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      1.       Paying the Bills – How would you pay the rent if you don’t own a flat, the electic bills if you don’t expect money coming at the end of the month? Added to that there’s  water , and cable TV monthly charge ? If you have a landline, there’s a separate bill for that and if you have your mobile phone on a 2 year contract, you certainly have to pay for the monthly charges. In cold countries, you will need heating systems for your family to keep warm (you just have to imagine how cold it is at -5°C or lower). In tropical countries, you need some air conditioning if you can afford it or else be contented with an electric fan.

2.       Keeps You Well Fed – How would you imagine getting your meals three times a day? How will you feed your family? Back in the early 90s when bottled water was just beginning to be sold many people laughed at the idea. Now everybody will hesitate drinking water by the faucet. A glass of bottled water that could keep your family out of thirst and out of worry from infections will of course come at a price.

3.       Keeps You Well Clothe – Well, you have to accept it, it’s one of the three basic needs that goes with food and shelter. If you have a family that will be an issue, children going to school need school uniforms. But of course you must get into fashion as the trend dictates and you can’t buy a new jeans just for yourself.

4.       Saves You from Depression – Imagine the tragedy that you have to bear everyday if you don’t have work, meals will always be the basic issue and if you have a family and you are the breadwinner, everyone relies on you. If somebody gets sick you will be out scampering for friends and relatives to find someone to lend you money. The sad thing is if they know that you are unemployed you get 10% possibility of gaining their trust to offer financial help. As the recession is still progressing even a permanent job doesn’t guarantee that someone dear to you will lend financial help. So it’s an extreme issue that will gather your wits to solve the problem or that you will resort to negative options which has cost many their lives and personal credibility.

5.       Keeps Your Relationships Intact – Well, obviously if you are a responsible family man and a good family provider, no doubt your wife or husband and children will love you for that. Your relatives and friends will regard you with respect every now and then since you are there when they need help, financially or morally. Try losing your job and count the people who used to be your friends and greet them each day if they could return the smile to you. I doubt it because if they do return it back, they will look forward that you need something afterwards.

6.       Keeps you and your Family Healthy – Imagine having a simple cold issue and you don’t have the money even to pay for a cold tablet? When you are employed you are mostly prone to take regular multivitamins and any health supplement to keep you in top form to continue your work. If there are slight symptoms of disease, you can afford a health check up for you or any in the family so the doctor will tell you what medication to take to prevent the onset of a major illness. Even just a simple issue of hypertension without the regular medication will incapacitate anyone in short time so consider how important it is having a job.  

7.       Keeps Your Sanity at Bay – Well I’m not entirely trying to prove that unemployment causes insanity but I suppose bankruptcy does. Have you recalled how many business tycoons committed suicide during the onset of the global crisis? Having nothing to do doesn’t really make anybody insane outright but in gradual process it does. So while you are busy with your work that simply makes you preoccupied to ever consider the rope at the storage room for mountain climbing or making a loop of it around your neck before opting to attempt a bungee jump.

8.       Keeps You Secured – Everyone must keep himself secured. As the society implies, you have to insure yourself and your family including your property against any tragedy, calamity, burglary or whatever possible events covered by the insurance. This act of insuring anything gives you the feeling of security basically. Then psychologically of course you feel secure that you will be left to keep your job everyday for so long as you are physically capable to handle the stress and burden.  

9.       Pays for Birthdays, Anniversaries and other Celebrations – If you gain something, you have to give it back. I suppose you’re not selfish enough to keep your earnings for yourself or deposit it in the bank and be used up in paying for the bank’s staff bonuses and be declared bankrupt later on. Birthday celebrations and anniversaries need not be costly but if you don’t have work I doubt if you are inspired to celebrate it. Celebrations were basically  meant as thanksgiving for the blessings you receive and what reason would there be to thank for if you are less blessed to find a paying job?

10.   Pays for Your Holidays – This is the best option every legitimate employee could avail of course. If you don’t have the paying job to give back the expenses you spent on a holiday, what is the use of spending a holiday? You can’t go on holiday and get back home to do some hunger strike later on, do you? You could think of work as an enjoying sandwich with fillings made up of holidays in between.

So finally, if you think you are bored doing your job, you better figure out how to find a high paying job that pays you to be happy (I doubt if there is one). Whatever you are right now was possible because you are there working. If you are not then I suppose you have attained the benefits of retirement or standing on top of a gold mine, an oil well and if not, I suppose you must try your best to get the job that you don’t want but will pay you back.

Abstract

Many speculations have been made about the gender gap in technical fields such as math, science and engineering. It holds true that at the highest levels, there appears to be significant gender difference of performance and representation in these fields. However, performance difference does not necessarily equate to ability difference, as some might have claimed. There is little reliable evidence that can demonstrate women have inferior cognitive capacity compared to men. Rather, the majority of studies in this field support the hypothesis that such gender gap exists largely because of the discrimination and negative stereotype that women face in these fields.

