Being Wasteful

Being Wasteful   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What being wasteful means to me is not using what you have or been given in a proper way. When I think of someone being wasteful, I think of someone that buys clothes and never wears them and just keeps buying new. Another way I think of being wasteful is by not eating your food that you are given or buy and having to throw it away. I also believe you can be wasteful with your finances. The first way I feel that someone can be wasteful is by buying clothes and never wearing them. To have a closet or floor full of clothes and to only wear the same three outfits every week is wasteful.My friend Andrea has this habit; she will say she has to go buy a new outfit to go to work in. She will then go to the mall, spend hours picking out this outfit, and take it home to put it in her closet and end up never wearing it. She has approximately twenty outfits still with tags on them that she has never worn. After she decides she doesn ’t want them or won’t wear them, she won’t take them back because she states â€Å"I’m going to wear them someday. † This to me is just being wasteful. I believe it is wasteful because she is buying clothes she does not need, and she is wasting money. Another way I think of being wasteful is with food.If you go spend the money on the groceries you need to cook meals or a dinner, and then decide that you don’t want to have it, but then never do anything with that food and it spoils and you have to throw it out, that is being wasteful. In addition, if you put so much food on your plate and do not eat it and then have to throw it in the trash, that is being wasteful. My daughter Kaytlyn has a very bad habit of thinking she is hungrier than she actually is, and once she starts eating before she even gets close to being done, she has to throw part of it away. Then not even an hour later she will want to come ask for a snack.We argue a lot about t his; I tell her to start out with smaller amounts, and then if she is still hungry to go back and get more. Another example of being wasteful with food is I will make dinner and have leftovers in the fridge. After several nights of cooking, we take and have a leftover night, and no one wants to eat the leftovers. I get very aggravated with this, because if no one eats the leftover that means this food is being thrown away, leading to more food and money is being wasted. Last is being wasteful with money. Being wasteful with money is thinking you have to spend every penny you have just ecause it is there. My son Austin is very bad about being wasteful with his money. He will buy whatever he wants like LED flashing lights for the inside of his truck that he believes makes it look cool, and he will not take a second look at what he may need in the future. He also has the habit of wasting his money on gas. The example I have for this is he will drive to a friend’s house, then bac k home to grab something, and then drive back to the same friend’s house. He would not be being wasteful if when he was ready to leave, he would grab everything he needed for what they had planned.Then when something comes up that he needs money for he never has any and then wants to borrow from me. I tell him all the time, â€Å"Maybe you should not be so wasteful with your money and put some in the bank account you have. †   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The examples I have described are all ways I feel define being wasteful. I feel buying clothes you do not need, and are never going to wear, wasting food that you cook or put on your plate, and are not going to eat, and spending money just because you have it in your pocket, and not saving any money for future need are all examples of being wasteful.

Western Union Seeks East and Central African Market

‘WESTERN UNION SHIFTING FOCUS TO TRANSACTIONS WITHIN AFRICA. ’ INTRODUCTION This article under review is taken from the outlook section of The EastAfrican newspaper as for the dates between 19th to the 25th September 2011. It is a Q&A article with Western union’s present regional director southern and East Africa, Karen Jordaan. It was chosen in line with other online articles published two weeks prior that informed of the change in strategy being adopted by the global money transfer company in terms of their operations within the African continent. ARTICLE OVERVIEW With the ever growing number of immigrants standing at around 250 million globally with 30 million of these being from Africa and better still 19 million of them being migrations within Africa and with the ever growing number people moving within the East African region for leisure, business or seeking job opportunities, it was clear that the potential number of transactions within the region was increasing and Western union identifying this decides to apply their marketing mix in terms of place or location by changing their strategy by focusing on the East African region and the African continent as a whole. To cement their operation in the region, western union has taken to invest to train more agents to reach a wider population and enhance service delivery in the region. With over 23,000 locations in 50 African countries and only 3,600 of this being in the East African region, western union is facing a challenging ‘motor and brick’ situation where they have been unable to reach the 39 million Kenyans with most adopting informal ways of money transfer coupled with low penetration of mobile transfer in rural areas. The 700 locations in Kenya coupled with differing data as provided by the local government and international bodies has left western union without proper information of where to invest and that is why they are taking charge and repositioning themselves to grow in the regional market. Besides investing in their people to reach a wider population, they are also running promotions geared to stimulate local money transfer through their formal channels. Some of this are such as changes in pricing as seen in the charges if $1. for transactions between Kenya and Uganda aimed primarily at the foreign students learning there across the other east African region. Articles implication on the economy and general business environment. The move by western unions displays a lot of marketing characteristics that are bound to affect the economy positively. Western unions newly defined market or constituency of potential customers who are willing and able to engage in exchange will drive economic deve lopment up in terms of the pace of doing business due to western union agents offering more places to access their services. This can bring about more investment in the region with the three countries recording a strong balance of trade and balance of payment statements. The economy stands to benefit from the fact that a lot of unrecorded transactions or ‘black market economy transactions’ are avoided realizing a situation where the government is able to raise more money through proper taxation of all transacted amounts. The expansion of western unions outreach will prove to provide and facilitates   inter? ersonal   transactions,   it   could   improve   the   allocation   of   savings   across   households   and   businesses   by   deepening   the   person? to? person   credit   market. This   could   increase   the   average   return   to   capital,   thereby   producing   a   feed? back   to   the   level   of   saving and by   making   transfers   across   large   distances   trivially   cheap, western uni on could   improves   the   investment   in,   and   allocation   of,   human   capital   as   well   as   physical   investment. Households   may   be   more   likely   to   send   members   to   high? aying   jobs   in   distant   locations   (e. g. ,   the   capital),   either   on   a   permanent   or   temporary   basis,   and   to   invest   in   skills   that   are   likely   to   earn   a   return   in   such   places   but   not   necessarily   at   home. Electronic funds transfer as offered   could   bring a situation that affect   the   ability   of    individuals   to   share   risk. Informal   risk? sharing   networks   have   been   found   to   be   an   important,   although   not   fully   effective,   means   by   which   individuals   spread   risk,   making   state? ontingent   transfers   among   group   members. By   expanding   the   geographic   reach   of   these   networks,   western union   may   allow   more   efficient   risk   sharing,   although   the   risk? reducing benefits   might   be   mitigated   due   to   issues   of   observability   and   moral   hazard   when   parties   are   separated   by   large  distances. Risk? related effect arises if western union facilitates timely transfer  of small amounts of money. Instead of waiting for conditions to worsen   to evels   that   cause   long   term   damage,   western unions money transfer  might  enable   support   networks to   keep   negative   shocks   manageable. For example a   household   head   with   access   to   money transfer   who   suffers   a   mild   health   shock   might receive   a   small   amount   of   money   via any western union agen t   that   allows   him   to   keep   his   children   in   school. If   this   money   was   delayed,   or   the   sender   waited   until   the   recipient   Ã¢â‚¬Å"really   needed   it†,   the   children   might   have   quit   school,   the   effects   of   which   may   be   hard   to   reverse. Money received through such electronic channels as western union might and   could most likely   conceivably   alter   bargaining   power   and   weaken   incentives   within   households   or   other   networks. Economically   weaker   family   members   might   expect   larger   and   more   regular   remittances   from   better? off   city? dwelling   relatives,   who   themselves   might   find   it   hard   to   justify   not   sending   money   home. This   could   weaken   incentives   for   rural   household   members   to   work   or   innovate,   offsetting   some   of   the   efficiency? nhancing   benefits   of   improved   geographic   labor   allocation   and   risk   sharing. Money received by certain households   could   have   the   effect   of   empowering members   who   have   traditionally   had   less   bargainin g   power,   in   particular   women. Especially   among   poorer   segments   of   the   population,   remittances   and   transfers   received   (and   sent)   via   western union are   less   visible   than   those   transmitted   by   other   means,   such   as Delivery by a friend or relative. Granted   this   information   advantage,   recipients   could   be   in   a   position   to   keep   more   of   the   funds   they   receive. Evidence   suggesting   the   spending patterns   of   women   and   men   differ   then   implies   that   the   advent   of   western union along other electronic fund transfers   could   have   real   effects   on  the   allocation   of   household    Spending. Articles implication on the market competitiveness. The article address the strong link between marketing and strategy whereby in the marketing strategic mapping of western union, after defining their marketing objectives they carried out a SWOT analysis of their current structure realizing that the potential of the growing east African market is only hindered by the lack of agents within the region. It is this that led them to the need to build competitive marketing strategies that involves segmenting, targeting and positioning themselves closer to their target market. Western union strategy has been seen to change its marketing mix within the region interms of price, place, promotion and its people (agents) though retaining most of its product offering and process. The case analysis its presence in the east African region and business position across its countries of operation though not highlighting much of its distinct competences and competitive advantage with its rival companies such as money gram and the new threat that has been brought about by mobile money transfer systems such as m-pesa and tangaza that have a close to 49% penetration rate due to the high adoption of mobile phones across the region over the last nine years. Western unions improved agent presence is a threat for moneygram which is still operating locally through banking and financial institutions as agents and with increased presence has the distinct advantage of eating into the market share of moneygram due to better presence that is key in such a service driven industry. Presence means access to more people within more regional blocks meaning more transactional volumes for the organization. In terms of whether or not it will be able to able to make a dent on a hold a share of the mobile money transfer market is a question of wait and see. This is due to the fact that the regions for penetration have not being clearly addressed to weigh such factors as to the access of mobile phones and subsequent mobile money transfer penetration, though western union distinct advantage over the regions mobile transfer market is that it can transact across boarder within the east African and central African region unlike m-pesa and the like which have had long standing operational battles on their limitations with central bank and other formal banking institutions, though all in all westerns union change of strategy to better serve the region will bring along with it changes in marketing tactics for established and potential new operators in the money transfer industry.

