EA Games Free Essays

string(57) " seriously to the point they will do a complete rewrite\." Change is part of organizational growth and survival in our modern global economy. If an organization is going to grow and survive, it needs more than traditional strategic business plans. One of the principal drivers of competition is technological advancements. We will write a custom essay sample on EA Games or any similar topic only for you Order Now Company’s can develop a strong competitive advantage through the strategic use of information technology. This white paper will discuss information technology (IT) concepts that have successfully been utilized by other organizations. The purpose is to benchmark how other companies have successfully implemented information technology and how SaveWithUS can conceptualize these strategies. The focus of IT is not just on the internal applications or computer systems that reside on the network; rather the focus is the strategic approach that information systems can have to support the business plans, goals, and objectives of the organization. Ultimately, a strategic approach to information technology should improve a company’s competitive advantage, business intelligence, reduce costs, increase margin, streamline business processes speed, accuracy, and reliability, communication, data based decision making, and increase overall customer value (Mickler, 2008). Many start-up companies develop a business plan but rely heavily on their own experience when it comes to business decision making rather than facts that an existing company would use. As the company grows, mistakes become more costly, they will rely more and more in information to base sound decisions. SaveWithUS is at the juncture where business decisions need to be based on facts not guesses. To remain competitive and profitable, SaveWithUS needs to reduce costs of merchandise manufactured and products purchased for resale. Technology has changed the way information is captured, stored, processed, analyzed, distributed, communicated; and the organizational infrastructure which is used to reduce costs, increase profits, and gain a competitive advantage. The effective use of information technology requires an organization and cultural change. The most important component in the change equation is making the decision to change. If resistance to change permeates, this will lead to the breakdown and irrelevancy of what was once a strong organization (CTU Online, 2008). Change is forever part of business sustainability. Understanding the external business environment can improve the strategic approach that an organization should adopt in a competitive market. A highly competitive environment includes multiple firms targeting he same market to win the same business. The external environment has forces which business must contend with for survival. Michal Porter has devised a five forces model that focus on these external pressures. The five pressures are 1) rivalry among existing competition, 2) threats of substitute products, 3) bargaining power of suppliers, 4) bargaining power of channels and end users, 5) barriers to entry. This model can be very helpful to think of competition in its broadest sense which suggests areas for competitive posture. Porter’s five-force’s model provides the framework to judge an organizations position and analyze a business level strategy which will describe how an organization competes in the marketplace (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). These are just a few reasons why information technology is the critical infrastructure of any organization. The case study referenced herein is Electronic Arts (EA), the leading independent video game publishing company, producing popular titles such as The Sims, Madden NFL, and Medal of Honor. They also publish games based on Hollywood franchises such as the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Godfather. Nestled in Silicon Valley, Electronic Arts is a very successful organization with more than 50 best-sellers that sold more than a million copies each. Many people would believe that Electronic Art’s is a video game development company which base its success from the rich talent pool of creative people, artists, animators, programmers, and technicians. This is a highly competitive industry and getting more competitive every year with a fickle customer base. EA has competitors such as Activision, Take-Two, and Vivendi Games which all sell strong in the marketplace. It would be reasonable to assume they also have a highly talented staff of developers and creative artists. EA is successful because they are the model of a stellar management company. According to EA president and COO John Riccitiello, â€Å"EA pulls it off by honing the way that it develops and markets games: by thinking of its products as emotional, cinematic experiences, not toys. † Electronic Arts is in the business of delivering a total entertainment experience. The company built its creativity on a foundation of management discipline (Salter, 2007). EA understands the completive landscape and performs extensive due diligence. Riccitiello has stated, â€Å"We often know more about the feature set of our competition’s products than our competition does. † Electronic Arts recognizes that gaining a competitive advantage will not materialize because of slicker graphics, audio, or better storylines than the competition; consumers expect these features to improve over time and that is part of the gaming industry. EA knows that the high-tech imagery features they develop today will only be copied tomorrow which will not provide long-term advantage. EA has strong competitive