Title Of Paper Tobacco And Western Culture Essays - Smoking

Title of Paper : Tobacco and Western Culture Grade Received on Report : 89 Essay 1: Tobacco and Western Culture The use of tobacco dates back to the 17th century. The primary reason for its beginning was purely economic at first. It later became apparent to researchers over the decades that tobacco was more than just a commodity to be traded for economic gain. It was actually a drug, nicotine, which developed into physical dependency and had adverse side effects as people began to live longer. Further research at the social level, revealed its social impact on the western culture. It didn't take long before early traders began to realize the economic benefits of trading tobacco as a primary cash crop. Its known influences were completely overlooked to maintain the desired income and trade benefits. In western culture, early settlers, saw tobacco as a primary source of support for the family. It was entirely possible to grow tobacco and live a very good lifestyle. During the early years, tobacco was not seen as a bad thing. Instead, it was actually a way of life. As time passed, govermental agencies also began to see the economic benefits produced by the tobacco industry. Taxing the crop became very lucrative and later resulted in subsidizing the farmers as needed to maintain taxation levels. The advent of production cigarrettes soon opened doors for manufacturers which hadn't existed before. A cheap and easy method of providing tobacco users a manageable product soon led to widespread use in the western world. This attitude soon began to chang! e, however, as researchers began publishing reports on the ill effects of smoking and tobacco use. Tobacco lost a lot of its social influence when people began to understand its physical effects. Tobacco use was linked with birth defects in pregnant women. Lung cancer was directly linked to smoking in 1950 by the Cancer Control Department in the New York State Health department. It became very clear that the past opposition to smoking and tobacco use was substantiated. It had also become clear that smokers were in a group alone from the rest of society. Just as other groups grew and shrank with the times, so would the smokers. Nicotine had been discovered to be the dependency factor in tobacco and soon ranked a classification with other social drugs like alcohol and caffeine. Its use was seen to be just as severe as these and warranted just as much focus in the social arena. This didn't stop people from using tobacco. The reasons for tobacco use had already become more complex than just physically damaging. Tobacco use had grown to be a social instrument. It can be easily proven that people smoke for different reasons. Stress is now a large part of society and nictotine tends to reduce the stress factor. There have also been reports of the soothing effects nicotine provides during times of prolonged strain on the brain. This is typically due to long hours of reading or studying. The ability of nicotine to soothe the mind allows the brain more concentration and thus the individual is able to more easily comprehend the task at hand. Despite the good and bad effects of tobacco use, it still continues today and I feel that it will be some time before smoking is completely removed from society. Actually, it's not half bad considering the alternatives of the 21st century. Consider pulling up in your car next to someone at a stop light smoking a cigarette and think about seeing someone smoking marijuana. Which would you prefer? Essay 2: Birth Control The main reason to limit the population in a given society is to insure that a balance between the resources available and the number of people is not exceeded. It is fundamental to the survival of a given society that everyone has enough food, housing, and work to maintain certain social standards. This has been done in many ways throughout the centuries. Birth control methods range from religious belief to medical fact to social superstition. In all cases the limiting of newborn has effectively kept people out of anarchy. In looking at the history of birth control, it is easy to imagine why the population must be regulated. Even today

