Of Mice And Men Essays (416 words) - English-language Films

Of Mice and Men The book that I have read that has really stayed with me is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I really enjoyed reading it which is unusual because I usualy don't enjoy reading to much. There was something about George and Lennie's friendship that really made me think. Seeing how they were and how they shared life was really intresting. George didn't have to bother with Lennie, he could have abandoned him and gone on his own way. But he did not do that, he stayed with Lennie watching over him almost like a parent to a child. Even though Lennie always got Georege in trouble, George never stoped loving him and always stood by him. The friendship they shared went beyond what was transparent they each shared a dream and both knew they ment the world to each other. I felt that if these totaly different people could get along and look out for each other, why can't we get along with people who are differnt than us. They made me realize that I could learn something from how to treat people w ho are differnt than me. What I also liked about it was the way they never stopped trying to reach their dream. This made me think that if they could work hard for there dream why can't I. It showed me that it does not matter were you come from or what you do, it is okay to dream and work as hard as you can to reach it . For all it shows for friendship and loyalty it also shows how sometimes you have to do things you never thought you would do. For example in the end when George is forced to shoot Lennie in the head you would never have thought he would do that, but you can see that under the circumstances he had no other choice. He only had two choices let the other people get to him first and watch them torture Lennie while he died a long horrible death or do it himself and get it over quick were Lennie did not know what hit him. This is also true in life, many times we are faced with tuff choices and even though they may be the hardest you will have to go through, you know that t hat is the only way. You come to the realization that everything you thought you was about, can all change with a blink of the eye.

Trash Islands - the Ocean Garbage Patch

Trash Islands - the Ocean Garbage Patch As our global population expands, so does the amount of trash we produce, and a large portion of that trash then ends up in the worlds oceans. Due to oceanic currents, much of the trash is carried to areas where the currents meet. These collections of trash have recently been referred to as marine trash islands. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch The Great Pacific Garbage Patchsometimes called the Eastern Garbage Patchis an area with an intense concentration of marine trash located between Hawaii and California. The exact size of the patch is unknown, however, because it is constantly growing. The patch developed in this area because of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre- one of many oceanic gyres caused by a convergence of ocean currents and wind. As the currents meet, the earth’s Coriolis Effect (the deflection of moving objects caused by the Earth’s rotation) causes the water to slowly rotate, creating a funnel for anything in the water. Because this is a subtropical gyre in the northern hemisphere it rotates clockwise. It’s also a high-pressure zone with hot equatorial air and comprises much of the area known as the horse latitudes. Due to the tendency of items to collect in oceanic gyres, the existence of a garbage patch was predicted in 1988 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) after years of monitoring the amount of trash being dumped into the worlds oceans. The patch was not officially discovered until 1997, though, because of its remote location and harsh conditions for navigation. That year, Captain Charles Moore passed through the area after competing in a sailing race and discovered debris floating over the entire area he was crossing. Atlantic and Other Oceanic Trash Islands Though the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the most widely publicized of the so-called trash islands, the Atlantic Ocean has one as well in the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea is located in the North Atlantic Ocean between 70 and 40 degrees west longitude and 25 and 35 degrees north latitude. It is bounded by the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, the Canary Current, and the North Atlantic Equatorial current. Like the currents carrying trash into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, these four currents carry a portion of the worlds trash to the middle of the Sargasso Sea where it becomes trapped. In addition to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the Sargasso Sea, there are five other major tropical oceanic gyres in the worldall with conditions similar to those found in these first two. Components of Trash Islands After studying the trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Moore learned that 90% of the trash found there was plastic. His research groupas well as NOAAhas studied the Sargasso Sea and other patches around the world and their studies in those locations have had the same findings. It is estimated that 80% of the plastic in the ocean comes from land sources while 20% comes from ships at sea. The plastics in the patches consist of items like water bottles, cups, bottle caps, plastic bags, and fish netting. It’s not just  large plastic items that make up the trash islands, however. In his studies, Moore found that the majority of the plastic in the worlds oceans is made up of billions of pounds of raw plastic pellets called nurdles. These pellets are a byproduct of plastics manufacturing. It is significant that most of the trash is plastic because it does not break down easilyespecially in water. When plastic is on land, it is more easily heated and breaks down faster. In the ocean, the plastic is cooled by the water and becomes coated with algae which shield it from sunlight. Because of these factors, the plastic in the world’s oceans will last well into the future. Garbage Islands Impacts on Wildlife The presence of the plastic in these patches is having a significant impact on wildlife in a number of ways. Whales, seabirds, and other animals can easily be snared in the nylon  nets and six-pack rings prevalent in the garbage patches. They are also in danger of choking on things like balloons, straws, and sandwich wrap. Additionally, fish, seabirds, jellyfish, and oceanic filter feeders easily mistake brightly colored plastic pellets for fish eggs and krill. Research has shown that over time, the plastic pellets can concentrate toxins which are passed on to sea animals when they eat them. This could poison them or cause genetic problems. Once the toxins are concentrated in the tissue of one animal, they can magnify across the food chain similar to the pesticide DDT. Finally, the floating trash can also aid in the spread of species to new habitats. Take, for instance, a type of barnacle. It can attach to a floating plastic bottle, grow, and move to an area where it is not naturally found. The arrival of the new barnacle could then possibly cause problems for the areas native species. The Future for the Trash Islands Research conducted by Moore, NOAA, and other agencies show that  trash islands are continuing to grow. Attempts have been made to clean them up but there is simply too much material over too large of an area to make any significant impact. Some of the best ways to aid in the cleanup of these islands are to suppress their growth by enacting stronger recycling and disposal policies, cleaning up the worlds beaches, and reducing the amount of trash going into the worlds oceans.

Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye

Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass considers the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, one of the final rulers of the Eighteenth Dynasty, as the greatest monarch ever reign over the Two Lands. Dubbed the Magnificent, this fourteenth-century B.C. pharaoh brought in unprecedented amounts of gold to his kingdom, built tons of epic structures, including the famed Colossi of Memnon and lots of religious buildings, and depicted his wife, Queen Tiye, in an unprecedentedly egalitarian fashion. Lets dive into the revolutionary era of Amenhotep and Tiye. Amenhotep was born to Pharaoh Thutmose IV and his wife Mutemwia. Aside from his alleged role in re-establishing the Great Sphinx as a big tourist spot, Thutmose IV wasnt that notable of a pharaoh. He did, however, do a bit of building, especially at Amuns temple in Karnak, where he explicitly identified himself with the sun god Re. More on that later!   Sadly for young Prince Amenhotep, his dad didnt live very long, dying when his kid was about twelve. Amenhotep ascended the throne as a boy king, exercising his only dated military campaign when he was about seventeen in Kush. By his mid-teens, though, Amenhotep wasnt focusing on the army, but his one true love, a woman named Tiye. Shes mentioned as the Great Royal Wife Tiye in his second regnal year - meaning they got married when he was just a kid! Tip of  the Hat to Queen Tiye Tiye was a truly remarkable woman. Her parents, Yuya and Tjuya, were non-royal officials; Daddy was a charioteer and priest called the Gods Father, while Mom was a priestess of Min. Yuya and Tjuyas fabulous tomb was uncovered in 1905, and archaeologists found lots of riches there; DNA testing performed on their mummies in recent years has proved key in identifying unidentified bodies. One of Tiyes brothers was a prominent priest named Anen, and many have suggested that the famous Eighteenth Dynasty official Ay, alleged father of Queen Nefertiti and eventual pharaoh after King Tut, was another of her siblings.   So Tiye married her husband when they were both quite young, but the most interesting item about her is the way in which she was portrayed in statuary. Amenhotep deliberately commissioned statues showing himself, the king, and Tiye as the same size, showing her importance in the royal court, which was on par with that of the   pharaoh! In a culture in which visual size was everything, bigger was better, so a big king and an equally big queen showed them as equals.   This egalitarian portrayal is pretty much unprecedented, showing Amenhoteps devotion to his wife, allowing her to wield influence comparable to his own. Tiye even takes on masculine, regal poses, showing up on her own throne as a Sphinx who crushes her enemies  and getting her own Sphinx colossus; now, shes not only equal to a king in the way shes portrayed, but shes taking on his roles! But Tiye wasnt Amenhoteps only wife - far from it! Like many pharaohs before and after him, the king took brides from foreign countries in order to form alliances. A commemorative scarab was commissioned for the marriage between the pharaoh and Kilu-Hepa, daughter of the king of Mitanni. He also wed his own daughters, as other pharaohs did, once they came of age; whether or not those marriages were consummated is up for debate. Divine Dilemmas In addition to Amenhoteps marital program, he also pursued massive construction projects throughout Egypt, which burnished his own reputation - and that of his wife! They also helped people think of him as semi-divine and created money-making opportunities for his officials. Perhaps more importantly for his son and successor, the Heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, Amenhotep III followed in his fathers sandalprints and identified himself with the biggest gods of the Egyptian pantheon on the monuments he built.   In particular, Amenhotep placed great emphasis on sun gods in his construction, statuary, and portraiture, displaying what  Arielle Kozloff aptly called a solar bent in every aspect of his realm. He showed himself as the god of the sun at Karnak and contributed extensively to Amun-Res temple there; later in life, Amenhotep even went to far as to consider himself as a living manifestation of  all  deity, with an emphasis on the sun god Ra-Horakhty, according to W. Raymond Johnson. Although historians dubbed him the Magnificent, Amenhotep went by the moniker of the Dazzling Sun Disk. Given his fathers obsession with his connection to the solar gods, its not too far of a stretch to get to the aforementioned Akhenaten, his son by Tiye and successor, who declared that the sun disk, Aten, should be the sole deity worshipped in the Two Lands. And of course Akhenaten (who started his reign as Amenhotep IV, but later changed his name) stressed that  he, the king,  was the sole intermediary between the divine and the mortal realms. So it looks like Amenhoteps emphasis on the   godly powers of the king went to an extreme in his sons reign. But Tiye may have also set a precedent for her Nefertiti, her daughter-in-law (and possible niece, if the queen was the daughter of Tiyes putative brother Ay). In the reign of Akhenaten, Nefertiti was depicted as occupying roles of great prominence in her husbands court and in his new religious order. Perhaps Tiyes legacy of carving out a great role for the Great Royal Wife as partner to the pharaoh, rather than mere spouse, carried on to her successor. Interestingly, Nefertiti also assumed some kingly positions in art, as her mother-in-law did (she was shown smiting enemies in a typical pharaonic pose).

