The Physics of Boomerangs Essay -- Science Toys Essays

The Physics of Boomerangs The successful flight of a boomerang looks as though it never should happen. Its more or less circular flight path comes from the interaction of two physical phenomena: the aerodynamic lift of the arms of the boomerang and the spinning boomerang’s maintenance of angular momentum. Briefly put, the airfoil at the boomerang’s forward rotating edge provides more lift than its rearward rotating edge. This elevates one side of the boomerang. The spinning object maintains angular momentum by turning at a right angle to its axis of rotation. When the spin and the velocity of boomerang are just right, it flies away and returns in an aesthetically satisfying circle. The boomerang’s distinctive flight starts with its aerodynamic properties. Boomerangs come in a variety of shapes. The traditional forms are variations on an L with equally long arms. There are also boomerangs with three or even four arms radiating from a center. And there are delta boomerangs.1 Whatever the configuration, every boomerang has airfoils at its extremities. Looking outward from the center of rotation of the boomerang, the left side of the blade is the leading edge of the air foil for right-handed throwers.2 As the boomerang spins, the airfoils at its perimeter create lift. Our text, Physics: A World View, discusses aerodynamics and Bernoulli’s principle. It explains the relationship between the velocity of a fluid and the pressure that the fluid exerts. A fluid gains energy when it speeds up as, for example when it goes through a constricting area in a pipe or passes around an airfoil. Since the gravitational potential energy is constant, the change is in kinetic energy. Since there is an acceleration of the fluid, the press... ...d San Francisco. McGraw-Hill Company Limited, 1982. 20-21. 5http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bern.html. I also visited several Google sites, â€Å"boomerang,† though I did not draw on them for this project. They generally have a bit of (undocumented) history/anthropology, some physics, and throwing instructions. For example: http://www.gel-boomerang.com/, and http://www.boomerangs.org/ (pictures of some odd shapes). This is consistent with my experience. Trying to put more spin on the boomerang mainly has the effect of making a throw unnatural and therefore prone to fly into the ground. 7When in college, my daughter would often suggest â€Å"going to throw a boomerang† as a first date. Her idea was that she learned a lot about a guy seeing him cope with failing miserably--a certainty the first time out with a boomerang--at a seemingly simple athletic activity. The Physics of Boomerangs Essay -- Science Toys Essays The Physics of Boomerangs The successful flight of a boomerang looks as though it never should happen. Its more or less circular flight path comes from the interaction of two physical phenomena: the aerodynamic lift of the arms of the boomerang and the spinning boomerang’s maintenance of angular momentum. Briefly put, the airfoil at the boomerang’s forward rotating edge provides more lift than its rearward rotating edge. This elevates one side of the boomerang. The spinning object maintains angular momentum by turning at a right angle to its axis of rotation. When the spin and the velocity of boomerang are just right, it flies away and returns in an aesthetically satisfying circle. The boomerang’s distinctive flight starts with its aerodynamic properties. Boomerangs come in a variety of shapes. The traditional forms are variations on an L with equally long arms. There are also boomerangs with three or even four arms radiating from a center. And there are delta boomerangs.1 Whatever the configuration, every boomerang has airfoils at its extremities. Looking outward from the center of rotation of the boomerang, the left side of the blade is the leading edge of the air foil for right-handed throwers.2 As the boomerang spins, the airfoils at its perimeter create lift. Our text, Physics: A World View, discusses aerodynamics and Bernoulli’s principle. It explains the relationship between the velocity of a fluid and the pressure that the fluid exerts. A fluid gains energy when it speeds up as, for example when it goes through a constricting area in a pipe or passes around an airfoil. Since the gravitational potential energy is constant, the change is in kinetic energy. Since there is an acceleration of the fluid, the press... ...d San Francisco. McGraw-Hill Company Limited, 1982. 20-21. 5http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/bern.html. I also visited several Google sites, â€Å"boomerang,† though I did not draw on them for this project. They generally have a bit of (undocumented) history/anthropology, some physics, and throwing instructions. For example: http://www.gel-boomerang.com/, and http://www.boomerangs.org/ (pictures of some odd shapes). This is consistent with my experience. Trying to put more spin on the boomerang mainly has the effect of making a throw unnatural and therefore prone to fly into the ground. 7When in college, my daughter would often suggest â€Å"going to throw a boomerang† as a first date. Her idea was that she learned a lot about a guy seeing him cope with failing miserably--a certainty the first time out with a boomerang--at a seemingly simple athletic activity.

