Monday, September 30, 2019

B2B and B2C: Their ethical, legal, and regulatory environments Essay

The marketplace of internet commerce is rapidly expanding. Although there are wide variations within each category, internet-related businesses are usually classified as being either B2B (business-to-business), or B2C (business-to-consumer) enterprises. The economic landscape in which these companies operate is always changing. For that reason, it is all the more necessary for there to be a firm concept of the ethical, legal and regulatory responsibilities within this emerging marketplace. B2Bs and B2Cs share many of these responsibilities in common. In some cases, however, there are particular nuances of operating a B2B that may call for a different framework than is necessary for operating a B2C and vice versa. The variations between these businesses are continually widening, meaning that the particulars of the ethical, legal and regulatory frameworks will differ. The overall goal of these frameworks is the same-establishing the concept of trust. Trust is the key to establishing any reputable, successful and long lasting business. Overview B2Bs (business-to-business) are business that interconnect using the internet. In other words, they are businesses that buy and sell to each other. B2Cs are businesses that use the internet to sell to the end consumer. It may be the internet site of a well-established department store, or it may be a business that uses the internet as its only point of contact with consumers. The world of internet business is still relatively new. As it continues to grow, it will have to adapt to regulatory and legal changes. The continued emergence of variations within the E-marketplace is a challenge to those concerned with ethical and regulatory issues. Far from being on the wane, these issues are more common than ever. According to market forecasters â€Å"Security and privacy issues along with e-business regulatory issues will become more prevalent† (Warholic, 2007). Ethical environment Conduct of B2B transactions is reliant on the two-way sharing of information. As a result businesses on both ends of the transaction must make sure that information platforms are secure, and accessible only to authorized personnel. Since trust is a critical element in E-business as well as more traditional forms of business, professional codes already in existence are applicable in both areas. Unfortunately, industry-wide adherence to these codes is lacking. Companies are struggling with the wide array of issues raised by internet commerce. A recent report on the publications industry highlighted one of the many potential ethical problems of conducting business in an advertising-driven media. â€Å"†¦several respondents indicated that there was too much of a blur between editorial and advertising departments† (ASBPE, 2006). Another likely area of ethical focus for the B2B industry is highlighted by Laura Spense: â€Å"What about the facilitating of fraudulent activity? (Spense, 2002). In an environment with a multitude of partners, platforms and subsidiaries how much responsibility does a B2B company bear for the actions of its partners? In Spense’s example, a B2B bank was knowingly enabling one of its partners to conduct illegal activities overseas. Again, examples similar to this could arise in any number of industries. Ethical responsibilities for B2C companies often revolve around the protection of customers’ information. Some companies have developed software limiting customer information to only a few responsible parties. Others have not been able to resist the financial lure of information sharing or selling. This division is likely to continue until it is addressed more completely by legal and regulatory efforts. In the mean time, there is an opportunity for ethical businesses to develop strong reputations that will benefit them far into the future. Legal environment Legal concerns in E-business span a wide array of areas. There are the obvious concerns such as customer security and privacy, internet fraud and identity theft that relate most often to B2C businesses. Most case law that has been developed addresses these issues. Because these crimes are the most high profile, they are the predominant focus of the legal system. As criminals adjust to these legal efforts in any number of ways it will require a sophisticated and ongoing effort to prevent their actions. There are also possible legal issues below the surface that can be just as important. For example, the difficulty of determining the legality of electronic documents can pose issues, particularly for multinational B2B companies. What appears to be a legal document may not be admissible in court as evidence. Time differences can also result in an agreed upon document bearing one date in one country but having another effective date in another country. Because B2Bs can employ many networks and partners, it can be difficult to determine legally who bears responsibility on a particular issue. These are examples of small details, in the B2B context, that can have large legal consequences if not properly attained to. Regulatory environment The internet is still relatively unregulated. That is beginning to change in a few areas, however. Most regulation is targeted toward B2C companies, coming in the form of consumer protection measures. The government is becoming more assertive in prosecuting internet fraud, gambling, child pornography and spamming violations. It is likely that additional laws in these areas will be enacted in the coming years. The issue of taxation is also currently under debate. This is of particular concern to B2Cs, which in years past have been able to lure customers by selling their product without any sales tax. That practice has already been ended in some states. As more states become cash-strapped, this process is likely to continue. B2C firms will have to innovate in order to continue the growth of their customer base. The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) applies to both B2B and B2C enterprises. The UCC outlines warranty, ownership and expert status issues, making some delineation between the responsibilities of B2Bs and B2Cs. For example, under the UCC, a business client is assumed to have a greater level of expertise about the transaction at hand. Therefore, statements or claims made to that client do not necessarily have to meet the same standards of reliability as statements made to an end user in a B2C transaction. The main regulatory concern in regards to B2Bs involves the prevention of monopolistic practices, including price fixing. The formation of some large B2B firms such as Covisint, a firm formed by Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and General Motors, has raised concerns about the potential domination of market share. Critics fear the emergence of monospony – a shift of pricing power from buyers to sellers (IGE, 2001). Conclusion The only thing that is certain about the internet business environment is that it will continue to change and evolve. The government will likely become a bigger factor in terms of laws and regulations, particularly within the B2C market. The B2B market, in contrast, is better able to self-regulate. Ethically both markets would be best served by anticipating potential regulatory and legal action. This has a dual purpose. It helps to establish the company as a trustworthy entity. Also it can help to head off future government interference in the market. The consequences of a lack of trust are particularly high for a B2B company, but the issue is important for any company hoping to operate profitably over the long-term.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath Essay

