The Mafia Essays - Sicilian Mafia Commission,

The Mafia The Mafia The Mafia, a well-known crime organization, is still prevalent in society today. In the past five years the Sicilian Mafia has taken some heavy hits, with the murders of two leading prosecutors in Mafia-related trials (Coming back). The prosecutors were Giovanni Falcone ( see picture), and Paulo Borsellino. Their successors have managed to put behind bars their murderers and an entire Mafia "cupola" ( Coming Back). So what exactly is the Mafia? And where did it originate? The word "Mafia" has two meanings, one is that it means "manly" and the other is " Morte alla Franca Italia Anela" which means, " death to France is Italy's cry" ( Mafia History). The meaning came from the fact that Italians more specifically Sicilians, had to adapt to numerous invasions from Arabs, Norman's and the French. The word Mafia in Arab also means refuge. The original inhabitants of Sicily were oppressed and had to seek places of shelter and refuge ( Arlacchi ). The Norman's when invading Sicily in the 11th century; the native people were forced into labor on the large estates their rulers made. Their only way of escape was to seek shelter in the hills on the island of Sicily ( refer to picture of Corleone). There in the hills the natives formed " Secret societies " that were meant to unify the natives against their enemies. The societies created a bond or strong sense of family based on their Sicilian heritage ( Mafia History). Their societies began to form structure and the idea of family was carried out through this framework. The layout was strongly hierarchical. At the head of the organizations were Dons or chiefs, who were in supreme control of the Mafia chapters in each village ( Coming Back ). They however reported to the " don of dons" who lived in the capital of Sicily, the city of Palermo. Mafia leadership is the "Cupola" much like a board of directors ( blumenthal p14). The Mafia Dons never really got into the actual "business" they were involved in as not to get their hands dirty. They formed individual units called Caporegime that answered to the Don. The Caporegime controlled the"soldiers" or workers that did the dirty work of collecting debts and even murder (Arlacchi 23). " Joining the Mafia is a lifetime commitment stronger than family from which you cannot retire, you are bound by blood and sworn by secrecy ( Mafia History)." To join the Mafia you must take an oath based on five principals. The Omerta, is the first principal it is the code of silence that no matter what, even under the threat of torture or death, you will reveal no secrets. Second you must pledge total obedience to your don. Third you must lend assistance to any befriended Mafia faction. Fourth you must vow to avenge any attack on members of the family, " an attack on one is an attack on all." Fifthly and the most important is to avoid any and all contact with the law ( Mafia History). By the 19th century the Mafia had grown vast and strong. It had once been a small group of rebels that had turned into a large criminal society ( I.O.C.G). In these early times of the Mafia the most common form of extortion was the handing out of "Black Hand Notes." These notes were handed to wealthy citizens, and were sincere requests for large sums of money in exchange for some form of protection. If the victims did not comply with the note, they could expect bombings, kidnappings, and murders to help convince them ( Mafia History). In 1876 a Mafia don Raffeale Palizzo ran for political office to infiltrate Sicilian government, and run it from inside and outside the law. He succeeded in getting elected by holding many voters under gunpoint. Inside the government he had Don Crispi of Sicily elected Prime minister. Twenty-six hundred public administrators were indicted for corruption and other crimes in Sicily ( Arlacchi 28-29). The whole island had come under Mafia control and they began to suck national funds into their hands. Yet the Mafia was and always will be opposed by some people or organizations. Opposition to the Mafia was always met with violence ( Blumenthal 7). A well-known example of this, is the case of a man Emanuel Notarbartolo who was the director of the bank in Sicily. Emanuel publicly announced that he promised to rid the land of the Mafia once and for all. In 1893 he was assassinated, and don Palizzo took

