A letter to the shop personnel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A letter to the shop personnel - Essay Example Assistance was to be provided then in the solution implementation, and improvement monitoring. The time line for the measurement phase was two weeks, with each of the following phases taking a week. In the initial phase, it was found data flow was slower than expected, with workers in the team claiming lack of time to utilize the tools. The involvement of the shop management was sought, as the means to persuade the workers to use the tools. Management pressure resulted in the desired flow of data, but the data did not provide any sensible findings. The tools worked fine, and the workers were trained in their use. So the data had to be flawed. Time was also running out. This strong resistance from workers in the team was unexpected, and the challenge faced. I realized that the solution to the challenge lay in obtaining cooperation from the workers in the team, rather than compliance. For this an understanding of the reasons for lack of cooperation was required. This led to talks with shop employees on their perspective of our engagement, which concluded in our finding that despite their respect for us, they feared loss of jobs. To resolve the problem I realized that the shop employees needed to be convinced of our mission, which was increasing their efficiency. Increased efficiency would lead to more jobs rather than retrenchment. Working with the researchers in the team, three actions were initiated. The first action involved the writing of a letter to the shop personnel informing them that they were in fact assisting.

The Financial Planning and Strategies of Firms within the Hotel Essay

The Financial Planning and Strategies of Firms within the Hotel Industry in the U.S - Essay Example The report focused on the forecasts that the industry makes as strategies of growth. This also touched on the business trends exhibited within the sector. The report merged the trends’ comparison with the other industries’ business trends over the past years. Analysis of industrial forecast and a business trend has acted as a measure of market competition among the firms within the global economics. Other analysis within the report included industrial financial scenario. In this analysis, the report undertakes to shed light on the financial management state of the firms and or companies within the hotel industry. From the analysis, it would be possible to provide an overview of the likely context of the industry in the face of scorching global financial recession. Finally, the report gives a broad analysis of the pricing system of the industry’s products and services. Here the analysis included the pricing policies, considerations, and standards. Like any other r esearch report, this report of the research conducted on the operational context of the hotel industry seeks to bring to the knowledge of the policy and decision makers in the hospitality sector, the operational reality on the grounds for allied companies and or firms within the industry. The insights from this report seek to provide a platform for informing decision and policy-making within the hospitality industry with special focus on the hotel and hoteliers in the U.S. It shall also serve to assist as a point reference for planners in the hospitality sector who focus on the strategic planning for the hotels. Planners in the hotel industry, therefore, shall feel enlightened in their endeavors amid likelihood of stiff competition with other industries in the global market.

Video game technology Essay Example for Free

Video game technology Essay Humanity has a driving need for entertainment. Writers are constantly coming up with new movies, designers and engineers are always on the hunt for the next big idea for roller coasters and theme parks, and programmers are always designing and improving the most widely available entertainment software, video games. The video game industry generates 6 billion dollars a year, and in a field as large as this, there is a great amount of competition. Companies are constantly interested in creating new hardware and software to keep the competitive edge, which is why the technology behind video games has made huge leaps in the past 42 years. Video games started out as an interactive television built by Ralph Baer in 1966. Baer created a game called chase where 2 dots would pay a game of digital â€Å"tag† on a standard television. In 1967, a third dot was added to create a ping-pong type game. A deal was made with the company Magnavox to make the game available for public. Magnavox created and released the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. It was the first video game console; however, home video games reached popularity with the Atari