El Patron in The House of the Scorpion :: Nancy Farmer

El Patron in The House of the Scorpion What if there was a world with clones? There would be a way to live for up to 100 years effortlessly, have easy transplants, and maintain a precise memory. But, the recipient would be taking organs from someone else. "So what", he or she may justify, "they're clones, they are inferior. They don't matter because they are stupid." But what if someone had the power to allow them to be of normal intelligence? He or she might think that he or she is doing the clone a favor, but when the clone is killed for spare parts it's an even worse situation than with a retarded clone. Not for this "bandido" (Farmer 37). El Patron is a cruel, selfish, heartless man who clawed his way to power in his youth and rules people with fear, though he is powerful, he is always nagged by the fact that he may lose everything. There is no way on earth he would let that happen. El Patron believes he is doing the clones a favor by allowing them to be smart, but in the end he uses them just like all the other clones in the world - for his own personal use. Esperanza, a fierce No Drug activist, once wrote that “a more evil, vicious, and self-serving man (than El Patron) could hardly be imagined” (Farmer 170). Though the practice of murdering clones is widely accepted in the book, it is morally wrong, and most people would at least have second thoughts about killing someone. Even with his dragon hoard, which he just lets sit there untouched and deeply protected, El Patron becomes outraged with even the slightest of a suggestion towards giving anything away. He is so self-centered, in fact, that at his death greed took over and all of the people inhabiting his part of Opium were silenced and added to his hoard. Power is what El Patron has worked for and what he fears of losing. Unthinkingly describing the drug lord word for word, Tam Lin once said that “Power is a drug, and people like me crave it” (Farmer 243). Though his business is illegal to the rest of the world, he never seems to show any concern about what everyone else’s laws are and he proceeds with what he had planned. Matt and all of the other clones he had created are mere examples of this.

Living on Campus or Living Off Campus

Living on campus Living on campus Living off campus Living off campus VS. VS. Live on campus or live off campus Recently, one of the most popular issues that students are talking about is where to live in the next academic year. Some students believe that live on campus is a better choice because living in resident halls on campus is convenient and safe. Some other students think that live off campus is better, because it will have fewer restrictions and a better accommodation. Each choice has its own advantages and disadvantages. That’s why I was struggling for this issue for a long time.After careful consideration, I believe that live on campus is a better choice and I have a lot of reasons to support it. First of all, live on campus is safer. Living on campus will dramatically reduce the potential possibilities of accidents on the roads like car accident, robbery and sexual assault. There is a famous murder case, which generated international attention earlier this year. Wu and Qu, two 23-year-old electrical engineering graduate students of University of Southern California who come from China, were shot when they were driving home in a BMW sedan from the library around 1 a. m. on April 11. (nbclosangeles. om) The criminal’s motive of murder is robbery. Just because they lived off campus and had to drive back home, the two young lives stops suddenly in the most beautiful period of their life and left endless sadness to their friends and families. According to a survey from Trinity College, 60. 2% of students indicated that they felt safe on campus and 28. 4% felt unsafe. (Grace Kim). There is another accident just happened around us. A friend of my parents lost his son in a car accident in America. He was a student of Indiana University and at one day he drove home, his car crashed into a big tree and caused a fire.He was burned to death in the car. Safety is always the most important thing for college students, especially for international stu dents, since their parents are thousands miles away and worries about them all the time. Because of safety, living on campus is better choice than living off campus. Besides the reason of safety, resident halls also create a perfect environment to live and study. Taking the example of Michigan State University First, the resident halls supply various kinds of services, which are all very useful and necessary.When you have any troubles and questions, you can go to the front desk to ask for help; When people are ill, they can go to the health center, the nurses and doctors there will give people prescriptions and suggestions for health in time; When you miss lunches or even hungry at midnight, small cafeterias, like the Sparty’s will offer warm food, drink and snacks for you. The staffs in resident halls are always friendly and patient, which make us feel warm. Second, there are a lot of resources in resident halls. Since I don’t know them very well, I interviewed the re sident assistant in our floor.Her name is Doneisha Parker and she is a sophomore in accounting major. She briefly introduced the 23 resources of resident halls on campus and focused on 3 most useful ones. Math Learning center (MLC), which can give you math tuition on every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Writing center, which can give you suggestions for the papers you are working on by appointment. Yoga and Zumba classes three times a week are good for your health and beauty. All of these resources are very helpful and they are free. Third, people can have their individual place for rest and study between classes.In college study, there is always a large amount of time between classes. People live on campus can go back to their dorms for rest, study, or entertainment. People live off campus, however, have to stay in libraries or some other places during these breaks. According to a study, which investigated the relationship of loneliness, social support, and living arrangements with academic persistence decisions of 401 college freshmen, freshmen living on campus had higher GPAs (M= 2. 85, SD = . 73) than those living off campus (M = 2. 59, SD = . 2)(Nicpon 345-358) Another reason that makes me believe that live on campus is a better choice than live off campus is that we can meet more people and have more friends. There are so many chances to meet new friends if you live on campus. First of all, you will know the people live on the same floor with you since you meet with each other everyday. Also, you will know a lot of people from the activities and clubs in resident halls if you participate in actively. For example, the Hubbard hall in Michigan State University has an international Club.This club organizes activities and meetings every week and creates a perfect environment for communication between students from different countries. What’s more, having meals in cafeteria, studying in public area are also the chances to meet people and make new frien ds. If living off campus, however, most of these will be impossible. Because of the safety, the great environment and more chances to make friend, I prefer to live on campus when I become a sophomore. I hope that I can have a great time on campus. Works Cited Grace Kim, Safety and Education at Trinity College, 20 December 2004Nicpon, Megan Foley, et al. â€Å"The relationship of loneliness and social support with college freshmen’s academic performance and persistence. † Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice 8. 3 (2006): 345-358 Doneisha Parker, Personal Interview, 22 October 2012 Nbclosanglas. com: Police: Forensic Evidence Tied USC Murder Suspects to Earlier Crimes, by Melissa Pamer and Samantha Tata, May 19, 2012 http://www. nbclosangeles. com/news/local/Police-Forensic-Evidence-Tied-USC-Murder-Suspects-to-Earlier-Crimes-152147955. html

