Manchester Airport Essay Example

Manchester Airport Essay Example Manchester Airport Essay Manchester Airport Essay The purpose of this report is to detail the key external environment issues surrounding Manchester Airport and how the Marketing Manger and the Operations Manager can attempt to influence or control these. The external environment is considered to be a far environment, therefore can neither be controlled nor influenced. This environment consists of Social, Legal, Technological, Economical and Political factors. For Manchester Airport these are: 1. Social – Demographics, Seasons, environmental issues. 2. Legal – Legislations. 3. Economic – Boom/bust cycle, interest rates, taxation and Government expenditure. . Political – The Government and legislation. 5. Technological – Information technology. Fig 1, Current environmental issues Social: The social factors include population factors of age, occupation, lifestyle and wealth distribution. These can all have major impacts on businesses. Age population can determine whether people will travel close to home or further away, as younger people have families, which means there is a budget attached to their spending. Older people tend not to have a young family to cater for and have a larger disposable income. Occupation determines a person’s lifestyle through their earnings and thus their wealth distribution. Seasons affect the travel industry as most people prefer to travel in the summer for the warmth; therefore it is seen as a peak period for Manchester Airport. Environment issues arise as the Airport wishes to be seen as caring for the local area to boost popularity. Therefore concern over pollution must be regarded as a priority. Legal: Legal factors for the Airport include legislations on security, noise, air pollution and waste management by the Government and EU Directives. This does has implications on operations through the cost involved. For example, the EU Directive on the maximum weekly working hour of 48 hours per employee and waste management, resulting in overall performance being influenced. Economic: The Economic factors of the boom/bust cycle are the affects of the 8 year cycle of national economies going into recession. This means production shrinks, so jobs are lost and people have less disposable income to spend. Interest rates rising tend to reduce demand as mortgage and credit charges rise. Taxation increases (or expenditure cuts) mean there will be less money for consumers to spend resulting in a shrink in demand. Expenditure increases (or reductions in taxation) result in more money for the economy and rise in demand. Political: Politically the Airport needs to respond to the prevailing political climate and adjust the marketing policy accordingly. EU laws are hard to influence or control, but Politicians can be influenced by lobbying over their laws. Security laws must be followed to ensure the safety of customers. This does bring high expenditure as stated in Flying to the Future, B202 DVD. Technological: Technologically Information Technology is vital to the smooth running and communications of the Airport at all levels. The system needs to function well, be reliable and staff need to be fully trained in this, which brings more cost. Fig 2, Micro- and Macro-environmental forces diagram, Essentials of Marketing, Third Edition by Jim Blythe. The macro-environment issues can have a huge impact on the company and its micro-environment and it tends to be difficult to influence. This is why the Airports policy should be seen as operating within a rapidly changing environment and must monitor and react to any changes to ensure goals are met. Marketing managers should be reactive to macro-environment factors. To do this effectively they need to analyse where they are by using a SLEPT situational analysis to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the Airport and opportunities and threats from the external environment. Once this has been established they need to analyse the firm’s position within the environment and itself with a SWOT situational analysis. Social: Demography lifestyle analysis affects the way customers are targeted, so being aware of current patterns helps the Airport to target the right people. For example, shifts in the birth rate cause distortions in the market thus allowing opportunities to target sales to a specific age group. Seasons affect when people whish to holiday and therefore create peak and off peak periods. This allows marketing to adjust fares etc accordingly and market more effectively. Being environmentally active and aware brings good publicity as a caring company, which is what Manchester Airport wants. The Company value as stated in the internet site is â€Å"Social Commitment – we are a responsible neighbour and invest in our community. † The Airports Environment Plan states that â€Å"it is important that this growth takes place In tandem with a stringent framework dealing with controls on environmental impacts†. Technological: The internet is an opportunity for advertising and direct marketing. Manchester Airport’s internet site uses this advantage to its full potential by including all relevant information for passengers to view. The main computer system used by the Airport for security checking of staff and passengers and all communications is working well, reliable and staff are fully trained internally by Manchester Airport Ventures, who run the training centre. Ventures now also train outside bodies which generate more capital for the Airport. The Company value, from the internet site, states that â€Å"Integrity we strive to be better every day and take steps to make it happen. Costs – we spend money on the things that really matter. † Legal: The Airport is required by law to protect its customers, the airlines. It chooses to protect the passengers for the airlines. This ensures the safety of everyone on site and thus a good working relationship between all parties. Environment laws bring cost. But this is required by the Government and also brings good publicity, as the Airport is seen to be actively caring for the environment and local area. Economic: The boom/bust cycle occurs approximately every 8 years, in which national economies have a recession. This brings production numbers to recede, loss of jobs and purchases are then reduced. Increased expenditure, or reduced taxation would mean more money in the economy and people will want and need travel and holidays. Taxation increase or expenditure cuts would bring less money and a loss in demand. It is essential to anticipate this management of demand in the economy. Political: Government policies cause shifts in emphasis and can disrupt the Airport operations. Being aware how to adapt the Airport policies to include these is essential to ensure continued running of all areas within the Airport. Government legislations can be influenced by lobbying. EU laws are difficult to control and influence. All of the above external factors will also impact on the operations of the Airport. The political and social environment has effect on operations through standards of welfare, health and safety at work. Operations Managers will need to ensure changes required are planned and controlled so the output conforms to requirements. A strategic plan for structural decisions, long, medium and short, can then be devised. The dynamic state of operations and the environment make it essential that there is feedback on progress. This enables changes to be made so the operation can work appropriately. This is control. The process of operations strategy looks at how operations policies, plans and principles are decided and developed. The overall objective for this will be: 1. Quality. This is key to improving performance against objectives. Manchester Airport achieves this through having a skilled workforce, technology and excellent communications. 2. Speed. The Airport has to ensure time is taken into account, as there are many people travelling through areas at one time. There are fire regulations on the number of people allowed in one area to consider. And, as stated in the DVD, Flying to the Future, if an area is overcrowded, passengers will become uncomfortable and stop spending in the retail outlets. 3. Dependability. This is how the Airport keeps its promises to its customers. So ensuring all systems are functioning well to keep all operations running on time is essential to enable passengers to move through the building. 4. Flexibility. Being flexible to seasons in the year enables the Airport to change the balance of the range of services to meet the needs of the Airport on a whole. This then ensure a cost effective operation is running smoothly. 5. Cost. This ensures finances are being used within budgets and appropriately. This can be achieved by reduced overheads, multi purpose equipment and facilities. Four variables are important to ensure the way the Airport operates. These key environmental factors are volume, variation, variety and customer contact. The operations should be designed so that it matches these features of its environment closely. Volume: The Airport has a high volume in the way that it has to repeatedly deliver its service. The use of technology by the Airport results in high output from an efficient process. Variation: Manchester Airport provides the correct level of capacity to meet the pattern of volume demands. Variety: The ability to be flexible is essential. The Airport has proved this since changing the way security is organised within the Airport Terminals. This high variety does need a lot of planning and control, which bring more overhead costs. Customer contact: The Airport has taken the service option of Front Office and Back Office. This ensures effective and efficient gains of planning and control. The above four factors will enable effective and efficient running of operations by determining how complex the task of managing the operation is. Once the above has been undertaken, the Systems Approach should be used to analyse operations. This will enable the Operations Manager to envisage the impact any operational changes will have on other areas linked. Three key ideas are involved in the systems approach, which are: 1. Environmental influences; it is important to identify the processes of the operation and design these in the most effective manner. 2. Control; information is gathered and compared with the Airport standard. This enables Management to proactively manage operations ensuring all predetermined standards are met. 3. Structure decisions; the hard system method should be followed here, as most problems surrounding operations within the Airport will have agreement from all, as there are guidelines to follow in this business. Fig , Operations Management in Context, by Galloway, Rowbotham and Azhashemi. All the above information on the effects of environmental issues in the Marketing and Operations areas and how to address them, have been detailed. Management should now be able to effectively incorporate the above into day to day work and filter it through to team members. Business graduate skills outcome. Example of how Block 1 case studies have contributed to my skills development. Self-assessment of current level of skill – high/medium/low; any actions to be taken. Learn from non-text as well as text-based materials enhancing your general study skills. 1. The text books and block books were very good to work with. 2. Case studies helped me to have a better understanding of how a subject worked. 3. I absorbed information from the DVD/CD after watching it repeatedly. 1. I enjoyed working with the text books, but I am still finding it hard to get into the study mode. It is maybe my age, but entering back into the world of business learning is proving harder than I anticipated. 2. Low. I need to create more time to learn the art of skim reading before re- reading chapters. 3. Medium. The need to take better notes to safe time must be learnt. I did not enjoy the Listening to the CD, I found it hard to take information in that way. I must re read the study skills information. Demonstrate thinking skills (holistic, integrative, critical) and show deeper understanding of some technically detailed topics. . My note taking initially took up too much time as I was writing down every item from pages I thought was important. 2. The block information as a whole has been a good starter for me entering into the first term of my degree. It has been hard, but eventually the information is starting to be understood by myself and applied. 3. I have found that I am no w using items learnt through this block in my working life at the Council. 1. Medium. I now highlight text in the book and make small notes at the side. I find this has sped the learning process up for me, which helps with the time limit. I still need to make time to re – read chapters after the first read. 2. Low. I still need to find more time to just sit and read all the information and let it sink in. I shall also try and give myself longer to complete self assessments and case studies. 3. Low – Medium. I am not using it as often as I would like. This is down to confidence issues, as I do not want to enter into a conversation/debate that I still do not fully understand. Use examples and analyse case studies to enhance understanding, support conclusions and illustrate issues concerning business functions in organisational contexts. I have found the B202 beginning difficult, but with the use of case studies and examples it has made the work easier to do. This is because it helps to explain the subjects to you through examples etc. Low. I need to study for more than 15 hours a week, as I am needing more time for information to sink in. This is until I find my feet with the course and find the balance between family, work and study. Bibliography. J Blythe, 2005, Essentials of Marketing, Third Edition, Essex, Pearsons Education Limited. L Galloway, F Rowbotham, M Azhashemi, 2005, Reprint, Burlington, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. M Hinton, J Holloway, Other Members of OU Course Team, Block 1 Introduction: Business Functions in Context, 2006, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Manchester Airport website, manchesterairport. co. uk/manweb. nsf accessed from November 28th until December 10th 2007. Flying to the Future, DVD, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Reference list Manchester Airport web site, Our Company Values, ttp://www. manchesterairport. co. uk/manweb. nsf/Content/OurCompanyValues. Manchester Airport website, Environmental Plan, manchesterairport. co. uk/manweb. nsf/Content/Environment

