Safaricom free essay sample

Do you have a strategy to grow your business that is aligned with your vision? Are your business and support units aligned with organization strategy? Are employees and the work they do aligned with strategy and a shared vision for the future? How are you keeping score and communicating performance progress internally and externally toward goals? If you would like to develop an aligned business strategy, and measure and communicate with clarity how well you are executing your strategy, then a strategy-based balanced scorecard system may be what you need. By Howard Rohm President and CEO Balanced Scorecard Institute â€Å"Balanced scorecard† means different things to different people. At one extreme, measurement-based balanced scorecards are simple Mark Malinoski dashboards of performance measures grouped into categories that Founder, RKS Innovations are of interest primarily to an organization’s managers and executives. Typical categories include financial measures, and customer, process, and organization capacity measures. We will write a custom essay sample on Safaricom or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Measurement-based scorecards almost always report on operational performance measures, and offer little strategic insight into the way an organization creates value for its customers and other stakeholders. At the other extreme, a strategic performance scorecard system is an organization-wide integrated strategic planning, management and measurement system. Strategy-based scorecards align the work people do with corporate vision and strategy, and communicate strategic intent throughout the organization. In other words, these systems incorporate the culture of the organization into the management system. In strategy-based scorecards, performance measures are only one of several important components, and the measures are used to better inform decision making at all levels in the organization. In strategy-based balanced scorecard systems, performance measures are the result of thinking about business strategy first, to measure progress toward goals. In strategy-based systems, the first question to answer is the strategic question: â€Å"Are we doing the right things? † The operations, process, and tactical questions come later: â€Å"Are we doing things right†. Over the past decade balanced scorecards have evolved from systems that simply measure performance to holistic strategic planning and management systems that help manage and track strategy execution. Despite this evolution, the majority of balanced scorecards that we have seen over the past 10 years use a â€Å"just give me the measures† philosophy. These measure-centric dashboard scorecards are interesting, but not very robust and not 975 Walnut Street, Suite 360 . Cary, North Carolina 27511 USA . Phone: 919. 460. 8180 Fax 919. 460. 0867 . www. balancedscorecard. org Strategy-Based Balanced Scorecards for Technology Companies – Page 2 of 14 nearly as helpful as they could be. These scorecards remind me of the old Wendy’s commercial: â€Å"Where’s the beef? † Strategy-based scorecard systems, on the other hand, create a â€Å"strategic thinking† mentality in an organization, and can help lift the organization and its workforce to a higher, more performance-oriented way to think and work. Each organization is unique, and there is no â€Å"one scorecard fits all† solution. This article describes how to develop a strategy-based balanced scorecard system for technology companies. We’ll share some lessons learned from developing strategic performance scorecard systems in dozens of businesses and industries over the past 10 years. The Balanced Scorecard as a Technology Company’s Strategic Planning and Management System Technology company management teams are challenged by: ? ? ? ? ? Rapidly shrinking product cycles Recruiting, retaining and rewarding technology talent Making and communicating critical product development decisions Tracking the evolution of customer feature demands and use models Disruptive, enabling technologies that can invalidate products or entire business models In addition, executives rarely communicate the strategic manner in which the business is being directed. The typical result is disagreement and misalignment in how these challenges are perceived and addressed throughout the company. Any technology company strategy needs to embrace these challenges. Strategy is a company’s approach to achieving its visionit’s the organization’s â€Å"game plan† for success. One thing the technology company’s strategy needs to define is how it will measure product planning and development success. Strategy needs to define how ideas are advanced into opportunities. Passionate technology workers need to know why their ideas and views were embraced, delayed, or discarded. Strategy must describe the timing of such considerations, so that investments in programs underway are protected from an ill-timed innovation capturing the minds of employees. Similarly, programs that are off track need to sound alarms so that corrective action can be taken. Strategy needs to guide when and how to sound those alarms and ensure necessary corrections are taken. Strategy needs to dictate tracking customer feature evolution, and if the company wields the core technology its products need to be successful in the marketplace. Using a balanced scorecard as the strategic planning and management framework allows a company to deal with these and other issues that matter to creating value for customers and stakeholders, such as process efficiency, financial performance, and organizational capacity and readiness. Starting with a strategic view of how the organization creates value for customers, a scorecard system links strategy to what must be done operationally to be successful. Good scorecard systems focus on the critical few performance measures that provide real business intelligence and contribute to the achievement of operational excellence, employee excellence, and business success. But more important, these systems focus on the elements of strategy that can be made actionable – strategic objectives that are the building blocks of strategy. 975 Walnut Street, Suite 360 . Cary, North Carolina 27511 USA . Phone: 919. 460. 8180 Fax 919. 460. 0867 . www. balancedscorecard. org Strategy-Based Balanced Scorecards for Technology Companies – Page 3 of 14 Developing a Technology Company Balanced Scorecard System The logic of building a scorecard system and using the system as the organization’s strategic planning and management framework starts with an understanding of the organization’s customers and stakeholders, and their needs. The management team then develops and validates the strategic components of the management system. The components include mission, vision, core values, strategic perspectives (i. . , performance dimensions), strategic themes and desired strategic results, strategic objectives, an organization-wide strategy map, performance measures and targets, and strategic initiatives aligned with the objectives. Strategy is the common thread through the scorecard system and forms the basis for communicating the organization’s approach for gaining competitive advantage (for a business), or in the case of a public or nonprofit organization, for improving mission effectiveness for stakeholders.

