Great Ideologies Stemming Out From Chaos Essay Example for Free

Great Ideologies Stemming Out From Chaos Essay Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Paine, three great political philosophers, all view the nature of man and society as anarchical, which is a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority, making it â€Å"war of all against all†. The utopian society of individuals enjoys complete freedom without government, wherein there is a display of a lack of morality for most of the time. In the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes presented the political state as a Leviathan—a sea monster. As a metaphor for the state, it is described as a replica of a person whose body is made up of all the bodies of its citizens, who are the literal members of the Leviathans body, and placing the sovereign as the head. In order for them to escape this natural condition, the people in the state constructed the Leviathan through social contract wherein they give up certain natural rights and transfer them to another person of authority. In turn, the power of the Leviathan protects them from the abuses of one another. The source of inequality comes from the scarcity of resources. If one looks around at other animals—Hobbes specifically notes ants and bees—they appear to live harmoniously with one another without any sort of state or society. If they can do so, then why cant men who are, after all, â€Å"animals† themselves? Hobbes discussed several reasons as to why men cannot live this way: the main one being that men are rational creatures. If we lived in some pre-societal concord with others, reason would always devise ways for us to cheat and make ourselves better off than others in order for us to survive. Furthermore, as we humans possess speech, we are able to mislead one another about our wants and desires. Hobbes also claims that animals naturally agree with one another while humans do not, and the reason for this essentially is because man is competitive in nature and therefore views everyone around him as a threat. Therefore, the government is created to provide order and regulation. For Hobbes, the best form of government is monarchy for four reasons: first, since humans will always choose the private over the public good, the best way to ensure peace when choosing a sovereign is to have these united. And by the outweighing of private good over public ones, infighting and corruption within government is encouraged. Second, having a secret counsel is allowed in a monarchy as opposed to in a democracy or aristocracy. Third, a monarchy is more consistent: since the monarch is one person and humans are not perfectly consistent, the commonwealth changes only as human nature dictates. In a democracy and aristocracy, because more natural bodies compose the sovereign, the commonwealth is more subject to human inconsistency as well as the inconsistency that comes from a change in the makeup of the sovereign, which happens with each election cycle or new member of the aristocracy. Lastly, infighting or warring factions caused by envy, self-interest, or any other human imperfections cannot be seen in a monarchy. On the other hand, Jean-Jacques Rousseau views the government as an abomination because it interferes with the nature of man. His aim is to examine the foundations of inequality among men, and to determine whether this inequality is authorized by natural law. He attempts to demonstrate that modern moral inequality, which is created by an agreement between men, is unnatural and unrelated to the true nature of man and that it is necessary to consider human nature and to chart how that nature has evolved over the centuries to produce modern man and modern society. Like Hobbes, he describes man as just another animal, and this proves to be very important. The distinction between human and animal was used both to justify mans possession and use of the Earths resources, and to explain why humans apparently have certain unique capabilities, such as reason and language. He further expounds that man is like yet unlike other animals, due to the unique way he develops. And as time goes by, human faculties were being fully developed. To be and to appear became two different things. Man became subjugated by a multitude of new needs, especially by his need for other men. Man became a slave to men as one takes pleasure in domination and tries to be their master. However, this is only true for the rich. When the powerful claims a right to another persons goods, such as the right of property, the inequality can lead to a state of war. Therefore, the rich tried to persuade the weak, who were indeed easily convinced, to unite with them into a supreme power to institute rules of justice and peace. Men ran towards their chains in the belief that they were securing their freedom, while those who did know about the deceit thought that they could trade part of their freedom for security. Although his idea sounds wrong, it essentially represents a point at which the self-preservation and pity of savage man are perfectly balanced with the acute regard for oneself in relation to others of modern man. Some aspects of reason and communal life are good, but they are still potentially destructive. In criticizing civility and concern for others as negative features of society, Rousseau goes against the good manners and civility that are generally seen as restraining the savage features of man, as he feels that there is nothing to restrain in natural man, and civility only makes men compare themselves to one another. As for Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man, he justifies the principles of modern republican governments. He attacks the notion of monarchy and privilege and argues that each generation has the right to establish its own system of government. No nation can legally be ruled by a hereditary monarchy because government is for the living and not the dead. No generation has the right to establish a government binding on future generations. He argues that humankind can reach its full potential under republican governments which would allow individuals to live free of privilege and caste. To sum it all up, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Paine put forward an idea of how the government sprung from inequality and lack of a central world authority. For Hobbes, an absolute monarchial government ruled by one person only, is necessary to fulfill the society’s need for order and the regulation of its people so that society can avoid from spiraling into anarchy. As for Rousseau, a government having biases towards the rich while deceiving the poor was created so that the insecurities of the people would force them in order to perpetuate inequality which make them dependent on the government, giving it more power. Lastly, for Paine, a representative and democratic government is formed to protect the people’s rights to be protected and to safeguard them from the threat of chaos, allowing the people to create an environment where they can mature and achieve their potential. Despite the differences in some parts of their ideologies such as the sources of inequality and the roles of the government, a single goal is presented—that is, for the creation of a concept of government in order to prevent the society from turning back to its nature of anarchism. While Hobbes’ â€Å"one-man rule† could lead to abuse of power, his intention is for this monarchial type of government to administer order and self-preservation in the society. As for Rousseau, the maintenance of an inequality between social classes assures the stabilization of finite resources and society itself. Lastly, for Paine, his ideal world of a representative-democratic government lies on the belief that environmental influences create the individual and that a benevolent form of government can bring about human happiness. Putting them together, their main objective can be viewed as the organization and harmonization of society so as to push it towards progression. References: (n.d.). Rights of Man. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http://www.enotes.com/rights-man salem/rights-man SparkNotes Editors. (n.d.). SparkNote on Discourse on Inequality. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/inequality/

