Stuff Essay Example

Stuff Essay Example Stuff Essay Stuff Essay Title: Let’s cut homework in half Doesn’t anyone else get tired of homework, staying up late at night till about 12 in the morning only to wake up at about 5:30 just to catch a bus and then you go to school struggling to stay awake in class? Then when you fall asleep in class from exhaustion your teacher wakes you up and everyone in your class stares at you and it’s embarrassing. But all of these problems can be resolved if there is a decent amount of homework given to students every day.Too much homework is a very important issue and topic because kids don’t have the opportunity to be kids anymore because of homework; kids can’t go to sports and do extracurricular activities. Nowadays, too much homework is over whelming and it has come to the point that when kids come home from school the first thing they do is homework and the last thing they do before they go to bed is homework. The National Education Association recommends that kids have a total of ten minutes per grade level of homework per night. Anything above that is excessive.From past times that I have done homework, on some occasions, the homework that I have done is something entirely different from what we have learned in class. Sometimes I spend about 5 hours doing home work for one teacher and the teacher doesn’t collect it, so I don’t even get a grade for all the time and hard work I put in doing my work and I ask myself why put us through all that homework and not even give us a grade for it? An excessive amount of homework given to a student can cause stress and exhaustion, kids need to have free time and rest so they can be ready to learn the next day.If a kid spends his entire day and night working on homework he/she will be too tired or stressed out to do any work at school, less homework will help a kid cope with stress, it will give kids the chance to get exercise instead of sitting in a chair writing for 5 hours. Many people can argue with me and say kids need more homework to help prepare them for college. I say no to that because if kids spend the majority of their childhoods in school then coming home to do work all day then what type of childhood will they remember. It is becoming to the point where we do over whelming amounts of work in school, and we do hat work so we can get into college and work some more then after college we find jobs and basically work for the rest of our lives. Being kids right now is the only point in our lives where we shouldn’t work to the point that we get stressed out or in some cases even depression. Shortening the amount of homework given can be a good thing because If teachers shorten the workload amount given to students. Students will be able have time for activities after school and won’t be as frustrated and exhausted when it comes to studying the subject that they are on.Also kids will enjoy the subject more because it gives the students a chance to see that the subject isn’t just all work it can also be enjoyable. So what exactly should we do about this homework problem? We should cut it in half, I don’t mean get rid of homework all together, but Im saying reduce the amount of homework given by adding more class work also by individualizing assignments to fit the study habits and needs of different students or allowing students to choose from a variety of assignments.The homework selected reveals important information about what might work for different students so that the kids can learn at their own pace In conclusion I believe that kids should want or plead for less homework, less homework benefits everyone even the teachers. Less homework will make it easier for the teachers to teach and students to learn because the teachers wouldn’t have to worry about grading endless papers and will be focusing more on the lessons. Also, the students won’t have to worry about homework and will actually enjoy the class be cause there is less work to be done.And if the students are more excited about the class they will be excited to learn and to study and then they will be scoring higher on test grades.

Encouragement and Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Encouragement and Motivation - Essay Example The types of workers in these organizations may range from highly skilled staff to relatively unskilled staff workers. In order to be successful, the managers need to motivate and encourage their wide array of employees. This paper describes the methods I would use, as a manager, to encourage and motivate the workers. Motivating Staff Motivating staff in order for them to perform at optimum ability is integral to running the workforce. Most people need work in order to make money but, although this proves to be a strong incentive, there are other ways. Employees will gain satisfaction and enjoy their jobs if they are aware that they are achieving results (Williams, 2012). First, a manager will need to recruit suitable employees, and then define their responsibilities and roles clearly before finally enabling them to do their job well. The first way to motivate employees is to celebrate results. The manager should focus on activities that are rewarding on an immediate basis (Williams, 2012). Afterwards, the manager should ensure that even those who were not directly involved in experiencing a project’s success get to hear or witness it. Another way to motivate employees is via the creation of a good work environment, which, in turn aids in getting the work done. Comfortable conditions with common amenities and a few luxuries encourage and motivate employees. Additionally, there should be suitable equipments for the job, which will require regular maintenance maintained to avoid interference and frustrating breakdowns with the job schedule. The manager should also attempt to establish a clear goal, as well as ownership. The staff needs to comprehend and focus their energy towards achieving the goal. All the workers must comprehend the organization’s mission and vision with ideas being encouraged from all staff levels (Williams, 2012). This helps since the staff will care more for the implementation of plans that originated from them. Finally, the ma nager can motivate his workforce by fostering communication, teamwork, and feedback (Williams, 2012). People want to be told that their work as a team member is commendable. The best way for a manager to handle this is by treating all staff as valued team members. To create and maintain teamwork, good communication, should be effected, as well as a clear understanding of the other member’s role, as well as fostering close involvement. Meetings need to be conducted with clear outcomes at the end, with employees motivated by seeing and getting things done (Williams, 2012). Equally, if something is agreed on then not put into action, the employees could be disheartened. Therefore, difficulties or delays need to be fed back to the workforce. Without this feedback, the employees become puzzled and frustrated when promised changes do not come to fruition. Encouraging Staff Appraisals act as the starting blocks for managing a worker’s motivation and performance (Williams, 201 2). Appraisals are of huge importance since they help the staff in understanding their role in the organization, as well as the enhancement of communication between themselves and the manager. The appraisals are aimed at getting an employee’s suggestions or wishes and encouraging them in a suitable direction, while maintaining focus on what is required by the organization. The appraisal needs to come up

