T. Boone Pickens

Introduction T. Boone Pickens was born on May 22, 1928 in a place known as Holdenville. Thomas Boone Pickens, Boone’s father was an employee in the oil sector where he worked as a landsman, he was involved in leasing mineral rights. His mother Grace was responsible for overseeing the operations of the Price administration office for the counties that surrounded Holdenville. Her role was to ensure that the gasoline and goods that went to the counties were rationed. The life of T. Boone has always been a unique one (BoonePickens 3).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on T. Boone Pickens specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Early Life of T. Boone T. Boone is said to have been born in unusual circumstances since a few days before his birth, the doctors had discovered complications and informed his father that either the child or the mother would survive. Boon’s father did not agree with the decision the doctors had made, hence he sent one doctor to go and read a document on c-section. This attempt culminated in both the child and the mother surviving. From an early age, Boone followed the example of his parents and grandmother in regards to spending money sparingly and working hard. He exemplified remarkable skills in expansion without knowing that this was to be portrayed in his life. When he was 12 years old, he gained interest in a newspaper which marked his acquisition skills. His father was a risk taker while his mother was a hard worker; these are qualities that T. Boone emulated later in life. His mother ensured that he disciplined him accordingly while his grandmother Nellie and aunt Ethel influenced his bringing up to a great extend (Kinicki 185). Boone confessed that his grandmother was very influential and most of the family members consulted her before any major decision was made. His aunt was a school teacher and checked his progress in school constantly. Boone’ s family went to live in Amarillo, Texas when he was a youth and he went to high school there. He spent a year in Texas AM University before shifting to Oklahoma AM University to study for his geology degree. Boone lost a scholarship in 2006 where he was to earn 25$ a month playing football because he was described to be short and could not run fast in the game. He started working at Philips Petroleum and was in the company for a period of 3 years after which he quit. He borrowed $2,500 and together with two other colleagues they started a firm known as petroleum Exploration Inc that dealt with gas and oil. Its focus was on gas opportunities and oil reserves that existed locally. He later started Altair Oil and Gas Company to explore gas and oil in Canada. Both companies came before Mesa Petroleum Company which became one of the most reputable oil and gas companies in America under his leadership. The company produced large volumes of oil and gas between 1964 and 1996 (CNBC 2).Adver tising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reasons behind Boone’s Success It is agreeable that Boone achieved great success and there are many factors that contributed towards the success. He possesses many positive qualities some of which were constant learning during his childhood days which helped him succeed in business. The first positive quality that enabled Boone succeed in business is honesty. Since childhood, Boone has always been honest as portrayed by a story he told of a wallet he collected. One day as he was transporting papers, he collected a wallet that was in thick grasses. There was no money in the wallet but he could find the name of the owner. Boone realized that the owner was a customer who lived not far away so he decided to return it. The owner was thrilled by the act and in appreciation, he gave Boone one dollar to thank him. When he went back home, h e happily narrated the story to his mother, grandmother and aunt. To his surprise, his grandmother told him that they were not ready to accept a reward that had been given on grounds of honesty. This incident confirms one of the positive qualities of Boone of being honest, a quality that assisted him to achieve success. The second positive quality that is associated with Boone’s success is his determination. He is never comfortable when he lags behind in what he does and during the early days of his career, he discovered that striving to be in the front is not in itself achieving success. Boone has succeeded in taking up large and reputable oil businesses because he believes that there is no leadership to successfully restructure the industry. Due to these leadership qualities of Boone, he managed to make Mesa one of the most profitable oil companies. His leadership entails giving employment to young and energetic employees who make an active contribution in his business (CNB C 5). The third positive quality that led to the success of Boone in business is that he is naturally a curious person. Since he trained in geology at the university, this is one area that helps him succeed in business. His geology training enables him to carefully study business scenarios, make an analysis of the possibilities and then take the necessary actions. He graduated in 1951 from Oklahoma University and uses a unique approach to analyze the actual worth of companies and work out on contracts on commodities. Early in his career, Boone realized that stewards in corporate America were using a Ready, Aim, Aim pattern as opposed to taking the right actions. This made him feel that there was need for him to get into the business world and make maximum benefits out of shareholder values.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on T. Boone Pickens specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The fourth positive quality that assisted Boone Pickens to succeed in business is that he tells things the way he sees them. He handles matters without reservations whether they are business deals or coordinating his employees. He utilizes his wisdom in running the businesses and combines it with his humorous nature to ensure success in his business. His employees and even family members find it easy to identify with his insights and they often refer to them as Booneisms. Some people first contemplate ignoring his insights but they later find them helpful. For example, he emphasizes that everybody in business must be willing to make decisions because a good leader must have the capacity to make decisions. In addition, he says that business people should keep things informal. He advises that talking is the most effective way of doing business. Writing is crucial for keeping the records but the ideas are generated through talking (CNBC 6). Despite many positive qualities that characterize T. Boone and ones that have enabled him to succeed in business, he has some negative qualities. This is common to human beings and business people because no matter how successful an individual is, he or she must have some weaknesses. One of the negative qualities of T Boone is his involvement in politics. Successful business people who actively participate in politics may sometimes discover that there businesses are affected negatively. For example, Boone was supporting President Bush financially in the 1980s. In 2007, he also made donations worth millions of money to politicians. He is said to have used a lot of money to have people dispute allegations made through political advertisements. Some of the published articles that Boone wanted to dispute were those related to his participation in earlier wars that took place in the country. The use of a lot of money in political interventions is considered a negative quality for Booken since this is likely to affect his business success Conclusion T. Boone is am ong the most recognized and reputable business people in energy issues worldwide. He is also the president and chief executive officer of BP Capital Management which is a firm specializing in investment. Boone is also an author who wrote several books among them Boone Pickens and The First Billion is the Hardest.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Boone has been described by some people as the luckiest man in the world and has given huge sums of money to charity. Today, he is involved in applying his early career lessons in managing his ranch which is over 70,000 acres and running his oil and gas related businesses. It is agreeable that Boone Pickens is among the most successful business personalities having started his business career when he was young. He is indeed a person whose experiences in business can be used to inspire other people. Works Cited Boone,Pickens. Pickens Life and Legacy. 2011. Web. CNBC. Biography of Boone Pickens. 2011. Web. Kinicki, Angelo. Management:A Practical Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill College, 2010. Print This research paper on T. Boone Pickens was written and submitted by user Brendan Harding to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Aztec Indians

