Free Essays on Futurefirst

We’ve decided to use the direct sales route for our product. Direct Selling is the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location. These products and services are marketed to customers by independent salespeople. Depending on the company, the salespeople may be called distributors, representatives, consultants or various other titles. Products are sold primarily through in-home product demonstrations, parties and one-on-one selling. As reported in 2000, the 55 percent of American adults who have ever purchased by direct selling is exceeded only by the percentage of those who have ever purchased via retail stores (96%) or through mail order catalogs (83%). The primary reason we chose direct sales marketing is we feel that the consumer, in this age of internet commerce, will have a better personal experience while purchasing a new product though direct sales. In addition, we chose direct sales because we want to target a demographic that will purchase from a trusted retail vendor such as the major department store. We’ve decided to sell this product at department stores like Macy’s, Strawbridge’s, J.C. Penney. We’ve also decided to sell it at large-scale gyms like the YMCA or Gold’s Gym and sporting good stores such as Sports Authority and Dick’s.... Free Essays on Futurefirst Free Essays on Futurefirst We’ve decided to use the direct sales route for our product. Direct Selling is the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location. These products and services are marketed to customers by independent salespeople. Depending on the company, the salespeople may be called distributors, representatives, consultants or various other titles. Products are sold primarily through in-home product demonstrations, parties and one-on-one selling. As reported in 2000, the 55 percent of American adults who have ever purchased by direct selling is exceeded only by the percentage of those who have ever purchased via retail stores (96%) or through mail order catalogs (83%). The primary reason we chose direct sales marketing is we feel that the consumer, in this age of internet commerce, will have a better personal experience while purchasing a new product though direct sales. In addition, we chose direct sales because we want to target a demographic that will purchase from a trusted retail vendor such as the major department store. We’ve decided to sell this product at department stores like Macy’s, Strawbridge’s, J.C. Penney. We’ve also decided to sell it at large-scale gyms like the YMCA or Gold’s Gym and sporting good stores such as Sports Authority and Dick’s....

Fiscal Stimulus - Three Key Ingredients

Fiscal Stimulus - Three Key Ingredients In late 2008 and early 2009, you could not turn on a TV or open a newspaper without hearing the term fiscal stimulus over and over again. The idea behind fiscal stimulus is a rather simple one - a reduction in consumer demand has resulted in an unusually high number of idle resources such as unemployed workers and closed factories. Because the private sector will not spend, the government can take the place of the private sector by increasing spending, thus putting these idle resources back to work. With their newly found income, these workers will be able to spend again, increase consumer demand. As well, workers who already have jobs will have increased confidence in the state of the economy and will increase their spending as well. Once consumer spending rises enough, the government can slow their spending, as they are no longer needed to pick up the slack.The theory behind fiscal stimulus depends on three basic factors. As we will see, in practice it is difficult to have more tha n two of these met at any one time. Fiscal Stimulus Factor 1 - Provide Stimulus Through Use of Idle Resources Fiscal stimulus only works if it uses idle resources - resources that would not otherwise be used by the private sector. Using employees and equipment that would otherwise be used by the private sector is of no use; in fact, it is detrimental if the private sector projects are of more value than government ones. This crowding out of private spending by public spending must be avoided.To avoid crowding out, great care needs to be taken in a fiscal stimulus package to target industries and geographic areas that contain idle resources. Re-opening a closed automotive plant and rehiring the laid off workers is an obvious way to do so, though in the real world it is difficult to target a stimulus plan so precisely.We cannot forget that the choice of what type of fiscal stimulus is chosen by politicians, and thus is a political issue as much as it is an economic one. There is a great likelihood that a politically popular but non-stimulating package will be chosen over one that is politicall y less popular but more beneficial to the economy. Fiscal Stimulus Factor 2 - Started Quickly A recession is not a particularly long-lived phenomenon (though it often feels like one). Since World War II recessions have lasted between 6 and 18 months, with an average duration of 11 months (source). Suppose we are in a long recession of 18 months, with another 6 months of slow growth afterward. This gives us a 24-month window in which to provide fiscal stimulus. During this period a number of things have to happen: The government has to recognize that the economy is in recession. This takes longer than one might imagine - the National Bureau of Economic Research did not recognize that the United States was in a recession until 12 months after it started.The government needs to develop a stimulus package.The stimulus bill needs to be made law and pass all the necessary checks and balances.The projects involved in the stimulus package need to be started. There may be delays in this step, particularly if the project involves the building of physical infrastructure. Environmental assessments need to be completed, private sector contractors need to bid on the project, workers need to be hired. All of this takes time.The projects, ideally, need to be completed. If they are not completed before the economy fully recovers, then we will certainly have crowding out as these employees and equipment would be of use to the private sector. All of these items need to happen in the window of, at best, 24 months. Meeting this task seems quite difficult, if not impossible. Fiscal Stimulus Factor 3 - Perform Reasonably Well on a Benefit-Cost Test Ideally, we should get good value for our money - the government should spend taxpayer dollars on items of real value to the taxpayer. Government spending will necessarily raise GDP because in the calculation of GDP the value of any government project is determined by its cost, not its value. But building roads to nowhere does nothing to increase our true standard of living.There is also the political issue here - that projects may be chosen on their political popularity or value to special interests, rather than on their merits.   Fiscal Stimulus - Meeting One Factor Is Hard; Three Is Impossible In Fiscal Stimulus - Unlikely To Work in the Real World we will see that not only are some of these factors hard enough to meet on their own, it is nearly impossible to meet more than two of them at any one time.

