Monday, September 30, 2019

Science and Technology Have Done More Harm Than Good

Science and technology have done more harm than good. There is no doubt that science and technology affected our lives. There are a lot of scientists who are working on different science and modern technology projects these days. However, with the new science and technology developments most people underestimate the damage it gives us. First of all, I would like to say, that with these new science and technical appliances people became to be lazy. They rarely go out to work on foot or by a bicycle. Now there are a lot of modern cars in the cities, which are said to be emitting less gas. But still their emitted gasses damage the environment, so to my mind, that is why pollution of our environment is increasing. Secondly, it seems to me, that technologies are throwing away our free time. For example, these new laptop computer or those touch-screen devices are full of entertaining programs, which are attracting people effectively. Then people forget how to communicate with others in real life, not through international communication systems like â€Å"Skype† or â€Å"Facebook†. On the other hand, my opinion is that science and technology has far increased by the past few decades. New medical treatment, new computer technologies and other useful technical appliances are helping people to solve variety of problems more easily than it used to be. Overall, these new science and technology inventions harm not only our environment, but even us. So in my view, we should start thinking what technologies we use. 256 words. 2012_10_07

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Why We Crave Horror Movies

In â€Å"Why We Crave Horror Movies†, Stephen King theorizes that everyone is mentally ill to some degree – some people Just hide it better than others. King tongue in cheek observation is offered with a touch of humour to alleviate the discomfort which the reader might feel if at any time there was the thought that this actually might be true. Horror movies, like scary stories and thrilling amusement park rides, allow us to challenge our fears, to show that we are not afraid, to prove that we can.King roposes that these activities confirm for each of us our normality, while also appealing to the worst in all of us, as they allow the freeing of our fantasies without fear of reprisal or repercussion. This is fun with a twist, macabre and voyeuristic, and enjoyed from the particular vantage point of knowing that it is not real, and more importantly, that it cannot happen to us. The thrill ofa horror movie allows not only a suspension of reality, but also of the cynical, J aded view of reality that we feel, as adults, we must bring to bear n our lives.Everyone has demons, which require exorcising, or as King notes, exercising. There is a level of acceptance in society which governs our actions, which is why we need something to achieve the release of these otherwise unacceptable thoughts, hence the need for the sick Joke, the scary ride, the horror movie. In the end, we are not judged by our level of sanity but rather by the socially acceptable degree of our actions, of our particular form of insanity. Why We Crave Horror Movies In the essay, â€Å"Why We Crave Horror Movies† Stephen King attempts to explain why we love horror movies, and he gives a few different reasons why people go to see horror movies. People want to show that they are not scared; people want to have fun; but the main reason that he suggests is that we are insane and we need to watch horror movies to keep that insanity locked up in society. He uses a variety of argumentative strategies and literally decides to prove his thesis. On the other side, King surprised me by the reasons and comparisons he made and gave about why people watch horror movies, but then, the essay went off into tangents that I did not expect. Conversely, Stephen King gives his first thesis that â€Å"I think that we’re all mentally ill†¦Ã¢â‚¬  King presents a case that every person intentionally watches horror to keep one’s under control— well fed, but under control. â€Å"It deliberately speaks to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized†¦and it all happens, fittingly enough, in the dark. King says the basic reason why people will pay money to watch gore is like riding a roller coaster, â€Å"to show that we can, that we are not afraid†¦to re-establish our feelings of essential normality†¦and we go to have fun. † King tries to make the case that murderous insanity is in the same category as public nose picking . The potential lyncher or saint needs to be â€Å"let loose to scream and roll around in the grass. † Why over-work the good emotional muscles and neglect the muscle-tone of those less desirable? There is a logical fallacy in the title of his article, because not everyone craves horror movies. King eventually tells the truth concerning horror movies, which becomes the key to understanding why certain people crave. First, he says,† the horror movie is innately conservative, even reactionary. † What is being held back? What is being reacted against? All that is good, and he writes, â€Å"If we share a brotherhood of man, then we also share an insanity of man. None of which is intended as defense of either the sick joke or insanity but merely as an explanation of why the best horror films, like the best fairy tales, manage to be reactionary, anarchistic, and revolutionary all at the same time. However, I agree with Stephen King’s statement that we are all mentally ill, because mental health or mental illness is conditional to whether our actions interfere with daily task that are acceptable responses to demands and opportunities. In addition, we are all capable of crossing the line between acceptable and unacceptable actions that determine being classified as sane or insane. Horror movies allow us to view and emotionally experience the consequences of insane actions. I am also agreeing that horror movies appeal to all that is worst in us. Horror movies allow us to experience extreme emotional excitement through unacceptable actions acted out in the films. People crave the thrill they receive from experiencing extreme nervousness, disgust, panic, and fear. Horror films cause these sudden, temporary emotions and reactions, but will not interfere with our daily lives once we leave the theater. Packed theaters showing horror films and best selling horror novels are proof that people crave the thrill derived from viewing or imagining insane actions and their consequences. This article tells about how all people are somewhat insane. King says it is our levels of insanity that make us all different. Our insanity is what makes us crave sick, unnatural, and wicked things in life. Specifically, he tells about people’s obsession with horror movies and wanting to watch other human beings be tortured in some frightful manner. We want to feel afraid. For some people, this is done to prove their bravery. Others do this in hopes to make their own lives seem more normal. Although I thought this essay was somewhat difficult to understand, I do agree with the main points of it. I do not understand why I enjoy watching other people be brutally murdered in horror movies; however, I see it as more of an adrenaline rush than insanity. I was also somewhat offended when King commented on baby jokes. He said that the enjoyment of that type of sick joke is insanity. In reality, these jokes are not real; therefore, I do not see the insanity in chuckling at this type of joke. If people actually enjoyed seeing people slaughtered in real life, then I would think that they are mentally ill, but as long as it is just acting, I believe this lifestyle is a craving for entertainment, not insanity. Why We Crave Horror Movies In â€Å"Why We Crave Horror Movies†, Stephen King theorizes that everyone is mentally ill to some degree – some people Just hide it better than others. King tongue in cheek observation is offered with a touch of humour to alleviate the discomfort which the reader might feel if at any time there was the thought that this actually might be true. Horror movies, like scary stories and thrilling amusement park rides, allow us to challenge our fears, to show that we are not afraid, to prove that we can.King roposes that these activities confirm for each of us our normality, while also appealing to the worst in all of us, as they allow the freeing of our fantasies without fear of reprisal or repercussion. This is fun with a twist, macabre and voyeuristic, and enjoyed from the particular vantage point of knowing that it is not real, and more importantly, that it cannot happen to us. The thrill ofa horror movie allows not only a suspension of reality, but also of the cynical, J aded view of reality that we feel, as adults, we must bring to bear n our lives.Everyone has demons, which require exorcising, or as King notes, exercising. There is a level of acceptance in society which governs our actions, which is why we need something to achieve the release of these otherwise unacceptable thoughts, hence the need for the sick Joke, the scary ride, the horror movie. In the end, we are not judged by our level of sanity but rather by the socially acceptable degree of our actions, of our particular form of insanity.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Target Audience & Competition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Target Audience & Competition - Essay Example Maslow’s Theory of Needs and its Application to Marketing In case where an individual worker like for example needs more money for meeting his needs it is obvious that he needs to work harder for doing so. According to Maslow there are physiological, safety and security, social, esteem and self-actualization needs that happen to be really important (Adair, 1996). By putting in the hard work the individual can try to meet his need and later can also put in the necessary effort and time to win the desired reward. Here we can also use the Expectancy theory where an individual worker puts in efforts to adjust his personal motivational levels to that of her or his colleagues. Maslow's hierarchy of needs identify five basic areas of needs that most humans experience. First is the physiological or the basic life survival needs then comes the safety and security need after that is the social need that includes belongingness and love after which comes the self-esteem and the fifth need is the self-actualization. Maslow found out that a person moves form one need to another after he has met a need. Like if he meets the needs at level one, then he moves toward the next, and then the next and so on. Maslow found out that decision making and human behaviour are motivated by one of any five need levels in the hierarchy model he presented. If we apply these needs to the marketing theory it will not be wrong to say that the marketers by effectively appealing to one of the motivational drivers can be really successful. The social and self esteem needs can be fulfilled by the marketers by using strong marketing campaigns and building a strong brand image. People are in search of recognition so if marketers fulfil this need they can always make good profit out of their businesses. Maslow's fundamental principles link marketing and human psychology. It is important for the marketer to find out the level of need which the customer is looking to meet, and then market the prod uct in a way that convinces him that he particular need will be fulfilled like that. Performing periodic evaluations of the marketing techniques as the target audience are not likely to stay static is very important. It is very important for the marketers to be aware of the place where Maslow's hierarchy of needs of the customer base is and the place where the product fits in. By paying more attention to this marketing can be more effective. Stages of the Consumer Behaviour Model and its Application to Marketing Researchers have proven that that motivation factors play a significant role in stages of purchasing process and possess positive influence on the internal factors that is the information search, alternatives evaluation, and post purchasing and purchasing. All these internal factors can have an impact on each other in positive direction and are strongly correlated. Consumer happens to be one of the very significant and complicated units of the marketing system. As many exter nal and internal factors impact consumer behaviour within this system, the measuring and evaluating of purchasing process proves to be comparatively difficult. Consumer behaviour is not as straightforward as the purchasing of a service or product by paying its price but at the same time it is a procedure that has post-purchasing dimensions. Understanding of the consumer behaviour in all the stage of consumer behaviour model that consist of recognising the problem, searching the information, evaluating the alternatives, purchasing and also

