The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring and Its Production by Means of Detailed Planning, Storyboarding, and Collaboration

List of Free Online Public Schools for Utah Students

List of Free Online Public Schools for Utah Students Utah offers resident students the opportunity to take online public school courses for free. Below is a list of no-cost online schools currently serving elementary and high school students in Utah. In order to qualify for the list, schools must meet the following qualifications: classes must be available completely online, they must offer services to state residents, and they must be funded by the government. Virtual schools listed may be charter schools, state-wide public programs, or private programs that receive government funding. List of Utah Online Charter Schools and Online Public Schools Utah Electronic High School (off-site link)Utah Virtual Academy (off-site link) About Online Charter Schools and Online Public Schools Many states now offer tuition-free online schools for resident students under a certain age (often 21). Most virtual schools are charter schools; they receive government funding and are run by a private organization. Online charter schools are subject to fewer restrictions than traditional schools. However, they are reviewed regularly and must continue to meet state standards. Some states also offer their own online public schools. These virtual programs generally operate from a state office or a school district. State-wide public school programs vary. Some online public schools offer a limited number of remedial or advanced courses not available in brick-and-mortar public school campuses. Others offer full online diploma programs. A few states choose to fund â€Å"seats† for students in private online schools. The number of available seats may be limited and students are usually asked to apply through their public school guidance counselor. (See also: 4 Types of Online High Schools). Choosing a Utah Online Public School When choosing an online public school, look for an established program that is regionally accredited and has a track record of success. Be wary of new schools that are disorganized, are unaccredited, or have been the subject of public scrutiny. For more suggestions on evaluating virtual schools see: How to Choose an Online High School.

Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines Research Paper

Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines - Research Paper Example Even though it is common knowledge that Southwest Airlines has a very large share of the market, there are also as many buyers or air transport travelers as possible, who use the serves of other airlines within the market region where Southwest Airlines operate (Mazzeo, 2009). As far as buyer entry barriers are concerned, there are no buyer entry barriers for patrons of air transportation and this gives a very strong indication as to why Southwest Airlines is operating a perfect competition. Even more, regardless of all the successes that has been seen by the airline in its market segment, there continues to be fierce competition among other key competitors with no competitor having a market share of more than 30% (Prince and Simon, 2009). What this means is that market share is low and there are other substitute products in terms of other forms of transportation that consumer may fall on. Macro and international influences on the firm As an international company, the operations of S outhwest Airlines are greatly affected by a number of macro and international factors, of which the company barely has no authority or control over. Whereas some of these macro and international influences are political, some are economical, whiles others are social. As far as political factors are concerned, it is on record that even though the American and Chinese governments have each tried as much as possible to keep taxes on air transport minimal, factors like homeland security, infrastructure enhancement and environmental protection have led to a situation whereby there are huge sums of taxes imposed on the traveling public (Mazzeo, 2009). These taxes are often translated into higher airline tickets, which generally affect the rate at which people choose to travel by air. The table below represents some of the special commercial aviation taxes that are paid in the United States, where Southwest Airline is very dominant. Type of Tax Rate Passenger ticket tax 7.50% Flight Segmen t Tax (Domestic) $3.8 Frequent Flyer Tax 7.5% International Departure Tax $16.7 International Arrival Tax %16.7 September 11th Fee $2.5 Customs User Fee $5.5 Federal Security Sub-charge $2.5 Passenger Facility Charge $4.5 Source: Airlines for America By provisions of the government, these are taxes that are inevitable to the airline and those influences its pricing, promotions and marketing style all together. The economic recession, which has over the years become unpredictable, and growing inflation problems are some macro economic factors that affect the company. What is more, demographics of travelers happens to be a majority macro social factor that influences Southwest Airlines given that air transport is fast becoming the preserve of the elite and that there has to be more of the higher social class emanating from society to get the market really booming. Changes in market structure Over the years, the market structure with which Southwest Airlines competed in has changed sig nificantly. Most of these changes have actually taken place in terms of the availability of skill, labor and raw materials. For instance, with the advancement of technology, which is dominating almost every type of industrial sector in the global economic regime, the use of highly skilled labor force is no longer an optional choice for the