            Since the success of the women’s rights movement in the early 20th century, there has been a steady increase in women’s contribution to the national workforce spanning across many different industries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics last year, women account for 46.5% of this nation’s workforce in 2008 (US). Furthermore, women play a predominant role in healthcare and government, gaining a total of 77% and 94% of all jobs in these two fields last year, respectively (Cauchon 2009). Yet, amidst all this progress, women are still sorely underrepresented in booming technical industries such as physical science, technology, and engineering. From 1983 to 2003, the percentage of engineering degrees awarded to females has increased from 14% to 21%, with chemical and industrial engineering being the most favored sub-fields for women (Horting 2002). Despite this improvement, women still consistently make up only around one-fourth of workers in the engineering field. And in higher level positions, such as tenure-track faculty for engineering departments at universities, the percentage of women who hold these positions hover around a measly 10% (Pinker 2005). Naturally, one may ask: what can we make of this situation?

            For psychologists and social scientists, these astonishing figures pose many interesting questions for study areas involving gender difference. On one hand, there is the centuries-old belief that females are innately inferior to their male counterparts when it comes to intrinsic math ability. On the other hand, there are experimental results that have successfully demonstrated that the difference in math performance is strongly affected by extrinsic factors such as the environment in which mathematical works are conducted. It is true that gender difference in math performance at the highest levels exist, as statistics such as SAT scores have shown. However, there is little convincing evidence to support the claim that difference in performance is a result of difference in intrinsic capability rather than unfair prejudice.

            Before moving on, it is best that we define the key terms for this topic. This paper focus on two factors: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic factor mainly refers to a person’s innate ability – this ability is based on the individual’s genetic predisposition, which in our case is the possession of either the XX chromosome or the XY chromosome. Extrinsic factor mainly refers to social inputs, including stereotype threats which cause disruptive concerns that one will be evaluated based on this stereotype, thus affectively hinders one’s confidence and performance. Additionally, mathematical ability in this discussion refers to an individual’s ability to use the five different cognitive systems to process: small numbers, large numerical magnitudes, number words & verbal quantifiers, spatial memory, and geometrical reasoning (multiple authors; c.f. Spelke 2005).

            First, let’s take a look at some data that confirms the existence of gender difference in math performance at high level. A study of mathematically precocious youth was done by reviewing seventh graders performance on SAT math test, where 800 is a perfect score. Though on average, there is negligible difference between the two groups, the gap becomes wider as we move towards the upper end of the spectrum. Specifically, of all students who score 700 and above, boys outnumber girl by a 2.8 to 1 ratio; going higher at a score of 760 or above, the ratio increase to 7 to 1, where less than 15% of the top scorers were girls (Hyde, Fennema, Lamon 1990: c.f. Pinker 2005).

            Furthermore, GCSEs results in the UK shows that male students significantly outperformed their female peers by approximately eleven points in subject area labeled “other technology” (BBC), which excluded information technology along with design and technology. On the other hand, girls’ average math score on the GCSEs was 1 point higher than boys; and boys also beat girls on physics and biology by 0.7 and 0.8 points, respectively. Since these differences are relatively small, it is difficult to say whether or not one gender is better than the other in those subjects. Regardless, statistics such as SAT math score and GCSE technology score repeatedly reinforce the fact that males appear to be more competitive in technical fields than their female counterparts. The combination of standardized test scores and workforce distribution indicate that there is indeed difference in performance between the two sexes in math and science at higher levels. However, it is a different story whether or not these figures are accurate indicators of difference in intrinsic ability.

If there is indeed something about the extra X chromosome that leads to inaptitude for the more technical subjects such as math, then we should see a similar pattern everywhere on earth when it comes to work force distribution in the science industries. Yet this is not the case. In Malaysia, more than half of the management positions in the computer industries are made up of women, as compared to one-fourth in the United States (Schechter, 2010). More importantly, Malaysian women have a long history of representation in the technical industry, starting with their female predecessors who have worked in the electronics department. Because of this history, Malaysia’s social views on women and their involvement in modern technology are likely to be less negative than that of the American society. As a result, Malaysian women are not discouraged from seeking jobs in the technical industries, leading to a balance of gender involvement and performance. This is one of many supporting evidence for the argument that gender gap in performance is a result of extrinsic factors than intrinsic ones.

            Steven Spencer, a professor at the University of Waterloo’s psychology department, has conducted a study on the correlation between stereotype threat and gender performance for his doctoral dissertation which experimentally shows that extrinsic pressure significantly affect performance outcome. In this study, participants chosen from a pool of students with strong math and science background, verifiable by grades and test scores, take a math test under two different conditions. In the first condition, participants are told that the test has shown gender differences in the past; and in the second condition, participants are told that the test has shown no gender differences in the past. As a result, female participants’ average score were about 20 points less than male participants in the second condition; but there was zero difference in the first condition (Spencer, 1998).

