Should Organisations Transition Towards a Green Supply Chain Research Proposal

Should Organisations Transition Towards a Green Supply Chain - Research Proposal Example The aim of this paper is to avail action plan and facilitate knowledge among supply chain professionals who need to embrace Green strategy efficiently and communicate these efforts to their commodity consumers, public and partners. Despite the public focus on the environment, benefits attached to reducing a firm’s environmental impacts are never at the forefront of supply chain executives’ minds. It seems that many executives are still unaware of that enhanced environmental performance implies fewer environmental-permitting fees, lesser waste-disposal and training costs, and, quite, lessened material costs. Optimistically, the interest in green issues and environmental concerns by the public will never decline as economic issues become more significant due to the irresolute economy (Charter, Kielkiewicz-Young, et al. 2001). Organizations are at loggerheads in deciding whether to embrace green supply chain management due to lack of proper skills in strategic management of green supply chain. Strategic management of Green supply chain entails gathering and analyzing environmental regulations and customer needs, deliberating on the relevant environmental issues with the procurement, manufacturing an d quality control department across the supply chain organizations and collapsing into development and communication of the green supply chain policies to all stakeholders of the supply chain ranging from supplier to customer’s customer. Such a lengthy and elaborative procedure presents problems for most organizations despite the intense pressure exerted by their respective governments and consumers who have turned to such firms that have not incorporated Green strategies. The academic in proper knowledge endowment on adopting and implanting green supply chain in firms strategic planning and operation thus possess a major threats to those static firms due to lack of increased

