Reading Response: Kindred

Timothy Kramer  |  Literature & Composition  |  January 10, 2013 Timothy Kramer  |  Literature & Composition  |  January 10, 2013 Reading Response Kindred Reading Response Kindred LT02 Summarize the Text In Olivia Butler's novel, Kindred, an African American woman, Dana, is unexpectedly pulled back to the Slave Era where she struggles to face the inequalities that existed at that time. After moving into her new apartment with her newly wedded husband, Dana is unexpectedly pulled back in time to finds herself in 1800, Maryland where she sees Rufus drowning in a river.After rescuing the young white boy, she is then terrified by the father of the boy, threating to take her life, which literally scares her back to the future. It didn’t take very long for another dizzying time travel phenomenon to occur this time, she is pulled back to 1815. She finds Rufus watching his curtains. Dana quickly puts out the fire, talks to Rufus about it, and escapes from the house bef ore Weylin, Rufus’s father, finds her. Dana goes to Alice’s house because she believes that she is an ancestor.Before she was able to arrive at the cabin, a group of white men break down the door whips Alice’s and beat him. They also beat Alice’s mother. After the men leave, Dana comes out from where she was hiding and helps out. When Dana leaves, a white man finds her, beats her, and attempts to rape her†¦ Following with another dizzying effect, where she is returned home to her own time†¦ Thirty minutes later of course. The next time Dana time travels, Kevin comes with. Back at the plantation, Rufus has broken his leg. Rufus refuses to let Dana leave, so everyone returns to the house together.Kevin and Dana stay on the plantation for a while, But when Dana gets caught teaching Nigel to read, Weylin whips her. Dana receives the â€Å"oh so familiar† dizziness and is returned to her normal timeline†¦ without Kevin. After about a week of Dana impatiently waiting and preparing for another infamous dizzying, time travel, extravaganza, she is transported back to 1820 in a forest not far from the plantation. Rufus had gotten into a fight with Isaac, Alice's newly wedded husband, because he had raped her and wants her all to himself. Dana tells Isaac to leave Rufus alone and run away with Alice. Alice and Isaac are caught.After Rufus doesn’t mail her letters to Kevin, who has gone way up north, she tries and fails to escape the plantation, she is punished for her â€Å"crimes† and â€Å"earns† a whipping. Kevin shows up, and they both escape, were they escape a near death by time traveling back to the future. When Dana time travels back to the plantation, she learns that Rufus has sold Alice’s children. Alice soon after kills herself. Rufus attempts to commit suicide as a result. A few days following the â€Å"incident† Rufus confesses his â€Å"love† for her. She leaves plan ning to cut her wrists in order to get home, but Rufus follows her and attempts to rape her.Dana stabs him twice with her knife, killing him. She returns home immediately. Her arm is severed and crushed in the spot where Rufus was holding it. Wrapping the ending that was expressed in the prologue of the book. LT10 Expand Beyond the Text Education is one of the most important opportunities that we could possibly have. In the Olivia Butlers novel, Kindred, it is expressed this opportunity is not available for African Americans back in the 1800’s. Dana is constantly reminded and criticized because of this due to her superior knowledge from the 1970’s.This is expressed as a good thing expressing the fact that we have overcome our past inequalities and allowed this supreme opportunity, but this is only true in a few select countries. This opportunity has not expanded across the states to individuals that reside in third world countries due to extreme poverty. To them, this opportunity is a virtue they cannot afford, in fact it’s looked upon as a privilege that only a select few can experience. Back in the 1800’s, being a African American woman with knowledge was strange and unfamiliar to the people of that time, Which has indeed improved but not at all for what it could be.

Effects of Tire Pressure on Tire Inflation Essay

Despite concerns that global warming is a result of green house gasses emitted through burning fossil fuels, it is still prominently used for energy (Bent, Orr, & Baker, 2002). The energy harnessed from burning fossil fuels is used to do such things as produce electricity, power vehicles, heat homes and cook food. Oil is the most widely used fossil fuel and also the most widely consumed fuel (over nuclear and renewable) globally with a usage of 38% (Enzler, 2010). As oil resources depletes the prices rise and become more of a financial strain on every economy. The price of gasoline/ petrol, a product of crude oil used to power many vehicles is gradually rising. Gasoline prices in the Bahamas have risen to an average of $5.20 per gallon from $4.2 in 2005 (Turnquest, 2005). While the price of fuel (gasoline/diesel) is not in the average man’s jurisdiction to change, the use and wastage of it is. Although fuel plays a mojor rolle in powering vehicles to move a vehicle’s tires play an even more integral role in the overall performance of the vehicle, as it dictates its handling, traction, ride, comfort and fuel consumption; as it is the main component that interacts with the surface being driven on (Rezna, 2008). Thus if the condition of the tires is improper the performance of the vehicle will be affected. One negative tire condition that can occur is low tire pressure/ under inflation. According to the Webster’s dictionary, under inflation is the insufficient presence of air pressure in a tire for the amount of load carried and vice versa for over inflation. This paper will examine the causes of reduced tire pressure, the tire pressure in places abroad, effects of under and over inflated tires, and tire pressure as it relates to furl consumption. To begin with, tire pressure is a measure of the amount of air in a vehicle’s tires, in pounds per square inc h (psi) (Car Talk Service Advice: Tire Pressure, 2005). There is no standard psi for all tires however tires are marked with a recommended psi that should be adhered to for optimum performance in vehicles. Under inflation of tires can be cause by various factors such as natural causes and the negligence of drivers. Due to temperature and natural cause variation about 1 pound per square inch of pressure to 1Â ° degree Fahrenheit is lost every month (NHTSA, Tire Pressure Monitoring Final Part 3). This loss of pressure is known as natural leakage. Therefore, as the temperature of the climate or air changes, the pressure in the tire will change. Hence, under inflation of the tire will be increased. According to data from the tire industry, 85 percent of all tire air pressure losses are the result of slow leaks that occur over a period of hours, days, or months. Only 15 percent are rapid air losses caused by contact with a road hazard (Source). An example of the natural hazards that can be present that contribute to under inflation may be a nail present in the road that may puncture the tire (source if any). Additionally, due to the negligence of passengers to frequently check their tires under inflation can be an effect. As passengers frequently check their tire’s pressure they can decrease the rate at which the natural leakage of their tire’s air occurs. Moreover, A survey done by NASS-CDS crash investigators, in February 2001 identified that 39% of passenger cars and 46% of passenger trucks had at least one tire pressure that was 6psi or more below placard (recommended/labeled) pressure. In other words a considerable amount of passenger cars and almost half the passenger trucks tested were underinflated. The amount of cars surveyed and tested at this time was 5,967 passenger cars and 3,950 light trucks for a total of 9,917 vehicles across a total of 336 gas stations in the United States of America (National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System, 2001). The below chart is a data collected from the NASS-CDS survey in 2001 and represents the percentages of passenger cars and light trucks and their amount of tires 20% or more below placard pressure. (National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System, 2001) Number of Tires 20% or more Below PlacardPassenger CarsPercentLight TrucksPercent 199446.5%57436.7% 254825.744028.1 327512.922314.3 431914.932720.9 Total2,136100%1,564100% It is seen that a smaller percentage of vehicles (passenger cars and light trucks) had all four tires underinflated large amounts had at least one tire underinflated which can still affect the car’s performance. Additionally, according to an informal study done by students at Carnegie Mellon University, it was discovered that of the 81 cars they tested, the four tires of each car tested were underinflated by an average of 20% (Gearson 2005). Furthermore, with under and over inflated tires there are some effects that can impact the driver’s safety, the tire’s life expectancy, its rolling resistance and the use of fuel. Due to the loss of pressure in the tires, underinflated tires’ footprints or tread are enlarged. When the tire’s foot print is enlarged the rolling resistance of the tire is greater (Source). Rolling resistance can be defined as the friction between the road and the tire and the tire’s ability to effectively grip the road and ri de smoothly (source). Unfortunately, with an under inflated tire in the instance of wet roads, the tires are more likely to slide and cause accidents and crashes. Therefore, this result in a larger friction to overcome and more rubber of the tire burnt. Due to the lack of control over the vehicle the tread life of a tire can be decreased. According to Good year, a renowned tire manufacturing company, under inflated tires wears more rapidly than they should as compared to properly inflated tires (source). The company Good Year makes their tires out of rubber. This rubber is easy to burn and wear due to the pressure applied on an under inflated tire to carry a heavy load. As for over inflated tires, the tires cannot isolate road irregularities well, causing them to ride harsher (uncomfortably) (Proper Tire Inflation). This can also result in the traction and the tireprint/footprint of the vehicle to be reduced ( Rezna 2008). If the tireprint is reduced, this means that the surface contact area is reduced al so thus more pressure is being applied to the area in contact with the road. Inturn the tires are more likely to be damaged when running over potholes or debris in the road because the pressure applied from the weight of the car is greater. However, higher inflation pressures usually provide an improvement in steering response and cornering stability up to a point (Proper Tire Inflation). Moreover, over inflation can result in the transmission of shock loads by the tires to the suspension which can then diminish its ability to support the necessary load for cornerability, braking and acceleration (Rezna 2008). Finally, the fuel usage or consumption of vehicles is varied dependant on the pressure in the tires. This can account for at least one tire being under or over inflated. According to the National Research Council, the main factor associated with fuel consumption and tire pressure is rolling resistance. The make-up of a car also plays an important role in how fuel is consumed. The engine is directly connected to the axles that hold all four or more tires into place. The engine has to use this fuel to increase the transfer of power to the axles. As the fuel is inserted into the car, the engine then converts that fuel into mechanical energy and that energy is transmitted to the axles to turn the wheels (National Research Council, 2006). Therefore, if the tire is under inflated or over inflated the aero dynamic drag that is present between the tires and the road will place for strain on the engine to exert more pressure to move the vehicle and the fuel consumption will increase. Conclusively, there are many benefits that can be derived by monitoring and maintaining the correct tire pressure. They include improved fuel efficiency, better handling, better overall performance, overall safety, as well and an increased tire life span. In addition to these direct benefits, there is also the intangible benefit to the environment of decreasing green-house gases by improved fuel management. The overall benefit of this factor remains priceless. References Bent, R., Orr, L., & Baker, R. (Eds.). (2002). Energy: Science, Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press. Car Talk Service Advice: Tire Pressure. (2005, April 29). Retrieved February 22, 2012, from Cars Talk: http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/tirepressure.html Enzler, S. (2010, March). Fossil fuels: Characteristics, origin, applications and effects of fossil fuels. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from Lenntech: http://www.lenntech.com/greenhouse-effect/fossil-fuels.htm Gearson, B. (2005). Carnegie Mellon Today: Save Gas, Money and the Environment with Properly Inflated Tires. Retrieved on 23rd February 2012 from http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/050921_tire.html National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System. (2001). Tire Pressure Survey and Test Results. Retrieved February 22, 2012, from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/tirepressure/LTPW3.html National Research Council. (2006). Tires and Passenger Vehicle Fuel Economy: Informing Consumers, Improving Performance. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr286.pdf Proper Tire Inflation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2012, from Nitrogen Tire Inflation Systems: http://www.nitrogentiremachine.com/proper_tire_inflation.htm Rezna, J. (2008). Vehicle Dynamics: Theory and Application. Retrieved on 22nd February from http://books.google.bs/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Pvsv78xj7UIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR10&dq=under+and+over+inflatedness+in+car+tires&ots=1nBohNoAmt&sig=f0lQjo7DOYj_rim44o1xjewch8#v=onepage&q=under%20and%20over%20inflatedness%20in%20car%20tires&f=true pgs. Turnquest, P. G. (2005, August 17). Tribune. Gas price breaks $4 mark , p. 1. Car Talk Service Advice: Tire Pressure. (2005, April 29). Retrieved February 22, 2012, from Cars Talk: http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/tirepressure.html Enzler, S. (2010, March). Fossil fuels: Characteristics, origin, applications and effects of fossil fuels. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from Lenntech: http://www.lenntech.com/greenhouse-effect/fossil-fuels.htm Factors Affecting Truck Fuel Economy. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2012, from Good Year: http://www.goodyeartrucktires.com/resources/factors-fuel-economy.aspx Proper Tire Inflation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2012, from Nitrogen Tire Inflation Systems: http://www.nitrogentiremachine.com/proper_tire_inflation.htm West,L. (n.d.). Keeping you tires Inflated could help save the planet, and your life. Retrieved on 23rd February 2012 from http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/tire_pressure.htm Bent, R., Orr, L., & Baker, R. (Eds.). (2002). Energy: Science, Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press. Car Talk Service Advice: Tire Pressure. (2005, April 29). Retrieved February 22, 2012, from Cars Talk: http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/tirepressure.html National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System. (2001). Tire Pressure Survey and Test Results. Retrieved February 22, 2012, from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/tirepressure/LTPW3.html Population Change and Distribution. (2001, April). Retrieved February 2012, from US Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-2.pdf Proper Tire Inflation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2012, from Nitrogen Tire Inflation Systems: http://www.nitrogentiremachine.com/proper_tire_inflation.htm

