The Need Of Sound Information System Information Technology Essay

The Need Of Sound Information System Information Technology Essay Small to Medium Enterprise is an organization or business that only has a certain number of employees or revenues, different country has a different definition and standard for SME. In Singapore, SME need to have at least 30 per cent local equity and fixed productive assets not more than S$15 million and limit of only not more than 200 employees. In Australia, SME has a different category such as very small with only 1 to 9 employees, small with only 10 to 49 employees, medium with 50 to 149 employees and large with 150+ employees. Information in SME is a really important asset, the loss or damage in any pieces of information will damage the company really badly. Lose in competitive advantage, customers loyalty is the consequences that may happen and a company in SME could be out of business if an incident like that happened. Even though information security can be applied to all kind of business, but there are differences between SME and large company when applying security. SME and large company have a difference kind of challenges when applying security. SME does not have big budget like large company, fewer qualified security personnel and resources. Challenges for large enterprises are often because of their large size. They are difficult to track their users because they have a large number of users and sometimes they have a lot of branches in different locations to maintain. SME also has advantage compared to the large company, SME which has a smaller number of employees than large company has a lesser t hreat by insider attacks. One of the solutions for SME for security is outsourcing the security, but the problem occurred because of the price offered, some SMEs cannot afford the prices, so it comes again with the budget SME has. There is other solution offered to SME in security, some of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) increasingly partnering with security vendors to offers SMEs standard security products. The need of sound information system. Information security management is a management that manages threats and risks to the organizations information; it is applicable for all type of organization, from large to small organization. Information security management includes personnel security, technical security, physical security, access control, business continuity management and many other things. The standard of the requirement of information security management is ISO 27001; it is one of the ISO 27000 families. With this, it can help to make the information more protected and clients will also feel secured. ISO 27001 helps to protect all kind of information, information in soft copy or hard copy and even in communication. There 3 important characteristics in Information security, Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA). Confidentiality ensures that only some authorized user may access the information, so different level of information can only be accessed by certain users. Integrity is a state where the information is complete, and uncorrupted. Availability ensures that the information is available whenever the authorized user accessed. Information security management is needed because now information is the most vital asset for almost all the organizations. A lot of consequences when the information is destroyed, stolen or corrupted and the consequences may be very dangerous or even make the organizations fall down. Personal information is also vital to the people itself and also to the company, if the company do not handle the information carefully, it will be dangerous to the company because personal information can also be customer information and when it is not secured, the customers can lost their trust to the company and the companys reputation will be affected also, these can also applied to the companys staffs. There is this case study where some companies in London experienced loss of electricity because there was a problem in the London power company. Because of the loss of electricity, some of the companies have their data corrupted and also systems crashed, these incidents made the companies loss their clients, clean corrupted data, re input the data which cost them more and closed the business. There are some of the topics that cover the information security management: Biometric security devices and their use Biometric Security is a tool to protect from intruder to access information but using part of the body to authenticate the authorized user instead of typing the password. The advantages are it cannot be borrowed or made and also it is more secured than inputting the password. Biometrics that is using physical body that is unique includes fingerprints, palm, retina, iris, and facial. For the behavioral characteristics include signature, voice, keystroke pattern and human motion. This is a list of biometric and its uses. Fingerprints recognition is a biometric where it identifies by scanning fingerprints and looks for the pattern found on a fingertip. There are different kinds of fingerprints verification, some of them using pattern-matching devices; comparing the scanned fingerprints from database, they are also using moirà © fringe patterns and ultrasonic. Palm recognition scan, measure the shape of the hand and look for the pattern on the palm. Some of the organizations use this for time and attendance recording. Retina recognition analyzing the layer of blood vessels located at the back of the eye. This biometric uses low intensity light and source through and optical coupler to look for patterns of the retina, so the user need to focus on a given point. Iris recognition analyze the colored ring of tissues surround the pupil by using conventional camera element and the users do not need to be close to the scanner. Face recognition analyses the facial cha racteristics and it requires digital camera to scan. Some organization like casino, scan for scam artists for quick detection. Some of the company even government also using biometric security. Fujitsu Ltd. is now making the company desktop computer to use a palm recognition, it is not using fingerprints because it said that palm recognition is more secured than fingerprint. They are using infrared to scan the users palm, they look for the pattern of the vein in the palm and because they use infrared, they can see them. This technology is already in use in more than 18000 bank ATMS in Japan. Germany stores a digital fingerprints and digital photos in to the passport to fight organized crime and international terrorism. Biometric may be more secured but research says biometric like fingerprint recognition can be accessed by unauthorized users also. There is this mathematician named Tsutomu Matsumoto, he use a $10 ingredients; gelatin and plastic mold to reproduce a portion of finger and in four of five attempts, he can accessed to 11 different fingerprints recognition systems. Incident response management and disaster recovery Incident response is an organized plan or procedures to handle and counter some threats like security breach or attack. Incident response plan includes a policy that discusses how to response to a certain threats, reduces recovery costs and time. Some of incident response goals are reduce the impact, prevent future incidents, verify that incident occurred, maintains Business Continuity, and improve security and incident response. There is incident response team in the organization that handles the incident response plan. Incident response team also needs another party in organization to help them, such as business managers, IT staff, legal department, human resources, public relations, security groups, audit and risk management specialists. Business managers make agreements with the team about their authority over business systems and decisions if critical business systems must be shut down. IT staff help the team to access the network for analysis purposes and improve security infrastructure if recommended by the team. Legal staffs need to review non-disclosure agreements and determine site liability for computer security incidents. Human resources help to hire the teams staff and develop policies and procedures for removing internal employees. Public relations help to handle the media and develop information-disclosure policies. Security groups help the team to solve issues involving computer. Audit and ris k management help to analyze threat. There are a several steps to response to the incident. First, the organization needs to prepare the staff by having the staff to do some training; they need to be trained to response to the incident quickly and correctly and also educates the staff to update the security regularly. The response team has to identify whether it is a security incident or not and the team can also find some information about the current threats. Response team need to identify how far the problem has affected the systems and decide faster by shut down the affected system to prevent further damage. Then they need to find the source of the incident and remove the source. After that they need to restored the data from clean backup files, monitor them and upgrading the systems to prevent the same incidents in the future. Mobile device security management Mobile devices the staffs use also need some kind of security because they can contain pieces of information about the company, it can be the customer or staff information but it can be some kind of soft copy of some reports or documents. Some of IT staffs need to use mobile devices like PDA or smart phone to make business data. Mobile devices may look secure, free of viruses and malwares but they are not. There are several threats to the mobile devices. Intruder can intrude the mobile devices and expose the information out of it through wireless network by using wireless sniffer. Mobile devices can also be stolen or lost and if the devices are not secured by putting a password, information can be dig out easily from the devices. Less than 500 mobile operating system viruses, worms and Trojans can be found. Mobile viruses can be a major threat, some of the viruses can clear