Tura Cetha Stone free essay sample

Tear Cheetah Stone It was the early sasss, Alga lived in Ireland. Algas name meaner brave, the meaning however couldnt fit more perfectly. Alga adored Ireland. She lived on the north shoreline of Ireland. Her father and mother had died soon after her younger brothers birth. Akin, her Brother, had never seen his parents. Alga and Akin lived alone in a cottage. One day, someone found out that they were living there alone; they alerted the pinearity (the police). Before they were caught Alga and Akin fled to the countryside. They moved along slowly. They never were able to settle anywhere. When Alga was only 16 and Akin was barley 10, they had traveled to about every place in Ireland. The pinearity where always looking for Alga and Akin. Few people would shelter them. Finally, in 1727, when Alga was 17, the brother and sister had settled in a small town. We will write a custom essay sample on Tura Cetha Stone or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Alga began work as a seamstress. Working however didnt provide enough money for a great house. They lived in a one room shed with a dirt floor. After they had lived there for no more than a month, Akin was down by the rocky here when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. In a bottle was a note. The giants are coming, it read. Akin ran to his sister. When Alga read the message she told her brother to stay in the shed and to be safe. Alga ran to the town stable and got a horse. The danger she was about to face wasnt even comparable to anything she had ever done. She was going to fight the giants to save her beloved homeland. Alga found the giants and fought every single one. She got hurt and beaten. At many points she could see death. But in the end she won. She had saved her home room an untimely death. When she was a mile from the small town where her brother was, her foot hit something hard. She bent down and picked up a Tear Glossary Alga- Irish name meaning brave Tear Cheetah Stone- Rainbow stone Pinearity- Police Toughen ihram tar  ©is- Happily ever after Cheetah Stone. The Tear Cheetah Stone only presents itself to the bravest souls. Alga was a brave soul. The Tear Cheetah stone provides protection to who ever found it as payment for their act. Alga and her brother where protected for the rest of their lives. As they lived

Whiskey Rebellion and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Essay Example

Whiskey Rebellion and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Essay Example Whiskey Rebellion and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Paper Whiskey Rebellion and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Paper Although the power of the national government increased during the early republic, this development often faced serious opposition. Compare the motives and effectiveness of those opposed to the growing power of the national government during TWO of the following: The Whiskey Rebellion, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, or the Hartford Convention. The Federalist dominated government displayed power like that of Great Britain. Once the people of the United States noticed this power through various sectionalized rebellions, letters in the newsprints, and resolutions written by several of our founding fathers, the people came to a mutual conclusion that a Federalist dominated congress was one that they need to oppose. The Whiskey Rebellion was an uprising in 1794 by 3,000 settlers in the backcountry of Pennsylvania who opposed the tax on distilled whiskey. Alexander Hamilton can be credited for the passing of this tax in 1791. The purpose of the tax was to help decrease the national debt; however, the western settlers thought the tax was discriminatory, and they objected it. For many of them, whiskey was the only medium of exchange. Once the rebellion had commenced, George Washington called to the militia to suppress the rebellion. Fifteen thousand troops were sent to Pennsylvania. Alexander Hamilton was at the head of the troops. The uprising ended almost immediately, and without bloodshed. This incident turned the frontier people into Jeffersonian followers or Anti-Federalists, but showed the strength of the Federal government. Throughout 1798, Jefferson conferred with James Madison about a strategy to oppose the Alien and Sedition Acts. Knowing that all branches of the national government were in Federalist hands, they turned to the states. Jefferson, secretly, wrote up a set of resolutions to be introduced into the next session of the Anti-Federalist Kentucky legislature, and Madison did the same for the Virginia legislature. One reason they kept their roles in the drafting secret was fear of being indicted under the sedition law, especially since Jefferson was the vice president. In suggesting the means for restoring rights abused by the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions questioned the very nature of the federal union. The documents affirmed that the federal government was created by the states and that the states must be superior. On that note, the resolutions declared that a state should be able to nullify a federal law. Kentucky and Virginia eventually adopted Jeffersons resolutions, denouncing the Sedition Act and other recent unconstitutional acts and asserting that the government was a compact of states, not of individuals; however, when the resolutions were submitted to the other states for approval there was no real result. The Whiskey Rebellion was the first significant opposition to the Federalist government; demonstrating the lack of power to the minority and the majority (the people of the backcountry), but the rebellion unfortunately failed after being confronted with the force of the government. The importance of the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions lie in the fact that they were later considered to be the first notable statements of the states rights of government, a resolution that opened the way for the nullification controversy. Another note to be kept in mind is that the Alien and Sedition Act were written by the Federalist Party in order to maintain power in congress. The Whiskey Rebellion and The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were two contributing forces to the ultimate opposition of the Federalist dominated government.

