Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Portfolio Essay

Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Portfolio - Essay Example ess of the shopping malls all over the UK, the Metrocentre has been ranked 2nd in 2011 (Metrocentre 2012, Capital Shopping Centres 2012, Wood 2011, Capital Shopping Centres 2011). Apple’s presence can also be seen in Metrocenter’s lower red mall. The company sells its products and applications to its customers through its retail shop. Apple faces less competition in the shopping center since its major competitors, like Samsung, Microsoft, Dell, etc. are not present in the mall (Metrocentre 2012). Body shop is a world renowned fragrance seller and the company sells its products in different parts of the world. The company faces competition from other competitors like The Fragrance Shop (Metrocentre 2012). Barclays bank offers cash withdrawal facility to the customers who visit Metrocenter. There is only one ATM point placed by Barclays in the shopping mall in the Upper Red Mall. The bank is in direct competition with Lloyds TSB as it has also placed its ATM machine in the mall (Metrocentre 2012). Burger King, as the name suggests, is a burger expert which offers burgers in different varieties to its customers. Burger King is in direct competition with McDonald’s and KFC particularly. Moreover, it is in indirect competition with other restaurants operating in the mall. It is located in Lower Blue Mall (Metrocentre 2012). Cafà © Nova, which is engaged in the restaurant business, is also operating in the Metrocenter. The Cafà © provides different food items and beverages to its customers. The competition faced by the Cafà © is direct with other Cafà ©s situated in the mall. Cafà © Nova is located in Upper Green Mall (Metrocentre 2012). Claire’s offer accessories for women and children, which also include jewelry items for ladies. The retail outlet of Claire’s is situated at Lower Blue Mall in the Metrocenter. Claire’s is in competition with competitor like Pandora and others operating in the mall (Metrocentre 2012). Clarks is situated at Lower Red Mall in

Picassos Background And Life Experiences Essay Example for Free

Picassos Background And Life Experiences Essay Picasso was arguably the most influential artist of the twentieth century. He had some degree of influence in all styles of painting which were used during his time, and was known and respected by almost every art enthusiast on the face of the planet. Pablo Picasso, born Pablo Ruiz Picasso, came into the world on the 25th of October 1881 in the southern Spanish town of Malaga. Pablo was an artist from early in his life he was a child prodigy. He began his career as a classical painter. He painted things such as portraits and landscapes. But this style didnt satisfy Picasso, he was a free man and wanted to express himself and ultimately leave a lasting mark on art, as we know it. Picasso turned his attention to cubes. He invented Cubism a radical art form that used harsh lines and corners to display a picture instead of the usual soft curves. Picasso won a lot of fame for his Cubist paintings, but was criticized for it also. He designed and painted the drop curtain and some giant cubist figures for a ballet in 1917. When the audience saw the huge distorted images on stage, they were angry, they thought the ballet was a joke at their expense. Cubism lived on despite this. Other artists mimicked Picassos Cubism, and it took hold. Picasso had only just begun his one-man art revolution. In the late 1920s, Picasso fixed himself upon an even more revolutionary art form Surrealism. Surrealism emphasized the role of the unconscious mind in creative activity. Surrealists aimed at creating art from dream, visions, and irrational impulses. Their paintings shocked the world particularly Picassos it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. He took advantage of this fact and also the fact that he was extremely famous, to make a few political statements, statements that would go down in history. 1936 saw the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Fascist revolutionaries, led by Francisco Franco took hold of Spain and imposed a fascist dictatorship upon the country. Due to poor economic control and disregard for the people on the part of the Fascists, the country went through hell. The unemployment rate was phenomenal. The majority of the population were peasants and lived in appalling conditions. Impoverished gangs scavenged in fields and rubbish heaps for anything they could find. A vast horde of ragged, jobless people  wandered around from town to town. On top of this the Fascists operated as a police state and therefore anyone who opposed it would be executed. This incident sparked the most important time in Picassos life. On April 26 1937, Nazi German bombers flying under orders from General Francisco Franco, laid waste to the town of Guernica, in the Basque part of Spain, killing many innocent civilians. The bombing of Guernica was an extremely cruel example to the rest o f Spain of what would happen if the Republican