Major trends today in the change in labour force Essay

Major trends today in the change in labour force - Essay Example There are basically seven major factors that motivate small and large companies in diversifying their workforces. These seven factors include the social responsibility, economic payback, resource imperative, legal requirement, marketing strategy, strategy related to business communications and strategy building. As a good diversity practice the people from disadvantaged groups of a community are considered and this relates to corporate responsibility of any business. Through diversification of the workforce the individuals can get a break required for earning a living. Diversification of workforce that is through welfare to work is likely to turn the tax users in tax payers. The changing demographics have greatly affected the workforce. The labor pool today includes people from various backgrounds and different life experiences. Under the legislation many companies round the world are observing equal employment opportunity that makes it best possible to utilize a workforce that is di verse. Nowadays in such a competitive world to fulfill a customer base that is extensive diverse it is very important to have a diverse workforce which is capable of making up for the customer base from every walk of life. For the companies that opt for retaining the homogenous workforces things are likely to become ineffective very soon. While recruiting the employees all the successful companies generally look for a diverse workforce and value them for their unique abilities and qualities. Analysis of Workforce Diversity Valuing and managing the workforce diversity is one of the key elements of effective management of people. This can ultimately enhance the workforce productivity and the overall performance of the company. The demographic changes like organizational restructuring, women in working places and the legislation related to equal employment opportunity require the companies a review of their management procedures and the development of new and innovative ways to manage people. Advantages of Workforce Diversity Diversity at the workplace has a lot of benefits that are discussed ahead. Workforce diversity is probable to lead towards an innovative and creative culture that has no limits. A diverse workforce can lead a profit making by ideas, creativity, innovation and exchange of knowledge (Esty, et al., 1995). An organization that has built up a rapport for diverse workforce is famous for attracting the best talent from all parts of the world. Marketing of products can be made easier as people with different backgrounds can come up with unique marketing campaigns that are likely to increase the sale. People from different areas speak different languages so the workforce that is diverse can understand and can develop better bonds with the customers as the company has employees that can speak various numbers of languages. Workforce diversity is also taken to play a crucial part in the effective solving of problems nowadays. By the diversity different talents are put together and different set of skills is used that increase productivity of the organization. By attracting and retaining the employees with diverse skills, competencies, talents, knowledge etc. the company is likely to win a competitive advantage. Diversity assists in building a synergy amongst teams and improves the communication skills. A lot of money can be saved by this diversification process as this is what the legislation of any country says. Challenges related to Workforce

Close Reading about Poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Close Reading about Poem - Essay Example . The opening of the poem, â€Å"my heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains† indicate that the mood of song is mellow (Keates Stanza 1 line 1). The author is trying to achieve the nightingale’s pure realm and escape from the troubles and darkness of the world through his drink. The nightingales’ voice sends him into a trance making him cheery and unable to focus on anything else. This is evident when he says, â€Å"Singest of summer in full-throated ease† (Keates Stanza 1 Line 10). His view of the world as a dark place is a product of his health problems and the fact that he became an orphan in his early teenage years and forced by circumstances to care for his sick brother. In as much as he is drunk, his tone is sober and enlightened. The nightingales’ songs turn his sorrow to joy and pain to pleasure. He imagines smelling flowers and drinking wine in the green country in the suns warmth and becoming one with the nightingale, â€Å"Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget† (Stanza 3 line 1). This shows his longing of a lively, enjoyable world. He comes to his senses in the sixth stanza when the reality of his mortality hits him hard. He is attracted to the nightingales’ song and realizes that the bird is incapable of experiencing pain and comprehending the pain of death. To him the bird is immortal because many people transverse all generations and history have heard the nightingale sing. When the nightingale flies off, the speaker feels lonely and disappointed. He feels he lacks the freedom of the nightingales and yearns to come to such freedom and usefulness. Perhaps death is his release (Cunningham & Reich & Fichner 127). Finally, in understanding this poem it is noteworthy to mention that the poet composed this poem after the demise of his brother. The poem expresses the reality of the duality of human experiences using imagery and melancholy. The different

