My Fathers Heart Attack Essay -- Personal Narrative Heart Attack Medi

My Father's Heart Attack In March of 1998, my father was rushed to the hospital because of a heart attack. I remember getting home from basketball practice without my mother home. Instead, my sister was there with her children. The fact that my sister was there was familiar to me, but something did not seem right. My sister stayed with me and did not tell me what happened. Later that night, after my sister left, the news that followed would prepare me to encounter the most defining moment of my life. She told me that mom needed to tell me something. She proceeded to tell me that my father had had a heart attack and that I had a choice to come down to the hospital or not to come. She told me it was a scary sight, and if I didn?t think I could handle it that I should stay home. I was overwhelmed with fear and grief at that moment that my mind just stopped working. I remember thinking all I wanted was to be with my mom and my dad. I showed up at the hospital about thirty minutes later. I was so scared and did not know what to expect. I did not know if my father was dead, ...

Description of a Religious Festival Essay

Write an essay describing a religious festival you celebrated, mentioning what you saw and did in the festival Religion is a â€Å"collective conscience†, a shared outlook created by ceremonies. Most common religion in India is Hinduism. Hindus celebrate thousands of events every year and each in a similar manner, including chanting prayers to the gods and making sweets. Ram Navmi is also one of the event celebrated Hindus. This occasion has great momentousness therefore it’s a nationwide holiday. It is celebrated two days after the seven navratras. Navratras are the days of ‘pooja’ in which Goddess Durga is worshipped by the people for bringing peace and prosperity in their life. People especially ladies keep fast for the first eight days and open on the ninth day. Goddess Durga have nine different incarnations, worshipped one each day. Havans are done, which is also believed by the people that it’s smoke purify the homes. On the ninth day a bigger ‘havan’ is done and then ladies in the family prepare meals for seven young girls and one boy. These girls are treated with respect as they are considered the different forms of Goddess Durga. They are also given offerings in the form of cash. We also celebrate Ram Navmi and so my mother kept a fast for two days. We could not do havan on the first eight days due to lack of space but on the ninth day we had a ‘pandal’ built, made up of tent cloth which was all red in colour which was to give the event its effect supported by thin logs. A pandit was called to conduct the rights and rituals and my mother prepared food for the girls. The eighth day was hectic for me bit I enjoyed it . my sister and I prepared the invitations cards for the children. They had a silver colored fringe with text in golden and a picture of Lord Ganesha with red background. I went to each one’s house to invite them. I also went to buy eight gifts and keeping in mind their ages I found all the appropriate gifts. Then came the ninth day, I was woke up from my sleep by the ‘shank’ sound. I took my bath and got ready for the function. The ‘havan’ started and gradually the girls also came and there was deluge of tasks poured upon me. I had to bring the bucket full of water to wash the ‘kanyas’ feet. Then I went to help the pandit with ‘ghee’,’yoghurt’, etc.

Is Harry Potter evil? Essay

The answer to this most controversial book and movie series is a no. Harry Potter books were all about the fight between evil and good. It did a lot of wonders and spectacular creativity on ways of entertaining a child’s imagination by magic tricks and spells. Just like when we hire magicians and entertainers on kiddies birthday parties. Today’s technology after all is about yesterday’s magic like Merlin and science fiction semi horror stories of the Underworld. The fight for censorship deals with everything about the concept of witchcraft, violence, satanism and deception. Matrix prove to be violent also and deceptive of the real world. True to its word, the only perceived danger is fantasy. Kids are kids and they fantasize often. Observe how they conduct their games and play at home. One can see that they are all pure fantasies. Can we not give them the freedom to exercise what is appropriate to their age without banning books because of the claim of distorting fantasy from reality? Even mere comic books of super heroes and Xmen were created out of fantasy. Shall we ban them then because of scientific fantasy of Xmen mutation? (Bloom 1999). Parents of course have every right to participate in any group and in any legal way to promote the welfare and education of their kids. And yes, they can definitely take a fight to banning books in relation to this protection concept. Both schools and parents shall have a face-to-face discussion with the topic on hand. No one shall dictate the other. It shall all be based on reason and the practicality of the subject being fought upon. Taking on a kid’s story too seriously could be hazardous to society. Witches, wizards, sorcery, and spells have long been in the category of children’s literature. The use of magic potions and spells has long been engaged in the story of Alice in the Wonderland and Snow White. The only difference is that Harry Potter movies seem to be the rage at present costing us more to buying books and DVD’s for our kids. The creativity is just exemplary. The sounds and the way they do their magic are just fantastic. It is never a sin to admire creativity nor is it a sin to express appreciation. There was never a quantitative study of the effects of Harry Potter’s movies and books on children. There was never a quantitative measure of negative implications on behavior by those who admire the cultural phenomenon chronology of manipulation of evil and its consequence. Talking about voices and banning, then parents do promote the culture of criticizing exploring fantasies and curbing creativity in movie productions and children’s skills to emulate their feelings to good stories. After all, shaping of a child’s behavior is seen to stem from his family context and environment. That means more on dealing with people attitudes and witnessing to assessing what parents teach and not from entertainment and media except for the very delicate condition of being mentally impaired. Parental guidance is the primordial concern of culture development and values teaching. Kids do know they are just plain movies not to be taken seriously. References Bloom, J. (1999, October 22). Is Harry Potter evil? New York Times. p. Op-Ed.