My second paper will be on the Aztec Indians, who are known for their domination of southern and central Mexico. They ruled between the 14th and 16th centuries. They built a great empire and developed very modernized ways of doing things. They had phenomenal architectural skills and waterway systems. The Aztec Indians also had very developed social class and government systems and practiced a form of religion. To begin with, the Aztecs were very skilled in the art of Architecture and waterway systems. â€Å"An example of the monumental architecture within the Aztec society is the great pyramid of Tenochtitlan. Montezuma I, who was the ruler of the Aztecs in 1466, created it. The pyramid was not finished until the rule of Montezuma II, around 1508†(Carrasco, Montezuma Mexico, Pg. 49). â€Å"Aztec cities and towns also had working drinking water and waste treatment systems. An intricate plumbing system using clay pipes ran down from the mountains around Mexico valley to all of the towns and cities in the valley. As the water ran into each town or city it was the dispersed to 10 or 12 places around town were it flowed into a pool for drinking water or was piped into public baths and toilets. Only nobles had working drinking and bathing systems with running water in their homes. The sewage system worked much like today, having human wastes carried to a collection pool where solids were collected, and then having liquids run off into a series of terraces which filtered the water. Solid wastes were allowed to sit in a collection pool for about six months and then were brought to the lake gardens to be used as fertilizer†(Jennings, Aztec, Pg. 220). â€Å"The Aztec social structure contained four well defined classes. At the bottom of the heap were slaves and serfs, or the Tlacotli, who worked the private lands of the nobility. Next came the Macehualtin, ‘the fortunate,’ as they were called because they were equally free of the heavy respon sibi... Free Essays on Aztec Indians Free Essays on Aztec Indians My second paper will be on the Aztec Indians, who are known for their domination of southern and central Mexico. They ruled between the 14th and 16th centuries. They built a great empire and developed very modernized ways of doing things. They had phenomenal architectural skills and waterway systems. The Aztec Indians also had very developed social class and government systems and practiced a form of religion. To begin with, the Aztecs were very skilled in the art of Architecture and waterway systems. â€Å"An example of the monumental architecture within the Aztec society is the great pyramid of Tenochtitlan. Montezuma I, who was the ruler of the Aztecs in 1466, created it. The pyramid was not finished until the rule of Montezuma II, around 1508†(Carrasco, Montezuma Mexico, Pg. 49). â€Å"Aztec cities and towns also had working drinking water and waste treatment systems. An intricate plumbing system using clay pipes ran down from the mountains around Mexico valley to all of the towns and cities in the valley. As the water ran into each town or city it was the dispersed to 10 or 12 places around town were it flowed into a pool for drinking water or was piped into public baths and toilets. Only nobles had working drinking and bathing systems with running water in their homes. The sewage system worked much like today, having human wastes carried to a collection pool where solids were collected, and then having liquids run off into a series of terraces which filtered the water. Solid wastes were allowed to sit in a collection pool for about six months and then were brought to the lake gardens to be used as fertilizer†(Jennings, Aztec, Pg. 220). â€Å"The Aztec social structure contained four well defined classes. At the bottom of the heap were slaves and serfs, or the Tlacotli, who worked the private lands of the nobility. Next came the Macehualtin, ‘the fortunate,’ as they were called because they were equally free of the heavy respon sibi...

Animals and the Myriad Ways They Can Kill or Heal Us Essay - 1

Animals and the Myriad Ways They Can Kill or Heal Us - Essay Example With treatments of this manner, it is fascinating therefore to learn how medical scientists have managed to turn the deadly poisonous venoms to medicine for treating various ailments in human beings. What then is poison or venom? Though used interchangeable, warns Dr. Vernon (2012, 1, paragraph 2) the two are different in meaning and are distinguished from one another in the method of delivery. Poison, he writes, is absorbed, ingested or inhaled while venom is injected. This resonates with Gibbons et al. (1990, 273) argument who define venom as a toxin produced in certain glands of one animal and mechanically transmitted by biting or stinging. This provides the hypothesis that all venoms are poisonous, but a poison is not necessarily venom. The King cobra is an example of a venomous snake and provides a perfect specimen for this study. Allow me to introduce to you the deadliest snake in the world; The King Cobra, also known as ophiophagus hannah or the snake eater. Named so because o f its dietary habit of preying on its ‘kin’s’ (feeds on fellow snakes). ... It has a broad and flattened head with the neck having a narrow hood which can be extended when threatened (WildScreen, 2013, 1, paragraph 2) .A single bite of this snake can easily kill a human. Worse still, a full- grown Asian elephant can die within a time limit of 3 hours if bitten on the trunk by this dangerous snake. In addition to the above features, most snakes normally produce a hissing sound in response to threat; however, this cannot be said of the King Cobra which makes a distinctive growl emanating from the throat and deepens as it grows. Dangerous as it is, this snake species is harvested for its meat, skin and bile which are used in traditional medicine (WildScreen, 2013, 1, paragraph 12). What type of Venom does the King cobra posses and how does it work? There are three different types of venoms namely; Hemotoxic, (attacks the cardiovascular system), Cytotoxic (targets specific muscle groups) and Neurotoxic (attacks the brain and the nervous system) venoms. Some snak es combine the venom types while others carry specific form of venom (WiseGeek, 2013, 1, paragraph 2). Ophiophagous hannah is one such which exhibits a combination of the three, but is predominantly Neurotoxic venom (Dr.venom, 2010, 1, paragraph 2). In the same line of reasoning, Corporation (2004, 273, paragraph 2) provides corroborating information which marries with that of WiseGreek. He posits that neurotoxins attack the nervous system, preventing the impulses from controlling the muscles thus paralyzing the victim. He adds that snake venoms are formed from enzymes, which are protein in nature. More so, different snake species have different cocktail of venoms which either work individually or in groups to achieve the desired end; neurotoxins, myotoxins and hemotoxins. Most

Improving Customer Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Improving Customer Relations - Essay Example The convergence age has changed customer preference as smartphones have become a new tool that marketers must emphasize in their marketing plans. The use of marketing can also enhance relationships with stakeholder groups such as customers, suppliers, and the community. I work as a manager of a convenient store. At my job marketing is often used as a tool to increase sales of products. One of my responsibilities as a manager is to handle supplier relations. The suppliers of products provide the store with advertising material and special offers. For example, the cigarette companies give the store special offers to be passed to the customers. I decorated the store with many posters of advertisements that are sold at the establishment. It is my opinion that the advertisements posted around the store influence the buying behavior of the customers. The store does not have a long-term marketing plan. Every trimester I have meetings with the ownership team to discuss among other matters any changes to the marketing strategy of the company. The marketing profession can be very beneficial to society as a whole. One of the most important roles that marketing serves to the public is as a provider of information that can be used to make buying decisions. Smart consumers take advantage of the special offers that marketers advertise to lower their expenditures. Marketers often use the power of the media to support social causes such as hunger, poverty, and human rights. The internet has enhanced the ability of marketers to publish information at low costs. Customers are the most important stakeholder group of a business because their money is used to purchase goods and services from companies. Marketing can be used to improve customer relations. Companies can show their appreciation for customers by sponsoring public social events such as music and art festivals.  