Diversity in Tagg Island Essay Example for Free

Diversity in Tagg Island Essay Population diversity may be defined as the presence of varied cultural, religious, social and related backgrounds among people living in the same environment (Anleu, 2009). Usually, diversity generates a crisis during settlement for a compromise which is necessary for co-existence. As an indication of growth and probably a shift from the usual way of doing things, diversification brings with it both opportunities and challenges. The start of diversification within a community may be signaled by media interaction or the physical immigration into a natives’ land. To the natives that are less conservative, population diversification ushers in learning chances and an improvement on social interactions. However, to strict conservatives, the later implies a break to cultural settings and distort of norms in a society. As a matter of necessity, population diversification will affect every nation or community in the near future. It is therefore important to be prepared and check the challenges that accompany the aforementioned diversification. This paper seeks to address the impact of change in social, economic and legal demographic characteristics of Tagg Island. The Island of Tagg has all through missed the benefits that accrue to population diversification such as economic growth and opening up of the borders to the world. However, the Island is lucky to have survived challenges of diversification for such a long time. Many other countries in the world experienced diversification at least two centuries ago due to colonization (Roy Sideras, 2006). To that effect, a country such as USA has established legal frameworks to address the issue. As it is expected, the USA legal framework on diversification is not without flaws that can be identified as mistakes and whose effects have affected the natives negatively. The council of Tagg Island needs to be very careful in laying down the appropriate legal infrastructure of dealing with diversification that seems inevitable with the start of oil drilling by foreigners in the island. It would be important for Tagg council to have a close look at the USA’s legal framework in regard to diversification. Diagnosis of the flaws or mistakes made by USA in the later issue will be worth noting so that mistakes can be avoided. Similarly, the strengths need be identified so that they can be the basis of establish a strong foundation. Findings on USA legal system on population diversification Unlike many other nations in the world, USA accepted diversity in its population through immigration as early as during the seventeenth century. Indeed, close to two hundred thousand European immigrants moved to America as indentured servants. Immigration trends continued in the nineteenth century characterized by influx of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe and later by Asia and Latin America after 1965. Each of the immigrant groups carried with them their cultures, religion, race and most of all their norms and beliefs. Moreover, population diversity intensified the need for established of a legal framework and coexistence structures so that the new USA community would be cohesive. In 1952, long after US independence, an Act on Immigration and Nationality was endorsed and it helped create naturalization policies that were meant to embrace and check population diversity in the country (Denton Tolnay, 2002). Today, USA federal government has adopted a diversity framework through diversity visa lottery that grants legal entry to US for countries with low rates of US immigration. The legal immigrants are then nationalized or allowed to be in the country for a limited duration accordingly. In fact, the Diversification Act allows half a million immigrants to acquire legal permanent residence in US annually. There are also legal provisions in the Act that regulate the immigration quotas for each country upto a maximum of three thousand eight hundred and fifty individuals from a similar country. Moreover, there are other legal avenues of immigration to US including students and seasonal laborers. The legal figure per annum would therefore total to a million immigrants. Denton Tolnay 2002 argues that among the qualifications of the immigrants is the willingness to adhere to the governance structures and principles as set by the US government. The aliens therefore respect the rule of law, the constitution and the judicial system as established with time. In order to control, illegal immigration, USA closely monitors its borders in addition to the established system of access to humanitarian facilities. In fact, all adults in USA are legally recognized in medical, financial and any other public facilities that require identification and documentation. However, according to Pew Hispanic Center there have always been illegal immigrants who totaled to as high as twelve million individuals by year 2006 (Roy Sideras, 2006). The intention of the immigration legal framework was to practice the democratic right of every individual to earn from his labour without any discrimination based on origin or background. The diversification laws are in constant reviews as need be as witnessed by legislations and amendments mitigated by the 9/11 bombing of the twin towers in USA. By allowing diversification of the demographic characteristics in a country the conventional bill of rights as outlined by UN convention are respected. Flaws made by USA in legislation of diversification legal frameworks Like any other country or region, there is need for establishment of a balance between resources available and the population depending on such resources. When such balance is unchecked, resources will either be underutilized or insufficient. The former poses little or no challenged while the latter is detrimental to social economic life of the citizens. US Diversification Act seems flawed in the high number of legal immigrants that it grants. As aforementioned, immigration is not limited to Diversity Visa lottery, any other legal avenues but also extends to illegal immigration. The effects of extensive diversification have been the current high crime rates, high unemployment levels and over utilization of public facilities such as schools and hospitals. Even though there is need to enhance survival for humanity, it does not nullify the need to sufficiently take care of a country’s citizens (Roy Sideras, 2006). Secondly, in making the legislation, the laws are lacking in clearly dealing with the illegal immigrants that for example lead undocumented, an issue that is increasingly hard to deal with. In other words, there is need for comprehensive law that would not assume that illegal immigration is completely eliminated via deportation and detaining of culprits. According to Anleu 2009, effects of any law that is incomplete in addressing in totality the contextual issue are detrimental and worse than its absence until it is made whole. Furthermore, Diversity visa lottery provided in the Diversification Act lacks clear basis of establishing economic independence of immigrants to the US. For example, the exercise fails in establishing the will and economic strength of the immigrant’s host family before the immigrant can secure employment. In fact, to enhance diversification free from dependence, Diversity visa lottery should provide employment avenues for the immigrants. This is however impossible since the government has not succeeded in addressing unemployment among its native citizens. In addition, the laws do not clearly ensure that the legal immigrants’ rights are observed since there still are traces of racial discrimination in the country. Recommendations Having established the flaws that are susceptible to occur in providing a legal frame work for embracing diversity, the Tagg council should practise careful deliberations on the following issues. First, the council needs to establish the intensity of oil reserves in Tagg Island. The later should then be compared to the native population needs and particularly, the forecasted needs in the future. Once the resource versus native needs is established, the council should appropriately decide the number of aliens that it can legally allow. The ideal scenario would be that the proceeds of the oil drilling should enough for the natives and the legal immigrants. Second, there is going to be a change in religion and beliefs of the legal citizens. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the natives who are otherwise homogeneous in religion will adopt foreign religious beliefs. In matter of religion, Tagg council need to move in speed and establish if it would separate Island governance from the religion or it would declare homogeneity in religion as it has previously been. Probably, heterogeneous in religion would be preferable if the council considers oil drilling as key to its economy. However, the council must establish a common observance of the religious groups that may come up so that human rights are not violated. Third, the council must embrace the court system for subjecting to trial those suspected of breaking the law as set. This will particularly be necessary if the incoming aliens originate from countries with formal courts. Establishment of court systems do not in any way imply breaking of the law and order as set but to safeguard those who may be affected in case the very law and order are distorted. Although the natives are used to the decisions of the council being final, it do not imply that they are satisfied with such decisions and would probably like to challenge such verdicts in a structured formal way. The court systems, in addition to observing the constitution, ensure that rights of all legal citizens are uniformly respected and upheld. Furthermore, the courts established must be run by individuals with integrity and technical knowhow so that the law that protects or convicts all persons within Tagg Island is administered with integrity (Anleu, 2009). Fourth, Tagg council must be ready to embrace the impacts of laws such as detention of illegal immigrants and punishment of law breakers by citizens. The impacts will vary from public resistance and demonstrations to establishment of detainee camps and correction institutions for the law breakers (Roy Sideras, 2006). The council will therefore need to establish related facilities to cater for the impacts. Philosophically, the ideologies that support egocentric attitude among citizens will be forfeited in Tagg. Native citizens must also be taught to embrace diversity of views in terms of social norms, religion and other aspects if the island is to remain peaceful. Co-existence among differing social characteristics among the island inhabitants must be seen as a virtue that need to be legally supported so that the benefits that would result from oil drilling do not distort harmony that has been key among the Tagg community. Conclusion Population diversification has long been adopted by countries that have embraced the concept of globalisation. Although numerous challenges have been experienced as a result of the diversification, benefits achieved cannot be ignored. Countries have opened up their boundaries for trade and technological development. Furthermore, social ties are have been established and strengthened as a result of diversification. As people of different backgrounds mingle, there is a possibility of learning from each other, appreciating the differences and hence enhancing peace. Tagg Island has to keep up to the trends taken by other societies in embracing population diversification and establishing the associated structures. Furthermore, the island is not self sufficient in itself since it seemingly has not noticed of the oil resources that it possesses and which could improve the lives of its citizens (Roy Sideras, 2006). Since the council of Tagg Island may be lacking in legal expertise, this report strongly recommends hiring of legal experts to assist in drafting diversification laws. In addition, the council may consider involving the aliens intending to drill oil so as to tailor their aspects of relationships accordingly. Finally, the council must accept the changes is facing and consider them as tools for development and inclusiveness in to the larger world blocks. References Anleu S. (2009). Social change and law. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. Denton N. , Tolnay S. (2002). American diversity: Twenty-first century demographic challenge. New York, USA: SUNY Press. Roy, K. , Sideras, J. (2006). Globalisation, institutions, and empowerment. Williston, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

