Navy SEALs Essays - Military Engineering, Underwater Demolition Team

Navy SEALs Navy SEALs United States Navy SEALs, who are they, what do they do, why are they so secretive? A Navy SEAL is a highly trained individual. He must go through the toughest training in the world. The government will send them to the ends of the earth to do tasks that would send chills up most of our spines. Most of their operations even though top secret involve capturing an individual of power, to get information through capturing anything our government thinks important . They are sometimes required to kill certain individuals. They rarely work alone, they depend on each other. Some say that your swim buddy is closer to you than your wife. This is just a glance at what they do. A history lesson on how the Navy SEALs came to be, started back in World War Two. The navy considers the Scouts and Raiders to be the direct-and earliest-frontrunners of today's SEALs. But despite the original intention, the Scouts and Raiders did not become broad-based commandos like the SEALs. In most of their operations, they were limited to direct support of the amphibious force, guiding marine and army units ashore. Later a few of them served with guerrilla units behind enemy lines in China, and many were blended in with the Underwater Demolition Teams involved in the campaign against the Japanese in the Pacific. One of the first missions to bring fame to the Scouts and Raiders started out with seventeen sailors boarded a small, wooden-hulled boat and headed up the Wadi Sebou, a stream that went through Port Lutey (now Kenitra, Morocco). Their task was to cut the cables anchoring a boom and antishipping net stretched across the river directly under the machine guns and cannons in a fort overlooking the river. With the way cleared, American warships would be able to fight their way up the river and protect soldiers moving in to seize the city's military airfield. Not being limited to just sabotage the Scouts and Raiders were also becoming experts in bomb disposing, one was a two-thousand ?pound mine dropped by parachute. If the mine came down on land instead of water, it was supposed to go off seventeen seconds later. But sometimes the fuzzes jammed and the experts were called in. If in tinkering with the mine, the bomb-disposal man started it ticking again, he had something less than seventeen seconds to get away. The reliance on physical stress as a way of testing a man's capability and screening out those who don't measure up remains an important part of the training of the navy's SEALs to this day. Today's SEALs are also experts on using explosives and, if need be, disarming enemy munitions. So there is a direct link back to the bomb-disposal experts trained half a century ago. The first volunteers came mostly from Seabees, (construction workers for the navy) with officers raided from the bomb-disposal school. Training began with a one-week ordeal that is still known as Hell Week and that quickly eliminated forty percent of the class. The survivors were proud of their accomplishment, but they joked that "Hell Week separated the men from the boys; the men had sense enough to quit and left us with the boys." The trainees at Fort Pierce spent much of their time in rubber boats and in the mud, and they ran miles every day. But surprisingly, little attention was paid to swimming. The assumption was that they would paddle ashore as part of an amphibious operation and do their demolition work in relatively shallow water while army demolition experts took over at the high-water mark. Although men of the Underwater Demolition Teams later prided themselves on their nickname of the Naked Warriors, the trainees at Fort Pierce were anything but naked. They did their work dressed in soggy fatigues, with heavy boondocker shoes on their feet and awkward metal helmets on their heads. Much of their training was done at night. The men quickly became very good at handling high explosives. Those who couldn't overcome their fear of being blown to kingdom come were sent off to other assignments. They were probably the smart ones. As the UDT men later realized, they and their explosives-filled rubber boats were disasters waiting to happen. The newly trained men now will use their tactics. Operating from small rubber boats at night, the men took soundings of the water depth all along the planned invasion beaches. They even crawled ashore one night and brought back a bucketful of sand so army experts could test it to determine how well it would support tanks and other heavy

