World War I Flying Ace Rene Fonck

World War I Flying Ace Rene Fonck Colonel Rene Fonck was the top-scoring Allied fighter ace of World War I. Scoring his first victory in August 1916, he went on to down 75 German aircraft during the course of the conflict. After World War I, Fonck later returned to the military and served until 1939. Dates:  March 27, 1894 –  June 18, 1953   Early Life Born on March 27, 1894, Renà © Fonck was raised in the village of Saulcy-sur-Meurthe in the mountainous Vosges region of France. Educated locally, he had an interest in aviation as a youngster. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Fonck received conscription papers on August 22. Despite his earlier fascination with aircraft, he elected not to take an assignment in the air service and, instead, joined the combat engineers. Operating along the Western Front, Fonck constructed fortifications and repaired infrastructure. Though a skilled engineer, he reconsidered in early 1915 and volunteered for flight training. Learning to Fly Ordered to Saint-Cyr, Fonck commenced basic flight instruction before moving to more advanced training at Le Crotoy. Progressing through the program, he earned his wings in May 1915 and was assigned to Escadrille C 47 at Corcieux. Serving as an observation pilot, Fonck initially flew the ungainly Caudron G III. In this role, he performed well and was mentioned in dispatches twice. Flying in July 1916, Fonck downed his first German aircraft. Despite this triumph, he did not receive credit as the kill went unconfirmed. The following month, on August 6, Fonck achieved his first credited kill when he used a series of maneuvers to force a German Rumpler C.III to land behind French lines. Becoming a Fighter Pilot For Foncks actions on August 6, he received the Medaille Militaire the following year. Continuing observation duties, Fonck scored another kill on March 17, 1917. A highly veteran pilot, Fonck was asked to join the elite Escadrille les Cigognes (The Storks) on April 15. Accepting, he commenced fighter training and learned to fly the SPAD S.VII. Flying with les Cigognes Escadrille S.103, Fonck soon proved to be a lethal pilot and achieved ace status in May. As the summer progressed, his score continued to increase despite taking leave in July. Having learned from his earlier experiences, Fonck was always concerned about proving his kill claims. On September 14, he went to the extreme of retrieving the barograph of an observation aircraft he downed to prove his version of events. A ruthless hunter in the air, Fonck preferred to avoid dogfighting and stalked his prey for prolonged periods before striking quickly. A gifted marksman, he often downed German aircraft with extremely short bursts of machine gun fire. Understanding the value of enemy observation aircraft and their role as artillery spotters, Fonck focused his attention on hunting and eliminating them from the skies. Allied Ace of Aces During this period, Fonck, like Frances leading ace, Captain Georges Guynemer, began flying the limited production SPAD S.XII. Largely similar to the SPAD S.VII, this aircraft featured a hand-loaded 37mm Puteaux cannon firing through the propeller boss. Though an unwieldy weapon, Fonck claimed 11 kills with the cannon. He continued with this aircraft until transitioning to the more powerful SPAD S.XIII. Following Guynemers death on September 11, 1917, the Germans claimed that the French ace had been shot down by Lieutenant Kurt Wisseman. On the 30th, Fonck downed a German aircraft which was found to have been flown by a Kurt Wisseman. Learning this, he boasted that he had become the tool of retribution. Subsequent research has shown the aircraft downed by Fonck was most likely flown by a different Wisseman. Despite poor weather in October, Fonck claimed 10 kills (4 confirmed) in only 13 hours of flying time. Taking leave in December to be married, his total stood at 19 and he received the Là ©gion dhonneur. Resuming flying on January 19, Fonck scored two confirmed kills. Adding another 15 to his tally through April, he then embarked on a remarkable May. Goaded by a bet with squadron mates Frank Baylies and Edwin C. Parsons, Fonck downed six German aircraft in a three-hour span on May 9. The next several weeks saw the Frenchmen rapidly build his total and, by July 18, he had tied Guynemers record of 53. Passing his fallen comrade the next day, Fonck reached 60 by the end of August. Continuing to have success in September, he repeated his feat of downing six in one day, including two Fokker D.VII fighters, on the 26th. The final weeks of the conflict saw Fonck overtake leading Allied ace Major William Bishop. Scoring his final victory on November 1, his total finished at 75 confirmed kills (he submitted claims for 142) making him the Allied Ace of Aces. Despite his stunning success in the air, Fonck was never embraced by the public in the same way as Guynemer. Possessing a withdrawn personality, he seldom socialized with other pilots and instead preferred to focus on improving his aircraft and planning tactics. When Fonck did socialize, he proved to be an arrogant egotist. His friend Lieutenant Marcel Haegelen stated that though a slashing rapier in the sky, on the ground Fonck was a tiresome braggart, and even a bore. Postwar Leaving the service after the war, Fonck took time to write his memoirs. Published in 1920, they were prefaced by Marshal Ferdinand Foch. He also was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1919. He remained in this position until 1924 as a representative for Vosges. Continuing to fly, he performed as a racing and demonstration pilot. During the 1920s, Fonck worked with Igor Sikorsky in an attempt to win the Orteig Prize for the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris. On September 21, 1926, he attempted the flight in a modified Sikorsky S-35 but crashed on takeoff after one of the landing gears collapsed. The prize was won the following year by Charles Lindbergh. As the interwar years passed, Foncks popularity fell as his abrasive personality soured his relationship with the media. Returning to the military in 1936, Fonck received the rank of lieutenant colonel and later served as Inspector of Pursuit Aviation. Retiring in 1939, he was later drawn into the Vichy government by Marshal Philippe Petain during World War II. This was largely due to Petains desire to utilize Foncks aviation connections to Luftwaffe leaders Hermann Gà ¶ring and Ernst Udet. The aces reputation was damaged in August 1940, when a spurious report was issued stating that he had recruited 200 French pilots for the Luftwaffe. Eventually escaping Vichy service, Fonck returned to Paris where he was arrested by the Gestapo and held at the Drancy internment camp. With the end of World War II, an inquiry cleared Fonck of any charges pertaining to collaboration with the Nazis and he was later awarded the Certificate of Resistance. Remaining in Paris, Fonck died suddenly on June 18, 1953. His remains were buried in his native village of Saulcy-sur-Meurthe. Selected Sources First World War: Rene FonckAce Pilots: Rene FonckThe Aerodrome: Rene Fonck

