Uncontrolled Fate :: essays research papers

â€Å"Uh oh, says Lance. â€Å"I can see the police. I better pick up some speed.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I can still see the prison behind me after five long minutes of hard running through three-foot tall weeds. The searchlights from helicopters above provide adequate lighting for me. I take one step at a time trying not to make any unnecessary noise. As I strip down to my shorts and t-shirt I take notice to how cold it is outside. I haven’t seen daylight in months due to the fact that I’m confined to my tiny death cell. I am approaching what seems to be a forest. I see hundreds if not thousands of tall, massive trees. I figure this is the perfect hideout until I find neutral ground. The searchlights can’t penetrate through the thick branches of the trees, so I must now rely on my other senses to get around. I feel my way through the pitch-black forest. I get on my hands and knees to crawl. After ten gruesome minutes my head bumps into something solid. I assume it is a tree, but after close examination it turns out to be a door. I anxiously hop to my feet and to my surprise the door is unlocked. As I step through the door I feel a sense of relief. I take a deep breath and bellow out at the top of my lungs, â€Å"Is anyone home?† I figure it’s a big house so I wait for a response. Minutes pass and I begin to hear soft thumps on the floor. They become more and more thunderous as time passes. It seems as if someone is darting towards me. I panic, and out of fear I let out screech, but I am so terrified it comes out as a squeal. I run out the house. I take a look back and a bulky figure is charging towards me with a butcher’s knife. I cry out, â€Å"STOP,† but he still persists, so I prepare to go into combat. Before I could do anything I feel a sharp pain in my right shoulder. Oh it hurts. This dim-witted guy threw a knife at me. I stumble to my knees. I reach to pull the knife out, but it’s stuck. I’m bleeding uncontrollable, and I’m becoming dizzy. It’s happening just like the movies; it’s getting darker and darker, stars appear, and I’m passed out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I awake I tall, colossal man is hovering over me.

Soccer: the Game of My Life

General purpose: To inform Goal: In my speech I would like to talk to my audience about soccer, which is my hobby. Introduction I. I am sure each of you have a hobby or an activity, which is an escape from the everyday life. II. Such as hobbies or sport activities let’s you relief the stress, and give you the strength to live. III. I also have a hobby, which is soccer. I play soccer since I was a little boy, and it had a big influence on my life. IV. Today, I would like to tell you about how playing soccer shaped my physical and mental strength, allowed me to travel, and meet people and friends.Body I. To begin, let’s talk about health benefits I gained from playing soccer. A. I shaped my overall physical strength and health. 1. Years of playing soccer let me keep my body in good shape. Running, jumping, and stretching, had build up my flexibility, endurance, and physical strength. 2. Continuous training allowed me to stay healthy all the time. Beside occasional colds o r flu I never got sick. B. Pushing my body to hard work influenced my mental strength. 1.The desire to win the game and the endless forcing myself to work hard taught me to never give up, to â€Å"fight to the last whistle†. 2. Soccer allows me to escape from the everyday life. When I play soccer, I forget about all my worries and problems. During the game my stress is relived. Transition: Beside physical and mental health I also received many social benefits from soccer. II. I did travel a lot; I met many people, and made lots of friends. A. Many years of playing soccer allowed me visited many places. 1. Playing in regular season involved travel in a bus around the country.There was always time to stop to see important monuments, explore interesting places or cities. 2. To prepare for the season we often travel to other countries for several days. I have visited many cities in Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, or Germany. 3. Now, when I am playing for Tarnovia Chicago, I do traveli ng as well. My team is participating in the soccer tournaments hosted in Wisconsin, Michigan, New Jersey, California, and Florida. B. While traveling with the team I met many new friends. 1. Traveling involves spending a lot of time with your teammates.Long bus and train rides, or living in the same room give plenty of time to play, talk, and get to know each other. 2. I also met many people on the field from the opponent teams. With some of those people we have set specific form of friendship, which only exists on the soccer field. We meet once a while at the game and we enjoy playing against each other. Conclusion Summing up my speech, soccer is a team sport, where the personal strengths, trust, and friendships between people are being formed. Those are the things I value the soccer for.

