activists object. So where do we find ethics here? If we look to nature, we see only that the strong use the weak for their own purposes — and we are obviously the master of all other animals by that standard.If we look to the center of all human ethics, the Golden Rule, we are told to treat others as we would wish to be treated. But what others? Animals can't treat us as we wish to be treated because they don't have the wit to entertain ethics at all. Which leaves us esthetics, which exists only in individual humans. Since lower animals don't have rights, we humans need to make judgments on humane versus cruel treatment of lower animals not by treating animals as if they have rights but instead must rely on our esthetic values — our consciences.But, after s eeing tree-spikers, people throwing paint on fur coats, and Kentucky Fried Chicken being equated with Auschwitz, it's now apparent that the effect of trying to give animals the same ethical immunities as humans is that all esthetic distinction between cock-fighting and eating meat is lost. The effect of â€Å"all or nothing† in our uses of animals is to blunt our consciences, which makes us crueler to animals, not less cruel. Those people among us who would give lower animals human rights do not do it because they love other animals. They do it because they hate humankind.They hate the fact that their own superior nature as intellectual beings gives them superior challenges which they shrink from by attempting to deny the superiority of their human nature. â€Å"Animal rights† is just one more diabolic scheme for promoting government control over human lives by destroying our right to private property. It is the logical tactic of those who hate the individual creative ability and wish it replaced by the anti-human jackboots of collectivism. â€Å"Animal rights† activists use the tools of rationality which are uniquely available to the human species in order to deny the distinct nature of their own rational faculties.They raise up animals in an attempt to lower humankind. They may speak for themselves only, not for me. I know what I am. I know what animals are. And I will name what â€Å"animal rights† activists truly are: the Human Defamation League. And making us as oblivious to cruelty as are all other animals, if not the actual agenda of the Human Defamation League, is nonetheless the unintended consequence of their campaign. 7 Things You Didn't Know About PETA 1) According to government documents, PETA employees have killed more than 19,200 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens since 1998.This behavior continues despite PETA’s moralizing about the â€Å"unethical† treatment of animals by farmers, scientists, restaurant owners, circuses, hunters, fishermen, zookeepers, and countless other Americans. PETA puts to death over 90 percent of the animals it accepts from members of the public who expect the group to make a reasonable attempt to find them adoptive homes. PETA holds absolutely no open-adoption shelter hours at its Norfolk, VA headquarters, choosing instead to spend part of its $32 million nnual income on a contract with a crematory service to periodically empty hundreds of animal bodies from its large walk-in freezer. 2) PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk has described her group’s overall goal as â€Å"total animal liberation. † This means the complete abolition of meat, milk, cheese, eggs, honey, zoos, aquariums, circuses, wool, leather, fur, silk, hunting, fishing, and pet ownership. In a 2003 profile of Newkirk in The New Yorker, author Michael Specter wrote that Newkirk has had at least one seeing-eye dog taken away from its blind owner.PETA is also against all m edical research that requires the use of animals, including research aimed at curing AIDS and cancer. 3) PETA has given tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals. This includes a 2001 donation of $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an FBI-certified â€Å"domestic terrorist† group responsible for dozens of firebombs and death threats. During the 1990s, PETA paid $70,200 to Rodney Coronado, an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) serial arsonist convicted of burning down a Michigan State University research laboratory.In his sentencing memorandum, a federal prosecutor implicated PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in that crime. PETA vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich has also told an animal rights convention that â€Å"blowing stuff up and smashing windows† is â€Å"a great way to bring about animal liberation,† adding, â€Å"Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it. † 4) PETA activists regularly target children as young as six years old with anti-meat and anti-milk propaganda, even waiting outside their schools to intercept them without notifying their parents.One piece of kid-targeted PETA literature tells small children: â€Å"Your Mommy Kills Animals! † PETA brags that its messages reach over 1. 2 million minor children, including 30,000 kids between the ages of 6 and 12, all contacted by e-mail without parental supervision. One PETA vice president told the Fox News Channel’s audience: â€Å"Our campaigns are always geared towards children, and they always will be. † 5) PETA’s president has said that â€Å"even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we would be against it. And PETA has repeatedly attacked research foundations like the March of Dimes, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the American Cancer Society, solely because they support animal-based research aimed at curing life-threatening diseases and birth defects. A nd PETA helped to start and manage a quasi-medical front group, the misnamed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, to attack medical research head-on. 6) PETA has compared Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust to farm animals and Jesus Christ to pigs. PETA’s religious campaigns include a website that claims—despite ample evidence to the contrary—that Jesus Christ was a vegetarian.PETA holds protests at houses of worship, even suing one church that tried to protect its members from Sunday-morning harassment. Its billboards taunt Christians with the message that hogs â€Å"died for their sins. † PETA insists, contrary to centuries of rabbinical teaching, that the Jewish ritual of kosher slaughter shouldn’t be allowed. And its infamous â€Å"Holocaust on Your Plate† campaign crassly compared the Jewish victims of Nazi genocide to farm animals. 