Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Life of Pi Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Life of Pi - Research Paper Example Life of Pi is a 2012 American -Indian- British live action and computer-animated adventure drama film based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel of the same name. Ang Lee directs the film. Life of Pi did succeed in depicting the story of a young Indian man who survives the tragic shipwreck but later entered a 227 days journey on the Pacific Ocean with a ferocious Belgian tiger. Besides the troubles and tribulation, the film also depicts meaningful lessons on the religious aspects. Pi Patel whose role was played by Gautam Belur at five, Ayush at twelve, Suraj Sharma at 16 and Irran Khan at middle age had to move together with his family to Canada on a Japanese cargo ship. Unfortunately, the ship in which they were travelling in is struck by a deadly storm and only some people survive. However, an unexpected incident happens, separating Pi from the group. Pi is left alone in the boat together with his family’s zoo animals, including in the zoo animals is a ferocious tiger named Ri chard parker. In order to survive Pi has to find ways to deal with the unexpected and dangerous company. (John, 186). Throughout the 127 minutes of the film, the audience would be fascinated with pi thoughts and actions through the transformations, the beliefs he holds as well as his solutions for the fearsome, aggressive company- Richard Parker. From a somehow weak, flaccid person, Pi is seen letting parker take over the lifeboat, but Pi gradually becomes stronger and tries to gain dominance of the situation that he is in now. Finally, Pi achieves the control and sustains a neutral relationship with the Belgian tiger. This is not only a fight for survival but also a metaphor, which implies the battle for good and evil. The film Pi tries to make the reader want to believe in God, the film give then reader the democratic choice that is the desired to believe rather than the belief itself. The two survive for 272 days at sea with one stop on an island overflowing with vegetation and m eerkats. In the evenings when the tide rises on the island, it contains a deadly acidic level and kills anything in the tide pool or the now flooded ground. Therefore, everyone seeks shelter on top of the trees at night. After gathering food from the island, Pi and the tiger get back to the lifeboat and head back in the sea (Susan, 23). By analyzing the conflicts, characters, dream sequence, and symbols a psychoanalytic theory emerges. There are strong Oedipal connotations in this theory, the son’s desire for his mother, the father’s envy of the son and rivalry for the mothers attention, the daughters desire for the father’s attention. Of cource these all operate on a subconscious level of the characters of the film, this is to avoid the serious social more. There is also an emphasis on the meaning of dreams. This is because psychoanalytic theory asserts that it is in dreams that a person’s subconscious desires are revealed. What a person cannot express o r do because of social rules will be expressed and accomplished in dreams, where there are no social rules. Most of the time, people are not even aware that it is they secretly desire until their subconscious goes unchecked in sleep. Life of Pi might not make you believe in god, as a character in the film suggests. It does however; make you

Monday, October 28, 2019

A day in the life of a bike warehouse worker Essay Example for Free

A day in the life of a bike warehouse worker Essay It was six oclock and for the first time in about two years I woke up before my alarm went off. My curtains were not pulled right together so a stream of light was shining on my face. I sat up in bed and looked on my calendar to see what day it was; it was Monday, the first day of my work experience. I got myself out of bed and headed for the shower. The house was so still, every little sound I made seemed to be ten times loader than what it actually was. Like every other morning I had a wash and got changed then crept down stairs to the kitchen. I took a quick glance at the big clock on the wall but the batteries which were destined to run out had finally run flat. I had to find my phone, which Im constantly forgetting where I put, to know the time. I had put it by the cookery books so that I would see it and not panic like every other morning. It was six forty-five which left me fifteen minutes to grab some breakfast before leaving to do my normal everyday paper round. I took a look in the cupboard to find there was nothing worth having, probably a shopping day knowing my luck. I skipped breakfast and jumped on my bike and headed for the local paper shop. I knew that I had to be at the bike shop for my work experience at about nine oclock so I figured that I had to hurry up on doing my paper round. When I got the the shop, the shop owner, Paul, was waiting at the door with some bad news. The shop has two paper rounds one which I do and another which my friend David did. He gave me the good news that David had quit with no warning. Usually I would be excited about this because if I did both the paper rounds I would be paid double but the only downfall was I wasnt sure if I had enough time to do both the paper rounds. Anyway I put all the papers in the bag and did the most strenuous exercise I had done in a long time. It paid off though as that morning I witnessed the most beautiful sun rise. I finally got home, tired out and surprisingly quite cold. Looking at the clock on my mobile phone I had realised that I had been out delivering papers for one and a half hours, allowing me just thirty minutes to get ready and get the the other side of town. I quickly got changed into some suitable clothes and then made my way towards the town. On the way to the town I kept asking myself questions, what will I have to do? Will I be able to do the things which tom did last week? I wonder what the staff will be like? I managed to get myself really nervous about the whole idea of working with people I dont know and if I was really up for the job. I arrived at the shop ten minutes early so that I could introduce myself and get to know the staff a little bit. The main person in charge, Luke, set me off to do my first task which he said was the most important task off all. I was expecting to hear something to do with the bikes but instead he said I dont suppose you can run up to Aldays and grab use a pint of semi skimmed milk. It was when he told me to get the milk when I realised they were going to take advantage of me and make me do all the things which they didnt want to. Anyway, I was there to experience work and if thats what higher ranked staff do, and then thats what I was there to experience. When I came back to the shop with the milk Luke told me to follow him to the kitchen. The kitchen was a small, dirty and smelly room which was mainly used to store bike parts. The only thing that made it a kitchen was the fact that it had a small, filthy sink, a kettle and a bag of tea bags which my best mate Tom had brought in the previous week. In the kitchen were a number of large boxes which contained bikes. Luke pulled one into the middle of the room and asked me to build it in the kitchen whilst he went back to the till to repair some other bikes. This was the part I was dreading most of all, I had never built a bike from flat pack before and there I was expected to know how it all goes together. I opened the box and took a peep inside. The only way of describing what the bike looked like then was simply a box of bits. I took out everything and placed them in an orderly fashion across the floor. I was expecting to find a small booklet or leaflet with instructions on how to build the bike but there wasnt any. I didnt want the staff to know that I came to the bike shop not knowing how to build a bike so I decided to have a go at making it how I thought it went. The first main problem I came across was the packaging. Everything was really well packaged and taped up and all I had to remove it with was a small pair of very blunt scissors. I took a look at the parts in front of me and got cracking with making the bike. Most of the building was pure common sense but there were a few occasions where I had to take apart previous parts so that I could correct myself in places. Once I had finished making the bike I had to adjust the brakes and make sure that everything was in good order. There were lots of bare cable ends which I had to cover but unfortunately I caught the end of my finger on one of the thin cable ends leaving me in agony. I stood up, took a step back and looked at what I had done. I had made my first ever bike from scratch and I must admit, I thought I had done a very good job of it. I went out to find one of the staff members so that they could see if I had done everything ok. A young worker there called Steve came into the kitchen to check over the bike. I was biting my nails and gritting my teeth, hoping that I had done the job correctly. He was being very precise looking at every adjustment and checking that every screw was tight. He stopped what he was doing, leant the bike against the wall and said Well done, you can carry on with the rest of the bikes in the store room. I was so over the moon. I had taught myself a new skill which in the future could help me out. Now that my confidence was a lot better, I found I could make the bikes a lot quicker. I made a further three bikes each a bit different before Luke came into the room and told me that I deserved a lunch break. I took advantage of my break by jogging home and getting myself some lunch. When I came back to the shop I wanted to get straight back into it but there were other jobs that needed to be done. During my break a small lorry fully of ready and unready made bikes had arrived at the shop. With help from John, another employee of the shop, I removed all the bikes and boxes from the lorry to one of two cellars. Once the bikes were all down in the cellar I had the job of sorting them all out into different groups. I didnt really enjoy this much as the cellar was a dark, gloomy room with a not to pleasant smell in the air. I was happy to get out of there once I had finished sorting the bikes out. There was enough time to make a couple more bikes so I was sent back to the kitchen with my tools to make some more bikes from the store room. The radio wasnt too good as the aerial had broken off, so I found myself a tape which I could work to. The time really flew as my mind was in working mode. At three oclock Luke came back into the kitchen and checked all the bikes I had done. He was very impressed with what I had done and told me that I could go home. The room looked like a bomb had been set off in it so I cleared away all the tools I was using, put all the bikes I had built into stock and washed up the cups. I was now ready to go home. On the way out Luke said thank you for the work and said that he would discount me if I needed to buy any thing for my bike. I said good bye and went home. On the way home I thought about how my day had been. I realised that although I didnt originally want to work at the bike shop, it wasnt as bad as what I was expecting. In life youre not always going to get the jobs you want so I decided that for the rest of the week I was going to make the most of the experience.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Speaking Ethically Essay -- Literary Analysis, Dinesh D’Souza