Battle of Badajoz - Peninsular War

Battle of Badajoz - Peninsular War Battle of Badajoz - Conflict: The Battle of Badajoz was fought from March 16 to April 6, 1812 as part of the Peninsular War, which was in turn part of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Armies Commanders: British Earl of Wellington25,000 men French Major General Armand Philippon4,742 men Battle of Badajoz - Background: Following his victories at Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo, the Earl of Wellington moved south towards Badajoz with the goal of securing the Spanish-Portuguese frontier and improving his lines of communication with his base at Lisbon. Arriving at the city on March 16, 1812, Wellington found it held by 5,000 French troops under the command of Major General Armand Philippon. Long aware of Wellingtons approach, Philippon had significantly improved the Badajozs defenses and had laid in large supplies of provisions. Battle of Badajoz - The Siege Begins: Outnumbering the French nearly 5-to-1, Wellington invested the city and began construction of siege trenches. As his troops pushed their earthworks towards Badajozs walls, Wellington brought up his heavy guns and howitzers. Knowing that it was only a matter of time until the British reached and breached the citys walls, Philippons men launched several sorties in an attempt to destroy the siege trenches. These were repeatedly beaten back by British riflemen and infantry. On March 25, General Thomas Pictons 3rd Division stormed and captured an outer bastion know as the Picurina. The capture of the Picurina allowed Wellingtons men to expand their siege works as his guns pounded away at the walls. By March 30, breaching batteries were in place and over the next week three openings were made in the citys defenses. On March 6, rumors began to arrive in the British camp that Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult was marching to relieve the beleaguered garrison. Wishing to take the city before reinforcements could arrive, Wellington ordered the assault to commence at 10:00 PM that night. Moving into position near the breaches, the British waited for the signal to attack. Battle of Badajoz - The British Assault: Wellingtons plan called for the main assault to be made by the 4th Division and Craufurds Light Division, with supporting attacks from the Portuguese and British soldiers of the 3rd and 5th Divisions. As the 3rd Division moved into place, it was spotted by a French sentry who raised the alarm. With the British moving to attack, the French rushed to the walls and unleashed a barrage of musket and cannon fire into the breaches inflicting heavy casualties. As the gaps in the walls filled with British dead and wounded, they became increasingly impassable. Despite this, the British kept swarming forward pressing the attack. In the first two hours of fighting, they suffered around 2,000 casualties at the main breach alone. Elsewhere, the secondary attacks were meeting a similar fate. With his forces halted, Wellington debated calling off the assault and ordering his men to fall back. Before the decision could be made, news reached his headquarters that Pictons 3rd Division had secured a foothold on the city walls. Connecting with the 5th Division which had also managed to scale the walls, Pictons men began pushing into the city. With his defenses broken, Philippon realized that it was only a matter of time before British numbers destroyed his garrison. As the redcoats poured into Badajoz, the French conducted a fighting retreat and took refuge in Fort San Christoval just north of the city. Understanding that his situation was hopeless, Philippon surrendered the following morning. In the city, British troops went wild looting and committed a wide array of atrocities. It took nearly 72 hours for order to be completely restored. Battle of Badajoz - Aftermath: The Battle of Badajoz cost Wellington 4,800 killed and wounded, 3,500 of which were incurred during the assault. Philippon lost 1,500 dead and wounded as well as the remainder of his command as prisoners. Upon seeing the piles of British dead in the trenches and breaches, Wellington wept for the loss of his men. The victory at Badajoz secured the border between Portugal and Spain and allowed Wellington to begin advancing against the forces of Marshal Auguste Marmont in Salamanca.

