Amerigo Vespucci, Explorer and Navigator

Amerigo Vespucci, Explorer and Navigator Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) was a Florentine sailor, explorer, and trader. He was one of the more colorful characters of the early age of discovery in the Americas and captained one of the first journeys to the New World. His lurid descriptions of the New World natives made his accounts extremely popular in Europe and as a result, it is his name - Amerigo - which eventually would be modified into America and given to two continents. Early Life Amerigo was born into a wealthy family of Florentine silk traders who had a princely estate near the city of Peretola. They were very prominent citizens of Florence and many Vespuccis held important offices. Young Amerigo received an excellent education and served for a time as a diplomat before settling in Spain just in time to witness the excitement of Columbus first voyage. He decided that he, too, wanted to be an explorer. The Alonso de Hojeda Expedition In 1499, Vespucci joined the expedition of Alonso de Hojeda (also spelled Ojeda), a veteran of Columbus second voyage. The 1499 expedition included four ships and was accompanied by well-known cosmographer and cartographer Juan de la Cosa, who had gone on Columbus first two voyages. The expedition explored much of the northeastern coast of South America, including stops in Trinidad and Guyana. They also visited a tranquil bay and named it Venezuela, or Little Venice. The name stuck. Like Columbus, Vespucci suspected that he may have been looking at the long-lost Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise. The expedition found some gold, pearls, and emeralds and captured some slaves for sale, but still was not very profitable. Return to the New World Vespucci had earned a reputation as a skilled sailor and leader during his time with Hojeda, and he was able to convince the King of Portugal to finance a three-ship expedition in 1501. He had become convinced during his first trip that the lands he had seen were not, in fact, Asia, but something altogether new and previously unknown. The purpose of his 1501-1502 journey, therefore, became the location of a practical passage to Asia. He explored the eastern coast of South America, including much of Brazil, and may have gone as far as the Platte River in Argentina before returning to Europe. On this journey, he became more convinced than ever that the recently discovered lands were something new: the coast of Brazil that he had explored was much too far to the south to be India. This put him at odds with Christopher Columbus, who insisted until his death that the lands he had discovered were, in fact, Asia. In Vespuccis letters to his friends and patrons, he explained his new theories. Fame and Celebrity Vespuccis journey was not an extremely important one in relation to many of the others taking place at the time. Nevertheless, the seasoned navigator found himself something of a celebrity within a short time due to the publication of some letters he had allegedly written to his friend, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici. Published under the name Mundus Novus (New World) the letters became an immediate sensation. They included fairly direct (for the sixteenth century) descriptions of sexuality (naked women!) as well as the radical theory that the recently discovered lands were, in fact, new. Mundus Novis was followed closely by a second publication, Quattuor Americi Vesputi Navigationes (Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci). Supposedly letters from Vespucci to Piero Soderini, a Florentine statesman, the publication describes four voyages (1497, 1499, 1501 and 1503) undertaken by Vespucci. Most historians believe some of the letters to be fakes: there is little other evidence that Vespucci even made the 1497 and 1503 journeys. Whether some of the letters were fakes or not, the two books were immensely popular in Europe. Translated into several languages, they were passed around and discussed exhaustively. Vespucci became an instant celebrity and was asked to serve on the committee which advised the King of Spain about New World policy. America In 1507, Martin Waldseemà ¼ller, who worked in the town of Saint-Dià © in Alsace, published two maps together with Cosmographiae Introductio, an introduction to cosmography. The book included the purported letters from Vespucci’s four voyages as well as sections reprinted from  Ptolemy. On the maps, he referred to the newly discovered lands as â€Å"America,† in honor of Vespucci. It included an engraving of Ptolemy looking to the East and Vespucci looking to the West. Waldseemà ¼ller also gave Columbus plenty of credit, but it was the name America that stuck in the New World. Later Life Vespucci only ever made two journeys to the New World. When his fame spread, he was named to a board of royal advisers in Spain along with former shipmate Juan de la Cosa, Vicente Yà ±ez Pinzà ³n (captain of the Nià ±a on Columbus’ first voyage) and Juan Dà ­az de Solà ­s. Vespucci was named  Piloto Mayor, â€Å"Chief Pilot† of the Spanish Empire, in charge of establishing and documenting routes to the west. It was a lucrative and important position as all expeditions needed pilots and navigators, all of whom were answerable to him. Vespucci established a school of sorts, to train pilots and navigators, modernize long-distance navigation, collect charts and journals and basically collect and centralize all cartographic information. He died in 1512. Legacy Were it not for his famous name, immortalized on not one but two continents,  Amerigo Vespucci  would today no doubt be a minor figure in world history, well-known to historians but unheard of outside of certain circles. Contemporaries such as Vicente Yà ±ez Pinzà ³n and Juan de la Cosa were arguably more important explorers and navigators. Heard of them? Didn’t think so. That’s not to lessen Vespucci’s accomplishments, which were considerable. He was a very talented navigator and explorer who was respected by his men. When he served as Piloto Mayor, he encouraged key advances in navigation and trained future navigators. His letters – whether he actually wrote them or not – inspired many to learn more about the New World and colonize it. He was neither the first nor the last to envision the route to the west that was eventually discovered by  Ferdinand Magellan  and  Juan Sebastin Elcano, but he was one of the best-known. It’s even arguable that he deserves the eternal recognition of having his name on North and South America. He was one of the first to openly defy the still-influential Columbus and declare that the New World was, in fact, something new and unknown and not simply a previously-uncharted part of Asia. It took courage to contradict not only Columbus but all of the ancient writers (such as  Aristotle) who had no knowledge of continents to the west. Source: Thomas, Hugh.  Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan.  New York: Random House, 2005.

