Intern for Contrabandit.com Free Essays

For the past 10 weeks of the Fall 2004 quarter, I’ve had the opportunity to work as intern for Contrabandit.com. Contrabandit ran by West Coast political and cultural editor of the Source Ryan Ford aims to provide an uninhabited voice for the hip-hop community as well as inform most of the Minority readers of politics, social and educational news and issues that occur in the world. We will write a custom essay sample on Intern for Contrabandit.com or any similar topic only for you Order Now As a History major, with my interest in Film and Television journalism, Contrabandit has allowed me to study contemporary and cultural history through the medium of Hip-Hop music. I looked at this internship as a starting point to acquiring work experience and possibly advancing into working within the field of entertainment journalism. But as an African-American student at UCLA, Contrabandit has allowed me to chronicle events within hip-hop as they happen and apply the broader historical significance as they occur. Being an African-American student, I view hip-hop as not only just a musical art form, but also as a voice and representation of an entire community. Unlike Jazz and RB, Hip-Hop was a genre truly formed out of the African-American community after the post-civil rights movement and really feels uncorrupted by mainstream pop culture, where it sets the trend, instead of following the pack. When covering the medium of Hip-Hop music, I discovered how far reaching and expansive it has become and with my education at UCLA I’ve been able to view hip-hop from scholarly approach. The main theme I’ve noticed throughout my internship has been Hip-Hop music’s growth and the changes that become of it as it has become an acceptable musical genre generating billions of dollars for the recording industry studios. The three biggest new stories that I was able to cover were the Eminem-Michael Jackson confrontation, Russell Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’s Presidential voter registration campaign, and the violent incident that occurred at the Vibe Awards. On the surface there just current events that needed to be covered to feel up space on the website, but with little probing they actually had far reaching and historical impact on the website, Hip-Hop music and with me in developing my critical writing skills and applying historical analysis from my UCLA course and history major. Jackson boots Eminem off BET (published October 12, 2004) That article resulted in an immediate phone call from my editor, as well as a lecture from him on the role and responsibility of a journalist. He proclaimed my article was blatantly bias and that I was leading the reader to take one point of view or side on the issue, but my job instead was to report the facts in a news story. Which, as my editor expressed to me, is something that’s continues to occur since he beginning of entertainment, and its should not be allowed despite the fact Eminem makes a very good living off of doing â€Å"Black Music† much like Elvis, but again, difference being, Elvis never insulted a African-American musical icon like Michael Jackson, like Eminem has. I’m sure this issue will be glanced over, much like the controversy of the tapes being made public by Hip-Hop magazine â€Å"the Source†, where what occurred was an investigation into why Eminem recorded these racist lyrics, but the Source was attacked for bringing this issue to the public. I must admit, just looking on the surface of the controversy I was quick to pass judgment upon BET for what I saw as its hypocrisy by stating it would not air videos disrespectful of any celebrity. Considering that’s how they made their notoriety during the whole east coast-west coast beef that many attribute to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Christopher â€Å"Biggie† Wallace. But my editor expressed to me that I needed take it into context along with Eminem’s previously uncovered studio recording where he’s referring to African-American men as â€Å"niggers† and African-American women as â€Å"black bitches† in a derogatory manner, is not possible to let this pass as artistic and playful expression. Again he’s shown disrespect to a community that he continues to make million of dollars off of through doing their music, and can be argued is allowed to get away with such offensive behavior because he is a white. Not just with the Africa n-American community, he’s come under fire for his anti-gay remarks from the Gay and Lesbian community, but continues to get way with or at least not suffer any ill effects, whereas if a comparable black celerity had done similar offenses, they would find it difficult to maintain the type of celerity that Eminem enjoys. Working alongside Ryan with Contrabandit, I was able to view the controversy as bigger than Eminem just poking fun and having a laugh at Michael Jackson’s expense, but greater historical, racial, and industry-wide ramification that this cause. The images of Eminem done up in â€Å"Black face† and portraying Jackson as buffoon and monster have long term consequences upon not only his image but that of African-Americans as they see one of their longest musical icons ridiculed in a way not only personally but racially offensive. And even more importantly with no consequences or accountability from Eminem. Russell Simmons; HSAN proclaims 21 million registered youth/minority voters for 2004 election(published November 4, 2004) In the aftermath of the national presidential election, it brought into prospective the efforts of voter registration among young, minority voters. The day after the election, a press release went out from Russell Simmons Hip-Hop Summit Action Network proclaiming that 21 million registered voters from 18-35 voted in the 2004 election, up from the 18 million that had voted in the 2000 election. Although that’s encouraging it was disappointing to know that the voter registration campaign and awareness of the importance of this Presidential election that still George Bush was re-elected. But looking at the numbers and statistics shows a deeper issue and problem arising in America. Working with Contrabandit got me access to covering Russell Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network fundraiser at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Co-sponsored by Sony Playstation, the fundraiser was an entertainment industry party to bring awareness as well as funding to the organization for needed increased minority voter registration and education. Despite their efforts, the hip-hop community that was being courted by Simmons’ HSAN paled in comparison to those of the voters in the Midwestern states. I always felt it was flawed to try to reach out to the hip-hop community as despite the growing numbers of minorities, who will soon grow to be an almost equal number to the majority of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) constituents, some of those minorities are turning