Harry Houdini - The Great Escape Artist

Harry Houdini - The Great Escape Artist Harry Houdini remains one of the most famous magicians in history. Although Houdini could do card tricks and traditional magic acts, he was most famous for his ability to escape from what seemed like anything and everything, including ropes, handcuffs, straightjackets, jail cells, water-filled milk cans, and even nailed-shut boxes that had been thrown into a river. After World War I, Houdini turned his knowledge about deception against Spiritualists who claimed to be able to contact the dead. Then, at age 52, Houdini died mysteriously after being hit in the abdomen. Dates: March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926 Also Known As: Ehrich Weisz, Ehrich Weiss, The Great Houdini Houdini’s Childhood Throughout his life, Houdini propagated many legends about his beginnings, which have so oft been repeated that it has been difficult for historians to piece together the true story of Houdini’s childhood. However, it is believed that Harry Houdini was born Ehrich Weisz on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary. His mother, Cecilia Weisz (neà © Steiner), had six children (five boys and one girl) of which Houdini was the fourth child. Houdini’s father, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz, also had a son from a previous marriage. With conditions looking bleak for Jews in Eastern Europe, Mayer decided to emigrate from Hungary to the United States. He had a friend who lived in the very small town of Appleton, Wisconsin, and so Mayer moved there, where he helped form a small synagogue. Cecilia and the children soon followed Mayer to America when Houdini was about four years old. While entering into the U.S., immigration officials changed the family’s name from Weisz to Weiss. Unfortunately for the Weiss family, Mayer’s congregation soon decided that he was too old-fashioned for them and let him go after only a few years. Despite being able to speak three languages (Hungarian, German, and Yiddish), Mayer couldn’t speak English-   a serious drawback for a man trying to find a job in America. In December 1882, when Houdini was eight years old, Mayer moved his family to the much larger city of Milwaukee, hoping for better opportunities. With the family in dire financial straits, the children got jobs to help support the family. This included Houdini, who worked odd jobs selling newspapers, shining shoes, and running errands. In his spare time, Houdini read library books regarding magic tricks and contortionist movements. At age nine, Houdini and some friends established a five-cent circus, where he wore red woolen stockings and called himself Ehrich, Prince of the Air.† At age eleven, Houdini worked as a locksmith apprentice. When Houdini was about 12 years old, the Weiss family moved to New York City. While Mayer tutored students in Hebrew, Houdini found a job cutting fabrics into strips for neckties. Despite working hard, the Weiss family was always short on money. This forced Houdini to use both his cleverness and confidence to find innovative ways to make a little extra money. In his spare time, Houdini proved himself a natural athlete, who enjoyed running, swimming, and bicycling. Houdini even received several medals in cross-country track competitions. The Creation of Harry Houdini At age fifteen, Houdini discovered the magician’s book, Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, Ambassador, Author, and Conjurer, Written by Himself. Houdini was mesmerized by the book and stayed up all night reading it. He later stated that this book truly sparked his enthusiasm for magic. Houdini would eventually read all of Robert-Houdin’s books, absorbing the stories and advice contained within. Through these books, Robert-Houdin (1805-1871) became a hero and a role model to Houdini. To get started on this new passion, the young Ehrich Weiss needed a stage name. Jacob Hyman, a friend of Houdini’s, told Weiss that there was a French custom that if you add the letter â€Å"I† to the end of your mentor’s name it showed admiration. Adding an â€Å"I† to â€Å"Houdin† resulted in â€Å"Houdini.† For a first name, Ehrich Weiss chose â€Å"Harry,† the Americanized version of his nickname â€Å"Ehrie.† He then combined â€Å"Harry† with â€Å"Houdini,† to create the now famous name â€Å"Harry Houdini.† Liking the name so much, Weiss and Hyman partnered together and called themselves â€Å"The Brothers Houdini.† In 1891, the Brothers Houdini performed card tricks, coin swaps, and disappearing acts at Huber’s Museum in New York City and also at Coney Island during the summer. About this time, Houdini purchased a magician trick (magicians often bought tricks of the trade from each other) called Metamorphosis that involved two people trading places in a locked trunk onstage behind a screen. In 1893, the Brothers Houdini were allowed a spot to perform outside the world’s fair in Chicago. By this time, Hyman had left the act and had been replaced by Houdini’s real brother, Theo (â€Å"Dash†). Houdini Marries Bessie and Joins the Circus After the fair, Houdini and his brother returned to Coney Island, where they performed at the same hall as the singing and dancing Floral Sisters. It wasn’t long before a romance blossomed between 20-year-old Houdini and 18-year-old Wilhelmina Beatrice (â€Å"Bess†) Rahner of the Floral Sisters. After a three-week courtship, Houdini and Bess were married