Mental Damages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mental Damages - Essay Example First, the elements of negligence should be established. They are duty, breach, causation, damages. According to Caparo v. Dickman [1990] UKHL 2, if the harm that occurs is reasonably foreseeable, there is a degree of proximity between the tortfeasor and the victim, and if it would be just, reasonable and fair to impose liability, then the duty prong of the negligence analysis is satisfied. In this case the harm was reasonably foreseeable – Maria could foresee that something could go wrong if she defied orders, in that she might be incapacitated, which would leave the children essentially unattended. This is exactly the harm that happened, so this harm is reasonably foreseeable. Proximity is also established, in that the children were in Maria’s care.... Maria did not act as a reasonable person, as a reasonable person would have obeyed the rules set forth by the New Horizons regarding employees acting only with trained support staff. Therefore, breach is established. Causation is the next element. The court’s typically use the â€Å"but-for† test – would the damages have occurred but-for the tortfeasor’s actions? (Barnett v. Kensington & Chelsea NHS Trust [1968] 1 All ER 1068). In this case, the actions of Maria were the cause, because but-for her choosing to drive without supervised help, the damages would not have occurred, because there would have been a trained person to help the children on the bus. Damages are next – do Bonita and Ben have compensable damages? After all, they were physically unhurt, but apparently suffered some type of emotional damage from the incident. In this case, the court would look to the case of Page v. Smith [1995] UKHL 7. In Page, the plaintiff was physically unhurt in a minor traffic accident. However, he suffered other damages, which was that he had myalgic encephalomyelitis, and this disease recurred, although it was previous in remission. The court found that Page was a primary victim, which means that the primary victim must only show that personal injury would have been a foreseeable consequence of the tortfeasor’s actions. If this is established, that the victim was unhurt would not preclude the victim from collecting from some kind of nervous shock or psychiatric injury. Further, another case that establishes that primary victims may recover for nervous shock, if they are in danger of being injured, is Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 AC 310. Therefore, even though the two

