Saturday, November 30, 2019

To What Extent was Self-Preservation the Prime Motive of the Catholic Churchs subservience to the Nazi Regime Essay Example

To What Extent was Self-Preservation the Prime Motive of the Catholic Churchs subservience to the Nazi Regime Essay The Catholic Church (referenced as simply The Church from here on) was a fairly unique resistance group during the Nazi period 1933 1945. It was unique for two main reasons; firstly it was the only counter-authority1 to the Nazi Regime permitted under Nazi Law, and secondly, it was the only institution that radically changed the interpretations of its core principles through the introduction of new personalities.The question above deals with three major areas of debate. The first, and most crucial, is whether the Church used resistance to ensure its own survival and whether it was central to their controversial role during the above period. The second area of debate is contrary to the first; it deals with the other motives that the Church may have had for collaborating or assisting the regime, specifically whether or not Anti-Semitism, played a significant part of the Churches actions during the Nazi Period. However, the third area of debate, the extent to which the Catholic Church was strictly subservient to the Nazi Regime is so substantial, there is just not enough space in this project to cover it adequately. Therefore, my investigation will not concern itself it detail with the actions of the Catholic Church, but rather its motives for undertaking those actions.In writing this, I will reference many sources from a number of political and religious backgrounds. There are a number of sources of varying utility, which help to develop an argument. For example, Primary sources such, as the Encyclical Humani Generis Unitas are invaluable when discussing the dissimilarities between Pope Pious XI, and Pope Pious XII. As a direct Issue of the Church it can be seen as a genuine attempt by the Church to clarify its position on the persecution of the Jews, rather than a piece of apologetic historical commentary after the event and is therefore able to described as politically untainted. On the other hand however, a quote from Daniel Goldhagens book A Moral Reckoning has a clear motive behind it. As a radical Jewish historian he has tried to throw open the debate on the Nazi period by referencing heavily the Anti-Semitism of the Church and the German People thus creating a Judo-centric view of Nazi activities. He may therefore exaggerate the truth slightly to make his points seem more convincing. Consequently, when evaluating his work we must keep this motive in mind. Generally however all historians work have some value, due, in part, to the extensive research involved in forming their compositions. Thus we can never therefore simply discard a source because it is biased or extreme since sometimes it is these extreme opinions, which can create the most useful suppositions.The Church has, throughout modern history, been arguably the biggest obstacle to dictatorship. Whether it was Kulturkampf in Bismarcks Germany, War Communism in Lenins Russia, or The Papal Land Seizures in Mussolinis Italy, the Catholic Church has proved to be an institution t hat has needed to be dealt with specifically, in order to successfully create a truly Totalitarianist state. The Catholic Church before the Nazi period represented around 32% of the population in Germany (22 Million members) with a wide range of powerful institutions such as Youth Organisations, Political Parties and Schools. Hence when Hitler rose to power in 1933 the Church plausibly saw another threat to their position emerging and thus there was an urgent need to re-affirm their status and position within this new Germany.The consequence of this anxiety was the agreement of the Church to enter into a Concordat agreement with the new Nazi leader. The Concordat, which was signed on 20th July 1933, by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pious XII), which ensured the basic freedom and co-existence of the Church within the Nazi regime. It offered the Church partial anonymity from the state, by allowing them to retain their own schools, and their religious social clubs. How ever, it did recognise that the Church would be subservient in Law to the state, disband its political wing, The Catholic Centre Party, and, made the Nazi Curriculum mandatory in Catholic Schools.The signing of this Concordat I believe shows the willingness of the Catholic Church to agree to restrict their political progression in favour of a guaranteed existence. The purpose was self-defence, not a wider political opposition2As Jonathan Wright comments, the Church was far more interested in preserving its status as a religious institution, rather than trying to promote a political agenda, thus they were prepared to concede political activism, if they could carry on practising their religion freely. J R C Wright himself is a Political Historian and a practising Anglican3 and therefore the quote above can be coloured by his religious background. As such there is a possibility that he could be anti-Catholic, but because the source doesnt seem to be unfairly critical of the Church, it is likely this is not the case. This article was however written in the 1970s, when the Vatican had not opened any of their archives from after 1922,4 and as such J R C Wright would not have had access to the detailed information they have revealed when writing his article. Thus there is a possibility that his article is not as qualified as that of a later historian who would have had access to the Vatican Archives. Later historian Beth Greich-Polelle puts forward another argument; she believes it was previous experiences with a nationalist Germany that rationalises the actions the Church undertook.The fear of another state-sponsored attack on Catholicism (much like the one waged under Bismarck in the 1870s) was a serious factor in the minds of many German clergymen5The state-sponsored attack that Greich-Polelle refers to is the Kulturkampf. Roughly translated, the Culture Wars were a direct attack by Bismarck on the Catholic Church in Prussia, during the 1870s. Even though the sup pression was eventually overturned, the violence that ensued against the Catholics coupled with the vulnerability the Catholic Churchs authority represented outside the Papal States became clear, the Clergy could not allow the Nazis to create another Kulturkampf.Beth Greich-Polelle believes Kulturkampf is key to understanding why the Church allowed itself to have its power removed, and in her book Bishop von Galen: German Catholicism and National Socialism she tries to relay the importance of the psychological impact that this piece of recent history would have on the Clergy. She attempts to justify the acceptance of the new regime as a move to preserve the position of Catholicism in the modern state and by creating a Concordat (something Pacelli had been trying to do all over Europe for roughly a decade); he would make this a reality.As an accredited historian working as a Professor of Modern History in the USA, Greich-Polelle uses a vast amount of primary sources from the diaries of Bishop von Galen, a German nationalist who initially welcomed Hitler before becoming an outspoken critic of the Nazi Anti-Semitism after 1934, roughly the same time as Niemà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ller and Bonhà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ffer broke away to form the Confessional Church for the same reasons. With this in mind the source above seems very useful when deciding what motives were really behind Pacellis signing of the Concordat since von Galens view as a fellow nationalist would have been somewhat in line with Pacellis.In addition to J R C Wright and Beth Greich-Polelle, Martyn Housden also agrees that the Church wanted to preserve its own position, rather than ratifying the Nazi establishment. He comments:The Churches and their followers generally were more interested in defending their religious space rather than rooted in a politically active anti-Nazi morality.6As with Wright and Greich-Polelle, Housden agrees that the Church was attempting to distance itself from the political aspects of Nazi sm in order to preserve its religious position. However while reviewing his work, Richard Steigmann-Gall of the University of Toronto, points out that by overlooking [the] admittedly more disturbing acts of ideological commission, he leaves the reader with a flawed analysis7. He does this by ignoring the works of Wolfgang Gerlach, Hermann Grieve, Richard Gutteridge, and Markje Smid, authors who have all directly tackled the issue of the Catholic Church in Germany and whose works includes anti-Semitism. Steigmann-Gall goes on to point out that when reading his chapter entitled opposition born of belief; Housden again does not discuss Christian Anti-Semitism. Steigmann-Gall in a sense therefore is making the claim that there must have been some tacit-support of Anti-Semitism in the church and that the actions of the Church cannot be solely for self-preservation. This of course is a crucial feature of Goldhagens thesis and backs up his claim that anti-Semitism, in some form, did exist within the Catholic Church. Housdens failure to include anti-Semitism could be for two reason, either Housden has failed to address the critical debate of Anti-Semitism by mistake, or he may be trying to distance his own personal beliefs in Christianity, from that of the atrocities synonymous with the Anti-Semitism within the Nazi concentration camps. As a result, his work becomes questionable, compared with Wrights and Greich-Polelles.On the other extreme of the overall debate, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, and John Cornwell, both believe that the Church as an institution was anti-Semitic and that racism played a massive part in what they believe, was the Churches acceptance and collaboration with the Nazi Regime. They both publicly denounce Pope Pious XII as Hitlers Pope and criticise the Church as ignoring the atrocities performed by the Nazis, even though it posed a complete