Catalog Shopping - Mail Order Homes and Stock Plans

Catalog Shopping - Mail Order Homes and Stock Plans Did your old house come in the mail? Between 1906 and 1940, thousands of North American homes were built according to plans sold by mail order companies such as Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Wards. Often the entire mail order house (in the form of labeled timbers) came via freight train. Other times, builders used local materials to construct homes according to the mail order catalog house plans. Today, catalog homes can be bought online. Stock plans are pre-drawn building plans that you can order from a catalog, magazine, or website. Most builders and developers offer a number of house plans in stock from which you may choose. Stock plans ordered through the mail or downloaded from a website may include floor plans, foundation plans, structural framing plans, electrical and plumbing plans, cross-section drawings, and elevation drawings. If you are not sure about your selection, you can usually obtain an inexpensive floor plan to review. However, you will need to buy the full set of plans before you can apply for a building permit and begin construction. Catalog house plans by Sears, Montgomery Wards, Aladdin, and other companies were widely distributed in the United States and Canada in what has generally been called pattern books. Where are those plans now? To find the original plans and to learn other important information about your mail order house, follow the steps listed below. Search for Written Records The neighbors may say your home was made by Sears, but they could be mistaken. Several other companies also sold house kits and house plans. To find out who made your house, check building permits, mortgage agreements, deeds, and other public records. Also look through scrapbooks, old correspondence, and ledgers to discover how old is your house. Look for Physical Clues Scout around in the cellar and attic for numbers or words stamped on joists and rafters. Also check your homes hardware and plumbing fixtures. You may be able to find trade names that will identify the manufacturer of your home. Keep in mind that the popular catalog houses were widely copied by local builders. Its easy to mistake a locally-made home for one designed by Sears or Wards. Use the process of architectural investigation. Browse  Online Catalogs Actual pages from historic house plan catalogs are reproduced on several websites. As you browse through these pages, remember that plans were often used for several years after they were first created. So, if your house was built in 1921, make sure to also browse plans for earlier years. Here are some good places to start: Mail Order House Plans  Index in  ThoughtCo.comSears Archives - Find catalog images and network with owners of Sears Mail Order houses. Browse Print Catalogs Cant find anything that resembles your house online? Dont give up. Browse through original or reproduction catalogs at your library or bookstore. Some catalogs even include construction information such as the type of woods to use. Here are a few reproduction Sears catalogs availalble from Amazon.com: Small Houses of the Twenties, the Sears, Roebuck 1926 House Catalog. Construction information includes detailed illustrations of interiors and fixtures.  Sears, Roebuck Homebuilders Catalog  - The Complete Illustrated 1910 Edition. Well-illustrated with construction specifications.  Homes in a Box, Modern Homes from Sears Roebuck, Schiffer Publishing. Reproduction of Sears 1912 Modern Homes catalog.   Be Open-Minded Local builders and homeowners often customized mail order plans, adding porches, moving doors, and adapting details to accommodate personal tastes and needs. The mail order plans you find may not resemble your own home exactly. Study the Ads The catalog page for your mail order home will provide a wealth of information. Youll find the original retail price of the house and the types of materials used. Youll see floor plans and a simple drawing of the house. You might even find some construction details and specifications. Stock Plans Today Stock plans dont have to be from Sears, Roebuck and Company, although bungalows by mail were popular at the turn of the 20th century. Pre-drawn plans dont have to be manufactured built or prefab homes. These days, architects may make custom plans for a client and then put those plans on the market as stock plans.  Houseplans.com is one avenue for these architects. Does all this seem like a lot of work? You bet! But researching your mail order home is also fun and fascinating. Youll enjoy the journey, and along the way youre likely to meet friends who share your enthusiasm for older homes.  Good luck!

SCHIZOPHRENIA1 essays

SCHIZOPHRENIA1 essays Schizophrenia, from the Greek word meaning split mind, is a mental disorder that causes complete fragmentation in the processes of the mind. Contrary to common belief, schizophrenia does not refer to a person with a split personality or multiple personalities, but rather to a condition which affects the persons movement, language, and thinking skills. The question of whether schizophrenia is a disease or collection of socially learned actions is still a question in people mind. People who are suffering from schizophrenia think and act in their own the world and put themselves in a way that is totally different from the rest of society. In other words, they have lost in touch with the reality. Most schizophrenics accept the fact that they have this disorder and are willing to receive necessary treatment and listen to, if not follow, professional advice. However there are cases where patients have lost insight and do not acknowledge the fact that they suffer from a mental disorder. As a result, these people do not have the treatment normally patients with schizophrenia do. To observers, schizophrenia may seem like a disease or madness because people who have this disorder behave differently to the people that are considered normal. It impairs a person from doing work, going to school, taking care of his/herself or having a social relationship with others. Yet, by looking at some of the symptoms, it is sometimes hard to classify schizophrenia as a disease because it enables those inflicted with it to develop new ways of communication intellectually and creatively, as well as enhancing artistic abilities. A disease is usually some kind of sickness that will lead to death or under heavy medication. However, this is not the case. For now, there is no cure but only treatment to help people with schizophrenia to live more productive lives. Generally, schizophrenia carries enormous threats to ...

