Monday, September 30, 2019

Ken from Whose Life Is It Anyway Persuading the Judge to Let Him Die Essay

In this essay, I will be describing and analysing how Ken, from â€Å"whose life is it anyway†, used persuasive techniques to persuade the judge to let him die. Ken is trying to persuade the judge to let him die, and he persuades him with this quote â€Å"†¦and I find the hospital’s persistent effort to maintain this shadow of life an indignity and its humane. † this quote is clearly showing that he does not want to rely on other people. The word â€Å"maintain† stands for holding something like an object in your household. He does not want the hospital and the doctors to â€Å"maintain† his shadow of life because he thinks that he is â€Å"dead already†. In the quote â€Å"†¦but the dignity starts with their choice. If I chose to live, it would be appalling if society killed me. If I chose to die, its equally appalling if society keeps me alive. † This quote shows that he cares about other people not just himself. The word â€Å"society† is used because it shows that he thinks truly not only about himself. Also there is a word â€Å"choose†, this clearly shows that there is no modal verbs and it is more effective and emotive, as that word, it self, shows that he thought everything though what he actual said. I like the way Ken uses strong words like â€Å"appalling†, by saying this, he is exaggerating and by doing this, he is shocking. Ken doesn’t thing letting someone live although they’re against it is terrible, but the fact that they don’t get the choice. â€Å"The cruelty doesn’t reside on saving someone or allowing them to die. It resides in the fact that the choice is removed from the man concerned† this quote means exactly how ken feels at that moment. The choice is about to be taken from him, and that will make things even harder for him. The word â€Å"cruelty† is a very strong word. Using it, Ken, creates sympathy and it made the whole quote more persuasive and he was saying that people are cruel by taking the choice from him. Also I this quote, he is stating by using words like â€Å"is†, â€Å"fact†, â€Å"it resides†. All of these are modal verbs and show that he knows what he is talking about and is confident with what he thinks and knows. The author chose the techniques for a reason, and the reasons are that the whole fact about persuading the judge needs to be pointed out as it’s the most important bit in the story play, the judge will judge from whether to save the man or let him die as he wanted. It’s a life or death situation. Ken also uses rhetorical questions to make the judge think, â€Å"Is that surprising? † Ken said this on purpose as it is very effective persuasive technique like in the one. Rhetorical questions overall, start arguments and debates in which this story is all about. Overall I think that the judge did the right thing letting ken die. He would be suffering mentally and physically if he didn’t. This story has many different writing techniques and only very few I have analysed in this essay. I think they are very effective upon this story and the story wouldn’t make sense and so much drama if it didn’t.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Benefits of Science

Daylon Coles Everybody in this country knows the benefits of having science apart of our culture. Science is the systematized body of knowledge which helps our minds to learn and discover all about everything. It improves us by developing our minds, creating advancements in technology and makes it a bit easier to live in our world.Science matters in our world and it should matter for the simple fact that without science, we would fail to make advancements in life, from a business and ethical standpoint, and it should matter because ancient civilizations which were far more advanced than us, incorporated science as their primary means of survival and advancements. Measles is a highly contagious viral illness of the respiratory system that spreads through airborne droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.Historically, measles has been a life taking disease, but WHO (World Health Organizations) reported in 2006 that measles death rates dropped from 871,000 to 454,000 between 1 999 and 2004, thanks to a global immunization drive. That’s about a 50 percent decrease in 5 years thanks to the advancement in Science. Living in this country you can’t fail to neglect the business aspect of it. Science has also proved to have some pros to the business aspect of life.If we were to take a look at some numbers, exclude ethics, and examine the business aspect, ’some’ people are actually generating a very good profit: In the year 2008, there were more than two dozen pharmaceutical companies that grossed over a billion dollars. In order to determine if we need science in our world, we would have to determine whether or not the world would be a more effective place without science. That would mean taking away the scientists of the world and imagining the world without it.I’ll attempt to focus on a couple of scientist and what they do and you, the reader, can determine whether or not we need these sciences: Agricultural Scientist- Study commercial plants, animals and cultivation techniques that increases the productivity of farms, Microbiologists- study bacteria, virus and fungi, Neuroscientist- study the function of the nervous system, Medical scientists- Scientists who carry out clinical trials to find revolutionary solutions in the field of medicine. So for instance, you take away the science of agriculture and you fail to have to necessary crops to produce basic means for life.You take away microbiology and you will no longer have the tools to create vaccines for diseases people encounter in everyday life. If you were to sit back for a moment, and just visualize the world without the many different braches of science, you can clearly see the world is in much need and will continue to be in dire need of science. One negative viewpoint people may try to take is that advancement in science and technology brings pollution, destroys animal life and maybe even one day it will destroy earth.People may also believe Sci ence opposes the way humans should live, degrading our morals and encourage humans to be lazy and materialistic. These theories can potentially be true, but before fully agreeing with them ask you to imagine this scenario; If you were sitting in a room tied down to a chair with a loaded gun on the table, would the gun shoot you? It’s just you, four walls, yourself tied down to the chair and the loaded gun. Obviously the gun would not shot you. That is the same exact concept of science. It’s not the science that causes so much pollution and makes people lazy; it’s the people.If you were to take a doctor who specializes in abortions, but decides to never indulge in performing such operations, people wouldn’t see him as abusing his right. So when looking at science from a negative viewpoint remember guns don’t kill people, people kill people. No matter how you look at it, science is a vital concept in life and without it, we would be a lost civilizati on. Science does matter in the world and it should matter for the simple reason of progression. If you aren’t going forwards, then you’re going backwards and fortunately, science is the tool that allows us to continue to advance.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

An Introduction To Sequences In Mathematics English Language Essay

An Introduction To Sequences In Mathematics English Language Essay This is an introduction to sequences. In mathematics, that is, discrete mathematics have learned about sequences, which is an ordered list of elements. The sequences is about arrangement of objects, people, tasks, grocery items, books, movies, or numbers, which has an ‘order’ associated with it. Like a set, it contains members and the number of terms. This members is called elements or terms and the number of terms is also called the length of the sequences. Sequences having a natural numbers. There are all even numbers and odd numbers. This usually defined according to the formula: Sn = a, function of n = 1,2,3,†¦a set A= {1,2,3,4} is a sequence. B = {1,1,2,2,3,3,} is though the numbers of repeating. There are specific sequences that have their own formulas and methods for finding the value of terms, such as arithmetic and geometric sequences. List of numbers, finite and infinite, that follow some rules are called sequences.P,Q,R,S is a sequences letters that diff er from R,Q,P,S, as the ordering matters. Sequences can be finite or infinite. For this example is finite sequence. For example of infinite is such as the sequence of all odd positive integers (1,3,5,†¦.). Finite sequences are sometimes known as strings or words, and infinite sequences as streams. The empty sequence ( ) is included in most notions of sequence, but may be excluded depending on the context. In this topic means sequences, there are covered about indexing, operation on sequences, sequences of integers, subsequences, increasing, decreasing, nonincreasing, nondecreasing, sigma notation, and pi notation. Besides that, in this topic also discuss about changing the index and limit in sum. Background A sequences was created by Leonardo Pisano Bigollo (1180-1250). Pisano means â€Å"from Pisa† and Fibonacci which means son of Bonacci. He known as by his nickname, Fibonacci. He was born in Pisa which is now part in Italy, the city with the famous Leaning Tower. He p layed important role in reviving ancient methematical skills, as well as making significant contributions of his own. He was known for a great interset in math. Because of the Fibonacci Series, He is most known. A series of numbers approaching nature reality. For example, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 233, 300, 377, †¦The sum of the 2 preceding numbers are from each succeding number. Fibonacci was a member of the Bonacci family and traveled all around the Mediterranean as a boy. He traveled with his father who held a diplomatic post. To excel in solving a wide variety of mathematical problems, His keen interest in mathematics and his exposure to other cultures allowed Fibonacci. Fibonacci is probably best known for discovering the Fibonacci sequence. Besides that, A sequences is also was created by Leonardo Fibonacci. He is the Italian mathematician. He also known as Leonardo of Pisa, documented the mathematical sequences often found in nature in 1202 in his book, â€Å"Liber Abaci† which means â€Å"book of the abacus†In the sequences, each number is sum of two numbers, such as 1 + 1 = 2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 2 = 4, and so on. That sequence can be found in the spirals on the skin of a pineapple, sunflowers, seashells, the DNA double helix and, yes, pine cones.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Motorcycle Club Activities And The Response By Law Enforcement Research Paper

Motorcycle Club Activities And The Response By Law Enforcement - Research Paper Example Although RICO has been one method of dealing with the organized nature of the clubs, the effectiveness to date has not been encouraging. The American myth of the outlaw motorcycle gang is still a living and thriving entity that had yet to be controlled by law or authority. Motorcycle club activities and the response by law enforcement One of the iconic images of the 1960s was the idea of the motorcycle club, glamourized by films and supported by the almost mythical existence of the Hell’s Angels which was commonly known across the United States. While the emergence of street gangs has overwhelmed the urban legends of the motorcycle gang activities, eclipsing the romance of the open road with the romance of the gritty streets of the city, motorcycle gangs are still in existence and are tied both to street activities and prison gang activities. The primary business of MCs or motorcycle clubs is that of the drug trade, although with their ties to organized crime they have their h ands in quite a bit of illegal activity. The flesh trade is another popular form of enterprise for the MCs as it became a natural extension of the hedonistic lifestyle embraced. Illegal activities occur through complex and extensive relationships with other forms of organized crime and with networks of chapters and clubs that support the criminal businesses that they run. The MCs are powerful with a strong organized culture in which the hierarchy and the military style authority with which they operate provides both security for the members and a strict code of behaviors with violent consequences when violated. Law enforcement on the local level has the problem of handling the club while federal authorities are freer to act more aggressively towards taking apart the organizations, but to date other than disassembling portions of the club, a bit at a time; they have not been able to take down the system. Biker Culture According to Nichols (2010) â€Å"Any time society breeds a natio n of sheep – when people grow to lazy or meek or subservient to power – a few wolves emerge to attack these weaknesses and keep the human herd strong† (p. 62). The biker culture emerged, primarily in the aftermath of World War II, although the official beginning was in 1935 (Birzer, 2011). Men who had been in the war came home to a world in which they were now disenfranchised. Although the economy was booming, the soldiers were suffering from the same feelings of displacement that most veterans of war experience. In reaction to both the economy that was emerging in a new society that had no place to them and the need for the return to the social structure and brotherhood of the armed forces, the creation of ‘clubs’ to provide for these men became the result. If one looks at the nature of the membership, they have a uniform, earn patches for performance which gives them honor, and have a structured hierarchy (Nichols, 2010). Another important element to membership is that the bike that is owned must be of American manufacture, thus the clubs, although outlaw show a sense of pride for their nation (Birzer, 2011). While the origins of the original comment that began the idea of the ‘one percenter’ is lost to history, the comment that created this outlaw ideal was based upon a quote that stated that 99% of all bikers were law abiding citizens (Joans, 2001). From this comment was born the elite, those bikers who lived the myth of the outlaw biker, wreaking havoc on the world and living a life of relentless hedonism. Sonny Barger of the Hell’s Angels began the tradition in the 1960s of adding the ‘

