Unity

Unity Some lessons, we learn by virtue of way of life. They’re the kind of lessons that unfold not from pulpits or pedestals, but emerge from the simplicity of daily routine, implicit enough to be anything but noteworthy. Grades seven to twelve of my education in Nigeria were spent in a boarding school in the country’s capital. Mirroring Nigeria’s religious demographic, we were roughly equal proportions Christian and Muslim. Each day, the Muslim students and staff would gather under the roof of a building opposite our hostels and classes for prayer. And each Sunday, the Christian students would turn one of the classrooms into a makeshift church, often headed by our religious studies teacher. For these six years in a cozy but fenced-off location, our lives were defined by boarding school routine. Early morning wakeups led to grumbling sounds and shuffling feet; a reluctant shower was followed by breakfast (the opinion of the quality of our dining hall varied, depending on who you asked from “not fit for pigs” to “kinda gourmet”), which was followed by assembly and then classes and then nap time and then study time and then lights out. This routine promised to be stifling, but we found a way to rely on one another for consistently interesting times. At the same time I was in school, Boko Haram, a local terrorist group was wreaking havoc, bombing schools and churches, attacking infrastructure and recruiting new members. They would stoke the flames of divide, politiical dissatisfaction and religious unease, often leading to cycles of retaliations: a group of Christians would burn down mosques in return, provoking an equivalent assault on churches. The actions of the retaliators were highly perceived and nontrivial, reflecting an ideology where religion was being equated to terror, but many of us in Nigeria, most of us I’d like to think, were insulated from this kind of thinking. For six years I attended a school where the nature of interactions with my classmates was built around highly specific traits. Our head boy, Musa Alim, was tall and charismatic and smooth-talking, and as such, made easy friends with everyone. As one of the school’s unofficial nerds, my popularity seemed to surge during periods of exams or difficult homework, and wane right after. We nicknamed Lukman cutter because he was built like a tree, and looked liable to split your lips if you said the wrong thing to him, even though his gruff exterior often belied teddy-bear-levels of softness and likability. Daniel Atakpa liked J. Cole, and thought I was crazy for liking Taylor Swift. Babani was the mischief-maker, always finding an ingenious way to get himself, and often times his friends, in trouble. We were variations of a theme, identifiable to one another by the traits of our personalities. Religion was background material. Sometimes, tensions would bubble to the surface, and an argume nt about the nature of Jesus Christ would get out of control (think heated demeanors and hurled insults). But for the most part, it didn’t matter. Crucially, it didn’t matter even in the era of Boko Haram, when  Daily Trust, the newspaper delivered to our school, bore increasingly frequent mentions of Radical Islamic Terrorists and Burned Mosques. We were united in our horror, and our familiarity with each other, built over the years by shared routine, made it exceptionally clear the kind of people we were, so much so that there was never a point we would conflate Islam and Terror. Boko Haram was a group of terrorists self-proclaimed to be Muslims, but their version of Islam was alien to us, one that bore no intersection with the version of Islam our classmates, by action, presented to us. And thus we learned a simple lesson: the notion of Islam itself was not one of terror. And this lesson, crystallized into an axiom by years of interaction, was one so blatant it was never worth mentioning, not within the walls of the boarding school anyway. This was a lesson I didn’t have, or need, to think about until recently. ** Today, protest rallies were held in Copley Square, Boston, in resistance of the recent immigration ban, which Allan covered quite nicely. I joined dozens of MIT students, blending into a massive crowd of faces and signs until we were just large swaths of people, united in our chants, and in the acknowledgement of lessons and truths I wished were axioms instead. ** And they’re lessons that become less necessary the more united we are. Someone on Reddit made an interesting observation that a lot of the protests took place prominently in places where Muslims and Non-Muslims interacted on a daily basis, interactions that provide a humanization that shouldn’t be so difficult to achieve. The language of the prohibition takes the stance of, “We recognize that only a tiny subset of refugees in these countries are problematic, but we can’t be sure which subset for now, so we’ll ban them all”, but this promotes a corollary stance, that we should look at each of them and, somewhere in the back of our minds, for every single refugee, (who already undergo intense vetting processes) we should think, “What if they’rebad. Sure, it’s a slight chance, but what if they’re bad.” It’s a fear-based reaction that substitutes a recognition of our shared humanity for something quite like paranoia. Think about this: a tiny subset of the human ra ce consists of serial killers, but do you go regarding each new person you meet with some degree of nervousness, thinking, “What if they’re serial killers?” ** On campus, our interactions consistently strive to recognize this unity, a unity that lets us look out for one another regardless of race or nationality or sexual orientation or religion, preventing these inherent demarcations from becoming psychological ones. In my second blogpost on MIT Admissions, I talked about a grad student Peter, who saw a young black foreigner struggling with four luggage bags and looking lost. Peter reached out to help me with my bags and locate my dorm, making me feel welcome in an uncertain, formative period of time.  