Effects of Government Price Ceilings

Effects of Government Price Ceilings Markets, International Trade, Government Donna Green Governments have stepped in and set minimum and maximum prices ever since they have had control over the populace. Just in the United States alone, governments have predetermined the price of gasoline, added rent control to housing in New York City, and even fixed a minimum on unskilled labors wages. However, sometimes governments may tend to go past simply establishing price floors and price ceilings, and attempt to take over the prices of the general markets. This was done throughout World War I and World War II, as well as during the Korean War in the United States. The attraction of controlling prices is logical. These types of controls offer an assurance of protecting those that might be specifically hard-pressed to endure an increase to prices. Nevertheless, by doing so, the governments may sometimes fall short in shielding consumers and at the same time damage others. In the first scenario we are faced with the government setting a price ceiling on gasoline. Price ceilings are created to prevent prices of a product from exceeding a set maximum. However, if this is not done with the utmost caution, and the price in which the ceiling is set is below the equilibrium, it can create a drastic shortage of the product. As seen in the graph below, in order to maintain an even flow between price and demand, the government would have needed to set a price ceiling of no less than approximately $50/barrel to avoid shortages back in June of 2012. For example, 1973 and1979, the United States set a price ceiling on gasoline, which was below the equilibrium (Rockoff, 2008). This caused sellers to sale gas on a first-come-first-served basis, which also caused many consumers to have to wait in extensive lines to acquire gasoline as well as creating shortages. This is just one obvious example of the kind of chaos that can be created from the government setting a price ceiling on the gasoline market. That being said, a price ceiling can be a good thing at times. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina was on its way to impact the southeast United States coast. As impact was determined and warnings went out, many convenient stores significantly raised their gasoline prices overnight. This is known as price gauging. It is against the law, and a price ceiling is one way of preventing these types of circumstances from taking place and abusing consumers. These laws also apply to the other end of the spectrum to protect the populace. There is also a flip side to price ceilings where the government may set a minimum price. In the second scenario we have the government setting a minimum wage for unskilled laborers also called minimum wage. This is called a price floor. In 1992 a survey of economists was published asking them about general controls. With the statement made, â€Å"Wage-price controls are a useful policy option in the control of Inflation,† there were only 8.4% who agreed, there were 17.7% who agreed with qualifications, but the majority of 73.9% disagreed (Alston et al. 1992, p. 204). The price floor on wages could causeunemployment levels to rise, although they do increase the overall income of laborers in the regulated markets. As we see in the chart below, minimum wage versus the job market is inelastic, meaning that as minimum wage rises, the amount of employed laborers falls, increasing unemployment rates. Do to inflation, minimum wage does need to be adjusted to a degree, however, that d egree is a very sensitive one, and governments must take this into consideration. Price ceilings floors, however, are not the only issues that can significantly affect the economic market. Governments also have to deal with international trade. International Trade is the trading of services and products between at least two countries. Mankiw states ‘all countries can benefit from trading one another because trade allows each country to specialize in doing what it does best, ’ (Mankiw, 2013). This simply means that international trade is based upon the foundation that each country alone is not able to produce everything they need with the resources at their disposal and stay inside a minimum cost and quality range. The households benefit by having the ability to attain the best products at the lowest prices. Countries benefit because they can focus their resources in producing extra of the products which have a more comparative