Nigeria Oil Crisis free essay sample

Fariha Ahsan, period 5 This article displays a vivid picture for us about the conditions in Nigeria due to the oil reserves. Though Nigeria contained the potential to strive and become a wealthy oil nation, leaving the cocoon of poverty encompassing Africa- it became trapped in a lot of corrupt dealings. Today, the Niger Delta in Nigeria has caught the attention of world wide humanitarian and environmental activists. The article states how in the past, the corrupt government ruling Nigeria was funded by Western governments and large oil corporations. Together, the group have benefited from the fossil fuels that are in abundant supply in the delta region. However, the mines are not the only things that are in this area, there are people of the Niger Delta who have been harshly affected for decades due to this illegal mining. The Ogoni, Ijaw and other minority groups of the Niger Delta have been stripped away of their environment and basic human rights. We will write a custom essay sample on Nigeria Oil Crisis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Their non-violent protests have been ignored and harshly cracked down by the money-hungry government. For example, during one non violent protest, Shell paid several community members to break off the protesting group. The Human Rights Watch has sided with the people of the delta, as it is clearly visible how the oil mining has ruined the area. The oil corporations have destroyed the chances of neighboring communities and minorities to form. Money to control the environmental pollution has been insufficient, causing extremely- harsh living condition with scarce drinking water, and abundance of malnourishment and disease. The oil mining has destroyed the land of the Nigerian Delta as well as the homes of many living there. After the delta started receiving world wide attention some change has begun to start, but the previous government has left behind much chaos. It is reported that in the last decade, the military took control of the regions people, burned homes and killed masses of civilians. The present government has attempted on being more democratic and open, so change is still underway.

Judicial Bench and Racial Discrimination essays

Judicial Bench and Racial Discrimination essays Regardless of how people might promote the role of the judiciary in curbing racial discrimination, there will always be some people who would complain of lack of judicial assistance and some might even claim that justice system is designed to keep the racial order intact. Despite these claims, it is worth mentioning that over the years, courts in the United States have decided many cases of discrimination and while some may have appeared biased, most actually sought to curb or reduce racial discrimination in all facets of life. In this regard, we have the 9th, the 13th and the 14th amendments that were proposed by Congress and were repeatedly interpreted by the courts to give them meaning and to make it easier for people to understand what their rights were under these amendments. The ninth amendment was meant to protect the rights of those who are not specifically covered by the Constitution. But amendments or laws are nothing with interpretation and thus Supreme Court interpreted the ninth amendment on various occasions. In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the court explained: While the Ninth Amendment - and indeed the entire Bill of Rights - originally concerned restrictions upon federal power, the subsequently enacted Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the States as well from abridging fundamental personal liberties. And, the Ninth Amendment... is surely relevant in showing the existence of other fundamental personal rights, now protected from state, as well as federal, infringement. Similarly the courts again invoked the ninth amendment in the famous case of Roe v. Wade where the decision went in favor of a "Ninth Amendment right to choose to have an abortion."[Roe v Wade, 1970] Apart from the ninth amendment, we also have the 13th amendment that seeks to protect property rights of all minorities thereby reducing the chance of racial discrimination in the disposal of property. The amendment seeks to abolish slavery and any...

End of the Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

End of the Century - Essay Example Opening the introduction of Reading the 'Fin de Siecle', Sally Ledger and Roger Luckhurst say: "The Victorian fin de siecle was an epoch of endings and beginnings. The collision between the old and new that characterised the turn of the century marks it as an excitingly volatile and transitional period; a time when British cultural politics were caught between two ages, the Victorian and the Modern; a time fraught with anxiety and with an exhilarating sense of possibility, (2000, p. xiii). According to them, women, imperialism, realism, journalism, drama, art, psychology, science, communication, education, democracy, politics, and meaning and expression of sex were all changing, at the turn of century. Intellectuality had a new meaning and geography of Europe, relationships between governments and countries were fast altering beyond recognition. They say that the allure of fin de siecle, its 'naughtiness' were reflected in the fantasies of the late twentieth century. Those are the ending of Victorian days, days of Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Arthur Rimbaud, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, steam engines, literary groups, learned institutions, proud cultural heritages. In Europe, everything was so well established that people and intellectuals were craving for some change to break the monotony. It was a moment that started a literature movement in almost all the regions. As the authors say, the end of the century was also the beginning of another century in the true sense. World was ready for a new era full of new ideas, wars, scientific discoveries, new art and individuality in every scene. The era of Postmodernism had started. They were the days when Paris was full of radical ideas in literature and various forms of arts. "When German troops withdrew from Paris after the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, French anarchists briefly established the Commune of Paris. Though the Commune of Paris was not long-lived, it seemed to set off a time in French culture when radical ideas in literature, art, theatre, and architecture were allowed to blossom. Paris became the center of avant-garde culture" http://lala.essortment.com/literaturemovem_rzkb.htm The unconventional ideas of writers like Stephan Mallarme, Guy de Maupassant influenced the new generation enormously. The saddest moment of fin de seicle came when Captain Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of spying for Germans, convicted and was deported into Devil's Island. Writer Emile Zola in his famous open letter 'J'Accuse' defended Dreyfus and eventually Dreyfus was brought back and exonerated, after much turmoil. Zola himself had to flee to English accused of a libel case and his novel Germinal kicked up a great scandal. This experience, in no way, hindered either Zola or other writers of fin de seicle. Then there is the most famous Art Noveau movement, started by two stalwart architects, Hector Guimard and Victor Horta. They initiated the entire art movement of the century. "The fluidity and asymmetry of these works had never been seen before, and was shocking to the bourgeoisie.

