Prices and Prizes

Prices and Prizes Prices and Prizes Prices and Prizes By Mark Nichol It may not surprise you that price and prize are cognates, but two other common words pertaining to value, and additional words derived from them, share their common ancestor. Price and prize stem from the Latin noun pretium, meaning â€Å"prize† or â€Å"reward,† or â€Å"value† or â€Å"worth.† Price is both a verb meaning â€Å"set value† and a noun meaning â€Å"value† (including a reference to something challenging or unpleasant that is nevertheless necessary as a condition of achieving a desired result). The adjective pricey means â€Å"expensive,† while priceless means not â€Å"without a price† but â€Å"valued beyond price† and refers to an object or an experience worth so much to a person or people in general because of aesthetic considerations or an emotional attachment that no monetary value can be assigned to it. To overprice is to place excessive value on something for sale, while to be priced out of a commodity is to be unable to afford it. A price tag is a piece of paper or other material attached to a product that indicates its monetary value. Something offered for half-price will be sold for half of its marked value. â€Å"Prix fixe,† adopted directly from French and meaning â€Å"fixed price,† describes a set meal offered by a restaurant at a specific cost, as opposed to multiple dishes available, according to a displayed menu, for various prices. To prize is to ascribe value, and a prize is something given in recognition of an achievement. As an adjective, prize means â€Å"worthy of a prize,† and prizeworthy itself is also an adjective. A prizefight is a professional boxing match, and a participant of such an event is a prizefighter, though these terms have largely been superseded by â€Å"boxing match† and boxer. The Latin forebear pretium was altered to precium, and being aware of this form makes it easier to connect precious, meaning â€Å"of great worth† (and often pertaining to aesthetic or emotional worth, as in ascribing value to time, rather than monetary value), to price and prize. Precious also has the sense of â€Å"esteemed,† in describing a cherished friend, though it also has a pejorative sense of â€Å"affected,† or â€Å"overly refined in manner.† The adjectival form is preciously, and the quality of being precious is preciousness. Praise, too, is derived from pretium by way of precium. That word, meaning â€Å"celebrate† or â€Å"commend,† or as a noun â€Å"commendation† or â€Å"worship† (or, less often, â€Å"merit† or â€Å"value†), is also the root of appraise, meaning â€Å"set a value on,† and the noun form appraisal. A praiseworthy act is one that merits commendation. To appreciate is to esteem or value, or to be conscious of, and an act of doing so is one of appreciation; the adjective appreciable means â€Å"able to be measured or perceived.† Depreciate, by contrast, means â€Å"lower in esteem or value†; in a taxation context, it refers to deducting a portion of the original cost of something as its value decreases with age and use. The verb deprecate, meaning â€Å"belittle,† â€Å"play down,† or â€Å"disapprove of,† is unrelated. (Its root word pertains to prayer; originally, to deprecate was to avert something undesired by praying.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Addressing A Letter to Two People34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better WriterWhen Is a Question Not a Question?

