Credit card debt in the Uk today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Credit card debt in the Uk today - Essay Example The building society branch network was expanded at high pace in the 1980's in the United Kingdom. But facing the recessions in the 1990's the trend declined. Most of the societies rationalized their network in order to cut the cost. The new trend was to give importance to the quality rather than quantity. This in turn gave rise to the trend of targeting high profit customers in order to gain high profits by cross- selling products to these customers. (Birkin & Clarke, 1998) The main customers of the building societies are the common men. Most of the products of building societies as discussed above are designed while keeping in view the needs of household customers. These products are attractive for them because the way to use them is simple. Like all the commercial banks the building societies also offer the Credit card services which have easy terms and conditions and provide the customer with the facility of loan. These credit cards are also different according to the packages they provide such as The strength of U.K financial system largely depends upon the external shocks the banks have to suffer. In the year 2005 the U.K banks financial strength ratings were comparatively high as compare to rest of other international banking institutions. The composition of the earnings of the banks kept reshaping. The income indicated a declining trend of retail borrowing, although offset by revenues from corporate banking than that from retail lending. Some banks in wholesale markets also gained dealing profits. It is future forecast, that the banks will earn nominal profits in coming year. Due to the unsecured lending exposure some of the banks would have slower income growth. The competition in the banking industry and the declining trend of retail rending can result in a slow income growth capitalisation. The capital ratios in major UK banks remained unchanged i.e. above regulatory minimum balance required. Passing the stress tests the banks had sufficient profits and reserves capital despite facing various economic and external, shocks. The IMF (FSAP) report stated that despite all the worst case scenario combined together the total cost for the banking sector is just 0.35 % total assets. (Bumn et al, 2005) The level of bad debts in UK is triggering at high speed as debt provision has been made easier to consumers in shape of credit cards and other financial instruments. The issue has become an important concern for the economists in the banking industry of UK. In the UK, bad debts are on average about 3 per cent in the credit card market, compared with the present level in the US of about 5 per cent. If the UK follows the US trend, credit standards may decline as competition increases. These societies also provide consultation services to the customers since most of them are busy with their business or family lives to dedicate sufficient time to plan for their financial futures. Without adequate planning financial goals may be unrealistic, which can result in significant financial under-achievement. They often get teamed up with other legal companies in order to provide the customers with a comprehensive range of value for money insurance products to protect home, contents, and mortgage

