Iran nuclear deal

Iran's Nuclear Deal: Challenges and Opportunities Air Commodore (R) Khalid Iqbal These days, almost everyone is curious about an erratic and hence potentially troublesome nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P 5+1 (read America). Soon after the agreement, the two sides have begun interpreting it in opposite directions. Americans are claiming that Iran would have to significantly roll back its nuclear programme, whereas Iranian interpretation does not endorse this point of view. Soon the IAEA's version would start pouring in to further compound the confusion.Moreover, Obama may not be able to hold the Israeli pressure and congressional dynamics. Hence, America may backtrack. Immediately after the agreement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov summarized the deal as: â€Å"This deal means that we agree that it is necessary to recognize Iran's right to peaceful atoms, including the right to enrichment, provided that the questions that remain to the Iranian nuclear programme and the programme itself come under strict control of the IAEA. This is the final goal, but it has already been set in today's document. The opponents of the deal insist that Iran has retained its potential to create a nuclear weapon. The whole of its Uranium enrichment infrastructure remains intact. A disappointed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: â€Å"l emphasize: the deal does not envisage the elimination of a single centrifuge. † Many experts are of the view that Iran's large nuclear infrastructure, which consists of some 17,000 enrichment centrifuges, is needed if a country has 12-15 operating nuclear plants which have to be supplied with fuel rods.Of now Iran has only one nuclear power plant, in Bushehr, which receives its fuel from Russia. Iran has agreed to stringent intrusive monitoring and control procedures employing video cameras, meters and snap inspections. Interestingly it has been allowed to manufacture centrifuges to replace those becoming non-fun ctional. The number would however stay constant. Iran had never put forward its claim to the necessity of nuclear weapons; it had all along been advocating a WMD free zone in the Middle East.According to the details of the agreement, Iran will halt enrichment of uranium above 5 percent purity for the next six months, retain half of its 20 percent enriched Uranium and dispose off emaining half by diluting it to less than 5 percent enrichment level. Iran has agreed that it will not make any further advances of its activities at the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant, Fordow, or the Arak reactor. However, Iran will continue its safeguarded R;D practices, including its current enrichment R; D practices, which are not designed for accumulation of the enriched Uranium.It will not construct any additional facility capable of reprocessing. In addition, its nuclear facilities in Fordo and Natanz will come under the IAEA control, while the construction of a heavy-water greement, to be negotiated wi thin one year after implementation of interim agreement, Iran's nuclear would be treated at par with other NNWS member of the NPT. In return for the interim agreement, the P5+1 group, (read the United States and the ELI), have agreed to ease some of the sanctions against Iran.This will allow Iran to resume limited trade relations with the United States in the oil and gas, petrochemical and automotive sectors as well as trading in gold and precious metals. The resulting benefit for Iran will amount to $5-7 billion. Indeed in the aftermath of his agreement, many bluffs have been called. Iran stands on high moral ground because its long-time stance of not building nuclear weapons stands validated. However, Iranians are known for their farsightedness and shrewd diplomacy; it would be naive to believe that they have signed an agreement for grabbing Just IJS$ 7 billion.Likewise, Americans are also no raw to let Iran retain critical capability of enriching Uranium up to 20 percent mark and remain content with cosmetic un-enriching of already enriched Uranium. Mark Urban's story aired on BBC on November 06, that Pakistan has given final touches to he nuclear weapons in compliance to the Saudi order and, proverbially, the caravan of camels carrying the nukes would start marching towards Saudi Arabia on Kings wink of eye, has fallen flat on the ground.Like Iran, Saudi Arabia is also a signatory and compliant of the NPT, and it has also never strived for any nuclear pursuits beyond its obligations as a NNWS member of the NPT. The interim nuclear understanding has indeed thrown up an opportunity for the Americans to recede from their position of untenable rhetoric and retool their relations with Iran. Since the fall of Iranian monarchy, America has been running rom pillar to post for discovering its new sustainable and robust moorings in Asia in general and in the Middle East in particular. It has not been able to find a substitute to â€Å"Shah's Iran†.Sustainable and functional Iran-US relations could offer much relief to America in many ways. America needs to shed at least a bit of Israeli baggage to make way for some patchy and truncated Palestinian state. Moreover, America is looking for a face saving political settlement in Syria, which also needs Iranian cooperation. Furthermore, Iranian influence in Afghanistan gives it a spoiler's role in the context 2 of post 2014 Afghanistan. The interim nuclear agreement with Iran provides America an opportunity of harnessing Iranian help in achieving these objectives.Iran has recently inaugurated Afghanistan's alternative access to warm waters via Chahbahar. Americans are desperate to find an alternative to their troublesome supply routes passing through Pakistan as well as the circuitous and expensive Northern Distribution Network. American relationship with Saudi Arabia is on decline and Saudis are further unhappy with the US for not doing enough against Iran. America's rapprochement with Iran would offset its critical dependence on Saudi Arabia. As of now, the US is coping with its politico-military failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. llies that would like to drag the United States into military operations in Libya and Syria – a hard sell to a common American. With most of the Arab countries consumed by the strains of the Arab spring, America may be feeling the necessity to reconfgure the Middle East. These constraints might have prompted the US to engage with Iran, which may be ready to own Shah's vision of becoming a policeman of the Gulf. If so, such a move could restore pre 1979 the balance of power in the Middle East, when Iran served as a linchpin of Gulf security.America's attitude to the Iranian nuclear program has undergone a sudden change and the nuclear deal could herald a change of balance of power in the Middle East. It may be an equivalent of America's unprecedented rapprochement in its relations with the Communist China in 1970. Agreement provides a w indow of opportunity to revive the IPl project. Iran and Pakistan have already decided to fast track the IP portion of the project. There are indicators that donors are now showing willingness to fund the IP project. However, even if India Jumps in, Pakistan should go for completing the IP first, and later lay dditional pipeline for India.IP should not be delayed for reverting back to the integrated IPl version. Pakistan had persistently urged for a non-military solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme. It has, therefore, welcomed the interim arrangement. Events unfolding during the next six months would be crucial. Pakistan needs to be watchful and prepared to confront malicious attempts to drag it into nuclear controversies. 3 {Carried by the Nation on December 02, 2013 under the heading: A Leap Forward}. Writer is Consultant Policy Email:[email  protected] com and 4 Strategic Response at IPRI.

Chapter 10 is a chapter that attempts to discus

Chapter 10 is a chapter that attempts to discus the seemingly ambiguous concept of equality. It contains a discussion of how equality is realized in law, public policy, and society in general. Furthermore, the discussion focuses on the three different conceptualizations of equality. These are equality under the law, equality of opportunity, and equality of material well-being. The main argument of this chapter is that equality of material well-being has emerged as the dominating factor in the formulation of policies. In order to prove his point, the author discusses each of the conceptualizations and how they are related to each other. The chapter contains a lengthy discussion of equality under the law. It discusses how the laws of a society must disregard various categorizations and consider people as individuals. Basically, this is the backbone of equality as perceived by many. It is with this conceptualization that the evil of inequality such as racism, sexism, homophobia and others are commonly argued with. Furthermore, the author discusses how equality under the law or the lack of it has been demonstrated in U.S history. The author recounts the discrimination that different groups have received and he identifies the presumably dominant group as being white, male, and predominantly Protestant. He argues that it is such group that has used the law in order to maintain its dominance and keep other groups subordinated. The author further argued that equality of opportunity and equality of material well-being are inseparable and dependent on each other. It is because opportunities to rise in the ranks of social mobility are dependent on the resources that one has. The author paralleled the evolution of the conceptualization of equality to the various stages that the civil rights movement has undergone. In its earliest days, the focus of the movement was on eradication of laws that subordinated African-Americans. In other words, this referred to attacks on denials of equality under the law. In the second stage, the civil rights movement focused on fighting for equal access to values and facilities that are supposed to be available to the general public. This constituted their battle for equality of opportunity. Now, the movement is in its third stage, the battle for proportional equality or equality of material well-being. To demonstrate how the focus shifted to proportional equality, the author recounted the laws that were deemed to be in support of the achievement of equality such as the fourteenth amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These laws were used to generate policies that meant to end inequality on various fronts specifically education and employment. For instance, the fourteenth amendment led to the end of segregation in public schools. On the other hand, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to the creation of EEOC which pressed for ending discrimination in terms of employment opportunities. Having read the chapter, it is my view that equality, in all of its three conceptualizations, is all one and the same. Having one means having the others. The achievement of such cannot be the sole responsibility of the government or the law. It requires the concerted effort of the whole society. I agree with the author that today, the battle for equality has shifted to the battle for proportional equality. The achievement of such indeed reflects the fulfillment and realization of the two other conceptualizations. Equality must not only be reflected in the law. It does not only favor those who have long been discriminated. Equality is the right of everyone. Thus, every member of society must make an effort towards the realization of it.

