Blog Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Blog - Coursework Example Therefore, current management teams tend to focus on the required combinations that are required in terms of employees for economic and productivity values. When evaluating the effects of team diversity on business performance, (Kochan, et al., 2002, p. 12) indicated that different levels employee sourcing create a very strong case for the diversification of the required returns. The diversity under consideration in this situation includes cultural, demographic, technical and cognitive. After this integration, the group processes will include communication, creativity, conflict and cohesion. The required outcomes in this regard are; reduced turnover rate, satisfaction of all stakeholders and improved performance. It has been noted that diversity, if not well managed have adverse effects on the running of a company. Conflicts and ineffective communication are an inevitable part of life in any group setting. However, these can take a different dimension when dealing with diversity (Her rera, Duncan, Ree, & Williams, 2013, p. 5). Lower levels of cohesion and miscommunication are some of the negative issues that must be looked into before effectiveness of the whole company is upgraded. In fact, the relationship that exists between diversity and performance in any company is dependent on the human resource enforces the good practices of creativity and innovation at the initial levels of hiring employees. Therefore, diversity must be effectively handled if it has to give the best results (Mirza, 2011, p. 4). Effective handling of diversity has several advantages. McDonalds Company is one of the companies that have highly benefitted from the aspect of work place diversity. Increased productivity has been highly seen as a result of the diversity created. The company, a US grocery company has a very wide base in more than 118 countries and in particular commands a very huge market in the UK (Mirza, 2011, p. 7). The use of diversity has made the company create a diverse w ork force with different talents that have highly reduced the turnover rate of the company and in turn increasing its stores all over the world. Another benefit that has come to the company is increased creativity and the rate of solving company problems. Different cultures come with different needs and concerns (Kochan, et al., 2002, p. 13). The company has concentrated so much on diverse work force that it has equally created a diversified customer base based on the cultural range of products sold. So committed to the issue of diversity it is, that the company has created a World Leadership Development. Because of the company external development strategy, it does not discriminate (Mirza, 2011, p. 3). The third advantage as seen in the McDonald’s case is the attraction and retention talent. The company has been seen to highly involve itself in the community based programs where it creates the diversity needed. According to Mirza (2011), the company supports groups of networ ked individuals in the composition of gay and lesbian employees, because these are very important to the company employment cycle. In fact, the company has a Chief World Diversity Officer, Patricia Sowell Harris whose work is to see that the values of these individuals are upheld. According to the company, they are important, not only as a customer base development team but also worthy employees. Tasked with making sure that people deliver their best, she has made sure that the company effectively responds to the aspect of diversified talent. With the inclusion of

Includes recommendations for banking in China Essay Example for Free

Includes recommendations for banking in China Essay The bank is progressively upgrading its services and is attempting to match the best practices in the banking industry. This is evident from its Factoring programme for businesses. This enables business people to assign receivables to Bank of China and in turn they are provided with all facilities for collection, finance of trade, risk control and ledger sales management. In addition there is easy finance on production of delivery of goods, provision of capital at low cost, protection of credit to the seller despite any financial difficulty of the buyer, thus in some cases it will be the buyer also who will be benefiting along with the seller in case Factoring is undertaken. The Factoring services include export and import factoring as well export and domestic invoice discounting and domestic full factoring. Being the first and the largest factoring services provider in China’s banking sector, it has build extensive experience in this field and therefore will provide assured services. (Factoring, 2006). BOC has developed partnerships with large state held Chinese corporations such as the oil and petroleum company China National Petroleum Corporation. This will add value to its global business and create partnerships for growth. Security and risk management in Bank of China is dependent on its corporate