Why Should We Ban Handguns In The United States Essays - Firearms

Why Should We Ban Handguns in the United States Recently in Michigan a six-year-old brought a handgun to school and shot a classmate and killed her. In 1990 there were 23,438 homicides in the United States, 9,923 due to handguns (418). This was one of the points that Nicholas Dixon brings up in his article, "Why Should We Ban Handguns in the United States". Dixon's argues for the ban of handguns in the United States, with the complete ban outweighing the negative effects. He does not argue for the outright ban of all guns, that is questioning the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. Arguing the complete ban of all guns would be impossible which is why he stays to strictly handguns. Dixon's line of reason is that if we reduce the handgun population, we will reduce the handgun violence, which will lower the number of violent crimes (418). Handguns were chosen to be the gun of choice to be banned because of its easiness to be concealed. The handguns were also chosen because they were seen to be the primary cause of the violent crimes in America. In an International comparison the U.S. had a significantly higher rate of homicide, than all countries included (419). This was attributed to the more lenient laws that are in the U.S. more than anywhere else. The comparison of Seattle to Vancouver is used to present this point more efficiently. The two cities are similar in almost all aspects, the only difference being that Canada has stricter gun laws (421). In short Dixon's argument is in order to reduce the number of violent crimes in the U.S., we need to decrease the number of handgun owners, which will lower handgun violence. Even though criminal offenders would still have guns, the amount available would be significantly decreased. The idea behind the ban is to lower the " overall ?pool' of guns" (422). Lowering the "pool" of guns I feel that this will not lead to a decrease in the amount of violent crimes in America. The violent crimes that were limited to handguns will then be transferred to crimes using other kinds of guns. The issue of other guns that are not "long guns" (418) is not taken into consideration. There are guns that are not considered handguns or "long guns", that can still be concealed. The semi-automatic guns that are on the street today are more violent than the handguns that are being discussed. That exclusion can represent a large percentage of the violent crimes that take place. Also taking into consideration the fact that criminals own guns illegally through theft is left out. If the law abiding citizens were able to still buy guns than who is to say that they would not buy them and sell them to the criminals? Dixon argues for a ban For those with prior convictions leaving the law-abiding gun owner undisturbed (422). This point also goes back to the idea of theft, which might create more household break-ins, increasing violence. The issue of gun control in America is a very strong issue for many different reasons. Dixon's hypothetical argument for the ban of handguns presents solutions to lower the amount of violent crimes. Although that lowering the population of handguns might decrease the number of violent crimes there is no way to know for certain that it will.

Stand essays

Stand essays "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anybody?" This quote from the movie Stand by Me, directed by Rob Reiner, was said by the character Gordie (Wil Wheaton), a boy who was just about to enter Junior High. When he typed up those words on his computer, years later, when he was looking back on those days, he was referring to his three friends Chris, Vern and Teddy. Chris (River Phoenix), was the leader of the little group, Gordie's best friend, and a very complex character. According to Freud, Chris would appear to be heavily influenced, but not controlled, by his 'superego'. Some evidence to support this theory would be the constant talk about some milk money that Chris had stolen, the belief that he was going nowhere, and how he supported his friends throughout the movie. As the movie progresses, it keeps informing us more and more about an incident when Chris had stolen milk money from some girl. "He stole the milk-money at school. He's a thief in my book." This accusation, coming out of the mouth of Gordie's father, was meant to be an insult about Gordie's choice in a best friend. Another way of looking at this quote would be to say that everyone knew that Chris stole the money. "Oh it is. No one even asked me if I took the milk money that time. I just got a three-day vacation." This quote, which expresses Chris' frustration, shows what he thought about the whole situation that he had been placed in. The truth was that everyone DID know that he had taken the money. While these two quotes don't say much, the next quote ties the whole story together. "Yeah. So let's just say that I stole the milk money but Old Lady Simons stole it back from me. Just suppose that I told the story. Me, Chris Chambers, kid brother of the Eyeball Chambers. You th ink that anybody would have believed it?" Chris had actually felt bad about stealing the money, but when he attempted to give it back,...