Pong game which was released by Atari after seeing Magnavox’s ping-pong game in a demonstration. This was only the first-generation of video games, and already there was competition over who could get the best product on the market. The second generation of video game consoles is also known as the â€Å"early 8 bit years,† which came in the mid 1970’s to early 1983. This is the time where interchangeable game cartridges were created that actually held programs installed on them. Cartridges from the first generation were only a set of jumpers that played a game that was previously installed on the console. The introduction of these new game cartridges allowed for immense libraries of games to be created. The cartridges made early in the second generation were limited to 8 KB read-only memories (ROM), but the capacity for larger games slowly increased to 32 KB in the â€Å"early 8 bit era. † Even though the cartridge capacity grew, the games were still limited by the random-access memory (RAM) that was inside the console. Some of the consoles that came out in this time period was the Fairchild Channel F, the Atari 2600 and 5200, Mattel Intellivision, and the introduction of Sega with the SG-1000. The end of the second generation of video game consoles was apparent when the industry came to a standstill because of an overstock of games, dozens of choices of consoles for consumers, and competition from personal computers. This standstill was called the North American video game crash of 1983. After the crash, the video game industry recovered in a year. In the true â€Å"8 bit era,† of the third generation of video game consoles, the famous Famicon, or Nintendo Entertainment System, was released. This era is believed to be the first of the modern era of video game consoles. The Famicon dominated this time in the gaming industry, but others such as the Atari 7800, Sega Master System, Supergame VG 3000, and Super Cassette Vision were all closely competing with each other. It was in this generation that, although previous consoles had used 8-bit processors, consoles started labeling themselves by the speed of their processing units to differentiate between the generations of consoles. In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, which was a hand held, portable gaming console that was immensely popular. Also in this generation, the video game genre role playing game, or RPG, was created. This genre was dominated by games such as Super Mario Bros. , Final Fantasy, The Legend Of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man, Metal Gear, and Castlevania; many of these games have spun off with sequels and prequels in the future generations of video game consoles to come, creating repeat sales of games just so people can see what happens to their favorite characters next. The fourth generation of video game consoles came with the release of the first 16 bit processor consoles. This era of consoles was dominated by the fierce competition between Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo released its Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega had the Sega Genesis. Franchises of games began to appear on these systems stemming from the success of the franchises of the third generations listed above. Sega released best selling game â€Å"Sonic the Hedgehog† as a cooler version of the Mario Bros, but soon, Sega dropped behind in the fourth generation and began working on their next generation unit. With the rise of 16 bit processor speed came an exponentially increased graphics rate. The graphics in between system generations are far superior to the previously released ones. From 1993 to 2002 was known as the fifth generation of gaming console. It featured 32- and 64-bit processor speed and was most noted for the rise of 3-dimensional games. Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider had 3-d environments that steered the industry standard away from side scrolling games. The ability to move around a 3-dimensional area offered players many possibilities and variants in game play. The consoles that were accepted best into the mainstream North American video game demographic were the Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation, and the Sega Saturn. The Atari Jaguar could not compete in the fifth generation of consoles and was quickly beaten by its competition. The Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony Playstation 2, and Nintendo Gamecube are the only viable consoles out during the sixth generation of video game consoles. It was in this generation that the video game industry stopped referring to its consoles by their processor size, since the performance depended on other factors, such as processor speed, the speed of the graphics processor, bandwidth, and memory size. The Playstation 2 and the