My Grandmother Essay -- Creative Writing Personal Narrative Essays

My Grandmother My grandma has a bobcat. It lives on her roof. She’s called the police twice; they told her that bobcats don’t live in her climate. I imagine the police at the station rolling their eyes, groaning to their colleagues that Gloria from Cherrywood Lane is calling again. Or maybe they put her on speakerphone so everyone can laugh. So Grandmother called my mom to say that a bobcat lives on her roof. My mother asked her â€Å"Do you really think it’s a bobcat?† â€Å"No† my grandmother said, â€Å"It might be a lynx.† My grandmother is a four-foot tall, three-foot wide Jewish woman with long white hair. She wears flea market jewelry to the point of capacity. Her arms are several pounds heavier than need be because of the twenty or so gold bracelets she wears around her wrist. I live in awe of the fact that her body has not separated from her head due to the gigantic golden bust of a sphinx she wears around her neck. She smokes Moore cigarettes, lighting one off of another. My grandmother is strange. She’s what prudent people call a â€Å"character† and blunt people call a â€Å"nut job†. For one thing, her house is filled with stuffed animals. I don’t mean that she has a lot of stuffed animals. I mean that her house is full of stuffed animals the way that a body is full of organs. There are no places to sit. There are no surfaces on which to eat. She names them, she dresses them - her house is FULL of stuffed animals. My mom and I used to eat there every other Sunday. In addition to the animals, my grandma collects cuckoo clocks. There are several in each room but none accurately tell the time. We would shout to her over the constant and cacophonous chiming and gonging. Our voices had to travel not just ... ...onder, though, about the breakdown of our unit. Is it better for my mother to entertain my grandmother’s stories purely out of a sense of duty? Or is it okay to write someone off, even a family member, who doesn’t contribute happiness to your life? Do you have to love someone because they gave birth to you? After all, my grandmother has certainly caused my mom a great deal of heartache. I don’t know the answer. In light of my grandmother’s craziness I can only be thankful for my mother. Were she to imagine the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man on her roof I would be on the next plane home. I’d build a proton pack out of cardboard and sit with her and comfort her until he went away. I’d dine with her in the living room, eating with my back turned to her so she’d still be comfortable. I’d help her name her stuffed animals and wind her clocks so they all chimed at once.

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee Essay -- Literary Analysis

Report on the Novel: DISGRACE by J. M. Coetzee For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well. On Thursday afternoons he drives to Green Point. Punctually at two pm. He presses the buzzer at the entrance to Windsor Mansions, speaks his name, and enters. Waiting for him at the door of No. 113 is Soraya. This weekly rendezvous with a prostitute is the closet thing to a personal and intimate relationship Professor David Lurie has. J. M. Coetzee' novel, "Disgrace," takes place in post-apartheid South Africa. The times swing chaotically in the great upheaval as South Africa's political power arm swings from a white ruling minority, to black majority rule. The power shift is anything but smooth; victims become victors and, likewise, oppressors become the oppressed. As the story opens, Croetzee's main character , David Lurie lives in Cape Town, South Africa, as a respected university professor. He lives a life of sexually fulfilled non-commitment relationships, misusing his authority and good standing in the community to fulfilling his sexual desires, with or without the permission of the women, he targets for seduction. He was born and raised as a member of the white minority, that ruled South Africa for decades during the apartheid era. He has not tempered his apartheid attitude, nor, changed his ways to adjust to the new South African post-apartheid era. He acts on his sexual desires and deems he answers to no man for what he does. Thus far, David Lurie's role in life has seen only a fleeting few personal relationships that were not lasting for any length of time. He has solely existed to pursue sex without any conscience regard, evening seducing yo... ...o Petrus, and agrees Petrus can publicly claim her as one of his wives. Lucy tells Lurie, the young rapist has returned, and he is Petrus' brother-in-law. Soon they both agree the young rapist is mentally retarded. As the book come to the last page – Lurie is at the shelter, and with tears in his eyes – he is carrying a dog he has formed an attachment to be put to sleep. SOURCES, other than the novel: â€Å"DISGRACE.† Ruman, Md. Abdul Karim Ruman. "Is Disgrace Justified?: Psychological, Ethical and Political Significance of the Title in J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace." web: http://www.articlesbase.com/literature-articles/is-disgrace-justified-psychological-ethical-and-political-significance-of-the-title-in-jm-coetzees-disgrace-2599298.html. Posted: Jun 10, 2010 wikipedia: web page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)