The 5 considerations for speaking ethically are: â€Å"have a clear and responsible goal† (p. 51); â€Å"use sound evidence and reasoning† (p. 52); â€Å"be sensitive to and tolerant of differences† (p. 53); â€Å"be honest† (p. 53); and â€Å"don’t plagiarize†. The three considerations for listening ethically are: â€Å"communicate your expectations and feedback: (p. 57); â€Å"be sensitive to and tolerant of differences† (p. 58); and â€Å"listen critically† (p. 58). The first consideration for speaking ethically exists in order to establish trust with the audience. The audience should be aware of what the point of the speech is, what they are going to be persuaded about. Personally I feel that Dinesh D’Souza violated this consideration by labeling his speech â€Å"Christianity and Islam: is religion the problem?† It was excruciatingly clear that he wasn’t honestly examining the advantages and disadvantages (pragmatic effects, clearly theological effects would have been a different discussion) of religion in society, he was stating his opinion that atheists cause millions of deaths per year, Muslims cause thousands of deaths per year, while Christians advance the world and prevent deaths. Thus, the title of his speech was misleading, and according to the book, unethical. The second consideration for speaking ethically exists so that opinions may be accepted or dismissed on their own merits. The idea is that sifting through false ideas is a good thing, and the best method for sifting through false ideas is for each individual to form his or her own opinion. I believe Dinesh D’Souza violated this consideration with the following paraphrased argument: â€Å"President Obama’s father wants to crush corporations under the heel of government; the title of a book written by Preside... ...o hold. In other words, the opinion is worthwhile because there is an issue that is important. The third step is satisfy. It exists in order to show that the valuable opinion can solve the need. The fourth step is visualization. It exists in order to help the audience visualize the issue, and the outcomes that will occur because of the issue not being fixed. The fifth step is action. It exists in order demonstrate how the audience personally can help fix the issue. For example, step 3 may be â€Å"schools need increased funding† and step 5 might be â€Å"you individually volunteering at school sporting events lets the school spend money on other things†. The sixth step is rebuttal. It exists in order to be a straw-man argument, albeit possibly with more honesty. This step allows the speaker to honestly, or dishonestly, propose other possible solutions and dismiss them. Speaking Ethically Essay -- Literary Analysis, Dinesh D’Souza The 5 considerations for speaking ethically are: â€Å"have a clear and responsible goal† (p. 51); â€Å"use sound evidence and reasoning† (p. 52); â€Å"be sensitive to and tolerant of differences† (p. 53); â€Å"be honest† (p. 53); and â€Å"don’t plagiarize†. The three considerations for listening ethically are: â€Å"communicate your expectations and feedback: (p. 57); â€Å"be sensitive to and tolerant of differences† (p. 58); and â€Å"listen critically† (p. 58). The first consideration for speaking ethically exists in order to establish trust with the audience. The audience should be aware of what the point of the speech is, what they are going to be persuaded about. Personally I feel that Dinesh D’Souza violated this consideration by labeling his speech â€Å"Christianity and Islam: is religion the problem?† It was excruciatingly clear that he wasn’t honestly examining the advantages and disadvantages (pragmatic effects, clearly theological effects would have been a different discussion) of religion in society, he was stating his opinion that atheists cause millions of deaths per year, Muslims cause thousands of deaths per year, while Christians advance the world and prevent deaths. Thus, the title of his speech was misleading, and according to the book, unethical. The second consideration for speaking ethically exists so that opinions may be accepted or dismissed on their own merits. The idea is that sifting through false ideas is a good thing, and the best method for sifting through false ideas is for each individual to form his or her own opinion. I believe Dinesh D’Souza violated this consideration with the following paraphrased argument: â€Å"President Obama’s father wants to crush corporations under the heel of government; the title of a book written by Preside... ...o hold. In other words, the opinion is worthwhile because there is an issue that is important. The third step is satisfy. It exists in order to show that the valuable opinion can solve the need. The fourth step is visualization. It exists in order to help the audience visualize the issue, and the outcomes that will occur because of the issue not being fixed. The fifth step is action. It exists in order demonstrate how the audience personally can help fix the issue. For example, step 3 may be â€Å"schools need increased funding† and step 5 might be â€Å"you individually volunteering at school sporting events lets the school spend money on other things†. The sixth step is rebuttal. It exists in order to be a straw-man argument, albeit possibly with more honesty. This step allows the speaker to honestly, or dishonestly, propose other possible solutions and dismiss them.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

“Tyronian” Tragedy

In Eugene O'Neill's agonizingly autobiographical play Long Day's Journey into Night, readers are introduced a dismal family situation. Drugs, death, illness and failure lace each conversation, and regret flows almost as unreservedly as the alcohol. In such a tragedy, one would expect to have a clear idea of with whom the blame lies. In this piece of drama, however, there is a distinct inability to do so. Eugene O'Neill persistently manipulates the emotional responses of the reader. This manipulation keeps partiality off balance and uncertain. O'Neill accomplishes this by allowing readers to sympathize with one family member. Once sympathy is established for one particular character, that character promptly says, or does, something that loses the reader's alliance, along with the alliance of whichever character he or she is berating at that particular moment. This results in the reader's inability to discern who, precisely, is culpable for the Tyrone family's situation. The idea of assigning culpability in Long Day's Journey Into Night is almost humourous. Even if one wanted to, it would be difficult to sort through years of built up anger, layer upon layer of repression, and huge amounts of guilt in each character; for each character is at fault for one thing or another, and, in addition, each character blames someone else for his or her problem. For example, Mary blames her husband and his tightfistedness for her addiction to morphine. Due to their mother being an addict, Jamie is unable to bring girls home, thus he visits prostitutes. Such behavior has influenced his younger brother Edmund, â€Å"making him old before his time† (35). Consequently, Jamie is at fault for Edmund's poor health. In turn, his mother, for causing the addiction by being brought into the world, as well as worsening it with his own illness, blames Edmund. And so, the vicious circle continues. However, if one does not wish to inflict upon one's distinguished teaching assistant a painfully long dissertation of each member's contributions to the tragedy and the results thereof, one ought to maintain, for argument's sake, that the majority of the culpability lies with James Tyrone, for his behaviour in regards to money, alcohol, and his own status as a failed actor. James's father had left the family when James was only ten years of age. This left James as the man of the family, working twelve hours each day to help provide for his mother and three sisters. As James explains, â€Å"It was in those days I learned to be a miser†(151). He feels proud of his savings, and announces to his family in regards to buying something: â€Å"I got them dead cheap†(15). His own early recognition of the importance of money explains his continual contempt for his own children's lack of concern when it comes to working: â€Å"What do you know of the value of a dollar? (150). He accuses Jamie of being lazy and having no ambition. Not only does James Tyrone wish his sons understood the value of money, but since they do not, he is forced to be miserly enough for the whole family. Consequently, the family resents his overly economic ways. There are many attacks throughout the play on James Tyrone for this, the first one being Jamie accusing him of not sending Edmund to a real doctor for his illness when he first got sick. Jamie says, â€Å"Hardy only charges a dollar. That's what makes you think he's a fine doctor! â€Å"(31). Later, another dialogue gives an even worse view of the situation; Tyrone sending Edmund to a cheap sanatorium, but spending money on real estate: JAMIE: Well, for God's sake, pick out a good place and not some cheap dump! TYRONE: (Stung) I'll send him wherever Hardy thinks best! JAMIE: Well, don't give Hardy your old over-the-hills-to-the-poorhouse song about taxes and mortgages. TYRONE: I'm no millionaire who can throw money away! Why shouldn't I tell Hardy the truth? JAMIE: Because he'll think you want him to pick a cheap dump, and because he'll now it isn't the truth i especially if he hears afterwards you've seen McGuire and let that flannel-mouth, gold-brick merchant sting you with another piece of bum property! (82) Later realizing the anger this statement comes from, James Tyrone offers Edmund â€Å"any place you like! Never mind what it costs! Any place I can afford. Any place you like†. Sadly, there follows the stipulation Tyrone cannot seem to shake off: â€Å"Within reason. â€Å"(151). Cheap medical care seems to be Tyrone's weakness. As Mary Tyrone makes clear, his tightfisted ways result, though inadvertently, in her downfall as well, due to a doctor giving her morphine as an easy fix. â€Å"But bearing Edmund was the last straw. I was so sick afterwards, and that ignorant quack of a cheap hotel doctor-All he knew was I was in pain. It was easy for him to stop the pain. â€Å"(90) Tyrone is also to blame for his wife's general unhappiness, not just her addiction to morphine. Mary says to Edmund that she has never been happy in the house, because â€Å"Everything was done in the cheapest way. Your father would never spend the money to make it right. (45). The subsequent scene has Mary come downstairs (60), in a detached sort of manner. She complains bitterly to Edmund about Tyrone's inability to make a real home. He is too stingy to build a real home, with good servants, and so she has suffered all her life. When Tyrone himself comes in, she says in continuation of her previous statements † I'm sick and tired of pretending this is a home! You won't help me! â€Å"(69). She goes on to say that had he remained a bachelor â€Å"Then nothing would have happened. † This indicates strongly that she blames him too. Tyrone condemns Mary for her addiction, yet feels no guilt or responsibility for it, taking away any amount of forgiveness readers may have parted with in Tyrone's favour. The amusing part of this however, is while he condemns his wife for substance abuse, the same thing is his own major vice. Mary tells her husband: † I would never have married you if I'd known you drank so much† (115). She also launches into a story about their honeymoon, when Tyrone was dragged home intoxicated. It appears that in a fashion similar to that of their father, Jamie and Edmund seem quite partial to alcohol. In fact, the entire family seems unable to confront reality without chemical assistance. Mary's words indicate that drinking all day is a common Tyrone family activity: â€Å"I know what to expect. You will be drunk tonight. Well, it won't be the first time, will it i or the thousandth? † (72). The Tyrone men validate their drinking habits with folk wisdom about whiskey's alleged health benefits: â€Å"It's before a meal and I've always found that good whiskey, taken in moderation as an appetizer, is the best of tonics† (68). Alcohol has contributed to Jamie's failures. It has hurt Edmund's health. And it becomes a source of conflict between Jamie and Tyrone, as Jamie consistently steals his father's whiskey, replacing the amount taken with water, so his father won't take notice. Regrettably, the alcohol solves no problems, and problems get more intricate as the tongues loosen from the booze. The three men share a drink, but none of the social magic of alcohol seems to work. Tyrone, Edmund and Jamie remain as miserable as ever. The last, most driving element of James Tyrone's guilt is his status as a failed actor. In act four of the play, James Tyrone relates something to his youngest son that he has never told anyone before. He explains that since his father left the family when he was ten, he grew up to be miserly. Thus he was quick to give up artistic fulfillment in exchange for financial security, ruining his career as † one of the three or four young actors with the greatest artistic promise in America†(153). James Tyrone now muses that he doesn't even know what it was he had wanted to buy. It appears that James has never forgiven himself for this, and therefore inflicts it on his family and neighbours. Mary says in regards to the neighbours: â€Å"they bowed to your father and he bowed back as if he were taking a curtain call†(44). Jamie relates that Tyrone puts on an act for everybody (57). Tyrone begins to quote a play almost as tragic as his own family life, but his son, obviously well versed in his father's repertoire of chastisements from King Lear, finishes the sentence before his father can continue, with † ‘to have a thankless child'. I know†(92). His sons also immediately think in terms of tragedy when referring to their father, quoting Othello in reference to James's snoring: † ‘The Moor, I know his trumpet'†(21). It appears that Tyrone turns his own life into a tragedy, like the ones he once portrayed so well upon the stage, switching affections and emotions like he would have to between scenes, although his family isn't as accepting of this as Edwin Booth and the critics obviously were. But why bother to deal with the question of fault? After all, the characters themselves claim not to care about it, such as in act two, scene two, when James Tyrone tries to blame Edmund's consumptive state on Mary's side of the family. Jamie cries out against blame: â€Å"Who gives a damn about that part of it! â€Å"

