The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 40

Mad Nipper When I wake, the rain has stopped, but I am shivering. I sit up, and my whole body hurts. My overcoat is gone. My leather loafers are gone. All the money I had in my pocket is gone. My leather belt is gone. The new watch my mother gave me for Christmas is gone. I touch my fingers to my face, and they turn red. Looking around, I see that I am on a narrow street full of parked cars. Row houses on either side. Some are boarded up, many of the porches and steps attached to the fronts are in need of repair, and the streetlights above are not on – maybe smashed by rocks – making the whole world look dark. I am not in a good neighborhood, with no money, shoes, or any idea where I am. Part of me wants to lie on the sidewalk forever, but I'm afraid those bad people might come back to finish me off, and before I can really think about anything, I'm on my feet, limping down the block. My right thigh muscle feels locked in place, and I cannot bend my right knee very well. One house on the block is decorated for Christmas. On the porch is a manger scene with a plastic Mary and Joseph – both black. I limp toward Baby Jesus, thinking that people celebrating the holiday are more likely to help me than people without Christmas decorations, because – in the Bible – Jesus says we should help shoeless people who have been mugged. When I finally get to the decorated row house, a funny thing happens. Instead of knocking on the door, I limp over to the black Mary and Joseph because I want to look into the manger and see if Baby Jesus is black too. My cramped leg screams with pain and gives out just as I reach the Nativity scene. On my hands and one knee, between His parents, I see that Baby Jesus is really black and plugged in – his dark face glows like amber, and a stream of white light blasts up through His little baby chest. Squinting, taking in the light of Baby Jesus, I instantly realize that I was mugged because I cursed God, so I pray and say I'm sorry and I understand what God is telling me – that I need to work on my character some more before I will be allowed to find apart time's end. My pulse is pounding so hard in my ears that I do not even hear the front door open, nor do I hear a man walk out onto the porch. â€Å"What you doin' to Aunt Jasmine's Nativity scene?† the man says. And when I turn my head, God lets me know He has accepted my apology. When they first brought Danny to the bad place, he wouldn't talk. Like me and everyone else, he had a scar, but his was much larger and on the back of his head, making a bright pink line in his Afro. For a month or so, he just sort of sat in a chair by the window of his room as speech therapists visited and left frustrated. Me and the boys would stop in and say hello, but Danny only looked out the window when we talked to him, so we thought he was one of the people whose brain trauma was so bad he was most likely going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life – sort of like my roommate, Jackie. But after a month or so, Danny started taking his meals in the cafeteria with the rest of us, attending music and group therapy sessions, and even going on a few group excursions to the shops by the harbor and the Orioles games down at Camden Yards. It was obvious that he understood words and even was pretty normal – he just wouldn't talk. I don't remember how long it took, but after a time, Danny started talking again, and I happened to be the first person he spoke to. A girl from some fancy college in Baltimore came in to provide what we were told were â€Å"non-traditional treatments.† We had to volunteer for the sessions, as this girl was not a real therapist yet. We were skeptical at first, but when she came to promote the program, we were soon persuaded by her girlish figure and cute, innocent-looking face. She was very nice and quite attractive, so we all did whatever she said, hoping to keep her around – especially since there were no women patients in the bad place and the nurses were extremely ugly. For the first week, our college student had us look into mirrors a lot as she encouraged us to really get to know ourselves, which was pretty out-there. She'd say things like, â€Å"Study your nose. Look at it until you really know it. Watch how it moves when you breathe in deeply. Appreciate the miracle of respiration. Now look at your tongue. Not just the top, but underneath. Study it. Contemplate the miracles of taste and speech.† But then one day she paired us randomly, had us sit facing each other, and told us to stare into our partner's eyes. She had us do this for a long time, and it was quite weird because the room was completely silent, and men do not usually look into each other's eyes for long periods of time. Then she started telling us to imagine that our partner was someone we missed, or someone we had hurt in the past, or a family member we hadn't seen for many years. She told us to see this person through our partner's eyes, until that person was in front of us. Looking into another person's eyes for an extended period of time proved to be a powerful thing. And if you don't believe me, try it yourself. Of course I began to see Nikki, which was strange because I was staring into Danny's eyes, and Danny is a six-foot-three black man who looks nothing like my ex-wife. Even still, as my pupils remained locked on Danny's, it was as if I were looking directly into Nikki's eyes. I was the first one to start crying, but others followed. Our college girl came over, said I was brave, and then hugged me, which was nice. Danny said nothing. That night I woke up to the sound of Jackie's grunting. When I opened my eyes, it took a few seconds for my pupils to adjust, but when they did, I saw Danny standing over me. â€Å"Danny?† I said. â€Å"My name's not Danny.† His voice scared me because I was not expecting him to speak, especially since he had not spoken to anyone since he arrived. â€Å"The name's Mad Nipper.† â€Å"What do you want?† I asked him. â€Å"Why are you in our room?† â€Å"I only wanted to tell you my street name, so we could be boys. But we're not on the streets right now, so you can keep calling me Danny.† And then Danny walked out of my room and Jackie quit grunting. Everyone in the bad place was pretty shocked when Danny began speaking regularly the next day. The doctors said he was experiencing a breakthrough, but it wasn't like that. Danny just decided to talk. We really did become boys and did just about everything together in the bad place, including our exercise routine. And little by little I found out Danny's story. As Mad Nipper he was a rising gansta rapper from North Philadelphia who had signed on with a small record label in NYC called Tougher Trade. He was playing a club in Baltimore when some beef broke loose, and somehow – Danny often changed the details of his story, so I can't say what happened for certain – he was struck in the back of the head with a tire iron, driven to the harbor, and thrown in. Most of the time Danny claimed that a Baltimore rap group – one that was scheduled to perform before Mad Nipper – asked him to smoke up in an alleyway behind the club, but when he went outside with these other rappers, they started giving him some shit about headlining in their neighborhood. When he brought up his superior record sales, the lights went out, and he woke up dead, which is actually true, as his file says he was dead for a few minutes before the EMTs managed to revive him. Lucky for Danny, somebody heard the splash Mad Nipper made when he entered the harbor, and this person fished him out and yelled for help right after the other rappers left. Danny claims that the salt in the water kept his brain alive, but I don't understand how that could be, especially since he was thrown into the filthy harbor and not the ocean. After an operation that removed tiny parts of his skull from his brain, and a lengthy stay at the hospital, Danny was brought to the bad place. The worst part was that he lost his ability to rap – he just couldn't make his mouth rap anymore, at least not as fast as he used to – so he took a vow of silence, which he broke only after looking into my eyes for a very long period of time. Once, I asked Danny who he saw when he looked into my eyes, and he told me he saw his aunt Jasmine. When I asked him why he saw his aunt Jasmine, he told me she was the woman who had raised him up until he became a man. â€Å"Danny?† I say, kneeling before the manger. â€Å"Who are you?† â€Å"It's Pat Peoples.† â€Å"White Pat from Baltimore?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"You're bloody. What happened?† â€Å"God punished me, but then He led me here.† â€Å"What you do to make God angry?† â€Å"I cursed Him, but I said I was sorry.† â€Å"If you really Pat People, what's my name?† â€Å"Mad Nipper, a.k.a. Danny.† â€Å"You eat Christmas dinner yet?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"You like ham?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"You wanna eat with me and Aunt Jasmine?† â€Å"Okay.† Danny helps me stand, and when I limp into Aunt Jasmine's home, it smells of pine needles and baked ham and pineapple sauce. A small Christmas tree is decorated with popcorn strings and colorful blinking lights, two green-and-red stockings are hung on a fake fireplace mantel, and on the television the Eagles are playing the Cowboys. â€Å"Sit down,† Danny says. â€Å"Make yourself at home.† â€Å"I don't want to get blood on your couch.† â€Å"It's got a plastic cover, see?† I look, and the couch is really covered with plastic, so I sit down and see that the Eagles are winning, which surprises me, since Dallas was favored. â€Å"I've missed you,† Danny says after he sits down next to me. â€Å"You didn't even say goddamn goodbye when you left.† â€Å"Mom came and got me when you were in music relaxation class. When did you get out of the bad place?† â€Å"Just yesterday. Out on good behavior.† I look at my friend's face and see that he is serious. â€Å"So you get out of the bad place yesterday, and I just happen to run to your neighborhood and get mugged on your street and find you here?† â€Å"Guess so,† Danny says. â€Å"It sort of seems like a miracle, doesn't it?† â€Å"Miracles happen on Christmas, Pat. Everybody knows that shit.† But before we can say more, a petite, serious-looking woman – who is wearing huge black-rimmed glasses – walks into the living room and starts screaming, â€Å"Oh, my Lord! Oh, Jesus!† I try to convince Aunt Jasmine I'm okay, but she calls 911, and then I am in an ambulance being driven to Germantown Hospital. When I arrive at the emergency room, Aunt Jasmine prays for me and yells at a lot of people until I am taken to a private room, where my clothes are removed and my wounds are cleaned. I am given an IV while I tell a police officer what happened. After X-rays, the doctors tell me that my leg is really messed up; my mother, Caitlin, and Jake arrive, and then my leg is put in a white cast that starts at my heel and ends just below my hip. I want to apologize to Danny and Aunt Jasmine for ruining their Christmas dinner, but my mother tells me that they left soon after she arrived, which makes me really sad for some reason. When I am finally released from the hospital, a nurse puts a purple sock over my bare toes and gives me a pair of crutches, but Jake pushes me in a wheelchair to his BMW. I have to sit sideways in the backseat, with my feet on Mom's lap, because of the cast. We drive through North Philadelphia in silence, but when we pull out onto the Schuylkill Expressway, Caitlin says, â€Å"Well, at least we'll never forget this Christmas.† She means it as a joke, but nobody laughs. â€Å"Why isn't anyone asking me how I ended up in North Philadelphia?† I ask. After a long pause, my mother says, â€Å"Tiffany called us from a pay phone and told us everything. We were driving around North Philadelphia looking for you when the hospital called your father. He called Jake's cell phone, and here we are.† â€Å"So I ruined everyone's Christmas?† â€Å"That crazy bitch ruined our Christmas.† â€Å"Jake,† Mom says. â€Å"Please.† â€Å"Did the Eagles win?† I ask Jake, because I remember that they were winning and am hoping my father will be in a decent mood when I get home. â€Å"Yeah,† Jake says in a clipped way that lets me know he is upset with me. The Eagles beat T.O. and Dallas – in Dallas – on Christmas Day, locking up a play-off spot, and Jake, who has not missed a game since he was in elementary school, misses perhaps the best game of the season because he was searching all of North Philadelphia for his mentally deranged brother. And now I realize why my father is not with the search team – there was no way he'd miss such an important Eagles game, especially against Dallas. I can't help feeling guilty, as it probably would have been a really nice Christmas, especially since my father would have been in a phenomenal mood, and I am sure my mother prepared food, and Caitlin is even wearing an Eagles jersey, and I keep messing up everyone's lives, and maybe it would have been better if the muggers had killed me, and †¦ I start to cry, but quietly, so that my mom won't be upset. â€Å"I'm sorry I made you miss the game, Jake,† I manage to say, but the words make me cry even harder, and soon I am sobbing into my hands again, like a baby. My mother pats my unbroken leg, but no one says anything. We ride the rest of the way home in silence.

