A California Thanksgiving Essay Example for Free

A California Thanksgiving Essay In November 2012, my dad and I traveled to San Francisco for the Thanksgiving holiday. We had already done both of our family Thanksgivings, so it was the perfect opportunity to get away. Even without many plans, we were able to take a drive down the coast to Monterey, explore San Francisco, and see the beautiful college town of Palo Alto, all at our own pace. Our trip started with a morning flight from Little Rock to Dallas. After a two-hour layover, we departed Dallas for San Francisco and arrived around 8:00 pm. A full day of flying, navigating airports, and finding a rental car wore us out. We didn’t even get a proper dinner the first night before we went to bed. The next morning, we decided to drive down the coast on Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, to Monterey. It was an amazing drive! I was surprised that California was so beautiful. Towering redwood trees lined much of the drive, along with farms for almost any fruit or vegetable I could imagine. When we could finally see the coastline, it was breathtaking. We passed through a few small coastal towns and saw countless fresh produce stands on the side of the highway. We stopped for lunch at a Thai restaurant in Moss Landing, CA. The food was amazing, and we could see the ocean from our table! The day was already a success in my book. When we arrived in Monterey, we drove down to Cannery Row and parked the car. We strolled around all of the different shops for a couple of hours, and then we headed even farther down the coast. We stopped at a parking area that overlooked quite possibly the most scenic place I had ever seen. There were huge waves crashing on giant boulders in the ocean. We just sat there and watched the waves crash for at least an hour. The salty smell of the ocean, the noise of various birds, and the sound of the waves just overloaded your senses in the best possible way. We headed back to our hotel in Palo Alto. See more:  Mark Twains Humorous Satire in Running for Governor Essay Before we made it back, I spotted my favorite fast food restaurant, In-N-Out Burger and to my dad’s dismay, that was dinner. We crashed not long after making it to the hotel; we were exhausted after driving and exploring all day. The next morning, we woke up refreshed and ready to explore some more. We headed into San Francisco early. I was surprised that there wasn’t very much traffic; I guess we were after the morning rush hour. The drive north was almost as pretty as the drive down the coast. California should be â€Å"The Natural State†, not Arkansas! Once we made it into the city, we had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. As we emerged from Golden Gate Park, the goliath appeared before us. We just crossed it both ways, but I was in awe of how big the bridge actually was. I had never appreciated it until I saw it with my own eyes. When we came back into the city, we drove around to many of the different neighborhoods. San Francisco is incredibly diverse. We drove through â€Å"Little Japan† and â€Å"China Town†, and we parked in North Beach. North Beach is where an established population of people with Italian heritage lives and work, â€Å"Little Italy† in any other big city. We were craving some good Italian food, and we definitely found some. The restaurant didn’t have a name on their sign, but we risked it and stopped there to eat. It was authentic Italian food from scratch. They made their own noodles, sauces, bread, and dressings. The dish I had was the best Italian food I’d ever eaten. My dad felt the same way about his dish as well. After our delicious lunch, we decided to drive around the city a little while longer, and then head back to the hotel so we didn’t get stuck in rush hour traffic. Our final two days in California were spent in Palo Alto. My dad’s good friend from high school, Mark, lives there, so we met up with him at a local Mexican restaurant. We all caught up over margaritas and salsa, then we went to his house to help with Thanksgiving dinner preparations. I had never been to another family’s Thanksgiving dinner, but they welcomed us with open arms like we were part of their family anyways. Their family has a tradition of biking around Palo Alto after Thanksgiving dinner. I decided to go with them while my dad stayed back at the house with Mark. Palo Alto was very biker friendly. We rode around the Stanford University campus. It was the most beautiful college campus I had ever seen! We returned to the house after an approximately an hour. It was the best way to see the city! Our last day was spent packing, then heading to the airport for an afternoon flight home. We used our Thanksgiving break a little differently than most, but I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything. I’ll always remember the drive down to Monterey, exploring San Francisco, and getting a local view of Palo Alto as one of the best Thanksgiving holidays.

Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Essay Example for Free

Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Essay The foundation of Euclidean geometry is the concept of a few undefined terms: points, lines, and planes. In essence, a point is an exact position or location on a surface. A point has no actual length or width. A line shows infinite distance and direction but absolutely no width. A line has at least two points lying on it. Euclid’s first postulate is that only one unique straight line can be drawn between any two points. Line segments are lines that have a set length and do not go on forever. Euclid’s second postulate is that a finite straight line, or line segment, can be extended continuously into a straight line. The last of Euclid’s undefined terms is a plane, a flat surface similar to a table top or floor. However, a plane’s area is infinite. It has never ending length and width but has no depth. Lines can intersect each other or they can be parallel. Intersecting lines can be perpendicular, meaning they cross at a right angle. Lines in a plane that do not intersect or touch at a point and have a constant, unchanging distance between each other are called parallel lines. Line segments can be used to create different polygons. As in Euclid’s third postulate, with any straight line segment, a circle can be drawn having the segment as radius and one endpoint as center. All the angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees. An acute angle is less than 90 degrees. A right angle is 90 degrees; all right angles are equal, as stated in Euclid’s fourth postulate. An obtuse angle is greater than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees. Lastly, 180 degrees makes up a straight line. Two triangles with the same angles are not necessarily congruent. Today we know the fifth postulate as the rule that through any point that is not on a line, there is only one line that is parallel to the line. One kind of Non-Euclidean Geometry is Riemannian, or elliptic, geometry. It is a geometry based on curved/spherical, surfaces invented by a German man named Bernhard Riemann. In 1889 he rediscovered the work of an Italian mathematician which stated certain problems in Euclidean Geometry. The earth is round and spherical so elliptic geometry is useful, and directly related to our everyday lives. Elliptical geometry is not limited to spheres and can be used applied on cylinders (Roberts). Euclid’s first postulate is false in elliptic geometry. Between two points there are many different lines that will connect them. The shortest distance between two points is called a minimal geodesic. Also, because it is based on curved surfaces, straight lines are impossible. This makes Euclid’s second postulate untrue as well. If you extend a line on a sphere or cylinder, most of the time the line will curve back around and form a circle. A line will always curve in elliptic geometry. In elliptic geometry all the angles in a triangle add up to greater than 180 degrees. Two triangles with the same angles are not just similar, they are actually congruent. In Elliptic there are no parallel lines (Elliptic geometry). Another kind of Non-Euclidean Geometry is Lobachevsky, or Hyperbolic, Geometry. It is also called Lobachevsky-Bolyai-Gauss (Weisstein). It is a geometry based on saddle-shaped space, similar to a Pringle. Hyperbolic geometry was invented by a Russian mathematician named Nicholas Lobachevsky. Lobachevsky also expanded on Euclid’s ideas. It’s very hard to see how this geometry is useful but it can be used in gradational fields, space travel, and astronomy (Roberts).

