Disclosure Laws in Real Estate, California Vs. Illinois Essay

Disclosure Laws in Real Estate, California Vs. Illinois - Essay Example The essay "Disclosure Laws in Real Estate, California Vs. Illinois" discusses the disclosure laws in California and Illinois residential real estate. They are not completely different, but they do have some distinct aspects. Both states require forms to be filled out. However, the liability completely falls on the shoulders of the seller in California, while in Illinois the liability for the property is not completely the seller’s responsibility. This is not altogether uncommon from Illinois residential property law, which also applies to the same amount of dwelling units. Additionally, within the disclosure forms of each state, any defects in the properties must be duly noted. This is confirmed by Galaty et. al. in the book Modern Real Estate Practice in Illinois.In law, liability is a serious issue. Liability is basically one’s financial and legal responsibility towards an issue - in this case, for the property. One’s financial liability with regards to propert y includes the fact that the person not only pays their property taxes on time but also pays all of the utilities. Additionally, financial liability with regard to any sort of property includes the fact that there must be a liability with regard to property loss. This is especially problematic in California, where any kind of property loss could preclude a financial liability investigation of such a loss. Legal responsibility with regard to property includes the fact that one must be responsible for any acts which occur on the property.

Logicial Fallacies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Logicial Fallacies - Assignment Example . To give a perfectly good example of the Slippery Slope fallacy, one only has to look at the Direct TV â€Å"Dont Sell Your Wig† commercial from 2012 whose premise is that people who are dissatisfied with their cable TV provider eventually end up taking unbelievable steps to keep themselves entertained so that they eventually end up selling their hair at a wig shop because the unbelievable steps they took to entertain themselves left them without any money to keep themselves entertained. Now, Appeal to Authority is one of the most popular logical fallacies in commercials. As the name of the fallacy implies, people believe in the words of authority figures. Therefore, the people will believe anything that a popular or powerful figures says. In the â€Å"GoDaddy Presents - The Baker† commercial, Jean Claude Van Damme exemplifies this definition. Although he is not a baker, people will believe anything that he says in the commercial because he is a popular and trusted public figure. Coming to the Post Hoc fallacy, one must try to understand the concept of â€Å"after this, therefore because of this† in order to make sense of the belief that the actions of a person affect the end result of an event. The best example of this type of fallacy in commercials can be seen widely in sports related commercials. Bud Light has one of the most memorable Post Hoc commercials with the closing line â€Å"Its only weird if it doesnt work†. After all, sports fans have very specific beliefs and traditions about each game played by their favorite team. There is the the favorite shirt, the favorite mug, not changing underwear, and the like that these team fans and members do in order to ensure â€Å"victory† for their team. Just like in the Bud Light commercial, the Post Hoc fallacy asks us to believe that just because 2 things happened one after the other, then it must be connected and must always be done in order to ensure the same outcome every time. This i s a

