The Ghost of Devils Den :: Ghost Stories Urban Legends Civil War

The Ghost of Devil's Den This ghost story was told by a nineteen-year-old Caucasian student at the University of Maryland. She is from the Baltimore Metro Area and lives with her mother and younger sister. I decided to approach her since she is a notorious lover of ghost stories and folklore. While we were hanging out with friends, I asked her to tell me a ghost story. As soon as I asked, her eyes lit up and she took me to the side, out of earshot of our friends. With great energy and enthusiastic facial expressions, she proceeded to tell me the following story about the Civil War site of the Battle of Gettysburg: My friend Carl was attending a reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg. He went to a rocky corner of the battlefield filled with boulders, called Devil’s Den, to take a picture of the battlefield. He took out his camera and as he was about to take the picture, he heard a voice say, â€Å"What you’re looking for is over there.† Carl looked up and saw a man who resembled a hippie, wearing a floppy hat, no shoes and had long hair, pointing somewhere in the distance. Carl looked to see where the man was pointing, and when he looked back the man was nowhere in sight. The Storyteller claimed she once watched a documentary on television about the ghosts of Gettysburg, and it told a strikingly similar story of a ghost in a floppy hat saying the same words to many tourists who were taking pictures at Devil’s Den. Similar stories have been told involving a man in a floppy hat at Devil’s Den. One tells the story of a woman visiting the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. After experiencing no paranormal activity, she sarcastically challenged any ghosts of Devil’s Den to come home with her. A few days later she saw a man wearing a floppy hat and loose shirt in her house. She saw this vision many times, but it would always disappear very quickly. She believed this was a ghost from Devil’s Den accepting her challenge (U.S. Civil War History and Genealogy). Another version of the story involves a man who was also visiting the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. He took many photographs throughout the day. In the afternoon, a soldier dressed in a floppy hat, gray clothing and â€Å"possessing an odor of sulfurous gunpowder† approached him (U.

