Free Essays on Misinformed Children

Misinformed Children In Western society gender roles have been a constant, yet pervasive form of personal identification. Both girls and boys are taught, explicitly and implicitly, what gender-identified behaviors are expected from them. For example, girls are given dolls and tea sets, while boys are given balls and toy trucks. Although this is not directly aimed at teaching children how to behave, it is part of a socially identified trend. For years our children have internalized gender role stereotypes from songs, books, magazines, television, movies, etc. They perceive this information as reality and compare it with their knowledge and ideas about the real world. They are not able to think abstractly and realize what they are witnessing does not reflect the norms of society. Many believe that gender roles are the result of innate biological differences between men and women. This ideal suggests that men are better suited to hold positions of power, while women are better suited to look after the hom e and children. These gender stereotypes are now considered limiting and damaging to all involved, men and women alike, from the time they are children. Gender stereotypes have in enormous affect on young children, especially those in the media. The media has a considerable impact on children’s perceptions of the real world, thus distorting their views of gender roles and creating gender stereotypes. In today’s society the television, which is prominent in many households, is not only a source of entertainment, but also a source of information. According to recent research, on average, children spend 3.3 hours a day watching television. It is almost inevitable that television, as a learning source, has an important role in helping the â€Å"vulnerable and impressionable† minds of children to develop certain social roles and behavior traits. Television provides the framework for what is considered acceptable and unacceptable in ou... Free Essays on Misinformed Children Free Essays on Misinformed Children Misinformed Children In Western society gender roles have been a constant, yet pervasive form of personal identification. Both girls and boys are taught, explicitly and implicitly, what gender-identified behaviors are expected from them. For example, girls are given dolls and tea sets, while boys are given balls and toy trucks. Although this is not directly aimed at teaching children how to behave, it is part of a socially identified trend. For years our children have internalized gender role stereotypes from songs, books, magazines, television, movies, etc. They perceive this information as reality and compare it with their knowledge and ideas about the real world. They are not able to think abstractly and realize what they are witnessing does not reflect the norms of society. Many believe that gender roles are the result of innate biological differences between men and women. This ideal suggests that men are better suited to hold positions of power, while women are better suited to look after the hom e and children. These gender stereotypes are now considered limiting and damaging to all involved, men and women alike, from the time they are children. Gender stereotypes have in enormous affect on young children, especially those in the media. The media has a considerable impact on children’s perceptions of the real world, thus distorting their views of gender roles and creating gender stereotypes. In today’s society the television, which is prominent in many households, is not only a source of entertainment, but also a source of information. According to recent research, on average, children spend 3.3 hours a day watching television. It is almost inevitable that television, as a learning source, has an important role in helping the â€Å"vulnerable and impressionable† minds of children to develop certain social roles and behavior traits. Television provides the framework for what is considered acceptable and unacceptable in ou...

Stereotypes Essays - Stereotypes, Social Psychology, Discrimination

Stereotypes Essays - Stereotypes, Social Psychology, Discrimination Stereotypes Stereotypes are the organizational factors that virtually shape the way we think in 20th century America. They somehow manage to categorize some of lifes most complex matters into nice distinct sections. Classifications and organization, at first glance seem to be useful in distinguishing various aspects of modern life. However, these grouping methods can be very inaccurate, leaving erroneous ideas in the minds of citizens on a global level. Stereotypes, though originating as convenient sorting mechanisms, instead, influence our thinking process. By instituting broad categories, establishing virtually immovable terms, and, often, being mistakenly identified as facts, stereotypes affect the mental process of humans. Originally used as an organizational tool, stereotypes were simply broad generalizations about subject matters. These ideas werent necessarily meant to cause the feelings of anger that they do today, but to classify ideas. However, possibly the most apparent problem with stereotypes is that the sort very intricate subject matter into large, broad categories. For example, human beings are too complex to use generalizations like, all blondes are dumb or all smart people are nerds. Stereotypes use wide terms, to simplify subject matter, but this attempt often ends in an inaccurate result. Despite their wide generalizations, stereotypes establish virtually immovable terms. For example, Third World countries were hastily grouped together not because of social or economic similarities, but out of convenience. Since that time, the industrialized nations have harbored this stereotype that the third world is land of starving children and savage tribes. Despite decades of vast improvement, this stereotype remains unchanged. This rigid stereotype has caused many citizens to embrace a false view of the Third World nations and its citizens. Stereotypes, clearly, should not be mistaken for factual information. Although there may be a certain amount of truth to the statement, the generalization is often inaccurate. Unfortunately, many people believe this information to be not only truthful, but factual. Since most Americans have not visited a Third World country, they believe many misconceptions to be true. In reality, these stereotypes are often wrong. They may apply in some instances, but they should not be considered factual. Through establishing broad categories, creating immovable terms, and being mistakenly identified as facts, stereotypes often place inaccurate ideas in the peoples minds. They have a huge impact on the thought process and ideas. As increasingly more and more people become aware of this error, many of the stereotypes we now embrace will become obsolete. Works Consulted Lane, Charles. Lets Abolish the Third World. Thinking Globally. Andrew E. Robson. McGraw-Hill: United States of America, 1997. 155 160.