Alien Crop Circles Order

Crop Circles are our most mysterious phenomena of our modern age. Are they a communication from alien beings or from humans? Governments have discussed the crop circles and have confused the population by misinformation through the control and the manipulation of the popular media. The military have also endangered their life and safety in order to investigate and monitor each crop circle, and yet they deny all involvement. Hollywood has manipulated the truth and credibility of scientific evidence and facts and yet people become even more intrigued.Some believe crop circles are man-made created by hoaxers who set out to confuse and muddy researched facts, the same way computer virus’s seek attention and attempt to contaminate researched data. Others believe crop circles are a source of communication by aliens. The crop circles can be seen as mankind’s view of human passion and its vulnerability or a condensed version of humanity’s egos, anger, and peace. However, you might interpret crop circles, there is no denying the profound effect it has on mankind these past decades. 2Crop circles first appeared in the fields of Southern England, in the mid 70’searly crop circles appeared simple in fields of wheat, oat and barley. The circles were flattened, the corn stalks bent and flattened however not broken. Whiltshire County is considered the center of this phenomenon. The county is home to some sacred Neolith sites in Europe, built as far back as 4,6000, including Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, as well as burial grounds such as West Kennet Long Barrow. When the crop circles gained momentum formations were also found in Australia, South Africa, China, Russia, and other countries most notably in closeOrder#31117860 Alien Crop Circles Pg. 2 proximity of ancient sacred sites as well as the fields of Southern England. In 1991, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley stepped forward to claim responsibility for the crop circles over the past 20 years, w hich began the battle between artists and other world believers. Known as the Circlemakers, they consider their practice an art. Lundberg estimates there are three or four dedicated crop circle operating in the United Kingdom today. To combat the theory that the crop circles were carved out by mini-whirlwindscrop artists were compelled to create more elaborate designs with straight lines to show that the circles are not a natural phenomenon and are man-made. 4 Opposing this theory are people who believe crop circles were created by aliens and not by humans. This belief is considered as not plausible and to be used to write science fiction stories. However, there is something to the formations of the crop circles that may show that it could be plausible of alien designs. First of all there is meteorite dust, magnetite, which comes from outer space. Secondly, are the usualsubstances found in crop circles, which are not found on Earth. Thirdly, there have been crop circles that appear very extraterrestrial such as the one that appeared in August 2001, in which the formation was in the shape of a face and the computers binary code. 3The first crop circle formation was in the shape of a human face, which is reminiscent of the Face on Mars. The second crop circle formation is a clear indication of alien design. British crop circle researcher and computer programmer, Paul Vigay, examined and analyzed the formation and cracked the code of its design.The design is an image of a slightly changed binary code sent into space by NASA in 1978. Order#31117860 Alien Crop Circles Pg. 3 This transmission occurred at the huge Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. A radio telescope was found next to the field at Chilbolton as well. This alien crop circle is formed like a binary code, with dots of standing crop and dots of flattened crops. It is said the image was adapted, as if the aliens circle makers replied to our own transmission from 1978. Earth’s message contained inform ation from our planet, its space in our solarsystem, our humanity, population density, our DNA, our decimal system, our most chemical element of life on our planet, and information about how we sent the message into space by means of radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The messages structure in the crop formation was identical, however the exact information differed from the changes in answer, and the content of the message disturbed researchers. First of our decimal system is unchanged. The first change was found in the basic chemical elements of life on Earth. NASA, in the original message had hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulphur.These elements were copied in the answer, however but one element was added: the element of 14, silicon. This discovery disturbed researchers for most of the unusual substances were found in crop circles are silicon compounds. Another difference in the answer was DNA information. Our DNA contains two strings, where the DNA in the answer clearly con sists of three strings. Also the information about the number of nucleotides in the DNA has been changed. More proof of crop circles are created by aliens is the information in the formations about Earth’ssolar system, humanity, and population density. The answer grants us a view into another world. Order#31117860 Alien Crop Circles Pg. 4 6 On Thursday August 15, 2002, an image of a human being is in place by the image of another being. A humanoid is shown complete with a trunk, arms, legs, and a head, however the proportions of the humanoid are different. The head is large with marked eyes. This is contrary to the original image of a human being, which the eyes are not, marked. In other words the human has large eyes in a large head and the height of thecreature according to the answer is only one meter, the height of the average human had been recorded in the original NASA message as 1. 78 m. All information shows a striking similarity with the Grey Aliens, according to eye witness- have been visiting our planet for several centuries. 5 So, depending on what you believe, these two theories need each other to thrive in our imagination. Because without the mystery of a fantastic, otherworldly theory real or imagined, would anyone still pay attention? – Works Cited- 3WWW. circularsite. com/feiten-eng.htm- Facts&Theories Are Crop Circles made by Aliens? Are Crop Circles made by man? 2,4WWW. news. nationalgeographic. com/news/2002/08/020801_cropcircles. html Crop Circles: Artworks or Aliens signs? 6WWW. cropcircleresearch. com/articles/alienface. html Crop Circle Research: The 2002 â€Å"Alien Face formation. † 5WWW. Cropcircleship. com- an introduction. WWW. Cropcircleinfo. com Alien Crop Circle information by Colin Andrews- Crop Circle research 1 WWW. Cropcircleresearch. com/index2. html. Crop Circle Research-Scientific research into Earth’s Mysteries.

