Enron ethical practices

Enron ethical practices Ethical practices are a code of conduct that govern how things are done or should be done in a particular place, for example in a business. They can also be described as a system of moral principle that state how people or organizations should act or behave (Brooks Dunn 2009, p. 23).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Enron ethical practices specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A business organization is expected to follow certain ethical principles in its operations in order to ensure that they are working efficiently and that all stakeholders are benefiting from its operations. Many businesses have been driven by a need to make extra money, and hence they have become greedy and, therefore, engage in unethical practices just to get the extra money. According to W. Stead, Worrell J. Stead, the question of ethics in business conduct has become one of the most challenging issues confronting corporate America in this era (19 90, p. 233). Thesis statement This paper will examine ethical practices that the management of Enron neglected and that led to its collapse. The paper will explore the requirements of these ethical principles and how the management of Enron acted against them which led to its bankruptcy and, finally, collapse. Enron is an example of a business which has been engaged in unethical practices just for the sake of satisfying the interests of a few people in the organization at the expense of others. Enron was one of the largest energy companies in the world, and it has been the most innovative company in America until its bankruptcy (Rapoport Dharan 2004, p. 124). It has, however, been affected by several unethical and illegal practices such as defrauding its financial statements. The Enron scandal led to a massive loss of jobs and shareholders who lost their capital when the company went bankrupt (Goldman, 2010, p. 75). The management practices at Enron, which led to its fall, did not adhere to the ethical principles of the global business standards codex. There were also concerns about pervasiveness of unethical practices and about the systemic nature of practices which distorted the market (McBarnet 2006, p. 1093). These ethical principles usually govern the way businesses and organizations should operate or carry how managers and employees should carry out their duties.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One of the principles of the global business standard codex is the transparency principle. This principle states that everyone in an organization should be transparent and truthful in whatever they do (Morland 2011, p. 121). This means that managers should provide clear and true financial statements regarding the company, and also provide true records and reports on all the activities of the business. The managers at Enron did not adhere to this ethical principle. Enron, with the help of its accounting firm Arthur Anderson, constantly defrauded its financial statements and issued the ones that were not true and were not clear (Goldman 2010, p. 98). This shows that they were not transparent and truthful. Its accounting practices were also not clear, for example, they included costs of ghost projects that had been cancelled and were not in their financial statements in reality, and this is why, they could retain the money to the cancelled project. They, however, argued that they included the costs because there was no official letter stating that projects were cancelled (Sims, 2003, p. 156). Individuals and investors who had invested either their money or time in the company lost a lot of money because they were misled by the fraudulent financial statements and financial performance of the company that had been altered by the executives, for example, the executives paid people to pretend that they were working hard when comp any analysts were around so that they would give an impression that the company was performing well, and that it was lucrative, while in reality the company was performing poorly. The employees were also deceived by the financial condition of the firm, and therefore, they did not diversify their retirement portfolios in time hence losing out on their salaries and pensions when the company went bankrupt. The company also engaged in fraudulent activities like avoiding taxes by creating offshore entities which would not be liable to taxation so that the profits of the company could be increased (Sims and Johannes, 2003, p.23). Another ethical principle of the global business standards codex is the fiduciary principle. This principle requires people in the business to act diligently with loyalty and integrity to the owners of the business and for the betterment of the business (Seeger and Ulmer, 2010, p. 76). The management of Enron was not acting with integrity and diligence. This was the major cause of Enron’s legal and financial problems. Some practices are usually legally acceptable but morally questionable. A business that adheres to the principles of ethics should not engage in such practices because ethics does not allow them. This principle expects managers to be aware of the dimensions of the moral antecedents of engaging in illegal activity and acting without any integrity.