antithesis to their moral code of ethics.In Daniel Goldhagens book A Moral Reckoning, he condemns the Church as wholly racist against the Jews and attacks particularly Pacelli as a nationalist. He cites the suppression of the encyclical Humani Generis Unitas as a clear example of Pacellis true anti-Semitism and his abandonment of decent Catholic morals and ethics. This encyclical was written by Pius XI in which he condemns the actions of the Nazis and those who are involved in the racial segregation of the Jews.The practise of evasion and denial began as early as 1939 when Pope Pious XII suppressed Humani Generis Unitas, the antiracism encyclical of his predecessor It would finally have the Church defend the hounded Jews8Goldhagen rightly points out the importance of this encyclical because it would clarify, officially, the position of the Church on genocide in Nazi Germany, specifically condemning it, such persecutory methods are totally at variance with the true spirit of the Catholic Church9.Goldhagen goes on to make clear the distinction between Pope Pious XI and Pious XII, citing Pio us XI as an ideologue who was set to uphold the Catholic moral of denouncing the Nazi Regime through the hidden encyclical. Goldhagen then presents Pious XII as a nationalist in his own right and hints that this suppression was part of a deal between Hitler and Pious XII. He paints a picture of Pacelli as an ambitious anti-Semitic who wanted to pursue his doctrine due to his belief in the Jews unshakable guilt over the death of Jesus.He then goes on to claim that only German Catholics were capable of being united behind anti-Semitism thus being able to create the circumstances for genocide. He claims, rightly or wrongly, that the German mindset was the only one capable of rallying so quickly to nationalism and that the German way of thinking does play a significant part in understanding the Catholic Churchs role during the Nazi period. So powerful was the racial cognitive in Germany that the Catholic Church by and large accepted and disseminated it in its own teaching.Goldhagen be lieves that this does not just include Catholics, but Lutheran Protestant Christians, as well as non-believers. Goldhagen makes this point in his first book (Hitlers Willing Executioners) but touches only briefly on it in A Moral Reckoning, a book devoted to the Churches involvement during the Nazi Period. He concentrates much more on the individual Catholic mental struggle with the past. He claims that the Church still blamed contemporary Jews for the death of Jesus. Goldhagen cites Archbishop Konrad Grobers published pastoral letter10 of 1941 as evidence of this: -[Archbishop Grober] placed the blame upon the Jews for the death of Jesus, which he implied justifies what Germans were then doing to the Jews8This clearly attempts to justify the persecution of Jews as retribution for the murder of Jesus. However, this may not however a fair appraisal of the contents of the letter as we are only provided with a limited extract in the book. Goldhagen, as mentioned before is a radical Zi onist historian and is likely to overemphasize evidence in order to discredit the Church, this selective use of the Grà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ber letter can be evidence of this.Norman Finklestein, a Jewish Political historian cites numerous examples of Goldhagens exaggeration in his book The Goldhagen Thesis and Historical Truth. He cites the example of the 12 Ritual Murder trails (1867-1914), where Goldhagen reverses the findings11 of Pulzer (whom he quotes in Hitlers Willing Executioners) by exemplifying the single guilty case when the meaning of the findings was to show how eleven of the cases came to other conclusions, conclusions Finkelstein suggests, may have proved his point flawed. Finklestein also points out a number of Diary entries, and covertly placed texts, like that of crucial evidence referring to the anti-Semitic petition in 19th Century Bavaria, as being buried in the back pages9. As a result, Goldhagens work can never be taken at face value, due, in part, to his selective use of sources, which Finklestein suggests, tries to undermine the Churches authority in the eyes of the readerJohn Cornwell also attacks the Church for its anti-Semitism during the Nazi period. He places a greater emphasis than Goldhagen does on the actions of Pious XII but is still critical of the Catholic Church in general for its involvement with the Nazi regime. Cornwell references, like Goldhagen, the importance of the encyclical Humani Generis Unitas and condemns Pacelli for sitting on it10, as well as including information about the true extent to which Pius XII had detailed knowledge of the final solution.Cornwell believes that Pious XIIs anti-Semitism had a lot to do with the links between Russian Communists and world Jewry. This is qualified by the fact that most of the top KDP members in Weimar Germany were infact Jewish. One of the main reasons why the Church was so afraid of Communism was because of the atrocities in the Soviet Union during the periods of War Communism wit h Churches being shut down and outlawed. It is for this reason that Cornwell believes that Pacelli is not willing to stand up for the Jews, moving away from the traditional anti-Semitic argument, to a more Communist influenced anti-Semitism.Pacelli and the office for which he was responsible betrayed an antagonistic policy towards the Jews [based on] a link between Judaism and the Bolshevik plot to destroy Christendom.12It is clear that Cornwell seeks to link Pious XII to this misconception and does make a very convincing line of argument. It could be possible for the link between Judaism and that of Communism to be forged so closely and that, what Goldhagen describes as the German mindset, could have pushed Pacelli to the extent of anti-Semitism. Cornwell then goes on to heavily criticise Pacelli for not condemning those members of his clergy engaged in the unmasking of Jews and the stopping of conversions in very strongly Catholic areas. This unmasking of Jews by Catholics and Ca tholic Bishops is well documented in the Gestapo reports of the period. Catholicism never accepts racism or any attempt to assist racism under any circumstances.Nor did he [Pacelli] attempt to intervene in the process by which Catholic Clergy collaborated in racial certification to identify the Jews13This collaboration Cornwell goes on to say, aided the persecution of the Jews and contributed heavily in the rural communities assistance during the Final Solution. He then moves on to make the accusation that the Church was not as unaware of the Final Solution, as it historically has claimed. With the opening of the Vatican archives, letters and diaries14 from prominent members of Pacellis Privy Council display that Pacelli was infact one of the first in the world to know of the Nazi plans and took no action whatsoever, even waiting months before accepting that he had even received the letter. This can be interpreted as self-preservation, but Cornwell is convinced by Pacellis actions d uring the 1930s that anti-Semitism was the main factor in Pacellis decision not to act upon this information. The Vatican archives prove this by showing Pacellis registered disagreement with Pius XI over condemning anti-Semitism in the mid 30s, which adds weight to the accusation that his actions werent just for self-preservation. Through the mid to late 1930s, Pacelli failed to sanction protests by the German Catholic episcopate against anti-Semitism it is clear that Pacelli believed that the Jews had brought misfortune on their own head11When discussing the merits of Cornwells work, Dr Peter Gumpel S.J15, a leading expert on the Catholic Church during the period, cites a number of clear mistakes in Cornwells work. His work mainly concerns itself with a lack of proper research, referring to the list of archives, which Cornwell claims to have consulted. Gumpel claims that a book, which makes such pretentious claims, should have consulted such archives as the German, Italian and mos t notably the Acts of the Nuremberg Trials which would, Gumpel claims, have shown Pacellis work to save the Jews, which Ralph McInerny estimates is around 860,00016. He goes on to question the value of the content describing the first section of the book as wishy-washy, while describing his criticisms of the Concordat as wholly unfair as at no point does he ever discuss the primary papal importance of the Concordat. He even shows a massive translation error, which completely changes the whole context with which a Chapter of his book refers to. The Encyclical letter with burning preoccupation and not with great appreciation as Cornwell mistranslatesAs a result, the value of Cornwells work has come under massive strain. Although Dr Gumpel also has been criticised for his attacks on Cornwell, the evidence that Cornwell has misrepresented Pacelli as a character is considerable and as a result, his work is less useful that it at first appears to be.In Conclusion, the evidence supportin g the claim that the Churches actions during the Nazi period were purely in self-defence, in other words, for self-preservation, I believe outweigh the accusations of anti-Semitism within the Church. There is strong evidence that the Church as an institution is anti-Semitic, and there can be no doubt that there are sections of the Catholic Church that do believe that the Jews still posses an unshakeable guilt over the death of Jesus. There is also a chance that Pacelli (Pope Pious XII) could have been one of those people who believed in this guilt, but when critically appraising the merits of the historians that have claimed this, I have found myself more convinced by Bette Greich-Polelles explanation of events. In reference to her work, it is my belief that the Church during the Nazi period was self-interested and was set on trying to avoid another Kulturkampf, thus by accepting restrictions on their political freedoms it would ensure the spiritual dimension of Catholicism would li ve on throughout and beyond Nazi Germany.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Menkaure and His Queen essays