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Review an article - Assignment Example 1.3 Aim/ Objectives The article has two objectives: a) to show ‘the economic links between UK and the rest of EU’ (Oxford Economics 2009, p.10). Identifying these ties could help to understand the criteria under which the economic integration in EU could be effectively supported (Oxford Economics 2009, p.6); b) ‘to quantify these ties’ (Oxford Economics 2009, p.10). 1.4 Theory Discussed in Literature The main body of the article has been divided into eight parts. In the first of these parts, the key aspects and the potential benefits of EU membership and economic integration are presented. The rest six sections refer to six economic links between UK and EU. It is only in the first section of the study’s main body, i.e. in the part presenting the elements and benefits of EU membership and economic integration where relevant theory is used. Still, in the above section no reference is made to literature, on which the theory presented is based. From this point of view, the actual value of the theory incorporated in this section could be considered as limited, in regard to its contribution in the study. All other sections are based on statistics and relevant data for showing the aspects of the relationship between UK and EU in terms of economics. This strategy of the authors can be considered as rather justified if taking into consideration the nature of the study, which is an economic report. It should be noted that in each section a description of the key aspects of the theme discussed is provided; then, the theme is analyzed using appropriate statistics and figure, as explained in section 1.5 below. In regard to the article’s introductory section, the following issue should be highlighted: the specific section does not include theory, a practice often used in scholarly articles; it just refers to the historical development of EU, aiming to show the steps through which EU has reached its current size. 1.5 Methodology The eco nomic links between UK and EU have been categorized using the following parameters: ‘trade, labour force, tourism, FDI, portfolio investments and banking linkages’ (Oxford Economics 2009, p.6). At the next level, the article has been divided into eight sections, based on the following strategy: after presenting the article’s key issues and findings, in the Executive Summary part of the paper (p.6-9), the Introduction is used for explaining clearly the article’s objectives, for showing the article’s structure and for presenting a brief overview of EU’s history (p.10-11). Then, the main body of the paper is divided into seven sections, each of which shows the figures and statistics related to a particular economic link between UK and EU, as these links were presented above. The first of these sections refers to EU membership and economic integration, as part of EU membership. In this section, theory is used for supporting empirical evidence, in opposition with the other chapters that are based only on statistics and figures; the limitations of the theory used in this section have been analyzed in section 1.4. The rest six sections of the study have been structured as follows: in the beginning of each section an overview of the section’s key findings, something like a conclusion of the

Demographics and the Housing Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Demographics and the Housing Market - Essay Example Canada has a unique pattern of land markets, wherein the markets have been rated as, "moderately unaffordable", "affordable", "seriously unaffordable" and "severely unaffordable". It has been observed that the national median multiple is slightly above the above the affordable standard. Over the years there has been a rapid increase in housing prices. Prices and quantities in housing markets are determined by the interaction of the supply with the demand. During this time the home ownership rates have eaten up a deeper chunk of house hold wealth, thereby increasing household debt. Most important variables governing the supply of new housing include prices, the costs of construction materials and land, the cost of financing, and the value of the housing stock. Similarly, the important variables governing the quantity of housing include prices, the level of mortgage rates, expectations of permanent income or wealth, rates of return on other investments, and demographic factors that influence the decision to buy a house. Let us take a closer look at Toronto that is well known for its multicultural society. It is situated in southern Ontario, Canada with a population of 5,113,149. It has an urbanised region of 8.1 million people. Toronto being the fifth largest city in North America is one of the most populated cities having people from diverse backgrounds. Its clean environment together with a generally high standard of living, Toronto remains the most desired destination for immigrants. It also has the second highest percentage of foreign-born population. People of different European origins form the largest ethnic group in Toronto. Afro-Caribbean, Filipinos, Latin American too, find a place for themselves in this place. This is reflected in the neighbourhood names, like Little Italy, The junction, Little India, Chinatown, Portugal Village and others similarly named. The Downtown area of Toronto remains most densely populated while the financial district of Bay Street boasts of the maximum number of skyscrapers in Canada. The historically wealthy residential enclaves stretch northwards from downtown. It is a paradox of sorts, wherein, on one hand the up scale homes exist and on the other hand in the core vicinity of downtown low income families and incomes reside. The east and west regions of downtown however, radiate with artists and middle and upper class professionals. The inner suburbs retain the small, single family homes, while the housing boom has led to the construction of many high rise apartments in many neighbourhoods. North Toronto and some western neighbourhoods in York are some such areas. The housing boom has had a cascading effect on many municipalities. The advent of skyscrapers has not only changed their skylines but also helped them develop as secondary business centres .However further growth in the housing market is affected by the temperament of the consumers in that whether they are prepared to take risks. If the price is high and the consumer is averse to taking risks, the purchase of houses will automatically fall. The buying strategy of a consumer therefore differs from one demographic group to another. It can be safety said thus, that consumers differ in their thought process with regards to procurement of a house. Their views may differ on the money spent to rent a house vis-a vis to purchase

Soul Food vs. Fast Food Essay Example for Free

Soul Food vs. Fast Food Essay As Applebees would say, â€Å"There’s no place like the neighbor. † How would the world classify good food? Which one will result in the best answer, hamburger and fries or biscuit with gravy? Is hamburger and fries the best choice because a biscuit with gravy takes more time? There are a lot of reasons why people choose homemade food versus fast food. Both homemade food and soul food taste good, however homemade food offers a variety of history, emotions, and memories of different cultures. Different family meomories take a part of it when its soul food ,because there’s nothing like grandma’s cooking . The homemade food brings family members together. African Americans use the word soul food to describe homemade foods. Soul food normally provides the opportunity for families to come together and even though its a lot of drama when every one come to gether u always remember the food the most . The dinners at grandma’s house are always remembered by family members. The dinners usually consist of chicken, potato salad, beans, and biscuits. After the traditional dinners, someone will always serve the homemade desserts. The elders are normally appreciated because of their love, patience, and knowledge with soul food. This fact never fails, a person who knows about soul food will always return home for their culture’s food. Love can almost be tasted in soul food which comes through mostly in the actual preparation of the dishes. Soul food has a great affect that comes with a special touch, precious time, and extra ingredients. The cook puts so much love in preparing soul food for the family. In many cases, the cooks get delighted when the family eats the food. The cooks obtain a warm feeling especially when someone praises their work. In many cases, people will try their best to Cook soul food just like their mother and grandma, because they miss their soul food. Soul food makes a house feel like a home because the food represents love and comfort. Soul food has history because it passes traditions and customs of the past elders of the family. â€Å"How do you make homemade peach cobbler,† the elders will say, â€Å"Watch carefully and you can learn. † Being a country child growing up, and understanding the background of soul food makes one appreciate the food more. The cannery is where garden vegetables are canned and there are few canneries still around in today’s time. The opportunity of going to the cannery with grandparents is a memory to cherish along with picking fresh vegetables from the garden. This opportunity sets aside the time to learn that homemade cooking is a job before the pots start boiling. On the contrary, fast food restaurants are an excellent choice of convenience. For example at Burger King, a fast food restaurant,†you can have it your way. † The choices of fast food restaurants are a great thing to have in the world. Also, the restaurants are excellent when traveling and trying to satisfy the hunger pain quickly. When parents do not feel like cooking a home cooked meal, they can always go through the drive-thru. Fast food restaurants can be good for a quick date. Quickness is great, especially in today’s society. Applebees is a great place to get away from home for the night. Many people take pleasure in going to fancy restaurants by themselves, with a date? or to gather with friends and/or family. There are plenty of restaurants that are appropriate for every occasion and all ages. Restaurants leave the stomach satisfied but can be healthy and allow family time together. Why healthy? Restaurants include in their menu a variety of salads options grill or bake dishes, and even a weight watchers’ menu. The decision is always in one’s hands to decide between a health dishes or unhealthy dish. All food is delicious but, has downfalls. For instance, fast food does not represent any love but just quickness. There is no special touch, time spent, and extra ingredients. Fast food basically has a concern of reasonable prices or either having the fastest time in the drive –thru. A lot of employees are just in the restaurant to get a pay check rather than having a concern for the customers to have a good lunch or dinner or even breakfast. The restaurant is leaving out the family time because mostly the families are on the go all of the time. The time spent with preparing traditional food is appreciated, but, the tradition that people look for is quickness in fast food restaurant, which leads to obesity. The number one problem is obesity in fast foods. The reason for this issue is that parents go through the drive-thru and let the child order everything. Another reason is that parents are at work all of the time, and this generation is basically choosing from frozen food or fast food when living in this situation. Obesity comes from parents who do not have the time to prepare a loving home cooked meal, only because the parents’ lives are put before their child’s life now. This simply means the child will consume foods by these restaurants or frozen food. This is done on an everyday basis, such as, when the parents take care of their business first or think of something quick all of the time to feed the child. Fast food restaurants are shut down every day due to many reasons. Reasons include failing several health inspections, lack of cleanliness, and not enough cautions. The downfall of this is people do not pay attention to the environment of where their food is coming from. They are all always in a rush. Instead of considering how long it takes to prepare a meal, one should consider it an opportunity to spend more time with the family. People just put their trust in the Employee’s and is not concerned about the cleanliness of employees’ hands. Simply, people need to take the time to pay attention, because fast food is not prepared with so much or no caution. â€Å"Fast food versus soul food,† what could the choice be? Fast food will be the choice if one is on the way to work. Soul food is the ideal choice if one does not have anything on their agenda for the next hour. In this paper, fast food restaurant versus soul food is different and similar in many ways. Fast food is mainly quick and easy. Soul food takes time, yet, it is filled with passion, love, and care. Fast food versus soul food is everybody’s decision every day, just think about the reason why the choice is made, not about the taste of every meal.

