...Rachel Beck Professor Carr RWS 200 2/27/14 Electronic Cigarettes: the Future of Smoking? Today, if you were to sit at a bar on the Lower East Side, you may find yourself next to a guy smoking a light-up plastic tube that smells like cherries and think to yourself, even Humphrey Bogart couldn’t make one of those look cool. Or if you haven’t seen the 1941 film, Casablanca, you may still chuckle a bit. But could these vaping devices be the future of smoking? Author Andrew Stuttaford in his article, “Vaper Strain” published by the National Review in 2013, addresses the topic of these electronic cigarettes, arguing that these healthy alternatives are, in fact, the future of smoking. He believes they are often demonized for no good reason and he advocates for the product by addressing some of the key health concerns that consistently show up in debates on e-cigarettes. His purpose is to address these concerns, but ultimately show how the benefits of e-cigarettes outweigh their potential detriments. In his attempt to debunk arguments from the critics of e-cigarettes, he adopts a sarcastic tone for his audience, the readers of the National Review. Stuttaford’s sarcastic tone is used to introduce e-cigarettes to an older audience, predominantly one of older cigarette smokers who grew up in a time when smoking was a part of the American culture. The very first sentence in his article is introducing e-cigarettes – what they do and how they work – knowledge that is commonly known among...
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...and in my opinion an unfortunate waste of the Christians time to attempt to prove the existence of God to a fallen world. In the Bible we see that even people who were there with Jesus Christ and were first hand witness to all of the amazing works that He did as He revealed the Father were blind to who He was and were so caught up in their religion that they tried to come up with many different reasons for the works other than Him being who He claimed that He was (John 10:1-38). He has sufficiently revealed Himself to everyone through His creation, through the Bible and through fulfilled prophecy and our duty is simply to honor Him and bring Glory to Him in our lives by showing His love to the world and being salt and light in a fallen world (Matthew 5:13-16, Romans 12:9-21, 1 Cor. 2:9-13). The proof cannot be found in science because He is outside of our concepts His existence must be taken on faith by the child of God (Eph. 2:8-9)(Barackman, 2006, 39). While God cannot be proven through science and reason there are certain arguments that the believer can use for the existence of God. Barackman lists four arguments. First, the cosmological argument which suggests that for there to be a product there must...
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...Option Valuation Chapter 21 Intrinsic and Time Value intrinsic value of in-the-money options = the payoff that could be obtained from the immediate exercise of the option for a call option: stock price – exercise price for a put option: exercise price – stock price the intrinsic value for out-the-money or at-themoney options is equal to 0 time value of an option = difference between actual call price and intrinsic value as time approaches expiration date, time value goes to zero 21-2 Determinants of Option Values Call + – + + + – Put – + + + – + Stock price Exercise price Volatility of stock price Time to expiration Interest rate Dividend rate of stock 21-3 Binomial Option Pricing consider a stock that currently sells at S0 the price an either increase by a factor u or fall by a factor d (probabilities are irrelevant) consider a call with exercise price X such that dS0 < X < uS0 hence, the evolution of the price and of the call option value is uS0 Cu = (uS0 – X) C S0 dS0 Cd = 0 21-4 Binomial Option Pricing (cont.) now, consider the payoff from writing one call option and buying H shares of the stock, where Cu − Cd uS0 − X H= = uS0 − dS0 uS 0 − dS0 the value of this investment at expiration is Up Down Payoff of stock HuS0 HdS0 Payoff of calls –(uS0 – X) 0 Total payoff HdS0 HdS0 21-5 Binomial Option Pricing (cont.) hence, we obtained a risk-free investment with end value HdS0 arbitrage argument: the current value of this investment should...
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...In all 50 states of the United States, the legal age to consume alcohol is 21. However, there have been disputes to change the age from 21 to 18. Two authors show their different points of view in this matter. Ruth C. Engs is a professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University. Tara Watson is an associate professor of economics and she's the chairwoman of the Program in Public Health at Williams College. The article "Why the drinking age should be lowered" by Ruth C. Engs explains why adults 18 and older should be allowed to drink. The article "Lowering the Drinking Age Has Serious Consequences" by Tara Watson shows how the legal age for drinking should stay at 21. The article "Why the drinking age should be lowered" starts off by Engs explaining that young adults should be able to drink but taught how to drink responsibly. Throughout the article, Engs stays with an intelligent tone...
