“Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia

â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife† (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) This essay will look at Gabriel Garcia's Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Mariama Ba's So Long a letter in relation to the topic ‘Social and Economic Status as a bane of women Empowerment'. Gabriel Garcia and Mariama Ba in their works have depicted women's eagerness for social and economic status to empower themselves. Women were shown to have gone as far as destroying their children's happiness for their own desires and satisfactions. For example a number of them have used their daughters by marrying them off to men in possession of a good fortune, regardless of what their daughters felt about the men. The women in the forefront who were in the lookout for social and economic status to empower themselves were Pura Vicario from Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Binetou's and Ramatoulaye's mothers and Aunty Nabou, from So Long a Letter. However there are a number of women which were portrayed differently, namely, Ramatoulaye and Aissatou in So Long a Letter, and Alberta Simonds in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Women especially from especially lower class used their daughters as a mean of gaining social and economic status by marrying them off to wealthy men. Their views on their daughters' marriage entailed their own self-centeredness only. Pura Vicario for example in Chronicle of a Death Foretold forced her daughter, Angela Vicario, into marriage with San Bayardo, a very wealthy man; because she believed it would pull her out of poverty towards a more respectable upper class distinction. Angela was not only forced by her mother but also her sisters and when Angela told them that she does not love Bayardo, her mother silenced her by telling her that love can be learned too. â€Å"†¦her parents and her older sisters with their husbands, gathered together in the parlor, imposed on her the obligation to marry a man whom she had barely seen.† (Marquez 34) The twins stayed out of it saying that it looked to them like woman problems. That proves that it were the women in the family who were really concerned about Angela's marriage with Bayardo so that they could be empowered through gaining socio-economic status. However, their dreams of escaping from lower class and gaining socio-economic status came to an ultimate end when Bayardo returned her daughter after he found out that she was not a virgin. Pura saw her daughter's marriage with Bayardo as a golden chance to see herself better off socially and economically, which Pura lamented as they had missed it, all because of Angela who had premarital sex. Similarly, Binetou's mother in So Long a Letter also took advantage of her daughter Binetou. She quickly withdrew her daughter from studies to marry her off to Modou. In Modou she saw his wealth and believed that her daughter's marriage with Modou could empower her and uplift her socio-economic status. So, she also wanted to escape poverty and have socio-economic status as Daba, Ramatoulaye's daughter, described her â€Å"†¦her mother is a woman who wants so much to escape from mediocrity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ba, 36) She was satisfied by Modou's wealth, he promised her a villa, monthly allowance, jewels and a future trip to Mecca. But she made it seem like as if she was worried for the welfare of her daughter and her happiness but her frantic thoughts and tense nerves surrounded herself. She reasoned that it was best if her daughter married a man who could guarantee her a good life. However, it was apparent that she did not really care about her daughter as she did not take into consideration how her daughter felt about Modou and she did not care about her daughter's education either. She saw her welfare in wealth and financial stability, a man twice the age of her daughter or a man with already twelve children did not matter to Binetou's mother. So, it was evident that Binetou's mother's intentions were not for her daughter's good but rather for her own desire to empower herself by gaining socio-economic status. Ramatoulaye's mother also seemed to desire social and economic status. She also in a way preferred her daughter Ramatoulaye to choose wealth over love. She did not like her daughter's choice of Modou amid knowing that they both loved each other; she wanted her to marry Dauda Dieng because of his higher socio-economic status as opposed to Modou, since he was a doctor. Similarly, Aunty Nabou wanted her son Mawdo to marry someone from the same caste to upkeep the family's status. She totally regretted his marriage to a goldsmith's daughter Aissatou. Aunty Nabou saw her son, a man of higher caste marrying a blacksmith daughter, as a humiliation to her and a stain to her generation. Therefore, she decided to bring her brother, Farba Diouf's daughter Young Nabou to marry her with her son. She educated Nabou before forcing Mawdo to marry her telling him that she will die of shame in the society if he did not accept, so Mawdo accepted. She did so because she wanted to preserve her socio-economic status which she felt was under threat when her son chose to marry outside and someone from a lower caste. So, Aunty Nabou to preserve her social class disregarded her son's happiness which laid in Aissatou because he truly loved her and she loved him. However, Aunty Nabou did not see this, she only saw her as a goldsmith's daughter and hence she saw her socio-ec onomic status as of more importance than her son's happiness. The only people who stood out differently were Ramatoulaye and Aissatou in So Long a Letter and Albarta Simonds in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. They were the only characters who knew the importance of love in marriage and had put love prior to wealth or socio-economic status. They knew that marriage should consist of love, financial stability, and happiness, rather than just financial stability or socio-economic status. Ramatoulaye despite being proposed to by a millionaire Dauda, she went on to marry Modou whom she loved as she said â€Å"†¦ I preferred the man in the eternal khaki suit.† (Ba, 16) So she married considered love as of more importance than wealth. She refused Dauda even after Modou's death. She too could have opted to marry Dauda and escaped mediocrity and financial burden. Also, she could have enjoyed a higher socio-economic status than before by marrying Dauda, but she did not do so because she did not love him and she knew that this act of her would destroy another woman's life; the woman who was already married to Dauda. Ramatoulaye, herself was cheated by her husband and therefore knew how it feels, so she did not want to Dauda's current wife to go through the same as she was. Aissatou was also one of the few who knew the importance of love and happiness in marriage and had put love prior to wealth and socio-economic status. She divorced her husband Mawdo and went away when he took a second wife, Young Nabou, which shows that she did not want to share her husband and could not bear to see her husband with another woman in her house. That showed the importance of, love, financial stability, and happiness as a whole in marriage to Aissatou rather than financial stability or socio-economic status alone. Alberta Simonds, Bayardo's mother is the only woman who is seen to be completely different. Alberta did not resist her son's marriage to Angela who was not only someone from outside their generation but also someone from a lower caste. So, unlike Aunty Nabou in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Alberta did not see her son's marriage to Angela as a humiliation or threat to their social and economic status. Perhaps she was aware of son Bayardo's love for Angela and therefore she saw her as the right girl for him. In conclusion, it can be clearly seen social and economic status as a bane of women empowerment. Women sought of empowering themselves through social and economic status by marrying of their daughters to a man with good fortune. Their views on marriage of their daughters entailed their own self-centeredness as they were mainly concerned about their own selfish struggle and fears of financial stability and a secured future. Love was never a factor for the mothers in the marriage of their daughters; they did not care how their daughters' felt about the man. Mariama Ba and Gabriel Garcia show that those women strongly believed that a person's worthiness is not determined by personality or love but by wealth. The only importance they saw was financial stability and socio-economic status, unlike a few other characters that were aware of the importance of love, financial stability, and happiness as a whole.