Canterbury Tales is a story written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Geoffrey Chaucer was satirical with most of the characters in Canterbury Tales. The story tells about the journey of a group of pilgrims to Canterbury to the shrine of Thomas a Becket and the stories they tell along the way. The pilgrims are in a competition to see who can tell the best story. The host of the Tabard is in charge of the competition and giving a complimentary dinner to the winner with the best story. Each one of the pilgrims stories reveal a little about them, their personalities and their morals. The pilgrims include people like Chaucer himself, a Knight, a Prioress, a Monk, a Franklin, a Parson, the Wife of Bath and others. Most of the satires of these characters would be the same today as it was back then. For example, the Wife of Bath’s satire would remain the same today, but her occupation would be similar to that of the actress, Joan Collins; both have given out advice due to all of their experience and resolved issues with women in relationships. In the same way that Joan Collins gives advice to women, the Wife of Bath gave advice to women. Joan Collins is a British actress and author who normally plays an adulterous woman in movies and television shows. She writes books giving tips to love and life. Joan’s books include Love & Desire & Hate, The Joan Collins Beauty Book, and Joan’s Way: The Art of Living Well. The Wife of Bath is a slightly satirical character in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Wife of Bath tells a story in Chaucer’s story; it tells of a Knight who was told to find the thing that women most desire. The Knight found the answer to be that women want to have sovereignty over their husbands and lovers. At the end of her tale, the Wife of Bath asked Christ to send women husbands who are â€Å"meek and young and fresh in bed,† (page 150). She wanted women to be able to have complete control over their husbands. The Wife of Bath places a curse on husbands who refuse to be controlled by their wives. Also, the two ladies, the Wife of Bath and Joan Collins, both have the same amount of experience in relationships and marriage. Even though she was married five times, Joan wrote in her autobiography that she â€Å"recounted entanglements with numerous Hollywood stars, near-stars, and others,† (â€Å"Joan Collins†). Like Joan Collins, the Wife of Bath married multiple times and gained wealth from all the marriages. The only difference between the two people, Joan and the Wife of Bath, is that Joan divorced her husbands and the Wife of Bath’s husbands died. So the Wife of Bath was widowed while Joan Collins was divorced. Among the many husbands that they had, Joan Collins and the Wife of Bath were two highly listened to ladies. Like the Wife of Bath stated, â€Å"[she] believes that having experience is the greatest authority, and since she has been married five times, she certainly considers herself an authority on the remedies of love.† (â€Å"Wife of Bath†). Even though neither woman had a long and lasting marriage, they gave out advice on relationship and love. Joan viewed love as something you have to work on because marriage is hard work and does not come easily. The Wife of Bath’s view was always for the woman to have the upper hand in a marriage. She believed they should be in control of their husband or lover at all times. She also stated that if a husband cannot confine to the will of his wife he should be cursed to death. The Wife of Bath’s satire in Canterbury Tales can be easily seen remaining today, due to all the similarities between Joan Collins and the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath was never a great role model for anyone to look up to but people listened to her anyways. All five of her marriages led people to believe that she knew what she was talking about. As she was back then, the Wife of Bath would still be the same person. She would still be a wealthy, flashy woman who did not have the best of luck with men. All in all, whether it is in the future or past, the Wife of Bath’s satire can exist. She was someone who liked to stand out and draw attention to herself. She loves superiority and control over other people, especially her husbands and lovers. Today, the Wife of Bath’s satire would be somewhat identical to the actress and author, Joan Collins. Completely as she was then, the Wife of Bath would exist today.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are the new buzzword today, almost everywhere people are talking about bitcoins, especially with the examples that someone has made millions in just one or two years by smartly investing in bitcoins. It definitely creates curiosity to others if it is right or legal to invest in bitcoins or is it just a bubble? With the market cap of more than $270 billion, the bitcoin gained momentum when its price touched whopping $16,500 last year. It’s not a new concept in fact, Bitcoin has existed since 2009 and was traded at a very low value initially, its growth was also linear for few years but then it picked up an exponential growth. It has been trading around $500 in year 2015 and touched $1000 by 2016 and then it broke all the records in year 2017 when a single bitcoin is valued at $6500. its quite fluctuating in beginning of this year and its current price could be around $14000. Interestingly, if you had invested just $100 in Bitcoin in 2009, you would now be richer to the tune of  £3,67 million. Bitcoin is not the only digital currency, there are other alternatives like Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, Litecoin, and NEO. So let’s understand the basic of Bitcoin. It’s a digital currency build on top of the block chain technology, It’s also known as virtual currency or cryptocurrency. Its virtual so yu can’t print, touch, feel, or store it. Technically, Its just a sequence of (0s and 1s) stored in some remote computers around the world. Bitcoin works over blockchain technology, Blockchain is considered one of the most safe technology to store data in a distributed manner. It createa, store, and manage digital transactions that are public, secure, and distributed. Bitcoin was first introduced in 2009 by an unknown individual or a group named Satoshi Nakamoto. It was an interesting way to pay for transactions without a third-party like a bank. It handles peer to peer transactions without any middlemen. There are no transaction fees and both parties are anonymous. Just like an email address, you create a bitcoin wallet account and then that address becomes your identity to be used for every transaction. Some experts predict that Bitcoin or Cryptocurrency is the future of money and it will eventually replace all other currencies in future. Today, many tech-savvy online retailers accept bitcoins. You can order services like Web hosting, buy merchandise, and even a coffee. Many online ecommerce portals accept bitcoins along with other cryptocurrency options like LiteCoin, and Dogecoin. Some known businesses which accept bitcoins include Virgin Galactic, Overstock.com, TigerDirect, Dish Network, Expedia, Newegg, Directnic, Microsoft, Zynga, Starbucks, and Subway. You might be thinking; why do I need bitcoins If I can buy everything using my credit card? Bitcoin is a new form of currency and enjoying an exponential growth, Some people believe that the value of bitcoins will keep on growing over time because more and more people and businesses will start using it. People buy bitcoins as an investment vehicle. As a matter of fact, the value of 1 bitcoin has increased from $500 to $16,000 in one year. Its always anonymous transaction when you do it through Bitcoins, Nobody would ever get to know about such transactions and the owner of the money. which lures lots of criminals to use bitcoins for their payments and transactions. There are several cryptocurrency marketplaces (online websites or apps) called cryptocurrency exchanges that allow people to buy or sell bitcoins using different currencies. You can buy bitcoins using your local currency and start buying and selling bitcoins like any stock trade. When you open an account, you get a digital address and that address is your identity to buy, sell, or pay in bitcoins. You can find some popular cryptocurrency exchanges like ,Coinone, Bitthumb, Bitfinex, Quoine, Bittrex, HitBTC, Poloniex, Kraken etc. Bitcoins are managed through your online accounts quite similar to your online bank account,. It is called a digital wallet. You can buy or sell bitcoins through your digital wallets. Bitcoin is a virtual currency and has no tangible value. You can’nt hide it like the real cash with the hope to use it in difficult times. Not everybody accept the bitcoins.. Bitcoin value fluctuates a lot. Even though the value of bitcoin is going higher, it doesn’t mean it will not go down. There may be a day, when bitcoin can go down 50% in just matter of hours. Some experts have even predicted that Bitcoin is a bubble. Because bitcoins are stored in digital wallets , more and more hackers will target bitcoins as the value grows. there have been many hacks into these wallets and bitcoins have been stolen. Bitcoin is not owned by a country, group, or person. Bitcoin is owned by users of bitcoin. Initially, new bitcoins have to be mined and the miners get some bitcoins, those later can be sold to other people. Bitcoin mining is also a interesting concept. There is a limit on total number of bitcoins, which can be produced. there are only 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined in total. Out of which 16 million bitcoins are already mined. The successful miner finding the new block is rewarded with newly created bitcoins and transaction fees. By last year, the reward amounted to 12.5 newly created bitcoins per block added to the blockchain. To miner can claim the reward through a special transaction called a coinbase. All bitcoins in existence have been created in such coinbase transactions. Bitcoin mining is the process of adding transaction records to Bitcoins public ledger of past transactions or blockchain. This ledger of past transactions is called the block chain as it is a chain of blocks. The block chain serves to confirm transactions to the rest of the network as having taken place. Bitcoin nodes use the block chain to distinguish legitimate Bitcoin transactions from attempts to re-spend coins that have already been spent elsewhere. Today, many large institutions and crypto leaders have invested heavily in Bitcoin. As a matter of fact, 4% of people own 96% of bitcoins. Bitcoin is not regulated or backed by any country or government. It is private peer-to-peer transaction. All parties in bitcoin transactions are anonymous. Bitcoin is not illegal but it has been regulated in some countries. Now, then Most people buying bitcoins for investment purposes are assuming the value of bitcoin will continue to grow. Some people use bitcoins to buy and sell products and services to hide their identity.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Enviromental science Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enviromental science - Movie Review Example The director asks this family to keep their every scrap of the garbage for three months. Later he shows the family where it all goes and what its doing to the world. This documentary film is definitely an eye opener for everybody. The theme, which attracted me very much from this film, is the injudicious consumerism and tis consequences. Uncontrolled consumerism is one of the biggest curses facing by the current generation at present. Since modern generation do not have much financial problems compared to the older generation, they consume many wanted and unwanted things. For example, it is the habit of many people to purchase latest mobile phones even if they have good mobile phones in their hand. In other words, many of the current consumers purchase goods not because of necessity but to keep their social status. While purchasing new things, they throw away the older ones. It should be noted that mobile phones like electronic goods have many toxic elements, which has the potential to destroy our environment. For example, the lead batteries of the mobile phones have the ability to cause major environmental problems. This film warns the public a bout the negative effects of uncontrolled or injudicious consumerism. This film warns the public that â€Å"from organic waste to the stuff they flush down the potty, the plastic bags they use to the water they drink out of bottles, the air pollution they create when transporting the kids around, to using lights at Christmas, the McDonalds discover that for every action there is a reaction that affects them and the entire planet† (Nisker). The biggest drawback of this film is that it gives us many problems and failed to give ample solutions. In other words, the film mainly focussing on the problem side of uncontrolled consumerism and it says less about the possible solutions. For example, it says that 1 trillion plastic bags are used in the world every five minutes. However, it says little about the alternate options

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Persuasive Speech for the Adoption of Organic Food into the Lunch Essay

Persuasive Speech for the Adoption of Organic Food into the Lunch Program of the School - Essay Example Serving organic and natural food during our lunch can already make a huge difference in the betterment of our health and environment. My name is _________(your name over the line) and I am just a concerned student with a good idea about our health and environment who also genuinely cares for my fellow students and my school. II. Body We may not know it, but if we are not particular about the kind and quality of the food that is served to us in the school cafeteria, they may actually be serving us Frankenstein foods or genetically altered foods. This is not to blame the canteen administrators because many of the foods sold at our groceries are in fact genetically modified and it is very difficult to figure out whether they are organic or not (Kenner, 2008). (Tell’em part) Genetically modified foods are already prevalent. They are a product of the factorization of our food industry that seeks to produce food in scale, albeit of lower quality than those that are naturally grown b y our farmers. Genetically modified foods are also peppered with chemicals so do not be surprised if you still do not feel nourished after a plentiful meal because most of the food you ate was not really food but were mostly composed of chemicals (harm). (harm, significance and cause) This is not to say that natural foods are already gone and totally replaced by genetically modified foods. ... Kenner did not even mince with words in the introduction of his documentary film that GMO’s are in fact, just presents a notion of a food because by itself, GMOs are not entirely a food considering the artificial inputs that was incorporated during the process of its production. Note that I used the term â€Å"production† and not â€Å"growing† just like what is done in the farms because the industrialization of food can be likened more to a factory than to a farm that â€Å"produces† food rather than â€Å"grow† them. GMO is ever present in the current servings of our cafeteria through its fast food servings. I understand that my fellow students love fast foods because of its taste and convenience. I do not like to contradict only that fast foods are not healthy both to our body and environment. Experts agree, as reported by Rosencheck that the consumption of fast foods which are served big which have high glycemic loads contribute to the rising ra te of obesity in the USA (2008). This was supported by the study of Currie whose study findings suggest that the increase in the supply of fast food restaurants have a significant effect on obesity (2010). The negative health consequences of the rising obesity rates already are evident. Rates of diabetes (most of which is type 2, which is largely due to obesity, poor diet, and physical inactivity) rose 50% between 1990 and 2000 (Mokdad et al, 2001). Environment wise, the same fast foods that we like to eat are not also healthy. We may not know it but we also eat oil when we consume industrial food. Overall, the production of the raw materials of the fast food industry guzzles up petroleum fuel of about 40,000 gallons per year. This

Hong Kong Law of Tort Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Hong Kong Law of Tort - Essay Example The mother, after witnessing the series of events, called her husband Ben, the stepfather of Elizabeth who came one hour after. He collapsed after seeing the bandages on Elizabeth. John, brother of Elizabeth after being notified, came one day after incident. All three persons, Lucy, Ben and John, suffered from shock after the incident. The idea of negligence is a product of hundred of years of law making. Until the present, the idea of negligence is still very much open to interpretations by the court. Although there have several attempts in the past to come up with criteria for negligence, the‘ categories of negligence are never closed.’1 Although the courts wanted a rule by which to judge conduct, they wanted the rule to be flexible enough so that the rule could be applied in various circumstances. Lord Atkin in Donoghue v Stevenson, the courts were initially quite reluctant to apply it as a criterion of general application in every case of negligence. Instead, they ad opted a case by case approach, thus restricting the imposition of liability to only few situations of negligence. 2 Negligence is generally defined as the failure to use ordinary care. A person fails to use ordinary care if he/she does something that a person of ordinary prudence would not have done under the same or similar circumstances. Failure to use ordinary care can also occur by omission, or failing to do something which a person of ordinary prudence would have done under the same or similar circumstances. Negligence, then, is a judgment of both acts and omissions.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Employability & Personal Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Employability & Personal Development - Essay Example They rightfully play more and in the process, become submerged in new ideas. I’ve always known in my heart that play is a key to learning, and I, for one, am a lifelong learner. Here in Europe, lifelong learning has become a way of life, as reflected from societal values (European Commission, 2002). From educational discourses of the 1960’s and 1970’s, it has been debated that the primary purpose of learning and education is not solely for acquiring and extending theoretical knowledge but â€Å"to develop one’s own character, a character, that becomes reality as a result of growing experience† (Lengrand, 1972, p. 59). The maximalistic view of lifelong learning stresses the importance of learning outside the classic educational context and premises. That would include learning technologies, printed material and visits to museums, art galleries, field centres and heritage sites. This means that even after a student graduates from formal school, he may still engage in learning in the bigger classroom called life, and this would extend all throughout his life span. While the classical field of learning was formed by closed institutions, that were to be attended in the first quarter or third of the lifespan, lifelong learning declares any place and any time as suitable for learning. Tuschling & Engemann (2006) add that learning never stops even when individuals become adults that it becomes adopted as a lifestyle (Tuschling & Engemann, 2006, p. 456). Simply put, lifelong learning extends outside the four walls of the classroom. It takes place anywhere and stays within the learner in the form of knowledge and skills. The same is true in the working world. One needs to keep pursuing learning in whatever they do whether it is job-related or not, because it is part of continual personal development. Recently, I have had the good fortune of indulging in a wonderful learning experience that involved a lot of play. I chaperoned some kinde rgarteners to an interactive museum that encouraged them to revel in their imagination and creativity. Little did I know that the experience offered me an abundance of opportunities to learn and develop skills that can benefit me in my future career. It was a lesson I took with five-year olds, but of course, I was on an entirely advanced level. Discover Children’s Story Centre (2013) is a newly-opened interactive children’s museum in Stratford, East London that caters to young preschool children aged 2-7 years. As a chaperone, I was assigned to watch over 5 gregarious children. The museum guide said it was alright and that the children touch and interact with the exhibits because they literally learn more â€Å"hands-on†. Adults were encouraged to let our hair down and be children ourselves, and further drive the children’s imagination to soar with interesting questions of various possibilities which can only be accepted in the world of play. I found myse lf rummaging for silly ideas that may just work such as tickling the giant’s feet so that he can peep down at us and we can see his face. That prompted my kids to also think up of more creative ideas we can try. Allen suggested we roll on the noisy polka dotted floor in different directions to see if we can make beautiful music together. Nancy mused that we can eat the invisible fruits of the tree so we can have magic powers to use on the giant. Theodore asked if the pirate ship had underground headquarters for superheroes. The