Client-Consultant Relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Client-Consultant Relationships - Essay Example It is essential to realize that consultants are not usually as apart of the employees’ fraternity nor do they have direct involvement in any organization. In order to make the consultancy involvement work and be victorious, it is crucial for everyone to appreciate the nature and context of this connection. Many people have paid attention on how clients try to control the client-consultant relationship1. Their investigation discloses that managers tend to have indefinite and often contradictory views on how they utilize consultants2. Mostly, the close partnership with the client conflicts with the clients’ endeavors of being charge of and the consultants plan of making himself or herself very important in the project. Consultants ensure this so as to attain a nonstop exchange of the consultancy services and, therefore, a dependant relationship. For the client, this dual direct dilemma explains the client-consultant ambiguous relationship. While the reliance and trust on the consultant may be helpful for the corporation, it may also question the client’s capability to administer and, thus, intimidating his or hers professionalism. Over the years, consultants worked more as suppliers to their clients that it is in the current years3. However, increase in relationship associated with consulting has seen the client- consultant relationship upgrade to more of a partnership of respect and has caused improvement in client’s effectiveness4. It is essential to realize that consultants work with their clients in a complicated and fluid relationship that has trust as the great characteristic. The client-consultant relationship has increasingly become complex due to the focus on higher order task categories. Consultation is necessary in any business because it identifies problems, analyzes the problems and, hence, results to solutions5. These consultations are done to people who are able to provide general advice on strategic, organizational, and operational context in all businesses. For this reason, well-trained and qualified people conduct consultation services because both objective and independent ideas must be provided. Reasons for Client-Consultation Consultation has acquired great success because of its worthwhile reasons. First, the clients acquire skills, techniques, and knowledge acquired by the trained people. This brings the difference between a typical executive and an executive who underwent consultation. Client consultation has a lot of advantages in that it provides competence that is not available anywhere else. The people offering the clients advice have varied experience from various sources outside that of the customer. They are both independent and professionals, hence, have the ability to study and tackle problems accordingly. Actually, they increase significant value in problem solving by reducing resolution cycle time6. There are various types of consultants and it is essential to understand their d ifferences. This ensures that the appropriate person attends clients. The first category is the mental adventurer who has complete analysis of all problems and their effects, even the long-term ones. They mostly apply rigorous economic methods and use their experience to solve the problems. Another category is the strategic navigator bases that involve advice from quality understanding of markets and spirited dynamics. These types of

As an Employer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

As an Employer - Essay Example However the features have to fulfill the basic requirements of the employees and the hardware should be durable. Lenovo Essential G570 is a laptop that offers competitive prices with excellent keyboard and improved track pad features. It has dual core mobile processor with 4GB DDR3 memory with a built in Intel HD Graphics 2000 graphics card. However, it doesn’t have HDMI ports and some installed software at times cause performance issues. Lenovo Essential G570 ranges between $570.00 – $620.00. This one comes with a Core i3-2310M processor, 4GB DDR3 memory, 500GB hard drive and 802.11b/g/n wireless. What really make this system stand out head and shoulders above from rest of the models are its external expansion capabilities. Dell Inspiron 15R includes two USB 3.0 and an eSATA port that gives you a wide range of speedy external peripherals. This clearly explains that this PC has a life beyond most budget laptops. This one is from one of the companies that actually offer dedicated graphics in very affordable prices. Acer Aspire AS560G-SB485 has an AMD Radeon HD 6470M graphics processer which enables it to process enhanced video even better with the casual 3D games. It has AMD A8-3500M quad core processers which satisfies all those users who are into multi tasking. Other specifications are 500 GB hard drive. 15.6-inch display with 1366x768 resolution and 802.11b/g/n wireless. It is priced between $520 - $600. All the above PCs provide great feature with variations. While Acer Aspire AS560G-SB485 provides best graphics, Lenovo Essential G570 provides best value. However, according to Kyrnin, Mark (2011), â€Å"What gives you the best overall performance is the Dell Inspiron 15R" (About.com Guide). Dell Inspiron 15R not only saves great money but also give all the essential features that a company would like to provide in a PC to their

