The Problems with Fracking Essay -- Environmentalism, Human Health

No Fracking Way Imagine a world where fresh and clear water was a luxury. Imagine water so contaminated with chemicals that every plant it comes into contact with dies. As the trees begin to die, oxygen levels drop. As the vegetation dies, wildlife begins to die out. The polluted water which flows through the ground into wells causes instant contamination. As the water flows out of the sink, one can strike a match and light the liquid on fire. Showering in these chemicals is out of the question. Fresh water has become a comfort, rather than a given. Could planet Earth survive this existence? If hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, were deemed legal, this question may be put to the test. Fracking is a process in which chemicals, sand and water are used in â€Å"high volumes†¦ to fracture gas-bearing layers of rock† (Dolesh 2). As the rock breaks, natural gas is released and then collected to be used as energy. The United States is currently sitting on a gold mine of natural gas which could stimulate our ever declining economy. The question is what price are we willing to pay for a temporary fix? Fracking is a dangerous process that should be deemed illegal due to its harmful short and long-term environmental effects. Before one can see the devastating effects of fracking, one must first understand how fracking works. As previously stated, the main intent of hydro-fracking is to access and harvest natural gas that lies below the surface of the Earth. Having formed over 400 million years ago by the collision of tectonic plates (Marsa 3), the Marcellus Shale plays host to a gold mine of natural gas, which is currently at the center of the fracking debate in the Northeastern region of the United States. Unfortunately, access... ...er, Cyril Josh. â€Å"Fracking Up: New York State Continues The Debate Over Gas Extraction Process.† New York Amsterdam News (2011): 4. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2011. Dolesh, Richard â€Å"Fracktured Parks.† Parks & Recreation 46.6 (2011): 56-61. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. Marsa, Linda. â€Å"Fracking Nation.† Discover 32.4 (2011): 62-70. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. Morriss III, James C., and Christopher D. Smith. â€Å"The Shales And Shale-Nots: Environmental Regulation Of Natural Gas Development. (Cover Story).† Energy Litigation Journal 9.4 (2010): 1-23. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. Peltier, Robert. â€Å"Fracking Problems.† Power 155.8 (2011): 6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. Rahman, Hashim. â€Å"New York Puts Fracking On Hold.† Planning 77.2 (2011): 4. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2011.

Essay on Owen Meany -- essays research papers

Essay On: â€Å"A Prayer For Owen Meany† In the novel â€Å"A Prayer For Owen Meany,† John Irving creates the character of Owen as a foil to John, the protagonist. Owen Meany embodies the qualities of a true leader while John grows more like his father: doubtful and lost.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the beginning of the novel, immediately there is a clear difference between Owen and Johnny. There is the field of academics; Owen is the head of his class while he helps John not to fail in his studies. There is Owen, very sure of his belief system and Johnny, very doubtful and unsure about his beliefs or feelings towards’ god.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the novel, John has a constant hero worship of Owen. An example of this is when Owen begins to lead the rector and his wife in the production of the pageant of ’53: â€Å" Thus did Owen get his way, again; â€Å"On the hay† was where he would lie†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This excerpt shows Johnny in awe of his friend. The way Owen takes charge of the situation and creates the pageant the exact way he wants it. This also identifies another theme in the book, the theme of purpose. Owen has a new sense of purpose now that his parents have told him that his was a virgin birth; he is as close to a lord Jesus as anyone in history. Then there is John, who ends up being Joseph out of the fact that Owen prescribed him the part.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So, outlined for us is Owens advantage over Johnny in the sense that Owen has a purpose that is ver...