Importance of television in our life Essay Example for Free

Importance of television in our life Essay Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of suitable polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds plus water. Forms of polyisoprene that are useful as natural rubbers are classified aselastomers. Currently, rubber is harvested mainly in the form of the latex from certain trees. The latex is a sticky, milky colloid drawn off by making incisions into the bark and collecting the fluid in vessels in a process called tapping. The latex then is refined into rubber ready for commercial processing. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, either alone or in combination with other materials. In most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio, high resilience, and is extremely waterproof.[1] Varieties[edit] The major commercial source of natural rubber latex is the Parà ¡ rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), a member of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. This species is widely used because it grows well under cultivation and a properly managed tree responds to wounding by producing more latex for several years. Many other plants produce forms of latex rich in isoprene polymers, though not all produce usable forms of polymer as easily as the Parà ¡ rubber tree does; some of them require more elaborate processing to produce anything like usable rubber, and most are more difficult to tap. Some produce other desirable materials, for example gutta-percha (Palaquium gutta)[2] and chicle from Manilkara species. Others that have been commercially exploited, or at least have shown promise as sources of rubber, include the rubber fig (Ficus elastica), Panama rubber tree (Castilla elastica), various spurges (Euphorbia spp.), lettuce (Lactuca species), the related Scorzonera tau-saghyz, various Taraxacum species, including common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) and Russian dandelion (Taraxacum kok-saghyz), and guayule (Parthenium argentatum). The term gum rubber is sometimes applied to the tree-obtained version of natural rubber in order to distinguish it from the synthetic version.[1] Discovery of commercial potential[edit] The Para rubber tree is indigenous to South America. Charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber to the Acadà ©mie Royale des Sciences of France in 1736.[3] In 1751, he presented a paper by Franà §ois Fresneau to the Acadà ©mie (eventually published in 1755) which described many of the properties of rubber. This has been referred to as the first scientific paper on rubber.[3] In England, Joseph Priestley, in 1770, observed that a piece of the material was extremely good for rubbing off pencil marks on paper, hence the name rubber. Later, it slowly made its way around England. South America remained the main source of the limited amounts of latex rubber used during much of the 19th century. In 1876, Henry Wickham gathered thousands of Para rubber tree seeds from Brazil, and these were germinated in Kew Gardens, England. The seedlings were then sent to India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Indonesia, Singapore, and British Malaya. Malaya (now Malaysia) was later to become the biggest producer of rubber. In the early 1900s, the Congo Free State in Africa was also a significant source of natural rubber latex, mostly gathered by forced labor. Liberia and Nigeria also started production of rubber. In India, commercial cultivation of natural rubber was introduced by the British planters, although the experimental efforts to grow rubber on a commercial scale in India were initiated as early as 1873 at the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. The first commercial Hevea plantations in India were established at Thattekadu in Kerala in 1902. In Singapore and Malaya, commercial production of rubber was heavily promoted by Sir Henry Nicholas Ridley, who served as the first Scientific Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1888 to 1911. He distributed rubber seeds to many planters and developed the first technique for tapping trees for latex without causing serious harm to the tree.[4]Because of his very fervent promotion of this crop, he is popularly remembered by the nickname Mad Ridley.[5] Properties[edit] Rubber latex Rubber exhibits unique physical and chemical properties. Rubbers stress-strain behavior exhibits the Mullins effect and the Payne effect, and is often modeled as hyperelastic. Rubber strain crystallizes. Owing to the presence of a double bond in each repeat unit, natural rubber is susceptible to vulcanisation and sensitive to ozone cracking. The two main solvents for rubber are turpentine and naphtha (petroleum). The former has been in use since 1764 when Franà §ois Fresnau made the discovery. Giovanni Fabbroni is credited with the discovery of naphtha as a rubber solvent in 1779. Because rubber does not dissolve easily, the material is finely divided by shredding prior to its immersion. An ammonia solution can be used to prevent the coagulation of raw latex while it is being transported from its collection site. Elasticity[edit] In most elastic materials, such as metals used in springs, the elastic behavior is caused by bond distortions. When force is applied, bond lengths deviate from the (minimum energy) equilibrium and strain energy is stored electrostatically. Rubber is often assumed to behave in the same way, but this is a poor description. Rubber is a curious material because, unlike in metals, strain energy is stored thermally. In its relaxed state, rubber consists of long, coiled-up chains. When rubber is stretched, the chains are taut. Their kinetic energy is released as heat. The entropy and temperature increases during elongation but decreases during relaxation. This change in entropy is related to the changes in degrees of freedom. Relaxation of a stretched rubber band is thus driven by a decrease in entropy and temperature, and the force experienced is a result of the cooling of the material being converted to potential energy. Rubber relaxation isendothermic, and for this reason the force exerted by a stretched piece of rubber increases with temperature. The material undergoes adiabatic cooling during contraction. This property of rubber can easily be verified by holding a stretched rubber band to ones lips and relaxing it. Stretching of a rubber band is in some ways opposite to compression(although both undergo higher levels of thermal energy of an ideal gas), and relaxation is opposed to gas expansion (Note: rubber bands last longer in the cold). A compressed and heated gas also exhibits elastic properties, for instance inside an inflated car tire. The fact that stretching is equivalent to compression is counterintuitive, but it makes sense if rubber is viewed as a one-dimensional gas, plus it is attached to other molecules. Stretching and heat increase the space available to each section of chain, because the molecules are pulled apart. Vulcanization of rubber creates disulfide bonds between chains, so it limits the degrees of freedom. The result is that the chains tighten more quickly for a given strain, thereby increasing the elastic force constant and making rubber harder and less extensible. When cooled below the glass transition temperature, the quasifluid chain segments freeze into fixed geometries and the rubber abruptly loses its elastic properties, although the process is reversible. This property it shared by most elastomers. At very low temperatures, rubber is rather brittle. This critical temperature is the reason winter tires use a softer version of rubber than normal tires. The failing rubber o-ring seals that contributed to the cause of the Challenger disaster were thought to have cooled below their critical temperature; the disaster happened on an unusually cold day. The gas molecules in the rubber were too close to their bound solid molecules(a partial phase change that separated the rubber molecules may have occurred), allowing the rubber to take on a more solid shape(a partial phase change to a more liquid and molecularly separated form would not be good, either). Heated gas has a higher energy, and rubber must be kept at specific temperatures and probably should not be used on vehicles that undergo extreme temperature changes. Chemical makeup[edit] Latex is the polymer cis-1,4-polyisoprene – with a molecular weight of 100,000 to 1,000,000 daltons. Typically, a small percentage (up to 5% of dry mass) of other materials, such as proteins, fatty acids, resins, and inorganic materials (salts) are found in natural rubber. Polyisoprene can also be created synthetically, producing what is sometimes referred to as synthetic natural rubber, but the synthetic and natural routes are completely different.[1] Chemical structure of cis-polyisoprene, the main constituent of natural rubber: Synthetic cis-polyisoprene and natural cis-polyisoprene are derived from different precursors. Some natural rubber sources, such as gutta-percha, are composed of trans-1,4-polyisoprene, a structural isomer that has similar, but not identical, properties. Natural rubber is an elastomer and a thermoplastic. Once the rubber is vulcanized, it will turn into a thermoset. Most rubber in everyday use is vulcanized to a point where it shares properties of both; i.e., if it is heated and cooled, it is degraded but not destroyed. The final properties of a rubber item depend not just on the polymer, but also on modifiers and fillers, such as carbon black, factice, whiting, and a host of others. Biosynthesis[edit] Rubber particles are formed in the cytoplasm of specialized latex-producing cells called laticifers within rubber plants.[6] Rubber particles are surrounded by a single phospholipid membrane with hydrophobic tails pointed inward. The membrane allows biosynthetic proteins to be sequestered at the surface of the growing rubber particle, which allows new monomeric units to be added from outside the biomembrane, but within the lacticifer. The rubber particle is an enzymatically active entity that contains three layers of material, the rubber particle, a biomembrane, and free monomeric units. The biomembrane is held tightly to the rubber core due to the high negative charge along the double bonds of the rubber polymer backbone.[7] Free monomeric units and conjugated proteins make up the outer layer. The rubber precursor is isopentenyl pyrophosphate (an allylic compound), which elongates by Mg2+-dependent condensation by the action of rubber transferase. The monomer adds to the pyrophosphate end of the growing polymer.[8] The process displaces the terminal high-energy pyrophosphate. The reaction produces a cis polymer. The initiation step is catalyzed by prenyltransferase, which converts three monomers of isopentenyl pyrophosphate into farnesyl pyrophosphate.[9] The farnesyl pyrophosphate can bind to rubber transferase to elongate a new rubber polymer. The required isopentenyl pyrophosphate is obtained from the mevalonate pathway, which is derives from acetyl-CoA in the cytosol. In plants, isoprene pyrophosphate can also be obtained from 1-deox-D-xyulose-5-phosphate/2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate pathway within plasmids.[10] The relative ratio of the farnesyl pyrophosphate initiator unit and isoprenyl pyrophosphate elongation monomer determines the rate of new particle synthesis versus elongation of existing particles. Though rubber is known to be produced by only one enzyme, extracts of latex have shown numerous small molecular weight proteins with unknown function. The proteins possibly serve as cofactors, as the synthetic rate decreases with complete removal.[11] Current sources[edit] Close to 21 million tons of rubber were produced in 2005, of which approximately 42% was natural. Since the bulk of the rubber produced is of the synthetic variety, which is derived from petroleum, the price of natural rubber is determined, to a large extent, by the prevailing global price of crude oil.[12][13] Today, Asia is the main source of natural rubber, accounting for about 94% of output in 2005. The three largest producing countries, Thailand, Indonesia (2.4m tons)[14] and Malaysia, together account for around 72% of all natural rubber production. Natural rubber is not cultivated widely in its native continent of South America due to the existence of South American leaf blight, and other natural predators of the rubber tree. Cultivation[edit] Rubber is generally cultivated in large plantations. See the coconut shell used in collecting latex, in plantations in Kerala, India Rubber latex is extracted from rubber trees. The economic life period of rubber trees in plantations is around 32 years – up to 7 years of immature phase and about 25 years of productive phase. The soil requirement of the plant is generally well-drained, weathered soil consisting of laterite, lateritic types, sedimentary types, nonlateritic red, or alluvial soils. The climatic conditions for optimum growth of rubber trees are: Rainfall of around 250 cm evenly distributed without any marked dry season and with at least 100 rainy days per year Temperature range of about 20 to 34 °C, with a monthly mean of 25 to 28 °C High atmospheric humidity of around 80% Bright sunshine amounting to about 2000 hours per year at the rate of six hours per day throughout the year Absence of strong winds Many high-yielding clones have been developed for commercial planting. These clones yield more than 2,000 kg of dry rubber per hectare per year, when grown under ideal conditions. Field coagula[edit] Mixed field coagula Smallholders lump at a remilling factory There are four types of field coagula, cuplump, treelace, smallholders’ lump and earth scrap. Each has significantly different properties.[15] Cuplump is the coagulated material found in the collection cup when the tapper next visits the tree to tap it again. It arises from latex clinging to the walls of the cup after the latex was last poured into the bucket, and from late-dripping latex exuded before the latex-carrying vessels of the tree become blocked. It is of higher purity and of greater value than the other three types. Treelace is the coagulum strip that the tapper peels off the previous cut before making a new cut. It usually has higher copper and manganese contents than cuplump. Both copper and manganese are pro-oxidants and can lower the physical properties of the dry rubber. Smallholders’ lump is produced by smallholders who collect rubber from trees a long way away from the nearest factory. Many Indonesian smallholders, who grow paddy in remote areas, tap dispersed trees on their way to work in the paddy fields and collect the latex (or the coagulated latex) on their way home. As it is often impossible to preserve the latex sufficiently to get it to a factory that processes latex in time for it to be used to make high quality products, and as the latex would anyway have coagulated by the time it reached the factory, the smallholder will coagulate it by any means available, in any container available. Some smallholders use small containers, buckets etc., but often the latex is coagulated in holes in the ground, which are usually (but not always) lined with plastic. Acidic materials and fermented fruit juices are used to coagulate the latex – a form of assisted biological coagulation. Little care is taken to exclude twigs, leaves, and even bark from the lumps that are formed, which may also include treelace collected by the smallholder. Earth scrap is the material that gathers around the base of the tree. It arises from latex overflowing from the cut and running down the bark of the tree, from rain flooding a collection cup containing latex, and from spillage from tappers’ buckets during collection. It contains soil and other contaminants, and has variable rubber content depending on the amount of contaminants mixed with it. Earth scrap is collected by the field workers two or three times a year and may be cleaned in a scrap-washer to recover the rubber, or sold off to a contractor who will clean it and recover the rubber. It is of very low quality and under no circumstances should it be included in block rubber or brown crepe. Processing[edit] Removing coagulum from coagulating troughs The latex will coagulate in the cups if kept for long. The latex has to be collected before coagulation. The collected latex, field latex, is transferred into coagulation tanks for the preparation of dry rubber or transferred into air-tight containers with sieving for ammoniation. Ammoniation is necessary to preserve the latex in colloidal state for long. Latex is generally processed into either latex concentrate for manufacture of dipped goods or it can be coagulated under controlled, clean conditions using formic acid. The coagulated latex can then be processed into the higher-grade, technically specified block rubbers such as SVR 3L or SVR CV or used to produce Ribbed Smoke Sheet grades. Naturally coagulated rubber (cup lump) is used in the manufacture of TSR10 and TSR20 grade rubbers. The processing of the rubber for these grades is a size reduction and cleaning process to remove contamination and prepare the material for the final stage of drying.[16] The dried material is then baled and palletized for storage and shipment in various methods of transportation. Transportation[edit] Natural rubber latex is shipped from factories in south-west Asia, South America, and North Africa to destinations around the world. As the cost of natural rubber has risen significantly, the shipping methods which offer the lowest cost per unit of weight are preferred. Depending on the destination, warehouse availability, and transportation conditions, some methods are more suitable to certain buyers than others. In international trade, latex rubber is mostly shipped in 20-foot ocean containers. Inside the ocean container, various types of smaller containers are used by factories to store latex rubber.[17] Uses[edit] Compression molded (cured)rubber boots before the flashesare removed Contemporary manufacturing[edit] Around 25 million tonnes of rubber is produced each year, of which 42 percent is natural rubber. The remainder is synthetic rubber derived from petrochemical sources. Around 70 percent of the worlds natural rubber is used in tires. The top end of latex production results in latex products such as surgeons gloves, condoms, balloons and other relatively high-value products. The mid-range which comes from the technically-specified natural rubber materials ends up largely in tires but also in conveyor belts, marine products and miscellaneous rubber goods. Natural rubber offers good elasticity, while synthetic materials tend to offer better resistance to environmental factors such as oils, temperature, chemicals or ultraviolet light and suchlike. Cured rubber is rubber which has been compounded and subjected to the vulcanisation process which creates cross-links within the rubber matrix. Prehistoric uses[edit] The first use of rubber was by the Olmecs, who centuries later passed on the knowledge of natural latex from the Hevea tree in 1600 BC to the ancient Mayans. They boiled the harvested latex to make a ball for a Mesoamerican ballgame.[18] Pre-World War II manufacturing[edit] Other significant uses of rubber are door and window profiles, hoses, belts, gaskets, matting, flooring, and dampeners (antivibration mounts) for the automotive industry. Gloves (medical, household and industrial) and toy balloons are also large consumers of rubber, although the type of rubber used is concentrated latex. Significant tonnage of rubber is used as adhesives in many manufacturing industries and products, although the two most noticeable are thepaper and the carpet industries. Rubber is also commonly used to make rubber bands and pencil erasers. Pre-World War II textile applications[edit] Rubber produced as a fiber, sometimes called elastic, has significant value for use in the textile industry because of its excellent elongation and recovery properties. For these purposes, manufactured rubber fiber is made as either an extruded round fiber or rectangular fibers that are cut into strips from extruded film. Because of its low dye acceptance, feel and appearance, the rubber fiber is either covered by yarn of another fiber or directly woven with other yarns into the fabric. In the early 1900s, for example, rubber yarns were used in foundation garments. While rubber is still used in textile manufacturing, its low tenacity limits its use in lightweight garments because latex lacks resistance to oxidizing agents and is damaged by aging, sunlight, oil, and perspiration. Seeking a way to address these shortcomings, the textile industry has turned to neoprene (polymer of chloroprene), a type of synthetic rubber, as well as another more commonly used elastomer fiber, spandex (also known as elastane), because of their superiority to rubber in both strength and durability. Vulcanization[edit] Main article: Vulcanization Natural rubber is often vulcanized, a process by which the rubber is heated and sulfur, peroxide or bisphenol are added to improve resistance and elasticity, and to prevent it from perishing. The development of vulcanization is most closely associated with Charles Goodyear in 1839.[19] Before World War II era manufacturing, carbon black was often used as an additive to rubber to improve its strength, especially in vehicle tires. Today, all vehicle tires are made of synthetic rubbers. Allergic reactions[edit] Main article: Latex allergy Some people have a serious latex allergy, and exposure to natural latex rubber products such as latex gloves can cause anaphylactic shock. The antigenic proteins found in Hevealatex may be deliberately reduced (though not eliminated)[20] through processing. Latex from non-Hevea sources, such as Guayule, can be used without allergic reaction by persons with an allergy to Hevea latex.[21] Some allergic reactions are not to the latex itself, but from residues of chemicals used to accelerate the cross-linking process. Although this may be confused with an allergy to latex, it is distinct from it, typically taking the form of Type IV hypersensitivity in the presence of traces of specific processing chemicals.[20][22]

Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Anti-Feminist Beliefs in Millers Tale and

Anti-Feminist Beliefs in The Miller's Tale and The Wife of Bath's Tale    The Miller's Tale and The Wife of Bath's Tale feature two characters that, though they may appear to be different, are actually very similar. They both seem to confirm the anti-feminine beliefs that existed at the time Chaucer wrote his Canterbury Tales. However, they go about it in different ways. Alison, the woman in The Miller's Tale, tries to hide the fact that she has a passion for men other than her husband, and keep her position as an upstanding citizen intact. The Wife of Bath, meanwhile, has no qualms about displaying herself as she really is. She is not ashamed of the fact she has married five times, and is about to marry again. She hides nothing. While Alison differs from the Wife of Bath in appearance and the way she conducts herself in public, inside they are more alike than Alison would probably care to admit. At the beginning of The Miller's Tale, there is a rather lengthy description of Alison's appearance. She looks beautiful from the outside, true, but throughout the description, Chaucer drops little hints that things are not always what they seem. At the very beginning of his description, he compares her body to that of a weasel's ["Fair was this younge wif, and therwithal As any wesele hir body gent and smal." (Miller 103)], and, since a weasel is not one of the more favorable animals to be compared with, he immediately, albeit subtlely, implies that Alison is not as decent as she would have people believe. Chaucer continues in his ostensibly favorable description of Alison, but concludes the paragraph by implying that Alison would have little qualms about sleeping with a man other than her husband ["She was a primerole, a pigge... ...Miller's Tale, it is uncertain whether the Wife of Bath would applaud the fact that Alison got herself out of a jam, or would chide Alison for hiding her true colors. What is certain, though, is that Alison and the Wife of Bath are really two very similar characters. They just have different ways of expressing their similarity.    Works Cited and Consulted Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale," The Riverside Chaucer. Gen. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. 105-22. Evans, Joan. The Flowing Middle Ages. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1966. Hallida, I.E. Chaucer and His World. New York: Viking Press, 1968. Fuller, Maurice. Chaucer and His England. Williamstown: Corner House Publishers, 1976. Williams, David. The Canterbury Tales, A Literary Pilgrimage. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987.