(Book Review) Social policy and practice in Canada Essay

(Book Review) Social policy and practice in Canada - Essay Example This book is truly the first of its kind in regards to this subject matter that has been able to provide an insightful and critical perspective on the entire evolutionary process of social policy in the country. Furthermore, Alvin Finkel proves himself as being an extraordinary author, as he divulges into issues that have never been discussed - or even thought of, in some cases - before. In order to be able to understand this book better, the entire work must be thoroughly examined and discussed, and by doing this we will not only be able to gain a more informed and understanding viewpoint on the literary work itself, but as well on the author and on what his purpose was for writing this book. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Social Policy and Practice is a book which starts off by giving a historical point of view in regards to the history of the social policies that have taken place within Canada, and one of the first issues in particular that he discusses is that of how "Canada's constitutional development reflects the history of Canada itself, its maturation into a self-governing democracy, and the steady advent of new ideas and conditions" (22). It is pointed out that the Constitution has changed considerably over the years and that this has made a strong impact on the country of Canada overall, and that these changes have greatly influenced the different social policies and practices that have come about. Finkel then begins to discuss the actual history of constitutional antecedents, and he makes particular note of the fact that Canada's political and constitutional development actually did not begin with the arrival of the first European settlers, contrary to the majority of the world's beliefs, but rather "Formal constitutional development in Canada began with the Edict creating the Sovereign Council of Quebec in 1663, whereby the French established New France as a royal province and made provision for civil government" (26). He continues for several chapters discussing the actual origin of Canada and the onset of the most basic and most intermediate social policies and practices of the countries, and uses analogies and comparisons between Canada and other industrialized countries in order to show the striking and significant differences that exist here. We can see from this alone that Canada is a country which is really in crisis in this regards, as there are a number of large and imperative issues that are facing the country as a whole. Finkel makes very clear in the very beginning of the book the fact of how important and dire it is to have proper and efficient social policies and practices in any country, and that however there are more problems in this regards with Canada than basically any other industrialized nations. He then begins on the issue of the current social policy review process in Canada, and he states that there is a setting for this current debate on the social policies in Canada which truly parallels that of most other industrialized countries in the world, and that "Common features include a secular growth slowdown topped by a recession in the early 1990s, an aging population requiring higher transfer and health-care expenditures, rising needs and costs associated with the increasing prevalence of the single-parent family, and

MICRO PORTFOLIO TASK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

MICRO PORTFOLIO TASK - Essay Example The six large producers have equal share of market demand and they have successfully threatened the entry of other firms in the industry. According to the viewpoint of the researcher, the firms in the above market are in an Oligopolistic market structure. In this type of a market structure, there are two to ten sellers in the industry. The price and output decisions undertaken by each firm is on the basis of strategic behaviour. In this type of a market structure, each of the above six firms have the power to influence the market demand. This means that each firm undertakes the decision about the prices and the quantity of output to be produced on the basis of the assumption of the business decisions undertaken by the other potential rivals in the market. However, it would be interesting to note that degree competition in the above mentioned Oligopolistic market is zero. The six large firms in the above case are enjoying equal market share and hence, equal profit. This means that the firms have undertaken the decision of Cartel in the Oligopolistic market structure. ... However, on the whole, the market demand curve is downward (Manne, 2012). Figure 1: Profit of Each Firm (Source: McEachern, 2012) The above graph shows the equal profit shared by each of the firm. Cartel in the Oligopolistic market structure which occurs when the nature of the product sold by each of the firm is less differentiated. In the above case, all the firms are engaged in the production of less differentiated cereals. The Herfindahl index is the index that measures the size of each of the firms in a particular industry and comments on the level of existing competition in there. It is calculated by the sum of the squares of the market shares by each of the firm in the industry. An increase in the value of the index indicates a fall in the level of competition on the industry and a rise in the level of market power. The value of Herfindahl index for the above concerned case: Where, N= number of firms on total. So, i = 1 to 16 (6 large and 10 small). S =market share of each firm . H= (0.152+0.152+0.152+0.152+0.152+0.152) + (0.012+0.012+0.012+0.012+0.012+0.012+0.012+0.012+0.012+0.012) = 0.136 (13.6%) The value of the Herfindahl index for the above market (13.6) indicates a high degree of market concentration among the six large firms. Under such a situation if the market shares of any of the six large firms decrease or increase then the value of the index would be increasing substantially. This is the reason for which the firms in the industry have adopted the decision of Cartel in the market (Riley, 2012). (c) It has been analyzed that the level of concentration among the firms in the above industry is high. Only six firms in the industry have occupied about 90% of the aggregate market share. On