Weighted Average Cost of Capital

WACC: Weighted average cost of capital =WACC= SS+B? Rs+BS+B? RB? 1-tC note: Rs , cost of equity; RB , cost of debt; tC , corporate tax rate. For cost of equity, Rs, we calculate it by using the SML, according to CAPM model. Rs=RF+ [RM-RF] As we can see in the chart behind the case, beta of Worldwide Paper Company is 1. 10; the Market risk premium (RM-RF) is 6. 0%. Because this on-site longwood woodyard project has six year life and the investment spend over two years, the total long of this program is more closer to 10-years, we choose the 10-year government bonds as risk free rate, 4. 60%.Thus, Rs=4. 60%+1. 10? 6. 0% =11. 20%. For the cost of debt, there are two kinds of debts of Worldwide Paper Company, bank loan and long-term debt. The cost of long-term debt is 5. 78% (A rating 10-years maturities corporate bonds) , and the value of long term debt is $2500M. Thus, RB=5. 78%. For the value of equity and debt, market value weights are more appropriate than book value weights, becaus e the market values of the securities are closer to the actual dollars that would be received from their sale. There are the market weights expected to prevail over the life of the firm or the project.S=500? $24. 00=$12,000M; B=$2500 RWACC=1200012000+3000? 11. 20%+300012000+3000? 5. 88%=9. 76% Payback Period: YEAR| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| 2012| 2013| Total CF of investment| -16| -2. 4| -0. 6| Â  | Â  | Â  | 2. 08| OCF| Â  | 2. 88| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| Cumulative CF| -16| -15. 52| -11. 62| -7. 12| -2. 62| 1. 88| 8. 46| Thus, the payback period is 4+2. 624. 5=4. 58 year. Discounted Payback Period: YEAR| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| 2012| 2013| Total CF of investment| -16| -2. 4| -0. 6| 0| 0| 0| 2. 08| discounted CF of investment| -16| -2. 18| -0. 0| 0| 0| 0| 1. 18| OCF| Â  | 2. 88| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| discounted OCF| Â  | 2. 62| 3. 73| 3. 39| 3. 09| 2. 81| 2. 56| sum| -16| 0. 44| 3. 23| 3. 39| 3. 09| 2. 81| 3. 74| Cumulative CF| -16| -15. 56| -12. 33| - 8. 94| -5. 85| -3. 04| 0. 70| Thus, the discounted payback period is 5+3. 044. 5=5. 81 year. Average Accounting Method: YEAR| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| 2012| 2013| average| net income| Â  | -0. 12| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 23| investment| 16| 15. 4| 13| 10| 7| 4| 0| 9. 34| Thus, AAR=Average net incomeAverage investment=1. 239. 34=13. 16% Weighted Average Cost of Capital WACC: Weighted average cost of capital =WACC= SS+B? Rs+BS+B? RB? 1-tC note: Rs , cost of equity; RB , cost of debt; tC , corporate tax rate. For cost of equity, Rs, we calculate it by using the SML, according to CAPM model. Rs=RF+ [RM-RF] As we can see in the chart behind the case, beta of Worldwide Paper Company is 1. 10; the Market risk premium (RM-RF) is 6. 0%. Because this on-site longwood woodyard project has six year life and the investment spend over two years, the total long of this program is more closer to 10-years, we choose the 10-year government bonds as risk free rate, 4. 60%.Thus, Rs=4. 60%+1. 10? 6. 0% =11. 20%. For the cost of debt, there are two kinds of debts of Worldwide Paper Company, bank loan and long-term debt. The cost of long-term debt is 5. 78% (A rating 10-years maturities corporate bonds) , and the value of long term debt is $2500M. Thus, RB=5. 78%. For the value of equity and debt, market value weights are more appropriate than book value weights, becaus e the market values of the securities are closer to the actual dollars that would be received from their sale. There are the market weights expected to prevail over the life of the firm or the project.S=500? $24. 00=$12,000M; B=$2500 RWACC=1200012000+3000? 11. 20%+300012000+3000? 5. 88%=9. 76% Payback Period: YEAR| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| 2012| 2013| Total CF of investment| -16| -2. 4| -0. 6| Â  | Â  | Â  | 2. 08| OCF| Â  | 2. 88| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| Cumulative CF| -16| -15. 52| -11. 62| -7. 12| -2. 62| 1. 88| 8. 46| Thus, the payback period is 4+2. 624. 5=4. 58 year. Discounted Payback Period: YEAR| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| 2012| 2013| Total CF of investment| -16| -2. 4| -0. 6| 0| 0| 0| 2. 08| discounted CF of investment| -16| -2. 18| -0. 0| 0| 0| 0| 1. 18| OCF| Â  | 2. 88| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| 4. 5| discounted OCF| Â  | 2. 62| 3. 73| 3. 39| 3. 09| 2. 81| 2. 56| sum| -16| 0. 44| 3. 23| 3. 39| 3. 09| 2. 81| 3. 74| Cumulative CF| -16| -15. 56| -12. 33| - 8. 94| -5. 85| -3. 04| 0. 70| Thus, the discounted payback period is 5+3. 044. 5=5. 81 year. Average Accounting Method: YEAR| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| 2012| 2013| average| net income| Â  | -0. 12| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 5| 1. 23| investment| 16| 15. 4| 13| 10| 7| 4| 0| 9. 34| Thus, AAR=Average net incomeAverage investment=1. 239. 34=13. 16%

