Battle of the Divas :: essays research papers

â€Å"Kiss my Brass! I’m not retiring and you can’t make me.† Bette Midler is in the prime of her life, selling out her concerts entertaining millions with her amazing voice and witty sense of humor. For over thirty years, Bette has been in an everlasting competition with the other world wide known sarcastically blunt entertainer, Cher. These two divas have made their way to the top by producing numerous CD’s containing hit songs that will forever be remembered, and starred in hit movies earning the title as an actor/singer, which few have been able to do. Though they are in the same line of business and have accomplished similar things, they carry their weight in two opposite manners. Bette is a better entertainer for her amount of success, and way of performing in a decent manner. With four Grammys, three Emmys, two Oscar nominations and a special Tony to her credit (as of 1999), the self-styled â€Å"Queen of Trash† Bette Midler is one of the more honored multi-talented performers in American showbiz. Bette constructed the larger-than-life role of 'The Divine Miss M' (also the title of her 1972 debut album for Atlantic Records) and built her career as a red-haired performer with the wide, lovely smile. Bette's early 1970s act "nailed the nostalgia thing" with Andrews Sisters takeoffs 1973's "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and 1960s girl-group numbers, as well as including blues and show tunes in its broad musical spectrum. Midler formed her own production company, and made her first foray into producing with the successful "Beaches" (1990), an updated woman's picture which yielded her first Number 1 hit, "The Wind Beneath My Wings". Can anyone remember when Cher wasn’t around? She has gone from pop singer, TV and movie star, to a nobody: an infomercial queen and a laughingstock. She’s back at pop superstar, and all this occurred within approximately 15 years. Throughout it all, she survived in the public eye, something no one can take away from her. The best way to summarize Cher is to say that she has lived the equivalent of 5 lifetimes in one. The whole "I believe Sonny spoke to me beyond the grave" incident didn't exactly do anything to help her credibility, but Cher has never been afraid to be outspoken. She says what's on her mind, even though she might sound incoherent at times. She has received a lot of press for doing some wild stuff, and some people might feel that the media has always underrated her acting abilities.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Essays Papers

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The novel begins with Huck himself writing the story. He briefly describes what has happened to him since "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". Huck was adopted by the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, both of whom took pains to raise him properly. Dissatisfied with his new life, Huck runs away. Tom Sawyer manages to bring Huck back by promising to start a band of robbers. However, many of them soon become bored with the make-believe battles and so the band falls apart. Pa returns to find Huck and his money. Judge Thatcher and the Widow try to gain court custody of Huck, but a new judge in town refuses to separate Huck from Pa. Huck soon decides to escape after Pa starts to frequently beat him. After running away Huck runs into his old friend Jim, who was Miss Walton's slave, before he decided to run away. Jim is frightened at first, believing Huck to be dead, but soon is happy to have a companion. The river starts rising, and at one point an entire house floats past the island. Huck and Jim climb aboard to see what they can salvage. They find a dead man lying in the corner of the house, and Jim goes over to look. Jim realizes that the dead man is Pa, and he carefully refuses to tell Huck who it is. Using a large raft, they float downstream during the nights and hide during the days. Jim and Huck continue floating downstream, becoming close friends in the process. Huck rescues two con-men named Huck and "the King". Farther down the river the King and Duke sell Jim into slavery. Huck decides to rescue Jim, and daringly walks up to the house where Jim is being kept. Luckily, the house is owned by none other than Tom Sawyer's Aunt Sally. Huck immediately pretends to be Tom. When Tom arrives, he pretends to be his younger brother Sid Sawyer. Together he and Huck contrive how to help Jim escape from his "prison," an outdoor shed. That night they get Jim and start to run away. The local farmers follow them. Huck, Jim, and Tom manage to escape, but Tom gets shot in the leg by a farmer.