Network Rail Quality Improvement

Network Rail Quality Improvement In simple terms, an organisation can be illustrated as a systematically structured and constructed social unit of people who are managed with the aim of meeting a specific need or to pursue collective goals. It is an observable yet concrete association of individuals involved in collective activities for the achievement of common goals and objectives. Within this view, a service organisation may be best identified as an association of organised for their coordination, services of whom extend to the public. This assignment will discuss management of quality with respect to service delivery in a service organisation. In the current scenario, globalisation has exerted pressure on governments all over the world to incorporate the concept of minimum standards in every aspect of organisational management. This implies both in the field of human rights and other aspects of good management such as delivery of public services (Shadrach and Ekeanyanwu, 2003). One such organisation involved in service delivery in the UK is the Network Rail, engaged in public transportation. Network Rails commitment to its customers has been focused over years through their efforts to run trains safely, punctually as well as reliably. Britains rail infrastructure was entrusted to Network rail, almost a decade ago, with the objectives of improving quality, safety, reliability and efficiency of the railway. Since then, a massive, sustained programme for renewing track, signals, power and telecom equipment was run by the Network Rail with the support of Government, thus striving hard to restore the public confidence in the sa fety and punctuality of the railway networks in the UK. Emphasis was placed on predict and prevent approach, rather than find and fix and this required new standardised ways of working on the basis of technological support. Equal importance had to be attached to investing in their stake holders in order to sustain the developments and success. Stakeholders may be illustrated as an individual, group of people or an organisation having direct or indirect responsibility and stake in an organisation as it can affect or be affected by the organisations actions, goals and policies. The stake holders of Network Rail consist of two sets of people. These include industry members and public members. Industry members comprise mainly of train operators, while public members implies people drawn from a cross section of the community who represent the public interest (Network, 2003). In addition, a third member, often referred to as the Special member has been added to the list of stake holders. This is the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) of the UK. In order to prohibit the control of national rail infrastructure companies by train operating companies, industry members are made minority of the total stake holders, whereas public members make up the vast majority. According to terms of network license of the Network Rail, stake holders are viewed as any person providing services relating to the railways; any person providing a railway facility or network, including one which is proposed for, or in the course of construction; any founder ; or any person who has provided in writing to the licence holder a credibility to provide finance for service relating to railways; The Railway Passengers Council and The London Transport users committee; and The Mayor of London and Transport for London, in respect for their services and functions relating to the railway services (Network Rail, 2004). The main funding bodies include Passenger Transport Executives, bodies who provide one off funding like local authority, Assembly Government, Transport Scotland and other regional bodies. Whether funding railway services or providing services or providing services and facilities, these stake holders rely on the Network Rail to realise their aspirations. Their pri mary expectation from this service delivery organisation is provision of highest quality of service, with an assurance of transparency in every action. This requires clear communication and streamlining of objectives and expectations through good relationship between the organisation and the stakeholders. Quality may be broadly viewed as a magnitude of excellence (Shiba et al, 1993). There are several dimensions of quality which determine the concept of quality. One of these dimensions is the conformance to specifications which is determined by designers of the product or service. This relates to how well the service or the product meets the target. The other dimensions include fitness for the use value for price paid, support services and psychological criteria. While fitness for use measures performance of the product or the effectiveness of the service, value for price paid focuses on the usefulness of the service or the product with respect to the amount of money spent. Judgement of a product or service is made on the basis of support services, which determines the quality since the concept of quality is not confined to the product or service alone. It applies to the people, processes involved and the associated organisational environment. On the other hand, psychological criteria present a more subjective definition to the concept of quality since it focuses on the critical evaluation of the constitution of the product or service. Such an evaluation is influenced by many factors such as environmental factors, the prestige of the product as perceived by the customers (Reid and Sanders, 2003). Whether in product manufacture or in service delivery, quality and performance of the organisation affect stake holders. The concept of quality has currently obtained priority in most of the organisations, including those involved in product manufacture as well as those related to service delivery, since they have realised the cost of poor quality. The most adverse consequence of poor quality is the creation of dissatisfied customers, loss of money invested and eventually loss of business. The cost consequences of poor quality may be broadly classified under internal failure costs and external failure costs. Internal failure costs are related to the identification of poor quality of service or product before it reaches the customer. This may include the correction of the defect or rework. This also includes material losses and the cost of labour and machine. On the other hand, external failure costs are linked to the problems with quality after the product or service reaches the customer. This may result in the loss of faith and loyalty of customers. This can eventually lead to customer loss (Reid and Sanders, 2005) and loss of business. With the aim of meeting the expectations of stake holders and ensuring the quality of service, the Network Rail has adopted a code of practice (Network Rail, 2004). Through this code of practice, the Network Rail responds to the requests of stake holders quickly and appropriately, thus listening