Essay on Good Peoples Country - 732 Words

Choose three or four characters from Cat’s Cradle and Good Country People and discuss them in terms of existentialism and nihilism? amp;#9;In both Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonegut and Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor the authors show how a character is corrupted and changed from an existentialist to a nihilist. The existentialist ends up losing their faith in life, and is left believing in nothing. They then turn to being nihilist after having the only thing they believed destroyed. In both stories the author uses both existentialist which is corrupted by nihilist. Existentialism is a philosophy centered on individual existence and personal responsibility for acts of free will in the absence of certain knowledge of what is right†¦show more content†¦They then believe that life has no purpose or meaning and they are terribly disappointed. This is a prime example of existentialism. After some time Manly and Hulga begin kissing. Next, Manly tries to persuade Hulga to tell him that she loves him. Then, he busts open his case, finds alcohol, porno playing cards, etc. and then takes her leg f rom her. He leaves her on the loft alone with no way to get down and flees. In his hollowed-out bible, he keeps a flask of whiskey, a deck of pornographic playing cards, and a small blue box of condoms. He has been believing in evil since he was born because evil is the absence of good nothing. Hulga means, by amp;quot;nothing,amp;quot; her existential philosophy, that life has no meaning or purpose. Manly again means evil. When Manly is referring to amp;quot;nothing,amp;quot; that is nihilism. amp;#9;In Cat’s Cradle the existentialismt is Julian Castle and the nihilist is Newt Hoeniker. Newt is the midget and son to the maker of the atomic bomb. He says, quot;No dam cat, and no dam cradle,quot;shows that Newt doesn’t look deeply with his imagination for the cat and cradle. This signifies his failure to search for meaning inShow MoreRelatedGood Country People882 Words   |  4 PagesGOOD COUNTRY PEOPLE by Flannery O Connor The short story Good Country People was written by O’Connor. The story introduces us to well-educated a woman who was thirty-two years old. This woman has an artificial leg which was shot off in a hunting accident when she was ten. She went to college and earned a doctorate in philosophy. She has a heart condition; so she cannot work and has to live at home with her mother. The name given to her is Joy but she changed her name to Hulga. She mocks her motherRead MoreGood Country People1609 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Good Country People† Questions 1) My initial response to the story’s title is that the short story was going to be about a happy family that lived in the country and drama to make the story interesting. At the start, it seemed as if anybody that was from the country were â€Å"good† and never did anything wrong throughout their entire life. The story basically begins right after Mrs. Hopewell says, â€Å"the reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were good country people†Read MoreThemes Of Good Country People769 Words   |  4 Pages Flannery O’Connor’s short story â€Å"Good Country People† depicts Hulga, a highly educated woman and has a PhD, is being jerked around by an immoral bible salesman. â€Å"A good man is hard to find† is a story of a grandmother and her family murdered by a horrible man who called â€Å"the misfit† during the road trip. Although â€Å"Good country people† and â€Å"a good man is hard to find† are written by the same author, many elements in those two stories cause them have similar themes in religion, misplace trust andRead MoreGood Country People Essay1058 Words   |  5 PagesIn Flannery O’Connor’s story, â€Å"Good Country People† the symbol of traveling Bible Salesman Manley Pointer’s hollow