7) PETA frequently looks the other way when its celebrity spokespersons don’t practice what it preaches.As gossip bloggers and Hollywood journalists have noted, Pamela Anderson’s Dodge Viper (auctioned to benefit PETA) had a â€Å"luxurious leather interior†; Jenna Jameson was photographed fishing, slurping oysters, and wearing a leather jacket just weeks after launching an anti-leather campaign for PETA; Morrissey got an official â€Å"okay† from PETA after eating at a steakhouse; Dita von Teese has written about her love of furs and foie gras; Steve-O built a career out of abusing small animals on film; the officially â€Å"anti-fur† Eva Mendes often wears fur anyway; and Charlize Theron’s celebrated October 2007 Vogue cover shoot featured several suede garments. In 2008, â€Å"Baby Phat† designer Kimora Lee Simmons became a PETA spokesmodel despite working with fur and leather, after making a $20,000 donation to the animal rights group. It’s always been hard for me to understand why relatively intelligent people hold meaningless discussions based on the writings of a primitive and superstitious desert culture and believe it all to be true because their parents told them so.Talking snake, sun and stars created after the earth, the sun placed in the sky after fruit trees already here, woman created after man, man swallowed by a fish, regurgitated and lives to talk about it, no rainbows till after Noah’s flood, all the world’s creatures on one big boat, sticks turned into serpents, woman turned to pillar of salt, little children killed on God’s orders because they had the wrong parents. Religion is merely a combination of beliefs and cult practices used throughout history as a form of oppression by the ruling class. Religion is the exploitation of human ignorance and credulity. It would literally take a â€Å"genius† not to see that. Bible, The: The Big Bang? : Life on earth could never exist were it not for a series of very fortunate â€Å"coincidences† such as: location, orbit, tilt, rotational speed and unusually large moon. Also a magnetic field and atmosphere that shields the planet. Not to mention cycles that, replenish and cleanse the air and water. Is it blind chance or intelligent design?Location: Ideal perfect location in the galaxy, too close to center would allow dangerous and lethal radiation, too far from center would prohibit the needed concentrations of chemical elements needed to support life. Accident? Orbit: About 93 million miles from the sun, is just about the perfect zone that is habitable because life neither freezes nor fries. Earth’s path is circular, keeping it the same distance from the sun year-round. Happenstance? Extraordinary Large Moon: The moon’s diameter is a little over a quarter of the earth’s diameter, unusually large compared to all the other moons. It causes ocean tides that play a vital role in earth’s ecology. It contributes to the earth’s perfect spin axis, which w ithout, the earth would wobble out of control. Blind chance?Perfect Tilt and Spin: Earth’s tilt of about 23. 4 degrees causes the annual cycle of seasons, moderates temperatures and allows for a wide range of climate zones. The length of day and night, a result of the earth’s spin, maintains a habitable temperature for life. If the speed of rotation were slower, days would be longer and the â€Å"sunny side† would bake while the other side would freeze. If the speed were faster, days would be shorter; earth’s rapid spin would cause relentless gale-force winds and other disastrous effects. Coincidence? Protective Shields: Earth seems to fly through a shooting gallery of lethal radiation and meteoroids with relative impunity.Our powerful magnetic field stretches far into space, which protects us from the solar winds, flares, and explosions, which blast billions of tons of matter into space. Our blanket of gases (stratosphere) keeps us breathing, by absorbin g 99 percent of incoming UV radiation through our ozone layer protecting all life on the earth. Amazingly this amount of atmospheric ozone gases is not fixed, it changes in intensity as the UV radiation rises. And yet it lets in the heat and light so essential to life. Dumb luck? Natural Cycles of Water and Air: Fresh water is recycled and redistributed around the planet in three stages: evaporation, condensation and precipitation. An amazing process called photosynthesis creates life-giving oxygen.Plants take in our exhausted carbon dioxide, energize it with sunlight and produce carbohydrates and oxygen. We complete the cycle when we breathe. All this production of vegetation and breathable air happens cleanly, efficiently and quietly. The same holds with organic matter, or the nitrogen cycle. 78 percent of our atmosphere is nitrogen, lightning converts nitrogen into compounds, which are absorbed by plants. Animals eat those plants, when plants and animals die, the nitrogen compoun ds are broken down by bacteria and their decay releases nitrogen back into the soil and atmosphere, completing the cycle. Perfect recycling, or just a matter of random incidences?The greatest accomplishment of the 20th Century is the discovery of human ignorance. We can no longer make up stories to explain the world. We no longer accept the Church providing both the questions and the answers. All theories and solutions must be confirmed and reconfirmed through experiment. 