Identify and illustrate some of the dominant cultural values of modern Essay

Identify and illustrate some of the dominant cultural values of modern consumer societies - Essay Example Moreover, it is still a debatable issue whether modern consumerism has espoused globalised or localised philosophies (Merz et al. 2008: 166-182). Yet, literature on this topic has focused on finding the disparities between theoretical knowledge and its practical implementations. The main difficulty in arriving any conclusive model of consumer culture in modern societies is that social values and systems are too generic to hint at any distinctive features of consumerism. On one hand, the 21st century is market-centric. The pervasive market trends have engulfed everything material or immaterial. Theories of branding, especially those involving adolescent psychologies, clearly show how cultural propensities are directly regulated by the market economy (Naim et al. 2008: 627-640). On the other hand, this market driven economy fails to justify behaviours such as religious preferences or jingoism (Slater 1997: 24). This essay strives to discuss the key factors that can be held as probable identifiers of the dominant cultural values that underpin modern consumer societies. Culture is an abstract term for a number of social, economic and behaviorist aspects. The process of locating cultural attributes in any given society is extremely complex, for the notion of culture is highly de-territorialised due to regular intermingling of a diverse array of cultures across domestic as well as international borders. Hence, there is a pluralistic dimension to the study of ethnology in the context of consumerism (Craig and Douglas 2006: 322-342). The counter-culture movements in the 1960s may be examined in order to explore the subtleties of social hegemony and its impact on human culture. Market oriented economic practices in the modern era have not diffused into the realm of mass consumerism. Such practices are cultural properties of the elites who rule the economy of any given society. The mass, on the contrary, are compelled to using what is