What Makes A Horror Film Entertaining essays

What Makes A Horror Film Entertaining essays In horror films, there is always one scene that opens up the perceived realm of normality to that of fear and confusion. Directors and authors alike use these scenes to show the change in the pace of the film. In both the movie Psycho (1960) and Carrie (1976), shower scenes are used to mark this epic turning point with sexuality, blood and voyeurism; the most important ingredients to horror. The idea of sneaking around and peering into forbidden places gives just about everyone a thrill. Voyeurism is used strongly in both Psycho and Carrie due to its ability to entice thrill in the viewer. In Carrie, we start the scene by looking into a girls high school locker room; scantily clad or naked girls moving in slow-motion in front of the camera give the thrill of both trespassing and the chance of being caught. The camera gradually slides across the locker room floor, slowly so as to allow us to look at the changing girls. We stop at the last row and are slowly walked into the steamy row of showers where we find a naked Carrie White (Sissy Spacek). In Psycho, after Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) leaves Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) to her room, he goes back to his office for a reason were not quite clear about yet. He hesitates at the wall between his office and Marions room, glancing around for anyone who might be watching him. The rooms under-lighting gives both Norman and th e stuffed birds around him an evil and devious look. Finally he looks at the wall and removes a painting, a painting depicting the Rape of Lucretia, and reveals a peephole into Marions hotel room. He puts his eye up to the hole and we are graced - 1 with the view of Marion in just a black bra and slip, the color hinting to the illicitness of the moment. We are then given an extreme close-up of Normans eye, staring wide into the room; the view we have gives us the thrill of actually being there, watching Ma ...

Media Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Media Literacy - Essay Example The imagery of the video is rather provocative, though it isn’t deprived of aesthetic value and adherence to design principles. The very first visual feature to be mentioned is a peculiar color scheme including no too bright or light hues, with the overall atmosphere of the video being a little bit sombre. The depicted venue is the bar – or even a brothel – hosting rather strange and extravagant characters: a cardinal in a red robe, a priest, prostitutes, musicians playing live, several oddly dressed women, a supposed sinner lashing himself with a whip and a beggar outside the bar. Dominating black, burgundy, white and various yellowish shades endow the color appearance with certain aristocraticism, which is then purposefully supported by other elements of video design such as style of interior, lighting and costumes. Moreover, the imagery contains balanced repetition of dominating colors and shades, which makes the video look like a whole and seamless piece and creates unity. Also, a design principle used in the video design is opposition, as opposite visual concepts are drawn together here (Bartel, 2012). A mysterious white-veiled woman, which seems to symbolize purity, is opposed to a weary prostitute dressed in black; moreover, the opposition of clergymen and prostitutes, i.e. sinners, arrests one’s attention. In addition, a very significant image used in the video is the imitation of a Renaissance painting, which is virtually â€Å"imbedded† in the ending of the video, yet, with a pinch of mocking. The visual imagery used in ‘The Next Day’ obviously serves to communicate a rather profound yet daring message – along with the lyrics of the song, it serves to express Bowie’s radical criticism of Catholic church and its corruption. Clear and hidden religious symbols as well as actions of the featuring actors depict the most unpleasant sides of clergy and church

Managing Organisational Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Managing Organisational Change - Essay Example ge in the organization that there are change management models and dynamics of change theories to serve as guides in the cases of change in the organization. The major cause of the problem in the case study is approach. The approach with which the industrial engineer went about his change is to blame for the problems that were encountered. This argument is made against two of eight dynamics of change lessons suggested by Fullan (1993) and quoted in North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. According to Fullan (1993), â€Å"You cant mandate what matters. The more complex the change, the less you can force it.† In fact, the change desired by the engineer was a very major change that should have gone through a series of step-by-step processes in implementing. The engineer seemed to be in a hurry to make the change and perhaps his glory shine. He was therefore eager to force the change (forgoing how his team leader felt about it). The second point raised by Fullan (1993), which is closely related to the first is that â€Å"individualism and collectivism must have equal power. There are no one-sided solutions to isolation and gro up think.† For this reason, the engineer should have worked more on convincing all stakeholders in the department to fully understand him before implementing the change and in implementing the change he should have factored in the views and ideas of each and every stakeholder to the latter. Looking at the kind of change that the industrial engineer wanted to undertake, it is the kind that can be described as individual change. For this reason, ADKAR model for individual change developed by Prosci is recommended for future changes of that nature. â€Å"Proscis model of individual change is called ADKAR - an acronym for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement† (Prosci, 2010). From the ADKAR model, the industrial engineer should have sensitized an Awareness of the need for change among all stakeholders in the team, sort the