towards the conservative ideology. Also there is no unity among this minority group. With more WASP senior citizens living longer, that aging Considering that ultimately the Presidential election was determined by the Midwest, as the Democratic Party hasn’t carried southern states in years, where as California and New York (with a combined 86 electoral votes) are perennial Democratic strongholds. Interestingly, the Midwest won the election for Bush and to me it was a shame that the backlash of gay marriages and abortion (as reported by news affiliates as the determining reason for voting for Bush) were more important than the situation in Iraq, terrorism, and the turbulent economy. I never want to question anyone’s beliefs or morals, but gay marriages and abortion should be an individual’s choice. Most important to take from this election is hopefully maintaining the interest of registered voters beyond this Presidential election, as there are more issues that will arise within the coming years before the 2008 election. In California on the ballot was the repealing of Proposition 187, the 3 strikes law. I understand the â€Å"spirit† of 3 strikes, incarcerating repeat violent offenders from 25 to life sentence in jails, but continually in the years since passage as laws, many third strike offenders have been non-violent repeat offenders. Some argue the old adage don’t commit the crime, won’t do the time, but there’s a bigger issue of privatized prisons making hundreds of millions of dollars off the incarceration of young prisoners and the prison system being made up of predominately African-American and Latino men. Conservative republican fan base are carrying the votes. Melee breaks out at the Vibe Awards(published November 17,2004) Lastly there was the violent altercation that occurred at the, the Vibe awards On November 16. During the four hour taping inside the hangar at the Santa Monica Airport an incident broke as Quincy Jones and Snoop Dogg were presenting an award to Hip-Hop producer Dr. Dre. An unidentified man attacked Dr. Dre, who was later assaulted y several members of his entourage and left him stabbed, later identified as rapper Young Buck by authorities. With the Vibe awards, it is yet another black eye on Hip-Hop as well as on black-themed award shows. The incident alone won’t spell the end of Hip-Hop or these musical award shows, but my over all perspective is the necessity of these award shows. Within the entertainment industry its become a joke that there are too many awards shows. Yet when it comes to black themed award shows, they are usually relegated to lesser channels like UPN and BET, and more often than not are taped delayed events. Such events as the NAACP Image Awards, BET Awards, Soul Train Awards and Soul Train Lady of Soul, Vibe Awards, and the Source Awards all fall into this category. And incidents like this further perpetuate the stereotypes of the safety issue that constantly trouble hip-hop events. Amazingly events like the Rock the Bells concerts a week earlier at Anaheim Stadium that I covered for Contrabandit(and the Source)doesn’t garner the positive press as when chaos ensues at televised events. At that event, despite some illegal drug use, the show went off without any violent altercation or incident, in front of a mostly diverse White, Latino, and Asian audience. Myself being the only amazed at this diversity and more so shows how far hip-ho p music and their artist have developed with such a diverse crowd and the artist being so comfortable in front of them. But dealing with the coverage of black themed awards shows their two sides to the argument. Those that feel that its alright that the awards shows are tape delayed and marginally watched by non-blacks because its for Blacks and its best that we have a awards show tape delayed then none at all. As a matter of fact, the NAACP dubs its annual awards â€Å"Black America’s answer to the Oscars, Emmy’s, Grammy’s, and Pulitzer, as it continues to honor overlook performances by African-American entertainers that the mainstream Hollywood community pass over. But on the other hand there is the argument that by not being a live broadcast somehow relegates it as meaningless shows that don’t really count. For starters, with most of the United States having access to the numerous channels available through cable and satellite television, and at least 5-10 music themed channels, viewing music, film and television entertainers is a lot more accessible then in any era prior to the 1990’s. Before then, it was rare being able to view entertainers outside of movies, therefore making movie and television award shows the only place to see them. Likewise for most, seeing their favorite musical artist perform â€Å"live† at awards show provided a free experience to catch them performing if they were unable to go to a concert to see them performing and this is remembering that MTV didn’t debut till 25 years ago in 1981. But with the emergence of MTV, BET, VH1, and even E!, it has provided a near 24 hour access to view these entertainers and even more so, know them beyond their music or the characters they portray on screen and films. Awards was more than just a night of honor ing actors and musician, but that rare opportunity to view them live and has human. Speaking with my editor Ryan, he allowed me to go further with this topic and try to give our readers some prospective and insight behind awards show and why they exist. Working for the Source, he gave me some inside information about the motives behind events such as the Vibe, Source, BET, and Blockbuster Awards shows: MONEY! By organizing one awards event for on night, the sponsorship and advertising for the event generates more money in one night then the magazines do for the entire year. Even the awards presentations are staged, as more then likely the winner is determined by the artist that will appear, more than who deserves to win. When you look at the BET, Source, and Vibe awards, what they provide great revenue and backlash towards to the mainstream (white) award show are not able to properly honor the hip-hop artists that were annually disregarded for their work. Honestly for the most part the Grammy’s and American Music Awards do base their nomination, and I’ m sure, there awards recipient on mainstream success. But whereas the NAACP Image awards and Soul Train music awards were created to make up for these lack honors to Black performers, these proliferation of the other awards show, seems to be purely done as promotion. The experience that I take from my time working with Contrabandit, has been invaluable in applying the classroom knowledge I acquired from UCLA towards real world situations. Without the historical significance and ramification of events as they occurred and relating them to past events, I would not have been able to elaborate upon them in my writing for the website or convey the importance to my audience at the site. How to cite Intern for Contrabandit.com, Papers

