Scrooge Essays - English-language Films, Film, British Films

Scrooge Ignorance & Want In the famous story A Christmas Carol, the Ghost said to Scrooge These are your children Ignorance and Want. as he opened his robe to reveal two small unfortunate poverty stricken children. By this, the ghost meant that because of the cruelty of the world and irresponsibility, these innocent children must suffer. These children suffered because of careless people like Scrooge. The ghost meant unfortunate children like these are the responsibility of everyone. Their names were ignorance and want because they were a result of ignorant people and people who only wanted for themselves. In today's world many children also live in poverty. However there are many more organizations to help them and their families and to prevent them having to live on the streets. Such an example of an organization would be welfare. Welfare helps people by giving supplying food stamps and money to the less fortunate. Another caring organization would be the Salvation Army who gives food and clothing to people who need it. It is our responsibility to care for the needy by sponsoring a child for Christmas and donating money and clothing to the Salvation Army. Even though there are many Scrooges in our world we can still take on the responsibility of caring for those who need it. We may not need help now but the future is never certain. If you are kind to others, they will remember and be kind to you when you really need it. Social Issues Essays

Are These Not Also Men essays

Are These Not Also Men essays Are These Not Also Men? In 1511, Fray Antonio Montesinos spoke the words, Are these not also men? His famous quote was a response to the mistreatment of the indigenous peoples that inhabited the Americas, by the conquering Spanish. Immediately upon discovering and colonizing the New World a widespread debate arose in regards to the usage and treatment of the native Indians. This debate was primarily focused on how to classify the Indians. Many people believed that the Indians were not human at all and should be allowed to be treated merely as slaves. The opposing side, the church, argued back that the Indians, no matter how seemingly uncivilized they lived, were humans. A major argument resulted and the question as to how a human being is classified as being a human became a fiery debate among many. The Spanish conquerors believed that, like animals, the Indians did not have rational souls, or the ability to reason. Also, in conjunction, the Conquerors used the views of a medieval Dominican named Thomas Aquinas as justification for their reasoning. Aquinas once stated that a rational soul was determined by the ability to become a Christian. Those not capable were considered to be brute animals. The Indians were often compared to parrots, or horses in the way they lived their lives. The conquerors needed the indigenous people to be considered less than human because if they were considered animals, forms of forced labor with out time off for religious learning could be used. An example was the encomienda. The Churchs point of view was that in order to have and maintain power in the New World they would need the numbers of the Indians to be included in their community as followers. Patricia Seed, the author of this journal offers her line of thinking. It is that both sides of the debate were trying to monopolize the Indians for their own benefits. The Spania ...

Analysis on efficiency of Chinese commercial banks Research Proposal

Analysis on efficiency of Chinese commercial banks - Research Proposal Example A series of banking reforms have been implemented in China since 1979. These reforms aim to create a safe and sound system of banking within the country (Dong, 2009). The structural and institutional arrangements characterizing the banking sector in China as well as the banking reforms implemented in China in the past 20 years will provide the background and foundation of the study(Dong, 2009). The researcher felt that for efficiency to be discussed in-depth, it may be necessary for historical antecedents and facilitators of the same to be analyzed in order to provide the reader with a wealth of information. In the last 40 years, financial sectors across the globe have witnessed substantial developments(Dong, 2009). The change in the operating environment of banks has had significant implications for the business activities of banks as well as their economic role. Globalization, deregulation, technological progress and financial innovation to mention but a few have all gradually reduced the cost of processing and transmitting information which have been major forces impacting the performance of the international banking sector. Since the embarking of the open door policy in 1979, the Chinese banking sector has witnessed gradual yet notable reforms(Dong, 2009). A key objective of the said reforms implemented by the government was to build a competitive, effective and stable banking system to improve reliability and efficiency. The reforms aimed at moving the country from a planned economy supplemented with market elements to a socialist market economy. The Chinese government deregulated and liberalized operations in the Chinese banking sector as part of national reforms in the economy. The program applied includes among others the establishment of a double-tier system, separation of the lending policy form commercial

Anger,hatred,powerlessness and connection Assignment

Anger,hatred,powerlessness and connection - Assignment Example Anger is a natural emotion, but it does not mean that one cannot avoid it. For anger to flourish there must be a root of where it sprung. One must develop the discipline to not harbor such seeds that can lead to hatred. Having a serene and tranquil mind will help us to be mindful of our anger and relieve us from resorting to foul and malicious behavior. While coming into terms with one’s emotions is seldom deemed healthy, it is considered a normal aspect of life. By hating, one risks the cultivation of such hatred, which in turn further causes negative repercussions not only to the individual but also to society itself by developing the culture of hate. Gould (2011) offers a more healthy approach in dealing with the haters: by working â€Å"within the dynamics of identity formation, maintenance, and defense to transform hate†. By doing so, haters can be dealt with in a more positive light and the culture of hated can be

Adrian Frutiger and his fonts and how he influenced typography today Research Paper