Corning Incorporated Essay

Corning Incorporated is an American manufacturer of glass, ceramic, and materials for the industrial and scientific applications. It was known as Corning Glass Works in 1875. Its strong commitment to innovation was known as the company’s roots. The company committed between four to six percent of its sales to Research, Development, and Engineering (RD&E). As of today, Corning has been primarily operating from Asia Pacific and North America in five market segments – Display Technologies, Environmental Technologies, Telecommunications, Life Sciences and Specialty Materials and two joint ventures – Dow Corning and Samsung Corning Precision Glass. The company had a history of science-based innovations following World War II and the strategy by management was research and â€Å"disruptive† and â€Å"on demand† product innovation. They have shown many strengths and weaknesses – strong industry recognition with a track record of successful innovatio n, focus on RD&E, diversified product portfolios and balanced revenue streams – narrowing market with intense competition and environmental regulations. With a strong passion for innovation, Corning has been creating many deep technological products to be used as material for other new application such as heat-resistant glass in 1908. In 1912, this product was being reused to develop the shatterproof lanterns for the railroad. Their products were first used for scientific purposes and later for consumer cook-ware products. By realizing the improvement in optical glassmaking, Corning had started to produce the television tubes project and it made the TV affordable to the consumers’ market during 1970s. However, this project considered a steep loss in profit and productivity because of the competition from Japanese imports. Corning went through many changes including lay-offs, selling or closing many plants in order to rebound. The following years, company made a partial recovery. In the late 1990s (the Telecom bubble), there were the unusual high demand for optical fiber in the market. Seeing it as the huge opportunity, the company expanded its originally developed optical fiber operations significantly, and heavily invested in production capacity. Its revenue jumped from $5 billion in 1999 to more than $7 billion in 2000. However, the  collapse in 2000 of the dot-com market had a major impact on the company. The telecom sales dropped to $1.6 billion from $5 billion within six months since July 2001. Once again, Corning had to go into the reorganization phase to dramatically reduce the costs. Since 1950 to 1980, the company introduced many advanced products from ceramic heating resistant shields and glass windshields for Apollo program to the use of fiber optic in telecommunication. In the late 1990s, the company profits increased tremendously during the dot-com boom. Corning From WWI and WWII, Corning developed many deep technological products such as high quality glass with consistent color which can make glass more viable material for new application.

The Importance of Benchmarking in Strategic Management

The Fortune's list of 100 best companies to work for is a source of prestige to companies that are nominated by their employees as the best companies to work for. The Container Store which is a Dallas-based retail store emerged number 32 in the recently released 2009 Fortune list. One department to reckon with at Container Store is the human resource management which earned the company a position in the Fortune 100 best companies to work for in America. But just what is Container Store's approach to human resource management?This paper seeks to answer this question and offers conclusions about the human resource management approach used by the company. Analysis Container Store makes use of a flexible human resource structure. Their rules on employees are simple and flexible and the concept of a rulebook or manual for employees is not their way of managing people (Laabs, 2001). The company is interested in people's ability to be straight forward and eager to counter different situatio ns with flexibility and creativity.Unlike in the traditional HR system, Container Store makes use of managers and supervisors to promote motivation and staff retention since they are more closer to the employees (Laabs, 2001). There is great interaction between employees and managers in order to create freedom of expression. Even the founders Kip and Garret still frequent the store to interact with employees and help them out (Container Store, 2009).The company's employee development philosophy focuses on employee's talents and not titles letting employees make the best use of their abilities to benefit themselves and the company. Container Store puts great value on employees describing them as the greatest assets in the organization. Motivation and an enthusiastic environment are the factors that give its employees the desire to stay with the company for years (Container Store, 2009). Career development and training ensure well qualified staff for the company which is very keen on customer care.For motivation, great benefits for their employees including exceptional training, job security and attractive pay package are provided. A 40% discount on the company's merchandise, 401(k) retirement benefits, medical and dental plans for employees both full-time and part-time provide even more benefits for the employees (Container Store, 2009). From the above analysis, we can conclude that the human resource management at Container Store is employee oriented. It allows flexibility and is democratic in nature.More so it values success and the management recognizes that the employees are key to achieving this. Container Store is also keen on its employee's welfare and health. This kind of management style brings in positive outcomes in a company since the employees will often feel as contributors to the business growth. According to the vice president of operations, Beth Barret, flexibility gives employees a chance to participate in company decision making (Laabs, 2001) .This gives a sense of responsibility and is better off than using autocratic kind of management system. Allowing employees to be flexible rather than follow a certain set of laws is a motivating factor and plays a big role in defining productivity of employees. Container Store's dedication to employee motivation is a good quality in the human resource management which is aimed at encouraging employee commitment to the company. Employee benefits are a good way of not only retaining employees but also motivation which promotes productivity. ConclusionFlexibility and staff involvement in the business activities are emphasized as the key contributors of Container Store's success. The qualities of the human resource management approach used by Container Store gives a justification for why the employees nominated it as the best company to work with. Word Count: 606 References Container Store (2009). Careers for Great People. Retrieved on April 27, 2009 from www. containerstore. com Laabs , J. K. (2001). Thinking Outside the Box at The Container Store – Human Resource Management Awards. Workforce, March Issue.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Essay