Macbeth, Internal Conflicts essays

Macbeth, Internal Conflicts essays Everyday people deal with conflicts with their peers. In the play Macbeth there are both examples of external and internal conflicts. Three main conflicts were when Lady Macbeth pressured Macbeth into murdering Duncan, after Macbeth murdered Duncan and also after he murdered Banquo. An external conflict in the play was when Macbeth had decided he no longer wished to murder Duncan as seen in Act I sc. 7 ln 35, We will proceed no further in this business, following this statement, Lady Macbeth became irritated with her husband and proceeded to attack his manhood by saying, ...wouldst thou have that which thou esteemst the ornament of life and live a coward in thine own esteem... (Act I sc. 7 lns 46-48). She then went on to say in lines 56-58, ...when you durst do it, then you were a man and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.... The resolution of this conflict was Macbeth trying to prove his manhood to his wife and therefore killed Duncan. An internal conflict that raged within Macbeth occurred after he murdered Duncan. He was so distraught and guilt-stricken that he began to hear voices and felt he could not be forgiven. This scene takes place in Act II scene ii lines 51-52, Me thought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep the innocent sleep... and lines 40-44 one cried God bless us! and Amen! the other, as they had seen me with these hangmans hands, listning their fear. I could not say amen! When they did say God bless us! Another internal conflict within Macbeth occurred after he had Banquo murdered. This is shown in Act III scene iiii lines 116-120. Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with!...

Effective Leadership Style in Controlling the High Employee Turnover Thesis

Effective Leadership Style in Controlling the High Employee Turnover Rate within Nursing Faculties - Thesis Example The nursing facilities in UK are experiencing a 12.2% reduction as of 2010 (Buchan and Seccombe, 2012, p. 21). In Canada, â€Å"a shortage of 20,000 nurses† was reported in 2012 (Coutts, Nursing faculty leaders in US, UK, Canada, and Australia are experiencing problems related to recruitment and retention (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2013a; National Black Nurses Association, 2013; Laschinger et al., 2009; Longley, Shaw and Dolan, 2007). To solve problems related to recruitment, nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia are continuously hiring nurses from different counties around the world (Netzwerk Migration in Europa, 2013). In Canada, low salary is one reason why nursing educators in this area are looking for other more promising job opportunities (Cash, Doyle and Tettenborn, 2011). Nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia are having problem retaining nurses in the field of education. Aside from unattractive payment scheme, other reasons that causes poor retention includes lack of trust and collaboration among the nursing staff, over-worked, absence of career opportunities, no proper recognition for good work performance, absence of control over job performance, and poor communication among the faculty members (Hunt, 2009, p. 2). To solve retention, problem, nursing faculties in US, UK, Canada, and Australia will have to use transformational leadership not only to help them create a healthy and attractive work environment which is necessary in increasing the work satisfaction of registered nurses who wish to pursue a career in teaching (Cummings et al., 2009; Nielsen et al., 2009; Raup, 2008). Furthermore, Nielsen et al. (2009) mentioned that there is a strong relationship between the use of transformational leadership style and the decrease in work-related stress and burnout. By solving problems related to stress, burnout and poor working environment, the nursing faculties in US, UK,