Knowledge Management Individual Assignment Essay

Knowledge Management Individual Assignment - Essay Example Knowledge Management is one of the hottest topics in the fields of management and information technology. Several activities are involved in the process of knowledge management. Out of the many, the most commonly cited and discussed knowledge management activity is knowledge sharing or transfer (Ford, et al., 2003). Knowledge sharing is observed to be critical towards the success of today’s business organisation (Davenport, and Prusak, 1998). This is so because it results in deployment of knowledge to certain organisational portions at a rapid rate which can prove to be highly beneficial for the organisation (Syed-Ikhsan, and Rowland, 2004). Knowledge management can thus be considered as a socio-technical system that includes different form of storage, generation, sharing and representation of knowledge. Specific functional features of knowledge management are found to be always based on certain assumptions that are inherent to the cultural backgrounds of the people who either create or manage them. However, if people having national or professional cultural backgrounds use these systems in a way that differs from those intended by its designers, it might actually result in inhibiting the process of knowledge sharing in organisations (Branch, 1997). This study entails about analysing the impact that organisational culture has on the knowledge sharing environment of the companies in general. Communities of Practice and Knowledge Management Communities of Practice (CoPs) have received renewed attention in the recent years mainly in the field of different ways of managing the social and human aspects of knowledge dissemination and creation within the firms. One can find various existing literature that are related to the discussion of CoPs in the knowledge management literature (Davenport, and Prusak, 1998; Wasko, and Faraj, 2000; Wenger, et al., 2002; Ardichvili, et al., 2003). Lave, and Wenger (1991) were the first to coin the term community of practice a nd it can be defined as a system of activity wherein the participants are involved in sharing their understanding related to their present activities performed in the organisation and how they are valued in their lives and the communities. One of the assumptions that is central to the concept of CoP is that community members who are adjudged to be less experienced are involved in a learning process received from the social interactions with the community members who are considered to be experts of a specific domain of knowledge (Lave, and Wenger, 1991). One of the most important benefits of CoP is its ability to generate or disseminate tacit knowledge. This type of knowledge cannot be communicated easily because most of the times it is either embedded in a particular context or is intuitive in nature (Nonaka, 1994). This type of tacit knowledge possessed by an organisation is believed to be critical towards the sustainable competitive advantage gained by the companies because others cannot easily copy or imitate it (Liedtka, 1999). Brown and Duguid (1991) have argued that internalising and sharing tacit knowledge needs

NYPD Stop, Question, and Frisk Policy Term Paper

NYPD Stop, Question, and Frisk Policy - Term Paper Example .. found that the stops were not actually finding or preventing crimes. 97% percent of stops resulted in no conviction at all, although they did still utilize city time and resources to reach those outcomes. â€Å" (Clark, Meredith â€Å"Reports Find 'Stop-and-Frisk' Does Not Cut Crime†). Reports also say that the policy has only served to fuel racial discrimination charges as those stopped are supposedly mostly black and Latino men. A move that according to most, constitutes the violation of a person's constitutional rights. The American public has their right to privacy and has quite strict rules regarding racial discrimination across the country. The New York Stop-and-Frisk policy has chosen to ignore the constitutionally and legally protected rights of the New York citizens in an effort to â€Å"keep peace† within their borders. With an average of 88 percent of â€Å"stop and frisks† resulting in the release of those being stopped without issuing a ticket or resulting in an arrest (â€Å"NY 'Stop and Frisk' Policy Violates Minority Rights, US Constitution - Judge†) , this policy should be seen as nothing but merely a nuisance. Evidence of this constitutional rights violation can be seen in the annals of the New York Attorney General's office as far back as 1999 when it was discovered that â€Å"Black and Latino New Yorkers were stopped at far higher rates than white men and women† (â€Å"NY 'Stop and Frisk' Policy Violates Minority Rights, US Constitution - Judge†). Such acts can be deemed as racial profiling which is a direct violation of the United States Constitution. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution declares that people shall be protected from unreasonable searches. Yet in the state of New York, under the Stop-and-Frisk policy, at least 200,000 stops were made without reasonable suspicion from the year 2002 - 2004. Such a high rate of stops overall makes it quite evident that that there is no crime taking place and that the people being stopped were not in any way acting in a suspicious manner (Hanna, Jason â€Å"Judge Rules NYC's Stop-and-Frisk Policy Unconstitutional; City Vows Appeal). Over the past decade, a total of 5 million stops have occurred involving mostly Black and Hispanic men. The New York Stop-and-Frisk Policy is nothing more than a violation of one's right to privacy according to some people who have been involved in the implementation of the policy. Under the 14th Amendment people, regardless of gender, race, and ethnicity are also protected and given the equal protection of the law (Adelmann, Bob â€Å"Judge Rules New York City's 'Stop and Frisk' Policy Unconstitutional†). This amendment in particular is violated by the stop-and-frisk policy because of the conscious decision of the police force to concentrate their operations on the members of the black, Latino, and Hispanic communities. Due to the existence of the stop-and-frisk policy, New Yorkers are gripped with fear that they can be apprehended on the streets for no apparent reason. It has led people to fear a police state coming into existence in New York City. This is a policy that must be brought to an end because: â€Å"The NYPD's practice of making stops that lack individualized reasonable suspicion has been so pervasive and persistent as to become not only a part of the NYPD's standard operating procedure, but a fact of daily life