            This data reveals that female students show equal math performance compared to male students in the absence of stereotypical threat. However, the addition of stereotype imposition hinders female performance, with female scores dropping from 17 to 7; and heightens male performance, with male scores increasing from 17 to 27, creating a gender gap of 20 in the overall outcome. So then, if stereotype is the cause of performance deficits in this study, then it is very likely that stereotype is also responsible for the underrepresentation of women in math and sciences in our workforce. This means, of course, that males are more competitive in these field not because they are innately better at such cognition task, but because they have the advantage of social expectations.

            In addition to underlying stereotype, work environment is another extrinsic factor that affects women’s performance. According to a study conducted by Inzlicht and Ben-Zeev (2000), females underperform in the subject area that they are stereotyped against when placed in a threatening environment. On the other hand, when placed in a neutral, non-threatening work environment, women exert the same level of performance as their male counterparts. In this study, the threatening environment stimulation takes the form of one female participant sharing working space with two other male participants – leaving the female with a minority status. The neutral environment is one where all three participants are female. Participants are then asked to solve several math problems taken from standardized tests. Females in the minority condition showed an average of 58% accuracy; whereas females in the neutral condition showed an average of 70% accuracy (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000). The results support the stereotype-threat hypothesis that aside from their own ability, women’s math performance is also affected by extrinsic factors, such as their working environment.

            Conversely, some psychologists such as Pinker believe that the existence of such gender gap is influenced by genetic characteristics, stating that “the contribution of biology is greater than zero” (Pinker, 2005). According to Pinker, men outperform women largely due to higher intrinsic motives and aptitudes, with minimal effect by stereotype and other social forces. To support his argument, Pinker included a study by Lubinsky & Benbow (2000; c.f. Pinker 2005) of how much time each sex was willing to put into their work. The data he presented indicate that at age 33, men with quantitative reasoning abilities in the top 1% of their age group were willing work for many more hours than their female counterparts. He explained that higher motivation in men result in longer work hours, which in turn yield higher outcomes.

            It makes sense that if an individual spend 60 hours on his work, then he will accomplish more than when he only spend 20 hours working. The study Pinker presented successfully shows that at age 33, there are more men who claim to be willing to work long hours (50 or more) than there are women. But there is nothing else about the study can support that men are innately better than women in math and science. In fact, the study cannot even prove whether or not men do indeed work longer hours than women, nor does it show that those longer hours are a result of higher motivation and not some other reason.

Pinker also presented a series of theories in support of his position, one of which is that men and women have statistical advantage in certain specific abilities. Namely, men are better at throwing while women are better at dexterity; men are better at mental rotation while women are better at visual memory; and men are better at mathematical problem-solving while women are better at mathematical calculations (Pinker 2005). With this information, Pinker affirms his position that men and women are inherently at different levels when it comes to certain skills and cognitive functions.

However, this comparative theory, assuming that it is true, cannot be used as a basis to conclude that men are naturally better at math. After all, Pinker admitted that women have statistical advantage over men when it comes to visual memory and mathematical calculations. If this is indeed the case, then despite the advantage that each group has in the small sub-area of math, the overall result should still be that men and women have equal intrinsic capacity in this subject. Because if one was to claim that men are better at math because they are better at problem-solving, or vice-versa, then the focus of our discussion is no longer about gender difference; rather, it would be about the definition of mathematics. Since both calculations, previous defined as processing numerical magnitudes, and problem-solving, previous defined as verbal quantifiers, are skills necessary in math, arguing that one skill is superior to the other is like changing what it means to do math overall. 

Another study that is often used to explain the gender gap as a result of intrinsic ability was done by Baron-Cohen (2000; c.f. Spelke 2005). For the experiment, infants were placed in front of an active person, side by side with an inanimate object. Baron-Cohen reported that male infants looked longer at the inanimate object, while female infants looked longer at the active person. He explained that males’ intrinsic interest in object predisposes them to higher systemizing tendency, thus leading to stronger ties with the mechanical world. However, as Spelke pointed out, these results stand on their own and are not supported by other studies or replications, therefore its reliability is questionable. I also find such study to be a weak supporting evidence for the intrinsic argument. Even if we assume that Baron-Cohen’s work is valid, the study would only indicate that male infants prefer to look at objects; while females prefer to look at people. The study does not show that an interest in object will lead to better performance in math. After all, there has not been any study done where the results reveal that if you like to look at people more than objects, then you will not be as good in math.

            Still, despite the numerous experimental data in favor of the extrinsic factor argument, many still hang on to the claim that difference in math performance proves difference in math ability. In the United Kingdom, girls consistently outperform boys on their GCSEs in most subject areas with the exception of technology, excluding information technology (IT) and technological design (BBC). If we go with that line of logic, then according to this data, we can say that boys are only good at some technology, and girls are innately better in everything else including social sciences, information technology, technology and design, humanities, economics, and so on (BBC). Surely such shallow statement will face countless opposition from the scholarly community. Instead on insisting that performance difference between different groups equate to ability difference, we should acknowledge the important role of extrinsic pressure on the performance outcome through its influence of the self-fulfilling prophecy concept.