Patterns of Similarity in English and Spanish Vocabulary

Patterns of Similarity in English and Spanish Vocabulary One key to expanding your Spanish vocabulary quickly, especially when youre new to the language, is learning to recognize the word patterns seen in many English-Spanish cognates. In a sense, English and Spanish are cousins, as they have a common ancestor, known as Indo-European. And sometimes, English and Spanish can seem even closer than cousins, because English has adopted many words from French, a sister language to Spanish. As you learn the following word patterns, remember that in some cases the meanings of the words have changed over the centuries. Sometimes the English and Spanish meanings can overlap; for example, while a discusià ³n in Spanish can refer to a discussion, it often refers to an argument. But an argumento in Spanish can refer to the plot of the story. Words that are alike or similar in the two languages but have different meanings are known as false friends. As you learn Spanish, here are some of the more common patterns of similarity youll come across: Similarities in Word Endings nation, nacià ³nstation, estacià ³nfraction, fraccià ³nperforaction, perforacià ³npublication, publicacià ³n Words that end in -ty in English often end in -dad in Spanish: fidelity, fidelidadfelicity, felicidadfaculty, facultadliberty, libertadauthority, autoridad Names of occupations that end in -ist in English sometimes have a Spanish equivalent ending in -ista (although other endings also are used): dentist, dentistaartist, artistaorthopedist, ortopedistaphlebotomist, flebotomista Names of fields of study that end in -ology often have a Spanish cognate ending in -ologà ­a: geology, geologà ­aecology, ecologà ­aarchaeology, arqueologà ­a Adjectives that end in -ous may have a Spanish equivalent ending in -oso: famous, famosonervous, nerviosofibrous, fibrosoprecious, precioso Words ending in -cy often have an equivalent ending in -cia: democracy, democraciaredundancy, redundanciaclemency, clemencia English words ending in -ism often have an equivalent ending in -ismo: communism, comunismocapitalism, capitalismoatheism, ateà ­smohedonism, hedonismosolecism, solecismo English words ending in -ture often have an equivalent ending in -tura. caricature, caricaturaaperture, aperturaculture, culturarupture, ruptura English words ending in -is often have Spanish equivalents with the same ending. symbiosis, simbiosispelvis, pelviscrisis, crisis Similarities in Word Beginnings Nearly all the common prefixes are the same or similar in the two languages. Prefixes used in the following words make far from a complete list: antipathy, antipatà ­aautonomy, autonomà ­abilingual, bilingà ¼eexportation, exportacià ³ncounterattack, contraataquecontend, contenderdisobedience, desobedienciahomosexual, homosexualparamedic, paramà ©dicopolygamy, poligamiaprefix, prefijopseudoscience, seudoscienciasupermarket, supermercadounilateral, unilateral Some words that begin with an s followed by a consonant in English start with an es in Spanish: stereo, està ©reospecial, especialsnob, esnob Many words ending in ble in English have Spanish equivalents that are identical or very similar: applicable, aplicablecomparable, comparabledivisible, divisiblemalleable, maleableterrible, terrible Some English words that start with a silent letter omit that letter in the Spanish equivalent: psalm, salmoptomaine, tomaà ­napsychology, sicologà ­a Patterns in Spelling Many English words that have a ph in them have an f in the Spanish version: photo, fotometamorphosis, metamorfosisgraph, grfica A few words in English that have a th in them have a Spanish equivalent with a t: empathy, empatà ­atheater, teatrotheory, teorà ­a Some English words that have double letters have a Spanish equivalent without the letter doubled (although words with rr may have an rr equivalent in Spanish, as in correspond, corresponder): difficulty, dificultadessence, esenciacollaborate, colaborarcommon, comà ºn Some English words that have a ch pronounced as k have Spanish equivalents that use a qu or a c, depending on the letter that follows: architecture, arquitecturachemical, quà ­micocharisma, carismaecho, ecotechnology, tecnologà ­achaos, caos Other Word Patterns Adverbs that end in -ly in English sometimes have a Spanish equivalent ending in -mente: rapidly, rpidamenteprofusely, profusamenteprudently, prudentemente Final Advice Despite the numerous similarities between English and Spanish, youre probably best off to avoid coining Spanish words - not all words work in the above way, and you may find yourself in an embarrassing situation. Youre a bit safer following these patterns in reverse, however (because youll know if the resulting English word doesnt make sense), and using these patterns as a reminder. As you learn Spanish, youll also come across numerous other word patterns, some of them more subtle than those above.

