The Function of the Federal Reserve System in the US Economy

The Function of the Federal Reserve System in the US Economy When countries issue currency, especially fiat currency that is not specifically backed by any commodity, it is necessary to have a central bank whose job it is to monitor and regulate the supply, distribution, and transacting of currency. In the United States, the central bank is called the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve currently consists of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., and twelve regional Federal Reserve banks located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Francisco, and St. Louis. Created in 1913, the history of the Federal Reserve represents the federal government’s   ongoing effort to achieve the goals of any central banking system - ensure a secure American financial system by maintaining a stable currency backed by the benefits of high employment and minimal inflation.   Brief History of the Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act. In crafting the landmark legislation, Congress was responding to a series of economic panics, bank failures, and credit scarcity that had plagued the nation for decades. When President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law on December 23, 1913, it stood as a classic example of an all-too-rare politically bipartisan compromise balancing the need for a consistently regulated centralized national banking system with the competing interests of established private banks backed by a strong â€Å"will of the people† populist sentiment. Over the more than 100 years since its creation, responding to economic disasters, such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Great Recession during the 2000s, have required the Federal Reserve to expand its roles and responsibilities. The Federal Reserve and the Great Depression As U.S. Representative Carter Glass had warned, years of speculative investments led to the disastrous â€Å"Black Thursday† stock market crash of October 29, 1929. By 1933, the resulting Great Depression had resulted in the failure of nearly 10,000 banks, leading newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare a banking holiday. Many people blamed the crash on the Federal Reserve’s failure to stop the speculative lending practices quickly enough and for its lack of an in-depth understanding of monetary economics necessary to implement regulations that might have lessened the devastating poverty resulting from the Great Depression.  Ã‚   In response to the Great Depression, Congress passed the Banking Act of 1933, better known as the Glass-Steagall Act. The Act separated commercial from investment banking and required collateral in the form of government securities for Federal Reserve notes. In addition, Glass-Steagall required the Federal Reserve to examine and certify all banking and financial holding companies. In a final financial reform, President Roosevelt effectively ended the long-standing practice of backing U.S. currency by physical precious metals by recalling all gold and paper silver certificates, effectively ending the gold standard. Over the years since the Great Depression, the duties of the Federal Reserve expanded significantly. Today, its responsibilities include supervising and regulating banks, maintaining the stability of the financial system and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions. How Does the Federal Reserve System Work? The Federal Reserve system is overseen by a seven-member board of governors, with one member of this committee chosen as the chairman (commonly known as the Chairman of the Fed). The president of the United States is responsible for appointing Fed chairmen to four-year terms (with confirmation from the Senate), and the current Fed chair is Janet Yellen. (The regular members of the board of governors serve fourteen-year terms.) The presidents of the regional banks are appointed by each individual branchs board of directors. The Federal Reserve system serves a number of functions, which generally fall into a couple of categories: first, it is the Feds job to ensure that the banking system stays responsible and solvent. While this does sometimes mean that the Fed has to work with the three branches of government to think about explicit legislation and regulation, it more often means that the Fed works in a transactional sense to clear checks and to act as a lender to banks that want to borrow money themselves. (The Fed does this mainly to keep the system stable and is referred to as the lender of last resort, since the process is not really encouraged.) The other function of the Federal Reserve system is to control the money supply. The Federal Reserve can control the amount of money (highly liquid assets such as currency and checking deposits) in a number of ways. The most common way is to increase and decrease the amount of money in the economy via open-market operations. Open-Market Operations Open-market operations simply refer to the process of the Federal Reserve buying and selling U.S. government bonds. When the Federal Reserve wants to increase the money supply, it simply purchases government bonds from the public. This works to increase the money supply because, as the buyer of the bonds, the Federal Reserve is giving out dollars to the public. The Federal Reserve also keeps government bonds in its portfolio and sells them when it wants to decrease the money supply. Selling decreases the money supply because the buyers of the bonds give currency to the Federal Reserve, which takes that cash out of the hands of the public. There are two important things to note about open-market operations: first, the Fed itself isnt directly responsible for printing money. Printing money is handled by the Treasury, and there are multiple channels by which the money gets into circulation. (Sometimes, for example, the new money just replaces worn-out currency.) Second, the Federal Reserve doesnt actually create or issue the government bonds, it just handles them in secondary markets. (Technically, open-market operations could be conducted with a number of different assets, but it makes sense for the government to manipulate the supply and demand of an asset that was issued by the government itself.) Other Monetary Policy Tools Although not used nearly as frequently as open-market operations, there are other tools that the Federal Reserve can use to change the amount of money in the economy. One option is to change the reserve requirement for banks. Banks create money in an economy when they loan out customers deposits (since both the deposit and the loan count as money), and the reserve requirement is the percentage of deposits that banks have to keep on hand rather than lending out. An increase in the reserve requirement, therefore, restricts the amount that banks can lend out and thus reduces the money supply. Conversely, a decrease in the reserve requirement increases the number of loans that banks can make and increases the money supply. (This, of course, assumes that banks want to lend more when they are allowed to do so.) The Federal Reserve can also change the money supply by changing the interest rate that it charges banks when it acts as the lender of last resort. The process by which banks borrow from the Federal Reserve is called the discount window, and the interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges is called the discount rate. When the discount rate is increased, it is more expensive for banks to borrow in order to cover their reserve requirements. Therefore, a higher discount rate causes banks to be more careful about reserves and make fewer loans, which reduces the money supply. On the other hand, lowering the discount rate makes it cheaper for banks to rely on borrowing from the Federal Reserve and increases the number of loans they are willing to make, thus increasing the money supply. Decisions regarding monetary policy are handled by the Federal Open Market Committee, which meets approximately every six weeks in Washington in order to discuss changing the money supply and other economic issues. Updated by Robert Longley