Mental health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mental health - Essay Example Due to this broad concept of mental health there have been a set of studies but a number of writers out of which some are supporting each other and some are contradictory. Mental health has been studies in the different form it gets manifested and with different factors that either directly or indirectly influence mental health. These studies have focused on different influential factors from the society, personal, and cultural components of a living being. We will be focusing on the work done by four writers Pedersen, Patterson, Weinrach, and Speight. All these writers have written a number of articles which are presenting different views. Weinrach and speight say â€Å"Although racial discrimination exists, both within and outside of the counseling context, the Competencies do little to combat it. In fact, the Competencies actually promote viewing persons primarily as members of specific racial and ethnic groups. The Competencies exist at a symbolic and an applied level. Significa nt problems exist for mental health counselors at both of these levels. The Competencies greatest flaw is their preoccupation with perceived deficits in clients, the counseling profession, and American society. It is virtually impossible to separate the content of the Competencies from the political process that has surrounded efforts to promote their universal adoption† (Weinrach and Thomass 2004). Most of their work is focused on multicultural counseling and mental development and also the impact of one’s competencies and mental development secondary to that. This in conclusion means that culture has a major role to play in mental development though competencies might do the same but not as efficiently as multicultural counseling. â€Å"At the macro level, individuals and families are the target and the mental health practitioners derive their

The poems of Seamus Heaney and D.H.Lawrence Essay Example for Free

The poems of Seamus Heaney and D.H.Lawrence Essay The poets Seamus Heaney and D. H. Lawrence frequently describe their own childhood memories in their poems. Mid-Term Break and The Early Purges by Heaney, both show great examples of the way Heaney felt about many things, like death and relationships, as do the poems Piano and Discord in Childhood by D. H. Lawrence. Lawrence was born in 1885, the fourth child of five. His father was an irresponsible alcoholic, and Lawrence was born hating his father and shivered at his touch. Heaney, however, loved and hugely respected his family and especially his father. Heaney was born in 1939 at the start of WW2. He, unlike Lawrence, was the eldest of nine children, and was brought up and worked on his fathers farm, before being sent to a boarding school when he was twelve. Lawrences parents had a violent relationship one big bloody fight, because of his fathers temper. Lawrence was much closer to his mother because she was highly educated and they understood each other. Heaneys poem Mid-Term Break is all about the death of one of Heaneys younger brother. Heaney conveys many feelings in this poem, like growing up, childhood, memories, and death. He uses many modern techniques in this poem: caesura for emphasis on certain things, enjambment to create a sense of continuity running through the poem, alliteration, imagery and many more. Heaney also portrays a lot of memories in this poem. First the title: Mid, implies an interruption in his life and childhood, and an early introduction to adulthood, but also Break, is a harsh, tough word, that could mean the break in his brothers life and childhood. In the first stanza he mentions sitting all morning in the college sick bay. This was when he was awaiting to be driven home to his brothers funeral from his boarding school, and was feeling isolated and loneliness from the rest of the world. Heaney sees his father crying in the second verse. In the porch I met my father crying, this is also the first implication that the funeral is that of a member of the Heaney family. He also mentioned Big Jim Evans another big, strong role model, affected by the death. The next verse says: The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram, which is incongruous and doesnt fit in with everything else. Later, Heaneys hand was shaken by old men, and Heaney was embarrassed, because he should have been showing them respect. He was told: they were sorry for my trouble, which is clichi , and he felt a huge amount of responsibility when whispers informed strangers I was the eldest. Heaneys mother coughed out angry tearless sighs because she was either angry with herself for not looking after her son, or angry with the driver of the car that knocked him clear. In the poem, Heaney felt many things: embarrassment, sadness, and awkwardness. The last verse of the poem reveals the age of his dead brother. The alliteration and sharpness of the last line, really makes you realize how young he was, and how hard it must have been for the Heaney family. The last verse is also set apart from the rest of the poem, because it has only one line. This makes it even more important, because the reader will notice it more, and also pay more attention to it, and what it means. Heaneys other poem The Early Purges focuses on Heaney growing up through his childhood, and his journey to becoming an adult, and obtaining a different perspective on certain things. The Early Purges, is very significant. Early implies something that happened to Heaney when he was young early on in his life, and Purge means to rid yourself of impurities and sin. It also makes the poem sound as if it wont be endurable. This poem is about bad things that have happened to Heaney. It is all about death. As a young boy, Seamus Heaney helped to work on his fathers farm, and during that time he saw farm workers killing lots of defenceless, innocent animals. This is also bluntly written. Heaney was only six when he first saw kittens drown. He makes this very bold at the beginning of the poem. It is hard-hitting and appeals to the hearts of the readers, because kittens are, young, cute and vulnerable animals. Dan Taggart pitched them, the scraggy wee shits. The worker, Dan Taggart is the one doing the killing. He calls the kittens scraggy wee shits, which shows how little he cares about them. The kittens are described as making a frail metal sound, which again shows how young and weak these animals are. The sound also appeals to the aural senses, because the reader can easily imagine the sound and how horrible it must have been.