Friday, September 27, 2019

Capitalism and Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Capitalism and Culture - Essay Example ived out of modern production.5 Separation is the beginning and end of spectacle.6 This is akin to the Marxist concept of alienation. In the Marxist concept of alienation, for example, the worker’s alienation from his product enabled the capitalist to appropriate the product for himself and in so doing was able to use the product to exploit further the proletariat. However, in the Debordian concept of spectacle, spectacle can be interpreted to have originated from the alienation of the proletariat from his produce and, at the same time, the Debordian perspective that spectacle would lead to further alienation suggest that a spectacle serves to alienate the proletariat and whole of society further away from their lives. Spectacle within society reinforces the reproduction of alienation.7 In a figure of speech, Debord said that â€Å"the spectacle is capital to such a degree of accumulation that it becomes an image.†8 In particular, Debord pointed out that â€Å"the spec tacle is the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social life.†9 The spectacle arises because of tendency of use value to fall and the consumer has to become a consumer of illusion through spectacle.10 The spectacle is associated with the abundance of commodities under modern capitalism.11 In this society of the spectacle, the historical mission is to install truth.12 II. Class Lecture’s on Debord’s â€Å"Society of the Spectacle† Our class lectures on capitalism and culture have pointed out that the idea of a consumer society was popularized sometime after World War II. Consumer societies have been pointed out to have emerged in the mid-1950s when consumer objects and products became more widely available. The â€Å"Situationist† perspective or â€Å"situationism† is a response to the emerging consumer society immediately after World War II. Our class lectures have pointed out that the perspective originally develop ed out of artistic avant-garde. Our class lectures have also pointed out that the movements that opposed have become commodities themselves after World War II as rapid industrialization required skills and a tremendously large labor force. Our class lectures have pointed out that for Guy Debord that life as spectacle has become real throughout capitalist society. Our class lectures have pointed out our ideals for living have been defined by the mass media through the direct and subliminal messages they have injected in our minds through what we read, see on television and movies, and through the messages that we derive from street advertising and billboards. The magazines, the literature, the movies, the newspapers, and the media created representations of what an ideal life in our society consist of. Living has become a spectacle and the spectacle has become more real than our actual life. For example, our class lectures have pointed out that we know more about Bradd Pitt than we k now of our immediate

Thursday, September 26, 2019

IT infrastructure security Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

IT infrastructure security - Term Paper Example The workstation is a desktop PC and is at the study den in the home. It is predominantly used for sending and receiving e-mail, writing and printing papers, surfing the internet, making computer drawings or art, create and publish Website pages, creating graphs charts for coursework and gaming. In terms of the processing power, it has a dual-core processor, 3 GB of R.A.M, Windows XP operating system and hard drive storage of 160 GB. The home computer might be a popular target for intruders who are curious to find out what you have stored in the workstation. They look for bank account information, credit card numbers and anything confidential and worth some amount they can find. For a home computer, the intruders are not just interested in the money-related information; they also want the workstations resources. This refers to the fast processor, hard disk space, and the internet connection. They can then use these resources to attack other computers on the internet. As a matter of fa ct, the more computers a hacker compromises, the harder it is for the authorities to trace the origin of the attack. Following this, if intruders cannot be traced, they cannot be stopped and they cannot be prosecuted.Intruders pay attention to home computers for some obvious reasons. First, the home computers are basically easy to break into and are not secure. When combined high-bandwidth connections are turned on, hackers can quickly find and exploit the security vulnerabilities of the home computers.... In terms of the processing power, it has a dual core processor, 3 GB of R.A.M, windows Xp operating system and hard drive storage of 160 GB. The home computer might be a popular target for intruders who are curious to find out what you have stored in the workstation. They look for bank account information, credit card numbers and anything confidential and worth some amount they can find. After stealing your information, the intruders can use the money to buy goods and services. For a home computer, the intruders are not just interested in the money-related information; they also want the workstations resources. This refers to the fast processor, hard disk space and the internet connection. They can then use these resources to attack other computers on the internet. As a matter of fact, the more computers a hacker compromises, the harder it is for the authorities to trace the origin of the attack. Following this, if intruders cannot be traced, they cannot be stopped and they cannot be prosecuted. Intruders pay attention to home computers for some obvious reasons. First, the home computers are basically easy to break into and are not secure. When combined high-bandwidth connections are turned on, hackers can quickly find and exploit the security vulnerabilities of the home computers. In the attack, intruders will prefer workstations attached to high-speed connections, DSL modems and cable modems to dial-in connections. Regardless of the home computer’s internet connection, the intruders’ attempts are often successful. A lot of home PC owners do not know that they need to consider their home computers security. Network security perspective In the past security threats came

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Ph conductivity lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ph conductivity - Lab Report Example The colour change in observed in each of the solutions was recorded and later used to determine if the solutions were either basic or acidic. From the experiment on PH, it was observed that despite the different outputs of the indicators the colours and digital signatures tally with standard conventions even when verified against an electronic PH probe. Conductivity measurement can be utilized in the surveillance of purity of feed water, quality control of drinking water and process water. It estimates the total number of ions in a solution or directly measures the constituents of the sample. Conductivity instrumentation is highly reliable, low cost and very sensitive (Gray, 2006 p.1). The conductivity of water provides information on its chemical composition as it is directly linked to the concentration of ions and their mobility (Dalmas, n.d, p. 1). From figure 1, it is observed that as the concentration of ions in a solution increases so does the conductivity. Conductivity measurements are based upon the Measurement of electric current flowing between parallel plates of fixed size and fixed separation distance (leveling, 2002. P. 1). Electrical conductivity is dependent on the PH, temperature and dissolved carbon dioxide. Conductivity can either be intrinsic or extraneous. It has been reported that soil solutions presenting high concentrations of sodium chloride with electrical conductivity of between 6 to 10 mmho/cm can be associated with a 50% decline in rice yield and in addition high PH of alkaline soils induces zinc deficiency (Breemen and Moorman, p.121). pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of the solution and is measured by determination of the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) or hydroxyl ions (OH-) present in the solution. The assembly of a pH meter comprises of a pH sensitive electrode that is commonly made of glass, a reference electrode, and a temperature element that

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Distributive Justice in Physical Therapy Case Study

Distributive Justice in Physical Therapy - Case Study Example distributive justice can help us in solving the moral dilemma that Mary Smith finds herself in as she tries to decide on the candidate she would cancel for the day. As the supervisors of Mary, there are a number of factors I would take into consideration in deciding on which candidate should be cancelled for the day; for the sake of equity and justice, I would consider the following factors in making this important decision; the factors are in order of priority. To begin with, I would consider the urgency and the seriousness of the patients’ diagnosis. Justice and equity demands that, all other factors constant, the patient with the most urgent and serious diagnosis should be treated first. The second factor that I would put into consideration is the patient’s availability; the patients who would be available for treatment for the following day should give room to the patients who would not find time to come for treatment the following day. The third factor that I would put into consideration is the amount of money paid by each of the patients. Justice demands that each person should be given his/her due, for that reason, the pati ents who pay more for the same service rendered should be given the first priority, all the other factors remaining constant. The fourth factor that I would consider is the amount of time required to treat each of the patients; since time was the limiting factor in treating all of the patients, all other factors remaining constant, the patients who would take least time should be handled first. Guided by these four factors, I would proceed analyze each of the case so as to decide on the patient to be cancelled for the day. To begin with, the star athlete’s condition is not so serious and urgent; we are just told that the athlete needed screening; this fact shows that the athlete’s condition wasn’t so serious. We are, however, told that the athlete needed to be attended on time so as to go back to class because he had been

Monday, September 23, 2019

Sales Manual for Strategically Planning a Sales Presentation Term Paper

Sales Manual for Strategically Planning a Sales Presentation - Term Paper Example However, the company has established sales distribution chain to reach the customers. The company has distributors worldwide to distribute the products to the wholesalers. In most occasions, the company has standardized supply chain to sell its products. The distributors get the products directly from the company. They distribute mainly to the wholesalers. However, Cadbury products are very perishable and they require few distribution channels. These distributors may sell the products to the final consumers but at a retail price. The wholesalers, on the other hand, sell directly to the retailers and to the final consumers. Although the chain of distribution is flexible, they are guided by the regulations. For instance, the price per unit to the final consumers is the same, but B2B price is subsidized. This will ensure business harmony in all transactions. Personal selling refers to oral or verbal communication with the potential customers of the Cadbury products with the aim of increasing the sales. This approach has been very important because it focuses on developing a concrete relationship with the consumers or the buyers. Furthermore, it is one of the elements of the promotion mix as well as an effective tool of promotion. Prospecting-the company has used personal selling in looking for new customers to buy the products. Like any other business, the company continuously looks for new markets for its products as this is the way to measure the growth of the company. By looking for many markets, the company can increase its sales and maximize the profits. Personal selling plays a significant role in realizing this. Communicating- personal selling is more expressional than any other approach. This is the most suitable way of explaining to both the existing and new clients of the range of the products. Customers get instant feedback to their questions about the products hence easy to persuade them to make purchasing decisions. Information

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Is Management an Art or a Science Essay Example for Free

