Richard Cory Essay Example for Free

Richard Cory Essay In the poem, Richard Cory is believed to be superior in contrast to the working people. The poem states, â€Å"Whenever Richard Cory went down town, we people on the pavement looked at him† (754). The working people had very little money and work consistently to survive, â€Å"So on we worked, and waited for the light, and went without the meat, and cursed the bread† (755). The people admired Richard Cory and wished to one day have the same wealth as Richard Cory, â€Å"And he was rich—yes, richer than a king† (755). Richard Cory is well-presented, and the people described Richard Cory appearance as â€Å"Cleaned favored, an imperially slim† (754). In the poem, the people also described Richard Cory as a â€Å"gentleman from sole to crown† (754) and â€Å"And admirably schooled in every grace† (755). Richard Cory symbolized everything a working man strived to accomplish, â€Å"To make us wish that we were in his place† (755). In the poem, the people represent the lower working-class and Richard Cory represents the higher level of society. The people hope to one day become like Richard Cory through hard work and determination. In the poem, clearly the people think Richard Cory has the perfect life and have no knowledge of the struggles Richard Cory faces. Throughout the poem, the reader believes that Richard Cory is a legendary man. Richard Cory is depicted as a man who kept to himself, the poem states, â€Å"He was always quietly arrayed† (754). In the poem, the people also portray Richard Cory as down to earth, it states, â€Å"He was always human when he talked† (754). Richard Cory did not believe he was better than anyone else; he was humble. Richard Cory is also noticeable, the people stated, â€Å"He glittered when he walked† (754). Everyone held Richard Cory as in higher figure, so ending of the poem is surprising. The last line of the poem states, â€Å"Went home and put a bullet through his head† (755). The ending of the poem is shocking to the reader; the reader is not expecting Richard Cory to commit suicide. The poem describes Richard Cory in a graceful manner, and t he reader would not assume the ending. The people describe a two-dimensional Richard Cory. Throughout the poem, the people simply analyze Richard Cory appearance and do not understand the inner being of Richard Cory. In the poem, the reader is concealed to the instability that Richard Cory encountered that caused his suicide. The reader perceives Richard Cory as an ideal man and is not aware of the difficulties Richard Cory battles internally. After Richard Cory’s suicide the poem ends, but the poem indicates that the people learn from Richard Cory’s death. In the poem, the people realize that Richard Cory’s life was not as fascinating as they expected, the poem states that, â€Å"We thought that he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place† (755). The people believe that Richard Cory is a magnificent man because of his appearance. However, the people never really understand what is going on in the life of Richard Cory; the people did not understand the struggles Richard Cory exp eriences inside. The reason Richard Cory commits suicide is insignificant because the reader still can interpret the message that the appearance of a person can be misleading. In life, there are always subject matters in which things seem better than what they are. Everyone in some aspect has impairments that halt their progression to find life’s satisfactions. Richard Corey had everything a person can dream of such as his class and wealth. He also had intangibles that many envied such as humility and appearance. These qualities do not guarantee instantaneous happiness, as depicted in the poem. Happiness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Meaning what a person may find satisfying or joyous, does not correlate with the rest of the population. Everyone has his or her own idea of happiness. In the poem, the working class admires what Richard Cory possesses. The process in which Richard Cory gained his wealth in unknown, along with what he may have loss within his conquest to establish his wealth. Success is impossible to measure because success varies from person to person. It is also impossible to draw conclusions on the reasons that he committed suicide other than each conclusion has an underlining theme of unhappiness. The people in the poem could not fathom on why he committed suicide. They viewed him as an icon and an epitome of success. Through his death, Richard Cory made the working people look at their lives in retrospect to see what would make them happy. The working people stated that he committed suicide on a summer night. Usually summer nights are filled with fun and extravagant things, for someone to commit suicide; they would have to feel as cold as winter on the inside. Wealth and stature did not have the same meaning to Richard Cory as wealth meant to the working class. Richard Cory found that he did not see the beauty of life and was not happy, so he committed suicide. Edwin Arlington Robinson wants readers to look at their lives and determine what makes his or her life