The Almanac of American Politics (2008) Essay Example for Free

The Almanac of American Politics (2008) Essay Presidential election results (2000, 2004) The following pages are quoted verbatim from the Almanac of American Politics, 2006 edition: American politics has devolved into a grim battle between two approximately equal-size armies in a take-no-prisoners culture war. In 2000, those armies fought to a near-draw—out of more than 100 million ballots cast, the presidency of the United States hinged on a breathtakingly slim 537-vote margin in Florida. Four years later, despite the occurrence of a recession, two wars, and a devastating terrorist attack on American soil, the two adversaries remain fairly evenly divided. In the wake of an acrimonious election where both political parties together spent roughly $4 billion on the federal elections the crisis spilled over into other areas of American politics: health and welfare spending, handling of the economy, and the continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan (Barone and Cohen, 2006) State Profile NEW JERSEY State Profile The following data and information about this state is taken from the 2006 Almanac of American Politics. â€Å"New Jersey boomed in the 1980s, suffered sharply in the early 1990s recession, came back strongly, and is now weathering the high-tech storms with mixed success.† At A Glance Size: 8,721 square miles Population in 2000: 8,414,350; 94.3% urban; 5.7% rural Population in 1990: 7,730,188 Population Change: Up 8.6% 1990-2000; Up 5.0% 1980-1990 Population Rank: 9th of 50; 3.0% of total U.S. population Most Populous Cities: Newark (277,911); Jersey City (239,097); Paterson (150,782); Elizabeth (123,215); Trenton (85,314) Registered Voters: 1,163,224 D (23.2%); 884,801 R (17.7%); 2,957,934 unaffiliated and minor parties (59.1%) State Senate: 22 D 18 R State General Assembly: 49 D 31 R State Legislative Term Limits: No Key Elected Officials Gov. Jon Corzine (D) Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) Sen. Robert Menendez (D) Representatives: (6 D, 6 R, 1 V): Robert Andrews (D-01) Loida Nicolas Lewis (D-02) Jim Saxton (R-03) Chris Smith (R-04) Scott Garrett (R-05) Frank Pallone (D-06) Michael Ferguson (R-07) Bill Pascrell (D-08) Steven Rothman (D-09) Donald Payne (D-10) Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11) Rush Holt (D-12) Vacant; formerly Robert Menendez (D-13) About New Jersey The Northeast has long been the nation’s least conservative region and turned out the biggest bonanza for the Democrats in their surge to an even greater House majority in 2008: 15 of the 25 seats the party took from the GOP were in the area.   Democrats say this â€Å"reverse alignment† — counterbalancing the Southern shift to the GOP — rolls on (The Electoral Map, 2007). â€Å"A valley of humility between two mountains of conceit: That is what Benjamin Franklin called New Jersey, which even in colonial days was overshadowed by the metropolises of New York and Philadelphia. New Jersey was named by King James II, then Duke of York, for the Channel Island on which he was sheltered during the English Civil War. But New Jersey has much to say for itself. It is a sort of laboratory in which the best blood is prepared for other communities to thrive on, Woodrow Wilson said when he was governor, just a tad defensively. Today, New Jersey is the nations tenth most populous state: It boomed in the 1980s, suffered sharply in the early 1990s recession, came back strongly, and is now weathering the high-tech storms with mixed success. New Jersey was the home of Thomas Edison and of the old Bell Labs; its successors Lucent and ATT were among its biggest employers in the 1990s. Other big employers include several of the nations biggest pharmaceutical firmsMerck, Johnson Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Schering-Plough. These industries give the state a high-income, high-education work force, and in 2000 New Jersey passed Connecticut to boast the nations highest median household income. This is prosperous middle-income country, with more two-car than one-car families but fewer limousines than Manhattan, with an estimated 13,500 $1 million houses but not the multi-million dollar co-ops of Manhattan or mansions of Greenwich, Connecticut. Within New Jerseys close boundaries is great diversity, geographically from beaches to mountains, demographically from old Quaker stock to new Hispanics, economically from inner city slums to hunt country mansions. Though New York writers are inclined to look on New Jersey as a land of 1940s diners and 1970s shopping malls, this state much more closely resembles the rest of America than does Manhattan, even if its accents can sometimes be incomprehensible to outsiders. The Jersey City row houses seen on emerging from the Holland Tunnel, many renovated by Wall Street commuters and Latin immigrants, give way within a few miles to the skyscrapers of Newark and its new Performing Arts Center. Farther out are comfortably packed middle-income suburbs and the horse country around Far Hills, the university town of Princeton, old industrial cities like Paterson and Trenton, and dozens of suburban towns and small factory cities where people work and raise families over generations. Among them are commuter towns like Middletown, whose commuter trails lead to Lower Manhattan, and which lost dozens of neighbors on September 11. A year later, only 37% of New Jersey citizens said their lives had returned to normal and 29% said they would never be the same; 43% said they thought about the attacks every day. New Jersey has long been a magnet for immigrants, and it is again today. In 2000, 29% of its residents were born in another country or had a parent who was; only California and New York have larger percentages of foreign-born residents. Hudson County, the land along the ridge opposite Manhattan, was the home to hundreds of thousands of Irish, Italian, Polish and Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century; in 2003 it was 41% Hispanic, with Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans. Immigrants are plentiful in the little middle-American towns of Bergen County, Filipinos in Bergenfield, Guatemalans in Fairview, Koreans in Leonia, Indians in Lodi, Chinese in Palisades Park. The old central cities of Elizabeth and Paterson were half-Hispanic in 2000 and Camden, opposite Philadelphia, was 39% Hispanic. There is still a black majority in Newark, but it includes many of the Brazilians in the Ironbound district. New Jersey has all the ethnic variety that America offers. In the last two decades, a new New Jersey has sprouted. The oil tank farms and swamplands of the Jersey Meadows have become sports palaces and office complexes; the Singer factory in Elizabeth, the Western Electric factory in Kearny, the Ford plant in Mahwah, the Shulton plant in Clifton are all gone, replaced by shopping centers or hotels or other development, and the GM plant in Linden, the last New Jersey auto plant, closed in April 2005; the intersection of I-78 and I-287 has become a major shopping and office edge city; U.S. 1 north from Princeton to North Brunswick has become one of the nations high-tech centers. Even some of New Jerseys long-ailing central cities are perking up. New Jersey increasingly has an identity of its own. It is the home of big league football, basketball and hockey franchisesthough after nearly three decades, two of them have threatened to moveand of the worlds longest expanse of boardwalks on the Jersey Shore from Cape May to Sandy Hook. And New Jersey is one of Americas great gambling centers: Atlantic City, an hour from Philadelphia and two hours from Manhattan, had gambling revenues in 2006 ($8.2 billion) that nearly matched the Las Vegas strip ($8.8 billion). State government played an important role in building New Jersey identity and pride. In the 1970s, Governor Brendan Byrne started the Meadowlands sports complex and got casino gambling legalized in Atlantic City. Governor Tom Kean in the 1980s started education reforms and promoted the state shamelessly. The revolt against Governor Jim Florios tax increase in 1990 was led by the first all-New Jersey talk radio station and took on national significance with the 1993 election of Christine Todd Whitman, who later became EPA Administrator. In the next decade crime and welfare rolls dropped, but auto insurance and property taxes remain the highest in the nation. New Jersey, contained within two of the nations biggest metropolitan areas, was also a harbinger of the national trend in the big metro areas toward Bill Clintons Democrats. Not so long ago, suburban New Jersey was one of the most Republican of big states: It voted 56%-42% for the first George Bush in 1988. But in 1996 New Jersey voters, turned off by the congressional Republicans Southern leaders and by the national partys opposition to abortion and gun control, voted 54%-36% for Clinton and 53%-43% for Democrat Bob Torricelli for the Senate. In 1997 Whitman, despite cutting taxes, was reelected by only 47%-46% over little-known Democrat Jim McGreevey. In 2000 Al Gore carried the state 56%-40%. In 2001 McGreevey defeated Republican Bret Schundler for governor by 56%-42% and in 2002, after an unorthodox campaign, Democrat Frank Lautenberg defeated Republican Douglas Forrester for senator by 54%-44%very similar margins. Democrats cinched control of both houses of the legislature in 2003. New Jerseys politicians compete in a market that is the second most expensive in the nation, because they have to buy New York and Philadelphia television. And they have a special handicap, because those stations dont give state politics and government the in-depth coverage that voters in most states can expect. This gives an advantage to well-known candidates, like former Senator Bill Bradley, and to incumbents with a distinctive style and notable achievements, like Governors Byrne, Kean and Whitman, and to self-funders like Senator and gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine. But it also means that high-income, highly educated New Jersey politics is often the business of county and city political machines, of varying degrees of competence, cronyism and corruption. It is, astonishingly, a great advantage in both parties to have the designation of the local county party on the primary ballot. A 1993 campaign finance law allowed county parties to take contributions 18 times as large as candidates could, so money is increasingly raised by chairmen of parties that have control of local government and can dole out contractsthe Jersey term is pay to playand then wheeled, or doled out, to favored candidates all over the state. McGreevey, elected in 2001 after his near-defeat of Whitman in 1997, was a product of the Middlesex County Democratic machine and served as both mayor of Woodbridge and state senatorin New Jersey, as in France, politicians can be town mayors and legislators at the same time. Second District, New Jersey 2008 Congressional Election Results (Second District, New Jersey) NJ-02 District Profile: Politically, Atlantic City often votes Democratic but has an antique Republican machine that goes back generations. 2008 Results: First-timer Loida Nicolas-Lewis (D) roundly defeated Frank LoBiondo (R) by 64-31% Loida Nicolas-Lewis (R) Nicolas-Lewis was nominated with 72% in a two-way primary. Contact: 212-756-8900 †¢Ã‚  Campaign Web site †¢Ã‚  Official Web site †¢Ã‚  Almanac biography Frank LoBiondo (D) Elected in 1994; Seeking eighth term; LoBiondo barely emerged from the primary with 50.5% pf the vote. Contact: 856-794-2004 †¢Ã‚  Campaign Web site †¢Ã‚  Official Web site †¢Ã‚  Almanac biography Profile of the District (Source: Almanac of American Politics) When the builders of the Camden Atlantic Railroad in 1852 extended the line to the little inlet town of Absecon, little did they know what would become Americas biggest beach resort, Atlantic City. Like all resorts, it was a product of developments elsewhere: of industrialization and spreading affluence, of railroad technology and the conquest of diseases which used to make summer a time of terror for parents and doctors. In the years after the Civil War, first Atlantic City and then the whole Jersey Shore from Brigantine to Cape May became Americas first seaside resort, and Atlantic City developed its characteristic features: the Boardwalk in 1870, the amusement pier in 1882, the rolling chair in 1884, salt water taffy in the 1890s, Miss America in 1921. By 1940, 16 million Americans visited every summer, Atlantic City was a common mans resort of old traditions; but the place became less popular after World War II as people could afford nicer vacations. By the early 1970s, Atlantic City was grim. Then in 1977, New Jersey voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City and gleaming new hotels sprang up, big name entertainers came in and Atlantic City became more glamorous than it had been in 90 years. But not for all of its residents: Casino and hotel jobs tend to be low-wage, and the slums begin just feet from the massive parking lots of the casinos. In the 1990s Atlantic Citys gambling business was thrivingcasinos came out ahead $4.3 billion in 2000and huge new casinos were built on both Boardwalk and bayside. Over Donald Trumps objections, Steve Wynn won approval of a new tunnel, which would permit him to build a new casino in the marina district. Now listed among the top 10 House districts nationwide for tourist economies, Atlantic City is growing into what Las Vegas has become, not just a collection of gaudy casinos but a gaggle of theme parks, with entertainment for the family as well as adults. The Jersey Shore south of Atlantic City is a string of different resorts. Behind the Shore are swamp and flatland, the Pine Barrens and vegetable fields that gave New Jersey the name Garden State. Growth has been slow in these small towns and gas station intersections, communities in whose eerie calmness in the summer you can hear mosquitoes whining. In the flatness, you can also find towns clustered around low-wage apparel factories or petrochemical plants on the Delaware estuary; the Northeast high-tech service economy has not reached this far south in Jersey yet. This part of South Jersey makes up the 2d Congressional District. Politically, it has strong Democratic presences in the chemical industry towns along the Delaware River and in Vineland and a strong Republican presence in Cape May; Atlantic City often votes Democratic.   The party carried the area in all 1990s statewide elections and won easily in the 1996 and 2000 presidential races. This is prime marginal territory, off the beaten track of Northeast politics. The Incumbent New Jersey 2d voters finally gave seven-termer Frank LoBiondo the boot long after he had promised not to run for more than six terms.   Even loyal Republicans angrily crossed party lines owing to a series of indiscretions and scandals.   Chief of these was involvement in the Abscam scandal and the revelation that Harrah’s had been the single biggest contributor to his campaigns all along.   Sentiment against the Iraq war also focused on his voting record of going along with every bill sponsored by the White House that related to funding and deployment in that country and Afghanistan. Other aspects of his legislative record that came to light in a bad way were having voted with DeLay seven in eight times, agreeing to weaken ethics rules and assenting to bringing indictment hearings behind closed doors.   The last straw turned out to be outtakes from the local Harrah’s security cameras proving it was LoBiondo after all who had been, and still was, carrying on an affair with Vicki Iseman the telecoms lobbyist whom the New York Times had wrongly linked with John McCain. Mere minutes after LoBiondo conceded the election in November, his wife held her own press conference to announce she was divorcing LoBiondo.   The following day, a downcast ex-congressmen was seen off at the airport departing for parts unknown, muttering something about getting in a few rounds of golf with the Bushes. The 2008 Election Winner Loida Nicolas Lewis Born: July 20, 1957 Family: Husband, Reginald (deceased); two daughters Religion: Roman Catholic Education: St. Theresa’s College (Philippines), A.B. 1972 (summa cum laude) University of the Philippines, Ll.B. 1976 (summa cum laude) Harvard, J.D. 1985 Career: Chairman/CEO, Beatrice International Holdings, Inc. President, Confederation of Asian-American Associations Immigration lawyer Elected Office: None 2008 New Member Profiles New Jerseys Second District: Loida Nicolas-Lewis (D) The Almanac of American Politics  © National Journal Group Inc. From out of nowhere and riding a wave of anti-administration sentiment among minorities in the district, the inexperienced but highly intelligent and articulate Loida Lewis captured the imagination of voters and soundly trounced the incumbent by an unprecedented 2:1 margin.   No one was more surprised than Representative LoBiondo himself. Loida first came to national attention and even gained a measure of fame after her husband, the famed African-American deal-maker Reginald Lewis engineered a leveraged buyout of Beatrice Foods International.   On completing the LBO deal with the help of Michael Milliken at Drexel Burnham Lambert, the press hailed Reginald and the flagship TLC Beatrice as the most successful African-American enterprise ever.   When Reginald foundered in his choice of domestic acquisitions that would allow Beatrice to balance industry cycles in Europe and especially after Reginald’s death, Loida earned the respect of minority stakeholders for her business acumen as CEO. Three months before the primaries, Loida landed in the short list of Gov. Corzine owing to her decade-long work with minority associations on both coasts.   An informal dinner with campaign managers of Sen. Obama and President-Elect Clinton made the choice official. In the ensuing campaign, Loida Lewis proved herself a soft-spoken but very articulate and highly moral rival to the flagging and corruption-prone image of the incumbent.   With unfailingly good press, unanimous support from every minority association and church group, and extremely good rapport with businessmen, Loida Lewis was happy enough to leave the mudslinging to the press.   To no one’s surprise, she won handily and immediately won kudos from the House leadership. THIS SECTION ADAPTED FROM ALMANAC OF AMERICAN POLITICS 2008 (Almanac, 2007) Committees Foreign Relations (10th of 11 D) European Affairs; African Affairs; East Asian Pacific Affairs; International Development Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs International Environmental Protection. Health, Education, Labor Pensions (11th of 11 D) Employment Workplace Safety; Children Families. Homeland Security Governmental Affairs (8th of 9 D) Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services International Security; Investigations; State, Local Private Sector Preparedness Integration. Veterans Affairs (2nd of 8 D). Group Ratings ADA ACLU AFS LCV ITIC NTU COC ACU CFG FRC    2008 95 83 100 100 75 16 55 8 7 0 2009 100 100 95 6 39 8 0 National Journal Ratings 2008 LIB 2008 CONS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2009 LIB 2009 CONS ECONOMIC 87% 12% 87% 0% SOCIAL 77% 18% 77% 21% FOREIGN 76% 15% 85% 12% Key Votes Of The 109th Congress 1 Bar ANWR Drilling Y 2 FY06 Spending Curb N 3 Estate Tax Repeal N 4 Raise Minimum Wage Y 5 Recognize Filipino WW2 veterans Y 6 Path to Citizenship Y 7 Bar Same Sex Marriage Y 8 Stem Cell Research $ N 9 Limit Interstate Abortion Y 10 CAFTA Y 11 Urge Iraq Withdrawal Y 12 Provide Detainee Rights Y References Almanac (2007) Almanac of American politics 2008. National Journal. Barone, M. and Cohen, R. E. (2006) The almanac of American politics, 2006. Retrieved February 29, 2008 from http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/161479.ctl. The Electoral Map (2007) Do Democrats still have room for growth in the northeast? Retrieved February 29, 2008 from http://theelectoralmap.com/2007/11.

Free Essays - Changes in Achilles of The Iliad :: Iliad essays

Changes in Achilles of The Iliad There are times in my own life in which I realize that a goal that I have been pursuing rigorously is really not worth my time and effort, or that the way I have been pursuing that particular goal is not the most effective way. After I come to these realizations I find it helpful, if not necessary, to step back and analyze the situation. This is what happened to Achilles throughout the first sixteen books of the epic. At first Achilles had a set of clearly defined goals, he was to fight side by side with the Achaeans, sack Troy, and, by doing these things, gain honor and wealth. As the war progressed a series of events took place that forced Achilles to step out of the fight. While he was inactive and had time to contemplate, he came to the realization that he had been fighting for nine years for the sake of a man whose woman has been stolen; now that his woman had been stolen no one fights for his sake. He also realizes that there are other, less risky ways of obtaining wealth and honor, including sending Patroklus out in his armor. Another thing he ponders on, but doesn't seem to take seriously, is whether or not honor is really worth the struggle. All these changes of mind take place throughout book nine in which the embassy composed of Aias, Odysseus, and Phoenix visits Achilles. By the time the embassy arrived at his hut Achilles had been toying with the idea of returning to his homeland and abandoning the struggle for wealth and honor. Because of the embassy Achilles' mind was changed, probably due to a sense of camaraderie, and he decides to stay but fight only if the struggle reaches his own camp. At this height of the epic we see that Achilles is still very much concerned with wealth and honor, the question now is "how to accomplish his goal". Achilles is aware of a few things and this puts him at an advantage over the rest. He knows that he will eventually be honored and that Agamemnon's debt to him will eventually be paid; he knows this because Athena had promised it to him if he didn't kill Agamemnon.