Maintenance of Minority Languages in Majority Settings Essay

Rather than showing the picture of how the people with different languages are related to each other, it is more essential to break down the orders of natural languages existing in any given area and only by this way that we can identify which language is considerable as good and appropriate to ensure somehow that they will continue to be used.   Language serves as marker of group of people and most disputes involved in language minorities deals with the way the languages are reproduced in consideration with the affiliation in geographical boundaries. Maintaining language minorities which are all too often ill-equipped for modern life, strengthens the position of the dominant language as the only common language of communication. Francophone comprises larger fraction of Canada’s speakers prior to the twentieth century and it went less due to imbalance in the flow of population such as birth rate among French speakers and as immigration of English speaking people. Quebec apparently endures English and they have maintained the high concentration of French speakers. Francophone  Canada  remained a vital community sustained by the hard efforts of people from within the community who ensure that the French speaking minority population will continue to thrive (Posner and Green 345-358). The same case had happened in some other part of the world where the people had different origin that changed their cultural sphere, such as in India which, aside from Hindi, also has some regional dialects. Having language minority remained as a matter of political questions especially as it was applied in instructional materials which requires rationalized language policy. Multilingual education came out as another option and a good consideration for better accessibility of education transcending the boundary of language (Groff 8-12). Endangerment or even extinction can be the worst case scenario when language wasn’t maintained. When we talk about endangered language, we refer to the gradual decrease of monolingual speakers using the language. One example of this implication was stated in the works of David and Maya Bradley (316-321) which tackles the revival of native languages of Aboriginal group in Australia. Designs for the attempt of reviving languages can only be possible with enough resources like documentations or retrieving information from similar languages. The efforts for this also require valid aim or intentions in having it done apparently to make it worthwhile than just having it done for the luxury of education. Losing the function of a language relates to the reasons for its decrease of usage or may extent to total non-usage. A language has the power as long as it has the function fulfilled as it was used contemporary industries. The report by Michelle Goldberg and David Corson (1-3) shows that bilingual Immigrants, with an official language learned, are not perceived to bear any advantage for they are not recognized in their chosen field even though, in some situations, proficiency in the language is a crucial skill required in the job. Valuing this skill thru formal recognition is greatly beneficial for the company itself since it contributes in returns in the market specially when dealing with bilingual clients. Linguistic minorities whether in Canada, or in Europe or in Asia don’t just preserve the natural communication means of their group but can also provide reflection of their culture which separates them to the rest. They were therefore protected and promoted by laws in the belief on its significant importance of preserving the identity of these groups (Jimenez & Nakagawa 6). Compared to the situation in Australia, the minorities in Canada, Francophone, has different form since they are comparable to the majority group, Anglophone, when we talk about their origin. None of these two naturally emerged in the land since both were influences or contributions from European. French colonized Quebec after its discovery and for centuries, French has already been an official language (Mc Creery 6). Vitality of relationship between the language and culture in a community determines proliferation of a language therefore, and maintenance and preservation requires analysis of people in group by their demographic prominence, social status, and economic power. These variables can determine the vitality of a language relative to the culture developed in parallel to the language. In order to study the essential factors affecting the growth of the language and design a maintenance procedure, it needs a clear definition of the culture in which it is in. Anything that is associated with vernacular culture manifests linguistic features. Daily activities of people and collective behavior can show its relations to linguistic attributes then we can determine what perceptions and concepts influence the language (Grenoble and Whaley 261-264). Another implication that needs to be aided by language maintenance is the tendency that the difference in language would extend to the separation of people and a state. In Canada, tension rose between English speakers and French speakers, mainly Quebec, carrying the biggest fraction of French-Canada. For decades, a Marxist group called Front de Liberation de Quebec (FLQ) tried to gain sovereignty and fought for the independence. The government applied quick aid to pacify the nationalist actions by making French speakers feel more welcome as they created official policies for the benefit of bilinguals (Ruypers 149). From the viewpoint of anyone who wants to grow towards the wider immediate community such as in the case of minority relative to the majority surrounding them, it tends to make the minority encouraged to gain the actual condition of the majority. When we talk about the will to sustain linguistic identity, it needs to be acknowledged that it is important to develop individuals and the community without compromising the culture and language. Keeping the diversity of language varieties needs not to be broken instead should be respected in the way that none will be damaged (Bastardas-Boada 3-5). Any action in a community, whether it is verbal or physical, contributed to the culture that defines the distinction of human group. The ability to share with the rest this developed culture makes the group dynamic in the wider scope. These are the notions to be considered as a challenge for anyone attempting to participate in different social dimension. This idea can be applied to the relationship of minority and majority languages which are connected by communications since every language users are considered as part of the community of ideas and practices (Duranti 46). After all, the maintenance of a language, however few the users are, would be simplified as long as there is enough reason for it to stay. It will not matter whether the majority of people around use different language or doing different thing from what you do for if language really serves as a mean for communication, differences will then not make this a problem but a source for it to become richer and maintained. References Duranti, A. â€Å"Linguistic Anthropology†. UK:   Cambridge UP (1997): 46 Posner, R. and Greene, J.N. â€Å"Trends in Linguistics†. Walter de Gruyter and Co. (1993): 345-358 Groff, C. â€Å"Status and Acquisition Planning and Linguistics Minorities in India†.   (2003):8-12 Bradley, David and Maya. â€Å"Language Endangerment and Language Maintenance† TJ    International (2002): 316-321 Corson, D. and Goldberg, M. â€Å"Minority Languages learned Informally- The Social Construction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   of Language Skills through the Discourse of Ontario Employers† ON: University of   Ã‚  Ã‚   Toronto (2001): 1-3 Jimenez, V. and Nakagawa, M. â€Å"Linguistic Minorities† Public International Law and Policy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Group (2005): 6 Mc Creery, C. â€Å"the Order of Canada† Toronto: University of Toronto Press Incorporated(2005):   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   6 Grenoble, L.A. and Whaley, L.J. â€Å"Endangered Languages† UK: Cambridge UP (1998): 261-264 Ruypers, J. et. al.†Canadian and World Politics†. Canada: Emond Montgomery (2005): 149 Bastardas-Boada Albert. â€Å"Linguistic Sustainability and Language Ecology†. Catalonia, Spain:    Centre Universitari de Sociolinguistica I Comunicacio (2005): 3-5

