The Thousands Of Idioms In English

The Thousands Of Idioms In English Introduction Language is a major feature of a nation. English language has developed hundreds of thousands of idioms. It has been estimated that about 7,000 idioms are used by a native speakers per week (Cooper, 1999, p. 249). At the same time, grasping idioms can be a great asset to learners in acquiring a new language (Celce-Murcia Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p.36). Idioms are extraordinarily difficult for their flexible structures and figurative meanings (Liu, 2003, p.675). For example, the meaning of high horse has nothing to do with high and horse but means an arrogant people. According to the surface meaning, second language learners can hardly tell its meanings. Also, Language is the most important communication tool. People use language to preserve and transmit human civilization, that is, language conveys the culture. Sapir (1921) observed that culture can be defined as what a human community does and thinks. The function of language is to explain what a thought is. Therefore, language does not exist alone. It is rooted in national culture and reflects national institutions. If culture is regarded as the cradle of language, animal idioms can be seen as the crystallization of culture. Animal idioms are plentiful in English. They prominently reflect English culture. For a long period, studies on animal idioms mainly focus on translation, cross-cultural comparison, literature, and so on. However, there are few studies on English animal idioms acquisition linking to British culture. Animal idioms, like a mirror, can clearly reflect the characteristics of a national culture. Generally speaking, anthropologists are divided into three levels of culture: high culture, popular culture, deep culture. High culture includes philosophy, literature, art and religion. Popular culture refers to customs, etiquette and the interpersonal aspects of life. Deep culture contains the meaning of beauty and ugliness, time orientation, problem-solving methods (Yin Li Han Xiaoling, 2007). High culture and popular culture belong to low context culture; deep culture belongs to high context culture. In this thesis, the key point is to investigate whether the Chinese English learners can unde rstand the low context culture by examining the command of animal idioms. High context culture is out of the scope of this project. Literature Review Culture and Language There are a large number of definitions in culture, but a few of them can be reviewed. The most classical definition of culture is made by Edward B. Tylor (1871), the father of cultural anthropology. The definition describes the culture as a center of society, which is regarded as the first important anthropological theory about culture. Tylor provided that culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society. He believed that culture is shared by all mankind, all community. Then, following the definitions of sociologists, they believe that culture refers to human attitudes, institutions, and beliefs etc. Reflecting the life of a human community is the key point in culture. Williams (1965) mentions that the definition of culture contains three general categories. First, culture is a state or process of human performance and has certain universal values. Second, culture is the body of intellectual and imaginative work. It records human thought and experience. Finally, third, culture refers to a society, that is, culture expresses certain meanings and values in peoples life. It is not only in art and learning but also in custom and ordinary behavior. Also, Deng and Liu (2007) point out that culture illustrates the ways of a people, that is to say, culture refers to the entire way of life of a society. Language is the carrier of culture which contains peoples daily life. Writing in 1950, Luo Changpei who was a famous linguist and educator in China recognizes that language is a crystallization of national culture, which spreads the past, pushes the future. Each language is a living fossil to a nation. Language as the main material has the most direct and close contact to build a culture. Furthermore, language is used for communication. It is impossible to use a language without awareness of its culture. That is to say, language can be a signal to identify different cultures. When language used by particular speakers, it conveys certain context which is how words be chosen, why to choose it, what meaning can be expressed. Language cannot exist without carrying culture meaning. Given the arguments above, the relationship between language and culture can be described as follows: language come from culture and culture embodies the entire way of life of a society. Using language can promotes cultural spread and culture can promote language development. Language and culture work closely and influence each other. Expressing facts, ideas, or events and reflecting the peoples attitudes, beliefs etc. are the most important function of a language. Language exchange actually is cultural communication. Learning a language well must be aware of its culture. Studies on Idioms Smith L.P. (1925, p.167) points out that there is the element of enrichment which is of greater importance, which comes from popular, free and unschooled English. This element consists of what people call idioms. Smith also defines its use in this connection. Idiom is sometimes used to describe the form of speech peculiar to a people or nation; idiom for the meaning is expressed by the French word idiotisme, that is to say, those forms of expression, of grammatical construction, or of phrasing, which are peculiar to a language, and approved by its usage, despite the meanings they convey are often different from their grammatical or logical signification. Makkais Idiom Structure in English, an extended version of his doctorial thesis (1965), identifies two major types of idioms: one is encoding; another is decoding. Makkai finds a rationale to explain this division. The headword listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (1970) is sense 3a, which also appears in an identical form in the OED (1989): A form of expression grammatical construction, phrase etc., peculiar to a language; a peculiarity of phraseology approved by the usage of a language, and often having significance