Legalization of marijuna Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Legalization of marijuna - Essay Example A professor of economics at California State University suggests that the legalization of marijuana would have considerable positive economic consequences. The taxation and regulation processes involved with decriminalization would provide the federal government with $6.2 billion worth of tax revenues (Grammy 2). When adjusting for inflation, this total increases to over $8 billion (Grammy 2). For just one state, California, legalization is estimated to be an opportunity to produce an additional $151.8 million (Grammy 2). Another economist significantly inflates the aforementioned projections, suggesting that in California alone, legalization would provide the state with between $1.5 billion and $4 billion of new tax revenues (Wolff 2). These are significant improvements in the strength of state level economies which, under current prohibitive economic environments, are not achievable through any reputable taxation program. Additionally, marijuana prohibition under the current nation al drug enforcement policy is considerably expensive. In Alaska, these costs total $24 million (Bates v). None of these costs have been able to be compensated for with grants or imposed fines associated with marijuana consumption. A professor of economics at Boston University estimates that in Massachusetts, the costs of enforcement equal $120.6 million (Miron 1). The state-level expenditures for enforcing marijuana prohibition are paid by taxpayers, which represents a burden for hard-working Americans that must service enforcement programs whether or not they agree with the policies. These are significant state-level costs that could easily be avoided by legalizing the substance. Furthermore, the criminal justice system is fraught with problems associated with prison over-crowding, which also imposes costs on society and state/local budgets. Many local jails and prisons are at maximum capacity, continuing to be a problem as non-violent offenders arrested for marijuana production an d consumption contributes to this problem. The estimated costs of police protection under the prohibitive policies are $2.55 billion annually (Grammy 2). Judicial and legal costs under this policy are estimated at $7.76 billion annually (Grammy 2). Furthermore, the total cost of national corrections is projected to be $776.2 million (Grammy 2). These are rather outrageous costs that are imposed that could be better allocated to more socially-centric programs such as violent offender rehabilitation or other preventative programs that would provide better protections to society against violence. Taxpayers should not be financially supporting these inflated and rather ridiculous costs that are incurred for a policy that is largely ineffective. The White House, however, is a stoic opponent of legalizing marijuana, despite the aforementioned financial gains that could be incurred through legalization. The Office of the President believes that legalization would do little to prevent furth er drug violence. The White House is firm that members of drug cartels would simply attempt to create an undercutting pricing structure to ensure they maintained their long-standing market share on marijuana sales (ONDCP 3). Drug cartels are usually involved in violent behavior and, under the White House’

Octopus System Essay Example for Free

Octopus System Essay In our group’s case study report, we will examine the use of Octopus system in the education sector. Octopus system is a widely used e-Commerce technology in Hong Kong, covering a variety of industries including transportation, retail, restaurants, and more. Tsung Tsin Primary School is the main focus of this case study. The school uses the Octopus system extensively, integrating into student and staff information, attendance, educational activities, payment, and communications. We will look at how using the system can help achieve the school’s missions. In order to describe the business case, we will analyze the benefits of adopting the Octopus system in an educational environment, comparing with the traditional methods of performing similar processes. The feedback from Tsung Tsin Primary School has been very positive; however there are associated costs, risks, and challenges. In our case study, we will also discover the potential or existing issues with the implementation and maintenance of the systems. With personal identification store in the Octopus cards and the server, we also have concerns regarding to the security and privacy of the system. We will analyze the current security measures and suggest changes to enhance the protection. Finally, we will provide recommendations for extending and further improving the use of Octopus and other e-Commerce technologies in Tsung Tsin Primary School. We will also look at the feasibility of adopting the Octopus system in other types of educational institutes.

Snake, By DH Lawrence Essay -- essays research papers

Snake When the snake first came to the water-trough, the narrator was excited and glad "he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water trough." He "felt so honoured" at this visit whilst at the same time, the voices of his "accursed human education" advised him to kill it, for it was a gold snake and therefore venomous. Those voices said to him, "If you were not afraid you would kill him." The narrator "picked up a clumsy log And threw it" at the snake when the snake was leaving. Like for a moment, the majestic spell of awe was broken and the voices overpowered him so his real cowardice shone through. He had asked himself whilst feeling this awe, if it were "cowardice, that I dared not kill him?" but his real cowardice came when the snake's "back was turned." I also think that when he threw the log at the snake, it was almost a cry out that he was not to go. He said that it was his voices, but it seems to me that he used that as an excuse. That he was almost trying to punish the snake for leaving him. The narrator says he felt "A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole" then he threw the log. The use of words like silently, softly, in the beginning when he is first describing the snake and the snake's motions, serve to get ...

