Tool Of The Trade :: essays research papers

Tool of the Trade In any game, the equipment players use determines the way the game unfolds. Try to imagine a soccer game played with an American football! Or try playing tennis with the wooden racquets of thirty years ago. Change the equipment, and you discover a very different game. As part of my look at baseball, I decided to examine the tool of the baseball trade: Bats. Perhaps the most crucial and visible tool in baseball is the bat. A bat is the offensive weapon, the tool with which runs are scored. To understand the history and science of bats, I read a magazine published by Louisville Slugger, in Louisville, Kentucky home of the Hillerich & Bradsby Company, Inc. (also known as H&B), the manufacturers of perhaps America's most famous bat, the Louisville Slugger. Through the reading I learned how the modern bat came to be, and what it might become. In 1884, John Andrew "Bud" Hillerich played hooky from his father's woodworking shop and went to a baseball game. There he watched a star player, Pete "The Old Gladiator" Browning, struggling in a batting slump. After the game, Hillerich invited Browning back to the shop, where they picked out a piece of white ash, and Hillerich began making a bat. They worked late into the night, with Browning giving advice and taking practice swings from time to time. What happened next is legend. The next day, Browning went three-for-three, and soon the new bat was in demand across the league. H&B flourished from there. First called the Falls City Slugger, the new bat was called the Louisville Slugger by 1894. Though Hillerich's father thought bats were an insignificant item, and preferred to continue making more dependable items like bedposts and bowling pins, bats became a rapidly growing part of the family business. Just as it was back then, the classic Louisville Slugger bat used by today's professional players is made from white ash. The wood is specially selected from forests in Pennsylvania and New York. The trees they use must be at least fifty years old before they are harvested. After harvest, the wood is dried for six to eight months to a precise moisture level. The best quality wood is selected for pro bats; the other 90 percent is used for consumer market bats. White ash is used for its combination of hardness, strength, weight, "feel," and durability. In past years, H&B have made some bats out of hickory.

Humans Cause Global Warming Essay

Today we are debating the important topic of global warming. As the affirmative team, we strongly believe that global warming is caused by the actions of humans. But this is not just a belief, this is a fact. Global warming, by definition, is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants. The greenhouse effect is the trapping of the sun’s warmth in a planet’s lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet’s surface. In simpler terms, this means that the pollution emitted from the earth, such as the gasses from factories, cars etc. enter the atmosphere and the co2 from these gases absorb the heat from the sun and intern warms the climate. The pollution or carbon dioxide enter the Earth’s atmosphere and absorb heat from the sun, heating the environment, therefore an increase in co2 means an increase in heat, this resulting in bigger problem for global warming. The main producer of this pollution and greenhouse gases are ofcourse humans, our environment and climate are the ones that have to pay for the humanly actions causing global warming. Scientists have determined that a number of human activities are contributing to global warming by adding excessive amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. These gases such as carbon dioxide (co2) accummulate in the atmosphere and trap heat that normally would exit into outer space. The main source of excess greenhouse gases is the human use of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels to generate energy for example driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, or heating homes with oil or natural gas, humans release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Over 100 years ago the co2 level was 35% less than it is currently and since the beginning of the industrial revelution, has been increasing gradually. Nowadays modern society is producing more co2 and other gases than ever before, this being the result of the economic problem, with humans having unlimited wants and needs that can only be produced in a way that influences global warming. (Figure 1) Another significant source of greenhouse gases is deforestation, this is because fewer trees means less carbon dioxide conversion to oxygen. (Figure 2)Deforestation in rainforests add more co2 to the atmosphere than the sum total of most vehicles on roads. In fact 25-30%,of the gases released into the atmosphere each year is a result of deforestation. The reason that logging is so bad for the climate is that when trees, which are 50 percent carbon, are burned or felled they release the carbon they are storing into the air, where it mingles with greenhouse gases from other sources and contributes to global warming. As humans, we do not take our actions into precaution and many of us act before thinking. This is the same situation with global warming and because of this, the result is negative. Global warming affects not only our climate but the environment and air mankind needs for survival, however how can us humans survive when we are the ones destroying our planet and risking our own lives. Greenhouse gases can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds or thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth. These effects range from diseases and economic consquences to different types of hazzards. (Figure 3) Floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, they are all weathering patterns that are directly altered by the differences in temperature. Most of them are occuring due to high sea level or heavy rainfall. This was seen in 2004 and 2005. (Figure 4) It can be a devastating shock for crops and other agriculture, and also bring death and injury to humans and animals through accidents, hypothermia and starvation. It may seem illogical at first to attribute harsher cold weather to global warming, but a change in atmospheric patterns brought about by receding glacial ice can lead to the redirection of polar air currents and the sun’s rays being absorbed by the larger areas of dark blue sea. However this process can also be reversed to achieve opposite results. (Figure 5) Some areas suffer serious droughts and heat waves and the severity of these hazzards are increasing by large numbers. Countries such as Africa and India recieve the worst of these affects, since water is already a dangerous rare essential. (Figure 6) As the planet continues to become warmer and warmer as global warming increases and the dry lands that are already susceptible to wildfires are likely to be ravaged by even more frequent and destructive episodes. In 2007, more than 3,000 fires brought destruction to Southeastern Europe thanks to a long summer that created arid and parched conditions, a situation that would become normal as a consequence of the greenhouse effect. As countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate, bringing their diseases with them. Climate greatly influences some of the most deadly and widespread diseases currently affecting millions of people across the world with the spread of diseases like Malaria, West Nile virus and Dengue fever to parts of the planet. With greatly reduced rainfall, more severe droughts and loss of soil fertility, food and water supplies would soon diminish, resulting in higher prices, famine, disease, malnutrition, starvation and, ultimately, death. These effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hazzards cause billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts aggravate all of these. There is simply no other mechanism that can explain the significantly altered climate path and the changes in the radiative forcing other than human causes. Animals are a major source that are affected by the influences of global warming, some not only lose their habitat and homes, but also suffer in the drastic measures that humans have put them up against. Animals such as polar bears and penguins are the most obvious evidence of consequences of having warmer climates. (Figure 7) They and other animals that are dependent on cold enviornments retreat to more northerly locations as the planet heats up, leading to encroachment upon other eco-systems and displacement of other animals from their natural habitat. Animals that are driven from their natural habitats or normal migration routes by environmental factors could easily come into contact with human settlements, leading to many deaths among humans and already endangered animals. (Figure 8) The world’s oceans absorb roughly 30% of all carbon dioxide that seeps into the atmosphere, and so inevitably, as more gases are released, ocean life will continue to suffer the negative consequences placed upon them by human actions.

