Achetypal Works of Dystopian Literature Essay -- Essays Papers

Achetypal Works of Dystopian Literature The endeavor to achieve utopia, the best existence obtainable to humanity, is a response to the problems present in society. It is a way of dealing in the imagination with these problems, suggesting an ideal for society to strive towards. From Plato’s Republic on, however, utopia has had a characteristic shortcoming. Huxley observed that the inhabitants of Utopia are radically unlike human beings. Their creators spend all their ink and energy in discussing, not what actually happens, but what would happen if men and women were quite different from what they are and from what, throughout recorded history, they have always been (Kennedy 44). The search for utopia continues strongly today, except in place of the traditional, constructive, positive utopias, we have what is almost a new literary strain-utopia in reverse, cacotopia, the worst of all possible worlds (Herzog 74). This anti-utopian society is one in which characters lead dehumanized lives because a utopian ideal has fallen apart or gone afoul of its original intent. The main characters in dystopian novels are often trapped in their lives and struggling to escape; these novels usually intend to criticize existing social conditions and political systems. While utopian literature portrays ideal worlds, dystopian literature depicts the flaws and failures of imaginative societies. Often these societies are related to utopias, and the dystopian writers have chosen to reveal shortcomings of those social systems previously considered ideal (Booker 10). Many critics rank Aldous Huxely’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four as two model works of dystopian literature (Cushing 521). Both novels ... ...ter with Wendy Cole, â€Å"What Ever Happened To Play?† in Time Magazine, April 28, 2001. Available http://www.time.com/time/education/printout/0,8816,107264,00.html. Kluger, Jeffrey, â€Å"Next Up: Prozac,† in Time Magazine, Vol. 152, No. 22, November 30, 1998. Available http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/981130/cover_story.the_age_of_4a.html. McMichael, Charles T., â€Å"Aldous Huxley’s ‘Island’: The Final Vision,† in Studies in the Literary Imagination. Vol. 1, No. 2, April, 1968. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1981. Schellenberg, James, â€Å"Review of George Orwell’s 1984,† in George Orwell. New York: Penguin, 1984. Anonymous, â€Å"Are We Living in an Orwellian World?† Available http://www.newspeak.com/Newspeak.htm. von Hoffman, Nicholas, â€Å"Huxley Vindicated,† in The Spectator, Vol. 249, No. 8036, July 17, 1982.

Practical Proposal

Should Minnesota’s County Road Commissions Take on More Responsibility? Katherine Monrowe ENG 101b Professor B. Hatchett November 10, 2008 November 8, 2008 Mr. Walter Hooper Chairman of T. R. County Road Commission 1881 Labree Ave. Thief River Falls, MN 56701 Dear Mr. Hooper, Enclosed is my proposal that the T. R. County Road Commission begin to plow and/or sand the main business commuter roads more frequently after and during inclement weather. During the past couple of years, the road commission has been too ill prepared to deal with the winter weather, and the lack of preparedness has caused many unfortunate accidents.My proposal would provide concerned Thief River Falls residents with a renewed sense of security. I believe that if the road commission were to increase the amount of times that the roads are plowed during and after winter weather, residents would feel more loyalty and respect towards those who work for our county, and it would help residents to have a safer c ommute to their jobs and their homes. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this proposal. Sincerely, Katherine Monrowe Should Minnesota’s County Road Commissions Take on More Responsibility? The winters in Northern Minnesota are harsh, cold, and dangerous.The average snowfall for the state falls between 30 and 38 inches per year. Within the past five years, the temperatures have been known to fluctuate greatly; from warmer temperatures during the day, to below freezing through the night. These temperature changes can cause dangerous road conditions, such as black ice, which can harmful or even deadly. Along with the weather changes, the county road commissions throughout Minnesota have been making changes as well; they have, significantly, cut back on the amount of time and effort that they spend plowing, sanding, and/or salting the roads.These cut backs may seem minor, but they are resulting in many unnecessary accidents and less than desirable driving conditio ns. This forces residents to ask the