Life and Circumstantial Luck

Tic- toc. Tic- toc. Do I go left or do I go right? All these years I have been following the road of life and now it is in my power to take the road that leads to my final destination. Along the way, I have traveled on many types of surfaces, but now I face my greatest challenge. I am stuck between two paths. One path leads to eternal happiness and other leads to eternal sadness. Is it in my destiny to choose the right path? Or will it just be my luck to choose the wrong path? Do I go left or do I go right? Tic- toc. Tic- toc. Life.It is such a simple word, yet the meaning is nothing close to simple at all. We all take a journey on the fabulous road to life, yet does anyone even know what life is? I mean we all live it, but what is it? Anyone know the definition? ( I’d surely would like to know. ) Well if no one truly doesn’t know the answer to life then how can we know for sure why things happen the way they do? Is there some kind of spiritual force out there? Is there some person or thing controlling our every move? Or do things just happen just because they do; coincidences and forces that we have no control over?No one really knows if a god really exists, so things just happen because they just do. Things happen because of coincidences and forces we have no control over. Our life is then based on luck, isn’t it? Think about it this way, luck refers to something that which happens beyond a person’s control. This view incorporates phenomena that chance happenings, a person’s place of birth for example, but where there is no uncertainty involved or where uncertainty is irrelevant. (Huh? English please. ) In other words, luck is just something that we have no control over and just happens.However, there are a few different types of luck. Constitutional luck, it is luck with factors that can’t be changed. Circumstantial luck, it is luck with factors that are haphazardly brought on. Lastly ignorance luck, it is luck with factors one doesn’t know about. (So, where does this luck come in play? ) Luck can be seen everywhere, whether it be in movies, books, paintings, or reality. We live our lives experiencing luck every day. As we step foot into a casino or acquire a lottery ticket, we unlock the emerald doorway to our chances.Chance is the key to any time of game. We spin the wheel of fortune hoping that it will land on something pleasant. Often in literature, luck plays a significant role. When we think of luck, we think of lucky number 7 or the colour green. But in reality, luck isn’t that clear. It is a mystery hidden behind the shadows. Some people are blinded by the concept of destiny that they don’t realize that it is luck that is aiding them. In one of the greatest plays written, Othello, the main character is a person who you would think is unaccepted by society, but is loved.Othello is a moor and a Muslim from Africa. He is this dark angel that many are afraid of, yet lov e. During the 1600s, only men of noble decent became generals with a few exceptions here and there. But a Moor becoming a general was just a preposterous idea. Regardless of this fact, Othello thinks that it was because of his accomplishments that made him become who he is. He had fought in many wars and then Brabantio had invited him to stay with him and â€Å"still questioned [him] the story of [his] life from year to year, the battle, sieges, fortune that [he had] passed. (Othello, 1. 3, 128-130) A white man had shown interest in a black man regardless of the racism in the world at that time. (How does that happen? ) Nevertheless, Othello somehow becomes a general before even meeting Brabantio and coming to Venice. How became a general, is a question no one has an answer to. We can accept the belief that his accomplishments made him successful, but with racism being a major factor nothing seems to add up. We can say that it was in his destiny to become a general, but really is t hat really the case?It is more of a matter of pure luck that Othello obtains such a high rank in society. Overcoming such obstacles especially in the 1600s was simply impossible. A black man could never have a higher rank than even a white surf. White was always greater than black. Goodness always prevails. (Well back then it did. Now does it? Yeah, not so much). So for Othello to have become a general it could not have been because of his accomplishments, it had to have been of random occurrence that made him just a bit better than a white surf and to move up the chain of success.To have luck take control of your life, neither wits nor feelings are involved- just possibility. We depend on random occurrences to aid us for the better. â€Å"Luck never gives; it only lends,† (E. B. White) If life does revolve around luck then you must pay a price for the goodness. You may get lucky for a while, but since luck never gives, it takes back the luck and it is why we experience karma . Luck may give us marvellous things, but sometime along the road all of it gets taken back. Yet the whole concept of luck doesn’t seem to quite add up.Random occurrences and things happening beyond a person’s control do exist, but not everything is random. Life on earth couldn’t have begun randomly. There must have been something that created all of this and luck- just doesn’t seem to quite explain why. Many religions in the world either agree or disagree with the concept of luck. Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, taught his followers not to believe in luck. The view which was taught by Gautama Buddha states that all things which happen must have a cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate.The idea of moral causality, karma is central in Buddhism. In the Sutta Nipata ,the Buddha is recorded as having said the following about luck: â€Å"Whereas some religious men, while living of food provided by the faithf ul make their living by such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, interpreting dreams†¦ bringing good or bad luck†¦ invoking the goodness of luck†¦ picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gautama refrains from such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood. † Lakshmi, is the Hindu Devi of money and fortune.It is said that by proper worship, with a meticulous prayer procedure the blessings of this powerful deity may be obtained. However, the Catholic Church excludes chance or luck as an explanation for creation. As well, there is no concept of luck in Islam other than actions pre-determined by God and that God alone has power over all things. It is stated in the Qur'an that one’s sustenance is pre-determined in heaven when the Lord says: â€Å"And in the heaven is your provision and that which ye are promised. † However, one should supplicate towards God to better one's life rather than hold faith in un-Is lamic acts such as using â€Å"lucky charms†.Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. (Thank you dictionary. com) Whether one be atheist or follow a certain religion, one still has a belief in something. Many follow religions so they can give the creator of life a name; God. Many believe that God is the spiritual being that has created what we call the universe. No one knows for sure if he exists or not, but many want to believe that he does.In addition, throughout humanity, many messengers of God have walked the surface of the Earth and this gives more of a reason for people to believe that God exists. If God really does exist, then he must be the Supreme Being that had created life for us humans. Hence, he has already planned our life in a way, but in order to fulfil our life we have to put th e pieces of the puzzle together. The bits and pieces are scattered everywhere and it is not easy to find them all nor is it to put them together. Along the way pieces can get damaged or lost.When pieces of the puzzle get damaged it means that your life is going bad or something is not going good, but can still repair your life. Sometimes pieces can get lost to the point where you have not enough pieces to complete the puzzle. In that case you make bad decisions and then something tragic happens to your life, which can result in death. This can be seen as how people die at a young age. Some young individuals make the wrong decisions and then it ends up costing them their life. Searching for the pieces is not as easy as it sounds. The pieces can be right in front of us, but we second guess ourselves and don’t know where to look.Often times we seek advice from fortune tellers and prophets. We go to seek for any clues of the future and hope that we can find our right path. And ot her times, people tell us what our destiny is and it is what we believe and try to achieve. This is most often seen in movies and books about heroes. Many character archetypes are based on the concept of a hero. The hero is a larger-than-life character that often goes on some kind of journey or quest. In the course of his journey, the hero demonstrates the qualities and abilities valued by his culture.

Canadian History (Post-Confederation) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Canadian History (Post-Confederation) - Essay Example Blacks were not left behind since most of them went to Canada after fleeing America where they had been brought as slaves. In Canada, they could not access most social facilities as their skin color betrayed them.3 At the same time, the Jews were treated worse than Blacks as some of the leaders thought they would pollute the Canadians bloodstream. Jews were forbidden from accessing social amenities like the Blacks. In spite of all the discrimination, Canada needed work force which its citizens could not do and therefore relied on the immigrants.4 The history of Chinese people migrating to Canada was fisrt recorded in 1788. During this period, the Chinese people migrated first to Nootka in North America. This was followed by large scale migration of other Chinese as a result of gold mining taking place in Fraser Canyon. During this time, many Chinese settlements were established in the British colonies in America such as New Westminster, Barkerville and Victoria. Due to the increased number of Chinese people, they expanded their centers to the interiors of the towns thereby making permanent settlements. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway commenced after the gold rush attracting the Chinese people. Due to the newly found job, the Chinese people began moving eastward thereby establishing other settlements in the Canadian cities. In this case, Chinese settlement in Canada was a contrast of their stay in the previous towns. The late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century resulted in the widespread intolerance of Asians in Canada. Canadians viewed the arrival of the Asians as a threat to them since they thought they had come to take jobs from the working groups. The first group of Chinese arrived in Canada in 1858. The group came to work in the gold mines in British Columbia and it consisted mostly of young immigrants.5Most of the Chinese

How to use the knowledge the effective business communication Effect Essay

How to use the knowledge the effective business communication Effect the future injobs and colleges - Essay Example E-mails that are sent out in an organization need to be written and sent in a manner which could easily be read and understood by the right mix of audiences that work within an organization. This means that the language used should be readable and easy to interpret. (Jackson, 2007) Any organization would dearly want to have employees who could make out from a variety of different Internet languages, which also brings to light the notion of understanding and comprehending the ‘net lingo’ – the mix of informal Internet language and the common, daily use terms like ‘hey’, ‘u’, ‘f9’ and so on. Different persuasions come across within business communication tenets. One is based on the direct persuasive abilities while others are more sedate and passive in nature. Similarly, messages might range from a formal nature to one of an informal one. Job search mechanisms within an organization might become significant when there is a need to hire new employees. For this process, cover letters and resumes are checked upon so that aspiring candidates could be called upon and given a chance to express their strengths in the interview sessions. A successful communication system is achieved by training and assistance for the employees within their offices and work places. Be a company in Calcutta, Brisbane or Hong Kong, it is necessary for the company owners to understand the need for a solid platform for all people within it, the ones interacting with it and all the rest to talk freely and express the ideas and share the thoughts which are so very necessary for the development of ties among different branch outlets of a company and more than that, the people within them. There is a need for a code-breaker within the business, which understands what the other person is saying and what he/she is trying to pass through his/her judgments, more so