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...The Negative Side of Social Media BCOM/275 October 21, 2014 University of Phoenix Negative Side of Social Media There are two sides to every argument: right and wrong, and pros and cons. The side of the argument today will focus on the negatives of social media only. There are several cons to the argument of whether social media is beneficial; the nuisance of having to keep pace with changes, monitoring daily users comments, as well as some legal risks. Negative Side of Social Media Social media is such a strong trend in advertising and is often a useful tool for businesses to utilize, however, disadvantages also exist. When using social media as an advertising tool, there is the accepted risk of giving a part of the brand’s management and reputation to customers and employees. If there is someone that believes he or she was treated unfairly that person can use the social media site to voice his or her issues with the public. This negative feedback on social media can lead to loss of credibility and damage any prospected new clients of the company. Even if the company tries to remove any negative comments, customers may believe that the company is trying to hide something. There are so many social media websites that it can make it difficult for a company to decide which one(s) to use. If the wrong site were chosen, it can negatively affect the business’s success. A few of the most popular sites are Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and Pinterest...
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...undoubtedly debated at least to a certain extent whether or not the toilet seat should be down or up. Which is it? This research shows that the toilet was made with a lid for a reason. Gentleman, that reason is not for a back rest while doing the deed. It’s actually made to close. If everyone, not just men, would put the seat down and close the lid, we would have such a smaller issue on our hands. That smaller issue would be making this a habit. Hopefully, readers can benefit from this essay and gain some useful knowledge regarding this issue to say the least. There are many resources that explain the pros and cons of leaving the toilet seat in the downward position. For example, an article written by Martin A. Andresen, “Up or Down? An Efficiency-based Argument for Optimal Toilet Seat Placement”. Andresen theorizes that there is an actual mathematical equation that can be used to determine efficiency. Andreson concluded, “…results clearly show that if the number of females is greater than or equal to the number of males the optimal placement of the toilet seat is down” (Andresen). After reading Andreson’s commentary, while this theory is somewhat valid, coming up with an actual equation for solving this problem is a bit much. For example: (Andreson) “This ratio is bounded by zero and unity. If the TSR is greater than 0.50, the optimal toilet seat placement is up; if the TSR is less than 0.50, the optimal toilet seat placement is down; and if the TSR is equal...
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...good reasoning, which in turn will help you make important decisions about what to believe and how to act. The core of your critical thinking skills is your ability to detect, generate, and evaluate reasons given in support of some conclusion. This conclusion might be a new belief, a change in plans, or a confirmation of the old belief. The technical term for a set of reasons plus their intended conclusion is “argument.” Thus the central topic of this course is argumentation. Critical thinking skills are not peculiar to philosophy but are applicable to a variety of academic subjects. Moreover, critical thinking skills are crucial to the fulfillment of the responsibilities you have in virtue of your roles as a citizen, parent, child, employee, and consumer. To develop critical thinking skills, students will be expected to participate actively in class activities and discussions. Time in class will be devoted in the main to practice, not to lecture. In short, you will learn by doing. REQUIRED TEXTS Authors: David R. Morrow and Anthony Weston Title: A Workbook for Arguments: A Complete Course in Critical Thinking Edition: 2011 Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1603845496 Additional readings will be made available on Blackboard. Abbreviated lecture notes will be made available on Blackboard. ATTENDANCE Attendance is required and will constitute part of your grade. Attendance is graded by dividing the number of classes you attend by the total number of classes;...