Writer's choice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Writer's choice - Assignment Example accordance to this topic, the paper will examine the global influence of Bollywood: the Indian film industry and the role of music in Bollywood films. The research question posed in this paper is; what is the impact of music in Bollywood films in the global film landscape? Bollywood do not incorporate any western content as they provide an explicit reflection of the Indian culture. For decades, Bollywood films were of little interest to the world outside the Indian subcontinent. However, this has changed in recent years as it stands as a popular culture in the dance and music sense. The song and dances are parallel to the plot as they help progress the theme of the films. The paper will examine a variety of arguments provided by different scholars in the context of media globalization. The case can be analyzed from a number of frameworks. In understanding the reverse flow created by Bollywood films, it is imperative to consider Bollywood expansion strategy based on its domestic and international consideration. Bollywood has continued to maintain international influence regardless of the fact that most of its films are in the Indian language. . The musical aspect has proved to work as they help the viewer grasp the abstract ideas in an even way. For this reason, Bollywood has expanded overseas due to the great appeal generated by music. For decades, Bollywood films were of little interest to the world outside the Indian subcontinent. However, this has changed in recent years as it stands as a popular culture in the dance and music genre. The global reach is fuelled partly by the large audience fascinated by the unique integration of dance and music in films. Rai is an Indian scholar who has contributed immensely in the field of media globalization. He is renowned for his contribution in cultural studies of south Asia. Rai once served in the media advisory board of India. Additionally, the author has contributed immensely in a number of forums that sought to

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Personal Ethical Statement - Assignment Example My blind spot, according to the inventory, is the belief that my motives will always justify the methods. Most of the time I fail when it comes to accountability; I have always placed my demands and needs first and I do not care explaining to those who depend on me so long as my needs are satisfied. In addition, sometimes I become complacent and leave many problems unsolved intentionally. People around me always get upset because I always focus on my own motives and ignore the obvious problems around us. My strength lies balancing my entrepreneurship with my responsibilities. I strongly value autonomy since I am self-reliant and accountable to my community. Thus, I avoid being rigid, stick to the usual duties and attempt to follow my dream whenever I get the slightest opportunity. On the other hand, my weakness is becoming greedy or judgmental in my expectations of others. Thus, I am always quick to criticize and label others unethical whenever my coworkers do not meet their job targets or rather fulfill their responsibilities. My values, as per this inventory are sensible and rational. I am a person with the full potential when it comes to finding solutions to societal problems. Managing a personal business is what I want to pursue because this inventory have taught me how to relate with people, regardless of age, social status, sex or race. I have bigger dreams that would benefit my community but in the meantime, working on my weaknesses is my priority since it will shape who I

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Current Strategy of Ikea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Sleep in ICU setting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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Bret Harte Essay Example for Free

Bret Harte Essay The United States has some of the best literature that has ever been written. American literature is very well refined and unique from other countries. In the writing world, American literature has not even been around that long. The past 337 years that America has been a country is relatively short compared to the thousands of years that literature has existed. The many great American writers are what make American literature able to overcome its short lifespan and be one of the greatest countries for literature in the world. From Washington Irving to Mark Twain, American authors are responsible for American literature’s current amazing state. One certain author played an especially important role in shaping a specific genre in American literature. Bret Harte is the man responsible for making the Western genre of literature popular. His stories are captivating. Bret Harte was able to contribute to the rise of American literature by shaping the Western genre so that other authors may adapt to his new style of writing, and by writing some of the most memorable stories of all time, such as â€Å"The Outcasts of Poker Flat. † Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York, on August 25, 1836. He was raised as one of his family’s four children. Harte was very ill from ages six to ten, which gave him free time for reading (Franks 829). This time for reading had a great influence on Harte, giving him blocks for him to build on in his writing career. He was especially affected by the writings of British author Charles Dickens (Franks 829). His family was so poor, that they were unable to afford for him to finish school (Franks 829). When his father died in 1845, Harte and his family moved to Brooklyn. When his mother became engaged again, he and his family moved to Oakland, where his mother was married. His family was still very poor though. These times of hardship were also very influential on his writing. He was able to understand difficult struggles, thus making the problems that his characters face in his stories more interesting. He connected with his characters in many ways when they would experience times of hardship. His time in Oakland is what made him such a great â€Å"Western† writer. It made writing about the Wild West natural for him. Harte then moved to Union, California, but was run out of town after publishing a newspaper story about local white men slaughtering Indians. Harte married Anna Griswold, and they had four children together. They lived together in San Francisco, where Harte wrote most of his popular stories and became quite famous. During the height of his popularity, he signed a contract with The Atlantic Monthly for $10,000 for 12 stories a year, the most money then offered to a U. S. writer (â€Å"Hutchinson’s†). His fame led to his stories becoming even more popular, but it would also go to his head. The main genre used in most of Harte’s stories is the â€Å"Western†. According to The New Encyclopedia Britannica, the â€Å"Western† is defined as â€Å"an original genre of novels and short stories, motion pictures, and television and radio shows that are set in the American West, usually in the period from the 1850s to the end of the nineteenth century,† (598). An average Western story was about a cowboy fighting Indians or a sheriff catching a bad guy, but Harte made his special. Of those stories, one of the most popular is â€Å"The Outcasts of Poker Flat. † This story is about a group of people who are kicked out of their town for being â€Å"bad† people. They set up camp together and attempted to work with each other to stay alive. The group experiences many setbacks, including a member betraying them, a long snowstorm, and a shortage of food. While the reader watches the story unfold, he or she starts to see that these people really are not that bad, and perhaps they did not deserve this punishment. This story is very different from the traditional Western stories. In â€Å"The Outcasts of Poker Flat,† Harte is able to make criminals seem like good guys. Usually a â€Å"Western† is about a perfect main character, who stops the bad guys; but in this story, the main characters are some of the worst people in the town. His is also different from traditional â€Å"Westerns† in the way that it does not have any guns. When most people think of a â€Å"Western,† they think of guns, but Harte was able to change that. He wrote a story with no guns at all, and it is able to focus more on the characters and their feelings, rather than action and violence. Harte goes far beyond the ordinary way of writing with this story. In the opening paragraph of â€Å"The Outcasts of Poker Flat,† Harte writes: As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker Flat on the morning of the twenty-third of November, 1850, he was conscious of a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air, which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous. (â€Å"The Outcasts of Poker Flat†) As is visible in this paragraph, Harte was a very descriptive writer. He was able to paint a picture in the reader’s mind and effectively set his story’s mood. The characters that Harte used in this story were very significant. As said by Abby H. P. Werlock, his characters included â€Å"the stoic gambler, the soft-hearted prostitute, the unthinking drunk, and the vigilante committee driven by personal interests and blinded by the passion of a moment† (Werlcok). All of these characters that Harte used are still seen in many Western stories today. In fact, they are quite typical in modern Western stories, but Harte was the one to come up with them. Shaping the Western genre and writing some of the most memorable stories of all time, such as â€Å"The Outcasts of Poker Flat,† was how Bret Harte was able to contribute to the rise of American literature. After Harte’s era, â€Å"Westerns† became much more popular. He forever changed American literature to be much more Western themed. Harte will always be remembered as one of the best authors of all time, and more specifically, the man who changed the way Western stories are written.

