Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Motivation in work place Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Motivation in work place - Assignment Example actor of motivation of the employees in the workplace is extremely important for deciding the performance levels of an organization which functions in the healthcare segment. As such, this research is conducted to evaluate the existing motivation levels, strategies and performance within the organization. Also, the motivation strategies that can be used by the business managers in the organization are considered and their practical application is analysed. The research would be mainly based on secondary research methodology in which data would be gathered from the employee groups working in the NHS foundation Trust. The research report is structured in a methodical and step by step manner. Suitable research aims and objectives are designed followed by a thorough review of the available literatures on the topic of motivation. The literature review would help to provide a base for the development of the research work and for analysing the collected data from a theoretical perspective. The research methodology including data collection techniques and data analysis methods are discussed. This is followed by the finding and interpretations that are derived by analysing the secondary data collected from the research. A well formulated conclusion is given to summarize the findings from the research. Also, a reflective diary that includes the approaches, views and opinions of the researcher is documented. An annotated bibliography is added to review the academic references used for the research work and for highlighting the purpose and use of these literary sources in the paper. The main aim of the research is to evaluate the factor of motivation in workplaces. This is done by understanding what motivation actually is and studying the different dimensions of motivation. The researcher aims to explore motivation form different perspectives and looks into the role of motivation in a workplace. Also, he looks into the different strategies that may be used by the human

Monday, October 28, 2019

Auerbach Enterprise Essay Example for Free

Auerbach Enterprise Essay â€Å"Auerbach Enterprises uses machine hours as the cost driver to assign overhead costs to the air conditioners. The company has used a company-wide predetermined overhead rate in past years, but the new controller, Bennie Leon, is considering the use of departmental overhead rates beginning with the next year. â€Å"(Schneider, 2012). One product is affected more than the other by use of departmental rates rather than companywide rate. â€Å"Companies can choose to use the accounting job order costing method when they have a single product line or numerous products to manufacture. However, it is less costly and less time-consuming if they elect to use process costing when calculating the manufacturing of a single product line. With similarities and differences, there are also pros and cons that come with these costing methods. Every company is unique and what may work well in a car repair shop, may not work in an automobile company. When we think about the similarities between job order costing and process costing we can agree that they both monitor three specific elements, which are direct material, direct labor and manufacturing overhead. In addition the flow of costs in each method is essentially the same when you look at both accounts. † (Huntington, 2013) Radiator Parts Fabrication equal Overhead Costs divided by Machine Hours $80,000 equal $8 per machine hour 10,000 Radiator Assembly, Weld, and Test equal $100,000 equal $5 per machine hour 20,000 Compressor Parts Fabrication equal $120,000 equal $24 per machine hour 5,000 Compressor Assembly and Test equal $180,000 equal $4 per machine hour 45,000. The department overhead rates included the compressor assembly and test department has the highest overhead costs with the most machine hours that total $4 per machine hour. The compressor parts fabrication department yields the highest cost per machine hour at $24. †Job order costing gives managers the advantage of being able to keep track of individuals and teams performance in terms of cost-control, efficiency and productivity. Process costing, on the other hand, gives managers the advantage of being able to ascertain the same qualities in entire departments and compare performance over time. (Ingram, D 2013) The next feasible objective for the company is to determine the company wide overhead rate using machine hours as the cost driver. Company Wide Overhead Rate equal Forecast Overhead divided by Expected Machine Hours Overhead Rate equal $480,000 equal $6 per machine hour 80,000. Company Wide Rate: Direct Material Costs x Batch Size plus Direct Labor Costs x Batch Size Maxiflow: Alaska: 135 x 20 equal 2700 110 x 20 equal 2200 75 x 20 equal 1500 95 x 20 equal 1900 equal $4200 per batch equal $4100 per batch Departmental Rate. Direct Materials Costs plus Direct Labor Costs divided by Each Department Hour Maxiflow: 135 plus 75 equal $210 Radiator Parts Fabrication: 210 divided by 28 equal $7. 50 per batch Radiator Assembly, Weld, and Test equal 210 divided by 30 equal $7 per batch Compressor Parts Fabrication: 210 divided by 32 equal $6. 60 per batch Compressor Assembly and Test: 210 divided by 26 equal $8. 10 per batch Alaska: 110 plus 95 equal 205 Radiator Parts Fabrication: 205 divided by 16 equal $12. 80 per batch Radiator Assembly, Weld, and Test: 205 divided by 74 equal $2. 0 per batch Compressor Parts Fabrication: 205 divided by 8 equal $25. 60 per batch Compressor Assembly and Test: 205 divided by 66 equal $3. 10 per batch. There was only a $100 difference between Maxiflow and Alaska when it came to company-wide rates per batch. On other hand, the departmental rates between Maxiflow and Alaska were significantly different. Maxiflow had the cheaper departmental costs per batch with an average of $7. 30 per batch compared to $11. 05 per batch with Alaska. to determine the companywide and departmental costs per unit of Maxiflow and Alaska. Company-Wide Rate: Total Cost per Unit equal direct material Costs plus Direct Labor Costs divided by Number of Units Maxiflow. Direct Materials equal Alaska: 135 Direct Labor Costs equal 75 210 $415 plus $480,000 divided by 40 equal $12,010. 38 per unit 110 plus 95 equal 205 210 plus 205 equal $415 Departmental Rate: Radiator Parts Fabrication: $80,000 plus $415 divided by 40 equal $2010. 38 per unit Radiator Assembly, Weld, and Test: $100,000 plus 415 divided by 40 equal $2510. 38. Compressor Parts Fabrication: $120,000 plus 415 divided by 40 equal $3010. 8 Compressor Assembly and Test: $180,000 plus 415 divided by 40 equal $4510. 38. So, it seems that the total costs per unit for the company-wide rate is slightly less per unit. The company-wide rate for total cost per unit is $12,010. 38, while the total cost per unit for each department is $12, 041. 52. â€Å"Auerbach Enterprises manufactures air conditioners for automobiles and trucks manufactured throughout North America. The company designs its products with flexibility to accommodate many makes and models of automobiles and trucks. The company’s two main products are MaxiFlow and Alaska. †(Schneider, 2012). The reduction of overhead expenses is one of the sparse areas of corporate cost control that receives few to no attention from management. However the savings and profit improvement can be surprising. Reviewing the data for Auerbach management would be better suited to continue using company-wide rates. The perception by managers of the relative importance of costs may be determined by the nature.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Richard Wrights Black Boy: The Meaning of American Hunger :: Wright Black Boy Essays

Black Boy: The Meaning of American Hunger When a person thinks about hunger, food comes to mind. We never think of hunger as anything else. In Richard Wright's book titled "Black Boy (American Hunger)", a young boy faces many different types of hunger. He refers to the phrase "American Hunger" throughout his book. I feel that the "American Hunger" which he is referring to is the hunger to be considered an American and be treated as an equal. Throughout his life he was treated as if he were from another planet. He was always considered to be different, an outcast and a loser. He felt the need to be a part of the so-called American Culture. He wanted to be able to do what the white children did. He wanted to be able to go to school, to learn, to read, have friends, have a job; but because he was an African American he could not. This is what I will be discussing in this paper his intellectual hunger. Richard was so eager to learn that he kept constantly asking questions, and if his questions were left unanswered he would let his imagination take over.. He would try to find work in which he would be able to read some of the books. His family and relatives refused to let him learn. There is one incident in which his schoolteacher read to him. His grandmother got angry and said that reading was devils work. Through out his childhood he heard many terms and phrases. He never understood what they meant but once they were said he knew if they were good or bad. For example, when Richard was taking a bath and his grandmother came in to scrub his backside, Richard replied with, "When you get through, kiss back there." This is just one of the many phrases he said in which he did not know the meaning. Through his eagerness to learn he began to understand himself, other blacks, and whites better. He continues to learn and to play dumb for his own survival. His self education began when a co- worker lent Richard his library card to read Mencken's essays. He feels that his dreams and his stories in which he reads are an escape for him. He wants to fit in with others and be able to be apart of America.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Mercury Athletic Case Essay

