Examine and comment on Christian and Hindu beliefs about life after death Essay

Death is the most fateful experience of each individual’s life. Whether it is the end of one’s life, or the beginning of a new life, no one knows. Death for the Hindu is merely transition, simultaneously an end to a new beginning. Death for the Christian is destined and is a time of judgement that is made from their former performances in life. These are very different views from two major world religions that both question the different events that may take place after one’s death. The Christian faith believes that the body is resurrected at death and the soul of an individual is immortal and continues after death. The doctrines of the church teach Christians that after one dies, they will rise before God and be judged. They believe that Christians who have been faithful throughout their life by worshipping Christ and helping other who are less fortunate. A quotation from Matthew 25: 31-46, ‘One day we shall be called to account for the way we have used our gifts, our opportunities and our energies. Above all, we shall be required for the way we have behaved in relation to the poor, needy and the marginalised’, supports the belief of the Christian faith and continues to teach these beliefs to mankind. This judgement that is made by God determines whether a person’s soul will spend eternity in heaven or hell. Based on Jesus’ teachings and other sources of revelation, Christians believe that heaven is a place of eternal life, extravagance and luxury, ‘The best and sweetest flowers of Paradise God gives to his people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us in to Paradise’, ‘There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Revelation 21:4), these quotations show Christians believe that heaven is a place for those who have worshipped God and have followed the teachings of Jesus. The bible has portrayed heaven as the ‘kingdom of heaven’, where ‘kingdom’ refers to a place of monarchy and sovereignty, where people will be reunited with God. However, Christians can not just enter heaven when they die, but will have to show that they are worthy of entering heaven, ‘For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 5:17-20), this quotation alternatively states that a person who thinks of themselves as higher than God, will never enter heaven. The question that then arises is, where do the unworthy of entering heaven, go after death? The complete alternative of heaven is hell, where people who have carried out immoral acts, such as murder and rape which are forbidden according to the sacred doctrines of the bible, along with people who do not believe in God and have not followed the Christian faith will live eternally in the brutal conditions that hell facilitates, ‘The sword which shall pierce them with the greatest sorrow will be the thought of having lost God, and of having lost Him through their own fault’, this quotation gives us a small insight of what hell is portrayed as by Christians. St. Augustine says that in Hell, the damned will be forced to think of nothing but God and that will cause them terrible torment. Biblical quotations such as ‘†¦and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 13:42) and In Matthew 25:41, Jesus says ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire’, show that Jesus talks about hel l as being a place of fire and where souls are burnt and tortured for eternity. Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon which was titled Sinners in the hands of an Angry God. This contained a passage with a quotation ‘There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery’, stating that if a person enters hell, there is no turning back, and they will suffer in the fiery flames of hell. The bible also describes hell as an endless torture scene, with angels and Jesus present either as observers or as officials who are directing the torture of the victims in hell. However, there are two different concepts about the duration of the torture, Annihilationism and traditionalism. Annihilationism is the belief that unsaved individuals will be punished in hell for only a period of time that is appropriate to pay for the nature and frequency of their sins which they were alive on earth. Annihilationists also believe that when a person’s punishment has finished, and they have paid the full penalty for their sins, they will be exterminated and their soul will cease to exist in any form. This mean that the soul will not be tortured for any longer, however, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven, which consequently means that at that point, their life has come to an end. In contrast, traditionalism is simply a belief that unsaved individuals will be punished in hell not only for a year, or a decade, but for eternity without any hope of relief, moderation or cessation of the pain. There are many passages and quotations that appear to describe punishment in hell as lasting forever such as ‘the fire that burns them will never be put out’ (Isaiah 66:24) and ‘And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt’ (Daniel 12.2). These quotations from the bible clearly support the view of traditionalism which shows that even though God’s wish is for all to be saved, the ones who are not will be punished forever. Although this is the view for many Christians, others including Skeptics, Humanists, Atheists, Agnostics generally believe that there is no afterlife and accept that after death, there is personal annihilation. Roman Catholic Christians also have alternative but similar views as they believe that in between heaven and hell, there is ‘purgatory’. This is where people who have sinned within their lifetime, but have not sinned to the extent that they must enter hell and be tortured for eternity, are punished for their bad deeds until all penalties have been paid. This enables them to be cleansed from sin and can potentially enter heaven where their soul will rest for eternity. Roman Catholics also believe that people who have family and friends to pray for them after they die will be released from purgatory sooner than those who don’t. This is why many Roman Catholics have an overwhelming fear of death as they feel they will certainly suffer, whether it is in hell or purgatory. Pope John Paul issued a piece entitled Incarnationis Mysterium which suggests that Roman Catholics visit certain holy sites to try and reduce the amount of time they will have to spend suffering after death. In this, there is was an appendix called Conditions for Gaining the Jobilee Indulgence which suggested ways for Roman Catholics to attempt to reduce the amount of time spent suffering after they die by carrying out good deeds during their lifetime such as visiting the elderly who live along, the sick, the handicapped etc. Some Roman Catholics carry out these deeds, but the question that has to be asked is, is this being done from the goodness of their heart, or for the goodness of themselves? It is clear that different Christians have different views on life after death, but are similar and can be linked together in some sense, for example, annihilationism is vaguely similar to purgatory in the way that people who have sinned are not punished eternally. However, can this be said for the views on life after death for Christianity and Hinduism? Certainly not, as Hindus have a completely different perspective of afterlife. For Hindus, death is referred to as ‘mahaprasthana’ which means ‘great journey’. Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is the cycle of death and rebirth after a while in spiritual spheres into a new physical body, this is where the soul, which is the true self, remains the same, while the â€Å"vehicle† of the soul to make the needed learning experience changes. Death means nothing else but the loss of a vehicle the soul was using during its many reincarnations, which is a physical body. Saint Tiruvalluvar wrote that ‘death is like falling asleep, and birth is like awakening from that sleep’, this quotation shows that no Hindu should really fear death, as an individual is not the body in which they live, but the immortal soul which inhabits many bodies in its evolutionary journey. ‘Samsara’ is the term referred to by Hindus and means ‘wandering’. They believe that the soul wanders from body to body in one lifetime to another. The Bhagavad Gita, which is the holy text for Hindus, teaches that death should not be feared and there is no reason to grieve, ‘For sure is the death of all that is born, sure is the birth of all that dies: so in a matter that no one can prevent, you have no cause to grieve (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 verse 27). This quotation states that all are born again so there is no point grieving over something that cannot be avoided. However, the reason why all living things are continually reborn is based on the Hindu belief in karma. Karma means ‘action’ and the law of karma is the law of cause and effect. Hindus believe that the life they are living may not be the first one, and they may have been born many more times before that. The law of karma states that any good or bad deeds than have been carried out in one’s life will give an impression and will be carried over to the next life, for example evil and selfish actions will consequently results in a life of suffering. Therefore, it is said to believe that ‘everything has a cause and purpose’, ‘What a man becomes in his next life will depend upon his karma’ (Brihad-aranyaka Upunishad. IV. 4.verse 3). For a Hindu, this belief could provide a strong incentive to live a good, moral life so the fear of suffering in their next life is overcome. The law of karma can also explain the differences in circumstances and in equalities between people around the world. Although many Hindus aspire to a good rebirth, the ultimate goal of any Hindu is for the atman (soul) to escape Samsara altogether and this is known as ‘Moksha’. Moksha can be described as perfect peace and happiness, or as the soul ‘losing itself in Brahman’. Brahman means God and moksha is a spiritual state of existence in which there is a union with God, ‘When all desires that rest in the heart are liberated shall a mortal man become immortal and attain Brahman’, which shows that when all thoughts are put to rest and when the atman is truly identified as the equivalent of the reality of Brahman, an individual will be able to make moksha their goal and achieve it. Yoga may be considered as a way of exercise to keep the body healthy and fit where as the true meaning of yoga is unity and integration, and is the means, methods and discipline that will enable an individual to bring union with a personal God, Brahman. There are three recognised ways of doing this and they are ‘karma yoga’, ‘bhakti yoga’ and jnana yoga’. By carrying out these, and using them as a guideline, moksha can be gained. Hindus see their religion as a way of life and many Hindus apply themselves and live their lives wanting to act to the best of their potential in hope that when they die, they will be released from samsara and gain moksha. Christianity and Hinduism are two major religions that are followed worldwide. They also have very contradistinctive views on life after death. However, both Christians and Hindus turn to their religion to find answers for existence along with death. They also hold tenaciously to the beliefs taught by their particular denominations as a way of comfort. One thing that Christians and Hindus have in common is that they both portray religion as a way of life and use scholarly teachings to influence them on which rightful path to follow in life. Death has been questioned for a very long time and no one has been able to answer the question ‘What happens after death?’, which means no one really knows what events will take place after we die, where we will go or what will happen to us. Although we try and answer all of these questions with religious beliefs, until one experiences death, the question that has caused distress to people for over 2 millennia still remains, is there an afterlife?