Analysis of the Swamp in Psycho

Analysis of the Swamp in Psycho Adrian Secter Murder, Candy and Chains: An Analysis of the Swamp in Psycho â€Å"Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.† Carl Jung Understanding a swamp is to understand what exists in shadow. Not the shadow of night or shroud, but that of the mute. The marginal. To know the scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho where Marion Crane’s corpse-filled car is disposed of, is to know the film. Bogs have always been a place in flux, the last remainder of a primordial ooze. They serve as a place where strange organisms, many of which cannot survive elsewhere, can breed and grow. The same holds true for ideas. For a man such as Norman Bates, the swamp affords him (and his mother) the luxury of anonymity. Removed from the scrutiny of dry land, the rigors of reality, Bates’ imagination does as swamp creatures do. It experiments, it mutates and most importantly, it uses its natural habitat to dispose of any outsiders who threaten it. Given that the absorptive nature of the swamp scene is both literal and metaphorical, Michael Fried’s â€Å"Absorption and Theatricality† readily lends itself to this analysis. While Fried ostensibly concerns himself with Denis Diderot and 18th century French paintings, the case he presents all but begs to be deftly applied to film. A plea heard anachronistically by Psycho. This 1960 film is replete with striking scenes, and indeed it could be argued that the movie is comprised entirely of such scenes. It is however, the alluded to â€Å"swamp scene† that is most pertinent. In this scene, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) hides the car that his most recent victim, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). After murdering Crane in her motel room and disposing of all the evidence thereof, Crane’s body and 1957 Ford remain. Cleverly vanishing both corpse and car, Bates wraps Crane in a shower curtain, dumps her in the trunk and rolls the car into a nearby swamp. All of this exposition appears fairly straightforward, and would be, were the film not directed by Alfred Hitchcock. With Hitchcock behind the camera, the scene is elevated beyond mere plot and into a realm worthy of Fried and analysis. The crucial point of this scene is that the only remaining proof of Crane’s murder, the car, does not go quietly into the swamp. In filming this descent of woma n, Hitchcock positions the car on a controllable platform, allowing him to adjust the speed with which the car is lowered into the murky gloom. The car is swallowed up, but only piecemeal. At first it proceeds smoothly, as the muddy waters seep into the front of the car. Then it stops. Half of a bone-white car still sticks out of the darkness. The trunk, with Crane inside, stares back at a watchful Bates. He stares back, munching on candy corn. The water finds its strength again and consumes more of the car. Then it stops. The trunk lies like a Nile crocodile, its back above the water. On the shore, Bates continues watching. At last, the water covers the trunk and its morbid contents. The camera lingers on the last bubbles, expiring as they flee towards the shore. With this knowledge of the scene itself in hand, it is now possible to delve deeper into the swamp. Fried begins â€Å"Absorption and Theatrically† with an explanation of the prevailing Rococo style which he neatly summarizes as being â€Å"exquisite, sensuous and intimately decorative†. Fried contrasts the ostentatious and often dull (an artistic combination of decided difficulty) Rococo style with its artistic antithesis, the return to imbuing paintings with absorptive qualities. Fried defines absorption as an â€Å"†¦.insistence on the unity of the painting and the insistence on the irrelevance of the beholder (Fried also reminds his readers that the effort to establish the unity of the painting must itself be understood as nothing but an effort to affect the beholder). Reading Fried with Hitchcock’s film in mind results in a fascinating adaptation of Fried’s explanation of relationship between Rococo and absorption. While cognizant of the perils analogies present, a careful cinematic examination of the dynamic between Rococo and Absorptive art sees a similar dynamic in the dynamic of the studio system and Psycho. Psycho follows in the artistic footsteps of painters such as Chardin and thus stands apart from the studio system of classical Hollywood films. On a very practical level, Psycho can also been seen as at odds with the prevailing system. In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Paramount contract guaranteed the studio another Hitchcock film (his previous Paramount film being Vertigo in 1958) but studio executives found Hitchcock’s latest proposal to be repugnant and refused to finance it. Undaunted, Hitchcock produced the movie in cost-cutting black white, using his own television production company and filming at Universal Studios. It is fascinating and relevant to note that reviews of Psycho were decidedly mixed, with the New York Times praising the horror movie’s depiction of â€Å"†¦the little details of ordinary life, a virtue in keeping with the lesser genres†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Or so it would have been had that quotation not pertained to a Baroque critique of Chardin in the 1730’s. Taking quote from art critics in the 18th century and applying them to the Salon of 1960 prompts an examination of the qualities of the film that are reminiscent of Chardin’s â€Å"Soap Bubbles† and thus it’s theatrical and absorptive qualities. The swamp scene is an excellent case study for this as the previously articulated manner in which it is constructed allows the beholder to become a subjective character within the scene. The technique used to achieve this are very similar to those used in â€Å"Soap Bubbles†. Fried identifies this the painters (or directors) â€Å"choice of a natural pause in the action which, we feel, will recommence a moment later†. The result of these choice is paradoxical, as Fried goes on to say that a static painting or a film’s (static in its celluloid repetition) â€Å"stability and unchangingness are endowed to an astonishing degree with the power to conjure an illusion of imminent or gr adual or even fairly abrupt change.† Within the scene currently under analysis, this paradoxical choice is further amplified by the unique way film as an artistic medium can be re-watched. Despite the fact that an aesthete can (and many do) return to a certain museum to view a particular painting as many times as they please, and the fact that viewing and watching are for all intents and purposes synonyms, it cannot and is not said that an individual who has gone to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa fifty times has â€Å"re-watched† the Mona Lisa, regardless of the pedantic truth of that statement. But film, and Psycho more pointedly, is a â€Å"re-watchable† form of art. It is not a petty quibble over semantics, but rather speaks to the manner in which knowing the inevitability of the outcome mutates the audience’s conscious viewing experience. When the swamp scene is watched for the first time, the viewer is struck with a tense and remarkable feeling. Despite just having witnessed the jarring murder of Crane in the infamously jarring shower, the audience finds itself wanting the car to go into the swamp. Hitchcock masterfully creates a situation of such deft tenseness that the audience is placed in the same mindset they have when watching a hero character disarm a bomb (always with one second left). The mastery of this scene is that it takes that expression of bomb-disarming relief and channels it for the benefit of a man who just brutally murdered a woman. A woman whose death has now been covered up, to the relief of the audience. In this crucial moment, the viewer does not want Bates to be caught. Upon re-watching the movie, and armed with knowledge of absorptive techniques, theatricality and French paintings of the mid-18th century, Hitchcock’s masterpiece offers up even more. Gazing (but never re-watching) paint ings such as Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s â€Å"La Pià ©tà © Filiale† with the Bates’ Motel’s swamp in mind, one realizes that they are lost in the scene because of the manner in which Norman absorbs himself in his task. Much like Greuze’s painting, wherein Fried says that â€Å"the primary emphasis is no on the variety and multiplicity of individual responses to a central event so much as on the merging of those response in a single collective act of heightened attention†, the audiences’ and Norman’s responses to the slow descent of a hearse into the swamp merge into an â€Å"act of heightened attention. Fried illustrates what is at the heart of the â€Å"absorptive state†. It creates and maintains a fiction, a fiction the beholder, the viewer, the audience, call it what you will does not exist at all. Both the family in Greuze’s painting and the candy-corn eating Bates are depicted in such a way that they not only forget themselves, they forget us too. Furthermore, there is a direct relationship between the degree to which the fiction of the viewer is omitted and the ability of the actual viewer to emerge themselves in the world of the art. In turn, the reality created by Greuze or Hitchcock sees more real because it seems to be, regardless of whether or not it is being beheld. But at the same time, the tension that manifests itself in aligning with Norman results from not being absorbed. This is in line with â€Å"Absorption and Theatricality† as the very same tension that absorbs the audience also results in the problems Fried makes out for Parisian salons in the 1750 and 60s’ when he says that the â€Å"illusion of negating the spectators presence creates both the absorption and the undermining of the images reality.† For the Salons, Fried makes the case that the fact that the absorption was being admired by critics made the illusion of negation increasingly difficult. However, for Psycho’s swamp scene, the latter effect serves to prod the viewer into realizing they were enthralled by the film’s antagonist, one who had dispatched the supposed protagonist not a third of the way through the film. It is fitting to being to draw this examination to a close the way that Hitchcock brings Psycho to a close. At the end of the movie, it is not the penetratingly insane stare of Norman Bates the audience is left with, but rather a shot of car being pulled out of the swamp with chains. It is only right that as the viewer was pulled into the film watching the car sink deeper into the swamp, that they should be returned to their world as the car is pulled out of the swamp. While Psycho may appear to conclude with a bland and straightforward explanation of Bates’ psychotic condition by a psychologist, appears can be, and frequently are deceptive. Receiving a medically valid reason behind the events that they have beheld is a poor balm on the confusion and terror they have absorbed. Hitchcock is fully aware of this and it is the primary reason why the film does not fade to black after the doctor’s rational explanation. The last fleeting moments of the film are reserved for the swamp. The re-introduction of the swamp, and the rising of the car, with all its macabre and money contents, raises introspective questions for the audience. While the police will undoubtedly open the trunk to find Marion and most of the stolen cash, the audience is faced with the prospect of opening their own conscious self to examination. Through the use of Michael Fried’s â€Å"Absorption and Theatrically† and a subsequent examination of the parallels between the Rococo and the studio, the absorptive and Psycho, this analysis has taken the crucial scene following Marion’s murder and used it demonstrate the manner in which the film’s audience becomes a subjective role in the film. The residual horror of the film is not merely the product of jarring murders but rather showcases the power of the absorptive technique in creating within the viewer shifting identification with the film’s characters. Ultimately, the audience is left with haunting questions regarding their own motives for things such as wishing the swamp would cover the car fully. And as the above analysis concludes, the answer can be a bit unsettling. But there is no need to upset. After all†¦ we all go a little mad sometimes.