West Coast Fashions. Inc. ( WCF ) . a big interior decorator and seller of men’s and women’s branded dress late announced programs for a strategic reorganisation. Active Gear. Inc. ( AG ) . a in private held footwear company. was contemplating an acquisition chance. John Liedtke. the caput of concern development for AG. was interested in a WCF subordinate. The subordinate that Liedtke and AG intended to get was Mercury Athletic ( MA ) . a footwear company. Liedtke thought geting Mercury would approximately duplicate AG’s gross. increase its purchase with contract makers and spread out its presence with cardinal retail merchants and distributers. In order to supply a solid recommendation to Liedtke. farther analysis must be performed. Market Overview The dress or footwear industry is extremely competitory with low growing. The market is influenced by manner tendencies. monetary value. quality and manner. Companies can cut down hazard factors by non following manner tendencies which equates to efficient and effectual stock list direction and lost net income chances. Active Gear AG is a comparatively little athletic and insouciant footwear company. It has one-year grosss of $ 470. 3M ( 42 % of grosss came from athletic places ) . and $ 60. 4M of runing income. Projecting a shadow over these Numberss are AG’s typical rivals. AG’s typical rival has one-year gross revenues over $ 1. 0B. Because of Chinese fabrication contract consolidations. AG’s size was going a disadvantage due to low purchasing power vs. rivals. AG’s initial focal point was to bring forth and market high-quality forte places for golf and tennis participants. AG was among the first companies to offer stylish. walking. hike and boating footwear. Over the old ages. the firm’s athletic places had evolved from high-performance footwear to athletic manner wear with a authoritative image. The firm’s traditional casual places besides offered authoritative styling. but were aimed at a broader. more mainstream market. AG’s mark demographic was urban and suburbanites. runing from 25-45 in age. AG’s distribution channels consisted of independent retail merchants. departmental shops. and jobbers. AG excluded large box retail merchants and price reduction shops. AG focused on merchandises that didn’t follow manner tendencies. ensuing in a elongated merchandise lifecycle. This concern theoretical account led to more efficient and effectual supply concatenation and operating direction. However. because they opted for the safe path it halted the company’s gross revenues and growing chance. Mercury Athletic Mercury Athletic was purchased by WCF from its laminitis Daniel Fiore. Fiore was forced to sell the company after running it for over 35 old ages. due to wellness jobs. Due to a strategic reorganisation. the program called for the divestiture of MA and other â€Å"non-core† WCF assets. MA had grosss of $ 431. 1M and an EBITDA of $ 51. 8M Merchandises were distributed to departmental and price reduction shopsIt had two merchandise lines- athletic and insouciant footwearTarget market of both work forces and adult femalesShoes popularity grew in the utmost athleticss marketMA developed an operating substructure. leting direction to rapidly accommodate to alterations in client gustatory sensations with merchandise specifications. 1. Is Mercury an appropriate mark for AG? Why or why non? Let me walk you through some qualitative considerations before doing my recommendation. Strategic considerations: AG and MA are both viing in the athletic and insouciant footwear industry. Acquiring MA could take to economic systems of graduated table and range through fabrication and distribution webs. severally. Geting MA- AG would be less affected by the Chinese fabrication contract consolidation. due to increased purchasing powers. AG could potentially revive and net income from geting Mercury’s women’s merchandise line. Geting MA will duplicate AG’s one-year gross. Counter arguments- AG and MA mark demographics could non bring forth company synergisms MA is manner trendy. hence prone to put on the line outside of AG’s steady concern theoretical account Company civilizations could non fit 2. Review the projections by Liedtke. Are they allow? How would you urge modifying them? In order to happen if the projections are sensible. you need a starting point. Using jutting growing rates and EBIT should bespeak if Liedtke’s information is solid. Referencing the Free Cash Flow and Terminal Value tabular arraies ( found below ) . I will be able to bring forth an sentiment of Liedtke’s projections. Year to twelvemonth growing rates are highly volatile. normalising in 2010. The negative rate could mean that in 2007 they are projecting to stop a merchandise line. The swing back to a positive growing rate could be indicant of AG leveraging its economic systems of graduated table and range. while administering their merchandise lines through large box retail merchants. EBIT has been projected to bit by bit increase. which looks to be on par with industry norms. It is sensible to state that Liedtke’s projections decently reflect AG’s concern theoretical account. post-acquisition. 3. See tabular arraies and computations below 4. Make you see the value you obtained as conservative or aggressive? Why? From my analysis. the value I obtained seemed to be aggressive against the information provided. Referencing the tabular arraies below: Terminal or Enterprise Value is High Synergies are excluded from fiscal analysisWorsening gross growing 5. How would you analyse possible synergisms or other beginnings of value non reflected in Liedtke’s base premise? In order to analyse possible synergisms. I would look at both companies’ operations. Get downing from where they beginning their stuffs to administering their concluding merchandise are all possibilities of operational synergisms ( purchasing power. distribution channels. stock list direction. etc†¦ ) . Fiscal synergisms would include uniting grosss and cost benefits. which translate to increasing bottom line. Company civilization matching could besides go debatable. Quantitative AnalysisNet Working Capital Free Cash Flow WACC Terminal Value Evaluation NPV. IRR and Payback Period Decision Net present value of future hard currency flows equates to a positive $ 0. 2M. Internal rate of return or IRR is the involvement rate at which the net present value of all the hard currency flows from a undertaking or investing equal nothing. The IRR of this acquisition is 28 % . Having a positive NPV and an IRR that well outweighs the price reduction and hazard free rate- suggests that this acquisition should be pursued. In decision. AG should get MA.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Advantages and barriers of harmonizing International Financial Reporting Standards throughout the world Essay

The development in international trade and capital flows that has occurred over the previous two decades has increased the desire to harmonise accounting standards across the globe. The appeal of international accounting harmonization has been extensively discussed. Numerous academics Ali, J M (2005), Adhikari and Tondkar (1992), Saudagaran (1997) argue that adopting International Financial Reporing Standards (IFRS) would bring great benefits to society, such as comparability of statements between countries, progression and development of capital markets and communication and relationships between multinational companies. It has also been debated by some Blake (199O), Nair and Frank (1981), Nobes and Parker (2004 ), Arpan and Radebaugh (1985), Deegan (2005) that with the rewards gained from harmonization come some barriers; economic consequences, nationalism and the lack of professional bodies. One of the most valuable features that would come from harmonization would be the comparability of international financial information. Currently there is great misunderstandings about the foreign financial statements, improving comparability would remove this issue and it would also eliminate one of the most significant barriers to the flow of international investment. Global harmonization would save time and money that is presently being spent on uniting differing financial information when more than one set of reports is required to comply with the different national laws or practice Blake (1990). It will also improve the tendency for accounting standards throughout the world to be raised to the highest possible level and to be consistent with local economic, legal and social conditions. Having one international accounting language is beneficial for the worldwide comparison of statements and understandability. Unifying accounting standards would also help the development and expansion of capital markets. Ali, J M (2005). In the last two decades the growth in capital markets has been very dramatic. This increase has brought about a number of issues. One concern is the variance in accounting disclosure standards and practices worldwide, which is concerning for a variety of different groups Adhikari and Tondkar (1992). IFRS would allow foreign investors, financial analysts and foreign lenders to have a greater  understanding of the financial statements of different international companies and they would be able to compare the investment opportunities which will help them to make the right investment decision. The group that would benefit the most out of the harmonisation of accounting standards would be the Multi-national companies (MNC’s) as the communication of financial information within the groups would become easier. With the harmonization of reporting standards it would be eas ier for MNC’s to fulfil the disclosure requirement for stock exchanges around the world. Many of the new foreign investment by MNCs is taking place in developing countries and at the same time that there has been a sharp decline in new investments in industrialized nations Saudagaran (1997). This means that due to the remarkable differences between financial reporting MNCs have to create numerous consolidated financial statements in regards to the regulations for each separate country. To do this it takes a great deal of time and resources, this problem would be eliminated by the adoption of IFRS. A subject of debate is whether the accounting regulators take the issue of economic consequences into account when deciding on whether to adopt the IFRS. Many companies do not take on the change as bringing change into their accounting standards will raise costs. This resistance may occur with the harmonization of accounting standards Blake (1990). Nair and Frank (1981) stated â€Å"national accounting group would lobby in this fashion in order to minimize the costs associated with changing to a new standard, or to avoid stigma of noncompliance if it chooses instead to ignore the new international standard†. It is also discussed that accountants may lose their credibilit y if they are to answer to the economic consequences pressures whilst it is also discussed that it is a vital matter if accounting regulations are to command general support. Blake (1990) provides evidence of how accounting standard setters were influenced by economic consequence issues in different countries. Economic consequence issues may cause diversity of accounting practices because they are a result of the national cultural and regulatory framework. One of the barriers for harmonization may be nationalism. Nobes and Parker (2004) advocate that nationalism will cause a refusal to accept accounting standards that is to be developed by other countries. Each country follows the belief that they have in place the better system and that other countries accounting  standards are of an inferior nature Arpan and Radebaugh (1985). Some countries that have faults and inadequacies within their standards will chose not to adopt the IFRSs as they can benefit from these ineffiecies. An example is given by Carlson (1997) who acknowledges that governments may view attempts by the IASC to alter national accounting rules as infringements upon national sovereignty. Developing nations and those which have been colonies of imperial powers are particularly sensitive to intrusions. Wallace (1990) identifies three reasons in favour of survival of the IASC/IASB, including the increasing internationalization of business and finance, the composite nature of its standards, and the absence of rival in the development of global accounting standards. Another political obstacle that may arise, which is discussed by Nobes and Parker (2004) is that there are several countries that are not in the presence of strong practiced accounting bodies. The IASB wanted to work through national accountancy bodies but this is an issue as they are not all countries have effective bodies. The IOSCO came forth with the suggestion of the adoption of IASB standards as an acceptable basis for the preparation of financial statements to member exchanges throughout the world. This means that a company looking for listing in another country does not have to adjust its reports to fulfil the specific national requirements if the reports are already in agreement with IASB standards Deegan (2005). The need for the harmonization of IFRS is definitely evident. As discussed earlier there are a great number of benefits that would arise from this progression. To provide a professional, developing and strong accounting environment it would be necessary. Despite the benefits there are a number of barriers and hurdles that need to be overcome in order to bring about the harmonization of international accounting standards. In order to ensure the uniform app lication of accounting standards across cultural and political boundaries IASB needs to ensure that there are strong audit practices and fair values applied in order to bring about the integrity of the standards.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Information Technology on Financial Losses essays

Information Technology on Financial Losses essays If figures must be believed, the virtual world is not exactly a safe venue for business or private affairs. In its sixth annual Computer Crime and Security Survey in 2001, the Computer Security Institute of San Francisco reported on mounting financial losses to computer crimes and other information security breaches, 85% of which were incurred primarily by respondent large corporations and government agencies (Business Journal 2001). A third of these respondents said that they lost almost $400 million to cyber criminals in 2001 alone, an increase from a yearly average of $120 million in the three years before 2000 and $265 in 2000, according to the The most common forms of losses have been theft of proprietary information at an aggregate of $151 million and financial fraud at $93 million. Almost all of these occurred through their internet connection in combination with their internal systems as points of attack (Business Journal). Despite the rise of the said crimes, only one of three reported The US Department of Justice released a list of prosecuted crimes committed through the internet from 1998 to the present (2004). These crimes include the disabling of the control tower of a government facility, hacking, banditry or web banditry, theft of proprietary company information by an employee or outsider, computer sabotage, embezzlement by un- authorized sales of items or services, un-authorized access into credit card accounts, creation of destructive viruses or worms. The National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 amended the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, codified as 18 USC 1030, the law against fraud and related activities in connection with computers (Department of Justice). It punishes anyone who knowingly accesses a computer internet connection without authorization or in excess of authorized access and acquires information prot...