the data; corrupt the data and several other problems. Viruses can intrude the devices when application downloaded to the devices. There is one virus called 911 Virus, this virus cause 13 million I-mode user in to automatically call Japans emergency phone number. E-mail viruses affect the devices the same as e-mail virus affect regular PC. It makes the devices to send multiple emails. There are ways to prevent the threat to happen. The easiest way is to put a password to the mobile devices, the password can only be attempted for a several times and if it failed, the devices will be automatically locked down. Using encryption techniques can help to protect intruder from intruding when exchanging data using wireless network. Back up the data regularly to PC if anything happens to the data. Install antivirus and putting a firewall into the devices can help to prevent viruses. Administrator can take control of the mobile device and also wipe the data on missing or stolen devices. Linking business objectives with security Linking business objectives with information security can be expensive process and risky. It can create frustration in both sides. There are several actions that can be used to improve both sides. Reflect the business objectives in information security; reflect them in information security policy, objectives and activities. Information security has to be consistent with the organizational culture, changing the culture of the business from information security is often not possible. Protect the information in business process by establish a security program. Follow the information security standard, following them will make the staff, customers and client feel that their data is safe. Increase the understanding of the need for security, security manager should explain the benefit of them by using business terms, so that everyone can understand more. Obtain the support from management; ensure that risk management is part of every staffs job description. The last thing is to use the res ources wisely. Spend more resources when the problems are really occurred. With this plan, both business and security can improve and successful. Ethical issues in information security management IT security personnel are given the authority to access data or information about the individuals and companies networks and system. With this authority, they might use it in a wrong way which mostly is intruding someones privacy for example, scanning employees email just for fun or even diverting the messages, read others email and even worse, they can blackmail the employee. The IT personnel can monitor the websites that visited by the network user, they can even place key loggers on machine to capture everything that is displayed. There is ethical issues called real world ethical dilemmas, it is where the IT security personnel happened to see the company secrets and may print the documents, it can be use to blackmail the company or even trade the information to the other company. They also may encounter where they see a document where it showed that the company do some illegal things. With this crucial information, the company is in danger, not only the company but also the security personnel themselves. There are ways to prevent the people in internet that want to intrude users privacy, one of the articles said that when the author access a website, he saw advertisement in the website and the ad said about an event and it takes place at the authors area, and so he tried to change the location of the computer and when he click the ad again, it shows a different area, area where the his computer set up, this kind of ad using the users IP address to track the user, so he figure it out by hiding or masking IP address using some software, this way, the user can protect their privacy effectively One article talked about how IT security personnel deal with sensitive information in right way, first thing to do if to check whether they have signed a non-disclosure agreement that required them to protect information that they overheard, if there are then protect it, second things to do is to ask themselves whether it is reasonable to the host company to expect them to hold such overheard conversation in confidence. If so, they should not spread the overheard information to anyone. Security training and education With many organizations are using internet, many users including unauthorized can access and dig out information. They need to train or educate their staff to protect organizations information by creating a system to secure the information from unauthorized users. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) educates the staffs about how information security works, secure the information, and maintain the information safe and secured. Network security will have the staffs quickly respond to defend the attacks and have countermeasures. Following by investigate the weakness of the systems. It is not easy to protect network security which is why they need to be trained. CISSP education consists of learning about database security, how the intruders intrude the systems, and the right countermeasures for a certain attacks. There is a survey regarding the intrusion to the US companies, the unauthorized intrusions to their network increased 67% this year from 41% last year. The cause of intrusions mainly because of hacker attack, lack of adequate security policies, employee web usage, virus, employee carelessness, disgruntled employee, weak password policy, lack of software updates and software security flaw. IT managers also take part of the survey about which is the biggest intrusion in the future and they identified that viruses, spyware, Trojan, worms and spam are the biggest risk, followed by hacking, uneducated user about security, sabotage, and loss of information. A group called QinetiQ North Americas Mission Solution Group, it provide security education and training to the users but before they train their user, they need to identify individuals required training objectives, plan, develop and validate training materials and then they conduct an effective training to the personnel and at the end evaluate course effectiveness. Defending against Internet-based attacks Internet-based attacks can be very dangerous to the company; a research said companies are losing an average of $2 million in revenue from internet-based attacks which disrupt the business. The average of 162 companies said that they are suffered one crucial incident a year from worms, viruses, spyware or other security-related causes, and for each attack the systems were down an average of 22 hours. The threats will grow as the companies increase their use of internet. Defend against the internet-based attack can be done by using intrusion prevention and detection, they can detect the attack and the company can quickly defend against them. IDS will be looking for the characteristics of known attacks. IPS can recognize the content of network traffic and block malicious connection. Wireless intrusion prevention monitors the wireless networks, detect unauthorized access points and provide reporting and analysis. There are also basic things like firewalls and antivirus that can be used to defend and there are many things that can be used to defend these kinds of attacks. Industrial espionage and business intelligence gathering Incident response is an organized plan or procedures to handle and counter some threats like security breach or attack. Incident response plan includes a policy that discusses how to response to a certain threats, reduces recovery costs and time. Some of incident response goals are reduce the impact, prevent future incidents, verify that incident occurred, maintains Business Continuity, and improve security and incident response. There is incident response team in the organization that handles the incident response plan. Incident response team also needs another party in organization to help them, such as business managers, IT staff, legal department, human resources, public relations, security groups, audit and risk management specialists. Business managers make agreements with the team about their authority over business systems and decisions if critical business systems must be shut down. IT staff help the team to access the network for analysis purposes and improve security infrastructure if recommended by the team. Legal staffs need to review non-disclosure agreements and determine site liability for computer security incidents. Human resources help to hire the teams staff and develop policies and procedures for removing internal employees. Public relations help to handle the media and develop information-disclosure policies. Security groups help the team to solve issues involving computer. Audit and ris k management help to analyze threat. There are a several steps to response to the incident. First, the organization needs to prepare the staff by having the staff to do some training; they need to be trained to response to the incident quickly and correctly and also educates the staff to update the security regularly. The response team has to identify whether it is a security incident or not and the team can also find some information about the current threats. Response team need to identify how far the problem has affected the systems and decide faster by shut down the affected system to prevent further damage. Then they need to find the source of the incident and remove the source. After that they need to restored the data from clean backup files, monitor them and upgrading the systems to prevent the same incidents in the future. Governance issues in information security management Security governance is a system that directs and control information security. Governance itself means setting the objectives of the business and ensures them to achieve the objectives. There are several examples of governance issues, CEO of health south corporation said that more than 85 counts that include fraud and signing off on false corporate statements that overstated earning by at least US $1.4 billion. Senior vice president and CIO of the company with the 15 other plead guilty. Another incident happened in an Ohio-based company that handles