Life processes – Biodiversity

Often referred to as â€Å"Ecosystems†, Biomes are environments that differ depending on certain factors such as plant life, human presence (which will increase or decrease the pollution levels depending on the advancement of the civilization) and weather/climate. Biomes are easier to define in the worlds of biology, ecology, and biogeography than areas of the planet that have been sectioned and defined by the presence of humans. There are 6 basic terrestrial and aquatic biomes, these can be categorised into Freshwater, Marine, Desert, Forest, Grassland and Tundra. Every different type of ecosystem is unique unto itself, with forms of plant life and animal species that are found only within them. The animals collect in these environment and they rely on the plants for food or shelter or both. Other major factors within a biome are the existence of clean water and suitable weather conditions that these animals can live comfortably in, without these factors, the ecosystem would fail. Biodiversity exists within a biome, this is used to categorise the different types of life within them. Sub definitions are food-chains, placing predatory animals that feed on lesser able animals higher up. Below is an example of a food chain in the rainforest. (1) A food web is a more detailed way of connecting food chains. A food chain diagram, like the one located to the left can only depict a simple staged diagram, whereas a food chain can show how many different types of wildlife can survive on different. Many animals eat more than one thing, a way of showing this is to illustrate it in a food web. An example of one can be seen below. (3) Animals multiply and thrive in some places better than others, for example, varieties of insects that rely on certain types of abiotic climates such as the warm and humid types found in rainforests, would not be able to survive in a desert environment as the conditions there would not provide them with the adequate plant life they need in order to survive both for food and shelter. Using the diagram located to the left it is possible to view some of the more widely known wildlife in this particular ecosystem, however if one were to compare this particular environment to one on the opposite end of the scale, for example, the desert, the wildlife, plant life and factors of human interference would be dramatically different. Rainforests have long been affected by the presence of man and as a result have diminished in size dramatically; this has a direct result on the ecosystems found within them. Our continuing harvesting of wood from trees and the use of land for grazing purposes for farms and such has reached a deadly climax for many species and has forced the wildlife and animal life to adapt to the changes and although they continue to live within these ever changing environments, some species have not. According to sources between 30-100 species of animals, including birds, mammals, fish and insects are being wiped out every single day due to human interference in their habitats (2) The question of which biome has the highest and lowest biodiversity is one that is in constant competition within scientists. Some believe it to be the marine biome as some say there are more variations of plant and marine life and it is the largest, covering two thirds of the earth's surface. Another point directly relating to this particular decision is the affect of humans on the biome. Humans pollute the seas daily, this is not in contention, however the sheer volume of area within which these species survive is not as affected as the land as humans cannot affect as much of it as they cannot access it all. Another argument is that the neotropical climate of climate of Costa Rica puts it at the top, it has over 500,000 different types of species, approximately 300,000 of these are insects. An example of adapting within biomes is that of squirrels. Traditionally found in Britain are the Red and Grey squirrel, the latter of which was introduced to Britain around 130 years ago. The community of the red squirrel is under threat due to the grey squirrel, they raid the food hordes of the red's and as a result their numbers are dwindling. The red squirrel is unable to digest acorns unlike their foreign cousins form across the seas, as a result, the red squirrel is unable to survive in many of the oak laden wooded areas around Britain, over time the red squirrel has found its niche and now, although greatly outnumbered, approx 2. 5 million greys to 160,000 red, the population have survived in man made habitats such as the one on the Isle of Wight and in North East England, Scotland & Wales. Being born and raised in Blean, Canterbury, a regular family outing would be to take regular treks through Blean woods. This is a perfect example of a local ecosystem and evidence of biodiversity. Blean woods spans over 3,000 hectares and within its boundaries thrive many different types of wildlife. Nature reserves have been set up including an RSPB base and guided walks are available on most days, taking nature lovers deep into its terrain to understand, view and record the process of nature that dwells within. The woods themselves are a popular attraction with tourists that travel from far and wide, many of which are people who have come to discover Canterbury and wish to find out more about the surrounding areas. The area itself is maintained by charitable organisations and funded by donations and it is important to understand the financial benefit that these woods have on the area and how much people depend on them. The Conifer tree is the breed of tree that is found the least in these particular woods but there are sanctuaries within it that breed these trees.

Video response assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Why Mixed Martial Arts is better the Boxing Essay

Why Mixed Martial Arts is better the Boxing - Essay Example The Brazilian Top Team has emerged as the most successful in the history of MMA (Sheridan, 92), closely followed by the American Top Team based in Florida (Sheridan, 112). On the other hand, boxing {decidedly better than the transparently put up fights by the exponents of professional wrestling} which was until recently the most avid followed aggressive sport in the country has slipped badly due to a variety of factors. Gone are the days when excited spectators thronged the route to the stadium, while those within the stadium paid homage to their boxing heroes like biblical masses (Rendall, 7). Boxing has now been reduced to preening, pompous gaited, one-dimensional public exhibitionists (Rendall, 29). People have traditionally been attracted to a sport that involves realistic, blood splattering aggression. In ancient times, the coliseums of Rome used to be filled to capacity during fights involving trained gladiators battling for their lives with swords, tridents, chains, nets, daggers and clubs {the recent Hollywood film The Gladiator starring Russell Crowe was a huge hit}. The famed bullfights of Spain where death-defying matadors take on massive bulls are a prime sport in that country, and a must-to-watch for those visiting it. Watching realistic, blood-spurting, spectacular fights stirs the caveman’s instinct within us as nothing else does. With its unique shock and awe approach, MMA satisfies the blood lust craving in sport. It is a ‘rough, rough’ sport where toughness is a vital ingredient (Sheridan, 48). It presents viewers with spectacular violence involving fights during which blood is splattered liberally and profusely, and where even limbs are broken frequently (Peterson) {the crab scissors throw or body scissors are the deadly techniques used to do this [Scott, 2]} as the fighters battle each other in an arena hemmed with black fencing ominously called

