Birch Paper Case Essay

The division can’t very well show a profit by putting in bids that don’t even cover a fair share of overheadcosts,let alone give us a profit. † Birch Paper Company was a medium-sized,partly integrated paper company, producing white and kraft papers and paperboard. A portion of its paperboard output was converted into corrugated boxes by the Thompson Division, which also printed and colored the outside surface of the boxes. Including Thompson,the companyhad four producingdivisions and a timberland division, which supplied part of the company’spulp requirements. For severalyears, eachdivision had beenjudged independently on the basis of its profit and return on investment. Top managementhad been working to gain effectiveresults from a policy of decentralizing responsibility and authority for all decisionsexcept those relating to overall companypolicy. The company’s top officials believed that in the past few years the concept of decentralization had been applied successfullyand that the company’sprofits and competitive position definitely had improved. The Northern Division had designeda special display box for one of its papers in conjunction with the ThompsonDivision, which was equippedto make the box. Thompson’sstaff for packagedesign and developmentspent several months perfecting the design, production methods,and materials to be used. Becauseof the unusual color and shape, these were far from standard. According to an agreement between the two divisions, the Thompson Division was reimbursed by the Northern Division for the cost of its design and developmentwork. When all the specificationswere prepared,the Northern Division askedfor bids on the box from the ThompsonDivision and from two outside companies. Each division manager was normally free to buy from whatever supplier he wished, and evenon saleswithin the company, divisions were expectedto meet the going market price if they wanted the business. During this period, the profit margins of such converters as the Thompson Division were being squeezed. Thompson,as did many other similar converters,bought its paperboard,and its function was to print, cut, and shapeit into boxes. Though it bought most of its materials from other Birch divisions, most of Thompson’ssaleswere made to outside customers. If Thompsongot the order from Northern, it probably would buy its linerboard and corrugating medium from the Southern Division of Birch. The walls of a corrugated box This case was prepared by William Rotch under the supervision of Neil Harlan, Harvard Business School. Copyright 158-001. by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Harvard Business School case i Case6-2 Birch PaperCompany 2 consist of outside and inside sheets of linerboard sandwiching the fluted corrugating medium. About 70 percent of Thompson’s out-of-pocketcostof$400 for the order representedthe cost of linerboard and corrugating medium. Though Southern had beenrunning below capacity and had excess inventory, it quoted the market price, which had not noticeably weakenedas a result of the oversupply. Its out-of-pocket costs on both liner and corrugating medium were about 60 percent of the selling price. The Northern Division receivedbids on the boxesof $480 a thousand from the ThompsonDivision, $430 a thousand from West Paper Company,and $432 a thousand from Eire Papers,Ltd. Eire Papers offered to buy from Birch the outside linerboard with the specialprinting already on it, but would supply its own inside liner and corrugating medium. The outside liner would be supplied by the Southern Division at a price equivalent of $90 a thousand boxes,and it would be printed for $30 a thousand by the Thompson Division. Of the $30, about $25 would be out-of-pocketcosts. Since this situation appearedto be a little unusual, William Kenton, manager of the Northern Division, discussedthe wide discrepancy of bids with Birch’s commercialvice president. He told the vice president:†We sell in a very competitivemarket, where higher costscannot be passedon. How canwe be expectedto show a decent profit and return on investment if we have to buy our supplies at more than 10 percent over the going market? † Knowing that Mr. Brunner on occasionin the past few months had beenunable to operate the Thompson Division at capacity,it seemedodd to the vice president that Mr. Brunner would add the full 20 percent overheadand profit chargeto his out-of-pocketcosts. When he was asked about this, Mr. Brunner’s answer was the statement that appears at the beginning of the case. He went on to say that having donethe developmentalwork on the box, and having receivedno profit on that, he felt entitled to a goodmarkup on the production of the box itself. The vice president explored further the cost structures of the various divisions. He remembereda comment that the controller had made at a meeting the week before to the effect that costs which were variable for one division could be largely fIXedfor the companyas a whole. He knew that in the absence of specific orders from top management Mr. Kenton would acceptthe lowest bid, which was that of the West Paper Companyfor $430. However,it would be possiblefor top managementto order the acceptance another bid if the situof ation warranted such action. And though the volume representedby the transactionsin questionwas less than 5 percent of the volume of any of the divisions involved, other transactions would conceivablyraise similar problemslater. Questions 1. Which bid should Northern Division acceptthat is in the best interests of Birch Paper Company? 2. Should Mr. Kenton acceptthis bid? Why or why not? 3. Should the vice president of Birch Paper Companytake any action? 4. In the controversydescribed,how,if at all, is the transfer price system dysfunctional? Doesthis problem call for somechange,or changes, the transin fer pricing policy of the overall firm? If so, what specific changesdo you suggest?