Market Research Report Energy and Sports Drink Market Growth in Asia Essay Example for Free

Market Research Report Energy and Sports Drink Market Growth in Asia Essay The changing consumer preferences, demand for functional beverages, increasing awareness towards healthy lifestyles and growing urban population in Asia would be the major factors that would drive the market in coming years. An increasing awareness towards healthy lifestyles has led to a transition in the taste and preferences of people in Asia. The young urban population has been the target customer for energy and sports drink brands in this region. The energy and sports drinks are majorly consumed by professional sports people, gym goers and by working professionals and students that require a special beverage in order to boost their energy and stay active. â€Å"The increasing participation of the health conscious people in sports and fitness activities has greatly impacted the growth trend of sports and energy drink market in Asia. The young population aged 25-35 years represents a potential group of customers for the energy and sports drink manufacturers in the region. † – According to the research report ‘Asia Energy and Sports Drink Market Outlook to 2017’ by Ken Research. The increasing media exposure towards sporting events on television has captured the attention of people, which in turn has encouraged the youth to adopt sports as a profession or as a hobby. This has impelled the growth of sports drinks in Asian countries over the last few years. Sports drinks market in Asia is dominated by famous brands such as Gatorade, Powerade and Pocari Sweat. Red Bull majorly has dominated the energy drink market in the region. Red Bull has effectively maintained a strong distribution channel in various countries in Asia such as in India, China, Japan, Thailand and in South Korea. The energy and sports drink market is anticipated to be driven by the growing trend of health and fitness is expected to create significant demand in Asian countries. The consumer expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages is expected to surge in the region owing to the rise in disposable incomes of the people. The rising awareness about fitness and health benefits among the people in the region will encourage more people to join fitness and sports clubs which will drive the demand and consumption of energy and sports drink in the coming years. The report provides detailed overview on the energy and sports drink market in Asia and help reader to identify the ongoing trends in the key segments of the industry and anticipated growth in future depending upon changing industry dynamics in coming years. The report will aid industry consultants, food and beverage service companies and marketing companies and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to ongoing and expected trends in future. For More Details Please Click On Following Link: http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/asia-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/429-104. html http://www. kenresearch. com/press/news-asia-energy-and-sports-drink-market/211. html Related Links: http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/japan-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/432-104.html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/south-korea-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/433-104. Html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/india-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/431-104. html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/thailand-energy-and-sports-market-research-report/434-104. html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/china-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/430-104. html.

