Getting Ready for the Geography Bee

Getting Ready for the Geography Bee The Geography Bee, more properly known as the National Geographic Bee, begins at the local level and winners work their way to the final competition in Washington D.C. The Geography Bee begins in schools with students from fourth through eighth grade across the United States in December and January. Each school Geography Bee champion takes a written test upon winning the Bee in their school. One hundred school winners from each state proceed to the State Level Finals in April, based on their scores on a written test scored by the National Geographic Society. The Geography Bee winner in each state and territory proceeds to the National Geographic Bee in Washington D.C. for a two-day competition in May. On the first day, the 55 state and territory (District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Pacific Territories, and the overseas U.S. Department of Defense schools) winners are narrowed to a field of ten finalists. The ten finalists compete on day two and the winner is announced and wins a college scholarship. Prepping Yourself for the Bee What follows are my tips and techniques to help you prepare for the National Geographic Bee (formerly called the National Geography Bee but since the National Geographic Society is the organizer, they decided to change the name). Start with a world map, globe, and atlas and become very familiar with the continents, countries, states and provinces, islands, and major physical features of our planet.Use Outline Maps of the world and continents to test yourself on this information. Knowing the relative location of countries, islands, major water bodies, and major physical features is very important for the Bee. Be sure to also have a good understanding of where the major lines of latitude and longitude lie.Take as many practice quizzes as possible. My site offers an archive of hundreds of multiple-choice Geography Quizzes that will definitely help. National Geographic offers a daily GeoBee Quiz online. There are additional online quizzes in my Test Your Knowledge collection of resources. Be sure to use an atlas to look up or understand the questions that youve missed.Prepare flash cards or use some other technique to memorize the capitals of the countries of the world and the capitals of the fifty United States. Memorize these Basic Earth Facts, the Highest, Lowest, and Deepest points around the world, and study other geographic superlatives. Read the newspaper, news magazines, and subscribe to my free Geography Newsletter and Geography 101 Email Course to learn about geography and to stay up-to-date with major news events happening around the world. Some Bee questions come from the geography of current events and these events are usually those that occur in the latter portion of the year before the Bee. Look up any unfamiliar place names you encounter in an atlas.Knowing principal languages, currencies, religions, and former country names is definitely a bonus. Its most important at state and national levels. This information is best obtained from the CIA World Factbook.Become familiar with the terms and concepts of Physical Geography. If you can review the glossary and key concepts of physical geography from a college-level physical geography textbook, do so!​ In the 1999 state finals, there was a difficult round devoted to exotic species but each questions answer was the choice between two places so having a good geographical knowledge would have been the easiest way to win the round. My book, The Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook: 1,001 Questions Answers to Help You Win Again and Again!, is a helpful resource for those preparing for the Bee at the school, state, or national levels. Good luck!