Speak by Laurie Hale Anderson - Book Review

Speak by Laurie Hale Anderson - Book Review Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a multiple award winning book, but it is also listed by the American Library Association as one of the top 100 books challenged between 2000-2009. Every year several books are challenged and banned across the nation by individuals and organizations who believe the content of the books are inappropriate. In this review you will learn more about the book Speak, the challenges it has received, and what Laurie Halse Anderson  and others have to say about the issue of censorship.    Speak: The Story    Melinda Sardino is a fifteen year old sophomore whose life is dramatically and permanently changed the night she attends an end of summer party.   At the party Melinda is raped and calls the police, but doesn’t get the opportunity to report the crime. Her friends, thinking she called to bust the party, shun her and she becomes an outcast. Once vibrant, popular, and a good student, Melinda has become withdrawn and depressed. She avoids having to talk and doesn’t take care of her physical or mental health. All her grades start to slide, except her Art grade, and she begins to define herself by small acts of rebellion such as refusing to give an oral report and skipping school. Meanwhile, Melinda’s rapist, an older student, subtly taunts her at every opportunity. Melinda doesn’t reveal  the details of her experience  until one of her former friends begins to date the same boy who raped Melinda. In an attempt to warn her friend, Melinda writes an anonymous letter and then confronts the girl and explains what really happened at the party. Initially, the former friend refuses to believe Melinda and accuses her of jealousy, but later breaks up with the boy. Melinda is confronted by her rapist  who accuses her of destroying his reputation. He attempts to assault Melinda again, but this time she finds the power to speak and screams loudly enough to be heard by other students who are nearby.       Speak: The Controversy and the Censorship    Since its publication release in 1999 Speak has been challenged on its content about rape, sexual assault and suicidal thoughts. In September of 2010 one Missouri professor wanted the book banned from the Republic School District because he considered the two rape scenes â€Å"soft pornography.† His attack on the book elicited a media storm of responses including a statement from the author herself in which she defended her book. (Source: Laurie Halse Anderson’s Web site) The American Library Association listed Speak as number 60 in the top one hundred books to be banned or challenged between 2000 and 2009. Anderson knew when she wrote this story that it would be a controversial topic, but she is shocked whenever she reads about a challenge to  her book. She writes that Speak is about the emotional trauma suffered by a teen after a sexual assault and is not soft pornography. (Source: Laurie Halse Andersons Web site) In addition to Andersons defense of her book, her publishing company, Penguin Young Readers Group, placed a full page ad in the New York Times to support the author and her book. Penguin spokeswoman  Shanta Newlin stated, That such a decorated book could be challenged is disturbing.  (Source: Publishers Weekly Web site)    Speak: Laurie Halse Anderson and Censorship    Anderson reveals in many interviews that the idea for Speak came to her in a nightmare. In her nightmare a girl is sobbing, but Anderson did not know the reason until she started to write. As she wrote the voice of Melinda took shape and  began to speak.  Anderson felt compelled to tell Melindas story. With the success of her book (a National Award finalist and a Printz Honor Award) came the backlash of controversy and censorship. Anderson was stunned, but found herself in a new position to speak out against censorship. States Anderson, â€Å"Censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them.† (Source:  Banned Books Blog) Anderson devotes a portion of her website to censorship issues and specifically addresses the challenges to her book Speak. She argues in defense of educating others about sexual assault and lists frightening statistics about young women who have been raped. (Source: Laurie Halse Andersons Web Site) Anderson is actively involved in national groups that battle censorship and book banning such as the ABFFE (American Booksellers for Free Expression), the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Freedom to Read Foundation.    Speak: My Recommendation    Speak is a novel about empowerment and it is a book that every teen, especially teen girls, should read. There is a time to be quiet and a time to speak out, and on the issue of sexual assault, a young woman needs to find the courage to raise her voice and ask for help. This is the underlying message of Speak and the message Laurie Halse Anderson is trying to convey to her readers. It must be made clear that Melindas rape scene is a flashback and there are no graphic details, but implications. The novel is focused on the emotional impact of the act, and not the act itself. By writing Speak and defending its right to voice an issue, Anderson has opened the door for other authors  to write about real teen issues. Not only does this book deal with a contemporary teen issue, but its an authentic reproduction of the teen voice. Anderson deftly captures the high school experience and understands the teen view of cliques and what it feels like to be an outcast. I grappled with the age recommendations for some time because this is such an important book that needs to be read.  Its a powerful book for discussion and 12 is an age when girls are changing physically and socially. However, I realize that because of the mature content, every 12 year old may not be ready for the book. Consequently, I recommend it for ages 14-18 and, in addition, for those 12 and 13 year olds with the maturity to handle the topic. The publishers recommended ages for this book is 12 and up. (Speak, 2006.  ISBN: 9780142407325)