Is Religion Opposed to Change?

Is Religion Opposed to Change? Religions are often presented as if they are opposed to choice and change. To what extent do the controversial futures examined in Book 4 support or challenge this view? Controversies surrounding religious futures rely on a premise of religions either remaining true to their origins to retain authenticity or adapting to change to accommodate an increasingly spiritual and consumeristic world. The tensions that arise stem from assertions that religion, in an unaltered state cannot remain relevant to modern adherents and therefore will eventually die, alongside a view that a religion that adapts loses the essence of its original message to the pressures of consumerism and therefore its integrity is depleted. Proponents of the latter view argue that when an adopted message become too far removed from the revealed religion a cut flower culture (Herberg, cited in Mercadante, 2014) is created where the moral and spiritual messages of the root religion withers and dies; in other words, they lack the moral depth and social cohesiveness of more traditional religions (Gauthier et al., 201, p. 292) The choice between stasis and change is not binary, however, as there is a continuity between sacred scriptures and the most eclectic, free-spirited spirituality of today (Gottlieb, 2012). This continuity has become increasingly important as the terms religion and spirituality become less synonymous than they have previously been, highlighting a shift from a static, structured and institutional view of religion to a more individualistic pick and mix (King cited in Harvey, 2013, p. 20) approach to spiritual futures. This transition has witnessed approximately 40% of Americans unchurched with no connection with organized religion who claim to be strongly religious or spiritual on a personal level (Fuller, 2001, p. 1), exemplifying the balancing act that religions must take in charge to maintain identity against a maelstrom of modern demands whilst adapting to attract or retain the consumers needed to exist in the competitive spiritual marketplace. The change of emphasis from institutional to individual has been in discussion for many years, indeed the definition of religion varies from the personal and psychologized versions of spirituality (Harvey, 2013, p.19) where the individual feelings and experiences are of supreme importance or the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude (James, cited in Harvey, 2013, p.9) to the institutional view of a religion where the church is central and essential to a faith, or as Durkheim suggests the idea of religion is inseparable from that of the Church (Durkheim, cited in Harvey, 2013, p.9). Durkheims view could be considered to represent a view of religion that is resistant to change, placing emphasis on the continuity of the Church and the sacred things therein (Durkheim, cited in Harvey, 2013, p.9), whereas James view of religion, being more individualistic in nature is infinitely more susceptible to change because the very nature of the individualism adapts spi rituality to the person who perceives it, a situation in which a spiritual seeker creates or rec-creates his or her own private system of symbolic meanings and values (Hanegraaff, 2009, cited in Harvey, 2013, p.25). Such individualism allows for exploration of spirituality outside of the constraints of church mores, spirituality then, can be seen as the positive aspects of the ancient religious traditions, unencumbered by the dead hand of the church; (Carrette King, 2005, p.2), with a strict emphasis on the self and on spiritual experience not a concept of God, but, rather, of the higher self (Hanegraaff, cited in Houtman et al., 2009, p.170). Such contrasting viewpoints highlight a definition of religion as a being concerned with external dogmatic authority set over the individual and spirituality being concerned with the deepest experiences of the individual (Vincett and Woodhead, cited in Woodhead and Catto, 2013, p.158). The individualistic element of spirituality has often bee n labeled as New Age, although this is an all-encompassing label for a multiform hypersyncretic splicing of ideas (Sutcliffe, 2000, cited in Harvey, 2013, p.23) that is hardly satisfactory. Such is the diversity of human spiritual need and options available to the seeker that a consistent formula for spiritual satisfaction cannot be achieved, in which case a label such as New Age can only be used as a contrast to traditional religions under the assumption that traditional religions do not undergo any form of borrowing from other faiths; as Hanegraaff suggests the term New Age is a label attached indiscriminately to whatever seems to fit it and as a result, the New Age means very different things to different people (Hanegraaff, 1996, p.1, emphasis in original). However, New Age belief invariably stems from traditions as there has been a mutation of traditional religions for a New Age believer to accommodate, in this sense New Age religion unquestionably emerged from esoteric traditi ons in Western culture (Hanegraaff, 1996, p.383). Such variation means that New Age believers, with such an infinite matrix of needs become ready consumers and, as their spiritual needs change so do their material wants, a phenomenon borne out at Glastonbury in the South West of England; which is a keen example of the mutation, adaptation and commercialisation found within religion and spirituality. Glastonburys past is steeped in claims made for it on behalf of goddess worship, paganism, Christianity and new age spirituality. These claims range from Glastonbury being the site of Avalon; the site where Joseph of Arimathea washed and buried the Holy Grail and a venue that Jesus himself visited; it is therefore a popular pilgrimage site for Christians and non-believing pilgrims as pilgrimage is not clearly distinguishable from acts such as tourism (Hedges, 2017). Such a diverse pedigree in one venue has the potential for conflict and controversy between groups of believers, as well as between believers and local residents; however, Gl astonbury, as a religious site, has successfully incorporated all of these claims in such a way that, not only do different belief groups co-exist but they do so symbiotically, with each group benefiting, often financially, from the lure of diversity for spiritual consumers keen to sample all that beliefs that Glastonbury has to offer; this has created a spiritual marketplace of significant proportions. The attraction of Glastonbury for the spiritual seeker is evident in the windows of the shops which display a plethora of spiritual material culture catering for a wide variety of spiritual interests within one shop. This enables the spiritual seeker to purchase containers of the sacred (Colman and Elsner, cited in Bowman, 2013, p.55) from one or many religions to suit their particular needs; this example of vernacular religion in which consumers either produce ritual objects themselves, re-purpose traditional religious props, or shop off the shelf from other religious traditions to use for their own inventive, often empowering, spiritual practices (Twitchell, cited in Scott and Maclaran, 2009, p.60). Such commercial opportunity creates a level of competition with each religion vying for custom and therefore creating a spiritual economy which is leading to the establishment of an appropriate, sustainable and new Glastonbury economy (Ivakhiv, 2001, p.124), an economy fed by competition which traditional religions are not immune to. The consumer spiritual market place has encouraged the Abbey at Glastonbury to retain and recruit new adherents by marketing their own brand of religion that resonates with dominant social values of individualism, empowerment and aspiration to affluence (Yip and Ainsworth, 2010, p. 702) indeed, the Glastonbury Abbey website not only describes the history of the Abbey but also displays a level of commercialism as it advertises entrance to the Abbey at  £8.25 as well as an array of gifts including Celtic designs, the Green Man, and ch urch mice among other gift ideas (Glastonbury Abbey, 2017), many of which are not directly Christian in nature but are available as a commodity for tourists, spiritual or otherwise, thus demonstrating a recognition and an acceptance of change within a traditional religious setting. The commercialization of Glastonbury Abbey is not new, historically it has been a land owner and wool trader and as such played a major part in developing market capitalism in Glastonbury (Bowman, 2012, p.15); however, the Abbeys economic influence is no longer restricted to the physical world as the Abbey has adopted technology to create a website capitalises on e-commerce, trading on the provenance of Glastonbury as a sacred space, to allow people who may not have attended Glastonbury to purchase items in order to support the upkeep on the Abbey stating that All profits from the shop are used to help to care for the abbey ruins as well as enhancing the experience for our visitors and that Shop and ticke t sales and donations are the abbeys main source of income'(Glastonbury Abbey, 2017). Glastonbury therefore is an example of religious change in which a traditional religion has recognised that competition within the market and has adapted its offerings to retain custom. Glastonbury Abbey is by no means unique in its willingness to adapt to the demands of its consumers; Luss Church in Scotland boasts fifteen hundred years of continuous