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The Separation of Church and State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Separation of Church and State - Essay Example The Separation of Church and State The separation of church and state is distancing the relationship of the organized religion and the nation. The second reason is that the church might harm the state by starting a war because of wrongful religious convictions. The state also can harm the church when it dictates on religious ceremonies or by forcing religious leaders on civic matters that offend the church. There are 4 kinds of power: Physical, wealth, influence and authority. These powers can be misused in controlling others and can be dangerous when combined. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely hence no one should have this kind power hence the need to separate the two entities. With the separation of church and state, religious leaders should not have no right to interfere in policy decisions made by the government. It is actually inappropriate for policies by the government to be based solely on religious beliefs and doctrines. This does not mean that officials in the government should abandon their faith to take part in the political process or that it is wrong to take up moral and religious values in politics. Moral dimensions also exist in both social and public policies including budgets which are inherent moral documents. Decisions such as tax increments and public spending affect the society and reflect a community’s priorities. Policy decision that affects peoples’ lives such as laws condemning murder and theft are rooted from religious teachings and are shared broadly across secular and religious lines. However, a public official has no right to base decisions or cite religious beliefs as a reason for failure to uphold the duties and responsibilities of their office. Religious leaders should only advice or be consulted but not having a seat at the decision table. They can comment, condemn or support the policies but only as the church’s opinion and not as the general public†™s. The Family brought a fresh perspective on influential evangelists such as Charles Finney, Jonathan Edwards and Billy Graham. The book also gives a new understanding of leaders including Senators Sam Brownback and Hillary Clinton and former senator Dan Coats, Jack Kemps and religious right leaders Chuck Colson, Ted Haggard and Bill Bright. In the book, we learn how the legislative precedent for George Bush’s faith initiative was brought up by ideas from The Family and was sponsored by Family members, Republican Senators Ashcroft and Coats with assistance from Hillary Clinton. According to Sharlet (29), the author of The Family, members of this organization rarely step out of the shadows but only on one public event, the Prayer Breakfast which is annually hosted in the Whitehouse. When the government is lobbying efforts of most religious institutions, their activities are usually done in the darkness even as people of numerous influences routinely pressure lawmakers on is sues ranging from international relations to healthcare or abortion rights to poverty. This was designed by the government when congress passed the Lobbying Disclosure Act in 1995 (Sharlet 15). The act provided a few exceptions including lobbying communications done by a church. The separation of state and the church is very important to the American government, but it is usually vague and murky. Americans want their legislators to pass good laws that result in a good society and good citizenship. Religious leaders do not have two perspectives of good, one secular and one religious. A legislator has to believe in the

Marketing Analysis of the Country of Zaire Research Paper

Marketing Analysis of the Country of Zaire - Research Paper Example Its capital is Kinshasa and its people are called Zairian (Library of Congress Country Studies, 1993). "Known as the Belgian Congo up until its independence in June 1960, unrest and rebellion plagued the new government until 1965, when Lieutenant General Joseph-Dsir Mobutu, by then commander-in-chief of the national army, seized control of the country and declared himself president for five years" (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2009). Geography. The over-all land area is 2,343,950 square kilometers / 904765 square miles and with a generally high temperature and humidity. Two wet and two dry seasons are observed during the year with an average annual temperature of 25C (Library of Congress Country Studies, 1993). Demography. The over-all population of the country is recorded at 53,624,718 and a density of 22.88 per sq. kilometer. A study of Shapiro in 1995 has found out that the population grows by 3% annually over the past 30 years (Shapiro, 1995). This figure has not increased much then. The birth rate is 46.02 births/ 1000 population while the death rate is at 15.15 deaths/ 1000 population. Life expectancy at birth is recorded at 48.94 years.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

In the voice of Tita, write to Mama Elena and tell her how you feel Essay

In the voice of Tita, write to Mama Elena and tell her how you feel - Essay Example For all my life, I wanted nothing but your love and your care, but what you have given to me in return for all my selfless services? A broken heart? A tormented soul? Mama, I have never demanded anything from your other than Pedro in my life and what excuse did you give? You loved your traditions and old customs more than your own blood. For a mother, her child’s happiness means everything, but sadly, to you your old and out fashioned traditions means an entire world. Your unjust behavior and selfishness have left a hollow space in my heart. Mama, you should be ashamed of being a selfish mother; you should be ashamed of betraying your own daughter, your own blood over your traditions and stern behavior. With all the pain I have in my heart, I hold you responsible for every bad incident in my life. Its only you who have made me suffer for the rest of my life. I lost the meaning of life and happiness, and it is only because of you, mama. I regret making selfless sacrifices for you. The damage you have caused to my soul is irreparable. You have hurt me more than anyone in the world, and no one else can hurt me more than

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Employee Monitoring at work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employee Monitoring at work - Essay Example Video Surveillance. Employers use video surveillance to monitor their employees' behaviors. Some cameras are placed in open and noticeable areas, while others may be installed secretly so employees do not know they are present. Electronic Mail (e-mail) and Voice Mail Monitoring. Many employers monitor employees' e-mail and voice mail. E-mail provides options to employers to ask for "Receipt Request," "Priority Category" to see when employees use email, whether employees received the message, etc. Employers use many kinds of employee monitoring systems. They include electronic monitoring, computer monitoring, video surveillance, teams of investigators posing as friends, undercover operatives, spying, eavesdropping/wiretapping, electronic mail and voice mail monitoring, and active badge. The advantages to employees is objectivity, consistency, and accuracy in performance appraisal, feedback on work performance with the aim of improving work methods, and geographical and time flexibility by facilitating telecommunication and To the employees, the disadvantages are privacy invasion, discouragement of high quality work with the emphasis on speed and other quantitative measurements, and work stress resulting in health issues. To the emplo

Monday, September 23, 2019

Vanishing (Disappearing) Middle Class in U.S.A Essay

Vanishing (Disappearing) Middle Class in U.S.A - Essay Example According to the research, the shift is being attributed to a fall in wages and job market that is slowly weakening. In a new report that was published by Autor (2010), the work force in the U.S.A is rapidly splitting into two main categories, the high paying jobs and the corresponding low paying jobs. In this regard, it can be noticed that demographics about the middle income earners is missing. The effect of the disappearing middle class is taking a toll on America’s young men who are turning out to be potential employees. This situation simply means that irrespective of the field which they would want to join, they have to increase their educational levels to secure employment chances. Having high school qualification alone may not be enough to warrant a good job unlike in the past. Despite of the many disadvantages that have been associated with this trend, there is a group of people who seem to have benefited. Advanced degree holders have been having gains in the job opportunities available. This is just for the fact that job opportunities have remained a preserve of the highly educated or the low class. For this reason, the few that have gained employment in this season have benefitted from the better remunerations associated with the jobs (Wessel, 2011). One of the key culprits for this alarming development is technology. It has been witnessed that knowledge and skills exhibited by the middle class group are fast becoming irrelevant or obsolete with respect to industry needs. The introduction of computer and robot technology has meant that clerical works in companies and assembly line productions can be done by few people who have the required knowledge to run the machines (Price, 2010). Introduction of computer technology has led to a sharp reduction in the amount of human capital in companies. The jobs that have been left available are only those requiring low education, something that has led to an increase in the low

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Contrast in Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay Example for Free

Contrast in Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay Conrad uses contrast in his novel â€Å"Heart of Darkness†. Conrad would use contrast to convey meaning in his writing. Not only did contrast help convey meaning, but he also used it to show feelings. Of the many contrast in â€Å"Heart of Darkness† the difference of light and dark and the difference between the Thames River and the Congo River are the most obvious. The biggest contrast in â€Å"Heart of Darkness† is the difference between light and dark. London represents the light. London is in civilization, and if London represents the light, then civilization also has a big thing to do with light. The light represents everything that everyone has learned in their life, whether it was through experiences or through other peoples mistakes. On the other side there is the darkness. Africa is the main representation of darkness. Africa was uncivilized territory that everyone wanted to explore, but the darkness frightened people. Everything that happened in the darkness, â€Å"cannibals† and â€Å"savages† prowled the darkness, awaiting travelers. Africa is the heart of darkness. The contrast of the Thames River and the Congo River is also big in the story. The Thames is characterized as calm. Like the light the Thames represents good. The light from London makes sure the river is seen and nothing is cryptic about the river. On the other hand, the Congo is a dark, cryptic river. It is a place of evil. The contrast of these two rivers is the difference between the good and the evil, and light and dark. The Thames is peaceful and tranquil; it symbolizes light and civilization. The Congo is wild and barbaric; it symbolizes the dark and everything uncivilized and frightening.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Analysis of E-Grocery System in Tesco and Sainsburys