other than its grammatical or logical one ( cited from Fernando C., 1996, p.3-4). According to Moon Rosamund (1998:4), narrower uses restrict idiom to a particular kind of unit: one is fixed and semantically opaque or metaphorical, for examples, as white as a sheet or cold shoulder. In broader uses, idiom is a general term for many kinds of multiword item, no matter semantically opaque or not. For animal idioms, the form is usually loose, and it mainly focuses on figurative meanings rather than literal meaning, for examples, put the cart before the horse, or straight from the horses mouth. English idioms with the strong feature of rhetoric are formed from long-tem use and their structures are unique and have fixed expression. It contains proverbs, sayings, slangs, and allusions, etc. There are two important characteristics of idioms: one is semantic unity, that is, the overall meaning cannot be tracked from each word, for example, pull all ones eggs in one basket. It means the desperate situation not the surface meaning. Another is the structure of fixity, that is, its structure cannot be altered arbitrarily, for example, kick the bucket. It cannot say kick the pail or be used in the passive voice- the bucket is kicked (Wang Benhua, 2010). Animal idioms and British culture There is a close relationship between animals and peoples lives. On the one hand, animal is the main source of food and clothing for human; the other hand, kinds of animals represent certain images which people pay homage to them. These animals reflect human thought and contain certain national culture. There are three bases to make animal vocabularies to cause cultural meanings. First, derive from animals appearances, physical structure, mentality, behavior. Second, come from cultural content such as fables, legends, religions, physical geography, and customs. Third, be created by association, that is to say, animals are associated with another things which relate to potential cultural psychology (Liao Guangrong, 2000). In the perspective of linguistics, animal images used in idioms have figurative meaning. Idioms linked to animals usually contain metaphors. Animals denote and connote supposed qualities. These qualities are applied to people and human situations. There is a phenomen on that no idiom database contains animal or insect, although many contain hyponyms such as cat, dog, or horse. The reason may be that general words such as animal are too neutral to cause these kinds of institutionalized metaphors, despite the fact that both animal and insect are used in other contexts with metaphorical meanings (Moon, R., 1998, p.196). In the meantime, the formation of animal idioms relies on culture. According to the arguments mentioned above, culture refers to all aspects of a people such as geographical situation, the style of production, and literature etc. In the history, Great Britain was the overlord in the sea. Despite the Europe, other continents were the British colonies. Therefore, British nation could contact with many animal species. Britain is surrounded by islands. Due to the abundant resources from physical geography, animal idioms flourished in the early years of that century. Thereby, English idioms have close contact with sea and fishing, for example, hook ones fish. Comparing with China, Great Britain is filled with small mountains and strait lands. In ancient Britain, horses are main tillable force. The function of horses is above all. Thus, there is particularly large number of horse-related idioms, such as horse of another color, an iron horse, or horse sense etc. In ancient China, the cattle played a significant role. That is why so many idioms related to cattle in China, for examples, niu qi chong tian  ¼Ã…’feng ma niu bu xiang ji etc. These cattle and horses have been portrayed by cultural connotation. In addition, some animal images come from Greek and Roman mythology or Bible, like serpent which means Satan in Bible (Zhao Shuyun, 2010). Animal idioms related studies In the second language learning, correctly using idioms has always been regarded as a tough problem. A learner must recognize the fix structures and given meaning, not only the literal meaning but also the figurative meaning. Figurative meaning refers to metaphors which have close relationship with culture. Whats more, animal idioms are more flexible and oral orientation. It is not easy for second language learners to breach the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic barriers in idiom learning. Blasko and Connine (2002) made an experiment in comparing Malay and English to investigate second language figurative proficiency. They found two results as follows: First, figurative expressions with an equivalent conceptual basis and linguistic form are the easiest; Second, figurative expressions with an equivalent linguistic form but a different conceptual basis are the most difficult. Lin Weiyan (2003) designed a project to investigate English idiom learning in different cultural background. H e observes that English idioms with same figurative meaning as Chinese are easy to understand comparing with different figurative meaning as Chinese. That is to say, if the English idioms are similar to Chinese ones in expression and meaning, mother tongue will make effectively transfer; if not, mother tongue will make negative transfer. Wu Xudong and Chen Bin (2006) quickly came to the conclusion that the process of conceptual and cultural transfer is the process of comprehending English animal idioms, and Chinese English learners has low capability to comprehend English animal idioms with different metaphors. From the presented studies above, it can be concluded that commanding idioms, especially animal idioms is one of the big obstacles in second language learning. Chinese English learners have the advantage and disadvantage of understanding animal idioms, because there are some similar figurative meanings. But due to the learning environment, Chinese English learners have low capabilities to command animal idioms. Research Question Can the command of English animal idioms promote Chinese English Learners to understand British culture? Hypothesis Due to the relationship with language, animal idioms and culture, command of English animal idioms can promote Chinese English Learners to understand British culture.

