Case Study – Sustainable Tourism in Lagos, Portugal

[pic] College of Commerce Catering and Tourism Sustainable Tourism Case study on the tourism related problems of Lagos, Portugal [pic] Rebecca Zug 19. 11. 2012 Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Findings 4 3. Discussion 5 4. Conclusion and Recommendations 8 5. Implementation 8 6. References9 Case study: Lagos, Algarve, Portugal 1 1. Executive Summary The reason why I choose Lagos for this case study is because I was living there from May 2012 – October 2012 and I think it is a good example for some problems which may occur due to tourism.However it is not an example for the typical mass tourism associated problems, because the nature of tourism in the Algarve is water sports related and therefore reflects a different lifestyle and attitude to the local environment. Lagos Lagos is a harbor town in the Portuguese Algarve coast. The region Lagos has about 30000 constant inhabitants, but due to the fact that Tourism brings 3 million people to the Algarve every year the am ount of inhabitants may be tripled at certain times of the year. Furthermore it has the highest share of residents with foreigners in the whole country.It is probably the most popular destination in the Algarve, because it offers a great diversity of activities for the whole family but mainly the younger generation (water sports: surfing, kiting, wakeboarding, diving, kayaking, as well as a huge gastronomical repertory with countless English bars, restaurants (mainly foreign cuisine), but still kept its old flair in the carless old town due to its 2000 year old history. There are several beaches, one km long sandy beach and more small bays, which are although it is quite a big town still not the typical city beaches.There are only separated single restaurants directly at the beaches, keeping the â€Å"original† coastline, while buildings are only few hundred meters behind. As you can see the problem is obvious as tourism caused kind of an invasion of foreigners on Lagos. A s very tough example: I did not use the Portuguese language ones because there were more foreigners around in town than Portuguese and even them adapted the English language so well (in the most important daily functions) that it was absolutely not necessary.This overcrowding of foreigners leads to a couple of tensions with the locals but there are some opportunities arising of tourism there as well which I am going to explain in the following study. First of all I am going to analyze all the problems occurred by tourism differentiated by their nature. First the problems occurred by the amount of foreigners (- socio cultural impacts) and then the environmental impacts and their economic consequences. Furthermore I am going to point out the opportunities which are already given but not used in this area.These opportunities lead to the solutions I may suggest to overcome the problems and finally I am going to write about the implementation, how the solutions may be adopted. 2 2. Finding s The main problem of Lagos is that the tourism sector and therefore the main business sector is ruled by foreigners. Most hotels, surf camps and water sports providing facilities as well as bars are owned by foreign people, mostly English and Germans which is the reason why most of the tourists are English and German too.Other than in most other vacation spots the tourism facilities are not only owned but run as well solely by foreigners. The reason for that is the new â€Å"fashion† of employing foreign interns rather than locals for every department in hospitality and gastronomy, because they are even more cheap (mostly board and lodging and a little pocket money) than locals. This phenomena is not used in lower quality accommodation but, as I experienced in former internships, in up to 5 star hotels as well.Of course it is a profitable way for the owners, because interns are highly motivated to learn, therefore they accept every kind of work for a very low compensation. F urthermore they are usually highly educated, studied in the field of operation and speak more languages. This is why owners of in this case surf camps and hotels employ mainly interns for the seasons. Another advantage of interns is to avoid the problems of seasonality, because they can primarily work in semester breaks or after high school graduation exactly in the time when the (high) season is.However this sounds perfect for accommodation facility owners it is a huge problem for the local community. Like this the positive impact of tourism in generating jobs for the community is missing due to the fact that even the lower quality jobs are given to foreigners. As well with the low wages for interns it is impossible to actually live a normal life in the area. My experience was that ONLY if it was really necessary (end of the season when everybody has gone home) owners are willing to employ locals for a couple of weeks as well on a higher wage (almost double), but solely if there is no other choice.Another problem arising of this is that most of these interns are not registered or on a no-payment base for what the owners do not have to pay taxes. This induces a lack of income for the community as well. In higher quality hotels it also creates an image of not trained staff (â€Å"intern flair†) which degrades the quality of services. But not only the accommodation facilities are run and owned by foreigners, almost every single bar in town as well. Also because of the majority of outgoers are foreigners the barmen and waiters are 