Epoch Of The Grand Tour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Epoch Of The Grand Tour - Essay Example Typically, the Grand Tour included visiting the most famous cities of France, Italy, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands with Calais, Paris, Turin, Venice, Naples, Florence, and Rome being the primary goals. The Grand Tourist would journey from city to city and typically spend weeks in smaller cities and some months in each of the three key cities. Travel was not easy in the eighteenth century. The most popular crossing of the English Channel was made from Dover to Calais, France. A trip from Dover across the Channel to Calais and onto Paris routinely took three days. The crossing of the Channel was not a trouble-free one. There were hazards of seasickness, illness, and even shipwreck. The journey from France to Italy could be done by the  sea  where the tourist faced the danger of pirates, or by land by sedan chair over the Alps, where constricted passes made travel an expedition in terror. If the tourist chose to sail to Italy rather than scale the Alps, he would first journey to the south of France. The English were delighted by the warm weather, sunshine and the fields of lavender, calling Provence â€Å"almost  Paradise†. To sail across the Gulf of Genoa, a tourist engaged a fishing boat in Marseilles or Nice. The Gulf of Genoa was notorious for its sudden squalls. The hazard of storm and shipwreck or attack by pirates hovered, but it could be much faster than the long laborious trek through the mountains, and the alpine passes were closed in the winter. Many Grand Tourists chose to either begin or end their tour in Holland. The Dutch were the kings of trade in the 18th century, and passage home to England could be booked on one of their superb  merchants ships (Buzard 42).... However, the idea of traveling for the sake of learning and education - the key idea underlying the Grand Tour - was a relatively new one even in the 18th century (Brodsky-Porges 173). Although representatives of other European nations adopted the same belief that genuine knowledge comes exclusively from the external senses, the Grand Tour is essentially a British invention: at that time Great Britain was the wealthiest country in the world with extremely numerous upper class representatives of which had both the time and the wealth to spend years traveling around the world. As a result, young English elites often spent from several months to several years traveling around Europe in an effort to see the cultural artifacts of antiquity and the Renaissance, learn languages, architecture, geography, culture, and visit other aristocratic societies of Europe (Brodsky-Porges 173-174). Typically, the Grand Tour included visiting the most famous cities of France, Italy, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands with Calais, Paris, Turin, Venice, Naples, Florence, and Rome being the primary goals. The Grand Tourist would journey from city to city and typically spend weeks in smaller cities and some months in each of the three key cities. Travel was not easy in the eighteenth century. The most popular crossing of the English Channel was made from Dover to Calais, France. A trip from Dover across the Channel to Calais and onto Paris routinely took three days. The crossing of the Channel was not a trouble-free one. There were hazards of seasickness, illness, and even shipwreck. The journey from France to Italy could be done by sea' where the

Describe the types of communication mechanisms that can be adopted by Essay

Describe the types of communication mechanisms that can be adopted by A&S fashions limited to help ensure better understanding a - Essay Example Staff members who will receive the message are the decoder while the channeling could be through word of mouth or a written memo. Once the staff members receive the message, they may relay back some feedback to management. In this paper, the most effective ways Alex and Sons fashion limited could use to help solve structural and coordination problems it is currently facing will be outlined. The paper will identify the exact coordination problem that faces this business. Further, it will formulate a work plan on the best way forward. Alex and sons fashion limited faces a few coordination/communication problems. The marketing department feels that the human resource people are not recruiting the right talent to drive sales upwards. They also feel that the finance department is not allocating enough funds to enable it carry out promotions and marketing operations. Marketing department also has a query with the people in logistics and operations unit (O'rourke, 2009, p.23).  They belie ve that this department is taking too long to deliver inventory such that once it arrives to the trading floor, it is no longer fashionable and customers will not buy. The operation department feels that their suppliers are being lured by more attractive incentives from the competitions and as such are not as responsive to their supplies team. They also feel that the marketing department is not motivating their people with incentive such as bonuses and commissions to help drive sales upwards. Further, they believe that the finance department is not allocating enough resources to recruit better designers. The finance department in turn thinks that if all departments could work together, they could meet the company’s goal that is to maximize profit. The result of this will in turn mean that they have enough funds to disburse to different departments. The staff members also have issues with the management team. As result of remarks made by Alex recently in an interview, the staf f feel threatened and have issued a strike notice and gone ahead to strike. They want their job security and the temporary workers want to be employed on a permanent basis with benefits. To solve this myriad of problems, the following communication techniques can be employed. Bringing in an expert in communication can be a very effective way to solve some of these problems. The expert may organize seminars, training or lectures on communication. Timely advice on the best way forward and detailed action plan would be draw by the expert. The guru could work on a consultancy basis and will be coming in to monitor how effective the techniques suggested are coming through (Fielding, 2005, p.34).  There are several firms involved in communication, most charge a few hundred pounds to several pounds depending on the duration they will be involved with a firm. One of the best ways to improve communication in an organization is to solicit feedback from each member on how effective they thin k each member communicates. A&S fashion limited could organize weekly meetings solely dedicated to this. At these meetings, members would solicit feedback and further ask for suggestion on the best communication techniques they think would apply to them (Coghill & Garson, 2006, p.54).  In addition, weekly status report should be organized. During this meeting, what has been

Self assessment in MEMO style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Self assessment in MEMO style - Essay Example I am also an honest person, and I believe to win the trust of the organizations managers and employees. I am also friendly in nature and would easily create a good rapport with other staffs (Stanton, 2009). Considering my weakness, I am always time conscious and would carry out a job hurriedly without considering the consequences. I also easily believe and trust the unknown person, hence can easily be convinced to do something without realization of the consequences. I am also a straightforward person and would not tolerate anything bad done by the employees or employers despite the rank. I am also somehow emotional and sensitive; I can easily be annoyed to an extent that I lose control of myself (Stanton, 2009). In the carrying out of the plan for improvement, my first step is to come up with a list of all my weakness and strengths. This would allow me to form comparison and see if any strength can cancel out any weakness and also to see if the strengths overpower the weaknesses. The second step is to analyze the environment of the workplace to see if it is favorable for my weaknesses and strengths. This will give me a hint on whether to take or reject the job. I will finally look if there is a room for change in the organization, of which if not a reject the job. In my conclusion, strengths and weakness in communication are things that exist in the daily life. An individual should never allow the strengths to overpower the weaknesses. I believe in change provided I am given a chance to work on my weaknesses. I believe in adjusting myself to the working environment despite the weaknesses I

Deppression in older adults(community) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Deppression in older adults(community) - Essay Example This depression is not only painful for the person who experiences it, but also for the people existing in surroundings of this person. Gone is the time when treatment of this disease was unavailable, now the complete treatment and cure of the disease is accessible throughout the world. Many types of depression can affect the health of older adults. This mental illness changes the way the old people used to perceive feelings about their own selves and about their environment. This depression can affect the person in every walk of life, for minute aspects to the major ones. It induces the negative impacts not only in personal life of the old people but it also influence social, and office lives, as well to a great extent. Depression unlike mood disorders is a permanent feeling that just only gets worse if it goes untreated even for the life of the patient. There is no particular theory about the development of depression however; there are certain factors that can maximize the effects of depression. Researchers (Miller, pp. 11-13) showed that depression is a medical illness that is the effect of certain variations and instability in the chemistry of brain, these brain chemical agents known as neurotransmitters do help in regulation and controlling of moods. One of the most significant types of depression that occurs in older adults is the major depressive disorder. Studies have indicated that every one or two person out of the older adults having age of 65 above suffer from major depressive disorder. It may be possible that the older adults have the first attack of depression in their youth and then it returns back in the older age with greater intensity. There are two major symptoms of this kind of depression; one is the distressed moods and feelings for periods as long as two weeks and the other is the lacking or losing of interest or concern in

Sympathy for the Devil Essay Example for Free

Sympathy for the Devil Essay The first thing that I noticed when I heard this song is how different it is from almost every other song that I have heard. The instruments used seem odd for The Rolling Stones, and rock songs in general. It starts off with a combination of drums and maracas, sounding like Brazilian samba music. Usually rock music has a 4/4 backbeat with a bass drum, but this song does not contain that attribute. There is no rhythm guitar but instead an electric bass and piano is used. The bass guitar is used to replace the rhythm guitar, lead guitarist Keith Richards also plays it, and so this may explain this. I’m going to start off by discussing the lyrics of the song and what they are about. I noticed that one of the lines â€Å"every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints† seems to suggest that the devil isn’t that bad, and that all people have some devil in them. There seems to be confusion of good and evil. The devil is portrayed as â€Å"a man of wealth and taste† and polite as well by greeting using â€Å"let me please introduce myself.† Another line, â€Å"hope you guess my name, but what’s puzzling is the nature of my game† intrigued me. This line is not the songwriter saying that I hope you guess that its me playing the devil, it means that the devil is saying I hope you can recognize me because I may be in disguise and I don’t do evil myself, I trick people into doing it for me. The difference between good and evil is a continuing theme throughout the song. Jesus Christ in mentioned and the devil says that he â€Å"stolen many a mans soul and faith.† The songwriter is not arguing Christian doctrine, he is using the devil as a symbol of how it works in the world and that we need to have our guards up because evil will be disguised and may not appear as obvious to us. This was analyzed from the lines â€Å"I watched with glee, while your kings and queens fought for ten decades for the gods they made.† Now I will discuss the music, the different sections, and how they evolve throughout the song. The track begins with a beat on one drum, and then congas are added as accents to the last beats of the line. Other instruments join in and it sounds like a jungle beat with Jagger howling in the background like a wolf, giving the impression of being in a dark jungle. As the beat continues, piano is introduced with a slow series of chords. This is when Jagger beings by singing: â€Å"please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste.† After the first four lines bass starts and it builds on the drum mix still going on in the background. The bass makes the song sound angry, and the bass doesn’t play a repetitive riff it seems to be improvised or played randomly. The first verse and chorus end with the pianist playing at an even pace, but when the second verse begins he starts playing faster and more frantic. The sound of the instruments matches the lyrics of the song, singing about overthrowing government and the blitzkrieg. At the third verse we can hear background vocals singing at the end of each line. These vocals add an eerie sound to the rhythmic instruments, and Jagger’s voice begins to crack on every word. The fourth verse is a guitar solo by Keith Richards and is not really following the beat. He goes from note to note, sliding his fingers across the strings, producing a noticeable sound and then a note is held for several beats. The guitar represents the character that is portrayed in the lyrics, unpredictable. After the guitar solo we hear the chorus, followed by another verse and the chorus again. All of the instruments are played together now and it all seems to be improvised, with no recognizable rhythm. The guitar and vocals play off each other nicely and then Jagger says: â€Å"can you guess my name?† referring to the devil. Finally the song fades away to an end. When I watched a live video of The Rolling Stones performing this song I noticed how into it the whole crowd was. â€Å"Sympathy For The Devil† is sort of like an anti-war anthem for people. The whole stage was lit up in red with lights and there was fog on the stage as well to add more emotion to the song. In 2003, The Stones released this as a maxi-single, with 4 versions of the song. The original was there, as well as remixes by The Neptunes, Fatboy Slim, and Full Phatt. The industrial band Laibach released an entire album containing different covers of this song. The character and tone of the covers are largely very different from the Stones’ version. In the opening track the lead singer sings/shouts in a very deep bass voice with a thick Slavic accent. One of their covers contains references to the violence at the Altamont raceway. In 1969 a fan was fatally stabbed during a performance of this song and they didn’t play it live for 7 years because of this.

