Wal-Mart Is Bad for America Essay Example for Free

Wal-Mart Is Bad for America Essay Starting out with a single store in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart has not stopped expanding. The First Wal-Mart store was opened in 1962 by a Mr. Sam Walton. He opened the store with one intention: sell products people need at the lowest price available. Wal-Mart has since blown up into a globally known and used corporation. Currently, more than fifty percent of all Americans live within five miles of a Wal-Mart store, which is less than a ten mile drive away. Ninety percent of Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart. (Fishman, 2006). Wal-Mart is bordering on 9000 locations worldwide including operations in Mexico, United Kingdom, Japan, and India. Wal-Mart is undoubtedly a global powerhouse. This powerhouse is impacting its home country. Wal-Mart affects American businesses and employees. This massive corporation affects the health of the United States. It has many affects as it spreads around the world. â€Å"A century ago, the companies that dominated the global food trade were wholesalers. Today these giants are dwarfed by the supermarkets that govern the global food system from farm to fork† (Patel, 2011). In other words, supermarkets or â€Å"superstores† have dominated and taken over the food system. Wal-Mart would be the leader and most profitable giant in this group. With the company’s rampant globalization and its negative impact on American businesses, employees, and overall health, Wal-Mart has proven time and time again that it is no good for America. To begin with, Wal-Mart’s rapid growth has led to great success for the company, but at the expense of small businesses around the nation. â€Å"Supermarkets rule the food chain† (Patel, 2011). Smaller shops and businesses have been taking huge hits in recent years. Small â€Å"mom and pop† stores have been the backbone of American society and a symbol of the American dream since the founding of the country. That being said, Wal-Mart has been in constant competition with these stores, and many say Wal-Mart is doing a great job of destroying all its competition, even some larger manufactures’. â€Å"Not since the days of the British East India Company as the cornerstone of the British imperial system has one single corporate entity been responsible for so much misery† (Freeman Ticknor, 2003). There have been many efforts to combat these â€Å"big box† stores from taking over small communities, while other communities have welcomed stores like Wal-Mart with open arms simply because their community is struggling to survive and they expect such a large business to bring in jobs. It is true that Wal-Mart does bring in jobs. However, as people are applying and taking jobs at Wal-Mart stores, what they do not know is that, they are slowly selling their souls, giving up their pocket books, and becoming slaves of this corporation. â€Å"An exchange of goods at a low price benefits everyone-quoting Adam Smith† (Van Riper, 2008). At what lengths are customers willing to go through to have low prices? Although Wal-Mart offers these low prices, communities still do not want their businesses being forced out and have been fighting the big box store takeover. Americans have not all become accustomed to supermarkets and malls. There are Americans who still enjoy the small â€Å"mom and pop† markets on the corner and like the rich culture that comes from individual shops and town markets. Sometimes, these individuals make a stand against Wal-Mart and other large companies. Take, for example, the success of the citizens of Eureka, California, who were not thrilled with the idea of Wal-Mart coming to town and setting up shop. â€Å"Activists built a well-oiled machine of organized resistance† (Halebsky, 2010). Most towns and communities are not this lucky. The activists had help in this case from Al Norman, the founder of Sprawl-Busters, consultants who help local community campaigns against megastores and other undesirable large-scale developments. This is a reminder that under the right conditions, the small town â€Å"David† can topple a big business â€Å"Goliath† (Halebsky, 2010). When all of these viewpoints are considered, it is clear that Wal-Mart’s rapid growth at the expense of small businesses is bad for the American economy. Wal-Mart is crushing all competitors with no remorse. Wal-Mart forces its way into small communities and forces itself upon the citizens making them into employees and also making it so small business does not stand a chance. Small business in small communities, especially low-income communities, simply cannot compete with a large corporation like Wal-Mart. Though some, like the citizens of Eureka, may be able to fight a Wal-Mart invasion, most are not this lucky nor do they know enough to fight Wal-Mart on their own. Simply put, Wal-Mart is a disease; it infects one community then moves on to the next. In addition to these effects on small businesses around the country, Wal-Mart’s promises of low prices are also impacting its own workforce. These low prices often come at the expense of fair wages and sufficient healthcare plans, leaving Wal-Mart employees to work in poor conditions for little reward. Wal-Mart’s treatment of its employees has long been in question. â€Å"The sad truth is that people earning Wal-Mart level wages tend to favor fashions available at the Salvation Army† (Ehrenreich, 2007). In less sarcastic terms, Wal-Mart employees cannot even afford to buy the clothes they sell and have to end up shopping at places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army to clothe themselves and their family. â€Å"You have to keep wages completely down; you have to keep staff down† (Fishman, 2006). This is part of Wal-Mart’s business strategy for higher profit. Wal-Mart offers some of the lowest possible wages for its employees. Wal-Mart also keeps the available staff down so the employees on the clock are constantly swamped with business making them extremely overworked. So Wal-Mart has discovered the secret to maximum profits: keep the wages and amount of employees down, which means paying less people less money while still raking in profit. This sounds dangerously close to a sweatshop. â€Å"Wal-Mart has lately come under fire for its meanness over employees’ health-care benefits† (Economist, 2006). In the movie Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, there were several interviews with actual Wal-Mart employees who discuss the low wages and poor health care. In an anonymous interview, an employee states that â€Å"you should never have to choose between medicine for your sick child and feeding your family† (Greenwald, 2005). Wal-Mart offers big discounts and low prices, but the employees end up paying for it with low wages and poor health care. â€Å"The biggest single problem was health care costs which were rising 19 percent a year, mainly because Wal-Mart employees are sicker than the average American† (Bianco, 2007). Wal-Mart’s healthcare is a joke. The rates and premiums are through the roof with doctors’ visits costing one hundred dollars or more. The basic healthcare plan is a 25 dollar premium for an individual, 37 dollars for a single parent, and 65 dollars for a family. This plan included 3 total doctor visits per year before the 1000 dollar deductible kicks in (Bianco, 2007). So the key to Wal-Mart’s broken system