Pre-1924 U.S. Economic History Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Pre-1924 U.S. Economic History - Term Paper Example In 1800, a quarter of the American population was in the labor force. Between 1800 and 1900, the labor force increased at an annual rate of approximately 3 percent. This growth was unprecedented although the civil war slowed it down. The arrival of immigrants in America affected the growth of the nineteenth century labor force. Majority of the immigrants came from East and South Europe. The composition of the work force included more males than females. However, males below the age of fifteen did not work since they needed to attend schools at the time. Those above the age of fifteen were however the largest percentage in the labor force. Females also accounted for a proportion of the labor force although they were not as many. However, their rate of participation kept increasing throughout the century. Majority of these women were single and young, since most of the married ones stayed at home. Slaves also accounted for the overall amount of those in the labor force. At the close of the civil war, slavery was abolished and this is among the reasons why there was a decrease in the overall labor force. Since majority of black women and children had forcefully worked as slaves, when slavery was declared illegal, they ceased to work. The proportion of men however remained the same as most of them continued to work to sustain their families. It was during this time that craft workers in the workshops were replaced by the large industrial working class people. At the end of the 19th century and the start of the Second World War, the labor market entered in a phase of labor homogenization. This meant that the market was divided as either primary or secondary labor market. The primary labor market was disproportionately composed of highly skilled or the well-educated white male. In this category, the employment was secure, the earnings were high, and the edging benefits were generous. The secondary labor market was disproportionately composed of a large number of wome n, racial minorities, Africans, and Hispanics. These people were unskilled and lacked education. They worked in small enterprises that had low investments, employment was insecure, the earnings were low, and edging benefits were insufficient. In the 19th century, most of the American businesses were categorized as a monopoly. As other businesses continued to emerge, others such as the petroleum, sugar, and tobacco industries took control of the labor market. Due to the monopoly, many firms faced competition from their competitors, and this resulted to lowing of prices and passing of the saving along to the consumer in order to increase sales and make profits. During this period, there was pressure from the competitors, and there was a threat of reduced profits that motivated the US companies to reduce prices and maintain high levels of production. During this era, there was a lot of wasted land that needed to be exploited, yet wealth per capita was increasing at a high rate in Europ e, and all available land was used. The neo-classists explained that there was equilibrium growth in terms of accumulated capital. This had put a lot of emphasis on savings as the main source of growth. Walrasian stated that, the net saving by the wealth-holders was shammed to be exactly balanced by net investment in additional production capacity. During the 19th century, industrial revolutions occurred; these included the invention of long distance transport, the steam engine, and the

Contemporary Management Issues Report JB HI-FI Essay

Contemporary Management Issues Report JB HI-FI - Essay Example It is through adherence to these values that build a strong partnership of trust between the company and stakeholders. This code applies to all from the directors, chairperson, C.E.O, to the junior employee. JB Hi-Fi as a company respects the dignity of every employee, the freedoms, rights and needs of all individuals. The company strives to provide a working environment that is rewarding, challenging and safe. The company realizes the benefits of recognizing the work of all employees. The company respects all personal and sensitive information that relates to their customers, employees and suppliers. The company strives to reinforce the commitment it has to highest standards of business and professional ethics (JB Hi-Fi 1). All company employees are expected to treat fellow employees, the public and customers with courtesy, respect and honesty. They are also expected to safeguard and respect customer properties, the company and the property of all fellow workers. The employees are e xpected to maintain the confidentiality of all customers, the confidentiality of the company and all other parties’ information that have been gained through work (JB Hi-Fi 1). The employees are expected to perform their duties to the best of their ability; this is taking into account the experience, skills, position and qualifications. The employees are expected to perform their duties in a responsible, safe and effective manner. The company expects the employees and all company staff to respect all sensitive and personal information according to the privacy legislation. The company expects that the personal business and financial interests of the employees to not conflict with their duty to the company and work within the policies and rules of the company and obey the law. When all employees undertake their responsibilities and obligations, the workplace, job performance and satisfaction benefits the company and helps the company achieve business goals (JB Hi-Fi 1). Competi tors and fair competition All company employees have knowledge of commercially sensitive information. The employees must also disclose all significant stakes in a competitor. The interest in a competitor constitutes a conflict of interest and employees are expected to divest themselves of this interest. Fair competition means that the company; Will know and follow its legal obligations to competitors. Will not compete on a basis of obstructing comp0etitive conduct, rather the company will compete on a basis of customer service. This is part of the company’s commitment to management, staff and fair-trading. Will does not differ unfairly between customers when supplying products or Services. Will not refuse to deal or discriminate against, a customer for any improper reason. Not threaten or intimidate a customer, organization or other person. The company does not encourage untruthful or disparaging remarks about any of the competitors, their products and services. The company a ims at conducting business fairly, and competes on a basis of product and services merits. The company also aims at being an effective competitor that acts according to the ethical norms acceptable to the community. The company does not accept bribes, kickbacks or payoffs, in all deals; the company ensures that it is courteous, truthful and well informed. The company ensures that it is careful to avoid misrepresenting the features, availability or quality of their