Analysis of E-Grocery System in Tesco and Sainsburys Strategic and Economic Analysis of E-Grocery System in Tesco and Sainsbury ABSTRACT Online shopping and home delivery systems become most famous in recent decades. Online grocers have been testing various business models with altering results. This research study is carried out in two main grocers of the UK (Tesco and Sainsbury). This research study conducted Case study and historical data, and meta-analysis to identify current strategies and business models of e-grocery which contributed to their success. Both companies management styles, expansions strategy, market selections strategy, order-processing and picking methods, home delivery methods, website design and different strategies for customer relationship management are explored and evidenced the successful factors. The findings reveal that online grocery knowledge and experience in grocery business play a significant role in E-grocery success. Using slow and steady expansion with careful investment helps online grocers to stay in game. The In-store picking method is more profitable and suitable for e-grocery business. Understanding customers, wants and needs will provide tremendous opportunity for business expansion. CHAPTER 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION: This chapter provides general background, problem statement, purpose of study, research objectives, major research questions and structure of dissertation. 1.2. General background: From many decades many groceries and also many manufacturing companies are providing delivery services to customers. Home delivery of household goods is not a recent concept in grocery retailing sector. However, until 1990s e-grocery was not potentially recognisable business channel, when grocers introduced internet based online ordering facility it revolutionised whole grocery industry (Papiernik, 2000). Nowadays, not only pure-play industries offer e-grocery services but also many more supermarkets offering e-grocery service. E-grocerys continuous and fast growth is capturing market share from traditional retailers. Many of grocers have tried online unit and some of them are successful and some of them have failed in the history of grocery retail sector. For example, online grocery business is judged to show sales figure. The estimation shows that, about 0.3% to 0.7% of total sales in UK and 0.2% of sales in USA. (Kumar, 2001). The e-grocery market value is estimated at â‚ ¬450 to â‚ ¬1,000 million and $900 million in United States. 1.3. Problem statement:- On one hand, many customers are interested to do online shopping for their household goods, but yet they are not interest to abandon shopping in-store in traditional way. Most of the people still believed that, online shopping is too expensive. On the other hand, many more industries also have made their effort to build online stores by providing this extra service to the customers. Organisations are continuously striving hard to build different strategic approaches for fulfilment of orders in profitable way. However, online unit business will add extra expenditure to grocers with or without some nominal charges. The profit margin is comparably very low in e-grocery to traditional one. Many grocers have undertaken to provide online shopping experience for their customers with different strategies. Profit margin is very low and sustainability in this industry is difficult. In the history of grocery sector many more companies have introduced online shopping and home delivery units and have failed. 1.4. Purpose of the study:- The online shopping and home delivery is still in an emergent phase. E-grocery business is very challenging field and it provides an extraordinary opportunities for business. E-groceries have made many more efforts to implement various strategies and service concepts, there is no much research carried out in this area. This research study provides insight of e-grocery methods in retail sector, identifies operating strategies and strategic and economic analysis of home delivery methods in Sainsbury and Tesco. 1.5. Research objectives and significance of the study:- This research study will be carried out to analyse the current strategies and economic implications of e-grocery sector in Tesco and Sainsbury. The main objective of the study is to determine whether home delivery is strategic and economic contributor to company or not. The research also seeks to perform business models of the e-grocery system. The dissertation will provide the best strategic implementation method for online grocery systems in companies which will result in profit. Another objective is to determine business model for order processing. This study will focus on order picking and home delivery of the goods. 1.6. Structure of dissertation:- The dissertation is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1: This chapter provides general background of online grocery shopping and home delivery system, problem statement, purpose of study, research objectives and significance of the study, and outline of dissertation structure. Chapter 2 This chapter provides literature background for e-grocery system. The literature describes customer base critiqued on the basis of different characteristics, online market share and trends and customer relationship management. Chapter 3: This chapter presents research methods used to analyse the research aim and objectives. The research is carried out with qualitative analysis. Analysis is carried out using two methods, firstly case study and historical analysis, and secondly Meta analysis. Both are used to identify strategies, models, and success and failure levels of industries. Chapter 4: The fourth chapter confers finding of research, analyses the data and shows the results. Chapter 5: The final chapter draws the conclusion for overall report and also proposes possible future research in online grocery field. CHAPTER 2 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Introduction:- The literature reviews the operational and strategic analysis of E-grocery systems. There are many business models in E-grocery business. To make E-business model a sustainable one, they are using different strategies in different targeted markets. Each individual model varies from the other in various dimensions such as placing of order, assembling and delivering the goods. The first part of the literature provides statistical description of online grocery industry in various geographical areas and measures. The second part provides review of the E-grocery industrys market and its customer base. The final part offers previous studies, opinions and factors about various outcomes of e-grocery business. 2.2. Industry overview:- Over last five decades grocery business has transformed into new sector of supermarkets in UK. Many of the supermarkets have changed the grocery field dramatically. These champions of consumers have brought vast choices in product and price to improve their business sector. Online grocery shopping and Home delivery system has become one of major aspects in grocery industries. The revolution of technology advancement in internet has promoted grocery industries to embark on new methods in retailing industry. However, many grocers have been unsuccessful to consider the advantages of how it can support grocery business. These developments have lead to dismissal of complete-online supermarkets such as Web-Van, HomeGrocer, Shoplink and homeruns (Ramus and Nielsen, 2005). These results demonstrate the necessity of careful crafting of e-grocery strategies which exploits internet technologys potential of increasing company profit and also customer service (porter, 2001). On one hand, strategy conceptualisation is difficult for pure-play grocery stores since companies have not tried business models before. On the other hand, formulation of strategies for clicks and bricks grocery shops requires strategies which will combine both existing retail practice and internet based shopping processes (Teo, 2002). Online shopping or e-grocery retailing service involves customers online buying behaviour and practices, order fulfilment and delivery of order, development and maintenance of online websites to facilitate customers to enter their orders (Hong and Kim, 2004). This literature provides insight of into e-groceries and their strategic methods. 2.3. Development of home deliveries in the UK:- In United Kingdom, from centuries home delivery of goods has been taking place. During 20th century some local door to door field sales and home deliveries went down due to rise large number of retail centres and also availability of cheap cars. However, some of the home delivery business still in existence such as milk and catalogue distribution etc. The innovation of large consumer products such as washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, televisions etc resulted in certain type of delivery methods after mid-twentieth century. (Spufford, 1994) The recent development of information technology has contributed many new methods to retailing sector over the internet which has drastically increased the demand of home deliveries. Online shopping and home delivery has become an ideal path or approach in a society where people themselves believe they are cash-rich and time-poor for grocery or household goods. E-commerce along with some other forms offers the opportunity for consumers to buy household goods from their homes and also to receive deliveries at their flexible timings rather than travelling to stores. (ibid) 2.4. Grocery and grocery industry:- Groceries and other food retailers function each and every day, yet it is fundamental and permanent industry sectors in the business world. Everybody requires food, thus everyone must and should purchase food from one or another retail outlet. Therefore, the grocery industry is a vast, fragmented and tremendously competitive environment (Kelly Delaney et al, 2003 pp 187). â€Å"In Great Britain, food retailing industry constitutes 36 percent of overall retail turnover annually (Central Statistical Office, 1990). In United Kingdom the largest individual category of family expenditure and along with some other groups, which are partially sold in supermarkets, like household goods, tobacco and alcohols, clothing and leisure goods for a considerably large share of customer shopping (Central Statistical Office, 1991). (Russell Aylott et al, 1998, Pp.363) 2.5. Customer base and market trends:- According to Verdict (2006a), 80% of the online shoppers were of 29 to50 age group in 2002. Majority of responded shoppers were females. There are three groups of online shoppers: firstly rich and busy people who are pressed for time, secondly families with one or more young children and thirdly people who find difficulty to get into stores. The first group of people are those who have higher income and less time to shop. These people are normally high internet users, technology comprehend or family with dual income. These rich and busy people prefer someone to shop behalf of them. The second group are those who have got young children in their families. They constitute higher number of e-grocery shoppers. The age group of e-grocery shoppers is 29 to 50 years old with at least one young child under five years of age. This group of people usually spend their time in cooking dinners for their family. Therefore they prefer shop online for regular household groceries. This category of pe ople wants to avoid hassle situation at stores by dragging kids along with them for shopping. The final group is comparably small to other two categories. This group of people are those who find difficulty to access the store environment due to several reasons like age or physical disability etc. Peoples average life span has increased in recent decades comparing to 1950s and 1960s. Peoples average life span has increased from 67.8 to 77.2 in 2007 and the estimated life span is 82.4 for 2015.Aged people and physically challenged people may need little more extra help while doing shopping. They may found it as difficult to drive to supermarkets and to carry heavy household goods back to home. Online shopping will be the good alternative source of grocery shopping for them. 2.6. Estimation of home delivery shopping market and market share:- In the year 1999 the total home shopping market worth was figured at  £12.36bn in the UK market. The projected view for 2004 was  £24.12bn. All sectors have experienced by considerable growth. Constant increase has been expected for following 5 years as customers accept different new channels for purchasing of goods. Traditional grocery shopping is a matured market. However, recent developments and growth predicts that, it has been generated by potential e-commerce and majority of grocers have converted a part of their business into e-grocers. UK e-shopping was  £581m worth in the year 1999 and estimated growth of  £1.53bn in 2000. Verdict research predicted that there will be huge growth of 3.36% of total sales in online market and it was estimated as  £8.84bn by 2004(Nielsen, 2000). 2.7. Market trends in home shopping:- E-commerce growth in recent decades (excluding some declined cases) has transformed old traditional companies into technology implemented new companies. Moreover, now companies are in better position to exploit and implement new technologies to business models to grow their sales and profit. In the starting days of internet technology there were comments from academic commentators that most of incumbent businesses were unwilling to try internet for sales channel. There was lack of internet knowledge and also uneven distribution of amount for physical distribution. These companies distribution infrastructures have their brand names and customer base which will help them to command and access the funding, and provide stronger position to embrace e-commerce (Anderson consulting, 2000). If we consider present situation, majority of internet user are males compare to females. This socio-economic difference in internet profile user also affects online shopping. Along with these higher proportion of society contains children and youth who currently own their own computer systems and access internet more than older generation. However, research depicts that some of these variations may diminish over the growth of technology. For example, the prediction of women internet user by the 2005 will increase by sixty percent of total UK online users. (Tesco 2000a; Tesco Annual Report, 2000). Many more established retailers are likely to adopt a new approach, Multichannel retail sector implementation and development, in future. Already there are alternative channel development methods by many large retailers. It will also permit retailers to create alternative channels to draw supply chains and resources from their existence channels. For manufacturing companies it will provide good opportunity to access customers directly and to formulate new methods of delivering service or product. There is an expectation of launching of new niche catalogues from major drivers in UK as growth rate penetrates. (Webb, 2000). 