Thursday, December 26, 2019

Judicial Activism Free Essay Example, 750 words

Judicial Activism Judicial Activism The ideas presented by both legal luminaries Attorney General Edwin Meese and Justice WilliamJ. Brennan were insightful and provided me with a greater understanding of the various ways on how to interpret the Constitution as well on how to determine its purpose and intent. After reading and pondering on the arguments of both sides, I am more inclined to side with judicial activism as argued by Brennan that the Constitution must be viewed as living and evolving and as law that is responsive to the realities of the time, rather than Meese’s argument of judicial restraint of interpreting the Constitution according to the original intent of the its Framers. The reason why I came down on Brennan’s side is that I find his point of view more realistic and progressive compared to Meese’s conservatism of sticking to the interpretation by the Framers of the Constitution, which is difficult, if not impossible, to determine. Borrowing from his words, I just find it unsettling that the â€Å"Constitution was meant to be interpreted only as the founding fathers intended† (Perry, 2004 pg. We will write a custom essay sample on Judicial Activism or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now 5) because it would be impossible to determine what their exact thoughts were given the time lapsed after the Constitution was framed. There may be notes and documents made during the debate in Philadelphia when the drafting of the Constitution was still in process but they will always be incomplete and can only give hint of the intent of the Framers and cannot provide the total idea of the Framers when the Constitution was drafted. Assuming for the sake of argument that we should base our interpretations on the original intent of the Framers of the Constitution, the best record available during the drafting process of the Constitution that represents the thought of the Framers only represents about 7 percent of the Philadelphia debates. Gleaning from this figure, it is likely that succeeding interpretation would be to interpret it in the manner of judicial activism for utter lack of documents to base the decision. There is also a flaw in this line of argument. I may wholeheartedly agree that the Framers of the Constitution had the noblest intention when they drafted the Constitution but they could not possibly anticipate nor box the realities of future according to the wisdom of their time. Everybody knows that time changes and succeeding generation learn from experience that it will no longer be practical or feasible to go back to the wisdom that did not even have a glimpse of their experience. This is the very reason why portions of the Constitution are articulated in generalities – to let future generation to interpret according to the realities of their time. Even Meese agreed that there are portions in the Constitution that were framed in generalities for it to express general principles that will enable people to interpret according to the realities of our times. This is necessary as Justice Brennan would argue that â€Å"It is arrogant to pretend that from our vantage we can gauge accurately the intent of the framers on application of principle to specific, contemporary questions† (Perry, 2004 pg 5) and thus calls for judicial activism not only for necessity but also as a better alternative. I also find the argument of Meese too simplified when he interpreted that judicial activism is â€Å"too many of the court’s opinions are, on the whole, more policy choices than articulations of constitutional principle† because this meant that interpretations outside of his own are arbitrary and ignorant for it was merely based on opinion and prevailing interest and not on the basis of law. Judicial activism is not a policy choice but rather an adequate response of the law to the realities of the time. We evolve and learn along the way and correspondingly, the Constitution must also adapt. Chief Justice Earl Warren explained in 1954 â€Å"the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society† (Perry, 2004 pg. 6) and correspondingly, this reality should compel us to interpret the law in a more appropriate way that responds to the standards of decency of the time. The law must not drag us back into the Middle Age. It should instead serve as a beacon that would usher us towards a just, humane and progressive society in the future that is why I am inclined towards judicial activism in interpreting the Constitution. Borrowing the words of Brennan, we should always ask â€Å"What do the words of the text mean in our time? † (Perry, 2004 pg. 5) instead of literally interpreting the Constitution under the outdated lens of judicial restraint. Reference Perry Barbara (2004). Original Intent or Evolving Constitution? Two Competing Views on Interpretation. American Bar Association. Insights on Law & Society 5.1

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Fences Research - 1694 Words

The Impact of Physical and Psychological Boundaries in August Wilson’s Fences The early 1950’s was a time of enormous importance because of the Civil Rights Movement which emphasized equal rights for blacks and whites. According to the book Approaching Literature, this time period became very familiar to August Wilson, the author of the play Fences. Wilson, an African American man, was raised by his mother and his ex-convict father. For a short period of time, before moving back to his old neighborhood, Wilson lived in a primarily white neighborhood where he experienced the feeling of being on the â€Å"outside.† When he was in the ninth grade he had a teacher that believed there was no way he could have written an intelligent,†¦show more content†¦Yet, when Cory returns, we find that in his attempt to free himself he has become bound within the confines of a far more strict institution; the Marine Corps. Metzger argues that â€Å"Cory finally escaped his father’s authority, just to be placed under the authority of peo ple far more strict and controlling.† (3) Another physical boundary exists between husband and wife, Troy and Rose. At the beginning of the play, Troy is building a fence for Rose although he sees absolutely no use for it. Because she’s so focused on keeping all the people she loves safe and inside its walls, Rose is completely unaware that the fence is actually pushing her loved ones away. Since spending time in prison, Troy views fences as restrictions or limitations, so he is in no hurry to build Rose’s fence. But as the play goes on we see that after eighteen years of marriage, Troy feels confined by the responsibility and loyalty that come with it and needs to break out of those constraints. He wants so badly to be free from the ties of marriage that he has an affair with another woman, Alberta. Although, in his mind he broke free of those marital boundaries, realistically, he just put up yet another fence. Rose later finds out about this affair and t henShow MoreRelatedFences Research Paper1912 Words   |  8 PagesFences Lives are lead with anxiety over certain issues and with apprehension towards certain events. This play, Fences written by the playwright August Wilson deals with the progression of a family through the struggles of oppression and the inability to obtain the American Dream. The characters in the play develop throughout the story and can be viewed or interpreted in many different ways, but one man remains constant during the play and that is Troy. Due to certain eventsRead MoreMy Book Hunting Experience On The Internet860 Words   |  4 Pagesreal life, families come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.† (p. 6). The illustration depicted your typical heteronormative, Caucasian nucleus, containing a dad, mom, brother, sister, dog and cat. 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State legislation put in place can be an indicator of the severity of the situation, as well as how much support such legislation like Bill 1070 and the Border Fence Act garners amongst the public. Although indicators of positive change show increased awareness from participation in the march, racism and support of repression is not only remaining but arguably growing among certain parts of the public. No recentRead MoreLead User Research for Breakthrough Innovation6710 Words   |  27 PagesLEAD-USER RESEARCH FOR BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION Lead-user research can help companies uncover both unmet customer needs and the innovative solutions that leading-edge users are developing to meet those needs. Ivy Eisenberg OVERVIEW: The best companies often work closely with their customers to uncover needs and wants that can be translated into new or improved product or service offerings. The lead-user research method goes a step further, looking not only to the typical customer, but to thoseRead MoreMethods of Qualitative of Data Collection19658 Words   |  79 Pagesdata will inform his research questions. How the researcher plans to use these methods, however, depends on several considerations. Chapter 1 presents an introductory discussion of qualitative methodological assumptions. As the grounding for a selection of methods, we extend that discussion here, using Brantlinger’s (1997) useful summary of seven categories of crucial assumptions for qualitative inquiry. The first concerns the researcher’s views of the nature of the research: Is the inquiry technicalRead MoreThe Purpose Of This Essay Is To Discuss The Use Of Violence1899 Words   |  8 Pagestechnology news article a study done in Singapore of more than three thousand kids found that nearly one in ten where video game addicts and were stuck with the problem, although this does not state the sex of the children, D A Gentile head of the media research lab at the Iowa state university said that â€Å"when children become addicted their depression, anxiety and social phobias got worse, and when they stopped being addicted their depression, anxiety and social phobias got better. Christopher J. Ferguson

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Costco Case Study Essay Sample free essay sample