4. Capitalism: The economic system based on the fiction of the productivity of capital, justifiable once, is henceforth illegitimate. Its inefficacy and malfeasance have been exposed; it is the cause of all existing misery, the present mainstay of that old fiction of representative government which is the last form of tyranny among men. Proudhon, Interest and Principal -1849The capitalist system flourishes through the use of economic disparity, social inadequacies, manipulative financial practices, planned obsolesc ence, discriminative procedures, and predatory exploitation of the 99%. Our banknotes are forgeries. We live in a counterfeit economy. The dollar will soon become useless and we are all living on borrowed time. The corporately funded politicians who by controlling the press, the schools, and the churches, impose capitalism upon the masses under the attractive guise of loyal patriotism. How Capitalism Works by Bruce Morgan Under capitalism, only money has value. Other items have value only to the extent they can be converted to money or can generate money.This includes things such as labor, commodities and property. What cannot be converted to money has no value and is often eliminated. This can include people. Profits are more valuable than the ecosystem or worker safety. The purpose of capitalism is to move as much money to the top 0. 1% of society, from those who are not (and will never be) at or near the top. Wealthy individuals, with few exceptions, do not come by their fortune by their own productive labor. Instead, they appropriate as much as possible from other people's productive labor. Capitalists themselves believe that they are entitled to this wealth; even if they did little to earn it.Illegality for the elites is inconsequential. Even if something is technically illegal, if it is not prosecuted it becomes de facto legal. Governments work either for their people or for the rich, they cannot work for both. In virtually all Western societies, the ultra rich (individuals and corporations) have captured their governments, to a greater or lesser degree. For the U. S. federal government, this capture is virtually complete. Once the privileged class has control of the government, they can have whatever laws passed that they want, including those that make their crimes retroactively legal. There, in 241 words is the essence of capitalism as actually practiced.Once these points are understood, the machinations behind current events in the areas of economics , politics and foreign affairs become evident. This article was deliberately presented in black and white. Those who want gray can get it from the lame stream media. â€Å"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson. † –Franklin D Roosevelt Money is a drug if the right dosage can be found, creating just enough, not too much — it's like magic. As long as people keep buying things they don't need. As long as those in the business don't hoard too much.As long as the real resources don't dry up, the illusion of prosperity can be maintained with more and more IOUs. Like all stimulants, money steals from tomorrow. The quest for fame and fortune, when will it end? This tyranny of early rising and retiring late. Riding on mules they long for noble steeds. Already prime ministers, they seek to be kings. For food and raiment, they suffer stress and strain. Never fearful of Yama’s call to reckoning. Searching for wealth and power to give to grandsons. No one is willing ever to turn back. (The Journey to the West) 1582 5. Children, Parenting: It couldn't have been because half our children are being raised in broken homes.It couldn't have been because our children get to spend an average of 30 seconds in meaningful conversation with their parents each day. After all, we give our children quality time. It couldn't have been because we treat our children as pets and our pets as children. It couldn't have been because we place our children in day care centers where they learn their socialization skills among their peers under the law of the jungle while employees who have no vested interest in the children look on and make sure that no blood is spilled. It couldn't have been because we allow our children to watch, on the average, seven hours of television a day filled with the glorification of sex and violence that isn't fit for adu lt consumption.It couldn't have been because we allow our children to enter into virtual worlds in which, to win the game, one must kill as many opponents as possible in the most sadistic way possible. It couldn't have been because we have sterilized and contracepted our families down to sizes so small that the children we do have are so spoiled with material things that they come to equate the receiving of the material with love. It couldn't have been because our children, who historically have been seen as a blessing from God, are now being viewed as either a mistake created when contraception fails or inconveniences that parents try to raise in their spare time. It couldn't have been because we give two-year prison sentences to teenagers who kill their newborns.It couldn't have been because our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolved out of some primordial soup of mud by teaching evolution as fact and by handing out condoms as i f they were candy. It couldn't have been because we teach our children that there are no laws of morality that transcend us, that everything is relative and that actions don't have consequences. What the heck, the president gets away with it. Colonization: Also See Third World Nations European explorers were responsible for the extermination of 70 million souls in the New World between the years 1533-1588. They were murdered for their women, gold, silver, natural resources and land. Million natives were murdered within 3 years according to Leah Trabich. Within 15 years, the Arawak tribe of 250,000 was completely wiped out. The population of the United States prior to European contact was