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - Essay Example We just got lost somewhere within the school system between four and five. I would sit by the verandah next to the music room after every one was passed, I would take out my miniature guitar and imagine myself playing in a different auditorium each time, with different audience, but the end was always the same- a standing ovation. The things I carried were basically dictated by necessity as well as whichever day it was. Books, pen, handkerchief, lunch box, pocket change in my wallet that also had a photo of my mother and I and my phone were everyday requirements. It was illegal to carry a phone to school, but who knew when my great breakthrough to fame would come? I would need to call my friends, who by the way were non-existent. On Wednesdays, I carried my P.E kit, not because I was good in any game anyway, but then again, could not a young man dream? Dreaming should define every young man out there and am not an exception to those who dream, or am I? On Thursdays, I carried my camera so that I could sneak in to the girls’ bathroom and take a photo of my crush since when I was four, it has always been my dream to take a picture of my crush. At least that I did, before being caught and having it destroyed by the bully boyfriend of hers. It was a very painful thing seeing what it being destroyed without any help or being in a position to do anything to stop their actions. Along the way, my guitar got heavier, the weight in the realization that I would never become famous crawled in, and the reality started to sink in me. It culminated on the day I was found carrying out my fantasy routine by the schools head jock, the day that I will live to remember because of the shame I felt. The embarrassment of that day could not be captured by pen, but it’s fresh in my memory, and can narrate it as though it happened yesterday. I resolved to keep a diary instead, for easy recordings of any happening in my life, successful,

Nature vs. Nurture in Intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nature vs. Nurture in Intelligence - Essay Example He went on to analyze biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias, and became convinced that talent in science, the professions, and the arts, ran in families. This suggestion became know as eugenics, "the study of the agencies under social control that may improve or repair the racial qualities of future generations, either physically or mentally." Galton wanted to speed up the process of natural selection, stating that: "What Nature does blindly, slowly, and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly". Galton was convinced that "intelligence must be bred, not trained". Such arguments have had massive social consequences and have been used to support apartheid policies, sterilization programs, and other acts of withholding basic human rights from minority groups. In the heyday of eugenic IQ testing in the 1920s there was no evidence for the heritability of IQ. It was just an assumption of the practitioners. Today that is no longer the case. The heritability of IQ (whatever IQ is!) is now a hypothesis that has been tested - on twins and adoptees. The results really are quite startling. No study of the causes of intelligence has failed to find a certain and often substantial heritability. What varies from study to study is the amount that can be attributed to heritability. Evidence in favour of "nurture" "Give me a dozen healthy infants & my own specific world to bring them up in, & I'll guarantee to take any one at random & train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chef & yes, even beggar & thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors." - John B. Watson, 1924 This was a famous quote in the heyday of behaviorism, when the child was considered to be a 'tabula rasa' (blank slate) onto which anything could be sculpted through environmental experience. This would be a 100% environmental view, but virtually no psychologists would accept such an extreme position today. So, what can we say about nature vs. nurture as causal determinants of intelligence A conservative, seemly safe position is that: "In the field of intelligence, there are three facts about the transmission of intelligence that virtually everyone seems to accept: 1. Both heredity and environment contribute to intelligence. 2. Heredity and environment interact in various ways. 3. Extremely poor as well as highly enriched environments can interfere with the realization of a person's intelligence, regardless of the person's heredity" (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 1997, p.xi). 4. Although most would accept a causal role of genetics, the exact genetic link and how it operates is very far from being understood - another point that most psychologists would agree on. It is certainly not a single gene, but a complex