            For a long time, people have recognized that people with poor expectations internalize these negative labels, just as those with high expectations respond positively to their own ambitions and succeed accordingly. Expectation is something that most people begin to learn at a very young age. It can range from being as mundane as brushing your teeth before going to bed or eating three meals a day to a much grander scale such as expectations of how successful you will be in life. The Pygmalion effect places great emphasis on the concept that people strive to live up to their expectations. This implies that people’s level of achievement is dependent upon their level of expectations (Aronson 2002). This phenomenon has been demonstrated repeatedly in the field of psychology through studies such as Jane Elliott’s blue-eyed vs. brown-eyed experiment (1968).

            The well-known blue-eyed vs. brown-eyed experiment is a wonderful demonstration of how discrimination can have a detrimental effect on an individual’s likelihood of achievement. Elliott conducted the experiment by first telling her students that blue-eyed kids are innately better than brown-eyed kids: they are stronger, smarter, and are more well-mannered. She reported that her students quickly develop either an inferior or superior attitude only within the first 15 minutes of the exercise, and persist until she switches the target group. The inferior group was slower than the superior group when doing classroom activities while the superior group was overall more confident and outgoing both in the classroom and on the playground (Elliott, 1968). If individuals exert performance deficit simply because an authoritative figure told them they expected less of them for a day, then we can only imagine the magnitude of damage that minority groups endure because of lifelong discrimination and stereotype.

Gladwell (1997) also wrote a paper based on his own experience with how sports performance is wrongly attributed to stereotypes. Gladwell pointed out that elite black athletes work hard, and sometimes even harder, than all other athletes; however people attribute their success more to them being black than to them being hard workers. This same concept would apply to boys and girls in math. People assume that girls do not perform well on math because they are unable to do so, not because they do not work as hard in math because society discourages them from being involved with that subject area. The difference in performance is not intrinsic, but rather of extrinsic factors. If girls are discouraged from pursuing math, then there will be fewer girls who are willing to exert all of their energy in the study; resulting in fewer girls achieving the highest level.

As explained throughout this paper, we have much evidence suggesting that performance difference arise due to discrimination, and very little that would suggest performance difference is a representation of ability difference. At the same time, we also lack conclusive evidence to prove that there is absolutely no gender difference in all cognitive areas whatsoever. However, because gender and social factors go hand in hand, we cannot isolate gender to be tested as the sole independent variable against any performance outcome. There could very well be a difference in math ability between the two sexes. But we will never know this unless we can test individuals who are completely untainted by extrinsic factors of life. Until then, we can only depend on studies which have shown the negative effects of social pressures to explain the difference of math performance. Since one cannot deny that gender stereotypes still exist, we can infer that any gender difference in math performance can be greatly attributed to the corresponding stereotypical threats.

            Identifying the underlying cause of a problem can be a challenging task. Unfortunately, addressing the cause once it is identified is an even more demanding mission. The war against discrimination has been waging on for a long time; yet despite the tremendous efforts made by the government and self-organized groups, unfair prejudice continues to thrive and haunt its ill-fated victims. There are numerous things that need to be done to fix the issue, including enforcing non-discrimination policies in the work place, raising awareness against stereotypes depicted in mass media, creating more opportunities for women to pursue technical studies, and so forth. However, not everything can be done at once so a good starting point would be to educate the public and future generations of the inaccuracy of stereotypical depictions.

            Though adults often do not verbalize their lower intellectual expectations of their daughters, children can still pick up this through observation of their parents’ attitude and body language. Therefore it is necessary that we hold workshops and conferences with parents, informing them of studies which show how social factors, which include their attitudes, can affect their daughter’s success in technical science. It is also important to take an active stance and reach out to younger generations, informing them of scientific evidence as presented in this paper confirming that their ability to succeed is not predetermined by race or sex, but by how hard they are willing to work to achieve it. Then this generation can carry the message with them into adulthood, integrating it into their community. Hopefully in time, such stereotypes will cease to exist and our talented minorities will not be discouraged by unjust prejudice.

References

Chapter in Edited Books:

Aronson, J. (2002). Improving academic achievement: impact of psychological factors on education. New York: Elsevier Science. Chapter 17

Journal Articles:

Inzlicht, M., & Ben-Zeev, T. (2000, September). A Threatening Intellectual Environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing problem-solving deficits in presence of males. Psychological Science, 11,

Spelke, E. (2005, December). Sex Differences in Intrinsic Aptitude for Mathematics and Science? American Psychologist, 60, 950-958. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from American Psychologist Association database.

Spencer, S. J., Steele, C. M., & Quinn, D. M. (1999, ). Stereotype Threat and Women’s Math Performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 4-28.