Menkaure and His Queen essays The sculpture group of King Menkaure and His Queen is positioned in one of the basic types of Egyptian sculpture the Standing/Striding pose. The figure of Menkaure is rigidly frontal, although his head is slightly turned to the right. His left foot is slightly advanced, however the upper body does not respond to this uneven distribution of weight - there is no tilt in the shoulders, nor a shift in the hips. All movement of the figure is suppressed: his muscular arms hang down his athletic body, they are not flexed at the elbow and do not break through the front contour of his thighs. The body remains wedded to the block of stone from which it was carved. The artist does not remove the dead stone between the arms and torso and most importantly his advanced leg is not carved in the round, which contributes to the solid and majestic appearance of the statue. The Queen assumes the same rigidly frontal posture, however her left leg is less advanced than his, which alludes that she is a subordinate figure to her king in this stance she is just echoing the pharaohs decisive actions. She embraces the pharaoh with her right arm placing her hand around his waist; her left arm is bent at the elbow and covering her stomach rests on the kings left arm. There is a space of about couple of centimeters between the statues that widens towards the base, and which makes Menkaure appear standing independently from his female counterpart. In this frontal, striding forward posture the pharaoh looks confident and in control. The Queen, however, cannot be thought of as an independent statue. First of all, the statue of the king overlaps that of the queen: her right shoulder becomes fused with and overlapped by his left shoulder. Second of all, she has both of her arms around him and not the other way around. Although her appearance conveys the message of majesty and serenity, to me she also appear...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Writing Techniques To Improve Reading Comprehension

Writing Techniques To Improve Reading Comprehension Periodically, I watch episodes of the TV show â€Å"Numb3rs† on Netflix just to pretend that I’m a math genius. My friend and I have made an inside joke about one particular writing technique the show has used to help dull audience members like myself understand the math technique they are about to use. We mouth â€Å"It’s like†¦.† to each other whenever a character mentions some obscure math approach, and then we wait for the characters to launch into the illustration. Moving past the hilarity of that particular video on so many other levels, you can see how the writers of that show made the math geniuses spout off the math technique they were going to use and then follow immediately with a more understandable example the lay person could grasp. I appreciate these more understandable illustrations. How To Discover Awesome Writing Techniques That Will Improve Reading ComprehensionBranching Your Ideas The â€Å"what if† and â€Å"it’s like† writing techniques  are a kind of â€Å"branching† approach to both idea generation and reader understanding. Following an idea down a singular path is a way to get things done, but it’s not a way to generate future ideas or think creatively. For example, when I set out to write about content marketing game theory  for this blog (and was hopelessly out of my element, believe me), I decided to branch out in a couple of directions so that I could better understand the topic as a writer and, perhaps, better explain the topic to the reader. By branching my idea and asking â€Å"what if†, I managed to come up with two examples (â€Å"it’s like†) for readers. Only by branching and traveling down various paths to see where they might take me was I able to do this. Writers' block? Branch your ideas with 'what if' and 'it's like' #writing techniques.Some content marketers prefer to have one idea and shoot straight for the finish line; that’s perfectly acceptable. But others, like myself, enjoy the happy accidents that occur when you allow your ideas to branch. Don’t be afraid to branch out; you won’t be left out on a limb. (rimshot) Recommended Posts  To Improve Reading Comprehension: 5 Teaching Theories That Will Improve Your Educational Content Marketing How To Use The Best Content Types To Boost Reader Learning How To Communicate Effectively With Your Blog Readers To Keep Them Reading Using â€Å"What If† To Generate Ideas The â€Å"what if† writing technique is usually something used by fiction writers to help them develop characters and plot, but it can still be helpful in a slightly different version for content marketers. Let’s use that game theory post of mine as an example. As I researched the topic more and more, the idea of a tree came to mind. What if I approached this as if it were a tree?  I wondered. I was struggling to understand the topic in a way that allowed me to explain it, but the tree idea seemed to have promise. Then I set about to talk about matrices and competitors. What if I used â€Å"The Fugitive† as an example?  It was a popular movie and seemed to fit perfectly. There were a few other â€Å"what if† approaches that led to dead ends, but by the time I finished with these two, I understood much better what I wanted to say in the rest of the post. Here are a few â€Å"what if† approaches you could use when writing blog posts. You can see they are much more than just about finding ideas, but also about the order and structure of the actual post, too. What if (I): Put the conclusion at the beginning? Used a recent hit movie as the foundation for this post? Played the devil’s advocate until the final conclusion? Said the exact opposite of what is expected/I believe? What was true was not true? Used a different search engine/resource? Learned how it was done five years ago? My blog could speak for itself?What if you played the devil's advocate until the final conclusion of your post?Sometimes silly questions lead to fresh ways of thinking about a common thing, even if the answer to the question itself is irrelevant to the branch you ultimately end up on. The â€Å"what if† writing technique is definitely part of your brainstorming toolbox  when it comes to finding ideas. It helps you write beyond the typical boundary and find research you otherwise wouldn’t have considered looking for. Using â€Å"It’s Like† To Explain Ideas Using the â€Å"it’s like† writing technique will help you do three crucial things with your content: Understanding:  Obviously, the â€Å"it’s like† approach helps your reader understand an idea in a different way. It’s a classic method teachers use. Hook:  The â€Å"it’s like† technique can also grab your reader’s attention if you approach this method with a certain level of non-conformity and use comparisons the reader doesn’t expect. Convince:  When you’re selling a new idea or product that is unfamiliar to your audience, there’s a barrier you need to overcome. Using â€Å"it’s like† and explaining it as something familiar helps reduce that barrier  and make it easier for a reader to buy into what you have to say. But first: If there’s one thing you don’t want to do on social media, it’s misuse the words â€Å"metaphor† and â€Å"simile†; the grammar police will correct you. Metaphors simply make a comparison, while similes use the words â€Å"like† or â€Å"as† to compare things. For example: I tend to think of metaphors as all about making a strong statement with language (it’s not  like  something, it is  something), while similes are all about helping readers understand a bit more gently. Using â€Å"it’s like† is the simile approach to explanation, though you are taking it a bit further than a simple simile comparison most of the time. If you’re following the lead of the writers in the show â€Å"Numb3rs†, you are looking for an in-depth explanation that matches ounce for ounce the concept you want your reader to comprehend  in their own terms. You are looking for an analogy. Similes can spice up your copy and create a playful collection of words that pique a reader’s interest, but analogy is the true workhorse of the â€Å"it’s like† writing technique, a kind of extended version of a simile. When creating analogies, remember: Your audience matters.  Analogies work best when you use an example that your audience understands. I could use a variety of farming analogies that I know from growing up on a farm, but most of the readers of this blog aren’t farmers. That kind of analogy won’t help at all. Knowing what experiences your audience will identify with is crucial when choosing a simile or analogy. To make things better.  Not all complicated topics need an analogy; some just need to be clearly discussed. Analogies work best when a topic is so far out of the range of your audience, either through lack of knowledge or because they’ve never experienced it, that the only way to make the concept resonate is to repackage it with the familiar. Sometimes I write analogies and then eventually edit them out and the reader never sees them. Yet by writing that analogy, I helped myself understand the topic better and was able to explain it better without the addition of an analogy. To shed light on the larger concept.  Some topics are better served simply by breaking them down into bite-sized chunks than through analogy. You would better understand the process of changing the oil in a car if I explained the actual process step-by-step rather than me saying, â€Å"It’s like cleaning files off your hard drive.† Analogy is less useful in teaching step-by-step instruction (i.e. how to specifically change the oil in your car) and more useful in teaching the larger idea that those step-by-step instructions make sense in (i.e. you need to change the oil because your engine will be ruined if you don’t). That less is more.  Use one or two analogies, but don’t use too many more. Lots of analogies make things more confusing and actually dampen the power they might have if you used them more sparingly. Consider what you absolutely want your reader to take from your content, which topic is difficult or unfamiliar, and use your analogies for that. You don’t leave your audience with the analogy.  Once you’ve explained a concept through an analogy and your audience understands the underlying fundamentals, you should go back and reiterate what you wanted them to understand in the first place, drawing direct comparisons between the analogy again if needed, so they understand the actual topic and  the analogy. Recommended Posts  To Improve Reading Comprehension: Are You Making These 5 Assumptions About Your Audience? 4 Lessons From Psychology That Will Help You Grow Your Blog Analogies are all about helping your audience experience a moment of Gestalt, where they finally â€Å"get† the bigger picture of something that was confusing before. So, how do you find the perfect analogy? Figure out what the main point is.  Ask yourself what the most important thing is that you want your reader to understand about your topic. There is a lot they could understand, but what is the most important concept that you need them to take away in order to understand the rest of what you have to say? You could probably compare just about anything to everything, but you need to find something that gets a specific point across. Life is like a box of chocolate, is like a beach, is like an oyster, is like anything at all- but what is it you’re trying to say about life? Keep it mostly (but not too) familiar. As I mentioned above, your audience has to be familiar with the analogy you are about to use or they won’t understand it, either. However, by choosing or using a scenario that is slightly surprising, you’ll keep them interested in reading. We’re all pretty used to the â€Å"life is like a box of chocolates† saying by now, but when it first came out with the movie â€Å"Forrest Gump†, it was very novel and new. People wondered â€Å"how in the world could life be like candy?† and it made them read on. In the book Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, author Douglas Hofstadter referred to boring analogies as â€Å"banalogies.† Generally, the first analogy you come up with is not the one. Go nuts and think of two or three or ten or twenty, and then choose from your list. Turn the distasteful into something good.  A great analogy not only explains a concept to help your reader understand, but it can also help them understand something differently. An idea that isn’t appealing from one angle can, with the help of an analogy, look a lot better from a different angle. For example, I’ve gone on record  stating that I’m not much of a salesperson. A few years back, though, I was reading a book on selling art which used an analogy to help me see sales differently. Instead of it being an exchange of money for goods or services (which it is, technically, and which seems tawdry at times), the author illustrated how sales is also problem solving (for the customer), an exercise in creativity (finding a market that fits the product), and so on. Through analogy, I was able to see things from a different viewpoint. Maintain your desired focus.  Analogies can get out of control. If you use sailing as an analogy, for an example, remember what your main point is and keep to it. Avoid veering off into using every aspect of sailing- ropes! knots! wind! boom! tacking!- and stick to just the parts of the analogy that will sell your main point the best. An analogy isn’t an anecdote; it’s a highly persuasive tool that can make the unfamiliar into something familiar. Maintain focus if you want the tool to work. Don’t forget the visual.  Depending on the content you are creating (e.g. written vs. spoken), you may find a visual helpful as your analogy, or alongside your analogy. In the â€Å"Numb3rs† clip, the imagery of the boats helps illustrate what the actress is saying. We visual learners appreciate it! For Fun:Which of the following similes would you love to see expanded into analogy? Why do some stand out for you and not others? Which ones make you curious enough to keep reading? Which could be used to clarify a particular aspect of content marketing? Run with them in the comments if you’d like to take a crack at it.Content marketing is†¦ Like a box of old pencils. A  camera without film. Like a movie without credits. Like a buoy in the Pacific Ocean. What happens when polar bears meet penguins. Superman with an extra cape. Superman without a cape.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Personal Interpretation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Interpretation - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that  the history of Hawaii gives us much information regarding the ancient heroes and heroines of the Land and their contributions in the land. However, the genealogy of these people also gives us more basic information regarding the history of these people and the milestones in their history. Kamulipo helped very much in accounting for the genealogy and Cosmology of these people. Proper analysis of the antiquities of the Hawaiian populace gives an account that their philosophies almost outdid the Western philosophies. Their religion reveals to be equally as useful as the Western Religion.  This essay declares that the Queen of Hawaii presents the same concerns. In the article, we come to realize the importance of open-mindedness. Through the works, we come to realize the milestones of the Hawaiian populace. We come to realize the significance of [personal identity towards success. The past may be a bleak but with the recognition of the concerns about a person’s origin; we realize that the future becomes very bright. The Hawaiian history seems to have been full of ups and downs that needed many souls searching before any decisions were made. The People recognized the importance of accepting and accommodating their norms in a way that promotes society cohesion.  The works did a very imperative work in giving the analysis of culture in people. The works clearly presents to us the significance of one’s culture and tradition.     