Jetblue Airways: Managing Growth

Jet Blue Airways; Managing Growth 1. Jet Blue? s Business- level strategy; value and cost drivers Jet Blue uses to create and maintain ist competitive position Founded by the discount airline veteran David Neeleman in 2000, JetBlue Airways has quickly become one of the largest discount airlines in the United States. Starting primarily by serving the East Coast, the airline has since expanded throughout the country and entered the international market.The reasons for its early success are numerous: JetBlue entered the market with one of the largest levels of liquidity of any start-up airline; it met the needs of customers’ whose primary concerns are price and route; and it successfully defined its brand and differentiated itself from competitors by offering an above average customer experience and amenities for a discounted price. They are offering fares with the â€Å"point to point† system. JetBlue? s business-level strategy is therefore a mix of cost-leadership and di fferentiation.David Neeleman’s idea behind JetBlue was to start a company that combined the low fares of a discount airline carrier with the comforts of a small cozy den in people’s homes. His vision involved both business and leisure customers to have cheap and affordable flights throughout the United States and abroad on newer aircraft that are not only comfortable, but are equipped with modern entertainment options, and a customer centric business model which makes customer service a number one priority.In contrast to its competitors, for example, JetBlue offers fares up to 65% lower but added comfort features such as assigned seating, leather upholstery and satellite TV on individual screens in every seat. Moreover, they are practicing a â€Å"get-to-the-destinations-at-all-costs† culture, which makes it their declared aim never to cancel a flight. JetBlue Airways does not operate to a traditional mission statement; rather, it operates to a set of core value s: Safety, Caring, Integrity, Fun, and Passion. 2. Strategic group map of the airline industry; positioning to create a strategic competitive advantage ompany| Routes serviced| Prices| size| Continental | 292| 1,586| 44939| Delta| 587| 1,009| 118856| Southwest| 97| 0,775| 77693| JetBlue| 71| 1,371| 14729| American| 336| 0,186| 745700| United| 180| 1,706| 67000| The biggest and simultaneously oldest airline companies are United, American, Delta and Continental Airline. This is why they are referred to as legacy carriers. Their strategic competitive advantage is the hub and spoke system. In this system, airlines created hubs at specific airports where thousands of passengers were shuttled to their connecting flights, the so called spokes.In doing so, these airlines can ensure to keep costs low and protect market share. Another argument strengthen this strategy is that passengers can travel between numerous destinations without changing airlines. Delta uses this strategy to dominate ge ographical segments of the market, for example Atlanta. Southwest Airlines on the other hand established a completely different strategy. They take passengers direct between cities, which is referred to as point to point. Additionally, Southwest is using secondary airports serving major metropolitan areas.With their different strategic advantage, they are able to attract another target market. Because they offer fares between cities that are often less than 500 miles apart, they targeted customers that would have otherwise traveled by car. In this way Southwest maintains high levels of plane utilization while keeping its operating costs low enough to support its discounted fares. Another part of their strategy is their reliance on a single type of plane, the Boing 737. This allowed them to standardize ground and flight personnel training which decreased the airline? average turnaround time between landing and starting again. Moreover, Southwest focuses on customers whose priority is low-cost, on-time performance. There are no complications for customers, like seat assignments. Therefore, Southwest as well as Jet Blue are considered as low cost carriers (LCC). Jet Blue offers fares up to 65 per cent lower than legacy competitors. Jet Blue Airways positions itself by connecting large, typically northeastern, US cities with warmer cities in the southeast. Jet Blue? s emphasis is like Southwest? s on low fares and point to point transportation.Jet Blue entered the market like Southwest with only one machine, the A320. In this way they could ensure serving a variety of medium- and long-haul routes and numerous overnight flights. Jet Blue could also standardize its training and servicing processes around the aircraft. This allowed them to gain flexibility in scheduling and capacity management. Another feature for customers to make travelling with this airline more attractive are added comfort features such as assigned seating, leather upholstery and satellite TV on individual screens in every seat.Their key principle was that flight cancellation should be avoided at all costs. In 2005, Jet Blue broadened their portfolio in entering the market of medium-sized cities, which was served only by regional airlines. They entered this market using a new midsized aircraft called E190. In launching this new machine, they were able to use synergy of combining the A320 and the E190 profitably while serving now smaller and bigger airports. This portfolio mix gives Jet Blue a yet matchless, strategic competitive advantage compared to the other airlines.Their goal now should be to improve the synergy between the two machines and the profitably run their fleet with the optimum amount of aircrafts. 3. Strategy/ structure needed to support the A320 versus the E190; reconcilable differences? ; opportunities for synergy The new developed strategy of Jet Blue was to acquire enough E190 aircrafts to serve medium- sized cities to provide a steady flow of passengers to fill the seats on the longer-haul routes of their A320 aircrafts. A big advantage of this system was that it also worked the other way around.Jet Blue turned out to have an enormous advantage in comparison to the regional airlines, because the E190 had more seats than the traditional RJ. They could use the best option for efficiently serving medium-sized markets while offering passengers more comfort, because they did not had to face limitations on the size of the planes as RJ did. Therefore, Jet Blue has to overcome some essential problems caused by significant differences between these two aircrafts. On the one hand, the E 190 is operated at 12 per cent greater costs than the A320, therefore 34 per cent less costs than for a typical RJ.The E 190 was a great innovation because it could target a wider range of profitable destinations with a greater seating capacity to feed into A320 flights. This results in higher loads and improved economics for Jet Blue. The breakeven load for the E190 of 75-80 per cent was much lower than for the A320, which made is easier to introduce service into new markets. One of the problems is that it takes up to 40 to 50 airplanes before a company benefits from economies of scale. And while taking delivery of the new E190, Jet Blue continued its purchases of A320 aircrafts.Reasons therefore are that this machine had proven to be an extremely reliable machine, and Jet Blue had standardized its operations around this plane. Another concern is the dual certification for pilots . It was simply not feasible for a pilot to simultaneously obtain enough flights as an E190 captain and as an A320 captain. This means pilots could only fly one of the two machines. This brought up another issue: An A320 captain received higher hourly wage rate than an E190 captain.This is why they had to keep pace with the A320 deliveries. The short-haul routes served by the E190 increased revenues but they also increased costs. The reason therefore is as mor e frequent flights required E190 aircrafts to spend more time on the ground than the A320 for taxiing, loading, and unloading between flights because the processes were not standardized yet. This resulted in a disadvantage in accumulating flying hours for pilots, because they get only credit for time spend in the air.Any time spend on the ground was not included. This affected their whole seniority and income availability, which is tied to the number of airplanes they take. Additionally, the E190 has non-skid flooring on the cargo bins as a safety feature to prevent baggage handlers from slipping on the floor while loading and unloading. Although it was intended to be a good thing, it increased loading time and also increased the potential for strains and back sprains as handlers had to lift bags they previously have slid.Also flight attendants had to make significant adjustments. The E 190 had smaller galleys from which to serve customers. The shorter duration of E190 flights provi ded less time for the attendants to provide the high level of service to which jet Blue passengers had become accustomed. The work of the employees in charge of servicing and maintaining Jet Blue? s fleet also increased considerably. They had now two completely different machines to take care of manufactured by different companies. This created additional operating complexity.This is why they decided to invest in maintenance capabilities. The last and most important group affected by the differences between the two machines is customers. Changes in their behavior and expectations are required. Especially concerning to the carry- on baggage, because the storage bins are from different sizes. This means passengers can take the same baggage in one machine as hand luggage, on the other machine they need to check it at the gate. There are enough opportunities for synergy effects.The system of the two machines working together is still in its introductory phase. Once these difficulties an d maintenance and special level of service for the customers are overcome, the synergy should run pretty well as it was intended to be. 4. Efforts of JetBlue to repair damage to its reputation; successful efforts? Necessary/ successful change in CEO? The Valentine ? s Day crisis that would later be referred to as „the worst operational week in JetBlue? s seven-year history,â€Å" began on February 14, 2007 when flights from JFK were heavily booked.Although the snow lingered longer than expected, JetBlue boarded its flights. As the snow turned to freezing rain the FAA prohibited domestic flights from taking off. This winter storm that enveloped the New York metropolitan region and JetBlue’s hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport left hundreds of the company’s passengers stranded aboard planes on the tarmac, some for as many as ten hours. Hundreds more waited in vain in the terminal for flights that the airline would eventually cancel.The flight disruptions at JFK plunged JetBlue’s entire operation into chaos, forcing the carrier to cancel more than one thousand flights over a six day period. In the morning of this Wednesday, JetBlue? s executives and employees had no idea that an operational catastrophe was about to happen, one that would threaten the company’s financial stability and tarnish its otherwise sterling public image. David Neeleman stepped down after the Valentine’s Day incident in 2007 only because his organization failed to deliver on its principles of excellent customer service.To restore its reputation, JetBlue embarked on a bold and unconventional image restoration campaign that included issuing disarmingly candid public apologies and a radical new covenant between the company and its customers called the â€Å"JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights. † The change of management was instituted to help rebuild JetBlue’s tarnished reputation and to develop innovative strategies which wo uld prevent situations like that from ever happening again. The CEO described the bill of rights as a written covenant between the company and its customers.The bill of rights specified in no uncertain terms the monetary compensation customers would receive if JetBlue failed to meet certain performance benchmarks, such as ground delays after landing. The Bill of Rights, allowed JetBlue to strengthen its brand among loyal customers and even those who were affected in the airline’s operational difficulties at JFK and other airports across the country. Additionally, the announcement of the Bill of Rights served as a powerful introduction to countless other air travelers who had yet to fly with the airline.In addition, the Valentine’s Day crisis taught the Corporate Communications group valuable lessons about using the Web and social media. For example, the corporate communication team arranged for Neeleman to appear on more than a dozen television news and talk show progr ams on February 20, including The Today Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. Neeleman had already starred in videos posted to JetBlue’s Web site and YouTube in which he said he was â€Å"humiliated and mortified† by the company’s failures.Through numerous written and spoken mea culpas, Neeleman begged JetBlue’s customers for forgiveness. I feel that JetBlue? s powerful brand, corporate structure, and agility as a smaller airline should enable it to rebound from the Valentine? s Day crisis in 2007 and beyond. Of course, the events that began at JFK will not soon be forgotten by the public or the organization, but the issuance of the JetBlue Airways Customer Bill of Rights and the apologies demonstrated the airline’s commitment to its patrons over the long term, not just in the days and weeks following the onset of the crisis.