Is Management an Art or a Science Essay One of the enduring questions in the field of management is whether it is an art or a science. In order to be able discuss whether management is an art or a science we need to define what ‘management’, ‘art’ and ‘science’ are. Management is a set of activities (including planning and decision making, organizing, leading, and controlling) directed at an organizations resources (human, financial, physical, and information) with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner. In general an art defines as skill in conducting any human activity and science as any skill or technique that reflects a precise application of facts or a principle. Management as a science would indicate that in practice, managers use a specific body of knowledge consisting of principles, generalizations, approaches and concepts to apply in certain situations. That is, when faced with a managerial problem, the manager who believes in the scientific foundation of his or her craft will expect that there is a rational and objective way to determine the correct course of action. The principles of management have been developed and formulated on the basis of observation, research, analysis and experimentation and also based on relationship of cause and effect like other sciences. Another proponent of the management as science, many early management researchers subscribed to the vision of managers as scientists. The scientific management movement was the primary driver of this perspective. Scientific managements emphasis on both reducing inefficiencies and on understanding the psychology of workers changed manager and employee attitudes towards the practice of management. These are the basic characteristics that can be proved management is a science, but not exactly. Management as an art requires no specific body of knowledge, only skill. Conversely, those who believe management is an art are likely to believe that there is no specific way to teach or understand management, and that it is a skill borne of personality and ability. One more reason for considering management as an art is that in many situations, practicing managers are unlikely to believe that scientific principles and theories will be able to implement in actual managerial situations. Instead, these managers are likely to consider a broad range of social and political factors, and likely to take different actions depending on the context of the problem. And application of management knowledge calls for innovativeness and creativity. In this case managers go on discovering new ideas, relationships and more efficient ways of doing things. Both views of management, as a science or as an art, can provide ample evidence to support heir viewpoints, and they all seem correct and reasonable from their perspective. But an efficient manager has to acquire a theoretical knowledge of management and subsequently, use it to develop it and, gather experience. Robert Hilkert has beautifully explained that â€Å"In area of management , science and art are two sides of the same coin† Thus, in my opinion I think that management is a combination of both science and art, because managing as practice is an art and the organized knowledge underlying the practice is a science.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Marketing Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Marketing Philosophy Essay Efforts of reviewing and modelling marketing elements, concepts and philosophical attitudes were numerous and effective. But with new challenges causing hurdles in making marketing function more effective on macro- and micro- level of the economy, a revision of marketing philosophy is always at place. Elements of marketing philosophy Dibb and Simkin (2004)| Lancaster and Reynolds (2005)| Blythe (2005)| Drummond and Ensor (2005)| Morgan (1996)| 1. Production orientation 2. Financial orientation 3. Sales orientation 4. Marketing orientation 5. Customer orientation 6. Competitor orientation 7. Interfunctional Coordination| 1. Production orientation 2. Sales orientation 3. Marketing Orientation| 1. Production orientation 2. Product orientation 3. Sales orientation 4. Customer orientation 5. Societal marketing 6. Relationship Marketing| 1. Production orientation 2. Product orientation 3. Sales orientation 4. Financial orientation 5. Marketing Orientation| 1. Cost philosophy 2. Product philosophy 3. Production philosophy 4. Sales philosophy 5. Erratic philosophy 6. Marketing philosophy 7. Social marketing philosophy| As indicated in Table 1, authors tend to use various terms for the elements of marketing philosophy: a) ‘orientation’ (Dibb and Simkin, 2004; Lancaster and Reynolds, 2005; Blythe, 2005; Drummond and Ensor, 2005); b) ‘philosophy’ (Morgan, 1996); c) ‘concept’ (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008). Even the Lithuanian authors, who wrote the first university book on marketing, professors Pranulis, Pajuodis, Virvilaite and Urbonavicius (1999, 2000 and 2008) have used the Lithuanian counterpart word ‘orientation’. Following this broad tendency of the term ‘orientation’ usage, here, in this article, the choice of the ‘orientation’ term will be applied. The renowned American professors Kotler and Armstrong (2008, pp.9-12) indicated that their choice of marketing management orientations were as follows: * the production concept, * the product concept, * the selling concept, * the marketing concept. * the societal marketing concept. A similar opinion was expressed by a group of Lithuanian marketing professors, where they classified marketing orientations as follows (Pranulis et al., 1999, 2000): a) production orientation, b) product orientation, c) selling orientation, d) marketing orientation; e) socialethical marketing orientation. Because of the difficulty of incorporating all the various facets of marketing into a single definition, Lancaster and Reynolds (2005) distinguished features of the subject in the following statements (Lancaster and Reynolds, 2005, p.16): †¢ â€Å"Marketing is dynamic and operational, requiring action as well as planning. †¢ Marketing requires an improved form of business organisation, although this on its own is not enough. †¢ Marketing is an important functional area of management, often based in a single physical location. More importantly, it is an overall business philosophy that should be adopted by everybody in the entire organisation. †¢ The marketing concept states that the identification, satisfaction and retention of customers is the key to long-term survival and prosperity. †¢ Marketing involves planning and control. †¢ The principle of marketing states that all business decisions should be made with primary consideration of customer requirements. †¢ Marketing focuses attention from production towards the needs and wants of the market place. †¢ Marketing is concerned with obtaining value from the market by offering items of value to the market. It does this by producing goods and services that satisfy the genuine needs and wants of specifically defined target markets. †¢ The distinguishing feature of a marketing orientated organisation is the way in which it strives to provide customer satisfaction as a way of achieving its own business objectives.† The author of the article proposes the following perception on the classification of marketing orientations, which constitute the marketing philosophy essence: 1) the production orientation, 2) the product orientation, 3) the financial orientation, 4) the selling orientation, 5) the marketing orientation, 6) the market orientation (which extends to internal and external orientations), 7) the social-ethical marketing orientation, 8) the holistic marketing orientation (which extends to internal marketing orientation, integrated marketing orientation, social marketing orientation relationship marketing orientation). The holistic marketing concept was proposed by Kotler and Keller (2007) but it was not mentioned or wider discussed in the textbook of Principles of Marketing (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008), but introduced in their co-operative book on Marketing Management (2007). For this reason, it is viable to include this new orientation in the proposed model (Figure 3), as it integrated at least four other sub-orientations: a) internal marketing orientation, b) integrated marketing orientation, c) social marketing orientation and d) relationship marketing orientation. Internal marketing orientation will be directly dealing with a Marketing Department within an organisation. It will directly subordinate to the senior management level and other organisational department, emphasising the organisational culture and micro-climate, suitable for effective work and success factors in marketing performance. Integrated marketing orientation would focus towards integrated marketing communications, the cost-effective selection of marketing channels and integrated development of products and services within the scope, demand and challenges of the national and international markets. Social marketing orientation would be focusing on the concept of societal marketing proposed by Kotler and Armstrong (2008), where the basic societal marketing triangle is based on the well-being of the community, incorporating the corporate social responsibility of companies and non-profit organisations, legal issues and environmental protection issues, which altogether streamline the sustainable development of the economy and consumption patterns. Relationship marketing orientation would be concerned with fostering the customercompany relationship with consumers, offering value added products and services. This orientation will also foster the company-partner company (B2B) relationship, seeking trust and reliability in partner selection process and its maintenance for coming years. Therefore, marketing channels should be effectively developed to reduce costs and enhance profitability ratios for all three market participants: a) producers, b) distributors and sellers, c) consumers. The market orientation is proposed to be grouped as internal and external orientations. Though Narver and Slater (1990) proposed a model that identified the components of market orientation as: †¢ Customer orientation, which incorporates customers’ perceptions and understanding by customers’ creating value, offering cost-effective solutions to satisfy their needs. †¢ Competitor orientation emphasises one of the marketing’s functions, i.e., to seek competitive advantage in the market. Competitor analysis, performed in various techniques (e.g. PESTED analysis, Porter’s forces analysis, Boston matrix analysis, etc.), gives a company tools to objectively evaluate competitors’ capabilities and results on the market. †¢ Organizational culture if analysed on an individual basis could be either included into market orientation factor or in the holistic marketing orientation, depending how integrative the marketing philosophy is on an organisational level. Organisational culture should support customer service and customer relationship development throughemployee performance prism. †¢ Interfunctional coordination should focus on the interaction between internal functional areas of the organization which best serve customer need and satisfaction, which in other cases would correspond to the relationship marketing orientation (Kotler and Keller, 2007). †¢ Long-term focus would incorporate the consideration of how the above can be sustained, and financially viable, over the long term. In this paper the proposition by Drummond et al (2000) is closer to the author’s perception of market orientation, therefore the constituent parts of the market orientation are considered to be the balance between: a) External market orientation: customers, competitors and other external stakeholders. b) Internal market orientation: employees and other internal stakeholders. Marketing Orientation The term marketing is used extensively in modern life. If you stop someone in the street and ask them what it means, they will probably use words like advertising, market research and a modern word for selling. In fact, marketing is a lot more than just selling, advertising and research, although all of these functions are important aspects of marketing. The Chartered Lrstitute of Marketing in the UK defines marketing as follows: Marketing is the management process which identifies, anticipates, and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably. So what is marketing orientation? In the next sections we shall explore this. First we will consider what it means for an organisation to adopt a marketing-based business philosophy. We shall then consider the evolution of the marketing concept and look at how marketing orientation has influenced organizational structures in business. An Overview of a Marketing-based Business Philosophy The points below describe marketing and its role in a marketing based business philosophy. We shall then go on to consider a marketing-based philosophy in more detail. * Marketing is a management process, and the support of management for the marketing concept is a key element in its success. Today, a company has to be marketing orientated if it is to be successful. * Marketing is involved with identifying customer requirements usually with market research. * We have to consider current needs and anticipate the requirements of the customer in the future. This requires planning a very important aspect of the marketing process. The satisfaction of the needs will require the supplier to provide benefits the right market offering at the right place at the right time. * Truly market-driven companies adopt strategic level marketing, where marketing has a key role in defining the long-term objectives and mission of the company. In this way, a strategic framework is established whereby the customer is placed at the centre of the organisations activities. * Marketing is not just for profit-making companies. Marketing is for any organisation that has customers, and that includes charities and government bodies. Very many selling jobs in fact are in non-profit-making organisations, although very often the people who have those jobs would not think of themselves as salespeople! Marketing is a business philosophy, the process responsible for anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer current and future needs. The marketing philosophy developed out of the need by producer manufacturers, whose focus was on efficient production, to compete more effectively in their markets. They turned their attention away from mass production at lowest unit cost to try to anticipate the specific needs of customers and produce products/services whose benefits would satisfy those needs. Marketing is sometimes referred to as a pull strategy. The principle is that we understand customer needs and produce products or services, which meet those needs through specific benefits. Customers will want to purchase products or services, which they perceive as meeting their needs and wants. Literature review on marketing challenges in the new millennium The precondition, which fostered to review the challenges for the marketing in the new millennium, was the statements in various forms and shapes, which appeared during the past decade in text books, social networks, media and social forums. The selection of disturbing statements were selected and presented here for the discussion. The biased perception of marketing functions and orientations at the dawn of the new millennium is not compelling. Traditional (conventional) marketing is visualised as a dead function, notwithstanding the critics of modern marketing practice. The critics bring up the issues of lost customers, mass marketing and viral marketing. Therefore, a more fundamental change for marketing is at stake – towards a more \personal touch in the field, as well emphasised by Spellings (2009). Boynett and Boynett (2003) in their book on â€Å"The Guru Guideâ„ ¢ to Marketing: A Concise Guide to the Best Ideas from Today’s Top Marketers† have also identified a number of citations, which question the future of marketing and its conventional functionality. It is apparent that marketing is becoming a multi-disciplinary theory, which inevitably incorporates postmodern aspects of the markets and consumption patterns and consumer behaviour. Selected statements on the death of traditional marketing in the new millennium Authors/sources| Statements| Boyett and Boyett (2003, p.1)| Death-of-marketing gurus rationalize their hyperbole by explaining that marketing is in the throes of fundamental change.| World of DTC Marketing (2008)| Conventional marketing is dead| Bishop (2009)| Marketing is dead; long live marketing: Attracting consumers in the post-mass marketing era| Big Marketing Ideas (2009)| The reason we say viral marketing is dead is not because content no longer spreads in the same way – quite the contrary. But the idea that you could create a flash game or a funny video and expect it to get a million hits and downloads within a week is now patently naà ¯ve. | Wymore (2009)| Forget direct mail, television advertising, and other mass media marketing. They just don’t work anymore. Traditional marketing is dead. In other words, these marketing chestnuts simply don’t stand out in today’s noisy media market.| Spellings (2009)| â€Å"Mass Marketing is Dead. Make Way For Personal Marketing†: The days of mass marketing are coming to an end as we enter a new era of personal marketing. Personal marketing will require more work, more preparation, and smarter implementation, but the rewards will be vastly better than the mass marketing approach.| Selected marketing challenges in the new millennium Sutton and Klein (2003)| Blythe (2005)| Kashani (2005)| Brown (2008)| Kotler and Armstrong (2008)| Bishop (2009)| †¢ Increasing market complexity †¢ Accelerating demand for speed to market †¢ Growing need to capture marketing knowledge †¢ Increasing availability of innovative marketing technologies †¢ Escalating demand for marketing efficiency and effectiveness| †¢ Relationship marketing development †¢ Service quality enhancement †¢ Internet marketing development †¢ Marketing ethics †¢ Marketing strategy revisited| †¢ Commoditisation (change in technologies, more informed customer, more intense competition) †¢ Consolidation(mergers acquisitions) †¢ Power shift †¢ Margin erosion †¢ Value focus| Postmodern challenges: †¢ Hyperreality †¢ Fragmentation †¢ Reversed production and consumption †¢ Decentred subjects †¢ Juxtaposition of opposites| †¢ The new digital age †¢ Rapid globalisation †¢ The call for more ethics and social responsibility †¢ Growth of non-profit marketing| †¢ Aggressive innovations †¢ Building a strong value proposition †¢ Engagement and connection to the customer †¢ Delivering customer experiences at or above expectations| It could be generalised that marketing in the 21st century presents many new postmodern challenges (see Table 3): †¢ shrinking markets, which in effect implies fragmentation and decentralised subjects (Brown, 2008), followed by increasing market complexity (Sutton and Klein, 2003) and market globalisation (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008); †¢ green issues (Blythe, 2005), more marketing ethics (Blythe, 2005; Kotler and Armstrong, 2008) and social responsibility (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008); †¢ marketing strategy revisited (Blythe, 2005) through accelerating the demand for marketing efficiency and effectiveness (Sutton and Klein, 2003) and speed to market (Sutton and Klein, 2003), and aggressive innovations (Bishop, 2009); †¢ advancements in technologies in the digital age (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008), including Internet, commoditisation (Kashani, 2005), communications (Bishop, 2009), internet marketing development (Blythe, 2005), increasing availability of innovative marketing technologies (Sutton and Klein, 2003); †¢ engagement and connection to the customer (Bishop, 2009), through service quality enhancement (Blythe, 2005), delivering customer experiences at or above expectations (Bishop, 2009), rapidly changing public attitudes towards consumption (Sutton and Klein, 2003); †¢ building a strong value proposition (Bishop, 2009) through growing need to capture marketing knowledge (Sutton and Klein, 2003), power shift (Kashani, 2005) and reversed production and consumption (Brown, 2008). Therefore, marketers are facing the re-evaluation of marketing strategy, applying new tools and sophisticated techniques in the new millennium, where changes are of a constant nature. â€Å"Ultimately, the firms who take the greatest care of their customers’ interests are the ones most likely to maintain their competitive edge in a cut-throat world† (Blythe, 2005 p.332). The case of coffee bars: applying marketing orientations and marketing challenges in the new millennium. In practice, each company selects business and marketing philosophy which suits it best. The decision depends on the company’s type, size, products and services it produces, distributes and sells and etc. In order to apply marketing orientations and marketing challenges to a practical situation, two companies in coffee bars sector: a) an international company STARBUCKS (the USA) and b) a national company COFFEE INN (Lithuania). Their briefs and marketing philosophies will be discussed bellow. The case of Starbucks (the USA) Probably one of the most famous brands in the United States and now in the whole world, reflecting the specific lifestyle of the few generations, is definitely Starbucks. Starbucks is the largest coffee-house company in the world, offering a wide range of various coffees, hot and cold coffee and non-coffee drinks, sandwiches and sweet snacks. Founded in 1979, only as a coffee bean retailer Starbucks became a coffee-house selling coffee drinks as well as beans, when its present headmaster Howard Schultz came in and bought the company from its former owners in 1987. Since then, an extraordinary quick expansion in the Unites States, and from 1996 in the whole world, has begun. Now, Starbucks owns approximately 16 000 stores in the world and announces about opening 900 new stores outside United States in 2009 (on the other hand, Starbucks is closing the same amount of stores in the United States) (www.strabucks.com). It is obvious, that such a big success would be impossible without well selected and formulated marketing philosophy. As one of the most innovative companies in the world Starbucks has chosen social-ethical marketing orientation and declares care for the environment and common wealth as well as for people. The main idea of their philosophy is defined in the Starbucks mission statement. Starbucks has two mission statements which are placed in the official company’s website : „To inspire and nurture human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a timeâ€Å" and „Starbucks is committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of our businessâ€Å" (www.strabucks.com). Social-ethical marketing orientation is getting a trendy buzz word, as environmental and ecological problems are on the increase. Some years ago Starbucks was criticised for wasting resources by using paper and plastic cups, for wasting water and even funding Israel army (Vitkus, 2009). Now this company is shown as the best example of environmental friendly business in the business schools around the world. Starbucks announces its corporate social responsibility Annual reports for the public; here the company describes their attention to the employees, customers and the environment, manifesting marketing orientation, marketorientation and holistic marketing orientation. They started to use cups from recycled paper or biodegradable plastic. Social responsibility is also emphasised in their coffee-bars’ design, posters and various promotional campaigns (the integrated marketing sub-orientation in the holistic marketing orientation). According to Pranulis et al (2008), the main idea of marketing orientation is to create the circle of loyal clients rather than one-time buyers. Starbucks could be called a champion in this field too. The chairman of Starbucks Howard Schultz explains, that a person gets more than just coffee when he/she visits Starbucks – „he gets great people, first-rate music and a comfortable and upbeat meeting place† (www.strabucks.com). That’s why people all around the world are willing to pay for coffee more than in other coffee-bars – they buy and experience, not a drink (the selling orientation). According to Howard Schultz, Starbucks build personal relationships with each of their customers (this implies the relationship marketing sub-orientation in the holistic marketing orientation). Even the waiters at Starbucks are called baristas to make them feel exceptional and proud about their workplace, not to feel just simple service workers (internal marketing sub-orientation in the holistic marketing orientation). Another core element of marketing concept (Pranulis et al., 2008, Kotler and Keller, 2007) is to appeal to customers’ needs. Starbucks does everything to achieve its costumers’ satisfaction. They were the first who offered free internet at their coffee-bars and started to open the stores 10 minutes before the actual opening time just to make customers always feel welcome and happy. Viral marketing has also become one of the most important features of Starbucks‘. You can hardly find and advertisement in any newspaper or marketplace, but they build extremely strong relationships by using social networks, internet and mouth-to-mouth marketing, which means Starbucks meets the marketing challenges of a) the digital age, b) value proposition, c) connecting to customers, d) corporate social responsibility, e) green issues and f) overall revised marketing strategy, g) market shrinking factors (as Starbucks was forced to close down 600 coffee-bars in the USA during the economic slowdown (Milasius, 2008)). The case of Coffee Inn (Lithuania) The other company selected for a comparative study is a national company, located only in Lithuania. Coffee Inn is a coffee-bars’ chain opened a few years ago in Vilnius, the capital city of the country. Started from just one coffee-bar, Coffee Inn now owns 7 coffee-bars in Vilnius and one in Kaunas in 2007 (Vaitiekuniene, 2007). At first, Coffee Inn came into the market with the same concept as Starbucks did. It sells coffee and various coffee drinks, served in paper cups, sandwiches and desserts in small, cosy coffee-bars, located in the city centre. The main difference between Starbucks and Coffee Inn is that Starbucks is a big global company (the globalisation challenge) and can afford applying social-ethical marketing orientation, while Coffee Inn is still too small to afford huge investments for various socialprojects and campaigns and it has chosen the marketing orientation. However, Coffee Inn expands constantly, therefore, sooner or later this company will also apply social-ethical marketing oreintation (now Coffee Inn supports various cultural festivals, such as cultural night TebÃ… «nie naktis, or Street music day, not financially, but by helping to promote them, or by prolonging their opening hours during these festivals). The main idea, the co-owner of Coffee Inn Nidas Kiuberis explains, is that they sell a feeling of pleasure rather than just a cup of coffee (Obcarskaite, 2009). It seems extremely similar to Starbucks idea. The waiters are called baristas too, Coffee Inn also offers free internet access and their menu is quite similar to Starbucks one. Lithuanians sometimes even claim that Coffee Inn tries to copy Starbucks. On the other hand, there are a lot of cafeterias offering similar facilities (e.g., Vero Cafe, Double Coffee and etc.), and Coffee Inn is not an exception. However, Coffee Inn is a lot smaller as coffee-bars’ chain than Starbucks and for this reason it is much easier to control it. Being small enables Coffee Inn to be more flexible and to react to customers’ demands and wants quicker and to create new demands and wants at the same time (marketing orientation). Coffee Inn constantly offers new drinks, snacks and other features (product orientation). They were one of the first who invited customers to come together with their pets, set free book collection and invited everyone to come to read or to donate a book (the communication challenge). While talking about customers’ loyalty, new technologies play an important part here too (the technological challenge): Coffee Inn keeps exceptionally close relationships with its customers using Facebook social network, writing the blog and honestly replying to all the letters and comments. The co-owner Nidas Kiuberis maintains the Coffee Inn blog himself – this is very important, as customers notice, that director of the company itself pays attention to their opinion (Milasius, 2008). Nidas Kiuberis explains, they are following â€Å"guerilla marketing† ideas, because it is the best solution for a small business without large budget, where creativity and energy are the most important things (Obcarskaite, 2009). â€Å"Viral marketing and personal blog writing costs nothing and gives better results, than advertisement on TV – your loyalty for customers loyalty, these are the things every company seeks, especially in a crisis time† (Obcarskaite, 2009). As a result, Coffee Inn has created a steady circle of loyal customers, who are indifferent to similar competitors, such as Vero Cafe, offers. The Evolution of the Marketing Concept Marketing is basically about anticipating and serving customer needs, but where does the concept come from? In fact, even though the term marketing quite modern, the idea of customer orientation is as old as trade itself. For example, if we looked at a pre-Industrial Revolution village, we would see a number of trades-people such as the blacksmith at work. These people provided the villagers with what they wanted. There was no question of producing large volumes of goods and assuming that people would take them. Everything was made to order – the customer had needs and the supplier met them. Conclusions In the changing market environment with changing customer behaviour and seeking business opportunities, companies face marketing challenges on a daily basis. In the process of theoretical research, a modified model of marketing orientations, which form the marketing philosophy, was proposed, comprising eight major orientations, where market orientation and the holistic marketing orientation are split into further sub-orientations. The other task for the author was to review and structure marketing challenges in the new millennium and test these issues in two cases of coffee-bars sector on international (Starbucks) and national (Coffee Inn in Lithuania) markets. Starbucks and Coffee Inn both follow similar marketing orientations. Starbucks follows social-ethical marketing orientation as a basis of business, while Coffee Inn is being still guided by the marketing orientation. Both companies sell an experience, rather than just coffee and image is very important for the customers of these companies as they are mainly young people (20-40 years of age, Miksys, 2008). Both companies use viral marketing techniques, though Coffee Inn can create closer relationships with its customers, because it is able to react to changes quicker. Loyal customers could be called the biggest strength and competitive advantage of these companies as they do not compete on price, just by creating exceptional atmosphere.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Improving The Vacation Industry In Egypt