90% foreigners, youngsters working the seasons, who only need money for their next trip.My observation was that only some restaurants but rather bistros and breakfast cafes are owned and run by Portuguese. The lack of jobs (unemployment rate in the Algarve is the highest in the whole country: 20%) leads to crime generation of the locals, who as kind of a revenge rob and break into foreign-owned houses. Other socio-cultural proble ms arising from the impacts of tourism are due to the above mentioned: the standardization and commercialization of the Portuguese culture. A very common phenomena is the building of outlets or well known chains in gastronomy or commerce sector (e. . McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Aldi, Lidl). The gastronomy of Lagos is ruled by all imaginable foreign The Green Room (Mexican Restaurant) in the old town of Lagos countries cuisines (Italian, Japan, Thai, English, Turkish, Romanian, Mexican†¦) but a very small part of real Portuguese food. An economic disadvantage is furthermore that there are loads of foreign supermarkets as well like Aldi and Lidl, which are cheaper and more familiar to tourists and the great number of English residents in this area.This means that the positive impact of the multiplier effect of tourism is missing, because foreigners do not go grocery shopping in local shops. As already mentioned the Portuguese language is starting to get lost due to the number of foreig ners not willing to learn and not forced to learn it because everybody speaks at least the necessary communicative English needed to manage everyday life. This adoption of tourist demands leads to a slow but very significant decrease in Portuguese culture. Environmental ImpactsThe problem of pollution is steady everywhere where people are and of course more people create more pollution and waste, this makes it to a fundamental problem of tourism. Water consumption in watering gardens of hotels, camps as well as pools and golf courses is an essential problem in the rainless months of the summer. Moreover is there no regulation for recycling in Portugal. Waste is collected in one huge ton for every street. There is no refuse collection for every house, however there are quite a lot recycling stations but this is only volunteer.Seasonality as in almost every tourism destination is an issue in Lagos as well. Low season starts in May + June, July + August are high season and September + October are low season again. From November – End of April most of the hotels, camps are closed or operate only partly. This provokes an even higher unemployment rate and of course lack of income. 3 3. Discussion The main problem of the foreigners â€Å"stealing† the jobs of the Portuguese is a very serious issue and can not be solved without the interaction of the local government.In my opinion there should be a regulation, setting a specific percentage of employees, who must be local. There are several examples where this governmental interaction lead to advantageous outcomes (GCC member states). In the Oman for example, the government set a guaranteed employment quote of locals, called Omanization, aiming the reduction of the portion of foreign employees. This way the unemployment rate would be decreased and therefore the tensions between locals and foreign business owners would be reduced as well.Difficulties may arise with the European Union, whose four main aims (free movement of people, capital, goods and services – jobs) are in contradiction with not allowing foreigners to work in a country different to their home country. But realizing the bad financial situation of Portugal and the statistical data has a lot to commend it. Also is employing locals a very important cultural aspect in the guests satisfaction, who lacked the involvement of Portuguese culture during their stay. As well do people living their whole life on the spot of course have a better knowledge about natural conditions, which are very important for water sports.Furthermore there should be a tax reduction for employers hiring locals, to make the employment of them attractive and economically advantageous. Due to this business owners are hopefully keen to officially reinvolve locals rather than foreign interns and therefore pay taxes on them. As well education in Lagos must be enhanced. There is only one University in the Algarve (in Faro) with an extension to the n earby Portimao which is public, all other higher education institutes are private.Furthermore most of the international schools are private as well and there are barely high quality state-run secondary schools. This means that mostly only the children of foreigners are getting a good education in this area, locals mainly have to go further away (Lisbon) and when they are already gone, they most of the times are not coming back, being aware of the bad employment situation in the Algarve. So even if the youth has the opportunity to be educated quite far away, they afterwards go abroad (a phenomena we can observe in Hungary as well).My suggestion would be to make the access to higher and good quality education available for everybody (mainly with European Union tenders) and put an effort in the education of occupations needed in this area: Tourism and water sports. Economically surf camps can help as well in producing income for the local community, for example in sending their guests to nearby cafes to have breakfast there. These breakfast possibilities are around almost every corner and owned by locals, because locals love to eat breakfast