MGT WK5 ASSIGNENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MGT WK5 ASSIGNENT - Essay Example He feels that nervousness, uncertainty, and surprises characterise new recruits. Good orientation will help in answering questions that employees may have, and offer the necessary bonding needed between the employees and the leaders of the company, (Cheng 39). An orientation programme may determine the length and quality of individuals’ professional stay in a company. Poor orientation leads to high turnover and increased industrial accidents. However, orientation is an on-going process where the person in question continues to build on the knowledge about the job and the company. Training on the other hand involves actual performance of the job, where an employee gets a chance to perform a task under supervision. Different methods used in training an employee depends on the company policies and the size of the company. Most supervisors vested with the role of training use on the job training. During training a supervisor should not only pinpoint the mistakes made by the employee but should also praise them for the little efforts they make. This way, employees on training will be motivated to do the job correctly. A training supervisor should be open-minded towards the trainees and should avoid any kind of misconceptions. OJT is a large retail company that has seven outlets in the city. The biggest problem is to train the sales clerks, who represent the company to the public. In addition, understanding of the computerised cash register, interaction with customers, and product knowledge are key areas that a supervisor must really work on. The table below shows a three-day orientation and training programme for sales clerks. On arrival to the company Monday morning, the sales clerks will be welcomed to the company by the human resource manager, who will have them sign their contracts. The human resource manager will go ahead and explain to the sales clerks their major role of carrying the company’s image

Reconstruction era of the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reconstruction era of the United States - Essay Example Therefore, reconstruction witnessed changes that were far-reaching in the political life of America, which included developing new laws and amending the constitution, which later altered both the federal system and what people defined as American citizen. Republican Party was brought to power in the Southern part of America thereby redefining government responsibilities. Origin of reconstruction in the US During reconstruction period, the greatest American Negros led in asserting themselves of African Americans’ development and enjoyment of equal rights (Le Blanc 2010, p.96). President sparked reconstruction plan in 1863 in the form of ten percent plan to be implemented by the congress. This plan had one-tenth of pre-war voters taking an oath in order to establish a state government in order to weaken Confederacy. The plan went into operation in several parts of the Union-occupied Confederacy although it did not achieve much support from the locals. Wade Davis Bill that was en forced in 1864 delayed plans of forming the Southern government and in place made many voters take loyalty oath; this bill on equality of the slaves accompanying Southern government into Union convinced some Republicans. Lincoln later expressed his views of the blacks, being intelligent and serving in the Union Army had the right to enjoy their right to vote. Reconstruction in the Presidency After the assassination of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson took the presidency and began to work on Presidential reconstruction by pardoning Southern whites while restoring their rights politically and assets except for the slaves. President Johnson outlined how the new state governments are going to be created, abolished slavery, implemented repudiation of secession, and abrogated the debts of Confederate. On the other hand, Confederacy enacted the law requiring all African Americans to sign labour contracts on a yearly basis hence limiting the economic options of the freed slaves, this law only did a reestablishment of plantation discipline; it was strongly resisted by African Americans. Senator Charles and Thaddeus Stevens who was a representative suggested establishing Southern government based on equity of the law. The Civil Acts Rights 1875 was to protect all Americans regardless of race and all would have access to public facilities (Smith and Wynn 2009, p.165). Moreover, the Congress did not seat all the elected representatives and senators, and in place passed the Civil rights bill and Freemen’s Bureau, which was to oversee transition of slaves to freemen. This bill gave a definition of an American Citizen as a person born in the US and has the right to enjoy equality before the law of the land. Johnson rejected this bill after several personal stubbornness, racists’ convictions and beliefs in states’ rights. The rejection of this bill created rapture between Johnson and the Congress making Civil rights Act to become law over presidential veto. Theref ore, the government was able to guarantee Americans equity to all regardless of gender or colour. Radical Reconstruction in the US After the congress elections of 1866, the congress begun reconstruction afresh and by 1867, Reconstruction Act was enacted and through this act, the South was divided into five military districts, outlining how the governments will be enacted. All the former Confederate were readmitted in 1870 and almost all of them were under the control of Republican Party. During this time, the black

Is Poetry Dangerous For Human Society Philosophy Essay

Is Poetry Dangerous For Human Society Philosophy Essay At first, one may be surprised at Socrates notion that the peaceful and enchanting nature of poetry can have detrimental effects on society. In Platos Republic, Socrates attacks poetry by asking the essential question of whether or not the pleasure that poetry creates is good for us. Socrates speaks of an old quarrel between philosophy and poetry, which both greatly influence ethics, politics, and society. Socrates criticizes well-known and praised poets, including Homer, and the role of poetry itself in society by claiming that poetry is unjust and unethical. For example, Socrates states, The ones Hesiod and Homer told us, and the other poets too. They surely composed false tales for human beings and used to tell them and still do tell them (Rep. 2.377d). Socrates believes poetry is not an appropriate because it is written without reason but by inspiration alone, teaches incorrect values, is merely an imitation, and encourages excessive emotions from those listening. Socrates begins his argument by discussing proper education of citizens in the just city. Socrates compares the poet to a man in speech making a bad representation of what gods and heroes are like, just as a painter who paints something that doesnt resemble the things whose likeness he wished to paint (Rep. 2.377e). Poets only write from their own inspiration, not from reason or through any deep intellectual understanding. Their work only shows understanding in the material realm and not of the intellectual realm. Socrates claims that these poems not only contain many fabrications of the truth but fabrications that are held up as model behavior. A young child that is in the process of receiving his education should not be exposed to these stories because a young thing cant judge what is hidden sense and what is not; but what he takes into his opinions at that age has a tendency to become hard to eradicate and unchangeable (Rep. 2.378d-e). Socrates continues to say that the stories that children hear first should be virtuous and portray the gods truthfully by describing them as good. In Homers Odyssesy, the gods, such as Zeus and Athena, are depicted as tricky and full of deceit; Socrates claims all of Homers references about the nature of the gods as false because the gods are not capable of evil doings and do not want to alter themselves because each of them is as fair and as good as possible, he remains forever simply in his own shape (Rep. 2.381c). For instance, Athena is depicted as the ultimate trickster throughout the Odyssey because she appears to mortals in different shapes and forms, specifically when interacting with Odysseus and Telemachus. According to Socrates, Athena is not capable of this trickery that Homer bestows to her but is only capable of justice and good deeds. However, the entire basis of the Odyssey is that Homer was divinely inspired shown through the narrator saying, Speak, Muse (Od. 1.1). T his statement implies that the Muse speaks through Homer to construct the stories that make up the Odyssey. Nevertheless, Socrates believes that such poetry should be censored from citizens to protect the just morals in the city. Since citizens find it difficult to distinguish between what is wrong and right, role-models of the just city should be completely moral. Socrates fears that the stories of gods punishing, tricking, and lying to mortals will have a disadvantageous affect on children who may begin to believe that these actions are correct or even good. The aim of censoring tales is to instill the belief in children that just actions are admirable while socially unjust actions are dishonorable. Socrates furthers to expand his argument greatly in Book III. Socrates claims that poetry invokes excessive emotion that is not in accordance with reason and analyzes the ethical and mental effects of poetry. Socrates begins by saying that tales should be shaped in a way that does not depict Hades as a place full of terror but rather to praise it, because what they say is neither true nor beneficial for men who are to be fighters (Rep. 3.386b-c). Socrates is making a reference to the famous meeting in the Odyssey of Odysseus and Achilles in Hades. Achilles says that he would rather be a hired hand back up on earth, slaving away for some poor dirt farmer, than lord it over all these withered dead (Od. 11.510-513). Fearing Hades more than slavery is seriously detrimental to the success of a guardian because the guardian will have trouble maintaining strength and loyalty to his people in battle. The idea of Hades should be expunged in Socrates view because it is false and is not benefic ial for guardians, who have to show immense courage in battle. Also, Socrates warns against powerful emotions with the guardians by saying that they shouldnt be lovers of laughter (Rep. 3.388e). Socrates wants the guardians to strive for complete moderation with their emotions in all aspects of their lives. Poetry that is censored by philosophy can maintain this balance in the guardians and citizens of the just city. Socrates knows that poetry is needed to invoke emotion, but philosophy is needed to keep those emotions in moderation. With the two in harmony, the citizens can live a content life of moderation. Having dealt with the content of poems, Socrates now discusses the style of poetry that poets take. Socrates characterizes poetic narration into narratives that are either simple, produced by imitation, or both together (Rep. 3.392d). When the poet speaks with his own voice without meter, as in dithyrambs, it is simple narrative; when the poet likens himself to another man, as in tragedies or comedies, it is imitative narration (Rep. 3.394c). Socrates believes that each person in the just city can only do their best work in one activity alone. Therefore, no one can do a good job imitating many things. For example, Socrates claims that one cannot be both a tragic poet and a comedic poet (Rep. 3.395b). Nevertheless, Socrates ends by insisting that the guardians must not engage in imitations. If they do, the imitations they engage in must be righteous and not detrimental to their development. Since imitations, if they are practiced continually from youth onwards, become established as h abits and nature, in body and sounds and in thought the guardian children should only be allowed to imitate those actions of men who are courageous, moderate, holy, free, and everything of the sort (Rep. 3.395c). Socrates continues in Book X to completely rid poets from the just city. Socrates claims that the poets do not truly know what they are writing about because they have no firsthand experience or knowledge about their writing. What poets write about are far from the truth and maim the thought of those who hear them (Rep. 10.595b). Socrates attacks poets by saying that the poet knows nothing worth mentioning about what he imitates (Rep.10.602b). Socrates holds philosophical nature to be far superior to imitative art. Then, Socrates criticizes poets, especially Homer, for their lack of knowledge upon the topics they write about and therefore lack of any knowledge that can be gained from reading their works. Socrates also does not approve of how poets imitate the soul. Poets describe excessive emotions and ones that are not rational or in moderation. The lamentation of heroes in poetry brings enjoyment to those who watch, but Socrates says when personal sorrow comes to one of us, you are aware that, on the contrary, we pride ourselves if we are able to keep quiet and bear up, taking this to be the part of a man and what we then praised to be that of a woman (Rep. 10.605e). Even if the character is a fictional one, taking enjoyment in anyones suffering can corrupt ones soul. Socrates emphasizes the danger of irrational emotions to ones soul when he states that: And as for sex, and spiritedness, too, and for all the desires, pains, and pleasures in the soul that we say follow all our action, poetic imitation produces similar results in us. For it fosters and waters them when they ought to be dried up, and sets them up as rulers in us when they ought to be ruled so that we may become better and happier instead of worse and more wretched. These desires grow in ones soul to the point where one begins to imitate the actions of those on stage, causing one to become more miserable and unhappy. One also cannot understand the pain that the characters are going through simply by watching them on stage. They must experience it firsthand to truly know the emotions felt by those portrayed by the poets. Despite the dangers poetry imposes, Socrates regrets ridding the city of all poetry. He says that only so much of poetry as is hymns to gods or celebration of good men should be admitted into a city (Rep. 10.607a). However, Socrates cannot use these forms of poetry to convince Glaucon of the importance of philosophy so he uses a reformed version of poetry with the myth of Er. The myth of Er describes the alternative that Socrates wants for Hades. The myth opens by describing a strong man named Er who died in war but came back to life twelve days after his death to tell others about the eternal world (Rep. 10.614b). In the myth, heaven is described as a place where virtue is rewarded and unjust deeds were paid for ten times over for each (Rep. 10.615a). People are rewarded or punished for their life deeds every thousand years, and then are given the opportunity to choose their form in their next life (Rep. 10.615a-620a). Socrates here integrates Homeric heroes into this story without emotion to prove that wisdom and knowledge is the best way to enrich ones soul. The correct choice for ones form in his next life is only discovered by those who were just while alive. Socrates portrays Odysseus, Ajax, and Agamemnon all as philosophers who choose their next life form wisely based on events of their past lives. The philosophers know how to choose their new life, because they understand what was just and unjust in their past lives. Socrates ends by giving Glaucon hope in the afterlife and telling him to always keep to the upper road and practice justice with prudence in every way so that we shall be friends to ourselves and the gods, both while we remain here and when we reap the rewards for it (Rep. 10.621d). This type of poetry is much different than Homeric poetry because it provides a deeper understanding of ones soul. It provides hope and knowledge without excessive emotion or immoral actions. Socrates was completely correct in challenging the nature of poetry because its ideals were not in agreement with the positive upbringing of mankind. The world remains fascinated with pleasures that poetry provides even if it does not better them intellectually. The emotions and drama of poetry is to what humanity appeals. Even though Socrates tries to give poetry a philosophical twist with the myth of Er, this kind of poetry is not as appealing because the emotions and suffering experienced by others is absent. Plainly, humans like to view the despair of others because it makes their troubles seem less daunting. One can obviously see that the ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry is still alive to this day. For example, the music of this generation definitely has a superficial meaning, but no deeper philosophical message. Without philosophical messages in modern poetry, the world continues to decline in its search for knowledge and the eternal judgment of the soul. Socrates work still applies today and his wisdom will last through the ages. With the help of Socrates, the world can work towards being one that is full of both knowledge and eternal happiness.