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Enron ethical practices specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In Enron, Andrew Fastow who was then the chief financial officer of the company was acting without integrity and diligence, and hence he engaged in certain illegal and unethical activities (Petrick and Schrerer 2009, p. 213). He was behind the creation of the off books companies which were not liable to taxation. These companies were beneficial for him and his friends because they were able to make millions from the off boo k companies, but at the expense of the stakeholders who would lose their investments if these unethical activities were discovered. The managers also took advantage of the stock of the company when it was selling at its highest and sold their shares because they were sure that the company would fall in the future because of the fraudulent activities that they were engaged in (Petrick Schrerer 2009, p. 213). These activities also did not adhere to the property principle which expects the managers of a company to protect and not steal the property of the shareholders of the business. The managers, instead of protecting the property of the shareholders, engaged in activities of theft of such property which later led to bankruptcy and hence collapse of the company. Conclusion Ethical conduct and behavior should be stressed and practiced in every organization. If Enron had stressed an ethical culture in its business, all the unethical behavior would have been limited and the company wou ld not have collapsed. All businesses should therefore have an ethical culture and practice it. All businesses should therefore avoid the Enron case by stressing more on what is ethically acceptable rather than what is legally acceptable. Businesses should train their employees, managers and all the other stakeholders regarding the importance of acting ethically in a business while carrying out the activities of the business. This will reduce any likely occurrences of the Enron scandal. References Brooks, L Dunn, P 2009, Business and professional ethics for directors, executives and accountants, Cengage Learning, California.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Goldman, A 2010, Business Law: Principles and practices, Cengage Learning, California. Johannes, B Sims, R 2003, Journal of Business Ethics, Pg. 243. McBarnet, D 2006, After Enron will ‘Whiter than White Collar Crime’ Still Wash? Br J Criminol, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1091-1109. Morland, M 2011, Business Ethics and Continental Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Petrick, K Scherer, D 2009, Ethics in Business, John Wiley and Sons, Chicago. Rapoport, N Dharan, B 2004, Enron: corporate fiascos and their implications, Foundation Press, New York. Seeger, M Ulmer, R 2010, Management communication quarterly. Sage Publications, Boston. Sims, R 2003, Ethics and corporate social responsibility: why giants fall, Greenwood publishing, Boston. Stead, W E, Worrell, D L Stead J G, 1090, An integrative model for understanding and managing ethical behavior in business organizations, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 233-242.

List of US Presidents With Beards

List of US Presidents With Beards Five  U.S. presidents wore beards, but its been more than a century since anyone with facial hair served  in the White House. The last president to wear a full beard  in office was  Benjamin Harrison, who served from March 1889 to March 1893. Facial hair has all but disappeared from American politics. There are very few bearded politicians in Congress. Being clean-shaven wasnt always the norm, though. There are plenty of presidents with facial hair  in U.S. political history. Where did they all go? What happened to the beard? List of Presidents With Beards At least 11  presidents had facial hair, but only five had beards. 1. Abraham Lincoln was the first bearded president of the United States. But he might have entered office  clean-shaven  in March 1861 were it not from a letter from 11-year-old Grace Bedell of New York, who didnt like the way he looked on the  1860 campaign trail  without facial hair. Bedell wrote to Lincoln before the election: I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President. Lincoln started growing a beard, and by the time he was elected and began his journey from Illinois to Washington in 1861 he had  grown the beard for which he is so remembered. One note, however: Lincolns beard was not actually a full beard. It was a chinstrap, meaning he shaved his upper lip. 2. Ulysses Grant was the second bearded president. Before he was elected, Grant was known to wear his beard in a manner that was described as both wild and shaggy during the Civil War. The style did not suit his wife, however, so he trimmed it back. Purists point out the Grant was the first  president  to wear a full beard compared to Lincolns chinstrap. In 1868, author James Sanks Brisbin described Grants facial hair this way: The whole of the lower part of the face is covered with a closely cropped reddish beard, and on the upper lip he wears a mustache, cut to match the beard. 