1. Describe Costco’s concern theoretical account: harmonizing to the instance. â€Å"Costco’s mission in the member warehouse concern read: â€Å"to continually supply our members with choice goods and service at the lowest possible monetary values. † The company’s concern theoretical account was to bring forth high gross revenues volumes and rapid stock list turnover by offering members low monetary values on a limited choice of nationally branded and selected private-label merchandises in a broad scope of ware classs. ( CMU. 390 ) † . The overall Costco theoretical account is set up to map productively at significantly lower gross borders ( compared to traditional jobbers. mass merchants. supermarkets A ; supercenters ) through agencies of operating efficiencies achieved by volume buying. efficient distribution and decreased handling. every bit good as rapid stock list turnover. a. Include treatment of how each constituent impacts net income coevals. I. Volume buying: cuts buying costs from makers. leting Costco to go through nest eggs to members through deal pricing ; this constituent feeds straight into efficient distribution and decreased handling scheme. two. Efficient distribution: beltway traditional distribution channels. buying straight from makers and routing merchandises either straight to the shop or to one of the 9 cross-docking Stationss. Once merchandises arrive at a docking station. they are placed in a combined cargo ; hence maximising cargo volume and managing efficiencies. three. Reduced handling: upon bringing. the bulk of cargos are placed straight on the gross revenues floor stacked on palettes. This reduces the demand for off-floor storage every bit good as postponing adjustment and handling. Limited choices of merely high-volume gross revenues points ( in respect to size. colour and theoretical account ) further cut down managing and increase efficiency. four. Rapid stock list turnover: high gross revenues volume is generated through deal pricing method ; consequently. bring forthing net incomes before seller measures are due. leting Costco to take advantage of early-pay price reductions. Therefore. a big per centum of Costco’s ware stock list is able to be financed through payment footings defined by sellers ( instead than a ample on the job capital ) . 2. Describe Costco’s scheme: â€Å"The basiss of Costco’s scheme were low monetary values. limited choice. and a treasure-hunt shopping environment ( CMU. 390 ) † . a. Identify scheme elements ; include particulars that communicate how Costco employs each component A ; what each is designed to carry through. I. Pricing: points at Costco are ever priced at deal degrees. supplying a important nest eggs for members. Costco has a policy to crest trade name name mark-ups at 14 % and private label merchandises at 15 % . By keeping a low-price scheme. and continually cutting costs for members whenever possible. Costco has developed a sustainable pricing scheme based on their committedness non to be undersold. two. Product choice: each shop stocks about 4. 000 points. about 3. 000 on a regular basis available merchandises and the staying 1. 000 is considered â€Å"treasure-hunting merchandise† . The choice of on a regular basis available points is limited to fast-selling theoretical accounts. sizes and colourss. My keeping a smaller stock of choice points. Costco efficaciously simplifies stock list procedures thereby increasing efficiency. three. Treasure-hunting selling: The ? of the merchandise stock list which invariably changes is made up of particular buy â€Å"one-time purchase† points. These are normally high-end trade name name points with larger monetary value tickets ( $ 2. 000-3. 000 ) . The limited supply of treasure-hunting ware is intended to transfuse a sense of urgency in the clients. cognizing it likely won’t be at that place on the following visit. four. Marketing/advertising: due to the nature of Costco’s concern theoretical account. large-scale advertisement and gross revenues runs are unneeded ; conversely. most of the advertisement is achieved through word-of-mouth from bing members. Selling and publicities are by and large limited to direct mail plans targeted at really specific demographics. The low cost of Costco’s selling and advertisement scheme contributes to their overall minimalistic attack ( i. e. simple warehouse. palette carrying. off-prime existent estate. etc. ) . v. Growth scheme: on norm. Costco opens 20-25 new locations yearly. Of these new Costco shops. a bulk are opened in the United States. though they are undergoing international enlargement as good. A test-run was done with two Costco Home shops. free-standing furniture locations. which were really successful. However. instead than go oning this tendency. Costco opted to add about 45. 000 sq. ft. to the size of selected new shops and use the excess infinite to stock a much larger furniture choice. Kirkland Signature ( Costco’s company trade name ) was besides targeted by direction as an country for growing potency. Consequently. the line is undergoing an enlargement of its ain. increasing from approximately 400 to every bit many as 600 points over a 5-year period. Website gross revenues besides contribute to Costco’s overall growing scheme. six. Website gross revenues: two web sites www. costco. com ( US ) and www. costco. ca ( Canada ) are available as shopping options for members. These sites provide members with a manner to buy merchandises and services that may non be available at their local warehouse. Additionally. the web sites offer exposure lab options. a service which really increased by 10 % in 2005 when the industry as a whole experient negative gross revenues growing. By offering a digital option to their warehouse shopping experience. Costco increases their overall trade name presence while supplying members with yet another service benefit. B. Identify and describe ( defend choice ) Costco’s two primary internal nucleus concern rules. I. Member satisfaction as a consequence of pricing and service is Costco’s figure one primary internal nucleus concern rule. Consequently. pricing and service are the primary elements of Costco’s nucleus competence which yield the organization’s competitory advantage. The important nest eggs experienced by Costco members is what drives their high volume gross revenues. viva-voce advertisement and growing potency. By maximising on their ability to supply low monetary values for their clients as ( opposed to concentrating on how the company can do an excess dollar here or at that place ) . Costco is positioned as an industry leader in deal pricing. By keeping this place. they are prolonging their concern theoretical account and puting the model for old ages of continued success. two. Employee compensation and work force patterns make up the 2nd most of import internal nucleus concern rule for Costco. Based on industry competition. Costco offers more attractive wage paired with a full-spectrum of benefits for their employees. â€Å"Although acknowledging that paying good rewards and good benefits was contrary to conventional wisdom in price reduction retailing. Jim Sinegal ( laminitis of Costco ) was convinced that holding a well-compensated work force was really of import to put to deathing Costco’s scheme successfully. He said. â€Å"Imagine that you have 120. 000 loyal embassadors out there who are invariably stating good things about Costco. It has to be a important advantage for you†¦ . Paying good rewards and maintaining your people working with you is really good business† . adding that â€Å"you acquire what you pay for† and the higher rewards were deserving the increased productiveness ( CMU. 398 ) . In add-on. Costco has a company policy that 86 % of higher-level gaps are to be filled through internal publicity. though the existent figure is closer to 98 % . By taking attention of their employees and furthering a civilization of inclusion and chance. Costco has a important industry advantage. Consequently. their committedness to handle client service as an investing ( non a cost to be shed ) reflects positively on member satisfaction and benefits their overall concern scheme. 3. How good is Costco executing from a fiscal position? Between the calendar old ages 2000-2006. Costco experienced one-year additions in entire gross. rank and warehouse operations. a. Identify and sum up informations. Provide drumhead overviews and elaborate judgements ( describe information fiscal information gives leaders ) . I. Entire gross: amount of entire one-year grosss. calculated by monetary value x measure. Costco’s entire gross experienced steady one-year additions ;2000- $ 32. 164. 2002- $ 38. 762. 2004- $ 48. 107. 2005- $ 52. 935. 2006- $ 60. 151. †¢ Net income: income subtraction disbursals. steadily increased over the same clip period ; 2000- $ 631. 2002- $ 700. 2004- $ 882. 2005- $ 1063. 2006- $ 1103. This figure provides leaders with insight sing concern cogency ; one-year additions are a positive mark. †¢ Net hard currency from runing activities: entire amount of dollars generated by Costco’s nucleus concern. varied yearly between 2000 and 2006 ; 2000- $ 1070. 2002- $ 1018. 2004- $ 2096. 2005- $ 1776. 2006- $ 1827. This figure includes merely the dollars achieved from nucleus concern. with no consideration of income through investing or other agencies. This figure efficaciously demonstrates the strength of the organization’s nucleus concern map to leading. †¢ Return on equity: this computation illustrates the return rate of ownership involvement. the expression for ROE=net income/equity. The largest Roe was experienced in 2000 at 15 % . yet dipped somewhat to keep a steady return through the staying old ages at 12 % . Although a good ROE is considered to be anyplace between 15-20 % . Costco has been transparent on their policy to continue their pricing committedness alternatively of concentrating their concern consideration on shareholder returns. ROE is a great manner for leading to measure the effectivity of their concern scheme in relation to their stakeholders. †¢ Days of stock list on manus: ware cost/merchandise stock list = stock list return. stock list return/365= yearss of stock list on manus. Dayss of stock list on manus in this instance remained between 31 and 34. with an norm of 32. 11 ; 2000-32. 10. 2002-33. 58. 2004-31. 60. 2005-31. 63. 2006-31. 63. To leading. this figure demonstrates the rate of stock list turnover. The computation is figured to stand for the mean sum of clip a merchandise Saturday in the warehouse before it was sold. This expression is effectual in working with a full ware stock list. but can besides be used on single points to place the points with the fastest ( or slowest ) stock list turnover rates. two. Ratios: â€Å"A method of measuring an organization’s public presentation and fiscal wellbeing through ratios of accounting values. including short term solvency. long term solvency. plus use. profitableness. and market value ratios ( CMU. 371 ) † . †¢ General A ; administrative disbursals as % of entire grosss: Costco’s merchandising. general and administrative disbursals were 9 % for the old ages 2000 amp ; 2002. increasing to 10 % for 2004-2006. These Numberss provide determination shapers with information sing the necessary organisational disbursals related to runing their concern. †¢ Operating income as % of entire grosss ( runing net income border ) : the consequence for this computation remained consistent at 3 % for each of the old ages within the instance survey. As per centum of gross. runing income provides leaders with net income information after the minus of operating disbursals ; hence showing the impact of such disbursals. B. Interpret the above ; provide specific appraisals of import to doing determinations about schemes and concern theoretical account: Based on entire gross computations. Costco is runing as a successful. spread outing organisation. Steady additions in net income support this observation and point to the strength and sustainability of Costco’s concern theoretical account. Each of the fiscal elements in this instance demonstrated a growing tendency between the old ages of 2000 and 2006. The ROE computations show that stockholders can anticipate a return of about 12 % yearly. which presents a low-end. yet predictable and safe investing chance. The yearss of stock list on manus computations support the concern scheme which utilizes deal pricing to ease rapid stock list turnover. Additionally. the low operating disbursals are consistent with their â€Å"no-frills approach† which eliminated sales representative. fancy edifices. bringing. charge. and histories receivable. Base d upon the fiscal information analyzed. Costco is runing under a successful concern theoretical account which utilizes effectual scheme to advance organisational sustainability. c. Compare with Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale – provide judgement based on fiscal informations ( who is making best – defend ) : From rating of fiscal information. Costco outperforms both Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale. Although all three organisations have experienced a steady addition in gross revenues yearly. Costco boasts larger Numberss and well higher assets than its rivals. Costco operates with fewer warehouses. yet it non merely outperforms Sam’s Club in gross revenues coevals. but besides increases its lead yearly. In competition with BJ’s Wholesale. a much smaller rival. Costco demonstrates a more consistent operating net income border and a continually increasing net income ( net income varies yearly for BJ’s ) . However. I believe the largest index holding Costco the clear leader in this competitory three is their mean gross revenues per location. Here’s a dislocation of the three: ( in 1000000s ) Sam’s Club: 2000- $ 3. 6. 2002- $ 60. 4. 2004- $ 67. 4. 2005- $ 66. 7. 2006- $ 71. 8 BJ’s Wholesale: 2000- $ 40. 4. 2002- $ 40. 9. 2004- $ 6. 0. 2005- $ 47. 2. 2006- $ 48. 3 Costco: 2000- $ 101. 0. 2002- $ 101. 6. 2004- $ 113. 1. 2005- $ 119. 8. 2006- $ 128. 7 Through this presentation. it is apparent that Costco is the lone retail merchant which demonstrates consistent growing ; consequently. they produce far larger Numberss than the other two rivals. Ultimately. Costco is the most successful of the three companies based on their year-end fiscal statements. 4. From a strategic point of view. depict Costco’s nucleus competences and produced competitory advantage ( if any ) over cardinal challengers ( Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale ) . Pricing and service are the primary elements in Costco’s competitory advantage. From these two key factors. the ensuing competitory advantage is best-cost scheme and direct market consciousness ( lending to niche distinction scheme ) . Best-cost scheme is a agency of giving clients the most for their money ; presenting bigger values. non merely lower monetary values. Costco strives to supply trade name name and luxury goods at the best possible monetary values. This this is achieved by agencies of efficient pricing and treasure-hunt selling. Though Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale both provide merchandises at deal pricing. particular bargain points at these warehouses tend to be less upscale and transport lower monetary value tickets than those at Costco. â€Å"Value-conscious purchasers are willing to pay a just monetary value for excess characteristics. but they shy off from paying top dollar for points holding all the bells and whistlings. It is the desire to pr ovide to value-conscious purchasers as opposed to budget-conscious purchasers that sets a best-cost supplier apart from a low-priced provider—the two schemes aim at distinguishably different market marks ( CMU 169-170 ) † . Direct market consciousness refers to single shops and their ability to provide to the local market. Specific market consciousness is the duty of the local directors. These persons are tasked with carrying demographic specific particular bargain which unambiguously appeal to their client base. This is Costco’s version of niche distinction scheme. Costco has successfully set themselves apart as the luxury deal shopping warehouse through their usage of hoarded wealth Hunt selling. By supplying their clients with demographic specific erstwhile particular purchases. they have created a shopping experience. This scheme has resulted in rigorous client trueness which gives Costco the ultimate competitory advantage. Beginning Material Central Michigan University. Strategic Planning for the Administrator. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions. 6/1/10.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

