Italian Heritage Month Celebrations

Italian Heritage Month Celebrations October is Italian Heritage Month, formerly known as National Italian-American Heritage Month. Coinciding with the festivities surrounding Columbus Day, the proclamation in recognition of the many achievements, contributions, and successes of Americans of Italian descent as well as Italians in America. Christopher Columbus was Italian, and many countries celebrate Columbus Day every year to mark his discovery of the New World. But Italian Heritage Month honors more than just Columbus. Over 5.4 million Italians immigrated to the United States between 1820 and 1992. Today there are over 26 million Americans of Italian descent in the United States, making them the fifth largest ethnic group. The country was even named after an Italian, the explorer and geographer Amerigo Vespucci. History of Italian Americans in the U.S. Federico Fellini, the movie director, once said that language is culture and culture is the language, and nowhere is this truer than in Italy. There was a time when speaking Italian was considered a crime, but nowadays many Italian Americans are learning Italian to discover more about their family heritage. Looking for ways to identify, understand, and bond with their familys ethnic background, they are getting in touch with their family heritage by learning their ancestors native language. Most of the Italians who immigrated to the U.S. came from the southern part of Italy, including Sicily. Thats because the pressures encouraging people to immigrate- including poverty and over-population- were greater in the southern part of the country, especially in the latter part of the 19th century. In fact, the Italian government encouraged southern Italians to leave the country and voyage to the U.S. Many ancestors of todays Italian-Americans came due to this policy. Italian-American Heritage Month Celebrations Each year in October, a wide variety of cities and towns with large Italian-American populations host various Italian cultural celebrations in honor of Italian Heritage Month. Many of the celebrations revolve around food, of course. Italians are well-known for their contributions to excellent meals in the U.S. Italian-American heritage organizations often take the opportunity in October to introduce members and others to regional Italian cuisines, which go far beyond pasta. Other events may highlight Italian art, ranging from Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci to modern Italian sculptor Marino Marini and painter and print-maker, Giorgio Morandi. Italian Heritage Month celebrations also provide ample opportunities for learning Italian. For example, some organizations provide language labs for children so that they can discover the beauty of the Italian language. Others offer opportunities for adults to learn enough Italian to get by while traveling to Italy. Finally, many cities- including New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco- host Columbus Day or Italian Heritage parades to mark the Columbus Day holiday. The largest parade is the one held in New York City, which involves 35,000 marchers and more than 100 groups.