Improving The Vacation Industry In Egypt Introduction Egypt was always known as the land of Pharaohs, nevertheless, Pharaonic civilization was just one part of Egypts whole history because Egypt has witnessed many cultures and a lot of civilizations like the Romans or the Greeks, and also the Christian and the Islamic expansions; Egypt has always been a center of the world interest. We know history and study it from the monuments, because monuments are the real link between us nowadays and our ancestors in the past; Monuments show us their achievements, their civilization, and they tell us how they have lived. Those monuments are our responsibility now, we must preserve them in order to show them to the next generations as they can learn from them just like the way we did; We must understand that those monuments are not durable or indestructible, because nowadays there are many monuments that are definitely suffering from negligence and carelessness because of low funding or the ignorance of their value. A lot of monuments are also threatened by the urban activities and their polluting effect. Egyptian monuments have been subjected to looting, plundering, and robbery from 2000 years up till now, especially in the 19th century when many monuments were severely damaged or even sometimes completely destroyed by the industrialization appeared, but that was not the only threat during that period because hundreds of explorers have come from Europe to Egypt in order to discover and know about the Egyptian history, but as they did many monuments were destroyed and more were stolen. The Egyptian history are in our hands now, it is our responsibility and it also shall be the of the whole world as well, therefore there must be continuous maintenance and protection of those monuments, and as the illegal threats such as looting and robbery may increase, the legal strength has to increase. In general, monuments are subjected to many threats that may lead to their destruction, those threats are: The weather and its effects (Acid rain). Urban pollution. Agricultural damage. Robbery and plundering. Overpopulation. Natural disasters (floods, and earthquakes). Lack of funds. The extraction of raw materials. Wars. Some organizations are formed nowadays to save our history, they have just one mission preserve our history and protect it from all the threats by enhancing the awareness of the people of Egypt and abroad as well about the culture that Egypt has inherited in its history and its role in the civilization of the world, they also develop cultural programmes to conserve and protect that cultural heritage, on the other they assist in fighting looting and illicit trade of the antiquities. And at last they fund cultural researches and exchanges between our universities and foreign universities to gain more knowledge and experience that will definitely aid them to protect and improve the tourism in Egypt. There is a very important thing that we must understand; Tourism has a huge effect on Egypts economy, and that would be easy to understand if you realized that only in the year 2000 foreign tourists numbers have reached about 6 million, with more than 4 million coming from Europe, the income that year from tourism only was 4.5 billion American Dollars. That means that we have to exert more efforts to improve the tourism in Egypt, because with better the tourism in Egypt, more tourists will come over which will in return increase the national income which will end in a better life. To improve the tourism in Egypt we will have to ask ourselves some questions and their answers will absolutely be the solution: What do the tourists want? How to attract more tourists? Can we just rely on historical monuments? How can we enhance our tourism in the European Union market? In that paper I will discuss the importance of our history, what have we lost? how can we just get it back?, and finally I will explain how important is tourism in our economy and how to improve modern tourism in order to attract more tourists and improve the economy of our beloved country Egypt. Body Development of tourism in Egypt: Since 1982 the tourism industry has been developing significantly in Egypt , has the number of tourists in Egypt was 1,500,000 and it started to increase in a very rapid way, while on the 1990s that number was very high sometimes while other times was very low and that was because of 5 important reasons: 1. The peace process. 2. The aggressive policy of tourism promotion. 3. The low quality services. 4. Terrorism especially in July 1992 after killing a tourist and in November 1997 after the attacks on tourists in Luxor. 5. The Gulf war in 1991. So if we took for example 2 sub periods (Table I) where the first period is from 1982 to 1993 and the 2nd one is from 2000 to 2007 we will find that the tourist arrivals number was 1,500,000 in 1982 and increased to 11,100,000 in 2007 which means that the tourist arrivals number is increasing with a rate of 9.2%; while the tourism capacity (Tourist villages and hotels) has increased from 27,300 rooms to 190,2000 through the period from 1985 till 2007; Another important finding is that the nights spent by tourists in Egypt have increased from 9,000,000 to 111,500,000 with a rate of growth of 12.1% annually, on the other hand income from tourism has raised from 315,000,000 American Dollars to about 9,500,000,000 American Dollars. Egypt today hosts about 25% of the whole tourism in the region of the Middle East. The effect of tourism on the Egyptian economy There is a very important thing that we must understand; Tourism has a huge effect on Egypts economy, and that would be easy to understand if you realized that only in the year 2000 foreign tourists numbers have reached about 6 million, with more than 4 million coming from Europe, the income that year from tourism only was 4.5 billion American Dollars, and that is the reason that we must enhance and develop the quality of our tourism industry. How to improve tourism in Egypt? Retrieving our stolen history. Ancient Egyptians used to bury valuable objects with their dead bodies, the thing that attracted many robbers and grave thieves. The tombs that were at higher risk and more subjected to robbery were definitely the royal and rich tombs, nevertheless, the poor tombs were also robbed because they also contained valuable stuff that were buried with the dead to be offered as a sacrifice. Tombs had many warnings on their walls but that didnt stop or prevent the robbery; there were also times that robbing graves was done at the time of burial itself, and it is expected to be done by the undertakers or the tomb guards, in such cases tombs entrances are found intact but bodies are searched and valuables are gone. The 21st family for example had their high ranked women mummified and they were discovered recently in Thebes tomb undisturbed, nevertheless, their golden faces were stolen and another jewelry were taken even before the completion of the wrapping process In the Roman age grave robbery reached its maximum, a lot of Egyptian antiquities and valuable objects were transported from their home to Rome especially, and it would be obvious if you realized that there are fifteen obelisks in Rome nowadays. While in the middle age trading and trafficking of monuments and antiquities have flourished and the reason that Crusaders had thought that some Egyptian antiquities have curing effect from certain diseases; Also in the Renaissance the whole world was crazy about art, therefore, more interest in our monuments appeared; another thing to be mentioned is that Ottoman and before them Mamluke khedives didnt realize the value of the Egyptian monuments. Among the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries many valuable historical objects were shipped to Europe for diplomatic reasons. For example Khedia Abbas and also Said Pasha had given a lot of monuments to Archidum Maximium, a prince in Austria, as a gift and it is present now as the 1st collection in the Vienna museum; another incident when Mohammad Ali pasha has given an obelisk to king Philip of France and it is nowadays in Paris in the Place de la Concorde in exchange of the clock of the citadel. Nowadays there are only few bodies that are still in their original tombs, and there are fewer that may be still in the real place they were inserted. In 1995 Egypt has succeeded to regain the artifacts monuments that were stolen during the Israeli occupation of Sinai by Israel itself, robbing ancient Egyptian monuments is a very old business whoever it became stronger with time till the moment, and there are still a lot of other monuments that were robbed by Israel and didnt come back until now, in the 60s and the 70s hundreds of Egyptian antiquities were stolen by Israel but we have returned many of them to the EHCA (Egyptian Higher Council for Antiquities) from 2002 till 2005, however, Ibrahim El Nawawi, an Egyptian Archaeologist and a was committee member that prepared the monuments return, has stated that we have only returned a small piece of a huge treasure. Now that we realized the importance of our history and how it was carelessly sold or stolen, we will need security and protection over our monuments and we need a new law. The general secretary of the SCA (Supreme Council of Antiquities) Mr.Zahi Hawass has stated that the law 117/1983 is not suitable anymore and it needs to be modified or changed because it doesnt impose hard penalties on antiquities trafficking, and it needs to be harder in order to prevent any more trafficking. The 1st antiquities law was issued in 1853 and it was changed 5 times till now with the most effective changes in 1912 and another one in 1983, some laws contained weakness points and they also didnt prevent urban encroachment. Improving the quality of tourism in Egypt Improving the quality of any business is a very complex mission, because improving means changing, and changing is definitely stressful, you cant just use magic to improve any business; you need stable systems and quality management in order to have a successful business, and those systems must be founded on strong bases of understanding the real objectives and aims of the business. Tourism may be the most important business that has a great effect on the countrys economy, the number of visitors has risen from 1,500,000 visitors in 1982 to 6,000,000 in 2003 and it has risen in spite of the great political disturbances especially among the last few years, and in order to increase that number, the quality of service will definitely need to improve as well. For example, in order to compete, you will need to cater for the different needs of the clients; therefore the tourism product had become an industry that serves the needs of the clients, such as the niche market (Spa, health care, nature tourism, sport travel, culture tourism, religious travel and ship cruises) that are rapidly developing nowadays, so we will have to care more about improving the niche market because it is simply what the tourists need, in addition to that we must realize that tourists nowadays need the most value for money, the best quality, and the most flexible travelling experiences. The WTO (World Tourism Organization) has stated 6 standards that has to be focused on by any tourism destination management when its improving any tourist service or product, those standards are: Security and safety: the tourism product must not have any threats to life or even any dangerous effect on health, Security and safety standards are stated by law. Accessibility: the communication, the services, and the products must be allowed to all the clients with no discrimination even with people that have disabilities. Hygiene: the tourism product must be clean and safe. Authenticity: it may be the hardest standard to be applied, it is to make the product distinct and unique from the other similar products in order to attract the customers attention and meet all of his expectations at the same time. Harmony: it refers to the relation between the human and the natural environment and how to maintain quality of the products and the markets. Transparency: it means providing the customer with all the true information that he may need about the product including its characteristics and its price.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Political And Econimical C :: essays research papers

