An Interactive Technique in Instructional Strategy Assignment - 1

An Interactive Technique in Instructional Strategy - Assignment Example I incorporated an interactive technique in my instructional strategy as this was the best method of noting what students actually need. An interactive strategy helps in getting first-hand information from the people concerned with the endeavor (Hardy, 2002). The timeline of the program will run throughout the research period. Each course is scheduled to meet three days a week for one week. Class time will be approximately two hours. The learners of this program are both the students and their respective lecturers. They need to have knowledge in using a computer, as well as researching on the internet. This will ensure that constraints are limited and will ease the process (Hardy, 2002). A lecturer should be willing to assist his/her students at all cost. This takes into consideration using the internet. Students will be considered if they cannot assess the internet. They will be allowed to use the institution’s WiFi in order to carry out their research. They type of learning that will take place, as stated earlier, is an interactive learning. Students and their lecturers will be able to send the survey or questionnaire to users. They will also receive completed PDF forms from other users. Group activities will serve a purpose by permitting participants to assist each other to learn during the course (Hardy, 2002). This is the greatest way of understanding/learning as it will allow people to be open to one another. The aim/goal of this program is to allow students to assist one another as they carry out their research. A student, for instance, might need the assistance of in completing a research paper given to him/her by their respective lecturers (Hardy, 2002). This will widen up the student's knowledge by getting information from other regarding the research topic.  Ã‚  

Secular Views on the Concept of Kindness Essay Example for Free

Secular Views on the Concept of Kindness Essay In our modern world, it is unfortunate that kindness seems to be one of the most neglected character traits people choose to cultivate in their everyday lives. Kindness is listed by Paul as one of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit the nine visual traits that distinguish authentic Christian living in Chapter 5 of Pauls letter to the Galatians. Confucius instructed his followers to recompense kindness with kindness. One of the Ten Perfections in Buddhism is Metta, or loving-kindness. According to the Talmud, deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments. On a secular note, Nietzsche proposed that kindness and love are the most curative herbs and agents in human intercourse. Aristotle pointed out that kindness is helpfulness towards some one in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped. Some even consider the majority of Shakespeares opus to be a study of human kindness. In my own humble opinion, kindness is an essential attribute for any person to possess. Kindness is refreshing to both receive and dish out to others worthy of it. Others tell me frequently that I am a very kind person. My mother and father both are very kind people. I dont consider kindness as something out of the ordinary, as many others seem to do. In an ideal world everyone would be brought up to show kindness to others; however we are not in an ideal world. I, on the other hand, I was raised to show respect, kindness and compassion to others. I believe that small, every day acts of kindness nourish the soul and body. For example, when I was younger I used to go visit an elderly, widowed woman named Rose in my neighborhood. She was very limited in the things she could do for herself because she had developed arthritis and had frequent back trouble. She could still do for herself, but she couldnt get around as well as she could in her youth. I did light housework, ran errands, and offered her conversation. I didnt expect anything material in return. I just welcomed the satisfaction of knowing I played a part in making this womans life easier and more satisfying. I enjoyed seeing her being able to sit on the porch and enjoy the sunshine. It warmed my heart to bring a smile to her face and to know that I made a positive difference in her day to day life. I did this without compensation for about a year. Miss Rose was such a sweet woman. It hurt me dearly when she suddenly moved away. To sum it up, I believe that it is acts of kindness such as these that would make life more fulfilling for the giver as well as the recipient. If everyone made made the decision to do one act of kindness for another everyday it would make the world an infinitely sweeter and more bearable place for all to live in. I believe that is kindness was emphasized and cultivated more by those in our society, then a host of problems in our society such as poverty, hunger and violence would be greatly reduced or eradicated.

Minors and the Death Penalty Essay -- essays research papers

A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Should the death penalty be given to minors? The two groups against this issue, are the religious and medical groups. They believe they are too young to know what they have done. The medical groups believe adolescents are less developed than adults and should not be held to the same standards. . The opposing side, held mostly by state officials, feel if they are old enough to commit the crime they, old enough to get the punishment, including death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The very first execution of a minor was in1642 with Thomas Graunger in Plymouth Colony, Massachesetts. In the three-hundred years since that time, a total of approximately 365 persons have been executed for juvenile crimes, constituting 1.8 percent of roughly twenty-thousand confirmed American executions since 1608. Twenty-two of these executions for juvenile crimes have been imposed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. These twenty-two recent executions of juvenile offenders make up about 2 percent of the total executions since 1976. The death penalty for juvenile offenders has uniquely become an American practice, in that, it appears to have been abandoned by nations everywhere else in large part due to the express provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and of several other international treaties and agreements   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The reason this is a moral issue because the death of a human being is a moral issue, and if that human being is not even an adult, than it makes it an atrocity that he/she was put to death by are legal system that in all aspects is placed there for our protection. The punishment is for the criminal, but in reality the only people being punished is the family of the juvenile in question.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capital punishment is more expensive than a life imprisonment sentence without the opportunity of parole. Florida spent an estimated $57 million on the death penalty from 1973 to 1988 to achieve eighteen executions, that is an average of $3.2 million per execution. It costs six times more to execute a person in Florida than to incarcerate a prisoner for life with no parole. The average cost of a capital trial in Florida is ... ...y between the law breaker and society. Just punishment is binding and not to be mitigated by any utilitarian consideration. Kant also believes in â€Å"blood guilt† and the necessity for cleansing criminal actions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   H.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This issue is pretty touchy to me, because i could support both side of minor being put to death. I agree with if they do the crime, they can do the time, but at the same time they are just little kids and they do not know better. The way I see how this situation can change is that instead of holding the child responsible for the crime hold the parents in contempt. The reason I say this is because a study shown shows that most juvenile convicts come from a broken home. The old saying goes â€Å"monkey see, monkey do.† I believe if these children would have had the chance of growing up in a stable family upbringing, there is a good chance that they would have been upstanding citizens. So my belief may be torn apart on the subject, I'm am going to have to say that I am against the death penalty for minors, because i believe they don not know what they do, because of a lack of immaturity and lack of experience in life.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER ELEVEN