MFS system free essay sample

Basically, culture of MFS is focused on teamwork and community so that MFS manages their employees very fair and its compensation system also reflects this characteristic. For sustaining this team –based culture of MFS, which don’t prefer star(anti star culture), MFS assesses their employees to the ways that not only fund-performance(performance factor) but also contribution to the investment, and contribution to MFS overall(community factor). The portion of performance factor is 60% but community factors are 40%. It is not easy to ignore such a huge portion. In this system, as a result, it cannot be possible to make a good assessments and high rewords without the effort for increasing community factor. So employees have to consider both performance factor and community factors. They should interact with their coworkers frequently, share information they have, and participate in several groups enthusiastically. When MFS recruit new employees, it considers applicants’ feature related with community factors because they don’t want to lose its employee just â€Å"high pay level† of competitor companies offering to the employee. MFS want to leave its employee not for pay level but other things such as team work cultures, individual development circumstance in MFS, and fitness between firm’s value and its employees. They assume that the employee who want to get high pay level could have possibility to turnover MFS when other company offer high pay level compared with MFS. Considering this kind of system, factor that can motivate employees is behavior which can contribute to the community. As an example, organization citizen’s action is that kind of behavior. The action can improve coworkers’ efficiency and job atmosphere so it increase whole performance of organization indirectly. In addition, share their skills( ), related with organization citizen’s action but little bit different, are another way to contribute to company. It is more related with performance factor but in the process of sharing skills, employees took part in that process can communicate with each other and can make good relationship between skill giver and taker. 2. What are the potential problems and major challenges created by the MFS performance evaluation system? What are your suggestions for managing these problems and challenges? It is very nature that assessment system based on community factors is subjective. Subjective assessment is difficult to deal with ‘contribution to performance’ it is also problem when the situation of 360 diverse assessment because to get higher grade, employees too much focus on relationship factor so their efforts are diluted. Of course community factor is important but 40% of assessment portions are too much. In terms of employees’ point of view MFS assessment system can decrease motivation of performance factor. The evidence is there are no employees to do their work just 5 minutes after office time. That is because MFS don’t give extra payment to employees performance related effort so they don’t want to work hard enough to reach their maximum ability. In addition, low penalty of low performance is another problem MFS compensation system contained. Of course, in long term point of view and considering MFS culture, MFS want to find out low estimated stocks or asset to invest. In that point, short term performance is not that important but it could cause reducing ability because employees don’t afraid of being fired as reason of fool performance in the short term period. At last, basically all human want to receive appropriate reword when they achieve something valuable. But MFS don’t offer its employee even if the employees make remarkable performance so the employees are hard to have attachment to their work. In terms of supervisors’ point of view No objective indicates for assessment mean that supervisors consider more various possibilities when they assess their subordinate. And time and effort are also more required. As a result, supervisors are in trouble because of the reduced time for their own tasks so they couldn’t put their best efforts on the task. (Supervisors feel tired after assessment process) it is kind of waste to the MFS. Suggestion To exchange the balance of assessment system is one of the way to enhance efficiency of MFS. Setting the portion of performance factor 60% to 70% and reduce the portion of community factor 40% to 30%. 30% is not ignorable score to the employees so they would still do community friendly behavior for 30% but they more focus on performance factor to achieve high assessment score. In addition, they diversify their subjective assessment tool ‘Free-writing’ to ‘check-list ‘. When making check-list, we can extract some important and valuable issues on the previous Free-writings from their employees, then including the issues on the check-list. It can make supervisor less tired because supervisor don’t need to consider very specific information about employees. 3. Do you think that MFS will be successful in using their system for their hedge fund managers? If not, why not? If so, upon what will their success depend? The system based on performance is needed. High risk-high return is feature of hedge fund so MFS should control the risk. For that, loyalty of employee is most important factor and thy way to increase employee’s loyalty is giving them certain satisfactory compensation because if employee makes huge profit from their task but firm doesn’t give him compensation, that make employee miserable. As time goes by, the employee feels uncomfortable through the gap between their performance and compensation level. At this situation, the way for motivating employee should be exist. If not, MFS system accelerates turnover rate of hedge department employee. MFS just have team based culture. But it is not fit in the hedge fund business. So it must change their motivation tool for the new business. However, to give additional bonus is not allowed to its culture. Regarding it, I want to recommend â€Å"Hall of fame†( ) for their employees. When certain employee achieves remarkable performance in hedge fund, MFS register his name on the company bulletin board. That makes him proud himself. But the period of on the bulletin board should be short for the rest of other employees. The reason is that too long period of it makes other employees’ feeling inferior. The purpose is just not to make stars but to motivate someone who is very good. But this strategy is mainly focus on the person who has very strong need in the growth desire. (According to the theory of ERG) However, employees’ desire is belong to the existence desire, it is very hard to deal with the employees.

