Argument Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Argument - Assignment Example This is because as long as cannabis may have the best chemical components to cure such disease, its’ negative effects are far much greater to be used as medicine (Affeld, 2013). Marlene bases her arguments on several medical researches indicating that, when marijuana mixed with special oil and applied on to the cancer patient, then its potentials to mitigate the growth and spread of such diseases work out. She makes conclusion that, this method is far much better than the use of chemotherapy. However, she has not given specific scenario where accurate evidences can be found. Besides, there is no adequate statistics showing the number of survivor who have since used such methods and succeeded. Similarly, the article has indicated that marijuana.Com, a website that steer-head the use of this drug posted that marijuana contains ingredient that cure cancer. More to the contradiction in this report is that, researches only indicate the confirmation based on research organizations such as the National cancer institute and Virginia commonwealth university department of pharmacology. However, there is no appropriate evidence where it has been used as an extract for medicine (Affeld, 2013). The state research institute (NIC) is also supportive towards the use of marijuana for medicinal functions. I dismiss this point, as outdated research since the right procedure to launch medical research analysis such as government involvement was not followed. For this reason, the federal government has maintained its stand that cannabis is still illegal in the United States (Affeld, 2013). While I do not support Marlene’s research concerning marijuana medicinal value, I may not agree to the fact that there are better drugs that are better alternative to marijuana. Legalizing such drugs in the United States may lead to initiation of groups that are always credible avenue to criminal dens. If marijuana can

Deming Case Study Essay Example for Free

Deming Case Study Essay 1Introduction 1.1Microsoft Background Microsoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Its most profitable products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. Microsoft was co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975.Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Windows line of operating systems. One of Microsofts original mission was a computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse and the Microsoft Natural keyboard, as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV. 1.2The Aim Of Report The aim of the report is to do an analysis on Microsoft corporation on how the Deming’s 14 point would impact the Company Performance. It will focus on: * Company existing practice  * Qualitative degree of Conformance against the 14 points 2.Quality Chain Reaction 3.The 14 Deming’s Point 1st Point Create Constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service Plan for quality for the beginning for long-term commitment by continuously provides top quality product or even exceeding it. The organization should always predict and prepare for the any future challenges that are to come. Microsoft is currently applying this practice in their Organization. In the 1980 they come up with MS-DOS the earlier version of their Operating System which evolves to Window 95.Here is where the window-line operating system keeps on evolving until year 2012 with the introduction of Window 8.Every operating system it comes with an improvement. Since the emergence of Apple in the PC industry Microsoft now are having a stiff competition in the area where they used to be dominating since 1980’s. Microsoft needs to maintain this system in order to remain competitive in the PC industry. 2nd Point Adopt the New philosophy. Organization need to implement quality not only to its product but to the whole organization process. Rather than reacting to competitive pressure, an organization should focus on the customer need, what exactly they want. The employee of Microsoft been used to all the benefit working with Microsoft such as high speed internet and tend to forget the outside world doesn’t have the luxury they are experiencing and expect the gadget there are using will have the same impact to the outside world. Problem arises when their product are not well accepted by the public since its unsuitable to them since they are lacking the facility to fully used it, Microsoft need to understand what the people needs first before deciding and producing the product. Produce a product that everyone can use and it needs to be the best product and in good quality. Resource http://www.qbrundage.com/michaelb/pubs/essays/working_at_microsoft.html 3rd point Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Deming emphasize that organization need to stop depending on inspection. It is costly and unreliable in the long-run. It function don’t actually improve quality but to find lack of quality. Therefore organizations need to build quality from the beginning of process till its end. Microsoft need to take this into consideration because during Microsoft Surface tablet launching the device crash during its presentation, thus show the incapability’s of its device. If they had implement Quality in the beginning this would had happen. Microsoft should learn from this experience and not depend on inspection during the production. They should ensure any possible problems are eliminated during the production itself from earlier stage by making the sure top quality products are done from every step of the production. 4th point Move toward a single supplier for any one item on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust. By having lesser supplier, an organization can focus on the quality of their output. Other than price, quality is another priority when looking for a supplier. Microsoft need to motivate supplier to improve on their quality and when they achieve it look at them as a partner in quality rather than a business connection. Software and application developer need to provide the very best service so that Microsoft can depend on them to even produce a good product themselves. 5th Point Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity and this will lead to decrease in cost. An organization need to continuously improve their system and process. Deming encourage the use of Plan-Do-Check-Act approach to do analysis and find ways of improvement. The Organization should emphasize on training and education so everyone can perform better in their jobs to reduce waste, improve productivity, effectiveness and safety. Currently employee in the RD department is given the freedom to be creative and innovative in creating Product as long is benefiting the organization. In 2010 spend $9.5 billion for research and development. Microsoft wanted to its employee to be able to find new ways to improve their current product and service. This can be done  through training, providing seminar and outsourcing it employee to perform better. 6th point Institute training on the job By providing a consistence training toward the people an organization will be able to reduce variation. By providing training on the job they will be able to build a foundation of common knowledge. This allows the worker to understand their roles. Encourage staff to learn from each other. In some department of Microsoft some employee are lacking the motivation to improve themselves, these employee lack interest to outperform. Microsoft needs to institute training for them in order to improve their capabilities by encouraging them to attend seminar and courses. This would better prepare the Microsoft for any difficulties since these employees will be able to solve the problem with having to consult the top management. This will also improve the quality of their work since they have the knowledge and the expertise to do so. 7th point Institute leadership-Done The aim of leadership is to make supervisor and managers to understand their staff or worker and the process they are using. The leader should not only supervise but also give guidance rather than punishment. A leader should know what needed to make the individual work at their best. Microsoft actually had a touch-screen e-reader developed in 1998, but Bill Gates ignored it because he didn’t like the user interface and didn’t represent Microsoft. The team that developed the reader was told to stop coming up with new ideas and instead work on software for Microsoft Office which is their comfort zone. Only now after touch screen getting so much coverage they start giving it attention. The top management should be encourage those staff who came up with innovation to pursue their invention. If they were to pursue the idea in the beginning, they would be still dominating the gadget industry. 