Friday, October 25, 2019

Reverend Grandpa in Cold Sassy Tree :: Cold Sassy Tree

Reverend Grandpa in Cold Sassy Tree  Ã‚      Cold Sassy Tree  Ã‚   In life, people look for direction.   Everyone in the world needs a helping hand.   Some people turn to one another while others turn to forces, which are of great power.   People turn to great forces such as God.   There are many people who live according to the rules of God, out of the bible or whatever book they consider holy.   So therefore, these people are directed in leading a better life.   In the brilliant novel Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns, Grandpa is such a person.   Whenever Grandpa faces an obstacle, he turns to God.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Grandpa turns to God whenever he needs true help.   Grandpa is a type of person who is mild, witty, and very religious.   Grandpa uses religion to solve many of his problems.   At the beginning of the story, Miss Love was the target of gossip.   The whole entire town viewed her as an outsider and couldn’t understand why she married Grandpa, especially after his wife recently died.   After Grandpa elopes, he comes back to the house and finds a group of people mourning the sad death.   He introduces his new bride and then out of no where, Grandpa says, â€Å"Lord above, afore this gatherin’ assembled, I ask You to bless the memory of Miss Mattie Lou† (Page 99).   Everyone stood in silence as Grandpa continued the prayer.   Then all of the sudden, people also began to pray along with Grandpa.   This is amazing.   Grandpa used the power of God to divert the feelings of the crowd.   It is very sly of G randpa to do that.   Later on, Will is talking to Grandpa about his frightening encounter with the train.   Will asks Grandpa if â€Å"[he is] alive [because] of God’s will† (Page 97).   Obviously, Grandpa responds with wise words.   He tells Will that â€Å"God gave [him] a brain† (Page 97).   This shows that Grandpa believes God doesn’t do everything.   He believes God only does major things.   He isn’t there twenty four hours a day but God gives one certain abilities which help at all times.   Furthermore, Grandpa starts to give Will a sermon.   Grandpa tells him that â€Å"[One] don’t git thangs jest by astin’† (Page 98).   This shows that Grandpa is an well-educated man who understands the importance of God.   He doesn’t even waste his time asking for petty little things because he knows that God would not listen.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 21-23

21 AUGUSTUS BRINE â€Å"I found them. The car is parked in front of Jenny Masterson's house.† Augustus Brine stormed into the house carrying a grocery bag in each arm. Gian Hen Gian was in the kitchen pouring salt from a round, blue box into a pitcher of Koolaid. Brine set the bags down on the hearth. â€Å"Help me bring some of this stuff in. There's more bags in the truck.† The genie walked to the fireplace and looked in the bags. One was filled with dry-cell batteries and spools of wire. The other was full of brown cardboard cylinders about four inches long and an inch in diameter. Gian Hen Gian took one of the cylinders out of the bag and held it up. A green, waterproof fuse extended from one end. â€Å"What are these?† â€Å"Seal bombs,† Brine said. â€Å"The Department of Fish and Game distributes them to fishermen to scare seals away from their lines and nets. I had a bunch at the store.† â€Å"Explosives are useless against the demon.† â€Å"There are five more bags in the truck. Would you bring them in, please?† Brine began to lay the seal bombs out in a line on the hearth. â€Å"I don't know how much time we have.† â€Å"What am I, some scrounging servant? Am I a beast of burden? Should I, Gian Hen Gian, king of the Djinn, be reduced to bearing loads for an ignorant mortal who would attack a demon from hell with firecrackers?† â€Å"O King,† Brine said, exasperated, â€Å"please bring in the goddamn bags so I can finish this before dawn.† â€Å"It is useless.† â€Å"I'm not going to try to blow him up. I just want to know where he is. Unless you can use your great power to restrain him, O King of the Djinn.† â€Å"You know I cannot.† â€Å"The bags!† â€Å"You are a stupid, mean-spirited man, Augustus Brine. I've seen more intelligence in the crotch lice of harem whores.† The genie walked out the door and his diatribe faded into the night. Brine was methodically wrapping the fuses of the seal bombs with thin monofilament silver wire designed to heat up when a current was applied. It was an inexact method of detonation, but Brine had no access to blasting caps at this hour of the morning. The genie returned in a moment carrying two grocery bags. â€Å"Put them on the chairs.† Brine gestured with his head. â€Å"These bags are filled with flour,† Gian Hen Gian said. â€Å"Are you going to bake bread, Augustus Brine?† 22 TRAVIS AND JENNY There was something about her that made Travis want to dump his life out on the coffee table like a pocket full of coins; let her sort through and keep what she wanted. If he was still here in the morning, he'd tell her about Catch, but not now. â€Å"Do you like traveling?