Childhood memories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Childhood memories - Essay Example The question often arose in my mind: who was holding them in the sky? At times, I used to get a simple answer that God was holding them so that we kids could watch and play with them. When I grew up I moved to a coastal city with my parents. Many small hills were lurking behind on north sides of the town. Fortunately, I got a company of Sarah, who lived in the city since her childhood, and she was well acquainted with the geography of the town. Once she took me to a nearby hill in the early morning hours to show me some rare birds. She told me that she visited this place after her school hours when she was in the 9th form. The hills were full of dense trees all around. The most fascinating thing was that variety of birds had their nests in these trees and the place was full of melodious sounds. She drew my attention to a bird called Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The bird had a typical hollow sound quite soothing to the ears. Sarah took me to a place at least 100 meters up in the hill, where I saw birds that she identified as bluebirds. Bluebirds had white stomachs, rust-colored breasts and bright blue feathers, and they were chirping all in unison. Sarah told me that their numbers were dwindling quickly due to ill doings of humans. At once, a thought came to my mind that with such beautiful species becoming extinct, humans will not be able to enjoy the beauty of nature. When I focused through my binoculars on the nest, I was amazed to see two little bluebird nestlings making noise – perhaps asking for the food from their mother. Mother Bluebird was feeding them with a great effort through her beak. It was indeed a greatest mystery – a mystery of creation in this universe, and I bowed down to Mother Nature with a feeling of awe. I have always been a moderate swimmer – moderate in the sense of not possessing any extra skills that are expected from a good swimmer. Perhaps, that is why I had a close encounter with death when I was at Fort Lauderdale Be ach on my vacation tour. Swimming in my customary style, I had gone a little far off. My friends were swimming at some distance. I was jolly making some movements in the water – perhaps attempting to do some water exercises to remain afloat effortlessly without realizing that my unique exercises would put me in great trouble soon. At some bad moment, my feet were stuck in some marshland. The more I tried to come out, the more immobile I became. I tried to scream but could not as my mouth was filled with water. I was losing my breath and power. I soon realized I was going to drown. But, as luck would have it, for a moment my head came out of water and I screamed loudly. Hearing my call, someone from nearby rushed quickly; he held my hand and pulled me out with full force. In the next moment, I was out of the marshland. The whole episode lasted only for a minute or so but the incident gave me an unforgettable near-death experience that will remain with me until the end of my li fe. Its memories still hound me. The most significant part of the episode was that I realized a true meaning of life – the life that encompasses a myriad of species on this planet. Sarah’s cousin, Sierra, was a most passionate dancer. When I saw her in one of her performances, I was amazed at the way she effortlessly performed a Swirling Sufi dance. I found her totally engrossed in the Dervish dance. Sierra told me about Nijinsky, an outstanding and the most cherished Russian dancer. When Nijinsky used to perform, one would feel as if he was out of bounds of gravitation. He would make a leap and fall as if a leaf was coming down slowly and slowly. Sierra would say, â€Å"Watching a dance is a good thing but performing it is a much deeper experience†

Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Mice and Men Essay John Ernst Steinbeck was born on 27 February 1902, in Salinas, California, USA. The Salinas River is mentioned in the first line of Of Mice and Men. The whole novel is centred on the landscape around Salinas. Steinbeck was the third of four children, of mixed German and Irish descent. His parents owned a considerable amount of land, and his mother was a schoolteacher who encouraged him to read widely. His background was neither rich nor poor, and his parents wanted him to follow a respectable career. John Steinbeck wrote the novel called Of Mice and Men. It was published in the depression years of the 1930s. Steinbeck raises questions in the mind of the reader that the novel would be based on loneliness. The first line read A few miles south of Soledad. This is a clever idea by Steinbeck as Soledad means loneliness in Spanish. John Steinbecks family was wealthy, but was interested in the lives of farm labourers. It gave him a inspiration to write books about migrant workers. He could of been a doctor or a teacher but he chose to become an author. John Steinbeck must of met a lot of people like Lennie and George, so he has ideas to write a good book. The historical context of the novel is that its all about the depression years in the 1930s. It was illegal to be unemployed. People living in the 30s didnt have a choice but to go to work. The main characters in this story are George and Lennie. They travel around together, share their minds together, and what ever trouble Lennie gets into, George had to get him out of it. George didnt like Lennie that much because of all the trouble that he gets into. He didnt want to stay with Lennie, but his mother told George to look after him. Lennie was always trying to find a good opportunity to go off alone in the hills. George didnt want that, he liked Lennie as a friend, but Lennie gets into too much trouble. But they always say; You got me, and I got you. This novel called Of Mice and Men was set in a town called Soledad. It meant Lonely in Spanish. The ranch is located in the middle of no where. Its 4 miles to the town. The characters in this novel are ranch workers who are described as lonely. Ranch work is not long term. All of the workers except for Candy and Crooks are only passing through. When George and Lennie get jobs, the boss is suspicious of them because they look like theyve known each other from somewhere and are close friends. The other ranch workers see that George is always answering for Lennie. But they cannot understand why they are always together. George says that ranch workers are the loneliest people in the world and dont belong nowhere. In this paragraph, Im going to write about Crooks. Crooks is a black guy. Hes not allowed to stay in the bunkhouse with the other ranch hands because he is black. He doesnt have the same status as the other white workers. Crooks was also excluded because he suffered an injury and so is not as capable as the other ranch hands. His possessions show that he is lonely. Everyone can see that because he loves to read his books but was excluded. Crooks doesnt like when Lennie tries to talk to him. Crooks get angry every time he tells Lennie to go away from him. But after that, he admits that he is lonely. Lennie will also get lonely and even sick when no one is with him. He needs someone beside him all the time so that he feels supported. For this, he always wants George. In this paragraph, I have looked at the way Crooks treat other people and what his appearance looks like to everyone else. I will now write about Candy. Hes an old man who wants to join up with George and Lennie and get a place where they can live. Candy provides a parallel to George and Lennie in that he relies on his dog Im so used to im (p.46) just as George and Lennie are an elevated version of a master/dog relationship. Candy clings to his dog, despite all that logic and common sense dictate. He loves to be with his dog because he had him since he was a puppy. It was the best sheepdog he had ever had. The other workers didnt realise the relationship between Candy and the dog. It meant nothing to everyone except for Candy. Theyve been together for all of Candys life. But now Lennies life has ended. Candy cleans out the farm buildings, and shows George and Lennie the bunkhouse. Candy lost his hand whilst working on the farm, and was allowed to stay on in this lowly position as cleaner. Candy soon asks George and Lennie if he can come in with them. George said We werent thinking of a third person. Cause we was gonna do it on our own. George knew that it was owned by old people who might be willing to sell it for $600 or so. Candy confesses he has $350 saved up and asks if he can come in with them. George really begins to believe that his dream might become a reality. He needs to work for another month or two and not spend anything so that they will have the stake to buy the farm. This will be good for Candy because then he can live a happy life and avoid the loneliness in the life of a ranch worker. Hes worked here for so long and wants to change his miserable life and make it peaceful. Candy was moaning that he just let a stranger shoot his dog. By the look of him, he could see that Carlson didnt like the smell of Candys old dog. Carlson asks Slim to give Candy one of the other pups so that the old dog can be shot. Once the dog has been shot, he feels strong pressure because he had him since he was a pup. When George and Lennie were talking about their dream, Candy steps in and instead of being sad, George and Lennie gives pride and gives Candy more confidence. In this paragraph I have explained Candys life and the way he lives. I am now going to write about Curleys wife. She doesnt like Curley very much and wants to go elsewhere but cannot because of Curley. The other ranch workers avoid Curleys wife as they know that if they befriend her, they will get into trouble. She also said that she could hang Curley at anytime if she felt like it (Showing that she can be dangerous as well as Lennie). She also visits the bunkhouse a lot, she wanted company, but had to ask where Curley was. On Saturday nights she is left at the ranch alone. When she is left alone at the ranch, she tells everyone about her life and story. Its very miserable for Curleys wife. She tells everyone the truth that she doesnt really like Curley. Everyone else has names except for her. She has to be called Curleys wife. That is why she doesnt appear much in the story. Shes being treated like an object. Slims dog name is Loulou. We have looked at the character of Curleys wife and how she got on. George and Lennie are different to the other ranch hands. The way they respond to each other shows very close friendship. Lennie always get into trouble and George is there to get him out of it. They share a dream together of working and then getting a lot of money so that they can live comfortably in the place that there going to get. Every time George says Were gonna get the place. Lennie gets very excited and says I get to tend the rabbits. But when George is about to shoot Lennie, he keeps saying this so that Lennie puts his mind fully onto the house in his head and imagining him tend the rabbits, George wanted this because when he looked the other way, there was a time to shoot him. George wanted him to see it as he is talking. It was related to the shooting of Candys dog too which gave George more confidence in shooting Lennie. But at the end, it is George who will feel guilty. George often insults Lennie and gives him hell, but he doesnt really mean it. Although he often talks about how well off he could be without Lennie he secretly doesnt want Lennie to leave, and when Lennie offers to do so in the first chapter, George virtually pleads with him to stay. This is because George also depends on Lennie to a certain extent for his unconditional friendship. I didnt think that Steinbeck would make George shoot Lennie. At first, those two was good friends, I thought they would actually get that bunkhouse. But it ended in a bad way. It made the readers / watchers feel shocked and feel that his life has ended with just one shot. George always gets annoyed of Lennie and Lennie says that he will go up to the hills. George knows that hes the only one who has to get him out of trouble. But then decides if Lennies gone, then he can have total freedom and do anything he wants. At the end, it might of been a mistake to shoot Lennie. The first paragraph tells us about the introduction of John Steinbeck. It tells the readers what is going to happen. The second paragraph describes the setting and ranch workers. Its the setting of the story and the ranch workers. The third paragraph lets the readers understand Crooks. It also describes his ethnic group and his rights. The fourth paragraph tells us about Candy. It tells the readers about his loving dog and his dreams towards the ranch. The fifth paragraph also describes Curleys Wife. The way she acts in the story, and how lonely she is. Finally, the last paragraph tells the readers about the friendship of George and Lennie. It tells us how George and Lennie travel together, live together and the trouble that they get into. It also summarises George and Lennies dream. John Steinbeck is trying to say that life in the 1930s in California was lonely. He doesnt just write it down, because that will just give the point away. He wants the readers to imagine it for themselves.