is that they pay their employees low wages and overwork them, but if an employee falls ill, Wal-Mart’s own healthcare plan does not even provide enough to help their employees back to work. In addition to the low wages and poor healthcare plans that the company offers its employees, there have been an ever-increasing number of sexual harassment cases levied against Wal-Mart. One such case involved a male employee who made an explicit comment to a female employee who was bending over to pick up a package. One Peggy Kimzey, shipping clerk from Warsaw, Missouri, bent over a package when she heard a male store manager laughing with another male employee. When Peggy asked what they were doing, he replied with a sexual comment about her backside. He then continued even after she asked him to stop. Peggy filed a law suit against Wal-Mart. According to her attorney, Peggy, endured many other situations like this in her four years of employment. Peggy also reported that many of the other female employees went through daily degrading remarks from male managers, as well (Glazer, 1996). This was the beginning of many lawsuits against Wal-Mart and certainly not the end. Wal-Mart is also strictly and famously non-union. â€Å"Wal-Mart has been successful in keeping Unions out of its American stores, partly because it has the resources to fight organizers in the stores and in court† (Preface to â€Å"Should Wal-Mart Unionize, 2008). In order to keep goods at discount and keep wages down, Wal-Mart has tried extremely hard to keep any whisper of unionizing out of its stores. There have been countless attempts by Wal-Mart employees to petition and unionize, but even at the suggestion of a union being formed, Wal-Mart managers start the threats and spread rumors of jobs being lost if employees vote yes. One case came out of Jacksonville, Texas, where butchers voted 7 to 3 to unionize. After two weeks, Wal-Mart eliminated the butchers’ jobs by switching to prepackaged meat and scattered the workers to different departments, which effectively abolished the union. The federal Labor judge ruled this act illegal three years later and ordered Wal-Mart to reverse all its actions. However, by that time, the original butchers had left the company. (Pre-face to â€Å"Should Wal-Mart Unionize, 2008). This shows that no matter what, Wal-Mart wins. The corporation will do almost anything to keep unions out of the workforce. With all viewpoints considered, it is clear Wal-Mart does not take care of its employees. Wal-Mart employees struggle to make ends meet and there are employees that have to choose between the whole family eating and provide medicine for a sick child or family member. This is a ridiculous and disturbing way to live. Employees have no choice in most cases because it is the only job they can find in small towns where Wal-Mart has forced out all other small business. Wal-Mart’s treatment of its employees is ludicrous and barbaric, and it borders on slave labor. Wal-Mart plans every move it makes. It knows they are the only choice for most Americans in terms of employment, so they are able to set their own conditions. Wal-Mart sells goods at the lowest possible prices to keep their prices to consumers low. The problem is that they do not care how or from where those cheap goods are obtained. Recently, in the movie Food Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner (2008) broke down the supermarket walls and showed the public where and how their food transforms from raw material to the food sold in stores. â€Å"I think it’s one of the most important battles for consumers to fight, and that is the right to know what’s in their food and how it was grown† (Kenner, 2008). There has been a big push in recent years for more accurate labeling in the food sold in supermarkets. Many producers and supermarkets are fighting to not have labels on their food showing where the food comes from or even what ingredients are in the food. â€Å"Not only do they not want you to know what’s in it, they have managed to make it against the law to criticize their products† (Kenner, 2008). There are laws protecting the meat and produce companies from people openly criticizing their product. Oprah was even sued by the cattle companies for saying â€Å"it makes me not want to ever pick up another Meat patty again† on her show (Kenner, 2008). The meat packers unsuccessfully sued Oprah for bashing their product and loss of profit. Again, Wal-Mart has no regard for how they make money. It does not matter where or how Wal-Mart’s food is obtained, just so it brings in the maximum amount of profit for them. Red meat and poultry is literally packed into houses and not able to move, in order to gain more meat in less space. These extreme conditions, piled onto extensive hormones and steroids administered to boost the size of animals, make many farm animals extremely unhealthy to consume. There has been an extensive amount of E. Coli poisoning breakouts over the past ten years because of these chemicals growing in the intestines and stomachs of the animals. Yet agai n, Wal-Mart does not care how this meat is obtained just so they get it as cheap as possible and they can resale it marked up and make their profit. Americans have forever been informed of the horrible experiences going on overseas in sweatshops that are run by American corporations trying to maximize profit by paying workers in other countries massively low wages to make and produce goods such as clothing. Wal-Mart has also has been accused of running sweatshops and outsourcing its manufacturing jobs overseas to places where it costs less to make goods because they can pay employees less than American workers. â€Å"Americans may not know it, but many of the name-brand products they purchase were made under appalling circumstances† (Clark, 1996). Many companies, such as Sears and Bloomingdale’s, choose to outsource their work in order to maximize profit. Both companies are huge retailers and make a large profit every year, but this profit is largely based on their ability to produce clothing and other goods through sweatshops and cheap child labor in other countries. Wal-Mart is no different. Although Wal-Mart does not directly contract these sweatshops, they do go around the world finding the cheapest made jeans, clothing, toys, etc., and buy all of them up to turn around and sell them for a huge profit. So, no, Wal-Mart does not directly contract these sweatshops, but they do support this ghastly system. Wal-Mart has come into the Chinese economy in the same way it has in America, by putting a big blue store on every corner. In the most recent study, Chinese Wal-Mart stores are employing almost 150,000 people and drawing in more than 1.2 million people a month with more than 100 stores across the nation (Matusitz Leanza, 2009). This is leading to the same kind of shift to low wages and poor working conditions that is happening in the United States. Aware of these many issues surrounding its global presence, Wal-Mart has been growing involved in fair-trading. â€Å"Recently Wal-Mart has quadrupled its purchases of fair trade bananas, thus elim inating non fair trade bananas from its shelves† (Chu, 2009). However, this engagement in the fair trade market is not compatible with Wal-Mart’s current business model. Simply put, even as the economy is in ruins, Wal-Mart is managing to continue to bring in more profit every