Impact of General Anti-Avoidance Rule in India

Impact of General Anti-Avoidance Rule in India Dr. Sanjiv Mittal, Dr. Sunil Kumar, Dr. Pradeep Agarwal, Dr. Mohinder Kumar Introduction General Anti-Avoidance Rule, most popularly known as GAAR Rules were introduced in India by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee the then Finance Minister in March 2012. This rule was introduced to stop the tax evaders or rather to reduce the transactions whose core motive is to evade taxes. The rule targeted, primarily, all the companies that were set up in Mauritius as Shell Companies. These companies had no motive of doing business in Mauritius. The core motive was to route investments into India, utilizing the tax friendly treaty signed between the two nations. Many domestic and foreign firms were doing so. According to data from various trusted sources, between April 2000 and April 2011, total FDI equity inflows from Mauritius to our country were 42 percent of total FDI equity flows. After introduction of GAAR rules, most of the investors domestic and foreign started criticizing it. Investors perception started taking a down turn. This decision was looked at as if the government is trying to demote FDI inflows and is not interested in foreign investments. Summary Due to all the criticism received by GAAR on its first proposal in The Direct Tax Code DTC, it was announced in the Finance Bill 2012 that it will be reintroduced with some changes which are required and will be in effect from 1st April 2014. An expert committee was set up to recommend the changes in the existing rules. According to the paper, GAAR was adopted from the South African Tax Laws. It was copied without paying much attention towards meaning. So, some words had different context in South Africa and different in India which resulted in misuse of the law at different stages. Main issues under the proposed anti-avoidance rules are as follows: Rules of tax avoidance are defined in a manner that they contain as many circumstances and instances of tax avoidance as possible. This leads to ambiguity and increased number of litigations. Anti-avoidance rules come in picture when the main purpose of a transaction is to get tax benefit. The meaning of main purpose is not defined and it is left in the hands of the court to decide the main purpose of ant transaction. Suppose the anti-avoidance rules are triggered while making a transaction. In such case, it is not certain as to the complete effect of the transaction will be given or not. Whether the double taxation would be completely avoided or not. Even in a case when the tax authorities do not have any proof against tax payer, it is his responsibility to prove to them that the main purpose of the transaction was not to avoid paying taxes. In case of any transaction, the provisions of this act are applicable at all times without there being any cut-off date. Due to which, past transactions create an impact in the regime of Direct Tax Code. So, it does not matter whether the tax officer authorises the transaction or not. After the announcement made by the Finance Minister in March 2012, there has been a significant decline in the investments made by foreign entities. There has been uncertainty over the impact of regulations on the foreign institutional investors. Indian equity markets showed higher deviations and instability after the announcement as the investors have become cautious in making their investments. In initial 3 months, markets showed good figures in terms of investment interest but not so well after the announcement as shown by the figures in the table below: MONTH GROSS PURCHASE (CR) GROSS SALE (CR) NET INVESTMENT (CR) CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT ($MN) January 2012 50,467.40 40,109.90 10,357.70 2,037.22 February 2012 79,898.60 54,686.60 25,212.10 5,127.67 March 2012 63,795.10 55,413.80 8,381.10 1,684.82 April 2012 41,091.90 42,200.50 -1,109.10 -205.53 May 2012 6,716.50 5,840.40 876.10 166.21 Source: http://www.indiainfoline.com In secondary market, most of the shares of the Indian companies are held by the Foreign Institutional Investors. Market pressures have increased in last few months and as a result these companies are struggling in their performance. Markets are expected to show volatility in the upcoming months also. Case Laws Case Law 1 (Vodafone Tax Case): In 2007, CGP investment based at Cayman Island was an intermediary company of Hutchinson of Hong Kong. This CGP companys investments had 67% shares of Hutch Essar India. Now when Vodafone bought CGP, they indirectly brought and became owner of Hutch Essar as well. The tax department was of the view that this transaction had the effect of indirect transfer of assets situated in India and thus tax liability arises for Vodafone. Bombay High Court ruled in favour of the Indian government but on further appeal by Vodafone to the Supreme Court, the decision turned in favour of Vodafone. Supreme Court concluded that the transfer of the share in CGP did not result in the transfer of a capital asset situated in India, and gains from such transfer could not be subject to Income tax. Finance Minister clarified in IT act 2012 that CGT will be payable outside India if its value is derived from Indian assets. Thus, GAAR was introduced in 2012 budget to stop all such tax avoiding instances. It had a retrospective clause which caused almost all corporates to oppose it. Case Law 2: A company transfers its property used in business to another related corporation for the purpose of deduction of non-capital losses of the related company. All of the shares of the two corporations have been owned by the same taxpayer during the period in which the losses were incurred. If transaction is with the law, then it is well and good. But, if it is done with the purpose of avoiding some tax laws then that is considered a misuse of the provisions of the Act and be subject to provisions of the Act. Thus, genuine corporate reorganization should not be affected. Case Law 3: A firm with a property which has an unrealized capital gain that it wishes to sell to a third party. A related corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary has a net capital loss. Instead of selling the property directly to the third party and realizing a capital gain, the company transfers the property by first selling it to a related corporation to reduce the net taxable capital gain by the amount of its net capital loss. The provisions of the act would not be triggered if cost to the company is considered in determining the cost to the related corporation. Thus, the transfer of property by parent company to its subsidiary company or vice versa under Indian regulations should not be impacted. Case Law 4: A taxable company has agreed to purchase all of the shares of an operating company, which is also a taxable Indian company. The purchaser forms a parent company which completes the transaction by borrowing money. Now both the parent company and subsidiary gets merged so that the interest on the borrowed capital could be deducted in computing the income from the business of the merged company. Under Section 14A, this can be considered as tax benefit and under the GAAR provisions. Applicability to Managerial Decisions and Companys Taxation GAAR will be applicable in India from April 2017, as per the latest announcement made by the government. This decision has its impact on the managerial decision making. As the companies will now have to be cautious and recheck before investing through foreign shell companies like from Mauritius. Due to the changes, the income earned through investments from FII and FDI will now be taxed. This increases companies total tax liabilities and they will have to revisit their investment plans. Government through this decision has provided lot of power to the tax authorities. They can take the tax benefit out of any transaction if they feel that its sole purpose is avoiding taxes. This may lead to harassment of honest investors. This thought has already led to some litigations on the government for taking this action without proper study. There will be a lot of expectations from the judiciary to maintain the perfect balance between the fair and unfair measures used in tax planning. However, managers who do a companys tax planning will have to take responsibility on themselves as to what is the acceptable measure and what is not. Because, at last it is the morals and ethics of a tax payer that guides the final decision. Owen L. Clarke Introduction In this paper, Owen L. Clarke talks about the taxation of corporate income and its effects with respect to the United States of America. It talks about local revenues and state revenues and how are they affected due to taxation. In U.S., corporates can be taxed by states only on the amount of transactions that they undertook within the boundaries of the state. Due to this, they are not able to get good amount of revenues from the economic corporate sector for carrying out the public services. Therefore, there is a probability of loss in revenues in the states. Reforms in taxation were again on top of the list of the U.S. federal government. As tax reforms may have different implication on as many people, here the paper talks about that part of reform which goes with distribution of profits to the corporate shareholders in both, the actual and the economic, sense of the word. It also talks about the consequences it leads to, in terms of taxes. Summary Taxes are an important part of the state revenue in U.S. Still, there is no focus on the current scenario of the states and also the costs incurred to the authorities while providing public services at a state and a local level. This would be the scenario if the recent proposals were brought to practice. The economic policy of the country suggests that the shareholder income and the corporate income should be integrated. So, interests of both the parties may not be in harmony. Many car manufacturers, who have global operations, compete with manufacturers from other nations and thus have to reduce effect of national. This concept of integration is not only complex but also not proper and not fair. State tax authorities looked like answering to general public demand i.e. to combine their corporate and personal tax regulations with the Internal Revenue Code. And many states adopted this, some partially and some completely. Later on, it had to be rechecked and changes had to be made in area of personal tax laws but not in the corporate tax laws. This may be because of the nature of the corporate tax. Massachusetts corporation tax laws were brought in because there was no integration in the corporate and personal taxes on income. This was because of pressure to meet with the payments of public services. Some may think that this integration is a new concept but that is not the case. Massachusetts has integrated both for over a hundred years in 18th and 19th century. Tax was charged in the hands of the shareholders of the company. But, even that was not able to collect enough amount from corporates for the purpose of providing public services. So, in 1863, they replaced it with the system where tax was charged in the hands of the corporates and they were supposed to pay the tax directly to the state authorities. There should be some differences in the logic in which the integration takes place at different levels i.e. at federal and at state level. The things which the state and local administrators provides the corporates and is not provided by the federal administrators. This should be looked upon because they are the only things on which state can demand tax from the corporates. All the tax authorities at the state level try their best to attract different industries in their purview. It should be noted that they provide most of the services directly to the corporates only and not to the shareholders. Therefore, companies should be the one who should pay taxes to the state. Therefore, if the federal administrators decide to enact some integration plans, then that would further increase the losses in revenues of the states which is already a problem. Federal government should look at the effects on the revenue of states and local authorities before accepting any proposal of integration. Because if some acts are changed at the state level then it would cause problems from the taxpayers to comply. The paper concludes that priority and importance should be given to the growth in the national economy rather than the state economy. Many things like capital generation, corporate financing, transfer of investments, etc. should be the focus of the federal authorities rather than different ways of collecting revenues. Author suggests that state tax authorities could deal with these problems of revenues without creating serious disturbances. This could happen if the congress, gives opportunity to the state authorities to draft and present an integration plan which satisfies the motives of both the state and the federal governments. Case Laws United States have many manufacturers and corporates having their operations throughout the world. In the international market, the companies have to compete with manufacturers and corporates from different countries where tax laws are different and thus the costs of the firm may be less. Now to stay competitive in the international markets and keep generating revenues from all over the world, the corporates should be charged less with the income taxes and such taxes should be charged in the hands of the shareholders for dividends that they receive. Applicability to Managerial Decisions and Companys Taxation If the federal government decides to collect income taxes not from the corporates but from the hands of the shareholders for the dividends that they earn from the corporate, then the managerial decision making will get changed in a certain way. Corporates will have to pay less taxes and the profits will increase with increase in revenues from the international markets. They will have more funds available to invest and as a result growth rate will improve. Also, it will reduce the costs incurred on planning to reduce that tax. However, it will increase a little burden on the individuals i.e. shareholders. This may not be good for revenue losses but it will be good for the country in long run. On the other hand, if the state starts collecting taxes directly from the corporates then firms will face though competition in the international markets. But the revenue problems of the states should get resolved. So, an integration plan should be proposed and enacted that resolves the issues of both the federal government and the state governments. References MITTAL, S., KUMAR, S., AGARWAL, P., KUMAR, M. (2013). IMPACT OF GAAR ON INDIAN EQUITY MARKET: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY. CLEAR International Journal of Research in Commerce Management, 4(10), 17-21. Clarke, O. L. (1975). THE TAXATION OF INCOME FROM CORPORATE SHAREHOLDING: STATE AND LOCAL VIEW. National Tax Journal, 28(3), 373-376. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/anti-avoidance-tax-rule-gaar-to-kick-in-from-april-2017/articleshow/56403421.cms http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/all-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-vodafone-tax-case/article5699526.ece https://www.usa.gov/taxes http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/education_materials/modules/Taxes_in_the_United_States.pdf http://www.immihelp.com/newcomer/united-states-taxes.html