Advantage And Disadvantages Of Dividend Payout Policy Finance Essay

Advantage And Disadvantages Of Dividend Payout Policy Finance Essay When a company has a surplus of profit, it can be used either pay back the shareholders or reinvest into the business. The way that company pay back to shareholders is call dividend payout. In the recent years, the number of companies paying dividends has declined. For example, the PSEG Company in the United State, the payout ratio was about 67% in 2004 and fallen to 45% by 2007.Shows in the graph below: (http://www.pseg.com/index.jsp) This essay will mainly discuss the advantage and disadvantage about the dividend-paying. What are dividends? Dividends are payment made by corporation to the shareholders. Dividends come from the profit earned by company. There are two ways where company spends the surplus of profit, one is to reinvest to the business and the other is to pay back to the shareholders as dividends. The companies who pay dividends are usually taking no benefit if the reinvest the surplus profit back into the business, under this condition dividends are chosen to pay to th e shareholders, which is call payout. The forms of dividends are variable. The most common one will be the made by cash, which is the most common method of sharing corporate profits with the shareholders of the company. The second one is the stock dividends that is paid in form of additional share and it is counted by proportion, for example, if the shareholder owns 100 shares of the stock with 5% stock dividends, the shareholder can gain 5 more shares. Others like property dividends are taken as dividends payout as well. Advantage of dividend payout policy There is certain amount of people of the rightist position state that company pays a high dividend payout is important for investors for the reasons that paying dividends can convince the shareholders about the companys financial well-being. The higher rate of dividends payout shows better the company operating as well as larger number of profit, which might attracts the investors. Dividends are also attractive for the investors who want to get the stable current income easily. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There is also a natural clientele of investors, such as the elderly, who looking to their stock portfolios for a steady source of cash to live onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (P456, Richard, 2008). In principle, the shareholders could sell a part of the shares to gain money even if the company does not pay dividends, but it is more convenience for the investors to get the money if companies pay the dividends by checks. In this case, the payout policy of cash dividends will reduce the cost of transaction as well as the inconvenience for the shareholders selling the shares. In addition, the long-term stable dividends payouts could help the company less affected by the changes of the dividends. Those companies with long history of stable dividends will be less influenced if the dividends decrease, but will be positively affected when dividends payout increases or even dividends stay the same level. Furthermore, companies without a dividend history are generally viewed favorably when they declare new dividends. The dividends announcement has resulted in a 4% rise of the stock price according to the dividend initiations studied by Healy and Palepu (P448, Richard, 2008). Many companies have taken the dividends paid back to shareholders as payout policy. For example Microsoft, the largest software company in the entire world, has announced their first dividends payout in 2003. The amount of the money has been divided into two forms of dividends, one was one-time dividends and the other was stock dividends paid quarterly installments by a unit as per share. (P457, Richard, 2008). Disadvantage of dividend payout policy Firstly, the radical state that dividends payout can be heavier than capitals gain when taxation of dividends is larger than the capital gains. Under this condition, company should put the spare profit back into the business by repurchase shares. It makes sense for the reasons that the capital gains have a tax advantage. When companies use the money to repurchase the share, the income will be larger because with the lower rate of tax on capital earnings, comparing to dividends payouts to shareholders with higher rate of tax on dividends. In the banking industries, a part of banks have stopped paying dividends to shareholders in 2009, according to the Capital Report. In the meanwhile, there are 202 firms have cut their dividends and 74 of which paid none at all (Web1). Secondly, the level of dividends payout can reflect the information about the confidence of the management from the company in the future, which will have an influence to the stock price. Generally, companies that pay dividends are sending a message to the market that their earnings are real which will result in the investors comfort about their investment. On the other hand, once the companies decide to cut the dividend it is also sending the information that they cannot maintain the dividends. However, the company might be able to cheat on their operation by overstating the earning to attract investors, but it is risky in the long term because the actual condition of the company will not have sufficient money to pay the dividends. The consequence will be costly if the companies choose a high dividend without getting enough profit. Most managers will not change the dividends without consideration about the operation of company, but they will increase the dividends only if they are c onfident it can be maintained. Thirdly, the consideration of a dividend policy might be irrelevant because investors have the ability to create their own dividends. It means that investors can be able to make their own à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"dividendà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ by adjust the investment into different areas. For example, the investors who prefer a stable income are more likely to put their money into the bonds with the stable interest rates. In the case, the stock with dividends pay back will lose the advantage because of the flexible value. Investors who have invested to the bonds will not pay attention to the dividend policy of a particular company. Conclusion: Taking the dividend payout policy can attract certain amount of investors, and it is convenience for those investors who require stable and simple income. But dividends sometimes have tax disadvantage if the tax rate of dividend is higher than capital gains. And dividends are usually more flexible, comparing to the interest rates of bonds. It is important for a company to think whether to take the dividend payout policy by considering the assets, earnings, investments opportunities, market value and other factors about the company.