intelligence, forecasting, budgeting, timing, and methodical project management disciplines. EA uses information technology to store financial data, sales data, important customer data, competitive data, and offer access to share this information across business units. EA has the discipline of sharing best practices and technologies using intranet libraries. This enables data to become more accurate and to be shared or broadcast faster through a more reliable means (Mickler, 2008). An e-business strategy can be defined as the electronic means of internal and external communications for an organization. Internally, employees can use a private intranet to share information, facilitate knowledge dissemination, management reporting, collaborate with business partners, sales promotions, and competitive intelligence, all of these features and more can be used with the development of an intranet. EA is diligent to understand their customers. They know that what is real to their consumers is what is on TV. Electronic Arts believes in gaining better understanding of their audience through the use of focus groups. These are non-EA groups of gamers and EA takes their recommendations seriously to the point they will do a complete rewrite. You read "EA Games" in category "Essay examples" Traditionally, the gaming industry is male dominated. Industry demographics suggest the target audience is male between the ages of 16 and 24. EA wants to expand their market beyond the typical gaming demographics. However, EA proceeds with caution not to lose current customers that do not want to see dumbed down products. When making complex decisions on marketing strategies and tactics, it is important look at hard data to in decision making. Information technology can provide the means of using marketing intelligence, trends, economic data, competitive market data, technological, demographics, government sources, and cultural and social information to provide a solid foundation upon from which to draw (Salter, 2007). Using e-business strategies such as customer relationship management (CRM) tools can identify important customer data to develop products and service specific to their needs, wants, and desires. The result of their data was a game titled the SIMS which attracts customers of all ages, thus developing new markets with different set of wants, needs, and desires. In addition, e-business is a means to reduce customer and supplier expenses, meet customer and supplier needs in a defect-free manner, and improve the speed in which these functions can take place. Knowledge management tools are processes the organization will employ to collect, store, analyze, and distribute information. Information technology offers data mining technique which are the convergence of technologies that provide computations to make sense of all the information stored (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). The maturity of an information system in an organization can have a direct effect on the speed, accuracy, and reliability of its data processing. Information technology can eliminate the manual logging of paperwork, eradicate human error and increase speed, accuracy and reliability of the information stored (Mickler, 2008). Some of the mundane tasks can become completely automated through bar code scanners and other technology which will reduce labor costs, increase accuracy of data, and induce inventory cost controls (Mickler, 2008). I addition, information technology can improve the manufacturing process while meeting customer demands and reduce costs. In an effort to accurately control inventory costs, SaveWithUS should consider Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing and including technology to help reduce costs. JIT does not use the conventional ways of producing products with large batch sizes at high volumes. The JIT philosophy is where machine operators produce only the items needed, when it is requested, and on time. Information technology also plays a vital role in measuring the return on investment for these new processes (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). Computer inventory management systems can control and coordinate delivery of raw materials or components from suppliers with production schedule, thereby minimizing inventory carrying costs. It is absurd to realize management can not track the percentage of repeat business, the accuracy of the expense of manufacturing costs, and sales goods of sold (CTU Online, 2008). The objective of SaveWithUS needs to be the development of a realistic business strategy that has full support of top management, established clear goals, development of long-term customer relationships, and provides maximum value. Bringing quality value to the customer is vital in the competitive and global business world. A competitive advantage is achieved when an organization has integrated information technology in the business activities with the value chain more cost-effectively than the competition. The goal of a business is to sell their products and services and keep customers buying in the future by means of adding value. Customers exchange something of value, such as money, for the products and services an organization produces. Strategic planning allows an organization to recognize how the customer sees the value of a company’s product or service and helps better position their goods in the market to make a profit (Frenzel Frenzel, 2004). Strategic plans will use resources of people, money, facilities, and technical capabilities that are required in order to achieve the goals and objectives. The goal of information technology is to support these efforts and add value of speed, accuracy, and reliability (Mickler, 