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Fire Prevention and Safety using modern technology Essay

Technology has helped us in preventing fire incidents. Fire prevention is a proactive way of minimizing the damages or harm caused by a fire incident. It is the responsibility of fire departments which mostly have a Fire Prevention Officer as their head. The function of fire prevention is to spread awareness on how to take precautions against fire. Fire fighters, on the other hand, are assigned the task of extinguishing fires. Fire fighters are also dependant on technology to extinguish fire. All the equipments they use are the consequence on technology. To sum it up, technology has helped us in preventing fire as well as extinguishing it when need be. Technology has helped us enhance our fire safety measures. Fire safety comprises of the precautions we take to decrease the probability of a fire that may be fatal, injurious to people and hazardous to the property. This research paper would analyze how technology helps us prevent and extinguish fire. Modern technology has given us many types of equipment that have helped us prevent fire incidents. In most of the buildings today a fire retardant material is used during construction. There are also some electronic devices such as the smoke detectors. The biggest sign of fire is the smoke. Wherever there is fire, there is smoke. So the fire detectors help identify this symptom. These devices are also very affordable. Many building have smoke detectors in all rooms. It has become a necessary home security appliance. Smoke detectors are perfect for slow kindling fires but for combustible gas explosions modern technology has come up with the gas detectors. Smoke detectors are one of the most important fire safety devices. Natural gas and petroleum gas are the two most widely used gases in daily lives. Due to their harmful nature and properties, any gas leaks could result in dangerous explosions. Gas detectors are continuously monitoring the air and they immediately identify the change in surroundings if there is a gas leakage. They come with audible and visual alarm systems to alert people of the gas leakage. Hence, appropriate action can be taken in time to minimize the consequences. Gas detectors are a useful invention and should be positioned where gas leaks are most expected. Another example of technology that helps us in preventing fire is the fire alarm system. The fire alarm systems come in various varieties. They range from the simple manual alarms to the ones that give verbal warnings of any fire detection. A control panel, notification device, building safety interface and power supply make up a typical fire alarm system. The above mentioned gas and smoke detectors are the initiation devices that inform the alarm that a fire has been detected. Manual alarm system depends on people to detect fire and pull the manual alarm. Some of the other detectors used are the flame detectors and the heat detectors. The notification devices help in informing the people to evacuate the building because of the fire. Many of these devices send a direct signal to the closest fire department. Some of these devices are built to give verbal announcements, and also a visual display for the hearing impaired. The most modern of these devices that are installed in large buildings also provide evacuation instructions so that people evacuate the area in which fire was detected. There are various types of smoke alarms. They mostly fall in the categories of ionization alarms and photoelectric alarms. The former is better for fast flaming fire and the latter is more appropriate for the smoke fire. The combination of both these is the dual sensor smoke alarms (US Fire Administration, 2010). Wireless smoke alarms are one of the latest technological advancement as far as fire alarm systems are concerned. The wireless smoke alarm come in two different categories: Battery powered and Alternate Current powered. The battery powered smoke alarm is just like a normal fire alarm with no wire which saves the families the hassle of wiring and rewiring. The AC powered alarm systems is much more modern and aid in increasing the coverage of the alarm system. So, many smoke alarms can be replace by just a single AC powered alarm system A fire extinguisher, like the fire sprinkler system, is an active fire protection device rather a preventive one. It can not help in cases where there is a large out of control fire. However, it is most appropriate for fires that are limited to the ceilings of the buildings. There are two types of extinguishers: stored pressure and cartridge-operated. In the stored pressure fire extinguisher, the fire fighting agent and the expellant are stored in one chamber. Propellants are chosen keeping in mind the nature of the fire fighting agent. The nitrogen gas is used when the agent is any dry chemical extinguisher. Air is used when there the watery or foamy chemical extinguishers are present. On the other hand, in the cartridge operated extinguishers, the expellant gas and the fire fighting agent are in different chambers. The cartridge containing the expellant is punctured before the propellant and extinguishing agents are exposed to each other. The cartridge operated extinguisher is mostly used in industries where extinguishers have to be used time and again. The benefit these extinguishers give is the prompt recharge. The cartridge operated extinguishers use compressed carbon dioxide whereas the stored pressure extinguishers use nitrogen. Fire extinguishers can be further categorized into handheld and cart-mounted extinguishers. Cart-mounted extinguishers are also known as wheeled extinguishers. Handheld extinguishers are mostly used in homes or small workplaces or schools. The wheeled extinguishers are used in industrial sites, marines, airports, docks and heliports. They are much larger in size and bulky in weight. A fire sprinkler system comprises of a water supply that helps in extinguishing the fire. It is not a preventive tool but rather a cure. It supplies water with sufficient pressure just as the fire is detected. Initially expensive, it has become more affordable with the passage of time. Only a very few people have a fire sprinkler system installed at their homes. However most of them have smoke detectors. Smoke detectors are very important for the building’s safety. However, the best possible safety comes with the installation of fire sprinklers. They do not just help you detect fire but unlike the smoke detectors they help extinguishing it and saving lives. It is very popular in industries but still is not very much utilized in residences. Smoke detectors and sprinklers work best together. Smoke detectors identify the fire and set off the sprinklers. Sprinklers supply water with pressure and extinguish the fire. The only disadvantage of installing a fire sprinkler is that ones the fire has been extinguished people realize that all their belongings have been soaked in water. However this is a little price to pay if the sprinklers help save us our life (Smith, 2008). Technology has been a vital source of fire safety. Technology has always been a source of argument: some favor it, other oppose it. Where some people say that technology itself is the source of most fire incidents, others argue that technology has come up with equipments and devices such as various fire detectors and extinguishers. The contribution of technology in fire safety can not be ignored. To prevent fire, technology has given us smoke detectors, heat detectors, gas detectors, flame detectors and a variety of fire alarm systems. To extinguish fire, technology has provided for us several kinds of fire extinguishers and fire sprinkler systems. We should all make use of such devices and minimize the damage that fire can cause us. Fire incidents are very common and it would be a mistake on our part if we ignore dangers it can cause. References Bellis. M, Fire Sprinkler Systems, Retrieved May 22, 2010 from: http://inventors. about. com/library/inventors/blfiresprinkler. htmUK Fire Service Resources Edwards. T, (2009), Automatic Fire Sprinklers for Your Home, Retrieved May 22, 2010 from: http://ezinearticles. com/? Automatic-Fire-Sprinklers-For-Your-Home&id=321091Group, (2009), Smoke Alarms and Detectors, Retrieved May 22, 2010 from: http://www. fireservice. co. uk/safety/smokealarms. php Safety Products Unlimited, (2009), Kidde Wireless System Components, Retrieved May 22, 2010 from: http://safetyproductsunlimited. com/wireless_smoke_alarm. html Smith R J, (2008), Residential Fire Sprinkler System Advantages, Retrieved May 22, 2010 from: http://ezinearticles. com/? Residential-Fire-Sprinkler-System-Advantages&id=1388738 Santarpia. F, (2010), more security with a fire sprinkler in your house, Retrieved May 22, 2010 from: http://ezinearticles. com/? More-Security-With-a-Fire-Sprinkler-in-Your-House&id=2229457 US Fire Administration, (December 17, 2010) Smoke Alarms, Retrieved May 22, 2010 from: http://www. usfa. dhs. gov/citizens/all_citizens/home_fire_prev/alarms/

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Cuban Missile Crisis Essays

The Cuban Missile Crisis Essays The Cuban Missile Crisis Essay The Cuban Missile Crisis Essay 1:) President Kennedys reaction to the photographs would be much like anyone else in the USA: shocking. He wakes up from a nights sleep to find that Cuba had made bases containing missiles and atomic weapons right under his nose. The missile once launched could easily destroy cities and towns across America; the furthest reaching parts of Canada. Once more the increase in Soviet cargo ships heading to Cuba made the Soviets suspects. Kennedy must have felt very scared. The fate of the world could have lied in this mans hands. Such a little country with so much power, this could not go on. America was very vulnerable at this stage, which was probably why Kennedy was so scared. President Kennedy said,we were facing great trouble, in source A. this shows he knew that nothing god could come of it, and there could be something very bad happening. Within a few minutes of these missiles being fired, it could have killed 80,000,000 American citizens. President Kennedy had every reason to be worried. 2:) I feel that President Kennedy decided to blockade Cuba because there were no other clever choices, and a blockade would mean slowing down the chances of war. He could bomb Cuba, and destroy their weapons, but the Soviets they would ship in more, and then retaliate, then a world war would break out, and other countries would have been in uproar that America picked on such a little country. He could have assassinated Castro, but if he did a new leader would come into power hungry for revenge. If he invaded Cuba, thousands upon thousands of his soldiers would perish in vain. There were no other options. If the US did blockade Cuba, at least it could ensure no more offensive weapons could have been transported in. Every other way had some sort of drawback, except the blockade. 3:) (i) The reasons differ greatly. Source E is putting its position to President Kennedy.The American side has conducted an unr