2.8. Geographical characteristics:- Sandoval (2002) mentioned analyst Robert Rubin said that average population density in UK is high compared to ones US. The US (31 per sq.km) population density is one-eighth of the UK (248 per sq.km) in 2004 (world population prospectus). Tesco and Sainsbury have become successful e-grocers in the UK. These grocers target highly populated urban areas for more potential consumers. Urban areas are densely populated, people reside very close. In large cities there are less people who own cars. There are other factors which influence online grocery shopping in urban areas such as busy lifestyle, highly crowded shopping malls, public transport dependence for transportation and higher income. According to Mclaughlin (2005) cities are highly populated with internet users and considerable residents with disposable income. It is difficult expand online shopping to system to all geographic areas instead it could be done from one urban area to another, expanding business like this will make company delivery truck to achieve high number of deliveries at every trip. 2.9. Psychographic characteristics:- Punakivi, M., Saranen, J. (2001) mentioned five major decision elements for online shopping (price, convenience, product variety, ambiance and service). He also stated several reasons to increase online shopping chances such as changing family structure, busy work schedule with increased working hours, less free time and time consuming traditional shopping methods. This social system transformation result in search of alternative independent grocery shopping methods. Customer with different disability made their interest towards e-shopping rather than traditional one. Woodside, Arch G. and Randolph J. Trappey (1992) mentioned that time and conveniences are the two major factors for people to switch from traditional shopping methods to electronic shopping methods. Technology should provide complete product description to satisfy different types of customer base. It may depends on several criteria such as different food preferences such as organic, religious, ethnic origin etc 2.10. Technological characteristics:- Punakivi, M., Saranen, J. (2001) states that, the food marketing institute indicates US consumers are highest internet users with eighty-six percent in that seventy percent will shop online daily. Whereas in the UK, broadband user are in fifth position in world and second position in Europe. E-commerce research 2007 shows 15.9 percent respondents brought groceries once in a week, 2.7 percent shops twice or thrice a month, largest group shops once or twice in a year. Increased internet users likely contribute the growth of online shopping. Online shoppers will make more shopping than in-store shoppers. â€Å"As the economy and society have changed, so retailers have responded and shopping as an activity has altered enormously. (Dawson and Broadbridge, 1988). Online shopping is comparatively a recent phenomenon, which provides an opportunity to consumers to carry out at least one part of buying process online. â€Å"Electronic grocery shopping has been defined as shopping when at least part of transaction is started electronically via third party services or the Internet, but paying and logistics are not necessarily performed digitally. (Carl Lewis, 2003-pp.207) E-shop business model represents one class of e-commerce where buyers and sellers interact electronically with each other, except for deliveries. Burke suggests many reasons web marketing of food. As an example, everybody has to eat, and in store shopping consumes considerable time to purchase and majority people do not like grocery shopping. Daily household goods are difficult to move physically from one place to another. Continuous growth of e-commerce enlightens many traditional grocery retailers to use internet channel to sell their goods. The development leads to many more conventional retails to enter into e-grocery field (Boedeker.M, 1997). 2.11. E-Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM):- Smith believed that, customers thinking about the shopping are predetermined in means of preference to products, price and accessibility. Satisfying such conditions and preferences thorough online process is carried out through designing e-commerce website. Online shopping store should focus on creating e-loyalty. Customer relationship management (CRM) programmes are the most effective way to incorporate loyalty. Customer service is one of the major aspects of business which includes customer assistant in sales, maintenance of customer policies, providing customised services, after-sales maintenance etc. Due to the different type and nature of products which are purchased at e-grocery shops there should be complete product description. Some websites provide procedures for return of product or reporting problems as a part of after-sales service. Some stores allow unsatisfied customer to return their product, some websites provide vast description about their products such as ripeness of their tomatoes (smith, 2000). All online shopping websites provide some customer rules and policies. According to Australian legislation, all online websites should maintain privacy policy (Australian Federal Government, 2000). 2.12. Success and failure factors from previous studies:- Friends of Earth (2005) believed that e-grocery method is the best way to promote industrys brand image. However, Punakivi, M., Saranen, J. (2001) and Kotler (1996) stated conversely; brand image of company will help to promote online grocery business. They also believed that industrys business experience and its infrastructure will be added advantage for promotion. One more factor is people ability to spend money for long duration household goods. Pachauri, Moneesha 2002 stated that competition in e-grocery retail sector remains the same until company stay in game. If any child companys online business started down falling then parental company may not let it to happen for longer duration because they are inter-related in means of profit sharing. Without the demand, services of online business company will lead to business failure. Retention of existing customer is one of the main aspects of business. To gain customer loyalty, companies should provide reward to regular shopper. Customers can also gain loyalty points for their spending and it will convert into reward coupons or vouchers. Brick and mortar stores utilises their existing business infrastructure to click and mortar stores to save on costs. Delaney-Klinger, Boyer, and Frohlich (2003) mentioned Tescos success and Webvan failure because of its marketing strategy for online business. Webvan marketed its online sales with value-added service and extra delivery charges to cope up with online ordering cost. Tescos pricing strategy is little higher than the Webvan and it most suitable one for lower volume sales. Smith, Howard (2004) stated that online-only business spent heavy money for their highly automated warehouses. The operating costs for these warehouses are high and order volumes for those companies are not more than half of their capacity. High initial start up cost for online division, although pricing strategy can able to reduce cost for internal order picking and delivery methods. However, Delaney-Klinger et al (2003) believed that the expenditure for short run will increase business cost for warehouse methods and decrease for existing store picking methods comparably. High initial start-up cost will results at higher risk for any organisation. Another aspect for failure will be lack of online business management knowledge and experience. Blythman, Joanna (2005) stated that, companies are not concentrating much on customer relation management for stabilising business consistently. Traditional grocers have more advantage over online grocers in this area. 2.13. Conclusion:- Online shopping and home delivery service is one of the critical aspects of e-grocery business. E-grocery business should have to understand the variable cost affecting structures and service concepts in order to turn online grocery business into profitable one. The different strategies were discussed. Analysing and adopting best strategy for e-grocery business is most important. This literature provides insight of e-groceries. In a service context, as with product marketing, getting and keeping customers is of utmost importance. With service, in particular, someone within the organization will interact with customers; hence they should be viewed as customer relationships not just customers. Customer relationships have to be built and a useful way of viewing these developments as a life cycle. The marketing objective will change as the customer proceeds through the cycle. Understanding service marketing is becoming increasingly important for all organizations as more firms seek to di fferentiate their product or services through their service offering. Interaction and customer relationship concepts are the two key areas of service marketing are said to be of even greater importance to all firms in the future. CHAPTER 3 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1. Research topic: Strategic and Economic analysis of E-grocery system in Tesco and Sainsbury (Online shopping and home delivery methods). 3.2. Background of home delivery system and its characteristics- Home delivery is generally defined as delivering of all types of goods to customers homes (or any different location opted by customer example workplace) regardless whether online or any other order forms such as traditional mailing, telephone-based ordering (phone order), internet, fax or order made in person by consumer in store premises. The study is carried out in business to customer order delivery system rather than business to business. Home delivery system refers to all household goods delivered to consumers house (the destination may change such as work place on customers selection). Hence in online shopping and home delivery method the purchased physical household goods are carried out to customers destination by specialised home delivery unit or companies instead of customers themselves. There are some reasons for home deliveries like (i) may be the retail outlet itself would provide an additional service to their customers or ( ii) may be customer do not like to carry the shopped goods at that instance or the required product may be out-of-stock at that moment or (iii) due to goods weight or size ( if it became difficulty to customer to transport by themselves) or (iv) because the seller itself does not have any physical store and may be its complete operation depends on the virtual online store. Thus customer may face impossible situation to collect the goods in store by themselves. (Farahmand and Young, 1998; Nielsen, 2000) 3.3. Research aim and objectives:- 3.3.1. Aim: To analyse the strategic and economic factors of e- grocery system in Tesco and Sainsbury. Hypothesis: Home delivery system is neither a profitable nor a strategic contributor to Tesco and Sainsbury. 3.3.2. Research objectives:- The objective of this study is to find out and explain empirically the above mentioned research issue by using various research methods. Our approach is comparative in nature. The steps adopted in our study are as follows: (1) Identification of the industries under study; (2) Study of background of the industries; (3) Interpretation of appropriateness of strategies and methods of individual firm; (4) Analysis of home delivery methods impact on organisational performance from individual firm. Research questions:- This research study is carried out to understand the factors of e-grocery success by trying to find answer to following research questions. What are Tescos and Sainsburys online units strategies to its success? What are the business models they are following? How are they processing their order? Should they use warehouse system or in-store picking system? Whether home delivery system is profitable or not? How should online unit function to achieve operational efficiency and how they are managing customer relationship? 3.4. Research Approach and methodology:- Research data collection is carried out both quantitatively and qualitatively. It will become difficult to distinguish between these two methods. Generally quantitative research method means collecting numerical data or coded information for objective analysis, data will be later interpreted. Qualitative research method is data collection by observations by peoples activity generally and they are noted in coded description. However, this codified information can be used for later analysis. The important form of this method is often reporting and interpretations by researcher by timely observation. A semi structured interview will be carried out during research which consists of analysis of Sainsbury and Tesco stores for data collection about home delivery. Interviews will be carried out with key persons like grocery manager, online delivery driver, and duty manager etc in each store to collect the quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data will be gathered for analysis. And results will be drawn from the following methods. This study uses semi-structured quantitative primary analysis (interview for data collection) and majorly uses qualitative method (secondary source) to identify UK grocery sector and to focus to answer research questions stated. Interviews will provide large amount of information which is main source of information and key pathway for time-constrained studies such as this (Esterberg, 2002). 3.4.1. Case study and historical analysis method:- According to Yin (1989), there are mainly five major investigating methods in social science research namely surveys, archival analysis, case studies, experiments and historical analysis. He also distinguishes them on the basis of three criteria; those are i) what kind of research question will be asked, ii) what will the degree of control over present behavioural consequences and iii) present emphasis compared to past events. Case studies and historical analysis are desirable approaches to evaluate strategies of organisations. These methods are useful to describe and answer the â€Å"how and/or â€Å"why scenario when events happen beyond researcher control and also while researching present phenomenon in real-life time. Inductive and deductive approaches will be used for analysis of research data. Inductive way means drawing the general conclusions from researcher based on empirical grounds. Deductive approach means drawing the conclusions from researchers logical reasoning (Ghauri, et.Al,. 1995). This study focus on collecting information regarding operational strategies of Tesco and Sainsbury and to understand, why they are providing online shopping facility to customers while many of the supermarket failed to stay in game. During the process of study, the companies actions or strategic implementations from them are beyond the control of researcher, case study and historical analysis methods will be best, for a part of research. 3.4.2. Meta-Analysis:- On this part, research study is carried out through qualitative meta-analysis for selected e-grocery organisations. Answers to main research questions will be collected qualitatively for each individual case (Lyons, 2003). The collected data will be analysed and possible relationships between business models and various out comes will be fetched out. This method is used to compare operations characteristics and strategies of Tesco and Sainsbury from the gathered data. This is the systematic approach for cross comparison of business models. There are few draw backs in meta-analysis such as, since data collected from various sources, hence, results quality is directly depends on the quality of source. Another, may companies may use similar strategic approach to achieve their goals which may be rarely identical. There is no unique approach to analyse data for meta-analysis. This effort is made to reveal answers from confirmed information from various sources (Graney and Engle, 1990). 3.5. Significance and limitations:-