Mango Street Essays - Chicano Literature, The House On Mango Street

Mango Street The House on Mango Street In The House On Mango Street Esperanza reveals personal experiences through which the reader is able to determine what kind of person she is; her views on life, how she views herself, as well as how her poverty affects her view of life, her view of her future, and how her poverty currently affects her place in the world. The vignettes show different aspects of Esperanza's identity as it evolves and changes progressively throughout The House On Mango Street. Esperanza's identity, as divulged in the vignettes, is multifaceted. Her shyness is evident when she is around people who are unfamiliar to her. This is most likely due to the intimidation these people pose. For example, in the vignettes ?The First Job? and ?A Rice Sandwich? Esperanza is too shy to eat with her other co-workers and peers, as shown in the following quotation from ?The First Job?: ?When lunch time came I was scared to eat alone in the company lunchroom?. Another dominant feature in Esperanz a's personality is the trust she has in others. This is one of Esperanza's weaknesses as an individual because it allows her to be gullible and vulnerable. In ?Cathy Queen of Cats' Esperanza's gullibility is obvious when Cathy tells Esperanza that ?...[her] father will have to fly to France one day and find her...cousin...and inherit the family house. How do I know this is so? She told me so.?. Another error in trusting others is that Esperanza is susceptible to betrayal. In ?Red Clowns' Esperanza is betrayed by Sally because Sally told Esperanza that the circus would be a fun experience, but instead she was raped. Esperanza blames Sally, the magazines, and the movies for lying to her about the circus. Esperanza is a very idealistic person. She assumes everything is pretty and fun, but when she finds out the acrimonious reality of life she becomes disappointed and deems herself stupid for not knowing better. Unbeknownst to Esperanza, her naivet? and inexperience is normal. For examp le, in ?Gil's Furniture Bought how she has not found her place in the world. Esperanza, like the trees, is trapped. While Esperanza is trapped on Mango Street, the trees are trapped in concrete. The quotation from ?Four Skinny Trees? illustrates an optimism despite the limitations. ?Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach.? The desire to leave Mango Street is the desire to lay new roots. There is an optimism which is inconsistent with Esperanza's negative self image. Esperanza's poverty acts as a physical obstacle from leaving Mango Street, but it does not prevent her from creating dreams and desires. On Mango Street Esperanza lives in a dilapidated, tiny house; a house with ?bricks ...crumbling in places...? ?Everybody has to share a bedroom...? From this poverty was born Esperanza's dream. ?I knew then I had to have a house. A real house.? Although her dream is to live in a house ?with trees around it, a great big yard, and grass growing without a fence,? Esperanza does not plan to abandon those who cannot leave Mango Street. ?They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind.? Esperanza maintains a commitment to her roots on Mango Street. At the outset of The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is presented as a shy girl with low self esteem. As the book