Dreamcast were the final consoles to market their products as 128-bit to describe their capabilities. With the sixth generation came the hard task of differentiating which system was the most powerful. The Xbox uses a 32-bit CPU with a cache size of 128 kb. It has 64 MB RAM and runs at 733 MHz, making it the fastest of the sixth generation consoles. Many games that were geared to appear cross-platform for the Xbox, Playstation 2, and Gamecube ended up releasing only for Xbox due to system requirement restraints while games like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 were still released on the three consoles, but their pixel shading, graphics polygons count, and the artificial intelligence of the non-player characters in game had to be reduced dramatically to work on the Playstation 2 and Gamecube. Some would argue that this fact alone makes the Xbox a superior gaming console. The current industry standards in video game consoles are the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii. These consoles are the seventh generation of gaming technology. This generation’s consoles each introduced a new type of breakthrough technology. The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 came out with High-Definition compatible graphics and audio/video output, and the Wii has focused on unique motion sensing controllers. All of these consoles come standard with wireless controllers. A major advance for the Playstation 3 is the integration of Blu-Ray technology – a Blu-Ray disc is the next generation of high definition movies. The Xbox 360’s best innovation is something that was already established with the original Xbox, and it is Xbox Live. Xbox Live enables the use of multiplayer games with people around the world, and it allows the downloading of new software and demos for new games to be released. It is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the multiplayer online experience. It’s user-interface and ease of use is unmatched in all other consoles. The Wii’s motion sensing controllers are an incredible tool in gaming. It allowed a more interactive experience and submerses the users in its games like never before. In Tiger Woods’ ’09, the player uses the controller exactly like a golf club to hit the virtual â€Å"ball. † It is an advance that even leads to fitness games, something never even considered by the video game industry before. Video game peripherals are the tools that gamers are most familiar with. Even if someone who is dedicated to games does not know that exact processor speed of a Playstation 3, or the Graphic Processor for an Xbox 360, he will intimately know the controller that he has in his hands while he plays. There have been many types of controllers made to suit gamers needs. The â€Å"old-school† controller from the first and second generation of consoles was the joystick. Usually a handle with buttons protruding from a controller base, a joystick allows basic movements and actions with the buttons. In the third generation, consoles were equipped with a â€Å"D-Pad. † This was a cross pointing up, down, left, and right that better suited the side-scrolling games of the time. The Nintendo 64 incorporated a joystick and a D-Pad on the same controller that allowed for better navigation of its 3-dimensional worlds. In the generations that follow, most controllers follow the Nintendo 64’s lead and incorporate even multiple joysticks along with a D-Pad. Other fun peripherals were the popular light guns used in shooting and sports games. I remember spending hours hunting in my living room with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt game. Foot pads were also used to simulate running in track games and dancing in the popular Dance Dance Revolution franchise. Video game technology has come a long way in the 42 years since the first console was released. The technology is sure to become even more awesome as time progresses and consumers demand more bang for their buck. In an industry as competitive as video games, there is no time for companies to become complacent in their technology. Works Cited How does the light gun for a video game work?. 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks. com. 28 September 2008. Tyson, Jeff.How Video Game Systems Work. 16 October 2000. HowStuffWorks. com. 28 September 2008. Valdes, Robert. How PlayStation 3 Works. 14 June 2005. HowStuffWorks. com. 28 September 2008. Valdes, Robert. How Xbox 360 Works. 29 November 2006. HowStuffWorks. com. 28 September 2008. Tyson, Jeff. How Dreamcast Works. 19 October 2000. HowStuffWorks. com. 28 September 2008. Tyson, Jeff. How N64 Works. 18 October 2000. HowStuffWorks. com. 28 September 2008. Stahl, Ted, ed. Chronology of the History of Video Games. History of Computing: Video Games Golden Years. 26 July 2006. 25 Sept. 2008.