The Crucible Power and Manipulation Essays

The Crucible Power and Manipulation Essays The Crucible Power and Manipulation Paper The Crucible Power and Manipulation Paper Abigail Williams is one of the major characters; she is easily established and is clearly the villain of the play. Abigail is a good liar, she can be very manipulative and overall she is a very vindictive character. Abigail is an orphan and an unmarried girl; therefore she occupies a low rung on the Puritan Salem social ladder (the only people below her are the slaves like Tituba). In the play John Proctor has an affair with Abigail Williams; however, by terminating their affair he unexpectedly stimulates her spiteful jealousy. It is for this reason that Abigail begins to manipulate the truth and abuse her power. By aligning herself, in the eyes of others, with Gods will, she gains power over the Salem society and her word becomes virtually indisputable. Abigails motivations never seemed more complex then simple jealousy and a desire to take revenge on Elizabeth Proctor (John Proctors wife), who fired Abigail as a maid from their home after she discovered that Abigail and her husband (John) were having an affair. Abigail is driven by sexual longing and desire for power. Gaining power meant that Abigail could now express withdrawn feelings and act on long-held grudges. Abigail took full advantage of the situation which was occurring in Salem by accusing Elizabeth Proctor of witch craft; hoping to have her sent to jail or even killed. Abigail was conscious of the fact that this lie would result in pure success, having made prior preparation for this charade. Such explicit evidence could not be doubted nor questioned so Abigail took this opportunity to seek revenge on Elizabeth; the woman whom she despised for being the wife of her ex-lover John Proctor, and since Elizabeth had discharged Abigail from their home after the affair was exposed, Abigail was extremely motivated to get vengeance. Moreover, at the end of Act 3, Mary Warren is defeated by Abigail and has no choice but to side with her once more. Abigail succeeds in defeating Mary Warren by again, lying and manipulating the truth. Mary stands before the court to expose the truth about how Abigail and the other girls were not in compact with the devil and that they were all lying about their convention with the devil as well. Mary also attempts to reveal that everything the girls had done and were doing was entirely pretence. However, it is not long before Abigail begins to twist and manipulate the truth. Abigail fallaciously claims that she can see Mary with the devil and that she could also feel a strong wind. Abigail pretends to feel threatened by both Mary and the devil before the court. At first Mary pleads with Abigail and asks her to put a stop to her acting; Abigail: (looking about in the air, clasping her arms about her as though cold) I- I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come. (Her eyes fall on Mary Warren) Mary: (Terrified, pleading) Abby! Abigail: (Shivering visibly) It is a wind, a wind! Mary: Abby, dont do that! However when she realises that her efforts are pointless and she would be much better off lying along with the girls, she points the finger at John Proctor and tells Judge Danforth that John is in touch with the devil and that John had threatened to kill her if she did not attend court to give a testimony. Mary: (hysterically pointing at Proctor fearful of him) My name he wants my name. Ill murder you he says if my wife hangs! we must go and overthrow the court, he says! Proctor: (turning, appealing to Hale): Mr Hale! Mary: (her sobs beginning) He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign Mary: (Sobbing, she rushes to Abigail) Abby, Abby, Ill never hurt you more! Furthermore, even though Abigail is unsuccessful in this attempt she still tries to abuse her power and use it to her full potential by lying to Judge Danforth that a woman, whom she believes to be Reverend Hales wife, comes to her every night threatening to kill her. However, Danforth rejects this accusation made by Abigail as he claims that it is impossible for a ministers wife to be in compact with the devil. The reasons as to why Abigail may have abused and manipulated her power throughout the play might have been the following: To take revenge on Elizabeth Proctor, to be recognized by the Salem society and more importantly to be recognized and acknowledged my John Proctor. A further character in the play who also abused her power was Tituba. Tituba was Reverend Parriss West-Indian slave originally from Barbados. Tituba initially agreed to perform voodoo at Abigails request and lead the other girls to dance around a fire in the forest, at the beginning of the play. Tituba, whose status is lower than that of anyone else in the play by virtue of the fact that she is black, manages to deflect blame of herself by confessing apologetically and then condemning others who she claimed were also in touch with the devil. Not only did Tituba abuse her power but she succeeded in manipulating the situation by lying to Parris about her session with the devil. Tituba manages to rise even as a black slave who was substandard when she obtains a voice; this voice gives her power as well as control over the situation.

Giving It Away †Nothing for Nothing

Giving It Away – Nothing for Nothing I’m going to take a stance here that may rub some of y’all raw. Quit giving away your work. It’s an old mantra with me . . . one that FundsforWriters was founded upon. You cannot make a living giving yourself away. Doctors don’t give away their expertise. Lawyers charge for their services. So do teachers, plumbers . . . even hookers do it. But you need exposure, you may say. No you don’t. Not that kind of exposure. Do you know what you look like when you pitch an editor or agent and the only items on your resume are: 1) Your serial novel on your blog;2) Your articles on websites that do not pay;3) Your poetry for free on your website;4) Your free short stories on anyplace that will take them. But you keep trying to sell your work and nobody buys it. So you figure you’ll post it online and somebody might discover it. Here are the flaws in that logic. LOGIC A. The people hungry for your free work usually aren’t the type willing to pay. Think about it. They’re usually trolling for free work, and continually seek the good deal. They have no desire to pay full price for a book or subscription, maybe not even one copy of a magazine where your work appears, because there’s ample free material available. LOGIC B.Editors and agents do not visit those freebie places. Not unless you happen to be that one in a million writer who trends on Twitter or manages to garner tens of thousands of readers. Not hundreds†¦thousands. Your odds are better pitching to editors. LOGIC C. If you are publishing for free because you keep getting rejected, then your writing might need work. People willing to pay for writing expect to receive a good return for their investment, so your work has to be refined and polished to rate their hard-earned dollar. LOGIC DIf you are publishing for free because you don’t want to learn the ropes of how to submit to publishers and markets that pay, you might not be made of strong enough material to weather this business. Argue with me. Go ahead. Then tell me how much money you’ve made from that â€Å"exposure.† I’m all ears. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. On the contrary. I want you to make a buck at this business. But too many writers think that giving their work away is â€Å"exposure† or a means to â€Å"getting discovered† when in reality, they usually end up sitting in place and waiting for nothing†¦and doing it for a long time. It’s understandable you need to be proactive, but put that energy to good use in the right direction. 1) Improve your writing2) Sell your work3) Promote yourself. You don’t want to appear so desperate you give it away. In all aspects of your life, how much quality do you attribute to something that was given to you for free? If you give your writing away for free, you cant afford to remain a writer for long. Fight to stick around . . . get paid for your work.

Effects on septeber 11 2001 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Effects on septeber 11 2001 - Essay Example The modest effect was due to the Federal Reserve’s liquidity support to the financial community. One of the immediate effects of the attack though, is the downturn of the stock market. One lasting effect of the 9/11 tragedy is the increase in government funding in making production, distribution, finance and communication more secure in the US. More resources will be used for security rather than enhancing productive capacity (Makinen,7). In the aspect of world economies, additional security layers were placed in transporting goods which made it more costly in terms of distribution. There were greater impediments to the free movement of goods, services and capital (Makinen, 8). This also resulted in a slowdown in the growth of productivity. The effect of the terrorists’ attack was greatly felt in the tourism, airline and aviation and insurance industries. Even before 9/11, the airline industry was already experiencing financial troubles. The attack compounded the financial woes of several airline companies but the Federal government responded with an aid package (Makinen, 9). Air travel dropped tremendously as an aftermath of the attack; thus, there were several lay-offs in the industry. The insurance industry is one of the most affected industry by the 9/11 attack. â€Å"The loss of life and property gave rise to the largest property/casualty claim in history, estimated at US$40 billion† (Makinen, 9). Although the insurance companies were able to cover the claims, they became reluctant in providing coverage against future terrorists’ attack, not to mention that they do not have ample experience in deciding on the insurance rates and computing the reserves for it. Before the attack, the agriculture and food sector were already recovering from low prices and slow exports. Days after the attack there were some setbacks in the economy because of a stop in the commodities

Networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Networking - Essay Example This study also encompassed the fastest net providers in every country. In the United States, Verizon and the FiOS network was ranked as the fastest net provider with an average speed of 1,056Kbps (Tsukayama 1). The FCC has a leading priority of providing faster access to broadband networks and faster download speeds. This access has been influenced by the partnership with Microsoft, Comcast among other non-governmental organization like the Clinton Global Initiative. According to Bill Clinton who is the former president in the United States, South Korea provides the fastest internet speeds (Tsukayama 1). This factor is influenced by the governmental policy which encourages partnerships with other organizations. Nowadays, the South Korean citizens enjoy an average internet speed of up to 16.63 megabits per second. Therefore, the access to internet services in South Korea is cheaper. In the United States, the residents pay an average of $46 monthly while the South Korean citizens pay a monthly fee of $38. This asserts that the United States should aim in providing better internet services because; the South Korean government has already initialized their improvement project in the internet provision sector. In conclusion, the current president of the United States is committed to setting up a plan whereby 98% of the Americans will receive better broadband services. The slower internet services are attributed by the fact that most citizens do not have the appropriate internet speeds to stream videos and load web pages. Therefore, the United States should implement a plan to increase their internet speeds through partnering with other companies (Smith 1). Smith, Catharine. South Koreas internet to be 200 times faster than in U.S. The Huffington Post 23 Feb. 2011. Web. Tsukayama, Hayley. S. Korea leads the

