Wackenhut SS :: Personal Narrative Writing

Wackenhut SS It was a warm spring day. I turned down the radio as I drove across the bridge at Hoover dam, water and cement connected the state line separating Arizona from Nevada. Crossing the dam then past the tourist information center reached two huge stone angel monuments with arms and wings stretched toward the sky. The sight of them invoked religious desperation from me as if a I was lacking from divine intervention. Parked on either side of the two towering angels sat two highway patrol cars. One on each side of the statues like vultures ordered by the sherif of Nottingham to victimize taxpayers. I felt desperate and uneasy as I stared into the troopers eyes as I passed by and they stared back. I am not paranoid but that doesn't mean they are not after me. Everyone is a suspect and victim for harassment and possible revenue. My sense of privacy dissolved with the irreverent mix. Psychically connected and hoping to break the troopers attention, I turned up Black Sabbath on the radio and sa ng along. "They tell you black is really white, the moon is just the sun at night and when you walk through golden halls, you get to keep the gold that falls, it's heaven and hell." The patrol cars stay put as I wind up the mountain road out of sight. I keep the heavy metal tunes blaring to give me that extra boost of primal fire that leads one to believe that enough vrihl energy omnisciently moves away adversaries. My attention shot through their hollow headslike a laser out of the screaming skulls of hell. Aggressive aesthetic attention, makes things move quicker with a lottery of victims. I drop my vigil as I drive through Henderson Nevada. From the clouds, mountains and small skyscrapers, the twilight cast a weird silhouette around the city. I felt safe, as if the ratio of civilians had the police outnumbered. I turn off the radio to sense the silence that Lake Mead evoked in the sunset. Winding up the highway, the sky pulled like a magnet, my hair stood on end, the roof of the car like static electricity. I head north-west towards Vegas into the orange twilight. I light a joint and savor the powerful ringing in my ears as I focus my attention on the electric silence, invisibly driving me into Las Vegas.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Years ago there was a traveler who came upon an old-fashioned pump from which he would have to pump the handle in order to retrieve the water. Beside the pump there was a pitcher full of water, and on the pump there was a sign. The sign instructions were to prime the pump with the water in the pitcher, pump the water for use, and then refill the pitcher. The thirsty man looked at the pitcher, the pump and the sign. He thought to himself, "If I pour this water down the pump, and it doesn't work, I will have no water to drink and it will be wasted. But, if I drink the water, I will be satisfied, but the next traveler will have nothing. We as graduates are like this traveler and we have decisions to make. We have the potential to be contributing members of society -- we are the doctors, nurses, farmers, servicemen and pastors of tomorrow. We can use the water in the pitcher that is like the education and resources this country has given us, and we can prime the pump for others, providing them with the opportunities that we have already been given. We can give back to society with our...