Narayana Hrudayalaya

Q1 &2 Would you describe this heart hospital as successful? Explain why. If successful, what were the elements that made it successful? If not yet successful, what else should NH be doing? â€Å"A dream of making quality healthcare available to the masses worldwide† Narayana Hrudayalaya was established by Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty in 2001 with this mission. Its main focus was to provide affordable cardiac care to the masses. It has followed a hybrid strategy of attracting paying patients by virtue of its reputation for high quality combined with a relentless focus on lowering its costs of operations whenever possible.In 2004, the proportion of patients who paid NH's full price to those that cannot afford to pay was about 60:40. Following this strategy, they priced their general ward patients for OHS at Rs. 110000. This charge is the lowest in the country where the average cost of OHS in a private hospital is Rs. 250000. At the upper end, patients who opted for executive wards pai d Rs 140000 – Rs 195000 for private rooms instead of general wards. To add to it, they offered the Karuna Hrudaya package for financially constrained patients at Rs. 65000 per OHS.For patients who could not even afford this, they helped arrange funds through the Narayana Hrudayalaya Trust's general corpus or by seeking external donations. The treatment across all the packages was the exactly identical. Since their inception, the number of in patients and out patients as well as catheterization and surgeries has constantly increased as shown in the below table: InpatientsOutpatientsCatheterizationSurgeries Total%age Growth (YoY)Total%age Growth (YoY)Total%age Growth (YoY)Total%age Growth (YoY) Apr 01 – Mar 024242-9875-2116-1842- Apr 02 – Mar 03722670%1086310%336759%274249%Apr 03 – Mar 041026242%1538242%477742%357030% Apr 01 – Mar 04-142%-56%-126%-94% This has helped them achieve a breakeven of Rs. 90000 for OHS. By performing tests and operations in large numbers, they are able to achieve economies of scale and thereby reducing their costs. Following this wal-martisation of health care, with which they performed almost 8 times the surgeries and cathetarisation compared to other Indian hospitals. They have managed to perform more CABG surgeries a year, have morenumber of cardiac surgeons and greater average surgeries per surgeon than even few of the top ranked US hospitals.NH boasted of a 1. 27% mortality rate and 1% infection rate in CABG procedures as against 1. 2% and 1% in US respectively which further emphasises the quality of treatment being provided by NH. Further they have also reduced their costs for buying medical supplies and equipments by bulk ordering for their AHF hospital at Kolkota and NH at Bangalore together. This has increased their bargaining power enabling them to get discounts of 30%-35% in their purchases. They have also used new technologies like digital x rays and comprehensive hospital management to im prove their efficiencies and reduce costs.They have also adopted newer medicines like Biocon’s cardio-diabetes products which offer similar health benefits at much cheaper costs as compared to other similar medications further decreasing their overall costs. By keeping the administration team lean, NH also avoided the usual problem of corruption that plagued corporate hospitals. With the help of careful planning and internal financial controls to gauge the ability to fund below cost surgeries, NH has been able to optimise the number of subsidized surgeries to be performed.In order to further achieve their goal to reach the bottom of the pyramid, they have also effectively used telemedicine techniques with the help of a large number of general practitioners providing teleconsultation to the patients who would not have received the treatment otherwise. The fully equipped Mobile Cardiac Diagnostic Lab increased their penetration in the rural areas to ensure that best possible di agnosis was available onsite. It also conducted outreach camps which were organised by local associations like the Lions Club and Rotary Club.On an average each camp screened 400 people a day, none of whom was required to pay either the hospital or the organisers. They also set up the Yeshashwini Health Insurance Scheme which provided benefits to 1. 7m farmers at extremely low costs of Rs 5 per month. Q3. Is the insurance scheme successful? Explain why. What are the challenges going forward? Yeshashwini Health Insurance Scheme was launched in 2002 for the 1. 7 million farmers. Just for Rs. 5 a month, cardholders had access to free treatment at 150 hospitals in 29 districts of Karnataka for any medical procedure costing up to Rs. 00000. Government also contributed Rs. 2. 5 for every Rs. 5 paid by every farmer. Dr. Devi Prasad chose to utilise the existing government infrastructure in the form of state controlled cooperative societies. Prior to the scheme, it was estimated that the av erage occupancy of hospitals was only 35% although the state boasted 30 private medical colleges each with 500 beds; actual occupancy was low reflecting the lack of affordability rather than a lack of infrastructure.Research by the NH team estimated that only 8% of the policyholders would require medical procedures, thus the total funds collected were expected to cover the cost of treatment for those in need. Most common use of the scheme was for non surgical treatment. Non surgery procedures formed 80% of the procedures conducted through the Yeshashwini scheme. It was mostly used for low cost treatments of around Rs. 2000 that people would otherwise have forsaken due to lack of money for treating non life threatening conditions. Thus the scheme was successful in increasing the health of the poor farmers.In ts 1st year, nearly 9000 people underwent various operations and a further 35000 received out patient treatment. By early 2005, the scheme included around 25 lakh members. From J une 2003 to March 2004, around 12% of the surgeries and 16% of the angiograms at NH were performed under the Yeshasvini scheme. Collection of the monthly premiums, tracking monthly payments and issuing Yeshashwini member cards was done through the post offices. This enabled a smooth functioning and also increased its outreach as people are generally more willing to trust government agencies than private organistions.The operation though initiated by the trust, was later on handled by a 3rd party administrator. Q 4. How should you advise Dr. Shetty regarding the three lines of business-the heart hospital, the health city, and the insurane scheme for the poor? Which should he pursue? Which, if any, should he drop? Is there anything else he should be doing? The 3 lines of business of NH are: ?Heart hospital and all the associated activities. ?Yeshashwini Health Insurance Scheme ?Vision of the Health City The first 2 lines are very successful and running with great efficiency and reach. The first phase that is the current heart hospital is running successfully. With the successful implementation of good operations management model, Narayana Hrudalaya has cut on its operating costs manifolds as compared to other hospitals in India. Thus, it has been able to sustain itself while maintaining the philanthropic vision to serve the underprivileged and provide treatment to them at an extremely affordable cost. The implementation of the insurance scheme has also been very successful and has been able to serve its purpose to a large extent.The plan for the Health City is still in a very nascent stage and special focus needs to be given to it. The health city would require a larger pool of competent doctors, nurses and technicians. Thus more focus needs to be given to the training programs. Apart from the existing diploma in cardiology etc, NH should focus on more institutional tie ups to cater to the larger demand for the Health City. Also, NH can concentrate on increasing its existing outreach for the Yashashwini Health Insurance customers. Currently the scheme caters to only farmers who belong to state cooperatives.Seeing the success of the scheme, NH can consider reaching out to artisan self help groups as well like what Jaipur Rugs does. The scheme can also be made available to the unorganized workers like domestic help in cities of Karnataka. Currently, NH is also considering coming up with a similar modified insurance scheme for teachers. This can be further expanded to other rural demographic segments such as traders, government employees, etc since they already have an established brand in these areas and hence can easily capture the market.Angioplasty procedure is currently not covered under Karuna Hrudaya scheme. NH can make adjustment to the price charged for general ward patients in order to include the procedure under the scheme but at a discounted operationally feasible cost. NH enjoys a popular philanthropic image among the people and h as managed to garner strong support from the government for its various social initiatives. Hence, it should try to influence the government to increase the government spending on healthcare in order to further strengthen the frail healthcare system of the nation.