Thursday, September 19, 2019

What is Curiosity Essay -- Psychology, Piaget

What is Curiosity, why do babies differ in intelligence, personality and characteristics as they grow up? Some people become good citizens, and some grow up to be bad citizens who become dangerous to the community. Philosophers tried to find out and explain these questions that were observed in individuals. There are many developmentalists whom offered different theories to explain human development. Theories of development include, psychoanalytic, learning, cognitive, biological and evolutionary, and system theories (Boyd, 2009), and we are discussing Piaget’s cognitive theory below. Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist, and his cognitive- development theory is one of the most influential theories in history. According to his theory, every individual begin their life with a little skills of motor and sensory scheme like looking, touching, hearing, reaching and tasting. In his theory, scheme is an internal cognitive structure that makes available a procedure to follow in a particular condition. Just like, when we pick up something, we use our picking up scheme, and throwing that thing to someone, we use our looking, aiming and throwing scheme. The scheme gets better or works better as we use every time. There are also mental schemes that allow us to think logically and use symbols. This scheme mostly develops during childhood and adolescence. Assimilation, equilibration and accommodation are three processes that Peaget proposed to explain how schemes used in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Using scheme to make sense of experience or an event is t he assimilation process. Accommodation is the process of changing the scheme if there is some new information result. The third process equilibration is balan... ...ton of feathers? Both answered, a ton of stone and a ton of feathers is equal. So, I believe some children can be ready for some formal education earlier than age nine or ten. I also observed girls play differently, and like different toys than boys. Conclusion: Since human development explained differently by many developmentalists, some explanations are agreeable and some are not. But their ideas still influence many of us. The methods which are used to study children’s development, helps understand changes across the human lifespan. We have learned from Jean Piaget’s the cognitive theory that there are stages, and substages for logical thinking, and how the child builds different types of scheme, and the universal changes in thinking happen in the early childhood. I agree that this exercise assisted me to gain understanding the point of the theory. What is Curiosity Essay -- Psychology, Piaget What is Curiosity, why do babies differ in intelligence, personality and characteristics as they grow up? Some people become good citizens, and some grow up to be bad citizens who become dangerous to the community. Philosophers tried to find out and explain these questions that were observed in individuals. There are many developmentalists whom offered different theories to explain human development. Theories of development include, psychoanalytic, learning, cognitive, biological and evolutionary, and system theories (Boyd, 2009), and we are discussing Piaget’s cognitive theory below. Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist, and his cognitive- development theory is one of the most influential theories in history. According to his theory, every individual begin their life with a little skills of motor and sensory scheme like looking, touching, hearing, reaching and tasting. In his theory, scheme is an internal cognitive structure that makes available a procedure to follow in a particular condition. Just like, when we pick up something, we use our picking up scheme, and throwing that thing to someone, we use our looking, aiming and throwing scheme. The scheme gets better or works better as we use every time. There are also mental schemes that allow us to think logically and use symbols. This scheme mostly develops during childhood and adolescence. Assimilation, equilibration and accommodation are three processes that Peaget proposed to explain how schemes used in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Using scheme to make sense of experience or an event is t he assimilation process. Accommodation is the process of changing the scheme if there is some new information result. The third process equilibration is balan... ...ton of feathers? Both answered, a ton of stone and a ton of feathers is equal. So, I believe some children can be ready for some formal education earlier than age nine or ten. I also observed girls play differently, and like different toys than boys. Conclusion: Since human development explained differently by many developmentalists, some explanations are agreeable and some are not. But their ideas still influence many of us. The methods which are used to study children’s development, helps understand changes across the human lifespan. We have learned from Jean Piaget’s the cognitive theory that there are stages, and substages for logical thinking, and how the child builds different types of scheme, and the universal changes in thinking happen in the early childhood. I agree that this exercise assisted me to gain understanding the point of the theory.

Classroom Discipline and Management for the Beginning Teacher Essay

Classroom Discipline and Management for the Beginning Teacher Affective teaching from a beginning teachers view deals with a lot of different concerns. â€Å"Beginning teachers deal with room discipline, motivating students, accommodating differences among students, evaluating students work, dealing with parents as the most serious challenges, and classroom management or maintaining classroom discipline† (Education, 2001, p.8). All these are main parts of what beginning teachers have concerns about. The focus of this paper will deal with classroom management and all the parts necessary to maintain classroom discipline. Classroom discipline and management maybe among the most difficult challenges for beginning teachers (Gordon, 2001, p.1). â€Å"Classroom management is techniques used to maintain a healthy learning environment, relatively free of behavior problems. But at the same time it is unethical to use class management techniques just to keep students docile and quiet† (Education, 2001, p.436). Successful classroom management can set the stage for optimal learning, as well as reduce stress on the teacher. â€Å"Both professional and personal reasons underlie the need far a specific classroom management system. Virtually little or no learning can occur in a classroom bereft of effective management and discipline. In classes lacking discipline, precious learning time is wasted as the attempts to implement management strategies. â€Å"In all effective classroom management and ...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Roles of Greek Heroism and the Gods in the Persian Wars Essay

The Roles of Greek Heroism and the Gods in the Persian Wars The Persian Wars (499-479 BC) put the Greeks in the difficult position of having to defend their country against a vast empire with an army that greatly outnumbered their own. Many city-states united in battle, although others found ways to avoid participation in the wars. The Greeks also relied on the words of Apollo to guide them, but the oracle did not always act encouragingly. The Greeks defeated the Persians in the Persian Wars due to heroic actions performed by Athens and Sparta and occasional assistance from the gods, but cowardice shown by other poleis nearly ended the Greeks’ chances of success. Unity between the Greek poleis could be seen occasionally in the battles of the Persian Wars, but not consistently. The Greeks first confronted the Persians during the Ionian Revolt (499-494 BC). Ionian Greeks wanted to escape the oppressive system the Persians had them under, so they turned to the Athenians. They in turn offered 20 ships to the revolt, and the Eretrians offered five ships (Demand 1996: 184). Although the revolt was unsuccessful, the help offered by Athens and Eretria provided the first instance of unity among several Greek poleis. The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, however, did not provide such an instance. When the Persian army headed to Greece to attack, only Athens and Plataea sent soldiers to fight them. The Spartans claimed they could not send soldiers due to a festival and only appeared after the battle was won by the Athenians and Plataeans to congratulate the victors (Demand 1996: 186-187). The victory gave a boost to the confidence of the Athenians, who felt that â€Å"at Marathon we were the only ones to face up to th... ...arta to play greater roles in battle. This produced a tension between the city-states that nearly allowed the Persians to claim victory. The Greeks turned to Apollo, but the oracle did not encourage them. The Greek forces continued to fight, however, driven by acts of bravery performed by Athens and Sparta. Though the Greeks did not achieve complete unity or receive absolute encouragement from the gods, they had enough bravery and faith to bring them success in the Persian Wars. Works Cited Crane, Gregory R. (ed.) The Perseus Project, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, November, 1998. Demand, Nancy. A History of Ancient Greece. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1996. Dillon, Matthew, and Lynda Garland. Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Socrates. London: Routledge, 1994. No. 7.42, p. 209.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Comedy

Lastly this paper will look into the different institutions and beliefs that are being lampooned in these two historical works. What was considered funny in classical Greece was most likely not the same as what the majority of people in medieval times considered funny. Greek comedy focused on criticizing current politicians or undermining intellects such as the sophists, Socrates in particular as seen in The Clouds. Aristotelian made the crowd laugh by delivering the simple message that the sophists were corrupting youth and undermining traditional Athenian beliefs.The crowd was able to laugh because Aristotelian filled his play and characters with situations and traits common to that era such as debt. Profanity was also used a lot and since Greek comedy arose around the same time as radical democracy did they were able to have more freedom of speech and could rant about all the politicians and leaders. This is similar to the medieval story Wisenheimer which seemed to lampoon the cor rupt monks of the roman clergy and greed; this is evident when Wisenheimer is referred to as a â€Å"wicked monk† . Wisenheimer was a wolf who constantly lied about being a priest ND a doctor to try and deceive the king.This is similar to the Greek style of comedy in which an institution or authoritative figure is being satirized in a comical way in order to relay a message to the public. However, Greek comedy did focus more on the politics and Intellects as seen through out The Clouds, since the story focuses on Socrates and the sophists and portrays them with wacky characteristics and lines. Aristotelian wrote The Clouds in a theatrical form so that it could performed in front of an audience and take full advantage of the times arresting freedom of beech.However, Wisenheimer was written as a series of poems. The use of poetry in medieval society most likely stems form the fact that poetry was already popular and was the prominent way to relate a message and reach an audienc e. The poem Wisenheimer was comical because it used animals to represent the different characters that were being satirized such as Wisenheimer himself who portrays the Roman Catholic Church specifically a monk. Wolves are constantly used to represent evil corruption in even today's stories and cartoons such as The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood.Medieval times gave rise to many more uses for reading and writing especially in understanding religion which meant that many more people of different classes were able to read and/or write . This is probably why poetry was a good way to tell a story since there wasn't the need for everything to be passed on orally to an audience. All in all, comedy has been used through out history and remains an important function in our society today. Comedy is constantly changing and will do so for as long as it is around.The two time periods which we have compared and contrasted elected works from for this paper are both similar and differ ent in many different ways. They used comedy for laughter, to satirized, and to relay important messages and popular beliefs. This is evident through out both works. This paper has shown some of the main differences and similarities in the form, satires, and uses of comedy in Orchestration's The Clouds and the medieval poem Wisenheimer. However studying these comical works with an open mind allows us to use it as a primary source giving us insight into some of the problems, customs, and beliefs of these two time periods.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Culture of Sri Lanka Essay

