Hole In My Life Essay

â€Å"It is not what one does that is wrong, but what one becomes as a consequence of it â€Å", which means the thing you do can turn you into something you’re not. It’s not the crime someone commits it’s if they change or have a positive effect on the consequence. Jack Gantos started hanging with the wrong people, started selling drugs but he didn’t think selling drugs could land him in federal prison. Jack spent his time in jail but he didn’t let jail stop him from writing. Jack realized he did a crime, he went to prison & got out and changed his life around. Gantos began as a person with lack of supervision, getting involved with the drug culture, he ends up going to jail when he gets out he goes to college and becomes an amazing writer. Jack’s lack of supervision started when he lived in a hotel in San Juan by himself without his parents, he made housekeeping cleanup for him, went to visit his mom and made her do his laundry. Living on his own was a way for him to do what he wanted on his own and when he wanted to which he proved was a way to show his lack of responsibility. Second example of Jack’s lack of supervision is when jack lived in the Bacon’s house, he would turn his music on full blast and not care what no one says. He was sort of taking advantage of the Bacon’s not knowing he was doing it. The final example is Jack doesn’t even ask anyone for advice he just starts making the crates with Rick. Jack is selfish and doesn’t want to listen to anyone he does stuff not knowing he could get in trouble. In the case of Jacks lack of supervision he lands himself with 6 years on his jail time. Jack got involved with the wrong crowd and drug culture. Jack and his drug partner Hamilton they smuggled drugs into the USA. He was eager to do anything to get money, he wants to go to college and be a writer and he needs the money to do it. By Jack getting involved with this drug culture he gets caught but Jack doesn’t turn himself in right away he’s on the run but eventually turns himself in. He eventually finds that jail is scary he has some bad experiences and thinks they might scar him making him think about changing his life. Gantos gets a job as an x-ray tech inside prison. He ends up learning new things. Hearing stories from some of the prisoners and seeing things that disqust him but they teach him a lesson and the readers get a feel on how prison is. Even though Jacks in prison but still continuing his career as a writer. In prison he gets a ship’s log on he uses that to journal in. Gantos began writing in the script log turning it into a diary about his life. In his diary he explains that he did make mistakes and wants his readers not to follow in his footsteps. While Jack was in school there were kids that came from prison to tell them how it was but Jack made fun of them in the end Jack sees that wasn’t a good idea. When he gets out he changes his life, he gets out, goes to school and becomes a successful writer. From the book â€Å"Hole In My Life,† one can learn a lot of tips that should stick with you through life. The first tip is don’t do drugs they can lead you to heavy trouble and they are bad for you. Another is always have your parents close to you so when you have a question about life you can ask them to see what is right. Third is everyone deserves a second chance. Last one is choose your friend wisely. In the book Gantos states â€Å"Feels like in a walking white target with legs.† He also states â€Å"In prison I got a second chance to realize I did have something to write about.

Positive Behavior Essay

Reinforcement is a consequence following a behavior that could increase the probability of the behavior (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). Reinforcement helps the behavior to be strong enough that it can occur naturally within its one’s environment or can be a part of an intervention plan that teaches new behaviors (Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayor, 1991). Reinforcement is an important concept in operant conditioning and an important part of learning process. B. F. Skinner accepted this technique to modify reinforcement and punishment as well as extinction reinforcement. It increases a negative behavior, or a positive behavior. In Operant Learning, there are two types of behaviors positive and negative. Reinforcement is something that is part of everyone’s life and rewards are given to enforce positive behaviors. Positive reinforcement is something that is done to increase a response from someone. Educators are often involved in positive reinforcement. It helps the students give the desired behavior that is desired by the teacher. Teachers can impact student’s life positively by dealing with their behavior and by using a reward system. Being an Educator, there must be stability to effectively manage a classroom of students. Sometimes being faced with challenges in managing a student’s behavior becomes overwhelming especially students with behavior problems. Students are often very hard to teach and to get them focused on the information that’s being given to them because of the disruptive behaviors, but having some type of intervention plan in place helps to deal with the behavior problems. Although, teachers like to think they can handle things on their own sometimes before going to an administrator for an discipline referral, but because of the problems behavior sometimes being so bad, the student has to get involved with the discipline principal. The behavior could cause suspension from school in-school or out-of-school for a period of time awaiting a hearing. However, positive reinforcement does work for some students in the classroom. In my classroom environment the students gets positive reinforcement by letting them go to the computer lab, watch an educational movie, library, free time, or play music while they work and giving small snacks. These are some of the things that we do for positive reinforcement in the classroom. If positive reinforcement worked for everyone it would be a good thing, but some students do not care to be rewarded for good behavior. However, every student should want to do the right thing and not depend on someone giving them something in order to do well. Negative reinforcement is also a theory of Operant Learning. According to B. F. Skinner’s( 1953) theory on â€Å"operant conditioning† Skinner says that to be rewarded has more effect if it does not happen. If one was rewarded constantly the effect would be greater than the rewards that are usually given. If a student doesn’t know when they are being rewarded, they will control and behave themselves more so than anyone who knows the time the rewards are given out. Negative reinforcement is when certain incentives or items are removed after a particular behavior is exhibited. Although it is very unlikely that the behavior may not ever happen again, it is decreased. The negative behavior is increased if a student is stopping, moving or avoiding a negative outcome. It should never be thought of as a punishment. Positive reinforcement is always adding something positive to increase the behavior, but negative reinforcement is taking something that is negative to increase a behavior. Negative reinforcement is also when you do something to keep from being punished for it. An example is if â€Å"I nagged my son about keeping his room clean and he cleans it to avoid me nagging him to clean it. † Reinforcement is something that happens all the time in everyone’s everyday life. Making a plan for a child that is in special education is very important. To set the goals and objectives, it has to be in written form. To write a plan for setting goals and objectives takes some thought. First of all one must know what an objective is. Since I have been working in the education field, I have had to learn many things. I learned while sitting in an IEP that the teacher must have goals and objectives for the student. The objective gives information of what you want to learn and to be able to show evidence of what you have learned. The objective is important and it must be well taught to help with the evaluating content of the goals. It leaves not enough room for reason. In writing an objective there are uniqueness that should be communicated and they are the accomplishment of an objective. This is a statement of what is anticipated of the learner. Circumstances are actually what the student can do or how the task can be performed. The standard of the objective tells how the student performed the assignment so that it will be acknowledged. Writing objectives should be about how much or how well of what someone will do and by when. For example; â€Å"Alicia will show respect for others, her peers and adults, her ideas, thoughts, opinion, personal space and property. † Alicia should do this independently 90% of the time. Since Alicia is having problems with respecting others, she has to sit away from the group until she apologizes to all of her teachers and peers. Once she does this, she can return back to the group. Alicia likes being with the group, so she finally decides to apologize to everyone. The data was collected by Informal Assessment and Data Collection. Another example would be Alicia needs to follow directions without arguing with the teacher 1 out of 4 times a day as measured by observation, weekly observation and charting the outcome. Everything we do have a consequence whether it’s positive or negative. However, to get a positive stimulus one must increase the behavior to something positive. To get a negative behavior, do something that is not acceptable. It is always wise to try and increase the student’s behavior by positive reinforcement and definitely not by punishment. Doing something that is positive to decrease the negative behavior is always the right thing to do. Reinforcements of both behaviors are something that is done on a daily basis of everyday life. Today because people operate by their environment, (Martin & Pear, 1999) we all look for reinforcement in our lives rather it’s at work, with our friends, or family. All behaviors eventually become a way of growth. As for reinforcement, it will be more successful if the intensity and the magnitude of enforcers is greater ( Mittenberger, 2008). So, the bottom line is that Positive Reinforcement should be used in the classroom to help those students that are experiencing behavior problems. Special Education Teachers should take into consideration of positive reinforcement to better help their students to be successful.

How Accurate is Naviance Compared to ?