Cory aquino Essay

Marà ­a Corazà ³n Sumulong â€Å"Cory† Cojuangco Aquino was born on January 25, 1933, in Paniqui, Tarlac, Marà ­a Corazà ³n â€Å"Cory† Sumulong Cojuangco was the fourth child of Josà © Cojuangco, Sr. and Demetria Sumulong. Her siblings were Pedro, Josephine, Teresita, Jose, Jr. and Maria Paz. Both Aquino’s parents came from prominent clans. Her father was a prominent Tarlac businessman and politician, and her great-grandfather, Melecio Cojuangco, was a member of the historic Malolos Congress. Her mother, Demetria, belonged to the Sumulong family of Rizal who were politically influential; Juan Sumulong, a prominent member of the clan, ran against Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon in 1941. As a young girl, she spent her elementary days at St. Scholastica’s College in Manila, where she graduated on top of her class and batch as valedictorian. For high school, she transferred toAssumption Convent for her first year of high school. Afterwards, she went to the United States to finish her secondary education. There she continued her college education. She went to theCollege of Mount Saint Vincent in New York City, where she majored in Mathematics and French. During her stay in the United States, Aquino volunteered for the campaign of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Thomas Dewey against then Democrat U.S. President Harry S. Truman during the 1948 U.S. Presidential Election. After graduating from college, she returned to the Philippines to study law at the Far Eastern University (owned by the in-laws of her elder sister, Josephine Reyes) for one year. She married Sen.Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., son of the late Speaker Benigno S. Aquino, Sr. and a grandson of General Servillano Aquino. The couple had five children: Marà ­a Elena (born August 18, 1955), Aurora Corazà ³n (born December 27, 1957), Benigno Simeon III (born February 8, 1960), Victoria Elisa (born October 27, 1961) and Kristina Bernadette (born February 14, 1971). Corazà ³n Aquino had difficulty initially adjusting to provincial life when she and her husband moved to Concepcion, Tarlac in 1955. Aquino found herself bored in Concepcion, and welcomed the opportunity to have dinner with her husband inside the American military facility at nearby Clark Field. A member of the Liberal Party, Aquino’s husband Ninoy rose to become the youngest  governor in the country and eventually became the youngest senator ever elected in the Senate of the Philippines in 1967. During her husband’s political career, Aquino remained a housewife who helped raise their children and played hostess to her spouse’s political allies who would frequent their Quezon City home. She would decline to join her husband on stage during campaign rallies, preferring instead to stand at the back of the audience and listen to him. Unknown to many, she voluntarily sold some of her prized inheritance to fund the candidacy of her husband. She led a modest existence in a bungalow in suburban Quezon City. Ninoy Aquino soon emerged as a leading critic of the government of President Ferdinand Marcos. He was then touted as a strong candidate for president to succeed Marcos in the 1973 elections. However, Marcos, being barred by the Constitution to seek a third term, declared martial law on September 21, 1972, and later abolished the existing 1935 Constitution, thereby allowing him to remain in office. As a consequence, her husband was among those to be first arrested at the onset of martial law, later being sentenced to death. During his incarceration, Ninoy sought strength from prayer, attending daily mass and saying the rosary three times a day. As a measure of sacrifice and solidarity with her husband and all other political prisoners, she enjoined her children from attending parties and she also stopped going to the beauty salon or buying new clothes until a priest advised her and her children to instead live as normal lives as possible. In 1978, despite her initial opposition, Ninoy decided to run in the 1978 Batasang Pambansa elections. A reluctant speaker, Corazà ³n Aquino campaigned in behalf of her husband, and for the first time in her life delivered a political speech. In 1980, upon the intervention of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Marcos allowed Senator Aquino and his family to leave for exile in the United States, where he sought medical treatment.[4] The family settled in Boston, and Aquino would later call the next three years as the happiest days of her marriage and family life. On August 21, 1983, however, Ninoy ended his stay in the United States and returned without his family to the Philippines, only to be assassinated on a staircase leading to the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, which was later renamed in his honor (see Assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr.). Corazà ³n Aquino returned to the Philippines a few days later and led her husband’s funeral procession, in  which more than two million people joined the procession. Following her husband’s assassination in 1983, Aquino became active and visible in various demonstrations and protests held against the Marcos regime. She began to assume the mantle of leadership left by her husband Ninoy and started to become the symbolic figurehead of the anti-Marcos political opposition. In the last week of November 1985, Marcos surprised the nation by announcing on American television that he would hold a snap presidential election in February 1986, in order to dispel and remove doubts against his regime’s legitimacy and authority. Reluctant at first, Aquino was eventually prevailed upon to heed the people’s clamor, after one million signatures urging her to run for president were presented to her. Despite this, the erstwhile favorite opposite candidate, Laurel, did not immediately give way to his close friend’s widow. Laurel was only convinced to run as Aquino’s Vice President upon the urging of the influential Manila Cardinal Archbishop Jaime Sin. As a compromise, Aquino agreed to run under Laurel’s machinery, the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO), then the country’s largest opposition party. With that, the Aquino-Laurel tandem was formally launched to challenge Marcos and finally put an end to his twenty-year martial rule. In the subsequent political developments and events, Marcos charged that Aquino was being supported by communists and agreed to share power with them once elected into power. A political novice, Aquino categorically denied Marcos’ charge and even stated that she would not appoint a single communist to her cabinet. Running on the offensive, the ailing Marcos also accused Aquino of playing â€Å"political football† with the United States with respect to the continued United States military presence in the Philippines at Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base. Further, the male strongman derided Aquino’s womanhood, by saying that she was â€Å"just a woman† whose place was in the bedroom. In response to her opponent’s sexist remark, Aquino simply remarked that â€Å"may the better woman win in this election.† Marcos also attacked Aquino’s inexperience and warned the country that it would be a disaster if a woman like her with no previous political experience would be elected president; to which Aquino cleverly and sarcastically responded, admitting that she had â€Å"no experience in cheating, lying to the public, stealing government money, and killing political opponents.† The snap election called by Marcos which was held on February 7, 1986 was marred by massive electoral fraud, violence, intimidation, coercion and disenfranchisement of voters. Election Day proved to be bloody as one of Aquino’s staunchest allies Antique Governor Evelio Javier was brutally murdered, allegedly by one of Marcos’ supporters in his province. Further, during the counting and tallying of votes conducted by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), 30 poll computer technicians walked out to dispute and contest the alleged election-rigging done in favor of Marcos. Despite this, the Batasang Pambansa, which was dominated by allies of the ruling party, declared President Marcos as the winner in the recently concluded snap presidential election on February 15, 1986. In protest to the declaration of the Philippine parliament, Aquino called for a rally dubbed â€Å"Tagumpay ng Bayan† (People’s Victory Rally) the following day, during which she claimed that she was the real winner in the snap election and urged Filipinos to boycott the products and services by companies controlled or owned by Marcos’ cronies. The rally held at the historic Rizal Park in Luneta, Manila drew a mammoth-sized crowd, which sent a strong signal that Filipinos were already growing tired of Marcos’ two decade-rule. Further, the dubious election results drew sharp reactions from both local quarters and foreign countries. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines issued a statement strongly criticizing the conduct of the election which was characterized by violence and fraud. The United States Senate condemned the election. Aquino rejected a power-sharing agreement proposed by the American diplomatPhilip Habib, who had been sent as an emissary by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to help defuse the tension. After weeks of tension following the disputed outcome of the snap election, disgruntled and reformist military officers, led by then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel V. Ramos, surprised the entire nation and the whole world when they announced their defection from President Marcos and their strong belief that Aquino was the real winner in the presidential election on February 22, 1986. Upon the urging and encouragement of the activist Cardinal Archbishop of Manila Jaime Sin, millions of Filipinos trooped to Camp Aguinaldo along Epifanio De los Santos Avenue (EDSA), where Enrile and Ramos have been holding operations, to give their moral support and prayers for the reformist soldiers. At that time, Aquino was meditating in a Carmelite convent in Cebu. Upon learning of the defection, Aquino called on  Filipinos to rally behind Minister Enrile and General Ramos. Later on, Aquino flew back to Manila in order to prepare to assume the presidency upon the ouster of Marcos. Finally, to the amazement and admiration of the entire world, after twenty years of martial rule, Ferdinand Marcos was driven out from power and Corazà ³n Aquino was formally and peacefully sworn in as the new president of a freed and liberated Philippines on February 25, 1986, a historic event which is now known and remembered as the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. In Presidency, the triumph of the peaceful People Power Revolution and the ascension of Corazà ³n Aquino into power signaled the end of authoritarian rule in the Philippines and the dawning of a new era for Filipinos. The relatively peaceful manner by which Aquino came into power drew international acclaim and admiration not only for her but for the Filipino people, as well. During the first months of Aquino’s presidency, the country experienced radical changes and sweeping democratic reforms. One of Aquino’s first moves was the creation of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which was tasked to go after the Marcos ill-gotten wealth. Aquino, being a revolutionary president by virtue of people power, abolished the 1973 â€Å"Marcos Constitution† and dissolved the Marcos allies-dominated Batasang Pambansa, despite the advice of her vice-president and only prime minister Salvador Laurel. She also immediately created a Constitutional Commission, which she directed for the drafting of a new constitution for the nation. Immediately after assuming the presidency, President Aquino issued Proclamation No. 3, which established a revolutionary government. She abolished the 1973 Constitution that was in force during martial law, and instead promulgated the provisional 1986 Freedom Constitution, pending the ratification of a new Constitution by the people. This allowed her to exercise both executive and legislative powers until the ratification of the new Philippine Constitution and the establishment of a new Congress in 1987. Aquino promulgated two landmark legal codes, namely, the Family Code of 1987, which reformed the civil law on family relations, and the Administrative Code of 1987, which reorganized the structure of the executive branch of government. Another landmark law that was enacted during her tenure was the 1991 Local  Government Code, which devolved national government powers to local government units (LGUs). The new Code enhanced the power of LGUs to enact local taxation measures and assured them of a share in the national revenue. Aquino closed down the Marcos-dominated Batasang Pambansa to prevent the new Marcos loyalist opposition from undermining her democratic reforms and reorganized the membership of the Supreme Court to restore its independence. In May 1986, the reorganized Supreme Court declared the Aquino government as â€Å"not merely a de facto government but in fact and law a de jure government†, whose legitimacy had been affirmed by the community of nations. This Supreme Court decision affirmed the status of Aquino as the rightful leader of the Philippines. To fast-track the restoration of a full constitutional government and the writing of a new charter, she appointed 48 members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission (â€Å"Con-Com†), led by retired activist Supreme Court Associate Justice Cecilia Muà ±oz-Palma. The Con-Com completed its final draft in October 1986. On February 2, 1987, the new Constitution of the Philippines, which put strong emphasis on civil liberties, human rights and social justice, was overwhelmingly approved by the Filipino people. As soon as she assumed the presidency of the Philippines, Aquino moved quickly to tackle the issue of the US$26 billion foreign debt incurred by her predecessor, which has badly tarnished the international credit standing and economic reputation of the country. After weighing all possible options such as choosing not to pay, Aquino eventually chose to honor all the debts that were previously incurred in order to clear the country’s image. Her decision proved to be unpopular but Aquino defended that it was the most practical move. It was crucial for the country at that time to regain the investors’ confidence in the Philippine economy. Since 1986, the Aquino administration has paid off $4 billion of the country’s outstanding debts to regain good international credit ratings and attract the attention of future markets. Nevertheless, the administration borrowed an additional $9 billion, increasing the national debt by $5 billion within six years time since the ouster of former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Further, recognizing how crony capitalism zapped out the economy due to collusion between government and big business and adhering to the Catholic social principle of subsidiarity, President Aquino set out on a course of market liberalization agenda while at the same time emphasizing solidarity, people  empowerment and civic engagement to help alleviate poverty in the country. The Aquino administration also sought to bring back fiscal discipline in order as it aimed to trim down the government’s budget deficit that ballooned during Marcos’ term through privatization of bad government assets and deregulation of many vital industries. As president, Aquino sought out to dismantle the cartels, monopolies and oligopolies of important industries that were set up by Marcos cronies during the dark days of Martial Law, particularly in the sugar and coconut industries. By discarding these monopolies and allowing market-led prices and competition, small farmers and producers were given a fair chance to sell their produce and products at a more reasonable, competitive and profitable price. This, in a way, also helped a lot in improving the lot of farmers who are in dire need of increasing their personal income and earnings. It was also during Aquino’s time that vital economic laws such as the Built-Operate-Transfer Law, Foreign Investments Act and the Consumer Protection and Welfare Act were enacted. The economy posted a positive growth of 3.4% during her first year in office. But in the aftermath of the 1989 coup attempt by the rightist Reform the Armed Forces Movement, the Philippine economy remained stagnant. In her final year in office, inflation was raging at 17%, and unemployment was slightly over 10%, higher than the Marcos years. Overall, the economy under Aquino had an average growth of 3.8% from 1986 to 1992. Soon after taking office, Aquino declared that the presence of US military forces in the Philippines was an affront to national sovereignty. She ordered the United States military to vacate U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay and Clark Air Base. The US objected, pointing that they had leased the property and the leases were still in effect. Also, thousands of Filipinos worked at these military facilities and they would lose their jobs and the Filipino economy would suffer if the US Military moved out. The US stated that the facilities at Subic Bay were unequaled anywhere in Southeast Asia and a US pull out could make all of that region of the world vulnerable to an incursion by the Soviet Union or by a resurgent Japan. She refused to back down and insisted that the USA get out. The matter was still being debated when Mount Pinatubo erupted in June 1991, covering the entire area with volcanic ash. The destruction to the bases was so severe that the US decided that it would best to pull out after all, so the bases were closed and the United States  departed. President Aquino envisioned agrarian and land reform as the centerpiece of her administration’s social legislative agenda. However, her family background and social class as a privileged daughter of a wealthy and landed clan became a lightning rod of criticisms against her land reform agenda. On February 22, 1987, three weeks after the resounding ratification of the 1987 Constitution, agrarian workers and farmers marched to the historic Mendiola Street near the Malacaà ±an Palace to demand genuine land reform from Aquino’s administration. However, the march turned violent when Marine forces fired at farmers who tried to go beyond the designated demarcation line set by the police. As a result, 12 farmers were killed and 19 were injured in this incident now known as the Mendiola Massacre. This incident led some prominent members of the Aquino Cabinet to resign their government posts. In response to calls for agrarian reform, President Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order 229 on July 22, 1987, which outlined her land reform program, which included sugar lands. In 1988, with the backing of Aquino, the new Congress of the Philippines passed Republic Act No. 6657, more popularly known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.† The law paved the way for the redistribution of agricultural lands to tenant-farmers from landowners, who were paid in exchange by the government through just compensation but were also allowed to retain not more than five hectares of land. However, corporate landowners were also allowed under the law to â€Å"voluntarily divest a proportion of their capital stock, equity or participation in favor of their workers or other qualified beneficiaries†, in lieu of turning over their land to the government for redistribution. Despite the flaws in the law, the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality in 1989, declaring that the implementation of the comprehensive agrarian reform program provided by the said law, was â€Å"a revolutionary kind of expropriation.† Despite the implementation of CARP, Aquino was not spared from the controversies that eventually centered on Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare estate located in the Province of Tarlac, which she, together with her siblings inherited from her father Jose Cojuangco (Don Pepe) Critics argued that Aquino bowed to pressure from relatives by allowing stock redistribution under Executive Order 229. Canadian International Prize for Freedom, International Democracy Award from the International Association of Political Consultants on 1986. Prize For Freedom Award from Liberal International on 1987. In 1993 she achieved the Special Peace Award from the Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Awards Foundation and Concerned Women of the Philippines. She also achieved Path to Peace Award on 1995. J. Willia Fullbright Prize for International Understanding from the U.S Department of State. Also Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding and Pearl S. Buck on 1998. In 1999, she achieved One of Time Magazine’s 20 Most Influential Asians of the 20th Century. World Citizenship Award on 2001. In 2005, she also achieved the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Awards and One of the World’s Elite Women Who Make a Difference by the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame. One of Time Magazine’s 65 Asian Heroes on 2006. One of Different View’s 15 Champions of World Democracy on 2008. Aquino also achieved the EWC Asia Pacific Community Building Award, Women’s International Center International Leadership Living Legacy Award, Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize, and United Nations Development Fund for Women Noel Foundation Life Award.