Gays marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gays marriage - Essay Example Some countries such as New Zealand and Uruguay have enacted and passed laws legalizing gay marriages and which await implementation in August this year. Laws legalizing gay marriages have faced many hurdles in the passage and implementation in many countries. This is because recognition of gay marriages is a social, religious, political, human rights as well as civil issue in several countries and societies in the world (Scherer 45). Several debates continue to emerge everyday concerning legalizing gay marriages. Such marriages are performed in a religious or secular civil ceremony. Some religious faith groups permit gay marriages and these include the American Episcopalians, United Church of Africa, Quakers, Buddhism in Austria, and Conservative Jews among others (Scherer 45). According to various researches conducted in many countries, majority of people with higher levels of education support gay marriages (Chenier 19). Such support is greater among the youths than the aged. Most pollsters in western countries indicate that a majority of people continue to support gay marriages regardless of race, religions, political affiliations, ethnicities, as well as socioeconomic statuses among others. In US, residents of states such as Maryland, Maine, and Washington voted in favor of legalizing gay marriages. ... For instance, the proponents argue that prohibiting gay marriages infringes on the right of man to socialize with any person he or she wishes and seems appropriate (Saad 1). Moreover, they claim that prohibition of gay marriages is discriminatory since it categorizes people. Consequently, banning of same sex marriages infringes on the right to equal treatment of all persons regardless of sex, gender , religion, social status, race just to mention a few. According to court papers filed by American scientific associations, mockery of gay marriages contributes to discrimination of the people involved in the practice (Larocque 23). In addition, since nobody prefers or likes to be discriminated against, banning of such marriages exposes such people to various forms of discrimination. According to scientific information, marriage enhances the well-being of parents thereby, ensuring children benefit from marriage (Larocque 23). Therefore, legalizing gay marriages will improve the well-being of the couples thus, ensuring that children reared by the couple benefit to the maximum. Moreover, scientific research argues that children reared by parents engaged in gay marriages are as healthy and fit as those raised by heterosexual parents. However, the opponents of gay marriages claim that legalizing such marriages goes against the social norms, which have been respected for long time. These people argue that gay marriages arise from couples that are heterosexism or homophobic. Since such people fear or do not like associating with the opposite sex, they get comfort and consolation from people of the same sex (Mann 156). Therefore, these people are not free with the opposite sex, thus have a problem in the society. Moreover, the opponents of same sex marriage

Discuss to what extent the role of Groupthink in the Challenger Space Essay

Discuss to what extent the role of Groupthink in the Challenger Space Shuttle was critical to the incident and suggest ways in which the situation might have been avoided - Essay Example Groupthink theory, and the model resulting from it, is one of the most prominent efforts to try and explain decision-making outcomes in organizations (Whyte, 1998). This theory is considered useful in the explanation of one of the most prominent disasters of modern time. In 1986, NASA launched a space mission in which the space shuttle Challenger was to deliver astronauts and a school teacher to space. This mission was supposed to be a bold statement that space travel was safe and NASA had made advances in space program that would be educationally beneficial to all Americans. This paper examines the decisional process that culminated to the fateful disaster that befell Challenger and its crew, sparking so many questions on NASA’s organization and its safety ethics. The paper particularly examines the role of groupthink theory in the disaster. After the introduction the paper provides a brief description of the Challenger disaster, it then discusses groupthink as was presented by Janis (1982). A big part of the paper is dedicated to examining the role of groupthink in the Challenger disaster after which suggestions are provided about how the disaster would have been avoided. The paper then ends with a brief conclusion summarising the key issue s discussed. In 1986 NASA launched what was to be its safest mission into space which was supposed to usher in an era of safe space travel. However, this was not to be as disaster struck shortly after the launching of the space shuttle Challenger. The shuttle exploded mid-air killing all crew and leaving NASA with the responsibility of explaining decisions leading to the accidents. Immediately after the shock of the disaster that befell Challenger, the public was demanding answers about how and why the accident took place (Solomon, 2006). Public investigations by a presidential commission set up for that purpose

Implementation of an IT Project †A First Hand Account Essay Example for Free