year at the expense of its workers and the health of its shoppers around the world. â€Å"Wal-Mart is a penny pinchers paradise† (Gross, 2008). So Wal-Mart finds another way to maximize their profit at the expense of others. Wal-Mart chooses to utilize sweatshops and child labor to increase their overall profit. Instead of using American distributors or buying locally, merchandise travels the world in the pursuit of greater profit margins for the company. Wal-Mart also chooses to expand its business overseas to China. This action also takes advantage of Chinese workers who, like America workers, need money and Wal-Mart is their only option. In conclusion, Wal-Mart is a huge corporation with many resources. Wal-Mart employs over 1.3 million people and over 5000 stores nationwide (Freeman Ticknor). It has been under fire a lot for several of its business practices. Wal-Mart offers horrible wages and meager healthcare to its workers. Additionally, there are many examples of rampant sexual harassment issues among the Wal-Mart work force. With these claims not ceasing, it is clear that Wal-Mart does not care enough about its employees to change. Wal-Mart obtains its food and goods from the cheapest provider and has no problem sacrificing quality or nutrition for the bottom line. There is also the controversy over its economic effect on American businesses. Wal-Mart destroys communities and small business. Piece by piece and store by store, Wal-Mart is taking over the United States. It wrecks communities and treats its employees like slaves. Simply put, Wal-Mart is bad for America. â€Å"Americans have stopped trading up and started trading down† (Gross, 2006). References Bianco, A. (2007, February 20). Wal-Mart: The bully of Bentonville: How the high cost of everyday low prices is hurting America. New York: Crown Business. Chu, J. (2009, April 1). The interest of large companies in fair trade is a sign of growing ethical consumption. In D. A. Miller (Ed.), Opposing viewpoints: Fair trade. Greenhaven Press. Clark, C. S. (1996, August 16). Child labor and sweatshops. CQ Researcher 6, 721-744. Ehrenreich, B. (2007, August 20). Unregulated capitalism exploits the poor. In J. Norman (Ed.), Opposing viewpoints: How can the poor be helped. Greenhaven Press. Fishman, C. (2006). The Wal-Mart effect. London, England: The Penguin Group. Freeman, R., Ticknor, A. (2003, November, 14). Wal-Mart is not a business, its an economic disease. Executive Intelligence Review, Retrieved July 7th, 2011, from http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3044wal-mart.html Glazer, S. (1996, July 19). Crackdown on sexual harassment. CQ Researcher 6, 625-648. Greenwald, R. (Director). (2005). Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price [DVD]. Available from www.walmartmovie.com Gross, D. (2008). As economy tanks, Wal-Mart thrives. Slate.com, Retrieved July, 7 2011, from http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/AsEconomyTanksWalMartThr

Nicolas Poussin Essay -- essays research papers fc

Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665 Pictori philosopho (Blunt, 3), â€Å"Painter-philosopher† was a name given to Nicolas Poussin by Serous d’ Agincourt in 1782. Agincourt later found out that the name Pictori philosopho had already been given to the German artist Anton Raphael Mengas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nicolas Poussin was born in 1594 in the town of Les Andelys on the Seine. He came from a nobel family that was ruined by religious wars according to Giovanni Pietro Bellori. No actual proof of this has been established his father Jean Poussin was said to have had some descent of the hierarchy. His mother was the daughter of an alderman. His father served in the military under the command of Charles IX, Henry III, and Henry IV were he came home with a small holding and led the life of a peasent. Education in Les Andelys was not that of high caliber top notch schooling, but early biographers report that Poussin learned Latin. The visit of a painter to Les Andelys by the name of Quentin Varin greatly affected Poussin in the early years of his life. The affect of Varin’s short visit to Les Andelys so greatly affected Poussin that he left home that same year. â€Å"He crept secretly out of the house without the knowledge of his parents.†(Blunt, 13) Upon departure of his home in Les Andelys he traveled to the province capital of Rouen. Once in Rouen he studied for several years under Noel Jouvenet who lived in Rouen at the time. According to biographer Bellori, Poussin arrived in Paris, France in the year 1612, at the latest 1613.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is not much information on the time of Poussin’s life that he left Rouen and the time that he arrived in Paris. Once in Paris he met a man from Poitou who offered his home to Poussin and treated him with great kindness. Poussin was set to decorate his chateau, but due to the interference of a mother-in-law the project was hung out to dry. This left Poussin, â€Å"The young artist found himself without money and three hundred miles from Paris.† (Blunt, 13) He then began the long trek to Paris on foot; he supported himself by painting in small towns that he passed through. He arrived in Paris so ill that he returned to Les Andelys, where he spent a year recovering from his illness. After a years rest Poussin returned to Paris where he built a name for himself as a reputable artist. He made many friends w... ...craments, and especially subjects that refer to baptism (Hibbard, 45).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Poussin believed that virtue and wisdom could be taught to mankind through painting. When he died in 1665, every artist and every lover of painting in Rome revered him. Among the great painters who were most inspired by Poussin’s work was Cezanne, the famous post-impressionist. If Poussin looks back to Raphael and Ancient Rome he points forward to Ingres and Picasso. Poussin painted pictures of total perfection, but those same paintings touch our hearts with their poetry. Works Cited Arikha, Avigdor. Nicolas Poussin, The Rape of the Sabines. Houston: Museum of Fine   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Arts, 1983. Blunt, Anthony. Nicolas Poussin, New York: Bollinger Foundation. 1967. Carrier, David. Poussin’s Paintings. University Park: The Pennsylvannia State   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  University. 1993. Hibbard, Howard. Poussin: The Holy Family on the Steps. London: Penguin Books Ltd.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1974. Oberhuber, Konrad. Poussin The Early Year in Rome. New York: Hudson Hills Press.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1988

Trompworth to Janto

