Helpful Lessons for Warm Fires in the Firewood Poem

If you are curious about which type of wood burns best in your fireplace, you could consult a list, which would be accurate if not very exciting. But if you wanted to be entertained while getting your information you might turn to a poem about wood. The Firewood Poem was written by the wife of British World War I hero Sir Walter Norris Congreve and is as accurate as any modern scientific research. Lady Celia Congreve is believed to have written it around 1922 for a published book titled  Garden of Verse.  This particular verse expresses how information in the form of a poem can both beautifully  describe things and serve as a guide for burning wood. This poem fetchingly describes the value of certain tree species either for their ability or failure to provide heat from seasoned and unseasoned wood. Lady Congreve likely composed the poem using traditional English folktales passed down through the centuries. It is amazing how accurately and charmingly the poem captures the properties of firewood. The Firewood Poem Beechwood fires are bright and clearIf the logs are kept a year,Chestnuts only good they say,If for logs tis laid away.Make a fire of Elder tree,Death within your house will be;But ash new or ash old,Is fit for a queen with crown of gold Birch and fir logs burn too fastBlaze up bright and do not last,it is by the Irish saidHawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,Een the very flames are coldBut ash green or ash brownIs fit for a queen with golden crown Poplar gives a bitter smoke,Fills your eyes and makes you choke,Apple wood will scent your roomPear wood smells like flowers in bloomOaken logs, if dry and oldkeep away the winters coldBut ash wet or ash drya king shall warm his slippers by. The Poem Explained Traditional folk legends are quite often expressions of early wisdom acquired over time and passed along by word of mouth. Lady Congreve must have taken anecdotes from these to compose this very accurate depiction of the properties of wood and how different tree species burn. She especially pens praises for beech, ash, oak and aromatic fruit trees like apple and pear. Wood science and measurements of the heating properties of wood support her recommendations. The best trees  have a dense cellular wood structure that, when  dry, have greater weight than lighter woods. Wood that is dense will also have to ability to produce more heat over a longer time with longer-lasting coals. On the other hand, her assessments of chestnut, elder, birch, elm, and poplar are spot on and deserve her bad review. They all have low wood cellular densities that rapidly burn with low heat but few coals. These woods produce a lot of smoke but very little heat. Lady Celia Congreves  poem is a cleverly written but non-scientific approach to selecting firewood. It is certainly supported by the sound science of wood burning and heating values.

Ethics of International Trade - 3140 Words

The Ethics of International Trade Playstations and petroleum. Food and furniture. Clothing and cars. International trade makes these items ready and available to the vast majority of the world, and at affordable prices despite the need to import many of these things (or their components) from other countries. International trade lets Americans buy and enjoy products that we can’t necessarily make or find for ourselves in the United States. It can stimulate the economy, create jobs, and generate new and improved products for the world market. International trade can, however, have the opposite effect if left unregulated and unchecked, harming the economy, removing jobs, and creating poor products. Even if such trade is helping the†¦show more content†¦Why would anyone do this? Minimize costs, of course. Children don’t need to be paid as much as adults (if at all) and they are easy to influence and coerce. To the less ethical businessmen and women of the world, c hild labor means a cheap and tireless workforce, resulting in higher profits. A profit at the expense of the world’s youth. Gaining profit by reducing costs is a widely practiced business solution, and can be entirely useful and ethical when done in the right spirit. Reducing costs by raising worker hours or reducing worker safety is something completely different, however. Lack of care can easily escalate into downright abuse of workers. Take the shrimp industry in Southeast Asia, an industry bringing in $13 billion annually. In a recent report by the Solidarity Center, an international nonprofit organization for workers rights, some shrimp processing facilities in Thailand and Bangladesh have been run like medieval prisons. One factory raid by Thai police in September 2006 found workers who said, â€Å"if they made a mistake on the shrimp peeling line, asked for sick leave, or tried to escape, they could expect to be beaten, sexually molested, or publicly tortured.† The facility was described as â€Å"more like a fortress than a factory, with 16-foot-high barbed-wire capped walls, an armed guard force, and an extensive internal closed-circuit television system† (CNN.com). Clearly, this facility would be closed down and the owners arrested right?Show MoreRelatedCorporate Social Responsibility : Business Practices925 Words   |  4 Pagesstarted doing international trade when it was beneficially mutual and if both countries had comparative advantage. 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How do people feel about the changes that have taken place on Portobello road over the last few years Free Essays