Agriculture in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a primarily agrarian economy. Agriculture is the single largest producing sector of the economy since it comprises about 18. 6% (data released on November, 2010) of the country's GDP and employs around 45% of the total labor force. [1] The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security. A plurality of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Although rice and jute are the primary crops, wheat is assuming greater importance.Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladesh's fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavorable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more eff icient use of fertilizers, and the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks.With 35. 8 million metric tons produced in 2000, rice is Bangladesh's principal crop. National sales of the classes of insecticide used on rice, including granular carbofuran, synthetic pyrethroids, and malathion exceeded 13,000 tons of formulated product in 2003. [2][3] The insecticides not only represent an environmental threat, but are a significant expenditure to poor rice farmers. The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is working with various NGOs and international organizations to reduce insecticide use in rice. [4] In comparison to rice, wheat output in 1999 was 1. 9 million metric tons.Population pressure continues to place a severe burden on productive capacity, creating a food deficit, especially of wheat. Foreign assistance and commercial imports fill the gap. Underemployment remains a serious problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh's agricultural sector will be its abi lity to absorb additional manpower. Finding alternative sources of employment will continue to be a daunting problem for future governments, particularly with the increasing numbers of landless peasants who already account for about half the rural labor force. Food cropsAlthough rice and jute are the primary crops, maize and vegetables are assuming greater importance. [5] Due to the expansion of irrigation networks, some wheat producers have switched to cultivation of maize which is used mostly as poultry feed. [5] Tea is grown in the northeast. [5] Because of Bangladesh's fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. [5] Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavorable weather conditions.These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more efficient use of fertilizers, and the establishment of bette r distribution and rural credit networks. [5] With 28. 8 million metric tons produced in 2005-2006 (July–June), rice is Bangladesh's principal crop. [5] By comparison, wheat output in 2005-2006 was 9 million metric tons. [5] Population pressure continues to place a severe burden on productive capacity, creating a food deficit, especially of wheat. [5] Foreign assistance and commercial imports fill the gap.Underemployment remains a serious problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh's agricultural sector will be its ability to absorb additional manpower. [5] Bangladesh is the fourth largest rice [6] producing country in the world. National sales of the classes of insecticide used on rice, including granular carbofuran, synthetic pyrethroids, and malathion exceeded 13,000 tons of formulated product in 2003 [1] [2]. The insecticides not only represent an environmental threat, but are a significant expenditure to poor rice farmers.The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is worki ng with various NGOs and international organizations to reduce insecticide use in rice [3]. Wheat is not a traditional crop in Bangladesh, and in the late 1980s little was consumed in rural areas. During the 1960s and early 1970s, however, it was the only commodity for which local consumption increased because external food aid was most often provided in the form of wheat. In the first half of the 1980s, domestic wheat production rose to more than 1 million tons per year but was still only 7 to 9 percent of total food grain production. Record production of nearly 1.5 million tons was achieved in FY 1985, but the following year saw a decrease to just over 1 million tons. About half the wheat is grown on irrigated land. The proportion of land devoted to wheat remained essentially unchanged between 1980 and 1986, at a little less than 6 percent of total planted area. Wheat also accounts for the great bulk of imported food grains, exceeding 1 million tons annually and going higher than 1. 8 million tons in FY 1984, FY 1985, and FY 1987. The great bulk of the imported wheat is financed under aid programs of the United States, the European Economic Community, and the World Food Programme.Food grains are cultivated primarily for subsistence. Only a small percentage of total production makes its way into commercial channels. Other Bangladeshi food crops, however, are grown chiefly for the domestic market. They include potatoes and sweet potatoes, with a combined record production of 1. 9 million tons in FY 1984; oilseeds, with an annual average production of 250,000 tons; and fruits such as bananas, jackfruit, mangoes, and pineapples. Estimates of sugarcane production put annual production at more than 7 million tons per year, most of it processed into a coarse, unrefined sugar known as gur, and sold domestically.