outside and combine it with a casual chat with friends.Thus guests have the opportunity in learning about the culture and habits as well as add to the local economy. Economically this won't affect the camps, because breakfast is absolutely not the main income source and rather eases up the work in camps and helps to concentrate on the major activities. Discounted firm prices may be negotiated, sometimes even with a commission for the camps. Problems would occur for camps outside the city center, there are a few camps (Algarve Watersports, The Surf Experience) which are located far away from the old town and therefore do not have the opportunity to send guests away for breakfast.The standardization problem of the local restaurants, who barely serve typical Portuguese food occurred due to the fear of local business owners. Ther e are a few Portuguese restaurants (e. g. Casinha do Petisco) with great Portuguese cuisine, enormous portions and good prices. Every single night this restaurant is full of people and there is barely never a less waiting time than 45 minutes to get a table. Although it looks quite unimposing it is the best going restaurant in town (even in the off season) full of a mixture of locals and tourists as well.This means that the demand for Portuguese cuisine is present and a great opportunity, which only has to be captured. Here the camps might help again, due to the fact that they normally do not serve dinner. Making agreements with local business owners serving Portuguese food, will probably emphasize others to at least serve Portuguese food as well, because many guests complained about â€Å"not being in Portugal† regarding the food supply. The environmental threats may be solved due to small interactions of the government again. For example the recycling of waste should be obl igatory.As it is seen in several European countries since decades (Germany, England), those guests and foreign residents even do it voluntarily in Lagos. We made it obligatory in our surf camp, but every time I brought the separated waste to the recycling stations, I only saw Recycling station in Lagos foreigners, who did the same. This is a good opportunity of tourism to promote recycling. It may be made obligatory intern by single camps, but there is a need of governmental intervention to make locals recycle as well.Due to the fact that there is no regular garbage collection for every house making it very difficult to control who is throwing his waste how away. Therefore it should be (e. g. as in Germany), that there should be a garbage collection for every house and every household gets different recycling tons on a yearly payment. Thus if people do not recycle his waste won't be taken away. As a matter of course this is combined with enormous costs, but may be covered by e. g. h igher annual payment of foreigners and European Union contributions.It would furthermore create jobs, because the garbage collection of every household requires more people. The pollution due to water sports activities is in proportion very low, because the main activity of surfing comes with an environmental friendly lifestyle. This green close to nature way of life is promoted and educated in the surf camps in encouraging their guests to be very careful with the environment, recycling, low water consumption etc. and advertise to respect the locals (with t-shirts for example).In a surfing society these things are so evident, that people react very upset on people ignoring these unwritten laws. (â€Å"Leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but memories†) Surf camps and locals know that the beaches Beach of Zavial are their main income source, this is why they are absolutely protected, no waste is left there and they are almost totally untouched, mainly only one restaur ant. Even the beach boys and lifeguards use surfboards and not motorized lifeboats in cases of emergencies.This statement is as well proved by the fact that even robberies hardly ever occur on the beaches, it is possible to stay hours in the water while nobody looks after one's belongings and nothing happens, but if one once do not lock the windows in his apartment, it is 99% sure that he won't find his apartment as it was left. The only thing which could be reduced are the daily long drives to the west coast. Every surf school in the Algarve has only one or two licenses (only The Surf Experience (first surf school in the Algarve) has the right to go to almost every beach) to teach surfing at a beach.This is actually a very good thing, so the carrying capacity of the beaches is balanced anf there are never to much schools, people at the beaches. But many schools have licenses for far away beaches (e. g. Algarve Watersport in Lagos has a license for the beach in Monte Clerigo  œ 40 km away) they have to drive there every day. Surely the possibility of surfing must be secured, but there are geographically closer beaches for the differently located camps as well. Also the public transport opportunities should be enhanced. Currently there are barely busses to the beaches, only to the major cities.As well the accessibility of Lagos from the airport after 20. 