The Political and Economical Causes of the American Revolution The revolution began after many years of unrest between England and the American colonies. England's taxes, tariffs and new acts, imposed greatly upon the new American people. Large tariffs were placed on non British imports. British goods were more expensive, but they did not carry the high taxes that were imposed on foreign goods so they seemed economical. However British goods were of a lower quality than the foreign goods which made them difficult to sell. Unfortunately the American people depended on England and other nations for all modern commodities because they had not yet set up factories to manufacture their own. The English took advantage of this fact in every way possible. It was their thirst for political power and domination over the American economy that sealed their fate. England passed many acts to entice the Americans into buying their goods. One of the first to be passed was the Molasses Act of 1733. This act stated that molasses coming from the French or Dutch sugar islands was to have on it a six pence tariff per gallon. Instead of encouraging people to buy British molasses this act bred dishonesty. Merchants, who distilled the molasses to make rum, claimed that the British suppliers could not meet their needs. The merchants then began bribing the customs agents to wave the tariffs. Many agents pocketed extra money that way. A man by the name of Grenville observed this and created an act, The Revenue Act, which was successful with Parliament. This act stated that the tax on molasses would decrease to a mere three pence tariff per gallon of molasses. After the instatement of this act Grenville put an end to the bribes. The next act was the Currency Act of 1764. This act stopped the colonies from manufacturing their own money for trade with the British. This act was followed by the Quartering Act of 1765. The Quartering Act forced colonies to provide troupes stationed in their area with housing accommodations. This imposed greatly on the people, soldiers stayed for months and with an extra mouth to feed and little financial aid times became rough. The Stamp Act, passed in 1765 was one of the "straws that broke the camels back". This act required that such documents as college diplomas, dice, legal documents, customs papers, playing cards, almanacs, and newspapers had to have a special government stamp that showed that they had been properly taxed.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Anne Conway’s Critique of Cartesian Dualism :: Dualism Essays