Monday, October 21, 2019

How to Setup and Use SSH on a Raspberry PI

How to Setup and Use SSH on a Raspberry PI SSH is a secure method of logging onto a remote computer. If your Pi is networked, then this can be a handy way of operating it from another computer or just copying files to or from it. First, you have to install the SSH service. This is done by this command: sudo apt-get install ssh After a couple of minutes, this will be complete. You can start the daemon (Unix name for a service) with this command from the terminal: sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start This init.d is used to start other daemons. For example, if you have Apache, MySQL, Samba etc. You can also stop the service with stop or restart it with restart. Have It Start at Bootup To set it up so the ssh server starts every time the Pi boots up, run this command once: sudo update-rc.d ssh defaults You can check that it worked by forcing your Pi to reboot with the reboot command: sudo reboot Then after rebooting try to connect to it using Putty or WinSCP (details below). Powering Down and Rebooting Its possible to corrupt your SD card with power offs before it halts. The result: reinstall everything. Only power down once you have fully shut down your Pi. Given its low power usage and little heat given off, you could probably leave it running 24x7. If you want to shut it down, use the shutdown command: sudo shutdown -h now Change -h to -r and it does the same as sudo reboot. Putty and WinSCP If youre accessing your Pi from the command line of a Windows/Linux or Mac PC then use Putty or the commercial (but free for private use) Tunnelier. Both are great for general browsing around your Pis folders and copying files to or from a Windows PC. Download them from these URLs: Putty Download PageWinSCP Download PageTunnelier: Powerful free to use Windows SFTP etc. Your Pi needs to be connected to your network before you use Putty or WinSCP and you need to know its IP address. On my network, my Pi is on 192.168.1.69. You can find yours by typing in /sbin/ifconfig and on the 2nd line of the output, youll see inet addr: followed by your IP address. For Putty, its easiest to download putty.exe or the zip file of all the exes and put them in a folder. When you run putty it pops up a configuration Window. Enter your IP address in the input field where it says Host Name (or IP address) and enter pi or any name there. Now click the save button then the open button at the bottom. Youll have to login into your pi but now you can use it as if you were actually there. This can be quite useful, as its far easier to cut and paste long text strings in via a putty terminal. Try running this command: ps ax That shows a list of processes running on your pi. These include ssh (the two sshd) and Samba (nmbd and smbd) and many others. PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND858 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd866 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/nmbd -D887 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/smbd -D1092 ? Ss 0:00 sshd: pi [priv] WinSCP We find it most useful to set it up in two screen mode rather than in explorer mode but its easily changed in the Preferences. Also in preferences under Integration/Applications change the path to the putty.exe so you can easily jump into putty. When you connect to the pi, it starts at your home directory which is /home/pi. Click on the two .. to view the folder above and do it once more to get to the root. You can see all of the 20 Linux folders. After youve used a terminal for a while youll see a hidden file .bash_history (not that well hidden!). This is a text file of your command history with all the commands youve used before so copy it, edit out the stuff you dont want and keep the useful commands somewhere safe.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

How to Edit a Book 101 a 3-Step Guide to a Bestselling Novel

How to Edit a Book 101 a 3-Step Guide to a Bestselling Novel How to Edit a Book: a 3-Step Guide to a Bestselling Novel So you’ve finally gotten to the last page of your draft and have just typed, â€Å"The End.† Congratulations! Is it time to pop open the champagne?Not quite. Authors who have successfully completed a draft now face an even more important task: the edit of the manuscript. If your first draft has taught you what you want to say, this is the step that will craft it into a story that’s actually worth reading.To help you learn how to edit a book, this guide will walk you through the process of self-editing. Feel free to click here to download our editing checklist as we dive in.Do you really need to edit your book?The short answer is: yes.Editing is the act of refining a piece of written work. Contrary to popular belief, it’s a completely different skillset from writing - one that requires objectivity, keen insight into story mechanics, and a certain level of ruthlessness. 150 Famous Writing Quotes to Help You During Every Stage of Writing Read post Here's the long answer: every book benefits from an edit, simply because no story is perfect from the get-go.  As Stephen King said: â€Å"When your story is ready for a rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt. Revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.†Ã‚  Saying that your book doesn’t need editing is like walking outside without any clothes on: you might be able to get to the grocery store, but nobody's going to want to serve you.With that said, you do have a number of people (and a support system) to whom you can turn when it comes to editing, which leads us to the next section. "When your story is ready for a rewrite, cut it to the bone. This is going to hurt." - Stephen King Who can properly edit your book?In a traditional publishing house, manuscripts generally go through three rounds of revisions: a developmental edit, a copy edit - which often includes line editing- and a proofread. Like the crafting of a diamond ring, this rigorous process turns out the polished books that you find in stores.Self-publishers, while not always privy to in-house editors, have a number of options at their disposal. Here are three ways that writers can go about editing their bestseller-in-the-making.👠¤ The Self-EditA self-edit is pretty self-explanatory: it’s a thorough edit of your manuscript that you conduct yourself. You’d take it upon yourself to trim your plot, expand character arcs, spot crutch words, and manage all of the other elements that go into editing a book.This approach is challenging if you’re serious about editing, simply because it’s hard to be objective about your own work. If you choose to self-edit, we recommend th at you read through your entire draft twice: once to resolve story snags, and the second time to proofread. (The editing checklist at the end of this post will help you out.)👠¥Beta ReadersA beta reader provides feedback from the perspective of a casual reader. Think of beta readers for your book as the equivalent of a focus group for a feature film: they anticipate the reading experience of your future audience.A beta reader can point out concerns that you might not have caught by yourself. (Such as: â€Å"What happened to Alexandra? I thought she was the most interesting character,† or â€Å"The plot twist in this chapter was weird and confused me for the rest of the book.†) You can ask anyone to be your beta reader, whether it’s a friend, family member, or someone who you met through an online writing group. To dig deeper into this subject, check out our guide to beta readers and where to find them. And, if you're curious about what a sensitivity reader actually does, check out this guide on the topic.📠Professional EditWorking with a professional editor on your book results in a professional edit. As a result of the rising freelance economy, experienced editors are much more accessible to the general public than before. (As an example, Reedsy’s marketplace is home to more than 1,000 professional editors - many of whom hail from the Big 5 publishers.) When you’re ready to revisit your manuscript, feel free to use the points below to help you edit. Note that this checklist isn’t comprehensive (again, we stress that you need the eyes and experience of a professional editor to get a qualified edit). But it includes some key guiding questions to guide you through the process.1. The â€Å"Big Picture† StageðŸ“â€" Editing Checklist for: StoryTheme and conflict__ Is a compelling dramatic question present throughout the book? __ Is the theme well-developed? Clear and compelling? __ Can you sufficiently state your story in a single sentence: ? __ Is the central conflict clear? Is it resolved by the time the denouement comes around? __ Does the conflict escalate over the course of the book?Story arc __ Do you have a strong beginning, middle, end? __ Does your exposition effectively set the story? Introduce the cast of characters? Impart enough backstory? __ Is your rising action triggered by a compelling inciting incident? Does it escalate the conflict and raise the tension? __ Is your climax satisfying? Does it successfully combine both external and internal journeys? __ Does your falling action effectively bridge the climax and the resolution? __ Does the denouement wrap everything up? __ Is the story structure clear and effective? __ Is the pace of each act in the narrative arc appropriate?📈 Editing Checklist for: Plot __ Is the plot engaging? Believable? __ Does the plot maintain forward movement in each chapter? __ Are all major plot threads resolved by the denouement? __ Are all subplots resolved by the denouement? __ Are there too many subplots? Do the subplots make sense in the context of the story or do they distract from the main plotline? __ Do the plot points flow logically? __ Do the plot points sync with the narrative arc and theme that you want to convey? __ Do the plot twists make sense? Are there plot holes in the story? __ Does the plot match the conventions of your genre?ðŸâ€" £Ã¯ ¸  Editing Checklist for: CharactersProtagonist __ Does the protagonist have strengths and weaknesses? Does this interact with the story appropriately? __ Does the protagonist have defining mannerisms? Clear character traits? __ Does the protagonist have story motivation? __ Does the protagonist have external and internal story goals? Are they visible throughout the story? __ Are the stakes for the protagonist clear and substantial? __ Does the protagonist act believably in each scene? Is the protagonist’s behavior consistent? __ Chart the protagonist’s character arc over the course of the story. Is it clearly and compellingly conveyed in the story?Antagonist __ Does the antagonist have a story motivation? __ Does the antagonist have a believable backstory? __ Is the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist clearly defined?Supporting cast __ Is the supporting cast fleshed out? __ Do the secondary characters have a reason to be there? Do they reveal key details? Advance the plot? Motivate the protagonist? Help define the setting? __ Are interactions between the secondary character and the protagonist believable and well-placed?â› °Ã¯ ¸  Editing Checklist for: Setting __ Does the setting make sense for the purposes of the story? Does it matter to the plot? __ Are descriptions of the setting rendered effectively and appropriately? __ Is a clear sense of place and time conveyed in each scene? __ Is the worldbuilding unified? Consistent? __ Does the setting impact the conflict and plot? __ Fact-check each scene in relation to the setting. Are objects, props, mannerisms, and behaviors native to the time and place of the story?2. The â€Å"Scene Level† Stage🎠¬ Editing Checklist for: Scenes and Chapters __ Is the opening scene effective? __ Does it start in the right place? __ Does it have a hook? Is the hook immediately gripping? __ Are there are a sufficient number of scenes? __ Are the scenes appropriately paced to grab the readers’ attention? Are the chapter lengths effective? __ Does each scene serve a purpose in the story? __ Is each scene oriented in terms of time and place? __ Are scene transitions smooth?💠¬ Editing Checklist for: Dialogue __ Does the dialogue serve a purpose in each scene? Does it provide information? Advance the plot? Help the pace of the story? __ Does each character have a distinct voice? __ Is the dialogue believable for the time and place of the story? __ Is the word choice reflective of the time period? __ Does the dialogue use action beats to control the pace of the scene? __ Are there excess dialogue tags? Excess adverbs in the tags? __ Search for words other than â€Å"said† and â€Å"asked† in your manuscript. Is their use absolutely necessary?âÅ" Ã¯ ¸  Editing Checklist for: CompositionVoice and Point of View __ Is the narrator’s voice consistent? __ Is the voice appropriate for the story? __ Is foreshadowing used effectively, if applicable? Metaphors? Similes? __ Is the viewpoint character always clear? Is it consistent between scenes? __ Is the point of view suitable for each scene? Is there a better alternative for a viewpoint character in any given scene?Prose __ Is purple prose present in your story? __ Does each sentence contribute something to the story? __ Is the backstory of the world or characters efficiently woven into the story? __ Do you â€Å"show, don’t tell† your dialogue, characters, and setting?3. The â€Å"Line-Edit†__ Check for the use of passive voice and replace with active voice, whenever appropriate. ⠝Å' The ball was kicked. âÅ"ӕ ¸  She kicked the ball.__ Limit the use of adverbs in your dialogue tags. (Show, don’t tell!) ⠝Å' â€Å"Why did you eat my turkey sandwich?† said Harry angrily. âÅ"ӕ ¸  Harry upended the table. â€Å"Why did you eat my turkey sandwich?†__ Limit the use of weak verbs + adverbs in general. ⠝Å' Leonard ran quickly to school. âÅ"ӕ ¸  Leonard sprinted to school.__ Delete vague and subjective words. ⠝Å' â€Å"could,† â€Å"might,† â€Å"maybe,† â€Å"more,† â€Å"poor,† â€Å"good,† â€Å"excellent,† â€Å"bad,† â€Å"some,† â€Å"multiple,† etc.__ Delete crutch words. ⠝Å' â€Å"really,† â€Å"literally,† â€Å"suddenly,† â€Å"simply,† â€Å"just,† â€Å"a little,† â€Å"almost,† etc.__ Check for the use of other dialogue tags and replace with â€Å"said† and â€Å"asked,† unless absolutely necessary. ⠝Å' â€Å"Did you just stab me with this thimble?† asserted Amber. âÅ"ӕ ¸  â€Å"Did you just stab me with this thimble?† asked Amber.__ Replace all â€Å"hidden† verbs. ⠝Å' Offer an explanation âÅ"ӕ ¸  Explain__ Use â€Å"telling† words such as â€Å"felt,† â€Å"saw,† â€Å"knew,† â€Å"was,† and â€Å"seemed† sparingly. ⠝Å' His head was in pain. âÅ"ӕ ¸  His head throbbed.__ Delete all instances of clichà ©s in the text. ⠝Å' It was a dark and stormy night.__ Check for excessive repetition (like so) in the text. ⠝Å' Go to ⠝Å' She shrugged .__ Check for instances of overly complicated language. ⠝Å' In close proximity âÅ"ӕ ¸  Near__ Check that all of your dialogue is formatted correctly. ⠝Å' â€Å"I love you.† Said Pam. âÅ"ӕ ¸  â€Å"I love you,† said Pam.How much editing is enough?You might be visualizing an endless amount of editing right now - or a future in which you either faint from exhaustion or go blind from fixating on commas. Needless to say, that wouldn’t do any author any good! So how many rounds of editing is enough?Most editors will tell you: as many rounds as the book needs. That said, three passes at the manuscript - maximum - generally should get you somewhere. But it depends on the book: some stories are structurally sound and could benefit more from a thorough copy-edit, while other stories will require multiple takes during the â€Å"big picture† stage.However, a word of caution: resist the urge to over-edit. Since many authors are perfectionists, it can be tempting to edit until the book is flawless. But you should remember that â€Å"perfection† is actually unachievable. More importantly, you’ll risk stagnation if you over-edit. At so me point, you will want to put a book out into the world. The only way to do that is to curb the impulse to keep editing and put your manuscript down - once and for all.Download: The Ultimate Self-Editing ChecklistIf you'd prefer to have a checklist right next to you as you edit your book, we've got you covered. Simply enter your email address below to download our Ultimate Self-Editing Checklist in PDF format!How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book in 2019? Read post Can you get away with editing a book by yourself? It’s possible, but it’s certainly not ideal. Most authors are too close to the source material to edit objectively. A better solution is to find another pair of critical eyes to honestly review your book, whether that’s a beta reader or a professional editor. The average cost of an editor is between $1,000 to $3,000 - an investment that just might make the difference between an average book and a bestseller.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Teacher Interview (Behavior) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Teacher Interview (Behavior) - Essay Example When students were not on good behavior, they would receive a warning for the first offense. Then, with the 2nd offense, the student would lose 15 minutes of recess and with the 3rd offense, they would lose 20 minutes of recess and receive a call home. The teacher believed that these problems occurred from students being bored or restless in the less structured time period of the transition. Interview 2 4th grade classroom In this interview, the teacher found that most behavior problems occurred during long periods of quiet, individual seat work. Examples would be during mathematics drill times or when working on book worksheets. The most common problems were talking, not being on task, being disruptive to other students and moving around the room. The classroom management system in places used positive and negative reinforcement to manage student behavior. The teacher modeled a checkbook system, which not only allowed children to become more knowledgeable about checks and checkbooks , but help them practice practically applied addition and subtraction as well. Students receive a check for $30 in the morning, each school day. Students who are not on good behavior receive a warning for the first offense.