I woke in the early hours of the following morning convinced that there was someone in the north bedroom with me. I sat up against the pillows, rubbed my eyes, and saw a dark, shouldery shape standing between me and the window. ‘Who are you?' I asked, thinking that it wouldn't reply in words; it would, instead, thump on the wall. Once for yes, twice for no what's on your mind, Houdini? But the figure standing by the window made no reply at all. I groped up, found the string hanging from the light over the bed, and yanked it. My mouth was turned down in a grimace, my midsection tensed so tight it felt as if bullets would have bounced off. ‘Oh shit,' I said. ‘Fuck me til I cry.' Dangling from a hanger I'd hooked over the curtain rod was my old suede jacket. I'd parked it there while unpacking and had then forgotten to store it away in the closet. I tried to laugh and couldn't. At three in the morning it just didn't seem that funny. I turned off the light and lay back down with my eyes open, waiting for Bunter's bell to ring or the childish sobbing to start. I was still listening when I fell asleep. Seven hours or so later, as I was getting ready to go out to Jo's studio and see if the plastic owls were in the storage area, where I hadn't checked the day before, a late-model Ford rolled down my driveway and stopped nose to nose with my Chevy. I had gotten as far as the short path between the house and the studio, but now I came back. The day was hot and breathless, and I was wearing nothing but a pair of cut-off jeans and plastic flip-flops on my feet. Jo always claimed that the Cleveland style of dressing divided itself naturally into two subgenres: Full Cleveland and Cleveland Casual. My visitor that Tuesday morning was wearing Cleveland Casual you had your Hawaiian shirt with pineapples and monkeys, your tan slacks from Banana Republic, your white loafers. Socks are optional, but white footgear is a necessary part of the Cleveland look, as is at least one piece of gaudy gold jewelry. This fellow was totally okay in the latter department: he had a Rolex on one wrist and a gold-link chain around his neck. The tail of his shirt was out, and there was a suspicious lump at the back. It was either a gun or a beeper and looked too big to be a beeper. I glanced at the car again. Blackwall tires. And on the dashboard, oh look at this, a covered blue bubble. The better to creep up on you unsuspected, Gramma. ‘Michael Noonan?' He was handsome in a way that would be attractive to certain women the kind who cringe when anybody in their immediate vicinity raises his voice, the kind who rarely call the police when things go wrong at home because, on some miserable secret level, they believe they deserve things to go wrong at home. Wrong things that result in black eyes, dislocated elbows, the occasional cigarette burn on the booby. These are women who more often than not call their husbands or lovers daddy, as in ‘Can I bring you a beer, daddy?' or ‘Did you have a hard day at work, daddy?' ‘Yes, I'm Michael Noonan. How can I help you?' This version of daddy turned, bent, and grabbed something from the litter of paperwork on the passenger side of the front seat. Beneath the dash, a two-way radio squawked once, briefly, and fell silent. He turned back to me with a long, buff-colored folder in one hand. Held it out. ‘This is yours.' When I didn't take it, he stepped forward and tried to poke it into one of my palms, which would presumably cause me to close my fingers in a kind of reflex. Instead I raised both hands to shoulder-level, as if he had just told me to put em up, Muggsy. He looked at me patiently, his face as Irish as the Arlen brothers' but without the Arlen look of kindness, openness, and curiosity. What was there in place of those things was a species of sour amusement, as if he'd seen all of the world's pissier behavior, most of it twice. One of his eyebrows had been split open a long time ago, and his cheeks had that reddish windburned look that indicates either ruddy good health or a deep interest in grain-alcohol products. He looked like he could knock you into the gutter and then sit on you to keep you there. I been good, daddy, get off me, don't be mean. ‘Don't make this tough. You're gonna take service of this and we both know it, so don't make this tough.' ‘Show me some ID first.' He sighed, rolled his eyes, then reached into one of his shirt pockets. He brought out a leather folder and flipped it open. There was a badge and a photo ID. My new friend was George Footman, Deputy Sheriff, Castle County. The photo was flat and shadowless, like something an assault victim would see in a mugbook. ‘Okay?' he asked. I took the buff-backed document when he held it out again. He stood there, broadcasting that sense of curdled amusement as I scanned it. I had been subpoenaed to appear in the Castle Rock office of Elmer Durgin, Attorney-at-Law, at ten o'clock on the morning of July 10, 1998 Friday, in other words. Said Elmer Durgin had been appointed guardian ad litem of Kyra Elizabeth Devore, a minor child. He would take a deposition from me concerning any knowledge I might have of Kyra Elizabeth Devore in regard to her well-being. This deposition would be taken on behalf of Castle County Superior Court and Judge Noble Rancourt. A stenographer would be present. I was assured that this was the court's depo, and nothing to do with either Plaintiff or Defendant. Footman said, ‘It's my job to remind you of the penalties should you fail ‘ ‘Thanks, but let's just assume you told me all about those, okay? I'll be there.' I made shooing gestures at his car. I felt deeply disgusted . . . and I felt interfered with. I had never been served with a process before, and I didn't care for it. He went back to his car, started to swing in, then stopped with one hairy arm hung over the top of the open door. His Rolex gleamed in the hazy sunlight. ‘Let me give you a piece of advice,' he said, and that was enough to tell me anything else I needed to know about the guy. ‘Don't fuck with Mr. Devore.' ‘Or he'll squash me like a bug,' I said. ‘Huh?' ‘Your actual lines are, ‘Let me give you a piece of advice don't fuck with Mr. Devore or he'll squash you like a bug.† I could see by his expression half past perplexed, going on angry that he had meant to say something very much like that. Obviously we'd seen the same movies, including all those in which Robert De Niro plays a psycho. Then his face cleared. ‘Oh sure, you're the writer,' he said. ‘That's what they tell me.' ‘You can say stuff like that 'cause you're a writer.' ‘Well, it's a free country, isn't it?' ‘Ain't you a smartass, now.' ‘How long have you been working for Max Devore, Deputy? And does the County Sheriffs office know you're moonlighting?' ‘They know. It's not a problem. You're the one that might have the problem, Mr. Smartass Writer.' I decided it was time to quit this before we descended to the kaka-poopie stage of name-calling. ‘Get out of my driveway, please, Deputy.' He looked at me a moment longer, obviously searching for that perfect capper line and not finding it. He needed a Mr. Smartass Writer to help him, that was all. ‘I'll be looking for you on Friday,' he said. ‘Does that mean you're going to buy me lunch? Don't worry, I'm a fairly cheap date.' His reddish cheeks darkened a degree further, and I could see what they were going to look like when he was sixty, if he didn't lay off the firewater in the meantime. He got back into his Ford and reversed up my driveway hard enough to make his tires holler. I stood where I was, watching him go. Once he was headed back out Lane Forty-two to the highway, I went into the house. It occurred to me that Deputy Footman's extracurricular job must pay well, if he could afford a Rolex. On the other hand, maybe it was a knockoff. Settle down, Michael, Jo's voice advised. The red rag is gone now, no one's waving anything in front of you, so just settle I shut her voice out. I didn't want to settle down; I wanted to settle up. I had been interfered with. I walked over to the hall desk where Jo and I had always kept our pending documents (and our desk calendars, now that I thought about it), and tacked the summons to the bulletin board by one corner of its buff-colored jacket. With that much accomplished, I raised my fist in front of my eyes, looked at the wedding ring on it for a moment, then slammed it against the wall beside the bookcase. I did it hard enough to make an entire row of paperbacks jump. I thought about Mattie Devore's baggy shorts and Kmart smock, then about her father-in-law paying four and a quarter million dollars for Warrington's. Writing a personal goddamned check. I thought about Bill Dean saying that one way or another, that little girl was going to grow up in California. I walked back and forth through the house, still simmering, and finally ended up in front of the fridge. The circle of magnets was the same, but the letters inside had changed. Instead of hello they now read help r ‘Helper?' I said, and as soon as I heard the word out loud, I understood. The letters on the fridge consisted of only a single alphabet (no, not even that, I saw; g and x had been lost someplace), and I'd have to get more. If the front of my Kenmore was going to become a Ouija board, I'd need a good supply of letters. Especially vowels. In the meantime, I moved the h and the e in front of the r. Now the message read lp her I scattered the circle of fruit and vegetable magnets with my palm, spread the letters, and resumed pacing. I had made a decision not to get between Devore and his daughter-in-law, but I'd wound up between them anyway. A deputy in Cleveland clothing had shown up in my driveway, complicating a life that already had its problems . . . and scaring me a little in the bargain. But at least it was a fear of something I could see and understand. All at once I decided I wanted to do more with the summer than worry about ghosts, crying kids, and what my wife had been up to four or five years ago . . . if, in fact, she had been up to anything. I couldn't write books, but that didn't mean I had to pick scabs. Help her. I decided I would at least try. ‘Harold Oblowski Literary Agency.' ‘Come to Belize with me, Nola,' I said. ‘I need you. We'll make beautiful love at midnight, when the full moon turns the beach to a bone.' ‘Hello, Mr. Noonan,' she said. No sense of humor had Nola. No sense of romance, either. In some ways that made her perfect for the Oblowski Agency. ‘Would you like to speak to Harold?' ‘If he's in.' ‘He is. Please hold.' One nice thing about being a best selling author even one whose books only appear, as a general rule, on lists that go to fifteen is that your agent almost always happens to be in. Another is if he's vacationing on Nantucket, he'll be in to you there. A third is that the time you spend on hold is usually quite short. ‘Mike!' he cried. ‘How's the lake? I thought about you all weekend!' Yeah, I thought, and pigs will whistle. ‘Things are fine in general but shitty in one particular, Harold. I need to talk to a lawyer. I thought first about calling Ward Hankins for a recommendation, but then I decided I wanted somebody a little more high-powered than Ward was likely to know. Someone with filed teeth and a taste for human flesh would be nice.' This time Harold didn't bother with the long-pause routine. ‘What's up, Mike? Are you in trouble?' Thump once for yes, twice for no, I thought, and for one wild moment thought of actually doing just that. I remembered finishing Christy Brown's memoir, Down All the Days, and wondering what it would be like to write an entire book with the pen grasped between the toes of your left foot. Now I wondered what it would be like to go through eternity with no way to communicate but rapping on the cellar wall. And even then only certain people would be able to hear and understand you . . . and only those certain people at certain times. Jo, was it you? And if it was, why did you answer both ways? ‘Mike? Are you there?' ‘Yes. This isn't really my trouble, Harold, so cool your jets. I do have a problem, though. Your main guy is Goldacre, right?' ‘Right. I'll call him right aw ‘ ‘But he deals primarily with contracts law.' I was thinking out loud now, and when I paused, Harold didn't fill it. Sometimes he's an all-right guy. Most times, really. ‘Call him for me anyway, would you? Tell him I need to talk to an attorney with a good working knowledge of child-custody law. Have him put me in touch with the best one who's free to take a case immediately. One who can be in court with me Friday, if that's necessary.' ‘Is it paternity?' he asked, sounding both respectful and afraid. ‘No, custody.' I thought about telling him to get the whole story from the Lawyer to Be Named Later, but Harold deserved better . . . and would demand to hear my version sooner or later anyway, no matter what the lawyer told him. I gave him an account of my Fourth of July morning and its aftermath. I stuck with the Devores, mentioning nothing about voices, crying children, or thumps in the dark. Harold only interrupted once, and that was when he realized who the villain of the piece was. ‘You're asking for trouble,' he said. ‘You know that, don't you?' ‘I'm in for a certain measure of it in any case,' I said. ‘I've decided I want to dish out a little as well, that's all.' ‘You will not have the peace and quiet that a writer needs to do his best work,' Harold said in an amusingly prim voice. I wondered what the reaction would be if I said that was okay, I hadn't written anything more riveting than a grocery list since Jo died, and maybe this would stir me up a little. But I didn't. Never let em see you sweat, the Noonan clan's motto. Someone should carve DON'T WORRY I'M FINE on the door of the family crypt. Then I thought: help r. ‘That young woman needs a friend,' I said, ‘and Jo would have wanted me to be one to her. Jo didn't like it when the little folks got stepped on.' ‘You think?' ‘Yeah.' ‘Okay, I'll see who I can find. And Mike . . . do you want me to come up on Friday for this depo?' ‘No.' It came out sounding needlessly abrupt and was followed by a silence that seemed not calculated but hurt. ‘Listen, Harold, my caretaker said the actual custody hearing is scheduled soon. If it happens and you still want to come up, I'll give you a call. I can always use your moral support you know that.' ‘In my case it's immoral support,' he replied, but he sounded cheery again. We said goodbye. I walked back to the fridge and looked at the magnets. They were still scattered hell to breakfast, and that was sort of a relief. Even the spirits must have to rest sometimes. I took the cordless phone, went out onto the deck, and plonked down in the chair where I'd been on the night of the Fourth, when Devore called. Even after my visit from ‘daddy,' I could still hardly believe that conversation. Devore had called me a liar; I had told him to stick my telephone number up his ass. We were off to a great start as neighbors. I pulled the chair a little closer to the edge of the deck, which dropped a giddy forty feet or so to the slope between Sara's backside and the lake. I looked for the green woman I'd seen while swimming, telling myself not to be a dope things like that you can see only from one angle, stand even ten feet off to one side or the other and there's nothing to look at. But this was apparently a case of the exception's proving the rule. I was both amused and a little uneasy to realize that the birch down there by The Street looked like a woman from the land side as well as from the lake. Some of it was due to the pine just behind it that bare branch jutting off to the north like a bony pointing arm but not all of it. From back here the birch's white limbs and narrow leaves