How to Distill Ethanol or Grain Alcohol

How to Distill Ethanol or Grain Alcohol Ethanol is also called ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol. Its made from a fermented mixture of corn, yeast, sugar, and water. The resulting alcohol is 100 to 200 proof (200 proof is pure alcohol). In addition to use in the lab, ethanol is a popular fuel alternative and gasoline additive. Because it is flammable, ethanol can be prohibitively expensive to ship, so it may make sense to distill your own. Anyone can have a still, but be advised you may need to get a permit in order to make ethanol. Difficulty: Easy Time Required: 3 - 10 days, sometimes longer How-To Steps If you are starting with whole corn, you first need to convert the cornstarch into sugar by sprouting the corn. Place the corn in a container, cover it with warm water, and drape a cloth over the container to prevent contamination and conserve heat. Ideally, the container will have a slowly draining hole at the bottom. Add warm water from time to time as the liquid level falls. Maintain the setup ~3 days or until the corn has sprouts about 2 inches long.Allow the sprouted corn to dry. Then grind it into meal. Alternatively, start with cornmeal. Other grains can be prepared in much the same way (e.g. rye mash).Mash or mush is made by adding boiling water to the corn meal. The mash is kept warm to start the fermentation process. Yeast is added, if available (half pound yeast per 50 gallons of mash, for example), and sugar (variable recipe). With yeast, fermentation takes about 3 days. Without yeast, fermentation could require more than 10 days. The mash is ready to run once it stops bu bbling. The mash has been converted into carbonic acid and alcohol. It is called wash or beer or sour mash. The wash is placed into a cooker, which has a lid that is pasted shut so that it has a seal which can be blown off should internal pressure become too great. At the top of the cooker, there is a copper pipe or arm that projects to one side and tapers down from a 4-5 inch diameter to the same diameter as the worm (1 to 1-1/4 inch). The worm could be made by taking a 20 ft length of copper tubing, filling it with sand and stopping the ends, and then coiling it around a fence post.The sand prevents the tubing from kinking while being coiled. Once the worm is formed, the sand is flushed out of the tube. The worm is placed in a barrel and sealed to the end of the arm. The barrel is kept full of cold, running water, to condense the alcohol. Water runs in the top of the barrel and out an opening at the bottom. A fire is maintained under the cooker to vaporize the alcohol in the wash.The ethanol vaporizes at 173Â °F, which is the target temperature for the mixture. The spirit will rise to t he top of the cooker, enter the arm, and will be cooled to the condensation point in the worm. The resulting liquid is collected at the end of the worm, traditionally into glass jars. This fluid will be translucent, and about the color of dark beer. The very first liquid contains volatile oil contaminants in addition to alcohol. After that, liquid is collected. The containers of liquid collected from over the wash are called singlings. Liquid collected toward the end of this run is called low wine. Low wine can be collected and returned to the still to be cooked again. The initial collections are higher proof than those collected as the distillation progresses.The singlings tend to have impurities and require double-distillation, so once the low wine has been run to the point where a tablespoon or so thrown on a flame wont burn (too low proof), the heat is removed from the still and the cooker is cleaned out. The liquid remaining in the still, the backings or slop, can be recovered and poured over new grain (and sugar, water, and possibly malt) in a mash barrel for future distillations. Discard mash after no more than eight uses.The singlings are poured into the cooker and the still is returned to operation. The initial collecti ons can approach pure alcohol (200 proof), with the end collections, using the flash test on the flame, at about 10 proof. The desired proof depends on the application. The highest proof usually obtained from a still is 190 proof. For using alcohol as a fuel alternative, for example, addition purification with a sieve may be required to obtain 200 proof ethanol. Tips If you live in the United States, a permit may be required in order to legally distill ethanol.Stills traditionally were operated close to a water source, like a stream or river, because the cool water was used to condense the alcohol in the tubing (called the worm)Stills needed to have removable tops so that they wouldnt explode when pressure built up from heating the mash. What You Need 25 lb corn meal or 25 lb shelled whole corn100 lb sugar (sucrose)100 gallons water6 oz yeast