Friday, October 18, 2019

The Lighthouse and Two Lights and Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Essay

The Lighthouse and Two Lights and Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine - Essay Example The essay "The Lighthouse and Two Lights and Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine" analyzes Edward Hopper's "The Lighthouse and Two Lights" and "Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine". Hopper’s style features shapes that are strongly contrasted against each other, giving them a sense of being solidly real as in his paintings â€Å"The Lighthouse at Two Lights† (1929) and â€Å"Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine† (1927). Although these two paintings seem to have been painted in the same area of the country and in the same style, the paintings achieve different effects. These paintings share similar subjects and locations even though their dimensions are quite different. Both paintings depict scenes found on the coast of Maine. The focal point of both paintings is centered upon a white structure as it appears on a clear day in the style of the American Realist. â€Å"Placed in the middle of a cultural search for an American identity precipitated by a nation al crisis, the artist was caught between hope and helplessness. The quest for what was uniquely American inspired the artist to paint the heroic, the ordinary and the novel†. In painting a coast guard station and a lighthouse, Hopper caught an image of the heroic, the ordinary and the novel all in the singular structure of the building featured. The lighthouse painting is approximately 29 inches high by approximately 43 inches wide while the coast guard station painting is significantly smaller at approximately 14 inches high by approximately 20 inches wide.

Phase 1 - Concepts and terminology of statistics applied to business Essay - 2

Phase 1 - Concepts and terminology of statistics applied to business decision-making 4-20 - Essay Example Mean-  the arithmetic mean (mean) of a list of numbers is the sum of all the members of the list divided by the number of items in the list. A  classic example of Arithmetic mean is average income. The arithmetic mean may be misinterpreted to imply that most peoples income is higher than the case in fact is.† In statistics, mean has two related meanings: MEDIAN-  The median is the number which is in the exact  middle of the data set. Literally, it is the value in the middle. â€Å"The statistical median is the middle number of a group of numbers that have been arranged in order by size. If there is an even number of terms, the median is the mean of the two middle numbers: If there is an even number of terms, add the two middle terms and divide by 2.†Ã‚   (Statistical Median). Mode means the number that appears the most often, if working with only one variable. In statistics, mode means the most frequent value assumed by a random variable, or occurring in a sampling of a random variable. The term is applied both to probability distributions and to collections of  experimental data. Range  - It means the difference between the highest and the lowest value. The range is the length of the smallest interval which contains all the data. It is calculated by subtracting the smallest observations from the greatest and provides an indication of  statistical dispersion. The mid range point is the half way between two variables. .Variance -   In probability and statistics , the variance of a   random variable, is a probability distribution , a measure of its statistical dispersion , indicating how its possible values are spread around the expected value . Where the expected value shows the location of the distribution, the variance indicates the scale of the values. A more understandable measure is the square root of the variance, called the Standard deviation... For a population, range is more than twice the standard deviation. Variance

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Criminology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminology - Research Paper Example However, he was bullied by wealthy children in his church. Cho is described as someone who was â€Å"sullen and aloof† (Biography.com, 2012). He was a loner. He referred to himself as â€Å"Question Mark† and he was known to write gruesome stories, poems and plays (Biography.com, 2012). Professors of Cho noticed that Cho’s behavior was not normal. He was described as a bully by one of his professors. He photographed the legs and knees of his female classmates. Moreover, in 2005 he was accused twice for stalking female students. Several times Cho had been advised to get counseling because of his odd behaviors. He had been brought in a psychiatric hospital but later released to be an outpatient. He attended a counseling session at Cook Counseling Center once. Some Korean youths who knew Cho said that he is a fan of violent video games, specifically, â€Å"Counterstrike† which was a game of terrorism where players try to shoot each other down with different t ypes of guns (Watson, 2007). Lucinda Roy, chair of the English Department at Virginia Tech described Cho as appearing to be very depressed (Goldstein, 2009). Roy went on further to say that she learned that Cho visited the counseling center of the school three times but there was no meaningful diagnosis. 2. Agnew’s Strain Theory Robert Agnew’s strain theory is a revision of the earlier strain theories developed. Whereas the general strain theories are focused on the negative aspects of the social relationship of individuals and how it affects their tendency to commit crime, Agnew’s strain theory presented major types of â€Å"deviance-producing strain† (O'Connor, 2007). The first type of strain is the failure to achieve positively valued goals. The positively valued goals according to Agnew are money, status and respect and autonomy (criminology.fsu.edu, n.d.). The second type of strain is the removal of positively-valued stimuli. According to Agnew this happens when a dramatic change of loss happens such as a death in the family which could be very stressful to an individual (O'Connor, 2007). The confrontation with negative stimuli is the third type of strain. These negative stimuli may include peer pressure and child abuse (O'Connor, 2007). According to Agnew, "All manner of positive stimuli" previously experienced or observed constitute expected goals, and their frustration leads to "anger, resentment, rage, dissatisfaction, disappointment, and unhappiness--that is, all the emotions customarily associated with strain in criminology" (O'Connor, 2007). One of the strengths of Agnew’s strain theory is that it argued that no one specific type of strain contributes to the criminal act of a person rather; it is a combination of all the strains that the person has experienced (Agnew, 2001). Another strength of Agnew’s theory is that it proposed a solution in how people can respond to the strains positively. One major weakn ess of Agnew’s strain theory is that it did not state which among the strains is more likely to cause criminal behavior among individuals (Agnew, 2001). Moreover, the theory did not offer an explanation why other people exposed to the strains that Agnew mentioned did not become criminals. The theory gave too much emphasis on one’s social status as a having a huge impact on an individual’s deviant behavior. A crime offender whose actions may be explained by the Agnew strain theory may be assisted by helping them to positively cope