UK Diverse Society

UK Diverse Society ECA TASK 1 In what ways can the UK be described as a diverse society? Choose three examples of diversity and write and essay which: describes each of them in turn considers which aspects of diversity are negative and which are positive for one of the examples. The diversity of family life in the UK today The diversity of places in which people live The diversity of cultures in the UK Britain today is a richly diverse society in which people with very different ways of life coexist. Diversity means being different, being unlike and variety. Diversity can describe differences within a society or between societies and applies to the unique contributions   to the group characteristics made by the individuals such as beliefs, sexual orientation, ethnic background, cultural perspective,  and so forth. Family, place and culture mean different things for different people but are usually associated with connectedness. This essay, though, will first analyse family, place and culture as causes and consequences of social diversity and, secondly, it will describe the relationship between places and life chances and how diversity can bring inequality. During the past decades, social change in Britain has brought structural and functional diversity into family (Sherratt et al. 2004, p.30). Families today come in many shapes and sizes, there is no right or wrong structure. The main types of family, nuclear and extended, have increased with reconstituted and single-parent families. Families can be formed by married, unmarried or same sex couples   with dependent, independent or no children at all. National statistics for 2001 (ONS, 2002 data set ST32217 and ST33218 ) show that one in five families with dependent children are headed by lone mothers, three times the number obtained in 1971. This may be explained by rising rates of divorce, cohabitation and live births outside of marriage. These figures suggest evolving family structures but also a general maintenance of conventional gender ideology. Hence, different beliefs and practices in relation to the division of labour may bring diversity to family life.  In this respect, You ng and Willmott (1973, cited in Sherratt et al. 2004 p.26) predicted a more egalitarian family whilst Morris (1990, cited in Sherratt et al. 2004 p.26) denied the attrition of the traditional gender roles.   Another source of diversity in family life is regional diversity. The inner London boroughs have higher concentrations of minority groups than the rest of the country (ONS, 2001). Ethnic diversity as a source of family diversity is defended by Berthoud (2001) among others. This author argues   that Asian families are more traditional, have high rates of marriage and are more likely to have extended families comprising three generations. By contrast, West Indian households have a higher proportion of lone mothers and low rates of partnerships. Similarly, geography and ethnicity bring diversity to the places where people live. Whether rural or urban location, owner-ocuppied or rented, house, flat or even a caravan, there are multiple places to live in Britain today. Places where people influence their experiences and social relations (Sherratt et al. 2004, p 88). In inner London boroughs, like Islington and Camden, not only there is more ethnical diversity than in the rest of Britain (ONS, 2001), but   affluent professionals inhabit the same street as jobless, low-income families or live next to council estates while having no connection with them, as exemplified by Graef (2003). In other parts of East London though, Mumford and Power (2003, cited in Sherratt et al. p. 97) noticed how diverse neighbourhoods can still maintain a sense of community spirit through local social networks. The transition from dwells and neighbourhoods to homes and communities can be done via a sense of attachment and belonging that is part of t he broad meaning of culture (Sherratt et al. 2004, p.96). Culture is all shared beliefs and socially communicated demeanour, that distinguishes a group of people, whether this is a family, a neighbourhood, a community or a nation (Sherratt et al. 2004 p.38-45). People identify with others within their culture but distinguish from people in other cultures. Hence, diverse cultures lead to diverse ways of living, and these can bring people into conflict over how it is acceptable to live. On the other hand, cultural diversity brings richness and choices and shapes identities bringing connectedness. The culture in Britain, including language, food, arts, clothes, leisure activities, religion or relationships can be seen as a sum of the diverse cultures that constitute its society. Cultural mixing is not a new concept, as noted by Sherratt et al. (2004 p. 76). It started with trading in prehistoric times and was further fueled by imports and immigration.   The only thing new about cultural exchange is how easy it is now.   