Mitigation and risk reduction (case) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mitigation and risk reduction (case) - Essay Example Despite the wide range of techniques initiated since the Lisbon earthquake, the increased population density in mega cities has impeded the efficacy of all those tactics. In addition to urbanization, there are several other impediments to preventive strategies. This paper tends to explore various elements that hamper disaster prevention programs in mega cities. Although earthquake is a natural phenomenon that cannot be averted, we can take some precautions in order to mitigate the destructive potential of its aftermath. The invention of Richter scale has enabled us for computing the magnitude of earthquakes. Today, it is possible to identify frequently earthquake occurring places and the intensity of every earthquake. Modern facilities such as earthquake alarming systems are some of the advancements in this area. However, lack of improved infrastructural deterrence techniques often affects the effectiveness of disaster prevention in mage cities. According to census reports published by Government of Maharashtra (2000) in 1991, 60% of the registered buildings in Mumbai were made up of non-engineered materials such as informal masonry. It is important to note that Mumbai is categorized under seismic zone 3, which indicates the high vulnerability to the occurrence of devastating earthquakes. The earthquake history of Mumbai reflects that large number of earthquakes occurred across different parts of the city during the last century and even in the last two years. Severe losses had not been reported until 1967 when one attacked Koyna region of Mumbai with a magnitude of 6.3. Large number of buildings was destroyed at this calamity. Damages of such sorts can be avoided to a large extent only if the city employs geotechnical guidelines for the disaster prevention. The Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) reports that â€Å"poor governance structures, lack of awareness, and poor professional standards and ethics† are some of the major impediments for dis aster prevention in mega cities (cited in Wenzel, 2006). Poor governance implies that different communities and sectors of the society do not cooperate with one another in order to mitigate the impacts of the calamity. Impediments associated with poor governance are reflected in 2004 Indian ocean earthquake. Its magnitude was between 9.1 and 9.3 and it was recorded as one of the deadliest disasters of world history, which killed nearly 230,000 people (Online Colleges, 2010). The death rate would not have exceeded 200,000 if the various social capital of a community such as media, business, and other civil organizations had coordinately involved in rescue activities. Hence, it is advisable to design proper mechanisms for the effective communication between various social sectors as it would ensure disaster effects mitigation rather effortlessly. Similarly, paucity of awareness and poor knowledge about risk factor remain to be the major constraint to disaster prevention in mega cities . Evidently, urban people do not have proper awareness regarding the occurrence of earthquakes, and hence they do not know how to respond to such situations. This lack of awareness amplifies the intensity of the calamity since the people in mega cities get totally confused and distorted during such events. For instance, the impact of 2010 Chile earthquake can be attributed to lack of awareness or poor knowledge. This earthquake continued for three minutes with a magnitude