governance policy. This is determined and controlled by the board of directors which oversees the overall operation and administration. As per standard norms of banks, committees are appointed to supervise various banking functions which include those for strategic planning, audit, risk management, personnel and remuneration and transaction controls. (Governance, 2006). The various stake holders in the bank include apart from the state government, the share holders, a board of directors, in which the posts of Chairman and President are said to be separate, a board o f supervisors and senior management. (Governance, 2006). The large quantum of non performing assets and a state control however does not immediately contribute to confidence in this area. The Bank is prone to provide for areas which are determined by the Central government and to that extent its policies are not ruled by the needs of ensuring profitability and efficiency. The picture in China is however continuously changing and greater progress in this sphere is anticipated in the future. HSBC exploits it legacy of banking in China to effect as it has been present in the Middle Kingdom since 1865. (HSBC China, 2006). The Bank provides the customers the advantage of being a single banker for domestic as well as foreign banking services thereby providing it convenience, speed, security and assurance. (HSBC China, 2006). HSBC is seen to operate at an entirely different level. The products, services and processes for the customers have been well established by the bank. It is now marketing these facilities to provide growth both in the personal and business banking sectors. Modern banking as practiced by HSBC is not only creating facilities such as automated teller and cash machines but actually recognizing the benefits of customers using these. This leads banks as HSBC to sponsor various gift schemes for users who use cash machines or pay their bills online. This indicates that services are not mere conveniences but offers which enable the bank to actually increase its efficiency. Then there are services such as money managers for the business, high interest deposit bonds, money market account and clients deposit account which enables pooling of money in a single account. HSBC also manages pensions of employers for a business as well for individuals. For business there are other factilities that are being provided such as business internet banking as well as HSBCnet which provides larger companies with a complete range of services on the internet, invoice finance, Against the internal growth outlook of Bank of China, HSBC is seeking more challenges externally as the Worlds local bank and is investing in many developing countries such as Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and even Iraq. (Schuman, 2006). The low penetration of modern banking systems services for example credit cards in China which for a 1. 3 billion population has only 10 million card holders has promised greater possibility and scope for banks such as HSBC. While HSBC sees itself as the Worlds local bank, the BOC wants to seek primacy in Chinese banking by providing assistance in doing business globally. Thus there is a difference in the focus of both the banks. This also underlines an essential difference in the states of the Chinese banking industry vis a vis global banking conglomerates as HSBC. The Chinese banking industry is still in its nascence and thus sees itself as a provider of financial services to its domestic clientele be it personal or corporate to operate internationally. On the other hand HSBC sees itself as a bank for global banking regardless of the nationality of its clients. The Bank of China will have to face these challenges in the future in a very cohesive manner. Bank of China is well established domestically as well as globally. It can conduct sustained operations as it has adequate experience and exposure to varied political, economic and financial regimes. The global orientation of the bank is particularly favorable for its sustained growth and expansion in the future. It can thus provide the lead to other banks in China.

Pompidou Centre Design Concepts

Pompidou Centre Design Concepts This essay looks at the Pompidou Centre of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, in terms of how its design can be understood as a product of its cultural, social, political and economic context, including a discussion of the influences and relationship between the philosophical ideas underpinning the movement and the resulting building. The essay first provides a brief overview of the Pompidou Centre’s history and the architecture of the Pompidou Centre and its external spaces (recognising that the Pompidou Centre is more than simply the High Tech structure; it is also composed of its plazas and external pedestrianised spaces). The essay then moves on to discuss the philosophy behind the Pompidou Centre, in terms of the intersection of the philosophy for the building and the resulting design for the building. The essay then