00 is poor, only with private shuttle busses. Due to the extension of the public transportation air pollution may be reduced. The problem of seasonality, in Lagos due to the climatic variations of a continental area, are that serious that most of the tourism related businesses have to close down the operation for the winter months, to avoid financial loss. Resulting in Lagos becoming a â€Å"ghost town†. An opportunity to avoid closing down the whole operation may be to offer discounted packages for this time, because actually the natural conditions or surfing are the best from November until March and the air temperature is still mild and springlike. But it is always hard to measure if it is worth to even run the operations on a very low level, because the â€Å"real surfer† for whom this conditions are advantageous won't come to a surf school or camp. This is why I would suggest a steady operation especially for apartment rentals, rental car providers, surf shops and restaurants. It is as well important to consider that people working during a season do not have the chance to rest or even think about holidays.Off season is the only time these workers can think about themselves, go on holiday, visit their families or even make doctors appointments. So people are actually looking forward to the end of the season (if they have an alternative job or earned enough to bridge the income less winter months). In addition may these time be used for maintenance works in the accommodation facilities. On these grounds I think that seasonality in this area has indeed a very powerf ul impact, but not in an absolutely negative way. 4 4. Conclusion and RecommendationsAs already mentioned is governmental intervention essential to solve the problems of the Lago's community. To avoid the negative economical impacts occurred by tourism and to achieve more positive impacts of it some regulations must be appointed: The introduction of an obligatory guaranteed employment rate of locals in every tourism related business and a tax reduction for businesses employing more locals than required, so the unemployment rate can be controlled and the thereby emerging socio-cultural conflicts may be reduced.In addition should recycling be made obligatory and the public transfer to the beaches should be enhanced. Also should the state-owned educational system be improved and specialized on available occupations, so that locals are able to stay in their home towns or areas and still receive effective education and have a belief in a future there. All in all are surf camps ecological ly sensitive accommodations that work to preserve the local environment, culture and surf. Those camps help ensure that tourism is sustainable and that the spot will be around for years to come.This great opportunity given by tourism must be captured. Surf camps can contribute economically and environmentally to make tourism in Lagos more sustainable. Economically and socio-culturally by encouraging their guests to go to local restaurants and put their breakfast into local cafes and environmentally while staying educative and teach the environmental friendly surfer's lifestyle to their guests. 5 5. Implementation The implementation of these solutions must be â€Å"SMART†: Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.To specify the goals I have to answer the following questions: What: To make Lagos more sustainable, while balancing the amount of local and foreign workers, therefore encouraging business owners to employ more locals, ease up occurred tensions between l ocals and foreigners and promote the â€Å"green† surfer lifestyle. Who: With the regulative and financial help of the government and the educative support of local surf camps When: Regulations should be set for the next season already, education during the season Where: Lagos and its affected beaches, PortugalWhy: Lagos is one of the most visited cities in the Algarve, not capturing the potential of being more sustainable would occur in an absolute invasion of foreigners, the loss of Portuguese culture and the excess of Lagos' carrying capacity. Measuring: How much? How will I know when it is accomplished: The unemployment rate should be reduced down to max 5-10 %. Local tourism related businesses should have a percentage of min 30% of locals working for them.All the surf camps in town should if possible transfer their breakfast to local cafes. Attainable: How can the goal be accomplished: The goals may be accomplished with the interaction of the government, the surf camps a nd the locals as well. Relevant: Does this seem worthwhile: Implementing these solutions will make Lagos more sustainable and keep it as an attractive destination in the future as well. Is this the right time: It is definitely the right time, because the problems will get worse and worse if nothing is to be done.Does this match other needs: It perfectly matches the most important need of reducing the negative and increasing the positive impacts of tourism. Time-bound: When: ASAP What can be done today: Inform and encourage to do something: governments, authorities, camps and locals. 6 6. References Personal experiences while working at Algarve Watersports http://www. carvoeiro. net/news-reader/items/2011-01-01_arbeitslosigkeit_an_der_algarve. html http://topachievement. com/smart. html ———————– [pic] ———————– 9

Foundations of Online Learning Essay

