Interview people about the economy Essay

The people of the Orange County are an optimistic bunch. Yet, one can see this optimism slowly fading away into the darkness. For a country which is so close to perhaps world’s biggest entertainment hub, this is not a pretty picture. It would be wrong to blame the people. Little has gone right for the county since the economic recession of 2008, the effects of which are still quite visible. For a county which was already suffering from one of the more serious unemployment problems than compared to the average figures of the United States of America, the recession of 2008 has spelt doom, and its repercussions can still be felt. Take the case of the 34-year old Mr. Matthews who had a small shop selling electronic goods. However, with most people who gave him patronage, out of jobs or saving up for the bleak future, there are no takers for his once steadily selling shop of television sets and radios. His only hope is a government bailout, so that his customers have more money in their hands, or in other words greater purchasing power so as to indirectly get him out of this mess. Mr. Matthews situation is in complete contrast with Mrs. Mosby who is a secretary with the local government authority. She has been affected very little by the 2008 economic recession but maintains that she is concerned about a lot of her friends, whose businesses have shut or who have been shown the door in their jobs. The only consequence of this recession on her is that while her pay has not increased, prices of many commodities of even general use have gone by which makes it difficult for her to make the ends of her household meet. She is for the moment thankful that she has a government job, but strongly advocates that it is the state’s responsibility to find her fellow citizens a job which at the very least promises them adequate means of survival. Recession and the deteriorating economic situation is a concern not only to those who are currently affected by it, but also those who may be affected by it in the future. Take the case of 24-year old Mike, who is a final year student at the local university. He agrees that the heat in the air can be felt by all, and even though his university manages to put together a small career fair every year, it seems a difficult proposition this year. Although in the top half of his class, Mike admits that getting a job which helps him repay his educational loans he took for college, at least currently, seems to be a daunting task. He is hopeful that by the time he graduates, the situation would improve. He doesn’t make a case for out and out state intervention, but hopes that the state would help big economic powerhouses by giving them incentives and subsidies. Things have turned sour for those who are self-employed as well. Take the instance of a lawyer who has his own practice, Miss Timberlake. Litigation has become suddenly too expensive, and people seem to prefer to hold up matters for now. Even matters of home foreclosure have got delayed for now. People are looking at otherwise normal litigation procedures as a luxury service, which they are unable to afford at the moment, and are not as big a priority as say medical and health expenditure. Health insurance companies are facing the heat as no other according to Jeff, who works at one of the biggest insurance companies. The health and medical costs have spiraled over the last few years. The fact that people have very little disposal income, and are defaulting on their regular premium payments is making the matters worse for the insurance companies. Their being no solution in sight, people are turning to each other and urging them to perform acts of gratitude. For instance, appeals are being made to doctors and other hospital staff to give up a day’s pay. People are becoming much more cautious and conservative in spending their money. For instance, the younger siblings are getting their older siblings clothes. The insurance companies don’t have enough cash flowing in so as to be able to cope up with the increasing medical costs. This spells a disaster not just for one or two companies, but for two industries which are vital to the US economy – health and insurance. Whether there is a way out of this mess is the million dollar question facing everyone right now. The companies in both sectors, however, are optimistic and hope to see things improving with the Obama administration. Obama’s success in being able to pass the health insurance bill is being seen as a huge positive and people seem to be oddly comforted by his words of promise. Job creation is what people are currently looking forward to. Perhaps, the only sections of the society who have nothing to lose right now are the school going children. However, it is amazing how the economic crisis has made way into their everyday conversations as well. David who is only 14 is angry at the whole situation. He maintains that the whole crisis is the fault of the government, which allowed risky investments to be made. He is also unhappy about the liberal policies which have allowed a bulk of the work to be outsourced to other destinations where labour is much cheaper. Stricter laws are needed, he argues emphatically. Those who are retired have been hit badly as well. Their pension schemes and other insurance amounts are simply not enough for them to be able to make their ends meet. Home foreclosures are likely and in the offing, and this has most of them worried. Take the case of Mr. Andrews, who is 66 years old and survives on a small pension scheme. Recently the prices of even basic consumables have risen so sharply risen that he is finding it difficult to make the ends meet. His old age means that it is much more difficult for him to find a job as compared to other freshers just out of college. He is worried that if the State fails to take some concrete steps soon, many Americans could be tinkering on the verge of starving poverty. Take the case of Mr. Murdoch who is a stock market analyst and broker. In the economic recession of 2008, he lost close to $100,000. He says that he is devastated and doesn’t know if there is any hope remaining for his business, and whether he will be able to revive it in the near future. He is currently torn between the idea of continuing his business, or taking up a small job somewhere. However, he himself laughs at the irony of it all, given that it would be near impossible to find a job anywhere. He also feels responsible to many of his clients, who he was acting for, and have lost a considerable amount of money in the stock market. At the same time, however, he is quick to point out that investment in the market is subject to market risks, and therefore, one is understood to have assumed the same.

Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill

Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill By Maeve Maddox One of our readers used this expression in a recent comment: make a mountain out of a mole hole I assumed that the writer had intended to write the common expression make a mountain out of a molehill. I was about to shrug it off as a typo and move on when I thought Id just Google the unfamiliar version. I found enough examples to indicate that the readers version is in fairly common use. I found the mole hole version in headlines, subject lines, comments and serious articles. Here are a few examples: The media paints the picture of a mountainous recession, but it may simply be a mole hole of slow growth that we must conquer. The Fed is creative and seemingly cogent enough to get the economy through its current stress. New N Economics However, Mr. Dubad gave us the impression that the sky is falling apart and a civil war is in the offing. He made a mountain out of mole hole. The Somaliland Times Think too hard and you’ll over think the problem. Consider the size of the problem too much and you’ll make a mountain out of a mole hole. Quest Venture Partners The English word mole has various meanings: 1. a spot on the skin 2. a burrowing animal 3. a wall or other barrier built in the sea to hold back water 4. a unit of molecular quantity 5. a spy (figurative use because, like a mole, a spy burrows in darkness) It is the second sense that gives us molehill. The word mole may come from mouldwarp, lit. earth-thrower. Moles tunnel beneath the earth. A surface opening to a tunnel is often marked by a little pile of earth, a molehill. A molehill is not very large, but it is shaped like a mountain. A person who makes a big fuss over a small matter is said to be making a mountain out of a molehill. Heres an example of the expression from over 400 years ago: To much amplifying thinges yt. be but small, makyng mountaines of Molehils. [John Foxe, Acts and Monuments, 1570] Its not clear to me why molehills should have morphed into mole holes. I can see an immediate connection between a molehill and a mountain, but not between a mole hole and a mountain. Wouldnt an exaggerated hole be more like a crater or a lake than a mountain? In researching the expression I came across numerous tourist retreats called The Mole Hole. Perhaps their existence has contributed to the shift. I know. Im just making a mountain of a mole-. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Words with More Than One Spelling15 Words for Household Rooms, and Their SynonymsForming the Comparative of One-syllable Adjectives