Annotated Bibliography Essay

An Annotated Bibliography: Stereotypes in Advertising August, Eugene R. â€Å"Real Men Don’t: Anti-Male Bias in the English Language. † The University of Dayton Review Spring (1986): 336-347. Web. In † Real Men Don’t: Anti-Male Bias in the English Language,† Eugene August states that men have been victims of negative bias equally if not more than women through gender restrictive language, which limits the roles men have, gender exclusive language, which excludes men from any type of consideration, and negative male stereotypes. Throughout the article August gives examples of ways in which males ave been forced to fit a certain role and if deviated from, they would be criticized and ultimately excluded from that party they were formerly attached to as an example of gender restrictive language. I agree with August in his arguments, but I would be a little more generous when finding victims on this subject. Women have been made victims Just as long, if not longer than men have. I feel as if the male community is lashing out against the women, almost I a way on giving then a taste of their own medicine. Yet in reality I shouldn’t be structured as a war of the sexes, but ather an attempt on the part of all sexes, to acknowledge and condemn gender stereotypes. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. 1972. London, Penguin, 1990. In the book, Ways of Seeing Ch. 7, John Berger tells us that the role of publicity has evolved from oil paintings. Publicity images draw on the visual language of oil paintings, but their purpose is to manufacture glamour. This is due to the fact that the spectator-buyer is always changing, publicity aims to sell us something, and in order to do this it must make the spectator-buyer appear incomplete to his or herself. It must make us think we are in need of something more. The more, is a dream that is created from the spectator-buyer, using the mystique and lure from what publicity has given them of how they can become more derisible, by imposing a false standard of what and what is not desirable. I have a similar opinion to that of Berger. I feel that publicity is not natural, but the product of a culture that defines an individual by what they possess. This idea of identity has been prostituted to a culture that tells an individual that they are no one if they do not buy the life publicized. The interesting point that Berger makes is that publicity never paints the full picture for the consumer. It only provides the tools and a canvas for which to paint. Publicity allows the spectator-buyer, to paint for his or herself of what he or she could be. It is not obscence to suggest that this has become the lifeblood of our publicity promise of transformation. Fowles, Jib. â€Å"Advertisings 15 Basic Appeals. † Mass Advertising as Social Forecast. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 1976. (16-27). Print. In the article, â€Å"advertisings 15 Basic Appeals† written by Jib Fowles, we learn that dvertisements make an attempt to reach out to one or more of our 15 basic emotions as outlined by Fowles. These are the fifteen basic emotional appeals that we as humans need, and if crafted correctly, might result in us engaging in the advertised product. As we learn of these essential needs, we learn that advertisements are not so thoughtless as we may have previously assumed. We learn that it is an art. The emotional appeals made in these advertisements act as the thin end on a wedge, when driven in to our conscious it then allows for the true message o flow in without almost any defense, thus accomplishing its purpose. I completely agree with the claim that Fowles made in his article. Advertisers seek to highlight and ultimately tap into our emotions to use them to persuade us into using the given product. One such emotion that is highlighted is the need for affiliation. Despite the fact that recent statistics have shown that people are doing things on their own more than ever before, the majority of advertisements are linked to this basic and fundamental emotion. This is because, Just as we as a people have an inner desire to chieve things on our own, we also need Just as much if not more than our independence, people to share in our achievements. Fowles does a great Job in highlighting this fact as well as many others in his article based on our 15 basic emotions. Kilbourne, Jean. â€Å"Bath Tissue Is Like Marriage: The Corruption of Relationships. † Cant Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. New York: Touchstone, 1999. (76-94). Print. In the article, â€Å"Bath Tissue Is Like Marriage: The Corruption of Relationships†, Jean Kilbourne speaks out about how advertisements sink into our deepest needs for love and nurturing, and transfer them onto any given product. In order to accomplish this, advertisers must be able to capture our attention with something that the consumer yearns for, and then make the underlying message about how their product will achieve this goal. We learn that the roles of an advertiser not to care about the potential buyer, but to make the consumer feel as if they are loved. When an advertisement is able to lull us into a false sense of security, then it has ccomplished its Job. Kilbourne concludes with exposing that advertising has come to the point of promising that a product can deliver that which can only be given given by Kilbourne. In her article she sates that that advertisements exist to exploit or very real and inner human desires. As we look at advertisement in any medium, we find out that until we have associated ourselves with a certain product or brand, we are not enough. Whether it be ads replacing human relationships, men dominating women, or even that one cell phone is superior to another, all tug at the need to be n top, and without these products we are found wanting. But the hang up with the promise of accomplishment from a product is that it only last as long as the ads. Every time we turn on the television or the radio, we are exposed to hundreds of ads that dissect everything that is human about us and assigns a product to it. We shall ever be found wanting in the eyes in the world, the only escape is for us to search for what truly matters and stick to it. Wall, David. â€Å"It Is And It Isn’t: Stereotypes, Advertising And Narrative. † Journal Of Popular Culture 41. (2008): 1033-1050. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. In the article, â€Å"It Is And It Isn’t: Stereotypes, Advertising And Narrative. † by David Wall, is claimed that stereotypes in advertising are still being used because they are still a viable way for advertisers to move a product because of familiarity. A point that Wall makes is that consumers see through the stereotype and the false climas made by advertisers, and the advertisers know this. So what the advertiser does is then play on manipulation of the mixed emotions of desire and anxiety. The product then ecomes, by the consumer’s own doing, the essence of happiness, freedom, and the channel to an altered paradisiacal reality. I agree with the claims made in this article. Interestingly enough Wall makes the accusation â€Å"stereotypes will tell us much more about those doing the representing than those being represented†(1037). This is interesting because in the rest of the article Wall discusses the fact of stereotyping and the reasons behind it, political, historical, cultural, and so on. But he never really comes back to his very strong comment. I would go a step further with this remark nd say that not only do stereotypes in advertisements reflect what the presenters think about different situation, but what the presenter believes the viewer-consumer believes about different situations. For the viewer not to be overly effected by the stereotypes they are exposed to, they need to learn, what Wall calls the language of analysis. Which is to allow those whom are targeted to see beyond smoke and mirrors of it all and understand stereotype as a form of cultural † ‘advertisement for the self that is inseparable from the wider cultural narratives that create it†(1049).

Economic Development amid the Non (or Semi) Democratic political Term Paper

Economic Development amid the Non (or Semi) Democratic political institutions in Southeast Asia - Term Paper Example There are reports claiming that during the 2008 referendum which concurred with the cyclone Nargis, victims of the cyclone in the cyclone-affected areas were forced to vote ‘yes’ for the national referendum. The Union of Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) which is a non-military/civilian wing of the dictatorship threatened to cut relief supplies or inflict violence to anyone who voted against the proposed constitution. The new constitution was thus supported and enacted with 92.48% of the voters endorsing it. This indicates that despite the presence of opposition, total democracy was far from reach in Burma because these democrats were not likely to win the elections and referendums. These activities were oppressed and controlled by the nondemocratic military regime. Apart from inhuman treatment of the people, there was also a violation of the right of freedom of speech by the military regime. Burma citizens had little power to critic and correct the militaris ed nondemocratic political regime. Zarnagar, a comedian and a dissident was arrested for criticising the ruling generals in public for their sluggish and inadequate response to the cyclone Nargis. He was charged with offences of public order and his computer and many banned films were seized by secret police. When human conditions worsened because of the unmerited fuel price increase in 2007 in Burma, Charles Petrie, the United Nations Burma country chief, issued a statement on UN Day concerning the worsening humanitarian crisis in Burma. Because of this, he was expelled. Generally, the militarised nondemocratic government reinforced its rule by making use of pervasive security apparatus with Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence (DDSI), the military intelligence organization... The intention of this study is Burma as an example of how the economy of a nation can suffer because of poor leadership styles. For about half a century, the country has been under a militarized nondemocratic government which has grown to become more and more oppressive over time. the country has witnessed one of the worst violations of human rights because of a bad political regime. In efforts to maintain thumb of rule in the country the regime formulated poor and unattractive economic policies which have discouraged both local and foreign investment in the country. The land policies have acted as disincentives for the people to undertake land development and this has retarded the competitiveness of the nation’s agriculture. There are many and powerful global examples of highly developed nations that are ruled by democratic civilian governments. The US, UK, Canada, South Africa are just but a mention. This means that there are hopes that the end of the nondemocratic militari zed regime will bring Burma back on the road to development. Economic development is an important prerequisite for greater stability, prosperity, equality, stability, and better livelihoods. With the recent advent of the new Burma’s civilian, democratic government, it is of due significance that the international community should help direct the new Burma’s government into achieving economic developments that are sustainable. This will be very instrumental in ensuring that the repressed people of Burma receive the right food, education, health, security and happiness they deserve.