Part Two Chapter VI

VI ‘The fuck have you done to your face? Come off the bike again?' asked Fats. ‘No,' said Andrew. ‘Si-Pie hit me. I was trying to tell the stupid cunt he'd got it wrong about Fairbrother.' He and his father had been in the woodshed, filling the baskets that sat on either side of the wood-burner in the sitting room. Simon had hit Andrew around the head with a log, knocking him into the pile of wood, grazing his acne-covered cheek. D'you think you know more about what goes on than I do, you spotty little shit? If I hear you've breathed a word of what goes on in this house – I haven't – I'll fucking skin you alive, d'you hear me? How do you know Fairbrother wasn't on the fiddle too, eh? And the other fucker was the only one dumb enough to get caught? And then, whether out of pride or defiance, or because his fantasies of easy money had taken too strong a hold on his imagination to become dislodged by facts, Simon had sent in his application forms. Humiliation, for which the whole family would surely pay, was a certainty. Sabotage. Andrew brooded on the word. He wanted to bring his father crashing down from the heights to which his dreams of easy money had raised him, and he wanted to do it, if at all possible (for he preferred glory without death), in such a way that Simon would never know whose manoeuvrings had brought his ambitions to rubble. He confided in nobody, not even Fats. He told Fats nearly everything, but the few omissions were the vast topics, the ones that occupied nearly all his interior space. It was one thing to sit in Fats' room with hard-ons and look up ‘girl-on-girl action' on the internet: quite another to confess how obsessively he pondered ways of engaging Gaia Bawden in conversation. Likewise, it was easy to sit in the Cubby Hole and call his father a cunt, but never would he have told how Simon's rages turned his hands cold and his stomach queasy. But then came the hour that changed everything. It started with nothing more than a yearning for nicotine and beauty. The rain had passed off at last, and the pale spring sun shone brightly on the fish-scale dirt on the school-bus windows as it jerked and lurched through the narrow streets of Pagford. Andrew was sitting near the back, unable to see Gaia, who was hemmed in at the front by Sukhvinder and the fatherless Fairbrother girls, newly returned to school. He had barely seen Gaia all day and faced a barren evening with only stale Facebook pictures to console him. As the bus approached Hope Street, it struck Andrew that neither of his parents was at home to notice his absence. Three cigarettes that Fats had given him resided in his inside pocket; and Gaia was getting up, holding tightly to the bar on the back of the seat, readying herself to descend, still talking to Sukhvinder Jawanda. Why not? Why not? So he got up too, swung his bag over his shoulder, and when the bus stopped walked briskly up the aisle after the two girls as they got out. ‘See you at home,' he threw out to a startled Paul as he passed. He reached the sunny pavement and the bus rumbled away. Lighting up, he watched Gaia and Sukhvinder over the top of his cupped hands. They were not heading towards Gaia's house in Hope Street, but ambling up towards the Square. Smoking and scowling slightly in unconscious imitation of the most unself-conscious person he knew – Fats – Andrew followed them, his eyes feasting on Gaia's copper-brown hair as it bounced on her shoulder blades, the swing of her skirt as her hips swayed beneath it. The two girls slowed down as they approached the Square, advancing towards Mollison and Lowe, which had the most impressive fa;ade of them all: blue and gold lettering across the front and four hanging baskets. Andrew hung back. The girls paused to examine a small white sign pasted to the window of the new cafe, then disappeared into the delicatessen. Andrew walked once around the Square, past the Black Canon and the George Hotel, and stopped at the sign. It was a hand-lettered advertisement for weekend staff. Hyperconscious of his acne, which was particularly virulent at the moment, he knocked out the end of his cigarette, put the long stub back into his pocket and followed Gaia and Sukhvinder inside. The girls were standing beside a little table piled high with boxed oatcakes and crackers, watching the enormous man in the deerstalker behind the counter talking to an elderly customer. Gaia looked around when the bell over the door tinkled. ‘Hi,' Andrew said, his mouth dry. ‘Hi,' she replied. Blinded by his own daring, Andrew walked nearer, and the school bag over his shoulder bumped into the revolving stand of guides to Pagford and Traditional West Country Cooking. He seized the stand and steadied it, then hastily lowered his bag. ‘You after a job?' Gaia asked him quietly, in her miraculous London accent. ‘Yeah,' he said. ‘You?' She nodded. ‘Flag it up on the suggestion page, Eddie,' Howard was booming at the customer. ‘Post it on the website, and I'll get it on the agenda for you. Pagford Parish Council – all one word – dot co, dot UK, slash, Suggestion Page. Or follow the link. Pagford †¦' He reiterated slowly, as the man pulled out paper and a pen with a quivering hand ‘†¦ Parish †¦' Howard's eyes flicked over the three teenagers waiting quietly beside the savoury biscuits. They were wearing the half-hearted uniform of Winterdown, which permitted so much laxity and variation that it was barely a uniform at all (unlike that of St Anne's, which comprised a neat tartan skirt and a blazer). For all that, the white girl was stunning; a precision-cut diamond set off by the plain Jawanda daughter, whose name Howard did not know, and a mouse-haired boy with violently erupted skin. The customer creaked out of the shop, the bell tinkled. ‘Can I help you?' Howard asked, his eyes on Gaia. ‘Yeah,' she said, moving forwards. ‘Um. About the jobs.' She pointed at the small sign in the window. ‘Ah, yes,' said Howard, beaming. His new weekend waiter had let him down a few days previously; thrown over the cafe for Yarvil and a supermarket job. ‘Yes, yes. Fancy waitressing, do you? We're offering minimum wage – nine to half-past five, Saturdays – twelve to half-past five, Sundays. Opening two weeks from today; training provided. How old are you, my love?' She was perfect, perfect, exactly what he had been imagining: fresh-faced and curvy; he could just imagine her in a figure-hugging black dress with a lace-edged white apron. He would teach her to use the till, and show her around the stockroom; there would be a bit of banter, and perhaps a little bonus on days when the takings were up. Howard sidled out from behind the counter and, ignoring Sukhvinder and Andrew, took Gaia by the upper arm, and led her through the arch in the dividing wall. There were no tables and chairs there yet, but the counter had been installed and so had a tiled black and cream mural on the wall behind it, which showed the Square in Yesteryear. Crinolined women and men in top hats swarmed everywhere; a brougham carriage had drawn up outside a clearly marked Mollison and Lowe, and beside it was the little cafe, The Copper Kettle. The artist had improvised an ornamental pump instead of the war memorial. Andrew and Sukhvinder were left behind, awkward and vaguely antagonistic to each other. ‘Yes? Can I help you?' A stooping woman with a jet-black bouffant had emerged from out of a back room. Andrew and Sukhvinder muttered that they were waiting, and then Howard and Gaia reappeared in the archway. When he saw Maureen, Howard dropped Gaia's arm, which he had been holding absent-mindedly while he explained to her what a waitress's duties would be. ‘I might have found us some more help for the Kettle, Mo,' he said. ‘Oh, yes?' said Maureen, switching her hungry gaze to Gaia. ‘Have you got experience?' But Howard boomed over her, telling Gaia all about the delicatessen and how he liked to think it was a bit of a Pagford institution, a bit of a landmark. ‘Thirty-five years, it's been,' said Howard, with a majestic disdain of his own mural. ‘The young lady's new to town, Mo,' he added. ‘And you two are after jobs as well, are you?' Maureen asked Sukhvinder and Andrew. Sukhvinder shook her head; Andrew made an equivocal movement with his shoulders; but Gaia said, with her eyes on the girl, ‘Go on. You said you might.' Howard considered Sukhvinder, who would most certainly not appear to advantage in a tight black dress and frilly apron; but his fertile and flexible mind was firing in all directions. A compliment to her father – something of a hold over her mother – an unasked favour granted; there were matters beyond the purely aesthetic that ought, perhaps, to be considered here. ‘Well, if we get the business we're expecting, we could probably do with two,' he said, scratching his chins with his eyes on Sukhvinder, who had blushed unattractively. ‘I don't †¦' she said, but Gaia urged her. ‘Go on. Together.' Sukhvinder was flushed, and her eyes were watering. ‘I †¦' ‘Go on,' whispered Gaia. ‘I †¦ all right.' ‘We'll give you a trial, then, Miss Jawanda,' said Howard. Doused in fear, Sukhvinder could hardly breathe. What would her mother say? ‘And I suppose you're wanting to be potboy, are you?' Howard boomed at Andrew. Potboy? ‘It's heavy lifting we need, my friend,' said Howard, while Andrew blinked at him nonplussed: he had only read the large type at the top of the sign. ‘Pallets into the stockroom, crates of milk up from the cellar and rubbish bagged up at the back. Proper manual labour. Do you think you can handle that?' ‘Yeah,' said Andrew. Would he be there when Gaia was there? That was all that mattered. ‘We'll need you early. Eight o'clock, probably. We'll say eight till three, and see how it goes. Trial period of two weeks.' ‘Yeah, fine,' said Andrew. ‘What's your name?' When Howard heard it, he raised his eyebrows. ‘Is your father Simon? Simon Price?' ‘Yeah.' Andrew was unnerved. Nobody knew who his father was, usually. Howard told the two girls to come back on Sunday afternoon, when the till was to be delivered, and he would be at liberty to instruct them; then, though he showed an inclination to keep Gaia in conversation, a customer entered, and the teenagers took their chance to slip outside. Andrew could think of nothing to say once they found themselves on the other side of the tinkling glass door; but before he could marshal his thoughts, Gaia threw him a careless ‘bye', and walked away with Sukhvinder. Andrew lit up the second of Fats' three fags (this was no time for a half-smoked stub), which gave him an excuse to remain stationary while he watched her walk away into the lengthening shadows. ‘Why do they call him â€Å"Peanut†, that boy?' Gaia asked Sukhvinder, once they were out of earshot of Andrew. ‘He's allergic,' said Sukhvinder. She was horrified at the prospect of telling Parminder what she had done. Her voice sounded like somebody else's. ‘He nearly died at St Thomas's; somebody gave him one hidden in a marshmallow.' ‘Oh,' said Gaia. ‘I thought it might be because he had a tiny dick.' She laughed, and so did Sukhvinder, forcing herself, as though jokes about penises were all she heard, day in, day out. Andrew saw them both glance back at him as they laughed, and knew that they were talking about him. The giggling might be a hopeful sign; he knew that much about girls, anyway. Grinning at nothing but the cooling air, he walked off, school bag over his shoulder, cigarette in his hand, across the Square towards Church Row, and thence to forty minutes of steep climbing up out of town to Hilltop House. The hedgerows were ghostly pale with white blossom in the dusk, blackthorn blooming on either side of him, celandine fringing the lane with tiny, glossy heart-shaped leaves. The smell of the flowers, the deep pleasure of the cigarette and the promise of weekends with Gaia; everything blended together into a glorious symphony of elation and beauty as Andrew puffed up the hill. The next time Simon said ‘got a job, Pizza Face?' he would be able to say ‘yes'. He was going to be Gaia Bawden's weekend workmate. And, to cap it all, he knew at last exactly how he might plunge an anonymous dagger straight between his father's shoulder blades.