still made a woman's shape, and when the wind shook the lower levels of the tree, the green and silver swirled like long skirts. I had said no to Harold's well-meant offer to come up almost before it was fully articulated, and as I looked at the tree-woman, rather ghostly in her own right, I knew why: Harold was loud, Harold was insensitive to nuance, Harold might frighten off whatever was here. I didn't want that. I was scared, yes standing on those dark cellar stairs and listening to the thumps from just below me, I had been fucking terrified but I had also felt fully alive for the first time in years. I was touching something in Sara that was entirely beyond my experience, and it fascinated me. The cordless phone rang in my lap, making me jump. I grabbed it, expecting Max Devore or perhaps Footman, his overgolded minion. It turned out to be a lawyer named John Storrow, who sounded as if he might have graduated from law school fairly recently like last week. Still, he worked for the firm of Avery, McLain, and Bernstein on Park Avenue, and Park Avenue is a pretty good address for a lawyer, even one who still has a few of his milk-teeth. If Henry Goldacre said Storrow was good, he probably was. And his specialty was custody law. ‘Now tell me what's happening up there,' he said when the introductions were over and the background had been sketched in. I did my best, feeling my spirits rise a little as the tale wound on. There's something oddly comforting about talking to a legal guy once the billable-hours clock has started running; you have passed the magical point at which a lawyer becomes your lawyer. Your lawyer is warm, your lawyer is sympathetic, your lawyer makes notes on a yellow pad and nods in all the right places. Most of the questions your lawyer asks are questions you can answer. And if you can't, your lawyer will help you find a way to do so, by God. Your lawyer is always on your side. Your enemies are his enemies. To him you are never shit but always Shinola. When I had finished, John Storrow said: ‘Wow. I'm surprised the papers haven't gotten hold of this.' ‘That never occurred to me.' But I could see his point. The Devore family saga wasn't for the New York Times or Boston Globe, probably not even for the Derry News, but in weekly supermarket tabs like The National Enquirer or Inside View, it would fit like a glove instead of the girl, King Kong decides to snatch the girl's innocent child and carry it with him to the top of the Empire State Building. Oh, eek, unhand that baby, you brute. It wasn't front-page stuff, no blood or celebrity morgue shots, but as a page nine shouter it would do nicely. In my mind I composed a headline blaring over side-by-side pix of Warrington's Lodge and Mattie's rusty doublewide: COMPU-KING LIVES IN SPLENDOR AS HE TRIES TO TAKE YOUNG BEAUTY'S ONLY CHILD. Probably too long, I decided. I wasn't writing anymore and still I needed an editor. That was pretty sad when you stopped to think about it. ‘Perhaps at some point we'll see that they do get the story,' Storrow said in a musing tone. I realized that this was a man I could grow attached to, at least in my present angry mood. He grew brisker. ‘Who'm I representing here, Mr. Noonan? You or the young lady? I vote for the young lady.' ‘The young lady doesn't even know I've called you. She may think I've taken a bit too much on myself. She may, in fact, give me the rough side of her tongue.' ‘Why would she do that?' ‘Because she's a Yankee a Maine Yankee, the worst kind. On a given day, they can make the Irish look logical.' ‘Perhaps, but she's the one with the target pinned to her shirt. I suggest that you call and tell her that.' I promised I would. It wasn't a hard promise to make, either. I'd known I'd have to be in touch with her ever since I had accepted the summons from Deputy Footman. ‘And who stands for Michael Noonan come Friday morning?' Storrow laughed dryly. ‘I'll find someone local to do that. He'll go into this Durgin's office with you, sit quietly with his briefcase on his lap, and listen. I may be in town by that point I won't know until I talk to Ms. Devore but I won't be in Durgin's office. When the custody hearing comes around, though, you'll see my face in the place.' ‘All right, good. Call me with the name of my new lawyer. My other new lawyer.' ‘Uh-huh. In the meantime, talk to the young lady. Get me a job.' ‘I'll try.' ‘Also try to stay visible if you're with her,' he said. ‘If we give the bad guys room to get nasty, they'll get nasty. There's nothing like that between you, is there? Nothing nasty? Sorry to have to ask, but I do have to ask.' ‘No,' I said. ‘It's been quite some time since I've been up to anything nasty with anyone.' ‘I'm tempted to commiserate, Mr. Noonan, but under the circumstances ‘ ‘Mike. Make it Mike.' ‘Good. I like that. And I'm John. People are going to talk about your involvement anyway. You know that, don't you?' ‘Sure. People know I can afford you. They'll speculate about how she can afford me. Pretty young widow, middle-aged widower. Sex would seem the most likely.' ‘You're a realist.' ‘I don't really think I am, but I know a hawk from a handsaw.' ‘I hope you do, because the ride could get rough. This is an extremely rich man we're going up against.' Yet he didn't sound scared. He sounded almost . . . greedy. He sounded the way part of me had felt when I saw that the magnets on the fridge were back in a circle. ‘I know he is.' ‘In court that won't matter a whole helluva lot, because there's a certain amount of money on the other side. Also, the judge is going to be very aware that this one is a powderkeg. That can be useful.' ‘What's the best thing we've got going for us?' I asked this thinking of Kyra's rosy, unmarked face and her complete lack of fear in the presence of her mother. I asked it thinking John would reply that the charges were clearly unfounded. I thought wrong. ‘The best thing? Devore's age. He's got to be older than God.' ‘Based on what I've heard over the weekend, I think he must be eighty-five. That would make God older.' ‘Yeah, but as a potential dad he makes Tony Randall look like a teenager,' John said, and now he sounded positively gloating. ‘Think of it, Michael the kid graduates from high school the year Gramps turns one hundred. Also there's a chance the old man's overreached himself. Do you know what a guardian ad litem is?' ‘No.' ‘Essentially it's a lawyer the court appoints to protect the interests of the child. A fee for the service comes out of court costs, but it's a pittance. Most people who agree to serve as guardian ad litem have strictly altruistic motives . . . but not all of them. In any case, the ad litem puts his own spin on the case. Judges don't have to take the guy's advice, but they almost always do. It makes a judge look stupid to reject the advice of his own appointee, and the thing a judge hates above all others is looking stupid.' ‘Devore will have his own lawyer?' John laughed. ‘How about half a dozen at the actual custody hearing?' ‘Are you serious?' ‘The guy is eighty-five. That's too old for Ferraris, too old for bungee jumping in Tibet, and too old for whores unless he's a mighty man. What does that leave for him to spend his money on?' ‘Lawyers,' I said bleakly. ‘Yep.' ‘And Mattie Devore? What does she get?' ‘Thanks to you, she gets me,' John Storrow said. ‘It's like a John Grisham novel, isn't it? Pure gold. Meantime, I'm interested in Durgin, the ad litem. If Devore hasn't been expecting any real trouble, he may have been unwise enough to put temptation in Durgin's way. And Durgin may have been stupid enough to succumb. Hey, who knows what we might find?' But I was a turn back. ‘She gets you,' I said. ‘Thanks to me. And if I wasn't here to stick in my oar? What would she get then?' ‘Bubkes. That's Yiddish. It means ‘ ‘I know what it means,' I said. ‘That's incredible.' ‘Nope, just American justice. You know the lady with the scales? The one who stands outside most city courthouses?' ‘Uh-huh.' ‘Slap some handcuffs on that broad's wrists and some tape over her mouth to go along with the blindfold, rape her and roll her in the mud. You like that image? I don't, but it's a fair representation of how the law works in custody cases where the plaintiff is rich and the defendant is poor. And sexual equality has actually made it worse, because while mothers still tend to be poor, they are no longer seen as the automatic choice for custody.' ‘Mattie Devore's got to have you, doesn't she?' ‘Yes,' John said simply. ‘Call me tomorrow and tell me that she will.' ‘I hope I can do that.' ‘So do I. And listen there's one more thing.' ‘What?' ‘You lied to Devore on the telephone.' ‘Bullshit!' ‘Nope, nope, I hate to contradict my sister's favorite author, but you did and you know it. You told Devore that mother and child were out together, the kid was picking flowers, everything was fine. You put everything in there except Bambi and Thumper.' I was sitting up straight in my deck-chair now. I felt sandbagged. I also felt that my own cleverness had been overlooked. ‘Hey, no, think again. I never came out and said anything. I told him I assumed. I used the word more than once. I remember that very clearly.' ‘Uh-huh, and if he was taping your conversation, you'll get a chance to actually count how many times you used it.' At first I didn't answer. I was thinking back to the conversation I'd had with him, remembering the underhum on the phone line, the characteristic underhum I remembered from all my previous summers at Sara Laughs. Had that steady low mmmmm been even more noticeable on Saturday night? ‘I guess maybe there could be a tape,' I said reluctantly. ‘Uh-huh. And if Devore's lawyer gets it to the ad litem, how do you think you'll sound?' ‘Careful,' I said. ‘Maybe like a man with something to hide.' ‘Or a man spinning yarns. And you're good at that, aren't you? After all, it's what you do for a living. At the custody hearing, Devore's lawyer is apt to mention that. If he then produces one of the people who passed you shortly after Mattie arrived on the scene . . . a person who testifies that the young lady seemed upset and flustered . . . how do you think you'll sound then?' ‘Like a liar,' I said, and then: ‘Ah, fuck.' ‘Fear not, Mike. Be of good cheer.' ‘What should I do?' ‘Spike their guns before they can fire them. Tell Durgin exactly what happened. Get it in the depo. Emphasize the fact that the little girl thought she was walking safely. Make sure you get in that ‘crossmock' thing. I love that.' ‘Then if they have a tape they'll play it and I'll look like a story-changing schmuck.' ‘I don't think so. You weren't a sworn witness when you talked to Devore, were you? There you were, sitting out on your deck and minding your own business, watching the fireworks show. Out of the blue this grouchy old asshole calls you. Starts ranting. Didn't even give him your number, did you?' ‘No.' ‘Your unlisted number.' ‘No.' ‘And while he said he was Maxwell Devore, he could have been anyone, right?' ‘Right.' ‘He could have been the Shah of Iran.' ‘No, the Shah's dead.' ‘The Shah's out, then. But he could have been a nosy neighbor . . . or a prankster.' ‘Yes.' ‘And you said what you said with all those possibilities in mind. But now that you're part of an official court proceeding, you're telling the whole truth and nothing but.' ‘You bet.' That good my-lawyer feeling had deserted me for a bit, but it was back full-force now. ‘You can't do better than the truth, Mike,' he said solemnly. ‘Except maybe in a few cases, and this isn't one. Are we clear on that?' ‘Yes.' ‘All right, we're done. I want to hear from either you or Mattie Devore around elevenish tomorrow. It ought to be her.' ‘I'll try.' ‘If she really balks, you know what to do, don't you?' ‘I think so. Thanks, John.' ‘One way or another, we'll talk very soon,' he said, and hung up. I sat where I was for awhile. Once I pushed the button which opened the line on the cordless phone, then pushed it again to close it. I had to talk to Mattie, but I wasn't quite ready yet. I decided to take a walk instead. If she really balks, you know what to do, don't you? Of course. Remind her that she couldn't afford to be proud. That she couldn't afford to go all Yankee, refusing charity from Michael Noonan, author of Being Two, The Red-Shirt Man, and the soon-to-be-published Helen's Promise. Remind her that she could have her pride or her daughter, but likely not both. Hey, Mattie, pick one. I walked almost to the end of the lane, stopping at Tidwell's Meadow with its pretty view down to the cup of the lake and across to the White Mountains. The water dreamed under a hazy sky, looking gray when you tipped your head one way, blue when you tipped it the other. That sense of mystery was very much with me. That sense of Manderley. Over forty black people had settled here at the turn of the century lit here for awhile, anyway according to Marie Hingerman (also according to A History of Castle County and Castle Rock, a weighty tome published in 1977, the county's bicentennial year). Pretty special black people, too: most of them related, most of them talented, most of them part of a musical group which had first been called The Red-Top Boys and then Sara Tidwell and the Red-Top Boys. They had bought the meadow and a good-sized tract of lakeside land from a man named Douglas Day. The money had been saved up over a period of ten years, according to Sonny Tidwell, who did the dickering (as a Red-Top, Son Tidwell had played what was then known as ‘chickenscratch guitar'). There had been a vast uproar about it in town, and even a meeting to protest ‘the advent of these darkies, which come in a Horde.' Things had settled down and turned out okay, as things have a way of doing, more often than not. The shanty town most locals had expected on Day's Hill (for so Tidwell's Meadow was called in 1900, when Son Tidwell bought the land on behalf of his extensive clan) had never appeared. Instead, a number of neat white cabins sprang up, surrounding a larger building that might have been intended as a group meeting place, a rehearsal area, or perhaps, at some point, a performance hall. Sara and the Red-Top Boys (sometimes there was a Red-Top Girl in there, as well; membership in the band was fluid, changing with every performance) played around western Maine for over a year, maybe closer to two years. In towns all up and down the Western Line Farmington, Skowhegan, Bridgton, Gates Falls, Castle Rock, Morton, Fryeburg you'll still come across their old show-posters at barn bazaars and junkatoriums. Sara and the Red-Tops were great favorites on the circuit, and they got along all right at home on the TR, too, which never surprised me. At the end of the day Robert Frost that utilitarian and often unpleasant poet was right: in the northeastern three we really do believe that good fences make good neighbors. We squawk and then keep a miserly peace, the kind with gimlet eyes and a tucked-down mouth. ‘They pay their bills,' we say. ‘I ain't never had to shoot one a their dogs,' we say. ‘They keep themselves to themselves,' we say, as if isolation wer e a virtue. And, of course, the defining virtue: ‘They don't take charity.' And at some point, Sara Tidwell became Sara Laughs. In the end, though, TR-90 mustn't have been what they wanted, because after playing a county fair or two in the late summer of 1901, the clan moved on. Their neat little cabins provided summer-rental income for the Day family until 1933, when they burned in the summer fires which charred the east and north sides of the lake. End of story. Except for her music, that was. Her music had lived. I got up from the rock I had been sitting on, stretched my arms and my back, and walked back down the lane, singing one of her songs as I went.