Monday, October 21, 2019

The Insider Secret to Dialog [Hint Steal It] - Freewrite Store

The Insider Secret to Dialog [Hint Steal It] - Freewrite Store Photo by  Victor Rodvang  on  Unsplash Today’s guest post is by author Jeff Somers.  He has published nine novels, including the  Avery Cates Series  of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books, the darkly hilarious crime novel  Chum  from Tyrus Books, and most recently tales of blood magic and short cons in the  Ustari Cycle.       The film Sunset Boulevard (1950) is perhaps Billy Wilder’s greatest achievement in terms of dialog- including the all-time great line (spoken by all-time great voice William Holden), â€Å"Sometimes it's interesting to see just how bad bad writing can be† (a line given extra oomphby the fact that the character speaking is himself a pretty bad writer). You can’t help but wonder if Wilder was winking at himself when he came up with that one, despite the fact that Wilder- a Polish Jew who emigrated to the U.S. in his late 20s- didn’t learn English until he arrived in Hollywood to begin his stellar career as a screenwriter and director. The fact that English wasn’t his first language might have helped Wilder come up with such great dialog. Hearing a language spoken when you don’t understand it is an entirely different experience than when you’re fluent; in 1972, Italian singer Adriano Celentano released â€Å"Prisencolinensinainciusol,† a song of gibberish lyrics that are designed to sound like English spoken with a typical American accent. Listening to the song is an interesting experience- at first, it seems like the meaning of the song is just beyond your grasp because the rhythms and inflections are right on the money. The reason this song sounds right despite being meaningless reveals the fundamental trick of good dialog: The rhythm.    Slave to the Rhythm Every writer knows that it’s pretty easy to go very wrong when writing dialog: - Monotony, wherein all the characters sound more or less exactly the same (if a reader can’t tell who’s speaking without a dialog tag, you’ve got a problem). - Stilted, exposition-heavy conversations filled with clumsy signifiers like â€Å"As you know ...† or repetitions of facts re-phrased for clarity (people simply don’t talk like that). - Dialog that’s too close to reality, because in real life we all speak in meandering, stuttered phrases, using a lot of filler sounds to stall for time- and while making your characters sound like this might be realistic, it’s unpleasant to read (and difficult to understand on the page). - Characters that only speak in Plot Points, only opening their mouths when the reader needs to know something. The sweet spot for dialog is hazy, but the trick is to match the rhythm of real speech, but use a much more controlled approach to the actual words. Modeling Speech The key is turning off your brain a little and hearing just the pacing and pattern of a conversation without the meaning behind the sounds. One easy way to do this is to take dialog from a fictional source or from a real-life conversation and then substitute your own words. TIP: Steal the rhythm, skip the boring parts- this is a perfect opportunity to strip out the â€Å"placeholder† words we all use to stall while we think, like â€Å"um† and â€Å"ah,† or, if you’re Italian, allora. Borrowing From a Scene: Let’s say you have a scene between two characters talking about something. Why not steal the rhythm from one of the masters of modern movie dialog, Quentin Tarantino, and his classic Pulp Fiction: JULES: Okay so, tell me again about the hash bars. VINCENT: Okay what do you want to know? JULES: Well, hash is legal over there, right? VINCENT: Yeah, It's legal but it ain't hundred percent legal, I mean, you just can't walk into a restaurant, roll a joint and start puffin' away. They want you to smoke in your home or certain designated places. Even without having seen the film, the rhythm of each speaker is clear, and the dialog bounces in a way that’s distinctive and pleasant to the ear- which is one reason this scene is one of the most famous from a famous film. The subject matter is not exactly important in any way (to the plot or anything) else, but you can see how the use of meaningless words like okay, right, and yeah are used to keep the rhythm balanced, and how some words are intentionally left out to get a more naturalistic sound (like ain’t hundred percent legal instead of ain’ta hundred percent legal). Modeling your own dialog after these rhythms can get that same bounce for your own words. You can also steal from great books. Why not steal from a master of the art like Hemingway or Elmore Leonard? Leonard had a skill in making ordinary conversations pop off the page: CHRIS: She didn't throw me out, I left. I phoned, you weren't home, so I stayed at Jerry's. DAD: When you needed me most. I'm sorry I wasn't here. CHRIS: Actually, you get right down to it, Phyllis's the one does all the talking. She gives me banking facts about different kinds of annuities, fiduciary trusts, institutional liquid asset funds ... I'm sitting here trying to stay awake, she's telling me about the exciting world of trust funds. DAD: I had a feeling. You've given it some thought. You realize life goes on. CHRIS: I'm not even sure what attracted me to her in the first place. DAD: You want me to tell you? All of Leonard’s dialog has a recognizable rhythm that magically seems realistic while being very controlled and carefully constructed. Borrowing from Real Life: An equally powerful approach is to model your dialog on actual conversations. This can be a better approach if you’re trying to capture an iconic cultural rhythm, or if you’re simply looking for something more naturalistic. This approach can guarantee that your dialog has a believable, authentic rhythm to it, which is about 75% of the battle. A hybrid of both approaches is to use an actor’s distinctive delivery of dialog to model the rhythm of one character on. Think about an actor with a distinctive way of delivering dialog- Alec Baldwin, or Meryl Streep, or even a non-actor you know personally. Imagining them reading every line you write for a specific character will subconsciously guide you towards a distinctive but believably consistent rhythm for every line they speak in your story. These approaches will train you to write realistic-sounding dialog every time, eventually without having to draft on someone else’s work or the neighbors’ conversations- and eventually to develop your own personal rhythm that doesn’t rely on anything but your creative imagination and skill. Dialog is hard- no one’s saying otherwise. World-building and plotting can be fun, filled with the wild excitement of simply creating. Dialog is a delicate business. The secret to great dialog doesn't lie with poetic lines scanned and re-scanned endlessly for errant commas or stuffed with convoluted similes- it's all about the rhythm. If your characters’ speaking rhythms appear naturalistic to the mind's ear, the reader will find it easy to imagine the characters are really speaking even though written dialog is so different from the spoken kind. This is incredibly important because having your characters speak in believable ways sells even the most far-fetched world-building and the most faith-testing out-of-nowhere plot twists. Bad dialog can ruin even the smartest story, even stories that are otherwise brilliantly written, and like many aspects of the craft getting dialog ‛right’ has more to do with approximating reality than reproducing it. Like "Prise ncolinensinainciusol," you're fooling your readers into â€Å"hearing† what you want them to hear. Except, of course, you should use words that actually mean something as a best practice. So, writers, tell me: What writer creates the best dialog for modeling your own work?    Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including theAvery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and theUstari Cycleseries of urban fantasy novels. His short story â€Å"Ringing the Changes† was selected for inclusion inBest American Mystery Stories 2006,his story â€Å"Sift, Almost Invisible, Through† appeared in the anthologyCrimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story â€Å"Three Cups of Tea† appeared in the anthologyHanzai Japan. He also writes about books forBarnes and Noble andAbout.com and about the craft of writing forWriter’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writingWriting Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Rosenberg Espionage Case