Fathers and Sons in Hamlet Essay -- Shakespeare Hamlet

Fathers and Sons in Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's father, Old King Hamlet who he looked up to was recently killed, and his mother married his uncle within a month. He receives a visit from the ghost of his father which urges him to "revenge [Claudius'] foul and most unnatural murder" (I, v, 32) of Old Hamlet. It is only logical that under these circumstances, Hamlet would be under great duress, and it would not be abnormal for him to express grief. Fortnibra and Laertes also have to deal with the avenging their fathers' death. Fortinbras and Laertes are parallel characters to Hamlet, and they provide critical points on which to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. They are also important in Hamlet, as they are imperative to the plot of the play and the final resolution. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are three young men who are placed in similar circumstances, that is, to get revenge for their fathers' deaths. The way they each come to terms with their grief and how they rise to the call of vengeance is one of the main contrasts between the three. Hamlet is the Renaissance man who is well rounded in all areas. He has a tremendous acting abilities, and he is a scholar who analyzes everything and is very philosophical, as was shown in his assessment of life in the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy. Hamlet's philosophical side is also brought to light in the prayer scene. At this point he has the opportunity to kill Claudius while he is attempting to repent. However, Hamlet does not take that chance because he desires kill Claudius "when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage/ Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed," so that "his soul will be as damn'd and black/ As hell, wher... ...nalyzed and executed as he planned. Fortinbras ability to act upon reason and not emotion is one of the most significant differences he has with Hamlet. Hamlet and Laertes represent the extremes of action. Fortinbras therefore, is the midpoint of the two extremes; his ability to reason and the act upon the reason has resulted in his possession of both lands and throne as he set out to avenge. Works Cited Adelman, Janet. 1985. 'Male Bonding in Shakespeare's Comedies.' In Shakespeare's Rough Magic: Renaissance Essays in Honor of C.L. Barber, edited by Peter Erickson and Coppà ©lia Kahn. Cranbury and London: Associated University Presses, 73-103. Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.   Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. T. J. B. Spencer. New York: Penguin, 1996.   

Recruitment process and Cycle

People's Leasing and Finance PLY was founded in 1995, in the past 14 ears the company has built an extraordinary tradition of excellence in all spheres of leasing. The Company's customers range from individuals to Seems to blue chip companies of the country. Marketing Executive Selection and Recruitment Process Steps in the Selection Process Review of applications Preliminary interview The purpose of this interview is to analyze the applicants. Selection test A selection test is usually used to assess an applicant's qualifications and potential Subsequent interview The final interview is done at the 2nd of the final interview.Medical examination and Personal reference check Before the job offer is made, the candidate is required to undergo a physical fitness test. The selection decision The final decision has to be made from the pool of individuals who pass the tests, interviews and references checks. Calling Applications Calling for applications by publishing vacancies on newspapers and Ply's website. In the advertisement job description, qualifications required, closing date and etc. Are clearly mentioned.Applicant is given the option to send the C.V. by post or via an email. When a vacancy arises the applications accumulated in their database those left by the candidates who have applied online by visiting the company website also considered. After the closing date of applications, those applications are being reviewed and sorted by the HER personnel who handle it. Examination Shortlist candidates are being called for an examination. IQ knowledge and English language proficiency of the candidates are tested at the examination.Candidates those who scored above the pass mark mentioned in their policy are being called for the second stage of the recruitment process. Interview Second stage of the process is an interview. This preliminary interview is conducted by the head Of the department (ROD) for which the candidate is going to be assigned I. E. Marketing Dep artment according to this study along with the head of HER Department. Candidates those who get shortlist from preliminary interview are called for the second or final interview.Panel of the final interview consists of CEO of the company, Head of Marketing and Head Recruitment Anal interview board decides whom they are going to recruit. Before informing the candidate accuracy of the information provided by him is verified by calling the references supplied by him. After gaining additional insights the candidate is being informed over the phone and sends a letter stating the date that he should join and the documents he needs to furnish before the date of appointment in order for the company to process the letter of appointment.Candidates those who are employed given a one month notice period to resign from current employment. The candidate needs to provide a police report and the CRIB report as soon as possible. Normally within one week from informing the result of the final intervi ew. After receiving those two documents HER department process the letter of appointment and get it signed from the CEO and informs the candidate to sign the letter after reading all the terms and conditions on a date prior to his appointment date.On the date of appointment the candidate needs to bring copies of all educational, professional, and sports certificates along with the originals for HER personnel to attest and attach those copies in the personnel file of the employee. Training Cycle Two weeks induction program is conducted to give an overall understanding for the new employee about the company, its operations and its culture. Processes of all the departments of the company are explained irrespective of the department for which the new employee being recruited.The person who has been recruited as a marketing executive is aware of other functions of the company which is more helpful in performing day to day activities and moving with other employees of the company. After t he induction program HER department schedules department vise in-house training programs once in every six months' time. 1 . Training Need Analysis The nature of the training programmer is decided by the Head of Marketing Department and top management by analyzing the current trends of the industry and considering the areas which they have identified as need to be improved by observing the day to day operations. . Plan and Design Training Programmer After identifying the training needs, the objectives are set on which the trainer can design the content of the programmer. Participants of the training session are decided by the HOOD. The practice of the company is to conduct training programs for employees of same grade which is more convenient since all the participants are with similar levels of knowledge. Therefore, the trainer can decide the content and the effort he has to put to achieve the set objectives.The decision whether to use an internal trainer or an external trainer is decided by the HOOD by considering the comprehensiveness of the training that they have planned to conduct. Marketing department head and the HER department head decide the resource person who is going to conduct the training session. Employees who are going to participate for the training are being informed by the HER department by sending emails. Venue, seating arrangements, and food and beverages are arranged by the HER Department.Methods of Training structure method, on the job training and role plays are the most popular methods used in training programmer conducted for Marketing Executives. Lecture method is used to keep the participants informed about the current trends and practices of the industry, the role they play as a marketing executive and what is expected from them by the company and the customer. As a part of on the job training the marketing executives learn the process needs to be followed to get a facility file of a customer approved and the documents need to be furnished for the purpose.Role plays are being used n training sessions to teach the participants how to deal with different customers who respond differently in a given scenario, which is very important for a marketing executive who deals directly with the customer. 3. Conduct the Training Programmer Head of marketing department and the HER staff who coordinate the training session take measures to conduct the training programmer according to the schedule without any deviation and disturbances. Once a year an outside training is being conducted for marketing executives. For the training session a professional of the industry is selected as the resource person. Training Evaluation On the final day of the training session feedback is obtained from the participants by providing a questionnaire with multiple choice and open ended questions. In that the participants are given the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program and the resource person and provide the su ggestions for improvement. Feedbacks obtained are being analyzed after each and every training session and incorporated the constructive suggestions in new training programmer. Suggestions for Improvement In the recruitment process of PLY there is no requirement for the candidate o undergo a medical test.