Homosexuality is not a sexual preference Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Homosexuality is not a sexual preference - Essay Example It is however, important to understand that homosexuals often face difficulties which are difficult to overcome and put them in socially disadvantageous position. Not only they face strong psychological issues but they are also being discriminated based upon their sexual orientation and are often considered as odd man out in the society. The overall societal response to homosexuals therefore varies according to cultures and historical periods and is still considered as unfavorable in many societies. Though some States have allowed the Gay Marriages however, still there are some States where it is not legal. Such situation may suggest a split opinion about the homosexuals within the country. Similarly, Military has relaxed its rules to allow same sex marriages however; it has still not been accepted by the Military personnel and has hard time dealing with it. Gay parents are still not accepted by many people and their children suffer significant childhood trauma to actually deal with this situation. Not only they are being bullied growing up but they are being put in a situation which may be entirely out of their control and still they may face the consequences of the same. This paper will argue and discuss and prove that homosexuality is not a sexual preference. Though the term homosexuality has been coined in late 19th century however, its history dates back to Greek era and often reference is made to the Plato’s Symposium to the recent Queer theory. It is suggested that the largest amount of data which is available regarding the history of homosexuality comes from Greece. Right from the work of Plato and other Greek authors to the artwork, homosexuality has been comprehensively discussed and depicted in different sources in Greek literature. (Ekwo,15) It is also believed that homosexuality has been present in Greek culture more than any ancient culture and therefore most of the references regarding the historical origins of the homosexuality. It is also important to understand that despite such tendencies, there were some regional variations even across the whole Greece therefore it is important to keep this factor distinguished. Some notable persons such as Alexander the Great has also been considered to have interest in boys and other men. However, the overall number of such persons is relatively low. (Crompton) In ancient Greece, having particular interest in any same sex individuals was not considered as a moral issue but it was seen from the perspective of the individual preferences and choices. To ancient Greeks, Gender was irrelevant and more preferences were given to beauty and character found in either sex. Exercise of moderation as well as the social and economic status of the persons were taken into consideration too w hile anyone was actually attracted to any particular sex. There were also distinctions based upon having relationships with the slaves as well as freemen. Sex with freemen were considered as problematic in nature however, with slaves it was relatively easy. Besides, there were clear distinctions based upon the role being played by the partners during the overall relationship. The active and passive role, inserative and penetrative role played by partners’

God's Omniscient; Man Isn't Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

God's Omniscient; Man Isn't - Essay Example 3.5). Just like Moses after them, Abraham and Joseph humbled themselves before God and sought His wisdom and direction rather than relying upon their own reasoning and intellect. Moses, the man who stood up to Pharaoh and parted the Red Sea, demonstrates through the accounts of Abraham and Joseph that strength, victory, and wisdom come through a humble dependence on God for knowledge, while weakness, defeat, and foolishness are a result of a prideful reliance on one’s own knowledge and ability. Abraham, whose name means â€Å"father of many,† ironically lived his first 100 years as the father on none, and Moses goes through great length to show the unshakeable faith Israel’s patriarch, which is demonstrated through his leaning on God’s promises. God’s first promise to Abraham (at this time, â€Å"Abram†) was to make him into a great nation (Gen. 12.2). God, who was unfamiliar to Abram at this point, also told him to leave his settled land and travel west into unchartered territory with his wife Sarai (later called Sarah) and a caravan of all their possessions, herds, and servants. Abram unwaveringly obeyed ? although the promise and command he received made little sense to him and his people ? but God later blessed him with immeasurable riches and fertile land for his faith and obedience, as he relied on God’s understanding and not his own. Even though Abram and Sarai were far from young (75 and 65 years old, respectively) and already living comfortably in a settled land, Abram believed that God would bless him with countless descendants and safely establish him in a hostile and unknown land, which He did. Moses shows through Abram that man, in his knowledge, cannot comprehend the wisdom of God or the scope of His plans, and that obedience and faith in God is much greater than human reasoning. Even though Abraham is known for having unparalleled faith, he had his lapses; yet Moses shows us how God, in His knowled ge, rectifies the things man blotches in his limited understanding. When Abram and Sarai went to Egypt to escape a famine, Abram relied on his own cunning for protection – not God’s. He told Pharaoh that Sarai was his sister ? not his wife ? because Sarai was beautiful and he thought that the Egyptians would kill him over her. God inflicted Pharaoh’s household with diseases so that Pharaoh would know Sarai was Abram’s wife and would not lay with her as his own wife (Gen. 12.20). Abram’s reasoning was exposed as foolishness that almost ended in disaster, but God still faithfully protected him and Sarai. God bailed Abram out once again when he relied on Sarai’s plan to deliver what God had promised – a child. Instead of waiting upon the Lord, Abram took Hagar as his wife and impregnated her at the request of Sarai, who was now 76 years old and barren. God then had an angel send Hagar and her son Ishmael away to avoid Sarai’s jeal ous wrath and then opened Sarai’s womb to allow Abram – now 99 years old ? to impregnate her with Isaac. Because Abram and Sarai second-guessed God’s wisdom, Ishmael was born, whose offspring would be at war with Ishmael’s for millennia to come. But when God later tested Abraham (the name God gave him when He fulfilled His promise to make him fruitful and multiply) and told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham unswervingly obeyed. When he raised the knife, God ordered