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Mentors in Professional Nursing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mentors in Professional Nursing - Research Paper Example Mentorship extends over a period of time, within which reciprocal sharing, learning, and development take place in an environment formed around respect and collegiality (Mariani, 2012). Further, Mariani (2012) emphasizes that reinforcing mentoring relationships within the nursing profession is essential in order to ensure that crucial facets of the vocation are retained, particularly in the present day healthcare environment. Moreover, an effective nurse mentor relationship is important for the upcoming generation of nurses. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how mentors support the nursing profession, the required characteristics of a mentor, and components of an effective mentor program. How Mentoring Supports the Nursing Profession Today, training, education and administration within the nursing profession is required to support and provide fundamental solutions that are directed toward the existing and progressively waning decline in nursing professionals’ collegialit y, self-confidence, and support. Indeed, the consequential damaging effects are realized in declining staff performance, and in deficient patient care outcomes. Additionally, the rapidly transforming health care environment requires that actions be taken to reinforce and inspire new and experienced nurses so as to retain competent nursing staff. Consequently, mentorship offers a unique opportunity for newer nurses to cultivate durable relationships with experienced nurses that are beneficial to the growth of both individuals and contributes to the retention of nurses within the organization and the profession. As noted earlier, mentors offer information, support and professional advice to novice nurses over an extended period of time. As such, both the mentor and mentee devote a substantial amount in the mentoring relationship emotionally, thus enabling self-directed growth and learning. To this end, mentorship provides many benefits to the nursing profession. First, mentoring helps decreases or alleviates stress and anxiety among nursing professional which impacts burnout rates. In recent years, professional nursing has been considered as an extremely stressful occupation owing to the increasing acuity of patients, declining staffing ratios, and time pressures arising from increasing productivity and performance requirements in healthcare facilities. In a research conducted at two tertiary care hospitals in New Delhi, Bhatia, Kishore, Anand, and Jiloha (2010) reported substantial job stress in approximately 87.4% of the eighty seven staff nurse respondents. According to the study, â€Å"time pressure† was identified as the top placed stressor (Bhatia, Kishore, Anand, & Jiloha, 2010). In another study, Duvall and Andrews (2010) surveyed the literature to establish why staff nurses left the bedside in connection to the nursing shortage and increased turnover rates. The study revealed a variety of reasons including management issues, job stress, job desig n, physical demands, and the inability to develop new nurses (Duvall & Andrews, 2010, p. 309). Furthermore, job stress has been linked to poor job satisfaction (Hassell, Archbold, & Stichman, 2011), undesirable physical and mental health outcomes (Nash, 2010), and ultimately to