The Urban Scence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Urban Scence - Essay Example lled outward expansion because people can simply build new settlements outside of old settlements, which is the same benefits and problems as lack of centralized planning of land use. Fiscal disparities and segregation between zones have benefits of allowing people be able to live near people of similar economic situation and industry, but at the cost of creating self perpetuating systems of oppression and poverty, because people from bad schools will continue to go to bad schools, have lack of access to services and so on. Question 2: There are a wide variety of anti-sprawl strategies that have been suggested to prevent sprawl. One of them is regional tax sharing: this means that taxes from upscale, somewhat sprawled areas will continue to be funneled into lower income areas where white flight and been causing emigration, thus limiting the effect of white flight because local services, school and so on will remain relatively good in inner-city areas, making them continue to have good schools, local services and cheaper property taxes that they would otherwise be able to do. Another is to create a regional planning committee which will coordinate growth and expansion, which is a good idea because there is simply no way to create a regional growth strategy without one. The fist strategy discussed in this article is to create a zoning boundary through which urban sprawl cannot go past. This will be a problem in a market based economy due to the fact that people will always pay higher rates to get where t hey want to go, which will create pockets of poverty and affluence wherever you go. Politicians only have a limited ability to fight sprawl, because they do not have control over areas outside of their control, and one of the fundamental aspects of sprawl is simply leaving the current boundaries and creating a new city/community. Regional planning councils, however, can mitigate this problem though not completely eliminate it. Question 3: There are a wide

Individual analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Individual analysis - Essay Example In addition, role fulfillment among each member will aid in attaining his or her essential goals. Based on my experience while working on the assigned tasks, I learnt there are principles of membership dynamics that are essential in a group work. For instance, I realized that every participant is equally responsible for the entire group’s success and good interaction amongst members. Therefore, each participant ought to ensure there is good communication amongst all the members. This is by availing required responses, participating in decision making as well as making discussion times livelier. Hence, ensuring there is no participant who lags behind due to his or her poor academic performance limitations (Weimer, 2013). In addition, group work can be extremely emotional especially if participants emanate from different races, ethnic backgrounds or religions. Therefore, leaders who are not in control of their emotions and choice of words end up being a stumbling block to the gr oup’s enthusiasm especially if they are not apologetic (Weimer, 2013). During group work, I learnt that a leader ought to emphasize on the importance of meeting as well as setting deadlines without any excuses amongst its members. This norm will always keep participants successful in every task they tackle. Besides, I believe when every member in a group feels psychologically safe and does not look down upon him or herself, their participation levels gradually increases. However, in many social settings such as group works, members have little concern about psychological safety of all their fellow participants. This influences their participation negatively because some may start feeling inferior; hence fail to participate in discussion as necessitated. Therefore, every member bears the responsibility of ensuring his or her fellow participants feel psychologically secure throughout the discussion period (Weimer, 2013). For instance, participants should avoid ridicule or sarca sm towards their peers because this may negatively affect their confidence and desire to participate in the group. During group work, I learnt each member ought to have a self-driven purpose in producing both good and quality work in every task they undertake. I also believe participants ought to foster good relationships amongst themselves and beyond to achieve proper results. Hence, aid in developing both trust and dependability among themselves by making discussions very interesting. Leadership is a process through which an individual, organization or group positively influences other people to achieve already set objectives (Northouse, 2011). In addition, it directs an organization or company in a cohesive and coherent manner towards achieving their goals (Northouse, 2011). For one to be a leader, he or she acquires power through four varied ways, which include legitimate, reward, coercive, expert and reverend (Northouse, 2011). Effective leaders understand risks and benefits, w hich each type of power embodies and try to use them appropriately to attain firm’s set goals. In many circumstances, leaders do not have any great influence on the success of a certain group but the will of the followers automatically leads to positive success in any situation. Many leaders acquire leadership skills and knowledge from schools or other settings (Rojas & Alvarez, 2012). However, these

Conservatism and Neo-Ottomanism of the Turkish Political System Essay

Conservatism and Neo-Ottomanism of the Turkish Political System - Essay Example Additionally, in contrast to the modernization movements of many of the governments in the post Ottoman Turkey, the Conservative ideology that has been adopted by the Turkish political system during the past decade (2002-2013) is largely opposed to the westernization of Turkey. For example, the conservatism themes of the Turkish governments within the last decade (2002-2013) has been characterized by a new form of nationalism, marked by attempts to conserve Turkish national values â€Å"ulusalclk† as well and social values such asexuality, family values, gender relations and religious values in the face of the current rapid globalization and perceived Europeanization (Yavuz, 2009). This has been particularly evidenced by the de-westernization and re-traditionalization of the Turkish society that has been witnessed in the country since the Justice and Development Party lead by Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan came to power in 2002. In a recent interview with Financial Times Newspaper, T ayyip ErdoÄŸan described his party’s vision and ideology as seeking to establish a conservative democracy in Turkey which is attached to the traditions, customs and values of the contemporary Turkish society.Finally, despite the fact that the consecutive AKP led governments in Turkey since 2002 have always rejected any association with Islamism or political Islam as part of their ideology, the main ideology of the Turkish political system under the leadership of AKP has been primarily characterized by institutionalization of Turkey’s traditional and religious values

What is the role of Social Media in fashion today Term Paper

What is the role of Social Media in fashion today - Term Paper Example For many people, dress code is an expression of identity, personality, choice and faith. It can also profoundly affect an individual spiritual self and help out someone connect to the inward self hence realizing self-identity. Marco Pallis, the author on fashion, describes the importance and meaningfulness between dress and self identity, identity and social status. Additionally he explores how clothing rates among the most significant but least evaluated sites of colonization. He is mostly interested examining clothing as a constituent of self identity, social status and spirituality identity. He writes that ‘of the numerous issues an individual practice in the quest of earthly vocations, there are none, conceivably, that are so intimately attached with the whole personality as the dress ones wears (Pallis, 2005). The foremost issue that Pallis observes is how clothing can significantly transforms an individual appearance and even the facial looks. It is everyone effort to look appealing in front of the peers, colleagues or even in the eyes of the society on any occasion be it a business or just a mere visit. What an individual look has a great impact on how the rest and the society in general perceive that person. The image impacts on well-being of a person as perceived by others. In extreme cases, dress code can lead to a lowered self-esteem vis-Ã  -vis. It is, therefore, of at most importance if one looks appealing. There are many factors that can be used to explain the reason behind the fashions. Nonetheless, we cannot point to any individual factor as the reason why fashion exists amidst us. In one particular case, advance in social technology makes the information to travel fast than it was back then in the earlier days (Yerima, 2004). There is profound exchange of ideas, cultures, and fashions change within short period of time. A trending fashion will be all over the globe courtesy to

Threat of the over use of technology ( computer ) in teaching student Research Paper

Threat of the over use of technology ( computer ) in teaching student in primary schools - Research Paper Example hnology offers a variety of benefits to enhance the quality of education and make the process of learning more convenient and interesting both for the teacher and the students, overuse of technology in teaching students in primary schools poses several kinds of threats as well. â€Å"Family, school, and workplace environments are now on the verge of what can be termed the â€Å"Triple Disconnect† – from self, others and nature† (zonein.ca, 2014). The Canadian Society of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics state that infants between 0 and 2 years of age should not be exposed to any kind of technology at all, children from 3 to 5 years of age should not be exposed to technology for more than just one hour per day, whereas the exposure of children in the age-range of 6 to 18 years to technology should be limited to 2 hours per day (Rowan, 2014). Threats posed by the overuse of technology in primary schools include but are not limited to the social chal lenge of isolation, reduced motivation for the studies on the part of the students, and increased tendency to have negative effects of using technology on their health. Overuse of technology in the classroom can be a cause of isolation of the students. â€Å"[C]ritics have written and spoken extensively of their beliefs that schools should not use technology for a variety of reasons ranging from creating social isolation to preventing students from learning critical basic skills† (ncrel.org, 2005). Students of primary schools are essentially children. Children as students need close supervision and monitoring in order to have their attention directed solely towards the studies. With the growing literacy rate, the population of students in the primary schools has increased over the years. This has raised challenges for the school administration in general and for the teachers in particular. Teachers today have more students to supervise than they used to have in the past. However, the increased strength of

Article Analysis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Analysis - Article Example The article in focus studies the prevalence of occupational stress among employees and the effects that such have on their productivity. To achieve these, the researchers study five public corporations where they analyze stress prevalence among employees and its management. Data gathering technique is an essential skill in any study. In the article, this is achieved through the use of questionnaires, interviews as well as observation. The subjects are easily defined; this is a factor that makes studying them a little easier. With the result tabulated, it becomes easy to calculate such important aspects of the findings as mean, the calculated median, and mode. The researchers employ the use of the statistical package for social science, commonly referred to as SPSS. The software improves efficiency besides enhancing data integrity (Henry& Joseph, 2008). The study offered statistically significant result. Out of the subjects under study, stressed employees were counted and recorded just as were those not stressed. The data thereafter separated every case under specific subheadings on the causes of the stress and tabulated the number of those who felt victims of every subheading. This makes calculations thereafter possible thereby authenticating the results obtained. Stress is a big problem in very many organizations globally. The research’s hypothesis states that occupational stress affects very many employees in organizations world over thereby affecting their turn over consequently negating productivity. This, it indicates, implies that such organizations incur loses eventually. With no hypothesis, a research makes no sense. It is the hypothesis that confines a study to particular parameters. However, in this research, the hypothesis is inferred since he does not make direct claim of these. He attributes his facts to these and proves that in deed organizational stress is equivalent to monetary