The arguments for floating and fixed exchange rates

The arguments for floating and fixed exchange rates Evaluate the respective arguments for floating and fixed exchange rates. Your answer should include an exploration of theoretical issues and evaluation of historical and contemporary experiences of alternative international monetary regimes. Historical Overview of the International Monetary System (IMS) The International Monetary System refers to the institutional framework within which International payments are made, movements of capital are accommodated and exchange rates are determined. An appreciation of the international monetary system is essential for the understanding of the flow of international capital or currency  [1]  . The exchange rate regimes that have been practised for over a century have taken the forms of fixed and floating mechanisms. Floating exchange rate is that which allows exchange rate to vary in accordance with the changes in the supply and demand for foreign exchange. Fixed exchange rate refers to a currency price that is intentionally prevented from fluctuating by means of specific government policies that influence the supply and demand for foreign exchange  [2]  . Reviewing the principal international monetary systems that nations have practised over the past century, it would be seen that each mechanism carries with it a set of rules which are sometimes explicit in the form of laws or regulations and sometimes implicit in the form of conventions or customs that are in the parlance of international finance termed the rule of the game  [3]  . Ronald McKinnon (1993) describes the operations of he principal international systems of the last century and noted that the period from 1914 to 1945 reflected the global turmoil of two World Wars and the Great Depression that no uniform system could be ascribed to the period. Mckinnon (1993) organises his review into seven different episodes except the inter-war period, each having own set of rules  [4]  . McKinnons categorization appears to have been rendered outdated by more recent development in the international monetary system. From my own point of view, I would rather classify the metamorphosis of the international monetary system into eight episodes that are discussed below:- 1. Bimetallism Period Before 1875:- Commodity money system using both silver and gold which are precious metals for international payments and for domestic currency because they possessed the features of a means of exchange such as intrinsic value, portable, recognizable, homogenous, divisible, durable and non-perishable  [5]  . Under a bimetallic standard (or any time when more than one type of currency is acceptable for payment), countries would experience Greshams Law which is when bad money drives out good money  [6]  . 2. The International Gold Standard -(1879-1913) For about 40 years most of the world was on an international gold standard, ended with World War II when most countries went off gold standard. London was the financial centre of the world, most advanced economy with the most international trade. Rules of the Game I The International Gold Standard -(1879-1913) Fix an official gold price or mint parity and allow free convertibility between domestic money and gold at that price; Impose no restriction on the import or export of gold by private citizens, or on the use of gold for international transactions; Issue national currency and coins only with gold backing, and link the growth in national bank deposits to the availability of national gold reserves. In the event of a short-run liquidity crisis associated with gold outflows, the central bank should lend freely to domestic banks at higher interest rates. If Rule (i) is ever temporarily suspended, restore convertibility at the original unit parity as soon as practicable. As a result of these practices, the worldwide price level will be endogenously determined based on the overall world demand and supply of gold. Source:- All the Rules of the Game were adapted from Ronald I. Mckinnon, The Rules of the Game:- International Money in Historical Perspective, Journal of Economic Literature, Volume 31 (Mar 1993) Arguments in Support of the Gold Standard Price Stability through the tying of money supply to the supply of gold, central banks are unable to expand the money supply. The only ways in which they can do so are by acquiring more supplies of gold through production or by running balance of payments surpluses with other countries  [7]  . Facilitates Balance of Payment adjustment automatically this was first described by David Hume and is referred to as Humes specie flow mechanism  [8]  . Arguments Against the Gold Standard The growth of output and the growth of gold supplies needs to be closely linked.- For example, if the supply of gold increased faster than the supply of goods did there would be inflationary pressure  [9]  . Volatility in the supply of gold could cause adverse shocks to the economy  [10]  . In practice, the monetary authorities may not be forced to strictly tie their hands in limiting the creation of money, so some of the theoretical advantages may not hold up. For example, the Central Bank could issue more currency without having acquired more gold, and the public may not become aware of what is going on  [11]  . Countries with respectable monetary policy makers cannot use monetary policy to fight domestic issues like unemployment. 3. The Inter-War Period (1919-1939) After the eruption of the World War I, each warring country after the other put the gold convertibility on hold and embraced the floating exchange rates. However, the United States which joined the battle late, upheld gold convertibility but the dollar floated effectively against other currencies that had ceased to become convertible into dollars. Many exchange rates fluctuated sharply after the war and in the early and through mid-twenties as a lot of currencies experiencing massive devaluations against the dollar but the United States currency had greatly improved its competitive strength over the European currencies during the war in tandem with the stronger relative position of the United State economy  [12]  . Sequel to a prolonged internal debate, the United Kingdom restored the gold convertibility at the pre-war parity against the United State dollar  [13]  . It was not surprising to see other countries emulate Britain and returned to the gold but in many cases at devalued rates and what was the impact of this action on those countries economy? The anomalies and disequilibria created during the war were not well manifested in the par values that were established in the mid-twenties  [14]  . The exchange markets were characterised by turbulence and chaos during the 1930s. Under a condition serious global depression and erosion of confidence, the international monetary system broke down into rival currency blocs, competitive devaluations, discriminatory trade restrictions and exchange controls, high tariffs and barter trade arrangements. Several efforts geared at re-establishing order proved abortive.  [15]   4. The Spirit of the Bretton Woods Agreement (1945) In July, 1944, the International Monetary and Financial Conference organised by the United Nations attempted to put together an international financial system that eliminated the chaos of the inter-war years. The terms of the agreement were negotiated by forty four nations, led by the U.S. and Britain. The British delegation was led by John Maynard Keynes, perhaps the most famous economist of the twentieth century  [16]  . In essence, the Bretton Woods Agreement sought a set of rules that would remove countries from the tyranny of the gold standard and permit greater autonomy for national monetary policies. The negotiators recognised the historical shortcomings of other systems and the trade-offs they would face in trying to balance stable yet adjustable exchange rates. Rules of the Game II:- The Spirit of the Bretton Wood Agreement (1945) Fix an official par value for domestic currency in terms of gold or a currency tied to gold as a numeraire; In the short run, keep the exchange rate pegged within 1.0% of its par value, but in the long run leave open the option to adjust the par value unilaterally if IMF concurs; Permit free convertibility of currencies for current account transactions but use capital controls to limit currency speculation; Off-set short-run balance of payments imbalance by use of official reserves and IMF credits, and sterilize the impact of exchange market interventions on the domestic money supply. Permit national macroeconomic autonomy; each member pursuing its own price level and employment objectives. The IMF was created with the specific goal of being the multilateral body that monitored the implementation of the Bretton Woods agreement. Its role was to hold gold reserves and currency reserves that were contributed by the member countries and then lend this money out to nations that had currency difficulty meeting their obligations under the agreement.  [17]   Currencies had to be convertible:- central banks had to exchange domestic currency for dollars upon request. However, certain countries were also allowed to institute capital controls on certain types of transactions. Only current account related transactions were required to be fully convertible and countries were allowed to impose restrictions on the exchange of capital account related transactions.  [18]   The Asymmetric Position of the Reserve Centre Country In a world with N countries there are only N-1 exchange rates against the reserve currency. If all the countries in the world are fixing their currencies against the reserve currency and acting to keep the rate fixed, then the reserve country has no need to intervene  [19]  . The Collapse of the Bretton Woods System Bretton Woods faltered in the 1960s because of a U.S. trade and budget deficits. Nations holding U.S. dollars doubted the U.S. government had gold reserves to redeem all its currency held outside the U.S. Demand for gold in exchange for dollars caused a large global sell-off of dollars  [20]  . In 1971, the U.S. government closed the gold window by decree of President Nixon. The world moved from a gold standard to a dollar standard: from Bretton Woods to the Smithsonian Agreement  [21]  . Growing increase in the amount of dollars printed further eroded faith in the system and the dollars role as a reserve currency. By 1973, the world had moved to search for a new financial system one that no longer relied on a worldwide system of pegged exchange rates.(Levich, 2004) 5. The Floating Rate Dollar Standard (1973-1984) The floating rate system that developed after the fall of the Bretton woods was not devoid of rules and the rules which were of two folds, one set of rules for countries other than the United States and the other set for the United States. The US dollar remained the centrepiece of international financial markets. To assess the external values of domestic currency, officials would typically refer to an exchange rate in US$. And when intervention was called for, it was generally conducted in U.S. dollar. While the system was called floating, it was far from a freely floating laissez-faire system. Policy makers were unwilling to let private market forces be the sole determinant of exchange rates. This is not surprising given the importance of exchange rates to an economy. Richard Cooper (1984) reminds us that it is inconceivable that a government held responsible for managing its economy could keep its hands off the exchange rate. And sure enough, they are not left alone. The IMF also recognised that each country saw its exchange rate as an important policy variable and that the exchange rate policy of one country could have significant negative spill-over effects on other countries. Therefore, in 1974, the IMF enacted a set of guidelines designed to limit the potential for conflicts regarding exchange rate policies  [22]  . While these guidelines are not binding, they show that the IMF sanctions intervention as a method to promote orderly conditions in the foreign exchange market  [23]  . Essentially, the foreign exchange rate was left to play the role of a residual variable that did a great deal of the adjusting to offset the macro-economic policy differences across countries. With little coordination of these policies, one would expect exchange rate volatility to increase sharply.(Adam Bennett, 1995) Rules of the Game III Industrial Countries Other Than the United States. Smooth short term variability in the dollar exchange rate but do not commit to an official par value or to long term exchange rate stability; Permit free convertibility of currencies for current account transactions while endeavouring to eliminate all remaining restrictions on capital account transactions; Use the US$ as the intervention currency (except for transactions to stabilise European exchange rates) and keep official reserves primarily in U.S. Treasury Bonds; Modify domestic monetary policy to support major exchange rate interventions, reducing the money supply when the national currency is weak against the dollar and expanding the money supply when the national currency is strong. Set long-run national monetary and price targets independently of the United States; let the exchange rates adjust over the long run to off-set those differences. Rules of the Game The United States. Remain passive in the forex market; practise free trade without a balance of payment or exchange rates target. No need foe sizeable official foreign exchange reserves; Keep the U.S. capital markets open for borrowing and investing by private residents and foreign sovereigns; Pursue a monetary policy independent of the exchange rate or policies in order countries, thereby not strong for a common stable price level (or anchor) for tradable goods. 7. The Plaza-Louvre Intervention Accords the Floating Rate Dollar Standard-(1985-1999) The US had held a fairly passive stance toward exchange rates during first 10-years of float. In 1981, the induction of an expansive US fiscal policy combined tight monetary control (supported by President Ronald Reagan) combined with tight monetary control (guided by Federal Reserves Chairman, Paul Volcker) started the US dollar on a prolonged appreciation. By early 1985, the US$ had appreciated nearly 50% (relative to 1980) in real terms against an average of the worlds other major currencies. As the US dollar rose higher, some economists characterised its price behaviour as a speculative bubble (meaning a movement greater than, and progressively greater than justified by macroeconomic fundamentals) and predicted that the foreign exchange value of the dollar was not sustainable.  [24]   The entire episode convinced policy makers that:- exchange rates were too important to be left to market forces, hence intervention was deemed appropriate to smooth disorderly markets and halt market excesses, and exchange rates were too important to be the residual from uncoordinated economic policies, so better policy coordination was required to establish a set of economic fundamentals that in turn would produce a smother path of the exchange rate. As a result, since 1985, a new set of rules has evolved emphasizing the role of exchange market intervention and macroeconomic policy coordination. The first part of the policy change, the easy part, was foreign exchange intervention. Although, the appreciation of the US$ peaked in early March, 1985, the dollar did not initially fall by much and the use Congress continued to favour import restrictions (Barry Eichengreen, 1996). 7(a) The Plaza Accord On September 22, 1985, officials from the Group of Five (G-5) countries Britain, France, West Germany, Japan and the US met at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, where they issued a communiquà © announcing that they would interfere jointly foster dollar depreciation. The dollar fell sharply on this news and continued to decline through 1986. The Plaza communiquà © represented a sharp break with earlier policies. Exchange market intervention was often characterised by leaning against the wind behaviour to reverse the market trend. The Plaza meeting had the Central Banks leaning with the wind of the recently weak dollar. Further exchange market interventions were often kept secret and were often the doings of a single central bank  [25]  . 7(b) The Louvre Accord The dollars free fall continued into 1987, so much that some European officials began to fear for the competitiveness of their own export industries which prompted policy makers from the G-5 countries plus Canada to make another attempt at exchange rate co-operation in a meeting at the LOUVRE in Paris in February 22, 1987. At the Louvre meeting, policy makers agreed to foster stability of exchange rates around their current levels. This was not an unusual statement as part of a press release from a meeting of international finance minister but the Louvre accord was more than an emotional statement in praise of stability. The substance of the Louvre meeting was a set of target zones, or exchange rate range, that the Central Bankers agreed to defend using active foreign exchange intervention  [26]  . The Louvre accord has been criticised on the ground that the target zone strategy could have no real force and the decision to keep the zonal boundaries secret was simply a device to prevent any evaluation of the policys success. The Rules of the Game IV- The Plaza-Louvre Intervention Accords and the Floating Rate Dollar Standard-(1985-1999):- Germany, Japan and United States (G-3) Set broad target zones for the US$/DM and US$/Y exchange rates. Do not announce the agreed upon central rates, and allow for flexible zonal boundaries; Allow the implicit central rates to adjust when economic fundamentals among the G-3 countries change substantially; Central Banks intervene collectively but infrequently to reverse short-run exchange rate trends that threaten a zonal boundary. Signal the collective intent by announcing rather than hiding intervention. G-3 countries hold reserves in each others currencies, for the U.S. This means building up reserves in deutsche marks, yen, and possibly other convertible currencies. Sterilize the immediate impact of exchange market interventions by not adjusting short-term interest rates. Each G-3 country aims its monetary policy towards stable prices (measured by domestic consumer or wholesale prices or the GNP deflator), which indirectly anchors the world price level and reduces the drift in exchange rate zones. The Rule of the Game Other Industrial Countries Support or do not oppose interventions by the G-3 to keep the dollar within its target zone limits. Indeed, policy makers have had to adjust the central rate of the implied target zone and be flexible about the precise location of the target zone boundary. Intervention under the Louvre accord seems to be more successful when accompanied by macroeconomic policy changes, and less successful when domestic monetary is preserved through sterilized intervention. Sterilized intervention in the foreign exchange market leaves the domestic monetary base unaffected  [27]  (Krugman, P and Maurice, O, 2000). The Louvre accord began a process towards greater and, it was hoped, better policy co-ordination. Progress in the coordination process is essential to fundamentally affect the stability of exchange rates in the longer run. 8. The Spirit of the European Monetary System (1979) Following the collapse of the Bretton Woods, European Union (EU) nations looked for a system that could stabilise currencies and reduce exchange-rate risk. In 1979, the created the European Monetary System (EMS) to stabilize exchange rates subject to the following guidelines:- Rules of the Game V The Spirit of the European Monetary System (1979) Applicable to All Member Countries. Fix a par value for each exchange rate in terms of the European Currency unit, a basket weighted according to country size. Keep exchange rate stable in the short run by limiting movements in the bilateral rates to 2.25% on either side of the central rate. When exchange rate threatens to breach a bilateral limit, the strong currency Central Bank must lend freely to the weak currency Central Bank to support the exchange rate. Adjust the par value in the intermediate term only if necessary to realign price levels, and only with the collective agreement of other EMS countries. Work toward a convergence of national macroeconomic policies that would lead to stable long run par value for exchange rates. Maintain free currency convertibility for current account transactions Hold foreign exchange reserve primarily in ECUs with he European Fund for Monetary Co-operation (EFMC), and reduce U.S. dollar reserves. Repay Central Bank debts quickly from exchange reserves or by borrowing from the EFMC within strict long-term credit limits. No single countrys money serves as a reserve currency nor does its natural monetary policy serve (asymmetrically) as the nominal price anchor for the group. The EMS was successful, currency realignments were infrequent and inflation was controlled. Problems arose in 1992 and the EMS was revised in 1993 to allow currencies fluctuate in a wider band from the mid-point of the target zone. The system ceased to exist in 1999 when the EU adopted a single currency. 8(a) The European Monetary System as a Greater DM Area (1979-1998) As earlier proposed, the EMS appears to enshrine the symmetry of the EU member nations in a co-operative process. In practice, the DM was the centrepiece of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), and German monetary policy formed anchor for the EMS price level. As a consequence, the operation of the EMS was subject to more strains than might have been foreseen, as the strongest country with the least inflation called the Policy Tune, rather than some equally weighted average of all the policy presumptions of the member countries. Most of the strains in the EMS over the period arose from the desire by some European leaders to achieve still closer economic and social union. In 1989, a European Council headed by European Commission President Jacque Delors, presented a plan to establish a European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Under the EMU proposal, a single European Central Bank was to set up the monetary policy for a single European money thereby abolishing national monies and an independent role for national central banks. The Delors Plan  [28]  recommended a three-stage plan process to phase in the EMU as follows:- Stage 1- Bring all 12 members EC countries into the ERM while bringing tighter convergence of monetary policies to secure the ERM; Stage 2- Narrow the permissible bands of the ERM and permit a new European Central Bank to exercise more control of national monetary policies. Stage 3- Replace national monies with a common currency, placing responsibility for the European Central Banks that reflect the interests of all EC countries. The EMS Crisis of 1992 1993 The Delors Plan called for a transfer of national sovereign power over monetary policy and national monies to a new EC institutions. In December, 1991, the EC drafted the Maastricht Treaty a 250 page document that laid out the procedure for transferring policy making authority and the approval by all the twelve EC countries was required either by national referendum or parliamentary vote. For reason that substantial parts of the treaty were contentious, most of the sponsoring countries became sceptical and the document could not be approved by member nations contrary to expectation, As a result, currency tension persisted throughout 1993. In the summer of 1993, speculative attacks continued on the French franc and other currencies. This caused Central Banks to intervene heavily but the French resisted devaluation  [29]  . (Richard Cooper, 1984). The Path to European Monetary Union Notwithstanding the shocks suffered by the Delors Plan, voting on the Maastricht treaty continued and by November, 1992, it was adopted and the European Union (EU) was born. However, many countries had negotiated the right to opt out of certain key provisions, including the EUs common monetary and defence institutions. According to the Delors Plan, countries had to meet various economic targets before joining the EMU  [30]  . These criteria were very stringent to fulfil that as at February 1997, only Luxembourg satisfied them. Despite the difficulty in meeting the criteria, undaunted EU policymakers proceeded by designing and unveiling new physical coins and notes. Private firms and banks were compelled to follow suit, redesigning their accounting systems and functional software to accommodate the new euro. 8(b) The Spirit of the European Economic Monetary Union 1999 In May 1998, the European Council met to make two critical decisions:- To determine which countries would participate in the launch of the EMU set for January 1, 1999; and Who would be elected as the President of the European Central Bank. Many observers had expected a narrow EMU with only six countries going in at the start because requirements on fiscal budget deficits and national debt level. Surprisingly, the European Council elected eleven countries virtually all EU except countries, those that desired to opt out of the pioneer team such as Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Greece actually wanted to join but clearly had not met the convergence requirements  [31]  . On 1st January, 1999, the final and irrevocable conversion rates of the eleven legacy currencies versus the euro were announced. The transition went hitch-free in terms of transaction execution in the foreign exchange market and the operation of the EMU payment and settlement system. Financial markets in the EMU countries redenominated all traded financial securities and instruments from their national currencies into euros. A new market for bonds denominated in euros is thriving. The trend toward trans-national mergers and acquisition across firm within the euro started growing. The last step on the path to monetary union is the introduction of physical euro notes and coins and the withdrawal of legacy currency notes and coins. This process was scheduled to begin January 1, 2002 and to be accomplished not later than July 1, 2002. Empirical Evidences of Recent Currency Crises Despite nations best efforts to head off financial crises within the international monetary system, the world has witnessed several unpleasant crises some of which are summarised below:- Developing Nations Debt Crisis By the early 1980s, developing countries (especially in Latin America) had amassed huge debts payable to large international commercial banks, the IMF, and the World Bank. To prevent a meltdown of the entire financial system, international agencies revised repayment schedules. In 1989, the Brady Plan called for large-scale reduction of poor nations debt, exchange of high-interest loans, and debt instruments tradable on world financial markets. Mexicos Peso Crisis Rebellion and political assassination shook investors, faith in Mexicos financial system in 1993 and 1994. Mexicos government responded slowly to the flight of portfolio investment capital. In the late 199