I need to upload the file so you can have the instructions Essay

I need to upload the file so you can have the instructions - Essay Example Discussion presented in this synthesis essay hopes to accomplish the feat of identifying those sources which are thought to provide in-depth analysis of how effectiveness in higher education can be achieved. It is important to determine these sources in relation to higher education because they illustrate different variables which are commonly employed in higher education settings. Studying these variables facilitates the readers in understanding those underlying mechanisms through which the variables make the process of higher education efficient. Some important factors considered in this case include productivity, effectiveness, unit cost, and efficiency. With reference to the factors of productivity, efficiency and effectiveness, there are various perspectives that influence how each of these factors can be used to measure the overall effectiveness of higher education institutions. While different sources provide varying arguments regarding how effective higher education is, a universal element in the form of technology is considered in most of these sources. Technology is mentioned in various sources as a factor that influences the effectiveness of higher education. This synthesis essay seeks to agree while at the same time it also offers a different perspective since most sources are peer-reviewed and offer quality appraisal metrics regarding the effectiveness of higher education. Following discussion aims to illuminate the reality of this claim that â€Å"the effectiveness of higher education is influenced by strategic management of inputs to influence outputs.† It is important to understand the terms within this thesis statement since following discussion is led by these concepts of strategic management, professional input, and educational outputs. The greater the level of inputs, the greater the level of outcomes or outputs is noticed. Inputs can be defined as the resources of higher education