The autumn air was sharp against Tim's chest as he breathed in. He felt colder than he had for a long time for he had no scarf wrapped around his neck or a coat. Tim wore only a plain white school T-shirt, which obviously was not enough to stop him from shivering and rattling his teeth. Jim however looked the more intelligent of the two as he wore what he liked to call â€Å"the full caboodle† which was made up of a T-shirt, jumper, and coat and was completed with clothes and a chequered scarf. The two had just left school for the day and travelled through the Janto woods to their home on the other side. It was their own route that they had made for themselves and had used over the many years of attending Trompworth School. The two considered Trompworth to be the greatest school in the country. It proved to be a very different kind of school to what normal people would be used to. It had been standing for almost two hundred years and was built in a sort of French style architecture. Each building block was made of a special kind of cream coloured brick, which gave each building a kind of forever and modern look to it. Each doorway leading inside the school was always completely covered in flowers around the top and sides and no one ever tried or even thought about picking them. The school got even better once inside for it had many special features and unique places and the corridors often had many twists and turns, which proved to become a sort of labyrinth in certain parts. The architect who built the place believed that children should always be amused and entertained even in such a place as school. He thought that everyone should have very fond memories of their school if not the building at least the atmosphere that they got from it. Many people frowned upon this until they went to look themselves and see how a child could really benefit from enjoying themselves at the place they went to learn. The sun glistened through the tress but did not give Jim or Tim even the slightest feeling of warmth. The amount of leaves on the path that they made got greater as the two went deeper into the woods as if the forest itself wanted them to loose their way. It didn't matter however since they both knew the path well and would have surely noticed if they somehow managed to stray. â€Å"Are you walking up that hill again Jim?† Tim joked as he pointed to a small hill, which had footprints on in a way that looked like as if some struggle took place on it. Jim glared at Tim sternly as he tried his best not to smile at what Tim had just said. â€Å"Hey! It wasn't my fault, it was pouring with rain,† Jim said, as he started to laugh while looking at the embedded footprints in the hill. â€Å"I seemed to get up it okay,† a grinning Tim replied, while walking in front of Jim by some metres. â€Å"That's only because you practically had a natural set of stairs made for you!† Jim shouted as he ran to catch Tim up. â€Å"You were covered in mud from head to toe when you fell!† Tim chuckled. Jim was silent for a moment trying to think of something good to say back to Tim. â€Å"Anyway it was a waste of time trying because it would have only taken about thirty seconds off our journey even if we did manage to get to the top. I could hardly walk for a week after rolling down to the bottom, right Tim?† Jim said, who somehow found a purpose to have a smug look on his face. Jim did not have a second to think or a second to react but a small stone then hit Jim straight on the nose. Jim then yelled in pain as he put his hand on his nose. â€Å"What happened?† Tim shouted, turning round to Jim to see what has just happened. Jim didn't reply but just looked around in all directions obviously trying to find were the stone could have come from. â€Å"Losers!† A voice came from behind Jim and Tim who immediately turned and saw two people they would have been happy not to have seen. It was Tim's rival Mack with Morris who stood lower than Mack and kept a slouched posture and stood a few steps behind him. â€Å"I thought I'd find you around here Tim,† Mack said, as he let his own weight move him down the hill from the shifting gravel stones and gravel. Morris then did the same but had trouble keeping his balance, which he did purposefully. Mack was considered to be one of the most popular kids in Trompworth and was idolized by people like Morris. â€Å"What are you doing on our trail Mack?† Jim said bravely as he stepped in front of Mack's way. Mack then started to smile at Jim and then push him out of the way to get to of Tim. Mack and Jim then squared up to each other while Jim and Morris stood to the side of them. Jim stared into Mack's eyes and the smile did not leave his face as he looked on. The expression on Mack's face then suddenly changed and his head turned to Morris taking his eyes off Jim's. â€Å"What?† Morris said, surprised to why Mack is looking at him like that. â€Å"Do you hear that?† Mack said, turning his head back to Tim. Tim didn't answer just refocused his eyes onto Mack's. Mack then turned away and signalled Morris to follow him up a small hill. Mack ran strongly up the hill while Morris used his hands to climb even though it wasn't very steep. â€Å"What's his problem?† Jim said, as he watched Tim slowly walk up to the start of the hill with a curious look in his eyes. â€Å"I don't know but I'm starting to dislike Mack.† Tim said, laughing afterwards. â€Å"Where are you going?† Jim said. â€Å"Mack said he heard something. It could be something worth hearing.† Tim said, still with a smile on his face. He then started to walk up the hill quite quickly and for some reason seemed to be very interested in what Mack had heard. Jim still remained at the bottom thinking about whether or not he should follow or carry on walking home. Tim then reached the top of the hill. Jim upon seeing Tim disappear over the other side immediately aroused his instinct for him to follow. Jim stared to run up the hill using his hands where they helped since he was running at some speed. Jim usually felt naked without Tim with him so was hardly ever far behind him. He then reached the top of the hill but his sight was temporarily blocked by the sun coming out from behind a cloud. Jim then heard a splash and it was immediately followed by the sound of laughter by many people. Tim was also to be heard laughing in the distance. Jim raised his hand towards the sun to block out the bright and intense sun, which always seemed to get brighter once you entered the woods and would once again go back to normal once you had left. The scenery then came into view. It was the Janto stream, which was the one place that Jim didn't want to see any closer. After all Janto was said to be an enchanted wood. Over a thousand years ago it was said that evil witches and wizards from all over the world would come here for strange rituals. It was rumoured that many parts of the Janto woods had been cursed and could place a spell on you if it somehow could. There were many parts of the Janto woods where it was said that the witches and wizards would gather such as The Grotto and The Great Swell. By the stream stood Tim and a group of boys, which included Mack and Morris. The group of boys all went to Trompworth and had placed all their school bags in a large pile by the stream itself. Jim then jogged over to the group and greeted each of them with a smile except Mack and Morris of course. He could now see that on the other side of the stream stood two girls. Jim knew the two girls quite well as he grew up with both of them. Their names were Isabella and Carrie and both had long blonde hair and both wore almost identical clothes. The reason for the splash then came quite evident as their sat in the middle of the lake on a rock was Clay whose clothes were completely drenched. The group of boys including Tim were still laughing at him. Clay was renowned for his way with girls and always managed to get who he wanted. However he always seemed to embarrass himself one way or another but always had a clever way of keeping his composure. â€Å"Laugh while you can peasants! You know that I am no longer going to like any of you unless you cease your laughing! Clay shouted, climbing to his feet. The laughter then immediately ceased and Clay then reached the other side. The stream was around twenty-five foot in width and had six small jagged rocks placed from one side of the stream to the other. The water was around a foot from soil level and sometimes splashed above when the current increased, which it often did. â€Å"What's going on?