A Report On Olympic Games

A Report On Olympic Games Every four years, millions of people turn their attention to one city where Olympic Games take place. Almost all major cities compete for the right to be the host city of the next Olympic Games. It is highly competitive competition as Olympics bring attention and spectators which provide huge revenue to the host city. However, for the host city Olympic Games begin much earlier as it takes years to prepare and organize such project. It is clear that no city in the world can host Olympics next day after being chosen. Further, this essay will observe election procedure of the host city and state main requirements of the IOC for the host city. In 1999 the new host city election procedure was confirmed by the IOC (International Olympic Committee). According to this procedure, the cities are checked for the appropriateness of the basic technical requirements. Then the cities which are passed through IOC Executive Board become candidate cities and permitted to pass to bidding process. During this process IOC Evaluation Commission visits and inspects all candidate cities. Eventually at the IOC session the host city will be chosen (John E. Findling: 265). The host city election procedure is complicated due to heavy responsibility which lies down on shoulders of both host city and the IOC. To prevent any kind of mistakes during Olympic Games the IOC has several technical requirements such as: Transport concept. Environmental conditions. Accommodation. Experience from the past sport events. Sport venues. Finance. (Factsheet. Host city election facts and figures. (www.olympic.org). Leicesters transport concept includes transport systems within the city, East Midlands Airport and the Railway station. Special departments regulate the Leicesters traffic situation. Different IT systems and CCTV cameras provide a real time picture of the traffic situation within the Leicester. Digital Car Park Signs give all the information about available car park spaces throughout the city centre. In addition, there is a â€Å"Star Trak† information system which provides â€Å"next bus† information via signs at bus stops (Leicester City Council. Transport and streets). All these technologies support efficient traffic flow and ensure safety for both pedestrians and drivers. Visitors will find these facilities useful for them. However, the main problem is that how spectators from every corner of the world will come to the Leicester. The city is served by single railway station and East Midlands Airport which in addition works for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Moreove r, East Midlands serves domestic and European destinations with only few flights to holiday resorts (UK Airport Guide. East Midlands Airport). This means that more railway stations and international airport are needed to meet all the quests. In contrast, Beijing spent more than $4bn to build a new airport terminal and extra subway lines (Bristow M. BBC news). Apart from this, nearly  £80m will be spent to improve Docklands Light Railway (DLR) network in London. In addition, London will invest more than  £900 million to East London Line which will link the Olympic Park with the city. Line will connect with the DLR, Jubilee and District line and the North London Line (London 2012.Transport). In fact, even more developed cities than Leicester are forced to improve their transport systems due to Olympic Games. The second criterion of the IOC is the environmental condition of the future Olympic city. This requirement can be fully satisfied by Leicester as it became Britains first â€Å"Environment city† in 1990 and was among twelve cities which took part in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (Leicester City Council. Environment and planning). Since then Leicester keeps high standards of environmental conditions. For example, Leicester City Council uses the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which helps to conserve environmental standards. As well as the EMAS, Leicester City Councils Environmental Policy plays vital role in maintaining and improving high environmental conditions in the city. The targets of this policy are reduction of carbon footprint, prevention of pollution, protection of trees and natural environment and promotion of using renewable energy. Throughout this policy Leicester City Council encourages the public to protect environment where possible (Leices ter City Council. Environment and planning). Furthermore, Leicester city achieved significant results in recycling of wastes. In partnership with Biffa Leicester the city of Leicester created the â€Å"Ball Mill† recycling facility which can recycle more than 70% of household waste from landfill. By this facility Leicester can recycle and compost nearly 33% of all wastes in the city (Leicester City Council. Environment and planning). Taking in consideration all these facts Leicester can be proud of their environmental condition, whereas Beijing invested nearly $20.5bn over the past 10 years to improve environmental situation during the preparations for Olympic Games (Bristow M. BBC News). Further, this essay will observe housing facilities where visitors can reside during Olympics. It goes without saying that the host city meets thousands of tourists coming for Olympic Games. In 2008, Beijing registered almost 382,000 overseas visitors. Organizers expected to meet 500,000 visitors, but visa controls decreased that number (www.2008gamesbeijing.com). Therefore Leicester should have enough rooms to reside between 300,000 400.000 tourists. According to Leicester City Council there are nearly 26 hotels with more than 2000 rooms in Leicester. In addition, partnership with University of Leicester can provide additional 3096 rooms (Leicester City Council. Environment and planning. 