8th point Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company By eliminating fear its throw away people worry and concern of making mistake thus making them able to perform at their best. The organization needs to let its people them know the management will not place blame if mistakes occur. Ensure those who are supervising the worker are approachable. Encourage open communication between manager and employee to make them feel comfortable in expressing their problem. An article mentions Bosses at Microsoft screams at employees and blaming them for everything, whether it was their fault or not. This creates fear to employee to be cautious when they are working and even driving them to move out of the company. This will have an impact of the quality productivity. Microsoft needs to establish a friendly relation with its employee to ensure their commitment and motivation to perform at the highest level. High morale employee will produce good productivity and service. Resource http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-is-filled-with-abusive-managers-and-overworked-employees-says-tell-all-book-2012-5?op=1#ixzz25ZMiHdwh 9th point Break down the barrier between departments Each department need to recognize each other department function so they can understand which department depend on which. Rather than Departments trying to compromise, they should focus on collaboration and build a shared vision to achieve this. This would improve teamwork and reduce adversarial relationships. For this point it’s trying to say that there were cases in Microsoft that there are boss of each department at times will be only thinking of their department. Only to maximize the performance of their own department without consulting with other department of how they are progressing. It would impact the outcome of the product. Microsoft need to ensure each department will be able to collaborate with each other to achieve their goal to attain top quality outcome. 10th point Eliminate slogan and target for the work force -Done The management need to let its subordinate what they want and not making them  to guess. An unclear slogan such as â€Å"Excellence in service† confused people which area or what kind of excellence are the organization are pointing at. It would be much clearer if it states â€Å"You Can Do Better If You Try†. An earlier mission statement of Microsoft is A computer on every desk and in every home. This doesn’t really tell a clear intention of Microsoft. Soon after a few year the Mission statement changes to a computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software .This clearly indicates the intention of Microsoft of providing Microsoft application and software to every computer. This would motivate its worker to work on Microsoft software. Microsoft should now make a clearer message rather than specific Slogan to ensure all it employees understood where the Organization goal and what they wanted to achieve. 11th point Eliminate management by Objective The management needs to see how the process is being carried out, not just on achieving its numerical target. Normally an organization production target produces high output but low on quality. Provide them with support and resource so that high qualities of production are achievable. Microsoft has tried this before with the Zune, which was an attempt to compete with iPod. Microsoft Corporation launches the Zune Mp3 player when Apple iPod was in its Prime. This attempt result in failure as Apple product are way better compare to their. Here Microsoft needs to know it not necessary to try to compete with other but focus on the quality which will meet with the consumer preference than they would have a higher chance of success rather than trying to rival its competitors. Resource http://betanews.com/2011/03/14/ipod-didn-t-kill-zune-microsoft-did/ 12th point Remove barrier to pride of workmanship These points concentrate of the people whose doing the work. It means to allow everyone to be proud of their achievement without being compared from one another. Treat all workers with the same treatment to eliminate competition amongst worker for any rewards. â€Å"If you were on a team of 10 people, you walked in the first day knowing that, no matter how good  everyone was, 2 people were going to get a great review, 7 were going to get mediocre reviews, and 1 was going to get a terrible review,† says a former software developer. â€Å"It leads to employees focusing on competing with each other rather than competing with other companies.† This is taken from a former employee of Microsoft, their clearly indicates there are favoritism in Microsoft Top management. This encourages rivalry amongst its own staff. Remove this, and then employee will then be able to focus on their job and produce quality product and service. 13th Point Implement education and Self-Improvement With this point, the management should focus on improving the current skill of its employee. By encouraging them to learn new skill and knowledge it will better prepare them for future challenges and changes In Microsoft Corporation they are lacking the motivation to be more innovative nowadays. They are more concern to preserves their existing product such as extending their office application, Window Operating system and increasing server software window server. Microsoft is not too fond of taking risk into making new product and service. It took them years to come up with Microsoft surface tablet when other developer such as Samsung and Apple’s been doing it for a few years already. They need to implement the 13th point so that its employee will be able to improve their ability and knowledge so that the organization can cope with changes in the future. 14th point Make Transformation everyone’s Job Everyone in the organization have to make changes, the organization will improve overall by having each person in the organization is motivated to produce better quality. To achieve this management will need to make changes in the management principle by applying the Deming’s 14 point into their system. Microsoft needs to analyze each small step and understand how these steps contribute to better quality. Everyone from the lower ranking worker to the top ranking should be able to contribute to their fullest. 4.Conclusion To conclude all Microsoft corporation need to implement the 14 Deming point to ensure its survival in its industry which it previously dominate. For the research done on Microsoft corporation , there are some major area that they need to gives attention too and Deming 14 point will be able to provide a solution if it is to be applied in the proper way. The success of this method will depend on the top management to its lower ranking worker of how well they can adopt to Deming philosophy. 5.Reference Book Mary. Walton (1986) ,The Demings Management Method Dennis F. Kehoe (1997) The Fundamentals Of Quality Management 2nd Edition Website †¢ Hci.com.au (1960) Demings 14 points. [online] Available at: http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/articles/deming.htm. [Accessed: 29 August 2012]. †¢ Deming 14 points Philosophy. Available at http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_75.htm. [ Accessed: 27th August 2012]. †¢ Deming’s approach is summed up in his famous 14 points. Available at http://www.1000advices.com/guru/quality_tqm_14points_deming.html. [Accessed: 30th August 2012]. †¢Information of Microsoft available at: http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-server/microsoft-just-like-ibm http://www.about-microsoft.com/ [Accessed:25 August 2012] †¢Information for Microsoft Surface available at: http://psynixis.com/blog/2012/06/surface-the-problem-with-the-microsoft-tablet-vision †¢Information on former employee complain http://betanews.com/2010/02/09/why-former-employees-say-microsoft-can-t-innovate/ [Accessed:25 August 2012] http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-is-filled-with-abusive-managers-and-overworked-employees-says-tell-all-book-2012-5?op=1 [ Accessed:25 August

Interesting World Of Social Media Media Essay