Foundation of Criminal Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Foundation of Criminal Law - Assignment Example Recklessness may constitute offenses that involve considerable danger to another person or against property. N.P. Metcalfe and A.J. Ashworth, in their case commentary, Arson: mens rea - recklessness whether property destroyed or damaged’ (2004) Crim L R 369, analyse and critically evaluate the decisions of the House of Lords in R v G [2003] UKHL 50; [2004] 1 A.C. 1034 and R. v Caldwell (James) [1982] A.C. 341. This paper will briefly identify the key arguments that were advanced in the commentary and discuss whether Metcalfe and Ashworth’s critical evaluation of the tow decisions is persuasively argued. In the case of R v Caldwell, Metcalfe and Ashworth comment that throughout the judgement of R v Caldwell, Lord Diplock appeared to only address his mind to the class of defendant who would normally have the capacity of foreseeing the risk. They thus argue that this narrow focus in the case is what subsequently led to the arising of the problems in this case. They further comment that the House of Lords did not consider particular classes of defendant who would not be able to foresee any risk, even though they could have been asked to think about foreseeing. Metcalfe and Ashworth also made a commentary in the decision of the House of Lords relating to mens rea and which was quite related to the case of R v Caldwell; this was the case of R v G. In this case, the issue was whether the children of eight or more years are able to have an understanding of the difference between right and wrong, and if the test of â€Å"obviousness† might operate fairly for the defendants who were of 11 and 12 years age if they were held to similar standard as reasonable adults. 4 The House of Lords in this respect stated that a person can be considered to act â€Å"recklessly† if: he is in a circumstance that he is aware that a risk will or exists; in a result when he is aware that a risk will happen; and if it occurs to him that it is unreasonable to take risk, in circumstances that are known to him.5 Moreover, in their commentary, Metcalfe and Ashworth noted how the House of Lords in R v G departed from the House of Lords’ decision in R v Caldwell. Metcalfe and Ashworth argue that Lord Diplock’s ruling in R v Caldwell could not be supported by statutory interpretations, as both Lord Bingham and Lord Steyn clearly spelt out in R v G. Besides, they comment that the considerations in R v Caldwell not only misinterpreted the statute, but also went against the principle that require subjective mens rea for serious crime conviction, and which led to unfair results that may not be either just or moral. They also point out how application of the decision in R v Caldwell would amount to injustice as it violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.6 Metcalfe and Ashworth acknowledge in their commentary that the meaning of â€Å"recklessness† cannot only be applied in the Criminal Damage Act as had seemed to be implied in R v Caldwell. They note that Lord Bingham in the case of R v G though that Lord Diplock and other majority members in R v Caldwell were so set in the course to an extent that they cou ld not have reached a different outcome regarding the case involving the capacity of children and young persons. Metcalfe and Ashworth argue that their was stubbornness in the interpretation of â€Å"reckless† in R v Caldwell and other similar cases in 1980s, a

The major operating system and network you are using on a daily basis Essay

The major operating system and network you are using on a daily basis - Essay Example First a cable based on CAT6a ( Able Infrastructure Solutions, n.d.) 1 Gbps switched network. The Second is an 802.11n wireless (Wi-Fi) network. Both networks are configured with Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP) (TCP/IP), Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPV4). (Brookshear, et al., 2011) The operating system and network are adequately designed and developed to perform their tasks in our environment. †¢ Windows OS allows for quick develop of wide and varied multithread applications. Ability to support a wide variety of hardware devices through device drivers is important in a hospital setting as is an interactive user experience through use of a GUI interface. †¢ Combining a star and bus network topology creates a scalable network, with the ability to maintain a requirement for low amounts of down time encase of failure of devices. (Brookshear, et al., 2011) The advantages outweigh and disadvantages the Windows OS bring can be summarised as: †¢ The advantages are outweigh such as quicker support for newer hardware, vendors availability of readymade applications and varied devices available that work with Windows vs. other OS’s (MNS Group, 2012) †¢ Ability to be adapted and access to a wide support knowledge base to fix problems or issues A few highlighted disadvantages to the Windows OS are: †¢ Vulnerability to frequent virus or security attacks. Microsoft does offer regular security updates to protect against vulnerabilities. †¢ Closed source single source for procuring creates high acquisition cost for this OS. †¢ Variable hardware implementation compatibilities can create high support workload (RJ Systems, 2010) (Stallings, 2005)

Baw2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Baw2 - Essay Example D. & Donghyun, P. (eds). London, UK: World Scientific Publishing. 25 Sanchez, V. (May, 2006). â€Å"A Comparison of EU-NAFTA Integration Regimes: From a Trade Bloc to an Institutional Development Model† [PDF]. Available at (Accessed: April 11, 2010). 25 Vega-Canovas, G. (1999) â€Å"NAFTA and the EU: Towards Convergence?† in Regional integration and democracy: expanding on the European experience by Anderson, J. J. (ed). Oxford, England: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 25 Young, S. (1998). â€Å"Globalism and regionalism: complements or competitors?† in International economic integration: critical perspectives on the World economy by Jovanović, M. N. (ed). London, UK: Routledge. 25 Soon after the wave of liberalisation pulled down the iron walls that various economies had built around themselves, the idea of conjuring trade blocs leapt up. Liberalisation had wiped out all notions which went against international trade and had highlighted upon the advantages that the participating nations could draw from it. It discouraged the past policies of implementing barriers to trade through unnecessary imposition of quotas and tariffs. Hence, a natural consequence of the measure had been the availability of a wider basket of consumption goods and eventually, a rise in the average standard of living (Jenkins, 2000). But one point that had been almost ignored at the time was that, opening up of the economies also made them susceptible to various external disruptions, so that the contagion effect which had been negligible so far, now became a significant problem. As the adjoining graph, capturing fluctuations in the economic growth rate of the world, would reveal, the dist urbances had been wider post 1990s than they had been in the period prior to that. The peaks and trenches in the growth rate are clearly evident, signifying that the economies

Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-Political Change Essay

Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-Political Change - Essay Example This mainly related to the Barbarian tribes and, to some extent, other empires. The interactions were mainly given as the cause for the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the first period of happenings that were considered to be the Dark Age. There is an overall perspective in our society that reflects the way of life. Politics, which include the method through which a given group of people are governed, is diverse and varies from one society to the other. Soci-political changes therefore reflect the general changes in the ways of life. Such changes are normally associated with certain aspects of doing things and the historical perspectives that shape our ways of life (Cioffi-Revilla 2005). It is normally crucial for people to revisit some paradigms that underline the collective thinking and action that various leadership styles reflect in our society. During periods of crisis certain methodologies are employed to solve the problems that exist. The need to revisit some of the paradigms that underlie collective action and thinking always occur. A large body of theoretical and empirical research has attempted to confirm that societies strive politically and economically whenever they are able to build strong non-state actors that foster community organizations. Every society has the potential to contribute in various ways to the common good of humanity. According to Burger (681-604), there is the possibility of the existence of the production of negative social capital by individuals who do not cooperate in doing what is commonly good for the entire society. Any attempt to analyze politics in antiquity normally presents various new opportunities for both political and international relations. Governance is done through institutions of leadership that are put up to ensure that services reach the target subjects and efficient leadership is practiced. The term polity is normally

Compare and contrast two, current commercial strategies from different Essay - 1

Compare and contrast two, current commercial strategies from different corporate organisations operating in different industries - Essay Example The commercial strategies are noted to be the strategic specifications that helps in developing the overall credibility of a company to perform and even helps it to develop operations specifically from the initial production to final needs. The maintenance of a commercial strategy enhances the ability of an organisation to manage the various operations and maintain its sustainable growth and development (Duquette, Kotler, McClelland, Ranjan & Zimmerman, 2014). In this context, it can be inferred that many organisations are incorporating commercial strategies to enhance the ability of the organisations to perform. Based on this context, the paper elaborates on the incorporation of the commercial strategies adopted by McDonalds Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation. The paper compares and contrasts the strategies used by the two companies to develop their sustainable domain. Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese based automobile company that has enhanced its hold across the globe and is entitled to be the first automobile company that has the ability to produce 10 billion cars a year. The company was instituted in the year 1937 and it deals with luxury cars and commercial vehicles. The company has developed its sustainable domain based on the effective management of strategies and efficient use of resources (Nkomo, n.d.). The strengths of the company are observed to be the strong holds on the market and brand recognition that the company has in the global market. The strong focus on the Research and Development (R&D) has been enhancing the market share and developing its brand image in the global market. Furthermore, with an extensive network all across the globe, the company has enhanced their level of consumer satisfactions and further developed their brand loyalty (Nkomo, n.d.). Irrespective of the massive global presence and enormous brand image, the company has been facing fall in sales. This could be

Solar cooling technology in football stadiums Dissertation

Solar cooling technology in football stadiums - Dissertation Example It is this hint that brought about the cooling technology utilizing solar energy which could be applied in large capacity buildings i. e football stadiums. According to Solar power energy generation, (2010) solar energy will be the main source of power generation in the turn of the century. Aside the fact that the use of solar energy could be by far cheaper than the use of fuels or biofuels in certain technological operations, for the very fact that sunlight is not paid for, we must also take note that strength of the source is strong as the sun emanates over 15 million degrees Kelvin or about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit degrees of heat per minute ( NASA Cosmicopia,2009 ). But it is noteworthy to observe that the application or working process of this technology could be very complicated and needs accuracy in other to function properly and adequately. Now Qater has chosen to utilize the cooling technology by way of solar energy to generate cool air in its large capacity stadiums in the 2022 FIFA World cup. The first of the kind to be hosted in the middle east. This is the biggest challenge of the century for a small country like Qater who are determined to conquer the summer heat and make the atmosphere chilling and comfortable for people all over the world who will be at the tournament. Most of such people are Europeans who are used to cold and cool weather. At the same time Qatar has decided to reduce cost by employing this technology. But I must forewarn before we delve in depth into this research work, that if the subject matter is not understood properly, if the rudiments and nitty gritties of the technology are not clearly explained, if the step by step process of the workability of the technology are not clearly defined, if the dimensions of operations as projected by Qater sports development ministry are not accurately modified etc. this could lead to an unnecessary waste of taxpayers money and could be the most fatal mistake made by a Nation in recen t times. That is why a lot of time will be taken to explain the step by step process of the technology from various perspectives and works of authorities before i draw my conclusion and master plan. Thus the work will be divided into three broad parts. The first part will focus on the overall technology, the second part will focus on its application in Qater, in this part the following will be clearly explained though with stronger and more professional terminologies: 1- Solar Harvesting. 2- Storage. 3- Heat Conversion. 4- Cold Storage. 5- Chilled Air Delivery. The third part will show by picturesque diagrams, how the newly modified concepts will be pragmatic in its application. At the end of the research, the following will be accurately and professionally achieved: an improvement in the design concept with product design specification (PDS), accurate calculation such as the energy required for the stadium etc. Lastly this research will put forward the following in both a descripto ry and an analytic form for easy application by the end user i.e. †¢ Focus on low energy concepts to create thermal comfort. †¢ Apply innovative, green, highly efficient cooling technology. †¢ Produce electrical energy by integrated photovoltaic systems. The Objectives of the study which are as follows will be clearly and precisely achieved: - Introducing the new cooling technology. - Applying the cooling system into the outdoor stadiums. -

Food chain lesson plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Food chain lesson plan - Essay Example Ask questions as: Name the animals which that eat plants. Name the animals that eat other animals. Name the animals that eat both plants and animals. Name the decomposers. Explain the importance of decomposers. Explain why plants are essential for us. Ask them to think what will happen if all the plants from the Earth are removed. Who is going to be affected and why? Is life possible without plants? Day 3: Introduce the concept of food chain. Introduce the concept of source of energy, and how energy flows, sun -> grass-> cow -> human. Day 4: Introduce activity. Provide the students with a set of cards having organisms, plants and animals. Explain them the colour code, write on the board: green = producers, yellow = herbivores, red = carnivores, orange = omnivores, blue = decomposers. Ask them to arrange as per the food chain. Day 5: Introduce the concept of food web. How one animal can be eaten up by some other. Ask them to link the organisms, let them run their imaginations and shou ld come up with the answers. Give them home work to think how animals and plants could be related with each other in one chain or in multiple chains forming a web called food web. Week 2 Day 1: Introduce the concept of energy. Ask the students why there are more grass and trees then animals? For e.g.

The IT infrastructure Essay Example for Free

The IT infrastructure Essay Integrated Distributors Incorporated is facing a lot of challenges. The IT infrastructure has a lot of outdated hardware and software in multiple locations. This greatly increases security risks and exposes confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Some network compromises have ensued due to the outdated hardware and software. Sensitive and strategic information has been leaked to the public and it is time we put an end to this. End users are the number one security risk and must be dealt with first. In order to accomplish this goal, the company will need to replace the old, outdated systems with new, up-to-date systems. Dell is the optimal company to pursue these systems as they have a full support system that comes with the workstations. All networking components will need to be upgraded next as the current system is not very secure or reliable. I suggest going with a full cisco infrastructure and maintaining physical security by putting all of the switches in racks. Upgrading the infrastructure to a unified cisco presence will also scale into phone systems as well with VOIP options. This will also allow a unified presence with instant messenger and meetings online as well. A Cisco VPN will also be installed for remote access controls. The entirety of the network will have to be protected with Barracuda Firewalls as the threat to intrusion is rather high judging the frequency of the preceding attacks. The company will need to do a cost management analysis to this, however from my understanding, with the increased efficiency; we will be looking to come out on top after a three year return of investment on this purchase. I fully recommend we look at putting a honeypot somewhere in the DMZ so we can monitor how hackers attempt to gain access and thwart their efforts in the future. The Warsaw, Poland location, we must find a new proxy server to replace the IBM Infinity hardened server. The decentralization of all file servers and application servers will need to halt. Virtualization will need to be implemented over the first year to gain stability over the market with our products. I nominate we rent space from RackSpace in two separate locations to gain redundancy and minimize our latency in the event that  customers attempt to connect from a different location. RackSpace has extremely tight security and without authorization, access is not granted. The locations for RackSpace will be Dallas and Chicago as they are far apart and both locations are not as susceptible to the elements as other locations. Virtual hosting solutions will be set up in both locations and a full 100mbps MPLS circuit will be needed for replication purposes. A bulk of the hosting will be done from Dallas and most of the backup servers and replication hosts will be in Chicago just in case of a power outage within Dallas. An intrusion detection system will need to be set up to find intruders and alert IT staff to lock down the network. In order to prevent them from getting in, we will need to have an intrusion prevention system as well. The intrusion detection system will be set up to send e-mail messages to each network engineer. I also nominate removing Mareck from the Information Technology department and finding him a more suitable position as he is not fit for the position he is currently holding. All software that is currently being used will need to be researched and replacements will need to be found. We must find another software vendor to replace Oracle financials for accounting and financial systems, Logisuite 4.2.2, and RouteSim. All patching for computers and servers will need to be done manually and never automatically. All automatic updates will need to be turned off as they can potentially cause an outage. The information technology team will determine when patching will take place and send an e-mail stating when it needs to be done. In conclusion, IDI has a lot to do in order to secure their data. The cost effective and efficient manner is a very difficult solution, however the payoff is way better.

