Social Enterprise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Social Enterprise - Essay Example According to the essay findings  an economy is known to have three sectors namely; the public sector, the private sector which highly competes with the state owned enterprises and the third sector pertinent to the enterprises are established by individuals voluntarily with the intensions of chasing the community, social and charitable goals. It is prevalent that the three edged sector of an economy tends to impose a restriction on these third sector organizations that happen to infringe the set definition. The co–operative enterprises coming under the purview of social enterprise tend to cross the margin that distinguishes the voluntary and private sectors.This discussion stresses that  the enterprises in form of co–operatives and ‘mutual help’ following the commercial principles were the way to the emergence of ‘Third Sector’ as an innovative term. There is a value related to the social face that encompasses this Third Sector, is the conce rn for the management principles that the modern public and private sector follows and which has contributed to the exclusion of under–privileged and vulnerable individuals, socially. The Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) of public sector and ICOM, one of the co–operatives enabled Social Enterprise London with the assets and the funding part required for a proper establishment of an enterprise.  An entrepreneurship involving the societal aspects is in general terms defined as â€Å"entrepreneurial activity with an embedded social purpose†.

Gump’s Musical Box of Chocolates Essay Example for Free

Gump’s Musical Box of Chocolates Essay Project Overview   Audience worldwide was hit by the wisdom of a mentally challenged character named Forrest Gump who lived in America throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Forrest Gump lived a full life despite his mental condition. He participated and became a very special part in the many histories that shaped the nation. As important events surround the main character, he also essentially evolves into a man with his sense of American values intact, unstirred and pure.   At the least, theme of the film revolves around the circumstances found in one’s environment that eventually shapes the citizen but moreso, the movie is about how a most unlikely American citizen was able to help shape his country just by being true to himself. But more than anything else, the movie adaptation of the 1985 novel by Winston Groom sets itself apart as a film inspired by its musical scores. Forest Gump, the movie, was born during the time when Hollywood films were relentlessly doing films in order to sell its soundtracks. At most times, a movie fan would find himself realizing that all the songs used in the movie are packaged in music CDs sold in stores. The more familiar these songs were, the better a young group of audience would enjoy and remember the film, but not the movie Forrest Gump. This paper aims to discuss the history surrounding the film and how it was used to weave the story into a creative fiction that borders the documentary film genre. The paper will choose one scene and proceed with an in depth music analysis of the scene in relation to the whole theme of the movie. And finally, the discourse will point out arguments that make and unmake categorizing this film under fiction or under the documentary genre. History of work surrounding the film   Highlights in America’s history were used in throughout the film so much so that the viewer will realize this pattern a few minutes after the opening of the movie. The screenwriters was able to do this by focusing on the life of Forrest Gump from being a child with braces to becoming a millionaire who just had to send his son to school for the rest of his life. Amongst the highlights of the film worth discourse is Forrest Gump’s joining the Vietnam war without even understanding the whole issues of the war. For some critics looking just above the movie’s thesis, they would be enraged at the idea that the film espouses dumb American college graduates that join in the war are the ones who actually live and become a hero. However, the beauty of the war scenes is the ability of the movie to present the reality of the actual era using music and songs juxtaposed in those scenes. Scene Analysis   The effectiveness of film music lie in its capacity to set a scene to transform itself from the usual to the memorable. Many of the scenes in the movie elaborate on three levels of symbolisms. It’s narrative deals with the life of one man, it’s visuals elaborate on the life of a nation while the music used presented that cultural insights found by the generation as synthesized into a hallmark hit song. The scenes that relate to the interactions of Forrest and Jenny, the girl in Forrest life from childhood to adulthood are the bookmarks of the film. Each meeting is juxtaposed with a popular music very much relevant to the year being shown. The popular music are sung by musicians that topped the charts during their era due to the creativity of their songs to project the general sentiments of the prevailing American Culture. For example, in the scene when Jenny who was at the hippie stage of the flower power culture met Forrest who was at that time was just given a congressional medal by the government for being a hero during the Vietnam war where he was able to save his whole platoon except for his best friend Bubba, met at the national capital. Though they were dressed differently, the two friends had the time of their lives to exchange what happened to them while one was away. This slow movement of two friends circling the D.C. monument was surrounded with the music of The Byrds entitled â€Å"Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season†. The Byrds was considered a major band in the 1960s that helped bridge the gap between Bob Dylan’s socially conscious folk music and the Beatles’ hybrid pop creations. The Byrds was in the crossroads, much like where Forrest and Jenny were in the scene at the Washington DC monument. The band helped facilitate other rock subgenres such as the folk, space, raga, psychedelic, jangle and country rock. â€Å"Turn! Turn! Turn!† was one of the many markers of the band. The song theme revolved around change that was happening to America in the 60s. So much decision and events were happening causing many things to change including worldview, lifestyles and cultures. In the Washington DC scene, the audience is given a breather to hope for the possibility of Forrest and Jenny to finally be together since Forrest was now a medaled soldier. The music even helped suggest this because the lyrics involved the fact of life where there is a time for everything. â€Å"To everything turn, turn, turn, there is a season turn, turn, turn And a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap, a time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep† The lyrics above prove that the music chosen for this scene carried the deeper subtext of the scene. To illustrate, the Vietnam war was a monumental venue where America had the chance to ‘turn’ and change its worldviews. If it was Jenny being asked to ‘turn’ during the scenes in Washington DC, the scene ended up with Jenny boarding a bus away from Forrest Gump who have just professed his love and wanting to take care of her. Unfortunately, much like war hungry politicians, Jenny still decided not to turn and continue living the American disparate life. With this kind of music use in film format, the success of the scoring lie in its ability to stand strongly at par with the particular scene being performed. â€Å"The deeper reality of film music, the necessity which found body in its lucky accident, involves the way the film tries to evoke a sort of temporary and illusive film-subjectivity, which closely mimics our everyday subjectivity. To do this, the film must rely on tactics far beyond simply spinning a good yarn. The film experience must imitate in some way all three overlapping dimensions of subjective reality: the symbolic, the real and the imaginary. The method by which this is done involves very heavily the use of film music.† (Spande, 2006) For example, the song â€Å"Fortunate Sons† that was used in the Vietnam war scenes was actually a hit during the 60s because it exposed the discrimination of the times. On the scene, Forrest and Bubba becomes good friends despite their differences in race but the subtext of the song used reminded the audience that during that time the discrimination against sending governments officials’ sons to the war was an issue that was never discussed lengthly in the movies.   But using â€Å"Fortunate Sons† is just one of the film’s tactics using music to get the movie theme’s a little deeper into analysis. Argument of the Film’s Genre   The film is definitely a documentary film if the scholar would take the character of Forrest Gump out of every historical scene set up. Since one cannot do that, the film becomes categorized under the ‘mockumentary’ film genre that is also known as fictional documentary or also called as false documentary. When filmmakers would want to project satire and parodies in historical events or real life documentaries, they would opt to use mockumentaries. Gump’s being an artfilm type of mockumentary is done by its creative and effective choice of music that would highlight each scene. Forrest Gump is one of those films where the audience would get to realize that each song played has a purposive element attached to the movie and not merely placed just to make the soundtrack sell.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Forrest Gump has elements that would tend to mock at historical events established and regarded highly by society. One example to visualize the genre in the film is the scene where Forrest Gump narrates how it just simply rained in Vietnam. Describing the rain borders on the ultimate mockery made on film against the Vietnam war where thousands of American soldiers died just to experience rain coming from all sides of a walking, sleeping or running soldier. Another example would be the juxtaposing Forrest on filmed documentaries where the President of the United States shakes hands with Forrest, not knowing the Vietnam war veteran hero and the Ping-Pong American Champion who conquered China had below average IQ. And the most ingenius mockery at real documentaries is when Forrest Gump is insinuated as part ‘creator’ of Elvis Presley famous rock and roll dance steps and John Lennon’s hit song ‘Imagine’.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though the movie follows the mock documentary genre, it trail blazes the particular film genre by its crafty juxtaposition of the very effective music. The musical scores of the scenes help the mock documentary be elevated into a higher kind of mock documentary film. What may be trivial onscreen is transformed into an author’s stand on the issue by means of the theme that the particular song is playing. The scene, for scholarly viewers therefore becomes an essay. This effective soundtrack helps the film elevate itself towards being an art film. The fact that producers said that the film did not earn as much proves that Forrest Gump can sit with art films under the mockumentary category. Summary   Forrest Gump is a classic piece of modern art film where it successfully used music, history and a timeless piece of character to present the wisdom in surviving American life during the decades of the 50s throughout the early 80s. The movie did not solely focused on Gump’s being mentally challenged. The movie started with that situation but ended up triumphantly with Gump achieving so much more than a lot other people would be able to do so. And he did that by just remaining as true to himself. Just like all the music used throughout the film, these cuts all came from hit albums of the composers who have achieved leadership not only in the song charts during their time. These songs and their composers have essentially becomes historical bookmarks, elements of change, transformation agents of history in both their fields and in American society. References: Forrest Gump. DVD. 1994 Spande, Robert. 2006. Three Regimes: A Theory of Film Music [http://web.archive.org/web/20031208182300/http://www.franklinmarketplace.com/filmmusic.html]