The Usefulness Of An Interview

The Usefulness Of An Interview If we cast a glance at any company which has gained success in any business area and begin to explore the reasons of this success we can see that there are many factors that cause this success: a successful business strategy, high quality organizational management, and of course, well selected employees who cope with their tasks properly. Choosing the right candidate, evaluating their performance and managing the high quality work are very important factors that play a great role for the successful activity of any company. The main purpose of this assignment is to answer the questions regarding the selection process of employees, the factors that undermine the usefulness of an interview, the background investigation of employees as part of the job selection process, and the performance appraisal method compare with the Total Quality Management (TQM). a. THE FACTORS AND PROBLEMS THAT CAN UNDERMINE THE USEFULNESS OF AN INTERVIEW. To select employees is a very important management process that requires responsibility and professionalism. Although there are many ways of managing this process, the main method is taking job interviews. It is very difficult to find a company that hires employees without interviewing them. In spite of the fact that there are many types and many ways of taking an interview, the main aim of this assignment is to analysis the problems and the factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. As I noticed above, selecting candidates is a very essential management task, and without knowing how to interview, it is impossible to manage this it. Several factors can undermine the usefulness of an interview First impression (Snap judgment) A study has shown that we make favorable or unfavorable judgments about someone we meet within 14 seconds. (CMR international. How to select best candidate. October 2004, p.35) Another research shows that in 85% of the cases interviewers had made up their minds before the interview even began (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.262) We can say that 50% of what an interviewers think about a candidate, 50% of their decision is made in the first 30-60 seconds. 25 percent of what the interviewer thinks about a candidate made in the first 15 minutes. This psychological factor undermines the interviews usefulness a lot. First impression becomes more harmful when the information about the candidate is unfavorable. Often the finding of even a small amount of negative information can lead to the rejection of a candidate. Generally, human psychology is affected more by negative information than the positive one. If the interview begins with negative mood, it is usually difficult to change its posture. For example, many try-outs for orchestras are now held with the applicant musicians playing behind a screen. All sexual, racial, and physical characteristics are eliminated so selectors can concentrate on listening for the best musician (http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/blink_effect.htm Access date 30 Sep 2009) Paying attention all these, it can be said that interviewers must not say their opinion about the candidate before an interview. Because in many cases the first impression can be deceptive. And the candidates must always remember that there is nothing like a good first impression. Body language is very important for the first impression. The candidate must sell him/herself through the unverbal communication, through the behavior. Candidate Order error This is one of the factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. The physiological incentive plays a great role here. Interviewers are influenced for or against a candidate by the interview of a previous candidate. For example, if a qualified applicant follows an exceptional applicant his or her qualifications tend to pale in comparison. To avoid this mistake it can be useful for the interviewers to take a little break after interviewing several candidates. Misunderstanding the Job Interviewers without clear understanding of the job sometimes ask irrelevant questions and make incorrect assumption about the qualifications of the successful job candidate. (http://ftdconsulting.com/docs/CommonInterviewMistakes Accessed date 30 Sep 2009) With incorrect stereotypes or impressions, it is very difficult to choose a right candidate. To avoid this, interviewers must get enough information about the vacant job which they want to fill and they musk ask relevant questions to the job. Nonverbal Behavior This is a very important factor during an interview both for interviewers and candidates. Nonverbal behavior is as important as verbal behavior. Psychological studies also affirm that nonverbal behavior can tell us many things about the persons nature and character. Elements, such as physique, height, weight, skin color, gender, and clothing send nonverbal messages during interaction. For example, a research into height has generally found that taller people are perceived as being more impressive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication Access date 30 Sep 2009) Candidates can be affected of interviewers body language- facial expressions, eye contact and psychical reactions. If the candidates start to see negative nonverbal behavior from their interviewers they can not adjust their answers. The candidates nonverbal behavior can also have an impact on his or her rating, because interviewers infer the interviewees personality from the way he or she acts in the interview (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.264) Impression Management This is a widely spreaded factor that undermines an interviews usefulness. Candidates persuade interviewers to like them by using ingratiation and praising. Applicants attempt to create a favorable impression. Some typical examples of impression management during interviews include verbal self-promotion (I am very hard worker), adjustment of nonverbal behaviors (Smiling, welcoming, body posture), and looking the part (wearing professional clothing). (Journal of Management, 33(5),752-773). Therefore, interviewers must be very careful about not being affected by these impressions Effects of Personal Characteristics Sometimes interviewers rely on applicants psychical appearance or attractiveness for making judgments about their suitability. For example, interviewers give more attention to people with favorable traits than people with unfavorable traits. The interviewers are affected by candidates gender, attractiveness and race. Besides these factors, which we have noticed above, there are some more factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. These factors are poorly worded questions, illegal questions (the legislation prohibits to ask private questions), and similar-to-me factor (interviewers tend to give a higher ratings to a candidate who has similar characteristics as themselves). Hiring and keeping good workers begins with the job interview. Interviews are one of the most important and extensively used hiring tools available to employers to identify the best candidate for a company. It is a great opportunity to meet several candidates and screen them to find the ones most suitable for the organization. Therefore, the interviewers must get as much benefit as they can from this opportunity. b. IS IT IMPORTANT TO CONDUCT PRE-EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION? Forming a successful interview is not enough to choose a right candidate. It is just a part of the job selection process. There are some more methods that employers use to hire people. The next method of job selection process is to conduct pre-employment background investigation. Many employers use this method before hiring people. A pre-employment background investigation is frequently performed to help companies learn about a potential employees background. The main aim is to check the information provided by the applicant and to discover the information that can be harmful for the company (criminal records, for example) Before a background investigation performed the employer must get a written and signed authorization from the employee. This informs the employee what type of background investigation of employment will be done. If the employer wants access to candidates medical records or wants to talk to his or her friends, co-workers, then two additional consent forms are required. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, areas of scrutiny consist of: Criminal records Sex offender lists State licensing records Character references Education records Property ownership Court records Credit records Social security number Past employers Neighbor interviews Medical records Vehicle records Military records Incarceration records Driving records Bankruptcy Personal references Workers compensation Drug test records Source: http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/employee-background-check.html (Accessed 25 Sep 2009) Sometimes people find themselves in a situation where they wonder if it would be appropriate to do a background investigation about someone. It is not always easy to decide what the appropriate might be to do such a check. More often an emotional process takes place which prevents a person from doing that investigation. But nobody wants to choose the wrong candidate. To avoid this, usually it is necessary to do this investigation. In the following example we can see the importance of doing pre-employment background investigation Joe Smith hired by ABC Inc. as a cable TV installer assaults and a rapes a female customer while installing cable service in her home. The employee had a criminal record of assault and drug abuse. A court could rule that the cable company was negligent because it should have found out about Joe through a pre-employment background investigation or an employee criminal background check. The family of the female customer beaten and raped by Joe of ABC Inc. sues his former employer 123 Inc. for only providing ABC Inc. with whats called a standard reference. This means 123 Inc. only gave basic information to ABC Inc. No detailed data involving Joes physical fights with co-workers while at 123 Inc. and his on the job drug abuse. Why? A lot of businessman and organizations are reluctant to share offensive and sensitive information because they are worried about being sued for defamation of character by former employees (http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html Accessed date 25 Sep 2009) From this example we can say that, doing pre-employment background investigation is not causeless. Researches has shown that up to 20 percent of job applicants give false or misleading information on their applications for employment (http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html Accessed date 25 Sep 2009) One more example, Bell Souths security director estimates that 15% to 20% of applicants conceal a secret in their application forms (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.280) Some of common areas of misleading involve: False dates of employment Criminal history Untrue reasons for leaving previous employment Domestic violence or abuse Problems with credit history and etc. Hiring wrong person by not doing pre-employment background investigation could destroy everything a business owner or manager has built. Background investigation is a very important search tool todays business climate. Hiring without an accurate pre-employment check could result in serious problems. It is the employers responsibility to know the employee. So every employer should approach this process with a great responsibility to avoid further unpleasant events. c. TAKING A TQM-BASED APPROACH TO THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Nowadays competitive market requires a high quality from the companies. Therefore, companies always try to raise the quality in all steps of an organizational process. The main aim of the quality movement is to get the best performance and effort from the employees of the organization. There are some ways to realize the quality movement. The most widely used methods are Total Quality Management (TQM) and performance appraisal methods. But there is an opinion difference about the applying of these methods. Some experts suggest that taking a TQM is an approach to the performance appraisal, but some of them have a contrary opinion. In this paragraph of an assignment the contrary among the experts will be discussed. But before this, it needs to be explained what TQM and appraisal methods are. TQM is a method to raise a quality throughout the organizational process. It is not a programme but a systematic style of work. The main aim is to raise the quality of goods, service and all organizational process. Performance appraisal method is used to evaluate the job performance of an employee. The aim is to facilitate communications between employees and administration and to identify employees training needs. But both TQM and performance appraisal methods are focused of increasing the productivity of the organization. They both help the systematic management of all the process in the organization. Some of the benefits of both the performance appraisal and TQM are: Improvement of the performance of the employees Brings quality consciousness Better utilization of resources Commitment of higher technology (http://appraisals.naukrihub.com/tqm-and-performance-appraisal.html Accessed date 26 Sep 2009) As it is noticed above, there is an argument among the experts about the usefulness of appraisal methods as a part of TQM. Many defenders of TQM criticize performance appraisals. For example, Peter Scholtes say there is no data, no research to demonstrate that performance appraisal does any good. There is nothing to indicate that a company which uses performance appraisals does any better than it would if it did not use performance appraisals. (http://www.baldrigeplus.com/Exhibits/Exhibit%20-%20Performance%20appraisal.pdf Accessed date 26 Sep 2009) They insist on performance appraisals undermines teamwork. Some experts refute the compatibility of the TQM and performance appraisals. According to them both TQM and Performance appraisals differ in their fundamental nature, characteristics and requirements making it impossible to combine them. Some fundamental differences between the two are: TQM is team based whereas performance appraisals are designed for individuals. It undermines teamwork TQM focuses on customer whereas performance appraisal method focuses on individuals. In TQM the main aim is to reach the standards but in appraisal method standards are sometimes imposed on the employee Performance appraisals generally results in some awards, like increased pay, promotions and etc. but TQM may or may not yield visible results. Nevertheless, other TQM experts defend Performance appraisals saying that this is a very important part of management programme including quality movement. They say that performance appraisals are very necessary for every organization and it must be approached in the frames of TQM. Because, as a result, the performance appraisals method is an important step to raise a work quality. Although there is a contrariety among the experts about the applying of performance appraisal methods, the benefits of these method is obvious. Of course there are some factors that can undermine the usefulness of performance appraisals (luck of preparation, unclear performance standards, and ect.).But for my opinion if it is applied faultless many problems can be eliminated in an organization. In every company there can be some insufficiencies, employees may need motivation and to eliminate these insufficiencies it is very useful to use performance appraisal methods. I want to give an example about my school. Few days ago we had been given appraisal papers to identify our needs and insufficiencies, and as a result I saw its benefit. It was a like a communication between the students and the administrators. I dont agree with the experts who say performance appraisals are useless. Maybe in some cases this method is useless but it does not mean that performance appraisals are always us eless. CONCLUSION As a result, it can be said that the interviews are very important job selection process for the both employers and employees. Interviewers must be very careful and they must avoid the problems that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. It was also shown that the good interview is not enough to choose the right candidate, therefore it is very important to do pre-employment background investigation. By doing this investigation the future unpleasant events can be avoided. In the last part of an assignment we looked through the performance appraisal methods in the frames of TQM and it can be said that although there is no common opinion about the usefulness of the appraisal methods, for my opinion performance appraisal methods are very useful. REFERENCES: Dessler G.(2004) Human Resource Management 11th edition Journal of Management (2007) 33(5) CMR international. (2004 October) How to select best candidate. p.35 http://appraisals.naukrihub.com/tqm-and-performance-appraisal.html http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/employee-background-check.html http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html http://www.baldrigeplus.com/Exhibits/Exhibit%20-%20Performance%20appraisal. http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/blink_effect.htm http://ftdconsulting.com/docs/CommonInterviewMistakes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication

Virtual Child Pornography Should be Legal :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Virtual Child Pornography Should be Legal This nation has several issues over which most people's minds freeze up, with the disastrous drug war probably leading the list. I don't share a feeling of squeamishness and horror when it comes to drugs: What I don't want, I don't take, it's that simple. And I don't spend time fretting that my neighbors might be toking, or snorting, in the privacy of their homes. Child pornography is something else; it pushes all kinds of emotional hot-buttons in me. Certainly I would agree with the majority that anyone who exploits children in a sexual manner is committing a serious offense, deserving of harsh punishment. And anyone who get his kicks looking at images of children in sexual situations, well, that's also pretty horrifying to my sensibilities. I am very glad that my own lust meter pegs when I look at fully grown women, not at some other subset of the population. Nevertheless, I feel moved to speak against the wave of hysteria that is exemplified by U.S. Rep. Henry Brown's call for a Constitutional amendment to ban virtual child pornography. (Virtual child pornography is images that appear to be of children having sex, but which are in fact made-up, simulated by the miracles of modern computer graphics). Some who oppose such an amendment do so on the basis that the Constitution is not meant to cover specific legislative issues. That is true, but it misses the larger point, which comes down to basic rights, even for people we think have horrifying tastes. To put it bluntly, children (and adults too, of course) have the right not to be sexually exploited, BUT, adults have the right to possess any material which does not directly exploit children. Yes, including virtual pornography. I think a strong case could be made that it should not be illegal for someone to possess images of ACTUAL child pornography: The crime has been committed by the person exploiting the children, not the person viewing the picture. Nevertheless, in this column I'm taking the less assertive position that only pretend pictures of children don't warrant legal sanction. Think about this: Take a napkin. Draw a big guy with an erect c***. Draw a much smaller figure giving him a b*** j**. You have just committed a felony. Take that napkin and stuff it in someone else's pocket.

Eating Disorders and the Media Essay -- Female Body Image Weight Healt

Eating Disorders and the Media What if you were surrounded by media messages telling you that, â€Å"people will like you more if you have the perfect body† or â€Å"being perfect makes people like you† ? How do you think young female teenagers would interpret these messages that the media are portraying? 81% of ten year old girls are afraid of being fat, of being considered ugly. Why do you think ten year olds would ever care about how they look? It’s because of the media implying that being slim is beauty. Due to the media’s brainwashing, poor self-image is one of the main causes of eating disorders in adolescent girls. The media sells products, not opinions nor facts. They will sell you anything, telling you that it will make you slimmer and that being skinny is the way to go. When we see models and celebrities on commercials and in movies, we often wish that that was us in that body, because the media has made everyone so obsessed with their own bodies. The media makes young female teenagers feel guilty if they are slightly overweight. Models are beautiful, skinny, they have the right size thighs, hips, and butt. They are models but they are not role models. They are everything teenagers want to be, because of the television they watch and the magazines that they read. The media are always telling them that being thin is considered beautiful. This sends a wrath between females and their impression of what beauty really is. Some females will go to any length to try to be that perfect body weight person. Such a person doesn’t even exist. For there is no perfect weight for which females should strive to achieve. Although there are many young females who will restrict what they are allowed to eat & when they are allowed to eat it. They will exercise compulsively and self effectuate vomiting. Eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive overeating are three of the major eating disorders that infatuate young minds. Female teenagers see bingeing, dieting and vomiting, a way out of actually doing a workout and getting into shape. There is a widening gap between girl’s self-image and society’s messages about what girls should be like. The media uses television, magazines and subliminal messages to attract people. They have playboy models advertising for cars, boats and body lotion. They use a women’s body to advertise for their products. The media doe... ... they need to resolve, like the depression of not being happy with themselves. Of going through many procedures to make them look â€Å"thin† or â€Å"ordinary† because they can no longer be happy with themselves because of the media’s interference with adolescent girls images. Anorexia and bulimia are one of the main causes along with the media as to why adolescent girls are always slightly underweight and devastating skinny. If the media didn’t interfere with adolescent perceptions, maybe one half of fourth grade girls wouldn’t be on a diet. Intense fear of becoming fat and distorted body images aren’t the kinds of thing we want our adolescents girls to become. To think about their appearance and weight 24/7 isn’t right. The media should stop publicizing young female bodies and telling them what beauty is perceived to them. They should think of all those adolescents girls that they send into depression or force to become bulimic, just because they wish to make money. The media brainwashes too many of adolescent girls, making them think about their body in relation to models who have unmistakably the â€Å"perfect body†. Making them think that you have to be thin in order to be beautiful.