Stock Price Valuation and Beta Calculation Essay -- Finance

There are many choices in the market for the investors to generate more money and income with the capital that they able to invest. These tools are categorized into many different types of market such as equity market, bond market, and mortgage market, according to their characteristics. The markets are well-growing and establishing all around world due to the people’s awareness of investment, the globalization, the governments’ policies, and the change of technology. Equity market is one of the well performing markets. The companies raise fund from the public by listing themselves in the stock exchanges. Such objective can be done by distributing the common stock, preferred stock, and convertible securities. The voting rights, priority claim, ownership, and types of compensation are determined by their characteristics. The investors will purchase the stocks based on their requirements and preferences. Two types of market are found in the stock markets, which are the p rimary and secondary market. The primary market enables the companies to gather the funds directly from the investors when the secondary market provides the liquidity to the shares by enabling the investors to trade among themselves. Stock price valuation In Malaysia, the only stock exchange is the Bursa Malaysia. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI), also known as the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, is the main stock index. The basket consists of the 30 largest market capitalization companies in Malaysia (The Edge Malaysia, 2009). 70 % of the market capitalization for the local bourse is made up by these 30 companies (The Edge Malaysia, 2009). Its performance will signal the investors about the market condition in Malaysia. Next, Genting Berhad (GENTING, 3182) is ... ...sdate=2012-03- 29&lang= Bloomberg.(n.d.). Genting Bhd. Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GENT:MK Bursa Malaysia. (n.d.). FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI. Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://www.bursamalaysia.com/website/bm/market_information/fbm_klci.html Genting Berhad. (n.d.). Annual report. Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://www.genting.com/annualreports/gb/2010/gb2010_02_11.pdf Genting Berhad. (n.d.). Group profile. Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://www.genting.com/groupprofile/gent.htm Palm oil traders await price forecasts seen as bullish. The Star Online. Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/5/business/20120305141244&sec= business Yahoo!.(n.d.), FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (^KLSE). Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EKLSE&a=01&b=17&c=2012&d=02&e=29&f=20 12&g=d

Lgbt Issues

LGBT Issues LGBT issues really caught my attention. I was never cared or thought about people are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender until I took this class. What really caught my attention was Paula’s story. That was very touching, and I felt bad for her. And I realized that probably many people have most likely gone through what she went through; especially with your family. Your family are the ones who love you and are always suppose to be there for you and when they are not there for you when you really need them at a time like that.In your lecture, on November 17th, you discussed about sexual orientation. Not only is it a sexual attraction but also a spiritual connection, as well as an emotional and romantic attraction. It is not the same as sexual behavior because it deals with feelings and emotions. This ranges on a scale from exclusive homosexuality to exclusive heterosexuality. The scale is called the â€Å"Kinsey Scale† from 0-6. Zero meaning heterosexualit y and six meaning homosexuality. There has been a struggle for equality for many years. Through gender, race and now sexual orientation.Still to this day there are the struggles of gender and race, such as for African Americans and Women, but it has gotten better. Now the main struggle is for the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender. The struggle for equality, such as marriage. I am now starting to realize that why should a person be judged on whom you are attracted to, or whom you connect with? I know I would not want to be judged that way. Also, if you love someone and you are willing to spend the rest of your life with them and make a family and you are willing to marry them, then go do it.No one should have the right to tell you who to marry. As it says in this article, â€Å"The Semantics of Marriage Equality†, written by Steve Kleinedler, he argues, â€Å"When asserting that marriage has always been solely a union between one man and one woman, our adversaries tro t out old dictionary definitions to support their claims. The job of dictionaries is primarily to describe how language is used, not to dictate how it should be used. † Still to this day people are fighting for the same sex marriage. A recent article in The New York Times, â€Å"New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill†, written by Jeremy W.Peters. had said that The New York State Senate rejected a bill on this past Wednesday that would have allowed same sex marriages. The vote was 38 to 24. The gay rights organizations have steered almost up to $1 million into the New York legislative races to boost the support for the bill to be passed. He said that the senators who had voted against had explained by saying, â€Å"the public was gripped by economic anxiety and remained uneasy about changing the state’s definition of marriage. † They believe that the problem is â€Å"dead† in New York at least until 2011, when a new legislature will be in stalled.Now reading about all these articles and hearing stories, such as Paula’s I now feel bad and understand where they are coming from. I may not fully understand since I am not a lesbian or bisexual, but I now have an understanding of what people are going through. I do not have any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender friends, so I never understood or really cared about the situation, but now I do. Whenever I found out that someone was gay or lesbian or even bisexual I would honestly stop talking to him or her, I do not know why, but that was my reaction.Now I want to make friends with them, it would not hurt. I am not saying that I am going to go out and try to make friends, but if I do happen to come across and meet someone who is gay or lesbian or ever transgender I would like to give them a chance to be my friend. I think if my parents knew they would not be happy about it, but I think maybe I can make my parents realize that it is okay. They are normal people like anyone else. Spending time with someone does not turn you gay, because some people may feel that way.Like when we had a discussion in class about gay and lesbian parents, and some people had felt if the parents were gay or lesbian that the child sexual orientation would be homosexual as well. Which is not true. It is something inside of you that you cannot control. I honestly believe it is something that you are born with, you just cannot help it. I hear stories about people whom if they could change their sexual orientation and become heterosexual they would, so they would not have to go through the pain that some people put them through.I enjoyed learning this topic in class. At first I was not so pleased that we would be talking about it, but Paula’s story caught my interest and that is when I decided I wanted to do my paper on LGBT issues. Works Cited New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill. The New York Times. 2 Dec. 2009. 1 Dec. 2009. http://www. nytimes. co m/2009/12/03/nyregion/03marriage. html? _r=1. The Semantics of Marriage Equality. Advocate. 24 Nov. 2009. 1 Dec. 2009. http://www. advocate. com/News/News_Features/The_Semantics_of_Marriage_Equality/.

