Francisco de Orellana, Discoverer of the Amazon River

Francisco de Orellana (1511–November 1546) was a Spanish conquistador, colonist, and explorer. He joined Gonzalo Pizarros 1541 expedition that set out from Quito headed east, hoping to find the mythical city of El Dorado. Along the way, Orellana and Pizarro were separated. While Pizarro returned to Quito, Orellana and a handful of men continued traveling downriver, eventually discovering the Amazon River and making their way to the Atlantic Ocean. Today, Orellana is best remembered for this journey of exploration. Fast Facts: Francisco de Orellana Known For: Spanish conquistador who discovered the Amazon RiverBorn: 1511 in Trujillo,  Crown of CastileDied: November 1546 in the Delta of the  Amazon River (Today  Parà ¡Ã‚  and  Amapà ¡, Brazil)Spouse: Ana de Ayala Early Life Francisco de Orellana was born in Extremadura sometime around 1511. Its reported that he had a close relationship with Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, although the exact relationship is not entirely clear. They were close enough, however, that Orellana could use the connection to his advantage. Joining Pizarro Orellana came to the New World while still a young man and met with Pizarros 1832 expedition to Peru, where he was among the Spaniards who overthrew the mighty Inca Empire. He showed a knack for supporting the winning sides in the Civil Wars among the conquistadors that ripped the region apart in the late 1530s. He lost an eye in the fighting but was richly rewarded with lands in present-day Ecuador. Gonzalo Pizarro’s Expedition Spanish conquistadors had discovered unimaginable wealth in Mexico and Peru and were constantly on the lookout for the next rich native Empire to attack and rob. Gonzalo Pizarro, Franciscos brother, was one man who believed in the legend of El Dorado, a wealthy city governed by a king who painted his body in gold dust. In 1540, Gonzalo began outfitting an expedition that would set out from Quito and head east in the hopes of locating El Dorado or any other rich native civilization. Gonzalo borrowed a princely sum of money to outfit the expedition, which left in February of 1541. Francisco de Orellana joined the expedition and was considered high-ranking among the conquistadors. Pizarro and Orellana Separate The expedition did not find much in the way of gold or silver. Instead, it encountered angry natives, hunger, insects, and flooded rivers. The conquistadors slogged around the dense South American jungle for several months, their condition worsening. In December of 1541, the men were camped out alongside a mighty river, their provisions loaded onto a makeshift raft. Pizarro decided to send Orellana ahead to scout the terrain and find some food. His orders were to return as soon as he could. Orellana set out with about 50 men and departed on December 26. Orellana’s Journey A few days downriver, Orellana and his men found some food at a native village. According to documents that Orellana kept, he wished to return to Pizarro, but his men agreed that returning upriver would be too hard and threatened to mutiny if Orellana made them, preferring instead to continue downriver. Orellana did send three volunteers back to Pizarro to inform him of his actions. They set forth from the confluence of the Coca and Napo Rivers and began their trek. On February 11, 1542, the Napo emptied into a larger River: the Amazon. Their voyage would last until they reached the Spanish-held Island of Cubagua, off the coast of Venezuela, in September. Along the way, they suffered from Indian attacks, hunger, malnutrition, and illnesses. Pizarro would eventually return to Quito, his troop of colonists decimated. The Amazons The Amazons—a fearsome race of warrior women—had been legendary in Europe for centuries. The conquistadors, who had become used to seeing new, marvelous things on a regular basis, often looked for legendary people and places (such as Juan Ponce de Leà ³ns fabled search for the Fountain of Youth). The Orellana expedition convinced itself that it had found the fabled Kingdom of the Amazons. Native sources, highly motivated to tell the Spaniards what they wanted to hear, told of a great, wealthy kingdom ruled by women with vassal states along the river. During one skirmish, the Spanish even saw women fighting: they assumed these were the legendary Amazons who had come to fight alongside their vassals. Friar Gaspar de Carvajal, whose first-hand account of the journey has survived, described them as near-naked white women who fought fiercely. Return to Spain Orellana returned to Spain in May 1543, where he was not surprised to find that an angry Gonzalo Pizarro had denounced him as a traitor. He was able to defend himself against the charges, in part because he had asked the would-be mutineers to sign documents to the effect that they did not allow him to return upstream to aid Pizarro. On February 13, 1544, Orellana was named governor of â€Å"New Andalucia,† which included much of the region he had explored. His charter allowed him to explore the area, conquer any bellicose natives, and establish settlements along the Amazon River. Return to the Amazon Orellana was now an adelantado, sort of a cross between an administrator and a conquistador. With his charter in hand, he went looking for funding but found it difficult to lure investors to his cause. His expedition was a fiasco from the start. More than a year after gaining his charter, Orellana set sail for the Amazon on May 11, 1545. He had four ships carrying hundreds of settlers, but provisions were poor. He stopped in the Canary Islands to refit the ships but wound up staying there for three months as he sorted out various problems. When they finally set sail, rough weather caused one of his ships to be lost. He reached the mouth of the Amazon in December and began his plans for settlement. Death Orellana began exploring the Amazon, looking for a likely place to settle. Meanwhile, hunger, thirst, and native attacks weakened his force constantly. Some of his men even abandoned the enterprise while Orellana was exploring. Sometime in late 1546, Orellana was scouting an area with some of his remaining men when they were attacked by natives. Many of his men were killed: according to Orellana’s widow, he died of illness and grief shortly after that. Legacy Orellana is best remembered today as an explorer, but that was never his goal. He was a conquistador who accidentally became an explorer when he and his men were carried off by the mighty Amazon River. His motives were not very pure, either: he never intended to be a trailblazing explorer. Rather, he was a veteran of the bloody conquest of the Inca Empire whose considerable rewards were not enough for his greedy soul. He wished to find and loot the legendary city of El Dorado in order to become even wealthier. He died still seeking a wealthy kingdom to plunder. Still, there is no doubt that he led the first expedition to travel the Amazon River from its roots in the Andean mountains to its release into the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, he proved himself as shrewd, tough, and opportunistic, but also cruel and ruthless. For a time, historians deplored his failure to return to Pizarro, but it seems that he had no choice in the matter. Today, Orellana is remembered for his journey of exploration and little else. He is most famous in Ecuador, which is proud of its role in history as the place from which the famed expedition departed. There are streets, schools, and even a province named after him. Sources Ayala Mora, Enrique, ed. Manual de Historia del Ecuador I: Epocas Aborigen y Colonial, Independencia. Quito: Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, 2008.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. â€Å"Francisco De Orellana.†Ã‚  Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Inc., 13 Feb. 2014.Silverberg, Robert. The Golde. Dream: Seekers of El Dorado. Athens: the Ohio University Press, 1985.

The History Of Israel - 1705 Words

Israel, a country of only 8.38 million people, has been thriving since its independence in the year 1948. It runs as a vibrant democracy and the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has successfully lead a coalition government consisting of right-leaning and religious parties. This 8,019 square mile country, â€Å"has a modern market economy with a thriving high-technology sector that attracts considerable foreign investment† (heritage.org, 1). Israel is surrounded by much larger and hateful countries towards Israel, leading to multiple wars including the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the 2008-2009, 2012, and 2014 wars against Hamas in Gaze, and furthermore, the constant and daily threats of terrorism. But, although Israel experiences†¦show more content†¦This is a very useful tool when you are trying to comparing countries to each other because it shows the relative performance of these countries (investopedia.com). Comparing Israel to other countries, in 201 6 with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Israel was ranked number 24 at $37,262, and with the World Bank in 2016 as well, it was ranked as number 22 at $37,293 (Economy of Israel). All of the GDP are converted into United States currency to even out the playing field and make it easier to rank all of the countries. While the GDP per capita can help compare countries to one another, an issue with it is that it doesn’t take into account the differences in cost of living as well as the fluctuations in the exchange rates of a country’s currency (wikipedia.org). Within the entire Middle East, Israel has the highest GDP, just about doubling Iran who is the second highest at $12,900 (Economy in the Middle East). By breaking down the percentages of the GDP in Israel, it shows that most of the GDP is towards services at 64.7%, then 31.2% in industry, and a small 2.5% in agriculture (Economy of Israel). 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My Experience With the Intouchables Essay Example For Students

My Experience With the Intouchables Essay It was the November 2, 2011, when the long-expected French movie called â€Å"Intouchables† was released. During this period, I had my autumn break from school, which was one the primary reasons of my significant concern about forthcoming events. Personally, I was extremely excited to watch this movie, on account of my favorite actor, performing the main role. Furthermore, this performance was based on the real life story of the Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Sellou, who despite of the considerable amount of obstacles in their life did not give up and learnt to be content with what he has within this moment. Consequently, the influence of this movie on my life occurred to be significant. On the other hand, by considering my awareness about films of different genre and cultures, I knew upfront that Intouchables probably going to be one of the best movies I have ever seen. A great, positive comedy, The Intouchables, is the actual story of an infrequent relationship among the quadriplegic multi-millionaire from the richest neighborhood in Paris and his caretaker, living under other side of the economic spectrum – a strong bond that arises, through the unconditional trust, care, and shared life experiences, into a strong friendship that considerably transforms two miserable lives. Moreover, the topic about race and class courses during the whole movie, which is a permanent origin of confusion and inconvenience in France. Particularly, one of the most remarkable things about the film is that both men assist each other to cope with their personal issues. Accordingly, Driss needs to become more responsible with his life and look after the people about whom he cares the most, whereas Phillipe needs to learn to accept himself as he is and improve his romantic relationships by overcoming the fear of being renounced. Therefore, each man is deficient in a certain way; both of them overcome this deficiency, by being an emotional and spiritual home to each other. The only thing for what this film might be criticized is its sentimentality and naà ¯ve optimism. Surprisingly, the movie theatre in my hometown, where we were watching the Intouchables, was completely full with people of the different age, class and race, which indicates the substantial interest of the people. Moreover, the dramatic atmosphere of this movie conducted by Ludovico Einaudi’s masterpieces, â€Å"Fly† and â€Å"Una Mattina†. The compositions were gracefully used in the major touching parts of the film: gives the audience significant amount of impressions and emotions. The incredible story is focused on the two absolutely different characters, Driss and Philippe accompanied by unforgettable acting and dramatic filmography. Actually, an unconditional friendship and their cooperative travel though their journey makes both of their lives brighter and lighter. The film is mainly based on their boundless relationship and the knowledge they received from one another. As a result, this story is where both characters are winners and losers, rather than one is a hero and one is saved. It is heartwarming that such an inspiring story was retrieved from the real life and a real friendship. Driss and Philippe possibly untouchables for others, but through their enlightening journey and shared experiences, they are able to touch each other’s heart.