2008). In the games industry, success, novelty, and great innovative designs do not automatically mean that a company will enjoy long-term success. In fact, the annals of the gaming publishing industry is eroded with once triumphant companies that currently are no longer existence. It takes a distinct mixture of success and business savvy to stay afloat and competitive. This review is hypothetical, created solely to fulfill course task requirements. The review of and title of an article depicts Electronic Arts (from now EA) as â€Å"Playing to Win†, the fact is that they are indeed playing the business game to win. EA is one of the world’s foremost reliant interactive software developing and publishing company. Since its inception, EA has garnered more than 700 awards for outstanding software in the U. S. and Europe. According to their own on-line career opportunity web site EA(2010) they say that EA markets its products worldwide under four brand logos and has over 33 product franchises that have reached more than a million unit sales worldwide. We will discuss more about their target market audiences in the next two sections. EA see themselves as a company that provides a product to it’s target market that appeals in the sense of interactive cinematic gaming experience. According to Salter (2002) Computer and video games are a bigger business than the movies, and the biggest force in games is Electronic Arts a company whose blockbuster titles dazzle millions of customers and generate billions of dollars in sales. As the world leaders in interactive entertainment we can say that EA’s most important competitive advantage is the fact they have lasted 20 years in the business and has gathered enough experience to leverage heritage into the entertainment gaming industry. Their other advantage is that they allow their 12 developing studios innovation freedom while impressing the discipline to meet deadlines. This means that it’s not all about gaming but also about planning, and management having a good business plan in place and a good vision is certainly a good competitive advantage. This is corroborated by Rabin (2010) when he says that the business plan developed was visionary and had three key elements: first, that the creative talent at the company would be treated like artists, involved in the marketing, and generally revered more than at other companies in the industry; second, that they would develop proprietary tools and technology that would enable them to quickly develop their titles cross-platform; and third, that they would handle the distribution to stores. Their primary target market (audience) is the users of advanced entertainment systems. The customary gamers are males in between the ages 16-through 24 year of ages. EA has continue to expand and move their traditional demographics As the market expands, their enthusiasts is to figure out how to publish products for people who are not the within the traditional demographic model. The fact is that EA’s present their content to a wide general audience appealing to all key demographic market segments by logically brainstorming their products as an emotional experience, How do they create an emotional experience? The emotional experience is created through offering their target markets a highly targeted campaign contributing the opportunity for the user to interact with the game. It’s a simple but very radical idea in which the users is part of the cinematic experience, therefore the user does not see the game as a toy but as an appealing realistic experience. Currently, their specific target market audience comprises a wide general range of users utilizing advance game consoles, personal computer system, video game consoles such as Nintendo, Play Station, Play Stations, and numerous others. Let’s clarify one thing about game publishing companies. They are exactly just that â€Å"Publishers† , they don’t consider themselves to be developers. The game entertainment publishing arena is quite busy and extremely competitive. Beside having fun and playing games it takes discipline to be creativity and code award winning games. This is a fact that is corroborated by Salter (2010) when he writes that it takes a tough company to make entertaining games. Salter quotes the president and COO of â€Å"The forgotten aspect of creativity is discipline,† beside discipline it takes a good development team and a good project manager with a sense of scheduling, creating buzz about the product through a hard core marketing campaign. Everything centers around information technology especially the discipline of methodically managing their projects, their information technology systems play a large aspect of their success through regimented collaborative best practices across their an intranet library. In closing in my opinion what makes Electronic Arts a potential winner is their ability to take ingenious people who are highly motivated and talented and create excessive amounts of value. Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSâ„ ¢, EAâ„ ¢, EA SPORTS Freestyle â„ ¢ and POGOâ„ ¢. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3. 67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. We were tasked to improve the functionality of the site, both technically and visually. The technical aspects of keeping up with ncreased user demands and features and facilities offered by the site were all dealt with to everyone’s satisfaction. It was felt that the site architecture and the user experience still left room for improvement, and we have lots to offer to fill this need. It was also important to ensure that the CRM and frontend complimented one another visually. Above all, we wanted the access site to offer an equivalent experience to the Flash site, rather than an alternative one. Our reputation as designers with flair for translating a company’s brand onto their website and for creating great user experiences got us this project. We were given the responsibility of revamping the entire site to reflect the brand of the company. Creating a site that was easily scalable and low on maintenance was also one of the primary requirements. We made the site made very light and the download speeds were reduced substantially. Only a few colors were used through most of the site, and two other colours were used where some differentiation was needed. Style sheets were created to keep the vast amount of content consistent visually. A clean, slightly serious and professional look was given to the entire site. How to cite EA Games, Essay examples