THE MID-EAST Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

THE MID-EAST - Research Paper Example Israel is further right in their claim that Jews probably need a state of their own – after the tragedies of the holocaust, where the entire people was nearly exterminated, it is impossible to argue that Jewish safety is not augmented by the state (27). Both sides thus have the â€Å"right† on their side, leading them to feel entirely justified in any actions they take to achieve their aims – after all, they are in the â€Å"right.† This argument obscures, however, the fact that a just cause is not all that constitutes being in the right. The actions one takes to achieve one’s goals are also incredibly important, and both Israel and Palestine put themselves in the wrong in this way. Israel has waged wars that have cost countless civilian lives, while some Palestinians have resorted to terrorist tactics, targeting civilians in the attempt to achieve their aim. So while the fundamental argument of both sides might keep them in the right, their tactics place them squarely in the wrong. This quotation may be an apt one – certainly it has been impossible for lasting peace to be achieved in the middle east for some time now, despite monumental efforts by everyone involved. The Six Day’s war, rather than leading to lasting peace, for instance, only intensified the conflict within the Levant itself (Shoshan 38), and the more recent war against Palestine by Israel served only to inflame opposition and further empower Hamas. This quote obscures, however, the fact that there is still a possibility of peace, and simply because the current political situation is not conducive to it does not mean that it will never happen. One of the fundamental problems with conflict in the middle east is the fact that there has rarely been representative governments – before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent Arab Spring, dictators or clans have been the norm of power in the Middle East. This is conducive to violence, because a) democracies have little qualms

Expanding Product Offerings and Quality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Expanding Product Offerings and Quality - Essay Example Change occurs based on the fluctuation in the market due to innovations on new ways of doing things. It can also be based on the actions of the competitors for substitute products which may change customer loyalty. This may result from reduced sudden decline in sales. Pay a closer look at the customer’s feedback against the brand. Check on the activities of your competitors in terms of their blending, grading and sorting. Check on the marketing trends and the promotional feedbacks. The most attribute of iPhone is its retina-display screen which has a higher screen resolution. Its high density pixel presents quality images and better text display. The phone’s curved font edges and the color combination attracts customers in various niches (Sander & Scott 2012). To this end, the phone has a higher contrast ratio with a combination of brighter white screen resolution and deeper In-Pane thus improving the brand’s viewing angle, a feature that its close substitute are far from reaching. It chemically hardened glass pane; ultra-durable and greatly resistant to any form of scratches. The possession of the 3G internet enabled, music player, touch pads, glossy appearance and wide screen raises the attractiveness of the Apple’s product leaving no option but to purchase. Apple’s retail management appreciates the need for window display which is most appealing for the sale of iPhone product (Elliot, 2012, p.111). This draws the customers, promotes-slow moving items leading to better sales even during economic depressions. The window display approaches proves cost-effective and hence attributes further presents a further platform for special advertisement which translates into its sales. Changing the brand’s contrast ratio which has a combination of the brighter white screen resolution and deeper In-Pane will interfere with the brands viewing angle. Most loyal customers have been urged to buy this brand based on its contrast ration

Harlem Shake Essay Example for Free

Harlem Shake Essay I am going to describe what I saw when I watched the Peanuts Harlem Shake video. The Harlem shake is a dance where one person dances alone for fifteen seconds, then a roomfull of people joins in doing crazy gyrating manically dance movements. Sometimes in costumes with random objects sometimes not. The reason I choose this one is because it reminds me of when I was a child and used to watch the Peanuts. On the stage of an auditorium with purple drapes and a pink wooden floor sets a grand piano. Sitting at this piano is Schreoder, a boy that has yellow hair. He is wearing a purple and black striped shirt and black pants. Behind the piano is Snoopy, a white beagle with black ears. Across the piano from Schreoder is Lucy, a girl. She has black hair and a purple dress. She is laying on the floor with her arm resting on the piano relaxing. Schreoder begins to play the piano and the same time as bass drop music as if he was playing it. Lucy is relaxing at the opposite end of piano. Snoopy starts junping up and down , running in place while his arms are spread open. At first they are oblivious to his dancing. Then they notice looking at him oddling. A few seconds later Snoopy stops tired and panting hard. The a voice over a speakers saysDo The Harlem Shake. Then a whole stage of people are dancing manically. Now Snoopy is on the front of the stage. He now has a red guitar and is playing it like a rock star, then stands it up on its end and is dancing around it. Schreoder continues to play piano. On the stage behind piano is Pigpen, a boy that never baths and has dirty clothes. He is strumming on a cello. You can tell he is dirty from the dirt and dust swirling in the air around him. There are twin girls in purple dresses dancing happily bouncing on one foot to the next waving their hands in the air in the middle of the stage. Charlie Brown, a bald boy wearing a yellow shirt with a zigzag black stripe is standing in the corner not knowing what to think about all the craziness. He is holding a megaphone but never uses it as if hes thinking What am I going to do? and just watches confused. Then bass drop music continues, you hear what sounds like a lion roar. The dancing continues. Also in the front of stand next to Snoopy is a spikey haired boy with a orange shirt. He is bouncing on his toes while shrugging his shoulders moving his head from one side to another. Freda, a natural curly brunette is in the back of the stage. She jumping up and down, arms out in front of her waving them back and forth happily. Next to her is a boy with brown hair and a green shirt. He is walking like a zombie with his arms straight out in front of him, then he switches and does the running man dance. In the middle of stange thes a girl in a green dress with black hair. She is doing a dancing like shes puncing someone while jumping. To the right of her is Linus, a boy who alway carries a banket. He is dancing with blanket in his hands, arms to his side moving them up and down. Sally, a blonde hair girl, wearing a blue dress is doing a dance that resembles the drying yourself with a towel. With Charlie Brown still confused, the music ends and so does the dancing. I do believed that the Peanuts did do the first harlem shake, but without the bass music. The video I watched the dance from was from Charlie Brown Christmas,which was produced in 1965. The harlem shake with the bass music started in 2012, 47 years later.