Zlatas Diary By Zlata Filipovic Penguin Essays - Diaries

Zlata's Diary By Zlata Filipovic Penguin Zlata's Diary By Zlata Filipovic Penguin Books c. 1995 Zlata's Diary is a book about a young girl's life during a war in Sarajevo. As the book begins, Zlata Filipovic is a normal little girl going to school and having fun. She has lots of friends, does well in school, has a wonderful family life, and is as happy as any little girl could want to be. Slowly, throughout the book, things start to get worse. She starts out talking about her grades and how happy she had been with school, and how the biggest of her worries is that she is sick on her birthday. Then she moves on to talk about the war in Dunbrovnik and how she is praying for them. Slowly, the war starts to move to Sarajevo. The book goes from, I am tired, but happy, to, My life is one of no electricity, no water, no gas, no school which isn't school, rice, macaroni, a bit of green beans from Meleca's garden, the occasional sweets, my piano, and of course you, Mimmy. I really enjoyed the begining of the book, but I felt that after awhile it was the same thing over, and over again. For example, June 23, The electricity went out at eight o'clock last night. July 7, There was no water yesterday, or the day befor, or the day befor that.She goes on to say the same thing repetitivly only days later and throughout the whole book. I think the book would have been better for younger kids. I think kids that were more around Zlata's age could have related to her better. I was also dissapointed about the emotion she had, To explain that she was sad she would simply say, Boo-Hoo. Her friends would die ir her family members would leave and that was the only emotion she would express. She didn't really write how she felt in a way we could relate to. I think, if she would have had more emotion, and also not so much repetitive writing, we could have understood her better and I believe I would have enjoyed the book more. Bibliography Zlata's Diary Book report Book Reports

Great Patriotic War essays

Great Patriotic War essays Assess the reasons for the success of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Concepts that should be considered include Industrialization, modernization and nationalism. Many contributing factors led the success of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War between 1941 to 1945. A primary reason for this triumph was the nationalistic determination of the people under Stalins leadership. The USSRs centralized industrialization and rapid mobilization held a key role in Soviet victory and was a secondary factor to Soviet success. It was the battle of Stalingrad that demonstrated the strength of the Soviet Union as it was to signal the turning point of the war for Russia. The mobilization of the Soviet economy, which resulted after Stalins speech to the nation on 3 July 1941, was a secondary factor leading to the success of the Great Patriotic War, between Russia and Germany. Industrialization, which had taken place prior to then, provided a substantial industrial base. Due to this previous preparation, the command economy and the Stalinist system enabled the USSR to mobilize quickly and efficiently under the co-ordination of the State Defense committee (GKO) in response to the war. Away from conflict, the Urals area was developed into a heavy industrial complex to concentrate on the production of war materials. Industrial production thrived as Soviet women replaced men, who were drafted into the Red army. Civilian production was now transformed into military production. Gill claimed the USSR out produced the Germans and provided weapons of higher quality. By 1941 production was 70 times greater than 1928. Even under attack, the Soviets were able to mass-produce munitions as another 1,523 defense industries were shifted to safer territory in the east of Russia which played a vital role in the war effort (Christian). The industrialization and modernization processes during the late 20...

Chowan University Admissions - SAT Scores, Costs...

Chowan University Admissions - SAT Scores, Costs... Chowan University Admissions Overview: Admissions at Chowan University are only somewhat competitivethose with grades and test scores above average have a good chance of being admitted. Students applying to Chowan need to submit scores from the SAT or ACT, along with high school transcripts and a completed application. There is no writing or personal statement requirement as part of the application. Students interested in Chowan University should check out the schools website, and are welcome to visit campus and/or contact the admissions office with any questions.   Admissions Data (2016): Chowan University Acceptance Rate: 57%Test Scores 25th / 75th PercentileSAT Critical Reading: 360 / 445SAT Math: 360 / 450SAT Writing: - / -What these SAT numbers meanACT Composite: 14 / 17ACT English: 11 / 16ACT Math: 15 / 17What these ACT numbers mean Chowan University Description: Chowan University is a private Christian college in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, a town just an hour away from Virginia Beach. With a student/faculty ratio of 16:1 and a student body of just over 1,300, Chowan offers plenty of individualized attention on its 300-acre campus. The college hosts over 45 student clubs on campus and 13 NCAA Division II sports. The Chowan Hawks compete in the  Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). Popular sports include football, soccer, softball, tennis, and cross country. Chowan also has plenty of intramural sports, including pick-up Frisbee and extreme dodge ball. For those with more interest in the fine arts, Chowan is home to the Wayland L. Jenkins Jr. Fine Arts Center, a gallery with almost 90 original works of art as well as a collection of early 19th-century furniture. There is plenty to do at Chowan, including watching performances by TheatreChowan, playing to win the Chowan Ping-Pong title, and surfing at one of the nearby beach es. Enrollment (2016): Total Enrollment: 1,534  (1,525 undergraduates)Gender Breakdown: 46% Male / 54% Female96% Full-time Costs (2016- 17): Tuition and Fees: $23,930Books: $1,000 (why so much?)Room and Board: $8,950Other Expenses: $1,664Total Cost: $35,554 Chowan University Financial Aid (2015- 16): Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 100%Percentage of New Students Receiving Types of AidGrants: 100%Loans: 92%Average Amount of AidGrants: $17,193Loans: $10,696 Academic Programs: Most Popular Majors:  Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Health and Physical Education, Social Sciences, Psychology, Elementary Education, Religious Studies, History, Communications, Studio Art Graduation and Retention Rates: First Year Student Retention (full-time students): 48%4-Year Graduation Rate: 12%6-Year Graduation Rate: 23% Intercollegiate Athletic Programs: Mens Sports:  Football, Tennis, Track and Field, Cross Country, Basketball, Baseball, Golf, SoccerWomens Sports:  Lacrosse, Softball, Soccer, Tennis, Track and Field, Cross Country, Volleyball, Basketball, Bowling Data Source: National Center for Educational Statistics If You Like Chowan University, You May Also Like These Schools: Shaw UniversityNorfolk State UniversityOld Dominion UniversityMars Hill UniversityVirginia Commonwealth UniversityBarton CollegeNorth Carolina Central UniversityWingate UniversityUniversity of North Carolina - GreensboroVirginia Union University

The Future of Nursing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Future of Nursing - Term Paper Example In fact, even the report recommends that even the already registered APRN nurses have to acquire advanced professional studies to improve their training skills. Transformation of Nursing Practice The IOM (2001) gives important report to the transformation of the future nursing as it recommends the need for nursing practice in the healthcare institutions in the US. The demand for practicing nurses is about 10 percent. This implies that the US government has taken initiative to train nurses for the future heal care services. The focus on practicing has transformed the nursing operations to a high level of competence and confidence. The need to practice however faced challenges when the registration of APRN nurses. There is an ongoing negotiation for the ban to be lifted so that Advanced Nurses may continue with their practicing. This is very essential during the discovery of the new healthcare systems focused on the well-being of patients. The competence of nurses to meet the needs of patients is supported by their scientific knowledge and their unlimited abilities to adapt to the changes in the Medicare systems (Shell, 2002). The practicing has developed a reliable number of highly skilled nurses who are able to provide advanced services that could otherwise remain to be the responsibilities of professional physicians. It is not logical to engage highly trained physicians even though they have broader and special training than the APRN nurses. The IOM (2001) recommends that because the future need for more cost effective systems of health services, there should be opportunity for practicing nurses to take roles that are more responsible in the operation of the modern healthcare system. They are not only... This report approves that improvement in nursing education will assist in the process of eradicating ignorance and the risks of unethical and unprofessional services. The solution and the risk mitigation strategy for this possibility are to develop a team of educated workforce. The report argues that effective education model and improved system of education will prepare the future nurses to be able to manage leadership responsibilities. The US government is committed to supporting education geared towards the development of teams of nurses focused on improved quality and reliable outcomes. For the future healthcare to realize the value of nursing profession, then the IOM report argues that there is no substitute to educating nurses. In fact, even the report recommends that even the already registered APRN nurses have to acquire advanced professional studies to improve their training skills. The competence of nurses to meet the needs of patients is supported by their scientific knowl edge and their unlimited abilities to adapt to the changes in the Medicare systems. This essay makes a conclusion that as the US realizes the need and the opportunity to change the system and services in the health care institutions, nurses are able to play vital responsibilities in the process of implementing the transformation. The key recommendation about leadership is that nurses should work with stakeholders to ensure that they provide unlimited high quality healthcare services and at the same time, participate in the decisions that change the working environment in the institutions. Indeed, nurses have strong influence on the outcome of the future healthcare services.

Critical Thinking Assignment Polio Crusade Reflection

Critical Thinking Polio Crusade Reflection - Assignment Example The couple should understand that vaccines are safe and only cause minor reactions such as a sore arm once administered to the baby. The couple should also understand that there is more harm likely to occur to a child due to vaccine-preventable disease than by the vaccine itself. For example, failure to give the child polio vaccine will make the baby prone to polio with severe consequences such as paralysis. Therefore, the benefits of vaccines are far more. Moreover, I would like to remind the couple that although polio is almost eradicated in our country, there are still risks. The World health Organization notes that causative agents of some of the eliminated conditions continue to occur in some parts of the world. This means people especially children are vulnerable to causative agents at any time. Hence, the couple should not view disease as something of the past. Lastly, I would like the couple to understand that there has been no established fact that the vaccine causes autism. Studies conducted in the past linking vaccine to autisms have been dismissed. I chose chickenpox as the disease to reflect on various issues raised. It is one of the contagious diseases. The causative agent is varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The condition is easily spread from one person to the other. It is spread to a person that have never had an infection or the person that have not received chickenpox vaccine. It is commonly spread in the air through coughing or sneezing. The virus can also be spread by coming into contact with the chickenpox blisters. There are various signs and symptoms of the disease. The main symptom is a rash that gets itchy. There are also blisters with fluid that later transforms into scabs. The rash first appears on the face, chest, and back. However, the rash later spreads to other parts of the body such as mouth and genital area. The other symptoms include fever, lack of appetite, and headache. There are drugs