on June 22, 1894. With Bess being of petite stature, she soon replaced Dash as Houdini’s partner since she was better able to hide inside various boxes and trunks in vanishing acts. Bess and Houdini called themselves Monsieur and Mademoiselle Houdini, Mysterious Harry and LaPetite Bessie, or The Great Houdinis. The Houdinis performed for a couple of years in dime museums and then in 1896, the Houdinis went to work in the Welsh Brothers Traveling Circus. Bess sang songs while Houdini did magic tricks, and together they performed the Metamorphosis act. The Houdinis Join Vaudeville and a Medicine Show In 1896, when the circus season ended, the Houdinis joined a traveling vaudeville show. During this show, Houdini added a handcuff-escape trick to the Metamorphosis act. In each new town, Houdini would visit the local police station and announce that he could escape from any handcuffs they put on him. Crowds would gather to watch as Houdini easily escaped. These pre-show exploits were often covered by a local newspaper, creating publicity for the vaudeville show. To keep audiences further amused, Houdini decided to escape from a straitjacket, using his agility and flexibility to wiggle free from it. When the vaudeville show ended, the Houdinis scrambled to find work, even contemplating work other than magic. Thus, when they were offered a position with Dr. Hill’s California Concert Company, an old-time traveling medicine show selling a tonic that â€Å"could cure just about anything,† they accepted. In the medicine show, Houdini once again performed his escape acts; however, when attendance numbers began to dwindle, Dr. Hill asked Houdini if he could transform himself into a spirit medium. Houdini was already familiar with many of the spirit medium’s tricks and so he began leading sà ©ances while Bess performed as a clairvoyant claiming to have psychic gifts. The Houdinis were very successful pretending to be spiritualists because they always did their research. As soon as they pulled into a new town, the Houdinis would read recent obituaries and visit graveyards to seek the names of the newly dead. They would also subtly listen to town gossip. All this allowed them to piece together enough information to convince crowds that the Houdinis were real spiritualists with amazing powers to contact the dead. However, feelings of guilt about lying to grief-stricken people eventually became overwhelming and the Houdinis ultimately quit the show. Houdini’s Big Break With no other prospects, the Houdinis went back to performing with the Welsh Brothers Traveling Circus. While performing in Chicago in 1899, Houdini once again performed his police station stunt of escaping handcuffs, but this time it was different. Houdini had been invited into a room full of 200 people, mostly policemen, and spent 45 minutes shocking everyone in the room as he escaped from everything the police had. The following day, The Chicago Journal ran the headline â€Å"Amazes the Detectives† with a large drawing of Houdini. The publicity surrounding Houdini and his handcuff act caught the eye of Martin Beck, the head of the Orpheum theater circuit, who signed him for a one-year contract. Houdini was to perform the handcuff escape act and Metamorphosis at the classy Orpheum theaters in Omaha, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, and San Francisco. Houdini was finally rising from obscurity and into the spotlight. Houdini Becomes an International Star In the spring of 1900, 26-year-old Houdini, exuding confidence as â€Å"The King of Handcuffs,† left for Europe in the hopes of finding success. His first stop was London, where Houdini performed at the Alhambra Theater. While there, Houdini was challenged to escape from Scotland Yard’s handcuffs. As always, Houdini escaped and the theater was filled every night for months. The Houdinis went on to perform in Dresden, Germany, at the Central Theater, where ticket sales broke records. For five years, Houdini and Bess performed throughout Europe and even in Russia, with tickets often selling out ahead of time for their performances. Houdini had become an international star. Houdini’s Death-Defying Stunts In 1905, the Houdinis decided to head back to the United States and try to win fame and fortune there as well. Houdini’s specialty had become escapes. In 1906, Houdini escaped from jail cells in Brooklyn, Detroit, Cleveland, Rochester, and Buffalo. In Washington D.C., Houdini performed a widely publicized escape act involving the former jail cell of Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President James A. Garfield. Stripped and wearing handcuffs supplied by the Secret Service, Houdini freed himself from the locked cell, and then unlocked the adjoining cell where his clothes were waiting all within 18 minutes. However, escaping just from handcuffs or jail cells was no longer enough to get the public’s attention. Houdini needed new, death-defying stunts. In 1907, Houdini unveiled a dangerous stunt in Rochester, N.Y., where, with his hands handcuffed behind his back, he jumped from a bridge into a river. Then in 1908, Houdini introduced the dramatic Milk Can Escape, where he was locked inside a sealed milk can filled with water. The performances were huge hits. The drama and flirting with death made Houdini even more popular. In 1912, Houdini created the Underwater Box Escape. In front of a huge crowd along New Yorks East River, Houdini was