Marketing Strategy of Honest Company-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Markting Strategy of Honest Company. Answer: Introduction The Honest Company is an American organization cofounded by Hollywood actress Jessica Alba, Brian Lee, Sean Jane and Christopher Gavigan in the year of 2011. The organization sells consumer goods which are better in quality than any of their rival organizations in the market of United States and Canada. After the birth of Jessica Albas first child she was enthusiastic in establishing an organization that would sell baby products of good quality and she thought in todays market it would be beneficial for the babies. Her idea was materialized when she found that her baby child caught up a welt outbreak caused by a baby laundry. In the year of 2012 she launched seventeen products with the help of her business partners. Currently the organization have assets over 1.7 billion U.S dollars and earned a reputation in the markets of United States and Canada. The report deals with the background of the organization, various business strategies the organization have accepted, a S.W.O.T and P.E. S.T analysis of their business structure along with a full detailed discussion regarding how they operate their business in the market of United States and Canada. Top five business plans of The Honest Company In a conference in San Francisco actress turned entrepreneur talked about various ways she and her cofounders follow to increase the reputation of their organization in the market of United States and Canada. Filling a gap in the market Alba, after giving birth to her first child back in 2008 realized that the majority of the baby products sold in the market are not free from harmful petrochemicals and synthetic fragrances, so to provide her child with safe products she had to order goods online or had to import them from other companies and thus realized the necessity of these products and decided to open a business in the market where the demand is pretty high. She said that she always wanted to create a brand where people would shop without hesitating bout the qualitative factors of the products and can get the best products for them and their newborns (Nikolaos, Evangelia, 2012). Embracing digital platform From the year of 2011, the organization opted for an online platform to sell their goods as they realized that e-commerce is the future and they should consider that factor. By the year 2012 they made it sure that all the consumers can easily order goods online and get the delivery at home, this idea back in 2012 gained huge popularity and that generated huge revenue for the organization. They made a solid base on a digital platform and then opened many outlets in the market of United States initially and later they expanded their business in Canada (Zikmund, et al., 2013). Positioning the ideas To leverage technology to build a reputation and a brand value Alba had to find suitable business partners and that took almost three years to materialize. They initially launched a monthly subscription model. Lee the cofounder of the organization initially launched a monthly subscription model and Alba stated that to create a subscription model for the organization she understood the necessity of the man whose brainchild is the model itself. Alba said that if an organization faces more than twenty questions that the organization cannot answer then there must be a lot of work pending for the members of the organization. This is how it can be seen that there was a massive urge among the cofounders to make this organization stable in the market of United States and Canada (Helm, Gritsch, 2014). Listening to and leveraging social media Cofounder of the organization Jessica Alba stated that, she was excited to see people using the products of their brand by ordering it online or by buying directly from the outlets and using them and giving positive reviews for the products. There came a satisfaction that cannot be compared with any other form of satisfaction. Embracing gender diversity According to the cofounders of the organization The Honest Company, they said that they always have a tendency towards retaining more technologically savvy women as it would be beneficial for the organization, as end of the day the organization operates thinking about the benefits of todays women after all (Madu, 2013). S.W.O.T analysis of the organization S.W.O.T analysis can be very helpful to determine an organizations future success or the challenges the organization might have to face, so a detailed analysis is given below. Strengths: There are two main advantages of The Honest Company to operate their business in the market of Canada and United States and those are huge brand value and loyalty of the customers. It is a well known fact that as the organization is majorly backed up by Jessica Alba, a veteran