question, should Minnesota’s country road commissions take on more responsibility? I believe that the best solution to this problem would be to designate specific times of the day, during the winter months, to plowing/sanding/salting, and require that more attention be paid to the roads when the weather conditions are dangerous.I think that if the residents of Thief River County, and potentially the entire of state Michigan, were provided with a safer commute, they would feel more loyalty and respect towards those who work for our county. After the state of Minnesota implemented many budget cuts, funding was cut too many important organizations, one being the county road commissions. Our government officials fail to recognize all that entails these budget cuts. Not only have the driving conditions suffered, but parking lot conditions have also.The handicap parking spaces are completely disregarded, causing handicapped and elderly citizens to risk injury by parking or walking through snow and ice (Schneider, 2001). Not only are those who drive themselves affected by the winter road conditions, but those who utilize public transportation are affected as well. If the road commission is slow to take care of roads, then public transportation (e. g. buses, taxis, etc†¦) will be late to pick up its passengers. This, in turn, will make its passengers late for work and may cause them to lose their jobs.Also, some may argue that there is always a risk while driving, and more time spent taking care of the roads during the winter will not lessen the risk. However, M. Peden states, â€Å"While in practical terms it may not be possible completely to eliminate all risk, it is possible to reduce the exposure to risk of severe injury and to minimize its intensity and consequences (2004). † Peden’s quote states exactly the point that I am trying to prove. I understand that the risk will not be completely taken away; however, the hances can be significantly reduced if the roads are plowed and sanded. It is clear to see that the budget cuts are more of a risk, and the increase in accidents and the need for tow trucks have cost the state even more money. Marina Fulton, of Kingston, has a thirty-minute commute to her office and when the weather is at its worse, Fulton has to leave an extra hour early just to make it to work on time (2008). Obviously, the winters of Northern Minnesota are going to be dangerous, even though the road conditions could be improved.However, if the roads were properly taken care of, residents would have more time to get to their jobs and feel safer on their way. I believe that if the T. R. county road commission were to implement the suggestions in this proposal in January of 2009, they’d be able to get a â€Å"head start† on the months in which winter is its harshest. Linda Boonstrand, of Thief River, stated â€Å"I would definitely feel safer driving wit h my two young daughters if the road commission were to take care of the roads more thoroughly (2008). With the advances in technology that our country is continuing to make, road commissions should be able to find out when inclement weather in on its way and be prepared to take care of the roads (Committee on Weather Research for Transportation, 2004). In conclusion, I am calling upon my county to spend more time taking care of the roads during the winter months, especially more during inclement weather. I believe that the extra time spent clearing/sanding/salting the roads throughout the winter will result in a safer and happier community.Thank you for taking the time to review and consider this proposal. I look forward to hearing from you. Works Cited Boonstrand, L. (December 6, 2008) Personal interview. Committee on Weather Research for Surface Transportation. (2004). Where the weather meets the road: a research agenda for improving road weather services. Washington, DC: Nationa l Academies Press. Retrieved December, 6, 2008, from NetLibrary Database. Downs, A. (2004). Still stuck in traffic: coping with peak-hour traffic congestion. Washington, D. C. Brookings Institution Press.Retrieved December, 6, 2008, from NetLibrary database.. Fulton, M. (December 5, 2008) Personal interview. King, K. (2002, May 23). New budget calls for slight trims in city taxes, staff – Manager Holt says the city’s â€Å"lean operation† continues. The Grand Rapids Press Online. Retrieved on December, 7, 2008, from Newsbank database. Peden, M. M. (2004). World report on road traffic injury prevention. Geneva WHO. Retrieved December, 6, 2008, from NetLibrary database. Schneider, J. (2001, January 29). Tight spot. The Lansing State Journal Online. Retrieved on December, 10, 2008, from Newsbank database.