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Fear Crime Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fear Crime Report - Essay Example This report is to summarizes the findings of the survey carried out and give a general outcome of the findings (Chatterton and Hollands, 2002). Table one Table one shows a survey taken in Kingston, considering various attributes like the age group, gender, disability, ethnicity of a person, focusing on the minority ethnics. It also targeted those who were residents in RBK, adults, in full time education, how they travel to town, the purpose of visit and if they were aware that there was the presence of CCTV in the areas (Gant, 2010). There have been public concerns about the safety of the public because, despite the good record of low crime, there have been exceptional cases of crimes occurring at the town. The table gives statistics of the research from the year 2007 to 2012. It is evident that the number of people willing to participate in the survey increases every time. The highest recorded number of people in the survey hit a record of 1136, in the year 2010 (Table 1). These peo ple are then divided in age groups of under twenty five years, between twenty five and thirty nine years, between forty and fifty nine years, and finally sixty years and over. According to the statistics, those who were under twenty five years among all the age groups, were the ones with the highest number of fear of crime, whereas those who were at the age of sixty years and over, had the least fear of crime in the town. This explains that it is the young ones who have a lot of time in their hands and commit these crimes. Most criminals fall in the age gap of below twenty five. When assessing between the male and female? In all the years, the female is more afraid of crime in the town than their male counterparts. However, these statistics have dropped from a high of 59, to a low of 50.8 in the year 2011. This is encouraging because it shows that the fear of crime has reduced, and this could be attributed to the facts that criminal offences have reduced, and the public safety is en sured. For those who are in full time education, in the town, the story is different because the fear tends to escalate drastically. Another record worth taking note of is the means that people use to travel to the city center. Those who travel by motor cycle are the least fearful of the group, but statistics still shows that the fear of crime has increased, although it is still lower than other means of transport (Oc and Tiesdell, 2001). Those who travel by means of vehicles, that is by bus or personal cars. This shows that these people experience a high rate of crime, therefore they fear for their property and lives. Those who go to school at the city center have the most fear of crime. This was equated to crimes committed in school like bullying, being beaten up and harassment from their fellow students. An exceptionally large number of people are aware of the availability of CCTV in public areas within the town. This gives them the sense of security, since they believe that ther e safety is assured and do not have to fear. It was also reported that some of the crimes committed include vandalism, graffiti, antisocial behavior. Table 2 Table two shows the reported experience of victimization in percentage, in the years 2007 to 2012. The levels of personal victimization are reviewed in the table, and from

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Passion of Apostle Paul Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Passion of Apostle Paul - Research Paper Example He: a. did not pride over his equality with God (Philippians 2:6). b. humbled himself and took the nature of a servant (Philippians 2:7). c. humbled and became obedient to death (Philippians 2:8). 3. Christ’s humility resulted to him being glorified (Philippians 2:9-9-11). a. Was given a name above all names (Philippians 2:9). b. The name will cause all creation, on earth and in heaven to bow (Philippians 2:10). c. The name will cause every tongue to confess that Jesus is Lord, for the Glory of God (Philippians 2:9-11). Passion of Apostle Paul Introduction Jesus said he is the Way, the Truth and Life and no one can go to the father except through in. In other words, he was telling the believers that unless they walked as he did, they would never see God. It is through the acceptance and emulation of the example of Jesus that believers can learn to conform to the mind and ways of Jesus. One character of Jesus that stood out among all was humility and this is well illustrated in Philippians 2:1-11. By possessing this character, it will be very easy for believers to fellowship with each other, living in peace, have unity with Christ and treat each other with love, kindness, patience, while portraying self-lessness, gentleness, goodness. Basically, Philippians 2:1-11 is a call for the believers to emulate the humility of Jesus. Content The book of Philippians was written by Paul to the church of Philippians and by extension, all other Christians. At this time, Paul was in prison in Rome and was writing to thank the church in Philippians for the help they accorded him. He told them about what he went through in Rome and how his suffering helped to spread the gospel. He also used this book to warn them of priding in the flesh, advise them and encourage them to press on in their Christian walk. In Philippians 2:1-11, Paul narrowed his teaching into calling the believers to emulate the humble nature of Christ1. In his writing, Paul is pleading with the Christian s to sum up every good character they had by having the same mind as that of Christ. He went ahead to illustrate of the level of humility Christ had and how this humility cause him and God to be glorified. When Paul was writing this letter, he knew that the believers always longed for the encouragement and comfort that comes through unity with Christ and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Through these verses, Paul took a step of telling the Philippians that if they really longed for the consolation of the love of Christ, unity with him and fellowship with the spirit, there are some characters they must possess or things they must do for this to be complete 2. Personally, Paul also always longed for the strengthening of the Christians and their maturity in Christianity till they reached the stature of Christ. He knew this was the surest thing that they could qualify them to enter heaven and this would be his joy. He therefore tells them to make his joy complete by possessing the chara cters he was listing to them. In Philippians 2:2, Paul calls on the Christians to be likeminded, have the same love, and be one in spirit and of one mind. By telling them to be likeminded, be one in spirit and mind, Paul was advising them to avoid any differences amongst themselves and have one focus. He was also stressing on the need for unity that would arise if the church became one in the spirit. In this case, if they all waked under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit is in perfect

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Early Retirement Plan Essay Example for Free