Carmen Marinache Essay

Assuming complex businesses in which company is part of: – organising logistics operations ( railway transportation from station of departure to station of destination, reception of wagons at final station of destination, unloading the cargo from wagons and loading it into trucks / handling, delivery up to the client’s terminal); – organising special transports such as munitions transportation in transit via Romania; – organising cargo exports from Romania with guard protection on route; – organising oversized transportation, export from Romania to different countries, which implies: obtaining loading drawing from an authorised company, obtaining approval for transportation from the railways and infrastructure, issuing CIM railway bills, coordinating the transport with foreign railways on traffic and obtaining all necessary traffic permission by keeping in touch with all our external partners, solving problems that might occur while transportation is performed; – organising exports from Romania to different countries from exCIS in special SZD wagons (wagons from CIS countries), obtaining all traffic permissions, keeping in contact with clients and partners for a prompt solving of all difficult situations; – organising transportation of wagons on their own wheels as well as of locomotives; – participating to organisation of multimodal traffic – Ex: cargo coming by vessel, unloading directly or indirectly to wagons and customs clearance through a sister company specialised in port in such ki nd of operations), railway transportation up to one station in Europe, unloading of cargo and delivery by trucks to consignee, etc. ? Keeping in contact with Accounting and Financial Dept. in order to mutually solve problems related to the financial part of the business; ? Based on the information received from the Controlling Dept. , analysing and proposing to the Executive Manager personal evaluation for personnel; ? Monthly analysing the activity of the Railway Dept. calculating estimated operational profit, calculating the total tonnage, presenting the situations to Executive Director; ? Contacting and visiting potential clients; ? Taking part to set up of transport and freight forwarding contracts with Romanian and foreign clients/partners ; ? Representing the company within international exhibitions and fairs, in Romania and abroad, to Express Interfracht Holding own stand, and within conferences having as topic the improvement of railway transportation; ? Issuing the documentation of company presentation and representing the company within different tenders opened by big production companies in Romania, in o rder to choose logistic supplier.