An Analysis of the Cinema of Short Films

An Analysis of the Cinema of Short Films INTRODUCTION Film as dream, film as music. No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul. Ingmar Bergman Cinema is one of the few mediums which have managed to successfully depict the true reality of society in general and our lives in particular. As like other art forms, it depicts the multiple realties that one is faced with. It explores one of the most discarded yet eternal truths which every individual experiences and that is isolation. Each individual longs for social ties despite belonging to organized societies; it is what each one of us is ultimately reduced to. A Short film is a technical description originally coined in the Indian film industry and used in the North American film industry in the early period of cinema. The description is now used almost interchangeably with short subject. Although the North American definition generally refers to films between 20 and 40 minutes, the definition refers to much shorter films in Europe,Latin America and Australasia. InNew Zealand, for instance, the description can be used to describe any film that has duration longer than one minute and shorter than 15 minutes. The North American definition also tends to focus much more on character whereas the European and Australasian forms tend to depend much more on visual drama and plot twists. In this way, the North American form can be understood to be a derivation of the feature film form, usually acting as a platform for aspirant Hollywood directors. Elsewhere, short films tend to work as showcases for cinematographers and commercial directors. (Short Film) A short film manages to tell the same tale as a full length feature film, but in a shorter duration of time. It is characterized by the directors reflection of the existing social, political and economic conditions. A short film narrative is one which can easily be created by people from all walks of life, it has universal applicability. It enables directors functioning on a small budget to tell their stories to the world. The talent in creating a short film lies in communicating the message of the film to the audience in a very limited period of time. The transitions in a short film are of critical importance. What I find intriguing is how any person imbibes from their existing social conditions and produce work which is effectively communicable to most individuals. Another reason to dwell into this topic of research is that many youngsters and amateurs start by making short films and use it as a path to grow. As Daniel Wiernicki states, Short films are often popular as first steps into the film industry among young filmmakers. This is because they are cheaper and easier to make, and also their length makes shorts more likely to be watched by financial backers and others who want some demonstration of a filmmakers ability. Many things can be achieved by creating a short film so are an ideal opportunity to get recognized and get into the industry. (Wiernicki) Through this dissertation, I aim to explore the world of short films in the context of movies which have won the Cannes Short Film Palme dOr(French:Palme dOr du court mÃÆ' ©trage), which is the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival. These short films are a representation of different cultures, ideologies, people, religion, economic background, and political thoughts and history from across the world that come together on one platform and showcase their art. The cinema is not an art which films life: the cinema is something between art and life. Unlike painting and literature, the cinema both gives to life and takes from it, and I try to render this concept in my films. Literature and painting both exist as art from the very start; the cinema doesnt. Jean- Luc Godard LITERATURE REVIEW Throughout our history, humans have looked for different forms of expressing themselves. These expressions were in the form of poetry, literature, songs, plays, dancing, etc. films are one of the latest forms of expression that has been adopted by the people around the world to portray their views on their surroundings, any event, or moment that captivates them and they want to show it to the world. The beauty of the films nowadays is that you can detract from reality and present something beyond the human imagination at the same time one can present the harsh realities of life that some dont know about. Films as a medium of communications can be used to spread ones message or view across the world. History of Cinema (History of Film) The birth of the films happened in 1878, when Eadweard Muybridge recorded a horse running in fast motion using a series of 24 stereoscopic cameras. With the development of technology came of the Silent era. Till the 1920s movies were silent, though at times they were accompanied by musicians, sound effects, or even commentary at times. 1940s to 60s- War and Post War Cinema The wartime saw immense change in the cinema as more focus was given to propaganda and patriotic films. Films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Citizen Cane were pieces of this period. The cold war era brought movies filled with paranoia such as Invading Armies of Evil Aliens and anti-communist movies such as the Manchurian Candidate. The onset of television in the post war era also threatened the cinematic industry as a medium of watching films. During this Period, Asian Cinema specifically saw a golden age. Some of the greatest masterpieces of the Asian cinema were produced during this period. These include works like: Yasujiro OzusTokyo Story(1953),Satyajit RaysThe Apu Trilogy(1955-1959) andThe Music Room(1958),Kenji MizoguchisUgetsu(1954) andSansho the Bailiff(1954),Raj KapoorsAwaara(1951),Mikio NarusesFloating Clouds(1955),Guru DuttsPyaasa(1957) andKaagaz Ke Phool(1959), and theAkira Kurosawa films Rashomon (1950), Ikiru(1952),Seven Samurai(1954) andThrone of Blood(1957). 1970s: Post-classical cinemaThis term is used to describe the period following the decline of the studio system during the 1950s and 1960s and the end of the production code. During the 1970s, filmmakers increasingly depicted explicit sexual content and showed gunfight and battle scenes that included graphic images of bloody deaths. The 1980s were filled with movies releasing with sequels like Star Wars, Jaws, and Indiana Jones. The audience also started to watch movies on their VCR at home during this period. 1990s to present: Contemporary Cinema The 1990s saw the development of the independent cinema with commercial success. Special effects also ruled during this period as it was being heavily used by the successful movies of the period like: Terminator 2: Judgment Day(1991) andTitanic(1997). During the 2000s, documentary genre of film making also rose as can be seen with the success of movies such as March of the Penguins, and Fahrenheit 9/11. Increase in the problem of digital distribution due to infringement of copyrights, and piracy also has reached heights during this period. Cinema as a whole during this decade has become more global with foreign-language films gaining popularity in English-speaking markets. Films such as City of Gods (Portugese), Lagaan (Hindi), and the Passion of the Christ (Aramaic). Some have described the prevailing style of the period as post modern because many contemporary films are apolitical, ahistorical, intertextual, and less tied to the conventions of a single genre or culture. The transnational circulation and genre hybridity of contemporary films is exemplified by the increasing global popularity of non- English speaking cinema. (Film Studies, 2009) Major Genres of Films: They are broad enough to accommodate practically any film ever made, although film categories can never be precise. By isolating the various elements in a film and categorizing them in genres, it is possible to easily evaluate a film within its genre and allow for meaningful comparisons and some judgments on greatness. Films were not really subjected to genre analysis by film historians until the 1970s. All films have at least one major genre, although there are a number of films that are considered crossbreeds or hybrids with three or four overlapping genre (orsub-genre) types that identify them. (Dirks) Genres in cinema can broadly be categorized under the following classifications: Setting prisonHistoryFuturisticFantasyWesternWarMood Drama MelodramaTragedyComedy- dramaRomanceAction- adventure Humor/ Comedy SlapstickBlack comedyScrewball comedyAction comedyRomantic comedySuspense HorrorMysteryThrillerTheme or topic CrimeArt FilmWarScience fictionalEspionageWesternSportsFantasyFilm NoirFormat MusicalDocumentaryLive actionAnimationBiographyHISTORY OF SHORT FILMS Short subject a name initially given to Short Films came into existence in the 1910s when the majority of the feature movies were being made into loner run-time editions. The name short subject is an American film industry term, which was assigned to any film within 20 minutes long or running two reels. Short subject films could be comedy, animated, or live action. One of the best known users of short subject was Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. In 1930s came the slowdown of the short subjects, basically produced by Warner Bros and Famous studios that owned their own theatres to showcase the films. By 1995s, the rise of television led to the strangulation of the live action- short and at the same time the fall cartoon short. Since the 1960s, majority of the directors of short films have been special studio projects or independent film makers. Since the 1980s, short film term was being used for short subject. Short film as a term describes the non- commercial film that is much shorter in time length than a feature film/ an analogy that can be drawn for short film to a feature film is that of a novella and a novel. The short filmmakers heavily depend on the short film festivals and art exhibitions to showcase their short films. At the same time, these film makers have more freedom to take up more difficult topics than normal feature films as the risks are lower. Short film making is now a growing as more and more amateurs, students, common man, and enthusiasts are taking this up because of the affordability of the technology to make such films. At the same time one can showcase his work to the world by uploading it on web portals and sharing it with others. It is an area where people are turning to as a hobby, as an art, to achieve their form expressions. (Wiernicki) THE SHORT FILM FESTIVALS Festival de Cannes The Festival is an apolitical no-mans-land, a microcosm of what the world would be like if people could contact each other directly and speak the same language. Jean Cocteau Being first large international cultural event after the World War II, the Festival de Cannes opened on 20th September, 1946. The Palme dOr was created in 1955. Palme dOr became the enduring symbol of the Cannes Film Festival, awarded each and every year since to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition. At present, Festival de Cannes invites film makers from around the world to present their work in one place and exchange cultural experiences. The selections for the awards are done from a nomination of films from all over the world, from different socio-economic backgrounds, different cultures, and different historical backgrounds. Cannes offers an opportunity to determine a particular countrys image of its cinema. Festival de Cannes is a melting pot of global cinema and filmmakers. This is the reason why I have undertaken the study of the award winning short films at festival de Cannes. (Festival History) Oscar Short Film Awards TheAcademy Awards, also known as theOscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(AMPAS). The AMPAS recognizes the excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The1st Academy Awards ceremony was held Thursday, May 16, 1929, at the Hotel RooseveltinHollywoodto honor outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. Since 2002, the awards have been broadcast from the Kodak Theatre. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is one of the most prominent award ceremonies in the world. It is also the oldest award ceremony in the media, and many other award ceremonies such as theGrammy Awards(for music), Golden Globe Awards(all forms of visual media), and Emmy Awards(for television) are often modeled from the Academy. The Oscar Award is given to Short Films with entries from across the world due its prestige involved with the award. The Oscar Awards are given to Short Films in three categories within the Short Film category. These categories are: Best Animated Short Film AwardBest Documentary Short Subject AwardBest Live Action Short FilmSundance Film Festival TheSundance Film Festival takes place annually in the state of Utah, in theUnited States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the U.S.Held every year in January inPark City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as theSundance Resort, the festival is the premier showcase for the new work of arts from across the world of independent filmmakers. The festival comprises of competitive sections for world over dramatic and documentary films, both feature-length films and short films, and a group of non-competitive showcase sections. Initially the Festival was a low- profile venue for small-budget, independent directors from outside the Hollywood. Now it has changed to a media extravaganza for Hollywood celebrity actors, directors, and luxury lounges set up by companies that are not affiliated with Sundance. The Sundance Festival has tried to change these activities in recent times, beginning from 2007 with their Focus on Film campaign. From 2009 onwards some changes were made to the Sundance Film Festival. Some of the changes made include: a new programming category called NEXT for extremely low-budget films, and the Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. program, in which eight of the festivals films will be shown in eight theaters around the country, a very good initiative as more people will get access to the films that only few selected audience gets. Sundance over time has shown is credibility as being the international festival for feature length and short- films. It is now recognized the world over as one of the important festivals to look for each year. It still has a long way to go till it reaches the level of Cannes Film Festival and Oscars. Aspen Filmfest Aspen Filmfest began in 1979 in Aspen, Colorado, USA. The Aspen Film organizes a major movie event every season, contributing to an extensive education program, and hosts of numerous special presentations. Each year, some 30,000 people participate in this festival. Aspen Filmfest believes in the philosophy of striving to enlighten, enrich, educate, and entertain audience through the films. Aspen Filmfest is known for its commitment to original content. They screen more than 200 films each year, which are regional debuts and might not be available to the local audiences. The Aspen short film festival receives entry not only from US but from world over. There is also a special award given in collaboration with BAFTA/ LA giving it affiliation with BAFTA awards and also credibility but with the American perspective added to it. KNOWLEDGE GAP Looking at the current literature review, we see that there is a knowledge gap regarding the study of Short Films in the contemporary cinema as a communication medium. This subject requires an in-depth analysis and more research to come up with some perspectives in this area. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 1. To analyze the Form of award winning Short Films taken from a randomized selection, from contemporary cinema (last ten years), from Short Film Festivals held between 2000- 2009: Cannes Palme dOr du court mÃÆ' ©trage, Oscar Short Film Award, Aspen Filmfest Award, and Sundance Short Film Awards, and analyse the form of Short films. 2. To analyse the Content of the award winning Short Films in context of political, sociological, economical, and historical backgrounds. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The Qualitative research methodology is used in this study. The method would involve analyses of the form and content of the Short Films. The Sample: The award winning Short Films taken from a randomized selection, from reputed Short Film Festivals held across the world between 2000- 2009. These festivals are: Cannes Palme dOr du court mÃÆ' ©trage, Oscar Short Film Award, Aspen Filmfest Award, and Sundance Short Film Awards. The following Short Films have been selected for the study: 1. Movie: Gridlock Director: Dirk BeliÃÆ' «n Country: Belgium Award: Oscar best live action short film, 2003; Aspen Shorts fest, 2002 2. Movie: Strangers Director: Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor Country: Israel Award: Aspen Shorts fest, 2003; Sundance Film Festival, 2003 3. Movie: Ver Llover Director: Elisa Miller Country: Mexico Award: Cannes Film Festival, 2007 4. Movie: Sniffer Director: Bobbie Peers Country: Norway Awards: Cannes Film Festival, 2009 5. Movie: Oktapodi Director: Julien Bocabeille, FranÃÆ' §ois-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand , Quentin Marmier and Emud Mokhberi Country: France Awards: Oscar best animated shorts winner, 2007 6. Movie: Spider Director: Nash Edgerton Country: Australia Award: Aspen shorts fest, 2007; Sundance Film Festival, 2007 Why the above Sample? The above following sample has been chosen for the reason being that the Festival de Cannes(le Festival de Cannes), Oscars, Aspen Filmfest, and Sundance Film Festival, are one of the worlds oldest, finest and most prestigious film festivals which have a very good representation of directors from across the world from different cultural, political, historical, religious, economical, and sociological backgrounds. This provides us with a variety of content for our study. The above movies are selected also on the basis of them being a part of contemporary cinema. How to Study Short Films Some of the salient points/ questions that will be used to do this study of short films are as follows: 1. Who is telling the story? Why is it being told? Does it appear to have a purpose?(media agencies, authorial voice, writers and auteurs, marketing, economics, ideology) 2. How is it experienced? Who consumes it, where and in what way?(readers and media audiences- private and public experience, narrative structures) 3. How is it made?(film technology, publishing and episodic publishing-the differences they make to the production process as well as to the finished product) 4. How does it construct meaning?(film language and written language-expectations of audiences and readers, codes and conventions, narrative structures) 5. How does it represent its subject- especially with reference to period?(representation, use of stereotypes, representation of the past) (FILM STUDY GUIDE FOR TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, 2003) 6. Three Ways of Thinking Talking About Films (Wilder, 1997) Literary Aspects Dramatic Aspects Cinematic Aspects Who are the characters in the film? Did the actors make you forget they were acting? How? What vivid visual images did you note? What did they make you feel or think about? What is the films setting? Were costumes, make-up, and set equally important to the success of the film? What sounds or music do you remember? What did they make you feel or think about? What are the main plot elements? In what scene was an actors voice (pitch, volume, expression) particularly effective? What scenes can you understand even without dialogue? Why? From whose point of view is the story told? Select a scene that must have been difficult to act. How did the actor make his or her body movements appropriate and convincing? What scene has very effective or unusual editing? What is the theme of the film? Describe a scene in which facial expression was important. What feelings were developed? Were words necessary? If the film uses special effects, do they add to or detract from your enjoyment of the film? What is the mood of the film? Did the actors establish their characters more through dialogue or through movement and facial expressions? . What symbols did you notice? How is this film like or unlike other films by the director? Does this director have a recognizable style? . . Was there anything about the acting, set, or costumes that bothered you or interfered with your watching of the film? LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH 1. The selection of the short films could have been broader and incorporated from more film festivals from across the world. 2. More methods like semiotics could have been used for the analysis of the short films. 3. Difficulty in access to short film movies from across the world and across film festivals. This includes difficulty in procuring even the award winning short films. EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION Given that the art of making Short Films is on the upward trend it is necessary to analyze the current trends, narratives, and the context of the Short Films genre in our contemporary cinema. We have enough knowledge on feature length movies but we lack information on the Short Films of our age. The study of this medium is important as Short films are a highly effective medium of communication and will gain importance going forward. As more and more people are turning towards Short Film making due to accessibility to technology, it is one field that needs attention in our world of cinema. A study of its content will give us a better understanding of the Short Films and world around us through their camera scope is imperative. EXPLORING THE SHORT FILMS Movie: Gridlock Director: Dirk BeliÃÆ' «n Country: Belgium Award: Oscar best live action short film, 2003; Aspen Shorts fest, 2002 THE STORYBOARD The short film starts off with light summery music with nothing clear on the camera but a blur. Slowly the camera gets into focus and we see that it is headlight of the car. The music playing in the background is singing about a sunny day but when the camera gets into focus we realize that it is snowing heavily. The camera then moves up the across the bonnet of the car to focus on the man sitting inside the car. The man looks like in his forties, bald (looks like his style not natural), sporting a little hair under the lower lip, wearing a suit, light blue shirt, with a blue tie, and spectacles. The radio becomes audible now and the music stops on the radio and the news start. The lady on the radio news tells about the traffic jam that there is on the road Antwerp- Ghent. The man listens to it and then switches it off by cursing at it and saying yes, I can see that. Stupid Bitch. At this scene the camera is focusing on the scene that it visible from the front window of the car portra ying lot of snow and jam. The man in the car seems very annoyed with the jam. He starts cursing the people who are working on clearing the road inside the car only. As the man is in the process of taking out his medicines an ambulance whizzes past his car with its loud siren at which the man freaks out and curses Jesus Christ! Assholes! the man then takes his medicines and breathes heavily after that for first few breathes and then relaxes. He looks into his watch for time. The camera all this time is placed right behind the steering wheel dashboard. Now it moves to the side passenger seat in the front where a newly bought mobile phone lies inside its open box. The man says to himself loudly, Lets see if this thing is as good as the guy said. He dials a number. There is honking of a car from behind which annoys him again and he shouts inside the car only at the person in the car behind and starts driving with the phone between his shoulder blade and right ear. The car stops. The phone rings in some home where the camera is focusing on the table with the phone and a Japanese sword also there on the stand. The table is placed right on the side of the wooden staircase leading to the higher floors. A chair in the background with a lamp to its side comes in the blur of the camera. The phone rings. We hear a television noise in the background and at the same time a girl suddenly gets up from behind the table. The girl seems about 5 years in age with golden hair knotted into two little buns on the head holding a doll with long hair which is tied into two pony tails and wearing a red frock. The girl picks up the phone and the following conversation happens with the camera shifting to the scene of the person talking from the same angle as it was before. Girl: hello Man: hey, honey, its daddy. Girl: daddy? Man: yes honey, its daddy. Girl: Hi daddy. Man: sweetie, is mommy there? Girl: no, daddy, mommys upstairsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (As the girl is talking on the phone she starts moving towards the pram to keep her doll in it. In the process the phone falls from the table and the man couldnt hear the upstairs) Man: honey? Hello, what did you say? Girl: hello Man: say, sweetie, is mommy there? Girl: mommys upstairs in the bedroom with uncle Wim. (The girl is playing with the wire of the phone as she says this. On hearing this the man starts stuttering a bit and is totally flabbergasted) Man: uncle Wim? But we dont have an uncle Wim, sweetie. Girl: yes we do. Mommys upstairs with uncle Wim. (On hearing this, the man gets restless and doesnt know what to say. The girl keeps calling him daddy on the phone. The camera focuses on his lips.) Man: honey, I want you to do something for meà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The camera then focuses on the girl as the man explains the girl what to do. She stands in one place listening intently and not moving a bit. The television noise is still there in the background. The camera moves around the girl slowly, withdrawing back from the girl. The girl leaves the phone receiver on the table and walks up the stair. The camera shifts to the man in the car who is very restless and takes one more round of his pills. The man still holding the phone to his ear is waiting for the girl to get back on the phone. The restlessness is still there as he keeps moving his hand over his head and breathing heavily. The girl comes down from the stairs. The girl picks up the phone. Girl: hello daddy? Man: what happened? The camera shifts to a room upstairs with the door bolted. The girl walks in the frame from behind and goes by the door. She hears moans and groans of her mother inside the room when she puts her ear against the door. Girl: I went upstairs and knocked on the door, like you asked me to. The girl knocks on the door and then calls mommy, mommy, but she only hears the moans getting louder. Then she says, I heard daddys car. Hes home. The door opens and a nude woman screams at the girl and then runs away into the corridor into the bathroom. Then the camera pans towards the bedroom. An obese man there was wearing his pants in a hurry and looking at the girl in her eyes. He had spiked hair and a French beard. Fear was there in his eyes. Now we hear background sound of the girl talking on the phone explaining what she saw and happened as the camera moves with the girl in what she had just done while she was gone and phone receiver was on the table. At the same time there is light music that comes in as the girl runs towards the noise she heard and the music becomes much louder as the girl sees her mother lying on the bathroom floor dead. The girl starts rolling her finger in her hair. Girl: and she ran into the bathroom and fell on the floorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and I think she is dead. The camera shifts to the man in the car. Man: dead?! No, no, noà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The man seems to get scared and starts moving his hand over his bald head in tension. Man: and uncle Wim? The camera shifts to the girl sitting by her mother and uncle Wim in the background. When the girl looks at him, he shuffles his steps a bit and runs. Then we hear a noise of a glass breaking. The girl moves to the other room Girl: hes hurt too. Then the camera follows her to another room. She walks past some broken pieces of glass with blood around them. Girl: there was blood on the floor. Man: blood? Girl: uncle Wim wasnt there anymore. The camera gives a shot of an open window with white curtains fluttering with the snowfall outside. The view is that of a night and barren trees silhouette in the background. The camera then moves to the window and shifts slowly towards the area below the window where a figure of a man is there flat on the ground and no movement. The music is getting grimmer but still lighter in the intensity of its sound. Girl: and I looked down and I think hes dead. In the swimming pool. Man: Swimming pool? Swimming pool? What swimming pool? The man looks stunned and moves his mobile phone from his ear. He looks at the number on the mobile phone after hearing the swimming pool. And then he realizes the number he has dialed. A car honks at the back. Man: holy shit! Girl: daddy? FORM The movie has a very serious and frustrated mood in the beginning which is betrayed by the opening song which makes it sound nice and jolly. The movie focuses a lot on the close shots when the characters are talking. The movement of the camera is usually when there is no speech taking place. For example, when the man talks its focused on his face or his lips. When the phone was ringing the camera stayed on the phone till the little girl came into the scene. During the flashback the speed of the scenes goes in slow-motion and all the shots are from a stationary place. The camera just follows from where it is rather than moving with the characters. Throughout the movie the sounds of the natural surroundings are used. The music is only used once the little girl starts explaining what all happened after she did what he had told her to do. The music comes in for the back flash part of the short film. The music used is also very grim and gothic type. The music gets louder when the death of the mother is shown and church bells for both the mother and uncle Wim. Once the man realizes that it is a wrong number that he has dialed, the music stops playing in the background. Music and the slowing of the scenes happen only in the flashback. While in the present scenario natural surrounding sounds are used with more focus on close shots. CONTENT The short film was made in 2001 when the mobile phones were just growing in the world. So we see an upper class man, as he is driving a Mercedes car and his looks are that of a business man or such other job. What we see in the film is how a wrong connection