joyful and learn from Richard Cory’s death. Social and financial status is not what determines happiness, but, rather the gift of happiness and life. We people on the pavement looked at him He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim. The poem is rich in language use. The poet does not employ many poetic devices, no metaphor, no simile, no symbolism, but still the words have resonance, even though the poem is quite literal. For example, in the first line, â€Å"Whenever Richard Cory went down town,† sets up the dichotomy that holds throughout the poem. If Richard Cory went down town, he must have previously been up town, indicating a wealthy residential neighborhood; whereas â€Å"down town† suggests the business district where apartment dwellers and the working class reside. The main thrust of this poem suggests the differences between the wealthy and the less-well-off. The speaker of the poem belongs to the latter class, and the poem clearly draws distinctions between â€Å"us† and â€Å"him† (Richard Cory). In the second line, â€Å"We people on the pavement† suggests a lower class: we looked up to him as well as merely staring at him as â€Å"looked at him† indicates. The third and fourth lines offer the first description of Richard Cory: the term â€Å"gentleman† continues the division being drawn between the two socio-economic classes. A â€Å"gentleman† belongs to the gentry or higher socio-economic class than simply â€Å"a man.† Then by claiming that Cory demonstrated this gentlemanly quality from â€Å"sole to crown,† the speaker is emphasizing how entirely kingly this Cory was. â€Å"Sole† simply refers to his shoes, but â€Å"crown,† meaning the top of his head, also produces a pun or a double meaning, including the kind of head-gear a king would wear. This pun is one of the few actual figurative uses of languages used in this poem. Second Stanza And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said, Good-morning, and he glittered when he walked. The speaker of this poem is careful to make sure his listeners understand that Richard Cory was just a really nice guy. He did not look down on the common folk; he did not behave arrogantly; he spoke to people the way the speaker would expect him to, â€Å"he was always human when he talked.† Cory seemed very friendly, affable, happy, just like the common working-class stiffs only better looking and richer. Even though Cory was â€Å"quietly arrayed,† not arrogant or haughty, and even though he chatted like a regular guy, still he made people a little nervous when he addressed them, and he looked like gold as he passed by. We must remember that the speaker is a little obsessed with Richard Cory’s behavior and appearance, so while the speaker wants us to realize that Cory was a nice man who would chat with the common folk, still his manner and appearance had an effect on people. Third Stanza And he was rich—yes, richer than a king, And admirably schooled in every grace: In fine, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his place. In this stanza, the speaker tells us quite plainly that Richard Cory was rich, but the speaker also exaggerates Cory’s wealth by saying he was â€Å"richer than a king.† And at this point, we can be sure the speaker is, indeed, referring to money, not personality and a successful life, because in the next line, the speaker informs us that Cory was educated in every respect; Cory had knowledge as well as good behavior. The next two lines reveal again that it is the common folk, â€Å"we,† of which the speaker is part who are making these observations and drawing these conclusions about Richard Cory. They conclude that Cory had everything a human being should have and everything they were striving for. They wished they were Richard Cory. Fourth Stanza So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head. The first two lines of the last stanza once more demonstrate the differences between the two socio-economic classes appearing the poem: the common working-class folk who admired the wealth and style of Richard Cory struggled on and on, striving for the day when they too could be like him. Not only did they work hard, but they also sacrificed because they could not buy everything they wanted, and they complained about the low quality of the things they could afford. And then we come to the last two lines that shock and startle so: Richard Cory, the man who has everything, the man who was everything that these hard working folk wanted to be—this icon of success and happiness—kills himself. We can certainly take from this poem the old adage that appearances are deceiving, but we get much more than that, if we look closely. The poet, Edwin Arlington Robinson, has composed nearly perfect poem in its truth about life, its sense of the nature of human personalities, its rhythm , its rime scheme, and it does all this while remaining quite literal without one metaphor or simile. In the poem, Richard Cory is believed to be superior in contrast to the working people. The poem states, â€Å"Whenever Richard Cory went down town, we people on the pavement looked at him† (754). The working people had very little money and work