Recently, I reached out to parts of the MIT Community via e-mail, and asked them to share snippets of similar stories, stories of unity and community, stories that let us know we’re not quite where we want to be when they become worth highlighting. As more responses come in, I’ll be sure to update this post. ** I had a fallout with some of my closest friends in freshmen year, which led to me losing them. I was not the best at starting conversations so making new friends was very difficult. I started though by talking to people in Safety Third (my wing in Next House) and theyve made me feel included for the past three years despite the difference in race :). ** I come from a diverse hometown, but MIT has given me the opportunity to meet students who come directly from other nations. Because I come from an understanding town, it was often hard for me to understand that there are people who arent as welcoming. Meeting international students has widened my horizons further. I have also met people who didnt have the experience I did while growing up. Im grateful for all of the friends Ive made here at MIT for letting me experience even more culture than before. I had thought I knew many other kinds of people, but Ive learned that there are even more than I knew. People are people, and I remain hopeful that there are others out there that know boxes and labels are insufficient data points. ** I am an international student. Even though Im not from an Islamic country, I come from a pretty retrograde third world country. I just wanted to say that I felt, and I still feel, unsafe in my own country. Even though I know that people may have good intentions in everything they do, I know that they will not be acceptant of the fact that my sexual orientation is the same as theirs. I remember that during Orientation one of the events that was held, sorry I dont remember the name, was about standing up if you felt identified with what the speaker was talking about, but only if you were fine doing it, you didnt need to stand up if you felt that it would make you uncomfortable. I stood up, it was the first time ever that I stood up in a crowded room letting everyone know that I was, in fact, not straight. When I came back to my room, I cried for straight three hours. I cried of joy. I had never felt so strong, so empowered, so happy. I told my best friend back home about how I finally found the place where I can be myself, where I can find happiness. ** I am from the Northern part of my country,specifically , the Upper West Region of Ghana. Northern Ghana is predominantly Muslim , hence I was born a Muslim , but was later converted to Christianity. I can testify that Muslims are not bad or dangerous people , actually in Ghana , I could say the kindest people are Muslims.Everybody awaits that Eid Mubarak cow that will be killed and shared by their Muslim friends annually. They never disappoint. My best friend , throughout basic to some part of high school , was a Muslim. I feel that even if you decide to neglect humanitarianism and just look at the business aspect , there might be a lot to lose by pushing some of the smartest people you might have at your beck and call away. ** Once I was feeling so down that I found it hard to even reach my friends. But they noticed that I dont contact them for a longer time and they proposed to do some things that I truly enjoyed. All of them were a different race, color or religion than mine. ** My postdoc for my summer UROP is Muslim; I am Christian. When the time for his midday prayer came, we almost always walked together to W11 to pray, often talking about robots on the way. Hed pray upstairs, Id pray downstairs. It was just, well, a happy blessing in an otherwise challenging summer. ** Im an international student. When I started my first year here, people I had not expected to notice me, director from Concert Band, or professor Mike Artin from 18.701 (and more), surprised me with their warm greetings in the hallway, remembering my name. I constantly felt so welcomed and cared from the little fact that seemingly remote people remembered my name and showed that they do care about me, and the same with every other students here. ** I am an international student and I dont generally get to go home for shorter breaks such as thanksgiving. One of my best friends at MIT invited me to come to her house last year to spend thanksgiving with her family. My friend and her family are Muslim and her parents are originally from Bangladesh. Back home, my High School wasnt very diverse, so before coming to MIT, I had never met anyone from Bangladesh or India and didnt know very much about my friends culture. But her family shared their culture with me and told me stories, played Bengali music and made delicious traditionally Bengali meals. But most importantly, all of her family was so incredibly kind and welcoming to me. Her parents treated me as if I was their second daughter. They even invited me to join them on a short holiday to Cape Cod. I am very fortunate to have found a friend like her and to have gotten the chance to learn something about a culture that was previously foreign to me.

Comparison/Contrast Essay For Catcher in the Rye and Stand...