News Articles:

United States Department of Labor. Retrieved March 5 from : http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/main.htm

(2002, August 22). Addressing the Gender Gap. BBC News. Retrieved February 10th 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/2208596.stm

Cauchon, D. (2009, September 3). Women gain as men lose jobs. USA Today. Retrieved February 10th 2010 from USA today database.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-02-womenwork_N.htm

Elliott, J. (1968). A Class Divided. Retrieved February 10, 2009, from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/

Gladwell, M. (1997, May 19). Gladwell. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.gladwell.com/1997/1997_05_19_a_sports.htm

Horting , K. (2002). Statistics on Women in Engineering. Retrieved February 10th 2010 from Society of Women Engineers: http://www.swe.org/SWE/RegionD/Sections/seFL/Templates/StatisticsonWomeninEngineering%5B1%5D.pdf

Pinker & Spelke, (2006, May 16). The Science of Gender and Science. Retrieved February 10th 2010 from Edge the Third Culture: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/debate05/debate05_index.html

Schechter, R. (2010, February 8). Malaysian Women Redefine Gender Roles in Technology. Gender News from Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Retrieved February 10th 2010 from http://www.stanford.edu/group/gender/cgi-bin/wordpressblog/2010/02/malaysian-women-redefine-gender-roles-in-technology /

In the preceding years Rome had been engaged in wars on both its eastern and western frontiers as it sought to expand its Empire and acquire ever more territory. Arminius, a German of noble birth from the Cherusci tribe, had been commanding a unit of Cheruscan cavalry in the Roman army campaigning in the Pannonia region of the Balkans. He had been brought to Rome as a young man, effectively a hostage to secure the future good behaviour of his father, Segimenus. Raised as a Roman, he functioned well in Roman society, attained citizenship, and even rose to the rank of Equestrian, or lower-nobility. Though suspicions had been raised as to Arminius’s loyalty there was little real evidence to back it up. Brought to Augustus’s attention he considered them little better than a whispering campaign and dismissed them as mere tittle-tattle, and in 8 AD he was happy to allow Arminius to return to Germania.

Upon his return to Germania, Arminius was quick to befriend the new Roman Governor Publius Quintilius Varus. A close personal friend of the Emperor Augustus, it was Varus’s job to province the recently conquered territories east of the Rhine; to establish outposts of civilisation, open up trade, co-opt local tribes, and to collect taxes. An arrogant and insensitive man, Varus alienated many of those he was supposed to be encouraging to cooperate with Roman hegemony. An administrator with little military experience he was not a good choice to govern a so recently conquered and still unstable region.

Frustrated by the failure of so many of the tribes to pay their taxes, Varus was convinced by Arminius that only his personal presence in the tax collecting process would lend it the necessary authority to convince the recalcitrant tribes to pay up. What convinced Varus to take his entire army on a mission to collect unpaid tax, however, is unknown.  Perhaps, Arminius had convinced him that a punitive military operation was necessary, or maybe he was afraid to do so without his entire army with him.

Unbeknown to Varus, however, Arminius had been busy forging an alliance of the Germanic tribes to resist Rome. By late 9 AD he had persuaded the Cherusci, Marzi, Chatti, Chauci, Bructeri and Sicambri to support him. Even so, they could raise far less fighting men that the Romans had in their army. But this not deter Arminius who had his plan already worked out.

Sometime in late October, 9 AD, the exact date is unknown, Varus set of with the 17th, 18th, and 19 Legions, 20,000 men in total, along with some 5,000 or so Auxillaries, and a similar number of camp followers, on his tax collecting mission. In the early stages at least, Arminius accompanied him.  

The tribe that Varus was trying to force into line dwelt beyond the dark, dense Teutoburg Forest. Once his army was firmly embroiled in trying to cut their way through the thickets, Arminius disappeared. Not long after the attacks began. The Roman army which had entered the fog-shrouded forest with trepidation became very quickly involved in a life or death struggle. Arminius had made his plans well.

In muddy ground and having to cut their way through the forest the Roman column had become stretched out, perhaps as long as 9 miles. The baggage train had become an incumberence and much of it had to be abandoned. Though outnumbered, because of the length of the Roman column, Arminius was able to bring superior forces to bear. Meanwhile, Varus, who had neglected to send out any reconnaissance parties was advancing blind. Three days into the advance, Varus was able to establish a fortified camp. His men were at last able to get some rest. But it was a brief respite. Realising that Arminius had betrayed him and suddenly aware of the dilemma he was in, he planned a mass-breakout in the morning bringing all the force of the Roman army to bear. Arminius, however, had been raised in Rome, he had fought in their army, he knew their tactics, and he was ready.