The Importance of a Calcium Rich Diet :: Health Nutrition Diet Exercise Essays

The Importance of a Calcium Rich Diet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Calcium is essential to normal functioning in a healthy individual; this only leaves the question of where to get it. There are many sources available to meet daily requirements, two of which are dairy products and supplemental vitamins. Both of these options have qualities that make them appealing, so choosing might be difficult or even come to a middle ground. Some of the considerations to be made are: what calcium is, the types of calcium in each source, how much should be ingested daily, the body’s ability to absorb and tolerate calcium from the chosen source, and the interactions that might occur with other medicines and required daily nutrients. In both cases a decent nutritional diet still needs to be incorporated. It may seem like a simple choice between a couple of pills a day or 3-4 glasses of milk, but there is quite a bit more involved.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Calcium is a mineral found in many foods that the human body cannot produce itself (National Osteoporosis Foundation). According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation it is used in the regulation of heartbeat, stimulation of hormone secretions, conduction of nerve impulses, stimulation of blood clotting, and maintenance of a healthy skeleton. They also state that we lose calcium every day through shed skin, nails, hair, sweat, and other bodily functions. Bones are also constantly being â€Å"remodeled† by removal of older pieces of bone and replacement with new bone. These losses make a daily source of calcium invaluable. Calcium has traditionally been thought of in conjunction to milk, but this connection is slowly being broken. Not only is calcium usable in the lactic form found in dairy products, but in forms such as calcium citrate and calcium carbonate (Calcium Supplement Guidelines). These two sources are the most common types of calcium found as supplements, and are usually in the form of a pill. Calcium citrate contains by mass 21 percent calcium, while calcium carbonate contains by mass 40 percent calcium. Calcium Carbonate can be found naturally in sources such as bone-meal, oyster shell, and dolomite, but these are all capable of containing toxins such as lead or mercury and should be avoided (Got Calcium?). Even when being careful to avoid such sources it is still important to check for a United States Pharmacopeia symbol to ensure purity of the source. When used to a source such as milk this may seem like extra work but it prevents toxins and other unnecessary ingredients from being accidentally ingested.