Enlightenment virtue Essay Example for Free

Enlightenment virtue Essay The advances in robotics have also been staggering. Todays robots, in addition to doing the menial tasks once performed by unskilled laborers, are considered vital contributing participants in such diverse environments as hospitals, factories, universities, offices, and banking institutions. The level of artificial intelligence attained is not quite at human levels, but is approaching those levels at an unprecedented pace. Machines already are in charge of making complicated decisions for the government and military; its only a matter of time before these types of robots are also helping direct the economy and aspects of private life. Despite fears that robotic technology would displace their human counterpart workers and cause massive unemployment, that has not yet been the case, with the employment rate actually increasing, albeit in areas that require highly skilled personnel. The mass-production of household robotic technology has made it possible for many consumers to purchase machines that take care of domestic tasks like preparing food and cleaning, allowing parents to have more leisure time, or to spend time with their children. In fact, the amount of newly available leisure time has been a dominant factor in the recent recreational activity and entertainment industry boom. (Last Name) 4 There is still a large measure of economic disparity between society in the post-industrial West verses the industrializing countries of Africa, Asia, and South America. While the AIDS virus was pronounced curable by doctors at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine two years ago, there are still people who are dying of the disease in the world simply because the medicine needed to cure people is being given to wealthy countries very disproportionately. Biotechnology has impacted both of our lives in a very significant way. The Human Genome Project, made it possible to unravel hereditary genetic disorders like Alzheimers and Huntingtons disease which have devastated families like ours for centuries. Despite your acquisition of Huntingtons at birth, scientists were able to identify the damaged genes in your DNA and correct them accordingly. Similarly, other diseases once thought incurable (e. g. AIDS, cancer) have been remedied by biotechnology and reputable scientists are seriously proposing that practical immortality could be possible. Progress in biotechnology has also come to help economically disadvantaged countries cultivate previously barren regions with genetically enhanced crops that thrive despite hostile conditions. War among nations still exists. Ian Buruma said that â€Å"Koran itself was the source violent abuse†. (p. 5) I agree with this statement. While it is undoubtedly true that Muslims like Bouyeri with their fundamentalist, misogynistic and murderous interpretation of religious text surely represent a threat to the Enlightenment virtues of freedom and reason, do public personas like Theo Van Gogh indeed represent a personification of those same Enlightenment virtues. This persistent refrain that echoes through the book forces the reader to question the illiberal and often intolerant practices of the Dutch Muslims amid whom Bouyeri was reared as well as the Dutch (Last Name) 5 who have managed to delude themselves into believing that hatred is somehow an Enlightenment virtue. Our global impact is finally receiving the scientific attention it deserves. The outcome will largely determine the future course of evolution. Human-modified ecosystems are shaped by our activities and their side effects. They share a common set of traits including simplified food webs, landscape homogenization, and high nutrient and energy inputs. Ecosystem simplification is the ecological hallmark of humanity and the reason for our evolutionary success. However, the side effects of our profligacy and poor resource practices are now so pervasive as to threaten our future no less than that of biological diversity itself. This looks at human impact on ecosystems and the consequences for evolution. It concludes that future evolution will be shaped by our awareness of the global threats, our willingness to take action, and our ability to do so. Our ability is presently hampered by several factors, including the poor state of ecosystem and planetary knowledge, ignorance of human impact, lack of guidelines for sustainability, and a paucity of good policies, practices, and incentives for adopting those guidelines in daily life. Conservation philosophy, science, and practice must be framed against the reality of human-dominated ecosystems, rather than the separation of humanity and nature underlying the modern conservation movement. The steps scientists can take to imbed science in conservation and conservation in the societal process affecting the future of ecosystems and human well-being are discussed. Assessing the implications for our own future is no simpler than it is for ecosystems. The future can be gauged from several points of view from human carrying capacity, capacity for a given standard of living, or for the diversity of future options, for example. Should (Last Name) 6 our horizon be measured in ecological or evolutionary time in decades and centuries, or in millennia and millions of years? One could well argue that our very success evolutionarily is proof of our ability to modify ecosystems to our advantage and that we can take care of the environment in due course, when we can afford it. The challenge for ecology and environmental studies is to gauge the outcome of human action on ecosystem processes and on our own future. If there is no link between biodiversity and human well-being, then the future may be bleak for diversity but not necessarily for humanity. If that is the case, the fate of diversity will depend on human compassion, esthetics, and emotions rather than on human welfare. How do I see myself fit into it? Because of my knowledge and faith in God, I am well fit to the future. Future means reality and reality is not independently given but is contingent upon our decisions. (George Soros p. 4) Future is just like today that if we neglect and forget will just become nonsense past. â€Å"To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together†¦, written by Archibald Macleish. (Al Gore p. 12) The earth is truly a masterpiece so let’s protect our endangered environment. (Last Name) Bibliography Buruma, Ian. Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance. New York: Penguin Press, 2006 Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It . Rodale, 2006 Soros, George. The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror. Public Affairs, 2006.