Molieres the Imaginary Invalid :: essays research papers fc

Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" is a farcical play about a hypochondriac who is so obsessed with his health and money that he ends up neglecting his family. The story involves several different themes and plots within one family. A new interpretation of this 17th century play is now being performed at the Arts Club Theater; it incorporates some new changes and modernizations in addition to the traditional improvisation. Morris Panych has definitely succeeded in delivering a new, more comical version of Moliere's final play. Moreover, the dominant theme of this play is body versus mind. The play is about a wealthy, but stingy man who believes that he is constantly sick (Argan). However, there is an obvious doubt to whether he is really sick or if he is just imagining his illness. Therefore, the primary theme is Argan's internal struggle of body vs. mind. This theme is developed throughout the play into smaller themes such as masculinity versus femininity, greed versus love, and death versus life. Two of the major changes from the text to the play are Argan's degree of illness and his death. In the text, there are very few elaborate descriptions of Dr. Purgon's treatment. However in the play by Panych, there is no shortage of enemas and other "bathroom" related scenes. I originally thought this change was for comical purposes, but after some additional thought I questioned whether Argan was imagining his illness or if he really was ill. In the text, by not having too many bathroom scenes, Argan seems to be imagining his illness (thus, he is the imaginary invalid). In Panych's stage version, Argan shows several symptoms of being ill; this definitely confuses the original play by Moliere. One of the original purposes of the play was to criticize, among other things, the medical profession in Moliere's time. Now, if Argan really was sick, does that mean that the doctors were correct in their analysis? No, it doesn't. I believe that Panych intended to show that it was the doctors' treatments that made Argan ill and eventually killed him. Another major change from Moliere's version is Beralde's gender and role in the play and in the family. Beralde is transformed into Argan's sister, instead of his brother. Panych saw male versus female as a major theme. If you look at the structure of the original play, all the people who truly love Argan and mean him well are female, except for Beralde. In fact out of all the different characters who take advantage of Argan, only one of them is female-

English Literature Essay

â€Å"Yet I seek not a fellow feeling in my misery. No sympathy may I ever find. When I first sought it, it was the love of virtue, the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being overflowed, that I wished to be participated. But now that virtue has become to me a shadow, and that happiness and affection are turned into bitter and loathing despair, in what should I seek for sympathy? I am content to suffer alone while my sufferings shall endure; when I die, I am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory. Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame, and of enjoyment. Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding. I was nourished with high thoughts of honour and devotion. But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal. No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to mine. When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.† [Text from Mary Shelley, Frankenstein 2nd Ed (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996), pg. 159 -160.] In the above passage Mary Shelley uses the monster of Frankenstein view of himself to depict some of the major themes in the novel such as monstrosity and abandonment. The themes of monstrosity and abandonment both appear repeatedly throughout the novel and can also be seen in the above quote. Monstrosity is one of the more prevalent themes in Frankenstein as the central character of the novel is a monster. Frankenstein’s creation is rejected by society because his unnatural physical appearance leads people to characterize him as a monster. Victor’s first reaction when he sees the monster is telling: â€Å"I beheld the wretch — the miserable monster whom I had created† (Shelley, 36). This further compounds the established idea that Frankenstein created a monster and as such he is treated as one. Upon entering the cottage in search of a place to rest, the monster encounters the children of the cottage. The children’s reaction when they first see the monster further demonstrates that people categorize Frankenstein’s creation as a monster because of the creatures’ physical appearance. In the text, the monster describes the children’s  reaction saying: â€Å"(†¦) their horror and consternation on beholding me. Agatha fainted; and Safie, (†¦) rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father (†¦), he dashed me to the ground, and struck me violently with a stick.† (Shelley, 94). The monster refuses to harm Felix even though he was violently attacked by him. This is shown in the following passage: â€Å"I could have torn him limb for limb, (†¦). But my heart sunk within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained.† (Shelley, 94-95). Therefore, one can see that the perception of Frankenstein’s creation as a monster is based solely on his appearance as the characterization of the creature as a monster in complete contrast to the monster’s response, when refuses to harm the person who attacked him though he could have easily done so. Monstrosity is also demonstrated by the following quote â€Å"crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal. No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to mine. When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins (†¦) the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil† (Shelley, 160). The author uses the language of the fallen angel and the devil as a symbol. This particular symbolism is presented as a contrast between â€Å"good† and â€Å"evil.† The monster believed himself to be an angel because of his internal characteristics though his physical appearance causes people to see him as a monster and therefore treats him as a monster. He is deeply affected by this; he fells isolated and alone and this feeling is intensified when Frankenstein refuses to create a female companion for the monster. The monster was very hurt by this and therefore he starts killing. This explains the imagery created by the author who uses the monster’s words when he states that â€Å"the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil.† The monster sins and truly becomes a monster and a devil after he begins to kill. An act that the monster w as, arguably, forced to commit because of his isolation which deeply impacted him. The abandonment of Frankenstein monster is also a recurring theme throughout the novel. The monster is abandoned by his creator and when he tries to integrate himself into society, he is shunned by the people solely because of his physical attributes which are beyond his control. He is rejected only because of his physique, an aspect of his persona that overshadows his, at first, gentle and kind nature and prevents society from seeing the good in him. This is made clear when Victor says, â€Å"When I thought of him, I gnashed my teeth, my  eyes became inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed.† (Shelley, 62). Frankenstein shares similar feelings; he does not believe that he is worthy and he also feels that he should be abandoned. This is shown when he states â€Å"I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.† (Shelley, 160). This shows the protest against the monster’s existence as the monster does not feel he is worthy and even his creator wi shes that he had not created him. The theme of abandonment is also present in the novel through the following quote â€Å"the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone† and â€Å"I am content to suffer alone while my sufferings shall endure† (Shelley, 160). This quote is significant because when the monster speaks his tone evokes a reaction of sympathy from the audience. The sadness and loneliness in the monster’s speech can be felt by the audience and becomes intensified when he states â€Å"even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone† (Shelley, 160) the monster is communicating how alone and abandoned he feels and when he states that even people who have committed worst acts than he has, the enemies of God, have friends and he does not the audience cannot help but feel a sense of sympathy and compassion for the monster based on the tone in his language despite his physical appearance. Society’s treatment of the monster also shaped his view of himself. The monster views himself as an angel who is made into a monster â€Å"I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goo dness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil.† (Shelley, 160). Frankenstein once viewed himself as a beautiful creature who was inherently good, which is demonstrated when he helped the peasants and saved the girl from drowning (Shelley, 77). However, society continually shunned and rejected the monster and he was therefore forced into solitude and this is what caused him to start committing evil acts. This is demonstrated when Frankenstein murders Victor’s younger brother, Victor’s best friend, and Victor’s wife after Victor aborts the creation of a female monster which the monster demanded so that he would no longer be in solitude. The following quote also reflects some of the sentiments that the monster experiences throughout the novel: No sympathy may I ever find. When I first sought it, it was the love of virtue, the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being overflowed (†¦) But now that virtue has become to me a shadow, and that happiness and affection are turned into bitter and loathing despair, in what should I seek for sympathy? This quote summarizes the emotions that the monster feels throughout the novel. One can sense the despair in his voice and that he has lost all faith that he will ever be loved and accepted by others. He has accepted that he will always be abandoned and will forever remain alone. In conclusion, the chosen passage is representative of the entire text of Frankenstein as it demonstrates some of the most prevalent themes in the novel such as monstrosity and abandonment. The text demonstrates the monster’s loneliness and other people’s belief that he is a savage. These are recurring themes throughout the novel as the monster has to constantly deal with the consequences of people’s judgment of him. These themes are also important for the body of work in general as it drives the monster and has significant influence on his actions.

A Martian Sends a Postcard Home

â€Å"A Martian Sends A Postcard Home† The main theme for this poem, â€Å"A Martian Sends A Postcard Home† is showing that how different people have different perspectives and different way of perceiving things. This poem shows how a Martian would describe some of our everyday thing a lot differently than we would. The Martian has a unique way of describing everyday objects, emotions, and time. The Martian sees mist as an object that has human like properties such as becoming tired. Mist is when the sky is tired of flight and rests its soft machine on ground. † (Page 867) The Martian describes mist in a completely different way from the ordinary way we think it to be. We know that it has no human properties and understand it to be something just caused by nature. The Martian, while on Earth, sees adults while they are suffering. The Martian sees them hiding their pain in a room alone, yet children openly expose their hurt. â€Å"Only the young are allowed to suf fer openly.Adults go to a punishment room with water but nothing to eat. † (Page 864) The Martian gets to see something that most adults try to mask. The Martian is able to make a distinction between the way that children and adults express themselves. The Martian seems to describe in an odd way about how humans keep their time trapped in a box and how we have it tied to our wrists. â€Å"But time is tied to the wrists or kept in a box, ticking with impatience. (Page 864) In this statement, it shows how he finds it hard to understand why we keep track of time in that way and because we keep it in that way, time begins to tick impatiently. In conclusion, the theme of this poem shows how everyday items can be described or viewed in such a different way from another perspective. Such things as objects, feelings, and time can be held in such a different viewpoint from two different people. This poem shows how point of view is used to contrast things viewed from a human vs. outsid er viewpoint.