Peer Pressure Begins in Childhood :: Peer Pressure Essays

Peer group influences affect children much earlier than researchers have suspected, finds a new University of Maryland-led study. The researchers say it provides a wake-up call to parents and educators to look out for undue group influences, cliquishness and biases that might set in early, the researchers say. The study appears in the May/June 2013 issue of Child Development, and is available online. The researchers say their work represents a new line of research – what they call "group dynamics of childhood." No prior research has investigated what children think about challenging groups that act in ways that are unfair or nontraditional, they note. The findings refute an older view that conflicts between group loyalty and fairness are not yet part of elementary-school aged children's everyday interactions. "This is not just an adolescent issue," says University of Maryland developmental psychologist Melanie Killen, the study's lead researcher. "Peer group pressure begins in elementary schools, as early as age nine. It's what kids actually encounter there on any given day." Even at this earlier age, children show moral independence and will stand up to the group, Killen adds. But it is also a setting where the seeds of group prejudices can develop, if not checked. "Parents and teachers often miss children's nascent understanding of group dynamics, as well as kids' willingness to buck to the pressure," Killen explains. Children begin to figure out the costs and consequences of resisting peer group pressure early. By adolescence, they find it only gets more complicated." The emergence of peer groups in elementary school aids children's development by providing positive friendships, relationships, and social support, Killen adds. The downsides include the undue influence of a group when it imposes unfair standards, especially on outsiders, or members of "outgroups," which is what is often created when peers form an "ingroup." "Children may need help from adults when they face conflicts between loyalty to the group and fairness to outsiders," Killen says. "They may be struggling to 'do the right thing' and still stay on good terms with friends in the group, but not know how. If a child shows discomfort and anxiety about spending time with friends, this may signal conflicts in their peer group relationships." The researchers conducted extended interviews and surveys with representative groups of fourth- and eighth-graders from a Mid-Atlantic suburban area. All were from middle income families and reflected U.S. ethnic backgrounds. They probed attitudes on a moral issue – dividing up resources equally for those in and out of the group, and on a question of tradition (group t-shirts). Peer Pressure Begins in Childhood :: Peer Pressure Essays Peer group influences affect children much earlier than researchers have suspected, finds a new University of Maryland-led study. The researchers say it provides a wake-up call to parents and educators to look out for undue group influences, cliquishness and biases that might set in early, the researchers say. The study appears in the May/June 2013 issue of Child Development, and is available online. The researchers say their work represents a new line of research – what they call "group dynamics of childhood." No prior research has investigated what children think about challenging groups that act in ways that are unfair or nontraditional, they note. The findings refute an older view that conflicts between group loyalty and fairness are not yet part of elementary-school aged children's everyday interactions. "This is not just an adolescent issue," says University of Maryland developmental psychologist Melanie Killen, the study's lead researcher. "Peer group pressure begins in elementary schools, as early as age nine. It's what kids actually encounter there on any given day." Even at this earlier age, children show moral independence and will stand up to the group, Killen adds. But it is also a setting where the seeds of group prejudices can develop, if not checked. "Parents and teachers often miss children's nascent understanding of group dynamics, as well as kids' willingness to buck to the pressure," Killen explains. Children begin to figure out the costs and consequences of resisting peer group pressure early. By adolescence, they find it only gets more complicated." The emergence of peer groups in elementary school aids children's development by providing positive friendships, relationships, and social support, Killen adds. The downsides include the undue influence of a group when it imposes unfair standards, especially on outsiders, or members of "outgroups," which is what is often created when peers form an "ingroup." "Children may need help from adults when they face conflicts between loyalty to the group and fairness to outsiders," Killen says. "They may be struggling to 'do the right thing' and still stay on good terms with friends in the group, but not know how. If a child shows discomfort and anxiety about spending time with friends, this may signal conflicts in their peer group relationships." The researchers conducted extended interviews and surveys with representative groups of fourth- and eighth-graders from a Mid-Atlantic suburban area. All were from middle income families and reflected U.S. ethnic backgrounds. They probed attitudes on a moral issue – dividing up resources equally for those in and out of the group, and on a question of tradition (group t-shirts).

Criminal Profiling Questions Essay

1. Analyze inductive/deductive reasoning. Inductive criminal investigative assessments: The inductive approach to profiling is a based on the simple premise that â€Å"If certain crimes committed by different people are similar, then the offenders must also share some type of personality traits. (Holmes & Holmes, 2009)† Inductive reasoning seems to be the more â€Å"scientific† of the two as it is strictly based on criminals that have committed the same or same type of crime. It is much quicker as it is strictly based upon statistics and easily conducted (with the proper databases) searches based on the types of crimes. When you combine the simplicity and the speed at which it can be done, it would seem it would be a foregone conclusion that this is the technique to use. However, inductive assessments are not completely reliable due to no connection to the current crime and strictly relegated to using similar facts and types of crimes to aid in creating a profile. Deductive criminal investigative assessments: â€Å"From a thorough analysis of the crime scene and the evidence left at the crime scene, the profiler is able to construct a mental picture of the unknown offender. (Holmes & Holmes, 2009). Deductive profiling is based upon the artistic ability of putting together the available information and picturing the events that occurred and the offenders that committed these events. Deductive profiling is more complex and takes longer to conduct a thorough enough investigation to begin putting the pieces together to form the entire puzzle. Deductive profiling is much more reliable as it is based on information pertinent to the specific crime committed and not simply based upon similar types of crime that are typically not in any way related to the current crime being investigated. The most popular form of profiling is a combined inductive/deductive profiling. Using inductive profiling, you would compile statistics about similar crimes and use the similarities between the multiple offenders and begin to form the outline of your profile. Using the crime scene information, you would then begin to evaluate from a perspective that is specific to your crime scene and not based on similarities in crimes. Upon completion of using your criminal database to build you outline, you would then apply the specific data derived from the crime scene and begin to apply the details of the offender to complete your profile. Holmes, R. and Holmes, S. (2009). Profiling Violent Crimes, an Investigative Tool (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 2. Goals of criminal profiling 1. Provide the Criminal Justice system with a social and psychological assessment of the offender. Goal 1 is to provide a detailed assessment of the offender which should include specifics (i.e. race, gender, employment, age range, etc.) that narrows the possibilities in which law enforcement can focus their efforts and reduce the scope of the investigation. 2. Provide the Criminal Justice systems with a Psychological evaluation of belongings found in the possession of the offender. Goal 2 is specific to the physical evidence and relevant information in a case and how it relates to the specific offender’s psychological profile. This will help in the case by adding to the offender’s profile and by helping derive locations, times, etc.. 3. Provide interviewing suggestions and strategies. Goal 3 is to help investigators get to the ground truth, through different methods, during the interrogation process. Different types of people respond to different stimulus, therefore different strategies must be emplaced based upon multiple categories your offender falls into.

The Bird Flu Infection Essays

The Bird Flu Infection Essays The Bird Flu Infection Essay The Bird Flu Infection Essay 1. The Bird Flu Infection Evelyn Rivera July 26, 2008 Speech 101 Informative Speech Imagine waking up one morning not able to move because all your muscles hurt, and have a fever of 112 with a sore throat and you have difficulty to breath. While all this is happening, you can’t see what is going on with you because your eyes are infected. This is what will happen to you if you are infected by the bird flu. Today, I am going to inform you about the Bird flu also known as the Avian Flu. I am going to explain where it comes from, how it affects us, and how the government and health officials are trying to stop the virus from spreading. The social significance of the bird flu is how much it has spread and how it threats our lives. Finally, now that you learned how it affects us I am sure that you want to know how to prevent it. In the website www. cdc. gov , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also known as CDC, have a vaccine that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration also known as the FDA and is the first U. S vaccine for humans against the bird flu. The CDC and the government set some guidelines to prevent the flu from spreading. For example, they would close the public schools, cancel public gatherings, and any contact for the flu not to spread. In conclusion, the bird flu may become a pandemic threat throughout the world if we can’t prevent it. Today I have informed you about the bird flu. I explained where it comes from, how it affects us, and how to prevent it. If you would like some more information on the Bird Flu you can go to www. pandemicflu. gov. Thank you. 2. Speech to Persuade Energize Me! P. E instructor and father of three Jason Hales neck had been aching for months. After three surgeries, his pain had done little but worsen. The hardest part of the entire situation was now, on top of the daily pain he had to deal with from his physical problem, he had a Vicoden addiction to top it off. In an attempt to stop his downward spiral of pain and pills, Hale contacted a local acupuncturist. After just three sessions, he could experience entire days pain free. Four months into the treatments, Hale was pain and drug-free. A medical miracle? Most doctors and scientists would say no. Thats the reason Hales doctors never informed him of the option of using energy medicine in the first place. Acupuncture is just one of the many treatments in the field of energy medicine that offers true healing results. As such, despite the critics complaints, it should be integrated into mainstream medical institutions and offered to patients as a choice of healing therapies. Admittedly, the field of energy medicine is a confusing topic for many. Energy medicine encompasses so many areas, it can be hard to sort out fact from fiction. The term energy medicine encompasses a variety of different medical techniques, including acupuncture, yoga, reiki and massage. By applying pressure or directing energy through the hands to specific points on the body, it is possible for practitioners to change the flow of energy in the body, alleviating pain and preventing disease. It is indisputable that energy is the way in which the body functions; we need energy for everything from doing physical activities such as running, to digesting food, to even working on the cellular level to grow and copy our DNA. Energy medicine works by diagnosing and treating the blocked flow of energy within our bodies to create balance and well-being. Scientists and doctors in the Western world suggest that energy medicine is little more than a scam. One article went so far as to report that most called it outrageous quackery. In fact, many warn that energy medicine is quite dangerous to those with serious medical conditions, as many choose these practices over more traditional medical procedures. A 1993 New England Journal of Medicine study, though, went against the medical establishment in suggesting that thousands use energy medicine successfully for chronic pain their doctors are simply unable to treat. The simple truth is that practicing energy medicine can help heal and protect the body. By giving patients a choice in mainstream medical institutes, they have more ways of gaining a healthy lifestyle. It is important to note that energy medicine is never dangerous. Therefore, even if a technique doesnt work, the patient will be left in no worse health than when he or she started, which is not always the case with mainstream medical procedures. In view of this fact, there is really no reason to not give energy medicine a chance to help. While many suggest that energy medicine just doesnt work, the other major argument against including it in mainstream medical institutions is that it wastes money. The National Institute of Health created the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative medicine in 1999 with a budget of $50 million dollars. Traditional doctors and scientists were outraged at the fact that the fifty million wasnt allocated to their own programs. Most seem to be against even studying its effects. This is, perhaps, because they are frightened by what preliminary studies show. Since 1966, over three hundred thousand studies have been completed to show the effectiveness of energy medicine. And, if nothing else, energy medicine critics should be silenced by the fact that it provides peace of mind and relieves stress for many patients. Studies have proven that positive thinking or a positive outlook on their disease can help a patient be more receptive to mainstream treatments, which in turn can help cure illness or prolong life. This effect alone is worth the money to help study it. Energy medicine should be a choice for patients, and mainstream doctors should research and accept the benefits of these practices. By allowing energy medicine to be integrated into mainstream medical institutes, we cannot hurt patients who are suffering, and it is very possible that we may help them. The important thing to remember is that by providing many forms of treatment in conjunction with one another, doctors can effectively save the lives of patients, or at least make them comfortable in their last days. Energy medicine is one such treatment method that should always be considered.