With modern informa tion technology it is possible to experience other cultures on a whim. But the globalisation of culture has a downside. Scott-Clarke and Levy (2003) exemplify the devastating social effects of cultural imperialism caused by American television in Bhutan. In the same way, the aforementioned diversity of places where people live reflects choices, variety and opportunities but there is a drawback. Utilizing the Weberian term â€Å"life chances† (Weber 1948, cited by Sherratt et al. 2004, p. 85) to describe an estimate of an individuals ability to enjoy the economic and cultural goods of a society, it is easy to see how the distribution of such goods is usually asymmetrical. Peoples life chances are influenced by salary, wealth, housing and education (Sherratt et al. 2004, p 87). Therefore, family, culture and where people live shape life chances. The importance of housing tenure in life chances is debated amongst sociologists. Saunders (1988, 1990, cited in Sherratt et al. 2004 p. 88) outweighs the importance of home-owning status to occupation but this argument is contradicted by Forrest and Murrie (1995, cited in Sherratt et al. 2004, p. 89) and criticised by Watt (1993, cited in Sherratt et al. p. 89). Clearly, home equity can be used as collateral or improve children with inheritance, giving control to peoples lives. On the other hand, Sherratt et al. (2004 p. 94) points out how the UK shows a general pattern of geographical clustering of poverty and wealth and how this clustering affects peoples ability to access housing, education and employment opportunities and directly impacts in the quality of health services. A direct consequence could be seen in the different life expectancy for different areas in Britain in 1998-2000 (ONS, 2002) accounting up to 10 years of difference for men between Westminster and Glasgow city. Personal wellbeing is then affected by the ability to afford a home in a neighbourhood that improves rather than limits life chances. In conclusion, Britains society is undeniably diverse. Living in Britain has implications on how people live, whom they live with and where they live and these differences shape British society. Social change has brought diversity to family, neighbourhoods and culture. There are many different types of families today. Diverse neighbourhoods may or not share a sense of community. Cultural diversity shapes our identity. Where people life affects their health and prosperity. Diversity brings richness but also inequality. References Berthoud, R. (2001) ‘Family formation in multi-cultural Britain: three patterns of diversity, paper resented at Changing family patterns in multi-cultural Britain Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Essex. Available at: http://www.sociology.org.uk/as4fm1.pdf [Accessed 24-27 January, 2008] Graef, R. (2003) ‘Two families living side by side. But the gulf between rich and poor keeps them worlds apart The Observer, 20 July. Available from: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,1001753,00.html [Accessed 24-28 January, 2008] ONS (2001) National Statistics: Ethnicity: Regional Distribution. Available from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=263 [Accessed 24 January 2008] ONS (2002) National Statistics: Families with dependent children headed by lone parents: Social Trends 32, data set ST32217. Available from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=4992More=Y [Accessed 24 January 2008] ONS (2002) National Statistics: Births outside marriage as a percentage of all live births: Social Trends 33, data set ST33218 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=6369 [Accessed 24 January 2008] ONS, 2002 Health Statistics Quarterly, issue 13. London. Available at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/HSQ13_v4.pdf [Accessed February 2, 2008] Scott-Clarke, C. and Levy, A. (2003) ‘Fast forward into trouble The Guardian,14 June. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,975769,00.html [Accessed 24 January 2008] Sherrattt, N., Darkes, T., Pearson, C., Williams, C. and Woodward, K. (2004) Understanding society, Milton Keynes, The Open University. TASK 2 Write no more than 250 words to answer the following questions: In what ways do you feel that your study skills have improved during the course? What do you now think are the strengths and weaknesses of your study skills? How would you like to make further improvements? My study skills during this course have improved qualitative and quantitatively. From a natural science background I have had to leap into social sciences, where comprehending the material is more important that memorising it. Multiple-choice questions have been substituted by essay writing, where you have to reason, argument and reference your statements, not just tick the correct answer. Reading and note taking have been tasks of outmost importance. I feel I have had to strip texts to their bare bones and build their bodies again with my own words. One of my skills is interpreting graphs and numeric data, as this is something I do very frequently in my job. One of the most difficult things has been to accept that there is usually more than one answer in social science questions, and there are no right or wrong, but different opinions and an open debate. It has been a revelation to discover that, in social sciences, we, as individuals and as a society, are the researchers and subjects of study, and the dynamic implications of this duality. I have signed up for DD100 to further improve and polish my new skills. Y157 has opened my appetite for social matters and I want to learn more. My newly acquired skills are going to be put to the test.