In terms of child protection critically examine the policy Essay

In terms of child protection critically examine the policy developments that have been introduced to facilitate collaboration of - Essay Example 2006, p.67). On the other hand, Mattessich and Monsey defined collaboration as ‘a mutually beneficial and well-designed relationship entered into by two or more individuals or organizations to achieve common goals’ (Mattessich and Monsey, in Raspa et al. 2000, p.23). Moreover, Hamric et al. (2005) explained that collaboration is ‘a dynamic process which focuses on the sharing of goals, values and commitment’ (Hamric et al. 2005, p.91), while Haussler (2006) highlights the voluntary character of collaboration as an activity developed in the context of social relationships or of commercial partnerships. Current paper is based on collaboration as defined by Hamric et al. (2005) – which emphasizes on the necessity of shared values and commitment – for explaining and evaluating the child protection initiatives in England and Wales, especially regarding the level at which these initiatives have managed to facilitate the collaboration among relevant b odies in England and Wales. 2. ... tive text on which the protection of children in UK is based is the Children and Young Persons Act 1933; the above law is used jointly with the main law on child protection in England and Wales, the Children Act 1989 – as updated through the Children Act 2004. The above law establishes the principle of the parental responsibility (section 3) for the protection of the child but also the right of the Court to intervene and make an Order – if necessary – for ensuring the protection of the child (section 1). Moreover, the power of local authorities to intervene and take measures for the protection of the child is clearly defined (section 47, NSPCC, 2011). In Children Act 2004 (section 10) ‘a duty has been set for agencies to cooperate in order to improve the well being of children’ (Children Act 2004, Surrey community). The above legislative text is followed by two guidance texts (published in 1991), which establish the cooperation among the agencies for increasing the protection provided to children; furthermore, guidelines are given for assessing the needs of children within their families; the first of the above guidelines, under the title ‘Working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children’ (DCSF 2010 in NSPCC fact sheet, 2010, p.2), is of key importance, setting the framework of the collaboration among agencies operating in the particular sector. Other legislative texts have been published, after the Children Act 2004, aiming to address specific needs of children: for example, the Children and Adoption Act 2006, the Children and Young Persons Act 2008, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (NSPCC fact sheet, 2010, p.5-7). The key agencies