The Semiotic Characteristics Of Religious Symbols

The Semiotic Characteristics Of Religious Symbols Abstract: symbols ,which are meaningful and imaginative, are widely used in western religion. Actually, religious symbols are not only signs, but also a picture which contains thousands of meanings. Semiotics gives us a channel to achieve our aims reading the thought of our ancestors. Key words: semiotics, religion, religious symbols, signs I.Introduction The origin of the religious symbols The brain, which is always interested in the environment, distinguishes us from ordinary animals. Humans always ask some questions about the world: who we are, why we live on this plant, where we go to after we dead, what the meaning of raining, flood, thunder, meteor is. Thousands of years ago, humans can not answer some of these questions scientifically. So it makes us to believe that there is a kind of powerful force controlled these things. Actually, to some extent humans create a belief system which can answer these questions by themselves. Humans derive an integrated symbol and sign system, which is used to represent our thought about the universe, from the belief system. Also the religious symbols belong to it. Actually, the origin religious symbols are totem. Lu Deping has give a very comprehensive definition in his paper Semiotic Interpretation of the Primitive Totems Totem is the marker for the primitive people to identify their social affiliation consciously. It also acts as the means for the primitive groups to define their existence from the empirical continuum or the environment mingled with them.(Lu Deping , 2004) Most of the totems are abstracted from the natural such as animals , plants, mountains and so on. The Chinese dragon, which is associated by more than ten kinds of animals, is a typical totem in Chinese history. Totems rate high in mythical discourses, religious rites, and some primitive paintings . Totems are treated as symbols which can connect humans with the mysterious power which is controlling the world. With the development of human society, thousands of years latter, the threaten and worship for the mysterious power promote us to trust that there are God or Buddha in the world. Then everything that we can not understand looks logical. God or Buddha can save us from disease, disaster and anything bad. Then totems change with the passing time. They become much simple and easy to be drawn or identification such as (Christian Cross), (Star of David), (Lotus Flower), ( Taiji). B. Difference between symbol and sign In our daily life, we always try our best to distinguish symbols and signs apart. However, it is hard to do this sometimes. In linguistics, semiotics and psychology, symbol and sign are equal with each other at most times. Symbol needs sign to allege itself, and also sign means the symbolic sign. In Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English (Sixth edition), it give us a definition of sign and symbol: sign is a mark which used to represent something, especially in mathematics. Also it means an event, an action, a fact that shows that something exists, is happening or may happen in the future .(A S Hornby. P1626).Symbol is defined as a sign, number, letter, etc. that has a fixed meaning especially in science mathematics and music.( A S Hornby.P1791) As you see in dictionary, symbol and sign almost have the same meaning. They can also mean something that indicates that something exists or may happen, but a sign is usually something that you may find or see, while symbol is usually insinuate. It is much more meaningful. For example, sign always gives us something simple and direct. it means enter forbidden. it means no turning left. On the other side, symbol is image or the underlying meaning behind the sign. For example , fire is the symbol of the sun and the male power, the spring flowers represent a new birth and new life. When we observe the world with symbol, maybe you feel that life become much more colorful and meaningful. In academic field, the argumentations about sign and symbol have never stopped . In all of which Saussure and Pierce are the representative of symbol in semiotics. Saussure position of symbol and sign is not definite. But in his Course in General Linguistics, he think that the word symbol is sometimes used to designate the linguistic sign, or more exactly the part of the linguistic sign which we are calling the signal.(Ferdinand de Saussure, 1986,p.68). But Pierce point out that everything is a sign. It defines three roles encompassing (1) the sign, (2) the signs subject matter, called its object, and (3) the signs meaning or ramification as formed into a kind of effect called its interpreting .(Charles Sanders Peirce by wikipedia). Peirce think that symbol belongs to sign . We can conveniently explain the semiotic phenomenon. For example, the shop signboard is a sign, The words or symbol is sign. The shop which represents is the object. At last ,the information of the words or symb ol is the interpreting. II.The relationship between religion and religion symbols No matter which kind of religion it is, in its early iterations, religion is expression by symbols. Before Gandhara time, there is no Buddhist Statue in Buddhism. People use the symbols such as the big banyan tree, pedestal, dharma-cakra and footmark and so on to represent some meanings. The same with Buddhism, the early Christianity also use a symbolistic way to extend its doctrines. For example, the Christian Cross represent Christ, The palm tree stands for a martyr. Fish is the symbol of Jesus. Peacock means this eternal soul within the body of every living entity is immortal; Interestingly most of the religions choose plants, animals, or abstract symbols to symbolize its doctrines. Religious symbols are also changed with the development of religion. Until now, the cross is often shown in different shapes and sizes, in many different styles. It may be used in personal jewelry, or used on top of church buildings. A. The importance of religion in western peoples eyes As we know, religions have a wide-ranging influence on social life in western country. They are concerns about law, politics, art, economy and science. It is a long time that law and religions have the same element: observances, traditions, authority and generality. Before the Middle Ages, or in the Middle Ages, in Rome the Church almost have control the country. Church has its own canon law. People are not only protected by the Natural Law, but also observe the canon law and be committed to the church, or they would be punished by the canon law. The canon law is formed by Bible, resolution of church meeting, Popes edict and Roman law. In the world of art, the religion have a far-reaching effect. One of the most famous painters, Da Vinci has painted some famous paint such as The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man, The Baptism of Christ and so on. Even though Da Vinci is regarded as a Christian. The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Perhaps you have known a best seller book named The Da Vinci Code . In the book , the writer has given as a new side to understand The Last Supper . He thinks that there is a big secret hidden in The Last Supper. It is about the Holy Grail which is an argument in Christianity. The writer also says Da Vinci incorporated in many of his Christian paintings hidden symbolism that was anything but Christian-tributes to his own beliefs and a subtle thumbing of his nose at the Church (Dan Brown,2003,p50) Although the viewpoint is not agree with most pursuers ,but I think Da Vince can not draw these works with any effects of religion. If you are a careful person or a politic enthusiastic, you may notice the inaugural speech of the USA. Almost all the presidents of American will say God bless you, God bless the United States of American . at the end of the speech. It is regarded as the most obvious example of the effect religion in politics. The incumbent president, Obama in his inaugural speech says We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers. To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. You can find that the disciples of religion are also the important source of votes. And the church also has a lot of social capital. Church can provide a lot of volunteers for community work. The church holds the non-governmental organization such as hospital, orphanage, and a homeless centre together. In fact, most of primary school in American are hold by church. Religion has a far-reaching influence in western peoples life. Ninety-five percent Americans are blamed he believes god. They may go to church every week and tell the god what they have done or what they want to do next week. Even more remarkable, Christian would pray before their meal in order to thank god for his mercy. When they face some problem or difficulties, they may beg god for power. Most Christians believe that they will go into heaven if they do something good., or they help god to punish evils. In western countries, there are also some festivals connected with religion. Christmas, Easter, All Saints Day are known by us. Christmas is the birthday of Jesus. It is the most important festival in western countries. The important use of the religious symbols during religious activities When we talk about religious symbols, we must understand what it is. In the front of my paper, I have given you the definition in the dictionary of symbol. But I think religious symbol have a little different with it. Religious symbols are a mark used as a token of