The Rosenberg Espionage Case The execution of New York City couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg after their conviction for being Soviet spies was a major news event of the early 1950s. The case was intensely controversial, touching nerves throughout American society, and debates about the Rosenbergs continue to the present day. The basic premise  of the Rosenberg case was that Julius, a committed communist, passed secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, which helped the USSR develop its own nuclear program. His wife Ethel was accused of conspiring with him, and her brother, David Greenglass, was a conspirator who turned against them and cooperated with the government. The Rosenbergs, who were arrested in the summer of 1950, had come under suspicion when a Soviet spy, Klaus Fuchs, confessed to British authorities months earlier. Revelations from Fuchs led the FBI to the Rosenbergs, Greenglass, and a courier for the Russians, Harry Gold. Others were implicated and convicted for participating in the spy ring, but the Rosenbergs drew the most attention. The Manhattan couple had two young sons. And the idea that they could be spies putting the national security of the United States at risk fascinated the public. On the night the Rosenbergs were executed, June 19, 1953, vigils were held in American cities protesting what was widely seen as a great injustice. Yet many Americans, including President Dwight Eisenhower, who had taken office six months earlier, remained convinced of their guilt. Over the following decades controversy over the Rosenberg case never entirely faded. Their sons, who had been adopted after their parents died in the electric chair, persistently campaigned to clear their names. In the 1990s declassified material established that American authorities had been solidly convinced that Julius Rosenberg had been passing secret national defense material to the Soviets during World War II. Yet a suspicion that first arose during the Rosenbergs trial in the spring of 1951, that Julius could not have known any valuable atomic secrets, remains. And the role of Ethel Rosenberg and her degree of culpability remains a subject for debate. Background of the Rosenbergs Julius Rosenberg was born in New York City in 1918 to a family of immigrants and grew up on Manhattans Lower East Side. He attended Seward Park High School in the neighborhood and later attended City College of New York, where he received a degree in electrical engineering. Ethel Rosenberg had been born Ethel Greenglass in  New York City in 1915. She had aspired to a career as an actress but became a secretary. After becoming active in labor disputes she became a communist, and met Julius in 1936 through events organized by the Young Communist League. Julius and Ethel married in 1939. In 1940 Julius Rosenberg joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Signal Corps. He worked as an electrical inspector and began passing military secrets to Soviets agents during World War II. He was able to obtain documents, including plans for advanced weaponry, which he forwarded to a Soviet spy whose cover was working as a diplomat at the Soviet consulate in New York City. Julius Rosenbergs apparent motivation was his sympathy for the Soviet Union. And he believed that as the Soviets were allies of the United States during the war, they should have access to Americas defense secrets. In 1944, Ethels brother David Greenglass, who was serving in the U.S. Army as a machinist, was assigned to the top-secret Manhattan Project. Julius Rosenberg mentioned that to his Soviet handler, who urged him to recruit Greenglass as a spy. In early 1945 Julius  Rosenberg was discharged from the Army when his membership in the American Communist Party was discovered. His spying for the Soviets  had apparently gone unnoticed. And his espionage activity continued with his recruitment of his brother-in-law, David Greenglass. After being recruited by Julius Rosenberg, Greenglass, with the cooperation of his wife Ruth Greenglass, began passing  notes on the Manhattan Project to the Soviets. Among the secrets Greenglass passed along were sketches of parts for the type of bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. In early 1946 Greenglass was honorably discharged from the Army. In civilian life he went into business with Julius Rosenberg, and the two men struggled to operate a small machine shop in lower Manhattan. Discovery and Arrest In the late 1940s, as the threat of communism gripped America, Julius Rosenberg and David Greenglass seemed to have ended their espionage careers. Rosenberg was apparently still sympathetic to the Soviet Union and a committed communist, but his access to secrets to pass along to Russian agents had dried up. Their career as spies might have remained undiscovered if not for the arrest of Klaus Fuchs, a German physicist who had fled the Nazis in the early 1930s and continued his advanced research in Britain. Fuchs worked on secret British projects during the early years of World War II, and then was brought to the United States, where he was assigned to the Manhattan Project. Fuchs returned to Britain after the war, where he eventually came under suspicion because of family ties to the communist regime in East Germany. Suspected of spying, was interrogated by the British and in early 1950 he confessed to passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. And he implicated an American, Harry Gold, a communist who had worked as a courier delivering material to Russian agents. Harry Gold was located and questioned by the FBI, and he confessed to having passed atomic secrets to his Soviet handlers. And he implicated David Greenglass, the brother-in-law of Julius Rosenberg. David Greenglass was arrested on June 16, 1950. The next day, a front-page headline in the New York Times read, Ex-G.I. Seized Here On Charge He Gave Bomb Data to Gold. Greenglass was interrogated by the FBI, and told how he had been drawn into an espionage ring by his sisters husband. A month later, on July 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was arrested at his home on Monroe Street in lower Manhattan. He maintained his innocence, but with Greenglass agreeing to testify against him, the government appeared to have a solid case. At some point Greenglass offered information to the FBI implicating his sister, Ethel Rosenberg. Greenglass claimed he had made notes at Manhattan Project labs at Los Alamos and Ethel had typed them up before the information was passed to the Soviets. The Rosenberg Trial The trial of the Rosenbergs was held at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan in March 1951. The government argued that both Julius and Ethel had conspired to pass atomic secrets to Russian agents. As the Soviet Union had detonated its own atomic bomb in 1949, the public perception was that the Rosenbergs had given away the knowledge that enabled the Russians to build their own bomb. During the trial, there was some skepticism expressed by the defense team that a lowly machinist, David Greenglass, could have supplied any useful information to the Rosenbergs. But even if the information passed along by the spy ring wasnt very useful, the government made a convincing case that the Rosenbergs intended to help the Soviet Union. And while the Soviet Union had been a wartime ally, in the spring of 1951 it was clearly seen as an adversary of the United States. The Rosenberg, along with another suspect in the spy ring, electrical technician Morton Sobell, were found guilty on March 28, 1951. According to an article in the New York Times the following day, the jury had deliberated for seven hours and 42 minutes. The Rosenbergs were sentenced to death by Judge Irving R. Kaufman on April 5, 1951. For the next two years they made various attempts to appeal their conviction and sentence, all of which were thwarted in the courts. Execution and Controversy Public doubt about the Rosenbergs trial and the severity of their sentence prompted demonstrations, including large rallies held in New York City. There were serious questions about whether their defense attorney during the  trial had made damaging mistakes that led to their conviction. And, given the questions about the value of any  material they would have passed to the Soviets, the death penalty seemed excessive. The Rosenbergs were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, on June 19, 1953. Their final appeal, to the United States Supreme Court, had been denied seven hours before they were executed. Julius Rosenberg was placed in the electric chair first, and received the first jolt of 2,000 volts at 8:04 p.m. After two subsequent shocks he was declared dead at 8:06 p.m. Ethel Rosenberg followed him to the electric chair immediately after her husbands body had been removed, according to a newspaper story published the next day. She received the first electric shocks at 8:11 p.m, and after repeated shocks a doctor declared that she was still alive. She was shocked again, and was finally declared dead at 8:16 p.m. Legacy of the Rosenberg Case David Greenglass, who had testified against his sister and brother-in-law, was sentenced to federal prison and was eventually paroled in 1960. When he walked out of federal custody, near the docks of lower Manhattan, on November 16, 1960, he was heckled by longshoreman, who yelled out that he was a lousy communist and a dirty rat. In the late 1990s, Greenglass, who had changed his name and lived with his family out of public view, spoke to a New York Times reporter. He said the government forced him to testify against his sister by threatening to prosecute his own wife (Ruth Greenglass had never been prosecuted). Morton Sobel, who had been convicted along with the Rosenbergs, was sentenced to federal prison and was paroled in January 1969. The two young sons of the Rosenbergs, orphaned by the execution of their parents, were adopted by family friends and grew up as Michael and Robert Meeropol. They have campaigned for decades to clear their parents names. In 2016, the final year of the Obama administration, the sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg contacted the White House to seek a statement of exoneration for their mother. According to a December 2016 news report, White House officials said they would consider the request. However, no action was taken on the case.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Crime in uk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Crime in uk - Essay Example The root cause of cult of celebrity is the deep-seated human desire to appear inspirational, famous and strong to lead ordinary people and attain personal satisfaction and fulfillment for belonging in the class of celebrities (Walker and Smith 2002). According to social identity theory, people identify themselves by their social groups which they belong and judge others by the memberships to the groups. Celebrity worship originated in 1880s since inventors, scholars and political leaders were perceived as cultural heroes and people were celebrated for being famous in the society (Walker and Smith 2002). Accordingly, the emergence of mass media technologies in 1920s and popularity of the entertainment industry shifted the cult of celebrity from character of the individual to personality of the individual (Walker and Smith 2002). Another factor that contributed to the popularity of cult of celebrity was the decline in morality due to decline in organised religion. These fixations of public personality distort the behaviour of individuals since millions are obsessed with famous celebrities such as Nicole Kidman and Tom Hanks (Walker and Smith 2002). A survey conducted among teachers in primary and secondary schools in UK concluded that cult of celebrity was affecting children’s expectations and aspirations in life since many teachers believed that their children want to be famous (Rojek 2001). The cult is producing a younger generation that believes educational achievements and hard work are not essential in attaining success in life. In this case, children will grow up with low self-esteem, sense of failure and alienation due to relative deprivation. Children idolise themselves with popular celebrities such as football stars, popular musicians and actors. The cult of celebrities is a widespread obsession, worship and idolatry on

MGMT458 U5 IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MGMT458 U5 IP - Research Paper Example Leadership is defined broadly through a certain style, ability to influence others. Whether the leader is charismatic or transformational, he has power and uses it to affect the behavior and action of others. For years, leadership was studied as a mix of unique personality traits, such as intelligence and self- confidence. However, recently, the attention was turned to the styles of leadership behavior. They have been determined as democratic, authoritarian and laissez-faire. It is also essential that the companies were led by a polymath person, a person with an ability to cope with the complex tasks. History recognizes Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo as polymath leaders. Modern world polymaths are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos. The CEO of Amazon Company, Jeff Bezos, started his business with the creation of small enterprise that sold books. By sustaining growth and development of his organization, with time, Bezos has created his name as a leader, creating one of the biggest retail organizations in the world. Today it is the huge company with a smile from A to Z, the company’s logo, which shows its willing to deliver everything to everyone. The major purpose of the services he offered was and is care of customers as the greatest value for the company. That is why during his employees meetings, there is a tradition to leave an empty chair, as a reminder that this is a customer’s one, and all the decisions staff makes will influence their consumers finally. This prioritizing of customer service helps the CEO and his staff to understand the needs and wants of each consumer and put customer on the first place. The way Jeff Bezos runs his business, displays him as the democratic leader. He conside rs freedom is impossible without the freedom of disputes, which finally brings new ideas and innovation. That is why, he holds the responsibility of the actions made by his