Before Obamacare, the National Health Insurance Plan

Before Obamacare, the National Health Insurance Plan Introduction In 2009, President Barack Obama unveiled his proposal for a plan intended to reduce the soaring costs of healthcare by providing all Americans with health insurance. The plan, titled Healthcare America at the time, would eventually be passed by Congress as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. The following article, published in 2009, outlines President Obama’s original vision for what we now know as â€Å"Obamacare.† Key Takeaways: Original Obamacare What became â€Å"Obamacare† was called Healthcare America when first proposed by President Barack Obama in January 2009.The plan was intended to lower the nation’s healthcare costs by providing all Americans with health insurance.Under Healthcare America, all U.S. residents not covered by Medicare or an employer-provided plan would be allowed to buy insurance at lower rates through a government-run Health Care for America program.All U.S. employers would be required to provide their employees with insurance coverage or pay an additional tax to help pay for Healthcare America.Maximum monthly health insurance premiums paid under Health Care for America were to range from $70 for an individual to $140 for a couple.Healthcare America was greatly modified and eventually enacted as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010 Obamacare as Envisioned in 2009 A national health insurance plan, administered by the federal government as an alternative to private health insurance, will probably be proposed this year by President Obama. Despite the massive cost of a universal health insurance plan, estimated at up to $2 trillion over 10 years, support for the plan is growing in Congress. Obama, and Democratic congressional leaders argue that by reducing health care costs, a universal health insurance plan would actually help reduce the national deficit. Opponents argue that the savings, though real, would have only a minor impact on the deficit. While the politics and pros and cons of nationalized health care have been debated for years, the national health insurance element of President Obama’s overall health care reform agenda appears to have a good chance of happening. So far, the framework of Obama’s national health insurance plan is best described in Jacob Hacker’s â€Å"Health Care for America† plan. The Goal: Health Insurance for Everyone As described by Jacob Hacker of the Economic Policy Institute, the national health insurance plan – â€Å"Health Care for America† – attempts to provide affordable health insurance to all non-elderly Americans through a combination of a new Medicare-like program provided by the government and existing employer-provided health plans. Under Health Care for America, every legal resident of the U.S. who is not covered by either Medicare or an employer-provided plan could purchase coverage through Health Care for America. As it currently does for Medicare, the federal government would bargain for lower prices and upgraded care for every Health Care for America enrollee. All Health Care for America enrollees could choose coverage under the affordable Medicare-like plan offering them free choice of medical providers or a selection of more expensive, comprehensive private health insurance plans. To help pay for the plan, all U.S. employers would be expected to either provide health coverage for their employees equal in quality to Health Care for America or pay a modest payroll-based tax to support Health Care for America and help their employees buy their own coverage. The process would be similar to how employers currently pay an unemployment tax to help fund state unemployment compensation programs. Self-employed persons could buy coverage under Health Care for America by paying the same payroll-based tax as employers. Persons not in the workplace could buy coverage by paying premiums based on their annual income. In addition, the federal government would offer the states incentives to enroll any remaining uninsured individuals in Health Care for America. Non-elderly beneficiaries of Medicare and S-CHIP (the State Childrens Health Insurance Program) would be automatically enrolled in the Health Care for America Plan, either through their employers or individually. In summary, supporters of the Health Care for America plan say it would provide the U.S. with universal health care coverage by: being available to any legal U.S. resident without good workplace coverage;requiring that employers (and the self-employed) either purchase coverage comparable to Health Care for America for all their workers or pay a relatively modest payroll contribution (6% of payroll) to fund Health Care for America coverage for all their employees; andrequiring that Americans who remain without insurance either purchase private coverage or buy into the Health Care for America Plan. For persons already covered by employer-provided health insurance, Health Care for America would virtually eliminate the suddenly very real threat of losing coverage because of layoffs. What Would the Plan Cover? According to its supporters, Health Care for America will provide comprehensive coverage. Along with all current Medicare benefits, the plan will cover mental health and maternal and child health. Unlike Medicare, Health Care for America will place limits on total annual out-of-pocket costs paid by enrollees. Drug coverage would be provided directly by Health Care for America, rather than by private health plans. Medicare would be modified to allow it to provide the elderly and disabled with the same direct drug coverage. In addition, preventive and well-child checkups would be provided to all beneficiaries at no out-of-pocket cost. How Much Will Coverage Cost? As proposed, the maximum monthly Health Care for America premium would be $70 for an individual, $140 for a couple, $130 for a single-parent family, and $200 for all other families. For those enrolled in the plan at their place of work, anyone whose income was below 200% of the poverty level (about $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a family of four ) would pay no additional premiums. The plan would also offer extensive, but so far unspecified, assistance to enrollees to help them afford coverage. Health Care for America coverage would be continuous and guaranteed. Once enrolled, individuals or families would remain covered unless they become covered by a qualified private insurance plan through their employer.

six degrees of seperation essays

six degrees of seperation essays The Theatre department at Stony Brook University recently reenacted John Guare's play Six Degrees of Separation. These talented young actors and actresses did a truly fabulous job of presenting each of the individual characters and their personalities. Although there were a few minor mistakes along the way the play turned out to be quite funny, which was entirely unexpected and appreciated by the audience. Given the lack of budget that a state Universities theatre department has the lighting and prop design done for this play was wonderful. The furniture in the upscale apartment of Ouisa and Flan was both contemporary and elegant. So to the costume design was eloquent, simple, and highly representative of the time period. There were over 100 lighting cues in this production, which created a wonderfully enhanced mood. For example when Ouisa and Flan find out that Paul is gay and later when he is taken to jail before their arrival the lights dim to show their emotion. Again when Paul is sitting in Central Park with his two new friends Rick and Elizabeth the foliage cue is displayed on a white cloth-like wall behind them to represent the outdoors, these instances are just a few of which, that contributed to a well designed production. Certain mistakes are made by the actors during the course of the play that are minor but meaningful, such as Paul's and Ousia's inability to speak clearly, which is what these upper-class characters are noted for. The business on the stage needs to be carried out in an upper-class manor, and when Paul adds ice to his wineglass with the chilled wine already in it, this represents ignorance. Within the play the actors/actresses address the audience directly to give them information about upcoming events or to explain past scenes. This personalizes the play a great deal and makes the atmosphere in the theatre very warm and friendly. With a play like Six Degrees this per ...

Change a Column Name in MySQL

Change a Column Name in MySQL If you already created your MySQL database, and you decide after the fact that one of the columns is named incorrectly, you dont need to remove it and add a replacement; you can simply rename it. Renaming a Database Column You rename a column in MySQL using the  ALTER TABLE and CHANGE  commands together to change an existing column. For example, say the  column is currently named Soda, but you decide that Beverage is  a more appropriate title. The column is located on the table entitled Menu. Here is an example of how to change it: ALTER TABLE menu CHANGE soda beverage varchar(10) ; In a generic  form, where you substitute your terms, this is: ALTER TABLE tablename CHANGE oldname newname varchar(10) ; About VARCHAR The VARCHAR(10) in the examples can change to be appropriate for your column. VARCHAR is a character string of variable length. The maximum length- in this example  it is 10- indicates the maximum number of characters you want to store in the column. VARCHAR(25) could store up to 25 characters. Other Uses for ALTER TABLE The ALTER TABLE  command can also be used to add a new column to a table or to remove an entire column and all its data from a table. For example, to add a column use: ALTER TABLE table_nameADD column_name datatype To delete a column, use: ALTER TABLE table_nameDROP COLUMN column_name   You can also make changes to a columns size and type in MySQL.

Legal Foundations of the European Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Legal Foundations of the European Union - Essay Example ented by the Luxembourg veto – the right of a state whose interests is at stake in a Commission proposal to invoke its veto power – which then became the usual scapegoat of Member States out of an EC legislative proposal. In addition, the EC expansion from six to nine members as well as the worldwide recession in 1974 contributed to the stalling of the European integration. However, the EC integration was not totally stopped as the community spirit continued to linger in some form or another. The European Political Cooperation was eventually established, European Community meetings became regular and the elections to the European Parliament began taking place. In 1986, the Single European Act (SEA) was passed – a historical watershed in the European integration – where the then 12-member states committed themselves, among others, to become one common economic market.1 On December 10, 1991, the Treaty of European Union also known as the Treaty of Maastricht was passed and this treaty introduced three important policies into the EU: monetary policy; fiscal policy, and; structural adjustment policy. It amended and extended the earlier Treaty of Rome with respect to the areas covered by the EC like the creation of a central banking system called the European System of Central Banks and paved the way for the creation of a new currency, the ECU, for the region.2 From then on, European integration was well on its way albeit the emergence of certain obstacles along the way like the rejection France and the Netherlands of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005 and recently,3 by the non-ratification of the Lisbon Treaty by the Irish Republic citizens in a public referendum.4 On October 29, 2004, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was signed but as earlier stated it met a tragic fate as the countries of France and Netherlands failed to ratify the same and since ratification by all member countries was sine qua non to its existence, the treaty was therefore

Pen Profile of the Client Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Pen Profile of the Client - Essay Example According to the paper, this evacuation lasted months, and it definitely had a psychological impact on Dereck. A man named Alexander who was evacuated at 11 years of age recalls. â€Å"We were dumped at a roundabout with our labels on. People pulled and tugged at the children they wanted. It was a bit like a cattle market... people just waded in. I went with a lady and her daughter - she was like a second mum† . Dereck feels disappointed with numerous aspects of his life. Whenever Dereck is faced with a challenge, he gives up. As a child, Dereck was not performing well in his studies, which is evident from the fact that he failed his 11 plus exams thrice. As an adult, Dereck once owned a pub, holiday flats and a shop. At the moment he doesn’t own any of these properties because he got rid of them. Dereck is intimidated by his younger classmates. When he is faced with a problem, he does not ask questions because he believes that he will hurt his pride. He feels that it i s too late for him to change who he is. Dereck is vigilant in pursuing his interests. This is evident from the fact that he likes counselling. Dereck has consistently attended classes and has been pursuing a degree in Psychology for nine months now. While growing up, Dereck realised he was good at sports. He played football at elementary school, where he eventually played for his town, his county and London. After school Dereck proceeded on to become a professional football player for 3 years. Dereck currently plays golf two or three times a week at a golfing society called Elderly Gentlemen’s Golfing Society. Dereck does not think he needs any counselling because he believes he has no problem. He believes that he does not need anybody to help him because he has nothing to complain about. Dereck thinks that he is conceited, proud and confident but all these traits can be attributed to the fact that he is insecure.  