Breaking Dawn Edward’s Pov Essay

â€Å"I miss you already.† â€Å"I don’t need to leave. I can stay†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Mmm.† It was the eve of our wedding and Bella and I were lying in her narrow bed together, as was our habit. Though it was August, she was wrapped in her usual swaddling blanket, a protection against the chill of my skin. The bulky afghan did not prevent Bella’s hands from wandering about, exploring the unclothed parts of my body. If she had her way, both of us would be even less clothed. I found shirtless to be challenge enough. With Bella’s fingers probing the outlines of each muscle and bone above my waistband, her lips on mine, I was both awash in pleasure and sinking into concern. Some might call it performance anxiety and I could not deny it. When one’s performance was a matter of life and death, there was no shame in that. Bella dragged her tongue across my top lip and a surge of desire shot through me. It was all I could do to remain still and let the sensation fade. If she were a vampire, I would have rolled on top of her, stripped off the bulky afghan and pressed my entire body into hers. I would have kissed her passionately, tasting her lips, her tongue, and pulling her as close to me as the laws of physics would allow. Ahhh†¦ I groaned and retreated from her caressing hands and her delicious, warm tongue. â€Å"Wait,† Bella murmured, clutching my arms. I watched as she kicked her right leg free from the blanket and wrapped it around my waist. â€Å"Practice makes perfect.† I chuckled. I’d heard that one before. Numerous times. â€Å"Well, we should be fairly close to perfection by this point, then, shouldn’t we? Have you slept at all in the last month?† â€Å"But this is the dress rehearsal,† she protested, â€Å"and we’ve only practiced certain scenes. It’s no time for playing safe.† Playing safe. My body froze as I considered how easy it would be to break Bella’s arm, or tear out a handful of her beautiful hair, or snap her spine, or†¦ â€Å"Bella†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Don’t start this again. A deal’s a deal.† â€Å"I don’t know. It’s too hard to concentrate when you’re with me like this. I—I can’t think straight. I won’t be able to control myself. You’ll get hurt.† â€Å"I’ll be fine.† â€Å"Bella†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Shhh!† Bella put her hands on either side of my face and pressed her lips against mine. I would like to have been distracted by that, but it was too late. My mind was already elsewhere, drifting from the thousand-and-one ways I could harm Bella to enumerating all she was giving up for me†¦her family, her friends†¦her chance to be a mother, to grow old, to become something more than what she was right now. It was too much to sacrifice just to be with me. In my mounting distress, I revisited an argument that Bella and I had had repeatedly. I’d never convinced her before; I don’t know why I thought she might change her mind now. â€Å"It’s not right! I don’t want you to have to make sacrifices for me. I want to give you things, not take things away from you. I don’t want to steal your future. If I were human—† Bella stifled my objections by putting her hand over my mouth. â€Å"You are my future. Now stop. No moping, or I’m cal ling your brothers to come and get you. Maybe you need a bachelor party.† My brothers must have agreed with her, for Emmett’s thoughts suddenly interrupted my own. Maybe we’ll catch them with their clothes off! Hope so. Ha, ha! â€Å"Oh, for the love of all that’s holy!† â€Å"What’s wrong?† â€Å"You don’t have to call my brothers. Apparently Emmett and Jasper are not going to let me bow out tonight.† Bella tightened her grip for a moment before releasing me. â€Å"Have fun,† she said. Perhaps it would be better for Bella if I left. Then I wouldn’t upset her with the â€Å"cold feet† I’d told her I didn’t have. I had no second thoughts about marrying Bella—I could hardly wait to do that! My second thoughts were all about the wedding night. Yes, I should leave. Maybe she would get some sleep if I did. â€Å"If you don’t send Edward out,† Emmett threatened in his best, creepy-monster voice, â€Å"we’re coming in after him!† Bella lau ghed. â€Å"Go! Before they break my house.† Kissing her forehead, I advised, â€Å"Get to sleep. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.† â€Å"Thanks! That’s sure to help me wind down.† â€Å"I’ll meet you at the altar.† I gave her a sly smile. â€Å"I’ll be the one in white,† Bella announced nonchalantly, as if we were planning a rendezvous at the mall. I chuckled at that, considering the anxiety attacks that overcame her every time I mentioned the wedding. â€Å"Very convincing,† I tossed over my shoulder as I leaped out the window. My feet landed squarely on Emmett’s head, knocking him to the ground. â€Å"Dammit, that hurt!† Emmett stage whispered, as he jumped up and took a swing at me. I dodged the punch easily. His thoughts always gave him away. â€Å"You’d better not make him late,† I heard Bella warn my brothers. Jasper leaped up and grabbed the eaves outside Bella’s window. He turned on his soothing vibes. â€Å"Don’t worry, Bella. We’ll get him home in plenty of time.† â€Å"Jasper? What do vampires do for bachelor parties? You’re not taking him to a strip club, are you?† she whispered to Jasper and I had to smile. As if that would be fun for me! No woman had ever affected me like Bella did. Women could dip themselves in blood and parade around naked all day and it wouldn’t do a thing for me. I should know†¦Tanya had tried such tricks many times to get me into her bed. â€Å"Don’t tell her anything!† Emmett hissed at Jasper, earning himself a friendly forearm shove that knocked him to the ground†¦again. I could never beat Emmett if we fought strength to strength, but with my mind-reading skill, he rarely got in a good punch. I laughed at his expression as he stood up and brushed the grass off his jeans. He tried to loo k casual as he readied himself for a â€Å"surprise† counterattack. Just as he launched himself at me, I took off running, knowing he couldn’t catch me at full speed. â€Å"Relax,† I heard Jasper reply to Bella. â€Å"We Cullens have our own version. Just a few mountain lions, a couple of grizzly bears. Pretty much an ordinary night out.† Jasper had told Bella the truth. We would be celebrating our boys’ night out with a hunt. I didn’t need the blood at the moment, but it was still a good idea. If I fed now, then I wouldn’t have to leave Bella to hunt for the first two weeks of our honeymoon. Besides, I only had one more day to remain chaste until Bella and I were married. I did not want to slip-up at this late date—getting out of Bella’s bed would make that a whole lot easier. Running gave me time to think about the last couple of months. As my fiancà ©, Bella had accepted the black credit card with her name on it attached to my account. Like the cell phone, I’d presented it as a â€Å"safety precaution,† but she’d started to use it for other things too, and that had been the point. Bella had quit her job at Newtons Olympic Out fitters, so she didn’t have any pocket money to speak of. I was glad that she’d quit. I preferred not giving Mike Newton the opportunity to gape at and entertain salacious thoughts about my bride-to-be as was his habit. Also, I was happy that we could spend more time together. I didn’t have to part with her company for the three or four days a week she would have worked for what I considered to be spare change. Unless she really liked the job—and I knew that she didn’t—I saw no point in sacrificing our time together. It had been a great summer. The only slight comedown had been the â€Å"father-in-law talk† Charlie had initiated with me. I haven’t encountered many people who could surprise me in the last eighty years, but Charlie was one who could. His mind was so quiet—in the sense of relatively impenetrable to me—that while I could perceive his feelings, I often couldn’t hear the inner dialogue that went with them. I didn’t like the sense of insecurity it gave me not knowing what he was thinking. I was used to having more time to consider how to react to people than I ever had with Charlie. One evening five weeks earlier, Charlie had grabbed my arm as Bella and I were leaving his house for the evening. We’d found a number of private parking spots around the area and we liked to visit them as often as possible. Because he’d surprised me, I reflexively yanked my arm out of his grip at my natural strength. Immediately, he’d put both palms up as if he was surrendering. He’d mistaken my quick reflex as a sign of anger. The interaction reminded me of the television show â€Å"Cops,† in which hooligans whirl around and punch an arresting police officer just on principle. Charlie must get that a lot. I quickly raised my palms to indicate a mutual surrender. I would have smiled if I hadn’t thought Charlie would interpret it as a taunt. Bella had missed our interaction and was continuing toward the car. â€Å"What can I do for you, Charlie?† I inquired politely. â€Å"I was just wondering what your folks think about you proposing to my daughter.† â€Å"Oh, they love her, they really do.† â€Å"That’s not exactly what I meant.† â€Å"No?† I wasn’t going to help him interrogate me. â€Å"No†¦uh†¦I meant what do they think of you getting married right out of high school?† â€Å"Oh! Well, you know they got married quite young themselves. Esme already had Jasper and Rosalie to look after when she met Carlisle. They fell in love and Carlisle wanted to help support the kids, so he proposed when Esme was younger than he might have otherwise. They’ve been extremely happy, so they don’t have any prejudice against getting married young.† â€Å"Do you think you’re old enough to handle this kind of responsibility? That’s my daughter you’re promising to support for the rest of your life. A re you one hundred percent sure that you’re ready for that?† â€Å"I will be there for Bella. I can assure you of that.† â€Å"What if you screw it up and things fall apart?† Charlie pressed. I thought about that for a moment before answering. I knew what he was referring to without having to read his thoughts. â€Å"There are many ways I could mess things up,† I admitted. â€Å"I’ve already made mistakes with Bella. I know that. I wasn’t here for her when she needed me. I swear to you, Charlie, I left because I wanted Bella to have a chance to find somebody better than me. But I found that I couldn’t live without her and so I came back. Jacob might be a better choice for her, but she still wants me and as long as she does, I won’t leave her. I don’t make the same mistakes twice.† Charlie just gave me his dark-eyed, policeman’s stare. I didn’t blame him. He’d watched Bella suffer daily after I abandoned her. Jacob had impressed upon me all the painful details he could summon about that time. â€Å"Jacob’s a good young man,† Charlie finally responded, â€Å"but I wouldn’t want him marrying her at his age, either.† I took another moment to consider my response, and then sighed, knowing I’d never convince him with words. â€Å"The only way to know whether I’ll be good for Bella is with time. I can’t offer you proof, but I love her more than my own life and I will take care of her, Charlie. I just hope that I can make her as happy as she makes me, though I hardly think it’s possible.† Charlie’s stare didn’t change, so I continued. â€Å"If it makes you feel any better, my family is behind us, and you know Carlisle well enough to know that he would never let Bella down†¦even if I did. My family would step in for me. That’s just the way my parents are. They’re great people.† â€Å"I know they are†¦Edward. I trust Carlisle and that’s why I’m not making more of a fuss about this.† I acknowledged his statement with a nod. â€Å"Just so you know, Charlie†¦Bella and I discussed eloping to Las Vegas and marrying without telling anyone. But Bella didn’t want to cut you out of her decision in that way, so we decided to make it a family event.† â€Å"I knew there was something going on!† Charlie exclaimed. â€Å"I had a feeling you two were going to take off together!† â€Å"Bella wants you there to walk her down the aisle, or the stairs, rather. I hope you can see your way clear to do that for her on her day.† Charlie nodded stiffly and I turned to follow Bella to the car. â€Å"That’s a fancy car you got my daughter.† â€Å"Yes, it’s a loaner. Carlisle called in a favor for me. It’s a very safe car.† â€Å"Well, that’s good. You can hardly get a car that’s safe enough to share the roads with all the bad drivers and drunk drivers out there.† â€Å"I agree. Goodnight, Charlie.† â€Å"’Night.† Charlie shut the front door and I saw that Bella was coming back to get me. I hurried toward her. â€Å"What was all that about?† â€Å"Charlie wanted to have a little ‘man-to-man’ talk about his precious daughter, but I told him I agreed with everything he said, so he loves me now.† I grinned and winked at Bella. She didn’t buy it. â€Å"No, what did he really want?† she demanded. â€Å"Tell me, or I’ll march right back and ask him!† I sighed. â€Å"Charlie just wanted to warn me about the dangers of marrying too young and make sure I was knew what I was doing.† â€Å"What did you say?† â€Å"I said that I was old for my age,† I replied, giving her a crooked smile. â€Å"You did not!† â€Å"Sure, why not? I am, aren’t I?† I teased. â€Å"Ancient. I should be grossed out being with you.† â€Å"Fortunately, I still look good and that’s what really counts.† We both laughed and, to my relief, Bella dropped the subject. Bella’s mother, Renee, had flown in two days earlier and Bella was sticking close to her except when our mothers worked on the wedding. It was odd behavior for a bride-to-be, but I wasn’t marrying Bella because she was like everyone else. Quite the opposite. When I’d come home two evenings previous, Renee was visiting Esme. In an attempt to demonstrate her acceptance of me as her almost son-in-law, Renee had dashed across the living room and thrown her arms around my neck. â€Å"Welcome to our family, Edward!