A Case Against Slavery & Uncle Tom’s Cabin Essay

HB Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a powerfully evocative condemnation of slavery, and was famous in its own time. While many held that Stowe herself knew nothing about slavery or southern life, having never seen southern plantation life, it had its intended effect regardless: to stir up anti-slavery sentiment in the north, and to a lesser extent, in the South. Chapter VII is called â€Å"A Mother’s Struggle,† and it brings together many of the themes that dominate this book. First, the centrality of motherhood and the invincible power of a mother that is soon to be separated from her only son leads the action of this work. Second, the dominance of the Protestant Christian faith, a faith that serves to both assist slaves in tolerating their condition as well as providing them the strength to escape is the engine of the action. Since God is on the side of those who oppose slavery, ultimately, their struggle will emerge victorious and hence, the strength to persevere is present. Hence, this chapter is a central part of the work as it synthesizes the main themes of the book in rather stark terms, since this chapter is really the first â€Å"action† chapter of the book, that is, it is the beginnings of Eliza’s escape from her bondage and traces her moves northward to the Ohio river. The first real issue that drives Eliza to escape is the fact that she and her son are possibly to be sold. The Shelby family that owns them seeks to sell several slaves to pay off debts, and Eliza, who is not poorly treated by her mistress, Mrs. See more:  First Poem for You Essay Shelby, will not be separated from her only son (1-2). Here, the institution of slavery is shown in its worst aspect: the breaking up of families in the interest of the financial solvency of their masters. It was debated how often this was actually done, but this first few pages show the slave owning Shelby family as more or less humane, but forced due to circumstances to part with slaves, slaves, like Tom himself, who has befriended the son of the Shelby family. But stronger than all was maternal love, wrought into a paroxysm of frenzy by the near approach of a fearful danger. Her boy was old enough to have walked by her side, and, in an indifferent case, she would only have led him by the hand; but now the bare thought of putting him out of her arms made her shudder, and she strained him to her bosom with a convulsive grasp, as she went rapidly forward (1). This passage is an important part of the introduction to this chapter in that it places maternal power at the center of the war against slavery. It is this fear mixed with love that will keep Eliza moving forward. â€Å"Sublime is the dominion of the mind over the body, that, for a time, can make flesh and nerve impregnable, and string the sinews like steel, so that the weak become so mighty. † It is love, ths power of mind, the love for her son that keeps her moving forward, rather to face death, freezing, or torture if caught rather than be apart from her boy (2). It seems that, as Eliza continues her trek forward, that her body has become completely subsumed under her mind, and her love. Hence, she refuses to eat what she has packed for the trip North, and instead only wants her son to eat (3). But along with the power of a mother’s love, is the power of the belief in God and his Scriptures: â€Å"An hour before sunset, she entered the village of T — — , by the Ohio river, weary and foot-sore, but still strong in heart. Her first glance was at the river, which lay, like Jordan, between her and the Canaan of liberty on the other side. † (4). This passage is telling, in that it provides Old Testament references to the move toward liberty. The move of slaves northward to freedom is likened to the move of Israelites, themselves slaves to the Egyptians, over the Jordan river to the Canaanite valley which God has chosen for his people. For the slave treated harshly and not given even basic freedoms, the move northward was considered the promised land, the land of freedom, regardless of the hardships of slavery: this is the indictment of the institution as a whole. Slaves wold risk everything to avoid the institution, even a more or less comfortable existence that Eliza enjoyed with the Shelby’s. In this chapter, the mood is that if God closes one door, He opens another. So with Eliza gets to the river, the barrier between herself and freedom, it has been largely iced over (5). Given this, the ferry will not run. However, she is briefly taken in by a family connected with the ferry house on her side of the river. The action quickly and awkwardly shifts back to the slave quarters at Mrs. Shelby’s, where the slaves are speaking about the upcoming sale. Speaking of the slave trader, Chloe says, â€Å"He desarves it! † said Aunt Chloe, grimly; â€Å"he’s broke a many, many, many hearts, — I tell ye all! † she said, stopping, with a fork uplifted in her hands; â€Å"it’s like what Mas’r George reads in Ravelations, — souls a callin’ under the altar! and a callin’ on the Lord for vengeance on sich! — and by and by the Lord he’ll hear ’em — so he will! † (7). This is very important, since it is clear that the slaves hold that God is on their side, not the other way around. On the other hand, this point of view is made more ambagious by Uncle Tom’s statement that damming people to Hell is not a very nice thing to do, and that eternal punishment is not a fit crime for selling slaves, which after all, is not eternal (7). This creates a concept of equivocalness where two factions of the slave population have two different points of view: the first, that of Chloe, that slavers are evil and will be punished to Hell, and the more moderate view of Uncle Tom, that slavers are victims of circumstance, who themselves, did not invent this institution. But Aunt Chloe responds, though indirectly to Uncle Tom: â€Å"Don’t natur herself kinder