Hollywood actress, so the brand value of the organization would touch the highest limit, and that is what happened in reality (Spender, 2014). The brand value of the organization reached a height within a few couple of years and that something to envy for the other business personals n todays market with high competitions. Another plus point for the organization is they mostly sell products for babies and other cosmetic products and they ensure that their products are of higher quality, so they are blessed with an immense loyalty of the customers (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson, 2012). Weaknesses: The main weak point of the organization is a weak cost structure. That means the liable costs of the organization is very high in comparison to the other rival organizations in the market. Apart from this issue recently some negative remarks about some products of the company are seen and those are mainly regarding qualitative issues (Alsmadi, Alnawas, 2012). These issues must be resolved quickly to ensure the profitability of the organization must not be dropped. Opportunities: The main opportunities of the organization are the products they are offering are of higher quality than most of the available products in the market of United States and Canada. Apart from that, the organization operates in a new market where products of higher quality than their goods are not easy to find. So they are lucky enough to be able to operate in a market where they could be the possible giant organization (Goksoy, Ozsoy Vayvay, 2012). Threats: The main threats of the organization are severe rivalries in the market and other substitute products availability in the market where The Honest Company operates. To deal with these companies the company needs to update their business policies and they should stress on innovating new ideas to make their products of higher quality to defeat the substitute products in the market. Not only that the organization should stress on various marketing strategies to outcast the rival organizations from the market (Eccles, Perkins Serafeim, 2012). To analyze the current situation of the organization in todays market a P.E.S.T analysis in also given below. P.E.S.T analysis Political: The Honest Company has no such political problems regarding their operations in United States and Canada as in both the nations; Jessica Alba is a well known name so no such political issues were seen (Verbeke, 2013). Economic: In recent times the organization is facing little challenges regarding cost management as the company liabilities of The Honest Company is much higher than any of their rival organizations operating in the market. It is a fact that, they should stress on the factors of cost management to annihilate the oddities they is facing currently (Child, Hsieh, 2014). Social: The Honest Company operates in the market of United States and Canada where people are mostly well to do so they would invest more for the benefits of their babies, but the organization needs to understand that there might be some people who lives in the rural areas with comparatively lower financial stability, so they should try to reach them in order to get a solid platform to earn a huge reputation (Connor, Lande, 2012). Technological: The organization operates in the market of Canada and United States where industry is technologically pretty sound so they are able to maintain the quality of their products than any other organizations in the same industry. Conclusion Thus to conclude, it can be said that the organization is a well reputed company in the market of United States as well as Canada and may be recently they are some minor issues regarding some negative reviews from some consumers and due to weak cost management system, but an organization with so higher reputation and so many strong attributes would easily overcome these oddities as any established company can thrive in challenges, rather they should. References Alsmadi, S. A., Alnawas, I. (2012). Consumer Rights Today: Are They in Business or Out of Business?.International Journal of Marketing Studies,4(1), 159. Child, J., Hsieh, L. H. (2014). Decision mode, information and network attachment in the internationalization of SMEs: A configurational and contingency analysis.Journal of world Business,49(4), 598-610. Connor, J. M., Lande, R. H. (2012). Cartels as rational business strategy: crime pays. Eccles, R. G., Perkins, K. M., Serafeim, G. (2012). How to become a sustainable company.MIT Sloan Management Review,53(4), 43. Goksoy, A., Ozsoy, B., Vayvay, O. (2012). Business process reengineering: strategic tool for managing organizational change an application in a multinational company.International Journal of Business and Management,7(2), 89. Helm, R., Gritsch, S. (2014). Examining the influence of uncertainty on marketing mix strategy elements in emerging business to business export-markets.International Business Review,23(2), 418-428. Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., Hoskisson, R. E. (2012).Strategic management cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning. Madu, B. C. (2013). Vision: The relationship between a firm's strategy and business model.Journal of behavioral studies in business,6, 1. Nikolaos, T., Evangelia, F. (2012). Competitive intelligence: concept, context and a case of its application.Science Journal of Business Management,2012. Spender, J. C. (2014).Business strategy: Managing uncertainty, opportunity, and enterprise. OUP Oxford. Verbeke, A. (2013).International business strategy. Cambridge University Press. Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., Griffin, M. (2013).Business research methods. Cengage Learning.