Data And Storage Essays -- Technology Computers

There are many aspects of computing that are important: accuracy of data input, convenience and quality of output, optimal storage devices, and processing speed of a computer. What are all these things and what are the best methods or types? Data Input Fundamental to accuracy of data input is assurance that the information system will be able to properly automate the collection of information and that the end-user is aware of and understands how information should be recorded. Stair and Reynolds (2006) supports, â€Å"Input can be a manual or an automated process. A scanner at a grocery store that reads bar codes and enters the grocery item and price into a computerized cash register is a type of automated input process. Regardless of the input method, accurate input is critical to achieve the desired output.† Printed questionnaires should be manufactured on machine-readable paper and analyzed by scanners that are capable of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) or Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert the results into a digital format that is automatically placed into a database for storage. Queries can then be utilized to poll or collect information from the questionnaires. Telephone surveys should consist of precise questions that require simple answers that can be input by pressing buttons on a touchtone phone. Users who do not have a touchtone phone should be allowed to answer verbally via an interactive voice recognition system (IVR). Bank checks should be printed on machine-readable paper utilizing magnetic ink such that machines can quickly and accurately scan the document and convert the data into a digital format. Additional security measures such as watermarks and holograms may be utilized based on level of se... ... hard disks – seek time and data throughput. Data on a floppy disk is generally slower than CD ROMs and is generally used for storage purposes. Much of the same concepts apply to floppy disks are applied to hard disks and CD ROMs – seek time and data throughout. There are many aspects of computing that exist today, some top of the line technology while others are becoming obsolete. What is most important is that there is accuracy of data input, convenience and quality of output, optimal storage devices, and processing speed of a computer. References Laurie J. Flynn (2005). Intel and Micron Plan Flash-Memory Venture. New York Times (Late Edition (east Coast)), p. C.6. Retrieved March 9, 2008, from Banking Information Source database. Stair, Ralph M & Reynolds, George W (2006). Fundamentals of Information Systems. Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology

Dysfunctional Organizations Are Like Dysfunctional Families

Quality, timing, and cost will all usually be less favorable than planned. Projects will be routinely delayed, costs will routinely be revised upward, quality will be at risk of being forgotten in the quest for profitability and timeliness, products will be at risk of many and/or severe defects, and customer satisfaction will lag behind more capable and less dysfunctional competitors. Similarly, a dysfunctional family will have parallel problems with achieving its goals.An imbalance of power is a frequent cause of dysfunction in families. Imagine: a family with several children embarks on a big project, a trip to Ocracoke Island, for xample. If one child is more demanding, needy, or otherwise exceptional, and the family has developed a dysfunctional behavior pattern centered on that child, things will be disrupted and plans will not work out. The child may have to stop at every rest stop, and take a long time getting back into the car, delaying progress on the trip.The father may kno w the ferry schedule for getting to the island, and know when the family needs to be at the dock, but he may not be able to change the child's behavior, nor the behavior of the mother who caters too much to the demanding child. Random and unanticipated delays caused by the child, who has no understanding of the constraints the father faces, make them late and they miss the ferry, incurring additional cost of a night's stay on the mainland. An imbalance of power is also a problem for large companies.I have worked for companies in which one top manager or one function, product styling, for example, can cause a nearly-perfect parallel to the dysfunctional family. The product styling group knows when they need to finish the design, but their Job is to make the product look attractive, and they have so any people involved, from multiple levels of the organization, that they can't get it done on time. Top managers come through the studio to look at the new design, but, many having been en gineers and designers in the past, they each see something they feel needs to be changed.Since they don't come through the studio until the design is supposed to be nearly complete, their suggestions set back the design process, and the design is late. The engineers who have to integrate the design with functional parts are left to play â€Å"catch-up† with their designs, involving late changes, vertime, and a huge amount of rework to recast financial fgures, get revised quotes from suppliers, re-time the plans, etc. , etc. The suppliers, too, have to change their plans and designs and renegotiate with their suppliers in turn, and are delayed as well.Packaging, marketing materials, sales and service training classes, and many other efforts are all set back. Even if top management is understanding and â€Å"lets well takes sa'. n. y management at the top, executives or parents, to limit dysfunctional behavior and keep things on track. In my five different careers I have seen this same asic pattern repeated over and over, becoming nothing more than the standard way of doing business for some organizations. The only mitigating force I know of is having really sa'. . y upper management who understand how such things happen and are willing to actively work to avoid them. A smart top manager can rein in the overzealous designers, for example, and understand the principles of diminishing returns and the need to understand when â€Å"roughly right† is good enough. Similarly, the skilled parent can understand the problems caused by favoring one child over nother, and carefully manage the behavior of the individuals in the family so that the familys overarching goals are met.Maybe it's Just my experience, but I have seen that such skill and savvy are all too rare. Ethnic or national culture can be a significant factor in instances of dysfunction. Interestingly, management sa'. n. y and parenting skill are heavily influenced by cultural factors. In Western cultures where there is a strong value placed on individuality, managers can acquire the â€Å"gunslinger† mentality, which makes them think they have to do everything themselves and be the best at everything.With such managers collaboration and communication can suffer and, while they may be stars in their own right, the organization can suffer from the conflicts and snafus that will result. Similarly, in a strongly patriarchic culture, the father, feeling like he must be the all-knowing authority, may ignore the small child who hears the tire rumbling as it starts to go flat, and as a result miss the ferry due to a shredded tire and the time required to fix it.Organizations can become dysfunctional by promoting those who do extremely well. Some businesses promote engineers and designers who create great products to high level management ositions, and then some wonder why the organization does poorly. I have often noted that many engineers take this career direction because they don't like dealing with people, and would rather â€Å"stick their head in a machine† and make it work as nearly perfectly as possible than negotiate with other people.To take someone who, by their nature, hews to Jobs that avoid interaction with people and put them in a Job that requires excellent people skills is asking for trouble. They will not only be uncomfortable and unhappy, but they may not understand interpersonal and organizational behavior well, struggle, and not do a very good Job. At the same time, to go back to engineering would be a terrible demotion and pay cut, so they are stuck, often for decades, in a position for which they are only marginally suited.Many parents, like many executives, were never suited or well prepared for their roles. Similarly, many parents become that by accident, perhaps through lack of proper attention to contraception, or through social imperatives – older family members who lobby hard for grandchildren, for example. S ome parents had tough childhoods, for example, and never had the chance to witness good parenting as children, yet they ften find themselves responsible for a family with children and (perhaps) a spouse, and even elderly parents that need their care.In a society with little focus on or cultural knowledge around good parenting, they will be severely challenged to run a family effectively or avoid the mistakes that were perpetrated on them as children. Dysfunction tends to stick around and follow organizations and families. Thus, in creep in over time, and propagate forward from one generation or regime to the next. It is for this reason that sometimes a board of directors of a corporation will dismiss ot only a CEO but many of his reports as well, and bring in fresh management talent from outside the company to try to instill a new culture.While this is drastic and difficult in a business organization, it is even more difficult and disruptive to a family, and usually involves social service organizations and courts intervening in ways that may or may not produce better long term results for the family members. In both cases the situation must be extremely bad before such changes can be Justified, and a majority of such situations probably are never very well addressed.