payroll and other human resources functions on a contract business which is already bankrupt, and they left their 3000 staffs without paychecks and reportedly that the companys client list has been sold. Personnel issues in Information sec Personnel security focuses on the employees involving policies and procedures about the risks the employees accessing the company information and prevents them from taking it. Threats in organizations are not only from the outside but also from the inside, which can make severe damages and costs. There are ways to prevent this from happening. Pre-employment checks are an act where the company will check whether the candidates have the qualification for employment, this way they will know whether the candidates have revealed important information about themselves. National Security Vetting determines whether the candidate is suitable to be given the access to sensitive information which can be valuable to the rival company. This process is usually included in the pre-employment checks. There are also responsibilities for each of some roles that involved in personnel security. Director has to publish and maintain policy guidelines for personnel security, decide the security access requirements and ensure that all the employees have been checked on their background and trained. Information Security Officer prepares the personnel security policy, monitoring the policy, and ensures that all the staffs are trained in computer security responsibilities. Supervisor need to speak with the user about the securitys requirements, monitor the policy, ensures that all the staffs are trained in computer security responsibilities, informs ISO when the staffs access need to be removed, tracking the staffs accounts when they create or delete the account. System Security Officer monitor compliance with the security policy, have the authority to delete systems password if the employee no longer need access, tracking users and their authorizations. Users need to understand their respo nsibilities, use the information for only certain events, response quickly by informing the supervisor if there is intruder access the data and abused the information. Privacy issues in the company are also personnel issues. Organization is also responsible of the privacy of the staffs, because all the staffs records are kept in the organization. Personnel records cannot be seen by other staffs or outsider without the holders permission. Social Security Numbers are not allowed to become private password like email password. Eavesdropping needs to be limited, eavesdropping to the telephone conversation and voicemail are not allowed. Monitoring is allowed as long as the purpose is to keep the employees work, employees need to be informed early that they will be monitored. Medical records and background information are confidential; no one can access them without permission excluding the holders themselves. Physical security issues in Information security Physical security is a security that focuses on protecting the information, personnel, hardware and programs from physical threats. Threat that can cause a lot of damage to the enterprise or building is also things that need to be aware in physical security, for example, natural disaster, vandalism, and terrorism. Physical security can be intruded by a non technical intruder. There are a lot of ways to protect from physical threats. Security can be hardened by putting difficult obstacles for the intruder including multiple locks, fencing, walls and fireproof safes. Putting surveillances like heat sensors, smoke detectors, intrusion detectors, alarms and cameras. There are key areas that need to be focused on. In facility security, they are entry points, data center, user environments, access control and monitoring devices, guard personnel and also wiring closet. For the company staff and the visitor, they need to be focused on control and accountability, use of equipment, awareness, security procedure compliance. Workstations, servers, backup media, and mobile devices need to be protected. Control, storage and disposal of information also need to be focused on. Physical security also issues hospitality industries. Example of hospitality industries are resorts, hotels, clubs, hospitals and also many other things. Physical threats that occurred in these industries are mainly theft, followed by assault, burglary, auto theft, robbery and sexual assault. If these industries experience this kind of threats, the industries can contribute to poor public relations. Company like IBM also offers physical and IT security. IBM Internet security Systems (ISS) products secure IT infrastructure with threat and vulnerability management, enabling business continuity and cost-effective processes. IBM integrate video surveillance and analytic technologies, the products can help reduce time and cost to collect and store video and it also enable analysis of surveillance data. IBM also provide products for intrusion prevention, mail security; protection of messaging infrastructure, and also security intelligence which provide information about the threats that can affect the network. Cyber forensic incident response One of the primary objectives in incident response plan is to contain the damage, investigate what happen, and prevent it from happening again in the future. It is a bit the same as computer forensic because they need to reduce the damage and investigate the cause of it. By understanding how the data is accessed and stored can be the key to find the evidence that someone has tried to hide, erase, or destroy. The investigator needs to take care of their evidence, make sure that it is not lost, destroyed or changed.

Culture and tourism

Culture and tourism Introduction For the course Sociology and International Developments we have chose the topic Culture Tourism. Our Tourism is increasing less the last period, because of the financial crisis that is taking place in the USA. Curacao is using our Culture as a promotion to solve this problem. The last few years they are building few hotels on Curacao (For example: The already built â€Å"Renaissance Hotel†, Hyat, Cabana Beach Resort, Jan Thiel and Caracasbaai), because 2 years ago there was a scarcity in hospitality, and also to attract tourists. We have chosen this topic, because it is a present problem which can affect our economy. This is because tourism is one of our premium Income Resource. The objective of this study is to find out solutions for this problem to prevent an economy crisis in Curacao. Research Question: Can our Culture help us increasing our Tourism? Sub Questions: Why is our Tourism increasing less the last period? Why are the investors investing in Hotels while our Tourism is increasing less? What are the characteristics of the Culture of Curacao? How can our Culture help us increase our Tourism? We will use different resources to obtain the necessary information to complete our report. Primary we intend to search for information about tourism culture in the local newspapers, then we will make an appointment with the CTB (Curacao Tourism Board) and the â€Å"Kas di Kultura†. And also we will search for information internet. The report will be divided in chapters, in each chapter a sub question will be discussed. Chapter 1 Tourism Increasing Less In this chapter we will discuss about the results that we had this last years in the tourism sector on Curacao. We will mention different reasons why is our tourism increasing less and also analyze what cause this less increasing. And we will give different ways how to increase our tourism. Tourism of Curacao stayed stabled with an increase of 1 % in the first 9 months of the year 2009 The quantity of tourist increase but the quantity of nights decreases. The numbers published by the CTB indicates that the first 9 months of the year 2009 a total of 267.968 tourists has visited our island. Compare to the year 2008 there was a increase of 1 percent. But the total nights that the tourist stayed in Curacao decreased compare to the year 2008 with 7 percent. The reason why tourist stayed less nights in our island is because of economic reasons (they spend a economic total). Analyses of the Total Arrivals of Tourists The total arrivales of tourists from europe where register with a increase of 9 precent of 98.965 tourist in 2008 to 108.123 tourists in 2009. The cause of increasing is because there where a mayor market of Netherlands that where register, 9.609 more tourist in the first 9 months in the year 2009 compare to the year 2008. And the other important European markets that increase are: belgic with 10 percent and Germany with 23 percent. And other important Markets that develop less where Sweden with a decrease of 34 percent and Finland with 24 percent. The total arrivales of the South-America markets where register with a increase of 4 percent in the first 9 months of the year 2009. This development is caused by the increase of the Suriname markets with 45 percent, Colombian with 7 percent and Venezuela with 5 percent. And other important markets that where register with a decrease where Brazil with a 19 percent and Ecuador with 41 percent. The total arrivales for the first 9 months of the year 2009 from North-America and Canada where registered with a decrease of 25 percent, the total was 30.390 tourists in 2009 and 40.329 tourists in 2008. Caribean markets decrease the first 9 months of the year 2009 with 13 percent, because of the decrease of the quantity of tourist from Jamaica with 23 percent, Trinidad Tobago with 21 percent, Aruba with 7 percent and Dominican Replubic with 6 %. This situation in the Caribean Area will stay fragil untill the Economic of North America gets better. A total of 289.878 cruise tourists visited Curacao in the first 9 months of the year 2009 which is an increase of 27.7 percent compare to 2008. Curacao is also experience the World Economic Crisis. But together with a private sector and community we can pass the negatives that this crisis brings with confident. Solutions to increase our Tourism There are many ways to increase our Tourism. But now a days tourist are very caution about their safety. That means tourists are not only aware to