Nicaragua Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Nicaragua - Essay Example Of the remainder, 17% are white and 9% are black The coastal plains rise to form a mountainous interior. The weather is warm and tropical, though it may be cooler in the mountainous areas. Nicaragua was settled by the Spanish in the 16th century and gained its independence in 1821. US Troops were sent to Nicaragua beginning in 1909 to quell uprisings and political unrest. The Samoza family ruled Nicaragua from 1936 until they were overthrown in 1979 by the Sandanistas. The religion is mostly Catholic which about three fourths of the people follow. Most of the rest are Evangelicals and less than 9% say they practice no religion. Nicaragua has a 68% literacy rate and Spanish is the official language. The government is formed as a republic with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch and they hold free elections on a regular basis. In 1978, due to corruption and government manipulation the people elected Daniel Ortega, a Marxist candidate. He ruled until 1990 when he was voted out when business was opposed to the slow pace of reforms. He was returned to power in 2006 in a free election. Nicaragua is one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere. It has a $2,900 per capita income and experiences high unemployment. It exports agricultural products such as bananas, coffee, rice, and tobacco. It has industries in chemicals, machinery and metal products and tourism is becoming more important. In 2004, they had a $4.5 billion dollar international debt forgiven. Though Nicaragua is poor, elementary education is free for all Nicaraguans. Elementary education is mandatory and many tribal areas have access to education in their native language. Nicaragua treasures academic freedom and Universities have autonomy in regards to the subjects taught. This respect extends to freedom of speech and ideas are openly welcome, as are diverse viewpoints. 30% of the

Structures Impacted by Tsunami Bores Research Paper

Structures Impacted by Tsunami Bores - Research Paper Example The study seeks to offer understanding into the ways by which the coastal areas can be able to prepare themselves to withstand dangerous hydrodynamic forces associated with large tsunami waves that are progressing to the mainland.The conduct of this study is based on the recent occurrences of tsunamis that have majorly hit parts of the world such as Japan, Philippines, and Chile. As a result, many human lives have been endangered out of the tsunami waves that have extended into the mainland, hence causing severe destruction of buildings. The economic loss attributed to these tsunami attacks are also enormous with the 2011 attack costing US$319 billion worth of damages. The current study aimed at showing that the design of buildings needs to be done in consideration of the hydrodynamic forces, especially in the tsunami prone areas. By developing new guidelines and recommendations, it is aimed that the same will be applied in hydrodynamic constructions. In testing for the interaction b etween the bore and the structure, it is determined that a zero level of water momentum results in an impulsive force being exerted in the upstream. Consequently, the study established that for narrow channel conditions, the run-up power can strongly be affected by the channels. These channels can be built through SPH method as shown in the figure 2 below. Therefore, the study recommends taking special care in interpreting the hydrodynamic forces following initial impacts from the bore.

Multicultural Education Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Multicultural Education - Research Paper Example The paper analyses the migration of Filipinos to the US. Many Filipino-Americans have absorbed the dominant US culture, which prevents them from understanding the realities behind their own migration experience, decolonizing their thinking, and developing their unity with all poor people of color. Just before the end of the 19th century, America declared war on Spain. This was its first armed bid to make its presence felt in the Asia-Pacific Region. In reality, the Spanish-American war was not so much a war as the scripted transfer of the Philippines and Cuba to the US, without loss of American or Spanish lives. The â€Å"war† ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, in which the Philippines was sold by Spain to the US for the grand total of $20 million, or $2 per head for 10 million Filipinos. After defeating the Spanish colonial government, Filipinos were forced to wage another war, this time against the US invading forces. This time it was a vicious racist war that resulted in the death of â€Å"at least 1.4 million Filipinos† from the actual fighting and from war-related starvation and disease (San Juan). From the end of WWII to the early 60s, most of the Filipino migrants were Filipinos in the US armed forces and their families. There are now 1.2 million Filipino Americans in the US. Studying history is an important step, and I have started to fully appreciate my Filipino heritage. Understanding myself and the Filipino-American experience, I am starting to understand the reality of the experience of all the excluded in American society.

Managing Human Resource in Large Organisations Essay

Managing Human Resource in Large Organisations - Essay Example The researcher states that managing such large organizations as Boeing and Airbus with employee base ranging up to 18, 000 employees is a complex endeavor. Due to the diversity of the organisation, many employees come from different cultural and ethnic background and therefore have different personal values, which must be respected. Construction industries such as Boeing and airbus involve assembly of millions of parts. This calls for a wide variety of expertise. Some may be low as workshop attendants, cleaners, and drivers while others may be highly qualified personnel such as engineers, analysts, and quality inspectors. Each class have different needs, values, hierarchy of needs and issues to be addressed. This makes handling such a complex work base a difficult effort. Heavy construction industries require a very diverse pool of skills. This implies that the workforce will consist of old and experienced experts who have been in such industries for years. Such workers are of high v alue to any organisation. On the other hand, young, enthusiastic, and highly skilled workers are also required to inject new ideas, and introduce recent advancements in technology into the production process. Indeed, most large manufacturing industries invest heavily in developing young workforce. Most of the young generation are often employed in research facilities of such organizations. The needs, gratifications, and issues affecting these diverse groups are different and handling them increases the complexity of the human resource management problem. ... Managing and handling issues from an international perspective demands a very wide dimensional approach. Teamwork in manufacturing organizations such as Boeing and Airbus is of utmost importance. At times, the companies have to organise up to 200 work teams, which must work in harmony towards achieving the desired production goals. Organising such teams from a pool of varied professionals, different age, cultural and religious background presents a complex puzzle for human resource management. The gravity of the issue is increased by the sensitivity of the manufacturing process, which demands a synchronised approach to work (Lam, 2009). Compensation of different workers presents one of the most complex problems for large manufacturing organizations. Different expertise demand different pay grades. However, similar expertise from different nationality may require different compensation in terms of remunerations and other work benefits. Minimising compensation expenses whilst addressin g different hierarchical needs of every single employee is truly a complex task for human resource management. Despite the complexities, human resource has different methods of approach to ensure that all the staff members feel as part of the design and production process. First, human resource must understand the different patterns of personal values and gratification. Different employees must be treated differently depending on personal motivation factors. For instance, some workers may value achievement, affiliation, power, and responsibility while others may prefer promotion and growth. There are two primary types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Most of the employees will fall in either category and it is the role of human resource to

Storm on the Island Essay Example for Free

Storm on the Island Essay The poets, who wrote the four poems in question, all put forward their personal views upon the aspect(s) of nature which their pieces are themed around. In Seamus Heaneys poem, Storm on the Island, the theme is implied simply in the title. Heaneys poem explores the effects a storm has upon island dwellers where there is no natural shelter. He relates how weak and defenceless we humans are compared to these natural happenings. The way in which we are forced to shelter and protect ourselves from this nothing which has the power and might to change everything in our lives. The unmistakable sense of peoples fear of natures fury is shown throughout the poem. Human and Nature seem to be at war with each other- nature versus man- with Nature the dominant adversary but humans still grimly hanging on. The two sides almost appear to be at a stalemate. For try as it might, the storm has not beaten man- and man can only find means to protect himself- being too weak to retaliate. Heaney presents the storm as an unwanted and vicious foe but does recognize Natures absolute and unrivalled power. Nature is shown to be brutal, strong and overpowering- without mercy to the island dwellers. The other post 1914 poem- The Field Mouse by Gillian Clarke, presents a view which totally opposes Heaneys idea of Nature dominating over man and man being the victim. In fact it completely reverses the idea and has instead man being the one at fault, and shows Natures innocent beings (e. g. the field mouse) as the ones who suffer because of our stupidity and greed. It portrays how the innocence of the vulnerable is shattered by stronger forces through the story of a field mouse fatally injured by a harvester. She presents humans as the tyranny- the plague of nature- destroyers of lives, beauty and innocence through our greed, arrogance and selfish ignorance to the people and things around us- nature as the wronged- the helpless- the meek. Clarkes poem compared to the less descriptive- though just as effective Storm on the Island are very similar in theme, as both concentrate on the seeming battle between man and nature- though the poets are in different minds on who is the most destructive. Heaney concentrates on the natural occurrences that disrupt and destruct peoples lives- but are unavoidable- whereas Clarke focuses on the destruction and consequences Humans force upon nature and the innocent. The actions which are not unavoidable and could easily be averted. Each of the four poems are set out in different styles and structure to add to the overall effect of the poems. Storm on the Island is mostly blank verse. Twenty lines without rhyme, but which is structured in strict iambic pentameter of 10 beats per line. This produces an almost methodical and solemn rhythm to the poem which adds to the seriousness of the situation the Island dwellers find themselves in, for if they did not devise methods of protecting themselves from Natures fury, it could be fatal to them. The field mouse however differs. Gillian Clarke sectioned the poem into three stanzas beginning, middle and end. The first stanza introduces the separate scenes of haymaking and war and compares the two. Though haymaking initially is thought of to be a peaceful and naturalistic event, Clarke manages to turn usually innocent images into deadly, warlike scenes.E. g. summer, the long grass is a snare drum. When the idea of summer is presented, we generally perceive a warm, happy peaceful time- as with long grass, we think naturalistic scenes. Long grass is home to plenty of creatures- snakes, rabbits, pheasants, mice etc. As it is home to many creatures and it is therefore considered a safe haven for them. However, Clarke dispels this idea and instead of having it safe, has it a snare drum. Snare- entrapping, harsh- warlike. Drum conjures up the idea of marching to war- the drums in the background providing the solemn funeral like March. The 2nd stanza introduces the mouse injured by their hay making- caught in the tractors blade. An innocent creature killed because of humans. Due to the underlying images and hints of war in the previous stanza, our minds are tuned to this idea of war destroying the innocent, so when given a mouse killed by humans, we think of the innocent civilians who are caught in the crossfire of the war in Europe who have nothing to do with the conflict but ironically due to being neutral are hurt. The third stanza portrays the consequences of our actions upon nature- Before the days gone, the field lies bleeding, The dusk garden inhabited by the saved, voles, frogs, a nest of mice. It disconcertingly again tunes our minds to human war- the refugees fleeing their homes to escape death or injury. The destruction and woe that war brings- the field lies bleeding- And again our poisonous actions on nature. The poem is highly metaphorical- using combinations of varied linguistic devices to achieve its end ambition of procuring a sense of guilt and remorse in the reader. Metaphors and personification (e. g. the field lies bleeding) are used with great skill- blending two similar stories into one. By using a simple field mouse injured by a harvester in summer to represent innocent civilians casualties caused by caught in the cross fire of a war they play no part in, she evokes feelings of pity and shame inside the reader which then also transfers on to the civilians. She also produces scenes of natural innocence and transforms them into images desecrated by human hands (e. g. a child running through killed flowers and the death of the mouse) to embed her point of our contamination and cruelty upon nature and its creations. Her choice of language is also highly emotive and the feelings of shame and guilt rest largely upon her language. Perhaps this is merely a coincidence, but I received the impression, that the two pre 1914 poems were much more idyllic nature wise and were more centred upon the beauty and creations, whereas the other two struck me to be more about human interference with nature and the affect nature has on human lives. This is almost definitely due to the huge world wars of 1914 onwards which took place and the after shocks which followed. Though this is only a guess, it would explain the rather sudden change on the outlook of our lives and nature. Millions of people had died suffered and had had their homes destroyed- creating misery, devastation and thousands of refugees. Storm on the Island even has some likeness to the Blitz. Having to build improved safer shelters to protect themselves from the bombardment and rage of the storm reminds us rather of people having to build air raid shelters and take refuge in the underground to protect themselves from the deadly bombings in world war two.