Colonial to 1877 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Colonial to 1877 - Essay Example Slavery remained legal in the South while it was illegal in the North. Few Northerners actively opposed the practice though. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 began a series of events which resulted ultimately in war. The Northwest Ordinance was an act of Congress of the federation and essentially declared that the land north of the Ohio River and East of the Mississippi River, would in fact become a part of the United States as well as become settled. Additionally, the ordinance established an area where slavery was illegal, therefore causing uprising from states south of the Ordinance. The Ohio River would become the boundary line. The next event to cause a disturbance between the North and the South was the Missouri Compromise of1820. This established slavery regulations within the Western Territories. It also made slavery illegal in the Louisiana Territory but allowed it to remain legal within the Missouri Territory. Political ramifications of the compromise served to introduce the idea of democrats and republicans. The compromise had established clear boundaries between North and South and would eventually push the two halves into war. In the meantime, the Mexican-American War was on the horizon as America had annexed the Texas territory from Mexico. The conflict lasted from 1846 to 1848. Most of the Southern States at the time, embraced the idea of Manifest Destiny as well as the idea of acquiring more land in the spirit of slavery expansion. Manifest Destiny was the notion that the United States was destined to claim the territory from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Seaboard. This is precisely why many were in favor of the Mexican-American war and also why the conflict began. Because of so much political and social unrest, the Compromise of 1850 was drafted. This series of bills sought to create resolve over the issue of slavery as well as the Mexican-American War. This compromise served to avoid an immediate

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Criminology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminology - Research Paper Example However, he was bullied by wealthy children in his church. Cho is described as someone who was â€Å"sullen and aloof† (Biography.com, 2012). He was a loner. He referred to himself as â€Å"Question Mark† and he was known to write gruesome stories, poems and plays (Biography.com, 2012). Professors of Cho noticed that Cho’s behavior was not normal. He was described as a bully by one of his professors. He photographed the legs and knees of his female classmates. Moreover, in 2005 he was accused twice for stalking female students. Several times Cho had been advised to get counseling because of his odd behaviors. He had been brought in a psychiatric hospital but later released to be an outpatient. He attended a counseling session at Cook Counseling Center once. Some Korean youths who knew Cho said that he is a fan of violent video games, specifically, â€Å"Counterstrike† which was a game of terrorism where players try to shoot each other down with different t ypes of guns (Watson, 2007). Lucinda Roy, chair of the English Department at Virginia Tech described Cho as appearing to be very depressed (Goldstein, 2009). Roy went on further to say that she learned that Cho visited the counseling center of the school three times but there was no meaningful diagnosis. 2. Agnew’s Strain Theory Robert Agnew’s strain theory is a revision of the earlier strain theories developed. Whereas the general strain theories are focused on the negative aspects of the social relationship of individuals and how it affects their tendency to commit crime, Agnew’s strain theory presented major types of â€Å"deviance-producing strain† (O'Connor, 2007). The first type of strain is the failure to achieve positively valued goals. The positively valued goals according to Agnew are money, status and respect and autonomy (criminology.fsu.edu, n.d.). The second type of strain is the removal of positively-valued stimuli. According to Agnew this happens when a dramatic change of loss happens such as a death in the family which could be very stressful to an individual (O'Connor, 2007). The confrontation with negative stimuli is the third type of strain. These negative stimuli may include peer pressure and child abuse (O'Connor, 2007). According to Agnew, "All manner of positive stimuli" previously experienced or observed constitute expected goals, and their frustration leads to "anger, resentment, rage, dissatisfaction, disappointment, and unhappiness--that is, all the emotions customarily associated with strain in criminology" (O'Connor, 2007). One of the strengths of Agnew’s strain theory is that it argued that no one specific type of strain contributes to the criminal act of a person rather; it is a combination of all the strains that the person has experienced (Agnew, 2001). Another strength of Agnew’s theory is that it proposed a solution in how people can respond to the strains positively. One major weakn ess of Agnew’s strain theory is that it did not state which among the strains is more likely to cause criminal behavior among individuals (Agnew, 2001). Moreover, the theory did not offer an explanation why other people exposed to the strains that Agnew mentioned did not become criminals. The theory gave too much emphasis on one’s social status as a having a huge impact on an individual’s deviant behavior. A crime offender whose actions may be explained by the Agnew strain theory may be assisted by helping them to positively cope

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Audit of Panera Bread Company Quality Service and Market Share Process Research Paper

Audit of Panera Bread Company Quality Service and Market Share Process - Research Paper Example This is because, few customers subscribe to this company and, therefore, the expenses incurred by the company compared to the revenue generated from the services rendered is relatively high. In order to decrease its liabilities, and hence portray a positive image of the company, managers may attempt to take the losses into a different account especially the expenses accounts. In addition, when customers are disappointed in the orders they make, there is a higher possibility of them demanding that their order be remade or refunded. This environment provides the possibility of pilfering by employees as they can always say they had to remake an order with no hint of plausibility. Increased customer returns and higher rates of pilfering by the employees increases the costs of goods sold by the company. Another risk is that Panera Bread is in the provision of services it offers on a national, regional, and local level, and this reduces its revenues and market share. When customers get poo r services, it increases their chances of shifting to another competing company offering the same services. This reduces the amount of revenue and the company incurs expenses such as, in advertising and improving its services to be better than those offered by their competitors. However, the company must make sure not to increase its prices since the customers will again shift to the competing companies. Since advertising is necessary, the managers then tend to hide the expenses behind the advertising expense in the statement of account. Controls To alleviate the risks coming from poor services, Panera Bread should put into practice several controls. The company, to alleviate the risk of accounts payable being understated, as a result of increased expenses and, therefore, managers resulting to understating the expenses, should require proper authorisation of orders and entry of these orders in its ledger. The company should establish regular receipt book control, and ledger book to help reduce the irregularities. In a bid to entice customers, advertising is done. A control on this should also be enacted where the company should ensure that there are supporting documents any time a manager books an advertising expense. It should also provide an appropriate division of duties such that a manager does not fake any advertising expenses. The company, to deal with the risks of losing its customers, can offer differentiated services from those that it normally offers. This can be done through, introducing offers, for example, ‘buy one get two’. Also, the maintenance of a serene environment can also be an advantage. This increases the influx of customers thereby solving the problem of managers faking expenses to reduce the liabilities since the revenue will increase in the long run. Audit Objectives During this audit, I plan to test the accuracy and the valuation of the contingent liability for losses associated with poor services, the completeness of pur chases and accounts payable and the existence of advertising expenses. Risk Assessment As a result, many emerging enterprises, especially in the food service industry, restaurants are always searching for ways of increasing their profits: Therefore, I assessed natural risk throughout all financial assertions. Moreover, the contingent liability is an estimation and, therefore, at a high risk of manipulation by the managers. The controls around the accounts payable