I.T and Hauhaus Essay Example for Free

I.T and Hauhaus Essay As they are the competitor within the market, the retailing strategies to be used are similar. Therefore, it is easier to collect and compare the financial data and draw out the conclusion to see which company would be worthier to invest. The report covers the company and industry background, ratio analysis, future forecast of two companies’ performance. 2)Company Background Bauhaus (0483, HK) Bauhaus was found in 1991. It has been listed on HKEX stock market since 2005. There are more than 200 retails store and over corners and point of sales in Hong Kong, Macau ,mainland China and Taiwan,. Apart from selling different foreign brand, liked Cheap Monday, G-Star, EVISU etc, Bauhaus also building the local brand liked Salad, T Tough Jeansmith and 80/20. It is a leading retail store in selling casual wear, especially for jeans item. There are 234 Bauhaus shops in Asia. Using the wholesale strategy, Bauhaus can expand the business from Asia to Western country. In the future, it may diversify its product line like launch more foreign brand to increase its competiveness. I. T (0999, HK) I. T was found in November of 1988. It has been listed on HKEX stock market since 2005. The Group has an extensive self managed retail network extending to nearly 450 stores across Greater China with staff around 4,800. The brands are well accepted in Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the Philippines and France. More stores will be opened in these places in the future. The feature of I. T retail store is group several brands in a sizable retail location. It owns a number of in-house brands liked 5CM, fingercroxx and X-large, as well as distributing European and Japanese designer’s brands such as French Connection and A Bathing Ape Comme des Garcons, DG, etc. 3)Industry Outlook Hong Kong is one of the fashion hubs in Asia. There are a wind variety of local and international fashion brand locate there flagship store in Hong Kong. The competitive is dynamic and incentive. Hong Kong consumers are willing to spend money on fashion and clothing. As the purchasing power of is high, so the demand of fashion product is huge. According to CIA THE WORLD FACTBOOK, this entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. From this result, Hong Kong is ranking to 37 after compared to 227 countries in the year of 2010. According to the information from Asia Case Research Centre (ACRC), it shows that retail is the 2nd largest sector in the service industry that accounted for 85. 7% of Hong Kongs GDP. Also, The Census and Statistics Department (C;SD) indicate that the value of total retail sales in October 2011, provisionally estimated at $34. 2 billion, increased by 23. 1% over a year earlier. Analyzed by broad type of retail outlet and comparing October 2011 with October 2010, wearing apparel increase 14. 6%; footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories increase 11. 3%. This data proofs that the demand of fashion items is huge and purchasing power in this region is relatively high. Besides, tourists come to Hong Kong are increasing each year; they bring with high purchase power in fashion items, especially those Chinese tourists. According to the statistics released by the Immigration Department, about 800,000 to 900,000 Mainland visitors travel to Hong Kong monthly. It shows that Hong Kong’s market has a huge potential development chance. According the data of Hong Kong government, the sales revenue of retailing business has a growth during April of 20010 to Feb of 2011. It is because the economic environment is better than past year. Hong Kongs GDP fell in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis, but a recovery began in third quarter 2009, and the economy grew nearly 6. 8% in 2010. In addition, China’s economy growth fast, the performance of its economy growth is greater than the other country. And Hong Kong’s economy is influenced by China very much. In the future, we can see that Hong Kong’s retailing business will growth rapidly. It seems a great chance to develop the retail business; however, there are some risks on the growth of fashion retail business in Hong Kong. Nowadays, Globalization is a hot topic of the world, more and more foreign brands enter in Hong Kong market, such as GAP, Forever 21, Zara, HM and Monki, etc which provide good price and trendy design merchandises. They regarded Hong Kong as the stepping stones to go into the China market. With more branding in Hong Kong, the competition between them is becoming more intensive and serious. Therefore, the local fashion retailers have to build up their competitive advantages to withstand the impact from those foreign brands. Also, because of the inflation of Hong Kong and China, the cost of the materials, labor and transportation is getting higher. Garment manufacturing is a labor intensive activity. The cost of garment is mainly from the increasing labor cost and transportation cost. In order to deal with, the retailer probably need to order more amount of quantity each time to achieve the economy of scale, so the cost will be lower. Furthermore, as we know that Hong Kong’s rental price of shop is the first three expensive in the world. The rental price has been increasing rapidly in the recent years. From 2010 to 2011, the rental price was increased more than ten percent. So, rental price of the store is a core cost of any business, especially fashion retailer as it needs a large space for displaying and storing the products. The rental cost affects the profit of the fashion retailers. To conclude, Hong Kong fashion retail market is still positive. There are many great opportunity for Hong Kong fashion retail to expand its business. However, there are some uncertainty need to be pay attention, such as the entrance of foreign brands and the unstable rental cost. So, the local fashion industry needs to create a competitive strategy to deal with. For example, local fashion retailers can use the attractive marketing strategy, liked collaboration with other brands, provide excellent customer services and building great brand image. 4)Ratio analysis i) Test for profitability I. T (in HKD 000)Bauhaus (in HKD 000)* a)Return on Equity (Net income / Average stockholders’ equity)416945/[(1843212+1477723)/2] =25. 1%25. 1% b)Profit margins (Net income/ Net Sales)416945/3834422 =10. 9%11. 4% ii)Test for liquidity I. TBauhaus c)Current Ratio Current Asset/ Current liabilities1873282/1012495 1. 85%3. 3 d)Quick Ratio (Current Assets- Inventory)/ Current liabilities(1873282-736717)/1012495 =1. 1%1. 7 e)Inventory Turnover Cost of goods sold/ Average Inventory1405482/[(736717+394520)/2] 2. 52. 0 iii)Test for Solvency and equity position I. TBauhaus f)Debt/Equity Ratio Total liabilities/ Total stockholders’ equity(1012495+429852)/1843282 0. 78(149 7+126461)/494938 0. 26 iv) Market test I. TBauhaus g)Price/Earnings ratio Current Market Price per Share/ Earning per Share4. 88/0. 33 =14. 82. 98/0. 32 =9. 3 h)Dividend Yield Ratio Dividends per share/ Market price per share0. 146/4. 8 =3. 0%0. 177/2. 98 =5. 9% *Quote from annual report* Two financial reports announced in different date- Bauhaus- For the year ended 31 March 2011 I. T—for the year ended 28 February 2011 i )Test for Profitability Profitability is a primary measure of the overall success of the company. This is a class of ratios that are used to assess a business’s ability that generate earnings compared to its expenses and other relevant costs incurred. To determine rather the company is valuable for investing or not which need to get high profitability when compared with competitor’s company. However, in fashion industry, the sales revenue is seasonal. For example, the sales revenue is much higher during Christmas and Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. So, we should not compare the retailers fourth-quarter profit margin with the profit margin from the same period a year before because it would be far more informative. a)Returns on Equity This ratio indicating how much income was earned for every dollar invested by the stockholders. ROE can reflect if they have used the money that invested in the company to generate much more income. If the ROE is low, it shows that the returns of the investors will not be high. And the company doesn’t utilize the resources that they have invested. Two companies have a similar result of this ratio. Both two companies can generate about 20% of income using stockholders’ equity. It is because retail store is not very high investment to enter the market; it has higher ROE when compare to other industry liked Construction Company. In order to measure the company is worth to investing on; ROE ratio should not be lower than 15%. So, two companies are worth to invest on. b)Profit margin Profit margin is an indicator of a companys pricing strategies and how well it controls costs. It is calculated by finding the net profit as a percentage of the revenue. A low profit margin indicates a low margin of safety: higher risk that a decline in sales will erase profits and result in a net loss, or a negative margin. The higher profit margin means that the company has a higher ability to generate profit. I. T’s result is 10. 9%, it is lower than Bauhaus 11. 4%. I. T should minimize the expense. Bauhaus has a higher profit margin in 2010/2011. It shows that they have put effort to maximize the profit. Since compared with last year (10. 5%), it has been increased. i) Test for liquidly It is a class of financial metrics that is used to determine a companys ability to pay off its short-terms debts obligations. A companys ability to turn short-term assets into cash to cover debts is of the utmost importance when creditors are seeking payment. Bankruptcy analysts frequently use the liquidity ratios to determine whether a company will be able to continue as a going con cern. c) Current ratio This ratio measures the ability of the company to pay current debts as they become due. It is the important ratio that we can identify if the company has a good cash flow. If the debts recalled but the company does not have enough money to pay it, the company may be asked to bankrupt. On the other hand, current ratio should be in appropriate level. Ratio is too high means the company did not fully utilize the current assets to generate the profit. Bauhaus have a higher current ratio than I. T, it means Bauhaus’ ability of returning the debts is greater than I. T. It can more utilize current assets to generate more income. It shows that they have $3. 3current assets for returning $1 of current liabilities. Investor need to concern the ability of a company that utilizes the current asset. I. T has a lower Current ratio than Bauhaus. However, it is enough ability for them to returning the current liabilities when they are recalled. And it shows that I. T has better utilization of the assets to generate profit. It shows that they have $1. 85 current assets for returning $1 of current liabilities. d) Quick Ratio Quick Ratio is similar with the current ratio with no consideration on the inventory factor. It is more representatives to measuring rather the company can return the current liabilities immediately. The quick assets included Cash, Accounts receivable etc. These assets can return into cash in short time. Inventory will not be counted in this ratio as it may need longer time to return into cash and a risk of cannot be sold. It is a very important ratio for fashion industry, since the trends cycle of clothing is fast, the product may be in today, but out day tomorrow. So, fashion retailer should not keep too many inventories. Bauhaus have a higher in Quick ratio, however, compared with the current ratio, it is a great variation on two ratios. It means that the inventory tied up its current assets. It is not a good issue on a fashion company. They need to bare the risk on high discount of the product when the product is outdated. It will be high losses on the revenue. They can minimize the inventory through different method, liked big sale, buy one get one free and so on. Although the quick ratio f I. T is lower than Bauhaus, it is enough to returning the debts when all the current debts are recalled. e) Inventory Turnover This ratio measure how quick of a company sells their inventory. Higher inventory turnover lead to shorter cycle on inventory. Since inventory is not easily being sold out and transform into cash in a short period, fashion retailer should not hold too much inventory. Since fashion items are easily faded out. If the company store too much stock, the risk of the inventory cannot be sold out will be increase. Also, the expenses of storing will be occurred. Once the inventory is outdated, the company needs to sell it in a large mark down price. The profit of the company will be affected Since Bauhaus have a lower level on inventory, its inventory turnover will much slower than I. T. It may tie up the capital if the inventory cannot be sold. So, company should reduce the level of inventory. I. T has a greater performance on inventory turnover. It shows that they have shorter cycle on inventory. So that it is much easier transforming inventory into cash. iii) Test for Solvency and equity position It’s a set of ratio that to test the company can be able to meet it long-term repayment responsibility. It provides a measurement of company can continue to meet its debt obligations. f) Debt/ equity Ratio This ratio measure a companys financial leverage calculated by dividing its total liabilities by stockholders equity. It indicates what proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. I. T’s result is 0. 33, shows that $0. 33 liabilities that exists for each $1 invested by the owners. It is a very low value. Bauhaus’s result is 0. 21, which is lower than I. T. In the Balance Sheet, we can find out that Bauhaus did not ask for the long term debts from the third party. It shows that they don’t have the interest burden. The result shows that two companies is not using the debt financing to acquire the financial resources, liked selling bonds, bills or notes to the investors. Debt financing is much higher risk than equity financing. As these two companies is listed company, they would like use the equity financing to raise money. And the equity financing method is more safety and no regular interest burden. v) Market Test Market test relate the current market price of share of stock to an indicator of the return that might accrue to the investor. It based on the share markets perception of the company. It can let the investor to know if the company is worth to invest. g) PE Ratio Current Market Price per Share/ Earning per Share This ratio measure the re lationship between the current market price of the stock and its earnings per share. The higher the ratio, the higher the perceived quality of the earnings by the share market. It also shows the future growth of company. If the P/E ratio is too high, it means that the value of the company is overstated. And it is not a good choice to investing on that company. I. T have a higher PE ratio than Bauhaus it means that the quality of the earnings by the share market is higher. It is more worth to invest h) Dividends Yield ratio This ratio measures the dividend-paying performance of different investment alternatives. The higher of result, the better performance. Bauhaus have a higher result, it shows that they have higher dividend-paying performance. If the investor wants to put the money into low risk and long term investment. They can choose this company. 5)Limitation on analyses of ratio Since two financial reports is announce in different ended date. The result may not be accurate. The fashion retail industry turnover is seasonal, like The Chinese New Year of 2011 was in February so the sales turnover must be high in that moment. After that, the turnover will be drop. So, these two companies will in different sales turnover rate. 6)Forecast of the company’s future prospects This part can be divided in to two parts, the 5 years income statement analysis and potential risk of the company. a)I. T The diagram shows that turnover have been increased gradually during 2007 to 2011. Although 2008-2009’s local economy is in down turn, the company still can strive to increase of turnover. It is predict that the company will probably maintain the increment since the economy situation is recovering and the local residents will spend more money on clothing items. The diagram shows that I. T had undergone a decrease on profit in year 2009 due the poor economy situation. And they suffered decrease of financial income. And the operating expense was higher than 2008. After 2009, there was a great improvement on profit. It has six times more profit comparing during 2010and nine times during 2011. It is predict that the company will probably maintain the increment of the profit if it can keep the level of expenses. However, there are some risks have been raised. The operating cost is increasing during these 5 years. Since the rental price is much higher in the recent years. They should adapt different strategy in order to keep the cost in the low level. Another risk is that I. T needs to pay attention that is the exchange issue. Since I. T sources many merchandises from different countries and the foreign exchange is unstable. For example, Japan YEN is much higher exchange rate. However, I. T’s buying office purchase many Japanese fashion brand products. So the cost and price of the merchandises will be impacted by the exchange rate. To deal with risk management, I. T embed a risk alert culture throughout the Group, the Internal Audit Department has implemented an annual internal control risk self-assessment to allow major business units to identify and analyze the risks underlying the achievement of business objectives and to determine a basis for how such identified risks to be managed and mitigated. In the coming future, I. T should pay more attention on risk management in order to prevent suffering from the economy situation and to have a greater growth. Bauhaus Bauhaus also have a gradual increase of turnover during 2007-2011. The increment from 2009 to 2010 was slowly. It may because of the economy situation was still not recovered yet. However, there was a sharply increment from 2010 to 2011. It is predict that, the turnover will be increased faster. Bauhaus also suffered a decrease of financial income in 2009. After 2009, there was an improvement on profit growth. However, the improvement is less than I. T. The diagram shows that the profit properly tends to be increased. Bauhaus also face the foreign currency risk and operation cost increment risk. The Group continuously monitors its foreign exchange position and, when necessary, will hedge foreign exchange exposure arising from contractual commitments in sourcing apparel from overseas suppliers. Generally, the Group introduces conservative strategies on its financial risk management. In the future, Bauhaus will have a great growth. However, in the fashion business market, the information is run fast, the risk is always happen. The company should build up a risk management system to minimize the risk of company operation. 7)Conclusion The financial performance of both Bauhaus and I. T compared in this report is great. And the prediction of their future growth is positive. Thereby, two companies are worth to be invested. The above ratios show that Bauhaus have a better performance than I. T. For the investor that can undergo low risk, so the investment on Bauhaus is more preferable. It is because the company growth and financial debt position is better, and it has a higher dividend yield, and they keep on paying the dividends in last 5 years. For the investor who wants to have higher return, I. T will be a good choice. It is because the PE ratio is lower, so the company still has a great improvement and the share price probably being increased. It’s good for the investor that purchasing the stock in low price and then sold them in higher price.