Naviance is a software tool offered through high schools that helps students navigate the college selection and admissions process. The software includes a ton of tools for guidance counselors to use in preparing college applications for their students, and includes a variety of college search and admissions prep tools for students. This blog post will provide a breakdown of the strengths of Naviance as well as the areas where we recommend leveraging additional resources (including some offered by ). One feature that is unique to Naviance is the data it provides on the GPA and SAT scores of students from your high school who applied to a particular college, as well as the outcome of their application (acceptance, rejection, or waitlist). This data is typically reproduced in the format of a scattergram. Our point of view on using Naviance to estimate your chances of admission is that you can kind of get a general sense of where you stand academically, but it is nowhere near sufficient if you want to actually estimate your chances of admission. Here’s our rationale: The college admissions process is holistic, so test scores and coursework/GPA are just two of the numerous factors considered in the admissions process. At most colleges they represent just 25-30% of how the admissions decision is made according to ’s data. This is because at selective colleges (with

Canadas Wonderland Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Canadas Wonderland - Assignment Example It is also the major theme park in the country (Williams, 2007, p 102). Canada’s Wonderland consists of beautiful sceneries, for instance, the Medieval Faire and the International Street, that are marketed for tourism by the country’s travel agencies hence earning foreign exchange for the nation. With the leadership of Kelly Robinson, the Taft Broadcasting Company suggested the construction of the theme park on a 33 acre of land. The land was located in a small village that was known as Maple. The village was a part of Vaughan, Ontario. Many other locations for the construction of Canada’s Wonderland in Ontario were considered. These areas included Cambridge, Milton and Niagara Falls. Maple, however, became the final selection as the construction site of the theme park (Williams, 2007, p. 127). This is because the village was located near the city of Toronto. It was also located near the 400 highway series. Other individuals like the Conklin family considered the Greater Toronto Area as the best location of Canada’s Wonderland. Other people like Walt Disney suggested that the theme park is constructed in Florida (Braithwaite, 2000, p. 218). Disney rejected Toronto because of the cold climate found in the region. He claimed that this kind of weather would shorten the operation period of the park, thereby, reducing profits. Many organizations opposed the construction of the theme park in Toronto. For instance, Toronto’s multicultural institutions like the Royal Museum of Toronto, Ontario Place and Canadian National Exhibition operators argued that Toronto market was too small to accommodate more competition (Braithwaite, 2000, p. 231). Other groups like the Vaughan residential association fought against the construction of Canada’s Wonderland claiming that the increased traffic that would be brought about by the theme park could reduce the value of properties in the region.  

An appraisal of a piece of research-based evidence relevant to Essay

An appraisal of a piece of research-based evidence relevant to healthcare practice - Essay Example The following appraisal evaluates a clinical research study and its potential applications to nursing practice. The main aims of this research study were to evaluate student nurses’ perceptions of hand hygiene practice compliance in order to explore ways of effectively incorporating best practice standards of hand hygiene compliance into nursing school curricula and training programmes. The impetus for this study was the documentation of increased incidence of health-care associated infections (HCAIs) and data that suggest that there are generally poor compliance rates for hand hygiene among healthcare workers (Creedon 2005). The rationale for the increased attention to hygiene compliance is that greater attention to hand hygiene practices among nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers may produce a decrease in the overall incidence of HCAIs among patients (Boyce & Pittet 2002). This is a very serious problem as noscomial infections are associated with higher mortality rates in critically ill patients, increased hospital stays and excessive antibiotic usage, all of which represent unwanted complications in patient care. There are a number of excellent search engines that would be relevant to this type of search. These include the Cochrane Library Online, which is a website containing journal articles and research findings designed to meet the needs of nursing professionals. Another excellent website is the Centers for Disease Control website (CDC), a USA based database that contains the results of the latest research on infectious disease, and evidence-based practice research findings. Pubmed/medline is an online database that can be used in a search by topic mode to obtain the latest journal research articles on this subject. The rationale for this research study involving nursing students’ perceptions of hand hygiene compliance was the

Central Banks Propel Asia Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Central Banks Propel Asia Markets - Essay Example The loosening of the policy concerning the dollar came because of the slow economic momentum, a factor that prompted the mentioned economies to come to their agreement. The slow economic downturn started as early as November, therefore, an economic intervention was needed to boost the stock markets in Asia, Europe and the other countries, which were included in the financing deal. Critical Analysis It is the job of policy makers to ensure that they set up appropriate policies, which will ensure that the economy is stable and money value is not lost. The policy indicated by the above scenario indicates that the actions by major world economies in the stock market have the capability to influence financial markets in the world. The lowering in dollar financing costs by the major policy deciders in both Europe and the North American continent helped to reduce the risks of global financing, which in turn increases investor confidence in the markets. Therefore, the resultant effect, the r ise in stock markets in the Asian, American and European economies can be attributed to a rise in investor confidence in the stock market. ... expected to benefit other economies, for example, the US, Canadian and European economies witnessed an increase in the indices used in the respective countries. Critical Questions 1. How does the boosting of liquidity in one country affect the stocks in another country? 2. What are the perceived benefits of the increase in liquidity in the Asian economies? Work Cited Turner, Susan. Central Banks Propel Asia Markets, 2011. Web. December 01, 2011. Available at: Portugal Hit by Downgrade and Strike Summary The article â€Å"Portugal Hit by Downgrade and Strike†, by Kowsmann describes two major events that affected Portugal’s economy in the last one week. The article states that the Portuguese economy faced a double tragedy when its debt was downgraded to junk, and a strike paralyzed operations in the country. The nationwide strike was occasioned by growing fears and discontent that austerity measures were pushing the country deep into recession. The second tragedy was the lowering of the country’s debt rating by Fitch’s Rating index, an index that describes the debt-characteristic of various economies. Portugal’s debt rating was lowered from triple-B-Minus to double-B-Plus, which means that the country is considered an ineffective credit controller. This was caused by the country’s perceived fiscal imbalances and debt figures across all sectors of the economy. Effectively, the lowering of the rating indicates that the country is no longer investment worthy, meaning that investors will be scared away from the economy. Critical Analysis The downgrading of the Portuguese economy, accompanied by the nationwide strike is not a stand-alone factor. This is evident from the current debt

An event from the Holocaust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

An event from the Holocaust - Essay Example This research paper attempts to study the political, social and cultural environment which led to the holocaust. We will also briefly explore the Nazi policies of exclusion. Finally, we will look at the atrocities meted out to the prisoners in the concentration camps. Long before Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, eugenic scientists were conducting experiments to prove the inequality of humans. These research were not restricted to Germany but were worldwide. Tests conducted in the United States "proved" that class, race and ethnic differences "reflected intelligence.2 These research results were not only accepted by the scientific community but also influenced the policy makers. In United States, "inferior races and ethnic groupswere prohibited from entering the country."3 Solution to the "problem" of the "feebleminded individuals who already resided in the United States" ranged from putting them in "permanent custodial care" to sterilization.4 Eugenics eventually lost acceptance in the United States but in Germany, following the coming to power of the Nazi party, eugenic scientists began to enjoy political support. Hitler wanted to build a utopian German society. Such a society would be "racially homogenous, physically hardy and mentally healthy".5 To achieve this utopia, Germany followed a policy of exclusion and the killing operations were the final stage of this policy. Eugenics introduced the idea of human inequality and the Nazi policies institutionalized it. The groups excluded included the physically handicapped, intellectually retarded, mentally disturbed and, eventually, the racially alien people. By 1939, Hitler abandoned his policy of exclusion and started discussing "implementation of what he called euthanasia".6 Nazi Policies The National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) better known as the Nazi party was founded on January 5 1919. Hitler joined the NSDAP on September 16 1919.7 His inspirational leadership and oratorical skills saw him become the chairman of the party by July 1921. Germany's defeat in the World War I and signing of the Treaty of Versailles which put the sole responsibility of the "war guilt" on the Germans was humiliating for the defeated nation. This along with the depression of 1929 and the inability of Germans to come to terms with the resulting hardships saw the Nazi party get 37 percent of the votes in 1932 elections.8 Thus on January 30, 1933, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany. On February 27 1933, a mysterious fire in the Reichstag building destroyed the German "Parliament". The next day the German President, Paul von Hindenburg declared emergency. The emergency, along with the "Enabling Act, or Law for the Removal of the Distress of the People and Reich, would allow H itler torule Germany as a dictator."9 Between 1933 and 1935, the German government enacted various laws to remove Jews from public life and to revoke their citizenship.10 From April 1, 1933, the Nazi Government started a countrywide boycott of Jewish businesses. This and other policies between 1933 and 1938 were aimed at forcing the German Jews to emigrate from Germany. However, the policies failed due to reluctance of many German Jews to leave their