Habitat for Elephants Essay Example for Free

Habitat for Elephants Essay After observing the giraffe exhibit, my partner Nan Chen and I decided to make our way to observe the Janice Suber McNair Asian Elephant Habitat which was built in 2008; an exhibit, home to seven different elephants, both young and old. The exhibit is home to adult bull Thai, adult cows Methai, Shanti, and Tess, juvenile bull Tucker (Tess son), and calves Baylor (Shantis son) and Tupelo (Tess daughter). Janice Suber McNair Asian Elephant Habitat exhibit covers an enormous three acres, provides many amenities to its residents; the elephants. THE amenities include an eighty thousand gallon pool as well as a seven thousand square foot elephant barn where the elephants are given daily public baths. I think that the zoo management has done a really spectacular job in bringing some elephant cultural behavior to the zoo. According to the Houston Zoo, â€Å"Since adult males and females live apart in the wild, you’ll see the same living arrangement here at the Zoo: our females are in one yard with their calves, while our older male, Thai, and younger Tucker enjoy space to themselves†. Also the landscaping of trees, natural grasses and varied elevated terrain create a wonderful environment for the elephants and the open design and viewing areas provide an enhanced guest experience as well. We were also lucky to observe the elephants get bathed in the barn where a Houston local news anchor also happened to be there. We first observed the oldest elephant Thai get bathed and he quite enjoyed it. He was also used to the bathing procedure as he knew how to turn as well as which foot to lift to wash. During this process we got to view the elephants bathe. The zoo keepers scrubbed off the elephant with soap as well as water. All of the elephants were confined into separate caged cabins, and the elephants were getting bathed one at a time. The elephant in the first cage was bathed first, I believe his name was Thai and I believe behind him were Tess and Tupelo. Since Thai was getting all the attention, Tess behind him was getting mad and she was banging her head on to Thai ’s cage crying for attention. The one thing I noticed that the zookeepers were not doing much to calm and play with Tess. She banged her head several times which may have injured her after some times. I felt like the zoo keepers should have paid some attention to Tess especially since the public was watching and that a lot of the visitors including myself were video recording this incident. It is a proven fact that elephants can live in nearly any habitat that has adequate quantities of food and water. Their ideal habitat consists of plentiful grass. At the Houston Zoo in the elephant exhibit I did not see â€Å"plentiful grass†. The elephant’s trunk serves as a nose, hand, extra foot, signaling device and tool for gathering food, siphoning water, dusting, and digging. To tend to these characteristics of the elephant the Zoo was successful in providing dust, water and a muddy ground for digging. I think the zoo can improve on the direct interaction between the elephants and the visitors at the zoo. They can give a supervised interaction with the elephants. The visitors can maybe feed them or offer them peanut or maybe the visitors can also bath the magnificent and adorable elephants. After a lot of research I found that the best manmade elephant habitat can be found at the famous Cincinnati Zoo. Since they adjust their exhibit to cater the needs of each and every species or kind of elephants they recognize the fact that the Asian and the African elephants have lived in two different environments. The African elephants are naturally used to dry grass lands and savannahs, however the Asian and elephants are used to in the jungle, but generally on the edge where open, grassy areas are accessible. They prefer areas that combine grass, low woody plants, and forest. This is something I did not see in the Houston Zoo. I think if the exhibit is true to the natural elephant habitat the environment will be friendlier and the Elephants will not have the need to adapt as much into the zoo. I believe that an ideal habitat for the elephants should have no virtually no visible barriers between you and the animals, this habitat puts you right in the thick of things. Also the habitat should serve as an exhibit hub, offering opportunities to understand and appreciate the diverse array of Elephants’ and their complex relationships with human populations. And Last but not least there should be a visual in which the concept of loss of habitat, the main reason why several Elephant species are being extinct, should be portrayed. This will allow the visitors to reflect back on to their role in the world to preserve the endangered species. In conclusion, I believe that the Janice Suber McNair Asian Elephant Habitat at the Houston zoo does not cater to the natural needs of the elephants. Since the McNair Exhibit is tries to create a universal habitat for all the elephants that reside there. The Zoo does not take the fact that they have elephants that come from different parts of the world, and are used to different habitats as well as climates. The Houston zoo should observe the true habitat of the elephants as well as observe other exhibits and recreate the exhibit.