Unleashing India’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Potential

Unleashing India’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Potential India has been one of the best performers in the world economy in recent years. Indian economy has been one of the stars of global economics growing 9. 6% in 2006 and 9. 2% in 2007. Growth had been supported by market reforms, capital inflows of FDI, rising foreign exchange reserves, both an IT and real estate boom, and a flourishing capital market. Like rest of the world, however, India is also facing testing economic times (economic recessesion) with inflation running at 11%, the highest level seen in a decade . The Indian stock market has fallen more than 40% in six months from its January 2008 high. $6 billion of foreign funds have flowed out of the country in that period, reacting both to slowdown in economic growth and perceptions that the market was over-valued. It’s high time we recognize the growing significance and visible impact of Entrepreneurship and innovation on wealth-creation and employment-generation in India. INNOVATON: Innovation is a process to achieve measurable value enhancement in any commercial activity, through introduction of new or improved goods, services, operational and organizational processes. It is a significant factor in fostering competitiveness, improvement in market share and quality. It reduces costs . Innovation is a key driver of economic growth. It is both creation, commercialization of new knowledge and diffusion and absorption of existing knowledge in new locations. Growth, accompanied by innovations, has been associated with rising living standards and a reduced number of poor people. India is increasingly becoming a top global innovator for high-tech products and services. Still, the country is under performing compared to its innovation potential which has direct implications for long-term industrial competitiveness and economic growth. About 90 % of Indian workforce is employed in the informal sector. This sector is often characterized by underemployment, low-productivity and low-skill activities. Although India has the benefit of a dynamic young population , with more than half of the country’s population under 25 years old, only 17 percent of people in their id-20s and older have a secondary education. To uphold rapid growth and help alleviate poverty, India needs to aggressively exploit its innovation potential, relying on innovation-led, rapid and inclusive growth to achieve economic & social transformation . According to one of the findings the output of economy could increase more than five folds if each enterprise could absorb knowledge existing in India and achieve the level of productivity of top enterprises in their sector. By applying knowledge in new ways to production processes, better and new products can be produced with the same or fewer inputs to meet the needs of all sections of Indian society. The very popular â€Å"Dabbawala† system is an innovative business process which allows 4,500–5,000 semiliterate Dabbawalas to deliver almost 200,000 lunches to workers every day in Mumbai. The Dabbawalas reportedly make one mistake per 6 million deliveries. So remarkable is this delivery network that international business schools have studied the work flows of the Dabbawala system to understand the key to its stellar performance rating. To unleash its innovation potential, India needs to develop following strategies: > > Increasing level of competition to improve the investment climate, supported by stronger skills, better information infrastructure and more public and private finance. Recommended actions to raise competition include removing regulations which are not essential and applying essential ones more transparently in product, land, labor, capital, and infrastructure services markets—for example, easing limits on small industries, restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) etc. Limited skills and training are a major bottleneck. Only 16 percent of Indian manufacturing firms offer in-service training, compared with 92 percent in China . The Indian firms that provide in-service training are 23–28 percent more productive than those that do not. This bottleneck could be overcome (i) by providing public matching funds for firms to invest in training and (ii) increasing the fiscal and managerial autonomy of universities and colleges, and increasing private participation in higher education. Better information flows are needed: high-speed national research and education networks accelerate the pace of new discoveries and the expansion of knowledge. Information-related actions could include expediting the allocation of radio and wireless broadband spectrums, increasing targeted subsidies for rolling out rural mobile and broadband, and agreeing on an organizational structure to deploy and manage a national research and education network. gt;> India can benefi t from supporting efforts to create and commercialize knowledge, help in diffusing existing global and local knowledge and by increasing the capacity of smaller enterprises to engross it. Private enterprises need to increase R&D spending. Between 1998 and 2003, multinational corporations spent $1. 