3. Rutherford B. Hayes was the third bearded president. He reportedly wore the longest beard of the five bearded presidents, what some described as  Walt Whitman-ish. Hayes served as president from March 4, 1877 to March 4, 1881. 4. James Garfield was the fourth bearded president. His beard has been described as being similar to that of Rasputins, black with streaks of gray in it. 5. Benjamin Harrison was the fifth bearded president. He wore a beard the entire four years he was in the White House, from March 4, 1889, to March 4, 1893. He was the last president to wear a beard, one of the more notable elements of a relatively unremarkable tenure in office. Author OBrien Cormac wrote this of the president in his 2004 book  Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Men of the White House: Harrison may not be the most memorable chief executive in American history, but he did, in fact, embody the end of an era: He was the last president to have a beard. Several other presidents wore facial hair but not beards. They are: John Quincy Adams, who wore mutton chops.Chester Arthur, who wore a mustache and mutton chops.Martin Van Buren, who wore mutton chops.Grover Cleveland, who wore a mustache.Theodore Roosevelt, who wore a mustache.William Taft, who wore a mustache. Why Modern Day Presidents Don't Wear Facial Hair The last  major-party candidate with a beard to even  run for president  was Republican Charles Evans Hughes in 1916. He lost. The beard, like every fad, fades and re-emerges in popularity. Lincoln, perhaps Americas most famous bearded politician, was the first president to wear a beard in office. But he began his candidacy clean-shaven and only grew his facial hair at the request of an 11-year-old schoolgirl, Grace Bedell. Times have changed, though. Very few people beg political candidates, presidents or members of Congress to grow facial hair since the 1800s. The New Statesman summed up the state of facial hair since then: Bearded men enjoyed all of the privileges of bearded women. Beards, Hippies, and Communists In 1930, three decades after the invention of the safety razor made shaving safe and easy, the author Edwin Valentine Mitchell wrote, In this regimented age the simple possession of a beard is enough to mark as curious any young man who has the courage to grow one. After the 1960s, when beards were popular among hippies, facial hair grew even more unpopular among politicians, many of whom wanted to distance themselves from the counterculture. There were very few bearded politicians in politics because candidates and elected officials did not want to be portrayed as either Communists or hippies, according to Slate.coms Justin Peters. For many years, wearing a full beard marked you as the sort of fellow who had Das Kapital stashed somewhere on his person, Peters wrote in 2012. In the 1960s, the more-or-less concurrent rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba and student radicals at home reinforced the stereotype of beard-wearers as America-hating no-goodniks. The stigma persists to this day: No candidate wants to risk alienating elderly voters with a gratuitous resemblance to Wavy Gravy. Author A.D. Perkins, writing in his 2001 book One Thousand Beards: a Cultural History of Facial Hair, notes that modern-day politicians are routinely instructed by their advisers and other handlers to remove all traces of facial hair before launching a campaign for fear of resembling Lenin and Stalin (or Marx for that matter).  Perkins concludes: The beard has been the kiss of death for Western politicians ...   Bearded Politicians in Modern Day The absence of bearded politicians has not gone unnoticed. In 2013 a group called the Bearded Entrepreneurs for the Advancement of a Responsible Democracy launched a political action committee whose aim is to support political candidates with both a full beard, and a savvy mind full of growth-oriented policy positions that will move our great nation towards a more lush and magnificent future. The BEARD PAC claimed that individuals with the dedication to grow and maintain a quality beard are the kinds of individuals that would show dedication to the job of public service. Said BEARD PAC founder Jonathan Sessions: With the resurgence of beards in popular culture and among today’s younger generation, we believe the time is now to bring facial hair back into politics. The BEARD PAC determines whether to offer financial support to a political campaign only after submitting the candidate to its review committee, which investigates the quality and longevity of their beards.