English commentary creative writing Essay Example for Free

English commentary creative writing Essay I based the beginning of my story on a physical but also mental journey a man goes on while he is on his own hitchhiking home. I felt this was suitable for the topic journeys and pilgrimages which also liked in with the book Chaucer. As it is the beginning of a story the audience could really be any age. As it is a piece to entertain I would say it is suited better for the young. The purpose of my story was to entertain people, but also informing people about how one man is able to hitchhike. In order for me to write a story about hitchhiking I had to do some research into the topic. I found a book called round Ireland with a fridge by Tony Hawks which really inspired me and helped me grasp the language technique to use in order to entertain. To think in with Chaucer and the way he writes I have used stereotypes in my writing, for example I have does the typical blond as being stupid and naive. I have also used the idea about how the people in Chaucer went on a journey. The man I write about goes on a journey by himself from Lancashire back to Bristol, in which he also finds himself and learns a lot more about the world around him. I wanted to portray the man as a typical Bristol lad, with a slight arrogant edge. In order to do this I had to use a slight sarcastic tone of voice which I hoped would also entertain the readers. I also used phonetic lexis to help create an idiolect of the man. I used a Bristol accent and changed words like alright to ite and also ya instead of you. Which changing his dialect to fit his accent I also done this with other characters in the story, for example the Yorkshire girl he meets. For instance when she says Wheor are yee headin creates a sense of her accent to the readers. The language I used was very informal and personal. It was from the point of view from a man writing himself so the tone was very calm but at times comical. The structure was the usual story telling layout, with several small and large paragraphs, with a wide range of short sentences to add emotion and feeling to the man. Okay, maybe not.(after a line about wanting to fulfil his life) is an example of the idiolect I used from him, and shows the way he comes across as a simple man but with a funny entertaining side. I also linked my writing to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I did this by using the disaster of the father in the road as a starting point of describing the man and his journey hitchhiking with so little and all by himself.