3 billion on R&D in India—showing that its valuable assets could be exploited more effectively. Measures to spur private R&D could include consolidating and expanding early-stage technology development programs as well as developing a policy and action plan to use public procurement to promote innovation. New domestic knowledge needs to be converted to commercial use. Of the top50 applicants for patents in India between 1995 and 2005, 44 were foreign firms. Only six were Indian. Actions to promote commercialization and strengthen links among industry, universities and public laboratories could include providing support to technology transfer offices, creating a patent management corporation, developing technology parks and incubators and improving India’s regime for intellectual property rights. India should also consider enhancing support for higher-risk technology R&D and commercialization by strengthening its New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative and by opening the program to international collaboration and giving grants to both research institutions and private enterprises, with sharing of any resulting royalties. The Diaspora needs to be tapped more effectively. About 20 million people i. e. 2 percent India’s population earn the equivalent of two-third of India’s GDP. Steps to tap more efficiently tap India’s overseas talent could include supporting a larger Diaspora network, building on existing groups that aggregate this population’s (NRIs’) talent and capital for use in India. >> India would benefit from fostering more inclusive innovation—by promoting more formal R&D efforts for poor people and more creative proletariat efforts by them, by improving the ability of informal enterprises to exploit existing knowledge. Inclusive innovation can play a critical role in lowering the costs of goods and services and in creating income-earning opportunities for poor people. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has developed technology applications for rural India, university and formal private initiatives e. g. e-Choupal. To leverage traditional knowledge into revenue, a policy-oriented intellectual property rights think tank could propose how to implement a cheaper intellectual property regime. Finally, successful technology upgrading programs could be extended to help informal and rural enterprises make better use of existing knowledge. ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Entrepreneurship represents a mindset. It is the skill of finding creative, innovative and profitable solutions to problems and to be paradigm pliant. An entrepreneur is someone who assumes the financial risk of the initiation, operation and management of a business. They aren't generally high-risk takers when they can't affect the outcome of the situation. They tend to set realistic and achievable goals, and when they do take risks, they're usually calculated ones based on facts and experience, rather than instincts. Entrepreneurs are participants not observers, players not fans. And to be an entrepreneur is to be an optimist, to believe that with the right amount of time and resources, you can do anything. Why is the US more prosperous than India? Is it because we Indians are less smart than Americans? No, Indians are universally known for their intelligence. Is it because they have greater resources? No, India is as much if not more rich in natural resources. Then, why is the US more prosperous than India? The US is more prosperous simply because they have more entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have a big role to play in driving India’s growth. With a slower economy, it is vital that government; academic world and regulatory bodies create a favourable environment for entrepreneurs to flourish. Entrepreneurship is a critical element of a growth economy and India is poised to unlock a Silicon Valley like entrepreneurial boom through the next 10 years. If India needs to eradicate poverty, we have to grow. To grow, we have to employ the unemployed. NASSCOM and CII have estimated that if India wants to be a developed country by 2020, it needs to create 10 million jobs. The million-dollar question is how these jobs are going to be created. Neither the Army nor the police force can soak up such a large number, nor can the Railways or the government. They can only be engrossed by the private sector. The industrial set-up is expanding, but not at the rate that can employ such large numbers. Is there any solution to this grave problem? Fortunately, YES, the answer is entrepreneurship. As per TiE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs- a non-profit organization, promoting entrepreneurship) each entrepreneur creates 30 jobs. An