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Sleep essay Essay Example for Free

Sleep essay Essay Instructions: After logging all data into your sleep diary (including documenting the level of alertness twice a day using the Stanford Sleepiness Scale) write an essay including all of the following topics: Summarize in essay form the amount of sleep you get each night (compare weekdays, weekends, holidays, etc.) and the quality of sleep you get nightly. Discuss in your essay how you are impacted by the amount of sleep you get each night (mood, personality, productiveness, peak performance, academically, socially, etc. ). Explain what times of day you are most alert and how you feel when you are wide awake. How does this impact you daily life? When you were forced to document your sleep cycles, did you find any surprises or interesting facts related to you and your sleep that may impact your friendships, work, academics, career or relationships? Analyze the trends you see in your sleep data (and other information you know about your sleep habits) and discuss any possible changes you would like to make in your sleep habits. You must state a conclusion to your findings and explain why they are significant. Format: All essays must be typed and double spaced in font no larger than 12 pica. Each essay must have a name, period and title (no title pages or covers please). Each essay must be accompanied by at least one illustration relating to your essay. If you use any other resources for information regarding sleep or any other topics in your paper, you must site them using APA format (see e-mail from Mrs. Womble with web site resources). All papers must be stapled I the top left corner and turned in on time.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Prescription Discrimination :: Birth Control Drugs Medicine Essays

Prescription Discrimination Imagine this, you an eighteen year girl old who has decided to become sexually active with your long term boyfriend. This raises a lot of issues for you. While you are interested in beginning oral contraception you are not comfortable talking to your parents about sex. Even if you could talk to them, the chances they would pay for your birth control are slim to none. You do work but $30 a month for the pill on top of the cost of condoms takes up a large portion of your pay check. Do you decide to wait to be sexually active or do you take your chances? Consider a different scenario, you a married woman in your late thirties, with two children, who receives financial support from the state. Every month poses a new struggle when trying to pay the bills. On top of food, utilities, gas and the high cost of raising two children you do not have room for the cost of birth control. Although you love your children, you simply cannot afford to have another under any circumstances. Do you refrain from having sex with your husband or do you takes your chances? According to the Planned Parenthood web site, â€Å"approximately 70,000 unintended pregnancies occur in Massachusetts each year,† this makes it apparent that more women are choosing to take their chances over abstinence. For decades women have fought for equal rights in this country and countries all over the world. They have fought a tough fight and have come a long way. This makes a blatant message of sexual discrimination all the more outrageous in this day and age. The message is unequal health insurance coverage for women and even in the year 2003 it continues to be a serious issue. Woman nationwide are faced with a choice to either pay high prices for oral contraceptives or take a risk and go without them. On the contrary men are totally supported when looking for coverage of the newly popularized Viagra pill. Viagra is a new creation, which helps older men achieve and maintain an erection. Most insurance plans cover the cost of this drug. While men are covered on a drug that’s sole purpose is to enhance sexual pleasure, woman are unable to find coverage of a drug that necessary to not only avoid pregnancy but relieve menstrual cramping, clear up skin break outs, and regulate menstrual cycles.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Lincoln Electric Case Essay