Egyptian Architecture

Egypt: Art and Architecture Architecture The great architectural achievements of the past are built of stone. Stone quarries supplied the large blocks of granite, limestone, and sandstone that were used for building temples and tombs. Architects planned carefully as building was done without mortar, so the stones had to fit precisely together. Only pillars were used to sustain short stone supports. At the temple of Kara, a ramp of adobe brick can be seen leading to the top of the temple wall.Such ramps were used to allow workmen to carry stones to the top of structure and allow artists to decorate the tops of walls and pillars. Pillars were built in the same way. As height was added, the ground was raised. When the top of the pillar was completed, the artists would decorate from the top down, removing ramp sand as they went along. As soon as a pharaoh was named, construction on his tomb was begun. Tomb building continued throughout his life and stopped only on the day on which he die d.As a result, some tombs are very large and finely decorated, while other tombs, like that of King Tutankhamen, are small because he ruled as a pharaoh for such a short time. The architecture was based upon perpendicular structures and inclined planes since there was no tutorial assistance except the strength and balance of the structure itself. For this reason, the square and the plumb-line were very important tools. One of the most notable and lasting achievements of the Ancient Egyptians are their pyramids. The size, design, and structure of the pyramids reveal the skill of these ancient builders.The pyramids were great monuments and tombs for the kings. The Egyptians believed that a king's soul continued to guide affairs of the kingdom even after his death. To ensure that they would continue to enjoy the blessings of the gods, they preserved the pharaohs body through the mummification process. They built the pyramids to protect the pharaohs body, the pyramid was a symbol of hop e, because it would ensure the pharaohs union with the gods. The largest pyramid in existence is the Great Pyramid built by King Cheeps (Chuff) at Gaza.The Great Pyramid measures 481 feet high, by 775 feet long at each of its four bases. Other notable pyramids include the Step Pyramid built for King Sore, and the pyramid built for King Hunt, that was a transition between the step pyramid and the smooth sided pyramid we know today. The art of the Egyptians reflects every aspect of their lives. Depicted in tomb and temple drawings are scenes of everyday living, models of people and animals, glass figures and containers, and Jewelry made from gold and semi-precious stones.The wall and pillar drawings are perhaps the best known. In these drawings, it can be seen that people are going about the everyday business of baking, fishing, boating, marketing, and meeting together in family groups. Such drawings were also used to help the deceased to live forever by giving them all of the instruc tions they would need as they met the gods on their way to eternal life. The good deeds were recorded ND the art that surrounded their mummified body was to help their spiritual self in solving the problems related to life after death.Pictures of food, clothing, servants, and slaves could be used by the deceased Just as the real things were used by the person when living. A variety of perspectives is often combined in Egyptian art; however, the side view is the most often seen. The artists used bright colors of blue and red, orange and white to develop pictures that tell of the life of the deceased individual. The artist would first sketch a design on a piece of pottery, and if the sign was satisfactory, it would be sketched on the wall with charcoal. Colors could then be used to fill in the completed picture.Paints were made from naturally occurring minerals and artificially prepared mineral substances. Paint brushes were sticks with fibrous wood with frayed ends. Walls were covere d with mud plaster, then with lime plaster. By the time of Rammers II, artists were able to shade colors to achieve a layered effect. Wall paintings were then protected by a thin layer of varnish (the composition of which is still not known). Sculptors were important artists in Egypt. Statues were made of kings, queens, scribes, animals, and gods and goddesses.Frequently, human and godlike attributes and symbols were combined. The work of the artist was seen in other media as well. Alabaster, a white and translucent stone, was often used for making vessels and containers. Pottery was made of ceramics and clay. Pottery glazed with minerals was used to make beads, amulets, pendants, and other Jewelry. A vivid blue glaze was very popular during the reign of Rammers II. Craftsmen made glass for inlayer designs and for some containers. Workers were able to make articles out of lead, gold, silver, and copper.Such metals were used to make pins, tweezers, razors, axes, knives, spears, sculp tures, and Jewelry. The stability of the government during the reign of Rammers II allowed the skills of the artist and architect to flourish. Religion was often the subject of Egyptian literature. Prayers and hymns were written in praise of the gods. The most important book was â€Å"The Book of the Dead. † This book contained over 200 prayers and magic formulas that taught the Egyptians how to reach a happy afterlife. The Egyptians also wrote adventure stories, fairy tales, myths, love stories, poems, proverbs and quotes. Egyptian architecture Ancient Egyptian Architecture The Egyptians have survived for thousands of years, and are considered to be the hallmark of human civilization. They are the first known culture to have a stable society for such a long period of time. The reason their society was so stable is because they all believed in the same thing, which was that the gods were the first priority and that their pharaoh was a man who ascended to the level of a god. Another reason that the Egyptians survived for so long was because their architectural prowess was unmatched for thousands of year by any other civilization.Not only do buildings and statues show us how great the Egyptian kingdom was, but it also gives us and enormous amount of insight into their culture and what they valued; and what they valued above all, and what drove them to build such monumental feats of architectural achievement was the afterlife. The afterlife was the sole reason many of Egypt greatest building were made, such as the early Masters , the Pyramids, the Valley of the Kings, and much more.In Egyptian culture the gods were closely tied in with the afterlife as they decided whether or not you could pass through to the other side, so fittingly the Egyptians also build huge temples to honor their gods. All Egyptians architecture was created with a purpose, whether it be to please the gods or their kings. The Egyptians were also very avid sculptors they sculpted life size representations of their nobility and kings in their prime. Studying these sculptures and their architectural achievement can give the modern world amazing amounts of insight into their culture.The Egyptians were so obsessed with the afterlife that they built special tombs to insure that the dead kings or nobleman's body would not be tampered with. The early Masters were Just a functional way of burying their kings and nobility in safe place that would insure their safe passage into the afterlife. They were built on the west side of the Nile River, w hich to them was a symbol of death; it was the place where the sun fell into the underworld. (COM) They were not meant to be very grandiose as they were only a rectangular building with sloping sides.They meant to be functional. Inside the burial chamber of the Master was the preserved body of the death along with tangible items from their lives such as pets, food, and furniture. They even went as far as to bury the nobleman's or kings slaves along with the body so they have someone to serve them in the afterlife. To make the afterlife seem even more like real life the architects even had artists paint the walls of the burial chamber with real life events.All these factors such as the slaves, food, and material good make it clear that the Egyptians not only respected the afterlife but it almost seems like they looked forward to it. The masters were very functional but they were not fit for a god, which was the status that the pharaohs and kings of Egypt had achieved, so the Egyptian s replaced he masters with the pyramids. These were the functional equivalent of the masters, but they were grand enough to hold the body of a god. The most well know pyramid is The Great Pyramid of Cheeps (Chuff).This is the largest of the three pyramids of Gaza and home to Chuff. His tombs is massive, but he is the only one in the entire tomb. This further reinforces the idea that the pyramids were built for gods, they were so grand that no one else was worthy enough to be laid to rest in it. Even Chuff's wives were not allowed to be buried in his pyramid. They were buried in masters near his tombs. This along with the idea that Chuff was considered to be a god could also show that women were not as highly regarded as men were in ancient Egypt.The pyramids where not only a place worthy to bury a god, but they were also a place that is worthy of praise by any architect, mathematician, engineer, or astronomer of the modern era. Chuff's pyramid was the tallest standing structure in t he world for thousands of year, not only that, but it is also the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world that is still standing. Along with those accolades the Pyramids of Gaza are also perfectly aligned with the stars. All these things give a lot of insight to into what the Egyptians valued other than Just the gods and afterlife.Without math and science the Egyptians would not have survived for as long as they did or been capable of building such amazing structures. It is easy to conclude that they thought very highly of math, particularly geometry to put so much effort into the subject; so much effort in fact that their knowledge of the subject would be unmatched for thousands of years. Along with geometry the Ancient Egyptians valued astronomy, if they did not they would not have bothered to align the structures they build with the stars.This interest astronomy could be because they associated their god with the heavens and paid tribute to them by building their struc tures in accordance with the sky, but there could also be a much simpler answer; they could have built the pyramids that way simply because they could and to show any other civilization that they were superior. Whatever the answer may be the pyramids not only showed the modern world where the Egyptians buried their kings, but it also taught them a great deal about what they cared about in terms of education.The Egyptians were not only great architects but they were great sculptors. The best example would be The Great Sphinx at Gaza. This along with an amazing feat of Architecture is an equally amazing piece of art. The Great Sphinx of Gaza is an anthropoids, which meaner that it has the body of a lion and the head of a human, in this case the head of a pharaoh. Like most buildings made by the Egyptians the Sphinx is a tribute to the pharaoh as well as the gods, but this building had a specific purpose.It was built behind a temple and was intended to guard the temple. This gives us a clue into how the Egyptians perceived their gods. The Egyptians didn't hint of their gods as distant deities that ruled over them, but they thought that the resided in the world with them, and by building the Sphinx of Gaza they thought that a god would reside in the Sphinx itself and protect the temple. The sphinx doesn't only appear in sculptures but it also appears in many paintings as well.In most painting, like the one shown below, the sphinx is shown as a fearsome creature that is fighting and destroying its opponents. Many archeologist think that the sphinx was representative of the pharaoh and if this is true it can further explain why the Egyptians people were so loyal to their king. Another thing we can infer from this picture and the countless other paintings and sculptures of the human and animal hybrids is what the Egyptian culture thought about animals. They Egyptians regarded animals very highly and associated them with power and strength.This is evident when you beg in to pay attention to how the Egyptians depicted their gods, for example Anabas who was the god that watched over the dead and the mummification process was depicted with the body of a man and the head of a Jackal. Another example is Amman Ra the sun god who watched over all the other gods supposedly had the body a man and the head of a falcon. The Egyptians greatly respected the power of animals and that maybe the reason that their gods and pharaohs where often associated with animals.Egypt is known for their colossal architecture, but that is not the only place that we can learn about their society from. Their minor sculptures can also tell us a great deal about how they their society functions and society was structured. For example the amount of information that can be gathered from this subculture is staggering. To begin with there were hundreds of sculptures exactly like this found in the Egyptian ruins, and the age of hose sculptures varied by hundreds of year.This meaner th at whatever these sculptures are trying to say is very meaning to the Egyptian people. The first thing you notice when you begin to examine the statue is the man's stance. He has one leg in front of the other indicating that he is moving forward. This shows that the men were the leaders of society in Egypt. With further examination you notice that the woman's shoulder is behind the man's, almost as if she is hiding behind him for protection, which indicates that it was a man's duty of protect any woman in his life whether it be his wife or sister.You can also infer what the men and woman looked for in spouses and what the ancient Egyptian society valued. For the men they had to be physically strong and fit as represented in the sculptures. The women had to be fit and slim as well, which is different from most ancient cultures, who wanted their women to be bigger to ensure that she could birth healthy babies. Studying the sculptures left behind by the Egyptians is a great was of lear ning about their society. The Ancient Egyptian society is the greatest society that has ever existed.The debility in their culture was because they all believed in the same thing and hey all acted according to their beliefs. They also built their architecture according their beliefs, the pyramids being the best example. It shows how they treated their kings who was also considered a god. It is also a great metaphor for their society. The base of the pyramid represents the slave and tip represents the pharaoh, and the middle represented the nobility and working class. It is information and representation like this that allows us to envision what their society and culture was like.

1. Discuss the ways in which The Communist Manifesto uses literary Essay

1. Discuss the ways in which The Communist Manifesto uses literary means for political ends - Essay Example This spectre is revealed to be communism, and it captures the imagination at the very start. The second indication of quite sophisticated literary mechanisms at work is the way that the argument is built around a fundamental conflict. The â€Å"holy alliance† between what are described â€Å"reactionary powers† and â€Å"Communism.† The authors grab the attention of the reader by taking familiar politicians, such as Metternich, and other leading figures such as the Pope and the Tsar, and linking them with obviously evil individuals such as â€Å"police spies† in the same sentence (p. 2). This device recasts all these players as harmful opponents, and defines Communism in opposition to these elements as something positive and wholesome, as well as a worthy foe to these forces. A second literary device that is used repeatedly in the Communist Manifesto is the use of emotive description, often piled up in an exaggerated way, in order to add drama and tension to the political views that are presented. Examples of this are the description of Free Trade as â€Å"naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation† (p. 5) and that of the doctrines of German Socialism as â€Å"The robe of speculative cobwebs, embroidered with flowers of rhetoric, steeped in the dew of sickly sentiment, this transcendental robe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p.26). These above-mentioned devices make the text more elaborate, but at the same time more engaging for the reader, because they contain quite strong emotional content. The text switches from this elaborate language to a simpler style when key points are made. The authors make complex ideas simpler by using personification : â€Å"As the parson has ever gone hand in hand with the landlord so has clerical socialism with feudal socialism† (p. 23). They also split the text into sections with explanatory headings so that the reader does not mistake the key message contained in each section. There are recap phrases

Personal statement for admission Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal statement for admission - Essay Example My father disowned me at birth due to ethnic differences so I had to be brought up by a single parent. There was a lot of ethnic chaos in my country at the time which forced me to miss the first stages of education but that did not kill my dream and passion for learning. My mother used to tell me that I will be an academic guru since I have always demonstrated insatiable thirst for education. When other children were playing with toys, I was always drawing images on the ground or doing mathematical problems. My book and my pen were my most favorite friends. This hasn’t changed much since I still posses the same education enthusiasm I had years ago when I was a small child. Sometimes the ethnic war became very intensive that I had to spend three days in hideouts without food to avoid getting killed. Learning in this environment was very challenging. It was practically impossible to move through the streets with northern and southern communities fighting and killing one another. Deafening sounds of bombs and grenades was a common phenomenon. However life took a positive twist of events when my grandfather came to my rescue and took me the whole family to France. Life in France was a better but problems still ensued. Many of my relatives did not have permanent jobs thus we always struggled to get good food and shelter. Attending prestigious learning institutions was a dream beyond our ability thus I had to attend an average performing school. My mother died in a road accident leaving me as an orphan. These traumatic experiences greatly affected my learning in school. The only hope I had was my inherent ability to handle difficult situations. These fatefu l events were a learning experience that trained me to be more tolerant, liberal and open minded. My passion for education earned me respect from my neighbors who agreed to assist me in paying for school