have a great hotel with a great room, a nice view of the beach, but also aware about the safety of the room, that means if the room has a window that can be open or if the room is safety. Thats why Curacao is planning to begin with a group of hospitality security, so they can offer the tourist a better and safer hospitality. Curacao began with this security training not only to be recognized, but to have a recognized certificate in USA. Because now a day many American tourists are very cautions about the place they choose to have a pleasurable and safety vacation. Thats why Curacao to gain more American tourist they began with this Security training. Chapter2 Why Investing in Hotels now? The past few years we have noticed that they are constructing many hotels on Curacao, meanwhile there is a global economic crises taking place. The decision to invest in constructing a hotel is not based on actual performances. An investor analyses the future possibilities of making his investment lucrative. Several factors are considered previous to realizing the investment. As a result, the decision to invest is based on the estimated future performance of the tourism sector. This sector is growing every day, which makes it very interesting for the investors. Effect of Economic Crises The economic crisis had an effect on the quantity tourists Curacao received from the North-America, it had a decrease of 25% September 2009 compared to September 2008. But its very important to know that our island have visitors from all over the world. If the economy crisis reaches a region, the people of that region will travel less or will stay fewer days at their destination. But the good news for us is that we have tourists coming from other region, for example Europe, South-America and Caribbean. September this year we had an increase of 4% in tourist visiting us from South-America (Venezuela), 9% increase from Europe and 141% from other destinations. Here you can see the decrease caused by some region will be recompensed by other region, causing an increase of 1% September this year in our tourism. In this case you will think the Hotel Occupancy rate will increase during 2009, but this isnt the case. October 2009 the average hotel occupancy was 74.92% compared to 85.18% in 2008. During October there was a decrease which led us to a hotel occupancy of 76.45% for 2009 compared with 80.57% in 2008. During September 2009 the average hotel occupancy was 74.75% compared to 85.69% in 2008. During September 2009 the hotel occupancy rate dropped to 74.15% compared with 79.74% in 2008. This is the effect of the increase of 27.7% in cruise ship arrivals on Curacao. This tourist came to visit our island, but didnt need a hotel stay causing a decrease in our hotel occupancy rate. Future vision The hotel chains who are building their hotels here on our island in first place didnt prognosticate the global crises and this situation. Maybe you think its not the right moment to invest in hotels. Youre wrong. The Curacao Tourism Board and the Kas di Kultura are working hard together promoting our island. Right now they are training personal for the tourism sector and the hotels are expanding their service. This because we are trying hard to increase our tourism, and when our tourism increase we need to have a room for every tourist. Its not only about the stay, but we have to give them the experience of their live and this we give them through our excellent service. This is why the investors are investing right now in our island. They have a future vision, where the tourism will increase drastically. Chapter 3 Mangusada Our beautiful Curacao is a small island in the Caribbean and has a population of 130,000 people. There are different cultures living side by side here on the island. There are people with culture background from Holland and Europe, Jews, Africa, Caribbean, Arabian, Syria, Madeira, China, Surinam etc. As you can see, Curacao have a Multi-culture and diversity in cultures which is called a â€Å"Mangusada† Curacaos Culture Our culture reflects its African culture background through language, music, and dance. An example of the African culture reflecting in our own culture is the music and dance of â€Å"tambu†. This music and dance was past through generation by the slaves, who carried the tradition and music of Africa. The dance is called â€Å"baila ban† (dance the drum). It is very unique, the dance consists of two people dancing but never touching each other. They moves their hips and bodies with the rhythm while leaving their feet in place. The slaves master and later the Catholic Church made this dance in the past unpermitted. But the dance had still been danced undercover, which is the reason how this dance does still exist and is an important part of our culture. Now a day it is a jewel of our culture, it reflects the past of our antecedents and history of our island. Seu There is an annual festival of â€Å"Seu† where musicians from around the island come to compete to win the title of â€Å"kantado mayo† and have their song selected as the song for the annual cultural festival called â€Å"Seu†. So you can appreciate this honored music and dance at the â€Å"Seu†. This annual cultural festival takes place a couple of weeks before eastern holidays. To understand the origin of this festival we have to go back in the history of Curacao where the slaves made a road march to celebrate their harvest. The slaves communicated true sounds of a blowing conch shell (Karko), this is why they use the conch accompanying the tambu. They also use â€Å"chapi† which is an instrument of agriculture, where they make sounds by slamming a metal peace like a nail on hoe. Now the people arent celebrating during this parade what their land gave them, but they are celebrating our culture. You will also see this at the folklore performances , Carnival and during the holiday seasons. Other origins Also other African musical instruments were used here on the island. One of them is the â€Å"bastel†, it is a horn made of a cow horn. Another example is the â€Å"benta†, which is a twig from a â€Å"karawara† tree, fastened at both end with a row, and bent to form a bow. The player places the bow in his mouth and taps the row, creating sound. This instrument is used to play the â€Å"zumbi†, which refers to zombies. Curacao has also adapted the European music and dances of the colonials and made them their own. For example the French quadrille, waltzes, and polkas were given an African flavor. Languages The original language of Curacao is Papiamentu, its a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and some African dialect. This language has been spoken for 300 years in the ABC Islands, and was intended for spoken communication not written. Along this language the residents of Curacao speaks several other languages. The most can speak 3 languages which are, Papiamentu, Dutch and Spanish or English. Dutch because it is the official language of Curacao, and because there is a high quantity of immigrants here on the island, the most people learn to speak a third language or it is their own language. Technology and Culture Technology of information and communication is a innovation which has not only technical dimension, but also cultural dimension. Basically every change has an effect on the culture. There is a variation in the way people react on the new technology, this for two factors which is acceptance and indifference. The new technology makes the difference between old and new generation. On the other hand, there are countries which cant maintain the speed of innovation because of scarcity in infrastructure and digital equipment. In our case infrastructure isnt a problem, but the recourse to buy the equipment and to pay for the use of the new technology. Chapter 4 Culture Helping Tourism Culture makes effect on the economy via tourism. Tourism is basically interaction of culture. Culture tourism is when people spend their time or vacation on cultural activities, either in their own country or in a foreign country. Our culture can help us increase our tourism in different ways. Cultural Tourism Cultural tourism is different of â€Å"Mass-tourism†. If mass-tourism has â€Å"Sun, Sand and Beach† as slogan, cultural tourism has â€Å"Culture, Adventure and nature† or â€Å"Travel to experience† as slogan. Mass-tourism is very dangerous for our culture, because it effects our environment and nature very strongly. Culture tourism is interested in tourist activities with culture flavour. These tourists are open to observe, experience and learn from things. In this case culture is the principal product. This product must be accessible, attractive and complete, to be effective. The tourists must be able to experience physically our product. For example, if a tourist visits the Snoa of the Hindus, they must be able to walk around and take a look and also experience a ceremony. In our case, if it is a dance of â€Å"kaha-di-orgel†, the tourist must be able to see the dance and then try the dance to experience our culture. There must be an explanation about the origin of the dance as a social activity some years ago and the influence from different cultures. Environment Cultural tourism has always culture in mind and is very environment friendly. Culture tourism is a long lasting and positive tourism, because it makes tourists today happy, while protecting and bringing new opportunity for future tourism. To maintain this tourism, we have to minimize the damage to our culture, we have to respect our community and cultural identity of our own country. We have to promote our culture and let them experience this more complete possible. The companies involved in tourism must act with a responsible identity to maintain our culture. Another example which tourism can help us is by conserving our nature area, archaeology and historic places and Traditional culture art. Tourism can be a reason to manage to conserve our environment also in a financial way which can lead to a benefit for the community, by organizing attractions with our environment. But if the managing is not well planned or managed, tourism can be a result of congesting, pollution and other kind of problems to our environment. And if there