Anne Conway’s Critique of Cartesian Dualism ABSTRACT: I describe and analyze Anne Conway’s critique of Cartesian dualism. After a brief biographical introduction to Conway, I sketch some of the influences on her philosophy. I then describe her non-Cartesian view of substance. According to Conway, there is only one substance in created reality. This substance contains both matter and spirit. A purely material or spiritual substance is, she argues, an impossibility. Next, I discuss several of Conway’s arguments against Cartesian dualism. Firstly, dualism is inconsistent because dualists, while denying that concepts such as divisibility and extension are applicable to spiritual substance, nevertheless use such terms when describing the soul or spirit. They assume that soul or spirit is something particular which can be located somewhere. Secondly, she argues that dualism results in mechanism because it makes too sharp a distinction between body and soul, thus regarding the body as a mechanical machine and the soul a s something which is not integrally related to the body. Thirdly, dualism cannot account for the interaction between mind and body. The two substances of which a dualist speaks are defined on the basis of the exclusion of characteristics. But the two things which have nothing in common cannot influence each other causally. 1. Introduction During his lifetime and in the centuries following, the dualism and mechanism of Descartes' philosophy gave rise to a great number of objections and discussions. In this article, I would like to consider a response to Descartes' views which is somewhat less well-known than others, that of Anne Conway. Conway's reaction to Descartes is interesting because she speaks from out of a metaphysical tradition different from those of many other philosophers who discussed his ideas. (1) In addition, she makes use of a pre-modern, non-abstract idea of spirit, a conceptualisation of spirit which has been lost or sidelined in the philosophical tradition after Descartes. On the basis of an entirely different ontology of matter and spirit from that of Descartes, Conway questions the presuppositions of dualism as well as its abstract view of spiritual substance. In this paper, I will begin with a short biographical sketch of Conway and a survey of some of the main influences on her thought. I will then briefly describe her philosophical system. I will then discuss her critique of Descartes' dualism. Finally, I will consider the question of how her views can be of value to us today.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