The Interpersonal Relationships On Customer Satisfaction Commerce Essay

The Interpersonal Relationships On Customer Satisfaction Commerce Essay Organisations today operate within a large competitive market so in order to maintain their current customers and gain further customers they must make their organisation attractive. Therefore they should focus on customer loyalty and the importance it plays within the organisation so creating and ensuring customer satisfaction is a very important factor. The general intention of this article is to explore the role played by interpersonal- relayed factors in gaining and developing customer loyalty to the company. Throughout the article we get to know how interpersonal relationships play a part in building customer loyalty and satisfaction towards the firm. We are able to appreciate the difference between customer-and-employee, and employee-and-employee relationships, and the impact they subsequently have on the organisation, both advantageous and otherwise. The customer-and-employee relationship is shown in the article to make a positive input to the firm, as interaction between the front line workers and the customer creates an overall perception of quality provided by the service provider. The article suggests that the social bonding between customer and employee makes the customer more committed and trust worthy of the firm, and consequently more loyal. It emphasises the importance of sales force skills and behaviour in gaining customer trust and developing long term buyer- seller relationships. This will not only develop the customers relationship with the employee but also with the firm thus achieving positive results. The article also highlights reasons why this relationship could have a negative effect on the firm, as the customers would become too loyal to the front line workers. This would have an impact when the employee left the firm as the customer would follow that employee or find another firm, as the relationship the customer had was directly loyal only to the employee. The other relationship which is portrayed within the article is customer-to-customer, which is said to contribute to the development of transactional satisfaction. This also plays a part in the development of long term relations within a firm, by their contact and interaction. Creating a strong bond, customers may interact at a regular basis and remain within their group of friends, this plays a positive effect on the intentional service. But again, same as the customer- to employee relationship, if one of the group of friends leave, they would follow and break their loyalty with that firm. This is a short summary of the main points in the article. It shows that customer satisfaction is a fundamental driver towards loyalty in the service market, and that monitoring the customers satisfaction levels should be a high priority for the service managers. There are tables within the article that help the ideas become clear about the impact of relationships on an organisation. Also the article points out how customer and employee relationships could be improved in order to be even more effective by such methods as personnel selection of front line workers, training to increase relation skills, reward systems based on fostering customer satisfaction and loyalty, and attention being paid to the design of facilities and layouts to develop the interaction between front line workers and customers. But on the other hand nothing can control the risk of a strong social link developing, thus the risk of losing the customers. Therefore it is also important to concentrate on employee sat isfaction in order to reduce turnover levels. Why I chose the article? I chose this article as I was intrigued as to how different relationships affect the customers perception of the company. As this article puts theory into practise we can see the effect it has on the firm. It is set on results collected within a gymnasium. It is interesting to get to know how the firm builds on social bonding with the customers, where the front line workers build friendships and get to know each other on a social basis. In return they gain each others trust and commitment hence the customer is not only loyal to the firm but also to the employee. This shows that customer service must be of a high standard within this particular firm, and I can imagine plays an important role in other organisations too. It contributes to the understanding of the customers and thereby maintains their loyalty. The essence of a salesmanship is the development of a social exchange relationship with buyers, such that economics and social benefits of mutual value can be traded (Tarn and Wong, 2001) The relationship creates a positive impact on the firm, both economically and sociably, and in return this makes customers loyal. Not only does the article show positive outcomes of the relationship, it also shows that problems can occur, thus making it realistic to read. Relationships can have a great impact on the social benefits of the firm, but can also backfire through employee loyalty rather than firm loyalty. Therefore, as shown in the article, if an employee would leave the firm the customer would follow them, as they have created a strong bond. This is interesting to know as it shows how relationships can have a beneficial impact on an organisation, but on the other hand can also be detrimental. This shows the dynamic effect a relationship plays on the firm, therefore firms must handle these situations very carefully and try to overcome the problem by making not only the customers satisfied with the firm but also the employees as well. The article shows that the firm has sat isfied customers as they have fixed membership fees, which they pay for frequent use of the service. But on the other hand it states in the article they found that, †¦the link between social benefits (which require the existence of a friendship relationship between a front- line employee) and the share of purchase in the point of sale is fully mediated by the overall customer satisfaction with the store (Reynolds and Beatty, 1999) This shows the importance of the customer satisfaction levels which generate their loyalty towards the firm. Important to always improve the firm by keeping up with the environmental changes within the industry which plays a competitive role against firms, where each tries to keep their existing customers and gain new ones by making sure they offer the best satisfaction levels of service and thereby enhance their loyalty. The articles role in marketing. Reading this article has enhanced my understanding of the importance that interpersonal