isnt a good control on the tourism this can cause a loss of economic benefits for the community. Kulturismo This year was â€Å"Siman di Kultura y Turismo† or better known as â€Å"Siman di Kulturismo† very successful. Its not only because the island is aware about the culture but also they had mixed the week of Culture with the week of tourism. This is the first time in history â€Å"Kas di Kultura† in conjunction with the Curacao Tourist Board organized from September 12 to 27, two weeks full of culture and tourism. The motto of this celebration was â€Å"Huntu desaroyando un dushi Kà ²rsou†. This project was aimed to show and remember the population of Curacao what our beautiful island has to offer and make them conscious about the values of our touristic attractions. Culture forms a big part of the tourism in Curacao, a great example is that our Center State is part of the â€Å"World Heritage List†. Thats why its better for us to know more about our Culture and Folklore, so we can offer this to the tourists. There are many places that have beaches and sun, thats why we must distinguish our self in different ways, and that can happen when we use our culture. Many companies, sponsors, voluntaries and others are working on our culture so it can be very successful. We think that a community that knows what his island has to offer and is conscious about its values, helps in the development of tourism. In other words more we know about our culture, the prouder we will be of our heritage and these will beneficiate our tourism. Relationship between Tourism, Community and Neighbourhoods Creating a responsible Tourism Tourism can bring different kind of benefits and also problems to the community or neighbour. But if its well organized it could bring very good benefits for the community, for example; Possibility for work, great income and also give small business the opportunity to participate in the economy. Tourism is a stimulation for other economic activities for example; agriculture, fishing, product industry and work of art. Tourism is responsible to make our community a better one, by given the possibility to have a better commercial circle and a new culture for our community and tourists. Involvement of the Community with Tourism This concept of involving the community with the tourism already exists for 10 years now on an international level. In the Caribbean the last 5 to10 years they are trying to fix the negative impact of the Tourist Industry. They are also trying to expand the industry around different destinations. The governors of the islands in the Caribbean were trying very hard to benefit the Tourist Industry. Meanwhile the income of Tourism has an average of 25% of the total Export on the different islands in the Caribbean. Benefits of the involvement of the Neighbourhoods with the Tourism An organized and well managed Tourism can bring sufficient benefits to the local community. Some Potential benefits are: Increase of the benefits distribution of Tourism Help decreasing unemployment, poverty and criminality To stimulate our local production. (For example: work of art, local products) To contribute to an authentic experience for the visitors And empowered the identity of the state Mayor plan of Tourism The actual mayor plan of tourism since 2005 till 2009 is to emphasis the attention in the involvement between the neighbourhoods and the tourism. This is to expand the duration of the tourism. And also the actual mayor plan is to give recommendations to begin with the existing projects for each neighbour (For Example: â€Å"Boka Sami†, â€Å"Banda Bou† and â€Å"Marie Pampoen†). CTBs management The management CTB is applying towards tourism in the neighbourhoods, is based on giving help and stimulating our own people to be more involved (as businessmen) in tourism activities. In this way not only local people are beneficiated from a durable development but on the same time our manners and ideas are conserved for future generations. Within the concept of involvement of the neighbourhoods in the touristic development, its the population who plays the key role. The involvement and participation of neighbourhoods or areas in tourism is a long term process, requiring patience. The types of projects that are being executed vary from neighbourhood initiatives to efforts in conjunction with the private sector of substantial investments, for a durable development. Necessary steps for Tourism to enter the Neighbours To ensure the process of involvement of the neighbourhoods in the development of our tourism on a durable way, some steps have been identified. These are: CTB organizes encounters with â€Å"Unidat di barrio /Plataforma di region†, meanwhile the region/neighbourhood will be evaluated for necessities and priorities. CTB will institute and lead a â€Å"Grupo di Konseho† and a â€Å"Grupo di Trabou† for tourism within neighbourhoods that will include entities from the government, the private sector and non-governmental organisations. They will work on a plan of action that contains the priorities and the plan of action that identifies the human and financial allocation of resources in the region/neighbourhoods. On behalf of the â€Å"Plataforma di region† the â€Å"Grupo di Konseho† and the â€Å"Grupo di Trabou† must prepare an action plan for the financiering of the project. Once the project is approved the â€Å"Grupo di Trabou† will determine how the guidance and implementation will be. â€Å"Grupo di Trabou† will control on the moment of implementation. An external entity will perform an analysis/evaluation of the impact on the region/neighbourhood. Pilot project: Boca San Michiel One of the first neighbours that introduced the concept of tourism in neighbours was Boka Sami. As a result of this project different activities have been revived. Such as the celebrations of â€Å"Bati Huda†, â€Å"San Juan†, â€Å"San Pedro†, â€Å"Parke di Lus†, â€Å"Dia di Boka Sami† and â€Å"San Miguel†. Different positive changes surged at the Sami Sail, vacation excursions have been organized. Excursions for the elder, social activities are being organized and the week of culture and the week of tourism are also being celebrated at Boka Sami. Boka Sami has a lot of potential to develop a durable tourism, an interesting point is that the neighbourhood is communicating more and more with the tourists. The inhabitants of the neighbours are more conscious that tourism contributes to a durable development. Finally there was an interest of hotel investors that were interested in buying large pieces of ground at Boka Sami, this all thanks to the cultural development of the area. Guarantee a Durable Development We must keep the inhabitants informed about the benefits when implementing tourism within the neighbour and the inhabitants must be conscious about the risks and costs related to the development. A profile must be made of the potential tourists that will visit the neighbour, in this profile we would address the manners and the expenditure patrons of the tourists. The inhabitants must be thought that some common gestures and actions could improve the possibility to receive tourists in a successful way. Finally we must identify the possible obstacles that must be surpassed to guarantee a durable development of the touristic product within the neighbourhoods. Conclusion As we can see culture can help us increase our tourism in different ways. This year was â€Å"siman di kulturismo† of Curacao very successful. Its not only because the State is aware about the culture but also they had mixed there week of Culture with the week of tourism. Culture forms a big part of tourism in Curacao, a great example is that our Center State in the â€Å"World Heritage List† appear. Thats why its better for us to know more about our Culture and Folklore, so we can offer this to the tourists. There are many places that have beaches and sun, thats why we must distinguish our self in different ways, and that can happen when we use our culture. Many companies, sponsors, voluntaries and others are working on our culture so it can be very successful. Culture makes effect on the economy via tourism. Tourism is basically interaction of culture. Culture tourism is when people spend their time or vacation on cultural activities, either in their own country or in a foreign country. They are other methods to increase our tourism. For example: Curacao began with a security training in hospitality to have a recognized certificate in USA. Now a day many American tourists are very cautious about the place they choose to have a pleasurable and safety vacation. Thats why Curacao to gain more American tourist they began with this Security training. Methodology Different resources have been used to obtain the necessary information to complete our report. First of all we started searching for information about tourism culture in the local newspapers; La Prensa and Vigilante. Then we made an appointment with Ms. A. Meulens from CTB (Curacao Tourism Board), we have obtained statistics with information about the total tourist visiting Curacao. Afterwards we mailed â€Å"Kas di Kultura† in search for information about our culture and the effects of culture on our tourism. But at the end we went personally to obtain the desired information. And also we search for information on the internet: www.chata.org, www.ctb.an, www.kasdikultura.an and www.ctb.an

Capital Punishment: Fair Or Unfair? Essay -- essays research papers fc