and taking into account their views. Code of practice acts as a promise to act fairly, treating all stake holders equally and consistently without any discrimination, to establish contacts and allocate with managers with adequate expertise for providing necessary service and to provide complete, accurate and current information to the stake holders. This code of practice also attempts to resolve any enquiries, concerns or complaints without delay, thereby enhancing quality of service. These would also ensure the satisfaction of the stake holders, which is essential for the sustained development of the organisation. Garvin (1988) suggested five principal approaches towards understanding quality and its related aspects. The transcendent approach views quality as a concept which is timeless that transcends changes in tastes or preferences, thus making quality absolute and universally recognisable. Product based view, however, suggests that quality is measurable and hence precise. On the other hand, user based definitions are based on the view that quality is more or less a subjective phenomenon. The need and wants of customers are satisfied through services or products having highest quality. Another approach to understand quality is the manufacture based view which places emphasis on the supply aspect, concerned with the manufacturing and designing practices. The final approach is value based view that adopts the ideas of other approaches, evaluating whether the product or service provide conformance to requirements at a reasonable price (Galvin, 1988). However it must be remembered that the conc ept of quality differs when considering service delivery and product manufacture. According to Reid and Sanders (2005), organisations involved in product manufacture produce products which can be seen, touched and measured. Thus, quality definitions with respect to product manufacture generally places emphasises on product features which are tangible. These definitions include conformance on the magnitude to which the product features meet the standards set by the organisation and the public, performance on the effectiveness of the functioning of the product; reliability or the expectations of the product to function without failure; and serviceability which implies how easily the product can be repaired or fixed. A complete contrast to this approach is the concept of quality in terms of service delivery. This difference rises out of the intangible nature of the product produced by service organisations. On the contrary, these can only be experienced. Hence, quality in service deliv ery is based on perceptions including responsiveness to customer needs, contrary and approach of staff, atmosphere and the promptness in solving issues and complaints (Reid and Sanders, 2005). ISO 8402 (1994) defined quality management as All activities of the overall management that determine the quality policy, objectives and responsibilities, and implement them by means such as quality planning, quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement within the quality system. Quality management is ensured through continuous improvement, also called Kaizen, which encourages organisations to strive continuously to perform better through learning and problem solving. Continuous improvement maybe described as a quality philosophy that places emphasis on going efforts to seek improvements in products, services on processes, with the aim of enhancing quality and decreasing waste (Mc Kee, 2009). It requires an organisation to constantly measure the effectiveness of its performance and strive to meet more difficult challenges and objectives to satisfy stake holders and customers. It is the belief that further improvements are always possible, thus encouraging continuous eva luation of processes and implementation of improvements. No matter how satisfactory the present state of an organisation is, Kaizen is founded in the concept of dissatisfaction with the statuesque, which is necessary to ensure continuous improvement in every aspect. Foundation of improvement is built on the quality standards, which have to be set and monitored in every organisation. According to Shiba et al (1993), quality is checked by making a comparison of output of an organisation and the specifications through standardisation, statistical quality control and inspection. Standardisation refers to a series of action taken for the product and process to be clearly identified. Benchmarking is another tool to measure and monitor the degree of improvement. An improvement part of continuous is the ability to examine and study how other organisations perform. Benchmarking, according to Reid and Sanders (2005), is the process of studying the performance and practices of other organisations which are considered the best for the purpose of comparison. In order to enable organisations to objectively document their quality practices around the world, the need for universal standards were recognised as necessary. This led to the creation of International Organisation for Standardisation, whose objective is to establish an agreement on international quality standards. The ISO 9000: 2000 Quality Management Systems- Fundamentals and Standards provides a basis for understanding the system of standards. This standard set by ISO provides the terminology and specific definitions used in the standards. The standards used for the certification of an organisations quality management system is the ISO 9000: 2000 Quality Management Systems- Requirements. The guidelines for establishing a quality management system is given by ISO 9000: 2000 Quality Management Systems- Guidelines for Performance. These standards focus on meeting the customer requirements as well as on continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is an essential aspect in service delivery, especially in the case of organisations like National Rail, which are involved in public transport. Studies have revealed the sad state of public transport. Five case studies of bad customer service were examined by Dale et al in 2001. Zeithaml et al (1990) identified the four components of the gap between the expectations of the customers and the stake holders and the perception of the actual service by the customers and the stake holders. The understanding gap occurs usually when the management fails to perceive the expectations of stake holders and customers accurately. Design gap occurs when the management is unable to specify and design a service accordingly to their understanding of the stakeholders and customers. Due to the shortage of resources, lack of commitment, inadequate quality control or inadequate training, there might be a failure in the delivery of what is specified and this is recognised as a servic e delivery gap. A communication gap, on the other hand, occurs when what is specified and what is delivered are not accurately publicised. Several studies have identified these gaps in service delivery organisation and these