Adrian Frutiger and his fonts and how he influenced typography today - Research Paper Example It was not appreciated by teachers who required him to write using formal handwriting fonts. However, his secondary school teachers and his father encouraged Adrians interest in fonts and wanted him to work in printing (Osterer and Stam 14-15). Contrary to peoples expectations, Adrian was interested not only in typing and designing new fonts. He was interested in sculpture when he was a little boy. Despite the life choice of typography as his profession, he did not lose the interest in art, sculpture and music. Education also played an important role in Frutigers development as a designer. When he was 16, he trained to be a compositor. He was educated at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts where he attended courses of the best professors Walter Kà ¤ch and Alfred Willimann (Osterer and Stam 16-17). The course lasted for two years from 1949 to 1951; calligraphy was one of his subjects (Macmillan 87). In 1952 Frutiger began to work for the foundry called Debenry and Peignot. Charles Peignot recruited him when he saw the brochuse called History of Letters created by Frutiger where he used his skills of engraving. According to Weidemann, this brochure consisted of 9 wooden panels with engraved letters of everything starting from Greek capitals up to humanistic cursives and municules (Osterer and Stam 6). Frutiger created his first font in 1953; it was called Phoebus. His next creation called Ondine was released in 1954. One more font called Meridien was released in 1955. According to Weidemann, those fonts rendered the times when they were created and it added value to them. At the same time, all those fonts were just the beginning of Frutigers career. Once, Frutiger was asked by Peignot to adapt Futura for Photon photosetting machine. According to Macmillan, Frutiger found Futura â€Å"too geometric† and wanted to create his family of fonts that would match in heights and weights (87). In this way, he found