Leadership and Persuasion Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership and Persuasion - Term Paper Example The apex of the military efforts is air force strikes. This brings terror to the group and its allies and consequently a suppression of the sect. Have we ever considered the effectiveness of this approach though? Alternatively, is it a strategy to ensure revenge on ISIS for their past terrorist acts? As much as action should be taken, the military action and all the bombing associated should be stopped. ISIS militants usually live around innocent civilians. Bombing causes killing with impunity, which we are fighting actually. This causes ill feelings by the Arab civilians which fuels radicalization of the youths by the sect. Nations therefore ought to seek alternative ways of conflict resolution. The Hezbollah and the Iran oppose ISIS operations. America is also an enemy of the ISIS. However, America has been involved in many military attacks in the Arab countries. This has caused the Arab countries to have ill feelings about America due to military deployment. This has caused constraints in diplomatic relationships making the fight against the ISIS difficult. Countries, especially America that have been intensively involved in the war against the ISIS, need to restructure their relationship with the Arabs. This will provide a safe haven in the Arab countries. This will strengthen war against the ISIS. Intervention without biasness to either party of the conflicting Arab countries will also be beneficial. Arab countries are widely arid with high rates of unemployment. This favors recruitment into the radical ISIS group. Moreover, the continued economic decline due to warfare increases chances of the youth radicalization. The governments involved and the intervening governments need to create more jobs for the youth to counter idleness that make them prone to radicalization. The youth need informing that the ISIS is not a channel that fights for their interests. Critical thinking involves the evaluation of facts from a

An analysis of the positive and negative economic impacts of Heathrow Essay

An analysis of the positive and negative economic impacts of Heathrow Airport - Essay Example This paper is a report that mainly sought to identify the economic impact of the London Heathrow Airport, which was classified in this study as a tourism venue/ organization Airport is considered as a location where aircrafts of varying sizes and types take off and land thereby acting as a stage for alighting and boarding aircrafts for passengers as well as the aircraft crew. Airport is a tourism venue/organization because it is the first and/ or last place that visitors pass through at a foreign destination. The London Heathrow Airport is touted as the busiest airport in Europe with a very big passenger capacity. This fact has positioned London as an international financial center with an economy that runs on a 24 hours basis and businesses are supported by demand from the many passengers who are departing or entering the region via the Airport. However, the increase in demand arising from passengers has led to the creation of an artificial inflation within London The main direct economic impact of the airport is that it acts as a major source of tax revenue to London local authorities and overall UK budget. The indirect positive impact of the airport is that it provides a ready market for other businesses enterprises that are located within the airport or in adjacent areas. The direct negative positive impact of the airport is that it facilitates that development of artificial inflation while the indirect negative impact is that it reduces the suitability of London as international center for doing business. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 The positive economic impacts of the London Heathrow Airport 4 2.1 Direct positive economic impacts 4 2.2 Indirect positive economic impacts 6 3.0 The negative economic impacts of the London Heathrow Airport 7 3.1 Direct negative economic impacts 8 3.2 Indirect negative economic impacts 9 4.0 Conclusions 10 References 11 Inkson, C. and Minnaert, L. 2012. Tourism Management: An Introduction. London, UK: Sage Publications 12 1.0 Introduction This present paper is a report that is entirely focused on analyzing a hospitality venue or organization and the economic impact of the venue/ organization. For this particular, report, the London’s Heathrow Airport was selected as the case study and therefore, this report seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of the economic impact of the airport, both the positive and the negative. It is important to note that the discussion of the economic impact would not be limited to the tourism perspective but rather the discussion will cover the general economy of the United Kingdom as well as the local economy of the City of London. Therefore, the report will have two major sections of which the first will detail on the positive economic impact of the London Heathrow Airport while the Second part will cover the negative impacts. However, briefly before the start, the report will provide brief background information of the chosen tourism venue/ organization. To begin with, Graham (2008) in his studies described an airport as a location where aircrafts of varying sizes and types take off and land thereby acting as a stage for alighting and boarding aircrafts for passengers as well as the aircraft crew. Tribe (2012) wrote that an airport is considered as a tourism venue/ organization because it is the first and/ or last place that visitors pass through at a foreign destination. The London Heathrow Airport is located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, which is in the western side of Londo n. Inkson and Minnaert (2012) in their writings referred to the London Heathrow Airport as the busiest airport in the United Kingdom as well as the entire Europe and the third busiest in the world in terms of the passenger traffic in the airport. Hoare (1971) added that the airport is owned and managed by the Heathrow Airport Holdings that also owns three other airports in the United Kingdom. The airport acts as the primary hub for British Airways and the primary operating location for the Virgin Atlantic. In order to handle all the passenger traffics and the movements, the Airport has 5 terminals each serving aircrafts bound to or arriving from different routes. Among the top busiest international routes to and from the airport is led by New York, followed by Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam. The busiest domestic routes include the