handcuffed and manacled, placed inside a box, locked in, and thrown into the river. When he escaped just moments later, everyone cheered. Even the magazine Scientific American was impressed and proclaimed Houdini’s feat as one of the most remarkable tricks ever performed. In September of 1912, Houdini debuted his famous Chinese Water Torture Cell escape at the Circus Busch in Berlin. For this trick, Houdini was handcuffed and shackled and then lowered, head first, into a tall glass box that had been filled with water. Assistants would then pull a curtain in front of the glass; moments later, Houdini would emerge, wet but alive. This became one of Houdini’s most famous tricks. It seemed like there was nothing Houdini could not escape from and nothing he could not make audiences believe. He was even able to make Jennie the elephant disappear! World War I and Acting When the U.S. joined World War I, Houdini tried to enlist in the army. However, since he was already 43-years old, he was not accepted. Nonetheless, Houdini spent the war years entertaining soldiers with free performances. When the war was drawing to a close, Houdini decided to try acting. He hoped that motion pictures would be a new way for him to reach mass audiences. Signed by Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount Pictures, Houdini starred in his first motion picture in 1919, a 15-episode serial titled The Master Mystery. He also starred in The Grim Game (1919), and Terror Island (1920). However, the two feature films did not do well at the box office. Confident it was bad management that had caused the movies to flop, the Houdinis returned to New York and founded their own film company, the Houdini Picture Corporation. Houdini then produced and starred in two of his own films, The Man From Beyond (1922) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923). These two films also bombed at the box office, leading Houdini to the conclusion that it was time to give up on moviemaking. Houdini Challenges Spiritualists At the end of World War I, there was a huge surge in people believing in Spiritualism. With millions of young men dead from the war, their grieving families looked for ways to contact them â€Å"beyond the grave.† Psychics, spirit mediums, mystics, and others emerged to fill this need. Houdini was curious but skeptical. He, of course, had pretended to be a gifted spirit medium back in his days with Dr. Hill’s medicine show and thus knew many of the fake medium’s tricks. However, if it were possible to contact the dead, he would love to once again talk to his beloved mother, who had passed away in 1913. Thus Houdini visited a large number of mediums and attended hundreds of sà ©ances hoping to find a real psychic; unfortunately, he found every one of them to be a fake. Along this quest, Houdini befriended famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a devoted believer in Spiritualism after having lost his son in the war. The two great men exchanged many letters, debating the truthfulness of Spiritualism. In their relationship, Houdini was the one always looking for rational answers behind the encounters and Doyle remained the devoted believer. The friendship ended after Lady Doyle held a sà ©ance in which she claimed to channel automatic-writing from Houdini’s mother. Houdini was not convinced. Among other issues with the writing was that it was all in English, a language Houdini’s mother never spoke. The friendship between Houdini and Doyle ended bitterly and led to many antagonistic attacks against each other in newspapers. Houdini began to expose the tricks used by mediums. He gave lectures on the topic and often included demonstrations of these tricks during his own performances. He joined a committee organized by Scientific American who analyzed claims for a $2,500 prize for a true psychic phenomena (no one ever received the prize). Houdini also spoke in front of the U.S. House of Representatives, supporting a proposed bill that would ban telling fortunes for pay in Washington D.C. The result was that even though Houdini brought about some skepticism, it seemed to create more interest in Spiritualism. However, many Spiritualists were extremely upset at Houdini and Houdini received a number of death threats. Death of Houdini On October 22, 1926, Houdini was in his dressing room preparing for a show at McGill University in Montreal, when one of the three students he had invited backstage asked if Houdini really could withstand a strong punch to his upper torso. Houdini answered that he could. The student, J. Gordon Whitehead, then asked Houdini if he could punch him. Houdini agreed and started to get up off a couch when Whitehead punched him three times in the abdomen before Houdini had a chance to tense his stomach muscles. Houdini turned visibly pale and the students left. To Houdini, the show must always go on. Suffering from severe pain, Houdini performed the show at McGill University and then went on to do two more the following day. Moving on to Detroit that evening, Houdini grew weak and suffered from stomach pain and fever. Instead of going to the hospital, he once again went on with the show, and collapsed offstage. He was taken to a hospital and it was discovered that not only had his appendix burst, it was showing signs of gangrene. The next afternoon surgeons removed his appendix. The next day his condition worsened; they operated on him again. Houdini told Bess that if he died he would try to contact her from the grave, giving her a secret code - â€Å"Rosabelle, believe.† Houdini died at 1:26 p.m. on Halloween day, October 31, 1926. He was 52-years old. Headlines immediately read â€Å"Was Houdini Murdered?† Did he really have appendicitis? Was he poisoned? Why was there no autopsy? Houdini’s life insurance company investigated his death and ruled out foul play, but for many, uncertainty regarding the cause of Houdini’s death lingers. For years after his death, Bess attempted to contact Houdini through sà ©ances, but Houdini never contacted her from beyond the grave.