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Corporate Ethics in relation Case Study

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Corporate Ethics in relation to an Australian manufacturing company - Case Study Example The corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the responsibility which involves an organization for continuous commitment of the ethical behavior to the society. It helps to improve the standard and the quality of life of the employees as well as the life of the society and the local communities (Zimmerli & et. al., 2007). The prime objective of this study is to highlight the various importances of corporate ethics and CSR and the usefulness of these two practices while deciding the global outsourcing of an Australian company with proposed recommendation and conclusion for the overall discussion. Critical Analysis of Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Ethics Corporate ethics involves the ethical principles of the management as well as of the mangers to persuade them to be translucent in business transactions. Business ethics considers the customer’s feelings regarding planning out the goods and the services provided to the customers. Corporate ethics also con siders the stakeholder’s interests to the business. Corporate ethics is one of the most important activities in every organization, especially in relation with the customers and their idea about consumerism. Consumerism refers to the term which describes the rights of the consumers and the legal concerns. Corporate ethics is an evaluation and a study conducted by a business to make decisions in relation to the judgments and the moral concepts. Corporate ethics involves the organization’s responsibilities towards their customers, the commitment to be honest towards the customers. It also involves the responsibility of the company to conserve the nature and the environment. Corporate ethics also involves the protection of the rights... From the study the main idea has been developed regarding the corporate ethics and the responsibilities of a corporation towards the society. The key findings to be considered by the Australian company are type of the market while entering the global territory, the people of that region, and the environment of the particular country. The other findings to be considered by the company are the various laws and regulations of the other countries, the legal formalities, the consumerism factor and the quality product manufacturing. The Australian company can easily spread the business in global market by considering all these CSR issues and various corporate ethics. The prime objective of this study is to highlight the various importances of corporate ethics and CSR and the usefulness of these two practices while deciding the global outsourcing of an Australian company with proposed recommendation and conclusion for the overall discussion. In relation to the study, conclusively, it can be stated that the corporate ethics is the process of valuing the rights and the moral of the people related to the corporate. Corporate ethics is the responsibility of the corporations towards their employees, workers as well as towards their customers and stakeholders. The approach taken by companies under the purview of corporate ethics is known as corporate social responsibility. In CSR, the companies function to provide the society certain values and they show the concern towards the society and environment being responsible towards the nature.

Analysis of Green Space and its Accessibility in AL-Madinah City, Essay

Analysis of Green Space and its Accessibility in AL-Madinah City, Saudi Arabia, - Essay Example Green spaces are of great importance both for ecological balance and for the health of individuals (Heidt and Neef, 2008). They play a fundamental role in providing opportunities for rest, relaxation and enjoying the beauty of nature for the urban population wishing to escape the daily stresses of urban life. Moreover, green spaces facilitate sport and leisure activities. In reference to the ecological benefits green space absorbs and expels pollutants from the environment, by acting as an urban heat sink thereby protecting urban biodiversity. Green spaces are important for improving the air quality during the day, ridding it of carbon dioxide and other pollutants; they also beautify the environment, create a soothing atmosphere, and protect people from the glare and heat of the sun This research will develop and extend current methods for the spatial analysis of patterns of green space accessibility with regards to all segments of the population in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Increasing rates of urbanization in Madinah have led to increased pressure on many of the services and facilities, especially green spaces and gardens which are a key requirement for high density neighborhoods as they beneficial for the human life and for the environment as well. Thus, there is need to analyze these patterns and accessibility in order to guide green space planning both now and into the future.The huge evolution in Geographic Information Systems techniques can be used to analysis the accessibility to green spaces.... he services and facilities, especially green spaces and gardens which are a key requirement for high density neighborhoods as they beneficial for the human life and for the environment as well. Thus, there is need to analyze these patterns and accessibility in order to guide green space planning both now and into the future. The huge evolution in Geographic Information Systems techniques (Spatial Analysis, Modelling, Spatial Assessment, Network analysis) can be used to analysis the accessibility to green spaces. During GIS analysis of access to green space, it is imperative to compare the official classification of land area with the land use pattern on the ground. According to Chang (2008), classifying land portion is a viable method of appreciating land use in an area. Chang (2008), in his study, analyzes the accessibility of green space in terms of land area use. He compared the land use matrices in different areas in order to ascertain green space accessibility by considering the impact of different land uses over the accessibility of green spaces (Chang, 2008). Chang (2008) found that the impacts of land use, such as commercial and industrial activities, are directly proportional to area dweller’s access to the green space. The aim of this research is to analyse: [1] the geographical distribution of green spaces and [2] the factors that affect accessibility to green spaces to ensure that any future development addresses the issue of equitable distribution and access to parks and green spaces. The study will analyze the geographical distribution of green spaces and their facilities in Madinah by collecting relevant data from various parks of the city. The results will be represented through tables, graphs, and maps to show the pattern of geographical

Audience Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Audience Analysis - Essay Example If a neighbor has the gun, then his or her neighbors will also clamor to have guns; in effect, resulting in an arms race. Because of the recent random mass shootings in which innocent people got killed, citizens now question the wisdom of having the Second Amendment, and the urgent need for gun controls. People who oppose guns come from a wide variety of sectors. The demographic factors are a mixture of concerned parents, peace advocates, worried citizens, and many other groups. In particular, the factors are by gender, age, race, educational attainment, income level, the martial status, party affiliation, religious preference, and the region or geography (Pew Research Center, 2011, para. 4). The politics of gun control and gun rights is complicated; public opinion on this matter has shifted markedly over the years. The audience profile should be analyzed so a speech can be suited to that particular demographic factor; for example, an audience composed mainly of well-educated people will most likely respond to logos, which is an appeal based on logic or reason while an audience composed of females may respond to pathos, an appeal to emotions. It is the duty of a speaker to research his audience in advance, so the speech can be a success. Pew Research Center (2011, January 13). Views of gun control – A detailed demographic breakdown. Pew Research Organization. Retrieved May 24, 2013, from

Analysis of Green Space and its Accessibility in AL-Madinah City, Essay

Analysis of Green Space and its Accessibility in AL-Madinah City, Saudi Arabia, - Essay Example Green spaces are of great importance both for ecological balance and for the health of individuals (Heidt and Neef, 2008). They play a fundamental role in providing opportunities for rest, relaxation and enjoying the beauty of nature for the urban population wishing to escape the daily stresses of urban life. Moreover, green spaces facilitate sport and leisure activities. In reference to the ecological benefits green space absorbs and expels pollutants from the environment, by acting as an urban heat sink thereby protecting urban biodiversity. Green spaces are important for improving the air quality during the day, ridding it of carbon dioxide and other pollutants; they also beautify the environment, create a soothing atmosphere, and protect people from the glare and heat of the sun This research will develop and extend current methods for the spatial analysis of patterns of green space accessibility with regards to all segments of the population in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Increasing rates of urbanization in Madinah have led to increased pressure on many of the services and facilities, especially green spaces and gardens which are a key requirement for high density neighborhoods as they beneficial for the human life and for the environment as well. Thus, there is need to analyze these patterns and accessibility in order to guide green space planning both now and into the future.The huge evolution in Geographic Information Systems techniques can be used to analysis the accessibility to green spaces.... he services and facilities, especially green spaces and gardens which are a key requirement for high density neighborhoods as they beneficial for the human life and for the environment as well. Thus, there is need to analyze these patterns and accessibility in order to guide green space planning both now and into the future. The huge evolution in Geographic Information Systems techniques (Spatial Analysis, Modelling, Spatial Assessment, Network analysis) can be used to analysis the accessibility to green spaces. During GIS analysis of access to green space, it is imperative to compare the official classification of land area with the land use pattern on the ground. According to Chang (2008), classifying land portion is a viable method of appreciating land use in an area. Chang (2008), in his study, analyzes the accessibility of green space in terms of land area use. He compared the land use matrices in different areas in order to ascertain green space accessibility by considering the impact of different land uses over the accessibility of green spaces (Chang, 2008). Chang (2008) found that the impacts of land use, such as commercial and industrial activities, are directly proportional to area dweller’s access to the green space. The aim of this research is to analyse: [1] the geographical distribution of green spaces and [2] the factors that affect accessibility to green spaces to ensure that any future development addresses the issue of equitable distribution and access to parks and green spaces. The study will analyze the geographical distribution of green spaces and their facilities in Madinah by collecting relevant data from various parks of the city. The results will be represented through tables, graphs, and maps to show the pattern of geographical