Steel Co Human Resource Report Essay -- Steel Co Human Resource Case S

Table of Contents Background 1 Aim 1 Objectives 1 Limitations/Scope 1 Evaluation of Steel Co Performance and Reward System 2 Performance and Reward management Tools 3 Pay Structure 5 Performance and Reward for different groups 6 Conclusion 7 Recommendations 7 References 8 Background The company Steel Co, which has been established for around 30 years, has been in a steady decline during the current recession and although a Divisional Director has been employed by the owner the fortunes of the company have not improved. The staff is unhappy, unproductive and unimpressed by the Human Resource system that currently exists in the company. The pay structure that currently exists within the organisation has been much debated among employees who feel it is unsatisfactory. The Business Adviser will research Performance and Reward management tools in order to help the company develop a more suitable Performance and Reward system to use. A variety of sources will be used in order to evaluate the system and tools against other organisational frameworks. The pay structure within the company will also be looked at in order to identify any possible changes that could be made. Aim The aim of this report is to evaluate current Human Resource Practices within Steel Co and identify weaknesses that the current model possesses. Performance and Reward management tools available will be evaluated in order to make recommendations on how the Management tools could compliment the system that Steel Co currently employs. Objectives To achieve the aim of this report there are 4 Objectives which are considered: 1. Evaluate the Performance and Reward model that the company currently uses in order to identify weaknesses and areas whe... ...ng conditions as well as overall organisational performance. Due to being intrinsic rather than extrinsic the company does not incur a high cost and thus would be able to retain and motivate employees further. References Works Cited http://www.businessballs.com/balanced_scorecard.htm http://www.tatasteeleurope.com/en/careers/general_vacancies/benefits/ http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C.%20Goal-Setting%20Theoryof%20Motivation%20IJMBA%20V15%20N1%202011.pdf http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/Tech_rept_Effective_Performance_Mgt_with_Balanced_Scd_July_2005.pdf http://www.allenword.com/360feedbackform-final.pdf http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/pay-structures.aspx#link_3 http://www.benefitsandcompensationresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/why-a-family-job-approach.pdf

External environment for banking industry Essay

Standard Chartered is the world’s leading emerging markets bank headquartered in London. Standard Chartered employs 30,000 people in over 500 locations in more than 50 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the Americas. It is one of the world’s most international banks, with a management team comprising 70 nationalities. Standard Chartered has been committed to Hong Kong and China for nearly 150 years. Standard Chartered Bank opened its first branch in China in 1858 and is the oldest foreign bank in the country. The Bank has operated in Hong Kong since 1859 and has been issuing Hong Kong banknotes since 1862. Standard Chartered PLC listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2002. The bank is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and is in the top 25 FTSE-100 companies, by market capitalization. It serves both Consumer and Wholesale Banking customers. Consumer Banking provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth management services to individuals and small to medium sized enterprises. Wholesale Banking provides corporate and institutional clients with services in trade finance, cash management, lending, custody, foreign exchange, debt capital markets and corporate finance. Standard Chartered is well-established in growth markets and aims to be the right partner for its customers. The Bank combines deep local knowledge with global capability. The Bank is trusted across its network for its standard of governance and its commitment to making a difference in the communities in which it operates. The new millennium has brought with it two of the largest acquisitions in the history of the bank with the purchase of Grindlays Bank from the ANZ Group and the acquisition of the Chase Consumer Banking operations in Hong Kong in 2000. These acquisitions demonstrate Standard Chartered firm committed to the emerging markets, where it has a strong and established presence and where it foresees future growth. With the acquisition of ANZ Banking Group, StanChart became the largest foreign bank in terms of branch network and profitability in India. The merged entity has a combined network of 61  branches and 74 ATMs across 15 cities of the country. Understanding the global, political, technological and socio-cultural segments of its environment is obviously critical to Stanchart’s success. It has acquired companies in order to consolidate its global operations; operates in 50 countries; seeks to display environmental and social responsibility; and deals with communications technology. It strives to take advantage of opportunities in the dynamic environment, the need to deal innovatively with new acquisitions, the problem of reframing the