Accouting Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Accouting - Speech or Presentation Example The formula to calculate dividend yield ratio is dividends per share divided by market price per share. Dividend yield ratio = $1.50 / $60 = 2.5%. d) The price-earnings ratio is an index that shows whether a stock is relatively cheap or expensive in relation to its earnings. The formula to calculate the price-earnings ratio is market price per share / EPS. Price-earnings ratio = 60 / 7.8 = 7.69. The book value per share is lower than the market value per share by $20. This figure does not necessarily reflect that the stocks of the company are selling at a bargain price. The book value per share reflects the amount that would be distributed to investors if all assets were sold at their balance sheet values after paying off the creditors. a) The current ratio is calculated dividing current assets by current debt. Current ratio = 1,120,000 / 600,000 = 1.87. The current ratio shows the ability of a company to pay off its current debt. A general rule for the current ratio is that if the ratio is above 1.0 it is good. The company is in a good position to pay off its current debt. The current ratio of the firm is below the industry average of 2.1. b) The quick acid ratio is another solvency metric. It is calculated similarly to current ratio with the exception that inventory is deducted from the numerator. Quick acid ratio = (1,120,000 – 610,000) / 600000 = 0.85. The quick acid ratio of the company is below the industry average of 1.2. e) The debt to equity ratio is a measure of the amount of assets being provided by creditors for each dollar of assets being provided by the stockholders (Garrison, et. al.). The ratio is calculated by the following formula: total liabilities / total equity. The purpose of the ratio analysis performed was to determine whether Stephens Company qualifies for a $500,000 loan. The broad profitability of the company is a little lower than the

Influence of culture and religion on the development of science Essay

Influence of culture and religion on the development of science - Essay Example Although we are often willing to acknowledge our debt to the ancient Greeks for giving us the basics of modern science, we are less likely to even be aware of our debt to Islam for preserving and building upon the knowledge the Greeks had developed. Far from working to suppress the development of science, it was the religion and general culture of the ancient Greeks and Muslims that helped shape the development of modern science. The religion of the ancient Greeks had a significant impact upon their view of how society should operate. With a Pantheon of Gods on high, each having his or her own specialty, participating in regular meetings to discuss what’s right and wrong with the world, it was not unusual for the Greeks to have a more diplomatic democratic society. They considered their gods to be very much like themselves but with greater powers to control the elements around them. It was important to keep them happy if one wanted good weather for productive crops or healthy livestock and a plague in the land could be an indication of a god unhappy with a particular ruler or policy. The people took their clues about what was necessary to keep the gods happy from the stories and legends that were told about them. When that wasn’t sufficient, they made it a habit to consult an oracle (Martin, 2006). This questioning of the mysteries eventually led to greater efforts to foretell the future and to guess the will of the gods. This required careful observations, study and training which eventually led to the development of scientific thought. By the end of the Greek period, many significant achievements had been made in science and philosophy. Greek thinkers had gained a view of a universe in which the world was round and participated in an intricate dance through the heavens with other bodies named after the gods they revered. Sophistication in mathematics led to the development of geometry which enabled the ancient Greeks to