Friday, October 18, 2019

The Unconventional Depiction of Women in Japanese Films Essay

The Unconventional Depiction of Women in Japanese Films - Essay Example Women, as portrayed in Japanese films are meek and a follower of men. They are the guardians of the house and children and the helper of men, they are the ones that fall in the background but very much important nonetheless. Men are driven by pride; they would do things that are out of their league for the sake of containing and maintaining their pride, their ego, their dignity. Men are depicted as great thinkers and they invent something new every day and by nature they are competitive and easily driven by a desire for power and glory, whether it is for a higher rank or for the love of someone, even love becomes a game, even life or freedom will be put at stake just to prove that they are better than someone else, they like to gamble and they rarely think of the outcome before they do crazy stunts and acts recklessly. They like the thrills and the element of danger and adventure, a male figure will grow in his appearance and expand his understanding but in spirit, he remains a boy who likes challenges and unbelievable stunts and plot to make it better than it was before. They do not easily accept defeat and they do not easily give in and in fact, most of the time, not at all. Although women are devious in ways a man will never understand, they are the keepers of the house and will be as gentle as an angel even when angered or wronged but they unleash a fury greater than hell when forced to it. Most women think of not just of herself but the whole package, of the people around her and of what an action may cause to the generalized public.... Men are depicted as great thinkers and they invent something new everyday and by nature they are competitive and easily driven for a desire of power and glory, whether it is for a higher rank or for the love of someone, even love becomes a game, even life or freedom will be put at stake just to prove that they are better than someone else, they like to gamble and they rarely think of the outcome before they do crazy stunts and acts recklessly. They like the thrills and the element of danger and adventure, a male figure will grow in his appearance and expand his understanding but in spirit he remains a boy who likes challenges and unbelievable stunts and plot to make it better than it was before. They do not easily accept defeat and they do not easily give in and in fact, most of the time, not at all. Although women are devious in ways a man will never understand, they are the keepers of the house and will be as gentle as an angel even when angered or wronged but the unleash a fury greater than hell when forced to it. Most women think of not just of herself but the whole package, of the people around her and of what an action ma cause to the generalized public but women are just as human as a man and therefore are not an exception to crime and they also has faults and they also commit devious crimes but this population is at least just 20% of the total, unlike with men who are more exposed to the brutal reality of having power in the society. Women are more likely to be the victim of a crime than a man, women are not born weak but they are being dominated over by men and since women believes in love more than men does. Since women are the

Health Care and Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Care and Law - Essay Example Data gathered from other sources were properly referenced. However, the authors did not mention how they were able to collect data used in this study. Therefore, acknowledging participant sensitivity and vulnerability are not applicable. Using sub-headings, the authors were able to arrange their thoughts and ideas with regards to this subject matter. For example, using the sub-heading â€Å"What are the Root Causes?†, the authors were able to identify all possible causes of health disparities in men as mentioned in other previous studies. This can be seen on page 1 of 3. To minimize the effects of research bias, the authors were able to base their research findings from the identified root causes of health disparities in men as presented in the literature review. By analyzing the gathered literature, the authors were able to come up with an objective solution for this problem. Yes. The purpose of this study is to discuss how it is possible to eliminate health disparities in boys and men of colors. In line with this, the authors revealed that such health disparities can be eliminated by using strategic research and action. Yes. Data interpretation matches the data collection. This study is to discuss how it is possible to eliminate health disparities in boys and men of colors. Therefore, the authors decided to identify the root causes of such disparities followed by discussing potential solutions on how to avoid health disparities in men. Yes. In the research findings, the authors considered the use of strategic research and action, increase the public awareness on health disparities in boys and men, and strategic planning are among the possible solution on how we can eliminate health disparities in boys and men. Yes. Research findings were linked to findings in other studies. For example, Steinberg (2009) pointed out that lack of health

Thursday, October 17, 2019

HRM- Journal entry Unit 7 & 8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HRM- Journal entry Unit 7 & 8 - Essay Example Group based compensation is also another system that is intended to motivate a group of individuals for attaining their group goals and objectives (Langley, 2011). The system is supposed to strengthen the bond between group members in an organization. Therefore, the fundamental objective of developing reward system in an organization is to motivate employees to work hard and as well retain the in the organization. However, the reward system can only be effective if it meets the needs of workers in an organization. Therefore, one will only know that the reward system ids useful if there is reduced complaints among employees in an organization and instead there is an increase in productivity as well as the profitability of the organization. An organization can manage the staff to perform better by linking their rewards to their individual as well as group performance. In this case, they will have to work hard to increase their rewards at any particular time. However, the employer needs to understand the strictly adhere to the contract of employment. Therefore, he has to provide proper working conditions among other welfare services to enhance their working relationship (Langley, 2011). Employees in an organization should also be involved in the decision-making the process to encourage them in everything that they do. Giving room to employees to participate in decision-making makes, they feel part of the organization. Hence, they will be loyal to the organization. Employee involvement in management will enable all the operations of the organization to be effective in that; they will feel to be directly responsible for the activities they conduct. Therefore, they will ensure that organizations operations are efficient and effective. However, there are various developments in the organization management from the EU in that the HRM identified the power of employee involvement in the decision-making process. That is; the management

What is moral relativism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

What is moral relativism - Essay Example As such, the former form denotes that morality differs from one individual to the other while the latter means that morality varies culturally. â€Å"Morality is relative, a matter of conventions relative to a particular society† as stated by Peter Cave (2009), a British professor in philosophy. This means that even though morality is conventional to a particular society, it is relative since not all societies have the same beliefs and practices towards a certain type of conventional truth. Hence, it can be inferred that morality is relative in a general sense. Some individuals perceive morality as relative at all times whether in the individual or cultural level. This entirely depends either on the individual self or on the norms of the society. Every individual has its own freewill that is why what is moral depends solely on his or her belief. However, morality in a society is conceptualized as a whole and so every part of that society considers one moral concept as good or bad but this belief may not hold true to other societies. A moral judgment is not absolute or universal â€Å"but is relative to the traditions or convictions of a group of persons† (Gowans, 2008). Hence, I do believe that all morals are

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

HRM- Journal entry Unit 7 & 8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HRM- Journal entry Unit 7 & 8 - Essay Example Group based compensation is also another system that is intended to motivate a group of individuals for attaining their group goals and objectives (Langley, 2011). The system is supposed to strengthen the bond between group members in an organization. Therefore, the fundamental objective of developing reward system in an organization is to motivate employees to work hard and as well retain the in the organization. However, the reward system can only be effective if it meets the needs of workers in an organization. Therefore, one will only know that the reward system ids useful if there is reduced complaints among employees in an organization and instead there is an increase in productivity as well as the profitability of the organization. An organization can manage the staff to perform better by linking their rewards to their individual as well as group performance. In this case, they will have to work hard to increase their rewards at any particular time. However, the employer needs to understand the strictly adhere to the contract of employment. Therefore, he has to provide proper working conditions among other welfare services to enhance their working relationship (Langley, 2011). Employees in an organization should also be involved in the decision-making the process to encourage them in everything that they do. Giving room to employees to participate in decision-making makes, they feel part of the organization. Hence, they will be loyal to the organization. Employee involvement in management will enable all the operations of the organization to be effective in that; they will feel to be directly responsible for the activities they conduct. Therefore, they will ensure that organizations operations are efficient and effective. However, there are various developments in the organization management from the EU in that the HRM identified the power of employee involvement in the decision-making process. That is; the management

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

I do not have a topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

I do not have a topic - Essay Example This created an issue among her contemporaries criticizing her use of the language in her writings (Women in History). Depicted and massively explored in her works was the culture of the African-Americans effectively portrayed with her much controversial use of the common African-American language. An example of the usage of the black language can be read in one of her books, â€Å"So when we looked at de picture and everybody got pointed out there wasn’t nobody left except a real dark little girl with long hair standing by Eleanor. Dat’s where Ah wuz s’posed to be, but Ah couldn’t recognize dat dark chile as me. So Ah ast, ‘where is me? Ah don’t see me. (Hurston 13)† These realistic depictions appropriately displayed the life and culture of the African-Americans during her time. The writing style she had developed celebrated the Black culture incorporating dances, songs, sayings and tales. Moreover, her writings bluntly focused on the slavery issue which was deliberately avoided by other Harlem Renaissance writers. Her part in the feminist literature was also noted when she invaded the male dominated literary scene during that period. Female characters are eminent in Zora’s works addressing feminist issues like the character Janie Crawford in her book â€Å"Their Eyes Were Watching God† (Hurston, Zora Neale Introduction). Some writers who have been influenced by Hurston’s works were Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Gayle Jones, Alice Walker, and Toni Cade Bambara. These writers specifically take after Hurston’s writings dealing with racism and feminism issues. Contrary to the criticisms hurled at Hurston’s works during her era, Zora contributed not only to the black American literature but also to the feminist literature and racist literature. Furthermore, her written works served as valuable reference of oral cultures of the African Americans and revolutionizing a comprehensive