We are in an age where electronic devices have consumed our lives. You can’t even think of leaving your home or office without some kind of electronic gizmo. Think of how these electronic devices and technology have changed the way we think, computers and portable devices are doing all the thinking for us. Students today rely on these gizmos and have forgotten about the core fundamentals of learning and are not learning the basic skills. As you read through this research paper I will cover electronics in today’s schooling, lack of penmanship, social bearers, and online schooling. Walk into any school classroom today and they are filled with laptops, projectors, smart boards, and other electronic gizmos. Schools are relying more and more on technology to teach our students. There is nothing wrong with technology, but have strayed a way of teaching the basic fundamentals of spelling and writing. Computers today have embraced our classrooms with kids becoming accustomed to them in everyday life. Between September 1984 and September 1997 alone, the number of computers in America’s K-12 schools increased to more than 8 million units. By 2014 it is expected there will be over one billion computers available to students worldwide. In 1994 only 3% of schools had internet access, by 2005 that number had reached 94% and the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access in public schools was 3.8 to 1. Even with all these high tech gadgets, children still having to go to computer labs or the back of classrooms (Budig 2010). Books are starting to become a thing of the past as schools look to laptops, tablet, and eBook computers. Tablet computers allow a student to digitally write and erase their work, while allowing a student to also use it as a computer to do word processing, view books and search internet. A laptop just allows a student to do word processing, view books and the internet. Over the last couple of years a new device called an eBook has taken over. It is allowing schools to replace classroom books with one device, the average eBook can store over 160 books saving schools millions of dollars. California spends over 350 million annually on schools books and is looking to eBooks which cost only 300.00 (Tran 2009). Today kids are turning in their pencils for keyboards. Penmanship is starting to become a lost art as schools teach less writing and focus more on computer keyboarding. In 1995 adults were resorting to printing instead of cursive to make their correspondence understood. As of 2002 only a quarter of 12th grade students could write a decent essay. Even worse only 2 percent wrote really well (Brush 2011). In Canada children in first grade are expected to compose and edit simple text documents. By the third grade they are expected to type an email. â€Å"If it’s keyboarding vs. penmanship, I think penmanship loses out, just because of the packed curriculum. It’s something that you need time to do,† says Susan Whelehan, an elementary school teacher in Toronto (Schmidt, 2005). Students are relying more on computers today to do the work for them and practicing penmanship less. Social media and video games have taken over our lives and kids are interacting less with each other. Fifteen years ago kids would play outside and use their imaginations, today they sit in front of a TV or computer. On average 2-5 year old spend 32 hours a week in front of TV while 6-11 years old spend 28 hours (Boyse, 2010). According to the â€Å"Kaiser Family Foundation that for more than 7 1/2 hours a day, American children ages 8 to 18 are tethered to computers, plugged into MP3 players, watching TV or playing video, computer or handheld games — and for much of that time, doing several at once† (Healy, 2010). With all that time kids are also turning to sites like Facebook and MySpace. These sites are causing kids to stay in front of a computer which they are losing interaction with children and causing social barriers. Online learning has taken over the classroom with its flexibility to teach students. Schools have come a long way from the slide shows and reel-reel video, today they have turned to Computer Based Training (CBT) and Multi Media. In 2004 it was estimated that 37 percent of school districts had students taking technology-supported distance education courses. Today over a million high school students are enrolled in some kind of distant learning. CBT training has become a standard in training students from reading to math and has been very effective. CBTs give a student a fun way to learn without them knowing it. Flexibility is the key with CBTs. If students are having trouble in one area the program can focus more, if a student is excelling it can push the student harder. CBTs have become a great assessment tool for teachers and allows them more flexibility. Another great tool in the classroom has been slide shows and smart boards. Years ago teachers would print material out on transparencies and project them on screens. Today teachers can build slideshows which provide more detail and flexibility. When you incorporate a smart board this allows the ability of interaction with the slideshow. Over the past 20 years our learning environment has seen a complete over all. We demand information at our fingertips and on a moment’s notice. Electronic devices fill our daily lives from social media, information at our fingertips, and having them do simple tasks. We have become a nation that wants things easy. Our lives are disrupted if we can’t check Facebook every minute of the day. With that technology has done great things for our schools but has hindered some also. Students are relying on computers to do everything for them and we are losing key elements of learning. Penmanship, spelling, and grammar have been lost to word-processing. Teachers are being replaced to Computer Based Training, but with new technology changing everyday you never know what maybe robot teachers is next! References Schmidt, S. (2005, January 22). Keyboard threatens writing skills: For next generation. The art of cursive writing may be a dying one. The Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=8422&sr=lni%284F9K-YHB0-TWD3-Y248%29 Budig, G. A. (2010, March 31). Technology an integral part of today’s education system. Retrieved from http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/mar/31/technology-integral-part-todays- education-system/ Tran, M. (2009, June 09). Arnold Schwarzenegger to scrap school textbooks in favour of ebooks. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/arnold-schwarzenegger-school-textbooks-ebooks Brush, D. C. (2011, September 06). Penmanship becoming a lost art. Retrieved from http://crossville-chronicle.com/opinion/x601175799/RANDOM-THOUGHTS-Penmanship-becoming-a-lost-art Boyse, K. C. (2010, August). Television and Children. Retrieved from http://crossville- chronicle.com/opinion/x601175799/RANDOM-THOUGHTS-Penmanship-becoming-a-lost-art Healy, M. (2010, August). Teenage social media butterflies may not be such a bad idea. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/18/science/la-sci-socially-connected-kids-20100518

Kurt Cobain and Nirvana

Nirvana is seen as one of the most influential bands since the Beatles, and Kurt Cobain as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Kurt Donald Cobain was born on the 20th February 1967. As a child he was hyperactive so he was prescribed drugs to help him concentrate but these drugs kept him awake until four am, so he was given sedatives to help him sleep. At the age of seven his parents divorced, this left Kurt shy and ‘difficult' to control. For this much of his young life he lived with various family members, once he even lived with his school headmaster for a few months. He was also homeless for some time. During this time he lived beneath a bridge. This period of his life is reflected in the song ‘Sliver' â€Å"Mom and dad went to the show, they dropped me at Grandpa Joe's, I kicked and screamed, said please and please, oh Grandma take me home†. In 1979 when Kurt's dad joined a record club, this exposed Kurt to legendary rock/metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Kiss. He also took an interest in British punk, especially Sex Pistols and The Clash. On Kurt's fourteenth birthday he bought his first guitar and spent a lot of time trying to develop his own unique musical style. He also spent much of his time going to concerts in Seattle and he was a roadie for a band called ‘Melvins'. Around this time Kurt went over to his friend Robert Novoselic's house where he met Robert's brother Krist, the future bass guitar player for Nirvana. Krist Anthony Novoselic was born on May sixteenth 1965 in Compton California. His parents were Croatian immigrants (Novoselic means ‘new settler' in Croation). When Krist was younger he and his younger brother Robert enjoyed vandalism, slashing tyres and throwing rocks at cars and houses. When he was fourteen his parents sent him to Croatia because they were worried about his depression, Krist enjoyed living in Croatia because there he started hearing different bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Sex Pistols and The Ramones. Eventually he was called home where he began to drink and smoke pot heavily. It is not definitely known when Kurt and Kris began making music, but they recorded the ‘Faecal Matter Demo† in 1982 at Kurt's aunt Mari's house. Kurt and Kris experimented with many different drummers during this time they settled on Chad Channing, he was their drummer on their first album ‘Bleach' and on their first single ‘Love Buzz' (which was originally released by 1960's Dutch group ‘Shocking Blue'). He left the band soon after their first European tour. Then the lead singer of ‘Melvins' introduced Kurt and Kris (by now calling themselves ‘Nirvana') to a drummer called David Grohl. Kurt and Kris were astounded at how good he was and immediately asked him to join them. He agreed. With Dave now behind the drums the true sound of Nirvana was released. They managed to combine loud distorted guitar riffs with smooth melodies while still producing a sound that, while totally original, was also a pleasure to listen to. The band moved their contract to Geffen Records and near the end of 1991 released their album ‘Nevermind'. It went to one hundred and forty-four on the album chart, but after an appearance on the MTV show ‘Headbanger's Ball' (MTV was the only music channel that had alternative music, and this show in particular was one of the most popular MTV programs ever) and a live performance on ‘Saturday Night Live', the album went straight to number one despite competition from Michael Jackson. This new album was revolution in music, and did what many other bands could not. The music on the album did not follow any traditional structures and was extremely distinctive from any other bands of the time. Typically the album had slow verses and faster choruses. This is true of such songs as ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit' and ‘In Bloom' which were both released as singles. ‘Smells like Teen Spirit' reached the UK top ten (Nirvana did appear live on Top of The Pops once, but that particular performance was extremely distorted and did not sound much like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit'). This could be because Kurt did not like his new fame and wanted to rid himself of his new image as spokesman for a generation). At this time in his life Kurt began taking drugs more often, mostly heroine and morphine. On the January twenty-fourth 1992 Kurt married Courtney Love in Waikiki, Hawaii. Six months