greater than 12 million. Four centuries later, the count was reduced by 95% to 237 thousand. From 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. These atrocities are seen throughout Africa, New Zealand, New Guinea, East Timor Cultures Right and Wrong Beauty is in the MIND of the beholder. Some may look upon murder as senseless vicious evil; others may see it as necessary. You may look at grass and see green; someone else will see blue.What may be music to your ears may very well be appalling noise to others. Inuits may be very comfortable in zero degree weather while you are freezing. Vice, virtue, sounds, colors, taste, beauty, heat, cold are not qualities in objects but perceptions in the mind. –Hume. Some cultures kill the weak and elderly to insure the longevity of the village. It’s a matter of survival. Amazonian women are not only happy but also proud to share themselves among the entire village, for they realize this creates life and perpetuates their species and yet would kill their third child to save the rest of their family from marauding slave traders. What brings joy to some may bring sorrow and woe to others.Hawaii’s ruling family not only accepted royal incest but also encouraged it as an exclusive roy al privilege. Sibling or parent child incest was common in our 50th state before they were â€Å"annexed† to the US. Different societies and cultures have different systems of laws. The rules of one’s own society are not sacrosanct and cannot be used to judge, condemn or decide others’ moral standards. Fixed ideas and values should be eliminated; primitive, civilized, child, adult, perverted and normal are all shattered and put on a sliding scale when addressing other cultures and societies. When there are so many differences in the moral codes of different societies, how can we regard our own, or any other, as the normal or standard way of thinking?Depletion of Natural Resources: (See Problematic World Economy) Everyone is concerned about Oil but water is the real problem. Oil can be replace but there’s no substitute for fresh water. We are running out of clean water. Nations fighting over natural resources. Ever expanding and sophistication of technolog y. Increased poverty caused by huge migration from rural areas to large cities throughout the world. Traditional lifestyle of farming and ranching has vanished and more people are dependent on government support. Feeding the growing population on the planet has become a huge problem for governments. Medical technology has increased life expectancy allows people to live longer than ever before.Greed and corruption among the world’s nations is becoming more and more the norm. Fewer people control the economic wealth and military might than ever before since earth’s creation.. We’re all on borrowed time. Evolution and Discrimination (Racism): Charles Darwin’s book’s full title is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. As much as many seek to disavow, generally speaking, man is NOT a gentle creature that just wants to be loved and will, at most, defend himself when attacke d. Man has an instinctual, powerful measure of aggression and his neighbor is for him someone on whom he is tempted to satisfy his aggressiveness.He will exploit the capacity to have someone work without pay, use sexually without consent, cause others pain, torture or death. It seems that mankind abandons their bad habits only when catastrophe is close at hand. The intellect alone is not enough. Men must be shaken, almost shattered before changing. – Sigmund Freud Family: I’ve received a cease and desist order prohibiting me from discussing: sexual preferences, politics, religion, abortion, nuclear power, peak oil, climate change, the environment, food shortages, economic instability, international terrorism and the military industrial complex. Failure to comply will immediately result in the termination of all intimate marital favors and services.We’ve known each other since childhood. Our souls are mingled and connected in so universal a blending that they era se the seam that joins us together. She alone has the privilege of my true portrait and understands me for who I think I am. If I were to lose her, I would merely drag wearily on. Famine, Food and Population Control: Wild, man-made viruses released and vaccines created for profit and population control by the military, medical, petrol-chemical pharmaceutical cartel. Life is tough and for many it is short, brutal, filled with want and pain. It seems that the well being of some, is sustained on the troubles and elimination of others.Last year, 17. 2 million households in the United States were food insecure, the highest level on record, as the Great Recession continued to wreak havoc on families across the country. Of those 17. 2 million households, 3. 9 million included children. On Thanksgiving Day, here’s a look at hunger in America, as millions of Americans struggle to get enough to eat in the wake of the economic crisis: Memo to Bill, Oprah, Brad and Angelina: Not enough p oor and hungry people in the US? You don’t have to go to Haiti and Africa to feed and shelter the poor. They’re right here in Florida, Texas, California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia.Why don’t you start giving back to the country where you made your millions? Or are you all full of shit? Collectively, among every human, the cancer upon our Earth is the domination of our false-ego and our divorce from nature. Collectively, among every human, vanity leads to segregation and competition. Competition leads to fear and greed. Greed leads to deceit and immorality. And immorality is the breeding ground for illness, waging war on our Earth. Every act of hatred and destructiveness in our world begins with self-hate, and self-destructiveness. And that all begins with a breakdown on communication. Just remember that the false-ego has only one desire – to become greater and more powerful than the true self.