Implementation of an IT Project – A First Hand Account Essay With innovation of computers, the business world is changing very fast as seen during the last 3 decades. Due to the advances in IT and Communications technology, the world has become a global village. The business opportunities have multiplied due to opening up of global markets. But so have the challenges. No economy is isolated or transparent from rest of the economies. Industries are expected to offer custom designed products at most competitive rates in shortest possible time. Even the multinational organizations operating in many countries across the world have been facing these challenges. One of the answers to these challenges they have been relying upon is to introduce Information Communications Technology in their organizations and leverage upon them to meet these challenges. In this document, we describe a case of one company in a country. This company was a part of a US based multinational group which decided to implement Oracle e Business 11i suite at all its units worldwide so as to consolidate required information at its headquarters at US. To comply with the requirement, this unit also decided to implement Oracle e Business Suite at its plant offices. How this implementation was planned, what were the objectives, what measures were taken to ensure conformity with the project plan, how the changeover to new software was planned, how the business associates were affected and what steps were initiated to ensure that the envisaged benefits actually accrue, is described in this document. Also various activities right from the initiation of the project, the project organization, roles and responsibilities, communications and reporting with the principals are also described. Implementation of an IT Project – A First Hand Account : EXCEL Auto Components Pvt Ltd EACL (a hypothetical name) is a part of a multinational EXCEL Group having its headquarters in US and group companies located all over the world. The Group is engaged in manufacture of engines, compressors, generating sets automobile components worldwide. EACL is engaged in manufacture of Automobile and engine components. Much of the orders received by EACL being repeat orders, are based on exiting design and technology. Besides these, there are sizable number of orders based on the same technology but involve a fresh design and prototype development, before the commercial production takes place. EACL is a subsidiary company of Excel Industries Ltd EIL which the main company of the group within the country. EIL centralizes many activities of the group and looks after these activities of the group companies in that country. Information Communication Technology is one of such activities which EIL handles for all group companies in the country. EIL handles IT Infrastructure management, Software Applications Management and other related activities for all group companies in the country. Recently the Corporate HQ at US has announced a decision to standardize on Business Application Software, directing all group companies worldwide to implement and switch over to Oracle 11i e Business Suite within a period of 18 months. Accordingly all companies had implemented and switched over to Oracle 11i except for EACL where the implementation had to be called of for various reasons, lack of in-house IT staff being one of them. Later on it was taken up once again. This time EIL Looked for an IT Consultant to be placed on site with the total responsibility of implementing Oracle 11i, with the help of Functional Consultants from EIL and a cross functional team of users from EACL. A person was found suitable and was placed on site at EACL to handle complete, end to end implementation of this project. He was to report to Lies Program Manager and was to be assisted by a Project Team comprising of 6 Functional Consultants from EIL and 5 Key Users from EACL, drawn from relevant functional areas. While EIL consultants had prior experience of Oracle ii1 implementation in their own company, EACL Consultants did not have any experience even of other ERP Products or any other applications. They – like most other users of EACL, had an exposure limited only to Microsoft Office Suite. However, most of them were young, fresh Mechanical Engineers very enthusiastic about the project. Similarly for EIL also this was their maiden experience to implement Oracle 11i at a company other than their own company. So everyone was totally charged up to take up this challenge. The assignment was clear for the Project Manager. Oracle 11i e Business Suite comprising of Financial, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management and Order Management Modules was required to be implemented within a time frame of 6 calendar months with the help of the Project Team assigned. CEO of EACL was fully backing this project and he had publicly instructed two senior most managers at the site – Plant Head and Finance Controller – to ensure full support resource commitments to the project. The Project implementation required to covered Plant as well as a Marketing office located in two different cities. CEO was also located in the Marketing Office. Objectives : The Objectives set out for the project included 20% reduction in investment in Inventory due to savings in inventory carrying cost and improvement in the planning process, Reduction in throughput time by 20% (increase i production sales and improvement in sales margins), Fast Order Execution with 90% on time delivery. Another significant objective was Confirming to standardization as laid down by the corporate group so as to facilitate group consolidation of information. Besides, the changeover was required to be transparent to the outside world i. e. the Business Associates. Investment : Since EACL was already running a home grown ERP Product, it already had in place the Client PCs, LAN, connectivity to EIL where Oracle 11i server was located. Some augmentation of resources like PCs printers, up-gradation of the bandwidth was required. EIL had already accounted for and arranged for the Software Licenses for ERP RDBMS Products for all group companies in