Shirley Jacksons Symbolism in The Lottery :: Shirley Jackson Lottery Essays Papers

Shirley Jackson's Symbolism in The Lottery Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery', is a story that is filled with symbolism. The author uses symbolism to help her represent human nature as tainted, no matter how pure one thinks of himself or herself, or how pure their environment may seem to be. The story is very effective in raising many questions about the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and violence. 'The Lottery' clearly expresses Jackson's feelings concerning mankind?s evil nature hiding behind traditions and rituals. She shows how coldness and lack of compassion in people can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. Jackson presents the theme of this short story with a major use of symbolism. Symbolism shows throughout the setting of 'The Lottery,' the objects, the peoples actions, and even in the time and the names of the lucky contestants. The setting of the story helps to magnify its impact on the reader because it is set in a small town similar to the one many of us may know of, and that is symbolic of everything that we consider to be right in America. The story begins on a wonderful summer day in a small town. The author describes the day as very joyful but strikes a contrast between the surroundings of the town and the atmosphere of the people gathered in the square. The atmosphere is sober, where the adults ?stood together, away from the stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather then laughed."(268) This, in just the third paragraph, is a indication through symbolism of the townsfolk?s sober mood that something was amiss. The setting for the lottery also takes place in the same place as the square dances, the teen-age club, and the Halloween program.(268) This unifies our lives with those of the story sense we can relate to those types of events, and is symbolic in showing that even t hough this dastardly deed happens here that it is still the main place of celebration. Showing how easy it is for us, as human beings, to clean our conscientious by going back to a place that, on June 27, is a place of death and make it a place of delight. The black box is a good representation of the central idea to the story. The box is painted in black, which has always been a universal symbol for evil and death.

Managerial Accounting Journal Example Essay

The Board of Aldermen of the Hayville approved the Appropriations budget for its General Fund for the year ending December 31 as shown below. 1) Explain the legal significance of an appropriation and why auditors engaged for a financial and compliance audit need to know the meaning of the term. An appropriation is an authorization for administrators to incur on behalf of the governmental unit liabilities in the amounts specified in the appropriation ordinance or statute, for the purposes set forth in that ordinance or statute, during the period of time specified. The auditor must attempt to ascertain that there were no material expenditures in violation of the appropriation ordinance or resolution. 2) It is illegal for a governmental unit to spend money for any purpose unless a valid appropriation for that purpose exists. Does this legal rule assure good financial management for each governmental unit? Why or why not? Not necessarily. If the appropriation budget is prepared mechanically (with very little thought as to what services should be rendered and how the services should be delivered) adhering to the budget may be poor financial management. On the other hand, if the budget relates input of resources to output of services, that have been well planned to meet clearly specified objectives, adhering to the budget should be good financial management. 4) Illustrate a form of Appropriations, Expenditures, and Encumbrances subsidiary ledger account that would provide the information needed by a government finance director to make sure legal requirements concerning appropriations are complied with. Students should present a form similar to Illustration 3-7 (in the text) in answer to this requirement.  (Wilson and Kattelus, 2003, p. 76)

How does the viscousity Essay

Viscosity is a measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow when acted upon by an external force such as a pressure differential or gravity. Viscosity is a general property of all fluids, which includes both liquids and gases. It describes the internal friction of a moving fluid. A fluid with large viscosity resists motion because its molecular makeup gives it a lot of internal friction. A fluid with low viscosity flows easily because its molecular makeup results in very little friction when it is in motion. The viscosity affects the size of liquid particles, increasing the viscosity tends to increase the size of liquid particles, which then increases their gravitational settling rates. The viscosity of a liquid changes with temperature, as the temperature increases the viscosity decreases as the intermolecular forces weaken. Energy added to the system in the form of heat increases the kinetic energy of the molecules, with higher kinetic energy, the molecules are able to overcome the intermolecular attraction resulting in a less viscous liquid. If a ball bearing is dropped through liquid it very quickly reaches its terminal velocity, when it reaches terminal velocity it should then be going at a constant speed. Stokes Law can be used to calculate the viscosity of a liquid. The formula for Stokes Law is:- vt = Terminal Velocity r = Radius ( = Density of the ball bearing d = Density of the liquid m = Viscosity Density of the ball bearing- Density of Liquid Volume = 4/3(r3 Depending on the velocity of the ball bearing, the motion of the liquid is different. These diagrams show the liquid molecules movement around the ball bearing when it is dropped. At low velocities the liquid flows in a streamlined pattern, which is called laminar motion, as shown in the top diagram. When the velocity is high the liquid flows in a much more complicated way called turbulent motion. When a liquid is travelling in a pipe as in our experiment, the transition from laminar to turbulent motion depends on the diameter of the pipe and ball bearing in comparison to each other, and the velocity, density and viscosity of the liquid. It is more likely to be turbulent when the diameter of the pipe is larger, and the velocity and density of the liquid is higher, and therefore has a lower viscosity. Prediction I predict that as the temperature increases the viscosity decreases due to the intermolecular forces weakening as a result of the temperature increase. This is because the kinetic energy of the molecules is increasing as the heat energy is transferred. The higher the kinetic energy, the more molecules are able to weaken the intermolecular attraction and so this results in a less viscous liquid. Apparatus 100ml measuring cylinder, 125ml of honey, a steel ball, a magnet, 2 decimal scale, micrometer screw gauge, thermometer Plan Before starting the constants will be taken, which are- Terminal velocity, vt, = Distance Time. Gravity, g, = 9. 81 seconds Radius of the ball bearing, r, = 0. 284 x 10 -2 Distance travelled, d, = 0. 226 m Density of the ball bearing- Density of the liquid- The radius of the ball bearing will be measured using a micrometer screw gage. A stop clock will be used to measure the time so the terminal velocity can be calculated. A balance to two decimal places will be used to measure the mass of the ball bearing so the density can be calculated. A measuring cylinder will be used to find the volume of the liquid so the density of it can be found. A thermometer will be used to find the temperature of the liquid and of the water bath. Then a tube will be put onto a tray, glycerine at a temperature of 20 i C will then be poured into it. Two marks will be made a fixed distance from each other to represent d. A ball bearing will then be dropped down it and the time taken to fall between the two points will be taken. If possible a light gate will be used to measure the time so that inaccuracies will be minimised when making the calculations. A range of temperatures up to 80 i C will be done with each one being repeated three times for accuracy. The liquid will be heated in a water bath so the temperature can be as exact as possible. Results Distance the ball bearing drops- 0. 22m Gravity- 9. 81 m/s2 Radius of Ball Bearing- 0. 284 x 10-2 m Mass of Ball Bearing- 0. 105 x 10-2 kg Diameter of Ball Bearing- 0. 568 x 10-1 m Mass of Liquid- 0. 25kg Volume of Liquid- 0. 2 x 10-3 m3 Volume of Ball Bearing- 4/3( x (0. 284 x 10-2)3 = 9. 59 x 10-8mi Density of Ball Bearing- kg/mi Density of Liquid- Rearranging Stokes Law we obtain- kg/m/s Temperature (i C) Time Taken (secs) Average time taken (secs) Average Velocity m/s Viscosity kg/m/s 25 1. 82 1. 86 0. 118 144. 6 1. 88 1. 88 43 1. 11 1. 05 0. 210 81. 2 1. 01 1. 04 61 0. 29 0. 31 0. 710 24. 0 0. 23 0. 41 Graph Conclusion. As the temperature got higher the ball bearing fell through the liquid faster. This is because as the temperature increases the intermolecular forces get weaker so there is less friction against the ball bearing. The results comply with my theory and prediction that as the temperature increases the intermolecular forces weaken, because the kinetic energy of the molecules increases and so the viscosity decreases. Both of the graphs are straight lines with no anomalous results, which suggests that the experiment was conducted consistently. Any errors present are most likely to have been systematic and not detectable in this experiment. Evaluation The graphs show that the experiment was reasonably successful, as there are no anomalous results and they are both straight lines. The method worked well, though when timing there would have been some error because a person was timing, if the experiment was to be made more accurate a light gate could be used so the accuracy of timing would be greatly improved and less prone to human error. Also it was not easy to keep the temperature of the water constant and so it decreased in the middle of doing some of the experiment so some accuracy would have been lost there. Another source of error is the acceleration that occurs between the ball being dropped and it hitting the liquid. If the experiment was to be extended, the size of the ball bearing could be varied and the temperature kept constant, this could eliminate the problem of it accelerating before it hit the liquid, to see how it affects the time it takes for the ball to fall down. The diameter of the tube could be varied to and the size of the ball bearing and temperature could be kept constant instead.