The Effect of Temperature and Concentration on the Rate of the Briggs-Rauscher Reaction free essay sample

Like any experiment, there were a number of potential errors during the procedure of the experiment. Errors could have arisen as a result of the uncertainties associated with the instruments I used to take measurements, and also as a result of errors associated with the actual method. Of course, due to the limitations of the procedure, they could not be eliminated completely, so I will explain what I did to reduce them to an acceptable level and how I could have improved my method to reduce them even further. Equipment justification The following table shows the reasons for my choice of equipment in carrying out my method. Equipment| Justification| 100 cm3 burette| I needed to accurately measure out large quantities of hydrogen peroxide (90 cm3 and 150 cm3). The 100 cm3 burette is a precise instrument and would allow me to measure out the hydrogen peroxide by filling it fewer times than I would need to with 50 cm3 burette. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effect of Temperature and Concentration on the Rate of the Briggs-Rauscher Reaction or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page | 50 cm3 burette| I needed to repeatedly measure out small volumes of solutions A–I. The burette made the task convenient, and it is a precise instrument. 250 cm3 volumetric flask| I needed to make up a specific volume of a standard solution. The volumetric flask has a low error. | 100 cm3 volumetric flask| I needed to make up a specific volume of a standard solution. The volumetric flask has a low error. | Top pan balance| I needed to accurately weigh out small amounts of solid when making up my solutions. | 25 cm3 Mohr pipette| I used the pipette to accurately transfer sulfuric acid when making up solutions. I could not do this with a volumetric pipette, as the volume I transferred was 20 cm3. Distilled water| I used the distilled water to wash out any glassware and storage jars before using them to avoid contamination. | Crushed ice| I used the ice to cool my reactants down to 10  °C. | Water bath| I used the water bath to heat my reactants up to 30  °C, 40  °C and 5 0  °C. It kept the temperature constant—it does not cool down like hot water in a beaker. | Thermometer| I needed to measure the temperature of the reactants before pouring them into the beaker and stirring them. | Magnetic stirrer| I used the stirrer to ensure the reaction mixture was uniformly mixed. This was necessary to produce sharp colour changes. | Stopwatch| I used the stopwatch to record the times of the colour changes. These are the values I needed to investigate the effect of temperature and concentration on rate. | Measurement errors These are the errors associated with the equipment I used when weighing out solids, measuring volumes of liquid, recording the temperature of my reactants, and recording the times of the colour changes. Equipment| Error| 100 cm3 burette|  ±0. 2 cm3| 50 cm3 burette|  ±0. 1 cm3| 250 cm3 volumetric flask|  ±0. 3 cm3| 00 cm3 volumetric flask|  ±0. 2 cm3| 25 cm3 Mohr pipette|  ±0. 1 cm3| Top pan balance|  ±0. 005 g| Thermometer|  ±0. 5  °C| Stopwatch|  ±0. 005 s (for instrument),  ±0. 5 s (for measurements),  ±0. 05 s (for measurements at 50  °C)| The stopwatch could record to 2 d. p. but the times I recorded were affected by my reaction time. Recording to 2 d. p. would be pointless, as I could not record that precisely. I decided to record the times to the nearest second, except for my results at 50  °C, where I recorded them to 1 d. p. because of the short duration of time between the colour changes. Percentage uncertainties Using the measurement errors, I can work out the percentage uncertainties for my measurements. I can do this using the formula: percentage uncertainty = error / value of measurement x 100% I made multiple measurements with many of the instruments I used. For these measurements, I will find the uncertainties for three of the values (the highest, the lowest and one close to the average) to give an indication of how the uncertainty changed across the range of measurements I made. Equipment| Error| Measurement| Percentage uncertainty / %| 100 cm3 burette|  ±0. cm3| 150 cm3| (I used the burette twice, so 0. 4 / 150 =) 0. 27| | | 90 cm3| 0. 22| 50 cm3 burette|  ±0. 1 cm3| 10. 00 cm3| 1. 0| | | 5. 00 cm3| 2. 0| | | 1. 00 cm3| 10| 250 cm3 volumetric flask|  ±0. 3 cm3| 250 cm3| 0. 12| 100 cm3 volumetric flask|  ±0. 2 cm3| 100 cm3| 0. 20| 25 cm3 Mohr pipette|  ±0. 1 cm3| 20 cm3| 0. 50| Top pan balance|  ±0. 005 g| 26. 75 g| 0. 02| | | 10. 7 g| 0. 05| | | 0. 85 g| 0. 59| Thermometer|  ±0. 5  °C| 50  °C| 1. 0| | | 30  °C| 1. 7| | | 10  °C| 5. 0| Stopwatch|  ±0. 5 s| 437 s| 0. 11| | | 95 s| 0. 53| | | 1 s| 50| |  ±0. 05 s (at 50  °C)| 31. 8 s| 0. 57| | | 12. 9 s| 0. 388| | | 1. 5 s| 3. 3| The percentage uncertainties varied wildly depending on the error of the instrument and the value of the measurement. The largest uncertainty (50%) came from the stopwatch when I used it to record a time of 1 s. However, this would not have affected my calculations to a great extent, as I only used the time to calculate the blue cycle for the first oscillation. It would not have affected the value I calculated for the average oscillation period by a significant amount, and would not have noticeably affected the trends in my graphs. This applies to all uncertainties from the stopwatch. I could have recorded all my times to 1 d. p. to improve the accuracy of my calculations and draw graphs that showed a trend closer to the true one. The second most significant uncertainty (10%) was for the burette when I used it to add 1 cm3 of solution to different test tubes in order to test the effect of changing the concentration of propanedioic acid, manganese(II) sulfate(VI) and sulfuric acid. This is a very significant error that could have definitely weakened the accuracy of my results. It might explain, for instance, the wildly varying number of oscillations I observed for tests at 0. 01 M manganese(II) sulfate(VI), as well as the increased appearance of anomalous results at lower concentrations. Even the uncertainty for a measurement of 10 cm3 using the burette was 1%, which is significant. In order to reduce the instrumental error, I could have used a 1 cm3 pipette or syringe to measure very small volumes of solution. I could not have done much more to conveniently transfer larger volumes of solution (i. e. p to 10 cm3) while reducing the error, as even a 10 cm3 pipette has the same error as a 50 cm3 burette, and it would have been extremely time-consuming to transfer my solutions to test tubes using a 1 cm3 pipette. Still, a 1% uncertainty would not have dramatically affected my results. Another source of significant percentage uncertainties was the thermometer—at every temperature the uncertainty was above 1%. At 10  °C, it was 5%, which is particularl y significant. This means that I could have started stirring the reactants at a temperature between 9. 5  °C and 10. 5  °C. However, there were no thermometers more precise than  ±0. 5  °C, so there is not much I could have done to reduce this error. Anyway, looking back at my raw results, the times I recorded for tests at 10  °C were not particularly discordant in comparison with the results I obtained for the other temperatures. All other errors were below 1%, so were insignificant. I used the volumetric flasks correctly, using a Pasteur pipette to add the distilled water for the last centimetre below the graduation mark, checking the mark at eye level in order to make sure I stopped at the correct point. I took readings from the bottom of the meniscus at eye level when using the Mohr pipette and burettes to reduce parallax error. I had to round up the mass of manganese(II) sulfate(VI)-1-water I weighed on the top pan balance from 0. 845 g to 0. 85, so an 4 d. p. analytical balance would have been better for this, but I did not have access to one. Procedural errors These are the errors that could have arisen from the method and improper technique. When making up solutions, it is important to rinse out the glassware and other equipment with distilled water before use. This was particularly vital for the BR reaction, due to its high sensitivity to chloride ions. As mentioned in my method, I did wash out all equipment with some distilled water before putting them in contact with any reactants to minimise the risk of contamination. It would have been impossible to prevent a small amount of solution from being lost when transferring them. When transferring from a beaker through a funnel to volumetric flask, the small amount left would have led to a lower final concentration then planned. I minimised this error by washing out the beaker with distilled water three times. When pouring solution from the test tubes into the reaction beaker, a small amount is also lost. However, the amount left would have little effect on the results because it is a systematic error, i. e. it is repeated every time the solution is poured. I always inverted the volumetric flasks when making up solutions in order to ensure homogeneity. Before pouring them into the burettes, I gave the storage bottles a swirl in case the uniformity of the solution had been affected during storage. This would prevent the trials from being tested at different concentrations, which would have compromised the accuracy of my results. In addition, I used a magnetic stirrer to make sure the consistency of the solution remained even within the reaction beaker. This also meant that the colour changes were sharper. It was especially important that the blue colour change was sharp, as this is the value I used to calculate the oscillation period, and therefore, rate of reaction. However, because human reaction time is not perfect, there was always some delay between the colour change and the pressing of the stopwatch. This is why I could not record times accurate to 2 d. p. At higher temperatures, i. e. 40  °C and 50  °C, the water from the solutions in the test tubes evaporated a lot faster than at room temperature while being heated in water bath, which would have increased the concentrations of the reactants and overstated the effect of the temperature increase. I minimised this error by removing the test tubes from the water bath as soon as possible after the temperature of the reactants reached the appropriate level. Next time, I would seal the test tubes using stoppers to prevent any water vapour from escaping. Unfortunately, the reactants could not remain at their starting temperature while being stirred, as they had to be poured into a beaker and set on a magnetic stirrer. This means that during tests at 30  °C, 40  °C and 50  °C, the reactants cooled down; at 10  °C, the reactants warmed up. This would have understated the effect of temperature on rate. There was a problem with the hydrogen peroxide in the burette. Because it was stored in the fridge, it was cold when I took it out. As it warmed up, there were noticeable increases in the level of solution in the burette. Trials that were run near the start of the session may have used colder, more concentrated hydrogen peroxide, which would have affected the rate of reaction. I only took the temperature of reactants when I tested the effect of temperature. In order to resolve this problem next time, I would take out the hydrogen peroxide at the very start of the lesson and wait for it to warm up while setting up the other burettes, magnetic stirrer etc. and also take the temperature of the reactants when testing concentration to see if it might have had a secondary effect on the rate. The potassium iodate(V) was not soluble enough to make Solution F (potassium iodate(V), 0. 5 M). Although I did manage to fully dissolve it with the aid of heat, a small amount crystallised out of solution after it cooled down, which would have decreased the solution’s concentration and affected the results I obtained for the tests where I changed the concentration of potassium iodate(V) and sulfuric acid. Next time, I would change the experiment and run the tests at lower concentrations. Reliability My results were quite reliable, as I ran the reaction three times at each temperature and concentration. The number of oscillations was usually the same at each temperature/concentration and the times were concordant to an acceptable degree. There were a few anomalous runs, which I mentioned in my analysis section, and gave a possible explanation for above. I could have repeated the experiment a further time when I got inconsistent results, e. g. 0. 01 M manganese(II) sulfate(VI), to increase reliability. Extending the investigation The observations I made about the colours during particular runs were solely qualitative. I could broaden the scope of my investigation by using colourimetry to obtain a quantitative measurement of the colour intensity when the reaction was especially faint or dark. I could then compare it to values from the standard reaction to reinforce my observations. I could also use the data logger to measure the times of the colour changes. I could then compare the results from this technique to those from the stopwatch and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages to both methods, and decide which one would be better at producing accurate results. Conclusion Overall, I am satisfied that I have made valid conclusions about the effect of temperature and concentration on the rate of the Briggs–Rauscher reaction. Although I did not fully meet my aim of finding the order of reaction for every reactant, I did discover that the reaction was not typical in this sense, and that the orders of reaction could not easily be found. I did manage to justify parts of the mechanism through the qualitative observations I made.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