points to the need for continuous improvement in these organisations. This could in turn improve the quality of services, enhance the loyalty and trust placed by customers as well as stake holders on organisations, improve retention of staff and ensure satisfaction of stakeholders and customers. Several methods have been identified for the implementation of continuous improvement or Kaizen. One of the most popular systems this genre is Total Quality Management According to Tague (2005), Total Quality Management (TQM) can be described as any quality management system that makes an effort to address all areas of an organisation, emphasizing customer satisfaction and using continuous improvement methods and tools. TQM focuses on the identification of the root causes of quality defects and problems and correcting these at the source. It emphasis that quality is customer driven. TQM encompasses the organisation as a whole, attempting to embed quality in every single aspect of the organisation. Not only does it include the technical aspects of quality, but it is concerned with the involvement of people in quality including stakeholders (Reid and Sanders, 2005), thus making it an important method to ensure continuous improvement in service delivery organisations like Network Rail. The most prominent feature of TQM is the organisations focus on stakeholders including customers. This philosophy defines quality as meeting and exceeding the expectations of stakeholders, including customers. Thus the first and foremost objective of organisation adopting TQM will be the identified of needs of customers and stakeholders after which these have to be met appropriately. This will require continuous gathering of information. Berry (1991) suggested that TQM process is a total corporate emphasis on meeting and exceeding expectations of customers while significantly decreasing costs resulting from poor quality by adopting a novel management system and corporate culture. Dahlgaard et al., (1998) views TQM as a way of managing an organisation or an enterprise towards achieving complete excellence. The principles of TQM encompass numerous elements including management leadership and commitment, involvement of employees, continuous improvement, and supplier partnership and so on. Shea and Gobeli (1995) identified the motives behind the adoption of TQM by organisations; management philosophy and belief in the principle of stakeholder as well as customer satisfaction and employee empowerment, competitive nature arising out of the changing expectations of customers even for those organisations which are performing well; and to improve poor performance of organisations which are not performing well in order to ensure survival. The seven QC tools were brought to organisational attention by Ishikawa, the Father of Quality Circles. His original seven tools included cause-and-effect diagram, check sheet, Shewharts control charts, histograms, Pareto chart, Scatter diagram and Stratification or Flowchart. Quality Function Deployment (QFD), the Baldrige Award, Six Sigma, theory of constraints and Lean manufacturing are the new tools or revitalisation and replacing of previous concepts and tools. Implementation and effectiveness are often assessed using PDSA cycle. All these approaches are astonishingly compatible with one another and hence several enterprise are combining these tools for the successful implementation of continuous improvement since ISO 9000 focuses on consistency through standardisation it can be used by organisations to create a foundation for the development of continuous improvement through Six Sigma and Lean which focuses on quality through elimination of defects and speed and efficiency by elimination of waste respectively. The criteria set by MBNQA can act as a support and guidance for the senior management for the development and establishment of organisational systems and culture that support continuous improvement (Reid and Sanders, 2005). QFD, Total Quality Management, Theory of Constraints and Synchronous flow can be utilised to understand the wants and needs of customers while improving every phase involved in the process focussing particularly on the slowest phase. These approaches can be integrated with bench mar king and other approaches of standardisation to evaluate the quality of service or product and to encourage continuous improvement within the organisation irrespective of present state. However, it must be noted that each of these approaches should be selected on the basis of requirement of the organisation (Tague, 2005). For organisations, including those involved in product manufacture and service delivery, an important approach that help with continuous improvement is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle which illustrates never ending process of continuous improvement in its circular nature. The first step in this process is to plan, where the managers must evaluate and document the current system and develop plans based on the defects detected. The next step in PDSA cycle is the implementation of the plan (Do), during which the managers must collect adequate data for evaluation and document all changes made. Studying the data collected constitute the third step. On the basis of first three phases the final phase require the managers to act and the whole process is repeated (Reid and Sanders, 2005). Success of continuous improvement approaches depends upon team approach. Quality must be viewed as an organisational effort. This may be achieved through techniques such as quality control tools, group discussions, and brain storming and so on. There for time must be set aside for team meetings. Importance must also be given to measures for employee empowerment to seek out qualities and rectify them, through workshops, employee educations and good communication. All these depend upon leadership and management structure of the organisation. Successful implementation of continuous improvement processes also requires effective workplace relationships and understanding of wants and needs of stake holders and customers. Adoption of these aspects is essential for the sustain success and development of organisations like Network Rail. This assignment, thus, has attempted to study the influence of stake holders on organisation. Examining the aspect of quality improvement in Network Rail this assignment discuss the various approaches for improving quality in service delivery. It can be concluded that for ensuring a sustained development and benefit to organisations it is necessary to ensure that all improvements made satisfy all the stake holders. It has to be remembered that the ultimate goal of quality management is to satisfy the needs of stake holders including customers. Teamwork , effective leadership and communication within the organisation and efforts to understand the changing needs and wants of stakeholders and customers are the essential ingredients for the successful implementation of such a venture