Abortion Term Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Abortion Term Paper - Essay Example The dominant reasons cited for procurement of abortions are broad and detail concern for or responsibility to other individuals; some women who procure an abortion assert that they cannot afford a child; others cite interference with school, work, or their capability to avail care for dependents while others dread of being a single parent or have problems with their husband or partner (Callahan 116). The discussion makes several clarifications, distinctions, and oppositions that propel the ethical considerations for or against abortion. The core question that manifests in this discussion encompasses two questions, namely: whether abortion is morally wrong. These are unique issues as not everything that is immoral can be regarded as essentially illegal. This essay develops a general argument dwelling on the claim that the vast majority of procured abortions are gravely immoral. Abortion infers the premature removal of a fetus from the Uterus prior to 28 weeks gestation, the random est ablished period of viability or prior to pregnancy reaching its full term. There are two forms of abortion, namely: miscarriage (spontaneous abortion) that happens mainly naturally, statistics indicates that close to 50% of pregnancies end in this manner (Callahan 117). Second, procured abortion encompasses intentional termination of the pregnancy mainly incorporating an operation to expel the fetus from the womb. Viability is entirely a relative term complete with value judgments, rather than a distinct descriptive entity. Although, abortion has over the years grown to become one of the most debate issues within bioethics, no moral consensus has been attained. The lingering debate on when abortions should be carried out, by what means, and the kinds on infants that should be saved demonstrate the complexity of the issue of abortion. The greatest difficulty presented, but abortion literature lies in spotlighting reliable philosophical and scientific arguments amid the dominating rhetorical manipulation (Bok 33). Academically, the issue of abortion centers on the balance between liberties both the mother, plus the baby. Theologically, the issue of abortion flows from two critical questions: 1) at what point is life considered beginning? (Whether at conception or birth); 2) if so, is it a sin to abort a fetus? The explanation suggested by the faiths detail that life commences at conception, and hence the baby is considered to be living from the conception (Monagle and Thomasma 17). Hence, it is a mortal sin (murder) to abort a fetus. The central argument that is mainly against abortion details that: the fetus is in essence an innocent person and it is morally wrong to terminate the life of a guiltless individual. Subsequently, it is morally wrong to terminate the life of a fetus. Some anti-abortionist will admit certain abortions such as abortion prior to implantation, or abortions procured the moment the life of the mother is threatened by a pregnancy, or abortion subsequent to a rape (Callahan 117). These cases of abortion may be considered to be morally permissible. B. The Moral Controversy Surrounding the Problem Public opinion on abortion can be categorized into three camps, namely: conservative, liberal, and moderate (or gradualist) all of which draws on both science and ethical thinking. Conservatives groups such as the Catholic Church perceive the fetus as a human being with full moral rights from conception onward. Conception in this case can be regarded as a critical point since this is the stage in which the embryo develops its distinct genetic code (Singer 189). Liberal approach, on the other hand, concedes that the fetus is

Case assignment cultural Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case assignment cultural Identity - Essay Example 2. To what extent do you think cultural beliefs, values, and traditions may impact health education efforts? Please provide examples of negative and positive impacts that apply to the case studies from the video. Cultural beliefs, values and traditions play a crucial role in the health-care setting. As emphasized in the National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC) (n.d.), â€Å"health care professionals increasingly recognize the crucial role that culture plays in the healthcare of a client or patient and the need to deliver services in a culturally competent manner† (p. 1). Therefore, the ability of health care professionals to educate the patients on the most effective intervention would depend on the ability to communicate messages that accommodate understanding cultural beliefs, values, and traditions. In the case studies from the video, the good cross-cultural patient communication scenario clearly depicts that the following elements assist in effective efforts for health education: (1) eliciting information on the cultural remedies; (2) demonstration of acceptance of patient’s views; (3) accommodating the health beliefs of patients; (4) explores understanding of the cultural impact; and (5) empathizes and supports the patient’s perspectives and cultural views (University of Michigan: Lesson 1, 2010). On the other hand, the bad cross-cultural patient communication scenario exemplified negative impacts on health education and cultural competence: (1) not demonstrating acceptance of patient’s view; (2) not eliciting information on cultural remedies; (3) not accommodating health beliefs; and (4) not empathizing and supporting the patient’s perspectives and cultural views (University of Michican: Lecture 2, 2010). Based on the video, one would suggest to health professionals who want to improve their cross-cultural communications

A comparison between the 1920s and the 1980s Essay Example for Free

A comparison between the 1920s and the 1980s Essay The 1920s and 1980s are similar in many ways. Their similarities are social, economical, and political. Some of the similarities between the decades are Prohibition and the War on Drugs, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and 1987, and the influence of music on society. Prohibition was passed as the 18th amendment, that importing, exporting, transporting, and manufacturing of alcohol was to be put to an end. Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems that it intended to solve. It was expected that the decrease in alcohol consumption would in turn reduce crime, poverty, death rates, improve the economy, and the quality of life. As a result of the lack of enforcement of the Prohibition Act and the creation of an illegal industry of bootlegging an increase in crime transpired. The Prohibitionists hoped that the Volstead Act would decrease drunkenness in America and thereby decrease the crime rate, especially in large cities. Although towards the beginning of Prohibition this purpose seemed to be fulfilled, the crime rate soon skyrocketed to nearly twice that of the pre-prohibition period. In large cities the homicide went from 5.6 (per 100,000 population) in the pre-prohibition period, to nearly 10 (per 100,000 population) during prohibition, nearly a 78 percent increase. Serious crimes, such as homicides, assault, and battery, increased nearly 13 percent, while other crimes involving victims increased 9 percent. Many supporters of prohibition argued that the crime rate decreased. This is true if one is examining only minor crimes, such as swearing, mischief, and vagrancy, which did in fact decrease due to prohibition. The major crimes, however, such as homicides, and burglaries, increased 24 percent between 1920 and 1921. In addition, the number of federal convicts over the course of the prohibition period increased 561 percent (Hanson 31-34). After Prohibition was deemed a failure, the National Prohibition Act, or Volstead Act, was passed. The Volstead Act was put into place to determine specific laws and methods of enforcement; the Federal Prohibition Bureau was formulated in order to see that the Volstead Act was enforced. Nevertheless, bootleggers and commoners alike flagrantly violated these laws. Bootleggers  smuggled liquor from oversees and Canada, stole it from government warehouses, and produced their own. Many people hid their liquor in hip flasks, false books, hollow canes, and anything else they could find (Hanson 29). Although one would think that prohibition would enhance the difficulty of obtaining alcohol, liquor was actually very easy to acquire. The bootlegging business was so immense that customers could easily obtain alcohol by simply walking down almost any street. Replacing saloons, which were all shut down at the start of prohibition, were illegal speak-easies. These businesses, hidden in basements, office buildings, and anywhere that could be found, admitted only those with membership cards, and had the most modern alarm systems to avoid being shut down (Hanson 28). In the beginning of the 1980s drugs begin to spread rapidly through inner cities because of the easy accessibility. In 1982 the National Survey on Drug Abuse found 22 million Americans had used cocaine one time in their life. It became the choice of drug for the famous and successful; professional athletes, celebrities in entertainment, lawyers, university professors, and Wall Street brokers. It became labeled as the champagne of drugs. Many people took to the popular form of cocaine known as crack, which could be disguised as smoking a cigarette even though it was incredibly addicting. People could also acquire crack cocaine easily and inexpensively. Dealers would disguise regular homes and apartments as crack houses where a user could easily obtain their fix. In the 1980s Reagan had a similar problem with the war on drugs. Inner city violence increased due to gangs fighting for territory. It was also an underlying cause in the rise of domestic violence, child abuse, homelessness, violence in school, and dropout rates. In 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act was passed in effort to stop the drug crisis. The Act was aimed towards accountability and zero-tolerance towards addicts.. Critics accused the government of spending too much on enforcing rather than educating and treatment. Its effects were similar to those of Prohibition so in 1988 the act was redone (Bondi 395). It was almost impossible for government agencies to stop the smuggling of drugs into the U.S. It was done most commonly by boat but dealers would often find new ways to get their contraband past drug sniffing dogs and the border patrol at the Mexico border. When Reagans term ended and George W. Bush took office he gave his inaugural speech in which he said, When the first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may as well have been a deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body, the soul of our country. There is much to be done and much to be said, but take my word for it: This scourge will stop. (Bondi 396). By the end of the 1920s the Stock Market was flourishing. In 1928 the New York Stock Exchange was trading at about six to seven million shares a day. Many economists warned about the dangers of rising prices. People disregarded this information and speculation increased about the Stock Market being the easy way to make money. People invested their lifes savings. Banks too invested large sums of money into the Stock Market. On Thursday, October 24, 1929, the bottom began to fall out. Prices dropped precipitously as more and more investors tried to sell their holdings. By the end of the day, the New York Stock Exchange had lost four billion dollars, and it took exchange clerks until five oclock AM the next day to clear all the transactions. By the following Monday, the realization of what had happened began to sink in, and a full-blown panic ensued. Thousands of investors, many of them ordinary working people, not serious players were financially ruined. By the end of the year, stock values had dropped by fifteen billion dollars (Hanson 67). Although the crash of 1929 was devastating on the economy, the crash on October 19, 1987,Black Monday, was more devastating be cause the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508.32 points, losing 22.6% of its total value. The fall far surpassed the one-day loss of 12.9% that began the great stock market crash of 1929. The Dows 1987 fall also triggered panic selling and similar drops in stock markets worldwide. What made this market break extraordinary was the speed with which prices fell, the unprecedented volume  of trading and the consequent threat to the financial system. Both crashes were significant because they took a devastating toll on the economy. This led to the loss of jobs and shutting down of companies. Although much had been done after the crash of 1929, such as making Paper Companies illegal, it could not prevent the devastating losses of 1987 (Bondi 301). In the early 1920s times were prosperous and people begin to look for a new form of entertainment. It was the commercial dawn of radio, and the continued popularity of the phonograph. Neither invention was new. Radio had been experimented with as early as 1896, and Marconi stations lined the coasts before the Great War. The 20s saw the demise of the wax cylinder recorder (Edison manufactured them into the 20s), and the rise of the disk that was to stay with us in some form until the CD. Music became widely available for the average person because of the availability of phonographs and the accessibility to the radio. Things like the Charleston and dance marathons became popular do to the music that could be played at any given time. Jazz and blues also became big because of musicians like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Sam Morgan, and Oscar Popa Celestin (Hanson 25).. On October 1, 1982 Sony introduced the CDP-101, the first Compact Disc audio CD player. This new technological advance sparked the development of a new type of music known as New Wave. Like Jazz, it began to gain popularity in New York City. The music became increasingly popular and began the attraction of people to nightclubs, such as CGBGs (Bondi 135). Despite the differences in technology and standards, the 1920s and 1980s were very similar. When it comes down to it, history really does repeat itself in many ways. Historians can only inform us as to what we can expect of the future and what we can do to prevent such devastating events. Works Cited Bondi, Victor. American Decades 1980 1989. Washington D.C. : Amanly, Inc. Book 1996 Hanson, Erica. Through the Decades The 1920s. San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc. 1999