advantage and trading the overflow for those products they are short on. Also countries exporting earn foreign exchange which helps with obligations towards international debt, and can even increase appreciation of their currency. Th e owners of the exported products also get an advantage by increasing the prices in-line with global pricing, which is normally higher than the domestic prices. There are also losses to international trading that can occur. For one, this trading creates a dependency on other countries which can become an issue under circumstances such as political disagreements or even war. For instance, almost every country imports oil from countries like OPEC and Venezuela (Mankiw, 2013). If even one of these two countries were to stop exporting oil, much of the world would be at a standstill in less than a month because of these dependencies. There are other issues that can also affect importing and exporting with other countries such as tariffs, which is a fee that is assessed on imports. This can be done in several different ways, but the most common is the ‘specific tariff,’ which is a simple per unit charge. Governments may do this to help increase revenue or to protect domestic markets and industries from the competition from foreigners (Investopedia, 2013). This charge must be paid by the exporting country to the importing country. However, this can also lead to trade wars, as the other countries may start to add tariffs themselves to all of their imports. The WTO (World Trade Organization) is in place to ensure avoidance of just such issues being exaggerated. We can see how a tariff plays a role of increasing the price of imported goods in the graph below. It is important to understand that tariffs are not the only taxes that can affect the price of products and services. Governments tax most everything with the exception of groceries. For example, taxes on gasoline are one of the hottest debated among economists. There have been numerous studies exploring the effects of a range of gasoline taxes and how they might affect supply and demand (Picker, 2013). The bulk of the revenue generated from gasoline tax is placed in the Highway Trust Fund. Debates started in the early 2000’s over the use of gasoline taxes to create revenue (Ferguson, 2007). There are those policymakers who believe that the tax should be reduced or even suspended all together. Mankiw reasons that an increase in the gasoline tax, even by just one dollar, would produce $100 billion revenue in the first year (Mankiw, 2006). This money could be used to start paying off on the deficient; however, some policymakers fear that it will just increase government spending. Therefore, the efficiency of the revenue is dependent upon how the government uses the funds. Also, taxes make the t otal price per gallon go up for consumers, who, as we have seen in the past, may look to alternative means of travel to save the cash, which will actually cause revenues to decrease as the demand for gasoline decreases (shown in the chart below). There are many different factors that can influence and affect the economic structure of the country. From price ceilings to price floors, along with federal taxes and tariffs on imports, every aspect of economics has its advantages and disadvantages. It is up to the households, firms, governments, and countries to work together to keep the economy flourishing with growth. References Alston, R. M., Kearl, J. R. Vaughan, M. B.. (1992). â€Å"Is There a Consensus Among Economists in the 1990’s?†American Economic Review82: 203–209. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2117401?uid=3739600uid=2uid=4uid=3739256sid=21103270803147 Ferguson, J. (2007). â€Å"Should the US increase the Federal Gas Tax?†Major Themes in Economics. Retrieved from http://business.uni.edu/economics/Themes/ferguson.pdf Investopedia. (2013). Tariff. Retrieved on January 14, 2014 from: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tariff.asp Mankiw, N. G. (2013) Principles of Economics[VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/books/9781133890805/id/ch09 Mankiw, N. G. (2006), â€Å"Raise the Gas Tax,† Wall Street Journal, A12. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB116131055641498552 Picker, L. (2013).The Effect of Gasoline Taxes on Work Effort. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/digest/jul04/w10330.html Rockoff, H. (2008).Price Controls. Retrieved from http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PriceControls.html