Intrusion Detection Systems in Security

Intrusion Detection Systems in Security Abstract Modern world provide the latest system of internet which is disputing for the security of information systems. The defense of information is becoming the part and parcel for internet day by day. Current Intrusion Detection systems cannot make sure to detect attacks in real time environment as it has insufficient ability to do that. To cope with latest invasions attack, database should be rationalized time to time. Systems fall squat to recognize fresh attacks due to lack of domain familiarity. If there is any lack of domain familiarity, Intrusion Detection system can fall squat to recognize new attack. In Wireless and AD HOC networks, Information security revolves into imperative role. Possibility of vulnerability to attacks rises as for their flexible nature. A few intrusion detection schemes suggested for where wired networks are not sufficient for Wireless and AD HOC networks. In AD HOC networks, it is significant for such slant that is proficient to intellect any variety of eccentric actions. In fact, it is out of ability of technology to encumber each single contravention. In this thesis I am going to model a IDS using time series techniques for wireless AD HOC network by which it can detect intruders. Time series is a technique by which we can detect intrusion. To form the rapid change of time series data, the technique applies the Auto-Regressive (AR) method, and achieves in order hypothesis test to detect the intrusion. By means of time and location correlation, the systems and modes verify the existence of anomalous commotion, as well as its occurring time and location. It is proved and demonstrates that the experimental outcomes perform better with the recommended method in detecting the intrusion. Acknowledgements Introduction Security is the major issue for the wireless and Mobile AD HOC network because it is using â€Å"AIR† as media .Research project address this part as Intrusion Detection. Mounting world cannot imagine even for a single day without computer and computer is basis on internet. Nowadays secure information of internet is becoming very high priority. Modern world emphases in a way by which it can be protect the data and information from any illicit and unauthorized access. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) can be differs in various techniques and advance with the objective to detect suspicious traffic in dissimilar ways. There are two significant categories of intrusion detection systems. One is called network-based intrusion detection system (NIDS) and the other one is host-based intrusion system (HIDS). The existing system that detects attacks based on looking for specific signature of identified threats. It reveals particularly that we may have two sets of data; one is of usual and common data and other one apprehensive and suspicious data. So intrusion detection systems match the data with the set of normal and suspicious data and if the deference between the two set is above a threshold value then intrusion is detected. Currently, if Internet infrastructure assault such as man in the middle attack, denial of service attacks and worms infection, have become one of the most serious threats to the network security [1]. It is very likely feasible to detect the attacks and abnormal behaviors if there is sufficient and efficient method and technique exists for monitor and examine, and it can not only make sure proceed warning of potential attacks, but also help out to recognize the reasons, source and locations of the anomalies. By this way, it may assist to restrain the attacks, sooner than they have enough time to broadcast across the network. This document represents the method, in support of detecting network anomalies by analyzing the unexpected change of time series data .With the comparison of other anomaly detection methods. We have focal point on the vibrant behavior of the network rather than using the static models. Our process and method concerns the Auto-Regressive (AR) process to model the r apid and unexpected change of time series data, and performs sequential hypothesis test in contrast with two adjoining non-overlapping windows of the time series to detect the anomalies Aim and Objectives Aim: The aim of this thesis is to design and implement a IDS for wireless network to detect and monitoring malicious activities by using time series analysis techniques. Objectives: ïÆ'Ëœ Review current intrusion detection systemïÆ'Ëœ Analyze the data with suspicious activitiesïÆ'Ëœ Design appropriate system architecture for IDSïÆ'Ëœ Implement the system using time series analysisïÆ'Ëœ Testing and evaluate the system.ïÆ'Ëœ Future work Academic Background Intrusion detection system In general, an Intrusion Detection System is not an antivirus program to detect virus or not a network logging system for detecting complete vulnerability or not a vulnerability tools which can check bus, flaws and network services. Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a software or hardware by which we can detect hackers, male ware and bots. There are few types of Intrusion detection system like Network Intrusion Detection System, Protocol-based Intrusion Detection System, Application protocol-based Intrusion Detection System and Host-based Intrusion Detection System etc. Now a day, wireless network is increasing dramatically. We are trying to make everything which can connect to internet without wire. Compare to wired network, it is easy to capture the channel of wireless network for an intruders.Why We Need Intrusion Detection System Why we need IDS An overview of current intrusion detection system Wireless networks are extremely vulnerable to man in the middle attack, DOS and other attacks because they depend on a shared communication medium as well as depend on limited resources. Wireless ad hoc networks do not have a central control as wireless LANs and they also provide a dynamic topology. This increases the complexity of the intrusion detection schemes in ad hoc networks. Network Anomaly Detection Using Time Series Analysis According to Qingtao Wu and Zhiqing Shaos research paper, This research paper explain to detect network intrusion using time series analysis. Anomaly and sequential detection with time series data Intrusion Detection Alert Flow Processing Using Time Series Analysis Methods Processing intrusion detection alert aggregates with time series modeling Compare Wired and Wireless Intrusion Detection System (Dragan Pleskonjic) In wired network, Intruder should be attached physically. Intruder needs a direct connectivity into the network.It is possible to trace the intruder In wireless network, Intruder does not require any physical connection. So Intruder can stay everywhere. There are no difference between internal and external network so it is difficult to specify the attack whether it is insider or outsider.The border of Defense of wireless networks is weak compare to wired network.