Internet technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Internet technology - Essay Example In addition, news can be received almost within a minute of their happening; and lastly, it has resulted in unintended threats such as cyber attacks among others. A new collaborative environment has developed on the internet in the past few years. People who would otherwise have not known each other or possibly interacted only a few years ago can now share information over the internet over extremely long distances and in different time zones. This has led to the development of new ideas which without the internet would never have come to into existence. A consequence of this is the reduction of physical interaction between people which has now become more or less non-physical. This lack of physical interaction has led to most people living a very artificial life which they can twist into anything they would like to be, although in most cases, they can be considered lies. The internet has reduced the personal safety of its users because such people of child predators tend to establish initial contact with children online and lure them into very dangerous situations. Furthermore, verbal attacks and malicious messages can be delivered online with little or no censorship because the internet has no single governing entity. An additional result of there not being an entity to control the internet has been its contribution to the violation of copyright law through the illegal distribution of copyrighted material on the internet by individuals. This denies the creators of such material as movies, music, and books the right to earn royalties from their work and it has instead led to its use without their consent. The past recent years has seen the emergence of multibillion dollar social network companies based on friendships and photos. Social networking has become big business online with such major social networks as Facebook, Twitter, and My Space collecting huge revenues from advertising and the sale of their users’ personal information to other commercial

Corporate governance Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Corporate governance - Dissertation Example It is evident from the work of various research scholars that people felt the importance of â€Å"Corporate Governance† at least 100 years ago. For example, research scholars such as Tinbergen (1962) have raised their concern over effectiveness of corporate governance. In recent times, corporate accounting scandals in companies like Cirio, Enron, Vivendi, Ansett, Parmalat, and Pan Pharmaceuticals have forced business leaders to think about the issues like corporate accountability and corporate governance. Above mentioned corporate accounting scandals were the results of managerial misconduct and corporate failures. Business leaders became aware of the fact that they need to take some serious measures in order to address the pertaining issues of corporate governance. ... Various research scholars have stated situation-specific definition of corporate governance and so it is difficult to find one universal definition of corporate governance. Majority of the research scholars have given importance on the relational aspect of corporate governance. According to them corporate governance is guided by the relationship between shareholders and managers. Tricker (1984) has revealed that corporate governance is different from management due to the fact that management deals with running the organization while corporate governance deals with running the organization in a proper manner. Keasey and Wright (1993) have stated that business leaders can use different tools of management, such as controlling; accountability, in order to monitor activities of agents and motivation to make them act in accordance with the expectation of the internal and external stakeholders. Various research scholars such as Markusen and Venables (1999) have stated that there is a dire ct relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and corporate governance. According to them FDI policies of government plays a significant role on motivating foreign players to design sustainable corporate governance policy. Markusen and Maskus (2001) have stated that companies need to align their business strategy in a foreign country in accordance with the FDI policy of government of that country, in order to address the key issues of corporate governance. In many cases it has been observed that companies manipulate their corporate governance policy in order to achieve competitive advantage in foreign countries, such as superior technology, economies of scale, managerial expertise etc over