Cause and Effects of the Great Depression

The Causes and Effects of The Great Depression In America Few Americans in the first months of 1929 saw any reason to question the strength and stability of the nation's economy. Most agreed with their new president that the booming prosperity of the years just past would not only continue but increase, and that dramatic social progress would follow in its wake. â€Å"We in America today,† Herbert Hoover had proclaimed in August 1928, â€Å"are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us. â€Å"1 In mid-October, 1929, the average middle-class American saw ahead of him an illimitable vista of prosperity. The newly inaugurated president, Herbert Hoover, had announced soberly in the previous year that the conquest of poverty was no longer a mirage: â€Å"We have not yet reached our goal, but given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon with the help of God be within sight of the day when poverty will be banished from the nation. † This was the economic promise interwoven with what a popular historian would call the American Dream. More complacently, Irving Fisher and other economists in the confidence of Wall Street assured the citizen that he was dwelling upon â€Å"a permanently high plateau† of prosperity. 2 Only fifteen months later, those words would return to haunt him, as the nation plunged into the severest and most prolonged economic depression in its history. It began with a stock market crash in October 1929; it slowly but steadily deepened over the next three years until the nation's economy (and, many believed, its social and political systems) approached a total collapse. It continued in one form or another for a full decade, not only in the United States but throughout much of the rest of the world, until war finally restored American prosperity. 3 In the autumn of 1929, the market began to fall apart. On October 21, stock prices dipped sharply, alarming those who had become accustomed to an uninterrupted upward progression. Two days later, after a brief recovery, an even more alarming decline began. J. P. Morgan and Company and other big bankers managed to stave off disaster for a while by conspicuously buying up stocks to restore public confidence. But on October 29, all the efforts to save the market failed. â€Å"Black Tuesday,† as it became known, saw a devastating panic. Sixteen million shares of stock were traded; the industrial index dropped 43 points; stocks in many companies became virtually worthless. In the weeks that followed, the market continued to decline, with losses in October totaling $16 billion. Despite occasional hopeful signs of a turnaround, the market remained deeply depressed for more than four years and did not fully recover for more than a decade. 4 The sudden financial collapse in 1929 came as an especially severe shock because it followed so closely a period in which the New Era seemed to be performing another series of economic miracles. In particular, the nation was experiencing in 1929 a spectacular boom in the stock market. 5 In February 1928, stock prices began a steady ascent that continued, with only a few temporary lapses, for a year and a half. By the autumn of that year, the market had become a national obsession, attracting the attention not only of the wealthy, but of millions of people of modest means. Many brokerage firms gave added encouragement to the speculative mania by offering absurdly easy credit to purchasers of stocks. It was not hard to understand why so many Americans flocked to invest in the market. Stocks seemed to provide a certain avenue to quick and easy wealth. Between May 1928 and September 1929, the average price of stocks rose more than 40 percent. The stocks of the major industrials, the stocks that are used to determine the Dow Jones Industrial Average, doubled in value in that same period. Trading mushroomed from two or three million shares a day to more than five million, and at times to as many as ten or twelve million. There was, in short, a widespread speculative fever that grew steadily more intense. A few economists warned that the boom could not continue, that the prices of stocks had ceased to bear any relation to the earning power of the corporations that were issuing them. But most Americans refused to listen. 6 The depression of the stock market impressed the general public with the idea that it would depress general business. Because of a psychological consequence, it did, but it should not have. There are 120,000,000 persons in the country and at the maximum not more than 10,000,000 were involved in stock market transactions. The remaining 110,000,000 persons suffered no loss. The bulk of the population may not have suffered the loss of stock investments, but there were plenty of other ways to calculate loss, and by the end of 1929, with unemployment rising, with shops and factories ornamented by closed or out of business signs, and, perhaps most terrifying of all, the closing of the nations banks, taking with them millions of dollars in deposits. More than 9,000 American banks either went bankrupt or closed their doors to avoid bankruptcy between 1930 and 1933. Depositors lost more than $2. 5 billion in deposits. 8 Two-hundred and fifty six banks failed in the single month of November 1930, and further yet on December 11, when the United States Bank, with deposits of more than $200 million, went under. It was the largest single bank failure in America history up to that tim e, and contributed no little portion to an economic hangover in which, in the words of banker J. M. Barker, â€Å"cupidity turned into unreasoning, emotional, universal fear†. 9 The misery of the Great Depression was, then, without precedent in the nation's history. 10 The most searing legacy of the depression was unemployment, which mounted steadily from the relatively low levels experienced between 1922 and 1929. The percentage of the civilian labor force without work rose from 3. 2 in 1929 to 8. 7 in 1930, and reached a peak of 24. 9 in 1933. The estimates of unemployment amongst non-farm employees, which include the self-employed and unpaid family workers are even higher. These are horrifying figures: millions of American families were left without a bread-winner and faced the very real possibility of destitution. 11 Within a few months after the stock market collapse of October 1929, unemployment had catapulted from its status of a vague worry into the position of one of the country's foremost preoccupations. Unemployment increased steadily, with only a few temporary setbacks, from the fall of 1929 to the spring of 1933. Even a cursory reference to the several existing estimates of unemployment will amply show the rapidity with which unemployment established itself as an economic factor of the first order of importance. 12 By 1932, a quarter of the civilian labor force was unemployed and the number was still rising. State and local relief agencies lacked sufficient funds to meet the demands of families for bare sustenance. Discouraged by continual turn-downs, the unemployed had stopped looking for jobs. On good days in the great cities the jobless sat on park benches reading discarded newspapers, and many who had lost their homes slept in the parks. While some families managed to stay in their homes and apartments, even though they failed to pay the rent or mortgage interest, others were evicted. To keep some semblance of a home, families built shelters from discarded crates and boxes on vacant land or in the larger parks. Municipal authorities, unable to provide adequate help, were forced to adopt a tolerant attitude against these squatters. As time passed the structures became more elaborate and habitable, but older children were inclined to wander away and look for opportunities elsewhere. 13 Fifty years after his presidency and twenty after his death, Herbert Clark Hoover remains the person most Americans held responsible for the economic calamity that struck after 1929. Few of our political leaders have been more ridiculed and vilified during their tenure in office. By 1931, new words and usage based on his name had entered the country's cultural vocabulary: Hooverville†: a temporary bivouac of homeless, unemployed citizens. â€Å"Hoover blankets†: the newspapers used by people to keep warm at night while sleeping in parks and doorways. â€Å"Hoover Flags†: empty pants pockets, turned inside out as a sign of poverty. â€Å"Hoover wagons†: any motor vehicle being pulled by a horse or mule In the heat of the 1932 election, hitchhikers displayed signs reading â€Å"If you don't give me a ride , I'll vote for Hoover. â€Å"14 From the New York Times, October 22, 1932 Fifty-four men were arrested yesterday morning for sleeping or idling in the arcade connecting with the subway 45 West Forty-second Street, but most of them considered their unexpected meeting with a raiding party of ten policemen as a stroke of luck because it brought them free meals yesterday and shelter last night from the sudden change in the weather. From the New York Times, September 20, 1931 Several hundred homeless unemployed women sleep nightly in Chicago's parks, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Conkey, Commissioner of Public Welfare, reported today. She learned of the situation, she said, when women of good character appealed for shelter and protection, having nowhere to sleep but in the parks, where they feared they would be molested. â€Å"We are informed that no fewer than 200 women are sleeping in Grant and Lincoln Parks, on the lake front, to say nothing of those in the other parks,† said Mrs. Conkey. â€Å"I made a personal investigation, driving park to park, at night, and verified the reports. † The commission said the approach of winter made the problem more serious, with only one free woman's lodging house existing, accommodating 100. These are just two of the many stories that came of the poverty of the depression. 15 Not quite three and a half years had passed since the stock market crash, had plunged the United States, and most of the world, into the worst economic debacle in Western memory. Industrial output was now less than half the 1929 figure. The number of unemployed, although difficult to count accurately, had mounted to something between 13 and 15 million, or a recorded high of 25 per cent of the labor force-and the unemployed had 30 million mouths to feed besides their own. Hourly wages had dropped 60 per cent since 1929, white-collar salaries 40 per cent. Farmers were getting less than 50 cents a bushel for wheat. The stark statistics gave no real picture of the situation-of the pitiful men selling apples on city street corners; of the long lines of haggard men and women who waited for dry bread or thin soup, meager sustenance dispensed by private and municipal charities; of the bloated bellies of starving children; of distraught farmers blocking the roads to dump milk cans in a desperate effort to drive up the price of milk. â€Å"They say blockading the highways illegal,† said an Iowa farmer. â€Å"I says, ‘Seems to me there was a Tea Party in Boston that was illegal too. 16 The suffering extended into every area of society. In the industrial Northeast and Midwest, cities were becoming virtually paralyzed by unemployment. Cleveland, Ohio, for example, had an unemployment rate of 50 percent in 1932; Akron, 60 percent; Toledo, 80 percent. To the men and women suddenly without incomes, the situation was frightening and be wildering. Most had grown up believing that every individual was responsible for his or her own fate, that unemployment and poverty were signs of personal failure; and even in the face of national distress, many continued to believe it. Unemployed workers walked through the streets day after day looking for jobs that did not exist. When finally they gave up, they often just sat at home, hiding their shame. 17 An increasing number of families were turning in humiliation to local public relief systems, just to be able to eat. But that system, which had in the 1920s served only a small number of indigents, was totally unequipped to handle the new demands being placed on it. In many cities, therefore, relief simply collapsed. New York, which offered among the highest relief benefits in the nation, was able to provide families an average of only $2. 9 per week. Private charities attempted to supplement the public relief efforts, but the problem was far beyond their capabilities as well. As a result, American cities were experiencing scenes that a few years earlier would have seemed almost inconceivable. Bread lines stretched for blocks outside Red Cross and Salvation Army kitchens. 