What Techniques are Involved in Green Computing Essays

What Techniques are Involved in Green Computing Essays What Techniques are Involved in Green Computing Essay What Techniques are Involved in Green Computing Essay Green computing can be thought of as an environmentally conscious effort to make long-term computing sustainable by using energy efficient methods. The goals of green computing are similar to those of green chemistry, which try to minimize hazardous material use, maximize efficiency and enhance recyclability. Yet all this extra effort put into designs has a negative impact on system throughput. Therefore the question is posed, is the extra overhead involved in designing superior data centers, optimizing software algorithms, improving power management and recycling materials worth the benefits in the field of green computing? I believe they are as we are slowly running out of resources. Yet others take a stance that this will negatively affect system performance while computers are only a small percentage of the problem compared to vehicles which should be addressed first. Generally, data centers have an energy density of 100 to 200 an equally sized office building. (U. S. Department of Energy, 2011) Although most datacenters have a small design window which prevents new ideas for being used in favor of proven methods, taking the time to select a more efficient design can help immensely with the long term operating cost. U. S. Department of Energy, 2011) As IT loads account for around half the facilities energy consumption, choosing more expensive high efficiency machines will help reduce the necessary cooling and operating cost. (U. S. Department of Energy, 2011) Rack mounted servers are usually underutilized running around 20% of their working capacity yet consuming close to the full running energy. (U. S. Department of Energy, 2011) The Energy Star helps distinct regular servers from a high-efficiency machine; they will on average be 30% more efficient. (U. S.  Department of Energy, 2011) Power management which is referred to as Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is used by manufacturers to allow software to interface with the underlying hardware and alter the power settings. This system allows the computer to go into sleep, hibernate and power off monitors. The processor’s power management techniques such as Intel’s †SpeedStep† and AMD’s â€Å"Cool’n’Quite† allow the clock speed to be altered to different predefined states (known as P-states) which decease power consumption at the expense of speed during periods of low activity. It is generally advisable to run tasks in blocks and turn off systems after to extend component life. (Roy Bag) Power management can possibly cause system failure, yet that must be assessed against the energy savings it can provide in non-mission critical applications. Multi-core processors allow significant energy savings on both the processing end and on the cooling end if the software is capable of taking advantage of the hardware. (U. S.  Department of Energy, 2011) Multi-threaded applications are become common with the advances in hardware, as more programmers focus on making more efficient programs it will be viable to upgrade older hardware for newer systems. An industry leader in server processors Sun Microsystems is focusing on multi-core chips for the future. (Roy Bag) The Niagara 1, Ultrasparc 1 has an average 60 watt power consumption while running 32 threads, while the Niagara 2 will have 64 threads at 80 watts of power. Roy Bag) The power savings compared to an Intel Pentium 4 with 2 threads consuming 89 to 103 watts clearly show the improvement in technology. (Intel Pentium 4 3. 4 GHz RK80546PG0961M (BX80546PG3400E)) Providing one power supply per server rack instead of one per server can offer savings around $2,000 to $6,000 per rack, these estimates take into consider the cooling system and interruptible power supplies. (U. S. Department of Energy, 2011) Blade servers are the key in this field. Blade servers are space and energy conscious design that allows common components such as power supplies and the cooling system to be common to a set of machines. Although they require an initial investment of the blade enclosure and compatible blade modules which are proprietary to each manufacturer the savings are considered to be worth it. (U. S. Department of Energy, 2011) Virtualization allows multiple independent operating systems to run on a single physical computer via the use of a hypervisor. (U. S. Department of Energy, 2011) Virtualization permits better use of hardware, instead of running multiple servers at a low utilization state, it is possible to run multiple â€Å"guest† operating systems on a virtualization cluster which can significantly decrease the required hardware. Although the hardware needs to super support hardware assisted virtualization, many free open source solutions exist for the hypervisor. However some overhead is required to run the hypervisor that controls the guest operating systems, it is trivial compared to the energy savings. (U. S.  Department of Energy, 2011) The efficiency of an algorithm has a significant effect on the resources it consumes, be it CPU time or memory, this is called the space-time tradeoff. Linear search algorithms have always been considered to be slower than indexed searches. Although an index table must be maintained, the efficiency gains on a large scale operation can become substantial for only a few more lines of code. Loop unwinding is a common technique to optimize programs for speed, when programs are written in a space saving mindset; loops are used to make code smaller. When optimized for speed, some unrolled loops will allow for multiple parts to be executed in parallel making better use of processing power. Storage space increases exponentially cheaper than processing power the cost in space can be considered minimal. Extending the life of hardware devices from a 3 year window can save considerably as most of the energy is spent on manufacturing. (Earth Care Tech, 2012) Recycling of computers by donating them to charities and non-profit organizations will help lengthen the life of devices with no cost to the end-user. On the other hand, taking the device to a recycling center where it can be properly dismantled and have the materials re-used can save harmful materials such as lead, cadmium and mercury from ending up in landfills. Experts say computers sometimes contain 4 to 8 pounds of lead. (Roy Bag) For printers, investing in long-life printer drums reduces e-waste for a small increase in the purchase price while inkjets can have their cartridges refill for a fraction of the cost of buying a new cartridge.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Equal Rights for Women