Examples of the Verb Ride, Including Ride Past Tense

Examples of the Verb Ride, Including Ride Past Tense The verb ride means to sit on and control the movement of a means of transportation such as a bike, car, or a horse, as well as to be a passenger being conveyed in or on such a means of transportation. The verb is used in English to express how a person or thing is using that transportation, such as, I rode in a car or He rides a horse. Ride is an irregular verb because it does not take a regular conjugation pattern. For example, the verb want is a regular verb in English, where the present tense is simply the verb, itself, often preceded by a pronoun, such as I want, or an infinitive, such as to want. For a regular verb in the past tense, you would simply add ed, as in I wanted. By contrast, ride is an irregular verb because its conjugations do not follow the pattern of a regular-conjugation verb such as want. The verb takes the same conjugations as the irregular verb drive, for example, which conjugates with a pattern of drive-drove-driven, depending on the tense. The verb ride, then, is the same as a regular verb in English, taking the form ride in the present tense. But in the past tense, the root changes, with the i changing to o, to form the verb rode. The past participle is completely different, but more on that below. Key Takeaways: The Irregularity of Ride The verb ride does not follow a regular conjugation pattern.  Its conjugation pattern is the same as for the verb drive, which conjugates as drive-drove-driven, depending on the tense.In the present tense, the conjugation of ride is the same as for a regular verb taking the form ride.In the past tense, the root changes, with the i swapping out for o, to form the verb rode. The past participle is ridden, as in: He has ridden the bike. Conjugating the Verb Ride It can be helpful for English learners to view the basic conjugations of a verb. The table provides conjugations for ride in the present, past, and past participle tenses. Present I ride you ride he/she/it rides we ride you ride they ride Past I rode you rode he/she/it rode we rode you rode they rode Past Participle I/you/he/she/it/we/you/they (have) ridden Note that the base form is  ride, the simple past tense is rode, and the past participle is  ridden. Example Sentences of the Verb Ride Here are sentences of the  verb  ride in nearly all  tenses  including active and passive forms, as well as  conditional  and  modal  forms. The tense is indicated in bold, followed by a brief explanation of when to use the particular tense, together with three example sentences. Present Simple This is the basic present tense. Use it to indicate something that occurs in the present. He rides his motorcycle to work.They ride to work together.I like to ride my horse. Present Simple Passive Though using passive voice is not considered the best practice for writing, there are conjugations for this voice, including for the verb ride. Use this form of the passive voice to express something that is happening to or being done by someone. That horse is ridden by Tom.The mower is ridden by Joe.The bus is ridden by the passengers. Present Continuous The present continuous is used to express an ongoing action. Were riding our bikes to the park this afternoon.They are riding the horses to the track.Sally is riding her scooter. Present Continuous Passive This tense is similar to the present continuous but in passive form. The horses are being ridden by tourists at the moment.The scooter is being ridden by Sally.The horses are being ridden to the park by them. Present Perfect The present perfect connotes an  action or situation that started in the past and continues in the present. Have you ever ridden a horse?They havent ridden their scooters for years.She has ridden her bike to work for six months. Present Perfect Passive This tense is similar to the present perfect but in the passive voice. Has that horse by ridden yet?The scooters havent been ridden by them for years.The bike hasnt been ridden for months. Present Perfect Continuous This tense is used to  refer to an unspecified time between before now and now. We have been riding bikes since 9 a.m.She has been riding the open road since last night.He has been riding his scooter for the past three hours. Past Simple The past simple is, as the name implies, the simple past. It expresses an action that occurred and was completed, in the past. He rode his bike to work last week.She rode her scooter to work.The passenger rode in the car. Past Simple Passive This tense is the same as the simple past but in the passive voice. That motorcycle was ridden by Elvis.The scooter was ridden by her.The horse was ridden by the equestrian competitor. Past Continuous The past continuous shows that an ongoing  action was happening at a specific moment in the past. He was riding his bike when his cell phone rang.She was riding her scooter to work when the police officer gave her a ticket.The equestrian competitor was riding her horse when she was stopped by a fan. Past Continuous Passive As in the other tenses, the past continuous passive is the same as the past continuous but in the passive voice. The horse was being ridden by Jack when it fell.The scooter was being ridden by her when a policeman stopped her.The bike was being ridden by him when his cell phone rang. Past Perfect The past perfect refers to something that occurred in the past before another action in the past. They had already ridden the horse before they bought it.She had already ridden the scooter before she got into an accident.He had already ridden the bike when he got a flat. Past Perfect Passive This tense is the same as the past perfect but in the passive voice. The horse had been ridden before it was sold.The bike had been ridden before its tire went flat.The scooter had already been ridden when it was in an accident. Past Perfect Continuous This tense expresses  something that started in the  past  and continued until another event happened, also in the  past. They had been riding for two hours when the accident happened.She had been riding for an hour before she received a ticket.The competitor had been riding for two months before her first fan approached her. Future The future tense expresses something that will happen in the future. She will ride her bike to work.He will ride with the other passengers.The competitor will ride the horse at the nationals. Future   passive The future passive expresses a future action but in the passive voice. That horse will be ridden by the queen.The scooter will be ridden by her.The bike will be ridden by the commuter. Future Continuous This tense expresses an action that will start and continue in the future. This time next week we will be riding our motorcycles down the highway on holiday.By next year, we will all be riding scooters to work.By the time I get to Phoenix, Ill be riding a train. Future Perfect The future perfect expresses an action that starts and finishes at some point in the future. She will have ridden all the horses in the stable by the end of the month.The commuters will have ridden the scooters to work 100 times by the end of the year.By the time I get to Phoenix, I will have ridden for 66 hours. Future Possibility The future possibility expresses something that might happen in the future. She might ride Lucky.The gambler might break even.The commuter might save time if he takes a different route. Real Conditional The real conditional expresses uncertainty about whether an action will occur. If she rides her motorcycle, she will change her clothes.If he commutes by bike, he will save money.If the jockey rides the horse Affirmed, he will win the race. Present Modal Modal verbs are  auxiliary (helping) verbs that  express ability, possibility, permission, or obligation. The present modal expresses these things in the present. She should ride that horse.I may ride that scooter.She might get a ticket if she rides too fast. Past Modal The past modal is similar to the present modal but in the past tense. She cant have ridden her bike!I might have ridden that scooter, but Im not sure.She might have ridden to fast before receiving a moving violation. Quiz: Conjugate with Ride Use the verb to ride to conjugate the following sentences. The quiz answers are listed below. In some cases, more than one answer may be correct. That horse _____ by Tom._____ you ever _____ a horse?He _____ his bike when his cell phone rang.She _____ her motorcycle to work next week.If she _____ her motorcycle, she will change her clothes.He _____ his bike to work last week.That motorcycle _____ by Elvis!He _____ his motorcycle to work.We _____ bikes since nine this morning.If she _____ her motorcycle, she will change her clothes. Quiz Answers is riddenHave riddenwas ridingis going to rideridesrodewas riddenrideshave been ridingrides