Innovation Strategy Implementation And Managing Changes

Innovation Strategy Implementation And Managing Changes Innovation strategy implementation and managing the changes across the organization has become one of the tedious tasks. This project completely deals with the innovation strategies and the organizational structure change management strategies followed by few organizations like Nestle, Vodafone, JP Morgan, Nokia and IBM. To study the innovation strategies of these companies, basic innovation steps taken by them at their organization level and the level of collaborations are considered and these strategies are evaluated. Each and every organization has their own strategies of innovation and managing the changes and each of them are investigated as per the project objectives. Change in the organization structure can lead to many strategic changes across the organization and these need to be handled in a perfect manner. Open Innovation is the common innovation strategy followed by most of these organizations and with the perfect implementation of this innovation method will help in bala ncing the structural changes of the organization. This project report completely concentrates on the OpenInnovation methods followed by the mentioned organizations and the success factors recorded with respect to this method of implementation (Brummer, 2007). Innovation based products are advertised and now a days, a lot of significance is placed on innovation based products. Attitudes of the companies are discussed and in order to evaluate the innovation of the companies, innovation based products are very important. First, check how innovation management is strong in the companies which means to what extent the companies receive money on their innovation based products. Second, check whether the Research and Development departments are strong in the companies or not. Investigate and assess the business links by means of new technologies of markets, politics, industrial production processes, R D policies, investments, immaterial property rights, business models and technology trends (Coldrick, 2005). The company bearing its growth and opinions are understandable by the correspondents. A perfect combination of systematic understanding and technology helps in proper implementation of Innovation across the organizations. Balancing the technology and business management may result in some conflicts across the different departments of the organization. Different components of Innovation can be mixed to avoid the vauge operations of the organistation. The respective markets are identified and they are converted to a well educated systems by means of innovation journalists, and their principal interests (L. KieÅ‚tyka, 2008). Even there are many disputes across the journalism school and the innovation journalists approached to start a fresh professional communities. The basic ideas of innovation are considered and the corresponding companies are encouraged to frame their own ideas with the help of media. Success of any organization purely depends on the innovation strategies followed by them and they are considered as the factors to measure the success by any investor of the organization (Gustafsson, 2005). Chapter 3: Case Study Analysis: 3.1 Nestle: Nestle which is initially a traditional organization has recently changed into a perfect organizational structure. Nestle has accomplished transformations that shows a cognitive impact on the employees as well as the normal people. These developments are not made without any hard work or effort. Nestle has decided to adopt extreme implementations within the firm, as it has found many problems with the hierarchy level of the company. In order to keep up the education level of the employee and to expect for more accomplishment, Nestle has decided to extend the employees and provide better benefits to them. Even many restrictions exist in the pyramid model of the company. Career paths are the restrictions that do not encourage the creative ability, only rising support. The innovative offerings are implemented only from the peak in a pyramid type of organizational structure. Instead of fresh and innovative thoughts experience is preferred for support or promotion. Implementing this kind of organizational structure causes employees to be dedicated to their bosses, which in turn causes healthy competition within complete organization (Braun, 2002). Any organisaton should follow a set of innovation strategies to survive in the market. Currently Nestle is following a predefined strategies and if they could improve the innovation strategies they can reach their organizational goals. Recently Nestle introduced the concept of Open Innovation and in this process they integrated the external and internal ideas with in the management and the integrated ideas are posted across the technical frame work once the top level management approves these ideas and finally they are introduced in to the market place. Based on this OI strategy Nestle has set a goal to become No.1 in Food industry and they are taking the relavent steps in regard to this. To implement these changes Nestle has introduced few changes in different departments like Technical, RD and Customer centric patterns.(Carolyn Ott). Nestle has appointed around 5000 employees across RD departments thorug out the world with an investment of CHF 1.88 billion (Swiss Francs) in 2007. A part from the development in RD department Nestle has focused on Collabration programs with some other organizations and these collaborations include Simple contracts across the reseach field More than 140 collabrations with different universities Implementing Strategic Innovation partnership with other organizations (Breen, 2004). Innovation was ambitious by 15 % in Nestles Research and development investments in Beverages and Food. Also 7.5% increase in the matter of consumer facing marketing expenses in regular currencies. And the main drives of the organization growth can be a 70% growth in the products of Nestles Food and Beverages (West, 2008). Nestle belives in producing the product values to get the targetted profit rate and to achive this Nestle has created a set of innovation strategies to the stakeholders. So that it can improve the business in the best way to produce nutrition food products, health and wellness offerings and also it can improve performance further. Nestle is having greater belief that it can follow right strategy and initiatives to achieve greater success. Nestle is always looking for the quality of the foods and products and quality of life for the customers with specific nutritional needs. By following strategy and innovation needs, Nestle can be defined by its business models interms of new marketing, service offered, sales and distribution channels, advertising and also by the new loyal policies. Business models can be defined interms of technology portfolio, management team and also by the business industries who are seeking venture capital. Recently Nestle has introduced the concept of integrating the innovation skills to Leadership. A set of Leaders from different departments are identified and they were made to train each and every employee of the respective organisation regarding the latest strategies that were implmented across the organisation. Apart from the Leadership strategies, Nestle has concentrated on different product development and they have implemented few marketing strategies to reach the consumer satisfaction. It has introduced a concept called CustomerNeeds where all the customer needs are identified and analysed and the required strategies are changed as per the customer feedback and the innovation plans are changed accrodingly. Nestle has implemented an innovation concept called IdeaStore where all the ideas from different levels of management are collabrated with in the organisation. Different partners of the organisation are trained with the latest innovation strategies of the company for a course of 2 days and a typical IdeaStore holds the key information about the latest innovation strategies implemented by the organisation. Nestle strongly believes that professionalism is a key to success, and that needs to be implemented in a responsible manner by its employees and management. So recruitment of the right people and their development with the ongoing training is very important. Nestle is following all these strategies and getting success in its field. In each of its market Nestle follows and respects all applicable local laws (Stuckenschmidt, 2007). 