Animal Bullying

The horizon melted across the sky, the setting sun nowhere to be seen. A seagull dived across the sky, heading horizon. I sat on the sandy beach, staring at the mesmerizing obediently beside me. Looking at it, a wave of fresh memories came rushing back into my mind, engulfing me in it†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ It was a sultry Saturday afternoon, left to my own devices. I sat on my squishy couch, eyes peeled on the goggle box, enjoying my favourite television show, ‘Zero no Tsukaima’. Then, the show finally ended, I rubbed my still bleary eyes and gave the clock a quick glance.It was still early, only 3 o’clock. Wondering what to do, I stared blankly at the ceiling. Then the telephone started ringing shrilly. Without further hesitation, I dashed to answer it and to my surprise, it was my best friend, John inviting me for a ride in the park. I agreed readily. Like a cat on hot brick, I quickly changed and glanced countless times at the clock in the process, then, I quickly boar ded my bike and started cycling towards the park. Though the park was only a stone’s throw away from my house, then it seemed as if it was miles away.After what seemed like an eternity, I finally reached the park and found John waiting for me there impatiently. I quickly approached him and we began cycling around while chatting about the interesting happenings in school. Just as we having a whale of our time, a scared ‘mew’ and then a crowd of raucous laughter aroused our attention. We quickly alighted from our bikes and then edged nearer and nearer to the direction where the laughter was coming from. Hiding behind a clump of bushes, we peered carefully through the gaps between the leaves to see what had happened.To our utter horror, three teenage boys formed a small circle around a white and brown splotched cat and each was armed with several rubber bands and a packet of soft drink. Then, one of the boys let loose a rubber band striking the cat near the eye, it retreated and the boy behind it let loose another rubber band hitting it on the back and he also edged forward to step its tail. The cat gave another loud pitiful ‘mew’ and it nearly broke my heart. â€Å"How dare they do that to such a helpless little cat? † I thought.I began to stand up, but John grabbed my arm and we retreated to a few metres away and John frantically asked me, â€Å"What do you want to do? They are so much bigger and stronger than us! † I gave a sigh and told him how I felt and I also told him that I could not bear to see the kitten being bullied and beaten by the teenagers and I turned to go towards the teenager, and John grabbed me again and tried his best to persuade me not to go but I would not listen, the commotion aroused the attention of the teenagers and they came out, looking at what had happened. When they saw us, they snickered and asked, â€Å"What business do you have here kid? Anger started to boil within me and I longed to go up to him and give him a bash straight in the face, but I had to suppress my anger and said, â€Å"I may be a kid but at least I know it is wrong to hurt innocent animals unlike you dunces. † The teenagers instantly flared up and were cracking their knuckles. Instantly, I regretted what I had just said. John was standing beside me trembling from head to toe. Then, the leader of the gang snarled at me, â€Å"Who cares about a rotten ball of fur. † I made a quick dash for the kitten that came limping towards us and then without a second look, I dashed away.John also followed me and also kept looking backwards, but to our surprise, the teenagers did not chase us. After running for quite a long distance, we stopped to catch a breath. I also stopped to take a look at the kitten, its right leg was bleeding and its blood dyed my red shirt as I held it close to myself just now. Then the kitten started licking its wound. After discussing with John, we decided to bring it to the vet. Upon reaching the vet, we showed him the veterinarian and he told us that the kitten was not too badly hurt except for some skin deep cuts.Only then, we sighed in relief. Then, we decided to go home and John said that he had nothing to do with the kitten, so I brought it home. When my parents came home, I related the incident to them and I asked them if I could keep the kitten. At first, they were firm and said no, but after much begging and persuasion, they finally agreed me and requested me to take care of the kitten myself as my mother was afraid that after some time, I would lose interest in the cat and the responsibility of taking care of it would land on her.That, I readily agreed. Suddenly, my cat bounded from my torch and ran it around me back into reality. Looking at the sky again, it was turning dark and I gave a sigh ready to get up and go back home for dinner, carrying the kitten in one hand, I set off to home. I was really grateful that I had the chance to come by the kitten. I will devote myself to take care of the kitten for life. That is what it takes to be a responsible pet owner.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Computer

Advantages of computers: Increases speed of computing and processing information in any other way. People can use sophisticated statistical and mathematical tools for decision making and further purposes without learning in details the algorithms used for computing. This way people can use much more sophisticated analytical tools that would have been possible with only manual information processing. Computers can store large volumes of information without occupying too much space, as is in the case of information stored in form of books and paper documents.Computer processing eliminates the human errors of computing and information processing. Information once entered in computer system can be easily accessed by the same person or other persons at different times for different persons. This reduces the work load of capturing same information multiple times for different purposes. It also makes it possible for different person to work with same information, avoiding the possibility of different persons using different versions of the same information.The work of entering and editing information is made mush more easy and simple by software that offer many powerful user friendly features for performing these tasks. Computer now offer sophisticated and powerful software for representing information in rich formats with visual and video facilities. Computers combined with communication technology offer very fast speed and rich communication facility at low cost. Computers, with all these features are now used for automating all kinds of equipments and processes. Disadvantage of Computers The cost of computer and associated equipments is falling steadily.Still these equipments are and continue to be much more costly as compared to manual processing equipments like pen and pencil. Also technological complexity of these equipment makes it more difficult to learn and maintain these equipments as compared to equipments of manual information processing. Use of computers require additional infrastructure, such as power supply and software back up. This increases the chances of problems due to failure of infrastructure. For example, a computer will not work where there is no electric power supply. Even a laptop with a battery will work without power supply only for a limited period.Failures of computer system can be more serious and difficult to correct. For example, one scratch on a hard disk can make the complete data on the disk inaccessible. In comparison, manual system faults have comparatively limited impact. One page torn from a cabinet full of documents has no impact on other documents. Computers generally reduces the errors of processing. However if there is an error in input data, it can result in major blunders in the processing which the computer system is unable to detect. In manual systems the chances of such blunders passing undetected and corrected is much less.