Background of Technology Project Essay

The Project to be studied is an implementation of a work assignment and tracking system in an IT department in a medium sized company. The IT Department before the project was started, had undergone a management change and a reorganization due to corporate cost cutting and restructuring. The previous structure of the IT organization was teams of people that support specific applications in the system, and the business users of a particular application contacted the team assigned to their application for system enhancements and support. There was no system for managing and tracking projects and tasks, and it was left to the managers of each team to handle project prioritization, assignment and tracking. This structure was changed to a pooled resource structure where IT staff people were grouped by functional areas (such as mainframe support group, pc support group, web applications, etc). The IT structure was no longer hierarchical and the work was no longer handed down in a top down approach thus creating a need for a systematic way of managing people and tasks to function effectively. SDLC (Systems Development Life Cycle) The Life Cycle for this particular project did not exactly match the order of the phases as described in the Systems Development Life Cycle concept. Because of the immediate reorganization of the IT organization, current projects encountered delays and the IT procedures and tasks were disrupted. This prompted a need for a quick reshuffling of work between the new groups and a quick and dirty way to manage the work at hand and incoming work until a better system is implemented. Initiation The initiation of a system (or project) begins when a business need or opportunity is identified. This happened for this project when a CIO was appointed to head the new IT organization and was asked to reduce head count by pooling the resources while at the same time still provide timely and effective service to the business users of the IT systems and applications. System Concept Development Phase In this phase of SDLC, the business need has been approved and the approaches for accomplishing the concept are reviewed for feasibility and appropriateness. Several approaches were considered for tackling the problem in the IT department. The first approach was an Excel spreadsheet to list all IT personnel and their assigned tasks but this turned out to be too cumbersome and hard for several persons to use. An in-house developed web based system was also considered and was in fact implemented but was cancelled since it was not flexible enough to handle the different tasks of the different IT groupings and the different sources of work requests. The last approach was either to buy an existing package that would fit the requirements and customize it for the IT organization’s structure and procedures or develop one in-house. Planning Phase In the planning phase, the concept/approach is further developed to describe how the business will operate once the approved system is implemented, and to define project resources, activities, schedules, tools, and reviews to ensure the products and /or services provide the required capability on-time and within budget. The planning phase for this particular project was being done while simple solutions were being used and implemented since there were time constraints and something had to be in place right away. A team was assembled to look into existing applications within the company or packages out in the market that would fit the requirement and assess its flexibility and long term viability for the organization. That team also had to come up with a process flow of how work will be handled in the new IT structure to help in the use of the short-term solutions and to help in finding a long-term solution. Finally, two long term approaches were proposed. One was that of customizing the packaged software that was currently being used by the Help Desk to track PC and Mainframe work requests for PC Technicians and Mainframe System  Programmers, which was from a company called Remedy. The other was to develop a work flow system in-house. Requirements Analysis Phase In this phase, functional user requirements are formally defined and delineate the requirements in terms of data, system performance, security, and maintainability requirements for the system. The functional user requirements for this project detailed all the different tasks that an IT organization performs and the information that needs to be tracked for each such as requestor, status, assigned IT person etc. One of the main requirements gathered was that of accessibility of the work flow system. Different people will be entering work requests such as business users and help desk personnel and the user interface and performance requirements for the two types would be far different. So the chosen system should have flexible interfaces and need to communicate work status and results back to the requester in a medium that is accessible company wide. Another main requirement is that the system can be implemented quickly and should be flexible enough to easily add features in the future. Design The physical characteristics of the system are designed during this phase. For this project, after reviewing the requirements, the only option that would work was an out of the box solution such as the Remedy Action Request System. Since it was already being used by the Help Desk team, it has already proven itself as a flexible and reliable system to use. As a help desk software it allows entry of work request, assigns work, allows a way to log the progress of a request and stores all the history regarding a request. Design was simply a matter of finding out the customizable options and features in Remedy and designing it for the different IT groups formed. Since help desk work was different as compared to application development work, two type of request were designed and one was for support/problems and one was an enhancement to the system or major project that have subtasks and  involved lots of people with different roles and responsibilities. For the IT staff a client server platform was needed for faster execution, and for accessibility and ease of use, a simple web-based interface was designed for the business users since they don’t need to see too much detail. Since company wide communications was done through email, work assignment, status and results need to be communicated through this medium. Development, Integration , Test and Implementation Phase The four phases for this project was combined into one because of the time constraints and since it was a packaged software approach and the main components no longer needed development and testing. Most of the development involved loading tables that the package uses such as logon ids, departments, user data etc, and the customization of the user interfaces. The necessary components of Remedy were installed and hooked up with the web servers and the email system. Before final rollout, it was given a trial basis by one representative in each IT group and finalized based on the recommendations of each representative. Once the work flow system was ready, the IT staff were trained on how to use it and how work should flow through the organization. Conclusion The project as a whole went through a couple of cycles of the SDLC due to different implementations. But the final result was relatively successful since it incorporated the ideas that Trepper suggested in his article â€Å"Getting an edge on the competition† which was about process management. According to Trepper, process management † should also cover the establishment of actual development phases and activities, creation of a workflow among participants, and selection and implementation of tools and techniques best suited to the task.† This was accomplished by the Remedy AR system. The customized Remedy AR System also incorporated the two principal source of best practices as listed by Trepper which is industry best practice and ones  developed within the company. The Remedy AR System already had the industry best practice since it is a widely used system and the company best practices were incorporated through the customization of the system based on recommendations of the different IT groups.