Mapping and The Geometry of Form and Function of Cities Dissertation

Mapping and The Geometry of Form and Function of Cities - Dissertation Example However, these models fail to address the very issues related to urban form. The development of these contemporary models does not take into account the urban development geometry. Instead, these are developed at an aggregate level. Batty and Longley (p. 72, 1994) comment ‘The best way to begin describing fractals is by example. A coastline and a mountain are examples of natural fractals, a crumpled piece of paper an example of an artificial one. However, such irregularity which characterizes these objects is not entirely without order and this order is to be found in fractals in terms of the following three principles. First, fractals are always self-similar, at least in some general sense. On whatever scale, and within a given range you examine a fractal, it will always appear to have the same shape or same degree of irregularity. The 'whole' will always be manifest in the 'parts'; look at a piece of rock broken off a mountain and you can see the mountain in the part. Look at the twigs on the branches of a tree and you can see the whole tree in these, albeit at a much reduced scale.’ Although, it has been observed that there is an acceptable level of consistency between such models and urban form but when it comes to the geometrical considerations of urban development, these are not dependent upon the processes and mechanisms (Bertuglia et al, 1987). The urban system models which are theoretical in nature, like the urban economics models, have shown a dependency upon the urban form through a set of assumptions. However, urban form has been defined by these models in terms of treating urban space as quite simple (Thrall, 1987). Hence, building a model which links a given form to statics and dynamics is very difficult because the relevance of form is considered as given and not something that arises out of the forces in action. As a consequence of this, all the research that has been conducted in urban form is considered to be highly idiosyncratic. However, as a result of some major developments during the last decade the science of form has seen some significant changes, especially within the areas of mathematics and physics. These developments have been brought about by the requirement to establish a connection between urban form and growth processes. In addition to this, another driving force has been the analysis of natural forms on the basis of the occurrence of the geometry of the irregular. Remarkable developments in the area of computer graphics have initiated the mathematical description and visualization of the urban forms. Making use of mathematical principles on fragmented structures, visualization has achieved a milestone (Mandeibrot, 1983). The developments have come about in terms of simulating natural forms (like landscapes) in a simple, yet realistic manner. This majorly involves addition of fractal ideas to produce simulations which are more conventional. This gets further deepened into theoretical ideas whi ch involves the generation of fractal structures through physical processes. The physics of critical

Benefits of Video Games Essay Example for Free

Benefits of Video Games Essay In todays frantic and stressful society, a desire to escape sometimes is imminent. There are piles of work to do, constant headaches, and relationship tensions are rising. In this current condition one may be aware that it will be impossible to get anything accomplished. What one really needs is a chance to get away from it all, to replenish the mind and release all of their apprehension. A relaxing vacation to a secluded private island would do the trick, but of course this is impractical. Instead, at no cost one can fully immerse into a lush, stunning virtual paradise oozing with beauty and serenity. This is the magnificence of the modern video game world; it lets a person be somebody they could only dream of, construct amazing structures and inventions, or can even provide relief and fulfillment. However, stress relief and personal enjoyment are not the sole advantages. Video games should be more widely accepted and integrated into the daily and professional lives of individuals because of the many positive effects they create, which include: self satisfaction, educational and economic opportunities, advances in technology and science, and the spawning of creativity and ingenuity. One of the age old attacks against video games is the statement that they contain an addictive allure that grabs hold of students and chokes the academic life out of them; well, according to recent studies, quite the opposite may be observed. In a study of young children age four and five, conducted by the Ready to Learn Initiative, it was found that through the addition of digital devices and video games into a school curriculum, it was possible to greatly increase letter recognition and early literacy skills. A further study by the Education Department Center found that kindergarteners with poor home conditions, who had experienced a video game based curriculum in preschool, were more adapted and successful (The Benefits). This prevents students from falling behind and creates interest in school. Although it is true that a handful of games possess no real advantages and are a distraction from work, the sheer number of games designed as educational tools or as brain-teasers clearly outweigh that fraction. In fact, nearly sixty percent of all video games are categorized as E for veryone, which primarily consists of healthy brain-growing challenges and activities. Large video game companies such as Big Fish, Broderbund, and Educational Insights are devoted to developing products that will wrack a players brain. Collectively, they provide exciting puzzles, history and science education in an interesting way, and dynamic math-oriented games (Gibson). The majority of players are hard at work improving their skills and cognitive abilities, while a few negative cases of video game players get all of the publicity. The benefits of games do not end there, however. (The Benefits) Many online video games provide valuable economic lessons and other important skills required in jobs and professional life. For instance, Second Life, a colossal in the MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) industry, contains thousands of college students working for credit in their classes and career-related experience. Business students can take advantage of the game currency called Linden dollars, which can be exchanged for real money; they do this by selling in-game real estate and running retail businesses while learning about marketing, budgeting, and management. Fashion design and 3D-modeling students can collaborate to create articles of clothing and wardrobes. Even architectural students are taking advantage of the opportunities that Second Life provides by designing virtual buildings and structures (Driscoll). This video game opens up a world for these students to directly apply the information they are learning in class in a hands-on and logistically sound way. It also provides them with a source of income that supports and encourages their efforts. Other games and simulations are even used to ethically train medical students and to ready military recruits for the harsh reality of war. As a result of sophisticated games such as these, the pupils make less mistakes and are more prepared when they begin their high-risk careers. Aside from these rigid settings, other casual games are developing the skills of teenagers and adults in a more subtle way. Cooperative games such as World of Warcraft require teams of players to work together to reach a common goal. Each individual is given responsibilities and specific roles, and a few people are even selected to lead the group and provide direction and structure. Hundreds of similar games also teach the same teamwork, leadership, and responsibility to their players, which are all vital qualities to have in order to be successful in society. Not only can video games polish an individuals abilities, but they have the potential to facilitate advancements in the fields of technology and science as well. For example, the highly commended game, Foldit, requires the players to fold real proteins in the most efficient way as possible while competing against others online. Computer software alone is not very successful at predicting the future shapes of irregular objects, and so with the presence of the human minds puzzle-solving skills scientists have been able to create breakthroughs through utilizing this game (Toppo). For example, a sample of a monkey HIV protein which had mystified scientists for over fifteen years was recently introduced to the players for analyzing, who were then able to solve it in a mere ten days. The most proliferate solutions may even help scientists develop cures for many medical conditions such as AIDs, cancer, and Alzheimers disease (Toppo). However, playing video games such as these isnt the only way advancements have been produced. According to Rick Nauert, PhD, the hardware used in gaming consoles, particularly the graphics cards, have been implemented into medical and research equipment in order to enhance the quality of MRI images and the maps produced by seismic waves. These improvements allow scientists to diagnose medical issues more readily, and helps geologists find new clues to the Earths history. In addition, as a result of the competition between elite video game companies such as Microsoft and its adversary Sony, this hardware is advancing so quickly that improvements are constantly available and becoming much more affordable. Smaller laboratories are now able to get their hands on this technology rather than being limited by their budgets. Video game antagonists will argue that gaming chains individuals to their televisions and leads to unhealthy and sedentary activity. Although this can be true in some cases, it is at least a lot more beneficial than passively watching a television program, which would most likely be the obvious second choice for activity. While immersing oneself into a video game, it is required to use critical thinking, imagination, and creativity. If one is about to tackle a ferocious monster, it is imperative that all available information is processed quickly and logically so as to avoid death. The same thing is true if one is navigating through a dangerous obstacle course, or solving a difficult puzzle. Games such as The Sims series allow players to harness their inner creativity to design their own houses, develop their families, and to interact in a simulation of real life. The Tycoon series includes several games such as Rollercoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, and Hospital Tycoon. In these games individuals act as the boss and coordinator of everything. One is required to build structures and fences, determine admission and event prices, and manage policies as well as staff. As long as one can think of an idea, it can be built and they can watch their ideas come to life. Another fascinating and interactive game is titled Spore. The goal of this game is to guide a group of organisms in the players control through the evolutionary stages of life. The individual starts in the cell level and directs their units to find food and reproduce. After undergoing several mitoses, they proceed to the creature stage where it is possible to design the organisms physical characteristics and mechanical features. How well the creature is created determines how adept its survivability and competitiveness is in the upcoming tribal, civilization, and space stages (Spore). Games such as these require a high level of entrepreneurship and originality in order to succeed and crowd out all of the competition. They develop the imagination and promote higher order thinking skills which are invaluable in our demanding society. Finally, the reason that hits home for the majority of video game users is its effectiveness as a stress reliever and object of entertainment. It can be safely assumed that on several occasions individuals have been locked up in their house on a rainy day with nothing to do. In this situation, it is too sloppy outside to do anything and everyone may be plagued with a sedentary attitude. This is a perfect time for them to pick up a controller to keep their brains functioning and themselves amused. Working towards a goal, trying to solve a challenging puzzle, or even just letting loose and dancing to music is a great way to keep oneself stimulated and content. Games allow players to work at their own pace and to make their own choices. This provides them with a healthy outlet to rid the mind of stress. The core of every game is its goal and reward system. There almost always is a goal, and there are always rewards for doing objectives correctly and improving upon past trials. These rewards supply individuals with gratification and a sense of accomplishment. Also, since there is such a wide variety in the genre of video games, everyone can find something that interests them. In short, games are fun; there are games designed to cater to everyones interests which can provide a few moments of carefree enjoyment. This reason alone is a good enough rationale to participate in the exciting world of video games. In conclusion, video games are the source of many positive effects. They have been proven to aid struggling students in their academic life, to increase cognitive abilities, and advance the fields of technology and science. They even spark the imagination of individuals and sharpen their ability to be creative. Many professions have already started to utilize the amazing potential that games hold, and the focus of video game companies has started to shift towards education and helpful mediums rather than pure entertainment and mindless violence. Although some may contain addictive qualities and promote physical inactiveness, they are a lot healthier choice than most forms of media and entertainment available today. Video games could very well be the future of education and productivity; outdated curriculum and textbooks could be replaced by them, and they should therefore be embraced and celebrated rather than shunned and ignored by some adults and children alike.