Lincoln Electric Company in the year 1895. The first products that the company produced and sold were electric motors that he had designed himself. A Few years later, in 1907 his brother James, a recently graduate from the Ohio State University, joined as a senior manager; He was also the one who would introduce different and very innovative human resource policies over the next few decades. These policies included things like employee stock ownership, the creation of an Employee advisory board, as well as piecework pay. Most of these ideas were later adapted as standard US wide practices. The Welding business, which not really was one of the main focuses of the Lincoln Electric Company, became the main source of income by 1922. Welding which a special technique of -under heat – bringing together different sources of metals. It is used for basically most of the industrial areas, from pipeline manufacturing to petrochemical complexes. From 1986 onwards, the company pursued a course of extensive internationally expansion. This was started already way earlier in 1933 first, with the establishment of the Lincoln Electric Company in Australia and in 1953 with its expansion to France. However, from the mid 1980s onwards, Lincoln Electric expanded its manufacturing operations into 16 countries. This expansion peaked in 1995, when the company reached the $1 billion in sales the first time. It was also the year Lincoln began to trade its shares on the American stock market the NASDAQ. By 2005 it became the worlds leading manufacturer in the welding industry. Nowadays, (Dec. 31 2010) Lincoln Electric has net sales of $ 2,070 million. Why go abroad? As the Lincoln Electric Company’s idea and concept proved to be successful in the US from the 1930s onwards, it also operated outside of the country. Due to its success in its home market, the companies’ management was able to first gain enough market knowledge in order to enter new markets were a certain proficiency is required. Nevertheless, as markets and industries around the world differ in to each other (e. g.consumer tastes) the best idea was for Lincoln Electronic to first enter a market were the so-called â€Å"Psychic Distance† is not so high and less uncertainty. Therefore Australian was chosen, as this is psychological wise not so far from the Home / US American market. This phenomenon can be seen in the Uppsala Model. It includes four different steps, from first acquiring experience in the home market to wholly owned international operations. This will be explained in more detail later. However, as we can see in the Lincoln Electric case, the company first gain sufficient knowledge in their home market and later expanded internationally. But step by step further away (political, language and culture wise) from its home market. Uppsala Model Looking at the process of internationalization of Lincoln Electric, most of the facets of the Uppsala Model can be identified. So, this entry mode theory is most applicable in our opinion. In this section, we will elaborate upon the internationalization of Lincoln Electric while applying the stages of the Uppsala model. During the first stage companies tend to solely gain experience of their domestic markets. In the case of Lincoln Electric, it can be stated that it mainly focused on becoming the leading manufacturer in the United States. Core competencies are most important for the success of an MNE and for all companies those core competencies are their higher-order firm specific advantages (FSA’s). In this first stage of the Uppsala Model we will try to recognize all the FSA’s of Lincoln Electric. The first FSA is the company’s human resource policy, in which many facets can be recognized that provide productivity advances and which results in a variability of 60 percent of the personnel costs. Those facets are performance-based rewards, employee stock ownership, a piecework payment system, and bonuses based on company profits. Another FSA is that the company cuts costs in acquiring personnel, and simultaneously keeps holding a very well experienced and integrated workforce by building trust among the employees with policies like an employee advisory boards, employee suggestion systems, annuities for retired employees, group life insurances, and a no-layoff policy. The third recognized FSA is the company’s R&D program; this program is the most aggressive, comprehensive and successful in the welding industry. This FSA led the company in new market introductions and quality performance. Fourthly, an important FSA for consumer relations is the ability to provide full welding solutions. The company is able to provide this due to the fact that it manufactures both arc welding equipment and consumable products. Summarized, the core competencies which provide the company with competitive advantages are the ability to cut personnel costs, the highly trained technical sales force, and the ability to provide excellent service for customers. The second stage in the Uppsala model states that the firm begins to operate abroad in a nearby market, and then slowly penetrates far away markets. When applying this to Lincoln Electric, it can be seen that the company encountered its first international experience in countries such as Canada, Australia and France in the 1940’s. These countries have a small psychic distance from the United States, therefore, the market uncertainty is perceived as low. Canada, Australia and France are psychically nearby, because issues with regard to trade unions, labour practices and laws are treated similarly in those countries. Furthermore, Canada and Australia are linguistically similar to the United States, and all the previous countries are western countries, so the cultures are not significantly different. Lincoln Electric started its first major international expansion between 1986 and 1992. It then increased its presence into 15 other countries, which were acquisitions in Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Scotland, Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. However, this expansion was a real failure, the company faced difficulties due to executives’ inexperience with trade unions and their lack of knowledge of labour practices and laws in other countries. The company’s aim was namely to operate the new acquisition in Lincoln USA’s image, however they learned from this experience and as can be seen in stage four, their renewed global expansion is much more improved. The third stage of the Uppsala model states that companies tend to enter markets through export, instead of using sales or manufacturing subsidiaries of their own. However, this does not suit Lincoln Electric due to the fact that it is too costly to ship welding products because of their weight. It was for Lincoln Electric and other companies in the welding industry essential to set up a local or regional production facility. Therefore, Lincoln Electric had to instantly set up sales or manufacturing subsidiaries of their own without starting with solely exporting. In the fourth stage it is said that a company establishes wholly owned or majority-owned operations only after several years of experience. This can also be recognized as being the case with Lincoln’s internationalization. In 1996 their renewed globalization strategy started. This is characterized by many joint-ventures, acquisitions and start-ups over the world. Between 1996 and 2004, many expansions have been completed. At the end of this expansion period, the company tried to gain majority or wholly ownership in many of their acquisitions and joint-ventures, because they experienced that they could not fully control their operations in the way they wanted it. Attractiveness of India One of the most significant questions in the global strategy field is how multinational firms should navigate their way through multiple and often conflicting host-country institutional environments (Ghoshal and Westney 1992, Morgan et al. 2001). This is no different for Lincoln Electric who faced some problems while expanding overseas. When crossing borders, opportunity is mostly the driving force behind the expansion. Between 1986 and 1991, Lincoln took on unprecedented debt in order to finance foreign acquisitions, mostly in Europe. They initially had a lack of international management skill, and did not take into consideration local environment in each country when expanding globally. This was caused because not all of their firm specific advantages (FSA’s) where as transferable as they had hoped. For instance the incentive system that works very well in the U. S. did not work in European countries with different working environment and ethics. Lincoln had already tried to penetrate the Asian market before landing its eye on the India. Theoretically, a country will be attractive to a foreign investor if, in investing in that country, the investor gets a return that is equal to or higher than their risk-adjusted weighed cost of capital. (Urkude and Seshanna 2008) So how attractive is India for Lincoln Electric. With assessing a countries attractiveness two main categories can be distinguished: Country Risks, Market Opportunities and Industry Opportunities. For Lincoln there is only one country risk which is corruption, for the rest India is a stable, fast growing country with a solid political system. World Map Index of perception of corruption 2009i However there are a number of market opportunities. India’s infrastructure is still underdeveloped, and therefore demand for welding products is increasing with the upcoming construction and infrastructure activity in the next couple of years. Import sales to India were up by double digits in 2006, driven mostly by orders from the pipe mill and pipeline sector, and more recently from the automotive sector. (Lincoln Electric annual report 2008) The growth of the welding industry is similar to the growth of the entire economy of the particular country, and for this reason India makes an attractive opportunity. As seen in the graph below India’s GDP has grown dramatically over the last couple of years, and it is expected the welding industry will grow among these lines as well. India’s market is quickly growing as shown in the graph on the right. Not only the population but also GDP and exports. And the one below shows that the industry sector is coming on as well. For this reason the welding industry will benefit from the economic growth and be in the lift as a lot of these new construction projects require welding consumables. Industry opportunities lie in India as well, as demand for steel declined all over the world, it grew in India by as much as ten percent. (Frost and Sullivan 2010) But India is also a highly competitive market as 56 percent of welding consumables were being produced by large firms that had developed their own technology and 44 percent was being produced by a number of small firms that immediately tried to copy the large firms, as soon as their product became available on the market. So for Lincoln to be successful, they would have to keep innovating their products and make it hard for others to copy their products. Another point of interest is that with the welding market booming, a high price would have to be paid if Lincoln would want to enter the market by acquisition. This making it difficult for new entries in the market, but the two other options which are a joint venture and building an own factory are as much appealing as an acquisition. Lincoln already had some experience with joint ventures in China, but had trouble with the joint decision making that came with it. And with building their own factory they would have to weigh off the benefit off total control towards the starting up costs of the factory. The Indian government had also granted some fiscal and financial incentives by setting up tax-free zones and increasing the foreign direct investment (FDI) percentage in the aviation and real estate sector, which could generate a high demand for welding equipment. Overall it can be said that India is a very attractive market for Lincoln Electronic if they can get into the market either via acquisition, a joint venture or by building their own factory. Advice for Management The advice we would give the managers from Lincoln Electric, to help them to continue enhancing their market share and improve their geographical dominance in the welding industry is to acquire a smaller welding company. An option, which Lincoln Electric should consider is the case of ESAB, as, mentioned in the case â€Å"In 2000, ESAB had agreed to be purchased by Lincoln Electric for 750 million plus the assumption of $300 million in ESAB’s debt. Yet Lincoln Electric decided that same year not to go forward with the acquisition after antitrust and other issues arose in the due diligence process. † Even though these plans fell through, Lincoln Electric should reconsider purchasing ESAB, since it represents 75% of revenues of its parent company Charter, which is European- based company with a large global presence. ESAB India, which is part of ESAB, is also one of the main competitors of Lincoln Electric in India. Therefore, if Lincoln Electric could dissolve the antitrust problems and other problems that arose in the due diligence process, they will be able to acquire ESAB and to double their market share. To enforce the market share dominance of Lincoln Electric globally, an acquisition with a company like ESAB would be economically profitable. Analyzing the graph below, an acquisition with Lincoln Electric and a smaller company would create a welding market dominance. This will result in other competitors being left with a smaller market share due to a much larger dominating competitor. In this case, Lincoln Electric has the opportunity to purchase ESAB or another smaller welding company due to the high profits from the profitable US market. Because of that opportunity we would advice them to purchase and expand by means of increasing their market share by purchasing a competing company.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Book Analysis