resistance continued. This action prompted Picasso to paint Guernica; some say his greatest masterpiece ever. It shows the suffering and destruction of the town, as well as Picassos own horror and outrage at what happened. The painting depicts death and carnage on a large scale. A grief stricken mother is holding her dead child, a woman is burning, a severed arm holding a broken spear is lying next to a dead man and a horse, which represents the people, has been speared through the heart and is in agony. The bull stands alone, above everything else. The painting shook not only the art world but also the political world. Guernica is Picassos major political expression of all his paintings. Even though it is a single painting, it did so much. And even though it is painted using expressionism, it is still so powerful and it made people realize what was going on in Spain and struck up sympathy for the Spanish people, and hatred for the fascists. Even though Picasso only aimed to express his own horror, outrage, suffering and sorrow of the Spanish people. By unleashing Guernica on the world, Picasso achieved more than he set out to do. Guernica struck up mixed emotions. The Nazis thought of his work as degenerate art not only did it defy the rules of painting; his artwork was anti-Fascist and therefore anti-Nazi. On the other hand, the British, Americans, French etc. loved his work because it expressed, as nothing else could, the horrors and atrocities of Fascism. When Nazi occupation of Paris came, Picassos work was prohibited from public exhibition. Picasso then took on a new role. He refused to leave Paris while the Nazis were there his fame protected him. But Picassos refusal to co-operate with the Germans also made him, as a person, a symbol of freedom, of the unvanquished spirit After the war however, Picassos work was not  met entirely with open arms. In Paris, those still influenced by Nazi propaganda, violently protested against Picasso. But this wore off and Picasso went down in history as not only one of the greatest artists ever, but also a hero, and a figure of defiance against Fascism. Works Cited Page  ·Pablo Picasso: The Early Years. E-Library Article Preview. http://ask.elibrary.com  ·Picasso and Braque : pioneering cubism : [exhibition] Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 24, 1989-January 16, 1990.  ·The Artist and the Camera : Degas to Picasso, by Kosinski, Dorothy M.

Annexation Of Texas Essay -- Texas Independence

Thesis: The nine years of Texas’s independence were long and seemed to be dragged out. Were those nine years unnecessary and could it have been done in a shorter period of time? 13 October 1834 was the first revolutionary meeting of the American citizens who’d settled in Mexico, in the area soon to be known as Texas. The people attempted a movement that soon was laid to rest by the Mexican Congress. Attempts at independence were silenced for the time being and the elections of 1835 proceeded forward. With Santa Anna moving to control Mexico, and taxes increasing, Texans grew restless and rowdy. A Texan, William B. Travis and a small group of Texans attacked a squad of Mexican troops in Anahuac with the motive that â€Å"taxes should not thus be collected from them to support a standing army in their own country† (SOS 1) and soon drove them back. Travis retreated to San Felipe and were assisted to Bexar. Skirmishes and the threat of war with Mexico soon followed. Come 1835, the idea of independence was extremely popular within the territory of Texas. Assemblies were held in the later months of 1835 and soon the revolution had spread like wildfire. From the interior of Mexico, Stephen Austin returned with news from Santa Anna (the Mexican President) and stated Anna wanted nothing better than Texas’ prosperity and would promote the idea everywhere. Texans felt these words to be hollow, and rallied to the idea of independence and annexation to the United States. Within months, the nation was on the edge of war. With the smallest little spark enough to explode into chaos. Mexico saw the fire of revolution in the Texans and acted quickly. They soon sent spies in to observe the actions of the Texans and slowly started to move troop... ... pro or an antislavery state? It took nine dragged out years to be annexed to the US. So with the new US president James K. Polk being inaugurated in 1845 and one of his priorities being to claim texas, it seemed to set things in motion. 12 April 1844 was the Treaty of Texas’ Annexation into the United States of America. We take note that Texas was accepted into the â€Å"Union States† as an anti-slave state, as were all the territories annexed from the Mexican War. So finally, on 29 December 1846, the 29th Congress met and concluded in the Joint Resolution of Congress that the Republic of Texas was to be accepted as a new state in the United States under a republican government, equal to all of the original states before it and in every respect. Texas was entitled to two representatives in the House of Representatives until the government did a census of Texas’s people.