The once called beautiful Canadian Geese is now nicknamed the monster in Canada

The once called beautiful Canadian Geese is now nicknamed the monster in Canada. They are now the most widespread species of its kind in North America. They are turning into a continent- wide problem, which are causing people to be frustrated. The increase in their population is causing drastic measures. Their droppings are contaminating the environment. They are destroying plants and crops, and causing disturbances in the neighborhood. If no possible solution can be found to solve this problem, it can be a disaster. Canadian Geese were supposed to be an endangered species in the early 1900's due to the hunting of geese by hunters. (Shilts) There were hardly any geese left in the late 1970's until suddenly some were discovered again. Scientists were so overjoyed that they raised the geese in captivity and then let them go where they once lived. (Herbert) However this was a huge mistake. Their population had increased over the years. Not by a few geese more each year but 11, 000 to 70,000 estimated which was a noticeable dramatic increase. When the geese population stopped migrating, they began to double every five years. As a result, from 70,000 geese at the beginning, it has now increased to 3.5 million and more. (Herbert) The geese population had increased over the years because of a steady and large food supply and safely protected from the hunters. Another reason was due to decrease in predator numbers. The predators such as coyotes, cougars and smaller predators in cities and suburbs didn't usually attack Canada geese because of their large sizes. Secondly, hunting was also not allowed anymore in cities and suburbs so the geese could live for a long time and grow many healthy goslings. People also love feeding them and geese are not scared of humans anymore as they used to. (Herbert) As their populations increases, problems start to occur. They are contaminating our water supply with their filthy slimy green droppings. One goose poops 5-9 times a day, and imagine 80,000 geese contaminating the water supply, it could get pretty gross. Other problem with increased population is that geese love short grass near water. If the grass runs out, they go tearing up other people's lawns. Problems with the geese seem to get worse each year. The geese no longer fly in a V- formation, which is a sentimental symbol of the passing season. They now live as if they have adapted to life in our cities. They even forget how to migrate in winter. They have enjoyed their lives in the environment over the years, that they want to continue having a peaceful life, but would people allow it? The answer is probably not. That's what a lot of angry people are saying now. Farmers are mad at the geese for destroying their crops. Some countries have lost over 300,000 dollars in crops because of the Canada Geese. They eat all sorts of crops and in fact, they could wipe out a field in no time. (Herbert) People with nice lawns and yards definitely want the geese to move away. They pull grass out of the lawn leaving hideous holes on the ground, which do not please the homeowners. Angry drivers are not happy with geese causing traffic jams in the highways. When drivers honk the geese, they just ignore the drivers and even honk them back. Annoyed walkers are not thrilled to have droppings stuck to their footwear whenever they take a walk. A large number of citizens are not pleased with the geese. There are a lot of them around the cities and suburbs. People can't even have picnics without stepping on any geese droppings just like the joggers. School's sport teams sometimes have to cancel games since the field is too messy. People who love going to beaches can't go to them since the beaches are closed because of the droppings of the geese. (Herbert) In fact, if humans do not cut the numbers of geese, our water will one day be too sickening for humans to drink. Geese are now posing a health threat because they can carry germs like salmonella and giardia. (Springston) However, they don't pose as much threat as other wildlife animals. According to the rate for Canada geese, they are not measurable which means they aren't really dangerous. Nevertheless, they do make water dirty, which will still be a huge problem to humans. Lots of solutions are thought of to get rid of the geese without hurting them in any way. People try to make loud noises, spray the grass with some chemicals, and even make plastic owls to scare them. On the market, there are lots of deterrents to work against the geese. They make plastic alligators, chemicals, metallic, iridescent streamers and try to use swans. However, nothing lasted for long. Some thought of â€Å"shipping the geese off to a distant, remote the new home, clean up the dropping on the lawn and problem would be solved† (Bond). They even try to ship them elsewhere but it doesn't work at all. So now a broad, long-term strategy is being developed. However, there will have to be many more polluted lawns before geese and humans settle into peaceful co-existence. (Bond) Federal wildlife agencies, the companies who reintroduce Canada geese back to wildlife, want to trim the population which is 3.5 million and is still increasing by 1.16 million geese in the coming years. They will start at places where they allow permit lethal means, which means trapping, nest destruction and roundups. (Herbert) Some other companies want to increase hunting geese, which may be a solution but will need lots of money to do so. However, this creates lots of other problems because there are limits to killing geese. The geese are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1916, which limits hunting seasons and the number of geese an individual hunter may kill. (Herbert) Companies who are trying to prevent harming the geese are now trying to train dogs to chase them away. â€Å"In fact they are the hottest thing in goose management,† says an urban biologist John George. Using dogs to chase the geese away will be a good temporary solution. However it won't work for long because geese are smart birds. They will eventually find a solution to not get scared just like humans try to find a solution to eliminate them. (Miller) So after all, reintroducing geese back into the society may be a regret to a lot of people. Yet it is also the humans' fault for not watching them closely and carefully enough. Their droppings are infecting the environment, and are destroying crops, and causing disturbances in the neighborhood. They are part of a human problem that has gone wrong but one day, a solution will overcome the geese problem, making both the geese and humans satisfied.