The Destructive Power of the Media Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive T

The Destructive Power of the Media      Ã‚  Ã‚   I have the most adorable little cousin named Alexandra, whom I love with all my heart. One day I was very disturbed when she told me that she was fat. She was 4 years old at the time. I was stunned and had no idea what to say to her, so I just told her that she is a healthy little girl and that she needs to not to worry about that. I tried to think of where she would come up with this thought, and after a while I remembered a conversation that her mother and I had. We were talking about how nice it was when we were younger and we did not have to work at being thin. Her mother said something about being fat and Alexandra must have been listening. This got me thinking about how I came to be self conscious about my body. I came to the conclusion that it is just something that every woman has to go through at least one time in her life. But why, what is it that makes every woman want "the perfect body?" I pondered this question for a while, but I was baffled. Later that day I began to read the "Cosmopolitan" and I began paying attention to the advertisements in this very popular woman's magazine; I was amused at the angle the advertisers use to try to get women to buy their product. One advertisement was for an alcoholic drink called Tequiza. The advertisement compared the calories and the fat content of that drink to the calories and fat content in another popular alcoholic beverage. I am under age, but I am a college student so I will not lie and say that I do not drink on occasion, but when I do drink I do not worry about how much fat or how many calories I am taking in. To me this advertisement was completely ridiculous and instead of making me want to buy the product I have now vowed... ... by showing us how happy it will make us. They shape our culture by telling us that we want to be married because the people advertisements are and they are incredibly happy. They also shape our culture by setting the standard for the way we look. All women at one point in their life are self-conscious because they do not look like the models in advertisements. Advertisements are the reason why women obsess about their weight and the way they look. I do not know about most people, but I do know that I do not want to live in a world where advertisements tell me what I want or how I should look.      Works Cited    "Super Bowl Clutter." Editor & Publisher. Vol. 127, Issue 6 (1994): 6. Signorielli, Nancy and Douglas McLeod. "Gender Stereotypes in MTV Commercials: The Beat Goes On." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Vol. 38, Issue 1 (1994): 91.