Ionic Sieving Properties of Graphene Oxide (GO) Membranes

Ionic Sieving Properties of Graphene Oxide (GO) Membranes ABSTRACT: We characterized the ionic sieving properties of graphene oxide (GO) membranes by performing classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The Lerf-Klinowski model is used for GO nanosheets structure. The Optimized Potentials for Liquid Simulations for all atoms (OPLS-AA) force field is used for GO potential. The SPC/E model is used for water molecules. We show that GO membranes can act as reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, although the water flow in GO membranes is hundred times faster than RO membranes. In this work two important factors in ionic sieving process are studied. First the GO layers separation and second the pressure of water. Each simulation runs until at least half of the water molecules are desalinated. The water flux, permeability, salt rejection, potential of mean force (PMF), and radial distribution function (RDF) are measured. We show that the GO membranes can be the appropriate choice for desalination of seawater in future due to the simplicity in produc tion, low cost, fast water flow, and great ion rejection ability. By 2030 nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with demand outstripping supply by 40 percent, said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.Over 97% of the water on the Earth is saline water and only three percent is fresh water and about two thirds of this fresh water is frozen.So in the near future the only way to provide fresh water is desalination of seawater. There are common ways to desalinate seawater like reverse osmosis (RO) or methods based on distillation. In the RO method an applied pressure is used to overcome natural osmotic pressure so water passes through a semi-permeable membrane leaving salt behind. In the Distillation methods seawater is evaporated and then condensed to produce freshwater. Both methods require a lot of energy and are very costly. Recently nanotube-based membranes and graphene-based membranes have attracted many interests for their potential in water desalination due to their high permeability and great ion rejection. Although these membranes have a great theoretical advantages, the problem of synthesis and fabrication is a major challenge for producing cost effective membranes. Graphene oxide (GO) is a chemical derivative of graphene with several functional groups such as epoxide and hydroxyl that is produced from graphite by the Hummers method. GO has been synthesized and fabricated in the forms of papers and films in the industrial-scale. Functional groups and layers separation of GO membranes can optimized simply during synthesis process to achieve best performance for desalination. In the GO membranes, water molecules permeate through the nanochannels between oxidized regions (pristine regions), which are provided by the hydrophobicity of functional groups. Particles that have a smaller size than the GO nanochannels can permeate in the GO membrane with speed orders of magnitude greater than common membranes. Dry GO membranes have a layers separation of ~5 ±1 angstroms which only lets water vapor molecules permeate through the nanochannels. When a GO membrane is immersed in water, it is swelled so the layers separation is increased to ~12 ±1 angstroms. Na+ is the smallest ion in the saline water which has a hydrated diameter of à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¾9 Ã…. Therefore after swelling of the membrane, small ions such as Na+ can permeate easier which leads to reduction of ion rejection. Several methods have been tried to prevent swelling of GO membranes, such as physical confinement, and crosslinking of nanosheets In this paper we present a next generation of ultrathin membranes which have remarkable abilities like high permeability, good ion rejection, and great resistance to blockage. Furthermore the simple and cheap methods for synthesis of GO membranes make them energy efficient. We performed Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the large-scale atomic molecular massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS).The VMD and OVITO were used for analysis and visualization. All simulations were carried out in NVT ensemble with a Nosà ©-Hoover thermostat and a damping constant of 10 femtoseconds. The equations of motion were integrated with a time step of 1 femtosecond using the velocity-verlet algorithm. The periodic boundary conditions (PBC) were applied for all three directions. The all-atom optimized potential for liquid simulations (OPLS-AA) is used for graphene oxide (GO) and salt ions.This potential contains many-body terms, including bond stretching, bond angle bending, van der Waals, and electrostatic interactions. In addition, OPLS uses a geometric combining rule for the Lennard-Jones coefficients. The extended simple point charge model (SPC/E) is used for water molecules, following previous studies on similar systems. The force field parameters are given in the table S1 to table S4 completely (see supporting information). The SHAKE algorithm is applied for water molecules to reduce high frequency vibrations that require shorter time steps. The interaction between water and GO includes both van der Waals and electrostatic terms. The van der Waals forces are truncated at 1.0 nm, and the long-range Coulomb interactions are computed by using the particle-particle particle-mesh (PPPM) algorithm. As it is seen in the figure S1 (see supporting information), in our model of GO, both hydroxyl and epoxide groups are considered, following the Lerfà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Klinowski model that is the most well-known model for GO. The structure of the single sheet of GO was considered as 1.5ÃÆ'-3 nm2 containing 18 epoxide and 25 hydroxyl groups. The oxygen functional groups were distributed on both sides of GO sheet. The single sheet of GO contains 206 carbon atoms and 43 oxygen atoms. Therefore, the ratio of C/O is about 4.8 which is in consistent with the Lerfà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Klinowski model. The size of simulation box in the x, y and z directions were about 17, 37 and 11 nm respectively. For preventing the membrane from movement, carbon atoms in the edges of the sheets were fixed. In the first step, a membrane was designed with 13 GO sheets and two layers according to the GO membranes structure proposed in previous studies. Distance between the edges was considered 2 nm. Figure S2 shows the designed membrane (see supporting information). Simulations were carried out for multiple values of layers separation from 7 to 8.5 angstroms with increment of 0.5 angstroms. For each choice of layers separation, three simulations were run for different nominal water pressures of 500 atm, 1000 atm, and 2000 atm. These numbers are nominal pressures but in the feed side of simulation box using voronoi atom volume estimation, feed pressure determined as 600 atm, 980 atm, and 1600 atm. Water pressure