Ethnic Conflict Essay

Ethnic Conflicts are a very important issue that can affect a whole country/state. Ethnic conflicts within a state belong to identity conflicts that are a type of internal conflicts. Sometimes the term ethnic conflict is used to describe a large range of internal conflicts .Before talking about ethnic conflict, it is important to know the meaning of ethnicity. . Ethnic groups usually have collectivity or psychological communities who share a combination of historical experience and valued cultural traits – beliefs, culture and religion, language, ways of life, a common homeland . Ethnic conflicts can be defined as conflicts between ethnic groups within a multi-ethnic state, which have been going on some time. Many ethnic conflicts result in a significant loss of life, a serious denial of basic human rights and considerable material destruction, some escalating into inter ethnic or internal war. The desire for secession or independence from an existing state, the demand for greater power within a state, or recognition and protection of minority interest within a society are three general issues of ethnic conflicts. An ethnic conflict is usually between two major groups fighting for the power or sovereignty of a country, state, or territory. The protagonists in the most intense ethnic conflicts want to establish their independence . A minority group might insist on seceding and establishing its own independent state. It might demand an independent state within a confederation of states, or might insist on an independent political entity within a new federal structure. The antagonist ethnic groups will not be able to agree on new constitutional ideas or a peaceful separation because the group does not want to lose its power over the other group. These kind of ethnic disputes consequently become violent, some escalate into all out war which tears the country/state apart.

Temporomandibular Joint

Temporomandibular Joint Free Online Research Papers The most common cause of facial pain is temporomandibular joint and muscular disorder (TMTJ), which causes recurrent or chronic pain or dysfunction in the jaw joint and its associated muscles and supporting tissues. TMTJ is the second most commonly occurring musculoskeletal condition resulting in pain in disability, second after chronic low back pain, affecting approximately five to fifteen percent of the population according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, with an annual cost estimated at around four billion. About half to two-thirds of those with TMJ disorder will seek treatment. Among these, approximately fifteen percent will develop chronic TMTJ. The temporomandibular joint is the joint that connects the mandible bone to the rest of the skull. The temporomandibular joint is arguably one of the most complex set of joints in the human body. Unlike other joints, the TMJ has two joints, which allow it to rotate and to translate. With use, it is common to see wear of both the bone and cartilage of the TMJ. Clicking of the joint is common, as are popping motions and deviations in the movements of the joint. It is considered TMJ disorder when pain is involved. Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ, TMJD, TMD) is acute or chronic inflammation of the temporomandibular joint. Disorders of the TMJ and how people respond to them vary widely. Researchers generally agree that the conditions fall into three main categories. These categories are my facial pain, the most common temporomandibular disorder, involves discomfort or pain in the muscles that control jaw function, internal derangement of the joint involves a displaced disc , dislocated jaw, or injury to the condyle, and arthritis. A person may have one or more of these conditions at the same time. Some people have other health problems that co-exist with TMJ disorders, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep disturbances or fibromyalgia, a painful condition that affects the muscles and soft tissues throughout the body. It is not known whether these disorders share a common cause. A variety of symptoms may be linked to TMJ disorders. Pain, particularly in the chewing muscles and/or jaw joint, is the most common symptom. Other symptoms include: jaw pain and/or stiffness, Headaches (usually at the temples or side of the head), vague tooth soreness which often move around the mouth, sensitive teeth, painful or tender jaw, difficulty opening mouth, pain and fatigue when eating hard or chewy foods, clicks Research Papers on Temporomandibular JointPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyOpen Architechture a white paperArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Capital PunishmentGenetic EngineeringIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceTwilight of the UAWInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Hockey Game

Essay on rough draft wr1

Essay on rough draft wr1 Essay on rough draft wr1 Disi Kou Burlee Vang WR 1 21 June 2015 TV Ads Today more and more advertisements are seen on the TV screen. It’s difficult to find a program without insertion of ads on TV. Food, clothes-everything you can think of-are presented on television. Advertising "as the name suggests is the meaning of" advertised ". TV advertising is rely on visual image language infiltration to as the basic unit of society family, and it is to arouse the audience's desire to buy and consume behavior and make a final goods from producer distribution to the consumer hands. Advertising undoubtedly contributed to the transfer of such goods to the role of the catalyst, and the good or bad direct impact on the exchange of goods and whether the smooth and efficient. In generally, clever advertising often not take a straightforward strategy to highlight the superior performance of the commodity itself, sometimes even deliberately ignore its inherent quality, but to give the goods more imagination and desire on the better life. Obviously value of goods as a material existence and happiness of these ethical considerations do not seem to be directly related, but it is the task of advertising resorted to every means to tell the audience that a concept. As long as have the goods, happiness of life will come. Or that the audience for the purpose of the purchase of goods is not only a real life of real needs, but they want to get an advertising sense of happiness and joy in the process of consumer goods. This feeling becomes deep dynamic and effective way to stimulate consumption. Advertising as a special form of the dissemination of consumer information, consumer-purchasing behavior will have a great impact. Modern marketing believes that the consumer is the center of marketing, all marketing activities to focus on consumers. Advertising is through the dissemination of information, so that consumers can produce the expected positive response to the product which affects the consumer's purchasing behavior. Advertising is a kind of information dissemination activities and information dissemination is its most basic function. Consumers must first understand before buying commodity-related information. Sources of product information from three sources: First contact with itself; the second is the spread of the crowd; the third is a variety of media, such as obtained through television, newspapers or flyers, signs and so on. It is through a variety of media advertising, sending out all kinds of information about the product, so that consumers can get and get relevant knowledge. Advertising media is very wide spread of information, including market information, commodity information, service information, enterprise information and production and life information, etc. Through the dissemination of information on the advertising, can let consumers understand the product or service quality, characteristics, properties, morphology, trademarks and packaging and can bring new special value and sa tisfaction; can make people understand the business enterprise business purpose, development situation, market position and product reputation; can also be commodity related new lifestyles and consumption concept to the people to communicate and guide people's consumption behavior. Survey results show that advertising is an important source of information to understand the function of the product or service content, the proportion of the number of people in Taiwan is 86% and in Hongkong is 74%. In China, 60% of people think that shopping is influenced by advertising, especially television advertising. Nowadays, information has become an important resource for social survival, the unprecedented development of the advertising industry and it makes advertisement becomes the people to obtain the important sources of information, especially for the vast number of consumers, their information on commodity markets and most are directly or indirectly from advertising. At the same time,