Career Essay -- Essays Papers

Career Essay Sport Management For the longest time I could not decide on a major and a career to study throughout college. When I came to Georgia Southern University I discovered that they had a major that was very interesting to me. Sport Management id the ideal major for my interest and me. Since I love sports I figured that this would be the career for me. A degree in Sport Management helps to prepare for success in sport related occupations. The job market varies in the field of sport management. Some occupational opportunities include: athletic trainer, coach, sports official, Sports agent, camp director, sporting goods sales/dealer, pro scout, athletic director, sport promoter. The list can go on of the opportunities in this career. Mostly anything sport related in today'...

Gay and Lesbian Marriage in America :: Same-Sex Marriage

Marriage, as both a legal institution and as a social tradition, has always been at the heart of the building blocks of American society. Throughout U.S. history, it has generally been understood, both legally and socially, as a monogamous union between two persons of opposite sexes. However, as the gay and lesbian liberation movement gains increasing exposure and influence, the topic of same-sex marriage has been brought to discussion. In the following pages, the legitimacy of same-sex marriages/partnership will be discussed, as well as the best means to achieve such an end. For the purpose here, the diction â€Å"marriage† and â€Å"union† are used interchangeably, although one might argue that to all but the most zealous, the idea of a same-sex union is more acceptable than gay marriage because it does not as directly confront the traditional definition of â€Å"marriage†. Socially, the institution of marriage offers both dignity and validation to the two parties involved as a sign of their mutual commitment to each other. This paper's predominant focus is on the legal aspect of marriage, along with the legal benefits and responsibilities that are associated with one's marital status (though excluding for the most part the child custody/adoption issue, which is another battle in itself as it involves both a third party and minors). Proven inequality in these areas can and should be addressed by changes in public policy. Cultural intolerance and private discrimination, on the other hand, cannot. There are several arguments against legalization of same-sex marriages, specifically: 1. That homosexual behavior is fundamentally immoral or blasphemous because it does not lead to procreation and/or is condemned by religious texts. 2. That same-sex parenting is necessarily detrimental to child development. 3. That same-sex marriage will further undermine the already crumbling traditional heterosexual marriage as an institution. All of these arguments, however, can be unequivocally refuted. It is obvious that the strongest opposition against gay marriage legalization comes from the Christian Coalition, which supposedly represents the silent â€Å"Moral Majority†. As the name indicates, at the heart of such a group's rhetoric is the Holy Bible, although their position is not far away from those of the more orthodox Muslims and Jewish religious organizations. However, crucial distinctions must be drawn between the concepts of religion, morality, and legality: what is compatible with religion is not necessarily so with morality, and what is legal is not necessarily moral. Adultery is listed as equally a sin as homosexuality in the Bible (both punishable by death), yet it is not a legal offense.