Electric Cars Essay Example for Free

Electric Cars Essay Are electric cars a more sustainable method of transport than diesel or petrol powered cars? In this Case Study, I explored whether electric cars are as eco-friendly as they claim to be, providing a sustainable method of transport that could significantly reduce our carbon footprints if we all ditched the convectional vehicles, and changed to electric cars. I found many arguments both for and against electric cars. Electric cars are powered by an electric motor which draws its power from an on-board battery pack which acts as an energy store for the car. Energy is measured in joules. A joule is a very small amount of energy so a domestic electricity metre measures the energy in kilowatt hours. Stoical Energy Transferred = Power x Time (Joules, J) (Watts, W) (Seconds, S) (Kilowatt hours kWh) (Kilowatts, kW) (Hours, H) Source; GCSE Core Science revision guide (Information collected from GCSE Science revision guide 13:26hours) Batteries are charged by simply connecting the vehicle to a mains power supply, and are usually need to be charged overnight (or 7-8 hours) for a full charge. Electricity is a secondary source of energy. This means that the electricity is generated elsewhere from another energy source, in the case of an electric car, the primary source (where the electricity first comes from) is from coal powered power stations. Some people believe that coal powered stations, release the same if not more emission of harmful gas into the atmosphere. Conversely, others feel that they do not pollute, and save money, whilst reducing the Carbon Footprint, that would otherwise be increasing if a petrol or diesel powered vehicle was used. Fors Electric cars produce no CO? emissions when they are running, and neither do they emit nitrous oxide or produce other harmful particle emissions either. Regular fossil fuelled road transport accounts for around one fifth of all global greenhouse gas emission. Emissions from the combustion of a diesel or petrol powered engine, are carbon based fuels, which release, unpleasant and potentially dangerous fumes. Electric cars, on the other hand, do not produce any waste gases when on the move. In Europe, where electricity is produced in a number of different ways, electric cars do offer environmental benefits when compared with cars with internal combustion engines. Electric vehicles powered by the present European electricity mix, have been found to offer a 10% to 24% decrease in their global warming potential relative to conventional diesel or petrol vehicles. An electric car consumes energy, at a level far less than that of petrol or diesel powered cars. As well as this they are extremely cost effective. The purchase price of electric cars is significantly higher than that of diesel/petrol powered vehicles, but this is all outweighed when the cost of running the car is taken into consideration. Electric cars run longer, faster and more efficiently than convectional vehicles. Against Electric cars are only at â€Å"zero emission† if they get their power from a renewable source. Coal powered power factories, along with other sources used to provide for electricity for these electric cars do not provide this, as they tend to use non-renewable. Whenever fossil fuels, such as coal are burned they increase the amount of carbon dioxide (CO? ) in the atmosphere. Charging an electric car only uses 3% of renewable resources, the colossal amount of 97% comes from resources such as coal; which are non-renewable, a percentage that is not much better than a normal car. An option here is to use a green tariff for your electricity supply which will lower the carbon intensity of your electricity supply. Electric cars run off batteries made from metals such as lithium or zinc. These metals come from recycled batteries, other cars, forklifts or in some cases wheelchairs. However the actual production of these batteries, rely on demands of virgin materials. This consequently means that these batteries have a huge carbon footprint Another source I found, actually said that electric cars cause more pollution than diesel and petrol powered cars. The electricity generated to power electric cars caused more particulate matter pollution than that caused by an equivalent number of petrol driven vehicles. Particulate matter comes from the combustion of fossil fuels and includes acids, organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles. For electric vehicles, combustion emissions occur where electricity is generated rather than where the vehicle is used. The power generated to power electric vehicles, emit harmful particles at a much higher rate than diesel and petrol vehicles do. In terms of air pollution impacts, they found, electric cars are more harmful to public health per kilometre travelled than conventional vehicles. A similar source was found, but this time written by BBC. They say that not only do electric cars pollute more than diesel and petrol powered cars, but they also pose an environmental threat. It has been discovered that electric car factories also emitted more toxic waste than conventional car factories. The production phase of electric vehicles proved substantially more environmentally intensive, and the global warming potential from electric vehicle production is about twice that of conventional vehicles. As well as this the use and the end-of-life dismantling of a car affects the environment far more than diesel/petrol-powered cars. In addition, producing batteries and electric motors requires a lot of toxic minerals such as nickel, copper and aluminium. Hence, the acidification impact is much greater than that of conventional car production. Similar information was also found on the Guardian Website, which is another source than is considered to be quality media, as reports are written by a recognised expert in the field. The batteries used to power electric cars are heavy, and this may affect the speed somewhat along with the distance that the car can travel. Battery costs vary, but they tend to be extremely expensive, costing around several thousand pounds, and the necessity to be replaced every 5 years, at best. The maximum range that the car will allow you to travel before it needs to be recharged is about 100 miles, and charging can take up 7 or 8 hours, before the battery is full and the car can run efficiently again. The charging can be done at charging stations, but the numbers of these are in their few, and far between. Disposing of the batteries can also cause real environmental issues and problems. Chemicals spilled from the battery may also be extremely dangerous.? The main primary energy source that is used by humans is through the burning of fossils fuels, such as oil, coal or gas. Nuclear fuels, biofuels, such as wood, waves and radiation from the sun (solar energy). To generate electricity, fuel is burned to produce heat. 1) The heat is used to boil water, which produces steam. 2) The steam drives the turbines, which power the generators 3) Electricity produced in the generators is sent to a transformer and then on to the National Grid. 4) Electricity is distributed, through the national grid at high voltages to prevent energy loss. Power stations that burn fossil fuels like coal produce carbon dioxide, which is a type a greenhouse gas, contribute to global warming and climate change. (Information collected from GCSE Revision guide 12/1/13 13:58hours) To conclude I feel that electric cars are not more sustainable than diesel or petrol powered cars. They are often more efficient to run, when things such as cost are taken into consideration, but the method that it used to produce the electricity that gives the cars the power they need, seems to release the same, if not more harmful emission into the atmosphere. This is mainly through the production of the electricity, and the burning of coal which releases Carbon Dioxide (CO? ) into the atmosphere. To conquer this problem, instead of the use of coal powered power stations, pedal power stations provide an eco-friendly alternative. However, greater power appliances will take more energy and electricity to power. Generating electricity is never 100% efficient. Continuous cycling will cause the cyclists bodies to become tired, and any energy stored from food or drink, only some is given off as energy to produce the electricity, the majority is given off as heat. Another method that could be used as an alternative, to ensure the amount of greenhouse gases emitted is kept minimal, is the use of renewable energy sources. Examples of renewable energy sources are; * Wind * Waves * Bio fuels (such as wood). * Solar power Travelling alone in a car uses more energy than public transport, which means the use of public transport can also provide a more effect, sustainable transport method than electric cars, and diesel or petrol powered vehicles. Transport | Energy per passenger/KM (Kwh/passenger )| Bus| 0. 19| Train| 0. 06| Aircraft| 0. 51| Boat | 0. 57| Car| 0. 6| Source – GCSE Physics book (Information retrieved 10/1/13 13:01hours) Sustainable Transport is sometimes known as Green Transport and it is any form of transport that does not use or rely on dwindling natural resources. Instead it relies on renewable or regenerated energy rather than fossil fuels that have a finite life expectancy. For this reason it is said to have a low or a negative effect on the environment since it makes use of energy sources that are sustainable. GCSE Physics book/Core Science Revision book – These are very reliable sources as they are school textbooks and are written by recognised experts in the field, to be used in schools, and other forms of education.