Indicate the implication of the article for Saudi Managers Essay

Indicate the implication of the article for Saudi Managers - Essay Example e objectives: â€Å"to replace foreign workers with competent Saudis, create more jobs for Saudis in the private sector, regulate the management of both local and foreign workers, and improve the welfare of Saudi and expatriates working in the private sector.† These are the emerging legal implications for Saudi managers. Specifically, the new legal requirements are as follows: Thus, Saudi managers will have to ensure that their HRM practices comply with these laws. In particular, vulnerable and endow workers have been granted basic legal rights concerning annual leave, health and safety precautions, maximum working hours, safe working environment, and for females, maternity leave. It will be the onus of the managers to guarantee that these basic legal rights are provided in the workplace. It is suggested that in Saudi Arabia â€Å"laws are often partially enforced and inequitably applied.† But, the government has laid out these laws to promote welfare so they should be implemented by all organizations to which they concern. Keeping this in mind, the government lays stress on trying â€Å"to shape the cognitive norms that guide manager’s HRM policies and practices†¦ by influencing managers’ beliefs about what is good HRM practice and what is not.† This shows that the government has not only established the legal framework to improve working conditions, but is also attempting to influence thinking by providing justifications, guidelines and offering incentives in order to make the policies accepted more widely. In doing so, they are also keen to point out that these new laws do not contravene the shariah due to the pervasive influence of the latter. The government wants â€Å"to create sustainable employment for the increasing number of young Saudis joining the labour market,† hence the targeting of the private sector. The ground reality is that these laws are a concern for some Saudi managers. For example, it is not only convenient but also cheaper to hire

Social Aspects of Marketing Essay Example for Free

Social Aspects of Marketing Essay The market economy is a faceless system that is run by competition, and the means to achieve and succeed may not always be ethical or acceptable. Marketers have been accused for deceptive practices, such as deceptive pricing, promotion and packaging. Deceptive practices lead the consumer to believe they get more value to their money than they actually do. Marketers have also been accused for creating needs that would not exist without heavy advertising. For example, people can be made to believe that they might need a certain medicine for a condition that actually does not require medical treatment. Due to these faults marketing practises have changed in the previous years to be more socially and environmentally responsible, and movements such as consumerism and environmentalism have developed. We will now shortly go through these concepts. Societal Marketing Resent environmental problems, resource shortages, worldwide economic problems and neglected social services have led to a birth of a new marketing concept, Societal Marketing. Societal marketing concept is a marketing management philosophy that underlines that satisfying customer needs effectively and efficiently while achieving organisational goals is not enough. â€Å"The idea [of societal marketing concept] is that the organisation should determine the needs, wants and interest of target markets and deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that maintains or improves both the consumer’s and society’s well-being.† (Kotler et al. 2005) Consumerism Consumerism stems from the idea that the marketing system should be efficiently serving consumer wants. Consumerism is â€Å"an organized movement of citizens and government agencies to improve the rights and power of buyers in relation to sellers.† (Kotler et al. 2005) Consumerism underlines that the buyer has the right to be well informed of the product, protected against questionable products and marketing practises, and the right to influence products and marketing practises, for example by being able to propose ingredients to products. Environmentalism Environmentalism is a movement that is concerned with the effects of  marketing systems to environment. Environmentalism is â€Å"an organized movement of concerned citizens and government agencies to protect and improve people’s living environment†. (Kotler et al. 2005) Environmentalism questions whether the costs of serving consumer needs and wants are too high. The latest environmentalism wave is â€Å"environmental sustainability† which refers to the idea that companies should seek sustainable ways of producing profits. This could be achieved by utilizing new environmental technology, preventing pollution, underlining sustainability in strategy, and by product stewardship; expanding the company responsibility of the product to its whole life cycle. (Kotler et al. 2005)