something invisible. Religious symbols have a perpetual connection with the significance. They must respect a concept which is hard to deeply understand and hold in the round. As the understanding of religious symbols, Here, I want to point out three important use of them in religious activities. The first one is conveyance. In religious activities, religious symbols are treated as a paper. On the paper, the wish of us has been written . Colors have considered as a religious symbols. There are two groups of color in Christianity. The first group is red, white, green and blue. They are used to explain the hope of life, pure, peace and beautiful. The black, brown, grey and yellow are stand for danger, death and unclean. So you may find that in western countrys celebration of a marriage, the bridal dress must be white, and the pastor should wear a white or red shawl to bless the new couple. But in the funeral, the pastor may wear a black shawl to make a memorial speech. The religious symbols have been used us a way to send some information to others. Actually, the cathedral is not only a place for prayer, but also a symbol of religion. People prayed to god to keep their family from harm or forgive their crimes. Here god show his mercy to all of us. Then the cathedral has been tr eat as a refuge of our soul. It convey the order of the god to us and point out the way forward. The second is connection. During the religious activities, we often see the Christian to make the sign of the cross over so as to sanctify or devotion. Exactly, they think it is a way to communicate with god. When they make the cross, the soul is connecting with god. They will get the message from the god. On the other side, the cross is considered as the symbol of god. It is the God incarnate. They pray before the cross in order to inspire from the god and clean their soul. The third is decoration. The Christian Cross is often used on the top of the church. Firstly, it symbolize it is a church and its awfulness. But the second is decoration. Actually, religious symbols are widely used in religious building and arts. Cross, Rose and four colors which I have introduce to you in the front of my paper, are three kinds of common elements in Christian building. When you walk into a church, you may observe the window carefully. There are a lot of pictures on the window. Most of these pictures describe a story between pope and his knights. You can easily find that cross is used on the shield of knight and his cloth. Of course, most of pictures can not get through with color. Christianity likes to use white, blue, green and golden to decorate these pictures. There is one important plant in Christianity. The vines is to Christianity what lotus is to Buddhism. In Bible, there are a lot of story mentioned the vines For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. (Matthew, 20:1) So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. (Matthew, 20:8) And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?(Judges 9:13) There are some other place mentioned vines such as Isaiah 5: 1-7, Mark 12:1, Luke 20:9 and so on. That is why vines can be use on the wall of churchs building and the martyrs tomb. III.The semiotic characteristics of religious symbols In the front of my paper, we have analysis the religious symbols through the cultural semiotics and general semiotics. Actually, Semiotic has been divide into linguistic semiotics, general semiotics, cultural semiotics. Religious symbols are various in forms and rich content. They are full of or characterized by semiotic meaning. A. The characteristics of semiotics We should analysis the status and influence of contemporary semiotics in two aspects: surface and substance. On the face of it, Semiotics has been not an independent subject. The achievements in scientific research are not noticeable and some of the achievements are lack of quality. Judging by substance, semiotics has been widely used in most of the humanities. More and more celebrated scholars be engaged in semiotics research. The phenomenon reflects the exuberant vitality of semiotics. In Li Youzheng book-Introduction to Theoretical Semiotics, the writer introduce the complex of Semiotics. Mostly ¼Ã…’my opinion is also based on this book.In Introduction to Theoretical Semiotics, the write definite the semiotics like this Semiotics is a subject which analyzes sign, semiosis or the function of sign. (Li Youzheng, 1996.p.2) and symbol is belong to its study. So as far as I am concerned, Semiotics has three marked characteristics. Firstly, Semiotics has a long history. Posner has divided it into six types: Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient and Middle Age, Middle Age western semiotics history, the modern western, the contemporary western, The concept of non-Western notation history. (Historical and Theory, a Journal Chinese, 1988.P116-117). The history of semiotics is tracked back to 3000 B.C. But until the 60th age, the semiotics is treat as an independent discipline, which emerges in French, American and Soviet. Secondly ¼Ã…’Semiotics is a complicated and broad science. Li Youzheng also divides the semiotics into three parts: linguistic semiotics, general semiotics and cultural semiotics. Linguistic semiotics has used linguistic, phonemics, semantics, stylistics and rhetoric. Linguistic semiotics must use coordination of several subjects to explore the meaning of symbols or signs. Compared with linguistic semiotics, perhaps general semiotics is a little simpler. But it also involves various theories such as Morrices conception of theory of sign system, Ecos typology of signs, Peirces Typology of signs, Non-Strcit code systems. These theories are all important and never be neglected in the semiotic history. Lastly ¼Ã…’the cross-cultural research is extremely difficulty. The most obvious point is the understanding of a symbol à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  In most influenced by Buddhism, people think that à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  respects constancy and auspicious indication. But in World War 2. Hitler chooses it to be the sign of Nazi. Hitler consider the Aryans is the best race all around the world. à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  is the symbol of Aryans. Another is color. In western country, rose is the symbol of love, and red symbolize the passion, but sometimes it refers to scarlet woman. As I know, red always refers to pure love and happy in China and India. Chinese bride always wears a red dress. So we can easily find that different cultural take different understanding of symbols and sign. When we are going to analysis the meaning of a symbol or sign across culture, it may take a big problem to us. The characteristics of religious symbols The same as the semiotics, the religious symbols have a long history. At the beginning of my paper, I have introduced the original religious symbol Totem to you. Religious symbols almost have the same history of humans civilization. With the development of religion and civilization, religious symbols also have different forms. is the symbol of Islam named star and crescent. It standard bright and perfect. is a special symbol. There are many ideas about the symbolic meaning of the Star of David. Some Kabbalists think that the six points represented Gods absolute rule over the universe in all six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down. They also believed that the triangles represented humanitys dual nature good and evil and that the star could be used as protection against evil spirits. The structure of the star, with two overlapping triangles, has also been thought to represent the relationship between God and the Jewish people. The star that points up symbolizes God and the star that points down represents us here on earth. Yet others have noticed that there are twelve sides on the triangle, perhaps representing the Twelve Tribes. Until now, people still have an absolute meaning of the Star of David . A lot of religious symbols have an obscure meaning. You can not only understand it by its structure or shape. For example, lamb in Christianity means the resurrection of Christ from the death. Can you say it means meekness and prettiness? Absolutely not! The connection of semiotics and religious symbols After the analysis of characteristics of semiotics and religious symbols, we can find that religious symbols have a much longer history than semiotics. But symbols as the research subject, we have analysis by the systematization of semiotics. Semiotics can explain the meaning of symbols by different aspects and draw a correct conclusion. Although symbols are a complex and changeable system, semiotics always gives us an rational sublimation. Symbol also accelerates the progress of semiotics. It is hard for me to find a suitable metaphor to describe the relationship between them. But I think if symbols is water, the semiotics must be fish. The fish can not live without water. Without fish the water will never be vibrant. IV.Conclusion Haviland said Religion can be seen as an organized series of supernatural powers belief or ceremonies.(William A. Haviland, 2005,p.392).Religious symbols are a part of our belief. Semiotics is a tool of investigation. It may be not consummate and comprehensive, but it has afforded us a direction to analysis our belief system. Also that is the point we need to work for. Modern semiotics is a new branch of knowledge. It has been neglect for a long time. Its popularity must take a brain-storm in research of symbols.