An Attack against the Iraqi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An Attack against the Iraqi - Essay Example He possesses the weapons of mass murder. He agrees -- he agreed to disarm Iraq of these weapons as a condition for ending the Gulf War over a decade ago. The United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 1441, has declared Iraq in material breach of its longstanding obligations, demanding once again Iraq's full and immediate disarmament, and promised serious consequences if the regime refused to comply. That resolution was passed unanimously and its logic is inescapable; the Iraqi regime will disarm itself, or the Iraqi regime will be disarmed by force. And the regime has not disarmed itself. Following these assertions, the Iraq war falls between the difficult and easier to justify preemptive strike categories. President Bush cites instances when Iraq refused to comply with disarmament as determined by the UN Security Council. However, he does not give concrete evidence that such weapons have been discovered in Iraq. In hindsight, weapons of mass destruction were not uncovered on Iraqi soil, therefore nullifying the Bush Administration’s claims to a legitimate preemptive strike. The preemptive strike of 1967 completed by Israel falls into the easier to justify category. According to BBC.com, in 1965 Palestinian groups had begun a series of attacks that were backed by Egypt and Syria. In the following years, a buildup of Arab troops began to surround Israel. The build-up of troops and attacks two years earlier on the border demonstrate an intention for further military action against Israel. Troop movement and hostile rhetoric from the Egyptian President Abdel Nasser also fueled the perceived need for a preemptive strike by Israel. Moral issues also played a role in this strike. Jews were consistently persecuted in the region and this strike demonstrated their unwillingness to be taunted by their neighbors.  

Value and Risk Management in Construction Case Study

Value and Risk Management in Construction - Case Study Example Resulting damage of hazards and threats, which became risks, might be to the physical condition and security of employees, to place, gear or an whole installation, to the surroundings, to products, or to monetary assets (Waring, 2001). For those belongings of risks to commerce, this account suggests you ways to avoid/transfer; reduce/control or luxury them in case they occur to your business. The report finished upon the leadership of Mr. Dennis, Master of Marketing. If we analyze then we come to know that naturally, a decision to invest 5M in a capital project involves a mainly irreversible obligation of resources that is generally subject to an important degree of risk. Such verdicts have far-reaching effect on a company's productivity and elasticity over the long term, thus necessitate that they be part of a cautiously developed strategy that is based on dependable appraisal and forecasting actions. In order to handle these risk managerial decisions, TW has to make an evaluation of the size of the outflows and inflows of funds, the life span of the speculation, the degree of risk attached as well as the price of obtaining funds. Moreover, one of the mainly significant steps in the capital budget... In order to handle these risk managerial decisions, TW has to make an evaluation of the size of the outflows and inflows of funds, the life span of the speculation, the degree of risk attached as well as the price of obtaining funds. Moreover, one of the mainly significant steps in the capital budgeting cycle is working out if the benefits of investing big capital sums overshadow the costs of these investments. The variety of methods that business TWs use can be classify in one of two ways: customary and inexpensive cash flow techniques. Traditional methods comprise the Average Rate of Return and Payback; discounted cash flow (DCF) methods using Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return. Net Present Value (NPV) According to the expert analysis net present value is a way of comparing the value of money now by means of the value of money in the potential. A euro nowadays is value more than a euro in the future; since inflation erodes the buying power of the prospect money, as money offered nowadays can be invested and so grow. The technique is a three-stage process: "To compute the present value of each component of cash spending in a proposal and then, to add these person present values together to offer a total present worth of the expenditures; To likewise compute the present value of each component of cash income in a proposal and, then, to add these personage present values together to offer a total current value of the incomes; To subtract the total present value of expenditures from the whole current value of the incomes, in order to decide the net current value"; Tinic, S. M., and West, R. R. (1986) If this computation produces an NPV that is optimistic, the