The Power Struggle at the Occidental Child Development Essay -- Ethnog

The Power Struggle at the Occidental Child Development I have conducted ethnographic research at the Occidental Child Development Center where I have spent many hours participating and observing with the children of the center. I am not an outsider to this center, because I have been working with this particular bunch of children for a year, so I am well accepted when I asked to join in the games with the children. The center has a total 45 preschool students aging from 2-5 years old and seven staff members and five student workers. Throughout my research the director, teachers, and my fellow student workers accompanied me at all times, however I have not included all 45 children and all eight staff members. I have narrowed my research and included observations where children practice more power over other children, an example of personal agency, and an example of the family oriented atmosphere. To protect the anonymity of the children I have observed I have labeled the children according to their classroom and sex. In the following ethnography I refer to the Hungry Caterpillars, the Busy Bees, and the Terrific Tigers. The school is broken down into three classrooms according to the child’s age and skills. The two year-olds are the Hungry Caterpillars (HC), the three year-olds are the Busy Bees (BB), and the four year-olds are the Terrific Tigers (TT). The children are aware of their classroom names and often refer to them when addressing others or themselves. I must make a note that some of the children are held back because they lack certain skills they need before they can move onto the next classroom so I have also included the age of the children to clarify for the reader. One might think that this affe... ...ing to the Western notion that marks children as incompetent adults. I believe it would be valuable for ethnographers to use feminist methodologies to help redefine this Western notion of childhood, and give the children a chance to speak for themselves. References Chin, Elizabeth. Feminist Theory and the Ethnography of Children’s Worlds: Barbie in New Haven, Connecticut. Gailey, Christine Ward. â€Å"Feminist Methods† Ch. 6 in Bernard, H. Russell Ed. Handbook of Methods In Cultural Anthropology. London: A Division of Sage Pub, Inc. Leavitt, Robin. Power and Emotion in Toddler-Infant Day Care. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1994. Rosaldo, Michelle Zimbalist, â€Å"Woman, Culture, and Society: A Theoretical Overview†, in Lamphere, Louise & Rosaldo, Michelle Zimbalist, Ed. Woman, Culture, and Society. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press. 1974.