Emotional Intelligence as Applied to Sales Essay

Emotional Intelligence as Applied to Sales - Essay Example In the first example, I went with three friends to have breakfast at a local pancake house. While a waitress position is often thought of as a service, it is important to remember that part of her job is selling a return visit. Our waitress met us with a pleasant attitude and projected friendliness. She seemed to immediately pick up on the individual mood of the person she was addressing and adjust her responses accordingly. This was done verbally as well as non-verbally through the use of expression and body movement. I felt welcome, familiar, and comfortable. Her level of service was excellent and she seemed to have a sense of what was needed and when it was needed. She refilled the coffee in a timely fashion at various points in the meal and checked at the appropriate times to see if we needed anything else. She also inquired shortly after we began to eat whether everything was all right. The order was correct and the food was on the same high level as the waitress. By observing this waitress and evaluating her service it became clear that she had a high degree of EI. This trait enabled her to anticipate our needs and follow the three golden rules of sales. She could adjust her communication to make you feel familiar. This was accomplished through slight verbal variations and facial expressions that felt warm and non-threatening. In addition, she had fulfilled her responsibility to the restaurant by selling a return visit and creating a repeat customer. The Tire Salesmen I had accompanied a friend of mine to a Wal-Mart store to get new tires installed on his car. Before we left the house, we gathered all the information we needed regarding the tire size and style that he wanted to purchase. At the store, there were two employees behind the counter that were simply standing there while we looked over the inventory. My friend had decided to get a tire one size larger than the tires that were on the car, which had come with minimum tires as a cost saving measure. We inquired about the location of the tires and the employee motioned in the area and said 'all the tires are over there'. He offered no assistance in explaining the various prices, styles, and applications for the tires. We finally located the tires we were looking for at an acceptable price. However, when we brought the car inside he said he couldn't sell them because Wal-Mart has a store policy of only selling and mounting the manufacturer's original size. They showed little if any compassion or emotions about our dilemma. His attitude was one of neglect and uncaring. His level of emotional intelligence was very low, and he was subsequently forced to violate the golden rules of selling. While we understood that he was following store policy, he didn't seem to care about the trouble we had gone through. The Carpet Installer I recently helped an acquaintance of mine move some furniture when she was having some new carpet installed in her home. She was having the whole house carpeted and it required shuffling furniture around as the installers worked. The installer had the foresight to make a visit to the home prior to installation to advise my friend on the sequence of rooms and where the furniture could be moved to as he progressed. This simple step was extremely helpful and

Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara English Literature Essay

Once Upon A Time By Gabriel Okara English Literature Essay The poet of the poem Once upon a time is Gabriel Okara who is a Nigerian. He was born on 24th or 21st of April in the year 1921.In that year Nigeria got independence from Britain so at that time they were still influenced by the British culture. The background of the poem is that he is remembering the way people used to behave and interact with each other and he is comparing it with how people interact with others now. How the people used to do things with their hearts and with pleasure and happiness. It describes what happens when a traditional African culture and civilisation meets with the western culture. My personal opinion of the purpose of this poem is to outline the behaviour and personality people have at the moment and try and bring them back to the personality that people used to have, when they used to do things with emotion and with their heart The poem is a conversation between a father and his son where the son does things with emotion and the father wants to forget his fake personality and re-learn and create real personalities from his son. And he is asking the son to show him how to express true love and show real personality to others. It the first stanza the author mentions that people used to laugh with their heart they used to laugh with their emotions, when they would laugh they would do it wholeheartedly and with warmth and they used to laugh with their eyes and show pleasure with them. And know they do it with only their teeth not with their heart, meaning they do not really want to laugh but do it just to get closer to you and with their darky gloomy cold eyes they watch you and wait for you from the corner of their eyes waiting for you to leave search behind my shadow. In my opinion the words they refer to the white people who had invaded their country and influenced them with their culture. In this stanza the words ice-block-cold eyes is used these words emphasize the coldness and the inner hatred they have for you like they can freeze water with their gaze. These also make the poem feel a bit dark and cold and a slight bit sinister In the second stanza he further talks about the personalities of the people of the past he says they used to shake with their hearts here he is trying to say that when you would meet each other you will shake their hands with pleasure and with warmth and do it willingly. While their left hands search my empty pockets from this we can see that they are trying to use him to get to his money or receive something from him. This also shows that the peoples personalities are not real and true In the third stanza he is talking about when people ask you to come again and say feel at home you go there once, twice and the third time they will not let you in thinking that you are a pest and that they do not wanted to see you anymore. The words feel at home is used for when you want a guest to feel welcomed and that they belong in that household. Here he mentions that I find the doors shut on me this shows that they do not even open the door to tell him that he is not wanted and the moment but instead leaves the door closed keeping him standing outside. This also shows that when people speak they lie not telling the truth but just saying something nice to grasp their heart. In the fourth stanza he talks about how he has learned to put on faces like how outfits and masks are put on at different times, and with different people you act differently, for example in the office you act in one way to a person but when you meet them on the street you act another way to them, and how all the faces that people have on different occasions. He says I have learned too which is suggesting that he has also changed with the change of the people around him. he also mentions with all their conforming smiles like a fixed portrait suggesting that they all have the same smile all the time not showing any true emotion. In the fifth stanza he says that he has also been influenced by the people around him and he has learned to keep his true personality a secret and show the world a fake personality, to laugh with only me teeth this part is connected with the part in the first stanza they only laugh with their teeth from this you can see a comparison of what people do and what he does now. This also shows that he has changed to blend in with the environment. Here in the part where he says I have also learned to say `Goodbye when I mean `Good-riddance that is pointing out to the fact that they will, without thinking and without meaning it they will say Goodbye. He mentions forward that Glad to meet you meaning that he is happy to see you and is happy with your presence without being glad meaning that the did not wanted to talk to you and they disliked your presence and if they could they would of avoided you and its been nice talking to you, after being bored saying that they say things that they do no t mean In the fifth stanza he concludes it all saying that he does not like what he has become and he wants to be like he used to be when he was like a child so small and innocent. He points out that he really wants to learn how to laugh with emotions like you really mean it and he compares his laugh like that of a snakes fangs that shows only the teeth snakes are those menacing creatures that are full of venom and can never be trusted and to compare his laugh with a snake gives the image that the man really does not like his fake personality. This stanza sums it well by giving the image to the reader that he is not happy and satisfied with himself The last stanza is the farther asking and pleading to his son to show him how to laugh and smile like he did when he was a child. The last line sums up the entire poem really well making sure that all strings are tied The structure of the poem is really good and consistent most of the stanzas have 6 lines in them. It is a very nice poem with a nice smooth flow