Africans Before Columbus

BLACK CIVILIZATIONS OF ANCIENT AMERICA (MUU-LAN), MEXICO (XI) Gigantic stone head of Negritic African The earliest people in the Americas were people of the Negritic African race, who entered the Americas perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, by way of the bering straight and about thirty thousand years ago in a worldwide maritime undertaking that included journeys from the then wet and lake filled Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas.According to the Gladwin Thesis, this ancient journey occurred, particularly about 75,000 years ago and included Black Pygmies, Black Negritic peoples and Black Australoids similar to the Aboriginal Black people of Australia and parts of Asia, including India. Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B. C. to 500 B. C. Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without a doubt, that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally from West Africa and were of the Mende African ethnic stock.According to Clyde A. Winters and other writers (see Clyde A. Winters website), the Mende script was discovered on some of the ancient Olmec monuments of Mexico and were found to be identical to the very same script used by the Mende people of West Africa. Although the carbon fourteen testing date for the presence of the Black Olmecs or Xi People is about 1500 B. C. , journies to the Mexico and the Southern United States may have come from West Africa much earlier, particularly around five thousand years before Christ.That conclusion is based on the finding of an African native cotton that was discovered in North America. It's only possible manner of arriving where it was found had to have been through human hands. At that period in West African history and even before, civilization was in full bloom in the Western Sahara in what is today Mauritania. One of Africa's earliest civilizations, the Zingh Empire, exis ted and may have lived in what was a lake filled, wet and fertile Sahara, where ships criss-crossed from place to place.ANCIENT AFRICAN KINGDOMS PRODUCED OLMEC TYPE CULTURES The ancient kingdoms of West Africa which occupied the Coastal forest belt from Cameroon to Guinea had trading relationships with other Africans dating back to prehistoric times. However, by 1500 B. C. , these ancient kingdoms not only traded along the Ivory Coast, but with the Phoenicians and other peoples. They expanded their trade to the Americas, where the evidence for an ancient African presence is overwhelming.The kingdoms which came to be known by Arabs and Europeans during the Middle Ages were already well established when much of Western Europe was still inhabited by Celtic tribes. By the 5th Century B. C. , the Phoenicians were running comercial ships to several West African kingdoms. During that period, iron had been in use for about one thousand years and terracotta art was being produced at a great level of craftsmanship. Stone was also being carved with naturalistic perfection and later, bronze was being used to make various tools and instruments, as well as beautifully naturalistic works of art.The ancient West African coastal and interior Kingdoms occupied an area that is now covered with dense vegetation but may have been cleared about three to four thousand years ago. This includes the regions from the coasts of West Africa to the South, all the way inland to the Sahara. A number of large kingdoms and empires existed in that area. According to Blisshords Communications, one of the oldest empires and civilizions on earth existed just north of the coastal regions into what is today Mauritania.It was called the Zingh Empire and was highly advanced. In fact, they were the first to use the red, black and green African flag and to plant it throughout their territory all over Africa and the world. The Zingh Empire existed about fifteen thousand years ago. The only other civiliza tions that may have been in existance at that period in history were the Ta-Seti civilization of what became Nubia-Kush and the mythical Atlantis civilization which may have existed out in the Atlantic, off the coast of West Africa about ten to fifteen thousand years ago.That leaves the question as to whether there was a relationship between the prehistoric Zingh Empire of West Africa and the civilization of Atlantis, whether the Zingh Empire was actually Atlantis, or whether Atlantis if it existed was part of the Zingh empire. Was Atlantis, the highly technologically sophisticated civilization an extension of Black civilization in the Meso-America and other parts of the Americas? Stone carving of a Shaman or priest from Columbia's San Agustine CultureAn ancient West African Oni or King holding similar artifacts as the San Agustine culture stone carving of a Shaman The above ancient stone carvings (500 t0 1000 B. C. ) of Shamans of Priest-Kings clearly show distinct similarities in instruments held and purpose. The realistic carving of an African king or Oni and the stone carving of a shaman from Columbia's San Agustin Culture indicates diffusion of African religious practices to the Americas. In fact, the region of Columbia and Panama were among the first places that Blacks were spotted by the first Spanish explorers to the Americas.From the archeological evidence gathered both in West Africa and Meso-America, there is reason to believe that the African Negritics who founded or influenced the Olmec civilization came from West Africa. Not only do the collosol Olmec stone heads resemble Black Africans from the Ghana area, but the ancient religious practices of the Olmec priests was similar to that of the West Africans, which included shamanism, the study of the Venus complex which was part of the traditions of the Olmecs as well as the Ono and Dogon People of West Africa.The language connection is of significant importance, since it has been found out through d ecipherment of the Olmec script, that the ancient Olmecs spoke the Mende language and wrote in the Mend script, which is still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara to this day. ANCIENT TRADE BETWEEN THE AMERICAS AND AFRICA The earliest trade and commercial activities between prehistoric and ancient Africa and the Americas may have occurred from West Africa and may have included shipping and travel across the Atlantic.The history of West Africa has never been properly researched. Yet, there is ample evidence to show that West Africa of 1500 B. C. was at a level of civilization approaching that of ancient Egypt and Nubia-Kush. In fact, there were similarities between the cultures of Nubia and West Africa, even to the very similarities between the smaller scaled hard brick clay burial pyramids built for West African Kings at Kukia in pre Christian Ghana and their counterparts in Nubia, Egypt and Meso-America.Although West Africa is not commonly known for having a culture of pyra mid-building, such a culture existed although pyramids were created for the burial of kings and were made of hardened brick. This style of pyramid building was closer to what was built by the Olmecs in Mexico when the first Olmec pyramids were built. In fact, they were not built of stone, but of hardened clay and compact earth. Still, even though we don't see pyramids of stone rising above the ground in West Africa, similar to those of Egypt, Nubia or Mexico, or massive abilisks, collosal monuments and structures of Nubian and Khemitic or Meso-American civilization.The fact remains, they did exist in West Africa on a smaller scale and were transported to the Americas, where conditions such as an environment more hospitable to building and free of detriments such as malaria and the tsetse fly, made it much easier to build on a grander scale. Meso-American pyramid with stepped appearance, built about 2500 years ago Stepped Pyramid of Sakkara, Egypt, built over four thousand years ago, compare to Meso-American pyramid Large scale building projects such as monuent and pyramid building was most likely carried to the Americas by the same West Africans who developed the Olmec or Xi civilization in Mexico.Such activities would have occurred particularly if there was not much of a hinderance and obstacle to massive, monumental building and construction as there was in the forest and malaria zones of West Africa. Yet, when the region of ancient Ghana and Mauritania is closely examined, evidence of large prehistoric towns such as Kukia and others as well as various monuments to a great civilization existed and continue to exist at a smaller level than Egypt and Nubia, but significant enough to show a direct connection with Mexico's Olmec civilization.The similarities between Olmec and West African civilization includes racial, religious and pyramid bilding similarities, as well as the similarities in their alphabets and scripts as well as both cultures speaking the ident ical Mende language, which was once widespread in the Sahara and was spread as far East as Dravidian India in prehistoric times as well as the South Pacific. During the early years of West African trade with the Americas, commercial seafarers made frequent voyages across the Atlantic.In fact, the oral history of a tradition of seafaring between the Americas and Africa is part of the history of the Washitaw People, an aboriginal Black nation who were the original inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley region, the former Louisiana Territories and parts of the Southern United States. According to their oral traditions, their ancient ships criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas on missions of trade and commerce.. Some of the ships used during the ancient times, perhaps earlier than 7000 B.C. (which is the date given for cave paintings of the drawings and paintings of boats in the now dried up Sahara desert) are similar to ships used in parts of Africa today. The se ships were either made of papyrus or planks lashed with rope, or hollowed out tree trunks. These ancient vessels were loaded with all type of trade goods and not only did they criss-cross the Atlantic but they traded out in the Pacific and settled there as well all the way to California.In   fact, the tradition of Black seafarers crossing the Pacific back and forth to California is much older than the actual divulgance of that fact to the first Spanish explorers who were told by the American Indians that Black men with curly hair made trips from California's shores to the Pacific on missions of trade. On the other hand, West African trade with the Americas before Columbus and way back to proto historic times (30,000 B. C. to 10,000 B. C. ), is one of the most important chapters in ancient African history. Yet, this era which begun about 30,000 years ago and perhaps earlier (see the Gladwin Thesis, by C. S.Gladwin, Mc Graw Hill Books), has not been part of the History of Blacks in the Americas. Later on in history, particularly during the early Bronze Age. However, during the latter part of the Bronze Age, particularly between 1500 B. C. to 1000 B. C. , when the Olmec civilization began to bloom and flourish, new conditions in the Mediterranean made it more difficult for West Africans to trade by sea with the region, although their land trade accross the Sahara was flourishing. By then, Greeks, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians and others were trying to gain control of the sea routes and the trading ports of the region.Conflicts in the region may have pushed the West Africans to strengthen their trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas and to explore and settle there. Ancient sea-going vessel used by the Egyptians and Nubians in ancient times. West African Trade and Settlement in the Americas Increases Due to Conflicts in the Mediterranean The flowering of the Olmec Civilization occurred between 1500 B. C. to 1000 B. C. , when over twenty-two collosal head s of basalt were carved representing the West African Negritic racial type.This flowering continued with the appearance of â€Å"Magicians,† or Shamanistic Africans who observed and charted the Venus planetary complex (see the pre-Christian era statuette of a West African Shaman in the photograph above) These â€Å"Magicians,† are said to have entered Mexico