Analysis of Windows Operating System and Microsoft

Analysis of Windows Operating System and Microsoft What is Windows? Windows is a personal computer operating system from Microsoft that, together with some commonly used business applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel, has become a de facto â€Å"standard† for individual users in most corporations as well as in most homes. It provides a graphical user interface (GUI), virtual memory management, multitasking, and support for many peripheral devices. According to OneStat.com, as of August, 2006, Windows as a whole dominates the personal computer world, running on about 97% of the operating system market share, with XP accounting for about 87% of that. In comparison Mac OS has about 2% and Linux (with all distributions) about .36% The reason why this is so is mainly because Windows is much more user friendly and everything comes pre-packaged so user just have to run the application and follow instructions for it to install. There are many versions of Windows Operating System available namely: Windows 286 W indows 386 Windows 3.0 and 3.11 Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows NT Windows 2000 Windows CE for use in small mobile computers Windows Me Windows XP Windows Vista Windows 7 Among all those versions, Windows XP is the most popular one and it is used by 61.9 percent of Internet users, according to data from Net Applications, followed by Windows 7 which has 14.46 percent of users and Vista -14.34 percent. A Brief Story On Windows Windows mainly concentrated on providing an operating system which was user-friendly, stable and less prone to crashes when they were implementing earlier versions. Now, even though XP is generally referred to being stable and efficient compared to other copies of Windows, it is still critised for being overly susceptible to security risks. Therefore the successor of XP- Vista, released in January of 2007 was designed in such a way so as it provides more security. The transition time between Vista and XP is the longest one between versions of windows. Vulnerabilities Of Windows What is vulnerability? – â€Å"It is a weakness that makes a threat possible. â€Å" These vulnerabilities are used by attackers who exploits them to convey multiple attack, including enticing the users to open harmful and malicious media or to visit website which has a lot of viruses. These can have a lot of consequences. In the worst case, a hacker or attacker can get full access to the computer. Fortunately, windows provide a lot of solution to these vulnerabilities. The user just has to install the appropriate Microsoft patches or they are sometimes installed automatically with the help of Windows Update. Window Update Vulnerabilities can be compared to holes. They are like holes in the system. Windows periodically releases security patches mostly as Window Updates to fix those defects. There exists different level of security known as the â€Å"security level system† in Windows which describes the different levels of security holes: A critical security hole is â€Å"a vulnerability whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action.† An important hole is â€Å" A vulnerability whoses exploitation could result in compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of user’s data, or of the integrity or availability of processing recources.†

Glaciation in Ohio and impacts of glaciation in Ohio Essay

Glaciation in Ohio and impacts of glaciation in Ohio - Essay Example The most important impact of glaciation is the materials that have been left behind by the sheets of ice. These materials includes particles of clay, sand, gravel and rock debris. Most of the materials that had been deposited both above and under the surface of water as a result of glaciation has resulted in formation of geographical features called eskers and kames (Peacefull, 1996). The numerous kames that are found in Portage and Summit counties are a result of deposition of glaciation materials in-between ice sheets that protruded southwards. Comparatively eskers are rare in Ohio although one may encounter eskers in Portage County. Another major impact of glaciation in Ohio is the formation of the glacial lakes. The deposits of these lakes were primarily constituted of fine clay and silt particles. Changes in the drainage pattern of Ohio is also a result of glaciation which disrupted the northwest flow of the River Teays and its tributaries which helped in the formation of Lake Tight in southern

Produce a critical interpretation of the geographies represented in a Dissertation