A sequence of diary entries as Mrs Danvers, reflecting on three or four important episodes in the novel

â€Å"Mrs de Winter†, everyone called her. She is not worthy of the name. That girl, who arrived at magnificent Manderley in an ugly stockinette dress, awkwardly clutching a pair of gauntlet gloves, is not fit to be called the name that was given to my Rebecca. Rebecca was beautiful. Rebecca always knew what to do and what to say, so unlike this girl who shuffled nervously up the flight of steps and stood gauchely on the threshold of the house. No, this new girl is nothing compared to Rebecca's perfection. I was glad I had collected the whole staff to welcome her, despite Maxim's letters. The hall was full of people, all wanting to see â€Å"the new Mrs de Winter†, a sea of faces staring down at her. I wanted her to feel as uncomfortable as possible, and I succeeded, for when I advanced from the crowd and lay my hand in hers, I felt it was hot and damp. As I gave her the cold speech that I had rehearsed, she could not even lift her eyes to meet mine. When I finished, she blushed a bright scarlet, stammered some kind of thanks in return, and clumsily dropped both her gloves. What an ill-bred girl! As I stooped to pick them up, I did not care to hide the smile of scorn upon my lips, for I knew she would never have the courage to challenge me. Later, when they had finished tea, I showed her up to her room. She tried to smile at me, a weak, artificial smile, which I did not return. She walked around the meagre room, and said that it was â€Å"very charming†. Silly girl! The room they have now is nothing compared to the room Mr de Winter shared with Rebecca. Their room, in the magnificent West Wing, was twice as large as this; a very beautiful room, with a scrolled ceiling, expensive tapestry chairs and a great carved mantelpiece. It was the best room in the house, whilst this one, in the East Wing, is hardly ever used, and only then by visitors. It is a second-rate room, which is only natural, as this girl is such a second-rate person. I watched her disdainfully as she sat down nervously at the dressing table and started to brush her lank mousy hair, all the while trying to make conversation, trying to win me over, not knowing that I will never let her take my Rebecca's place. I almost pitied this poor girl, for she will never fit in here. No one will ever accept her. I watched her face scornfully as I told her about the West Wing, how beautiful the room was, how expensive the furnishings were, and I compared it with the inferiority of this room. I wanted her to think that Mr de Winter put her here because he does not love her, as I am sure he does not, not after Rebecca. I watched her face, this unattractive face, and saw that already she feared Rebecca and me. She will be no match against us. June I caught the new Mrs de Winter in Rebecca's room today. She was snooping around because of Jack Favell's visit. Jack Favell came today, because Mr de Winter was away. We went up to Rebecca's room, and that was where Favell saw the new Mrs de Winter approach the house back from her walk. I quickly closed the shutters and we went downstairs so Favell could leave before she saw him, only to find her spying on us from behind the morning room door. Mr de Winter had not told her about Favell then, for she was unaware of his position, and invited him to tea. If I had not been present Favell would have accepted, rash and stupid as he is. However he insisted on showing her his hideous green car, as a way of impressing her. I would not put it past him to have offered to drive her to the lodge gates. What a way to behave to someone who may very well go running to Mr de Winter as soon as he returns! A little after half past four, I went up to Rebecca's room in the West Wing. There, as I had almost expected, at the window, stood the new Mrs de Winter. As she turned pale and awkwardly mumbled an excuse about closing the shutters, I saw that the latch of the wardrobe was not quite closed and the nightdress had been disturbed on the bed, and I knew she had been around the room. She had sat down at Rebecca's dressing table, looked in Rebecca's mirror, touched Rebecca's dressing gown, Rebecca's slippers, Rebecca's quilt, Rebecca's nightdress, and looked at Rebecca's clothes. She had disrupted Rebecca's peace, the peace that I had kept here from the day she died. It occurred to me, this girl was afraid, that was why she came up here. She was afraid of Rebecca, who still ruled at Manderley. She had to see for herself, and after seeing, she felt like an intruder in Rebecca's house, for I keep everything exactly the same as when Rebecca was alive; it is as if Rebecca's spirit still lives in that room. I took her arm and led her around the room, ingratiating, honey-sweet, falsely fawning, showing her the entire room, every last detail, every single expensive ornament and every intricate fabric. I wanted her to see how inferior she was compared to Rebecca. Rebecca was so much taller than her, for when I held up Rebecca's gown it reached down to the girl's ankles. I forced her hands into Rebecca's tiny slippers to show how delicate Rebecca's feet were. I showed her Rebecca's brushes, and told her about hair-drill, how Mr de Winter used to brush it for her, and she would laugh, â€Å"Harder, Max, harder.† It hurt me greatly to talk about these things, especially about Rebecca's death as I think every time about how I could have prevented it, but as I watched the new Mrs de Winter's face I knew that it hurt her more. I blame myself for my lady's death. I had been away, only because Rebecca was in London. When I got back, however, the servants told me she had returned, then went out again. If only I had been there, just to warn her about sailing in such weather. She always listened to me. She would have moaned, and called me an â€Å"old fuss-pot†, and we would have stayed home, talking until late about all she had done in London. I told her about Mr de Winter's grief, how he paced up and down every night after her death. I wanted to make her realise, nobody wants her here. She is only here because Rebecca died. She is only here because of an accident. I told her about how I sometimes think I hear Rebecca walking behind me along the corridor. I asked her if she sometimes thought the dead come back and watch the living, whether Rebecca comes back to watch her. I frightened her, for when I finally opened the door to let her pass she refused to look at me and stumbled as she ran. July Mr de Winter has decided to revive the fancy dress ball. There was much excitement in the house as the preparations took place. The whole village was talking about it, remembering the