Developing Autonomy in Learning

Developing Autonomy in Learning Thinking of me as an educator or instructor, and entering in teaching profession is one of my dreams and goals of life. This time a graduate study is giving me the opportunity to explore my professional development in the field of teaching and education. Before entering to the first class of practicum, naturally I was feeling the burden of responsibilities in terms of thinking more critically about my objectives, actions and ethical ways of performing my duties within the context of my work as a preceptee. Interestingly, just before the beginning of the class I was asked by one of my facilitators that what will you do after MScN and getting training of an educator? My answer was â€Å"you are the inspiration for me and will walk on your steps†. The next comment that I received was â€Å"you may walk on my steps but what change will you make†? These comments squeezed my thoughts and motivated me to think of a change I may make and expect in the field of education through getting experience from the education practicum. Reflective practice is an integral part of teaching and learning. It helps in being honest to our selves, become aware of our surroundings and understands our own feelings. In this paper I am going to reflect on a wonderful experience of evaluating undergraduate students during double jump exam as a faculty, strategies to facilitate students’ anxiety during exam, and reflect on the purpose of double jump exam. It was challenging to assess students in limited time according to evaluation criteria that should be understood by faculty prior to assess. Since, I have to evaluate students as a faculty but, at that time I was having difficulty in getting into my role because I was realizing and feeling students’ anxiety within myself. I had to assess students and simultaneously to document their assessment findings at the same time. This was the most demanding work for me being honest and non-judgmental during evaluation. Students’ assessment and evaluation require inte nse preparation of self-management, control over your own beliefs and judgments, expectations and commitments towards students that articulate with the outcomes to be achieved. I encountered one student during the exam. He looked confident and well-prepared when he entered at history taking and health assessment station. I explained him the exam criteria and timings to complete the history taking and system assessment in 20 mins (10 mins for each) under the supervision of course faculty. When he started taking history from simulated patient, his physical appearance and way of asking questions from the patient depicted some physical and psychological symptoms of anxiety. He was feeling nervous, speaking very fast, shaking, going blank during history taking and health assessment. We did not interfere during his attempt thinking that he might be recalling therefore, he should not be distracted. After few minutes, the student verbalized that â€Å"mam sorry I am lost, I cannot concentrate, and I am feeling that I have forgotten everything†. This was the peak time where I didn’t have the authority to respond or intervene in this situation being pre ceptee. Moreover, due to time limitation of the double jump exam, the course faculty could not discuss the strategies to solve student situation with me. However, she counseled that student very positively, made him comfortable and gave 5 mins to list down the sequence of nervous system which he had to perform on the patient. The student made the sequence but even though he was unable to perform further and had withdrawn. Interestingly, the student performed very well in the next part which was identifying 3 medical diagnoses along with rationale and interpreting X-ray and ECG rhythm. This scenario was challenging in terms of facilitating student’s anxiety, justifying role and responsibilities as a faculty, and exhibiting non-judgmental attitude with other students. Faculty plays a pivotal role in addressing students’ stress during exam. Responding to students in stress or anxiety is often confusing and overwhelming. Some level of anxiety is productive in performing better in academia but non-productive stress or anxiety leads to failure (Burns, 2004). In this particular situation, there could be many reasons for having test anxiety and poor performance. The reasons could be lack of exam preparation, studying late night before exam, worrying about past performance, lack of confidence, fear of performing assessment on simulated patients, fear of faculty presence, and so forth (Birjandi Alemi, 2010). What I reflect throughout this exam is if I would have been in that situation as an invigilator, I would have allowed student to sit down and relax for 5 mins, and invigilate another student during that interval to save time; provided to use cue cards of health assessment to review since it was allowed to use it 3 times during the exam and there was no penalty or marks deduction. However, the student was not given chance to use cue cards which was questionable. The physical appearance of that student and his intellectual ability was revealing me that he has done his preparation but he was blank due to performance exam anxiety. Because, he performed outstanding job in making differential diagnosis, integrating lab values, and ECG and X-ray interpretation. If he would not have done his preparation, he would have flunked from the entire exam process. Course coordinator’s opinion could have been taken to facilitate student’s performance. Lastly, he could have given second chance to perform later as an exceptional case but it won’t be justified with other students who were prepared and performed on time. What is the purpose of double jump exam is very ambiguous to me. If it is to assess students’ interviewing skills, health assessment, and drawing clinical concept map than this is a part of their routine clinical practice that can be evaluated while caring for patients in the hospital setting. In contrast, the purpose of it is to evaluate critical thinking to identify patients’ clinical parameters and health issues. Therefore, they should have trained in hospital placement where they can analyze cardiac rhythms on monitor, identify ventilator parameters, monitor invasive lines according to patients’ pathological conditions, develop plan of care and treatment on real patients which is an actual experiential learning hence, is a goal to engage students in continuous learning and assessment process. The purpose of good academic assessment is to engage students in autonomous learning and to determine how to fuse theory and practice (Taylor, 1998). There will be no ex tra efforts required in terms of administration and arrangement of human and material resources to plan double jump test which is one of the lengthy and stressful assessment strategies for students. Moreover, it will also prevent from the duplication of assessment which is already a part of clinical learning goals and outcomes. Performing on simulated patients often doesn’t provide actual patients’ symptoms and medical problems to identify and intervene. Students usually get preoccupied in identifying and verbalizing normal findings so they prepare themselves accordingly. However, the purpose is to allow them to think critically and recognize patients’ actual medical problems. Therefore, in my perspective, this learning can be facilitated during clinical. Adult learners are responsible for their own learning. They are motivated when they are given autonomy of learning, ongoing facilitation and feedback from faculty. They require explicit instructions and appropriate responses from the faculty when they are flooded with stress and anxiety. Overall, this was a meaningful journey for me to experience the exam system from student’s and faculty’s perspectives.

Graph Theory: The Four Coloring Theorem Essay -- Graph Geography Essay

Graph Theory: The Four Coloring Theorem "Every planar map is four colorable," seems like a pretty basic and easily provable statement. However, this simple concept took over one hundred years and involved more than a dozen mathematicians to finally prove it. Throughout the century that many men pondered this idea, many other problems, solutions, and mathematical concepts were created. I find the Four Coloring Theorem to be very interesting because of it's apparent simplicity paired with it's long, laborious struggle to be proved. There is a very long and eventful history that accompanies this theorem. The concept of the Four Coloring Theorem was born in 1852 when Francis Guthrie noticed that he only needed four different colors to color in a map of England. Through his brother, Frederick, Francis communicated his discovery to De Morgan. Francis wondered if De Morgan would be able to tell him if it was true or not. De Morgan was unsure, so he asked the same question to Hamilton in Dublin. Hamilton was unable to help, so De Morgan continued to ask other prominent mathematicians. In the US, Charles Peirce attempted to prove the Four Color Conjecture in the 1860's and continued to for the remainder of his life. In 1879, Cayley wrote a paper to the Royal Geographical Society explaining the difficulties in attempting to prove the Conjecture. On July 17, 1879, a mathematician by the name of Kempe announced a proof for the Four Color Conjecture. However, eleven years later Heawood, a lecturer at Durham England, pointed out that Kempe's proof was incorrect. Along with proving Kempe wrong, Heawood was able to prove that every planar map is five colorable. In 1898, Heawood also proved that if the number of edges around a region is... ...actually quite fun as well. They don't really have a real importance in the real world. The Four Color Theorem isn't going to save any lives or make life that much easier. However, it does make map coloring more simple by requiring only four colors. Bibliography (1) Fritsh, Rudolf and Gerda, The Four-Color Theorem, Springer-Verlag, New York, Inc., 1998. (2) Harary, Frank, Graph Theory, Adison-Wesley Publishing Co., Redding, MA, 1972, p.130-131. (3) Kainen, Paul, and Saaty, Thomas, The Four Color Problem, McGraw-Hill, Inc., Great Britain, 1977. (4) The Four Color Theorem, http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/The_four_colour_theorem.html, December 10, 1999. (5) The Four Color Theorem, Neil Robertson, Daniel P. Sanders, Paul Seymour, and Robin Thomas, http://www.math.gatech.edu/~thomas/FC/fourcolor.html, December 10, 1999.