Neoliberalism in Latin America Essay Example for Free

Neoliberalism in Latin America Essay From the 1930s until the 1980s state intervention and protection were key components of most Latin American economies. In these years many Latin American countries were used an Import-substitution industrialization based economy trying to reduce dependence on foreign imports and replacing them with domestic production. Due to the use of an Import-substitution industrialization based economy Latin American countries were forced to keep high tariffs to protect the private companies of their countries. This combined with many Latin America countries providing numerous government subsidized programs eventually led to the 1982 debt crisis. This debt crisis created a vacuum affect in Latin America with many of the countries taking on a new neoliberal economic model, and by the early 1990s John Charles Chasteen claims that almost every Latin American country was led by a president that was pro neoliberalism. This neoliberal economic model called for the slashing of tariffs as well as the reduction of removal of all nationalist-inspired subsides. Also following the neoliberal model, Latin American countries stopped the printing of money to slow inflation effectively undermining the functionality of their local markets. All of this was done so that a completely â€Å"free market† could be created. It was believed that this free market would not only help improve the economies of Latin American countries, but also create more personal freedoms for the people of Latin America. In the article â€Å"Neoliberalism, Neoclassicism and Economic Welfare†, John T. Harvey claims the complete opposite, arguing although a neoliberal economic model was created to produce conditions conducive to social provisioning or democratic problem solving, the exact opposite has occurred. Harvery states in his article, â€Å"Instead of growth, stability, and the narrowing of income gaps, we have seen stagnation, volatility, and increased inequality. † By researching neoliberalism a clear picture can be drawn. Neoliberalism created class stratification with the upper and middle class greatly benefiting from the new policies sanctioned by neoliberalism, while the poor continued to become more impoverished and unable to provide for themselves. Many historians argue that the neoliberal economic model was most beneficial for the small wealthy upper-class of Latin America as well as many upper-class business owners from other countries. The existence of a â€Å"free market† due to neoliberalism in Latin America created many opportunities for upper-class citizens to continue to become considerably wealthier. The upper-class benefit from neoliberalism in many ways but the two largest benefits come from the privatization of government subsidized programs and the lowering of tariffs. Not only did both of these policies line the pockets of the upper-class of Latin America but foreign investors as well. In order to balance their federal budget many Latin American governments privatized their government subsidized programs as well as cut federal jobs. First, the privatization of federal jobs allowed many upper-class citizens to take over these businesses and use them in their benefit to create capital. Former government projects such as constructing roads and government buildings were now being completed by companies that were owned by the upper-class. Prior to neoliberalism these jobs were paid out of the federal budget and were used as a way to lower unemployment by hiring more workers than were really needed. Now that private companies were doing the work efficiency was the most important thing leading to the loss of many jobs for the poor class of Latin America. In the article, â€Å"Neo-Liberalism in Latin America: Limits and Alternatives† Ian Roxborough argues that the immediate beneficiaries of the privatization of government subsidized programs and federal jobs, or what he calls real assets, were foreign investors and people with â€Å"flight cash†. This was because when these programs became privatized upper-class people from other countries as well as Latin America were able to come in and by penny cheap shares of these programs and soon to be private companies. This excrementally helped the upper-class because after they bought this stock at largely discounted prices it quickly grew in value. Clearly, lower classes that did not have extra cash could not benefit from this because they were unable to purchase any of the shares of these newly privatized commodities. This created two problems, not only did real assets of Latin America get lost to upper-class foreign investors, it also created a significantly larger wealth gap between the poor and upper-class because of the large amounts of money the upper-class made from the gains of the stock that they bought at such cheap prices. Another benefit the upper-class of Latin America and other foreign countries gained from neoliberalism was the reduction of tariffs. The reduction of Tariffs allowed foreign companies to come into Latin America and build maquiladoras. This was beneficial for the foreign investors because they could now come into Latin America where working wages were much cheaper and produce their goods at lower prices, which entail created more profit. Lower tariffs were beneficial for Latin American upper-class citizens because as the foreign companies came into Latin America they were able to invest in these companies. The ability to invest in these companies that wouldn’t have come to Latin America with the previous tariffs was just one more way people who already had money in Latin America were able to benefit even more from a neoliberal economic model. Neoliberalism also benefitted the middle class of Latin America. Chasteen argues the middle class benefited from a neoliberal economic model because of the cheap products that were produced due to the maquiladoras in Latin America as well as cheap products that were being imported to Latin America because of the newly reduced tariffs. This was very beneficial for the middle class for two reasons. First, under neoliberalism the middle class society who had money to spend, now had more choices because the large influx of items that were now being imported into Latin America. In his article, â€Å"Magical Neoliberalism†, Alberto Fuguet argues that neoliberalism was what led to amenities like large scale movies from Hollywood and other services, like fast food chains, to come to Latin America. Secondly, neoliberalism was beneficial to the middle class because with a larger selection of goods comes competition. With competition companies foreign and local now had to produce the best quality goods at the lowest price in order to continue to receive business from the middle class. Neoliberalism also benefited the middle class of Latin America because of the advancement in technology that occurred because of the privatization of water resource centers, electrical companies, and telecommunication companies. The privatization of these companies allowed them to modernize as well as make them more reliable. Some argue that neoliberalism was also beneficial for the women of Latin America. In her article â€Å"Love in the Time of Neo-Liberalism: Gender, Work, and Power in a Costa Rican Marriage†, Susan E. Mannon argues neoliberalism allowed women to gain more power and independence then they previously had. Mannon claims that neoliberalism, and the reduced tariffs that come with it, led to the creation of maquiladoras where women could seek employment. Latin American women’s new ability to gain employment in maquiladoras allowed them to earn a wage creating dual-income households. Not only did this give them more power and independence in their individual households, but the ability to buy goods also allowed them to participate in the local economy giving them more power as well. Those who stood to gain the least under a neoliberal economic model were the poor people of Latin America. This is because the privatization of state-run corporations and public service programs made them unaffordable for the poor working class, leaving many homeless and hungry. In the article, â€Å"From Democracy to Development: The Political Economy of Post-Neoliberal Reform in Latin America†, Alfred P. Montero states claims that neoliberalism leads to deepening levels of inequality, a growing percentage of people living below the poverty line, decaying infrastructure, poor access to even low-quality primary education, rising criminality, and inefficient productivity. All of these problems can be linked to privatization of government subsidized programs and the loss of government jobs. With neoliberalism the loss of jobs and government programs made unemployment skyrocket and education too expensive for much of the poor class of Latin America to afford. This lack of education is what many argue led to the problems that Montero claims such as a rise in criminal activity. Also, because neoliberalism privatizes companies that control commodities such as water, telecommunications, and electricity the poor class was unable to afford them, essentially leaving the poor of Latin America in the dark without water or electricity. Neoliberalism also led to the creation of Maquiladora’s which initially created what poor Latin American believed to be desirable jobs. Quickly the poor found out that many of these jobs did not pay a wage that was enough for a person to survive. With the poor pay of maquiladoras also came very poor working conditions that were conducive to creating injury. Omar Gil a former maquiladora worker stated in an interview that his first maquiladora job paid him a dismal forty dollars a week in working conditions that were less than safe. Omar attested that maquiladora workers were injured often because of the intense pressure of Forman’s to produce as much product as possible. Also with neoliberalism came the lack of available occupations. Due to the reduction of tariffs foreign companies were able to bring mass produced goods into Latin American countries at prices cheaper than local inhabitants were able to produce them. This created large scale unemployment and forced Latin American people into the unsafe and low paying maquiladoras. Chasteen argues that for the poor class the inability to produce goods far outweighed the benefits of being able to be a small-time consumer from the dismal wages that were earned in maquiladoras. It is clear that the neoliberal economic model is not beneficial for anyone but the wealthy elites and middle class of Latin American Countries. A neoliberal economic model became fashionably popular in Latin America because the people who were in charge were upper-class citizens and during a down turn in 1982 neoliberalism seemed like a solution due to its approach to better balance the budget of Latin American countries. Unfortunately, either the leadership of these countries assumed wrong, or just didn’t care about the wellbeing of its impoverished people, but clearly a neoliberal economic model does nothing but create a larger wealth gap, create more social stratification, and deplete living conditions for the poor even more. In the article, â€Å"Exploring the Impact of Neoliberal Economic Development on Poverty in Costa Rica: What Went Wrong? †, Paul B Lubliner argues that in order for economic prosperity to complement poverty reduction the state should have more control over the economy not less. I agree and argue by privatizing all state subsidized programs as well as depleting the amount of government jobs to almost zero Latin American countries actually went backwards in their pursuit to shorten the wealth gap as well as social stratification. Abusing your population to closer balance budget is in no way the solution to guarantee countries prosperity in the foreseeable future. Neoliberalism was clearly one sided only benefiting the rich and middle class, disfranchising each countries poor setting them back further then they were before.