These days our artistic landscape is so deeply defined by visual narratives on TV and in the movies that we can hardly imagine a world without images. Sometimes quality is judged solely based on a stories actions. In this image drenched society we sometimes struggle to appreciate and celebrate books and movies where the quality arises not exclusively from plot but also from the language and characters itself. The novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger and the movie Stand by Me directed by Rob Reiner are examples of having uninteresting story line concepts but involving beautifully executed details. The Catcher in the Rye is about a teenager retelling the time when he spent three days in New York and Stand by Me is about a†¦show more content†¦Just like Holden, all they ever long for is just some little acts of affection and care, little things that are enough for them to feel loved. In contrast to The Catcher in the Rye following the story of a single person, there is Stand by Me which is a movie following the tale of four boys. This is a story about a road trip, but unlike typical road trips, this one involves travel by foot, and not over an extended distance. The main characters are Gordie: a troubled individual lacking parental affection due to the loss of his brother, Chris: an introspective, abused child labeled being a â€Å"bad boy† (Stand by Me), he is also Gordies best friend, Teddy: the slightly crazy wild card with an abusive father, and Vern: the outcast of the group who no one pays much attention to. In many ways, the story is more about what the characters discover along the way than what they find at the end and their growing up is accelerated by lessons they learn about life and death. This story is centered more on the boys in a path way between their childhood and adulthood. As the four friends make their way through junkyards and leech- infested watery areas and along railroad tracks, they learn things about their inner thoughts. Each wrestles with his own demons and the film shows how all these individual weaknesses could be overcome in a group context. Through primary relationships, with their social support, intimacy, the â€Å"we† feeling, can function asShow MoreRelatedEssay Writing9260 Words   |  38 PagesThe Essay Writing Process In Greek legend, the goddess of wisdom, Athena, was born fully armed from the head of Zeus. Unfortunately, this is the only recorded instance of instant wisdom. Especially in the medium of the written word, the communication of complex ideas is a process—a process that requires thinking and rethinking, working and reworking. The student who claims to have dashed off an A essay at one in the morning the night before it was due is either a liar or a genius. ThisRead MoreChildrens Literature13219 Words   |  53 Pagesreading. He argued that children should only be taught to read at age twelve and then be limited to the bookRobinson Crusoe. The best-known English follower of Rousseau, Thomas Day, wrote History of Sandfordand Merton (1783–1789), a three-volume comparison between the virtues of Harry Sandford, the poor but virtuous son of a farmer, and Tommy Merton, the spoiled son of a wealthy merchant, who are educated under the constant moralizing of their tutor, Mr. Barlow. Mary Wollstonecrafts Original Stories

Apple And Microsoft Vs. Apple - 974 Words

Apple and Microsoft Apple and Microsoft are the two largest firms in the industry of consumer electronics and computer manufacture. The two companies tend to have numerous similarities and differences. Microsoft and Apple simultaneously initiated their corporate structure. Currently, they are the best-earning top innovators and major rivals in the market, and their products are globally most utilized. This paper evaluates similarities and differences between Microsoft and Apple by exploring their structure, products, and overall success. Apple Company tends to emphasize on its efforts concerning design and manufacture of the consumer electronics, such as personal computers, mobile phones, and related software products (Arthur, 2012). Microsoft appears to have adopted the above aspect, when they started producing their own Microsoft phone products. The co-founders of both Microsoft and Apple are recognized as being the driving force behind the brands. Bill Gates is famous for accomplishing most of his dream of placing a computer in every home and on every desk in addition to his philanthropic work through Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. On the other hand, the late Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, appeared to be an innovative genius and an iconoclast. Both of them are recognized as the richest and greatest entrepreneurs on a global scale (Arthur, 2012). Both Microsoft and Apple tend to have retail stores. However, Apple seems to have the upper hand by having over 200Show MoreRelatedApple vs Microsoft1309 Words   |  6 PagesBryant Ri’chard 11-22-2010 Sheri Easton-Long 6 P.M. Apple vs. Microsoft Apple (formerly known as Macintosh) and Microsoft, without a doubt, produce the largest operating systems in the world OS X Lion and Windows 7. With Apple bringing in $20 billion and $4billion in profit, and Microsoft bringing in $62.48 billion and $18.76 billion in profit, there’s no doubt that these two super giants are going down anytime soon. Even though they are both huge companies that relatively offer the same productsRead MoreMicrosoft vs. Apple1635 Words   |  7 Pages Rivalry between Apple and Microsoft has existed for a long time. While Microsoft dominates the market by providing an operating system to nine tenths of the number of users (Net Applications, 2011), Apple s products bring an alternative to the consumers experience. Moreover, given Apple s steady growth in the last years (Yahoo Finance, 2011) the competition is still ongoing and fierce, as some PC users (sustained mostly by Microsoft) are switching to a Mac (offered by Apple). According toRead MoreApple vs. Microsoft Essay978 Words   |  4 PagesApple vs. Microsoft By Teka Lee Professor Miles ITE 119 11 October 2012 Outline Thesis: Apple’s website differs from Microsoft’s website in the homepage, navigation, and consistency. I. First, Apple’s homepage differs from Microsoft’s homepage. A. Apple 1. Appearance 2. Main ad 3. Space B. Microsoft 1. Appearance 2. Main ad 3. Space C. Therefore, the differences in Apple’s and Microsoft’s homepage are significant. II. Second, Apple’sRead MoreThe Controversy Of Apple