RESEARCH ARTICLE SUMMARY Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

RESEARCH ARTICLE SUMMARY - Assignment Example Each of these professionals worked with children in their homes. Each child had been diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Delays or Autism. The materials used during the study were written pamphlets and any manipulative materials such as flash cards, toys and treats necessary for the Discrete Trial Teaching instruction. The independent variable was the discrete trial teaching instruction delivered to each of the paraprofessionals. The dependant variable was the percentage of accuracy each paraprofessional displayed in correctly implementing the discrete trial instruction in a home setting. The procedure for this study involved training the paraprofessionals in a classroom setting until they were 100% accurate in delivering correct discrete trial teaching. They were then monitored over the space of several months to see how accurately they could generalize the skills to the children they worked with in their homes. Multiple observers were used as a part of this procedure, as was typ ical, non-specific supervision by agency supervisors. After arriving at 100% accuracy in the classroom setting, all three paraprofessionals showed very low accuracy scores at the beginning of the home sessions. Initially, they scored at 50%, 54% and 63% accuracy. After typical supervisory interventions over the next 1-3 weeks, all of the participants were operating above 95% accuracy. All participants were approaching 100% accuracy by the end of the study. The results suggest that training paraprofessionals in discrete trial teaching is an effective way to instruct children with Autism and Pervasive Developmental Delays in the home setting. The high percentages suggest that the paraprofessionals were able to generalize the classroom instruction to the home base instruction they are expected to deliver to their clients. This ability to generalize is important because paraprofessionals typically work with multiple clients in multiple settings throughout the

Story of an Hour Essay Example for Free

Story of an Hour Essay In A Story of an Hour, Mr. Bentley Mallard was a controling figure that completely dominated his marriage with his wife Mrs. Louise Mallard. Through out the story Mrs. Mallard longed for some sort of freedom. She could never have that freedom because from a young early age she was empowered by her parents and when she became of age she married and her husband became in charge. You see freedom is something that we all crave, whether it be something insignificant or something earth shattering we all have the will and desire to do whatever we please no matter how silly it is we long to do things with out judgment or with out someone telling you what to do and how to do it. From the time that I was born, to the time that I reached about 14 years old there was an invisible barrier that developed called â€Å"The Sacred Places† in life. This â€Å"Sacred Place† separated me from the outside world. As a kid I was always told to stay inside unless I went outside with a parent or some sort of guardian watching over me. The  reason behind this was not to keep us from all of the fun things that are outside of the four walls of my house, but it was to keep me safe and secure from harm. However if I did happen to go outside with out any sort of supervision I were punished with a spank or a stern voice informing me to never do that again or else I would be in bigger trouble. In A Story of an Hour, Louise Mallard was trapped in her home and was not aloud to go outside under any circumstance. Mr. Mallard didn’t let her go out because in those days women were treated as property and not as actual people with rights. When I was a little bit younger I thought that I knew everything and that I was my own person that had nobody to tell me what to do, and although I thought I knew it all until I reached the age of 18 I had to realized that I was my parents property and I had to submit to there authority. No matter what I did or what I said to them to try to convince them to let me do something that I wanted to do they would always stay true to there decision  even it made me upset and frustrated with my parents. In the Story of an Hour, Mr. Mallard (the husband) was the head of the house; this meant that the house and everything in it was his including that people that lived in it. Being that Mrs. Mallard was his wife, he too owned her. Unlike me, Mrs. Mallard was contempt; she knew her role and her place in society and with out a word she obeyed she was used to this because this is how she was raised her whole life, she never questioned any authority. During this era married women and children were not aloud outside unless there were special circumstances such as a wedding or funeral, etc. This somewhat resembled my family  because as I said before if I was being supervised by someone that was older than me and responsible (special circumstance) I was aloud outside to play in the yard. However I was aloud to go out when there wasn’t a funeral or wedding. When it comes down to it I believe that every single person wants freedom, I remember as a young kid looking out of windows everywhere I went. I would always look out and imagine what certain things looked like. For instance when I would drive on the freeway going towards Phoenix I would always pass the downtown area of Tucson and I would see big buildings towering over the city and I always wondered who lived there, what type of foods were over there, and many more different things like that. I think what fascinates all of us is being able to understand and know the unknown. What’s behind the curtain? What’s behind the wall? What’s behind door number three? Those are questions we all ask. Throughout A Story of an Hour I honestly wasn’t captured by the story until Mrs. Mallard was lying on her deathbed. They story says that â€Å"she looked out the window†. To me when the author says this I believe that she is yearning for the outside world and thinking about all of the things she could have done. 1 can only imagine what is going through her mind at this point because when I was 13 I would long to do something I wasn’t aloud to do and was always so consumed by the fact that I would have to stay behind and do whatever my parents did, but Mrs. Mallard on the other  hand is on her Deathbed and has no control of  what she can do anymore. Mrs. Mallard hasn’t done any of the things that she truly wanted to do in life and is forced to watch the world go by while she is helplessly on her deathbed. Has there ever been a time in your life where you wanted something so bad for so long but never actually got it, but on the day you finally got it suddenly lost interest in the object. Well that’s how I was. From the age of 14 I wanted to drive and do my own thing. I literally counted down the days that I would be able to drive. The day finally came when I could drive and I was so excited and for the next few months I was on cloud nine. However as time went on I found my self strongly disliking the chore of driving, and I would be always asked to drive at night when I was tired so my dad could sleep, or my parents would ask me to go to the store for them at 11pm. The things that I didn’t think about, came back to haunt me. Another example would be when I would ask for the new game system that had just came out and after a few months it would be stuck behind the closet collecting dust because I was bored of it. Mrs. Mallard never had that freedom; she never had a choice or anything like that so it was something that she couldn’t have that made her want to be her own person. At the end of the story she was told that her husband had died, she became so excited that her heart began to beat at an extremely fast rate. Freedom and independence were something that she longed for, for such a long time and she finally had it. When Mr. Mallard walked into the room her heart and mind filled with so many emotions, she didn’t know what to do and how to do it so she was completely shocked. According to the doctors she died of joy. She thought that she had finally been freed from the life she was living but when she saw her husband things change. I believe that we all long to be our own person with no direction, but I believe that over time we  grow accustomed to the things we are comfortable with even if we don’t like what we are doing.