Christian presence and, despite a small population, and a smaller local congregation, attracts seven hundred and fifty thousand visitors to Luss many of them to our Church and Pilgrimage Centre (lusschurch.com, 2017) This represents a significant change from the churchs past in which a financially struggling church has adopted the availability of the internet in which New technology has opened up alternative ways of making relationships with visitors real and profitable and our small congregation is enjoying discovering new ways of being the Church in a new century (Luss Church, 2017). This is clearly a development that has been embraced by a worldwide congregation of people who regularly access online services streamed over the internet, this technology also allows friends and relative to view the weddings of people f rom over 40 countries (Bowman, 2013, p.79) express a desire to marry at the church. The exposure that Luss has received from the internet has enabled them to tap into a lucrative wedding industry, removing market share from local hotels who previously would have enjoyed the income from overseas couples wanting to marry in the picturesque setting of Luss. In return, the church adds to the local tourist economy as many friends and relatives will stay for prolonged periods after the wedding at local hotels. The adoption of new technologies has allowed Christianity to reach a larger audience of potential customers, as Pope John Paul II states With the advent of computer telecommunications and what are known as computer participation systems, the Church is offered further means for fulfilling her mission (Pope John Paul II, cited in OLeary, 1996, p.782), a sentiment that has been taken up in many churches. A survey by Elena Larson finds that the Internet is being used being used by congr egations to strengthen the faith and spiritual growth of their members, evangelize and perform missions in their communities and around the world (Larson, 2001, p.2) with the main use of technology being to encourage people to visit the church and become part of the local congregation. Regardless of the success of this mission religions are embracing the opportunity that change brings, indeed Larsons survey suggests that 83% of those responding to our survey say that their use of the Internet has helped congregational life (Larson, 2001, p.2). The spirit of change lies not just with the church but also with by the congregation who, according to a job to vacancy for a new Minister are looking for someone not bound to the past, who are open to change (Luss Church, 2017). In conclusion, traditional religions are not averse to change, indeed, the adoption of different practices and ideas has long been part of religious traditions and a need to adapt to accommodate modernity is essential for a religions survival. Modernisation, and a shift from religiosity to spirituality, is not necessarily a prelude of the death of religion, or its social extinction, but its continuing relevance has required a change in and transformation of its social forms (Adogame, 2014, p215). The continuation of traditional religion within an individualized spiritual market proves it to be a constantly moving target (Beaman, 2016, p. 185) that consistently displays the elements of individualism, mutation and commercialism that enable it not only to survive, but in its manifold manifestations thrives (Bainbridge, 2004). Indeed, the arrival of competition within the spiritual marketplace, rather than being detrimental to traditional religion has encouraged it to mutate into marketa ble entity that has increased its presence and market share of consumers worldwide. Word count, 2047 Bibliography Adogame, A. (2014) Putting God in Place! Religious continuities and mutations in classic and diasporic communities, Social Compass, 61(2), pp. 207-218. [Online] DOI: 10.1177/0037768614524662 (Accessed 8 March 2017). Bainbridge, W. (2004) Thinking about religious futures, Futures, 36(9), pp. 943-946 [Online] Available at http://dx.doi.org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1016/j.futures.2004.02.006 (Accessed 3 March 2017). Beaman, L. (2016) Grace Davie, Religion in Britain: a persistent paradox, Religion, State and Society, 44 (2), pp. 185-186. [Online] Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09637494.2016.1210345 (Accessed 3 March 2017). Bowman, M. (2012) Understanding Glastonbury as a site of spiritual consumption in Lynch, G. and Mitchell, J. (eds). Religion, Media and Culture: A Reader, Abingdon, Routledge. [Online]. Available at Google Books https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=enlr=id=z4eoAgAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PP1dq=Religion,+Media+and+Culture:+A+Readerots=U-7W5rpHptsig=oS-Qq2lYBhtPm4hpFIW_TSXWyFs#v=onepageq=Religion%2C%20Media%20and%20Culture%3A%20A%20Readerf=false (Accessed 21 March 2017). Bowman, M. (2013) Consuming religion: materiality, markets and spiritually shopping around in Controversial Futures, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Bratton, M. (2015) Belief without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but not Religious, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 30(2), pp. 327-329 [Online] Available at http://dx.doi.org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1080/13537903.2015.1025565 (Accessed 4 March 2017). Carrette, J. and King, R. (2005) Selling spirituality, [Online], London, Routledge. Available at ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/open/detail.action?docID=182496. (Accessed 7 March 2017). Fuller, R. (2001) Spiritual, but not religious, [Online] Oxford, Oxford University Press. Available at ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/open/detail.action?docID=3051860 . (Accessed 7 March 2017).. Available at ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/open/detail.action?docID=3051860 (Accessed 7 March, 2017). Gauthier, F., Martikainen, T. and Woodhead, L. (2011) Introduction: Religion et societe de consummation/ Religion in Consumer Society, Social Compass, 58(3), pp. 291-301. [Online] DOI: 10.1177/0037768611412141 (Accessed 10 March 17). Glastonbury Abbey, (2017) Gift Items Glastonbury Abbey Shop [online]. Available from http://www.glastonburyabbeyshop.com (Accessed 20 March 2017). Gottlieb, R. S. (2013) Spirituality what it is and why it matters. New York, Oxford University Press. [Online] DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738748.003.0006 (Accessed 5 March 2017). Hanegraaff, W. (1996) New Age religion and Western culture, Leiden, Brill. [Online]. Available from ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/open/detail.action?docID=253432. (Accessed 20 March 2017). Harvey, G. (2013) Religious individualism: the rise of spirituality in Controversial Futures, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Hedges, P. (2017) Remembering and the Creation of Sacred Place: Glastonbury, Anglican Christian Theology, and Identity, Implicit Religion, 17(3), pp. 297-320, [online] DOI: 10.1558/imre v17i3.297 (Accessed 19 March 17). Ivakhiv, A. (2001). Claiming sacred ground. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.[online] Available at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QNHTOvnZ3poCdq=adrian+ivakhiv+glastonburylr=source=gbs_navlinks_s (Accessed 8 March 2017). Larson, E. (2000). Wired churches, wired temples: Taking congregations and missions into cyberspace Pew Internet American Life Project: Online life report [Online]. Available at http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2000/PIP_Religion_Report.pdf.pdf (Accessed 21 March 2017). Luss church. (2017). Luss Parish Church. [online]. Available at http://lusschurch.com/history.html (Accessed 20 Mar. 2017). Maclaran,P. and Scott, L. (2009). Spiritual Tourism: Mystical Merchandise and Sacred Shopping in Glastonbury, Advances in Consumer Research, 36, pp. 60-63.[Online] Available at http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/14366/volumes/v36/NA-36 (Accessed 21 March 2017). Meradante, L. (2014). life without borders: inside the minds of the spiritual but not religious, 1st ed. New York, Oxford University Press, [online] Available at http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931002.001.0001/acprof-9780199931002-chapter-1 (Accessed 14 March 2017). OLeary, SD. (1996). Cyberspace as Sacred Space: Communicating Religion on Computer Networks, Journal Of The American Academy Of Religion, 64, 4, pp. 781-808, [Online]. Available at http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk (Accessed 21 March 2017). Woodhead, L.and Catto.R. (2013), Religion and Change in Modern Britain, [Online]. Available at ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/open/detail.action?docID=957397. (Accessed 17 March 2017). Yip, J. Ainsworth, S. (2010). Religious Artefacts as Consumer Culture Products, Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 37, pp. 702. [Online] Available at http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=bthAN=57668009site=ehost-livescope=site . (Accessed 20 March 2017). Should the State Promote Positive Liberty? Should the State Promote Positive Liberty? Critically discuss the argument (Isiah Berlin) that the state should not promote positive liberty. The term freedom has always been a difficult discussion; there are various views of freedom in different fields. According to Heywood, A, (2004), he pointed out that in philosophy, freedom is often described as an attribute of the will to