Vs. Microsoft Essay907 Words   |  4 Pagesbecause of the name? If so, Apple products are waiting for you. The controversy of Apple vs. Microsoft has been around since these two companies were first introduced on the computer market. People that use Microsoft products will tell you that it is better just the same way that Apple users will tell you how far superior their product is. In this essay I will prove that Microsoft products are better than Apple products because of their price, options, and upgrades. Microsoft was officially establishedRead MoreApple Vs. Microsoft Computers854 Words   |  4 PagesApple vs Microsoft computers Which brand is better, Apple’s Mac computers or Microsoft’s window computers? Both are huge technology motivators in our era. The two companies are constantly battling each other with their products. While most common users buy a computer that s mainstream or popular don’t seem to realize which computer is really best for them. Here we will talk about which computer is best for one by hardware, operating system, and software. Although some people think Apple’s computerRead MoreApple Inc vs Microsoft4573 Words   |  19 PagesTable of Contents Page Introduction 2 Apple, Inc Overview 3 Apple’s Branding Strategy 4 Apple’s Brand Equity 5 Microsoft’s Marketing Strategy 6 Microsoft’s Branding Strategy/Equity 8 Apple vs. Microsoft Operating systems 9 Advertising Campaigns 10 Effectiveness/Conclusion 13 Appendix A 16 Apple Balance Sheet 17 References 18 Introduction The psychological perception of a companyRead MoreApple vs Microsoft - Comparative Essay1162 Words   |  5 PagesAref Hassiba Macintosh vs. Windows Section: 13 g00041355 [2nd Draft] Have you ever faced any difficulty choosing your laptop? Did some of your friends advice you to purchase Mac based laptops and others told you to buy Windows based laptops? 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Abstract and Executive Overview of Y2K Free Essays

What is the Y2K issue? This paper will describe the problems associated with Y2K and how Industry, Government, and Small Businesses are handling the problem. The first chapter introduces the Y2K issues. Chapter 2 will define how this affects the different businesses and Government agencies. We will write a custom essay sample on Abstract and Executive Overview of Y2K or any similar topic only for you Order Now Chapter 3 will develop an overall plan on how to attack the problem and recommendations. The majority of this paper will develop a plan on how each of the businesses and Government agencies should attack the Y2K problems. There should be a logical approach to planning how to investigate, test, validate, and if required, develop a contingency plan for Y2K. The job is to either form a team of personnel or hire a consulting firm to assess your situation. The team should employ the following steps: assess the system, renovate the system if necessary, validate the renovation if necessary, implement the renovation if necessary, test the renovation if necessary, and finally have a contingency plan in the event that renovating the system is not feasible and/or is too late. The only necessary or required action is to assess the system. This will be discussed in detail in my paper. The real issue is that less than a year remains before the year 2000 problems are here. The recommendation is to begin working this issue now. It may be too late, but that is when the contingency plan comes in handy. 2. What impacts are they†re to Government, Industry, and Small Business? 3. What can Government, Industry, and Small Business Do to Combat the Y2K Issues? There are actually more dates than just the year 2000 date. There are dates that can impact the leap year algorithms; Julian dates, fiscal year dates, calendar dates, and ASCII code dates. The top dates that need to be checked are: 1. 9 September 1999. This date can be read in code as 9999. In computer language, specifically ASCII code, this translates into a request for the processor to stop processing. 2. 1 October 1999. This is the start of the new Fiscal year for the Government (FY00). The algorithm for this may not be able to go from FY99 to FY00. 3. 31 December 1999. At midnight, the date rolls over to 1 January 2000. This problem can exist in two areas. The first is in the BIOS†s that exist for most desktop machines. The BIOS†s normally contain the clock and date data. The operator updates this data, when the system is first turned on and is continuously updated by the computer from then on. The problem is that older versions of BIO software recorded the date in two year digits (99, instead of 1999) so that once the date rolls into the year 2000, the BIOS†s can not understand the rolling of the year and moves it back to 14 Jan 80, the default year date. The other problem is in the application software that uses the two-year date. The application software uses algorithms to roll over the dates and can not roll to the year 2000 date. It normally has to be manually input to get to the new date. 4. 28 February 2000. At midnight, the date should roll over to 29 February 2000. This is determined in the software by an algorithm that checks to see if the current year is a leap year. If it is a leap year then it should roll to 29 February 2000, if it can not determine the leap year, then it will jump to 1 March 2000. 5. 29 February 2000. This is almost the same problem as 28 February 2000. It will try to calculate the fact it is a leap year and roll the date to 1 March 2000. If it can not determine that it is the leap year, it will either go to 2 March 2000 or it will provide an incorrect date. There are several other dates that are important, based on each application software package, and needs. Examples are, a bank computer uses COBOL software that does not calculate the dates well, FORTRAN software used in scientific research does not do dates well, and older versions of Microsoft software used the two-year digit dates. The different application software packages that are available for computers are beginning to fix the year 2000 problem in the next revision and/or update. The problems that are being encountered are that the updates may not be compatible with the data that goes with the application software. An example is that Microsoft Access 2.0 is not year 2000 compliant. To upgrade to a compliant version, the original data associated with Access 2.0 will not run on the upgrade version. In addition, the upgrade Access will not operate on the old versions