The Pros and Cons of Legalizing Marijuana Essay Example for Free

The Pros and Cons of Legalizing Marijuana Essay In 2010 an estimated 443,000 people died prematurely from smoking tobacco or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8. 6 million live with a serious illness caused by smoking. Despite these risks, approximately 46. 6 million U. S. adults smoke cigarettes. Alcohol use last year led to 14,406 alcoholic liver disease deaths and 23,199 other alcohol related deaths excluding accidents and homicides. Alcohol Use, 2009) Despite these alarming statistics, these substances remain legal and socially acceptable while marijuana, which has never killed anyone anywhere, is illegal, remains classified as a stage one controlled substance, which likens it to killer drugs such as LSD, and heroin, both so lethal you could die with a single use. Why is it socially acceptable to use substances, which kill thousands a year while a plant that is practically a miracle drug remains portrayed as one of the most dangerous substances, known to man? In this paper, we will look at the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana the financial impact as well as the effects it would have on industry. We will also look at social impact caused by legalizing marijuana can it be socially acceptable. Alcohol and tobacco continually kill people by the thousands and yet remain legal, why then is marijuana, a drug that has never killed a single person still illegal. The declaration of independence and the constitution of the United States of America are written on hemp paper there were even laws on the subject of marijuana before that. America’s first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619 it ordered all farmers to grow Indian hempseed there were several other must grow laws over the next 200 years. You would be imprisoned for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767, and during that time hemp was legal tender you could even pay your taxes with hemp. The United States Census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp plantations growing cannabis hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling cotton (Census of population and housing, 1850). The American people have been using marijuana since before we were the mighty nation we are today in fact Americans have been consuming all types of narcotics for many years cocaine and opium used to be available for purchase over the counter. Marijuana is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa the main active biochemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC for short (The National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010). People have been using marijuana for many different things throughout history it has over a thousand uses from making fabric and ropes to helping sick people regain their appetite yet in our society, it remains illegal. Marijuana is the most commonly used drug. According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 104 million Americans aged 12 or older have tried marijuana at least once in their lifetimes, representing 41. 5% of the U. S. population in that age group (The National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010). The number of past year marijuana users in 2009 was approximately 28. 5 million (11. 3% of the population aged 12 or older) and the number of past month marijuana users was 16. 7 million (6. 6%). 2 that is a very large percentage of the population. (The National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010) These numbers clearly show that many people use and seem to like marijuana and with all of this consumption, one would think that there would be at least one reported case of a marijuana-induced fatality but there is none. Marijuana has many uses besides its chemical properties there is even a European organization dedicated to it industrial uses. Industrial hemp has many different uses; we are capable of weaving the fibers into fabric to make clothing, also pressing it into paper, or even a plastic like material that amazingly has ten times the impact strength steel. It would also replace many of the everyday medications we use, it is great for headaches or muscles pain and most upset stomach symptoms. It has also been shown to help alleviate some troubles discomfort that can occur while taking chemotherapy and when living with HIV or AIDS. Â  So much so that pharmaceutical companies have been developing synthetic types of THC hoping to corner the market but since marijuana contains more than just THC the results have not been as operant. Many people use cannabis therapeutically when they are living with HIV or AIDS but there is not enough data to show exactly how they benefit from the cannabis. Another study done using 332 young adult females from Southern New England showed that it could be used to relieve stress and tension caused by menstrual cramps and helped reduce anxiety in some. (De Dios, et al. 2010)All that is known is that it helps them have a better quality of life and that alone should be enough for people to realize that we have been misinformed, marijuana is not all bad it is just extremely misunderstood. If marijuana helps, is worthwhile and requires further examination but given the legal barriers, and the contrasting effects associated with cannabinoids and the fact that the pharmacology of naturally occurring cannabinoids in the human brain is not understood at length. Therefore, the full range of consequences of synthetic cannabinoid or marijuana use cannot be entirely anticipated and should be explored. It is hard to believe that a plant with so much usefulness would not be farmed on a massive level it is very easy to cultivate and it grows with little to no care. There is a bad side to industrializing hemp there would be money and jobs lost by the industries that hemp would replace. The textile companies would lose a lot of their business hemp makes a much stronger fabric that is much cheaper to produce, there would not need to be too many modifications made when it comes to how we farm our textiles if the cotton companies would be willing to convert they could probably do just as well. The pharmaceutical companies stand to lose the most money, the drugs that are their best sellers like antidepressants and cancer treatment drugs. It would also replace most over the counter remedies as well headaches and most stomach problems can be treated with marijuana. When using deontology rather than looking at the consequences of an act, one looks at the reason for which an act is done, and the rule according to which one chooses to act. Deontology does not dismiss that acts have consequences rather; it insists that those consequences should not play a role in our moral evaluation of such acts (Mosser, 2010). If we use a deontologist point of view when accessing the act of a terminally ill patient using marijuana to cope with pain or perhaps gain an appetite there is no question that this is the right thing to do. How about a person using marijuana recreationally it increases your sense but slows your reflexes it is healthier than smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol as long as the person is an adult who is not performing any dangerous procedures they should be fine and this act can be looked at as acceptable. Utilitarianism sometimes called the consequentialist theory because it evaluates whether an act is right or wrong relative to the act’s consequences. (Mosser, 2010) Therefore, utilitarian would look at the overall greater good and make it legal; there are some downsides as far as evenue goes but should money always be the main goal. As cash crop it is worth lots of money it can be used for much more than just it chemical properties it makes great fabric and plastics that have ten times the impact strength of steal. It vastly improves the quality of life for many cancer survivors with marijuana multiple sclerosis suffers a beginning to lead almost normal existences without fear of pain and chemo patients can eat a full meal and gain back the strength needed to survive. Would it be right to deny these people a medicine that can save their lives simply because we see it as social unacceptable? If we look at marijuana use case by case, and judge them using relativism perspective rarely will we find a case were the marijuana use is detrimental to the person using it or the surrounding society (Yacoubian, 2007). In fact, most of the bad acts associated marijuana is in the procurement of it if people had a legal way to get their marijuana, most of the crime would subside because there would no longer be a profit. There has been a comparison study done on our marijuana laws and the marijuana laws in place in the Netherlands. The United States policy towards marijuana is best viewed in two ways: first off is supply reduction, or the reduction and control of the supply of drugs through legal prohibitions, law enforcement, interdiction, sentencing, and incarceration. Secondly is demand reduction, or the reduction of the demand for drugs through education, prevention, and treatment. Yacoubian, 2007) Dutch law states that marijuana is illegal but in 1976, the Netherlands adopted a formal policy of no enforcement for violations involving the possession or sale of up to thirty grams that was later lowered to five grams in 1995 of marijuana this policy is referred to depenalization. By the mid-1980s, another rule allowed small retail outlets to sell marijuana legally this policy is referred to as de facto legalization. The retail stores are required to comply with five codes of practice: 1) sales are limited to no more than five grams per person daily; 2) no hard drugs, such as ecstasy, cocaine, or heroin, can be sold; 3) no advertising is permitted; 4) no nuisances or public disturbances are permitted; and 5) no sales to minors. In the end the findings were very interesting it seems that the increased availability of marijuana in the Netherlands only led to a slight increase in the amount of marijuana users and our laws did very little to curb use or supply (Yacoubian, 2007). So why do we continue to prosecute our people and waste thousands of dollars trying to eradicate a plant with so many pros and so few cons. Our economy is in trouble, at the end of the 2009 fiscal year our deficit came in at a record $1. 42 trillion, more than triple the record set just a year earlier and it is only getting worse. The government spends nearly 7. 7 billion dollars a year prosecuting cases and eradicating marijuana farms even with these efforts there is an estimated black market for marijuana of nearly 100 billion dollars a year. With numbers like these, the government could tax marijuana as it does alcohol and tobacco it and make an additional 6. 2 billion a year in revenues. So again using utilitarian point of view the greatest good for the greatest number is legalize and tax it. The reasons marijuana is not legal today is probably more financial and political than for the reason of keeping the public safe from a dangerous drug. If the government was truly concerned with the overall safety of the public rather than just weather or not something made money tobacco and alcohol would have been made illegal a long time ago. If a utilitarian point of view is used to evaluate whether or not tobacco should be legal based on the information provided here it would be easy to say that tobacco should be illegal it kills not only the people who use it but innocent bystanders (Mosser, 2010). There are not too many arguments for why tobacco should be legal other than that it has always been legal, it relaxes them, and it generates lots of revenue for the government and other businesses. These are not to convincing but the money generated has given the people in charge of these companies’ lots of power and they have used that power to keep marijuana illegal. Political lobbying has been a big problem when it comes to marijuana becoming legal tobacco, pharmaceutical, and alcohol companies have a lot of money and they would lose a substantial amount of their revenue if marijuana became legal. Therefore, they hire a third party to bribe and negotiate with politicians to stop possible injunctions and even have bills introduced to reduce the amount of regulations already in place. Why would the alcohol and tobacco companies want the American citizens using a drug they could grow in their backyard that does not kill you or cause dependency? The reason marijuana is illegal and will remain illegal is greed, plain and simple, the greed of man and the never-ending pursuit of the almighty dollar. The amount of money that corporate America stands to lose if people wake up and begin using marijuana in all the ways it can be is exponential. First off, most pharmaceutical companies will lose their biggest money makers, people would no longer need to use the dangerous psychoactive drugs with side effects that are sometimes worse than the original condition. Next would come all of the textile uses it can make fabric stronger than cotton, grows and process much easier and is cheaper to produce. Then there are the recreational uses why would people continue to use tobacco when it has been proven to kill when they could use something much safer without fear of prosecution. Someday the world will be in the hands of the next generation a generation of informed intelligent people who no longer accept things at face value. We will use ethics the way it is meant to be used to help people not to find ways in which to justify the controls enforced on them. Critical thinking will be put to use to solve the crises caused by years of denial and ignorance we will no longer use unsafe drugs simply because they are considered socially acceptable. Unfortunately, that day may be far away until then we can just hope for the majority of people to wake up and take a look at what the government is saying with it policies on marijuana and their polices on alcohol and tobacco. Do we want money controlling our government this does not maximize our utility the people should control policy not companies. Someday we will outlaw political lobbing and truly punish the corrupt who line their pockets with money from special interest groups who seek less regulations so that they can make a profit. We will no longer endure the injustices perpetrated against us, the sick are being giving drugs that do not really help and in most cases makes things worse. America is a global leader when it comes to human rights yet our citizens sometimes have fewer freedoms than we think. In the constitution, it states every man has the right to the pursuit of happiness for some people, happiness is relaxing with some marijuana and the right to use it should be protected. We know that tobacco and alcohol can kill you we also know that marijuana cannot so maybe it is time that we apply ethics to this issue, do the greatest good for the greatest number, and legalize marijuana.