Questions on Investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Questions on Investment - Essay Example With the combination of these securities in the portfolio investors can minimize their risk without sacrificing their expected return. Ans 1b In table 1, we can see correlation coefficients of five different funds, if we want to invest in any of the two funds in the portfolio with minimum risk. For example Aviva Property and HSBC Asian Growth with correlation coefficient 0.10 can minimize the risk without sacrificing any of their expected return. In such a combination of these funds the risk will be diversified effectively without decreasing the level of expected return whatsoever. Ans 1c We have a portfolio of two funds, Aviva property and HSBC Asian Growth. We have also combined other funds and analyzed their risk exposure and found that their portfolio has minimum levels of risk. This investor is investing 50% of the cash in both the funds minimizing its risk without change in the expected return. Aviva property has risk of 2.3% with negative return while HSBC shows 6.5% risk with a good level of return. If investors will invests separately in these funds, the risk will be more but in other combinations the risk will also be greater. Ans 1d i) As shown in figure 1, the curved line denoted with (a) is referred to as Efficient frontier while the straight line denoted by b is referred to as capital market line. The other points mentioned in the figure are, D which is the risk free rate and C is the market portfolio. ii) When an investor has a portfolio at point E as shown in figure 1, where return is also decreasing but not that much with the risk. Every investor wants to hold the C point where only market risk is to be faced, but all the other risks are diversified and at point E the risk associated with the portfolio is high but both systematic and unsystematic risk are in its way. Only unsystematic risk is diversifiable but other risks can also be shown at beta. iii) Every investor tries to reduce the risk associated with its portfolio. If the investor is wi lling to accept 10% of risk as shown in figure 1 it is difficult to get good results. As the risk is high and return is also high, this position becomes more sensitive to the market fluctuations. At this position a slight change in the market will affect the portfolio more. Investors can go for the risk free return but it is usually unrealistic as allowances for the differences in borrowing makes the model more complicated. Ans 2a In US-style option, the buyer has the right to exercise at any time before the expiry of the option and counterparty must follow in the part of the buyer of option for execution. Counterparty doesn’t have any right to deny the execution of the option before the expiry of the risk associated with the counterparty. The reason for counterparty risk is basically due to the credit risk of the option writer (Klein and Yang 2010, p.1) Ans 2b The biggest advantage of using options contracts is that it gives stability and security to the investors and the tr aders. This makes them contribute more in the market operations and also greatly contribute to the economy. It reduces the risks involved and also increase investors confidence thus they buy more options the agents sells. Since unsystematic risk is normally unverifiable, the risk occurs due to external factors which are unpredictable. In order to minimize

Sustainable policy for Disneyland Hong Kong Essay

Sustainable policy for Disneyland Hong Kong - Essay Example The whole case comprised of the A and B sections pertaining corporate as well as government decision-making.1. The Walt Disney Corporation aims at establishing a lasting, sustainable constructive environment legacy for Hong Kong, Disney, and future generations. By achieving all this then Walt Disney Corporation will be committed to minimizing the overall impact that would have affected environment and at the same time encouraging as well as activating environmentally responsible way of life for cast members, guest, employees, entuerprenue and private individuals. Notably, Disney aims make sure that water is conserved, energy and ecosystems. This will play a fundamental role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing of water and inspire the general public consciousness in support of all effects directly towards environmental sustainability. Disney seeks to understand as it identifies itself with the measures that impact directly or indirectly with the operations as it develops innovative lasting and realistic solutions for countering those impacts. The company also complies with all re gulatory regulations pertaining environment. Finally, the company is fully committed to periodical communications concerning its progress in implementing required policies as well as attaining the set targets. Here are Disneys environmental policies explained. The company has a systematic process aimed at involving the mult-stakeholder; they will be analyzing and evaluating any possible environmental implications that may arise to proposed policies, plans as well as programmes which will be helpful in strategic formulation and planning decision-making. Disney will have to incorporate evaluation of the most important environmental implications that has the possibility of determining the actual scope of the whole environmental report together with its preparations including public participation through

O'Brien v. Ohio State University Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

O'Brien v. Ohio State University - Assignment Example The researcher states that to be absolved in the eyes of the law, University had to prove that OBriens actions, which were in violation of the contract, in fact, caused severe damage to the reputation of the University. The court found that OBriens act of lending a sum of $6000 to a recruit did not do material damage the university’s reputation. Jim O’Brien won the case and received about $2.5 million in damages. If the judge had interpreted that OBriens actions caused serious harm to the good name of the Ohio State University then they would most certainly have rejected the plaintiff’s claim. For instance, if they had discovered that Jim O’Brien had a history of breaching the University contract, then the court’s decision might have gone the other way. Ohio State had to prove that Jim O’Brien’s actions have caused their name significant bad reputation. However, the Ohio Court of Claims concluded that O’Brien’s actions an d his breach were not material to cause his termination. The weakening aspect of Ohio States case was they relied too much on specific contractual language. They put too much stress on the wording of the contract that OBrien would be breaking the terms of the contract if he breaks NCAA rules. Moreover, he was also supposed to report any breach that could have happened which he was aware of, and he had reasonable cause that a violation, in fact, had occurred. Jim all Brian failed to report this loan for almost five years. The NCAA rules clearly state that the staff member or the institution itself cannot give financial aid or any such benefit to recruits. This decision is a wake-up call for other colleges. It would be wise for the parties to such future agreement to be extra careful in adequately detailing the terms of the agreement, however, the analysis of materiality is a complicated task that hugely depends on the circumstances.

Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Motivation - Essay Example He was even of the idea that the productivity levels of the worker were more dependent the pay and they produce more if a piece rate pay system is used (Milkovich, 1991). This means that workers produce more and worker hard in order to earn higher wages. Adam Twidell of Private Fly has adopted various aspects of the motivation theory provided by F.W. Taylor. Firstly, Twidell is following Taylor’s advice regarding the rewards that motivate employees. Taylor stated that it is the pay that motivates employees and even Twidell believes that workers are motivated by extrinsic rewards such as monetary benefits and cannot be motivated through intrinsic ones (Daft, 2011). Due to this Twidell uses the monetary rewards of stock options to those pilots who have been working with the organization for more than one year. Taylor is of the idea that workers are not self-motivated to work and decisions need to be made at the top level management and then these decisions are followed by the lower level of employees (Furnham,2005). Twidell is even following the same rule and he is the one making the decisions for his organization and is delegating tasks to different employees and pilots. Taylor even proposed that the employers have to break do wn jobs into tasks and award those tasks to different employees along with train and that motivates employees to work. In case of Twidell, he states that there are various procedures to be carried out by the employees working on a plane and these procedures need to be divided amongst employees in order to ensure that all the procedures are carried out correctly. Elton Mayo is another theorist who has provided a theory regarding the motivation of employees and he proposed that in order to motivate employees to work the employers need to meet the social needs of the workers (Miner, 2005. He contradicted Taylor’s

Scientific research on the causes of homosexuality Paper

Scientific on the causes of homosexuality - Research Paper Example Genetically speaking, it has been discovered that antibodies in the womb can attack the Y chromosome in an unborn male, causing him to be gay. This normally happens when a woman already has several, several, meaning two or three, â€Å"straight† male sons; her body just builds up an antibody to carrying males, and these antibodies attack the Y chromosome in the unborn male, making him homosexual (Independent). For every prior male brother who is â€Å"straight†, the chances of the next male becoming gay later in life, increases by one third (Independent). This study, conducted by Canadian scientists in 2006, proves that homosexuality in men is of a biological nature and nothing else. Gay men are â€Å"created† (Independent) meaning; they are born with a genetic predisposition to homosexuality. Thus proving that homosexuality is not a choice, but completely biological, even before birth (Independent). Also, it is common that most homosexual males have reported the same feelings concerning their identities and such during childhood. Many say that they â€Å"felt different† at an early age and often had to defend their masculinity (Handbook). They also reported that from a very, very young age, they did not take interest in the same games, toys, clothing, etc. as other â€Å"straight† males their age, and also felt an overwhelming attraction to the same sex, even from as early as 2 to 5 years old (Handbook). These young males reported that they often enjoyed playing with toys made for the opposite sex and also enjoyed wearing clothes of the opposite gender as well. The males said they did not take much of an interest in masculine games, such as sports and â€Å"boy† toys. â€Å"My cousin, who is now an openly gay, nineteen year old male, always collected Barbie dolls,† says Bessie Cherry, an award-winning journalist from Tennessee. â€Å"It was always a question ‘if’ my cousin was going to be gay or no t. He loved to play with toys of the opposite sex, often carried a purse, and wore girls’ jeans and shoes. He was always very interested in things that boys his age were not, like collecting antique dishes and such. He never wanted to play football, like the rest of his male cousins his age. He never wanted to play with ‘boy’ toys, such as trucks and cars; it was always Barbie dolls and ‘girly’ things that he chose to play with instead. When my cousin became a teenager, he was so handsome that so many of the girls his age wanted to date him; but, he wasn’t interested in ‘girls’. He tried to commit suicide, then came out of the closet and told the family he was gay at age fourteen (Cherry).† Suicide contemplation and attempts are very common among young gay adolescent males (Handbook) because they struggle with their sexual identities and feelings thereof, associated with the gay male complex and inferiority they feel for bei ng gay in a society where it’s not always accepted. â€Å"My cousin said that the last thing he wanted was to be ‘gay’ (Cherry). He said it was so hard for him to tell his family that he was gay that he would rather be dead. My aunt said that she believes that homosexuality is also genetically inclined because she knows that her son would never choose to be gay, and that