† she’d said. I thought perhaps she was overexcited by the trip or by meeting my family. I hadn’t expected such an exuberant greeting, though she had no particular misgivings about Bella marrying me. Renee ended the hug abruptly when her arms encountered my cold, hard self. â€Å"Hmm,† she mumbled as she broke off contact. Hard body! was her thought, and I almost laughed out loud. The picture in her mind was complimentary, not lite ral. She was imagining what my upper body looked like without a shirt. I’d already gotten acquainted enough with Renee when Bella and I went to Florida that I knew she didn’t mean anything by it. A cougar†¦just like Bella, I thought, and smiled to myself. It was a little sad to meet Renee again, knowing that this was the last time Bella would see her, or possibly even talk to her on the phone. As I watched Bella over the course of the two days, I sensed that she was saying her goodbyes. If I’d had to give up Carlisle and Esme to be with Bella, I could have done it. I had given them up once before. But it was hard to accept that I could make Bella happy enough to give up seeing her parents. I’d asked her again last night whether she was prepared to do that and her response had been, â€Å"Are you trying to ditch me?† Then we’d started laughing and the question had gotten lost. My brothers and I didn’t get back from hunting until a couple of hours before the wedding. Esme collared us immediately and sent us to the back garden to hang flower garlands for Alice. It had to be done at the last minute or the August day would wilt them. Alice had prohibited me from going anywhere near where she was preparing Bella, so I headed to my third-floor room to make myself presentable. Alice had changed my old-fashioned tux just enough to convert it from â€Å"vintage† to â€Å"vintage chic,† as she put it. It did look good, I had to admit. I tried to neaten my normally unruly hair. I put some hair gel on it and convinced it to lie down in a semi-orderly fashion. After a time, Jasper came upstairs to tell me that the first guests were arriving. He and Emmett would be ushering them to their seats. Of course, Jasper could have told me that from downstairs, but Alice had specifically asked him to come get me, so that I wouldn’t be parading down the bride’s decorated stairway in full view of the guests. I walked outside through the kitchen door, telling Carlisle that I’d be waiting out back. He and Esme were standing by the front door to greet everyone as they arrived. This was the most important day of my life, but I hoped to have infinitely more wonderful days to enjoy with my Bella. I felt exceedingly fortunate that she wanted me as I wanted her. I could have lost her so easily. I heard the Denali clan arrive and recognized Tanya’s mental voice: Where’s Edward? It will be good to see that man again†¦mmm hmm! Who is this human girl? I can’t imagine Edward with a woman, not even a vampire woman. This will be interesting†¦ I smiled, glad to be escaping Tanya’s clutches for good. She’d given me a hard time when we were living in Alaska. She wasn’t used to being told â€Å"no thank you.† Neither vampires nor humans ever turned down Tanya’s advances. She was beautiful and charming, everything a man could want. She just wasn’t for me and she never could accept that. It was one of the reasons Carlisle decided to move our family farther south. He told everyone that we were too conspicuous and perhaps we were, all there together, but I’d had the chance to hear another reason in his mind—that Tanya can’t leave Edward alone. My father empathized when Tanya had set her sights on me. Carlisle had had plenty of pushy admirers. During his first few weeks at a new hospital, nurses would line up three deep to ogle him. He had to temper that initial interest by telling some number of them that he was happily married, thank you. Of course, he wore a wedding ring, but that didn’t discourage everyone. Once people met Esme, though, they usually stopped chasing Carlisle. She was simply too beautiful, inside and out, to compete with. I know Esme had always worried that I wasn’t fully mature as a man when Carlisle had changed me and that I might never find, or even wish for, a mate. It was true that I wasn’t interested in any of the Denali ladies. And after the trouble I’d had with Rosalie when she joined our family, I didn’t expect anything good could come of such interest anyway. When the Denalis met the only bachelor vampire they’d seen in years, each of them had set about seeking my affection. I didn’t blame them, particularly. Perhaps they’d gotten tired of human men and wanted someone more durable to partner with for a change. I could understand that to a certain degree. I didn’t go inside to greet the Denalis or any of the other arrivals. I couldn’t focus on anyone but Bella—it seemed like such a long time since I’d seen her. I was trying to reason myself out of an irrational fear that she wasn’t really there in our house, that she had changed her mind and would leave me standing alone at the altar. If I listened, I could hear her voice now and then, but I couldn’t hear her thoughts and that had never bothered me so much as it did at that moment. To distract myself, I listened at random to our guests’ thoughts and found that everyone was astonished by the decorations. Alice had put her all into planning this wedding and it showed. The flowers alone were beyond imagining. Exquisitely fragrant arrangements covered every surface of our living room and the reception area outside. Alice was particularly fond of flowers. I thought perhaps it was because she’d been deprived of beauty for so many years at the asylum. Whatever the reason, it was a boon for us all. Rosalie had started playing my grand piano, making the one instrument sound like several. I knew that Pachelbel’s Can on in D was my cue to enter the living room with Carlisle and stand in front of the flower-covered archway. He would come looking for me in the kitchen when the time came, so I walked back into the house. In due course, Carlisle came to retrieve me and after a final, heartfelt hug, we took our assigned places in front of the assembled crowd. I stood, frozen with emotion, and watched anxiously for my beloved to appear at the top of the stairs on her father’s arm. I had waited a lifetime to stand in front of these witnesses and declare my undying devotion to the one and only woman I would ever love. Time had stopped making sense when I finally heard the familiar C-F-F-F notes of â€Å"Here Comes the Bride.† I could not believe my eyes when an angel from heaven began to descend the stairs, one by one, her eyes lowered to watch her feet. It was only when I heard her whisper â€Å"Don’t let me fall, Dad,† that I knew for sure it was Bella†¦my Bella. I fretted for a second that my angel might fall and I readied myself to dash across the room to catch her. Seeing the groom disappear and reappear somewhere else would not go over well with anybody, though I reasoned that all of the guests would be looking at Bella, not at me. Still, perhaps we should have served champagne before the ceremony, just in case something like that did happen†¦but then, Bella was descending the final step. She lifted her face, searching for me. When our eyes finally met, a look of such utter joy crossed her face that I broke into an ecstatic smile. Bella’s feelings often were written on her face, but today her expression was utterly transparent. The adoration in her eyes was unmistakable and I was jubilant enough to break out in song†¦almost. Our eyes remained glued to each other while Bella carefully traversed the fifteen-foot aisle that Alice had kept short to give Bella a fair chance of remaining upright. With the way she looked in that dress, with that makeup, with everything†¦the glow, the scarlet blush, the prisms of tears in her eyes†¦I wanted to rush down the aisle to meet her and carry her back to the altar. But I remained patient, stretching out my palm so that Charlie could place Bella’s hand in mine. He regarded me seriously as he did so and I nodded my thank you to him for his great sacrifice. Charlie seated himself beside Renee, with Phil on her other side, and Bella and I turned to face the minister. I loved the traditional wedding ceremony with its promises and pronouncements, but on this occasion, each word resonated with newly unveiled meaning. When I declared â€Å"I do† to my beloved, I’d never been happier in my life. I wanted to repeat the words in every language I knew. My lovely new wife was overcome with emotion. When I leaned over to kiss her for the first time as her husband, Bella’s arms encircled my neck and she held on a s if she would never let me go. The audience had disappeared—she only had eyes for me. I kissed her with a swell of love and tenderness that made my eyes burn with the tears that didn’t come, and she met my passion with her own. Emotion poured from her as she clung to me, melding her lips with mine as if we were utterly alone in that moment. I did not mind in the least. Bella was happy to be married to me—I could feel it in my bones. When the guests began to titter, I eased my love’s face gently away from mine and looked into her tear-filled eyes. I felt my happiness radiate from me like the heat of a coal fire and I wondered briefly if my skin was sparkling in its glow. When Emmett cleared his throat unsubtly, I turned us both to face the loved ones who had gathered there and everyone broke into smiles and quiet laughter. I could not let go of Bella for a second. I wrapped my arm around her waist and practically carried her down the aisle when she forgot to move her feet. Fortunately, they were hidden by the length of her dress. Another detail that Alice had not overlooked. Bella was so stunningly beautiful that I wasn’t surprised to hear a number of inappropriate thoughts as the reception line shuffled slowly past us and on to the buffet. Alice had timed things well, so that the vampires would not have to step outside until twilight, just in case the sun came out. It was good that she did, because we had a beautiful wedding day with plenty of sunshine filtering through the ancient cedars. I was extraordinarily pleased that Billy Black and Sue and Seth Clearwater had come to the wedding. Despite the Cullens’ official status as â€Å"mortal enemies† of their tribe, the three of them were there in support of Bella and Charlie, and perhaps as a gesture of gratitude to Carlisle as well. Seth was there for me, too. Our friendship had not faded since we’d joined forces to battle Victoria and Riley. â€Å"Congrats, guys,† Seth said, coming toward me with his arms out. I hugged him with one arm while I held Bella tightly with the other. â€Å"It’s good to see things work out for you, man. I’m happy for you.† â€Å"Thank you, Seth. That means a lot to me.† Releasing Seth, I faced Billy and Sue with honest gratitude. I knew they were not there for me. â€Å"Thank you, as well. For letting Seth come. For supporting Bella today.† â€Å"You’re welcome,† Billy replied cordially and I hoped his attitude boded well for the change that was coming. I didn’t know how I was going to approach the Quileute wolf pack about Bella’s upcoming transformation. It was possible that if we left the area to avoid their ancient vendetta, that Jacob still would come to hunt us down. He had no motivation to let me change Bella, but I hoped that he and all the wolves would agree to the one exception to our treaty. Billy wasn’t giving anything away with his thoughts, but Sue’s mind was full of concern about being in a house with so many vampires. As the receiving line moved along, the only slightly awkward moment was introducing Tanya to Bella. â€Å"Ah, Edward, I’ve missed you,† Tanya said, pulling herself close to me in an intimate embrace. She lingered a bit too long in my one-armed hug—on purpose. I chuckled at her audacity as I employed one of Carlisle’s tricks for dealing with forward women†¦to press her shoulder away as if to admire the full length of her. â€Å"It’s been too long, Tanya. You look well.† Though Bella would never believe it, her beauty outshone Tanya’s many t imes over in my eyes. â€Å"So do you,† Tanya replied, a familiar note of longing in her voice. With a great swelling of pride, I interjected, â€Å"Let me introduce you to my wife.† Kate and Carmen giggled at the emphasis. My joy at using that word for the first time sang in my words. â€Å"Tanya, this is my Bella.† Bella had been uncertain about inviting Tanya and her coven, but I’d convinced her that as extended family—orphans, to boot—they must be included. I also wanted Tanya there specifically to underscore the point that I was officially and permanently unavailable. â€Å"Welcome to the family, Bella,† Tanya responded appropriately, if not altogether enthusiastically. â€Å"We consider ourselves Carlisle’s extended family, and I am sorry about the, er, recent incident when we did not behave as such. We should have met you sooner. Can you forgive us?† â€Å"Of course. It’s so nice to meet you,† Bella replied, blushing. I noted the brief flare of excitement among my cousins at the rush of blood before each of them contained it. â€Å"The Cullens are all evened up in numbers now. Perhaps it will be our turn next, eh, Kate?† Tanya grinned. Kate’s sarcastic sense of humor kicked in. â€Å"Keep the dream alive,† she said, rolling her eyes. â€Å"Welcome, Bella.† Kate took Bella’s hand and Carmen stepped up to add hers. â€Å"I’m Carmen, this is Eleazar. We’re all so very pleased to finally meet you.† â€Å"M-me, too,† Bella stuttered. I thought she was holding up well considering she was meeting my â€Å"relatives† for the first time. â€Å"We’ll get to know each other later. We’ll have eons of time for that!† Tanya remarked, laughing. I enjoyed performing the rituals of the wedding celebration. Alice had ordered a gorgeous, artfully decorated cake, its beauty being the only aspect of it I could truly appreciate. I did not relish swallowing the chunky blob Bella pushed toward my face, but that could not be avoided with such an attentive audience. Flashbulbs popped, capturing the uncomfortable moment for all time. Bella tossed her bouquet to Angela, who blushed puce and carefully avoided the eyes of her escort, Ben, which are six inches lower than her own. When it came time to lift Bella’s skirt and remove her garter with my teeth, she blushed hotly while Jasper and Emmett guffawed at her embarrassment. I wasn’t allowed to venture too far up her dress, since she slid the garter below her knee before I got the chance. Still, it was a fun moment, biting the elastic band and dragging it slowly down her calf. After detaching it from her leg, I stretched the elastic into a slingshot, aiming for Mike Newton’s head. The garter snapped him in the forehead and his mouth dropped open.