The various methods of dealing Essay Example for Free

The various methods of dealing Essay Legally, a working Monopoly is defined as a firm which controls 25% of their market. This immediately raises problems, within the measurement of market share, and the definition of their market. Microsoft is a considerably well known monopoly (as a whole), but is this the case for all areas of business? This would be the initial problem: determining their market. Microsoft spans a vast spectrum of business, however, virtually breaking into distinct main markets Desktop and Server. It is clear that Microsoft dominate the Desktop market, far outselling any near threats, but is this the case for the server market? I have broken down the server market into two main areas the Operating System itself, and the web based server. Operating System Percentage Share Linux 31.3% Microsoft Family 24.3% Server Software Percentage Share Apache Foundation 56% IIS (Microsoft) 24% According to the definition, Microsoft is not technically a monopoly in both markets. However, as Microsoft can be accepted to live within a single market (computing), they would have a clear monopoly. Consequentially, problems of dominance begin to occur. It has been discovered that they have been abusing their market power by forcing small firms into signing contracts that require them to purchase their software, should they be using their hardware. There are numerous ways to reduce or reclaim the power of monopolies, some controversial, and some are economic theory, therefore unrealistic. I will be discussing these within my essay. Monopolies tend to play as the dominant firm within their market, and as a result, tend to me price makers rather than takers. However, they can only control the price, or output, but not both. Generally, monopolies can be bad for the market mechanism as they are neither productively nor allocatively efficient. Like most firms, they would choose to profit maximise (at the point MC=MR). As you can see from the diagram on the left, if they choose to output the profit maximising level Q1, they will receive the price displayed by the demand curve P1. Fortunately, there are several remedies for monopoly. The first that I am going to discuss is: regulation. An excellent remedy for pure monopolies (where a single firm dominates 100% of a market) is regulation. Regulation involves the government appointing an independent body to monitor the activities of the firms. Ofcom (merged, previously Oftel) are a working example of this. They are the regulating body for the communications industry, covering telecommunications. Previously, before deregulation occurred, there were two main dominant firms: Telewest/NTL (Now Virgin Media), and British Telecommunications. If there was no regulatory body in place, it would have been too easy for this duopoly (where two main firms dominate the market) to price fix (tactically through the use of informal signals to indicate their future and current pricing structures) and therefore take advantage of the consumers, at they would have little choice other than to remove their fixed line telephones completely. One of the methods that can be used is RPI-X (RPI minus X) regulation. The value of X is defined by the regulatory body, and limits the pricing that firms may change based on the RPI (retail price index) less the value of X. As a result, if RPI-X0 then the firms will be forced to reduce their prices by the resultant value. The kind of price barrier will motivate firms to lower costs (as they cannot increase their prices) in order to generate greater profit for themselves. This kind of regulation has been using against British Gas, which expired on the 31st March 2000. Expanding on my telecommunications example: NTL has had agreements put in place by Oftel of RPI-1, so they were permitted to raise prices by no more than the value of RPI, less 1%, per year. However, this particular agreement expired on 31st December 1996. However, actual regulation has (in my opinion) proven to be inefficient and adequate, and possibly deemed to be failing the industry. A typical example of this lack of regulation is demonstrated by the unstoppable, but inevitable, profits of British Gas. They announced profits of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½992 million for the first 6 months of this year, less than 24 hours after raising household prices by 35. This raises the question of whether or not these price rises are justified. They, along with the rest of the market, justify their actions on the elevation of wholesale gas and electricity prices (costs which they cannot absorb), but is this form of a tacit agreement (where firms informally signal price decision to other firms, to suggest they copy)? While it is proven that the barrel of oil did rise to approximately $150 per barrel, the firms were quick to act, raising their prices in quick succession of each other. However, now that the prices have fallen by half, have the firms taken the same quick action in reducing prices? I think not. This is an example of asymmetric information between the firms and the regulator, where the regulator is only dropping suggestions to the firms; they are not forcing any actions upon them. Despite preaches by Fuel Poverty organisations and EnergyWatch (the regulator), prices are still not falling at the rate that they should be. However, one of the most significant problems lie within determining the correct value of X for RPI-X price capping, as the regulator has few resources (as this example has demonstrated), therefore they cannot correctly evaluate costs. Setting a value too low may lead to under investment within the industry, causing undesired adverse effects. Having said this, the regulatory body has the power to split up a monopoly into multiple, smaller, firms if it deems this as necessary. This can be good for the market, as this will open up it to more competition, and possibly lower barriers to entry for other firms. This is the case of British Gas, where the regulator (Ofgas) had split it up into two major firms: Centrica and Transco. The idea was to open the market up to greater competition, as then British Gas (a trading name of Centrica) who sells the gas to business and domestic users would be separated from Transco who manage the actual gas pipelines. This would lower the barriers to entry (sunk costs) for new firms, as they would not have to produce the gas, nor have it routed to their customers homes. They can simply purchase it at a wholesale rate, and sell that on with a margin for profit. Other countries have adopted a different method for regulating monopolies, called Rate of return regulation. This is where companies are taxed a percentage of their profits, however this has similar problems. As there is no price ceiling introduced by this method, the monopolistic firm(s) may choose to simply increase their prices in order to cover the additional tax. This actually solves no problems, and leaves the consumer worse off, as they would be faced with paying higher prices. As the market is dominated by the few single firms, it may leave the consumer no choice but to purchase their goods from those single or sole suppliers at the higher cost. The competition commission also has a strong say on mergers, whether or not they are permitted to go ahead, if there is a threat to the market of a monopoly. An example of this was the Halifax Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB merger which resulted in a monopoly for the merged company of the mortgage market over 30% market share. However, these rules were brushed aside due to the nature of the merger, and the apparent confidence that the bank would collapse, and the government being unable to use more public money, therefore being unable to resort to nationalisation without public backlash. The reverse of regulation, de-regulation, can also help to remedy the problems of monopoly. De-regulation is when remove or simplify restrictions on a market in order to increase competition, or the threat within. While the thread of competition may keep push prices down (limit pricing where firms sell at just above their average costs, therefore diminishing the threat of new firms entering the market, forcing any new entrants not to take the chance as the barriers to entry and exit may be too high), it may not been enough in the long term. An example of this is the postal industry. In 2006, the market was fully deregulated, meaning that any new entrant had the ability to complete a range of functions, ranging from collecting and deliver door-to-door mail, to bulk mailing. While this does open the market up to some serious competition, the barriers to entry are still too high. The initial cost of dropping door-to-door mail to 99% of the country is very labour intensive, and explains why the state owned Royal Mail have a monopoly on this. Additionally, there needs to be a way for new firms to pick-up the mail locally from their clients. All this has to be profitably fairly quickly, as if they firm does not have enough finance behind them, they will quickly go bankrupt. However, there have been several new entrants to the marketplace for courier services, and this has become more apparent over the past few years. Such an example is www.Parcel2Go.com (who are a reseller of such companies such as DHL), but pickup large items from your home (as this cheaper service is domestic) and deliver it to another place of a domestic nature for a extraordinary low fee in comparison to the pricing that Royal Mail would change for the same service. Monopolies can also be dealt with by challenge of new firms. However, when a monopoly exists, this is sometimes less likely due to barriers to entry and exit. The new entrants have to assess these barriers, and judge whether or not it would be wise for them to compete; this then encompasses the theory of contestable markets. There are several factors involved, such as the reputation (pricing predictions) of the current (incumbent) firm. The existing monopoly may employ (legal) limit pricing to keep the threat of competition low, or apply predatory pricing. Illegal in the UK, predatory pricing involves setting the price below cost, with the intent to drive out their rivals, and then raise prices again. Another such formal form of collusion is cartels, however they are also forbidden by law. Fortunately, such anti-competitive practices are removable, however unfortunately, as I have discussed above: tacit collusion is the most likely and the hardest to prove and stop. Furthermore, there is resale price maintenance where the manufacturer will fix the price that the retailer must sell their goods at (they will generally apply this), and if they did not they would refuse to supply, which is again, illegal. Additionally, the incumbent firm can compete with non-pricing strategies, such as brand loyalty schemes or certain kinds of special offers so that their customers naturally do not buy from their competitors. There are also considerable sunk costs that are involved, and the more irrevocable they are, the less tempting for the new entrant. Depreciation is common, and when technology is fast-moving, a production system thats 6 months old can lose considerable value, quickly. An almost totally irrevocable cost is advertising such as branding and gaining that brand awareness and loyalty. While its average cost can be kept low by spreading the budget over large volumes of output, however the only realistic way this cost can be recovered, is if the firm was to sell their entire brand to the monopolist. Unfortunately, the incumbent firm can easy rival any advertising that the new entrant makes, making their efforts redundant. There may also be legal barriers, but these are more uncommon than not. Such barriers will include Patents, where the incumbent firm is rewarded for the research and inventions that they have created, so have a legal barrier to prevent any other firms from coping their idea, design or otherwise. Such patents stand for around 2 decades, so this can be a considerable amount of time for the incumbent firm to gain a monopoly on their product (regardless of the fact they will be the sole supplier). Natural monopolies act at as a barrier to entry for new firms, and within industries such as Water (Thames Water have a monopoly on this), it would be too costly and inefficient to lay down two pipes to consumers homes. However, should the market be deregulated for example, if Thames Water sell the water a wholesale price (such as British Gas does with Gas) then additional firms can afford to enter the market with lower barriers to entry. Finally, there is information asymmetry, where the existing firm has the experience and the knowledge about the industry that allows them to be more productive and drive down their costs. If the information is not known to the new entrants, this can be a sunk cost for them, acting as yet another deterrent for entering the market. However, having discussed the problems that monopolies may bring, the reverse can be true. Monopolies can be beneficial to a market because they achieve greater economies of scale, and tend to have a lower market price than smaller firms as they are more able to pass on cost reduction. A typical example of this would be the comparison of a monopolistic firm such as Tesco against Jays News. A typical product, one pint of milk will cost around 49 pence in a small firms shop, or 26 pence in Tesco. At a 53% saving, it seems clear that monopolies can benefit the greater economy. Sources: NTL Price Capping: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/ind_info/broadcasting/ntlprice/section2.htm