Improving Personal and Organizational Communication Essay -- Papers Co

Improving Personal and Organizational Communication Be it organizational or personal, here are the major two different kinds of communication; Impersonal: one-way communication mainly used for facts, policies, instructions, notes, etc. Interpersonal: Two-way communication i.e. discussions, arguments, open forum, etc. Before we can improve communication, we must first discuss communication filters. Communication filters are, but not limited to, semantics, emotions, attitudes, role expectations, gender bias, and non-verbal messages. Semantics: the study of the relationship between a word and it?s meaning. Envelope has particular meaning, pretty much everyone knows what an envelope is or would be. Now job satisfaction on the other hand can mean many different things to many different people. This ability of words meaning different things to different people can be a huge problem when communicating. Emotions: strong emotions can limit or prevent people from making good decisions when communicating. Attitudes: are beliefs backed by emotions. They can be a huge barrier when communicating much the same way emotions can be. Role expectations: influence how people expect themselves, and others, to act on the basis of the roles they play (i.e. a manager may talk down to an associate because of ?posi tion of power.? An employee may not take a new manager seriously due to the fact that the new manager was promoted within the company and used to work with the employee.) Gender bias: men and women tend to color the messages they receive from people of the opposite gender strictly because of the other person?s gender. Non-verbal messages: ? messages without words.? (i.e. when you make a face that is contradictory to a statement ... ...d horizontal channels carry messages between departments, divisions, managers, or employees on the same organizational level. There are also informal channels, which are usually gossip, or more commonly, ? The grapevine.? The formal channels usually use impersonal communication, and the informal use very interpersonal communication. When using the formal channels of communication, which is usually ?one-way? and impersonal communication, try to avoid all filters and send clear concise messages. Also, organizations should encourage an upward flow of communication. Becoming more popular these days are companies that institute some form of interpersonal communication. These companies are setting up company wide meetings, outings, anonymous employee hotlines, surveys, and other forms or forums for employees to voice their opinion without risk of retaliation.

Essay --

Nicholas Edel Form V English 10 The Servant Song In William Faulkner's novel, As I Lay Dying, the flood and the fire are two important events that occur over the course of the Bundrens’ journey to bury their mother Addie. Both fire and water are used as Christian symbols as well. For example, when people are baptized they are blessed with holy water and then they are cleansed of their original sin and become a member of the Church. Fire is used in Confirmation, especially when the Holy Spirit came over the apostles and gave them â€Å"tongues of fire† on Pentecost which was the first Confirmation. People are brought into the Church through the baptismal waters and they become strengthened through the fires of Confirmation. However, fire and flood can also take a negative connotation, such as bringing along destruction with them. Things are wiped out by floods, for example the Bible story of Noah’s ark where the whole world is flooded and the world is cleansed of the evil because of it. Also, fire is the elemen t of destruction, it is uncontrollable in its nature and only brings destruction wherever it sweeps. However, for the characters Cash and Darl, the flood and the fire take on the different connotations and they both develop differently because of them. The flood and the fire play a key role in the development of Cash and Darl, where Cash becomes a Christ-like figure for the family after being reborn in the waters of the flood and Darl who takes on the role of the anti-Christ and tries to tear the family apart after his first transformation in the flood and his rebirth in the fire. Cash is like Christ to the family but he does understand his role until after his baptism in the river crossing. Cash, like Jesus, is a carpenter an... ...aken on the role of Christ and the devil respectively, and, in the end just the way Jesus wins, Cash prevails over Darl and the family buries Addie after a long journey. They both play key roles in the family’s journey and they both are greatly affected by the flood and the fire. Both are baptized into different positions at the river and there was nothing they could do to change what would occur after the river crossing. Their destinies had already been set for them and there was no way that they could change it. Then, with the fire at the barn, both achieved their final calling and both fell into what their roles truly were. Both shaped the way the family went about its time on the journey and no matter what, the family will never be the same after the flood and the fire incidences that cost both Darl and Cash something, whether it be a leg or their whole psyche.

Computers in my Life :: Personal Narrative Writing

Computers in my Life Fun, relaxation, money, can you get all that with only one tool? The answer is yes. What is the name of that magical instrument? Technology's greatest invention, Computers. They are sophisticated equipment that performs three main tasks: accept structured input, process it according to prescribed rules and produce a result as output. They come in a remarkable rage of sizes and shapes, and have different abilities and application. They can be a bunch of equipment with little or not use, or a powerful instrument if you know how to use it. They play a very important role in every American's life, specially mine. In today's society, computers are necessary; they are used in all kinds of jobs. They are used in Science fields like Math and Medicine, but they are also used in fields like mechanics. Imagine, even for someone that fix cars a computer is necessary. Computers have a very respected place in our world today; new generations are using them for everything: to learn, to commun icate, to do research, etc., and old generations have become to accept them as well; even though they always reject any changes. Anyway there are people that while reading this essay thinks: "I do not see it; I really do not understand how can computers be so useful and how?" Oh! Well. In my special case, computers are more than a simple tool; my life changed since the first moment they came into it. They turn my mind around completely; it was like a perfect match. Since the first time I sat in one, I knew they will become an undeniable part of my life. It has been five years since then and I my opinion remains the same. I have in fact discovered many more uses for them. Three of those uses are: a method of relaxation, a tool to work and very practical and a useful instrument that makes my life easier. First, computers are my best method of relaxation when my stress is maximum. They provide me with entertainment; for example, when I use a graphic program like Paintbrush to create a design, or when I use a word processor like Microsoft Word to create a sign I want to put in my room. I can get very creative and even design posters, conniving words and pictures, that later I can use to decorate my room.