last ball at Manderley. The fancy dress balls had always been magnificent affairs, with fireworks and music, the great hall full of adoring people, lords and ladies, the bishop and his wife, people from Kerrith and around, and standing in the centre of the room would be Rebecca, smiling, shining in her dress, looking more charming than anyone else. Everyone talked about how elegant she was, how wonderful Manderley looked, and what a lucky man Mr de Winter was. Whenever there was a pause in the stream of guests, she would turn to me and we would share a smile at how well we had organised the whole thing. The preparations this year brought for me a stab of pain. In all the busy arrangements, there was no Rebecca. The servants carried on, it seemed, as if they had forgotten her, and instead went to this child, calling her â€Å"Mrs de Winter†. However, the girl is incapable of such a task as running the Manderley ball. While Rebecca organised everything, depicting precisely the flowers on the tables, writing each of the invitations, this ignorant girl did not even lick a stamp, instead choosing to stand about doing nothing except getting in the way. She is entirely unsuited to the position which she forced herself into. A few days before the ball, I found some of those sketches of hers in the waste paper basket. She had been considering what to wear for the ball. As you can imagine I was filled with derision at this. How typical for someone like her to be stuck for something to wear! I laughed as I thought of her trying so hard to find something special, not knowing that nothing she could find would make her even half of what Rebecca was. That was when the idea came to me, a fantastic idea. I took up the flimsy sketches and arrived at her room. As I confronted her about her lack of decision, she avoided my gaze and began to file her short, brittle nails in her nervousness. I suggested to her the idea of copying one of the pictures from the gallery, in particular the one of the young lady in white, with a hat in her hand. That picture was Caroline de Winter, a sister of Mr de Winter's great-great grandfather. She married a great Whig politician and was a famous London beauty for many years. What the new Mrs de Winter does not know is that at the last fancy dress ball at Manderley, Rebecca had copied the exact same picture. Of course, this girl and my Rebecca are very unalike, but with exactly the same costume, and a wig, I was sure that the first thing the guests would think of will be Rebecca. Mr de Winter will get such a shock, which he deserves for letting this girl take Rebecca's cherished place. Everyone will think that she did it all on purpose; it will be another one of her silly inexperienced slip-ups. I was determined that, amidst the celebrations for the â€Å"new bride†, no one will forget Rebecca. As I expected, the girl did order the dress, and on the evening of the ball I heard her and Clarice the little maid giggling in her room like two silly schoolgirls. I stood and waited in the doorway leading to the West Wing, so I could see everything. In due course, the music stopped, and the drum started beating, a soft humming sound escalating to what sounded to me like ominous thunder. The drummer shouted, â€Å"Miss Caroline de Winter.† A figure appeared at the head of the stairs, dressed in white, a sash and a ribbon, her hat in her hand, her curls standing out from her face. It was the very image of Rebecca. I was overwhelmed; the resemblance was striking; my eyes stung as I almost, almost believed that it was my Rebecca, that my dear Rebecca was back, standing at the top of the stairs, waiting to meet the applause. No applause came. I was torn back into reality as I realised that the whole hall was still. Then they must have all seen it. Yet the girl went on smiling, putting one hand on the banister. â€Å"How do you do, Mr de Winter,† she said. Mr de Winter stood still. He stared up at her, his glass in his hand, his face drained of colour, ashen white. The girl began to be afraid. My plan had worked, Mr de Winter was angry at her, and she had humiliated herself in front of all the guests. I heard her trembling voice in the hall, the long silences, the harsh tones of Mr de Winter. Then I saw her blindly running down the empty corridor, a stunned and stupid animal. She saw me standing triumphantly in the doorway, not caring to hide the loathing I felt for her. She turned and ran from me, tripping and stumbling, down the long narrow passages of Manderley, a home that is not, and will never be, her own. July, a few days later Rebecca is back. Not in person, but I feel her here. Last night Frith brought back the rumour that the Je Reviens was found by divers who went down about the ship in the bay, the one that ran aground when the bearings were confused. However, it cannot be Rebecca's boat. Rebecca's boat was crashed to bits on the rocks, yet this one was perfectly sound. When the diver broke through, he also found something else, a body. Who could it be? The flesh is rotted away by now, so as yet nobody knows. I cannot think who it could be. It cannot possibly be Rebecca, as she was found and identified at Edgecoombe over a year ago. Maybe Mr de Winter made a mistake when he identified her? Yet Rebecca is too experienced a sailor to let herself be trapped in the cabin like that. Could the body belong to one of Rebecca's men? This morning I received a message from Robert that the new Mrs de Winter wanted the menu changed to a hot meal. I was surprised, for she had never before dared to contradict anything I had done, and I did not think it necessary to bother serving someone like her a hot meal while there were plenty of leftovers from yesterday. It was even more astonishing that she should have sent the message by Robert. I confronted her about it. â€Å"I'm not used to having messages sent to me by Robert,† I said. â€Å"If Mrs de Winter wanted anything changed she would ring me personally on the house telephone.† I expected her to blush, and apologise, maybe even offer to keep the menu the way it was before. Instead, she looked at me, calmly and composedly, and answered, â€Å"I am Mrs de Winter now.† How could she have said that, when before she had not dared to meet my gaze? How could she have stood up to me, when before the slightest mention of Rebecca made her blush? What has changed? What has Mr de Winter told her? I pressed her about the story of the boat, but she would not reveal anything. She stood there, meeting stare with stare. I wonder, has everything changed? Even this girl dares to defy me. I do not know what has happened. I do not know what is going to happen, but I feel that nothing will ever be the same again.