3.2 Vodafone: Vodafone has recently changed its organizational structure in 2008 and defined a set of roles and responsibilities across its team and the hierarchy is as below Group CEO Chief of Staff CEO of European region CEO of Asia-pacific and middle east region CEO of Central European and Africa region Based on this division of roles among the CEOs it could successfully manage all of the region employees and able to bring them on same platform and with this implementation Vodafone has concentrated on the local markets and improve the customer service quality. Following are few achievements of Vodafone after the successful implementation of Organisation structure Improved the ability to deliver seamless corporation across the multinational corporations Facilitated 3G services to the customers Simpilified decision making (A.T. Kearney, 2005). Vodafone is one of the successful business organizations. Five key strategic objectives set out by Vodafone, are considered as the landscape in the telecommunication industry. Vodafone is having drastic changes in the matter of consumers increasingly seeking products and services that can meet the communication needs completely. Vodafone is having a wanted desire for values and simplicity, intensifying prices, increasing technology and also pressures which are common and regular. Here are the five strategic objectives: Stimulate revenue and reduce costs In emerging markets deliver strong growth Deliver and innovate on customers total communication needs To maximize results actively participate and manage the portfolio To implement the strategies that can improve the coordination between customers and organisation In the series of presentation, now a days Vodafone is outlining its approaches to produce on these five strategic objectives (Stathel, 2009). Cost reduction: By reducing costs of the services Vodafone can increase the customers, so that the business can run successfully. Vodafone in Europe follows the strategies like cost reduction and revenue stimulation. These strategies give a more mature mobile market place. By implementing the cost cutting methods across the voice, message and data services, Vodafone has fetched more number of customers across the market. By resulting in operating expenditure savings, group overheads can also be reduced and expected reduction can be estimated. By doing changes in the technology and services Vodafone is successful in its field (Manson, 2003). Market rate: By delivering strong development in up-and-coming markets, Emerging markets are predictable to produce an increasing proportion of Vodafones development or growth in the next five years. Out performance against the original business cases, and significant growth in the markets are targeted by the Vodafone for recent acquisitions. Benefits of establishing a dedicated business can be highlighted by Vodafone in its restructuring announcement and focused on capturing growth in these markets. Robust performance can be highlighted by the Vodafone in its emerging markets portfolio which can be done with its continuous strong growth profile (L. Rutkowski, 2006). Based on the customer needs and feedback, Vodafone has changed the innovation strategies. Vodafone is having a belief that its approach of mobile centric can be attained by satisfying total needs of the customers and also by providing basic performances like mobility and personalization to the customers. Vodafone has implemented a set of practice code as per the requirements from customer services. Vodafone can provide data communication services and also mobile voice services in different countries. It provides roaming services in undergoing an agreement with other mobile services in addition with the services like broadband and fixed line services. It also expanded internationally in some countries by the acquisition of the existing mobile operators. It provided world class service even to the cutomers of the developing countries. For example, recently vodafone had undertaken 67 percent of hutchison-essar telecommuntion shares in India. By doing so it became the second largest cellular operator in terms of revenue in India. Vodafone has implemented an innovation concept and opened few stores known as Widgest shops, where it has provided call rellaying to the customers, providing a dedicated channel to the customers and unlimited data usage(Stathel, 2009). Marketing: Marketing strategies followed by Vodafone has made the company a leader in its field. Vodafone follows the knowledgeble way to get good market rates by reducing prices. It had attracted more number of customers by introducing low cost packages than its competitors. It had even attracted customers from all communities by providing superior quality of service and suitable packages. By providing contractual sales of handsets it had binded many customers to its network. It had made a tremendous mark in the history of advertising by introducing innovative methods like zoo-zoo ads in India. All this made vodafone to be a pioneer in telecommunication industry all over the world (A. SokoÅ‚owski, 2007). Vodafone has introduced an innovation concept known as Joint Innovation Lab, where different service providers are integrated to share their ideas and these companies include Vodafone, Verizon Wireless, China Mobile and Softbank Mobile. All the four companies use to implement the innovation strategies and develop mobile services and data services as per the customer requirements. JIL will launch new attracting services to the customers as per the technical changes across the market and introduces all new strategies to attract the mobile internet users. Consumers can interact with the global innovation groups and share their ideas with the integrated companies (Piller, 2006). 3.3 JP Morgan: JP Morgan has introduced a change in its organization structure recently to improve the quality of services provided to its customers. The main intention behind introducing the change is to open few centers of excellence that provide the best of products trading across all the regions. This organization change has effected the JP Morgans Treasury services and it could now able to deliver the world class market leading trading services and supply chain management services. It has appointed almost 100 new supply chain management leaders with few senior management people to implement the proposed organization change. JP Morgan chase co is one of the leading banks in the banking sector worldwide. By following different strategies and the structural changes reflecting the strategy, JP Morgan is successful in its way. JP Morgans performance initiative centres which are around three themes which can be given as Sales force and customer development: In this particular process the general problems of sales can be defined. Project managenment Supply chain management (A. ņºoÅ‚nierski, 2006). These can maintain the balance in between long-term objectives to short term objectives. Based on the above mentioned stages, the performance and the outputs will become more efficient. One can achieve strategy through balancing competing values by increasing stakeholders value as the main goal or primary goal of the business. To maximize economic value, it must balance customer satisfaction, growth considerations and competitive market forces with internal costs (Riedl, 2009). JP morgan implemented the innovation strategies in integration with the technology and has come up with few modules of innovation and they are discussed as below Athena: Athena is the most innovative technical tool from JP Morgan where it can be used to estimate the cross marketing and trading process of the organization and this system is used across most of the foreign exchange and commodities systems. ComputeBackbone (CBC): JP Morgan has introduced a much sophisticated technical advent known as ComputeBackbone where it can make use of more than 5000 CUPs in a grid at a time and this can be considered as the best innovation step taken by JP Morgan. Core Process Reengineering : JP Morgan has introduced an innovative process known as Core Process Reengineering where it can improve the quality of project life cycle and cross-asset performance. This process can be used for better data change management. To enhance the clients service experiences across the technical innovation, JPMorgan has conducted a research and developed a model known as Three-pronged strategy and this is implemented by the organization