Country vs. Culture Essay -- Culture

America is a land based on freedom. This freedom is for every individual no matter their race or culture. Our society has surpassed many judgments and concerns that these demographic differences had created in the past. These differences had previously led to a great amount of cultural diversity through the act of discrimination among our nation. America, as a country, has now opened opportunities for individuals to work and interact in environments which were previously unsuited. USA Today surveyed a minority group in 2005 and found that over one third of corporate culture embraces diversity (El Nasser). They have opened doors to expand numbers that are now reaching around 41percent of minorities working at all levels of companies and 37percent of minorities at senior management (El Nasser). America has allowed cultural views of religion and other lifestyle beliefs and values to be an individual’s choice. They have also given a vast amount of freedom to different ethnic and religious groups throughout the past decades. A number of individuals along with various groups have taken advantage of these freedoms in unacceptable and illegal ways and given a lesser punishments for their actions. There have been cultural cases surrounding the acts of rapes and murders, for example, where a defendant was given 5 years of probation for murder and another individual was given 120 days in prison for murder (Phillips). These sentences can be compared to the 10 or more years charged for a ‘normal’ murder case or the average 11.8 years in prison for an individual convicted of rape ("Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure"). The freedom this country is based on should not be shaken by the cultures coming in, but this country should s... ...ce in the English Courts." Modern Law Review. 66.4 (2003): 510-531. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/534/1/when_culture_means_gender(LSERO).pdf. Reddy, Sita. "Temporarily Insane: Pathologising Cultural Difference in American Criminal Courts." Sociology of Health and Illness. 24.5 (2002): 667-687. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.00313/pdf. United States. Justia US Law. Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure. Justia, 2010. Web. http://law.justia.com/codes/us/2010/title18/. Valladares, Rene. Culture Clash: Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense. District of Nevada: Juris Publishing Inc., 2007. 424-466. eBook. www.fd.org/pdf_lib/culture_clash.pdf. Willing, Richard. "Courts Asked To Consider Culture." USA Today 25 May 2004, n. pag. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/casestudies/Multicultural.pdf.

