...August 20, 2011 Pit Bulls: Mean or Misunderstood? By Andre Bourgeois Thesis: There is no other dog that conjures up fear and terror by the mere mention of their name as the pit bull. American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) aka Pit Bull brings fear to people because of the amount of human fatalities these dogs are supposedly involved in. The media would have you believe that these deaths are on the rise and is of epidemic proportions with the pit bull being the main perpetrator. An urban legend is that they have Locking jaws and have a super strength bite force. Another myth is that they are aggressive towards people, and go insane. Most people don’t realize is that the term “Pitt bull” is not a breed of dog; it is a group of a certain type of dog. The origin of this breed doesn’t help their reputation. The APBT was bred specifically for the purpose of being the ultimate fighting dog. The breed needed to be quick, agile, strong, determined, aggressive, and able to withstand pain and have a lot of game (to never give up under any situations). What is not known about the APBT is that they were bred NOT to be aggressive toward people. That was one trait that was bred into them, non aggressive towards people. The breeders needed that trait because when breaking up dog fights they didn’t want to get bit. When one dog would bite the handler, one of two things would happen; either that dog would get put down or didn’t get bred again. This was done to keep the bloodline pure. Because...
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...THE MARTIAN CHILD by David Gerrold Toward the end of the meeting, the caseworker remarked, "Oh - and one more thing. Dennis thinks he's a Martian." "I beg your pardon?" I wasn't certain I had heard her correctly. I had papers scattered all over the meeting room table - thick piles of stapled incident reports, manila-foldered psychiatric evaluations, Xeroxed clinical diagnoses, scribbled caseworker histories, typed abuse reports, bound trial transcripts, and my own crabbed notes as welclass="underline" Hyperactivity. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Emotional Abuse. Physical Abuse. Conners Rating Scale. Apgars. I had no idea there was so much to know about children. For a moment, I was actually looking for the folder labeled Martian. "He thinks he's a Martian," Ms. Bright repeated. She was a small woman, very proper and polite. "He told his group home parents that he's not like the other children - he's from Mars - so he shouldn't be expected to act like an Earthling all the time." "Well, that's okay," I said, a little too quickly. "Some of my best friends are Martians. He'll fit right in. As long as he doesn't eat the tribbles or tease the feral Chtorran." By the narrow expressions on their faces, I could tell that the caseworkers weren't amused. For a moment, my heart sank. Maybe I'd said the wrong thing. Maybe I was being too facile with my answers. The hardest thing about adoption is that you have to ask someone to trust you with a child. That means that you have to be willing to...
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...FROM GREAT TO GHASTLY: HOW TOXIC ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES POISON COMPANIES THE RISE AND FALL OF ENRON, WORLDCOM, HEALTHSOUTH, AND TYCO INTERNATIONAL David R. Lease, Norwich University Abstract This paper presents an analytical and comparative study of four recent corporate scandals involving organizations that had previously been recognized as both ethically and organizationally sound. Based on these case studies, the following issues are discussed: (1) The role of leader behavior and organizational/leadership styles in shaping the corporate organizational culture of an organization, and (2) The extent to which this culture renders the organization and its members (including the top executives) prone to ethical misbehavior. The four companies selected for this case analysis are: Enron Corporation, WorldCom, Inc., Tyco International, Ltd., and HealthSouth Corporation. Each case is considered individually. The basic elements in the scandal are outlined and the principal aspects of each organization’s corporate culture discussed, with special emphasis on the influence of leadership styles and leadership behavior/practices on organizational culture. The four cases are then compared and contrasted in the light of the existing evidence on the relation between corporate culture and ethical misbehavior. PRELUDE “We were doing something special. Magical. It wasn’t a job – it was a mission. We were changing the world. We were doing God’s work.” – Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron COO, President...
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...FREAKONOMICS A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Revised and Expanded Edition Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner CONTENTS AN EXPLANATORY NOTE In which the origins of this book are clarified. vii PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION xi 1 INTRODUCTION: The Hidden Side of Everything In which the book’s central idea is set forth: namely, if morality represents how people would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work. Why the conventional wisdom is so often wrong . . . How “experts”— from criminologists to real-estate agents to political scientists—bend the facts . . . Why knowing what to measure, and how to measure it, is the key to understanding modern life . . . What is “freakonomics,” anyway? 1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common? 15 In which we explore the beauty of incentives, as well as their dark side—cheating. Contents Who cheats? Just about everyone . . . How cheaters cheat, and how to catch them . . . Stories from an Israeli day-care center . . . The sudden disappearance of seven million American children . . . Cheating schoolteachers in Chicago . . . Why cheating to lose is worse than cheating to win . . . Could sumo wrestling, the national sport of Japan, be corrupt? . . . What the Bagel Man saw: mankind may be more honest than we think. 2. How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? 49 In which it is argued that nothing is more powerful than information,...