Early Retirement Plan Essay This paper presents early retirement plan, one classical and very popular case which takes place internationally and a part of the business and financial strategy of different kind of enterprises, especially the very large ones. This project entails a detailed discussion and financial or accounting application on the proposed alternative strategies and the data derived by the financial statements. As a reply to the Chairmans memorandum, bearing in mind the academic content of the program of Financial Reporting Management Accounting, the early retirement plan issue in the financial and accounting function of the organization blends with the theoretical aspects with the practical situation that the organization is currently facing. It is said that â€Å"a country, which is unable to develop its people and utilize them effectively in the national economy, would be unable to develop anything else† (Dosi, Winter, 2002). As a new labor economist, let me first define what a human resource is. This refers to the number of people and their level of skills. Human capital is related to this which is defined as the productive investments embodied in human persons, and it includes the abilities, skills, ideals, and health resulting from expenditures on education, training, attitude towards work, among others. In matching employers and employees, employees will try to get to the highest levels of utility possible (Blanchard Katz, 1997, p. 3). They will choose that indifference curve that gives them the maximum level of utility. However, they are constrained by what employers are willing to offer. The less risk the lower the wage and the higher the risk the greater the wage rate. Firms on the other hand try to maximize profits. On the other hand given that the labor market is economical they can not present higher than market rates for the reason that their expenditures will be collegial and they will be driven out of commerce by near to the ground asking price of manufacturers. If they offer to low a wage then they will not be able to attract any workers. Thus their profits are usually normal because of the competitive nature of the market. The net effects for wage increase are the following: if substitution effect is greater than income effect, then hours of work rise, and if substitution effect is less than income effect, then hours of work fall (Aoki Yoshikawa, 2003, p. 39). If a worker is enthusiastic about his or her job, this represents that an increase in the wage rate will cause a person to work more which involves substitution effect. In spite of this, if extended work time turns out to be the custom in a community, these periods in all probability are not intentional and it stands for a lack of spare time. Even though specific people may reduce their hours of work as the market wage rises, labor supply curves of specific labor markets generally are positively sloped over realistic wage ranges. Higher relative wages attract workers away from either household production, leisure, or other labor markets and toward the labor market in which the wage increased. While there are people who have positive relationship of wage rate and work hours and some have inverse relationship of the two, there are also people who have backward-bending labor supply curves. It occurs when the labor supply curve is positively sloped in some ranges of the wage and negatively sloped in other ranges. If the replacement upshot is larger than the revenue consequence, the work supply curve will incline rising to the right side. This person will persist to add to his supply of work services as the pay rate rises up to a position where he is functioning definite hours. Further than this spot he will begin to decrease the quantity of work time he provides. Where the supply curve is sloping upwards to the right, the affirmative salary elasticity of work supply, the changeover outcome is larger than the returns result as stated by Belot and Ours, 2000, p. 76). The opposite upshot occurs when it slopes upwards to the left. The track of incline may alter more than once for a quantity of persons, and the work supply curve is to be expected to be dissimilar for diverse persons. Other factors that have an effect on this choice take in dues, wellbeing or interests, and labor milieu. An example is a student working more, since more work hours means more income or higher wage. A low wage rate means smaller quantity of work chances for young people, who are apt to take part-time jobs to have less of a connection to the work market. Quite the reverse, the result on low-wage elders, who almost certainly have a robust regard to the personnel, chiefly crops up through a decrease in labor time. Either means, nevertheless, the ending of most interest-earned revenue is alike, with off-putting upshots of least amount of pays apparent for those originally were at the smallest amount or salaries just above it. From the strategic market planning, firms may come up with good marketing study. Consumer examination responds to principal inquiries concerning every definite item for consumption or service offered in the market. Crucial contender investigation and SWOT analysis may be applied. By this SWOT study, it characterizes the classification and taking the full advantage of the strengths, curtailing the weaknesses, making the most out of opportunities, and offsetting the threats (Julien, Kennes, King, 2000, p. 619). The yield of a firm SWOT examination will help various business ventures in forming their marketing ideas and purposes. At this instant with the strategic planning tools at hand, primarily, business enterprises can now set up, design, and prepare long term aspects for multi-trained communication and dealings core and project back-office settings or situations; building up most favorable conscription procedures that reduce outlay while coming to get certain objectives and offering supervisors with the facts they must have to go through and hastily consent financial plans, labor force personnel running, optimization, and quality monitoring. Secondly, the firms can now measure or gauge the outfitted and pecuniary paybacks and effects of diverse circumstances ahead of constructing resolutions. Third is that they can already enhance forecasting precision with advanced scrutiny of historical information. They can eventually plan their wherewithal ahead to replicate anticipated client demands and plan their allocation of resources in venturing for other projects in the future. With this, firms can turn out this preparation development a group endeavor. They can now request everybody concerned in putting into practice the strategy for proposition. Strategic market arrangement must be an existing method to occasionally make another study of firms’ standing. They may keep each and every team associates informed of the marketing and administration advancement in and amend the strategy as challenging prospects become apparent to improve the profitability of various business entities. Setting up promptly will very much make better the pecuniary future of the company. It will offer a practical vision of the retirement prospect in respect of how currency and investments will function. The company will realize entirely at what time it is best to displace people or on the other side when an employee must retire. Early retirement plan is not in relation to what time will displace or one will give up work but how the company will displace or the employee will stop working. With some companies becoming less dependable and their retirement’s procedures less advantageous, a firm retirement arrangement is considered necessary at the present more than ever. No one can forecast the future, nevertheless planning can be of great use so either the company or the member of staff will know when to leave and most significantly, will the portfolio last the projected existence. The secret of pragmatic retirement planning relies on the following set of statements. The solution is to be actually transparent regarding the association between the profits supplies, operating costs, price increases rates, and what pertinent individual would like to achieve in retirement. Early retirement planning bids aspects in explicit retirement objectives and requirements, together with a lot of other factors of existence. Early-retirement encouragement agendas are currently the most accepted process which business enterprises employ to attain a diminution in the personnel. And for corporations in the middle of unions, conquests, or cutting back, they have been a method to decrease discharges. When times become shoddier, businesses economize. Early-retirement diplomacies are typically the system that they attempt to accomplish so in as humanitarian an approach as probable. The pros and cons of the strategies are extremely unambiguous and quantifiable for owners or managers. Early-retirement motivation campaigns may appear to be chiefly engaging if times are hard-hitting and people involved sense that there are no assurances that they will be able to maintain the occupation if they do not acknowledge the proposal (Card Hyslop, 1996, p. 5538). The tactics are quite convincing, however then again, several of them proffer a great deal which less than comes across the eye. Crafting subjects worse, odds are that if people are challenged with an early-retirement inducement arrangement, people will have no more than a month or so to appraise the proposition. Even a beefed-up early-retirement annuity is expected to be noticeably lesser than the allowance that could be anticipated if people sustained to labor. That is for the reason that the annuity is almost certainly based on the standard of what is received in the last few periods the people went to work. Even if the early-retirement enticement plot appends bonus periods of service and extra time of age to the allowance method, it would not be adept to build up the discrepancy between the standard pay for the last periods and the probably elevated typical wage for the last years if people were to keep on working. If the additional periods of vacation are worth the abridged reimbursements, in that case the critical matter is not how the early-retirement packet measures up to the usual retirement alternatives but whether the parcel is adequate to come to get the retirement-income requirements. To resolve that, people will have to cast the retirement returns and everyday expenditures. As a fulltime research administrator to direct a study agenda for the next segment in the company, he must take into account the evolution of improvement or restructuring strategy. According to Tesfatsion, (2001), the responsibilities are to envisage, set up, supervise, and accomplish research and logical schemes that speak to business transformation task and take forward line up goals, put up a system of progressive investigation and support associations and persons to prop up business amendment plan, head an alliance study group composed of associate human resources and important followers or allies, back allies with enhanced information to engage in early retirement plan and venture modifications at the federation and local degrees, assist to organize mechanical backing to countrywide, state and district cronies, point and sort out study actions to guarantee that the project of early retirement plan is in advancement: on timetable and within financial statement, act with other business personnel to recognize, expand, and create market suggestions for novel undertaking prospects and financial support, correspond to business in a line of investigation, promoti on, guiding principle, media, and fundraising actions in relation with the early retirement plan (p. 419). Time managing and clerical proficiency are also necessary to maintain equilibrium of the manifold endeavors, associates, at the same time as the aptitude to arrange requests, ranges of job, study blueprints for regulars, cronies, and funders, with know-how in running multifaceted investigation schemes and workforce and familiarity in business or metropolitan guidelines and arrangement, or connected areas such as ecological rules and economic progress. Early retirement plans typically appears to be unsuccessful for three reasons. First is retiring before persons kept an adequate amount of currency to be money-wise self-sufficient. Second is unsatisfactory diversification of the withdrawal assets. Last is undervaluing the yearly livelihood operating costs in departure. With reference to insufficient savings, most individuals who have considered the issue characterize pecuniary autonomy as containing 25 times of the yearly livelihood fixed costs, several fairly more or less. In other terms, a person who will retire with $40,000 in twelve-monthly livelihood everyday expenditures will require a $1 million collection of assets to be regarded as monetarily self-supporting (Flaschel, Kauermann Semmler, 2003). If one is mature enough to meet the criteria for a retirement fund or Societal Safety, that certainly trims down the quantity of currency one requests to obtain from the investments and makes available for fiscal self-determination on a lesser portfolio, he or she may do take the early retirement so. In assets diversification, practically the entire main part of labor on giving up work and speculation preparation puts forward that people who give up work safekeepings in their collection. A small number of market forecasters even recommend toting up supplementary out of the ordinary portfolio types to the assortment for instance independently-possessed authentic land, merchandises, hedge resources, or business enterprise funds collections. There can be found no believable advisors who advice placing each and every part of the investments merely into a single venture whether it be a Reserves bond, a solitary stockpile with a due long-term confirmation of operation. Other investment oversights that can head to an ineffective withdrawal to work consist of dynamic changing of a set of assets, making an effort to phase the market by selecting high points and troughs, and disbursing disproportionate charges and add ons to a consultant. Appearing in the employee’s side, various human resources who leave their jobs under company-sponsored early-retirement policies time and again find out after the event that they would not have an adequate amount of earnings to provide for themselves. Lots of early retirees finish up arranging to cross the threshold again of the labor force in the nick of time. If one would desire to stop working early in life, he ir she ought to seize a firm glimpse at how he or she will be proficient to come to get his or her living fixed costs, not simply the time one leaves, but ten or additional periods from then on. If one seeks to procure premature retirement, price increases is even more of a concern in deciding whether one’s annuity and investments are satisfactory to provide for the person than it would be if he or she gave up work at 65; in view of the fact that he or she will be using up further periods in withdrawal, one will for that reason be more profoundly distressed by inflation. The following description presents a notion of how much extra price increases have an effect on initial person who gives up work. A lot of before time individuals who stop working, typified as the retirees below the age of 65 years old, who overlook to have an account for inflation in their departure preparation are taken precedence for a distasteful bolt from the blue (Fitoussi, Jestaz, Phelps, Zoega , 2000, p. 237). Scores of individuals incorrectly assume that their levy load will make less burdensome considerably at retirement. They as well contemplated that they can keep away from a number of monies, however in contrast, duties could ascend once more and have an asking price on a person more than they perform at the present. One point that an individual can be certain of is that revenue levy charges will by no means be reduced than they are at this instant. â€Å"Development and displacement† by Robinson and company (2002) depicts several growing challenges to the philosophies and practices of progress in the modern-day world, linked with kinds of displacement (156). The general idea of the volume and the technique in which it expands the thoughts about displacement and development is excellent. This work tries to scrutinize the whole extent of topics and other concerns comprising socio-economic and psychosomatic troubles in the progression induced displacement regions. It concentrates on comprehensive prototypes of observable facts such as border line colonization, desertification, environmental discords on poverty, military divergence and populace passages. It is moral to displace individuals for growth of societies; vast statistics of individuals are relocated from their abodes for setting up improvement schemes. These advancement missions head to trade and industry growth, on the contrary it repeatedly debases the socio-economic and living of other subgroups. Despite the fact that one cannot refute the necessity of progress, displacement cannot be defensible on moral ground. As consequences of displacement, fabrication coordination is taken apart, cohesive affinity clusters are strewn, long created dealings are ruined, and customary sources of employment are mislaid. Impression of belongingness and rooted association in a locale that offers the refuge of attachment is habitually dislodged by separation and estrangement in the new place. References: Aoki, M. and H. Yoshikawa (2003) A Simple Quantity Adjustment Model of Economic Fluctuations and Growth, Heterogeneous Agents, Interaction and Economic Performance. Berlin, Springer, p. 39. Belot, M. and J. V. Ours (2000) Does the Recent Success of Some OECD Countries in Lowering their Unemployment Rates Lie in the Clever Design of their Labour Market Reforms? , Discussion paper no. 147, IZA, Bonn, Germany, p. 76. Blanchard, O. and L. Katz (1997) Shifts in the Beveridge Curve, Job Matching, and Labor Market Dynamics, New England Economic Review, p. 3. Card, D. and D. Hyslop (1996), Does Inflation Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market Working paper, NBER, p. 5538. Dosi, G. and S. Winter (2002), Interpreting Economic Change: Evolution, Structures and Games. The Economics of Choice, Change, and Organizations. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishers. Fitoussi, J. -P. , D. Jestaz, E. Phelps and G. Zoega (2000) Roots of the Recent Recoveries: Labor Reforms or Provate Secto Forces?. Brooking Papers on Economic Activities, (1), p. 237. Flaschel, P. , G. Kauermann and W. Semmler (2003) Testing Wage and Price Phillips Curves for the United States. Unpublished manuscript, Bielefeld University, Faculty of Economics. Julien, B. , J. Kennes and I. King (2000) Bidding for Labor. Review of Economic Dynamics, (3) p. 619. Tesfatsion, L. (2001) Structure, Behavior, and Market Power in an Evolutionary Labor Market with Adaptive Search. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control (25) p. 419. Robinson, Jenny, Turton, David, Mohan, Giles and Yanacopulos, Helen. Development and Displacement. Oxford University Press, USA 2002, p. 156.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Pushing Boundaries in Film and Literature