Ebay Case Meg Whitman Essay

In 1995, Pierre Omidyar founded eBay, an on-line company whose purpose was to facilitate an environment where people could not only exchange goods, but also have discussions, make connections, and form relationships. He carefully crafted a culture based upon, â€Å"trust, respect, autonomy, empowerment, and equality,† and sought for the eBay community and company to be reflective of those principles. eBay was successful because Omidyar realized that a respectful, symbiotic relationship with this on-line community was critical, â€Å"because eBay wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for [the] community. In 1998, Meg Whitman was brought in as CEO to strengthen the eBay brand and to develop a stronger marketing strategy. In this, she was remarkably successful. In little over a year, eBay registrants grew from 88,000 to 3. 8 million users. The company successfully went public, revenue just about doubled every quarter, and acquisitions and partnerships were made to increase the customer base. However, the rapid growth under Whitman caused a major problem for eBay: it put a strain on the culture and the community upon which eBay was successfully founded. With growth came the need for more rules and policies. For instance, Whitman made the decision to ban the sale of firearms to keep the company free of legal liabilities. Many in the community and company were shocked and outraged by this policy because it violated the eBay values of open communication and trust. Also, the acquisition of Butterfield and Butterfield, a prestigious, high-end auction house, was taken as a slap in the face. It violated the eBay value of respect, and the community saw this purchase indicative of the company’s priorities being focused on higher profit margins, not building and maintaining relationships with its existing community. There are clear reasons why the eBay community felt its culture was being left behind in the wake of rapid growth. First, the strategic design of eBay dramatically changed under Whitman’s management. eBay was previously built upon a small, flat and flexible team of engineers who worked together without many formal chains of authority. This open work environment perfectly mirrored the community Omidyar sought to create online, and the internal company practiced its values of respect and trust on a daily basis. However, Whitman correctly recognized that as the company grew, more formal structures and positions would have to be put into place to bear the burden of greater demand. With expert consultation, she reorganized the engineers. She eventually added eleven different vice presidents in upper management. In little time, the company transformed from an informal, flat model to a formal functional structure. This enabled growth, but it also created tall hierarchies that diminished the culture of open communication. For instance, lower-level employees and the eBay community both back-lashed at the decision of banning firearms for largely the same reason: they had no idea such a policy was forthcoming. Upper management made this decision without outside consultation. Even though it was the right decision for the company, it was handled and presented in a way that violated the culture eBay was built upon. In 1999, Whitman formally created a Community Watch group to monitor the website for fraud. Initially, eBay â€Å"counted on its users to abide by its user agreement and take much of the responsibility for safeguarding the site themselves. But, the community had grown too large to be self-monitored. Again, the decision was appropriate, but so many structural changes implemented in so little time was too much for the community to absorb without reaction. Moreover, the political nature of eBay changed rapidly. Pierre Omidyar, eBay’s founder and developer, had the rare gift of leading with b oth referent and expert power. He used this power to create a strong sense of community throughout eBay. He also used his referent power to give Whitman legitimacy in both her position as CEO and in her consequential actions. His support was effective at getting the company to align behind her decisions, but the external community did not see this support and were more suspicious of the company’s new direction. Whitman’s decisions were all sound and applauded by Wall Street. But the community saw what was once a democratic forum turning into a big business. Her lack of consultation with the community lead one user to brand eBay as having a â€Å"cavalier attitude,† and a â€Å"political agenda. † Lower level employees also saw this lack of communication. Where there were