The Roman breakout cost them a great many casualties and they were unable to make much headway. Later that same day Varus and his Commanders determined upon a night march. They had to escape the forest. The weather was bad however, and the rain had been torrential making the Roman soldiers bows and shields unusable. In the confines of the forest their cavalry was worse than useless. The Romans had little with which to defend themselves. Even so, the night march went ahead. After reaching a small area of open ground they were yet again faced by another densely wooded area. The path through it was less than 100 metres wide. On one side was a steep, densely wooded hill where Arminius had hidden his men, on the other an impassable swamp. He had also blocked the road with a hastily built wall. As the Germans attacked the Romans in turn desperately tried to storm the wall. At this critical moment Varus’s Second-in-Command Numonius Vala led his cavalry from the field abandoning the army (he was later ambushed by the Germans and killed) seeing this the Roman army disintegrated. Under a ferocious assault Roman discipline broke down and they began to run for their lives. Aware that all was now lost Varus fell on his sword. The defeat was total. More than 20,000 Romans had been killed and many others taken prisoner. Many of the Officers were buried alive as a sacrifice to the German Gods, other prisoners were herded into wooden cages which were then set alight. Those prisoners who survived the initial slaughter and the ensuing orgy of vengeance were sold into slavery.

The massacre in the Teutoburg forest shook Rome to its very foundations. The 17th, 18th, and 19th Legions had been lost    

How?

Here’s the example:

You are going to US to attend the funeral of your close relative and there you arrive at the airport and rush to stamp your visa for immigration.

US personnel would ask you one simple question!!

“What’s your purpose of visit – business or pleasure?”

Trapped!!! in words!! Try hard as much as you can, but you can’t escape the irony of words.
You can’t choose business, because obviously you are not going for a business trip. So left with only one option- pleasure!!

Immigration has reallocated your purpose of visit. This decisive question has made a very purposeful irony.

I can understand how your heart would feel, when caught in trap of words. Heart is sad because of the pain you going through on the behalf of your relative, but poor heart, it has to manage with the irony.

This purposeful irony cannot console the heart; instead, it creates an expression of guilt as it makes heart to purposefully utter a word –pleasure!!

There are few factors balancing which, makes our life quite interesting and results in leading a satisfied life. A happy family, good educational background, promotional job opportunities, entertaining social circle are few which makes a person cool and contented. When we talk about happy family, it has two meanings; one is the maternal family and one which we start with our life partner. The new life started by us doesn’t only require you to be alert and responsible, but it also demands, alertness, intelligence, and mutual agreement. Life partner, as the term says, in most cases is chosen for life time.

Choosing a life partner is also a great responsibility, as the decision does not only decides the fate of two human beings, but also affects the lifestyle of two families and people associated with them. A person has to be very careful while choosing his life partner; lot of factors needs to be judged, as it’s a life time decision on results of which your whole life is dependent. Following are few of the points which should be kept in mind before finalising a life partner for you:

• The height is an important factor, both the girl and the guy should compliment each other in terms of height, complexion, personality, so that they should look good with each other.

• There should not be much age gap between the couple, as that can lead to misunderstandings

• The alliance is preferred to be done in the family, with the same customs and rituals as yours, which makes it easier for the girl to adjust in the new environments

• The bride and groom should give a chance each other to know each other, so that to understand each others believes and practices

• Educational qualification, is also considered an important factor these days, both for the groom as well as the bride, they should have equivalent professionals levels, also, same professions, helps the couple becoming a support for each other in their work also.

In India choosing a life partner is not always the choice which is taken by the bride or the groom, in fact it is just now- a- days that the prospective Indian bride and groom get to see each other before marriage, or one more culture called love marriage is coming up, which allows the couple making their marriage decision more independently and according to their choice. Such decisions lead to a more satisfied and understanding lifestyle as you are very well aware of your life partner’s pro’s and con’s from the starting of your wedding life. The ratio of the love marriages have increased these days as compared to arrange marriages, as the youngsters these days give more priority to independence and liberality in their decisions, and choosing your life partner is always meant to be the most important decision of life because, life partner is chosen once, so the decision should be taken wisely and with full concentration.

Article Author:

Diya is a content writer. Presently writing for an Event Management Blog. Visit at http://eventmanagementblog.blogspot.com/ to read about Theme Parties, Wedding Gifts, Wedding Invitation Cards, Event Management Tips, Indian Wedding Games, Wedding Themes, Indian Weddings, Beach Wedding Ideas, Mehndi Designs, Bridal Mehndi Designs etc.

A camera taken into a commercial chicken house reveals the cramped quarters that the chickens are forced to live in. The chickens are kept in these conditions for 48 days, at the end of which they would be transported to a slaughterhouse. We are also able to see the conditions that workers operate under and the speed of the ‘inspections’.

The film also looks at the subsidizing of cheap, unhealthy food by the government and large corporations. All the government support allows companies to mass produce the best selling crops. This forces all the smaller farms and growers out of business and allows the big corporations to get even bigger.

Many of the small farmers who are forced out of business have no choice but to work for the large corporations because they simply cannot compete with the cheap crop that is being produced. The large corporations then keep the farmers under their control with the use of their legal team; knowing that ordinary farmers do not have the funds to pay ongoing legal fees and will have to settle.

There are many people out in the world who are aware of the problem and are trying to fight for change. The CEO of the carpet making factory showed great wisdom because he was able to see the harm that his company was placing on the planet and stood up against it. His company was not operating illegally or breaking any laws, but it was still harming the planet with the large amounts of chemicals and fossil fuels that are required for manufacturing carpets.