An Important Idea in on the Side Walk Bleeding Essay Example for Free

An Important Idea in on the Side Walk Bleeding Essay An Important Idea in on the Side Walk Bleeding and the Sniper An important idea in On the Sidewalk Bleeding by Even Hunter was that of the importance of having your own identity. Andy, the central character of this short story taught me a valuable lesson as to the significance of this. He also made me aware of the fact that we need to think things through thoroughly rather than making impulsive decisions. Andy was a sixteen year old boy who Wore a purple Jacket; the lettering on the back of the Jacket read The Royals, a name which he was proud to own. But not until he was stabbed did he realize the reality of taking on the identity of what you are not. Underneath the rough, tough appearance of the Jacket Andy was a normal boy, who wanted to live a normal life and achieve many things But now he was dying. Andy had made the fatal mistake of wearing the Jacket of a gang. He had thought that this would give him power and prestige, and did not realism until too late that his identity needed to come from himself, that he had to work hard, and be himself rather than simply follow a crowd in order to form it. This taught me that we an take on someone elses identity the easy way, but it is not so easy to lose, even when it is no longer wanted or needed. A valuable lesson I learnt from Andy was the importance of having your own identity and the necessity of thinking things through thoroughly before making decisions. When Andy became part of the gang he did not know that he was about to die, he did not know that it would rob him of his life and destroy his dreams, he did not know that a time would come when he would hate the title and its meaning, he did not know that he would die A Royal when he Just wanted to be Andy. From this I learned that Andy did not recognize the importance of having his own identity, until he understood that he would be Judged by the group he belonged to, rather than who he was himself. He was A Royal and proud of it. However, the time did come when he resented the title, he wanted to get rid of it but couldnt. This reminds us of our own actions that we have all taken on the spur of the moment while blinded by the glitter and glory of what may lie ahead, without taking the time to stop and think that it may be deeply regretted. We are simply attracted by someone elses power and think we can share it with no effort of our own. It teaches us that we need to spend time in thought, instead of making impromptus decisions, in order to avert these disastrous outcomes. The boy lay on the sidewalk bleeding to the world he wasnt Andy he was simply a boy. a royal how could he escape the title and Jacket that branded him with a stupid word, that to him now seemed meaningless? If he had not been wearing the Jacket he would not have been stabbed, the knife had not been plunged in hatred of Andy. The knife had only hated the purple Jacket; the Jacket was a stupid, meaningless thing that was robbing him of his fife and identity. It is clear that Andy understood too late; however, it has taught me that if we give up our identity to take on that of another group or body we may lose our own completely. It takes time and effort to find our own identity; teenage years in particular are a time for building identity, however, they are often too busy and too occupied to take this time and effort and therefore turn to a gang for the identity they also an important idea in The Sniper by L. Flattery. Unlike Andy in On the Sidewalk Bleeding the sniper has no name and is only referred to as The Sniper money who kills. This text taught me, that in war nobody has a face; nobody has an identity of their own. This story is about two snipers shooting at each other from opposite roof tops. A woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired and she fell with a shriek into the gutter. A mans head and shoulders appeared, looking toward the sniper. The sniper raised his rifle and fired again, the head fell heavily on the turret wall. The short story ends ironically when the sniper realizes that he has killed his own brother The sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his rooters face. Only then when he saw his brothers face did he realism that his opponents were all individuals with identities of their own. A valuable lesson this taught me was that in war nobody has a face, everyone is Just shooting at the identity of the enemy, at the uniform of the opponent. The fact that none of the characters are named proves this yet again. A young republican, they are only identified by the side they ar e supporting. Because of this inability to see people as individuals they never realism that they may be killing friends and family. T also taught me that we deed to be prepared for the consequences of what may happen when we take sides of war and that we alone must be responsible for our actions. Both the short texts On the side Walk bleeding and The Sniper look at this idea of identity. However, while Andy finally recognizes the danger of not having his own identity and dies rejecting the gangs overriding one, we are left to assume the snipers ultimate understanding of the danger of losing your identity, that he will realism that he is in conflict with humans and will begin to wonder about the identities of all he has killed.