A Struggle to Learn Essay

From the time when I was a little boy, growing up in Graves County, Kentucky, I have had problems with my reading and writing. Things never seemed to click for me, a trait that the teachers attributed to a mild case of dyslexia mixed with a healthy dose of attention deficit disorder. I knew, however, that no disorder was the cause of my distaste of reading and writing. Rather, there was nothing really interesting surrounding me that would grab my interest in the classroom. The teachers I encountered never took any interest in what their students wanted to read or write; they developed assignments based on what the curriculum, a course of study developed by some politicians at the Board of Education, told them to do. This work was so far removed from what we, as students were experiencing in our own lives, and the assignments were so boring that they could have put an insomniac to sleep. However, my life changed the day I met my Junior English teacher, Mr. Clark Duncan. Clark Duncan was an interesting man, especially when you contrasted him with the surroundings in Graves County. Most of the men in Graves lived their days in work clothes, with at least one article of camouflage attached to their outfits at any given time. Almost every jean pocket showed the wear from a Skoal can because no true Graves man would work or socialize without a dip in his mouth. The most common calls that the police received were from residents who were concerned because the neighbor’s cows had gotten loose and were standing in the middle of the road keeping them from getting to work at the tire plant. In short, my town and the surrounding county, were about as country as a town can be. Everyone knew that when Mr. Duncan walked in, he must be from another place altogether. As he stepped over the threshold into my English class, his highly polished, patent leather wing tips were the first thing I noticed. This man was J Crew in a sea of Carhartt. He wore a tan, cotton suit which looked like something out of the Great Gatsby, and he glided across the floor with a smoothness that a person does not achieve when wearing a pair of Justin boots. His hair was parted and smoothed, almost like glass was shimmering on the surface, but, amazingly, he looked effortless and at ease within the confines of a classroom filled with the daughters and sons of plant operators. While I may have been enamored of this new teacher, the quiet insults started almost immediately. I heard someone say, â€Å"What a fruit,† from the back of the room, loud enough for the class to hear, but just quiet enough for the teacher to be unaware of the declaration against his manhood. It didn’t help that Mr. Duncan was wearing a large tote bag to carry his books which amounted to a large handbag. Some students sniggered that they would be talking to their parents and getting out of the class immediately before Duncan’s gayness rubbed off on them. However cruel the other students were being, it all stopped when Duncan opened his mouth. â€Å"Your county has some of the worst literacy rates in the state. According to your test scores, most of you can barely even read or write. I will be honest with you; I think that the current curriculum breeds stupidity and is only appropriate for people who aspire to complete mediocrity. I may only last one year, but I am, from this point forth, deciding not to follow the curriculum. You can leave your books under your desk, because you will not be needing them. In this class, we will dwell on our ability to think and communicate, not our ability to memorize the balcony speech from Romeo and Juliet. You have the option of leaving this class if you aspire to mediocrity and do not wish to be challenged.† You could have heard a pin drop when Duncan finished his speech. Not a single person left the room, but I do not know if it is necessarily because they had a wish to be challenged by this new teacher. Rather, I think everyone was in shock. This man, who everyone had immediately decided must have been a sissy pushover, had just attacked the very foundations of our local educational system. There was no doubt that he was correct that we had been living in a haze of poorly-planned assignments and simple memorization tests, but no teacher had dared to question these methods before. We all knew that Duncan must have been something different. In the weeks that followed, Duncan challenged every student sitting in that room. We had assignments to write essays analyzing the lyrics to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, who Duncan described as â€Å"trippy.† Most had never even heard of these bands, and the fact that many of their lyrics did not appear to make sense freaked us all out. However, Duncan taught us to look below the surface to find how we, ourselves, could find meaning in the work by examining our past experiences. We read Vonnegut and the Beat Poets and analyzed why we were all stuck in this box of sameness that our ancestors had lived for generations before us. We wrote journals about our fears and aspirations and, through sharing these, learned that many of the other students who seemed to different from us, were really sharing the same experiences. This was the first time in my life that I started to see reading and writing not just as an assignment to muddle through, but also a way to connect with the rich humanity which surrounded me. Mr. Duncan was correct when he stated that he could only last a year at our school. After the school board caught wind of all of the things he had been teaching in his class, he was unceremoniously fired right when the summer began. The next year, we went back to memorizing speeches from Shakespeare, but Duncan forever left a mark on me as a student. I went from being a student who hated to read and write to a student who saw writing as a means to gain further knowledge of my fellow citizens of the world as well as further knowledge of myself. I am a better communicator in every aspect of my life because of Clark Duncan, the so-called â€Å"fruit† who took on the Kentucky educational system, singlehandedly.