Ethical Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Ethical Question - Essay Example I will then head straight to the university’s head office to seek assistance. Since, it is prudent for the university’s management to be aware of what has transpired in the institution premises because they are accountable of everything and everyone within its confinements. I would then call the nearest police station and inform them of what has transpired and the location of the accident. This is to prove the accident was not intentional besides showing that I am ready to face the consequences. The management will then try as much as possible to locate the car’s owner with the registration number, which I took with the intention of discussing with owner on how to resolve the issue. Together with him or her, we would discus amicably the best way besides agreeing to cater for any caused damages. The reason for these actions will encompass upholding my dignity and ethics that I normally keep all through my life (Jennings 30). Secondly, I will be adhering to the already set laws that govern the state and dictate diverse restitutions, which any offender ought to observe. This is to maintain good and health interrelationships with the owner of the car despite both of being strangers to each other (Jennings 30). Therefore, my actions will be ensuring the person whom I have backed into his or her car will not feel much wronged. This is especially when he or she emerges and fails to see who was responsible for what has happened to his or her

Project management coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project management - Coursework Example Rate of performance is portion of work (in percentage) that is actually complete as compared to the work schedule to be achieved (Meredith and Mantel, 2008). It is assumed that 50% of the work is completed at the end of 5 years in 2011 since no information is available. The report is an analysis of the key causes of failure of the national program for Information Technology project undertaken by the UK government so as to unify patient records over the digital platform countrywide. The cause have been analysed based on theories in importance of project governance and leadership in successful project implementation. It was found that lack of objective and goal definition, proper leadership communication and proper guidance on importance of data security and need for communicating with doctors were key causes behind failure of the national project. Project governance assists in ensuring that the project is being executed as per standards set by the organization, which is using the project. Such governance assures that all activities are executed as per the required standards and ethical compliances are maintained while creating provision for accountability of the project management team. The project manager uses project governance to develop a proper reporting system under the structure of governance and such structures also define the roles and responsibilities of each project team member. The project manager can also utilize the governance structure for priority setting within project objectives. Project leadership, on the other hand, refers to the emphasis of project managers on planning, devising processes, developing structures and solving problems. The project manager is responsible for planning out projects, measuring performances and resolving conflicts and roadblocks that hamper project progress. Project leadership involves visioning, communication, strategizing, empowering, listening, questioning

Invasive plants Essay -- Native Plant Species, Environment

Since we are accustomed to a life full of modern conveniences, it is important to remember that human survival still depends on the planet's natural diversity. Pennsylvania has 25,000 species of plants and animals, with more than 2,100 being native (IConserve, 2007). It is critical to appreciate the sustainable use of these natural resources that influence our beautiful state’s economic health and quality of life of all Pennsylvanians. Yet many threats to our home’s biodiversity are present. One significant threat is invasive plant species that are eliminating native plant species. Invasive plants are plants which grow aggressively, spreading and displacing other plants (Ball, 2002). Whether it is intentional or not, they are often introduced by humans. On the other hand, native plants are pants that existed within Pennsylvania before European settlement. Because they are meant to grow here, they are quite beneficial to the environment as well as people (Fell 19 95). In order to preserve Pennsylvania’s health and natural beauty, it is essential to control the growth of invasive plant species while supporting the growth of native plant species. When Pennsylvania was first settled in the 1600’s by William Penn, abundant plants covered about 90% of the state (IConserve 2007). All of these plants are considered to be natives because they existed in the area before human settlement. Unfortunately, due to human interactions with nature, the landscape has changed significantly over time. Many plants that once defined Pennsylvania have been lost; however, this problem can be reversed to some extent. By 2000, five percent of Pennsylvania’s native plant species had been lost and another twenty-five percent were in danger o... ...s that are invasive and controlling or destroying any invasive species. These plants are adaptable and grow well under a wide range of conditions and therefore have a much better chance of thriving. It is also important to use fertilizers in moderation because high nitrogen often stimulates the aggressive growth of plants (Fell, 1995). Planning land management is also important. Weekly mowing is important for the maintenance of lawns and weeding is important for gardens. Pennsylvania’s meadows should be mowed annually and woodlands should be monitored for the need to remove invasive plant species (Ball, 2001). Unfortunately, invasive plants are causing problems not only in Pennsylvania, but all across the country (Invasive Plants: Silent Invaders, 2004). It is essential that efforts are made in order to keep this plant crisis from deteriorating further.