† Jim finally asked. Tim turned round to Jim who was now standing next to him. â€Å"Isabella and Carrie are kissing the boys that can make it over the stream without falling in.† Tim chuckled, who looked extremely eager to try it himself. Jim laughed and watched Clay tipping water out of his shoes on the other side. â€Å"Okay next!† Carrie yelled. The next boy then approached the edge of the stream and looked down at the water. The boy was Mack. There was never any fish or any other sort of life in the stream for it was said to contain some kind of substance, which made fish and other life unable to survive. However it seemed to have no affect on humans. Mack then jumped onto the first rock with ease and was about to jump onto the second when a voice came from within the group of boys. â€Å"Don't look down Mack!† The voice said. The group of boys then moved to reveal Yenke stood in the middle. Yenke was Trompworth's foreign exchange student from somewhere that no one really knew. He was very short for his age and had a very odd accent, which sounded a mix of Australian and Welsh. He often said odd things but not many of the boys had not heard one as weird as this one. Yenke chuckled nervously and struggled to talk in risk of more embarrassment. â€Å"Its Janto woods after. The stream is said to be cursed and will take you away if it could!† He said. Mack had a very puzzled but sarcastic look on his face, which clearly offended Yenke. â€Å"You're a fool to believe in such things Yenke!† Mack yelled but did not look down once after. Mack then jumped to the second and his shoes squeaked on the rock but he managed to keep his balance. â€Å"It's easy!† He shouted. Mack then looked up at Carrie and Isabella who stood cheering on the edge. The edge of the stream suddenly seemed to suddenly stretch. Just a little at first. Only a few centimetres but then became a dot on the horizon. â€Å"What's a matter Mack you lost your nerve?† Clay shouted even though Mack could no longer see him. Mack shook his head as if awaking from a trance that he had been subjected to. â€Å"Come on Mack!† Morris shouted while jumping up and down in the air. â€Å"Hurry up! Other people would like a chance as well.† Tim shouted on the edge of the stream. With that Jim then walked over to Tim and placed his hand on his shoulder. â€Å"Your not thinking about crossing is you? It's dangerous.† Jim whispered, making sure that the group of boys don't hear. â€Å"Listen to Jim you must Tim. Jim understands dangers of the Janto woods. You would be wise to take his advice.† Yenke said from behind Jim. Tim stepped in front of Jim forcing him to move out of the way so he could get in front of Yenke. â€Å"You've been going to Trompworth School for about five minutes Yenke. How would you know what's dangerous and what's safe around here?† Tim said knelling down to him. Yenke's eyes then darkened and became angry. The group of boys then backed away as if they knew what Yenke was about to do. â€Å"What? Who are you to dare talk to me like that?† Yenke yelled at the top of his voice. Tim then started walking backwards as Yenke slowly approached him. â€Å"What are you going to do now?† He said as he led Tim backwards until he came to the pile of bags placed behind him. â€Å"Nothing I guess!† Tim said. It was a rare sight to see when Tim step down from a challenge but there was just something about Yenke, which was unusually unsettling to people. â€Å"Exactly nothing and I doubt your going to do anything about this either.† Yenke calmly said. Yenke then walked back to the group of boys who looked on at Tim and wondered why he didn't stand up for himself. Tim was well known at Trompworth since people believed him to be someone who always stands up for himself and others. However it wasn't the case this time. By this time Mack was already over the other side of the stream and was now messing around with Isabella, which Tim was clearly angered by. It was common knowledge at Trompworth that Tim had been forever in love with Isabella so obviously became angry once he seen this. â€Å"Okay my turn!† Tim said as he then pushed his way through the group of boys stood in front of him. He passed Jim who now had a very worried look on his face. Tim stopped at the edge of the river and looked down at the water for a considerable amount of time. Jim then joined him and saw that the expression on Tim's face had dramatically changed. â€Å"What's that?† He said not taking his eyes of the water below. â€Å"What's what?† Jim quickly replied. â€Å"That voice. Can you hear it?† Tim said as he went all pale and frightened. He turned his head to Jim who was looking on at him very puzzled about what he could hear. â€Å"Does anyone else hear that voice?† Tim asked the group of boys behind him who were now whispering again amongst themselves. Tim had never heard such a sound before. It seemed to sound like a voice talking in some strange language from under the water. The voice was very ruff and intimidating and seemed to stop when Tim took his eyes off the water. Clearly frightened by what he just heard however it didn't make him want to make him change his mind about crossing the stream. â€Å"Tim you shouldn't shout about hearing voices here.† Jim whispered. â€Å"Next!† Carrie shouted from the other side of the stream. Tim then stepped in front of the first rock but was again restrained by Jim who held him back by his shoulder. â€Å"You're not actually walking over there are you?† He whispered quietly but very much forcefully. Tim laughed and turned round to Jim making his hand drop from his shoulder. Tim was again smiling. â€Å"Come on Jim. It's just a stream at the end of the day.† He said although he seemed very discouraged after hearing that voice. Tim then turned back to the rock as Jim stood there not willing to try and stop him any longer. â€Å"Why must you always follow Mack?† Jim said although it was too quiet for Tim to hear. Without any further hesitation Tim jumped to the first stone and immediately found trouble keeping his balance and had to move his arm to stay upright. He then quickly stuck his foot out for the second one so he could cross in a better time than anyone else. The voice then returned as he looked downwards. He quickly raised his head, which made him start to slip from the rock. Mack then started laughing but Tim didn't take notice and tried not to respond. He carried on laughing and Tim couldn't take it any more and sharply raised his head, which resulted him losing balance yet again. Luckily the second stone was around three foot away from Tim so he quickly jumped to it. The second stone was much larger than the first so found no trouble keeping his balance. Tim was then found it possible to look round at Jim and the others. Jim seemed to be mouthing something while pointing at something. He turned his head back to Mack who was also pointing towards the rock and talking but no words came out. Tim then looked down at his feet and saw that the water was now passing over the rock and covering his feet. â€Å"Tim!