The Dignity of Law Essays -- Law College Admissions Essays

"The business of the law is to make sense of the confusion of what we call human life-to reduce it to order but at the same time to give it possibility, scope, even dignity." In 1972, the American poet Archibald MacLeish wrote these words in the Harvard Law Review. In 1997, I read these words. At that point, the challenge and lure of the law crystallized before me, and I now see the ideals of MacLeish's vision as my own. MacLeish envisions the law as providing a sense of possibility, or hope, and I identify with this. Coming from a financially disadvantaged childhood, I had to put forth serious effort in overcoming financial and personal adversity and focusing on the importance of family and education. Without a sense of the unlimited possibilities ahead of me, my goals would never have been taken seriously-by myself or by others-and I would not have followed them to completion. Through my sense of possibility, I took my place on the Honor Rolls for fall 1996 and 1997 at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. I also served as vice president for...

IB Math Exploration

Although the aluminum can and the wood chip were ere close together, there was still a large amount of heat loss to the surroundings. This resulted in a lower temperature reading, which in turn reduced our AT value. Thus reducing our overall enthalpy of combustion and is one of the reasons why the theoretical value does not fall within our experimental range. A way we could possibly reduce this error is to alter the apparatus and let as little air escape as possible which would keep energy losses to a minimum while maintaining a stable environment for the wood chip to combustion.Ideally we could have the apparatus inside a glass chamber with a hole for the temperature probe and a hole to light the Another source of error we must take into a count was the improper use of the temperature probe. Instead of letting the probe sit freely in the aluminum can producing an accurate measurement; we let the probe sink to the bottom of the can where it would record a higher temperature due to th e hot spot in the water. This has an impact on our experimental value and would be a reason why our experimental value is higher than the theoretical one.This is not the case due to the act that heat loss reduces the amount of energy gained by a substantial amount compared to how much is gained from a rise in temperature. We could have simply eliminated this error by keeping the probe suspended in the water and giving it a stir every once in a while in order to reach uniform temperature in the can. A couple of minor errors I noticed were the fact that we used a graduated cylinder to measure our amount of water. Then we poured that water into our aluminum can but we weren't able to pour every ounce of water out of the cylinder.Thus affecting our mass in our mica formula for water and having an overall negative affect on our enthalpy value. Another minor thing was that as I noted in my qualitative data I incomplete combustion since soot (or otherwise known as impure carbon particles) is one of the products from that reaction. In this type of reaction less energy is released, thus dropping our enthalpy of combustion value to even further below our theoretical value. In order to fix these minor errors we can fill our can directly from the tap as well as have a greater supply of clean oxygen for the reaction to occur.