Important Contribution(s) of Different Scholars to the Field of Essay

Important Contribution(s) of Different Scholars to the Field of Biblical Studies - Essay Example 4 Cullmann was among the most influential in reformed Biblical theology and his studies on the New Testament eschatology and Christology led him to suggest a position of heilsgeschichte; redemptive history over the common positions of C.H Dodd and Albert Schweitzer. Redemptive history connotes that â€Å"With the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the eschaton has already began as the presence of the congregation of glory is defined by the power of redemption†¦.† His important contributions to the New Testament studies include titles like â€Å"The Immortality of the Soul or the Resurrection of the body?†, 5 â€Å"The Christology of the New Testament†, â€Å"Early Christian Worship†, â€Å"Salvation and History†, â€Å"Early Christian Worship† but to mention a few. In â€Å"Christ and Time†, he defended claims that New Testament only refers to time as being linear that is yesterday, today and tomorrow and that no philosophy should try and mix other forms of time not mentioned therein. This led him to write an article â€Å"The Immortality of the Soul or the Resurrection of the body?† in which he showed that the widespread attribution of â€Å"the resurrection of the soul† to primitive Christianity was plausible and that this was rather associated with Greek mythology. 6His article further attributed death to the wages of sin and as the last enemy. He presented Jesus Christ as the first born from death and proceeded to presented the death as those who sleep. This article led to a lot of controversy especially in some protestant churches but at the same time received support mainly from Adventist Churches.7 Cullmann in his book â€Å"The Christology of the New Testament† established a balance in the New Testament data regarding the life and work of Jesus Christ. 8This he achieved by remaining as faithful as possible to the New Testament depiction of Jesus Christ. This