observe and study. However, in economics and sociology, freedom has always been seen as a social relationship. The political theorist often viewed freedom as a liberal ethic or normative principles. Among many definitions of freedom, Isiah Berlin subdivided freedom into positive and negative liberty. On the basis of this distinction, Berlin not only declared that positive liberty concept is the theoretical basis of totalitarianism, but also aggressively criticized the concept of positive freedom. He believed that the state should not promote positive freedom. In this essay, we will discuss the theoretical structure from Berlin’s concepts of liberty and pros or cons respectively. Also discussion about whether the state should not advocate posi tive liberty will be included. According to the Berlin (1958) in the Two Concepts of Liberty à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’the concepts of negative liberty and positive liberty were clearly distinguished. The negative liberty was defined as a personal action without interference from others. For instance, the individual has the freedom that others do not have right to attack him. The positive liberty means that the choices of individuals living pattern were decided by themselves rather than any other factors, or simply known as everyone has the freedom to pursuit happiness. In other words, the purpose of negative freedom is the protection of individual rights and resistance of collective rights, which serves for the implementation of various individual rights. For the positive freedom, its main purpose is to obtain certain interests or achieve contain goals. Mostly it displays in the social rights of various participatory. Therefore, it is often expressed as social rights. Isiah Berlin indicated in his theory of freedom that positive freedom always lead to despotism and society should focus on negative freedom. Pursuing positive freedom may lead to no freedom. For instance, we asked for the right of education, which is a positive freedom. It will require government intervention; hence the power of government will increase accordingly. It may result in a violation of individual freedom. As comparison, the negative freedom is less risky. The freedom of not suffering from invasion by external forces is a fine illustration of such point. If people want to enhance the negative freedom, we only need to change regulations. However to promote the positive liberty, not only we need to change the distribution system, but also the ability of mankind. More importantly it is related to the desire of people. Therefore, compare with negative freedom, positive freedom has more opportunities for people to abuse. Criticism of positive freedom from Berlin was very critical. He warned us that dangers come with positive freedom, which are restriction and compulsion. Berlin thought that positive freedom has a generally applicable correct mode, rationale for instance, and we should do everything in accordance with this model. However, in reality, people are affected by various factors including level of understanding, which leads to diffident opinions about right model. Therefore, they need an authority to define what the right model is and force people to comply such rule. Eventually, people will follow the rules under the power of authority, but meanwhile it has changed freedom to restriction. Berlin called the procedure of turning positive freedom into not restriction as strange conversion. After such change, the reversal of positive liberty becomes deprival of freedom. However, in fact such phenomenon is unlikely to happen. Berlin was not completely certain about positive freedom will move tow ard to constraint and inevitable fetter. He only recognized that the possibility was extremely high. Based on that, Fromm,E (1941) refuted the view of Berlin. He thought that positive freedom has a generally applicable correct mode. This mode implies that people can only act in accordance with this model without other choices. He analyzed through German history to understand the reason of Nazi successful controlling their power. He believed despotism of Nazi could be achieved based on the two premises. The first one is that with the development of society, people have the negative liberty, which appeared before the rise of capitalism. The second one is that people obtained the negative liberty, but not the positive freedom. He also indicated that freedom will become constraint even tyranny, if and only if society does not have positive freedom. Fromm’ opinion was consistent with other members from Frankfurt school. They all thought that fascism and capitalism had a close rela tionship. The tyranny of Nazi will become a powerful weapon to deny Berlin’ view, as no matters what negative freedom will always stay the same. In Fromm,E s opinion, state should promote positive liberty due to it will promote development of society. Although in Berlin’ view, the positive freedom is always connected with rationalism and through the rationalism, it can turn into constraint or autocracy. However, negative liberty will also face such problem. For example, when people do not have any restrictions, they will do anything just based on their desires, and this will lead to conflict inevitably. Therefore, as a result, we need the law to limit the people’ freedom. Based on that, positive and negative freedom face the same issue as law is required to restrain both of them. The negative freedom and positive freedom must be considered as equally important factors when people discuss the problem of freedom. However, because of positive freedom is very easy to be used by the autocratic government. It always associated with a very poor reputation, which makes people embarrassing to advocate positive liberty. Taylor, (1985) pointed out, contemporary liberalism paid too much attention to the negative freedom and rejected positive freedom. This behavior was inappropriate. The negative freedom and positive freedom are indispensable parts of the liberty. In order to achieve real freedom, it is necessary to link both of them. Secondly, in the real practice, positive freedom is one of the most essential freedoms in any society. Negative freedom alone can never constitute freedom completely. If there is no positive freedom, negative freedom cannot exist by itself. For example, the right to vote is recognized in all free societies. Such freedom is an essential condi tion for guaranteeing various freedoms. However, this freedom itself is not a negative freedom, but a positive freedom. According to this, positive freedom is always the condition of guaranteeing and completing negative freedom. So the negative liberty could not be understood and implemented alone. Apart from voting right, we can cite many other apparent examples, which also belongs to the positive freedom and also very important that we cannot understate it. For example, it includes obtaining the basic right of survival; the rights of freedom of speech, press freedom; the right of education; the right of obtaining medical support and healthy environment; the right of obtaining healthy food; and the right of enjoying the sunshine, clean air and water. Everyone has to admit that these rights are critically important, but they are all positive freedom. Therefore, it is incorrect that Berlin suggested that state should not promote the positive freedom and only keep the negative freedom . He ignored the importance of positive freedom, as the freedom that people wanted to obtain it directly is always a positive freedom, these freedoms help people to carry their life. Negative freedom should only be used to guarantee or protect the positive freedom. If there is no positive freedom, negative freedom will lose its meaning. The goal of freedom is the positive freedom; negative freedom is just a rational agreement, which provides a limit upon positive liberty. It can be seen that the negative freedom itself is hollow; its only content is to guarantee rational strategy of positive freedom. In the conclusion, Berlin’s theory was against positive freedom, and mainly it was directly against the positive freedom of Marxism. He stated that the positive freedom of Marxism will lead to a totalitarian society, which will vanish individual freedom. However, we cannot just focus on negative liberty and ignore positive liberty, and vice versa .We need to link them together, use the negative freedom as the premise, then we could carry out various positive measures to protect the negative freedom. Therefore, if the positive freedom implemented without negative freedom, it will fall into compulsion or tyranny as Berlin said. However if the negative freedom does not involve positive freedom, it will become weak and fragile, as such freedom cannot maintain a long time by itself. So if a state wants to achieve a good level of development, only negative freedom is inadequacy. Hence the state needs to promote the positive freedom, as it has its own unique value, which also made a certain contribution to the society. Reference: Heywood,A.,(2004).Political Theory: An Introduction .3rd Edition Berlin, I., (1969). Four Essays on Liberty,Oxford: Oxford University Press Matravers, D., Pike, J., Warburton, N. (2000). Reading Political Philosophy: Machiavelli to Mill.P231 Fromm,E.,(1941). Escape from Freedom. Inc., New York Fromm,E., (1942). The Fear of Freedom. Inc., Great Britain Taylor, C., (1979). Whats wrong with Negative Liberty, in D. Miller (ed.) (1991), Liberty. P141-162