Placing Blame for the My Lai Massacre

â€Å"As you can appreciate, our Army is faced with a tremendous challenge here in Vietnam. Initially our soldiers were committed strictly in an advisory role, and as such the number required was relatively small. But now it has become necessary to commit more and more US troops to actual combat. It is necessary therefore that our training programs in the United States be oriented toward the type of fighting we are involved in today in this country† (Westmoreland). From 1959-1975, America was involved in a prolonged conflict to prevent the spread of communism.Opposing forces were attempting to unify Vietnam under a communist government. In 1954, at the Geneva conference, Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel, splitting the country into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam. Communist sympathizers in South Vietnam formed the Viet Cong to use guerilla warfare against their fellow South Vietnamese. Fighting among the Viet Cong and South Vietnamese continued. When the North Vietnamese fired directly into two US ships in March of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the first US ground troops to Vietnam.The original goal of US involvement in Vietnam was to aid the South’s defense until they could fight for themselves. As it turned out, this was not the outcome (Vietnam War). There are several questions surrounding the Vietnam War, many of which are still unanswered. For years, Americans have posed the following question: â€Å"Why did our soldiers attack hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese in the My Lai village in March 1968? † United States soldiers shot, beat, and burned innocent unarmed farmers, women, and children. Why was this allowed to happen?Anytime a country goes into war, brutality is expected; casualties are expected. But when this brutality and these casualties come at the expense of 400 innocent Vietnamese, we must ask why. Although most do not condone what happened on March 16, 1968, those soldiers cannot be held responsible for several reasons: the Vietnamese were treating the US soldiers in the same manner, Americans had dehumanized the Vietnamese people, soldiers were unsure of who exactly the enemy was, and the orders they received were vague, soldiers were unaware that they could question authority.The My Lai incident on March 16, 1968 was purely a â€Å"military crime of obedience† (Newman). American soldiers are accustomed to being treated poorly by the natives of an occupied country, but it still influenced the actions that occurred on March 16. Lieutenant William Calley testified about the violent, unnecessary assaults that South Vietnamese soldiers carried out. A radio operator was killed in the first Pinkville assault when â€Å"the bullet just took his entire kidney out,† Calley explained (Who is Responsible†¦). Six innocent Vietnamese women were gunned down on their way to the market by South Vietnamese police.After an assault that killed six men and left another wounded, Calley says that â€Å"it instilled a deeper form of hatred toward the enemy† (Who is Responsible†¦). These brutal acts all occurred at the hand of the people our soldiers thought they were helping. How can these nineteen year old soldiers be expected to react to these violent actions with anything other than more violence? Possibly due to the poor treatment of soldiers, Americans began to dehumanize the Vietnamese people. There are two qualities that make someone â€Å"human†, identity and community.The Vietnamese were simply not considered human beings anymore (Kelman and Hamilton). The American soldiers had come to believe that every man and every woman were Viet Cong and every child would grow up with Viet Cong ideals. Lieut. Calley wrote â€Å"I had no love for these people now. I did have a few weeks earlier, but it had been slowly driven out† (Sack 80). In the same work he says that a captain said to him: â€Å"I sit with my st arlight scope, and I see VC at this village every night. I could go home if I could eliminate it† (Sack 84).When all the South Vietnamese became Viet Cong instead of living, breathing, feeling people, soldiers no longer saw killing them as murder, but as a necessity. When veterans talk about Vietnam, they often talk about trying to find Charlie. Who is Charlie? Unfortunately, our soldiers did not know who this allusive Charlie was either. General W. C. Westmoreland, named by President Johnson to command all forces in Vietnam, knew his task was daunting. How could he root out and kill enemy forces when they could be any Vietnam citizen? Westmoreland says, in a letter to Lt. Col. Lewis L.Millet, â€Å"Here we have an enemy who operates covertly. The battlefield is everywhere-no front to it nor rear. The enemy is here today and fine tomorrow. He moves at night, concentrates, attacks, and then he disappears into the wilderness of a jungle or into the landscape when reaction force s are brought to bear† (Westmoreland, par 3. ) Here we have the commander of all US troops in Vietnam and he admits that they do not know who the enemy is. Twenty-year-old Bob Leahy writes home to his family and explains that when one is in a combat situation, a chance cannot be taken on whether or not a citizen is VC or not.If one waits to find out whether the civilian is armed or just an innocent bystander, it could be too late (Leahy, par 2. ) In addition to my last three points, the orders that the soldiers were issued were extremely vague. Kelman and Hamilton claim written orders were never issued (par 6). All orders were passed by word of mouth; by the time they had traveled through Barker, Medina, Calley and finally to the soldiers, the only message that was conveyed was this: the Son My area must be destroyed (Kelman and Hamilton, par 7). Soldiers were under the impression that only VC would be in that village.The Peers Report, mentioned in Kelman and Hamilton’s composition â€Å"The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,† said that it is â€Å"reasonable to conclude that LTC Barker’s minimal or nonexistent instructions concerning the handlings of noncombatants created the potential for grave misunderstandings† (par 7). These vague directions were destined to bring about poor results. Because of the ambiguity of the orders, our soldiers cannot be held responsible for the outcome of My Lai. In the time period of Vietnam, soldiers did not question their commander’s orders.It did not matter how absurd the orders were: they were carried out. Lt Calley explains, â€Å"For refusing in order in the face of the enemy, you could be sent to death† (â€Å"Who is Responsible†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). He also states that if he had known My Lai would turn out this way, he would have run from the draft and gone to jail instead (His Own Story, 85). Bob Leahy, in his letter home, says that if someone disobeyed orders, and My Lai was not released to the public, he would serve 5-10 years in Leavenworth Federal Prison for â€Å"cowardice in the face of the enemy or some trash like that† (par 7).As I have previously pointed out, the American forces were following orders when they went into the My Lai village of Son My and killed innocent civilians. Yes, the My Lai incident was a crime, but it was a military crime of obedience. Lieutenant Colonel Barker and his staff planned the Son My raid as a search and destroy mission. Captain Medina was briefed on vague orders and in turn told his men. Lieutenant Calley and other soldiers are not responsible for the events that transpired on March 16, 1968. But perhaps their leaders are.Obeying orders from a lieutenant colonel is not an offense or a crime-it is a custom. Although the My Lai massacre was a horrific event that occurred at the hand of American soldiers, they are not to blame. It was merely a crime of obedience, even though the orders were vague and the soldiers did not know that they could or should question orders. Americans had dehumanized the Vietnamese people, and were very angry. Bob Leahy uses the following analogy: â€Å"If you enrage and tease a lion, and then an innocent person comes along and pets the lion, the innocent person will be mauled† (War Letters, par 4).He says â€Å"This is war and I’ll give a news flash to everyone back in the states-they’re playing for keeps over here. You cannot ask a man to risk her own life and chance of going home in one piece for a Vietnamese civilian who might not have a weapon. Especially when, as in My Lai, they were told only enemy troops and their families lived in the village. It is asking too much† (par 5). Could there have been a different outcome that day? Maybe, maybe not. What was the one true cause of the My Lai massacre? Will we ever know?