Romeo and Juliet Tragedy

Tragedy, a dramatic compostion, dealing with a serious and somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of charachter or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate, or society, to downfall or destructon. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is about two young teenagers, Romeo Monatague, and Juliet Capulet who fall deeply in love and are forced to keep their love a secreat in order to prevent the dissapointment of there feuding familes. Romeo and Juliets fate, immature acts, and secrets soon lead up to Romeo and Juliets downfall. Fate is a power that predetemines events and controls destiny. In the story, William Shakesphere is controlling Romeo and Juliet, which brings fate at fault of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. It was fate that brought Romeo and Juliet together, and made their family’s rivalrys. It is also what brought them to their downfall. If Romeo and Juliet had never met at the party, Friar Lawrence had never married them, and Juliets father wasnt forceing her to marry Paris, none of this would have happened. Fate in this story is unavoidable. Frair Lawerence played a huge role in Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. A Friar is looked up to and held responsible alot more. The Frair should have known better then to marry two young teenagers, just to end the families feud. The plan the Friar had to keep Romeo and Juliet together was insufficiently thought out which ultimatly was a major part in the tragedy. Even though Friar Lawerence knows that both the Monatague’s and Capulet’s wont be very happy with his descion to marry them, he still continues to do so. If Frair Lawrence wasnt stupid enough to keep the secreat, none of this would have happened. Juliet would have never dranken the potion, and therefore neither would have Romeo. Romeo’s immature ways also led to the tragedy. Romeo first met Juliet because he needed someone to get over Rosaline, his ex girlfriend. When they first laid eyes on eachother, they supposbly fell in love. Yes, they say it was â€Å"magical,† but it was also dumb. If Romeo wasnt to quick to get married, Juliet would not have as much feelings for Romeo as she did when they were married. Therefore Juliet probley wouldnt have gone through as much as she did to be with Romeo. Romeo made it much more complicated then it had to be by fighting and killing Juliets cousin Tybalt.