Pushing Boundaries in Film and Literature Assessment Task: Identify and discuss how literature and film are tools of transgression in Tropic of Cancer (novel), Lolita (novel) and Modern Times (film). To discover the complete horizon of a societys symbolic values, it is also necessary to map out its transgressions, interrogate its deviants, discern phenomena of rejection and refusal, and circumscribe the silent mouths that unlock upon underlying knowledge and implicit. ~Marcel Detienne, Dionysos Slain (cited in Oberoi 1992, p.363) Pushing boundaries have always been a major concern in art, whether it is literature, film, music, or painting. This paper will focus on two of the major art forms which are literature and film. They are used by two of the greatest authors of the twentieth century, Vladimir Nabokov and Henry Miller, and one of the most significant figures in the film industry, Charlie Chaplin, as tools of transgression that interrogate the boundaries and constraints created by society. According to Julian Wolfreys (2008, pp.1-3) transgression is the very pulse that constitutes our identities. Transgression is the act of breaking a law, committing a crime or sin, doing something illegal, or otherwise acting in some manner proscribed by the various forms or institutions of Law in societies, whether secular or religious, all of which have histories and which themselves are mutable, self-translating. Additionally, Wolfreys explains that the transgressive actions or attitudes of a character can frequently be worked out not through the characters identity solely, but also in the form (or let us call it identity) of the literary text in question. In Vladimir Nabokovs novel Lolita and Henry Millers Tropic of Cancer, sexuality is used as a tool of transgression to challenge the limits of socially accepted convention. In Charlie Chaplins film Modern Times, the industrialization is used to emphasize the danger that modern technology brings upon people by transforming them into working units, and that machinery is used solely for profit. The conflation of Millers sexually saturated novel, Nabokovs seductive composition, and Chaplins instigative film form the perfect study object to explore the nature of transgression, which is perceived in both novels and the film not as intentionally morally corrupt, but as an opposition to social convention. The tools used by Miller, Nabokov, and Chaplin, in order to convey their visions, are the language and the power of imagery. In Lolita (1955), the readers are tempted, seduced, and simultaneously threatened by Humberts manipulation and aesthetic transcendence where he has only words to play with (Nabokov 1980, p.32). Humberts story is a confession composed of words that are able to seduce the reader in the same way as he seduces Lolita. The threat of Humberts words is that, unconsciously, the reader may fall for his confession which, as Vanity Fair (LA Times 1998) argues, is the only convincing love story of our century. Moreover, the readers can take part in the novels action through its imagery when Humbert invites them to participate in the scene (Nabokov, p.56) where he is about to seduce his nymphet. Lolita nonchalantly places her legs across Humberts lap while showing him an image of a surrealist painter relaxing, supine, on a beach, and near him, likewise supine, a plaster replica of Venus di Milo, half-buried in sand (p.58). As Humbert perceives everything through the lens of art, including and esp ecially his Lolita, she can be associated with Venus di Milo who is Humberts ideal of beauty; not as a mature woman though, but as a young girl whom Humbert loves so much that he desires her sexually. Karshan (Boyle Evans 2008, p.98) argues that Lolita exposes the sinister potential of the cult of the child in post-Romantic art: that it protects children by making them lovable, but by making them too lovable risks making them desirable, and so places them in danger. While Lolita sits in his lap, Humbert cannot resist the urge to masturbate, himself admitting that he was in a state of excitement bordering on insanity (Nabokov, p.58). Although no explicit language was used to portray the actual scene, it should not be forgotten that the reason of Humberts delicious distention (p.59) is a twelve year old girl. Humberts assertion that he had done nothing to her [Lolita] [and that] Lolita had been safety solipsized (p.59), moreover, that nothing could prevent him from repeating the scene, comes in direct opposition to Karshans observations that children who fall prey to adults pervert desires, are in great danger. Wolfreys (p.14) points out that the novels, plays or films seek to work through the paradox that one transgresses because ones survival is threatened by what, to many, is convention or normative behavior. That which is considered to be an important feature of the nature of transgression is the way in which it affirms the limitlessness into which it leaps (Foucault 1977, p.35), in this instance, of seducing the reader and the viewer where, if [they] do not watch out, the real murderer may turn out to be, to [their] disgust, artistic originality (Nabokov 1980, p.311). In Lolita, originality is the one that annihilate convention therefore artistic originality can be referred to as destroyer of convention. AlthoughHumbert is a murderer and a paedophile who, besides words, uses also physical violence to subjugate Lolita: In fact [I] hurt her rather badly (ibid, p.203), and rapes her countless times, he is identified with artistic originality. Through originality and artistic innovation, Humbert succeeds to project his techniques of rhetorical seduction not only on Lolita, but on the reader too: I faked interest by bringing my head so close that [Lolitas] hair touched my temple and her arm brushed my cheek as she wiped her lips with her wrist (p.57). The affiliation of originality with criminality can be seen as a tool of transgression. Furthermore, the reader is invited to raise ethical questions, though, at the same time they are rejected through parody in the same way as physical comedy is used and parodised in Humberts struggle to open the pharmacys door: [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] in front of the first drugstore, I saw with what melody of relief! Lolitas fair bicycle waiting for her. I pushed instead of pulling, pulled, pushed, pulled, and entered (p.204), as well as romanticism and romantic love is: [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] my Lolita [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] stretched towards me two bare arms, raised one knee: Carry me upstairs, please. I feel sort of romantic tonight (pp.205-206). The role reversal of the seducer it actually blindfolds Humbert into following Lolitas machinations for their second journey. In this scene, Lolita is empowered hence she transforms into a twelve year old girl-temptress and thus putting an entirely new spin on the nightmare of child rape (Winchell 2002, p.329). At this stage, Lolita holds complete power not only over Humberts lustful body, but over his imagination too. In his mad love for Lolita, Humbert, a thirty-seven year old adult does not realize that not the role that she played in the school play has trained her into certain affectations, but Humbert himself and her longing to escape from him. Millers Tropic of Cancer (1934)breaks with the English literary tradition (Shapiro 1961, p.xii), its tools of transgression being the obscene language as well as the imagery used to portray the chronicle of a man who is happy (p.xi), who reaches his aspiration of becoming an artist. The novel is considered an important milestone in the development of the autobiographical novel (Shute 2002, online) from the point of view that the artist who, through the power of graphic descriptions, can shock and push the reader out of the literary complacency (ibid). Frequently, at a first glance, the ideas presented in the novel may seem trivial: We have evolved a new cosmogony of literature, Boris and I. It is to be a new Bible-The Last Book. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] After us not another book (Miller 1961, p.26), though through a close reading the depth of their meaning have a tremendous impact with a new sort of understanding. The suggestion that a whole new world could be created through the power of t he written word signifies the idea of an apocalypse and the rebirth of the world itself. As Foucault (1977, p.30) argues, Profanation in a world which no longer recognizes any positive meaning in the sacred-is this not more or less what we may call transgression? The creation of a new Bible which instigates to rape, to murder (Miller 1961, p.27) may appear as a criminal offense to the humanity itself, though it is rather a direct affront to the contemporary way of life. Miller does not write about the world, Miller is showing the world as it exists (Bursey 2015, p.164). The sacred was and still is considered to be that which the profane should not reach. On the whole, sacred is associated with religion, therefore sacredness [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] denotes religiosity (Jenks 2003, p.29). However, in a world where the form of the sacred has become more diluted thus less recognisable, transgression as the nature of the social reaction is just a mere attempt to restore the common values and n ormative constraints. In Tropic of Cancer it is more than obvious that obscenity which most often connotes excess, violence and transgression (Mavor cited in Mey 2007, p.5) is used as a violation of the aforementioned normative constraints, thus obscenity can be seen as a violation of the societal boundaries. In Tropic of Cancer Miller reveals and implies sexual purity not as real eroticism rather he divulges sexuality just as it is: a bone in [his] prick six inches long [to] ream out every wrinkle in [Tanias] cunt (Miller 1961, p.5). Throughout the novel Miller does not try to conceal the events that take place in his life, contrariwise he writes his real life experiences of how he walks the streets, how he tries to find money, food, how he meets his friends, how he sleeps with whores, and even getting an erection looking at the dumb statues (p.16). Millers literature juggles on a string between sexuality and civilization, his literature it transgresses the limits of decency and it takes the freedom to s ay that which is considered to be taboo. Society does not allow openly expressed sexuality through words, as such expression of freedom might undermine the societys authority and thus societys structure itself. Although there have always been huge controversy on the sexual topics of Tropic of Cancer, the relationship of its author with the traditions of literature and art cannot be denied. The development of the artist is one the novels major themes, thus art is implied as being the artists way of living, and if sex and sexuality smoothes the artists path to fulfilling his destiny, then so be it, Nabokovs (p.257) words that sex is but the ancilla of art might be the a reasonable solution when trying to understand Millers world. Modern Times (1936), with the foreword: A story of industry of individual enterprise ~ humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness (min. 1.07) is considered to be a comedic masterpiece written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. Although it is a fusion of slapstick, which is comedy based on deliberately clumsy actions and humorously embarrassing events:slapstick humour (Oxford Dictionaries), and satire, the film deals with major themes that encompass the turmoil of the 1930s American society, such as The American Dream, the effects of the Great Depression, mechanization and mass production, anarchy and rebellion, poverty, food, and hunger. By 1936Chaplin was already well known for his film directing, some of his most important films are The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), though Modern Times is Chaplins first overtly political film with dangerously meaningful (Nugent 1936) intertitles and imagery. Chaplin is using intertitles, the sound being substituted by the exaggerated character of the gesture and the reliance on miming that leads to an emphasis on acting. The opening scene of the film is showing a flock of white sheep being guided by an unseen force (min. 1.20) towards an unseen location, with a single black sheep among them symbolising The Tramp, the anarchist of the society who resents control. The scene is complemented by the marching music that leads to the next scene of the film showing a mass of people going to work (min. 1.30), driven by the same unseen force. The metaphor implemented by the association of people with domesticated animals that obey their master has a great impact on viewers, its statement being that people are controlled by industrialization and mechanization therefore they must accept, obey, and let themselves be controlled by the ruler, and that is the minority of the system that creates the rules. On the concept that, in order to provide for a living, humanity is forced to adjust to mechanization and machines, in the same way the tyranny of the technology is forcing people to become robotic machines themselves. The theme of mechanization that enslaves the man is emphasised in the first section of the film where the workers are being monitored (min. 2.39) by the President of the Electro Steel Corp. factory through giant monitors. Furthermore, the people must work at a pace imposed by nothing else than a machine, though the one who commands the speeding up of the working pace is the factorys Director: Section five, speed her up! 401 (min. 2.59). The working scene is filled with comedy, though when The Tramps tool gets stuck on a nut he cannot manage to release it on time, thus his coworker, by mistake, hits The Tramps hand with the hammer. At this point the whole working process must be stopped, the supervisor intervenes, and when The Tramp reports his bulky colleague, the latte r kicks him as a punishment. It is worth mentioning that The Tramp does not show any fear, contrariwise he hits his colleague back (min. 4.35), his gesture signifying him fighting not only his coworker, but the whole system too. Once again the Director orders the speeding up of the working pace (min. 4.46) which results in The Tramp having a sort of a breakdown and begins to screw everything he sees, from the secretarys skirt buttons to even the comic scene when he chases a woman who has buttons on her dress, on the street (min. 16.15). Bibliography Primary sources: Modern Times,1936 [film]. Directed by Charlie CHAPLIN. USA: United Artists MILLER, H., 1961. Tropic of Cancer. USA: Grove Press, Inc. NABOKOV, V., 1980. Lolita. England: Clays Ltd. Secondary sources: BURSEY, J., 2015. Cartography of the Obscene. In: DECKER, M. J. and I. MÄNNISTE, eds. Henry Miller: New Perspectives. (p.164). New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc. [online] [viewed: 27 Dec 16]. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk FOUCAULT, M., 1977. A Preface to Transgression. In: FOUCAULT, M., eds. Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews. (p.30). USA: Cornell University Press. [online] [viewed: 22 Dec 16]. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk JENKS, C., 2003. Transgression. (p.29). London: Routledge KARSHAN, T., 2008. Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita and Free Play. In: BOYLE, E. and A.-M. EVANS, eds. Reading America: New Perspectives on the American Novel. (p.98). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [online] [viewed: 22 Dec 16]. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk MEY, K., 2007. Art and Obscenity. (p.5). London: Tauris Co. Ltd. [online library] [viewed: 02 Jan 17]. Available from: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/solent/reader.action?docID=10178014ppg=11 OBEROI, H., 1992. Popular Saints, Goddesses, and Village Sacred Sites: Rereading Sikh Experience in the Nineteenth Century. JSTOR (p.363). USA: The University of Chicago Press. [online] [viewed: 19 Dec 16]. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062800?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents ONLINE OXFORD DICTIONARIES. [viewed: 3 Jan 17]. Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/slapstick WOLFREYS, J., 2008. Transgression: Identity, Space, Time. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [online] [viewed: 19 Dec 16]. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books Online articles: NUGENT, F. S., 1936. Heralding the Return, After and Undue Absence, of Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. The New York Times. [online] [viewed: 3 Jan 17]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9403E3DE153FEE3BBC4E53DFB466838D629EDE SHATTUCK, R., 1998. The Alibi of Art: What Baudelaire, Nabokov and Quentin Tarantino Have in Common. Los Angeles Times, (p.4). [online] [viewed: 20 Dec 16]. Available from: http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/26/books/bk-42992/4