relationships play within an organisation in relation to the satisfaction and loyalty of the customer. It has shown that marketing can be put into a very complex situation by the different environmental factors within the organisation and that customers change their way of living according to current trends in the market. The different relationships which develop within the firm have different effects on the performance of the company, which has been discussed within the article. Other authors such as Bolton and Lemon (1999) have likewise said:- Firms seek ways to manage customer relationship over the long term, understanding the dynamics of the service provider- customer relationship becomes a key priority. They believe that the customer relationship should be an important aspect for the organisation to develop and manage correctly in order to gain the best customer loyalty and create the best satisfaction standards. The organisation should understand how customers use the information and experience in deciding their level of usage, which inspires the organisation to use interpersonal relationships. This is especially important in service industries, Companies have begun to embrace the concept of customer life time value (CLV) and have begun moving towards devoting more dedicated resources such as formal and informal selling teams, to manage these precious customer relationships (Jones, E et all. 2005) This highlights the fact that customer satisfaction is important to maintain as it would also contribute to a positive word of mouth for free advertising for the firm, as the relationship which is established between the firm and its customer is critical its survival and success. The other important factor within relationship is communication between the customers and employees to enhance their understanding, Effective communication is seen in employees collaborating, interacting, and engaging with others in ways which help them understand the importance and meaning of that engagement, (Pace, R et all. 1989) This enhances my understanding again of the pressures which are placed on the organisation by dynamic competition, therefore creating a strong relationship with customers can play a very effective and positive role in the organisation. They affect the customers attitude positively towards the organisation, and the reliability and validity of the organisations performance. This is agreed by another author, Buendapudi and Berry (1997), the importance of interrelationship within a firm, they stated that, Relationship marketing has also expanded beyond its initial conceptualisation as a firms efforts to attract maintain and enhance relationships with its customers. This shows the importance of an organisation maintaining a strong relationship with its customers, and the best way of creating that bond is through the front line workers and the customers. This has been called a social bond within the article. It generates the organisations awareness of what the customers want to gain from the organisation and how it should be developed by more knowledge and understanding of the customers needs. This will give the organisation a strategic advantage within the market place. The customer- orientated firm is committed to relationship marketing and employees work together to solve customer problems. Employees morale is a critical success factor in the customer- orientated company, especially for employees who deliver some aspect of a products service bundle (Beatty et all. 1996) This shows that the organisations true mission is to establish an environment that creates value for the customer, employee and the investors. Therefore the importance of the orientation working within any organisation is the importance that the managers must be committed not only to the employees but also to their customers. This would therefore generate relationships within the organisation, and enhance interaction, which is a key variable to maintain the customers. Again this shows the advantage and importance of establishing a strong relationship with customers. The article also showed me that there are disadvantages in creating these strong bonds with customers and employees, and that they could have a negative economic effect on the organisation. If the employee decides to leave the organisation the customer might follow, as they have developed a customer and employee loyalty, not firm loyalty. This is also shown in research that Beatty, Mayer, Reynolds and Lee, (1996) undertook within sales, as they found that organisations lost their customers as they followed an associate who went to work for a competing organisation. The trust and honest relationship the customer had built with the employees within the firm had led the customer to depend on their Sales Assistant, which is a huge disadvantage for the company if the employee left, Firms engaging in relationship selling as a key strategy need to develop and implement specific policies and programs aimed at retaining their customers when successful relationship- building Sales Assistance choose to leave the firm. The strength of a relationship can be very powerful and create difficulties for an organisation to maintain their customers once an employee leaves. Further research is needed within this field, and also the issue of customers ability to maintain a relationship, either with a firm or employee. Not only does the fact that an employee leaving the company may remove the customers loyalty from the firm, but there are other factors that werent included in the article. The behaviour of another customer will affect another customers experience within an organisation. For example Grove and Fisk (1997) found that, standing in line is a serious challenge for many people, extended waits that often accompany many service encounters can put people in a bad mood, tempers can flare and disruptive behaviour can result. This could have a huge impact on a customers attitude towards the firm. But satisfying all customers is impossible as everyone has a different idea regarding what is appropriate in any situation. Therefore in this particular situation line managers were suggested to entertain customers while queuing to ensure that problems among customers didnt occur. To help recover from difficult situations such as these and to stabilise relationships, †¦ recruitment, subsequent training and appraisal methods should also be focused on the service works customer orientation (Bove et all, 2000). This brings together all the different ideas I have developed and understood about how important relationships can be within an organisation, but yet again, on the other hand, a disadvantage.