of Microsoft Windows. Therefore, additional problems are beginning to come into focus with the year 2000 issue. Another issue is all the databases that are used. Relational databases use date fields as part of wildcard actions, used as sorting identification, as grouping actions, and as part of daily identification. Some specific examples are: simple databases, such as the window explorer allow you to view and sort files in a date/time field. If this date field were only two digits, then it would incorrectly sort the files (year 00 would be first rather than last). Another example is a large database that is used to match names with addresses and billing statements. This database would need to flag dates with the billing statements. If the dates were incorrect or not sorted correctly, then the billing statements would be invalidated. As discussed, there are several issues when dealing with Y2K. These issues have a direct impact on both Government and Industry. What impacts are they†re to Government, Industry, and Small Business? There are several impacts to Government, Industry, and Small Business. Dates that can impact the leap year algorithms; Julian dates, fiscal year dates, calendar dates, and ASCII code dates. These dates were discussed in chapter 1. Now we will discuss the ramifications to the new dates. For the Government, the dates will have a major impact across the board. Every Government agency, from Federal to City, will be impacted. The Federal Government uses computers on a daily basis and without them, the Federal Government would not be able to operate. Some specific examples are in the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice. The Department of Commerce utilizes computers to run the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) systems that are used to chase Hurricanes. The problem is that several of the computers are used to log different data and use date/time stamping with that data. This data is later analyzed to try and map hurricanes for the future. If the Y2K issues are not resolved, important data will be lost. The Department of Defense also uses computers to a very large extent. This is especially true for the DOD large complex machinery used to defend the country. There are very few parts of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines that do not use computers. Computers are the backbone to DOD and without them, there is a real fear that our armed forces would not be able to defend this country. The Department of Justice has an even worse problem. They are charged with keeping track of criminals and federal indictments across the country. Because of the complexity of the laws, if the computers used to keep track of indictments and criminal records are not Y2K compliant, then the Justice system could have criminals cleared of any wrong doing because of a simple date issue. It is well known that if the date or address were wrong on an indictment or a search warrant, anything found because of the indictment or warrant would not be used in court. Industry has the same basic problems that the Government would have. They rely on computers in almost every aspect of the business. From robotic assembly lines to employee payroll, all of industry relies on the computer to run its day to day operation. The problem that both industry and Government have is that there was no contingency to the Y2K issue. Both industry and Government have several backup systems. An example is that major banks will have the main frame computer in one location and a hot backup in a totally different location. Take Nations Bank. Nations Bank may have its primary mainframe computer, for all its checking accounts, here in town. There is a hot backup (a hot backup is a main frame computer that records the same exact information that the mainframe computer is recording, but it does not handle any transactions, just records the information) that is located in a different part of the country, say Colorado. In this way, if a major hurricane were to devastate Tampa, the hot backup would come on line take over the responsibility of the mainframe. In this way, vital information would not be lost. This was all thought out years before, but not Y2K. Y2K would impact both mainframes (the primary and the backup) and all the data would be corrupted. The problem with small business is that it relies on the computer to do many of its tasks that employees used to do. In small business, people were employed to handle payroll, marketing, office management, files, record keeping, and profit/loss ledgers. These people were replaced with the advent of the computer. Now any small business could operate without minimal employees. The office manager could now handle payroll, marketing, files, records, and ledgers right on the computer. The computer became the key piece of equipment for the small business. Without the computer, small businesses could not stay in operation. Look at a small business that provides hearing aids to the general public. Besides the payroll, this small business will keep all its customers accounts in a simple database. This database will be used to notify the business when the hearing aid needs servicing, additional hearing tests should be done, replacement batteries, and payment schedules. This is just the tip of the database. The database would also be used to send out flyers on new technology, discounts, and will serve as the business mailing lists. Without this computer, the small business would need to hire additional personnel and return to paper and pencil to operate. What can Government, Industry, and Small Business Do to Combat the Y2K Issues? For both Government and Industry, it will not be a problem to combat Y2K. There is work already being done to correct the problems. Both agencies, through consulting agencies and internal working groups, have developed a series of plans to combat the Y2K issue. The standard procedure is to first do an inventory and assessment on the agency. After the assessment is done, a renovation plan is developed to renovate the different systems. After renovation is completed, the system is placed into the validation phase, where it is tested using the different Y2K dates to ensure that no problems are encountered. After the testing is completed and the validation is verified, then the implementation phase is started. The implementation phase is to implement the system into action, and begin watching the system during the actual crossover dates. The cost to