Analysis of Shakespeares The Tempest - Caliban and Trinculo :: Shakespeare The Tempest

Psychoanalytic Analysis of Caliban and Trinculo of The Tempest  Ã‚  Ã‚   From a psychoanalytic perspective, both Caliban and Trinculo of Shakespeare’s The Tempest are interesting characters. Caliban is very sexual and bitter, while Trinculo is at odds with everything: his situation of being washed ashore and wrongly accused of saying things when he did not utter a word, as well as Caliban’s worship of an unkingly man, his drunken friend Stephano. Caliban has obviously not had all of his desires trained to stay within him, despite Prospero’s punishments and Miranda’s schooling. Trinculo, on the other hand, wastes his emotions in a bottle of liquor and knows better than Caliban who is and is not fit to worship. Caliban is rude, crude, ugly and lazy. Speaking in a psychoanalytic manner, Caliban is going to be remembered as bitter and obsessed with sex. This sexual desire is going to be coincided first with thoughts of his mutation-- a feeling of inadequacy-- and then more significantly with the absence of his mother. That he had no parents on which to form an Oedipal complex and knows only who his mother was (nothing is mentioned of his father) makes for interesting observations on how he deals with sexuality. We learn that he does not deny that Prospero is the only barrier between him and the rape of Miranda. It is clear that he has developed only so far as Freud’s theory of id, with small touches of the superego. Caliban’s development of the superego is evident only when he does not wish to receive Prospero’s pinches and cramps. He is otherwise all for anything that will bring him pleasure. Being free of Prospero, fulfilling his sexual desires with Miranda and drinking liquor are all on his menu. Trinculo is unable to forget, as the butler Stephano does, all of his woes into the bottom of a bottle. He is upset by the way that Stephano allows himself to be carried away by the worship and praise of Caliban. He is also dismayed in the unjust treatment Stephano dispenses on Caliban’s behalf as Ariel plays Puckish tricks. Clearly, there is no problem with this jester’s ego. He wants himself to be taken care of. He does not appreciate the way he is treated on the monster’s behalf, because he knows he has done no wrong. Later, Trinculo’s id takes over somewhat as he becomes more intoxicated and no longer has the will to let his ego control his id.