Fuel Gauges :: essays research papers

the is cut and pasted off howstuffworks.com to get an account If you're like me, you like to squeeze every last mile you can out of your tank of fuel. If you could get 20 miles extra from each tank, that could save you two or three trips to the gas station over the course of a year. The main impediment to stretching your mileage is the fuel gauge on your car, which makes you think you have less fuel than you actually do. These devices are notoriously inaccurate, showing empty when there are gallons left in the tank and showing full for the first 50 miles. In this edition of HowStuffWorks, we'll learn why our fuel gauges behave the way they do. There are two main parts to a fuel gauge: the sender, which measures the level of fuel in the tank, and the gauge, which displays that level to the driver. First, let's see how a typical sender works. The sending unit is located in the fuel tank of the car. It consists of a float, usually made of foam, connected to a thin, metal rod. The end of the rod is mounted to a variable resistor. A resistor is an electrical device that resists the flow of electricity. The more resistance there is, the less current will flow. In a fuel tank, the variable resistor consists of a strip of resistive material connected on one side to the ground. A wiper connected to the gauge slides along this strip of material, conducting the current from the gauge to the resistor. If the wiper is close to the grounded side of the strip, there is less resistive material in the path of the current, so the resistance is small. If the wiper is at the other end of the strip, there is more resistive material in the current's path, so the resistance is large. In the sending unit, the fuel has to drop below a certain level before the float starts to drop. When the float is near the top of the tank, the wiper on the variable resistor rests close to the grounded (negative) side, which means that the resistance is small and a relatively large amount of current passes through the sending unit back to the fuel gauge. As the level in the tank drops, the float sinks, the wiper moves, the resistance increases and the amount of current sent back to the gauge decreases.

Is Wal Mart Good For America Essay

The growth and dominance of Wal-Mart over the years has indeed turned it into an economy all its own. There is no single corporation in the world that has as much impact as Wal-Mart has, save perhaps for oil corporations, on any single domestic or even international economy. The volume of sales which Wal-Mart generates is enough to keep the rest of the world happily employed and is also enough to keep the consumerist population of the United States happy in their spending habits. Every single commodity manufacturer who is interested in surviving must be able to gain the good graces of Wal-Mart. The impact of Wal-Mart is such that it â€Å"has life-or-death decision over [almost] all the consumer goods industries that exist in the United States (Gereffi 2006). † This virtually unbridled power of the life or death of consumer goods industries, however, presents the question of whether or not Wal-Mart is indeed good for America. While it certainly does create jobs and sustains the consumer goods industries of America, it also has the same power of taking such benefits away and perhaps leaving the American economy in a far worse off situation than it is at the present. Wal-Mart has become so powerful that any shift in its purchasing and production policies will certainly result in some imbalance on a certain economy in the world. An example of the power of Wal-Mart is the fact that because of the immense volume of sales that Wal-Mart generates it is able to dictate where goods are to be manufactured in the world despite the fact that it is not a producer but simply a retail-chain. For a retail chain to be able to dictate to suppliers where they are to produce their items in order to be able to sell to Wal-Mart at a lower cost means that the retail chain has either a huge stake in the ownership of the supplier or buys so much from the supplier that it is able to dictate the price that it is willing to buy at and by doing so dictate where such goods are to be produced. In determining whether or not Wal-Mart is good for America, the basic economic principles of any market must be analyzed. Every market is governed by two basic forces, supply and demand. Wal-Mart is able to control both these forces because of the immense size that it has. It controls supply by deciding what items it chooses to retail. It also decides the demand for the item by pricing competitively. In its early years, Wal-Mart provided jobs for most Americans because a majority of the goods supplied were produced in the United States. With globalization and the theory of a flat world, other countries have become more competitive industrially and have now taken those production jobs that were previously held by Americans. The outsourcing of consumer goods industries to other countries can be theorized to have been created by the Wal-Mart demand for cheaper products from their suppliers. The problem with this scenario is that it creates unemployment for Americans who are the main buyers from Wal-Mart. In order to counteract this scenario, Wal-Mart must then reduce prices lower to meet the increasing lower income bracket of unemployed Americans who have lost their jobs because of the global production tilt to other countries. As this trend continues, it may be theorized that Wal-Mart will eventually strangle itself by driving the prices of goods down too much without protecting its major market which is the United States. The status of Wal-Mart, therefore, as either a boon or a bane for the American economy solely depends on whether or not it is willing to protect its major market which is the United States. Wal-Mart not only determines which consumer goods industries are to survive but also which economies are to benefit.