How To Take Notes

How To Take Notes It seems that it would be easy to write down stuff in class. That learning how to take notes would be a waste of time. However, the opposite is true. If you learn how to take notes effectively and efficiently, you’ll save yourself hours of study time just by observing a few simple tricks. If you dont like this method, then try out the Cornell System for taking notes! Choose Appropriate PaperThe right paper can mean the difference between complete frustration in class and organized notes. To take notes effectively, choose a sheet of loose, clean, lined paper, preferably college-ruled. There are a couple reasons for this choice:Choosing loose paper to take notes allows you to rearrange your notes in a binder if necessary, lend them easily to a friend, and remove and replace a page if it gets damaged.Using college-ruled paper means that the spaces between the lines are smaller, allowing you to write more per page, which is advantageous when you’re studying a lot of material. It won’t seem as much, and thus, as overwhelming.Use Pencil and Skip LinesNothing will make you more frustrated than taking notes and having to draw arrows from new content to a related idea your teacher was talking about 20 minutes ago. That’s why it’s important to skip lines. If your teacher brings up something new, you’ll have a place to squ eeze it in. And, if you take your notes in pencil, your notes will stay neat if you make a mistake and you won’t have to rewrite everything just to make sense of the lecture. Label Your PageYou don’t have to use a clean sheet of paper for every new note-taking session if you use appropriate labels. Start with the topic of the discussion (for study purposes later), fill in the date, class, chapters associated with the notes and teacher’s name. At the end of your notes for the day, draw a line crossing the page so you’ll have a very clear demarcation of each day’s notes. During the next lecture, use same format so your binder is consistent.Use an Organizational SystemSpeaking of organization, use one in your notes. Many people use an outline (I.II.III. A.B.C. 1.2.3.) but you can use circles or stars or whatever symbols youd like, as long as you stay consistent. If your teacher is scattered and doesn’t really lecture in that format, then just organize new ideas with numbers, so you don’t get one long paragraph of loosely-related content.Listen for ImportanceSome of the stuff your teacher says is irrelevant, but much of it needs remembering. So how do you decipher what to put down in your notes and what to disregard? Listen for importance by picking up dates, new terms or vocabulary, concepts, names, and explanations of ideas. If your teacher writes it down anywhere, he or she wants you to know it. If she talks about it for 15 minutes, she’s gonna quiz you on it. If he repeats it several times in the lecture, you’re responsible. Put Content Into Your Own WordsLearning how to take notes begins with learning how to paraphrase and summarize. You will learn new material better if you put it into your own words. When your teacher waxes wordy about Leningrad for 25 minutes, summarize the main idea into a few sentences you’ll be able to remember. If you try to write everything down word for word, you’ll miss stuff, and confuse yourself. Listen attentively, then write.Write LegiblyIt kind of goes without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway. If your penmanship has ever been compared to chicken scratch, you better work on it. You’ll thwart your taking notes efforts if you can’t read what you’ve written! Force yourself to write clearly. I guarantee that you will not remember the exact lecture when it comes to exam time, so your notes are often going to be your only lifeline. Note Taking Tips Sit near the front of the class so you dont get distractedBring the appropriate supplies, good college-ruled paper and a pen or pencil that will allow you to write legibly and easily.Keep a folder or binder for every class, so youre more likely to keep your notes organized.

Race Relations Act Essay Example

Race Relations Act Essay Example Race Relations Act Essay Race Relations Act Essay There has been a great deal of pressure on the government and on the police after the Stephen Lawrence murder to get things right and bring justice to the murders, in spite of this the Damilola case was not conducted properly. Some people blame the system and the police for not providing enough protection for the main witness and checking out the statements fully before the trial. Some people think that the amount of money spent on this case could have been used for safety and prevention measures, as children should be brought up in a safe environment, not in constant terror. Others believe that the local community let Damilola down by not answering to police enquiries. The police are not to blame for not getting the answers needed, but his neighbours and local area for refusing to help to solve his murder. Legislation in themselves do not stop discrimination just like speed cameras do not stop people speeding. The existence of a law does send out a very clear message that discrimination is not acceptable under any circumstances and there are consequences for those who decide to disregard the laws. All policies are only effective in promoting their aims if staff are committed to implementing them, if they are properly resourced and regularly evaluated, reviewed and updated. Policies can increase awareness, but will not in themselves, change attitudes or practice. Beaver et al. (1999) This quote shows that policy guidelines need to be carried out with good practice; just having the policy is not enough to prevent racism occurring in the future. Good practice is essential for children to enhance their social, physical, emotional, intellectual and linguistic development. Even with all these Acts, policies and legislation present in the current law, if racism related cases are taken to court, according to Beaver (2001) Successful prosecutions are comparatively rare. The law in its current state needs to be amended so that the legal system defends the accused more than witnesses and the suffering families. The criminal judicial service needs to be reformed so that prosecutions are more achievable. As the strongest way of promotion the media should encourage anti-discriminatory practice. Race Relations Act 1976 The passing of this Act makes it illegal to discriminate anyone on grounds of race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), ethnic origin or national rights in housing, education, employment, entertainment and provision of services and goods. This Act also set up the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), which carries out research, sends out information, and carries out investigations into cases of alleged racial discrimination both directly and indirectly. Method This is how I carried out my investigation. 1. I asked my supervisor for permission to do an investigation about racism and anti-discrimination / bias. 2. I photocopied the Equal Opportunities Policy 3. I devised a resources tick chart for all the rooms at the nursery 4. I devised a questionnaire for the staff at the nursery 5. I used textbooks to help me with theory With the resources tick chart I walked around all the rooms of the nursery checking whether each room had all the resources on the list. If they did it got a tick, if not then a cross. I showed the manager a copy of the questionnaire for approval before I gave them out to each member of staff. I asked politely if they could fill them in if they had time over the next few days. I collected the completed questionnaires and compiled the results together with the results from the resources. Presentation of my Results Only one person knew of any relevant legislation out of the 6 people I asked, but still could not name any. This shows that more training is needed to promote the awareness of Racial Equality within the day nursery so that adults know they can be protected against racial allegations and also be a good role model for the children in their care. All 6 people were aware of any posters or statements, but only half of staff knew where the Equal Opportunities Policy was kept. The majority of people knew there was a poster promoting children from different cultures. There could be more staff meetings to discuss and refresh staff on the whereabouts of important policies. 60% of staff thought that the resources were adequate but these opinions were from the staff from rooms of the older children 3-5years, where they appear to use the resources more than the under 2s children. The staff from the baby unit felt dolls with disabilities were missing.

Basic Atomic Structure and Atomic Theory - Study Guide

Basic Atomic Structure and Atomic Theory - Study Guide Atoms are one of the first topics covered in a chemistry course because they are the fundamental building block of matter. Atoms bond to each other to form pure elements, compounds, and alloys. These substances exchange atoms with each other to form new products through chemical reactions. Key Takeaways: Atoms Atoms are the smallest unit of matter that cannot be divided using any chemical method. They do consist of smaller parts, but can only be broken by nuclear reactions.The three parts of an atom are protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons carry a positive electrical charge. Neutrons are electrically neutral. Electrons carry a negative charge, equal in magnitude to that of a proton.Protons and neutrons stick together to form the atomic nucleus. Electrons orbit around the nucleus.Chemical bonding and chemical reactions occur due to the electrons around atoms. An atom with too many or too few electrons is unstable and may bond with another atom to either share or essentially donate electrons. Atom Overview Chemistry is the study of matter and the interactions between different types of matter and energy. The fundamental building block of matter is the atom. An atom consists of three main parts: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons have a positive electrical charge. Neutrons have no electrical charge. Electrons have a negative electrical charge. Protons and neutrons are found together in what is called the nucleus of the atom. Electrons circle around the  nucleus. Chemical reactions involve interactions between the electrons of one atom and the electrons of another atom. Atoms which have different amounts of electrons and protons have a positive or negative electrical charge and are called ions. When atoms bond together, they can make larger building blocks of matter called molecules. The word atom was coined by the early Greeks Democritus and Leucippus, but the nature of the atom wasnt understood until later. In the 1800s, John Dalton demonstrated atoms react with each other in whole ratios to form compounds. The discovery of the electron earned J.J. Thomson the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics. The atomic nucleus was discovered in the gold foil experiment conducted by Geiger and Marsden under the supervision of Ernest Rutherford in 1909. Important Atom Facts All matter consists of particles called atoms. Here are some useful facts about atoms: Atoms cannot be divided  using chemicals. They do consist of parts, which include protons, neutrons, and electrons, but an atom is a basic chemical building block of matter.Each electron has a negative electrical charge.Each proton has a positive electrical charge. The charge of a proton and an electron are equal in magnitude, yet opposite in sign. Electrons and protons are electrically attracted to each other.Each neutron is electrically neutral. In other words, neutrons do not have a charge and are not electrically attracted to either electrons or protons.Protons and neutrons are about the same size as each other and are much larger than electrons.The mass of a proton is essentially the same as that of a neutron. The mass of a proton is 1840 times greater than the mass of an electron.The nucleus of an atom contains protons and neutrons. The nucleus carries a positive electrical charge.Electrons move around outside the nucleus.Almost all of the mass of an atom is in its nucleus; a lmost all of the volume of an atom is occupied by electrons. The number of protons  (also known as its  atomic number) determines the element. Varying the number of neutrons results in isotopes. Varying the number of electrons results in ions. Isotopes and ions of an atom with a constant number of protons are all variations of a single element.The particles within an atom are bound together by powerful forces. In general, electrons are easier to add or remove from an atom than a proton or neutron.  Chemical reactions  largely involve atoms or groups of atoms and the interactions between their electrons. Study Questions and Answers Try these practice problems to test your understanding of atomic theory. Write the  nuclear symbols for three isotopes  of oxygen in which there are 8, 9, and 10 neutrons, respectively.  AnswerWrite the  nuclear symbol  for an atom  with 32 protons and 38 neutrons.  AnswerIdentify the number of protons and electrons in the Sc3  ion.  AnswerGive the symbol of an ion which has 10 e- and 7 p.  Answer Sources Lewis, Gilbert N. (1916). The Atom and the Molecule. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 38 (4): 762–786. doi:10.1021/ja02261a002Wurtz, Charles Adolphe (1881). The Atomic Theory. New York: D. Appleton and company. ISBN 978-0-559-43636-9.