Monday, October 14, 2019

Brown V. Board of Education Essay Example for Free

Brown V. Board of Education Essay Brown v Board of Education is a historical landmark case that dismantled segregation laws and established a great milestone in the movement toward true equality. The Supreme Courts unanimously decided on Brown v. Board of Education that separate but equal is inherently unequal. Ruling that no state had the power to pass a law that deprived anyone from his or her 14th amendment rights. For my historical analysis I will use Richard Kluger’s â€Å"Simple Justice†, in which he argues, â€Å"that the Declaration of Independence was marred by hypocrisy—all men were not equal if black†. His book will assist me in learning the policies that lead to and surrounded this case. Using interviews I conducted, where I questioned inner city high school students of their schooling experience in comparison to my brother who attends a predominately white privileged private school, I will ultimately uncover the many inequalities that still exist today. While researching I interviewed my great-Aunt Bertha, who grew up in the state of Mississippi, she had a first-hand experience of life before Brown v Board of Education and life after the Supreme Court ruled on the case, her life was changed forever. My research will focus on not only a historical analysis of what occurred, but how far America has claimed to truly come in dealings with race relations, and the inequalities that still exist today. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States also known as the â€Å"Union† and the few southern states that announced their separation from the United States known as the â€Å"Confederates†. The war was based mainly on differing opinions on the issue of slavery. The war lasted about four years and the results yielded in the Confederacy being defeated by the Union. Upon defeating the Confederates, the Union abolished slavery. From that moment on the process of rebuilding the Union as a strong united nation began. This Union was to guarantee freedom to slaves and began the process of having former slaves obtain rights entitled to all citizens. Once the Civil War had ended, so did the policy of legal slavery. However former Confederate leaders did not intend on allowing the former slaves to have all the same rights as whites nor did they intend for former slaves to be counted equally as citizens. Just before the end of the war, congress had passed the Morrill Act of 1862. This act was to provide for federal funding of higher education. Former slave-holding states decided to find loop holes in allowing former slaves to benefit from the new federal funding as they were not ready to asked them as citizens or even human for that matter. Post-Civil War, the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution granted equal protection under the law to all citizens. Although the amendment was put into effect Congress knew the transition from slave to citizen with a hand full of rights would be difficult for former slaves so to help with the transition process Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau. This program was created to assist in the integration of former slave into society as citizens. At the end of the reconstruction period in 1877 former Confederate states implemented random laws that would blatantly go against the federal law and the constitutional right granted b y the 14th amendment to all including African Americans for equal treatment under the law. Southern state believed they could somehow obey federal orders by having equality yet keeping order by having races remain separate. For many years the court at both state and federal level claimed the 14th amendment applied only to federal, not state, citizenship, therefore they had no control over how a state thought to treat or label an African American on their land. This was proven true of the court in the 1863 Civil Rights Case heard before the Supreme Court. This case was made up of five lower level court cases and made into one because they all had the same claim. In this case The Court held that Congress lacked the constitutional authority under the enforcement provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations, rather than state and local governments. After the end of Reconstruction, the federal government generally did not hear racial segregation cases instead advising the issue be left up to each individual state to handle. In understanding Brown v Board of Education one must first understand a little about Plessey v Ferguson. The issue in this case was can the states constitutionally enact legislation requiring persons of different races to use â€Å"separate but equal† segregated facilities? And the Court ruled, yes. The states can constitutionally enact legislation requiring persons of different races to use â€Å"separate but equal† segregated facilities, this coming from the highest Court of the land. The trouble with this ideology was that it is contradictory even in its simplest form. Although the Constitution required equality, the facilities and social services offered to African-Americans were almost always of lower quality than those offered to white Americans; for example, many African American schools received less public funding per student than nearby white schools. Public water fountains, which were label â€Å"colored†, were always of lower quality than those labeled for â€Å"whites†. Life went on lived with this flawed idea of serrate equality for many years creating an inferior class of citizens, black were at the bottom and therefore not equal. Many people have tried to challenge the â€Å"separate but equal† rule but most went unheard and those that were heard failed have a change occur. Eventually in 1954 a case did make it on the Supreme Court docket, that case was Linda Brown v. Board of Education. Brown v Board of Education asked the Supreme Court to answer the question of does the segregation of children in public schools s olely on the basis of race deprive the minority children of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment? Blacks wanted justice and wanted this question to be answered and clarified for all the nation that they too are people entitle to all the same rights as whites. Thurgood Marshall was one of leading attorney, and civil rights activists, who fought against the segregation laws and policies that were violating the rights of African Americans, especially the children. Kulger â€Å"†¦the African Americans were going to ask equal treatment from top to bottom; buses, buildings, teachers, teacher’s salaries, teaching materials. Everything the same. Anything less was patently in violation of the Fourteenth amendement, Thurgood Marshall explained. â€Å" (18) Thurgood Marshall was one of leading attorney, and civil rights activists, who fought against the segregation laws and policies that were violating the rights of African Americans, especially the children. Kulger Black children were denied admission to public schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to the races. Linda Browns father though it to be insane that just based solely on the color of his daughters skin she would have to travel really far across train tracks to go to the black only school when they lived near by a school that happened to be labeled whites only. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People picked up his case, making Linda Brown the poster girl for the cause; She was the embodiment of young black students that were not getting an adequate education that they are entitled to. Brown embellished the ideal look of an average, young, innocent girl, just trying to go to school like any other White child would. The NAACP hired a team of lawyers and civil rights activist to petition the court to hear out the constitutionality of this issue. The lawyers on the case complied many other cases into the same bulk because they all asked of the court the same question, which was the constitutionality of the separate but equal. The Supreme Court ultimately decided in favor of Brown and cited, â€Å"despite the equalization of the schools by objective factors, intangible issues foster and maintain inequality. Racial segregation in public education has a detrimental effect on minority children because it is interpreted as a sign of inferiority. The long-held doctrine that separate facilities were permissible provided they were equal was rejected. Separate but equal is inherently unequal in the context of public education.† This decision called for an end to all state maintained racial segregation. Although the legal end was called for the mentality of many remained the same some going so far as to verbally and physically torture blacks that would dare utilize the same facilities as whites. Brown v Board of Education was decided in 1954 approximately 60 years ago but the strong effects of life before the decision still live on today even in the State of New York which is known to be progressive and libe ral I find myself surround by many disparities. Within the New York Public school system for example. Although we are not literally labeled certain schools as a black school or a white schools the idea of zoning children into schools based on their address is just the new form of â€Å"separate but equal† in my eyes. I had the pleasure of interviewing a fellow political science major at The City College of New York. John Miller shared with me his experience within the New York City public school system, where he was educated until his graduation from high school or as he called it â€Å"aging out† of the system. John described in detail his experience of never having shared a classroom with a white person before enrolling at City College. John was born and raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. Bedford Stuyvesant is widely known as the black cultural mecca of Brooklyn, similar to what Harlem is to Manhattan. He explained to me the way New York City public school system works from kindergarten through 9th grade. Children are assigned a school tha t is in close proximity to their neighborhood. If they don’t like the school they are assigned to, which many do not, the answer from authority figures is â€Å"tough luck† or simply â€Å"move†. Unfortunately John was one of the students that had to stay in his underfunded school. He also told me about his best friend who was one of the lucky few that gained admission into a charter school (which seems to be the only way out of the failed Bedstuy public schools) in downtown Brooklyn. His friend was admitted into the school because his mother’s employer noticed what she felt was great intelligence for someone whose mother was a simple housekeeper. While he spent the day watching his mother clean her house she simply made a phone call to one of her friends who happened to be a big donor to the charter school and in just a few weeks he was being bussed to a 21st century private charter school. He was one of the lucky few to made it out. Miller is now at the University of Chicago studying biology, I hope of becoming a doctor. Most of their childhood friends from the neighborhood are either in prison most for crimes of necessity given their unfortunate circumstances. He described how another friend would frequently steal from the local grocery story to supply his family with food. Miller would like to point out that he is not trying to create excuses for the crimes committed, however he is sympathetic to their reasoning. He is also not oblivious to the fact that not all the crimes his childhood friends are being incarcerated for are crime of necessity but rather some are crimes of pure boredom. He is not sure where to place blame or on who in either circumstance. The past stories accounts for the majority of the men John knew but the women are not excluding from this group of underachievers. Most became pregnant at an extremely early age giving birth to children out of wedlock. They gave birth with the expectation that there is always â€Å"food stamps/welfare† I don’t need a job† while others are working dead end jobs making minimum wage. In his community education is clearly not something to value and I would make the claim that it is because from kindergarten the schools in this community are underfunded and have teacher who don’t care working in the system. If the teachers don’t care neither will the students and so the cycle continues. Was this system plan and created by our white socioeconomic counter part? We were taught to believe Brown v Board of Education would change our lives forever. Once the high Court made the claim that â€Å"separate but equal† actually was impossible to accomplish and an oxymoron within itself. Mississippi was so defiant towards the Brown v. Board of Education case, schools in the state refused to integrate. Therefore the federal courts in 1969 had to modify the Mississippi â€Å"desegregation order†. People still had their racist ideologies and even today 4 of the schools are â€Å"single-raced†, although it is legally outlawed. My aunt Bertha was a student in the Mississippi public school system in the year prior to and post Brown v. Board of education. She vividly recalls sitting with her family around a radio and hearing the Chief Justice announce the courts decision to declare â€Å"separate but equal† unconstitutional. Making separate schools for whites and black she thought would immediately become a something of the past. She admits to being very nervous yet excited about the idea of going to schools that white people would also go to. She even recalls telling her dad â€Å"maybe we wont have to share books anymore† pointing to the fact that her school was so underfunded and there weren’t enough books to go around. Bertha says 2 years after the decision was handed down by the court she remained a student at a school on the east side of the track which were for black and the whites remained enrolled in the other school. She visits once a year now for her high school reunion and is just now starting to notice some integration almost 60 plus years later the principle proudly announced we â€Å"now have a white population of 2.3 percent† although she was proudly to see Brown v. Education being implemented into her hometown she still is saddened by the fact that people of color on her side of the track could potentially go through life without ever having much interaction with the other race if they so chose. This saddens her because we are now living in 2012 and our President is black however whites and some blacks still seem very uncomfortable with they idea of being together, not just in the classroom but also in all aspects of life. â€Å"Segregation was an unmitigated evil, and no black man anywhere in America was free of its scar so long as the Supreme Court tolerated it† (290) We are still living in a systematic world of segregation in the New York City School System in the public and private sector. Schools where most of the students are minorities get underfunded. Is this a problem of economics? Distribution? Or an ongoing internal racism that often gets ignored? BIBLIOGRAPHY Kluger, Richard. Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black Americas Struggle for Equality. New York: Vintage, 2004. Print. Mississippi Schools Still Segregated Despite Court Order. Breaking News for Black America RSS. NewsOne Staff, 4 May 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. Miller, J (2012, 5 October) Personal Interview Moore, B (2012 15, October) Telephone Interview