from West Africa between 800 B. C. to 600 B. C. and were speakers of the Mende language as well as writers of the Mende script or the Bambara script, both which are still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara. These Shamans who became the priestly class at Monte Alban during the 800's to 600's B. C. ( ref.The History of the African-Olmecs and Black Civilization of the Americas From Prehistoric Times to the Present Era), had to have journied across the Atlantic from West Africa, for it is only in West Africa, that the religious practices and astronomical and religious practices and complex (Venus, the Dogon Si rius observation and the Venus worship of the Afro-Olmecs, the use of the ax in the worship of Shango among he Yoruba of West Africa and the use of the ax in Afro-Olmec worship as well as the prominence of the thunder God later known as Tlalock among the Aztecs) are the same as those practiced by the Afro-Olmec Shamans.According to Clyde Ahmed Winters (see â€Å"Clyde A. Winters† webpage on â€Å"search. † Thus, it has been proven through linguistic studies, religious similarities, racial similarities between the Afro-Olmecs and West Africans, as well as the use of the same language and writing script, that the Afro-Olmecs came from the Mende-Speaking region of West Africa, which once included the Sahara. Sailing and shipbuilding in the Sahara is over twenty thousand years old. In fact, cave and wall paintings of ancient ships were displayed in National Geographic Magazine some years ago.Such ships which carried sails and masts, were among the vessels that swept across the water filled Sahara in prehistoric times. It is from that ship-building tradition that the Bambara used their knowledge to build Thor Hayerdhal's papyrus boat Ra I which made it to the West Indies from Safi in Morroco years ago. The Bambara are also one of the West African nationalities who had and still have a religious and astronomical complex similar to that of the ancient Olmecs, particularly in the area of star gazing.A journey across the Atlantic to the Americas on a good current during clement weather would have been an easier task to West Africans of the Coastal and riverine regions than it would have been through the use of caravans criss-crossing the hot by day and extremely cold by night Sahara desert. It would have been much easier to take a well made ship, similar to the one shown above and let the currents take it to the West Indies, and may have taken as long as sending goods back and forth from northern and north-eastern Africa to the interior and coasts of West Africa's ancient kingdoms.Add to that the fact that crossing the Sahara would have been no easy task when obsticales such as the hot and dusty environment, the thousands of miles of dust, sand and high winds existed. The long trek through the southern regions of West Africa through vallies, mountains and down the many rivers to the coast using beasts of burden would have been problematic particularly since malaria mosquitoes harmful to both humans and animals would have made the use of animals to carry loads unreliable.Journeys by ship along the coast of West Africa toward the North, through the Pillars of Heracles,   eastward on the Mediterran to Ports such as Byblos in Lebanon, Tyre or Sydon would have been two to three times as lengthy as taking a ship from Cape Verde, sailing it across the Atlantic and landing in North-Eastern Brazil fifteen hundred miles away, or Meso America about 2400 miles away. The distance in itself is not what makes the trip easy. It is the fact that c urrents   which are similar to gigantic rivers in the ocean, carry ships and other vessels from West Africa to the Americas with relative ease.West Africans during the period of 1500 B. C. to 600 B. C. up to 1492 A. D. may have looked to the Americas as a source of trade, commerce and a place to settle and build new civlilzations. During the period of 1500 B. C. to 600 B. C. , there were many conflicts in the Mediterranean involving the Kushites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Sea Peoples, Persians, Jews and others. Any kingdom or nation of that era who wanted to conduct smoothe trade without complications would have tried to find alternative trading partners.In fact, that was the very reason why the Europeans decided to sail westwared in their wearch for India and China in 1492 A. D. They were harrassed by the Arabs in the East and had to pay heavy taxes to pass through the region. Still, most of the Black empires and kingdoms such as Kush, Mauri, Numidia, Egypt, Ethiopia and others may have had little difficulty conducting trade among their neighbors since they also were among the major powers of the region who were dominant in the Mediterranean.South of this northern region to the south-west, Mauritania (the site of the prehistoric Zingh Empire) Ghana, and many of the same nationalities who ushered in the West African renaissance of the early Middle Ages were engaged in civilizations and cultures similar to those of Nubia, Egypt and the Empires of the Afro-Olmec or Xi (Shi) People. Nubian-Kushite King and Queen (circa 1000 B. C. ) It is believed that there was a Nubian presence in Mexico and that the West African civilizations were related to that of the Nubians, despite the distance between the two centers of Black civilization in Africa.There is no doubt that in ancient times there were commercial ties between West Africa and Egypt. In fact, about 600 B. C. , Nikau, a Pharaoh of Egypt sent ships to circumnavigate Africa and later on about 450 B. C. , Phoenicians did the same, landing in West Africa in the nation now called Cameroon. There they witnessed what may have been the celebration of a Kwanza-like harvest festival, where â€Å"cymbals, horns,† and other instruments as well as smoke and fire from buring fields could be seen from their ships.At that period in history, the West African cultures and civilizations, which were offshoots of much earlier southern Saharan cultures, were very old compared to civilizations such as Greece or Babylon. In fact, iron was being used by the ancient West Africans as early as 2600 years B. C. and was so common that there was no â€Å"bronze age† in West Africa, although bronze was used for ornaments and instruments or tools. A combination of Nubians and West Africans engaged in mutual trade and commerce along the coasts of West Africa could have planned many trips to and from the Americas and could have conducted a crossing about 1500 B.C. and afterwards. Massive sculptures of the heads of typical Negritic Africans were carved in the region of South Mexico where the Olmec civilization flourished. Some of these massive heads of basalt contain the cornrow hairstyle common among West African Blacks, as well as the kinky coiled hair common among at least 70 percent of all Negritic people, (the other proportion being the Dravidian Black race of India and the Black Australoids of Australia and South Asia). Collossol Afro-Olmec head of basalt wearing Nubian type war helmet, circa 1100 B. C. Afro-Olmecs Came from the Mende Regions of West AfricaAlthough archeologists have used the name â€Å"Olmec,† to refer to the Black builders of ancient Mexico's first civilizations, recent discoveries have proven that these Afro-Olmecs were West Africans of the Mende language and cultural group. Inscriptions found on ancient monuments in parts of Mexico show that the script used by the ancient Olmecs was identical to that used by the ancient and modern Mende-speakin g peoples of West Africa. Racially, the collosal stone heads are identical in features to West Africans and the language deciphered on Olmec monuments is identical to the Mende language of West Africa, (see Clyde A.Winters) on the internet. The term â€Å"Olmec† was first used by archeologists since the giant stone heads with the features of West African Negritic people were found in a part of Mexico with an abundance of rubber trees. The Maya word for rubber was â€Å"olli, and so the name â€Å"Olmec,† was used to label the Africoid Negritic people represented in the faces of the stone heads and found on hundreds of terracotta figurines throughout the region. Yet, due to the scientific work done by deciphers and linguists, it has been found out that the ancient Blacks of Mexico know as Olmecs, called themselves the Xi People (She People).Apart from the giant stone heads of basalt, hundreds of terracotta figurines and heads of people of Negritic African racial reatur es have also been found over the past hundred years in Mexico and other parts of Meso-America as well as the ancient Black-owned lands of the Southern U. S. (Washitaw Proper,(Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas), South America's Saint Agustin Culture in the nation of Colombia, Costa Rica, and other areas) the â€Å"Louisiana Purchase,† lands, the south-eastern kingdom of the Black Jamassee, and other places including Haiti, see the magazine Ancient American).Various cultural clues and traces unique to Africa as well as the living descendants of prehistoric and ancient African migrants to the Americas continue to exist to this very day. The Washitaw Nation of Louisiana is one such group (see www. Hotep. org), the Garifuna or Black Caribs of the Caribbean and Central America is another, the descendants of the Jamasse who live in Georgia and the surrounding states is another group. There are also others such as the Black Californian of Queen Calafia fame (the Black Amazon Queen mentioned in the book Journey to Esplandian, by Ordonez de Montalvo during the mid 1500's).Cultural artefacts which connect the ancient Blacks of the Americas with Africa are many. Some of these similarities can be seen in the stone and terracotta works of the ancient Blacks of the Americas. For example, the African hairline is clearly visible in some stone and terracotta works, including the use of cornrows, afro hair style, flat â€Å"mohawk† style similar to the type used in Africa, dreadlocks, braided hair and even plain kinky hair. The African hairline is clearly visible on a fine stone head from Veracruz Mexico, carved between 600 B.C. to 400 B. C. , the Classic Period of Olmec civilization. That particular statuette is about twelve inches tall and the distance from the head to the chin is about 17 centemeters. Another head of about 12 inches, not only posesses Negroid features, but the hair design is authentically West African and is on display at the Nat ional Museum of Mexico. This terracotta Africoid head also wears the common disk type ear plugs common in parts of Africa even today among tribes such as the Dinka and Shilluk.One of the most impressive pieces of evidence which show a direct link between the Black Olmec or Xi People of Mexico and West Africans is the presence of scarification marks on some Olmec terracotta sculpture. These scarification marks clearly indicate a West African Mandinka (Mende) presence in prehistoric and ancient Meso-America. Ritual scarification is still practiced in parts of Africa and among the Black peoples of the South Pacific, however the Olmec scarification marks are not of South Pacific or Melanesian Black origins, since the patterns used on ancient Olmec sculpture is still common in parts of Africa.This style of scarification tatooing is still used by the Nuba and other Sudanese African people. In fact, the face of a young girl with keloid scarification on here face is identical to the very sa me keloid tatoos on the face of an ancient Olmec terracotta head from ancient Mexico. Similar keloid tattoos also appear on the arms of some Sudanese and are identical to similar keloid scars on the arms of some clay figures from ancient Olmec terracotta figurines of Negroid peoples of ancient Mexico. Bronze head of an ancient king from Benin, West Africa, The tradition of fine sculpture in West Africa goes back long before 1000 B.C. Collosal head of Afro-Olmec (Xi) warrior-king, circa 1100 B. C. Descendants of Ancient Africans in Recent America In many parts of the Americas today, there are still people of African Negritic racial backgrounds who continue to exist either blended into the larger African-Americas population or are parts of separate, indigenous groups living on their own lands with