Most Important Turning Point in WW2 Essay

There’s always a discussion or argument as to what the most important turning point in the war was. This is a very difficult question to answer because every important part of the war happened because of another important part of the war. But is there just one main turning point in the war or could there be multiple? The Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain took place between August and September 1940. After the success of Blitzkrieg, the evacuation of Dunkirk and the surrender of France, Britain, on the Western front, was by herself. The Battle of Britain was the closest British Civilians actually got to see any of the fighting in WW2. In July 1940 through to October 1940 a few thousand young men, ably backed by the British Public and the men and women of the RAF ground staff held off the mightiest Air Force assembled up to that point in time. The German Luftwaffe. On September 15th came the last major engagement of the battle. On that day, the Luftwaffe lost 60 planes while the RAF lost 28. The overall casualties amounted to Germany losing 1,100 planes whereas Britain had lost just over half that amount (650). On September 17th, Hitler cancelled the invasion of Britain. The invasion would not have been possible if the Royal Navy had been able to attack the barges; and, with the RAF in existence the Germans could not hope to attack the Royal Navy. So, no invasion took place. If Britain had lost the Battle of Britain then Britain would have almost certainly been invaded and probably conquered like the other European countries. But Britain did not lose the Battle of Britain and, so, Britain was not conquered. The continued existence of Great Britain as a fighting nation meant that†¦ Germany needed many men to garrison Western Europe rather than attack Russia because the resistance movements in the occupied countries had support from Britain. When Japan and Germany declared war on America, America, being the biggest industrial power at the time, was able to use Britain as a massive base to store all the aircraft they needed to bomb Germany. The majority of Germany`s artillery was kept back in Europe and Germany on anti-aircraft duties because of these huge bombing raids. These drains on Germany’s resources meant they were not able to conquer Russia in the quick manner needed. This led to the eventual meat  grinder of the Eastern front which swallowed so much of their army and air force. How much difference would those guns, men and ammunition have made at Stalingrad? The Battle of Britain boosted British morale through the roof. This was shown in the famous â€Å"never was so much owned by so many to so few.† Speech by Winston Churchill. The British also kicked the Axis out of Africa, forcing Hitler to send much needed supplies and men to assist the failing Afrika Korps. All of this would not have happened if the British had lost the Battle of Britain. The Enigma Code The German military used the Enigma cipher machine during WW2 to keep their communications secret. The machine was available commercially during the 1920s, but the military potential of the device was quickly realised and the German army, navy and air force all used a more developed model of the machine to encipher their messages believing that it would make these communications unsolvable to the enemy. The Enigma machine is an electro-mechanical device that relies on a series of rotating ‘wheels’ or ‘rotors’ to scramble plaintext messages into jumbled cipher text. The machine’s variable elements can be set in many billions of combinations, and each one will make a completely different cipher text message. If you know how the machine has been set up, you can type the cipher text back in and it will unscramble the message. If you don’t know the Enigma setting, the message remains indecipherable. The German authorities believed in the absolute security of the Enigma. However, with the help of Polish mathematicians who had managed to secure a machine before the outbreak of WW2, British code breakers stationed at Bletchley Park managed to exploit weaknesses in the machine and how it was used and were able to crack the Enigma code. Breaking the Enigma ciphers gave the Allies a key advantage, which, according to historians, shortened the war by two years thus saving many lives. In one specific case the team behind the Enigma code were able to inform the British 8th Army at El Alamein of an incoming attack from the Afrika corps. Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most major and decisive battles of World War 2 where the Axis fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad. The battle took place between August 23, 1942 and February 2,  1943 and was fought with close-quarters combat and lack of regard for civilian casualties. It is among the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare with almost two million casualties. The German attack, led by General Paulus, to capture Stalingrad began in late summer 1942, and was supported by severe Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The German offensive eventually became reduced to building-to-building fighting. Despite controlling nearly the entire city at times, the Germans were unable to shake off the last soviets clinging to their City. Both sides fought vigorously over the city and Stalin ordered his troops, â€Å"Not a step back.