The Bounce Of A Ball Physical Education Essay

The Bounce Of A Ball Physical Education Essay The bounce height of the ball is a function of the intrinsic qualities of the ball. Elevating the ball to a certain height will cause it to gain gravitational potential energy that is equal to the amount given by the equation E = mass x gravity x height. (The value of gravity on earth is approximately 9.81m/s ²) Therefore, the higher the ball is, the higher the potential energy it has. When the ball is dropped, the gravitational potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy, which is given by the equation E= 0.5 x mass x velocity ². In perfectly elastic collisions, the total kinetic energy of the two bodies that collide stays the same. In inelastic collisions, some of the kinetic energy is lost to internal molecular movement. When a ball is dropped from a certain height and collides with the ground, it is an inelastic collision. Therefore, some of the balls kinetic energy is lost to internal molecular forces, and it has less potential energy than it did before and therefore reduces its bounce height. Thus, a ball that is dropped from a certain height will bounce to a height that is less than the original level from which it was dropped. The physical properties of the ball determine the extent to which the collision will be inelastic. Some materials, such as rubber, preserve more of the kinetic energy, while other materials will dissipate it to a greater extent. That is why different kinds of balls will bounce to different heights after they are dropped. Variables The variables in my investigation will be: Height from where the ball is dropped Mass of the ball. Temperature of the ball. Material of the ball. Surface area of the ball. The velocity with which the ball is dropped. My independent variable will be the height(s) from which I drop the ball as I will be changing this in a uniform manner. I will start with a height of 50cm and add 50cm consecutively for each experiment until a total height of 250cm. The dependant variable will be the height that the ball reaches once it bounces as this value will depend on the height that the ball is dropped from. In order to keep the experiment a fair test, the following will be kept constant: Mass of the ball. Material of the ball. Surface that the ball is bounced on. The velocity at which the ball is dropped. Surface area of the ball. In all of the experiments, the ball will be dropped from just above its mark. Ie : The edge of the ball will be touching the 50cm mark for when it is being dropped from 50cm. The same will be repeated for all experiments. Apparatus A bouncing ball Rulers To measure the height that the ball is dropped from and to measure the height of the bounce. Balance To measure the mass of the ball. Tape To hold the rulers against the wall. Method I will begin by measuring the mass of the ball. I will then tape the rulers against a wall. I will then drop the ball from a height of 50cm and record the height of the bounce. I will record the results in a suitable table. I will then repeat the same experiment another 4 times so as to get 5 readings in total to ensure that readings are more accurate. I will then repeat the experiment, dropping the ball from a height of 100cm this time. This will continue with the height from where the ball is dropped increasing by 50cm each time until the final height is 250cm. Each height will have 5 corresponding readings. Readings Initial height of Ball ( ±0.0005m) Height of Bounce ( ±0.0005m) Test 1 (cm) Test 2 (cm) Test 3 (cm) Test 4 (cm) Test 5 (cm) Average (cm) 50cm 40.6 41.4 39.5 39.1 40.0 40.12 100cm 80.5 78.2 76.1 82.2 83.2 80.04 150cm 115.5 114.2 113.0 109.8 117.3 113.96 200cm 142.2 137.7 144.9 143.0 146.4 142.84 250cm 177.8 180.1 183.1 189.4 182.5 182.58 The average of the results is calculated as follows: (T 1 + T2 +T3 + T4 + T5) / 5 Put into context: (40.6 + 41.4 + 39.5 + 39.1 + 40.0) / 5 = 200.7 / 5 = 40.14cm Graph Average Graph Energy of the Ball To prove that energy transfer takes place, I decided to calculate the potential energies of the ball before and after it has been bounced. To calculate potential energy, the formula PE = MGH is used where: M is the mass of the ball. G is the gravity (9.81m/s ²). H is the height of the ball. The mass of the ball is 4.8g. Initial height of Ball Amount of Potential Energy at Initial Position 50cm 23.6 J 100cm 47.1 J 150cm 70.6 J 200cm 94.2 J 250cm 117.8 J Final height of ball (Average) Amount of Potential Energy at Final Position 40.12 18.9 J 80.04 37.7 J 113.96 53.7 J 142.84 67.3 J 182.58 86.0 J From the above tables, the change in the values of energy can easily be noticed. This can be used to show why a ball that is bounced doesnt attain the same height it is dropped from after it has been bounced. The difference in the values of potential energy can be used to show that some energy is converted into sound, heat or other energies whilst the ball is being bounced. Analysis After analyzing my results, I noticed that there was a trend amongst my readings. As the height from which the ball is increased, the corresponding height of the bounce of the ball will be high. For example, when the ball was dropped from 50cm, the average height of the bounce was 40.12cm. However, when the ball was dropped from 100cm, the average height of the bounce was 80.04cm. I also noticed that as the height from which the ball is dropped increases, the potential energy increased. For example, when the ball was dropped from 50cm, its final potential energy was 18.9 J. However, when the ball was dropped from 100cm, its final potential energy was 37.7 J. The trend here is that as the height from which the ball dropped increases, the more its potential energy will be. This therefore leads to the height of the bounce to be greater. This trend proves my hypothesis. Conclusion A bouncing ball constantly changes between kinetic energy and potential energy. When it is dropped, it slowly loses its potential energy which is converted into kinetic energy. When the ball hits the ground, it loses some of its energy in the form of heat and sound which therefore causes its overall energy to drop. Because of this energy drop, we can safely conclude that the ball cannot reach the same height as which it was dropped from due to the loss of some of its energy and therefore the speed at which it leaves the ground after the bounce will be less. As the law of conservation states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed and therefore the initial potential energy of the ball is equal to the sum of the potential energy of the ball after the bounce, the heat given off by the ball and the sound energy created by the ball. I also learnt that the higher the height that the ball is dropped from, the more its velocity will be when it hits the ground and therefore the amount of kinetic energy will be higher. (Velocity is directly proportional to Kinetic energy through the equation: http://i.ajdesigner.com/energy/kenetic_energy_equation.png I have come to the conclusion that as the height at which the ball dropped increases, the corresponding height of the bounce will be higher. However I think that eventually the height of the bounced ball becomes constant as the height at which the ball is dropped increases. This occurs when the ball reaches terminal velocity. This implies that no matter what height the ball is dropped from, the bounce height will remain constant. However this is only noticed after a certain height because the ball takes some time to reach its terminal velocity and therefore a height of approximately 100cm wont enable the ball to reach its terminal velocity. Evaluation I think my procedure and successful as my measurements were quite accurate, I ensured that I had no systematic error and tried to minimize the chances of having a random error by repeating each experiment 5 times which showed that I carried out my investigation well. I found it challenging to record the exact height of the bounced ball because it only occurs for a split second. This was the reason that I carried out the experiment 5 times, so as to ensure that my results would be reliable and accurate. In order to improve the accuracy of my results, I could have performed the experiment with a friend. Whilst one of us could have dropped the ball, the other could have recorded the height of the bounce. This could have possibly minimized error. However, my results still managed to prove my hypothesis and they were sufficient enough to make a conclusion. Another way in which I could have improved the accuracy of my results was through using a camera. If I used a camera to take a video of the experiment, I could have obtained very accurate results as the exact height of the bounce could be obtained through the use of the slow motion feature on the camera. I would have liked trying the same experiment from higher heights as well as working with energy transfers within a ball to find out how energy transfers vary as the height from which the ball is dropped changes. This would have enabled be to form a more conclusive conclusion. On the whole, I found my experiment to be successful and helped me gather a deeper understanding of the different factors that affect the bounce of a ball coupled with the various energy transfers that take place in a bouncing ball.