bible outwardly represents an image of faith and morality, appearing to be full of the word of God, while holding items that are in direct conflict with biblical morals. Manley Pointer is not the person he presents h imself to be when he meets Mrs. Hopewell. Thus, he resembles the hollow bible, acting directly opposite of who he really is to purposefully deceive others. Deception isRead MoreGood Country People Review1406 Words   |  6 Pageslessons, but real life experience is what makes people wise. Being smart is not the same as being wise. A person can be smart, he or she can have many degrees and diplomas, but unless he or she have experience life, they will not be wise. Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"Good Country People† shows that people can be well educated and not be wise. Joy and Mrs. Hopewell think that they have the world figured out, but when they encounter Manley Pointer, a â€Å"simple country boy†, they will finally see the world as itRead MoreIrony in Good Country People748 Words   |  3 PagesIrony in â€Å"Good Country People† Flannery O’Connor uses characterization, and the themes of good versus evil and the psychological and physical problems of the characters, to create irony in the story. The characterization of both Mrs. Hopewell and Joy/Hulga creates irony, which begins with their names. Then the theme of good versus evil, demonstrated by the belief that country people are â€Å"good†, also creates irony. The story is about a farm owner, Mrs. Hopewell, her onlyRead MoreIdentity In Good Country People1559 Words   |  7 PagesIdentity in Good Country People Characterization is the biggest component that helps build on the themes of identity in the short story â€Å"Good Country People† written by Flannery O’connor. The theme itself is dependent where as the characters are independent of each other. The characters behaviors build within each other. Firstly, the main character in this short story is thirty two year old Joy who is now known as Hulga. Her character is described as vulnerable to other people but in her eyes isRead MoreGood Country People Essay984 Words   |  4 PagesThe short story â€Å"Good Country People† by Flannery O’Connor reveals that evil comes in many disguises and that it will try to harm believers and even nonbelievers. Manley Pointer’s character serves as evil and is similar to the serpent in the bible. Manley Pointer has crafty evil ways, he is malicious, and deceitful just as the serpent was to Adam and Eve in the Bible. Manley Pointer is introduced as a good country simple young man who is going around selling Bibles. He tries to sell Mrs. HopewellRead MoreTheme Of Good Country People1126 Words   |  5 Pagesstories â€Å"Good Country People†, â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, and â€Å"The Storm.† I believe that the theme across these stories is to be ware of the wolf in sheep clothing. In these stories, there was an antagonist that posed as a protagonist who even though their intentions may have looked well skin deep, the underlying intentions against the main character were not of good intent. I will describe certain situations in each of the three stories that show the theme I have noted. I believe that a good personRead MoreSummary Of Good Country People 830 Words   |  4 PagesAlexandra Dorman Mrs. Ermis English 1302.02N 1 November 2014 Summary of â€Å"Good Country People† In each of Flannery O’Connor’s works she inhabits a Christian aspect or theme. In O’Connor’s short story Good Country People, a 32-year-old atheist woman named Joy is faced with the representation of evil in our society. The protagonist Joy believes that her name doesn’t fit who she is. Because of this opinion she decides to legally change her name to Hulga. When Hulga was 10 years old she was in a hunting

Quintilian - Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

Annotated Bibliography On Corporate Reorganization