for service related process enhancement. First the capabilities of the firm are extended under the E-care program.Many web-based capabilities are included in this program and this program also includes integration of service into clients work flow. The company has introduced the internet services to balance the evolution of services related to cash management to a web-based environment. Using this E-care program the client can send and receive information through additional channels flexibly. This program also provides a facility of making easier to answer, by providing direct obtaining or retrieveing of information from a storage device (repositories) and increase clarity through a wide range of information.The client is also provided with an automated inquiry tracking system to better identify the relative position of the service request and to gather service quality reports.These offerings of this E-care program increases the efficiency, develops control, and allows client to enhance accuracy by avoiding data re-keying. It also works as a possible result, so client can gain information at anytime and at any location. Furtherly JPMorgan will also offer the clients the ability to reach service staff live at anytime in online process. Secondly, to make flawless execution a certainity, JPMorgan has automated this E-care accomplishing process by tracking every component of it using technology.Atlast, the organization is developing its automated process for controlling inquiries by progressing recent functionality and complementary tools that will then increase service effectiveness.The motive of this is to allow client or the staff to be active in performing root-cause analyses and recognizing the possibilities that help the client to enhance directly through a prescribed procedure or to avoid time waste on inquiries. The crucial part to JPMorgans process is its accurate methods for searching processes and products to make modifications that give better results.The company looks forward to the clients to get an improvement in quality of end-to-end service, for example, in some inquiries,flawlessly controlled accomplishments and many other choices with in available channels for initiating service contact (Ogawa, 2006). 3.4 Nokia: Right organizational structure is very essential in every organization to achieve success with out which even its strategy cannot be successful. So the structure needs to be planned in a proper way. Nokia has a number of collaborations and merges initially and due to this there are many changes in its basic organization structure. Nokia concentrates on two main aspects before it implements any technical change across the organization and they are as below Does the organization has technical core competency to manage the change Does the organization has sufficient time to implement the required change If the answers to these two questions are negative, then Nokia will try for a new collaboration and outsourcing the change. To improve the innovation strategies across the organization, Nokia introduced a simple method where the market shifts and drop in the market shares are diverted to the customer satisfaction funds and thus improving that particular department and this process has the following benifits To drive strategy , resources can be allocated with greater ability To make sure that the relavent information is escalated to the right people at right time regarding the innovation strategies. In the financial performance it gives a greater transparency of its technologies and key products which can reflect the effectiveness of the strategy . Nokia has used innovation network to deal with the changing technologies, likely in mobile phones. In mobile manufacturing industry, innovation technologies are particularly very important where product life cycle is short and the technology changes rapidly. Large companies need to be competent in the global economy in such a way that the firm remains competitive, which challenges the firm to develop innovative methods (Miles, 2009). It can be divided into three questions: On product development with whom, on what and why Nokia collaborate? To explore or exploit the new technologies and how does Nokia use technologies for the transformation of its business? Till what part does Nokia fit the open innovation paradigm in the overall business strategy?. (A. Arundel, 2006). Nokia is also implementing the Open Innovation methods these days to integrate the external and internal ideas with in the organization together. Nokia venturing Organisation is focusing on different profitable ventures across different organizations to innovate the new business proposals. Nokia Venture partners are focusing on investing across the mobile and I/P related business activities. Nokia has started a Research center where it has collaborated with around 500 research associates for the perfect implementation of Innovation. It has started a News letter named OpenThread where all the innovation strategies followed by Nokia are published in form of different articles. ForumNokia is the technical forum developed by Nokia and provides space for different users where they can share ideas, comments and technical aspects of mobile usage. Hence we can say that Nokia is making use of Open Innovation to create new products and technologies across the mobile market (Gemunden, 2007). IBM: To manage the organizational structure change, IBM has conducted a worldwide survey with the data of around 1500 multinational organizations and came up with a perfect conclusion report. The main reasons for these changes would be because of implementing the customer satisfaction services, to grow the revenue and sales. Even the effect of globalization and change in technology would lead to the organization changes in terms of innovation. As per IBM, there are five important traits in the organization change and they are listed below Hungry for change Innovation beyond the customer imagination Global integration Disruptive by nature and Genuine, but not generous (P. Drucker, 2007). IBM has made the structural change as its core competency with in the organisation and it was successful in implementing the strategies through it. IBM has listed few key factors to manage the change successfully and they are as below Perfect Leadership Employee management Honest communication (Longo, 2007). To improve the business across the globe IBM has introduced a new innovation method known as ABC, where A is Allignment, B is boundaries and C is Commitment. Alignment: Alignment mainly concentrates on communicating the business strategies to the end users and stakeholders. This particular alignment can be further categorized in to vertical and horizaontal, where the vertical alignment deals with the translation of business innovation strategies in to organization strategies and creates an implementation plan and once this plan is ready, the implementation procedures are done. Horizontal alignment always creates a new organization unit or modifies the existing ones. By integrating the horizontal and vertical alignment, innovation leaders can motivate the behavioral aspects of the customers. Boundaries: In most of the cases, strategic partnerships fail because they are typical to manage and collaborate different ideas. The common areas where these collaborations fail will be in the terms of decision making, legal agreements, cross cultures and ownership rights. Identifying a best partner will make these problems to be solved and these partners include potential customers, suppliers and government groups. History and culture should be taken in to account as the partnership terms will be for longtime and understanding the basic boundaries of each and every group is the basic step to be implemented before forming an innovation collaboration. Commitment: Organisations should be commited to the organization changes and transformations when are working in a collaboration for innovation (Lonsdale, 2009). Chapter 4: Conclusion: Innovative strategies have become the key factor for any organization to enchance their quality of operations and improve the organization performance. From the above discussion it is clear that each and every multinational organizations are following the innovative strategies to mark their place across the international market and improve the product values. By implementing the proper innovation techniques, all these organizations are accomplishing its targeted revenue and customer support across the world.