Taco Bells Success Essay -- Business Management Studies Essays

Taco Bell's Success Did Taco Bell’s success result from a top down or bottom-up approach to change? What situations drove this change, and what leadership approach did John Martin use? What was the old (previous) leadership style and what was its limitation? †¢ Taco Bell’s success resulted from a top down approach to change. Along with the new organizational structure came the job position of Market Manager. Management added this new position to send a strong signal that they wanted different behavior. They wanted people to be broader managers, good at managing P & L, to be decisive and to take ownership. The Market Managers had a lot of responsibility because management had pushed down a large deal of decision making. †¢ One of the situations that spurred this change is the notion of self sufficiency or the fact that a restaurant can operate by itself. John Martin knew this had to be done because there were 1500 Taco Bell restaurants and it is too much extra work to have to constantly monitor all of them. Management realized that they needed new production techniques to serve customers more efficiently. They also knew that they need new training and development methods to be more competitive and to have more uniformity in the products they were serving. Management also knew that they needed to install Operational Information Systems in all of the restaurants in order to keep up with their competitors. These are just a few of the many factors that drove the change of Taco Bell. †¢ John Martin introduced the democratic style of leadership to the Taco Bell chain. John Martin acted as a leader who involved his employees in the decision making process and delegated a great deal of authority to lower level positions. In addition, Martin encouraged participation in deciding work methods and goals and used feedback to coach his employees. †¢ The laissez-faire style of leadership that had been previously used at the Taco Bell restaurants. This means that the leader gave his employees a great deal of freedom to make decisions and to decide on work methods. The limitation of this method was that employees had too much freedom and were not working to their full potential. In addition, this method failed because all of the restaurants were operating differently which hurt the organization as a whole. 2) Was change increment... ...ustry.† †¢ RM had â€Å"reports on food cost, labor cost, inventory, perishable items and period to date costs, all with variances† due to the ATCO system. †¢ â€Å"Pods were part of the company’s strategy for reaching a ‘point of distribution’ to Market Manager span of 60 to 1. Executives believed that 30 to 1 (restaurants to MM) was within reach. If each restaurant added a pod, 60 to 1 would be achieved.† 9/10) Visit a Taco Bell virtual and/or electronic-provide an up to date outlook based on Structure, Technology, and People as a framework for your response. †¢ The structure of the store has changed since the â€Å"old-ways.† It used to be the food-preparers had their backs to the customer. Now the food-preparation station is perpendicular to the customers †¢ Customers can now see how the workers are making their items. †¢ The cooking of the food is behind that preparation station. †¢ The cash registers are now computers. They are touch-screen monitors for the employee to enter in the order. The order is then sent to the preparation station where it is placed in queue. The restaurant manager is visible. The RM is doing something, either making food or taking orders.

Mirror: Reflections of Truth Essay -- essays research papers fc

â€Å"Mirror†: Reflections of Truth In Sylvia Plath’s poem â€Å"Mirror†, the reader takes a look into the messages presented and compares them with the reflections that are cast in a mirror and images in a lake. When reading this poem, we discover that the speaker is the actual reflection that gives the interpretation of its views. The first interpretation is shown as a mirror on the wall â€Å"I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.† (1), second as the water in the lake because she states â€Å"Now I am a lake.† (10), and third through the eyes of an aging woman that is revealed in line 17 â€Å"In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman/ Rises toward her day after day†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In the first stanza the reflection personifies the ability to take in what it sees without judging stating â€Å"I hav...

Environmental Regulation of Offshore Essay

The Environmental Regulation of Offshore Waste management in Nigeria has been documented in an article published by Law Environment And Development [1]. Evidence suggest that, Director of Petroleum Resources has to adopt measure to ensure the adequate regulation of offshore oil and gas E&P waste management [3] and further evidence suggest that, all offshore oil and gas E&P activities should also be subjected to environmental impact assessment at every stage of exploration and production in order to facilitate the proper management of wastes generated [124]. There are counter argument that says although the discharge of produced sands containing LSA/NORM into inland waters and near shore waters is prohibited unless treated to the satisfaction of the Director, no mention is made of discharge into offshore waters [53] and however, certain activities such as unplanned discharge of produced water (requiring contingency permits) and the transfer of produced water to another field for treatment and subsequent re-injection (requiring transfer permits) are not covered by permits or approval under Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria [17] and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency Act 2007 (hereafter NESREA Act) empower NESREA, amongst other things, to enforce compliance with regulation on the handling and disposal of chemicals and waste except in the oil and gas sector (10).