Will Canada Become The 51st St :: essays research papers

Is Canada going to be swallowed up by the United States? A political cartoon based on Pierre Trudeau's famous quote, 'Living next to you (the United States) is like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even tempered is the beast, one is affected by every twist and grunt.'; was made. This means when something occurs in the United States, we too are affected. If the United States goes to war, because we belong to N.A.T.O., Canada would support their position. If McDonalds, an American based company, were to close down, then many Canadian workers would lose their jobs since McDonalds is well established in Canada. Many Canadian businesses are American owned, such as Ford, Burger King, Chevrolet, Wendy's, and Walmart to name a few. Also, many more sports teams are owned in America than in Canada. For example, only 5 hockey teams exist in Canada, while the United States has at least 5 times more teams. Our players must be payed in American funds, and one American dollar i s worth $1.50 in Canada. Those are some ways Canada is being swallowed by the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, Canada is a valued trade partner for the Americans. For example, the United States has a dire need for our natural resources, such as water. Having polluted their own water supply, the now looks to Canada for the solution to their problem. If Canada were to become a part of the United States, our water would become polluted, forcing the United States government to buy even more clean water from another country for even more people. Also, the differences in our political systems would mean change for both the United States and Canada, which would doubtlessly upset millions of people. Would we have a President or a Prime Minister? Indeed, our 'assimilation' would be difficult. However, youth would have little trouble fitting in, since we wear the same clothes, listen to the same music, watch the same television shows, and play the same games.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But how would the assimilation begin? The answer is simple. If Quebec were to win a referendum and leave Canada, we would lose much of our industry. After Quebec, the maritime provinces would also leave, which would cripple us further. In desperate need of a stable economy, we would begin negotiations with the United States. The House of Commons would become a meaningless symbol, along with many of our historical buildings and monuments.