A Christmas carol was written by Charles Dickens Essay Example

A Christmas carol was written by Charles Dickens Essay Example A Christmas carol was written by Charles Dickens Paper A Christmas carol was written by Charles Dickens Paper Essay Topic: A Christmas Carol Scrooge wakes up in his bed saying it was all a dream, when he hears something from the adjoining room he goes to investigate and finds the Ghost of Christmas Present. The second ghost is sat in a throne of Christmas food and drink that you would normally find in the Christmas feast. This spirit is very tall, almost giant like, and wears a coat of green trimmed with fur. He takes Scrooge through the bussing streets of London town on the current Christmas morning but a few hours in advance. As they go through London the Ghost repeatedly sprinkles Christmas cheer on passersby. They go and look upon the Cratchet familys Christmas dinner and see the gentleness of their youngest son Tiny Tim, the spirit tells Scrooge of Tiny Tims fait if nothing is changes. Upon hearing this news Scrooge becomes distraught and wants to change Tims future, this is expressed though the use of emotional language portrayed for Scrooges character, his language becomes more empathetic towards things, then bob reluctantly toasts scrooge which is followed by a shadow lasting five minutes, showing what the majority of people think of him. Then he is taken to see his nephew celebrating Christmas and he sees all of his guests gently making fun if Scrooge, but his nephew still thinks that Scrooge can change this emphasizes what the majority think and also what the minority of people believe. The Ghost grows older during this visit and explains that he will die tonight, he then lifts up his coat to reveal two young, pitiful children huddled there, he says that they represent ignorance and want, the two main causes of suffering in the world. He warns scrooge that the former is especially harmful. At the end of this visit the bell strikes twelve and as the second ghost disappears the third appears. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to come appears in the form of a hooded figure, his body is completely covered all except for one pointing hand. This gives the spectre an eerie persona; this helps the reader to understand Scrooges fear of him. The spirit shows what will happen if Scrooge does not change his ways, Scrooge views the Cratchet family bereft of Tiny Tim, he also sees his own grave and how the people dont appreciate him, by taking his things to sell, he also sees that his death saddens nobody. Without being told Scrooge has a realisation that he needs to change his ways to change his future and the future of Tiny Tim for the better, weeping he promises to do this, he wakes up to find that all of the spirits visited in one night, this shows what a long night he had and that when he was out with them he lost all track of time. At the end of the novel Scrooge changes his ways and buys the biggest turkey at the butchers for the Cratchets but sends it anonymously, he also goes to his nephews Christmas party and enjoys himself. When he goes back to work and Bob walks in he pretends to be his old grumpy self but then livens up to reveal his change. He helps Bob and his family with finance and other things they needed, he also becomes an adoptive uncle to Tiny Tim. His reputation is changed from a grumpy old man to a well respected man who embodies the spirit of Christmas. This story is all about how money separates people into separate groups, the wealthy and the poor, and how losing someone can change a person into being a cold-hearted person who only thinks of themselves. During this novel Scrooges personality and view of Christmas and all things gradually changes with the more he sees of other people lives and has a shock realisation of what people think of him causing him to change his ways. This could help people to realise that there are more people in the world that need help and that if you just stopped to look you could see what was wrong and help others greatly.

German Phrasebook on Classroom Vocabulary

German Phrasebook on Classroom Vocabulary This phrasebook, a collection of English-German phrases and expressions for the German-language classroom, is intended as an aid for students who will use the target language (die Zielsprache: Deutsch) in a classroom setting. For beginners, use of a phonetic  German Alphabet  can help with pronunciation, as this guidance is not included here. Showing Respect Forms of Address: Mrs./Ms. Schmidt, Mr. Schmidt Anredeformen: Frau Schmidt, Herr Schmidt Note: Always address your teacher, professor, or other school personnel as Sie! Your fellow students should be addressed as du (one) or ihr (more than one). Common Classroom Phrases Hi there! Hi everyone!Hallo allerseits! Hallo alle zusammen! Sorry Im late.Tut mir Leid, dass ich zu spt komme. What does ___ mean?Was bedeutet/heißt ___? Whats the German for ___?Was heißt ___ auf Deutsch? I dont understand.Ich verstehe nicht. More slowly, please.Lamgsamer bitte. Pardon? What was that? (I didnt understand)Wie bitte? (Avoid Was?, the German equivalent of Huh?) Could you please repeat that? (to teacher)Bitte wiederholen Sie das! Could you please repeat that? (to student)Noch einmal bitte! May I go to the restroom?Darf ich auf die Toilette?/aufs Klo? Could I go out/leave for a minute?Darf ich kurz mal hinausgehen? How do you spell that?Wie schreibt man das? Ive already done that.Ich hab das schon gemacht. Do we have homework?Haben wir Hausaufgaben? Which page/exercise?Welche Seite/ÃÅ"bung? I dont know.Ich weiß nicht. I have no idea.Ich habe keine Ahnung. yes - no - OKja - nein - Schon gut. Whats the difference between ___ and ___?Was ist der Unterschied zwischen ___ und ___?

Growing up Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Growing up - Essay Example Actually, in that year nobody visited him in jail until when his daughter died. Furthermore, it is even apparent that Sonny resulted to drugs out of alienation. These are some of the dire consequences of alienation, as one finds nobody to share their worries and hence resulting to other unethical treads. It is a bitter story how alienation led Sonny to drug addiction. Moreover, we understand from the story that upon the death of Sonny’s mother, his brother sought Sonny’s upkeep from his fiancee Isabel's family while he is at war. Nevertheless, this aggravated Sonny’ alienation as Sonny and Isabel's middle-class family clashed out of lack of understanding. The feeling of not belonging to a certain family for a child is detrimental and parents and relatives should take time to understand the children to evade acts of desperation that result from alienation. The Isabel family could not understand his passion for music and engagement with musicians of all races. Beca use of the feeling of alienation, Sonny runs away from Isabel family to join the Navy. Significantly, the author establishes the fact that the drugs, segregation, violence, and discrimination alienate Sonny from realizing their full potential. Indeed the author quotes, "They were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities. They were filled with rage. All they really knew were two darkness’s, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more .† (Baldwin 72-73). As such, lack of understanding can propagate alienation among children who are growing up. The adverse effects of alienation are equally unquestionable. In the story, "The Things They carried," the aspect of alienation in growing up comes up. Tim O'B rien, the narrator tells of alienation that he and other young soldiers go through in and out of war. The author notes that the young soldiers go to war unprepared, with fear and confusion that they cannot tell to anyone hence the alienation. The narrator tells of terrible memories in the war front where soldiers died, others got injuries yet nobody would acre to listen to such stories. Indeed, out of this alienation, the narrator sought to flee to Canada to avoid going to war. However, a lodge owner seeks to dilute his feeling of alienation and convinces the narrator to return to his obligations. As such, it is clear that we can curb alienation upon getting reasonable advice. In addition, the narrator states that soldiers face alienation through injustices, unethical practices muted on them at the war zone. This reflects where nobody understands his or her knowledge, tribulation, and difficult memories. Indeed, the author quotes, â€Å"They become hardened and angry, because no on e back home understands what they are going through (O’Brien 155).† Hence, the soldiers live a lonely life far from social interactions. Because of this alienation, soldiers manifest unfavorable traits after war. Indeed, the author records that out of this alienation, a soldier killed himself after the war. As such, lack of somebody to share information, lack of concern or understanding from those around us promotes the feeling of aliena

Globalization is Dependent on Technological Advancement Essay

Globalization is Dependent on Technological Advancement - Essay Example This essay discusses that  a close examination of any of this will quickly reveal that the technological developments in the aforementioned fields have been responsible for their relevance in the creation and direction of the global village. The world is still as vast and winding today as it was 100 years ago, however, thanks to globalization it has come to resemble what is now normally referred to as a global village. Information, people and goods, can be moved from one end of the world to another in hours minutes or even seconds depending on the means one is using. Globalization can be defined as a dynamic process connecting; people, towns, cities and nations more closely than they have been in the past.From the essay it is clear that  the overall result of globalization is the intertwining of diverse individuals the world has virtually shrunk since people can travel and immigrate due to development in the transportation industry in the form of fast planes cars trains and jets, as a result, and more than ever before cities are becoming increasingly cosmopolitan with the ease of migration. However, the reason globalization is an ongoing process has much to do with the changes affecting the factors that determine how fast or if it can occur at all. Paramount among this is the aspect of technological development.  Technology has advanced in a lengthy process from the archaic Stone Age stone and micro lithic tools to today’s cutting edge technology with complex and automated device never envisioned before. However, humanity is still far from harnessing the full potential of the technology and with each hour that passes more technology is developed, invented, or upgraded. These range from mobile telephony and Skype where people are put within earshot or/and sight of each other notwithstanding continental distances (Chestnut, n.d.), to transport where one can travel from Asia to Australia in a matter of hours while the same journey in the past would ha ve taken weeks if not months. As a matter of facts, Australia’s rapidly expanding it industry is evoking widespread attention from Asian technology business that is interested in taking advantage of her markets and resources (Ganapathy, 2010). The combination between these two concepts is almost solely responsible for mankind’s ability to exist in a figuratively smaller world, bearing in mind that, without technological advancement, the term globalization would never have had meaning nor required invention (Mercy corps, 2006). The geographical separation of Australia from the rest of the world has seen it bearing tags such as the land down under, and more unflattering one as the country everybody know where it is but nobody ever goes to visit. However, with the growth of the transportation industry, Australia is no less accessible for instance, to a New Yorker than Canada assuming that they both fly there. This is because developments in the

How Monetary and Fiscal Policies were Implemented during the Recession Essay

How Monetary and Fiscal Policies were Implemented during the Recession - Essay Example In order to curb this, the government of the United States, and the international monetary fund, took some micro and macroeconomic measures to curb this trend, which led to a great economic down turn. This was achieved by using some monetary and fiscal policies. The monetary process is the process through which the central bank and other money rendering institutions of a country controls the supply of money, the availability of money and the cost of money or the interest rate so that they can achieve a certain common objective. These objectives are done towards the growth and stability of the economy. The monetary policies can be either the contractionary or the expansionary objective. The aim of the expansionary policy increases the total supply of money in the economy, while the contractionary policies decrease the supply of money in the economy. ... It is the mandate of the federal reserve of the United States to enact the monetary policies. Board of governors runs the Federal Reserve. The factors, which they considered and applied to curb inflationary tendencies, are the reserve requirements, discount rate, open market operations, and printing money. Most banks in many countries changed the reserve requirements to encourage more banks to start in order to increases the amount of money circulating in the economy. The central banks of these countries have the authority to change the amount that banks should hold in the central bank so that they can be given the right to operate. In the US, the Federal Reserve has the supremacy to set the quantity of the deposits that the associate banks can deposit in order to be given the mandate to operate. To curb the recession, the FED decreased the amount of reserve deposits. The motive was to encourage more investors in the banking industry therefore increasing the amount of money circulati ng in the economy. This monetary objective achieved its goal since more banks had more money at hand, which increased spending, and possibly inflation (East Tennessee State University web). The other monetary policy used was the discount rate. Discount rate is the discount on the rate of interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges on the banks on the money that they borrow from the Federal Reserve. The central banks decreased or lowered the discount rate during recession. Their objective was to encourage the banks to borrow money from the central banks at a lower rate to increase the amount of money circulating in the economy. This would in turn encourage