Ceylon Tea The culture of Sri Lanka has been influenced by many factors, but has managed to retain much of its ancient aspects. Mostly it has been influenced by its long history and its Buddhist heritage. The country has a rich artistic tradition, embracing the fine arts, including music, dance, and visual arts. The Sri Lankan lifestyle is reflected in the cuisine, festivals, and sports. South Indian influences are visible in many aspects. There is also some influences from colonization by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. Sri Lankan culture is best known abroad for its cricket, food, holistic medicine, religious icons like the Buddhist flag, and cultural exports such as tea, cinnamon and gems. Sri Lankan culture is diverse, as it varies from region to region. Sri Lanka has had ties with Indian subcontinent from ancient times. Demographics: Sinhalese 74.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 9.23%, Indian Tamil 4.16%, Sri Lankan Tamil 11.21%, Other 0.6%. History Main article: History of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka boasts of a documented history of over 2000 years with the first stone objects dating back to 500,000 BC mainly due to ancient historic scriptures like Mahawansa Several centuries of intermittent foreign influence, has transformed Sri Lankan culture to the present outlook. Nevertheless ancient traditions and festivals are celebrated by mostly conservative Sinhalese people of the island, together with other minorities that make up the Sri Lankan identity. Visual arts A royal palace in Polonnaruwa. Frescoes at Sigiiriya. Architecture Main articles: Architecture of Sri Lanka and Architecture of ancient Sri Lanka See also: List of Sri Lankan architects The architecture of Sri Lanka displays a rich variety of architectural forms and styles. Buddhism had a significant influence on Sri Lankan architecture, since it was introduced to the island in 3rd Century BCE. However techniques and styles developed in Europe and Asia have also played a major role in the architecture of Sri Lanka. Ritigala Arts and crafts Gilded bronze statue of the Bodhisattva Tara, from the Anuradhapura period, 8th century. Many forms of Sri Lankan arts and crafts take inspiration from the Island’s long and lasting Buddhist culture which in turn has absorbed and adopted countless regional and local traditions. In most instances Sri Lankan art originates from religious beliefs, and are represented in many forms such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. One of the most notable aspects of Sri Lankan art are caves and temple paintings, such as the frescoes found at Sigiriya and religious paintings found in temples in Dambulla and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Other popular forms of art have been influenced by both natives as well as outside settlers. For example, traditional wooden handicrafts and clay pottery are found around the hill country while Portuguese-inspired lacework and Indonesian-inspired Batik have become notable. Its has many different and beautiful drawings. Performing arts Traditional Sri Lankan harvesting dance. People in Sri Lanka love the performing arts. The main style of performance is Bollywood. Dance Main article: Dances of Sri Lanka See also: Kandyan dance Sri Lanka is famous around the Indian ocean for Kandyan dancing. Music Main article: Music of Sri Lanka The two single biggest influences on Sri Lankan music are from Buddhism and Portuguese colonizers. Buddhism arrived in Sri Lanka after the Buddha’s visit in 300 BC, while the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century, bringing with them cantiga ballads, the ukulele, and guitars, along with African slaves, who further diversified the musical roots of the island. These slaves were called kaffrinha, and their dance music was called baila. Traditional Sri Lankan music includes the hypnotic Kandyan drums – drumming was and is very much a part and parcel of music in both Buddhist and Hindu temples in Sri Lanka. Most western parts of Sri Lanka follow western dancing and music. Cinema Main article: Cinema of Sri Lanka The movie Kadawunu Poronduwa (The broken promise), produced by S. M. Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone, heralded the coming of Sri Lankan cinema in 1947. Ranmuthu Duwa (Island of treasures, 1962) marked the transition cinema from black-and-white to color. It in the recent years has featured subjects such as family melodrama, social transformation, and the years of conflict between the military and the LTTE. Their cinematic style is similar to the Bollywood movies. In 1979, movie attendance rose to an all-time high, but recorded a gradual downfall since then. Undoubtedly, the most influential and revolutionary filmmaker in the history of Sri Lankan cinema is Lester James Peiris, who has directed a number of movies which led to global acclaim, including Rekava (Line of destiny, 1956), Gamperaliya (The changing village, 1964), Nidhanaya (The treasure, 1970), and Golu Hadawatha (Cold Heart, 1968).There are many cinemas around Sri Lanka in city areas. Media and technology Radio and TV See also: Telecommunications in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka was introduced with many technologies. Lifestyle Cuisine Main article: Sri Lankan cuisine Kiribath with lunumiris The cuisine of Sri Lanka draws influence from that of India, especially from Kerala, as well as colonists and foreign traders. Rice, which is usually consumed daily, can be found at any special occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. A very popular alcoholic drink is toddy or arrack, both made from palm tree sap. Rice and curry refers to a range of Sri Lankan dishes. Sri Lankans also eat hoppers (Aappa, Aappam), which can be found anywhere in Sri Lanka. Much of Sri Lanka’s cuisine consists of boiled or steamed rice served with spicy curry. Another well-known rice dish is kiribath, meaning milk rice. Curries in Sri Lanka are not just limited to meat or fish-based dishes, there are also vegetable and even fruit curries. A typical Sri Lankan meal consists of a â€Å"main curry† (fish, chicken, or mutton), as well as several other curries made with vegetable and lentils. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and â€Å"sambols† which can sometimes be fiery hot. The most famous of these is the coconut sambol, made of scraped coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldivian fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite. In addition to sambols, Sri Lankans eat â€Å"mallung†, chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes to give the cuisine its unique flavor. As noted above many of Sri Lanka’s urban areas are host to American fast food corporations and many of the younger generation have started to take a liking to this new style of cuisine although it is rejected by many, particularly the more traditional elder members of the commu nity. Spices Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and  Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat. Sri Lankans use spices liberally in their dishes and typically do not follow an exact recipe: thus, every cook’s curry will taste slightly different. Furthermore, people from different regions of the island (for instance, hill-country dwellers versus coastal dwellers) traditionally cook in different ways. Sri Lankan cuisine is known to be among the world’s spiciest, due to the high use of different varieties of chili peppers referred to as amu miris (Chili pepper), kochchi miris, and maalu miris (Banana pepper) (capsicum) and in Tamil Milakaai, among others. It is generally accepted for tourists to request that the food is cooked with a lower chilli content to cater for the more sensitive Western palette. Food cooked for public occasions typically uses less chillie than food cooked in the home, the latter where the food is cooked with the chilli content preferable to the occupants. Tea culture Tea plantation near Kandy Being one of the largest producers of tea in the world, Sri Lankans drink a lot of tea.There are many tea factories around mountainous areas. Many Sri Lankans drink at least three cups a day. Sri Lanka is also one of the best tea-producing countries in the world and the Royal Family of the United Kingdom has been known to drink Ceylon tea. Tea is served whenever a guest comes to a house, it is served at festivals and gatherings or just for breakfast. Festivals and holidays New Year Main article: Sinhala and Tamil new year The Sinhala and Tamil new year (â€Å"Aluth Avurudhu† in Sinhala, â€Å"Puthiyathandu† in Tamil) is a very large cultural event on the island. The festival falls in April (also known as the month of Bak) when the sun moves from the Meena Rashiya (House of Pisces) to the Mesha Rashiya (House of Aries). Unusually, both the end of one year and the beginning of the next occur not at midnight but at separate times determined by astrologers with a period of some hours between (the â€Å"nona gathe† or neutral period) being a time where one is  expected to refrain from all types of work and instead engage solely in relaxing religious activities and traditional games. During the New Year, festivities both children and adults will often don traditional outfits. But the clothes must be washed and very clean because it should be southam (pure). List of holidays January Tuesday Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day (In honour of Lord Buddha’s first visit to Sri Lanka) *† # January Tamil Thai Pongal Day *† # 4 February Monday National Day *† # February Navam Full Moon Poya Day (The Buddha proclaims for the first time a code of fundamental ethical precepts for the monks) *† # March Thursday Maha Sivarathri Day *†  March Thursday Milad-Un-Nabi (Muhammad’s birthday) *†  March Medin Full Moon Poya Day (Commemorates the visit of The Buddha to his home to preach to his father King Suddhodana and other relatives) *† # March Friday Good Friday *†  13 April Day prior to Sinhala and Tamil New Year Day (the month of Bak) when the sun moves from the Meena Rashiya (House of Pisces) to the Mesha Rashiya (House of Aries) Sri Lankans begin celebrating their National New Year) *† # 14 April Sinhala and Tamil New Year Day *† # April Friday Additional Bank Holiday †  April Bak Full Moon Poya Day (commemorates the second visit of The Buddha to Sri Lanka) *† # 1 May Thursday May Day *† # May Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (The Buddhist calendar begins) *† # May Day following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day *† # June Poson Full Moon Poya Day (Commemorates the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka) *† # July Esala Full Moon Poya Day (Commemorates the deliverance of the first sermon to the five ascetics and setting in motion the Wheel of the Dhamma by Buddha) *† # August Nikini Full Moon Poya Day (conducting of the first Dhamma Sangayana (Convocation)by Buddha) *† # September Binara Full Moon Poya Day (Commemorates The Buddha’s visit to heaven to preach to his mother and celestial multitude) *† # October Wednesday Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramazan Festival Day) *†  October Vap Full Moon Poya Day (King Devanampiyatissa of Sri Lanka sending envoys to King Asoka requesting him to send his daughter Arahat Sanghamitta Theri to Sri Lanka to establish the Bhikkhuni Sasana (Order of Nuns)) *† # October Monday Deepavali Festival Day *†  November Il Full Moon Poya Day (Celebrates the obtaining of Vivarana (the assurance of becoming a Buddha)) *† # December Tuesday Id-Ul-Adha (Hajj Festival Day) *†  December Monday Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day (Sanghamitta Theri established the Bhikkhuni Sasana (the Order of Nuns)) *† # 25 December Saturday Christmas Day *† # * Public holiday, †  Bank holiday, # Mercantile holiday All full-moon days are Buddhist holidays referred to as Poya. The actual date on which a particular Poya day will fall changes every year. Religion Main article: Religion in Sri Lanka See also: Hinduism in Sri Lanka, Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Islam in Sri Lanka A Hindu temple in Colombo Sri Lanka’s culture also revolves around religion. The Buddhist community of Sri Lanka observe Poya Days, once per month according to the Lunar calendar. The Hindus and Muslims also observe their own holidays. Sri Lankans are very religious because the history of the island has been involved with religion numerous times. There are many Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka associated with ancient times. The religious preference of an area could be determined by the number of religious institutions in the area. The North and the East of the island has several notable Hindu temples due to majority Tamil population reside in those areas and ethnic conflict has severely affected other communities living on these areas during the times of LTTE strife. Many churches could be found along the southern coast line because of former Roman Catholic or Protestant colonial heritage. Buddhists reside in all parts of the island especially down south and in upcountry and western seaboard. They are the largest religious group in Sri Lanka. Languages of Sri Lanka Main article: Languages of Sri Lanka While the Sinhalese people speak Sinhala as their mother tongue, the Tamil people speak Tamil. English is also widely spoken. Sinhala is spoken by about 16 million people in Sri Lanka, about 13 million of whom are native speakers. It is one of the constitutionally-recognized official languages of Sri Lanka, along with Tamil, which originates from South India. Sports Main article: Sport in Sri Lanka Cricket in Sri Lanka Sports plays a very big part in Sri Lankan culture, because the society was quite rich in educated people, therefore the people had found playing a sport is an important thing in life. Sri Lanka’s main sport is cricket. But after the age of Englishman’s cricket, being the most popular sport event in Sri Lanka. Every child in Sri Lanka knows how to play cricket, and there are many cricket fields scattered across the island for children and adults to play the sport. The biggest pastime of the Sri Lankan population, after cricket, is watching the Sri Lankan national team play cricket. It is common for businesses to shut down, when very big matches are televised. This was the case in 1996, when the Sri Lankan team beat Australia in the finals to win the Cricket World Cup. The whole country was shut down, although there was a curfew imposed upon the whole island. Cricket Main article: Cricket in Sri Lanka Cricket is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka. After the 1996 Cricket World Cup, triumph of the Sri Lanka national cricket team, the sport became the most watched event in the country. But in recent years, the politicians and the businessman getting into the sport has raised many concerns. Volleyball Volleyball is not a popular in Sri-Lanka, because Cricket is one of the popular sport in Sri-Lanka. Rugby Main article: Rugby in Sri Lanka National symbols Main articles: Flag of Sri Lanka, Coat of arms of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan anthem This section requires expansion. (January 2012) Tourism Main article: Tourism in Sri Lanka This section requires expansion. (January 2012) World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka Anuradhapura Central Highlands Galle and its Fortifications Golden Temple of Dambulla Kandy Polonnaruwa Sigiriya Sinharaja Forest Reserve Sri Lankan people Sri Lankan literature Henry Parker (author), British engineer who studied and compiled the oral tradition of Sri Lanka. References 1. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/abstract2010/chapters/Chap2/AB2-13.pdf 2. http://bookonsrilanka.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/growing-up-white-in-south-asia.pdf 3. http://mahavamsa.org/ 4. â€Å"LANKALIBRARY FORUM †¢ View topic – Home and family in ancient and medieval Sri Lanka†. Lankalibrary.com. 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2012-06-29. External links [1] Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 of â€Å"Village Folk-tales of Ceylon† by Henry Parker (Public Domain) Sri Lanka a cultural profile Sri Lanka culture Cultural Festivals and Public Holidays in Sri Lanka