Local Government between Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam

Local Government between Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Comparison of Local Government between Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Rifka Aulya a. Indonesia State:Indonesia Currency: Rupiah (IDR) Capital: DKI Jakarta State Structure: Unitary Form of Government:Constitutional Republic (Presidential) Local Government: There is Local Government in Indonesia Indonesia is the one of the country in south-east Asia. To manage the resources on whole area in this state, it is possible if all of the management is undertake by central government. So, Indonesia has implementation of local government to manage each area according to the law No. 32/2004 on Local Government. To manage their resources within own area, Indonesia divide into 35 province that lead by Governor who chosen through an election every 5 years. The province is divided into districts and municipalities, which each province, counties, and the city has a local government, which is regulated by legislation. And, each sub-district (kecamatan) consists of some villages that can define as the lowest level on Local Government in Indonesia. The scheme about Local Government in Indonesia is on picture bellow. Local Government in Indonesia Local government in Indonesia defines into 3 terms. They are local government as Implementation of local autonomy, government as an organ, and localities. The implementation of local autonomy is the role of government as a function. There are two functions there, once is the authority as policy-makers and to implement that policy, the other is as function/ responsibility/ affairs. There are many functions that can take by local government such as providing an education, health service, and many more. But, there’s a function that can’t handle by local government, just taken by central government that we call absolute affairs including defense, religion, security, monetary and fiscal, juristic, and foreign-relation. Government as an organ is the person or actors who implementing local government. The person is like the head of province (Governor), council (Bupati), Regents, etc. And localities is about the communities who live in local area. The definition of localities Local government in Indonesia also divided into 4 categories that have a specific authority, they are deconcentration, decentralization, delegation, and devolution. Deconcentration also called administrative decentralization, it’s only in administrative. Decentralization is transferring authority of responsibility from central to lower government include managing the administrative, politics, economic, fiscal, etc. Devolution is decentralization in political only (political decentralization), it’s mean that local government can make or unmake the policies to make politic stability in their localities. And delegation also called administrative decentralization. b. Brunei Darussalam State: Brunei Darussalam Capital: Bandar Seri Begawan Currency: Brunei Dollar (BND) State Structure: Unitary Forms of Government: Constitutional Sultanate Local Government: There’s no Local Government Local Government in Brunei Darussalam Brunei Darussalam is the one of ten countries in south-east Asia in which capital of the country is Bandar Sri Begawan. Brunei Darussalam has 422.700 populations and the wide area is 5.765 sq km. Forms of government is constitutional monarchy with the head of the country is majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzadin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang dipertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam. The Sultan is appointed by Council of succession. Sultan has absolute and full of authority in any state policy to govern the country, including the status of impunity for he and his family empire. People are not given the slightest power. All rules are made by the Sultan without regard to the desires or aspirations of the people. To manage their state, Sultan is assisted and advised by six councils, namely: the Council of Ministers, the Legislative Council, the Religious Council, the Privy Council, the Adat Istiadat Council, and the Council of Succession. People have handed their rights over the Sultan to rule unanimously. Sultan should be responsible not only to society but also to Allah SWT to bring the communities to achieve the welfare and prosperity. Thus came the proverb in indigenous perspective that says Raja tidak zalim, rakyat pantang menderhaka kepada raja† and †Raja wajib adil, rakyat wajib taat†. Sultans role is enshrined in the national philosophy of Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB). There are six roles of the Sultan in the context of MIB: 1) The Sultan as an umbrella of Allah on the earth, 2) Sultan as the supreme leader of the Islamic religion, 3) Sultan as head of state, 4) Sultan is the head of government, 5) Sultan as supreme leader vogue, and 6) Sultan as supreme commander of the armed forces In the Beraja system there are 3 elements, namely: the king (Sultan), the government and the people. Sultan will be respected and loved by the societies, if government can perform its function well in providing services to the public. By itself the people then will show his loyalty to the Sultan. The government should be able to run the administration well in order to run successful development. In Brunei Darussalam, it’s only divides into 4 districts, they are Belait, Brunei and Muara, Temburong, and Tutong. The council of minister is appointed by their residents. So, there’s no election in Brunei Darussalam. There’s no local government in Brunei Darussalam, although the local administration takes place through the four districts. At the local level, people are represented by their respective penghulus, ketua kampungs as head of the village, and heads of longhouse. The Local Government differentiation between Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam DIFFERENTIATION INDONESIA BRUNEI DARUSSALAM Local Government There’s Local Government There’s no Local Government form of Local Government Decentralization Deconcentration Delegation Devaluation Centralization Election There’s an election every 5 years to determine/ choose the head of localities There’s no election, because the head of district was chosen by own residents (their own communities) in their respective areas. Responsibility Local government have responsibility to Central Government have responsibility for their respective communities’s welfare. The Similarities between Local Government in Indonesia and  Brunei Darussalam Similarity Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Head of districts Both of the countries have head of districts area to lead the own area, although with different name. In Indonesia, the district of Province, lead by Governor, municipal by Council (Bupati), regents by â€Å"camat†. In Brunei, the districts lead by penghulus and ketua kampungs. Daftar Pustaka Dodo, 2009. Kesultanan Brunei Darussalam. Access Date on April 7th 2014 through http://nationalgeographic.co.id/forum/topic-96.html Permana, Renaldy. 2009. Konstitusi Brunei Darussalam. Date access on April 7th 2014, trough http://renaldypermana.blogspot.com/ 009/11/konstitusi-brunei-darussalam.html

Undergraduate Education in Advertising Essay -- Major Advertising Coll

Undergraduate Education in Advertising Next spring I will be receiving a bachelor of arts in journalism at the University of Arkansas from the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. My focus in journalism is in advertising and public relations. Most schools separate the advertising and public relations departments and some schools even place them in the business school. My degree in the journalism department has benefited me because my education seems to be more well-rounded than most college degrees. What criteria should be placed on a degree in advertising and public relations? By comparing my undergraduate education at the U of A to the same degree at the University of Texas at Austin (the previous school that I’ve attended), the approach behind two different curriculums can be compared. To students who are on the path to receive a degree in advertising or are thinking about it, a solid comparison of the degrees will give you a better idea of what you are getting from your college education. Evaluating your education will allow you to see why you need certain courses, what skills you'll need as a prospect looking for a job once you graduate, and what knowledge you’ll gain from a college education that will benefit you for the rest of your life. Advertising is part of the American culture. For example, who wouldn't recognize these slogans: â€Å"Just do it!† –Nike â€Å"It’s finger lickin’ good.† –KFC â€Å"M-m-good† -Campbells Soup â€Å"It’s the real thing† -Coca Cola Advertising agencies realize how influential advertisements are on people. They are responsible for the catchy slogans and jingles that are forever stuck in our minds. These creativ... ...nd limited to a certain number of students. Both schools will give you a well-balanced education in order to get the most out of your college degree. The main thing that I have received from my education is a better understanding of the world around me. I have become more open to different opinions and attitudes and have seen many sides of diversity. A well-rounded education has allowed me to learn about many other subjects that I wouldn’t have if I would’ve followed my first idea to get a business degree. I opted for the advertising/public relations route because it was more interesting to me, but mainly because I enjoyed all of the classes that I would be taking with this degree. I have also received good specialized training that will help me in the business world. So overall, I feel that my education at the U of A has been a very positive experience.

Korean War Essay -- History

Throughout history the United States has fought in many wars. Whether the fighting took place in Europe such as WWI or in our own land like the civil war. The one war many people seem to forget is the Korean War. The Korean War also known as the â€Å"forgotten war† was a war between North Korea, South Korea and the US together with the South Koreans to help. The Korean War was fought on sea, land, and in the air over and near the Korean peninsula (Brown, p.2). On June 25, 1950, the North Koreans rumbled across the thirty-eighth parallel. The invasion was successful because the south was not expecting or even prepare for a war. The invasion was so successful that they pushed the south to a tiny defensive area around Pusan. That’s when President Truman steps in real quick to halt the invasion of the North Koreans. Truman ordered American armed forces under General Douglas MacArthur to support South Korea. The Korean War was a clash between Communist forces and Free World (Brown, p.2). On June 25th, 1950 at 4 a.m. the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) attacked across the 38th parallel, implementing a well-developed invasion plan (Lewis p.1). The KPA had a huge number of military men compare to the South Koreans. It had about 135,000 soldiers in 10 divisions, five separate infantry brigades, and one armor brigade with 120 soviet-made-T-34 tanks (Lewis p.1). The Republic of Korea (ROK) was taken by surprise and was not fully equipped with weapons like the KPA (Lewis p.1). So for that matter the ROK could not halt the invasion. But if the South Koreans would have had heavy artillery like the KPA then maybe the KPA’s invasion plan would had been a failure. The United Nations Security Council approved a US sponsored resolution that called fo... ...t (Brown, p.17). On October 7 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for unification of Korea and authorized MacArthur to send his forces into North Korea. The North Korean capital of Pyongyang fell on October 19, and the allied UN troops flooded north effectively unopposed. They pushed the North Korean forces to the Yalu River, which formed the North Korean border with the region of China. The war left marks on the Korean peninsula and the world around it. Even though the Korean War was fairly short, no one knows the exact numbers of deaths. According to the history channel website, â€Å"nearly 5 million people died and almost 40,000 Americans died in action along with more than 100,000 wounded.† (Korean War, p.1) Every war is going to have its cost. The total approximation fot the United States involvement in Korea was about 67 billion (Calore, p.2).