Tuckmans Team Building Model Management Essay

Tuckmans Team Building Model Management Essay To achieve stated goals and objectives people in organizations work in teams. These teams go through various stages. The extent to which project leadership success or failure, relates to the stages of teams formation, in the pursuance of these goals and objectives are not clear cut as past researches have given divided opinion and bringing other factors in contention. This assignment will introduce the concept of team formation and project leadership and critically discuss the extent to which the stages of team formation relate to the success or failure of project leadership. To critically evaluate how the stages of team formation relate to the success or failure of project leadership, Tuckmans team building model which explain the five forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning stages of the team formation (please see appendix 1) and Blanchards situational leadership model which explain the four leadership styles that a leader should adopt during the team development situations will be evaluated as the team behaviour and leadership style can be clearly seen in these two models. Tuckmans model emphasis that as the team develops, the leader changes leadership style. At the forming stage a successful leader follow a directing style which is similar to telling phase described in situational leadership model, at the storming stage leader coaches their team to come out from the conflict which is similar to the selling phase of the situational leadership style model, at the norming stage the leader facilitates its team to develop standards which is s imilar to the participating phase of the situational leadership model, at the performing stage leader delegate task to the members and almost detached which is similar to the delegating stage of the situational leadership model. At this stage the team initially formed, the team members meet each other; identify the purpose of the team, terms of reference and its composition. Team members endeavor to test each other, establish their personal identity and create an impression within the group with most consideration given to structure of the team, code of conduct, objectives, individual roles and responsibilities. If the team is more diverse, it is more difficult for the team to maneuver through as this stage takes longer. Therefore, in the formation of multicultural teams it is a particularly sensitive stage as it is characterized by commonality, courtesy, caution and confusion. To take the team to the performing stage leadership is crucial. Team members will not be comfortable if there is lack of clarity. If a leader could not direct the team members effectively, team would not able to reach the next stages of the team formation; therefore this stage does impact the success or failure of the project leadership. When team members truly consider that they are the part of a team, generally this stage is complete. Table 1: Members and Leadership competencies in Forming stage of a team. Member competencies needed: Leadership competencies needed: Asking open-ended questions Maintaining equity and being fair Listening without making assumptions and judgments Helping the group to articulate its purpose and overriding goal Observing group patterns of communication Facilitating discussions Using inclusive communication patterns Intervening to include all Disclosing ones needs appropriately Stage 2 Storming: This phase of team development is typically marked by conflict between team members, criticism and tension. Conflict arises due to the competing approaches to obtain the groups goals, disagreements over responsibilities and appropriate task related behavior. Team members might disagree about who should be leading the team and how much power the team leader should have and can result in redefining of the teams overall goals and specific tasks. Team members are likely to individually decide their level of commitment to the group tasks and extent, to which they like the team tasks, therefore may resist the control imposed by the team. At storming stage the team members may begin to withdraw, therefore this stage relates to the success or failure of the project leadership. If leaders coach their teams effectively, teams can proceed to the next stage. Therefore this stage is a critical stage for the group survival and effectiveness as the conflict harms the team progress and negatively affects some interpersonal relationship. When teams control is no longer resisted by the team members and everyone in the team agree about who will lead the team, this storming stage is completed. Table 2: Members and Leadership competencies in Storming stage of a team. Member competencies needed: Leadership competencies needed: Using inclusive language and behaviors Establishing an agreed-upon work plan Managing emotional expression Using mediation skills Giving and receiving feedback appropriately Using diverse methods of feedback and conflict transformation Stage 3 Norming: At this stage norms and expectations about what different members are responsible for doing are realize and develop as the team delineates task standards, develop intra group cohesiveness and establish standards, rules and regulations. Team members really start to feel their belongings to the team and the development of close ties with other team members. Therefore this phase of team development is characterized by: commitment, collaboration, cooperation and cohesion as team members attempts to mutually agree upon objectives and goals, accept different opinion and try to open exchange of information. Feeling of belongings and friendship to team, help to work towards team goals. At the norming stage the leader facilitates and enables their team to establish the standards and reach to the performing stage. By the end of this stage, standards to guide behavior in the group are agreed by the team members. This stage is similar to the participating stage of the situational leadership model. If the leader does not participate to establish standards, the team may develop their own standards and norms which may me contrary to the project overall objectives and lead to the project leadership failure. At this stage the major decisions are normally made by the team members jointly and the minor decisions may be delegate to the individuals. Table 3: Members and Leadership competencies in Norming stage of a team. Member competencies needed: Leadership competencies needed: Demonstrating support on task and in relationships Reinforcing high standards for task Recognizing individual and cultural differences in how appreciation is shown Coaching where needed Stage 4 Performing: This is the stage at which real work is done, team members know their role and duties and performing their work according to the expectations. Team members concentrate on the achievement of common goals and objectives. Sometime it can take long to reach to the performing stage, in most cases when they are self-managed work teams. Team members make progress towards common goals and feel comfortable working within their roles. This phase is marked by consideration among members, creativity challenge and group consciousness. At this stage the team morale is high and team has a good ability to focus on the task as relationship issues have been resolved. At the performing stage the team may produce another successor leader. At this stage the team members does not need assistance and instructions, but they need delegated tasks from the leader. Therefore at this stage leader delegates, observes and almost detach, this stage is similar to the delegating stage of the situational leadership model. This is the main stage where actual work will take place; delegation of wrong tasks to wrong person may lead to project leadership failure. Table 