cry out on ’em? † said Aunt Chloe. â€Å"Don’t dey tear der suckin’ baby right off his mother’s breast, and sell him, and der little children as is crying and holding on by her clothes, — don’t dey pull ’em off and sells ’em? Don’t dey tear wife and husband apart? † said Aunt Chloe, beginning to cry, â€Å"when it’s jest takin’ the very life on ’em? — and all the while does they feel one bit, don’t dey drink and smoke, and take it oncommon easy? Lor, if the devil don’t get them, what’s he good for? † And Aunt Chloe covered her face with her checked apron, and began to sob in good earnest. (8) Again, Stowe is making another attack on slavery here, using the splitting up of families as her center line of argument. Since she is dealing with a family that treats their slaves moderately well, she cannot really rely on the physical violence argument so common in anti-slavery polemics. Since motherhood is at the center of this work, it seems that the basic argument against slavery is that since slaves have no freedom, they cannot fight back when their families are taken apart. Hence, Stowe holds that the family, especially the mother, is the institution of society that maintains moral norms and hence, will be the institution that takes slavery apart. If anything, this is the primary case against slavery being made here. Moving back to the action on the Ohio river, Eliza has been spotted by the slave trader, the very focus of evil throughout this book. It must also be pointed out that the trader and his style of life are equally repugnant to the Shelby’s (10). But as far as Liza is concerned, when she is spotted, A thousand lives seemed to be concentrated in that one moment to Eliza. Her room opened by a side door to the river. She caught her child, and sprang down the steps towards it. The trader caught a full glimpse of her just as she was disappearing down the bank; and throwing himself from his horse, and calling loudly on Sam and Andy, he was after her like a hound after a deer. In that dizzy moment her feet to her scarce seemed to touch the ground, and a moment brought her to the water’s edge. Right on behind they came; and, nerved with strength such as God gives only to the desperate, with one wild cry and flying leap, she vaulted sheer over the turbid current by the shore, on to the raft of ice beyond. It was a desperate leap — impossible (14). This passage is worth extended comment. First of all, as God has closed the door of the ferry, he has opened another, more dangerous door, that of skipping over the ice cakes. This seems powerfully symbolic: the ice represents the cold hearts of the slave traders and even the good slave owners. Under intense pressure, the power of family–of motherhood–takes over, what seems impossible is not so, if God is on your side. Slavery, it seems, will be defeated by slave mothers trampling on the cold hearts of the slave owners through material love and devotion to get to freedom. On the other side, Eliza meets a friendly farmer, Mr. Symmes, who assists in her escape. Stowe remarks on page 10, â€Å"So spoke this poor, heathenish Kentuckian, who had not been instructed in his constitutional relations, and consequently was betrayed into acting in a sort of Christianized manner, which, if he had been better situated and more enlightened, he would not have been left to do. † Again, a powerful statement is being made here: since slave owners were normally of the â€Å"gentlemanly† class, that is, the civilized class, civilization is equated with the dominating of slaves. Since poor whites were not slave owners (and treated only little better than the blacks) and were not part of their civilization, they had not â€Å"learned† about the inferiority of blacks and the racial and class hierarchy of the South. Therefore, their lack of civilization is a good thing, since simple common sense seems to dominate over â€Å"civilized manners. † Hence, the hero of the story (or at least of the chapter) is this simple farmer from Kentucky who does not represent civilization, but simple agrarian manners and common sense morality. Hence, in conclusion, Stowe is making several points here. First, that the real evil of slavery is the destruction of the family. If the family is the center of social life in that it is the bearer of tradition and moral values, then its destruction must lead to the beastialization of society. This might explain the evil of the slave traders, since they seem to specialize in breaking up families, and hence, are the very symbol of this beastialization. Second, a mother’s love, coupled with God’s force, will lead the southern slaves to freedom. Third, that freedom must be earned, and this is applicable to slaves and slave owners, both of which have not known freedom. Slave owners are as debased by slavery as the slave, since he is dependent upon them and hence, not free. Lastly, that nothing is impossible with God, and with a love of freedom. This is the case against slavery, in that it crushes all of these impulses, impulses that God as implanted in the human spirit and hence, are part of His creation, now enslaved by others. All quotes above are from the Virginia University edition of Uncle Toms Cabin, Published by the University of Virginia E-Text Center of the University of Virginia Library System. (http://etext. lib. virginia. edu/etcbin/toccer-new2? id=StoCabi. sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=7&division=div1)

Profit and Loss Essay