Factors affecting intellectual development

Factors affecting intellectual development There are two factors that greatly affect intelligence: 1. heredity 2. environment -Whichever has a bigger influence remains a debate until now because some studies proved that heredity has a bigger influence on intelligence while some studies showed the opposite. The important point is that the interplay of both heredity and environment is essential for maximum development of the intellectual abilities of the individual. Other factors affecting Intelligence: 1. CultureDifferent cultures foster different patterns of ability. For instance, students from Sri Lanka showed higher score in verbal ability than the Americans. -This can be explained by the fact that in Sri Lanka, the philosophers and the poets were admired rather than the scientists or engineers. 2. Sex It is not true that males are more intelligent than females. However, studies show that boys excel girls in spatial ability, in problem solving, and numerical ability whereas girls e xcel boys in memory, reasoning, and fluency.The difference is not due to solve problems since they will be the heads of the families. Girls have been trained to do light work since they will be the homemakers, anyway. 3. Health Studies have shown that high IQ goes with healthy condition of the body. -In school; healthy children have better chances of learning, they can concentrate better in their studies and they are often active and enthusiastic about classroom activities. 4. Race No one race is endowed with better intelligence than others.Differences in achievement of races are due to better opportunities and facilities found in developed countries. 5. Socio-economic status Studies have shown that children from higher socio-economic scored higher in intelligence tests. -Again, greater opportunities and money account for this. The rich can send their children to better schools and can provide stimulating environment to their children. However, there are geniuses and idiots among th em as there are among the poor. By xhacura

Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies Essay

Based off of this reading, it can be assumed that the conditions in the Indies during the time this text was written were not humane whatsoever. The actions of the Spaniards were very much barbaric, and completely contradict the religion which the Spaniards were trying so desperately to impose upon the natives of the Indies. Without having to go into detail, it is said by Bartoleme in the letter that the Spaniards would treat the people of the Indies as wild beasts, cattle, or animals. But he then goes back on this statement saying that in fact they treated them less than livestock, because they at least took care of the livestock. This is a good example of how barbarically the Spaniards ruled over the Natives. There was no respect for the Natives, even though they were described as peaceful, passive, kind, and as overall decent human beings. Yet in the eyes of the Spaniards, the same people were seen as barbarians and savages. What makes the situation even more disturbing is that the Spaniards used the name of god to justify their ruthless actions. They saw it as their divine right to take over the Natives. Fortunately, there were people like Bartoleme that spoke out against these cruel acts. He wrote the letter describing all the acts of inhumanity towards the Natives to the King and Queen of Spain in order to create rules and regulations that would regulate the actions of the Spaniards in the Indies. This alone was a substantial act of humanity. The only ironical part is that he suggests that the Spanish use African people instead of using the Natives of the Indies for labor. Unfortunately at the time, there were still mass amounts of racism, even amongst the most noble of men. Men such as Bartoleme who spoke out against cruel acts were still subject to their own racist antics. Although this wasn’t very out-of-the-ordinary at the time, in today’s world it’s despicable nonetheless. It’s a very hypocritical suggestion that he had for the King and Queen, and for that, would lose all credit for anything positive that happened to the Natives after his ideas were reinforced.