In the current global economic climate, countries with strong Essay

In the current global economic climate, countries with strong economics should support countries experiencing financial difficul - Essay Example There are various reasons to cite for the need of external help from the developed economies. First, developed economies have integrated their labour in that they use machinery and technology. In many underdeveloped economies, most sectors use manual labour in production. This is a setback, as the production is not optimised. For example, most of the poor economies use manual labourers in farming and in industries. This requires a large number of people to effectively enhance production. However, with the help of developed economies the poor countries will realise the need for sophisticated mode of operations. For example, the poor countries need to incorporate mechanised farming, which will reduce on both time and cost taken to prepare and produce agricultural goods. In the mean time, they will have optimised their agricultural production, which will improve the economy. Similarly, the developed countries should help poor countries emulate many more modern farming techniques. As suc h, the poor countries will start investing in agricultural inputs including fertilizers and improved breeds as well as seeds. It is noted that agriculture is a strong economic pillar for poor countries. Therefore, this sector will attract immense attention especially when developed countries would want to help. ... Improving the agricultural sector will pave way for massive production. This would be a prudent idea since it will help the developed countries in provision of raw materials for production. This will improve both bilateral and multilateral trade in the world. Apparently, it is realised that many developed countries have many industries that require raw materials. Since these industries need raw materials, improving bilateral and multilateral trade will be a solution to scarcity of raw materials (Wodon 2012:34). In essence, both developed and poor economies will benefit from improvement in agriculture, as there will be a balance of trade. In the modern world, global climate change has been a thorny issue. This is highlighted owing to immense increase in pollution of the environment. Apparently, most of the developed countries are spearheading the need to reduce pollution in the world since it has affected the global climate. However, some of these actions are not reiterated to the poo r countries. In fact, countries experiencing financial difficulties have limited resources in controlling pollution. Bizarrely, pollution in some parts of the world would affect the climate, which later affects the whole world. As such, the strong economies should allocate resources to help reduce pollution in the poor economies. This would help in reducing the effects of pollution. It is noted that strong economies in the world are grumbling for better healthcare, improved income, better working conditions and improved education systems. However, in the countries faced with financial constraints, such are luxuries. For example, in some of these countries, access to healthcare is a problem. People have to travel long distances to access healthcare services. This is

Emergency preparedness flyer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Emergency preparedness flyer - Essay Example The primary focus would be to draw up a community preparedness plan, the default thing to do in any foreseeable emergency in which certain things have to be taken into account. Firstly, know what to expect. Educating oneself about the kind of disaster along with some information regarding their location would help prepare them accordingly. Populations living near the coastline should prepare for a tsunami whereas those living near or on a fault line should know what to do in case of an earthquake. Coming up with an emergency plan related to the specific disaster would be much more highly effective than a generic plan encompassing all that could go wrong (Kehayan & Napoli, 2005). Ironically, the very technology that has been put in place to help during a calamity has also put us at a disadvantage, primarily due to our dependency upon it. Today's masses live in a very different world compared to an earlier generation, when cross community communications were an intrinsic part of life a nd as such are much more ill prepared when things such as electricity, internet, gas, and water, which they are so dependent upon, are suddenly unavailable.