We Are Becoming Overwhelmingly Dependent on Computers

SUBIECTUL 1 – WE ARE BECOMING OVERWHELMINGLY DEPENDENT ON COMPUTERS. IS THIS DEPENDENCE A GOOD THING OR SHOULD WE BE MORE SUSPICIOUS OF THEIR BENEFITS ? GIVE ARGUMENTS TO SUPPORT YOUR IDEAS. It is a fact that our generation is what can be called â€Å"The First Computer Dependent Generation†. Computers have become one of the most important and influential luxuries of this generation. Young people use computers every day for school, work, and entertainment. They are the first generation to have become computer literate as early as the onset of adolescence.For most of their lives they have used computers, so it is not surprising that our generation has become highly dependent upon them. Computers are intensively used in every aspect of man's life. Computer systems manage almost everything we see. Banks, schools, malls, libraries, broadcasting, military, aeronautics and governments have systems where computers play a vital role. We rely on computers to do most of our every day activities. This is the computer age. With the help of computers, mankind is entering a new era of enlightenment.Dealing with the enormous amount of data that the modern man is faced with can only be done by means of computers. What is more, due to them, huge progress has been made in many important fields such as surgery for instance. In addition, they are becoming more than ever a necessity to the educational system. By means of computers lessons are made more attractive, more instructive, certain skills are better developed. It no longer costs thousands of dollars of equipment to make a film or to compose music.Amateur filmmakers can produce work from their own homes. Graphics engineers can use computers to create three-dimensional models, or even to generate short or full-length films. Anybody who owns a computer can now enter the field of media production. Communication in our century would be unconceivable without the Internet, which is a massive network of computers, each with the ability to access any of the others. The Internet is something like a universal virtual wisdom that can be instantly accessed for any kind of information.E-mailing has become one of the most efficient ways of quick communication. | | However, this reliance on computers has several disadvantages. Anyone who has worked with computers for long periods of | | |time knows that computers can be just as addictive as smoking or drinking. Computer addiction can have a number of | | |physical, social, and psychological effects and it is to be taken as seriously as any other addiction. One common physical | | |effect computer addiction can have are back problems.Sitting for so long can take a toll on a person's muscles and can | | |result in poor posture. Poor posture can result in chronic back problems that require the services of a doctor. Dry eyes | | |and vision complications are some eye problems caused by overuse of a computer. Headaches are quite common in computer | | |addict ion and are linked to the straining of the eyes. Because of the long hours spent in front of a computer, addicts | | |often have eating irregularities. Computer addicts experience sleep disturbances or changes in sleeping patterns.Social | | |effects of computer addiction include reduced time spent socializing with others. People may begin to feel that their | | |computer is the only relationship that they have the time to focus on. They lose the desire for human contact and | | |communication and in a way they are breaking away from reality. Lacking the desire to make contact with others means | | |lacking the desire to create new relationships or to build on already existing ones. After a certain amount of time, they | | |lose their conversation skills completely.Within the lives of computer addicts it is their friends and family that suffer | | |the most from this form of alienation (=estrangement). | | | | | |There are stages in children’s lives when they should know how to play, to be able to learn the values of trust, | | |initiative, competition and cooperation. A child can only appreciate these through social contacts. Studies show that | | |individuals who spent their childhood in front of computers are more distant, isolated and have difficult social lives. | |Another point is that the availability of online chatting systems makes people rely on computers to communicate. Because of| | |this, social interaction, the development of social skills is jeopardized (=endangered). | | | | | | | | |In addition to this, the convenience provided by the use of computers in everyday life also has its price. Online banking | | |systems are rather potential hacking zones, computer file management and storage are vulnerable to viruses and hackers, | | |individuals’ personal data are no longer private.Although crime prevention has benefited a lot from computer usage through| | |CCTV cameras, GPS systems and digital identification systems, people do not seem to be prepared to live in a world where | | |their every step is being watched and recorded. In modern society convenience comes at the expense of privacy loss. | | | | | |I strongly believe that if people are aware of the potential hazards of computer dependency and if governments can do | | |something to educate or inform people about them, then problems arising from this issue will be minimized. |