I remember the early 90s quite well. We moved into number 64 back in 1990′, at a northern Adelaide suburb solely of public housing. There i lived with my Dad, for the most part, until mid 2003. By 2003 the suburb was transforming dramatically. Public housing was being torn up, and private houses put in. They even began renaming half of my suburb of Salisbury North, to ‘Hawkesbury Park’. Dead bodies were discovered under a BBQ area just 2 minute walk from my house, the house was linked to a family of serial killers who also put dead bodies in vats of acid at an abandoned bank up in Snowtown, about 100kms up the road. I guess it was excusable that they wanted to revamp the suburb as it became notorious for crime, and the serial killings tainted an already bad name for Salisbury North. The semi detached housing consisted of one building which was divided in half. Each half was a three bedroom self contained house that had a 700-1000sqm block. If the people next door played their music a little louder or had their TV turned up, the sound would travel through the center dividing wall, and flood your place with noise! People hated their neighbours and privacy was almost unheard of, unless you put up big 3 meter high fences! People would weld bars on their windows and doors for protection, security screens were to expensive for most folk, and the wooden doors most houses had, offered no protection. Kids used to flood the streets riding their tricycles, as i did as a 5 year old going back to 91′. The streets used to be covered in rubber from almost constant burnouts, but it was all normality.

In the late 90s early 2000s soon after discovering a bunch of murdered people at the back of a housing trust home, the suburb began transforming. Where a housing trust building stood, consisting of two 3 bed homes within one roof, private housing firms built four independent villa style (narrow but far stretching homes) houses. To stress how close these mushroom like houses are to one another, one could reach over and grab their neighbours roofing gutter! They evicted all of the people that used to live in housing trust homes, and relocated them to some other part of the northern suburbs, as a different demographic of private home owners was encouraged. Gone were the days of living at a house that consisted of a 1000sqm block! Now people pay top dollar for a shitty house, with no back yard, and a non existent front yard. Blocks no bigger than 500sqm, some no bigger than 350sqm. Driving through my old neighbourhood, i found that 90% of the public housing has been replaced with these tightly packed homes. The trees have been cut down, the whole area look now like concrete and plastic, an artificial, lifeless skeleton of what once was. I was happy to see my old house still stand, but i was in near tears to see it so rundown. The old men that bought the house from us back near 7 years ago, still reside there. Before selling the place then, we had bought it from the housing trust for $60.000. We spent $45.000 in renovation. The house fetched a record selling price for a former government house when we sold it, an unprecedented, unheard of price of $125.000 back in mid 03′. Nowdays these homes sell for $200-250.000. I felt angry seeing the tons of junk piled up on the front yard, the garden destroyed, the lawn dead. The front veranda falling apart, and rubble piled up against the walls. How the government allows people to neglect their property like this, i don’t understand. Id flog them to a pulp, until every leaf, yet alone piece of junk gets cleaned up! I had personally dug that front yard, the first person to ever do so. The soil was so hard, never cultivated in the history of mankind. To see the house so neglected made me feel sick, as memories of better days almost overwhelmed me.

I know its the northern suburbs, and seeing junk, old car wrecks, tires, old broken furniture litter peoples front yards is somewhat a normality. It was never my normality in our house. I loved that housing trust home, every square inch of that yard.We spent everything we had in building that house up, and finally buying it off the government. At the back we had the best vegetable garden in the world, and the roses i planted at the front yard, had the most amazing flowers ive ever seen in my life. We had grape vines growing at the back, that gave us the best grapes ive ever eaten. In a time when we had nothing, we had that house and yard. I used to kick the football from one end of the yard to my mates on the street, the yard was just huge. Seeing the front of the house so neglected, fears me to even think what the house itself is like, yet alone the back yard. For all of that i hated about the suburb, the derelict people, crime, constant violence, i felt so at home there. I loved that suburb. What its become today is a suburb of private homes that are a time bomb waiting to explode. A huge reason why things were so sour back in the day between the neighbours, was the sheer lack of privacy as everyone encroaching on each others space. People nowdays have less room, and the privacy is non existent! The streets have been freshly coated with new bitumen. But there was something eerie about it all. Yes it was nice to see these fresh looking houses, and burnout free bitumen, but i haven’t seen anybody walking around, the whole suburb was just so quiet. It was like driving through a ghost town.