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...Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, admits that she often finds herself in the kitchen reading soup-can labels—or anything—in order to prolong the moments before taking pen in hand. John C. Calhoun, vice president under Andrew Jackson, insisted he had to plow his fields before he could write, and Joseph Conrad, author of Lord Jim and other novels, is said to have cried on occasion from the sheer dread of sitting down to compose his stories. To spare you as much hand-wringing as possible, this chapter presents some practical suggestions on how to begin writing your short essay. Although all writers must find the methods that work best for them, you may find some of the following ideas helpful. But no matter how you actually begin putting words on paper, it is absolutely essential to maintain two basic ideas concerning your writing task. Before you write a single sentence, you should always remind yourself that 1. You have some valuable ideas to tell your reader, and 2. More than anything, you want to communicate those ideas to your reader. These reminders may seem obvious to you, but without a solid commitment to your own opinions as well as to your reader, your prose will be lifeless and boring. If you don’t care about your subject, you can’t very well expect anyone else to. Have confidence that your ideas are worthwhile and that your reader genuinely...
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...GLENCOE LANGUAGE ARTS Grammar and Language Workbook G RADE 9 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Send all inquiries to: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill 936 Eastwind Drive Westerville, Ohio 43081 ISBN 0-02-818294-4 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 024 03 02 01 00 99 Contents Handbook of Definitions and Rules .........................1 Troubleshooter ........................................................21 Part 1 Grammar ......................................................45 Unit 1 Parts of Speech 1.1 Nouns: Singular, Plural, and Collective ....47 1.2 Nouns: Proper and Common; Concrete and Abstract.................................49 1.3 Pronouns: Personal and Possessive; Reflexive and Intensive...............................51 1.4 Pronouns: Interrogative and Relative; Demonstrative and Indefinite .....................53 1.5 Verbs: Action (Transitive/Intransitive) ......55 1.6 Verbs: Linking .............................................57 1.7 Verb Phrases ................................................59 1.8 Adjectives ....................................................61 1.9 Adverbs........................................................63 1.10 Prepositions...
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...#6 Playing Mozart’s Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence Myth #7 Adolescence Is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil Myth #8 Most People Experience a Midlife Crisis in | 8 Their 40s or Early 50s Myth #9 Old Age Is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility Myth #10 When Dying, People Pass through a Universal Series of Psychological Stages 3 A REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST Myth #11 Human Memory Works like a Tape Recorder or Video Camera, and Accurate Events We’ve Experienced Myth #12 Hypnosis Is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events Myth #13 Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences Myth #14 Most People with Amnesia Forget All Details of Their Earlier Lives 4 TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS Myth #15 Intelligence (IQ) Tests Are Biased against Certain Groups of People My th #16 If You’re Unsure of Your Answer When Taking a Test, It’s Best to Stick with Your Initial Hunch Myth #17 The Defining Feature of Dyslexia Is Reversing Letters Myth #18 Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to Their Learning Styles 5 ALTERED STATES Myth #19 Hypnosis Is a Unique “Trance” State that Differs in Kind from Wakefulness Myth #20 Researchers Have Demonstrated that Dreams Possess Symbolic Meaning Myth #21 People Can Learn Information, like New Languages, while Asleep Myth #22 During “Out-of-Body” Experiences, People’s Consciousness Leaves Their Bodies 6 I’VE GOT A FEELING Myth #23 The...
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...Standard 1: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community. The effective administrator: 1.1 Uses research about best professional practice. Cooperative Learning "Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning." WHAT IS IT? Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. WHY USE IT? Documented results include improved academic achievement, improved behavior and attendance, increased self-confidence and motivation, and increased liking of school and classmates. Cooperative learning is also relatively easy to implement and is inexpensive. HOW DOES IT WORK? Here are some typical strategies that can be used with any subject, in almost any grade, and without a special curriculum: Group Investigations are structured to emphasize higher-order thinking skills such as analysis and evaluation. Students work to produce a group project, which they may have a hand...
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...and This Might Be 'the End of OPEC' "It looks exceedingly unlikely for OPEC to return to its old way of doing business," Morse wrote. Despite global declines in spending that have driven up oil prices in recent weeks, oil production in the U.S. is still rising, wrote Edward Morse, Citigroup's global head of commodity research. Brazil and Russia are pumping oil at record levels, and Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran have been fighting to maintain their market share by cutting prices to Asia. The market is oversupplied, and storage tanks are topping out. A pullback in production isn't likely until the third quarter, Morse said Vets fight to save hero dog who tried to shield owner from house fire "She's doing OK. Considering what Carmen has been through we think she's doing as well as can be expected," Dr. Daniel Carey, a vet at the hospital, told WCPO. "It's not unexpected that she's not ready to come off (the ventilator). It's just that in our best case scenario (we thought) maybe we could've hoped to get her off (Sunday) afternoon," Carey told WCPO The hospital is also providing updates on Carmen through social media, using Facebook to post pictures of the dog resting on a pink blanket and keeping company with a pair of stuffed animals. Your Resume Is Useless Unless It Answers This 1 Question If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know how keenly we believe there’s no such thing as a generic or one-size-fits-all resume If your resume is to be powerfully persuasive...