Essay --

The acceleration of string pattern matching problems in hardware has started as early as 1980 [1] with the special purpose VLSI chip used by Foster and Kung to compute an algorithm for the string pattern matching problem using systolic array architecture. The term systolic array was coined by Kung and Leiserson in 1978 at the Carnegie-Mellon University [2]. This one-dimensional array enables the acceleration of Dynamic Programming (DP) algorithms by means of computing the recursive equation in anti-diagonal flow instead of sequential flow as in a standard microprocessor. Another early study which implemented the DP algorithm on special-purpose VLSI chip was reported by Lipton and Lopresti in 1985. The sequence edit distance algorithm was implemented in the processing element and a total of 30 systolic processors were used for the acceleration of the pattern matching problem. Following that, the Princeton Nucleic Acid Comparator (P-NAC) was reported by Lopresti in 1987 [3]. This VLSI core performed DNA sequence comparisons and achieved speeds 125 times faster than a minicomputer (DEC VAX 11/785). In the early 1990s, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) were used to accelerate the algorithm using a linear systolic array. SPLASH was among the first off-the-shelf FPGA-based sequence edit distance accelerators, and was reported by Hoang and Lopresti [4]. It comprised of 24 PEs where each implemented the sequence edit distance algorithm. However, at that time FPGAs were not as competitive as they are today. Thus, other parallel architectures were developed, including the single instruction multiple data (SIMD) architectures such as micro grain array processor (MGAP) [4] in 1994, Kestrel [5] in 1996 and Fuzion [6] in 2002. These parall... ...poses a new processor array architecture for the Smith-Waterman with affine gap penalty alignment algorithm that are more efficient in speed and area than the processor array architecture of [23] specially for short query sequences. This is achieved by applying a nonlinear mapping methodology to the Smith-Waterman with affine gap penalty alignment algorithm after expressing it as Regular Iterative Algorithm (RIA). This methodology uses a data scheduling and node projection techniques to explore the systolic array architecture of the algorithm. Also, we present the hardware implementation of the processing element (PE) of the proposed systolic array structure and apply a scheduling strategy to the PE architecture in order to re-use the systolic array for the multiple pass processing of such biological sequences without requiring additional time for PE configuration.