entrepreneur creates jobs, setting stage for a flourishing economy. Over 30% of Microsoft employees are Indians. The NASA relies on Indian brains for its various missions. IIT graduates are considered the worlds brightest. Why do these people flock to the US, simply because the US has more opportunities? What can we do to stop this self-ruining brain drain? The answer lies in promoting entrepreneurship. The beginnings are already in place, steps have been taken in the right direction. There is an overall shortage of start-up entrepreneurs in India compared to the rest of the world. One of the most significant deficiencies an Indian entrepreneur may face revolves around capital. Although there is ample willingness to invest capital in a well-established enterprise, there is little willingness to fund start-ups. The quality and quantity of venture capital in India is low. The benefits of entrepreneurship to the society and the economy as a whole are enormous. Entrepreneurship helps in avoidance of monopolies and cartels and help in checking large corporations and MNCs. Entrepreneurs realize the tremendous demand for goods abroad and help to market the surplus. This will make the Indian market export competitive and at the same time, the MADE IN INIDIA brand more acceptable. The surplus footstock which would have been otherwise rotting in the government storehouse, can be exported, thus earning foreign exchange. The government gets rid of the excess stock while the exporter earns revenue, leading to a win-win situation. An important factor influencing FDI, from developed nations to developing nations is the concentration of entrepreneurship. FDI is directly proportional to entrepreneurship. The highest contributor of FDI is the US. The US readily welcomes Indian exports and also lists Indian companies on American exchanges. No wonder NASDAQ rocks on the beats of Infosys Chairman, NR Narayan Murthy. So, the message is clear; we need more entrepreneurs. It is high time, the government realizes that only and only ntrepreneurship can help it grow at the high rate and rethinks its policies. To unleash its entrepreneurship potential, India needs to develop the following strategies Nurture early stage entrepreneurial ventures based on technology and innovation. Create physical infrastructure and support systems necessary for business incubation activities. Facilitate networking with professional resources that include mentors, experts, consultants and advisors for the incubated companies. Identify technologies/ innovations which have potential for commercial ventures. Promote and foster the spirit of entrepreneurship. Carry out activities that facilitate knowledge creation, innovation and entrepreneurship activities.

The rights-based approach and carbon taxes in Australia Assignment

The rights-based approach and carbon taxes in Australia - Assignment Example The concept finds its roots in the United Nations, and is predicated on the theory that â€Å"human rights determine the relationship between individuals and groups with valid claims (rightsholders) and State and non-state actors with correlative obligations (duty-bearers).† (UNICEF, 2004: 92). Its adoption by the United Nations as the framework by which its pursues its interventions is significant, in that it heralds a shift from a needs-based approach, i.e., looking at what people need, to looking at what people have an absolute inalienable right to, by virtue of being human. (Alston, 2003: 7). A rights-based approach imposes a duty on the State to uphold this right as a function of the social contract, whereas a â€Å"need-based† approach may not necessarily so. Central therefore to the RBA is the re-emergence of the state and governance as a central element in development (Baxi, 2005: 2), through a focus on the interrelation between the state and its citizens in ter ms of duties and rights. (Boesen and Martin, 2007: 9). We now proceed to looking at the carbon tax issue, a controversial issue that has been the subject of much controversy and debate in Australia. The carbon tax is basically a levy that the government intends to impose on corporations that release carbon into the atmosphere. According to Nielson (2010: 7), â€Å"in theory, environmentally related taxes should be set at a level equal to the external environmental cost of a particular product or activity.