their own unique culture and languages. One such example is the Washitaw Nation who owned about one million square miles of the former Louisiana Territories, (see www. Hotep. org), but who n ow own only about 70,000 acres of all their former territory.The regaining of their lands from the U. S. was a long process which concluded partially in 1991, when they won the right to their lands in a U. S. court. The Black Californian broke up as a nation during the late 1800's after many years of war with the Spanish invaders of the South West, with Mexico and with the U. S. The blended into the Black population of California and their descendants still exist among the millions of Black Californians of today. The Black Caribs or Garifunas of the Caribbean Islands and Central America fought with the English and Spanish from the late fifteen hundreds up to 1797, when the British sued for peace.The Garifuna were expelled from their islands but they prospered in Central America where hundreds of thousands live along the coasts today. The Afro-Darienite is a significant group of pre-historic, pre-columbian Blacks who existed in South America and Central America. These Blacks were the Africans that the Spanish first saw during their exploration of the narrow strip of land between Columbia and Central America and who were described as â€Å"slaves of our lord† since the Spaniards and Europeans had the intention of enslaving all Blacks they found in the newly discovered lands.The above mentioned Blacks of precolumbian origins are not Blacks wo mixed with the Mongoloid Indian population as occurred during the time of slavery. They were Blacks who were in some cases on their lands before the southward migrations of the Mongoloid Native Americans. In many cases, these Blacks had established civilizations in the Americas thousands of years ago. An early Black Californian, a member of the original Black aboriginal people of California and the South Western U. S.A member of one of the original Black nations of the Americas, the Afro-Darienite of Panama. Stone carving of Negroid person found in area close to Washitaw Territories, Southern U. S. THE USE OF ANCIENT AFRICAN SHIPS AND BOATS TO TRADE WITH THE AMERICAS Protohistoric, prehistoric and ancient Negritic Africans were masters of the lands as well as the oceans. They were the first shipbuilders on earth and had to have used watercraft to cross from South East Asia to Australia about 60,000 years ago and from the West Africa/Sahara inland seas region to the Americas.The fact of the northern portion of Africa now known as a vast desert wasteland being a place of large lakes, rivers and fertile regions with the most ancient of civilizations is a fact that has been verified, (see African Presence in Early America, edt. Ivan Van Sertima and Runoko Rashidi, Transaction Publishers, New Bruinswick, NJ â€Å"The Principle of Polarity,† by Wayne Chandler: 1994. ) From that region of Africa as well as East Africa, diffusions of Blacks towards the Americas as early as 30,000 B. C. re believed to have occurred based on findings in a region from Mexico to Brazil which show that American indian s in the region include Negritic types (eg. Olmecs, Afro-Darienite, Black Californians, Chuarras, Garifunas and others). Much earlier journeys occurred by land sometime before 75,000 B. C. according to the Gladwin Thesis written by C. S. Gladwin. This migration occurred on the Pacific side of the Americas and was began by Africans with Affinities similar to the people of New Guinea, Tasmania, Solomon Islands and Australia.The earliest migrations of African Blacks through Asia then to the Americas seemed to have occurred exactly during the period that the Australian Aborigines and the proto-African ancestors of the Aborigines, Oceanic Negroids (Fijians, Solomon Islanders, Papua-New Guineans,and so on) and other Blacks spread throughout East Asia and the Pacific Islands about one hundred thousand years ago. The fact that these same Blacks are still among the world's seafaring cultures and still regard the sea as sacred and as a place of sustinence is evidence of their ancient dependan ce on the sea for travel and exploration as well as for commerce and trade.Therefore, they would have had to build sea-worthy ships and boats to take them across the vast expanses of ocean, including the Atlantic, Indian Ocean (both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were called the Ethiopean Sea, in the Middle Ages) and the Pacific Ocean. During the historic period close to the early bronze or copper using period of world history (6000 B. C. to 4000 B. C. migrations of Africans from the Mende regions of West Africa and the Sahara across the Atlantic to the Americas may have occurred.In fact, the Mende agricultural culture was well established in West Africa and the Sahara during that period. Boats still criss-crossed the Sahara, as they had been doing for over ten thousand years previously. The ancient peoples of the Sahara, as rock paintings clearly show, were using boats and may have sailed from West Africa and the Sahara to the Americas, including the Washitaw territories of the Mid western and Southern U. S. Moreover, it is believed by the aboriginal Black people of the former Washitaw Empire who still live in the Southern U. S. , that about 6000 B. C. there was a great population shift from the region of Africa and the Pacific ocean, which led to the migrations of their ancestors to the Americas to join the Blacks who had been there previously. As for the use of ships, ancient Negritic peoples and the original Negroid peoples of the earth may have began using boats very early in human history. Moreover, whatever boats were used did not have to be sophisticated or of huge size. In fact, the small, seaworthy â€Å"outrigger† canoe may have been spread from East Africa to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific by the earliest African migrants to Asia and the Pacific regions.Boats of papyrus, skin, sewed plank, log and hollowed logs were used by ancient Africans on their trips to various parts of the world. Gigantic stone head of Afro-Olmec (Xi People) of ancien t Mexico, circa 1100 B. C. Face of Afro-Olmec child carved on the waste â€Å"belt† of an Olmec ballplayer This stone belt was used by the Olmec ballplayers to catch the impact of the rubber balls in their ball games. This face is typical Negritic, including the eyes which seem to â€Å"slant,† a common racial characteristic in West Africa, the Sahara and in South Africa among the Kong-San (Bushmen) and other Africans.TRADE ROUTES OF THE ANCIENT BLACKS During the years of migrations of Africans to all parts of the world, those who crossed the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific also used the seas to make trips to the northern parts of Africa. They may have avoided the northern routes across the deserts at particular times of the year and sailed northward by sailing parallel to the coastslines on their way northward or southward, just as the Phoenicians, Nubians and Egyptians had done. Boats made of skin, logs, hollowed ttee trunk, lashed canoes and skin could have been used for trading and commerce.The reed boat is a common type of watercraft used in West Africa and other parts of the world, yet there were other boats and ships to add to those already mentioned above. Boats similar to those of Nubia and Egypt were being used in the Sahara just as long or even longer than they were being used in Egypt. In fact, civilization in the Sahara and Sudan existed before Egypt was settled by Blacks from the South and the Sahara. The vessels which crossed the Atlantic about 1500 B. C. during the early Afro-Olmec period) were most likely the same types of ships shown in the sahara cave paintings of ships dating to about 7,000 B. C. or similar ships from Nubian rock carvings of 3000 B. C.. Egyptologists such as Sir Flinders Petrie believed that the ancient African drawings of ships represent papyrus boats similar to the one built by the Bambara People for Thor Hayerdhal on the shores of Lake Chad. This boat made it to Barbadose, however they did not reinforce the hull with rope as the ancient Egyptians and Nubians did with their ancient ships.That lack of reinforcement made the Bambara ship weak, however another papyrus ship built by Ayamara Indians in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia was reinforced and it made it to the West Indies without difficulty. Naval historian Bjorn Landstrom believes that some of the curved hulls shown on rock art and pottery from the Nubian civilization (circa 3000 B. C. ) point to a basic three-plank idea. The planks would have been sewn together with rope. The larer version must have had some interior framing to hold them together.The hulls of some ot these boats show the vertical extension of the bow and stern which may have been to keep them bouyant. These types of boats are stilll in use in one of the most unlikely places. The Djuka and Saramaka Tribes of Surinam, known also as ‘Bush Negroes,† build a style of ship and boat similar to that of the Ancient Egyptians and Nubians, with their bows and sterns curving upward and pointing vertically. This style of boat is also a common design in parts of West Africa, particularly along the Niger River where extensive river trading occurs.They are usually carved from a single tree trunk which is used as the backbone. Planks are then fitted alongside to enlarge them. In all cases, cabins are built on top of the interior out of woven mat or other strong fiberous material. These boats are usually six to eight feet across and about fifty feet long. There is evidence that one African Emperor Abubakari of Mali used these â€Å"almadias† or longboats to make a trip to the Americas during the 1300's. (see, They Came Before Columbus, Ivan Van Sertima; Random House: 1975)Apart from the vessels used by the West Africans and south western Sahara Black Africans to sail across the Atlantic to the Americas, Nubians, Kushites, Egyptians and Ethiopians were known traders in the Mediterranean. The Canaanites, the Negroid inhabitants of the Levant who later became the Phoenicians also were master seafarers. This has caused some to speculate that the heads of the Afro-Olmecs represent the heads of servants of the Phoenicians, yet no dominant people would build such massive and collosol monuments to their servants and not to themselves.Check for historical references and literature ANTHROPOLOGISTS BELIEVE THERE WAS AN ANCIENT BLACK PRESENCE IN THE AMERICAS During the International Congress of American Anthropologists held in Bacelona, Spain in 1964, a French anthropologist pointed out that all that was missing to prove a definite presence of Negritic Blacks in the Americas before Columbus was Negroid skeletons to add to the already found Negroid featured terracottas. Later on February of 1975 skeletons of Negroid people dating to the 1200's were found at a precolumbian grave in the Virgin Islands.Andrei Wierzinski, the Polish crainologist also concluded based on the study of skeletons found in Mexico, that a good portion of the sku lls were that of Negritic Blacks, Based on the many finds for a Black African Negroid presence in ancient Mexico, some of the most enthusiastic proponents of a pre-columbian Black African presence in Mexico are Mexican professionals. They conclude that Africans must have established early important trading centers on the coasts along Vera Cuz, from which Middle America's first civiliztion grew. In retrospect, ancient Africans did visit the Americas from as early as about 100,000 B.C. where they stayed for tens of thousands of years. By 30,000 B. C. , to about 15,000 B. C. , a massive migration from the Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in the East occurred from the Sahara. Blacks also migrated Westward across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas during that period until the very eve of Columbus' first journey to the Americas. Trade, commerce and exploration as well as the search for new lands when the Sahara began to dry up later in history was the catalyst that dro ve the West Africans towards the Atlantic and into the Americas.REFERENCES Washitaw Nation (www. Hotep. org) Clyde A. Winters (The Nubians and the Olmecs) Blacks of India dalitstan. org Blacks of the Pacific and Melanesia: www. cwo. com/~lucumi/pacific. html If you ever visit the ancient Afro-Olmec monuments of Mexico, the Washitaw Nation of Louisiana, the monuments of Nubia, Egypt or West Africa you need to take great pictures: www. photoalley. com Trinicenter PanTrinbago RaceandHistory HowComYouCom BLACK CIVILIZATIONS OF ANCIENT AMERICA (MUU-LAN), MEXICO (XI)Gigantic stone head of Negritic African during the Olmec (Xi) Civilization By Paul Barton The earliest people in the Americas were people of the Negritic African race, who entered the Americas perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, by way of the bering straight and about thirty thousand years ago in a worldwide maritime undertaking that included journeys from the then wet and lake filled Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas.According to the Gladwin Thesis, this ancient journey occurred, particularly about 75,000 years ago and included Black Pygmies, Black Negritic peoples and Black Australoids similar to the Aboriginal Black people of Australia and parts of Asia, including India. Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B. C. to 500 B. C. Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without a doubt, that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally from West Africa and were of the Mende African ethnic stock.According to Clyde A. Winters and other writers (see Clyde A. Winters website), the Mende script was discovered on some of the ancient Olmec monuments of Mexico and were found to be identical to the very same script used by the Mende people of West Africa. Although the carbon fourteen testing date for the presence of the Black Olmecs or Xi People is about 1500 B. C. , journies to the Mexico and the Southern United States may have come from West Africa much earlier, particularly around five thousand years before Christ.That conclusion is based on the finding of an African native cotton that was discovered in North America. It's only possible manner of arriving where it was found had to have been through human hands. At that period in West African history and even before, civilization was in full bloom in the Western Sahara in what is today Mauritania. One of Africa's earliest civilizations, the Zingh Empire, existed and may have lived in what was a lake filled, wet and fertile Sahara, where ships criss-crossed from place to place.ANCIENT AFRICAN KINGDOMS PRODUCED OLMEC TYPE CULTURES The ancient kingdoms of West Africa which occupied the Coastal forest belt from Cameroon to Guinea had trading relationships with other Africans dating back to prehistoric times. However, by 1500 B. C. , these ancient kingdoms not only traded along the Ivory Coast, b ut with the Phoenicians and other peoples. They expanded their trade to the Americas, where the evidence for an ancient African presence is overwhelming.The kingdoms which came to be known by Arabs and Europeans during the Middle Ages were already well established when much of Western Europe was still inhabited by Celtic tribes. By the 5th Century B. C. , the Phoenicians were running comercial ships to several West African kingdoms. During that period, iron had been in use for about one thousand years and terracotta art was being produced at a great level of craftsmanship. Stone was also being carved with naturalistic perfection and later, bronze was being used to make various tools and instruments, as well as beautifully naturalistic works of art.The ancient West African coastal and interior Kingdoms occupied an area that is now covered with dense vegetation but may have been cleared about three to four thousand years ago. This includes the regions from the coasts of West Africa to the South, all the way inland to the Sahara. A number of large kingdoms and empires existed in that area. According to Blisshords Communications, one of the oldest empires and civilizions on earth existed just north of the coastal regions into what is today Mauritania.It was called the Zingh Empire and was highly advanced. In fact, they were the first to use the red, black and green African flag and to plant it throughout their territory all over Africa and the world. The Zingh Empire existed about fifteen thousand years ago. The only other civilizations that may have been in existance at that period in history were the Ta-Seti civilization of what became Nubia-Kush and the mythical Atlantis civilization which may have existed out in the Atlantic, off the coast of West Africa about ten to fifteen thousand years ago.That leaves the question as to whether there was a relationship between the prehistoric Zingh Empire of West Africa and the civilization of Atlantis, whether the Zingh E mpire was actually Atlantis, or whether Atlantis if it existed was part of the Zingh empire. Was Atlantis, the highly technologically sophisticated civilization an extension of Black civilization in the Meso-America and other parts of the Americas? Stone carving of a Shaman or priest from Columbia's San Agustine CultureAn ancient West African Oni or King holding similar artifacts as the San Agustine culture stone carving of a Shaman The above ancient stone carvings (500 t0 1000 B. C. ) of Shamans of Priest-Kings clearly show distinct similarities in instruments held and purpose. The realistic carving of an African king or Oni and the stone carving of a shaman from Columbia's San Agustin Culture indicates diffusion of African religious practices to the Americas. In fact, the region of Columbia and Panama were among the first places that Blacks were spotted by the first Spanish explorers to the Americas.From the archeological evidence gathered both in West Africa and Meso-America, the re is reason to believe that the African Negritics who founded or influenced the Olmec civilization came from West Africa. Not only do the collosol Olmec stone heads resemble Black Africans from the Ghana area, but the ancient religious practices of the Olmec priests was similar to that of the West Africans, which included shamanism, the study of the Venus complex which was part of the traditions of the Olmecs as well as the Ono and Dogon People of West Africa.The language connection is of significant importance, since it has been found out through decipherment of the Olmec script, that the ancient Olmecs spoke the Mende language and wrote in the Mend script, which is still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara to this day. ANCIENT TRADE BETWEEN THE AMERICAS AND AFRICA The earliest trade and commercial activities between prehistoric and ancient Africa and the Americas may have occurred from West Africa and may have included shipping and travel across the Atlantic. The history of West Africa has never been properly researched.Yet, there is ample evidence to show that West Africa of 1500 B. C. was at a level of civilization approaching that of ancient Egypt and Nubia-Kush. In fact, there were similarities between the cultures of Nubia and West Africa, even to the very similarities between the smaller scaled hard brick clay burial pyramids built for West African Kings at Kukia in pre Christian Ghana and their counterparts in Nubia, Egypt and Meso-America. Although West Africa is not commonly known for having a culture of pyramid-building, such a culture existed although pyramids were created for the burial of kings and were made of hardened brick.This style of pyramid building was closer to what was built by the Olmecs in Mexico when the first Olmec pyramids were built. In fact, they were not built of stone, but of hardened clay and compact earth. Still, even though we don't see pyramids of stone rising above the ground in West Africa, similar to those of E gypt, Nubia or Mexico, or massive abilisks, collosal monuments and structures of Nubian and Khemitic or Meso-American civilization. The fact remains, they did exist in West Africa n a smaller scale and were transported to the Americas, where conditions such as an environment more hospitable to building and free of detriments such as malaria and the tsetse fly, made it much easier to build on a grander scale. Meso-American pyramid with stepped appearance, built about 2500 years ago Stepped Pyramid of Sakkara, Egypt, built over four thousand years ago, compare to Meso-American pyramid Large scale building projects such as monuent and pyramid building was most likely carried to the Americas by the same West Africans who developed the Olmec or Xi civilization in Mexico.Such activities would have occurred particularly if there was not much of a hinderance and obstacle to massive, monumental building and construction as there was in the forest and malaria zones of West Africa. Yet, when t he region of ancient Ghana and Mauritania is closely examined, evidence of large prehistoric towns such as Kukia and others as well as various monuments to a great civilization existed and continue to exist at a smaller level than Egypt and Nubia, but significant enough to show a direct connection with Mexico's Olmec civilization.The similarities between Olmec and West African civilization includes racial, religious and pyramid bilding similarities, as well as the similarities in their alphabets and scripts as well as both cultures speaking the identical Mende language, which was once widespread in the Sahara and was spread as far East as Dravidian India in prehistoric times as well as the South Pacific. During the early years of West African trade with the Americas, commercial seafarers made frequent voyages across the Atlantic.In fact, the oral history of a tradition of seafaring between the Americas and Africa is part of the history of the Washitaw People, an aboriginal Black nat ion who were the original inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley region, the former Louisiana Territories and parts of the Southern United States. According to their oral traditions, their ancient ships criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas on missions of trade and commerce.. Some of the ships used during the ancient times, perhaps earlier than 7000 B.C. (which is the date given for cave paintings of the drawings and paintings of boats in the now dried up Sahara desert) are similar to ships used in parts of Africa today. These ships were either made of papyrus or planks lashed with rope, or hollowed out tree trunks. These ancient vessels were loaded with all type of trade goods and not only did they criss-cross the Atlantic but they traded out in the Pacific and settled there as well all the way to California.In   fact, the tradition of Black seafarers crossing the Pacific back and forth to California is much older than the actual divulgance of that fact to the first Spanish explorers who were told by the American Indians that Black men with curly hair made trips from California's shores to the Pacific on missions of trade. On the other hand, West African trade with the Americas before Columbus and way back to proto historic times (30,000 B. C. to 10,000 B. C. ), is one of the most important chapters in ancient African history. Yet, this era which begun about 30,000 years ago and perhaps earlier (see the Gladwin Thesis, by C. S.Gladwin, Mc Graw Hill Books), has not been part of the History of Blacks in the Americas. Later on in history, particularly during the early Bronze Age. However, during the latter part of the Bronze Age, particularly between 1500 B. C. to 1000 B. C. , when the Olmec civilization began to bloom and flourish, new conditions in the Mediterranean made it more difficult for West Africans to trade by sea with the region, although their land trade accross the Sahara was flourishing. By then, Greeks, Phoenicians, Ass yrians, Babylonians and others were trying to gain control of the sea routes and the trading ports of the region.Conflicts in the region may have pushed the West Africans to strengthen their trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas and to explore and settle there. Ancient sea-going vessel used by the Egyptians and Nubians in ancient times. West African Trade and Settlement in the Americas Increases Due to Conflicts in the Mediterranean The flowering of the Olmec Civilization occurred between 1500 B. C. to 1000 B. C. , when over twenty-two