David Mamet’s Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business is one of the latest books written by David Mamet. The book is about the sharp views that Mamet makes about the movie business and the inner doings of Hollywood. On 30th November 1947 Lenore June gave birth to a boy in Chicago who was named David Alan Mamet. Mamet’s mother Lenore June was a teacher and his father Bernard Morris who was an attorney. (Film Makers, Pp 1)Mamet is an American movie director, writer, novelist, dramatist, and a screenwriter.He is famous for his works which are well-known among people for their clever, short, and at times offensive dialogue and his mysterious styled phrasing sense. (Film Makers, Pp 1) Mamet has received a number of award nominations like he got nominated for Tony Award for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). He was acknowledged with Oscar suggestion for Wag the Dog (1997) and The Verdict (1982) as a playwright. (Film M akers, Pp 1)Some of his recent books include The Old Religion written in1997, it is a novel about the execution of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy written in 2004, an explanation of the Torah, The Wicked Son written in 2006, contains a deep study of the Jewish self-hatred and anti-Semitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, a book having sour comments and is a collection of essays on the movie business. (Gabriel Steinfeld, Pp1) In this book Mamet gives us a revolutionary inside look at Hollywood from the point of view of a film-maker.The title brings together an impressive, arresting and a weird metaphor that is â€Å"Bambi vs. Godzilla,† which refers to an old underground small cartoon, with long and graceful subtitle which is expressed in more literary language that showed off his intelligence. The subtitle which is â€Å"On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business† shows that this book is a collection of essays on different phases of film making which includes production, direction, behind-the-scene stories etc. The book consists of eight major sections and forty-odd short chapters.The eight major sections contains the titles such as â€Å"The Screenplay† ( this section provides the steps to effective skill writing), â€Å"Technique† , â€Å"Genre† and â€Å"Some Principles† are the sections that covers the areas of film criticism , â€Å"The Good People of Hollywood† (this section of the books covers dissimilar topics, that are mostly related to the power dynamics that take place behind the scenes of movies), â€Å"The Repressive Mechanism† (this section is somewhat freely linked by the subject of power and the relation of art to it), â€Å"Passing Judgment† ( this section covers the part of acting and criticism), â€Å"Crimes and Misdemeanors† (covers the portion of the cheats and the dishonesty that big na mes make in the Hollywood). (Gabriel Steinfeld, Pp1) He in details explains what happens at the studios, what happens during the shooting of a movie and various questions which arise in the mind of a common man.Mamet presents a clear-cut view of the deepest and the secret inner workings of the general movie industry and particularly concentrates on Hollywood in the book. Mamet provides entertaining, astonishing, and willingly gives the answers to questions about almost every portion of filmmaking, right from the concept to script and to the screen. (Gabriel Steinfeld, Pp1) Before Bambi vs. Godzilla Mamet wrote and directed a drama Spartan in 2004, which was very much mishandled by Warner Bros. they didn’t knew how to present this drama to audience so after a short period of time they dumped this drama. The way Spartan was handled and treated Mamet could be expected to reveal his anger and rage through this book he had for the studios and the film industry.Even though several of these pieces were written before the Spartan misfortune, Mamet showed his disapproval for the present structure and organization of conventional cinema and to show his disapproval he does not even waits for the main chapters to start he begins it from the introduction of the book. (Gabriel Steinfeld, Pp1) In the book Mamet covers a wide range of topics that range from â€Å"How Scripts Got So Bad† to the â€Å"Manners in Hollywood. † He takes us gradually through some of his personal favorite movie stunts and directorial tricks, and clearly in the film speaks aloud the fact that it is the craft and the crew that make great films not the actors and producers.He also tells the audience in the books that who are his preferred and much loved performers and what are his favorite films, according to him who he thinks is the most ideal actor that would bring elegance to the screen, and who he thinks should never have showed on screen. (Christopher Hirst, Pp1) Modern or Pos t-modern? Mamet was post-modern in his artistic perspective. He has used to portray art which is considered to be in disagreement to a number of features of modernization, or to have appeared or developed in its consequences. In common activities for instance inter-media, setting up art, theoretical art and multimedia, mainly connecting video are illustrated as postmodern.The qualities linked with the exploit of the expression postmodern in art incorporates bricolage, utilization of vocabulary significantly as the fundamental creative constituent, collage, generalization, misappropriation, representation of user or accepted civilization and presentation art. The book is written about the present situation of Hollywood. David Mamet speaks about the flaws of the film industry. His way of writing and his ideas clearly shows that he is a man of modern culture. He looks at the modern situation of the film industry and suggests ideas that could make drastic changes in the film industry of today and those would pertain in the future. The choice usually Mamet makes for his actors would be disapproved or ignored by the current film-makers but if they looked through Mamet’s point of view Hollywood would very soon start to produce well-crafted and outstanding movies of its time.(Christopher Hirst, Pp1) References Christopher Hirst ,Paperbacks: Bambi Vs Godzilla, by David Mamet, (2008) Retrieved 01-02-2009, from http://www. independent. co. uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/paperbacks-bambi-vs-godzilla-by-david-mamet-864393. html Gabriel Steinfeld , Book reviews: Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business, by David Mamet,(2009) Retrieved 01-02-2009, http://www. helium. com/items/536905-book-reviews-bambi-vs-godzilla-nature-purpose-practice-movie-business-david Film Makers, David Mamet. Media Pro Tech Inc. (2006). Retrieved from: http://www. filmmakers. com/artists/mamet/biography/index. htm

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Fast Food Essay

Fast Food Essay Fast Food Essay Fast food has influenced the best of us in many ways. Every person in the United States, even around the world, everyone has become exceedingly indolent and we all depend on this indigenous source of food. As we grow up our parents feed us what is now known as â€Å"Fast food.† Everyone in the world knows this food is an impediment to our health and how we should be living. People also do not understand what they are consuming when they eat these fast food products. Children of the fast food generation are growing substantially because parents have become so indolent. Life for America is exceedingly easy anymore, mainly because fast food and the techniques that we live by are ameliorated. Fast food is so ubiquitous that when the designated cooker of each family decides they simply don’t want to cook, they simply go out and order fast food because it is not only cheap, but fast to get and convenient. Although do they really know the dire consequences that either an anima l or person had to suffer in order for them to get their $20 worth of family food? American consumes more fast food now then they ever had, but the real problem is that no one seems to know what really is in fast food and how it effects our society. Most people would come into the world with little knowledge about what weight is and what we should all think about it. As they mature we all know that body mass is exceedingly important and when people begin to gain the overlooked weight they begin to notice that places like the CDC would say about being obese. Anymore it’s normal to see people who are over weight, but when â€Å"over 9 million children† are being shown as obese before they are the age of 20, it is not something to be proud of. When children begin being that obese at that young age â€Å"they are more prone to get type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure† and as Americans we all know how serious these small things really are f or our health. As children they also have â€Å"an 80% of being obese when they are adults and as research has shown that when â€Å"obesity begins before the age of 8 adult obesity will be exceptionally more severe.† Unfortunately for most people obesity is hard to get rid of and the lifestyle choices that cause it shape a life time of obesity. Most people would relate obesity to fast food and what food we intake (CDC 1). Consequently for most people who eat fast food they do not understand what it is that they are eating. They do not understand that what they are eating is abused and genetically modified animals. People are not looking into the â€Å"genetically modified breast of McDonald’s chicken McNuggets† (Schlosser 140) or the abuse that calves â€Å"only a few days old,† (Humane Society 1) will have to endure for our mere eating pleasure. Steroids and growth hormones are unwonted for humans, but most people do not notice that most â€Å"bovines are given growth hormones and most people are beginning to ban such practices† (Schlosser 142). Just as animals are abused and used the food we generate from these animals is ameliorated through the past decades people are finding new ways to modify their food with things that are not natural anymore. People are beginning to put certain things like â€Å"animal products† (Schlosser 128) in their French fries, things that we believe are just friend potatoes. As Schlosser states in his book Fast Food Nation about the additives that go into our food, we learn of all the added preservatives and unnatural flavor. He goes into depth of the actual way our famous hamburgers get that amazing unpretentious flavor that addicts us all (128-129). We are all in fault of this auspicious way to feed our families everyday. It may seem that this food has become completely tyrannical because fast food inclusively has taken the enjoyment of cooking and being with our families at dinner away from us. Fast food has garnered their reputation through advertising to the children of today. Schlosser researched the

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Avoid These 15 Career Mistakes If You Want to Get and Keep a Job