Produce a critical interpretation of the geographies represented in a selected advertisement, set of advertisements, or advertis - Dissertation Example A critical geography of the advertisements reveal that, underneath the moralistic overtones and admittedly positive social messages, there is insidious propaganda and micro-politicking at work designed to advance specific partisan agendas. Having the moral high ground is of unimaginable importance in politics. Being associated with values has been a major success for the Republican party in America: Democrats can win an advantage in the perceptions of being able to handle domestic and economic issues, but the Republicans are associated with a strong moral compass provided overwhelmingly by traditional Christian values. This itself is an immense propaganda success. First of all, as Gallup has pointed out, in fact Republicans and Democrats are often dead-even in public perceptions of their values, and certainly Republican scandals have not helped the party in securing a consistent values victory: The fact that it is a political bromide that Republicans won the values war shows itself h ow good the Republicans have been in terms of presenting a mystique of a values-based party (2006, p. 526-527). â€Å"For example, the persistent claim that President Bush’s re-election was the result of a â€Å"moral values† revolt by Christians has been seriously overblown. After all, Bush actually received more votes (and a higher percentage of votes) from those who said terrorism was the most important issue than he did from those who identified moral values as the key to their electoral behavior† (Wise, 2005). To be clear, then: The commodity these adverts try to sell is values. They try to get voters and Christian viewers to associate themselves with conservative channels, and they are part of a political campaign. Their analysis in terms of critical geography has to be like political advertisements, which are also carefully controlled to be disagreeable to as few people as possible within the selected geography or micro-geography while energizing the base sufficiently. These adverts play well in heartland Republican America, red states away from the coasts. America as a space, both outdoors and indoors, city and country, is represented as a place of uniform and unchanging values; a Christian nation with a strong bedrock of decency. Second, a fact that we will return to, it is simply not the case that evangelicals or people with religious values vote Republican: White evangelicals do. Black evangelicals and devout Latina/o Catholics, as well as Jews and Catholics in general, far more strongly trend Democratic. â€Å"The racial voting gap was especially pronounced among evangelical Christians. This isparticularly important, given the inane pronouncements about how evangelicals were responsible for Bush’s victory. Fact is, only white evangelicals elevate their provincial moral concerns above classical conceptions of self-interest. Black evangelicals — a sizable group to be sure — voted against Bush by margins of a t least four to one, despite often agreeing with conservatives on certain issues like abortion, gay rights or prayer in schools. But white evangelicals and â€Å"born again Christians† voted 78-21 for Bush, a huge increase from the 62 percent average received by the Republican candidate in the two previous Presidential contests† (Wise, 2005). In fact, the race gap is a far bigger gap in terms of predicting votes in American elections than the geographic, gender, and even class gap! Third: Democrats have

How Jack Bellews Speech Affects the Plot of Nella Larsens Passing

The term "passing" is shorthand for a racial passing which means people of one race passing for another. Nella Larsen's Passing is the story about two light-skinned women, who both have African blood. Clare Kendry is one of them who chooses and succeeds at "passing" and Irene Redfield is one who doesn't. They drive into each other twelve years later in a restaurant and Clare invites Irene to the tea party. The tea party which appears in the beginning of the story plays an important role throughout of the story because Jack Bellew enters the story at that moment. Jack is the white man who has a strong revulsion to African-Americans. He marries Clare, without knowing her secret ancestry. Jack's statements at the tea party lead the main characters' transformation throughout the story and shape the ending as well. Jack's disgust in colored people and assertion of his hate toward Negroes impact Clare Kendry, his wife, to re-estimate her value of life. When Clare and Irene run into each other at the restaurant, Clare is confident of her `passing' and is even sorry to those who didn't do the same thing. Passing to the white society is "even worth the price" to Clare (160). She believes that wealth is everybody's final desire and by passing she achieves that in a "frightfully easy" way (158). However she doubts her confidence on her passed life since the tea party in her house. At the tea party, Jack says words which humiliates African-Americans and shows how he hates Negroes (171-172). Against his statements, Irene exposes that Jack is "surrounded by three black devils" (172). It is significant that Irene includes Clare as one of the "black devils." This implies that Irene classifies Clare as a part of the black community even... ...at Jack didn't show up frequently during the story but his words which had spoken at the tea party remain and continuously affect Irene and Clare. After the tea party Clare finds her happiness is no longer coming from being an upper class and having wealth but she confirms that she belongs to the black society and is happy to mingle with them. Also Irene who always concerning safety and put it up as the most important thing in her life turns out to thinking about others beside security; those are considering herself and relationship with husband . Clare's death, the ending of the story, was already foreseen at the tea party by Jack and followed by his words. Without doubt Jack Bellew was the character who opens up the story and also, finishes up the story. Work cited Nella, Larsen. Quicksand and Passing. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University press, 2002