Segregation in Labor Markets, Neighborhood, Education, and Criminal Essay

Segregation in Labor Markets, Neighborhood, Education, and Criminal Justice - Essay Example With the slightest earthquakes, cracks mark the surface, and even the toughest man or sturdiest structure feels its effects and aftershock so as the blow of recession is faced by both white collared and blue collared workers. From late 2007 to early 2009, a dramatic decline in job vacancies and pairing market deterioration caused rising number in unemployment and permanent layoffs as this is by far the worst recession in American history in equivalence to the coined name Great Recession where, as reported, resulted to 10.6 million jobs deficit in just two years. And even with the declared end of the Great Recession in early 2009, the height of unemployment rates continues to shoot upward as the government strives to face the colossal job creation challenge in order to get a resilient economic recovery (Peck, 2010). Three years has passed and the government is still running the same marathon with the victory far from sight. As explained by Peck (2010), the Great Recession may be techn ically over but going back to the normal economic state is still afar. He used the words â€Å"New Jobless Era† to define this time when job opportunities and offerings sink to the bottom. As the government and its policy makers cogitate for ways to solve this, there is one query at the mind of the population, how does this novel system affect the lives and behavior of the people? Can everyone easily cope or will they be impelled to do things unthinkable in order to survive? Both media and labor unions had their eyes pinned on the concurrent lay-offs the following years yet all that was given were only sympathy and not any solution to the problem. The real problem is not absence of work for work has always been available, but it is the dearth of a real job and the career path together with its health benefits and chances for promotion that kills the middle class Americans that used to have a comfortable living. Aronowitz and DeFazio (2010) elucidated that what is offered now are contractual works that offers employment and income only for a specified period of time lacking the stability that it used to offer. They further discussed that the reasons behind this phenomenon are the outsourcing of production to other countries and cybernetics. For a much cheaper labor cost, computer companies such as Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and even some other electrical and automotive companies ought to send production processing off-shore to countries that offer much cheaper salary rates and higher number of workers. This scheme maximizes the company’s production budget while still producing high quality materials for the market. On the other hand, cybernetics and automation had been part of everyone’s daily living including in some factories where robotics replaced the then job of one human highly skilled for that certain task. Automation is a path worth investing by the capitalists for this requires no health benefits or retirement plans and offers p recise production at much faster rate. An example is the bankruptcy of Solyndra and New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), which both used to be the powerhouse manufacturers of solar products and automotives respectively. Both were struck and defeated by their off shore competitions as the jobs were brought to

Occular Visit in Barangay San Miguel Essay Example for Free

Occular Visit in Barangay San Miguel Essay I noticed that there are plenty of different shops in the area. It is a good aspect having plenty of shops because that means that the people will never run out of choices just in case they need to buy their needs. There are plenty of shops, that is why I noticed plenty of people too. Another positive aspect about the barangay is that I noticed plenty of uniformed men and women roaming the area. They are obviously the† kagawads† or â€Å"tanods† in the barangay. They are doing their job in monitoring the people’s business so that they can respond to their needs. We later went inside the Barangay Hall. I felt secure inside the place because I noticed the guards taking a good lookout of the area. But when we went inside, the barangay captain was unfortunately not there. So the other officials were the ones who took care of our agenda with them. The first thing that I did not like about the barangay is the litter scattered around the streets. I also did not like the environment because there are plenty of suspicious looking individuals around that made me feel uncomfortable. After our agenda with the barangay officials, we learned that we could use the basketball court beside the barangay hall for our desired community service. We went to the court to take a look at it. I noticed plenty of children playing. So I thought that we should make a get together party for the children in the area. For me, it is a good idea because the children will get to make friends with their fellow youth in the area. Maybe because of the get together activity, they will get united as they grow up to be adults. And of course, when they grow close with each other, their children will also get close. I would liketo see a united community of friends, that is why I propose that kind of activity for the children.

Pace Leisurewear Ltd Case Study

Pace Leisurewear Ltd Case Study An integrated approach with effective administration, adequate financing and capable human resource may lead a business organisation towards the path of goal attainment. Disintegration among these elements may lead towards its own demise sooner or later. Pace Leisurewear Ltd is a company that designs and manufactures the casual and leisure clothes aimed particularly at the younger, higher-income market. It was established by Jill Dempsey and Mike Greaves, who are the Managing Director and Production Manager of the company respectively. By observing the case study of this company, we know that the company is in trouble because the letter from the companys bank was asking it for the reduction in the overdraft. This letter from the bank has made them worried because if they cant keep up the overdraft, they will not be able to fulfil the big order by Arena, which was one of the several national chains of casual and sportswear stores that was placing substantial orders with Pace. It shows that they were facing liquidity problem. A general outlook of the case study putting aside the financial statements provides us with some other difficulties that the company was facing. Trading of the company during the recession period was a problem. Moreover, recession itself was a problem for the company. Though it was a big company, the production director Mike was looking after the financial matters. There was no one within the company who had any great financial expertise. When there was a problem, the companys auditors were normally asked for advice. The company is facing poor cash situation as conveyed by Mike Greaves which might be result of their spending on fixed assets like plant. Declaration of no further investment in the company by the largest shareholder Keeble States also came as a shock to the company when there was a hope that Keeble States would invest money and they would be able to issue overdraft. Also, an indifference of the largest shareholder in the affair of the company can be regarded as a problem. Such indifference directly affects the operation of company that ultimately, has the effect on financial situation of the company. Breaching of the overdraft limit over the past few years by the company functioned as a proof of their dishonesty. Also, we can identify that the company was running along with the conflict between the largest shareholder Keeble brothers and the other board members. The other board members were bringing forth the idea of introducing another major shareholder, which was against the wish of Keeble brothers. So, the company was facing the problem in decision making. A quick look upon the balance sheet of the company, gives us the information that there is a massive increment in the non-current assets. Though investment in the non-current assets is good for the company in the long run, it may cause problem to the company in its day to day operation. It may create an inadequacy of working capital which is necessary for daily activities. The amount of trade receivables has increased which indicates that the goods are being sold on credit. Calculation and Interpretation of Financial Ratios The income statement and balance sheet are the traditional basic financial statements of a business enterprise. They do not give all the information related to the financial operations of a firm. Still, they provide some extremely useful information to the extent that balance sheet mirrors the financial position on a particular date in terms of structures of assets, liabilities and owners equity and others and profit and loss account shows the results operations during a certain period of time in terms of revenues obtained and the cost incurred during the year. In depth analysis of financial statements is supported with ratio-analysis. It is the most widely used technique of financial statement analysis. Ratio analysis is a systematic use of ratio to interpret the financial statements so that the strengths and weaknesses of a firm as well as its historical performance and current financial condition can be determined. Ratios are relative figures reflecting the relationship between variables. A single figure by itself has no meaning but when expressed in terms of related figure, it yields significant inferences. Ratios can be divided into profitability ratio, liquidity ratio and activity ratio. To analyse the financial statement and condition of the Pace Leisurewear Ltd, the method of ratio analysis is used as a major tool. Here, return on capital employed, return on equity (shareholders fund), gross profit margin, net profit margin, inventory holding period, average collection period for trade receivables, sales to capital employed ratio, current ratio, quick assets (liquid or acid test) ratio and gearing ratio are used as major tools for the interpretation of business condition and financial statements, though there are other tools for the interpretation. Calculation and interpretation of these ratios provide us with the information about liquidity, profitability and efficiency of the company. The calculation and interpretation of the ratios can be shown as below: Calculation S.N. Description Formulas Year before last Last Year a) Return on Capital Employed =20.05% =29.60% b) Return on Equity =18.15% =32.51% c) Gross Profit Margin =46.48% =48.16% d) Net Profit Margin =14.99% =20.61% e) Inventory Holding Period =117.74 days =182.84 days f) Average Collection Period =42.10 days =60.98% g) Sales to Capital Employed =1.34 times =1.44 times h) Current Ratio =1.76 times =1.13 times i) Acid Test Ratio =.78 times =0.47 times j) Gearing Ratio =34.40% =42.30% Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) ROCE ratio tells us how much profit we earn from the investment the shareholders have made in their company. If the company has low ROCE ratio, it is using its resources inefficiently, even if its profit margin is high. The higher the ratio the more efficient is the use of capital employed. In context of the Pace Leisurewear Ltd, ROCE ratio was increased in the last year than the year before last. From the calculation, we got, it was 30% in the last year whereas it was 20% in the year before last. So, we can say that the company had better performance in the last year than the year before last. Return on Equity This ratio indicates the profitability to the shareholders of the firm with deduction of all expenses and taxes. In context of this company, the return on equity ratio was increased which is good for the company. It was 32.5% in the last year and 18% in the year before last. Gross Profit Margin It indicates the efficiency of operations and firms pricing policies. The larger the gross profit margin, the better for the company. It looks at how well a company controls the cost of its inventory and manufacturing of its products and subsequently pass on the cost to its customers. From the calculation we found that the gross profit margin ratio was increased. It was 46.16% in the year before last and 48.16% in the last year which is good for the company. Net Profit Margin This ratio measures the relationship between net profit and sales of a firm. A high net profit margin in ratio is an indicative of adequate return to the owners as well as enables a firm to withstand adverse economic conditions. A low net profit margin ratio has the opposite implications. From the calculation, we found that the net profit margin ratio was increased. It was 8.91% in the year before last and 13.10% in the last year. It shows that the company was selling well which is good for the company. Inventory Holding Period A high number of days inventory indicates that there is lack of demand for the product being sold whereas a low days inventory holding period may indicate that the company is not keeping enough stock on hand to meet the demands. It is known from the above calculation that the inventory holding period for the company in the year before last was 63 days and for the last year it was 95 days. So, this extension in the inventory holding period is a problem for the company which obstructs the path of cash generating. Average Collection Period of Trade Receivables This ratio indicates the speed with which debtors/accounts receivables are being collected. A short, collection period implies prompt payment by the debtors. It reduces the chance of bad debts. Similarly, a longer collection period implies too liberal and inefficient credit collection performance. From the calculation, we found that, the collection period for the debtors/accounts receivables for the year before last was 42 days whereas for the last year it was 61 days. So, it indicates that the company was inefficient in its credit collection performance. This delay in the collection of receivables, may have adverse effect in the liquidity position and also there lies possibility of accounts receivables being bad debts. Sales to Capital Employed Ratio It is the ratio which indicates the relationship between the capital employed and sales revenue. The higher the ratio the higher is the revenue, the lower the ratio the lower the revenue. From the calculation, we found that the ratio of capital employed in the year before last was 1.34 times and for the last year it was 1.44 times. It indicates that the Pace Leisurewear Ltd was generating more revenue. Current Ratio The ratio of total current assets to total liabilities is current ratio. It measures the short term solvency, that is, its ability to meet short term obligations. The higher the current ratio, the more capable the company is of paying its obligations. A ratio under 1 suggests that the company would be unable to pay off its obligations if they come due at that point. From the calculation, we found that the current ratio for Pace Leisurewear Ltd in the year before last was 1.76:1 and for the last year it was 1.44:1. This ratio indicates that the short-term solvency of the company was getting poorer. Quick Assets ( liquid or acid test) Ratio It is the ratio between quick current assets and current liabilities. It shows a firms ability to meet current liabilities with its most liquid assets. Companies with the ratio less than 1, are supposed to be in vulnerable condition. Such companies are unable to pay their current liabilities, which show the dependency of current assets on inventory. In case of this company, it was found that quick assets ratio was getting weaker. It was 0.78:1 in the year before last and 0.47:1 in the last year. It indicates that the company was in difficulty of paying current liabilities. It was even weaker in the last year than the year before last. Gearing Ratio The higher the gearing, the higher the dependence on borrowing and long term finance. The lower the gearing ratio, the higher the dependence on equity financing. Here, in case of this company, the gearing ratio for the last year was 42.3% and 34.4% for the year before last. It shows that the company had a reliance on sources of long term loan. Conclusion and Recommendation From the above calculation and interpretation of the ratio and its analysis based on the two years financial statement of the Pace Leisurewear Ltd, we came to know that the company was facing mainly a liquidity problem. In order to get rid of such financial problem, assuming myself as a member of Drake Management Consultants, would like to recommend that the company should issue the shares, increase the cash sales rather than credit sales, collect the trade receivables promptly, decrease the long term liabilities and not exceed the limit of overdraft. Beside this, it needs to employ a financial expert and develop an environment of mutual understanding and trust among the shareholders and board of directors.