A factual programme for television Essay

A factual programme for television is a programme that use facts, not opinions, as a basis for making decisions, it also documents actual events and people. This term has been in programmes such as documentaries, observational documentary, fly on the wall, docudrama, and reality television. Factual programming takes up a large percentage of terrestrial and digital airtime in the United Kingdom. It could easily be considered the largest of the genres, and it has many sub-genres that make up for a popular airtime filler. One of the most influential sub-genres in factual programming would be considered to be the News, which captures a large and varied target audience and holds all â€Å"mealtime† slots for each day. As so, there are many issues regarding factual programmes for television, like accuracy, often audiences watch factual televison with a critical eye, judging the degree of factuality in each reality format, based on their experience of other types of factual programming, also audiences watch certain programs on a regular basis at least the most common ones, like documentaries and news and the way audiences react, for example to the documentary fakery is such that they become distrustful of the truth of what they were seeing in observational documentaries. Which point to the fact that audiences value accuracy of imformation and truthfulness in news, current affairs and documentary more than in popular factual programmes. The balance between information and entertainment in popular factual television is also important, audiences consider reality shows to be entartainment rather than informative, when viewers discuss informative elements in traditional reality programmes, discussion centers on the deplyment of knowledge, such as pratical tips for viewers. For example, programmes about consumer issues, or health are thought to be informative because viewers can relate to them, and store information, or ideas, for later use. These reality formats provide pratical and social learning opportunities within an entertainement frame. When viewers discuss informative elements in contemporary reality programmes, discussion centers on the idea of learning rather than learning itself. These reality formats do not provide clear pratical or social learning opportunities, and instead foreground entertainement, so is very important the balance between imformation and entertainment. Another issue relating to factual programming is the impartility of it, a factual programme dealing with controversial public policy or matters of political, economic or social controversy like for example the news, needs to be impartial, if to the presenter of the news is given the chance to air their views, opinions and to criticize, this might not only be considered undesirable but even dangerous, so a proper presenter most show open-mindedness, fairness and a respect for the truth. He must not allow his professional judgement to be influenced by pressures from political, commercial or other sectional interests or by his personal bias. Another issue regarding factual programmes is to ensure proper objectivity, nowhere is this distortion more apparent than in the debate about drugs and cannabis in particular. On December 2007 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a series of two investigative â€Å"factual† reports titled â€Å"The Cannabis Trade† which recieved a complaint, but the complaint was not that the programme should have presented the case for legalisation, that was made utterly clear, simply that the reason for the growth in organised crime is well understood as being a result of the prohibition regime and that by not drawing attention to this essential fact the programme presented a distorted view of the true situation. It is thus easy to misrepresent â€Å"the truth† not by telling a lie, but by not telling all of the story. The program presented their own biased viewpoints without any checks or balances or a duty to be truly objective, not ensuring objectivity it caused this problem. Also there is the problem with privacy in factual programmes, If a source does not want you to share something to do with them on a programme you have to respect and not put it up there. You need to respect their privacy and let them to be confident in the show. But there are other kind of programs such as Big brother that use surveillance camera to watch the daily live and explore their privacy, but this kind of programmes already have the consent of the people being exposed.

Brick and Mortar Business to an E-Business Essay

Company Background Sam Walton, who was convinced that the American consumers wanted something more than retail shops, opened his own discount and retail shop in Rogers, Arkansas. Walton realized he could do better by passing on the savings to his customers and earning his profits through volume. This insight would form a cornerstone of Walton’s business strategy when he launched Wal-Mart in 1962. Cost-cutting was an obsession in the Wal-Mart culture, and Walton understood that a major requirement for keeping costs down was controlling the payroll. In 2012, Wal-Mart celebrated 50 years of helping people save money so they can live better. The company employs 2. 