Sunday, September 15, 2019

African American Culture 5 Essay

Question# 4: African cultures, by and large, bring a similar world view to the relationship between man and the spiritual realm, one that is marked by an extremely personal interaction. In the broader African spiritual world human beings are seen to be under the constant influence of other people, their ancestors, minor deities, the Creator, and various forces of nature. As a result the African spiritual world can be described as interactive since all things are endowed with life-force. How is this idea expressed in ritual approaches to morality, wrongdoing, and spiritual empowerment? African American religion has always been heavily involved and influenced by the notion of morality, wrong doing and spiritual empowerment since the slave days if not earlier, African Americans came to embrace Protestant Christianity and adapted their own version of it which is consistent with evidence in the 19th century and a little bit of the 18th, at the time Christianity had little effect on slave society through the efforts of Anglicans, but it was not because African Americans rejected the gospel but because whites seized Christian brotherhood from blacks. As blacks in the South and in the British Caribbean struggled to develop individual and collective identities from the ideas and ways of African culture and their new conditions of life, the series of efforts by evangelicals to convert slaves eventually gave rise to a distinct African-American form of Christian theology, worship style, and religious community. The importance of religion and having their own take on it is among African Americans, as among all people, rests on fulfilling the human need for an understanding of one’s place in both the spiritual and temporal world. Although it was difficult, African Americans discovered in evangelical conversion requirements an opportunity to reassert personal authority based on their ability to communicate directly with God and to bring others to recognize the need for personal repentance and acceptance of Jesus. A perfect example that supports the connection between religious involvement and a sense of personal identity, is found in a slave woman who, back then it was not common for them to tell missionaries that her people have come from across the sea and lost their father and mother, and therefore want to know the Father. The displacement of Africans, for whom locality was critical to interactions with the spiritual world, did not strip them of their religious identity, but required them to learn the spiritual landscape of their new home and reshape their practices accordingly. â€Å"Come Shouting to Zion† details the many religious rituals that Africans preserved in the new world, especially those surrounding fundamental life events such as the birth and naming of children, marriage, burial ceremonies, and ritual dancing and singing to communicate with ancestors and deities. The influence of Africans with many diverse but fundamentally similar cultures in a strange new land encouraged slaves to form new pan-African cultures, which grew increasingly popular as later generations of slaves were born into bondage in America, establishing a distinct African-American culture. The pidgin African-English is a prime example of Africans in American creating a system of communication that was not traceable to a particular African ethnic origin, nor was it a perfect imitation of American English, but was instead shared by blacks in America. As slaves first encountered a foreign language that whites wished them to learn well enough to be more productive but not well enough to pose a threat to the race-based socioeconomic hierarchy, so they became acquainted with Christianity at the will of whites, but when given the opportunity, appropriated it for their own purposes. In the early encounters between slaves and Christianity it is without question that African, and particularly American-born slaves, sought a spirituality that would explain or show their temporal condition. Some salves looked to a theology of liberation and equality among Christians, which they could glean from 18th century evangelicals, mostly Anglicans, who tried to downplay these aspects of biblical teaching. The early period of evangelism was restricted by the fears of slave-owners that slaves who converted to Christianity would feel empowered to revolt against their bondage. Several conspired rebellions and many smaller incidents of black assertion were linked to blacks who had heard enough preaching to identify themselves with the enslaved nation of Israel. This fed the fears of whites, and Anglicans continued to complain that the planters who prohibited them from educating slaves on religious matters were the largest hindrance to saving African American souls. While racism was strengthened and slaves were unable to improve their social status by conforming to white European-American values, very few blacks found the Christian message Anglicans shared with them appealing . Anglican churches maintained strict separation of rich and poor, white and black, during services and sacraments. The high-church emphasized that learned men alone were authorized to teach and that blacks would listen without questioning and to accept the extension of their temporal message and isolation from whites into the religious sphere. Under these terms, it is I am not surprised that Christianity failed to take root as a meaningful religion, a spiritual world that Africans wanted to live in. But it is essential to recognize the role of whites in shaping the message that Africans were allowed to hear, and the role specifically of slaveholders in excluding blacks from access to Christianity. That blacks expressed their agency in rejecting this early version of Christianity offered to them. . At the same time Anglicans were confused over their lack of success in the Southern mainland, Moravians made a significant impact on blacks in the Caribbean by bringing a different vision of a Christian community. Moravians, Methodists, Separate Baptists, and a few other missionaries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries who sought out African Americans stressed spiritual, if not always worldly, equality. Africans identified with and embraced images of a savior who had suffered like they did, and joined these Christian images with African musical modes of expression to create spirituals that reminded: â€Å"Jesus been down to de mire/ You must bow low to de mire† (Stuckey, 139). However, you must finally accept Christianity as an affirmation of their lowly place in society and a divine exhortation to obedience and docility, as many white slaveholders had hoped they would. Rather, blacks found opportunities at biracial revival meetings which were meetings held at locations most often church, in which slaves and blacks were black would interpret what they heard and to share their divinely inspired interpretations of Christian faith, even from pulpits. During this critical period when a significant portion of blacks in the Caribbean and American South were first offered Christianity, they clearly adopted it and transformed it into something that was their own. After the period of revivals that first sparked wide-scale conversions in the South, many African-Americans focused on building a community in which they could support one another and worship in their own African-influenced style. Local black congregations extended their religious community, most notably with the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in1816. As an institution spanning several states, the A. M. E. Church allowed blacks to take part at different levels in a collective, hierarchical social system as had never before been possible under American slavery. blacks continued to participate as minorities in biracial congregations (still with segregated seating) in most parts of the south and the expanding frontier, but found fewer opportunities to become ordained preachers or lay leaders in mixed parishes, where they were likely only to be allowed to â€Å"exercise the gift, provided they teach sound Doctrine sic† under the approval of whites (Frey & Wood, 166). In the creation of their own religious communities in which no whites were present to criticize â€Å"overemotional† black forms of religious expression and persisting practices, such as polygamy and dancing, African-Americans actively designed a spirituality that fulfilled their needs in the slave societies of the Americas. African-American religiosity was then, as it is now, â€Å"centered on extended and expanding families and households, the importance of self-determination and personal dignity, mutual aid, and shared responsibility for the progress of the race† (Hortons, xi). In my opinion, African agency is most clearly supported by evidence of Africans defining their faith, modes of worship, and religious ties as part of a larger emerging African-American culture. Change was a relentless fact of life for Africans in 18th and 19th century America, most tragically present in enslavement and removal from Africa and domestic trade within the Americas that broke up families as masters bought and sold property. Outside the personal struggles of individual slaves, the changes in ideology and society wrought by the era of the American Revolution exposed Africans and their descendents to evolving external ideas about their place within American society, their rights as humans, and their needs as spiritual beings. Religion was one of the few arenas in which African-Americans could control the changes in their individual lives and their culture as a whole. Evolving religious traditions provided individuals over generations with a source of spiritual renewal and a supportive community and prepared an institution that could serve future generations. The long and turbulent transition from African forms of religiosity to African-influenced forms of Protestantism shows that black Americans created, out of all religious ideas and structures available to them, a faith that was their own. Question#3 The musical selections in this section come from Africa and the Americas. Some are examples of the preservation of traditional musical styles; others are examples of the adaptation of traditional modes of expression to modern styles. Prevalent in each performance is the use of either percussion instruments such as drums or singing in groups or by soloists. How do these musical selections exemplify a common African musical aesthetic, i. e. rhythmic syncopation, call-and-response, melodic constructions, vocal colors, in both traditional and contemporary expressions? African dance has contributed many characteristics to dance in America. We see evidence of this in many aspects of dance today. Being such a diverse nation, America has the blessing of combining original dances from different cultures to create an amazing dance repertoire. American dance as we know would be completely different, if it weren’t for the Africans. African dance began with the different rhythms of the tribes. Its roots in America began with the slave trade. The American slave trade began in 1619, (However, Africans were imported as slaves to the West Indies staring almost a century before that) with the arrival of Dutch trading ships carrying a cargo of Africans to Virginia. They were first brought over by boat to places such as Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti. Eventually different countries end up taking over those nations and slaves fall under their rule. In Brazil, the Portuguese take over, in Cuba the Spanish take over, and in Haiti, the French take over. The retaining of African culture by those in slavery was stronger in the other nations than in America, as the Spanish and French rulers adhered to the more lenient view of dancing taken by the Catholic Church. In America, the Protestant church strongly disapproved of dance. Therefore, dances that occurred in the West Indies, Brazil, Haiti and Cuba retained more of the African dance structure, than those in America did. Those dances can be classified as recreational or sacred. An example of a recreational dance is the Juba, which was a competitive dance where opponents would outdo each other in feats of skill, sometimes while balancing something on their head. Sacred dances were based on the worship of religious gods. The goal of the dance was for the dancer to become â€Å"possessed† by the god so that it would speak through the dancer. Two examples are voodoo and Shango dances. Traces of the African religious practice of possession, or disengaging from reality through the combined effects of music and dance, can be detected in the appeal of some forms of jazz dance. In America, the dance movement of Africa was restrained mainly by two factors: the attitude of the church towards dancing as being immoral and the restricted use of the primary African instrument (the drum). Drumming was banned in 1739 following a slave insurrection. White plantation owners responded by banning all drums and that forced slaves to search for other percussion