4: Members and Leadership competencies in Performing stage of a team. Member competencies needed: Leadership competencies needed: Adapting and changing Establishing a process for incorporating change and renewal Including new members Sharing leadership Stage 5 Reforming or Adjourning: At this stage a task force teams disbands after the fulfillment of its goals or due to poor performance. But some teams are permanent (ongoing work teams), therefore may not reach to the adjourning stage and often remain to the performing stage. This final stage can be characterized by communication, closure, compromise and consensus. The adjourning phase is not the main task of developing a team, but this stage is very relevant to the team members. Table 5: Leadership Activities at Different Group Formation Stages Stage Leadership Activity Forming Direct the team and establish objectives clearly by negotiating ground rules. Storming Establish process and structure, and work to smooth conflict and build good relationships between team members. Generally provide support, especially to those team members who are less secure. Remain positive and firm in the face of challenges. Explain forming, storming, norming and performing idea for people to understand why conflicts occurring, and that things will get better in the future. Teaching assertiveness and conflict resolution skills. Norming Help the team take responsibility for progress towards the goal by arranging a social, or a team-building event. Performing Delegate as far as possible. Once the team has achieved high performance, the aim now is to have as light a touch as possible by focusing on other goals and areas of work. Adjourning When successfully achieved the objectives time should be taken to celebrate the achievements. The above table clearly depict the relation between the stages of team formation and successful project leadership, the reverse will mean failure. 4. Conclusion Teams are formed because they can achieve far more than their individual members can on their own, and while being part of a high-performing team can be fun, it can take patience and professionalism to get to that stage. Effective team leaders can accelerate that process and reduce the difficulties that team members experience by understanding what they need to do as their team moves through the stages from forming to storming, norming and, finally, performing. Successful project leadership should realize that not all teams and situations will behave in the way depicted by Tuckman. However, in using this approach, the leader should not attempt to force situations to fit it but make sure that people dont use knowledge of the storming stage as a license for boorish behavior. There are some drawback with Tuckmans team formation modal as it does not talk about the time teams do spend and should spend in different project and external environment does not take into account. 1. Abstract People in organizations work in teams in achieving stated goals and objectives. The extent to which project success relates to the management of task, the individuals and the teams formation in the pursuance of these goals and objectives are not of equal proportion and need to be well judged and balanced by the leader. This assignment will use John Adairs Action Centre Leadership model to related the dynamic between task, individuals and team; critically discussing the extent to which these three needs are related to the management of a successful project. Introduction One person cannot handle whole project, he/she need other individuals an effective team to successfully complete the project. An effective team is a team who has high commitment, is highly appreciated by upper management, is always ready (adaptive) to change open to new ideas and always achieves its goals. Bailey and Cohen (1997: 4) considers a team as a collection of individuals who are interdependent in their tasks, share responsibility for outcomes, see themselves and are seen by others as an intact social entity, embedded in one or more larger social systems and who manage their relationships across organizational boundaries. Adairs Action Centred Action (ACT) model will be used to find the dynamic between task, team and individual as relate to managing projects successfully, as this model identifies three core interrelated functions, which explain the management and leaders core management responsibility. These three core function consist task: achieving the teams goal. team: developing and building your team, so that its ever more effective. individual: helping individuals develop their full potential in the workplace. Discussion Davis (2001) identified three factors, which can determine whether the team is effective or not, such as: The people (individual) within the team: Effective team determining factor for individual aspect include personal job satisfaction, low or no conflict and power struggles, having job security, appreciation by management and mutual trust of colleagues. The organizations rules and culture: includes the people do thinks and believes of the individuals. The tasks to be completed: including appropriate leadership, team involvement in decisions, appropriately skilled team members, challenging work, goals and objectives. According to Davis (2001) it is easy to appreciate the impact of organizational rules and job tasks on each other and on people (individual), but it is much more difficult to understand the impact of individual-related factors on other factors of successful teams of a successful project. Individual related factor such as trust is a major component in forming an effective working team that achieves results. Leaders/ managers are primarily responsible for creating trust. Adair (1997) describe the best leaders is who balance the task, team maintenance, and individual needs. Balancing task, team and individual Adair found that effective leaders pay attention to three areas of need for members of the team: those relating to the task, to the team itself and to individual team members with emphasis on variation with all three interdependent variables. Teams can be more effective for making decisions effectively and quickly than the traditional hierarchical structure according to the large body of research (Thompson 2008). As group members come and go, due to turnover, promotions, hiring and other reasons; therefore resulted over time change in teams, goals, group tasks etc (George et al. 2008). Teams can be classified on the basis of size, organizational level, composition, potential contribution to organizational performance, objectives, permanent versus temporary. According to Colloquia et al., there are 5 general types of teams such as work teams, management teams, parallel teams, project teams and virtual teams. Leadership is the ability to affect human behaviour to accomplish a mission, the act of influencing people to set and achieve goals (McGraw, 2009). Great leaders are visionary people who are able to achieve results using people. They exhibits authority in themselves and exhume confidence in their team members. Some leaders are democratic, allowing team members to express their opinions. Some are dictatorial, explaining what they want from their teams to the team members to execute. All styles have opportunity and challenges and may be used in certain circumstances. Team leaders must also realise that there are different types of human traits that can be exhibited among team members. These traits rarely have advantage over others as they are complementary. It is the duty of an effective team leader to identify the trait in individual members of his or her team and know how to use the qualities to advantage. All these traits have the qualities which effective team leaders can exploit and none is better than the other. Tasks are those activities that need to done in order to