Drama and Theatre studies – practical- coursework

In my AS theatre studies course we have studied, Antigone a Greek tragedy by Sophocles and, Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca which is a Spanish play based in the countryside of Andalusia. Both plays have their main characters female and both surround around the â€Å"injustice† they have been through the main reason being men and the patriarchy society they're in. So from both the plays we've studied we get a feeling of a â€Å"battle between the sexes† they both create the idea of women â€Å"fighting back†. This was our group's first inspiration for our devised piece we decided to base our play around the treatment of women and the unity of women coming together to fight against men, because of the unfairness towards women. This idea of all women against their men gave me the idea of a scene from the production of Chicago the musical, where all these women are together in jail for having killed their husbands/boyfriends in a variety of ways and they all sing of how â€Å"He had it coming†, making it the men's fault. I thought this idea of fighting back but then justifying it because these men are â€Å"cruel† and so deserve punishment, this could also be used in our play. This scene is a musical scene they are all singing and dancing, it's also quite creative in that it starts off with simple sounds that each woman makes to represent her â€Å"story† for example one woman keeps repeating the word â€Å"pop† you later find out when she explains her story (in song) that her man kept making that pop sound with his gum and that's what irritated her into shooting him dead! When each woman says their word (or sound) it goes around again from the beginning and they kept repeating it over and over and faster each time that it started to make a beat and that's when the song started. This influenced us into doing many things for our play such as having an unrealistic scene where we could have music and dancing and also if we had the female characters that have had the injustice done to them if they each had one word to describe them and then like in Chicago have them repeat it in a climax of a scene. In Chicago they all come together and dance in unison etc†¦ o we began to think of having those individual stories of each woman but then in the big climax having them come together to get revenge in â€Å"unison†. Therefore the basic plot that we gathered for our devised piece is that there are a number a woman who have been treated unfairly or unequally by men they are in a relationship and so they all get their ‘vengeance' by coming togethe r and punishing them all in an extremely unrealistic way. The group came up with ideas of using something like â€Å"voodoo† or magic to be their fight back. Because when we thought of â€Å"powerful† â€Å"evil† women it made us think of â€Å"witches† and that casting a spell could be their way of getting men back! Research Chicago- Item 1 (enclosed) In this scene of Chicago these women are in jail they all sing about how they killed their husbands and blame them for their death. The imagery of all these women uniting as one and dancing in unison, that'd be useful for our play, instead of keeping the women as individuals even though they all have different stories and are different people, make them come together, become one and fight back. Also it shows the feisty sexy side to women shows them to be strong not just sweet and caring as they are stereotyped to be, so we need to portray this. It's almost like saying every woman has a tigress in them and you push her then it will be unleashed and she will fight back! Arab men and domestic violence- Item 2 (enclosed) From this article you can see the main reason these Arab men were abusive to their wives was because of their patriarchal society. This I feel is down to insecurities of when they are not feeling like they are in â€Å"power†. But these statistics show that they are â€Å"against† it, it's almost like they don't realise what they're doing, and some blame their wives for them doing it. This helps me to understand my character because I know that he uses certain mechanisms to save himself from blame and feeling guilty. I'll use this in my acting, id be trying to make excuses and to justify my reasons for beating my wife. True story domestic violence Tanya Grey- Item 3 (enclosed) This could be put into both my character and Priya's, because we can use examples of things that had happened in this story of abuse and put it into our story. For example one scene in our play when the husband comes home and the wife is terrified just hearing his footsteps; this was real and had happened to this woman in the article. From this we made our stylised version of it, the footsteps and other actions are exemplified by a thudding sound that will be made by one of the actors off stage, and as he gets closer a heart beat rhythm starts showing how scared she is. And also in one scene the husband suspects his wife is waiting for another man (cheating) because she's got candles and is relaxing, this again comes from the real life story of this couple where she was relaxing and having a bath and he accuses her of waiting for a man. The reasons for them doing things can also be put into how we see our characters and then this will help us to understand them and so be able to â€Å"be† them (Stanislavsky's magic IF), for example his reasoning is jealousy wanting to have power and she stays with him at first because she finds this strength and power attractive, before she realises that he's actually dangerous! Stanislavsky's Emotion Memory- Item 4 (enclosed) When trying to be and feel like our characters we have to literally feel what they are feeling to be able to act to the best potential, this theory of Stanislavsky's allows an actor to do this by bringing similar personal feelings of the actors into their acting. So for example when Priya is acting extremely scared she had to remember a memory of when she felt really scared and then put all those gestures facial expressions etc into the acting. This of course is quite difficult because you're not in that situation; you need a lot of focus and determination to carry it off well. This could help me also in scenes where I have to be aggressive and angry if I jus think of the last time I was very angry and imagine being my character and what I'd do in that situation. Feminism/Ann Oakley- Item 5 (enclosed) Our play in a way represents feminism, women fighting against men! Ann Oakley is one of the main feminist writers, these quotes show her views on why men are the way they are (patriarchal society). Again I can use this to understand the thought paths of my male character; she believes they are violent because they see at as â€Å"masculine† because that's how men are presented in their society. So my character may feel like it's his â€Å"duty† because he is male to put everything in â€Å"order† (by forceful means). Again these are his reasoning for doing the abuse. I could mention these kinds of reasons in my monologue. Theory of why men abuse- Item 6 (enclosed) Again this gives the familiar reason that men abuse because they want power, but it also explains why women tend to stay with their abusive partners, which is because some women may be very dependant on their husbands, financially and if they have children she feels she can't be able to give them what they need. Also another reason not mentioned is that women that are in love with their partners just don't want to leave them because they love them and expect them to change one day. Priya's character will also need excuses for why she is with him and they'd be dependency and love. She can portray it in her acting by trying please him, not getting him angry, always doing as he says etc†¦ Health and safety 1. Stacked chairs There are many chairs that are stacked in corners it could be dangerous if they were to fall on to someone it could injure them so we made sure to keep them away from us whilst acting. There are also some chairs with attached desks which are quite heavy and some aren't extremely stable. So again we need to make sure they aren't in our way when acting. 2. Board on wheels This board can be pushed on to someone's foot or may fall on someone so is also dangerous to us so we keep it away from us. 3. Floor slippery If we have slippery shoes the floor is also quite smooth so it may be easy for us to slip and hurt ourselves. 4. Lights If the lights are a bit wobbly they might possibly fall on someone, so we made sure they were fixed on securely. They made sure they had safety chains so that even if they fall they don't fall to the ground and so don't hurt someone or get damaged 5. Trailing wires: there are wires on the floor that can easily be tripped over, we made sure they were pinned to the sides of the wall and don't come anyway near our acting space (stage). Shoes: They can be a problem if they are high heels or platforms if some were to accidentally trod on some one it could hurt them quite badly. Rope scene: This is when the women are strangling the men with ropes, we had to use a technique that our drama teacher taught us of the person who was being strangled would actually be the one in control of what happens not the other person, so the other person is holding onto the victim whilst they are moving around and acting as if they're being strangled. Abuse scene: There is a part where I am supposed to have slapped Priya but instead we make a noise and my hand doesn't touch her face she just moves like I had hit her. Helia's necklace: There is a scene where Helia's character pulls off her necklace and drops it on the floor, this could be risky if the beads were to fall off and they scattered because someone could slip on them. So she will pull them and drop them gently but looking like she's doing it with more force. Development of the play and my role When we had decided on the ideas of what we want in our play, using different ideas from some of the plays we've studied, as a group we all sat and discussed the next step which was the actual story-line of our play. This came quite easy for us as our main inspiration was about the oppression of women and how they are â€Å"mistreated† by men in a patriarchal society (mainly based on Yerma and Antigone). And we knew our climax has got to be about the anger and revenge of women, when we were talking about this I mentioned the jail scene in Chicago the musical where all the women were bitter and vengeful of their men, they had all murdered their husbands and were proud of it, they justify why they did it, from this we thought of the play being about proving the point or justifying how women are treated badly by men. So this brought us to the idea of having one man that had used a number of women and so is cheating and lying and not valuing their relationships but then these women figure it out and join together to get their own back. Finally after deciding on this idea we started trying out a scene we realised many lessons were being wasted by us just talking and thinking about what to do rather than trying out things to see if it works or not. The group were too focused on figuring out what or how these women will get their â€Å"own back†, we came to the conclusion that the only way to do this was to have it as an unrealistic scene. I started to think of how we could do this and I remembered a scene from my favourite TV show Friends where the three main female characters wanted to get rid of everything of their ex's and phoebe the gypsy type character told them to throw everything that's theirs or they gave them into a fire and that's a remedy of letting go of their man. I liked the symbolism in the idea of the fire and their personal items representing them, when I told this to the group we then came out with the idea of making the â€Å"come back† a fire â€Å"voodoo† scene! This way we could represent the women's anger and frustration in a strange way as if it's driven them insane and they just need to let it all out and this is their way. And the good thing about theatre is we can show this in a stylised performance and make it completely out of the ordinary. The â€Å"revenge