Credibility and Logic in Gregory Curfman’s “Diet Pills Redux”

1. Gregory D. Curfman’s piece â€Å"Diet Pills Redux† is an editorial; therefore, a reader must keep in mind that the content will focus on the author’s opinion(s) and perspective(s) about a particular situation. Having read Curfman’s piece, it does seem credible. The author is a physician, so his analysis of the situation can be reasonably assumed within his field of expertise, especially when one considers it is an editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr.Curfman presents evidence for and against the use of fenfluramine and phentermine and seems concerned only with further exploration of a possible connection between the use of these drugs (separately or together) and heart disease (Curfman, 1997, passim).2. Curfman begins his piece with a summary of an outbreak of pulmonary hypertension that took place in Western Europe that was linked to the use of an appetite-suppressant drug. He goes on to reveal a European outbreak thirty years later which connected the use of an anorectic drug with more cases of pulmonary hypertension.Later, he discusses weighing the risks of using anorectic drugs against the individual’s need, and concludes that only those with no other recourse should be allowed to take the chance. Each of these is an example of logic without fallacy (Curfman, 1997, passim). There were fallacies in Curfman’s piece. To begin with, the events and studies he cited were missing control groups and assurances that exigent factors such as patient history had been taken into account. Technically, these might be construed as misleading statistics.Because the numbers of persons negatively effected by these drugs was so low, the potential that much of his point is perhaps a non sequitur—specifically an argument built on a slippery slope does exist. His closing remark that â€Å"succumbing to the allure of diet pills as a quick fix for excess weight may be courting disaster† presents a significant logical problem: the implication that those who suffered a cardiac crisis in connection with the use of one or more of the involved drugs fall into the â€Å"quick fix† category—this is a hasty generalization (Curfman, 1997, passim).The overall message in the piece was not that blame must be laid, nor was it a call to halt all availability of either drug, so coupled with this piece being an editorial, even fallacy did not necessarily weaken the strength of the article in my opinion as the point seemed merely to be to convince readers that there was more to be investigated. Based on what I read, I have to agree that further investigation is warranted and that consumers must be aware of the potential dangers listed by Curfman.