Miss Jane Marple and Miss Cordelia Grey

At first blush it is difficult to imagine two women who are more different that Miss Jane Marple, the cozy amateur detective featured in Agatha Christie's At Bertram's Hotel and Miss Cordelia Grey the protagonist in P. D. James' An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. First, Miss Marple is a good deal older than Miss Gray, although their lifetimes overlap. Secondly the times and worlds they each occupy vary considerably. Lastly, Miss Marple's life experiences appear to have occurred in the village St. Mary Mead. Cordelia Grey however has never really known a home and has lived throughout Europe. However, after sorting through the differences between the two women it becomes clear that each has the necessary qualities necessary to play the role of mystery novel detective. Time provides the most obvious focus between these two novels and their main characters. Miss Marple's age is not revealed, but Lady Selina, herself sixty-five-years-old notices Miss Marple's arrival with the observation â€Å"I do believe that's old Jane Marple. Thought she was dead years ago. Looks a hundred† (Christie 4). Cordelia Grey is only twenty-two-years-old in An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, but it is not just the difference in their ages that separates the two women, it is the difference in time. Although At Bertram's Hotel takes place in London in 1955 and An Unsuitable Job for a Woman takes place in London and Cambridge in 1972 the focus on time each novel has is quite is quite different. Bertram's Hotel stands proudly in the mid-1950s looking backwards to an England that no longer exists except in the memories of the elderly and English films. The management has created an artificial, refined world that caters to the aging members of Edwardian England who fondly recall their youth and to whose Americans who want to visit the â€Å"real† England: hopefully the England from before World War I, but certainly the England from before World War II. Bertram's has changed over the years, but looks â€Å"precisely as it had looked in 1939—dignified, unostentatious, and quietly expensive† (Christie 1). Miss Marple arrives for a visit after having previously stayed there when she was fourteen. Miss Marple brings with her not only her memories of her previous visit, but also a lifetime of memories of the people from St. Mary Mead who she has observed for a lifetime and has learned to recognize anomalies in the actions of others and has developed the habit of â€Å"picking† at these peculiar actions until she has revealed the reason for the action. In this process, Miss Marple has solved a large number of murder mysteries (Christie). The 1972 world of Cordelia Grey differs greatly. Rather than focusing her interest backward at a childhood without a mother and most often without her father being part of her life, Cordelia Grey looks forward. She lives at a time when a young woman living in London has the opportunity to work in an increasing variety of careers. Despite this relaxing of social attitude toward the role of women in England, Cordelia has stumbled into the detective business, a most unsuitable career that she intends to master (James). Unlike Miss Marple who has a treasure trove of memories to guide her in her investigations, Cordelia Grey has had a short live and has had almost no training to work as a detective. Although technically a partner, Grey's training has been limited to basic training in the use of fingerprinting and similar techniques. Her real training has been the often-repeated litany remarks of her late partner Bernard G. Pryde. Pryde was fired from the CID section of the Metropolitan police because of his inability to put together facts and solve cases. He had however taken to heart the teachings of Superintendent Inspector Adam Dagliesh and always had a proverb at hand to help with the current situation. Miss Grey calls these to mind as she proceeds throughout the investigation (James 56, 211). Miss Marple appears to have spent her life at home, working in her garden except for occasional trips such as the two to Bertram's and a trip to the Caribbean that had been paid for by her nephew. Her world is St. Mary Mead, a microcosm sufficiently diverse to have allowed her to develop a keen sense of observation that is adequate to the world outside St. Mary Mead. Cordelia Grey, however, has lived in a series of foster homes after her mother's death while giving birth to Cordelia. Her father was a fascist poet and not much of a father at all, prompting Cordelia to conclude that the six years she spent at convent school due to a clerical error were â€Å"the most settled and happy years of her life. (James 68). The similarities between the two are quite striking. Both women are extremely intelligent though Miss Marple often appears as a twittering and reminiscing old lady (Christie 36). While at convent school Cordelia Grey had learned that she was smart and that â€Å"she needn't to conceal her intelligence, that cleverness which a succession of foster mothers had somehow seen as a threat.† She was offered a chance to take her A-levels with the hopes of a scholarship to Cambridge, but was forbidden to do so by her father who unfortunately chose to appear at the time (James 68-9). Miss Marple and Miss Grey have a strong attraction to what is orderly and proper. Miss Marple always awakens early; she has her breakfast at eight-thirty and enjoys a â€Å"real breakfast† with â€Å"proper eggs† (Christie 33-35). Even though her partner has died, she attends to the business, even though there are no clients, â€Å"cleaning, tidying, rearranging . . .† (James 22). She carefully plans what clothes she should take with her to Cambridge while she conducts her investigation (James 43). When the investigation is over Miss Grey takes the time to finish spading the last two feet of the garden row the murder victim had failed to complete before his death, as if it were one more unsettled task that needed to be completed. Finally, these women are tenacious as terriers. If either of them notices something that is not quite right they will fuss at it and fiddle with it until it makes sense and is reconciled to their satisfaction. Ultimately both Miss Marple and Miss Grey are, in some respects, different faces of a modern, female Janus, the two faced god with each face pointing in opposite directions. The elderly Miss Marple steadfastly faces back in time toward the Edwardian England she remembers and prefers; the young Miss Grey who eagerly faces forward, looks hopefully toward the future. Despite this different temporal orientation, each woman keeps one, boldly curious, wandering eye firmly in the present time and location. Each woman notices the unusual in the midst of normalcy, seeks lies in the midst of truth, and discerns the sinister among the innocent. Despite the great differences between them, they are in many ways kindred sisters or perhaps kindred grandmother and granddaughter. Both women successfully engage in activities deemed â€Å"unsuitable† work for a woman. Despite this they succeed in discovering and righting the wrongs even though the men around them have failed to do so. Works Cited Christie, Agatha. At Bertram's Hotel. New York: Bantam Books, Agatha Christie Mystery Collection, 1987. James, P. D. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972.

Speech Plan

Beto Arellano Comm 3 Informative Speech Plan Title: Hip-hop Abs Specific Speech Purpose: To inform my Comm. 3 audience on how to achieve abs with the hip-hop abs program Statement: There are three steps for a basic hip hop abs workout. Introduction I. Attention Step: The abdomen, sometimes called the belly, stomach, or tummy, is the part of the body between the chest and pelvis.The benefits of having strong abdominal muscles include helping a person breathe better and better posture that results in less back pain, help a person avoid injury when performing tasks that put stress on the back and torso, and helping the body to heal faster after an injury or surgery to the spine. II. Clarification Step: That explains why we have to maintain our abs for a better and healthier life. Welcome everyone to Beto's Guide to Shaun T's Hip Hop Abs! Today, I am going to teach you how to achieve great abs using Shaun T's Hip Hop Abs Program, and have fun while doing it!Body I. First, you must get th e proper materials for the work out A. You must wear the proper clothes 1. Wear comfortable clothes (shirt, shorts/jogging pants) 2. Wear rubber shoes B. You must prepare the needed materials 1. Bring water and a towel 2. Bring appropriate music for the workout II. Second, you must attain the proper form for the workout A. You must Tilt 1. Tilt your body forward 2. Take your shoulders over B. You must Tuck 1. Tuck your hips under 2. â€Å"Sit on a chair† C. You must Tighten 1. Squeeze your abs 2. Exhale while you squeeze III.Lastly, you must learn the basic steps A. Do the basic bounce B. Bring your hands up and step side to side C. Bring your knees up alternately D. Bend your knees and get low Conclusion Summary Step: Now that you know how easy and fun the Hip Hop Abs program is, you can now maintain your abs anywhere like at home, at the office, in the kitchen, in the shower, and at the zoo, but not anytime, only when no one else is looking. Sources: http://www. ehow. com/a bout_4565354_abdominal-muscles. html#ixzz2MaOxmjms http://www. beachbody. com/product/fitness_programs/hip_hop_abs. do