perform all of the plans and phases are high. On most major DOD systems, the cost ranges from $100 Thousand to over $5 Million. For industry, their costs are about the same. It does not matter if the agency does it internally or hires consultants to perform the work. The costs are normally high. These costs are absorbed in industry and/or in the Government by the consumer and/or taxpayer. Industry will pass the costs to the consumer by increasing its price on the product. The Government will either increase taxes or modify the budget to get the necessary funds to ensure Y2K compliance. The real problem lies with small business. The plans and phases that were developed by industry and Government must also be accomplished by small business. The problem is that small business does not have the money to expend on the Y2K issue. Small businesses do not have the overhead or capital to afford to test its systems and ensure that Y2K problems do not exist in its machine. Since most small businesses do not rely on consultants and do not have a computer expert on the payroll, then small businesses must rely on the software companies to ensure that the computer is Y2K compliant. Since they do not have the funds to try and make their systems Y2K compliant, then the small business must rely on Macintosh, Microsoft, and other large software companies to ensure that the software is compliant. This becomes a real issue for the small business. The major software companies have problems with ensuring that the software they are selling is Y2K compliant. An example is that Microsoft Windows 98 may be compliant, as far as the Y2K issue is concerned. But any other application software that is used with Windows 98 may not be compliant, making the system non-compliant. Microsoft can not be held responsible for other software packages built by other software companies. In addition, most software companies will not support older versions of its software. An example is that Microsoft will not support Windows version 3.1. This is based on the availability of newer versions of Windows being available to the consumer. So where does this leave the small business? The small business is in a delicate situation. The recommendation for small business is to work through the chamber of commerce and pool the resources that each small business has to get the support it needs. There is Federal and Local assistance available to help small business ensure that the Y2K issue is resolved prior to the actual dates. The real problem is that if the small business does not recognize that it has a problem, then it will not work to fix the Y2K issue in time. By combining their resources and working with the local chambers, a network of consultants could work together to fix the problem before the actual Y2K dates have come. The only other option would be to spend the money to go through the same plans and phases that the Government and Industry goes through to fix the Y2K issue. This cost would be too high for small business. The final option would be for the small business to cross his fingers and hope for the best. This would be the last option for the businessperson to work with. How to cite Abstract and Executive Overview of Y2K, Essay examples

Faust Essay Example For Students

Faust Essay The hero that never was In Faust,Johann Wolfgang von Goethe builds a dramatic poemaround the strengths and weaknesses of a man who under apersonalized definition of a hero fails miserably. A hero issomeone that humanity models themselves and their actionsafter, someone who can be revered by the masses as anindividual of great morality and strength, a man or womanthat never sacrifices his beliefs under adversity. Therefore,through his immoral actions and his unwillingness to respectothers rights and privileges, Faust is determined to be a manof un heroic proportions. It is seen early in the poem, thatFaust has very strong beliefs and a tight moral code that isdeeply rooted in his quest for knowledge. Sitting in his den,Faust describes his areas of instruction, I have, alas, studiedphilosophy, jurisprudence and medicine, too, and, worst ofall, theology with keen endeavor, through and through Itis obvious that through his studies he has valued deep andcritical thinking, however with the help of Mephisto, hewould disregard his values and pursue the pleasures of theflesh. Fausts impending downward spiral reveals the greedthat both Mephisto and Faust share. Mephistos greed isevident in the hope that he will overcome Fausts moralityand thus be victorious in his wager with God; also becausehe is the devil and that is what he does. For Faust, greedemerges because of his desire to attain physical pleasuresand therefore become whole in mind, body and spirit. Now Ill tell thee the graves to give us:Thou must begin to-morrowThe work of sorrow!The best place give to my mother,Then close at her side my brother,And me a little away,But not too very far, I pray!And here, on my right breast, my baby lay!Nobody else will lie beside me!Ah, within thine arms to hide me,That was a sweet and a gracious bliss,But no more, no more can I attain it!I would force myself on thee and constrain it,And it seems thou repellest my kiss:And yet tis thou, so good, so kind to see! If the grave is there,Death lying in wait, then come!From here to eternal rest:No further stepno, no!Thou goest away! O Henry, if I could go! But I dare not: theres no hope any more.Why should I fly? Theyll still my steps waylay!It is so wretched, forced to beg my living,And a bad conscience sharper misery giving!It is so wretched, to be strange, forsaken,And Id still be followed and taken! Be quick! Be quick!Save thy perishing child!Away! Follow the ridgeUp by the brook,Over the bridge,Into the wood,To the left, where the plank is placedIn the pool!Seize it in haste!Tis trying to rise,Tis struggling still!Save it! Save it! Nolet me go! Ill suffer no force!Grasp me not so murderously!Ive done, else, all things for the love of thee. Yes, the day comes,the last day breaks for me!My wedding day it was to be!Tell no one thou has been with Margaret!Woe for my garland! The chancesAre overtis all in vain!We shall meet once again,But not at the dances!The crowd is thronging, no word is spoken:The square belowAnd the streets overflow:The death-bell tolls, the wand is broken.I am seized, and bound, and deliveredShoved to the blockthey give the sign!Now over each neck has quiveredThe blade that is quivering over mine.Dumb lies the world like the grave!