Propose a Job Specification for a Management Trainer

The Management Trainer need to ensure the high level of customer services of the whole company and trainings have been delivered to relative staffs and performed in essential functions afterward. He / she is also responsible for the overall direction, coordination and evaluation of the training programmers. Accountable: He / she will be the management link of company, management and general staff. He / she needs to make sure the programmers effective and suitable for those participate in the courses. Also, he / she is the one who control the training budget of company.Knowledge and Experience: – Educated to degree level, preferable in Psychological, Human Resources, Training or Business Administration. * The reason why need to hire a degree holder is to make sure he / she is appropriately trained and got enough knowledge to fulfill this position. – Over 10 years' working experience in airline industry or customer services field, with more than 5 years relevant experienc e in development and management area is preferred. * To hire an experienced staff will provide a revelation of organization's operations and their training.He / she may easily find the organization's needs and provide the new solutions and trainings. – A consulting level in Human Resources and Training areas are welcome. * Desirable to hire a professional in training field. – Excellent presentation and communication skills with different levels of staff. * As he / she needs to do survey, interview, audit and analysis with different levels of staff, good presentation and ability to communicate with the others is very important for this position. Proficiency in written and spoken Chinese, Mandarin and English. As Cathy Pacific is a global airline, there are many different nationalities of staff. He / she will need to provide trainings in different languages – Chinese, Mandarin and English. So high level of written and spoken skills in these 3 languages is very imp ortant. – Excellent computer skills in MS Word, Excel and Powering. * Nowadays computers are used everywhere in business, especially this is the position of management trainer, he / she must need to use different kinds of software to prepare training materials.Explanation of the various requirements proposed in Job Specification. Job Description: – Analyze the needs of different focus group of management through survey, programs that meet the management team's learning needs across the customer services, administration services and marketing expenses. – Foresee the airline process risk and put the solutions into training programs. – Support the development of new technology then introduce and process the training. – Develop a close working relationship in between different departments to promote discussion and conversation on training.Assist the management to overview the operation team and make sure they have provide excellent customer services to our passengers. Management training is essential to Cathy Pacific as the most positive benefit is better employees. A development of management is part of the way to make improvement of the business. Also, good training is a good benefits package for management staff that can grow their loyalty of company and reduce the turnover rate. Through the training, employees can understand what are the company's goals and set a clear objective to the staff under they managed.