Expressionism And Fritz Lang

Expressionism And Fritz Lang I have been interested in a thousand things in my life, and out of these interests in a thousand things came one primary interest: mankind. And not only what he does- in innocence or in guilt- but what moves him to act, what makes him tick! And with that attempt to identify there grows not only personal awareness, but much more important, sympathy. Through this ones own sphere of thought is enriched; as a reaction to it, associations with all things one has occupied oneself with for a lifetime are expandedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Who can honestly say how one arrives at a theme? What influenced him? It could be a falling leaf from a tree in Autumn, a sudden lull in the wind, a sudden thunderstormà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Fritz Lang in interview with Gero Gandert, 1963) Fritz Lang was one of the pioneers of German school of Expressionism, one of the few auteurs, who was able to make the successful transition from silent cinema to the talkies, and who also paved the way for the film noir genre in the United States. In this paper, one will be looking at his two of his films as case studies, Metropolis (1927) and M (1931) respectively, all the while keeping in mind the distinctive role of Lang as an auteur in context to the tradition of expressionist cinema. Throughout the paper, one is going to deal with object-subject relationships in German expressionist cinema as well as self-referentiality, private anxieties and public projections in the Weimar Republic and an attempt is going to be made towards a feminist reading of German Expressionism with respect to the case studies. To give a brief background of the two films in question, both were made in the Weimar Republic before Lang went into a self-imposed exile in America. The circumstances of Langs emigration remain controversial; the story goes that he was offered a post of managing director of the entire German film industry by the ministry in Germany (to be precise, Goebbels, the propaganda minister) after banning his film, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, and that he was given 24 hours to consider the proposal but soon afterwards he fled from Berlin to Paris. Metropolis was the worlds most expensive silent cinema at the time of its release while in M, elements of early film noir can be seen and the classic use of sound as a tool has been acknowledged by film scholars (this aspect of the film is going to discussed in detail later on in the paper). As is well-known expressionism as an art movement stemmed from the school of impressionists and goes well back to the 19th century. It assumed an identifiable structure only in the 1900s though. It sought to utilize contemporary philosophical and psychological thinking (Freudianism to a large degree) and relied heavily on personal experiences, feelings and emotions rather than impressions of reality. Weimar cinema has time and again been described as being proto-fascist and expressionism linked to National Socialism, which was popularized in the writings of Siegfried Kracauer and can be traced back to the theoretical debates of the 1930s, specifically to the views expressed Georg Lukà ¡cs. In a 1934 essay, Lukà ¡cs argued that expressionism was undoubtedly one of the diverse bourgeois ideological currents that would later result in fascism as its tendency towards subjectivism and romanticism linked it ideologically to the irrational mysticism of Wilhelmian philosophy, and therefore one of the central sources of Nazi beliefs. Lukà ¡cs sociological argument was later expanded and applied to the analysis of German cinema by Siegfried Kracauer in his study of Weimar film culture, From Caligari to Hitler (1947). John S. Titford begins his journal article with the sentence, Expressionist cinema is an impossibility. What he is trying to say through this is that the Expressionists and Realists alike cannot possibly transcend the limitations of cinema as a medium even if they exploit it to its fullest extent. It has to be mimetic, symbolic, never being the things it represents in exactitude. Art must, unlike reality itself, have a beginning and an end. Having defined its boundaries, cinema has proven to be the most appropriate medium for expressionism. It is more dynamic than expressionist painting, more able to instill a feeling of horror than expressionist literature, and more claustrophobic than expressionist theatre. Expressionism found an expression in the rapidly evolving motion pictures. There is a dichotomy between the creator and his creation, the medium and the message, and there is a need to understand the artists perception of the subject matter so as to get a hold of the deeper meaning of the piece of art itself. For it is the artists, or the auteur in our case, thoughts and feelings which are being communicated through his actions. Christian Metz has hence, made the differentiation between the signified (human consciousness) and the signifier (work of art). Anthromorphism, the process of inanimate objects coming to life, is a key feature of German expressionist cinema. Metropolis is an archetypal example for that. The live consciousness of the artist is, in a sense, metamorphosed into dead celluloid. Within the film, the humans tend to imbibe the characteristic traits of the world of objects while the objects exude human-like features and this is a cycle of life and death which the expressionist cinema follows. The figure of Rotwang exhibits qualities of a machine, or that of a prototypical cyborg to say the least, with a mechanical right arm, whereas the machines in the industrial underbellies of the city demonstrate signs of life as well as the Robot, which takes on the form of Maria, seemingly human but not quite. German expressionist film offers a penetrating analysis of the society along with the philosophy and psychology of its age. It is important also because of its filmic process. Unlike other forms of art, it is not static (before the advent of pop art and kinetic models), and transforms inert photographic frames into rendering a semblance of truth. Thus, film can make an object assume personality and vice versa. The workers in Metropolis operate like machines, often being grouped together in abstract geometrical shapes. The figure of Rotwang, as stated earlier, is the model for sub-human forces embodying the concept of Destiny, or a threat to the nation of Germany, depending upon the interpretation. He is perceived as a monster, hardly convincing as a living creature than the true monster like the Robot Maria. One of the scenes in M epitomizes the process whereby the animate becomes the inanimate. Beckett, the child-murderer, has been captured by the underground criminals and is brough t into a room where they are about to give him a trial. As he confronts the mass of people assembled to indict him, the camera pans around the group. It is not a moving mass that we see, but a still photograph: the image is frozen. It has thus taken the nature of an inert, static painting. Buildings become demoniacal in expressionist films; foreboding houses are used for shock effect, and rooms and enclosed spaces create a sense of claustrophobia. Maria in Metropolis is persistently pursued by a strong beam of light as she struggles to find a way out of the catacombs. The streets are merely an extension of the threatening building and dominate and control the lives of its inhabitants. In general, diagonals and oblique angles in the sets are employed, and the buildings and streets are distorted, ghostly, and with painted shadows and streets that seem to lead nowhere. Since the films were mostly shot in the studios with the help of painted canvas scenery, the world thus created was usually two dimensional. The mood or the stimmung and the claustrophobia of the expressionist world is further intensified by the use of lighting. There is a predisposition for the world of twilight in which the inanimate can readily become alive with no warning. Expressionist films are frequently lit using sharp, often jarring, blacks and whites, distorted shadows, and large areas of darkness. Precisely because light or absence of light gives space its reality, it can effect a transformation of concrete into abstract, living into dead, or vice versa, making us doubt our own senses, and even our awareness of figure and ground distinctions. Chiaroscuro affects our perceptions, and shadows themselves can become alive. Expressionist cinema was by no means limited to the city, even though the two case studies portray the cityscape. Expressionist directors were more concerned with life as a process ending in death, and their art was almost totally pessimistic. The game expressionist cinema plays with itself and i ts audience is that of Russian roulette, with destiny as the bullet, and death the prize. German expressionist cinema was concerned with the powers of darkness, with people trapped by their environment and with claustrophobia pervading everyday life. To back to the lighting in the early Weimar Republic cinema, the use of chiaroscuro effects of artificial lighting was unsurpassed. Lighting was used as a narrative device, and while in some early Weimar cinemas it was a little more than a decorative element or a creator of mood, in later films chiaroscuro elements and specifically shadow assume a precise communicative element. Chiaroscuro manipulated the visual sense to create emotions whereas the shadow rather than being a merely expressionistic mannerism, added narrative depth to the silent cinema. The employment of shadow as a communicative metaphor is found as early as Platos Republic, where he talks of the cave-men perceiving shadows and echoes as reality itself, which is not totally false; it results from reality even though it might be a weakened, diluted version of the real. The traditional motif of the shadow as a metaphor of perception later appears in the 20th century in Jungian psychology. Jung used the shadow metaphor t o describe the underside of the human psyche, which if acknowledged brings forth the survival responses, stimulating the libido, whereas if repressed can bring about the downfall of the individual. However, the intention of the early popular filmmaker was to involve the viewer in the film event. Thus, the shadow metaphor was appropriated as a narrative device, and the philosophical and psychological significance of the shadow became subordinated to the films fictional narrative, and the function of the shadow was sublimated in the narrative act. It became a device for communicating a simultaneous, secondary narrative to the viewer. Shadows significance is neither good nor evil but instead projects an other reality, another interpretation of sorts. Instead of seeking an escape from the pursuing shadow, one needed to acknowledge and accept it. In M, the character of Beckett was seen running away from his shadow, which relentlessly pursued him, stronger than the man himself, and the on ly way out for him was to embrace his darker side, even if it made him commit cruel, inhuman acts of violence. The early cinematic shadow enabled a possibility of multiple narratives which was later achieved through the use of sound. There was first an adoption and then rejection of shadow as metaphor within the conventions of the cinematic code, adoption during the silent period of cinema and rejection with the onset of sound in the 30s. The shadow as a metaphor was used most effectively in the early period of silent cinema. By the late 1920s, the New Objectivity had brought heightened realism in German films, and more natural lighting had replaced the intense chiaroscuro of the early 1920s. The cinematic shadow had become a clichà ©, and its narrative function was soon overtaken by other devices: the significant object of the late silent films and the soundtrack of the early sound films. In the opening credits of M, one sees a hand with the letter M inscribed on it. The drawing style evokes the exaggerated shapes and dramatic textures of German Expressionist painting, but due to its linear abstraction and dynamic simplification the hands image is also reminiscent of 1920s techno-culture: of New Objectivitys cold modernism and of Futurisms celebration of speed, energy, fluidity, and prosthetic body-machines. It strikes the viewer as an artificial limb taking on the uncanny function of living, or conversely, a human charged with the strength of a robotic apparatus. The first scene opens to a Berlin backyard populated by a bunch of children, their positions resembling that of a clock, with one girl standing in the middle and functioning as the clocks hand so as to count and count out the other players. The girl sings a song of brutal murder and dismemberment, a blatant endorsement of terror and violence itself. In Langs first sound film, M, sound had for the most part supplanted the communicative function of the shadow; the films basic distinctions between good and evil, rationality and irrationality, appearance and reality is rendered perceptible by shadow somewhat and mirror reflection, but mostly by sound. In M, nothing is as it seems on the surface: an apparent innocent is a psychotic killer, an apparently peaceful crowd can transform into a raging mob, apparent friends can become suspicious accusers, apparent organization (the police) is ineffective against the killer and the apparent disorder (the underworld) is really more orderly and efficient than the police. Even seemingly innocent children are tainted by the evil: the films opening sequence shows a group of children playing as they sing a variation of One Potato, Two Potato, a song about another non-fictional mass murderer Harmann, who not only murdered but also cooked and sold his victims as canned meat. What we see is innocent childhood, but what we hear refutes this appearance. In M, appearance is always deceptive, true reality is only perceptible to the observant viewer and listener. In M, the shadow metaphor has become secondary to the metaphors of reflection and sound. Shadows only appear infrequently. For instance, when Beckert leaves his home, he is followed by his shadow, a constant and quite visible reminder of his irrational psychosis. Later in the film when Schrà ¤nker and his band of criminals plan to trap the murderer, the camera moves from them to their shadows on the wall, depicting their transformation from a group of individuals to a retributive force, sort of vigilantes, which by its organization is able to capture the murderer. The most effective use of shadow in the film undoubtedly is at the beginning of the film when the shadow of the perpetrator falls