John Miltons Paradise Lost Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

John Miltons Paradise Lost - Essay Example Milton's view on the first acts of disobedience by Adam and Eve sounds critical and defensive worrying that universal despair and death will appear inadequate and incommensurate with the violation of a single dietary prohibition. This is in line with the concluding two ignored scriptural verses that say: "Anyone who examines this sin carefully will admit, and rightly, that it was a most atrocious offense, and that it broke every part of the law. For what fault is there which man did not commit in committing this sin He was to be condemned both for trusting Satan and for not trusting God; he was faithless, ungrateful, disobedient, greedy, uxorious; she, negligent of her husband's welfare; both of them committed theft, robbery with violence, murder against their children (i.e. the whole human race); each was sacrilegious and deceitful, cunningly aspiring to divinity though thoroughly unworthy of it, proud and arrogant. Correspondingly, Eccles. vii.29 states that "God has made man uprig ht, but they have thought up numerous devices, and in James ii.10 states that "whoever keeps the whole law, and yet offends in one point, is guilty of all. Such verses where referenced by Milton's Paradise Lost saying that Adam and Eve become manifold in sin with their disobedience of one law. The primal act is death's equivalent of the original single cell from which all life is said to have derived, fertilized in a flash of lightning as the earth cooled, leaving traces of itself in all its varied progeny. Milton exploits the Preacher's choice of adam for "man" in the Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes 7:29 as well as his shift from singular to plural in the second clause. This rabbinic interpretation of texts rewrites the verse in an Edenic context and adds Eve as a sinner by means of binary fission. Rashi elucidates and expounds adam in the verse ("God created Adam perfectly upright"), and both Rashi and the earlier Midrash Qoheleth Rabbah explain the use of the plural "they": "when Eve was created from the body of Adam, he became two people" (as cited in Rosenblatt 1994). The concluding verse of the paragraph from James emphasizes the strictly permanent and unbreakable unity of the Pentateuchal law, ultimately a rabbinic idea, although its most famous formulations occur in the letters of Paul, who appropriates and transforms it. Taunting the Jewish Christians, less pious than the Pharisees, who yet refuse to ignore the ceremonial law, Paul insists that if they adopt Jewish law they must perform it all (Sifra, Kedoshim 8b; Sabbath 31a). Paul always views the law's unity negatively, as in Galatians 3:6-14, which attempts to illustrate that the law is impossible to keep in every detail and that only faith can save (Segal 1990). Milton mentions not Paul but rather the noticeably unProtestant and un-Pauline James, whose assumption of the law's unity strengthens his positive declaration that works must go along with faith. The law in Milton's Eden was just, efficacious, and easy to keep. The long list of sins in De doctrina constitutes a complaint against Adam and Eve, not against the law itself, and so Milton appropriately cites James's positive rather than Paul's negative view of the law's unity. The aggregate of

Types of Market Research to Undertake Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Types of Market Research to Undertake - Essay Example The macro-environment involves interactions with technological, socio-cultural, political and economic factors that emanate from without the company’s setting. For instance, since the market for ice ball moulds faces competition from other companies, the following types of research are suggested to be carried out (Loudon et al, 2006, p8). Research will be carried out to determine the level of market penetration by the company and the likelihood of reaching the most remote prospective customer. By facilitating research for market penetration by the company and its competitors, the company will be ensuring that the current market share is maintained and stretched if possible. Research recommendations would give such policies as competitive pricing as well as an aggressive sales promotion for the Soccer Ball Football Ice Mold. The company will ensure that the market dominance is secured by meeting customers’ demand and preferences. Increase in customer orders will be targe ted for research to come with solutions some of which could include loyalty scheme introduction. The existing logistics and distribution networks can be assessed to provide alternative distribution techniques to enhance market development. Product development will be analyzed to determine if the name Soccer Ball Football Ice Mold is enough competitive as a brand name. Market diversification is also another channel to unravel market potential strategies. Research recommendations would give such policies as competitive pricing.

Hong Kong and the Impact of Cyber Crimes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hong Kong and the Impact of Cyber Crimes - Essay Example Nonetheless, no process is without a flaw; and many take advantage of this fact to steal from individuals and organizations that engage in e-payments. Despite all efforts of the government to restrain cyber crimes, and of information technology specialists to fortify domain firewalls, anxieties related to online transactions are mounting, and in a way, adversely affect international marketing endeavors. I. E-payment and Cybercrimes Electronic payments â€Å"refer to the systems and strategies required to enable the actual disbursement of funds electronically. It is concerned not only with the electronic transactions themselves, but also with the infrastructure required for billing and buyer authentication† (Botha and Geldenhuys, 2004, p. 67). The funds may be in the form of electronic checks, credit cards, purchasing cards, and electronic cash (Rainer and Cegielski, 2007). Authentication typically involves the username and password tandem, although other institutions support e xtended verification systems. For instance, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) provide internet bankers with security device, while Emirates NBD incorporate the CHIP and PIN technology in all debit accounts. A team of researchers from Indiana University and Microsoft Corporation reported that major e-payment systems, e-retailers and e-commerce platforms have system security software glitches that can be abused by illicit websites to divert payments, or obtain goods for free or at reduced prices (Demery, 2011). Meanwhile, the Internet Fraud Complaint Center in the United States receives 200,000 consumer complaints per year, with securities and commodities fraud encompassing 16 percent (Miller and Jentz, 2009). Banks that rely heavily on online operations are at risk of losing profits as consumers also lose confidence on the security of online banking, specifically electronic payment of bills. Yet, although perpetrators of cyber crimes generally victimize financial serv ice companies, the Anti-Phishing Working Group has recorded cases of attempts to exploit â€Å"social networking and gambling sites† as well (CIO, 2007, p.36) II. Cyber Crimes in Hong Kong The Census and Statistics Department reveals that 76 percent of households in Hong Kong have computers, 73 percent of which maintains broadband connection; and about 63 percent of firms use personal computers, 98 percent of which do regular emails (Cagape, 2010). The figures clearly indicate that majority of the population in Hong Kong engage in online pursuits, and a significant portion of businesses are conducted via the internet. This alone leaves the country a viable target for cybercrimes. Speakers at the Information Security Summit 2008 reported an increase of 44 percent in hacking attacks in Hong Kong between January and October 2008, while the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) stated that during the same period, they have already dealt with 483 incidents of cyber crimes (Spam Fighter, 2008). Unfortunately, Hong Kong is also deficient in internet laws and certain websites are criticized for mediocre security features. Michelle Chan of Herbert Smith law firm observes that existing internet laws in Hong Kong are appropriate for misconducts in the early 1990s, but no further amendments were effected since then. On the other hand, this does not mean

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Project management - Essay Example Besides, there is also a requirement for effective risk and problem management in every phase of project life cycle (Richardson and Butler 1-97). Based on this aspect, paper discusses a distinguished project namely RMS Titanic project. THESIS STATEMENT The objective of the paper is to analyse the life cycle of the project. Furthermore, the paper also describes the procedure of resource management, risk management and management of problems throughout the project. ABOUT RMS TITANIC PROJECT Titanic was regarded as the biggest passenger ship around the world. RMS Titanic was a legendary project and was the first ship to use SOS. The RMS Titanic project was initiated by White Star Line organisation in collaboration with Harland and Wolff dockyard. The project started in the year 1910 and finished in the year 1912. Nevertheless, on 15th April in 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the Atlantic sea. The incident resulted in death of about 1517 people and loss of valuable resources, time and effo rt. At that time, the managing director of the organisation, i.e. White Star was Bruce Ismay. The model of Titanic was designed by Thomas Andrew and the captain of the ship was Edward Smith. These people are the key stakeholders of the project RMS Titanic and were liable for ensuring that every operation is done according to plan (Jones 59-80). PROJECT LIFE CYCLE OF RMS TITANIC The lifecycle of any project consists of five typical phases. The first phase is idea generation phase. In this phase, the project is planned according to expected business requirements and outcomes. The second phase is designing phase, where the architecture and design of a project is decided according to the business requirements. The third phase is construction phase, where the project is implemented according to agreed requirements and prior decisions regarding design. The fourth phase is testing phase where the project is tested to recognise predicted risks as well as procedures for mitigating them. Fina lly, the fifth phase is launch phase, where the project is launched for real time performance (Seacord and Nwosu, â€Å"Life Cycle Activity Areas for Component-Based Software Engineering Processes†). Idea Generation of Titanic Project. During 1908s, White Star was confronting tremendous business pressures due to increased competition in the area of technology and also due to emergence of new entrants in the business segment of the organisation. Furthermore, White Star also faced considerable challenges because of aging technological structure and substandard customer services. As a result, it lost considerable amount of market share and customers. In order to deal with these business issues, White Star developed a business strategy which can leverage emerging technology and can enhance the number of customers. White Star concentrated on improving the quality of journey and passenger experience as a part of its reaction to the competition. This business strategy necessitated h igh investment in new technology. Hence, in order to enhance the business performance, White Star invested in new super liners and attempted to exploit the travelling market in the Atlantic route. The outcome of this investment was initiation of RMS Titanic project which was mostly intended to address the requirements of three passenger classes with topmost priority on upper class customer segment. Therefore, in RMS Titanic project, the emphasis was on the comfort of passengers, rather than the speed

World after the Zombie Apocalypse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

World after the Zombie Apocalypse - Essay Example Different preparedness strategies were communicated to countries through the internet, novels, films, scientific advice, and religion advices (Zombie Apocalypse). People had different perceptions about the zombie apocalypse. Some believed this would happen, and therefore took the advice seriously, however others thought of it as a prank, and did not take any precautions. Things greatly changed when this became a reality. The zombies invasion came, and humans were devastated. Despite the human underestimation of the zombies, terming them as weak and defenceless, the high-tech defence systems of humans did not count during the zombie apocalypse (Zombieland). Today, the effects of this deadly zombie apocalypse remain. Presently, the year 2130 bears a wretched and pathetic United States of America, which is characterised by famine, poor governance, poor sanitation, poor economy, and poor international relations. Survivors of this zombie apocalypse in the United States of America are countable. These regard themselves lucky to have survived such a torturous experience. However, it will be difficult for them to adapt to the life they were used to before. All America reads misery. Clouds of death fill the American skies. Sadness covers the faces of the survivors. It is a devastating, miserable life.