achieve the desired goals and outcome. Leader can help to facilitate these tasks by planning the work, allocating the resources, checking performance and reviewing progress. Team maintenance relates to maintaining good relation and building team spirit, training the group, maintaining discipline. Individual needs can be satisfied by attending to personal problems, training the individual, giving them status and praise, meeting their needs and reconciling conflicts between group needs. To achieve the task, management should make it clear who is going to do what, proper delegation of responsibilities, everyone is clear about the objectives, is adequate authority delegating to the team, are working conditions right for the group, have the time planned affectively, who will cover the absent person, is there adequate resources to complete the tasks. In building and maintaining the team, management should make it clear is the size of the team is correct, are the right people working together, are the rules seen to be reasonable, is the team motivated to achieve the tasks, is the conflict dealt properly, does the team accept the objectives do the team knows about the expected standards of performance. In developing the individual, management should make it clear that have the targets been agreed and quantified, does the individual know about their contribution to work, overall result, does the individual got sufficient authority to achieve the task delegate to them and has adequate provisions been made for retaining and training team members. According to the Hackman (1987), there are 3 primary definitions of team success, and these relate to the task, social relations, and individuals. A successful team completes its task. While completing the task, team members develop social relations that help them work together and maintain the team. Teamwork should help to improve an individuals social and interpersonal skills. Mullins (2010:369) suggests that the action taken by the leader in any one of these area of need will affect one or both of the other areas of need with the ideal position been the complete integration towards the achievement of all three. However, building the team and satisfying individual needs are considered to be part of leadership whilst achieving the common task involves the process of management. According to Robbins (1998) Individual behavior have key variables, which make up individual difference. Every individual has their own attitudes, personality, values, talent, ability to learn, motivation factors, perceptions. Different nature of these variables (attributes) make individual different. Attitude is the judgment an individual make about events and people. This judgement can be positive or negative. Basic values influenced attitude and attitude affect the individual behaviour. Sometime attitudes can change, while values are unlikely to change. Values: Values are the general belief about what is good and bad. Values affect the individual behavior and attitude and difficult to change. Personality: Individual act and behave in a particular way, which called personality. Personality can be learned and inherited. Talent: Talent means the intelligence and ability of the individual. Level of persons talent will depend on how those people perform their job. Ability to learn: This is related to the change in behavior based on experience and getting new ideas. Motivation: Motivation means willing to do something with inspiration, not by force. Different individual have different motivating factors, such as money, name and fame etc. According to Bowditch et al the motivation of team members of joining a team, strongly influence cohesiveness of the team and the members productivity. Perception: Different people give different meaning to what they see around them; therefore people perceive things in different ways. By Knowing about individual differences leaders can understand why individual respond differently. Leaders should appreciate that it is difficult to change values, therefore they may be try to change attitude. As attitude affect behavior, which affect job performance and motivation. The key learning point from these different factors is that if leader want to get best from their team he should appreciate that individuals need to be treated differently. There is also Myer-Briggs model (1956) which effective team leaders have to contend with. This model is about personality types. Myer-Briggs identified four ways people differ from each other. These are: the way they think; the way they view; the way they feel/perceive and the way they see things. Team diversity include language difference, cultural difference, background difference, qualification difference, class, age, sex and experience also have effects in a team which the leader must manage. Mckenna and Maister draw attention on the importance of group leader establishing trust among the group by helping them understand the behaviours that build trust (Cited in Mullins, 2010). Successful project management will require the following list of common tasks for each of the three management responsibilities so that leaders will balance their resources appropriately. Task Team Individual Establish deadlines for project tasks, and explain the quality standards expected. Ensure that everyone in the team has the skills and training to accomplish the final goal Help define each individuals role within the team and agree the tasks they are responsible for. Clearly state the final goal of the team. Monitor team relationships, and resolve conflicts where necessary. Appropriately praise and reward individual team members for their contribution to the team. Ensure everyone understands the resources, people, and processes that they should be using If team will be working in smaller teams, appoint a leader for each team, and ensure that he/she is effective and properly trained. Ensure that one on one time is spent with each member: identify their strengths and weaknesses, their needs, and any special skills they can bring to the team. Create a detailed plan for how the group is going to reach their final goal. Work on keeping the team motivated with high morale. If any team members seem to be lagging behind, coach them until they are back on track. Identify the purpose of the team and communicate team members. Identify the style the team will be working in (very formal, relaxed, etc.) Ensure each team member has the skills to perform his or her role successfully. Give regular feedback on the teams performance. 4. Conclusion Leaders have many responsibilities when it comes to managing their teams. And, its easy to get so focused on one area that the others slip by the wayside, leading to an unbalanced, poorly-functioning group. ACL model states that leaders must balance the actions they take across all three key areas if they want their project to succeed. The areas are interdependent; if a leader focuses too much on one area and neglects the other two, then the group will experience problems. The leaders do not necessarily have to divide their efforts equally across these but balance according to the situation and over time. Using a tool like Action Centered Leadership can help any leader stay on top of the most important responsibilities, and keep the group working efficiently, happily, and productively. John Adairs simple Action-Centered Leadership model provides a great blueprint for leadership and the management of any team, group or organisation. Good managers and leaders should have full command of the three main areas of the ACL model, and should be able to use each of the elements according to the situation. Leaders who are able to achieve the task; building the team and develop keeping the right balance, gets results, builds morale, improves quality, develops teams and productivity, and is the mark of a success.