Relationship Between Activity Level and Happiness

Relationship Between Activity Level and Happiness Correlation Study of the Relationship between Three Variables Introduction Personality is one of the key things that psychologists assess, and it is comprised of various things. Happiness, activity-level and sociability are key aspects in the life of every person, and they differ from person to person. These are one of the components of a person’s personality, and there are various causes of the differences in these key life elements. There are considerable differences between males, and females, and it shows that gender impact a number of aspects in the lives of people. Age also has an impact on these aspects, and there are notable variations as a person ages. International personality item pool test is a tool that is used in psychology to assess various aspects of an individual. It was created in the year 1999 by Goldberg, and the aspects that it assesses are emotional stability, agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness. These are personality elements that psychologists can use when describing an individual. It was a tool that was aimed at standardising the people’s psychological assessment, and it contains 50 questions. The five elements that it contains are divided into six subscales. It is a tool that has been widely used by researchers when looking at the differences between ethnic groups; genders; and age groups. Gender and age have an influence on happiness, activity-level and sociability. These aspects can be summed up in the personality elements that are assessed using the international item pool test. There is considerable change that occurs in a person’s level of activity as they age. This change usually starts to occur as a person enters school and it usually a decline. The decline continues until it reaches a level where a person has a sedentary lifestyle when he or she is old. The activity level between males and females is different with the latter having a less level than the former. There are researchers who however attribute this difference to be because of socialisation rather than the biological differences between the two sexes. Age has an impact on the level of happiness, and researchers have found various results when comparing the young and the elderly in terms of their level of happiness. Cooper et al. (2011) found that there are various factors that determine the level of happiness in various age groups. There is a proposed happiness factor that increases as a person passes the age of 46, and this impacted by things like age, gender, and external circumstances. The level of happiness between men and women is different, but is difficult to clearly state that one gender in happier than the other. There are men who are happier than women, and the same is true for women. This is because happiness in the current environment is determines by factors that affect both men and women in equal measure. This is unlike in the past where many women were restricted by the traditional gender roles, and this made a lot of them unhappy. Sociability is a key trait that individuals possess, and it is different between two people. Men are usually more sociable than women because of the freedoms that they have from the time that they are small. In childhood, there are fewer restrictions that are placed on boys on what they can do as compared to girls. Sociability also differs between the young and the old, with a majority of the young people being more sociable. As people age, many become lonely and are not able to move about easily as they did when in years past because of illness, or aging body. Discussion A negative correlation between the level of activity, and happiness was found, and this is similar with the results of some studies that show that old people are happier than the young. This similarity is because those who are old have been shown to have a reduced level of activity. The increased level of happiness in old age has been attributed to having a lifelong partner, and the decrease in responsibility like children who grow up, and leave the homes to become independent. The study also found out that the score of happiness decreased as the score of sociability increased, and this is an inverse relationship. This finding is supported by research that shows that the old people are not as sociable as the young, but they are happier. Various literatures have shown that there age has an impact on the level of happiness, and even though the elderly are lonely, they still live a happy life that is not mainly focused on the interaction with various people. The results however differ with others findings, which show that the young people are happy because they are able to socialise with various people. It also contradicts other research that found that women are less happy in certain settings because the society places restrictions on them regarding their level of socialisation. The difference in the amount of activity between men and women leads to a contradiction of the findings of the study because some studies have shown that men and women in the current world setup are equally happy because of increasing equality. This disproves the findings that the level of activity may have an influence on the level of happiness as was seen in the results of the study. This would mean that men are less happy than women because they are more active, and yet other studies have not been able to show this correlation. The results also showed that there is no significant level of difference of activity between the two genders. This contradicts the findings of other researchers, which have shown that there is considerable difference in the level of activity between men and women. Many studies show that men are more physically active than women, and they tend to take tasks that require a lot of physical activity. From this, it is hard to link the results of this study to what was previously found. The difference is due to genetics, and the musculature of men as compared to that of women, and the results of the study, therefore, shows that even though there is a genetic and biological difference, the level of activity is nearly the same. It was also found that those who are below the age of 60 years have nearly the same level of activity as those who are above the age of 60 years. This totally disagrees with the findings of many studies that show that the level of activity decreases as a person ages. Past results, therefore, show that those who are above the age of 60 are less physically active than those who are below the age of 60. These results are disputed by past findings that show that as a person ages, there are physical changes that occur that lead to a reduction in the amount of physical activity that they can perform. This is the reason many people who are above 60 years of age live a sedentary lifestyle. The results of the study that were aimed at looking at the age and gender differences in the level of happiness, activity level; and sociability differ with a majority of research that have been conducted. There are, however, studies that have found similar findings and show that there may not be major changes in the activity level between men and women. Researches with similar findings as the study also show that a high level of activity may have a negative impact on happiness. This may be true when focusing on the traditional roles of women who were unhappy with the many duties that were placed on them by the society. References Cooper, C., Bebbington, P., King, M., Jenkins, R., Farrell, M., Brugha, T., McManus, S.,Stewart, R., Livingston G. (2011). Happiness across age groups: results from the 2007 National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry, 26(6), 608-614. Ehrharta, K. H., Roeschb, S. C., Ehrhartb, M. G., Kilianc, B. (20008). A Test of the Factor Structure Equivalence of the 50-Item IPIP Five-Factor Model Measure Across Gender and Ethnic Groups. Journal of Personality Assessment, 90(5), 507-516. Singh, A., Misra, N. (2009). Loneliness, depression and sociability in old age. Ind Psychiatry J. 18(1), 51–55.