across the poster describing his previous murders, at the same time his voice addressing the little girl, Elsie. The juxtaposition of the visual and the aural helps in the unraveling of the plot and is used as a device for placing the viewer on a level of knowledge or awareness exceeding that of any of the characters (including Beckert himself, who it is implied, is unaware of his condition). Even though the killer appears to be harmless, Lang informs the viewer very blatantly the shadow as killer and the girl as the victim. In Jungian terms, the shadow of Beckert is the actual killer. The shadow is used to establish Beckerts villainy. Later in the film, when he makes his first appearance he is shown inspecting himself in the mirror, probably trying to come to terms with his own predicament and grasp the reality, which he seemingly fails to perceive. What the viewer sees is two Beckerts, comparable to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where at times Dr. Jekyll loses complete control over himself and the monstrous Mr. Hyde takes over his person. In a later shot, Beckert does get to know of his own reality when he becomes the marked man and sees the letter M imprinted on his overcoat in a glass reflection. Lang has reinforced the shadow and the mirror images by sophisticated sound, where it complements and supplements the visuals. The oft cited example here would the voiceover commentary during the scenes of police investigation: the voice of the police commissioner giving an overall explanation to the minister about the police actions that are seen. Sound, however, is also used to contradict the visual image, communicating a real threat to an apparent tranquility. In one sequence a little girl walks alone along a street, apparently safe. Had M been a silent film, the danger to the girls life might have been shown by an ominous shadow pursuing her. Instead, Lang replaced that with Beckerts characteristic whistling tune. As soon as the girl meets her mother, the whistling stops, the silence signifying the girls actual safety. However, the shadow and the chiaroscuro element never entirely disappeared, even though it was replaced by a more realistic lighting. The shadow was incorporated into American cinema as an element of film noir where it became an emblem of the criminal unknown. Fritz Langs Metropolis (1927) is one of his most well-known and widely recognized films of all times. It has either been termed the silliest film or the most unique and remarkable spectacle ever shown on screen, but the reaction or response towards it has at all times been extreme. Widely acknowledged as a bravura display of film craftsmanship, it has also been equally denounced as unbearably trivial, naÃÆ' ¯ve sentimental and even fascist. Some of the problems raised by the narrative structure of Metropolis stem from the fact that much of the original version of the film is missing. Nevertheless, it marks a significant moment in the history of cinema and represents a culmination of Langs early style. Metropolis began with a segment which appeared totally expository, having, however a definite function in the narrative. Langs film begins with a depiction of the totally alienated condition of the workers, their lack of control over their own conditions of existence. This lack marks the workers as the films first subject or hero (as a collective unit) although their function as a performer of a set of operations changes throughout the course of the film. The dichotomy between machine/self-movement and Machine/Human is highlighted in this segment of the film, which is to form an important device in the narrative structure. The notion of space is central and his definition of all narrative events as some sort of real or attempted transfer of an object is accompanied by or imply a special discontinuity. This happens in the second segment of the film when Maria, as subject, takes a group of children (the object of value) to the pleasure garden in the upper level from the worker city. Sh e is forced to leave and this unit of narrative is ended by the failure of this attempted transfer. This narrative unit may seem isolated but is not unconnected with the narrative as a whole, as through it another hero is created in the form of Freder, whose main aim would be to return these children to the upper level. In this segment itself, Freder realizes his own lack of knowledge of the workers and he descends to the machine rooms to observe the workers and witness the accident at the central power room. This however, constitutes his first stage of acquisition of knowledge. This portion of the narrative ends with him leaving the space of conflict to return to the upper level with his knowledge. When Freder returns to the upper city, the residence of the ruling class, he attempts to give his father, John Frederson, his understanding of the workers condition. But Frederson, in this segment, being the anti-hero/anti-subject/traitor prevents the transmission of this knowledge. Fred erson is the subject of another story in which the object of desire is the control of the workers. Another lack is revealed when Freder discovers a map in the pocket of the dead worker- the lack of the rulers knowledge of the maps and the workers intentions. From this point on, the object of desire for both father and son would be to seek knowledge in the catacombs, which would then enable them to function as hero and traitor in the later stages of the narrative. Knowledge will be acquired in stages all throughout the course of the narrative and so following the interview in Fredersons office, Freder descends to the machines and Frederson goes to see the inventor, Rotwang, each in search of a more adequate knowledge. The film shows the similarity with the use of parallel editing. Freder discovers the grueling effects of time and repeated effort by taking charge of the machine deserted by a failing worker. Frederson is shown the Robot by Rotwang, and mystery of the maps is deciphered partially which are revealed to be guides to the catacombs below the worker city. Parallels are established between these acquisitions of knowledge by intercutting. In the catacombs, the acquisition of knowledge is completed but this gives way to further problems; Frederson realizes he has no control over his workers while Freder comprehends his responsibility as a mediator. The new object of desire is Maria; she is desired by both as a means of obtaining another object, the workers, for their elimination (by the father) or their liberation (by the son). The abduction of Maria from the catacombs by Rotwang to his house and the confrontation between Freder and the scientist resulting in the latters victory over the former with the use of machinery, is replete with symbolism. Machinery, as a sign of evil, remains a constant throughout the film, and is always utilized by the traitors as a helping agent. Freder is denied access to Maria and her features are quite literally transferred to the Robot so as to transmit a false knowledge to the workers, deceive them and lead them astray. Transmitting false knowledge is the classic means of neutralizing power. The Robot Maria convinces the workers to act violently and turns them into traitors temporarily, allies of Frederson and Rotwang. The children, the metonymic representatives of the proletariat are left behind in the lower city. However, the deception of the workers is soon followed by the restoration of Freders power, by his acquisition of knowledge that Robot is not Maria. Subsequently Maria is released and destruction of the children is prevented by moving them to the upper city with the help of Freder and Joseph. The second abduction of Maria by the evil Rotwang is the final lack which is eliminated by the hero vanquishing the evil. At the end of the film, traitors are destroyed (Frederson is redeemed through his sons actions) and peace and balance restored. The heroes in the film are Freder, Maria and the workers while traitors are Frederson, Rotwang and the Robot. There is a tripartite division of the objects of value: the knowledge of the proletariat, the use of Maria, and the children of the workers who represent the proletariat as social entity. At the end of the film even though the children return to the pleasure garden their status is ambiguous; as a result of the accord reached between ruling class and the workers they would have to return to their original space. Thus the film reaffirms the social structure present at the beginning. The film can be divided into two dealing with political and scientific distinctions on the axis human/mechanical and with cultural and religious distinctions on the axis Christian/mystical-alchemical. The film starts with a montage comprising of several shots of stylized machines. This concludes with a shot of the whistle blowing indicating the end of the shift and the next shot shows the workers taking the elevators to go to the worker city. It is not only the machinery which is identified with the traitors as oppressors, but also the concept of time. Time is the measure of the repetitive effort required of the proletariat. In the pleasure garden Freder is essentially depicted as being out of vicious circle of time and is removed from all types of machinery. Also, out of the traitors, only Frederson, who would be transformed into a good man, is wholly human. Rotwang is part-human part-machine while the Robot is fully mechanical. There are other such examples all throughout the film- when the workers ply to and from work; they use the elevators, whereas when they need to descend to the catacombs, they do so on foot. Also when Freder, Maria and Joseph take the children to the upper level, they do so by purely human effort. Metropolis has heavy and significant allusions to religion. There is a consistent opposition present between the vague Christianity and the mystical and the alchemical, most evident in the connotations produced by Rotwang. He is portrayed to be some sort of a medieval sorcerer (his robot will be burned like a witch); compared to the archetypal Aryan appearances of Freder and Maria, the inventor looks distinctly Semitic. On his door and above his robot in his laboratory is a five-pointed star. He lives alone in a curiously distorted, old-fashioned house, set apart from the rest of the society. His science is occult and solitary. The Christian tradition is most apparent in Maria and Freder. While working in the circular machine, he clearly crucified at the hands of the clock face. Maria is undoubtedly Christian; in the catacombs while retelling the tale of the Tower of Babel, she is standing in front of a number of crucifixes and viewed reverently by the workers from below. Metropolis can also be analyzed on psychoanalytic terms. The oedipal aspect of the film is quite apparent. A three-member family is created with Frederson as the Father (leader of the society), Freder as the Son (representative of the workers) and Maria the Mother (spiritual creator of Freder and the workers/mother of the masses). Freder to negate and assume the power of the Father must have access to the Mother. This is achieved at the end of the film when the Father is stripped of his power (castration), and is seen kneeling in front of Freder, which is transmitted to the Son. Metropolis has not gone without criticism and Don Willis in his article has thoroughly bashed Lang for his overtly simplistic plot, going on to say that the spectacle seems almost incidental where the spectacle has been sacrificed to the message. He says of the film, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the eerie delicateness of this image of foreboding is betrayed by the crudeness of development of plot and characterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Barry Salt has been quoted in his text as stating that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Langs film is not even much of an improvement in craftsmanship, despite the several years of development there had been in film technique elsewhere. The rave reviews that the film opened in Germany are dismissed as sensationalistic. The position of an author is defined by the relationship which he maintains with his characters. In the film, one form of this relationship rests on the systems of vision which the pictures reveal: how the author fragmentarily indicates and encloses the viewpoint of his characters within the continuity of his own viewpoint constitutes the viewpoint of the film. Lang allows ambiguity to hover over the relationship which unites character and director in the vision. He is showing that only a well-crafted device can precisely situate a viewpoint, which the vision of the real alone cannot, or he is deliberately moving to a symbolic level, which results in distancing the author from the characters even more. The author defines himself by his point of view towards the objects he unveils. This point of view is manifest in the first place by the distance at which the camera is held. With Lang, it seems to be vivid or in a disguised manner. There are innumerable formal and thematic references, configurations which come into play from film to film and organize the enigmatic web of Langian knot-work. Hence, the sign, the token, around which the narration is organized, the significant object Lang always indicates with a close-up which is the first easily located link between the chain of shots and the thematic chain. The generally intensified demarcation of space disrupts the viewpoint in order to lead it to its more rightful place which carries to an extreme, in cinematographic space, dialectic of subject and object finding its origin in German cultural tradition and its achievement in the fundamental materialism of industrial civilization. This subject-object game, when divided, provokes the eye, making an incredible fissure in Langs films. Lang bases the possibility of his narrative on the richness and the perversity of oppositions. It is the logical outcome of writing and vision. Lang keeps the point of view in perpetual hesitation; for the event, whether it is foreshad owed or already occurred, always seems linked to something else. There is an incessant disequilibrium and abstract waiting which marks all of Langs films. Lang plays with counter-shots and at times tends to lose sight of his narrative, obscuring his characters. There is a subtle defeat in his films, which is revealed by the impossibility of the closed system. His films are extremely dense; in every shot, a writing unfolds which is strictly defined and structured, a part of the larger picture. Thus, by distancing himself from his films, Langs works always seem to be in the process of creating itself.