† Jenny asked. â€Å"I'm getting tired of it. I could use a break.† She sipped from a glass of red wine and pulled her skirt down for the tenth time. There was still a neutral zone between them on the couch. She said, â€Å"You don't seem like any insurance salesman I've ever known. I hope you don't mind my saying, but usually insurance men dress in loud blazers and reek of cheap cologne. I've never met one that seemed sincere about anything.† â€Å"It's a job.† Travis hoped she wouldn't ask about the details of his job. He didn't know a thing about insurance. He had decided on the career because Effrom Elliot had mistaken him for an insurance man that afternoon, so it was the first thing that came to mind. â€Å"When I was a kid, an insurance man came to our house to sell my father some life insurance,† Jenny said. â€Å"He gathered the family together in front of the fireplace and took our picture with a Polaroid camera. It was a nice picture. My father was standing at one side of us all, looking proud. As we were passing the picture around, the insurance man snatched the picture out of my father's hands and said, ‘What a nice family.' Then he ripped my father out of the picture and said, ‘Now what will they do?' I burst into tears. My father was frightened.† Travis said: â€Å"I'm sorry, Jenny.† Perhaps he should have told her he was a brush salesman. Did she have any traumatic brush-salesman stories? â€Å"Do you do that, Travis? Do you frighten people for a living?† â€Å"What do you think?† â€Å"Like I said, you don't seem like an insurance man.† â€Å"Jennifer, I need to tell you something†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's okay. I'm sorry, I got a little heavy on you. You do what you do. I never thought I'd be waiting tables at this age.† â€Å"What did you want to do? I mean, when you were a little girl, what did you want to be when you grew up?† â€Å"Honestly?† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to have a family and a man who loved me and a nice house. Pretty unambitious, huh?† â€Å"No, there's nothing wrong with that. What happened?† She drained her wineglass and poured herself another from the bottle on the coffee table. â€Å"You can't have a family alone.† â€Å"But?† â€Å"Travis, I don't want to ruin the evening by talking more about my marriage. I'm trying to make some changes.† Travis let it go. She picked up his silence as understanding and brightened. â€Å"So, what did you want to do when you grew up?† â€Å"Honestly?† â€Å"Don't tell me you wanted to be a housewife, too.† â€Å"When I was growing up that's all any girl wanted to be.† â€Å"Where did you grow up, Siberia?† â€Å"Pennsylvania. I grew up on a farm.† â€Å"And what did the farm boy from Pennsylvania want to be when he grew up?† â€Å"A priest.† Jenny laughed. â€Å"I never knew anyone who wanted to be a priest. What did you do while the other boys were playing army, give last rights to the dead?† â€Å"No, it wasn't like that. My mother always wanted me to be a priest. As soon as I was old enough, I went away to seminary. It didn't work out.† â€Å"So you became an insurance man. I suppose that works. I read once that all religions and insurance companies are supported by the fear of death.† â€Å"That's pretty cynical,† the demonkeeper said. â€Å"I'm sorry, Travis. I don't have much faith in the concept of an all-powerful being that would glorify war and violence.† â€Å"You should.† â€Å"Are you trying to convert me?† â€Å"No, it's just that I know, absolutely, that God exists.† â€Å"No one knows anything absolutely. I'm not without faith. I have my own beliefs, but I have my doubts, too.† â€Å"So did I.† â€Å"Did? What happened, did the Holy Spirit come to you in the night and say, ‘Go forth and sell insurance'?† â€Å"Something like that.† Travis forced a smile. â€Å"Travis, you are a very strange man.† â€Å"I really didn't want to talk about religion.† â€Å"Good. I'll tell you my beliefs in the morning. You'll be quite shocked, I'm sure.† â€Å"I doubt that, I really do†¦ Did you say ‘in the morning'?† Jenny held her hand out to him. Inside she was unsure of what she was doing, but it seemed fine – at least it didn't feel wrong. â€Å"Did I miss something?† Travis asked. â€Å"I thought you were angry with me.† â€Å"No, why would I be angry at you?† â€Å"Because of my faith.† â€Å"I think it's cute.† â€Å"Cute? Cute! You think the Roman Catholic Church is cute? A hundred popes are rolling in their graves, Jenny.† â€Å"Good. They aren't invited. Move over here.† â€Å"Are you sure?† he said. â€Å"You've had a lot of wine.† She was not sure at all, nevertheless she nodded to him. She was single, right? She liked him, right? Well, hell, it was started now. He slid down the couch to her side and took her in his arms. They kissed, awkwardly at first; he was too aware of himself and she was still wondering if she should have invited him in in the first place. He held her tighter and she arched her back and pushed against him and they both forgot their reservations. The world outside ceased to exist. When they finally broke the kiss, he buried his face in her hair and held her tight so she could not pull away and see the tears in his eyes. â€Å"Jenny,† he said softly, â€Å"it's been a long time†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She shushed him and dug her hands into his hair. â€Å"Everything will be fine. Just fine.