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...Analysis Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Abstract Most college students in the U.S fall between the 18-21 age bracket. As is custom, the highlight of an active collegiate lifestyle is partying, where binge drinking is the highlight of the day. In retrospect, the legal drinking age still stands at 21. Some proponents for the lowering of the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 contend that at that age, one is appended adult-like responsibilities such as the right to make decisions on their own, joining the military, marrying and starting a family, to mention but a few. In this regard, these proponents argue that if one is considered responsible enough to be trusted with the safety of the country, why not be trusted enough to consume alcohol? This has been the subject of rife debate in recent times, as either side puts arguments and counterarguments forth. Introduction A 2008 article authored by John Cloud headlined “Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered?” published on Friday, June in Time argues that the legal drinking age should remain steady at 21, and should not be lowered to 18 as critics would like to have it. A particular statement that tickles my fancy was “It’s unclear why shifting the venue of drinking from frat houses to bars will help solve the problem of hard-core student drinking” (Cloud, 2008). Although Cloud presents a sound argument, it is more sensible to implement more methodical and all-encompassing alcohol education to the youth engaging in underage...
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...Analysis Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Abstract Most college students in the U.S fall between the 18-21 age bracket. As is custom, the highlight of an active collegiate lifestyle is partying, where binge drinking is the highlight of the day. In retrospect, the legal drinking age still stands at 21. Some proponents for the lowering of the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 contend that at that age, one is appended adult-like responsibilities such as the right to make decisions on their own, joining the military, marrying and starting a family, to mention but a few. In this regard, these proponents argue that if one is considered responsible enough to be trusted with the safety of the country, why not be trusted enough to consume alcohol? This has been the subject of rife debate in recent times, as either side puts arguments and counterarguments forth. Introduction A 2008 article authored by John Cloud headlined “Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered?” published on Friday, June in Time argues that the legal drinking age should remain steady at 21, and should not be lowered to 18 as critics would like to have it. A particular statement that tickles my fancy was “It’s unclear why shifting the venue of drinking from frat houses to bars will help solve the problem of hard-core student drinking” (Cloud, 2008). Although Cloud presents a sound argument, it is more sensible to implement more methodical and all-encompassing alcohol education to the youth engaging in underage...
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...Compulsory Voting? Not so Fast A critical review of political scholarship regarding compulsory voting Word Count: 1644 Compulsory voting has been a hotly debated topic in the political realm over the past few decades, with supporters on both sides bringing up a wide variety of arguments and beliefs for support. The proposed idea of compulsory voting is the idea that would make voting in a democratic parliamentary election mandatory for all citizens who meet the age requirement; failure to do so will result in a form of minor punishment such as a small fine. The theory behind compulsory voting is that it will increase participation in parliamentary election, thus creating a more legitimate representative democratic system. Current major democratic countries that currently employ an enforced compulsory voting system include Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. This paper will argue that voting should not be made compulsory in Canada, on the principles that there is no proof that increasing voter turnout will legitimize our representational democracy, and that we have the right to abstention. I will prove this argument by examining the political scholarship produced by Sara Birch, Justine Lacroix, and Annabelle Lever. The first academic journal I will be examining will be that of Sara Birch in her 2009 paper The Case for Compulsory Voting. In this paper, Birch is advocating that all democratic countries should implement a compulsory voting system. Birch’s primary point...
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...18 or 21? BCOM/275 6/20/2013 Michelle Batson The great debate of the use of alcohol has challenged the nation for many years. The age limit that has been put into place in many states to legally drink is 21. Yet some still believe that 18 should be the legal age for the consumption of this drug called alcohol. Some argue that if a person can join the military, vote and be held responsible for themselves at the age of 18 that they should also have the right to drink alcohol. Others claim that fatalities from underage drinking are just too high and at the age of 18 a person is still not responsible enough to drink. In 1984 a bill was brought before government to raise the age to 21 or states would lose highway funding and in 1987 the government complied and signed a bill that forced most states to raise the legal age to 21, if they did not comply the state would lose ten percent of their highway funding. Some saw this as unfair and put laws into place where it was still legal for underage drinking with certain conditions attached, such as being supervised within your parents’ home. This bill has claimed to of saved 17,000 lives since 1988. The debate on the drinking age has raised many concerns for both sides and still continues to be a subject that brings controversy to any conversation. The pros of lowering the drinking age to 18 can be a very valid argument. At the age of 18 a young person is considered an adult and most believe that if you have the rights to join the...