Comparing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Comparing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy In 1967, Tom Stoppard wrote his famous play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead after getting the idea while watching a production of Hamlet. Four years later, Douglas Adams got the idea for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy while lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck, Austria. In 1978, he would use this idea to produce a BBC radio show, which would be published as a novel in 1979. How can these two works be compared in their use of satire and cynicism? There are many instances of satire in Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Adams begins his novel by describing the sun and goes on to say, "Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea." (1) By saying this, Adams shows that he does not think much of how humans are using technology, or their intelligence because they are so amazed by something fairly simple. According to Whissen, "Adam's message . . . is that too much thinking about things like the vastness of eternity and space and time can drive one mad. But instead of worrying about it, he takes control of it." (113) By presenting actual numbers, Adams puts the earth into the universe's perspective. Though humans tend to make themselves the center of the universe, they are actually a small insignificant speck in everything. Adams goes on to explain more about the humans and their plight. "Most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because . . . it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy." (1) While making a joke about humans and their general discontentedness, Adams takes a different look at the monetary system. People feel that money will make them happy, but it does not really work. Money is constantly being moved, yet that is not what is unhappy. People try to change other things to make themselves happy, but by this, Adams is suggesting that people should try to change themselves, rather than everything else.

Spirituality through community

In â€Å"Cathedral,† Raymond Carver wrote the story of an unnamed male narrator who describes a visit from Robert, a blind male friend of his wife. Roberts’ arrival and stay in the narrator’s home causes the narrator to abandon his stereotypes about blind people and to understand himself better. Carver, through his story, claims that in order to be free we must detach ourselves from stereotypes and focus on self understanding. Carver uses â€Å"Cathedral† as the title for his story in order to emphasize that the process of completing a cathedral is more important than the end result, which could take approximately one hundred years. In the process of drawing a cathedral with the blind man, the narrator, putting himself in Robert’s shoes, is enlightened while a meaningful relationship develops between the two men. The narrator goes through a process of transformation. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is very much against Robert’s visit. Jealousy and hatred seem to overcome him. His wife’s fondness for Robert and their close friendship that has spanned thousand of miles and ten years bothers him. Furthermore, the stereotypical image that he has built in his mind about blind men hinders him from welcoming Robert into his home and into his life. However, things change as the narrator and Robert begin on a quest to draw a cathedral. The end result is not the cathedral drawn but the feeling that overcomes the narrator after having embarked on the process. The narrator’s new found consciousness would not have come about if not for the process. By drawing, the narrator is able to experience different feelings that have been alien to him before. Even with eyes closed, the narrator still succeeds in producing the cathedral. This demonstrates that the value is not in the final product but in the journey that one undergoes to reach it. It is not the end product that heightens spirituality in an individual; it is the journey that allows a person to reach further. It is not the end product but the journey that allows the person to experience. Without the process, there will be no experience. Looking at someone else’s work is far different from producing the work. One appreciates the end product more if he realizes the work that goes into producing it. The story of â€Å"Cathedral† clearly demonstrates such. The narrator had difficulty describing the cathedrals that were shown on television. This was because he had little understanding and experience in cathedrals. As the narrator said, â€Å"I can’t tell you what a cathedral looks like. It just isn’t in me to do it. I can’t do any more than I’ve done.† His difficulty stems not from his inability to see the cathedral; it comes from his lack of experience and understanding of what a cathedral is and what it stands for. The narrator sees no value in cathedrals. He said, â€Å"The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean anything special to me. Nothing. Cathedrals. They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are.† However, having embarked on the process of drawing a cathedral, the narrator is able to experience. He is able to build a new perspective on things. This goes to show that it is not the end result but the journey to it that really matters.

Locate and Identify Black Locust in North America

Locate and Identify Black Locust in North America Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known as the black locust, is a prickly tree within the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family called  Fabaceae and is considered to be a legume with flattened pea pods several inches long. Black locust is native to the southeastern United States, but has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe and Asia. The original range of the locust is in the Appalachian, Ozark and Ouachita range  located in the middle mountains of Eastern North America.  They are now considered an invasive species in some areas even within the natural range. Black locust was introduced into Britain in 1636 where it has slowly garnered a universal appeal to tree lovers. Black Locust Identification One major identifier is the long compound leaves with up to 19 leaflets which present  the typical and unique locust leaf profile (not to be confused with the twice compound leaves of honey locust). The other ID marker is a small stout briar spine  on branches, often curved and in pairs at each leaf node. Late spring to early summer flowers can be showy, white and drooping  with 5-inch flower clusters. These flowers are fragrant with a vanilla and honey scent. The leguminous fruit developing from the flower has 4-inch papery thin pods with small, dark-brown, kidney-shaped seeds. These autumn seeds will persist until the next spring. You will find this tree primarily  in areas where it colonizes open fields and roadsides. Its ability to grow in poor soils, fast growth, ornamental foliage and fragrant flowers make for a favorite tree to plant. More on Black Locust Black locust is sometimes called yellow locust and grows naturally on a wide range of sites but does best on rich moist limestone soils.  Black locust is not a commercial timber species but is useful for many other purposes. Because it is a nitrogen fixer and has rapid juvenile growth, it is widely planted as an ornamental, for shelterbelts, and for land reclamation. It is suitable for fuelwood and pulp and provides cover for wildlife, browse for deer, and cavities for birds. We must recognize that black locust is not an important tree for logging purposes as there is very little timber value and it has little lumber or paper pulp potential. We still need to remember that the tree has and is used  in the United States to be manufactured into a wide variety of products. Robinia pseudoacacia is planted for many specialized purposes. Black locust is used for fence posts, mine timbers, poles, railroad ties, insulator pins, ship timber, tree nails for wooden ship construction, boxes, crates, pegs, stakes, and novelties. Pulp with satisfactory mechanical properties can be made from the tree, particularly by the sulfate process but commercial value awaits  further investigation.