Alex Cross Book Review Essay

How would you react if you found out that a mass murderer you have been trying to capture and arrest for over a few months was hiding in your cellar waiting for the perfect time to crawl out and kill you? In the book Cat & Mouse by James Patterson, these are the type of people Homicide Detective Alex Cross has to deal with on a daily basis. Alex Cross, who lives in Washington D.C. and works for the FBI, is going throughout his daily life of solving small murder cases and living with his family. When Gary Soneji, one of the men he got convicted to jail for kidnapping a few years back, is released, Soneji seeks out revenge of Alex. Soneji pulls off a brutal string of murders leaving behind small clues for Alex to find and use to figure out Soneji’s ultimate plan. Soneji isn’t the only one carrying out murders at the time, though. All over Europe, a man known as Mr. Smith has been abducting citizens of several countries and mutilating the bodies. Now not only does Alex have to figure out what Soneji plans to do, but he also has an extremely brutal man on the loose in Europe he has to catch before his rampage goes on any longer. Remarkably, even through all of these murders and investigations Alex is able to pursue his love interest and the outcome of the story is one you won’t ever expect. Will Alex catch the two murderers or will he end up as one of their victims? You’ll have to read to find out. I recommend this book to anyone he enjoys a suspenseful, thrilling, and overall interesting book. It didn’t take too long to read and it was really hard to put the book down once you get reading. There was, however, some tough dialogue in the book.