Interesting World Of Social Media Media Essay Having that said I dare bet that every Internet-user is or has been part of the Social Media community. Yes, even you. Because, admit it, have you ever watched a video on YouTube? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ So I thought. Social Media is however more than just YouTube. The experience goes much further than simply watching movies on the internet and that is exactly what captivates me. How can one kind of Media become so huge in such a short time? How is it possible that both companies and private-individuals use the same medium on different ways? And, more importantly, why is it that Social Media is still expanding instead of fading away like most of the hypes we know? Let it be clear; Social Media is one big, important and yet complicated format which we know little about. Time to dig a little deeper! First Ill start with discussing the definition of Social Media thoroughly. Only when knowing EXACTLY what it is, well be able to understand what makes it so interesting and vital. Secondly, Ill be digging a bit in the history of Social Media. How did this new medium come to be? Did it just appear out of nowhere or did it take a while before it caught the eyes of the public? Third, Im going to investigate who use Social Media and why? Ill split this question in two sub-questions for you; Social Media used by private-individuals and Social Media used by businesses. Knowing what Social Media is, how it came to be and who use it and why, Ill be able to think of the influence Social Media has on our society. Is social media really that important, or do technophobias have nothing to fear? After concluding whether Social Media has a big or small influence on our society, Ill look whether I can confirm this conclusion by looking how much is invested in the world of Social Media. Finally, Ill be speculating about the future of Social Media. Will Social Media become vital for every company, or will it just fade away as hype? Welcome to the complicated yet most interesting world of Social Media. Index 1 What is social media? 1.1 Social media as definition 1.2 Social media characteristics 2 How did social media come to exist? 2.2 social mediums that came out 2.3 how social media became popular 3 Who use social media and why? 3.1 private-individuals 3.2 businesses 4 How much is invested in social media? 5 What influence do social media have on our society? 5.1 influence on the human behaviour 5.2 influence on politics 5.3 influence on marketing 6 How will social media develop? 6.1 social media statistics of 2010 6.2 social media in the near future 6.3 social media in the far future 7 Sources What is Social Media? 1.1 Social media as definition Social media is a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Kaplan and Michael Heanlin in Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media, business horizons (2010). In other words, social media is a new medium (it was, arguably, introduced in the second half of the 20th century), that allows people to globally interact through the media. It is a collective term for all the internet-applications that enable us to share and discuss information, not only in the form of text, but also through sound and video. But since social media is a collective term, you probably wont take my brief description for granted. You want to know the different forms that social media has and where they are to be found on the web. Take a seat. This may take a while. So, social media knows six different forms; communication, collaboration, multimedia, review and opinions, entertainment and brand monitoring. I will discuss each and every one of them. Communication is currently the biggest form of social media. Three very important aspects of communication are; blogs, micro blogs and social networks. Youve probably heard of them. Blogs are websites, or parts of websites, where people can write articles, columns, reviews, etc. Blogs are usually aimed at a specific subject. Basically, there are two types of blogs; commercial blogs and non-commercial blogs. Commercial blogs are mainly used by companies (doh) for a variety of reasons (for instance; promoting their product or getting to know the customer), but also by people who like to write, professionally, about certain subjects. Non-commercial blogs are mainly used by private-individuals, like you and me. These blogs usually define themselves as blogs written due to boredom. Usually, I said. A couple of known blogs are; WordPress, Bloggers.com and Open-Diary. Micro blogs are basically the same as normal blogs only they are much smaller. Micro blogs contain fewer characters and arent always aimed at a specific subject. Micro blogs are an excellent way for companies to make small announcements. Just like normal blogs, there are two different kinds of users (businesses and private-individuals, remember?) using the micro blogs. Known micro blogs are Twitter, Tumblr and FML (Fuck My Life). Social networks is arguably the most important component of social media (thank you, Facebook!). A social network is a big networking site where people can communicate with each other and share information. In a social network you represent yourself using a profile picture and by writing down a biography. That way, it is easy to locate people with the same interests which can result in an online friendship. The problem that this feature however brings is that the accessibility of social networks can also be seen as an invitation for perverts. Social networks are an easy way for perverts to hide their true identity and gain the trust of good-willed girls. And for that very reason, I dont blame parents for worrying sick when their children are uploading new photos on Facebook or other social networks. Undoubtedly, social networks are something to be careful with. Luckily, social networks, just like any other form of media, mostly support the option to set your private status to friends only, or to restrict certain areas of your Facebook for unwanted visitors. Its a great way to make your photos pervert-free. Communication however doesnt only consist of these three aspects, but also contains location-based social networks, events, information aggregators and online advocacy and fundraising. Location-based social networks are social networks that aim at geography. People can indicate where they are, when they are there and why they are there, which will all be shown on a big map. That way you will be able to see where your friends are and you to notify them about your current location. The events section looks, in one way, very much like the location-based networks. It also relies on a map, only in this case the map indicates where and when events are held, together with more additional information such as who are performing, what kind of an event it is and the ticket fee. Its a great way to stay up-to-date about your favorite artists and to not miss any appealing shows. Social media is used by more than 50% of the American population, and for that very reason it should come to no surprise that there are lots of different sites with reference to social media and they are all very crowded. Amongst the common social media users there are celebrities, publishers and developers writing their thoughts down and making announcements. Social media is a huge center of information and it didnt take long till information aggregators were introduced to the market. Information aggregators are sites with big, huge dashboards that gather information from all social networks. The last part that communication knows is advocacy and fundraising. I believe AF is a rather peculiar element of communication, because its usually integrated in other social media (mostly social networks). The main goal of AF companies is to raise as much money as they can for charity. They do this by advertising on other sites and by striking up partnerships. Especially live broadcasting sites such as BlogTV and Stickam attract AF companies. Where communication specializes in a belonging community, collaboration is recognized for its involvement with other sites; sites that fall under the collaboration category usually gather information from other sources. The six aspects of collaboration are; wikis, social bookmarking, social news, social navigation, content management systems and document managing and editing tools. Wikis are a perfect example of sites gathering information from other sources. Take a look at the end of a Wikipedia page and you are high likely to see a list full or sources. For instance, when looking up social media the most famous wiki; Wikipedia, gives me this; Wikis are generally known for their reliability because they make use of the knowledge management system, meaning that every user can contribute to the site by creating and editing articles. That results in a huge database. Another social database that collaboration knows is social bookmarking. Social bookmarking