public’s view of banking and ongoing cut throat competition from other commercial banks and non banking entities. The bank therefore has to make clear the communication challenge and make clear the global nature of its operations to the wider community, governments and the population at large. Research evidence suggests that external environment affects a firm’s growth and profitability over time. Changes in political, regulatory features, the strength of different nations’ economies at different times, and the emergence of new technologies are a few examples of conditions in the external environment that are affecting banks like StanChart and several other firms throughout the world whether in manufacturing or services sector. The companies in attractive environments perform better than the companies that are in less attractive environments. Therefore strategy development is about ‘fit’ i.e. identifying opportunities in the environment and building strategy matching resource capabilities to those opportunities. The resources and competences of organizations also play an important role as they explain the differences between organizations, potential uniqueness and therefore superior performance. The ‘stretch’ view argues that strategies should be built on the unique competences and resources of an organization by seeking out markets in which competences have special value or by trying to create new markets on the basis of such competences Another consideration is the stakeholders of company. Organizations have different stakeholders (shareholders, customers, employees, government) who have expectations of the organizations and may exercise considerable influence and power over the strategy to be followed As said earlier, the external environment plays an important role for banks. Most of the external factors are beyond the control of a bank. The factors such as competition; political, economical, legal, government rules and regulations influence the firm’s choice of direction and action and also affect the internal environment of a bank. The external environment influences a company’s strategic options as well as the decisions made in light of them. The firm’s understanding of the external environment is matched with knowledge about its internal environment. Matching the conditions of the two environments is the foundation the firm needs to form its strategic intent, to develop its strategic mission, and to take strategic actions in the pursuit of strategic competitiveness and above-average returns. The external environment encapsulates many different influences which makes the tasks of CEOs more difficult. Identifying the different environmental influences though makes sense, is not very much useful as the overall picture of these influences does not emerge. The second difficulty is that of the speed of change. The impact of technological changes on businesses is much faster than ever before. Technology has transformed the way in which the banking business is carried out. In addition the competitive pressures are also driving more banks to diversify their product range in response to market demands. We can broadly categorize this environment into two types: remote environment and operating environment. Remote environment: This environment consists of a set of forces that originate beyond a firm’s operating environment. This comprises of political, economic, social, technological and industrial forces which create opportunities, threats and constraints to the firm. For example macroeconomic instability in an economy characterized by chronic inflation, fiscal imbalances and periodic balance-of-payments crises also affect all the banks. Operating environment: The operating environment involves the factors that provide many of the challenges a bank is facing when attempting to attract  or acquire essential resources or when striving to profitably market its goods and services in the immediate competitive position, customer profile, reputation among suppliers and creditors and accessible labor market. The operating environment is also called the competitive or task environment. Hence by considering conditions in the operating environment business can be much more proactively planned. An organization’s external environment is shown in the figure below. The figure depicts the firm’s business area, remote environment and the operating environment cutting into an area of total external environmental impact on the firm. In the banking industry if the Reserve Bank increases the reserve requirements for the commercial banks it would affect all the banking companies in the economy. This is an operational risk. Over the past two decades, commercial banks across the globe have aggressively repositioned themselves to compete under new economic, technological, and regulatory conditions. These institutions are no longer protected by regulatory entry barriers, and are confronted with a marked transformation in telecommunications and computer technology. Banks can no longer rely on traditional banking models and therefore have invested huge amounts of resources in the search for new competitive strategies. While many of these attempts had fruitless results, the most successful strategic innovations have set a new paradigm in banking and have changed the way banks compete. The manner in which commercial banks currently underwrite their loans, finance their activities, grow their franchises, distribute their services and market their images can hardly be compared to ones that bankers adopted in 1970s. Coming to the regulatory environment, banks still do not compete in a completely unregulated environment. Regulations continue to shape banking strategies for example, in US, the federally insured deposits are the basis of community bank business strategy. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) loans are a mandatory for all banks (in India, priority sector credit is mandatory for all commercial banks, this would be dealt in detail in subsequent pages). Investment decisions of every bank are influenced by capital regulations. The system of multiple regulators can affect the choice  of organizational form of banking companies. While most banks are regulated by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), some are under dual control of government and RBI. In India, all banks are subject to RBI’s regulation but the framework is not uniform in the sense that public sector banks, cooperative banks, and private banks are governed by significant differences and not all of them have access to the payments system. The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) regulates the deposit taking activities of non-banking non- financial companies and also some activities of Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). SEBI regulates the capital markets and supervises stock exchanges, mutual funds, securities dealers and brokers, merchant bankers, credit rating agencies and venture capital funds. Companies in the insurance sector are regulated by IRDA. Banks are permitted to be involved in insurance activity through joint ventures/equity participation/selling agency type arrangements. Thus, the object of regulation itself is susceptible to some overlap. Several scandals in banks have led regulators to make increased informational demands on banks. As banking markets grow more concentrated, anti-trust laws may increasingly limit the scale and scope of bank mergers. At a minimum, regulation is simply a fixed cost that must be borne by banks, which does not influence a bank’s behavior. At the other extreme, and perhaps in a more realistic situation, regulation can significantly affect banks’ strategic choices and influence competition in financial markets. Innovations introduced in the markets are often driven by, and in some cases succeed exclusively because of the prevailing regulatory environment. Similarly, commercial banks’ competitive strategies are shaped by both new technologies, and the limitations of technology. Retail banking had traditionally been built around the paper-based payments, but IT has created new strategic possibilities for it. Electronic delivery of banking services can reduce a bank’s overhead costs to a great extent. However abandoning bank branches can also give rise to disastrous strategic costs. New technologies have a led to a great transformation in the risk management practices of commercial banks, but application of such techniques may also create some unforeseen new risks. After generations of technological stasis  in the banking industry, the ongoing rapid pace of technological change has made â€Å"strategic innovation† a viable competitive strategy for banks.

Stereotypes Essay Example

Stereotypes Essay Example Stereotypes Essay Stereotypes Essay In todays’ society it seems as though everyone is placed into a stereotype that has been developed of every race and how everyone within that race acts/or is. Stereotyping is an issue that affects all races and gender. If someone were to ask what is a women supposed to do when they grow up, is the typical response still to get married, be a stay at home wife and mother, while the father figure of the family goes to work to support the family? What about the women who don’t want to stay at home, the women who want to go and have a career? Stereotypes are present in everyday life, placing the idea that you are only allowed to do what is described in that stereotype. Women are not only affected by what a typical women should do stereotype, but as well as race stereotypes or stereotypes that are based on characteristics that are attained. Women are slowly, but surely starting to change the typically stereotype of them along with proving that they are more than just this object they are looked at as. Stereotypes are present in our lives from when we are a young age. Children’s’ television shows are just as guilty of this problem as regular television shows are. Dora the Explorer, for example, that teaches Spanish to children. But, the main character Dora is of course Hispanic, giving the impression that Hispanic people always speak Spanish to young children who have not been exposed to the multicultural world that America is because they simply wouldn’t be able to comprehend the idea. These stereotypes are even present while going through school being taught that there are different cliques and that you can only fit into one certain clique, like a jock, a nerd, or the dumb cheerleader. There cliques are revealed in multiple shows that attract teenagers. Not only is television responsible for teaching children these stereotypes from a young age, there also are the internet and magazines that contribute to this problem. Technology is not the only thing to blame; there is also influence by who you grow up around. You are not fully