Change Resistance In Bureaucratic Organizations In Jordan Management Essay

Change Resistance In Bureaucratic Organizations In Jordan Management Essay A method of appraising managerial employees that has received a great deal of attention in recent years is 360-degree appraisal (also known as multi-rater feedback), whereby rating are given not just by the next manager up in the organisational hierarchy, but also by peers and subordinates. Appropriate customer ratings are also included, along with an element of self-appraisal. Once gathered in, the assessment from the various quarters are compared with one another and the result communicated to the manager concerned. The idea itself is nothing new. Management writers, particularly in the United States, have long advocated the use of upward and peer appraisal as a means of evaluating management performance., but such views have taken a good deal of time to become generally acceptable. The past few years have seen the publication of the major studies of practice in this area, allowing us to reach judgement about the processes involved on the basis of solid evidence. Redman (2001, p65) quotes surveys that show around 40 per cent of major UK companies use it, and 75 per cent of companies in the United States. However, usage in smaller organisation appears to be less common. The recent CIPD survey into performance management practices found that only 14 per cent of respondents worked in organisation that used 360 degree approaches (Armstrong and Baron 2005, p65). Change Resistance in Bureaucratic Organizations in Jordan In this case writer tries to understand why employees resist to accept something new introduced to them, Khassawneh (2005) highlights the reasons and causes behind employees resistance to administrative and hierarchal change in several bureaucratic organizations in Jordan. There were eleven factors, were identified as being major causes of change resistance in bureaucratic agencies. These factors include: inadequate financial and non-financial incentives offered to government employees, lack of employees participation and involvement in the change process, distrust between employees and higher management, expectation of more control and supervision from higher management, expectation of additional job demands and requirements, comfort with status quo, disruption of stable work standards and social relations, lack of goal clarity, lack of employees conviction in the goals of change, fear of loosing job and/or job prerogatives, and the sudden and confused manner in which change is introduced (Khassawneh, 2005) According to Khassawneh (2005) the most significant reason of resistance to change was found out to be lack of employees participation in the change process. This factor was assessed on the basis of two parameters: seniority in organization and number of training programs attended by employees. Senior employees who were part of the organization for five years or less resisted strongly due to lack of participation in the change process than their seniors who had served in the organization for periods ranging from 6-20 years. Employees who had served for five years or less in such government institutions made up 32% of the sample (133 respondents). These individuals were involved in activities concerning of an executive nature and therefore played a significant role in the running of the bureaucratic organizations. Employees who had not attended any training program felt that lack of involvement led to resistance to adopt to new processes/ systems. Therefore this attitude goes to show what an important role the training programmes play, boosting employee morale and involvement as training enables individuals to discover their strengths and weaknesses and also instill in them a sense of belonging in their organization. Therefore the respondents who did not get an opportunity to participate in any training programs claimed to have low sense of involvement with the organization treated the management with greater suspicion, than those who took part in certain training programmes for their career development. Another major cause of resistance to change was as found out by Khassawneh (2005) was lack of proper incentives. This lack of proper incentives was correlated to five of background characteristics of respondents which were namely; seniority, administrative rank, number of training programs attended, age and level of education (Khassawneh, 2005). Younger, low level ranking employees resisted more due to lack of proper incentives. Employees who have served for longer periods of time tend to receive greater incentives as the longer they remain in a government organization. Resistance to adopt a new system also came about when the employees viewed the management with suspicion and distrust (Khassawneh, 2005). Younger employees working at a low level position who did not get adequate decision making authority or those who did not attend enough training programs were mainly the individuals who highly resisted any sort of newly introduced change. Khassawneh (2005) states that if such low ranking employees are also not given enough information regarding the change process, then such employees would always create issues in the organization. The IBM Making Change Work Global Study IBMs (2008) research department addressed the issues as to why most organizations cannot bring about a change successfully in an organization. IBMs research was conducted using a sample size of more than 1,500 key practitioners through surveys and detailed interviews. The purpose of the research was to find out why implementing a change program was met with resistance by the employees and why the program failed to be implemented in most organizations successfully. The study revealed that 44% the projects failed to be completed on deadlines, or within budget or without decided quality of end goals, while 15 percent either ceased or failed to meet any of the objectives. The reasons cited for these failures range from lack of clarity of goals, failure to execute the project successfully from the perspective of the top management and lack of employee involvement, age factor, educational level and fear of new change from the perspective of the employees. The major challenges to change were divided on two parameters; soft factors and hard factors. The soft factors of resistance to change included: changing mindsets and attitudes, corporate culture, complex nature of the change process, lack of dedication from the side of upper level management, and deficiency of motivation of employees involved. While the hard factors of resistance to change included: shortage of resources, lack of change information, not much transparency because of incomplete or unreliable information, change of process change of IT systems, technology barriers. It is was found out from this study that while the hard factors play an important part in hindering the process of change, surprisingly it was the soft factors that was harder to get right. Altering thinking, behaviours and norms of an entity typically need different methods and skills that are applied time after time and over the time. Sometimes they require being applied over a series of consecutive assign ments and even some of them often continue after the project has been finished formally. (IBM, 2008). In order to overcome these resistances, the study then focused on the parameters that made a change successful. While leadership, employee engagement and honest communication were cited as the major areas providing impetus for change; again the list was divided into hard and soft factors that made a change process successful. The soft factors comprised of: higher managements commitment and support, employee motivation and participation, open and accurate communication on timely basis, organization environment and culture that motivates and promotes change. The hard factors included: efficient training programs, adjustment of performance measures, efficient organization structure and monetary and non-monetary incentives. The major responsibility of implementing the change was that of the top management. The results of the research revealed that Practitioners firmly place key responsibility for the fate of change projects in the executive suite, an overwhelming 92 percent named top man agement sponsorship as the most important factor for successful change (IBM, 2008). Therefore it can be concluded from this study that while employees would always be suspicious of any kind of change and would resist the efforts of the management out of this fear and suspicion. It depends upon the top management to ensure timely communication, encouragement of employee involvement and appointing of professional change agents would pave the way for a successful change processes for any organization. Factors Affecting Resistance to Change: A Case Study of Two North Texas Police Departments Gaylor (2001), tried to explore the issues that affect conflict with change. For this purpose a law enforcement agency was chosen as the case in point i.e. two North Texas Police departments where the police consequence of mature education and expectation on the police teams level of opposition to change and the results of contribution and mutual understanding on reliance were examined. There were 5 factors that were identified as very influential on organizational change. These factors were: 1) Employee participation in resistance to change, 2) Trust in management, 3) Communication process, 4) Quality of information available and 5) Education (Kent, 2001) Research resulted that factors that affect resistance from employee side are involvement in the process, believe in management, processes of communication within organization, and exchange of information. The synopsis by Kent (2001) states that employee involvement in the process of change encourages him to feel to be owner for the new system and therefore, boosts the level of comfort and trust between employees and the management. Secondly, the organization needs to have a proper system of communication for employee remedy and support. This also increases the level of trust between the two stakeholders. Third, employees must be provided with accurate and timely information so as to reduce the level of chaos that is normally created at the time of change in any organization. And finally, to feel secure about their jobs and statuses and other issues of change process, employees have to have a high level of trust in management. Leading and Coping with Change Woodword Hendry in 2004 undertook 2 surveys to look at different perspectives in research on how change is being managed in financial services institutions of Londons. These involved representatives of senior management personnel who were responsible for initiation of change in the organizational and all other employees inclusive of managers experiencing change while serving at different levels. The aims of the study were: To define the skills and attitudes required to lead change and those needed effectively to cope with change and To develop a model to show how change is absorbed within the organization They organized their findings in five parts as described below, which have been arranged in the following manner. In the 1st section, as people keep on seeking to explore that what is going on in their organization, states what the employees and employers consider as the main pressures for change, their formal boss responses, and in what ways these changes have impacted their careers. Then, as conventional ways of working are tempered, in parts two and three they show how people cope and what different resources are required in terms of skills and competencies to perform well in this new changed environment. Then in part four they describe specific qualities required by the change managers to cultivate with respect to employee needs. Finally, they state what the organizations do in order to support their employees throughout the change process, and how senior management and employees perceive this. The results of this research provide the researchers with reasons behind the failure of many initiatives of change process and how failures may be managed successfully. Woodword Hendry (2004) then investigated what various employee coping strategies were adopted during the change process. They told employees to indicate the level of their readiness in responding to any further changes in their job or work. A considerably large fraction of those who were surveyed were seen to be ready for the change and considered it a part of life with a positive feel about it. As coping is about creating a balance between demands and living within the limitation of the system, employees were told to specify main hindrances they had to handle with in the new environment. Five factors that were extracted from this exercise were: Increased accountability but reduced resources. A focus on tasks with a corresponding neglect of employees. Feelings of insecurity and uncertainty in roles and direction. Other employees not coping and lacking skills to adapt. Managers themselves failing to cope, and employing poor coping strategies. On a question of most helpful personal coping strategies, employees listed several strategies, which included from proactive approach to denial or avoidance. The researchers also studied the various competencies that are required for coping with the change. Adapting to negative or positive coping strategies is affected by the way in which employees perceive demands and resources balance in the new employee-to-work relationship in changed environment. Hence, coping strategies are influenced by the availability of resources. Skills and competencies are a major personal resource. Employees specified a number of skills and competencies they found especially helpful in absorbing and coping with change: Communicating with others holding different perspectives (since nowadays people work in teams for many activities). Organizing work and managing time effectively (in response to increased job scope and the need to meet a variety of objectives). Assimilating and interpreting information (to identify significant information and filter out irrelevancies). Dealing with people (since financial and professional service organizations deliver many of their services through people). Innovative problem solving. Also specifying the above mentioned skills, employees rated many other personal abilities, skills and qualities as very important. These include motivation; judgment accuracy; customer need understanding; commercial awareness; ability of influencing and negotiation; lively mind; and positive attitude towards change. Senior managers were of the view that key personal skills or capabilities of performing well in a dynamic environment should also contain a dedication to change, acceptance of the changing situation, an ability to gel in the changed environment, and a variety of personality traits. Woodword Hendry (2004) then go on to discuss how important is it to for the change managers to lead change in a competent manner. However, this important part is still overlooked by a considerable minority level, with 33 percent of senior managers claiming that human aspects were ignored in the change initiatives. Only 20 percent employees rated the concerned management as very able enough to implement changes in the organization. Almost all the rest had equally divided responses, ranging from average to poor. In spite of the low rating, employees were observed have a sense of sympathy and appreciation for difficulties faced my management in leading and managing the change. Employees were inquired as to when and how sometimes it becomes difficult or hard for employees to absorb change or adopt it. These key areas were classified into six categories, as follows: Communicating (not being kept informed, receiving conflicting messages, wanting to understand but not being given explanations); The change process itself (when change is perceived as happening too slowly or too fast, when leaders are seen to hold unrealistic expectations, or when change is managed with incorrect sequencing); Relationships (including situations when change leaders seem remote and isolated from employees, do not exhibit constructive attitudes and behaviours, or behave in an autocratic fashion); Consultation (when employees do not feel they are informed or consulted, and when staff needs and ideas are disregarded); Skills and experience (when change leaders are seen as lacking the required skills, abilities and experience, and when the change leader lacks credibility); Motivation for change (when there appears a lack of involvement or motivation for change at the top, or among senior managers elsewhere in the organization). The employees were also inquired about how managers, actions could be was most helpful to them to cope with changes in the organization. Out of 19 objects gathered from the traditional change management literature, each except one was rated very helpful or quite helpful. Senior managers identified the competencies such as strong leadership, purpose/mission clarity, enthusiasm, participative employees, and improved communication. These were somehow similar with then ones identified by the employees. Again this is not applicable to conventional behaviours and with top-down attitude. Finally, employees were told to express their feelings on the extent they received support while the implementation of change in the organization with the statement: employees are provided with adequate problem prevention and support to cope with organization changes. While a majority of the senior management staff agreed with this statement, less than 25 percent of employees did. There is, therefore, a gap in how each looks at the quantity of support provided. For example, a majority of employees said that their employer entity let them have sufficient authority to get their work done in an effective manner, and hence, there existed better professional relationships but for other factors, only a minority reported availability of support. On the other hand, the most common mechanisms of support that senior managers report included detailed career development counseling with their employees so that they could be skilled enough to be ready their new job responsibilities; skills enhance ment; telling them as to where the organization is heading, and what would be the roles and responsibilities of employees; measures to make sure that there is an alignment between structures and systems and improved salary and perks packages through career management programmes. Comparing this with what employees report, Woodword Hendry (2004) state that employees and managers do agree on some of the important points, but show disagreement on how adequately the provision of these is. Managers also rely on comparatively few major sources of support. Eventually, organization employees emphasize more or less entirely on those things that give them a sense of control and autonomy, while managers rely on the things which they control as managers. This then continues in the pattern where senior managers exhibit a traditional leadership model, while employees be able to get a wide variety of behaviours that are useful for them.