Education of the Henry Adams

â€Å"The Education of the Henry Adams† reviews Adams' and the United States's education and growth during the 19th century. Adams was an old man who had Puritan beliefs about sex and religion. In this autobiography, Adams voices his skepticism about man's newfound power to control the direction of history, in particular, the exploding world of science and technology, where all certainties of the future have vanished (anb.org, 1). Adams grew up in the United Stated where he was a Puritan. Puritans believed that sex (women especially) was just a form of fertility and reproduction; otherwise â€Å"sex was a sin† (Adams, 384). â€Å"American art, like the American language and American education, was as far as possible sexless† (Adams, 385). The only sculptures and paintings of women that Adams viewed with understanding were those like the Virgin Mary, who was always seen as non-sexual. For example, â€Å"America was ashamed of her†¦have strewn fig-leaves so profusely all over her† (Adams, 384). However, during this time of the technology revolution, women were beginning to be viewed differently, especially in Europe. Women were viewed as beautiful and mortal beings. People such as Rodin were representing women in paintings and sculptures sexually. Sex was becoming something more than just a means of reproduction. Suddenly Adams was far, far away from his Puritan custom-bound life. People were no longer motivated by religion, being saved by God, and going to heaven; science, technology, money, and power had taken over the drives of man. Religion (a common â€Å"scale† of the past) had taken the backseat to science, technology, money, power, and the new ideas and art of sex (all new â€Å"scales† of the present and the future). â€Å"In opposition to the medieval Virgin, Adams saw a new godhead-the dynamo-symbol of the modern history†s anarchic energies† (anova.org, 1). Adams desperately wanted to learn about the new world of technology, the â€Å"dynamos†, yet he felt helpless to find this new knowledge and to comprehend it. Adams was overwhelmed by the technology of the dynamos. When Adams saw the dynamo, it became a symbol of the future, of infinity (Adams, 380). â€Å"He began to feel the forty-foot dynamos as a moral force, much as early Christians felt the cross† (Adams, 380). Like the changes in art and sexuality, the technology was overtaking religion. The dynamo, to Adams, has become a symbol of the unknown, of the future without God and religion. This was Adams†s greatest uncertainty; going against all of his past and beliefs and moving on into the unpredictable future.

North Carolina as a colony

North Carolina is one of the thirteen colonies established by England around 1650. The  territory was called Carolina in honor of Charles the First.  Queen Elizabeth I of England granted Sir Walter Raleigh a charter for the establishment of a  settlement in North America. Sir Raleigh and the Queen planned to establish a colony to be able to  explore for treasures and to scout for a strategic location where they can raid loaded Spanish ships. Based on these reasons, an expedition was sent in 1584 to explore for a suitable location and also  bring samples of the nature’s bounty on the area. After the successful exploration, the group  returned to England. In 1585, the first group of colonists was organized and they arrived at the north  end of the Roanoke Island. Ralph Lane with seventy-five men was left in the island while Sir  Richard Grenville, leader of the expedition returned to England to get additional food supplies and  additional men. Friction with the natives occurred when the settlers attacked a village in response to  the stealing of a silver cup by the natives. By April 1586, relations with a neighboring tribe had  degraded to such a degree that they attacked an expedition led by Lane to explore the Roanoke River.1 There was still no sign of Grenville’s fleet and due to hardships encountered, the settlers  accepted the offer of Sir Francis Drake to return to England.  Ã‚  The second group was led by John White and they arrived in June 1587. White tried to  reestablish friendly relations with the neighboring natives. At first, the natives were hostile and  aloof. But gradually the English gained their confidence by offering glass beads and dolls as signs  of friendships (Hale 128). But the aggrieved tribes whom Ralph Lane attacked were still unfriendly  to the new colonists and shortly thereafter, one colonist was killed by these natives. Fearing for their  lives, White was elected to return to England to inform of their situation and ask for help.   Two  significant events occurred shortly after the colonists’ arrival: two â€Å"friendly† Indians were baptized  and a child was born. Virginia Dare, as the baby was named, became the first child bor n to English-  speaking parents in the new world.2 But White was delayed in coming back to the colony because  of the following reasons: the vessel was not in good condition to travel back home and in crossing  the Atlantic Ocean; the refusal of the captain to sail back to the colony during winter time and then  the war with the Spanish Armada was imminent   and all the able ships were tasked to fight. He was  able to return in the spring of 1590 and found only the remnants of what was once a settlement. There were no signs of life, only the word â€Å"CROATAN† carved on a nearby tree.3   The second  failure can be attributed by factors beyond the control of the settlers. Although Sir Raleigh was  given a charter to colonize, attention was focused on the war with Spain. Cole and Warren  concluded that, â€Å"because England was so completely involved in fighting the Spanish Armada in  1588, no supplies were sent, nor any communications maintained with the settlements†. (403) The  colonization might have been successful if the expedition was fully equipped with farm implements,  food supplies and able manpower who are trained to do hard work in cultivating the soil. They  should have establish friendly relations with the natives to preserve their lives as well as with the  natives’. The impact left by Ralph Lane and John White on the area was that they had spread Christianity and English language to the new world.   It is ironic that Stuart Monarch James I rather than the visionary Elizabeth succeeded in  finally planting the British flag on the American shores. (Garraty and Gay 663) In 1607, three  shiploads arrived at Jamestown sent out by the London Company of Virginia. Captain John Smith  imposed a semi-dictatorial attitude to his men to check their incompetence and lack of initiative. His  edict, â€Å"He who does not work shall not eat† (Cole and Warren 406) was effective that they soon  cultivated crops especially staple crops and tobacco. By 1610, more settlers arrived and by 1612,  there were exportation of tobacco to other places. Significant too were the introduction in 1619 of  representative government – important to the Englishmen who contemplated migration to the New  World – and the beginnings of Negro servitude – important despite its inhumanity, to the economic  future of North America.(Garraty and Gay 665) Reference List Cole, Fay-Cooper, and Harris Gaylord Warren. An Illustrated Outline of History of Mankind. Grolier Incorporated: New York, 1963. Garraty, John A., and Peter Gay. The Columbia History of the World. Harper and Row: New York, 1972. Hale, John R. Age of Exploration. Time-Life International: Nederland, 1974. â€Å"Historical Highlights of North Carolina †.The State Library of North Carolina. 3 April 2006. 14 Nov. 2006. â€Å"Roanoke Island†. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 14 Nov. 2006. 15 Nov. 2006.