Lebron James

Joe Matela Mullins Green/1 April 13, 2012 Rough Draft They inbound the ball, he takes it past mid-court with only 2 seconds left; he dribbles to the three-point line and somehow gets the shot off. It goes in! They win the hard-fought game by nailing the buzzer-beater; this is just one of the 17 game-winning shots that LeBron James has made in his short, eight-year career to give his team the lead in the final seconds of the game. LeBron James is just one of the many athletes that play the exciting game of American Basketball, a fast-paced sport that is extremely entertaining and viewed by an abundance of people through-out the globe.There have been, there are, and there will be many individuals who play the game of basketball very well; however, none will measure up against LeBron James. LeBron has been a great basketball player since the very beginning, perhaps the greatest. Some say that James was being scouted since he was in the sixth-grade. LeBron James, overcoming extreme pover ty in his early childhood, has always been viewed as one of the greatest basketball players since the very start of his career, leading his high school and two professional teams to the national championship multiple times.Basketball is a fast-paced sport in which there are two teams trying to outscore each other by throwing the basketball into the other teams hoop more times than their opponent, (Thompson 143). Basketball has developed drastically since it was invented over a century ago by a middle-school physical education teacher, (Safra 941). This sport originated in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891 by a PE teacher named James Naismith, (Safra 941). The goal was simple; outscore your opponent by making more shots than them, while at the same time, preventing the other team from scoring, (Safra 942).However, modern basketball consists mainly of enormous athletes performing flashy dunks, tough play in the post, and down-town shots for three points. Professional basketball consi sts of 4 twelve-minute quarters, whereas college consists of 2 twenty-minute halves. There are five people from each team on the court at once, therefore there are five positions. One of these five positions is called the, â€Å"Small Forward. † The Small Forward is responsible for scoring points by cutting to the basket and using dribble penetration, and on defense seeks rebounds and steals.There are few Small Forwards that preform at a high level of intensity every night; LeBron James is one of these elite few. LeBron James was, â€Å"born December 30th, 1984,† (â€Å"LeBron James† 1), in Akron, Ohio, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). At the time, the population in Akron was around 225,000 people, (Bissinger 7). â€Å"His mother, Gloria, gave birth to James when she was just 16 years old and became his biggest fan,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player†. Newsmakers 1). â€Å"He never knew his bio logical father, who was reputed to be a stellar street-basketball player,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. Newsmakers 1). The most stable male influence in his early life was his mom’s boyfriend, Eddie Jackson, who James sometimes refers to as his dad. However, in 2002, Eddie Jackson was sentenced to three years in prison for mail and mortgage fraud, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). James did not have an easy upbringing. His mother switched jobs and houses often. â€Å"By the time James was five years old, they had moved seven times,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1).He missed large stretches of elementary school and spent 18 months living with a foster family, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). â€Å"James’ basketball coach at the time, Frankie Walker, offered to school LeBron and give him a nice home until his mother Glo ria was able to afford to take care of him,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). During these tough times, LeBron formed an immense admiration towards his mother. During an Interview, James said, â€Å"My mother is my everything. Always has been.Always will be,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American†1). â€Å"Toward the end of elementary school, LeBron found a true stabilizing influence in his life: basketball,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). He first started playing basketball when he was about nine years old with a team called the Hornets at the Summit Lake Community Center (Bissinger 17). In 8th grade, LeBron joined an Amateur Athletic Union team called the, â€Å"Shooting Stars,† coached by Dru Joyce, a graduate from Ohio University, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1).Also on the team was Coach Dru’s son, nicknamed, â€Å"Little Dr u,† who would later become one of LeBron’s best friends (Bissinger 20). The Shooting Stars would continue on to win a handful of national tournament catching the attention of many recruiters. James’ and his team were later invited to a private Catholic school, St. Vincent- St. Mary high school in Akron, Ohio, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). Even Keith Dambrot put Coach Dru on the staff because of what he did with the, â€Å"Fab Four,† on the Shooting Stars, (Bissinger 72). LeBron made an instant impact as a high school player. â€Å"As a freshman, he led the St.Vincent- St. Mary Fighting Irish to a 27-0 record and the Ohio state basketball championship,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). Not only did he become the school’s star basketball player but he also played football for three years and maintained solid grades,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American 2). As a sophomore in football, he caught 42 passes for 840 yards and 11 touchdowns (Freedman 15). Such statistics ignite interest in college recruiters. In basketball, he was a team player, meaning, he