† The Battle for Stalingrad was rife with sniping on both sides; however the Russians us ed a tactic no other country did during the war. This tactic was the employing of female snipers on the field, which they did to great effect. By doing this, the Russian Army was able to fill their ranks further as well as raise morale of troops and civilians by reporting on the lethal effectiveness of the Soviet fighting woman. Morale was one of the most vital things a soldier could have. Without morale a soldier became ineffective and the worst thing for morale was an enemy Sniper. The presence of a sniper was usually revealed to enemy troops by a single shot, followed by the death of one of their comrades. This presented a problem to the remaining troops. Not only were they under fire from an enemy, but they could not see where this enemy was nor could they predict who would be the next victim. Additionally, if the sniper left, there was no way for the opposing men to know unless one of them left cover, and therefore risking his life. The strain of being constantly in danger was increased by the inability of the troops to strike back at the sniper, as well as their anger at the death of their fellow soldiers. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the Russian snipers, particularly Vassili Zaitsev, proved to cause so much damage to German morale and such a boost to the Russians that German High Command sent in their best sniper, a Major Koning, to hunt down and kill Zaitsev. Unfortunately for the Germans, this plan backfired, and Zaitsev killed Koning, further lifting Russian morale and dropping German fighting spirit to a new low. On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack at the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German flanks. After heavy fighting, the Axis army was cut off and surrounded inside Stalingrad. Adolf Hitler’s resolute belief in  no surrender led to more loss of life. Eventually, the failure to save the German Forces and lack of supplies led to the surrender. By February 1943, Axis resistance in Stalingrad had stopped and nearly 125,000 remaining troops of the 6th Army had surrendered, the others were killed. Only 6,000 soldiers made it back home. The battle lasted 5 months, 1 week, and 3 days. It was Germany’s first major defeat. However by the end of the battle 99% of the buildings in Stalingrad were reduced to piles of rubble. â€Å"The siege of September 13, 1942 to January 31, 1943 will inspire forever the hearts of all free people. Their glorious victory stemmed the tide of invasion and marked the turning point in the war of the Allied nations against the forces of aggression.† Franklin D Roosevelt, congratulating Joseph Stalin on the soviet Victory at Stalingrad. This shows that not only did Stalingrad spread morale throughout the U.S.S.R but throughout Allied troops around the world. For the U.S.S.R Stalingrad was it. A desperate last stand against the Axis and total inhalation. Not only were there vital oil sources to the South-East but it was a battle between Stalin and Hitler themselves (considering it was Stalin’s city). After the Battle of Stalingrad Germ an forces never recovered to their earlier strength and so gave up their campaign on the USSR. It was the beginning of the end and retreat for the Axis powers in Russia. El Alamein Between 1940 and 1942, the desert war went back and forth over the north coast of Africa. After initial British success, the Afrika Korps (the German army) made a determined advance, gradually beating the British 8th Army back as far as a small town called El Alamein near the Egyptian border. At the end of the First Battle of El Alamein, the Allies suffered about 13,250 wounded, captured, missing, and killed, while the Axis suffered 17,000. The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle lasted from 23 October to 5 November 1942. Germany had: 30,542 casualties, 500 tanks, 254 guns, 84 aircraft. And British and other Commonwealth forces had: 13,560 casualties, 332- 500 tanks, 111 guns, 97 aircraft. After the two battles the world was convinced that the Axis powers, particularly Germany, were not invincible as this was their second major military defeat. A quarter of a million Italian and German soldiers su rrendered at El Alamein which was nearly twice the  amount that surrendered at Stalingrad four months earlier. This destroyed Italian moral completely because not only were they crushed at El Alamein, their country became the new frontline, and for Germany It was another momentous disaster. The Battle of El Alamein not only allowed total free access to the Suez Canal for Allied shipping, which was of special importance now that the war had taken on a global nature, but it also stopped the Germans from threatening the Middle-Eastern oil fields, a major supplier of Allied oil reserves. The victory, coupled with joint Allied landings in French Algiers, also finally spelled the elimination of an Axis presence in North Africa and ended the Italian dreams of a ‘new Roman Empire’. There were also strategic implications: the defeat in North Africa began the series of events that led the invasion of mainland Italy and the toppling of the Italian dictator Mussolini. This brought the Italians onto the Allies’ side and left Germany at a strategic disadvantage across the whole of the M editerranean. The North African campaign also drew German troops away from the massive battles that were taking place in the U.S.S.R. I have not included D-Day as one of the most important turning