How to be a good son or daughter Essay

In Vietnam, children are considered God’s gifts. A mother gives birth, but children’s characters come from God. Also their personalities are influenced by the society around them. That fact is why some nice parents don’t have good children, or some people are good sons or daughters even though their parents are bad. A good son or daughter should have certain qualities. Being hard working, sympathetic, and respectful of parents are the most important qualities of a good son or daughter. First of all, a good son or daughter should be a hard working person. A good child usually makes parents happy, and parents are happy when their children do what they are supposed to do. For example, if a child is a student, she is supposed to study hard. If she studies hard, whether she gets good grade or not, her parents are pleased with her. In addition, in Vietnam we value children as good sons or daughters when they do not make their parents worry about them. For instance, a boy after graduation from a university got a job and worked hard. Although he did not get a good—paying job, he earned enough to take care of himself. That boy is a good son because he is self—reliant and his parents don’t have to worry about him. Being hard working has remained the same over time in my culture. Additionally, to be sympathetic is one of the most important qualities of a good child. Parents who have to work hard to feed their children are usually tired after a long day. As a result, they sometimes get angry easily and may overreact with their children very small mistakes. If their children were sympathetic, they would understand and would not hate or think that parents don’t love them. Moreover, if sons or daughters understand their parents’ frustration, they know that they should help their parents do what they can do. For instance, elementary school students can clean up their room by themselves, and older children can help their parents wash dishes after dinners. In Vietnam a middle school girl even takes care of her sisters and brothers, or makes lunch when her parents are busy at work. Furthermore, much understanding older children can listen to their parents and can share their stories. Adults who are stressful need someone who can listen to them. That kind of behavior becomes more and more common in Vietnam. These days, conversations between parents and children are not only for parents to understand their children but also for children to understand their parents. The final and also the most important quality of a good child is to be respectful of his or her parents. This is the most valuable quality in Vietnam. If you respect your parents, you love them and obey them. Children who are respectful of their parents understand that they have responsibilities to take care of parents when they get sick or get older. Also they have responsibilities to please their parents or make them happy. In order to do that, Children will try to work hard and to understand their parents. As you can see, this final quality is the most important quality, and it also concludes two others qualities. To sum up, a child needs three important qualities to be a good son or daughter: hard working, sympathetic, and respectful of parents. Because people on Vietnam value relationships with family members, you must be a good child to be a good human being. Consequently, these qualities are also the most important qualities of a good human being.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Properties of Gases Essay

The purpose of this lab was to investigate and discover the physical and chemical properties of some gases. Throughout this lab the ability to identify if and when gasses were present was enhanced. During the first step of this lab, when obtaining the hydrogen from the mossy zinc and the hydrochloric acid, it took a lot longer than I thought it would for the water in the pipet to be displaced. I was tempted to remove the stopper and add another piece of zinc and see if that would make it go faster, but I did not want to interrupt the process. It seemed the longer that the mossy zinc was exposed to the hydrochloric acid the faster it dissolved and therefore more gas was produced. When the manganese and the hydrogen peroxide were exposed to each other there was much more fizzing produced than that of the zinc and the hydrochloric acid. I was surprised (although I don’t know why) that the lime water turned cloudy when exposed to breath. It is quite simple when you think about it that when you exhale you release carbon dioxide which as shown in the above data turns the lime water cloudy. Conclusion/Discussion During the course of this lab I learned a lot about the generation of gases. I was somewhat confused in the beginning about how to use some of the equipment for this lab. As the lab went on I figured it out and became much more comfortable with it. I thought some of the experiments were very informative and interesting. I especially liked the portions about reactions with a lit match or the glowing splint as it showed on a small scale if the gas produced was flammable or not. Questions A. Give two reasons why we fill the gas generator test tubes almost to the top with chemicals. 1. The first reason we fill the test tubes almost to the top with chemicals is so that the reaction between the two substances is high enough to the top to go through the rubber stopper and displace the water in the pipet and trap the gas. 2. The second reason is so that observations can be made easily about the reactions. If it was not almost completely filled we may have had to try to pick up the test tube or remove the tissue paper to make observations and this may have altered the results. B. What happens to the zinc in the hydrogen generation experiment? The zinc begins to slowly dissolve when exposed to the hydrochloric acid. The longer the zinc was submerged in the hydrochloric acid the faster it seemed to dissolve. C. What happens to the manganese in the oxygen generation experiment? The manganese produced large amounts of fizzing when exposed to the hydrogen peroxide. It was difficult to tell whether the manganese was actually dissolving or just fizzing. D. Write a balanced equation for the reaction between O2 and H2. 2H2 + O2 2H2O E. What is the function/purpose of the bromothymol blue in the CO2 experiment? The purpose of the bromothymol blue was to show the reaction of the chemicals and the gas that was formed. Since the bromothymol blue changed from blue to yellow, that signified that the gas formed was acidic. F. Bromothymol blue is blue in the presence of basic solutions, and yellow in the presence of acidic solutions. If your solution is a murky green, what might you assume about the solution? I would assume one of two things. There may have possibly been a contamination of the substance. The other possibility might be that the pH of the solution is neutral. If the bromothymol blue turns a murky green color this may indicate that the substance is neither basic or acidic.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Contract laws in employment: A case study