Deception & Ethics in Mediation

One of the basic tenets of the mediation process is that, as far as possible, everything that is said is truthful. Under this assumption, the mediation process will be an attempt to resolve two different views of the truth. However, what happens when there is intent to deceive on the part of one of the participants, or worse yet on the part of the mediator? This is a complex issue that cannot be determined solely by considering the foundations of ethics or of the practice of mediation. Instead, the issue must be understood from a dual perspective of the ethical appropriateness of deception and its potential usefulness within mediation. Ethically, there can be no question – neither a Kantian nor a utilitarian ethical approach allow for the use of commonplace lies in mediation. However, from the perspective of human relationships, it must be accounted for that people do deceive, and that it is part of our communications and social fabric. Thus, there is a dual ethical position for deception in the mediation process – while morally it is wrong, pragmatically it is commonly used and may be useful for helping negotiating parties to come to a decision. In order to clearly understand this argument, it is important to understand what deception is. A naive understanding of deception is that it is simply lying, which is certainly included. However, there are a number of other elements of deception, as well. One formal definition of deception that could be used is â€Å"a successful or unsuccessful deliberate attempt, without forewarning, to create in another a belief that the communicator considers to be untrue in order to increase the communicator’s payoff at the expense of the other side (Gneezy 386). This definition is useful because it includes a number of key characteristics for understanding deception. First, it is deliberate – that is, the deceiver is not simply misinformed or lacking in information. Second, is an attempt to create a belief in the other person; without this intent, it is difficult to say whether something is truly an expanse at deception. Third, it is an attempt to influence the outcomes of the decision, rather than simply being for no purpose or for some other purpose. Finally, the attempt at deception may be either successful or unsuccessful, and thus even if the negotiation partner figures out what information is being withheld, it is still incorrect. This definition can be extended by common knowledge examples of deception, such as lying actively; lying by omission; and manipulation of data and statistics. Krivis (1) identified a spectrum of deceptive practices that can be further used to understand this concept, including: â€Å"Honesty, Exaggeration, White lies, Partial Disclosure, Silence As to Other Party’s Mistake, False Excuses, [and] Fraud. These types of deception are of course not mutually exclusive, but may be seen in combination with each other. Also, as Krivis (1) noted, many of these behaviors are common within our society and do not even pose a significant moral quandary for the majority of those that undertake them. There are also distinct philosophical approaches to deception that address the ethical approaches and considerations. The two main ethical approaches to deception can be characterized as Kantian, or virtue-based, and utilitarian. In the Kantian view, lying is always wrong, because it violates the moral imperative (Alexander and Sherwin 396-397). That is, â€Å"lying is an offense to all humanity, and, most importantly, to the liar himself (Alexander and Sherwin 397)† because it promotes falsehood and uses the liar’s intellect in a debased manner. The utilitarian view is not as absolute, but it still does not cede that lying is an acceptable moral choice most of the time (Alexander and Sherwin 398). Specifically, the potential gain from the lie must be greater than the harm caused to society from the lie in order to be morally defensible. However, given that lies â€Å"degrade the background trust that supports human interaction (Alexander and Sherwin 398),† this is a very high bar for the benefits of lying to overcome its consequences, even under the utilitarian ethical structure. Thus, it is clear from a pure ethical analysis that the use of deception in negotiation is wrong. However, it should be noted â€Å"professional rules of ethics simply require negotiators to abide by the morality of the marketplace, rather than the rules of law (Krivis 3). † Thus, neither a strictly legalistic nor a strictly legalistic approach to deception is demanded. It should be noted that not all fields of study take an ethical approach to deception, but sometimes use a more pragmatic approach. For example, in classical economics deception is often seen as an attempt to increase the payout from n economic transaction, in which individuals will engage if the incentive is high enough to do so (Gneezy 384). This approach could best be described as a utilitarian or consequentialist approach, in which what is most important is the outcome, rather than the intent of the lie (Gneezy 384). This approach is similar to many such approaches used in mediation analysis, in which rather than taking a normative view regarding what people should do, theoretical and pragmatic approaches to deception deal with what people do – that is, they use deception routinely (Krivis 1). The use of deception is highly context-dependent and may not always occur, but it should always be considered in the range of possibilities for how a negotiation will occur (Krivis 2). The question of whether deception is ethical in a mediation context should be asked not only within the context of a philosophical framework that is applied generally, but also within the framework of mediation itself. Given the nature of mediation, it is natural that considerable research has been done into the area of deception and its effects. There is no question that deception is a commonly used tactic in mediation, and that it works. One study compared the uses of deception in negotiating dyads, comparing its use in competitive and less competitive negotiation frames (Schweitzer, DeChurch and Gibson 2123). The researchers found that competitive negotiators, or those that engaged in highly aggressive tactics intended to promote their own point of view, used both deceptive and non-deceptive negotiating tactics in order to achieve their goals. In particular, they were found to use deception both more aggressively and to a greater degree than cooperative negotiators (Schweitzer, DeChurch and Gibson 2137). Thus, this cannot be questioned. However, this finding does not make a clear statement regarding why this would be undesirable; there is nothing inherently wrong with one side or another prevailing in a mediation discussion, and so the evidence against deception must be stronger than it simply being a path to winning a negotiation. This evidence can be found in the effects of the deceptive behavior on perceptions and outcomes also found by this study. The study found evidence that the use of deception influenced the other party’s beliefs about the negotiating situation, leading to an estimation of the deceiver’s situation that was significantly different from reality (Schweitzer, DeChurch and Gibson 2137-38). Significantly, the researchers found that even though the negotiators paired with a competitive negotiator were disbelieving regarding the claims made, they still were not able to determine what the actual situation of the negotiation was. Finally, the use of deception on the part of one negotiator resulted in a less positive outcome for the other participant. Specifically, it resulted in a change in the ultimate decision of the non-deceiving negotiator, a transfer in the surplus received from the non-deceiving negotiator to the deceiving negotiator, and an increase in the amount of profit received by deceivers as compared to those that did not use a deceptive strategy (Schweitzer, DeChurch and Gibson 2139). This clearly demonstrates the shift in value that is seen in cases where mediation and negotiation is accompanied by deception. While one party has benefited, the other party, which has been exposed to deception without warning beforehand, has been harmed. Thus, there is a distinctly negative outcome that can be seen from the use of negotiation in this context. There are certainly problems in implementing an ethical prohibition against lying in the mediation context. This is not unique to mediation, however. In the legal context, deception is not treated as strictly as it could be. It is generally considered under a utilitarian ethic, rather than a Kantian ethic (Alexander and Sherwin 394); that is, there may be considered to be some justification for lying if the greater number of people is served. However, as Alexander and Sherwin (394) noted, the penalties for lying in a legal context are not commonly as strict as those that would be promoted by a pure utilitarian philosophy. Although there are a number of potential reasons for this, such as the cost and infeasibility of enforcement, Alexander and Sherwin (394) posited that this might also be because of the recognition that lying may at times be beneficial in a legal context. However, this does not mean that in an ethical sense, this position has to be accepted in mediation. In fact, if it is accepted that one of the purposes of mediation is to come to effective solutions without involvement of the legal system, and then this calls for a noticeably different approach to the use of deception. However, the legal approach to deception is actually highly relevant to mediation, because of the frequent use of lawyers by parties in the mediation process. As Krivis (2) notes, there are a number of specific approaches that lawyers use in order to achieve their negotiation goals, although these approaches need to be carefully managed in order not to venture into fraud. Some of the potential deceptions that may be found in this context include exaggeration (for example, exaggerating the strength of the case); being deceptive about intent to settle; and inflating the settlement expectation in order to achieve a better outcome (Krivis 2). It is clear that currently mediation practices and ethics do not prohibit the use of deception, as long as it does not venture into specific areas such as fraud. However, should this be prohibited? Evidence discussed above indicates that deception can be used to unfairly rich one party at the expense of another, offering one reason why this should be the case. Another reason for a stronger prohibition against deception is the cross-professional nature of many mediators, who also play roles as lawyers, social workers, and other professions (Laflin 479). Given that these professions have vastly different ethical standards and practices, it would be to the benefit of the mediation profession to have a specific set of ethical expectations that could be promoted. Laflin (480) notes that lawyer-mediators may have particular difficulty with the ethical concerns inherent in mediation, given the relative focus on adversarial rather than cooperative outcomes. The implementation of stronger prohibition against deception would certainly be one way in which the norms of mediation, rather than the norms of courtroom argumentation, could be enforced. However, this does raise the question of how this prohibition against deception could be implemented and enforced. Given the relatively accepted nature of deception in many of its more subtle forms, it would be difficult to determine how this could be implement with any great degree of success. Deception, commonly understood as lying, can be understood as a range of more subtle behaviors that reflect a range of potential manipulations of implementation. Deception is commonly accepted from an economic point of view and routinely engaged in, even though using a strict ethical evaluation it cannot be defended except under very severe circumstances. However, the mediation environment must deal not only with the philosophical question of correctness, but in the outcomes of mediation and the effects that are seen from deception. Research has shown that the use of deception in negotiation leads to a transfer of surplus from the non-deceptive party to the deceptive party, which provides a clear rationale for why, under a pragmatic viewpoint, deception would also be a negative activity. However, in practice deception is commonly accepted both within the legal system and within mediation practices, as long as this deception does not venture into fraud. There are a number of potential reasons for this, including the acceptability of deceptive practices such as exaggeration and white lies within the wider society and the requirement that lawyers should protect the interests of their client. There is certainly justification for reform of mediation norms and ethics in order to prevent the use of deception. However, given the difficulty that is involved in detecting fraud, this may be a very difficult reform to make. Deception is not acceptable in every situation. Deception in negotiation can provide a bargaining advantage. Deception in negotiation can also come at a cost.

Car Accidents †Problem and Solution Essay

The world would be a much better place if there were fewer car accidents. Car accidents happen daily and regularly these days. They leave pains behind for the victims’ families. Many people think that they will never get involved in car accidents. They don’t wear their seat belts, they drive after drinking, and they use their cell phones while driving. They do all these things without even giving a second thought, yet all these things are preventable. No one knows what will happen to them in the future except for God; thus, they should always stay alarmed. People don’t realize that doing those minor things cause them severe pains or even deaths. There are more than six million car accidents each year in the United States. A person dies in a car accident every twelve minutes and each year car crashes kill 40,000 people. Someone is injured by a car accident every fourteen seconds and about two million of the people who are injured in car accidents suffer permanent injuries. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for the people between two and thirty-four years old. Car crashes cost each American more than $1,000 a year; $164. 2 billion is the total cost each year across the U.S. (http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/statistics.html). As you can see, preserving car accidents not only saves the lives of the people, but also saves the money for their countries. This makes everyone to be involved in car accidents happen in their countries. So what causes the problem? There are many different reasons why car accidents happen. Some people are distracted while driving. They are on the phone, sending text messages, fixing their make-ups, and most of the drivers are distracted because of rubbernecking. They set their eyes on something else and run into walls, other cars, or posts. Another major reason is drinking. People do not know how dangerous it is to drive drunk; furthermore, they don’t even know they had been drinking because they drank too much. The fatigue of driving for many hours causes many accidents too. Drivers get tired and fall asleep without even noticing it. The speeding is also one of the reasons for accidents. Even though there are speed limits for different places, people don’t keep them. Teens race on highways with motorbikes or cars. Adults get drunk and drive as fast as rockets. Some people face accidents because of others. Other people may ignore the laws of traffic and run into you. You may not deserve it, but accidents happen at any time. It is your responsibility to always stay awake and be alarmed. There is no simple or specific solution to the problem of car accidents. All of us just need to keep the basic rules and laws. People need to be aware of accidents at anytime and anywhere. Individuals cannot solve this problem. We all have to work on it as one nation to solve it. Only one or two people keeping the warnings in their mind won’t help that much to prevent the accidents. Everyone should obey and follow the rules. That’s why there are rules, to keep them. However, people think lightly about the traffic laws. They just think driving as their daily routine. This mistaken thought would lead not only them but other people to death. To be stricter so people would follow the laws, I think we should raise the fines for not keeping the laws. For example, people who cross the mid lines, people who pass the red lights, people who litter out the window, and etc. They all should pay the fines with conscience. I saw Malaysian people ignoring the warning stickers on their cars and throwing them on the floor. They think that bribing the police officer would do the magic trick. There are some police officers’ faults too, but it is wrong for us to bribe at the first place. We should take responsibilities for what we’ve done and pay them. Another basic solution we could do is to not drive after drinking. People who get drunk should take a taxi or ask one of their friends to drive them home. We should place the police officers more often on the roads at night, so people would not drive after drinking. Another thing we can do is to put more cameras on the road to take more pictures of those who speed up over the limit. We can put warning signs of cameras to help the people stay alarmed. Then the teens would not race anymore, and the adults would not drive fast for any reason. All the drivers should have a rest every two hours. People should ride on the trains, ships or airplanes for long trips. Drivers should get enough sleep or rest before they drive. They should not go for long journey after heavy loads of work. All of these can prevent the fatigue of driving for many hours. We should teach about car accidents, and about its consequences more often in school. So we can show the students how dangerous car accidents can be. I know people don’t wish to get involved in car accidents, but people don’t take it seriously until they actually get involved. The problem would not be solved until the drivers take actions and people take the warnings seriously. Fines and policing would not solve everything because people would only slow down in front of the cameras, and police officers. They would speed up again when no one is watching. If this continues like this, no one can solve it. The solution lies within our conscience and honesty.