18 Thousands of people sifted through g arbage cans for scraps of food or waited outside restaurant kitchens in hopes of receiving plate scrapings. Nearly 2 million young men simply took to the roads, riding freight trains from city to city, living as nomads. The economic hardships of the Depression years placed great strains on American families, particularly on the families of middle-class people who had become accustomed in the 1920s to a steadily rising standard of living and now found themselves plunged suddenly into uncertainty. It was not only unemployment that shook the confidence of middle-class families, although that was of course the worst blow. It was also the reduction of incomes among those who remained employed. Economic circumstances forced many families, therefore, to retreat from the consumer patterns they had developed in the 1920s. Women often returned to sewing clothes for themselves and their families and to preserving their own food, rather than buying such products in stores. Others engaged in home businesses taking in laundry, selling baked goods, accepting boarders. Many households expanded to include more distant relatives. Parents often moved in with their children and grandparents with their grandchildren, or vice versa. 19 The public did not understand the causes or solutions of unemployment, but people could judge polices by results. They had little tolerance for anyone who said current polices were working when, in fact, more jobs were being lost. One indication of how desperate the situation was came in June when Chicago mayor told one House Committee that it still had a choice: it could send relief, or it could send troops. 20 With local efforts rapidly collapsing, state governments began to feel new pressures to expand their own assistance to the unemployed. Most resisted the pressure. Tax revenues were declining along with everything else, and state leaders balked at placing additional strains on already tight budgets. Many public figures, moreover, feared that any permanent welfare system would undermine the moral fiber of its clients. 21 People never enjoy paying taxes. With the lower incomes of the depression came widespread demand for retrenchment and lower local taxes. Indeed, many local citizens and property owners were quite unable to pay their taxes at all. Since a large part of the revenues of local government is spent for public education, it was perhaps inevitable that the tax crisis should produce cutbacks in schools. Many communities decreased their school spending severely. In effect, they passed the burden on to the teachers, the students, or both. No one will ever be able to calculate the cost to American civilization that resulted from inadequate education of the nation's children during the Great Depression. The colleges' problems were somewhat different. Although the budgets of almost all colleges, public and private, were not what they should have been, a greater problem was that of students who were destitute. Rare was the college that did not have several cases of severe student poverty. Thousands of students in the 1930's made important sacrifices to stay in college. Because the students of the depression constituted, on the whole, a hungry campus generation they gave college life a new and earnest tone. The goldfish gulpers may have got the big headlines in the late 1930's, but they were not typical depression undergraduates. 22 During the first two years of the depression the schools did business about as usual. By September, 1931, the strain was beginning to tell. Salary cuts were appearing even in large towns, and the number of pupils per teacher had definitely increased. Building programs had been postponed. In a few communities school terms had been considerable shortened, and in others some of the departments and services were being lopped off. But, on the whole, the school world wagged on pretty much as usual. During the 1932-33 term the deflation gathered momentum so rapidly that many communities had to close their schools. By the end of last March nearly a third of a million children were out of school for that reason. But the number of children affected, shocking as it is, does not tell the story so vividly as does the distribution of the of the schools. Georgia had 1,318 closed schools with an enrollment of 170,790, and in Alabama 81 percent of all the children enrolled in white rural schools were on an enforced vacation. In Arkansas, to site the case of another sorely pressed state, over 300 schools were open for sixty days or less during the entire year. By the last of February more than 8,000 school children were running loose in a sparsely settled New Mexico. And over a thousand west Virginia schools had quietly given up the struggle. 23 The downswing which began in 1929 lasted for 43 months. The ‘Great Depression' has the dubious distinction of being the second longest economic contraction since the Civil War, second only to that which began in 1873 and continued for 65 months. The length of a depression, however, can only give a limited indication of its impact; the amplitude and national ramifications of 1929-33 give those years a special importance. 24 Economists, historians, and others have argued for decades about the causes of the Great Depression. But most agree on several things. They agree, first, that what is remarkable about the crisis is not that it occurred; periodic recessions are a normal feature of capitalist economies. What is remarkable is that it was so severe and that it lasted so long. The important question, therefore, is not so much why was there a depression, but why was it such a bad one. 25 America had experienced economic crises before. The Panic of 1893 had ushered in a prolonged era of economic stagnation, and there had been more recent recessions, in 1907 and in 1920. The Great Depression of the 1930s, however, affected the nation more profoundly than any economic crisis that ad come before not only because it lasted longer, but because its impact was far more widely felt. The American economy by 1929 had become so interconnected, so dependent on the health of large national corporate institutions, that a collapse in one sector of the economy now reached out to affect virtually everyone. Even in the 1890s, large groups of Americans had l ived sufficiently independent of the national economy to avoid the effects of economic crisis. By the 1930s, few such people remained. 26 Some economists argue that a severe depression could have been avoided if the Federal Reserve system had acted more responsibly. Instead of moving to increase the money supply so as to keep things from getting worse in the early 1930s, the Federal Reserve first did nothing and then did the wrong thing: Late in 1931, it raised interest rates, which contracted the money supply even further. 27 At the time, a substantial majority of Americans and nearly all foreigners who expressed opinions on the subject believed that the Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929 had triggered the depression, thereby suggesting that the United States was the birthplace of the disaster. The connection seemed too obvious to be a coincidence. Many modern writers have agreed; for example, the French historian Jacques Chastenet says in Les Annees d'Illsions: 1918-1931, â€Å"After the stock market crash on the other side of the Atlantic came an economic crisis. The crisis caused a chain reaction in the entire world. 28 Many years after it ended, former President Herbert Hoover offered an elaborate explanation of the Great depression, complete with footnote references to the work of many economists and other experts. THE DEPRESSION WAS NOT STARTED IN THE UNITED STATES,† he insisted. The â€Å"primary cause† was the war of 1914-18. In four-fifths of the â€Å"economically sensitive† nations of the world, including such remote areas as Bolivia, Bulgaria, and Australia, the downturn was noticeable long before the 1929 collapse of American stock prices. 29 Unsolved economic and social problems, accumulated over many years, made the Great Depression more of a culture crisis than can be measured in new laws or economic statistics. Americans had always been confident that the unique virtues of their society-its stronger economic base, its more alert citizenry, and its higher moral principals-would protect it from the evils and failures of Europe and would inevitable lead to new levels of civilization. In spite of the derision of a few artists and intellectuals, this â€Å"American Dream† still persisted in the 1920's. Somewhere in the dark passages of the Great Depression, as the forces of world history weakened belief in the uniqueness of the United States as a nation set apart, the dream faded and became indistinct. While America would recover economically and would rise to new heights of material achievement scarcely thought possible in the 1929, the myth of a unique destiny would never regain its old force and certainty. Henceforth Americans would share some of the realistic disillusionment of Europeans, some of the sense that survival alone was an achievement in a world not necessarily designed for the triumph of the human spirit. 30 Endnotes 1. Richard N. Current, The Great American History (CD-ROM) The Civil War to WWII, Carlsbad, CA. : Comptons New Media McGraw-Hill 1995) p. 1 2. Dixon Wecter, A History Of America The Age Of The Great Depression, (New York, NY. : The Macmillan Co. 1948) p. 1 3. Current Opcit. p. 2 4. Ibid. p. 8 5. Ibid. p. 6 6. Ibid. p. 7 7. T. H. Watkins, The Great Depression America in The 1930s, (Boston, MA. : Little Brown and Co. 1993) p. 54 8. Current Opcit. p. 16 9. Watkins Opcit. p. 55 10. Current Opcit. p. 4 11. Peter Fearon, War Prosperity & Depression The U. S. Economy 1927-45, (Lawrence, KA. : University Press 1987) p. 137 12. David A. Shannon, The Great Depression, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ. : Prentice Hall Ins. 1960) p. 13. Thomas C. Cochran, The Great Depression and World War II 1929-1945, Glenview, IL. : Scott Foresman and Co. 1968) pp. 29-30 14. Michael E. Parrish, Anxious Decades America in Prosperity and Depression 1920-1941, (New York, NY. : W. W. Norton & Co. 1992) p. 240 15. Shannon Opcit. pp. 13-15 16. The Editors of TIME-LIFE BOOKS, This Fabulous Century 1930-1940, (New York, NY. : Time-Life Books 1985) p. 23 17. Richard N. Current, The Great American History (CD-ROM) The Civil War to WWII, (Carlsbad, CA. : Comptons New Media Inc. McGraw-Hill 1995) p. 20 18. Ibid. . 21 19. Ibid. p. 22 20. Robert S. McElvaine, The Great Depression America 1929-1941, (New York, NY. : Times Books 1984) p. 122 21. Current Opcit. p. 21 22. David A. Shannon, The Great Depression, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. : Prentice Hall Inc. 1960) p. 93 23. Ibid. p. 94 24. Peter Fearon, War Prosperity and Depression The U. S. Economy 1917-45, Lawrence, KA. : University Press 1987) p. 89 25. Current Opcit. p. 9 26. Ibid. p. 3 27. Ibid. p. 17 28. John A. Garraty, The Great Depression, San Diego, CA. : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1986) p. 4-5 29. Ibid. p. 4 30. Thomas C. Cochran, The Great Depression and World War II 1929-1945, (Glenview, Il. : Scott Foresman and Co. 1968) p. 1 Bibliography Cochran Thomas C. , The Great Depression and World War II 1929-1945, Glenview, Ill. , Scott Foresman and Co. , 1968 Current Richard N. , The Great American History (CD-ROM) The Civil War to WWII, Carlsbad California, Compton's New Media Inc. & McGraw-Hill, 1995 Editors of TIME-LIFE BOOKS, This Fabulous Century 1930-1940, New York, NY. , Time-Life Books, 1985 Fearon Peter, War, Prosperity, and Depression The U. S. Economy 1917-45, Lawrence, KA. , University Press, 1987 Garraty John A. , The Great Depression, San Diego, CA. , Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986 McElvaine Robert S. , The Great Depression America 1929-1941, New York, NY. , Times Books, 1984 Parrish Michael E. , Anxious Decades America in Prosperity and Depression 1920-1941, New York, NY. , W. W. Norton & Company, 1992 Shannon David A. , The Great Depression, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. , Prentice Hall, 1960 Watkins T. H. , The Great Depression America in The 1930's, Boston MA. , Little Brown and Co. , 1993 Wector Dixon, A History of America The Great Depression, New York, NY. , The Macmillan Co. , 1948