Interpreting Indigenous Culture in Art: A History

Interpreting Indigenous Culture in Art: A History Mahealani Subad Abstract Art has been a historical connection for many cultures, such as Indigenous culture, as they protect the history of communities and allows for the new generation of the community to learn of their past through artwork and documentaries. However, due to misrepresentations from artwork such as paintings, sculptures, films, Indigenous identity can be represented by stereotypes created by non-Indigenous artists who interpreted indigenous culture into their own artworks, which they presented to society. Although with the misrepresentations are still present in todays society, modern indigenous artists have emerged, for which they presented Indigenous art that represents Indigenous identity where the art is themed based on Indigenous cultural values, such as family, and the realities Indigenous people face within society. Within this research paper, it will discuss how modern indigenous artist can diminish the stereotypes that have been produced by non-Indigenous artists through their inter pretation of Indigenous culture. Introduction Throughout history, art has been a historical connection in many cultures as it allows for those in the community to protect their cultural identity within history and to create a connection between the old and new generation to learn about their heritage. However, Indigenous art has been known to show misinterpretations of Indigenous people made by non-Indigenous artists who presented their perspectives of Indigenous culture and shown it to society without any prior knowledge of Indigenous culture. Now, within modern day society, Indigenous art still holds a fascination with Western culture, but presents Indigenous art in a new perspective as Indigenous artists are emerging representing their culture to society. These modern contemporary Indigenous art pieces are based on Indigenous cultural themes and values such as family, connections to their land territory, and to present the realities Indigenous people confront with in todays society. Within this research paper, it will discuss the differences of Indigenous artwork throughout history, for which it will answer the question of how modern contemporary Indigenous artwork, such as paintings and films, has diminished the stereotypes of Indigenous people which had been produced through Indigenous artwork done by non-Indigenous people. Examples, such as Emily Carr who was mostly known for her work in Group of Seven, was one of the artists that had been inspired by Indigenous culture and produced indigenous art to display to society with the belief that indigenous culture was vanishing (Morra, 2005). With perspectives of Indigenous culture such as Emily Carrs many indigenous artworks that were produced in the past may have contributed to the stereotypes that many see in society today. Background Indigenous culture has always been a fascination between Western culture throughout history, for which many artists looked upon Indigenous communities as inspiration for their artwork. Non-Indigenous artists, such as Emily Carr, have been known for their Indigenous artwork within Canada as they created their art pieces within Indigenous communities to recreate authentic representations of Indigenous culture. Famous for her work in the Canadian artist group, Group of Seven, Emily Carr focused on landscape artwork throughout the duration of her career. Although known for her work in the Group of Seven, Emily Carr was also known for her Indigenous artwork that focused on Indigenous material culture (Morra, 2005). Upon working on her indigenous art pieces, Carr often focused her inspirations on native villages, totem poles, and poetry (Halkes, 2006). As Carr took inspiration of Indigenous culture for her art work, she believed that her work served as a purpose to preserve Indigenous cult ure through her work (Morra, 2005). While visiting indigenous communities to capture their culture through her work, Carr had the belief that by showcasing Indigenous material within her art it would bring awareness to Western society that Indigenous communities that were vanishing (Morra, 2005). Although Carr had the notion that by documenting Indigenous culture through her artwork, Hollywood films began to emerge, but with a dominant culture portraying as the heroes (Stoddard, Marcus, Hicks, 2014, p.9). In case study, it analyzed two Indigenous films that were prominently made by non-Indigenous filmmakers, in which, they found both used white male characters to narrate the film and the main target audience for the films are white and middle-class (Stoddard, Marcus, Hicks, 2014, p.15-16). Majority of these films cater to these audiences as Hollywood films choose to represent those who are apart of Western society, which they present them as the dominant society within these films (Stoddard, Marcus, Hicks, 2014, p.17). Nonetheless, with Indigenous films made by non-Indigenous filmmakers are prone to cater to white audiences with a white male character as the main role, this also presents itself to younger generations such as students, where they may be subjected into belie ving that the representation of Indigenous people within the films are realistic, therefore adding on to the stereotyping Indigenous identity through films. Comparison to Emily Carrs work, modern contemporary Indigenous art work creates a more prominent view of Indigenous cultures as it expands to different sources of media such ass paintings, sculptures, and films. At the National Gallery of Canada, they hosted an exhibition called Sakahan, International Indigenous Art which showcased Indigenous artwork done by Indigenous artists from around the world (Davidge, 2013, p.83). With the art exhibition being the first exhibition devoted indigenous contemporary art from around the world, it attempts to broaden the views of Indigenous culture as it seeks to expand the meaning of indigenous, setting indigenous culture into a global perspective, and to demonstrate that the Indigenous artists are among the leading contemporary artists in the world (Davidge, 2013, p.83). Along with the Sakahan exhibit, Kristen Dowell (2006) discusses the intake of modern Indigenous arts as indigenous filmmakers are receiving recognition for their work. In 2005, th e leading art galleries in the U.S hosted several international indigenous filmmakers to present their work to highlight international cinemas (Dowell, 2006, p.376). The productions that indigenous filmmakers present feature documentation of indigenous cultural traditions and opposing of misrepresentation of Indigenous people (Dowell. 