Silent Dancing

Demarcus Spears Wei Chen ENGL. 1013 5-3-10 Drinking Age According to â€Å"Why Do Adolescents Drink† internet source teens believe drinking is the way to avoid the real world. They tend to think that it avoids stress related problems and peer pressure from others. Yet some people feel they are well old enough, and should be treated as an adult when it comes to drinking or lowering the drinking age to eighteen. Standing up going against lowering the drinking age is the way to stand because it is the wrong proposal to agree on for lowering it.The current drinking age should stay at twenty-one because eighteen year olds are not mature enough to consume alcohol and be able to be responsible for what happens. Many eight-teen year olds bodies are affected physically because they are not ready for the consumption of alcohol. If they began to drink at such an early age, alcohol can cause memory lapses, loss of coordination and slower reflexes. Alcohol is absorbed in the bloodstream an d can damage every organ in the body. At eight-teen life is just begging and to suffer from one of the many long term complications it offers would be devastating at that age.Teens would not be able to play sports, remember child hood stories to someday tell or you could end up in the hospital constantly on machines. At eight-teen teen should maintain a healthy diet to a longer healthier life. Drinking at the age of eighteen or younger could cause many long-term complications as well. Some of these effects include neurological dangers, cardio logical problems, respiratory dangers, liver disease, and psychological dangers. Dangers that include impaired vision, memory effects, and seizures that could lead to permanent damage to the brain.Damages also include respiratory depression and failure. Additionally alcohol increases the risk of mouth and throat cancer which could lead to bad effects. Cardio logical problems include elevated blood pressure and an increase on the heart rate. Liv er disease can also be cause by chronic alcohol abuse. Other physiological dangers include damage to the gastrointestinal system. Alcohol can cause deteriorate relationships with family, friends and co- workers. So ask yourself again at eighteen are you prepared to suffer the long-term complications at such an early age somewhere down your age line if starting to soon.Every twenty-two minutes someone dies in an alcohol-related accident that relates to many reasonable mental issues. Figuring the all a high number of those deaths and accidents come in the fifteen to twenty- four age group. Statistics show that seventy percent of all teenagers drink alcohol yet sixty percent of all teen deaths in cars are alcohol related. Young drivers are involved in driving accidents at higher rates than older drivers. Teens tend to be inexperienced drivers and inexperienced consumers of alcohol.With the information provided, if the age of alcohol were to be lowered, more teen deaths would occur much higher due to the drunken driving issue. Many teens today drop out of school due to the issue of alcohol abuse to the brain. Alcohol abuse is an excessive use of alcohol and alcoholic drinks in which has no reason to drink. A great amount of our teens are dropping out of school due to the use of alcohol. Some students who tend to drink may show up at school thinking it is cool to show it off. Then what happens is they encourage others to do the same and it creates more teens to want to become cool so they try it.What they don’t know is alcohol could become an addiction and create mental issues as of giving up on class work. Maybe not even attending class thinking it is cool. Or maybe even doing things you would do if you were not drunk. After awhile many students would think going other places such as jobs, interviews, public places would be the best way to go if you were drunk. So drinking at the age of a teen may cause them to drop out I see because their mind is not stron g enough to do the right thing when under the influence of alcohol. Some teens become frustrated and think it is the only way to go.Alcohol could also lead to the use of drugs which is a weak mind way and could lead to mental stages as well. At eighteen it is illegal to buy alcohol and if you are a daily drinker how else would people be able to get that same feeling if you were drunk. Teens could begin to become frustrated and need a back-up. Drugs such as marijuana, heroin is both illegal but yet people still use them as if they were legal. There is not an age limit for buying drugs. As a young teen under the influence of alcohol they have no control in what they do.So drinking with a group of friends may lead to an act of them doing drugs they have been doing in the past to a new alcoholic that’s a teen wants to try. Now days it becomes worse because they populations has grown an more teens are following the wrong foot steps in the wrong path and takes them off track an bef ore they know it it will be too late and they have come addicted to using a drug that never occurred to them until alcohol was brought to the picture. Just thinking of using alcohol or drugs to solve problems that have other ways around it is just not the way to go.So do not make the choice to start drinking because it will get very much out of hand before even noticed and may lead to many more dangerous stunts and accidents that we do not want to come across in the future. Lowering the drinking age could lead to mental stages such as committing suicide as well. Committing suicide is the easiest way out some teens may vary to see. Teens that tend to drink around other friends that are not big fans of drinking makes them become anti-social and make that group of people not want to hang with one particular person because he or she drinks.Before you know it the person who was singled out because of drinking may come to the senses of no one wanting to be around them. The teen drinker wi th such a week mind may endeavor that no one wants him around so he tends to lose focus on doing what’s best for them. Most teens often think if no one wants them around that committing suicide is the best way to handle it but it’s not. There are other ways around it like counseling and other obstacles. So lowering the drinking age would not be good because it could lead to senseless minds in teens and make them lose control and do something that is not worth it.The number of death rates would increase in teens and cause more pain to families. Teens are just not responsible enough to know that drinking could lead to hazardous deaths and changes in the body and make you keep having an instinct on committing such things that you thought you would never come to. However, many people today believe that if at eighteen you are old enough to join the army why should not you be able to buy alcohol at that age. Some people believe that fighting is better than just sitting aroun d drinking as a teen is the right way to go if you have to.Lowering the drinking age to eighteen will make people feel way more comfortable to just walk in the liquor store and buy alcohol. Instead as a teen drinking alcohol just takes it slowly down but is killing the inside of the body physically. Fighting in the army shows that a eighteen year old is dedicated to fight for his country showing honor. Drinking for no reason at eighteen is not showing honor it is showing ignorance. As it mean the law could be made but what teen is going to abide by it and not drink at the age of eighteen.If they are doing things besides listening to the law if it has not stopped now what would make it in the future. The talk upon the media would just be against making what is right better. But knowing that fighting at eighteen is a totally different thing at drinking at eighteen because people do not seem to understand the known facts of why fighting is more important. The drinking age should not be lowered no matter how much facts they have put to be proven because it is not going to stop young eighteen year olds to stop killing their bodies for no reason.Some parents would seriously think lowering it would harm society as well maybe because they have children out there that could be influenced at some young age and it could reduce life expand over one small drink leading to a couple more which could lead to trying more and more. So parents would agree more with being able to join the army than lowering the drinking age maybe. Some may be for lowering but everyone has their own opinion and the freedom of speech. If they believe eighteen year olds are old enough and responsible enough to buy alcohol then let it be.But they should think of how much more trouble it would cause if this happens. The drinking age should be change to twenty-five if more people had say so because most twenty-one year olds are not even mature enough with alcohol until this day. In conclusion, the age for drinking should not be lowered to eighteen. It is quite clear that an eighteen year old is not clearly mature enough to consume any alcohol at that age. Their bodies are not fully developed to hold as much alcohol. More drinking and driving accidents may occur more often.Many more teens would make it through school without the alcohol killing their brains. An eighteen year old is not near as responsible because it would make them do things they should not be doing. Agreeing or Disagreeing makes no differences in this argument. Having principles bagging up your information as of why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen. It could cause many more problems in the economy. This economy has been destroyed enough due to the typical issues that have been brought to this world because of unofficial details explaining why such a thing has to be done.Laws have been set to standards that the age twenty-one should be kept instead of eighteen. Just as it was mentioned earlier commit ting suicide is not what we need to be dealing with. It is one of the main causes of teen deaths so why would you consider lowering the age drinking what more harm do we need. So as we can see the drinking age is at it moderate level and should not be changed due to controversy reasons. Today people are very influenced by any type of easy way out and we should not base it on alcohol because of the numbering of alcohol drinks of teen accidents and the rate of taking a last drink leading to death.