Exploring the Concepts of Karl Marx and Mao Tse-Tung Essay Example for Free

Exploring the Concepts of Karl Marx and Mao Tse-Tung Essay Karl Marx believed that in an industrialized society, the working class, known as the proletariat would revolt and take over the ruling class, and would in effect, create a classless society. Karl Marx believed this could only happen in an industrialized society. Once it became apparent that the working class would not rise above, Lenin intervened and confirmed Marxism obsolete in Russia. Since the late 1920s the Chinese Communist Party has altered Marxism in China. It became a peasant party with an anti-Marxist petty-bourgeois viewpoint and through all the fluctuations of the left and right turns of world Stalinism, it kept a utopian and reactionary perspective; in Marxist terminology, reactionary refers to people whose ideas might appear to be socialist, but, in essence, contain elements of feudalism, capitalism, nationalism, fascism or other characteristics of the ruling class. It kept a nationally based and classless socialism, or peasant socialism,† as worded by Trotsky. To call Mao Tse-Tung’s communist or Maoist, philosophy socialism is an understatement. Though encompassing many Marxist values, China has done a more effective job of forcing the Maoist agenda through more ruthless violence by utilizing the multitude of peasants residing within its borders as a powerful force, unlike Marxism which calls for a series of revolution by means of class struggle and uprising in the proletariat. Though the Maoist ideology had subsisted in China for some years after his time, today it is an important economic force, but is government-run, leaving it unstable without government regulation as the economy is dominated by large state-owned enterprises, but private enterprises also play a major role in the economy. State-owned enterprises are a major source of profit and power for members of the Communist Party of China and their families and are largely favored by the government. Karl Marx wove economics and philosophy together to construct a grand theory of human history and social change. His concept of alienation, for example, first expressed in his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, plays a key role in his criticism of capitalism. Marx believed that people, by nature, are free, creative beings who have the potential to totally transform the world. But he observed that the modern, technologically developed world is apparently beyond our full control. Marx condemned the free market, for instance, as being â€Å"anarchic,† or ungoverned. He maintained that the way the market economy is coordinated—through the spontaneous purchase and sale of private property dictated by the laws of supply and demand—blocks our ability to take control of our individual and collective destinies. Marx condemned capitalism as a system that alienates the masses. His reasoning was like this: although workers produce things for the market, market forces, not workers, control things. People are required to work for capitalists who have full control over the means of production and maintain power in the workplace. Work, he said, becomes degrading, monotonous, and suitable for machines rather than for free, creative people. In the end, people themselves become objects—robot-like mechanisms that have lost touch with human nature, that make decisions based on cold profit-and-loss considerations, with little concern for human worth and need. Marx concluded that capitalism blocks our capacity to create our own humane society. Marx’s notion of alienation rests on a crucial but shaky assumption. It assumes that people can successfully abolish an advanced, market-based society and replace it with a democratic, comprehensively planned society. Marx claimed that we are alienated not only because many of us toil in tedious, perhaps even degrading, jobs, or because by competing in the marketplace we tend to place profitability above human need. The issue is not about toil versus happiness. We are alienated, he maintained, because we have not yet designed a society that is fully planned and controlled, a society without competition profits and losses, money, private property, and so on—a society that, Marx predicted, must inevitably appear as the world advances through history. Here is the greatest problem with Marx’s theory of alienation: even with the latest developments in computer technology, we cannot create a comprehensively planned system that puts an end to scarcity and uncertainty. But for Marxists to speak of alienation under capitalism, they must assume that a successfully planned world is possible. That is, Marx believed that under capitalism we are â€Å"alienated† or â€Å"separated† from our potential to creatively plan and control our collective fate, but if comprehensive socialist planning fails to work in practice it is an impossibility. In consequence of China’s sizable rural population, the greatest point of conflict between the two lines of thought is Mao’s inclusion of the peasantry in the proletariat differing greatly with the Marxist-Leninist view that the beginning of socialist revolution should come from the urban working class. The Maoist faith in revolutionary enthusiasm and the positive value of the peasants lack of sophistication as opposed to technological or intellectual elites fueled the Great Leap Forward of the 1950s and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s. The disastrous consequences of both upheavals led Maos successors to abandon Maoism as counterproductive to economic growth and social order. Maoism, since then, has been embraced by insurgent guerrilla groups worldwide. The Communist Party of the Philippines has adopted the ideas and concepts of Maoism which promote the use of revolution to obtain their goals. Professor Jose Maria Sison, the Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines states, â€Å"Mao is indubitably correct in identifying the revisionism of degenerates in power in socialist society as the most lethal to socialism, and in offering the solution that succeeded in China for ten years before it was defeated in 1976. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the full restoration of capitalism in revisionist-ruled countries in the period of 1989-91 have vindicated Mao ´s position on the crucial importance and necessity of the struggle against revisionism and the theory of continuing revolution under proletarian dictatorship.† The Philippines today practices modern democracy. This shows the sharp difference of ideology within countries. It is shown by Sison’s diction that he is passionate about Communism to the degree that he strongly adheres to Maoist theory by promoting revolution in the proletariat. In 2008, the New People’s Army in the Philippines managed to make 200 tactical offenses and captured 200 high powered rifles. Ka Oris claimed that the group has managed to return to the level of activity of when it was at its peak in the 1980s. The NPA, the armed wing of the CPP, remains the biggest threat to national security according to National Defense Secretary Gilbert C. Teodoro Jr. This shows how Maoism only subsists with sheer violence. They seek to implement their agenda by compromising national security and putting many lives in danger. In order to form a fully Maoist society one needs to realize that the only means of achieving this is by deteriorating the conditions within a county. â€Å"The history of the NPA in Mindanao dates back to 1971 when a handful of inexperienced but determined communists established two cells one in Iligan and the other in Davao. The years that followed saw it exploit widespread poverty among both indigenous peoples and poor peasants in the countryside, as well as among many Christian settlers.† As one can see, poverty was a result of the attempts made by the NPA to form a communist/Maoist nation; therefore, the effects of revolution in the name of Maoism only worsens the well-being of the people as violence is utilized to oppress the people. Maoism is characterized by an extreme eclecticism and by subjectivism in theory and voluntarism in politics. Many traditional views of ancient Chinese political and philosophical thought have helped nourish Maoist ideology. From the anarchists Mao Tse-tung borrowed such principles as the absolutization of violence (â€Å"Power grows out of the barrel of a gun† and â€Å"To rebel is justified†) and reliance on nonproletarian, declassed elements and politically immature layers of young people to â€Å"organize† revolutions without regard to whether there is a revolutionary situation. According to Maoist declarations, similar revolutions, which in fact are a form of total purging and suppression of the real and potential enemies of Maoism, should be repeated periodically. If the inherent violence that Maoism encapsulates should be repeated, it would lead to the suffering of many people, which makes it unstable to the degree that the government forces outnumber the Maoists: a force that keeps them at bay. The Maoists cannot obtain their goal without the use of hostility, making it immoral and unstable. â€Å"Since 1978 hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty [in China] – yet hundreds of millions of rural population as well as millions of migrant workers remain unattended: According to Chinas official statistics, the poverty rate fell from 53% in 1981to 2.5% in 2005.† However, in 2009, as many as 150 million Chinese were living on less than $1.25 a day. The infant mortality rate fell by 39.5% between 1990 and 2005, and maternal mortality by 41.1%. Access to telephones during the period rose more than 94-fold, to 57.1% as did in many developing countries such as Peru or Nigeria. This shows inconsistency with data to instill communist propaganda. They only show what they want to. They never display the harsh violence committed in order to execute their agenda, which is also in the roots of Marxist theory. In consequence of Mao’s recognition of the peasan try as a powerful source of revolution, his political endeavors were largely aimed at rural China and less on urban industrialization. There is a strong emphasis in Maoism placed on the capability of conscious human action to overcome a lack of material resources. This is in reference to what Mao saw as great feats of endurance, such as the Long March and the resistance against Japan during the Sino-Japanese War. According to Mao, the success of such campaigns rested upon the commitment of man, without the aid of technology or material involvement. Complementary to such experiences, Mao naturally developed a theory that highlighted success as a product of the mind, not matter. As such, material goods were not constituent of, or significantly important to Maoism. It should be pointed out that in the present conditions, agriculture occupies first place in our economic construction. Mao was mainly concerned with agricultural production as a means of survival, and saw no political gain from mass industrialization. In fact Mao believed that industrialization weakened the proletarian movement, by creating further means fo r factory owners and management teams to exploit workers. However the Marxist-Leninist approach to socialist reform which contrasted against Mao’s agrarian views, relied heavily upon the encouragement of advanced industrialization in order to strengthen the sense of proletarian repression. In this sense there was a strong point of conflict over industrial and agricultural production values between Mao and the Russians, which was in direct consequence of the peasants over workers dispute. A fundamental facet of classical Marxist ideology is economic determinism; a concept whereby social change is driven by the economy. However Mao placed a much larger emphasis on the shaping of humankind, and the capacity to change human nature through sheer will power. Mao’s real conflict, of course, was not with Russia nor with revisionism, but with human nature. He believed that the ordinarily extended process of change could be hastened with appropriate stimulation; a positive political frame of commitment and action. While Marx also believed in the evolution of human nature, in contrast to Mao he regarded it to be a process beyond the control of man. Marx developed the theory of material determinism, which suggested that the economy is essential to social change and the development of human nature, a relationship almost ignored by Mao. Features of society such as classes, politics and ideologies were seen by Marx to be outgrowths of economic activity, whereas Mao regarded changes to such features as a result of human will. [Mao’s] process of remolding human beings†¦[is] almost in defiance of orthodox Marxist historical and material determinism. However what is generally agreed upon by Marx and Mao, despite the way in which it is done, is that this remolding of humankind could take many revolutions, which led to the development of the ‘continuous revolution’ theory, a concept whereby the proletarian’s struggle against the bourgeoisie is everlasting. Basically, the goals of Mao, Lenin and Marx were alike in terms of achieving a classless socialist society; there were distinct contrasting elements within the paths chosen to achieve these aspirations. Mao believed in the revolutionary and violent power of the abundant peasantry class, whereas the Marxist-Leninist approach to socialist revolution was to lead from the urban working classes. Resulting from this major disagreement came differing views on industrialization and urbanization, Mao tending to pay closer attention to agricultural development which was a large factor in China, and the Russians to urban development. There was also ignorance on Mao’s behalf of the nature of economics, a subject of which Marx was an expert which is most likely the reason why there is little on economics found on Maoism. Marx recognized the economy as a major driving force in social development, whereas Mao regarded human nature as something that could be changed by will. However while Mao may not have attempted to achieve socialism as Marx intended, a great difference between Russia and China during the twentieth century made such a turn away from classical Marxism to some extent. One could claim that Marxism has never truly been achieved in any setting, and with both China and Russia now leaning more towards capitalism, it leads one to question whether given the nature of humankind, such change is even possible; however, it can be concluded that both doctrines encapsulate instability and hostility, creating an oppressive environment.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift Essay -- sarcasm irony satire