Farmers of the Century free essay sample

Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign intention to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Mother Nature was also showing no mercy with grasshoppers, floods, and major droughts that led to a downward spiral of business that devastated many of the nations farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, numerous farms groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what the farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture.During the final twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the loss in value of silver as threats to their way of life, though in many cases their complaints were not valid. The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth, yet it hurt small shippers and farmers in many ways. We will write a custom essay sample on Farmers of the Century or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Extreme competition between rail companies necessitated some way to win business.To do this, railroads would offer rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their rails. This practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers, because often times railroad companies would charge ore to ship products short distances than they would for long trips. The rail companies justified this practice by asserting that if they did not rebate, they would not make enough profit to stay in business. So while the railroads felt that they must use this practice to make a profit, the farmers were justified in complaining, for they were seriously injured by it.A perfect example of this fact can be found in The Octopus by Frank Norris. In The Octopus a farmer named Dyke discovers that the railroad has increased their freight charges from two to five cents a pound. This new rate, Date up every cent of his gains. He stood there ruined. The railroads regularly used rebates and drawbacks to help win the business of large shippers, and made up this loss in profit by increasing the cost to smaller shippers such as farmers. As a result, many farmers, already hurt by the downslide in agriculture, were ruined.Thus, the farmers of the late nineteenth century had a valid complaint against railroad shippers since they were severely hurt by the unfair practices of the railroads. Near the end of the nineteenth century, business began to centralize, leading o the rise Of monopolies and trusts. Falling prices, along with the need for better efficiency in industry, led to the rise of such companies as Carnegie Steel and Standard Oil, which controlled a majority of the nations supply of raw steel and oil respectively.The rise of there monopolies and trusts concerned many farmers; for they felt that the disappearance of competition would lead to erratic and unreasonable price rises that would hurt consumers. James B. Weaver, the Populist Partys presidential candidate in the 1892 election, summed up the feelings of many Americans of the period n his work, A Call to Action: An Interpretation of the Great Uprising. He wrote, It is clear that trusts reader conflict with the Common law.They are monopolies organized to destroy competition and restrain tradeOnce they secure control of a given line of business, they are master of the situations]They limit the price of the raw material so as to impoverish the producer, drive him to a single market, reduce the price of every class of l abor connected with the trade, throw out of employment large numbers of personal effeminately increase the price to the consumerists main paeans of the trust are threats, intimidation, bribery, fraud, wreck, and pillage. However, the facts refute many of Weavers charges against the monopolies. While it is true that many used questionable means to achieve their monopoly, many Were not out to crush competitors. To the contrary, John D, Rockefeller, head of Standard Oil, competed ruthlessly not to crush other refiners but to persuade them to join Standard Oil and share the business so all could profit. Furthermore, the fear that the monopolies would raise prices unreasonably was never realized.Prices tended to fall near the end of the sasss and created what some have called a consumers millennium. Thus, the agrarian complaints against monopolies were not incredibly valid since the monopolies did very little harm to farmers of the time. Deflation and falling prices during the late sasss led to the most heated complaint of farmers and the Populist Party that grew out of agricultural discontent. Deflation had been running rampant during the latter half Of the sasss, as evidenced by the drastic fall in the value of wheat and cotton. To eight the deflationary trend, the Populists demanded a reversal of the Coinage Act of 1 873, which denominated silver. Here again, the farmers are wrong in the assessment of their problems. It is true that the countrys money supply was not adequate. United States government data from 1961 shows that though the countrys population between 1865 and 1 875 increased by nearly four million, the countrys money supply actually decreased. However, many farmers used the money supply to explain problems that indeed had very little to do with the money supply at all.This is best summed up in a quote from J. Laurence Laughlins article, Causes of Agricultural Unrest. He says, Feeling the coils of some mysterious power about them, the farmers[leave attributed their misfortunes to the Construction in prices, cause, as they think, not by an increased production Of wheat throughout the world, but by the Disparity of gold. History has shown that battle between gold and silver had little real meaning. The real battle was not between gold and silver, but instead what would be done to check deflation.William McKinley, in his 1 896 acceptance speech, said, Free silver would not mean that silver dollars were to be freely had without cost or labor [11th would not make labor easier, the hours shorter, or the pay better. Would not make the farming less laborious or more profitable. Farmers did not see that the silver would just lead to more problems. These facts prove that the farmers view of silver was not sound, thus invalidating their complaints about the nations financial system. The farmers of the late sasss had many reasons for being dissatisfied with their situation.Unfair railroad practices like rebates and drawbacks hurt them severely. Yet in some cases, these farmers complaints were not justified. Many of the fears they had about monopolies happened in very few occasions. In fact, prices went down in the latter part of the 1 asss. Finally, history has proven that their view of silver as a way to end deflation and the decrease in crop values was inaccurate. The farmers of the period, though, used these issues to change the shape of American politics and bring it to face to face with the problems the country was facing.