Iphone 5C price decision Essay

The fist factor that important in the pricing decision of iPhone 5C is by considering costs. For instance, since Apple Inc. wants to maximize its profits through establishing new products, the price should be set at the point where marginal revenue equals to marginal cost. We know that iPhone 5C is in the perfectly competitive market, the company can reach its maximum profit at equilibrium at X* and P*. To determine the price, Apple Inc. needs to do the marginal analysis. According to profits (Ï€) equals to total revenues (TR) minus total costs (TC), which is Ï€=(P*X)-(fixed cost+variable costs per unit *X), X is the number of units sold by Apple Inc. Of course, manager needs to ask several departments and contractors to know the cost of their product and services. From online websites, I get to know that producing a 16Gbyte iPhone, total BOM and Manufacturing Cost is about $173.45, for a 32Gbyte iPhone 5C is approximately $182.85(which accounts only for hardware and manufacturing costs and does not include other expenses such as software, licensing, royalties or other expenditure)(Andrew, 2013). The manager can differentiating the fixed costs and variable costs based on cost behavior, and plug those numbers into the equation and get an equation between Ï€ and X. then differentiate the equation and set it to zero, the manager can get the number of units when profit maximizing. Finally, plug X into assuming demand function, the manager can get the price and make a decision. But, in the real world, it is not easy to implement the marginal analysis method. So, managers usually try to combine cost-based approaches and market-based approach to make a profit satisfying approach, for example full cost-plus target profits, variable costs-plus percentage markup can both assess to pricing decision. However, the common and basic factor for the methods is costs. The second factor that important in the pricing decision of iPhone 5C is product line and competitors. Strategy analysis is the company needs to consider about the Competitors as well as the whole industry, and then assess to firm’s plan. We can figure out that the competitions in the smartphone market are quite intense, there are numerous competitors and are almost equal size, such as Samsung, Microsoft. So, Apple Inc. has to investigate the cost leadership and the unique producers in order to make a competitive price in the smartphone market. The website take the example of Moto X, which has 18 kinds of colors and the functions are really similar to iPhone 5C (Darren, 2013). The price of Moto X is $599, so the manager should decide a lower price than it to gain a competitive advantage. In particular, the competition is not just from the external market, we know that Apple Inc. promoted iPhone 5C as well as iPhone 5S at the same time. To iPhone 5C, the manager needs to consider about the plastic case, which is $42 less than the metal case cost of iPhone5S (Ben, 2013). So manager should also compare the 5C’s price to 5S. It is an important thing to keep secret of the product’s price before they coming out. The manager of Apple Inc. can survey the expected price of the public, or conduct some historical sample tests before making the final price decision. The third factor that important in the pricing decision of iPhone 5C is the manager should estimate the demand. Assume that we are suffering a financial crisis, most people don’t have extra money to pay for new electronic devices. They have already owned iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S and do not want to pay for another similar product. Then the manager should decrease the price of iPhone 5C to fit for people’s expectation of low pricing, using the profit margin per unit to trade for higher quantities. As I mentioned above, the estimation of demand function is also important in the marginal analysis. In order