† Jim shouted in desperation but it seemed that Tim could no longer hear a thing. â€Å"The water looks as if it's moving faster doesn't it?† Mack said to Carrie. Tim was not moving he had turned however and was now watching upstream. The speed of the stream then increased and now everyone was now shouting Jims name but wouldn't dare go and grab him. Tim seemed unaffected however by the increasing speed of the water, which should be throwing him off the rock right about now. The water level then started to rise and the came over the side and onto the grass forcing back the two groups of people on each side. The water around Tim's feet suddenly got higher almost up to his knees but the water level around the stone stayed the same as the water seemed to curve upwards. â€Å"Jim, what's going on?† Mack yelled at Jim as he walked backwards towards the woods. Everyone one had now left leaving Jim and Tim. â€Å"Tim, can you hear me?† Jim shouted as he then braved through the water but was somehow unaffected by Jim's voice. Tim wasn't going to answer no matter what Jim shouted. Jim then got the courage to jump into the water. The water was obviously well below zero and was much deeper than Jim first thought it to be. By this time the water was up to Jim's neck and struggled to swim against the current, which was slowly pulling and pushing him down the stream. However he still found the strength to swim over to the second rock, which Tim was still standing on not having moved since he steeped onto it. He got as close to the second rock as he could since the force of the shifting water around the rock repelled him. Jim then found a moment where he could stick his hand right in the spiral of water around Tim's rock and grab the bottom of his trouser leg, which he then pulled at but Tim still remained stationary. He didn't let go however and tugged it again this time making sure that Tim would fall forward instead of backwards no matter how dangerous it might be. It worked and Tim then fell forward losing his footing into the freezing water. Jim however made sure that he held onto Tim's trouser leg, which made him able to slide over the rock and onto the side that Tim had fallen into. The shifting water around the rock then ended but immediately the tide picked up. Jim pulled Tim's head out of the water. Tim spat up water from his mouth and coughed it in Jim's face. â€Å"What happened?† Tim asked while tugging at his clothes, which Jim was hanging onto with one hand while the other hand remained clung to the rock. â€Å"Grab onto the rock!† Jim shouted back trying not to shiver. Tim then kicked his legs behind him and was able to grab the rock trying not to get his own hands in the way of Jims. Tim managed to get to the over side of the rock and was pushed straight into it, which made him find it hard to breathe as the speed of the stream kept rising. Jim's legs dangled from behind him but Tim made sure his hands did not slip from the rock. The speed of the stream was now very strong and both Jim and Tim struggled to hold on as the stream sort of changed direction on Tim's side, which tried to make him loose grip. There was no way either of them could pull themselves up to the rock as it somehow repelled them from getting any higher above the rock. â€Å"What do we do?† Tim asked as he shivered and kicked his legs to the left still trying to hold on. The two kept their heads downwards the water, which helped them to concentrate. Jim's right hand then suddenly slipped from the rock the rock and Tim couldn't grab onto it again as it was forced too far out. Tim struggled to keep Jim's left hand in his as well since it soon started to slip. Either of the two could shout or yell for help for it was way too cold for them to even murmur by now. Jim then suddenly felt another hand touch his left and felt Tim's release. Jim then looked up and saw Mack positioned upon the rock with his hand stretched out towards him. Jim grabbed it and was then pulled up to the rock with Tim who already was pulled up by Mack. â€Å"You okay?† He asked. â€Å"I think so.† Jim replied acknowledging Tim. Mack then was about to jump over the rock closest to the shore but water passed over it before he could and it stayed travelling over. He then turned to the other side where there were four rocks but water was already passing over them. â€Å"The river is in performance with us!† Mack yelled. The water passing all over the other five rocks then stopped. â€Å"Come on!† Tim yelled as he then jumped to the rock nearest to the shore. Jim then followed immediately after Tim jumped to the soil. â€Å"Hurry up Mack!† Jim shouted as he then reached the soil. Mack then turned his head up river and saw that the stream seemed to bulge from ahead upwards. It then slowly turned into a wave and instantaneously accelerated towards him at an inconceivable speed. Just as well Mack was the fasted person in Trompworth since he sprinted to the second stone and then jumped to the soil but was dragged somewhat downwards as the wave clipped his legs, which made him land on his stomach. Mack was then helped up by both Jim and Tim. â€Å"Why did you save us for? I thought you'd be happy getting us out of your life.† Jim asked trying to catch his breath. â€Å"You are joking aren't you? I'm not going to let the two people I admire just sink am I?† He replied looking on at the water settle once more. â€Å"Are you serious? I could vow that you hated us.† Jim replied shaking some of the water out of his clothes. Tim stayed sat further away than both Mack and Jim who looked as if he had just been through a lot in that trance of his. â€Å"No I admire your friendship with each other, but I'm just jealous I guess.† Mack said looking back to Tim who still didn't talk. Jim looked on at Mack but then saw his eyes intensify towards Tim. â€Å"What are you doing here?† Mack demanded while standing up. Jim turned round also and seen Yenke standing behind Tim by a few feet. Tim however didn't seem to notice. â€Å"I'm not allowed near my own stream anymore?† Yenke said while raising a hand with the palm pointing upwards. With that Tim got to his feet slowly. â€Å"You're stream?† Jim asked. â€Å"Wait, you did all this?† Mack shouted towards Yenke. â€Å"I just wanted a game.† Yenke said still holding his hand up. â€Å"What are you?† Jim stuttered. Yenke just smiled and then pushed out his hand towards the stream. Tim then started to sprint towards the stream at a huge pace. â€Å"Tim, what are you doing?† Mack shouted running after him. Tim was then about to jump into the stream but was tackled down by Mack, which managed to stop him. Yenke then approached with the smile still on his face and walked straight into the stream disappearing beneath the surface. â€Å"Get off me!† Tim shouted pushing Mack off him. â€Å"Yenke almost made you drown Tim. Mack saved you.† Jim said walking over to them. â€Å"What are you talking about?† Tim yelled towards Mack. â€Å"Yenke was controlling you and the river Tim. I doubt he's actually human.† Mack said. Tim then started to laugh a little at first but it soon turned into a hysterical one. Jim put a hand on Tim's shoulder and started to walk him towards the woods as Mack followed. â€Å"So where's Morris then?† Jim asked. â€Å"I made him leave. He wouldn't have wanted me helping you.† Mack replied as they all disappeared into the woods.