2012 Preparation camps). As a result, there are more than 5200 rooms in total available for upcoming visitors. Of course it is not enough to reside more than 300,000 tourists, therefore more accommodation facilities should be build. For example, London offers 100,000 hotel rooms and nearly 30,000 beds in student accommodations to welcome all the visitors during Games (London 2012. accommodat ion). Experience of organising sport events is important as well as other technical requirements. Leicester has hosted Special Olympics GB Summer Games two times (Leicester City Council. Sports and fitness). 2700 athletes from 19 UK regions took part in 21 sports during Special Olympics 2009 (Special Olympics 2009). Actually, this is invaluable experience, but organisation of Olympic Games requires the hosting of 26 sports with more than 300,000 participants including athletes and spectators (London 2012. Games). In previous paragraphs this essay mentioned different features of the Leicester except sport venues which are directly connected with Olympic Games. There are might be hundreds of hotels, railway stations and airports in the host city, but without appropriate sport facilities the city will not host Olympics. Leicester has different sport venues, including Saffron Lane Athletics Stadium, Braunstone Leisure Centre and sport facilities of Leicester Grammar School. These venues contain modern facilities for badminton, tae-kwon-do, swimming, basketball and etc. However all of them have been already offered as pre-gaming training camps for athletes coming to London 2012 Olympic Games (Leicester City Council. 2012 Preparation camps). In comparison, Beijing has built 12 new stadiums which required $1.9bn (Bristow M. BBC News). As well as Beijing, London is building completely new Olympic Park which will contain nine sport venues including Olympic Stadium, the Aquatic Centre, the VeloPark and etc (London 2012. Venues). After all, it is clear that present sport facilities of the Leicester should be improved by financial support. Financial part of the Olympic project plays significant role in organising Olympic Games. The major cities like Beijing and Athens have spent $40bn and $16bn respectively to host Olympics. Apart from this, London has already invested $22.6bn for 2012 Olympic Games (Bristow M. BBC News). In contrast, according to Leicester City Council budget of Leicester in 2008/09 was  £779,788,900. In other words, Leicester should find more funding to host Olympic Games. Finally, I think that Leicester does not have clear disadvantages in contrast with other cities. However it will take more time and investments to host Olympics in Leicester than in Beijing or London. References: Findling J. E. Pelle D. K. (2004:265). Encyclopedia of modern Olympic movement. Westport: Greenwood Press. Extracted 01/02/2010 from, http://books.google.com/books?id=QmXi_-Jujj0Cprintsec=frontcoverdq=encyclopedia+of+modern+Olympic+movementhl=rucd=1#v=onepageq=f=false Bristow M. BBC News, Beijing. 31/07/2008. Extracted 29/01/2010 from, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7523235.stm Extracted 29/01/2010 www.multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_repert_1191.pdf Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/transport-traffic/transport-systems/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/transport-traffic/transport-systems/digital-car-park-signs/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://airport-maps.co.uk/uk-airport-directory/east-midlands-airport/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.london2012.com/making-it-happen/transport/index.php Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/ep/the-environment/environment-city/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/ep/the-environment/environmental-policy/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/ep/the-environment/recycling/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://2008gamesbeijing.com/beijing-has-652-million-visitors-for-the-olympics/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/ep/planning/plansandpolicy/hotels-information/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/lc/sports-services/news-update-2007/2012camps/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.london2012.com/visiting/accommodation/index.php Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/lc/sports-services/news-update-2007/special-olympics-2009/ Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.sol2009.com/home/sports.html Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.london2012.com/games/olympic-sports/index.php Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.london2012.com/games/venues/index.php Extracted 29/01/2010 http://www.leicester.gov.uk/accounts/accounts0809.pdf Extracted 29/01/2010

My Career, My Career Interest, and the Value of a College Education Ess

My Career, My Career Interest, and the Value of a College Education Abstract My career path has been chosen for me through heredity, as my length of time on Earth has been pre-determined by the Great Creator. How I choose to use this time will be referred to as my success statement of life. How I am remembered will depend on what I accomplish. In short, life is given, but not guaranteed. We all have the choices before us, which determine if life is easy or difficult. Many times, I had the option of all or nothing, and for some reason chose all every time. In this paper, I will explore my present career as a manufacturing engineer, a career interest as a plant manager, and the value of a college education to organizations, customers, and myself. A small bit of historical information is in order to set the tone for this presentation. I was raised, as most young boys are, learning to read, write, and the other necessary evils of elementary education. My father was finally discharged from the U.S. Army Air Corp. and World War II, where he had been a Lt. Col., and taught the use of the Norden Bombsight to bombardiers and crews of the time. My early years were basically fun years, as I learned how to fish, shoot, hunt, about dogs, cats, and toys†¦many, many, toys. My mother believed in spoiling me, since I was the only child, and for eight years, I was the only object of me parents’ attention. In 1958, however, that situation changed forever, with the birth of my little brother, and three years later, my little sister arrived. These two events, little did I realize, would have a profound effect on my life. They would alter the way I felt about life, contribute to changes in my personality, and most of all, formed the basis for my later life in general, including my chosen profession.