Equal Rights for Women Women equality is something that has not been fully recognized around the world, and it might never be achieved, especially in terms of household responsibilities. It is a good idea to push for women equality especially in regards to human rights such as the right to own property, right to life and right to be treated with human dignity, along with equal opportunities (Lindsey 267).Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Equal Rights for Women specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, household responsibilities are traditionally and socially defined which have become norms and beliefs in the society; therefore, changing these responsibilities means upsetting the whole society. This paper analyzes why women should not work but stay at home to fulfill their responsibilities. Women were given the responsibility to give birth to children and nurture them to adulthood; however, both the father and the mother should ca rry out the responsibility of nurturing. It is obvious that women have more responsibilities when compared to men. During the early stages of child development, a child is more dependent on his/her mother than on the father in terms of feeding, cleaning and general wellbeing of the child (Piper 185). Women who have jobs are always away from home, therefore, they are not able to fulfill this responsibility, and children who miss the motherly care especially those who are not well breast-fed, stand high chances of suffering from poor health. In addition, as the children grow up, they need someone who will be there for them emotionally to always guide them; and if all parents leave for work every day children are likely to stray with some drug addicts and gangsters. This responsibility can be taken over by the father in the absence of the mother, but fathers do not do it well, therefore, the mother should remain at home to take care of children as the father works; no one would love to have spoilt children and millions in the banks. Another responsibility is that of cleaning, and doing lots of things about the house. Women and girls have always been homemakers (Piper 203); the way they arrange and clean cannot be compared to that of men. This means that women should remain at home to make and keep it clean; they cannot work and at the same time maintain their home; they either will neglect this responsibility or give poor performance at work. When marries the wife has a responsibility of taking care of her husband; she has to make sure that he wears clean clothes and eats well (Piper 278). Women do not have enough time to do this because of the work responsibilities, and according to research, 70% of women who have well established careers are either divorcees or they never got married (Yozo 14).Advertising Looking for critical writing on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It happens because they are not capable of fulfilling their responsibility in regards to their husbands and work at the same time. Therefore, to save marriage breakups, and help women enjoy their marriage life, women should remain at home to fulfill their responsibilities in regards to their husbands as their husband works hard to take care of them. Working is a good thing for women, but looking at the wellbeing of homes and the society, it is healthier for them to remain at home to take care of children, keep the home clean and warm, and fulfill their responsibilities to their husbands. As women remain at home, the society should appreciate the role and responsibility of women to make them proud of their contribution to the society. Lindsey, Timothy. Indonesia, Law and Society. Jakarta: Federation Press, 2008. Print. Piper, John and Grudem Wayne. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991. Print. Yozo, Yokota. A Nation’s Accountability and Responsibility: The Case of Comfort Women in Japan. Human Rights Dialogue, 8.2 (2007), pp. 14-16. Print.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

American political and social life that Tocqueville discusses Essay

American political and social life that Tocqueville discusses - Essay Example This paper analyses Toqeville's account on religion in America in nineteenth century and its influences on democracy. There is hardly any human action, however, it may be particular, which does not originate in some general idea, men have conceived of the Deity, of his relation to mankind, of the nature of their own souls, and of their duties to their fellow creatures. Men are therefore immeasurably interested in acquiring fixed ideas of God (Toqueveille, p.22) Toqeville has pointed out that majority of the ideas developed in this world are attributed to God or Deity. It is a fact that even atheists are developing their arguments based on the teachings of the religion. In fact the influence of God and religion is forcing the people to think in terms of good and evil. In the absence of religious teachings, nobody would have cared about the seriousness of committing mistakes. Religion is the only entity which talk about a life after death and whereas all the other institutions and phil osophies are talking about the present life while keeping a blind eye towards what is going to happen after one’s death. â€Å"One of the principal advantage of religion is to furnish fundamental questions a solution which is at once clear, precise, intelligible to the mass of mankind and lasting† (Toqueveille, p.23). ... Religion restraining on every side of the free movement of the human mind. It imposes a salutary restraint on the intellect and it must be admitted that if it do not save men in another world, it is at least very conductive to their happiness and greatness in this (Toqueveille, p.24) As stated earlier, the hope for a life after death prevents people from controlling their thoughts of committing any evil act in this world. It is a fact that human mind is just like a free bird which travels randomly from one place to another without any preferences of priorities. However, the thoughts about the future world force the people to put a strong control over his thoughts and activities. Because of the constraints imposed by the religions, people cannot think freely as stated by Toqueveille. â€Å"It is doubtful whether man can ever support at the same time complete religious independence and entire political freedom. If faith be wanting in him, he must be subject; and if he be free, he must believe† (Toqueveille, p.24). Political thoughts and religious teachings may not travel always in parallel directions. There are some political thoughts which support majority religious teachings fully whereas there are many other political thoughts which reject all the claims of religions. For example, in Islamic countries like, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, etc religion dominates over politics. In fact politics in these countries cannot be separated from religion and religious teachings. In other words, religion is actually ruling in these countries. On the other hand, in communist countries like China, freedom to believe in some kind of religion is prohibited. In such countries, religion has few roles in social and political lives of the public. On the other hand, in

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death Essay

Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death - Essay Example Some people would stop reading a cruel story if the writer does not cover his story using symbolic language. In this essay, I intend to illustrate various instances of symbolism portrayed in Allan’s â€Å"The Masque of the Red Death†. A reader of Poe story would ponder about the symbolic language from the time that he or she reads the title of the story. â€Å"The Masque of Red Death†, this title illustrate that Poe has used color to symbolize events in his story. In addition, the name used in the title has a symbolic meaning to reader. Since this is the title of the story and the reader is yet to explore the content of the story. He or she will develop great interest in the story in order to know the deeper meaning of the story and the symbols used by the writer of the story. Poe’s story has three distinct instances in which applications of symbolism appear. The main occurrences are name, number, and color. Poe used color to symbolize emotions, attitude, or feelings of the occurrences in the story. For example, in the story the writer talks of black chamber, which symbolizes death. The writer mentions six other chambers which he gives various colors to illustrate various meaning to the story. ... The red color frightened many characters in the story. The characters tried their best to keep off from the red color because they felt they would bleed to death. It is also important to note that Poe symbolism of color illustrated different moods and meaning to the story. Prince, the chief character in Poe’s story ran through the six chambers at different instances. Notably, each of the six chambers had different colors. This illustrated different moods, which the prince acquired in the story. Human emotions in the story appear to the reader using color. When the prince entered each room, he changed his emotions. It is arguable that in the story, Poe successfully used color to illustrate various stages in life. Red color portrayed a terminal disease, which would eventually lead to the death of the prince as illustrated in the black room. Characters in the story feared red color because they knew it represented a terminal illness that would wipe them from earth. Poe uses numbe r in the story to influence the emotions of the reader. Seven appears as a holy number associated with wonders of the world. Determination of evil in the story is clear as it struggles to destroy the holy number. Probably, the plague of red death occurred in the seventh chamber. In the story, characters are vigilant when it comes to observations of numbers because they knew that each number had a symbolic meaning. As the clock tickled, the characters in the story observed the number that the clock pointed. A change of emotions is evident in their faces in each number that the clock points. At 12 midnight, sad mood engulf the room because red death occurred at this hour. Evidently, life would be good for the characters, as long as the clock hand does not