the country. Fresh investment called for was related to the Fees payable to the Project Manager and the visits by the EIL functional team for implementation. How well the project met its investment objectives and what mechanisms would you suggest to allow ongoing evaluation of benefits realization? The Project Objectives were met very well. A fresh Bill of Materials was designed for regular items to be produced. Items requiring design development were defined separately in BOM. While this introduced some redundancy in the BOM, this resulted into reduction of many duplicated items from the BOM and thereby, from the stock. This drastically reduced the investment needed in Inventory. Items needed for development production were segregated such that production items do not get consumed in development vice-versa. The production cycle was mapped to a production process that had certain in-between milestones where items were issued and quality checks were performed. This resulted in reducing the number of days for which an item was stocked and also, control further movement of the semi finished product in case of a quality problem, such that the same could be reprocessed, rechecked for quality and forwarded only if the quality problem was resolved. Earlier the quality problem got detected only at the end of production cycle resulting in much more wastage of material, labor overheads. Marketing Manufacturing had more informed and accurate judgment of the cost and time estimates for a product at the time of accepting an order. Improved control over production process along with more accurate promise of delivery resulted in 90% on time deliveries. In case of a quality problem, only the immediately preceding steps needed to be repeated upsetting only that part of the process as against upsetting the entire process earlier. This also resulted in fewer rejections or defects in the production. Linking Sales Order right from planning stage till invoice dispatch advice virtually eliminated misplaced deliveries or wrong products being delivered. With more accurate accounting and posting of transactions, carrying out physical stock taking less frequently was also a possibility. All this was accompanied by a complete visibility over entire production process to the plant head. In this way, the project actually exceeded the anticipated benefits. Post implementation, certain benchmarks for performance were decided and periodically the cumulative actual performance was measured based upon these benchmarks. For example, Regular and extra hours needed for given quantum of production, reduction in inventory, on time delivery %, i. E delivery performance, value added during a period. Appropriate reports were designed and made available to the Finance Controller, Plant Head and the CEO. The effectiveness of stakeholder engagement activities during the project. Employees and Heads of all Departments including the Plant Head the Finance Controller were among the stakeholders. However, the main stakeholder was the CEO – he had sanctioned the investment, worked out what benefits to expect how, had a calculation of no of days within which the changeover had to be completed (termed Black Out period) and regular operations resumed on the new system. Business associates were not to be caused any disturbance due to the change over (excepting a blackout period of 5 days) and above all, a project of a given size and complexity affecting every employee in every corner of the organization had to be completed as scheduled with mathematical precision. The main stakeholder that is the CEO took a lot of interest and a keen interest in every aspect of the project. He participated in understanding, reviewing approving the requirements formulated, understood how the prototype presented offered to fulfill these requirements, he provided directions to the project team and other employees regards various activities related with the project, intervened whenever a help was sought in anticipation of a bottleneck or a deviation apprehended from the plan. He always had a positive contribution to offer in terms of identifying typical scenarios that might be encountered or regards the training of the end users or in ensuring 100% and timely attendance of the members in all project events. This propagated a clear message across that the project has to be completed, on time and with contribution from everyone with no exception and zero tolerance. He always supported implementation of new ideas like maintenance of Time Sheets for the Project Team or conducting tests to assess the learning of the trainees. He mandated the contribution to this project by an employee be counted during the periodic appraisals. In all his communications with the employees he never failed to stress the importance of the project, praising efforts of those who did well and pulling up the laggards, warning them to come up to expectations. He studied every fortnightly report with interest and took appropriate action based upon the same in time. He also attended every review presentation and tried to bring out the maximum from everyone. He ensured that not only he himself but also the Plant Head and Finance Controller provided immediate response to Project Team Members for any help or intervention desired. The same spirit was displayed both by the Plant Head as well as by the Finance Controller. They arranged for all required resources to be made available for the team. What provision was made during the development phase to facilitate roll-out during the implementation stage, and how effective this was ? Many provisions were made during the development phase to ensure a smooth roll out during the implementation stage. The provisions were related with the systems as well as with the