Proficient Key Tree Structure for Secure Dynamic Groups

Proficient Key Tree Structure for Secure Dynamic Groups Secure Group Communication ensures forward secrecy and backward secrecy of the data. It is the responsibility of the Group Center (GC) to disallow new members to have access to previous data called backward secrecy and existing members who have left the group to have further access to data called forward secrecy. Forward and backward secrecy can be ensured by updating the keys whenever a join/leave request is handled. This process is called as re-keying. The tree structure is appropriate for maintaining keys. Most of the schemes use binary tree structure for maintaining keys. The Key tree structure uses three kinds of keys such as Traffic Encryption Key (TEK), Key Encryption Key (KEK) and Individual Key (IK). TEK is the top level key called Group key, KEKs are the intermediate level keys called subgroup keys and IKs are the leaf level keys. Figure 3.1 shows the binary tree with 3-levels, which keeps keys at all levels. Based on the number of levels in the binary tree, the height of the tree (H) is calculated. Therefore the height H is 3 since there are three levels in the binary tree. Multicast group members are inserted into the tree only at leaf level. The number of nodes is 2n+1-1 and group members are 2n where ‘n’ is the number of levels in the tree. Here, there are eight members in the multicast group and are represented by M1 to M8. The top level key K0 is the TEK, K1 to K6 are KEKs and IK1 to IK8 are the member’s private keys. Figure 3.1 3-level Binary Tree In the key tree based group key management, the Key Centre (KC) delivers new keys to the group members by encrypting them with older keys. Then, the group members have to decrypt the encrypted keys with their old keys. All these encryption and decryption computations amplify the load on KC, resulting in delay to espouse the group key. It also increases power consumption to acquire the new group key. All keys must be stored in the memory of communication devices and group members have to accumulate the group keys in a secure memory like Universal Subscriber Identity module (USIM) to safeguard from various kinds of attacks and intrusions. Also, each program requires memory to reserve their secure keys. Since the memory space is limited, the number of keys to be stored must also be minimised. Keeping these constraints in sight, this work suggests the proficient key tree structure, considering the efficiencies of computation and storage costs. 3.1 PROFICIENT KEY TREE STRUCTURE (PKS) The proficient key tree structure consists of two parts in which the lower part constitutes of binary trees to minimise the communication cost and the upper part consists of flat trees up to 2 levels to alleviate the key computation and key storage costs. The TEK is directly connected to the KEKs on the top part of the tree so that it is a subset of the level homogeneous tree. Figure 3.2 Proficient Key Tree Structure with 1 flat level Figure 3.2 shows the proficient key tree with 1flat level and 1 binary level. A Flat tree is used for reducing the computation and storage costs. From the binary key tree, one TEK, 6 KEKs and 8 IKs are stored for 8 members at three levels. Compared to the 3-level binary key tree, l-flat level PKS maintains all 8 members at 2 levels and it requires 1 TEK, 4 KEKs and 8IKs. The number of KEK is reduced if flat tree is used. This reduces key storage and key computation costs. In case of 2 flat levels and 1 binary level, 1 KEK, 16 KEKs and 32 IKs are maintained for 32 members at 3 levels. Figure 3.3 shows the proficient key tree with 2 flat and 1 binary level. Joining and Leaving are two important operations in a multicast group. Figure 3.3 Proficient Key Tree Structure with 2 flat levels and 1 binary level If the member M24 wants to leave the group, some key updates are required for maintaining confidentiality and integrity of data. The keys K0, K3 and K16 should be updated as a part of re-keying process. The Key Centre selects a key for encryption of the new key and this new key must be kept secret from the leaving member. This ensures the property of forward secrecy. 3.1.1 Batch Re-keying When multiple members want to leave from the multicast group, the key updates are done as a batch called batch re-keying (Li et al 2001). In batch re-keying, the interval for which key server waits, is termed as re-key interval. The entire join and leave requests are collected during this re-key interval to generate new keys. Moreover, it also constructs a re-key message and multicasts it. Batch re-keying improves efficiency because the number of re-key messages to be signed is reduced. One message is signed for a batch of requests unlike one for each. Batch re-keying takes advantage of the possible overlap of new keys for multiple re-key requests. 