Tax Research Memorandum Date: November 16, 2014 To: Tax Files From: Jonathan Ruhi Subject: Availability of Corporate Reorganization Summary of Facts Chris and Sue are 50 percent shareholders in BackBone personal service corporation. Backbone provides chiropractic services in four separate offices, in four small towns: Troy, Union, Vista and Willow. Chris is the main chiropractor in the Troy office, and Sue heads up the Vista office. Charlie, the main chiropractor in the Willow office, does not see eye-to-eye with Chris and Sue on management styles. Charlie is highly competent and well-liked by patients and therefore indispensable in the eyes of Chris and Sue. Chris and Sue may be willing to give Charlie control of the Willow office,†¦show more content†¦In addition, Chris and Sue will not have to worry about any loss of profits since the profits of the new subsidiary corporation will flow through to the BackBone personal service corporation. Issue and Conclusion 2 How should the corporate reorganization be structured? The corporate reorganization should be structured as a divisive â€Å"D† reorganization and the restructuring process should conform to section 355 of the tax law in order to minimize the tax consequences of the reorganization. Law and Analysis 2 Section 368(a)(1) of the tax code provides several options for corporate reorganizations. Section 368(a)(1)(d), also known as a â€Å"divisive D reorganization†, is the best choice for this particular situation. In a divisive â€Å"D† reorganization, the controlling corporation (in this case, BackBone) will distribute assets (the Willow office) to a newly formed subsidiary corporation, in exchange for the stock of the new subsidiary corporation, in a transaction that qualifies under section 355 (Sec. 368(a)(1)(d)). After the transaction is complete, the Willow office will be its own corporation which is wholly (or at least mostly) owned by BackBone. BackBone will also still own and control the Troy, Union and Vista offices after the reorganization. Issue and Conclusion 3 What will be the tax consequences of the reorganization? Section 355 of the tax code will drastically reduce, or even completely eliminate, any tax liability caused by

Alcohol Abuse in Russia Free Essays

string(65) " prices and the rates of violent deaths increased substantially\." Joe Bloe Professor I. B Smart BS 131 December XX, 2008 Alcohol Abuse in Russia Family Issues Russians drink more alcohol than any other nation in the world. (Halpin, 2007, p1) The Times of London reports that Russians are currently going on an alcoholic binge even by Russian standards. We will write a custom essay sample on Alcohol Abuse in Russia or any similar topic only for you Order Now According to the country’s chief public health officer, Gennadi Onishenko, Russians are drinking nearly three times as much as they did sixteen years ago. Onishenko’s study was promulgated by the Russian equivalent of the consumer protection agency and it reported that at least 2. million people in Russia were alcoholics. The average Russian consumed 15 litres (26 pints) of pure alcohol per annum, up from 5. 4 litres in 1990, and this phenomena is blamed for a rising rate of mortality among men. This compares to 8. 4 litres for people in the United States and 7. 6 litres in Japan. (Halpin, 2007 p 1) Violent crime and alcohol consumption have increased throughout the Russian federation since the fall of the Soviet Union. This has shown harmful consequences for families and communities, as heavy alcohol drinking is closely associated with violent behavior in Russia.The correlation between heavy drinking and violence is a complicated mixture of physiological, psychological, situational, social and cultural elements. Whenever measures to control alcohol production and consumption have been introduced, reduced violence has occurred in Russia and elsewhere. (WHO, 2006) Violence is a family’s worst enemy and may include physical and sexual assaults, mental or emotional abuse and neglect. It may also be categorized into interpersonal violence, child maltreatment or neglect, intimate partner violence within a relationship, sexual violence, abuse of the elderly or self-directed violence including suicide. WHO, 2006) There is ample evidence to support the relationship between heavy drinking and violence. In Russia, alcohol has been involved in three-quarters of homicide arrests. Families often bear the brunt of the violence that emanates from heavy drinking. In the Central Black-Earth Region of Russia, a study showed that 77% of violent crimes against family members involved drinking with 35% of these drinkers bingeing every day. Among male perpetrators of spousal homicide, 60–75% of offenders had been drinking before the incident. (WHO, 2006)Alcohol abuse affects physical and cognitive functioning resulting in reduced self-control and the ability to process incoming information. This makes drinkers more apt to resort to violence to resolve conflicts. (Rand