collects links of all kinds of sites and then categorizes them. Users are able to rate (or as I like to call it; digg) and share the links. That way people can easily find good, reliable sites that fit their interests. Known social bookmark sites are; Stumbleupon, Delicious and Google Reader. Social News looks a bit like social bookmarking; it also works with a rating system. Unlike professional news sites however, people write their own news on social news sites. Readers have the ability to vote on articles; deciding what is important and what isnt. Social news sites are obviously a magnet for information aggregators. For them its like killing two birds with one stone; social news sites contain a lot of information and the community already picks their favorite articles. Known social news sites are Digg, Newvine and Reddit. Social navigation, content management systems and document managing and editing tools are the lesser known social media components of collaboration, which comes quite a bit to my surprise because social navigation and content management systems can actually come in quite handy. Social navigation, for instance, provides information about the public transport, and content management systems is a software-application that simplifies the complicated code-language of the internet for common users like you and me. In the case of social navigation, Im guessing that mobile phones and global positioning systems are preferred by todays customers because these are more frequently used in vehicles. I dont blame Document managing and editing tools for being little popular though. They are online (free) writing tools and also allow users to share their documents with the Interwebs, but why would anyone want to share their articles randomly with these tools on the internet? Most of the articles that are published on the internet are published not through document managing and editing tools but through own websites. The documents are usually written in Word. Multimedia is a term you have probably already heard of. It is generally favored by the youth. Multimedia can be divided in five aspects; photography and art sharing, video sharing, live casting, music and audio sharing and presentation sharing. Its very common for multimedia sites to be used for other kinds of social media. Think of it; multimedia sites are perfect databases to store your pictures and videos because they can easily be linked in your articles thanks to embedded codes. Though the names already give away where the aspects actually function for, I have decided to explain them anyhow. As you probably have already noticed, I like being as thorough as possible. Photography and art sharing are, as the name already says, sites where people can share pictures. They serve as a great way for people to save (and optionally; share) their photos and find other photos. Since (mainly) blogs dont have a lot of space, photography and art sharing sites are very popular places for bloggers to upload their pictures on. They wont be bothered with the limited space problem and wont risk the chance of having the original photo removed so that only a dead link will remain. Video sharing basically have the same principal as PAs only do they specialize in videos except for pictures. Especially Youtube is a very important component of the video sharing aspect. Video sharing is used by both private-individuals and businesses. Private-individuals use video sharing mainly as entertainment, but also as outlet or gateway to show their own talents. Businesses use video sharing for promotion by uploading videos about their brand (mostly funny commercials or trailers). Remarkable is that most live casting users are also pretty popular on video sharing sites such as Youtube. Many famous Youtubers (like Davedays, Shanedawson, Zushoo, Creepjeepers) are featured on Stickam and BlogTV (two of the biggest live casting sites). Apart from their scripted shows they sometimes like to just randomly entertain fans on liveshows. Live casting is also often used as live streaming device for important shows. If people cant attend certain events for any reason, they will be able to follow it live at home. Music and audio sharing is an aspect of collaboration that specializes in sounds. On these sites, users are able to customize their own playlists and check out other playlists. It is a popular concept for radio broadcasts because their audience are most likely music fans and appeal to this market. Presentation sharing is mainly used by companies. Sharing presentations is a great way to take information up in an interactive way. Especially for teachers, presentation sharing can come in handy. Its a great way to reach the modern generation of students and still educational. Despite the fact that most people write reviews and opinions on blogs, there are still a couple of sites fully dedicated to the reviews and opinions category. The RO category has but three aspects; product reviews, business reviews and community question answer. Lets start with the beginning; product reviews are sites where the community can give their opinion on certain products. Its a really nice way for people to know what product to buy and what not. Business reviews are practically the same as product reviews, only they dont contain the opinion about products, but about companies. Is the service any good? Are they reliable? Etc. The problem with business and product reviews however, is that questions HAVE to be business/product related meaning that if you have any other questions, you have nowhere to turn. Thats where the community question and answer comes in. Community QA sites are sites where people can ask whatever they want and the community will answer. Yahoo!Answers is a well-known QA site. As Ive already said, entertainment is very popular with todays generation. The entertainment category consists of; media and entertainment platforms, virtual worlds and game sharing. Media and entertainment platforms is probably the least popular form of social media from all kinds of social media we have, because they play mostly behind the scenes. They are used by older companies who arent yet integrated in the modern society and allow them to digitalize their products/marketing strategies. Virtual Worlds on the other hand are pretty popular and used by a large amount of youngster. Virtual Worlds are basically online games like World of Warcraft, the Sims Online and Second Life. Players are able to create an imaginative character and play in a fictional world, where they can meet other people. But hold on a minute, you might think. If online games are part of the virtual worlds, then why is there another subcategory named shared games? That is, because shared games support browser-based games instead of downloadable programs. Shared games are usually simple flash-games, made by the community, and all playable on one big site. Virtual games, on the other hand, are usually huge, downloadable, professional games and its creators will dedicate themselves towards one game. At last, we have arrived at the last category; brand monitoring. Brand monitoring knows only one form, which is social media measurement. Social media measurement is an indicator that provides information about the internet traffic. Companies use it in order to get a good insight in their costumers; where are they from, how old are they and what are their interests? Its a great way to get to know the customer I think. So, that was chapter 1.1; the definition of social media and honestly, I wonder whether you still know what content managing systems are without looking it back up. Its a whole lot of information, I admit, but necessary information all the same. All I have done now is given you a good idea of what social media is and what we count under social media. I have written a quick conveniently arranged table about paragraph 1.1 for you below. You are welcome. Social Media Communication Blogs, Microblogs, Social Networking, Location-based social networks, events, information aggregators, online advocacy and fundraising Collaboration Wikis, social bookmarking, social news, Social navigation, Content Management Systems, Document Managing and Editing Tools Multimedia Photography and art sharing, video sharing, Livecasting, music and audio sharing, presentation sharing Reviews and Opinions Community Question and Answers, product reviews, business reviews Entertainment Virtual worlds, Media and entertainment platforms, Game sharing Brand Monitoring Social Media Measurement Permission granted to reproduce for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, lending is prohibited.