Comparing the Struggle in Dante’s Inferno and Book VI of The Aeneid Ess

The Infernal Struggle in Dante’s Inferno and Book VI of The Aeneid Does hell have its own history? For Dante, the structural and thematic history of ‘hell’ in the Inferno begins with the Roman epic tradition and its champion poet, Virgil. By drawing heavily from the characteristics of hell in Book VI of The Aeneid, Dante carries the epic tradition into the medieval world and affirms his indebtedness to Virgil’s poetry. Moreover, Virgil becomes a central character in the Inferno as he guides Dante, the pilgrim, who has no knowledge of hell, through his own historical model. Similarly, the protagonist of The Aeneid, Aeneas, lacks the foresight necessary to make the journey through hell on his own and thus places his trust in the mythological prophet, the Sybil. Because the Sybil and Virgil already have knowledge of the underworld, their characters in The Aeneid and the Inferno are associated with history, both literally through Virgil’s poetry and metaphorically through their enduring wisdom in eyes of the pilgrim and Aeneas . For Aeneas and the pilgrim, however, religious history evolves from an ancient world of paganism to medieval Christianity and these values are transposed onto hell itself--showing that its history changes over time. Furthermore, the living realities that the pilgrim and Aeneas take into the underworld prove unstable when juxtaposed with hell’s slippery and ever-changing ambience. In Book VI of The Aeneid, Aeneas enters an underworld filled with triple-hybrid beasts, sinners, heroes, and a transparent physical reality that foils his warriorlike instincts for conflict and resolution. Likewise, in Dante’s Inferno, the journeying pilgrim witnesses a horrific blurring of life and death, which in this case nega... ...f. Through the infernal struggle Aeneas and the pilgrim discover the limitations of their mortal realities, and ultimately come to an awareness of their existence as transcendent, spiritual beings against shifting religious, historical, and poetical climates. Works Cited Bailey, Cyril. Religion in Virgil. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1969. Clarke, Howard. ed. Virgil’s Aeneid. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 1989. Day-Lewis, C. ed. The Eclogues of Virgil. London: Jonathan Cape, 1963. Durling, Robert M. ed. The Inferno. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. Eco, Umberto. Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages. Trans. Hugh Bradin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1986. Jacoff, Rachel and Jeffrey T. Schnapp. The Poetry of Allusion: Virgil and Ovid in Dante’s Commedia. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1991. Virgil. The Aeneid. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. 1965.

Week 3 Bis/320 Weekly Reflection Outline

University of Phoenix Material Applying Information Security and SDLC to Business Your team has been researching and discussing three bookstores throughout the course to apply the concepts presented. For this assignment, you will continue to apply those concepts in a final paper. Write a paper of no more than 3,000 words in which you discuss one of the bookstores, use the SDLC method to implement a new technology into the bookstore, and detail a disaster recovery plan for the bookstore. Discuss one of the three bookstores based on the research and evaluation in your Learning Team. Introduce your selected bookstore. oWho and what is the bookstore? What is their mission? oWhat products do they sell? oWho are their customers? oExplain their website. †¢Color †¢Navigation †¢Ease of using the tools; for example, using credit cards for purchases †¢Discuss your selected bookstore. oInclude terms such as hardware, software, databases, data communications, Internet technolo gies, collaboration tools, and security. oInclude how they use hardware and software components. oDiscuss the types of database information used by the bookstore based on what you see on their website.Identify any additional information the bookstore could have added to enhance their database. oIdentify their data communication technologies. oDiscuss how they address security issues. †¢Address the following questions in your analysis. oWhat hardware, software, networks, and data does the organization have? oWho manages it? oWho uses it? oWho owns it? oWhere is it located? oWhere is it used? oDoes the technology fulfill the business objectives? Use the SDLC method to implement a new technology into your selected bookstore.Examples include a collaboration tool or the use of cloud computing. †¢Research SDLC methodology. †¢Include the below five phases of the SDLC method: oSystem definition oRequirements analysis oComponent design oImplementation oMaintenance Detail a dis aster recovery plan for your selected bookstore and include the following: †¢Types of disasters and threats †¢People involved and their roles †¢Assets to protect including information †¢Data policy definitions †¢Necessary response plans in case of a disaster Cite at least five references in your paper. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines

Clique Pens Analysis Essay

Currently Clique pens is stuck in a situation where they are competing with other pen brands including BIC, Scripto, Pentel, Pilot, Papermate, and Sharpie. The fight for shelf space is among some of the biggest retailers worldwide such as Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, and Kroger. Because of the immense power retailers hold in this market, companies like Clique need to make sure they are allocating their funds in ways that deem appropriate to stay on the shelves. Pens are a high profit and high-turnover items which for retailers is great, but because retailers haven’t changed the price for almost over a decade, manufacturers are receiving less and less profit from their items. Retailers hold the power over the manufacturers in this market due to the amount of brands available; if one brand wasn’t working for the retailer, they could simply choose another brand. In order to remain profitable Clique’s brand managers have worked with different marketing and ad agencies to d evelop an integrated package of advertising, trade and consumer promotions to maintain the market share. Clique allocated 15% of its total promotional budget to advertising, 30% to consumer promotions, and 55% to trade promotions. Types of advertising Clique used consumer promotions and price off deals through the retailer, in such ways you would see in an ad in a magazine, â€Å"available at target†. Consumer promotions were mostly used as coupons distributed to the customer through newspapers, in-store displays, and cash register receipts. Coupon redemption rates deemed useless for the most part considering rates were about 1.3% lower than most other consumer products. Elise Ferguson (president of the writing implements division of U.S. home) has a very important decision to make; whether or not the company should spend their time and money marketing towards retailers or towards consumers, in order to grow Clique’s profits. One option that the company could choose to go with would be marketing towards the consumers rather than the retailers. Logan Chen, vice president of marketing feels that reducing trade discounts and establishing a consumer oriented MDF (Market Development Funds), coupled with additional consumer-targeted marketing programs is the way to ensure that consumers are receiving the full benefit of Clique’s promotional dollars. However, Ross McMillan, sales vice president disagrees on that course of action whole heartedly. If Clique were to use a majority of their sales and marketing funds towards the consumer the company could  lose considerable shelf space and sales to competitors, due to the reduced marketing controlled funds. Consumers in this market also do not hold much if any brand loyalty, which means they wouldn’t pay much mind to advertising. Another large factor to keep in mind would be the fact that coupon redemption rates are 1.4% lower than other consumer products, which means wasting money that was spent on this type of advertising. Going with this option would be extremely costly for Clique as well as a dangerous move in the already fragile market; one wrong move towards the retailers and Clique could kiss their shelf space goodbye.

Marriage In Pride And Prejudice Essays - Pride And Prejudice

Marriage In Pride And Prejudice Essays - Pride And Prejudice Marriage In Pride And Prejudice Marriage in Pride and Prejudice It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. This first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice could not have better prepared the reader for the rest of the novel. The thread that sews together the lives of all the characters in this classic is the establishment of marriage. Austen uses the Bennet family of Longbourn to illustrate the good and bad reasons behind marriage. Mrs. Bennet is an irritating woman whose main goal in life is to get her five daughters married. It might be correct in assuming that she felt social and financial pressure to do so. Her husband's estate was entailed to his nephew, Mr. Collins, upon Mr. Bennet's death. Therefore, Mrs. Bennet wanted her daughters to have financial stability elsewhere in case of their father's death. In the time period of this story there was very little social acceptance of women who were single their whole lives. For the most part, women could not acquire money on their own without inheriting or marrying into good fortune. Women who could not find a husband were often referred to as old maids and lived their whole lives with their parents. I can understand why Mrs. Bennet did not want this for any of her daughters. The Bennets' marriage was not ideal. Mr. Bennet had married his wife because she was beautiful in her youth and her ability to supply him with children. Eventually though, her beauty faded and so did their enjoyment of each other. He enjoyed his time alone in his study where he could be away from his wife and daughters. Mrs. Bennet enjoyed gossiping about neighbors and finding future husbands for her daughters. I do believe that Austen is showing the reader that marrying only for physical appearance is wrong - beauty fades with time. Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth's dearest friend, marries Mr. Collins for money. The narrator plainly states that Charlotte accepted his proposal for the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment. She was twenty-six years old and her family was beginning to be worried. Upon hearing of her engagement, her brothers were relieved from their apprehension of Charlotte dying an old maid. Charlotte wanted nothing more out of marriage than financial stability and that is what she got. In Hunsford it seems that Charlotte did nothing but tend to the chores of maintaining her home and pleasing Lady Catherine. I do not believe that Charlotte and Mr. Collins were in love at all and they did not really seem too happy in each other's company. I think their marriage was an illustration of why you should not marry just for financial reasons. Lydia's marriage to Wickham was simply for romance and lust. For a good while, the flirtatious teenager had had her eye on military officers. I believe that when Wickham showed her attention she fell in love and henceforth came their marriage. The sad fact is that she liked him a great deal more than he cared about her. Wickham had many debts and used the money he got from marrying her to pay them off. Therefore, Lydia is married to a man that doesn't really care for her all that much and Wickham is married to a girl that cannot really offer him anything. This couple shows that you should marry someone who feels the same towards you or eventually you will be unhappy. The marriages of the two eldest Bennet daughters were pleasant and appear to be ideal. Jane had longed for Mr. Bingley for quite a while. Bingley was handsome, rich, kind, and well liked. He and Jane shared many conversations and had complimentary personalities. They were pleasantly matched and I believe that they shared a happy life together. Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage was an excellent match. They were equal in intellect, had physical attraction and deep love for one another, financial security, romance, and companionship. They are the two I believe would be most happy in life. Austen wanted the reader to know that marriage should be approached as a package deal - a package of love, financial stability, physical attraction,