operations. Systems : A training to the EACL Consultants was provided on the product right at the beginning of the project. Thereafter they were closely associated with the corresponding members of the CIL Team in related functions to learn from them. They were asked to take up the initiative to develop the Operational Manual for their functional area which was reviewed and finalized in consultation with EIL Consultants. They were made responsible for testing the prototype against the requirements by way of test data, preparing test data visualizing typical exceptional â€Å"scenarios† that might be encountered, carrying out an integrated testing covering certain transactions encompassing all functional areas and finally, the load testing to assess the capability of the infrastructure to sustain the number of concurrent users envisaged. They also imparted training to the end users so that they are better prepared themselves and develop a sound knowledge. They also assessed the performance of the end users by setting up question papers for these trainees. Hardware and Software requirements considering the eventual number of users was reviewed and necessary enhancements were carried out to make the infrastructure adequate for live run. Document forms and preprinted stationery in line with the standardization requirements were designed and procured in time before the switchover. Menu Access Permissions and Transaction Authorization Set Up was designed and set up in the software. Operations : There was a blackout period required to complete the processing in the old system, transfer the balances masters to the new system and resume operations in the new system. The CEO insisted that this must not exceed 5 days failing which the business may be adversely affected. As regards the provisions made in operations, certain actions were planned to be taken and completed before the commencement of the blackout period e. g. clearing deliveries against all sales orders. Certain actions were suspended for the duration of the blackout period i. e. placing fresh purchase orders or accepting deliveries. All Business Associates were informed about the changeover and the black out period preceding it to enable them to plan their activities accordingly. A detailed meeting was conducted between the Project Team, Finance Controller and the Plant Head along with all Departmental Heads and an elaborate plan of action naming the concerned responsible person was chalked out well before the beginning of the black out period. This eventually resulted into a smooth changeover with no adverse impact on the Business associates – all within a black out period of 3 days against the 5 days planned. How effective were the governance and reporting arrangements, particularly in assuring delivery to time, budget and quality, and how were key stakeholders involved – both formally and informally – in these arrangement ? There was plenty of information maintenance and reporting but the tempo set by the project never made it look like a burden. Plenty of reporting was carried out to different groups in different ways. Firstly the Project Team was made to sit close to each other to facilitate communication between them. There used to be a meeting among the team members everyday where required information on current status against the plan was exchanged. In addition, the Team Members submitted a Time Sheet giving hour wise break up of total activities planned for the day and actually carried out This constituted a critical input regards the progress of work and helped in promptly identifying potential bottlenecks and deviations for initiating suitable action. In addition, there was a meeting every day between the Project Teams of EACL CIL even if they were not at the same location. The Project Manager had a daily round of appraising the Program manager about the status of activities. In addition, Project Manager maintained a day wise information on different event / developments in the project and periodically shared the same in confidence with the Program Manager by way of an informal reporting. A weekly progress report was submitted by the Project Manager to the CEO, Plant Head, Finance Controller, Program Manager, Infrastructure Manager. Both the progress along with the anticipated bottlenecks along with remedial action planned were reflected in the report. Periodic Presentations were delivered to CEO in presence of all Departmental Heads including the Plant Head Finance Controller wherein the progress, forthcoming activities and anticipated problems and their solutions were discussed. A Centralized Project Database was maintained by IT Group at US for all IT Projects initiated worldwide. Periodically at the end of every milestone all relevant documents as prescribed in the Project Methodology were submitted to this database. This was followed by a presentation made to the Steering Committee Members comprising of senior personnel from EACL, CIL US HQ. Only upon receiving approval for a phase, the next phase was entered into. Daily interactions with Project Team with the help of Time Sheets led to assessment of the progress. Interactions between two Project Teams brought out further tasks to be initiated and provided an idea about the time estimates and criticality. Reporting to Program Manager, CEO Steering Committee resulted in receiving guidance regards the project and eliminating the bottlenecks and problems. Presentations with CEO ensured cooperation from all Departments. Thus every formal or informal communication or reporting had served its intended purpose. Besides this, there always was a freedom to make a need based call to anyone with appropriate response and action sure to come by. While the project involved a lot of work, called for detailed planning