The most severe form of punishment of all legal sentences is that of death. This is referred to as the death penalty, or â€Å"capital punishment†; this is the most severe form of corporal punishment, requiring law enforcement officers to actually kill the offender. It has been banned in numerous countries, in the United States, however an earlier move to eliminate capital punishment has now been reversed and more and more states are resorting to capital punishment for such serious offenses namely murder. â€Å"Lex talionis†, mentioned by the Bible encourages â€Å"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth† mentality, and people have been using it regularly for centuries. We use it in reference to burglary, adultery, and various other situations, although, some people enforce it on a different level, some people use it in reference to death. An individual may steal from those who have stolen from him/her, or an individual wrongs those who have wronged him/her, but should an individual have the right to kill to seek retaliation? Four issues are on the hot topic in the United States, stirring up America’s feelings towards this issue. There is controversy debating capital punishment today and whether or not it works, or if it is morally right. We have a certain privilege in our own lives, but should the lives of others belong to us as well. Do we have the right to decide on the lives of others, of people we may not even know? If we find someone guilty of murder, we sentence him to death. This makes us murders ourselves, but is there possibility in justifying these acts? Those who assist in the death penalty are they not partners in crime? Is the death penalty a cruel and unusual punishment or is it now just a necessary tool in the war of crime? With today’s increase in crime and violence in our society, the death penalty effects every American, whether interested or not, and has existed for quite some time now. The use of the death penalty has actually declined throughout the industrial Western World since the 19th century. In 1972, a movement in America to have the death penalty declared unconstitutional arose, during the landmark case of Furman vs. Georgia, declaring the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment, nonetheless, a Supreme Court decision in 1975, Gregg vs. Georgia, stated capital punishment did not violate the eighth Amendment rights, and the executions began... ...cause we do not live in a civilized society, whereas mass murders and those who create such devious and heinous crimes will surface at different times, and there needs to be a way of ending their madness. We live in a day and age where killing happens everyday though, and first time offenders, for example, should receive a life sentence, teaching the individual, and those around the individual that if â€Å"You do the crime, you pay the time.† Stricter bans on parole for those who receive life, more equality in sentencing and, a lot fewer death sentencings to capital punishment would vastly improve the United States’ legal system, and put an end to this exhausting argument. Bibliography: Sources Cited #1.) Jacoby, Jeff. â€Å"The Accuracy of Capital Punishment.† Boston Globe Feb. 2000: 37+. #2.) Horwitz, Joshua L. Frontline: The Execution. New York: Knopf, 1998. #3.) Bonevac, Daniel. Today’s Moral Issues; Classic and Contemporary Perspectives. California, Mayfield, 1999. #4.) Bailey, William. Social Science & Capital Punishment. Boston: Beacon, 1996. #5.) Discussion: Topic on Capital Punishment, Joseph Chapel, Tony Fusco, Raymond Brown, Deborah Jacobs. Seton Hall University, 2001.

The Pilgrimage to Cathedral of Compostela :: Religion

The Pilgrimage to Cathedral of Compostela In the twelfth century one the most popular destinations for pilgrimages was to the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The shrine of St. James the Great is in the Cathedral of Compostela and it is what attracted so many people. The saint's shrine was believed to be a healing shrine for all sorts of problems. The religious relics that the Cathedral contained held a special power for the pilgrims by curing them of their problems. The pilgrims used the road to Santiago as a test of their faith and love for God. At the same time that they were testing their religious devotion they were also contributing to generating massive information. The pilgrims were creating and recycling information and taking that information on the road to more people. Two ways that the pilgrims were putting information out was by visiting the shrines on the way to the cathedral and at the actual Cathedral of Compostela and through the book of Codex Calixtinus. A pilgrimage was essentially a course of movement along a sequence of shrines along a road until one reached a final destination (usually a large cathedral or religious site). Besides the remission of sin, a reason for a person to go on a pilgrimage was to search for the renewal of physical or mental health. In the twelfth century, there was a deeply rooted belief in Christians that plague, leprosy, fever, migraines; even toothaches were all caused by sins. A doctor did not heal the person as well as saint could and thus, pilgrimages were occurring all the time. Not just people who were ill went on the pilgrimage, people seeking religion or adventure also set out on the road of Compostela. The pilgrims that were on the road to Santiago came from a wide variety of backgrounds. The route of Compostela became literally a cultural highway. The pilgrims "founded churches, monasteries, and hospitals; they robbed and killed, composed stories, legends, poems and songs, and slept rough in the hostels provided for them" (Tate, Pg. 1). Most importantly, the pilgrims talked. They talked about St. James, about the church, and about their different ideas and beliefs. By doing so they were exchanging information that otherwise would not be available to them. They talked about the history pertaining to St. James and at the same time learned through the shrines themselves at the Cathedral about the Moors, Charlemagne and other historical figures. The Pilgrimage to Cathedral of Compostela :: Religion The Pilgrimage to Cathedral of Compostela In the twelfth century one the most popular destinations for pilgrimages was to the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The shrine of St. James the Great is in the Cathedral of Compostela and it is what attracted so many people. The saint's shrine was believed to be a healing shrine for all sorts of problems. The religious relics that the Cathedral contained held a special power for the pilgrims by curing them of their problems. The pilgrims used the road to Santiago as a test of their faith and love for God. At the same time that they were testing their religious devotion they were also contributing to generating massive information. The pilgrims were creating and recycling information and taking that information on the road to more people. Two ways that the pilgrims were putting information out was by visiting the shrines on the way to the cathedral and at the actual Cathedral of Compostela and through the book of Codex Calixtinus. A pilgrimage was essentially a course of movement along a sequence of shrines along a road until one reached a final destination (usually a large cathedral or religious site). Besides the remission of sin, a reason for a person to go on a pilgrimage was to search for the renewal of physical or mental health. In the twelfth century, there was a deeply rooted belief in Christians that plague, leprosy, fever, migraines; even toothaches were all caused by sins. A doctor did not heal the person as well as saint could and thus, pilgrimages were occurring all the time. Not just people who were ill went on the pilgrimage, people seeking religion or adventure also set out on the road of Compostela. The pilgrims that were on the road to Santiago came from a wide variety of backgrounds. The route of Compostela became literally a cultural highway. The pilgrims "founded churches, monasteries, and hospitals; they robbed and killed, composed stories, legends, poems and songs, and slept rough in the hostels provided for them" (Tate, Pg. 1). Most importantly, the pilgrims talked. They talked about St. James, about the church, and about their different ideas and beliefs. By doing so they were exchanging information that otherwise would not be available to them. They talked about the history pertaining to St. James and at the same time learned through the shrines themselves at the Cathedral about the Moors, Charlemagne and other historical figures.

Coastal Restoration in Louisiana Essay -- Environmental Management

Geologically speaking, Louisiana is a very young state. Environmentally speaking, Louisiana is a very fragile state. Louisiana has always been dependent upon the nutrient rich deposits from the Mississippi River to build up the land. Centuries ago the Mississippi River periodically changed its course, building up Louisiana one delta at a time. The erosional forces of the Gulf of Mexico and annual hurricanes depleted Louisiana’s coastline, but the mighty Mississippi River would replenish the land losses. Such is the relationship that forces of nature have with one another. Place mankind in the mix, and the relationship becomes stressed and dysfunctional. The present day Louisiana coastline is a mere shadow of its former self. Let’s look at how Louisiana came to its current demise and what is being done to rectify the situation. Historical Data As sea level rose and fell over Louisiana in previous centuries, the Mississippi River carried large loads of sediment to the Gulf Coastal area from the core of the North American continent and deposited it on the rim of the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to the twentieth century, 5 million acres of land were compliments of the large influxes of mud from the river’s mammoth basin, extending from Montana to New York State. Organic matter from highly productive marine waters has been deeply buried under the whole state and far offshore, turning into petroleum. During other dry periods, large beds of salt were laid down through evaporation. Human engineering has temporarily tamed the river, most of the time, preventing it from dumping its valuable land building sediment all over the place. As a result, coastal Louisiana is sinking out of sight, starved of fresh material. The Mississippi Delta was... ... University of New Orleans. "That's not even possible. The goal is to restore healthy natural processes, then live with what you get." (Bourne) Sounds like a good attitude to this happy Cajun. Works Cited Alden, Andrew. About.com Guide. 4 December 2010 . Bourne, Joel K. National Geographic Society -Environment-The Big Uneasy. 4 December 2010 . State of LA, Gov. Bobby Jindal. Coastal Protection and Restoration. 4 December 2010 . Tibbetts, John. "Environmental Health Perspectives." January 2006. Louisiana-A lesson in Nature Appreciation Vol. 114, Number 1. 4 December 2010 .