Increase in cigarette tax would reduce the cigarette consumption

Increase in cigarette tax would reduce the cigarette consumption 5.0 Introduction The results of our analysis demonstrate that increase in cigarette tax would reduce the cigarette consumption or quit smoking among lower income smokers and heavily addicted smokers, thus it upheld the hypotheses four and five. However, the tax factor does not prove to be significantly related on younger smokers, female smokers and less educated smokers. Chapter 5 includes a summary description of descriptive and inferential analyses and discussion of major findings that validate our research objective and hypotheses. Next section provides the implications of our study toward the society. Following section will discuss several limitations that are apparent during the progress of the study, as well as to provide some recommendations for future research. Then, an overall conclusion of our entire study is presented at the end of this chapter. 5.1 Summary of Statistical Analysis The demographic profiles of respondents are analyzed when the data are collected. Smokers are categorized by different races, gender, smoking degree, education and age and the data is presented in pie charts. Besides, the central tendencies statistic of the variables is also calculated in the analysis. Cross tabulation tables are presented to show responses of each subgroup. Statistical method used in the inferential analysis is multinomial logistic regression. This statistical method presented the predictability relationship between the dependent and independent variables in the form of odd ratio [i.e. Exp(B)]. When the significant level is less than 0.05, the alternative hypothesis is accepted. In this research, alternative hypothesis for age, gender, and education level are rejected as these factor do not affect the likelihood of the responses towards cigarette tax. The alternative hypothesis for smoking degree and income level are accepted as the significant level is less than 0.05. Therefore, smoking degree and income level are more likely to predict a certain type of responses from the smokers. Multivariate analysis is also performed by inputting all independent variables as covariate factors in the SPSS program. Multivariate analysis is to ensure the relationship is not significantly affected by other independent variables. 5.2 Discussion of Major Finding Table 5.1: Summary of the Inferential Analysiss Results Hypothesis Result H1: Younger smokers are more likely to quit smoking than older smokers given cigarette tax increase. Rejected H2: Male smokers are more likely to give no response to cigarette tax increase than female smokers. Rejected H3: Highly educated smokers are more likely to quit smoking than less educated smokers given cigarette tax increase. Rejected H4: Lower income smokers are more likely to cut cost than higher income smokers given cigarette tax increase. Accepted H5: Heavy smokers are more likely to give no response to cigarettes tax increase than light smokers. Accepted Source: Developed for the research According to rational addiction theory in terms of the variable age, rational young smokers should be more likely to quit smoking given that their longer life remaining compared to older smokers and their comparatively lower income. Younger smokers who might develop lung cancer right now would lose much more (time) compared to an 80 years old smoker with lung cancer. Our empirical research does not confirmed this because we had shown that younger smokers are not more likely to quit/cut smoking than adult smokers. Past studies by Lewit and Coate (1982) and Sylvain (2007) also contradicted the result we had. The possible reason leading to this result might include the small number of young smokers in our sample. The alternative explanation is that since we perform our data collection in urban areas, young smokers tend to be more affluent, therefore they are not affected by increase in tax. Interestingly, Decicca, Kenkel and Mathios (2008) stated that since most smoking initiation start s during youth, therefore, the existing young smokers who quit/cut smoking due to taxes could be higher. The study also finds that gender is not a factor in determining the decision to cut/quit smoking given cigarette tax increase. However, rational addiction theory predicts female is more likely to cut down cigarette consumption due to traditionally being poorer than male. This contradiction happened because, we suspect, the income gap between the genders is fast closing. Therefore, any tax increase will not significantly create any reduced consumption of cigarettes among the women. Our finding is in line with the mixed results of previous literature. Chaloupka (1990) discovered that men are more likely to quit/cut smoking while Stehr (2007) found that women are more likely to quit/cut smoking. We find that education has little impact on the decision of smokers in response to cigarette tax increase. According to rational addiction theory, smokers with less education incur much cost than highly educated smokers for smoking because they have generally lower income. Our findings did not support rational addiction theory. Previous research by Madden (2007) partly supported our finding, he found that highly educated smokers are less responsive to cigarette tax. However, Tansels (1993) findings in Turkey (a middle income country) partly supported our conclusion. He found a positive and significant relationship between education and cigarette tax elasticity meaning that the higher the education, the higher the sensitivity towards cigarette tax a smoker will be. The reason behind is that highly educated smokers also tend to cut down smoking when taxed are raised, not because of the money issue, but because they are fearful of the health consequences. They have utilized the tax incr ease as the opportunity to go cold turkey. Therefore, when both higher education and lower education smokers choose to smoke less, none is more likely than the other. Lower income smokers are more likely to cut cost than richer smokers because the cost of continuing the habit of smoking is higher. Each RM increase in cigarette price will affect their quality of life, even creating shortages of money for childrens education, food and other daily expenses compounded to the future. This result conforms to previous research done by Biener et al. (1998) which says that poor smokers are 3 times as likely to either switch to cheaper brands of cigarettes or reduce consumption. Townsend et al. (1994) findings also brings forth similar conclusion. As expected, heavy smokers are more likely to give no response towards cigarettes tax increase than light smokers. Adjacent complementarity explains that within a certain time frame, the more a smoker smokes now, the more he would like to smoke in the future. Unless the pain of higher cigarette price is more than the pain of giving up the smoking addiction, smokers will tend to continue to smoke in the future. Previous research done by Lee (2008) does not conform to our findings. Lee et al. (2004) whose result shows that heavy smokers increase smoking consumption when tax is increased supported our result. Overall, the article that Biener et al. (1998) produced matches our results almost entirely. Other studies that contradict our result normally utilized national cigarette sales data. Therefore, their studies are not entirely comparable to our individualistic survey-based study. 5.3 Implications of the Study Whether cigarette tax effectively achieves the governments goal in reducing cigarette consumption is a significant issue that needs to be carefully considered from time to time in order to better determine the direction of future policies. Hence, identifying the effect of tax increases on cigarette consumption is an essential part for regulating proper governmental policies on the tobacco use. Generally, the progressive increase in cigarette tax rates may provide a powerful contribution toward the governments taxation policy which would boost the governments income tax revenue, as well as to improve economic efficiency of the country. In our study, we found that highly addicted and high income smokers do not respond to cigarette tax well. They still purchase same quantity of cigarettes. Therefore, government should devise a method of targeting cigarette taxes towards these groups of smokers to maximize tax revenue. According to Tsai et al. (2003), portions of extra revenue which was derived from the cigarette tax would be earmarked to the governments effort for implementing tobacco control program against the tobacco use such as anti-smoking media-campaigns. Still, other portion of the cigarette tax revenues would dedicate into funding healthcare for under-insured population, lung cancer research and other health related activities. Apart from that, our study also contributes to public health by identifying that education does not play a significant role in reducing consumption of cigarette due to taxes. This implies that our education system is not emphasizing the danger and health hazard of smoking. This, however, agrees with the rational addiction theory because highly educated people are likely to be wealthy. Therefore, they do not suffer as much because of tax increase. In contrast, wealthy people also suffer more because of health problems because they have much to enjoy in life (holidays, entertainment, longer life etc.) compared to low income smokers. Therefore, in devising a public health policy, our study implies that we should educate people on the danger of smoking while at the same time increasing cigarette tax so that in the end, the rich and the poor both smoke less. During the process of conceptual foundation, our research has contributed extensive amount of empirical evidence that have reviewed the relationships between various demographic and smoking degree factors and the response to cigarette tax increase. Through our study, we can better understand the effects of taxation on cigarette consumption which will result in different consumption patterns. For instance, smokers may cut cost either by reducing the number of cigarette they smoke or change to a cheaper brand, choose to quit smoking, or maintain their original level of consumption. According to the fundamental law of economics which specified that as the price of a product rises, the quantity demanded for that product would fall. However, we found that there is an exception to this most basic law of economics because of the nature of rational addiction. Since we viewed the cigarettes smoking as an addictive behaviour, therefore it could be expected that increasing cigarette tax would h ave smaller effect than normal product in reducing peoples consumption of cigarettes. Alternatively, increasing cigarette taxes too high and the government would risk creating a black market or the emergent of smuggled cigarette. 5.4 Limitations of the Study Limitation of this survey-based research is that smokers may not always do what they say they would do in the questionnaire. They may choose to answer quit smoking, cut cost in the questionnaire but may act to smoke next week, next month or some other dates. On the other hand, they may answer no response to cigarette tax but choose to quit smoking the next day. However, they are not necessarily been telling lies. It is just that future behavior is hard to predict even for smokers themselves especially those who are highly addicted to cigarettes. Warner (1978) had showed that self-reported consumption in questionnaire significantly underestimate the actual sales data taken at the national level. Apart from that, the small numbers of samples of young smokers age 11 and below may not be sufficient to produce any strong evidence for that age group. The reason for such low numbers is that it is illegal for them to smoke in Malaysia. Besides, retailers are not permitted to sell cigarettes to minors age 18 and below. Besides, comparably smaller numbers of female smokers compared to male smokers may have distorted the results. Female smokers are historically and nationally lower than male smokers. Therefore, each female smokers responses to cigarettes tax have larger impact per person to the end result as compared to individual male smoker. Wasserman, Manning, Newhouse and Winkler (1991) had observed that using individual level data may incorporate ecological bias into the study. There may be other variables affecting the tobacco use that are not incorporated into the determinant. Example might include, family size, social statuses of smokers and profession (e.g. doctors may possibly smoke less). Another example would be the existence of societal culture that disapproves the habit of smoking. The respondent going through the survey questionnaire cannot choose to answer the questionnaire in any other way than was included in the choices of answers. The smoker only can fill in their answer according to the objective answers set by the researcher beforehand and all the answer categories are based on nominal or ordinal. If the questionnaire is asking about question such as how would you response to a RM1 increase in cigarette price and the respondent wish to answer that he would quit for 1 month and only continue smoking if his income has increase accordingly, it is not possible. These will result in inaccurate result as the researcher has already set the chooseable answers, namely to quit smoking, cutting cost and choose not to respond. Another limitation of the research is that it does not consider smuggled cigarettes and cigarettes sold in tax free zone. Tsai et al. (2003) and Lee and Chen (2006) had proved in their studies that smokers tend to purchased smuggled cigarettes to avoid the high cost of legal cigarettes in Taiwan. Respondent who purchase tax-exempted cigarettes from these two sources may not be hurt by the tax and therefore our result will be biased towards No Response. Moreover, although we know that the main effect of rising price of cigarette due to tax would reduce smokers cigarette consumption but we do not know whether it is cigarette tax that has actually play an important role on the demand of cigarette. Perhaps the reason for reducing cigarette consumption may be due to some issues other than taxation policy such as concern over the health consequences of cigarette smoking since they know that smoking will lead to lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, etc. Another issue that could influence on the demand of cigarette may be the tobacco control policy, for example advertising restrictions or ban on smoking in public places, as well as anti-smoking media campaigns could induce smokers to quit/cut smoking as well. Besides that, law policy also plays a major effect on cigarette consumption which limit smoking in public place and restrictions on youth under 18 years old to purchase the tobacco products. Since there are a lot of other issues than t axation in affecting their smoking behaviour, therefore it is recommended that future research in those issues need to be conducted to verify its actual effects. The final limitation of our study is that we seek our respondent mainly in the Klang Valley area. Therefore, it may not truly represent the whole population in Malaysia. We know that Klang Valley populations are urban dwellers and the result may deviate a little if we include smokers from rural areas. Urban dwellers normally had higher education level and higher income level compared to non-urban dwellers. However, since majority of the smokers live in the city and most of the tax revenue collected comes from them, it is acceptable to neglect smokers from rural areas. All limitations are acknowledged but they do not detract from the significance of finding but merely provides platforms for future research. 5.5 Recommendations for Future Research As we use cross-sectional method in our research, we highly recommend future research on this topic conducted in the longitudinal method. Future researchers can conduct the research on the change of cigarette tax in Malaysia in the time period of few years or longer. It is similar to the way conducted by Hamilton, Levinton, Pierre, Grimard (1997) and Hanewinkel and Isensee (2007) in their studies. Based on our knowledge and finding, Malaysia has not conducted the research on this topic by this method. By conducting the study in longitudinal method, the result will be more accurate and reliable because this method can overcome the limitation of cross-sectional method as discussed in the first paragraph of limitation. Actually, there are even little research on the topic cigarette taxes itself in Malaysia. More research on this topic is highly recommended because the consumption behavior of Malaysian smokers may be different from overseas smokers. Many researches on the cigarette consumption were focused either on the effect of cigarette tax/price to the cigarette consumption such as Lee (2008) or the effect of anti-smoking campaign/health information on the cigarette consumption such as Warner (1977) and Lee and Chen (2008). Future researchers should find ways to integrate and study both the effect of cigarette tax and anti-smoking campaigns together on the cigarette consumption. This is because cigarette tax and health information do affect the cigarette consumption at the same time. The only difference between them is whether price or health information plays in a bigger role on the change of cigarette consumption. By studying the effect of cigarette tax and health information together on the cigarette consumption, the result can be more reliable and usable for government to implement its tobacco policy effectively and efficiently. Besides that, researchers can examine the fairness principle on the tobacco policy in Malaysia. Many researchers such Gospodinov and Ian Irvine (2009)) and Warner et al. (1995) had discussed the issues of fairness principle in the tobacco policy in their studies. One of the arguments is the tax imposed is unfair to lower income group. Lower income group often will consume lower priced or smuggled cigarettes when cigarette tax is increased as proved by Evans and Farrelly (1998), Farrelly, Nimsch, Hyland and Cummings (2004), and Tsai et al. (2003). Often, lower priced or smuggled cigarettes contain higher tar and nicotine substance. The consumers health will be more affected by smoking these types of cigarettes. Moreover, future research can focus on whether tax should be imposed based on the quantity of nicotine and tar instead of quantity of cigarette in Malaysia. The impacts of implementing tax based on quantity of nicotine and tar need to be researched and determined. Youth is the most valuable assets for the country. Future research can focus on the access of youth to cigarette or exposure to smoking environment/ habits in Malaysia. This type of research can provide important data and information to our country and the world since the younger generation of smokers has increased many folds throughout the world during the past century. More effective tobacco control program to the youth can be implemented based on the data and information. In addition, future research can focus on what is the optimal tax rate for cigarette in Malaysia and its impacts. 5.6 Conclusion Smoking has been a prevalent epidemic in the modern world. It remains one of the top killers of human on the 21st century. Fortunately, excise taxes on cigarettes continue to be our last line of defense against smoking and many countries including Malaysia has been increasing taxes on cigarettes for many years. In the beginning of our research, we had set out to answer the questions. We want to know given the socio-economic factors and addictions degree, whether it will affect the likely responses of fellow smokers following a significant increase in cigarettes tax. The principles of rational addiction theory predict that lower income, younger, low education, female and lightly addicted smokers are more likely to respond towards cutting down on smoking consumption and quitting altogether given a tax increase. Conducting a self-administered questionnaire survey in Klang survey with samples of 300 smokers, we have found out the following results. Gender, education and age do not affect the likely responses of fellow smokers. The reasons might be caused by relatively small samples, closing gaps of income between genders and tendency of highly educated smokers to cut down smoking due to health reasons. However, research found that low income smokers are more likely to cut cost. Highly addicted smokers are more likely to maintain same level of consumption. Both income and addiction factors is accurately predicted by the theory and previous research. Our research has wide implications. They include helping government devise better taxation policy, public health policy and smoking awareness campaigns. Besides, we have also contributed significant empirical data towards rational addiction theory. Limitations of this research includes incongruence between smokers actions and smokers intended action and ecological bias. Small samples for certain age group and the availability of smuggled cigarettes are among the limitations. Therefore, we highly recommend that future longitudinal research on cigarette taxation be conducted in Malaysia. Besides, research on the differential effect of taxation vs. anti-smoking campaign, fairness of cigarette taxation and access of youth towards cigarette can be conducted to supplement this research area. Overall, our research has been a success. Although the hardship we have encountered during the data collection process and data analysis process is painful, it is worth it and has paid off to the team. We hope that the result that we had produced is truly helpful to other researchers as well as to the society as a whole.