able to make your own decisions or opinions about certain things until you are an adult. The background of your childhood and who you grow up around greatly influence your opinions. Stereotyping only continues in television shows and movies that attractive adults. Examine a typical television sitcom, what role are the women characters playing? For example, in the television show, The Big Band Theory, one of the main characters is an attractive blonde woman who seems to lack intelligence at times. Her best friends in the sitcom are two guys that would fit a nerd type role. It is as if the â€Å"nerds† are only friends with her because of her looks. Stereotypes evident in our lives since we are young, giving the idea that you fit into one of these stereotypes. Such as if you are blonde, then you must be dumb or if you are Asian you must be intelligent. The idea that characteristics you hold places you into a certain stereotype and along with that stereotype you must do the things that are associated with that stereotype. On the other hand, there are many television shows and movies that actually challenge traditional views of women. For example, in the movie Legally Blonde, a blonde white woman in her middle 20’s named Elle Woods depicts what one would think of as â€Å"dumb blonde†. She wears all pink, almost always, her hair and make-up is always perfect and has that high pitch â€Å"like oh my god† voice. But she surprises everyone when she goes to Harvard Law School to become a lawyer; even the professors and fellow collages at the college doubt her. In the end, she prevails and surprises everyone with her knowledge. Elle Woods would be a perfect image of â€Å"girl power†. The thought that yes women can are smart enough to accomplish their dreams that not only men can go to college, get a degree, and become a high paid profession like a doctor or lawyer. There are tons of other movies and television shows that depict women the same way as Legally Blonde, so does that imply that women can eventually break these stereotypes that have been placed upon them? Many women do just what these movies and television shows depict women doing. More women go to college to earn degrees and obtain a high paying job. There are women that are doctors, surgeons, and the head CEO’s of companies in todays’ society. These women are the bosses of many other women, but more importantly men. These are prime examples that women are not just staying home taking care of the children in todays’ society, they are going to a well-paying job every day then coming home to do other responsibilities. Women as a whole are breaking these traditional stereotypes that haunt us all. But, the main question behind the problem of stereotyping is who is coming up with these stereotypes? It is not physically possible to classify multiple people into the same group, simply because everyone is an individual and is completely different from anyone else. Stereotypes are politically incorrect because of these facts. For example, the stereotype that all black people like fried chicken and watermelon. It is nearly impossible that every African American in the world likes these types of food; there is at least one that does not, therefore proving the stereotype invalid. But, we still use these stereotypes every day without even thinking about doing it and by doing these you are in return neglecting the fact that everyone is an individual. In order to stop stereotyping these types of issues must be looked at. While all stereotyping can be considered negative or hurtful depending on what is said. There is a difference between stereotyping and making an observation, as stated before stereotyping would be saying something like all African American people like fried chicken, while on the other hand saying something like there are many Asians at the Science and Engineering library on campus would be considered an observation. By saying an observation, it wouldn’t be considered a stereotyping because the observation is seen with that persons’ eyes therefore in their eyes it would be considered true. Alternatively, stereotyping is stating something that can’t be proven true and also usually possess some kind of hatred or hurtful feelings behind the statement. I believe that many people often get these two ideas mixed up with each other, causing further confusion and more hatred towards certain groups of people. Stereotyping is clearly a large problem in todays’ society. First, the problem needs to be addressed on where it starts, which is often at a young age. The surroundings in which you grow up influence your opinions and ideas as your mind develops which is often the beginning of this problem. This problem develops further with todays’ technology such as television, movies, the internet, and social networks. Technology is a large part of the stereotyping problem by continuing to show how women should act and be, but it also challenges the problem as well. In order to stop stereotyping, women need to continue to make advances in the world to prove that we are not just an object that stays at home and cleans. Women holding high paying jobs and taking care of themselves without any help is becoming a more common idea. I believe women are starting to change the common stereotype of them and with these advances the idea of stereotyping can start to come to an end but only with the help of everyone in todays’ society.