Essay --

Sparkles, Dancing, Jumping, and Music great combination or do you not agree? Figure Skating as a result was mashed up together to create such a beautiful but dangerous sport. Skating as a Winter Olympic sport has a long history and even with the proper equipment can be dangerous. Figure skating was originated in Europe, it was first stared by an American though named Jackson Haines. Jackson was born in New York in 1840 and died in 1875 in Finland from Tuberculosis. There was a big skating/dancing craze they called it because it swept America because of the combination that Haines did with bringing Dance into the rink. There was local skating clubs that had been formed and also competitions but nothing serious was made from it until some years after the 19th century. In 1921 was when Figure skating was made and officially created from a Skating Association (known as U.S. Figure Skating). When the Association was made later on through the years more associations made and now there are more than 600 association's throughout the country. Until the early '20s there were no standards set for you to be able to compete or to perform. Today there is there are tests, figure, free skating, moves in the field, pair, dance and synchronized team skating all of it is measured and judged by a lot of the different branches of the associations of the sport. It is said that over the years no other country has won more Figure Skating medals or been more passionate about the sport more than the United States. About all the attention went to the women's singles, because the U.S. Women have won seven Olympic titles, and some have transformed from Ice Princesses into Entertainment Icons. One of the women is Sasha Cohen she won a silver medal, Sarah H... ...which could take forever to put on. It takes a lot of labor to make a single dress, Longmire who has been designing costumes says that they have to be constructed carefully for close-up photography. Longmire says that it is basically a bathing suit because its just a one piece outfit. Figure skating has it's interesting history, also it has it's danger zones, and it has it's beautiful equipment which makes the whole experience amazing. The History is long and full of very bright and great icons that have made there mark on the ice. The Dangers can also teach you what the risks are before you try something so you know the consequences. The Equipment is what makes the whole performance come alive and it will make you, you if you had your personality to the outfit and the right touch to everything. Figure skating can be something interesting, dangerous, and fun to do.

Organisational Structure and Culture of the Oceans 11 Team Essay

Organisational Structure and Culture of the Oceans 11 Team 1.0 Executive Summary: The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)[1] wished to review how the Ocean’s 11 team was formed and discuss by putting a management development programme together, the organisational behavioural aspects of the group. A vast amount of research was conducted in order to put together the management development programme together to show other organisations how to prevent problems within their group and avoid issues that will be mentioned in this programme. The main objectives of this report are to research and analyse what motivates a group or team in order to perform successfully and cohesively. To look at the leadership of a group and the different roles they play in terms of power they may hold, which leads onto conflict that may occur and could cause problems within the organisation. This will also incorporate the strategy the leader, if elected, uses in order to control and influence its organisations. In addition to the above, to investigate the communication skills of a group and how significant the experience of its members is, whilst looking at the attitudes present amongst them. The report will also examine the individual differences and perceptions of a team/group and sees how they can conjure an aim and how to achieve it. This will involve looking into the organisational structure and culture of the Oceans 11 team. All the above will use associated theories and models to analyse how the team was formed and backed up with relevant references. 2.0 Introduction: ----------------- This report intends to look at how our managerial development programme reflects groups and organisations and its concern with the improvement of the quality ... ...), Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups, and the organisation, London, Pearson Education [20] Brooks, Ian (1999), Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups, and the organisation, London, Pearson Education [21] Brooks, Ian (1999), Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups, and the organisation, London, Pearson Education [22] Brooks, Ian (1999), Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups, and the organisation, London, Pearson Education [23] Brooks, Ian (1999), Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups, and the organisation, London, Pearson Education [24] Learning to Work in Groups - Matthew B. Miles [25] http://www.google.com [26] Brooks, Ian (1999), Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups, and the organisation, London, Pearson Education [27] Organisational Behaviour Lectures [28] Ocean’s 11 Case Study