Mesopotamia Cultures Contribution to the Western Civilization

Western civilization traces its origin from the cultures of the ancient Near East. This is where the people of Egypt and Mesopotamia developed some organized communities and institutions which can be associated with civilization. The Romans and Greeks played a big role in the development of the Western civilization, the two societies borrowed heavily from the people who lived in the Near East. They were influenced and nurtured by the Mesopotamia societies who lived in this area of the Near East. The Romans and the Greeks served as the transmitters of the culture from the Near East to the other parts of Europe. Dowling,M 2007) The Mesopotamia and Egypt started to build cities at around 3000 BC. They developing writing as a method through which they were to keep records. The same cultures build monumental structures for their gods and as a way to preserve their cultures. (Kramwel, S 1969 45)The cultures had a political ,social ,military and a religious system which dealt with the basic problems that human being experienced . Human civilization is thought to have began in this area where two society are credited with the ancient civilization. Western civilization is based on the first sophisticated cultures which were found in Mesopotamia. It had so many elements of the culture from the Mesopotamia region, this proves the fact that Mesopotamia cultures contributed greatly towards the Western civilization. Mesopotamia was the first society to have a full system of social order. It had a government, cities and a culture that characterized what is found in western societies save for the little modifications and influences from the other cultures from different parts of the world. Many architectural structures in the Western societies have their origin from the cultures that existed in this region between rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The first people to occupy this area were the Sumerians. These people displayed all the characteristics of an advancing civilization. They had cities such as Ur; Eridu and Uruk. The cities were governed by a system which was theocratic in nature. The government controlled the economic activities that took place here. Therefore the semblance of the government appeared in this culture for the first time, it developed over time to be what it is today. The Western societies government systems were a modification of the structures that existed during the Mesopotamia civilization. It was the function of the government to ensure that there was order in the society. In this culture the government was charged with the role of ensuring that people followed the laid down laws. In the western civilization we had the forces which were structured in the same manner as the law and order maintenance forces. (Feverstein, G 2001 134) In the Mesopotamia society there was a set of hierarchy which consisted of the nobles, common people and slaves, each class of the people had a role to play with the nobles as the rulers of the society and occupiers of the highest class in the whole societies. The kingdoms in the western civilization were designed in the same manners where we had the kings and queens together with their families and close relatives making the royal family, there were the commoners and at the bottom of the ladder there were the slaves who were mainly the servants for the royal families and other rich families. As the war broke out in the Mesopotamia region, the Akkadians took over where they introduced and developed the city states and a complete law system. The city states had a government of their own and laws that were made by the council of selected people who represented the rest of the society. The Western societies later emerged with a complete system where we had states or empires which were mostly ruled by the kings and queens, these empires were structured in the same way as the city states that were common in the Mesopotamia region. The rules and laws that were made by the king and his council borrowed heavily from the cultures in the Mesopotamia. The Roman Empire is one of the best examples that had structures resembling the government systems that existed in Mesopotamia. This later spread out the other regions in Europe where several city states were formed in the same systems that were found in the Roman empire which had great influence from the cultures from the near East. (Feverstein, G 2001 154) Mesopotamia cultures did not just leave a government system ,they left other characteristics which were picked by other societies and later spread far and wide where their influence is still felt up to this time. The Sumerians people are believed to be the first people to have conceived the art of writing. This art is believed to