San Lorenzo - Olmec Civilization in Veracruz

San Lorenzo - Olmec Civilization in Veracruz San Lorenzo is an Olmec period site located in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. San Lorenzo is the name of the central place in the larger San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan archaeological region. It is located on a steep plateau above the Coatzacoalcos floodplain. The site was first settled in the second millennium BC and had its heyday between 1200-900 BC. Temples, plazas, roadways and kingly residences are included in an area of about a half acre, where about 1,000 people resided. Chronology Ojochi phase (1800-1600 BC)Bajio phase (1600-1500 BC)Chicharras (1500-1400 BC)San Lorenzo A (1400-1200 BC)San Lorenzo B (1000-1200 BC) Architecture at San Lorenzo Ten colossal stone heads representing heads of past and present rulers have been found at San Lorenzo. Evidence suggests that these heads were plastered and painted in bright colors. They were arranged in ensembles and set in a plaza paved with red sand and yellow gravel. Sarcophagus-shaped thrones linked living kings with their ancestors. A royal processional aligned to the north-south axis of the plateau led the way to the center. At the center of the site are two palaces: the San Lorenzo Red Palace and the Stirling Acropolis. The Red Palace was a royal residence with a platform substructure, red floors, basalt roof support, steps and drain. The Stirling Acropolis may have been the sacred residence, and is surrounded by a pyramid, E-group and a ballcourt. Chocolate at San Lorenzo Recent analysis of 156 potsherds were collected from stratified deposits at San Lorenzo, and reported in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May of 2011. Residues of the pottery were collected and analyzed at the University of California, Davis Department of Nutrition. Of the 156 potsherds examined, 17% contained conclusive evidence of theobromine, the active incredient in chocolate. Vessel types exhibiting multiple occurrences of theobromine included open bowls, cups and bottles; the vessels date throughout the chronology at San Lorenzo. This represents the earliest evidence of chocolate use. Read more about the history of chocolate Excavators of San Lorenzo include Matthew Stirling, Michael Coe and Ann Cyphers Guillen. Sources This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the Olmec Civilization, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Blomster JP, Neff H, and Glascock MD. 2005. Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined Through Elemental Analysis. Science 307:1068-1072. Cyphers A. 1999. From Stone to Symbols: Olmec Art in Social Context at San Lorenzo Tenochtitln. In: Grove DC, and Joyce RA, editors. Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks. p 155-181. Neff H, Blomster J, Glascock MD, Bishop RL, Blackman MJ, Coe MD, Cowgill GL, Diehl RA, Houston S, Joyce AA et al. 2006. Methodological Issues In The Provenance Investigation Of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):54-57. Neff H, Blomster J, Glascock MD, Bishop RL, Blackman MJ, Coe MD, Cowgill GLC, Ann, Diehl RA, Houston S, Joyce AA et al. 2006. Smokescreens in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):104-118. Pohl MD, and von Nagy C. 2008. The Olmec and their contemporaries. In: Pearsall DM, editor. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. London: Elsevier Inc. p 217-230. Pool CA, Ceballos PO, del Carmen Rodrà ­guez Martà ­nez M, and Loughlin ML. 2010. The early horizon at Tres Zapotes: implications for Olmec interaction. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(01):95-105. Powis TG, Cyphers A, Gaikwad NW, Grivetti L, and Cheong K. 2011. Cacao use and the San Lorenzo Olmec. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(21):8595-8600. Wendt CJ, and Cyphers A. 2008. How the Olmec used bitumen in ancient Mesoamerica. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27(2):175-191.