Ideas of God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ideas of God - Essay Example Plato cautions about highlighting the stories about quarrels of gods and quarrels in heaven. They will have adverse impact on the thinking of humankind, and will have no useful influence. On the contrary, humanity may try to emulate such examples. Plato states that God is good. But he is not the author of all good things. There are many evils as compared to good things in human life, but God owns responsibility for the good. One should not see evil in God and should look out for it in some other source. Plato equates God with the concrete concept or the ultimate good. God is at the top of Plato’s hierarchy. But he also opines that goodness may emerge from different sources other than God. Plato is inconsistent or wavers when he discusses God and that exhibits the weakness of his ideas of God. He finds it difficult to agree that God is omnipotent. To Porete, that which is not practical cannot be spiritual either. Every spiritual concept must stand the test of practicability. To her God is an attainable reality, through constant efforts through the prescribed procedures and through 7 different stages. She describes the hurdles that a human being has to encounter in the spiritual path, in her book â€Å"The Mirror of Simple Souls† wherein she â€Å"employs the device of direct discourse with consummate power.†(Preface, 1) Love, Reason and the Soul engage themselves in a discussion of self-discovery about their real nature. Love is blind, and its poetic utterances cannot be real; they can at best be emotional. Perfect conclusions are never possible through reason. For every argument, there is bound to be a counter-argument. Is it possible to know the soul through verbal description? According to her, God is to be attained (realized) by a human being through a relation that â€Å"allows the spiritual ascent of the soul to God.†(Introduction, 27) The glow of transcendental love pours through Porete’s work.

Alberta's economic reliance on its energy resources Term Paper

Alberta's economic reliance on its energy resources - Term Paper Example In 1991, the overall industry construction had risen to thirty six percent. In addition, Alberta’s energy companies have also been affected by downsizing among Alberta’s oil and gas firms. The positive news about the energy sector is that their balance sheets are improving through debt reduction. Job insecurity is another factor that is affecting Alberta’s economy2. According to a recent research, statistics show that one out of four Canadians is concerned with the increasing job security. This job insecurity concern extends to both the white collar and the blue collar workers, which in turn reduces economic recovery. More intense research about Alberta’s work force claims that Albertans are the most highly educated workforce in Canada. The research went ahead to reveal that thirty eight percent of these individuals hold on the same job for over two years while the other percentage change jobs within the same period of time. Human resource capabilities are the most important factor that should arise to determine the long-term welfare of Alberta’s work force welfare. This paper will outline Alberta’s diversification progress and review other areas that are still lagging behind that needs improvement. Summary This article presents how Alberta’s economy gradually evolved. ... Ideally, the article presents how these economic set backs are affecting the society and the government has embraced these facts because the government is trying hard to curb these issues. Alberta’s poor economic growth is mainly contributed by poor infrastructure because it is only through proper infrastructure that the other economic sectors will open up. The best change to fix this problem is reconstructing all the necessary transportation roads. This will be possible if the concerned parties pile up pressure on the government to allocate a certain percentage of revenue to fix infrastructure. In contrast, the article â€Å"Alberta’s perspective†, seems to base its facts on the necessity of improving infrastructure because it is the gateway to the other economic developments. However, other alternatives are needed to collaborate with infrastructure to improve Alberta’s economy. Most of Alberta’s economic sectors depend on each other and that is wh y infrastructure alone cannot solve Alberta’s poor economy. For instance, agriculture will depend infrastructure and marketing skills in order to venture into the market. Therefore despite the fact that the author is basing his facts on infrastructure, I believe that other alternatives are needed. Therefore, the government should act fast by forming a delegation that will discuss Alberta’s reforms like, taxation system, reduce government spending and diversify Alberta’s energy global markets. Further, the supply of labor and the wage rate help determine the labor market equilibrium3. All of these strategies will only be a short term proposal intended on regaining back the economy. This is a temporal solution while

Ideas of God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ideas of God - Essay Example Plato cautions about highlighting the stories about quarrels of gods and quarrels in heaven. They will have adverse impact on the thinking of humankind, and will have no useful influence. On the contrary, humanity may try to emulate such examples. Plato states that God is good. But he is not the author of all good things. There are many evils as compared to good things in human life, but God owns responsibility for the good. One should not see evil in God and should look out for it in some other source. Plato equates God with the concrete concept or the ultimate good. God is at the top of Plato’s hierarchy. But he also opines that goodness may emerge from different sources other than God. Plato is inconsistent or wavers when he discusses God and that exhibits the weakness of his ideas of God. He finds it difficult to agree that God is omnipotent. To Porete, that which is not practical cannot be spiritual either. Every spiritual concept must stand the test of practicability. To her God is an attainable reality, through constant efforts through the prescribed procedures and through 7 different stages. She describes the hurdles that a human being has to encounter in the spiritual path, in her book â€Å"The Mirror of Simple Souls† wherein she â€Å"employs the device of direct discourse with consummate power.†(Preface, 1) Love, Reason and the Soul engage themselves in a discussion of self-discovery about their real nature. Love is blind, and its poetic utterances cannot be real; they can at best be emotional. Perfect conclusions are never possible through reason. For every argument, there is bound to be a counter-argument. Is it possible to know the soul through verbal description? According to her, God is to be attained (realized) by a human being through a relation that â€Å"allows the spiritual ascent of the soul to God.†(Introduction, 27) The glow of transcendental love pours through Porete’s work.

English contract act Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

English contract act - Coursework Example A promise to offer something of value shall be regarded as consideration. A promise to repair a house next month is the analogues of carrying out the yard work in reality when assessing whether consideration is there or not. There should be a deal between two parties if one promises to do something if the other carryout some obligation. Consideration should not be relates to earlier period. It should have moved from the side of the promisee. Consideration should be satisfactory. It must not refer something the promise which is already required to be carried out. It must be within the purview of law. (Beatty et al 2007:276). According to Sir Frederick Pollock, consideration can be defined as â€Å"an act or restraint of one party usually known as promisee or the promise thereof is the cost for which the promise of the other is purchased (the promisor) and the promise thus offered is enforceable.† The same view was also adopted by Lord Dunedin in â€Å"Dunlop v. Selfridge.† (Andrews 2011:125). â€Å"What the law means?† In English law, when one party wants to make a promise without any compensation or consideration through an agreement which requires another party to pay or do something, is known as naked agreement or a nude pact or nudum pactum. Thus, a nudum pactum agreement entered without any seal is void in law, and a party cannot be coerced to perform upon it as per the maxim â€Å"Ex nudo pacto non oritur actio.† (Brown 2006:374). Gratuitous promises are unenforceable unless made in a written deed format which means a promise which is in writing, duly signed, had witnesses and duly delivered. In this case , a nationwide charity asks Simon if any of the artists signed to his record label would be prepared to perform free of charge at an open-air concert to celebrate the closing of the Olympic Games. Hence, the charity wants Simon to provide service of his record label free of charge which is known as Gratuitous promise, which is unenforceable in English law. In this case, the charity should have compelled Simon to sign an agreement to provide service free of charge, and any oral promise by Simon will be regarded as a gratuitous promise which is said to lack â€Å"consideration.† Thus, even if Simon has made a moral or casual commitment, it will be regarded as nudum pactum, which is having no legal impact under English law. On the other hand, if there is a contract between Simon and the Charity, which is duly corroborated by consideration, then Simon has the obligation to fulfil his promise. Why/how the law is relevant to Simon using cases (with full citation) to illustrate and support points made where appropriate? A promise which is given after the performance of an act is not enforceable under the English Contract Act. This is known as past consideration and has been acknowledged as not a good consideration. The main objective for this is that the performance or act in question is not part of any e xchange or bargain, and it is rather gratuitous. Hence, any promise made subsequently will not form part of any contractual bargain and not enforceable. Those supposed agreements, which are without any consideration like one-sided undertakings, which may be binding a party morally but not enforceable under the contract law. In the eighteenth century, an effort was attempted by the courts in UK to define consideration so as to include some pre-existing moral commitments. In specific

Develop a stock market Essay Example for Free

Develop a stock market Essay (a) Dependable law and regulations The existence of dependable laws and regulations, not only from the government but also from the enterprises themselves is a necessary conditions since these all the organizations to compete and cooperate with the oversea and worldwide companies. (b) Resolution of policy risk Investor confidence in reliable property right and stable, market-oriented policies are a necessary condition for financial integration and the development of emerging stock markets. Announced market-oriented policies may be reversed, however, and are initially not fully credible. We argue that sustained privatization and liberalization programmes represent a major test of political commitment to safer private property rights, successful privatization has a significant effect on emerging stock market development through the resolution of policy risk, i.e. the risk of ex post policy changes with redistributive impact on investment returns. The evidence showed the progress in privatization gradually leads to increased confidence. (c) Promoting healthy financial institutions Healthy financial institutions especially banks, is a crucial prerequisite for financial stability. The largest number of crises still arise, be it in emerging market economies or industrial countries, from financial institutions overextending themselves when times seem good and then retrenching violently afterwards. Governance would first benefit from a greater internal focus on risk-adjusted rates of return, particularly when rewarding traders and credit officers. The relentless pursuit of shareholder value, without this crucial adjustment, could prove a very dangerous strategy. (d) Developing worldwide acceptable accounting and audit standard It is recommended profession should be is self-regulated through accounting  standard board instead of regulate by government, improve the credible of accounting and auditing report up to international accounting system (IAS) standards.