discusses how the design of the Pompidou Centre can be understood as a product of its cultural, social, political and economic context, and ends with a brief co nclusion. The Pompidou Centre was the result of an architecture competition aimed at producing an â€Å"architectural and urban complex to mark our century† (Bachman, 2003). Bachman (2003) identifies the Pompidou Centre as belonging to the high-tech style, due to its construction, namely its revealed structures, its exposed ducts and the sharp, inside out, industrial aesthetics of the entire structure. As Bachman (2003) argues, the process of revealing normally internalised sections of such a structure led to the re-thinking of these sections, in terms of their workings, their function and the ways in which they are organised and work in concert with each other. This led, implicitly, to a re-thinking of the idea of a ‘cultural space’ and ideas about what a cultural space should be used for, and who it should be used by (Thompson and Bell, 2007). The Pompidou Centre was novel in many ways, not simply in its design, but also in the ways in which the whole space was designed t o be user-friendly, to attract a variety of different users to the space for multiple purposes (Bachman, 2003). The structure, and its surroundings, were also entirely novel, with the building essentially being turned inside out, with long facades that could act as ‘information surfaces’ and a plaza that was designed to act as a meeting point for the various visitors the Centre would attract. Casati (2007), interviewing Richard Rogers, discusses the idea of the Pompidou Centre stemming from the idea of uniting machinery with a cultural centre, which essentially means the idea of containing the cultural aspects of the centre in an innovative way, to allow multiple users to use the space in many different ways. As Richard Rogers says in this interview, â€Å"†¦.we very quickly realised†¦.a need not only for a museum but also for a place for people in this area to do other things: a place to go on Sunday morning with children, with dogs, with girlfriends, or to go to all manner of activities not specifically stated in the programme. It became something in which both culturally oriented people and the public could participate.† (Casati, 2007). On this understanding, then, it becomes clear that the multi-functionality of the space was a basic design concept, a basic philosophy, for the design of the Centre, and, as Rogers says, â€Å"†¦I have always drea med of this piazza becoming the Parisian Hyde Park Corner† (Casati, 2007). From this interview with Rogers, it becomes apparent, therefore, that the space around, and including, the Pompidou Centre, should be a public space, drawing people in from the community and wider afield, not only for cultural events and happenings, but also to come together to enjoy the space, for itself, as a place to come together or to simply enjoy some alone time, enjoying the space created. Indeed, with the construction of the Pompidou Centre, Rogers and Piano managed to pedestrianise a large section of this part of Paris, ensuring that people could use the space around the building for precisely this objective, in order that there be a ‘physical space where there would be no traffic, noise or danger, that would be suitable to pedestrian activities or to leisure activities.† (Casati, 2007). As Rogers explains, â€Å"The centre needed†¦a surface of contact with the rest of the city†. (Casati, 2007). This external space, the plazas surrounding the actual s tructure, were thus fundamentally important to Rogers and Piano, as an integral part of their design, to achieve the vision they had of the Pompidou Centre as being a space for people to interact with in the manner in which they wished to interact with it. As Rogers also notes in his interview with Casati, â€Å"†¦the word which most stood out on the brief was ‘information’†¦that (the Pompidou Centre) should be a ‘building for information, culture and entertainment’.† (Casati, 2007). Parts of the design of the building conform to this brief, in terms of the long facades, for example, which allow information to be displayed. Parts of the overall design also conform to this overarching design ideal, in that the plazas and pedestrianised spaces surrounding the actual structure also became regenerated following the opening of the Pompidou Centre; bookshops opened around the plazas, and informational and cultural events began to spring up in the plazas, from the wider city, in terms of impromptu circus events, markets and concerts, for example, all of which served the function of inviting a wider audience to the Pompidou Centre as a whole. Rogers’ and Piano’s overarching philosophy fo r the design of their Pompidou Centre, the need to create a space for multiple activities, for multiple users, was therefore realised through their careful design of not only the structure they designed, but also via the structure’s surroundings. As Rogers states, in his interview with Casati, â€Å"†¦if nothing else, the building will be a surface of contact with a non-specialised public, with the public at large. People know how to read it instantly. It’s entrails are on the outside.