A Modest Proposal A Modest Proposal is everything that a satirical story should be. It includes sarcasm and irony as Jonathan Swift takes us through a roller coaster ride to show us how the poor are treated miserably. The narrator begins by leading us down a path. He seems sincere and thinks it is a pity how everywhere you walk in the streets of Dublin you see the poor begging people for hand outs. He is seeking a solution to help the commonwealth. He appears to be a logical, educated person who makes it clear that he has been studying this subject for years. He then tells us that he has a solution to help the babies whose parents cannot afford them. We think his idea will be charitable and will actually help the poor as well as the nation. The narrator then does something that I think set the tone for the rest of the story. He referred to a baby just born as being dropped from its dam. Animals are dropped from dams, not humans. Therefore poor people in this story are nothing more than animals. We are told how the children are a burden and how instead of requiring food and clothing the rest of their lives, they will contribute to the feeding and clothing of many people. Any intelligent person would assume he intends to put them in factories or farms to work and not be on the streets begging for food. We are also told that his plan will prevent voluntary abortions and women murdering their bastard babies. The narrator shows the reader he is serious by producing calculations that appear to be well thought-out and then showing us, through examples, That these children have no future. Up to this point the narrator appears to be intelligent. He is from the upper cla... ...eir right mind would want to be eaten? Yet he tells us that the parents would have been in favor of it. The narrator commented on how he has no other motive than the public good for his country but his country does not include everybody. Only the rich and those who can take care and support themselves. I think that Jonathan Swift tried to show how terrible the poor were treated. Everyone was to busy to help them. He compared them to animals and referred to them as creatures. I think he did this to show where their society was heading. The rich simply did not care about what happened to the poor and they were literally eating them out of house and home. Jonathan Swift wrote this satirical essay so the people would at least acknowledge that they had a problem. It is to be hoped that enough people read his essay and tried to make a difference.