to estimate the demand, the manager should also make market survey to analyze the targeted customers. According to Pew Internet’s report, Teens and Technology 2013, 37% of U.S. teenagers now own a smartphone (which compares to 23% in 2011). And the increases of U.S. wireless carriers’ family data plans, intensive the parents to buy smartphones for their kids (Jason, 2013). Because the iPhone5C is colorful, has proper functions and easy to control, it must a first-choice for kid’s cellphone. Aimed at attracting teenagers group, the Apple Inc. manager should make the price to a certain level. What’s more, we also have to consider whether buyers are sensitive to price. In economics, we call it price elasticity of demand, which means the percentage change in the numbers of units sod to the percentage change in the price of the product. Assume most people are price sensitive, if the price of iphone5C is much higher than they expected, they will not buy it, which decreases demand a lot. So, listen to the public opinions on price is quite important. Before iphone5C facing to the public, a lot of individuals forecast that the selling price should be low enough to satisfy the low-end customers needs. Somebody was kidding that iPhone 5C is iPhone for China or iPhone for cheap. Apple Inc. wants to occupy more market percentage in developing countries, so they advertised that to make a colorful low-end smartphone. However, the price of iPhone 5C is not as low as we expected. The data shows after releasing the iPhone for 72 hours, both in China, Australia, U.S., the sales of iPhone 5S is almost 4 times compare to iPhone 5C. Especially, the graph says in the â€Å"target† country China, where the 5s is outselling the 5c five to one (Christopher, 2013). So I think the price of iPhone 5C is not reasonable. There are several reasons to explain iPhone 5C price is not appropriate. Firstly, compare to iPhone 5S, people claim 5C just looks an iPhone 5 with a candy-colored plastic shell. According to a report published by UBS, the same memory for 16 Gigabyte iPhone, 5S costs $213 in materials, whereas a 5C costs $156IPhone 5S has metal shell, Touch ID fingerprint scanner, more advanced A7 chipset, Motion Coprocessor and True tone flash for camera. The different price due to plastic case of $42 and finger print sensor of $7. However, the price of iPhone 5C is only $100 less than iPhone 5S. The UBS also estimates the gross margins of iPhone 5S is 45-55% and for iPhone 5S is 48-54% (Ben, 2013). As a rational consumer, I will buy iPhone 5S instead of iPhone 5C, since 5S has much more functions, which is not at a so much higher price. Secondly, the factors of competitor also have huge effects. Samsung is the key part for apple to make its â€Å"retina display† screen, as well as apple use Sony’s sensor in its camera. We know that Samsung and Sony are competitors. Apple Inc. is hiring, relying and paying them. But if someday, Samsung or Sony stop providing essential parts to apple, what will happen? I think Apple Inc. has to produce all manufacturing parts by themselves under a big amount of fixed cost, which will have a big effect on Apple’s price decision. Thirdly, the price of iPhone 5C is not as low as rumored. It brings the question to us, who exactly is Apple targeting? We know that Samsung has galaxy series, which with large-screen and liked by fashion people and developing markets. In china, there are a lot of really cheap phones under 1000RMB, those phones have varieties function and beautiful looking. So when Apple Inc. can really open the market to low-end customers? The price decision and targeting customer is not clear and accurate. I am kind of thinking there must be some sailing strategy when apple promoted 5C and 5S at the same time, with a huge cost performance in my opinion. Maybe Apple Inc. just wants to stimulate the sales of 5S, after people comparing these two products.