and close monitoring and had many complexities, it was also not without the lighter moments. Following every milestone, there was required to be a get together of the Project Teams and he Departmental Heads where a lot of formal and informal interaction used to take place making its own contribution to the success of the project. Scheduling such a get together following each milestone was also a part of the project plan and a subject of Project Review ! The project management methodology used and its contribution to the success (or otherwise) of the project. The Project Management Methodology followed was one that was developed by the IT Department of the Corporate IT Group itself and broadly, it was a prototype oriented methodology. It was a tried and tested methodology already put into practice at the group companies within the country. Among the very first activities in the project was to depute the Project Manager for undergoing a training on this methodology and specifically, the documentation which was standardized across all companies in the world within the group. This methodology made everything so simple to understand and help ensuring that once we start religiously practicing the methodology, we did not miss out on anything in the course of the project. Particularly noteworthy in the methodology was a process of IT Requests Management. It handled the entire process from initiating an it request to providing all required details about it to seeking and enabling required authorizations, assigning the work till completion, testing certification of the results, configuration management and finally, approving the satisfactory completion of the IT Request by the request initiator. Entire process was handled by a software, which facilitated electronic approvals to the requests. This process accepted only those IT Requests which were backed by relevant details, having appropriate authorization from the concerned departmental heads, feasibility assessment by the Functional Technical Consultants, approval by the IT Program Manager assignment of the same to functional / technical consultant for compliance. Once completed, the relevant software was tested on a separate system, approved by the IT Program Manager and only thereafter the software was allowed to be transferred to the production server. Finally the initiator of the request was required to confirm that the request has been complied with to his satisfaction – a precondition for treating it to be completed. Thus Change Management was appropriately controlled in the project. The Documents to be maintained for the project related with the quality aspects, risk assessment and mitigation, investments, benefits anticipated, project plan, impact on IT Infrastructure currently in use, manpower currently deployed so on – in short, touching all aspects that are concerning the project. The Group IT Dept at US had a Project Document Repository where the documents were required to be posted before each Steering Committee Meeting. This enforced appropriate handling of quality, risk, time, investment, benefits other aspects to be clearly defined beforehand and their achievement during the course of the project. The Project phases also included a Post Production Review phase where the post implementation benefits were compared with the anticipated benefits. As regards this project, requirements were collected and a prototype developed so as to fulfill the requirements. The prototype was demonstrated and further tuned based upon the feedback of the end users. Next, the prototype was given to the end users for testing – testing with test data, testing with specific â€Å"scenarios† prepared to test typical conditions or situations anticipated. This was followed by an integration testing i. e. testing encompassing multiple functions to test the integration and finally, the load testing to measure the adequacy of the infrastructure to support the given number of users as envisaged. After such exhaustive testing and based upon the feedback received, the prototype was fine tuned and the software set up for production. Conclusion : The Oracle 11i e Business implementation was already planned as to what needs to be implemented, how and within what time ! It touched almost all employees in all functions at all offices of the organization. The time allowed for changeover was limited to 5 days. The in-house Key Users were with no major exposure to IT and especially, ERP. Every milestone was required to be reviewed and approved by the IT Team at US the Steering Committee. All this called for a very detailed planning and an extremely time bound execution with hardly any scope for deviation. The eventual consolidation with Group Headquarters and visibility over complete data by them made it totally transparent to them, also making quality assurance a pre-requisite. Obviously with most of the major investment having already been made, the project was required to be completed within the budget. To ensure a smooth implementation, major thrust came from the CEO and continued throughout the implementation. The determining factor that led to the success of the project was the high motivational level of the project team which could be raised and sustained throughout the project. Once this was achieved, execution of every project activity became a simple affair. Another major factor was the anticipation of bottlenecks and problems raised by the Project Manager initiation of actions to control the same. Emphasis on preparation and testing of scenarios eliminated chances of facing any surprises after the implementation. Detailed planning carried out for the black out period was a significant step in ensuring a quick and smooth changeover. Thus the Project was a grand success story !