Analysis Of Grand Strategy Matrix. The Grand Strategy Matrix

Analysis of Grand Strategy Matrix The Grand Strategy Matrix is a newer tool used for formulating alternative strategies (David David, 2017). Similar to the BCG matrix, the Grand Strategy Matrix is places the business or the business divisions into one of four quadrants based on two evaluation dimension 1) competitive position on the x-axis and 2) market growth on the y-axis (David David, 2017). The franchise segment would be located in Quadrant II, which would indicate this segment should focus on market development, market penetration, product development, horizontal integration, divestiture, and liquidation. The other two segments would fall in Quadrant III, which is a much grimmer outlook and their strategies should focus on†¦show more content†¦In this case, the more attractive strategy is strategy 1. Analysis of Income Statement and Balance Sheet Performing an analysis of the company’s financial performance is beneficial to gauge performance, financial health, and future prospects of an organization. The income statement, balance sheet, and certain ratios are analyzed that give a variety of stakeholders valuable information to make decisions for or about the company or organization. There are certain financial ratios that give credit and equity investors, the government, the public, and management valuable information that will help make investment or strategic decisions for the company. Some of the key ratios are: liquidity ratio, profitability ratios, activity ratios, and leverage ratios. Based on the information provided, there are multiple concerns with the financial condition of Krispy Kreme Donuts. As reported on their 2015 consolidated statement of cash flow, they reported revenues of $383,984 for the year. After all expenses, they have reported a loss of $4,061 for the year. Their working capital amount (current assets – current liabilities) is only $39,190 and the debt-to-equity ratio (total liabilities/shareholder equity) is 2.375, which is quite concerning. TheShow MoreRelatedMgt 578 Simulation Reflection Paper1360 Words   |  6 PagesSimulation Reflection Paper Schiobhan Hopkins MGT 578 Ââ€" Strategy Formulation and Implementation Rodney Klein February 14, 2006 Thinking Strategically According to the Thinking Strategically simulation, Strategy, in business, is the combination of foresight, planning, and decision-making that prepares an enterprise to achieve long-term goals and manage the consequences of contemporary decisions. 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