Avoid These 15 Career Mistakes If You Want to Get and Keep a Job If love is a battlefield (and we all know it is, thanks to Pat Benatar), then the career world is a minefield. There’s the resume and interview process, but the dangers don’t end once you’re hired and installed comfortably in a cubicle somewhere. Let’s take a look at some of the most common career mistakes throughout the job cycle, and what you can do to try to avoid them. 1. Before You’re Hired2. On the Job3. On Your Way Out4. Your Future CareerBefore You’re HiredThe clock for potential missteps kicks off the second you decide to apply for a job. Here’s what you should be wary of doing:1. Making blatant mistakes in the cover letter/resume.In many cases, your cover letter is your first chance to make an impression on the recruiter or hiring manager. If you go in with a bunch of obvious errors (or one really egregious one), this suggests that you might be as sloppy an employee as you appear as a candidate. Always check everything thorou ghly for typos, and if possible, have a trusted friend or family member read over any materials you’re going to release to the world.I have a friend who made the most horrible typo possible, accidentally leaving a super-vulgar mistyped word in a cover letter to a company that, shall we say, wasn’t very likely to laugh off such a word appearing in communication with them. Needless to say, he never got a call for an interview at that place. Trust me, it’s worth it to spend the time to write and revise your resume, engineering it down to every word.2. Addressing the wrong person/company.Dear Sir at Widget Company, I was excited to hear about an opening at your company. I’ve always wanted to work at Widgets R Us. I anxiously await your response. [Spoiler alert: no interview forthcoming.]3. Phoning-in the interview.Whether you don’t really want this job after all, or you think you can coast because you’re very qualified, don’t take anythin g for granted. Always bring your A-game to any interview. Even if the job is unlikely to pan out, it’s good practice, and the people who take the time to talk with you about the job will appreciate your engagement and enthusiasm.4. Not following up with a thank you.Whether the interview went awesome or terribly, always follow up quickly with a thank you note. Manners go a long way, and you never know when you’ll come across the same people in the course of a future job search.5. Being too aggressive (or not aggressive enough).The Goldilocks approach works here. Don’t go in, all iron-grip handshake and unblinking eye contact. Also don’t go in looking at the floor and answering only direct questions. Try to find a happy medium where you’re confident, but not challenging every interviewer you meet to a staring contest.6. Talk money too early in the hiring process.As the old saying goes, â€Å"he who shoots first, loses.† If you bring up salary before the company is ready to make an offer, you can come off as mercenary- or worse, you can unintentionally limit your negotiating power after you have an offer in hand. Leave the interview process for getting to know the job and presenting yourself as the best candidate, and keep the negotiating for later. There’s no real upside to discussing money early in the process, and many opportunities for it to blow back on you.7. Not negotiating at all. No matter how grateful you are to get a job, always try to negotiate the best possible salary and benefits. Companies expect this, and as long as your requests are reasonable, it’s a must-do once you have a job offer. If you don’t negotiate and try to build on the initial offer, the only one you’re hurting is yourself.On the JobOnce you’ve got the job, don’t get too complacent- you still need to be careful about making mistakes. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be perfect at all times, and that errors won’t sometimes happen in the course of your job. These are more the situations to avoid in the workplace.8. Making decisions purely based on money.If you love your job but jump ship for the first opportunity that comes along and pays better, you could live to regret that. Make sure that major decisions (like accepting a job somewhere else or deciding to leave) are backed up by a number of factors you’ve considered, including salary, benefits, your overall level of happiness, and your career goals9. Keeping your head down.Working hard is super important, but you know what else is too? Connecting with coworkers. You don’t have to be best buds, but making a nominal effort to get your coworkers can really help you later on. Not only do you get comfortable with people whose faces you see every day, but you never know when an ally will come in handy in the office. Quash those introvert tendencies and make small talk the next time you find y ourself waiting at the copier with â€Å"Tim†¦uh, Something from accounting.†10. Limiting your network to people you work with.It’s great to get to know people at every level in your company (see #9). However, don’t fall into a trap where your entire active network is located within your office’s four walls. Part of the beauty of having a network is getting information and opportunities from other places, so why limit yourself? If your LinkedIn profile is mostly people you see at least four times a week at the watercooler, it’s time to branch out and start making connections with people at other companies.11. Avoiding difficult situations.Challenges are excellent experience builders. Fear of failing can make us more likely to avoid taking on unfamiliar projects and goals, but you could be hurting yourself in the long run to keep things smooth in the short term. You’re unlikely to learn new skills or gain experience if you stick narrowly to your job description. It’ll also leave you with fewer instances where you can point to genuine growth and problem solving skills.12. Not owning up to mistakes.Not wanting to get in trouble with the boss is a pretty valid feeling. However, I’m assuming that you’re human. And accordingly, mistakes will happen at some point. It’s how you deal with those that can make or break your reputation. Don’t be the person who starts looking for someone to throw under the bus when things are going wrong. Be the one who says, â€Å"this is what’s wrong, here’s how we’re going to approach this, and here’s how this will be handled moving forward.†Not only that, but you also don’t want to earn a reputation as someone who trashes coworkers to make yourself look better. If you’re leading a group and others dropped the ball, it shows better leadership skills to take responsibility for the group’s performance a nd move on than to sit there pointing fingers at everyone else.13. Saying yes to everything.This is a tough one. You want to seem like an uber-employee, able to handle everything that comes your way. However part of being that uber-employee is knowing your limits, and being able to manage priorities. Getting overwhelmed is never going to be helpful- not for you, and not for anyone who’s counting on you to do the things you said you’d do.On Your Way Out Oh, did you think that once you’ve decided to leave your job, it no longer matters what you do? Nope, you’re still on the hook. There’s still potential for things to go awry.14. Burning bridges.This popsicle stand may be blown (or about to be), but no matter how resentful or angry you feel about your soon-to-be-former job, it’s in your best interest to be gracious until your last second in the office. You never know who you’ll come across again in the future, so you don’t want th e lingering impression to be, â€Å"Oh, I remember that person. What a jerk!†Your Future CareerThere’s one more mistake you don’t want to make, and this one has nothing to do with what you’re currently doing; it has to do with limiting your future career options.15. Letting inertia get the better of you.Are you still at your job because you don’t want to rock the boat and try to leave? Are you sacrificing career goals in the interest of stability? According to Forbes’s Liz Ryan, this â€Å"falling asleep† is one of the deadliest things that can happen in your career. Always be on the lookout for new opportunities, and find ways to make these opportunities work so that you can take advantage.Taken individually, none of these career mistakes are likely to translate into being career killers. But if you’re more aware of the consequences of even the smallest career pitfalls, you’ll be that more adept in getting right around them.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

The Financial Management of Health Facility Research Paper

The Financial Management of Health Facility - Research Paper Example First, the key factors to consider when making pricing and service decision are considered to include the cost of production, profit mark-up and external factors including prices of competitors. Once the right prices and services are rendered, the facility is sure to have a very firm basis for financial performance. Again, there is consideration on the actual financial planning process, where it is said that there are as many as six components in the financial planning process. Each of these components relates to the other to ensure that a firm financial basis is built for the facility. Finally, focus is given to various investment policies that the health facility can involve its self so as to ensure that it keeps an appropriate time value series and is able to overcome all major financial risks. Introduction It is common knowledge that the major business associated with health facilities such as the selected facility is the provision of quality healthcare to patients. However, the researcher is of the opinion that in order for this core objective of the health facility to be achieved, there are some key structures that need to be put in place in order t ensure that this key objective is achieved. One of the key structures is the financial structuring of the facility. As a private health facility that receives no financial assistance from central government, it is expected that there are a number of measures that will be put in place to ensure that the financial requirements needed to successfully run the facility are met. To this end, this research paper is dedicated to looking at some of the key financial structures that need to be instituted for the progressive running of the company. The first of these shall be on the factors to consider in making pricing and service decisions so that the prices issued by the facility will not in any way be a disadvantage towards the competitive advantage it wants to build. The specific financial planning processes that ne ed to be followed by the facility and future investments that will bring the most forms of financial returns shall also be outlined in the paper. Factors to consider in making pricing and service decisions Literature identifies two major factors that need to be taken into account when making any pricing and service planning as in the case of the selected organization, which is a healthy facility. These factors are internal and external price and service determination factors (Tomecek, 2003). Generally, the internal factors are those factors that need to be considered in relation to the expenses that are incurred as part of the in-house planning and services that are rendered to patients. In the case of the identified health facility where the researcher has worked with for some time now, the very first internal factor that needs to be considered is the issue of cost of production. As a matter of fact, the health facility incurs so much cost in its bid to live up to its mission and v ision statement of giving first class health service to patients at first hand supply. Some of the cost of production inculcates into the salaries and remuneration of staff, the outsourcing of drugs and medicine, the payment of bills and rents, the cost of infrastructure, cost of research works that takes place within the facility, cost of machinery and equipment, and the cost of transportation and accommodation.