Zionism :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Do you know the moral to the story of the tortoise and the hare? Is it slow and steady wins the race? Or is it that cockiness gets you nowhere? They are both correct but this is a good example of how a children’s fable, like interpretations of the bible, can easily be different from one another. Interpretations of the bible vary and occasionally get the message wrong, but this variation can be attributed differences of opinion in interpretation. Whether motivated by politics, social presuppositions, or theological differences the variation can paint a contrasting picture of Biblical information. Time plays a very large part in the variations of Biblical interpretation. The interpretation according to the rabbinic midrash is very different than interpretations according to modern Zionism or for that matter modern Feminism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Classic midrash served an important purpose for the authors of the Torah. It allowed them to create a way to make the Torah an intimate part of the lives of Jews. The result of transforming Biblical stories in to more compelling and interesting stories gave the writers of the Torah a way to connect with the Jewish people on a more personal level. The writers of the Torah realized that the Jewish people could connect with the Biblical stories more if they could relate the stories to everyday life. What the authors of the Torah failed to realize is that by transforming the stories, they had now added the opinions and beliefs of the time into their stories. This is the cause for many revisions to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rabbis during the seventh and eighth centuries developed a distinct branch of Jewish mysticism. The Kabala interprets the Scriptures as an esoteric manner, and seeks answers to the divine mysteries. Kabala required intense meditation and preparatory rites that lead to a mystical union with God. The presiding factor at hand is the idea of faith. It is faith in the experience is what allowed the rabbis to interpret the Scripture. Here again we see and example of the ways in which Biblical information is interpreted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Zionist movement brought with it the desire to create a national identity for the Jewish people. In order to accomplish this Herzl thought that Jewish people should move to an area where they could escape the anti-Semitism in Germany. The basis for ideals of Zionism is to establish a national identity for the Jewish community.

Discuss and describe a moral panic from a social science perspective Essay

Society is frequently subjected to moral panics when any crime is committed. Humanity repeatedly blows crimes and incidents out of proportion until the entire society is somewhat controlled. Stuart Hall, in his book, ‘Policing the Crisis’ explained that â€Å"the media, in conjunction with the bourgeoisie, create moral panics in order to perpetrate fear and maintain control over society, as a whole.† (Hall, 2013, s. 1) Moral panics are created as a hazard and rising threat to shock both society and culture into changing the way it thinks and acts about problems in the real world. In this essay, moral panics will be looked at in detail with a specific interest in the case of James Bulger. There will too, be a focus on the influence the media, police and politicians have on moral panics and public opinions. Stanley Cohen derived a moral panic as â€Å"a sporadic episode which subjects society to worry about the values and principles which society upholds which may be in jeopardy. The moral panics are a means of characterising the reactions of the media, the public and agents of social control to youthful disturbances.† (Cohen, 1987: 9) The abduction and subsequent murder of the toddler James Bulger, from a shopping centre in Liverpool, was a crime which brought about a huge moral panic in Britain in the 1990’s. A murder of any sort brings about a moral panic, but when the victim, and in this case the defendants, are both children, it attracts overwhelming media attention and a vast moral panic is quickly spread. It has been previously said that it is the most monstrous of crime when a child elects to kill another child. Theories of moral panics are sparked when they are spread; the ‘Grassroots Model’ (Critcher, 2008) theory occurs when the public and media col laborate, consequently leading to fears becoming exaggerated; in the case of James Bulger; ephebiphobia, which is the fear of children and youth. The murder of Bulger made parents realise how defenceless their own children really are, and how they should fear others’ children. The theory suggests â€Å"panics are initiated and generated from the bottom up and are spread about particularly large numbers of people.† This is subsequently shown in the murder of Bulger; the moral panic was initiated from the crime but then soon spread to the media, thus advertising the story which then became public knowledge and the fear of children and youth becomes established and inflated. Marx established the ‘Elite Engineered Model’ which encompasses the ruling elite  manufacturing certain panics to instil fear in society and divert it away from the real problems they are having. In the scenario of the James Bulger murder, those with high ranking in society involved in the case, for example, police, detectives, press and politicians, created the moral panic of the murder in an attempt to divert the public’s opinion away from the shocking crime of two young boys, just 10 years old, not just abducting a toddler from a busy shopping centre in Liverpool, but also killing him in the most vicious way and dumping his body on train tracks in an attempt to cover up what had happened. This is not the behaviour of children; it is the behaviour of evil. Particularly due to the age of the killers, the ferociousness of the crime and the age of the victim, the mass media reports allowed the public to get personally and emotionally involved in the case and have severe anger and resentment towards the children who murdered James Bulger. The public outcry was huge and, the decision by the politicians and press combined to release the names of the killers publicly as Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, allowed the public to finally vent their abuse against the killers. ‘Amid the hysteria in 1993, both Thompson and Venables lost the right to be seen as children, or even as human. The kids who had killed the kid had to be killed, or indeed locked up for life. The word used about them stopped all arguments; they were pure evil.’ (Morrison, 2003) These scandals make any type of child harm seem dramatic and heinous; these crimes force the attention onto those in society who are high ranked, in an attempt to aim for a change to prevent this crime being repeated. The path of any moral panic can sway in two opposing directions; either the panic dies down relatively quickly and is totally forgotten, or it has lasting repercussions for all those involved, whether press, politicians, the police or the public. (Butler, n.d.) In the case of the murder of little James Bulger, there were lasting implications; which included the introduction of the National Sex Offenders Register (Paedophile Register) in the late 1990’s as a response to the growing concern and panic over the recent child sex offences (Cohen 1972:9). The Interest Group Theory involves panic about a given behaviour, in this instance, a child killing another child, and hence due the massive public outcry, the case is more likely to be distorted by the media and the outcome  changed. The Bulger story was iconic and a rare, uncommon case; but lessons should be learnt. A similar crime had previously been committed in the form of the 1861 murder of baby George burgess in Stockport by two eight year olds. Burgess was forced to suffer a horrific attack and the two young boys inflicted shocking injuries upon his body. This crime severely angered the local community and again created a moral panic. In today’s society, thankfully due to the role that the media now plays in the viewing and promoting of crimes, we, as a whole in society, are able to successfully campaign for justice and see those who participated in the crime jailed for as long as they deserve. The concept of moral panics does have some disadvantages; they do tend to be deterministic and can be twisted by the media to blow the event out of proportion. In the case of James Bulger, the amount of media attention thrown onto the case means that this moral panic is ever lasting, and will always be remembered, preventing events like this from being repeated. Bibliography: Butler, I (2013) Moral Panic and Child Protection Available form: http://www.moralpanicseminars.files.wordpress.com.2013/05/sem2-butler.pdf [Accessed 15th November 2013] Cohen, S (2011) Folk Devils and Moral Panics: Key Ideas. London: Routledge Critcher, C (2006) Moral Panics and the Media. OU Press Critcher, C (2008) Moral Panic Analysis: Past, Present and Future Swansea University: Blackwell Publishing. Available from: http://www.penelopeironstone.com/Critcher.pdf [Accessed 28th October 2013] Eldridge, J & Kitzinger, J & Williams, K (1997) The Mass Media and Power in Modern Britain (Chapter 5 – Moral Panics, Media Scares and Real Problems) Oxford University Press Goode, E & Ben-Yehuda, N (1994) Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Hall, S (2013) Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Jewkes, Y (2011) Media and Crime. Sage Kirsh, S (2010) Media and Youth. Wiley Blackwell Marsh, I & Melville, G (2011) Moral Panics and the British Media: A look at some contemporary ‘Folk Devils’