Glorius revolution essays

Glorius revolution essays Beginning in the 16th century, the nations of Europe competed for wealth and power through a new economic system called mercantilism, in which colonies played a critical role. According to the theory of mercantilism, a nation could increase its wealth and power in two ways: by obtaining as much gold and silver as possible, and by establishing a favorable balance of trade, in which it sold more goods than it bought. A nations ultimate goal under mercantilism was to become self-sufficient so that it did not have to depend on other countries for goods. By the mid-1600s, the colonists exported to England large amounts of raw materials and staples-lumber, furs, fish, grain, and tobacco. In addition, the men and women of the colonies were good customers for manufactured English goods such as wooden furniture, iron utensils, books, and china. However, not all the products the colonists produced for export ended up on English docks. Some of the colonists sturdy lumber and strong tobacco made its way into the harbors of Spain, France, and Holland. England viewed these actions as an economic threat. As a result, beginning in 1651, Englands parliament, the countrys legislative body, moved to tighten control of colonial trade by passing a series of measures known as the The Navigation Acts. These Navigation Acts, as they were called, ordered the following: 1. No country could trade with the colonies unless the goods were shipped in either colonial or English ships. 2. All vessels had to be manned by crews that were at least three-quarters English or colonial. 3. The colonies could export certain products, including tobacco and sugar-and later rice molasses, and furs-only to England. 4. Almost all goods traded between the colonies and Europe first had to be unloaded at an English port. This gave jobs to English dockworkers and money to the English treasury in the form of import taxes on the good ...

Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears Trail of Tears Running head: TRAIL OF TEARS 1TRAIL OF TEARS 5HIS220October 4, 2014Will PalmerTrail of TearsLong before Amerigo Vespucci and other European explorers reached the New World, Native Americans successfully inhabited the land. There has been much debate as to how many people were here. It has been documented as high as 16 million to as low as under four million (Brinkley, 2008). The Europeans' relationship with the Native Americans was that of give and take. Both taught each other techniques for cultivating crops, the introduction of domestic livestock and basic survival. The Europeans not only bought with them diseases that killed millions of Native Americans, but also their conviction that their own civilization was greatly superior to that of the natives (Brinkley, 2008). This discussion will include Andrew Jackson's opinion and policy concerning Native Americans, white Americans' opinion of Native Americans, the "Five Civilized Tribes," and the Trail of Tears.Trails of Tears (English version)Before becoming the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson had already made a name for himself in history. He was a lawyer, politician and judge, wealthy planter and merchant, and in 1801 received the appointment of the commander of the Tennessee militia. During the War of 1812, white settlers near the Spanish owned Florida border were under attack by the Creek Indians. According to Brinkley (2008), on March 27, 1814, in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Jackson and his men retaliated and slaughtered Creek women, children, and warriors. Jackson received a commission to major general in the United States Army. Later in the year, during the Seminole War, Jackson captured Spanish forts at Pensacola and St. Marks in Florida. In 1821, he served as Florida's military governor for nine months.Jackson, 1828, won the election for the...