The Host Chapter 13: Sentenced

Are they here?† We choked out the words-they burst from us like the water in our lungs had, expelled. After water, this question was all that mattered. â€Å"Did they make it?† Uncle Jeb's face was impossible to read in the darkness. â€Å"Who?† he asked. â€Å"Jamie, Jared!† Our whisper burned like a shout. â€Å"Jared was with Jamie. Our brother! Are they here? Did they come? Did you find them, too?† There was barely a pause. â€Å"No.† His answer was forceful, and there was no pity in it, no feeling at all. â€Å"No,† we whispered. We were not echoing him, we were protesting against getting our life back. What was the point? We closed our eyes again and listened to the pain in our body. We let that drown out the pain in our mind. â€Å"Look,† Uncle Jeb said after a moment. â€Å"I, uh, have something to take care of. You rest for a bit, and I'll be back for you.† We didn't hear the meaning in his words, just the sounds. Our eyes stayed closed. His footsteps crunched quietly away from us. We couldn't tell which direction he went. We didn't care anyway. They were gone. There was no way to find them, no hope. Jared and Jamie had disappeared, something they knew well how to do, and we would never see them again. The water and the cooler night air were making us lucid, something we did not want. We rolled over, to bury our face against the sand again. We were so tired, past the point of exhaustion and into some deeper, more painful state. Surely we could sleep. All we had to do was not think. We could do that. We did. When we woke, it was still night, but dawn was threatening on the eastern horizon-the mountains were lined with dull red. Our mouth tasted of dust, and at first we were sure that we had dreamed Uncle Jeb's appearance. Of course we had. Our head was clearer this morning, and we noticed quickly the strange shape near our right cheek-something that was not a rock or a cactus. We touched it, and it was hard and smooth. We nudged it, and the delicious sound of sloshing water came from inside. Uncle Jeb was real, and he'd left us a canteen. We sat up carefully, surprised when we didn't break in two like a withered stick. Actually, we felt better. The water must have had time to work its way through some of our body. The pain was dull, and for the first time in a long while, we felt hungry again. Our fingers were stiff and clumsy as we twisted the cap from the top of the canteen. It wasn't all the way full, but there was enough water to stretch the walls of our belly again-it must have shrunk. We drank it all; we were done with rationing. We dropped the metal canteen to the sand, where it made a dull thud in the predawn silence. We felt wide awake now. We sighed, preferring unconsciousness, and let our head fall into our hands. What now? â€Å"Why did you give it water, Jeb?† an angry voice demanded, close behind our back. We whirled, twisting onto our knees. What we saw made our heart falter and our awareness splinter apart. There were eight humans half-circled around where I knelt under the tree. There was no question they were humans, all of them. I'd never seen faces contorted into such expressions-not on my kind. These lips twisted with hatred, pulled back over clenched teeth like wild animals. These brows pulled low over eyes that burned with fury. Six men and two women, some of them very big, most of them bigger than me. I felt the blood drain from my face as I realized why they held their hands so oddly-gripped tightly in front of them, each balancing an object. They held weapons. Some held blades-a few short ones like those I had kept in my kitchen, and some longer, one huge and menacing. This knife had no purpose in a kitchen. Melanie supplied the name: a machete. Others held long bars, some metal, some wooden. Clubs. I recognized Uncle Jeb in their midst. Held loosely in his hands was an object I'd never seen in person, only in Melanie's memories, like the big knife. It was a rifle. I saw horror, but Melanie saw all this with wonder, her mind boggling at their numbers. Eight human survivors. She'd thought Jeb was alone or, in the best case scenario, with only two others. To see so many of her kind alive filled her with joy. You're an idiot, I told her. Look at them. See them. I forced her to see it from my perspective: to see the threatening shapes inside the dirty jeans and light cotton shirts, brown with dust. They might have been human-as she thought of the word-once, but at this moment they were something else. They were barbarians, monsters. They hung over us, slavering for blood. There was a death sentence in every pair of eyes. Melanie saw all this and, though grudgingly, she had to admit that I was right. At this moment, her beloved humans were at their worst-like the newspaper stories we'd seen in the abandoned shack. We were looking at killers. We should have been wiser; we should have died yesterday. Why would Uncle Jeb keep us alive for this? A shiver passed through me at the thought. I'd skimmed through the histories of human atrocities. I'd had no stomach for them. Perhaps I should have concentrated better. I knew there were reasons why humans let their enemies live, for a little while. Things they wanted from their minds or their bodies†¦ Of course it sprang into my head immediately-the one secret they would want from me. The one I could never, never tell them. No matter what they did to me. I would have to kill myself first. I did not let Melanie see the secret I protected. I used her own defenses against her and threw up a wall in my head to hide behind while I thought of the information for the first time since implantation. There had been no reason to think of it before. Melanie was hardly even curious on the other side of the wall; she made no effort to break through it. There were much more immediate concerns than the fact that she had not been the only one keeping information in reserve. Did it matter that I protected my secret from her? I wasn't as strong as Melanie; I had no doubt she could endure torture. How much pain could I stand before I gave them anything they wanted? My stomach heaved. Suicide was a repugnant option-worse because it would be murder, too. Melanie would be part of either torture or death. I would wait for that until I had absolutely no other choice. No, they can't. Uncle Jeb would never let them hurt me. Uncle Jeb doesn't know you're here, I reminded her. Tell him! I focused on the old man's face. The thick white beard kept me from seeing the set of his mouth, but his eyes did not seem to burn like the others'. From the corner of my eye, I could see a few of the men shift their gaze from me to him. They were waiting for him to answer the question that had alerted me to their presence. Uncle Jeb stared at me, ignoring them. I can't tell him, Melanie. He won't believe me. And if they think I'm lying to them, they'll think I'm a Seeker. They must have experience enough to know that only a Seeker would come out here with a lie, a story designed for infiltration. Melanie recognized the truth of my thought at once. The very word Seeker made her recoil with hatred, and she knew these strangers would have the same reaction. It doesn't matter anyway. I'm a soul-that's enough for them. The one with the machete-the biggest man there, black-haired with oddly fair skin and vivid blue eyes-made a sound of disgust and spit on the ground. He took a step forward, slowly raising the long blade. Better fast than slow. Better that it was this brutal hand and not mine that killed us. Better that I didn't die a creature of violence, accountable for Melanie's blood as well as my own. â€Å"Hold it, Kyle.† Jeb's words were unhurried, almost casual, but the big man stopped. He grimaced and turned to face Melanie's uncle. â€Å"Why? You said you made sure. It's one of them.† I recognized the voice-he was the same one who'd asked Jeb why he'd given me water. â€Å"Well, yes, she surely is. But it's a little complicated.† â€Å"How?† A different man asked the question. He stood next to the big, dark-haired Kyle, and they looked so much alike that they had to be brothers. â€Å"See, this here is my niece, too.† â€Å"Not anymore she's not,† Kyle said flatly. He spit again and took another deliberate step in my direction, knife ready. I could see from the way his shoulders leaned into the action that words would not stop him again. I closed my eyes. There were two sharp metallic clicks, and someone gasped. My eyes flew open again. â€Å"I said hold it, Kyle.† Uncle Jeb's voice was still relaxed, but the long rifle was gripped tightly in his hands now, and the barrels were pointed at Kyle's back. Kyle was frozen just steps from me; his machete hung motionless in the air above his shoulder. â€Å"Jeb,† the brother said, horrified, â€Å"what are you doing?† â€Å"Step away from the girl, Kyle.† Kyle turned his back to us, whirling on Jeb in fury. â€Å"It's not a girl, Jeb!† Jeb shrugged; the gun stayed steady in his hands, pointed at Kyle. â€Å"There are things to be discussed.† â€Å"The doctor might be able to learn something from it,† a female voice offered gruffly. I cringed at the words, hearing in them my worst fears. When Jeb had called me his niece just now, I'd foolishly let a spark of hope flame to life-perhaps there would be pity. I'd been stupid to think that, even for a second. Death would be the only pity I could hope for from these creatures. I looked at the woman who'd spoken, surprised to see that she was as old as Jeb, maybe older. Her hair was dark gray rather than white, which is why I hadn't noticed her age before. Her face was a mass of wrinkles, all of them turning down into angry lines. But there was something familiar about the features behind the lines. Melanie made the connection between this ancient face and another, smoother face in her memory. â€Å"Aunt Maggie? You're here? How? Is Sharon -† The words were all Melanie, but they gushed from my mouth, and I was unable to stop them. Sharing for so long in the desert had made her stronger, or me weaker. Or maybe it was just that I was concentrating on which direction the deathblow was going to fall from. I was bracing for our murder, and she was having a family reunion. Melanie got only halfway through her surprised exclamation. The much-aged woman named Maggie lunged forward with a speed that belied her brittle exterior. She didn't raise the hand that held the black crowbar. That was the hand I was watching, so I didn't see her free hand swing out to slap me hard across the face. My head snapped back and then forward. She slapped me again. â€Å"You won't fool us, you parasite. We know how you work. We know how well you can mimic us.† I tasted blood inside my cheek. Don't do that again, I scolded Melanie. I told you what they'd think. Melanie was too shocked to answer. â€Å"Now, Maggie,† Jeb began in a soothing tone. â€Å"Don't you Now, Maggie' me, you old fool! She's probably led a legion of them down on us.† She backed away from me, her eyes measuring my stillness as if I were a coiled snake. She stopped beside her brother. â€Å"I don't see anyone,† Jeb retorted. â€Å"Hey!† he yelled, and I flinched in surprise. I wasn't the only one. Jeb waved his left hand over his head, the gun still clenched in the right. â€Å"Over here!† â€Å"Shut up,† Maggie growled, shoving his chest. Though I had good reason to know she was strong, Jeb didn't wobble. â€Å"She's alone, Mag. She was pretty much dead when I found her-she's not in such great shape now. The centipedes don't sacrifice their own that way. They would have come for her much sooner than I did. Whatever else she is, she's alone.† I saw the image of the long, many-legged insect in my head, but I didn't make the connection. He's talking about you, Melanie translated. She placed the picture of the ugly bug next to my memory of a bright silver soul. I didn't see a resemblance. I wonder how he knows what you look like, Melanie wondered absently. My memories of a soul's true appearance had been new to her in the beginning. I didn't have time to wonder with her. Jeb was walking toward me, and the others were close behind. Kyle's hand hovered at Jeb's shoulder, ready to restrain him or throw him out of the way, I couldn't tell. Jeb put his gun in his left hand and extended the right to me. I eyed it warily, waiting for it to hit me. â€Å"C'mon,† he urged gently. â€Å"If I could carry you that far, I woulda brought you home last night. You're gonna have to walk some more.† â€Å"No!† Kyle grunted. â€Å"I'm takin' her back,† Jeb said, and for the first time there was a harsher tone to his voice. Under his beard, his jaw flexed into a stubborn line. â€Å"Jeb!† Maggie protested. â€Å"‘S my place, Mag. I'll do what I want.† â€Å"Old fool!† she snapped again. Jeb reached down and grabbed my hand from where it lay curled into a fist against my thigh. He yanked me to my feet. It was not cruelty; it was merely as if he was in a hurry. Yet was it not the very worst form of cruelty to prolong my life for the reasons he had? I rocked unsteadily. I couldn't feel my legs very well-just prickles like needle points as the blood flowed down. There was a hiss of disapproval behind him. It came from more than one mouth. â€Å"Okay, whoever you are,† he said to me, his voice still kind. â€Å"Let's get out of here before it heats up.† The one who must have been Kyle's brother put his hand on Jeb's arm. â€Å"You can't just show it where we live, Jeb.† â€Å"I suppose it doesn't matter,† Maggie said harshly. â€Å"It won't get a chance to tell tales.† Jeb sighed and pulled a bandanna-all but hidden by his beard-from around his neck. â€Å"This is silly,† he muttered, but he rolled the dirty fabric, stiff with dry sweat, into a blindfold. I kept perfectly still as he tied it over my eyes, fighting the panic that increased when I couldn't see my enemies. I couldn't see, but I knew it was Jeb who put one hand on my back and guided me; none of the others would have been so gentle. We started forward, toward the north, I thought. No one spoke at first-there was just the sound of sand grinding under many feet. The ground was even, but I stumbled on my numb legs again and again. Jeb was patient; his guiding hand was almost chivalrous. I felt the sun rise as we walked. Some of the footsteps were faster than others. They moved ahead of us until they were hard to hear. It sounded like it was the minority that stayed with Jeb and me. I must not have looked like I needed many guards-I was faint with hunger, and I swayed with every step; my head felt dizzy and hollow. â€Å"You aren't planning to tell him, are you?† It was Maggie's voice; it came from a few feet behind me, and it sounded like an accusation. â€Å"He's got a right to know,† Jeb replied. The stubborn note was back in his voice. â€Å"It's an unkind thing you are doing, Jebediah.† â€Å"Life is unkind, Magnolia.† It was hard to decide who was the more terrifying of the two. Was it Jeb, who seemed so intent on keeping me alive? Or Maggie, who had first suggested the doctor-an appellation that filled me with instinctive, nauseated dread-but who seemed more worried about cruelty than her brother? We walked in silence again for a few hours. When my legs buckled, Jeb lowered me to the ground and held a canteen to my lips as he had in the night. â€Å"Let me know when you're ready,† Jeb told me. His voice sounded kind, though I knew that was a false interpretation. Someone sighed impatiently. â€Å"Why are you doing this, Jeb?† a man asked. I'd heard the voice before; it was one of the brothers. â€Å"For Doc? You could have just told Kyle that. You didn't have to pull a gun on him.† â€Å"Kyle needs a gun pulled on him more often,† Jeb muttered. â€Å"Please tell me this wasn't about sympathy,† the man continued. â€Å"After all you've seen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"After all I've seen, if I hadn't learned compassion, I wouldn't be worth much. But no, it was not about sympathy. If I had enough sympathy for this poor creature, I would have let her die.† I shivered in the oven-hot air. â€Å"What, then?† Kyle's brother demanded. There was a long silence, and then Jeb's hand touched mine. I grasped it, needing the help to get back on my feet. His other hand pressed against my back, and I started forward again. â€Å"Curiosity,† Jeb said in a low voice. No one replied. As we walked, I considered a few sure facts. One, I was not the first soul they'd captured. There was already a set routine here. This â€Å"Doc† had tried to get his answer from others before me. Two, he had tried unsuccessfully. If any soul had forgone suicide only to crack under the humans' torture, they would not need me now. My death would have been mercifully swift. Oddly, I couldn't bring myself to hope for a quick end, though, or to try to effect that outcome. It would be easy to do, even without doing the deed myself. I would only have to tell them a lie-pretend to be a Seeker, tell them my colleagues were tracking me right now, bluster and threaten. Or tell them the truth-that Melanie lived on inside me, and that she had brought me here. They would see another lie, and one so richly irresistible-the idea that the human could live on after implantation-so tempting to believe from their perspective, so insidious, that they would believe I was a Seeker more surely than if I claimed it. They would assume a trap, get rid of me quickly, and find a new place to hide, far away from here. You're probably right, Melanie agreed. It's what I would do. But I wasn't in pain yet, and so either form of suicide was hard to embrace; my instinct for survival sealed my lips. The memory of my last session with my Comforter-a time so civilized it seemed to belong to a different planet-flashed through my head. Melanie challenging me to have her removed, a seemingly suicidal impulse, but only a bluff. I remembered thinking how hard it was to contemplate death from a comfortable chair. Last night Melanie and I had wished for death, but death had been only inches away at the time. It was different now that I was on my feet again. I don't want to die, either, Melanie whispered. But maybe you're wrong. Maybe that's not why they're keeping us alive. I don't understand why they would†¦ She didn't want to imagine the things they might do to us-I was sure she could come up with worse than I. What answer would they want from you that bad? I'll never tell. Not you, not any human. A bold declaration. But then, I wasn't in pain yet†¦ Another hour had passed-the sun was directly overhead, the heat of it like a crown of fire on my hair-when the sound changed. The grinding steps that I barely heard anymore turned to echoes ahead of me. Jeb's feet still crunched against the sand like mine, but someone in front of us had reached a new terrain. â€Å"Careful, now,† Jeb warned me. â€Å"Watch your head.† I hesitated, not sure what I was watching for, or how to watch with no eyes. His hand left my back and pressed down on my head, telling me to duck. I bent forward. My neck was stiff. He guided me forward again, and I heard our footsteps make the same echoing sound. The ground didn't give like sand, didn't feel loose like rock. It was flat and solid beneath my feet. The sun was gone-I could no longer feel it burn my skin or scorch my hair. I took another step, and a new air touched my face. It was not a breeze. This was stagnant-I moved into it. The dry desert wind was gone. This air was still and cooler. There was the faintest hint of moisture to it, a mustiness that I could both smell and taste. There were so many questions in my mind, and in Melanie's. She wanted to ask hers, but I kept silent. There was nothing either of us could say that would help us now. â€Å"Okay, you can straighten up,† Jeb told me. I raised my head slowly. Even with the blindfold, I could tell that there was no light. It was utterly black around the edges of the bandanna. I could hear the others behind me, shuffling their feet impatiently, waiting for us to move forward. â€Å"This way,† Jeb said, and he was guiding me again. Our footsteps echoed back from close by-the space we were in must have been quite small. I found myself ducking my head instinctively. We went a few steps farther, and then we rounded a sharp curve that seemed to turn us back the way we'd come. The ground started to slant downward. The angle got steeper with every step, and Jeb gave me his rough hand to keep me from falling. I don't know how long I slipped and skidded my way through the darkness. The hike probably felt longer than it was with each minute slowed by my terror. We took another turn, and then the floor started to climb upward. My legs were so numb and wooden that as the path got steeper, Jeb had to half drag me up the incline. The air got mustier and moister the farther we went, but the blackness didn't change. The only sounds were our footsteps and their nearby echoes. The pathway flattened out and began to turn and twist like a serpent. Finally, finally, there was a brightness around the top and bottom of my blindfold. I wished that it would slip, as I was too frightened to pull it off myself. It seemed to me that I wouldn't be so terrified if I could just see where I was and who was with me. With the light came noise. Strange noise, a low murmuring babble. It sounded almost like a waterfall. The babble got louder as we moved forward, and the closer it got, the less it sounded like water. It was too varied, low and high pitches mingling and echoing. If it had not been so discordant, it might have sounded like an uglier version of the constant music I'd heard and sung on the Singing World. The darkness of the blindfold suited that memory, the memory of blindness. Melanie understood the cacophony before I did. I'd never heard the sound because I'd never been with humans before. It's an argument, she realized. It sounds like so many people arguing. She was drawn by the sound. Were there more people here, then? That there were even eight had surprised us both. What was this place? Hands touched the back of my neck, and I shied away from them. â€Å"Easy now,† Jeb said. He pulled the blindfold off my eyes. I blinked slowly, and the shadows around me settled into shapes I could understand: rough, uneven walls; a pocked ceiling; a worn, dusty floor. We were underground somewhere in a natural cave formation. We couldn't be that deep. I thought we'd hiked upward longer than we'd slid downward. The rock walls and ceiling were a dark purpley brown, and they were riddled with shallow holes like Swiss cheese. The edges of the lower holes were worn down, but over my head the circles were more defined, and their rims looked sharp. The light came from a round hole ahead of us, its shape not unlike the holes that peppered the cavern, but larger. This was an entrance, a doorway to a brighter place. Melanie was eager, fascinated by the concept of more humans. I held back, suddenly worried that blindness might be better than sight. Jeb sighed. â€Å"Sorry,† he muttered, so low that I was certainly the only one to hear. I tried to swallow and could not. My head started to spin, but that might have been from hunger. My hands were trembling like leaves in a stiff breeze as Jeb prodded me through the big hole. The tunnel opened into a chamber so vast that at first I couldn't accept what my eyes told me. The ceiling was too bright and too high-it was like an artificial sky. I tried to see what brightened it, but it sent down sharp lances of light that hurt my eyes. I was expecting the babble to get louder, but it was abruptly dead quiet in the huge cavern. The floor was dim compared to the brilliant ceiling so far above. It took a moment for my eyes to make sense of all the shapes. A crowd. There was no other word for it-there was a crowd of humans standing stock-still and silent, all staring at me with the same burning, hate-filled expressions I'd seen at dawn. Melanie was too stunned to do anything more than count. Ten, fifteen, twenty†¦ twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven†¦ I didn't care how many there were. I tried to tell her how little it mattered. It wouldn't take twenty of them to kill me. To kill us. I tried to make her see how precarious our position was, but she was beyond my warnings at the moment, lost in this human world she'd never dreamed was here. One man stepped forward from the crowd, and my eyes darted first to his hands, looking for the weapon they would carry. His hands were clenched in fists but empty of any other threat. My eyes, adjusting to the dazzling light, made out the sun-gilded tint of his skin and then recognized it. Choking on the sudden hope that dizzied me, I lifted my eyes to the man's face.