† (Casati, 2007). This idea of the structure being turned inside out was obviously, therefore, a major philosophical starting point for the design for Rogers and Piano who were concerned, as has been seen, with designing a space that could be used by many different types of users, for many purposes, not only for cultural events: under this concept, therefore, it was important that the actual structure itself not be forbidding, not be off putting to all visitors that might pass by it. This idea, of opening up dialogue with culture, to people who may not normally have been open to culture, or who may have thought that culture was not open to them, was facilitated by opening up the building, by turning it inside out, as a way of saying, ‘Here I am, I am exposed, you can see what I am, I am not forbidding, I am open’ and, through this, taking the intimidation out of visiting a cultural space. The surrounding plazas and pedestrianised areas facilitate this open invitation to visit the spaces w ithin the structure, inviting visitors in, enticing them to pass through the doors in to the Pompidou Centre itself. As Levy (2007) states, Rogers’ and Piano’s design was chosen for its simplicity, a work of high-tech modernity, that would, through its steel, glass and stone work, open up a pedestrianised space in the heart of the city of Paris, allowing visitors from all walks of life, and all persuasions, to partake of it’s offerings how, and when, they wished to do so. The great success of the design of the external spaces, and the construction itself, is precisely that. It’s simplicity allows people to feel comfortable within it’s spaces and to explore themselves in relation to their surroundings in a way that was extremely novel at that time in the history of architecture. The structure itself, a giant enveloped space, with its innards on show, is simple in the context that has been discussed, that it reveals itself to newcomers on first contact, and, through this, presents visitors and users with a simple task: to feel welcome enough to approach, to enter an d to use the space in the ways in which they wish to use the space. The greatness of the Pompidou Centre design is this simplification, this opening up of cultural spaces for the visitors, making the spaces a function of the visitors, and not vice versa. The guiding philosophy of this project was opening, welcoming, of providing spaces for information sharing and retrieval and for exchanges of all kinds, cultural and otherwise. In this sense, the Pompidou Centre is a resounding success, given the uses to which the spaces within the structure, the plazas and the pedestrianised areas are put, by many and varied visitors. As Proto (2005) argues, the great vision of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano was to realise the need for an information centre, for a centre that would facilitate many different types of exchanges. As Proto states, â€Å"..the hyper-objectification of it’s form and the consequent transparency of its content led†¦to a new type of architectural fruition: that in which the ideological perception of the building exceeded the real possibilities suggested by it’s hyper-flexibility.† (Proto, 2005). The Pompidou Centre not only invites, facilitates, different kinds of exchanges, and multiple exchanges, but also allows for self-empowerment through self-learning via these exchanges, such as inter-personal interactions, and interactions with culture and with one’s surroundings, for example (Proto, 2005). In this sense, again, the Pompidou Centre was visionary in terms of creating a physical space designed to enable these interactions, these exchanges. As Stephen ( 2001) notes, Rogers and Renzo’s idea, and the realisation of this idea was also visionary in terms of the realisation that museums, cultural spaces, have to serve a leisure function, in terms of benefiting the wider public through the provision of leisure opportunities (Stephen, 2001). The Pompidou Centre, through its many different spaces, designed for different ends, allows users to spend their leisure time in and around the Centre, very comfortably, something that, in 1977, when the Centre was designed and built, was forward-looking, to say the least. In terms of the Pompidou Centre’s design being understood as a product of its cultural, social, political and economic context, as has been seen, the building, and its surroundings, were very much intended to become a unified enabling space, through which visitors could interact with their surroundings in novel ways, initiating, directing and thus controlling their own experience whilst in the Pompidou Centre. The approach of visitors to the culture presented at the Pompidou Centre was this very different to how culture was, and is, presented at many other cultural centres and museums. Socially, as has been seen, the ethos of the Pompidou Centre was to