User Engagement Metrics How to Apply Them to Boost Your SEO

User Engagement Metrics How to Apply Them to Boost Your SEO It feels great to rank on the first page of Google for your primary keywords. You get all the love with tons of organic traffic. Ranking on the first page is complicated, however. Brian Dean compiled a list of over 200 ranking factors  that Google uses.  If you’re serious about improving your search visibility, you need to find a way to attend to these factors. I know how challenging this can be. And not everyone is ready to put in the hard work. But what if I told  you that there’s a rather easier way to rank high in the organic results pages?  Would you be interested? No, I’m not going to teach you some blackhat techniques or a secret to hacking Google’s index. Can I be straight up with you? From my personal experience, I observed that the most credible way to improve search performance is by focusing on user engagement metrics.   From the chart below, you’ll notice that shares, engaged time, and comments are the core metrics  for measuring user engagement. Not backlinks or content length. If you play your cards right, you can reverse-engineer user engagement to rank higher, with or without any so-called powerful links. The guide below will show you how to do it. Download Your Free User Engagement Resource Bundle User engagement metrics are driven by strong content. Understanding those metrics requires strong knowledge of analytics tools. To help you apply the advice in this post, weve pulled together these free resources you can use: Five free Google Analytics Custom Reports that show when your social media and email content drive the most traffic to your site (in just a couple clicks). 2017 Content Calendar Template to help you schedule all your content for optimal engagement. Using Google Analytics to Create Smarter Content guide to help you create content readers want, based on real data. How to Apply Powerful User Engagement Metrics to Boost Your SEOWhy User Engagement Matters User engagement is determined by observing user’s behavior. What do they do after they land on your website? Where do they click? How much time do they spend on your website? Understanding user engagement metrics helps you see what works and what doesn’t work. It helps you see what users love on your website. It’s not just about content. Design matters, too. Why? Because great design creates a great first impression and gets better marketing results. According to The Design Council, through your design, you can increase brand visibility by 200%.   The same report also states that, "Shares in companies where design plays a critical role consistently outperform key stock market indicators by 200%," and that â€Å"for every $130 spent on design, businesses that are focused on design realized a $298 return.† Recommended Reading: How to Redesign Your Website (Like ) In 10+ Easy Steps How to Work With Designers With Authentic Advice From 's Designer How to Design the Best Blog Graphics With Free Tools and Design Theory For instance, consider bounce rate. If the bounce rate of a specific blog post is higher than the rest of the posts, this means your readers don't like it as much as they do the rest of the posts. To find the bounce rate for your posts and pages in Google Analytics, here’s that path to follow once you’re logged in: BEHAVIOR = Site Content = All Pages When the statistics load, you’ll see a column for the bounce rates: Similarly, if a post has exceptionally low bounce rate, it could mean that your audience is in love with it. All things being equal. I’m sure you’re asking, â€Å"but, what is a good bounce rate?† Well, the answer isn’t straightforward because we need to consider the industry, content quality, and so on. However, all hope isn’t lost yet. You can see the average bounce rate for different industries. Additionally, GoRocketFuel conducted an exclusive study  to determine what a good bounce rate is. According to their findings: â€Å"Most websites will see bounce rates fall somewhere between 26% and 70%. The average bounce rate for the websites in my sample set was 49%. The average bounce rate for all visits in the set was 45%. I threw out the outliers- the 1% bounce rates. The highest bounce rate was 90.2%; the low (from a properly functioning profile) was 27.33%. The low across all (including broken implementations) was 1.23%.† So when you find blog posts with a good bounce rate, replicate. Create similar posts that your readers will love again. Your chances of ranking higher in Google top pages are high, because Google appreciates  a web page with a low bounce rate. Recommended Reading: How to Create a Killer Content Strategy for Your New Blog The Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts How to Promote Your Blog With 107 Content Promotion Tactics Determine What Users Are Doing On-site It’s high time you get to know what users are doing on your website. Neil Patel  identified five engagement factors that will affect influence your search engine rankings. These include: Traffic. This includes visitors from organic sources. Pageviews and bounce rate. Brand mentions. Mobile-responsive design. Technical SEO (structured for users). Other engagement metrics are: Clicks on internal and external links. Social shares. Scroll depth. Form submissions.Are you paying attention to these important user engagement signals?Note:  All of these metrics and factors don’t influence search rankings at the same time. Most website owners and SEOs find it hard to rank higher in Google when they try to manipulate search rankings. But the truth is, SEO  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ as daunting and complicated as it may seem – still boils down to one simple practice: provide value. The illustration below  shows that the more value you provide, the more of it you’ll get. Source: HubSpot Good #SEO boils down to one simple practice: providing value.According to Search Engine Watch, the correlation between user engagement metrics (i.e., time on site, bounce rate and average pages per visit) and search engine ranking reveals that not all the signals are equally important. These user engagement metrics can be accessed from Google Analytics. This will help you identify the best performing landing pages on your website. These engagement metrics are the results of user’s behavior while on your website. To see these metrics in your Google Analytics account go to: Acquisition - All Traffic - Channels When you’ve identified your best performing landing pages, you need to install a heat map script  so that you can study the user behavior properly. To find your best performing landing pages, follow this path in Google Analytics: Behavior = Site Content = Landing Pages Here's how to find your best-performing landing pages using Google Analytics:Use Heatmaps to Understand Vantage Positioning A heat map tool like Crazy Egg  can show you the exact sections of your website that users are clicking and why? It uses mouse-tracking to determine scroll and clicks. To fully understand what users do on your website, where they click, how deep they scroll, and what they don’t like, you have to use heatmaps- it gives you better insights about users. Source: Piktochart For instance, you saw five pages in Google Analytics with below average bounce rates. At that point, you should ask yourself, â€Å"why do people like these pages more than other pages on the same website?† Do they like the video? Or the infographic? Or the GIFs or something else? This is where a heat map tool gets the job done. You can determine the following using a heat map: How users move their mouse on any given page. Do they move their mouse on the title and images? A click map shows where users click on the page. Are they clicking the new video that you just created? Scroll maps show how deep users scroll. It’s one of the best user engagement metrics that show the point users exit the page. This makes it easier to adjust the length of your page. For a demonstration of CrazyEgg and how to use it to interpret your website data, see the Koozai Guide to Using CrazyEgg. This information,  alongside data from Google Analytics will help you identify the most interactive parts on the best-performing pages. When you’re armed with such insights about your users, it’s easy to create compelling content that will improve your search visibility. Based on Google Analytics and your heatmaps, you can determine what type of content is most suitable for your audience. Lim Cheng Soon  used heatmaps  to track the user behavior on Pair’s landing page (now rebranded as Couple). Here’s what  the homepage looked like  before: Now, see what their  heatmap revealed: The navigation bar at the top left was getting more clicks than the conversion button. It was a distraction. Though they were getting a decent traffic on the homepage, pageviews were counting, and everything was working fine. But they weren’t getting as many downloads as expected. So, Lim removed the navigation bar and conversion rate quickly increased by 12%. He also removed the ‘download for free’ text above the button and it increased conversion rate by an additional 10%. Create More Interactive Content If you want to increase user’s time on your website, you need to add more interaction to your content. You could add interactive infographics  to your post, or embed quizzes. However, there are two forms of interactive content  that truly boost engagement. These include: a).   Calculators: Integrating a simple calculator into your written content can improve your content’s perceived value and take your engagement to the roof. For example, SilkRoad, a HR software for Talent Management created a calculator  to show prospective clients they could become more productive and save with its employee onboarding automation solution. Within 3 months, the company saw an increase in lead generation and content engagement. You'll need to work with your development team to make something like this happen. However, the results are worth it. b).   Interactive video: Video marketing still works. Data from Convince and Convert  shows that audiences are 10x more likely to engage with video content. Sadly, they’re still a static medium, which means that you have a lot of opportunities right now to make your videos interactive. But how? In an interactive video, you’re giving viewers the opportunity to participate in your video as opposed to just viewing it. You could add interactive hotspots so that a viewer can click to learn more about the person, an event, or a topic. Some of the handy tools that you can use to create interactive videos are: Wirewax Thinglink RaptMedia Truth is, interactive videos can quickly improve your audience’s perception of your brand. Interactive videos can quickly improve your audience’s perception of your brand.According to Tom Whatley: â€Å"One of the best examples of interactive video I've seen is the Guardian's "Seven Digital Deadly Sins." In it, viewers can explore the stories of seven users of digital media and how it affects their lives. A 'burger menu' to the side adds to the user interface, and there are several "easter eggs" in the form of one-question surveys that show real-time stats.† Here's a quick look at it: Recommended Reading: How to Make a Video Content Marketing Strategy To Boost Your New Series How to Get Started With Twitter Video Marketing How to Do Facebook Video Marketing the Right Way When you’re looking to create more engagement on your page, adding more interactivity can help. But again, it comes after studying your users closely using tools. Statistics  show that interactive content converts better than passive content. In the study, interactive content converted more than 70% of buyers while the passive content only converted 36% of buyers. Two of the reasons why most people don’t build interaction into their content is because they don’t know what type of interactive content to create that users will love. This challenge can be solved using Google Analytics and heatmaps. What #interactive #content will your audience love? Find out with Google Analytics and @CrazyEgg:To get started, you can create different forms of interactive content with these tools: Qzzr: A simple tool for creating online quizzes for free. SnapApp: It’s a powerful content platform which allows you to turn static content (e.g., PDF document) into an interactive slide presentation). Mapme: Build interactive maps with videos, words, and photos. Infogr.am: Use this tool to create interactive infographics and charts. Once you start creating interactive content, your audience will start engaging with it at a better level. And because Google follows users, your web page will start to gain more visibility in the organic search. Don’t just create any type of content. But rather, make content marketing  decisions based on the feedback from your best-performing content which you found on Google Analytics. It must be based on what your audience is already engaging with. For instance, if feedback from analytics and heat maps reveal that infographics perform better than text. You'd then want to create more infographics to engage with your readers. Recommended Reading: How to Make an Infographic in 7 Easy Steps Craft Beneficial Headlines, Not Clickbait You can use user engagement metrics and insights from Google Analytics and heatmaps to write better headlines. Here’s how. Let’s assume that one of your best performing landing pages has this headline: 12 Smart Ways To Launch a Successful Online Course Then all things being equal, your readers are telling you that they prefer ‘number headlines.’ So, you’re expected to create more of them. If that’s the case, then your subsequent posts might read thus: 11 Product Launch Tools That I Use Every Time 7 Steps To Hack a Winning Product Idea 3 Must-Have Pricing Strategies You Should Adopt More importantly, you can get more clicks on your headlines if you make them beneficial. According to Brian Clark, 8 out of 10 people  will click on your headline. Real headlines that offer value is what you should craft for your interactive content. Clickbait headlines may seem to do the trick, but they will only cause search users to bounce the moment they land on your page and discover that you’ve tricked them. This is not what you want, right? Here are a few techniques to help you write headlines: Make them benefit-driven.  Clearly state the benefit that the readers will get from the content. Here are some examples of such headlines: 7 Ways To Get Your First 1,000 Email Subscribers Here’s another example from Neil Patel’s blog: Keep headlines descriptive. Inappropriate, ambiguous, and unclear headlines might send untargeted traffic to your page. Use A/B test  to prove your best headlines. Optimize headlines. Include a keyword in the headline that will help you drive traffic from search engines. Bonus Tip: Use 's free Headline Analyzer to make sure every headline you write is a winner. A killer headline combined with the content that your users and search engines have shown great interest in initially will rank exceptionally well in search engines. A killer headline + content your users want = search rankings.This type of content doesn’t need a lot of backlinks to rank. As long as users like the content, they’ll share it, and Google will naturally rank it. Maybe not on the first page right away, but as the user engagement increases, this page will climb to the top. More so, if users like it so much, they’ll link to it as well. So, you may not be out to build links, but you’ll earn them nonetheless. Recommended Reading: How to Write Awesome Social Media Headlines Your Audience Will Love How to Write Emotional Headlines That Get More Shares How to Write Headlines That Drive Traffic, Shares, and Search Results How Will You Use User Engagement Metrics to Create Better Content? Focusing on your users and what interests them is truly the best way to create content that ranks highly in Google organic pages. It may seem like a lot of work, and it’s true, but if you dare to listen to your audience more it becomes a lot easier to answer their questions.