Canadian Blood Services IMC Essay Example for Free

Canadian Blood Services IMC Essay â€Å"Oscar Wilde once said that youth is wasted on the young. But investing in the future, the leaders of tomorrow, is more than just good business sense – it’s a necessity for survival and success† – Dr. Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services (Pulse Magazine, 2012). Canadian Blood Services is a not-for-profit organization that operates across Canada, excluding Quebec. The objective of Canadian Blood Services is to encourage and receive blood donations through safe and secure methods to help Canadians who need blood transfusions (Canadian Blood Services, 2013). There is an increasing need for blood and blood donations across Canada. Of the current Canadian population, â€Å"the baby boomer generation remains the most loyal in terms of donating blood, while younger generations are significantly less likely to donate on a frequent basis† (Renwick-Shields, 2013). As the baby boomers age, Canadian Blood Services must find new ways to reach the younger generations, including the fastest growing segment, the Millennials. How can Canadian Blood Services increase the number of BC Millennial whole blood donors by 20,000 by March 31, 2015? The target number of donors is based on the previous years’ statistics of Millennial donations (age 17-34), according the Canadian Blood Services data provided (Bird, 2014a). The target number is a percentage of half the total Millennial population of BC in 2012, as typically only half the population is eligible to donate (Renwick-Shields, 2013). The problem statement is specific to BC as a test market. The timeline is based on Canadian Blood Services’ fiscal year, beginning April 1, 2014 and ending March 31, 2015. According to Canadian Blood Services, on average, every 60 seconds, someone in Canada requires blood or a blood product (2013). The demand for blood is not subsiding, increasing at a steady rate of 2% per year (Canadian Blood Services, 2013). To be an eligible donor, volunteers must meet many stringent requirements, including a minimum age of 17, sufficient levels of iron and hemoglobin in blood, and disclosure of health and travel history. Canadian Blood Services IMC. (2016, May 01).

Effective Leadership Practices Project Research Paper

Effective Leadership Practices Project - Research Paper Example Martin Luther King Jr. remained much focused upon maintaining equality in the society or any business or operational environment. As per the viewpoint of the leaders, every individual need to be persistent towards accomplishing its predetermined goals and has to work under any circumstance. It has been apparently observed that every follower of Martin Luther King Jr. used to trust him for his immense concentration about the aforesaid important aspects. The followers knew that their leader will be succeeding to stop the significant concern of segregation and discrimination by a considerable level. Thus, it can be stated because of his trustworthy and other qualities, the leader became quite successful to win the hearts of many followers (Carson, 1987). Provide a Background, Including the Context of the Leader's Environment and the Culture of the Organization and Society In the context of leader’s environment and the culture of the organization and the society, Martin Luther Kin g Jr. created a history by making deliberate efforts towards abolishing the significant concern of racial segregation along with racial discrimination. Major intellectual, political, cultural and developments of the 20th century was greatly influenced and reflected by the leadership qualities which possessed by Martin Luther King Jr. ... Research and Education Institute, n.d.). What Is Your Chosen Leader's Definition Of Leadership? As per the definition of leadership which stated by the Martin Luther King Jr., it can be revealed that through the conduct of appropriate leadership qualities, a leader can influence its followers at large. According to the chosen leader i.e. Martin Luther King Jr., leadership was defined as the practice of developing as well as preserving the capacity of the procedures influencing the society (Carson, 1987). How Does Your Chosen Leader Demonstrate The Five Practices Of Exemplary Leadership? The famous speech of Martin Luther King Jr. i.e. â€Å"I have a dream† genuinely touches the hearts of millions of its followers. The leader revealed that any goal can be achieved by performing hard work, persistence, bravery and trustworthiness (Carson, 1987). In this way, the leader demonstrated the five practices of exemplary leadership. How Does Your Chosen Leader Model The Way? In the peri od of mid 1990, Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the strongest leaders of America who used to follow top down and compassionate leadership style that helped him to change the civil rights of the nation at large. In this similar concern, the leader modeled the way by instigating a shared visualization, encouraging individuals, challenging an operational process and facilitating other persons to work (Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, n.d.). How Does Your Chosen Leader Inspire A Shared Vision? Enabling a share vision actually denotes that an individual envisions future by imagining, determining existing possibilities and enabling others to achieve a common objective. In this regard, the leader followed the non violent strategy