2 million associates worldwide and serves 200 million customers each week at more than 10,000 stores in 27 countries. Among the many business enterprises and organizations that changed the world, Wal-Mart holds a very important position. As compared to other genuine companies that changed a lot in the world of entrepreneurs, Wal-Mart has a short, yet highly-acclaimed story of success that is backed by brute force of efforts put in by many members and employees. Wal-Mart adopt E-business What business processes were changed? Possibly the single greatest success story of e-business and B2B implementation is that of the rise to dominance by Wal-Mart in the North American retail market. Wal-Mart has impressive growth in such a short time span and the single most important factor in this rise was their harnessing of the power of e-business. Wal-Mart built an inventory and supply chain management system that changed the face of business making it very competitive as an e-business. Like many companies, Wal-Mart started down the road to total integration by first linking its internal systems. Then the focus shifted toward an emphasis on integrating Wal-Mart’s systems with those of its suppliers. More recently, Wal-Mart has initiated efforts to bring processes and systems from the customer side of its business into the loop. What’s left is a customer-to-supplier architecture that allows Wal-Mart to follow its customer’s shopping habits so closely as to know their likes and dislikes and to parlay that information into pinpoint promotions. (Robinson ;amp; Kalakota, 2004) Wal-Mart has revolutionized supply chain management by using a pull model where customer demands drive the suppliers. Inventory control is finely honed and purchasing trends are available to suppliers, whom now must be able to quickly respond to the needs of millions of customers. The business decision to decentralize the procurement process means that front-line staff in every store can immediately order the appropriate stock electronically, which will in turn require rapid turnout of product from the suppliers. This rapid replenishment system, coupled with accurate purchasing forecasting, helps Wal-Mart reduce overall costs. While not always good for suppliers in general, Wal-Mart’s power as a giant in business has helped in establishing new standards for B2B e-commerce. Wal-Mart’s mindset of cutting costs at all costs resulted in them deploying EDI over the Internet to eliminate the costly VAN altogether. EDI over the Internet (EDI-INT) uses a new standard called AS2, a communication protocol that attempts to make EDI communications over the Internet both secure and reliable. By mandating their suppliers to use AS2, Wal-Mart leads the way in creating a demand for a new generation of EDI, and in turn drives the whole world of e-business forward. Early on, Wal-Mart saw the value of sharing that data with suppliers, and it eventually moved that information online on its Retail Link Web site. Opening its sales and inventory databases to suppliers is what made Wal-Mart the powerhouse it is today. Would the company survive without the E-Business aspect? Why or why not? Wal-Mart has so many great strengths to leverage throughout the global market, and Wal-Mart will survive without E-business. Some of those strengths are that Wal-Mart best-positioned global retail, and it has a strong price leadership. There is no doubt that Wal-Mart is the best-positioned global retailer to address the needs of customers around the world. Wal-Mart’s growth through new stores remains a priority, with supercenters the primary driver because they continue to offer the greatest returns and allow customers a one-stop shopping experience through more than 3,800 stores and over 617 million square feet of selling space. Wal-Mart reinvigorated their fundamental price promise of provide low prices day-in and day-out on the broadest assortment. Their price message, backed by the strongest ad match policy in the industry, ensures that we are driving price separation with competitors. The certainty of great values throughout the store such as best-positioned global retail and a strong price leadership has been fundamental to Wal-Mart for 50 years, and this company will to survive. Would the company survive without the Brick-and-Mortar aspect? Why or why not? Wal-Mart e-commerce websites is not going to replace bricks-and Mortar stores, because the key to Wal-Mart’s emerging e-commerce strategy is integrating store and online marketing. This strategy is product of ideas such as pick up at store. â€Å"Wal-Mart launched on Tuesday its Site to Store program, in which Walmart. com customers can opt for free shipping–provided they are willing to pick up their order at a Wal-Mart store instead of having it sent to their home. The items ordered are shipped within 7 to 10 business days to a Wal-Mart store, and then an e-mail is sent to the buyer that alerts him or her to pick up the order. † (McCarthy , 2007) Retailers say that tying online and in-store inventory together lets them sell more products to more customers. Nordstrom recently combined its inventory so that if the online stockroom is out of a jacket, a store that has it can ship it to the Web customer. Encouraging customers to retrieve items they have ordered online in a store increases visits to the stores, which usually increases sales. What were the unique advantages of this IT solution? Any noticeable drawbacks? Wal-Mart is strengthening their Global e-Commerce business by investing in new talent and technology such as Wal-Mart new iPhone application that allows