have been discovered as a result of a need that emerged in this society. When people started to produce crops, there was surplus which they sold to those who did not have. There was a need of keeping proper records for the produce from the farms. This led to the discovery of a form of writing which helped in the further improvement of agriculture. The scribes formed a very important part of the society in this ancient civilization. The kept records and helped in drafting documents for the government, they were respected people in the society as they helped preserve the culture of the Mesopotamia people. The writing systems spread to other parts of the world going through modifications in the Western Europe region to produce what we have today. Mesopotamia cultures are credited with contributing such an important elements to different cultures around the world. Though there were other forms of writings in the different parts of the world especially in China, this near east ancient civilization is believed to have played a part in the introduction of form writing and keeping of records which was common in western civilization. Calendar represents time; it has been used in different parts of the world to plan for the various activities. People use calendars to plan the activities undertaken in a given time. They plan to plant in a given period of the year, harvest their crops when the time comes, hold festivals in a given time and offer sacrifices to their gods in an appointed time. The calendar gives the specific dates when these activities should be taken. This important record was discovered in the Near East region by the Mesopotamia people. It spread to the other parts of the world through the Romans and Greek civilization. In the Western civilization, the calendar formed an integral part of the lives as it was used to date various periods of the history. Using the records which were developed in the Mesopotamia regions, the western societies were able to document events that took place in different parts of the world at a given part. Stein, R ,1976 25) Another discovery by the Mesopotamia people that transformed the western societies is the wheel. The agriculture societies of the Near East mostly used water from the river to grow their crops. The irrigation system which had solved the food shortage problem in the western societies had its origin in Mesopotamia. Use of irrigation was made possible through the invention of a wheel where it was used to propel a structure which drew water from the rivers. Through this method the farmers in Mesopotamia were able to get water for consumption as well as for the cultivation purposes. The invention of the wheel played an important role in advancement of agriculture in this area. They were able to cultivate different crops which required water throughout the year using the new discovery; this partly solved the food shortages in this area. Through making the simple machines the people in the Mesopotamia civilization were able to utilize the water in the two rivers to their benefit. They did not rely heavily on the rains. They were able to produce crops all year around using simple machines which were propelled by the wheel. This discovery was embraced by the other cultures especially the Romans and the Greeks who later modified it to form carts which were had wheels as the propelling gadget. The cart and wheel were used as a means of transport in the ancient Roman civilization. The Western civilization played a role in the further modification of this invention later giving rise to the cars and bicycles which were developed during the industrial revolution in Western Europe. Mesopotamia cultures are credited for the invention and development of the wheel, a gadget that transformed the lives of people as the modification of this discovery in the western civilization gave rise to the means of movement that are found in the present world. Through their simple discovery, Mesopotamia people helped in changing the transport industry through bringing efficient means which people can use to make their work easier. The Mesopotamia cultures began to use metal tools making a big step towards technology. The use of these tools was embraced by the other cultures that developed them gradually to produce the tools we have presently. The Western societies are credited with the modification of these discoveries which had their initial origin from the Near East region. (Stein, R ,1976 103) The Mesopotamia people are closely related with introduction of mathematics, geometry and astronomy some of the most important aspects of the Western civilization. The field of science was embraced by the western societies moving it to the next level where several discoveries were made by the Western scientist in the course of time. These discoveries came to change the course of the world history. The core of the western civilization truly rests with the Mesopotamia cultures which shaped the course of the world history. The western societies have benefited from the countless aspects from this ancient civilization from the Near East. Right from the government system, society order, architectural structures, and technology this society would not be what it is today were it not from the contribution from the Mesopotamia cultures through the assimilation process of the Greek and Romans civilizations. Mesopotamia Cultures Contribution to the Western Civilization