Sunday, November 17, 2019

What is Philosophy Essay Example for Free

What is Philosophy Essay Upon reading the opening chapter of Cahn’s, â€Å"Exploring Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology†, I was immediately drawn in by the opening statement from Beardsley and Beardsley: â€Å"The study of philosophy is unlike the study of any other subject†¦The only prerequisite is an inquiring mind† (Cahn, 3). For a science major, my first reaction is excitement, for there is no need to memorize â€Å"dates, formulas, or rules† (Chan, 3). As I continued reading however, I start to think to myself what I believe it means to take a philosophy course? My definition of taking a philosophy course is I would be studying the ideas of one’s thoughts, beliefs, morals, religion, and any other â€Å"stereotypical† philosophical description. However, thanks to the definition provided, when broken down, â€Å"the word philosophy is of Greek origin and literally means, â€Å"the love of wisdom† (Cahn, 3). What does that even mean? Throughout the opening chapter, both authors try to dissect, analyze, and examine these ideas of ‘philosophy’ and ‘philosophical questions’ for readers, like myself, to gain a better understanding for exploring such a concept. Still, how do I truly know that I have reached such an answer? There are three chief benefits that the authors provide, â€Å"that are to be derived from the study of philosophy†. The first being, â€Å"increased clearness in your own beliefs† (Chan 10). For me, I believe this statement to be saying that I must truly be sure that what I hold to be true is in fact true to me. The second is, â€Å"increased assurance that your beliefs are reasonable† (Cahn, 10). So to my understanding, now that I believe that such a fact is true, I must also make sure that it is reasonable. What does it mean for something to be reasonable? â€Å"’Reasonable’ has a broad, but definite, meaning here: a reasonable belief is simply a belief for which a good reason can be given. Reasonable beliefs are logically justifiable† (Cahn, 3). Okay, so if I put this in my own words, it means that this fact that I hold to be true, must also have some sort of good purpose for it to hold such meaning. The third and last benefit is, â€Å"increased consistency† (Cahn, 11). Because there are so many questions one can ask that can force us to contradict most anything, this third belief to me is saying that, with consistency, there may be a possibility of coming to an actual answer or an agreement of such facts or ideas. Not sure if I cleared up what philosophy means to me, or if I confused myself more. Hopefully I do not confuse you either. I wrote on this first reading, because it really captured my attention in that, sometimes we as humans do philosophical thinking and questioning though we may not always be aware of it. Whether we are questioning some sort of fact out loud, or internally – we are participating in â€Å"philosophical thinking† (Cahn, 7). Therefore, it is important to understand what this term ‘philosophy’ means. I am excited for this course to explore many ideas and to uncover/discover such conceptual thinking and ideas that I may not be aware of, through the readings and discussions we will be holding in class.

Friday, November 15, 2019

All Quiet on the Western Front - A Book Review Essay -- All Quiet West

All Quiet on the Western Front - A Book Review Professor’s Comments: This is a good example of a book review typically required in history classes. It is unbiased and thoughtful. The Student explains the book and the time in which it was written in great detail, without retelling the entire story†¦ a pitfall that many first time reviewers may experience. All Quiet on the Western Front is the story of Paul Baumer’s service as a soldier in the German army during World War I. Paul and his classmates enlist together, share experiences together, grow together, share disillusionment over the loss of their youth, and the friends even experience the horrors of death-- together. Though the book is a novel, it gives the reader insights into the realities of war. In this genre, the author is free to develop the characters in a way that brings the reader into the life of Paul Baumer and his comrades. The novel frees the author from recounting only cold, sterile facts. This approach allows the reader to experience what might have been only irrelevant facts if presented in a textbook. This book is written from a perspective foreign to most Americans. Historically, American students are taught from a single perspective, that being the American perspective. This approach to history (the single perspective) dehumanizes the enemy and glorifies the Americans. We tend to forget that those on the opposing side are also human. The author's main theme centers not only on the loss of innocence experienced by Paul and his comrades, but the loss of an entire generation to the war. Paul may be a German, but he may just as easily be French, English, or American. The soldiers of all nations watched their co... ...e preceding reasons, all college students should read the book. The book will captivate the educated mind, and most importantly, will cause that mind to think and to question why things happen as they do. Remarque also tried to teach his audience. Written within a decade of the end of the war, the book calls on those who forfeited their youth to the war not to allow time to hide what had happened. Time may heal all wounds, but the cause of those wounds must not be forgotten, nor allowed to repeat itself. The author is; however, pragmatic enough to realize that all will not learn the lesson; nevertheless, those who are willing to learn it will discover that the story has been told before, and without their intervention, it is doomed to be told again. Works Cited Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984. All Quiet on the Western Front - A Book Review Essay -- All Quiet West All Quiet on the Western Front - A Book Review Professor’s Comments: This is a good example of a book review typically required in history classes. It is unbiased and thoughtful. The Student explains the book and the time in which it was written in great detail, without retelling the entire story†¦ a pitfall that many first time reviewers may experience. All Quiet on the Western Front is the story of Paul Baumer’s service as a soldier in the German army during World War I. Paul and his classmates enlist together, share experiences together, grow together, share disillusionment over the loss of their youth, and the friends even experience the horrors of death-- together. Though the book is a novel, it gives the reader insights into the realities of war. In this genre, the author is free to develop the characters in a way that brings the reader into the life of Paul Baumer and his comrades. The novel frees the author from recounting only cold, sterile facts. This approach allows the reader to experience what might have been only irrelevant facts if presented in a textbook. This book is written from a perspective foreign to most Americans. Historically, American students are taught from a single perspective, that being the American perspective. This approach to history (the single perspective) dehumanizes the enemy and glorifies the Americans. We tend to forget that those on the opposing side are also human. The author's main theme centers not only on the loss of innocence experienced by Paul and his comrades, but the loss of an entire generation to the war. Paul may be a German, but he may just as easily be French, English, or American. The soldiers of all nations watched their co... ...e preceding reasons, all college students should read the book. The book will captivate the educated mind, and most importantly, will cause that mind to think and to question why things happen as they do. Remarque also tried to teach his audience. Written within a decade of the end of the war, the book calls on those who forfeited their youth to the war not to allow time to hide what had happened. Time may heal all wounds, but the cause of those wounds must not be forgotten, nor allowed to repeat itself. The author is; however, pragmatic enough to realize that all will not learn the lesson; nevertheless, those who are willing to learn it will discover that the story has been told before, and without their intervention, it is doomed to be told again. Works Cited Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Effects of Advertising Essay