We Make Widgets Inc. Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

We Make Widgets Inc. Case Study - Essay Example Thus by applying various concepts of organizational behavior and psychology, we have dissected the problem each individual is facing and devised a solution to help each professional overcome the problems. The paper also provides a proactive solution for the organization to avoid any such issues with other employees. The proactive solution devises the formation of a new department known as the personal counseling department. Last but not the least, the paper provides basic input on how an employee can create a balance between their personal life and their work life. Hence this paper is not only the dissection of the given case but also a matter of consideration for every organization as any organization can face such issues. Analysis and Questions for the 3 Executives at â€Å"We Make Widgets Inc† Before devising a set of questions for each executive it is important to analyze the characteristics of the individual and other facts related to the executive given in the case. Belo w we will develop a separate fact analysis and a set of questions for each individual. Fact Analysis for CEO Maria Visionaria As per the information given in the case, the leadership style of Maria is inspiring thus leading us to the analysis that Maria Visionaria is depicted to be a kind of charismatic leader by her employees. Another fact states that Maria has been working continuously without taking a break or a vacation. This helps us analyze the fact that Maria’s devotion to her work has transformed her into a workaholic which has led to deterioration of Maria’s physical and mental health. On the face of it, it might sound a simple statement but we have to dig in deep into the causes of stress which will help us develop a set of Questions for Maria. Set of Questions for CEO Maria Visonaria As per fact analysis it is best to address Maria with Personal Questions relating to family, friends and personal relationships and situational questions i.e. how she would reac t under a set of different circumstances. Fact Analysis for COO Mujibar Delhi As per the case information, Mujibar is also an effective leader for the company but is currently suffering from a state of emotional imbalance. His mind is currently suffering from internal conflicts as he has to choose between his priorities and priorities of his family. Another thing important to note here is that Mujibar is suffering from â€Å"forgetfulness†. This might be due to high level of stress but requires investigation as it can be something more than that. Hence for Mujibar we have to create a three dimensional question set. Set of Questions for COO Mujibar Delhi It is advisable to address Mujibar Delhi with questions related to his current happenings to get to the reason of his forgetfulness. The set of questions will include questions having emotional, situational & mental appeal. Fact Analysis for CFO Wanda Sharp Wanda Sharp, another example of a brilliant leader but the problem is where her self-centrism comes which in common words is known as selfishness. Scientifically or as per Freud we can say her Id is stronger than her Ego. This will eventually pose a threat to her employees, as she disregards their work and claims to be the only reason of success. Employees can be de motivated and organization can suffer in the long run. She is also having a family problem relating to her son, in which she again takes self-pity by having feelings like why did he do that to me? Etc. Set of Questions for Wanda Sharp For Wanda, the best combination of questions will constitute of questions relating to personality, self assessment and behavior. Such questions will help

Location analysis and group work daily Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Location analysis and group work daily - Essay Example The other advantage is that in terms of flow of traffic within the site, this has made it possible to maintain its market appeal to the customers (Blackaby, 2009). As a group, we performed relatively well. Several issues came up in the course of the meeting and it affected the way in which we completed the task. The lecturer required that we form our own groups that we would all be comfortable working with. This we did, and it was convenient to us because we had similar background in terms of the course we studied at the university and this made us to cope well. In addition, we had worked previously together in group work for other subjects that we studied together. In the course of the group work, several issues manifested themselves as we worked together. Time management was not accomplished well because some group members lived far away from the university and therefore, the time that we had agreed on was at no particular adhered to and we obviously had to accommodate all group members in order to work as a team. Conflict in the process of group work was a big issue that arose. At times, the participants in the group openly attacked each other and this at one point brought the discussion to a halt for some time. The way the group members stated some major points during the discussion brought out both the negative and positive criticism. Despite all these challenges, we were finally able to complete the assignment on time. What I would change to the process. For the group members who were not living within the university, I would ensure that we set the time that is convenient to them and comfortable to us as a team. I would convince other group members to agree on a time limit in which the discussion would take. For instance, one hour for each meeting scheduled to take place so as to allow the affected persons to attend and leave the meeting at their own pleasure. In the issue of conflict, I as the group leader would ensure that if there were any disagreements, they would be constructive and not directed to any particular person. I would also ensure that there was room for free expression of thoughts while coordinating the group and encourage criticism (Hansen, et al 2002). How to improve performance as a group. I as the group leader would manage the group well for it to work effectively. I would ensure that the set aims and objectives of the group work are incorporated from each and every member. For example, all participants in the group would make contributions in the setting of aims and objectives. This would help each individual develop personally .The group would also benefit as a whole. Other benefits would be to that the participants would learn academically. We would also ensure that the responsibilities that we adapt help us to achieve the desired success together. My individual role and contribution. My group members

In depth news assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In depth news assignment - Research Paper Example Since the fund will also be used for recapitalizing existing large private funds, it is therefore important that the private funds should channel such funds in activities which can generate export revenue for the country. Over the period of time, domestic pool of private funds has actually declined thus making it extremely difficult for the private and new ventures to have an access to such pool of funds. An increase in the pool of funds therefore would further result into availability of new funds which can further bolster the economy. The new trends are increasingly suggesting the rapid increase in the technology based ventures with strong probability to become international businesses. New start-ups have actually grown into large and profitable international businesses because of getting local funding support. It is also critical to allow provinces to make their own strategies too in order to ensure that they can take greater benefit of the new proposed plan. Some argue that the overall size of pool of the funds to be made available is relatively small and may not create the required stimulus for the private sector to actually develop the new businesses which can make their name at the international level. For expansion into the international markets and to capture the larger base of customers through forming international joint ventures and strategic alliances, Canadian firms will require lot more capital and resources to be successful at the international level. (The Canadian Press , 2013) It is also considered that the overall business environment in Canada is risk averse and private sector is actually not been able to achieve the kind of investment it must require in order to thrive at the international level. In order to effectively form good strategic alliances as well as the joint ventures, it is extremely important that private sector must also develop the ability to generate its equity funds. The government’s efforts to mobilize

Supply Chain Management (Vimto) Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Supply Chain Management (Vimto) - Case Study Example We will use the three-month moving averages method because only these months will be considered to give a more accurate figure. Also, this method is very useful for businesses that are in rapidly changing industry, which VIMTO is part of (Winston, 2010). The calculation is as follows: 2. If the company has a policy to always keep 15,000 stock on hand at all times, and the stock on hand at the end of June was 10,000, then subtracting the end of June figure from the desired end of July figure will give us the correct answer. In this case, the difference is 5,000. This 5,000 can be added to 30,333 and we can get the production figure of 35,333. VIMTO should plan to produce 35,333 products during the month of July so that it has enough to meet its minimum stock requirements. 3. Demand for VIMTO may increase if a special event such as Ramadan was held during the month of July. There would be no way to forecast using that same year’s data because the demand would be smaller during the previous months. The only way to predict it is if there was data from the same time the previous year and then that data could be used to make the

Racism in the World and how is reflected in the Movie Hotel Rwanda Essay

Racism in the World and how is reflected in the Movie Hotel Rwanda - Essay Example Many factors can contribute themselves to racism and racial discrimination. Racism is always a product of inequality – whether it is cultural, economic or personal. A probe into history reveals to us how many countries and races have considered themselves superior to others and looked down upon others with scorn, contempt and hatred feelings. We know how Adolf Hitler and his belief that the Aryans are the best and most superior race in the world has caused a lot of violence, unrest and anti-humanitarian actions in the past. It is also advisable to bring into mind how the Negros in America and South Africa suffered various setbacks due to racial discrimination. Racism is a product of marginalization; the marginalized and suppressed races or communities strive themselves for existence, whenever they come to the realization that they had been suppressed and oppressed and their own individual human rights and that of the race are very adversely affected and endangered. The only po ssible solution to racism is the understanding that there is only a single race. There is no superior or inferior in the society; every individual equally deserves respect, humanitarian concerns and the opportunity to develop his/her potentialities irrespective of what race or culture he/she belongs. The issue of racism has something to do with culture and education. There are many who believe that the issue of racism is a cultural phenomenon and that effective education and the promotion of various ethnic identities can create better understanding and respect for others in the minds of people. â€Å"Racism has always been both an instrument of discrimination and a lot of exploitation. But it manifests itself as a cultural phenomenon, susceptible to cultural solutions such as multi-cultural education and the promotion of ethnic identities.† (Shah, Anup 2004). In the past many have tried to bring the issue of racism into light through literature, art, science

Discrimination and disparity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discrimination and disparity - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that discrimination refers to the act of treating someone in a less favorable way either because of some specific reasons or because of the race, gender, or class of that person. This essay discusses that discrimination injects a sense of dejectedness in a society and destroys the concept of equality. The basic understanding underlining the case study is that disparity, on the other hand, refers to the differences that exist between different groups of people. As Rivera states, â€Å"Disparity is believed by many to be a product of discrimination and starts with the process of arrest all the way to the sentencing structures†. The present research has identified that in the criminal justice system of a country, discrimination is a serious issue. The author has rightly presented that people having low social status usually face more trials as compared to the people having good financial status. This paper illustrates that this is a pur e example of discrimination. The researcher states that, on the other hand, a high figure of people of the same race held in a jail does not indicate that there is a high level of discrimination in the criminal justice system of that country.   Rather it indicates the group differences that exist between every two groups living in a society. This refers to group disparity. People belonging to one particular group are likely to do more crimes because of their way of living.