voodoo† scene was the first scene we tried out, Dee volunteered to be the guy, the rest of us were then to be the angry women, Dee was defiantly on the ball that lesson I think she worked better when actually physically doing work she came up with the idea of having the guy wrapped in rope and each women had a piece of it in their hand and they were all tugging at him so that he was moving in different directions, and she also thought of a rock song that was appropriate for this scene. But then when trying to move on from there we realised it was far too complicated to do the individual stories of each women with that one guy because there were simply too many women, that's when we thought of having three couples and this left out an actor (Beatrix) we thought of just having her as a mystical character, a devil like creature that likes to stir things and will be in the background of most scenes but invisible to everyone and the final voodoo scene will have been planned by her, she had brought the women together and put it into their heads to do the voodoo ritual. We started talking a lot about the voodoo scene we wanted dancing and light effects etc†¦ But we were wasting a lot of time just discussing minor details that can be dealt with later on so we all decided to just spilt into our couples and work separately on our individual stories and scenes, which would come before the voodoo scene, then near the end of the lesson we'd come together and tell each other what we'd done. In my couple I am the man and Priya my wife, we discussed reasons for how and why this relationship broke down it had to be of course the husband's fault and so a reason to why she's against men and wants revenge, when thinking of a patriarchy society and the problems with this I immediately thought of how man like to claim â€Å"ownership† over women and I remembered this film I had watched called â€Å"Enough† and it was about this man who was so obsessed with being in control he beat his wife just to make him feel like he had power over her. I told Priya about my idea of using domestic violence as the story of what happened between our couple, at first she wasn't so sure, she said it'd be difficult to portray someone beating someone and it may turn out to be too much like a â€Å"soap opera†. But I tried to convince her we could make it work so she agreed to give it a go. When discussing with the other groups we then had our three reasons why these women are angry with their men, ours was he abused his wife, Dee and Ema had decided Ema was to be a young 14 year old girl that was raped by Dee a 22 year old man, Helia and Elizabeth got their idea from Yerma, Elizabeth was the husband in this relationship and Helia the wife, she was desperate, almost obsessed with wanting a child but Elizabeth's character isn't interested. In the prison scene of Chicago (mentioned in â€Å"inspirations† and â€Å"research†) they all chant one word which describes their story of what happened between them and their men (why they killed them). This made us think of giving a word to each woman and then in some of their scenes everyone else could whisper that word at certain times. Priya is â€Å"Abuse†, Helia is â€Å"Obsession† and Ema is â€Å"Innocence† these words all have an â€Å"S† sound quality which I think gives it more of an impact and gives it a mysterious atmosphere. Being a Muslim I wear a headscarf and I thought I could use this with the character, because I am a man I could put the scarf in a way that it represents a turban and so obviously this helped me to shape the character, because wearing a turban he could be an Asian, Persian or Arab, but being part Arab myself I thought I'd probably find it easier to be something that I knew about. Being an Arab man then made me consider putting on an accent, to make it a little more interesting and then I thought of a background story between me and Priya just by knowing my character a little more. I thought that since I was being an Arab and Priya being English this would of course be a big culture clash, and being part English and part Egyptian myself I also knew about having a culture clash, and then this could be the reasons for him being insecure about their relationship and then leading to trying to control her by physical means. In the English culture it's much more normal for women to socialise freely with men but Arabs do believe in socialising with both sexes but aren't as lenient, They feel women should be protected and are seen as precious and need not always be on show for men to look at, so in the culture it's normal to have segregated gatherings. But if Priya's character isn't of course accustomed to this she will find it normal to talk to guys in the same way she talks to girls but to him in his culture when a girl is very chatty to a boy their immediate thought is she fancies him and if he is an insecure controlling type of character this will irritate him and make him feel even more insecure and then he will feel he has to stop her. This is what I will use as my purpose for beating her. Acting as my character is quite difficult for me because I'm extremely feminine in the way I walk, talk, my gestures etc†¦ nd being a man everything needs to be changed, I tried watching men in the street just to see how they hold themselves and move when they walk. But because I'm quite slim and small it's hard to move like someone that has broader shoulders and a larger physique. I also find it difficult to put myself in a man's shoes but using the techniques of Stanislavsky I try to understand my character in order for me to be him, everything he does should be for a reason (action for a purpose). For example my gestures aren't to be as extended and flowing as I would usually do them being female they should be more strong and firm but then by him being Arab also gives him certain hand gestures more than a usual European man would do. Even though I imagine him to be insecure inside, he is the type of character that would never tell anyone that he is insecure or upset, instead he would put on a stern face and hold it all in and also instead of ever blaming himself or seeing his mistakes he only acknowledges other people's, so everything is someone else's fault not his! Only by understanding how my character is and how his mind works did I find it easier to act as him. When acting out all our scenes that the couples had done separately, we realised that our scenes were far too realistic and life like which isn't what we all initially intended so we came together and discussed what sort of scenes we want and that they should be done in a similar format etc†¦ We then came up with the idea of having three scenes in every couples section, scenes that are all of different type one realistic, one non- naturalistic and one documentary. It would just give the play more of a spice because there is quite a constant tone through out, which can be quite dull, so by seeing things from different perspectives we thought would make it more interesting. The realistic would obviously be what happened in their every life then the non naturalistic is their thoughts, their dreams, what happened but done in exaggerated dream-like way etc†¦ The documentary scene we originally thought of getting a voice of a man played by tape or CD reading out a news report but then we realised Beatrix needed more lines and so gave her the role of reading the reports, she would read statistics on domestic violence, rape and infertile men. And we thought of using Visual aids to make it a little more interesting so having that information on a screen behind Whilst we were talking about visual aid we thought of the voodoo scene having a fire and to imitate the fire we could have an image of fire on the back screen during that scene. The first scene that me and Priya did which was me coming home and accusing her of waiting for another man and that's the build up of me abusing her, this idea I got from a true story of domestic violence (research). This was what we thought was too realistic and boring but we kept it because when we decided to have the three different types of scenes it balanced it out so seemed ok. We were going to start with the realistic scene but from that research I had done, the true story, I got another idea that we could do. The woman hears her husband coming home and just by hearing his footsteps gets extremely scared and by making this an unrealistic scene it can be very effective. Making the sounds of his footsteps and everything he does as loud exaggerated thuds, and as I get closer to Priya the thudding then starts to sound like heartbeats getting faster and faster and I put my hand on her shoulder and there's one last loud thud, I've arrived! We wanted to put this before the realistic scene of our argument but the group had a problem with this because Priya and I had actually already got an unrealistic scene and this would mean we have one more than the other couples. But I really didn't want to let this idea go I felt it would be very good to show the wife's fear of her husband. And so after some convincing I won my case, under the condition we try and merge this scene with the realistic one. Final Evaluation When we watched ourselves on tape acting our piece, there were many good points I found but also things I felt needed to be improved. Most of our gestures the women's and the men's I thought were very good and to the point (action for a purpose). Although I found I needed to change my posture at points, my body language needs to be a lot more masculine! Beatrix also needs to get more involved in her character so that she can do more gestures and facial expressions correct to the type of character she is. She is being a little cheeky and doing some gestures to portray that but we felt there needed to be more so that the audience has some understanding of what Beatrix is. Our tones of voice (men and women) were good and were believable but we need to slow down our pace and take our time when saying our lines. Our stylised techniques such as the toy box scene of when Helia's character dreams of having a baby and we are all the toy dolls that dance around her, this looked really creative. We need to make sure all of us keep those scary toy smiles on so it's even more affective. In most of our scenes we just need to make them run a little more smoothly and there were some incidences where people didn't know what scene was coming up and the other actors would hint at something for them to remember. This is important that we all help each other out if someone gets confused or forget their lines if we feel out the gap and improvise with it which I ended up doing on the tap because Priya had forgotten one of her lines so I said her line but in a different way so that I was asking it to her in a question and she could just agree to it. The most important section we need to work on is our ending which isn't complete because we need music and need to figure out the choreography etc†¦ I think it'd be useful to also make a clear definition when it has changed from stylised to realistic to documentary because we are just going from one to the next which makes it seem a bit scruffy perhaps if for example we had a news report tune before the documentary starts to give it a bit of an introduction. And in the stylised we could all say the words in cannon of the woman that is in the scene (e. g. innocence) repeatedly to give it that creepy atmosphere and making sure the audience know it isn't realistic. Overall the play came along very well, we all listened to each other and took on ideas and decided everything as a group so that we were all in agreement, we really worked together like a team, which I think pays off in our work. Everyone participated in what they thought of the scenes, lighting, music etc and all the actors had a great deal of respect for each other which made it easier to act side by side and help each other out. There may have been some weaker actors that came late and didn't give as much input into the piece and there were the stronger actors that held the play together, but everyone deserves credit for the amount of work put into the acting of our play.