† Perhaps it was because they were both afraid, or perhaps it was because they really didn't know each other; it might even have been that by playing a role they would not have to face anything but the moment. The roles they played throughout the night changed. First, each gave when the other needed, and later, when need was no longer an issue, they played their roles out to felicity. It progressed thusly: she was the comforter, he the comforted; then he was the understanding counselor, she the confused confessor; she became the nurse, he the patient in traction; he took the role of the naive stable boy, she the seductive duchess; he was the drill sergeant, she the raw recruit; she was the cruel master, he the helpless slave girl. The small hours of the morning found them naked on the kitchen floor after Travis had played a rampaging Godzilla to Jennifer's unsuspecting Tokyo. They were crouched over a cooking toaster oven, each with a table knife loaded with butter, poised like executioners waiting for the signal to drop their blades. They polished off a loaf of toast, a half-pound of butter, a quart of tofu ice cream, a box of whole wheat cream-sandwich cookies, a bag of unsalted blue corn chips, and an organically grown watermelon that gushed pink juice down their chins while they laughed. Stuffed, satisfied, and sticky-sweet they returned to bed and fell asleep in a warm tangle. Perhaps it wasn't love that they had in common; perhaps it was only a need for escape and forgetting. But they found it. Three hours later the alarm clock sounded and Jenny left to go wait tables at H.P.'s Cafe. Travis slept dreamless, groaning and smiling when she kissed him good-bye on the forehead. When the explosions started, Travis woke up screaming. PART FOUR MONDAY The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner 23 RIVERA Rivera came through the trailer door followed by two uniformed officers. Robert sat up on the couch and was immediately rolled over and handcuffed. Rivera read him his Miranda rights before he was completely awake. When Robert's vision cleared, Rivera was sitting in a chair in front of him, holding a piece of paper in his face. â€Å"Robert, I am Detective Sergeant Alphonse Rivera.† A badge wallet flipped open in Rivera's other hand. â€Å"This is a warrant for your and The Breeze's arrest. There's one here to search this trailer as well, which is what I and deputies Deforest and Perez will be doing in just a moment.† A uniformed officer appeared from the far end of the trailer. â€Å"He's not here, Sergeant.† â€Å"Thanks,† Rivera said to the uniform. To Robert he said: â€Å"Things will go easier for you if you tell me right now where I can find The Breeze.† Robert was starting to get a foggy idea of what was going on. â€Å"So you're not a dealer?† he asked sleepily. â€Å"You're quick, Masterson. Where's The Breeze?† â€Å"The Breeze didn't have anything to do with it. He's been gone for two days. I took the suitcase because I wanted to know who the guy was that was with my wife.† â€Å"What suitcase?† Robert nodded toward the living-room floor. The Haliburton case lay there unopened. Rivera picked it up and tried the latches. â€Å"It's got a combination lock,† Robert said. â€Å"I couldn't get it open.† Sheriff's deputies were riffling through the trailer. From the back bedroom one shouted. â€Å"Rivera, we've got it.† â€Å"Stay here, Robert. I'll be right back.† Rivera rose and started toward the bedroom just as Perez appeared in the kitchen holding another aluminum suitcase. â€Å"That it?† Rivera asked. Perez, a dark Hispanic who seemed too small to be a deputy, threw the suitcase on the kitchen table and opened the lid. â€Å"Jackpot,† he said. Neat square blocks of plastic-covered green weed lay in even rows across the suitcase. Robert could smell a faint odor like skunk coming from the marijuana. â€Å"I'll get the testing kit,† Perez said. Rivera took a deep sniff and looked at Perez quizzically. â€Å"Right, it could be just lawn clippings that they weighed out in pounds.† Perez looked hurt by Rivera's sarcasm. â€Å"But for the record?† Rivera waved him away, then returned to the couch and sat down next to Robert. â€Å"You are in deep trouble, my friend.† â€Å"You know,† Robert said, â€Å"I felt really bad about being so rude to you yesterday when you came by.† He smiled weakly. â€Å"I've been going through some really hard times.† â€Å"Make it up to me, Robert. Tell me where The Breeze is.† â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"Then you are going to eat shit for all that pot over there on the table.† â€Å"I didn't even know it was there. I thought you guys were here about the suitcase I took. The other one.† â€Å"Robert, you and I are going to go back to the station and have a really long talk. You can tell me all about the suitcase and all the folks that The Breeze has been keeping company with.