A Civil Action/ Irac Style Format

A Civil Action FACTS: This movie, A Civil Action, is about a lawsuit that began with the death of twelve people, and eight of those twelve people were children. This all takes place in the little city of Woburn Wells, Massachusetts. This is a small city that has two companies that are located really close to the cities river. One company is called W. R. Grace Company and the other is Beatrice Foods. Jan Schlitnmann is the main attorney for the plaintiff’s side along with his partners; Conway, Gordon, and Crowley. The attorney for W. R. Grace was William Cheeseman, and the attorney for Beatrice foods was Jerome Fatcher. Anne Anderson initially told one of Jan’s partners her story and put many calls into their office. However, she never a response from them! So Anne put a call into Jan Schlitchmann while he was on a radio show. Jan and his partners discussed the case and Jan agreed to go and meet with Anne and the family member’s of the children who died from Leukemia. So he went to the city of Woburn Wells. Jan saw the companies W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods and thought it would be a goldmine for the law office to take on the case. Anderson told Jan that she and the other families were not looking for money in this lawsuit. The families only wanted an apology from the companies and for someone to clean up the area and make sure it would not ever happen again. The drinking water that the town had been drinking was the problem. The water had somehow been contaminated with trichloroethylene and silicon (used to water proof leather). Jan was going to prove in court that W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods knowingly contaminated the river that was located in Woburn Wells and by contaminating the river it caused twelve people to die from leukemia. ISSUES: Did the drinking water that was contaminated with Trichloroethylene and silicon, by W. R. Grace Company and Beatrice Foods, cause the leukemia deaths and other health problems in Woburn, Massachusetts? LAW: Negligence:   is a  legal  concept in the  common law  legal systems mostly applied in tort cases to achieve monetary compensation (damages) for physical and mental injuries Wrongful Death: is a claim in common law jurisdictions against a person who can be held liable for a death DISCUSSION: Big corporations generally only see things with dollar signs. The goal of any corporation is to make the maximum profit that they can while providing a good or service to the community. W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods show this statement to be true throughout this whole movie. They are continuously trying to make this â€Å"issue† go away by throwing money at the family members, trying to make the suit go away and not fix the real problem. W. R. Grace Company decided that the best place to dump the T. C. E. was in the river behind the plant. This had major effects on everyone that was in close proximity to the river. It got into the drinking water, which was said to have caused 12 deaths, the reason of some miscarriages, and seizures among other health conditions, from what the claims are that is. The company tried to cover up this kind of thing as much as possible by buying people off. They think that if they give people money for their losses than everything will be alright. For huge corporations dealing with billions of dollars these payoffs are only a drop in the bucket for them. Even a million dollars to any family is an incredible amount of money and often the money becomes more important than the real issues behind the problem and can't be passed up by a family struggling to get by. The benefits of paying these people for their trouble are much cheaper than doing things the right way in the beginning and protecting their safety. Well, the families of Woburn Wells wanted no part of the money. They just wanted the problem fixed and an apology from the ones who caused this tragedy. Jan Schlichtmann initially didn't want to take the case because he doesn't think that there will be any money in it for him and his firm. Even though he goes and sees how much pain this company has caused to the people in Woburn Wells, he still doesn't care because of the money. Not until he realizes how big the companies are does he take the case. The firm took the case and went to work. The first hearing ruled that Beatrice Foods wasn’t to be held accountable, just W. R. Grace Company, There were many scientific and complex tests that had to be run in order to prove that the water was contaminated by W. R. Grace. This was all at the cost of Schlichtmann’s firm. As the case goes on he isn't able to achieve what he ultimately wanted to do because the Grace Company has so much money that they will almost always win. Schlichtmann’s firm goes into debt trying to win this case but ultimately has to settle because they can't go on. Schlichtmann ended up settling with W. R. Grace for 8 million dollars. After all debts are paid (all of the equipment that was rented, the Dr. ’s that ran the tests, the scientist’s, etc. and the fee for Schlichtmann’s firm, the families were awarded $357,000 per family! This made the families very upset. Not because of the amount of the money, but because when Anne Anderson initially spoke with Schlichtmann, she had told him that the families weren’t interested in the money. All the families ultimately wanted was were apologies, someone to take the blame for the cause of their loved ones deaths, and for the contaminated water and area to be cleaned up so this type of thing were to never happen again. After that final meeting with the families, Jan Schlichtmann and his partners all ended up all going their separate ways. Schlichtmann had a â€Å"come to† one day. He ended up questioning one of the workers of W. R. Grace once again, who told him the whole story regarding the disposal of the chemical waste. He told Schlichtmann how and where they got rid of everything, which was in the river behind the plant. This was negligent on the companies’ part. Schlichtmann didn’t have the money for the appeal process, so he sent everything he had to another lawyer. This case went on for years. In the end, the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) filed a lawsuit against W. R. Grace and the companies agreed to share 69. 4 million for cleanup of the area. CONCLUSION: Did the drinking water that was contaminated with Trichloroethylene and silicon, by W. R. Grace Company and Beatrice Foods, cause the leukemia deaths and other health issues in Woburn, Massachusetts? Yes An employee of W. R. Grace was confronted by Jan after the trial was over with, who came clean about the whole cover up. He was told to â€Å"get rid† of the barrels that were filled with the toxins, which he did along with several others. They dumped the hundreds of barrels into the river which was one of the main sources of water in the city. There was an autopsy on one of the children’s bodies. The Dr. onfirmed that the child died from leukemia which was caused by Trichloroethylene. After many scientific tests and many years in the courtroom, both W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods were found guilty for the contamination of the river in Woburn Wells, which was linked to the drinking water and the cause of the leukemia deaths. This toxin, T. C. E. , was found to be in the drinking water of the city, and was digested by the children on a regular basis. The wrongful deaths of the 12 individuals in the city lay in the hands of both W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods. It was their duty of care to dispose of the chemicals in an appropriate manner.