once full company meetings weekly, now they were held, at most, once a quarter. Power was concentrating. Clearly, this power shift was positively causing growth but negatively affecting culture. In her defense, Whitman was not indifferent to the culture at eBay. She stressed hiring people who understood and wanted to expand the eBay culture. But at the same time she outsourced customer service to a location in Utah, far from where the gatekeepers of the eBay culture were to be found. Therefore, those directly working with the community may have been the least in tune with its values. Also, she applauded and maintained the â€Å"no penalty† culture where everyone could voice their opinions and feel free to change their minds. However, with the growth of the company, there were fewer opportunities for a voice to be heard, less direct contacts with upper management, and fewer voices involved in major decisions. This led to decisions being made that were sound individually but not corporately when placed in the eBay culture. It also proved difficult to spread this culture to the plethora of newly added users. And it is critical because it built the community, which built the company, and if it is removed, those elements that made eBay a unique success will be gone. Therefore, eBay needs to find a way to maintain its culture. One way to correct this problem would be to implement more cross-functional teams internally. These teams would recreate the initial eBay structure of being team-based, autonomous, and flat. They would allow different departments to address problems and offer valuable input into pending company policies. This lateral flow would lead to decisions that would keep more in line with the original eBay culture, thus satisfying the community at large. The downside to these teams is that it gives Whitman and others less authority to use in making decisions for the company. Another alternative would be to create a formal system of distributing information and gathering feedback from the eBay community. This would create an opportunity to communicate values as well as pending or upcoming policy changes. This system of polling through email would empower the community to have a cogent voice once again and would reestablish the feeling of one-to-one communication. The downside is that if the company decided to go in a direction different than that of the community, those polled and involved could lose faith and optimism in exercising their voice. Finally, Whitman could create a separate company under the eBay name where she could make mergers and acquisitions without alienating the base users and without directly affecting the company. This would help maintain the existing eBay culture, but it would do nothing to repair any damage done. Moreover, having a different arm will not expand their user community of eBay, which is eBay’s vision. Whitman should create a formal system of distributing information and gathering feedback from the eBay community. This mechanism would be two-fold in design. First, eBay would create a oalition of the â€Å"top sellers,† those truly engrossed in the eBay community and whose interests are aligned with both company and community. Upper management would formally integrate the opinions and responses of this group (on issues ranging from policy to community values) into its decision-making processes. Also, the use of widely sampled polls of eBay users on the same issues would help th e company get a feel for how the broader community at large feels about important issues. This would be positive for the community because it would give them a legitimate voice in the company again, just as it had at eBay’s inception. It is important to remember that eBay is unique in that the community it serves is the company itself. Soliciting, responding to, and implementing the voice of this community improve eBay; even with its now more functional structure, it will only help the company know the needs and opinions of its community, which will strengthen business. The downside to this move is that after hearing out the top sellers and looking at the data of a poll on a particular issue, Whitman and upper management may still feel that an unpopular direction needs to be taken. Some users may feel patronized and refuse to participate in future polls. Even so, many in the community will be appreciative to at least be involved in the process and to be forewarned of pending changes. Once again there will be a dialogue with the community that will attribute value, trust, and respect to its opinions, even in disagreement. In this manner, eBay can grow and still stay small.