Britney Spears or Spear Britney

â€Å"Manufactured bands have brought us some fab solo acts in the way of Mr Keating, and Robbie. Where would the screaming girlies be with out them?† J17 magazine. The truth is as long as they aren't screaming and waving their underwear anywhere near me I don't honestly have a problem with teeny-boppers. Of course I enjoy the occasional joke about some larger than life band with a talent count of minus 50 but they don't aggravate me as much you might think. Ignorance is bliss! But if I HAD to rant about anything it would be about manufactured and their music. And so to make the rant really good I might as well exaggerate some of my views and thoughts to make me appear like a true cynic and hater of all that is pop. So I sat in my room staring at my CD collection, tossing away the couple that don't do me proud. So with my ‘Ricky Martin' and ‘Spice Girls' album on one side (carefully poised on the desk, teetering dangerously over the bin) and my ‘System Of A Down' and ‘Blink 182' on the other I sat down to write this article. OK. Ever stop to think about how much hormonally-charged energy you put into the quick quips and biting banter? Your life would be considerably more productive if you took some, what's that word again, oh that's it — action. I'm not suggesting that you incinerate some fresh teeny-boppers. There are laws against it. Yep even in that state of the US. But if you're so fed up of manufactured bands and this article awakes the rebel in you, then I say ‘Go Forth, join a band and top the charts!' OK fine maybe its not that easy but its more productive than bitchin about the manufactured lot with your mates. In this world of MTV soundbites (we are not worthy) and insanely uncreative lyrics, the manufactured band and the manufactured singer run rampant They are people who are pooled together, not because they excel musically, but because their looks and personality can be pigeon-holed to fit a â€Å"type† : cute, funny, naughty, or sexy. It's just that simple. Musical passion is generally becoming a fading art, with most people in it for nothing more than the money and the quick-fix of fame. Fame, you see, very rarely comes from the strength of the music. A few years ago, Britney Spears exploded onto the scene. Her virginal yet strangely flirty lyrics had paedophiles across the world intrigued. Here was a 16 year old girl who loved Jesus Christ, sung about ‘being hit' and claimed to be a virgin. It was all so†¦fan-bl**dy-tastic. Britney went on to sell lots of records, preach Satan's teachings and get to wear increasingly skimpy outfits in her music videos. With this much success, the clones were bound to follow. And, lo and behold, they did. Christina Aguilera was the first to jump on the pink-coated bandwagon, and one of many to ride Carson Daly's gear-stick to TRL glory. The girl could certainly sing, but she was the blondest Hispanic in history, and the most annoying anorexic this side of â€Å"Ally McBeal†. They became more and more annoying. â€Å"Is that humanly possible?† I hear you say but as I say if in doubt turn to the merry U S of A. Enter Mandy Moore. Moore was about 12 and could barely even screech well. She sang a song about missing a guy â€Å"like candy†, which is just plain sad. Nobody misses anyone like candy. I wonder what I'd miss my pin-ups like after my brains are gobbled by the undead teeny boppers. Mmmm†¦.. The manufactured craze is continuing as I write this dread-filled article. Oily men across the industry are lining their pockets and making an absolute mint from girls who dream about â€Å"cute guys† and â€Å"Dawson†. Why is it so big? Well its not because its so cutting edge. It's because girls are insecure. And popular culture capitalises on that. Girls think — maybe if I go out and buy that new lipstick, I'll fit in. Or maybe if I watch this show or listen to that music, I'll be popular. I mean, look around you now (that's right just blatantly stare at them!), every one of these girls is incredibly insecure. You can't even speak your mind anymore without stomping on somebody's feelings. You make a ‘Five' break up joke and the teeny-boppers have a fit. You make a Two Pac (deceased) joke and the Hip-Hop posse kindly raise their middle finger. And any comments of Marilyn Mansons femininity will have Satanists swarming around threatenin to send the forces of evil to your abode. In the States, songs about coming on over and getting hit in the face are all the rage. In Britain, the flavour is love. If you're ever making a boyband, be sure they sing songs about â€Å"love† and â€Å"sex†. If you're planning on making a girl group, make sure they sing songs about â€Å"love† and â€Å"sex†. Really its not that hard. The dudes on ‘Popstars' make it look so hard. However, if you plan on plucking an underage girl from school (and there are laws against it) in the hopes that you'll create the next Britney, make sure she sings songs about â€Å"genies in bottles† and being unvirginised. As I was surfin the wonderful net and followin the proverbial ‘yellow brick road' to all that is fake†¦(with a capital F ladies and gentlemen) I discovered that Britain is just as bad as the States in terms of manufactured bands. There's a deep-seated history involved in the art of making boybands. In the seventies, the Bay City Rollers were all the rage. Essentially, they were ugly Scottish dudes who wore Tartan costumes (kilt-like but not quite) and sang really badly (they have sound clips on the site†¦.sayin they sing badly is like saying ‘o the arctic is a bit chilly'). But the teenyboppers loved them, simply because the machine trained them to love them. It's like that mind-washing scene in â€Å"A Clockwork Orange†. Impressionable kids are force-fed a cocktail of bland music, and few of them have the intellectual tools or inquisitive nature, and think to themselves ‘er†¦why'. Well, it's very simple. These guys make money, and the formula is easy to reproduce. And people will buy anything if it's well-packaged. Sheep. BAAAA! Best not to think about it too much. It hurts my b r a i n! Fact is, these bands make great money for their producers, all by living up to a fallacious image. It's easy money, and while the fat cats grow obese, we're the ones who are losing out. Because when genuinely talented performers fail to find a niche in the busy marketplace, we'll be overcome with these beasts. I'll be honest, though. I like a wide range of music. Sometimes I'll be blown away (OK, hooked) by a boyband tune or maybe I'll even shock myself and buy the track†¦(id like to stress that this is not a frequent occurrence, and any tracks I do waste my money on tend to be incinerated by some Satanist folk that hang around these parts.) OK, let me be completely honest: I prefer rock/punk music to virtually any other type of music (yes, even opera). Now, I like a lot of â€Å"respected† artists as well and I think I have fairly good taste when it comes to rating music, but there's something alluring about Pop. I'm not saying the music is necessarily good, but it is very effective. I realise that it's manufactured, that it's sugary and the song lyrics are dud, but tell me you yourself haven't caught the Pop bug at some point. These songs linger in your mind, even more so than Papa Roach screaming about how much life sucks and how we should all die. Not dissin P'Roach or anything†¦Coby, Dude, You Rule! That strange mixture of superficial positivity and cynical marketing works for some. Not me, but it does for some†¦ahh an outcast yet again. But while I won't admit too vehemently that I enjoy cheesy pop ballads, I'd like to celebrate some of the manufactured â€Å"artists† here in this article – where no-one â€Å"in real life† will ever know. Our group up for discussion is†¦ Westlife, or using their pronunciation, â€Å"Westloife†. Flying without Wings Everybody's looking for a something One thing that makes it all complete You'll find it in the strangest places Places you never knew it could be Some find it in the face of their children Some find it in their lovers eyes Who can deny the joy it brings When you've found that special thing You're flying without wings This is Westlife's entry into the â€Å"we condone drug usage† halls of chart history. I know that I'm only flying without wings after ten too many beers (so that's 10 beers in total yea). It's obvious that these depraved young men are either promoting illegal substances (S club Seven wannabe's) or singing about love. Whichever way you look at it, the song is pretty damn kooky. All right, it's sweet and touching. This sucks. And to conclude†¦.o wait someone's at the door. ::Abruptly stands knocking Ricky and Spice-eys into the bin. Looks out window:: And now I've been called away by a knock at my door. And the person knocking is a God-lover telling me I need the light of God. I've been thinking†¦God is a lot like a boyband. People go on about him 24/7 and plaster his posters on their bedrooms, but has he ever written his own tracks?