bring together a wide variety of visitors, from many different backgrounds, and experiences, for many different purposes, from partaking in the cultural events on offer to enjoying the open spaces around the structure. Socially, therefore, the philosophy behind the design of the Pompidou Centre was to unite previously often soci ally disjunct visitors, through its welcoming, inside out, structure and through the offering of many different recreational spaces, in which visitors are free to choose, and direct, their own visitor experiences. The Pompidou Centre space attracts not only visitors one would normally associate with cultural attractions, but also visitors who would not normally visit museums and other such sites (Thompson and Bell, 2007); on this basis, then, the design, and its intentions, have been entirely successful, allowing for multiple visitors, undertaking multiple activities, within the umbrella of the Pompidou Centre spaces (both internal and external). Under this view, as Rogers argued (Casati, 2007), the Pompidou Centre does indeed act as a ‘Parisian Hyde Park Corner’, a place in which people can air their views, express their desires for their free time and enhance their lives through multiple exchanges. Politically and economically, the Pompidou Centre, has, as has been seen, led to a large amount of redevelopment and regeneration in the surrounding areas of Paris. The plazas and other external spaces have been filled with complimentary shops, stores and cultural/entertainment activi ties (circuses, for example), leading to a general regeneration of the area surrounding the centre. This essay has looked at the Pompidou Centre of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, in terms of how its design can be understood as a product of its cultural, social, political and economic context. This analysis included a discussion of the influences and relationship between the philosophical ideas underpinning the movement and the resulting building. As has been seen throughout the essay, the whole concept of Rogers and Piano was to use the entire space they had been given in order to create a variety of spaces in which multiple users could interact in multiple ways, with the spaces and with each other. Philosophically the main driving force behind the Pompidou Centre seems to have been to offer culture to the masses, to enable interaction with culture, in a novel way, in such a way that this offering would be embraced, by multiple users, in a myriad of different ways. This aim seems to have been achieved, and even surpassed, in terms of how visitors use the spaces within the Pompidou Centre and in terms of the sheer numbers of visitors to the Centre. Adapting the High Tech style to a cultural centre elicited novel design features, such as the use of the inside out design, which, in turn, enabled the philosophical aim of the Centre to be enacted; the walls of the structure have everything on display, nothing is hidden, welcoming visitors through its honesty and openness. The design is the Centre’s genius, the key to the realisation of its governing philosophy. As has been seen, the sheer number of visitors, who use the Pompidou Centre and its external spaces in multiple ways, is the proof of the validity, and success, of the philosophical underpinning of the project. Not everyone likes the Pompidou Centre, and politically it has been greatly debated, but, as an architectural project, it wholly met it’s brief and has surpassed expectations in terms of user satisfaction. In conclusion, with the Pomipdou Centre, Rogers and Piano, who at the time were relatively unknown architects, showed how an unused section of a city can be regenerated, and opened up to a mass of users who previously would not have considered using a ‘cultural centre’. It is, through its High Tech design, as Proto (2005) argues, a successful exercise in showing how visitors can be enabled to direct their own self-learning, through multiple, previously unexpected, and un-hoped for, exchanges. Rogers’ vision for the Pompidou Centre as a ‘building for information, culture and entertainment’ (Casati, 2007) has been realised, and its aims and hopes surpassed in this sector of Paris. Bachman, L.R. (2002). Systematic Centre Pompidou. In Integrated Buildings: The Systems Basis of Architecture. John Wiley. This extract is also available from Architecture Week, via [Accessed 6th July 2008]. Casati, C. (2007). The Parisian Hyde Park Corner. The Guardian Tuesday October 9th, 2007. Kron, J. and Slesin, S. (1997). High Tech: The Industrial Style and Source Book for the Home. Levy, B-H. (2007). A monument of audacity and modernity. The Guardian Tuesday October 9th 2007. Proto, F. (2005). The Pompidou Centre: or the hidden kernel of dematerialisation. The Journal of Architecture 10(5), 573-589. Stephen, A. (2001). The contemporary museum and leisure: recreation as a museum function. Museum Management and Curatorship 19(3), 297-308. Thompson, H. and Bell, J. (2007). The Pompidou Centre. The Guardian Tuesday October 9th 2007.