English Home Reading Project

Todd Bowden is a boy who wants to be a detective when he gets older. He has been doing good in school and in his free time he runs background checks on people he sees. His neighbor Mr. Dussander was one of the people he did this too. He found out that he was using a fake name and was once referred to as the blood fiend of patin the only true thing about his life was that he was very old. When Todd confronts him about it he realizes that this secret is bigger than he thought. Todd soon starts to wonder about why he was called blood fiend so he started to ask some questions about it. When Dussander refuses, Todd black-males him into giving the stories. Todd starting to let his grades drop and when his first high school report card comes home he tries to change his grades with ink remover. He does this several times thought the novella. As the story's get more and more graphic Todd begins to come almost psychopathic. He starts to make Dussander wear these awful Nazi suits and recite saying that he used to say during the war. Dussander starts to have nightmares about the war and find a gruesome way to cope with the stress. Because he used to work in one of the crematoriums, Dussander starts to find stray cats and put them in his kitchen oven. He would soon become worse and â€Å"rescue† dogs from a shelter to burn. ( worst part of book. too many details. ) As Todd grades drop further his guidance counselor try's to set up a meeting between him and his parents. Todd black-males Dussander into pretending that he is his grandfather and proceeds with the meeting without his real parents. Todd is told that if he gets another flunk card that he will have to repeat this grade . One night after having listened too so many of the horrible stories he has a nightmare. These dreams persist for weeks and eventually Todd comes up with a plan to kill dussander. When nightmares continue to get worse Todd stabs a homeless man to death and realizes that murder helps with his stress and the dreams start to go away . he continues to commit murder whenever the dreams get too bad. Dussander starts too do the same as Todd and buries his victims in his basement. towards the end of the story the guidance counselor meets Todd's real grandfather and starts too talk about the meeting they had and when the grandfather dident remember the conversation he puts the pieces together. CLIMAX chapter 17. his is the climax of the story because at this point the entire story changes. Dussander had a heart attack and this leads to new situations that completely change the story. The resolution of this story is that todd bowden is questrioned by the police. After this he goes to a secret spto on the highway. Gets a gun, and goes on a rampage. Only to end in his own death. I t hink this was a great ending to the story. If fit perfect with all the little details that were put into the book. It all fits together at the end. Characterization Todd Bowden: Main character of the book. He is shown as decieving and mean. Througout the novella todd tricks and manipulated people into doing things that could help himself and hurt others. He is important to the story because without him nothing would have happened and it wouldent be a good book. Arthur Denker AKA Mr. Dussander: main character. Shown as a nice man but forceful when need be and his past shows him as a monster. He is important to the story because he feeds all of todds rage to him and is an antagonist to the story. Todds personality chapter 6. this shows Todds evil side and proves just how much of a monster he can be to put an old man throug this rough time again. Todd is not the kind of person I would like to be friends with. He is a lieing kid who is extremly mean. And throughout the book he is seen by his peers as a loser. Conflict One main conflict in this story is when Todds grades start too fall. He constantly changes them to deceive his parents and when he is confronted by his guidance counselor about it he decides to lie about his situation in hopes to fix it. Todd has Dussander go to the school and talk to the counselor instead of his parent to â€Å" sweep the problem under the rug†. This fixes one of his problems but makes life much more difficult in the rest of the story. I can relate to some of todds problems like falling grades sometimes and feeling like your stuck in a place that your know wont lead anywhere good. But as for the rest of his problems like where to bury his victims I cannot say that I have any experience in. Theme one main theme of this novella is deception and black-male can only get you so far, because when the time comes for the truth it will only bring you down. This is shown when todds grandfather meets the counselor and realizes that todd lied to his parents about his grades and the whole situation unfolds.

The Awful Truth about Archaeology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Awful Truth about Archaeology - Essay Example The author explains that as we see in media, there is no bad guy who turns up to halt the work of archeology. The author claims that the real archeology world is way different from â€Å"The Tomb Raider†, â€Å"Indiana Jones, and â€Å"The Curse of the Mummy†. She explains that contrary to people believe she have not come across any curse, golden idol, serpents, and scorpions or lightening. She says if someone hand over her a map with clues as we see in movies then there would be lot of unpleasantness with campus police and also she have to spend lot of time to get permission to land in that exotic country. They will have to search for months for the site and also credible amount of time in searching debris and soil layers. She explains that real archeology requires lot of inspection of the earth, stones and artifacts. She suggest that most of the archeologist carries a copy of the Calvin and Hobbs cartoon in their office which shows that archeology is one of the most mind numbing jobs in the world. Author says that it involves lot of paper work and handling of delicate instrument. Sebastian reveals that when one work in extreme weather condition with sand blowing on their face and working with delicate instruments on a vulnerable site then they most often question their career choice. But she claims that archeology is exciting because it connects people with past in an interesting way. It is immediate and personal experience. She shares the experience of excavation in Arizona where they found a pit house with human hand prints that were date to AD 805. She writes that sharing these with the children of today was a matter of excitement and connecting with their ancestors. She exclaims that if Lara Croft was there instead, then she would have destroyed the pit house and smashed the handprints in the search for goodies. She suggests that Lara might have missed all the traces that they have found like the pottery,