Enhancing Orientation of Graduate Nurses

Enhancing Orientation of Graduate Nurses Introduction Graduate nurses have many learning needs as they enter into the nursing workforce and they must continue to improve on their basic learning skills and competencies while attempting to learn new complex nursing skills (Phillips, Kenny, Esterman, Smith, 2014). All areas of nursing present many challenges, therefore orientation to the area requires a tailored and holistic approach for new graduate nurses (Dyess Sherman, 2009). This paper will focus on enhancing orientation for graduate nurses. This paper will provide the readers with an analytical discussion of relevant literature as well as a clear rationale for the need to change and improve orientation for graduate nurses. A thorough detailed change management plan will be implemented using Lippitt’s seven steps of change. Furthermore, strategies for assessing outcomes will be discussed, outlining the success rate post implementation. Lastly, this paper will summarise and highlight the main issues for this change. Discussion Graduate nurses entering the nursing workforce are required to possess a wide variety of skills and up to date competencies in order to function as beginning professionals (MacDonald, 2014). The learning curve does not stop once a student has completed their Bachelor of Nursing Degree, in fact, it is just the start for graduate nurses with several issues that they need to face (MacDonald, 2014). These include nursing shortages, advancements in technology and an aging population with increased health care needs (MacDonald, 2014). The development of formal orientation programs in health care is critical in the recruitment and retention of nursing staff (Robitaille, 2013). Recent literature demonstrates that a comprehensive, well thought out program can reduce adjustment periods for novice nurses, minimise turnover and establish a solid foundation for a productive and lengthy career (Charleston, 2014). According to Charleston (2004), the main reason for orientation during the Graduate N urse Program are to enhance skills and knowledge in the new graduate, to facilitate the addition of theory and practice and to ease the new graduates’ transition from university life to the clinical setting (Charleston, 2014). According to Chestnutt and Everhart (2007), graduate nurses entering a clinical area must receive appropriate orientation that meets their required needs, provides exceptional support and communication with all health professionals (Chestnutt Everhart, 2007). Structural empowerment, being able to manage workload, fairness, organisational values and leadership are significantly related to job satisfaction, therefore making a graduate nurse more likely to not leave the nursing profession (Junttila, 2014). Orientation to a hospital or ward add to graduate nurses’ ability to perform duties, increase confidence, competence and job satisfaction. It also lowers the turnover rate and enhances the quality of nursing care, for example; decreasing medication errors (Junttila, 2014). Travele (2007) states, â€Å"An inexperienced nurse’s knowledge is theory based because he or she lacks the wisdom that defines an experienced nurse. Targeted education needs to be progressive to engage this computer-savvy generation in learning†. A useful way to simplify orientation and capitalise on educator resources, is to offer online courses. Therefore, this paper will provide a change management plan to implement a wiki (website) to improve orientation to new graduate nurses. This will allow graduate nurses to communicate and share information with other graduate nurses, as well as be able to access visual aids such as links on clinical procedures. This will enhance their knowledge, clinical skills and be able to socialise with others, which in turn, will make for an easier transition from university to the clinical setting. Rationale The reason for the initial promoting of change to improve orientation for all graduate nurses was feedback from current and previous graduate nurses from Holmesglen Hospital on their experience of when they were orientated to the hospital and their specific ward. A graduate nurse, reflecting back on her transition process during orientation provided a simple but powerful statement representative of her experience: â€Å"I thought, I’m an RN now, so I have to know the answers. I can’t say I’m a student anymore. I worry about not knowing enough, not knowing what to do. Should I do this, or should I do that? Did I miss anything? I feel like I’m walking a fine line.† (Rush, Adamack, Gordon, Lilly, Janke, 2013) Other statements from previous nurses included: â€Å"One day during orientation, I came onto the floor like I normally do. It was on my schedule to be on this floor with this person. So I go in there, and I take report on all my patients, and they call back and tell me you are going to the fifth floor tonight. It was four o’clock when I was told I had to switch floors and preceptors. I thought to myself, what are they doing? You are confusing me and screwing me up. It was very frustrating.† (Rush et al., 2013; St Clair, 2013) â€Å"The first few months were the hardest and the most stressful time for me, I was overwhelmed with so many resources during orientation, I didn’t know where to start.† (Phillips et al., 2014) To address these challenges, it is vital that graduate nurses are provided with a transition framework that facilitates their growth and the achievement of their potential. These studies described graduate nurses’ transition experiences as they were walking the fine line between student and nurse (Romyn et al., 2009). Change Management Plan To enable sustainable change, nurses need to take the lead in managing it (Davies, 2014). Lippitt’s phases can be used in nursing practice especially with the advancement in technology, the nature of healthcare organizations, and professional standards. Although we experience change every day, nurses have a difficult time embracing â€Å"planned† change. As presented in the discussion, the use of a wiki (website) can provide nurses with educational material, links to relevant websites on practical skills and procedures and it can provide a place to communicate with other nurses, preceptors, other graduate nurses, and the rest of the graduate team. The change management theory that will guide the implementation of the proposed project of improving orientation for graduate nurses will be outlined using Lippitt’s seven steps of change. 1. Diagnoses of the problem. According to Lippitt et al. (2014), this stage involves a change agent that may notice that an intervention or change would benefit the system or person and offers assistance (Swansburg, 2014). A change agent is someone who acts as a catalyst for change (Swansburg, 2014). During this phase, there was formal and informal feedback from past and current graduate nurses about their experiences during orientation which prompted a need for change. The goals of the project would be a) enhance graduate nurses’ orientation to a clinical setting, b) support the new graduate nurses while improving their education and c) improving professional communication through information technology. This first stage of change would involve speaking to the Holmesglen educators and nurse managers to discuss how this change could be implemented into the orientation of new graduate nurses. Providing awareness, having adequate support and outlining the benefits that this project could offer to new graduates and staff would be the main focus of this phase. After the support and contribution of the key stakeholders, then the second stage of the change process can be established. 2. Assessing the motivation and capacity for the change Phase two will involve the change agent gaining the trust of the key stakeholders as well as anyone who will be involved within the nursing workforce in order to proceed with the project. If trust is not shown, then it becomes hard to influence any motivation for anything to change (Belcher Jones, 2009). An important part of this phase is to see how the group perceives the change agent and the motivation to the possible change. During this phase, it is important to approach it a sensitive and appropriate manner due to the fact that new graduate nurses will be excited to start their graduate nurse program but as well be scared about their career (Dyess Sherman, 2009; St Clair, 2013). The recipients of this project which are the graduate nurses, will hopefully want to gain the best possible orientation into their nursing workforce and take advantage of the resources that will be provided. However, there also can be a barrier because at this stage the graduate nurses will have potential overload of information that they have been giving in relation to their new nursing career. Therefore, it will be important to introduce the wiki (website) to their education and practice at a specific time. 3. Assessing the resources and motivation of the change agent Information must be collected regarding the situation in the workplace and why the project would benefit staff. One way to collect this information it to talk to other past and current graduate nurses on their experiences. If the motivation of new graduate nurses is there and they are willing to change the way in which orientations are run, then it makes it a lot easier for the change agent. A meeting to discuss what staff would like to present and offer within the website would be beneficial so that they feel that they are involved in the process of change. If a meeting were to be compulsory then, a presentation about â€Å"Wikis and website programs† and what they involve needs to be implemented. At some point during the presentation, it would be useful to provide the rationale behind the change and to state the benefits of its use. The one off meeting would be targeted towards new graduates but all staff can be present as they may want to access the website at some point in their career as well. All graduate nurses and other nurses all displayed an expression of interest in the meeting on the use of a website through formal and informal feedback. 4. Defining the progressive stages of change The fourth stage of planned change involves specifying the objectives of the change, charting out exactly how the change will be achieved, and the length of time you anticipate the plan will take (Daly, 2014). A pilot or trial period of the project also may be helpful at this point to allow for evaluation of the change, and to modify the plan if necessary (Daly, 2014). During this phase, the group will begin to formulate their ideas about the change. According to Lippitt et al. (2014), problems may arise in relation to motivation when the group starts to express intentions and actions towards the planned change (Swansburg, 2014). These problems can occur due to anxiety about the change or fear of failing the change (Daly, 2014). A trial procedure was offered involving the change which may help to alleviate symptoms such as anxiety and fear, therefore accepting the idea for change. In the development of a wiki (website), this will hopefully enhance orientation to graduate nurses. Once all staff members are aware of how the website can improve their practice and increase their knowledge, then hopefully they will be more willing to accept the change. 5. Ensuring the roles and responsibilities of the change agents are clear and understood Phase five involves choosing the appropriate role of the change agent. The role of the change agent during the change process is critical to the success of the plan (Davies, 2014). Failure to define the role of the change agent can result in confusion and a breakdown in communications (Davies, 2014). The change agent will ensure that all staff feel that they are well supported and encouraged to work towards actual efforts based on their intentions. The first step would be the actual creation of the website, followed by an active demonstration to the group that could be performed on the site. An example of a demonstration and activity that could be presented could be a link to a website where answers to clinical practice questions are found. This part would be very brief but most importantly informative in order to display simplicity to the work environment. Throughout the wiki, there could be links to clinical skills and techniques as well as up to date evidence based articles that will provide the best practice guidelines. Visual aids such as videos of procedures would also be very helpful for graduate nurses who may not get to experience assisting with a specific procedure during their orientation. These videos give the graduate nurses a visual aid so that when they are faced with this in their practice they at least have background knowledge and are able to visually recall what took place during the procedure even though they have not performed it on a patient. 6. Maintaining the change through feedback, and group coordination The key to maintaining the change is keeping the lines of communication open (Davies, 2014). Frequent, ongoing discussions by staff regarding the change will need to continue as each step in the plan is implemented, evaluated, and revised as necessary. During the implementation of the project, the focus will be to target new graduate nurses entering the nursing profession to improve their orientation. If the project is well received, then the inclusion of the website into the orientation will be not only useful for graduate nurses but can also be beneficial for other employees entering the nursing profession with no prior experience/graduate program. It can also aid as a review system for existing staff that may want to access the visual aids or articles to review some procedures that they may not come across day to day. There will also be ongoing debriefs, where anonymous feedback forms will be distributed to all participants to ensure confidentiality. New graduates will also be informed of the change and will be asked to give feedback on the quality of the new change and the use of the website. According to Lippitt et all. (2014), â€Å"One critical factor in the stabilization of change is the spread or non-spread of change to neighbouring systems† (Swansburg, 2014). If the use of a website i in Holmesglen Hospital spreads from the target group of graduate nurses to other staff members, this would show that stabilisation of the intervention is occurring. 7. Gradually removing the change agents the relationship Phase seven involves termination by the change agent, leaving the system or the organization to maintain the change (Davies, 2014). All graduate nurse will be able to have ongoing involvement with the group and staff members as well as the other key stakeholders; nurse educators and nurse managers on the wiki. However, the goal of the wiki is that it becomes a way to contribute to discussions and share knowledge with the group. With ongoing use of the website, graduate nurses will become more comfortable using the website and will be more likely to interact and use it. Therefore, nurses will be able to contribute their knowledge and participate more readily to discussions. Strategies for measuring outcomes The reason why to measure change, is to monitor progress, identify the next steps, learn from the process for practice, monitor implementation and to identify whether the desired goals have been achieved (Bond, 2013). Some ways to measure this change will include using questionnaires and surveys which are quick and easy to gather data from people in a non-threatening way as well as observation by gathering accurate information about how the change is processing (Bond, 2013). Another strategy will include having monthly check-ins with the supervisors, nurse managers, and leaders to capture successes and challenges (Bond, 2013). Furthermore, using direct observation from an outsider to see if the change has been implemented correctly with a positive change (Bond, 2013). During this change, there should be a comparison of the new graduate nurses before using the website and after they finished their orientation, this will identify participant’s motivation, support and behaviour during and after the change. Interviewing the graduate nurses’ one on one as they will be able to provide feedback about the new change and insight of what needs to be changed. Once all of the feedback and data on how the change went, data analysis should be completed. This would be performed using a software on the computer. It would be able to determine any improvement since starting the change to the end of the change, and then, be able to improve for the new graduate nurses that will be coming through next year and the year after. Lastly, when measuring change, one must communicate, engage and reflect to ensure the change process is acceptable and sustainable (Bond, 2013). Summary and Conclusion Within this paper, a discussion was addressed to encourage staff involvement in the process and offer opportunities to enhance learning during the challenging time of orientation for new graduate nurses. Additionally, a rationale for why the change needs to be implemented was identified. Furthermore, Lippitt’s seven stages was used to implement the change. Lippitt’s seven stages of change closely aligns with the nursing process and is appropriate for a variety of settings to implement change. Being aware of the needs of staff members as well as the barriers to change that may be met is vital for moving this initiative change forward. With the implementation of this change, it may be a valuable learning opportunity for new graduate nurses that could improve and enhance their orientation experience and promote a smoother transition into the nursing profession.