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My father, prior to WWII, worked for Victor adding Machine Company, who designed the Norden Bombsight. After the war, he and another man started an oil well drilling company. He did all the engineering required except for the Geology, and co-owned the company until the late 1950’s. My father was not a degreed petroleum engineer, but was in fact qualified. He had studied under his father, who also had owned an oil company in Southern Illinois for most of his life. My â€Å"inherited engineering† skills were already a part of my genetic make-up from birth. The only thing that ch... ...e are not capable of managing quality service." ( ©www.businessballs.com website). I intend to focus my knowledge and skills gained from the UOP courses I have taken on building solid relationships with existing and potential customers, in order to assure them that I am capable of handling their business in a most professional manner. References Bishop, Joyce, Carter, Carol, & Kravits, Sarah Lyman, â€Å"Keys to College Studying: Becoming a Lifelong Learner.,† Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2002. Garvin, David A., "Quality on the Line," Harvard Business Review, September October 1983, pp. 64-75. Ishikawa, Kaoru, "How to Apply Company wide Quality Control in Foreign Countries," Quality Progress, September 1989, pp. 70-74. Juran, J.M., "Japanese and Western Quality A Contrast," Quality, January 1979, pages 8 12; and February 1979, pp. 12-15. Juran, J. M., "The QC Circle Phenomenon," Industrial Quality Control, January 1967, pp. 329-36. Kanigel, Robert. The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency. New York: Viking Press. 1997. Customer Relationship Management2001-4 Retrieved May 28, 2005 from: http://www.businessballs.com/crmcustomerrelationshipmanagement.htm

General Nutrition Companies Inc

General Nutrition Companies Inc. , was founded 65 years ago in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the premise that Americans wanted to maintain control over their health. David Shakirian founded the company. In 1935 he launched a dream of his by establishing a little health food store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He called it Lackzoom. The products that were offered at his store included yogurt and healthy foods such as honey, grains and healthy sandwiches. The concept of being a health store and serving health food was thought to be a fad that would soon pass over back then. To the surprise of many of Shakarian's critics, many people embraced Lackzoom. David and his store came a long way from its first day†s receipts of 35 dollars to open a second store six months later. Since those first two stores, Lackzoom, which is now GNC, has grown to be the largest manufacturer of vitamins and mineral supplements in the United States (1998 Annual Report). General Nutrition Companies, Inc. , collectively with its subsidiaries, is the only nationwide specialty retailer of vitamin and mineral supplements, sports nutrition products and herbs, and is also a leading provider of personal care, and other health-related products. The products were sold through 3,757 General Nutrition Centers, 2,531 of which were owned and operated by the company and the other 1,226 stores were franchised. Much of the growth of GNC has occurred in the last 7 years. Since 1992, the Company has opened or acquired in the United States 2,593 new GNC stores (SEC 10k form). The company†s initial growth was through company-owned stores located primarily in regional malls. Many of the stores that were created in the past 7 years have been franchises. This franchise initiative has enabled GNC to expand into secondary locations as well as International markets. It appears that there is no end to the growth of GNC. At a Franchising meeting on February 6,1999 GNC awarded and agreed to open an additional 323 domestic and 428 international franchise locations. All of these stores report to GNC headquarters, which is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is also home to one of General Nutrition†s three distribution centers. The other two distribution centers are located in Atlanta and Phoenix. The products that are distributed through these channels are manufactured in Greenville, South Carolina. This facility is one of the largest and most modern vitamin and supplement manufacturing facilities in the United States. Within the coming months a new 600,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant and distribution center in Anderson, SC will open which will double the capacity of the company (www. gnc. com/about/history). As you can see net revenue increased to 1. 4 billion dollars, an increase of 18. 