The changes that have affected Portobello road in the last decade have a had a great impact on the local community along with the future proposals which have been outlined for the area by the council in order to improve the area. For the purpose of the investigation it is useful to understand how the local community view these changes and proposals, and to gain an insight into the conflict that is arousing from the proposed changes and developments. A secondary source presented as an article from the Notting Hill Action Group, which is an organisation campaign involved in fighting local issues. We will write a custom essay sample on How do people feel about the changes that have taken place on Portobello road over the last few years? or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this article local residents are protesting against the eviction orders that have been served on Elgin books, a bookstore which has been on the road for more than 20 years, one of the reasons for this protest is that the rent has increased so much the bookstore can no longer afford to pay substantial amounts of money on rent. The local residents are also furious about the fact that breaches against planning consent rules i. e. ‘the Fluid juice bar shop front being put up without planning’, are allowed to go unchecked by the council, even though actions like these are ‘considered an offence to the streets character’. Although these protests are creating an unhappy atmosphere in and around Portobello road, it is useful to understand why the residents feel what they do, one of the reasons may be down to the fact that residents don’t want to ruin Portobello’s individual character. However this is very difficult to overcome the conflict between residents and planners because many ‘greedy people in the area are using Notting hill’s celebrity as a way of forcing up rents and forcing out businesses, which have been in the area for more than 30 years. An article labelled ‘Planning rage’ which is slightly different to the 1st 1 although still sharing the same subject matter of ‘planning orders’. In this article (which is written by NAG) the Unitary development Plan is being criticized by many residents along with the Notting Hill Action Group itself! This is extremely relevant to the investigation because the future proposals stated in question 4 are based on the Unitary Development Plan, therefore it is useful to understand how the residents view these changes. The article starts off with the fact that ‘ owners of small family-run businesses say that they will be squeezed out by the unitary development Plan which is proposing to open the floodgates to huge chain stores. ‘ And it also states that ‘the recent arrival of chain stores such as GAP and Starbucks has fuelled their fears. ‘ It is evident from these 2 lines, that the people of Portobello road ‘don’t want the small businesses (which make the area so unique) be swallowed up by chain stores that will make the area look like any where else. Especially a resident in particular called Mr Walton who lives in Arundel Gdns, who says: â€Å"we are concerned that developments should not harm the character of the area. † The council have responded to this argument by saying: â€Å"we’re trying to react to what people want, and to do it within the powers we are granted. † It obvious that this is a complicated issue, because there is a bal anced argument between both the councillors and the residents, therefore it is difficult to determine who is right in what is being said. Another article displays a variety of articles, one of which is to do with the division between the rich and the poor on Portobello road. This article is stating that there is a ‘widening gap between the rich and the poor in the UK and this is marked in the Notting hill area, which has multi million pound house prices while Goldbourne ward (northern section) is in the fifth poorest ward in inner London. ‘ Therefore many of the residents of the Goldbourne ward have organised a pilgrimage, which is a powerful reminder to everyone to challenge the status quo, and to work energetically for a fairer, more balanced society. Many of the people who are involved in this protest are trying to convince the council to give in to their requirements by organising these sorts of campaigns. However it is not easy for the council to equalise the 2 parts of the road because the census data on page shows that there is a high unemployment and low home ownership rate which means that most of the population live in rented houses, therefore it would take the council a long time to match up to the employment and home ownership rates which are 3 times higher in the Pembridge ward. Although the newspaper article is outlining resident views, it is still a secondary resource and so its reliability could be questioned, we cannot be sure that there is a division between the rich and the poor in the 2 wards, as the article is written by a person who may well be biased. However the primary data in the form of a shopping, environmental and residential house surveys show that the Pembridge ward is far better off than the Goldbourne ward in terms of house prices and quality. Even though most people situated in Portobello road such as the residents in the 1st NAG article are criticising the future proposals that have been made by the council (stated in question 4) there are also others who are in favour of these improvements i. e traders. In the article named ‘Portobello 2000’ Anne swift is an antiques dealer who talks about the future of Portobello road, and also mentions the importance of ‘Portobello having the opportunity to establish itself as the worlds leading centre for antiques and a leading market for general commodities. Anne sees the ‘over commercialisation’ of Portobello road as a good thing as this would encourage trade from tourism, however the people in the ‘planning rage’ article see this as gentrification steam roller, and as a threat to small businesses. Therefore this is causing a growing conflict between traders and residents. Anne swift suggest some of her own proposals which are in line with those stated in question 4, she believes that all traders have to offer high quality goods, by displaying better merchandise. She also states that improving the environment will create a more clean and spacious environment for everyone, especially tourists. Lastly she suggests the need for friendly and efficient service in order to satisfy customers. A questionnaire which was conducted on all parts of Portobello road in order to find out information about the residents and tourists who shop there. The results of the questionnaire were then converted in to a graph, which helped to analyse the relationships between the figures. From question 1 on the graph its evident that the majority of people questioned were residents (58%) and the remaining were either tourists or workers (42%). This proves that Portobello road attracts quite a lot of tourists and therefore has a large sphere of influence, as the figures are nearly similar to that of the residents. Out of the 58% of the residents questioned, 33% of them have lived in the area between 11-20 years, which showed that they knew the area well and were aware of the changes that have taken place over the last decade. Many of the residents questioned felt that the area had changed in terms of housing which is now of a better quality and residents, as new people are being attracted to the area everyday. 2% of the residents felt that the changes had made the area better, while 29% of the people felt that the changes were quite good for the area, however there were only 7% of residents who felt that the area had declined. This shows that Portobello road has made a great improvement since the last decade. The remaining results showed that 40%of the people questioned have visited Portobello road more than 10 times mostly for Antiques and general food shopping. Again, this shows that tourism is an important factor, which affects Portobello road everyday and has maximised its function. How to cite How do people feel about the changes that have taken place on Portobello road over the last few years?, Essays