The feud between East and West Coast Hip Hop Culture.

The feud between East and West Coast Hip Hop Culture. Hip-Hop's Greatest RivalryHip-hop is a term recognized by many, but understood by few. To mainstream audiences today, the term has become a synonym for rap music; however, hip-hop in actuality is a relatively new cultural movement that "began amongst urban (primarily, but not entirely, African American) youth in New York [City]" ("Hip-Hop"). Soon after the birth of hip-hop in the mid 1970s, the cultural movement quickly spread throughout the United States and today has come to be known to the entire world. Hip-hop is constantly changing and although it has mainly appealed to the youth, its audience is continually growing. Hip-hop culture has four elements - graffiti art, breakdancing, DJing, and MCing/rapping (Ayazi-Hashjin 6,7). A main cause of the birth of hip-hop was the civil rights movement in the United States.Black consciousness and pride swept the streets among African Americans, especially those living in cities after the start of the civil rights movement.English: Photo of the front of 1520 Sedgwick Avenu...Prior to the birth of hip-hop, the Black Panthers were a powerful group, and The Nation of Islam was beginning to organize. Black culture was becoming better known through outlets such as magazines and jazz. As Black Americans were identifying with each other more and more, many other closely-knit black communities were forming, especially in New York City. An important consequence of this was the formation of gang culture (Ogg 23). In the 70s, street gangs became very popular among the Black American youth. Gangs became a way of representing Black pride for many. Young Black Americans looked to join gangs because of the kinship they could form with others who lived in a similar lifestyle. As the number of gangs grew, however, gang rivalry intensified to violence. The Bronx area of New York City in 1970s was thought of to be one of the...

Online Options for German Lessons for Beginners

Online Options for German Lessons for Beginners The German language is much easier to learn than you might have heard. With the right course structure, a little discipline, and some online tools or apps, you can master your first steps into the German language quickly. Heres how to get started. Set Realistic Goals Make sure to set a solid goal like e.g. I want to reach German level B1 by the end of September with 90  minutes of daily work and also consider booking an exam about six to eight weeks before your deadline (if you stay on track, of course). For more about what to expect from German exams,  take a look at our exam  series: How to pass an A1-ExamHow to pass an A2-ExamHow to pass a B1-Exam If You Want to Focus on Writing If you need help with your writing,  Lang-8  offers a service where you can  copy and paste a text for the communityusually native speakersto edit. In return, you just need to correct another members text, which will not take you long. And its all free. For a small monthly fee your text will be featured more prominently and get corrected faster but if time doesnt matter to you, the free option is sufficient.   If You Want to Focus on Pronunciation and Speaking Looking for a conversational partner is the very best way to hone your speaking skills.  While you can try to find a tandem partner, with whom you could arrange a free language exchange, its often simpler to just pay someone for this job. Sites like  Italki  and  Verbling are places where you might find someone suitable and affordable. Those dont necessarily have to instruct you, although that might be helpful. Thirty minutes of practice a day is ideal, but any amount will improve your skills rapidly. Basic German Concepts and Vocabulary Below youll find a number of resources on this site that are suitable for beginners. Grà ¼ÃƒÅ¸e: Common greetingsDas ABC: The German AlphabetAll About the German  Personal PronounsHow to Tell if a German Word is Masculine, Feminine, or NeuterLearning the German Verbs Haben  (to have) and  Sein  (to be)German verbs in the present tenseCommon adjectives and colors How to Stay on Track and Get Motivated Programs like  Memrise  and  Duolingo  can help you stay on track and make your vocabulary learning as efficient as possible. With Memrise, while you could use one of the ready-made courses, I strongly recommend that you create your own course. Keep the levels manageable  with approximately 25 words each.  Tip: If you are better at setting goals than you are at following through (and who isnt?), try the motivational platform  stickk.com.