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Arguments for and Against Abortion Essay -- Christian Bible Religious

Arguments for and Against Abortion An abortion is also known as a termination, meaning to terminate, to stop. An abortion is when you stop a pregnancy, by removing the foetus from the womb. Many people frown upon abortions, as they see them as the killing of a life. Other people believe that it is a ‘potential’ life, and that a foetus is not considered to be a child. Some people feel that in a situation where the prospective parents are told their unborn child may be disabled, an abortion is acceptable. The situation mostly frowned upon is abortion for social reasons e.g. the mother cannot afford to bring up the child, is too young to have a child, it is not the right time for having a child. A foetus can be removed from the womb by means of abortion, no later than 24 weeks into the pregnancy. This is presently considered to be the â€Å"point of viability†, as after this time, with the use of modern technology, a foetus is capable of surviving outside the womb. Originally, the point of viability was 28 weeks, but developments in technology have changed this. Doctors consider an abortion to be ‘late’ if it is after 12 weeks into the pregnancy, as the foetus is more difficult to remove than in the earlier stages of pregnancy. A pregnant woman must find two doctors who will grant permission for an abortion, before one can take place. Both doctors need to agree that the pregnancy would be a risk to the mother’s physical or mental state, or cause her or her family injury (a social clause). What the Christian Bible Says ----------------------------- In this section of my essay, I am going to use quotes to show... ...oo young to work full time, they could not support a child financially or run a home. They would be unable to provide the child with it’s basic needs. It may be in some cases of teenage pregnancy, there would be support from parents, and they would help them raise their child. The decision for a young person to have a child, is a very hard one, as they would need to support of others, in order to be able to raise their child. Because of these factors, I feel that teenagers should have the right to abort their pregnancy. However, I disagree with abortions for some social reasons. Someone who has a decent home, and is able to provide for a child, should not abort their pregnancy, as they should be capable of raising their child. A child’s life should not be taken away, just because it is an inconvenience.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Discrimination Essay -- Race Racism Prejudice

Discrimination Discrimination! Of course you have heard of discrimination, but what is it. A dictionary would tell you discrimination is "to make a distinction in favor of or against a person." Discrimination is a lot more than just that: it's hate, hurting, judging, ignorance, and can even lead to death. The world we live in has been struggling with this sensitive subject, for as long as we have record of. Many people believe discrimination has made a big step forward. But has it? If it has, why do people still receive hate mail, or get called names, or die because they differ from each other. I guess these are questions you must ask yourself. I guess you could also ask yourself, if you called anybody a name, or if you looked at some one different, or judged them because you did know them, or you didn't understand them. Your probably thinking, "that's not discrimination." Oh but it is. Most of discrimination starts small, with name calling, or by judging and not liking people because of there ignorance of them. Yes, it ...

Who Are We? :: essays research papers

Thoughts of trouble turn to rubble. Eyes closed. Mind free. Confusion is embraced by our dreams. Eyes closed. Mind free. When the mouth is silenced you can see much more. Eyes closed. Mind free. Life is not just a roll of the dice or a conscience decision. Eyes closed. Mind free. The spontaneous thoughts of the unconsence personality result in one’s unique world. Eyes closed. Mind free. Every thought begins with a idea; think of an idea and many thoughts will follow. Eyes closed. Mind free. The thoughts that you hear are part of your personality, just only the ones that you listen to determine your view of reality. Even though we may not know it, reality is constantly changing. Reality is based on a balance of your unique experiences and your bias upon them. Eyes closed. Mind free. But where does the does the unconsense thoughts come from when there are no experiences? The true answer is one does not all of sudden wake up and start thinking; like in one of baby look who’s talking movies. There is a beginning of thought, but it is so minute it is not consencely recorded. Thought is a process of building a skyscraper when a Lego block of life’s trail and error experience. Eyes closed. Mind free. The unconsense comes from your experiences. The idea of love sparks many thoughts, require a consense decision. There are a plethora of different girls but there is only supposed to be one â€Å"right† one. Your unconsence thoughts are plenty, you are limited by your conscience bias determined from experiences. Where from, you ask? Family. Believe it or not the type of family you have will greatly impact on who you can find attractive; with each â€Å"type† of family there will be a different sort of experiences a person goes through. Family is where you first create your bias through trial and error. Your basic personality comes from your family experiences. Think of it like we are all cars; we get the basic package from our parents, then later we get upgrades. Eyes closed. Mind free. Do you remember the fear you had of becoming like your parents? Do you remember the epiphany when you realized are? Or are you still in denial? I’m not saying you are going to turn out to be a clone of you r father, just that the basic part of you is. As you become older you become more complex; your once red and green thoughts have been questioned turning to a shade of gray.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Core Competencies Essay

Hamric, Hanson, O’Grady & Tracy (2014) define competencies as â€Å"a broad area of skillful performance.† Competencies include activities implemented by advanced practice nurses while providing direct patient care and the processes, knowledge and skills used in all aspects of advanced practice. There are seven core competencies associated with the advanced practice registered nurse. In addition to the seven core competencies, nurse practitioner education and nurse administrator education have additional competencies needed to become proficient in each of those roles (The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) 2011; The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF), 2012). While there is overlap of some of the competencies the nurse executive role and the nurse practitioner role each have specific skills needed to attain expertise in each role. Nurse executives plan, direct, coordinate and supervise health care delivery. He or she must have expert knowledge regarding patient care delivery, marketing, management, ethics, and human resource management, as well as additional knowledge. Due to the wide range of knowledge needed, nurse executives need to attain expertise in many areas. AONE has outlined five competencies and detailed the skills needed for each (2011). According to AONE communication and relationship-building is a competency that must be mastered in order to cultivate relationships and establish rapport and includes skills such as relationship management, effective communication, influence of behaviors, shared decision making and ability to work with diversity. The professionalism competency includes ethics, evidence-based clinical and management practice, advocacy, and personal and professional accountability (AONE, 2011). The nurse administration works at the executive  level so professionalism must be maintained. Nursing leadership must be upheld by mastery of skills like foundational thinking skills, change management and succession planning. The business skills competency can be met by the nurse administrator upon mastering business management, human resource management, marketing and strategic management and information management and technology (AONE, 2011). The health care system which the nurse executive manages can be a large complex system, such as an acute care hospital that has a level I trauma center, a pediatric unit, labor and delivery unit, cardiac intensive care, and neonatology. Because of this complexity competency of health care environment knowledge must be mastered and includes the skills of clinical practice knowledge, delivery models, health care economics and policy, governance, patient safety, quality improvement and case management (AONE, 2011). According to the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (2012), upon graduation from a nurse practitioner program the graduate must possess mine competencies without regard to the population of focus. By mastering these competencies the nurse practitioner will have the skills and knowledge needed to practice independently. NPs provide direct patient care so the competencies and skills needed differ slightly from the competencies needed for nurse administrator. The practice inquiry competencies and the quality competencies are similar in that they both involve using knowledge gained from clinical practice to improve health care quality. Quality competencies include using best evidence to improve clinical practice, evaluating access to care, cost, quality and safety, organizational structure, financing, marketing and policy decisions and their impact on health care quality. Practice inquiry competencies involve applying clinical investigative skills, practice inquiry, analyzing clinical guidelines, generating knowledge from clinical practice and providing leadership while applying new knowledge. The technology and information literacy competencies are related to information literacy skills, literacy in information systems, integrating technologies into clinical practice and the delivery of health to improve health outcomes (NONPF, 2012). To function effectively the NP must understand health care policy and regulations. He or she must be competent in the evaluation of policy and its implication on health care delivery and outcomes and must promote access, quality and equality. All of these skills  fall under the policy competencies (NONPF, 2012). Health delivery systems competencies relate to the development of health care systems, the organizational structure and functions or health delivery systems and applying that knowledge to improve health care d elivery (NONPF, 2012). Along with a clear understanding of policy the NP must have expert knowledge of the independent practice competencies. NONPF list the independent practice competencies skills as the ability to function as a licensed practitioner, exhibiting accountability, managing previously diagnosed and undiagnosed patients and providing patient-centered care while observing cultural diversity and respecting patient decisions. There are some overlapping competencies within the NP and the nurse executive role. Both professions contain a leadership competency and both advanced practice nurses are expected to participate in professional organizations and to initiate change. The NP competency includes advocating for improved access, quality and cost effective health care while the nurse executive competency includes staff support and adapting leadership style (AONE, 2011; NONPF, 2012). The NP scientific foundation competency and the nurse executive knowledge of health care environment competency have areas of overlap such as the use of research to improve practice and decision making and evidence-based practice, and outcome measurement. The nurse executive skill of expert practice of ethics is outlined under the professionalism competency. Hamric et al. (2014, p. 101) state the transition from student to professional APN can be rife with behavioral, attitudinal and value conflicts. Hamric et al. further state that there are phases an APN moves through during role implementation. The first stage laying the foundation, occurs when graduate NPs sit for certification examinations for their specific roles, and look for available positions. The second stage generally last up to three months after the first position and consists of anxiety related to low confidence and low competence. One strategy to facilitate role implementation for all APNs is to develop a structured orientation plan. Although there are numerous practice setting and roles the nurse executive and the NP both benefit when clear expectations, needs, values, goals policies and procedures of the specific agency are made available upon hire (Hamric et al., p. 102). References Hamric, A. B., Hanson,C. M., O’Grady, E. T., Tracy, M. F. (2014) Advanced Practice Nursing: An Integrative Approach, 5th Ed. [VitalSource Digital Version]. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders. The American Organization of Nurse Executives. 2011. The AONE Nurse Executive Competencies. Retrieved September 11, 2014 from http://www.aone.org/resources/leadership%20tools/nursecomp.shtml The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties. 2012. Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies April 2011, Amended 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2014 from http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nonpf.org/resource/resmgr/competencies/npcorecompetenciesfinal2012.pdf