How to Write University of Wisconsin-Madison Essays 2017-18

The University of Wisconsin–Madison (the official state university of Wisconsin) is a public university that was founded in 1848, directly following Wisconsin’s acquisition of statehood. Wisconsin is well known not only for its excellent academics, but also for its hugely successful NCAA athletic teams. The 936-acre campus is located right next to downtown Madison, which is consistently ranked as one of the best college towns in the country. With nearly 5,000 unique courses and over 200 distinct majors, it’s no wonder that the University of Wisconsin–Madison attracted 32,887 applicants to the Class of 2016. The 52.6% acceptance rate necessitates strong supplemental essays, and we at are here to help you break them down step by step! Students can apply online, using either the Common Application or the University of Wisconsin Application System. Both application options require two supplemental pieces of writing: a short prompt and a long prompt. Below, you’ll find the two prompts along with our take on the best way to tackle the essays, as well as some tips on what you should (and shouldn’t) include in your supplements. This prompt shouldn’t be too difficult — with a limit of 100 words, you’re going to be writing no more than a few sentences. While you should use this short essay as an opportunity to elaborate on the activity that portrays you in the best light, make sure that the selected activity is actually â€Å"important to you.† If the extracurricular that you select appears impressive (think three-time section leader in your all-state band, or coordinator of a peer tutoring program that works with nearly one hundred kids), but you’re not able to articulate why it’s relevant to your life and your journey through high school, the admissions committee won’t be impressed. Don’t feel like the activity you write about needs to be one in which you held leadership; while leadership in the activity is of course looked highly upon, the genuine story you tell about its importance to you is key. Take this scenario: You were elected student body president as a junior and presided over all student council meetings. While you enjoyed the position, you’re planning on majoring in biology and not government. Last summer, you were one of the few interns at a local research hospital, where you helped discover a previously unknown bacterium. Even though you’ll likely put â€Å"student body president† as the first item on your activity list, you may want to write the short essay about your experience at the hospital, which led you to decide on a biology major. If you participated in any type of volunteer work, at a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter, and feel that those experiences had a profound impact on you, you could write about the volunteer work. That being said, you don’t necessarily need to write about volunteer/community service activities! If you were the president of your high school’s school store, or the captain of your town’s travel soccer team, and that significantly defined your past few years, you can absolutely choose it as your activity. The key is just to make sure admissions officers get a more in-depth look at who you are through the lens of the activity. Whichever activity you choose, be sure that your writing is clear, concise, and effective. There’s no need for complex metaphors, nor overly intense descriptions. As long as it’s evident to the reader that your activity had a meaningful impact on your development as an individual, you’ve done your job! Submit your essay and we’ll get back to you with helpful edits. In the long essay prompt, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is looking for a modified version of the â€Å"why us† supplement. Even if Wisconsin isn’t your top choice, for the purposes of this essay, you should put yourself in the shoes of a student that’s wanted to attend Wisconsin for the past few years. If you have family ties to the university, or live in Wisconsin and have grown up rooting for the Badgers in sporting events, don’t hesitate to mention it! The admissions committee wants to see commitment and genuine interest in the school—they should instantly feel your passion for Wisconsin as they read through your essay. While the prompt appears to pose two questions: â€Å"Why Us?,† and â€Å"What opportunities would you take advantage of as a student?† you should be blending the two questions together throughout your supplement. Show your passion by mentioning specific courses, clubs, or programs that you are interested in. The university website will be your greatest resource for this — there’s a wealth of information available! Explain how your experiences throughout high school qualify you for admission to the University of Wisconsin. Articulate how those experiences demonstrate, in the words of the admissions website, â€Å"leadership, concern for others and the community, and achievement in the arts, athletics, and other areas.† Try to provide an example of each of those three areas (or, better yet, find an activity that combines multiple). Serving as the captain of a school athletic team demonstrates both leadership and athletic achievement while selling handmade crafts at charity auctions demonstrates concern for community and artistic achievement. Don’t try to make the entire essay just about these three facets of your personality, but do make sure that you adequately explain how your activities exemplify each character trait. Also, don’t be afraid to talk about experiences unrelated to your major: If you’re applying to the School of Education, you can absolutely bring up an organization in the School of Business that focuses on entrepreneurship, like the WAVE or WEB program, or a research opportunity, like the Grainger Institute in the School of Engineering — the more well-rounded your interests are at Wisconsin, the more likely you are to be accepted. The last, and optional, component of the prompt asks you to explain any â€Å"circumstance that could have had an impact on your academic performance and/or extracurricular involvement.† Be very careful with what you write here, and remember that it’s completely optional. If you choose not to include it, there’s really no harm done (and, if anything, it eliminates the possibility of writing something that could decrease your chances of admission). If there was a situation throughout high school that was thrust upon you (think family/personal medical emergency or moving schools), you can absolutely write about that, as it will help to establish sympathy with the reader. If you’ve had any experiences that could reflect negatively on you, including them in the essay may not be wise. Writing about depression, drug/alcohol use, or criminal activity could raise red flags and prevent you from being accepted. If you feel strongly about including one of these topics (or something similar), definitely reach out to a guidance counselor, teacher, or trusted adult to ensure that you’re crafting your message in the best possible way. We hope our analysis of the two supplemental essay prompts has helped you to fine-tune your plans for your Wisconsin-Madison application!

History Heart of Darkness by joseph conrad Essay

History Heart of Darkness by joseph conrad - Essay Example I do not think that he likes or dislikes Romans but he does not appear to think that their approach of bringing light to the heart of darkness was right. This also presents Conrad’s ideas about New Imperialism which he does not agree with but remains a part of the process since his life and livelihood is connected with that. Considering the fact that Conrad found a bastion of imperialism at the heart of darkness, it is easy to see that Conrad is not comfortable with the idea of subjugating a nation and exploiting the natural resources of the land as a means for getting rich. The journey to the heart of darkness certainly clears his vision and he understands that the ideals of imperialism may not necessarily be correct. However, his approach to opposing imperialism and towards defending the natives seems rather lukewarm. For example, his vision of the African lady Kurtz was living with remains clouded by what she was wearing and how wild her appearance was to him. He notes the silence of the natives and gives the reader the impression that they were simplistic people indeed with few values which could be considered as culturally strong measures. I feel that the only African character in the book was Kurtz himself since he tried to become a part of his surroundings. However, even he was not truly a native and their absence remains a rather pointed example of Marlow’s viewpoint. This viewpoint certainly does not come from any sympathy which Marlow might have felt for the natives or for other characters he met in the Congo since his objective of going on with his journey was to see Kurtz. He knows that Mr. Kurtz is â€Å"a first-class agent (Conrad, 1902, Pg. 27)† and that he is â€Å"a very remarkable person (Conrad, 1902, Pg. 27)† who is known to outperform all other ivory agents. His curiosity about him is only increased further when he is told quite clearly that Kurtz is, â€Å"an exceptional man, of the greatest importance to the Company

BI - Business Intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

BI - Business Intelligence - Essay Example Rwanda’s main imports include foodstuffs, steel, machinery and equipment, construction as well as petroleum products. Their main trading partners include Kenya, Germany, China, and Belgium. GDP (PPP): $16.4 billion, 5.0% growth, 6.9% 5-year annual growth, and $1538 per capita. The rate of unemployment I Rwanda is 0.6%, inflation 4.2 %. Rwanda’s major industries are industries that process their agricultural produce for export to the foreign markets. In the past five years, Rwanda’s economic freedom has increased by 2.1. This has been contributed by 20-point improvement from corruption 15-point freedom investment (Rwanda, 2014). One of the key factors that have greatly contributed to fast growth of this country’s economy is the internet use in both local as well as international trade. Most of their imports especially construction and petroleum materials are ordered via the internet. They also get international markets for their products through internet use (Aspray, 2008). Rwanda has established several shopping sites that are used for local and international trade. Examples of these online sites include Gemeya.com, Gurisha.com, Shop4rwanda.com, Comfort Rwanda, and Beautyofrwanda.com. These sites are important to Rwanda’s economy because they are able to sell and buy via these sites and it saves time. These sites are affordable for most citizens and fewer restrictions are placed on their use (Black, 2002). After goods have been purchased online and imported to Rwanda, there are different taxes that the owner of purchased goods is supposed to pay. For goods like vehicles that have been purchased online, the owner is supposed to pay four types of taxes: value added tax (VAT) 18%, customs duty 25%, withholding tax 5%, and consumption tax that has different rates. Uses of technology in business are important because transactions are done within a short time. It is

DEVELOPING SELF ACROSS THE LIFE - SPAN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

DEVELOPING SELF ACROSS THE LIFE - SPAN - Essay Example The causes of the disorder, symptoms, and behavior patterns are also described in the research. The conclusion shows that although it can be difficult to teach Autistic children, in the correct learning environment and with the implementation of a strategic teaching plan it is not impossible to carry out with a positive outcome. The case in this research is depicting an 8 year old who has been diagnosed with a mild form of Autism. The symptoms of this child are discussed, and there is a defining look at the atypical behaviors he exhibits which could have the most bearing in the learning environment for him on an individual basis. In our society there are numerous developmental disorders which often interfere with the educational process. Autism happens to be one of the most severe out of the various developmental delays that are in existence in society but it does not necessarily mean that teaching these children is impossible. A developmental disorder is in actuality a disease that does prevent an adult or even a child from functioning at the correct conventional level in society. Simply attempting to adapt to everyday tasks becomes highly complex for the child with autism (Frith 1991). Scientific research has discovered that Autism is a developmental disease which affects boys more than it does girls and it is non-discriminative meaning that it is found throughout the world in all families of all racial, ethnic, and social backgrounds (Groden 1988). Autism is normally characterized by specific actions from the child which can include detachment, withdrawal from social contact, daydreaming, uncontrollable emotions, mood swings, obsessive behaviors with inclusion of hand flailing, rocking, and head banging (Frith 1991). Due to the diverseness of complications that Autism can bring to the child in a learning environment, not to mention in the family environment, it takes a very special

Sense of Self Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sense of Self - Essay Example His mindset concentrates deep and far away from the physical world. His plight for revenge against his uncle Claudius and his mother was delayed by his mindset being deep and far away from the physical world. He relates to other characters in the play through individualism of self. What makes Hamlet so distinctive from others is how he shows himself to others with all his human flaws. Every time Hamlet wakes up, his mind was preoccupied with his own thoughts something that intensifies his feelings and perceptions in everywhere he saw imperfections, worry, tension and confusion. This situation makes it impossible for him to solve his problems easily (Lee 174-178). Hamlet’ssense of self is shown his deep thoughts where although he knew Claudius killed his father and was not a noble king like his father, he does not want to kill him because he wanted to avoid civil war. Hamlet does not wish to plunge his country with chaos because of his own personal turmoil. He realized that this would happen when he kills Claudius. He also fails to combine the spiritual (in the form of his father’s ghost) with the situations that surrounds him every day. The ghost persuades him to take revenge of his father’s death but for him being a humanitarian and taking in to account his responsibilities as a prince and future king, hamlet avoids all this pressure to kill Claudius (Taylor 206). Hamlet was a thinking man, along the play he is shown to be always thinking about the things that lay ahead of him. Unfortunately, when the time to act came, he always pulled back because of his urge to believe. His capacity to think becomes a handicap to him rather than an advantage and the most painful or tragic part is that he was aware of his weakness. In act five scene one, Hamlet looked at the bones of many of the graveyards occupants including that of the great powerful Alexander and concludes that the