Bank law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Bank law - Essay Example The agent in possession of the said Nursing Home sold it and the proceeds were applied to reduction of the credit debt and no surplus accrued to benefit the other creditors and Narni. After the sale, no profit or income was derived by Narni. 2. Narni which runs the Carrum Nursing Home applied for overdraft facility with National Australia Bank. Pending formal approval of the application with limit of $65, 000.00, the Bank nevertheless honored the cheques drawn by Narni even though there were no funds to meet them since the account was regularly in debit. The bank refused to extend the overdraft facility to $100, 000.00 but supported Narni by honoring the cheques drawn despite lack of funds. The Court found that the "Bank and Narni conducted their business and arranged their affairs, from February 1989, on the basis that the approved overdraft of $65,000 was at best a nominal limit and that the Bank would tolerate surges well in excess of that limit in each monthly cycle. The bank ope rated and permitted the account to operate in a very flexible way so that the monthly surges far exceeded any such limit". The court also found that "Narni relied upon this attitude on the part of the Bank in the operation of its business, as the Bank officers knew". It was deduced from the facts that the Bank itself also enjoyed a benefit from this arrangement from the receipt of interest and other fees and by the retention of a satisfied customer. The Court found that it was a "term of this arrangement between the Bank and Narni that the Bank would not refuse to honour cheques drawn by it on the ground that the balance of the account exceeded the approved overdraft limit of $65,000." The correctly held that it was an implied term of the arrangement that the Bank could not terminate or vary it without giving the customer reasonable notice so as to allow time for it to arrange its affairs to comply. Furthermore, they must have regard to the fact that cheques, which had been previous ly drawn and delivered may have to be honoured under the pre?existing arrangement in place at the time they were drawn and delivered. The implication of such a term is an incident of the arrangement between the Bank and its customer because the Bank knew that Narni was dependent upon it. As aptly held by the court, " there was no warning of dishonor from the bank and this act was relied upon by Narni and giving rise to overdraft extension. Narni was dependent for its cash flow upon the accommodation of the bank in excess of the agreed limit given by the Bank." In the case of Joachimson v Swiss Bank Corporation [1921] 3 KB 110 CA, it was held that the following are considered implied terms: a). The bank will receive the customer’s deposits and collect his or her cheques; b). The bank will comply with written orders (i.e. cheques) issued by its customers assuming there is sufficient credit tin the account; c). The bank will repay the entire balance on the customers demand at th e account holding branch during banking hours -as was also held in Libyan Arab Foreign Bank v Bankers Trust [1989] AC 80 PC for the application for the terms in relation to UK banks; d). The bank will give reasonable notice before closing a customer’s account if it is in credit; e). the customer will take reasonable care when writing cheques (Topic 1, n.d.). Implied terms are extra terms read into contracts by the courts in order to give effect to statutory requirements and common law presumptions (Robinson, 2009). Implied

Fire and Emergency Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Fire and Emergency Management - Research Paper Example History There is a rich history that comes with the use of both the ISO grading system and the standards of coverage. The ISO grading system is actually adopted version of the fire suppression rating schedule (FSRS). The FSRS had been used as an independent rating system for several years in selected States until the need to ensuring that there is a global standardization of the activities of the fire and emergency service was brought up (ISO, 2014). Meanwhile, the insurance service office (ISO) had been functioning as an internationally recognized body that was responsible for setting standards of operation for various industries across the globe. To ensure that the rating schedule used for the purposes of fire and emergency fighting was at par with what was internationally recognized, the rating schedule was merged with the ISO standards to form what is today referred to as the ISO grading system of fire fighting. The history behind the standards of coverage can however be traced to very specific fire and emergency agencies across the country. This is because when the use of the standards of coverage started as an assessment system, it was only certified and used by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). These fire chiefs were the ones who ensured that within the limit of the agencies that managed, there was a standard that defined the way they operated and responded to fire.