† â€Å"Sergeant Rivera, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I wasn't quite awake when you were telling me the charges†¦ sir.† Rivera helped Robert to his feet and led him out of the trailer. â€Å"Possession of marijuana for sale and conspiracy to sell marijuana. Actually the conspiracy charge is the nastier of the two.† â€Å"So you didn't even know about the suitcase I took?† â€Å"I couldn't care less about the suitcase.† Rivera pushed Robert into the cruiser. â€Å"Watch your head.† â€Å"You should bring it along just to see who the guy was that it belonged to. Your guys in the lab can open it and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Rivera slammed the car door on Robert's comment. He turned to Deforest, who was coming out of the trailer. â€Å"Grab that suitcase out of the living room and tag it.† â€Å"More pot, Sarge?† â€Å"I don't think so, but the whacko seems to think it's important.†

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Freakonomics Crime and Abortion Essay

Mohammed 2 egalized abortion would have been 50% more likely than average to live in poverty. † This statistic that researchers discovered reinforced the belief that if a woman did not want to have a child because of personal reasons or because she was not ready and if there was an abortion ban, the child would most likely grow up in a poor household and have a higher risk of engaging in criminal activity once they reached adulthood. It is reasoned that because abortion was legalized twenty years before, an entire generation of children with a higher risk of becoming criminals were not born and that’s why the crime rate dropped. The fallacy that is apparent when attempting to explain a crime drop with an abortion increase is that the two are simply correlated and not necessarily causal. The authors refute that claim by providing evidence that there is a link between abortion and crime. â€Å"Sure enough, the states with the highest abortion rates in the 1970s experienced the greatest crime drops in the 1990s, while states with lower abortion rates experienced smaller crime drops† (4). The evidence regarding state data is pretty compelling especially when put in the framework of post-Roe v. Wade and the generational gap that follows the Supreme Court decision. Although there seems to be a link between abortion and the crime rate, it all comes down to how a person’s own beliefs will influence them to interpret the data. Conclusions can be drawn to support different viewpoints and once the moral implications of abortion are taken into consideration, then it no longer becomes a logical argument. Works Cited Levitt, Steven D. Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics. New York, Harper Collins, 2005.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Serial Killers Ray and Faye Copeland

Serial Killers Ray and Faye Copeland Ray and Faye Copeland lust for killing came with their retirement years. Why this couple, both in their 70s, went from being loving grandparents to serial killers, who used the clothing of their victims to make winter quilts to snuggle under, is both morbid and perplexing. Here is their story. Ray Copeland Born in Oklahoma in 1914, Ray Copelands family never spent much time in the same place. When he was a child, his family was constantly moving, on the hunt for employment. The situation worsened during the Depression, and Copeland dropped out of school and began scrounging for money. Not satisfied with earning meager wages, he got involved in scamming people out of property and money. In 1939 Copeland was found guilty of stealing livestock and check forgery. He was sentenced to a year in jail. Faye Wilson Copeland Copeland met Faye Wilson not long after he was released from jail in 1940. They had a brief courtship, then married and began having children one after another. With several additional mouths to feed, Copeland quickly returned to stealing from  livestock ranchers. While this may have been his chosen profession, he wasnt very good at it.   He was constantly getting arrested and did several stints in jail. His scam was not very slick. He would buy cattle at auctions, write fraudulent checks, sell the cattle and try to leave town before the auctioneers were informed that the checks were bad. If he failed to leave town in time, he would promise to make the checks good, but never follow through, In time, he was banned from buying and selling livestock. He needed a scam that would allow him to operate despite the ban, one that he could profit from, and that the police could not trace back to him. It took him 40 years to think one up. Copeland began hiring vagrants and drifters to work on his farm. He set up checking accounts for them, then sent them to buy livestock with bad checks from their accounts. Copeland then sold the livestock and the drifters would be fired and sent on their way. This kept the police off his back for awhile, but in time he was caught and returned to jail. When he got out, he went back to the same scam, but this time he made sure the hired help would never be caught, or even heard from again. The Copeland Investigation In October 1989, Missouri police received