3.1.2 Join Operation When a new member (Ui) wishes to join the group, the member has to send a request. In addition to the information of existing group members, the Key Distribution Center requires the new level K’ to insert the member into the tree (Figure 3.4). If the performance of the joining member is worst, then the new level K’ should be smaller than the level of present key tree structure (K). The following steps are followed to join the member in the multicast group. Step 1: Receive join request from the new member to the multicast group Step 2: Determine the level of the current tree, K and new level required K’ Step 3: If K’ is greater than or equal to K, check whether the tree is complete Step 4: If the tree is a complete tree, broadcast the remove key message that are on the same level K Step 5: If K’ is less than K, set K as K’ and check whether the tree is complete. Step 6: If the tree is complete, broadcast remove key messages that are on a higher level than or same level as K’ else broadcast that are on a higher level than K’. Figure 3.4 Key tree updates when user joins From the first part of the Figure 3.4, eight members are on the leaf level and the height of the lower part of the tree K is 2. If the member U9 joins into the tree, it is inserted at the leaf level. It requires one more level since the tree is complete. Therefore, the new level K’ is 3. In order to make the tree into a PKS tree, it needs to maintain the same level and the flat level is to be introduced. Therefore, the existing key tree structure is to be updated and it looks like the second part of the Figure 3.4. K1 and K2 are removed and the top level node is directly connected to K3, K4, K5 and K6 nodes after adding the new member at the leaf level. Figure 3.5 Join Operation in the PKS tree If K’ is greater than or equal to K, the KC need not to change the key tree level, excluding the case when the present key tree is a complete K-level PKS. In case of complete PKS, the key tree structure needs one more level to accommodate new members and to do so, KC should broadcast the remove key message to exterminate the KEKs in level K as in Figure 3.5. If K’ is less than K, it indicates that the height of PKS needs to be lowered from K+1 to K’+1 in order to support the new member. As lowering the height increases the communication cost depends on KC whether to accept the new join request or not. If such addition increases the communication cost, then Key Centre can reject the request. If the tree is complete PKS, KC has to broadcast the remove key message for removing the KEKs on same or higher level than K’. 3.1.3 Leave Operation If a group member wants to leave, it has to send a ‘Leave Request’ to the Key Centre. After receiving the request from the member(s), KC has to update the subgroup keys to maintain confidentiality and secrecy of communication. After updating the group keys, it may be a case that the height of the tree is changed due to the empty positions created as a result of leaving members. In such scenarios, height is recalculated for the tree structure’s lower part i.e. K†. In addition to this, if a group member leaves the group then the height of the tree is updated. Thus, a newly required level K’ is determined by considering the memory space and computation power of the remaining members. The following steps are followed to leave the member into the multicast group. Step 1: Receive a leave request from the member Step 2: Update new KEKs Step 3: Recalculate the height of the changed tree, K’’ Step 4: Determine a new required level K’ Step 5: If both K’’ and K’ are not equal and heightening the level of the tree, create levels from K’’+1 to K’. Figure 3.6 Key tree updates when a user leaves From the Figure 3.6, the member U9 wants to leave the multicast group. K is 2 and the height of the lower part of the changed key tree K† is 1. If K† is smaller than K, the KC decides to heighten the height of the tree. If it so, it generates new KEKs on level two. If K† is equal to K’ then the height of the changed key tree is same as the height of key tree which is required for communication. In this scenario, no changes will be done in the height of the key tree structure. If K† Figure 3.7 Leave operation in the PKS tree 3.2 PERFORMANCE METRICS The performance of the PKS tree structure is evaluated in different aspects of costs such as Key computation, Key storage. 3.2.1 Key Computation Cost In a key tree structure, three keys are considered. They are group key (TEK), subgroup key (KEK) and Individual Keys (IK). As the level in a key tree structure increases, the number of keys for the group or member also increases. The depth of a binary tree equals to the integer part of log2n, where‘n’denotes the number of nodes on the balanced tree. The PKS tree maintains two types of levels. They are the flat levels (fl) and binary levels (bl). The height (H) of the tree is the number of flat and binary levels, i.e., H=fl+bl. Each member has one key on each level. Therefore, the number of key computations is same as the height of the key tree. 3.2.2 Key Storage Cost Key storage cost is defined as the number of keys stored by each member in the multicast group and KC. Each member has to store one key on each level. Therefore, it is the height of the tree ‘fl+bl’ for the PKS tree and ‘bl’ for the binary tree. 3.3 SUMMARY Proficient tree based re-keying algorithm is proposed so that it reduces the number of re-keying operations per join/leave request. The Proficient Key Tree Structure has two parts in which the lower part constitutes of binary trees to minimise the communication cost and the upper part consists of flat trees to alleviate the key computation and key storage costs. The time efficiency of all key tree structures is based on the height of the trees. The height is the number of binary levels of the binary tree and the height of the PKS tree is based on the number of flat and binary levels. It is concluded that the time efficiency of the PKS tree is less than the binary tree since the height of PKS is lesser than the binary key tree for the specified number of members in the multicast group. Thus, the proficient key tree structure for re-keying is proposed in this chapter. It gives the complete picture about joining and leaving of users in the multicast group and the key computations during re-keying operations. Multilevel encryption and decryption using graceful codes are discussed in the following chapter.