2006, p.376). Indigenous films such as Smoke Signals (Eyre et al. 1998), opposed the misrepresentations of Indigenous people as it comically follows the family life within an indigenous reserve focusing the father and son relationship within the film (Dowell, 2006, p.378). Discussion The differences between the time periods of Indigenous art, such as of Emily Carrs time and of modern day society, they are dependent on the artists interpretation and the perspective of Indigenous culture. During Emily Carrs time period, majority of society had not been exposed to Indigenous culture, for which made the culture very appealing to artists such as Emily Carr, who chose to look at Indigenous communities as a rarity due to colonialism. Carr viewed indigenous communities and the artefacts she found as a formal art of intense ritualistic formalism, (Stacton, 1950, p.500). With Carr observing Indigenous culture with only the perspective of the formal art they have created, Carrs art does not portray a credible representation of how Indigenous communities live. By having a non-Indigenous artist present art work that is inspired by Indigenous culture to a society who has no knowledge of Indigenous communities, it promotes a stereotype to society that is maintained today due to these types of art pieces as the majority of society are not educated or aware about Indigenous culture. This notion that without prior knowledge of indigenous culture creates indigenous stereotypes is also inclusive with Indigenous films made by non-Indigenous filmmakers as the majority of their target audiences is toward a white and middle-class audiences (Stoddard, Marcus, Hicks, 2014, p.15-16). With producing a film that misrepresents Indigenous people and their culture, it reflects a persona that society will identify Indigenous culture with as majority of the films present this type of representation frequently. As for modern contemporary indigenous art, it can be seen as a revelation as more indigenous artists are gaining the recognition by various art organizations for their work. Majority of Indigenous artwork has been done by Indigenous people as the film, Smoke Signals (Eyre et al., 1998), was the first film to feature an all Indigenous cast and crew, in which, Indigenous people wrote, directed, and starred in the film (Dowell, 2006). It is also noted that the Sakahan exhibit that was held in the National Gallery of Canada was the first exhibition to be devoted to contemporary art created by indigenous people from around the world (Davidge, 2013). Todays modern contemporary artists allow for indigenous representation to be reliable as the artwork portrays the artists culture, for which many of the indigenous filmmakers include themes within their work that represent indigeneity such as family values, traditional stories, the realities indigenous people face within society, and the conne ction of land and territories for indigenous communities (Dowell, 2006, p.377). Although many misrepresentations of Indigenous people are still active today, modern Indigenous artists, make attempts to diminish the stereotypes of Indigenous people made by those in the past who were attempting to share Indigenous culture with society during that time period. During that period, modern Indigenous artists have made progress on establishing Indigenous identity within society as many have created artwork such as films, painting, and sculptures, to showcase Indigenous culture or to bring awareness to realities indigenous people face within todays society. Conclusion With the initial question of trying to answer if modern indigenous artists diminish the stereotypes of Indigenous people, which was formed by previous indigenous art work done in the past, it can be considered that modern Indigenous artist have made progress with trying to diminish the stereotype, but more needs to be done to gain a true representation of indigenous culture and identity. Although there has been progressed made to diminish the stereotypes of Indigenous identity, many non-indigenous filmmakers are still producing misrepresentations of Indigenous culture. In trying to prevent the misrepresentation of Indigenous culture, prior to filming or starting an art project, the consultation of Indigenous people must be included when creating a project or film inspired or based on Indigenous culture to respectful of indigenous communities they are basing their artworks on. References Davidge, M. (2013). Sakahà  n, international indigenous art. Border Crossings,32 (4), 83-85 Dowell, K. (2006). Indigenous media gone global: Strengthening indigenous identity onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  and offscreen at the First Nations/first features film showcase. American Anthropologist, 108 (2), 376-384. Eyre, C. (Director), Eyre, C., Alexie, S., Rosenfelt, S., Estes, L., Skinner, D., Bressler, C., . . . Bornia, C. (Producers), Alexie, S., Capener, B., Berdan, B., Smith, B., Otis, R., Brown, R., . . . OSullivan, P. (Writers). (1998). Smoke signals [Video file]. Halkes, P. (2006). Emily Carr. Border Crossings, 25 (4), 91-93 Morra, L. (2005). Canadian art according to Emily Carr: The search for indigenous expression. Canadian Literature, (185), 43 Stacton, D.D. (1950). The art of Emily Carr. Queens Quarterly,57, 499-509. Stoddard, J., Marcus, A., Hicks, D. (2014), The burden of historical representation: The case of/for indigenous film. History Teacher, 48(1), 9-36