a tip that a human skull and bones could be found on farmland owned by an elderly couple, Ray and Faye Copeland. Ray Copelands last known stint with the law involved a livestock scam, so as police questioned Ray inside his farmhouse about the scam, authorities searched the property. It did not take them long to find five decomposing bodies buried in shallow graves around the farm. The autopsy report determined that each man had been shot in the back of the head at close range. A register, with names of the transient farmhands who had worked for the Copelands, helped police identify the bodies. Twelve of the names, including the five victims found, had a crude X in Fayes handwriting, marked next to  each name. More Disturbing Evidence Authorities found a .22-calibre Marlin bolt-action rifle inside the Copeland home, which ballistics tests proved to be the same weapon as the one used in the murders. The most disturbing piece of evidence, besides the scattered bones and rifle, was a handmade quilt Faye Copeland made out of the dead victims clothing. The Copelands were quickly charged with five murders, identified as Paul Jason Cowart, John W Freeman, Jimmie Dale Harvey, Wayne Warner and Dennis Murphy. Faye Insisted Knowing Nothing About Murders Faye Copeland claimed to know nothing about the murders  and stuck to her story even after being offered a deal to change her murder charges to conspiracy to commit murder in exchange for information about the remaining seven missing men listed in her register. Although a conspiracy charge would have meant her spending less than a year in prison, compared to the possibility of receiving the death sentence, Faye continued to insist she knew nothing about the murders. Ray Attempts an Insanity Plea Ray first tried to plead insanity, but eventually gave up and tried to work out a plea agreement with prosecutors. The authorities were not willing to go along and the first-degree murder charges remained intact. During Faye Copelands trial, her attorney tried to prove that Faye was another one of Rays victims and that she suffered from Battered Women Syndrome. There was little doubt that Faye had indeed been a battered wife, but that not was enough for the jury to excuse her cold murderous actions. The jury found Faye Copeland guilty of murder and she was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Soon after, Ray was also found guilty and sentenced to death. The Oldest Couple Sentenced to Death The Copelands made their mark in history for being the oldest couple to be sentenced to death, however, neither were executed. Ray died in 1993 on death row. Fayes sentence was commuted to life in prison. In 2002 Faye was compassionate release from prison because of her declining health and she died in a nursing home in December 2003, at age 83. Source The Copeland Killings by T. Miller

Monday, October 21, 2019

buy custom Psychology and Health essay

buy custom Psychology and Health essay This is the most common repeated measure design. Its a longitudal approach where the subjects get many different exposures. Though it includes observational, I will be focussing on the controlled experiments which are mainly used in fields like psychology and health related areas. The experiments which are likely to be adapted in health care purposes may either be in random or controlled. If its random, patients are randomly picked and submitted to treatments and this is repeated for a number of times on the same people. Balance is one important aspect that should be considered when undertaking a cross over experiment. The researcher must ensure that all the people involved get uniform treatment in terms of dosage and duration (Barness, 2007). In this case, an experiment may be conducted in a small ward with people who are suffering from obesity. Use of the repeated measure design will help decrease the variance of the expected effects of treatment thus creating a path for data inference to be conducted with fewer patients. In Repeated measures design, experiments are done very fast since there is less number of people to be trained. This type of experiment also allows enough observation because the researcher has the chance to monitor and watch how the changesoccur as time passes by both in long and short term situations (Adrian Martin., 2004). The researcher may also decide to take the practice effect of the drug. This is done by comparing the performance of a patient before the medication with the performance after the medication. The researcher may then be able to tell if the drug has any effect in the performance of the subject. Repeated measures design is preferable because it makes an experiment to be more dependable and efficient. Its ability to ensure low variability adds to its accuracy and there is a high chance of attaining valid results. The main weakness associated with the repeated measure design is the inability of every participating subject to go through all the conditions included in the experiment. This may be because of time or location limitations. The process should be accurate in collecting, analyzing and sampling data; hence