Combining Melodrama and Docudrama through Various Mise-en-Scene to Essay

Combining Melodrama and Docudrama through Various Mise-en-Scene to Create Portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana - Essay Example Instead, the film concentrates on Queen Elizabeth’s reaction and immediate behaviour following the death of Diana. It attempts to create a very specific portrait of the Queen as both a monarch and an emotional and flawed human being. Though the character of Diana is not acted out, through real video footage, media excerpts and the opinions of many people, a portrait is also created of her, as well as the Queen. In this way, the focus is on both the character of Diana and the character of the Queen, conveyed through entirely different mediums. While the Queens portrait is represented through the actual characters judgements, behaviours, thoughts and actions, Diana is manifested through images, media files and the statements of others including the general public. The film achieves these portrayals by combining elements of both melodrama and docudrama, and through several mise-en-scene components, including dialogue, music, costume, props and lighting. Both melodrama and docudra ma are generally identified as sub-categories of drama. Melodrama focuses on emotional premises and interpersonal conflict to appeal to the emotionality of the audience. As a genre it was often ridiculed by theatre critics of the 19th and early 20th centuries but has gained merit in the latter half of the 20th century and is now arguably one of the most written about Hollywood genres (Singer, 2001). It often heightens and exaggerates the plot or the natural and realistic emotional conflicts involved in a story in order to heighten and enhance this type of appeal. It typically involves a heroine and a villain and is often identified with the objective to make the viewer cry, as noted by Neale (1986), â€Å"a feature crucial to melodrama...its ability to move its spectators and in particular to make them cry†. Docudrama on the other hand, is drama based upon actual historical events. It usually attempts to re-enact actual occurrences as true to life as possible, albeit long aft er the event actually happened. An evolution of the documentary genre, â€Å"films based on fact raise so many questions...that for the purposes of study, it is profitable to regard them as belonging to a different species called docudrama†, (Rosenthal, 1999). As a sort of dramatised documentary, this sub-genre has often been questioned for its representation of truth and fact, however, Fraser (1999) postulates that when docudrama is done well, the audience generally understands what is fact and what is fiction. Lipkin (2002) suggests that the premise of a truth within a docudrama, serves to launch the work in a different direction than standard documentation. This film can be categorized within both of these genres, as it features significant elements of both subsets. While the film is quite obviously a docudrama, in that it tells the real story of actual historical events according to accurate dates, locations, people involved and factual events, it also portrays intimate m oments which are not necessarily fact. Such scenes have been interpreted according to general knowledge and common assumptions, often with a view to making them more melodramatic and in line with the emotional conflict of the story. In this way, melodrama is also an identifying aspect of the film. For example, in scenes of Diana’s funeral, real news footage is used, accurate dates are given and even real people involved are shown. The film makes use of

DEVELOPING SELF ACROSS THE LIFE - SPAN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

DEVELOPING SELF ACROSS THE LIFE - SPAN - Essay Example The causes of the disorder, symptoms, and behavior patterns are also described in the research. The conclusion shows that although it can be difficult to teach Autistic children, in the correct learning environment and with the implementation of a strategic teaching plan it is not impossible to carry out with a positive outcome. The case in this research is depicting an 8 year old who has been diagnosed with a mild form of Autism. The symptoms of this child are discussed, and there is a defining look at the atypical behaviors he exhibits which could have the most bearing in the learning environment for him on an individual basis. In our society there are numerous developmental disorders which often interfere with the educational process. Autism happens to be one of the most severe out of the various developmental delays that are in existence in society but it does not necessarily mean that teaching these children is impossible. A developmental disorder is in actuality a disease that does prevent an adult or even a child from functioning at the correct conventional level in society. Simply attempting to adapt to everyday tasks becomes highly complex for the child with autism (Frith 1991). Scientific research has discovered that Autism is a developmental disease which affects boys more than it does girls and it is non-discriminative meaning that it is found throughout the world in all families of all racial, ethnic, and social backgrounds (Groden 1988). Autism is normally characterized by specific actions from the child which can include detachment, withdrawal from social contact, daydreaming, uncontrollable emotions, mood swings, obsessive behaviors with inclusion of hand flailing, rocking, and head banging (Frith 1991). Due to the diverseness of complications that Autism can bring to the child in a learning environment, not to mention in the family environment, it takes a very special

Combining Melodrama and Docudrama through Various Mise-en-Scene to Essay

Combining Melodrama and Docudrama through Various Mise-en-Scene to Create Portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana - Essay Example Instead, the film concentrates on Queen Elizabeth’s reaction and immediate behaviour following the death of Diana. It attempts to create a very specific portrait of the Queen as both a monarch and an emotional and flawed human being. Though the character of Diana is not acted out, through real video footage, media excerpts and the opinions of many people, a portrait is also created of her, as well as the Queen. In this way, the focus is on both the character of Diana and the character of the Queen, conveyed through entirely different mediums. While the Queens portrait is represented through the actual characters judgements, behaviours, thoughts and actions, Diana is manifested through images, media files and the statements of others including the general public. The film achieves these portrayals by combining elements of both melodrama and docudrama, and through several mise-en-scene components, including dialogue, music, costume, props and lighting. Both melodrama and docudra ma are generally identified as sub-categories of drama. Melodrama focuses on emotional premises and interpersonal conflict to appeal to the emotionality of the audience. As a genre it was often ridiculed by theatre critics of the 19th and early 20th centuries but has gained merit in the latter half of the 20th century and is now arguably one of the most written about Hollywood genres (Singer, 2001). It often heightens and exaggerates the plot or the natural and realistic emotional conflicts involved in a story in order to heighten and enhance this type of appeal. It typically involves a heroine and a villain and is often identified with the objective to make the viewer cry, as noted by Neale (1986), â€Å"a feature crucial to melodrama...its ability to move its spectators and in particular to make them cry†. Docudrama on the other hand, is drama based upon actual historical events. It usually attempts to re-enact actual occurrences as true to life as possible, albeit long aft er the event actually happened. An evolution of the documentary genre, â€Å"films based on fact raise so many questions...that for the purposes of study, it is profitable to regard them as belonging to a different species called docudrama†, (Rosenthal, 1999). As a sort of dramatised documentary, this sub-genre has often been questioned for its representation of truth and fact, however, Fraser (1999) postulates that when docudrama is done well, the audience generally understands what is fact and what is fiction. Lipkin (2002) suggests that the premise of a truth within a docudrama, serves to launch the work in a different direction than standard documentation. This film can be categorized within both of these genres, as it features significant elements of both subsets. While the film is quite obviously a docudrama, in that it tells the real story of actual historical events according to accurate dates, locations, people involved and factual events, it also portrays intimate m oments which are not necessarily fact. Such scenes have been interpreted according to general knowledge and common assumptions, often with a view to making them more melodramatic and in line with the emotional conflict of the story. In this way, melodrama is also an identifying aspect of the film. For example, in scenes of Diana’s funeral, real news footage is used, accurate dates are given and even real people involved are shown. The film makes use of

Australian Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Australian Stereotypes Essay Stereotyping the Australians has always been a common practice by people all around the world. In fact, Australia has been classified as one of the most stereotyped nations in the world due to the sense that much of the international community believes that they have a solid understanding regarding Australian society, despite the fact that their beliefs bear little similarities to the realities of Australian life in the 21st Century. Australia is a complex nation that is riddled with assumptions that are downright false, and sometimes ridiculous. There’s no denying it – as soon the word ‘Australia’ is out, our mind automatically paints a certain glossy picture. For starters, people have assumed that the Australians love to barbecue all the time. Now, while everyone loves a scrumptious and moist barbecued chicken, who in the world would have the time (or patience) to spend the whole morning barbecuing steaks and chicken just to provide a simple breakfast, and repeat the tedious process again for lunch and dinner every single day? The baneful clean-up process and charcoal stains are simply enough to test my patience. However, people in the nationwide has evoke countless of preconceptions that the Aussies are found to be a bunch of barbecue-addicted people, much to the annoyance of the Australians. The real question is ; how did this Australian stereotype become so viral? Australia itself is culpable. Tourism Australia has tried to boost their tourism industries by commercializing Australians with a fresh and rejuvenating look such as the stereotypical â€Å"beach and bimbos† image popularised in the 1980s. However, the portrayal that Aussies loves hang out at the beach every day and ‘put another shrimp on the barbecue’ (or barbie, in the Australian slang) apparently bears a scanty resemblance with the reality. Nick Bryant, a Sydney correspondent also suggested that the popularity of television programs such as Neighbours and Home and Away only rendered the British public to carry a superficial perception of Australia that is not representative of the majority of the nation. Throw another shrimp on the barbie was a 1980s tourism slogan by Paul Hogan which remains as one of the most recognisable quotes associated with Australia within the international community. Another popular Australian stereotype is being belligerent drunkards. People have always assumed that the cities of Australia are full of drunken people, empty scotch bottles and foul alcohol stenches. However, if you happen to walk at the streets of Melbourne, you will realize that it is just like any conventional city, bustling with working ladies and man as opposed to the stereotypical view. Studies have also proved that the country only ranks 44th in terms of global alcohol consumption as opposed to the 17th ranking of the UK. In a nutshell, some of the stereotypical views on Australians are proved to be untrue although some parts of them that are quite true. Stereotypes can be hard to avoid, so my advice is DO NOT always believe what you hear! Many things are always not what they are seemed to be so always do a little research first before ascertaining its validity.