A Biography of John Dunstable

A Biography of John Dunstable John Dunstable, (or better known as John Dunstaple), was an English composer estimated to have been born in 1390. His birth date is a conjecture based on his earliest surviving works, which date from around 1410-1420 (Bonds 2006, 112). Based on these works, musicologists are able to make a very educated guess as to his birth date being sometime in 1390. He was born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire during the Late Middle Ages- Early Renaissance era.John Dunstable died on December 24 (Christmas Eve), 1453. This is known due to the fact that it was recorded in his epitaph, which was in the church of St. Stephen Walbrook in London, until it was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. As recorded in the early 17th century, his epitaph was recorded to have stated that he had "secret knowledge of the stars". The church of St. Stephen Walbrook was also his burial place (Burkholder 1996, 134).New Grove Theatre Dunstable. I took this. (Nat War...The spelling Dunstaple is generally preferred over Dunsta ble due to the fact that it occurs twice as much in musical attributions of his than that of Dunstable. The few English musical sources are equally divided between "b" and "p"; however, the contemporary non-musical sources, including those with a claim to a direct association to Dunstable, always spelled his name with a "p".Dunstable was believed to be a highly educated, married man, however, nothing is known about his music background/training or early childhood. However, Dunstable was also accredited as an astronomer and mathematician as well as a composer of polyphonic music. In fact, some of his astrological works have even survived in manuscript, possibly in his own hand. Dunstable was known to have been widely connected to that of the royal service, having been in the service of John, Duke of Bedford, the fourth...

In Quest of a Standard American Pronunciation

In Quest of a Standard American Pronunciation In Quest of a Standard American Pronunciation In Quest of a Standard American Pronunciation By Maeve Maddox American English has many regional variants, some of them more comprehensible than others. Along with spelling rules, schools once taught a standard pronunciation. The purpose was to maintain a standard speech easily understood by people in every part of the country and by non-native speakers who learn English as a second language. No one doubted that children were capable of learning the standard speech without abandoning whatever dialect they spoke at home. Now, however, a doctrine of political correctness inhibits the teaching of standard pronunciation with the result that the media has become the final arbiter. Certain pronunciations that were once considered non-standard are catching on, even when they fly in the face of rules I imagined were still being taught in the early grades. Apparently it is now possible to get out of school without learning the most basic rules for forming the plurals of nouns. I think I knew by fourth grade that the nouns life, knife, and wife form their plurals by changing the f to v and adding es. Yet I have heard an announcer on NPR use lifes as the plural of life. Ignoring the First Rule of Silent Final e (e makes the vowel say its name). I was startled to attention one day when I heard someone on the radio talking about gas-powered micro-turbans. I figured out from the context that the intended word was turbines. Another time I heard someone pronounce finite as if it would rhyme with mine it instead of pronouncing both vowels as long is. An NPR reporter once described a scene in which people were wielding staves (plural of staff). She pronounced staves as stavs. The sounds of s, sh, and zh Ive heard the word coercion /co er shun/ pronounced co er zhun, and the word resource /re sors/ pronounced rezorse. One of the most interesting drifts Ive noticed concerns the pronunciation of the noun house /hous/ and its plural houses /houz iz/. (NOTE: When the word house is used as a verb, the s is pronounced /z/.) Until fairly recently, the pronunciation of the plural houses with a soft s /hous iz/ was a nonstandard regionalism not even mentioned in the dictionary. Now, however, the pronunciation has been spread by announcers from the eastern and northern areas of the United States. (The same ones who pronounce tourist /toor ist/ as tor ist.) TV Meltdown Because actors come from different parts of the country, their pronunciations of certain words vary. I listened in fascination one evening to the actors in an episode of Numbers. The plot required them all to say the word houses numerous times. Some of them said /houz iz/ and some said /hous iz/. If I remember correctly, one actor used both pronunciations, in different sentences! Its probably time for English teachers to take a united stand for a standard pronunciation. 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 Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:25 Subordinating Conjunctions7 Tips for Writing a Film ReviewNarrative, Plot, and Story