The Market for Chocolate Cookies Is Comprised of Two Types

(a) As the question says the market for chocolate cookies is competitive thus, this complies with the market structure of Perfect Competition where there are a large number of buyers and sellers in the market. The basic characteristics of a Perfect Competition Market structure are that there is perfect knowledge on both sides of the market that is buyers and sellers know what the current market price is and thus, it prevents exploitation of the consumers as producers would not be able to charge unfair prices.This is because each firm produces an insignificant fraction of the total market supply and therefore is unable to affect price, it is for this reason that each firm in perfect competition is known as a price taker. There are no barriers to entry or exit in a perfectly competitive industry and thus, producers can enter or exit the market without any restrictions and thus, without any significant losses. The intersection of demand and supply curves of the industry determines the e quilibrium price a typical producer can charge which also become the demand of the firm.Due to this, the producers cannot exploit the consumers by charging a high price and thus, the price is always at the equilibrium. This is because if the producers charge a higher price, the demand for the product becomes zero, because the consumers can always switch to another producer as the good is homogenous. (Anderton, 2000) Since the Firms in Perfect Competition are Price takers so they both take the current market price, ‘Pe’ as shown in the Graph where the Market Demand and Supply intersects and form the Market equilibrium.D0 can be assumed as the Total Demand of Chocolate Cookies in the market and S0 can be assumed as the Total Supply of the Chocolate Cookies in the Market. Not for profit Organisations’ (NPOs) Average Cost (ATCn) is higher than the Average Cost of Profit Making Organisations, that is ATCp, because Not for profit organisations’ (NPOs) employ dis abled people and their cost is also high because Profit Making Organisation are making use of Capital Intensive technologies thus, more of their production is automated and they employ fewer workers than the NPOs.Average Cost of the Profit Making Firms (ATCp) is equal to the market Price (Pe) so they are making a â€Å"Normal Profit† just because of higher productivity due to which their cost is reduced. A firm makes a Normal Profit when its total Economic Cost, which is Average Cost in other words, is equal to the price firm is charging. In other words it can be said that the firm is making zero economic profit. A firm makes a supernormal profit when its Average Cost (economic cost) is lower than the price it is charging. The NPOs initially in the Short run are making a loss since their Average Cost (ATCn) is greater than the price (Pe) charged.A profit making firm may also make a supernormal profit but in the short run only, in the long run it can only make a normal profit or a zero economic profit. NPOs will be following a cost minimizing price, marginal cost price. (b)(i) A lump sum tax is a fixed amount that is charged as tax irrespective of a business’s profit, sales revenue or capital. According to Mankiw (2009), A lump sum tax is the most efficient tax possible because the business’s decisions do not alter the tax owed, the tax does not causes any dead weight losses and does not distort any incentives.Since, there is a fixed amount payable as tax so there is no administrative expense of hiring tax lawyers and accountants. Short run is the time period when at least one inputs in the production process is fixed and the rest are variable. Usually in the short run, the variable input is labour and the fixed input is capital. In the short run, it is assumed that producers can only alter production by changing the variable inputs rather than any fixed inputs. In the short run, existing firms do not exit the market.When the government imp oses a lump sum tax on the profit making corporations in a perfect competition, it disturbs the market structure of Perfect competition. It challenges the basic theory of Perfect Competition which says no barriers to entry and exit to and from the market. There is no government intervention usually in a perfectly competitive industry since it changes the basic characteristics of the Market Structure. However, after the government decides to impose a tax on the profit making firms only then the Market Structure of the Chocolate Cookies Industry does not remains a ure perfect competition, the Industry has close characteristics with Perfect Competition but cannot be categorised under it just because of the tax imposed. In the short run, the lump-sum tax must only affect the Average cost of the Profit Making firms while all other costs and revenue must be constant if all other factors affecting costs/revenue remain constant. Hence, as shown in the Graph above, The Average cost (ATCp0) o f a Profit making firm will increase depending on the amount of tax imposed by the government.In the graph above, the amount of tax has been assumed to be ATCp1-Pe which shows that the firm is making a loss after the ATCp0 shifts to ATCp1. If the market price is less than the Average Variable cost of the profit making firm, that is the firm is operating below its shut down point (Price = Average Variable Cost) then the firm will have to shut down production in the short run until there is a decrease in its average variable cost or an increase in the market price.But if in case, the market price is greater than Average variable cost but lesser than Average total Cost then the firm must continue production in the short run since it is covering its variable costs for now. (Mankiw, 2007) (ii) Long run is a time period when all the factors/inputs involved in the production process are variable. There are no fixed factors in the long run. In the long run firms can exit and enter the marke t freely.The long run is primarily used to analyze production decisions for a firm and is also used to better understand economies of scale, diseconomies of scale, and long-run market supply. In the long run, there must be a lot of changes in the industry and must also affect the firms in many ways. Like most of the Profit making firms which will be operating below the Shut down point (Price < Average Variable Cost) must not have been able to survive and must have exit the market.That must only shrink the market supply of Chocolate cookies, if all other factors affecting supply remain constant. The shrinking of supply will shift the Market Supply Curve (S0) to the left to the new Market Supply curve (S1) which must lead to an increase in the equilibrium market price of the industry to Pe1. The new market price will result in NPOs making a supernormal, normal profit or at least covering more of its loss in the short run but making a normal profit in the long run, depending on the num ber of exits from the market which should influence the change in market price.The graph below shows NPOs making a supernormal profit (Pe1-ATCn). It shows the Profit making firms also making a normal profit (Pe1 = ATCp1). Again, depending on the number of exits from the market and average costs of the firms, the profit of both the firms must vary. Since the NPOs now can make a Supernormal or at least a normal profit in the long run and will also get donations additionally so they must benefit their workers with all that extra profits earned.Their Disabled workers must earn much more than they were earning before in the short run and before the lump sum tax by the government was imposed. The NPOs may also employ additional workers after earning extra profits. The workers of the Profit making corporation might be worse off in the short run and some workers which will be working in the firms which had to shut down due to higher Average Variable cost than the market price will be fired while others in the long run will be better off comparatively.It will be unfair for the Profit making firms in a way that they produce better quality cookies as compare to NPOs but still NPOs are better off than the Profit Making Organisations in the long run. The consumers of the industry will be worse off in the long run, since they will have to pay a higher price just due to the lump sum tax imposed by the Government to make the NPOs better off in the long run.The tax burden of the Profit making organisations will be totally passed on to the consumers in the long run since they will have to pay the whole tax burden on the producers in the form of price. Word Count: 1531 words without referencing References: Heyne, P. , P. J. Boettke and D. L. Prychitko (2009). Economic Way of Thinking (9th Edition). Mankiw, N. G. (2009). Principles of Economics (5th Edition). Parkin, M. (2007). Economics (8th Edition).