Understanding and Using Stipulative Definitions

Understanding and Using Stipulative Definitions A stipulative is a  definition that assigns meaning to a word, sometimes without regard for common usage. The term stipulative definition is often used in a pejorative sense to refer to a definition that appears to be deliberately misleading. Stipulative definitions are also known as Humpty-Dumpty words or legislative definitions. Examples and Observations Michael Ghiselin A lexical definition, such as one that occurs in a dictionary (a lexicon), is a kind of report on how language is used. A stipulative definition proposes (stipulates) that language shall be used in a given way.–Metaphysics and the Origin of Species. SUNY Press, 1997 Trudy Govier Words in a language are public instruments for communication in that language, and a stipulative definition is useful only if it sets out predictable and comprehensible standards of use that are workable for the purpose at hand. If a stipulated definition becomes popular, the word defined in its new sense then becomes part of public language, and it is open to changes and variations in use just as other words are.–A Practical Study of Argument, 7th ed. Wadsworth, 2010 Patrick J. Hurley Stipulative definitions are misused in verbal disputes when one person covertly uses a word in a peculiar way and then proceeds to assume that everyone else uses that word in the same way. Under these circumstances that person is said to be using the word stipulatively. In such cases the assumption that the other person use the word in the same way is rarely justified.–A Concise Introduction to Logic, 11th ed. Wadsworth, 2012 Jon Stratton Stipulative definitions that slant or bias meanings are called persuasive definitions. They are meant to persuade and to manipulate people, not to clarify meaning and encourage communication. Persuasive definitions are sometimes encountered in advertising, political campaigns, and in discussions about moral and political values. For example the definition, A caring mother is one who uses Softness brand disposable diapers, is persuasive because it unfairly stipulates the secondary designation Softness user. The term caring mother is much more significant than that!–Critical Thinking for College Students. Rowman Littlefield, 1999 Use in Literature â€Å"There’s glory for you!† â€Å"I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. â€Å"Of course you don’t–till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’† â€Å"But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument,’† Alice objected. â€Å"When I use a word,† Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, â€Å"it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.† â€Å"The question is,† said Alice, â€Å"whether you can make words mean so many different things.† â€Å"The question is,† said Humpty Dumpty, â€Å"which is to be master–that’s all.† Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. â€Å"They’ve a temper, some of them–particularly verbs, they’re the proudest–adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs–however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That’s what I say!† â€Å"Would you tell me, please,† said Alice, â€Å"what that means?† â€Å"Now you talk like a reasonable child,† said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. â€Å"I meant by ‘impenetrability’ that we’ve had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you’d mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don’t mean to stop here all the rest of your life.† â€Å"That’s a great deal to make one word mean,† Alice said in a thoughtful tone. â€Å"When I make a word do a lot of work like that,† said Humpty Dumpty, â€Å"I always pay it extra.†Ã¢â‚¬â€œLewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, 1871 Use in Film Nancy: Can you, like, define the meaning of love? Fielding Mellish: What do you... define... its love! I love you! I want you in a way of cherishing your totality and your otherness, and in the sense of a presence, and a being and a whole, coming and going in a room with great fruit, and love of a thing of nature in a sense of not wanting or being jealous of the thing that a person possesses. Nancy: Do you have any gum?–Louise Lasser and Woody Allen in Bananas, 1971