Profit and loss accounts, balance sheets Profit and loss accounts, balance sheets Two of the most important financial statements for a business are the Profit and Loss Account, and the Balance Sheet. The Profit and Loss Account shows the profit or loss of a business over a given period of time e. g. 3 months, 1 year, etc. In contrast, the Balance Sheet is like a photograph taken at an instant in time giving a picture of what the business owns and what the business owes at that moment in time. As we shall see it will always balance because what the business owns is financed by what the business owes. The Profit and Loss (P&L account) Net profit takes account of other sources of income and expenditure that are not involved in normal operations e. g. interest paid on loans and interest received on having a positive balance in a bank account. Turnover – is the value of sales made in a trading period. It is some eferred to as sale revenue and is calculated by the average price of items sold x the number sold. Cost of sales – calculates the direct costs of manufacturing items, or buying in items to sell them on. Expenses – are the overhead costs of running a business. These overheads can’t be tied down to particular cost units. For example, it would be very difficult to calculate what fraction of the heating cost of a pen factory can be allocated to just one pen. The Balance Sheet is a statement showing the assets, liabilities and owner’s capital of a business at a particular Downloaded from The100 Edition – http://www. he100. co. uk moment in time, for example the year end. T he Balance Sheet balances because the assets that a business possesses at a specific time have been financed either through the provision of capital by the owner’s or by the creation of external liabilities: Value of assets = Value of Liabilities Value of Owner’s capital. There are a number of things that we can see from looking at a balance sheet, for example: 1. The Net Assets of the business, i. e. the difference between the value of the assets and the value of the liabilities. A growth in net assets tends to indicate a growing business. 2. How solvent the business is. In other words, does it have enough assets that are short term, and hence easily converted into cash, to pay any pressing short-term liabilities. Case Example: A typical balance sheet will be set out in the following way (note that we use two columns. The first column is for minor calculations, the second column is for grand totals): Balance Sheet of Superior Traders, as at 31st December 2004 Fixed assets consist of those items that are kept within the business to create wealth over a period of time e. . machinery, equipment, vehicles, computers, etc. Current assets are used in the short period to generate income for a business. For example, in a manufacturing company like Kraft, stocks would represent products that have already been made and are waiting to be sold onto retailers. Typically stocks will be sold on credit for periods of one month, two months, or three months. Retailers buying s tocks on credit from Kraft would become Kraft’s debtors. At the end of the credit period they will pay up in the form of cash, enabling Kraft to buy more raw materials to create further stocks. Creditors due within one year are the sums that a business owes money to in the short period – otherwise known as current liabilities. Net current assets is a measure of how solvent or liquid a business is. Many businesses need to have working capital. Working capital is calculated by subtracting current liabilities from current assets: Working capital = Current assets – Current liabilities Note that the figure for net current assets appear almost in the centre of a balance sheet, and is a figure that many people will look at first to check on the solvency of a business. Total assets – current liabilities is a sum that appears in the balance sheet simply doing what the title suggests. Creditors due after more than one year shows the longer term liabilities of the bsiness. Total net assets is calculated by taking away all the liabilities (both current and long term) from all of the assets (both current and long term). Shareholders’ funds shows the value of the shareholders capital in the business. It will always be the same value as the total net assets and it balances the account. Downloaded from The100 Profit and loss accounts, balance sheets Profit and loss accounts, balance sheets Two of the most important financial statements for a business are the Profit and Loss Account, and the Balance Sheet. The Profit and Loss Account shows the profit or loss of a business over a given period of time e. g. 3 months, 1 year, etc. In contrast, the Balance Sheet is like a photograph taken at an instant in time giving a picture of what the business owns and what the business owes at that moment in time. As we shall see it will always balance because what the business owns is financed by what the business owes. The Profit and Loss (P&L account) One of the most important objectives of a business is to make a profit. The P&L account shows the extent to which it has been successful in achieving this objective. Companies are expected to keep their P&L accounts in certain formats. Typically the P&L account will show the revenues received by a business and the costs involved in generating that revenue. In simple terms: Revenues – Costs = Profits. A typical P&L account will look like the following: Case Study: P&L Account for Superior Traders as at 31/12/2004 You can find out the gross profit of a business by deducting cost of sales from turnover: ? 100,000 – ? 50,000 = ? 0,000 You can find out the operating profit by deducting the expenses from the gross profit: ? 50,000 – ? 30,000 = ? 