Green Marketing And Ethical Consumerism Marketing Essay

Green Marketing And Ethical Consumerism Marketing Essay Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way. It takes advantage of customers willingness to purchase, and sometimes pay a premium for products that provide private benefits as well as public environmental benefits. This market place is predicted to grow by $845 billion by 2015, categories within the green market place are ; sustainable economy (green buildings), healthy life style, ecological life style(eco tourism). Top reasons why green consumers consume these green products are; to ensure a safer environment, protect and conserve natural resources, consistency with moral, ethics and personal beliefs. Green marketing targets such customers under the assumption that they will pay a premium for environmentally-preferable, or green, electricity products, and the development of this customer driven market has been heralded by some as offering significant, new, market-based opportunities for renewables. (Nakarado, 1996). In the marketing literature, there is a growing consensus that the green market is significant and that companies can profit by improving environmental performance and developing green products. But not all green products are successful in garnering customer interest, and customer surveys of attitudes toward, and even intended purchase of, green products often substantially overestimate actual product demand (Kempton, 1993). Ethical consumerism has to do with the purchase of products and services that consumers view as ethical, this consumption of such goods and services is intentional as most consumers are interested in purchasing goods that has an ethical brand, and one of the definition of what makes an ethical brand to a consumer are products of companies that promotes the environment. Ethical consumerism by some people is seen as a way of life An increasing number of people have begun to realize that it is often possible to do far less damage to the environment simply by taking more care over what goes into the shopping basket. This can be related to ethical consumerism, which includes buying foods produced under environmentally sustainable methods , buying coffee and other goods procured via fair-trade arrangements; boycotting companies that use sweatshop labor; favoring products with low carbon emissions (hybrid vehicles, Energy Star appliances); recycling diligently; shunning products with wasteful attributes (bottled water); buying animal products only from suppliers that use humane husbandry methods (cage-free eggs). Recent studies consistently report that a large number of residential customers (40-70%) express a willingness to pay a 5-15% premium for green products (Farhar and Houston, 1996). While this is the case, some consumers also find these green goods too expensive and these producers actually claim that the extra prices reflect the extra cost involved, but refuse to discuss their profits margins. The rapidly growing body of literature on consumer willingness-to-pay for products associated with more sustainable resource exploitation sends out a pessimistic message regarding the market potential for green (kempen et al, 2009), In a scenario like in the third world countries, most people are not willing to pay an extra premium to purchase green / ethical products. Different studies on developing countries concerning green consumerism have also showed that people in developing countries have a negative willingness to pay for green products, for example; Bonsu and Zwick (2007) concluded that Ghanaian consumers exhibit lower levels of ethics compared with Western counterparts, which suggests that ethical markets are not very likely to prosper in this country. Goswami (2008) found that only a small segment of consumers- wealthier liberal professionals-is positively motivated to preferentially buy eco-labelled clothing in India, supporting the proposition that only few (richer) consumers in developing countries may be ready to pay a premium for green products. Nonetheless, Mohamed and Ibrahim (2007) found that 32% of their sample of Malaysian consumers would be willing to pay a premium for environmentally certified wood products and that the average premium for this subgroup would amount to a sizeable 14.4%. The assumption underlying these conclusions is that consumers from developing countries cannot afford to care about the ethical profile of their consumption; specifically they are just too poor to be green. They are some factors that affect ethical consumption and they include income; goods that are environmental friendly are more costly than regular goods, so the propensity to consume these goods will rise with income. Conversely, ethical consumption practices that are intensive in time rather than money (e.g. recycling and reusing materials, commuting via public transportation) may tend to decline with income, (Starr, 2009 p.918). 2. Age: Younger people are generally more involved in the participation of the environmental friendly world, because having been educated more recently, there is a high possibility that they may have a better grasp of problems related to the environment and global warming than older people, so that the value they attach to consuming ethically would be higher than that of the old people. 3. Income: Controlling for income and other factors, education could be expected to raise the likelihood that a person consumes ethically, due to the advantages in acquiring and processing information on social, ethical and environmental issues that it confers, thereby lowering its extra costs over regular consumption. (Starr, 2009 p.918). But everything boils down to the income of the individual, because they may be aware of the benefits of purchasing these products to the environment but have inadequate income to purchase these goods. Social Norms: People are more likely to consume ethically when they live in an area in which it is relatively common, this shows the influence of the immediate environment in ethical consumption. Starr found a positive relationship between these factors listed above and buying ethically, first, buying ethically is positively associated with education, consistent with education conferring efficiency advantages in acquiring and processing information about social, ethical and environmental implications of individual consumption decisions, Second, buying ethically is also positively affected by income, consistent with its extra costs being less prohibitive for those with less binding budget constraints. (Starr, 2009 p.924) The bandwagon effect associated with ethical consumerism is a very missed blessing (Irvine, p.3), and there is a risk of consumers being seriously manipulated in ways like , some companies are more interested in cleaning up their image rather than their act, also some unscrupulous businesses are only interested to rip off a green consumer through unreasonable high prices on environmental- friendly products, another issue is the middle man who is standing between the producers and the would be green consumer is the advertising industry, these advertising industries exploit these green consumers, most of the adverts about environmental products are deliberately misleading and some others are false, governments are not even helping matters by providing necessary information in order for consumers to make appropriate choices, words such as natural, real, environmental friendly have become thoroughly polluted through misuse, all in the aim to increase the sale of a particular product, the reby misleading the consumers to think they are buying these products in order to protect their environment. They are factors that have resulted in green marketing, and they include; first environmental law: It draws from and is influenced by principles of environmentalism, including ecology, conservation, stewardship, responsibility and sustainability. Most governments favour incentives to favor economic incentives to encourage o=consumers and industries to behave in ways that do little harm to the environment. Most of these enviromental laws requite theses comanies to protect their enviorments, so these leads to green marketing opprtunities. Second, damage on the environment and its awareness through the media: individuals seek to want to protect the environment, and they are very sensitive to the issues of the environment, like the damage of the ozone layer of the earth, global warming, acid rain and reaching the limits of sand fills, and with the help of the media reports of these natural disasters are made known to the general public, freilich, (1989 p.45), found out that events and th reats influence consumers behaviors. Hardly a day passes without a mention of issues that has to do with environmental damage and a study in the United Kingdom found that the wood green was used 3617 times in some newspapers and five years later, it was mentioned 30,777 times (Smith, 1990, p. 77) this shows more than 60% increment and this was 20 years ago, probably it will be mentioned more than 100,000 times now. Thirdly, public opinion and Social concern for the environment: Public opinion in both Europe and the United States of America, as influenced by environmental damage, media coverage, has led to actions to protect the environment (Gazda and Lampe, 1995. Pp.298). public opinion concerning the environments shows an increasing support and need to clean up the environment. Fourthly, the need for greening of businesses: due to public concerns of the environment, these concerns have led to potent forced for the environment for the environment including green consumerism( the use of individual consumer preference to promote less environmentally damaging products and services) and green political power( environmental political party, for example, the United kingdom greens party, Australian greens party and the, Germany green party), these forces and pressures from investors, governments, consumers has been major catalyst for the greening of the business, it has also put pressures on retailers (particularly supermarkets) to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly products. In the world now, socially responsible investing is a growing trend; most individual and investors will avoid companies with poor environmental criteria, a study by commissioned by the Michael peters group found that 77% of Americans said a companys environmental reputation affects what they buy (Kirkpatrick, 1990, p45). Because of this most companies have taken up environmental cause, like recycling, innovations of new technologies for environmental protection. All these issues has led to green marketing in one way or the other , either collectively or individually. conclusion The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a product or services greenness as a benefit and base their buying decision accordingly. The not-so-obvious assumption of green marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more for green products than they would for a less-green comparable alternative product an assumption that, in my opinion, has not been proven conclusively. Green marketing has not lived up to the hopes and dreams of many managers and activists. Although public opinion polls consistently show that consumers would prefer to choose a green product over one that is less friendly to the environment when all other things are equal, those other things are rarely equal in the minds of consumers. How then, should companies handle the dilemmas associated with green marketing? They must always keep in mind that consumers are unlikely to compromise on traditional product attributes, such as convenience, availability, price, quality and performance. Its even more important to realize, however, that there is no single green-marketing strategy that is right for every company. It is suggested that companies should follow one of four strategies, depending on market and competitive conditions, from the relatively passive and silent lean green approach to the more aggressive and visible extreme green approach with defensive green and shaded green in betw een. Managers who understand these strategies and the underlying reasoning behind them will be better prepared to help their companies benefit from an environmentally friendly approach to marketing.