Causal Analysis of the Arab Spring

Tunisian female municipal officer and her asides who confiscated the fruit and vegetables he was selling from a street stall and slapped his face in the process, set himself on fire and passed away a few days later. As an aftermath of this incident, a huge wave of protests over unemployment and social issues sparked out in Tunisia, forcing then-president  Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down from his position after 23 years in power. Following this event, activists and ordinary people started to head out onto streets in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and other Arab sub-regions and societies, demanding democracy, social justices, dignity, and freedom. Ultimately, an unprecedented  revolutionary wave  of nonviolent and violent  demonstrations,  protests, riots, and  civil wars known as Arab Spring, or many may call it Arab Awakening,  has spread across the entire  Arab World, overthrowing handfuls of tyrants and authoritarian regimes that, for decades, had been taking control over the area. Behind the actual uprisings were many and long gathering root causes. For decades, Arab people had faced repression of free speech, human rights abuses, economic mismanagement, corruption, and stifling of political dissent. Social justice and human dignity were also not respected in most countries. Furthermore, this area of 300 million people was producing an unprecedented youth population, with around two-thirds of the total population below 29 years of age. At the same time, this young generation was annoyed by 25 percent unemployment, frustrated by diminished dreams, motivated greater personal freedoms, and equipped with technological tools of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. In addition to that, international influences from Europe and the United States, actors who have long been desiring for the abundant energy supplies, trade and investment regional security in the region, also induced the event in the name of â€Å"promoting democracy. † Looking back to the causes of the Arab Spring, although Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation set fire to the revolution, the actual driving forces behind the revolt were primarily the development of social media and the internal social issues that have been smolderingly existing in the region for decades. First of all, it is important to mention that even before the happening of Bouazizi’s self-emulation, the Arab World has long been striving for political changes because of the mass unemployment and low living standards of educated class. Unlike most regions, unemployment rates in the SWANNA region are highest amongst the more educated youth. According to Imed Drine in his article â€Å"Youth Unemployment in the Arab World: What Do We know? What is the Way Forward? , published by the World Institude for Development Economics Research, youth unemployment rate in the region was about 25 percent, among the highest in the world. The situation is even worse for young women with an unemployment rate of about 40 percent. Compared to other global regions, the region has shown the highest rate of labour force increase over the last three decades; the unemployment rate for young age groups is 40 percent in some countries. In many Arab countries such as Tunisia and Egypt, it was very usual that university graduates were forced to drive taxis or sell grocery in open stalls to survive, and families with children struggled to provide food and education for their kids. On top of that, there were also drastic gaps between the income of the majority of the population and that of the top elite in most Arabic countries. â€Å"Egypt has had a massive income gap throughout Mubarak’s control, which is clearly the root cause of the original uprising. One half of Egyptians live on $2/day or less. The average per-capita income in the country is just $6,200 and 24% of young people in the Arab region cannot find jobs (source). In addition, in some Arab sub-regions, large budget deficits were pervasive mainly due to the unnecessary price subsidies on consumer products such as fuel that did not really help the poor but rather favored the affluent population. Other economic issues including poverty, rising food prices, and inflation have also been serious internal issues that eventually led to Arab revolution. According to two Russians researchers, A. Korotayev and J. Zinkina, in their analysis on Egyptian revolution, Egypt was also one of the most fast growing countries in the world in terms of food prices. This fact had undoubtedly played a role in undermining the Egyptian sociopolitical system. While half of the population survived only on $2 per a day or even less and had to face a huge price inflation, the upper class was flooded with abundant resources. Such gaps in income and social classes are obviously undesirable, if not dangerous, for the stability of a society as they create tensions and tear down the sense of unity in the population. They certainly set the stage for the uprising to occur, causing a small incident of Bouazizi to become a devastating social event like Arab Spring. Another internal problem that has made a great contribution to people’s discontent and rebellion was the corruption of Arab leaders and their aging dictatorship. The corruption was extremely widespread in Arab world, and economic hardships were unequally distributed. The political system only worked with and responded to the elites and large businesses in an attempt to accumulate enormous sums of money. Only a small minority of the country actually benefited from this corrupted regime, the rest suffered and was neglected. Nothing could have been done or approved without bribery to the Arab leaders and their relatives. In most cases, whether an investment deal would be closed or not depended on the bribing and one’s connections. Besides the corruption issue, the political system was destabilized due to incompetent and outmoded leaders. â€Å"By the end of the 20th century, most Arab dictatorships were utterly bankrupt both ideologically and morally. When the Arab Spring happened in 2011, Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak had been in power since 1980, Tunisia’s Ben Ali since 1987, while Muammar al-Qaddafi ruled over Libya for 42 years† (source). During the time of rising literacy and shrinking birthrate, instead of replacing the problematic leadership positions with younger, more educated, and innovative leaders, old and stagnant government was preserved, which eventually lead to the overall social and economic decline of the region. There is always the fear of being oppressed by the security services and the lack of political opportunities among the citizens. Although people remained passive and submitted to the repression of their rulers until the Arab revolution in 2011, needless to say, most of them highly doubted the legitimacy of the aging political systems and their leaders. Their discontent and feelings of injustice with the government was the platform of the revolt and later became the potential source of further social disruption and conflict. In addition to being a counter act to the aging dictatorship, Arab Spring was simultaneously a response to human rights violation. The political freedom of expression of people was limited and there was a shift in power o the police endorsed by the law. This law â€Å" . . . allow[ed] the state to detain individuals and censor and close newspapers more easily and allow[ed] authorities to try civilians in front of military and security courts under certain circumstances† (Sehata:2004). A regular citizen was oppressed, did not have a freedom of speech and was treated poorly by the secu rity services. Even an educated person, as is evident in the case of the graduate student Mohamed Bouazizi, had to endure the same ill-treatment and injustice. Furthermore, the uprising was also a reaction to sexual abuse and domestic violence of women and children. It attempted to bring equality, political, and social rights for disadvantaged groups, especially for women who were often considered the second-class citizens. Women were a driving force in the protests. â€Å"At the time of the revolution, we really observed that women of all social classes, including the lower class, were mobilized. Women stood in defiance of political regimes, and challenged their traditional exclusion from the public sphere† (Bertrand, The Voice of Russia). Women played a crucial role in this revolution since they were active participants who fought for their dignity, economic, political, social, and their children’s rights. Besides all the internal issues discussed above, it is important to mention that there were also other factors that have contributed to the spread of this phenomena such as the use social networks. A big part of this uprising is intrinsically associated with recent social media and changes in the global social climate. It is very important to take into consideration the fact that social events are more than just susceptible to the conditions of their external environments. The Arab Spring, thus, is not an exception. We are living in an information-age where people interact and exchange ideas at a much higher rate and wider range than ever. With the inventions of telecommunicational devices, the Internet, global social networks, etc. , it has become just a matter of a blink of an eye for a message to get to its targets. These technological advancements have also changed the way people commune and spend their time. People are becoming more and more inclined to communicate virtually rather than face-to-face. The number of internet users in both Tunisia and Egypt nearly doubled between 2008 and 2009. According the the CIA World Factbook, Egypt ranks 21st in the world in terms of the number of internet users; Tunisia, by contrast, ranks 60th. Though internet access may not be as strong as, say, in the United States, in these countries it is comparatively cheaper and it is safe to say that a great many people in these countries have internet access of some kind. Also, according to the latest research conducted by the Internet World Statistics, around 90 milion Arab people use the Internet on a day-to-day basis to either look up new information or stay connected with their friends. This number makes up to 40% of the total population. The same research also shows that out of these internet users, 20% are registered on Facebook. Taking other activities and social networks into consideration, the number would be many times that. As a consequence, these social and behavioral changes have brought about an environment extremely sensitive to word-of-mouth epidemics, and the Arab Spring is one of the benefactors. In countries like Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, rising action plans such as protests made up of thousands, have been organized through social media such Facebook and Twitter. â€Å"We use Facebook to schedule the protests,  Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world,† said one Arab activist. Activists were able to build extensive social networks and organized political action, thus, social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom. Furthermore, social networks have also broken the psychological barrier of fear by helping many people to connect and share information about the social uprising. It has given most people in the Arab world the knowledge that they are not alone, that there are others experiencing just as much brutality, just as much hardships, just as much lack of justice. There are numerous number of videos on YouTube where activists speak out their ideas and call for people reactions. According to Catherine O’Donnell a writer for the University of Washington in her article â€Å"New Study Quantifies Use of Social Media in Arab Spring†, â€Å"During the week before Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, for example, the total rate of tweets from Egypt — and around the world — about political change in that country ballooned from 2,300 a day to 230,000 a day. Videos featuring protest and political commentary went viral – the top 23 videos received nearly 5. 5 million views. The amount of content produced online by opposition groups, in Facebook and political blogs, increased dramatically. This enormous number not only indicates how popular the Arab Spring is but also implies how important social media are for the Arab Spring. Hussein Amin, professor of mass communications at the  American  University  in  Cairo  said that social networks for the first time provided activists with an opportunity to quickly disseminate information while bypassing government restrictions. † Nowadays, just as much easier for activists to reach their targeted audiences, so too it is for the audiences to learn about new ideas and social events, all thanks to the advents of technologies and the extra amount of time people spend on social networks. Despite all of the factors above, Arab Spring could have never happened if it was not for Bouazizi’s self-emulation. As mentioned above, there was always the fear of being oppressed by the security services. Before the happening of the incident, although the government did not respect people’s dignity, they remained passive and submitted to the repression of their rulers. Therefore, the bad social conditions in the Arab World and those influences from social media have only been the platform for Arab Spring to spark, and the precipitating cause that triggered the uprising is Bouazizi. His act symbolized the frustration and desperation of millions in the Arab world and sett into motion a series of revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa. His death has urged people across the region raise their voice, fight for their own rights, and come fearless of the goverment. His was a cry for dignity, justice, and opportunity, which continues to be heard around a region undergoing tumultuous change. His death has not taken people’s anger to a next level but also gathered people who face the same issues with the government together. Thanks to him, in todays Middle East, people have come to realized that they do matter. Thanks to him, people in the Middle East has learned to voice their concerns and fight for their rights. Many people are now engaged in what could be a life-long struggle to fight long-standing grievances and take greater control of their lives, all thanks to Bouazizi. His death is like that one extra salt crystal that makes a solid form out of a saturated solution; for decades people had been remaining passive and submit to their tyrants and the next second those aging dictators had to crumble just because of one incident. Nothing would have happened if Bouazizi had not reacted against oppression and a lack of espect. The revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt provides a keen example of how new media can be used to afford people political agency. The movement’s participants innovated with the technology to compose coordinated efforts, compose an identities (using the technologies affordances rather than its prescribed templates), compose quickly and deliberately, and compose messag es to change the materiality of where they live. Furthermore, this uprising also reminds people around the world that people do react to social injustice and ill-treatments from the government. It is also of utmost importance not only for the Arab people but also people from all over the world to honor the sacrifice of Bouazizi as he has initiated the revolution that has awakened people’s power and changed the way governments look at their people. Although we cannot tell whether Arab Spring will have fix those social issues in the Arab world and have a positive impact on the society or not, it is a firm confirmation that with today’s social media, people do and will respond to any kind of social justice.