Social Reproduction Essay -- Canadian Government, Capitalism

The growth of capitalism and the decline in government help with social reproduction along with cuts to social serves within Canada have lead to many issues within the privet sector. These cut backs leave families struggling, and while the family struggles the main care taker who is majority of the time the women, they are also the ones struggling with more responsibilities in the privet sphere of life. However, the home is not the only place that deteriorates when cut backs take place. When the individual struggles in the privet sector, the public sector along with employment and work take a toll as well. While the women tend to be the care givers of the home they skill contribute to a capitalist society meaning they are now working two jobs. They take care of the home, and still tend to a job in the public aspect of life. Until improvements are made in both privet and public sectors through social reproduction many areas in Canada will continue to suffer. The book Social Reproduct ion focuses on specific issues that are happening in Canada. Chapter four is specific to the topic on social reproduction and the issues that it causes to Canadian individuals, along with how unions are working to change the government to better help the people of Canada. I will focus on how chapter four entitled Bargaining for Collective Responsibility for Social Reproduction by Alice Wolff, deals with the material at hand and also if I believe Wolff presents the material in a well mannered argument. I will start off by looking at what issues Wolff presents in this chapter, and move on to the difficulties it is causing individuals, while finishing off with a critique of the chapter. Social reproduction to Alice Wolff is an important issue that is ... ... would have brought a real life situation at hand for those who are reading about this topic for the first time. I enjoy how the entire chapter focuses specifically within Canada which gives us as Canadians who are reading it a realisation of where Canada stands on this issues and where we possibly need to go. Another area I think she could have spent some more research on would have been how social reproduction differs between the different cultures we have represented in Canada. Canada especially has many different cultures and nationalities represented throughout; it would have been interesting to see how things differed from each culture. Overall I believe Wolff did a great job with the topic and I agree with what she has stated and how it is important to get this message out to others so that possibly soon we can find a way to help relive work-life tensions.

ECON 4131, International Finance, Spring 2002, Exam 3 Final Essay examp

Final Exam Questions -- Economics 4131, Spring 2006 1. Explain how the gold standard operated in the classical period (1870-1914). What were the advantages and disadvantages? Some say the gold standard sacrificed internal balance to external balance. How? What were the â€Å"rules of the game† and what would happen when they were violated? What would happen when the demand for monetary gold rose faster than the supply, and why was this a problem? 2. Explain the functioning of the Bretton Woods currency arrangement. Why was it designed as it was? What strains appeared over time, and what factors led to its collapse? What was â€Å"Triffin’s dilemma†? 3. Use the national income accounting identity to explain the phenomenon of â€Å"twin deficits.† Explain how the surge in the U.S. fiscal deficit has spilled into a need for international finance. What are the current sources of this finance? Describe the dilemma facing the Asian central banks. Describe the â€Å"hard landing† scenario. What needs to be done to ensure a â€Å"soft landing†? 4. Explain step-by-step why and how a central bank might w...

Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively :: The Sketch Plays Life Essays

Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively The sketch that was just been performed on stage by my friends shows you one of the consequences that can arise due to listening without judgment. There are many more consequences that you can imagine but I can tell you that they are all disastrous. Misunderstanding is a major factor which is the origin of fights in families. A person young or old must always be taken seriously when relating his problems. It is not always necessary that a younger person is always at fault. An older person may also be at fault. In many families, if a person is older than all the family members it means that he is always right. Why is this so? Is he not human? Every human make mistakes. In many films you can see that when actors have lots of problems they go and refuge themselves in cigarettes, alcohols, drugs and some even suicide themselves. In the sketch you can see that when his father takes him for the culprit, he started to drink alcohol and this has resulted into a lot of problems for not only him but also his parents. This does not happen only in films but also in the actual life. I myself have a relative who has started smoking just because of his own problems. One day I asked him why he has started smoking. He told me that when his business was not working well he had no one to entrust himself and then started to smoke and as you all know "once pop up can't stop" now he is unable to quit smoking by himself. So just imagine that you go and tell your parents about your problems and they do not listen to you or make you the culprit without knowing the whole problem. What would be your reaction? Won't you react in the same way as these persons? Naturally this will discourage you even more. Thinking positively Thinking plays a very important role in our everyday life. Every action is accompanied by a thought. There are two main ways of thinking; Thinking positively and thinking negatively. Frankly speaking thinking positively is much better for yourself and your surroundings. Any negative thought can have terrible consequences and this is one of the factors that prevents national unity. Jealousy is an imperfection that man has a role to play in the creation of negative thinking. For example a person can see his wife talking with a stranger. If the man thinks negatively about it, then consequences like fighting may lead to divorce; now if the couple has children just imagine through which Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively :: The Sketch Plays Life Essays Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively The sketch that was just been performed on stage by my friends shows you one of the consequences that can arise due to listening without judgment. There are many more consequences that you can imagine but I can tell you that they are all disastrous. Misunderstanding is a major factor which is the origin of fights in families. A person young or old must always be taken seriously when relating his problems. It is not always necessary that a younger person is always at fault. An older person may also be at fault. In many families, if a person is older than all the family members it means that he is always right. Why is this so? Is he not human? Every human make mistakes. In many films you can see that when actors have lots of problems they go and refuge themselves in cigarettes, alcohols, drugs and some even suicide themselves. In the sketch you can see that when his father takes him for the culprit, he started to drink alcohol and this has resulted into a lot of problems for not only him but also his parents. This does not happen only in films but also in the actual life. I myself have a relative who has started smoking just because of his own problems. One day I asked him why he has started smoking. He told me that when his business was not working well he had no one to entrust himself and then started to smoke and as you all know "once pop up can't stop" now he is unable to quit smoking by himself. So just imagine that you go and tell your parents about your problems and they do not listen to you or make you the culprit without knowing the whole problem. What would be your reaction? Won't you react in the same way as these persons? Naturally this will discourage you even more. Thinking positively Thinking plays a very important role in our everyday life. Every action is accompanied by a thought. There are two main ways of thinking; Thinking positively and thinking negatively. Frankly speaking thinking positively is much better for yourself and your surroundings. Any negative thought can have terrible consequences and this is one of the factors that prevents national unity. Jealousy is an imperfection that man has a role to play in the creation of negative thinking. For example a person can see his wife talking with a stranger. If the man thinks negatively about it, then consequences like fighting may lead to divorce; now if the couple has children just imagine through which