† Essentially, this means that the cost to the environment is computed into the cost of manufacturing a commodity so as to create disincentives for â€Å"dirty companies† using environmentally-unsustainable technologies.... The RBA presupposes a social contract between the rights claim-holders and the state that has a duty to uphold these rights. Amartya Sen (1999) is a key thinker in this philosophy of â€Å"entitlements† – human beings have inalienable rights to demand from the state all that he or she needs to be enhance his or her capabilities. In a sense, the RBA places a special bias on the poor and the marginalized, upon the recognition that it is them whose rights are the most vulnerable. To quote, â€Å"The underlying structural, social and political drivers of poverty, vulnerability and inequality have to be addressed in the context of a broad development strategy, in which social protection plays an important part. (van Ginneken, 2011: 3). What does this have to do with carbon taxes? The obligation of the state in this case is the obligation to maintain and promote a clean and healthy environment for its constituents. Study after study have demonstrated that climate change will affect the poor and the ordinary wage-earners the most (see for example, McGuigan, et. al., 2002) and hence, the state has a duty to protect them and ensure the sustainability of the environment and the availability of natural resources for generations to come. The rate of pollution being emitted in the atmosphere has debilitating effects on water sanitation, agriculture, etc. When resources are scarce, the prices of the resources or the commodities made from these resources jack up – and these fluctuations in prices affect the most vulnerable in society. Hence, there is no denying that ordinary people are compromised the most by climate change – ordinary people who have inalienable rights to live healthily and raise their

To what extent is US policy in the Gulf region driven primarily by Dissertation

To what extent is US policy in the Gulf region driven primarily by energy needs - Dissertation Example Retrieved from, http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2011/01/21/old-lobbies-prevent-new-energy-policies/ Teixeira, R, 2010. Public Opinion Snapshot: Public turns against offshore drilling. Centre for American progress, retrieved from, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/snapshot062810.html The Progress Report, 2010. Big giveaways to big Oil. Retrieved from, http://www.barbrastreisand.com/us/article/big-giveaways-big-oil Weiss, D. September 2010. GOP â€Å"Pledge to America† is an oath to Big Oil- written by a former EXXon lobbysist. ClimateProgress. Retrieved from, http://climateprogress.org/2010/09/23/gop-pledge-to-america-big-oil-exxon-lobbyist-brian-wild/ Literature review summary: With approximately 70 % of the global oil reserves located in the Middle Eastern regions, which includes Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, these group of countries have formed the group of leading exporters of oil, especially in the post WWII era. Sampson, (1975) and Tanzer (1974), into their books gives us detailed insight into the pre WWII era when the oilfields were in the hands of the colonels British empire, and how slowly US took over after emerging as the chief power during the WWII. Tanzer in his book especially traces the rise of US as the main global power, the rise of strong oil companies and the formation of the famous US oil lobby, and it’s taking control over the European oil trade market. Kinzer, (2008) in his book traces the interference of US oil lobby in Iran internal politics during the 1950s to bring in the Shah of Iran (pro-US) as the head of the country, so that the oil fields would be effectively under the control of the US oil firms. Klare 2001, in his book traces the rise in strength of the US oil firms and the beginning of USA’s relentless drive to gain global energy supremacy. Cordesman (1999) gives us detailed insight into US’s ever-increasing oil consumption rate, and the governmentâ⠂¬â„¢s unceasing drive to gain energy security, which drove the US oil companies and the government to attempt to bring all the oil rich countries under their control. These books show us how US created Saudi Arabia and established its control over the oilfields, while Iraq managed to give the western countries the slip by nationalising their oil fields, which finally led to the 2003 war with Iraq. Bennett, et al. (2007), Sepehri (2002), Kay (2001) in their articles give us an insight into the true nature of the 1991 and 2003 Iraq war and the actual reason behind this war. They show very clearly, as what were conditions that ultimately led to the 2003 war, and established clear links oil firms and the Bush regime. Phillip, 2003, very categorically shows in his paper the actual nature of the war and how the oil lobbyists stood to gain from the2003 war, while various news articles in BBC, Times, and CNN also shows strong link between US oil firms, US government, US foreign polices and the US-Iraq war in 2003. Articles by Lee (2005); Weiss (2010) and Paolo Schirach (2011) show the strong link that exists between US’s ineffective energy saving policies and the connection between government officials. These articles put up figures that reveal the huge donations made by the oil firms to the Republican party, and consequent failure on the part of the US government to draw up strong energy saving policies in the last 5 decades, after the end of the WWII, when the consumption of oil suddenly became high owing to the arrival of automobiles in the US