Monday, October 14, 2019

Cannabis and Food Service Essay Example for Free

Cannabis and Food Service Essay Introduction I.Attention-Grabbing introduction: According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a recent government survey shows that over 98 million Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana at least once in their lifetime. II.Preview of 3 Main Points: Today I am going to give you information about marijuana legalization. There are three main points to touch on. First, what is marijuana and how does it affect humans. Second, when and why did marijuana become illegal? Third and finally, I will speak about the trend of states legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. Thesis/Specific Purpose Statement: Using these three points, I am going to attempt to inform you about marijuana and the movement to legalize it. Body I.Point One: What is marijuana and how does it affect humans? A.Sub-point A: According to WebMD, marijuana, or cannabis sativa, is a naturally occurring plant that contains several psychoactive ingredients, including delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). B.Sub-point B: When THC reaches the brain, it induces relaxation and a feeling of euphoria. It also typically heightens the senses and relieves pain. Transition Now that we know what marijuana is, let’s look at when and why it became illegal in the United States. II.Point Two: When did marijuana become illegal in the United States? A. Sub-point A: According to an article published in Fortune magazine, marijuana has been utilized by human civilizations for thousands of years. It has been a part of western medicine since the early 19th century. B. Sub-point B: Starting in the early 1900’s, states began outlawing cannabis because it had become associated with violence and psychosis. C. Sub-point C: In 1937, through the Marihuana Tax Act, the federal government effectively outlawed marijuana, in spite of objections by the American Medical Association. Transition: So, we have looked at what marijuana is, as well as when it became illegal in the United States. Let’s finally look at the current trend of states legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. III.Point Three: More and more states are enacting legislation that legalizes medical marijuana. A. Sub-point A: According to the USA Today, when New Jersey passed medical marijuana legislation in 2010, it became the 14th state to legalize marijuana in some form. B. Sub-point B: In addition to this, there are another 14 states that are currently considering legislation that will either legalize medical marijuana or decriminalize possession of personal amounts. Conclusion A.Summary Statement / 3 main points thesis: In review, first we looked at what marijuana is as well as its effects on the human brain, second we saw when and how marijuana was prohibited in the U.S. and third, we looked at the growing number of states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana. B.Statement tying introduction to conclusion: With a large portion of Americans having tried marijuana, and more and more states considering legislation, it seems that the time has come for a serious debate about the legality of marijuana. Sample Outline Goal: To convince listeners that the often-criticized Campus Food Service is really quite good. Introduction I. How many times have we, as students, complained about Campus Food Service and decided to order in or go out after having previewed that day’s menu? II. By showing how the Food Service on campus keeps costs to a minimum, keeps offering a good variety, and keeps maintaining high quality standards, I am going to prove that Campus Food Service is the best meal program for students. Thesis/Specific Purpose Statement: Campus Food Service is vastly underrated. Body I.Cost is not a valid complaint. A. According Myer Tempel, an outside review company, no one is getting rich off Food Service, since proceeds are divided among utilities, labor, wages, and the cost of food. B. An informal survey shows that Campus Food is comparable in price to local restaurants. Transition: Now that we’ve talked about the cost of the food, let’s move to quality of the food itself. II.Taste is not a valid complaint. A. According to Matt Davis, the Campus Foods coordinator, and supported by Myer Tempel, all foods served are Grade A, fresh daily, and never reused under any circumstances. B. Every Friday night, Campus Foods has an â€Å"international dinner night,† taking us from Latin America to Italy to China. Transition: In addition to preferring tasty food, students also wish for a variety of foods to choose from. III.Lack of variety is not a valid complaint. A. Every day, Food Service offers three entrees and a vegetarian meal, not to mention a salad bar option, breads, soups, and a dessert bar. B. Although Food Service serves a lot of chicken and fish, Myer Tempel says this is because students have requested healthier sources of protein. Conclusion: I. Through consistent efforts to charge students a low price, maintain fresh, tasty standards, and offer a wide variety of food, Campus Food Service is a fair, affordable way for students at the university to dine. II. We are just left with one problem: now that we know all the benefits of eating at Food Service, what are we going to complain about at dinner?