Advertising may have some good points, as we know, but advertising is really just a necessary evil. Advertising has its own fair share of negative effects. While some are obvious to those with a more scrutinizing eye, most of advertising’s potentially harmful facets go undetected. How do you think advertisements have affected consumers or What are the negative effect of advertising? Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade its viewers, readers or listeners to take some action. Why should an ad be negative The main functionality of an ad is to convey the reason for existence of a brand / product and entice customers to buy. The visuals are a form of expressing the communication and making it is human as possible. How its shown or televised, printed is a subjective matter. Ideally we should be asking whether the communication is correct or not. Is it misleading the consumer Is it showcasing something and you are landed with something else Negative effects of ad would be when the communication is wrong, which seldom happens. Its really only in cases of Insurance ads, funds or generally speaking finance vertical ads. Keeping these hazards in mind even these corporates have started issuing a disclaimer immediately after the ads. Cold drink companies are using aero stunts for their ads and also staking claim that the stunts are performed by qualified experts and hence not to be done by normal unqualified people!! Ads will not really be negative, unless there may in some cases like the Red Bull ad where the content is quite derogatory where the man drinks Red Bull flies and opens his fly on top of the bird because the bird shat on him†¦ thats going too far with the tag for Red Bull. So I do not really find any negative effect of advertising per se!! Today advertising plays a dominant role for each and every product. Sometimes it becomes nuisance for the viewers, especially when watching the favourite programes in TVs and during this time the ad will not be of much effective as they will be nelected by the viewers by switching over to another channel for watching some other show. The basic objective of all ad campaign in TV channels is to reach the public immediately. Here the question is up to what extent the ads are effective and are sucessful.. we can’t say 100%. o the advertisers should plan their capaign to get the milage to the greater extent. But it is true that the ad related to the children is very well watched by them and are enjoyed by the children. For every action, there is an opposite and an equievalent reaction. Hence the advertisers have to make a strategic planning on their timing and the money spent for the ad should not go waste. In other words thei ad capaign should regulated. The ad should not turn to irritate the viewers and it should not also exaggerate. It should be simple to showcase their products qualities and applications. I believe currently that advertising has become so powerful and so subtle that we accept most of it without thinking. It is our environment. We buy shirts and bags with large logos and ‘show off’ most of us own a TV, the programs that exist are there only to get us to see ads. Our newspapers are covered in ads and we still call it news. My point is that advertising is in no way positive. It creates ‘want’ in a society that doesn’t understand the true meaning of ‘Need’. Fr. Kavanaugh was on the mark when describing the effects of advertising on society. Our moral values are being degraded by the bombardment of impropriety by the media. Adler would be quick in pointing out the reason why these messages have such a negative effect on people. There are two main tactics advertisers use to sell their product: either imply that their product will bring about the achievement of a particular (usually real) good, or make their product the object of desire, therefore making it an apparent good to people. The problem with associating products with the achievement of a good lies more in the realm of truth than in good, because it lies in whether or not the product can truly live up to its claims. The relation between a product and statements, therefore, they are directly misleading the public. The other subjective thing, it would seem to be acceptable for advertisers to qualify represent — in other words, Calvin Klein products are now in and of themselves associating more importance to the product than to the good involved, like a society to advocate proper moral values in their advertising, or at least not The effects of 2 People see advertisements all around the globe that attempt to lure consumers to buy products. Advertisements are placed in newspapers, magazines, schools, and on billboards everywhere. According to marketing consultants Stan Rapp and Tom Collins, on a typical day, an average American sees over 5,000 advertisements a day (Gay, 1992). Many questions arise about these advertisements, such as â€Å"Is advertising deceptive? Does it create or perpetuate stereotypes? Does it create conformity? Does it create insecurity in order to sell goods? Does it cause people to buy things that they really don’t need? †(Alexander & Hanson, 1993, p. 240). Advertisers use specific methods to target teen consumers, but these methods are not always successful or ethical. Advertising is giving the general public information about new goods and trying to increase overall sales, which increases the efficiency of the nation’s economy. It is supposed to be a significant way of getting the point across about a product and create motivation for people to buy. Advertising alone, however, does not get customers. It simply catches consumers’ attention, gets them to walk up to a shelf, and make an impulsive purchase. However, getting the customer back requires a more creative marketing approach. There are several ways to research consumers’ behaviors, likes, and dislikes. The most popular method is tests and surveys, both before and after a product is introduced. Telephone surveys are very common, but they take several thousand calls to get a substantial number of responses to work with. Along with those, written questionnaires and samples, either handed out in stores or sent by mail, are effective tests to see if consumers like a product or not. The reactions to the samples, results of questionnaires, and number of participants are all recorded as The effects of 3 a part of the researching process to come up with effective ads. All of this data collected also has other purposes, such as information on warranties and which groups to target for certain products. Companies also check whether the ads are being productive by means of comparing the money made and number of sales during periods of advertising to those during a time of no advertising. Some companies even allow average consumers to preview a commercial to get a response. As a result, companies learn what consumers want before wasting money on useless ads. A well-known advertising strategy is making consumers feel insecure and creating fears that can be overcome by buying. Advertising reveals the latest fashions and the new popular novelties on the market. It exhibits perfect individuals wearing the new styles and looking good. Consumers observe this perfection and envy it. Therefore, they go out and buy in hopes of reaching perfection. Furthermore, being an accepted member of society has become very important to most individuals. For instance, the presence of body odor on individuals makes them an outcast in society. Advertisers use this knowledge to their advantage by developing ads that show a person using deodorant and being recognized as popular. Fear also works into the whole advertising process. Due to the fear by consumers that they will not fit in, they pay close attention to the new ads for the new looks, which gives advertisers more drive to make their ads portray the ideal person. Advertisers also insure that ads are simply informational, but many disagree and believe that they are definitely persuasive. According to Douglas Kellner, a professor of philosophy, as early as the 1920s, advertising critics argue that ads began to persuade Americans, due to the new invention of the assembly lines and the concept of corporations, that buying material The effects of 4 goods was the thing to do. They tried convincing people that spending hard-earned dollars on items that could be hand-made was the new accepted behavior that would enhance their lives (Alexander & Hanson, 1993). Likewise, critics of the advertising industry argue that it connects products with preferred emotions, such as happiness and popularity. For example, beer commercials often show a man after a hard day’s work enjoying an ice-cold beer to relax him. They also argue that ads give people the impression that products can give them talent. Take athletics, for example. Nike ads are accused of implying that their shoes will give a consumer athletic ability. Michael Jordan is shown in a television commercial dunking a basketball, wearing a new style of Nike shoes. Consequently, kids are going to want the same pair to be â€Å"like Mike† (Wolf, 1998, n. p. ). On the other hand, advertising agencies say that they just give the consumers up-to-date information. They show change in their ads because they know that is what consumers want and to fulfill the needs of the general public, change. Thus, persuasive strategies are considered techniques used by advertisers to get consumers to buy. Teenagers have become top consumers in today’s society, so advertisers have focused on getting their business. According to Simmons Market Research Bureau of New York City, teens bought 25% of all movie tickets and 27% of all videos, totaling $6. 6 billion. In 1998, teens spent $1. 5 billion on jeans, almost twice as much as in 1990, and $3 billion on sneakers, almost four times more than the amount spent in 1997 (Tulley, 1994). Another reason teens are being targeted is the fact that there are many more teens in America today than the past Generation X. The current number is even expected to grow in the next decade, giving advertisers more reason to target them. Winning teens over as customers, today, means possible long-term customers, The effects of 5 which equal big profits. The majority of teens also have part-time jobs or some type of income. With the possibility of the minimum wage raising once again, teens have come to possess a lot of buying power. According to the Teenage Research Unlimited, teenagers spent $140 billion in 1998, which is 14 percent more than in 1997 (Berkowitz & Evangelista, 1999). Teens are able to spend their money more freely because they do not have the responsibilities of adults. They even have a greater influence on household spending, as their role in the spending of their parents’ money continues to grow. For instance, it is not unusual for a parent to send their teenager to the grocery store for them, giving them complete control of brand choice. Thus, teenagers are becoming big targets for advertisers due to their growing consumerism. Why are teenagers such big targets in the advertising industry? The answer is simple: They are different. Advertisers view them as a constant changing generation with optimistic outlooks. They want to show individuality by their clothes and possessions, yet fit in with their peers. Their optimism comes from the good rate of job placement after college, the good position of the nation’s economy, and the very low unemployment rates. Teenagers can basically strive for any career with a good chance of being successful. They like to feel good about themselves, so they buy new materials to produce that feeling. Teens are continuously purchasing new items to keeps up with the changing trends. Therefore, advertisers use their view of teens to create ads. With this in mind, advertisers devise specific ads, using a variety of tactics, to appeal to these changing teens. Although marketers each have their own unique techniques, they all use original, flashy, and funny ads to reach the teenage audience. They make posters with college age students that create a fun and happy image. Television commercials include music with The effects of 6 good beats and bizarre images because that is what gets the attention of teens. For example, the Gap’s swing dancing commercials were a big success among teens. They bought their clothes and accessories from the Gap because they could relate to it. That is one reason Gap is ranked as the number one casual clothes store among teens. Advertisers use celebrities to endorse products because teens admire and look up to them. Since teens are still trying to find themselves, advertisers try to create ads and brands that will survive past the finding years of teenagers, so they will have them as future customers. Due to the change in today’s teens, advertisers target them much more. Another controversial subject with advertising is that fact that teenage smoking is on the rise. According to TIPS (Tobacco Information and Prevention Source), at least 6,000 people try a cigarette for the first time each day, all of which are under eighteen years old. There are at least 4. 5 million smoking adolescents in the United States. From 1988 to 1996, the number of adolescents, ages twelve to seventeen, who are daily smokers, has increased by 73 percent (http://www. cdc. gov/tobacco/initfact. htm). Teenage smoking has obviously increased in the United States. As a result, tobacco advertisements are being blamed for the increase use of tobacco by teenagers. Many advertising critics argue that tobacco ads do indeed influence and contribute to the number of teenage smokers. Most teens, however, disagree and believe that their peers are the number one factor in their decision to smoke. Since image is very important to teens, they evaluate what image their smoking friends portray. If they want that image too, they may also take up the habit of smoking. A teen’s attitude towards cigarettes is a considering factor, ranking above advertising that leads to teen smoking. It is obvious that if one has a negative attitude The effects of 7 towards cigarettes, he or she will be less smoke. However, if individuals openly accept cigarettes, they may end up as a smoker. Also, those around cigarettes on a daily basis are more likely to be persuaded to smoke than individuals who are not around cigarettes. In the opinions of teens, tobacco ads do not play a big role in their decision to smoke. Advertisers use a variety of tactics to target particular groups, such as teens, to market their product. There are many views on advertising. Despite the many opinions that advertising is manipulative, a waste of money that could go towards other issues, and a bad influence on human beings, there is no true way of proving it has a bad effect on people. It is simply intended to reveal the benefits of products that consumers want. It is vital to many businesses, as some would be unable to survive without a way of making their products known. Although advertising is accused of influencing consumers to buy things they do not need, they have the choice to buy. It is up to the consumer to make wise choices and develop shopping skills that are intelligent.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Prohibition and Marijuana: History Does Repeat