Understanding the Media

Since the media has now become the centre of today`s life controlling every aspect of it, it is therefore very important to understand and to critically observe how the media operates . It is however questionable to understand how the media balances between meeting its goals and targets as a business and fulfilling its role of acting as the peoples voice as expected by the society it serves without compromising on each of the two. BODY It is only through the understanding of the media that the people get to know that the media plays an important role in educating the society.Francois Nell notes that `the media contribute to social development`. (Writing For The Media In Southern Africa:3rd Edition). Through the media, education has moved from indirect teaching to direct teaching whereby the minors and students get to learn through different T. V programs like the Tekalani Sesami(SABC 3) and Matrics Uploaded(SABC 2). Though this development in Media production learning has become so c onvenient thus contributing to the educational growth of the community. It is also vital to understand the media production so as to know when and when not to blame the media when scandals take place .Stony Brooke notes that, `the effects of media seem necessary to depend on the patterns of audience use. ` It is however unfair to blame the media on the abuse of the media forms by the public it tend to benefit. It is therefore important to take note of the fact that the audience has a major role to play as far as media content is pertained. Understanding media production is vital too so as to know the truth behind some nasty news said of the media by the public. a good understanding of the media enables us to know how to relate and deal with some of these accusations.Gilmore p37 notes that `news is more of a conversation and the lines have blurred between producers and consumers. The once passive audience has become an active participant in the creation and dissemination of news, and the flow of information is no longer controlled by journalists Haddow & Kim S. Haddow) . It is therefore important to note that the media is not solely to blame for some scandals in media content but also the audience has a role to play for media abuse. It is only through media literacy that he audience know how to utilise different forms of media and to know when to draw the line as far as their engagement with the media is concerned. Although the media development `encourages individual change and mobility`(Francois Nel ),it is however important for one to know how for example the internet operates so as to protect oneself from cannibals that has flooded this media form, many peoples` lives. Through this awareness one is able to know when to draw the line as far as his/her engagement with different characters on this blog is concerned.However it is also important to critically observe how the media conveys its messages to the people so that one will not fall a victim to some of t he media content that tend to `induce political apathy, alienation, cynicism and a loss of social capital`( Kenneth Newton) thus brainwashing the public into making wrong political choices. Peter Phillips argues that `democracy does not work within last minute sound bites, taking the place of important public debate and compromising the bulk information that could be available to the people`(Censored 2007).This however shows that in their bid to meet targets, the media tend to compromise on their expectations from the society and also on their role of informing the public. Through a critical engagement with the media, one is made to observe that the media has a `mass effect on societal behaviour`( Jatto et tal). During the Family Planning Campaign in Tanzania, the media had an incremental effect on contraceptive use. The more media sources a woman was exposed to, the more she was to adopt a contraception (Jatto et tal, 1999:65-67). The media campaign in the Philippines had clearly p ositive effects .Nancy Morris notes that `the mass media information campaign was largely responsible for the improvement in vaccination coverage`(McDivitt, Zimicki and Hornik, 1997:111). This clearly shows that the media has the power to control peoples` behaviour so a critic understanding of it is vital to prevent possible brainwash. Since the media has become the `backbone of the marketing , advertising and public relations industries`(Peter J Jourie) notes that `a sound knowledge of how the media work, think and disseminate meaning is fundamental to these industries`.It is however important to critically engage with the media so as to know how to relate with the information given by the media so as to know how to act on their `education` as far as their information about these industries is pertained since they will be advertising. It is very important to note that the media is only after sensational stories so that the people will know that behind the information dished out by the media, lies more helpful and important information.This will enable the audience to be on the lookout of more helpful stories that do not make it into the newspapers that might be of great importance to their livelihood. It can be concluded that although the media is there to serve the people and to meet their expectations, the media itself ends up on a very compromising position with only one way out, that is to do anything possible to meet its goals as a business even though it means compromising on their role within the society .This means that the public should be well informed as on how to utilise useful media content and at the same time on how to screen some of the media content in order to protect themselves from the harm that comes with it. The complication only now lies on how the public can get informed when the only means to inform the public is only through the media.

How the Stock Market Crash of 1929 Affected the United States Essay

The year of 1929 is marked by the Stock Market Crash in which most consider to be the beginning of the Great Depression. This was not the sole cause of the Great Depression, though. The Stock Market Crash was caused by an economy that was not stable enough to handle the high stock prices. The Stock Market Crash helped bring on the Great Depression which forced the United States government to make changes in the regulation of stock exchanges, providing much greater protection for investors. The United States was a young nation and was not always as powerful as it is now or was in 1929. The United States was formed from European citizens who wanted to start their lives over. So the United States had relatively little money compared to the financial status of the rest of the world. London at the time was considered the center of finance. The United States borrowed money from England and other countries to spur its industry. By 1960 it seemed that the United States would inevitably be the world’s most important business and financial power. The Civil War provided a boost for industry, which jump-started the gradual shift of financial power from London to New York. The United States had a valuable asset in the form of land. â€Å"The United States was forced to develop itself before it could worry about competing with the world. Hence, the amount of capital was far greater once available to be spent outside the United States. The year of 1914 can be considered the point at which the United States would never be second in the world again.† (Axon, 32) Europe was stricken with war and the United States was turned to for supplies. The â€Å"wealthy European countries were ravaged by war because of casualties, economic losses, and expensed of war over four years.† (Axon, 33) The United States only was in the war for a year and did not have its country damaged by the war. The United States emerged from World War I being owed billions of dollars for having financed most of the war and was acknowledged to be the leader of the Western world. The early 1920s were a time of booming industry, of soaring hope and confidence. The ups and downs of the stock market were hardly noticed by the average American. The average American was more concerned with their daily life than the state of the stock market. The economy was such that many new products and services were available to almost everyone, including the automobile, radios, and other products for the home. The stock market was controlled by professionals that worked for large firms who had good financial backing which made it easier to use the market advantageously. Small investors were never shut out of Wall Street but the professionals paid for stock tips and also rigged the market so that certain stocks would rise and fall. This gave small investors a much harder time in making money through the stock market. As the market began to grow more small investors entered the game and were really just gambling their money. Most were not successful but some got lucky or got a good stock tip and rode the rising market until they lost their money too with the Stock Market Crash. At this time nobody had any reason to believe that the stock market would not keep rising. â€Å"Throughout the 1920s a long boom took stock prices to peaks never before seen. From 1920 to 1929 stocks more than quadrupled in value. Many investors became convinced that stocks were a sure thing and borrowed heavily to invest more money in the market.