Cracking the Alumni Magazine Market

Cracking the Alumni Magazine Market Cracking the Alumni Magazine Market  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In December, 1996, my wife Tina was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had her last radiation treatment in August, 1997. (Shes doing fine today.) I wrote a piece about the experience (David, I Have a Lump: Breast Cancer, One Husbands Story) and sent it off to several womens magazines. No magazines bit, although one person responded that while she loved the piece it didnt meet their current requirements. That was a kind way of saying that it didn’t fit in a magazine filled with such lofty pieces as Ten Ways to Please Your Man and How to Lose 25 Pounds in Two Weeks.  A few years later, I decided to tackle the alumni magazine market. (My career to that point had focused on writing admissions and fund-raising materials for colleges and schools.) Id always admired CC, the alumni magazine of Tinas alma mater Connecticut College, so I wrote to the editor, complimenting her on the magazine, expressing my intention to write for the magazine and including the cancer piece as a sample o f my work. She immediately offered to buy the piece, and it was published in 2001.  Since that time, Ive written over 50 articles and profiles for about 15 alumni magazines.   A cover article about one woman led to a deep friendship and to my writing her

Thesis Statement Writing Tips and Guides

Thesis Statement Writing Tips and Guides Useful Tips on Writing a Good Thesis Statement for an Essay What is a thesis statement? How should it look like? Newbies are sick and tired of answering those questions. A thesis statement is actually a movie trailer for your major work. It highlights the key ideas and aspects of the topic. Although it may seem easy to write, a thesis statement becomes a major challenge for 100% of students no matter how good they are at essay writing. Our tips will make the process simpler and less time-consuming. We do hope you will find them handy. The importance of thesis statement Here are the key points that describe the importance of the thesis statement: It showcases your ideas; It organizes the argument; It contains guidelines for the reader; It establishes claims for a dispute. Types of thesis statements All thesis statements can be divided into two main types: debatable and non-debatable. Make sure you clearly understand the difference before you use any of those types: The debatable thesis is a statement that considers opinion readers may agree or disagree; The non-debatable thesis is a statement that does not reserve any place for readers to debate. What is a proper length of a thesis statement? Avoid writing too long thesis statements. Most students get into a trap when writing huge papers. They think that the length of the thesis statement depends on the volume of a general paper. Well, it does not. The shorter and narrower your thesis, the better. Two or three sentences are more than enough to get your readers intrigued. The thesis should have a claim for a future dispute. Types of thesis statement claims Each claim refers to a particular type and category. They are as follows: Definition or common fact; Event and Result (cause and effect); Value of the category described; Policies and solutions. Include the claim depending on your readers’ type. The audience always matters when it comes to choosing the right claim for your thesis statement. Tips to build a thesis statement Follow our easy tips to construct a solid thesis statement that will grab readers’ attention: Explore and research the sources – you need to analyze all the information you generate from different sources. Compare and contrast all facts to establish your own opinion on the topic; Always make notes – write down everything that comes up to your head. Make sure you always hold a pen or pencil; Include your thesis in the introduction – a thesis statement should be the last part of the introductory paragraph; Provide counterarguments – a thesis statement should encourage your readers on further debates and discussions. Anticipating counterarguments will be a good idea. To know if your thesis is good, try to answer some of the following questions: Does it contain answers to the essay questions? Is the thesis statement specific? Does the major work support your thesis? If the answers are â€Å"Yes†, you have done a great job!

The U.S. Labor Market Cools, and It's Not Just the Weather Assignment

The U.S. Labor Market Cools, and It's Not Just the Weather - Assignment Example The report also adjusted previous values on an upward trend. The bad weather, in December, persisted in January and influenced adjustment of data but the persistence indicate that the slow recovery from lost employments during the previous recession may be due to other factors than the bad weather. Retrenchment in the public sector is one of the factors to the poor recovery because while the private sector created about 142000 jobs in January, the public sector lost about 29000 jobs and this occurred and the federal and state levels. Most of the aspects of employment however remained the same. Average working period per remained constant at 34.4 hours while average hourly wage improved by just five cents. The number of people out of employment remained the same while unemployment rate reduced by 0.1 percent from 6.7 percent. Reduction in number of beneficiaries on unemployment benefits and number seeking jobs could have accounted for this. The labor force however grew by 499000 while total employment increased by 616000. This is however still above the threshold limit beyond which the central bank pledged to maintain minimal interest rates. Many of the new employment opportunities rose from highly paying sectors in which retail trade was the most significant (Philips 1). Unemployment is one of the indicators of an economy’s status and its measure and trend is significant to the corporate sector. A reducing trend in unemployment rates is an indicator of recovery from the previous recession and informs business organizations to expand their production capacity because of better economic prospects. Another implication of the article on the corporate sector arises from its clarification of the source of poor trend in unemployment indicators. Explaining cause of the poor observation distinguishes progress in the corporate sector from the declining opportunities in the public sector to offer confidence in the economy, a

Discuss with examples the sociolinguistic notions of linguistic Essay

Discuss with examples the sociolinguistic notions of linguistic heterogeneity and linguistic homogeneity in the speech community - Essay Example First of all, let us define sociolinguistic notions of a speech community, linguistic heterogeneity and linguistic homogeneity and then proceed to the examples of linguistic heterogeneity and linguistic homogeneity in a speech community within the context of sociolinguistics. It must be noted that the definition of speech community sparks controversy among notable linguists to date. Early definitions of a speech community proceeded from the basis that a speech community is a group of people residing within the area of compact settlement, which is densely inhabited by those who share the same vernacular language and tend to use the same standardized language for communication. According to the notable American linguist, William Labov, who is regarded to be the father of such discipline as variationist sociolinguistics, a speech community is a group of people who share the same language norms that do not depend on social context changes.1 However, it is important to understand that the dependence of a language on social processes can be manifested in a set of different language subsystems (i.e. forms of existence and functioning of a specific language), bilingualism or diglossia, availability or nonexistence of a written language, language policy, etc. These are important but not exclusive manifestations of the connection between a language and conditions of its functioning. Lexicon, grammatical structure and the evolution of linguistic styles exert a substantial influence upon the use of language within a speech community as well. A speech community tends to share a certain set of norms of the language use, which is manifested in the process of communication within the framework of a certain group of people who are bounded by the same lifestyle, profession, interests or represent the same social stratum, which resulted in a long-term delusion, according to which a speech community is always characterized by linguist ic homogeneity. However,