Eighteenth Century Ballooning :: European Europe History

Eighteenth Century Ballooning       In a time where the skies are full of aircraft, it is hard to    imagine a time when air travel was nothing but a dream. That was    just the case during the early eighteenth century. The dream of flight    was so concentrated on winged flight that ballooning was actually and    accidental discovery. The shift to alternate opportunities to fly    occurred in 1766 with the discovery of hydrogen. Henry Cavendish    discovered the gas he coined the â€Å"inflammable gas.† At that time this    meant that the gas was highly combustible, unlike today’s    interpretation of inflammable. What made this gas so important was    the fact that the gas was much lighter than the atmosphere. The    lighter gas would give the balloon lift in the surrounding atmosphere,    hopefully taking a human along with it. The new discovery brought a    lot of excitement to the pursuit of air travel. The discovery began to    move forward in 1774 with Joseph Priestly’s publication of    â€Å"Experiments and Observations with Different Types of Air.† This    paper explored uses of the gas and further explained its properties for    future experimentation. In 1777, the paper was translated into    French and read by Joseph Montgolfier. The paper inspired    Montgolfier to further explore the possibilities of the gas. Montgolfier    and his brother Etienne began experimenting with the gas in hopes of    coming up with a device to give them flight. This became a reality in    1786 when the two brothers were able to fly small cloth and paper hot    air filled balloons. This was the small and modest beginning to hot air    balloon flight.    The brothers had some complication to work out with the first    flights being experimental. They used dense smoke from burning    chopped wool or damp straw to lift the balloon. The smoke idea most    likely came from a concept left over from the medieval times. They    believed that smoke had more of a virtue of lightness, and lighter    meant that the balloon had a better chance of flight. Another    possibility is that the brothers believed that the dense smoke would    simply be better contained in the balloon. Some individuals even    believe that the brothers used thick smoke to conceal their ideas.

Great response from Arthur Miller Essay

The Crucible was written in 1953, by Arthur Miller. Miller has said that the purpose of the play is to comment on the parallels between the unfair Salem Witch trials and the ‘Red Scare’ that lasted eight years 1948-1956. A Crucible is a large container that is used in the production of steel, where they are heated until they melt. A Crucible can stand extremely high temperatures. This is a direct comment on what the play is about. Arthur Miller provided an artistic response to the political climate and he wrote to tackle certain issues such as intimidation. Under McCarthyism, the United States was afraid of communisms influence. McCarthyism came from Senator John McCarthy, who set out to find any threats to the American life and their security. Anybody suspected of communism, mainly those in the entertainment industry, either confessed and gave names of other people or the American Government blacklisted them. Miller, in the entertainment industry, who was protecting his business and friends from any negative outlook it gave, refused to testify to the Committee and was blacklisted. McCarthyism has a great likeness to the play ‘The Crucible’. In both situations people only wishing to save themselves falsely accuse many people who suffer. John and Elizabeth Proctor don’t have a normal husband and wife relationship, although they are married. They are distant with one another. Their relationship is full of suspicions and clearly has a lack of trust: â€Å"What keeps you so late?† is an accusation. Elizabeth really means what have you been doing or where have you been to keep you so late. The strength of their relationship is tested. John tries to please Elizabeth but she cannot forget her suspicions. John explains to her: † I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches around you heart.