A Proposal for a Law to Monitor Cloning Essay -- Argumentative Persuas

  Ã‚   The purpose of this essay is to propose a policy for monitoring and legislating cloning so that it can be used appropriately for science and medical research and benefits. This report will explain the needs for monitoring cloning, my plan for monitoring cloning, the many benefits that the world will gain from monitoring cloning, and how we can implement my plan. The Cloning Controversy Public opinion toward cloning is often negative. A Time /CNN poll taken a few days after Ian Wilmut's announcement regarding the cloning of a sheep found that 93% of Americans felt cloning was bad, and 66% opposed animal cloning (Masci 2). Many religious groups have taken a definite stand on the cloning issue. The Catholic Church has been a strong force against human cloning. It declared itself opposed to human cloning in 1987 (Peterson F1). The church had many reasons to be opposed to cloning, but some specific points were strong arguments for their side. The Pontifical Academy on Life felt human cloning would not result in identical souls because God created souls (Johnson 5). The Vatican panel also felt strongly against cloning. Human cloning, it said, "represents a grave attack on the dignity of conception and on the right to an unrepeatable, unpredetermined set of genes" (Johnson 4). Protestant churches have views on the cloning issue, too. Mr. Per Anderson, a leading figure in biomedical ethics for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and teacher of religion at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, said that the cloning issue:    has a certain kind of power over us. We associate this with divine power: changing the very structures of nature. It ties into our deep anxieties about the malevolent side to modern sci... ... we each do our part to work with our government officials, the cloning controversy can be eliminated and monitoring can become a strong reality.    Works Cited Bognanno, Frank E., and Joseph Jilka. "Down the Road of Cloning: How a Clergyman and a Scientist Would Map it Out." Des Moines Register 9 Apr. 1997. Fried, George H. "Cloning-The Promise and the Threat." USA Today Sept. 1979: 58-60. "Getting to the Nucleus of Cloning Concerns." Editorial. USA Today 12 Mar. 1997: 7D. Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 1998. S1601. 5 Feb. 1998: 1-5. Johnson, Sara. "Cloning Sheep Raises Ethical Questions." Online. Internet. 22 Oct. 1998: 1-9. Available http://www.champion.org/cpc-cloning.htm Masci, David. "The Cloning Controversy." The CQ Researcher 9 May 1997: 1-2. Peterson, David. "Clashing Over Cloning." Waterloo Courier 2 Mar. 1997: F1+.   