Charles Darwin, Social Darwinism, and Imperialism Essay -- Social Darwi

England went through dramatic changes in the 19th century. English culture, socio-economic structure and politics where largely influenced by the principles of science. Many social expressions occurred due to these changes. Transformations which categorized this time period could be observed in social institutions; for instance: the switch from popular Evangelicalism to atheism, emergence of feminism and the creation of new political ideologies (Liberalism, Conservatism and Radicalism). These are just a few of the changes that took place. All of this social alteration can be attributed to the importance of science. The English people began to trust more in empiricism and logical thought than in faith and glory of the empire . One who contributed greatly to this transformation was Charles Darwin. In his two most famous works, The Origin of Species and The Decent of Man, Darwin introduces the concept of "the survival of the fittest" and "natural selection". The Darwinian ideas introduced into English society justified a great number of political policies and social movements. England at the turn of the century was still a largest power in the international system. The English perceived, through the justification of Darwinism, they were fit to be the imperial hegemon in the world. The issue this essay will deal with is Imperialism and how Darwinism justified its practice. Darwin argued in his work, The Decent of Man, "When civilised...

Marbury vs. Madison :: essays research papers

In the Supreme Court case of George Reynolds vs. United States, 1879, concerned an older Mormon living in the Utah Territory under federal laws, was charged with a violation of a federal law forbidding marriage in all federal territories. The practice of multiple marriage couples is a practice common among Mormons of that time period. The United States put into effect a law the restricted multiple marriage couples upon receiving word that Mormons were moving into the Utah Territory. Since the United States Government was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs, they frowned heavily on the Mormon practice and used their power to restrict their ability to act on their beliefs. The principle of democracy that is directly applicable to this situation is Equality under the Law. George Reynolds took his case to the Supreme Court in objection that he could not fully pursue his religion. He argued that the first amendment guarantees that persons will be free from any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. That no federal law could interfere with a person’s religious belief or with actions based on those beliefs. That the federal law was unconstitutional and his conviction should be overturned. In his eyes he was not being treated fairly by the government because of what his religion believed was acceptable. He felt that multiple partner relationships should be allowed and that the United States was out of line in restricting that. The Supreme Court ruled that the case presented an obvious and compelling need to regulate a question of behavior offensive to public will. The first amendment cannot be used as a shield to protect any person against criminal behavior. This ruling states that the first amendment cannot be used as an excuse to do whatever you want simply because your religion says that’s ok to do. Mr. Reynolds is allowed to believe that multiple partners are acceptable, but he is not allowed to practice that belief, according to the law of the United States. The Supreme Court ruling was quite inaccurate in that they think Mormon beliefs are wrong because they differ from their own beliefs. Because Mormon religion is a minority in this country, the rest of the United States feels that they have the right to regulate how the Mormon religion can and cannot be practiced. Mormons should be allowed to pursue their religion to the fullest extent without causing harm to himself or herself or any other individual.