consistently to survive, â€Å"So on we worked, and waited for the light, and went without the meat, and cursed the bread† (755). The people admired Richard Cory and wished to one day have the same wealth as Richard Cory, â€Å"And he was rich—yes, richer than a king† (755). Richard Cory is well-presented, and the people described Richard Cory appearance as â€Å"Cleaned favored, an imperially slim† (754). In the poem, the people also described Richard Cory as a â€Å"gentleman from sole to crown† (754) and â€Å"And admirably schooled in every grace† (755). Richard Cory symbolized everything a working man strived to accomplish, â€Å"To make us wish that we were in his place† (755). In the poem, the people represent the lower working-class and Richard Cory represents the higher level of society. The people hope to one day become like Richard Cory through hard work and determination. In the poem, clearly the people think Richard Cory has the perfect life and have no knowledge of the struggles Richard Cory faces. Throughout the poem, the reader believes that Richard Cory is a legendary man. Richard Cory is depicted as a man who kept to himself, the poem states, â€Å"He was always quietly arrayed† (754). In the poem, the people also portray Richard Cory as down to earth, it states, â€Å"He was always human when he talked† (754). Richard Cory did not believe he was better than anyone else; he was humble. Richard Cory is also noticeable, the people stated, â€Å"He glittered when he walked† (754). Everyone held Richard Cory as in higher figure, so ending of the poem is surprising. The last line of the poem states, â€Å"Went home and put a bullet through his head† (755). The ending of the poem is shocking to the reader; the reader is not expecting Richard Cory to commit suicide. The poem describes Richard Cory in a graceful manner, and the reader would not assume the ending. The people describe a two-dimensional Richard Cory. Throughout the poem, the people simply analyze Richard Cory appearance and do not understand the inner being of Richard Cory. In the poem, the reader is concealed to the instability that Richard Cory encountered that caused his suicide. The reader perceives Richard Cory as an ideal man and is not aware of the difficulties Richard Cory battles internally. After Richard Cory’s suicide the poem ends, but the poem indicates that the people learn from Richard Cory’s death. In the poem, the people realize that Richard Cory’s life was not as fascinating as they expected, the poem states that, â€Å"We thought that he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place† (755). The people believe that Richard Cory is a magnificent man because of his appearance. However, the people never really understand what is going on in the life of Richard Cory; the people did not understand the struggles Richard Cory experiences inside. The reason Richard Cory commits suicide is insignificant because the reader still can interpret the message that the appearance of a person can be misleading. In life, there are always subject matters in which things seem better than what they are. Everyone in some aspect has impairments that halt their progression to find life’s satisfactions. Richard Corey had everything a person can dream of such as his class and wealth. He also had intangibles that many envied such as humility and appearance. These qualities do not guarantee instantaneous happiness, as depicted in the poem. Happiness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Meaning what a person may find satisfying or joyous, does not correlate with the rest of the population. Everyone has his or her own idea of happiness. In the poem, the working class admires what Richard Cory possesses. The process in which Richard Cory gained his wealth in unknown, along with what he may have loss within his conquest to establish h is wealth. Success is impossible to measure because success varies from person to person. It is also impossible to draw conclusions on the reasons that he committed suicide other than each conclusion has an underlining theme of unhappiness. The people in the poem could not fathom on why he committed suicide. They viewed him as an icon and an epitome of success. Through his death, Richard Cory made the working people look at their lives in retrospect to see what would make them happy. The working people stated that he committed suicide on a summer night. Usually summer nights are filled with fun and extravagant things, for someone to commit suicide; they would have to feel as cold as winter on the inside. Wealth and stature did not have the same meaning to Richard Cory as wealth meant to the working class. Richard Cory found that he did not see the beauty of life and was not happy, so he committed suicide. Edwin Arlington Robinson wants readers to look at their lives and determine what makes his or her life joyful and learn from Richard Cory’s death. Social and financial status is not what determines happiness, but, rather the gift of happiness and life. To me the poem illustrates that it is important to be happy with the life your living and not assume that just because someone has money, they are better off.