The Crimean War :: European Europe History

The Crimean War The Crimean War started because France and Russia wanted control over the Middle East and surrounding areas. The war lasted from 1856 to 1858, just under two years. The more important parts of the war are the causes and events that led up to it, the battle of the Alma, the naval wars of various seas and Sevastopol, the heavily fortified base of the Russian fleet. MLV Ffrench Blake states that the main cause of the war was "Russia's desire for territorial expansion, particularly towards a port in the Mediterranean." (Blake 1). He also believes that the inevitable drift into the war was aggravated by the back and forth nature of the rulers of the opposing countries and bad diplomacy. The immediate excuses of the war were for protection of oppressed minorities and retaliation against the death of nationalists in religious riots. Philip Warner believes that the main cause of the war was that Britain and Russia were both large countries and only one of them would be able to prevail. At the time, Britain was a country that stretched all the way to India and they couldn't afford to have line of communication through the Middle East cut. Russia spanned an entire eight million square miles. "However, the looseness and backwardness of their territories did not stop the Russians from wishing to extend their influence." (Warner 5). Albert Seaton believes that the Tsar Nicholas did not want war, but it was part of his political strategy to bring Europe to the brink of hostilities in order to intimidate those who opposed him. "He would undoubtedly have taken even greater risks if only France and Turkey had been involved, but he was worried by the close interest taken by the British in the Middle East, for the islanders were already openly assessing the armed strengths there and did not conceal their low opinion of the value of the Black Sea Fleet." (Seaton 42). Philip Warner believes that the battle of the Alma occurred because Sebastopol, Russia's heavily fortified base, had no proper defences and it was decided that the part of the Russian army would be sent to completely stop or at least slow down the Allied Army at Alma. The Russians and the Allies both set up very planned out and strategic formations, but they just ended up attacking each other head on. For some reason, Menschikov, the commander of the Russian army, didn't bring in his reserves.

Relationships And The Importance Of Communication Essay -- Communicati

Thesis Statement: The success of any relationship relies on one's ability to communicate well. Communication is important in relationships as it allows us to share our interest, concerns, support each other; organize our lives and make decisions; and it allows us to work together. Effective communication is based on the way we talk and listen, how we respond and our body language. We can all learn how to improve the way we communicate. It takes more than words to create a safe, exciting and secure relationship. Too often the signals we send are not those we intend to send. When this happens, both connection and trust are lost in our relationships. When we communicate, we can say a lot without speaking. Our body, our posture, tone of voice and the expression on our face all display a message. If our feelings don’t fit with our words, it is often the body language that gets heard and believed. Nonverbal communication is a rapidly flowing interactive process. Self-awareness and an understanding of the cues you may be sending are paired with the cues others send and pick up from you. To do this effectively, it is necessary to clear your mind of all distractions. Try planning, creating, talking to yourself, thinking about the other person or what to say, then you won't be paying attention to the moment-to-moment experience, have the presence of mind to pick up on nonverbal cues, or fully understand what's really going on in the conversation. Savvy nonverbal emotional communication is also an extremely important resource for managing and avoiding conflict. No part of nonverbal communication speaks louder than your emotions – and nothing can have greater influence over others. Communication is something we all should know is ne... ...ong with those words. Listening means that your interested in learning more about what the people in your life making an effort to tell you and making the efforts needed in order to achieve your relationship goals together. However, it is very important to know all communication between partners has to be open, honest, non-judgmental and patient, if you are to succeed and maintaining a happy and healthy relationship. The importance of being a good listener has brought me to realize the consciousness of how to be more considerate of my friends and family when they are trying to communicate with me and I am in turn trying to communicate with them. Communication has taught me to remove myself from the picture sometime and see in the eyes of people around. I find that when I am more attentive to the needs of those who are trying to connect with me, life is much easier.

Deception Point Page 30

The President shook his head. â€Å"I'm afraid I didn't make myself clear. You'll be doing the briefing from where you are via video conference.† â€Å"Oh.† Rachel hesitated. â€Å"What time did you have in mind?† â€Å"Actually,† Herney said, grinning. â€Å"How about right now? Everyone is already assembled, and they're staring at a big blank television set. They're waiting for you.† Rachel's body tensed. â€Å"Sir, I'm totally unprepared. I can't possibly-â€Å" â€Å"Just tell them the truth. How hard is that?† â€Å"But-â€Å" â€Å"Rachel,† the President said, leaning toward the screen. â€Å"Remember, you compile and relay data for a living. It's what you do. Just talk about what's going on up there.† He reached up to flick a switch on his video transmission gear, but paused. â€Å"And I think you'll be pleased to find I've set you up in a position of power.† Rachel didn't understand what he meant, but it was too late to ask. The President threw the switch. The screen in front of Rachel went blank for a moment. When it refreshed, Rachel was staring at one of the most unnerving images she had ever seen. Directly in front of her was the White House Oval Office. It was packed. Standing room only. The entire White House staff appeared to be there. And every one of them was staring at her. Rachel now realized her view was from atop the President's desk. Speaking from a position of power. Rachel was sweating already. From the looks on the faces of the White House staffers, they were as surprised to see Rachel as she was to see them. â€Å"Ms. Sexton?† a raspy voice called out. Rachel searched the sea of faces and found who had spoken. It was a lanky woman just now taking a seat in the front row. Marjorie Tench. The woman's distinctive appearance was unmistakable, even in a crowd. â€Å"Thank you for joining us, Ms. Sexton,† Marjorie Tench said, sounding smug. â€Å"The President tells us you have some news?† 33 Enjoying the darkness, paleontologist Wailee Ming sat alone in quiet reflection at his private work area. His senses were alive with anticipation for tonight's event. Soon I will be the most famous paleontologist in the world. He hoped Michael Tolland had been generous and featured Ming's comments in the documentary. As Ming savored his impending fame, a faint vibration shuddered through the ice beneath his feet, causing him to jump up. His earthquake instinct from living in Los Angeles made him hypersensitive to even the faintest palpitations of the ground. At the moment, though, Ming felt foolish to realize the vibration was perfectly normal. It's just ice calving, he reminded himself, exhaling. He still hadn't gotten used to it. Every few hours, a distant explosion rumbled through the night as somewhere along the glacial frontier a huge block of ice cracked off and fell into the sea. Norah Mangor had a nice way of putting it. New icebergs being born†¦ On his feet now, Ming stretched his arms. He looked across the habisphere, and off in the distance beneath the blaze of television spotlights, he could see a celebration was getting underway. Ming was not much for parties and headed in the opposite direction across the habisphere. The labyrinth of deserted work areas now felt like a ghost town, the entire dome taking on an almost sepulchral feel. A chill seemed to have settled inside, and Ming buttoned up his long, camel-hair coat. Up ahead he saw the extraction shaft-the point from which the most magnificent fossils in all of human history had been taken. The giant metal tripod had now been stowed and the pool sat alone, surrounded by pylons like some kind of shunned pothole on a vast parking lot of ice. Ming wandered over to the pit, standing a safe distance back, peering into the two-hundred-foot-deep pool of frigid water. Soon it would refreeze, erasing all traces that anyone had ever been here. The pool of water was a beautiful sight, Ming thought. Even in the dark. Especially in the dark. Ming hesitated at the thought. Then it registered. There's something wrong. As Ming focused more closely on the water, he felt his previous contentedness give way to a sudden whirlwind of confusion. He blinked his eyes, stared again, and then quickly turned his gaze across the dome†¦ fifty yards away toward the mass of people celebrating in the press area. He knew they could not see him way over here in the dark. I should tell someone about this, shouldn't I? Ming looked again at the water, wondering what he would tell them. Was he seeing an optical illusion? Some kind of strange reflection? Uncertain, Ming stepped beyond the pylons and squatted down at the edge of the pit. The water level was four feet below the ice level, and he leaned down to get a better look. Yes, something was definitely strange. It was impossible to miss, and yet it had not become visible until the lights in the dome had gone out. Ming stood up. Somebody definitely needed to hear about this. He started off at a hurried pace toward the press area. Completing only a few steps, Ming slammed on the brakes. Good God! He spun back toward the hole, his eyes going wide with realization. It had just dawned on him. â€Å"Impossible!† he blurted aloud. And yet Ming knew that was the only explanation. Think, carefully, he cautioned. There must be a more reasonable rationale. But the harder Ming thought, the more convinced he was of what he was seeing. There is no other explanation! He could not believe that NASA and Corky Marlinson had somehow missed something this incredible, but Ming wasn't complaining. This is Wailee Ming's discovery now! Trembling with excitement, Ming ran to a nearby work area and found a beaker. All he needed was a little water sample. Nobody was going to believe this! 34 â€Å"As intelligence liaison to the White House,† Rachel Sexton was saying, trying to keep her voice from shaking as she addressed the crowd on the screen before her, â€Å"my duties include traveling to political hot spots around the globe, analyzing volatile situations, and reporting to the President and White House staff.† A bead of sweat formed just below her hairline and Rachel dabbed it away, silently cursing the President for dropping this briefing into her lap with zero warning. â€Å"Never before have my travels taken me to quite this exotic a spot.† Rachel motioned stiffly to the cramped trailer around her. â€Å"Believe it or not, I am addressing you right now from above the Arctic Circle on a sheet of ice that is over three hundred feet thick.† Rachel sensed a bewildered anticipation in the faces on the screen before her. They obviously knew they had been packed into the Oval Office for a reason, but certainly none of them imagined it would have anything to do with a development above the Arctic Circle. The sweat was beading again. Get it together, Rachel. This is what you do. â€Å"I sit before you tonight with great honor, pride, and†¦ above all, excitement.† Blank looks. Screw it, she thought, angrily wiping the sweat away. I didn't sign up for this. Rachel knew what her mother would say if she were here now: When in doubt, just spit it out! The old Yankee proverb embodied one of her mom's basic beliefs-that all challenges can be overcome by speaking the truth, no matter how it comes out. Taking a deep breath, Rachel sat up tall and looked straight into the camera. â€Å"Sorry, folks, if you're wondering how I could be sweating my butt off above the Arctic Circle†¦ I'm a little nervous.† The faces before her seemed to jolt back a moment. Some uneasy laughter. â€Å"In addition,† Rachel said, â€Å"your boss gave me about ten seconds' warning before telling me I would be facing his entire staff. This baptism by fire is not exactly what I had in mind for my first visit to the Oval Office.†