What Are Visual Defects And How Common Are They ? :: essays research papers fc

What Are Visual Defects and How Common Are They ? by Nate Schackow 2nd Period December 17, 1996   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The human eye does alot more than allowing you to see. It is very complex and has many parts and features which can have defects. However, to understand defects you must first know how the eye works.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First light passes through the cornea, which is the transparent part of the sclera, or white of the eye, which is composed of tough fiberous tissue. Behind the sclera is a watery fluid called the aqueous humor. This fluid fills a cresent-shaped space which with the cornea helps bend the light toward the center of the eye.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Under the aqueous humor is the iris which gives the eye color. The color of the iris has no effect on how you see and is inherited through genes. The iris contols how much light is allowed to enter your by opening up further when it is dark and closing up more to block out some light when it is bright. Everything that passes through the pupil, which looks like a black dot, is what you see.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next the light passes through the lens. The lens focuses the light rays onto the retina forming an image in reverse and upside-down. Finally light- sensitive cells in the retina transmit the image via the optic nerve to the brain by electrical signals. Then the brain flips the image so it looks right- side-up to you. You can find a diagram of the above on page 3.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most common visual defects are nearsightedness and farsightedness. In nearsightedness, also known as myopia, the eye is longer than usual. This is corrected by using a concave lens to spread the light rays just enough to