Advantage and Disadvantage of Agriculture

Role and impact of biotechnology in modern agriculture. Biotechnology offers prospects in addressing problems concerned with agricultural productivity and environmental safety. In order to cope up with the ever increasing population of the current world, biotechnological intervention to supplement conventional plant breeding efforts is indispensable. Some of the issues that can be addressed using biotechnological techniques are crop production of superior quality, mass production of uniform planting materials, compensate land shortages and genetic improvement of the plant. pic][pic][pic][pic]A few of the advantages perceived in the use of biotechnology in agriculture are rapid multiplication of plant species, breeding of resistant varieties, diagnosis and control of disease in crop and livestock, utilization of crop residues and animal waste. Some of the disadvantages are high cost of research and development, endangering biodiversity, genetic erosion and lack of access for poor farm ers to use new varieties. Thus, in introducing biotechnology in agriculture, it is vitally important to study and assess the overall circumstances, such as cost effectiveness and impact on environment.Agriculture is of primary importance in the National Development Program. Biotechnology, as a new frontier in agricultural sciences, has opened new avenues for the solution of agricultural problems. The application of biotechnology in agriculture offers many possibilities for filling the gaps found in conventional research methods and is therefore, not intended to replace all conventional methods, but to provide a more reliable approach in achieving economic gains.Many new tools are now available, particularly from research in the areas of molecular biology, genetic engineering, and cell and tissue culture as well as from intensive application of microbial technology. The initiation of research and development in agricultural biotechnology dates back to the late 1970s when tissue cultu re techniques such as embryo culture and anther culture were first introduced as means to produce virus-free crops and improve crop quality in the production of vegetables, flowers and fruit trees.Virus free potatoes, garlic and strawberry are already in the market for farmers. Production of high yielding rice varieties are good examples of success achieved by the use of anther culture techniques in rice varietal improvement. Read more in Engineering  «Ã‚  Difference Between Diesel and Gasoline Engines Ohm’s Law  Ã‚ » Various technical barriers that have to be overcome are the establishment of transformation systems in agriculturally important food crops and regeneration of fertile plants from transgenic plants.In the areas of gene manipulation and transformation, well trained scientists are needed. Most of the laboratories involved in plant biotechnology carry out tissue culture research, mainly the development of media protocols for micropropagation. Over the years, met hodologies for disease elimination by meristem culture and / or micropropagation and in vitrogermplasm conservation have been developed for fruit crops (banana, strawberry and pineapple), root and tuber crops (potato and sweet potato), ornamentals, cut flowers (orchids, lilies) and a few medicinal plants.Research is also underway to perfect micropropagation technology for tree species which are endemic. Tea, potato and banana are being produced on a commercial scale using established micropropagation techniques. A near commercial line of sugarcane, resistant to smut, has been produced through in vitromutagenesis. Molecular biology approaches for crop improvement have been conducted with little success. pic]Evidently, all the countries have been able to recognize their objectives and goals more clearly in the use of biotechnology in agriculture and have initiated appropriate policies to meet some of the challenges posed by critical areas in directing future development. It is hoped t hat biotechnological approaches in agriculture will provide ways and means of utilizing its full potential to benefit the community.Read more: http://scienceray. com/technology/engineering/biotechnology-in-modern-agriculture/#ixzz12cOlCxP2

Being a Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Being a Manager - Essay Example Their rises through the ranks are discussed at length from their points of view as expressed during the interviews and in summary; it is found that the management escalator model fits with their career advancements. In any organizations, the role of management is crucial in ensuring the smooth running of activities and day to day operations, it is for these purpose that certain individuals; by virtue of their academic qualification, experience or both occupy management positions in most firms either formerly or informally (Reh, n.d). Specific duties of managers vary in different firms; nonetheless, managers are generally tasked with the responsibility of planning, monitoring and directing the efforts of a group of individuals place under him/her. They may direct works through supervisors or do it directly, however for one to be an effective manager, they needs must be familiar not only with the workers or supervisors, but also with the jobs, which they do. This is not to say they mus t be the best at any, or all the duties carried out by their subordinates many, who are specialists, however, they should have some understanding of the working of the different departments to be able to synchronize their activities as well as to direct the efforts. Managers specialize in is in knowing how to manage the resources at their disposal in their particular organizations and departments, and this mostly means human resource, however they also oversee the use of other resources such as money and equipment (York 2009, 185). In many organizations, managers emerge from the teams therein especially individuals who prove they have not only the requisite skills and experience but also leadership skills. Thus it is possible a specialist or technician to escalate to the top of the ranks and become a manager, they will apply not only their technical skills but acquired experience and judgment as well as familiarity with firm procedures to run their respective departments (Richard 20 01, 17). In this essay, focus will be on management and based on how the managerial escalator (Rees and Porter, 2001) applies to the career experiences of two managers who have made it to management levels from the bottom. The term managerial escalator refers to the progression of responsibilities in a firm gradually from technical or specialist to managerial positions gradually through time to help employees acquire the managerial skills while honing their technical skills. Initially, specialists spend a major fraction of their time in the organization engaged in their fields of specialization, however , the more competent specialist or those who show leadership potential gradually acquire supervisory duties, albeit informally at times. This is because leadership skills are necessary in a manager, these can be seen in their behavior and attitudes, and they are used to determine if he/she is capable of taking charge and responsibility of a team (Wilson et al, 2006, 21). The promotio n of the best performers can often be attributed to the fact that most organizations run on a reward system, however employees who gain academic credentials such as master’s degree substantial improve their chances of â€Å"escalation†. The transition from technician to management is takes time and this can be as much as 5 to 10 years or as little as one year, depending on the organization’s structure. Specialist may begin to acquire more responsibilities than their peers and even seniors based on their competence