Government Regulation on Media in America

The government is the political direction and control exercised over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities, societies, and states. Media is the means of communication, such as radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet which influence people broadly. The mainstream American media information presented to the public viewers is selected by the government. Outside of government institutions, no other unit has more influence in determining policy decisions and elections more than the mass media. Although the framers of the Constitution could never have envisioned the increase of mass media that we enjoy today, they were very aware that the press would play a serious role in the growing democracy. It's no coincidence that freedom of the press constitutes the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. The media's role in government goes back to the colonial era, when daily newspapers were the only source of political as well as other news for the colonists. The media has transformed intensively over the past 200 years. Most of the change has occurred since the mid-1990s, with the advent of the Internet and all-news cable television channels. As these and other communication technologies keep on evolving at the speed of light, the role of the media in government will also continue to modify. The Internet has become an immense factor in the media, primarily the major social networks, because it communicates frankly without the filter of editors, publishers, and corporate parents similar to Viacom, Disney, Time-Warner, and General Electric. In a democracy, the free flow of information, ideas, and opinions is vital. The media has three primary responsibilities: setting the agenda, investigating the institutions of government, and facilitating the exchange of ideas and opinions. Elected officials, nonelected government workers, and political candidates spend a considerable amount of time figuring out ways to shape media coverage. The following five techniques are most normally used. Staged events are the most common way to attract media coverage. In 1994, the House Republicans had a â€Å"signing ceremony† on the Capitol steps to launch their â€Å"Contract with America† campaign theme. The event received enormous press coverage. An off-the-record conversation is another technique. Politicians, bureaucrats, and candidates have off-the-record conversations with reporters when they want to propagate certain information, but don't want that information associated with them. Reporters usually attribute off-the-record comments to anonymous or unnamed sources. Sound byte is where the most elected officials are skillful at giving â€Å"sound bites† (concise and colorful quotes) to reporters. Officials who consistently deliver the best sound bites usually receive the most coverage. New York senator Chuck Schumer is regarded as a terrific source of sound bites. From time to time government officials will float â€Å"trial balloons†, anonymous program or policy thoughts to the press in order to gauge the public's feedback. Trial balloons allow officials to test ideas or potential appointments without taking responsibility for them. During the recent stem-cell research debate, the White House floated a trial balloon about keeping the controversial research on embryonic stem cells legal, but decided against it after the administration's conservative base reacted negatively. Last, there is a technique called leaks. Almost every day in Washington, confidential information is passed from government officials to the media. Leakers do this for one of two reasons. First, to cast a negative light on their opponents and second to strengthen their point of view on a particular matter among their colleagues. Investigations in particular tend to be common with leaks. There were so many leaks during the Monica Lewinsky investigation that the leaks themselves became a separate legal inquiry. Although the Constitution promises freedom of the press, the government does regulate various media. Print media are for the most part unregulated, and newspapers and magazines can print almost anything as long as they don’t insult anyone. The Internet has also gone mostly unregulated; despite congressional efforts to restrict some controversial fulfillments. Broadcast media, however, are subject to the most government regulation. Radio and television broadcasters must attain a license from the government because according to American law, the public owns the airwaves. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issues these licenses and is in charge of managing the airwaves. The FCC also acts as a police agency of the airwaves, and it can fine broadcasters for violating public decency principles on the air. The FCC can even revoke a broadcaster’s license, keeping him off the air permanently. For example, he FCC has fined radio host Howard Stern plentiful times for his use of profanity. They also fined CBS greatly for Janet Jackson’s â€Å"wardrobe malfunction† during the halftime performance at the Super Bowl in 2004. The government is involved in media doctrines. The Federal Communications Commission has also established rules for broadcasts relating to political campaigns. The equal time rule, which states that broadcasters have to supply the same broadcast time to all candidates for a specific office. The right of rebuttal, which requires broadcasters to make available an opportunity for candidates to reply to criticisms made against them. A station cannot air an attack on a candidate and not succeed to give the objective of the attack a possibility to respond. The fairness doctrine, states that a broadcaster who airs a controversial program is required to provide time to air opposing views. The FCC has not obligated the fairness doctrine since 1985, and some claim that the FCC has taken a lax come up to enforcing the other regulations as well. The government has also regulated ownership of media outlets to make sure that no one broadcaster monopolizes the market. Since the 1980s the government has loosened limitations on media possession, and Congress accepted the Telecommunications Act in 1996 to permit companies to possess even more media outlets. Due to the loosening of tenure boundaries, more and more media outlets are declining under the power of a few colossal corporations, an inclination called media consolidation. The Hearst, Knight Ridder, and Gannett corporations own the majority of the nation’s newspapers, whereas Clear Channel Communications owns numerous radio stations. Huge companies also have the major networks and other television stations. The Walt Disney Corporation, for example, owns ABC and ESPN, along with the Disney Channel, and Viacom owns CBS and MTV. Meanwhile the Rupert Murdoch’s Media Corporation owns all of the Fox channels, several radio networks, satellite television providers, and newspapers in many countries. And Time-Warner owns dozens of magazines, counting Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated, as well as the CNN and Turner television networks. Critics challenge that media consolidation confines consumers’ choices because a small number of companies own all the media outlets. They fight that consolidation is not competitive and that corporate owners might control or influence news coverage. Some critics also lament the homogenization of American culture due to media consolidation. Because radio and television formats have turn out to be more and more uniform, people all through the country receive the same broadcasts. It is not clear if the FCC has the ability to regulate cable television. The FCC is entitled to regulate those who broadcast over the airwaves because the people own the airwaves. Cable television is not sent through the airwaves. Cables transmit the programs directly into people’s houses. Seemingly this means that cable television cannot be regulated, but some members of Congress have still required doing so. I have come to believe that media is important in the government because it’s the primary source of political information for most people, so it plays a big role in democracy. Also, I notice the way a point is transmitted affects how the message is received. Television, for example, is a visual medium, so viewers will surely be affected by images. Plus, media tends to provide more facts and details than television. The media has massive power within the American Government because just about all Americans get their news from the media instead of from other people or other sources. Media coverage shapes how Americans recognize the world and what they consider to be important. Voters and politicians comparable must pay attention to the media. In the American political system, the media perform a number of functions important to the self-governing process. The media reports the news, serves as a mediator between the government and the people, helps agree on which issues should be discussed, and keeps people energetically involved in society and politics. In the United States, the media plays a big role in socializing people to American society, culture, and politics. Much of what young people and immigrants learn about American culture and politics comes from magazines, radio shows, and television. Many people worry that juvenile people are exposed to too much violence and sex in the media, knowing the effect it will have on children’s views and development. The media also provides a public forum for debates between political leaders. During campaigns, opposing candidates often broadcast advertisements and debate with each other on television. Many voters learn a great deal about the candidates and the issues by watching these ads and debates. Even during years without elections, though, the news media allows elected official to explain their actions via news stories and interviews. In this way the government has the power to control people though its subliminal messages. It has the ability to brainwash or give an image of what may be wrong or right through its regulations.