Timor Leste essays

Timor Leste essays After centuries of external oppression as well as civil war, the Democratic Republic of East Timor is facing both challenges and opportunities with regard to the country's economic and environmental sustainability. Politically, oppression has been suffered at the hands of the Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and Indonesians. The country has finally overcome all these invasions and gained its independence under United Nations mandate, to become a sovereign state on 20 May 2002. However, the repercussions of poor governmental management along with other issues have kept the East Timor wedged in its third-world status, with few resources to promote either financial or environmental sustainability. Combined with political difficulties, East Timor is furthermore challenged by its geographic environment. The country is for example very mountainous, which causes agricultural problems. Few crops will grow in such a region. Developments such as roads and other modern infrastructure are also difficult and expensive, due to the landscape structure. The current situation of the people in East Timor is that the nation comprises more or less four million inhabitants, relying mostly on crops such as rice, coffee and coconuts. Poverty and unemployment are two of the biggest social problems in the country. However, its recent gain of independence has injected into the country and its people a sense of both urgency and eagerness to rise above their situation. This paradigm should then be used by the international community to help the country achieve its ideal of becoming economically and environmentally sustainable. Being representative of the global community, the United Nations Development can make a significant contribution to improving East Timor's situation by means of its Environment and Natural Resources Unit. Inherently, East Timor has the capacity to be both enviro...

Learn How Insects Hear

Learn How Insects Hear Sound is created by vibrations carried through the air. By definition, an animals capacity to hear means that it has one or more organs that perceived and interpreted those air vibrations. Most insects have one or more sensory organs that are sensitive to vibrations transmitting through the air. Not only do insects hear, but they may actually be more sensitive than other animals to sound vibrations. Insect sense and interpret sounds in order to communicate with other insects and to navigate their environments. Some insects even listen for the sounds of predators in order to avoid being eaten by them.   There are four different types of auditory organs that insects may possess.   Tympanal Organs Many hearing insects have a pair of tympanal organs that vibrate when they catch sound waves in the air. As the name hints, these organs catch the sound and vibrate in much the way that a tympani, the large drum used in the percussion section of an orchestra, does it when its drum head is struck by a percussion mallet.   Like the tympani, the tympanal organ consists of a membrane tightly stretched on a frame over an air-filled cavity. When the percussionist hammers on the membrane of the tympani, it vibrates and produces a sound; an insects tympanal organ vibrates in much the same way as it catches sound waves in the air. This mechanism is exactly the same as found in the eardrum organ of humans and other animal species. Many insects have the ability to hear in a manner quite similar to the way we do it.   An insect also has a special receptor called the chordotonal organ, which senses the  vibration of the tympanal organ and translates the sound into a nerve impulse. Insects that use tympanal organs to hear include grasshoppers and crickets, cicadas, and some butterflies and moths. Johnstons Organ For some  insects, a group of sensory cells on the antennae form a receptor  called the Johnstons organ, which  collects auditory information. These group of sensory cells is found on the pedicel, which is the second segment from the base of the antennae, and it detects vibration of the segment(s) above. Mosquitoes and fruit flies are examples of insects that hear by using the Johnstons organ. In fruit flies, the organ is used to sense the wing-beat frequencies of mates, and in hawk moths, it is thought to assist with stable flight. In honeybees, Johnstons organ assists in the location of food sources.   Johnstons organ is a type of receptor found only no  invertebrates other than insects. It is named for the physician Christopher Johnston (1822-1891), a professor of surgery at the University of Maryland who discovered the organ. Setae The larvae of Lepidoptera  (butterflies and moths)  and  Orthoptera  (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) use small stiff hairs, called setae, to sense  sound  vibrations. Caterpillars often respond to vibrations in the setae by exhibiting defensive behaviors. Some will stop moving completely, while others may contract their muscles and rear up in a fighting posture. Setae hairs are found on many species, but not all of them use the organs to sense sound vibrations.   Labral Pilifer A structure in the mouths of certain hawkmoths enables them to hear ultrasonic sounds, such as those produced by echolocating bats. The labral pilifer, a tiny hair-like organ, is believed to sense vibrations at specific frequencies. Scientists have noted a distinctive movement of the insects tongue when they subject  captive hawkmoths to sounds at these particular frequencies. In flight, the hawkmoths can avoid a pursuing bat by using the labral pilifer to detect their echolocation signals.