Macbeth - The Importance Of Night :: essays research papers

When I thought about the role that the word "night" would play in the tragic play "Macbeth," I found that there were a variety of possibilities. Immediately, I thought of the nighttime as a period of rest and revitalization. I expected that this would allow characters to recover from the day's many demands. Secondly, I connected the night to the unknown. In the night's cloak of darkness, many more things could go undiscovered than in the revealing light of day. Next, I thought that the night would mean vulnerability. As the evening closes in, everyone begins to wind down, not expecting any real action until the breaking of the dawn. In addition, while one is sleeping, they are susceptible to almost anything. The most logical time to make an attack would definitely be after nightfall. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, is night's correlation with evilness. As children, we were all afraid of nasty monsters that lurked in the darkness of night. The night has long b een believed to host supernatural beings and occurrences. As I read the play and came upon the word "night," I was surprised to discover that all four aspects of my hypothesis were correct. First, in act I, we see the first usage, night as a period for rest and revitalization. In scene iii, lines 19-23, the First Witch says, Sleep shall neither night nor day / Hang upon his penthouse lid; / He shall live a man forbid: / Weary sev'nights nine times nine / Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine: / Though his bark cannot be lost, / Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. Here, she is punishing the sailor by depriving him of his sleep, which she realizes is important for anyone to function normally. Without the ability to recuperate after each hard day's work, one would grow very weak and eventually start to lose one's mind. Next, we can observe night's connection to the unknown. As seen in my word journal, Lady Macbeth beckons, Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, / That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, / Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, / To cry "Hold, hold!" Without the obscurity of night, she would not have urged Macbeth to kill the king as she did. The night, however, gives her the impression that Macbeth can indeed kill King Duncan with no one uncovering his contemptible crime, the same idea that Macbeth had when he said, "Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires.

How My Stories Were Written Essay

Have u ever read a story where you were related to or change your life? In the short story by Bulosan, he uses a few literary elements such as setting, and irony to show how someone’s life can be change by a storyteller. In the following, I will explain what is the role of the Apo Lacay in this short story and how he has helped the author to overcome in the new world. In the beginning of the story â€Å" It is true there are mountains which are green all the year round bordering the northside of the province of Pangasinan, my own native province, in the island of Luzon†, Bulosan uses setting to let us know where the story takes place; he also give us details on how it looks like. This place is so important to him because he was born and raised here; his childhood was not as greater as his adult life but he gain so many anecdotes about it. The people that lived in the village were attached to the past centuries and a lot of things have been said from one generation to another. There was a man who had lived more than anyone else in the village; he is a storyteller that comes from a mysterious dwelling in the mountains and start telling his tales to the children and adults. Repentantly, he became friend with Apo Lacay (the storyteller), and learned from his tales even if they were not true. The boy (the author) thought that there were wisdom from his tales and he wanted to remember what kind of people lived in the village when he moves to the land far away. We sometimes do not pay attention to what or whom we listen to, we do not realize that we can learn a lot from books or simple short stories and gain the greatest wisdom ever; no matter where we go, in this case the author went to America, nothing cannot take the knowledge from you. The boy has also learned that there is more fear among the man than in the night forest full of beast, birds, the trees, storm and tempests. â€Å"In the savage heart of man there dwells the greatest fear among the living†.