Typography & Typeface Design

Design Is everywhere. It may be a bit of click, but It Is definitely true. We live In an age of mass consumption and mass communication, and everywhere we look we can find examples of design. As an industrial design student l, naturally, tend to focus at product design, but there are of course many other design disciplines. However, there is one design discipline that I for some reason never perceived as design, until I was scribbling In my notepad one day. I was bored and drawing variations of the letter At first, it was just mindlessly doodling, but then I realized what I was actually doing.I wasn't just drawing the letter, I was designing it. It may sound Like a trivial discovery, but for me It was a revelation that Immediately triggered my curiosity. The truth is: typeface design is everywhere, and because of this it easy to forget that typefaces are products of design too. Somebody designed the logo of your favorite soft drink brand, somebody designed the font that is displayed on the â€Å"emergency exit† sign, and somebody designed the very letters you are looking at right now.Even In product design typefaces and typography can play a major role. Once I started to take notice of the amount f typography around me, it became almost overwhelming, and I couldn't help but starting to wonder. Who designed these typefaces and with what purpose? Where do they come from and how did they become such a big part of our everyday life? But above all, what can I as an industrial designer learn from studying this huge but for me uncharted design discipline?Typography In the middle of the desert HISTORY If we trace typography back to its roots, it is fair to say that it typography and typeface design emerged somewhere mid-1 5th century with the Introduction of movable type printing in always handwritten, but movable type printing allowed for new possibilities and systematic typography. Johannes Gutenberg designed the first typeface: Texture. The design was heavily influenced by the gothic style of the German area scribes. This style is called Gothic or Blacklisted.This new form of printing spread fast across Europe, and played a major role during the Renaissance. In Italy the German gothic style was replaced by the Venetian style, which was based on the instructional capitals on Roman buildings and monuments. These new typefaces were designed in a very structural way, and were very detailed and balanced. They soon became he main typeface for western civilization. The Italians also reintroduced the Roman concept of â€Å"minuscule†, or lowercase letters. The â€Å"minuscule† where kept in a case at low level easy access, while the capitals where kept in a case above that one.This is where the terms lowercase and uppercase come from, which are still used today. Eventually all these different elements melted together and these typefaces are referred to as Roman types. Late 15th century Italian printers realized that they could pri nt text in a slanted way, so that the vertical space a word occupied could be minimized. This way they could print more ext on a page. This style is called Italics, and is named after its place of origin: Italy. So in the early 16th century there where three main type classifications of Western typography: Roman, Blacklisted and Italic.However, people started combining Roman and Italic type, and nowadays Italics are often only used for emphasis, quotes and names or titles. During the 17th and 18th century typefaces evolved further, and typeface designers were experimenting with different stroke-weights and serif styles. Serifs are the little strokes at the end of characters In the 19th century the industrial revolution kook place. The rise of advertisement demanded for large-scale typefaces that Egyptian, or Slab-serifs, and were recognizable by their thick block like serifs.Early in the 20th century a new movement within typography emerged: modern typography. Modern typography was part of the modernist movement, which was a movement that strove for a new, modern interpretation of art, architecture, literature, etc. Modern typography strove for an universal form of communication, and by this is meant that they did not want the typeface to interfere with the message in any way: typefaces should be neutral, and their arm should be dictated by its function. They wanted information to be displayed in a visually linear and ordered way.One of the most characteristic developments of modern typography is the popularization of the sans-serif typefaces. Sans- serifs (literally â€Å"without serifs†) appeared as early as 500 B. C. , but modernists looked at them with new interest. They were clean, simple typefaces, and they lent themselves perfectly for the â€Å"function over form†- ideology of modern typographers. Gothic Roman Slab-serif Sans-serif Some modernist movements started to experiment with the form and placements of rods as well. Especially Dada ism experimented a lot with typography and pushed it in another direction.The Dada movement was a movement that rebelled against the established art forms. They deliberately avoided all logic and order in their works, and it is fair to say that the Dada typography was the counterpart of modern typography. Dadaist typography is characterized by the many use of different typefaces and letter sizes. Words were printed in both horizontal and vertical directions, random letters were placed throughout the poster and punctuation was often illogical. For Dadaists the form of the ext was more important than the message itself.A great example of this is the poem â€Å"Boom Pauses† of the Belgium poet Paul van Stained. Movement during the early 20th century. They started experimenting with shape of letters, trying to abstract them and build them up from basic shapes like circles and squares. These types are called geometrical typefaces. They were heavily influenced by the Dutch art move ment â€Å"De Still†. During WI, art forms where hindered in developing. Instead typography turned to propaganda posters for artistic outlet. Post WI typography developed at a rapid rate.After the war designers begin looking for a form of unification within design. This became the International, or Swiss style. It was characterized by the heavy use of sans-serifs, with a neutral and geometrical appearance. In the ass's the psychedelic movement emerged, which preferred on flowery ornamented typefaces, and distorted texts to mimic the effect of drugs, and even later styles such as â€Å"Grunge-typography' emerged. At the end of the 20th century computers started to appear in every household. With these computers came word processing software, and many default typefaces.It didn't take long or people to start experimenting with text and typefaces, and soon everybody started making their own typography. Especially with the arrival of internet DID typography became increasingly po pular, sometimes to the dissatisfaction of professional typographers. Think for instance of the controversy that surrounds Comic Sans. Nowadays, typography has become something that everybody does Looking at the background and history of typography we see that, although typeface design is a form of design, it is significantly influenced and used by different art movements throughout the years, which is a remarkable contrast.Design is a rational and orderly activity; designers structurally approach a design and follow certain rules when designing objects. In design it is often functionality that influences form. But in art, the form of an object is the aesthetic choice of the artist, and is not subordinate to functionality. Art does not follow a predetermined set of rules and the artist is free to experiment with form to his liking. In typography these two elements clash. On the typeface has a clear function: convey messages to the reader. But on the other hand the typographer is fre e to shape the letters in any way he desires.By doing so, the typeface itself can attain a certain â€Å"identity', and convey a message that goes beyond Just the displayed text. The Dadaist where the first to really experiment with this, and this may be further explained by looking at some famous typefaces. ANATOMY OF A TYPEFACE Before we dive deeper into typefaces and start to analyze them, it is important to understand some of the terminology of typeface design. Characters consist out of many parts, more than I am going to describe here, but the following are the most important and defining for a typeface. Arts of the specific letter, but each letter has a tern, which is the main body of the letter. What the elements attached to stern are called differs per letter. Typefaces are generally divided in serifs and sans serifs. Serifs are recognizable by the little extra stroke at the ends of characters, called a Serif. The lines that make up a character are called strokes. Strokes c an be modulated, which means they vary in thickness, or strokes can be modulated, which means they have the same thickness throughout the character. Well-designed typefaces are always designed within a structured grid.This grid consists out of multiple lines, in which the character is placed. The baseline is the line on which the characters â€Å"rest†. Parts of a character that extend below this line are called descendent, like for instance the bottom part of a â€Å"J†. So, as we can see, there are many different parts the typeface designer can use to give a typeface its identity. The height between the baseline and mainline is called the X-height. The Cap Height indicates the height from to baseline to the top of uppercase letters like H. Of most lowercase letters. Parts that extend above the mainline are called ascenders. He height from to baseline to the top of uppercase letters like H. A lot of letters have their own names for various IMPORTANT TYPEFACES THROUGHO UT HISTORY Now that we have acquired enough knowledge about typefaces and their history, let's take a better look at some (in)famous typefaces throughout history. Guttenberg Bible Texture (1452) Texture was, as mentioned, the first ever typeface. Texture was designed after the gothic style of the German scribes of that time. The strokes are modulated, and the serifs are very sharp and calligraphic. This is a great example off time related design.Anything you will type in this text will look medieval. Aloud Manumits' Roman (1495) A few decades later this typeface was designed in Italy. It defined the essential form of Roman types for the following three centuries. The characters have thick sterns and thinner â€Å"arms†, and very classical serifs. Because of their long existence, Roman typefaces tend to come across as a bit boring, and are often associated with formal and uninspired prints, like the â€Å"out of order†-sign you would hang on a bathroom door. Robert Gran dson's Civility (1557) This is one of the first typefaces that were designed from the ground up.It was made to look like calligraphy and show the qualities of quill riding, which was mimicked by using heavily modulated strokes and short ascenders and descendent. Note that the typeface is a sans-serif. The typeface expresses a sort of luxurious quality, while also displaying some old gothic features. This was the first slab serif font. It is characterized by its bold strokes and block-like serifs. It was popularized by the advertising industry, and it is not hard to see why. It is a typeface with a powerful look, and it's great for â€Å"yelling† at your audience.Kidney Grottoes (Hans Hoffmann, 1898) An early sans-serif that became the benchmark for future sans-serifs. It lived on to become evilly used in publications of Bauhaus and Swiss-style. Its modulated strokes and rational design gave it a neutral appearance, which made it one of the fundamental types of modern typeface design. Future (Paul Renee, 1927) This was the first truly geometrical sans serif. Renee put a lot of effort in modeling the lowercase letters into a very exact looking, mono-line appearance. As a result the typeface looks tight, simple and modern.Helvetica (Max Midrange/Eduardo Hoffmann, 1957) Comic Sans (Vincent Concern, 1994) Maybe the most beloved typeface of all time. It is a modulated sans serif, designed to be impolitely neutral. During the ass's, Helvetica became the face of corporate branding. Because of its neutrality, it is widely used in many different contexts: street name signs, subway signage, but also in graphic design. If you are walking in a city, you won't have to look far before you spot a text printed in Helvetica. It is so popular that even a feature length documentary was made about it.Comic Sans might Just be the most hated typeface ever created. Especially designers have a beef against this playful typeface. It was originally designed to be implemented in W indows 95 as part of Microsoft Bob, an animated dog hat provided help to Windows 95 users. It was based on the way classical comic book lettering. However, the typeface was not finished in time introduction of home printers, people at home started to experiment more with typography, and when they first laid eyes upon the funny looking Comic sans, they Just couldn't resist using it for their homemade wishing cards and flyers.As a result the typeface became insanely popular, and has stayed popular ever since. However, the truth is, it is not designed very well according the principles of typography, and especially since it is used so often in wrong contexts, typographers ant help but complain whenever they can. Entire essays have been written about the flaws of Comic Sans. New Alphabet (Wimp Cromwell, 1967) New alphabet is a geometric San serif, designed by Dutch graphic designer Wimp Cromwell as an experiment in 1967. It designed to deal with the limitations of early digital data dis plays.He wanted to adept his design to the technology, instead of adapting technologies to meet the design. Because the typeface consists of only vertical and horizontal strokes, some characters look a bit unconventional. With his experiment Cromwell sought the limitations of what we can perceive as readable. Comic Sans TYPEFACES IN CORPORATE BRANDING Heinlein (Heinlein) So we can conclude that different typefaces have different â€Å"identities. For many companies logos are very important. Often, an entire brand is created around a logo.Often these companies use certain typefaces as an additional tool of branding. By doing so, companies use the identities of a certain typeface to create or reinforce the identity of their brand. Here are some examples: Google (Actual BC) Backbone (Slovakia (Modified)) goes by the name Actual SQ. The Heinlein logo is developed especially for Heinlein. Note the â€Å"laughing† ex.'s as one of the rand's hallmarks. TIME Magazine (TIME) Ferreira (Offer Ross) Who doesn't recognize the clean white sans-serif on that blue background? Because of its thick Moline appearance, the Backbone logo looks fresh and modern.A very classy slab-serif that embodies Ferrier's characteristics: power and style. TIME magazine's logo consists out of four capitals. It looks like a classic Roman type but in a modern Jacket. The logo has something powerful, and makes you feel like that what you are about to read is very important. I have always been interested in graphic design and typography, which is one of the reasons I hose this sublet. It may be interesting to take a closer look at the my favorite typefaces and what they say about me. Next Light Gotcha Black Rockwell I Just love the no-nonsense factor of Gotcha.It is pretty powerful looking typeface, but also really simple and clean. This is the typeface I always use for titles and headers, but also for text that needs to pack some extra â€Å"punch†. My favorite slab-serif. It looks v ery solid, but the strokes are not too heavy. I especially like the way the serifs seem to be part of the stroke, and not Just added for esthetics purposes. Another simple typeface that I really love to use or smaller texts. It looks sleek and stylish, and really has a nice flow to it. This is a more elegant typeface. It the roundness of the characters give it a very friendly look.Code Light It may not look that impressive, but that is because it needs to be used with a pointiest (so letters need to be BIG). This typeface Just looks so incredibly light and has a high design-factor. There's Just something about this type that says: â€Å"good taste†. When I look at the selection I made it tells me something I already knew: I love minimalism. I don't want things to be as simple as possible; In design, but also in typography. However, thanks to all the knowledge I gained by writing this essay, I can go a bit deeper than that.For instance, I notice that I really prefer sans-serif s over serifs. These types are associated with modernism, and it might be worthwhile to investigate modernism some more. I have encountered this movement before, while searching for my vision and identity, and it is interesting to encounter it once again, although this time via my preferred typefaces. Now that we have seen the visual impact a typeface can have, it seems a logical conclusion that a typeface can be a powerful tool for a signer, if he wants it to be.Of course, typefaces can be chosen by Just picking one that looks about right, but they have much more potential than that. Not only can it be used to convey a certain message to the user, but designers can use typefaces as an expression of the identity of a product. It is interesting to see how typefaces have evolved over the past 500 years. From a medium to simply display information, to an art form which can hold the identity of an artist, or even an entire company, to a tool used by the masses to express their individua lism. It begs the question if industrial design might follow a