The suburb is so rearranged i can barely recognise the area. The Foodland, around the corner from my old place was re-clad with a new exterior, so was the video store, newsagent, post and fish n chip shop. But it just doesn’t look the same, nor carry the same feel it used to. I guess ive been absent so long that ive expected to see a place that at least resembled my memories, and that id somehow find comfort in that connection. But i just have nothing to work with. The place has changed so drastically that there is barely anything there to incite memory. Its like my memories still remain in a time long gone, in a world that’s been eroded by time and change. Most people could go and see where they’ve grown up, i cant. I have so many bad memories from the northern suburbs, and its why i done everything i could to escape that area. I still have some of my best memories, the special memories you never forget, that still remain there. When i see some of the remaining park there, i think of my first girlfriend, and the time i lost my virginity back in the summer of 2000. When i see the shopping centre there, memories of times it used to be the main hang out place for me and the boys . When i see the gravel bmx track, i get memories of times when i left bits of my body all over that ground. The alleyways and streets where many fist fights happened, all bring back painful memories. Wherever i look i find memories come back to me. But so much is physically gone. I guess i miss the 90s and early 2000s. Im a product of that time, of the neighbourhood that’s now gone. Ive never really broken my emotional bond with that part of the northern suburbs, how can i. Ive lived since in posh suburbs, and ive lived in a southern suburb where my neighbours had tennis courts, Ferrari’s, etc. But its never meant anything to me, my heart remained in the northern suburbs. I was still the same boy, only out of his suburb.

Visiting the old neighbourhood was an experience of mixed emotion. I wanted to see that area, only to find is changed and different. I know this town is being populated with excessive migrants, and that its excessive immigration that’s causing the shortage of land and housing. But all of that land development has destroyed a suburb that had a heart and soul in a time where most of out of towner’s wouldn’t dare drive through , yet alone visit. Sure its prettier nowdays, holds more property value, etc, but there are so many elements that are missing. Im sure im not the only person from that area that would feel the same either. Well i had to write this, to talk about the experience, and my observations of my little drive yesterday.

Its true that there’s no place like home, even if it was the most derelict ghetto in the city. In the harshest of conditions and environments, one could still find beauty…..

When you are having deep, strong emotions this speeds up the manifestation process. Your total conviction in the way you are feeling turbo charges your desires. Your bad feelings will give you the worst the world has to offer while your good feelings will give you the best the world has to offer. When you are feeling bad, depressed, unworthy, sad etc you become an attractor for even more negativity. When you are feeling happy, uplifted, worthy, fortunate etc you attract good manifestations into your life. Remember, like attracts like.

When you are feeling down you have the power to change the way you are feeling and thinking. There are plenty of ways you can smile again and raise your vibrations. You want to feel joyful and on top of the world as much as possible. Find thing in your life to love and be grateful for. The universe will respond to your good vibrations with positive manifestations that will cause even more of the good feelings.

I hope you have found this article enjoyable and useful. Thank you for reading and please leave a comment and your thoughts. Tell us what are your thoughts on the law of attraction, manifesting your desires and emotions.

Since Madeline Murray O’Haire successfully got prayer banned from public schools, if not before, lawyers have been making arguments incorporating the “intent of the Framer’s” to take away the religious rights of one religion (Christianity) in favor of another, or no religion at all. This without even alluding to their writings, or if they do they employ the same sophistry as did former president Clinton to twist or subvert the meanings of their words. How is it possible, one may reasonably ask, that the Framer’s would deny Nativity scenes at Christmas? It is disingenuous at best to suggest that the exclusion of Christianity from this nation was their intent. What has resulted is a full frontal attack on Christianity- never the purpose of the Framer’s. One of the most prominent arguments is that the Framer’s were either atheists themselves, products of the Enlightenment, or Deists.

Their own words, however, paint a much different picture. George Washington, in his First Inaugural Address said that “… it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe…” Hardly the words of an unbeliever.

John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court wrote: No human society has ever been able to maintain both order and freedom, both cohesiveness and liberty apart from the moral precepts of the Christian Religion applied by all the classes. Should our Republic ere forget this fundamental precept of governance, men are certain to shed their responsibilities for licentiousness and this great experiment will surely be doomed.” It appears as though the chickens have all come home to roost.

James Madison, often referred to as “the Father of the Constitution,” also acknowledged the necessity for God’s word for our nation to survive: “We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, and to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the least religious of the Framers according to some, recognized that: “…enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence…” It was clear from the beginning that if a democratic republic was to survive it’s inhabitants must rule themselves according to the precepts of an outside paradigm- in this case Christianity. The frontal assault on Christianity by government, favoring a very small yet vocal minority is resulting in the licentiousness the Jay warned of. For proof, one need only look at the recent history of court decisions regarding public displays of Christian icons and beliefs.

Henry Laurens of South Carolina not only described the situation back then but his admonition could be applied to contemporary America as well. Along with his recognition of problems that transcend the years, he offers a vision of hope. “At a time when liberty is under attack, decency is under assault, the family is under siege, and life itself is threatened, the good will arise in truth; they will arise in truth with the very essence and substance of their lives; they will arise in truth though they face opposition by fierce subverters; they will arise in truth never shying from the Standard of truth, never shirking from the Author of truth.” Although the attack is from within this time, the principle holds true.The airwaves are inundated by pornography. Decency is almost unheard of. Life is under attack by abortion supporters. The nuclear family has almost become a thing of the past. Violent crime has risen to frightening heights over the past fifty years. The Framer’s knew that without God this would happen, yet politicians and lawyers systematically cull religion from our lives. When will the good arise in truth? Or better yet; will we ever become a constitutional republic again?