on the feed side of the membrane was enforced by applying specified and uniform forces in the z-direction to the piston atoms, thus ensuring that the water pressure was kept constant. Figure S3 shows the membrane with the layers separation of 8.5 angstroms, water, salt ions, and the piston (see supporting information). In the Figure S3a after 0.1 ns water molecules are in the pressure of 2000 atm and in the Figure S3b after 14 ns, we have 94 percent salt rejection and more than half of water molecules purified. In our simulations, saltwater was generated on the feed side of the membrane, consisted of 4800 water molecules and 52 Na+/Clà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ pairs, corresponding to a salt concentration of 35.5 g/L, which is close to the normal salinity of seawater (~35 g/L). Figure 1a shows the flux of water (volume per unit of time per area) passing through the membrane as a function of applied pressure and layers separation. In our simulations, we had to use high pressures in compare to typical pressures that is needed for desalination, because we have a time scale limit in molecular dynamics. We can solve this problem with calculating permeability (volume per unit of time per area per pressure) of membrane that is shown in figure 1b. Another possible method is extrapolating the graphs in figure 1a to low pressures like 10 atm, so we can reach to appropriate flux due to approximately linear relation (R2=0.99). In figure 1b it is obvious that with increasing the layers separation, the membrane permeability increases linearly (R2=0.98). As it is expected the numbers for membrane permeability are in consistent with other reports.Figure 1c shows salt rejection for the membranes with different layers separation and different water pressures. Salt passage wa s calculated from proportion of filtered salt ions number at time t (t is the time that half of the water molecules passed from membrane) to initial salt ions number in the feed side. So we have salt rejection = (1 salt passage). As it is seen in the figure 1c, with increasing the pressure or layers separation, salt rejection reduces which is expected. It is clear that with using lower water pressures like 10 atm, we can achieve higher ion rejection. Figure 2a shows the number of water molecules versus time in the membrane part. For each value of separation there is a limit for number of water molecules that can be in the membrane. In the simulations with higher pressures, the membrane gets filled faster as it is shown in figure 2b. Furthermore in longer times (about 15 ns) the separation value controls the number of water molecules in the membrane. Therefore, without attention to the water pressure, anyway the membrane is filled with water completely. Figure 3 indicates number of filtered water molecules against time. The graphs are plotted at the time that half of the water molecules are desalinated. According to the figure 3b, it is obvious that after about 5 ns the membrane is filled approximately. So we can see a stable flow due to linear relationship between filtered molecules and time. Figure 3a shows water flow for different layers separation and figure 3b shows water flow for different pressures in constant separation value. Figure 4 is the 3D color map for potential of mean force (PMF) for a particle passing through two sheets of GO. The PMF was calculated from steered molecular dynamics (SMD). We used harmonic potential U = K(x à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ x0)2/2, where K is 20 Kcal/mole-angstrom2 and end of spring moving with velocity of 0.00005 angstrom/femtosecond that is enough for reversible pulling. For checking the reversible pulling, the SMD was performed in X direction and -X direction at same width, but the results were same. Also using umbrella sampling and weighted histogram analysis method (WHAM) give us the same results as SMD for PMF calculation. For creating each PMF map, 30 simulations were performed to cover all of the GO layers width. We have done these simulations for 3 different layers separation. So we have a PMF map that shows barriers and valleys of energy all over the GO layers completely. In figure 4a, 4b, and 4c the PMF are plotted for Cl ion that passing from one side of GO layers to another side. In each path, Cl ion sees many barriers that prevent from movement of the ions. Also the ions can stuck in the valleys of energy between the barriers. Figure 4d, 4e, and 4f show PMF map for Na ion. In comparison to Cl ion, the barriers are shorter and valleys have a higher depth. So the Na ions in the valleys can move out with lower energy than Cl ions. PMF for H2O molecule in figure 4g, 4h, and 4i are shown. Flat surfaces indicate easy movement of H2O molecules across GO layers without encountering any barriers or valleys. As we can see in all of the plots, with increasing the layers separation, height of barriers and depth of valleys are reduced so the ions and water molecules move easier. Figure 5 shows salt concentration in the three part of feed, membrane, and filtered against time. In figure 5a the simulation is selected with layers separation of 8 angstroms and pressure of 2000 atmosphere. At the first of all simulations the salt concentration is 35.5 g/lit in the feed part which is same as sea water salinity. Salt concentration of feed part is slightly increased until reach to 90 g/lit at the time that half of the water molecules are desalinated. In the filtered part there are some peaks showing passage of ions through membrane. After the each peak, the salt concentration is reduced until the next peak because of passing water molecules from membrane into filtered part. Salt concentration in the membrane part fluctuates around the mean value of 17 g/lit until the end of simulation. So this fluctuation is enough to ensure that the membrane blockage does not occur even in higher salt concentrations like 90 g/lit. In figure 5b the layers separation is 8.5 angstroms with the water pressure of 2000 atmosphere. As we can see the behavior of plots is similar to figure 5a except number of peaks in the filtered part. Figure S4 indicates radial distribution function (RDF) for water and functional groups in GO layers (see supporting information). Figure S4a shows correlation between oxygen and hydrogen in water. Figure S4b presents RDF between oxygen in water and hydrogen in hydroxyl groups. Figure S4c shows RDF between hydrogen in water and oxygen in hydroxyl groups. Figure S4d shows correlation between hydrogen in water and oxygen of epoxide groups. The first peak in all of the plots in figure S4 shows length of hydrogen bond. As we can see in the figure the longest hydrogen bond is belong to hydrogen of water and oxygen of epoxide. We show that nanometer-scale pores in single-layer freestanding graphene can effectively filter NaCl salt from water. Using classical molecular dynamics, we report the desalination performance of such membranes as a function of pore size, chemical functionalization, and applied pressure.