Monday, September 16, 2019

“Fools Tell All They Know” or The Wisdom of Feste in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Almost all of Shakespeare's plays have a clown character. Clowns were popular and amusing, and were simple characters that the lower class audience members could relate to, amidst all the royal people plays were populated with. But the clowns in Shakespeare's plays served a dual purpose. Not only were they sources of comedy, but also sources of truth. Wisdom and advice are imparted through the lines of these figures of fun. The clowns reflected the true nature or intentions of the other, more â€Å"noble characters. They also foreshadow coming events. One of the most striking examples of this type of clown is the character of Feste in Twelfth Night. Feste dispenses advice and exposes truths to most of the major characters of the play. Though he is only a fool, he seems to be the only character in the play that truly has his wits about him. Feste mirrors each of the main characters, revealing facets of their respective dispositions. He often shares knowledge about other characters of which they were not aware. For example, Feste is most closely related to Olivia. She is his patron and calls upon him to amuse her. But Feste does not entertain in the standard way of a clown. He realizes that Olivia is not in control of her emotions when it comes to love, and that she lacks control over her subordinates. He says, in an aside, â€Å"Wit, an't be thy will, put me into good fooling! Those wits that think they have thee do very oft prove fools And I that am sure I lack thee may pass for a wise man. For what say Quinapalus? -‘Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.†' (1.5.29-31) Feste knows what is going on with Olivia's predicament with Orsino, but still plays the fool. He expresses his feelings of apprehension for Olivia and her supposed wisdom. Feste thinks Olivia's actions are silly, and is not afraid to tell her so in indirect ways. When Olivia gets tired of Feste's obscure advice, she tells her attendants to take away the fool, and Feste returns, â€Å"The lady bade take the fool away, therefore I say again/take her away . . . I wear not motley in my brain/good madonna give me leave to prove you a fool† (1.5.45-6, 49-51). He continues by asking Olivia why she mourns for the loss of her brother. If she believes his souls to be in heaven, as she does, then there is no reason for sorrow. Feste uses a sort of quirky pragmatism to try and show Olivia how silly she is being, but is does not work, because Olivia refuses to think of his advice as anything but the ramblings of a fool. Though Feste does seem, in some ways, to be very educated no one takes his suggestions seriously. Feste is the only character in the play that crosses into every world. He is privy to the secrets of Countess Olivia, he sings to and foretells the fate of Orsino, he guides Viola and Sebastian, Feste also ventures into the tavern world of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian and Maria. Olivia bids him to enter this world by asking him to look after her kinsman, Sir Toby, who is a â€Å"drowned man,† that is to say, drowned with drink. Feste takes a lighter view of Sir Toby stat of mind by saying he is mad with drink claiming, â€Å"He is but mad yet, Madonna, and the fool shall look to the madman. In the context of the play, Sir Toby plays more the part of the classic fool than Feste. He is merely a comic figure with no more depth to him than that of the stock drunkard. Feste is the genius of the play, but is not noble, and so does not really fit in anywhere. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew treat Feste as both a friend and a servant, paying him to sing, but requesting his company and help i n their practical jokes. Feste reveals his foreknowledge about events to come in his song to Sir Toby, O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O stay and hear, your true love's coming That can sing both high and low Trip no further pretty sweeting Journey's end in Lover's meeting Every wise man's son doth know.† (2.3.36-40) Feste reveals to these two drunkards the plot of the entire play. Of course, they do not understand and simply praise Feste's singing ability, but, nevertheless, he has revealed his wisdom and knowledge about the other characters. Later in the play, they request that Feste dress up as a wise man to fool Malvolio into thinking he has lost his wits. Feste humbly obliges and does so, playing the part willingly and well. Shakespeare's characters love to disguise themselves; this theme is often important to the plot of his comedies, but in this case, the disguise takes an ironic turn. Feste, in dressing up as a wise man, reveals his true nature instead of concealing it. Though this scene is meant to be played for bald comedic value, the audience gets a glimpse of the true nature of the clown. Truly, though, Feste does not seem very interested in the torment of Malvolio, and ultimately provides him with means to resolve his unfair predicament. â€Å"Look then to be well edified when the f ool delivers the madman,† Feste says as he reads the letter that leads to Malvolio's release from captivity. Feste is also aware of the fate that will befall Orsino. He is welcome3d to the music-loving court at Orsino's home, perhaps because he belongs to Olivia, and in this way, at least, Orsino can feel he has some sort of relationship with her. Feste quickly sees through Orsino's melancholy and wishes, Now the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal. I would have men of such constancy put to sea, that their business might be everything, and their intent everywhere, for that's it that always makes a good voyage of nothing.† (2.4.72-6) Feste knows exactly what Orsino is feeling, how his relationship with Olivia is shaping up, and what his final result will be. Orsino is fickle and shallow and Feste knows it. When Orsino and Feste meet again later in the play, Feste is resentful of his patronage, wishing â€Å"the worse for his friends,† then calling Orsino his friend (5.1.10,22). Clearly, like the audience, Feste does not care for the Duke Orsino. Feste reveals his wisdom most clearly in his conversations with Viola. Though he refers to her as â€Å"sir,† he does so in a sarcastic way, as if he knows her secret. Viola also forces Feste to consider his own circumstances, and he meditates, â€Å"A sentence is but a chev'ril glove to a good wit-how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward,† and Viola counters with, â€Å"Nay, that's certain. They that dally nicely with words may quickly make them wanton,† (3.1.10-14). Since Feste is an actor, Shakespeare is playing with the meaning of these lines in one of his favorite ways, by reminding the audience they are watching a play. These two are certainly the most charming characters of the play and their dialogue reveals as much. Both know a little about the other's true nature, and are not afraid to share their knowledge with each other. Feste prefers Viola (as Cesario) to Orsino as a suitor for his mistress, and so tries to help win her, and mistakenly, Sebastian, to Olivia's favor. Feste seems to grow tired of his fool's role in the play. By Act three he declares, â€Å"Words are grown so false, I am lost to make reason with them,† (3.1.22-3). He has an air of resignation in his lines towards the end of the play, ultimately leading up to his final epilogue. This song chronicles his life, in a melancholy way, ending with, † But that's all one, our play is done/ And we'll strive to please you every day.† Feste's final words are riddled with melancholy; he is doomed to always play the fool, to never be free of the constraints of the play. As a fool, Feste has all the necessary qualities: singing, impersonation, joke-telling. But, as a character, he is much more than a jester. He is the key to Twelfth Night. He gives the play depth and substance that other comedies do not contain. He weaves all the worlds of the play together with witty words and melancholy ballads. Feste is the binding element in an otherwise contrived and ordinary play.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

College Expectations Essay

Every January 1st brings around another opportunity for people to set goals and have new hopes to accomplish in the year that follows. Some people make these hopes and dreams in the way of resolutions that they will attempt to start or stop doing something in their lives. For some people another new year means another 52 weeks of being scared. Some people are scared of financial situations, some of family situations, and some of the unknown’s that lie ahead. At the present time in my life I am one year away from graduating high school. That means that I am only one year away from going to college as well. That brings up many different hopes and fears. The next year will dictate much of what happens to me during the four years that follow; my hope is to take all the necessary steps to be able to enter the college of my choice. Sometimes I get jealous of those students that have more money than my family and I do. Not that this means that I live in a bad situation, but it does mean I will have to work harder during high school to get as much grant and scholarship money as I can for my college education. Much of my time in the next year will be spend preparing for college. That includes applications, campus visits, financial aid and scholarship forms, and eventually leaving home. My college experience will most likely dictate how I will spend the rest of my life. At this point in my life I must concentrate and stay focused. Even when I feel that I do not want to continue the applications and essay’s I must remember what this point in life holds for the rest of my life.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Blake’s poems Essay