Catch the Moon Essays

Catch the Moon Essays Catch the Moon Paper Catch the Moon Paper Both â€Å"Catch the Moon† by Judith Ortiz Cofer and â€Å"The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant† by W. D. Wetherell are short stories with similar ideas and themes. Although the characters and plots differ slightly, the central themes are very similar. In â€Å"Catch the Moon†, the love of the main characters mother continues to strengthen him even after her death. In â€Å"The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant†, the narrators love for fishing continues to give him strength after he loses the girl he thought he loved. In both short stories, love gives the main character strength. In Cofer’s â€Å"Catch the Moon†, a teenage boy, Luis, who had been running with the entirely wrong crowd is let out of a juvenile hall on the simulation that he will labor for his father at his junkyard for the remaining six months of his original sentence. Luis began making bad choices after his mother died three years before. Once his mother died he began to not get along with his father even though his father gave him a job at his junkyard. He does not appreciate his father’s junkyard business and considers him pathetic because he won’t let go of anything that pertains to his wife that passed away. Luis’s situation remains unchanged until he meets Naomi, a stunning young woman who needs Luis’s help finding the right hubcap for her Volkswagen. Unknown to Luis, Naomi’s family owns the funeral home where his mother’s funeral was held. This, along with Naomi’s wholesomeness, brings back Luis’s memories of his mother, because she always told him how proud she was of him, even when Luis did nothing. His mother’s words of kindness and encouragement cause Luis to have a revelation; he breaks down and begins to see things in an entirely different way. Luis drives to the junkyard late one night, climbs up on his mountain of hubcaps, and, â€Å"by lamppost light†, begins what he refers to as the â€Å"treasure hunt† for the â€Å"moon-shaped wheel cover† for Naomi’s car. He â€Å"sorted the wheel covers by make, size, and condition, stopping only to call his father and tell him where he was and what he was doing. † When finally Luis found the perfect match for Naomi’s VW, he washed and polished it, then on an oak branch outside her window, hung it, â€Å"the first good thing he had given to anyone in a long time† (239-240). During Luis’s late night search for Naomi’s perfect hubcap he became closer to his father. He realized that doing â€Å"something that had a beginning, middle, and an end† (239) has a overpowering effect on people. He realized the reason why his father had been keeping so busy the past three years was because of his mother. Luis made a promise to lend a hand to his father more often; he even promised himself he would construct a display wall for his father’s junkyard, the same business he used to hate. The love Luis’s mother had for both Luis and his father became their strength even after she was gone; it just took Luis a longer time to realize this. In Wetherell’s â€Å"The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,† the narrator also has an internal struggle in the beginning. Sheila Mant, the girl next door, becomes the narrator’s object of infatuation. He eventually gets the courage to ask her out to a local dance, and offers to take her there in his small fishing canoe. On the way, he discovers that Sheila is strongly against fishing; she considers it â€Å"definitely dumb. † Just then, his rod that he had cast habitually before picking her up, bends double: â€Å"The line, tightly coiled, [peels] off the spool with the shrill, tearing zip of a high-speed drill† (247). The narrator doesn’t want Sheila too think anything bad of him because he likes fishing. So, â€Å"through a superhuman effort of self-control,† the narrator cuts the line â€Å"with a sick, nauseous feeling in [his] stomach† and continue to the dance with Sheila (249). The dance is all a fog for the narrator; the only event he remembers clearly is Sheila approaching him afterwards to inform him that she would be leaving with Eric Caswell in his Corvette. Throughout his entire canoe ride, the narrator was faced with an internal dilemma. He loved to fish, but he thought he loved Sheila more. It would be great if he could reel in perhaps the biggest bass he had ever hooked, but then again, it would be great if Sheila Mant, the gorgeous girl next door who was three years older than him, came to love him. There were two paths the narrator could have taken, and he made his decision. What he didn’t know was that Sheila would end up leaving him anyway. He realizes that his love for Sheila was only temporary because â€Å"the spell she cast over [him] was gone before the month was over. † The narrator still regrets his decision; he states that â€Å"the memory of that lost bass haunted me all summer and haunts me still†. Even after losing what he thought was the love of his life, the narrator’s love for fishing gave him strength in the years to come. He â€Å"never made the same mistake again† (250). Love can do many things. It can be both harmful and beneficial. Love can scar, and love can inspire. Love can torment, and love can encourage. Love can irritate, and love can comfort. The unseen force of love can go even further than that, though. Love can strengthen. This is seen through both main characters in Cofer’s â€Å"Catch the Moon† and Wetherell’s â€Å"The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant†.

10 Summer Retail Jobs to Look Out Forâ€and How to Get Them

10 Summer Retail Jobs to Look Out For- and How to Get Them When you think â€Å"summer job,† you don’t necessarily think â€Å"career path,† or â€Å"40 hours a week in a cubicle.† You probably think of something where you’re working with people, maybe at oddball hours, building experience and making bank before moving on to something else at the end of the season (school, a new job, etc.). Seasonal jobs can be great because they don’t have to be your forever job, but are a useful stop along your path. Whether you’re looking for a flexible second job or a summer job in between semesters, here are the retail jobs you might want to consider. CashierThis is kind of the classic entry-level retail job. Cashiers are responsible for checking customers out, handling different forms of payment, and using the store’s point-of-sale (POS) system. They may also be responsible for maintaining the checkout area, handling returns or other customer issues,The pay: An average of $9.18 per hour, per PaySc ale.What you’ll need: People skills, good math skills, and general trustworthiness, since you’ll be handling money on the store’s behalf.Stock ClerkStock clerks, who are most often found in big box department stores or grocery stores with high traffic and turnover, keep shelves full. Throughout the day, merchandise can get depleted or scattered, so these clerks are responsible for keeping shelves looking orderly, and tracking inventory. Clerks typically move between the store floor and the warehouse/storage areas throughout their shifts.The pay: An average of $11.14 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Clerical skills (for managing inventory and keeping records), customer service skills, attention to detail.Overnight Stock ClerkThis is a variation on other types of stock clerk positions, except these nocturnal professionals get their work done after the store is closed. Overnight stock clerks are responsible for inventory management, and getting the s tore ready for business the next day.The pay: An average of $11.14 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Clerical skills (for managing inventory and keeping records), customer service skills, attention to detail.MerchandiserIf you see displays as you walk into a store (or strategically placed along the way to convince you to buy cookies while you’re on your way to pick up milk and eggs), that’s usually the work of a merchandiser. Merchandisers are responsible for setting up product displays to maximize attention to specific products or sales. They work with an eye toward placement, design, and inventory.The pay: An average of $12.04 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Attention to detail, design skills, strong organizational skills.Store SecurityWhether during business hours or after the store is closed, just about every store needs security officers keeping a sharp eye on things. Security officers may be responsible for loss prevention (shoplifti ng by employees or customers), general store security, and safety procedures.The pay: An average of $11.65 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Attention to detail, possibly a background check.Retail AssociateRetail associates are usually at the front lines in every store. Answering customer questions, making sure the store shelves are well-stocked, handling transactions or returns, and generally being an ambassador for the store are all parts of a retail sales associate’s job.The pay: An average of $11.65 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, math skills, and problem solving skills.Retail Store ManagerIf you have previous retail experience, there may be opportunities for seasonal store managers as well, particularly in stores or industries where summer is a busy time. Managers may be responsible for managing staff, payroll, store policies, opening and closing, customer queries (and inte rvening when necessary), and basically keeping the ship moving smoothly.The pay: An average of $14.65 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, leadership skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, math skills, and problem solving skills.Customer Service AssociateCustomer service can be one of the most challenging jobs in retail, but if you have the people skills to turn an irate shopper into a happy customer for life, then this is the retail niche for you. Customer service associates are usually faced with problems- product returns, customer questions, customer complaints, etc., so troubleshooting is their game. Ideally, they help customers resolve whatever issues come up, while providing a good customer experience.The pay: An average of $10.63 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, patience, problem solving skills, attention to detail.BakerIf straight-up retail isn’t your thing, there are also ways to combine food service and retail for your summer job. Many grocery stores and department stores have in-store bakeries. These bakery associates typically help prepare baked goods and displays for the day ahead, so if you’re an early bird, this may be a great retail option for you.The pay: An average of $11.38 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, baking/cooking skills, punctuality, possibly food handling certification.Omnichannel AssociateThis is a new front in retail, as many companies start offering a multi-format approach to selling their products online and in brick-and-mortar stores. (Think Amazon, or department stores that let you ship from their warehouse directly to your local store for in-store pickup.) Omnichannel retail employees are retail sales associates that often work on the fulfillment side of things, preparing orders to be shipped or delivered. They help create a seamless process for customers who want to move from online s hopping to in-person shopping.The pay: An average of $11.38 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, math skills, and problem solving skills.How to Snag Your Summer Retail JobOnce you’ve figured out what type of retail job would be a good fit for you and your skills, what next? Here are five tips to help get you hired in time for summer.Time it right.Retail stores typically hire year-round, so when should you apply if you’re looking for that summer sweet spot? Right before summer is your best bet- store employee turnover can be high, and stores may not be able to plan staffing too far ahead of time.Find summer-friendly stores.Your best chances to snag a summer job will come at stores that are busy during the summer (sorry, Christmas ‘R Us). Home improvement stores or gardening centers are good bets for the summer, since people are outdoors and active. Ditto sporting goods stores, or offic e supply stores gearing up for back to school sales. Big box stores like Best Buy, Costco, Target, WalMart, etc. are usually perennially hiring, so keep an eye on those evergreen stores as well.Be ready to go.When you start scoping out places that might be hiring, have your resume ready to roll. Again, high turnover means you might have to jump on any opportunities right away. If you hear about an opening and spend three days spiffing up your application, it may be too late!Be proactive.Don’t wait for opportunities to come up. If you’re targeting a particular store, don’t wait for someone to put a â€Å"we’re hiring† sign in the window. Keep an eye on their website, or do it the old-fashioned way- stop in and ask! But remember #3: if you go into a store to inquire about potential jobs, make sure you’ve got your resume in hand.Use your network.You never know who might know of retail places that are hiring soon, so make sure to let people know you’re on the hunt. Your neighbor, your teacher, your old football coach- any of them could have good leads, so definitely mention that you’re looking for a new job. Plus, they know you, and may be able to vouch for you.A summer retail job doesn’t have to be a forever career (unless, of course, you find you have a passion for customer service, or a level of zen in creating floor displays), but it can be an excellent way to pay the bills and build experience before you get to your next step. There are a lot of opportunities out there, so you can find jobs that work best for you and your needs (part-time vs. full-time), your skills, and your experience level. Plus, you’ll be in air conditioning all summer. Not a bad deal!