Man’s Nature is Evil †Hsun Tzuu Essay Essay Example

Man’s Nature is Evil – Hsun Tzuu Essay Essay Man’s footing demand is to last and boom. This is such because he loves himself. This love for himself is makes him selfish and selfishness makes him evil. There is no 1 in this universe that doesn’t love himself. This love for himself makes him set his demands over everything else. Puting one’s demands over other and non being considerate towards others and harming them for ain advantage is evil. There was 1000000s of ways to demo how work forces are evil. To get down with there are legion histories where work forces led wars against other states. destroyed belongings. In the name of suppressing their land they have taken guiltless lives all for their ain involvement. They try to warrant the wars by stating it’s to work out a certain issue but there’s no manner war is a solution to any job. Work forces have cheated and robbed others in the name of trade and commercialism. The biggest illustration is â€Å"Capitalism† which makes rich people richer and hapless people invariably poorer. Governments all around the universe have invented Torahs and ordinances to repress people. It is invented to protect the rich and powerful from the hapless and unfortunate people so that they can’t come back and repossess their stolen rights. The rich and powerful are ever traveling to look down upon the hapless people. If the hapless people are given a opportunity they’ll certainly rob the rich people of their assets and make precisely what the rich people did to them. There’s no clemency no forgiveness neither there is any love and spirit of brotherhood among work forces. All these unfairness. contending. wars. misrepresentation and lies everything proves that man’s basic nature is evil. We will write a custom essay sample on Man’s Nature is Evil – Hsun Tzuu Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Man’s Nature is Evil – Hsun Tzuu Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Man’s Nature is Evil – Hsun Tzuu Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Hsun Tzu says man’s true nature is evil and goodness comes out as a consequence of his scruples activity. which is perfectly true. There are practical and true statements that he made in his essay where he depicts his man’s true signifier of evil. First of wholly if a adult male is non evil so he wouldn’t necessitate any instructor or counsel to be a good individual or to make good things yet he needs to be invariably guided by rules and instructions to go better. If a adult male is originally good in his true nature so there is no manner that he can acquire derailed from his true nature. But every bit shortly as his Born he is more goaded towards all the errors so his nature can be originally pure and good. Bing respectful towards their seniors and being careful towards their kids is what a adult male is supposed to make. They are non traveling to eat until the seniors have eaten or non traveling to rest until they will demand remainder until they have provided for their seniors and kids but all these travel against their true emotions. If they were originally good in nature so adult male would hold been of course respectful to others therefore his nature is what we call the antonym of good . A adult male is fond of beautiful sights. sound and gustatory sensation. Seeking the beauty to delight him is his true nature. He admires the outer beauty instead than the beauty concealed indoors. He loves the beautiful outside instead than looking deep inside person. He will neer like individual with an ugly face ; will neer take something with a bad gustatory sensation and smell even if it’s a medical specialty. This exemplifies his immorality and obscure nature. If a man’s nature was originally good so the sage male monarchs who invented ritual rules out of their scruples activity would hold neer had to do them. Man would make good things and do merely determinations without the sage king’s contriving the ritual rules. All the statements that Hsun Tzu makes here have supported my positions about man’s nature being evil. He has reassured my apprehensions about man’s true nature. If world is left free to indulge in his true passion this universe will shortly fall into pandemonium and convulsion. There will be no peace no Concord no harmoniousness no cordiality. We will decease of unfairness and our ain passion of evil. This is why we need the cherished ritual rules so that we can last and allow other unrecorded. With the above being discussed it is appropriate to state that man’s true nature is evil.