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Gang Violence in the United States Essay -- Exploratory Essays Researc

Gang Violence in the United States Gang violence in America is reaching alarming proportions. Chicago police Commander Donald Hilbring states, "Gangs are everywhere. All throughout the city of Chicago, the suburbs, throughout the state, throughout the nation." Chicago police state that so far this year, more than 100 gang-related murders have occurred. Everyday an other report on the evening news relays the tragedy of a child accidently caught in gang crossfire. The image of black, inner-city teenagers selling "crack" on neighborhood street corners and shooting it out over drug "turf" comes to mind whenever we hear the story told. What can we do to understand and remedy this problem before an entire generation is lost? We hear the stories about abused, abandoned children. We hear about drug-addicted mothers and absent fathers. We hear about children forced to fend for themselves in a cold, hard world. It's no wonder kids join gangs. They need someone to care. They are looking for a sense of belonging and family. Yet, not all youngsters who join gangs are looking for a sense of belonging. Often, adult gang members lure teenagers into gang activity. They establish them as drug dealers, use them as car thieves, and often pay them to commit robberies and even shoot rival gang members. Adults use juveniles because the law does not prosecute them in the same manner as adults. Under the current system, the teenagers are back on the streets, and the adults are rarely caught. Just as we assume we know the reasons kids join gangs, we also assume we know who joins gangs. Gang violence is stereotypically thought of as a Black or Latino, inner-city problem. Dr. George Knox, an expert on gangs, says, ... ...her Chicago neighborhood, COP-Citizens on Patrol, a volunteer group, has formed a neighborhood watch group. They patrol the streets and report any suspicious activity to the police. Their presence helps reduce gang activity on the streets of their community. Juvenile justice reform, programs for rehabilitation, and adult concern and involvement are all ways to help remedy the current crisis of gang warfare in our streets. For those youth already involved in gangs, rehabilitation and counseling may help rescue them. For those youth who refuse to give up the gang lifestyle and crime, tougher juvenile laws should put them in jail, away from other children and the rest of society. Finally, parents and community members need to care. Children who grow with parental guidance, in an environment of care and concern, are much less likely to fall prey to gangs.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Ethics and Community in Aristotle :: Philosophy Essays

Ethics and Community in Aristotle ABSTRACT: I show that Aristotle’s ethics is determined by his notion of communities which are in turn determined by hundreds of themes in his Topics-sameness and difference, part and whole, better than, etc. These are tools for all dialectical investigations into being and action (viz. Top. I.11 104b2) for they secure definitions and get at essences of things or their aspects. Reflecting structures of being and good, they allow Aristotle to arrive at objective reality and good. Being tools for all investigations into being and values, we are not free to reject them, nor can we have any discourse or claim to reality or good. I show how permutating the combination of these topics allows for subsequent ‘sub-communities’ which are common to some. I offer an Aristotelian explanation for the origin of these topics and conclude that ethics is determined by communities, which in turn are determined by education. Aristotle's ethics is determined by his notion of communities which are determined by hundreds of topics in his Topics—sameness and difference, part and whole, better than, etc.. The topics are tools for all dialectical investigations into being and action (viz. I.11 104b2) for they secure definitions and get at essences of things or their aspects. Reflecting structures of being and good, the topics can get at objective reality and good. Being tools for all investigations, we are not free to reject them or we cannot have any discourse or claim to reality or good. I show how permutating the combination of these topics allow for subsequent 'sub-communities' which are common to some. I offer an Aristotelian explanation for the origin of these topics and conclude that ethics is determined by communities, which in turn are determined by education. The Topics seeks to discover a method by which we reason(1) from generally accepted opinions (endox_n) about any problem (100a18-19, 100a30-b18)—i.e., dialectical reasoning. By "generally accepted opinions,"Aristotle means the kind of "opinion held by everyone or by the majority or by the wise—either all of the wise or the majority or the most famous of them—and which is not paradoxical; for one would accept the opinion of the wise, if it is not opposed to the views of the majority" (104a8-13). Since Aristotle contrasts dialectical reasoning with demonstrative reasoning which proceeds from true and primary premises (100a27-28) and are supported by the "things themselves," it seems easy to suppose that dialectic cannot get us to objective first principles.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Levi and Strauss & Co

Levi Strauss & Co. is a flourishing business. Since the early days, it has been a leader in the garment industry. The original and most famous Levi Strauss product is blue jeans. Jeans have become desirable and even fashionable clothing for not only miners, farmers, and cowboys, but also for movie stars, executives, women, children, and teenagers from all over the world. Throughout its history, however, the company has researched and developed a number of other products. The company now markets a wide range of clothing and accessories, all under the brand name Levi’s.Many new Levi products have been launched over the years. Some of these have succeeded beautifully, but others have flopped completely. The company is still best known, however, as the maker of Levi jeans, the pants that are guaranteed to shrink1, wrinkle, and fade2. In 1954, flushed with the success of the cotton twill pants it had introduced a few years earlier, Levi brought out a line of permanent press (no-iro n) slacks. Within six months, 5 out of every 100 pairs sold had been returned, and Levi had to admit it didn’t have the right fabric for permanent press.Fifteen years later, as the company was planning its major expansion, it hit on a couple of equally dramatic flops. First was the denim bathing suit—which, when wet, weighed the wearer down to the point of imminent drowning. Next was a line of disposable (throw-away) sheets and towels. These, Levi discovered, were not high on the consumer’s list of priorities. Unable to interest hotels in the product, the company was saved when the factory that made the sheets burned down. Levi absorbed the $250,000 loss.Eventually Levi created six new divisions, ranging from jeans to accessories and including a sizable effort in women’s sportswear, Levi’s for Gals. The diversification3 worked. In the mid-1970s Levi’s sales hit the billion-dollar mark, having taken 125 years to reach that milestone. Four yea rs later sales hit $2 billion. In 1979 the company ranked 167 on Fortune’s4 list of the 500 largest industrial corporations, and 20 in net profits. 5 Between 1970 and 1980 Levi had grown an average of 23 percent a year.In 1979 alone it sold 143 million garments. In menswear, though, all Levi products had been aimed at the middle of the market. The company had brought out a line of moderately dressy slacks and polyester leisure suits—the Action Slack and Action Suit—and was doing a brisk business with them. But the tempting upper end of the market remained untouched. â€Å"If we want to grow we’re probably going to have to go to upper moderate price points,† one Levi official explained, â€Å"and somewhat higher taste level for our products. In short, they needed to sell more expensive clothes—like the Tailored Classic. If Levi could sell sport coats, dress slacks, and, above all, suits, a whole new market would open up. The Tailored Classic might make money all by itself. But even more important, it would get Levi into the business of producing fancier and costlier clothing. The consumer would come to think of it as a manufacturer of dress apparel and it could spin off6 many more such lines in the future. Why, with such a record of success would any company be worrying about making new products?Part of the answer, obviously, is the sheer riskiness of depending so heavily on a single item. The boom in jeans was in many ways a historical accident, and what history has given it can also take away. Then, too, the demographics of the marketplace were already beginning to change. Jeans, to be sure, were no longer the exclusive province of youth: baby boomers7 who had grown up on Levi’s kept on wearing them into their twenties. But they would no longer be wearing them everywhere and all the time, as they did when they were teenagers.And the next generation of adolescents was not so numerous. The birthrate had peaked i n 1957; by 1964, demographers agreed, the baby boom in the United Stated was over. The bulge in the population that the boom had created would soon be moving into a world of casual slacks, leisure suits, and coats and ties. From a marketing point of view, that’s where the action would be. Finally, the competition had been gearing up. Levi’s had always shared the market with Blue Bell’s Wranglers and other national brands like Lee. But now everyone seemed to be selling jeans.Back in 1970 Levi probably couldn’t have foreseen the popularity of â€Å"designer† jeans skimming off8 the upper end of the market. But they could certainly anticipate cut-rate models gnawing away at the low end. To sell their wares, Levi knew, retailers would have to slash prices. The profit outlook in a saturated, competitive marketplace like this was bleak. Adapted from: Boyd, F. (1994). Making Business Decisions: Real Cases from Real Companies. USA: Addison-Wesley Publishin g Company. _________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, October 10, 2019