The Civil War Plot to Burn New York City

The Civil War Plot to Burn New York City The plot to burn New York City was an attempt by the Confederate secret service to bring some of the destruction of the Civil War to the streets of Manhattan. Originally envisioned as an attack designed to disrupt the election of 1864, it was postponed until late November. On Friday evening, November 25, 1864, the night after Thanksgiving, conspirators set fires in 13 major hotels in Manhattan, as well as in public buildings such as theaters and one of the most popular attractions in the country, the museum run by Phineas T. Barnum. The crowd poured into the streets during the simultaneous attacks, but the panic faded when the fires were quickly extinguished. The chaos was immediately assumed to be some sort of Confederate plot, and the authorities began hunting for the perpetrators. While the incendiary plot was little more than a peculiar diversion in the war, there is evidence that operatives of the Confederate government had been planning a far more destructive operation to strike New York and other northern cities. The Confederate Plan to Disrupt the Election of 1864 In the summer of 1864, the reelection of Abraham Lincoln was in doubt. Factions in the North were weary of the war and eager for peace. And the Confederate government, naturally motivated to create discord in the North, was hoping to create widespread disturbances on the scale of the New York City Draft Riots of the previous year. A grandiose plan was devised to infiltrate Confederate agents into northern cities, including Chicago and New York, and commit widespread acts of arson. In the resulting confusion, it was hoped that southern sympathizers, known as Copperheads, could seize control of important buildings in the cities. The original plot for New York City, as outlandish as it seems, was to occupy federal buildings, obtain weapons from arsenals, and arm a crowd of supporters. The insurgents would then raise a Confederate flag over City Hall and declare that New York City had left the Union and had aligned itself with the Confederate government in Richmond. By some accounts, the plan was said to be developed enough that Union double-agents heard about it and informed the governor of New York, who refused to take the warning seriously. A handful of Confederate officers entered the United States at Buffalo, New York, and traveled to New York in the fall. But their plans to disrupt the election, which was to be held on November 8, 1864, were thwarted when the Lincoln administration sent thousands of federal troops to New York to ensure a peaceful election. With the city crawling with Union soldiers, the Confederate infiltrators could only mingle in the crowds and observe the torchlight parades organized by supporters of President Lincoln and his opponent, Gen. George B. McClellan. On election day the voting went smoothly in New York City, and though Lincoln did not carry the city, he was elected to a second term. The Incendiary Plot Unfolded In Late November 1864 About a half-dozen Confederate agents in New York decided to go ahead with an improvised plan to set fires after the election. It seems the purpose changed from the wildly ambitious plot to split New York City off from the United States to simply exacting some revenge for the destructive actions of the Union Army as it kept moving deeper into the South. One of the conspirators who participated in the plot and successfully evaded capture, John W. Headley, wrote about his adventures decades later. While some of what he wrote seems fanciful, his account of the setting of fires on the night of November 25, 1864 generally aligns with newspaper reports. Headley said he had taken rooms in four separate hotels, and the other conspirators also took rooms in multiple hotels. They had obtained a chemical concoction dubbed Greek fire which was supposed to ignite when jars containing it were opened and the substance came into contact with the air. Armed with these incendiary devices, at about 8:00 p.m. on a busy Friday night the Confederate agents began setting fires in hotel rooms. Headley claimed he set four fires in hotels and said 19 fires were set altogether. Though the Confederate agents later claimed they did not mean to take human lives, one of them, Captain Robert C. Kennedy, entered Barnums Museum, which was packed with patrons, and set a fire in a stairwell. A panic ensued, with people rushing out of the building in a stampede, but no one was killed or seriously injured. The fire was quickly extinguished. In the hotels, the results were much the same. The fires did not spread beyond any of the rooms in which they had been set, and the entire plot seemed to fail because of ineptitude. As some of the conspirators mixed with New Yorkers in the streets that night, they overhead people already talking about how it must be a Confederate plot. And by the next morning newspapers were reporting that detectives were looking for the plotters. The Conspirators Escaped to Canada All the Confederate officers involved in the plot boarded a train the following night and were able to elude the manhunt for them. They reached Albany, New York, then continued on to Buffalo, where they crossed the suspension bridge into Canada. After a few weeks in Canada, where they kept a low profile, the conspirators all left to return to the South. Robert C. Kennedy, who had set the fire in Barnums Museum, was captured after crossing back into the United States by train. He was taken to New York City and imprisoned at Fort Lafayette, a harbor fort in New York City. Kennedy was tried by a military commission, found to have been a captain in the Confederate service, and sentenced to death. He confessed to setting the fire at Barnums Museum. Kennedy was hanged at Fort Lafayette on March 25, 1865. (Incidentally, Fort Lafayette no longer exists, but it stood in the harbor on a natural rock formation at the present site of the Brooklyn tower of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.) Had the original plot to disrupt the election and create a Copperhead rebellion in New York had gone forward, it is doubtful it could have succeeded. But it might have created a diversion to pull Union troops away from the front, and its possible it could have had an impact on the course of the war. As it was, the plot to burn the city was an odd sideshow to the final year of the war.