The Religion of Money in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Essay

The Religion of Money in The Great Gatsby      Ã‚  Ã‚   Near the beginning of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, Mr. Undershaft exclaims in retort of another's question, "well, I am a millionaire, and that is my religion" (Shaw 103). Many people look toward the heavens in search of the power to enable them to live in the world. Others, like Shaw's Mr. Undershaft, look toward more earthly subjects to obtain their power and symbolize their status. Often these subjects, such as money, wealth, or physical beauty and ability, give their owners an overbearing sense of power and ability in all of that they do. Some people become so obsessed with their materialistic power that it becomes their religion and leads them in everything that they do. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the character of Tom Buchanan is introduced and portrayed as someone who has allowed his physical abilities, money, and wealth, become his religion and lead him in his actions, perceived thoughts and beliefs, and speech.    Nick, the first person narrator of The Great Gatsby, introduces Tom as a "national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savours of anti-climax" (Fitzgerald 10). In college at New Haven, Tom relied on his physical abilities, as "one of the most powerful ends that ever played football" (Fitzgerald 10), as well as inherited wealth to give him the power and prestige to be perceived as better than the best. In the beginning of his college career, as Nick seems to suggest, it was this supreme physical ability on the football field that allowed Tom to have supreme reign over all off the field. But, after college, the football legacy ended, and with it, Tom'... ...lected to "make a short deft movement [that] broke her nose with his open hand" (Fitzgerald 41) rather than admit that the other party could do something without his explicit permission.    From his first introduction early in the first chapter of The Great Gatsby to the end of the second, Tom strives to constantly remind everyone around him of his power through his actions, thoughts, and speech. Like royal subjects loyal to their king, he believes that everyone is under him and should respect and obey his every wish. Through the mastery of Fitzgerald's poetic hand, a character has been created to which wealth has become a religion and god has become a personification of himself.    Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner-Simon, 1992. Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion and Major Barbara. New York: Bantom Books, 1992.

Original Writing Coursework

I always knew I was different, but it wasn't until I hit the 4 or 5 mark, when I first started interacting with other children my age, that I realised I wasn't normal, and in this culture, not being normal, was bad. I started to realise I was unique in lots of small situations, such as in class the teachers would ask us if we knew the answer, the other children would comply and quite often get it wrong. How often I lay awake wondering, if they could do what I do, would there be any need for this? Is it all a sham? That was when the paranoia set in, the endless tumbling or random thoughts in my mind as they swirled around questioning every flicker in another persons eye, every dodgy look sent my way was examined analysed and pondered. At such a young age of course this had a negative impact on me, and I was very much alone in that place, as the other children avoided me because in my own way I shunned them, alienated them, to afraid to get to close to them, to insecure really, all bec ause of this, this ‘gift' I had. If I was a second rate charlatan, in some country fete that sat in the back of a dark tent with a scrap of cloth across my eyes, I would claim I could read minds, and then it would be a case of off I go to the mental hospital; â€Å"Hello miss, I can read your mind, and I know just how much you despise us and if you had your way you would hang us from the third floor window.† No. This is not what people want to know, just imagine how much they would spurn you, if they knew just how deeply into them you could travel, just how closely you could experience their emotions, like a rollercoaster, a back seat passenger in the ride of their life. So I kept quiet, and eventually over the years I have learned how to use my gift to my own advantage, and yes, I call it my gift because, as I like to imagine, it was given to me for some higher reason. Why? You ask, wondering why such an amazing thing would be bestowed upon some middle-class girl with no real experiences under her belt except the ones she has felt through leaching the minds of others. Maybe that is the answer to your question, give a girl, exactly the same as me in every way, apart from she has grown up in a starving family of seven, their every day, week, month is a struggle for ample food and warmth. How overwhelming would my gift be to that poor girl? Not only is she experiencing her own torrid state, but sevenfold from her extensive, suffering family. Do you think she could handle this? Would she be able to explore it? Question it? Try to understand it to the extent I have? I often like to think there was a reason I was chosen, not just a freak clash of genetics in the womb and hey-presto she's a mutant. Every day I wonder how