Free Essays on Abortion Ethics

On the question of abortion being moral, the answer is clearly that terminating a fetus' life under certain circumstances is not only moral, but it is also our responsibility to terminate it if the quality of life is in question for the fetus. A second major reason is that to declare abortion immoral would mean that we would have to consider the factor of how the conception came about. This cannot and should not be done. Quality is a major factor in the question of the morality of abortion. When parents decide to keep or not keep a baby the issue of adoption does not play into this. The reason for this is that once the baby is born that the parents may change their mind if they want to keep it. Parents must decide at the onset of the pregnancy to decide if they can in good conscience bring a child into the world, if the answer is yes, then people should proceed with the pregnancy and then determine whether they want to give the child up for adoption. It is a parent's moral responsibi lity to make sure that the environments, which the child will be brought into, will be healthy and supportive. It is a far greater crime to treat a child poorly for eighteen years then it is to terminate a fetus that cannot think, feel or is aware of its existence. On the second point of making the way that conception occurred a non-factor I am not saying that having the babies of rapists or in cases of incest is okay. Still, for the argument that abortion is immoral, you must argue that the action is immoral, not the child. The child cannot be either at this point. If we are then talking about the act of abortion then, who is there to determine right and wrong. A court of law should have no place in this decision. The primary interests in this pregnancy should make the decision themselves. This would normally be the parent of the fetus. The action in the case of rape is defiantly immoral, but the fetus is not. To say that the abortion is moral because the... Free Essays on Abortion Ethics Free Essays on Abortion Ethics On the question of abortion being moral, the answer is clearly that terminating a fetus' life under certain circumstances is not only moral, but it is also our responsibility to terminate it if the quality of life is in question for the fetus. A second major reason is that to declare abortion immoral would mean that we would have to consider the factor of how the conception came about. This cannot and should not be done. Quality is a major factor in the question of the morality of abortion. When parents decide to keep or not keep a baby the issue of adoption does not play into this. The reason for this is that once the baby is born that the parents may change their mind if they want to keep it. Parents must decide at the onset of the pregnancy to decide if they can in good conscience bring a child into the world, if the answer is yes, then people should proceed with the pregnancy and then determine whether they want to give the child up for adoption. It is a parent's moral responsibi lity to make sure that the environments, which the child will be brought into, will be healthy and supportive. It is a far greater crime to treat a child poorly for eighteen years then it is to terminate a fetus that cannot think, feel or is aware of its existence. On the second point of making the way that conception occurred a non-factor I am not saying that having the babies of rapists or in cases of incest is okay. Still, for the argument that abortion is immoral, you must argue that the action is immoral, not the child. The child cannot be either at this point. If we are then talking about the act of abortion then, who is there to determine right and wrong. A court of law should have no place in this decision. The primary interests in this pregnancy should make the decision themselves. This would normally be the parent of the fetus. The action in the case of rape is defiantly immoral, but the fetus is not. To say that the abortion is moral because the...

How To Write Blog Post Introductions That Hook Readers

How To Write Blog Post Introductions That Hook Readers There are eight  other people reading this post along with us. In just a few minutes, there will only be the two of us. Dont believe it? The challenge was already insurmountable.  People read about 18% of your blog post. Readers are overwhelmed with information and are  purposefully not reading  for their own sanity.  Heck, weve been bemoaning the death of reading since 1991, and even again in 2007. So what to do about getting readers to read? How do you keep people reading to the end? Master The Art Of Blog Post Introductions And Keep Your Readers Reading via @JulieNeidlinger A  Blog Post  Introduction Must Have A Hook Let me introduce you to introductions.  Introductions are first impressions.  You get to make them once. Your blog post introduction must have a hook. Here are six good hooks to use in your blog post introductions. 1. Start with an interesting fact. "Niagara Falls has traveled  7 miles upstream in the past 12,000 years. Let's hope you're growing your web traffic at a faster rate." Start with a fact that is interesting, because not all facts are. Facts that are uninteresting are facts that: Are overused and often repeated. Too common in your niche. Related perfectly to your topic in an unsurprising way. Pick facts that have nothing obviously to do with your topic (Niagara Falls and website traffic?), or are perfectly in line with your topic and thesis, but are so shocking as to be gasp-worthy.  Unrelated facts make the reader think "how is this bozo going to tie that into the topic at hand?" while shocking facts make the reader think "that CANNOT be true, can it?!" Either way, it's a hook. 2. The end of the story first. There are two ways to tell the end of the story first and have a successful hook. Find a way to tell the end of the story without giving away the surprise. "The 20,000 customer registered in our system, and the team let out a victorious yell. We'd hit our goal, thanks to the red button." How does the story end? Because that's a perfect place to start. In this example, the introduction tells the reader what happened, but it doesn't do so in a way that ruins the surprise. There's a lot of action, both by the final customer and the team. There's the suggestion of a competition and success (a goal was met). And there's a cryptic suggestion that a red button did something amazing. Plus, 20,000. That's impressive for anyone wanting lots of customers. This would be a less effective version of the introduction for that post: "After five months of intense A/B testing in which we tested different CTA button colors, we finally hit 20,000 customers. Red was the winning color." Yawn. There is jargon. There are unexplained acronyms. An inanimate button has become the winner instead of the people (customers and the team). What little action there is, is passive.  And you spilled the beans on what the post was about: A/B testing colors. Give a heads-up summation without giving away the surprise. This method gives your reader some respect by saying "hey, this is what I'm going to talk about with you today. If this is interesting, stick around."  Derek Halpern tends to get right to the point with his blog posts, and often introduces them by telling readers what they can expect if they keep reading. Adding "a quick request" is a fine bit of intrigue for the reader. "What in the world could Halpern want from me?" the reader thinks, and keeps on reading. Knowing what's coming and how things will end is helpful for readers. It gives them an idea of whether or not they should take the time and what expectations to have. The danger for you, the writer, is if you have an unexciting topic and give your readers a heads-up  to that. "Today I am going to talk about the value proposition of going paperless at your office, and ultimately prove that you will want to buy a small scanner and ban the paper." Meh. That's not an introduction to remember for all eternity. Halpern's version has a bit more intrigue and zip, though, admittedly, some readers will appreciate the above example. It has its place, but isn't the greatest hook. 3. Use an anecdote. "I once wrote a newspaper story that killed a man." That's the actual blog post introduction I wrote on a post for this blog. It's a one-sentence anecdote. That's an extremely short anecdote; most anecdotes are longer, like those you find in this post about social proof in which several anecdotes are used. Anecdotes are wee bitty stories that put a larger idea or thesis in a different context. Speakers know that starting with a story instead of a philosophical or fact-filled lecture is a sure-fire way to get people's attention. It's the same for your readers. What makes a good anecdote? Something that happened to you, in your life. This makes you the expert on how to apply the story and what it means. I would rather hear an anecdote about your trials and failures rather than the tired anecdote of how many times Edison tried to invent the lightbulb. Something either funny or poignant. Make 'em laugh or make 'em cry (or somewhere close). At the very least, end at a different level than where you started. You start at ground zero with your reader. Your anecdote can't end there. It's no hook if it does. Something related to your thesis. Don't be that speaker that tells a random joke or story and then segues with an "but I digress" and launches into Yawnville. Your anecdote should illustrate your thesis in a new way, or start leading the reader's thought patterns towards where you want to take them with your thesis. A quote can work. Quotations can work, and sometimes make a fine opening. But people quickly get in the habit of using the words of others to boost their own, so watch out for overuse of this technique. And avoid quotations that are overused for your niche. Steve Jobs had some good things to say,  but after a while, those excellent words lose their power because they are overused. Find new quotations from surprising sources. And avoid quotations that are overused for your niche. Steve Jobs had some good things to say, but after a while, those excellent words lose their power because they are overused. – @JulieNeidlinger 4. Ask a (worthwhile) question. Yes, there are stupid questions, and a good share  of them are rhetorical. In their best use, asking a question is a fine way to force the reader to identify with the problem you are about to solve. Questions can be powerful. But some questions are a waste of time. Go easy with  rhetorical questions.   "What are we going to do about your low-performing blog?" Rhetorical questions cannot be answered by the reader. They are asked not to prompt thinking or discover knowledge, but to make a point. They are often dramatic. They can be insulting. "Have you stopped beating your dog yet?" is a classic example. The question assumes someone is being cruel to an animal. It can't really be answered. Or "How do you solve a problem like Maria?", which assumes first that Maria is a problem. It's similar to what I see  being used a lot in lead generation and calls-to-action where one button says "Yes, I want more traffic. Take my email!" while the other button says "No, I want to see my website die a painful slow death." Rhetorical questions set up the reader in a similar, psychological way. The reader has to accept the underlying assumption in order to answer. It can work, but if you make an offensive or insulting assumption, your reader leaves. Use rhetorical questions carefully. Don't ask questions intended to limit the answer. Pet peeve alert: I despise  when people speak in questions so they can pre-empt any difficult or real questions and give softball answers. Here's how it works (and I'm sure you'll recognize the technique): "Do I love web traffic? Yes. Did I mean to send my disgruntled blog readers a skunk in the mail? Of course not." By asking the questions you, the writer, want to answer instead of providing the answers the reader wants, you can create the appearance of forthright and complete discussion without actually doing so. Plus, you slip into passive voice of sorts, where you don't own the action and behavior. How does that work in an introduction? "Do I love web traffic? Yes. Do I know the secret to building it? You bet." Ok, we get it. But what a waste of your reader's time. "My love of web traffic is bested only by my ability to build it." Kind of a silly  example, but you get the idea: be direct, not passive. Do you want more traffic on your blog? Write better blog post introductions with these tips.Don't ask obvious questions. Every time I find myself tapping out an introduction that starts with "do you want more traffic on your blog?" I'm sure somewhere a philosopher dies. What I'm trying to do is tell the reader "yes, this is the post you were looking for" but what I'm really telling the reader is "I don't know how to write." "Do you want more traffic on your blog?" Really? That's your Bob Woodward? "98 percent of blog owners want more traffic. Yeah, we don't understand that remaining two percent, either." You can identify with your reader without asking them obvious questions that they skim over. 5.  Go for the  cliffhangers. Robert Bruce  (who is someone else entirely than Robert the Bruce)  is a writer and a tease. Once in a while but not too often, mind you he sends out an email of Unusually Short Stories. He also posts them on his web site. He is all sparseness and tortuous brevity, his unusually short stories impeccable. They hook, and leave you hanging off the cliff. One of Robert Bruce's unusually short stories. Take a page from Bruce's book: these are the introductory paragraphs that get readers hooked. I know, because I've sat and stared at them willing the next sentence to appear (which  will not happen). I'm a firm believer mimicking and dissecting the successful work of others as a form of practice. Artists often paint from the masters to learn about color, light, and technique (I've done it). While at a writers' conference a few months ago, best-selling author James Hall told of a class he taught his graduate students (which included Dennis Lehane) where they were instructed to find a novel they loved and write their own novel based on the structure of it. He later turned this class into a book called Hit Lit: Cracking The Code Of The 20th Century's Biggest Best Sellers. So let's look at Bruce's example. What makes it work? It's only two sentences, and I'm dying to read the next paragraph. The setup tells us there is a competition known only to us (we have exclusive knowledge). There is a setting, both in place and time. And we know the startling end result. The cliffhanger isn't what happened next, but what happened in between. How do you get from intriguing point A to hilarious and startling point Z? So. A cliffhanger can be either "what happens next" or "what happened in between." Let's say your headline was: How We Went From Zero To 10,000 Customers In Just One Year.   Here's an example of a "what happened in between" cliffhanger: "We started with  three team members  and a plant in the window. One year later, we were taking sledgehammers to the office walls." The rest of the post talks about how you grew your customer base, and how it meant your team grew, too, and you had to expand your office space. (Or how things went poorly and you demolished the office in a fit of rage, but let's hope not.) 6. Gentle confrontation can be a friend. "You were getting 100 new sign-ups a week, and thought your email conversion rate was as good as it could get. But you were wrong, and I'll tell you why." Confrontation is sure to get a reader's attention. Of course, not all confrontation is created equal.  There is insulting and trollish confrontation (always wrong), and there is gentle confrontation. A gentle confrontation takes a soft  swipe at a controversy, or pokes a long-held belief of the reader in a way that encourages them to read on and reconsider. What happens when you do that? The reader feels indignant and keeps reading if only to prepare to prove you wrong. Or the reader is intrigued and keeps reading to see if it's true. The reader skips to the end and leaves a ranting comment never having read your post, meaning you have to gently say "but I said that later in my post." So in the case of the first reaction, gentle confrontation can be a friend. In the case of the second reaction...less so. Either way, introductions that are confrontational can often lead to active comment sections.