points in the war because I believe that the fact that D-Day happened means that the tide had already turned. For the Western Front the tide turned at the Battle of Britain because if Britain had been taken then: America wouldn’t have an Allied country close to Germany, the Allies wouldn’t have been able to win in North Africa and D-Day wouldn’t of been able to happen in the first place. I have also not included Pearl Harbour as a Turning point because I feel Japan only attacked the Americans at Pearl Harbour so they could destroy some of their vital ships and resources. I think they did this because they knew that war was going to break out between Japan and America at some point and so decided to jump the gun and get the upper hand. This would mean that Pearl Harbour was significant point in the war rather than a turning point. In conclusion I would say that there wasn’t a turning point as such but four main turning points that led do the downfall of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. These being: The Battle of Britain, The breaking of the Enigma Code, Stalingrad and El Alamein. This is because the three battles were last chance stands against the mighty German Army, and defeat would have meant loss of highly important resources, land, men and morale. Additionally if the Enigma code had not been broken the war might have raged  on for another two or three years and many more millions could have died. Bibliography http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/russianow/features/9942741/stalingrad-dates-legacy.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ww2_summary_01.shtml http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/defeat/catastrophe-stalingrad.htm http://bbrown.umwblogs.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so_many_to_so_few http://stalingrad3.weebly.com/index.html http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battleofbritain.htm http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/machines.rhtm

The History of the First Toilet

For civilization to come together and function, you’d think people would need toilets. But ancient records that date back to around 2800 BCE have shown that the earliest toilets were a luxury afforded only to the most affluent households in what was then the Indus Valley settlement of Mohenjo-Daro. History The thrones were simple but ingenious for its time. Made of brick with wooden seats, they featured chutes that transported the waste toward street drains. This was all made possible by the most advanced sewage system of the time, which featured several sophisticated water supply and sanitation technologies. For example, drains from houses were connected to larger public drains and sewage from a home was connected to the main sewage line.   Toilets that used running water to dispose of waste have also been discovered in Scotland that date back to roughly the same time. There’s also evidence of early toilets in Crete, Egypt, and Persia that were in use during the 18th-century BCE. Toilets connected to a flush system were popular as well in Roman bathhouses, where they were positioned over open sewers.   In the middle ages, some households fashioned what was referred to as garderobes, basically a hole on the floor above a pipe that carried the waste out to disposal area called a cesspit. To get rid of the waste, workers came during the night to clean them out, collect the waste and then sell it as fertilizer.   In the 1800s, some English homes favored using a waterless, non-flush system called the â€Å"dry earth closet.† Invented in 1859 by the Reverend Henry Moule of Fordington, the mechanical units, comprised of a wooden seat, a bucket and separate container, mixed dry earth with feces to produce compost that can be safely returned to the soil. You can say it was one of the first composting toilets that are in use today at parks and other roadside locations in Sweden, Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Finland.   First Design The first design for the modern flush toilet was drawn up in 1596 by Sir John Harington, an English courtier. Named the Ajax, Harington described the device in a satirical pamphlet titled â€Å"A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax,† which contained insulting allegories to Earl of Leicester, a close friend of his godmother Queen Elizabeth I. It had a valve that let water flow down and empty a waterproof bowl. He would eventually install a working model at his home in Kelston and for the queen at Richmond Palace.   However, it wasn’t until 1775 that the first patent for a practical flush toilet was issued. Inventor Alexander Cumming’s designed featured one important modification called the S-trap, an S-shaped pipe below the bowl filled with water that formed a seal to prevent fold smelling odors from rising up through the top. A few years later, Cumming’s system was improved upon by inventor Joseph Bramah, who replaced the sliding valve at the bottom of the bowl with a hinged flap.   It was around the middle of the 19th century that â€Å"water closets,† as they were called, started to gain a foothold among the masses. In 1851, an English Plumber named George Jennings installed the first public pay toilets at the Crystal Palace in London’s Hyde Park. At the time, it cost patrons a penny to use them and included extras such as a towel, comb and shoe shine. By the end of the 1850s, most middle-class homes in Britain came equipped with a toilet.