Prince George's County Community Hazards Research Paper

Prince George's County Community Hazards - Research Paper Example The county has been affected by a number of hazards which has resulted of loss of property and even lives. Some of these hazards are related to weather which have caused injuries and deaths to the people. Moreover, it is evident that the public are not informed about certain hazards and how to manage the same in the places in which they live in. According to report released by FEMA higher percentage of people are likely to build in floodplains areas due to the fact that they are not aware of the risks associated with the same (Association of State Floodplain Managers, 2008). Therefore, it is important to inform the public about the risks associated with building in floodplain areas. However, it is has been noted that in some cases the public are not aware that they are residing in floodplain areas and they only become aware of the same after purchasing property in flood areas and suffer the effects of the floods (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2005). In Prince George’s C ounty the risk level of the existing hazards are described as medium high. These hazards include drought, severe storm, streambank erosion and winter storm. However, the river of risks is high when it comes to coastal floods and the Riverine flood hazards. Based on this the damages caused by the aforementioned risks are calculated using damages caused to the buildings, in addition to the value of replacing the buildings and also the age of the building. However, studies have indicated that damages which are as a result of wildland fire or drought are caused by the way human population utilize land. It has been pointed out that drought as a hazard within the county impacts negatively on the planning of the place and more specifically the agricultural sector. Nevertheless, the less it is hard to mitigate the damages that are caused to crops (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2005). Hazards such as wildland fires influence areas with grass fields, brush, crops and even tress. Apart from resulting into loss f crops the same results into economic loss not only at the personal level but also the county. Additionally, when forests are burnt the planning area of the county is interfered with and human population is likely to encroach in the land. Streambank erosion as a hazard affecting the county on an annual basis is as a result of constant and increased river discharge. This makes the hydrology of the county to change. Presently, the officials of the county have indicated that streambank erosion causes a variety of problems ranging from minor to major ones. The hazard has resulted into infrastructures an aspect that has resulted into human population encroaching land that is publicly owned. Additionally, the winter storm which is another hazard that occurs in the area on an annual basis is mostly characterized by three aspects. These are high amount of moisture, lift and cold air which not only results into precipitation but also formation of cloud. In most caus es the winter storms that affect the Maryland negatively are as a result of jet streams which are in the middle attitudes cross and move to the continental United States (Prince George's County Department of Environmental Resources, 2011). Additionally, the degree of the storm varies in addition to the impacts caused by the same. For instance within the county cases of property

Lissez-Faire Economy and Functions of Government Coursework

Lissez-Faire Economy and Functions of Government - Coursework Example Laissez-faire economy holds the characteristics of a free market economy which supports the idea of working for private interests. This creates a ground for innovation and creativity to blend into an economy and work in the most efficient manner. In a laissez-faire economy, since there is no government intervention, price determination is done by the market forces of demand and supply and there are no regulations to be followed which are set by the government in a command economy. In such an economy, the producers are profit motivated which boosts up entrepreneurial mindset (Sloman, 2007). The following diagram shows the market forces of demand and supply: Adam Smith, who is regarded as â€Å"the father of modern day economics†, supported the idea of a laissez-faire economy and boosted its importance and significance into the course of history. He referred to ‘the invisible hand’ that regulates the well being of an economy, and consequently, since everybody works for self interest, it benefits the economy as a whole. However, Adam Smith himself supported the idea of government intervention up to a certain extent. The United States of America is a good example where a â€Å"laissez-faire† economy was under practice for a certain period of time. â€Å"Laissez-faire† gained popularity in America because of Adam Smith’s opinions that the government should not indulge too much in the running of economic activities. There existed a greater quantity of conservatives who thought that when government intervened, it was imposing too many regulations. Except the help of government in establishing the railroad system in the 19th century, the state did not intervene much into the decision making of the country. There was existence of private ownership of businesses until the economic system of USA started altering after the Great Depression. There was a great incentive of innovation and people constantly worked in their self interest . The state started intervening to reduce the concentration of businesses and to eradicate monopolies. Before that the state did not interfere in resource allocation of the country and the matters did start deteriorating. Private businesses which were on a large scale started victimizing the small firms and created monopolies. There was a need for government regulation and thus government started stepping in the matters of decision making. Today’s economies have evolved from historical economies and differ in nature and characteristics. In earlier times, government intervened a little too less into how an economic system was supposed to be established. Today’s economies support government intervention and mixed economies have come into existence. A government has vital roles to play and has proved to be beneficial at certain times. A government aims to provide the basic necessities that people or a country require. Its primary aim is to provide security and defense to guard the country against external threat. This enables the people to live in peace and carry out economic activities in the most efficient manner. Also, the government is there to serve justice to people and prevent any illegal activities to take place. But sometimes it pays too much attention on providing security and defense which results in suppression of creativity or innovation that could have resulted in entrepreneurial activities. A government