Reflective Essay NU-AGE

Reflective Essay NU-AGE NU-AGE is a module that has had a profound influence of my understanding about the concept and self-perception about ageing. Having to learn how much more biology, lifestyle, clinical aspects, technology, living conditions and solutions can directly or indirectly alter how an individual age. Ageism in one major concern that was given much attention to in the module. Ageism was thought be the direct action of our society towards the ageing population(reference). For the past century, the institutionalisation and the idea of making the older population redundant was a major concern to both the economy. Many had to opt for poor relief, begging, paid work when possible, charity, growing food, use of common rights and help from family. Unequal access to improved occupational and private pension have been a concern to how the ageing population had access to an income to support them through later life has contributed much to the of the negative concept of ageing. This led the population to have a stereotypical view of the prevalence of loneliness at older people that their prevalence of illness and disease were more likely higher and older workers are less efficient. Despite all these negative stereotypical views positive ideas and views have been acknowledged, but many recogn ise that the ageing population have a perceived superior wisdom from experience. Health Nutrition and health has an undoubtedly profound aspect on how progression of ageing occurs. Research has shown that people in poorer parts of England lived on average 7 years less than those of in richer parts. This has been affiliated with the qualities of life the two regions face and the conditions they are assumed to face in such regions. The poorer regions are proposed to be subjected to adverse environment conditions, more stress and poorer diet. Richer regions are assumed to have the direct opposite qualities of those of the poorer regions. Research has proven that the genotype of an individual has a profound effect on the progression of ageing of an individual, such as having the Age-1 gene. All these factors are known to contribute oxidative stress, metabolic stress and inflammation which known to affect the trajectory of how ageing progresses and the prognostic implications in later life. It has been proven that diets low in calorific value and higher in unsaturated fats a nd omaga-3, such as the Mediterranean diet, showed marked decrease in the causes of mortality such as cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. Physical activity has been a key player in the progression of how we age. Mental health has been shown to be related to how much an individual is involved in the arts and society. For example, risks of showing onsets of dementias have been shown to decrease with engaging in thought and social processes. (reference) This clearly shows us the ageing is plastic. This relates very strongly to the Clinical Ageing and Health module I took this year in Biomedical Sciences, iterating much of what was covered but in a simplified coherent manner. Ageing affect individuals related to the ones ageing. Residents in the care homes haves generally shown that there are losses of formal association with members they have had earlier in life thus leading to increased prevalence to neurodegenerative disease and loneliness. This has been addressed by providing and involving the ageing population in the arts whereby bonding with those of a similar age, ethnicity and class which provides a strengthened emotional support, and social identities. Wealth Engagement of the ageing population has been a paramount interest of discussion over the years. Establishments of capital development projects were one of the topics of interest that has been of great interest to me, especially one EX-BEX member shared his thoughts of how he thinks that life savings in the bank might not gain as much capital gains as when other forms of investment out-weighed the risks since equity has been rising for the past century. Through this module, I have truly come to grasp of the global scale of what society is expecting from ageing, how it is perceived and what we as the younger generation can implement to address issues in relation to the current ageing population and to the younger generation to age in a graceful manner. I have learnt that ageing is not a concept to be worried about and that it should be regarded in a positive aspect to consider in life. Being an international student, I have come to experience thoughts and aspects of ageing in the UK and through other international students which I propose to implement in the Seychelles. Seychelles has had a graceful ageing population two decades ago, unfortunately the can no longer be said with confidence. Prevalences of age related diseases are rising and life-spans are decreasing. No strong investigation has been made to determine why such decline is occurring. I feel that it is my duty as a Seychellois to lead the way to investigate and support th e ageing population into the aspect of graceful and healthy. My hope is to promote the Seychelles as an example to the world that ageing is in our control and we should not fear it. My dream is to see the ageing population of Seychelles to be healthy, active and vibrant thus defeating the ideology and perception of ageism.