Dragon Multinational

Select a major Dragon Multinational. Describe the company’s features that are consistent with Mathew’s Dragon MNC theory and any that are not consistent. Analyse the factors that led the corporation to be successful. Prepare a three year Global Development Strategy for the corporation, taking into account the current business environment. Chosen Company: The Hong Leong Group with specific focus on City Developments Limited. The primary features that define a Dragon Multinational Corporation in their simplest form are large Multinational Enterprise’s that stem from the Asia-Pacific region that have ‘successfully internationalized and in some cases become a leading firm in its sector’ (Mathews). The Singapore based Hong Leong Group fits this classification almost seamlessly as with its many offshoots it is worth an estimated $30 billion boasting highly successful projects within property, finance, hospitality and trade and industry (hongleong. com. sg). Unlike many of the companies Mathew’s makes reference to in his theory the Hong Leong Group was not instantly a global success, in fact it was started in 1948 by Kwek Hong Png as a modest shop dealing in construction materials. Later on in the 1960’s the group moved into Finance for small local firms and a small amount of property investment. In the 1970’s The Hong Leong Group obtained a dominant stake in its most well known venture ‘City Developments Limited’ which was then a mere 8 employee’s and slowly expanded into commercial development. It was in the late 1980’s under the control of Kwek Hong Pngs son and future Executive Chairman Kwek Leng Beng that the company made its move into the hotel industry. This is where we witness what Mathews refers to as the â€Å"Gestalt Switch† from domestic to global competitor. The Hong Leong Group is what Mathews classes as a ‘Second Wave MNE’. These corporations are characterised by using ‘pull factors that draw firms into global connections rather than push factors that drove firms as stand alone players in the first wave’. A classic ‘Gerschenkronian Latecomer’ The Hong Leong Group unsuspectedly enhanced their portfolio through acquisitions and joint ventures namely the obtaining of a controlling interest in City Development Limited before embarking on what the group call a ‘strategic diversification strategy’ leading to the purchase of a hotel which thrust the group onto the world stage and was soon followed by rapid expansion and regionalisation. In Mathews theory there are 3 principal characteristics of a ‘latecomer’ these are accelerated internationalization, organisational innovation and strategic innovation. Accelerated Internationalization Internationalization is ‘defined as a process of cross-border operations when a business firm headquatered in one country controls and influences the strategic decision making of atleast one affiliate in another country’ (Yeung). Latecomers progess by making use of existing international connections in Hong Leongs case they used mergers and takeovers in a process known as horizontal integration. They linked with CDL and used the leverage of their financial sector to fund the hotel investments allowing the group to create their hospitality arm the London listed subsidiary Millenium and Copthorne Hotels plc which now operates over 120 hotels in 18 countries. M&C also signed a global strategic marketing alliance with Maritim Hotels which added another 49 hotels to the portfolio not inclusive of the eight management contracts announced that are to take place between 2009-2011. This clearly shows the rapid expansion that is so characteristic of a Dragon Multinational. Organizational Innovation Mathews highlights that Dragon Multinationals from an organizational perspective ‘dispensed with conventional â€Å"international division† as they had a global perspective from the get go. This is true of Hong Leong Asia which is the trade and industry branch of the group. The roots of the Hong Leong Group from its inception were in the concrete industry and although slightly overshadowed by the property and finance sectors in past years Hong Leong Asia was successfully growing in the background. The group has companies such as diesel engines companies, packaging companies and building materials companies that have merged via acquisition of stake holdings to create one single major manufacturing and distribution enterprise. This cluster of businesses that are hugely successful evolve in their individual specialities growing the company as a whole into one of the biggest integrated trade and industry groups in Asia. Strategic Innovation Frequently mentioned in Mathews Theory is the idea of latecomers taking advantage of an already well established global network, tapping into this via alliances and mergers. This is the innovative strategy that is displayed brilliantly by the Hong Leong Group as both CDL and Hong Leong Asia used this method to propel them through the initial stages of internationalization straight to being globally expansive. City Developments Limited linked with London’s Millennium & Copthorne and New Zealand’s Kingsgate and the Philippines Grand Plaza and know own and operate hotels in 18 countries and are currently expanding to The United Arab Emirates. Similarly Hong Leong Asia after acquiring several companies within Asia to become one of the biggest manufacturing companies in Singapore has linked with several subsidies on both the New York and Amsterdam Stock Exchange. This is a prime example of how pioneering latecomer MNE’s from the periphery use linkage and leverage to take advantage of vast existing global networking. Factors influencing success of the group – OLI vs LLL Within Mathew’s theory one of the main factors that influences whether a company can be classified as a Dragon Multinational is whether it fits Dunnings OLI framework or whether it is better suited to the adapted LLL framework. The original ‘ownership, location and internalization’ structure best describes the traditional MNE as it reaches global status by overcoming market malfunction with superior resource bases and overlooks the methods that form the basis of many modern MNE’s global success such as innovation and joint ventures etc. With acquisitions and joint ventures being the primary strategy of the Hong Leong Group their global expansion is definitely more in keeping with Mathew’s proposed ‘linkage, leverage, learning’ framework that picks up where the OLI framework left off, based on the international expansion of Dragon MNC’s.