Motivational statement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Motivational statement - Research Paper Example My ultimate goal is to be an instrument of change to the development of sailors and hone them into future naval officers. The US Navy is one of the most prestigious institutions which can accord a multi disciplinary approach to the development of navy and marine corps. I am optimistic in learning various principles of leading and motivating navy personnel to enable me to devise innovative methods which would be more effective in improving educational methodologies and instructions. I would like to be given the opportunity to share the theoretical and practical applications of the US Navy to a variety of navy and marine personnel. Inasmuch as the US Navy would accord me with the much needed skills to make me an efficient and effective instrument of knowledge; I, too, if given the opportunity, would like to relate an ample share of what I have learned to those under my future governance. It has always been my dream and long-term goal to position myself as a leading Navy officer to help others in confronting challenges in their future naval service. By being commissioned as a Navy officer, I would finally integrate my diverse leadership and motivational acumen to affiliated careers in marine endeavor. This would eventually fulfill my promise to return the generosity accorded by highly professional governmental service institutions like yours by unselfishly sharing the expertise I earned. Personally, I believe I have the innate skills, utmost dedication, exemplary mental abilities, highly disciplined, unquestionable integrity and pure conviction to delve into this field of endeavor. My previous educational and work experiences fuelled my desire to explore matters pertaining to naval service, human resources intricacies, navy and Marine Corps based participation and correspondences. A childhood dream. A good opportunity. A desired profession. A prestigious governmental service