The Theory Of Media Richness

The Theory Of Media Richness To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in a way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others. Anthony Robbins. Electronic mail is a method of exchanging digital message from sender to receiver. Email plays an important role in business today and has become a basic necessity in any organization just like paper and ink. It is been used by many as an all-encompassing collaboration platform than a simple communications tool. According to P.K McBride (2006), World Wide Web is an ever- growing aspect of internet with billions of web pages. Workers are given unrestricted access to the Web, allowing them to manage their own research. It provide facility to copy, reply or forward messages like document and graphical files to the sender or to the third party. Effective transfer of messages and informations within the organization and between top managers and employees is very essential for the betterment of company. Email is the most commonly used electronic messaging service. Smartphone which includes email as basic feature has increased accessibility of email. It influence mobile technology, email has a major impact on business, marketing, medical field and banking. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate Email as communication tool in personal and organizational level. However, this essay firstly define email and its use in organization along with different use of theories for email communications and which include Information overload Social cues Media richness theory Critical social theory Controlling effect From above all the theories, Media Richness Theory is the most effective for business communication as it deals with symbol carrying capacity which refers to face-to-face communication and which is a must for any organization to success and build relationships. This essay focuses on people attitude towards communications and its implementations in work place with respect to Media Richness theory. Essay explains employees use of email and mobile communication for their personal and organizations purpose and how Computer-Media Communications plays an important role in it. Advantages and disadvantages of the theory are specified with example of BlackBerry and Android. In the end, my own experience of use of mobile email communication is explained in relation to my personal email diary found in the appendix. Implementation of theory and Email communication. Communication helps coordinate and effective control resulting in clear understanding, good production and healthy climate for cooperation among the various levels. Both for personal as well as organizational use, email have become a part of our everyday lives from communicating with friends, for new job application. Most services on internet whether its social networking or professional ask for email address before using their service. According to Mullins (2010: 230), Email has some emotions woven creatively to encapsulate feelings through signs and symbols. It has many advantages like free communication between social groups and in organization which involves communication with employees, clients as well as potential customers. Email help maintain records and archive of business transaction, rechecking past information, file repository, contracts which could be recovered later. It help have a record of your clients database and act as a address books which has all the important co ntacts that could be conveniently retrieved anytime. The portable gadgets like mobile phones and laptops are able to send and receive emails and help manage your business even if you are travelling or in another part of the world. The communication tool for evaluating email could be best explained by Media Richness Theory by Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel. According to them it is a frame work to describe a communications medium by its ability to reproduce the information sent over it. It helps understand the impact of different communication media type on message and help reduce ambiguity of communication through proper selection of communication media. It comes from Computer -Media Communication (CMC) and is often associated with business communication by Newburry (2001). Sitkin, Sutcliffe and Barios-Choplin (1992) found data carrying capacity and symbol carrying capacity to carry information. Face-to-face communication would be characterized as rich media while modern information technology such as email could be classified as lean media. It deals with internal communication within an organization context. The theory got upgraded to email and it was considered as a good way of communication in organization. Silverstone in the beginning of the 90s [Zhao 2005], put forward concept of Domestication of Technology Theory which deals with how technology gets integrated in people daily life and its impact on social environment where as in other hand it deals with communication in business and it is based on contingency theory and information processing theory. E.g. if a manager need to remind its employees about an upcoming meeting then which communication medium should be used to inform and send the message: face-to-face, telephone, memo or electronic mail? Such communication choice in organization varies from its level of ambiguity. Employee can be updated and get connected to top management through emails, and can also get latest news reports and this could be obtained by effective use of this Theory. Proper training and guidance is very much essential for introducing new technology at work place for obtaining complete employee involvement in the organization. An employee can obtain many different types of mails such as personal emails, emotional mails from friends and relatives, social emails involving some event or activities, professional mails with job interviews, notifications of ads etc Face-to-face communication medium is the richest one followed by email, telephone, memos and letters (Rice and Shook 1990). Advantage of Media Richness Theory: Ability to reproduce information. Sender chooses a communication medium. Reduces uncertainty and equivocality. Help improve employees performance. Disadvantages of Media Richness Theory: Choice of media is done by assumption of rational decision making. Actual use of media and social influence is not reflected. Ignores use of symbolism in communication. Theory is devised before the widespread use and developments of email. Mobile users like to get their mails in their mobile devices and which launched the mobile email solution with BlackBerry. The handheld device helps receive and send mails wherever they are and help stay employee connected and could give immediate feedback as soon as possible. Another example is the Android Operating System in modern mobile system which provides users to do array of operations as it can run multiple applications at the same time, multitasking and is more fluid than other cell phones. Mobile email allows composing, forward and responding to emails exactly in the same way as on a personal computer. With the fast spread of mobile email, it is getting integrated in our social and work life as it has potential to impact the way employees use email and work together. Mobile email is now becoming an important tool for mobile workers for effective communication, coordination, collaboration and to handle complex situations on move hence resulting in improved relationship with customer, co-workers and supervisors. After critically analyzing my own email for a week, I have found that the use of mobile email device for communication has some advantages as well as some disadvantages. In my survey, I have received mails from social network sites, personal mails, job vacancies and notifications. Mobile email help keeps me connected with the world and help to be updated; I could check my mails on a move and even reply to some important mails. For example there are situations when I receive irrelevant mails like advertisements and junk mails and I read them thinking its important and hence waste my own time. When I am on move and expect some important mails to arrive and then battery dies or I misplace my phone then it can give rise to major problem. Devices could be easily broken or misplaced and could also create privacy invasion towards personal and organizational security. It makes a person so dependent towards it that people spend less time with family and friends. The one main disadvantage of m obile mail device is it has a negative health effect and which a major problem in todays busy life. Conclusion: Communication is very essential for any organization to build relationship and for its success. The use of mobile device for email is been adopted by people for personal as well as for organizational purpose. It helps receive mails even when they are on outside their homes or organization. From the critical evaluation, Media Richness Theory is the most effective theory to understand the value of mobile email devices as an effective tool for communication. This theory help organization to select appropriate communication media to communicate with its employees and to stay connected through mobile email devices and an example of such a device is BlackBerry and Android which help send and receive mails at anytime and anywhere. Mobile mailing helps keep a record of their daily activity and also maintains database which enable them to communicate with people no matter where they are. The Human Resource professionals play supportive role in achieving organisations goals by making employees and technology join together for effective result in work place. The introduction of new technology help raise productivity of work, develop new product and services, innovative thinking and developed method of communication between colleagues and customers. Mobile communication acceptance device in an organization depends on its management and employees and how well they get mixed with technology and its usage. The devices has many advantages like instant mail alert, help stay connected while move and having peoples record and ease of communication where as the disadvantage include lack of social participation and privacy factor. The use of new technology like mobile email for communication in relation to Media Richness Theory is now reaching its heights and is been adopted by organization for its employees personal and professional use.

The Effectiveness Of Sport Drinks Essay example -- essays research pap

The major reason anyone drinks fluid before, during and after physical activity is to replace the water that is lost through sweat. If the water isn't replaced dehydration will occur and performance will be hampered. The purpose of sports drinks is to help rehydrate your body quickly and help improve performance and productivity. This is accomplished through a well-balanced mix of water, sugar (carbohydrates) and salts (electrolytes), the major ingredients in most sports drinks. These ingredients, combined with a variety of fruit flavours, create pleasant tasting drinks that, according to the companies, are suppose to help your athletic performance. Results prove that commercial sport drinks generally accomplish what they set out to do. That is, they make fluids available for the body, and increase endurance, but at the same time they can create unwanted gastroesophageal reflux. Sport drinks make fluids available to the body and are consequently very effective in preventing dehydration. One tactic sport drinks use in order to accomplish this is by adding sodium and glucose to the drink. These ingredients stimulate fluid consumption by the body, causing the athlete to drink even more, and become rehydrated (Rehrer 45). Another way that sport drinks maintain hydration in the body is by having less than or equal to 10% Carbohydrates (CHO) and small amounts of electrolytes in the beverage. This composition makes fluids available for dilution of body fluids at similar rates, thu...