Learning Theology Essay

In Learning Theology with the Church Fathers, Christopher Hall discusses the doctrinal beliefs of the early Christian leaders while Christianity was in its fledgling state of development. Much of what is discussed by Hill in his book is the standard for what the beliefs on the subject will be throughout the church’s history. The topics in Hill’s book are important because the church father’s findings concern these issues establishes the church’s beliefs on these doctrinal topics. Hill’s approach in his book is to take a subject that was highly contested in the life of the early church and follow one or two of the major leading authorities on the subject from the time period. A benefit to looking at the topic this way shows what the prominent thinking of the day was and if it still relates to Christians today. The first major theme that the book addresses is to describe the attributes of God. Hill looks at the various aspects of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Within discussing the parts of the Holy Trinity, Hill shows the various thinking the early church had concerning the three, what each of their roles are, and discusses how each of the three had equality together without either being subordinate to another. The second theme addressed by Hill is that of God’s interaction with humans. Hill explains the teachings concerning man’s sin and how the church fathers understood God’s forgiveness toward man. Hill also speaks of man as being instilled with God’s goodness. Man’s natural instinct is not bent on doing what is inherently good, but it is within God’s instilled grace that God’s best for man is placed within himself (Hill, 130). Hill also writes in discussion of God’s providence to man as being loving, transcendent and wise. The third theme Hill discusses are those things that are directly relatable to Christians in their relations with God. These things consist of the Christian’s relation to the scriptures, the apostolic founded church, and a Christian’s resurrected body and eternal life. Hill also discusses the early church father’s apologetics to the scripture’s authority and how the scriptures were His perfect gift given through His perfect knowledge (Hill, 209). Hill also discusses the differing roles of the church and what the members communal roles are and the differing thoughts on discipline. One of the most important topics discussed by Hill is that of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. The discussion that was taking place during the fourth century was what is the Holy Spirit and what role does it play in the character of God? Many believed that the three persons of God were not triumvirate but actually three different Gods making Christianity polytheistic. Basil the Great’s writings on the subject is the focal point of Hill’s discussion. Basil’s writings addressed the variable confusions that surrounded the Holy Spirit. The topics Hill highlights from Basil is that of the Holy Spirits equality with the Father and the Son. One point that Hill singles out which gives credence to a Holy Trinity is that the argument for differing levels of power in the Holy Trinity is not arguable. Hill contends that people cannot comprehend the relationship between the three because they all three transient time and age, thus making it impossible for man to give rank to one over another (Hill, 105). This is rational argument because if something transcends time and age, does another being transcend time and space more? To have this distinction is not a more or less argument but a yes or no argument in defining a deity’s self to which Hill discusses well. Another positive from Hill’s book is the explanation of the Holy Spirit and the description of the divine community that is the Holy Trinity. If the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three different gods, what is the purpose of their being three separate beings? Hill examines this by giving each of the three different roles in the actions of the world. Hill defines the Father as the creator, the Son and the initiator, and the Holy Spirit as the perfecter (Hill, 115). This understanding of the Holy Trinity shows how the three are not separate but how each are one with different roles in dealing with man. Hill also explains that neither entity usurps the other’s tasks, but remain separated in their roles showing that neither is superior to the other entities. This is a useful distinction because it helps understand the functioning of the Holy Trinity and how it relates to man. When those tasks are known man has a better appreciation for each part of the Holy Trinity and honor can be given to the each part of the deity including the Holy Spirit (Hill, 118). The theme of man’s relation to God is another well outlined discussion. Hill addresses the subject of man’s sins in a way that explains how it was problematic for the church fathers. Following the writing of Irenaeus, Hill discusses the issue of man’s goodness. The discussion during the time of Irenaeus was whether man was naturally good or was goodness implanted in man by God? Hill’s conclusion eventually is man’s sin nature is prevalent before his conversion and after his conversion God bestows a sense of goodness through His love in man. God’s redemptive spirit is given to man and reflected through the actions of man (Hill, 130). Hill’s explanation that the church fathers did not think man naturally good is logical because if man is naturally good then their is no purpose for salvation. Yet while it is said human nature is without good, man is still given a choice and sometimes makes the moral decision. A limited amount of time was given to explain how God allows man to make his own choices. Hill says that God gives the choice to man to decide but does not fully expound on why man sometimes goes against his nature to make moral decisions. In all, Hill does a good job on explaining the church father’s thinking concerning the formation of early church doctrine. His description of their writings helps the reader understand the issues that spurred their theology and the content of their messages. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers gives an good summation of how Christian beliefs came to formation and who the writers were that God used to frame early Christianity’s doctrine. Bibliography Hill, Christopher. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers. Downers Grove: IVP Academy, 2002.