Life Or Death Essay -- essays research papers fc

Life or Death There have been many issues through time that were loved by some, and hated by others. For example, people often debate the controversial issue of abortion. This issue is so involved, that it effects people morally, socially, and politically. At local clinics, some people will go as far as to hold protests. These are just some issues that effected people in the past and present ethically. Yet despite these issues, society has continued on. Euthanasia is an issue that concerns people of all ages in society today. Imagine, if you would, that you had a relative on his death bed with cancer. Their was no possible surgery that could remove the tumor. The doctors say that he could be suffering for days, weeks, or even months before he would pass away. Say that you had a daughter that was in a coma and would not get any better. Just ask yourself, what would you do? Now, imagine the same relative with the same disease again; only this time the medical industry has suddenly discovered a cure for cancer. Then, the day he was going to be put to death they found a cure for him and he was saved. If you went through with the mercy killing it would have been like murder. Also, how do you think you could handle yourself after knowing that you ended your daughters life? These are some of decisions we are faced with during situations of this nature. Euthanasia, also mercy killing, is the practice of ending a life so as to release an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering. The term is sometimes used generally to refer to an easy or painless death. Voluntary euthanasia involves a request by the dying patient or that person's legal representative. Passive, or negative, euthanasia involves not doing something to prevent death–that is, allowing someone to die. Active or positive euthanasia involves taking deliberate action to cause a death (Microsoft Encarta 98). Euthanasia is a controversial issue that deals with religious, legal, and personal aspects. Most religious groups today look at euthanasia as immoral and sinful. For one example, the Christian Bible says, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a... ...at the legal aspects, while most say they can do what ever they want with life. The bible says that people shouldn't commit mercy killings. Also, the medical industry is split down the middle about it There are legal and illegal aspects which make it an issue that is still being debated. Personally, I can see why this subject should be outlawed. This brief summary of the topic gives some examples why this is inhumane. People say that people have the right to do what they want with their own lives. The religious side of it says that we owe our lives to God. I do read the read the Bible and I do agree with the scriptures. No one can tell another how they should feel, yet I hope to have given you some useful information on this topic, so that you can make your own opinion. Works Cited Bergman, Brian. "The Crown Reconsiders." Maclean's 17 Nov. 1997 "Euthanasia." Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia: CD-ROM 1997 Kondro, Wayne. "Reduced Sentence for ‘Mercy Killing'." Lancet 13 Dec. 1997 Tivnan, Edward. The Moral Imagination: Confronting the Ethical Issues of Our Day. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. 1995

Economics Assignment

ECONOMICS ASSIGNMENT For a market of your choice, keep track of the spot or share price fluctuations during a period of at least two years. Prepare a report of approximately 3000 words, for each market, discussing in detail the multiple forces (interesting developments) responsible for the trends. Tuesday 24 May 2011 Table of Contents Executive Summary Executive Summary In analysing the consumer market, we have chosen the share prices of two JSE listed companies, namely SABMiller and Rainbow Chicken which belong to the beverages and food producer’s sub-sectors respectively. Our two-year analysis is for the period March 2009 to May 2011. We will explore how Rainbow Chicken fared relative to its nearest competitor – Astral Foods. SABMiller allowed us to expand our thinking and methodology as the company also has a dual-listing on the London Stock Exchange. Its three closest competitors Heineken, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Carlsberg Breweries have foreign listings. It stands to reason, therefore, that we begin our assignment with an overview of the global context in which both companies operated in the period under review. The aftermath of the recession and changes in global economic indicators like the ZAR:USD exchange rate and the price of Brent crude oil will be examined. What we found particularly interesting was the resilience of both company’s share prices in the challenging global economic climate. We mention the factors that insulated each share from the global downturn. We then turn our attention to South Africa’s economic environment and examine the extent to which the foregoing global factors impacted on South Africa’s macroeconomic policy landscape. The two variables that we pay particular attention to are the local repo and CPI rates. We address the extent to which changes to these local variables impacted on the share prices of SABMiller and Rainbow Chicken. As mentioned in the first paragraph, our analyses consider the industries in which both companies operate by comparing their share prices with those of their nearest competitors. Our company analyses focus on internal considerations and the strategic objectives detailed in SABMiller’s and Rainbow’s annual reports for the 2009 and 2010 financial year ends. In our analyses of each company’s share price, we remain mindful of the fact that, although not directly responsible for the share’s daily performance, the objectives and calibre of management nevertheless impact on the share price. We conclude each analysis with a justifiable prediction of the expected trajectory of each company’s share price. The concentric eclipses in the diagram below depict the logical progression of our assignment’s structure, beginning with the outer-most eclipse. The diagram also shows the inter-relatedness of each eclipse relative to the other and how it is impossible to isolate the effects of one from the other. This reinforces the aphorism that: â€Å"in Economics everything is related to everything else; and usually in more ways than one. † The Global Environment [pic] Source: www. eia. doe. gov The price of Brent crude oil has been steady at an average level of $70 to $80 a barrel until November 2010. Since December 2010, the oil price has been rising, reaching a peak of $120 / barrel in April 2011. This has been partly due to uprisings in the Arab world, which holds the majority of global oil reserves. The oil price affects domestic inflation as fuel and energy are a major component of South Africa’s CPI basket. The price of petrol, which is based on oil prices, also raises logistical costs. SABMiller and Rainbow paid more to transport their products in the December 2010 to May 2011 period as a result of the spike in oil prices. It stands to reason that these higher transportation costs would be passed on to consumers as higher product prices by both companies. pic] Source: www. xe. com The graph above shows that the Rand has been strengthening relative to the US Dollar from 1USD:10ZAR to 1USD:6,3ZAR between March 2009 and May 2011. The strong rand has had a favourable impact on our terms of trade as can be seen from the self-explanatory graph below which depicts the Balance of Payments. The company analyses below reveal that SABMiller exports and imports a number of its brands across the world. Rainbow Chicken imports the soy component of its chicken feed wholly from Argentina. The rand’s strength impacts on both companies’ performances (and hence) their share prices favourably. [pic] [pic] Source: www. resbank. co. za The South African Environment Domestic interest rates [pic] Source: www. resbank. co. za The graph above shows that the Reserve Bank’s stance to monetary policy has been expansionary. This is shown by the gradual decline in the repo rate from 9,5% in March 2009 to its current level of 5,5% in May 2011. The Reserve