The European Balance :: Euros Money Finances Essays

The European Balance New Year’s Day 2002 had me in Dijon, France, where I first had possession of euros, the new common currency for 12 European nations. It was sunny out, and the automated teller machine was on the corner of a town square, where an old cathedral stood tall, peering over centuries of architectural variety. It was quite typical – very European, that is – because I felt myself on the brink of novelty amidst a haze of antiquity. It was like a stylish, young woman, donning Yves St. Laurent and swaying past the Pantheon in Paris; it was a suave Italian driving his Smart Car in front of La Scala. Europe has a penchant for surprising developments and we feel compelled to admire every swing of the Continental pendulum. At the hotel the concierge sat behind a wooden counter and methodically laid out the new coins for us to see. â€Å"500 years,† he said in a thick, French accent laden with exasperation. â€Å"[For] 500 years,† he repeated for emphasis and to finish his thought, â€Å" we have had the franc.† â€Å"To change to the euro – it is an enormous difficulty,† he told us. He shook his head while further expressing his dismay through the peculiar amalgam of a grunt and a sigh, one that can only be heard in France. Perhaps most amazingly, he managed to make this noise with a French accent. Several days later I arrived at Madrid’s Chamartin train station and I got into a taxi. After a few minutes of silence, the driver – an old man with his gray hair pulled back into a ponytail – asked me, â€Å"Pesetas [or] euros?† The whole motivation behind withdrawing euros in Dijon was to have cash immediately upon arrival in Spain; so here I was readying myself to pay for a Spanish taxi ride with money I could have just as easily used in eastern France, where I withdrew it. â€Å"Euros,† I replied to his question. â€Å"Euros,† he mocked with a snide, condescending tone. He punctuated his disgust with a slight chuckle – it was his way of telling me he did not see what the big deal was about this new currency. As far as he was concerned, the peseta was perfectly fine and the euro was an immature exercise in futility.

Letter to cousin requesting funding for new business

Dear Ms. Smith: I am sure you remember me although we have not seen each other for a long time. I am Jack Hanson, the son of your cousin Judith Hanson, born Smith. We last met at the Smith family reunion in Atlanta, Georgia – I was still an undergrad back then with big plans. Now I have arrived at a point in my life where I believe myself ready to make these big plans reality, and in the nearest future my friends and I plan to open a small local store that will specialize in special occasion gift baskets for individual and corporate clients. With my friends’ expertise and background and my enthusiasm I am positive that we will make our venture successful. A visit to the proposed location has convinced me that we have great opportunities ahead, and the uniqueness of our proposition will make it stand out from the competition. All we need to succeed is additional start-up capital to complement our resources. I have strong belief that if you agree to participate in the venture, we will be able to put your money to good use and bring you a nice return on your investment. As I stated above, we plan to launch a store that will sell gift baskets for individual and corporate clients. To make our offerings even more attractive, we want to add ethnic, natural beauty products and spa quality botanicals. This will add an original touch and make our gift assortment the best in the locality. We already have a plan to make the interior design of the store fascinating and comfortable to create for our customers an atmosphere of holiday which they step in buying gifts for their friends and colleagues. Our short-term goal is to build a reputation in the city of Bridgeport and neighboring towns; as soon as our business has the resources to expand, we will be willing to move beyond Bridgeport and possibly Connecticut. However, repayment of your investment will in any case take precedence. If you decide to invest, we can discuss several options. One is that you invest for seven years, and begin to receive interest on your investment starting with the 2nd year of the store’s operation and recoup the lump-sum after another five years. If you want to contribute for a longer time period, you will have an opportunity to share in the profit from the store for a longer time period, for instance, getting a percentage of the profit for 10 or more years. If I were you, I would choose the latter option, because, in my opinion, the store is ‘doomed’ to succeed.   