† This shows that John feels guilt. John Proctor is an honest man. We see this through the way he acts and what he says. John works hard to provide for his family. He has a good clean name in the village and is well respected. However, when the hysteria begins, he wonders whether to expose Abigail for what she really is, even though his name will be ruined. We see that he truly loves Elizabeth when he confesses lechery in order to protect his wife. The audience are drawn to John Proctor. He is one of few people in the play to be truthful throughout, along with Reverend John Hale. Elizabeth is also an honest person. She is a good Christian woman and acts the way she’s supposed to as a wife and mother. However, sometimes she can be very cold. She, along with many others, is accused of witchcraft simply because she fired Abigail when she suspected that her and John were attracted to one another and didn’t want it to go any further. Even though she has suspected John of lechery and is distant towards him, we know that she deeply loves him. Hale is called into Salem to find out what is going on. He seems a respectful man and gives everyone a chance to prove his or her innocence. He is sort of the plays saviour or hero.  We get to know Abigail Williams through her language and what other characters say. We see that she has power over the other girls and just how far she will go to protect herself, especially in Act 1: â€Å"†¦ I have seen some reddish work done at night and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!† Abigail leads the girls in accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Abigail saw the Indians murder her parents. This could have had an affect on the way Abigail is and how she acts. I think that she is able to threaten danger to the girls partly because of her childhood and what she has seen. In Act 3, Abigail shows her power by the way she speaks to Danforth in the courtroom. She even threatens him, saying that the Hell can take him: â€Å"Let you beware, Mr. Danforth †¦ Beware of it!† After realising what she has said, she immediately pretends she is in another trance and can see things. This is to allow her to get away with what she has said and so Danforth can’t reply to her. There is a great change from Act 1 to Act 3 with regards to hysteria. In Act 1, the girls accuse a few names and they tell just enough lies to protect themselves. Abigail and John Proctor take a gentle lighthearted approach to it in Act 1 and they laugh and joke about it. However, in Act 3 it becomes much more serious. They tell a massive amount of lies and act to make their story believable. Act 3 starts straight away with hysteria. The audience are aware of the gradual build-up because of the characters’ dialogue. As the play moves further along, the plot thickens as more names are thrown into it and even more unbelievable acting takes place with more and more lies being told. In Act 3, Mary Warren tries to go against the girls with the help of John Proctor in order to save Elizabeth and the other innocents. Mary Warren is already a weak and feeble character and when Danforth questions and speaks to her, he uses cruel vocabulary to fade her. It is obvious that he is on the girls’ side and doesn’t believe a word of what Mary Warren is saying. The girls then accuse Mary Warren of witchcraft. Then she sees that she cannot tell the real truth and overcome the girls’ lies so she decides to rejoin the girls. To protect herself she accuses John of making her go against the girls and tell ‘lies’ to them by threatening her. The stage directions in this act build up tension. They add to the drama and the way the girls convincingly act. The stage directions are just as important as the speech. They let us know what is going on and help us understand the characters more. The language also builds up tension. There is a lot of talk about God in the courtroom. Also, there is a lot of cutting each other off. Abigail always tends to cut off Danforth from speaking, so he can’t respond to her, this also shows her power. It is almost like Abigail is speaking and saying things just to stop anyone else from doing so.  Personally, I really like the play. I think it’s a great response from Arthur Miller. There is a mixture of characters and it’s interesting to see how they interact with one another. I like the play partly because it’s a true story and I was interested in finding out what happened.