Bank’s mandate is to keep the inflation rate within its target band of 3% to 6% and it uses the repo rate as the instrument with which to impact inflation. The Reserve Bank’s lowering of the repo rate is due to the CPI breaching its upper target limit of 6%. This is shown in the graph below. There is a positive relationship between the repo rate and CPI. It stands to reason, therefore, that the gradual lowering of the repo rate would be accompanied by a decline in the CPI rate. This is indeed the case. However, because of lags, the effect of a fall in the repo rate on the inflation rate is not reflected immediately and the CPI remains significantly above the upper limit. A fall in the repo rate eases pressure on consumers by raising their disposal incomes since they, theoretically, spend less on their credit commitments. All things being equal, this would raise the sales volumes of SABMiller’s and Rainbow’s products. Domestic Inflation [pic] Source: www. statssa. gov. za The graph above depicts the trend in inflation. It is clear that although the inflation rate has been on a downward trajectory (following the lowering of the repo rate) it was in breach of the upper limit of 6% from March 2009 to Oct 2009. It was within the target band in November 2009 but breached the upper limit again between December 2009 and February 2010. The latter breach is attributable to the market’s inflation expectations because of the steep increase in electricity tariffs during this period (www. eskom. co. za). As mentioned previously, the biggest components of South Africa’s CPI basket are food and fuel and the graphs below will be used to explain the impact of inflation on SABMiller’s and Rainbow’s performance specifically. CPI indicator relevant to SAB Miller pic] Source: www. statssa. gov. za This graph shows that inflation for alcoholic beverages has not only been consistently higher than the upper limit of the inflation target band, it has also been significantly higher than the country’s inflation rate. This is due to the fact that a major component of the price of alcohol is a â€Å"sin tax†, which is imposed by the finance ministry, because of the relative ly inelastic nature of the price elasticity of demand for alcohol as well as irresponsible and excessive consumption patterns. For some consumers, even a sharp increase in the price of alcoholic beverages does not result in a fall in the quantity demanded. There would, in all likelihood, be a shift away from the consumption of relatively more expensive alcoholic beverages towards relatively cheaper alcohol – not a complete cessation in the consumption of alcohol. This is one of the reasons that SABMiller’s share price has shown steady gains relative to the market. CPI indicator relevant to Rainbow Chicken [pic] Source: www. statssa. gov. za Consumer food price inflation decelerated sharply from December 2010. It is also interesting to note, that between January 2009 and January 2010, the prices of wheat fell by 24,58%, maize by 22,57% and sunflower seeds by 18,49% (www. finweek. co. za) Decreases in the prices of these staple foods has a positive impact on the poor as they spend 33,4% of their incomes on food; versus the rich who spend a mere 2,6% of their incomes on food. Poor people consume relatively more chicken than red meat because the latter is relatively more expensive. Chicken is the cheapest form of protein in South Africa and demand for it is high (www. astralfoods. com). Furthermore, the above staple foods are used as chicken feed which is a significant input cost for Rainbow Chicken, therefore the company has had cost savings because of bumper crops and the consequent price decreases in these commodities. The table on the following page clearly accounts for the nearly vertical decline in the graph above which shows food price inflation. [pic] Source: www. resbank. co. za GDP – South Africa [pic] [pic] Source: www. statssa. gov. za The graphs above show that South Africa was in a recession in 2009, as defined, because of the two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. Our recovery from the global recession was due to the fact that we had a low exposure to the sub-prime market crisis that was responsible for the global meltdown. Our banking and macroeconomic policies remain robust. The growth in the economy from the third quarter of 2009 is also due to infrastructural investments that were made for the 2010 Soccer World Cup as well as South Africa’s contributions to the BRIC emerging markets bloc – especially our trade with China. It is expected that our formal inclusion to the BRICS nations since April 2011 will maintain the upward trend in GDP (www. lobalsherpa. org). Positive GDP growth has a positive impact on the performance of SABMiller’s and Rainbow’s shares. In a boom everyone does well. SABMiller, in particular, has a presence in all five BRICS nations and is poised for growth as emerging market economies have overtaken developed economies in their contributions to global GDP. We now examine SABMiller’s s hare price in more detail and then turn our attention to Rainbow Chicken in light of the foregoing discussions on the global and local environments. Analysis of SABMiller pic] SABMiller is a global operation covering 75 countries on six continents and employing over 70 000 people. Its portfolio of businesses is divided into six regions and is well balanced between developed and emerging markets. Between them, the businesses produce over 200 different brands and sell 213 million hectoliters of lager a year. Since listing on the London Stock Exchange 10 years ago the company has grown substantially and has a market capitalisation of ZAR 419,837,700,000 on the JSE and GBP 36,099,310,000 on the LSE. The company’s markets range from developed economies such as the USA to the fast growing BRICS economies (SABMiller Annual Report, 2009). SABMiller is also the number one bottler of soft drinks for The Coca Cola Company. The breweries market can be seen as oligopolistic in nature since SABMiller and its three main competitors (Heineken, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Carlsberg) are the dominant players in the market and have significant market share amongst them. The oligopolistic market structure has a positive impact on the company’s operations and share price performance. In North America, SABMiller (through its strategic partners) is the second-largest brewer in the United States and owns nearly 30% of the US beer market. In Latin America, it is the number one brewer by market share. In the majority of the ten European countries in which it operates, the company is the number one or number two brewer by market share. The same holds for Africa and Asia. In the 2009 annual report Mayer Kahn, the Chairman of the Board, stated that the global brewing industry was expected to continue to consolidate and that participation in industry consolidation provides opportunities to enter growth markets and to create value from scale benefits. The graph below shows SABMiller’s share price relative to its three main competitors. It is clear that all four companies’ trajectories have moved in tandem but Carlsberg’s share price has significantly taken the lead with SABMiller in second place. At the turn of the century, the top 10 brewers accounted for just over one-third of global beer sales volumes. The past decade has seen a rapid consolidation, resulting in the top four brewers – Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller, Heineken and Carlsberg – accounting for almost 50% of beer sales volumes and up to 75% of the global profit pool. (SABMiller Annual Report, 2010) [pic] Source: www. heineken. com Mr Kahn attributes the company’s good results (in both 2009 and 2010) to the operational strengths of the businesses and the power of their leading local brands. He concedes that even though SABMiller was not immune to the global crisis, beer is a fairly resilient product which placed the company in a better position than many to weather the storm. He goes on to say: â€Å"Thanks, partly, to our long experience of emerging markets, we are used to operating under difficult conditions. If we look back ten years to our London stock market listing, it