Modern Business Statistics with Microsoft excel Essay

When are you entitled to deduct interest? If you run a business in part of your home, you are entitled to deduct part of the interest on money you borrowed to buy your home if: part of your home is set aside exclusively as a place of business and is clearly identifiable as such, and that part of the home is not readily adaptable for private use, for example, a doctor’s surgery located within a doctor’s home. If you rent out part of your home with access to general living areas on an arm’s length basis, you are entitled to deduct part of the interest on money borrowed to buy the home (see Taxation Ruling IT 2167). In these situations you would satisfy the interest deductibility test. This means you would not obtain a full main residence exemption and so would have to pay tax on part of any capital gain made when you sell your home. You may satisfy the interest deductibility test even if you didn’t borrow money to acquire your home – you must apply it on the assumption that you did borrow mon ey to acquire it. You also satisfy the test if you were entitled to claim a deduction for the interest, even if you didn’t actually claim the deduction. There is a special rule to work out the amount of your capital gain or loss if you first use your home to produce income in a way that satisfies the interest deductibility test after 20 August 1996. Last Modified: Tuesday, 30 June 2009 Main residence exemption – the effect of using your home to produce income Where you first use your home to produce income after 20 August 1996 If you start using your home to produce income (in a way that would satisfy the interest deductibility test) for the first time after 20 August 1996, there is a special rule for working out your capital gain or loss. In this case, you are taken to have acquired your home at its market value at the time it is first used to produce income if all of the following apply: you acquired the home on or after 20 September 1985Â  you first used it to produce income after 20 August 1996 Â  you would get only a part exemption because the home was used to produce assessable income during the period you owned it, and you would have been entitled to a full exemption if you had sold the home immediately before you first used it to produce income. The effect of this rule applying is that the period before the home is first used by you to produce income is not taken into account in working out the amount of any capital gain or loss . The extent of the exemption for the period after the home was first used to produce income depends on the proportion of the home used to produce income. Example: Home first used to produce income after 20 August 1996 Louise purchased a home in December 1991 for $200,000. The home was her main residence. On 1 November 2001 she started to use 50% of the home for a consultancy business. At that time the market value of the house was $220,000. She decided to sell the property in August 2002 for $250,000. The capital gain is 50% of the proceeds less the cost base. Percentage of use X (proceeds – cost base) = capital gain 50% X ($250,000 – $220,000) = $15,000 Louise is taken to have acquired the property on 1 November 2001 at a cost of $220,000. Because she is taken to have acquired it at this time, Louise is taken to have owned it for less than 12 months and therefore cannot apply the indexation or discount method to calculate her capital gain.