195446 Title: Employment Law George worked at rug universe as an helper director. He had been at that place for four old ages and had ever hoped to startup his ain rug concern if the chance arose. His subdivision one statement stated his hours as 40 hours per hebdomad, with two or three yearss off per hebdomad, capable to the operational demands of the employer. his missive of assignment stated, â€Å" you will be expected to work a sensible sum of weekends but this should non usually exceed two weekends in four and a upper limit of four weekend yearss per month. for the last six months, George has worked on mean three weekends in every four, and some weekends he has had to work both Saturday and Sunday. he wants to kick about this, but is diffident how to. Last hebdomad George was told that there was an probe into stock loses, and that he was being suspended. He was told to go to a meeting the following twenty-four hours. The meeting lasted about 3 proceedingss, and he was told that the g rounds was pointed to him, but was non given any inside informations of it. He believes he is being used as a whipping boy, because he has non taken any stock. He admitted to you that he had taken information from the selling files and transferred it onto phonograph record, with a position to puting up his ain concern. He has besides approached his co-workers Jack and Andy who work as rug fitters. they have agreed that they will fall in him when the concern is set up. George intends to put up a rug cleansing concern utilizing the client base of rug universe. His contract contains the undermentioned clauses. ( I ) The employee may non beg fellow employees for a period of six months following expiration of his contract. ( two ) The employee may non utilize information belonging to the concern for any intent other than to carry through his responsibilities under the contract. All information belonging to the concern is regarded as so extremely confidential that it amounts to a trade se cret. ( three ) The employee may non work in a viing concern for one twelvemonth within a radius of 70 stat mis following expiration of his contract. 1. Explain what George should hold done if he was unhappy with the weekend working? 2. Could the company rely on the fact that for over 6 months he has worked extra weekends, and argue that the contract was varied with his understanding as a consequence? 3. Can George claim unjust dismissal? 4. What may go on if they find out about his programs to put up his ain concern? 5. Will the restraint clauses be enforceable here? Get downing with the issue environing the demand to work on weekends an analysis of George’s contract provinces that he is required to work a sensible sum of weekends which will usually non transcend 2 weekends in every 4 hebdomads and will be a upper limit of 4 weekend yearss per month. It has been stated in this scenario that George has in fact been working three weekends in every four for the last 6 months and has besides worked both Saturdays and Sundays on some of those weekends. To be able to rede George as to how he should cover with this affair it is necessary to look at the relevant statute law in this country and besides statute law in regard of employment contracts. There besides needs to be an scrutiny of the jurisprudence sing Sunday work. In general footings if the employment contract states that weekend work is a necessary necessity of the function so the employee will be made to work at weekends. If the contract does non specifically province that the employee will be required to work on a weekend so if the employee garbages and is dismissed for declining the employee would be able to claim unjust dismissal [ 1 ] . Particular regulations can use for certain workers in regard of the enforceability of doing them work on a Sunday. Employees who are shop workers or work in the betting industry can hold particular protection from being force to work on a Sunday [ 2 ] . This ability to decline to work on a Sunday for those mentioned above applies even if the employment contract specifically states that the employee will be required to work on a Sunday [ 3 ] . When engaging an employee who can be exempt from Sunday work the employer is under a responsibility to state the employee about the right to decline to work on a Sun day within two months of the beginning of the employment. To choose out of working on a Sunday the employee must give the employer three months notice of their purpose to halt working on Sundays. This must be done in composing [ 4 ] . An employer is under no duty to offer the employee alternate hours of work in topographic point of the Sunday responsibilities [ 5 ] and employees declining to work on Lord's daies are likely to happen themselves losing the rewards they would hold received had he worked [ 6 ] . Employers are non allowed to handle employees unfavorably because they have opted out of working on a Sunday. If an employee is dismissed for declining to work on a Sunday he will be entitled to claim unjust dismissal [ 7 ] . In order for the employer to alter the on the job hours of the employee and new contract would hold to be issued, which would so necessitate the consent of the employee before it could be enforced. In Robinson v Swallowfield Consumer Products [ 8 ] the tribunal allowed the entreaty where two of the employees refused to subscribe the new contract issued by the employer designed to change their working hours. The tribunal stated that there should be a grade of flexibleness in the displacements offered and that disregarding the complainants for declining to subscribe the new understanding could amount to unjust dismissal. Similarly in Headley V Copygraphic Ltd [ 9 ] the tribunal found that the complainants had been wrongly dismissed for declining to alter their working hours. In Gillanders v Riding Hall Carpets [ 10 ] the complainant won a claim for unjust dismissal when his employer introduced a new Rota system which required the complainant to work at weekends. The tribunal held that the complainant was entitled to decline the fluctuation in hours. A farther point raised by the inquiry is in relation to the figure of hours that George is working per hebdomad. In his contract his declared hours are 40 hours per hebdomad. It would look from the above that George has been working in surplus of this figure of hours for the last six months. Carpet universe could be in breach of the Working Time Regulations 1998 Reg 4 [ 11 ] and the Working Time Directive 93/104 Art 6 ( 2 ) if he has been working more than 48 hours per hebdomad [ 12 ] . In this peculiar state of affairs if George should hold spoken to his employer and pointed out that under his employment contract he was merely expected to work 2 weekends in every four and that the maximal figure of weekend yearss he would be required to work was four a month. He could reason that necessitating him to work more than the in agreement sum was a breach of the employment contract and he could decline to make the excess hours. If the employer dismissed him for declining so George would be entitled to claim unjust dismissal as mentioned in the instances supra. As besides discussed above as George is a store worker he could choose out of Sunday work if he so wished. To make this he would hold to subject notice to his employer in authorship of his purpose to choose out. The employer could non so implement the weekend working regulation in regard of Sunday work against George. George could take a firm stand on working no more than the in agreement 40 hours a hebdomad unless he has signed an understanding under the Working Time Directive 93/104 to work a upper limit of 48 hours. If the employment contract states that the on the job hours can be variable the employer would non necessitate the understanding of the employee before changing the hours. If the hours are fixed hours and the employer wishes to alter these there must be an understanding between the employer and the employee. Such alterations should so be incorporated into a new contract of employment. An employer can avoid a claim for breach of contract if he can non make an understanding with the employee with respect to altering the on the job hours. He can accomplish this by ending the original contract of employment and offering the employee a new contract on the new footings. The expiration of the contract will be regarded as a dismissal which would let an employee who objected to the alteration in the working hours to prosecute a claim for unjust dismissal or constructive dismissal if appropriate. If any employee does non object to a alteration in the working hours and continues to work the new displacements they have been given an illation will be drawn by the tribunals that the employee has acceded to the alteration in the working hours. Where the employee works the new hours but under protest so the employee will still be entitled to claim for breach of contract at a ulterior phase as they have non accepted the fluctuation in their hours even though they have continued to transporting on working those hours. In this peculiar instance the tribunals may good make up one's mind that every bit George has non objected to the alteration of hours and has worked the new hours for a period of six months that he has accepted the new hours. If he can abduce grounds to demo he has objected to the new hours but still worked them so he would be entitled to purse an action for breach of contract. When looking at whether George can claim for unjust dismissal it is necessary to analyze the allegations being made by the company and whether they adhered to the right process for disciplinary proceedings. Under the Employment Act 2002 ( Dispute Resolutions ) Regulations 2004 [ 13 ] amendments were added to the Employment Act 2002 doing it a direct demand that employers must hold a disciplinary process in topographic point that meets the demands laid down by the Regulations [ 14 ] . Under these ordinances an employer must supply in composing the alleged behavior or fortunes complained of that has led to the employer taking such action [ 15 ] . A transcript of the statement should be given to the employee and he should be invited to a meeting to discourse the affair [ 16 ] . The employee has to be given a sensible chance to see his response to the information given [ 17 ] . It would look from the information above that the company have non followed the right process for disciplinary action which would intend that George would be entitled to claim for unjust dismissal [ 18 ] . The company could reason that the pickings of the information from the selling file and puting this onto a phonograph record is a direct breach of the employment contract. This would be peculiarly applicable if carpet universe discovered George’s programs to put up his ain concern. The clause of his contract states that he can non utilize the concern information for any other intent than to carry through his responsibilities under the contract. By George utilizing the information with a position to puting up his ain concern it could be viewed that he has stolen information which is extremely confidential from the concern and that such information would be classed as trade secrets [ 19 ] . If the company became cognizant of this they could prosecute an action against George for breach of contract [ 20 ] . They could utilize this breach to disregard George from their employment as he has accessed trade secrets for his ain personal usage. It is by and large accepted by the tribun als that restraint clauses sing the usage of confidential information are a necessary necessity in a concern and are hence adhering on an employee [ 21 ] . In regard of the restraint clauses at that place needs to be an scrutiny of the usage of such clauses to make up one's mind whether these can be enforceable against George. Restraint clauses are often incorporated into contracts of employment and as such are likely to be treated by the tribunals as adhering [ 22 ] . In the instance of Dawnay, Day & A ; Co Ltd & A ; another V D’Alphen & A ; Others [ 23 ] the tribunal reached the decision that the usage of restrictive compacts was lawful. The facts of this peculiar instance are really similar to the state of affairs of George in that the complainant had placed restrictive compacts into the contract of employment to the consequence that anyone go forthing the company could non fall in a similar company or put up their ain concern in a similar trade to that of the complainant. If these clauses had non been in the original contract of employment and had been incorporated into the footings of employment at a ulterior clip the compacts would merely be adhering if the employee signed the new understanding.In the instance of Willow Oak Developments Ltd ( t/a Windsor Recruitment ) V Silverwood & A ; Ors [ 24 ] it was held by the tribunal that the dismissal of employees for declining to subscribe the new contract incorporating the restrictive compacts was unjust. They held that the employees should be entitled to reinstatement or compensation. It would look from the above that rug universe would be able to prosecute an action for a breach of the compacts if he continued with his program to put up his ain concern after go forthing the company. George could merely avoid such action if he refrained from similar work for the following twelvemonth or if he set up a similar concern outside of the in agreement radius. If George did put up a new concern outside of the radius he would still be prevented from using any staff working for rug universe for the first 6 months of his new concern as the compact prevents him from beging fellow employees within that clip span. If George adhered to the contents of the restraint clauses he would be able to put up his ain concern without action being brought against him. Bibliography Berry, A,Covering with your Judgment of dismissal in One Week,2000, Hodder & A ; Stoughton Inns of Court Law School,Employment Law in Practice,7ThursdayEd, 2006, Oxford University Press Painter, R & A ; Holmes, A,Cases and Materials on Employment Law,2006, Oxford University Press Rich, M, Edwards, I, Mead, H,Mead’s Unfair Dismissal,1994, Sweet and Maxwell Employment Law Journal 2006, vol 73 ( Sep ) , 9-11 Table of Cases Brake Bros Ltd V Ungless [ 2004 ] EWHC 2799 Canadian Worldwide Express V Smith [ 2005 ] EWHC 671 Corporate Express Ltd v Day [ 2004 ] EWHC 2943 Dawnay, Day & A ; Co Ltd & A ; another V D’Alphen & A ; Others [ 1997 ] EWCA Civ1753 ( 22 Gillanders v Riding Hall Carpets [ 1974 ] I.R.L.R. 327 Headley V Copygraphic Ltd [ 1996 ] C.L.Y. 2627 Leeds Rugby Ltd v Harris [ 2005 ] EWHC 1591 London Borough of Lambeth & A ; Ors v Corlett [ 2006 ] UKEAT 0396 Lynch V Bromley Arts Council Employment Appeal Tribunal 13 February 2007 May 1997 ) McLean V Rainbow Homeloans Ltd [ 2007 ] I.R.L.R. 14 Odoemelam v Whittington Hospital NHS Trust Employment Appeal Tribunal 6 February 2007 Robinson v Swallowfield Consumer Products Employment Appeal Tribunal 29 March 2000 Sayers v Cambridgeshire CC [ 2006 ] EWHC 2029 [ 2007 ] I.R.L.R. 29 Spencer Jones V Timmens Freeman [ 1974 ] I.R.L.R. 325 UKEAT 0005 Thomas V Farr Plc [ 2007 ] EWCA Civ 118 Times, February 27, 2007 Weir & A ; Anor ( The Firm of Brae Cottage Residential Home ) v Stewart [ 2006 ] Willow Oak Developments Ltd ( t/a Windsor Recruitment ) V Silverwood & A ; Ors [ 2005 ] UKEAT ( 20 October 2005 ) Table of Legislative acts Employment Rights Act 1996 Employment Act 2002 Working Time Regulations 1998 Working Time Directive 93/104 Employment Act 2002 ( Dispute Resolutions ) Regulations 2004 1

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Drug Addiction and Time Essay

I believe that I am an addict, I made a lot of bad decisions in my life. But the worst was my decision to start using drugs. From the day that I started using to now I have loved it. And at times I would do just about anything to get it, I have done just about everything except sell my body. I stole from the people I love to get what I needed. Using drugs went from only on the weekends, to a couple times a week, to everyday. The worst part is, is I didn’t see that it was consuming so much of my life. There came a point where just smoking weed wasn’t enough anymore, and that’s when i should have walked away. I was 16 when I did heroin the first time. But it wasn’t until a year later when I started shooting up. My best friend and I did everything together and this was no different. We were hooked, she more than I, our lives revolved around getting high. I remember the days we couldn’t get it, she would shake and cry because her body ached for it so bad. I hated seeing her sick, all I could do nothing to help her. It was the worst thing that I have ever seen. When I could I would get her what she needed. We spent our summer days inside. Most of the time we were so high that we couldn’t move, but to us that was the best part of the day. At that moment we could finally just close our eyes and breathe. Looking back now the worst part for me is that I helped my best friend kill herself. I provided her with the drug that was sucking her dry. At that point in time I thought I was helping her. We have always depended on each other but this time we depended on something else. We both are not using heroin anymore, and have come out on the other side of that addiction. We both know that if it were placed in front of us we could not say no. Addiction has taken a lot from me. I have lost the trust of my Parents and my freedom I ounce had. My best friend and I can not hangout outside of school, were just not good for each other to be around. But most of all I lost respect for myself.