Double Standards Every Woman Should Know Essay Example for Free

Double Standards Every Woman Should Know Essay For this book analysis I chose to read a book from this list of books that hasn’t been mentioned much in class. We have been talking about God and topics that are more controversial in society. I read the book He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know by Jessica Valenti. This book was easy to read with Valentis short essays and thoughts on modern feminism, stereotypes, and heightening ones awareness to pervasive myths about women. Double standards are nothing new. Women deal with them every day. Take the common truism that women who sleep around are sluts while men are studs. None of the information was really unexpected or suprising to me because it’s all true. Every women is stereotyped by the way she talks, the way she dresses, her personality, etc, while a man isn’t really stereotyped because people think it’s ok for men to do the things they do, that it makes him look like a stud not a player. The examples Valenti uses are familiar and widespread: he’s tough, she’s a tomboy; he’s a bachelor, she’s a spinster; he’s angry, she’s PMSing; he’s successful, she’s a showoff. Perhaps the most widely cited is the â€Å"he’s the boss, she’s a bitch† scenario, which has been the subject of countless editorials in the past decade. Some of the questions I was seeking to answer when reading this book were am I a feminist? What can feminism do for me? This book made me realize I am a feminist. I believe men and women should all have equal rights and opportunities. Some people may not want to admit they are feminist because they think that feminists are mean, angry, man hating, hairy, lesbians, but they really aren’t. In all of reality feminism refers to movements aimed at establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Some questions that have arisen are why is it that men grow distinguished and sexily gray as they age while women just get saggy and haggard? Isn’t it unfair that working moms are labeled bad for focusing on their careers while we shake our heads in disbelief when we hear about the occasional stay at home dad? 3a. â€Å"When I was in high school, I had a reputation—a bad one,† she writes. â€Å"It felt, at the time, like the reputation†¦had materialized out of nowhere. And I was confused.† That experience helped to shape her fascination with how the prevailing culture puts men and women into different categories, even when they act in the exact same way. She was categorized because of her sex which wasn’t fair to her, and it isn’t fair to many other women that are being categorized because of their sex. Men aren’t any better then women. 3b. When Valenti said â€Å"He’s dating a young woman, she’s a cougar?† Really? I thought men were cradle robbers. Men aren’t studs anymore, they’re usually players or, simply, douche bags. I probably agree that some double standards do exist but I tend to think that this whole patriarchal society thing, while it is somewhat valid, is honestly most often perpetuated by women j udging each other.

Essay on Hamlet and its Ophelia -- Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

Hamlet and its Ophelia  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In Shakespeare’s Hamlet there is an innocent young lady who comes to an undeserved and unbecoming end. She is Ophelia, the subject of this essay.    Bryan N. S. Gooch in "Review of The Shapes of Revenge: Victimization, Vengeance, and Vindictiveness in Shakespeare," presents Ophelia as the powerless victim:    Harry Keyishian [. . .] clearly presents in Chapter I, "Victimization and Revenge: Renaissance Voices," a useful survey of the problem, drawing from books on the passions and moving on to consider not only the power of the revenger but the powerlessness of victims, e.g., the Duchess of Gloucester, Ophelia. . . . (1).    Helena Faucit (Lady Martin) in On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters comments on the misunderstood character of Ophelia:    My views of Shakespeare's women have been wont to take their shape in the living portraiture of the stage, and not in words. I have, in imagination, lived their lives from the very beginning to the end; and Ophelia, as I have pictured her to myself, is so unlike what I hear and read about her, and have seen represented on the stage, that I can scarcely hope to make any one think of her as I do. It hurts me to hear her spoken of, as she often is, as a weak creature, wanting in truthfulness, in purpose, in force of character, and only interesting when she loses the little wits she had. And yet who can wonder that a character so delicately outlined, and shaded in with touches so fine, should be often gravely misunderstood? (186)    Ophelia enters the play with her brother Laertes, who, in parting for school, bids her farewell and gives her advice regarding her relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia agrees to ab... ...-30.    Lehmann, Courtney and Lisa S. Starks. "Making Mother Matter: Repression, Revision, and the Stakes of 'Reading Psychoanalysis Into' Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet." Early Modern Literary Studies 6.1 (May, 2000): 2.1-24 <URL: http://purl.oclc.org/emls/06-1/lehmhaml.htm>.    Pennington, Michael. â€Å"Ophelia: Madness Her Only Safe Haven.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of â€Å"Hamlet†: A User’s Guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996.    Pitt, Angela. â€Å"Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint of Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.   