Paintball Tourney Essays

Paintball Tourney Essays Paintball Tourney Paper Paintball Tourney Paper The XPL 7s will be run on a monthly basis in between other major league paintball tournaments. It will be based on 4 leagues with around 8 teams on each averaging about 30 40 teams per event. There will be 4 super air fields with 6 marshals and an ultimate per field. Also a staging area that only team players and crew members can access with there unique ID cards and controlled access from security guards. The game structure and general concept will be best on that of the rule book (app.1)  Location and Layout  The field layouts will be based on those from millennium series events and will be different every event. The field layouts will be designed in advance and put up at least a day before the event and checked with the Field of Play regulations in the PA rulebook (app.1) The fields will be stored and packed away when not in use in a storage container and washed down before hand The players staging area will be big enough to hold 300 players and 40 teams with 6 meter removable security fencing with only one entrance guarded by security personnel only letting players and crew members with unique ID cards with official XPL stamp and 2 other security personnel checking the perimeter for intruders and thieves. Promotion  The main source of promotion will be the website. I have designed and made the website, just need web space and domain name for it. It will have all relevant information on it to do with the tourney, entry, results, schedule etc. Another source of promotion will be in paintball magazines like PGI and also internet ads on websites like walkonzone.com  A questionnaire has been produced for marketing reason to work out if firstly the staff will work for that kind of money. Secondly to find out what general interest this will create and key features that paintball players look for in a paintball tournament. Flyers and posters will also be made to promote the event to new audiences and the target market.  How the Leagues work  There will be 4 leagues and based on 8 per division, each team will play 7 games. Which are 56 games in each division making it 224 games in total. Split up into 4 fields over a playing time of 7 hours (not including 1 hour lunch break), 56 games per field over 420 minutes. 15 minutes between games. See app.2 for schedule details and game layout. The day will run from games starting at 10 am to finishing at 5 pm with a 1 hour break at 1 pm for lunch and marshals to rest. The teams will be placed in there divisions past on their performance at other tournaments and what level they play on. The divisions will also work on 2 go up and 2 go down. Teams wont be allowed to change divisions, the only way teams change divisions is with the promotion and demotion method Marshals  On each field will be 7 marshals, one of which will be the ultimate who Is in charge of that field and his marshals. He will be considered head marshal on that field. The marshals will be that of tournament level standard and will be sent a copy of the XPL rule book to read well in advance and will need to have experience in marshalling tournaments and over the age of 18. The marshals will be paid à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 for the day and will receive free lunch. The marshals will also get a 1 hour lunch break at 1pm. Security  There will be 4 security personnel hired who will have to be 21+ and will be given a shirt to wear and radio to communicate with the other security personnel. Only 3 of the 4 security guards will be working at one time. 1 of the 3 will be at the entrance of the players area checking for player ID guards and checking for the official XPL stamp and checking the photo. The other two will be patrolling inside and outside the players area for thieves and intruders with no ID card. See appendix 3 for security personnel schedule. ID cards  The ID cards will be the size of a business card and have a photo of the player, the player name, team name (to stop that player playing for another team) players signature, an organisers signature and the official XPL stamp. With a plastic cover going over the top. If a security guard sees a player ID were the plastic has been peeled back, that player will be denied access. Every player and his/her information will be stored on the computer and when a teams arrives at a competition they will be asked to fill in a form writing down each players name, address, player ID and signature which will be double checked on the player IDs and on the computer during the day for sandbaggers or players switching teams. The player must supply a passport sized photo. Air + Co2  Air will be supplied by H-Pac services at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 per player. With a maximum of 56 teams and assuming 8 players on each team which would be around 300 players in total playing in the event costing around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1500. The Co2 will be supplied by APS with 4 tanks set up for players to be filled up on. A member of staff will be hired at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 for the day to watch over, check bottles and help fill. Food and Refreshments  The safe zone at the Skirmish Paintball Site will be used as a restaurant where people that get refreshments charged that of the prices below. A Cook and kitchen personnel will be hired for the day to cook the food and serve it to customers.  Car Park and Traffic  The Strip of land between the field of which the tourney will be played on and the woods will be converted into a car park that can hold at least 400 cars. Staff will use the sites car park and two car park staff will be hired to assist the parking of cars during the day. Trade Stands  Companies will be offered a space at the event to set up trade stands. For the 1st event there will be no charge but will be charged per event after that to set up a trade stand.  Company Banners  Companies can have their banner stuck up on the side of the netting, in the car park and around the site at a small cost of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 per banner. Although sponsors of the event can have their banners up, as many as they want and wherever they want, at no cost. Paint  Teams can buy paint from Adrenaline Paintball Supplies. A Choice of WDP, RPS or Evil paint will be available and discount for buying in bulk, but teams MUST ring in advance to let APS know how much paint they are expecting too need so they get enough in. Prices for paint are below.