Not to Late Essays - Obesity, Bariatrics, Human Weight, Body Shape

Not to Late Essays - Obesity, Bariatrics, Human Weight, Body Shape Not to Late America is faced with an epidemic that seems to have not changed in years. Nearly two-thirds of the United States population is overweight. Three out of every four children are either overweight or obese. Obesity is a term used to describe body weight that is much greater than what is considered healthy. The extra weight puts added stress on all parts of the body. Obesity-related diseases are a $147 billion dollar medical burden every year. Consequently, obesity is wide spread among American teenagers; the causes are complex and include behavioral, biological, and cultural reasons. The behavioral habit of American teenagers is the convenience of high-calorie, high-fat snacks and sugary drinks; still, without exercise to balance out the high calorie carbohydrate intake they gain weight. Teenagers take pleasure in fast food restaurants, moreover, for an expeditious meal. They will sit in the car at a drive through window at Burger King and order a combo meal, super sized, with a soda. The act of eating pizza for dinner is also a ritual with teenagers in the United States. These choices made by American teenagers even for a snack can be high in fat. The frequent habit of teenagers is to grab a bag of chips instead of an apple because chips taste better. Thus late night snacking of high in fat foods puts on excess weight when they go to bed shortly after eating them. Equally important, medications for health problems or genetic history in the family can be responsible for obesity with United State teenagers. In addition, family history of obesity can cause teenagers to become over weight. American teenagers with obese parents end up overweight themselves. Passing down bad habits and continuing the cycle with teenagers having obese children themselves. Also, one side affect of some medications is it puts weight on a teenager causing him/her to become obese. Teenagers that take stair erode medications for treatment of an illness will cause them to gain weight. Teenage females that take any form of birth control, for reasons of their own gain weight from it as a side effect. Some cultural heritages come together with lots of food and drink; consequently, staying up for hours eating. Family and friends congregate around a table with food and drinks, for some cultures this is a ritual. It is customary to bring one of their favorite dishes to a home of family members. Teenagers sit around the table consuming different dishes for hours. Furthermore, the food dishes that are brought to the ?get together? are loaded with fat that is unhealthy for teenagers. Relatives bring food with lots of carbohydrates in the dishes for everyone try. Some of the dishes are even flowing with grease, and it?s unhealthy for teenagers. In conclusion, American teenagers are obese; but with proper lifestyle changes and adherence to behavioral, biological, and cultural reasons can lower risk of obesity. Teenage obesity dramatically shortens life expectancy. It leads to all types of medical problems such as depression, diabetes, and long term health problems, and early death. Society must make sure teens understand the benefits of losing the weight without focusing on the social aspects of body weight. Society puts too much pressure on kids to be perfect creatures of stellar appearance. Encouraging them to lose the weight in order to gain a much healthier lifestyle and live a longer and healthier life is the best message.