A small descriptive story Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A small descriptive story - Assignment Example quest to secure China’s territorial security from the Mongols, Emperor Qin Shu Huang led in the efforts of building the wall by uniting all leaders in the country. The Wall consists of fortifications and wall posts that are an amalgamation of heights, widths and construction materials. The defensive role of the Wall is evident through the crenulations that were used for surveying enemies and killing invaders by the soldiers. At certain points of the wall, visible reflections of China’s socio-cultural history are evident. A case in point is the Juyong pass that was constructed by a marble platform complete with sculptures of the four Heavenly deities. Furthermore, inscriptions of Buddhist incantations and 2000 sculptures are replicate on the wall. Despite, sections of the Great Wall giving way to wear and tear, much of it stands as a testament to China’s rich culture, military strength and architectural

Airline mergers case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Airline mergers case study - Essay Example (Holtz and Grimme, 2009, p. 13) An ‘Open Skies’ agreement was signed between USA and European in 2007 that enabled the merged firms to ‘change their ownership structure’ and to get maximum voting rights from Dutch Government authorities. Indeed, the Air France and KLM then became subsidiaries of newly formed KLM – Air France. This was quite helpful in building shareholders’ confidence over top management of new company. (Holtz and Grimme, 2009, p. 14) The governments were paying special attention to develop environmental security laws and regulations to grapple with increasingly large menace of global warming. The demand of air travel was constantly growing since 2002 because of phenomenal economic growth and increase in real incomes in both developed West and emerging nations. This in turn created more opportunities for airlines that later resulted in higher monetary gains, however, the competition among firms increased substantially because of new entrants joined the arena. Indeed, the conditions were quite favorable because of skyrocketing demand for cargo services besides normal visitors. The merger would have easily increased business efficiency, market share and consumer reach. (Friesen, 2005) The increase in employment opportunities and business scope improved the standard of living across the world. Consumers, therefore, were inclined to use air travel services in their leisure. Similarly, business personnel were also required travel services to reach their destinations abroad for negotiation with partners, dealers and parties. Hence, propensity to spend for air travel had increased. (Katarzyna, 2004) The special attention was paid to develop modernised aircrafts with greater seat capacity, range and fuel-efficiency to minimise the threat of carbon emission and pollution. Indeed, the new aircrafts were produced to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. The bargaining power of customers was medium due to the fact the