The Novel Writer’s Secret Short Stories - Freewrite Store

The Novel Writer’s Secret Short Stories - Freewrite Store Today’s guest post is by author Jeff Somers.  He has published nine novels, including the  Avery Cates Series  of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books, the darkly hilarious crime novel  Chum  from Tyrus Books, and most recently tales of blood magic and short cons in the  Ustari Cycle. Go Short to Go Long: Going from Short Stories to Novels The Short Story is having a bit of a Moment these days. After a lengthy period of being overshadowed by longer-form fiction, readers, critics, and (most importantly) film and television producers seem to be waking up to the unique old-school pleasures of a short piece of fiction. Writers like George Saunders, who largely specialize in short stories (Lincoln in the Bardo was his first published novel), have bubbled into the mainstream- Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is composed of interlocked short stories, and it won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. Some of the biggest movies of the past few years- like Arrival or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- have been based on short stories. And Amazon just picked up Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams,an anthology series based on the short works of the famous sci-fi author. A lot of writers shy away from short stories. Stories don’t earn a whole lot of money, as a rule, and so can be seen as a poor use of a writer’s time. Plus, they’re tough to write; unlike a novel, where you can spin words upon words as you write through problems, the format is tight and constricted, requiring ruthless cutting and efficient plotting. This is also whyevery writer who aspires to write and sell a novel should be writing short stories- and a lot of them. Challenge: Accepted George R.R. Martin, a man who has managed to make writing huge, wordy novels look easy, once offered this piece of writing advice: â€Å"I would also suggest that any aspiring writer begin with short stories. These days, I meet far too many young writers who try to start off with a novel right off, or a trilogy, or even a nine-book series. That’s like starting in at rock climbing by tackling Mt. Everest. Short stories help you learn your craft.† The fact that writing a coherent short story that’s an affecting, complete piece of work is difficult is your first clue that you should be doing it. In fact, writing a short story exercises several writing muscles that will benefit your novel writing: Finishing. Probably the hardest part of writing any piece of fiction is getting to The End. Books often begin with a blaze of inspiration and excitement, then get bogged down in characters that don’t seem interesting, plots that go nowhere, and the slow creeping sense that you are a fraud and an impostor. Short stories train you to get from the beginning to the end without investing months or years of your time- and like any muscle memory, physical or mental, the more you get to The End the easier it becomes in the future. Efficiency. The open-ended expanse of novels (first drafts can be as flabby and overwritten as we like, after all) encourages experimentation and, to use a scientific term, noodling. All that noodling can bulk up your word count without actually moving the story forward or clarifying your characters’ motivations. Word count is a satisfying metric, making you feel like you’ve achieved something regardless of the quality of those words. But in a short story, there’s no room for noodling. Writing the short form forces you to cut your plot, your characterizations, and your world-building down to the essentials, making your game that much tighter. Creativity. Short stories also offer a way of capturing ideas when you don’t have time to work on a longer version of an idea. Haruki Murakami, the author of Kafka on the Shore and 1Q84 among many other amazing novels, once said â€Å"A short story I have written long ago would barge into my house in the middle of the night, shake me awake and shout, 'Hey, this is no time for sleeping! You can't forget me, there's still more to write!' Impelled by that voice, I would find myself writing a novel. In this sense, too, my short stories and novels connect inside me in a very natural, organic way.† In other words, sometimes a short story is just a short story, and sometimes it’s the tip of a novel-length iceberg. Short Stories Every Day When discussing the craft and process of writing, you’ll eventually hear that if you want to improve you need to write every day or as near to it as possible. The more you write (and the more you read), the better your writing will become because practice is an essential part of any skill or craft. Most of us have to work pretty hard to find the time to write every day, making that time precious. Your choice of what to work on during those precious hours (or minutes) is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a writer. I strongly suggest you use that time to work on short stories unless you have a very clear concept and way forward for a novel. I’ve completed 35 novels. Many of those are awful, some are mediocre, and nine have been published (so far). One reason I’ve been able to plan, compose, and sell so many novels is that I write at least one short story every month, without fail. I started doing this thirty years ago, and I now have more than 500 stories written in long-hand in notebooks. When I finish one, I immediately start another. As with my novels, most of these aren’t great; I’ve sold about 40 over the years, and most of them never make it out of the notebooks at all. My goal isn’t necessarily to write a brilliant, publishable short story, though- those come as a side-effect of my true goal, which is to practice. To try different things. Working on a story each month means I can play around with a narrative device for a month, then capture an idea that’s been buzzing inside my head the next. After that, I can write a story focusing on a dialog trick I’ve thought of, and the month after that I can write my version of someone else’s story so I can tear apart their style, their mechanics, their tricks, and tics to see what can be seen. Every story I write, month after month, I’m trying something new, something that maybe I’m no good at, something that won’t work at all- but it’s low-risk, because at the end of the month I write The End and mo ve on to the next idea, the next experiment, the next challenge. This has had an incredibly positive effect on my longer works. First of all, some of these experiments lead to ideas and scenarios that grow naturally into novels- my book We Are Not Good People ultimately sprang from a pretty awful short story written a long, long time ago when I thought a mullet was an acceptable hairstyle. And every time I push myself to write a story in a new way, or using new, unfamiliar tools, I get a faint echo of that first crazy energy that drove me to write in the first place. And the fact that every day, without fail, I’m working on a new story means that my mind is always focused on writing and the mechanics of telling a tale, keeping me sharp. The TL;DR version is: Short stories for the Win. So, writers, how do you keep your skills and mind sharp even when your novel only exists as 4,000 Post-It Notes and a dream journal?    Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including the Avery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and the Ustari Cycle  Series of urban fantasy novels. His short story Ringing the Changes was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2006,his story Sift, Almost Invisible, Through appeared in the anthology Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story Three Cups of Tea  appeared in the anthology Hanzai Japan. He also writes about books for Barnes and Noble and About.com and about the craft of writing for Writer’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writing Writing Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.