A Computerized World :: science

A Computerized World Since the first computer was made in the late fifties, the technology has developed extremely. Computers which took the place of a living-room then, are now being made in creditcard-formats. More and more areas are being taken over by the computer. As computers are capable of handling large amounts of data in a very short time, they are well suited for wordprocessing. I guess that it won't be long till all the paper-archives are replaced by magnetic tapes and diskettes. A diskette can contain much more data than a written page, and it takes less place! It is possible to get the Norwegian telephone book on just one diskette. In near future, a new area will be taken over by computers, namely maps. Different routes are stored on one single compact-disk. Imagine, simply insert the CD into the CD-driver in your car, and tell the computer where to go. The rest will be done automatically. This will be a safer, faster, and more comfortable way to travel. Another new area, called "virtual reality" is currently being tested. This is a way to simulate reality on a monitor. In order to feel this so-called reality you have to wear special electronic glasses and an electronic suit. Fastened to the suit are sensors, which send information to the main computer. This computer works with the data and displays them on the electronic spectacles. This is a technique which use three-dimentional views, therefore the scenery seems incredibly realistic. If you want to be a boxer, simply change the scenery on the main computer, and you are in the ring. Today, many kids have got video games. You could say these games are the present's answer to ludo and monopoly. In a way, it is a great advantage that the kids are being presented to computors at an early age, because they will definitely have to use them later, when they start to work. In the future there will be few occupations which won't use computors, one way or another. But the videogames are often being presented as something negative, which hinder the kids from doing homework and other more useful activities. This partially true, if they do much of it. But generally, I think the young people's contact with computers is positive. In Norway today, it is getting more common to have a computer at home. You can use a personal computer to keep household-budgets or other economics.

Christmas Celebration Essay

As Christmas arrives, instead of just opening presents, my family celebrates it by throwing a fun and exciting party. The events we plan are way to thrilling than any ordinary Christmas celebration because it’s our family’s tradition. For example, each year we make American style food and Vietnamese food, open presents under the Christmas tree, eat at the dining table, and sing! Most of my family members could not control their excitement and have broken one of the family’s traditions of opening presents by age. While we do celebrate Christmas like any other family does, we tend to celebrate it differently each year to change it up. Opening presents under the Christmas tree first, helps organize everything from causing chaos. Most of the time it’s our last event because it’s worth the wait, but most of us can’t help and take a peek at ours first. My family open presents uniquely different than other families because we wait for our turns. Our family has a tradition of opening of opening presents from youngest to oldest. We have been following this tradition for as long as I can remember. While, waiting, it’s hard for me to watch because I get extremely impatient, I’m always at the couch watching TV. Next, we heard over to the mall Christmas tree and take a Chinese red envelope filled with money. The envelope contains bills that vary from $1,$5,$10,$20 and $50. This is the most exciting part after opening presents because who wouldn’t want to test out their luck? I have the worst luck when it comes to picking an envelope off the tree. Every year, I always get $1 bills or $5 bills! This changed last year, when I hit the jackpot and won $50! Overall everyone not only receive presents, but goes home with money in their pockets. After opening presents and selecting our red envelopes off the tree, we take family pictures. The first picture is always serious because it has to be perfect. My cousin Michael, and I try our best to hold in our laugher, but we never successfully do. If the first shot isn’t perfect or if we joke around, then we all have to stand there until a perfect picture has been taken. After that we change into our Christmas sweaters and take silly photos. Nobody ever wants to see just serious Christmas photos in the family scrapbook! We take silly pictures to make it a fun and funny experience. Next we head over to the dining table to eat as much food as our hearts desire! Last, we brace ourselves again, for the serious karaoke competition! This is my favorite part of the day because it’s always funny to watch people mess up the lyrics. Each year, the competition gets more and more competitive; people take it way too seriously! My aunt thinks she is better than everyone else, but to our ears, that isn’t true. My aunts and uncles always fight over to see whose turn it is to go next because they love to have fun and show off their skills. When it’s my turn to sing, I remain calm and try my best to get a good score. Singing in chorus in high school for two years really pays off! Anyway, we all compare our scores at the end of the competition to see who wins a gift card to any store of their choice. The thing is, not everyone goes home empty – handed. Everyone wins a gift card too, but those don’t hold as much money as the grand prize. My family’s Christmas celebrations are the best! It’s great to see everyone having fun for once, rather than arguing about problems! I love the aura that everyone gives off with the smiles and laughter in the atmosphere! It’s the only time of the year where everyone can relax without causing any uproar. Overall, my Christmas celebrations are fun moments that I look forward to each year.