College Tuition Essay

There’s no escaping the fact that college cost are rising. According to recently released reports from the College Board, most students and their families can expert to pay, on average, from $95 to $1,404 more than last year for this year’s tuition and fees, depending on the type of college. (Collegeboard. com) The United States needs to lower the cost of college tuition; because students and parents have had to pay double the amount of money for schooling then they would have ten years ago. In the past five years, the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges has jumped thirty-five percent. In the past twenty-five years, the average cost of tuition and fees has risen faster than personal income, consumer prices and even health insurance. In 1999 students had to pay $2,489 for universities and $865 for community college. In 2003 the price rose from $3,441 for universities and $1,120 for community college. In 2006 the price jumped to $4,867 for universities and $1,483 for community college. Between 1999 and 2006 there was a 95. 54 percent change in the universities pay and a 71. 45 percent change for community colleges. There is no denying the fact that college tuition has doubled in prices (USAtoday. com). According to stateuniversity. com Blinn College undergraduate tuition for in-district students is $1,260, for in-state $2,478 and for out of state $5670; not including the undergraduate required fee which is $1,176 for all three districts. For tuition alone you are spending between $2,436 and $6,846. Now if you add in books and supplies which runs between $946 and $995. You also can not forget about room and board which can run $5,888 to $6,047 (stateuniversity. com). If you add that all together for Blinn College you are expected to spend roughly $9,270 to attend Blinn College for a semester. A small reduction in state support may result in a large increase in tuition. We help pay for maintaining access for handicapped students; Meetings environmental requirements; screening international students; and conforming to historical preservation requirements. If you think about it we are helping out the school and students. Prices increase as colleges compete for students to come to there college. Of course there are scholarships and financial aid, but not everyone can qualify for them. Paul Middendorf, 54, Richmond, Texas says, â€Å"†¦. When my first son, now twenty-six, applied for college, he applied for dozens of scholarships but was told they earned too much money to qualify for financial aid. † They had to finance their children’s college education with a mix of savings and federal parent loans. (USAtoday. com) According msnbc. msn. com; a companion report released on trends in student aid in grant aid – money students do not have to pay back – have covered only about one-third of the increase at public four year schools. Students are footing more and more of the bill with private loans from banks and student loans companies. Undergraduate private borrowing grew twelve percent to $14. 5 billion in 2006-2007. The rate of increase in total private borrowing for education has slowed, but borrowing has increased over the last decade. Legislators are tired of taking the blame for the escalating price of a college education, and some – mainly Democrats – say they want to resume setting tuition themselves. University leaders argue that the additional money is crucial for attracting and retaining top faculty. (chron. com) Students and families are caught in the middle. â€Å"With tuition and gas, it is hard to make end’s meet,† said Charlotte Atkinson, 26, a senior at the University of Houston. Instead of having to digest such an immense amount of information, students and their families should be able to apply for financial aid by making a note on their tax returns (a solution advocated by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama). It is hard to even realize that money is such a big factor in our lives today. Based on the information I have given you it is a fact that the cost of college tuition needs to be lowered so that more students can attend and pay for college.

Are Professional Athletes and Actors Overpaid Essay

In this essay I will explore a much debated topic in this country pertaining to the undeniable fact that professional actors and athletes overwhelmingly get paid much higher than the average American. As any highly debated topic, there are always arguments and viewpoints from both sides of the spectrum. Like many Americans, for entertainment I thoroughly enjoy watching both film and professional sporting events. Even though, I have always maintained a firm stance that many in these professions are simply overpaid. I believe once you have read my research and analysis on this topic, you as well will agree from a sociological, economical and even ethical perspective that they are grossly overpaid. Proponents of the film industry or â€Å"Hollywood† and the pro-sporting industry would contend that they are simply providing for a demand. These two industries do provide for Americans some of the most enjoyed and popular forms of entertainment in our society today. These industries not only provide earnings to the actors and athletes but also provide jobs to many other Americans as well. Like any successful industry, those who provide the primary service to that industry will in turn be rewarded appropriately for their contributions to its success. Both actors and pro-athletes would argue that attaining their current level of success was not easy as these jobs are very competitive. Also, there are many times huge expectations to perform and stress that come with the job and the celebrity status. Some pro-athletes such as football players, would also argue that after they retire, their physical condition has declined much earlier in life due to years of physical trauma and injury and performing in other jobs post-career is many times difficult.  As I wrote earlier, there are arguments from both sides of the spectrum. Let’s begin to analyze from the other viewpoint not ignoring the other side’s arguments and include some of the fundamental and sociological reasons of our need and demand for entertainment. Looking back to the era of the â€Å"Roaring 20’s† in which America was enjoying a period of sustained economic prosperity, the average American could at a higher level afford to enjoy  different forms of entertainment than previously. This ushered in a new era and cultural dynamic which emphasized organized sports, theatre, and f ilm. Since this era, America has seen economic depression, recession and crisis, but has still remained the wealthiest country in the world. Due to this, the entertainment culture that was created roughly 100 years ago still exists today, and the demand for it continues to grow. Each year more and new gaming devices, games, videos, movies, and television shows are released. Likewise the costs of these products and devices continues to go up. The unfortunate side to this is that it has created a more sedentary lifestyle and culture of everyday America, and in turn attributing to issues as obesity amongst both children and adults. Regardless, we have developed and created this culture with the associated increased demand for this form of entertainment, and the industry is nothing more than happy to oblige us in providing it. In a study conducted by USA TODAY and Statista of top paid Hollywood actors, it found that Robert Downey Jr. earned over $75 million in a one year timeframe from June 2012-June 2013. Much of his earnings were a result of his roles in both â€Å"The Avengers† and â€Å"Ironman 3,† with â₠¬Å"The Avengers† alone grossing $1.51 billion in box office sales making it the highest grossing movie of 2012 worldwide. Liam Neeson who was ranked as the 10th top earner, grossed over $32 million in the same timeframe. According to the Daily News, Samuel L. Jackson is titled with being the highest grossing actor of all time with earnings of $7.42 billion throughout his film career. Floyd Mayweather Jr. who is a pro-boxer has earned a total of $90 million in 2013 from winnings alone, making him the top pro-athlete earner according to Sports Illustrated. Mayweather has achieved such a high status that it is common for him to have a guaranteed win-or-lose purse of around 30 million per fight. Pro-basketball player Lebron James who is at number two in the rankings, earned over $17 million in salary and a staggering $39 million in endorsements alone for 2013. The list goes on and on with astronomical numbers that get higher and higher each year in passing. There is essentially a fundamental question that is raised in regards to all of this, â€Å"What individual is simply worth that much?† The services provided by these individuals is simply for entertainment alone. What is provided  does not contribute to the functionality or betterment of our society. There was a time when acting or professional sports were a second job in which an individual would perform due to their love for the sport or art. After all, a sport is something that is played for enjoyment by the rest of us because it is enjoyable. They get paid millions while the rest of us do it for fun. Being the die-hard Green Bay Packer fan that I am, I scream and yell and root for my team as hard as or harder than the other fans. When my team loses or Aaron Rodgers has a bad game I can find myself feeling down and upset. Some fans feel as if their whole day or week is ruined if their favorite team loses. I think it is they that always have the last laugh. At the end of the day he or she is disappointed but regardless they’re still making millions. When Mayweather has a bad fight, he still takes home his $30 million. In a way we are all pawns in their game, and we are always the losers. As we look at wealth distribution in the U.S., many of these actors and athletes fall into the wealthiest 10% of Americans. According to James M. Henslin in Essentials of Sociology, 70% of our nation’s wealth is owned by this top 10%. To break this down even more, the top one percent owns 1/3 of all U.S. assets. The average per capita income in the U.S. is only $42,000 per year (194). The other 90% who is the fan base that provides the majority of the income of these actors and athletes, are seeing this income gap continue to widen. Even with the recent recession in our economy, the rich as a whole statistically remain unaffected. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The strong middle class that once was the backbone of our economy is slowly diminishing and sliding to the left. This middle class are the firefighters, police officers, and service members who protect and serve our communities and country. They are the structure of society who provide strength and functio nality and who ultimately serve to the betterment of us all. There is much debate on how wealth should be distributed. A capitalist society has proven for the U.S. to be effective and be partially credited with building the foundation of all of the wealth and creating the richest country in the world. Completely socialist societies have proven in history to be a failure. Typically there is a Darwin Effect of â€Å"Survival of the Fittest† which dominates. There obviously  needs to be some middle ground here, but finding a solution is difficult. In this case of actors and athletes, I believe us as the consumer and their supporters have the power to control this huge inequality and disparity by saying, â€Å"Enough is enough!† and demand that some rationale come into play. Paying these individuals this much money is simply ridiculous in my opinion. Fundamentally we as a society should give value to those professions which serve us in a way that promotes a more sustainable society. Works Cited Fortunate 50: Sports Illustrated 13 Apr 2014. WEB Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach. Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University. Print. Seventh Edition. Maitland, Sashana, Samuel L. Jackson named highest-grossing actor, DAILY NEWS 25 Oct 2011, WEB, 13 Apr 14 Maria Puente, Robert Downey Jr. is highest-paid actor, USA TODAY 13 Apr 2014, WEB, Jul 2013 Best-paid Hollywood actors of 2012/2013, Statista 13 Apr 2014, WEB