Funding Opportunities for Small Businesses Essay

Analyze funding opportunities for small businesses, including the role of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Then, evaluate the effectiveness of these funding opportunities in light of the current economy. In this time of economic challenges, suggest two ways that the SBA might be of assistance to your small business. Explain how you would request this assistance. Small businesses are leaders in innovation and drivers of the economy. Small businesses hold more patents than all of the nation’s universities and largest corporations combined, and create two thirds of all private sector jobs, employing half of all working Americans. The Federal government is the largest buyer in the world, spending over $500 billion each year. For the Federal government, contracting with small businesses is common sense. Small businesses get the revenue they need to create jobs and drive the economy forward, and federal agencies get the creativity, innovation, and technical expertise of small businesses to help accomplish their mission. When small businesses are excluded from federal contracts, the Federal government, American taxpayers and the nation’s economy lose out. Over 30 years ago, Congress set a goal of having a certain portion of all federal contracting dollars go to small businesses and established sub-goals for small businesses owned by women, socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and service-disabled veterans of the Armed Forces, and for small businesses in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones). The current government-wide goal for small businesses’ share of contracting dollars is 23%. Every year since 2006, the Federal government has missed the 23% small business goal and all but one of the sub-goals; the 2009 shortfall was greater than $4 billion. Removing barriers to federal contracting and increasing access for small businesses will go a long way in closing this gap. Over the past 18 months, the Federal government has taken important steps to increase opportunities for small businesses, from creating new online training for small businesses to issuing a proposed rule to create set-asides for women-owned small businesses in industries in which women are underrepresented. Last summer, the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration (SBA) co-led a government-wide effort that involved over 300 matchmaking and training events across the country to ensure American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) contracts were awarded to a broad array of small businesses. With over 31% of Recovery Act contracting dollars going to small businesses, this initiative 2 Report on Small Business Federal Contracting Opportunities proved that, with committed leadership and the right tools, the government has the ability to meet – and exceed – the 23% small business contracting goal. Stronger rules. Insufficient guidance and gaps in current policy hamper the use of tools that provide contracting opportunities for small businesses. The Task Force recommends actions to strengthen and update policies where they are weak or outdated and develop policies where they are lacking. A better equipped, more informed and more accountable acquisition workforce. A lack of knowledge and agency accountability inhibits the government’s ability to meet and exceed small business procurement goals on an ongoing basis. The Task Force recommends increasing the knowledge base and efficiency level of the procurement workforce and providing appropriate incentives and accountability for agencies to meet small business goals. Improved outreach and better use of technology and data. The current data systems in the federal acquisition environment are cumbersome and not user friendly for many small businesses, especially for those who are new to the systems and trying to â€Å"get the ir foot in the door.† The Task Force recommends a one-stop shop for easier access to procurement information, as well as greater focus on the accuracy of procurement data. In the following report, the Task Force outlines the key recommendations and actions needed to meet these priority objectives. The Task Force will report to the President by December 30, 2010, on progress in the implementation of the recommendations in this report. SBA, Commerce, OMB, and the other members of the Task Force are committed to increasing opportunities for small businesses. Small businesses, including businesses owned by women, socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and service-disabled veterans of our Armed Forces, must be able to participate in the Nation’s economic recovery. They must be able to compete effectively for federal contracts so our agencies, taxpayers, and the broader economy can reap the full benefit of their talents and services. 3 Report on Small Business Federal Contracting Opportunit ies REPORT INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON FEDERAL CONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES Small businesses are leaders in innovation and the drivers of the economy– holding more patents than all of America’s universities and largest corporations combined, creating two thirds of all private sector jobs and employing half of all working Americans. The Federal government is the largest buyer in the world, spending over $500 billion each year. For the Federal government, contracting with small businesses is common sense. Small businesses get the revenue they need to create jobs and drive the economy forward, and federal agencies get the creativity, innovation, and technical expertise of small businesses to help accomplish their mission. When small businesses are excluded from federal contracts, agencies, small businesses, taxpayers and the broader economy lose out. For more than half a century, it has been the policy of the Federal government to provide â€Å"maximum practicable opportunity† for small businesses to participate in federal contracts. To achieve this objective, Congress established an aspirational goal in 1978 for the percentage of annual prime contract spending that should be awarded to small businesses each year. Congress later set the government-wide goal at 23% and created a set of sub-goals to support the participation of special segments of the small business community: small disadvantaged businesses (5%), women-owned small businesses (5%), service-disabled-veteran-owned small businesses (3%), and small businesses in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones) (3%). These goals help ensure that a diverse set of small businesses share in the jobs and opportunities created by federal contracting. Since 2006, the Federal government has missed the 23% small business contracting goal and all but one of the sub-goals; the 2009 shortfall for the small business goal was more than $4 billion. This gap must be closed. The barriers to entry for small businesses are numerous: weak policies and rules that limit the effectiveness of tools that are supposed to facilitate contracting opportunities; inadequate workforce training to help contracting officers, small business advocates, and program offices understand how to successfully use contracting tools; and a lack of coordination among and accessibility to agency training and outreach events designed to help small businesses navigate the contracting system. Action must be taken to remove these barriers and ensure small businesses get access to federal contracts. A number of important steps have been taken or are underway to remove barriers and open more doors for small businesses in the federal marketplace. †¢ Later this year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) will implement a new rule on contracting with women-owned small businesses. For the first time, contracting officers will have a tool to set aside contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses in 4 Report on Small Business Federal Contracting Opportunities industries where women are under-represented. This is a critical step toward increasing opportunities for women-owned small businesses. †¢ This year SBA conducted the first comprehensive review of regulations in ten years governing its 8(a) business development program for disadvantaged small businesses to ensure the program’s effectiveness and increase 8(a) firms’ capacity to obtain contracts. †¢ A series of new online training courses have been rolled out (www.sba.gov/training) to walk small business owners through the steps involved in becoming a government contractor. These tools help small businesses navigate the process. †¢ SBA is conducting a comprehensive review of its size standards for small businesses – the first in 25 years – to ensure they accurately reflect the state of each industry. †¢ SBA is working actively to identify and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in its business programs through a strengthened certification, eligibility and enforcement process.

In Westminster Abbey Analysis

Essay: â€Å"In Westminster Abbey†Ã¢â‚¬Å"In Westminster Abbey† by John Betjeman is a poem that tells the story of a woman in a famous church in London and her prayer to the Lord. Each stanza in the poem contains something that the speaker wants from the Lord. And as one reads through the poem, a more keen understanding of the woman praying is formed, and it is likely drastically different from the original perception gained in the first two stanzas. In â€Å"In Westminster Abbey,† John Betjeman uses the speaker’s prayer and flaws in Christianity to illustrate to the reader that an individual is not always how they appear. Considering the length of the poem, there is quite a bit of information told about the speaker’s identity and personality. Firstly, the speaker is likely a female. She states that she will â€Å"Join the Women’s Army Corps,† which footnote number six on pg. 122 of The Norton Introduction To Poetry says was the old World War One name for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, a primarily female organization specializing in domestic defense. The usage of the WWI name for the organization would suggest that the speaker would be at least in her mid to upper thirties. The footnotes note as well that the address she tells the Lord to â€Å"put beneath Thy special care† (24) belongs to a â€Å"fashionable† part of London, which indeed implies wealth. Another bit of personality that shows up quite frequently within the poem is the speaker’s demanding tone. She doesn’t ever ask the lord for the favors listed, she simply demands them. Lines like â€Å"[l]isten to a lady’s cry† (6), â€Å"[d]on’t let anyone bomb me† (12), and of course the last two lines where she demands the Lord answer her right then because she has other plans, â€Å"And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait/Because I have a luncheon date†(41 – 42). One of the more prominent details about the speaker that really shapes the latter half of the poem is that the speaker is not a true Christian. She provides incentives to the Lord by telling him â€Å"Now I’ll come to Evening Service/Whensoever I have the time† (27 – 28). All of this, of course, in hopes to prompt an immediate response. Claiming to â€Å"feel a little better† (37); she tells the Lord just how great it was to have had him talk with her (38). Betjeman, however, does not include any dialogue from the Lord back to the speaker. Although we would not expect the Lord to speak out loud directly to her, there are no other examples within the poem that suggest the Lord answers her prayers or even acknowledges her dismal attempt at prayer. I inferred that this is completely intentional on the author’s part. It creates a sense of ambiguity about the speaker’s standing with God. Now, through the descriptors of the speaker within the poem, we see her as a roughly middle aged, wealthy, and demanding woman who fails to comply with an ideal Christian life because of her egocentric personality. Set in a famous London gothic church, where monarchs have been crowned and many famous individuals were buried, the poem depicts a middle aged woman praying. This is an image that readers can relate to. Everyone can conjure up a memory from a time when they’ve seen a Christian woman praying, whether it is in person or through media. It is also the first image that the reader acquires of the speaker. The second and third stanzas don’t seem to contain anything unbecoming of a true Christian, given the situation of London in 1940 with the bombardment of their city from Germany. It is reasonable to assume that a woman who is living in London at the time and who might know or know of people that have died would be slightly emotional during her prayer and say â€Å"oh bomb the Germans. /Spare their women for Thy Sake,/And if that is not too easy/We will pardon Thy Mistake†(7 – 10). The egocentricity and naivety of the speaker really reveals itself starting in the fourth stanza. She tells the lord to â€Å"[t]hink of what our nation stands for† (19), and yet proceeds to name off completely irrational things. Most residents in London would probably disagree with their Nation standing for books bought from a local pharmacy, class distinction and proper drains. Although these things could be considered nice, they aren’t representative of the population. In a matter of one stanza, the image of the speaker the reader receives completely changes from the innocent wholesome churchgoer, to a self-interested pseudo-Christian who in times of trouble goes to the Lord in prayer expecting and demanding her safety, harm for the Germans, and a slew of other tasks. A person’s initial appearance is not always representative of their true nature. This is precisely the message intended to be received by the reader. John Betjeman is clearly separated from the speaker in the story. A main determining factor is that he is a male, and the speaker of the poem is female. The author seems to be expressing his personal beliefs and Christian ideals by creating the character in the poem who embodies almost the complete opposite ideology of the author. Even still, the poem appears a dramatic monologue. Writing in this style of lyric poetry allows John Betjeman to be completely removed from the poem and thus he gets his point across much more effectively. Had he done something like make the speaker a male, readers could falsely associate some of the elements of the poem with the author as opposed to considering them as an independent entity. The tone that is established by the time the conclusion of the poem reaches the forefront makes the reader want to analyze and judge the speaker, rather than identify with and feel sympathetic towards her. Words that help establish this tone come at the end of many of the lines. Words like â€Å"[m]istake†(10) and â€Å"fights†(17) create a negative connotation which the reader associates with the speaker. These words also help with the transformation from the â€Å"good image† of the speaker to the â€Å"egotistical image† that comes later. In the first stanza there is â€Å"lie†(5) and â€Å"cry†(6) at the end of lines. By the fifth stanza, when the perception of the speaker has changed there are the words â€Å"sinner†(25) and â€Å"crime†(26). These words in correlation with the setting of the poem and the time period that it takes place encompass the negative, condescending tone quite adequately. It is a time in London where people would want to be true to their faith and really take consolation in the Lord for protection, especially considering the role religion played in lives around 1940. Yet it appears that the only reason the speaker had to go to church in the first place was minute one. She could have simply been passing by the church on her way to a lunch date, and found it convenient to make her plea to the Lord. The organization of the stanzas by Betjeman into their specific order contributes to the reader’s perception of the speaker. As stated above, the view of the speaker from the reader’s perspective delineates from an average churchgoer in a time of crisis, to something much less respected at the time: an untrue Christian. If the stanzas of the poem were arranged in another order the perception of the female speaker would likely change with it. For example starting the poem with the second stanza could show the speaker in a cynical light, or if Betjeman decided to start with one of the latter stanzas such as stanza five, then the reader is informed of the shallow nature of the speaker much earlier causing for a lesser effect on the reader at poems end. It is because of the order in which the stanzas exist that allows the reader to really take away the message: people are not always as they first seem. This particular poem possesses a meter of trochaic tetrameter and a rhyme scheme of ABCBDD. Both of these particular elements contribute to the overall feel and tone of the poem. Unlike iambic meter, which generally provides an uplifting flowing feel, the use of trochaic meter does quite the opposite. As the poem is read the use of the troche makes the poem seem to drag along and makes the tone more dismal, which is appropriate when considering Betjeman’s view of the speaker. The rhyme scheme of ABCBDD contributes in a similar sense. The B rhyming words and the pair of D’s at the end of their respective lines tend to be the more important words from the stanza. In stanza 2 those rhyming words are sake, mistake, be, and me. When each of these words is taken individually in relation to the poem itself, it becomes clear as to why they were chosen. â€Å"Be† and â€Å"me† could help display the speakers demanding nature, and egocentricity. â€Å"Sake† and â€Å"mistake† could be words that hint at how the author is viewing the speaker’s prayer. They invoke feelings of apathy when read in the context of the poem. Individuals are not always as they first appear, much as the speaker of â€Å"In Westminster Abbey† appears to be an average Christian praying at the Gothic church while her Nation is in a time of peril. But in fact she is quite concerned with the opposite. It is not for the wellbeing of her associates and neighbors that she is worried, but herself instead. Egocentric ideals and naivety cloud the speaker’s judgment, and it is through this that John Betjeman is able to so clearly express his ideas. It is safe to say that he does this quite clearly throughout the entirety of the poem, but there are still some things readers can ponder. What event did John Betjeman experience or witness that made him feel so strongly as to compose this poem? Or is it simply a tribute to those true Christians and a criticism of those not on the righteous path? Nonetheless, Betjeman effectively expresses a message that is easily portrayed to readers of â€Å"In Westminster Abbey† regardless of which side of the fence of Christianity they reside on.