The Suffrage Movement in the United States essays

The Suffrage Movement in the United States essays The Suffrage Movement in the United States Women vote today because of the woman suffrage movement, a courageous and persistent political campaign that lasted over 72 years, involved tens of thousands of women and men, and resulted in enfranchising one-half of the citizens of the United States. Inspired by idealism and grounded in sacrifice, the suffrage campaign is of enormous political and social significance yet it is virtually unacknowledged in the chronicles of American history. Had the suffrage movement not been so ignored by historians, women like Lucretia Mott, Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul would be as familiar to most Americans as Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt or Martin Luther King, Jr. We would know the story of how women were denied the right to vote despite the lofty words of the Constitution, how they were forced to fight for their rights against entrenched opposition with virtually no financial, legal or political power. If the history of the suffrage movement was better known, we would understand that democracy for the first 150 years in American included half of the population. And we would realize that this situation changed only after the enormous efforts of American citizens in what remains one of the most remarkable and successful nonviolent efforts to change ingrained social attitudes and institutions in the modern era. For women won the vote. They were not given it, granted it, or anything else. They won it as truly as any political campaign is ultimately won or lost. In addition, they won it, repeatedly, by the slimmest of margins, which only underscores the difficulty and magnitude of their victories. In the successful California referendum of 1911, the margin was one vote per precinct! In the House, suffrage passed the first time by exactly the number needed with supporters coming in from the hospital and funeral home to cast their ballots. In the Senate, it passed by two votes. ...

Fascinating Facts About Centipedes

Fascinating Facts About Centipedes Centipedes (one hundred legs in Latin) are Arthropods, members of an invertebrate class that includes insects, spiders, and crustaceans. All centipedes belong to the class Chilopoda, which includes about 3,300 different species. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, and they have the greatest diversity in shape and configuration in warm and tropical environments. Most centipedes are adapted to burrowing and live in soil or leaf litter, under the bark of trees or beneath stones. Centipede bodies include six head segments (three of which are mouthparts), a pair of poisonous maxillipeds (foot jaws), a variously numbered series of trunk leg-bearing segments, and two genital segments. Their heads have two antennae and a varying number of paired compound eyes (called ocelli). Some cave-dwelling species are blind. Each legged segment is made up of an upper and lower shield covered by a cuticle and separated from the next segment by a flexible membrane. Centipedes periodically shed their cuticle, which allows them to grow. Their body length ranges from 4 to 300 millimeters (.16–12 inches), with most species measuring between 10 and 100 mm (.4–4 in). Centipedes Never Have 100 Legs Though their common name means one hundred legs, centipedes can have significantly more or less than 100 legs- but never 100. Depending on the species, a centipede can have as few as 15 pairs of legs or as many as 191 pairs. Regardless of the species, centipedes always have an odd number of leg pairs, so they never have exactly 100 legs (because 50 is an even number). The easiest way to differentiate centipedes and millipedes  is as follows: Millipedes have two pairs of legs on most body segments, but centipedes always have a single pair of legs per segment. Not sure what youve found? Just count how many pairs of legs are on a segment. The Number of Legs Changes Throughout Their Lives Should a centipede find itself in the grip of a bird or other predator, it can often escape by sacrificing a few legs. The bird is left with a beak full of legs, and the clever centipede makes a fast escape on those that remain. Since centipedes continue to molt as adults, they can usually repair the damage by simply regenerating legs. If you find a centipede with a few legs that are shorter than the others, it is likely in the process of recovering from a predator attack. Though many centipedes hatch from their eggs with a full complement of leg pairs, certain kinds of Chilopods start life with fewer legs than their parents. Stone centipedes (order Lithobiomorpha) and house centipedes (order Scutigeromorpha) start out with as few as 14 legs