Essay about a visual art Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

About a visual art - Essay Example The understanding of the painting is, therefore, universal (Fiero, p. 45). The painting was originally identified as the work of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco in 1500s. It was however after a serious consideration of the characteristics of the paintings and related them to the paintings of the time, and historians have identified that the painting dates back to around 1485-87. The design of the paintings has, therefore, been associated with the work of Sandro Botticelli. The painting has a rich historical presentation that is stored in its design and style. It depicts the breezes and the winds that bring forth Venus, the goddess of love who rises from the sea to the mainland (Fiero, p. 45). The Platonic perception of Venus is seen in two aspects. First, she is an earthly goddess who caused the physical arousal to physical love and human affection. Secondly, she is also seen as the heavenly goddess who inspires and develops intellectual love inside the people who recognize her. According to the teachings of the Platonic Academy, the induced contemplation of physical beauty and love increases the chances that the person will understand spiritual beauty. This implies that Venus, being the goddess of love uses the physical attraction to lift the mind towards something greater. As such, the importance of this painting has currently been used by religion to depict that physical beauty and attraction should lift minds towards the creator ((Frank, pp. 85-90). The Birth of Venus depicts Venus, born from the sea and arising as a nude statue that is floating on a sea shell. From the West, Venus is blown by Zephyr, the West wind. The nymph, Chloris is at the shore prepared to dress Venus in a beautifully flowered mantel. The artist uses a fully committed naturalism style in which he has employed the use of space and representations of natural phenomena, sea, wind and flowers to increase the fantasy. The blowing of the winds that

Competitive Strategies used by top companies Term Paper

Competitive Strategies used by top companies - Term Paper Example This is the leading reason why every company, be it a large multinational or a small home-based startup, should pay attention to its marketing teams and increase the importance placed on the strategies that they come up with. While the main focus of any business is the creation and retention of capital, there is little attention paid specifically to the customers who will be their main source of income. Many companies associate the client and the product that they serve as two different entities, in that product creation happens first before they start targeting a client base to sell it to. In a truly customer-oriented company, the development team identifies a niche in the needs of the client base and develop targeted products that fill these niches (Boscor, 2011). The companies that employ this strategy have a better understanding of the tastes and preferences of their clients and as a result, increase the number of repeat clients that they have, which effectively increases their p roductivity. The world of business is full of examples of the successes and failures of companies, which essentially increases the knowledge base from which new strategies evolve. One of the country’s best examples in customer relations is Starbucks, a Seattle startup that grew to the giant with 17,000 stores spread over 50 countres with an annual groth rate of about 20% p.a. (Boscor, 2011). These figures act as an inspiration for many business models available today and is indicative of the success that companies would achieve by adopting similar strategies. This is also the reason why the strategies employed by this company warrant such attention and a deeper sense of understanding. One of the ways a company can ensure that it maintains its image and goals is to establish a company profile that future employees and clients can relate with. Since its beginning, the company motto revolved around developing an enthusiastic and satisfied customer base, which was in line with th eir focus on clients instead of products (Boscor, 2011). While this may not be considered a business move by some, it acted and still acts as their core value and has not failed the company since. As a result, their products and services centre on the specific needs of each client and the company motto is the leading factor that drives their product development and ultimately, their brand’s success. As a leading company in the food service industry, McDonalds targets a different niche in the same market as Starbucks. From the time it opened up its first store in 1940, McDonalds has also risen to the heights of the service industry and now boasts over 32,000 stores spread over 117 countries (Boscor, 2011). This is all in the face of competition which has risen to stiflin proportions in the last decade. The company, however, has maintained its position as industry leader despite these challenges due to constant adaptations to fit the market and this establishes it as one of the successes of our time. Different companies approach their expansion processes in various ways and each alternative has a profound effect on the future of a company. As a market-conscious company, McDonalds handled their transition into international markets quite well. Their chosen method of expansion is franchising and this allows them to better understand their markets. They were considerate of the cultural

Liquor Ad Campaigns for Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Liquor Ad Campaigns for Analysis - Essay Example The campaign spans online advertising, television, events, social media and print. Four young artists are featured, and who Absolut describes as â€Å"daring spirits with a dedication to continuously transform the possibilities of personal expression.† It has as its core message the fact that young adults can free themselves from the idea of predetermined life events that might control their future. Though previous campaigns have also tapped from art, Transforming Today seems to be more active in transformation stimulation and in pushing forward the cultural scene. The artists making up the creative team in running the campaign includes a French national who does music, design and illustration apart from being a director, a digital media artist from America, an emerging fashion designer from France and a graphic novel artist from Brazil. It targets urban millennial who connect with creativity and who have the belief that the future is not written but to be created, which they can together with helping shape society. Its TV adverts run in sixty or ninety seconds of the three featuring together doing their work with thirty seconds spots for each of the artists. The online advertising appears on sites related to creative disciplines that the four artists work in, including music, design and fashion. The social media campaign involves engagement and outreach through the brand’s Twitter and Face book accounts, also through other artistic communities’ sites. From this promotional campaign, I think Absolut is in a bid to change its image as perceived by every member of the society. The approach is wisely calculated to draw every member of the society’s positive perception of its intent. The campaign casts an overall image of responsibility and positive thinking and action that would ultimately benefit the individual and society. It comes about as trying to shake off