later their daughter ‘Frances-Bean' was born. At the time there was an article in the magazine ‘Vanity Fair' saying that Courtney had used Heroin while pregnant. Social services got involved and the Cobains were not allowed to be alone with their daughter for the first month of her life. Soon after, Nirvana began to record their album ‘In Utero', the working title was ‘I Hate Myself and Want to Die'. The aim of this album was to lose all of the ‘false fans' that liked Nirvana only because of the popularity of ‘Nevermind', and all of the people who only liked ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit'. This album was a return to the old days of ‘Bleach' (in fact many of the songs were supposed to be on ‘Bleach'). The album was a success, in that it did what the band wanted, it did not sell as quickly as ‘Nevermind' and many of their former followers stopped liking the band. While on tour in Italy Kurt fell into a coma after a mixture of champagne and a prescripted medicine. This was later revealed as an attempted suicide. When he woke up he asked for a milkshake and went back home. Courtney threatened to divorce him if he did not sort out his drug problems so he went to a voluntary rehabilitation centre. A few days later he escaped (jumping over a wall) and went to his house (he said the centre was â€Å"A place for retards†). When Courtney found out he had left she did not know where he had gone. She cancelled his credit card and expected him to phone her when he ran out of money. She also hired private investigator Tom Grant to track Kurt down. About a week later Kurt's body was discovered in the greenhouse above the garage. After a police investigation they concluded that he had taken a triple overdose of heroin and then put the barrel of a shotgun in his mouth, before pulling the trigger. In the suicide note (addressed to his childhood imaginary friend Boddah) he spoke of how he did not really enjoy performing his music. He wanted to be exhilarated like Freddie Mercury had been before playing a concert, but he couldn't do it. He also did not want his daughter to turn out how he did. In the end he says to remember â€Å"It's better to burn out than to fade away† which is exactly what he did.

Maternal & infant health (for Australia's Indigenous Peoples) Essay

Maternal & infant health (for Australia's Indigenous Peoples) - Essay Example The richness and the complexity of the original culture of these people was poorly understood by the colonisers and their current descendants, leading to legislations and polices that worked against them. Thus, the indigenous Australians suffered from social exclusion, colonisation and economic marginalisation (Thackrah and Scott, 2007). As a consequence, the Indigenous people not only lost their spiritual well being, they also suffered from other aspects like racism, poverty, poor economy and poor health. One of the significant consequences and current day problem is poor health (Thackrah and Scott, 2007). Poor health has affected all age groups and both sexes among the Indigenous community (Thackrah and Scott, 2007). Of significant interest is poor maternal health. In this essay, the influence of various government policies and legislation on maternal health of Indigenous Australian population will be discussed. The original inhabitants of the continent of Australia and the nearby islands are known as the Indigenous Australians. They are either Torres Strait Islanders or Aboriginal Islanders and they make up more than 2.5 percent of the population of Australia. While the former are indigenous to the Islands of Torres Strait located in the Northern part of Queensland near Papua New Guinea, the latter are indigenous to the mainland Australia, Tasmania and some adjacent islands. The Indigenous communities are diverse and are a mixture of various customers, cultures and languages (Thackrah and Scott, 2007). Prior to colonisation, Indigenous people were active and hunter gatherers. They ate food that was low in fat, sugar, salt and high in fibre. They expended energy to obtain food and water. Thus they maintained good health. However, following colonisation, the change in dietary and lifestyle habits led to development of chronic degenerative diseases like hypertension, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. They subsequently became exposed to various commu nicable diseases that rapidly spread among their communities (Anderson and Grossman, 2003). They were forced to be influenced by the Western ideas of health and wellness which basically were different in the Indigenous communities. For example, while according to the WHO (1946) "health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity", according to the Aboriginal people, health is a multi-dimensional concept that embraces all aspects of living. According to the National Aboriginal and Island Health Organisation, "health is not just the physical well being of the individual but the social emotional and cultural well-being of the whole community. This is a whole-of-life view and it also includes the cyclical concept of life.† (Eckermann et al 1992). Thus, health of the Indigenous people declined because of not only physical contact with the European settlers, but also because of destruction of their culture and dev elopment of mental pain. Principals and beliefs about health were incompatible between the Western practitioners and Aboriginal people. For example, the Indigenous people are resistant to hospital attendance because they think that it is a place to die. They rely more on community