but add pairs with each successive molt until they reach adulthood. The common house centipede can live as long as five to six years, so thats a lot of legs. Centipedes Are Carnivorous Hunters Though some occasionally scavenge a meal, centipedes are primarily hunters. Smaller centipedes catch other invertebrates, including insects, mollusks, annelids, and even other centipedes. The larger tropical species can consume frogs and small birds. The centipede usually wraps itself around the prey and waits for the venom to take effect before consuming its meal. A centipedes first set of legs are venomous fangs, which they use to inject paralyzing venom from a gland into prey. These special appendages are known as forcipules and are unique to centipedes. Large poison claws partially cover the mouthparts and form part of the feeding apparatus. The last pair of legs are not used for locomotion either but vary in use by species, some for defensive or sensory functions, or prey apprehension, and some for courtship. People Keep Centipedes as Pets Although there are centipede breeders, most centipedes sold in the pet trade are wild-caught. The most commonly sold for pets and zoological displays are giant centipedes from the Scolopendra genus. Pet centipedes are kept in terrariums, with a large surface area, minimum 60 centimeters (24 inches) square for larger species. They require a built substrate of soil and coconut fiber for burrowing, and they can be fed pre-killed crickets, cockroaches, and mealworms weekly or biweekly. They always need a shallow dish of water. Centipedes are aggressive, venomous, and potentially dangerous for humans, especially children. Centipede bites can cause skin damage, bruising, blisters, inflammation, and gangrene. The enclosures should be escape proof, and although centipedes cant climb smooth glass or acrylic, dont provide them a way to climb to reach the lid. They required a minimum humidity of 70 percent; rainforest species need more. Appropriate ventilation can be provided with a grid cover and small holes on the side of the terrarium, but be sure the holes are too small for the centipede to crawl through. Temperate species like it between 20 and 25 C (68–72 F), tropical between 25 and 28 C (77–82.4 F). Dont worry if you dont see your pet centipede out during the day: Centipedes are night creatures and do their hunting after dark. Living With a Centipede Compared to most arthropods, centipedes are relatively long-lived. It is not unusual for a centipede to live for two to three years, and some survive longer than five years. Centipedes continue to molt and grow as adults, unlike insects, which complete their growth when they reach adulthood. You probably wouldnt expect a centipede to be a good mother, but a surprising number of them dote on their offspring. Female soil centipedes (Geophilomorpha) and tropical centipedes (Scolopendromorpha) lay an egg mass in an underground burrow. The mother wraps her body around the eggs, and remains with them until they hatch, protecting them from harm. With the exception of the slow-moving soil centipedes, which are built to burrow, Chilopods can run fast. A centipedes body is suspended in a cradle of long legs. When those legs start moving, this gives the centipede more maneuverability over and around obstacles, as it flees predators or chases prey. The tergites- the dorsal surface of the body segments- may also be modified to keep the body from swaying while in motion. Centipedes Prefer Dark and Moist Environments Arthropods often have a waxy coating on the cuticle to help prevent water loss, but centipedes lack this waterproofing. Most centipedes live in dark, moist environments, like under leaf litter or in damp, rotting wood. Those that inhabit deserts or other arid environments often modify their behavior to minimize the risk of dehydration. They may delay activity until seasonal rains arrive, or when the humidity rises, for example, and diapause during the hottest, driest spells. Sources Capinera, John L. Encyclopedia of Entomology. 2nd ed. Berlin: Springer Science Business Media, 2008. Print.Chiariello, Thiago M. Centipede Care and Husbandry. Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine 24.3 (2015): 326-32. Print.Edgecombe, Gregory D., and Gonzalo Giribet. Evolutionary Biology of Centipedes (Myriapoda: Chilopoda). Annual Review of Entomology 52.1 (2007): 151-70. Print.Triplehorn, Charles A., and Norman F. Johnson. Borror and Delongs Introduction to the Study of Insects. 7th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2004. Print.Undheim, Eivind A. B., and Glenn F. King. On the Venom System of Centipedes (Chilopoda), a Neglected Group of Venomous Animals. Toxicon 57.4 (2011): 512-24. Print.

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