Pressures Faced by Media Organizations During War Essay

While wars kill people, destroy lives and economies and create lasting hatreds, they often bring great benefits to a minority of people. Wars are great for the national cohesion of a country, wars allow unpopular rulers to gather support for themselves and rally the masses behind them. Wars may also benefit the manufacturers of arms and ammunition and military equipment, mercenary forces or other industries. Wartimes are often periods of great emotional upheaval and peoples’ patriotic and nationalistic feelings rise to a great intensity. During wars people are inclined to be less suspicious of government motives and more complaint to government commands and recommendations. However, generally wars cause much more harm than good and a section of the public often opposes war. During war times governments often rely on the national media to back their military policy and answer and refute the critics of war in their behalf. Media organizations face pressure from the government, the masses, the corporations and the military to conceal or distort facts or to report the war in a certain way. In a democratic country, the citizens depend on the media to inform them objectively whether a certain governmental policy is in their best interests or not. Often the rulers of a country decide to go to war, while the people are reluctant. In such situations the government may pressurize media organizations to convince the public of the need for war. This situation occurred in the United States at the start of the World War I. The American public saw no reason to enter war against Germany at the behalf of Britain. The President Woodrow Wilson, on the other hand pledged to enter war in the aid of Britain. In April 1917 as the US entered the war, Wilson formed the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to convince the American intellectuals to support US entry into the war. The committee flooded the country with speakers and propaganda posters. Newspapers were flooded with news releases denouncing the Germans and leveling true and false accusations at them (Ponder). While at war governments often wish that the war be seen as a moral cause, wars that are fought for mercenary reasons or out of a misguided or extreme conception of patriotism are portrayed as morally sanctioned campaign to bring about a noble goal. Members of the media are expected to use this narrative in their reporting. Those who question the righteousness of the cause may face punitive actions of various types. During the Vietnam War, the media was employed by the American government as a tool against the anti-war movement. Anti-war protesters were portrayed as traitors, giving aid and comfort to the Vietcong and North Vietnamese enemy. It was not until a large number of elected officials had declared their opposition to the ongoing war, that it became acceptable for the media to discuss the motives and assumptions behind the conflict and the righteousness of America’s cause. However the general tone of the war coverage was highly ‘patriotic’ as if the presence of the US forces in Vietnam were most natural and it were the Vietcong who were foreign invaders (Hallin). Compared to previous administrations, the Nixon administration had to face a lot more public skepticism and widespread anti-war sentiments. The television networks too, started showing a lot more criticism of the administrations war policies. The administrations response was to appeal to the affiliate TV channels, which were mostly owned by rich, white, conservatives, to bear pressure upon the news networks to reduce the extent of their criticism (Hallin). The success of the establishment’s efforts to present the war as a moral goal is heavily dependant upon the public’s perception of the enemy as the epitome of evil. Therefore the establishment may try to suppress any discussion in the media that portrays the enemy as having any positive quality whatsoever. Soon after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, comedian Bill Maher, on his TV show ‘Politically Incorrect’ questioned President Bush’s comment that the attackers were cowardly. One of the guests on the show, political analyst Dinesh D’Souza replied that the word was inaccurate when applied to the attackers, they were not cowards but warriors, agreeing with him Maher said, â€Å"We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly. † (Jones) This comment provoked a storm of fury in the public, in the media and the government. The comment was condemned by President Bush’s spokesman Ari Fleischer who said, â€Å"There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is. † (Jones). As a result of the controversy generated by the comment, the show ‘Politically Incorrect’ was deprived of advertising revenue and was cancelled a few months later (Jones). One of the most common themes employed in pro-war propaganda is the identification of the military campaign as a campaign for the human rights of ordinary people. This propaganda is severely threatened by the news of civilian causalities. Therefore governments at war wish may wish to suppress or minimize the impact of news mentioning civilian casualties caused as a result of their soldiers’ actions. In order to portray the conflict with the enemy as a struggle between good and evil it is necessary to minimize any wrong doings or atrocities committed by the national and allied armed forces. Often reporters learning of a story involving atrocities by their own side feel pressured to hide these atrocities altogether. Reporters may also fear that if they report anything negative about the military, their access to the frontlines will be curtailed. In addition for reporters who are embedded within a military unit, within a few days of facing the same dangers as the troops, their identification with the unit may make it extremely difficult for them to make an objective assessment of a situation. During the Korean War, in the summer of 1950, the United States forces gunned down hundreds of South Korean refugees at No Gun Ri, believing them to be North Korean infiltrators. This massacre and other lesser ones were covered up by the American reporters because they believed that publishing the story might harm the war effort. It was not until 1999 that the No Gun Ri massacre was reported in the American Media (Penri). In Vietnam, the journalist Morley Safer, who revealed a number of atrocities on the part of the American military was especially the target of government wrath. Military officials attempted to have him barred from the war zone and recalled by his news agency (Hammond). In order to keep public support behind the war, the government may wish to give the impression that the war effort is succeeding very well even when the facts are to the contrary. The government may try to restrict the broadcast of certain types of information such as causality figures. During the Vietnam War, the American forces were fighting a smaller, clandestine war in Laos. In order to prevent the news of this clandestine war becoming public, the casualty figures for the Vietnam war were expanded to include the casualties in Laos under the heading â€Å"Casualties incurred by the US . military personnel in connection with the conflict in Vietnam† (Hammond). During the present day Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Bush government forbade the media from publishing photographs of flag draped coffins of American soldiers shipped back from Afghanistan and Iraq, on the basis that it would undermine the morale of the public. The government may also fear that news of military setbacks received by the national forces may turn public opinion against the war. In World War II, news of setbacks suffered by the US forces in the South Pacific were severely censored. If it became clear that there was no way to hide the news from being broadcasted, media sources would be instructed to wait until a victory had been achieved, the news of the setback in one area would then be paired up with the news of victory in another area to lessen the impact of the bad news (Carpenter). On occasion members of international media organizations may be regarded as a hostile force by a side in a conflict due to their refusal to ascribe to a code of self-censorship or due to perceived bias in their news reports. These media organizations may then face violence at the hands of military forces. The Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera may have been the object of this treatment in the present day Afghanistan and Iraq wars. In November 2001, a bomb dropped from a US warplane destroyed the Al-Jazeera office in Kabul. Al-Jazeera executives alleged that the US military had been informed of the coordinates of their office beforehand and that the bombing was deliberate (Wells). Al-Jazeera was again the alleged target of US attack in Iraq. Al-Jazeera interviewed Allied military personnel captured by Iraqi forces as well as the massive civilian losses caused by the allied bombing. Neoconservative intellectuals close to the Bush administration, such as Frank Gaffney advocated the use of the US military against Al-Jazeera, alleging that it was the mouthpiece of Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. In November 2005, the British publication The Daily Mirror alleged the existence of a memo from the British Prime Ministers office that claimed that President Bush considered bombing al-Jazeera offices in Qatar in discussions with the Prime Minister Tony Blair and that Blair talked him out of it (Mcguire and Lines). The conduct of war often becomes a point of contention between rival groups in a government, this may lead to politically motivated intentional ‘leaks’ of sensitive information to the media. These ‘leaks’ may consist of partial, distorted or fabricated information, giving people a distorted view of the reality of issues. Since news media organizations are always looking to gain an advantage over their competitors they may decide to publish this unverified information thereby becoming unwitting tools in the hands of a faction in the government. During the Iraq War, the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame was leaked to the press, the leak was seen as a reprisal against Plame’s husband Joseph C.  Wilson IV who had refuted President Bush’s assertion that President Hussein of Iraq was seeking to build nuclear weapons in a column in ‘Times’ (Werther). Modern news media attempts to serve several masters at once. In order to get to cover a war a make a profit they have to keep the military, the people, the administration and the affiliates happy. The professional responsibility of a journalist to report only the truth often takes a b ackseat to these considerations.