spent as much time passing the ball to set someone else’s shot up as he did setting up his own shot.LeBron James was by far the best player on the team; he knew it, and so did his team. â€Å"They understood I was the best player on the team if we needed to get a point, but I still needed them to get the ball to me. They were adamant that this was a team, ‘You can’t do this without us, and we can’t do this without you. ’† (Bissinger 206). By his junior year, James had caught the attention of basketball fans across the country, (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 2). â€Å"In 2001, during the summer leading up to his junior year, James was invited to attend informal workouts at, ‘Hoops the Gym,’ where Michael Jordan trained,† (Free dman 29).Sports Illustrated put him on the cover of their magazine in 2002, making him the eighth high school basketball player to be on the cover in 48 years, (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 2). LeBron was also named, â€Å"High School Boys Basketball Player of the Year,† by Parade magazine after both his junior and senior year, (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 2). By the time he was a senior, his nickname was, â€Å"King James,† and they were making little LeBron James bobble-heads. â€Å"James considered declaring himself eligible for the draft as a junior, but he decided to finish high school and declared ligibility for the 2003 NBA draft,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 1). â€Å"St. Vincent- St. Mary’s basketball team won the Division III state championship three of the four years James attended the school: his freshman, sophomore, and senior year,† (Bissinger 120). During his high school career, he played in three total All -Star High School basketball games, (Freedman 55). Originally, the team with the worst record in the NBA got the first draft pick. When the NBA suspected teams of putting no effort into a nothing–to-lose season, they decided to create a lottery, (Freedman 54).The teams that did not make it into the playoffs got put on a ping pong ball and were randomly selected, thus, choosing the order of the draft, (Freedman 54). â€Å"In the 2002-2003 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers went 17-65, tying the Denver Nuggets. They were arguably the worst team in the NBA,† (Freedman 53). So it was no surprise to anyone when LeBron James was the number one draft pick, being drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers. â€Å"The Cavaliers viewed him as a savior to their franchise; the league greeted him as a marketing tool,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. Newsmakers 1). LeBron entered the league signing a 4-year contract for 12. 96 million dollars, (Freedman 67). In his firs t professional game, he scored 25 points, passed for 6 assists and gathered 6 rebounds against the Sacramento Kings, (Freedman 69). Needless to say, LeBron James made a major impact for his team in his rookie year. At the end of the season he was named, â€Å"Rookie of the Year in 2003,† (â€Å"LeBron James† 1). â€Å"Soon after his rookie season, James was issued an invitation to join the U. S. Olympic team for the games in Greece,† (Freedman 81).His first six years in the league, James had already led the Cavaliers to the Finals and earned MVP honors twice while winning the MVP award in the All-Star Game twice as well, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). â€Å"He has appeared in 627 regular season games and started 626 of those games, averaging 27. 7 points, 7. 1 rebounds, 1. 72 steals and 40. 1 minutes, great statistics by most basketball experts’ standards,† (â€Å"LeBron’ James† 1). He has won the, â€Å"Eastern Conference Player of the Week,† title a league record 31-times (â€Å"LeBron James†1). He is, unarguably, a great overall player of the game basketball. Lebron James Joe Matela Mullins Green/1 April 13, 2012 Rough Draft They inbound the ball, he takes it past mid-court with only 2 seconds left; he dribbles to the three-point line and somehow gets the shot off. It goes in! They win the hard-fought game by nailing the buzzer-beater; this is just one of the 17 game-winning shots that LeBron James has made in his short, eight-year career to give his team the lead in the final seconds of the game. LeBron James is just one of the many athletes that play the exciting game of American Basketball, a fast-paced sport that is extremely entertaining and viewed by an abundance of people through-out the globe.There have been, there are, and there will be many individuals who play the game of basketball very well; however, none will measure up against LeBron James. LeBron has been a great basketball player since the very beginning, perhaps the greatest. Some say that James was being scouted since he was in the sixth-grade. LeBron James, overcoming extreme pover ty in his early childhood, has always been viewed as one of the greatest basketball players since the very start of his career, leading his high school and two professional teams to the national championship multiple times.Basketball is a fast-paced sport in which there are two teams trying to outscore each other by throwing the basketball into the other teams hoop more times than their opponent, (Thompson 143). Basketball has developed drastically since it was invented over a century ago by a middle-school physical education teacher, (Safra 941). This sport originated in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891 by a PE teacher named James Naismith, (Safra 941). The goal was simple; outscore your opponent by making more shots than them, while at the same time, preventing the other team from scoring, (Safra 942).However, modern basketball consists mainly of enormous athletes performing flashy dunks, tough play in the post, and down-town shots for three points. Professional basketball consi sts of 4 twelve-minute quarters, whereas