the validity of result would be quite high. Considering that there are many different aspects of validity, which influence the validity of the research in general. The participants may bbe supplied with different questionnaires based on specific areas of interests. The approval or the disapproval of implementation of the program should be based on its merits and demerits as determined after conducting the research. All the participants shall be given their respectively informed consent for the purpose of participation in the research. They shall be informed prior to the research, the purposes, the potential benefits as well as the risks that might be associated with their participation. Ethical standards shall be considered in the procedures of the research. Most existing drugs used to treat obesity by reducing appetite have been found to have adverse side effects on the users. This is because almost all of them are controlled substances that stand to be overused by a patient. Hence, it would be advisable for the doctors to be stricter when prescribing this drugs.alo research needs to be done to establish all the long term effects of using such drugs and the proposed duration that the treatment should be administered to avoid their abuse. In conclusion, patients who may be using weight-loss dugs need to keep in mind that drugs alone wont work effectively unless they combine it with a healthy eating habit and physical exercise. Buy custom Psychology and Health essay

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Biography of Abigail Adams, Wife of John Adams

Biography of Abigail Adams, Wife of John Adams Wife of the second President of the United States, Abigail Adams is an example of one kind of life lived by women in colonial, Revolutionary and early post-Revolutionary America. While shes perhaps best known simply as an early First Lady (before the term was used) and mother of another President, and perhaps known for the stance she took for womens rights in letters to her husband, she should also be known as a competent farm manager and financial manager. Known for: First Lady, mother of John Quincy Adams, farm manager, letter writerDates: November 22 (11 old style), 1744 - October 28, 1818; married October 25, 1764Also known as: Abigail Smith AdamsPlaces: Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., United StatesOrganizations/Religion: Congregational, Unitarian Early Life Born Abigail Smith, the future First Lady was the daughter of a minister, William Smith, and his wife Elizabeth Quincy.  The family had long roots in Puritan America, and were part of the Congregational church.  Her father was part of the liberal wing within the church, an Arminian, distanced from Calvinist Congregational roots in predestination and questioning the truth of the traditional  doctrine of the Trinity. Educated at home, because there were few schools for girls and because she was often ill as a child,  Abigail Adams learned quickly and read widely. She also learned to write, and quite early began writing to family and friends. Abigail met John Adams in 1759 when he visited her fathers parsonage in Weymouth, Massachusetts.  They carried out their courtship in letters as Diana and Lysander.  They married in 1764, and moved first to Braintree and later to Boston.  Abigail bore five children, and one died in early childhood. Abigails marriage to John Adams was warm and loving‚- and also intellectually lively, to judge from their letters. Journey to First Lady After almost a decade of rather quiet family life,  John became involved in the Continental Congress. In 1774, John attended the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, while Abigail remained in Massachusetts, raising the family.  During his long absences over the next 10 years, Abigail managed the family and the farm and corresponded not only with her husband but with many family members and friends, including Mercy Otis Warren and Judith Sargent Murray.  She served as the primary educator of the children, including the future sixth U.S. president, John Quincy Adams. John served in Europe as a diplomatic representative from 1778, and as a representative  of the new nation, continued in that capacity. Abigail Adams joined him in 1784, first for a year in Paris then three in London. They returned to America in 1788. John Adams served as Vice President of the United States from 1789-1797 and then as President 1797-1801. Abigail spent some of her time at home, managing the family financial affairs, and part of her time in the federal capital, in Philadelphia most of those years and, very briefly, in the new White House in Washington, D.C. (November 1800 - March 1801). Her letters show that she was a strong supporter of his Federalist positions. After John retired from public life at the end of his presidency, the couple lived quietly in Braintree, Massachusetts.  Her letters also show that she was consulted by her son, John Quincy Adams. She was proud of him, and worried about her sons Thomas and Charles and her daughters husband, who were not so successful.  She took hard her daughters death in 1813.   