Radical Book Review Essay

Radical Book Review Essay Radical Book Review Essay 2/17/2015 Ruth Russell Intro to Christian Missions: Book Review: Radical by David Platt I have read this 90% of this book. Section one Platt starts out his book with speaking of his fast growing mega church in Alabama. However as he points out, Jesus only choose twelve men to follow him closely. Thought Jesus often had huge crowds following him around when they got to big, as Plat pointed out, He would start preaching some of the more radical, abstract ideas of His word. This had the effect of separating the goats from the sheep. Only those with radical obedience to Him stayed. After setting this foundation, Platt says that he is convinced that American churches have embraced values and ideas that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe. What would happen if we really believed and obeyed the true Jesus of the Bible? Our God calls to leave everything we have, to pick up our cross and follow Him. In America we have our cushioned, temperature-controlled churches with all that we could want and then some. But normal church services only meet for an hour or two on ce or twice a week. Platt contrasts our â€Å"normal† church scenario with his experience in Asia, secret church with barely enough to read by with a starving hunger for the word. The Bible is where God talks to us about being His disciple. We live in our cushioned lives while more than twenty-six thousands children die today from malnutrition or preventable diseases. We live in luxury. We avoid beggars on the street as we shop for things we don’t need. How different would our world look if all who believed spread to those who had never even heard? We could put caps on our lives, as John Wesley did, living simply no matter what earthly gifts God blesses us with and sending this rest to those who are in dire need. Could we eradicate poverty and those number of people who haven’t heard? Our question for ourselves should be what will take and not what we can spare. This is a radical way of life, and it’s not easy. Jesus says that while to die is to gain, tha t we are called to live for now. We face many challenges. Our human nature is a constant battle with our Christian walk. It can be, and often, is a lonely walk. Yet believing in and obeying Christ leads to true happiness and treasure in heaven. It means freedom instead of holding on to things of this life and hoarding, we help others and release to God’s control. Ultimately He is our only satisfaction. He lasts forever and ever. To close the book Platt addresses specific ways we might live radically. He calls it an experiment, testing how God wants us to live our lives. He challenges us to try it for a least a year. We need to start praying for the whole world. Prayer is how we communicate with God, â€Å"Ask and it shall be given.† Next God often communicates to us using his word, we need to study it fervently and completely. Then we need to start giving, both our time and our money. This is best done specifically, to a specific purpose and a specific place outside of our comfort zone. Finally we can commit our lives to multiplying God’s kingdom. The Great Commissions is to go into all the world to make disciples. This is a radical life style. Section 2 I thought this book was very well written and a thought provoking book. Have we really gotten away from the biblical dream and replaced it with the â€Å"American dream†? I think Platt was right about how as American’s we have been blessed. How we have let our blessings becoming stumbling blocks to what we need to be doing for the Kingdom. However all good things come from God. So the blessings themselves are not bad things, it’s what we’re doing with them. I don’t think Platt doesn’t stress this enough. He does a good job on what we’re supposed to be doing, but I almost felt guilty for the padded seat I sit