Making Your Own Luck

I should never have thrown the chain letter away. The letter clearly warned me that if I did, I would have one day of bad luck. I did not believe it, so I threw the silly piece of paper in the garbage. I thought the friend who sent me the letter was just a superstitious fool. Letters do not bring you luck. You make your own! That night, however, as I fell asleep, I had the uncomfortable feeling that something was not quite right. When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to find that I had overslept and would be late for work.As I rushed down the stairs to eat a quick breakfast, I tripped over my bag and spilled glassofwateronthepileofdocuments, whichI should have presentedat the meetingthat morning. Because themeetingwasabouttobegin, Irushedto getmycaranddriveto the officeveryquickly. However, bad luck happened to me again; my car was covered by snow from last night, so I needed to take time to make them melt. On my way to work, I decided to take a shortcut through an old par t of town. I drove to an old rough road which people rarely use daily. However, when I was very close to my office, I noticed there was an accident in the front of my car.Suddenly, I heard a noisy police car and people tried to change to another lane, and I was stuck in a traffic jam. After a while, I finally arrived at work. When I arrived at work, I found a note on my desk from my boss. She wanted to see me right away. I took a deep breath and walked into her office. As I stepped inside, I noticed a scowl on her face. Of course, she scolded me for arriving late and for not preparing well for the meeting. She had had to start the meeting without any help. Because of her rage, I was received a warning letter. At 5 PM, I left my office and went home feeling very tired and disappointed.Finally, after a long and difficult day, I returned home to find that my air conditioner was broken. I could not take it anymore! It had been the worst day of my life, and I did not want anything else t o happen. I rushed to the garbage can and dug around for the chain letter I had thrown away the day before. It was covered with coffee grounds and potato peels, but I could still read the words: â€Å"Send ten copies of this letter to your friends and you will have good luck for a year. † I sat down at the kitchen table and began to make copies for ten of my friends. They could take their chances, but I was not going to have any more bad luck!

Linda Hogan

What adjectives does Linda Hogan use to describe her personality as a child in Oklahoma? 2. Does L. H. believe that she is a traditionally-minded Native woman? 3. In para 8, does L. H. state she thinks the view of the constellations is the same for the Western world as it is in the American Indian tradition? 4. 4. After rereading para 9, name the three types of writing L. H. says she does. 5. In para 12, what are the two choices for L.H. ’s main character in her novel Power? What is the main character’s name? 6. What endangered animal did a Seminole man kill in the controversial case that L. H. researched for an article she was writing? 7. What animal does L. H. write about in her poem â€Å"Affinity: Mustang†? What words describe the animal? 8. In the final para, according to L. H. , why does she write? What is her motivation for writing? TASK 2 Go beyond the text 1. L. H. riting often acknowledges traditional Native American values such as respecting the intell igence of the elders. What are some other traditional values she writes about? What are some traditional values you hold? Are your values similar to or different from the traditional values that L. H. cherishes? 2. L. H. discusses her views on the understanding of the cosmos and how the constellations have a meaning for her that is different from the traditional Western meaning.What might be some reasons for these different meanings? Do the skies and constellations have any meaning to you or to other people you know? If so, discuss this meaning and explain its importance. 3. L. H. ‘ s novel Power describes a character who must choose between two ways of life: the American world and the culture of her elders who live in their community with their own traditions.Have you or someone you know ever had to make a choice between two worlds, two ways of thinking, or two ways of conducting your life? Discuss the difficulties in making such a decision and the consequences of the choice you made. 4. In the first several paras of her essay, L. H. writes about how she grew, as a tree grows, into â€Å"a traditionally-minded Native woman† and a writer. What experiences helped her grow? In what ways have you connected your identity? What people and experiences have influenced you?