and why I will use it, and I hope one day it will become clear, that my mind will suddenly expand and I will just know, like in those films you see and everything is so blurry and out of focus to them and some divine intervention occurs and it all becomes razor sharp and resolute. Until then I continue as normal, living every day as easily as I can, learning always the extend and limitations of my abilities, such as I can't send thoughts, I seem to be more like a receiver than a transmitter. However on one very unusual day it seemed that I linked the minds of two people, I've never really understood how, or why, or even if it really took place, but deep down I know that I did, and it has perplexed me ever since . The two subjects were a boy and a girl, they had only one class with me, and in this class they were forever holding hands, continuously whispering and having those shared ‘moments' which they find so special but the rest of the room find nauseating. Anyway, I was on something I like to call ‘open mode' where I allow the shallow superficial thoughts of the people in the room to wash over me, meaning it needs little or no concentration from me, and I found it very soothing. However a sharp spike of emotion punctured the noise, which in a metaphorical sense is very much like screaming into a noisy room, everything went silent as my gift zoomed in on this one particular mind. It turned out to be the boy, who was sat at the back with this girl, his arm casually slung across the back of her chair, his face lit up with easy laughter, but his thoughts were like dirt, they had an aura of a bad smell which left me nauseated. As it turned out the boy was sleeping with his girlfriends so called best friend and my god did he revel in it! It wasn't just the smug masculine thought of it, he was actually proud of himself, of the thought he could break this girls heart to pieces if he wanted, he loved the control and had absolutely no compassion for this girl he was cruelly playing. How angry I was, that this boy even dared to do something like this, and then so nonchalantly continue, be so happy about what he was doing, in some small way I pitied him, but only very briefly, and this small shred was overwhelmed and converted to anger as quickly as it had occurred. How I wished the girl could know, that she could see this cess pit lurking behind this pretty boy faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade, and I think that's what did it, my pure raw emotion connected the two, only briefly, but it was enough. The girl must of seen something in the boy, a glimpse of what I had encountered, and it scared her, so much so that she distanced he rself from him, she never did fully realise why she ran away from him, but ultimately I think she knew she had done the right thing, she had spared herself. See is this what I'm here for? To protect girls from their unfaithful other halves? I like to think not, but at the same time I was just happy I was accomplishing something with my gift, at a time when I was still to naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve to know what I could really accomplish, just how far I could go. For years I wondered what I was to become, I did well in all my exams, as the questions I didn't know I could glean from the minds of others, and yes it is cheating, but no-where in the rules is mind reading prohibited, so I used it to my advantage. Even when my education was over I was still perplexed, every day was a constant annoyance as I tried to figure out how best to use my gift, to what mundane earthly job was it suited for? I quizzed myself non-stop, losing sleep and growing more irritable, and at this point I lived alone in a small shabby flat in Sheffield, so I was allowed no reprieve from my thoughts. I was working a full time job in the local supermarket, taking a gap year to save some money before I finally got my act together and applied at a university, finally figured my sorry state out. And yes eventually it did happen, like I had hoped it would a blinding flash of illumination came over me, it wasn't anywhere special, there was no earth-shattering clash of thunder, the heavens didn't suddenly open, no. I was sat talking on my phone, my frozen hands clutching the small thing to my ear and my entire body shook continuously to warm itself up. We were talking about mindless girl stuff if I remember, she was telling me about some show she had been watching, and oh it was so exciting and I just had to see it, well me being an ice block I just murmured back an unintelligible response. Suddenly she stopped her babbling and started tutting and sighing theatrically. ‘I honestly don't know who writes all this, but it's all lies anyway.' Being quite used to her vague tangents I inquired further, ‘Well these bloody Politicians' came back her heated answer, ‘They just get someone else to write their speeches and cart out the same old promises year after year, and how much of it is ever actually put into practice? None' However I had stopped listening to her, because this was what I had been waiting for, babbling excitedly into the phone I apologised profusely to her and promised to call her back later. No longer cold from my excitement I keyed in my parents home number from memory, almost falling over in my tension as it rang. ‘Hello?' My Dad. Breathless I gabbled into the phone ‘Dad, I want to be a Politician.'