Analysis of Identity Theft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of Identity Theft - Essay Example You can even find that while you have your information secure, another honest person who you send it to in good faith is vulnerable to ID hijackers. i1The criminal, a convicted felon, not only incurred more than $100,000 of credit card debt, obtained a federal home loan, and bought homes, motorcycles, and handguns in the victims name, but called his victim to taunt him -- saying that he could continue to pose as the victim for as long as he wanted because identity theft was not a federal crime at that time -- before filing for bankruptcy, also in the victims name. Though involving elements of embezzlement, blackmail, deception, and intimidation the ii Congress used the events as a basis for establishing ‘Identity Theft’ as a felony in its own right in 1989. ID Theft has a language of its own. iii‘Dumpster Diving’ - ransacking litter bins and landfill sites to secure discarded sensitive documentation. shoulder Surfing’ – Watching people (sometimes through binoculars) as they use phone cards or pin number machines. Combating ID fraud is a growth industry. Financial institutions use advisory bodies to warn people how to protect themselves, and what to do if they have become victims. websites offer practical advice. Many homes now have shredders to enable ID bearing literature to be destroyed so that Dumpster Divers cannot intercept it. Many people only learn that they are victims when they receive bills indicating large debts, which they have not personally authorized. When they query this with any credit agencies involved, they may find that they are personally expected to settle the debts run up in their name. As ScamBusters.Org observe: vii companies who made the loans often assume that you are the one who actually incurred the debt, and is trying to beat them out of their money. They can be very aggressive in their collection tactics.  Ã‚  

Risk Management In The Airline Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Risk Management In The Airline Industry - Essay Example This essay compares two worldwide famous airline corporations such as British Airways and EasyJet. At the end of 2008, the total revenues of British Airways earned were 15,012 million dollars. As opposed to British Airways which is a larger corporation and a major fleet carrier, EasyJet is the largest low fare airline for leisure and business passengers, operating all over Europe. In both airline companies, the element of risk and insurance policies are highly managed. This essay focuses on ways that these companies use to reduce losses and gain certain profits. The main aspects of risk, that are discussed in this comparative essay are: the single loss of aircraft or its part, a collision between two aircraft, terrorist acts, economical crises, pandemics and changes in government regulation or laws. Insurers of the big airline companies, such as British Airways need to plan for such events and to create a special insurance funds. That is why risk managment is highly important issue these days. This essay also contains some tables on fuel pricing and currency rates throughout recent years and a risk management strategy, that provides the airline with protection against sudden increases in oil prices. In conclusion of this comparative essay, British Airways and EasyJet are also analyzed on their complicated strategies to managing changeable currentsy rates and fuel pricing, including the increasing of ticket pricing, foreign exchange conversions and hedging to manage these risks.

Human Rights Act in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Human Rights Act in UK - Essay Example This is because freedom of speech permits or facilitates an individual to have a complete and dynamic role in the aspects of politics and public life. Moreover, how a person views himself and others profoundly depends upon his attitude to free speech (Barendt, pp. 230-245, 2005). While on the other hand, the subject matter of privacy, it can come under communication that the concept, perception and notion of privacy over the period have witnessed a vital and intense change across the cultures. Privacy is a condition that an individual do not intend to share or disclose in public that comes under relation to his or her identity, autonomy, or dignity. In other words, privacy is a situation or circumstance where the person wants to be uninterrupted, unaccompanied or with no public attention and can have the freedom from interference of others. Moreover, privacy has a connection with the concept and idea of secrecy that can be noteworthy, momentous or worth mentioning events or occurrenc es in the life of an individual (Barendt, pp. 230-245, 2005). ... The ideas, way of thinking and philosophies of people are the key features that leads to what sort of life that an individual wants to have, which entirely depends upon his or her attitudes to view the factors of privacy and publicity. Moreover, the ways that a person wants to symbolize or represent him in front of public also leads to the person’s attitude to privacy and publicity (Mayes, pp. 2-9, 2002). The records of contemporary society disclose the verity that numerous people in order to survive and make their livelihood, they publicize themselves. These personalities include the famous celebrities, television stars, pop stars, sports personalities, and several others. However, with this publicity, the concern of invasion to private lives has been the most critically raised issue. The records make the information public that the decades of 1980 and 1190 has been two most critical years for the journalist, as they have come under severe criticism by the politicians for the invasion of private lives of the renowned people (Sanders, pp. 77-80, 2003). Nevertheless, the recurrently analyzed current trends of the twenty first century reveal the piece of information that private disclosure or exposure about the personal lives of few people that includes politicians or celebrities has progressively become the basis for public conversations or discussions. It has also come to an examination on recent times that the celebrities and the public figures have been increasingly making complaints regarding their private lives that have come under offensive attack by the media. Furthermore, it has also come under observation that apart from the public figures, the normal people who are not in the public watch have also made such