The Urban Legend About Drugs Smuggled in a Dead Baby

The Urban Legend About Drugs Smuggled in a Dead Baby This urban legend is also known as The Stuffed Baby story. It has appeared in books and online websites many times. Generally, the text of the story reads something like the following: A woman and her 4-year-old son are visiting a border town on the Mexican side of the Texas/Mexico border. As they are walking towards the border crossing to return to the U.S., a man runs up to her and takes her child. She immediately runs to the authorities and a search ensues. The lady and the authorities begin walking among the cars, looking for her son. The woman spots her child in a truck a couple of rows over. Her son is laying his head on the shoulder of a man and appears to be sleeping. As the authorities close in on the vehicle, the driver jumps out of line and makes a run for it. As they are driving off, the passenger opens his door and dumps the child out into the street. As the woman and the authorities reach the child they find, to their horror, that the child has not only been murdered but has been cut open and illegal drugs have been put inside his body. It appears that the persons in the vehicle were drug smugglers and had decided to kidnap a child, kill them and place the drugs in the body. They would then hold the child as they approached the border and the border agents would think that the child was quietly sleeping on the shoulder of the passenger. Another Version Another version of the story circulated the internet in the late 90s. The text of the email/forum post is similar to this story: My sisters co-worker has a sister in Texas, who with her husband was planning a weekend trip across the Mexican border for a shopping spree. At the last minute, their baby sitter canceled, so they had to bring along their two-year-old son with them. They had been across the border for about an hour when the baby got free and ran around the corner. The mother went chasing, but the boy had disappeared. The mother found a police officer who told her to go to the gate and wait. Not really understanding the instructions, she did as she was instructed. About 45 minutes later, a man approached the border carrying the boy. The mother ran to him, grateful that he had been found. When the man realized it was the boys mother, he dropped the boy and ran himself. The police were waiting for him and got him. The boy was dead. In the 45 minutes he was missing, he was cut open, ALL of his insides removed, and his body cavity was stuffed with COCAINE. The man was going to carry him across the border as if he were asleep. A two-year-old boy, dead, discarded as if he were a piece of trash for somebodys cocaine. If this story can get out and change one persons mind about what drugs mean to them, we are helping. Please send this e-mail to as many people as you can. If you have a home PC send it out there, too. Lets hope and pray it changes a lot of minds. The saddest thing about the whole situation is that those persons who suffer are innocent and people we love. God bless you in this united effort to spread the word. You just might save a life! Its always a treat to see a well-worn urban legend retooled for circulation on the Internet. Such is the case with a familiar horror story dating from the early 1970s claiming that drug smugglers have been known to use the corpses of abducted, murdered children to transport their illegal goods across national borders. The story continues to circulate to this day. In all the decades this grisly legend has been in circulation, no real instances matching the descriptions above have been confirmed or documented. The legend (or the bare bones of it, anyway) got its first mainstream media airing in 1985 when the Washington Post recounted it as factual in a feature about crime problems in Miami. As folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand noted in his mid-80s collection of urban legends The Mexican Pet, the Post quickly found out that the story was untrue and retracted it a week later. The published correction read, in part: In the opening paragraph of an article last Monday on crime in Miami, the Washington Post recounted a story that cannot be substantiated. The story, told to a Post reporter several years ago by a Miami undercover agent, involves the smuggling of cocaine into the United States in the body of a dead baby. Clifton Stallings, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs Service in Miami, said the story has been in circulation for some time. No one at Customs in Miami can verify it. One customs official told the Post he had heard the story as long ago as 1973. As it was told in those days, he said, a suspiciously immobile child was spotted by an attendant on a flight from Colombia to Miami. Customs agents investigated and found that the baby, apparently deceased for some time, had been cut open, stuffed with cocaine, and sewn shut. It was considered a prime example of just how ruthless of international drug traffickers can be. As told on the internet, it has become a much more compelling story. Set just across the U.S.-Mexico border and recounted in true friend of a friend fashion (my sisters co-worker has a sister in Texas, a frequently shared variant begins), the cautionary tale now carries a dual moral message: Drugs are evil, and never let your children out of your sight. Represented as a parents true nightmare, the online version concluded with a prayer that the story would convince people to stop using drugs. The more likely result is that has reinforced many peoples already well-entrenched fears. Sources Brunvand, Jan Harold. Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends. Kindle Edition, W.W. Norton Company, March 17, 2014. Brunvan, Jan Harold. The Mexican Pet: More New Urban Legends and Some Old Favorites. Kindle Edition, Reprint edition, W. W. Norton Company, December 20, 2012. Buchanan, Edna. The Corpse Had a Familiar Face. Paperback, Reprint edition, Gallery Books, July 14, 2009. Childs body used for smuggling drugs into the U.S.-Fiction! Truth or Fiction, March 17, 2015. Sadistic_Killer. The Stuffed Baby. Wattpad.

Research-based paper on the Problem Solving Process (PSP) for a Term

Research-based on the Problem Solving Process (PSP) for a selected organization - Term Paper Example workers’ strikes and go slows, a high rate of workers’ turnover, lateness and absenteeism among workers, as well as, general theft and misbehavior of workers while at the premises of the organization (Avery, Auvine, Streibel, & Weiss, 1981). This research wants to focus on the best steps that the management can take in resolving a problem within the organization as fast as possible. The longer a problem runs within a company, the more risky and the less profitable the organization becomes due to increases inefficiencies, low productivity, as well as, low morale of workers, which might be the main cause of their underperformance. The research will evaluate the five main steps involved in the problem solving process, as well as, analyze its significance in the management and resolution of conflicts within an organization. This paper will enable an organization to define a certain criteria or standard of conflict resolution within the organization, and as such, empower the leadership of the company to take the forefront in effectively directing others in the research and resolution of issues. An organization in the modern world economy cannot go without a problem or a conflict that may threaten its performance or image in the market. As such, it is imperative for the organization to have an appropriate plan that will enable it maneuver through such a crisis without suffering any significant overhead complications. For example, the Airtel Corporation, a global telecommunications company with its base in India, once had workers strife. This became a global phenomenon whereby nearly 80% of the company’s dedicated workers at the home country went on an industrial action. The workers’ industrial action was to demand for a pay rise, as well as, demand for other benefits and allowances. Furthermore, these employees were not patient enough to let the organization resolve the issues and as such meet their grievances as some of them quit the organization for other

Individual business report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Individual business report - Essay Example Arnott’s seeks to expand its market by sourcing and manufacturing the entire product in Greece since biscuits and snacks are too peripheral to any country’s economic needs to feature saliently in import-export trade. Other alternatives to this mode of expansion is bound to expose Arnott’s to the government-imposed rigours of import-export trade, since the Greece government like any other, will seek to maintain a favourable balance of trade. The report will discuss the feasibility of Arnott’s desire to go to Greece, in respect to Arnott’s current status and Greece’s socioeconomic, political, legal and environmental conditions. Parts 2.0- 6.0 of this report discuss Arnott’s prospects in light of the political, legal, economic, socio-cultural and technological conditions in Greece. Part 7.0 discusses Arnott’s prospects by using SWOT analysis. Part 8.0 is the recommendation section. Greece’s political stability is underscored by it being a parliamentary republic, having the President as the head of the state and the Prime Minister as the head of the government. The constitution of Greece with its 120 articles allows for the separation of powers among the legislature, judiciary and the executive. This political stability will help Arnott’s to thrive. Likewise, taxation and regulation of trade will be carried adroitly, since separation of powers readily co-occurs with bureaucracy (Kizos and Iosifides, 2007, 66). Bà ¢rgà £oanu, Negrea and Dascà £lu (2010, 35) explain that Greece joined the European Union (EU) in 1981 and represents 41.5% of the EU’s deadweight tonnage. Greco-Australian relations are very close. This closeness dates back to World War I and II and the Korean War where Australia fought alongside Greece. Therefore, the Grecian government is naturally predisposed to encourage Greco-Australian trade (Vogiatzoglou, 2007, 53). Arnott’s must sign articles of