† (PBS) As the market grew, the stock market became a way of life and was a highly discussed topic among common Americans who were eager to get a piece of the pie. Americans no longer were connected by the common bond of making a life for themselves like at the birth of the nation. The 1920s were an era of revolution in ideas, beliefs, inventions, and ways of living. â€Å"The nation was totally different after World War I than before. The United States experimented with Prohibition. The Jazz age rose from the streets of Harlem, NY. Women got the right to vote. The whole of society was convinced that anything was possible, not only in the stock market and finances, but also in every facet of life.† (Sherrow, 12) Most of this is taken for granted now because what was considered a new idea seems commonplace and because the Stock Market Crash of 1929 overshadowed the great improvements in society. Society’s attitude affected Wall Street, though. The large investing firms thought that the government should not be allowed to interfere with the speculation of finances. This is a common feeling when the economy is booming, that the government is always trying to oppress. The exact opposite is seen when the economy is in a depression and everyone turns to the government for help. The federal government was very limited in its control of the market and could not impose new control efforts at the time because the nation would not agree. As we know now, the stock market would have been better off if the government would have stepped in when the stock market became dangerously high. One of the main causes for the stock market to become dangerous was because large firms or groups of individuals practiced unfair techniques when buying and selling stocks. This was known as â€Å"rigging† the market. The stock market flows more smoothly through normal buying and selling activity but when certain groups tried to make money in an unfair way they hurt others in the process which concentrated capital. Large pools could control prices more than was healthy for the stock market. Some made fortunes others lost everything. An example was â€Å"a cigar stock at the time was selling for $115 a share. The market collapsed. I got a call from the company president. Could I loan him $200 million?† (Blaszczyk and Scranton, 337) To the public, the stock market seemed as though it would surely make them money, and were buying. The craze was a â€Å"frenzied finance that made Ponzi look like an amateur. (Blaszczyk and Scranton, 337) The insiders were controlling the market though, setting the stage for the greatest crash of all time. The booming economy in the United States was not typical of the whole world. England had its share of problems concerning currency. The people wanted gold to again be used as it was before the war. They felt that it was a valuable metal and provided a solid backing for currency. The British government finally agreed, after a lot of pressure, to re-instate the gold standard but it was a new version where gold would be used to back up paper money and gold would be used to handle international debts. The pound was put into use, which created a problem. The pound was overvalued in terms of other currencies meaning that people had to pay more to by British goods. Naturally, people bought goods elsewhere to avoid the currency exchange rate of the pound. Instead of realizing what was happening, the British tried to lower the price, which in turn lowered wages and caused strikes to break out in England around 1926. German’s were not better off. Of course their country was destroyed physically by war, but the financial system was very poor at this time in Germany. Germany was forced to pay reparations according to the Treaty of Versailles plus the inflation was so bad that German currency was absolutely worthless. The German public was enraged about this and the fact that they lost a lot of what they considered their land because of the war. The new government installed in Germany after the war called the Weimar republic was a democracy. The German public could not adjust to this making governmental intervention a difficult task. France and the rest of Europe faced the same effects. Inflation was uncontrolled and the political systems were thrown into upheaval. Since the United States was so financially secure at this time, countries like Britain and France naturally asked for assistance. They appealed to the Federal Reserve Board to make cuts in interest rates in the United States. This would make the United States less attractive to investors and would maybe cause investment in Europe instead. By increasing the money supply in the United States, the dollar would be worth less and make American goods more expensive while lowering the price of foreign goods. At this time the United States thought that this would not benefit it at this time. After all, the economy was booming, nearly everyone was working, people were making money from the stock market, and life was generally pleasant. Taking actions that would have hurt the United States would not have been appreciated by businessmen and normal citizens as well. The United States paid little attention to these pleas. There has always been talk that if the Federal Reserve Board would have stepped in that there would have been no boom in speculation, greatly reducing the risk of a crash. The argument against this is the fact that the Federal Reserve Banking system has little control of the economy, but can only make changes spurring growth or decline. Other theories put the blame on foreign countries too. One allegation states that stock speculation and â€Å"gambling† the market was a trait the United States adopted from Europe. However, the get rich quick attitude of Americans is just as great as the Europeans. The California Gold Rush and the Florida Real Estate Boom prove this. The United States Government can still consume most of the blame. At that day and age, it was hard to expect economists to predict exactly what would happen with the stock market rising so rapidly. They could have realized that it was a dangerous situation. The government felt too threatened by  business. When the government stepped in businessmen, bankers, and society in general criticized them for trying to take action when none was deemed necessary. By 1928 the stock market had reached the point of no return. The stock market fluctuated greatly and the risk of the stock market became greater. The rigging of stocks became so common that people of great esteem thought nothing wrong of manipulating stocks in way that actually defrauded the public. By† the inevitability of a market collapse was upon the United States but nobody expected that a full-fledged business depression was to come about because of it.† (Axon, 47) At this time three million shares were traded each day. Slowly it rose to four and five million shares per day. By November 1928 a daily volume of six million shares was reached. It must be realized that industrial stocks rose at a normal rate at this time, approximately growing by a third. The individual stocks are what marked disaster. For example, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) grew an unheard of 400 percent in 1928. In 1929 the stock market continued to grow at a dangerous pace. People borrowed money at high interest rates figuring to make enough in the stock market to cover the interest and still profit greatly. With people concentrating so much energy in the stock market, few realized that production could not keep up with the stock market. The automobile and construction industries had a small decline but people disregarded it as normal. Few Americans decided to sell-out for a profit. Most refused to believe the boom was coming to a halt. Stock market prices were now driven up by the sheer power of speculative demand. In other words, there was nothing concrete to back up the stock prices. By mid-October, the stock market was in a bad state. No major boom could revive the quality stocks that took a sharp dive. Fear began to take the place of greed in Wall Street. The word â€Å"sell† was now heard more than the word â€Å"buy†. Brokers asked for more margins or more cash from the customer to be paid into their accounts. The customers, of course, could not afford it and the brokers sold the stock. This pushed stock prices even lower. Everyone began banking the large operators on Wall Street would step in because they had much more to lose than the small investor. The problem was that they could not afford to because they were already in trouble because of the sharp decline in their stocks. October 24, 1929 was called Black Thursday because this hope was squashed and stock prices plummeted. Even after this there was still some hope. That same day, bankers moved in trying to restore some of the mess. They were trying to restore some of the optimism in the market. This was not the case as the following Monday, October 28, 1929, the market was flooded with selling orders. The big bankers were no longer there because they were in their own trouble. The people that were hurt the most are those that put their whole lives into the stock market and now walked the streets, stunned about their losses. â€Å"Some of the more badly declining stocks from 1929 to 1933 are as follows: Consolidated Cigar common stock fell from $115 to $3. General Foods dropped from $82 to less than $20. General Motors fell from $91 to less than $8. US Steel dropped drastically from $261 to just over $21. The railroad stocks were hit the hardest. The New York Central Railroad alone fell to $9 from $256.† (Klingaman, 111) The Stock Market Crash of 1929 marked a new era that was not immediately realized. Just as the rising stock market had provided industry with the capital to expand, the falling market caused industry to move into recession.