Corp. , 2002) Heavy drinking can impair parents’ responsibilities toward themselves and their children. Drinking also reduces the amount of time and money spent on their children, often neglecting the children’s basic needs. Alcohol abuse by either the parent or the child increases the child’s vulnerability to sexual abuse.Sometimes children are made to drink alcohol to facilitate sexual acts or involve them in child pornography. (WHO, 2006) Alcohol abuse during pregnancy can result in children being born with fetal alcohol syndrome as well as health issues for the mother. Excessive drinking in a relationship can create problems with finances, childcare, infidelity or other stressors leading to potentially violent situations. (WHO, 2006) Health Issues Russians are suffering from a problem with demographic retention and a declining population base.Alcoholism is a leading cause in rising Russian mortality rates, particularly among males. Alcohol contributes to premature deaths involving accidents, injuries and violence particularly among males. Male mortality rates fell sharply during Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign of 1984 to 1987. This effort reduced state alcohol production, raised prices for liquor, mandated alcoholic treatments where needed and cracked down on homemade liquor. The program was highly unpopular and abandoned, after which both consumption of alcohol and mortality rates for males increased dramatically once again. Rand Corp. , 2002) Russia’s population has dropped from 145 million in 2002 to 140,702,000 in July of 2008. The birth rate is slightly higher at 11. 3 births per 1,000; up from 9. 1 per 1,00 in 2002. Male life expectancy is only 59 years and for females it is 73 years. (Fitzgerald, 2003, CIA 2008) Statistics for children are not encouraging. In 2003, the number of healthy children in Russia dropped from 45. 5 percent to 33. 9 percent over ten years, and the number of disabled children doubled, according to the epidemiology section of the Health Ministry.According to information gathered form the 2002 census, one third of Russian children are born out of wedlock. (Fitzgerald, 2003) The Russian Ministry of Health did not blame alcoholic parents for substandard health environments or the usual culprits of drug abuse, or smoking and eating junk food but blamed an increase in the school workload and less time for outdoor exercise. The Ministry claimed that an incredible 75% of children were said to have hypertension and related problems in the 2003 analysis of Russian health. (Fitzgerald, 2003)Beer is regarded in many areas as if it were soda pop. Children as young as 13 routinely drink beer in public in some areas and the national legal drinking age is currently 18 years. Vodka has traditionally been available nearly everywhere to nearly everybody in Russia and children have no problem finding it. As in America and elsewhere, heavy alcohol consumption in Russia impedes a family’s well being in a host of problematic ways. And Russians drink more alcohol per capita than any other national population in the world. (Halpin, 2007)Gorbachev’s attempt to limit alcohol abuse In 1985 President Gorbachev, who was then president of the USSR, began a campaign to limit alcohol abuse by raising the legal drinking age to 21 years and imposing tough legal sanctions on home production of alcohol. (Today, the drinking age is 18 years. ) During the period of 1984 through 1987 when the campaign was running, state sales of alcohol decreased by 61%. Statistically speaking, the effort was successful in that total violent deaths dropped 33% and alcohol-related violent deaths dropped by 51%. The program was not popular with the public, however, and was abandoned in 1987. By 1992, market reforms for alcohol were instituted that liberalized trade and dropped prices and the rates of violent deaths increased substantially. You read "Alcohol Abuse in Russia" in category "Papers" (WHO, 2006) These rising figures are subject to interpretation because this was the era of perestroika in Russia and increases in violent deaths cannot be solely attributed to increases in alcohol availability and consumption. The temporal correlations between the crackdown on alcohol and the drops in violence indicate that they are interconnected.Perestroika and glasnost were introduced to Russian society in response to President Gorbachev’s initiatives toward political reform and moral recovery. A