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Project management - Essay Example Besides, there is also a requirement for effective risk and problem management in every phase of project life cycle (Richardson and Butler 1-97). Based on this aspect, paper discusses a distinguished project namely RMS Titanic project. THESIS STATEMENT The objective of the paper is to analyse the life cycle of the project. Furthermore, the paper also describes the procedure of resource management, risk management and management of problems throughout the project. ABOUT RMS TITANIC PROJECT Titanic was regarded as the biggest passenger ship around the world. RMS Titanic was a legendary project and was the first ship to use SOS. The RMS Titanic project was initiated by White Star Line organisation in collaboration with Harland and Wolff dockyard. The project started in the year 1910 and finished in the year 1912. Nevertheless, on 15th April in 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the Atlantic sea. The incident resulted in death of about 1517 people and loss of valuable resources, time and effo rt. At that time, the managing director of the organisation, i.e. White Star was Bruce Ismay. The model of Titanic was designed by Thomas Andrew and the captain of the ship was Edward Smith. These people are the key stakeholders of the project RMS Titanic and were liable for ensuring that every operation is done according to plan (Jones 59-80). PROJECT LIFE CYCLE OF RMS TITANIC The lifecycle of any project consists of five typical phases. The first phase is idea generation phase. In this phase, the project is planned according to expected business requirements and outcomes. The second phase is designing phase, where the architecture and design of a project is decided according to the business requirements. The third phase is construction phase, where the project is implemented according to agreed requirements and prior decisions regarding design. The fourth phase is testing phase where the project is tested to recognise predicted risks as well as procedures for mitigating them. Fina lly, the fifth phase is launch phase, where the project is launched for real time performance (Seacord and Nwosu, â€Å"Life Cycle Activity Areas for Component-Based Software Engineering Processes†). Idea Generation of Titanic Project. During 1908s, White Star was confronting tremendous business pressures due to increased competition in the area of technology and also due to emergence of new entrants in the business segment of the organisation. Furthermore, White Star also faced considerable challenges because of aging technological structure and substandard customer services. As a result, it lost considerable amount of market share and customers. In order to deal with these business issues, White Star developed a business strategy which can leverage emerging technology and can enhance the number of customers. White Star concentrated on improving the quality of journey and passenger experience as a part of its reaction to the competition. This business strategy necessitated h igh investment in new technology. Hence, in order to enhance the business performance, White Star invested in new super liners and attempted to exploit the travelling market in the Atlantic route. The outcome of this investment was initiation of RMS Titanic project which was mostly intended to address the requirements of three passenger classes with topmost priority on upper class customer segment. Therefore, in RMS Titanic project, the emphasis was on the comfort of passengers, rather than the speed

The Rule of St. Benedict and the Prayer of St. Francis Essay

The Rule of St. Benedict and the Prayer of St. Francis - Essay Example The monastic tradition, through the history of the Church, has gone through drastic changes and the religious rules of the monastic people were formulated by the monastic traditions of each period. The Rule of St. Benedict was the most prominent religious rule in the sixth century which was formulated according to the demands of the time. There was drastic change in the way the religious rules of monasticism were formulated and the views regarding such rules changed from one monastic tradition to another. A comparative analysis of the selection of readings from the Rule of St. Benedict and the Prayer of St. Francis drawn from the Christian Monastic tradition in the textbook explicitly suggests the different contexts of the monastic tradition. It is most essential to consider that both of these texts, despite their apparent differences, make sense in the context of the monastic traditions as they reveal the characteristics of the religious rules concerning monasticism in the various p eriods of Church history. The selection from the Rule of St. Benedict which belongs to the first half of the sixth century tells about the rules concerning excommunication for faults and it hints the severity of the religious rules of the period. The Rule of St.

Fredrick Jackson Turner Essay Example for Free

Fredrick Jackson Turner Essay Fredrick Jackson Turner was an American Historian who examined the unique characteristics that defined American Culture.   Turner was a well educated man receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884 and his Masters Degree in 1888.   He continued his education at John Hopkins University and received a PhD in history.   He taught most of his professional life at the University of Wisconsin and then Harvard in 1910.   Rise of the West, and Significance of Sections in American History for which he received the Pulitzer Prize have become standards in the study of American History.    He is most well known for his â€Å"Frontier Thesis† which he developed in 1893.   Shortly, after the United States Census Bureau in 1890 declared the American Frontier officially closed, Jackson’s interest was peaked and he set out to study and analyze America’s relationship with it’s own frontier.   In   1893 he publicly spoke about this thesis in Chicago at the World’s Columbian Exposition. He stated â€Å"Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West.†Ã‚   In 1921, Fredrick Jackson Turner published a full length text titled The Frontier in American History.   In it he explores his thesis which stated The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development (Turner 1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Turner’s fascination with the frontier and probably   his inspiration for studying and understanding the importance of the American Frontier in American History stems back to his childhood.   He grew up in in Portage, Wisconsin.   His backyard bumped right against the meeting of two bodies of water Fox River and Wisconsin River.   The small town had many characteristics that would have been found in frontier town.   When he describes his childhood he tells of the Native American teepees where he fished as a boy.   Native Americans were often in   town to sell various pieces of craft and jewelry to the local stores.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To understand America and its culture it was extremely important to understand the frontier and America’s connection to it.   Turner believed that the frontier â€Å"Americanized Americansâ€Å".   This Americanization lasted close to 300 years, starting at the colonization of the New England coast and continuing until the west was completely settled.   The free land offered in the west, the frontier, was a safety net which offered property ownership opportunities to people who traditionally could no afford to own anything.   In the text of The Frontier of American History, he comments â€Å"So long as free land exists, the opportunity for a competency exists, and economic power secures political power† (Turner 32). Discontent and poverty revolts were almost unheard in those 300 years.   He argues that the frontier produces and shapes a particular type of man who is full â€Å"of coarseness and strengthacuteness and inquisitiveness, (of) that practical and inventive turn of mind(full of) restless and nervous energy that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom.†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Turner 37).   Turner’s believed that the western movement was the main factor contributing to the basis of American’s institutions and culture.   Conditions of living and conquering the wilderness permanently altered the European settlers of the New England coastline to a new national breed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Turner goes on to compare the American Frontier to Europe.   In explaining their similarities, he states† What   the Mediterranean Sea was to   the Greeks, breaking   the bonds of custom,   offering new experiences, calling out new institutions and activities,   the   Ã‚  ever-retreating   frontier has been to   the United States directlyâ€Å" (Turner 38).   Turner continues to explain that to   the while Europe had it’s own frontiers, it effected them â€Å"more remotelyâ€Å". Turner believed that the frontier shaped the American character and the closing of the Western Frontier signified the United States graduating from it’s initial development into something much more mature. Turner summaries by commenting â€Å" four centuries from   the discovery   of America, at   the end of a hundred years of life under   the Constitution,   the   frontier has gone, and with its going has closed   the first period of   Ã‚  American   history† (Turner 38).   In The Frontier of American History, while he writes about America as an example he gives a detailed general explanation that he believes could be used in understanding other nation’s cultural growth patterns.   Fredrick Turner believes that the growth and settlement is the first period of progress in any nation’s development.   This expansion is followed by followed by periods of social and economic development.   Each of which is frontier all it’s own.   Turner explains with an example: Stand at Cumberland Gap and watch the procession of civilization, marching single filethe buffalo following the trail to the salt springs, the Indian, the fur-trader and hunter, the cattle-raiser, the pioneer farmerand the frontier has passed by. Stand at South Pass in the Rockies a century later and see the same procession with wider intervals between (Turner 12)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He believed that the American West created the first truly free man.   The European Frontier was nothing more than people recreating Old World values and deferring to authority.   The frontier in America had no law, no authority, and men lived by their wits.   America thinks of it’s frontier as being within the country not at the edge.   There is no line which separates the frontier from settled land.   America’s frontier is transient and terrestrial.  Ã‚   However, the European frontier is fixed, and completely permanent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Turner’s research and thesis contrasted strikingly with his historic contemporaries who believed that America was based on Europe.   And it was the European historical legacy brought over with the colonists that gave America it’s uniqueness.   Fredrick Turner believed that the American Frontier and the surrounding experiences should be respected and spoke about of with dignity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Of course there are several flaws in his thesis.   He failed to speak about the effect of the American Frontier on women and minorities.   Turner’s theory was deemed ethnocentric and nationalistic.   His premise also showed a large separation between rural American and the future urban or city culture.  Ã‚   Another problem with his safety net proposal is that it is not true for anything after the Civil War.   In the slavery ridden South many blacks sought refuge in the frontier before the Civil War.   However, after the Civl War, the poverty stricken south it was impossible for people to have enough money for transportation, and setting up homesteads in the West. It is important to note that Turner’s Frontier Thesis goes head to head with the theory that slavery was the defining factor in American history.   The government actually gave away more free land after the official closing of the American Frontier than in all the years preceding 1890.   Turner’s thesis and research were not, at the time of it’s original, publication embraced.    Much of that coldness he received from his peers was due to his blunt, forceful nature and writing style.   When he spoke about his â€Å"Frontier Thesis†, he commanded his fellow historians to turn their mindset from European history to the American West.   He comments often that American Historians ‘had it all wrong’ and he was right.   His aggressive preaching may have turned other researchers off to even considering his thesis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fredrick Jackson Turner does a good job of fleshing out his thesis.   I do agree that the American Frontier had a huge effect on defining what America is and who Americans are.   I do think that Turner’s â€Å"Frontier Thesis† has it’s problems which I stated above.   I think it is important to point out that understanding the birth of truly American Ideals you must look at several different theories developed by various Historians.   I agree with the points that Fredrick Turner makes.   Especially concerning how settlers of the frontier needed to be self sufficient and self governing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Regardless, if historians agree with Turner or agree to disagree the impact of his â€Å"Frontier Thesis, is indisputable.   He introduced the idea that daily events of regular people make up history that is it is true history.   He nurtured and detailed his belief that the physical land can be a major factor in defining and shaping a culture, particularly the American Culture.   Fredrick Jackson Turner breathed life into the American Western landscape,   letting the Frontier transform from a mere setting to a powerful tool in chiseling the America’s historical and cultural legacy.   Bibliography Hutton, T.R.C. Beating a Dead Horse?: The Continuing Presence of Frederick Jackson Turner in Environmental and Western History. International Social Science Review (2002): 47+. Questia. 10 Dec. 2005 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=5000838961. Ritchie, Robert C., and Paul Andrew Hutton, eds. Frontier and Region: Essays in Honor of Martin Ridge. 1st ed. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press, 1997. Questia. 10 Dec. 2005 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=10400476. Turner, Frederick Jackson. The Frontier in American History. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1921. Questia. 10 Dec. 2005 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=10376565. White, Richard, and Richard White. Chapter Ten When Frederick Jackson TurnerAnd Buffalo Bill Cody BothPlayed Chicago in 1893.   Frontier and Region: Essays in Honor of Martin Ridge. Ed. Robert C. Ritchie and Paul Andrew Hutton. 1st ed. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library Press, 1997. 201-211. Questia. 10 Dec. 2005 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=10400690.