is worth remembering that the Asian currency crisis at that time had shaken investor confidence in emerging markets and that the outlook was far from encouraging. Nevertheless, we prospered and grew and achieved the international expansion that our listing was intended to facilitate. Ten years on, our geographic spread is proving to be an advantage in that different countries are affected by the crisis at different rates and to differing degrees. So while demand in Europe has dropped sharply, countries in emerging markets such as Africa and Asia have fared relatively well despite falling back from the high – one might say unsustainable – rates of growth of recent years. † SABMiller Annual Report, 2009 In short, SABMiller’s diverse spread of businesses, strong market positions, and a portfolio of leading brands mitigated against the risks and negative consequences of the global downturn and contributed to the steady upward momentum in the share price. In response to the mismatch between the supply of, and demand for, certain brewing and packaging raw materials in Africa, the company is increasingly using locally grown crops such as sorghum and cassava to produce affordable brands. This is done to minimise supply shortages and the price volatility of key raw material inputs. Continued robust pricing and productivity enhancements offset increased commodity costs (SABMiller Annual Report, 2010). It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the combination of the above factors resulted in a steady upward trend in the company’s share prices on both the London and Johannesburg bourses in the period under review as seen in the graphs below. [pic][pic] Source: www. sabmiller. com In 2010, Mr Kahn had similar good news for investors, citing the same reasons as for 2009. However he mentions the company’s management team as being a key contributor to the positive results: This year, in addition, we have benefited from management’s ability to reduce costs and selectively increase prices in order to maximise revenues†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Source: SABMiller Annual Report, 2010 In the third paragraph of our Executive Summary, we mentioned that the management of any company is not responsible for the share price. However, in fulfilling its primary objective of maximising shareholder value, the credibility of and strategies employed by management invariably have an impact on the share price. It would appear that the management and directorship of SABMiller are market-friendly. The members of the executive team are representative of each of the continents in which the company operates; with Mr Cyril Ramaphosa and Dr Dambisa Moyo as the notable representatives for Africa. Other market-friendly strategies include the December 2009 announcement that 8. 45% of the shares in SABMiller’s South African subsidiary, The South African Breweries Ltd (SAB), would be placed under Black ownership as part of its commitment to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa. This transaction created 40,000 new shareholders among SAB employees and qualifying retailers. The deal also created a charitable foundation that holds 18% of the shares that were issued under the transaction. The dividend income will be used for the benefit of the wider South African community (SABMiller Annual Report, 2010). The company also capitalised on the strength of emerging markets (particularly in China and Africa) by channeling its growth strategies to these markets. â€Å"Globally, the beer market grew by 1. 5% in 2010, led by a continuing strong performance in Asia, Africa and Latin America. China grew by 6. 5%, Africa by 3. 1% and Latin America by almost 3%. Western Europe continued the trend of declining beer volumes, driven by a shift in consumption to other beverages and the decline of on-premise consumption. † Source: SABMiller Annual Report, 2010 In the 2010 financial year the company acquired four new breweries in China, invested in new breweries in Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola and Southern Sudan and carried out expansions and upgrades in Uganda and Zambia. The trends in the graphs depicting SABMiller’s share price on both the London and Johannesburg Securities’ Exchanges (given above) require no further explanation. With good management being both a contributory factor to and a consequence of the share’s strong performance, it is reasonable to conclude that the positive momentum will continue. [pic] Analysis of Rainbow Chicken [pic] Rainbow Chicken Limited is the largest processor and marketer of chicken in South Africa. It is a fully integrated broiler producer that breeds and rears its own livestock which it feeds from its own feed mills. Rainbow processes, distributes and markets fresh, frozen, value-added and further-processed chicken. The company has a market capitalisation of ZAR 6 124 893 000 009 was a very challenging year for the South African poultry industry, both locally and globally. The local chicken industry was negatively impacted by the fall in demand due to the recession. An oversupply by local producers and increased imports due to the strong rand also added to the industry’s woes. These difficult market conditions were a further test of Rainbow’s differen tiated brand strategy, which through its foodservice and consumer brands, seeks more consistent, profitable and sustainable business (Rainbow Chicken Annual Report, 2009). Despite these challenges, Rainbow managed to deliver an acceptable overall performance. Positive performance, like a rally in the share price, is a function of several variables and while we can make inferences about the correlation between the two, we make no such inferences about their causality. Like SABMiller, Rainbow’s Black Economic Empowerment transaction (which was concluded in July 2008) was market-friendly and boosted the company’s share price. Rainbow provided vendor financing for a 15% equity stake that was issued to a consortium that was constituted by its employees, Imbewu Consortium, Ikamva Labantu, and Mrs M Nhlanhla, a non-executive director. The BBBEE transaction resulted in the share price rallying from R12. 0 to R16. 80 in the latter period of the second quarter of the 2009 financial year as shown in the graph on the following page. 2010 was an equally challenging year for Rainbow but its effects were mitigated by South Africa’s steady recovery from the recession, a lower interest rate and inflationary environment. Maize prices d eclined since their peak in July 2008. The global financial crisis caused a dramatic decrease in the demand for maize, improving the previously dangerously low US and global maize stock situations to such an extent that international prices fell sharply from their record levels. Rainbow Chicken, Annual Report, 2010). The fall in maize prices, which is a major component in chicken feed, resulted in a reduction in the company’s input costs which boosted the bottom line. Local producers added significant production capacity for wheat, grain and soy over the past five years. Rainbow imports the soya component of its chicken feed from Argentina and it has a significant FOREX exposure. The strong rand, however, in the period under review, has been in the company’s favour. The company’s 2010 annual report reflected acceptable profit margins. In both 2009 and during 2010, the company’s share price maintained its upward momentum as reflected in the graph below. [pic] |Key Features – Rainbow Chicken Share Price | |Year |Low |High | |2009 |11500 |16800 | |2010 |15900 |16900 | The graph and table above confirm the findings in the preceding paragraphs. Although the difference between the year’s highest share prices is negligible, South Africa’s economic recovery may be gleaned from the fact that the lowest share price for 2010 was 4400c above the 2009 low. Consumer’s disposable incomes were higher in 2010 because of falling interest and inflation rates. Falling input costs and increased consumer demand increased the appetite for the company’s shares as investors’ expectations of earning better returns were supported. Other events that led to sharp movements in the company’s share price include the market’s speculative expectations immediately prior to the announcement of the group’s 2009 results. After the results were announced, the share price dropped to R13. 