Daniel Elazar, Bogus or Brilliant: A Study of Political Culture Across the American States :: Politics Political Science Essays

Daniel Elazar, Bogus or Brilliant: A Study of Political Culture Across the American States American states each have individual political cultures which are important to our understanding of their political environments, behavior, and responses to particular issues. While voters probably do not consciously think about political culture and conform to that culture on election day, they seem to form cohesive clusters in different areas of the state, creating similar group political ideologies. Because of these similarities, it is possible to measure the dominant political culture within states or areas of a state, gaining insight into the mind-set of state residents. Whatever the state culture, whether liberal or conservative, participatory or exclusive, political culture identifies dominant, state-wide trends. The question remains whether there is an accurate way to measure this political culture phenomenon in the United States. Many studies try to measure political culture within states, but some political scientists are wary of assigning state political cultures because such measurements may be of dubious empirical grounding. While the process may not be entirely empirically sound, different state political cultures seem to exist and demand further analysis. In 1966, Daniel Elazar published his now famous assessment of United States’ political cultures. His evaluation of state cultures has been the focus of much study and criticism over the past three decades. Elazar proposes that the political culture in the United States developed in different regions due to east to west migratory patterns moving across the continent. Patterns of political culture were established during the Western frontier migration, as individuals followed â€Å"lines of least resistance which generally led them due west from the immediately previous area of settlement† (Elazar, 1966: 99). As a result, like-minded indivi duals migrated together and stayed together, causing similar political ideology to transform into a dominant political culture (Elazar, 1994). Political cultures are dominant in certain areas of the country due to westward expansion. Moralism characterizes communitarian-agrarian New England and the far northern states, while the agrarianism of the middle states is individualistic. Traditionalism dominates the South and its plantation agrarianism structure. Typically, moralistic political cultures focus on agrarianism, individualism on commerce, and traditionalism on aristocratic legitimacy. These differing foci help to categorize Elazar’s political cultures in the United States (Elazar 1984: 119, 122). Elazar’s political culture typology divides state political culture into three dominant categories: moralist, individualist, and traditionalist. Moralists measure government by its commitment to the public good and concern for public welfare.