Personal Development Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Personal Development Planning - Essay Example The idea is to allow a user to do tasks more efficiently, quickly and from any location and eventually letting the virtual office handle the routine chores for us and facilitate interaction with others. In the paragraphs below we will look at some of the functions available in a virtual office. A bulletin board can be used to share important information with a work group, posting announcements, giving contact information, posting messages, and list of jobs to be completed, announcing events and even conducting polls among workers about an issue. A travel planner can be used to make travel plans by researching and creating itineraries. It can also be used to compare flight fares and also used to save travel data for workers and their travel plans. Search engines can gather background information on any place including lodging, site seeing and customs, weather and local maps. Document sharing is an important part of any office. Now this can also be done digitally using virtual office tools. Text document and spreadsheets are central to any business. A group of people may work on a single file for a few days. Online spreadsheet and document services are available to make this possible. This utility allows the user to post a document on the net to be viewed edited and downloaded and worked on by other designated users. There is also file management and storage service available over the internet that allows you to organize files and folders and store them on the internet to be accessed by others. There are also tools facilitating online ordering of major office supplies that provides e-commerce channels to conduct business with vendors. It also provides links to major air cargo carriers and travel suppliers. One of the most useful communication tools of a virtual office is a virtual PBX. This service offers businesses all the features of a PBX without the hardware requirement or the need to install new phone lines. These services are hosted by companies for a monthly fee. This system works by assigning a toll free number and a set of extension numbers to the client. When a call is placed, the system answers with the clients customized greeting and redirects the caller according to the specifications of the client. These services also offer features like on-hold messages, music on-hold, virtual calling card, dial by name, question and answer mailbox, virtual fax etc. The most used among the virtual office tools is the web conferencing facility. While chat technology requires participants to be online at the given time, web conferencing involves either real-time conversation or presentation that can be accessed at a given time by all the conferencing members or at different times by different members. Web

Hydrogels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hydrogels - Essay Example However, chef a amongst them are temperature, pH, ionic strength, solvent composition, and light and electric field, Al these are stimuli responsive Hydrogels are useful in the development of a number of appliances especially in the development of controlled drug release systems, sensors, cell culture substances, and flow control. Additionally, Hydrogels are suitable for immobilizing the bimolecular because the=y have a bimolecular capacity, this is very fundamental in keeping their shape in the original condition. They can also be vey important in immobilizing optical sensors because they have a very important property. By virtue of their functionality, their biocompatibility makes the ideal candidate of the development of the rational optical sensor. They have a very wide loading capacity that is mainly suitable for sensors. Additional they have a very wide background which is only suitable for optical low optics. They also have another property that makes them very suitable for the development of cornerstones. For example polymers can be mixed to derive a very effective hydrogen cornerstone There have been a lot of res DNA however; one of the mot important a breakthrough in the researches that involves DNA is the use of DNA functionalized Hydrogels to make biosensors. This breakthrough was also fundamental for the development of controlled release system just like in medicine and other stimuli reactive materials. The focus on the main property of Hydrogels such as the ability to swell is very important because in this way. The most important breakthrough has been achieved in the scientific circles. A better example is the focus on gels phase shift. A stimuli responsive smart gels. There has also been the relatively low number of bolometric sensors. Acrydite-modified DNA is easy to link Hydrogels understanding through co-polymerization. Upon the completion of the gel transformation, their general viscosity is transformed as one can

Inside Obama's Presidency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Inside Obama's Presidency - Essay Example The second challenge was the huge bonuses awarded as compensation to the banks; .the public was angry. When Obama met with the top banks C.E.O’s, most people expected that he would take on a hard approach against them, but this was not the case to the dismay of many. The banks seemed to have gotten it all on silver Plata. Another challenge was the reforms on the health care. Again he tried to take a bipartisan approach, but there came the problem; dealing with the congress that often slows down processes. The republicans were on his case: they did not vote for the motion. When faced with the issue of terrorism and handling Osama Bin Laden, he had to make the verdict to send U.S troops to Iraq. Leon Panetta, the CIA director, had information that Osama lived in a compound in Pakistan. The American troops went for the raid, and that reported that Osama had been killed. Another obstacle came which Obama had not foreseen. During the mid-term elections, his party lost to the republicans. Most of his supporters had been ousted, and he now had to take another approach to get things done. To take care of the debt crisis, he met John Boehner, who let him down when he needed him the most. To Obama it seemed that he had total confidence in his governance. He was so sure that his bipartisan approach would work. But if we would gauge his performance on this, I’d say that he was not successful. In all instances, he had to look for a second option. For example, looking at the stimulus bill, it passed without the votes from the republicans. Clearly, his promise to offer bipartisan solutions did not see the light of day. This was not because he was not willing to do so, but because the republicans were not ready to cooperate. From the first term’s performance, Obama tried too much to change how things worked: he had too many expectations that there wouldn’t be politics. He ought to have taken it as it is. In politics, everybody tries to be better