Death Abigail Adams died in 1818 after contracting  typhus, seven years before her son, John Quincy Adams, became the sixth president of the U.S., but long enough to see him become Secretary of State in James Monroes administration. It is mostly through her letters that we know much about the life and personality of this intelligent and perceptive woman of colonial America and the Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary period.  A collection of the letters was published in 1840 by her grandson, and more have followed. Among her positions expressed in the letters was a deep suspicion of slavery and racism, support for womens rights including married womens property rights and the right to education, and full acknowledgement by her death that she had become, religiously, a unitarian. Resources and Further Reading Akers, Charles W. Abigail Adams: An American Woman. Library of American Biography Series. 1999.Bober, Natalie S. Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution. 1998. Young adult book.  Cappon, Lester J. (editor). The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. 1988.  Gelles, Edith B. Portia: The World of Abigail Adams. 1995 edition.  Levin, Phyllis Lee. Abigail Adams: A Biography. 2001.Nagel, Paul C. The Adams Women: Abigail and Louisa Adams, Their Sisters and Daughters. 1999 reprint.Nagel, Paul C. Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family. 1999 reprint.  Withey, Lynne. Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams. 2001.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Globalization of the Korean Auto Industry Research Paper

Globalization of the Korean Auto Industry - Research Paper Example State also opted for industry restructuring/ regulating, and concentrated on export led strategy. Rise in domestic demand due to the betterment of economic condition of the country, further enhanced the auto industry of Korea. It took Korea barely three decades to move along the learning curve and secure the place of fifth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. It is notable that exports and foreign auto manufacturers have played a key role in supporting and pulling through the industry in the worst times. This paper throws light on the road taken and success achieved by the Korean automobile industry along with its impact on the economy of Korea. It also aims to explain the reasons for its global competitiveness and what distinguishes it from American automobile industry. The next section of the paper would compare the Korean and American automobile industries which would then be elaborated by an example. It would be followed by the challenges faced currently by the Korean au tomobile industry. Lastly, the paper would conclude with some recommendations to tackle the challenges. Korean Auto Industry Development The history of Korean Automobile Industry can be traced back to 1960s when the Government of Korea took a policy decision to develop auto industry in the country. In the first five year plan of the country, initiated in 1962, emphasis was laid on the creation of indigenous automotive industry. In its initial phase, i.e. in 1960s, the automobile majors were largely involved in assembling of semi knocked down and fully knocked down kits which were nothing but imported components of automobiles. To ease out the conditions for the development of the industry, the state banned import of fully assembled cars although it encouraged foreign partnerships for transfer of technology to the domestic players. With the support of the state, the industry progressed to give rise to four major players which were Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo and Samsung Motors. Hyundai was formed in 1967 with the aim of manufacturing a wholly indigenous car. It started on the learning curve by creating an assembly line to assemble fully knocked down kits. It tied up with Ford, Mitsubishi and Honda for technology transfers in order to initiate local manufacturing of automobiles. It was not until 1976, that Korea achieved the feat of manufacturing automobiles domestically. After eighteen technology transfers, from its foreign partners, Hyundai launched ‘Pony’, in 1976. Pony was the first Korean developed automobile (Korean Development Bank 175). It also holds the distinction of being the first Korean car to be exported. In 1985, Hyundai achieved the landmark quality certifications to meet the quality requirements of EEC, Canada and America which enabled it to export to these geographies also apart from Middle East and Africa. Kia, another automobile firm owned by a chaebol (large Korean business house) was established in 1971. Kia started its product line w ith three wheeled trucks and in a span of three years graduated to manufacture four wheel vehicles. Kia produced its first passenger car ‘Brisa’, in 1974 in technological partnership with Japan’s Honda. Similarly Shinjin Motors (now Daewoo) tied up with Japan’s Toyota to acquire capital and technical knowhow in automobile production. In 1972, Toyota’s share was taken over by General Motors which steered the firm to become the largest automobile