Feminist Thinking Essay -- Feminsim Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Feminist Thinking It has been said that not everything worth reading is a philosophical argument., and I agree. A glance through the shelves of bookstores, news stands, and libraries will incline one away from the idea that all valuable reading is philosophy. Thoughts back upon experiences that have touched one’s life undoubtedly will include an important novel or story and confirm the original statement. It is also fair to say that people approach literature and philosophy with different expectations. It seems fair to expect one’s philosophical reading to impart knowledge, while not necessarily demanding this of poetry or a short story. Likewise, there are different settings, goals, and different relations that exist between reader and writer, and reader and recommender. Some reading may be for enjoyment, escapism, or metaphor while other is for personal knowledge acquisition and/or a class assignment. While this is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed much of the reading required o f me in the pursuit of my degree, I approached it all with an expectation that it should fit nicely within my preconceived notion of ‘Philosophy’. In this class I was presented with reading that broke out of that mold. I want to step back a little and work my way back into the literature from some distance. This is, I hope, a fair way of coming to an understanding of the field of feminist thinking. Assigning reading for a class, and reading the assignment that the instructor has assigned involves two parties and relations of power, overt or hidden. An assigned reading for a class by an instructor carries a stamp of approval- a legitimization. Presumably, the professor has read this piece and thinks it is cogent, readable, fits with the development... ..., ‘Caring,’ and is the obvious place to start. From this starting point it is quickly evident that some feminists will disagree with the characterization of women as care-givers. However this divergence is not altogether unexpected, and a host of possible places exist within the discursive space created by Noddings, and others, to vocalize. That the discursive space has been opened up in this new way is important. Annette C. Baier offers an historical development of traditional (Kantian) ethics and its shortcomings. With this and Noddings article the relevance of care-ethics becomes established. And although I do not share the optimism that care-ethics alone can offer a complete system of ethics, it is well argued that future systems need to account for its concerns. Care-ethics is feminist philosophy, while much of the other literature falls short of this title.

Essay --

Gay marriage has been a topic of discussion between many people. It is talked in good and bad ways, due to a person’s beliefs or even just their overall opinions. The topic has been present for many years. Throughout the years many things have improved for the rights of the same sex couples. It included difficult times for these couples. They had to fight for their rights. They had to fight people that did not believe that they have these rights. According to Ronald Bailey (page 1), same sex marriage impacts traditional marriage. He also stated that it undermines or looks down upon conventional marriage of heterosexual marriage. The divorce rate among same sex couples decreased. After decades of falling the marriage rate and fertility rate slowly increased and still the divorce rate is down. The divorce rate in different sex couples decreased due to the same sex marriage increasing. In 2003, the divorce rate in Massachusetts was 2.5 per 1,000 people. Then in 2004 the marriage rate jumped 15%. Lesbian couples were 3 times more likely to divorce than heterosexual couples. Gay marriage couples also have kids. Nearly 20% of same sex couple houses have children. Close to 84% of them have biologically related children. Los Angeles reporters stated that 37% of same sex couples have had children of their own in their houses before. By the time that the children are of 17 years old 55% of lesbian couple are separated compared to the 36% of heterosexual couples according to The National Survey of Family Growth. Unlike divorce in heterosexual parents children from divorced homosexual do not experience social or psychological problems. When they divorce 75% of the lesbian couples share custody. In heterosexual (page 2) couples 65% of mot... ...ame the first state to pass in the United States to legalize same sex marriage, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed this bill. Then 3 years after this on June 16th 2008 California began allowing same sex marriage licenses. Proposition 8 was then launched, proposition 8 was launched to deny same sex marriage rights. Then in 2009 Maine governor John Baldacci signed a freedom to marry bill, which had support from both branches of the state legislature. Even though both legislatures gave support there were also opponents. These opponents also gained support from national organizations which launched a referendum to ban same sex marriage. Voter reserved the legislature in 2012, which again allowed same sex marriages in Maine. There were also out- of- state marriages in New Mexico and Rhode Island. It is a civil right to many the person of one’s choice.

Accounting Seminar Notes

Chapter 6 Homework Solutions 6-16 Sales budget, service setting. 1. Rouse & Sons| 2011 Volume| At 2011Selling Prices| Expected 2012Change in Volume| Expected 2012 Volume| Radon Tests| 12,200| $290| +6%| 12,932| Lead Tests| 16,400| $240| -10%| 14,760| Rouse & Sons Sales Budget| For the Year Ended December 31, 2012| | Â  | Â  | Â  | | Selling Price| Units Sold| Total Revenues| Radon Tests| $290| 12,932| $3,750,280| Lead Tests| $240| 14,760| 3,542,400| | Â  | Â  | $7,292,680| 2. Rouse & Sons| 2011 Volume| Planned 2012 Selling Prices| Expected 2012 Change in Volume| Expected 2012 Volume| Radon Tests| 12,200| $290| +6%| 12,932|Lead Tests| 16,400| $230| -7%| 15,252| Rouse & Sons Sales Budget| For the Year Ended December 31, 2012| | Â  | Â  | Â  | | Selling Price| Units Sold| Total Revenues| Radon Tests| $290| 12,932| $3,750,280| Lead Tests| $230| 15,252| 3,507,960| | | | $7,258,240| Expected revenues at the new 2012 prices are $7,258,240, which is lower than the expected 2012 reven ues of $7,292,680 if the prices are unchanged. So, if the goal is to maximize sales revenue and if Jim Rouse’s forecasts are reliable, the company should not lower its price for a lead test in 2012. 6-17 Sales and production budget. Budgeted sales in units200,000Add target ending finished goods inventory 25,000 Total requirements 225,000 Deduct beginning finished goods inventory 15,000 Units to be produced 210,000 6-18Direct materials purchases budget. Direct materials to be used in production (bottles)2,500,000 Add target ending direct materials inventory (bottles) 80,000 Total requirements (bottles)2,580,000 Deduct beginning direct materials inventory (bottles) 50,000 Direct materials to be purchased (bottles)2,530,000 6-19 Budgeting material purchases. Production Budget: Finished Goods (units) Budgeted sales45,000 Add target ending finished goods inventory18,000Total requirements63,000 Deduct beginning finished goods inventory16,000 Units to be produced47,000 Direct Materi als Purchases Budget: Direct Materials (in gallons) Direct materials needed for production (47,000 3)141,000 Add target ending direct materials inventory50,000 Total requirements191,000 Deduct beginning direct materials inventory 60,000 Direct materials to be purchased 131,000 6-20Revenues and production budget. 1. | SellingPrice| UnitsSold| TotalRevenues| 12-ounce bottles| $0. 25| 4,800,000a| $1,200,000| 4-gallon units| 1. 50| 1,200,000b| 1,800,000| | | | $3,000,000| a 400,000 ? 12 months = 4,800,000 b 100,000 ? 2 months = 1,200,000 2. Budgeted unit sales (12-ounce bottles)4,800,000 Add target ending finished goods inventory 600,000 Total requirements5,400,000 Deduct beginning finished goods inventory 900,000 Units to be produced4,500,000 3. = 1,200,000 + 200,000 1,300,000 = 100,000 4-gallon units 6-21 Budgeting: direct material usage, manufacturing cost and gross margin. 1. Direct Material Usage Budget in Quantity and Dollars| | | | Â  | | Material| Â  | | Wool| Dye| Total| Phys ical Units Budget| | | | Direct materials required for| | | Â  | Blue Rugs (200,000 rugs ? 36 skeins and 0. 8 gal. )| 7,200,000 skeins | 160,000 gal. Â  | | | | Â  | Cost Budget| | | | Available from beginning direct materials inventory: (a) | | | Â  | Wool: 458,000 skeins| $ 961,800| | | Dye: 4,000 gallons| | $ 23,680| Â  | To be purchased this period: (b)| | | Â  | Wool: (7,200,000 – 458,000) skeins ? $2 per skein| 13,484,000 | | Â  | Dye: (160,000 – 4,000) gal. ? $6 per gal. | _________| 936,000| | Direct materials to be used this period: (a) + (b)| $14,445,800 | $ 959,680| $15,405,480| 2. = = $2. 55 per DMLH = = $12 per MH 3. Budgeted Unit Cost of Blue Rug| | | | | | Cost perUnit of Input| Input perUnit ofOutput| Total| Wool| $2| 36 skeins| $ 72. 0| Dye| 6| 0. 8 gal. | 4. 80| Direct manufacturing labor| 13| 62 hrs. | 806. 00| Dyeing overhead| 12| 7. 21 mach-hrs. | 86. 40| Weaving overhead| 2. 55| 62 DMLH| 158. 10| Total| | | $1127. 30| 10. 2 machine hour per skein36 skeins per rug = 7. 2 machine-hrs. per rug. 4. Revenue Budget| | | | Â  | | Units| Selling Price| Total Revenues| Blue Rugs| 200,000| $2,000| $400,000,000| Blue Rugs| 185,000 | $2,000| $370,000,000| 5a. Sales = 200,000 rugs| Cost of Goods Sold Budget| | | Â  | | From Schedule| Total| Beginning finished goods inventory| | $ 0| Direct materials used| $15,405,480| Â  |Direct manufacturing labor ($806 ? 200,000)| 161,200,000| Â  | Dyeing overhead ($86. 40 ? 200,000)| 17,280,000| Â  | Weaving overhead ($158. 10 ? 200,000)| 31,620,000| 225,505,480| Cost of goods available for sale| | 225,505,480 | Deduct ending finished goods inventory| | 0 | Cost of goods sold| | $225,505,480| | | Â  | 5b. Sales = 185,000 rugs| Cost of Goods Sold Budget| | | Â  | | From Schedule| Total| Beginning finished goods inventory| | $ 0| Direct materials used| $ 15,405,480| Â  |Direct manufacturing labor ($806 ? 200,000)| 161,200,000| Â  | Dyeing overhead ($86. 40 ? 200,000)| 17,280,000| Â  | W eaving overhead ($158. 10 ? 200,000)| 31,620,000| 225,505,480| Cost of goods available for sale| | 225,505,480 | Deduct ending finished goods inventory ($1,127. 30 ? 15,000)| | 16,909,500 | Cost of goods sold| | $208,595,980| 6. | 200,000 rugs sold| 185,000 rugs sold| Revenue| $400,000,000| $370,000,000| Less: Cost of goods sold| 225,505,480| 208,595,980| Gross margin| $ 174,494,520| $ 161,404,020|