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...Manual for the GMAT*Exam version 8.0 All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced for distribution to a third party in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information retrieval system, without the prior consent of the publisher, The Princeton Review. This Manual is for the exclusive use of Princeton Review course students and is not legal for resale. GMAT is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admission Council. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University or the Graduate Management Admission Council. Permission to reprint this material does not constitute review or endorsement by the Educational Testing Service or the Graduate Management Admission Council of this publication as a whole or of any other sample questions or testing information it may contain. Copyright © 2003 by Princeton Review Management, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. 800.2Review/ www.princetonreview.com ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to the following for their many contributions to this course manual: Tariq Ahmed, Kristen Azzara, Shon Bayer, John Bergdahl, Marie Dente, Russ Dombrow, Tricia Dublin, Dan Edmonds, Julian Fleisher, Paul Foglino, Alex Freer, John Fulmer, Joel Haber, Effie Hadjiioannou, Sarah Kruchko, Mary Juliano, Jeff Leistner, Sue Lim, Michael Lopez, Stephanie Martin, Chas Mastin, Elizabeth Miller, Colin Mysliwiec, Magda Pecsenye, Dave Ragsdale, “GMAT” Jack Schieffer...
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...In Cold Blood Truman Capote I. The Last to See Them Alive The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there." Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them. Holcomb, too, can be seen from great distances. Not that there's much to see simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe Rail-road, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced "Ar-kan-sas") River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and wheat fields. After rain, or when snowfalls thaw, the streets, unnamed, unshaded, unpaved, turn from the thickest dust into the direst mud. At one end of the town stands a stark old stucco structure, the roof of which supports an electric sign - dance - but the dancing has ceased and the advertisement has been dark for several years. Nearby is another building...
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...In Cold Blood Truman Capote I. The Last to See Them Alive The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there." Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them. Holcomb, too, can be seen from great distances. Not that there's much to see simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe Rail-road, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced "Ar-kan-sas") River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and wheat fields. After rain, or when snowfalls thaw, the streets, unnamed, unshaded, unpaved, turn from the thickest dust into the direst mud. At one end of the town stands a stark old stucco structure, the roof of which supports an electric sign - dance - but the dancing has ceased and the advertisement has been dark for several years. Nearby is another building...
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...our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught? • W h y do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save 25 cents on a can of soup? • W h y do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full? • And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar? hen it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we? In a series o f illuminating, often surprising experi ments, M I T behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with ground breaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. N o t only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same types of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predict able—making us predictably irrational. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns o f thought to make better...
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...Salman Rushdie Midnight's Children First published in 1981 Excerpts from the Koran come from the Penguin Classics edition, translated by N. J. Dawood, copyright (c) 1956, 1959,1966,1968,1974. for Zafar Rushdie who, contrary to all expectations, was born in the afternoon Contents Book One The perforated sheet Mercurochrome Hit-the-spittoon Under the carpet A public announcement Many-headed monsters Methwold Tick, tock Book Two The fisherman's pointing finger Snakes and ladders Accident in a washing-chest All-India radio Love in Bombay My tenth birthday At the Pioneer Cafe Alpha and Omega The Kolynos Kid Commander Sabarmati's baton Revelations Movements performed by pepperpots Drainage and the desert Jamila Singer How Saleem achieved purity Book Three The buddha In the Sundarbans Sam and the Tiger The shadow of the Mosque A wedding Midnight Abracadabra Book One The perforated sheet I was born in the city of Bombay ... once upon a time. No, that won't do, there's no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikar's Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947. And the time? The time matters, too. Well then: at night. No, it's important to be more ... On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact. Clock-hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came. Oh, spell it out, spell it out: at the precise instant of India's arrival at independence, I tumbled forth into the world. There were gasps. And, outside the...
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...liked to say, “Son, the most important word in the English language is ‘empathy.’ ” When I told him I was starting a business, his first words were, “Always treat your employees right.” He learned that appreciation the hard way, losing his father at a young age and countless war buddies in the trenches. But his love for God, country, and his fellow citizens never wavered. This one’s for you, Dad. CONTENTS Foreword by Richard Schulze, Found er and Chair man, Best Buy ix Introduction: Living by the Seat of My Pants: A Jour ney from Clueless to Cashing In xi PART I Setting Up Shop: What Ever y Budding Entrepreneur Needs to Know 1 1. Make Up Your Mind: Uncommon Factors to Consider Before Quitting Your Day Job 2. Research the Market: Analyzing the Data to Determine Your Niche 3. Write the Business Plan: Building Your Blueprint for Success 4. Find Funding: Raising Capital Without Relinquishing Control 5. Position Yourself: Nailing Your Name, Location, and Differentiation 6. Line Up Your Legal Ducks: Protecting Your Business Interests 5 10 13 18 23 30 CONTENTS 7. Build a Strong Board: Getting Help, Not Headaches, from Outside Advisers 43 PART II Pouring the Foundation: Laying In Your Mission, Vision, and Values 53 57 62 64 71 8. Mission Critical: Embodying...
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