Dell Financial Statement Analysis of Profitability Ratios

Dell Financial Statement Analysis of Profitability Ratios Introduction Dell is a transnational corporation that develops, manufactures, sells and supports personal computers and other computer products. It came into success during the 1980s and 1990s and became the largest seller of personal computers and servers. The main difference between Dell and it competitors is that Dell sells its products directly to customers. They do so in order to better understand customers needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs and this make Dell so unique. Furthermore Dell uses configure to order approach which means that they deliver computers configured to special customer specifications. To minimize cost just-in-time approach is implemented. Dell maintains a negative cash conversion cycle(CCC) because it uses a direct-sales model via the internet and the telephone network and receives payments for the products before it has to pay for the materials. Other very important aspect is that Dell uses pull system by building computers only after customers place orders and by requesting materials from suppliers as needed and so they avoid overproduction. Dells major competitors are Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Sun Microsystems, Gateway, Lenovo, Sony, Acer, Toshiba and Asus. Dell stocks are trading on the NASDAQ stock market and Dell belongs to Information Technology Industry (Computer Hardware). Financial statement analysis Profitability ratios Comparing Dells and industrys operating margin, Dells is relatively larger. That means that Dell earns more per dollar of sales than industry. Same is with the 5 year average. Net profit margin is higher as well during the 2009 and 5 year average. That means that Dell generates more profit for every dollar it generate ­s in revenue or sales and of course it is a good signal for the investor as well. Dell has higher gross profit margin comparing to the industry both in recent year and 5 year average. That means that Dell is financially healthy and has a bigger proportion of money left. Return on assets is higher as well comparing both recent year and 5 year average, indicating that Dell has an efficient management and that company is able to generate more profit with its assets. To sum up all indicators shows that Dell performs better comparing to the industry, same in the short-time and in the long-time. Financial strength Dells current ratio comparing to the industry ratio is 0.28 less but still companys current ratio is larger than 1 and that means that company can easily meet short-term debt obligations. So Dell is in relatively good short-term financing standing. Since we could not find the industrys total debt to equity ratio we took Apple Company which is Dells competitor and belongs to the same industry to compare it to the Dells ratio. Dells total debt to equity ratio is 5.2 while Apples is only 0.95. Its a huge difference and it is obviously seen that companys have different management approach. Talking about Dell this kind of total debt to equity ratio can be a little bit frustrating because company with a higher debt/equity ratio may be riskier, especially in times of rising interest rates due to the additional interest that has to be paid out for the debt. But since now interest rates are at all time low, there is not a big issue, of course we need to have in mind that sooner or later interest rates will be changed and it will affect companys performance if it dont manage its debts or increase shareholders equity. We couldnt find industrys quick ratio as well, so we used Apples ratio to compare with. Apples quick ratio is 1.59 which is considerably higher than Dells 1.05. That means that Dell has less ability to use its near cash or quick assets to immediately extinguish its current liabilities To sum up Dell in financial strength didnt perform as good as in the profitability. Of course we should take into account that both companies are fallowing different strategies and overall Dells figures are not bad but should be improved to attract more investors. Growth rates Since we couldnt find industrys earnings per share average we used Apples EPS as the measure to compare with our company. Dells EPS is 1.27 while Apples 0.69. That indicates that Dells stockholders retains more earnings than Apples and its a good signal for the investor. Dell has a higher positive beta comparing to the industry. That means that stocks generally follows the market and has higher response to the market change. We think that in this time its generally good, because after credit crunch market will eventually stabilize and return to its previous positions. Dell pays no dividends because company are buying backing its stocks. Generally its a good signal for the investors because its a signal of confidence. Buy backs also increase demand for stocks driving up prices and by taking shares out of the publics hands, buybacks make earnings-per-share look better, since there are fewer shares among which to divide profits. To sum up Dell in growth rates performs well and has all attractive ratios for the investor. Fundamental analysis shows that Dell performs very well in profitability and growth rates. On the other hand it should increase its financial strength. Overall Dell seems to be good investment. Now we should examine when its the right time to buy dells stocks both for the short and long times. We will ground it by technical analysis. DuPont analysis ROE had the biggest return in 2006 and decreased sharply in 2007 because of the financial crisis. The average ROE during the 5 year period is 0.66 and Dell probably will seek to increase its REO to attract more investors. Technical analysis To analyze Dell as the investment opportunity its not enough just to rely on the fundamental analysis, so we decided to do some technical analysis to determine is it the right time to buy stocks of the company. Graph below shows the trend of the Dells stocks: Source: Nasdaq As you see now it is not the right time to buy Dells stocks. Price of the stocks break through the lower support line and decreased. We dont think that its due to companys financial stability or other major factors related to the company. For short-term investment we could recommend to wait until trend will reverse. Furthermore Dell predicts higher demand for the next year due to stabilization of the world economy, and that of course will increase shareholders equity. We think that if the world economy will stabilize and we already have indicators showing that and there will be no W shape recession Dell stock as the long-term investment is considered as good investment. Individual case analysis Capital Structure There are some possible ways how to use Debt and Equity data to get an informative info about capital structure, so to be more informative will show three charts in which there several possible ways to check how capital structure are placed. As is seen from chart Debt / Equity, debt is higher than equity and this leads to: company is aggressive in financing growth with debt. This growth expansion by issuing debt may effect on future profitability high interest expense. Debt / Equity ratio is falling down in 2009 it is good information, cause in 2008 economical turndown, debt has in proportion to equity decreased which means in more difficult times Dell have reduced risk of default. Interesting information could be taken from Debt / Market Capitalization proportion changes. As can be seen from graphs that comparing market value of a company and equity value from balance sheet, market valued company many times more than it actually is in balance sheet. This could be a signal to be more careful on investing in Dell, because it seems that Dell market price is overvalued. And in 2009 market capitalization of a company has been less then debt is it is very bad signal, but on the other hand market capitalization is going by the trend to get closer to equity value. Dell currently have long term debt by issuing bonds in the bond market, all of which are rated in A, it is in category of investment level. Longest bond maturity date is 2038-04-15. Coupon differs from 3.38% till 7.1% correlates to maturity date. Weighted Average Cost of Capital for Dell is extremely high 38%, the biggest impact of high WACC value is made by very high cost of equity which is based on calculation of ROE. ROE = 65%. High WACC shows high risk probability, increases risk of insolvency. From WACC point of view there must be issuing new debts to repurchase equity, cause by now equity requires big interests expenses. In today situation there is other sources for lower prices of debts than equity holders supplying. Payout policy One-way oriented payout policy Payouts are often called dividends. But not only dividends could be a form of companies payout, companies can repurchase its shares, and it will be called payout. As data showed Dells board of directors made a decision not to pay dividends. Company is only repurchasing its shares. It could be a signal for investors that shares are undervalued. Retained earnings and payout. From 2005 to 2009 Dells retained earnings more than doubled, from 9174 millions to 20677millions. but payout sum havent changed, and for all these 5years it was above 3000millions only in 2005 it skyrocketed to 6000millions. (See Dell balance sheet) Shares repurchases As one of the Dell corporation officers argues, Dell uses only shares repurchase as payout because of business climate. Company is located in climate which requires permanent growth. So Dell needs to invest in order to be competitive in laptops market. Shares repurchases also has same advantages over a dividends. Firstly repurchase of shares helps to reduce opportunity of dilution, or even eliminate it. Secondly it is easier for Dell to balance return for shareholders with other business objectives. And finally it gives more flexibility for shareholders to make a decision then they want to withdraw their investment. Also where some disadvantages of shares repurchases as: There could be some agency conflicts inside the company, if managers have same inside information which is unknown for other share holders they could repurchase shares for less value than intrinsic value of the shares. Shares repurchases can negatively affect liquidity of firms stock, because the will be decrease in shares outstanding. Shares repurchases can also be a result of penalties, because government or other responsible organizations can view shares repurchases as way to help shareholders to avoid taxes. It can also be a negative signal of firms future growth. Key competitors payout policies IBM IBM is one of two key competitors for Dell. Its payout policy differs from Dell, IBM pays dividends for shareholders and also repurchases shares. One of the main reasons why IBM pays dividends could be its revenues which are almost twice as big as Dells. (see table1a, table1b) HPQ HPQ second of Dells key competitor. HPQ also as IBM pays dividends to its shareholders, but amount paid in dividends is two times smaller than IBM. So companies payout policy is the middle compared with IBM and Dell payout policies. (See table2) Dell Company has long term debt. Long term debt is at the moment much bigger than in recent years. In 2009 April, Dell sold 500 million notes, later in June they sold 1 billion worth of bonds. This explains why Dell long term debt is much bigger than in recent years . In comparison Apple had no long term debt in recent years. Apple company has a lot of cash so they do not need to release new bonds and increase long term debt. Dell is an American company which as many other companies hold their part of cash outside the US. Dell chose to access capital markets in order to supplement liquidity ratio in the United States. By accessing the capital markets Dell needs to raise its long term debt. Dell also believes that its share repurchasing is good for the company, that increases operating leverage and this keeps shareholders happy to, so they spend a big part of long term debt for share repurchasing. As we see from the graph in period from 2005-2008 long term debt was not changing dramat ically. In 2008 long term debt was smaller than in last 3 years. One of the main reasons why it was lower is, that Dell was suffering from interest expenses, so they decided to repay their loans and buy back some of bonds in order to decrease interest payments. Company released coupon bonds as well. There are 7 types of bonds, all of them have A rating, and that means that these bonds are high quality. Bonds differ by coupon worth, price and maturity. Dell .GH has the longest maturity (until 2038). All bonds are callable, and that means that the issuer can redeem the bond before the maturity. These bonds most time have higher coupon rate. Short term financing Net working capital during 2005 2008 didnt change a lot, with the average NWC of 1971 million dollars, but in 2009 NWC increased dramatically nearly four-fold comparing to net working capital of 2008. To understand why Dell had such a huge increase in net working capital we need deeper investigation of its Balance Sheet. During 2007 2009 Total Current Assets increased only by 212 million dollars, so its not the driving factor which led to such huge increase in Net Working Capital, but on the Current Liabilities side a situation is different. Accounts payable decreased by 3183 millions dollars to 8309 millions by 2009 and it was the main factor which led to decreased current liabilities and furthermore an increase in Net Working Capital. Other factors like accrued expenses, notes payable, and other current liabilities decreased as well, but they played only a minor role due to a small amount of decrease. Looking at Net Working Capital, we could strongly say that Dell NWC increased due to decrease in accounts payable, which is a good signal to the investors. Dell maintains a negative cash conversion cycle(CCC) because it uses a direct-sales model via the internet and the telephone network and receives payments for the products before it has to pay for the materials. Looking at the last two years Dell improved its accounts payable and decreased to 60 days. Accounts receivable has improved as well to 28 days. Due to its improvements CCC has decreased. If we exclude years 2007 and 2008 as the abnormal receivables and payables due to the financial crisis, average accounts receivable will be 27 days, and accounts payable 73 days. From these calculations we can strongly say that Dell improved and that company will try to keep these figures stable, or improve even more. Industries receivable turnover is 6.17 (source:http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/financialHighlights?symbol=DELL.O) while Dells 9.48 in 2009. This implies that Dells collection of accounts receivable is more efficient comparing to the industry average. Industries inventory turnover is 10.26 (source: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/financialHighlights?symbol=DELL.O) while Dells 57.84 in 2009. Comparing to the industry level, Dells inventory turnover is five-fold bigger. That may mean that company is not keeping enough inventories to meet demand. This could equate to loss of sales. But because Dell proceeds its orders only after customers place orders and by requesting materials from suppliers as needed they avoid overproduction, so high measure of inventory turnover doesnt mean that Dell is in trouble unless other companies which supply Dell with materials will struggle to meet Dells demand But that is another case. To sum it up, I think that Dell manages its working capital well, and performs in most of the cases better than the industry average. Furthermore Dell uses configure to order approach which really helped them during the crisis to avoid overproduction. Dell Net Working Capital increased dramatically and Cash Conversion Cycle decreased almost by the half. All these figures are good signals for the investors. Following the company as financial analyst Since 2005 Dells prices slightly started to fall. Even though there were periods when it lifted, the whole trend was shifting down until it plummeted during end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. From this period company slowly recovered. However at the end of November prices dropped again. In this article stock values during September-November 2009 and major factors affecting it are described. There are also comparison of Dell with other companies, future prospects and solutions for investors included. Using a weekly review of prices following findings were made. Graph above was made by using weekly prices (in dollars) At the beginning of September stock prices started to rise quite significantly till it reached 16.6 in day 8. Then the growth became smaller and from 16.69 in day 14 it dropped to 15.04 at the end of the month. October hadnt been too promising either. At the beginning there was a rise to 15.81 then followed by slight fluctuation stock value dropped from 15.48 in day 19 to 14.45 seven days later. November seemed to be inspiring at first when the trend started rising, but then it dropped from 15.4 at day 9 to 14.29 at day 16. Towards the end of the month trend was pretty much stable, however still slightly decreasing and reached the point of 14.12 at November 30. The graphic shows some fluctuations during these three months. However after each major rise in stock price there is a lot bigger fall which determines the decreasing trend in the whole period. Stock value due to given time span lessened by 1.57. By looking from a bigger scope (the whole 2009 year) stock prices were reaching a peak during these three months which was at September 14th. However an eight month climb in stock prices slackened and continues to head down. There are few main events affecting the trend of stock prices shown in the graph. One of them is acquisition of Perot Systems the other is Dells lost position in worldwide sales from 2nd place to 3rd and the last one is sharp drop in PC sales. The agreement of Perot Systems acquisition on September 21 shows Dells willingness to expand in business and get some market share from IT services was a good sign to investors. It was a move made against Hewlett-Packard (HP) which also used this kind of expanding strategy by acquiring another service company, Electronic Data Systems Corp. This reflects that hardware industry is not as profitable as services. However Dell expects to gain earnings from this deal only at fiscal year 2012. This event hadnt boosted the price of shares significantly but at least helped keeping it from dropping even more. Dell gave its position in worldwide sales and production of PCs to Acer and it made the company lose some of its market share. This was due to strategy not to lower the prices too much even though its market share can suffer. Thats how company wanted to increase profitability. Its worth mentioning that Dell had increased sales internationally. In China, India, Brazil and Russia it was up 18 percent. China is Dells second-largest country in terms of revenue, sales there increased 20 percent. However this did not help much in keeping companies position in worldwide sales. At the end of November a big decline in PC sales appeared. This made Dells stock prices plummet. Dell has been hit by economic crisis just like other brands in computer industry. The only difference is that this particular brand has problems getting back its wellbeing even at the recovering of the IT sector. Companies like Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Acer and some others start to feel the improvement of market conditions and during November had bigger than expected profits. This was influenced by boosting their presence in retail stores and also by the popularity of so called netbook computers that mostly supplemented Acers wallet. The reason why Dell recovers so slowly is its target market. Company focused on corporations and large government agencies that had tightened their spending even at economic recovery and the demand for PCs isnt as robust as hoped. Since these customers made up to 80% of Dells revenue, loss in earnings was substantial. This benefitted Dells rivals and shaped the market by making HP top seller of PCs worldwide. Acer advanced to the second place and pushed D ell to third. Now Michael Dell CEO of company is starting to put some effort to expand Dells presence in consumer PCs sold in stores to improve its condition. When comparing Dell with its competitors big difference in their stock price can be seen. For example when looking at share price of HP during September-November there had been an increasing trend that rose by 3.96 at the end of period when looking at weakly closing prices. Apple had also boosted stock value that lifted from 170.31 to 199.91 during these three months. There are more examples of increasing value of companies in IT sector unfortunately Dell is not joining them. In future Dell market position should start recovering. Firstly the acquisition of Perot Systems should lead to an expansion not only in hardware but also in IT service niches. Also company announces to increase its earnings in short future, but mainly they are hoping to boost sales in holidays which might lead just to a seasonal uplift. Company started to change the ways of making and selling PCs by focusing on contracting the retailers and manufacturers instead of doing everything themselves. Expanding acquisitions is also the goal towards reaching more profitable markets. The release of a new operating system Windows 7 according to Dell CEO Michael Dell will hopefully also increase the sales due to positive views towards it. There seems to be many changes and factors that could help Dell to recover its wealth again. According to the trend of historical stock prices, taking into account the position of Dells competitors and considering changes that have been and will be made in the future the following solutions for the investors have been made: The stocks should not be acquired by investors that seek to gain earnings in short term and who want to invest lets say for 6-8 months and then sell their basket (a proposition also made by Jayson Noland, a senior analyst at investment firm Robert W. Baird), because there is a possibility for them to lose earnings due to down sloping trend in share price. However there can be boost in sales of PCs during holidays that can increase earnings, but this would only be a seasonal uplift. Long term investors can benefit from buying Dells shares. The price is relatively cheap comparing to other hardware producers and sooner or later the company is going to recover and bringing profit to shareholders. The only question is how long will it take for it to recover completely. Existing investors that already bought Dells shares should not panic, keep the stocks to themselves and wait for Dells recovering. By selling shares now most of them will definitely lose money and the opportunity to retrieve their accumulated earnings. There is another possibility. Investors could focus on companies in PC industry that are more successful and stable than Dell. For example HP. The price of shares is bigger, but so is the opportunity to gain wealth. In conclusion Dells financial situation comparing to other companies in IT and hardware industry does not look very good. High expectations didnt come true, but there is still a possibility to recover. By expanding to other fields and restructuring operations Dell will be able to stand on its feet however this might take several years to happen.