Religion in Film: a Comparison of Fight Club and Antz Essay

At first glance, David Fincher’s â€Å"Fight Club† and Dreamworks Studio’s â€Å"Antz† could not be more diametrically opposed to each other in form and genre. One is a dark commentary on the vacuity of modern life, fraught with homoerotic subtext; the other is a brightly animated cartoon where the bad guy dies, the good guy gets the girl, and everybody lives happily ever after. I intentionally chose these two films, however, for their thematic similarity, to examine the recurring motif of striving for identity in a society of conveyer belt roles where the value of the individual is quickly depreciating toward extinction. By analyzing both films through a theological and Freudian lens, I intend to reveal the tension that has always existed between possessing the freedom of choice and submitting to an oppressive, delineating structure. â€Å"Antz† opens up with a disembodied voice announcing its anxieties. As the camera penetrates layers of New York underground, the voice is revealed to belong to a lonely ant. He is in therapy. We soon learn that his name is â€Å"Z† and he is a disgruntled worker ant, airing his frustrations over working all his life and never quite feeling satisfied. One is expected, as an ant, to devote all his efforts toward the good of his colony and deal with his needs being ignored. This is a common grievance, felt among the spectrum of classes and races. Regardless of status, hardly anybody ever feels he is getting his. Before we have time to dismiss Z’s grouchiness as trivial angst, the camera pans out and introduces us to the â€Å"gung-ho super organism† of ant life. What we see is a hyper complex built by and on millions of bodies that link together to drive the meticulous engine that runs and perpetuates the system. It is impossible to make out any one creature from the swarm of activity. We see elevator pulleys marked with phrases lik e â€Å"Let’s Work† and â€Å"Conquer Idleness,† a chilly reference to the Nazi motto that likewise drove millions of human souls to a state of dejection reflected in the demeanor of the worker ants, as well as Ed Norton’s character from Fight Club. We see ants producing their bundled babies for appraisal, where they are systematically (one might say, arbitrarily) assigned a role in the microcosm. Roles like â€Å"worker† and â€Å"soldier† are shouted out at random and these tiny cocoons, before even having a sense of their individuality—what Freud called recognition of self as separate from the mother (colony)—they are deprived of it. They are then designated a place in the hierarchy that will forever  determine their value by output. This systematic allocation of significance by measure of the whole in turn leaves the individual feeling utterly insignificant (Brintall 303). This is the way of life and up until now it went largely unquestioned. As everybody will tell Z, one ant is meaningless. It is not about him it’s about â€Å"us, the team,† working endlessly to build and acquire more, and he would do best to content himself with it and be happy. Don’t think too much. Think ing leads to rogue individualism that puts the whole microcosm in jeopardy. There appears to be no room for pleasure in this life. Even activities intended to relieve pressure and stress, such as dancing and drinking, are normalized, structured. Socializing too has its place, as the ants are transferred from one ghetto to the next. Ants dance in a group and any who desist are either bullied back into submission or removed entirely. If one may speak of computerized ants in a sexual nature, we can observe how the libidinal economy is so tightly controlled in their environment that all drive toward freedom and creativity is squelched. Inner desires have been buried under dirt and exhaustion and thus, if Freud was correct and our energy drive must be pointed somewhere, the eros is redirected toward work, ungratifying as it may be (Brintall 296). It is transferred into idolizing the strength inherent in uniformity, as personified by the macho General Mandible, who’s face comes as close to sexual gratification as an ant’s could when glancing out at the swarming and sweating organism. Although pleasure is at odds with pain, when all prospects for it are denied, pain—the endurance of reality—becomes the only frontier where any pleasure can surface (Brintall 299). It is through pain that the Narrator in â€Å"Fight Club† asserts his identity, his masculinity and his divorce from the whole of society. He feels the punch, not the corporation he slaves for. That scar, that bruise, that burn is on his body and his alone. But this is later in the plot, which it makes little sense to spend time recapitulating, as you are most likely already familiar with it. Rather, I would like to isolate and review specific incidents to connect them with themes of religion and sociology. Though the repressive system of collectivism is not stated as overtly in black and white as in â€Å"Antz,† it is clear that the totalitarian regime in â€Å"Fight Club† is modern consumer culture. Having returned home (after successfully realizing his alter-ego Tyler Durden) to find his apartment  blown to pieces, the Narrator (who’s name is necessarily inconsequential) laments the loss of his beloved designer wardrobe and catalogue dining room set. What are we, asks Tyler? And the answer is infamous: we are consumers. Consumers who exhaust themselves to emptiness, working to fulfill a false dream, to acquire and acquire, believing each new possession will bring them closer to feeling complete. Human beings work to be the masters of their domain, a domain filled with the products of other human labor and frustrations of their own lack and inability to conquer it fully (Brintall 297). All creative energy and hope is transferred into consumerism, an oppressive system we ourselves helped create and perpetuate and thus permit it to establish mastery over us. And what are we told when we inevitably find ourselves feeling even more empty than where we started? To lighten up and not dwell on â€Å"it.† What is this â€Å"it†? This is the â€Å"it† that keeps the Narrator up at night; the â€Å"it† that inspires Z to run away in search of freedom, in search of release; the â€Å"it† that leads both characters into the next stage of their development in their search for meaning and identity; the elusive â€Å"it† that excites the first blow and enables both the main characters to opt out of being just another avatar in the assembly line of human souls and go in search of something better, something else. For Z, it is a perfect utopia where insects can choose their own roles in life instead of being handled by the institution. For Tyler, it is a dystopia, perfect in its chaos and lack of oppressive structure. Each character makes a conscious choice to pursue a different course in life, meaning to demonstrate how individuality is a by-product of free will. But how free are human beings, really? Closer inspection reveals that neither character liberate s himself from structure, and especially not from idolatry. His focus simply shifts toward romanticizing a more bohemian lifestyle (or perhaps it is the audience’s focus that shifts). Although â€Å"Fight Club† is rarely referred to as romanticized. In his commentary about the film, director David Fincher talks about the meticulously sloppy care devoted to the film by exposing it to durations of harsh light, stretching contrast, and similar distortion techniques used to achieve the washed-out, deconstructed picture—a nod back to the film noir genre that characterized the inescapable dreariness and nihilism of the war-time era when life was so desperately devoid of all purpose or intrinsic value. But Tyler encourages  us to send all our pre-constructed notions of value and purpose to hell, and face reality. The reality is that there is no greater meaning, no utopia â€Å"beyond the mast and across the river,† as swears Z, and that putting one’s faith in redemption or God is useless, seeing as how in all pro bability â€Å"God hates you.† It is not surprising he feels this way, given the direct correlation between God and the father. Both films are interlaced with the issue of fatherly abandonment. When the scene first opens up on Z reclining in his therapist’s office cavity, we are subjected to the comical farce of an ant theorizing that his anxieties are most likely rooted in his childhood abandonment issues: his father crawled out on him when he was just a maggot. One cannot help but feel the cinematic hilarity of a tiny ant who’s immense feelings of inadequacy are not only mirrored by our own, but are actually in consensus with our estimation of an ant (and thus ourselves). In a similar exchange between the Narrator and Tyler Durden, the former recalls his father’s proclivity for fostering families all over and then walking out on them. To which Tyler, soaking nonchalantly in a tub in front of his ‘friend’, cogently replies the man is â€Å"setting up franchises,† as though the nurturing of children was nothing more than a simple business transaction. So how can these â€Å"thirty year old boys† be expected to enter into, as Freud wrote, normal, heterosexual society when their lives have been devoid of the strong authority of the father? (Freud handout) After all, â€Å"Our fathers were our models for God,† points out Tyler, â€Å"If they left, what does that tell you about God?† But to abandon our search for the divine is impossible, for in religion there lie answers. With the help of religion we can extract meaning. We see the Narrator attending support groups for the terminally ill in an attempt to establish a connection and find meaning, once again with pain as the currency. By witnessing the pain of other people’s realities, he finds pleasure, he finds acceptance and release—and sleep. These groups are for him akin to communion, a place where pent-up energies can be redistributed. Whatever the grievance, whatever is lacking in this life, a spiritual gathering maintains the possibility for ho pe. Religion thus becomes not just an outlet, a place where the eros can stir and the soul can come alive, but a way to compensate for the â€Å"longing for paternal protection,† the feeling of emptiness rooted early in childhood. Even as Tyler argues that religion is ineffectual, we realize  that in a society where children’s mental and social development is outsourced to vacuous advertisements, those products and ads take the place of the father—and eventually God himself. As â€Å"Fight Club† evolves and membership in the bloody communion grows larger and larger, we see the film come full circle. What began as a search for meaning beyond identification with a repressive system of consumerism, swelled into its own macrocosm (not unlike institutionalized Atheism) fueled by identical and nameless, yet willful, automatons. They are still participating in a society that extinguishes rogue individuality, but they are doing so by choice. Still, human beings need something to elevate and hold up as God, as the ideal. So they elevate Tyler Durden. They elevate fight club, the reality of owning your pain because pleasure is a blinding myth. Are human beings therefore truly free to make their own choices, is the abiding theological and sociological question. The task of determining the controlling force of society—religious collectivism, political collectivism, even anarchical collectivism—nags at our notion of free will. Of course in â€Å"Antz,† it being a kid’s film after all, the tyranny is embodied in one character. In â€Å"Fight Club† it is intentionally disembodied, in-your-face yet still invisible. â€Å"Our great war,† Tyler advocates, â€Å"is a spiritual war.† One might think if we just do away with consumerism, religion, any system, the subconscious would be free to express its most inner desires. But we discover this is not so. There doesn’t seem to be any more meaning or truth in the Ikea catalogue than in the eventual culmination of Project Mayhem, which conspires for the destruction of all authority and material idols—what Freud would deem the death drive. Though the characters in â€Å"Fight Club† have been so disheartened by the lacking prospect of creativity and purpose, and now seek to destroy everything they’ve ever identified with, they are still not free. Perhaps it is only through losing oneself in God, in work, in different institutions, each with their own offerings of value, that one can seek out one’s unique identity. It is possible that the hope for something better—be it called enlightenment, utopia or deeper understanding—allows one to exercise free will in the pursuit of meaning and pleasure, if never finding either itself. Works Cited 1. Anker, Roy M. â€Å"Narrative.† 2. â€Å"Antz.† (1998, dir. Eric Darnell) 3. Brintnall, Kent. â€Å"Psychoanalysis.† 4. â€Å"Fight Club.† (1999, dir. David Fincher) 5. Freud, Sigmund. â€Å"Civilization and Its Discontents.†