Synesthesia :: Biology Medical Medicine Research

In the mornings, my cat often takes up a post on my chest. His presence is heralded by a chirpy meow and four quarter-sized points of pressure where his feet make contact; as he relaxes, he settles into a loud, rhythmic purr, and the pressure of his 16 pounds is more evenly distributed across my ventral torso. If I'm slow to open my eyes, he reaches out a paw and gently pricks my face with his claws †¹ enough to make an impression but not do real damage. When I do open my eyes, I see the triangles of his ears, the dense, velvety blackness of his fur and the sheen of his nose; his yellow irises are thin rings around his dilated pupils in the dim, early light. Suppose I experienced all of those sensations up to the point of opening my eyes †¹ the pressure of my cat's weight and the pricks of his claws, his meowing and his purr †¹ and then I opened my eyes to the absence of any visual evidence of a cat. I'd be confused and disoriented, and if the tactile and auditory stimuli continued, probably panicky. A fundamental reworking of how I understand the world would be necessary to account for an invisible cat. Now suppose that the next time I heard guitar music, I failed to perceive a soft brushing sensation around my ankles. It would not bother me a bit. But for Carol Crane, a guitar that didn't affect her ankles might provoke the same sort of confusion and anxiety an invisible cat would induce in me. To Crane, the ankle-brushing sensation has always been an integral part of guitar music, just as violins always act upon her face and trumpets on the back of her neck. Crane has a rare condition called synesthesia, in which a stimulus usually perceived in one sensory modality produces a sensation in one or more other sensory modalities. (1). Synesthesia has many forms †¹ synesthetes may taste shapes or feel odors, for instance, or perceive alphanumeric characters in particular colors. Synesthetic perceptions are involuntary and are reliably triggered by the phenomena that induce them. They are also consistent over time for a given synesthete; that is, a true synesthete for whom the musical note E produces a percept of red triangles on a field of yellow will invariably experience that sound that way.

Automotive Body Repairer Essay -- essays research papers

Automotive Body Repairer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Auto body repairers Are highly skilled craftspeople who repair damaged automobile and truck bodies, restores body metal to the original contours, and replaces non-repairable body parts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I chose automotive body repairer for my report because I like to deal with cars and I enjoy performing hands-on activities. I like the hands-on and mechanical operation of this career. Automotive body repairer is in the Industrial and Engineering Iowa pathway.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The National Employment and Outlook of this career is currently stable. However the employment rate is expected to rise with the amount of automobiles that are lighter weight and that are more easily damaged when in a collision. As the number of motor vehicles in operation grows with the Nation’s population, the number damaged in accidents will also increase. Automobile body repairers normally work an eight hour day, five days a week. They are quite often paid according to the job. In the United States, the middle 50% of all workers earn between $15,600 and $31,200.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One to two years of postsecondary training is needed. Most of the employers would rather higher a person who has completed formal training in automotive body repair. For skill in all areas of body repair, it will usually require three to four years of on-the-job training. Employers want employees that know how to handle the tools...