cornerstone of his plan was a reduction in drinking which he saw not only as a health problem but a cause of economic inefficiency. (McKee, 1999) He adopted a heavy-handed approach to limiting alcoh ol production, distribution and use. All state agencies were ordered to develop departmental strategies to cut down alcohol consumption. Alcohol was banned at official functions and party officials who drank heavily were dismissed from their jobs.Liquor outlets were dramatically reduced and the media changed its attitude to one of intolerance for alcohol and organizations like the All-Union Voluntary Society for the Struggle for Sobriety sprang up. This association claimed 12 million members one year after organizing. (McKee, 1999) Within a few years, as the Soviet Union was collapsing, the campaign faltered and was eventually replaced by a rapid rise in consumption, driven by widespread illicit production of homemade alcohol on a massive, national scale. Economic IssuesRussia’s stock markets have lost about 70 percent of their value since peaks in May, and workers have been hard hit by lay-offs and wage arrears. The tepid global economy has left Russians hurting and they, like most of the world, have had to cut back on expenses. The result is less state-sanctioned vodka being sold and an increase in homemade spirits. Research by the National Alcohol Association showed that deaths from alcohol poisoning increased to 1,458 in September, presumably the result of Russians drinking dangerous substitutes for vodka as a cheaper way to get drunk. (Shuster, 2008)During Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign, the production of samogon (homemade spirits) had become a large-scale industry that provided cheap alcohol to Russians while depriving the state of tax revenue. When restrictions were eased in 1988, alcohol consumption quickly exceeded the pre-1985 level. A Russian study done in 1995 revealed that regular drunkenness affected between 25 and 65 percent of blue-collar workers and 21 percent of white-collar workers, particularly in rural areas. (Coutsoukis, 2005) Unemployed workers are particularly vulnerable to alcohol abuse problems.Being available in most places, day or night and being historically cheap peopl e without occupations tend to drink more often and heavier. When vodka is unavailable or too expensive, they will often resort to dangerous substitutes. In 1994, the number of people who died of alcohol poisoning rose to about 53,000, a major increase from 36,000 in 1991. These are typically the result of drinking homemade alcohol substitutes. Bootlegging had become a widespread criminal activity by the mid 1990s. (Coutsoukis, 2005) Legal vodka is big business in Russia.The word â€Å"vodka† means â€Å"little water† in Russian, a term of endearment. (Tartakovsky, 2006) The brand â€Å"Stolichnaya† sells $2 billion a year worldwide and was privatized in 1992. Soyuzplodimport, or SPI, has the exclusive rights to export Stolichnaya, which vodka lovers in the U. S. fondly refer to as â€Å"Stoli. † Some 50% of the company’s export turnover comes from the United States, thanks mostly to its strategic alliance with Allied-Domecq for U. S. distribution rights. (Shuster, 2008) Alcohol and workers The Russian workplace has always been a place where vodka contributed to the socializing rituals. Before the Bolshevik Revolution the Russian tradition of prival’naia, a welcoming ceremony for new workers that included snacks and vodka. It was a socializing event where the new workers would become acquainted with their fellow workers. The new workers were expected to provide the snacks and vodka for the veterans in exchange for training in the new job. (Andreasen, 2006) The Revolution changed the way workers were hired. Prior to this era, workers were usually hired on the recommendation of an acquaintance and the ceremony of prival’naia was part of the payback for getting the job.With the implementation of the communist trade unions, the hiring became an impersonal process and there was no payback necessary and it eliminated the worker’s obligation to train new employees. These changes brought about the practical end to prival’naia, although some workers and organizations still clung to the old tradition where they could get away with it. (Andreasen, 2006) Russian worker culture has always included vodka. The working class sees vodka as an essential element for surviving their brutal winters and poor economy.It