collosal heads of basalt were carved representing the West African Negritic racial type.This flowering continued with the appearance of â€Å"Magicians,† or Shamanistic Africans who observed and charted the Venus planetary complex (see the pre-Christian era statuette of a West African Shaman in the photograph above) These â€Å"Magicians,† are said to have entered Mexico from West Africa between 800 B. C. to 600 B. C. and were speakers of the Mende language as well as writers of the Mende script or the Bambara script, both which are still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara. These Shamans who became the priestly class at Monte Alban during the 800's to 600's B. C. ( ref.The History of the African-Olmecs and Black Civilization of the Americas From Prehistoric Times to the Present Era), had to have journied across the Atlantic from West Africa, for it is only in West Africa, that the religious practices and astronomical and religious practices and complex (Venus, the Dogon Sirius observation and the Venus worship of the Afro-Olmecs, the use of the ax in the worship of Shango among he Yoruba of West Africa and the use of the ax in Afro-Olmec worship as well as the prominence of the thunder God later known as Tlalock among the Aztecs) are the same as those practiced by the Afro-Olmec Shamans.According to Clyde Ahmed Winters (see â€Å"Clyde A. Winters† webpage on â€Å"search. † Thus, it has been proven through linguistic studies, religious similarities, racial similarities between the Afro-Olmecs and West Africans, as well as the use of the same language and writing script, that the Afro-Olmecs came from the Mende-Speaking region of West Africa, which once included the Sahara. Sailing and shipbuilding in the Sahara is over twenty thousand years old. In fact, cave and wall paintings of ancient ships were displayed in National Geographic Magazine some years ago.Such ships which carried sails and masts, were among the vessels that swept across the water filled Sahara in prehistoric times. It is from that ship-building tradition that the Bambara used their knowledge to build Thor Hayerdhal's papyrus boat Ra I which made it to the West Indies from Safi in Morroco years ago. The Bambara are also one of the West African nationalities who had and still have a religious and astronomical complex similar to that of the ancient Olmecs, particularly in the area of star gazing.A journey across the Atlantic to the Americas on a good current during clement weather would have been an easier task to West Africans of the Coastal and riverine regions than it would have been through the use of caravans criss-crossing the hot by day and extremely cold by night Sahara desert. It would have been much easier to take a well made ship, similar to the one shown above and let the currents take it to the West Indies, and may have taken as long as sending goods back and forth from northern and north-eastern Africa to the interior and coasts of West Africa's ancient kingdoms.Add to that the fact that crossing the Sahara would have been no easy task when obsticales such as the hot and dusty environment, the thousands of miles of dust, sand and high winds existed. The long trek through the southern regions of West Africa through vallies, mountains and down the many rivers to the coast using beasts of burden would have been problematic particularly since malaria mosquitoes harmful to both humans and animals would have made the use of animals to carry loads unreliable.Journeys by ship along the coast of West Africa toward the North, through the Pillars of Heracles,   eastward on the Mediterran to Ports such as Byblos in Lebanon, Tyre or Sydon would have been two to three times as lengthy as taking a ship from Cape Verde, sailing it across the Atlantic and landing in North-Eastern Brazil fifteen hundred miles away, or Meso America about 2400 miles away. The distance in itself is not what makes the trip easy. It is the fact that currents   which are similar to gigantic rivers in the ocean, carry ships and other vessels from West Africa to the Americas with relative ease.West Africans during the period of 1500 B. C. to 600 B. C. up to 1492 A. D. may have looked to the Americas as a source of trade, commerce and a place to settle and build new civlilzations. During the period of 1500 B. C. to 600 B. C. , there were many conflicts in the Mediterranean involving th e Kushites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Sea Peoples, Persians, Jews and others. Any kingdom or nation of that era who wanted to conduct smoothe trade without complications would have tried to find alternative trading partners.In fact, that was the very reason why the Europeans decided to sail westwared in their wearch for India and China in 1492 A. D. They were harrassed by the Arabs in the East and had to pay heavy taxes to pass through the region. Still, most of the Black empires and kingdoms such as Kush, Mauri, Numidia, Egypt, Ethiopia and others may have had little difficulty conducting trade among their neighbors since they also were among the major powers of the region who were dominant in the Mediterranean.South of this northern region to the south-west, Mauritania (the site of the prehistoric Zingh Empire) Ghana, and many of the same nationalities who ushered in the West African renaissance of the early Middle Ages were engaged in civilizations and cultures similar t o those of Nubia, Egypt and the Empires of the Afro-Olmec or Xi (Shi) People. Nubian-Kushite King and Queen (circa 1000 B. C. ) It is believed that there was a Nubian presence in Mexico and that the West African civilizations were related to that of the Nubians, despite the distance between the two centers of Black civilization in Africa.There is no doubt that in ancient times there were commercial ties between West Africa and Egypt. In fact, about 600 B. C. , Nikau, a Pharaoh of Egypt sent ships to circumnavigate Africa and later on about 450 B. C. , Phoenicians did the same, landing in West Africa in the nation now called Cameroon. There they witnessed what may have been the celebration of a Kwanza-like harvest festival, where â€Å"cymbals, horns,† and other instruments as well as smoke and fire from buring fields could be seen from their ships.At that period in history, the West African cultures and civilizations, which were offshoots of much earlier southern Saharan cult ures, were very old compared to civilizations such as Greece or Babylon. In fact, iron was being used by the ancient West Africans as early as 2600 years B. C. and was so common that there was no â€Å"bronze age† in West Africa, although bronze was used for ornaments and instruments or tools. A combination of Nubians and West Africans engaged in mutual trade and commerce along the coasts of West Africa could have planned many trips to and from the Americas and could have conducted a crossing about 1500 B.C. and afterwards. Massive sculptures of the heads of typical Negritic Africans were carved in the region of South Mexico where the Olmec civilization flourished. Some of these massive heads of basalt contain the cornrow hairstyle common among West African Blacks, as well as the kinky coiled hair common among at least 70 percent of all Negritic people, (the other proportion being the Dravidian Black race of India and the Black Australoids of Australia and South Asia). Collos sol Afro-Olmec head of basalt wearing Nubian type war helmet, circa 1100 B. C. Afro-Olmecs Came from the Mende Regions of West AfricaAlthough archeologists have used the name â€Å"Olmec,† to refer to the Black builders of ancient Mexico's first civilizations, recent discoveries have proven that these Afro-Olmecs were West Africans of the Mende language and cultural group. Inscriptions found on ancient monuments in parts of Mexico show that the script used by the ancient Olmecs was identical to that used by the ancient and modern Mende-speaking peoples of West Africa. Racially, the collosal stone heads are identical in features to West Africans and the language deciphered on Olmec monuments is identical to the Mende language of West Africa, (see Clyde A.Winters) on the internet. The term â€Å"Olmec† was first used by archeologists since the giant stone heads with the features of West African Negritic people were found in a part of Mexico with an abundance of rubber tr ees. The Maya word for rubber was â€Å"olli, and so the name â€Å"Olmec,† was used to label the Africoid Negritic people represented in the faces of the stone heads and found on hundreds of terracotta figurines throughout the region. Yet, due to the scientific work done by deciphers and linguists, it has been found out that the ancient Blacks of Mexico know as Olmecs, called themselves the Xi People (She People).Apart from the giant stone heads of basalt, hundreds of terracotta figurines and heads of people of Negritic African racial reatures have also been found over the past hundred years in Mexico and other parts of Meso-America as well as the ancient Black-owned lands of the Southern U. S. (Washitaw Proper,(Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas), South America's Saint Agustin Culture in the nation of Colombia, Costa Rica, and other areas) the â€Å"Louisiana Purchase,† lands, the south-eastern kingdom of the Black Jamassee, and other places including Haiti, see the magazine Ancient American).Various cultural clues and traces unique to Africa as well as the living descendants of prehistoric and ancient African migrants to the Americas continue to exist to this very day. The Washitaw Nation of Louisiana is one such group (see www. Hotep. org), the Garifuna or Black Caribs of the Caribbean and Central America is another, the descendants of the Jamasse who live in Georgia and the surrounding states is another group. There are also others such as the Black Californian of Queen Calafia fame (the Black Amazon Queen mentioned in the book Journey to Esplandian, by Ordonez de Montalvo during the mid 1500's).Cultural artefacts which connect the ancient Blacks of the Americas with Africa are many. Some of these similarities can be seen in the stone and terracotta works of the ancient Blacks of the Americas. For example, the African hairline is clearly visible in some stone and terracotta works, including the use of cornrows, afro hair styl e, flat â€Å"mohawk† style similar to the type used in Africa, dreadlocks, braided hair and even plain kinky hair. The African hairline is clearly visible on a fine stone head from Veracruz Mexico, carved between 600 B.C. to 400 B. C. , the Classic Period of Olmec civilization. That particular statuette is about twelve inches tall and the distance from the head to the chin is about 17 centemeters. Another head of about 12 inches, not only posesses Negroid features, but the hair design is authentically West African and is on display at the National Museum of Mexico. This terracotta Africoid head also wears the common disk type ear plugs common in parts of Africa even today among tribes such as the Dinka and Shilluk.One of the most impressive pieces of evidence which show a direct link between the Black Olmec or Xi People of Mexico and West Africans is the presence of scarification marks on some Olmec terracotta sculpture. These scarification marks clearly indicate a West Afri can Mandinka (Mende) presence in prehistoric and ancient Meso-America. Ritual scarification is still practiced in parts of Africa and among the Black peoples of the South Pacific, however the Olmec scarification marks are not of South Pacific or Melanesian Black origins, since the patterns used on ancient Olmec sculpture is still common in parts of Africa.This style of scarification tatooing is still used by the Nuba and other Sudanese African people. In fact, the face of a young girl with keloid scarification on here face is identical to the very same keloid tatoos on the face of an ancient Olmec terracotta head from ancient Mexico. Similar keloid tattoos also appear on the arms of some Sudanese and are identical to similar keloid scars on the arms of some clay figures from ancient Olmec terracotta figurines of Negroid peoples of ancient Mexico. Bronze head of an ancient king from Benin, West Africa, The tradition of fine sculpture in West Africa goes back long before 1000 B.C.