8 % over 1997. This increase was driven by the success of the Company†s store expansion program and increased demand for the Company†s products, as reflected by increased sales, across all business segments. During 1998, the Company developed a web site, GNC. com, to sell products via the Internet. Although still in the early stages of operation, the Company expects sales to increase based on the growth of the Internet. The history of GNC shows their excellence in planning and execution of these plans. Going into the next millennium, the Company must actively scan their environment for opportunities and threats. The General Nutrition Company is exposed to many external threats. Over the past five years there has been a trend in consumer behavior towards healthy living. This trend has caused the health product and supplement market to drastically increase. Some of the most prominent external threats that GNC faces are new competitors, competing products and services, new technologies, government regulations, increasing customer expectations, general economic conditions, and the different cultural ways of the host countries. Some of GNC†s new competitors include Internet and mail order companies such as discountnutrition. com and the Vitamin Shoppe have entered the vitamin and supplement market recently. They have taken some of the Company†s residual sales by offering different mediums of purchase. The Internet and mail order companies tend to offer discounted prices because they buy their products in bulk. A new competitor that has appeared in small regions across the United States has been Vitamin World. These shops tend to carry a similar product line with the exception of General Nutrition†s exclusive products. In addition to Vitamin World many other small chains have been started. Two of these chains are Great Earth and Vitamin Specialty of New York. These stores propose more of a threat to GNC†s corporate stores rather than the franchises because of the personalized service. The franchise stores also have more leniency in determining the final price and any discounts or specials. With the addition of these new competitors and the threat that they pose the Company has maintained if not increased its market share in many markets. GNC manufactures and sells several lines of supplements, vitamins and minerals, as well as a variety of health foods. These product lines carry many names. Some of these names include Preventative Nutrition, GNC, and Pro Performance. All of these lines are sold exclusively at GNC stores and at their online manufacturer. In addition to their own product lines, GNC stores carry a variety of products from third-party vendors. These third-party vendors include big names such as EAS (Experimental and Applied Sciences), Twinlab, Met-Rx, and Metaform. All of these vendors are in the top 5% of sales for their flagship product. The Company must realize this and make their own products more attractive to the consumer. Competing products from the third-party vendors are also sold at other stores, so this forces the Company to not only compete within their own store but to also compete in the marketplace. Today, many companies are facing the threat of the internet. Many companies are not used to this advanced technological system and do not have the resources to compete. Not only is the Internet used for advertising purposes but it is also being used as an online ordering system. With the shift towards an online ordering system many things have to be taken into consideration and changed accordingly. The entire supply chain must be examined to identify any and all potential problems and differences that must be made as a result of this shift. In this case, the manufacture, supply, distribution, and information flow are critical and will inevitably be modified from the traditional way of supply the product to the retail centers. Government regulations pose an enormous threat to the company. Potential government regulations will mandate FDA regulations and the testing of all products. This will dramatically increase the cost of production, which will ultimately be passed on to the end consumer. Some sport and diet supplements sold by the company today could be ruled illegal in the coming months if this occurs. This could potentially reduce the number of products available as well as the customer base. With the nation†s shift towards healthier living, many consumers have begun to experience unrealistic expectations of the products offered by the company. This can be witnessed by the fact that 45% of all adult American†s take some form of supplement. An attitude that many American†s exert today is that they want the â€Å"pill† or supplement to take the place of the work that they themselves would otherwise have to do. Customers are also looking for a company that offers exceptional customer service and sales associate knowledge. With today†s flourishing economy, the average American†s income is at an all time high. If anything would happen to cause a negative occurrence in the economy the average American†s disposable income would, as a result, probably decrease. This decrease in their disposable income would take away from their ability and/or desire to spend their money on products offered by GNC. The Different Cultural Ways of Host Countries The way that GNC handles their international business is through franchising. The franchising done internationally is done differently than is domestically. During the international franchising process, the entire General Nutrition rights are sold to the franchisee for the entire country, not just an individual store as done domestically. The government regulations and culture differences or preferences are left to the discretion of the potential or existing franchisee. The threat is posed as a result of the lack of assistance and guidelines that would normally come from the corporation headquarters. As far as dealing with the individual host country†s government regulations and culture, it may discourage business in that country all together. The availability of raw materials poses basically