Free Essays on English 99

As a child or an adult, each of us has someone to look upon to as a role model. Usually, when we admire someone it’s because he or she has certain characteristics that you and I do not have or need to be improved. A role model for me is someone who contributed something positive in my life. Someone who has changed my outlook on life drastically, and someone that I can mirror my way of life to his own. In my case, the person that I consider a good role model in my life would be my very own mother. My mother is intelligent, hardworking and knows how to handle tough situations in life. My mother’s name is Rosa, and she was born in a small village in the Philippines called Panay. She has 6 brothers, and 4 sisters. My mother is the third oldest child, and when she was fourteen years old, she decided to move to the big city called Manila to work as a nanny. To move to a big city such as Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, takes a lot of guts especially for a young woman. My mother told me that moving to the big city was scary for her because she did not know anyone, and it was her very first time living far away from her family. My mother did the cooking, laundry, cleaning house and baby sitting for a wealthy family, and in return she was allowed to stay free of rent in her employer’s house. My mother wanted to finish school, and at night she went to school to get her high school diploma. After a couple of years working and going to school in the evening, my mother received her diploma. My mother changed dramatically after she met my father. My father worked for the U.S Army Base in the Philippines. My parent’s relationship did not last very long; they ended up separating in less than five years of living together. Now my mother is stuck with two little boys on her own; I was four years old and my brother was only three months old. She did everything she could to make sure that my brother and I went to school; we had a ... Free Essays on English 99 Free Essays on English 99 As a child or an adult, each of us has someone to look upon to as a role model. Usually, when we admire someone it’s because he or she has certain characteristics that you and I do not have or need to be improved. A role model for me is someone who contributed something positive in my life. Someone who has changed my outlook on life drastically, and someone that I can mirror my way of life to his own. In my case, the person that I consider a good role model in my life would be my very own mother. My mother is intelligent, hardworking and knows how to handle tough situations in life. My mother’s name is Rosa, and she was born in a small village in the Philippines called Panay. She has 6 brothers, and 4 sisters. My mother is the third oldest child, and when she was fourteen years old, she decided to move to the big city called Manila to work as a nanny. To move to a big city such as Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, takes a lot of guts especially for a young woman. My mother told me that moving to the big city was scary for her because she did not know anyone, and it was her very first time living far away from her family. My mother did the cooking, laundry, cleaning house and baby sitting for a wealthy family, and in return she was allowed to stay free of rent in her employer’s house. My mother wanted to finish school, and at night she went to school to get her high school diploma. After a couple of years working and going to school in the evening, my mother received her diploma. My mother changed dramatically after she met my father. My father worked for the U.S Army Base in the Philippines. My parent’s relationship did not last very long; they ended up separating in less than five years of living together. Now my mother is stuck with two little boys on her own; I was four years old and my brother was only three months old. She did everything she could to make sure that my brother and I went to school; we had a ...

Vietnam War essays

Vietnam War essays The Vietnam War took place from 1959 to 1975. The war involved the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front which came into conflict with the United States forces and the South Vietnamese army. Struggling for their independence from France, Vietnam divided into two countries, North and South Vietnam. Being Vietnam was a Communist government, the United States decided to become involved with Vietnam. The United States believed that if all of the country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. This belief was known as the Domino Theory. Under this belief, the U.S. government supported the South Vietnamese government which led to the rebellion in the South because of the repressive policies, therefore, the National Liberation Front was formed into an opposition group with close ties to North Vietnam. General Westmoreland, the American commander, had a variety of strategies he had conceived. His first strategy was to deploy the American troops to protect the U.S. air and supply bases along the South Vietnamese coast. He then would send units to block any attempt made by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong to sweep across to the sea and slice the country in two. With their vastly superior mobility and fire power, the American forces launched a series of search-and-destroy operations that would grind down the enemy. The American soldiers went to Vietnam with a lot of weight of American industry behind them. With the exception of the nuclear weapon, nearly every piece of equipment in Americas hands was sooner or later used in Vietnam. The skies were full of fighters, bombers, helicopters, and other airplanes. There were high-altitude B-52s referred to as Puff the Magic Dragon, a converted DC-3 transport outfitted with rapid fire machine guns able to pump out eighteen thousand rounds per minute. Being so cluttered in a...

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Human sexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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