FundsforWriters to the Rescue

FundsforWriters to the Rescue I have been writing in my spare time for more than 40 years. My file cabinets are crammed full of research notes, ideas for future articles, and manuscripts in various stages of completion. Fortunately, I have sold many magazine and newspaper articles, as well as two dozen children’s books, but I still have quite a collection of rejected picture book and early reader manuscripts. I also have the letters stating why they were rejected in the first place. When I wrote about Cathy Williams, the only female buffalo soldier in U.S. history, multiple editors told me she was â€Å"too obscure† to be the subject of a nonfiction picture book. I protested, pointing out that teachers and librarians are always looking for new stories for Black History Month, Women’s History Month and even Veterans Day. But no, they still weren’t interested. Cathy, they insisted, was just not marketable. Editors also rejected my fictional children’s story, â€Å"Oh-So-Clever,† a tale inspired When I wrote a nonfiction reader for youngsters in first through third grades about Admiral Peary returning from Greenland with the largest meteorite â€Å"in captivity,† editors deemed the subject too obscure as well - even though that particular 34-ton space rock remains on display in the Hall of Meteorites at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Thousands of school children take field trips there each year. From a marketing aspect, it would seem like a perfect book to sell in the museum gift shop there and at other museums with meteorites on display. Undaunted, I retrieved these rejected manuscripts from the file cabinet and looked at them again. I decided to think outside the picture book box and transform my manuscripts into articles instead. Reasoning that if children’s book editors considered my proposed topics too obscure, then children’s magazine editors might be equally shortsighted. Instead, I decided to use my extensive research notes to transform the original manuscripts into articles suitable for adult publications, which pay more generously than children’s magazines anyway. The market listings posted on the FundsforWriters website proved to be quite inspirational.   To my delight, the editor at Rural Missouri, (http://ruralmissouri.coop/submissions.php) the state where Cathy Williams was born and raised, promptly bought my article, â€Å"The Buffalo Soldier’s Secret.† It appears in the November 2014 issue. The Elks Magazine (https://www.elks.org/elksmag/WritersGuidelines.pdf) bought first North American serial rights to the Robert Peary meteorite article, as well as the one about the amazing globetrotting photographers, Osa and Martin Johnson - another topic I had hoped to pursue for a children’s book. This article appears in the May 2015 issue. â€Å"Oh-So-Clever† sold to the Center for Education Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas - a market mentioned in one of the weekly Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators electronic newsletters (https://cete.submittable.com/submit) that I receive each week. The center administers a variety of standardized tests and continues to accept submissions for poetry, informational and narrative texts suitable for students in grades 3-12. I have been successful in recycling this first batch of manuscripts and will retrieve another handful from the file drawer with the intention of giving them a makeover as well. I simply need to shift mental gears and think imaginatively outside the box - and review the market listing at FundsforWriters again.

Regional Trade and Trading Block Agreements essays

Regional Trade and Trading Block Agreements essays The North American Free Trade Agreement: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed into law in October of 1992, and went into effect on January 1st, 1994. This tripartite trading bloc of North American countries established tariff-free trade, while removing many of the barriers to cross-border investment, expanding the earlier Canada- US Free Trade Agreement, created in 1989.. With tariff eliminations and duty-free status of a variety of products from favored nation suppliers, NAFTA has created the worlds largest free trade areas (Fugate). Several benefits have been noted, especially for member nation, Mexico. The benefits accruing to Mexico from the agreement include growth in national output, falling unemployment rates, and increasing trade with the U.S. The benefits of the agreement to Mexico are also reflected in the rapid growth of the Mexican maquiladora industry (Fugate). However, it is not all positive news. As real wage increases take hold in Mexico, some maquiladoras are no longer able to operate cost effectively. As such, there has been a disturbing trend of moving low-wage jobs out of the country and to China. In addition, it is feared that NAFTA has increased trade between the member countries at the expense of other nations, concentrating wealth in both Mexico and the United States (North American). As such, other trading bloc agreements have become to form, to counter this economic loss. The European Union was created in 1992, by the Treaty on European Union, otherwise known as the Maastricht Treaty. The finalized treaty had slowly evolved, since 1951, and many relationships that had developed during that forty-year period, beginning with the European Coal and Steel Community, formed by Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. Unlike NAFTA, the EU not only removes trade barriers, but also involves a single ...