no threat to the company at this point because of their vast resources and long term contracts with their suppliers. But, in the future with the addition of many new entrants into the market a shortage of some raw materials and components may occur. General Nutrition was the pioneer of the nutrition industry and will continue to be for years to come. On of the major contributing factors to their success has been their ability to maximize their external opportunities. Around the late 1980's the average Americans active lifestyle had reached an all time low. With the 1990's came the current trend of healthier living. It was at this time that consumers turned to GNC to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. GNC capitalized on this opportunity in several different ways. They began to change the typical consumer†s idea and preferences about the General Nutrition stores and products. They began advertising to all people and having specially trained employees with knowledge of all products that were carried. This helped to make the store a more inviting place to everyone from a young high school athlete to a middle-aged mother of two. This also lead to new product market niches. Some of the more successful are the pro-performance line which is geared towards athletes, also the live well concept which promotes an overall healthy lifestyle which would be more suited for the average adult. With the change in customer preferences, GNC has the opportunity to increase market share by creating customer loyalty and trust through groundbreaking products. General Nutrition has done a tremendous job on utilizing these opportunities and in order to remain atop the competition they must continue to fine tune the and analyze the business strategy. Definitely one of General Nutrition†s greater external opportunities is their franchising and long-term alliance with Rite Aid. This opportunity is so tremendous that along with 697 stores opened in 1998 they also signed an alliance with Rite Aid. The alliance with Rite Aid allows GNC to enter a new channel for marketing its supplements. With a the average American only five miles away from a GNC, there still is such a demand for the stores that they plan to open an additional 250 stores in the next year alone. This combined with a total commitment to providing customer support has helped make GNC one of the most successful franchises for the past decade. To continue to capitalize on these external opportunities the company can look to actively pursue their franchising capabilities while avoiding cannibalization of existing stores to allow them to remain the pinnacle of the health food industry. The main reason that GNC has been and will remain the world leader in the nutrition industry is due to their ability to use technology to receive great benefits. Their greatest areas of technology that set them apart from the rest are their manufacturing and distribution. This past year the company took a tremendous leap into the 21 century with the completion of a 630,000 square foot state of the art manufacturing facility in South Carolina. Along with the new manufacturing facility, the Company was involved in a recent merger with the Dutch pharmaceutical company Royal Numico. This merger makes the Company the world†s largest manufacturer of vitamins and supplements. This merger presents the company with a great opportunity to take advantage of the world class research facilities available to them. The Company should streamline their supply chain to fully take advantage of the new manufacturing and distribution facilities. This will increase the Company†s overall efficiency. The Company should look for a strategic alliance with an established online drugstore to broaden the Company†s market share. This would also allow the Company to gain entry into the world of e-commerce. Internal strengths of the company include quality products emphasizing vitamins and minerals along with sports nutrition. This product mix focuses on high margin value added products, which are sold under the GNC proprietary brand. Along with vitamins, herbal, and sports supplements the Company also offers customers the opportunity the Gold Card program. This program enables stores to add to their product line. The basis for this program charges a $15 annual fee that entitles each member to a 20% discount on all products one time each month. Sales of proprietary brands represented over 50% of total sales in 1998. Company reputation is another strength for the company. The Company is the only nationwide specialty retailer of vitamin, mineral supplement, sports nutrition products, and herbs. Along with these products the Company is also the leading provider of personal healthcare products. The company†s reputation was built on two basic principles. The first of these is strong customer service. The Company has a strong competitive advantage over competitors because of well-trained and informed employees who have knowledge of the entire product line. The Company†s employees are knowledgeable and efficient because of the strong employee-training program. The second principal that has built their reputation is a superior product line. The proprietary brands along with other strong brand names enable them to have a product line better than the competitor. Production capabilities at the Company have enabled them to become the world leader in the their industry. The Company will be able to maintain their position as a leader because of their capacity to not only meet company inventory requirements, but also enough to sell to third parties in the wholesale market. The Company is able to maintain strong production capabilities because of their emphasis on quality control. Each product is tested from the beginning to the end until the final product meets their standard. The