Sunday, October 13, 2019

English in Pakistan

English in Pakistan THE AUDIENCE OF THE ANALYSIS The audience of this analysis is all primary school as the writing will focus on the existing teaching techniques at this level and will concentrate on the anomalies in this methodology. The revised 2006 English Teaching curriculum is completely based on the ongoing teaching technique. The revised curriculum 2006 for the first time introduced English at the level of grade 1 which used to be introduced to students at 6 grade before 2006. This is a milestone in the history of Pakistan that students of government run schools could start learning English from the very first year of school. The government new education policy unveiled on 12 March 2009 with a hope to reduce the illiteracy to a great level. The policy will be implemented at the expiry of National Education Policy 2008-2010 next year. But revised English curriculum and the new national policy does not draw attention to the mammoth problem of obsolete teaching techniques especially English curriculum at all levels. To overcom e these issues we will deeply look into the Communicative Language Teaching techniques which will resolve the long standing issues of the country and put the teaching techniques on the right track. POLICY ANALYSIS TIME AND PROCESS SPENT ON THE POLICY DEVELOPMENT It is arduous to forecast the exact time the Ministry of Education (MoE) undertook the task of coming up with a revised curriculum for English in 2006. As the national education policy 1998-2010 introduced in 1998 was heavily criticised for being inadequate to cater the needs of the country in twenty first century and very soon MoE realised the gravity of the mistakes when the new education policy was heading towards complete collapse. To save its face the MoE came up with a new idea to revise some of the most defective policies. INTENDED AUDIENCE The analysis is going to focus on the problems of teachers, students and the curriculum. The analysis is restricted to the primary system of education in the biggest province of Punjab. FUNCTION AND PURPOSE OF THE ANALSYIS The main function and purpose of the policy analysis is to focus on the drawbacks in the teaching methodology and the proposed curriculum introduced at the primary level. How these problems are adversely affecting the people involved with education sector, especially the students who are at the receiving end. TYPE OF KNOWLEDGE The analysis is both non-interpretative and interpretative. NATURE OF POLICY The analysis is non-perspective as it will have a wide approach towards the existing policy. â€Å"A non-perspective policy text†¦ is construed so that the reader is allowed a great deal of latitude as to how they interpret its message(s)† (Scott, 2000, pp 18). Scott adds â€Å"if the text is non-perspective, the reader is not asked to behave or think in a certain way but is offered a number of possibilities which they can then choose from† (ibid, pp 18-19). The writing will be based on the views, analysis and research of different educationists, analysts and opinion. It will focus on both the traditionalist approach and CLT approach and how it works out for a country like Pakistan. The topic is wide focus on the English teaching techniques at primary level in Pakistan and how this is effecting the students in term of their progress. The CLT will be dealt with in depth to address the issue the English teaching as a second/foreign language. While talking about the new approach we will keep our focus on Pakistan’s primary level language teaching techniques. One figure is used but graphics and statistics have not been employed as the topic under discussion is of generic nature and involves opinion and research of different researchers and educationists. PAKISTAN AND ENGLISH Worldwide the significance of English as a language of communication cannot be overlooked. As communication is the most fundamental aspect of human life (Thompson 2003:1) and a language works as a key mean of communication for humans (Clark et. al. 1994:1). The communication process starts first at communal level but this circle widens up when people from different communities and societies interacts with one another. As the world has become a global village the English rightly fulfils the need for a common lingua franca to bridge the widening gap between world communities. Nowadays English is widely considered as a global language and according to Brutt-Griffler (mentioned in Mackay 2002:12) due to its some of the most appealing features it holds this position. The popularity of English these days could be judged from the fact more than 85 percent international organisations worldwide employ English as the main language, for instance in Asia and the Pacific ninety percent of the org anisations officially use English (MacKay 2002:17). The national language of Pakistan is Urdu but English has been the official language for communication over the last six decade since its independence. The Kachru’s concentric model describes Pakistan’ position in a very well manner as it falls in the outer-circle of the model. This circle includes the earlier period of the extension of English in non-native countries where it has become a part of a countrys chief institutions, and plays an important second language role in a multilingual setting and includes 50 other territories. Fig. 1 The University Grants Commission of Pakistan (1982) in a â€Å"Report on the Teaching of Language† deemed the English as the language of knowledge, technology, and international communication, as an important second language’. Furthermore the report adds regarding the future of English in Pakistan that it would be employed in the near future as the language of technology and for international communication and soon English is going to hold the position of global lingua franca and ignoring language would be detrimental for any country especially for a country like Pakistan which is already having advantages in the form of past knowledge of English (UGC 1982:14). This statement reveals the significance of English for a third world state like Pakistan and recently the government decided to introduce English at all Government Schools from the year one (MoE 2007) and shun the existing policy of teaching English at grade 6 (i.e. sixth year of schooling). EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE COUNTRY First of all it is vital to comprehend the structure of education system in Pakistan in order to focus in better manner on the topic under discussion. For a long time English has been an integral component of the syllabus. The education in Pakistan can be dissected into five main levels but we will discuss only two main categories at school level: Primary Level: The primary level comprises of 1-5 grades and students of age 3-11. At this level the medium of instructions at government schools is Urdu while schools under provincial governments use local/regional languages as the medium. As mentioned above now the government is planning to introduce English at this level both at federal and provincial schools. Secondary Level: This level can be further segmented into two main stages: Middle school, which includes pupil of grade 6-8, and Higher school consisting of grade 9-10 students. The age group for this level varies between 11-18 years and is of great significance because at this stage of education the syllabus commences towards specialisation in a specific field or disciple and decides towards the future of a student. For instance at this stage a student decides whether he intends to pursue science subjects or arts subjects, the two most common choices available for students at higher school (9-10 grades). Ironically, the medium of instructions at this stage depends on the kind of institution, for example, in private schools the ‘O Levels’ system or ‘Senior Cambridge’ system of education are in vogue and therefore English is the primary source of instruction. While in government schools, also called the ‘Urdu Medium Schools’, the local curriculum of English is taught as the name suggests the medium of instruction is in Urdu. ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING Since independence of Pakistan in 1947 all successive governments have been aiming at introducing new and robust education policy to ameliorate the obsolete education system left by the British Empire. But most of these efforts have gone down the drain due to insincere, apathetic and sloppy policies of the government and one can judge the failure of these policies from the fact that in the last 62 years Pakistan introduced 11 education policies (1947, 1951, 1959, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1992, 1998, 2010) without any beneficial outcome. As educational analysts rightly infer that the number of education policies does not mean we are over-concerned about poor education standard or under-performance of these policies but it means precisely the opposite. For instance in 1998 the education policy 1998-2010 was introduced but within a couple of years of its launch it led to the complete collapse of the education system and to shroud this downfall the Ministry of Education rushed to in troduce a new revised curriculum in 2006 (MoE 2007 available at http://www.moe.gov.pk/). This reveals the pathetic situation of crumbling educational system of the country. Now the government has announced initial National Education Policy 2009 which will be enforced from 2010. We will focus on the obsolete English teaching methodology in practice and unfortunately like in the past the Ministry of Education’s revised curriculum for ‘English Language 2006’ totally avoids this issue (ibid). Curriculum planning can be seen as the systematic attempt by educationalists and teachers to specify and study planned intervention into the educational enterprise (Nunan 1988: 1). But in Pakistan the government has never thought on this line and the existing situation has gone from bad to worse where English language teaching is considered as being dissatisfactory, non-conducive and counter-productive for learning the language in Pakistan (Warsi 2004). The educationists summari se the English language teaching techniques in vogue at different levels of education in the following context: Teaching methodology is scant of deep approaches to learning or in other words lack of connection to personal, experience of the learner, conceptualisation and integration. For language learning it has the implication of memorizing facts about language and lack of contextualized, authentic use of the target language with a focus on meaning. Curriculum based teaching and learning. An emphasis on rote memorisation. More focus and emphasis on transfer and assessment of factual knowledge rather than assessment of critical thinking and analytical skills (Rehmani 2003:3) The above features indicate the traditional approach to teaching of English language. Nunan further elaborates the main elements of this traditionalist approach: Area Model View of learning Transmission of knowledge Power relation Emphasis on teacher’s authority Teacher’s role Providing frontal instruction Learner’s role Passive / individual work View of knowledge Presented as ‘certain’ View of curriculum Static; predefined content and product Learning experience Knowledge of facts, concepts skills; focus on content and product Control of process Teacher structured learning Motivation Extrinsic Evaluation Product oriented: achievement testing; criterion referencing (Nunan 1999:7) Nunan correctly draws the traditional methodology in English teaching in the country where the traditionalists view and focus on the language as a structured system of grammatical patterns, with a higher focus of such techniques on formal and bookish language. Such approach aims to have pupils producing formally correct sentences and in terms of skills, an emphasis on reading and writing (Nunan 1988:26-27). Globally there has been a greater tendency towards research and development in the field of language teaching techniques and approaches but haplessly Pakistan education system is oblivious of such developments in the world. Warsi laments â€Å"the obsolete [grammar] translation method is still being adopted by most language programmes† (Warsi 2004) and the facets of language teaching programmes are irrelevant to the most fundamental requirements of students (ibid). Since 1960s, there is an ambition to formulate language teaching more responsive to the needs of the student a nd this has been a consistent feature of both writing and practical experimentation in language teaching (Tudor 1996:66). Tudor further advocates such approach and opines that it permits students to ‘play a fuller, more active and participatory role in their language study’ (ibid). And it develops language teaching more effective as the teaching process is highly helpful to the needs, characteristics and expectations of learners. Tudor insists that immense need for different kind of language skills within a swiftly evolving social and economic context made it indispensable for â€Å"a language teaching profession to develop appropriate tools for identifying learner’s communicative needs and for translating them into coherent course structures† (Tudor 1996:8). Tudor’s argument truly reflects the need of development skills in the education sector of Pakistan to foster the needs of a strong and well-educated society and a robust education system for th e present and the future. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) emerged in 60s as an approach towards the teaching of language which lay emphasis on interaction as a source of learning a foreign language. The approach in CLT is totally different from the traditionalist approach as it is a wider approach which is based on a list of common principles and characteristics. As CLT can be well defined by Nunan’s five points: An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the Learning Management process. An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom. (Nunan 1991, 279) The main aim of CLT is to make a student capable of achieving communicative competence in the foreign language so that he can utilize the language for doing the similar tasks which it undertakes in day to day life. In other words its application should be reflective of the circumstances or events surrounding and should not be based on imaginative or unrealistic ideas. Until 1970s teaching and learning system was deemed as system of rules and the learners were assumed to internalize such rules (Nunan 1999:9). The approach was contradictory to CLT because it focus on set rules of teaching and a set path which could never be breached or in other words simply the teaching of fundamental like grammar of a language while there is no emphasis on its application and usage in the language. As Richard contends that language ability cannot be restricted to just grammar and it involves more than merely memorizing grammar and the grammar and other features of a language should be applied properly and purposefully for different communicative purpose and therefore the focus of learning and teaching need to be directed towards the use of language and not just the knowledge of language (Richards 2007:9). ENGLISH CURRICULUM AND TEACHING TECHNIQUES IN PAKISTAN In third world countries like Pakistan, the teaching curriculum, especially English curriculum, has been the centre of criticism over the last couple of decades. The English curriculum is obsolete and outdated which has been in practice since colonial rule over the sub-continent. Before 2006 to the worse of students at government owned schools important subject like English was introduced at the secondary level or 6th grade and at this stage the students started learning the ABC of English. The revised 2006 English curriculum for the first time introduced English at 1st grade. The new revised English curriculum only focuses on outlining the policy but does not focus on the problems at the heart of the system. The organisation of the curriculum framework reveals that students of primary level have been divided into two categories of I-II and III-V with the aim to develop a solid base for the tender age students in order to develop them into autonomous learners and to develop skills an d understanding to build a foundation for later studies. This policy guideline for the English curriculum also sets different benchmark for different groups of students. For instance the benchmark summarised in table 2.3 at page 11 for grade III-V reveals that the planner of the policy has concentrated more on the grammar. The government while introducing such syllabus overlooks the capabilities of the government schools to enforce such policy. One can understand the level of competency the curriculum plans to achieve for the students for instance one of the competency objective for grade one student is to learn how a student will hold a book, open a book and turn pages of a book correctly (Revised Curriculum, section 3, page 22). The other competency objective for the same group is tantamount to spoon feeding where a student is supposed to tell what comes before and after an alphabet (ibid, page 25). Furthermore on the page 26 of the curriculum the grade-I students are supposed to learn the poem by heart which will help them in developing reading and thinking skills (ibid, page 26). The big question mark is how a student is supposed to memorise something which is new for him without knowing or understanding the meaning and what is the main purpose of that exercise which a grade-I student is going to adopt and does it help towards the aim of developing a student reading and thinking sills. The writing skills of the curricul um (page 27) focuses on how a student will hold a pencil correctly, draw different lines, draw within the lines, trace and copy small and capital letters, write number from 1 to 10, write date, name, phone number etc. The ‘formal and lexical aspect of language’ again diverts the student from English towards local languages which defocus them from their main objective (page 33). These are some of the aspects of the revised English curriculum which reflects the insincerity and lack of dedication to introduce new English teaching techniques and a fresh syllabus based on modern knowledge. The curriculum is seen by most of the critics as a repetitive and ineffective guideline for the teachers and students which will hardly benefit any of the two. The teaching guideline is more inclined towards the traditionalist approach and there is no room for any reform towards adaptation of new techniques being practiced worldwide for teaching English. The curriculum does not work to ame nd the existing practice of teaching where the students are the biggest losers. The curriculum restricts to develop and promote the internal abilities of the student by binding them to follow, adopt and think within limited parameters without any concession to go out of those limits and this in turn leads to lost of confidence and self-learning capabilities. I put the question regarding the new English curriculum to a former senior Professor of English, Mr. Safdar Rana, (at Islamabad Model College for Boys, F-8/4, Islamabad, Pakistan) who is associated with teaching profession for over 30 years, he ridiculed the syllabus and said: â€Å"the syllabus is the same obsolete which I started teaching at primary level in 1967, it is 100 percent the same. The same syllabus includes topic like write the story of ‘greedy dog’, ‘union is strength’, ‘write a letter to father thanking him for buying a pen’, essay of ‘Journey by Bus’ etc is going on and Ministry of education is happy that they are promoting education and in their mind this system is the best in the third world. But actually the current English teaching techniques and the curriculum are not student-friendly and their learning process has stopped as they do not use their abilities and skills but heavily dependent on rote memorisation.† To another question regarding the improvement in English teaching standard, expressing his sorrow, he replied: â€Å"how one can expect improvement in education when not a single government tried to change the system, the teachers are under-educated and ill-equipped to teach the students because they are adopting the old techniques of teaching and an obsolete syllabus left by British before independence; these techniques and syllabus has been rejected by the rest of the world as counter-productive and inefficient but still this is in practice over here. Second how a teacher can teach a crowded class of 80 students, you cannot introduce new system in such circumstances. The government is heedless to the student-teacher problems and this sector has been completely ignored by all political and military government came to power.† To a question that teacher are against new techniques like CLT, he opined: â€Å"as far as I am concerned I will welcome any such change. But the government has never introduced any such scheme or system in the past and it will be wrong to say that teachers are against any such techniques. But it is an upheaval task as it needs long term massive investment in term of finance and human resources and serious and consistent efforts are needed on the part of current and any future governments to train, monitor and supervise up to half million teachers where 70 percent of government schools are located in rural and far flung areas of the country.† As Hindal furthers the argument that the techniques of teaching and learning are fully relied upon the well-organised and effective memorisation of information and procedures, which is part of the text books or lecture notes, and its later recollection in exams (2007). This pattern of teaching and learning techniques is common at all levels of education (Hindal 2007). In this setup the student and teachers are very rarely rewarded for their comprehension and the rewards in exams are completely based on retention and memory (ibid). The main trend in such system is that how much a student is capable of memorising and recalling and the learning or success is not based on learning, understanding or using its capabilities. It is a common concept that those teachers in Pakistan have been successful in a system which rewards accurate recall because comprehension is not valued highly for learners at all level. Reid in 1979 gave this idea that for a change of an approach, new information needs to interact with the long-term existing memory. Reid contends that there is no possibility of change in attitude if there is failure to establish mental relationship. Reid identifies specific kind of circumstances where there is higher probability of interaction and this will include learning situations which are active or in other words the student should be involved with the new material, feelings or experiences. This theory rightly suggests that the English text books and curriculum in Pakistan have failed to develop positive attitudes among learners and teachers towards English language. In third world countries like Pakistan the teacher is deemed as the ‘fount of knowledge’ and not as a facilitator (Liu1998:5). Liu emphasise the needs and significance of a proper teaching methodology in accordance with the cultures of these countries instead of completely depending on the western researchers and approaches for their need as some western techniques are not going to work out for a poor country (Liu1998:4). CONCLUSION The education standard at primary level cannot be improved without complete overhaul and innovation of the existing teaching techniques and curriculum which merely promotes the traditionalist approach sans any hope of development. The traditionalist approach to teaching could be replaced with Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which is the best alternative to the existing system of education, especially for teaching English as a second language. The introduction of new curriculum is not up to the standard to assist the pupils to engage their natural abilities and skills but it discourage them to be innovative, constructive and confident. The successful student in such system is that who blindly adopts and follows the current education system. The Ministry of Education (MoE) has been following a vicious circle of education policies and strategies for a very long time with this hope that this path will lead to success but by end of day the MoE comes to the same point from where they started in 1947.