M.C. Escher essays

M.C. Escher essays A curious tiling of black and white triangles with curved sides, enclosed within a circle, each triangle alternately colored progressively getting smaller as they approached the circles perimeter. This is the image that inspired M.C. Escher to create four pieces of art called the Circle Limit Series. Even the best artists get there inspiration from somewhere. M.C. Escher got his inspiration from H.S.M.Coxeter, who was a famous mathematician at the University of Toledo. Many of Eschers pieces of work stems off from basic principles of curved geometry. The idea of curved geometry is explained well through this example; If you draw any triangle on sheet of paper and add up the three angles, the result is always 180 degrees. This however is not true on a curved surface, here the angles always add up to less than 180 degrees. This is called a hyperbolic pattern. His other works included many different pieces of work. Most of these resembled infinity because Escher was drawn to it since he was very young. An example of this is the Waterfall. Its a drawing showing a waterfall that never ends yet it goes in a circle, it doesnt get pushed back up to the top, however, it falls there. In more recent days mathematicians, computer scientists, and others have a variety of speedy computer-based methods for automatically printing the hyperbolic patters that Escher was able to draw himself. The Dutch artist M.C. Escher was a very talented Dutch artist whos work would only be attempted by computer these days. Our society has a tendency to rely on them a lot even when they are not needed. Most people will pick up a calculator to solve -25*-4 although the solution is an easy one (100). Escher was a talented artists whos work is still admired today. ...

Down East Spud Busters Essays

Down East Spud Busters Essays Down East Spud Busters Essay Down East Spud Busters Essay With the completion of phase one, Spud Busters anticipates sales revenue to triple from the existing yield of potatoes. Phase two of Down Easts plan calls for a connation sales and dilutions program to be established for the company. The third and final phase of spud Busters strategic plan anticipates bulging a second manufacturing facility in five years in Idaho. In this part of the plan, the company would also oversee an increase In crop planting and yield in both territories. But perhaps the most grandiose strategic idea that this company has is to expand Its market territories Into Europe and the Pacific Rim. This Is set to come about during the final phase of the plan. These business Ideas are not too bad for just plain ole tater growers to have, wouldnt you say? Bringing this proposed strategic plan to fruition would certainly provide Down East Spud Busters with achievement of its goal for future growth in the industry. Chapter Topics Related to the Case: Diddles ten concept AT organizing Discuss how the concept of integration may impact upon a company like Spud Busters Identify how managerial issues such as span of control and authority may affect a company like Spud Busters Describe and discuss the concept of delegation Identify how the concept of delegation may effect individuals such as the sales associates of Spud Busters Case Discussion Questions: Select from the chapter text options and prepare an organizational chart for the national distribution program that this company is about to embark upon. Be sure to incorporate the companys goals into your overall structure. Suggested Response: Various organizational charts are to be expected in the individual student response to this question. However, acceptable responses must incorporate the following guidelines and information: (1) the boxes represent the different work, (2) he titles in the boxes show the work performed by each unit, (3) reporting and authority relationships are indicated by solid lines showing superior-subordinate connections, and (4) levels of management are indicated by the number of horizontal layers in he chart. 2. Given the vast geographical expanse and logistical challenges of this new program, what recommendations do you have for the company regarding HER policies and procedures? While a variety of HER suggestions are to be expected, the following information will serve to represent some of what may be anticipated. 1) Develop clear company guidelines as to performance standards, (2) Establish a guiding code of ethics, (3) Have guidelines for diversity training and awareness, (4) Develop understandable Job descriptions, and (5) Establish guidelines that identify set rewards and punishment standards. . What other types of industries could use the model from this case as a means to expand sales nationally or internationally? Students may identify any one of a myriad of other industries. However each response should be supported with factual reasoning. A suggested response ay be Washington state apple growers. These growers could expand their business into apple butter, apple pies (frozen and re ady-to-bake), and apple drinks such as cheer. I Nils type AT Dustless could utilize a plan salary to ten one propos case to expand in the overall industry. Additional Discussion Questions: 1 . Down East Spud Busters has a future plan for utilizing sales associates that work out of their own homes. Each of these associates will have specific assigned territories and a broad range of functions to accomplish in the performance of their Job duties. Differentiate between responsibility, authority, and accountability. Rank these three terms in the order you perceive the future Spud Busters associates as having, going from the highest to the lowest. Responsibility refers to the assignment of a task that an employee is supposed to carry out. Authority refers to the legitimate right to make decisions and to tell other people what to do. Accountability refers to the expectation that employees will perform a Job, take corrective action when necessary, and report upward on the status and quality of their performance. One suggested response to this question segment is to rank the terms in the following order: responsibility, accountability, and authority. Students may present different ranked orders based on their own ideas and understanding. 2. Spud Busters plan for having its future associates based out of their own, individual territories poses perplexing issues of effective coordination for the company. Discuss the concept of coordination by plan. Do you see this as being effective for this company? Why or why not? Coordination by plan refers to having interdependent units that are squired to meet deadlines and objectives that contribute to the common organizational goal. It does not require the same high degree of stability and routines required by coordination by standardization. The interdependent units are free to modify and adapt their actions as long as they meet deadlines and targets required Coordination by plan may indeed prove effective for this type of organization. The individual associates will have freedom to operate as they see fit while still having a guiding structure and set performance standards to follow.

Chemical Composition of the Human Body

Chemical Composition of the Human Body Many of the elements found throughout nature are also found within the body. This is the chemical composition of the average adult human body in terms of elements and also compounds. Major Classes of Compounds in the Human Body Most of the elements are found within compounds. Water and minerals are inorganic compounds. Organic compounds include fat, protein, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids. Water:  Water is the most abundant chemical compound in living human cells, accounting for 65 percent to 90 percent  of each cell. Its also present between cells. For example, blood and cerebrospinal fluid are mostly water.Fat: The percentage of fat varies from person to person, but even an obese person has more water than fat.Protein: In a lean male, the percentages of protein and water are comparable. Its about 16 percent  by mass. Muscles, including the heart, contain a lot of muscle. Hair and fingernails are protein. Skin contains a large amount of protein, too.Minerals: Minerals account for about 6 percent  of the body. They include salts and metals. Common minerals include sodium, chlorine, calcium, potassium, and iron.Carbohydrates: Although humans use the sugar glucose as an energy source, there isnt that much of it free in the bloodstream at any given time. Sugar and other carbohydrates only account for about 1% of body mass. Elements in the Human Body Six elements  account for 99%  of the mass of the human body. The acronym CHNOPS may be used to help remember the six key chemical elements that are used in biological molecules. C is carbon, H is hydrogen, N is nitrogen, O is oxygen, P is phosphorus, and S is sulfur. While the acronym is  a good way to remember the identities of the elements, it doesnt reflect their abundance. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the human body accounting for approximately 65% of a persons mass. Each water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom, but the mass of each oxygen atom is much higher than the combined mass of the hydrogen. In addition to being a component of water, oxygen is essential for cellular respiration.Carbon is contained in all organic compounds, which is why carbon is the second most abundant element in the body, accounting for about 18% of body mass. Carbon is found in proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Its also found in carbon dioxide.Hydrogen atoms are the most numerous type of atom in a human, but because they are so light, they only make up around 10% of the  mass. Hydrogen is in water, plus its an important electron carrier.Nitrogen is about 3.3% of body mass. Its found in proteins and nucleic acids.Calcium accounts for 1.5% of body mass. Its used to build bones and teeth, plus its important for muscle contraction. Phosphorus is about 1% of body mass. This element is found in nucleic acids. Breaking bonds connecting phosphate molecules is a major component of energy transfer.Potassium is around 0.2-0.4% of the mass of a person. Its used in nerve conduction. Potassium is a key cation or positively-charged ion in the body.Sulfur is found in some amino acids and proteins. Its about 0.2-0.3% of body mass.Sodium, like potassium, is a positively-charged ion. Its about 0.1-0.2% of body mass. Sodium helps regulate the electrolyte balance in the body and maintain homeostasis with respect to the volume of water in the blood and cells.Although aluminum and silicon are abundant in the earths crust, they are found in trace amounts in the human body.Other trace elements include metals, which are often cofactors for enzymes. Trace elements include iron, cobalt, zinc, iodine, selenium, and flourine. Element Percent by Mass Oxygen 65 Carbon 18 Hydrogen 10 Nitrogen 3 Calcium 1.5 Phosphorus 1.2 Potassium 0.2 Sulfur 0.2 Chlorine 0.2 Sodium 0.1 Magnesium 0.05 Iron, Cobalt, Copper, Zinc, Iodine trace Selenium, Fluorine minute amounts Sources Anke M. (1986). Arsenic. In: Mertz W. ed., Trace elements in human and Animal Nutrition, 5th ed. Orlando, FL: Academic Press. pp. 347-372.Chang, Raymond (2007). Chemistry, Ninth Edition. McGraw-Hill. pp. 52.Emsley, John (2011). Natures Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. OUP Oxford. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-19-960563-7.Subcommittee on the Tenth Edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances, Food and Nutrition Board; Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council (February 1989). Recommended Dietary Allowances: 10th Edition. National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-04633-6.Zumdahl, Steven S. and Susan A. (2000). Chemistry, Fifth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 894. ISBN 0-395-98581-1.