Having our say and black men and public space (racism) Essay

Having our say and black men and public space (racism) - Essay Example The African American life is detailed in these stories. The story has a purpose of promoting harmony, courage and equality among American people. The stories talks about the mean ways of human and how they think color of skin decides the quality of a human. The writers alerts us that racism is an obstacle which is not easy to overcome and one need lot of determination and willpower to succeed in life in such a situation. Both the stories tell us that black people are treated in public place with despise and hatred. These narrations make us realize the hard life of black people in America who had to face racism throughout their life. They feel stolen of their identity, rights and freedom. They had to face racist attack at school, restaurants, public transport and work. This kind of alienation put forward a kind of resentment, revenge and frustration among black population. The black sisters in the novel â€Å"Having our say† talk how they handled the racism. One of the sisters responds strongly while the other one was submissive. This reality as many do not respond to criticism while some may be expressive. Staple understands that such racist view can hurt one immensely but keeps silence as he think it is a better way to face the situation. The racism is unfortunate for a country like America where people are educated and civilized. These readings show that education necessarily does not mean being civilized. The reading â€Å"Black men in public space† indicate that black people are often taken as criminals. Black men are often mistaken for being a rapist, mugger or burglar. People lock their doors or stay away when they see black men at public places. It is as if the black people represent crime and white people are perceived as moral and decent. The author of this tells that he has been mistaken for being a criminal many times which shows the ignorance and racist attitudes of white race. The author claims that white people have a misconception

Criminal law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Criminal law - Assignment Example I believe that the wearing of the disguises added more intent to the crime. The use of violence also added necessitated the treatment of the crime as an adult offense. Section 8 of the Theft Act 1968 is primarily the law relevant to this case2. Robbery is considered an aggravated form of theft which involves force or the threat of force on a person. The robbery is further aggravated in this case by the wearing of disguises3. In general, the act of Alura includes the various elements of the crime of robbery, where an individual who steals, immediately before or at the time of stealing, uses force or threat of force, on any person, and uses such force or threat of force in order to steal4. The law is accurately portrayed in the article, as the elements of the crimes constituting robbery are presented in the article. What is downplayed however in the discussion is the age of the offender which is below the age of majority. In taking issue with discernment, the fact that the minor was ab le to plan out the crimes and having the foresight and skills to prepare disguises to conceal his identity indicates adequate discernment which should make him liable as an adult offender, therefore be treated and sentenced as such. 2. Graff Diamonds robber Aman Kassaye jailed for 23 years The issue discussed by the article refers to the crime of robbery, the sentence imposed by the courts, and the different aggravating elements which included the commission of the offense. The conspiracy to rob committed by the other conspirators to the crime was also indicated in the article5. I believe that the article covered the major elements pertinent to the robbery. As was discussed in the earlier article, the use of force or the threat or force or violence aggravates theft into robbery6. Moreover, impunity is added to the robbery with the use of disguises to the commission of the crime, hence the sentence of the offenders is in the higher ranges7. The cases of R v. Harding and R v. Eubank d emonstrate the increase in penalty for offenders carrying out armed robberies, with the use of firearms subject to a separate count. The kidnap of the shop assistant also constitutes another crime, which was also treated separately by the court in terms of sentence imposition8. All these elements of the crime combined led to the higher range of sentence imposed on the criminals. The law is more or less accurately portrayed in the article, especially in terms of the higher penalty imposed for the criminals, and the pertinent aggravating circumstances mentioned in the article. The fact that the crime is committed with firearms, with disguises, and with violence indicates elements which the courts would consider in order to establish the existence of the crime of robbery. The article however does not indicate why the sentences are different for the three offenders when they are all conspirators to the same offense. The article also does not mention the damages which were imposed on the different offenders considering that the property stolen amounts to substantial losses for the victims. 3. Gunmen grab diamonds worth ?32m in three minutes The article details the sophistication and the level of deception used by the offenders in order to perpetuate their offense. The article discusses the robbery itself, the use of automatic weapons, the value of the property stolen, and the use of disguises, including the impersonation of police officers in order to carry out the offense9. These details all contribute to the