Organized Crime in the Windy City Essay

Known for its long period of criminal activity and rise to becoming one of the strongest crime entities, the Chicago Outfits are one of the most notorious and infamous organized groups that had ever hit Chicago. From the time it rose from Mike McDonald to the fall of Al Capone’s Chicago, this group has successfully continued to grow and rein the streets of Chicago. The structure of this group and criminal activities have made a dent if America’s society. According to Michael Maltz, â€Å"An organized crime is a crime in which there is more than one offender, and the offenders are and intend to remain associated with one another for the purpose of committing crimes. † (Abadinsky 2) and according to Donald Cressey it is â€Å"any crime committed by a person occupying, in an established division of labor†¦.. includes at least one position for a corrupter, one position for a corruptee, and one position for an enforcer. † (Abadinsky 2) and even the Federal organized Crime Control Act of 1970 attempts to define what is organized crime is. They broke it down into eight attributes that include and not limited to the following: no political goals, hierarchical, limited/exclusive membership, unique subculture, perpetuates itself, use of violence, monopolistic and governed by explicit rules and regulations. However the term is defined, all three prove that it is a group of more than one individual working together to commit a series of crime that is done in a matter that is planned out. The structure on organized crime in Chicago is based on the group called the ‘Chicago Outfits’ which are made up of ‘made’ members. According to Lindberg, â€Å"the term ‘made’ comes from La Cosa Nostra terminology and requires a blood ritual. This included Italian bloodlines, sponsorship and support of high-ranking members in a complicated process. † (Lindberg) And through this blood ritual, ‘made’ guys who are sponsored by current captains of La Cosa Nostra bring in the one being sponsored. The blood ritual that they mentioned is exactly what it means, a ritual that requires blood. â€Å"They prick your trigger finger and make it bleed, and then they put a little piece of paper; they set it on fire and you burn it in your hand, and you repeat after them that you will never betray La Cos Nostra, or you will burn like the paper is burning in your hand. Your life does not belong to you anymore; your life belongs to them. † (Abadinsky 86) Membership into the crime group is exclusive only to family members of the father’s side that can range from immediate members to distant members, but as long as they have blood ties to the boss, this secures the possibility of undercover agents infiltrating the family crime group. The ‘made’ guys hold senior advisory status while everyone else is a worker. Unlike the organized crime groups in New York, Chicago crime groups are more cooperative with other groups that are usually dominated by Italians. The structure of Chicago’s crime groups is based off of the Patron-Client network which â€Å"consists of a collection of connected points or junctures†. Bibliography Abadinsky, Howard. Organized Crime, St. John’s University, ninth edition Lindberg, Kirsten, Petrenko, Joseph, Gladden, Jerry, Johnson, Wayne A. Mar98, Traditional Organized Crime in Chicago. , International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 13600869, Vol. 12, Issue 1.