Company has experienced a strong sense of executive leadership. The current president has 25 years of experience within the company and the CEO has 18 years. The executive vice president has 19 years of experience and the head of logistics has 22 years under his belt. Along with this experience it is evident to see that there is an extremely low employee turnover ratio within management. Turnover within this company as with any retail organization occurs with retail store management and part time sales positions. To keep this factor at a low level the Company started the franchise program. The Company wanted to bring strategic partners into their system that would personally invest in the Company†s program. Along with strong management leadership the Company maintains a strong employee base through orientation and hiring kits that enable the new employee to adjust quickly and become an efficient employee. The company gives their employees the opportunity for tuition reimbursement, profit sharing, good medical and health benefits, and 401k and stock options. All of these factors allow a GNC employee to be part of a team. The Company uses patents to its advantage. By having patents on their proprietary formulas, vitamins, sports nutrition, and herbal supplements, the Company creates barriers between themselves and competitors. Along with their patents the Company conducts research with other companies. One such company is Proctor and Gamble. Recently the Company has held the patent with Proctor and Gamble on calcium (calcium citrate malate). This product was found to be more absorbent than any other type of calcium. The Company achieves economies of scale throughout the entire organization and network of 5,000 retail stores by a close arrangement of entities. These include arrangements with product suppliers, raw materials, packaging material, store supplies, retail advertising, third party advertising, insurance coverage, and credit card processing. The close surveillance and agreement of these entities allows the company to achieve greater economies of scale. The mission of the Company is to maintain quality over quantity in its products. The company typically introduces 25 to 30 new products each year and reformulates existing products on an annual basis. An annual reset is done for the stores to introduce new vendor third party products, and new company products through expansion and deletion of retail shelf space. General Nutrition Companies Incorporated is the leader in health products but the company is not adverse to risk. These risks that we can find within the company are considered to be the weaknesses of the company. The first risk is that Royal Numico has acquired GNC, now being a part of a larger company they must now try to fit into the larger system and integrate themselves. With the integration of the Company into Royal Numico there will be a significant amount of cash spent, some potentially dilutive issuance†s of equity securities, incurrence of debt or amortization expenses, related to goodwill and other intangible assets. Any of these can adversely affect the company; it†s operating results and financial conditions. In addition to the financial and operating factors we could find difficulties in the assimilation of the technologies, products and personnel of the integrated company. Another weakness that the company has is their leverage problem. This means that the company has raised much of its capital through debt financing, including loans. Based on the current level of operations and anticipated level of growth, the company†s available cash flow, together with other sources of liquidity, will be adequate to meet to future needs of capital. Although it looks to be enough, there can be no assurance that the company will generate enough cash flow.

The Indwelling essays

The Indwelling essays Thesis: The major conflict in the novel The Indwelling by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins is God vs. Satan. The Indwelling is the seventh book in the Left Behind series written by the fiction writer Jerry B. Jenkins and biblical end-times scholar Tim LaHaye. The Left Behind series is about a post-Rapture end-times battle between the believers, the "Tribulation Saints," and the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. The conflict is God versus Satan. The major theme of the story is that good always wins in the end. The first example of conflict in The Indwelling is in Tsion Ben-Judah's dreams of the war in heaven and the falling away of Lucifer 242-248. Lucifer is pleading with God to let him have complete control of mankind so he could form an army like none other: "'Abandon them to me, who can fashion them for profit. Even after being called by your name, their natures reek with temporal desires. Allow me to surround myself with these enemies of your cause, and I will marshal them into a force unlike any army you have ever assembled.' From the throne came a voice of such power and authority that volume was irrelevant: 'Thou shalt not touch my beloved!'" 245. Lucifer evolves his pleas into threats, threatening to ascend to a throne above that of God's. This is the moment in which Archangel Michael chooses to step in. In this fashion, the war in heaven is waged and Satan with a third of the heavenly host is cast down to the earth. The second example of the God vs. Satan theme is in the killing by incineration of the three regional potentates that oppose Carpathia by Fortunato 350. The reason Fortunato kills the three potentates is that they refuse to bow down and worship the idol of Nicolae Carpathia. The three potentates are believers, which is why they will not bow. The third example of the major conflict is the resurrection and indwelling of Nicolae Carpathia by Satan himself 366. Everything that Satan does...