First, the area is really rich in companies of different kinds, and all of them need to purchase gift baskets for their employees. Besides, I have driven around the streets for a few hours and found only two stores that could remotely be described as gift stores. Entering them, I discovered a meagre assortment of goods that will make it really difficult for them to compete with us. Basically, local people unwilling to travel large distances have to shop for gifts in department stores like Wal-Mart or Target, and these, as you know, are hardly the best place for gifts. Besides, to differentiate ourselves from the already present gift stores, we will offer customers a modern design and additional services, such as vintage packaging for their goods, at a modest price. I rely on the experience of my friend who for five years worked as assistant manager in a gift store, and he says that the place is ideal for the venture. Now I want to thank you for the time you invested in reading this letter. I assure you that I would not be offering you to take part in the project, did I not have deep trust that it will be a successful venture. I invite you to meet with me and my friends who want to participate and visit the place that we plan to rent for our store. We can also forward you a proposed catalog of our products at any time. We have already prepared a business plan in which we â€Å"back up our concepts with numbers† that I will be glad to forward to you as well (â€Å"75 StartUp Secrets†, 2006).   I hope that you will have a chance to evaluate all the pros and cons of this investment and decide to help us in this business. On my part, I can promise that the return will exceed any comparable return on other investment available. I will be glad to hear from you on this subject and meet in person, reviving old family ties and starting new business connections. Sincerely yours, Jack Hanson References 75 StartUp Secrets. (2006, March). Enterpreneur.com. Retrieved March 27, 2006, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,326420,00.html Internal Revenue Service. Starting a Business. Retrieved March 27, 2006, from http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article

Vegetarianism

Meat: It Does My Body Good I eat meat; I drink milk; I eat eggs. I don’t eat it at every meal, but I do eat it daily. For the sake of this essay, I will state that I, clearly, am not a vegetarian. Let me begin by explaining the term vegetarian as used in this essay: a vegetarian is a person that does not consume meat. There multiple forms of vegetarianism: ovo-vegetarian diet includes eggs but not dairy products; lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy products but not eggs; ovo-lacto vegetarian diet includes dairy and eggs but not meat.A vegan is the strictest vegetarian diet and excludes all animal products including eggs, dairy and honey. Some vegetarian diets, however, do include fish or chicken, but not ‘red’ meat. After reading several articles on the pros and cons of being, or not being, a vegetarian, I came upon an article by William T. Jarvis, PH. D entitled â€Å"Why I Am Not A Vegetarian† that encompassed many of my same views. Dr. Jarvis, now retir ed, was a professor of public health and preventive medicine at Lorna Linda University, and founder and president of The National Council Against Health Fraud and he is a Seventh Day Adventist.Seventh Day Adventists are strong believers in vegetarianism, which is one reason why I enjoyed his opposing viewpoint. In the article by Dr. Jarvis, several topics and theories are discussed including his observation on classifying vegetarians in two behavioral categories: pragmatic or ideologic. A pragmatic vegetarian is rational and most often are vegetarian out of health related concerns, but an ideologic vegetarian is one that is more emotionally rooted in the behavior ‘as a matter of principle’ so to speak. It is his views on the pragmatic vegetarian that closely mirror my own. In the article, Dr.Jarvis points out that it is possible to obtain all the essential nutrients needed, except vitamin B-12, by eating a vegetarian diet; however, he also points out that the same can b e said for eating an all meat diet, too. While I understand the need that some have to refrain from eating certain foods for health related issues, I believe that our body needs meat. Also, to me, meat tastes good. The quality of protein from meat exceeds the quality of protein from plants. Meat contains much more protein by mass, and this protein contains all the essential amino acids, in the correct balance.Meat is also rich is Iron which is needed by pregnant women and middle-aged women approaching menopause. Many argue that there are certain health risks of eating meat, especially red meat, but they often tend to be exaggerated. Avoid processed meat and try to eat lean meat as much as possible, and meat can be very healthy in the diet, and does not increase risk of heart disease or cancer, as Dr. Jarvis also pointed out in his article quoting scientific data from nutrition-related research supports vegetarianism only tentatively.Another reason I think eating meat is healthier th an a vegetarian diet is that we, humans, are fully able to digest meat. We have canine teeth, which allow us to chew meat, and enzymes in our stomach and small intestine to digest it. In conclusion, eating meat tends to be an economical option for nutrition overall. While it is possible to get all the nutrients in meat on a vegetarian diet, it is much more difficult, often resulting in the need to obtain various types of grains to ensure that no vitamins, minerals, or amino acids are missing.This can be inconvenient and costly, and difficult to prepare. Meat supplies us with the vitamins we need in everyday life. Although, the other articles I read are opposed to meat eating; they still share the health risks of not eating meat, and that meat does the body good. Work Cited â€Å"Why I Am Not a Vegetarian. † Why I Am Not a Vegetarian. N. p. , n. d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://www. quackwatch. org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/vegan. html>.