A Doll’s House and the Macaroon

Gloria Nguyen Period 5 2010 February 24 A significant symbol in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen are the macaroons that show up several times within the course of the play because it shows that Nora is not truthful to Torvald and that their household is tangled up in a web of deceit. â€Å"She slips the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth†¦ †. Nora knows that Torvald dislikes her spending money on guilty pleasures like macaroons so she tries to hide them, just as she tries to hide the truth of her bond and debts. The macaroons also show that Nora is uncomfortable with all of the rules and regulations Torvald has set up and that she has her own will and mind set. When Torvald asks her if she had any macaroons, she immediately responded with â€Å"No, Torvald, really; I promise you. It shows that she may have a different set of morals than Torvald and that she is not at all comfortable in her living situation and Torvald is not one of her confidants like Dr. Rank and Mrs. Linde. The macaroons show that Nora is not the perfect doll that Torvald tried to mold her into. The macaroons function in the text was to show that although that some families and lives seem picture perfect, most of the time it is not true, as proven by Nora’s need to hide the bond and macaroons from Torvald. The macaroons could also represent Nora’s want to be independent and free, that she wants to rebel and be someone of her own making as opposed to being Torvald’s little â€Å"songbird†, â€Å"squirrel† and â€Å"capricious Capri†. Ibsen’s use of symbolism in using such a minor pleasure impacts the story in a huge way by subtly showing the reader that Nora’s lifestyle is not as truthful and happy as it seems and that something as small as an innocent white lie about macaroons can set the precedent of lies that are to come.

The BMW M5 has the capacity

The BMW M5 has the capacity of a sedan and it excels like a sports car in terms of performance.The car has spacious seats and effective temperature control system to ensure a comfortable ride. Independent suspension for all the four wheels improves overall handling of the car. The M5 does not slack behind in the entertainment department either and offers a host of features including a high-end music system and high-definition radio. The car is very stable under almost any road condition including slippery ice roads, sandy surfaces and rain-slicked roads using its dynamic stability control system.The car also has an on-board GPS navigation system and recognizes voice commands from the driver. BMW lays great emphasis on safety; its cars are very sturdily built with state-of-the-art safety features such as head protection system, automatic-locking retractors for seatbelts, and side airbags to provide additional protection.The M5 also has an Impact sensor to automatically turn off the ig nition and fuel supply, and switches on the emergency lights in the event of an accident. In terms of after-sales service, BMW guarantees free maintenance for either four years or fifty thousand miles. This service is inclusive of standard servicing as well as free replacement of items that wear off. BMW has also recently introduced a tele-service called BMW Safety Plan which enables the car to directly contact the service center when it needs service.BMW is a German automobile manufacturer which has a rich tradition of building reliable cars and has earned worldwide recognition among general consumers as well as motorcar enthusiasts. The BMW M5 is a brand family. It falls under the ‘Motor vehicles and car bodies’ industry category and its corresponding SIC code is 3711 (Business & Company Resource Center).DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Volkswagen, General Motors, Ducati, Fiat, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mazda are some of the competitors of BMW in thi s category. Following are some of the factors that make BMW a compelling choice for any car buyer,

Jewish Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Jewish - Research Paper Example This started with the people who occupied the area that was between the Nile, the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. The land of Cannan, which was later called as Isreal was surrounded by ancient seats of cultural manifestations within Egypt and Babylonia as well as the deserts of Arabia. It was also encircles by the highlands that came from the Asia Minor. This indeed was an area that saw a number of civilizations coming to the fore of each other. This area was negotiated by the age-old trade links and thus comprised of the significant harbors on the Gulf of Akaba as well as on the Mediterranean coast where it exposed towards the influential patterns of a number of other cultures, most of which hailed from the Fertile Crescent. This paper takes a keen look at the Jewish historical basis and studies in-depth the different representations of culture, arts and politics within the world of Judaism. Conventionally it has been seen that the Jews all over the world have claimed that their descent has been mostly lying within the ancient Israelites, the ones who settled within the initial land of Israel. It is for this manner that the Israelites have long and hard traced their shared lineage with Abraham who was the biblical patriarch through Isaac and Jacob, both of whom were Hebrews and essentially the descendants of Eber. On the same token, the Jewish beliefs hold fast on to the claim that the Israelites were indeed the descendants of Jacob's 12 sons, one of whom was Judah who initially settled within Egypt. It was within Egypt that their descendants were put to slavery by the Egyptian pharaoh, who was often known by the name of Ramses II. When one studies the ancient conventional basis of the Jews, there is evidence in the fact that the Jewish Israelites left their country, Egypt being their own to Canaan which was essentially led by their prophet Moses. What this event did wa s to mark the very basis of formation of the Israelites as a nation, which was later divided into twelve different tribes, all of whom are kept after Jacob's sons. Jewish tradition as well as the Bible, the time from Genesis towards the Malachi has told that the Israelites moved about in a freely roaming fashion within the deserts for more than four decades after which they were able to conquer Canaan under the aegis of Joshua, thus dividing the very land amongst the twelve varied tribes. There was a period of time within the Jewish history when the twelve different tribes were led by a series of judges who were essentially the rulers themselves. After this period had passed, an Israelite monarchy was instituted upon within the land under the aegis of Saul as he continued to work under King David and Solomon, the latter being his son. Since King David was the ruler of the time, he made his mark by conquering Jerusalem, where his mode of attack included capturing a Canaanite and late r on a Jebusite town, where he made the same as the capital. King David's son was proactive in his approach as he constructed the First Temple within Jerusalem. Later on, Solomon's period in office was further divided into a couple of kingdoms - Israel which consisted of ten different tribes within the north, and Judah that entailed of those tribes within Judah and Benjamin, both of which lied in the south. Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser V captured Israel in the 8th century BCE. Unfortunately there is no evidence in the f