college consists of 2 twenty-minute halves. There are five people from each team on the court at once, therefore there are five positions. One of these five positions is called the, â€Å"Small Forward. † The Small Forward is responsible for scoring points by cutting to the basket and using dribble penetration, and on defense seeks rebounds and steals.There are few Small Forwards that preform at a high level of intensity every night; LeBron James is one of these elite few. LeBron James was, â€Å"born December 30th, 1984,† (â€Å"LeBron James† 1), in Akron, Ohio, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). At the time, the population in Akron was around 225,000 people, (Bissinger 7). â€Å"His mother, Gloria, gave birth to James when she was just 16 years old and became his biggest fan,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player†. Newsmakers 1). â€Å"He never knew his bio logical father, who was reputed to be a stellar street-basketball player,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. Newsmakers 1). The most stable male influence in his early life was his mom’s boyfriend, Eddie Jackson, who James sometimes refers to as his dad. However, in 2002, Eddie Jackson was sentenced to three years in prison for mail and mortgage fraud, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). James did not have an easy upbringing. His mother switched jobs and houses often. â€Å"By the time James was five years old, they had moved seven times,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1).He missed large stretches of elementary school and spent 18 months living with a foster family, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). â€Å"James’ basketball coach at the time, Frankie Walker, offered to school LeBron and give him a nice home until his mother Glo ria was able to afford to take care of him,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). During these tough times, LeBron formed an immense admiration towards his mother. During an Interview, James said, â€Å"My mother is my everything. Always has been.Always will be,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American†1). â€Å"Toward the end of elementary school, LeBron found a true stabilizing influence in his life: basketball,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). He first started playing basketball when he was about nine years old with a team called the Hornets at the Summit Lake Community Center (Bissinger 17). In 8th grade, LeBron joined an Amateur Athletic Union team called the, â€Å"Shooting Stars,† coached by Dru Joyce, a graduate from Ohio University, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1).Also on the team was Coach Dru’s son, nicknamed, â€Å"Little Dr u,† who would later become one of LeBron’s best friends (Bissinger 20). The Shooting Stars would continue on to win a handful of national tournament catching the attention of many recruiters. James’ and his team were later invited to a private Catholic school, St. Vincent- St. Mary high school in Akron, Ohio, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). Even Keith Dambrot put Coach Dru on the staff because of what he did with the, â€Å"Fab Four,† on the Shooting Stars, (Bissinger 72). LeBron made an instant impact as a high school player. â€Å"As a freshman, he led the St.Vincent- St. Mary Fighting Irish to a 27-0 record and the Ohio state basketball championship,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). Not only did he become the school’s star basketball player but he also played football for three years and maintained solid grades,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American 2). As a sophomore in football, he caught 42 passes for 840 yards and 11 touchdowns (Freedman 15). Such statistics ignite interest in college recruiters. In basketball, he was a team player, meaning, he spent as much time passing the ball to set someone else’s shot up as he did setting up his own shot.LeBron James was by far the best player on the team; he knew it, and so did his team. â€Å"They understood I was the best player on the team if we needed to get a point, but I still needed them to get the ball to me. They were adamant that this was a team, ‘You can’t do this without us, and we can’t do this without you. ’† (Bissinger 206). By his junior year, James had caught the attention of basketball fans across the country, (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 2). â€Å"In 2001, during the summer leading up to his junior year, James was invited to attend informal workouts at, ‘Hoops the Gym,’ where Michael Jordan trained,† (Free dman 29).Sports Illustrated put him on the cover of their magazine in 2002, making him the eighth high school basketball player to be on the cover in 48 years, (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 2). LeBron was also named, â€Å"High School Boys Basketball Player of the Year,† by Parade magazine after both his junior and senior year, (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 2). By the time he was a senior, his nickname was, â€Å"King James,† and they were making little LeBron James bobble-heads. â€Å"James considered declaring himself eligible for the draft as a junior, but he decided to finish high school and declared ligibility for the 2003 NBA draft,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American† 1). â€Å"St. Vincent- St. Mary’s basketball team won the Division III state championship three of the four years James attended the school: his freshman, sophomore, and senior year,† (Bissinger 120). During his high school career, he played in three total All -Star High School basketball games, (Freedman 55). Originally, the team with the worst record in the NBA got the first draft pick. When the NBA suspected teams of putting no effort into a nothing–to-lose season, they decided to create a lottery, (Freedman 54).The teams that did not make it into the playoffs got put on a ping pong ball and were randomly selected, thus, choosing the order of the draft, (Freedman 54). â€Å"In the 2002-2003 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers went 17-65, tying the Denver Nuggets. They were arguably the worst team in the NBA,† (Freedman 53). So it was no surprise to anyone when LeBron James was the number one draft pick, being drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers. â€Å"The Cavaliers viewed him as a savior to their franchise; the league greeted him as a marketing tool,† (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. Newsmakers 1). LeBron entered the league signing a 4-year contract for 12. 