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...The students in this case didn’t set out to attack or take advantage of the store when they signed the contract. Infancy is supposed to protect minors from their own inexperience and lack of knowledge. In this case the minors made a mistake out of inexperience, not out of malice towards the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs might also argue that the minors, Jeremih and Kesha, committed fraudulent misrepresentation by signing the contract for the credit card that had a line that read “The signatory to this agreement with Apartments ‘r’ Us hereby states, warrants and affirms that he/she is of legal age to enter into a binding contract, and in any case is not under 21 years of age.” By alleging fraud the plaintiffs would have to prove it by clear and convincing evidence which is a higher burden of proof than the usual preponderance of the evidence. They must prove that a statement that was untrue was made and that the damaged party relied on that fact and was injured or damaged because of that reliance. They must also prove that the defendants signed the contract with scienter which is an intent to deceive. There is no evidence that the defendants intended to defraud the plaintiffs. They had been drinking before they purchased the goods and signed the contracts for the credit card. While they were...
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...The argument of lowering the drinking age has been in the process for quite some time now. Many people argue that it should be lowered to the age of eighteen, and some people have argued that it shouldn’t be lowered and stay at twenty-one. Though there are many reasons that prove both arguments correct, the law still remains where it was set at. Most say the drinking age should not be lowered because it would increase the danger and deaths to underage drinkers, but that all has to do with the main argument for lowering the age, maturity. In the United States, at the age of 18, people are not able to buy alcohol but are able to join the military, vote, be considered adults, and buy cigarettes which can be as harmful if not more so than alcohol. I propose that we also add being able to legally buy alcohol at the age of 18. Prior to 1984, states were allowed to choose their own legal drinking ages. The legal age limit varied from state to state anywhere between 18 and 21 years of age. “One of the more compelling arguments for setting the age to 21was that the prohibition had only exacerbated drinking, particularly among the young”(Seaman 242). In 1984, the United States congress passed the national minimum drinking age act. Ronal Reagan instigated this act when he set up a study to look at the drunken driving problem in the United States. Scientists recommended that there should be a national uniform drinking age of 21. Since then, there have been many that oppose and want to reform...
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...parents whose children are directly affected by the issue. Likewise, adolescents and youth are bound to get affected thus they are likely to engage in this debate too (Vingilis and Smart 415). Raising the legal drinking age lowers death rate. According to Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Congress members who met to mark the 20th anniversary of passing of a federal law that rose the minimum legal drinking age to 21, about 20,000 lives were saved through the passing of the law (MADD). The law signed in July 17, 1984 by the then President Reagan set the minimum drinking age as 21. An estimate by MADD approximates that underage drinking kills 6,000 people every year through traffic crashes and other alcohol related deaths such as homicides (MADD). Through this, is open that MADD is for the raising of the legal drinking age. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), raising the age at which people are allowed to legally buy and have alcohol is the most appropriate way of curbing alcohol related accidents in people below the age of 21...
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...This article is published in a peer-reviewed section of the Utrecht Law Review The Use and Influence of Comparative Law in ‘Wrongful Life’ Cases Ivo Giesen* 1. Introduction** 1.1. Comparable stories of great grief In 1993, a South African boy named Brian Stewart was born severely handicapped. He suffers from ‘spina bifida’, a congenital defect to the lower spine, which negatively affects the nerve supply to the lower limbs, bladder and bowel. He suffers from a brain defect as well.1 In 1994, a Dutch girl named Kelly Molenaar was also born severely handicapped. By the time she was two-and-half-years old she was diagnosed as being retarded, autistic, not fully grown, not able to walk or talk, suffering from heart disease, bad hearing and poor eyesight and she was not able, at that time, to recognize her parents. She had been admitted to hospital on nine occasions due to continuous crying, believed to be caused by pain.2 Comparable stories about severely handicapped children can be found in several other countries as well. Both Brian and Kelly were not supposed to have been born in the sense that their mothers would have chosen for an abortion had they known in time about the birth defects their children would suffer. Brian’s mother would have undergone a termination of her pregnancy had the obstetrician and gynaecologist she consulted detected any abnormalities in the foetus and advised her thereof. Kelly’s mother had asked the obstetrician she consulted to carry out some...
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