In some of Blake’s poems strong feelings are expressed about the society that he lives in. William Blake grew up as a conventionally religious person, but when his parents rejected the teachings of the church he began to read the stories from the bible with a fresh mind. Blake never attended school and had a solitary childhood. From the age of four Blades believed that God was speaking to him. . From then on he had many visions of angels and other mystic creatures. Blake was extremely happy when the French Revolution liberated the poor in France from aristocratic rule. However at the same time, Blake saw England being overtaken by a parrallel’Industrial Revolution’. that was destroying the countryside with factories, slums and waste. In this essay I will talk about the poems â€Å"London†, â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†, (from the Songs of Innocence) and â€Å"Jerusalem†. Blake’s poem â€Å"London† talks about many things, such as, wealthy people having control and owning most things, such as property. We can see this when Blake says â€Å"I wander thro’ each chartered street, near where the chartered Thames does flow.† By this Blake means that there are privileges for people but only if you are rich. â€Å"Chartered† is referring to a document that gave people rights and privileges in return for money or support. Here Blake means â€Å"full of privilege† but only if you had the money to pay for it. Blake disagreed with the idea that if you were wealthy you had a right to privileges but if you were poor you had no rights. Blake creates strong images in the mind of the reader by telling us about shocking events. We can see this when Blake says â€Å"The hapless soldier’s sigh runs in blood down palace walls† This is referring to soldiers being brought in at the time of the ‘Industrial Revolution’ to stop the poor rebelling .We are given a graphic image of blood running down a wall after someone has been shot by a soldier. The word blood signifies to us the idea of guilt and in this case the soldier creates an image of violence. Also the soldier may not want to follow orders and fire on helpless people but knows he may be shot himself if he disobeys. Blake uses contractions that condense an idea, forming vivid and powerful connections. Sometimes he uses a hyphen, and at other times he simply juxtaposes two words to startle the reader. We can see this in the last line of â€Å"London† And blights with plagues the marriage hearse. with the words â€Å"marriage hearse† These words shock the reader because the two words bring up different and opposite images, one joyous and the other sad. The word marriage means the joining together of two people to start a new life together, whilst a hearse is a carriage or car used to carry you in your coffin to your grave. The phrase â€Å"marriage hearse† could be saying that marriage is what leads you to your death. In this case because the â€Å"harlot’s curse†, syphilis and or V.D.,caught by the groom ,from visiting the prostitutes that Blake talks about in his poem can kill the new bride and any children they have. This could also show that Blake was opposed to the idea of marriage which was another form of his rebellion against the churches teachings. Blake often chooses to repeat a word for added emphasis. It is typical of Blake that the chosen word often has more than one meaning. This allows Blake to express more than one idea at a time. A n example of this is when Blake uses the word â€Å"mark† three times on different lines. â€Å"A mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe.† The first time Blake mentions the word â€Å"mark† it could mean a sign maybe of poverty or struggle however the second time â€Å"mark† is mentioned it means a sign of weakness, such as drunkenness. The last time â€Å"mark† is used it is referring to a scar, a wound. This adds emphasis to Blake’s point because the reader has to think about each meaning to understand the line. It could be argued that Blake was trying to say that the people of â€Å"London† were mentally affected by the horrors of industrialisation. Blake uses grammatically unusual phrases such as the phrase â€Å"mind forged manacles† in his poems. This may be because Blake wishes to create a stronger or stranger image. This is very effective because as with the word â€Å"mark† it creates a very strong image of mental anguish for the people of â€Å"London† This may be saying that the effects of living in a largely populated industrial area are bad for you and causes people to suffer restrictions caused by their own minds and thoughts. Hence the phrase â€Å"mind forged manacles†. The poem is telling us that the chains that hold us are mental chains. Chains of our own making chaining our own freedom of imagination In â€Å"London† Blake uses changes in rhythm to draw attention to certain lines. (Especially in verse two) An example of this is when the pace of the last line of each verse slows down, thus drawing attention to it. In every cry of every man In every infants’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind -forged manacles I hear: We can see that this is also often the same with the order of the verses. The last verse has a slower pace than the other verses. There is an example of this change in rhythm in the start of the fourth verse when Blake starts with the word â€Å"But†. But most, through midnight streets I hear How the youthful harlot’s curse Blasts the new -born infants’s tear, And blights with plagues the marriage hearse. The use of the word â€Å"But† implies that the previous verses were bad â€Å"But† if the last point (child prostitution) was rectified then a lot of things would improve. In the poem â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† Blake is telling us about child exploitation in large industrial cities such as London. Through focusing on the plight of chimney sweeps. In it he is critisizing society, the church, the parents who allow their children to be used as slave labour and the employers who exploit them. In the poem â€Å"London† Blake was the observer. However in the poem â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† Blake speaks through the voice of a child. ) This is extremely effective because of the child’s naivety and belief that if he is good everything will be alright. Tom, the child Blake speaks through believes this because, in a dream or vision he has, an angel tells him that â€Å"if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his father,and never want joy. . This could be saying that if Tom is good and continues to do as he is told (cleaning chimneys) then he will die and â€Å"have God for his Father†. This could also be irony from Blake by putting the teachings of the church in the voice of a child and telling us that only in the afterlife will he be happy. We know Blake felt that this teaching from the church encouraged the exploitation of the young, the poor and the vunerable. The rhythm of the poem suits its content and purpose because it is in the form of a nursery rhyme. For example, the last word of each verse rhymes with the last word of the line before. When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry â€Å"Weep! weep! weep! weep! So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep. This emphasises the innocence of the child saying the poem because it relates to â€Å"childhood fun† which the young chimney sweep never experienced. In â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† Blake creates multi faceted images through his use of similes. We can see this when Blake says â€Å"coffins of black†. This can mean two things, the first being that the young chimney sweeps will end up in one of the black coffins because their job will lead to their death, or it could also mean that the children are in the chimney which is dark and black and which will kill them. A double meaning in a phrase is typically used by Blake to get more than one of his ideas across. Blake uses an interesting structural device at the start of the poem â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† this is the word â€Å"SO†. At the end of the first verse the word â€Å"SO† is put in front of the line â€Å"So your chimneys I sweep†. This may be putting blame onto the reader; however it is more likely to be society’s guilt for allowing it to happen. However, in the last verse â€Å"So† is used in the last line in the phrase â€Å" So if all do their duty†. This is blaming society, the Church, parents and the owners of the children. This is because the poem says that if everybody did their duty they would step in to stop the chimney sweeper’s pain. â€Å"So† is also a structural device because after the evidence against society and the Church is shown â€Å"So† seems to condemn them. Blake uses colour to create symbolic contrast in this poem, this is kept going throughout. The colours are white and black. White is used when Blake is talking about innocence, helplessness and youth. We can see this when the young chimney sweep Tom comforts the other child who has had his head shaved so â€Å"the soot cannot spoil your white hair† This is one of many things that show the innocence of a child being destroyed purely for the duties of chimney sweeping. Blake tends to use the words black and soot whenever he is referring to something which is wrong. As when coffins are mentioned, creating the phrase â€Å"coffins of black†. Blake also shows the reader, through a dream or vision, how life should be for the children. This vision creates a strong contrast that emphasises the cruel reality of their lives. We can see this when Tom has a dream or vision, as Blake did as a child, of his friends being set free by an angel and being taken to a better and sunlit place. Instead of a dream being used to describe what Tom sees, the word â€Å"sight† is used. This may be telling us this is the way things should be instead of it only being a child’s dream of happiness. In the vision there is an angel who tells Tom â€Å"if he’d be a good boy, he’d have God for his father,and never want joy†. This could be Blake criticizing the Church for saying you can only be happy and have a good ‘life’ in heaven when you are dead. Blake employs the same tequnique of unusual combinations of words in â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† as he did in the poem â€Å"London†. This may be because Blake was still trying to get similar points across to the public. In â€Å"London† there are phrases, such as, â€Å"marriage hearse†, Words that do not usually go together. We see the same thing in â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† when Tom’s friend cries when he has his head shaved and his head â€Å" curled like a lamb This is a simile and creates the image of a small defenceless lamb in pain. The lamb could also be a symbol of innocence and sacrifice, telling us that tithe chimney sweeps are being sacrificed for the benefit of society who want their chimneys kept swept and don’t care how this is done or who suffers. The poem â€Å"Jerusalem† is the last of Blake’s poems I will be looking at. Today Jerusalem is often perceived as a patriotic song but its true message goes much deeper than many people realize. In this poem Blake talk’s mainly about one thing .This is Industrialisation .Blake does this by continuously referring to â€Å"when† England â€Å"was† a â€Å"pleasant land.† The poem Jerusalem has been set to music, which means that the mood is different to â€Å"London† and â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†. The question s back†. And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon Englands’s mountains green? May be a reference to the legend that Joseph of Arithamea had once brought Jesus to England. This may be a metaphor to say that Jesus’s spirit lives on in England. Blake uses questions to invite the reader to recall England’s past. This is a rhetorical device used to draw the reader s interest into the poem. We can see this when Blake says And was Jerusalem builded here Amoung these dark satanic mills? This could be saying that England was once beautiful and had Holy meaning (like the town Jerusalem) but now is just an industrialized piece of land. The word â€Å"satanic† means, like Satan or a thing in hell. This gives the image of England once being a good place but now it resembles hell. Blake uses imperatives to show the force of his feelings. We can see this when at the start of the second verse the words â€Å"Bring me† are used to start the next four lines. Bring me my bow of burning gold; Bring me my arrows of desire; Bring me my spear; O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire! This adds a sense of urgency to the poem as if we must hurry to return ‘our’ country England to its former better state. Blake describes modern industrialisation in dark terms in the last line of the second verse. Among these dark satanic mills? There are two words that create a sense of evil, dark and satanic. The word â€Å"mills† are used as a symbol of England’s industrialisation. The power of Blake’s feeling is expressed through his own personal readiness to take up arms, literally and metaphorically to defeat evil and restore his country to its former glory. We can see this in the forth verse when Blake says he â€Å"Will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand†. This could mean that Blake intends to keep writing poems to change people’s minds about England, to convince them to return England to the country it once was. Blake has a ‘utopian’ vision of England. The word ‘sword’ creates an image of a knight fighting, so, this may be suggesting the necessity of a physical fight. However this may also be referring to the saying â€Å"his tongue’s razor sharp† which means that Blake would continue to write poems in the belief that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword. The first four lines of the third verse suggest war since they each have weapons in them. These lines also have a mythical feel to them. Blake may see himself as a knight or hero who has come to help save England , but , as with Jesus, in â€Å"Jerusalem† he has not ‘come’ as what people expect, because words are his weapons not swords. In all three poems Blake conveys strong feelings about his society. He writes about the misery of poverty, the exploitation of the young and the helpless, the start of industrialisation and the consequences of sexual sin. In all three poems there are strong themes such as , child exploitation, in â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†, Poverty in â€Å"London† and industrialisation in â€Å"Jerusalem† With the poem â€Å"Jerusalem† it could be said that it is ironic that a poem that says England is messed up is sung as a patriotic song which says ‘I am proud to be English’ . It could be argued that â€Å"London† is the most important poem out of the three discussed since it talked about the problems of Blake’ s time and the same problems still exist today such as poverty, exploitation of the helpless and prostitution. â€Å"London† is my favourite poem as it mirrors modern day London. The fact that we still have the same problems within society that Blake saw proves that times have not really changed very much .The wealthy still have the most power and in addition to the problems racism, and refugees, fleeing war and death in their own countries . I Blake saw we now have drugs destroying people’s lives, AIDS, think Blake would feel sorrow that all these years later there is still a huge divide between the classes. However’ he would be pleased that there is now education for everybody and working conditions, at least in this country, have improved. So maybe his poems did inspire people to question the justice of their own thoughts and actions.