is an escape that causes apathy among the work force and contributes to poor health and accidents that make Russia’s work force less productive and more costly. Productivity in Russia has always been known to suffer because of heavy drinking. That belief is one of the motivators behind Gorbachev’s plan to reduce drinking in the 1980s. It is difficult to gauge the true impact of worker drinking and productivity because the Russian economy is still in a state of flux as it transfers from a state-controlled, centralized economy to free-markets. It is inappropriate to make comparisons about worker utput and drinking since the two economies measure productivity in myriad different ways. (Kryzanek, 2004) Many Soviet patriots and party leaders recognized the need to curb alcohol to increase worker productivity.Pokhlebkin was one of these patriotic historians who published his extensive research in a book called â€Å"A History of Vodka† he included a chapter depicting what he determined to be Russia’s descent into rampant alcoholism. Drunkenness, he asserted, is incompatible with socialist principles in that it undermines worker morale and curtails industrial productivity. Tartakovsky, 2006) Russian workers have become complacent after seventy years of communism. Entire generations have grown up shirking work because private initiatives were always discouraged and sometimes even dangerous. Wage inversion led to high pay for lowliest work while job dissatisfaction created moonlighting and demoralized workers moved from job to job. Alcohol has always exacerbated this complacency and lack of motivation. (Kryzanek, 2004) Heavy drinking has a deeply rooted history in Russian culture and life.The problem seems so ingrained in their society that it would be impossible to completely eliminate drinking from the society. This heavy drinking behavior is exhibited in other northern cultures like the Finish or Polish societies without such devastating consequences. In Russia, however, there is historical evidence to suggest that the country’s governments from the Czars to the Soviets have helped to create this culture. (McKee, 1999) There are also several sub-cultures of the drinking population in Russia because of geographic, gender and socio-economic variations, making it difficult to generalize the problem.There are even some people among these groups who actually abstain or drink in moderation. The state itself has contributed to the drinking problem throughout the country’s history by producing and distributing cheap vodka in the name of tradition and profit. It should be feasible for the government to take some kind of proactive measures to stop its population from killing themselves with even-more toxic substitutes for a toxic product. Apparently, it will take many generations of sober Russians to change the high-profile role alcohol plays in so many national traditions.The Russian people have gone through many changes throughout the ages. Hopefully, their resilience will help them change their love of vodka and allow them to become socially conscious drinkers. That’s a tradition easily passed on. How to cite Alcohol Abuse in Russia, Papers

Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man free essay sample

An analysis of the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. This paper examines Ralph Ellisons work `Invisible Man.` The author writes it is a book about race in America and, sadly enough, few of the problems it chronicles have disappeared even now. The paper describes the books compelling portrait of this New York community in the decade and a half after World War I as a place of intellectual fervor and intoxicating creativity. It is a commonplace habit of humans, to rely on the visual aspects of humanity as a means of learning who we are. It is also, as Ralph Ellison argued in his 1952 novel Invisible Man, a very dangerous habit. The novel chronicles the travels of its narrator, a young, nameless black man, as he moves through a Dantean series of circles of racism, intolerance and cultural blindness. Despite the harshness with which he is met, he continues to search for a cultural and social context in which he can come to know himself. We will write a custom essay sample on Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He searches throughout the novel for a way in which he can end his own invisibility; he struggles to be a real man rather than a prism or a mirror or a ghost.