Memory Boy Essay

Memory Boy The book that I choose to read this 9 week period is called Memory by Will Weaver. The book is based on the lives of a family of 4 people; Miles, Sarah, and their two parents. Memory Boy starts out in the Mid West after a mountain range in Washington erupts and spews ash what seems billions of feet up, and over the entire United Sates like a blanket. The ash is so thick that people have to wear dust masks outside to avoid the risk of breathing it in. Miles and his family finally decide to leave the town that they live in to head northwest.Since the ash is so heavy they can’t drive a car because those are restricted, and people can only use them on certain days to avoid the problem of pollution. So Miles assembles a new vehicle that he calls the Princess. It is a mix between a bicycle and a boat that they must pilot by either peddling, or when there is enough wind they have a sail from a boat to put up. They decide to leave under the curtain of night to avoid being d etected by other people who would want to take their vehicle from them.As they make their way North they must face encounters with many obstacles such as road blocks, bandits, hunger, the government, nature, each other, and other hazards. In between telling us about they’re adventure north, Miles, who is the main character tells us the events leading up to their departure, starting with the day that the eruption happened. The novel starts out a peaceful journey by the family but they soon learn that their trip will not be easy and they must work together to survive.Miles is our main character and we watch all the events happen through his point of view. He would be a junior in high school if they still actually went to school. Miles is a smart individual who enjoys doing the job of a mechanic. He built the Princess by himself and is the only one who is about to fix and maintain it throughout the book. He takes a strong leadership role; even his parents look to him to solve th e solutions. When the volcano erupted he was only in the 9th grade.So every other chapter he will flashback to his 9th grade year to tell us a story about after the volcano erupted. He often compares his life now to that of his 9th grade year, and how he would have done things different. He used to be disrespectful and would often act out in school to seek attention. He will explain to us how some of the events he tells us about have changed him. Miles sister Sarah is a few years younger than he is. She is a dark and morbid girl; the type that is into vampire, dark music, and dark literature.But even though she seems tough on the outside, but she is actually just hiding how scared she has been throughout this entire ordeal. She secretly looks up to miles even though she would never say so to him. She doesn’t like her father very much because he was always away when she was a child. Miles’s father was a jazz musician in a band before the eruption. He was always on the r oad with his band, so he wasn’t around much when Miles and Sarah were growing up.Although he seems quite docile at the beginning of the book we soon learn that he is actually quite the leader, and when Miles gets overwhelmed his father is always there to take the lead for awhile. Miles’s mother was the main caretaker of the children so she was always around. At the beginning of the book she kept the family together as a unit, they referred to her as being. The children see their mother as being helpless most of the time. It isn’t until later in the book that she really blooms as a character, and becomes a very useful asset to the group.

The Pirate Bay Case Study Essays

The Pirate Bay Case Study Essays The Pirate Bay Case Study Essay The Pirate Bay Case Study Essay Keywords: advertisement, copyright, digital, file sharing, piracy, The Pirate Bay The Pirate Bay (TPTB) is an online directory of digital content, founded in 2003, that allows users to search, download and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which enables peer-to-peer file sharing. In 2009, the websites four founders were found guilty in Sweden for facilitating copyright infringement and sentenced each to one year in prison and payment of $3. 5 million in restitution to the plaintiffs (major record label firms). Some countries have required Internet service providers to block access to the website. In return, proxies have been able to provide access to the website. TPTB is appealing the court judgment and has yet to pay any fines or serve any time in jail. In 2011, the firm moved its servers to an unknown location in Sweden, as well as dispersing several copies in other countries (Lauded Travel, 2013). The global internet world is riddled with file sharing sites like The Pirate Bay, they operate by inducing, enabling and encouraging users to share music and other forms of copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright holder. This unlawful exchange of copyright material falls supranational on U. S. Companies, stockholders and employees, as well as on federal, State and local governments. In return the U. S. Government, European Union as well as several other countries are working to fortify intellectual property protection laws. Is it possible for The Pirate Bay and other file sharing services to endure even with consequences of large fines and imprisonment (for both site owners and users)? Perhaps more importantly, will new media platforms with the support of copyright owners be enough to discourage users from partaking and procuring pirated trials? The Impact of Piracy In 2007, The Institute for policy Innovation released a report stating that piracy of sound recordings has resulted in $12. 5 billion dollars in losses to the U. S. Economy annually (more staggering, $20. 5 billion to the movie industry); $422 million in lost federal, state and local tax revenue annually; 71 ,060 lost jobs; and $2 billion in lost wages to American workers (Seek, 2007). Today industry revenues from digital formats continue to cultivate, exceeding $4 billion for the first time in 2012, and attaining nearly $4. Billion in 201 3 while counting for 64% of industry revenues, digital music theft has been a major factor behind the degeneration in sales within the last 15 years (decline of 53%). Despite the decrease in the use of peer-to-peer sites in recent years, other formats of digital theft have been emerging, comprising of unsanctioned digital storage lockers used to allocate copyrighted music, streamlining programs, and mobile applications that ass ist digital content theft (ARIA 2015). More recent studies held by the Recording Industry Association of America show that from 2004 to 2009 alone, around 30 billion ones were illegally downloaded on file-sharing networks, like The Pirate Bay; only 37% of music acquired in the U. S. In 2009 was legally paid for; digital theft of music, movies and other copyrighted content takes up 24% of global Internet bandwidth and 17. 5% of the U. S. Bandwidth; and digital storage locker downloads makes up for 7% of all Internet traffic, while 91% of the links found on them were from copyrighted material, and 10% of those links were to music specifically (ARIA 2015). Combating Piracy The U. S. Government has increased its focus (and encouraged other entries) on endorsing stricter laws such as Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (Protect IP Act). Inopportunely, these firmer legislations come with their disparager. The European social and political movement, civil liberties groups as well Google, Yahoo, Faceable and several other large Web Companies vie that these proposed laws prohibit the free effort of information and would result in Internet censorship. Critics believe that both bills are exceedingly broad and generally only serve in the interests of Hollywood and the U. S. Music industry. While they agree that new enforcement implements are necessary to combat rogue websites devoted to copyright infringement and counterfeiting, they say the proposed bills go too far (Fijian, 201 1). The challenge ascends with how to find an equilibrium among the rights of one person against anothers. Along with amplified legislation, many governments are taking a sturdier place on intellectual property theft and aggressively prosecuting organizers of illegal downloading. This can be seen within the rulings and sentencing of The Pirate Bay founders. More recently, Limier founder, Mark Gorton, who was found guilty of copyright infringement in 2011 and fined $105 million (Lauded T rave, 2013). Despite the threats of fines and imprisonment, file sharing sites are still flourishing even more than before. Regardless of legalities, these sites are able to entice advertising dollars from top blue chip brands like Allocate, Chevrolet, Target, McDonalds, and Dominos (Johnson, 2014). The Digital Citizens Alliance conducted a study reporting that 30% of large websites that traffic heavily in infringing media array ads for these premium brands. Thirty of the largest content sharing Sites are generating upwards of $227 million annually in ad revenue, while the smaller sites are generating around $100,000 annually (Benson, 2014). This report also showed that these sites that yield wholly from advertising averaged $4. 