English vocab

The annoyed kid had an acrimonious reply when asked to clean his room. Antonym† pleasant In the newspaper article, the cruel senator cast aspersions on his political rival. Antonym- approval Most public schools strongly agree to censure any bias toward religious holidays. Antonym- agreement The famous artist critiqued his students work because there was a lack of expression. Antonym- applause The Journalist defamed the popular celebrity because of his recent arrest. Antonym† flatter; honor The murderer was derided by the police officer when he pleaded guilty on his sixth arrest. Antonym- admireThe devious politician impeached the motives of his running opponent, claiming they were false. Antonym- exonerate Are you making an innuendo that I'm carless? Antonym† evidence The soda addict remonstrated with the school to have the vending machines placed back. Antonym- approve The makeup artist upbraided his apprentice for failing to make the actor look the role for his mo vie. Antonym† compliment In the newspaper article, the cruel senator cast aspersions on his polltlcal rival. 1 OFS Antonym† applause arrest. Antonym† admire were false. Antonym† exonerate back. Antonym† approve Antonym† approval Antonym† agreement

Frederick II of Germany

The Crusade is a series of eight military campaigns between 1096 and 1270 in which Europeans attempted to wrest control of the Holy Land from the Muslims who ruled the Middle East. Members of these groups are said to be recruited after a meeting of the church council in France where the Pope had called upon â€Å"knights† to go to the Holy Land and free the Christians from the Muslim rule. Aside from these, the Crusades are also tasked to regain the Holy Sepulcher. After the said meeting, the traveling preachers were said to be the ones responsible for propagating the concept which was then openly accepted by the people.That was said to be the start of the eight crusades in the next 200 years of history. Along with the mounted knights, many more foot soldiers were to â€Å"take the cross,† or become Crusaders. These included archers, crossbowmen, spear men and foragers. Under the feudal system, they owed their allegiance to landowning lords. Crusades were costly enterpr ises. The money for outfitting the soldiers on their expeditions to the East might be provided by the feudal lords or raised through taxes, sales of land or other property, or loans.Payment of the loans could be delayed until their return, and no doubt some had dreams of coming home with some of the treasure hinted at by the Byzantine emperor. Of course, a great many never came home at all. However, the Crusades failed to achieve their objective and cost untold lives. However, they did expose Western Europe to new ideas, and resulted in a heightened desire for adventure and an urge to see distant places. This curiosity was eventually channeled into the exploration of the New World. Frederick II of Germany who then headed the Fifth Crusade was blamed after its failure.Although he was considered a leader of the crusade, he was not around to actually lead the group. He did sent his army to support every actions made by the crusades yet many of the crusaders feel that they might have do ne much better or yet outperformed what they have done should Frederick II was present to show his leadership skills. After this incident, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights named Hermann von Salze told Frederick II to marry Yolanda who is then the Queen of Jerusalem, in order to save the bad impression of those who had expected the victory of his crusade.Frederick was such a fickle minded and irresponsible man. He was said to have reaffirmed his vow to the pope but he kept on changing minds and switching dates as to when he could meet the deadlines . With such an act, Pope Gregory believed that the delaying tactics being done by Frederick was a sign of his being coward. Soon after, Frederick II was excommunicated by Pope Gregory. After several excommunication orders imposed upon Frederick II, the Knights Templar and other members of the Teutonic Knights refused to help him again.After no help has been extended to Frederick, he decided to talk to the Sultan of Jerusalem and ca me up with an agreement. They quickly came to an agreement, with Jerusalem being granted to the Christians, and both parties agreeing to a ten-year truce. Al-Kamil was criticized by his people for making this agreement, but he knew that he could retake the Holy Land whenever he wanted. Frederick was similarly criticized by the Christians, who protested that he was sent to kill the heathen, not dine with him and sign treaties.Additionally, they were now noticing the defensive vulnerabilities of Jerusalem that the Sultan had counted on when he made the deal. The Emperor entered Jerusalem on March 17, 1229. On the next morning, Sunday, Frederick went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate mass, only to find that no priest was there. Undaunted, he proceeded to crown himself King of Jerusalem. This act, combined with the conquest that he represented, earned Frederick the hatred of most Palestinian barons.He had liberated Jerusalem and become its King, but it was immediately evi dent that his grasp on the Holy Land was tenuous at best. The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. In 1244 the Khwarezmians retook Jerusalem, after the end of a ten-year truce following the Sixth Crusade. The fall of Jerusalem, no longer an earth-shattering event to European Christians who had seen the city pass from Christian to Muslim control numerous times in the past two centuries, did not prompt an immediate call for a new crusade.Pope Innocent IV and Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor were engaged in a continuation of the papal- imperial struggle. King Louis IX who lead the seventh crusade was having difficulty trying to fix and prepare another set of knights to compose the seventh crusade after all previous crusades had failed. France was perhaps the strongest state in Europe at the time, as Provence had mostly fallen under Parisian control after the Albigensian Crusade, and Toulouse was led by Louis IX's brother Alphonse, who joined him on his crusade in 1245.Another brother, Charles I of Anjou, also joined Louis. For the next three years Louis collected an ecclesiastical tenth (mostly from church tithes), and in 1248 he and his approximately 20 000-strong army sailed from the ports of Aigues-Mortes, which had been specifically built to prepare for the crusade, and Marseille. Louis IX's financial preparations for this expedition were comparatively well organized, and he was able to raise approximately 1,500,000 livres tournois.However, many nobles who joined Louis on the expedition had to borrow money from the royal treasury, and the crusade turned out to be very expensive. They sailed first to Cyprus and spent the winter on the island, negotiating with various other powers in the east; the Latin Empire set up after the Fourth Crusade asked for his help against the Byzantine Empire of Nicaea, and the Principality of Antioch and the Knights Templar wanted his help in Syria, where the Muslims had recently captured Sido n.However, Egypt was the object of his crusade, and he landed in 1249 at Damietta on the Nile. Egypt would, Louis thought, provide a base from which to attack Jerusalem, and its wealth and supply of grain would keep the crusaders fed and equipped. On June 6 Damietta was taken with little resistance from the Egyptians, who withdrew further up the Nile. However the flooding of the Nile had not been taken into account during the campaign, and it soon kept Louis and his army grounded at Damietta for six months, where the knights sat back and enjoyed the spoils of war.Louis ignored the agreement made during the Fifth Crusade that Damietta should be given to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, now a rump state in Acre, but he did set up an archbishopric there (under the authority of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem) and used the city as a base to direct military operations against the Muslims of Syria. In November, Louis marched towards Cairo, and almost at the same time, the Ayyubid sultan of Egyp t, as-Salih Ayyub, died. A force led by Robert of Artois and the Templars attacked the Egyptian camp at al-Mansourah, but they were defeated and Robert was killed.Meanwhile, Louis' main force was attacked by the Mameluk Baibars, the commander of the army and a future sultan himself. Louis was defeated as well, but he did not withdraw to Damietta for months, preferring to besiege Mansourah, which ended in starvation and death for the crusaders rather than the Muslims. In March of 1250 Louis finally returned to Damietta, but he was taken captive on the way there, fell ill with dysentery, and was cured by an Arab physician. In May he was ransomed in return for Damietta and 400 000 livres, and he immediately left Egypt for Acre, one of the few remaining possessions of the crusaders in Syria.Meanwhile, the Mameluk soldiers of Egypt revolted. Turanshah, as-Salih's successor, took control of Cairo, creating a Mameluk dynasty that would eventually conquer the last of the crusader territorie s. Louis made an alliance with the Mameluks, and from his new base in Acre began to rebuild the other crusader cities. Although the Kingdom of Cyprus claimed authority there, Louis was the de facto ruler. Louis also negotiated with the Mongols, who had begun to appear in the east and who the Christians, encouraged by legends of a Nestorian kingdom among them (cf.Prester John), hoped would help them fight the Muslims and restore the Crusader States. They, like the Muslims who were similarly negotiating with the Mongols against the Christians, were unaware that the Mongols were not interested in helping either side and would eventually be disastrous for both. Louis' embassy to the Mongol ruler Mongke Khan, headed by William of Rubruck, was a failure. The Khan rejected Louis' invitation to convert to Christianity, and instead suggested Louis submit to him. In 1254 Louis' money ran out, and his presence was needed in France where his mother and regent Blanche of Castile had recently die d.His crusade was a failure, but he was considered a saint by many, and his fame gave him an even greater authority in Europe than the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1270 he attempted another crusade, though it too would end in failure. As clearly stated in this paper, it has been said that entering truce agreements with the enemy is a not acceptable for the Crusades. In the case of Frederick II, most of his supporters had failed to be identified with him and also was not accepting the thought of being a traitor to their country.The crusades can be synonymous to heroes of each country in the world where they are often roused by the spirit to fight for what is right and what is advantageous for their countrymen. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. â€Å"Sixth Crusade. † http://everything2. com/index. pl? node_id=1387038 (accessed May 6, 2007). 2. â€Å"The Crusades, Science and its Times:700-1449. † http://www. bookrags. com/research/the-crusades-scit-021/ (accessed May 6, 2007). 3. â€Å"Sevent h Crusade. † http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Seventh_Crusade (accessed May 6, 2007).