Theories of Punishment: Durkheim and Marxist

Theories of Punishment: Durkheim and Marxist Compare and contrast a Durkheim and a Marxist analysis of punishment in modern society. Emile Durkheim is well known for his work on suicide related issues. However, Durkheim is not exclusive to the area of suicide, he had ample experience and expertise in other areas of sociological interest and one prominent field is crime and punishment. Why do societies punish offenders? This is a question that has been deeply explored by many sociologists including Binding who felt that a society’s â€Å"right to punishment†¦was nothing but the right to obedience of the law, which has been transformed by the offender’s disobedience.† The main objective of punishment thus was â€Å"the inmate’s subjugation under the power of law for the sake of maintaining the authority of the laws violated.† Thus, punishment was meant to â€Å"represent the holiness and inviolability of the duties to which it is attached.† Durkheim assigns the power of punishment to the state for the purpose of restoring and maintaining social and collective conscience. He felt that crimes shatter societal solidarity and when there is a right to punishment, and then society can restore its faith in each other by punishing the offender. However, Durkheim contends that in complex modern societies, collective feelings of revenge have been somewhat replaced by Anomie. And this anomie has weakened punishment which leads to more crimes and offences against the society. Durkheim argues that people are shaped by their social experiences and it follows that if the collective conscience is weakened by, for example, too much criminal behavior, the moral ties that bind people together are also weakened. When this happens, the concept used by Durkheim to express this weakening of moral ties was that of Anomie. For Durkheim, anomie occurred when traditional norms of behavior were undermined without being replaced by new norms. In the absence of clear moral guidelines for their behavior, people experience feelings of anxiety, aimlessness, purposelessness, disorientation and so forth. Anomie, therefore, was seen by Durkheim to be a very dangerous phenomenon, mainly because when people no longer believe in their obligations to others, they revert to self-interest. In effect, they attempt to look after themselves without bothering too much about how this may affect the lives of others. How has this change occurred if at all? Is the criminal justice system really more lenient in modern societies than it used to be? This is the question that forms the basis for Durkheim’s entire premise on the subject of criminal justice in modern society. The fact that there is a close connection between Durkheim’s concept of anomie and changes in the criminal justice system cannot be denied. One of his sternest critics acknowledged that â€Å"there is also an underlying validity in the importance that Durkheim attaches to the law for any understanding of society† [9] p. 36. Certainly the phenomenon of law was of crucial importance in Durkheim’s sociological model because it was an external indicator of a level of social life at which moral forces became crystallized and institutionalized to a degree where they were formalized and backed by sanctions. Durkheim could see the difference between the law prevailing in traditional and modern societies. Though he went slightly overboard with his divisions, it is a fact that Durkheim was among the first few to highlight the differences that had led to a shift in punishment from corporal punishment to institutionalized revenge. On a milder note, Durkheim said, â€Å"The duty of the statesman is no longer to propel societies violently towards an ideal which appears attractive to him. His role is rather that of the doctor: he forestalls the outbreak of sickness by maintaining good hygiene, or when it does break out, seeks to cure it. (Durkheim, 1982: 104) Let us now study the differences in more detail. What was the primary difference? According to Durkheim the difference lied in the intensity of punishment. In traditional societies, punishment was more corporal in nature; it focused on the body of the offender. In modern societies, things have become more complex and focus has shifted to institutionalization. This institutionalization has led to a lenient form of punishment. And a lot of this can be attributed to breakdown of social cohesiveness. The modern society is different from what you would expect a traditional society to be. Modern society is usually more â€Å"progressive,† â€Å"industrial† but at the same time materialistic. This aspect of the society makes it highly individualistic too. The individualism factor leads to the creation of what you would call a self-centered culture. In this self-centered zone, people are more concerned about their own welfare than the welfare of the society on the whole. Durkheim blames this individualistic streak for the breakdown of social cohesiveness and collective conscience that is the primary cause of social decay as well as lenient punishment. I agree with Durkheim that punishment today is lenient. It does focus on revenge but there is a greater focus on rehabilitation of offenders which gives the whole picture a compassionate view thus resulting in leniency which is not often desired. Leniency is not desirable in all cases and in traditional societies or old world societies when punishment was stricter, crime rate was lower and recidivism was almost negligible. There is another important concept which should be instilled here. Conformity is what Durkheim would want in a social system today but this conformity factor has been missing since people want to have their own individualistic streak. They do not want to conform. But for a society to care about each other’s welfare and to build cohesiveness, conformity is desirable. Morals and values can often take a backseat or they lose their intensity when there are too many groups and each has its own view. (Anthony Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. An Analysis of the writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press (1971), 103). When there is lack of conformity, there is also an increased risk of conflict and this can endanger the greater interest of the society. Durkheim feels that lack of conformity is one of the main reasons for growth of conflict and for further division of interest and for this reason; he suggests that conformity should exist. He also suggests the use of restitutive law as a possible solution bringing and maintaining law in a modern organic society. Durkheim’s view of modern society’s law and lenient punishment emerges from his views on anomic division of labor. According to this concept division of labor of anomic type takes place when norms regulating activities break down or fail to emerge. One source of this anomie has been the rapid growth in economic conditions which gave rise to new â€Å"interests in conflict (which) have not yet had time to be equilibrated† p. 370. Another major source was the discrepancies that existed between a group’s expectations and their achievements. In such an air of â€Å"relative deprivation†, rules that previously governed the means to goal attainment break down, and anomie and increased disorder could result. Some sociologists have sought to make international comparisons, maintaining that, on the basis of this theory, it should be possible to predict that in countries with an advanced division of labor, greater inequality and/or deprivation and/or rapid rate of change would be important predictors of higher levels of political instability and conflict. One general consequence is that the absence of regulation can lead to unspecified desires, and the other is that for the individual specialist worker, work itself can lose its meaning. With regard to the forced division of labor, the possible consequences are, firstly, a resentment of exploitation and an attempt to meet force with force (resistance or revolution); secondly, there is the response of fatalistic acceptance of domination. In a society where anomie and forced division of labor are combined, the unlimited desires/resentment and meaninglessness/fatalism pairs reinforce each other. Some critics (Horton) have sought to contrast Durkheim’s concept of anomie with Marx’s concept of alienation, but the contrast only holds up if anomie is kept separate from the forced division of labor; whereas in practice, as Durkheim perceived, they are frequently combined. There can be absence of regulation (anomie) at one level and coercive regulation at another level (forced div ision of labor), as exemplified by unrestricted competition and lack of agreement over the regulation of prices and incomes, on the one hand, and inequality of opportunities on the other. However, in Durkheim’s view, spontaneous attachment to norms (as distinct from coerced attachment deriving from an imposed ideology) could only occur when the forced division of labor was mitigated. Durkheim drew a sharp contrast between two systems of law: one dominated by repressive sanctions and corresponding to mechanical solidarity, and the other characterized by a predominance of restitutive principles corresponding to organic solidarity. Critics pointed out that the contrast was overdrawn, and also that many of the societies he used as examples of mechanical solidarity and repressive penal systems were in fact not simple tribal or clan societies, but already possessed the rudiments of central state organization, as in the case of the ancient Jewish and Roman societies. The most important additions or modifications to his original thesis were concerned with his classification of crimes, and with regard to the political factor. Whereas, in the original thesis, the main contrast was between repressive and restitutive sanctions, in the later article the contrast involves a classification of crimes into those that are fundamentally religious in character—offences against shared moral tenets that constitute the collective conscience—and those that are â€Å"individual†, in the sense of involving the essentially private interests of increasingly autonomous individuals. Penal sanctions also change in quantity and quality, with a movement away from corporal punishment and toward depriving the individual of possessions or freedom, i.e. fines and imprisonment. This development corresponds to the increasing differentiation within society, and the increasing focus on the individual, in this case as criminal or victim. Durkheim makes an inte resting point about prisons only coming into existence when a society reached a sufficiently advanced stage of material development to permit the existence of secure and fortified establishments, such as castles or other large dwellings of a king or class of notables. This was the kind of institutionalization I mentioned earlier in the paper. Now that a country has driven towards institutionalization, it has resulted in automatic leniency. Offenders do not suffer corporal punishment because it is generally disapproved of in the society. Such an attitude leads to leniency of punishment which may often prove to be damaging for social cohesiveness and general peace. One feature of Durkheim’s social thought—one that most modern students are likely to notice—is that he can be placed upon either side of the political spectrum in a fairly straightforward manner. This certainly suggests something about the density of his thought, as well as the numerous ways in which his writings can be misunderstood. Essentially, Durkheim borrowed portions of what he considered to be â€Å"social facts† from the left and the right. This should not be surprising considering Durkheim’s primary understanding of society: society, to him, is a moral reality. The social truths can only be grasped as such if they are reflected in moral beliefs. In other words, he believes there is an objective reality because social struggles serve to indicate to individual human beings that they are fighting for something independent of their own sense perceptions; something abstract and universal. Nevertheless, sociological explanation must fundamentally be concerned with what is independent of psychology and individual points of view; it consists of the search for the objective within the context of the subjective. To Marx, however, even if this form of understanding proposed by Durkheim is attainable, the material world surrounding humanity is inevitably altered through the process of knowing it. Accordingly, human perception is not fully capable of grasping the truth behind events; it is only able to develop some representative illustration of it. So, the scientific observations of the world and the knowledge gained from these observations enable humans to recognize and impose patterns of behavior upon the physical world, thus, to manipulate it in a manner that can never be completely comprehended. History, to Marx, has been misconstrued by the notion that some conceptual model can be used to characterize the history of production and labor. He attacks this way of understanding the progression of human history: â€Å"Thus, history must always be written according to an extraneous standard. The actual production of life appears as something unhistorical, while the historical appears as something separated from ordinary life, something superterrestrial,† (Marx 125).There is no such thing as objective truth, but our patterns of thought can evolve if human surroundings are also to evolve. Accordingly, to uphold the status quo is to selectively ignore the continuing processes of human thought and exploration. Durkheim, on the other hand, is concerned with making broad sociological and psychological assertions about humanity. In order to accomplish his goal, Durkheim must make use of a rather difficult term: milieu. Broadly, Durkheim contends that every feature of social phenomena must be viewed through the lens of the particular time period in which it exists—its â€Å"milieu.† Put differently, if we are concerned with sociological analysis, then the unit of measure of the â€Å"individual† is nearly extraneous; the only unit that can be profitably employed is the milieu. Accordingly, Durkheim believes that the social perspective is the most fundamental standpoint to view human life; therefore, psychological theories are inconsequential. So it should not be surprising that Durkheim argues that the social division of labor is not merely an abstract social phenomenon; instead it is a natural law of human existence. Although mankind interacts intimately with his environment, the social realities of his life trump the more concrete realities: â€Å"The same cause which increases the importance of the collective environment weakens the organic environment in such a manner as to make it accessible to the action of social causes and to subordinate it to them,† (Durkheim). The most prevalent objection to Marx’s theory of the state is that the mechanism needed to assure this equality of the classes is an authoritative state. Historically, this is why communist states have never been truly successful in the way Marx envisioned. To Marx, the continuation of class conflicts can only result in a form of communism. Others have asserted that the situations that are ripe for communism are merely situational and not unavoidable. As a result, capitalism will not necessarily progress to communism, but may take an altogether new form. Broadly, the differences between Marx and Durkheim’s interpretations of social institutions reveal the weakness inherent to both. Durkheim chose to take a purely mystical perspective regarding society; it was the outcome of abstract notions and social norms. Marx, on the other hand, saw it as purely a materialistic structure; it was based upon tangible and physical realities. Surely, neither can be completely accurate, but both maintain a level of truth as well as value for the future. Movie: A Thousand Words Movie: A Thousand Words In this essay I am going to talk about the business and business ethics about a movie called A Thousand Words. Jack, who is played by Eddie Murphy a world known Hollywood actor and comedian is an overly energetic, fast-talking, and committed agent who is known to closing even the most difficult of authors and other deals with celebrities into his agency. His main goal was to land the (as quoted in the movie by Jack in a meeting) Most popular, nondenominational religious Deepak-Chopra like spiritual leader on the planet named Dr. Sinja as his client. Jack claims he is the best agent in town. He also quotes Hey, I can talk anybody into doing anything. In order to sign him as his client, Jack lies and pretends to believe in Dr. Sinjas philosophy and path towards inner peace. In addition, he tells his assistant that he does not read scripts and believes that the first five pages and the last pages of any script/book will judge if its worth having a look at it and signing a specific autho r or not. Later on that day, a mysterious tree shoots up in his back garden, and he notices that every word he says a leaf falls off from the tree. When Jack goes back to his office the following day, he gets shocking news from his assistant telling him that the book was a quick read and that it was five pages long. In this scenario, the first five pages and the last pages are the whole book, yet Jack still refuses to read it because he thinks its some kind of joke or prank on him by Dr. Sinja. Jack is looking for answers and asks Dr. Sinja for help when he realizes that he has about 1000 words left until he and leaf die. Dr. Sinja leaves for a spiritual retreat to Bolivia for three days as in the meantime advises Jack not to speak until he gets back and finds out about this problem. Unable to speak, write, or communicate with everyone in his life, jeopardizes his relationship with his wife, boss, and other colleagues in which results him losing his job (Sandie Angulo Chen, March 9, 2012). Business ethics is the study of what is right and what is wrong, duty and obligation, moral norms, individual character, and responsibility but in the context of business. Jack has