Baseball, the American Dream essayEssay Writing Service

Baseball, the American Dream essayEssay Writing Service Baseball, the American Dream essay Baseball, the American Dream essayStarting from ancient times people liked sports, along with historical development of human population, various types of sports appeared and the existing were transformed. Nowadays there are numerous types of sports and it is really easy to choose the one, appropriate exactly for concrete individual, taking into consideration his type of character, age, physical form, state of health and so on. For millions of teenagers as well as adult people baseball remains the only beloved sport in their lives. Further we will study the general information about this type of play, some facts from its historical background, cultural and social meaning, it is considered to have for America.Baseball – this is a bat-and-ball game, which is played between two teams, each of them consisting of nine players. â€Å"The offense attempts to score runs by hitting a ball thrown by the pitcher with a bat and moving counter-clockwise around a series of four bases: firs t, second, third, and home plate. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases and returns to home plate† (Block 15). Nowadays baseball is considered to be the integral part of America’s national leisure time. This game is rather old, it appeared around the early 1800s in America. Interesting is the fact, that at that time there were no unified rules, they could have some differences, depending on the concrete locality. Another specific detail was the absence of the commonly accepted type of bats for plating, so people used the variants, which were comfortable for them, sticks of bats. The name of Alexander Joy Cartwright is historically associated with the appearance of the first baseball field in 1845. In the same year, he issued a unified list of rules for baseball, which were further used in all regions. During those years, the players used variety of bats – they were of different size and length, some were heavy, others were lighter and so on. Soo n most players came to the conclusion that bats should be with rounded barrels for easier use. â€Å"The bats could be no larger than 2.5 inches in diameter but they could be any length the players wanted. Ten years later in 1869, another rule was added stating the bats could be no longer than 42 inches in length† (Block 22). This length is still actual till nowadays. By the 1890s the concrete rules were issues, which regulated not only the play itself, but also the bats used. Nowadays, there are special uniforms, bats and other equipment for baseball available, as this type of sports really won the hearts of numerous people all over the world and of all ages.Most researches, taking into consideration the fact how wide spread is baseball and how much loved it is by its fans and players for many decades already, started to investigate the problem of cultural connection between baseball and American life. Often baseball game is closely related to the famous notion of American D ream. Some scientist talk about â€Å"the increasing corporatization, changing material conditions, and technological improvements that have created the same disparities of wealth in the sport as in the society† (Block 48). Others find the reflection of social implications of women in baseball in the culture of the country. According to Elias, one of the scientists, who studied the relations between the vision of American Dream and playing baseball, â€Å"hard work is no guarantee of financial reward, gender and racial equality remain fictions, and injustice, political repression, and limited economic choices are reality for many Americans. Baseball represents the American Dream and reflects both the successes and failures of the American way (Riess 13). Finally the researcher concludes, that baseball has all the chances to contribute seriously to the formation of the egalitarian society and make the notion of American Dream more real.Viewing baseball from the social and cul tural points of views helps partially to understand, why so many people adore this game, are fascinated by watching it and playing it. Baseball is considered to be a great combination of team- sports, at the same time integrating some features of non-teams sport activities. Thus it is often compared to tennis in this relation. Tennis players are taking part in duels, standing one opposite of the other, baseball could be considered a duel only for some period of the game, still being not less intense and attention attracting than that of tennis.Some people tend to criticize baseball for the lack of action, but in fact this is a huge mistake. They think that the action itself is when the ball is put into the play by the batter, others think, that action in baseball starts only as soon as one of the players gets a hit. Such conclusions could be made only by those, who are not really interested and involved into the game itself and are not able to realize that the real action in this ga me is the pitch. As soon as you view and follow each pitch, you will not be able to complain that there is not action in this game or the actions are too slow. In this relations baseball is even quicker than a football. The problem of those, who don’t like the game is that they simply don’t know it sufficiently enough to be able to get pleasure from at least watching it, moreover even playing it. Not all views of baseball are able to single out the differences between a curve ball and a fastball for example. And in reality each pitch – this is a strategy, and baseball is really a metal game along with physical abilities.There are a lot of professional and amazing baseball players nowadays, but my favorite is still Bryce Harper, professional baseball outfielder for Washington Nationals. He earned the Golden Spikes Award in 2010 and later on became the youngest player ever selected to All –Star-Game. Baseball analytics considered him to be the number two co rner outfielder in the MLB.Overall, baseball is a great game a great sport activity, it has a long history, to could be without any doubts called one of the most â€Å"American† sports, as it is closely related to the history of our country, to its social development; baseball seems to have wide future perspectives and is absolutely not likely to lose its popularity and be forgotten. The beauty of baseball can not be understood by all usual watchers, there is a need to sink deeper into the rules, into the strategy of the game, into the game itself. The long baseball season is able to bring a lot of tension, a lot of fun, a lot of new discoveries, related to this game.