Ideal Society in the Republic of Plato Is Kallipolis Superior to Other Forms of Government Free Essay Example, 1500 words

Kallipolis for Plato is both a concept and a needed reality lying behind appearances until cave dwellers do not come out into open skies. His Ideal State is completely devoid of corruption, lethargy, inefficiency untruth, ignorance and greed for wealth. Such an ideal utopia has yet not seen the light of day. Does it mean that it cannot be put to practice? Until it is tried at least for once, how can we express doubt about its inherent mundane nature? As regards Karl Popper and his Open Societies and its Enemies, R. B. Levinson has amply shown the too far fetched and quite illogical nature of the argument of his teacher about Plato s Ideal State. It is not advisable to enter into Popperian polemics to prove the excellence of justice in Plato s Republic. Kallipolis, whether put to practice or not, is better than most of other societies in Plato s Republic. Since justice is its main concern, Plato has very clearly proven the true nature not only of justice but also of an Ideal and a c hallenge about which statesmen still fear to try. What is most significant in Plato s Republic is its utmost strength on knowledge and virtue. We will write a custom essay sample on Ideal Society in the Republic of Plato: Is Kallipolis Superior to Other Forms of Government or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page These soldiers are like watchdogs and faithful to the dictates of philosopher kings and justice. Philosopher kings are the ones who can see the reality, knowledge, truth and justice. They are those who know . The education system and communism of wives and children helps prevent philosopher kings form indulging in any act of digression away from justice. Philosopher kings have come out like shining pieces of gold from the test of fire. Plato starts from state as an institution and moves to individual in his quest for justice. He considers division of labour and reciprocal needs. In this effort, he even discusses various other forms of government such as democracy, totalitarianism and aristocracy etc.