The Lego Case

1. What were LEGO’s main expectations and learnings from the relationship with the Flextronics? Expectations: a. Saving cost by outsourcing to low-cost countries: Prior to outsourcing, LEGO owned and operated production plants mainly in relatively high labor-cost countries, such as the United States, Switzerland and the South Korea. The main reason for this is that LEGO built plants close to its main markets to save transportation cost.But LEGO finally realized that the reduced labor cost in some labor-intensive countries outweighed the reduced transportation cost. Then they decided to outsource to Flextronics who has production capacity in low-cost regions; b. Subcontracting to Flextronics allowed LEGO to reach the economy of scale as well as reduce production complexity by combining its production with that of other Flextronics’ clients; c. Contracting production to Flextronics can help LEGO eliminate the risk of production price fluctuations. Learnings: a.LEGO learne d from Flextronics the importance of documentation and standardization of the production, which give LEGO Group transparency and often help LEGO manage the challenges of complexity and to identify the stronger and weaker parts and links of the production network. b. LEGO should consider more factors before they outsourcing. Things like Flextronics’ operation style, the cost and time of providing engineering support and training, and variable lead time incurred by global sourcing are really critical for making decisions. 2.What are the key challenges in maintaining a relationship like the one between LEGO and Flextronics. The key challenge in maintaining a relationship between buyer and supplier is how to reach an agreement that benefits both parties. Take LEGO and Flextronics for example, it’s a big problem for LEGO to solve the conflict between its need for flexible and Flextronics’ more stable and predictable operations. LEGO had wide range of products, includ ing many licensed products like Harry Potter and Star Wars, and each of its products consisted of different unique bricks.And it’s difficulty for LEGO to make a precise forecast with fluctuating demand. These two points made LEGO over-dependent on flexible production, which is totally against Flextronics’ operation style in which economies of scale is a key phrase. Since both LEGO and Flextronics require a profitable business model, it’s a great challenge to reach agreement that benefits both parties with difference emphasis. Also, LEGO has to consider how to communicate withFlextronics pertaining to making a clear plan for training and educating their staff so that they can be able to meet LEGO’s efficiency requirement quickly. 3. How can LEGO handle the supply chain complexity to improve knowledge sharing, flexibility and coordination? LEGO introduce a sophisticated planning system called sales and operations planning (SO&P) to its daily operation. SO&P can help LEGO monitor and coordinate different parts in supply chain and provide LEGO the visibility of its global operation, which usually involve numerous outsourcing partners.Besides, to maintain a good relationship with supplier over the long term, it’s reasonable to invest some resources to help the supplier achieve the level of performance required by LEGO. Through training and educating staff in Flextronics, LEGO can help Flextronics to build production capacity to meet the requirement of flexibility. Also, LEGO can put quality control personnel in factory to monitor production line and prevent quality variation. And frequent communication about production progress, updating issue and feedback is necessary for improving coordination and knowledge sharing.Building a sophisticated information system is of great help to improve supply chain flexibility and coordination, by conveying information seamlessly, it allows the supplier to get the visibility of sales and invento ry and adapt their own production to these information. This can eliminate the situation of overstock and out of stock. 4. What are the key considerations when outsourcing or offshoring production? Discuss them. To make a make versus buy decision, company should first consider the total cost of outsourcing.This cost should include not only the quotation from supplier but also the cost of monitoring the relationship, cost of providing training, education and engineering support to the supplier and cost of dealing with cultural and operational difference. Outsourcing globally is also subject to ethical and environmental violations. Buying company should conduct a comprehensive investigation of the supplier’s production and related issues like child labor, below-minimum wage and safety production. If the supplier violated any of these laws, it is usually the buying company that became the target of social media and NPOs.A company’s reputation can be greatly damaged due to the noncompliant supplier. If a buying company outsourcing its production, it may become over-dependent on supplier for production and finally lose the production ability, which may turn out to be a great disadvantage. Company should decide smartly which part of its business is appropriate for outsourcing. Besides, company should consider the variable lead time which is often impossible to control with outsourcing on global scale. Above all, it’s critical for buying company to make a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to decide in-house production or outsourcing. . Describ the competitive environment of the industry and how it relates to LEGO’s choices? A number of toy companies had built production plants in China, statistic show that 90 percent of the world’s toys are made in China. This means many of LEGO’s competitors have price advantages over LEGO and it’s hard for LEGO to survive in some developing countries, which have relatively low purc hasing power. That lead LEGO make the decision to outsource its production to Flextronics who have production line in low cost countries.Competitors in toy markets are also compete for decreasing lead time which is critical in the eyes of customers. Customers usually don’t like to wait for long to receive the order, especially during the time before holidays when toys are brought as gifts for their kids. Variation in lead time often annoyed customers and triggered in market share losing. Since it’s difficult to control the lead time concerning to LEGO’s complex products with Flextronics’ stable and standardized production and operation style, LEGO decided to source back its production task.