Othello’s Sinister Side Essay -- Othello essays

Othello’s Sinister Side  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare’s Othello, with its prolonged exposure to the evil mind of Iago, is difficult for some in the audience. Let’s consider the play’s evil aspect.    In the Introduction to The Folger Library General Reader’s Shakespeare, Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar explain the single, evil focus of the drama – the arch-villainy of the ancient:    Othello has been described as Shakespeare’s most perfect play. Critics of dramatic structure have praised it for its attention to the main theme without irrelevant distractions. Many Elizabethan plays had rambling subplots and much extraneous detail to amuse the groundlings. Othello avoids all irrelevancies and the action moves swiftly from the first scene to the denouement. We never get lost in a multiplicity of incidents or a multitude of characters. Our attention remains centered on the arch villainy of Iago and his plot to plant in Othello’s mind a corroding belief in his wife’s faithlessness. (viii)    Even the imagery in the drama has its evil aspect. Kenneth Muir, in the Introduction to William Shakespeare: Othello,   explains the instances of diabolic imagery in the play as they relate to the infecting of the Moor by the ancient:    The same transference from Iago to Othello may be observed in what S. L. Bethell called diabolic imagery. He estimated that of the 64 images relating to hell and damnation – many of them are allusions rather than strict images – Iago has 18 and Othello 26. But 14 of Iago’s are used in the first two Acts, and 25 of Othello's in the last three. The theme of hell originates with Iago and is transferred to Othello only when Iago has succeeded in infecting the Moor with his jealousy. (22) .. ...rsity. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Wayne, Valerie. â€Å"Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello.† The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.    Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.    Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. â€Å"The Engaging Qualities of Othello.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.    -- -- --. Introduction. The Folger Library General Reader’s Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. New York: Washington Square Press, 1957.

An Analysis of The Building Essay -- The Building

An Analysis of The Building Larkin put "The Building" in the middle of his collection for a reason, it is a pillar that supports the rest of the collection with its long lines and many verses, and because of this, is maybe a bit more clearer than some of his other poems in the ideas and views that are expressed through it. Of course, being a Larkin a poem, there is the obligatory underlayer which so many people miss, but in "The Building" it is easier to discern and comprehend. The title of the poem, "The Building" already hints at the main theme of the poem. The word "building" is a very vague term and in it's vagueness one can make out the fright of the author for this building, he cannot specify that it is a hospital as if not saying the word will make it go away. At the same time in this poem, Larkin makes out the hospital as the real world, everything around it is fake so that the word "building" is put in contrast to his view of what it really is. The poem starts in this indistinct manner and moves onto a much more definite reality: death. The first thing we discover about the building is the way it dominates the author's view, of all buildings he can see it is the tallest, it "shows up for miles". Although he doesn't want to know what it is, it dominates his view and his destiny - all men and women end up in the hospital before they die, and there is that sense again, of Larkin's fear of death. He sees that the hospital is the real life, all else is false, you delude yourself all your life about death, pretending that it doesn't exist yet when you get in the hospital you finally have to face the truth. He names the places he would like it to be: a hotel, an airport lounge, a bus, but he can no longer d... ... to die. Not yet, perhaps not here, but in the end, And somewhere like this." As in most of his poems, he starts with a fear of something, in this case death but comes to realise later on that in fact it is only an inevitable part of life. And he also comes to understand that if people weren't so scared of death than life would be less valued as he hints to in the last part of the poem: "...a struggle to transcend The thought of dying, for unless its powers Outbuild cathedrals nothing contravenes..." The poem ends disturbingly with "With wasteful, weak, propitiatory flowers". The structure of the poem with nine verses of six lines adds up to 63, but that last odd line makes it more regular, it makes 64 which suggests 8x8, so that the last line might seem a bit irregular and odd but it also completes the poem (and also the rhyme scheme).