Change Order pricing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Change Order pricing - Case Study Example Some states, particularly Washington does not require the local government â€Å"to pay contractors for higher labor rates on change orders† (Sonntag 12). 5. If a composite labor rate, developed on the basis of the overall mix of work on the entire contract, was used in the original estimate, should the same composite rate be used in pricing the work associated with the change? Answer: Yes. Since the man hours are already extended because of the change, charging the same composite rate for the additional work to be done is justifiable to be applied. The paid longer working hours will already take care of the cost of the additional work needed. Answer: Yes. The contract between the contractor and the buyer has already been established long before the change so the workers assigned for the said job have committed their time to the length of the contract. Therefore, the workers are entitled to be paid throughout the whole time that the agreement is in effect regardless of any downtime as a result of the change as requested by the buyer. Answer: Yes. The contractor can charge the difference to the cost of change in order to recover the losses brought by the downtime. Since the workers are committed to the length of the contract between the contractor and the Air Force, any downtime as caused by the change will not affect the labor rate that they are entitled to receive. Answer: Yes. It is appropriate to apply a learning curve, or the â€Å"period of orientation to become familiar with changed condition† (â€Å"Change Order Protocol† 4) to work affected by the change because of the new skills that the workers imbibed through the change. 9. Is the contractor entitled to claim the costs associated with the affect of the change on the rate of improvement for the changed work for the units on which none of the changed work has been performed? Answer: Yes. Depending on the degree

Social Justice, Access to Health Care and Abortion Debate Essay

Social Justice, Access to Health Care and Abortion Debate - Essay Example Universal access to health care is crucial as this is a basic human right. The health of a society is affected by not simply the ease of visiting a doctor, but also by the social status and the existing unfairness in universal coverage. Universal coverage of a population implies that when the population seeks health care, they receive at least a package of the service at a fair cost at the delivery point. Before legalizing any aspect of health intervention such as cloning or euthanasia, universal access should be ensured. Cloning and euthanasia have paramount impact on the culture and taboos of the population; thus, any application without prior universal access to the community will violate a population’s social rights. Ethical issues may arise in this case because the two medical advancements are not fully acceptable by all cultures. According to Pan American Health Organization, the ethical issue relating to euthanasia is if it is permissible to take one’s own life o r if another person should be a partisan in taking another person’s life. Advocates of the practice argue that it is humane for a person to help another person die if it is the only recommended way of eliminating their pain and suffering. Those opposing it argue that it amounts to murder and contradicts the fundamentals of social justice. Proponents of human cloning argue that the technology is a huge progression towards human and technological evolution. Those opposing it claim that it belittles the divine value associated with humans thereby reducing them into disposable artifacts. Ensuring universal access before applying such medical interventions will address the mentioned divergent views and avert their unfair or genocidal impacts. According to Lu, the benefits of any medical intervention cannot be realized if they are not extended equally within the society (79). Access to healthcare is a requirement for social justice. Therefore, the legislation should lay equal empha sis on the universal coverage of medical services and related healthcare benefits to all. Cloning and euthanasia are forms of health care that have a central role to play in ensuring social justice as they contribute in promoting the welfare and opportunities among community members. This sustains people’s participation in all spheres of life. Lu and Hsiao also posit that the relationship between health care and opportunity suggests that the distributive justice should be ensured in all sectors of the health care system. This is in order to uphold the virtue of equality of opportunity as stipulated in the concept of social justice (82). Some of the challenges to ensuring universal coverage and access to health care are related to structural inequalities in regards to race, gender, ethnicity and caste. Achievement of universal access to health care calls for improvement in three dimensions namely; expansion of the extent of financial protection available to the population, put ting in place efficient organizational and structural mechanisms for improving financial protection and widening the range of services available at a subsidized cost. Deal with the main pros and cons on the abortion debate and spell out what the pro-life, pro- choice and more moderate positions are. Then state your own view on this to justify and defend it from likely criticisms. Is there a slippery slope effect here from allowing abortions? Will society