Mahatma Gandhi Detailed Research Essay

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most influential political leaders of his time. During his life Gandhi lead a life based on the Hindu faith, yet he encouraged all paths to God. Gandhi is honoured as the ‘father’ of India. He studied to become a lawyer at university and attempted to be a practice lawyer in India. His practice there was unsuccessful, however he joined an Indian firm in South Africa where he began to inspire change. When Gandhi reached his mid-twenties, his experiences with discrimination against Indian people in South Africa marked a turning point in his life. He helped to lead a civil rights movement among Indian people in South Africa, leading them in peaceful protests. His stance on non-violence was that everyone, even those in government, law enforcement and the military should hold to a principle of non-violence. His radical view of self-rule, peace and non-resistance is honoured all over the world on October 2nd, annually as the International Day of Non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi was a practicing Hindu. He felt that all religions were valid and equal, however, he also felt that Hinduism was the most satisfying religion for him. He believed that everyone had a path that was right for him or her, and he refused to convert to any other religion, although some had tried to persuade him. Brahmacharya is related to spiritual and practical purity, and his vegetarianism helped him stand firm in his belief and practice of complete self-control. Brahmacharya was a path towards self-realization for Gandhi. He practiced, and tested, celibacy following his father’s death so that he could learn to love and control his lustful urges. He was about 36 years old, and still married when he took this vow.

Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and Solutions Essay

Global Warming is the rise in the average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century and its projected continuation. Many people do not see this as a problem. However, it is currently a huge issue that is often talked about among scientists and many other people. Global Warming is caused by many different things. Greenhouse gases, deforestation, and solar activity are three different proven facts that cause global warming. Global warming is not something that is going to disappear; it is only going to get worse if people do not start doing something about it. The main cause of global warming is the burning of greenhouse gases. Some of the main gases are: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and the loss of forests. Most of the harmful gasses are emitted by humans through the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories, and electricity production. But why and how do these specific gases cause global warming, it is because all of these gases have very different heat-trapping abilities. A molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than CO2. Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons (which have been banned in much of the world because they also degrade the ozone layer), have heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than CO2. But because their concentrations are much lower than CO2, none of these gases adds as much warmth to the atmosphere as CO2 does. Trees provide an important ecosystem function by storing carbon, a cause of climate change, in their biomass. Currently the world’s forests store 283 billion tons of carbon in their biomass. Half the world’s tropical forests have been cleared or degraded. Every hour, at least 4,500 acres of forest fall to chain saws, machetes, flames, or bulldozers. In 2012 three million hectares of mature forests were cut down. This is a causing effect to global warming and continues to rise every year. Something called solar activity is also reasoning behind global warming. Solar activity is simply the amount of heat that comes off of the sun. Scientists can tell that solar activity contributes to global warming because there have been recent changes in temperatures at different levels in the Earth’s atmosphere. There are models showing how the greenhouse effect is warming the lower part of the atmosphere (known as the troposphere) but cooling the upper atmosphere (known as the stratosphere). However, if the sun was responsible for the observed warming, warming of both the troposphere and stratosphere would be expected. Global warming also has countless numbers of effects in the environment. It has been proven that the increase in Earth’s average temperatures have already been causing tons of ice to melt worldwide, also causing sea levels to increase over time. It is also causing precipitation to increase worldwide on average. It is predicted that if we do not stop global warming other effects could happen later this century; such as; Hurricanes and other storms becoming stronger, floods and droughts will become more common, and ecosystems will change to the point of some becoming extinct. All of this stuff may not sound that bad, but you have to think that over centuries and centuries it is only going to keep getting worse. There are things we can do to help this, to solve this. If the human race were refrain from using greenhouse gases, or even stop using them all together, it would help immensely. Depending on our choices scientists say it can only increase by 2. 5 degrees, or increase by 10. There are also other options to reduce the gases we emit into the atmosphere. We could try to decrease them by increasing the amount of gases we take out of the atmosphere. This can be achieved by planting more trees, increasing forestlands, and changing the way we farm. All of these things would help to increase the amount of carbon dioxide we are storing. Global warming is something that is still around today and will continue to be around if we do not decide to do something about it. There are many causes of it, some to which are still unknown to scientists. For every cause there is an effect, and this unfortunately is not a good thing for Earth. However there are solutions to reverse the effect of global warming. Even though some of these ideas have fallbacks, there are a variety of options that put us on a path toward a more stable climate. Work Cited: 1. http://environment. nationalgeographic. com/environment/global-warming/gw-solutions 2. http://www. facingthefuture. org 3. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Global_warming#Solar_activity Video: 1. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=ROZJmX73FF4

Analysis on Beethoven S Piano Sonata No3, Op 2 - 1830 Words

Analysis on Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 3, op. 2, Allegro con brio Composers since the early classical era have used sonata form to express through music ideas which are at once complex and unified. This form contains a variety of themes and permutations of these themes, but is brought together into a comprehensible whole when these excerpts reappear. Beethoven, in the first movement of his Piano Sonata Opus 2 Number 3 utilizes this form to its full potential, modifying the typical structure in his characteristic way. The sonata begins softly but with unmistakable energy. The trill like sixteenth notes on the third beat of this motif surge the piece forward into the next bar. The two bar motif appears again, and is then varied and†¦show more content†¦The dynamic increases to fortissimo at mm. 73 as the texture thins and harmony becomes very clear for a brief section. In this second closing theme G major, G augmented, and E minor7 in the bass are strongly arpeggiated before four octaves of C, D and G quickly reaffirm the key of G. This cade ntial crash is followed by some of the softest and lightest material of the whole movement, which due to the surrounding measures is proved to still be part of the second closing theme. The exposition is finally completed with a third closing theme. Thundering octaves of scalar G major material with a variety of applied harmonies lead us to the final PAC of the exposition. Beethoven would have surely failed his part-writing test on this last cadence on four counts of parallel fifths and two counts of parallel octaves, with doubled leading tones. After a repeat of the exposition, the performance moves on to the development with the soft material from the second half of closing theme two. It begins a whole step higher than its first appearance and immediately begins to modulate. Eight bars later new arpeggiated material enters on a Bb7 chord, beginning a twelve bar chromatic bass line moving to C# right before measure 109. Here the opening theme enters, similarly a whole step higher than at the beginning. Hearing the principal theme in the wrong key is a sure sign of a false recapitulation, and the P theme is