Eating Christmas in the Kalahari Essay

In his article â€Å"Eating Christmas in the Kalahari† (1969), Richard Borshay Lee tells of his three years spent living with the !Kung San Bushmen, of some of their customs, of how they celebrated Christmas and of how they dealt with ‘gifts’ or rather his gift to them in particular. Lee explains that the local people thought him a miser because he â€Å"maintained a two-month inventory of canned goods† (p 111) which was in direct contrast to the Bushmen â€Å"who rarely had a day’s supply of food on hand†(p 111), and it appeared he was determined to correct this view. Lee writes that it â€Å"is the Tswana-Herero custom of slaughtering an ox for his Bushmen neighbours as an annual goodwill gesture† (p 111) at Christmas. By purchasing the Christmas ox for the Bushmen’s annual feast himself, Lee hoped that it would be seen as a generous (parting) gesture, a ‘thank you’ for their cooperation – as in Western culture – and perhaps also the catalyst for dispelling their view of him as a miser. Lee appears to want the reader to believe that he was confused about his failure to gain the (expected) appreciation from the Bushmen for his generosity but was instead ridiculed for his choice of ox with sarcastic descriptions such as; â€Å"scrawny† (p 112), â€Å"old wreck†(p 111), â€Å"sack of guts and bones†(p 111), â€Å"old†(p 111), â€Å"thin†(p 111) and â€Å"sick†(p 113). Lee further leads us to believe that his confusion became more profound on Christmas Day when the ox was slaughtered and was found to have a thick layer of fat covering the meat. Although Lee indicates that he felt vindicated in his choice of ox, the derision and sarcasm continued throughout the slaughtering process. Lee writes that he later sought clarification and explanation from several of the local people and was eventually told that the Bushmen’s sarcasm or â€Å"obligatory insults over a kill†(p 114), was their ‘custom’ and was a  mechanism used to prevent hunters from getting an inflated ego and/or seeing themselves as better than anyone else. I have a problem with Lee’s account inasmuch as I find it extremely difficult if not impossible to believe that after spending three years living with and studying the lives, activities and customs of the Bushmen, Lee had never once seen, heard nor heard of this ‘custom’ and I would be loathe to place more than a token amount of faith in the honesty and correctness of this or any other of his writings or observations as a result. That the Bushmen included Lee in their customs and constructed a joke around him at his expense are inclusionary actions that would normally indicate an acceptance into a group and I believe that Lee’s writings were self-serving in that he wanted the reader to believe the Bushmen had thought highly enough of him to include him and treat him as they would one of their own. I also believe that Lee has taken liberties with the translations of a number of conversations with various individuals in order for the reader to have no doubt about what it was that Lee himself wanted to convey. I do not believe that words and terms such as; â€Å"arrogance†(p 114), â€Å"hogging†(p 112), â€Å"nevertheless†(p 114), â€Å"scrawny† (p 112), â€Å"rascal†(p 113), â€Å"braggart†(p 113), â€Å"you have always been square with us† (p 111), â€Å"sack of guts and bones†(p 111), â€Å"old wreck†(p 111), â€Å"I suppose†(p 112), â€Å"feeling as we do†(p 112), â€Å"another one pipes up†(p 113), â€Å"you must respond in kind†(p 114), are part of the native language as Lee would allege in his quotes of conversations with the natives. These quotes are peppered with language that is more attributable to a certain class of native of the UK, not one of the Kalahari. From my reading of Lee’s article, I believe it is nothing more than a poorly veiled attempt to elevate his own importance in the mind of the reader and perhaps even his peers. I feel that Lee has done a huge disservice to not only himself and his own credibility but also to that of the profession of anthropology. What does Lee’s article say about his observational strengths in the field if after three years he fails to note what appears to be a very powerful and meaningful hunting custom? In closing, I admit to agreeing with Lee’s statement â€Å"there are no totally generous acts†(p 114). Every act of gift giving is inextricably attached to an expected or preconceived return or reciprocity either in manner or kind and this may be nothing more than ‘feeling good’. ******************** REFERENCES: Lee, Richard Borshay 1969 â€Å"Eating Christmas in the Kalahari† reprinted in A. Podolefsky and P. Brown (eds.), Applying Cultural Anthropology: an introduction. (1991), Mountainview: Mayfield, pp. 110-114.