The good life essays

The good life essays Aristotle refutes Plato's Theory of Ideas on three basic grounds: that the existence of Ideas contradicts itself by denying the possibility of negations; that his illustrations of Ideas are merely empty metaphors; and that they theory uses impermanent abstractions to create examples of perception. Though the theory is meant to establish concrete standards for the knowledge of reality, Aristotle considers it fraught with inconsistencies and believes that the concept of reality depends upon all forms' correlations to other elements. Ideas, Plato believes, are permanent, self-contained absolutes, which answered to each item of exact knowledge attained through human thought. Also, Ideas are in Plato's view concrete standards by which all human endeavor can be judged, for the hierarchy of all ideas leads to the highest absolute - that of Good. In addition, the theory claims that states of being are contingent upon the mingling of various Forms of existence, that knowledge is objective and thus clearly more real, and that only the processes of nature were valid entities. However, Aristotle attacks this theory on the grounds that Plato's arguments are inconclusive either his assertions are not al all cogent. Aristotle says, or his arguments lead to contradictory conclusions. For example, Aristotle claims that Plato's arguments lead one to conclude that entities (such as anything man-made) and negations of concrete ideas could exist - such as "non-good" in opposition to good. This contradicts Plato's own belief that only natural objects could serve as standards of knowledge. Also, Aristotle refutes Plato's belief that Ideas are perfect entities unto themselves, independent of subjective human experience. Ideas, Aristotle claims, are not abstractions on a proverbial pedestal but mere duplicates of things witnessed in ordinary daily life. The Ideas of things, he says, are not inherent to the objects in particular but created separately and place...

Parts of a Book 101 the Master Guide to Front and Back Matter

Parts of a Book 101 the Master Guide to Front and Back Matter Parts of a Book Explained: Front Matter, Body, and Back Matter Beyond just polishing the story or contents of your nonfiction book itself, getting ready for publication involves preparing several different parts of a book - including the front matter and back matter. If you haven’t come across the terms before, don’t be intimidated! They simply refer to the first and last sections of your book: the bits that make it an â€Å"official† book, and not just chapters printed on bound paper.In this post, we’ll pull out our microscopes and zero in on this anatomy of a book - covering what vital components should be included in the front, body, and back matter, and how you can create them all using our free formatting tool.What makes up the different parts of a book?For a visual aid, we suggest you pull a random book down from the shelf and open it up. You can follow along and see how front and back matter are always arranged the same way. The order of these pages does matter (pun intended), so these parts require a little extra attention. Is there anything else you would like to know about the parts of the book or the logistics of self-publishing? Leave a comment in the box below and we'll do our best to answer your questions.

3800 complete 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

3800 complete 4 - Assignment Example Payne was on his way to Omni and stopped by the highway 78 to wait for a cab. The witness reported that he saw Williams talk to a taxi driver before the two boarded the taxi. There was a station wagon parked on the opposite side of the road. Later, on 27th April 1981, the body of Jimmy Payne was discovered dumped in Chattahoochee River (Terrence, 2005). The medical investigations done on the body showed that the death of Payne resulted from asphyxia through an undetermined method. After lengthy investigations, the state showed evidence that there were seven fiber and hair associations between Payne and Williams. The violet acetate fibers removed from Payne resembled those on Williams’s bed. The green well-man fibers on Payne’s shorts resembled those on Williams’s carpet. The blue-green/blue-gray fibers removed from the victim resembled the rayon fibers in the carpet of the station wagon seen by the witness. The light-yellow fibers found on Payne’s body resembled those found on the defendants blanket in his bedroom. The blue acrylic fibers removed from Payne’s body were consistent with the fibers in the blue throw rug found in Williams’s bedroom. There was also evidence showing that some animal hairs removed on Payne were from Williams’s shepherd dog (Terrence, 2005). The state said that all the fibers presented were lighter that their original counterparts due to exposure to the river. For each murder victim, there were certain fibers that were removed from them and each had a connection with fibers found in the defendant’s house. In the case of Alfred Evans, there were four fiber and hair associations between the defendant and the victim. The fibers fund on Eric Middlebrook, who was aged 14, resembled those on Williams bed spread. The animal hairs found on Evans body were linked to Williams’s dog. Charles Stephen body, who was aged 12, also had fiber evidence that was linked to William. Government agents testified