Instagram as Tool for Social Science Research

Instagram as Tool for Social Science Research In the recent decades, advancements in technologies have dramatically changed the research process across all disciplines. Some of these innovations have revolutionized research with titanic and far-reaching implications. The internet, for instance, has made it easy to access information and communicate across long distances. Some of these innovations are slightly less revolutionary but with tremendous impacts on research.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Instagram as Tool for Social Science Research specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Online social media platforms are examples of modest innovations whose impact on research-related tasks can only be felt cumulatively through daily interactions. With a base of 90 million active users monthly and over 40 million photos posted each day, Instagram is a powerful tool for social science research (Titlow, 2013). The innovation uses hash tags to allow users share similar informa tion. A researcher can visit those hash tags to get vivid graphical results on a research topic. This paper will demonstrate that despite its shortcomings as a source of social problems, Instagram is a powerful research tool on virtually all social sciences disciplines. Kevin Systrom and Michel Krieger, a Brazilian, developed Instagram in the beginning of 2010 (How did it Impact Society? –Instagram, n.d., par 3).The innovation got a financial boast from venture fund investment in March 2010. One year later, Instagram discovered hash tag, afeature that allows users to share and discover similar information and photos. Like-minded Instagrammers create specific hash tags to help them discover each other. Instagram became very popular and hit over million users in 2010. With invention of the hash tag feature, this number rose to 10 million in 2011. By August 2012, the innovation had over 100 million photos uploaded on its service. This number surpassed one billion in 2012. Each s econd, Instagram receives fifty-eightphotos and one new user on its service. Renowned personalities and celebrities have created Instagram profiles. This allows them to share photos and videos with their followers and fans. The innovation, though modest, has exceedingly many users on its platform. It is in recognition of the growth that Times listed it as the Best Android Application for 2013. Instagram has gigantic impacts on research, some positive and others negative. To start with, the innovation provides a platform for expression of opinions through photos. Images are very powerful in sharing opinion especially in a world saturated with text. Instagram users post captivating images on their profiles. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words (Prives, n.d., par 4).Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Social activists, opinion shapers, and commentators p ost photographs that capture issues affecting their worlds. It is thus easy for a researcher to discover people’s opinions on different aspects of life. It is also a powerful tool for social and political mobilization. In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Indonesia, people used Instagram photographs to highlight the humanitarian crisis in the country. Through these images, it was possible to appeal to people’s emotions and mobilize help. A researcher can therefore find Instagram extremely useful in such areas.  Instagram allows users to interact with people they would never have contacted before. By sharing pictures, people miles away stay connected. Through hash tags, like-minded people interact with one another as they share ideas, jokes, and exchange pictures. The more people share and interact, the more societies build social and political ties. A social researcher interested in studying the influence of celebrities on teenagers can use Instagram. A ph oto of a celebrity dressed in a certain fashion can attract many young people to dress in the same way and share their photos. Another benefit of Instagram as a research tool is the ease in access to vast amounts of information. The innovation has made it possible to access readily available resources at a click of a mouse. Researchers do not have to read volumes of newspaper or sit down for hours watching or listening to news. Instead, they can search for a relevant hash tag and get all relevant information. For instance, a search on the â€Å"#fiscalcliff† hash tag generates in excess of five thousand pictures. A search on the hash tag â€Å"#new† has more than three hundred thousand images. Instagram as a tool for research in social sciences is therefore convenient, fast, and highly resourceful. In spite of being resourceful and convenient as a research tool, Instagram has several negative consequences on users. To start with, the innovation has led to emergence of narcissistic stars of social media platform. Rinosa (2013)reports that the hash tag â€Å"#me† is the third in popularity in Instagram. Through this hash tag, young people share explicit self-images. Additionally, young users upload too much personal details on this platform. They spend most of their time on cellphones sharing where they visit, what they eat, among other details. This leads to social awkwardness as young people are detached from the real world. It is impossible to regulate what people share on Instagram. The platform therefore contributes to erosion of moral fabric and cyber bullying.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Instagram as Tool for Social Science Research specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Personally, I have been an Instagrammer since 2010. I signed up to the invention under influence from friends when I was in high school. The invention has had many effects on my personal life and as a c ollege student. At a personal level, I interact with friends and share photos. I also get information on what is happening around the globe. It had never occurred to me that Instagram is a powerful research tool until I ran out of information while explaining something to friends. We decided to search for the information on a particular hash tag on Instagram. We were overwhelmed by the amount of readily available information on the hash tag. We got many images that helped us to understand our topic better. Since then, I realized the truism in the statement that a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Whenever I need information on something, I simply search for the particular hash tag. I did the same during the Halloween and the photos that came up inundated me. In conclusion, technology will play a big role in future research. Instagram, for instance, has plans to have a video-sharing feature on its service. By using this feature, it will be possible to share and watch video s online. For researchers, this is an opportunity for clear evidence in the course of research. With the recent acquisition by Facebook Inc., Instagram has obtained financial muzzle to develop more features (Titlow, 2013). Instagram has several shortcomings including social awkwardness and rise of narcissistic online stars. However, this does not negate the invention’s power as a social science tool. With ninety million monthly users and an even higher photo sharing capability, researchers cannot ignore this vital tool. Rather thanincur high expenditure on other tools, researchers can exploit the convenience offered by Instagram as research tool in social science subjects. References How did it Impact Society? Instagram. (n.d.). Web.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Prives, G. (n.d.). Instagram and its Impact on the World of Photography. Digital Photography School Instagram and its Impact on the World of Photography Comments. Web. Rinosa, M. (2013). 4 Ways Instagram Has Redefined Teen Culture. Web. Titlow, J. (2013). #Me: Instagram Narcissism And The Scourge Of The  Selfie. Web.