violated a few moral standards in order to achieve his dream signing. First, Jack lied to Dr. Sinja saying he has read the book before and that he is all for inner peace and spreading his wisdom and his words to the world. Another violation of the moral standards was putting his interest before the moral standards which is wrong. A moral standard at all times takes priority over ones self interest no matter what. He quoted in the movie Dr. Sinja: whats it in for you? Jack: just the satisfaction of knowing that I helped my hero to save the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and 10% of course. Saying that shows that Jack was in it for the money all along. Knowing that he topped several celebrities in sales and potentially could be the next big thing, Jack has targeted him and is willing to do whatever it takes to sign him . Having said that, leads me to one of the theories in business ethics: Egoism. Egoism is a theory that believes in short term sacrifices in necessary to long term self-interest. There are two types of egoism; Ethical Egoism and Psychological Egoism. Ethical egoism is where a person chooses the way they behave. An individual who can do anything and as long as there is some sort of benefit as the end result all entirely based on ones self-interest. Psychological egoism on the other hand is where an individual has behaved and acted. They perform something purely because they wanted to do it for their own self-interest. Mentioning the two sides to this theory, it is clear that Jack is an ethical egoist. With Jacks job being an agent, you will have to play the part of being nice and putting a poker face and lie in order to succeed in the business world. Albert Carr (a businessman) mentions this in the relativism and the fame in business. He believes that business is a game and that busi ness professionals are expected to follow a code that doesnt relate to ethics in any way. He uses poker as an analogy of lying, or a bluff of some sort. For example; lying about ones age on a CV, or using conscious misstatement, lie to sell products. Furthermore, Jack is doing just that in his company to achieve his goals. He chooses to behave in such a way to pretend that he is interested in their work and to boost up his status and salary bonus. Another example in the movie as well is when Jack goes to a coffee shop and sees a long queue of people waiting to be served. He looks at his watch and realizes he is going to be late for work if he waits in line. He picks up his phone pretending to speak to his wife who allegedly is in labor. Therefore he shouts out loud saying: hello? What? Shes in labor? Look I cant miss the birth of my first child! I only went out to get some coffee! After shouting that out loud, he was let through by all the people waiting in line just so he cant miss the birth of his so-called first child. When reaches the front of the line he is stopped by two tall grown constructor workers whom gave him a fearful look meaning youre not going to cut in front of us. Jack at this point had to improvise and quick in order to get his coffee. On the spot he says: Twins? Its twin! Im having twins. Im having twins. Thank you. Its on the house? Thank you so much! Jack has quickly thought of a lie in order to get throu gh and get his coffee. Jack not only makes his way through to skip the queue, but he also got his coffee for free as congratulation for the birth of his twins. We can also link this to the Albert Carr theory that he acted and played a poker face to get what he wanted. Lastly, within the theory of Egoism there is a difference between selfishness and self-interest. Selfishness disregards the needs of everyone else including people whose needs should be taken into account by doing something purely for your own satisfaction. Whereas self-interest; is a behavior on doing whats best for you in order to achieve. Jack in this movie is a bit of both. For example: his valet guy who parks his car for him in the morning asks him if he has read his manuscript and Jack replied that he is getting closer to reading it because it has moved from his kitchen table to his nightstand and next to his toilet and thats where it gets read he says (4:08-4:40mins in the movie). He didnt read his book and yet was rude to him by telling him to park his car somewhere else because he doesnt want bird feces on his car. Another example is when he gets back home and discusses to his wife about the house. She advises him to change houses because there is an open pool with no fence where on the other side is a cliff which has a drop of 2000 feet. His wife mentioned that she changes the babies diapers at the bar rather than a proper room for the child here it is user friendly. Jack agrees to make some changes but once again to his self interest instead of changing houses he told her that we could change up the media room into the babys room which the opposite of what his wife wanted(16:10-18:00mins). Jack has violated a few of the moral standards and has created an ethical dilemma. These results in affecting the environment around him, the society and the people involved in his life. For example: his wife, his assistant, his client, and his colleagues. As mentioned earlier, Jack is aware and realizes he has only 1000 words left until Dr. Sinja comes back with a solution. This situation makes it difficult for jack to communicate with people at work and his family. Jack needs to use his words wisely and know when to speak. Whatever happens to the tree happens to him. As the tree loses its leaves, jacks gets more and more sick, and when the tress loses all its leaves it is known that the tree dies which could result in Jack dying a well because they are connected. One of many examples of this is when Jack goes in to grab coffee in the morning and cannot talk or explain to the guy what he wants. For that reason, Jack uses sign language to communicate with the guy and ends up buying s everal coffees because he didnt understand the order (28:15-29:28mins). Secondly, he approaches the road trying to cross onto the other side, where a blind man comes and asks him to advise him when its safe to go. At this point Jack is pressured and cannot talk to the guy. The guy asks him could you tell me when its safe to cross? Are you deaf? I said can you tell me when its safe to cross? Jack stands there in silence not know how to answer the guy, he hums to the guy meaning that it is not but the old guy misinterpreted what Jack was trying to say so he walked into the road while there was traffic flowing past by. Jack quickly reacted and went after him trying to help him cross the road while cars were driving by. In the process of that, Jack has dropped several of his coffees and when they reached the other side in one peace, a bus passing by smacked the last coffee in his hand resulting in him not getting not only the coffee that he ordered but any coffee in general. Following up on this example, Jack affected the society around him which included th e old man almost getting run over by cars and also car drivers swerving left and right which can cause accidents on the road and affecting their lives. Another example of Jack affecting the society is when his wifes friend advises her to improve her relationship with her husband because he is slacking. So she rents a hotel room and tells her husband to meet her there. When Jack arrives, she tries to make love to him and get him to say I love you but Jack once again fails to respond to her which jeopardizes their relationship and leaves things between them complicated and unsure of what might happen to their family. Shes scared that Jack has lost his love for her which worries her. The last example of Jack affecting the society is when two offers come in and he fails to close any deal between them due to the lack of words he says. He asks his assistant to talk for him in one meeting where it goes all wrong and they lose their offer. On top of that, Jack gets a second chance at closing the book deal, but when they found out that the book is only 5 pages long, they declined the offer and stormed off. After the incident, his boss looks at him and asks him why he failed to mention that the book was five pages long. Jack still remains in silence and does not answer her which led him to get fired from his job. All in all, Jack has affected the society and the people around him to a point where he no longer has control of his situation. Towards the end he tries to explain his problem to his assistant who later monitors how many leaves he has left till it runs out and he dies. In the meantime, he goes around town trying to be nice and be moral and good person. For example: giving bread to the poor, giving money to charity, and trying to help a little girl get her cat from the tree in hopes that the leaves will stop falling from the tree. The problem with this, it is not done from pure goodness or performing good will. This leads us to Kants theorem, which focuses on the type of action rather than the consequence of the action. Goodness is the main requirement of the existence of the good will according to Kant. He believes that people should act morally regardless of the consequences. There is a difference between Good will and Happiness. For example: a person could be healthy, successful, h ave power, wealth, satisfied with his life, looks and considers himself a happy person. When people see this person they would assume he is a happy person and hes doing well in life. According to Kant, he questions the matter whether this persons happiness have moral bases. He also states the absence of good will such as kindness, ability, to judge, courage, decisiveness and many others may result in these qualities in becoming evil because they are not supported by the good will. From Kants opinion a good will forms, the most essential condition not of being happy, but worthy to be happy. There are two types in where we can determine morality in any situation, and in order to do so we must do things according to certain maxim, such as Universal Acceptability and Ends and Means. Universal acceptability everyone globally should act upon a specific rule and follow the rules stated. Ends and means is where we treat people like how we want to be treated. For example if you ask someone t o do you a favor, its only fair for you to reward or repay them back with the same effort they have put in to do that one thing for you, also to recognize their value of their hard work. Jack in the beginning of the movie treated people as means rather than ends as well. He didnt care of the people around him and used people by telling to do thing s for him and not appreciating their value of work and effort put in so that he gets what he asked for. Kants moral theory has application for organizations. Meaning just like other theories, they all have principles and approaches. Kants first principle points out that the categorical imperative (which are the universal acceptability and ends and means) gives us firm rules to follow in moral decision making. Second principle he introduces an important humanistic dimension into business decision, in other words forbids treating humans as means to ends. The third and last principle he stresses the importance of motivation and acting upon principles, which means doing the right thing is not necessarily enough. The individual has to perform an action that has moral worth and that its done with desire and real drive to do the r ight thing for its own sake. After mentioning these theories, Jack realizes he is wasting his time and nothing working out. So he goes back to his house to find out his wife packed all her stuff and left. He goes upstairs and looks at old photos of his family and a few pictures of his dad. In the beginning of the movie he was against his dad and never forgave him for leaving him and his mom behind a long time ago. His father has passed away and many years later Jack still hasnt forgiven his father for what he did to them. There was a picture of all three of them, he removed it from the photo album and went outside by the bodhie tree and started to pray. Jack meets Dr. Sinja at a diner to be let down hearing that Dr. Sinja couldnt find a cure for this curse. Jack sits there helpless and feeble having lost his family and his job in the process of all this mess. Dr. Sinja asks him that there is a reason why he is still there, its because he wants to seek advice from him and the only advice he can give him was for J ack to find the truth about himself, to quiet his mind and only then will he find the out the truth. He then goes back to his house under the influence of alcohol and his assistant follows him there where he tells him to be quiet and to stop talking. Jack gets furious and starts singing and talking as revenge to the tree trying to waste the leaves so he dies. He wakes up the next morning with his mouth taped, walks up to the bodhie tree and starts crying, he asks the tree what to do by talking to it from his inner voice in his head. While watering the tree he sees a butterfly landing on Dr. Sinjas book that he never read, so he sat down and started reading it. Later on that day, he visits his wife and with only a few words and facial expressions he shows her that hell be back and he truly loves her. On top of that, he goes back to the store where he usually gets his coffee in the morning and hands over a record of the Beatles which was the cashiers favorite CD/band. Also Jack heads to the valet guy that parks his car every morning and hands him his script saying that it was brilliant and sold with a cheque of $10,000 dollars, but when his car pulled up it was covered up in bird feces although didnt care and carried on with his day. Jack does all this with good intentions and good will just like I mentioned in Kants theorem. When he visit his mother, he accepts the fact she thinks he is her husband Raymond. She notices he cant speak so she starts speaking to him about how he was so angry at his father on leaving them and that he should forgive him and know that he father loved him and never stopped loving him. Mid way, she calls him jack and realizes that it was jack that visits her all along. Lastly, leaving to the cemetery to see his fathers grave, he prays and says his last three words which were I forgive you. Lightning struck and Jack McCall fell to the ground experiencing a heart attack. Soon after jack wakes up to the ringtone of his phone and it was his assistant informing him that all the leaves on the tree reappeared again and that he is able to talk again. In the end, Jack writes a book about is experience and named it a thousand words, Dr. Sinja was proud of him and his accomplishments, and his assistant took Jacks place at work as an agent. When his assistant (now agent) finds out he has a delivery he tells them to bring it in and also mistreats his new assistant, but as they bring it in, it was another tree and he finds out that he going to be going through the same curse as his ex-boss Jack did because of his bad intentions. In addition, he gets his wife a brand new baby-friendly home by the suburbs like she always wanted and asked for earlier on in the movie and reconciled with his family again. In conclusion, personally I think the best ethical and moral theory that Jack should have applied was Utilitarianism. Its a theory in which if an action produced more good than bad then it is a good action. Although the theory is demanding under two reasons: to do the most and maximize values and also put aside personal self-interest. Jeremy Bentham who is known to be the father or founder of this theory believes in pleasure, quantity and temporary (short term) actions, whereas the developer of the theory John Mill believed in happiness, quality, and long-term actions. I think John Mills theory is right and that Jack should consider happiness as well as other peoples happiness. This was just one of six points about the theory. Another point about it is an end justifies the means, which means anything is morally right if it brings better results in the end. Third point is to maximize happiness for a longer period of time. Fourth point is no-one can predict the future consequences rega rdless of the action implied. Moreover, should consider pleasure and pain as well as the others and not your own only. Lastly, the same action applied could give different results for different people. For example if you were to take action and take down a bad guy who is holding your sibling as hostage, the situation would be different and you would be hesitant and careful when taking down the bad guy rather than it being someone random that you dont know. The principles of utility in organizational are: provides clear and straight forward basis for formulating and testing policies, in other words allows us to test their worth against standard utility, also provides objective and attractive ways resolving conflicts with self interest and looks at the general good and lastly provides flexible, result-oriented approach to moral decision-making because utility focuses on results. There are also two types of utilitarianism, act utilitarianism looks at the consequences each time an act i s performed, whereas rule utilitarianism looks at the consequences each time anyone follows the rule by calculating if it is accepted or rejected. The disadvantages of this theory are that it doesnt work properly because you are responsible of your actions; also some actions are wrong even though they produce good action. For example sacrificing a bad guys life for the sake of the hundreds he could have harmed, and lastly the theory is dubbed as unfair because it puts your emotions and self interest aside. Another theory I would think would apply is Kant theorem because it is all about doing things morally with good intentions, but the disadvantages are; it is very strict, if any act alone is based on self interest then it has no moral worth. Second disadvantage is regardless of the consequences we cannot lie to save our lives, no exceptions to the rules. Last disadvantage states that it is unfair; this is due to people being used as means in order to reach their ends.