The alliterative poems Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight unite traditional Celtic mythology with Christian orthodoxy to produce a distinctly :: Essays Papers

The alliterative poems Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight unite traditional Celtic mythology with Christian orthodoxy to produce a distinctly British Christianity The Catholic church in fourteenth century England was undergoing a convulsion. The church was unable to explain why God inflicted the Black Plague on the citizenry, or to conjure up his mercy and end the suffering and death. The Babylonian Captivity saw the papacy in Avignon, under the influence if not the direct control of the hated French. Even when Rome once again became the seat of the Holy See, the Great Western Schism divided the loyalties of Christians between the two rival popes -- who excommunicated each other and all the other's followers. Corruption among the hierarchy of priests and bishops seemed epidemic. As ever, "The obvious alternative, for anyone wishing to withdraw from the ideological and bureaucratic complexities of the Christian empire, was to return to the simplicity of the Church's founder," (Saul 544). We still see this today, in evangelical and fundamentalist Christian sects. Lollardy was one reaction to the church's apparent loss of direction. John Wyclif and his followers disavowed the authority of the papacy, the truth of the sacraments, and the dogma and doctrines of the Catholics church. The alliterative poems Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight also turn away from the orthodoxy of the Catholic church. By the subtle yet simple technique of excluding Catholic doctrines, and by adapting the mythical British past into the Christian present, these poems illustrate the development of a specifically British Christianity. While the poems may seem to approve of Lollardy, we would be in error in believing that. Rather, these heretical views all flow from a common wellspring in the English character that would later lead to Protestantism and the establishment of the Church of England. Veneration of the Virgin Mary was to be scornfully dubbed "Mariolotry" by Protestants, but was at the time (and remains) a central doctrine of Catholicism. Teachings of the church "formed so vital a part of literary backgrounds" (Ackerman 81) that someone unfamiliar with Catholicism would fail to understand the literature of the period. Both Pearl and Gawain treat as normal veneration of the Virgin Mary. This is, however, the only piece of Catholic orthodoxy these poems contain; all the other Christian symbols and allusions are taken directly from the Bible, not the church. Gawain does mention in passing St. Julian (774) and St.

The Health Care Crisis :: American Health Insurance Essays

It is hard to imagine life without health insurance. If you have any type of medical problem that requires attention, and you have appropriate health care insurance, you can be cared for in the finest of private hospitals. You can get great treatment and your ailments, depending on the severity, can be treated as soon as possible. Doctors, physicians and surgeons are willing to put out a big effort if they know that they are dealing with patients who are insured and have the money to go under extensive medical treatment. But imagine life without such luxuries. For example, what happens if a relative requires much needed surgery, but does not have health insurance to cover the procedure? What happens if a lack of medical insurance prevents you or your family from seeing a doctor, which could result in health problems that had not been identified but could have been treated before they became life threatening? These scenarios may seem far-fetched, but these types of s ituations happen to people who lack health coverage everyday. There is a true story about a patient who was insured and diagnosed with treatable cervical cancer. Unfortunately, she lost her job and with it her insurance. She was then unable to see her private doctor, and was turned away from other hospitals because ?cancer treatment is not considered an emergency in a patient who can?t pay? (?Help for D.C.?s Uninsured?). The woman later died at her home without ever being treated. This example raises the question, since when are people with less money less deserving of health care or appropriate treatment? The District of Columbia fares terribly when it comes to health care. Avram Goldstein is a journalist from the Washington Post who has written numerous articles on the health care situation in D.C. Goldstein has worked for the Post for nine years but has been covering health care for numerous years as an investigative reporter and as an editor in many newspapers. As an expert on the issue of health care, he states in one of his articles, ?If you live in the District without health insurance or a regular doctor and you get sick, city officials and health administrations have an important message for you.

The Martian Chronicles Essay -- essays research papers

The Martian Chronicles   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury, is a science-fiction book and was written in 1946. This major work by Bradbury is a collection of short stories relating to Mars or Martians. Bradbury had a clear vision of the Mars in which these stories are set. His vision was one of a fantasy world from the Martians point of view. In this work, the humans from Earth are the aliens from outer space. Bradbury has won many awards including the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Aviation-Space Writers Association Award, the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement, and the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Bradbury supported his awards with The Martian Chronicles, keeping with the theme of giving his readers something to enjoy. His thoroughness in his writing keeps the reader wanting more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Martian Chronicles is a collection of 19 short stories about Mars and the Martians. He opens the book with a very short story, 'Rocket Summer';. 'Rocket Summer'; is a great exaggeration of how hot it becomes within a few miles radius of a rocket launch. Around this certain rocket, it was winter. As soon as the rocket's booster ignited, all of the snow within the vicinity melted. 'The snow dissolved and showed last summer's ancient green lawns.';. Bradbury knew when he wrote this that a weather change that dramatic would never happen from a single rocket, it was simply to grab the attention of the reader.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 'The Third Expedition';, the sixth short-story in The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury uses his description of America on Mars to give a setting and tone for the story. He suggested that by 1950, America had already started to vanish. By the time any astronaut reached Mars, the America the astronaut knew would be greatly different than that of America in 1950. Bradbury was setting Mars equal to small-town life on Earth. 'The rocket landed on a lawn of green grass. Outside, upon this lawn, stood an iron deer. Further up on the green stood a tall brown Victorian house, quiet in the sunlight, all covered with scrolls and rococo, its windows made of blue and pink and yellow and green colored glass.'; If just this quote had been read, one would have thought that the rocket landed on Earth. Bradbury, using his wonde... ...n anyone's 'should read'; list. It is a great example of science-fiction from the 1950's. Although people today may want a newer and fresher look at aliens and outer space, Bradbury provides a wonderful compilation of stories that could have been passed off as recently written. His ideas were so new to anyone at the time that we, in the year 2000, look at them as marvelous ideas that we can agree with, in theory, today. The Martian Chronicles meets the criteria of a great literary work because it has all of the characteristics of being one. First, there is a well organized and thought out plot to the story. Even though there are a number of short stories, they can all be read together as one collection on the same subject. Secondly, if you were to take out one of the stories to read by itself, one would never know it came from a book of stories. That is something that many authors have a hard time doing. Finally, Bradbury has built a reputation to be a great writer. This work doe s not let down on his reputation. Truly, anyone that is the least bit interested in science-fiction should really give this compilation a read. This book should really be on everyone's 'should read'; list.