options. They substituted with banjos, clapping hands, stomping feet, and the fiddle. Dances that occurred on the Plantations were for recreation and religious reasons also. Because of the European influence in America, the movement gave a distinct American appearance, rather than a strictly African one. Many dances imitated animals. There were also circle dances and dances for celebrations. Another category that emerged was competitive dances. The most well known one was the cakewalk. The slaves had witnessed their owners’ dancing festivities and imitated their stiff upper bodies while contrasting it with loose leg movements. The owners enjoyed watching this and gave a cake to the best dancer. The observation of African dancing by the whites led to them stereotyping the dancing slave. They began to blacken their faces and imitate them using such indigenous movements as the ‘shuffle’. The imitation dances by whites started an era of American entertainment based on the stereotype on the dancing ‘Negro’. Before the Civil War, professional dancers were mostly white, with the exception of William Henry Lane. He was also known as â€Å"Master Juba† and was a freeborn slave thought to be the best dancer in the World. He had lived in Manhattan where the Irish immigrants also lived. His dancing was a combination of Irish jig dancing and African rhythm, just like the slaves who were forced to compete with the Irish migrant workers aboard the ships. Both his movements and the Nigerian slaves are said to be the start of tap dance. Minstrelsy was also a popular form of entertainment in America from 1845 –1900. The Minstrel show was a group of male performers that portrayed the Negro as either slow and shuffling or sharply dressed and quick moving. The minstrel show proved prominent in spreading vernacular dances like the cakewalk and jig dancing on a wide scale. The next major change after minstrelsy came with the birth of ragtime music and ballroom dancing after 1910. A bunch of animal dances were seen in white ballrooms. Examples were the Turkey Trot, and Chicken Scratch. The invasion of ballrooms with native inspired dances set the stage for the same process to occur on Broadway. Zeigfield borrowed some of these dances for his Follies. Social dance became introduced on the theatrical stage. The big aspect being borrowed wasn’t the actual dances, but their swinging qualities. In 1921, Shuffle Along featured a jazz inspired dance called the Charleston. It left the audience with a lot of energy and a new respect towards black dancing. Tap was now also brought to white audiences and the musical comedies took on a new, more rhythmic life. In the late 1920s, jazz inspired songs replaced the popular white standards and America accepted Jazz music as its own. Louis Armstrong was a big part of the creation of swing music. It was a style of jazz music that emphasized African influenced rhythm and was played by big bands. Faster and sharper footwork came about and the Lindy was the new dance craze. It incorporated the shuffle and glide and buck and wing movements from early African dances. The Lindy was significant for starting jazz dance styles used in later musicals. It also gave the opportunity for white choreographers to experience African swing. Jazz music and dancing slowed down in popularity after WWII. Technology and music were evolving. The beat became more complex and musicians like Charlie Parker and Dizie Gillespie explored more with improve. The overall result was, jazz music became something more to listen to rather than to dance socially. The advent of Television in the 1950s also kept people at home instead of on the dance floors. African American dance became more of an artistic expression than a social means. Professional companies and dancers restored early African rhythms and the beauty and emotion of their traditional songs, including Catherine Dunham’s â€Å"Shango†, Alvin Ailey’s â€Å"Revelations† and Bill T. Jones’ â€Å"Uncle Tom’s Cabin†. In the past 50 years, African American dance has been rich in innovations as well as connections with the past. The definition of professional dance has broadened beyond ballet, modern, and jazz. Popular and social dances, including the urban black dance forms of break dancing and hip-hop have been recognized for their artistry and expressiveness. Dance created and performed by African Americans has become a permanent part of American dance. Every dancer and almost every person in America, in one way or another has danced steps that resemble early African polyrhythmic movements. Personally, I think the dance World in America could no have flourished as well as it did without it’s African influences. since the slave trade the drum has been used all over the world as a means of communication and self expression. Its broad variety of users includes the early African tribes, using them for ceremonial purposes. The Africans brought drums with them to the Americas and helped to develop their popularity among American musicians. In the mid 1900’s drum sets were brought about. These revolutionary collaborations of percussive pieces started off with a pair of hi-hats, a bass and snare drum, and a couple of tom toms. Later as the music progressed, so did the drum kits, completely eliminating the need for an entire drum section. With the coming of the rock and roll movement the drum kits were changing, they needed to accommodate the new music styles. They became sonically diverse and even electronic drums were brought about; making them infinitely adjustable both ergonomically and musically. With every major drum manufacturer competing to have the best product on the market drums will always be evolving. African American musicians and early slaves choose to use drums as a common form of expression because of the deep bass that was used to duplicate heart beat and thunder. The sound waves for open ended and string instruments is fairly straight forward. However, for a closed end instrument, such as a drum, the sound waves are different. A lot of the energy is dissipated through the shell of the drum, which is the reason for the variance in drum construction these days. Many different kinds of wood are used to generate different sounds, or a different amount of energy absorption. For a warmer, deeper sound maple construction is used while birch is used to get a high, resonant tone full of vibration. The heaviest wood that dissipates the most amount of energy is oak, creating a lower, flat sound. Question#1 I believe that Egypt’s economic progress over the last decade is a great example of showing how They have come a long way and are still vastly improving. Egypt is the third-largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region (after Saudi Arabia and Israel), as well as one of the strongest, with significant potential for future economic growth and diversification. With a real commitment to economic reform, which favors a large privatization program and the encouragement of private investment and growth. The improvement in Ghana is evident in how their country has such a diverse economy. The Gold Coast was renamed Ghana upon independence in 1957 because of indications that present-day inhabitants descended from migrants who moved south from the ancient kingdom of Ghana. By West African standards, Ghana has a relatively diverse and rich natural resource base Minerals–principally gold, diamonds, manganese ore, and bauxite–are produced and exported. Exploration for oil and gas resources is ongoing. Timber and marine resources are important but declining resources. Agriculture remains a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-third of GDP and about 55% of formal employment. Cash crops consist primarily of cocoa and cocoa products, which typically provide about one-third of export revenue, timber products, coconuts and other palm products, shear nuts , and coffee. Ghana also has established a successful program of nontraditional agricultural products for export including pineapples, cashews, and peppers. Cassava, yams, plantains, corn, rice, peanuts, millet, and sorghum are the basic foodstuffs. Fish, poultry, and meat also are important dietary staples. Ghana’s industrial base is relatively advanced compared to many other African countries. Industries include textiles, apparel, steel (using scrap), tires, oil refining, flour milling, beverages, tobacco, simple consumer goods, and car, truck, and bus assembly. Industry, including mining, manufacturing, construction and electricity, accounts for about 25% of GDP. I strongly believe that since Ghana and Egypt have improved so vastly it is helping African Americans improve in general, the saying â€Å"We come from a long line of kings and queens is such a truthful statement if you look back on history. We have a lot of ancestry that lies within Ghana and Egypt. With the knowledge of the past it will help us to continue realize our past and bring us to terms with the future. We can reverse the process by not letting people hold us back and to not blame others. I also believe that strong knowledge of Ghana and Egypt and Mali, will also further our culture by being educated and not told how our past was. There are a lot of invention by many great African Americans that most people do not know that black inventors were behind the idea, not that is matters that a black or a white person constructed or came up with an idea for a patent, it is essential that we are have contributed just as many things if not more than any other culture. There have been so many contributions to society to western civilization and I feel it is so important that we surround our selves with knowledge of our ancestors because they worked hard to get us to the point today where we are able to vote and the possibility of a black president. The saying that we come from a long line kings and queens is so powerful because it shows you that black really is beautiful and if you retrace our ancestors you will find out that our people were just as important as kings and queens. Lewis Temple was the inventor of a whaling harpoon called the â€Å"Temple’s Toggle† and the â€Å"Temple’s Iron. † He was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1800 and arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1829. He worked as a blacksmith and had lots of friends that were whaler’s who bought harpoons and had lots of conversations with them. Granville T. Wood was known as the black Edison. Woods was born in Columbus, Ohio on April 23,1856. He never finished elementary school and he worked in a machine shop at a very young age. He moved to Missouri in 1872 at the age of sixteen. By 1881 he opened a factory in Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactured telephone, telegraph and electrical equipment. He filed for his first application for a patent in 1884 for an improved steam-boiler furnace. Woods patented the† telographony ,† a combination of the telegraph and the telephone. He produced one of his most important inventions in 1887, it was called the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph. It enabled messages to be sent from moving trains and railways stations. In 1890 he set out to improve the lighting system by creating an efficient safe economical dimmer. It was safer and and resulted in 40% energy savings. Woods also created an overhead conducting system for electrical railways and the electrified third rail. By the time of his death in 1910 he had 150 patents awarded to him all together. Lewis H. L was a pioneer in the development of the electric light bulb. He was also the only black member of the Edison Pioneers, a group of inventors and scientists who worked with Thomas Edison. He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1848 and was raised in Boston. He enlisted in the Navy and served as a cabin boy on the U. S. S Massaoitta the age of sixteen. Latimer was given the assignment to draw plans for Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent . In 1879 Latimer went to work as a draftsman for Hiram Maxim, who invented the machine gun and headed the electric lighting company. Latimer worked on improving the quality of the carbon filament used in the light bulb. In 1882 he received a patent for an improved process for manufacturing carbon filaments. Gerrett is best remembered for his invention of the gas mask and the three way traffic signal. Mogan was born on March 4,1875 in Paris, Kentucky. He left school after fifth grade at the age of fourteen. He left Kentucky and headed for Cincinnati, Ohio and got a job as a handy man in a sewing shop. Morgan directed his attention to the frequent instances of firemen being overcome by fumes and thick smoke when they went into burning buildings. He perfected breathing device which he patented in 1914. In 1923morgan patented an automatic traffic signal which he sold to the General Electric Company for four thousand dollars. In 1963 Garrett A. Morgan died at ht age of 88 in Cleveland, Ohio after he was ill for two years. Just to name a few ,those were a couple of major contributors to the African American culture and western civilization.