Exploring Harry Potter essays

Exploring Harry Potter essays It is clear that J.K. Rowling took extraordinary care in crafting the first book in her Harry Potter series. Therefore, it appears that there must be some significance to the fact that Harry believed that his parents died in a car crash before learning that he was a wizard. In order to understand that significance, it is important to examine how Harry learned that his parents did not die in a car crash. Interestingly enough, no one in the wizarding world revealed the true nature of his parents death, instead his aunt Petunia exploded about their deaths when Harry was approached by Hogwarts: Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew youd be just the same, just as strange, just as as abnormal and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you! Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash! CAR CRASH! roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. How could a car crash kill Lily an James Potter? Its an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin his own story when every kid in our world knows his name! (Rowling, p.53). From the passage, it is clear that Petunia has a tremendous amount of disdain for wizards in general, and Harry in particular. Therefore, it seems likely that this disdain is at the root of their lies about the method of Lily and James death. As a result, it is important to understand Petunias disdain for wizards and wizardry, in order to understand why she lied about the manner of James and Lilys death. The Dursleys issues with Harry being a wizard are an important element of foreshadowing. By denying that wizardry had anything to do with the death of his parents, the...

A Couple of Notes About Couple

A Couple of Notes About Couple A Couple of Notes About â€Å"Couple† A Couple of Notes About â€Å"Couple† By Mark Nichol Couple, from the Latin word copula, meaning â€Å"bond† (yes, the term is also the origin of copulate, which is synonymous with a sense of the verb couple), has some relationship issues, so careful writers should be aware of the word’s reputation and note its proper formal usage. Couple, as a collective noun, can be associated with a singular verb or a plural one, depending on context. But unlike other words in that class, it’s more likely to use a plural verb: â€Å"The couple is celebrating its fiftieth wedding anniversary† is just awkward, because the impersonal pronoun implies that the enduring union does not involve human beings. But â€Å"The couple are celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary† strikes many readers, even those who, like me, advocate the singular they, as clumsy. So, refer to the couple as â€Å"the two† or even â€Å"they.† Employing couple as an adjective (â€Å"Can I borrow a couple dollars?†) is common in speech but not appropriate in writing; the proper form is to treat the word as a noun followed by the preposition of preceding another noun (â€Å"Can I borrow a couple of dollars?†) When quoting a speaker in writing, silent correction interpolating of in the record of a person’s idiomatic speech without brackets or similarly calling attention to the change is advisable. An exception to the â€Å"couple of dollars† preference is when the noun is a numerical reference (â€Å"I bet a couple of hundred dollars on the game†); though this is the preferred form, omission of of in this usage is still common and not considered incorrect. However, of should remain absent from such statements as â€Å"I’ll buy a couple more batteries.† The noun couple is also used informally to refer to more than two people. The verb form lags in generally referring to two people or things, as in connecting of train cars, though this action may repeat sequentially. The form coupling can be a verb, an adjective, and a noun. Note, too, that â€Å"coupled with† takes a singular verb: â€Å"That incident, coupled with his behavior yesterday, is a clear sign of his instability.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Cost-Effective vs. Cost-EfficientExcited ABOUT, not "for" I wish I were...

Applying Alpro herd management system (information system) to a small Term Paper

Applying Alpro herd management system (information system) to a small dairy farm - Term Paper Example The system has also assisted dairy farmers to monitor and keep the health of their herds. The system has been designed to be user-friendly and to fit in with the routines of dairy farmers all year round. The system also impressively withstands the aggressive gasses and the high humidity that is usually present in the dairy unit environment. A dairy ranch with a herd size of approximately 150, one manager, and two skilled laborers can be managed using the ALPRO System. The side opening milking parlor used here may be organized to allow the 80 milking cows to exit or cross over to a single return lane on one side. Using a single return lane reduces the cost of parlor and the facilities used when catching or sorting the cows leaving the parlor. The single return lane allows the cows to be released individually after milking. For a six-stall side opening milking parlor, the ALPRO system is efficient and comfortable. It shortens the udder to milker distance making it easy to see and reach the cows during milking and avoid the sideways twitching related to udder inspection or cluster attachment. The layout allows for smooth movement between the cows and complete view of the cow in monitoring feeding during and after milking. It also allows easy separation of cows that need special individual attention. The system adapts to v arious cow traffic patterns, and milking routines for it is versatile. It widens the choice of building a suitable layout and makes the utilization of an existing farm building more practical. The ALPRO System incorporates simple electronic photocells that track the progress of the milking cows through the side opening milking parlor and transmits the information to an ALPRO controller. After a cow leaves a particular milking stall, the system automatically closes the gate behind the cow and opens the entry gate for another cow to enter thus preventing traffic in the milking parlor. Similarly, the automation reduces the need

How Biologists Are Impacted and Responding to Alcohol-Induced Research Paper

How Biologists Are Impacted and Responding to Alcohol-Induced Interpersonal Violence Globally - Research Paper Example The dependence of alcohol causes problems in social state of its victim and results to abnormal occurrences and acts such as domestic violence, loss, or lowering of productivity in place of work as well as causing traffic accident leading to injuries are also the consequences of alcohol misuse. The misuse also results to chronic organ disorders of the victimized individual (French, 1991, 57-63). According to the Room, et al. (2005) excessive use of alcohol is rated third position of the causes leading to preventable deaths in the US. Its abuse causes the large burdens in the cohesion of communities, health of populations and the provision of the basic public services including criminal justice and health care. Alcohol misuse is responsible of 4% a year on the lost health through disability or premature deaths. The report also indicates that, for every resulted death due to the interpersonal violence, many of the victims require treatment from hospital while many other victims remain undisclosed (Nutt et al., 1988, pp 283-313). This is because the victimized persons are recorded neither by the criminal justice agencies, nor in the health centers. Alcohol and interpersonal violence are strongly linked although the consumption depends on the pattern of drinking between countries, and across all cultures. There are many cases documented which justifies various impacts of impacts on the harmful consumption of alcohol by recording the victims of violence as a result. According to Goldberg et al. (2003)the Australia recorded 26% male victims and 17% female victims between year 2002 and 2003. As evidenced on the report, the victims were said to have been drinking alcohol prior to their death. On another case, Netherlands had documented 36% of the victims presented to the trauma department between the years 1970 to 1998. It was then learnt that the victims had consumed alcohol. The percentage of the victims of violent injuries presented to the emergency rooms in USA, Ca nada, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and Australia tested positive for alcohol depending on the country. For example, in Argentina, only 24% of those tested turned positive whilst Australia had 43%. In every country, abuse of alcohol and its related interpersonal violence has so far affected too many consequences including affecting the health and the well-being of the relationship between the friends and family, fear levels within the communities, and also the pressure to the public service. Harmful use of alcohol is said to be the method of portraying violent experiences where the victims become prone to problematic habits of drinking even in future life. Other long-term effect of victim’s health includes the posttraumatic stress disorder or even committing suicide. Researchers in developed countries have noticed that, the consumption of alcohol by both the violence perpetrators and victims can increase the severity of injuries (Thurman & LemasterS, 1984, pp. 103–117). In this, alcohol may play a major role in determining the survival of the victims after serious assaults. For example, by either reducing the victims’ perception of the seriousness of the injury or reducing their ability of seeking the medical help (Room et al., 2003). Alcohol abuse also causes many other social