A Demographic Analysis of Mexico Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A Demographic Analysis of Mexico - Assignment Example According to any basic health model, the statistics on Mexico show a shift of lifestyle to a more urbane, aesthetic way of living that is characterized by lifestyle diseases such as obesity. Conversely, this comes with a reduction in conditions such as underweight and wasting as well as stunted growth. A reduction in hunger index from 5.99 in 1999 to 5.10 in 2003 is also noted. These can be attributed to an aggregate improvement in health care and sanitation supported by gains in food security occasioned by an augmented economy. TB prevalence in Mexico can be said to be effectively managed compared to other countries. The cases of infection cited by the World Health Organization in 2009 pale in comparison to most States that have a higher infection index according to data from UNHDR. Again, this can be pegged on improved healthcare. Despite men and women accessing education at a proportionate footing of 51% to 49%, the frequency of women dropping out along the way is decidedly higher in rural areas. A possible explanation lies in the vicious cycle of poverty that sucks in more women whose duties and obligations are largely domestic. These statistics show an indication that the environment in Mexico has reduced disparities of income and social status because of the positive parameters of growth, with an average income of 13500$, the level of poverty has dived from 50% with a fifth of the population reeling in extreme poverty.

Quiz show Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Quiz show - Essay Example They told them to choose topics that they were well versed with and at times provided answers to the questions. They choose one who was to be on the lead and the questions they were to get right or deliberately wrong themselves. In 1957 the producers set to put a new figure into the limelight of the show. In this case, they had to fail the current top contestant Herb Stempel by asking to deliberately get a question that he knew the answer wrong, in order to disqualify him. They wanted to bring in the new top contestant Charles Van Doren. Doren was considered to be more handsome and young. He was also a bit famous because he was the son of a famous politic family known in the academic circles. In this light, how would bring more vigor and drama to the show, hence maintaining is popularity. Many people in the studio thought that he was not going to accept but when the time came, he â€Å"took the dive†. Although he was against the decision, he never wanted to go against the studio, he did it in good will. Kantian Ethical principles state that the only thing that is intrinsically good is â€Å"good will†. This principle owes its existence to the Enlightenment rationalism from where it was coined. It is there possible to judge the actions of both Herb Stempel and Charles Van Doren based on the above theory. One thing that is clear is that Stempel was not willing to lie on a question that he very well knew the correct answer. However, since he was a sacrificial lamb he had no option but to play along and cheat in order to put Doren in the top position. He did in good will so as to ensure the success of the studio and the famous program. However, it was not right of Doren to take his brothers position as the top contestant, knowing that he rightfully earned it. Despite this, he had to accept the chance since he was going to be on top of the game and all the focus was to

Nike Inc. Company Profile Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nike Inc. Company Profile - Research Paper Example In total Nike has over 300 stores worldwide excluding independent distributors, dealers and whole sellers. (Shareholders’ Report, 2010) Nike Incorporation popularly known as Nike is a USA based world’s largest manufacturing company, formed in 1968, of sports apparel, shoes and accessories having mammoth 67% share in international market. Indeed, the company has become a pioneer designer, producer and seller of, primarily, sportswear, equipment, bags, and athletic footwear products. The global player supplies it products in 180 nations having 323 stores outside USA and has been actively participating in promotion of sporting and leisure activities, since its very inception. Nike recorded phenomenal growth during 1970s and 1980s because of sound business strategies and practices of its major strategic planners. Indeed, the major reason behind Nike’s phenomenal success is focus on quality and excellent marketing that persuaded the customers to switch toward Nike’s premium brands. (Shareholders’ Report, 2010) Since, Nike has been operational in over 180 nations, it has employed highly educated, experienced and professional personnel who administer, manage and control entire production and supply chain. The Board consists of 10 independent Directors and ‘one outside director who is not independent’. The Chairman of company is Philip H. Knight, while Mark G. Parker enjoys the responsibility of President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Here is the list that includes names of all 13 top managers. (Shareholders’ Report, 2010) To become world’s leading supplier of sports apparel, equipment, shoes and related accessories by producing and selling top quality premium products across the globe. To value our customers so that they receive satisfaction from our want-satisfying optimal quality and durable branded