20,000 You may also come across the term net profit. Operating profit is earned from carrying out a businesses normal operations e. g. producing confectionery, or selling Christmas cards. Net profit takes account of other sources of income and expenditure that are not involved in normal operations e. g. interest paid on loans and interest received on having a positive balance in a bank account. Turnover – is the value of sales made in a trading period. It is sometimes referred to as sale revenue and is calculated by the average price of items sold x the number sold. Cost of sales – calculates the direct costs of manufacturing items, or buying in items to sell them on. Expenses – are the overhead costs of running a business. These overheads can’t be tied down to particular cost units. For example, it would be very difficult to calculate what fraction of the heating cost of a pen factory can be allocated to just one pen. The Balance Sheet is a statement showing the assets, liabilities and owner’s capital of a business at a particular Downloaded from The Times 100 Edition – oment in time, for example the year end. The Balance Sheet balances because the assets that a business possesses at a specific time have been financed either through the provision of capital by the owner’s or by the creation of external liabilities: Value of assets = Value of Liabilities Value of Owner’s capital. The re are a number of things that we can see from looking at a balance sheet, for example: 1. The Net Assets of the business, i. e. the difference between the value of the assets and the value of the liabilities. A growth in net assets tends to indicate a growing business. Creditors due within one year are the sums that a business owes money to in the short period – otherwise known as current liabilities. Net current assets is a measure of how solvent or liquid a business is. Many businesses need to have working capital. Working capital is calculated by subtracting current liabilities from current assets: Working capital = Current assets – Current liabilities Note that the figure for net current assets appear almost in the centre of a balance sheet, and is a figure that many people will look at first to check on the solvency of a business. Total assets – current liabilities is a sum that appears in the balance sheet simply doing what the title suggests. Creditors due after more than one year shows the longer term liabilities of the bsiness. Total net assets is calculated by taking away all the liabilities (both current and long term) from all of the assets (both current and long term). Shareholders’ funds shows the value of the shareholders capital in the business. It will always be the same value as the total net assets and it balances the account. Downloaded from The Times 100 Edition.

The Political Arena

A boiling hot international issue nowadays is the upcoming elections in the Philippines which will be conducted on May 10, 2010. The election itself is controversial enough because this time, there are ten presidential candidates, but what is really different about this election is that this is the first time that they will be having the automated elections. The Senate Bill No. 2231 states that the automated election system must be used to ensure transparency, accuracy and credibility.As the elections are drawing nearer, more and more intrigues are appearing. One, and perhaps the most worthy of worry, is the failure of the PCOS machines.2 Just five days before the elections, the testing of the machines produced wrong results. In the mock elections, there were five votes for a certain candidate, and five votes for another candidate. These ten votes were all counted for different candidates.Whether the makers of the machine and the administration, headed by the current president who ha s been accused of cheating in the last elections, are conniving for this, it remains a mystery. People are worried that there might be a failure of elections, and when this happens, the current president stays the president. It has been suggested to have a parallel counting, meaning that aside from the automated counting, there will also be manual counting. This proposal was rejected by the Commission on Elections.In the Philippines, there are many different groups and religions. Recently, they have announced their support statements. The Iglesia ni Cristo group announced that they will be supporting Senator â€Å"Noynoy† Aquino, the son of the late President Cory Aquino (their first woman president).3Senator Aquino made a statement saying that the Commission on Elections indeed denied their proposal because it might open more venues for frauds and protests.4The media, being the primary source for most people, definitely plays a big role in this event. They continue to publis h survey results, which almost always show that there are only two presidential candidates who are in a battle for the spot. Again, these surveys only show the majority votes in a certain area, but for some reason, they have the power to manipulate the voters.Some voters will change their votes because their first choice does not show good results in the surveys posted by the media. The media also consistently gives updates on the failure of the PCOS machines. Last April 29, 2010, there was an article saying that the Office of the President also stood behind the decision of the COMELEC, and this made the citizens wonder more if there is indeed a connection between the two groups.5There have been legal actions already, as the mentioned resolutions of the Senate to the COMELEC, but all have been denied. The reason behind this is most probably the connivance of the administration, the COMELEC, and the producers of the PCOS machines. For me, this is an important issue even though it is happening in a different country.This shows us the dirty game of politics, and if it is happening in the Philippines, it can happen to any other country, as long as there are corrupt and power-hungry officials. If their elections push through without failure, we will get to see a new era in the Philippines, but if there is a failure of elections, who knows what can happen to their country?Choosing the next leaders of a country should not be taken lightly, and amidst the issues happening in their country, there are people still hoping for the best results.Works CitedSenate of the Republic of the Philippines, 13th Congress, Senate Bill No. 2231, Automated Election System, filed March 15, 2006.Noynoy Aquino. http://www.noynoy.ph/v3/index.php.Senate of the Philippines Press Release May 4, 2010.COMELEC Rejects Parallel Manual Count, April 29 2010, Manila Bulletin.   