David Pajcin Insider Trading Scandal

Ethical Scandal Analysis of: David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin Insider Trading Case Presented In Partial Fulfillments of the Course Requirements for FIN 4615 International Banking Prepared for: Marcos A. Kerbel Adjunct Professor Department of Finance Florida International University Miami, Florida Prepared by: David Kevin Vargas 2899406 (954) 443-4973 November 24, 2009 [pic] | |Academic Honesty Policy | |Individual Assignment Cover Page | |Submitted to: | |   | |   Prof. Marcos A. Kerbel | | | | |Submitted by: | |   | |   David Kevin Vargas | | | |Your Phone Number: | |   | |(954) 443-4973 | | | |Your e-mail: | |   | |   [email  protected] du | | | |Date of Submission: | |   | |November 24, 2009 | | | |Title of Assignment: | |   | |   Ethical Scandal Analysis | | | |CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged| |and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas or words; either quoted directly or paraphrased I also | |certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course. | | | |Signature | |____________________________________________________ | Ethical Scandal Paper David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin Case What is the case about? This case is about two men, who along with many friends and relatives, elaborated intricate insider trading schemes. Their plans involved forklift operators at a Business Week printing plant, a mole at Merrill Lynch & Co. , a grand juror in a fraudulent accounting trial against Bristol-Myers Squibb, and several brokerage accounts in New York, California and Croatia. The duo and their friends would end up reaping profits of close to $7 million during the short time their operations were active. The group’s own mistakes and greed drove them overboard and the long-reaching arm of the law finally caught up with them ending their plans and ambitions. Who was involved? David Pajcin He was one of the masterminds behind the insider trading schemes. He was born in Clifton, N. J. o Croatian immigrants. He went to school in Jersey City and later attended Notre Dame University. He majored in economics and graduated cum laude. With an impressive academic history, Pajcin got a job at the commodities group at Goldman Sachs after he got out of university in 2000. However, he did not stay long. He left after five and a half months. Pajcin said he did not want to be stuck working on the trading floors like everyone else. He took a series of similar jobs in smaller firms in New York but he never stayed in one of them for more than a couple of months. Finally, in 2003, he stopped looking for jobs and started working for himself. Eugene Plotkin He was the other half of the operation and close friend of David Pajcin. Born in Russia, Plotkin moved to California and lived outside San Francisco as a child. He then went to the California Institute of Technology but transferred to Harvard after one year. Plotkin studied economics there and graduated in 2000. He went on to Goldman Sachs where he started working as a fixed-income research analyst before being promoted to associate. That is where he met his future partner-in-crime (Pajcin) and where he stayed working at until his arrest in 2006. At that time he had a six figure salary in one of the most prestigious companies in Wall Street, a good place to be by anyone’s standards. Stanislav Shpigelman A secondary character, Shpigelman was a 23 year-old University of New York graduate. He and Plotkin had met at a college recruiting drive where Goldman Sachs had sent Plotkin to. The two kept in touch and one day met at Spa 88 in New York where they struck a deal and started working together on an insider trading scheme. Shpigelman provided Pajcin and Plotkin with inside information about possible mergers and acquisitions his company, Merrill Lynch & Co. , was working on. The biggest tip he gave involved the acquisition of Reebok International by Germany’s Adidas, in which Pajcin and his group made $6 million. Sonja Anticevic She is a retired underwear seamstress, who lives in Croatia, she also happens to be David Pajcin’s aunt. Anticevic came into the scheme when she let her nephew use an account under her name to make his trades. Monika Vujovic She was an exotic dancer who worked in New York’s finest gentlemen’s clubs; she was also David Pajcin’s girlfriend. She became involved by letting her boyfriend use her accounts to make investments. Vujovic additionally tried to help Pajcin by getting important information from investment bankers who she danced for. That scheme never worked though. Jason Smith He was an old high school friend of David Pajcin and worked as a U. S. postal worker in New Jersey. Smith had been selected to be a part of a federal grand jury in Newark that was hearing a case about possible fraudulent accounting practices at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Pajcin got information from Smith about the possible outcomes of the case and started trading based on those tips. No profits were made from Smith’s information though. Nickolaus Shuster He was a 23 year-old New Jersey native whom David Pajcin recruited in New York to get information on stocks mentioned in Business Week’s column ‘Inside Wall Street’. He went to Wisconsin to get a job at the plant where the magazine was printed. Pajcin would pay him between $200 and $500 for each Business Week issue he stole. Juan Renteria Jr. He was the second man to be hired to get information from the Business Week printing plant. Nickolaus Shuster was fired for unknown reasons so Renteria was sent to replace him in mid 2005. In total, Pajcin and his group made 48 trades and $280,000 in gains using the information received from the Wisconsin plant. Scott Black The S. E. C. senior trial counsel who interrogated David Pajcin about the trades he made and the connection between the Business Week articles and his decision to buy certain stocks. Black spent more than 8 hours talking with Pajcin before his arrest and uncovered damning information he would later use against Pajcin to convince him to cooperate with the authorities. David Markowitz He was the Securities Exchange Commission (S. E. C. ) lawyer in charge of prosecuting David Pajcin and his accomplices. He led the investigation after the Market Surveillance Unit at the S. E. C. caught strange patterns and high volume of options trading the day before the Adidas-Reebok deal would hit the airwaves. When and where did it happen? The insider trading ring conducted their operations between the autumns of 2004 and 2005. In that short period of time Pajcin and Plotkin had devised about 4 schemes that would help them make huge profits in the short term. The main operations where done in New York where the two masterminds lived. However the people involved could be found as close as California and as far as Croatia. Eugene Plotkin’s father (Mikhail Plotkin) who traded on inside information provided by his son was in California. The plant where Business Week was printed was in Wisconsin. The case from which Pajcin got tips from one of the jurors was being heard in New Jersey. The account Pajcin used to trade under his aunt’s name was in Croatia. It was definitely a widespread ring of participants. Pajcin and his partner also had other accounts opened in Austria, Denmark and Germany according to S. E. C complaints. Why did it happen? Both David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin were very bright and had promising careers in Wall Street. It was the temptation to make grand amounts of money that lured them into the wrong path. They thought they could deal on inside information and not be caught because they were using other people’s names to trade with. In the end their own greed is what called the attention of the government and what brought their operations down. The lack of supervision at the Wisconsin printing plant and at the brokerage companies where the accounts were opened also contributed to this scandal occurring. How can it have been avoided? The main driver for the actions taken by the masterminds was internal. Their will to become rich overnight pushed them into breaking the law. Nobody could have curtailed their desire to make more money at all costs, but the steps they took to make their ill-gotten profits could have likely been spotted and taken care of before they started generating so much money. Having better surveillance at the printing plant where Business Week was being made would have forestalled Shuster and Renteria from stealing copies to later relay the information in them to Pajcin and Plotkin. Knowing that the stocks mentioned in the column ‘Inside Wall Street’ were usually moved by either a good or bad review from the column’s author should have led the managers of that plant to enforce higher levels of surveillance. The brokerage firms where Pajcin and Plotkin had their accounts could have also been more meticulous about their surveillance. It was reported in July 2005 that a customer service representative from Ameritrade got a peculiar call asking to change the restrictions on an account. The account belonged to Monika Vujovic but it was David Pajcin on the other side of the line. The Ameritrade representative recalled there was something odd about that call but unfortunately the account in question went on without being investigated or much less frozen. The company should have at least taken steps to verify the identity of the true owner of the account after getting a call like that. Other ways that might have prevented, or helped prevent, the large-scale insider trading frauds would have been detecting the leak of information from Merrill Lynch (through Stanislav Shpigelman) earlier as well as the leak coming from Jason Smith, the juror in the Bristol-Myers Squibb case. What was the outcome? After the initial S. E. C. complaints against Sonja Anticevic, it was soon clear that the authorities were going to go after David Pajcin. So he fled to the Dominican Republic immediately to avoid getting caught. But even though the S. E. C. did not have the authority to keep him from leaving the country, they did have the authority to freeze his bank accounts. It was not long before Pajcin found himself in need of cash. The prosecutors sent Pajcin an e-mail where they told him the only way to get his money back was by going back to New York to give a deposition. The greed was strong enough in Pajcin to make him go back to the United States. Once there he was interrogated by Scott Black and later arrested for insider trading. He was quickly convinced to cooperate with the authorities to crack down on the remaining ring members. David Pajcin then started working with the S. E. C. to close all the gaps in the case. In the end six people were sentenced on January 2008. The men sentenced were; Jason Smith, Nickolaus Shuster, Juan Renteria Jr. Stanislav Shpigelman, Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin. For sharing information about upcoming mergers, Shpigelman got 3 years in prison. For insider trading and conspiracy, Eugene Plotkin got 5 years in prison. Pajcin on the other hand, was sentenced to 2 years in prison because of his cooperation but was released the day of the sentencing because by 2008 he had already served 2 years while working with the S. E. C. Civil suits were presented against six other people who were involved in the scheme, including Monika Vujovic and Sonja Anticevic. The case looked closed until November 2008, when it was reported David Pajcin had violated the terms of his 3-year supervised release. Nobody knew where e was, it was presumed he was out of the country, but it was clear he was now going to face additional jail time for failing to report to his probation officer. What can be learned from it? Clearly the lessons from this scandal are the same everyone should have already known from past insider trading scandals. Even though the gains made by this group were not tremendously big, the law and regulators went after it with all the resources available to them. It should be noted that even the smartest and brightest graduates from the best schools in the country can be corrupt. Their careers, trainin g and hard work was so easily thrown away because of a major lapse in judgment. David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin, as well as those who helped them, are clear examples of the effects of greed on young impressionable minds. ——————————— 0 ——————————— References Anderson, Jenny and Michael J. De La Merced. â€Å"An Insider-Trading Case With a B-Movie Plot. † New York Times. 30 April 2006. 08 November 2009. Gimbel, Barney. â€Å"Partners in Crime. † Fortune. 04 October 2006. 12 November 2009. Glovin, David. â€Å"Ex-Goldman Analyst May Have Fled After Cooperating. † Bloomberg. 04 November 2008. 30 October 2009. â€Å"Where is Fugitive David Pajcin?. † Securities Docket. 13 March 2009. 30 October 2009. â€Å"A Scam Exposed: Strippers and Insider Trading. † American Greed. Video. CNBC, 2009.

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