HTML and e-commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

HTML and e-commerce - Essay Example HTML has become the language of all webs. All web pages are written in HTML. It is a markup language and surrounded by many other markup languages like SGML, XML and many more. Html by having more precise and efficient functions effectively distinguishes the other markup languages. Another reason of HTML distinction is that it not only included the features that was found in prior markup languages but accumulated by many more like it has more complicated style and content tags integrated into one language. It has a tag that separately defines the content with tag like H1, in order to define style it uses a FONT tag (Schaum's, 2003). It is of necessity that now web documents are defined by the HTML because of its excessively constructive features. However, HTML is an essential markup language used for web pages. It involves many features from which building blocks of all websites are formed. It is used to slot-in varied images and objects on the web and allow interactivity between user and computer. HTML is used to embed video without any authority, and is very handy for web developers who exhibits graphics easily and pleasantly. Many individuals facilitate the relocation of computer files to their mobile by the use of HTML5. Web pages have been expanding its utility by getting large storage of information. We browsers also attribute Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which labels the emergence and outline of the text and the matter contained (Powell, 1998 ). Question 2 Examine the purpose of client servers and browsers and the function of the search engine for technology software house. To examine the function of clie nt server and browser we can use the mechanism that occurred between these two regions. Client server is basically a server used to form the communication for a wide range. Clients are browsers that always initiate in this mechanism to forward the details to the server which it is asked for. The server application waits inertly to have the instructions from clients and then accordingly provides the specific services into browser by which user can further proceed. The browser allows the users to look through the resources accessible on the server. Users can browse any resource that could be present in the server or for the documents with dynamism depending on the user’s requirements (Kiley Mitchell). We can say that the browser function is to advance the user’s detail to server for demonstration. The main purpose of search engines is associated with finding targeted keyword information, sorting it properly, storing in an organized manner and finally ranking the valuable information found on the web. On the other way, server responses to the instruction put into the browser by the user. All communications between browsers and servers use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The pattern in which clients and servers exchange messages is referring to the request-response messaging mold. The reason of the effective communication between clients and server is certainly highlighting the common language between them (Thurow, 2003 ). Web crawlers and indexing are few of the notable functionalities associated with search engines. Crawlers are designed in a manner that it can locate any new information available on the internet within seconds and then ranks it

Bancfirst Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bancfirst - Research Paper Example First is the economic environment because it affects the value of the bank’s financial instruments, securities and loans portfolios and market and credit risk exposure. For example, a decline in economic conditions could lead to increased regulatory scrutiny, increase loan delinquencies, reduce customer borrowing power and eventually lower demand for the bank’s products and services (Bancfirst 14). The demand curve for houses shifted to the right because of the following factors. Firstly, they began with low interest rates that prevailed from 2001 to 2004. These low rates made borrowers increasingly opt for adjustable rate mortgages over fixed-rate mortgages. Then the subprime mortgage industry developed a number of innovative products, e.g. hybrids, to fuel their growth. Hybrids were loans that began with a low fixed rate for an initial period and were then reset to higher variable rates for the remainder of the term of the loan. With such products in the market, borrowers and lenders alike focused only on the borrower’s ability to carry the low initial payments. These factors heightened consumer optimism and confidence which encouraged more borrowing. The equilibrium price went up. The falling prices made homeowners begin to owe more than their home’s value. Borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages were unable to refinance before their rates reset. As borrowers were unable to pay, foreclosures rose sharply and financial institutions that had invested heavily in subprime-related securities went into decline and some collapsed. With some firms collapsed, the supply curve shifted inward. Thus, the equilibrium price for houses went up. The housing crisis began when the US economy was in recession. This is manifested by the fact that the low interest rates that prevailed from 2001 to the end of 2004 were measures implemented by the Federal Reserve to combat the 2001 recession and prevent deflation (Barth et al. 7). The Federal Reserve Chairman says the