90 because of the 39. 6% decline in headline earnings. The reason for this decline in earnings can be attributed to the company’s policy of buying feed products forward. The share price stabilised for the remainder of 2010 due to an increase in the multitude of families that joined the ranks of South Africa’s middle class. As the middle class grows in size, so the taste of chicken diversifies allowing entrepreneurs to come up with new ways of marketing chicken to end consumers. We now turn our attention to Rainbow’s competitor, Astral Foods, to get a better idea of the South African poultry industry before making conclusions about how justifiable a continued rally in Rainbow’s share price is. Astral Foods is Rainbow Chicken’s nearest competitor. The company holds investments in subsidiary and joint venture companies. Its primary activities are animal feed pre-mixes, the manufacturing of animal feeds, broiler genetics, the production and sale of day-old broiler chicks and hatching eggs, integrated breeder and broiler production operations, abattoirs and the sale and distribution of various key poultry brands. Its current market capitalisation is R5,5 bn (www. moneyweb. co. za) Despite a 5% drop in sales volumes, revenue for Astral Foods’ poultry division increased by 13% for the 2009 financial year. (Astral Foods Annual Report, 2009). The market was neutral about the appointment of Chris Schutte as the Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 May 2009. The share price was also not responsive to the appointment of Daan Ferreira as the Financial Director. This may be because it was not perceived to be mindful of BBBEE. The improvement in Astral Foods’ revenue for the 2010 period was largely attributable to a sustained growth in volume. The volume growth was on the back of improved production results supported by better poultry health status. Depressed consumer spending, together with higher levels of imports and high local stock levels, contributed to vigorous promotional activity with prices at levels below historical levels. Reduced feeding costs during the period countered the effects of lower poultry selling prices. A lengthy period of industrial action at Earlybird Standerton negatively impacted the company’s share performance. (Astral Foods Annual Report 2010) |[pic] | |The graph above shows the steadily upward trend in Astral Foods share price. Not surprisingly, it follows a similar pattern to Rainbow | |Chicken’s share price – with pronounced sell-offs in the first and second quarters of 2009 and improvements thereafter. This pattern | |provides comfort because of the consistency of both company’s responsiveness to events in the poultry industry. It would be concerning if | |the companies had different trajectories. The consensus amongst analysts is that the South African poultry industry is poised for | |significant growth given that the price of chicken has risen by 30 per cent year-on-year while the cost of feed has come down. We | |anticipate that Rainbow’s share price will maintain its upward trend. | | | BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Astral Foods Limited Annual Report, 2009. www. astralfoods. com 2. EIA Independent Statistics and Analysis, US Energy Information Administration, www. eia. doe. gov 3. www. eskom. co. za 4. www. finweek. co. za/Economy/Food-inflation-still-a-concern-20100301 5. www. globalsherpa. org/china-africa-brics 6. www. heineken. com 7. www. moneyweb. o. za 8. Rainbow Chicken Limited Annual Report, 2009 and 2010, www. rainbowchicken. co. za 9. Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin March 2011,www. resbank. co. za 10. SABMiller PLC Annual Report, 2009, www. sabmiller. com 11. SABMiller PLC Annual Report, 2010, www. sabmiller. com 12. Statistics South Africa, Statistical release P0141, www. statssa. gov. za 13. www. xe. com [pic] ———————– Economics Assignment 2011 GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT LOCAL ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY / COMPETITORS COMPANY SHARE PRICE

Describe the effects of the Blitz in Everyday life in Britain

By 1940, Britain had seen the face of war through the Blitz. Devouring everything, Hitler's Luftwaffe were relentless as they launched raids after merciless raids. Loved ones died, friends suffered, rationing ravaged the lands and there was the constant fear of death at every turn at every corner. No one was safe, not even The Royal family when they moved to Coventry. The reminder of war and a reality that they could not escape haunted the people as some died of severe fatigue. Morale was low, with death possible by a number of means and the quality of life alien to what people were used to, the Blitz was the most effective weapon against the Britons. The era of 1940-41 saw the focus of attacks on London as well as some other cities. Parts of these places were described as being razed. With thousands of homeless strangers wandering for shelter, and with virtually no finance, these houses stayed as rubble. Even people with homes could not stop to wander what they would do when they were without. Homelessness was just one of the problems, death being the other major factor. There could be many possible means of dying. Shrapnel wounds, extreme exhaustion, being buried alive under the rubble the list is endless. Even in their subterranean cellars, people could die of flooding. Throughout the war there wasn't even a bomb shelter designed to take full impact from a bomb. The few places which provided full shelter from the bombing, the underground railways for example, proved too costly for the Brits. The Blitz's ruthless aggression took all and any victims, women and children took large percentages of the death toll. Schools, entertainment facilities and even churches were targeted. The population's moral was low, women feared for their husbands and sons abroad and dreaded for their children on the home front. Children were targeted by the bombing of schools and education, in theory this would prove an excellent tactic for the Germans as the children were the future of Britain, thus with a lack of education the British army would weaken. Furthermore, with entertainment facilities being bombed, morale would dip to its lowest for it was one of the only things which could relieve the Britons minds. Not even churches were safe, the people had no one to turn to. With scarcity of faith and society in an anarchy they did want to be in, one wonders how the people coped with the devastation the Blitz brought. The first attack on Britain by Hitler's Luftwaffe brought the start of a fifty seven day consecutive bombing. Around three hundred German bombers set out to destroy London. The Royal Air Force had a demanding task set against them as they were heavily outnumbered and could not replace the amount of planes falling from the skies. Women on the home front were expected to work overtime without extra pay. The arduous labour they had undergone brought them severe fatigue and when they finished work and went home, if it was still standing, the air raid sirens and blackout would not help them to get any rest. The life of a commoner during the Blitz was no easy one. With friends and family dying abroad as well as on the home front life would have been torment. Huge amounts of stress and pressure would be exerted on those working in factories, urged to work overtime and for little pay. Death could be met at any and every corner, a bomb blast could lead to a number of painful deaths. Rationing was enforced due to the bombing of major ports such as in Portsmouth. As well as the fact that entertainment was also targeted, life was made worse for the Brits as they had nowhere to turn to in order to relieve their pain and sorrow. Life during the Blitz was strenuous due to all these factors, yet probably the worst devastation the Blitz had brought was how the inhabitants could not talk about their problems as it may have revealed positions to spies. One must applaud those who survived the Blitz and all they went through for it is hard to live when there is nothing to live for.