Public Register essays

Public Register essays Sarah Payne, an eight-year old girl who was murdered in September 2000 by an (ex) sex offender. Because of that, the British paper News of the world published a list of convicted sex-offenders. Name, photo and place of residence were published. This naming and shaming campaign had far-reaching results. Two (ex)-sex-offenders committed suicide, and five innocent families had to move. The Belgium government prevented a list of convicted sex-offenders at the last moment. The media had paid a lot of attention on sexual offence lately. Because some people want action. They want the data of (ex) paedophiles, concerning identity and place of residence released in a public register. So, that everyone who wants to know where a (ex)-sex-offender lives can consult the register. But the main question is should the identity and place of residence of (ex) sex offender be published in a public register? There are several reasons for a public register. One of them is that the search and prosecution would be easier. It appears that 25 % - 90 % of the (ex) sex offenders fall back in their old behaviour. When the perpetrator is planning to commit a crime again, than he knows, that he would caught faster and easier because of the public register. Even though search and prosecution would be easier, its not right to publish the identity and place of residence of (ex) sex offenders in a public register, because of the rule of law. The constitutional state has a couple of principles. One of them is that the judge rules and not the people. When everyone knows where a (ex) sex offender lives, this principle will be stricken. The people want to be own judge and take the law into their own hands. In my opinion thats wrong. And articles 15 of our constitutional law say that (ex) prisoners have the same right as every citizen. So (ex) sex offender ...

How to Write a Great Blog Post

How to Write a Great Blog Post How to Write a Great Blog Post How to Write a Great Blog Post By Ali Hale Blog posts might look straightforward, but if you’ve ever tried to write one, you may have found it was harder than you expected. Whether you want to start a blog as a hobby, as a step towards freelancing, or as a tool to promote your book your blog posts need to be well-structured and well-written. Of course, blogging offers a lot of freedom. You don’t have to write to a specific length, in the way that you would if you were writing a newspaper column or a magazine article. You can write short, newsy pieces, long, in-depth pieces, or anything in between. You’ve also got the freedom to pick your own topics – and to develop your own writing style. Perhaps you want to write nostalgic, gently humorous blog posts drawn from your own life or maybe you’d prefer to create detailed, reassuring tutorials for new WordPress users. Whatever you’re writing about, though, and whatever your reason for blogging, your blog posts need to work. They need to have a recognisable structure and they need to stick, more or less, to the point. Here’s how to write a great blog post: Step #1: Plan Your Post Before You Write Your blog post should have an introduction, main body and conclusion (or, if you prefer, a beginning, middle and end). Here’s how those work: The introduction should set the scene for your post and hook the reader. You might do this by asking a question, making a bold statement, or giving a quick anecdote from your own life. The main body is the real content of your post. It’s where you develop a particular line of discussion, share a story, or give your suggestions or tips on a particular topic. The conclusion wraps up your post. It’s easy to miss off – but it’s really important. It should sum up briefly and, ideally, offer the reader something to do next. Step #2: Draft Your Full Post While different bloggers work in different ways, I find that it’s usually best to draft a whole blog post from start to end (rather than writing a few paragraphs here and there to stitch together eventually). You could: Imagine that you’re emailing a friendly acquaintance as you write. I find that thinking about one reader helps me to get the draft of my post down as smoothly as possible. Jot down some brief notes for your introduction, then launch in with the first key point  that you want to make. It’s often easier to flesh out the introduction once you’ve written the actual post. Avoid editing as you write. If you need to fix a quick typo or restart an occasional sentence, that’s okay – but don’t start deleting whole paragraphs at this stage. When you’re mid-way through a draft, it’s hard to see what needs to go and what should stay. Step #3: Redraft Your Post Once you’ve got a rough draft of your post, it’s time to shape it for your blog. Since you’re writing for an online audience, it’s important to: Keep your paragraphs short. It’s harder to read on a screen than in print, so if you’re used to writing for books or magazines, you may need to cut your paragraphs in half. Keep (most of) your sentences short and straightforward. The