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Six-Player basketball is a game that was played almost exclusively in the state of Iowa.  Six-player basketball developed in an era that considered women weaker.  The era also maintained that women should be well mannered in both dress and actions.  The sport-rivaled boy’s basketball both in popularity with fans and revenues it created.  Until its complete demise in 1993, Six-Player basketball was part of Iowa’s State identity.  Though the courts concluded that Six-player basketball stereotyped and discriminated against women, its demise was not a positive development because of the loss of the Iowan State identity, the players and revenues of the sport. Read more…

One powerful quote that keeps me going is from Thomas Jefferson on The Necessity of Taking Up Arms 1775:

“…we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverence, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.” Read more…

Last Thursday (3 May 2007), Queen Elizabeth II of England visited Jamestown, Virginia, as part of America’s 400th anniversary commemoration of this site, England’s first established colony in the New World (1607). The settlers found friendly indigenous people—-misnamed “Indians”—-who welcomed the new opportunities for trade. In 1619, a Dutch trading ship brought 20 persons abducted from Africa in exchange for goods, thus beginning the institution of slavery in North America. In her speech last week, Queen Elizabeth noted that, “[In] those early years in Jamestown . . . three great civilizations came together for the first time—-Western European, Native American, and African . . . .”  These three civilizations were also in the process of converging in South and Central America and the Caribbean.[1] Read more…

What is Enron?

Enron is the company that altered international finance forever. The company shook the corporate world. This company became the catalyst for many changes in federal and international law as well as other policies dealing with corporate accounting practices. Inquiries surrounding the rise and fall of Enron emerged because of the shifty techniques used to deceive investors and corporate watchdogs. How did this corporation pull the wool over so many people’s eyes? This essay will briefly describe the rise, fall, and international aftermath of the Enron Corporation.

Before delving into the gruesome details, let us go over the details of the Enron Corporation. In 1985 the Northern Natural Gas Company, became what will be known as the core of the Enron Corporation when the company purchased the smaller Houston Natural Gas Company. With the latest acquisition, Enron was formed. The new formed company originally dealt in the transmission and distribution of gas and electricity in the United States. In later years leading up to ultimate demise, the company dealt with multiple of other companies such as water sector, broadband, plastics, and steel. The company also became one of the world’s largest energy companies. Enron became the seventh largest corporation in the United States which interestingly enough also became the largest business scandal in United States’ history. At its epitome, its profits were $101 billion and employed over 20,000 individuals. The question arises, were these claims actual profits? This is where the accounting practices and techniques used by Enron come into question. Read more…

In the art film “The Way Things Go” we see the element of reaction in this world. On the surface, we see that this could be seen as a superficial physics experiment. However, in the end we should realize that the filmmakers wanted the viewer to be moved. Whether the viewer is moved to question certain ideas about his environment or just to ponder the reactions of his environment. The viewer may reach certain conclusions that the reason he is in a certain situation is because of another action. He may also be more aware of the consequences of his actions in the future because this movie moved him to think of the reactions and of the consequences of actions. Barthes’ claims, “we can through art, be intensely moved by something that does not exist, never has existed, and never could exist.” The dictionary’s definition of existence is to have actual being, to have life or animation. “The Way Things Go” is a film that without any effort brings this idea across. The Read more…