The Joy Luck Club :: essays research papers

Tradition Lives On   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, is a book that compiles stories of the lives of Chinese women that were raised in China and became American citizens. These women formed the â€Å"Joy Luck Club,† which was a small group that discussed their homeland and troubles, but still enjoying the treasures of food and each other’s company. Each section of the book is written from the point of view of the character. The book continues on with the stories of these women’s daughters, telling stories of their lives being raised by mothers who were immigrants, and dissolving into American society. Chinese mothers try to pass on their values, instincts, and intuitiveness on to the second generation. Great fortune has come to the members of the Joy Luck Club through their hardships, and they only want their daughters to understand what it takes to succeed in life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Joy Luck Club ladies were all friends who over time have formed blissful lives for themselves in America. All of the daughters in this book were raised with high expectations, even the mothers while they were in China. This is contrary to an overall idea that girls in China were not a great commodity to their parents. Each member of the Joy Luck Club was a mother that only wanted their own daughters to understand why they should be respectful of their Chinese culture and grateful for their American opportunities. Waverly Jong, daughter of Lindo, was raised in Chinatown and her mother taught many lessons to â€Å"raise them out of circumstances.† (Tan, 90) Lindo thought the best combination was â€Å" American circumstances and Chinese character.† (259) The women of the Joy Luck Club were competitive amongst each other when it came to their children’s successes. Jei-Mei (June) Woo’s mother wanted her to be a chess prodigy like Waverl y Jong, or become a Chinese Shirley Temple. Jei-Mei’s mother, Suyuan, wanted her daughter to be a Chinese version of the epitome of American culture and the â€Å"perfect child† during the 1950s. Chinese mothers even go to great extents to instill their values into their children. The family of An-mei Hsu in China and Lena St. Clair’s mother, Ying-Ying, both would make up stories to make a moral to a story, to put fear into their daughters and detour them from trouble. Avoiding trouble is also an instinct for the Chinese. Their natural instincts tell them when something will not go well.

Multinational corporations Essay

Different writers are motivated by different things in their writing. In most cases life experiences, witnesses and exposure acts as a driver that urges one to enlighten the rest of the community about a given issue. In his book â€Å"Next Stop Reloville† Peter Kilborn, focuses on a special segment of people among the families that move in order to maintain or keep their job. These are the families that represent the middle and the upper management and they are described on the impact of their movement on the dynamics the family. Throughout his approach, he focuses on the aspects of the families’ lives and its relationship to their movement. For instance he provides one of the reasons relating to their movement to be due to the pressure to comfort where families seek new homes in new neighborhoods due to high resale value of the present homes. This thus creates discomfort to the families and hence they get thrilled to look for new homes outside their present locations. Kilborn therefore, takes us into the interior parts of America to see the lives of the American Relos and thus showing how the existing pressures and their effect on their own families and also the whole American community. The Relos that Kilborn describes include first the hard striving class that is continuously migrating in the suburbs of Dallas and Atlanta and also the expatriate villages of Bombay and Beijing. He shows the costs and the loneliness issues that engulf their lives and also he notes how the free fall in the housing prices affects their movement hence making them less mobile (Kilborn, 2009, 31). The Relos’ ways of life is seen to have a negative effect on the affected communities. They do not plan to stay for a long duration of time and because of this they do not get involved in any charitable causes, but on the other hand they have an effect on the real estate. Since they do not bother in bargaining and the fact that their employees keep money for their move, they are prone to driving the home prices up. Therefore, as they move from state to state they create a portable culture that has an effect in the American society at large. The effect of the Relos on the American society can be seen on the case of the subdivisions of Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Dallas. This is where there is an unusual similarity in the houses layout. There are some little houses that cost a million dollars and above and the fact about this place is that no one lives in them for about three to four years. This place represents the home of the Relos where there is the existence of the middle level growing companies. Their existence depends on those willing to uproot their families for the sake of professional success thus living in a social class of insecure and travelling families. The families are driven by one person who is usually the father of the house. There is an experienced movement of people from home due to the change in economy and as many places becomes industrial centers. Many parents are prone to giving their family ties and move to town to remain as a single unit. As the Relos keep on moving, their family becomes unable to move with them thus leading to their separation from their families (Kilborn, 2009, 38). There are also some broader effects of this kind of lifestyle on the American society. The Relos shape and define the neighborhoods as they exert the multiplier effect on the face of the local communities. This is done by their acts of buying and selling homes within a small duration of less than three to four years thus providing better business for the home owners by selling to the people who come to stay in the town. The issue of homes brings about many effects on the public policy. Some of the effects of this include the insufficiency of the walk-able downtowns, the exclusion of the high income and low income housing, and the high degree of segregation of income. There is also a reported degree of the effects on the isolation of poverty in the United States. This is because they are known to be the well paid personalities of many of the international companies who sometimes collect markets that offer transportation facilities for the employers into multinational corporations. They take up the larger portion of the America’s national income thus promoting poverty. Therefore, the Relos have so far been blamed for the increase in the increase in the prices of houses in towns thus affecting the American citizens’ ability to live and pay for the houses at their prevailing normal prices. They are also being blamed for increasing the level of poverty in the country by taking most of the jobs that should have remained for the non-relocating citizens who are in contact with their families (Kilborn, 2009, 76). On the side of the family structure, there has been experienced a breakdown in the family ties thus leaving the families leading a loneliness life which is unsecured by the family members. Finally, the political structure of the American community is being affected due to the instability of the family structures. All these circumstances are being supported from the author’s views on the Relos life in the United States. Bibliography Kilborn, Peter, T. 2009. Next stop, Reloville: Life Inside America’s new Rootless Professional Class. New York: McMillan Publishers

Observation Checklist Essay

Philosophy on Education is the belief that the passion to learn, the commitment to succeed, and the motivation to try, is the passage through the core values that a teacher instills to a student, as learning becomes a way of guidance that encourages pupils to improve. It is an educator’s duty to provide an environment that exhibits a multitude of ways for children to engage in the process of learning. When I was a young child, I always wanted to show people the things I have learned through my family, friends, manuals, and teachers. Then, I entered the field of teaching, where I was able to present to an audience of children, various techniques in reading, writing, and arithmetic under the auspices of the head teacher. Let alone, I wanted to help those whom where much more challenge than others. This interest has catapulted me towards the beginning of my career in education. The journey through my past experiences as a teacher assistant foreshadowed my teaching styles. Under the auspices of the certified staff, I was given the opportunity to work in a population that requires an extra bit of patience. In formulating my approach to each class lesson, there was a need to implement hands-on learning as the basis for each work session. An adulating engagement with the student, while promoting encouragement, and confidence in taking tasks has its role in part with the learning process. Once the student becomes self sufficient, then the teaching has effectively accomplish its role. Furthermore, the importance of a teacher making assessments on a student’s capabilities is vital to facilitating education. In the successful grasping of an academic material and its content, being able to have rapport with the students to gain better understanding of their capabilities should intertwine directly with each learning style. Fostering a positive teaching environment requires that the student receives an invitation to participate in a friendly atmosphere. As a proclamation, there should be willingness for each student to express themselves with an utmost pride towards their work and success. In conclusion, my goal as a teacher is to provide to in each and every student with the necessary skills and knowledge so they could succeed on their own. I want to leave a memory of myself as teacher who was not afraid to roll up the sleeves to help another student in any way and influenced others to do the right thing. My colleagues recall me a teacher who regularly participates and who was active to contribute assistance to the school community.

Ghosts with Sh!t jobs

The narrative follows a couple who majored in robotics, a digital Janitor, a human spam-bot, and two silk-collecting brothers. The couple who majored in robotics work as baby assemblers in Canada for the rich Asian families overseas. I found this aspect of the film interesting because something as essential as a baby is fabricated and made a commodity, not unlike the current relationship between North America and Asian countries and the fabrication of essentials like clothing, vehicles, and food.The director draws attention to the current situation in Asia through the contrast of the real world and Morrison's fabricated world. The digital Janitor draws attention to the mass censorship of media and the control that governments have over their countrys access to information. This Janitor enters the digital past-world through a virtual reality interface and blocks out any advertisements or sensitive information that his Asian superiors would not like shown to the public.Here Morrison to uches on aspects of todays society like the privatization of information, centralizing control, nd the actions that our governments take to ensure that protection of information and reinforce control. I found that the human spam-bot, (employed by a Nigerian â€Å"spam cartel†) was the ultimate representation of a pop-up or advertisement that we today are so irritated by. However, the slick manner in which she advertises correlates with todays marketing and advertising firms' strong motives to deceive and manipulate the consumer.Morrison takes a very interesting approach to filmmaking and narrative in general s he has completely flipped the economic and business world of today. I found that the multiple narratives gave the viewer a sense of depth and more solid understanding of what is happening today between North America and Asia with regard to economical power and the distribution of products and resources. For the art world, this film looks to the future of societies on an international level, and gives viewers the opportunity to experience life in a different light through the film itself. Ghosts with Sh! t jobs By goremancer