occasional more complex sentence is fine – especially if you’re writing for an academic or well-educated audience – but mix things up with some short, simple sentences too. Use a conversational writing style. That means using â€Å"I† and â€Å"you†. These aren’t appropriate in academic writing, so you might have been taught not to use them at school but when you’re blogging, it’s fine to write as though you’re talking directly to the reader. (Just like I’m doing right now!) Step #4: Format Your Post Once you’re happy with the post as written, it’s time to move on to the formatting – how your post looks. You might want to: Include subheadings and/or bold text. These help to â€Å"signpost† important parts of your post for the reader – for instance, in this post, the different steps each have their own subheading so you can easily figure out where you are within the post. Add images where appropriate. Many bloggers like to start off their posts with an eye-catching image to draw the reader in. Images also help to create â€Å"white space† (the blank bits of the page around the words and images), which makes your post look more attractive and inviting. Add links to other posts (on your blog or elsewhere). One great advantage of writing online versus writing in print is that you can link to other resources. That might mean linking to an explanation about something you mention in passing, for instance, to help your readers who are new to your subject area. Step #5: Edit Your Post While you could tackle the editing before the formatting, I find it’s helpful to do a quick edit, at least, after putting subheadings, images and links into place. When you edit: Look out for typos and misspellings. Your default spellchecker won’t necessarily catch all of these. Some bloggers find that it’s helpful to view their post in a larger size, or to preview it live on their blog, to help mistakes stand out. Check that your links are working. It’s frustrating for readers (and embarrassing for you) if a post goes live with broken links in it. Look for areas where your post could be more polished. In this post, for instance, I went back while editing to make sure that each of the â€Å"steps† had three bullet points, so that they all matched. Of course, writing blog posts is more of an art than a science – and I definitely don’t want you to think that there’s only one â€Å"right† way to do it.  These tips, though, should help you to produce polished blog posts that are enjoyable to write and that are easy for your readers to engage with. (And if youre looking for some more suggestions, check out Sarahs post 10 Tips on How to Write the Perfect Blog Post.) I hope you enjoy blogging as much as I do and if you have a great tip to share about writing blog posts, leave it in the comments for us! Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 "Home" Idioms and ExpressionsConnotations of 35 Words for Funny PeoplePeople vs. Persons

British Airways Performance Analysis Assignment - 1

British Airways Performance Analysis - Assignment Example The above ratios reveal the comparative performance of BA for the two years under consideration. Profitability- wise operating profit ratio has registered a commendable performance in 2008 as compared to 2007. In fact ‘the operating profit margin measures the percentage of each sales dollar remaining after all cost other than interest, taxes, and preferred stock dividend are deducted. It represents pure profits earned on each dollar.†(Lawrence J Gitman, page 67) The performance of BA has been excellent raising its operating profit ratio from 7.09% in 2007 to 10% in 2008 despite the fact that the rise in revenue is merely 3%. In the year 2007 total revenue was  £ 8492m and that has risen only to  £ 8753m. The extremely good profitability performance is again corroborated by the fact that return on equity has gone up from a mere 8.39% to 21.74%. Such a large increase in return on equity is remarkable when the total equity has risen from  £ 2411m in 2007 to  £ 3233m. Overall BA has performed extremely well on profitability front. Liquidity has been a problem for BA in both years. Liquidity reflects the short term solvency situation of a company. Liquidity position provides an idea about whether the company is in a position to meet its short term obligations when those become due. Liquidity of a company is aptly reflected by its current ratio. The current ratio of 2:1 is considered optimum for any industry, but this standard again differs from industry to industry. BA has a current ratio of 0.95: 1 in 2007 and 0.97:1 in 2008. By any standard, the current ratio is much lower than the required standard. BA is facing a liquidity crunch and if it continues like this BA might face difficulties in meeting its short term obligations. Current ratio change in 2008 when compared to 2007 is not even noticeable. The contributing major factors to the deteriorating the liquid position of BA are current interest-bearing deposits that have depleted from  £ 1642m in 2007 to  £ 1181m in 2008. Liquidity is certainly a cause of concern for BA.