The Timeless Truth of Madame Bovary Essay -- Madame Bovary Essays

The Timeless Truth of Madame Bovary  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Written in 1857, Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary has become a literary classic. Emma Bovary is a middle class country girl with a taste for rich things; she marries a doctor and has a little girl. Her husband, Charles, adores her and thinks that she can do no wrong. He overlooks the sign of her adultery, telling himself that her unhappiness is caused from her poor health, and forgives her excessive spending. Madame Bovary's excessive desires seem to come from her excessive reading of novels in which life seemed, to her, perfect. She "tried to find out what one meant exactly in life by the words felicity, passion, rapture, that had seemed to her so beautiful in books" (45). Through Emma, Flaubert illustrates that not being satisfied with what one is given in life leads to a sorrow. Soon after Emma marries Charles, she finds that she is not satisfied with her new life, due to Charles' lack of romantics. Emma thinks to herself early on in the marriage, "A man, . . . should he not know everything, excel in the manifolds activities, initiate you into the energies of passion, the refinements of life, all mysteries? But this one [Charles] taught nothing, knew nothing, wished nothing. He thought her [Emma] happy; and she resented this calm, this serene heaviness, the very happiness she gave him" (54). Her need for Charles to be more romantic and his ignorance of her feelings lead her to despise him. After a few years of their marriage, Emma has become so bored with her life that she has made herself sick from want. Her boredom is so great that she wishes she could talk to her servant, "but a sense of shame restrained her" (81). She held herself above everyone, therefore isolat... ...ath does Emma come to realize that the best things in life is family and the happiness that it can provide. The selfishness that had ruled her life was nothing now all the things that were importune to before are now nothing. The things she had bought and the lovers she had been with are not with her now. Only Charles and her little girl, the ones she had tried to flee from are with her now. The simple truth portrayed in Madame Bovary still pertains to the present, selfishness will lead to a life of discontentment. The Flaubert illustration of the unhappiness that thinking only of oneself can bring to others can still be seen in the world today. This is why Madame Bovary has lasted through the years as a novel full of timeless truth. Works Cited Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovery. Translated by Marx-Aveling, Eleanor. Grolier Incorporated, New York. N.D.