Decriminalization or to not decriminalize. That is the big question. Will the decriminalization of marijuana be the next revolution of America? Marijuana prohibition has been in effect since 1937, with trends that closely resemble those of alcohol prohibition-meaning an increase in crime, distrust, and dissension. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to stop Americans from using it, then it has failed, just like the other prohibition failed to make America a â€Å"dry† country. It is important to go back and look at the factors leading to marijuana prohibition-especially the stages of exaggeration, silence, and the imposition of severe penalties-before looking at the effects of prohibition during the last half-century. Let me first point out that I am an advocate of marijuana, and will not argue that marijuana is not harmless. Research shows that marijuana damages short term memory, distorts perceptions, impairs judgment and complex motor skills, alters heart rates, and has the potential to trigger severe anxiety, paranoia, and lethargy (www. ndsn. com). Yet I also feel its effects are in many ways less harmful than those of alcohol and tobacco-for instance, alcohol's potential to cause cirrhosis and tobacco's links to lung cancer and heart disease. Both are considered carcinogenic. In addition, alcohol is cited as a factor in half of this country's highway fatalities, half of all arrests made for any criminal charge-including homicides-and one-fourth of all suicides. In 1972 the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse estimated the social costs of America's alcohol habit to be $15 billion a year (www. ndsn. com); it has steadily increased since then. When comparing tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, there is strong evidence that marijuana has the least addictive power (www. peretto. com). However, this does not hide the fact that all three can have a strong impact on an individual. As with all drugs, they are capable of disrupting home life, affecting job performance, and causing withdrawal from society. In my opinion, all drugs share this power on equal terms because of the emotional problems of the people who use them; no single drug has more potential for harm than any other in terms of social impacts. While hemp has been grown in America since 1611 (Grinspoon, 1971, p. 1), the practice of smoking marijuana did not become widespread until the 1920's-a period of strong drug intolerance during the â€Å"great social experiment† of alcohol prohibition. Marijuana use was highest among people who also used opiates, primarily recent immigrants. In the 1930's, the common belief that immigrants were inhumane and violent included a strong belief that marijuana was part of the cause. Since it was associated with opiates, marijuana was quickly defined as a narcotic (Thies, C. F. , 1993 p. 71), and by 1931 all but two states had passed anti-marijuana legislation. The final two did so by 1937, the same year the federal government created the Marijuana Tax Act . For which no tax stamps were ever issued. Not once during this period of prohibitive legislation was any research conducted on marijuana and it's effects, nevertheless it was almost universally assumed that marijuana was a narcotic, caused psychological dependence, provoked violent crime, and led to insanity. The first of three strategies used to fight marijuana was silence. It was believed that if youth didn't hear about marijuana, they wouldn't become curious and experiment with it. Therefore, in the 1930's discussion about marijuana was forbidden in all public schools, and from 1934 to 1956 the Motion Picture Association of America banned all films showing the use of narcotics (www. legalize. com). The strategy did not work as well as hoped, so anti-marijuana groups adopted the next strategy: exaggeration. The goal was to scare potential marijuana users. Even such respected periodicals as the American Journal of Medicine went along with this strategy, publishing such warnings as: â€Å"Marijuana users will suddenly turn with murderous violence upon whoever is nearest to them. They will run amuck with a knife, axe, gun, or anything else that is close at hand, and will kill or maim without reason†. F. T. Merrill of the Opium Research Committee wrote: â€Å"While numerous crimes [have been] traced to its abuse, its peculiar virulent effect, leading sometimes to insanity, makes its use dangerous to the individuals and to society in general . . . [it] leads to uncontrollable irritability and violent rages, which in most forms cause assault and murder† (Grinspoon, 1971, p. 17). During my research I found a medical handbook written in 1970 that continued to report these myths as fact, going so far as to imply that the words â€Å"hashish† and â€Å"assassin†Ã¢â‚¬â€œwhich do have a common root in terms of word history–have a cause and effect relationship. In the same manual the word â€Å"amuck† was associated to a characteristic of the drug; according to its author, the word, which means â€Å"to kill,† â€Å"was the word the natives of Malay would shriek as they dashed down the street, maddened by hashish, in a murderous frenzy† (Williams, 1970, p. 140). From the official California police officers' guide of the same period came this warning: â€Å"Marijuana is the immediate and direct cause of the crime committed . . . the user is very often dangerous to handle or control, has no fear, feels no pain, and may commit crimes of violence. Penalties for marijuana use fluctuated with popular belief regarding its level of danger. If people believed the effects were particularly bad, the penalties were stiff, but during some decades public attitudes were more lenient, therefore penalties were reduced. Drug use declined, fear increased, and so did penalties throughout the 1950s. One of the first federal mandatory prison sentences was established at that time: 10 years minimum for marijuana possession, and a mandatory death sentence for selling marijuana to a minor (Theis, C. F. ,1993 p. 46). During the 1960s and 70s, penalties declined as use increased, with eleven states decriminalizing possession for personal use (Thies and Register, 1993, p. 389). Then, in the 1980s, drug use declined and penalties rose. The â€Å"three strike† program was established, under which a mandatory life sentence without parole must be given for third-time offenders. Judges no longer have the power to use their own discretion in sentencing, but are required to base their punishment on the â€Å"most serious readily provable charge†, including a mandatory death sentence for anyone found guilty of managing a major marijuana plantation of 60,000 plants. It appears that the current attitude toward marijuana prohibition is based on the belief that relaxed policies lead to greater use. Statistics argue otherwise: nationwide, marijuana use in 1984 was measured at 26. 3%, and in the eleven states that decriminalized marijuana, it was 27. 3%. In 1988 the percentages were 15. and 16. 1, respectively. In those eleven states, decriminalization meant that individuals were no longer arrested for simple possession. In ten of those states there is a $0-100 fine for possession-the result of a threat by the federal government to withhold highway money for states that did not have minimum punishment standards (Thies and Register, 1993, p. 387). Going outside the country for another example of how legalization does not lead to greater use, Holland has witnessed a 40% decrease in marijuana use since the Dutch government legalized it in 1976 (Grinspoon, L. 1971, p. 4). During the same time period, marijuana use has decreased in the United States, so it cannot be definitively argued that either stronger penalties or decriminalization is better at affecting the number of people who use marijuana. It seems clear that social policy, and not legal policy, had the greater effect in Holland. Accusations of marijuana's addictive powers are also under attack from well-designed research studies. During the Nixon administration (1972), the federal government reviewed existing studies and concluded that marijuana did not possess physically addictive traits. The great majority of articles published in medical journals since that time have agreed. For example, Dr. Jack Henningfield of the Addiction Research Center (part of the National Institute on Drug Abuse) and Dr. Neal Benowits of the University of California ranked heroin, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and marijuana in terms of their power to induce psychological dependence. Nicotine was first, marijuana last. Marijuana also ranked last in terms of producing a physical tolerance to the drug, and was deemed least likely to produce signs of withdrawal upon quitting (Theis, C. F, 1993, p. 92). It seems as though the primary result of the three-pronged attack using strict penalties, silence, and exaggeration has been increased ignorance. Regardless of research findings refuting long-held claims about marijuana addiction since 1972, the old arguments of the 1930s continue to be used when establishing new soft drug laws. People's tendency to hold onto their initial beliefs means that most of their knowledge on the topic of marijuana is based on what their parents taught them. While it is the responsibility of all parents to teach their children values, this is not an acceptable basis for creating law. If the purpose of prohibition is to eliminate the use of a substance, then marijuana is certainly another example of how prohibition fails. In 1979, 68. 2% of all 18-25 year olds had tried marijuana at least once, and 35% said that they were regular users (U. S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1991). While those respective numbers have decreased to 50% and 13%, its clear that marijuana is still readily available and used by a large number of Americans. Two other detrimental effects of marijuana prohibition are the large amounts of money spent on enforcement and prosecution, and prison overcrowding. The percentage of the American population living in prison has increased from . 061 in 1880 to . 1 in 1920 to . 35 in 1995, with an associated tripling of real tax dollars required to house inmates. Today, 62% of all inmates are in prison for drug offenses-the result of a 1,100% increase in drug arrests between 1980 and 1992, even though marijuana use dropped from 35% to 13% during the same period. The increase in violent offenders incarcerated during that time was only 50%. Of felons convicted of crimes related to marijuana possession, production and trafficking during this period, 58% had no prior arrest history, 91% were not identified as organizers, leaders, managers or supervisors of drug-oriented organizations, and 92% did not own or possess a gun. In other words, the large majority of these felons should not be viewed as individuals endangering our society. I believe the main point of these statistics is that an enormous amount of money is spent each year on incarcerating non-violent and otherwise law-abiding citizens. Not including the money spent on prison management and construction, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) now spends $1. 3 billion a year â€Å"fighting† marijuana. Overall, federal anti-marijuana efforts have cost taxpayers $30 billion. The result: $2 billion worth of cannabis being seized and destroyed, 4 million people being arrested, and 250-thousand individuals being jailed for more than one year–but no basic change in usage patterns from the 1970†³s (www. bergen. com). Is it worth it? Mark Young is a victim of a US District Attorney's overzealous efforts to enforce federal marijuana laws. Young, a resident of Illinois, went on a fishing trip in Florida with some old friends, bringing along some marijuana for everyone to enjoy privately. His Florida friends asked Young to introduce them to the grower, which he did, then was cut out of the deal from that point onward. He was later arrested and charged with conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. He had two strikes against him-minor possession charges that were twenty years old-so he faced a life sentence with no possibility of parole, even though he did not benefit at all from the transaction. The District Attorney offered Young a reduced charge if he testified against his friends and others whom he had no prior knowledge of. He refused, and the DA won his case without having to inform the jury about Young's two-strike status. The judge had no choice but to pass down a sentence of life without parole. In a prison interview, Young was quoted as saying, â€Å"They've only proved I'm capable of smoking a joint, or of introducing a guy to another guy who needs some pounds. That's the most they've proved me capable of. What they [the prosecutors] are doing, they're destroying these families and passing out life sentences, taking people's lives, putting children on the street-I mean horrendous acts. I don't know of anyone that would do anything that malicious for a salary† (Williams J. B. , 1970, p. 46). It is my opinion that the state has no right to interfere with anyone's private conduct, especially under the guise of protecting anyone from our own folly. The government is free to educate people as much as it wishes on the effects of using marijuana, education being the best way to alter behavior. However, it must not dictate what behavior an individual can or cannot practice in private. This opinion is the same one given in the 1972 report published by the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse; in their summary, the authors of that report argued that private production and consumption of marijuana should be made legal (National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, 1972, p. 152). They also recommended continued efforts to arrest anyone involved in trafficking or in the commercial production of marijuana. The report was accepted by the President, Speaker of the House, and President of the Senate, and the argument was later given support by President Jimmy Carter (Theis, C. F. , 1993, p. 45). However, political pressure prevented him from making concerted effort to reform marijuana laws. The original motivation for marijuana prohibition was based on a lack of knowledge. Nevertheless, the hate and fear resulting from initial attitudes still echo in current arguments against marijuana. Despite research to the contrary, a significant number of people refuse to have their beliefs challenged. And so billions of tax dollars continue to be spent on enforcement and prosecution, while use patterns remain the same-a return on an investment that no private business would ever tolerate. And it is important to remember that statistics describe many casual marijuana users such as M. Y. , and families that are affected by overly strict laws. Prohibition was established due to a misunderstanding, has not achieved its goal, and goes against an American philosophical approach. I believe it is time to reconsider its consequences.