Television: Helps And Hinders :: essays research papers

Television is a drug. Although when first invented it was used as a family entertaining device, its purpose has been greatly altered. Now with over sixty channels to choose from, people of all ages can easily find a show that will grab their attention. This, however, is not the problem. The problem is caused when the person starts to change their daily routine in order to tune in to their favorite programs. Television acts as a drug in that it can help or hinder an individual based on their needs. Un fortunaltely, a person may become so addicted to a television show that they put everything going on around them on hold. One example of this would be when Amy, a friend, told me about a bad experience she had gone through while being baby sat. The babysitter was watching her one afternoon, when the time came for the sitter’s soap to come on. The sitter immediately picked her up, put her in the crib, and dashed out of the room so no part of her show would be missed. This was nothing new to Amy; it was actually part of her daily routine. As the daily practice seemed to be going along as scheduled, a rude awakening was lurking around the corner. As a matter of fact it wasn’t usual at all...it was life threatening. Amy started to choke on a piece of plastic that broke off a toy she had put in her mouth. The baby-sitter left about and inch of the door open, so she could sort of see what was going on in the room. Amy was standing over the side of her crib when she started to choke. With one hand on a bottle, and the other shoving the toy in her mouth, the bottle dropped. If the television had been turned up much louder, the baby sitter never would of heard the thump of the bottle fall. If the thump of the bottle never had been heard, Amy would not be here today. An addiction to a television show is repulsive when it jeopardizes the life of a human being. In contrast, television programming geared toward kids such as Sesame Street and Blues Clues spark a child’s ability to learn at a young age. Both are good predecessors to pre-school and kindergarten. Sesame Street helps kids prepare to learn while keeping its award-winning traditions it is known for.

Blood Alcohol Level (Bal) Essay

The amount of alcohol in your blood stream is referred to as Blood Alcohol Level (BAL). It is recorded in milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, or milligrams percent. For example, a BAL of . 10 means that 1/10 of 1 percent (or 1/1000) of your total blood content is alcohol. When you drink alcohol it goes directly from the stomach into the blood stream. This is why you typically feel the effects of alcohol quite quickly, especially if you haven’t eaten for a while. BAL depends on: 1. Amount of blood (which will increase with weight) and 2. The amount of alcohol you consume over time (the faster you drink, the higher your BAL, as the liver can only handle about a drink per hour–the rest builds up in your blood stream). Understanding the effects of a rising BAL can be very useful in controlling drinking. Below are the consequences of various Blood Alcohol Levels,from a book by William R. Miller and Ricardo F. Munoz called, â€Å"How to Control your Drinkling: A Practical Guide to Responsible Drinking (1982): .02 MELLOW FEELING. SLIGHT BODY WARMTH. LESS INHIBITED. .05 NOTICEABLE RELAXATION. LESS ALERT. LESS SELF-FOCUSED. COORDINATION IMPAIRMENT BEGINS. .08 DRUNK DRIVING LIMIT. DEFINITE IMPAIRMENT IN COORDINATION AND JUDGMENT. .10 NOISY. POSSIBLE EMBARRASSING BEHAVIOR. MOOD SWINGS. REDUCTION IN REACTION TIME. .15 IMPAIRED BALANCE AND MOVEMENT. CLEARLY DRUNK. .30 MANY PASS OUT. .40 MOST PASS OUT; SOME DIE. .50 BREATHING STOPS. MANY DIE. As can be seen, the most reliably pleasurable effects of alcohol occur when BAL rises to about . 03-. 05. Alcohol researchers have discovered that low levels of alcohol have a specific effect on thinking; alcohol results in a reduction of â€Å"self-monitoring. † (Hull & Reilly, 1986). What this means is that small quantities of alcohol enable you to take your mind off yourself and your worries. Not surprisingly, this effect reduces tension and enhances relaxation in many people. Some people find this effect so rewarding that they continue to drink. Unfortunately, these relaxing effects diminish as BAL rises above . 05. Instead emerge a host of negative effects, such as less emotional control, coordination and judgment impairment, hangovers and obnoxious behavior. One way of controlling alcohol is to learn to gauge BAL by internal sensations and to attend to the reinforcing signs of a low BAL. Doing so will enable you to be more in control of how much you drink and, by focusing your attention on the initial pleasurable effects, be able to enjoy alcohol with less negative consequences. Blood Alcohol Level Charts are available in a number of resources. For example, â€Å"How to Control your Drinking: A Practical Guide to Responsible Drinking† (Miller & Munoz, 1982) Contains tables which list BAL values by gender, weight, number of drinks consumed and number of hours drinking. THE FINAL CALL BREATHALYZER is a very useful tool in monitoring BAL. The one-time use breathalyzers are small glass tubes which contain yellow crystals that have been impregnated with a reactive chemical that turns green when alcohol is present. One must breath into the balloon provided and then let it deflate into the tube. The BAL reading appears in about a minute. Final Call assesses BAL with a margin of error of plus or minus . 02. The Final Call Breathalyzer is useful because your BAL can be quickly assessed so that you get immediate feedback.

Legumes

Legumes Chickpea  (Cicer arietinum) An annual Asian plant in the pea family, widely cultivated for the edible seeds in its short inflated pods. A round yellowish edible seed, widely used as a pulse. Also called  garbanzo. There are two types of chickpeas: desi and kabuli. Desi contains smaller, darker seeds and have more of a rough coat. Kabuli is a larger, lighter colored bean with a smoother coat. Uses * Chickpeas are an important food plant in India, Africa, and Central and South America. * They are the main ingredient of hummus, a sauce originating in the Middle East. In southern Europe, chickpeas are a common ingredient in soups, salads, and stews. * A kind of meal or flour is also made from chickpeas. Snap peas  (Pisum sativum  var. macrocarpon) A cultivated pea that has edible usually round pods easily snapped like beans and that is classified with the snow pea as a variety (Pisum sativum macrocarpon) also called sugar snap pea. This is pea plant producing peas having crisp rounded edible pods USES Raw * The pod can be left whole and served with your favorite dip. The peas can be removed from the pod. Puree the raw peas in a food processor or blender and fold the puree into your favorite dip. * Snap the whole pea pod into 1-inch pieces and add to salads—vegetable, macaroni, chicken, etc. Cooked * Use instead of snow peas in oriental dishes. * In stews or soups, add whole or in pieces, 2 minutes before serving—just long enough to heat thoroughly. * Stir-fry as you would any vegetable. Azuki Bean(Vigna angularis  syn. Phaseolus angularis)The azuki bean, also known as  adzuki  or  aduki is an annual bushy leguminous vine plant widely grown throughout  East Asia  and the  Himalayas  for its small (approximately 5  mm)  beans which are used as food and to produce a flour. The  cultivars  most familiar in  Northeast Asiahave a uniform red color. However, white, black, gray and variously mottled varieties are also known. USES * In  East Asian cuisine, the azuki bean is commonly eaten sweetened. In particular, it is often boiled with sugar, resulting in red bean paste (an), a very common ingredient in all of these cuisines.It is also common to add flavoring to the bean paste, such as chestnut. * In Japan, rice with azuki beans ( ;  sekihan) is traditionally cooked for auspicious occasions. Azuki beans are also used to produce  amanatto, and as a popular flavour of  ice cream. * On October 20, 2009,  Pepsi  Japan released an azuki-flavored Pepsi product. * In Gujarat, India, they are known as  chori. Ornamental plants Zebra Plant (Aphelandra squarrosa) a Brazilian herb with leaves striped green and yellowish white that is widely cultivated as a foliage plant.This plant is often used as a  house plant. This plant likes lots of light, but not direct. It does not bloom often, but it can be encouraged to bloom by prolonged daily exposure to light. USES Indoor and outdoor decoration for houses and others. Rose (Rosa berberifolia) They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing or trailing with stems that are often armed with sharp  prickles. They have pinnate leaves and showy flowers having five petals in the wild state but being often double or partly double under cultivation.Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. * Majority of roses are used to decorate gardens as well as for various ornamental purposes. * Roses have diuretic effects as they contain Vitamin C, pectin, malic and citric acids. * It has a medicinal effect that cools the body by removing toxins and heat from the body. * Roses are also used all over the world for culinary purposes especially on desserts. * It is also widely used for preparing cosmetics, perfumes, hand lotions, creams, to rose essential oil and rose water.Glossy Abelia (Abelia x grandiflora) Any of several shrubs that have clusters of small white or pink flowers belong to the belong to the genus Abelia, of the honeysuckle family. Abelias are popular  garden  shrubs. The most widely grown is the hybrid  Abelia x grandiflora. This is a rounded, spreading, multi-stemmed shrub with gracefully arching branches to 1-1. 8 m tall, with ovate, glossy, dark green semi-evergreen leaves to 2–6  cm long, and clusters of white-tinged-pink, bell-shaped flowers to 2  cm long. USESGardening and ornamental purposes. Latex and Resins Chico (Manilkara zapota) Large tropical American evergreen yielding chicle gum and edible fruit; sometimes placed in genus Achras. The sapodilla is an attractive upright, slow-growing, long-lived evergreen tree. Distinctly pyramidal when young, with age the tree may develops a crown that is dense and rounded or sometimes open and somewhat irregular in shape. USES Because of the tannin content, young fruits are boiled and the decoction taken to stop diarrhea.An infusion of the young fr uits and the flowers is drunk to relieve pulmonary complaints. The crushed seeds have a diuretic action and are claimed to expel bladder and kidney stones. The latex is used in the tropics as a crude filling for tooth cavities. A paste of the seeds is applied on stings and bites from venomous animals. The latex can also be used as rubber. Papaya (Carica-papaya) Large palmlike plant (Carica papaya; family Caricaceae), cultivated throughout the tropics and warm subtropics, and its succulent juicy fruit.An evergreen, usually dioecious, tropical American tree  having a crown of palmately divided leaves with pinnate lobes and large yellow edible fruit. USES * A popular breakfast fruit in many countries, it is also used in salads, pies, sherbets, juices, and confections. * The juice of the unripe fruit contain an enzyme that is useful in various remedies for indigestion and in meat tenderizers. * Latex is collected in the fruit of the papaya tree. T he latex is collected after scoring t he neck of the fruit, where it may either dry on the fruit or drip into a container. Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis)A pine (Pinus halepensis) of southern Europe and the Levant that is of graceful habit, has usually two leaves in each persistent sheath, and yields a wood that is much used for shipbuilding. It is native to the Mediterranean area, and is planted as an ornamental and is a source of turpentine. USES * The resin of the Aleppo Pine is used to flavor the Greek wine  retsina. * The  Pinus halepensis  is widely planted for timber in its native area, being one of the most important trees in  forestry  in Algeria and Morocco. * This tree is also used as an ornamental tree which is extensively planted in gardens, parks, and private and agency landscapes.