Brokeback Mountain: Wester or Romance Essay

Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain displays all the traditional characteristics of a romantic tragedy or a Western film, but upon its release it failed to be labeled as such. It was instead placed in the â€Å"gay and lesbian† film category. While obviously there is no harm in being labeled a â€Å"gay† film, it does distract from the purpose of the film, which is to show the touching story of these two characters. The film is merely a tragic depiction of two people, both of whom happen to be men, who fall in love with each other. It is a romantic tragedy in that contains the genre’s strongest and most popular theme: forbidden love. Simultaneously, however, the film can be classified as a Western due to the two main characters’ stereotypical embodiment of the cowboy persona. Brokeback Mountain is also eligible to be placed in the romantic tragedy genre. Lee tries to advertise this as the film’s main characterization with his use of landscape, advertisement, and themes. Lee’s use of landscape plays a huge part in the film’s development and push for a romance label. Jack and Ennis are first introduced and begin their love affair on Brokeback Mountain, which is emphasized and featured extensively. The landscape is very grand and lush and demonstrates the nature of their relationship on the mountain: natural and open. One of the biggest problems in their relationship is that their love is not welcome in their close-minded society, but in this vast open land it there are no restrictions, literally or socially. The landscape illustrates a theme of freedom and vulnerability in its openness and provides color, as well as contrast to the other set designs which are built upon a dull, grayscale color palette. This emphasis illustrates to the audience why the characters constantly want to return to Brokeback. The way the film was advertised pushed for a romantic label as well, in addition to revealing a lot of the major plot points. Lee has said that he modeled the poster after James Cameron’s 1997 famous romantic tragedy, Titanic. This was because he wanted the film to be known as a romance, rather than a â€Å"gay† film. On the poster, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar are placed in similar positions as Rose and Jack; however, instead of being placed above a ship they are instead surrounded by Brokeback Mountain, which is in a sense their Titanic. Every romantic film has one main object that is either the center or the origin of their love. In Titanic, it was the ship of the same name, while in this film it is the mountain. The placement of the characters on the poster foretell their futures in the story; Jack Twist follows Jack Dawson’s tragic ending and Ennis follows Rose. This plot point giveaway was never given any attention because the main focus was on the relationship of the two men rather than the story. The reaction of the public was not solely responsible for the film’s characterization; traditional cinematic stereotypes played a role as well. At the time of the release, the romance genre was (and can be argued, still is) stereotypically based on a relationship between a man and a woman. In the early days of film, homosexuality might have been hinted at but never outwardly displayed. As time went on, the social climate began to change and it became more acceptable to deviate from the typical on-screen heterosexual relationships, but with caveats: gay characters rarely played more than peripheral or supporting roles, and were often depicted as stereotypical or flamboyant. Brokeback Mountain was able to show another form of a homosexual relationship, one that was â€Å"normal†, accurate, and believable. The film does develop a popular and well-used theme in romantic tragedies, forbidden love. Such a theme has been widely popular and used in many great classic romance novels and films, such as Romeo and Juliet and the aforementioned Titanic. There is something epic and incredibly romantic about forbidden love, because it demonstrates the fight for and the strength of love between any two characters. These characters show the most fight for their love, because they live in a time and society that their love is scrutinized and could never be shown. Ennis, at one point in the film, mentions that his father took him to see a body of a man that was tortured and brutally killed at a very young age. These actions were later replicated to Jack when he was killed for being a homosexual. When people think of Western films and characters, masculinity is immediately brought to mind. A Clint Eastwood-esque character is summoned: the rugged macho man. When Brokeback Mountain was first released, it was immediately overlooked as a Western because its two main characters were in love with each other, something that was considered un-masculine. However, in looking beyond their relationship for a moment, the characters do actually display characteristics of a true cowboy. Many scenes illustrate characteristics of theirs that indicate traditional â€Å"masculinity. † For example, one way of demonstrating their â€Å"cowboy† persona is their attire. Marit Allen, the costume designer, has stated that she emphasized the cowboy look because it was thought that the characters would otherwise be overlooked and not given their credit. They wear the classic cowboy hats to cowboy boots, and at times dressed head to toe in denim attire; these are costume pieces that are common throughout traditional Western films. Another example are plot points in the storyline that depict Jack and Ennis as average men doing masculine things. Ennis is the primary caregiver in his family; he is shown as a hard worker and in constant search of jobs to feed his family. When it comes time to protect his wife and daughters, he shows he is not someone to be taken lightly. In various scenes Ennis is shown getting into fights, one example being the Fourth of July scene where he threatens to fight nearby men making crude comments within earshot of his daughters. Ennis prevails and is shown victorious and dominant, and while the other men lay on the ground submissive, with Ennis towering over them. Meanwhile, Jack also struggles to work traditionally masculine jobs to support himself, partaking in the quintessential cowboy sport, rodeo. Even the two men’s flirtation is done through traditionally masculine behavior. They constantly roughhouse and often get into fights just before they act on their relationship, such as in their first sex scene. These features, among others, illustrate that the characters fit the true masculine cowboy persona and thus the film can be classified as a Western. Labeling the film as a gay and lesbian film restricts the films plot because it is not solely about being gay, it is just merely a topic. If the film was categorized under a western or romantic, which are both broad genres, then the audience can focus on a variety of situations that the film shows. The film is entirely eligible to be labeled both, because the film demonstrates the same characteristics seen in both genres. It is a romantic tragedy because it contains one of the most popular and widely used themes: forbidden love and it can also be classified as a western because the two characters and backdrop embody the classic western persona.