Pros and Cons of Ethical Theories

Ethical Theories- Pros and Cons Katherine Bryson ETH/316 October 15, 2012 Mark Cobia Ethical Theories- Pros and Cons The similarities between the virtue theory, the utilitarianism theory and deontological theory are that they all support good and responsibility. Virtue theory not only concentrates on how an individual acts but also what a person should strive to be, for example a religious figure may personify perfection when in the public when they really should strive for that perfection at all times. The deontological theory states that people â€Å"have a moral obligation to follow certain principles. I liken this to the Ten Commandments, rules or principles that we all are expected to follow. â€Å"The utilitarian theories, as supported by John Stuart Mill, call for generating the greatest aggregate good for the greatest number of people. One major benefit of such theories is that they take consequences into account. They seek specifically to promote the human good as a whole. They also provide guidance for behavior, enabling people to know what qualifies as the moral choice. † I will again use the religious area as an example because to me this is what the religious leaders do.They preach to the multitudes to be good and do good and they also offer guidance. The differences between virtue theory, utilitarian and decontological are that â€Å"virtue ethics cannot generate specific rules to guide behavior. † Under the utilitarian theory â€Å"only total human good or happiness matters. † Deontological theories â€Å"do not always clarify how to rank duties. † I lived in a very small community where everyone knew everyone and we all thought we were living the life of good moral standards and values, until one day I saw a very prominent member of the community, enter an establishment that everyone knew was a hangout for drug users.This person was there for a long time and when they came out you could tell they were under the influ ence. Now according to the deontology theory it was my obligation to report this person to the proper authorities, but I fell short because it meant the demise of a family.References Ridley, Aaron. 1998. Beginning Bioethics. New York: St. Martin’s Press http://www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm http://www. ehow. com/info_8404891_pros-cons-ethical-theories. html