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010 A case discussion note January 17, 2012 1. Historically, why has the soft drink industry been so profitable? Historically, the soft carbonated soft drink (CSD) industry has been valued at $74 billion in the United States. In order to understand the reasons why the industry has been hugely profitable despite the ‘Cola Wars’, an examination of the CSD industry with Porter’s five forces analysis will be conducted. As market leaders, the analysis will be centred on both Coke and Pepsi (hereafter â€Å"C&P†). Threat of new competition: Barriers to entry in the CSD industry are extremely high and there are various factors to support this. Firstly, both C&P spend gargantuan amounts of funding of advertisement. According to Exhibit 8, in 2009 alone, both C&P spent $234 million and $145 million respectively in advertising expenditure. Therefore, while the actual initial capital investment needed to start up a CSD company is relatively economic, the amount required by new entrants to continually push their brand and gain visibility is extremely high. Due to these extreme levels of expenditure on marketing and brand awareness, the two cola companies have accrued exceedingly high levels of brand equity and consumer loyalty worldwide. As such, even with sufficient funds for start-up and subsequent advertising, new entrants are unlikely to sway persisting consumer tastes. Because of the sheer scale of both CSD companies, both C&P have pre-existing contracts with their bottlers, thus limiting their bottlers’ ability to produce similar products with rival brands. Additionally, through the use of extensive consolidation through the use of acquisitions and re-franchising of their bottlers, both C&P have made it essentially impossible for new entrants to find bottlers for the distribution of their drinks. In the event that the new entrants decide to build their own bottling plants (which is quoted to potentially cost hundreds of millions in the case), they would only find themselves facing insurmountable fixed start-up costs in addition to the ridiculous amount they have to spend on marketing. Even if new entrants somehow found a way to produce and market their drinks, the incumbents’ (C&P) far-reaching networks would make it impossible for them to secure any form of distribution channels. Shelf spaces in supermarkets were dominated by C&P because supermarkets were given a cut of the profit generated from the sales of their products. These cuts accumulate to a significant amount of profit-generation for the retailers. Additionally, combined, C&P owned 89% of national pouring rights. The fact that the incumbents had exclusivity in both supermarkets, fountain outlets, and other forms of retail channels would make it almost impossible for new entrants to distribute their products. Bargaining power of consumers: Historically, the two main customers of soft drink producers were supermarkets (29. 1% of distribution) and fountain outlets (23. 1%). In general, retail outlets have been unsuccessful in asserting much bargaining power over the industry. In part due to the level of fragmentation as well as their reliance on C&P as drivers of customer traffic. Longstanding contracts and acquisition of fountain outlets also serve to weaken consumer’s bargaining power. Bargaining power of suppliers: Major suppliers for C&P provided commodities in the form of cans, sugar, bottles, etc. These products were highly homogenous and could be substituted easily. The aluminium can industry, in particular, depended on firms like C&P because they were majority buyers. Due to such dependence, suppliers asserted little or no bargaining power over the industry. Intensity of competitive rivalry: Even though C&P are essentially a duopoly in the CSD industry, competition between the two have traditionally centred on marketing efforts like advertising, new products, and promotions rather than pricing. Their rivalry, historically, was also in a market with consistent growth. As such, profits were not adversely affected even though their rivalry was highly documented and publicised. Threat of substitutes: There are a number of alternative substitutes for soft drinks and these include beer, bottled water, tap water, juices, tea, coffee, wine, powdered drinks, milk, and distilled spirits. Yet, according to Exhibit 1, Americans, historically, consistently drank more CSDs than any other beverage. As such, the threat of substitutes affecting C&P’s profitability was limited. To further nullify the effects of substitutes, they also produced and promoted their own range of substitutes to reduce potential losses. 2. Compare the conomics of the concentrate business with that of the bottling business. Why is the profitability so different? Using data from Exhibit 4, we are able to see that the operating income of a concentrate producer is 32% of its net sales while that of a bottler is only 8%. The reason the bottling business earns significantly lesser than its concentrate counterpart can be attributed to two main factors – significantly higher cost of goods sold (COGS) and the existence of selling and delivery expense. We see that the COGS of a bottler are at 58%, much higher than the concentrate producer’s 22%. The reason for this difference is predominantly due to Master Bottler Contracts established to allow for a certain level of â€Å"price fixing† on the concentrate producers’ part. Additionally, as mentioned previously, raw materials for concentrate producers are abundant and homogenous; hence COGS for them will be significantly lower. Also, the bottler is in charge of selling and delivery, and hence incurs an 18% selling and delivery expense while there is no such expense on the concentrate producer’s part. These reasons explain why the concentrate business has a more profitable business model than the bottling business. . How has the growing popularity of non-carbonated soft drinks influenced the industry? Non-carbonated soft drinks have been gaining popularity in the past decade, increasing from 13% in 2000 to 17% in 2009. This growing popularity has resulted in the generation of both local and global strategies by CSD firms unwilling to lose out on the budding market. In order to capitalize on the opportunity, both C&P greatly expanded their lines of beverages to include sports drinks like Gatorade and tea-based drinks like Lipton. Majority of drinks introduced during this time were non-CSDs. Besides creating new products, Coke also aggressively gained market share through acquisitions and extending their fountain services to include coffee and tea. The non-CSD opportunities globally were also aggressively pursued by companies like C&P. To gain localized expertise, however, the soft drink companies did not merely think to introduce new products into foreign markets. Instead, they resorted to acquiring the respective market leading, non-CSD companies in the countries they chose to invest in. The companies of choice were usually major fruit juice producers. Beyond takeovers, C&P also tried their hands at innovation and localization of beverages. These mainly came in the form of integration of local drinks (e. g. blended green tea with Sprite) or utilization of local ingredients in the production of new drinks (e. g. beverages with Chinese herbs). The emergence and rapidly growing popularity of the non-CSD has garnered much retaliation from major players in the CSD industry. In order to get their share of the pie, they have formulated expansion strategies both locally and globally which seem to center around acquisition.