Why do Significant Numbers of American fail to vote?

Between 1960 and 1996, the turnout of American's voting in a presidential election had fallen by 14%. This brought the percentage to 51% of Americans turning up to vote. This decline in turnout is due to a number of reasons; > The Decline in numbers of party Activists > Loss of Political Efficacy > Many elections have low-stimulus characters > Most elections are uncompetitive > Poor Turnout among young people > People are happy with what they have > It is difficult to understand the voting system Out of these reasons, I feel some stand out the strongest. These include; the understanding of the voting system, poor turnout among young people and that people are happy with what they have. Understanding of the Voting System All Voting systems can be fairly difficult to understand and this includes the very democratic American System. It is no longer just the people with learning difficulties that find the system hard to understand, as it is no longer the person with the majority vote wins, therefore because people don't understand it, they tend to stay away rather then get confused and embarrass themselves. This also links with the ability of people having to register to vote. To register they have to attend a government building, and some people do not have the time, or means of transport too do this, therefore they decide as it's not a law too vote, they don't bother. Also, even if people do register the ability to get too a polling station is a problem. As everything is very spaced out in America, and generally a car is needed to travel between places, if a potential voter does not have a car, they will not bother too vote. This can also be linked with the 2000 Presidential Election, when roadblocks were put in plce in parts of Florida, stopping people from reaching the polling stations, this not only ensured a particular candidate won the vote of Florida, it also stopped a significant number of voters voting. Poor Turnout among Young People In 2004, the turnout of young people aged 18 – 24 was at a low of 47%. The possible reasons for this could be that as politics is not considered an essential subject at school, many youths do not understand or care about it. This then creates a generation of people who do not care about politics and do not want too vote, which then means that when that generation stops being considered youths, they still aren't voting, and neither are the new generation of youths. The reason for low turnout could also be that Political campaigns are generally aimed at an older generation, meaning it becomes something that youths don't bother to focus on. Politicians know that the turnout among youths is low so do not bother wasting their money campaigning to them if they have a limited amount of money. This then causes the campaigns too become something that youths don't have to focus on and as it doesn't have much interest to them because they don't understand it, they tend not too waste their time getting involved in it. People are Happy with what they have ‘If it ain't broke, don't fix it', This is the way that many people feel about politics. For many potential voters, they feel they have everything they need and could ask for from the government and feel that voting to change that would take away some of the things they enjoy in life. As long as there are no wars on their own soil, their kids have a good education, they have good jobs and healthcare and reasonable taxes then they feel that the government is doing a good job and they don't want too risk that by potentially giving another party or candidate office. Solutions To these Problems These problems can be solved and would increase voter turnout by a considerable amount. By handing out and posting leaflets that explain the voting system and how each and every vote matters and counts, as well as having lectures in easy to reach places, would increase turnout because people would understand the system and the importance of voting. Also by creating postal ballots etc, it would be easier for people who would otherwise find it difficult to vote and also by making registering to vote easier. To tackle the youth problem, politics would need to be taught as part fo the curriculum in schools, this problem has already started too be solved, as was seen during the 2004 election when various celebrities had a campaign with MTV urging people to vote, if this continues on a wider scale, as well as making parts of party conferences for Youths only and aiming campaigns directly at them, this would increase turnout in forth coming elections but also elections in the distant future. Finally, by trying to show flaws in the system and how to make improvements (which is already done, but could be issued in a more one to one with the voter method) would show potential voters why they need to vote because of the changes they can make and the added benefits they could receive.