96 million dollars, (Freedman 67). In his firs t professional game, he scored 25 points, passed for 6 assists and gathered 6 rebounds against the Sacramento Kings, (Freedman 69). Needless to say, LeBron James made a major impact for his team in his rookie year. At the end of the season he was named, â€Å"Rookie of the Year in 2003,† (â€Å"LeBron James† 1). â€Å"Soon after his rookie season, James was issued an invitation to join the U. S. Olympic team for the games in Greece,† (Freedman 81).His first six years in the league, James had already led the Cavaliers to the Finals and earned MVP honors twice while winning the MVP award in the All-Star Game twice as well, (â€Å"LeBron James: American Basketball player. † Newsmakers 1). â€Å"He has appeared in 627 regular season games and started 626 of those games, averaging 27. 7 points, 7. 1 rebounds, 1. 72 steals and 40. 1 minutes, great statistics by most basketball experts’ standards,† (â€Å"LeBron’ James† 1). He has won the, â€Å"Eastern Conference Player of the Week,† title a league record 31-times (â€Å"LeBron James†1). He is, unarguably, a great overall player of the game basketball.

Free Essays on English As America’s Official Language

English As America’s Official Language It’s hard to imagine that one of the highest powers of the world doesn’t even have an official language. Believe it or not, this nation is the United States of America. With the United States being in the top five for population, and the large cultural and ethnic diversity that America is facing, I believe that there should be one language for all the citizens in a limited manner. This will enhance people’s lifestyles and simplify legal matters a great deal. I believe that the passage of English as the official language will help to expand opportunities for immigrants to learn and speak English, the single greatest tool that immigrants must have to succeed. At the time of the nation's founding, it was commonplace to hear as many as 20 languages spoken in daily life, including Dutch, French, German and numerous Native American languages. Even the Articles of Confederation were printed in German, as well as English. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the nation's linguistic diversity grew as successive waves of Europeans immigrated to these shores and U.S. territory expanded to include Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines. The debate over establishing a national language dates back to the country's beginnings. John Adams proposed to the Continental Congress in 1780 that an official academy be created to "purify, develop, and dictate usage of," English. His proposal, however, was rejected. It’s hard to say which language should be the dominant one in our country. With the wide variety of languages spoken in America, there definitely should be one language for the entire country. I think that this language should be base d on the great people who fought for our country’s freedom and be made English. In the early 1980s, again during a period of concern about new immigration, a movement arose that seeks the establishment of English as the nation's official language. The... Free Essays on English As America’s Official Language Free Essays on English As America’s Official Language English As America’s Official Language It’s hard to imagine that one of the highest powers of the world doesn’t even have an official language. Believe it or not, this nation is the United States of America. With the United States being in the top five for population, and the large cultural and ethnic diversity that America is facing, I believe that there should be one language for all the citizens in a limited manner. This will enhance people’s lifestyles and simplify legal matters a great deal. I believe that the passage of English as the official language will help to expand opportunities for immigrants to learn and speak English, the single greatest tool that immigrants must have to succeed. At the time of the nation's founding, it was commonplace to hear as many as 20 languages spoken in daily life, including Dutch, French, German and numerous Native American languages. Even the Articles of Confederation were printed in German, as well as English. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the nation's linguistic diversity grew as successive waves of Europeans immigrated to these shores and U.S. territory expanded to include Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines. The debate over establishing a national language dates back to the country's beginnings. John Adams proposed to the Continental Congress in 1780 that an official academy be created to "purify, develop, and dictate usage of," English. His proposal, however, was rejected. It’s hard to say which language should be the dominant one in our country. With the wide variety of languages spoken in America, there definitely should be one language for the entire country. I think that this language should be base d on the great people who fought for our country’s freedom and be made English. In the early 1980s, again during a period of concern about new immigration, a movement arose that seeks the establishment of English as the nation's official language. The...