The Best Way to Learn Italian

The Best Way to Learn Italian The Italian national soccer team, known as Gli Azzurri because of their blue jerseys, has ranked among the top teams in the world for years. Theyve won the World Cup many times, Italian-born players routinely sign multimillion-dollar contracts for European teams, and the Italian soccer leagues offer some of the most talented competition anywhere. The overriding reason for their success? Practice, practice, practice. And thats the secret to learning Italian or any other foreign language. Exercise your language muscles every day, and soon you, too, will be competing with the best of them. While many think that the quickest and most effective way to learn Italian is the total immersion method- traveling to Italy for an extended period and studying at any of the thousands of language schools throughout the country- there are other, more sustainable options to explore from home, too. Start Studying Youve already taken the most important step to learning Italian when you started searching online (and found this website)Â  because the most important thing is to start studying! And even though there are tons of resources available on the market, any method is appropriate as long as you maintain a consistent study schedule. Choose Your Learning Materials So once you choose a realistic amount of time that you can devote to your Italian studies each day, then reading an Italian textbook, taking a language course at a university or local language school, completing workbook exercises, listening to podcast or mp3s, or conversing with a native Italian speaker all count. Define Your Goals Many people mistake a desire to be conversational for a desire for fluency. The whole point of spending all of this time learning Italian is so you can have real conversations with real people, so keep that in mind as you choose your learning materials. Find things that are practical and that offer language you can use with actual people. Stick to Your Routine Spend some time every day reading, writing, speaking, and listening to Italian to become accustomed to the target language. Slowly but surely, your confidence will build with your language partners, your accent will become less pronounced, your vocabulary will expand, and youll be communicating in Italian. Maybe youll even start speaking Italian with your hands. In the end, visiting Italy to have a total immersion experience is wonderful, especially when doing things like a homestay where you literally eat, breathe, and (hopefully) dream in Italian. But, as you know, trips end, and humans easily forget what they’ve learned, so routine is key if you truly want to be conversational.

Current to American Policits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Current to American Policits - Essay Example Auers (2006) agrees, arguing that political campaigns are "issue-free" and, ultimately, a question of which of the candidates has the support of the big lobbies, PACS and corporations. Arguing the same, Wagner (2005) contends that it is precisely because campaign finance has completely undermined the one person, one vote,' principle and has displaced the issues, that campaign finance reforms were introduced. Instead of abiding by the limits established by campaign finance reforms, however, candidates have found a way around them, knowing the money will, ultimately, determine the fate of their political ambitions. Two of the 2008 presidential election candidates have declared their intention to adhere to the strictest of campaign finance regulations and make the 2008 elections one that is entirely based upon, and determined by, the issues. As Kirkpatrick (2007) reports, last February Obama announced that were he to win his party's nominations, he proposes the limitation of general election campaign funds to $85 million, on the condition that the Republican nominee accept a similar limitation.

Assisted Suicide Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Assisted Suicide - Research Paper Example Assisted suicide can be in form of Physician assisted suicide, whereby the physician provides the means for death, or Euthanasia which occurs in three forms which include; voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is whereby the patient gives his or her consent for the termination of his life while non-voluntary is whereby the consent of the patient cannot be acquired maybe due to the reason that he or she cannot make independent decision for example in a child. Involuntary euthanasia refers to the situation whereby the patient is assisted to die against his or her will (Sissela, 2005). This essay will discuss issues concerning assisted suicide revolving around the following scenario. â€Å"You are the manager of the Cancer Center in a small suburban hospital. For the past two weeks you have worked closely with your nursing staff because they have been expressing â€Å"Burn Out† (frustration, dissatisfaction, or lack of interest in a job) as a result of the increase in the number of patients coming to the center who were diagnosed with terminal cancer. Nancy Nurse confided in you that she is particularly saddened about the rapid decline in Mrs. Jones’ health, a 30 year old single mother. She decided that the next time Mrs. Jones comes in for her treatment, she is going to give her an extra dose of a narcotic that could potentially end her life.† The bill of rights protects each and every person against threats to life whether self imposed or otherwise. This means that it is a crime for a person to terminate his or her life through suicide and in fact if not successful, one may face punishment through imprisonment. However, there have been heated constitutional debates on the legality of physician assisted suicide, whereby some support the act while others oppose it based on moral and religious basis (Manning, 2002). In the

Portfolio of two banks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Portfolio of two banks - Essay Example The vision of the company is to provide its customers innovative products and services. The presence of Mashreq Bank is expanding as its performance is among the highest ranking banks in the UAE. The bank is renowned all across UAE and out of every two households one individual has an account in Mashreq Bank. The company has identified the importance of customer satisfaction and creating value therefore there is a number of â€Å"Service Centers† and also one of the largest â€Å"Automated Teller Machine (ATM) network all over the country. The bank is also on the verge of globalization and has twelve offices overseas (including Europe, United States, Asia and Africa). Mashreq Bank is one of the most profitable banks in UAE. It started successfully from the first year of inception and the financial growth is strong during the last decades. The bank has witnessed its market share rising, a solid equity base, the asset base keeps on growing and the returns gathered from the Assets increments. These are the competitive advantages the bank posses and also these characteristics are the bases of the â€Å"strong Financial Position† of the Bank. The Emirates National Bank of Dubai was formed in the year 2007. It was a merger between the second and the fourth largest banks of United Arab Emirates. The biggest advantage to the bank is that it gained the name of the two most renowned banks of the region. The reason of the merger was to become a giant and provide enhanced value in corporate, retail, private, Islamic services and the investment banking across the region. ENBD is the leading group in the market (Dubai); the bank celebrated its 50th anniversary. The vision of the bank is to achieve global recognition and to provide the most effective and efficient â€Å"Financial Services† all over the globe. The bank has 215 branches and the ATM and cash deposit machines fitted across the region and overseas are 889. The bank is promoting its Islamic