Super Size Me Essay Example

Super Size Me Essay Example Super Size Me Essay Super Size Me Essay Morgan Spurlock, was the age of 33 when he ventured on his quest to answer the question?   â€Å"What would happen to my body, if I ate exclusively at McDonald’s fast food restaurant, eating 3 full meals a day for 30 days?†Ã‚   Not only did he have to take in tremendous calories, but he also had to Super Size his portions, when ever asked if he would like to do so. The health conditions that Morgan Spurlock developed were a direct result from eating the high fat and calorie and foods that he ingested during that 30 day period. The fact that Morgan Spurlock was a of a young age, healthy and of average weight for his height, 185 1/2 pounds and 1.88 millimeters tall, before the experiment ever took place, gives us a place to start from.   From that point of his weigh in until the thirty day period ended, Morgan Spurlock had gained a whopping 24.5 pounds and his overall body mass index grew from 23.2 to 27 which made him overweight for his body structure. When Morgan Spurlock learned of the great number of people in America who suffered from being overweight, he launched a plan to investigate how America’s love for fast food affected their weight and health.   By starting at an average size, he very clearly confirmed that his belief that the fatty food, directly affected the diets of individuals who ate at McDonalds, repeatedly. McDonald’s breakfast launched Spurlock’s study, and by the second day he ate ingested his first meal that was Super Sized!   He ate a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, with the Super Sized fries and drink.   He reported that he was feeling uncomfortable while he was eating the meal and eventually vomited in the parking lot of McDonald’s.   He steadily ate the food and gained nearly ten pounds. Feelings of depression, which his girl friend, Alexandra Jamieson confirmed, participated in Spurlock’s experiment, said that Spurlock lethargy, and several headaches, learns that are lifted when he eats more of McDonald’s fast food.   One of his doctors said he was addicted to the unhealthy food.   Soon after, while continuing to eat the same food, he gained another ten pounds.   He now weighed in at 203 pounds and at the end of the month he weighed in at 210 pounds. When Morgan Spurlock begins to have palpitations in his heart, near the twentieth day of the experiment,   he went to see on of his physicians who was involved in his experiment.   He didn’t take any medications because he felt it would interfere with his experiment. One of the health problems that Morgan Spurlock was diagnosed with on completion of his experiment was liver problems.   Dr. Daryl Isaacs confirmed that Morgan Spurlock’s liver was pate and immediately advised him that he should stop the experiment or else he could suffer with a serious heart problem.   Dr. Isaacs told him that he would be like the character in a movie, where the person intentionally drank excessively, trying to kill himself.   Spurlock was very concerned about what the Pysician reported to him, but continued on with his mission of proving that fastfood is bad for your health. I’ll begin with the liver problem that Spurlock developed during his fast food eating frenzy.   When Dr. Daryl Isaacs examined Spurlock, he concluded that he had developed the pate liver.   Non alcoholic fatty liver disease is an accumulated deposit of fat into the liver without the use of alcohol as a contributor.   This fat causes the liver to swell.   Insulin resistance is believed to be a factor in this liver inflamation. The heart palpitations in which Spurlock experienced was due to the fact that he incurred high blood pressure from the high calorie, high fate, and no exercise routine that contributed to his heart palpitations.   (Merck Manual of Medical Information,1997) â€Å"Whether the heart palpitations are normal depends on answers to a number of questions, such as whether anything seems to bring them on, whether they started suddenly or gradually.†Ã‚   It was quite obvious when a person goes from a healthy life style and nutritional diet to a diet consisting only of McDonald’s fast food, where he is to only eat a salad, every tenth day, that he is going to incur health problems, as Spurlock most certainly did. (The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007) states that there is a need for an efficient daily diet to sustain a healthy heart.   High cholesterol, high fat, low nutritional value foods contribute to an unhealthy heart and body. (Roberta Larson Duyff, 2006) What we eat determines how healthy we are.  Ã‚   Spurlock’s study did prove beneficial and he was able to shed light on the importance of a healthy diet and the need for a healthy daily exercise routine.