Overpopulation in China and India Essays

Overpopulation in China and India Essays Overpopulation in China and India Paper Overpopulation in China and India Paper Some of the policies created by China and India have shown to be very effective in repressing the growth of the population while others barely make a difference. Differing Ideas and approaches to enforcement have produced different effects which, ultimately, help people know whose policy is more effective. Chinas One-Child policy has proven to be more successful than Indians policies because the when the policys enactment, paired with strict enforcement, brought about beneficial effects. When India gained its independence from England in 1947, their economy Egan to improve and the country started to establish their authority in the world. In addition, their population started to grow at a more rapid pace. India had old traditions embedded in their culture. Traditions like child marriage, early pregnancy and having many children lead to uncontrolled increase in population. In 1952, when the government finally saw how scarce their resources had become, the National Population Policy became the first official step towards control over population growth (India Population and). It sought to address the need for contraception, healthcare infrastructure and o provide basic reproductive and child health care to its people. However, India was not rigid in implementing its policies. They took a milder approach in controlling the population by integrating family planning with general health care. The policies helped spread the word of the importance of having less children but it did not help reduce birth rates. In response to further reduce birth rates, more programs and policies were enacted. By 1975, population control became a regularly taught subject in school curriculums. Also, financial rewards were given to couples who refrained from having hillier for n;v0 years. Despite these attempts, none made a huge impact on the countrys increasing population. The government was able to inform couples the importance of having fewer children which caused a minor drop in birth rates, but not a significant one. The policy could be effective; because the policy was lenient and unforced, citizens would be more open to following it. At the same time, though, the flexibility will cause people to not take the policy seriously, resulting in no decrease in birth rates. Like India, China also faced a decreasing amount of resources with the rapidly increasing population. In 1 956, China took action to suppress a rapidly growing population with the use of propaganda. They soon realized that it made very little impact. After many attempts and failures, the government enacted the One-Child Policy law in 1 979 (Worded). This law stated that each family could only have one child except those with special circumstances (Worded). The program was a sophisticated system which rewarded those who observed the policy and penalized those who did not (Worded). If a family did not follow the One-Child Policy, they could receive a high fine, some amounting P to six times a couples annual income (Worth). Forced abortions and sterilization was common in women who did not obey the law (China steps). Those who adopted the law received special benefits. If a family agreed to have only one child, they received $72, a fortune for the Chinese people, after they turned 60 (China Rewards). China, as a result of their strife, has prevented around 400 million babies from being born, a successful feat for the overpopulated country (Retell). China has seen healthy economical growth which might not have happened if the population had been inappropriately larger. Thanks to the policy, other negative effects of overpopulation were thwarted and did not create a major impact to the society. Even with these benefits, there remain downfalls. A new dilemma has arisen named the 4-2-1 problem, which states that since a daughter or son in a family will be an only child, that one child must care for their two parents and their four grandparents when they are too old (Hester). Also, an even graver situation looms over China. Because the Chinese prefer boy children, the One-Child Policy means some couples may only get a female child. The overspent allows couples to have a second child if their first is a girl, but there are no third tries, even if the second is a girl as well (Worded). Many families, upset with their female child, have resorted to condemning their newborns to orphanages, abandoning them or even killing them. Because of the persecution of the female children, there are a smaller percentage of female children to male children (Fitzpatrick). The One-Child Policys strictness has been very beneficial to China in that it has prevented millions of births from occurring and helped in the countrys fight against pollution. However, the stern enforcement and punishment has led to couples abandoning and killing their babies and possible dilemmas for the future generations. In comparison, Chinas policy is clearly more effective than India in controlling their population. While Indians policy is mild, modest and not enforced, Chinas policy is strict and rigid. Indians policies make the citizens less likely to oppose the idea, but that same reason causes them to not think much of the rule, resulting in no birth rate decline. China, on the other hand, treats their policy much like a law. This makes the policy much more difficult to bypass. The rule may have brought upon some dilemmas, but even so, it has resulted in positive effects. Because of diligent enforcement, Chinas One-Child Policy has been more effective than Indians policies. It is projected that in 2030, India will surpass Chinas population. The projected population in India is 1. 53 billion and 1. 45 billion in China, which will be the countrys climax population. It is important to note however, that despite the efforts of both countries, China is still seeing a continued increase in birth rates but at a less paid pace compared to India.