Wright Brothers First Fatal Airplane Crash

It had only been five years since Orville and Wilbur Wright made their famous flight at Kitty Hawk. By 1908, the Wright brothers were traveling across the United States and Europe in order to demonstrate their flying machine. Everything went well until that fateful day, September 17, 1908, which began with a cheering crowd of 2,000 and ended with pilot Orville Wright severely injured and passenger Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge dead. A Flight Exhibition Orville Wright had done this before. He had taken his first official passenger, Lt. Frank P. Lahm, into the air on September 10, 1908, at Fort Myer, Virginia. Two days later, Orville took another passenger, Major George O. Squier, up in the Flyer for nine minutes. These flights were part of an exhibition for the United States Army. The U.S. Army was considering purchasing the Wrights aircraft for a new military airplane. To get this contract, Orville had to prove that the airplane could successfully carry passengers. Though the first two trials had been successful, the third was to prove a catastrophe. Lift Off! Twenty-six-year-old Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge volunteered to be a passenger. A member of the Aerial Experiment Association (an organization headed by Alexander Graham Bell and in direct competition with the Wrights), Lt. Selfridge was also on the Army board that was assessing the Wrights Flyer at Fort Myers, Virginia. It was just after 5 p.m. on September 17, 1908, when Orville and Lt. Selfridge got into the airplane. Lt. Selfridge was the Wrights heaviest passenger thus far, weighing 175 pounds. Once the propellers were turned, Lt. Selfridge waved to the crowd. For this demonstration, approximately 2,000 people were present. The weights were dropped and the airplane was off. Out of Control The Flyer was up in the air. Orville was keeping it very simple and had successfully flown three laps over the parade ground at an altitude of approximately 150 feet. Then Orville heard light tapping. He turned and quickly looked behind him, but he didnt see anything wrong. Just to be safe, Orville thought he should turn off the engine and glide to the ground. But before Orville could shut off the engine, he heard two big thumps, which gave the machine a terrible shaking. The machine would not respond to the steering and lateral balancing levers, which produced a most peculiar feeling of helplessness. Something flew off the airplane. (It was later discovered to be a propeller.) Then the airplane suddenly veered right. Orville couldnt get the machine to respond. He shut off the engine. He kept trying to regain control of the airplane. . . . I continued to push the levers, when the machine suddenly turned to the left. I reversed the levers to stop the turning and to bring the wings on a level. Quick as a flash, the machine turned down in front and started straight for the ground. Throughout the flight, Lt. Selfridge had remained silent. A few times Lt. Selfridge had glanced at Orville to see Orvilles reaction to the situation. The airplane was about 75 feet in the air when it started a nose-dive to the ground. Lt. Selfridge let out a nearly inaudible Oh! Oh! The Crash Heading straight for the ground, Orville was not able to regain control. The Flyer hit the ground hard. The crowd was at first in silent shock. Then everyone ran over to the wreckage. The crash created a cloud of dust. Orville and Lt. Selfridge were both pinned in the wreckage. They were able to disentangle Orville first. He was bloody but conscious. It was harder to get Selfridge out. He too was bloody and had an injury to his head. Lt. Selfridge was unconscious. The two men were taken by stretcher to the nearby post hospital. Doctors operated on Lt. Selfridge, but at 8:10 p.m., Lt. Selfridge died from a fractured skull, without ever regaining consciousness. Orville suffered a broken left leg, several broken ribs, cuts on his head, and many bruises. Lt. Thomas Selfridge was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. He was the first man to die in an airplane. Orville Wright was released from the Army hospital on October 31. Though he would walk and fly again, Orville continued to suffer from fractures in his hip that had gone unnoticed at the time. Orville later determined that the crash was caused by a stress crack in the propeller. The Wrights soon redesigned the Flyer to eliminate the flaws that led to this accident. Sources Howard, Fred. Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers.  Alfred A. Knopf, 1987, New York.Prendergast, Curtis. The First Aviators. Time-Life Books, 1980, Alexandria, VA.Whitehouse, Arch. The Early Birds: The Wonders and Heroics of the First Decades of Flight. Doubleday Company, 1965, Garden City, NY.