The Physics of an AM Radio Receiver :: Radio Technology Electronics Essays

The Physics of an AM Radio Receiver The AM Radio has been around for a long time. When the AM radio was first invented, it was not meant to be used to broadcast music. That is why today most music radio stations are on the FM band. Instead, the AM band was used to carry voice frequencies, thus, all the AM talk radio stations. Due to new technology, music is broadcast over the AM band but does not have the same sound quality as the FM band. According to the FCC regulations at www.fcc.gov, the AM broadcasters are only allowed 5 KHz each side of their carrier frequency for their side bands. These side bands will be explained in more detail later on. In order to understand an AM receiver, one must understand each stage and what it does. An AM receiver can be broken down into six stages. These stages will be explained one at a time. The first stage is the RF amplifier. The AM antenna runs into the RF amp where the desired frequency is selected. As stated by Grob (1997), the typical band for AM is 535 Hz to 1605 KHz. For the duration of the paper, we will assume that we are trying to receive a station that is located on 1290 KHz signal. The antenna used must be able to pick up all the stations on the AM dial. Knowing this, we need to select the one we want to hear. In this case, we want 1290 KHz or The Country KOWW. When the dial on the radio is turned to select 1290 KHz, it does two things. There are two variable capacitors The Physics of an AM Radio Receiver being adjusted. I will begin by discussing the first capacitor. This capacitor is connected in parallel with an inductor. While the capacitance changes as the dial is turned, the resonant frequency of the LC circuit also changes. This process is called inductor and capacitor in parallel. When the capacitor is in just the right spot, the resonant frequency will be 1290 KHz. This LC circuit is designed so that only the resonant frequency is passed. The 1290 KHz will now be passed on to the next stage and all other frequencies will be filtered out. The RF amp must also have good sensitivity, which according to Scott Rasmussen (2003), is the ability to amplify a very weak signal.

Michael Jordan :: essays research papers

“Michael Jordan is the best ever. There shouldn’t be any question in anyone’s mind. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. He broke the mold. There is no one remotely close to him, Nate Thurmond says. Look at all the finals, he always carried his team. He willed them to another title each year. His greatness was well shown off and off the court. He follows up by saying it’s his mental approach more so than his physical talent. He’s been on top so long and he still goes out and does it every night (Thurmond, 61).'; He was the best player in the league for years and everyone respected his talent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “There’s no next Michael Jordan, says Magic Johnson. He continues saying, you can’t compare anyone to him, what he has done for the game can never be matched. Michael Jordan will always be Michael Jordan and no one better (Johnson, 61). He’s the greatest that ever played, in terms of doing things that Larry Bird and I never dreamed about.'; (62) Doug Collins says that, “Practice is what made him go. Every day he had this need to show who was the best. It’s like `I’m the best today and I’m going to show you and tomorrow I’m going to show you and the next day I’m going to show you again.’ That was how he competed. All the great geniuses of the world were like that. We’re talking about Einstein, Edison, and Roosevelt. These people came across something and worked to perfect it (Collins, 61).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “Michael Jordan is the most competitive human being I’ve ever met. I’ve met many CEO’s from fortune 500 companies. Michael is more competitive then all of them, David Faulk'; (Faulk, 62) He continues saying, “Michael Jordan would cheat to win, if he wasn’t winning, he would do anything to do so.';(63) Fread Lynch tells, “More than anything else, he was a sore loser. Just playing pick-up games, he’d get on his teammates all the time. He hasn’t changed that. What he always expected was everybody play the game as hard as he played it.'; (Lynch, 63)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Michael Jordan’s father once said, “I think Michael got so good because Larry (his older brother) used to beat him all the time. He always took losing hard. He only began beating Larry once he started really to grow. It was almost like as if he willed himself to grow. Michael Jordan :: essays research papers “Michael Jordan is the best ever. There shouldn’t be any question in anyone’s mind. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. He broke the mold. There is no one remotely close to him, Nate Thurmond says. Look at all the finals, he always carried his team. He willed them to another title each year. His greatness was well shown off and off the court. He follows up by saying it’s his mental approach more so than his physical talent. He’s been on top so long and he still goes out and does it every night (Thurmond, 61).'; He was the best player in the league for years and everyone respected his talent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “There’s no next Michael Jordan, says Magic Johnson. He continues saying, you can’t compare anyone to him, what he has done for the game can never be matched. Michael Jordan will always be Michael Jordan and no one better (Johnson, 61). He’s the greatest that ever played, in terms of doing things that Larry Bird and I never dreamed about.'; (62) Doug Collins says that, “Practice is what made him go. Every day he had this need to show who was the best. It’s like `I’m the best today and I’m going to show you and tomorrow I’m going to show you and the next day I’m going to show you again.’ That was how he competed. All the great geniuses of the world were like that. We’re talking about Einstein, Edison, and Roosevelt. These people came across something and worked to perfect it (Collins, 61).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “Michael Jordan is the most competitive human being I’ve ever met. I’ve met many CEO’s from fortune 500 companies. Michael is more competitive then all of them, David Faulk'; (Faulk, 62) He continues saying, “Michael Jordan would cheat to win, if he wasn’t winning, he would do anything to do so.';(63) Fread Lynch tells, “More than anything else, he was a sore loser. Just playing pick-up games, he’d get on his teammates all the time. He hasn’t changed that. What he always expected was everybody play the game as hard as he played it.'; (Lynch, 63)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Michael Jordan’s father once said, “I think Michael got so good because Larry (his older brother) used to beat him all the time. He always took losing hard. He only began beating Larry once he started really to grow. It was almost like as if he willed himself to grow.