Six Sigma free essay sample

1. An insurance firm has set a standard that policy applications be processed within three days of receipt. If, out of a sample of 1,000 applications, 50 fail to meet this requirement, at what sigma level is this process operating? DPMO= (Number of Defects Discovered/Opportunities for Error) x 1,000,000 DPMO= (50/1000) x 1,000,000= 50,000 =NORMSINV(1- Number of Defects/ Number of Opportunities) + Shift =NORMSINV(1-50000/1000000)+1. 5=3. 144854 ? Between 3 and 3. 5 Sigma Level 2. During one month, 35 preflight inspections were performed on a military aircraft. Eighteen nonconformance’s were noted. Each inspection checks 60 items. What sigma level does this correspond to? 35 x 60= 2100 18/2100 x 1,000,000= 8571. 43 =NORMSINV(1-8571. 43/1000000)+1. 5=3. 883629 ? Between 3. 5 and 4 Sigma Level 3. Over the last year 1,054 injections were administered at a clinic. Quality is measured by the proper amount of dosage as well as the correct drug. In two instances, the incorrect amount was given, and in one case, the wrong drug was given. At what sigma level is this process? 3/1054 x 1,000,000= 2846. 30 =NORMSINV(1-2846. 30/1000000)+1. 5=4. 26498 ? Between 4 and 4. We will write a custom essay sample on Six Sigma or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 5 Sigma Level 6. As noted in the text, a typical hospital has 225 medication errors per year. Approximately 35 percent of these are a result of the prescription, 30 percent from dispensing, and the remaining from administration. Suppose that a hospital has 9,000 annual admissions, and that the average patient receives five prescriptions during a hospital stay. Patients stay an average of 5. 3 days, and each ordered medication is dispensed daily. The average patient receives 12 medications per day. Compute the average dpmo for each of the three categories of medications errors. To what Sigma levels do these values correspond? Prescription: 35% X 225= 78. 75 (78. 75/9000) X 1,000,000= 8750 =NORMSINV(1-8750/1000000)+1. 5= 3. 876031 ? Around 4 Sigma Level Dispensing: 30% X 225= 67. 50 (67. 50/9000) X 1000000= 7500 =NORMSINV(1-7500/1000000)+1. 5= 3. 932379 ? Around 4 Sigma Level Administrative: 35% X 225= 78. 75 (78. 75/9000) X 1,000,000= 8750 =NORMSINV(1-8750/1000000)+1. 5= 3. 876031 ? Around 4 Sigma Level Page 89 5. Use Pareto analysis to investigate the quality losses at Oakton Paper Mill, using data in the worksheet Prob. 3-5 in the excel workbook CH3 dataset on the student CD-ROM. What conclusion do you reach? * 6. Use Pareto analysis to investigate the quality losses at Beecom Software Corp. using data in the worksheet Prob. 3-6 in the Excel workbook CH 3 Datasheet on the student CD-ROM. What conclusions do you reach? * 8. Legal Sea Food operates several restaurants and fish markets in the Boston area and other East Coast locations. The company’s standards of excellence mandate that it serves only the freshest, high-quality seafood. It guarantees the quality by buying only the â€Å"top of the catch† fish daily. Although Legal Sea Foods tries to make available the widest variety every day, certain species of fish are subject to migratory patterns and are not always present in New England waters. Weather conditions may also prevent local fishermen from fishing in certain areas. Freshly caught fish are rushed to the company’s quality control center where they cut and filleted in an environmentally controlled state-of-the-art facility. All shellfish come from government-certified beds and are tested in an in-house microbiology laboratory for wholesomeness and purity. There are even special lobster storage tanks so that all lobsters are held under optimum conditions, in clean, pollution free water. Every seafood item is inspected for quality eight separate times before it reaches the table. At Legal Sea Foods’ restaurants, each meal is cooked to order. Even though servers make every effort to deliver all meals within minutes of each other, they will not jeopardize the quality of an item by holding it beneath a heat lamp until the entire order is ready. The service staff is trained to work as a team for better service. More than one service person frequently delivers food to a table. When any item is ready, the closest available person serves it. Customer questions can be directed to any employee, not just the person who took the order. b. Suggest a set of CTQ’s for Legal Sea Food customers. Some Critical to Quality metrics are the time it takes for the customer to place their order up until their order is finished and brought out to them. Another CTQ could be whether or not a shipment of fish arrives on time. Along with arriving on time, the quality of the fish must be at the highest level to ensure customer satisfaction. Another CTQ metric could be the responsiveness of the waiting staff and the awareness of needy customers. The pricing of the fish and the meals are both CTQ metrics that will affect sales.