Corporate Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Corporate Strategy - Assignment Example While Alitalia, a two-third state-owned enterprise was beset with labour union problems and was almost teetering near bankruptcy with net losses of 519 mn in the close of 2003 (its auditors refusing to certify its results!) (Source:ICFAI), BA was also consistently making loss in the 1980's until an ambitious privatisation programe slowly changed its fortunes by the onset of the Gulf War. BA also suffered extreme negative publicity due to some failed campaigns against competitor Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, facing lawsuits worth 3 million (Soure:Wikipedia), not to mention trade union problems, strikes etc. which continue until this day. The scenario is far more encouraging today. British Airways despite some steady hurdles like high oil prices, and a strong pound, have maintained profits since privatisation and quite consistently, since 2002. Its net profit for March 2006 stands at 529 mn (Source:Hemscott). With the relentless pursuit on upgrade of fleet and service management, the loss-making Giant has transformed into a lean, mean machine. As for Alitalia, losses are down at 200 mn in 2006 amid continued shutdown fears. (Airwise) Turnaround roadmap Organisationally, both airlines have changed for the better. While the British Airways is a newly-revived private major, Alitalia also has reduced government stake from two-thirds to about 49% (Airwise). Over 23,000 jobs were slashed in the 1980's during BA's get lean mission (Wikipedia). As for Alitalia, its decision in Sept 2004 to cut down over 5000 jobs brought it to a standstill due to a more hostile labour union, although the management announced March 2006 that its cost-cutting measures were 80% over. Alitalia, in 2001 became member of Europe's conglomerate Sky Team Alliance, as is eventually bracing for a merger with Air France and KLM (wikipedia). BA has reinvented itself around localising itself in the Asian market, by launching in 1995 a subsidiary called British Asia Airways in Taiwan replacing its traditional Union tailfin for a Chinese character emblem. BA also launched a low-cost airline called Go in 1998, and is thus better prepared, organisationally, to lead itself into the future (wikipedia). Most corporate strategies swiftly achieve results after what is known as situation and SWOT analysis, and brainstorming for a solution. BA started conducting "scenario workshops" in Feb 1994 (Moyer, K). The task at hand was to capture current scenario so that future strategy could be planned. Over 40 interviews were conducted with senior managers, and then with academics, engineers and aircraft manufacturers on a host of topics from IT and air transport regulations. All this culminated into developing teams writing the "official future" of the airline. Simultaneously, data on passenger traffic, economic growth and aircraft

The Diamonds (authorJ. Sorie Conteh) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Diamonds (authorJ. Sorie Conteh) - Essay Example Conteh first indicated the cabinet in which de Seve had kept the money and then proceeded to trace the thief back to the servants' quarters and to his very bed even indicating the side of it on which he had usually slept, information corroborated by his former bedmate. (Conteh, 33-90) The Divinity of the lieutenant-general devised another test of Conteh's abilities. Calling him into her drawing room, she asked Conteh to determine who had stolen money from a certain Diviner, one of the witnesses present. It was a trick question, however: she had taken the money herself. Conteh searched the room and announced that he did not believe a theft had occurred. She asked him to look again and he gave the same response as before but added, apparently rather coldly, that if there had been a theft it had been committed as a joke and in an innocent manner; his talent, he claimed, worked only when he tracked real criminals. (Conteh, 33-90) We can picture a long, solid line of matter from the object to the eye, an instrument designed specifically to filter such information. This sort of explanation can also be utilized to show how heat can be transferred, for example, from a candle flame to a hand.