4 million, with the most heavily trafficked Bitterroot and POP sites producing 36 million. The lesser sites earned more than $100,000 in ad revenue. With profit margins for these sites ranging between 80% and 94%, it appears crime does pay (Benson, 2014). So long as there is money to be dad, file sharing sites like The Pirate Bay will continue to subsist. The Shift Technology platform owners and distributors such as Apple, Amazon and Google, with the aid and backing of intellectual property owners, have chosen to address the transferal from physical to digital format. Platform owners offer consumers instantaneous and inexpensive access to a multitude of digital content while warranting content owners are remunerated for their work. Benefits for consumers also lay in the ability to acquire a better quality product than could be found in a POP software download. Apples tunes has men the leader in digital content sales since its origination in 1998. In 2013, Apple announced that more than 25 billion songs had been downloaded from the tunes Store (Apple, 2013). Regardless of recurrent moderate price increases, consumers still continue to utilize the mobile and internet site. Notably, these sites offer easy integration of purchases to the user devices. As well as, more and more digital stores are inflowing the market as a means of attaining a portion of the digital download pie, which in return provides consumers more choices. Websites like Google Play, Amazon Prime and Nettling make efforts to distinguish themselves by posing a monthly or yearly membership that permits users access to unlimited instant streaming for a flat fee. Many of these platform technology owners are offering cloud computing which provides users to lease disk space to store music and other digital content. Users can then access this data anywhere, at any time without having to download it onto a device. Which these technology in itself is rapidly turning into its own competitive market (Mesenteric, 2015).

Satisfying all stakeholders when the business is competing in mature Essay - 2

Satisfying all stakeholders when the business is competing in mature product markets is difficult. Discuss - Essay Example Therefore, the management should ensure that the business is making profits all through the year. This is not an easy task especially when a firm is in the mature competition stage. In this stage, all the competitors have established markets. They are all struggling to get an extra market to expand their operational sphere (Neale and Haslam, 1994:120). Since the stakeholders have entrusted the management to deal with the business, they will only require satisfactory results. As such, most of the managers have to develop strategies that will improve on the overall business performance. In many developed countries, many businesses have been in the market for a long time. Therefore, they have firmly established their business links. This leaves a mature competitive market. In such a market, most of the industries fight for a low margin that is not aligned to a certain product. Therefore, they have to be convincing enough to attract such a market. For example, close to 80 percent of the industries in the United States are already in the mature market bracket. Therefore, they have to compete in ensuring they develop a wider market niche. This could be rather indulging as all of them are utilising varying strategies. Impressing stakeholders in a mature competitive environment is a hard task especially when the demand for the product is saturated. This is as a result of too much supply from a large number of manufacturers and industries, thereby making the market saturated. As such, the demand for the products only increases in negligible proportions. In some situations, the demand for products in this market slowly declines, which reflects a similar record in the sales of individual companies. In such an instance, the industry or firm should look for ways of attracting customers from the saturated market, who are already allied to specific products. Therefore, they have to practically convince the market to start using their products and abandon the others from the c ompetitors. This is harder as compared to approaching a new market that does not have any experience in using product of such nature. A mature market has industries and firms that have a considerable financial muscle. Therefore, investing in emergent technologies can add huge value to managing the value chain. As such, companies invest in modern technologies which are used to improve on efficiency in production. Since their production is in large scale, they accrue the benefits of economies of large scale production (Haslam, Neale and Johal, 2000:67). In such a situation, the market is flooded with goods from different industries and firms, which is uncontrollable in liberalised markets. Practically, these businesses reduce overheads in relation to transport, labour and manufacturing when producing and supplying the products in the market on large scale basis. This could lead to high discount rates to consumers thereby reducing the prices of commodities across the entire supply chai n. This could drive some other industries out of the market as the pricing drop could render theirs uncompetitive. Since time immemorial, there has been no generation of specific solutions or formulas that could be used by businesses in a mature competition. As a fact, they have to generate different strategies in ensuring they have a niche market (Ferrell and Hartline, 2010:541). Therefore, this makes it hard for the management to

Literaty Anaylsis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literaty Anaylsis - Essay Example The essay tries to make a literary analysis of Frost’s poem â€Å"Birches† laying special emphasis on its theme and the literary devices employed in it. One of the major themes of the poem is that of imagination versus reality. The poet, like the birch swinger, tries to fly into an imaginary world, but he ultimately realizes that â€Å"one must remain within the natural world itself and that complete escape into the world of the imagination is impossible† ("Birches: Themes"). The poet finds the birch tree â€Å"bend to left and right† and he understands the reality that it is the result of ice-storms. However, his imagination goes beyond the actual reason and concludes that some boy would be swinging on the birches. Thus, the tension between â€Å"the real world and the world of the imagination, runs throughout Frosts poetry and gives the poem philosophical dimension and meaning far greater than that of a simple meditation on birch trees† ("Birches: Introduction†). Later the poet himself identifies with the boy and considers himself to be a birch swinger. The poet is of the opinion that when one is â€Å" weary of considerations† and life seems to be â€Å"a pathless wood†, he/she is quite likely to â€Å"to get away from the earth awhile†. Thus, the climbing of the boy in the poem symbolizes man’s escape from the real world to the world of imagination or illusion and his coming down to earth suggests coming back to the world of reality. For the poet, the escape from the earth is only momentary and this occasional climb to the world of imagination provides one with the inner strength to face the real world. As Frost himself puts it: â€Å"Id like to get away from earth awhile / And then come back to it and begin over†. At the end, the poet comes to the realization that the â€Å"earth is the right place for love† and that he cannot find a better place than this. Thus, the poem can be rightly understood as a conflict of the soul