The Case Study of Blue Cloud Adapting Agile Research Paper

The Case Study of Blue Cloud Adapting Agile - Research Paper Example It is thus suggested that assessments of company output, proper dissemination of pros and cons of changes, and even input from all concerned members be taken into account before continuing or discontinuing the improvements in work structure or programs within an organization or company. Â  1. The first year of using Agile at Blue Cloud created a mix of approving, dissenting, and passively uninterested voices, which lead to the confusion of the CEO, Shel Skinner in whether the changes made in the company were proper or not (Spector, 2012). The events were suggesting that the implementation of the new software program may have been rushed, which could have risen from the lack of reviewing Lewin’s process of change. While the changes were made of good intentions for improving the methodology of software development, it might have been that some steps in implementing successful changes in management or in company work protocol have been bypassed, and later caused some dissatisfaction within the group (Paton & McCalman, 2008). Based on the reactions of some employees, it could be possible that the need for changes were not fully explained to some employees, and that the improvements of the old methods versus the new methods may not have been clarified to most emp loyees, especially among those which were more focused on planning than reacting to necessary work modifications. Lastly, employee feedback during the course of the implementation may not have been valued as some commented that there some aspects of the company remained unchanged (Spector, 2012).

Twitter in Diet Pepsi's Commercial Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Twitter in Diet Pepsi's Commercial - Essay Example It is then that she witnesses a lady drinking diet pepsi to refresh herself. The ad is meant specifically for both ladies and men but the emphasis is more on the ladies. This can be seen from the ad when ladies run away from the stall to see David Beckham. However on the other hand men are also targeted through this ad as in the very beginning the huge line at the diet pepsi stall consists of men too. Men and women of younger generation who tend to get tired and exhausted of the heat are targeted through this ad. Methods of reaching the audience The advertisement made by the brand is reaching out to the audience through different means. The use of celebrities is one way through which the brand is reaching out to the consumers. It is creating a value and character amongst the consumers by showing the characters of David Beckham and Sofia Vergara. Both of these celebrities are well known amongst the masses and hence the brand is showing value to the consumers. The consumers may choose the product because of the well known celebrities in some instances. The value created by the brand would be most useful when settling in for the audience as many people try products because of these celebrities. People who are interested in sports would definitely try the drink because of David Beckham. Women have been specifically targeted by the brand by using logic as women are diet conscious (Kotler & Armstrong, 1991). The ad shows Sofia Vergara and other women with a nice body which helps to promote the product. The ad is basically targeting women who want to be fit and are diet conscious. The ad also has some humour in it which attracts the audience through emotions. The audience may get attracted to the humour and urge shown in the ad to get Pepsi. Sofia Vergara uses her techniques to split the line so that she can go and buy Pepsi. In other words the ad urges the audience to drink diet pepsi so that they can check the taste for themselves. Effectiveness of the Ad The ad can be quite effective in reaching out to the audience because of the different methods that it has incorporated into it. Women and people who are exhausted are targeted by the brand and the advertisement quite successfully does that. The advertisement shows that the drink is quite refreshing and one might use different skills to reach out the product. The celebrity uses logic so that she can buy the drink and hence the ad effectively produces a need amongst the audience which needs to be refreshed (Dehlin et al., 2010). Improvements   The ad incorporates several ideas of marketing but it does lack out to reach a larger audience. The ad could be used in a different way so that a broader audience was targeted. Children have not been specifically targeted by the brand and this idea could have been incorporated into the ad. A celebrity which is loved by the younger generation could be used in the ad so that the children ran over to the celebrity. Exhausted children could also be include d in the ad so that children were also made an audience in the ad. Men are shown in the ad but they are not specifically targeted upon and the brand could use methods to include them in the ad. Men could have been shown running for a female celebrity which was supposedly on the pier along with David Beckham. Conclusion The ad done by the brand is endorsed by celebrities and this can help to target a specific audience. Diet Pepsi is not only meant for women but is also meant to be for men so